Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.

RIP Zandar. We are still here fighting the stupid, now in your honor.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Republicans got rid McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Cole is on a roll !

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

… gradually, and then suddenly.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Thursday Afternoon Open Thread

Thursday Afternoon Open Thread

by | 260 Comments

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So, this happened:

Omnishambles.

In other news, even Dick Durbin is fed the fuck up with the bone saw crew:

No disrespect intended toward Durbin — it’s notable because he is not a rock-the-boat kind of guy. If this signals a real change in U.S. policy toward KSA, that’s a good thing, IMO.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

260Comments

  2. 2.

    Bobby Thomson

    I’ve been wanting to cut off Saudi Arabia since the 80s.  In an ideal world we could substitute an Iran that had overthrown Islamic rule.

  6. 6.

    Kristine

    The tree crew just finished up in my yard. One dead Colorado blue spruce felled along with an old crabapple that had been whacked by the power company over the years and was on its way out. One massive oak trimmed–that was a job b/c of the limbs above the power lines and not one but two neighbors’ garages. Really glad it’s done.

    Raining now–they finished just in time.

  7. 7.

    evap

    And yet, there’s a reasonable chance that Walker will become a senator from Georgia.   The mind boggles.

  9. 9.

    Brit in Chicago

    I’m a big fan of Sen. Durbin, and “not a rock-the-boat kind of guy” is absolutely right. There are times I could do with a bit more boat-rocking than he tends to provide, but there are other people who play that role. Durbin is judiciouis, absolutely solid, and right-minded. His vocal opposition to the Saudi regime is indeed to be taken seriously, as the esteemed ms. Cracker imlies

    As for H. Walker (notice you only need to add a “George” at one end and a “Bush” at the other and—oh never mind), one the one hand I’m glad that the R’s chose such an evidently unfit candidate; on the other I’m alarmed, distressed, almost incredulous, that his unfitness is not, in fact, evident to a larger number of people. Yes, he actually might become a Senator. I suppose there must have been worse, but still—words fail me.

  13. 13.

    Betty Cracker

    @evap: That’s a measure of how much contempt the GOP has for its own voters, not to mention the country. It’s also a further proof point (as if any more were needed!) about the general moral bankruptcy of white evangelicals like Erick Erickson, et al.

  16. 16.

    Cameron

    @Bobby Thomson: You mean like the government we helped overthrow in the 50s?  I spent my very early childhood in Iran (don’t remember a lot) and most of the rest of my early years through junior high in Saudi Arabia (it always sucked, though the average  citizen wasn’t nearly as anti-American as nowadays).

  19. 19.

    JoyceH

    Wouldn’t it be nice if the events of this year significantly hastened the development of renewable energy and the phasing out of fossil fuels, so we could get away from having to cozy up to blood-drenched despots because of our energy needs?

    On another topic, I saw something that said that the next (and potentially last) J6 committee hearing will be the 13th at 1 pm. Why not prime time? Especially if they have any significant bombshells to report out – this will almost certainly be the last hearing before the election, so ought to go for the widest audience possible.

  21. 21.

    WaterGirl

    Can I just say that I would never make it as a dog? I am sitting here for hours at this vet appointment for Henry with the dermatologist and I’m really hungry. Since I work from home I can pretty much eat whenever I’m hungry and I can’t even imagine having to wait for hours until someone put food in front of me. OK that’s my deep thought for the afternoon.

  22. 22.

    AnthroBabe

    Dana Loesch was right: Rethugs do not care about any of Walker’s moral or cognitive issues. They want control and power. Did anyone hear the horrible, no good “interview” of Ralph Reed @ Walker on NPR this morning. I had to turn it off as this was a PR stunt. And no, Ralph, the allegations of sexual harassment against Kavanaugh were not “disproven” there was no investigation!

  23. 23.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @JoyceH: Yes, and this appears to be happening!

    Re-posted comment from previous thread:

    It’s too late for KSA to stop USA from transforming the worldwide energy market and becoming the world’s #1 energy producer.

    (The Atlantic)

    Late last month, analysts at the investment bank Credit Suisse published a research note about America’s new climate law that went nearly unnoticed. The Inflation Reduction Act, the bank argued, is even more important than has been recognized so far: The IRA will “will have a profound effect across industries in the next decade and beyond” and could ultimately shape the direction of the American economy, the bank said. The report shows how even after the bonanza of climate-bill coverage earlier this year, we’re still only beginning to understand how the law works and what it might mean for the economy.

    …

    …the U.S. is “poised to become the world’s leading energy provider,” according to the bank. America is already the world’s largest producer of oil and natural gas. The IRA could further enhance its advantage in all forms of energy production, giving it a “competitive advantage in low-cost clean electricity and hydrogen production, infrastructure, geologic storage, and human capital,” the report states. By 2029, U.S. solar and wind could be the cheapest in the world at less than $5 per megawatt-hour, the bank projects; it will also become competitive in hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, and wind turbines.

    This is how we defeat the fossil fuel mafia in the long run. KSA and Russia are not happy about what we’re up to here. The IRA is going to drive HUGE changes over the next few years.

    Thanks President Biden and Senator Manchin!

  24. 24.

    Roger Moore

    Walker is going to force us to reevaluate the 27% crazification factor.  Like Alan Keys vs Obama, Walker is running against another black man and has no established political infrastructure in Georgia.  But he’s likely to get a lot more than 27% of the vote.

  25. 25.

    Stuart Frasier

    The way to stick it to Saudi (other bad actors, like Russia and Texas) is to get off fossil fuels as quickly as possible.  Install solar.  Get an electric car.  Switch to induction cooking.  Replace your furnace with a heat pump.  You’ll ultimately save money while cutting off the bad actors.

  26. 26.

    MazeDancer

    @WaterGirl:

    PostCards are not cheap to mail. But they are effective. They do increase turnout.

    I am guessing a half a point voter increase rate. So, that means for every 1000 we send, aggregately, we might motivate 5 voters.

    Every vote counts.

    So, click on my nym people. Get addresses. And free original designs to download.

  27. 27.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @Old School: ​
      I like how they put thick, coke bottle glasses on him in a ridiculous attempt to make him look serious

  28. 28.

    dnfree

    I’ve commented before on the old “joke”:  what is the Saudi national anthem?  “Onward, Christian Soldiers.”

    They use us. We don’t get a chance to “use” them. We’re subservient in the relationship.

  30. 30.

    Hoodie

    @David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: DeSantis’ face in that is priceless.  It screams “I got stuck with this effin’ hurricane and now I can’t spend my time and the state’s money doing MAGA stunts.  On top of that, I need to kiss Biden’s ass because there’s no way this shitty state can afford to rebuild and, if I don’t get the money, I’m going to be blamed.  Oh, and I’ll never have that one-one rapport that comes easy to Biden because I’m a miserable shitstain with a rancid walnut of a soul. And I look fat in this jacket.”

  31. 31.

    germy shoemangler

    A federal judge halted key provisions Thursday of New York’s latest attempt to restrict who can carry a handgun in public and where firearms can be brought, saying multiple parts of a law the state passed this year are unconstitutional.

    U.S. District Judge Glenn Suddaby focused on multiple parts of the law, saying licensing requirements — like a rule requiring applicants to turn over information about their social media accounts — went too far.

    The ruling would keep restrictions in place that bar firearms from being carried into schools, government buildings and places of worship, but the judge said the state couldn’t ban guns from other sensitive locations, such as Times Square.

    https://dailygazette.com/2022/10/06/federal-judge-halts-key-parts-of-new-yorks-new-gun-law/

  33. 33.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Roger Moore: difference being that Keys parachuted into Illinois whereas Walker has been famous in Georgia for decades.

    Plus, Georgia is much redder state than Illinois

  34. 34.

    JMG

    @JoyceH: Too much prime time competition in October from the baseball playoffs and the NFL (Thursday night games, and 13th is a Thursday). No chance of getting on anything but MSNBC and CNN. I also read somewhere that the committee felt afternoon hearings were more effective because highlights were available for the evening local and national news broadcasts, which still have by far the largest audiences for news.

  35. 35.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Nothing good ever came out of the Bandit House of Saud. They and the Wahhabi Imams are determined to keep Saudi Arabia as much in the middle ages, socially, as they can, despite embracing high tech that destroys social reactionaries.

  36. 36.

    Roger Moore

    @Betty Cracker:

    That’s a measure of how much contempt the GOP has for its own voters, not to mention the country.

    Those Republican voters gave Walker an overwhelming victory in the primary, even though there were actual qualified candidates on the ballot.  The contempt is deserved.

  37. 37.

    Alison Rose 💙🌻💛

    DARK BRANDON SAYS SMOKE ‘EM IF YOU GOT ‘EM:

    President Biden on Thursday pardoned all people convicted of marijuana possession under federal law and said his administration would review whether marijuana should still be a Class 1 drug like heroin and LSD.
    The pardons will clear about 6,500 people who were convicted on federal charges of simple possession of marijuana from 1992 to 2021 and thousands more who were convicted of possession in the District of Columbia, officials said. Officials said the president would urge governors to follow his lead for people convicted on state charges of possession.

    Nice move, and long overdue.

  39. 39.

    germy shoemangler

    Does Walker have a movement disorder?  He rocks continuously while listening to reporter questions.

  42. 42.

    BruceFromOhio

    @Roger Moore: If this contest were held in Illinois, I would expect slightly higher CF but generally in line with the original measurement. Georgia in post-TFG world is going to be higher, I’m expecting 38-42%. This is the state that hath foisted the curse of Madge on the electorate, a clear sign of rampant CF.​ My recollection is Tyrone offered 27% as a floor, not a median.

  43. 43.

    MazeDancer

    Well, I underestimated PostCard impact on voter increase. Increase by 4.

    1000 PostCards could motivate 40 more votes. At a mere 11 bucks each.

    VA Dems have a robust PostCard program and they studied results.

    Postcards4VA writers served as the force behind the 26,000 postcards in this study, and results showed that the postcards increased turnout by 0.4 percent (a typical get-out-the-vote, or GOTV, canvass increases turnout by 0.3 percent) and concluded that the postcards had as good or better effect on voter turnout than going door to door.

  53. 53.

    Immanentize

    @Alison Rose 💙🌻💛: The biggest pot smokers I knew in Texas were rednecks and bikers. Ask Willy.

    And there is the old saw that Libertarians are just hard Republicans who smoke pot. I’m looking at you, “Rand” Paul.

  54. 54.

    C Stars

    @Alison Rose 💙🌻💛: Friend of a friend sort of situation, but a guy I sorta know, whose dad is big in GOP politics in Kentucky, describes a situation in which a lot of these dudes are high as a kite NOT ONLY at the Cawthorne-esque parties but often while doing their jobs. Cocaine I think mostly, but apparently this guy also sells psilocybin to his lawyer pals. Can you imagine Mitch McConnell on shrooms? (fyi he didn’t actually mention Mitch…)

  55. 55.

    rikyrah

    Looking for the lie. See none.

     

    Doug Jones (@DougJones) tweeted at 9:09 AM on Thu, Oct 06, 2022:
    Folks it’s time to acknowledge that  “evangelical” is no longer a Christian religous label but a political one focused on political power more than faith. Walker’s opponent is an ordained minister whose life has been a demonstration of faith and service.   https://t.co/vUB1SQNXV3
    (https://twitter.com/DougJones/status/1578024663699329031?t=WFvbakb3fcdyUk_M0EdqXw&s=03)

  58. 58.

    MazeDancer

    @C Stars: You don’t have to print the free designs.

    You can get regular PostCards at the P.O

    Or use any PostCards you please. Pretty ones are nice. They have lots of pretty ones on Amazon. Voter ones, too.

  60. 60.

    germy shoemangler

    @Alison Rose 💙🌻💛:

    This is important because from what I understand dispensaries are on a cash-only basis because of federal restrictions.

    My friend’s daughter worked at a dispensary and they worried constantly about armed robbery because of the piles of cash.  No credit cards.

  62. 62.

    Tony Jay

    @brantl:

    Yeah, but that’s the fault of those backwards Persians  innit? The good ol’ US of A gave them a second chance to pick the ‘right’ kind of democratically elected leader, or at least be properly subservient to their unelected hereditary one, but they went and got all Islamic instead.

    It’s ungrateful  that is.

  64. 64.

    geg6

    @C Stars: ​
     
    I feel you. I have had to go to the county Dem headquarters to get them, which is a bit difficult when you work full-time. My printer at home cannot handle card stock.

  69. 69.

    C Stars

    @rikyrah: I saw this tweet and it reminded me of an interview I heard recently with a man who had left Russia, about how the well-off city-dwelling men are able to either get excused from service or leave the country. Ethnic minorities and/or young people from rural areas are the ones who have the lowest chance of being able to evade mobilization. I guess taking a boat to Alaska is one option. This is so sad.

  71. 71.

    Jeffro

    @Roger Moore: we’ll have to call it the “crazification plus” factor

    or maybe “crazification adjusted for Fox/GOP inflation” factor

    because they surely have gotten X% more crazy since that 2004 Senate race

  72. 72.

    germy shoemangler

    @rikyrah:

    She’s got some “interesting” staff members working on her campaign.  I assume a college republican on her payroll put together the footage from his favorite sources.

  76. 76.

    Jeffro

    @Alison Rose 💙🌻💛: Fox News dot com doesn’t have a lengthy story up yet, but its big, screaming headline is…yup…

    “REEFER MADNESS”

    lol

    commencing 20 straight days of Fox pundit commentary about how this will get our kids killed just so Biden can bribe college kids to vote for him in 3, 2, 1…

  78. 78.

    Steve in the ATL

    Just before Covid hit, we were at a resort in Luxor and had dinner with a couple who lived in Dubai and had lived and worked all over the Middle East. He was a British national and she was his Kenyan-born alleged wife (they kept insisting that they worked in the private sector and were TOTALLY NOT SPIES).

    Anyway, they had a lot to say about various middle eastern governments and other powers but it always came back to “Saudi is the absolute worst” about everything in every way.  So as noted supra in this thread, the sooner we can make these oil economies irrelevant, the better for the whole world. And yes I am including Texas in that group!

  79. 79.

    lowtechcyclist

    @rikyrah: ​
     

    Looking for the lie. See none.

    Doug Jones (@DougJones) tweeted at 9:09 AM on Thu, Oct 06, 2022:
    Folks it’s time to acknowledge that “evangelical” is no longer a Christian religous label but a political one focused on political power more than faith.

    I’ve been saying that for a few years now, good to see someone saying it who has more of a platform that I do.

    There may be individual evangelicals who know the Lord, but collectively they have nothing to do with Christ. Fuck ’em.

  80. 80.

    Jeffro

    @rikyrah: ‘ostrich’ is EXACTLY right…all of these Rs are trying very hard to look away, look away, look away from the insanity right in front of their faces

  81. 81.

    Betty Cracker

    Postcards to Voters has an Etsy site. That’s where I ordered mine. I have a printer that can handle cardstock, but it uses up a lot of ink, so it was less of a hassle to order them. They showed up pretty quick. ETA — link!

  82. 82.

    C Stars

    @geg6: Well, that’s a good idea, although yes, a bit complicated logistically. I have sort of an odd collection of kitchy postcards from motels and whatnot that I’ve visited over the years. They just don’t seem appropriate for this purpose. Like: look how depressing America is!! Now vote…

  83. 83.

    Tony G

    @geg6: In a better world, with better “news media”, every single time the words “Saudi Arabia” are mentioned, the reader or viewer should be reminded that the 911 attacks were planned by a Saudi and that the majority of the hijackers were Saudis.  Those fact should be repeated over and over again, so that even the stupidest Americans are aware of them.

  88. 88.

    Anyway

    @rikyrah:

    If you talk to someone who was in choir or band at a majority Black HS, you’ll eventually discuss those annoying fundraisers for uniforms, instruments, etc.  & a SURPRISING number will casually say:

    “Oh, Dolly Parton paid for ours”
    (https://twitter.com/michaelharriot/status/1578022323625463808?t=oAPKxhEafmGNZO-Ze3suXA&s=03)

    Reason #28923 to say “WE’RE NOT WORTHY!!!”

    In the suburban strip mall where I grocery shop I can never resist HS kids fundraising for school trips …

  89. 89.

    C Stars

    @lowtechcyclist: At church last Sunday our pastor asked for protection from Christian Nationalists. I thought, wow, she’s really just putting it out there. But it’s true now: they’re an enemy of good in our country.

  90. 90.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Haven’t read through comments yet. Has this been noted?

    Biden Pardons Thousands of People Convicted of Marijuana Possession Under Federal Law

  94. 94.

    Scout211

    More today on Uvalde.  CNN recently identified a new Uvalde school district police officer, Crimson Elizondo, as one of the state troopers first at scene of the school shooting who did nothing to intervene. She is still under investigation for her (lack of) response to the massacre. There was an outcry from parents. Today she was fired.

    Uvalde, TexasCNN — 
    The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District fired a newly hired school officer on Thursday after CNN identified her as one of the officers under investigation for her actions during the Uvalde school massacre in May.

    Crimson Elizondo was one of the state troopers who arrived at Robb Elementary within two minutes of a gunman entering the school and opening fire last May.

    She is seen in her Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) uniform, handgun drawn, outside the school building in Uvalde, and then briefly in the hallway on the body camera footage from another law enforcement officer.

    Not the whole story, though.

    However, the Uvalde School District Police were informed as early as July 28 that Elizondo was subject to investigation by the department’s Office of Inspector General for actions “inconsistent with training and department requirements,” according to documents obtained by CNN in a public records request.

  103. 103.

    Tony G

    @germy shoemangler: Of course, since the election of Trump they no longer even pretend to be The Party of Family Values.  It’s just wealth and power, guns and white supremacy now.  That’s all they represent now — and it’s enough to get the support of about 40% of the US population.

  106. 106.

    Geminid

    @Tony G: Bin Laden  had plenty of prospects from different countries to chose his hijackers from. He chose Saudi nationals for the reason you describe.

    Bin Laden was expelled from Saudi Arabia because he argued publically that the Kingdom’s acceptance of a US presence was a betrayal of religious principles. Once he was expelled from Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Royal family became his enemy, and he wanted to undermine US public support for the Kingdom.

    That’s not to say that they don’t deserve undermining, just that the nationality of the highjackers was intentional.

  110. 110.

    Scout211

    @raven: more details. Link

    CNN — 
    Jeremy Bertino, a top lieutenant to Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, is set to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy on Thursday, he told a federal judge in court.

    Bertino, 43, will also plead guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. He is the first member of the Proud Boys to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy – a major boost to the historic prosecution of the far right organization.

    Bertino was listed in previous indictments as “PERSON-1,” but has not publicly faced charges. He is not alleged to have been in Washington, DC on January 6. Prosecutors have previously outlined his involvement in Proud Boys leadership and extensive planning meetings and chats.
     

  112. 112.

    C Stars

    @Omnes Omnibus: And still only somewhat achieves a bare semblance of humanity. Blech

    @Alison Rose 💙🌻💛: Right, or shooting dogs or something. Actually he probably just sits in his awful country club lounge that smells like stale tobacco and pee and drinks expensive bourbon until he passes out.

  113. 113.

    HinTN

    @C Stars: Not well but can be done. I have an older HP inkjet and it won’t feed the stock for printing both sides at once. I’m going to try a mass printing of side one and then side 2. We shall see.

  114. 114.

    PaulWartenberg

    We need a new thread.

    Biden just announced pardons for federal marijuana cases, and asking Justice and HHS to reschedule pot to a lower – LEGAL – classification.

    Huge fucking deal.

  115. 115.

    p.a.

    The sooner we put ourselves in position to tell the House of Saud to eff off the better.  It’s the rest of the world that will then be the issue.

    How will the women’s revolt in Iran affect regional rival SA domestically, and eventually in expressions of foreign policy?   Are NGOs involved with the women’s movement in Iran?  Given US history, if the USG is seen to be involved, it would delegitimize the protests, I’m afraid.

    Sadly, my $ is on the Iranian regime/conservatives: fundy religion will go to any lengths to keep power, and painting domestic protest as a threat to the nation is the easiest slander there is.

  120. 120.

    raven

    A lieutenant of longtime former Proud Boys chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio is set to become the group’s first member to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, deepening the government’s case against an organization accused of mobilizing violence to prevent the inauguration of Joe Biden, according to court records.

    A plea by Jeremy Bertino, 43, of Belmont, N.C., would give the Justice Department a potential key witness against Tarrio and four other Proud Boys leaders who are set to face trial in December on charges of plotting to oppose by force the presidential transition, culminating in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol.

  122. 122.

    C Stars

    @Kristine: Whew, sounds like a lot of liabilities were removed from your property today. You must be relieved! We need to get an arborist to come look at our olive tree this fall. Sadly we don’t expect any rain here in CA anytime soon though…

  125. 125.

    Geminid

    @PaulWartenberg: I think this will expand opportunity for research into the medicinal use of cannabis. There has been a strain that has been used for years to treat a severe form of childhood epilepsy.

    I don’t think that was just a fluke. Growers and scientists will find more neuro-therapeutic cannabinoids. I’m hoping they find some that help people with Parkinson’s Disease.

  126. 126.

    AWOL

    @Geminid: Walker claims to have dissociative identity disorder. He had a lisp when he was young. As he was teased by the other kids, he dreamt of joining the military as a youth and killing as many people as he could to get even for this slight. This is documented in his autobiography. He may have CTE symptoms, but they seem almost irrelevant. He’d be unfit even if he were a professional curler. His relationship with Trump goes back to the 1980s. His personal life makes dumpster fires look clean and orderly.

     

    He’s just garbage.

  127. 127.

    Scout211

    Another court ruling today of interest. Link

    CNN — 
    A federal judge in Washington, DC, ruled Thursday that changes Postmaster General Louis DeJoy made to the US Postal Service before the 2020 election hurt mail delivery, and has put in place orders to prevent DeJoy from doing the same again.

    Judge Emmet Sullivan said the USPS couldn’t bar postal workers from making late or extra delivery trips without permission from the Postal Regulatory Commission, an independent federal agency.

    “Although the simultaneous implementation of multiple policy changes in June and July 2020 contributed to the decline in mail service and the overall confusion by postal workers, the record evidence demonstrates that changes to and impacts on the USPS transportation schedule regarding late and extra trips were the primary factor in affecting service on a nationwide or substantially nationwide basis,” Sullivan wrote in a 65-page opinion Thursday.

  129. 129.

    JPL

    @AWOL: Aaron Hernandez had problems that were ignored early on.   If Herschel played football early on, that could lead to a lifetime of problems.

  130. 130.

    geg6

    @raven: ​
     
    LOL! We had a dog named Henry, too, a yellow lab. He wasn’t named after the guy in the song though. Biggest damn lab I’ve ever seen. His head was huge and his tail was as thick as my calves. When he wagged it, you got the hell out of the way because it was like being hit with a log.

  132. 132.

    Betty

    @rikyrah: Nicole Wallace was on fire about this yesterday. She was practically yelling that everyone needs to vote for Democrats to save democracy. Absolutely no patience with talk about a non-MAGA third party. She shut that right down emphasizing that this election is it!

  135. 135.

    C Stars

    @JPL: Isn’t this sort of an unspoken truth? I mean, there’s just very obviously something wrong with this man’s brain beyond just being a Republican. He’s being used as a placeholder and it’s so very creepy and also kind of sad.

  136. 136.

    geg6

    @Betty: ​
     
    She and Tim Miller (both former prominent GOPers at that) have both had their hair on fire for months. I enjoy listening to them blister their former colleagues.

  139. 139.

    AWOL

    @JPL: Excellent point. I just vaguely recall his “career” with Trump’s comical NY Generals. Otherwise, I’ve always found him easy to ignore on the sports pages when he was “relevant,” not just a human hemorrhoid as he is now.

  140. 140.

    geg6

    @raven: ​

    He was a very good boy. His person was my John, but I still loved him and cried my eyes out when we had to send him over the rainbow bridge.

    He used to eat my fancy bras.  Not the exercise or t-shirt bras.  Just the $80 super fancy ones.

  141. 141.

    Geminid

    @p.a.: It’s hard to tell how these protests will play out. So far the regime has held back from using the brute force employed to suppress the protesters of “Bloody November,” 2019. Reuters estimated that they killed 1500 Iranians that month, most of them over a three day period.

    Security forces are using live fire, though, just not on a savage scale yet.

  143. 143.

    JPL

    @AWOL: Walker has a big ad buy stating that Warnock wants to put criminals on the street.   After all the domestic violence wouldn’t that be him?

  154. 154.

    Eduardo

    @Bobby Thomson: Iran has been very oppositional to the US, so no alliance has been –or is yet– possible.

    Ideally of course, we want the mullahs to be overthrown, but honestly if the mullahs were game I would trade the alliance with Saudi Arabia for one with Iran in a New York minute.  There is a long distance between the culture in Iran vs the one in Saudi Arabia.

    The Saudis are the worst of the very worst.

  157. 157.

    Eduardo

    @JoyceH:

    Wouldn’t it be nice if the events of this year significantly hastened the development of renewable energy and the phasing out of fossil fuels, so we could get away from having to cozy up to blood-drenched despots because of our energy needs?

    Happening in Europe as we “speak”.  And the IRA is unrelated but it is a big Biden deal.  Right now the main bottleneck for a crazy ass renewable revolution is transmission lines.

  161. 161.

    Gin & Tonic

    @geg6: Weed is much stronger now. Recreational is legal in Mass, so I recently decided to drive up and buy some. Haven’t smoked any in decades. Took maybe 5-6 tokes off a “pre-roll.” It was not what I was expecting at all, and frankly I didn’t enjoy the experience.

  162. 162.

    germy shoemangler

    I’m not sure if electric cars are a solution to this problem:

    This is a dystopia. pic.twitter.com/vGA8Uf6eC4

    — Queen Anne Greenways (@QAGreenways) October 6, 2022

    Cars should be a choice, not a necessity. (Unless you live out in the middle of nowhere, then I guess they are a necessity.)

  163. 163.

    germy shoemangler

    @Gin & Tonic:

    One toke would have probably been sufficient.

    1933:  “Alcohol is legal now so I bought a bottle of gin and some tonic.  Drank half the bottle with some swigs of tonic and frankly I didn’t enjoy the experience.”

  164. 164.

    Geminid

    @Eduardo: With a population of 85 million and a good industrial base, Iran will always be a regional power. I think that under a new government they could have better relations with the US, and its neighbors as well.

    That’s one reason I am cautiously hoping these protesters succeed. The other and more important is that the Iranians deserve a better government. After 43 years the Islamic Republic has become more repressive, and I do not think it can be reformed.

  171. 171.

    geg6

    @HumboldtBlue: ​
     
    I’m no expert, but I’m not sure there’s all that much difference between them. Iran is better than either. From what I understand, Iranian culture is closer to Western than either Saudi or Afghan.

  173. 173.

    geg6

    @Gin & Tonic: ​
     
    I must admit, I have not completely abstained over the years and, in my line of work, it’s highly unlikely I would be drug tested, so it was worth the risk. I usually toke a few times a year, so I’m well aware of the difference. The only marijuana product that is too strong for me are the edibles. A girlfriend gave me one once and I was struck dumb by it. I hated the whole experience. But I’ll toke it up as soon as I can. I still have my little one-hitter from college. Never lost it or tossed it in anticipation of this happening.

  174. 174.

    Eduardo

    @Geminid: Full agreement.  And the population is ready for a much freer, just, and better society:  highly educated, most modern, completely over the religious tyranny.   The economy is more diversified than the Saudi one.  No comparison.  If only they can get rid of the mullahs.

  176. 176.

    VOR

    I keep trying to use the argument that renewable energy is good for US national security. If we got our energy from other sources, we could tell the Saudis and other producers to pound sand.  But the response is always that we ought to drill, baby, drill and mine more coal or do more fracking – in short, greater US production of fossil fuels. No, no, no.

    I am reduced to hoping economics will solve the problem. Solar keeps getting cheaper. Wind keeps getting cheaper. Technology keeps advancing. New coal power plants are not economically viable. But we need answers now, not in another 20 years, so we need it faster.

  178. 178.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Betty Cracker: Walker’s candidacy is yet another great reason to get rid of the filibuster. And the fucking blue note system.

    Actually, do we REALLY need a Senate at all? We certainly don’t need a governing body where an North Dakota gets the same say as a Texas or California.

  182. 182.

    Geminid

    @Eduardo: Europe-based Iran News Wire is a good source for reporting and video of the protests, especially if you do Twitter. They show protests from many different cities besides Tehran.

  184. 184.

    Eduardo

    @germy shoemangler:

    Makes no difference to the person having their head cut of

    Of course.  But degrees of oppression matter!  For example, the Taliban just forbade Afghan girls for going to school beyond 6th grade.

  186. 186.

    Steeplejack

    Boy, October surprises are popping up everywhere like mushrooms after the rain! Anonymous feds “think” they can charge Hunter Biden with something.

    A few notes about this story and its context.

    First: note this says that FEDERAL AGENTS think they have enough to charge, which is not the same as saying it will be charged or prosecutors think they have enough to charge.
    /1https://t.co/e20wTtuZqv

    — IfHatHadHappened (@Popehat) October 6, 2022

  187. 187.

    snoey

    @geg6: Edibles pass through the liver before they hit you.  This means that it can take hours to hit you (brownies are kinda weak, tasty though …) and some livers are better at it than others.  Some people will get wacked out on 5mg, others can eat 500.  Caution is advised.

  189. 189.

    Eduardo

    @Geminid: Thank you!  Didn’t know that website — Following the Iran protests since 2009.   Really optimistic that they will find a way to a modern Iran — not necessarily this year, but they will.  And when that happens it will be an earthquake in the Middle East and Central Asia.

  190. 190.

    Geminid

    @VOR: There are also a lot of jobs that are being made in the clean energy transition, and more to come. People are beginning to see this.

  193. 193.

    C Stars

    @geg6: I can’t smoke pot anymore because my throat hurts too much the next day.

    I do have dreams of one day finding a source for mushroom capsules and microdosing to become a better mother, as described in this article. Wish me luck!

  194. 194.

    Jay C

    @Eduardo:

    Another big bottleneck in the renewable-energy biz is the lack of widespread storage. Even where renewables provide a lot of generation, the conventional fossil-fueled grid does have to step in as a backup at times – as the RWNJs like to point out, the wind does stop blowing every so often. But storage (“battery”) technology -not to mention its production and distribution – is still lagging. Hopefully recent legislation will prod things along.

    It was depressing to read (in The Atlantic, I think), a piece about a revolutionary new battery technology (Vanadium redox flow -VRF), which was developed c. 2006 by a USG-funded group. It is said to be a giant improvement over current Lithium-ion batteries (VRF is more-efficient, way longer-lasting, and, unlike LiOn, not prone to blowing up or catching fire), yet, when the DoE (who own the patents) went to license the development, the found only a single domestic entrepreneur to sign on: and he couldn’t find anyone in the US interested enough to partner with him: so ended up (via various bureaucratic snafus) seeing the development initiative lost to Chinese interests (who are going with it), and Europeans ( who are sitting on it.

    so a lot of speed-bumps ahead

  196. 196.

    James E Powell

    @rikyrah:

    Not sure where DougJones has been or maybe he’s been holding back to be polite, but “evangelical” has meant ignorant, hateful bigot for at least 40 years.

  197. 197.

    geg6

    @snoey: ​ All I know is I’ll never ingest another one. Horrible. And I only took half!​
     
    I think the other half is buried somewhere in the back of my freezer.

  199. 199.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Roger Moore: Mm. I don’t know. It’s not so much crazification that’s at play here. It’s simple(minded) party allegiance and thirst for raw power.

    I’ve always that of crazification as being inexplicable actions. Here, Republicans voting for Walker is not inexplicable. None of them believe anything Walker says, but that is beside the point. They’re not followers of Walker and a Jim Jones character. They are simply voting to deny Democrats a Senate seat. There is logic here that is easily understood.

  208. 208.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Jay C: I think the whole idea of flow batteries is that you store the energy in the form of tanks of chemicals, which you can convert between the “charged” and “uncharged” forms reversibly. They’re not really appropriate for most of the applications we currently use Li-Ion batteries for, which require portability, but they could be better for grid-scale storage.

  209. 209.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Chief Oshkosh: Voting for a bad candidate in a general Senate election so your party can retain a seat and he’ll vote the way you want is logical. I’d be likely to do the same if the situation were reversed. What I wouldn’t do is vote for a complete clown like him in a primary.

  213. 213.

    Geminid

    @C Stars: When my friend Joan went up to Boston to help her hoarder friend straighten out her apartment, the first stop after the friend picked her up at Lagan airport was a cannabis dispensery.  Joan found that a quarter of the “Energy” gummie in the morning, and a quarter of a “Rest” gummie in the evening helped her sort through her friend’s mountains of stuff.

    It took six days and since a Sunday fell in the middle, they and another woman took the ferry to Provincetown and spent the day hacking around. Joan might have eaten a half that time. She says “Sunday is Fun Day!”

  214. 214.

    J R in WV

    @brantl:

    In an ideal world, we wouldn’t have conspired to have their last legitimately, democratically elected leader killed, either.

    A democratically elected leader in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? Are you kidding? Or talking about some other mid-eastern nation-state?

  216. 216.

    trollhattan

    The golly gosh traditional American values senator guy from Nebraska is going home to spend more time with his family I mean tasseling corn oh who am I kidding, he’s becoming Florida Man!

    October 6, 2022 at 3:38 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard

    Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) will announce plans to resign from the Senate later today in order to accept a job at an academic institution, KFAB reports. The Tampa Bay Times reports Sasse will become president of the University of Florida.

    Didn’t see that coming, did you.

  217. 217.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @germy shoemangler: ​
     This reminds me of Reaganite dipshit Jeanne Kirkpatrick drawing some sort of twisted separation of “authoritarian” regimes and “totalitarian” regimes.

  219. 219.

    Geminid

    @Matt McIrvin: There is a lot of progress being made in battery development, and in materials research as well. I think storage problems will be solved over the next ten years.

    Until then, I have no problem with natural gas generation backing up the grid. By 2035 we’ll probably be burning “green” hydrogen for this purpose anyway.

  222. 222.

    C Stars

    @Geminid: Sounds like an interesting trip! I am not above admitting that I have, in the past, used edibles to get through difficult family holiday trips etc. (not so much now that I have kids). But the designer edibles can be hit or miss. I once took one labeled “sleep” and was up all night with a pounding heart and a severe case of existential dread. In any case, sounds like it worked out well for your friend!

  223. 223.

    trollhattan

    @geg6: ​Is there anything as lovable as a big ol’ thick-boy lab? There is not.

    We can’t have a Lab on account of the koi pond. You can’t keep a Lab out of water, of if you can you’re being cruel. As to fetching the big fish, some of them are adroit at that, too.

  225. 225.

    Geminid

    @trollhattan: There will be a big (and hopefully divisive) fight for the Republican nomination to fill Sasse’s Senate seat.

    There could be some fights between Sasse and DeSantis too, assuming DeSantis is reelected. I wonder if the Florida Board chose a Senator for this reason.

  226. 226.

    ian

    @Tony G: Timothy McVeigh was from New York.  Should we mention how awful New York is every time he or the Oklahoma City bombing comes up?

    Conflating a bad royal family or the nationality of terrorists with an entire population is… not a good take, to put it politely.

  227. 227.

    trollhattan

    @NotMax: ​Heh.

    Betty’s gonna need to rethink her whole Gatorphilia thing. Sasse ain’t Ken Starr (is he still dead?) but not who I’d want at the helm of my alma mater. God, just picture the lectures.

  228. 228.

    Jay C

    @NotMax:

    Soon-to-be-former Senator Sasse is going to be a University President: he will have an entire student body of over 55,000 to coin phrases over his unfortunately-rhyming surname….

  229. 229.

    NotMax

    @Geminid

    As residency, in some quarters, is deemed a quaint and outdated concept, maybe Nebraska’s governor will appoint Oz to fill the seat.

    //

  230. 230.

    Jay C

    @Geminid:

    Any fight over Sasse’s Senate seat is going have to be delayed for two years: under Nebraska law, the Gov (RWNJ Pete Ricketts) appoints a replacement, who will then have to stand at the next general election (2024). And again in 2026 (when Sasse’s term expires)

  231. 231.

    Dan B

    @Jay C: Two grid scale energy storage systems are inexpensive, can be up and running in six to ten months, and use standard equipment:  sand batteries and CO2 batteries.  They only need a mental reset in finance and politics since they are profitable at local scales – 15,000 homes or so – not the huge power plant plus massive transmission grids.  And there are other promising batteries for autos and smaller like Antimony / Calcium with calcium salt.  The materials are easier to source and not flammable.

    We need deployment not more research.

  234. 234.

    Geminid

    @Jay C: That sure is disappointing! I was hoping for a bruising special election fight.

    I wonder what Rickets will do. He might appoint a placeholder who will step out of Ricketts’ way in 2024.

  235. 235.

    Mai Naem mobile

    Hope Biden takes the ‘nobody fucks with a Biden’ attitude with that murdering POS MBS.

  236. 236.

    Mai Naem mobile

    I wonder if Sasse has some scandal story coming up or he thinks the GOP is going to be a minority party for the next few years and didn’t want to be part of it. Uni President is really better than being a Senator? I have to wonder if he’s going for governor and then for POTUS. He really  doesn’t come across as a scandal kind of guy unlike most of his GOP pals.

  238. 238.

    Geminid

    @Mai Naem mobile: The Republican Party is so toxic now that I could see Sasse stepping away from it for that reason.

    That wouldn’t neccesarily mean he’s giving up politics for life, though. I think Paul Ryan retired because he could see the trump trainwreck coming, but I always figured Ryan is planning on a comeback after the wreckage settles.

  239. 239.

    GibberJack

    @Kristine: I thought trimming oaks was verboten outside of winter due to risk of wilt. Didn’t this arborist know that? When is your hard frost date?

    I hope your oak doesn’t get the wilt.

    eta: i assume you are in the US.

  240. 240.

    Omnes Omnibus

    FWIW Omnishambles was my much derided second album.  I think that in time people will recognize its greatness.

  241. 241.

    geg6

    @trollhattan: ​ I thought that too, but you’ve never met my Koda. We have a koi pond and she has no interest in it. Mainly because she’s absolutely disgusted by water. Hates the pond, hates a bath, won’t go near my sister’s swimming pool. Never met a lab that didn’t like water until Koda.​

  245. 245.

    Rusty

    @lowtechcyclist: This has been going on for a while.  During the 2016 election pollsters we’re already identifying a group that considers themselves evangelical but didn’t regularly go to church.  Not surprisingly they were big supporters of Trump in the primary, whereas evangelicals that regularly went to church were more likely to vote for more established candidates in the primary (after the primary they switched hard to Trump).  Evangelical was even then a political label, not so much a religious belief system for a segment of the right.

  246. 246.

    GibberJack

    @Stuart Frasier: That was obvious since 1973.

    What was that Churchill quote about Americans doing the right thing only after exhausting all other possibilities? Yeah, that one.

  248. 248.

    Gravenstone

    @Steeplejack: The set up here is that if he’s not charged, obviously Joe ‘pulled strings’ to make it all go away. It’s always “heads we win, tails you lose ” with these fuckers.

  251. 251.

    Anonymous At Work

    @geg6: Nah, you don’t end the US-Saudi Alliance like this.  You have the Israeli PM on the phone listening as the President explains “If you F–k us all the time and never help us, we’ll F–k off and treat you the way you treat us.”

    Going neutral on Saudi Arabia should scare Israel and help us in Iran and Syria as a more-honest broker.

  253. 253.

    Brit in Chicago

    @Chief Oshkosh: I agree about the over-representation of small states (but remember VT and RI). But the R’s are more likely to regain the House than they are to regain the Senate. So I think we need an end to gerrymandering before we need the abolition of the Senate.

  254. 254.

    Mimi haha

    @Tony Jay:

    “Yeah, but that’s the fault of those backwards Persians  innit? The good ol’ US of A gave them a second chance to pick the ‘right’ kind of democratically elected leader…”

     

    I used to work with a niece of the Shah. Her mother and Mrs. The Shah were sisters. We had interesting conversations about how unfair the revolution was to her family–the servants wouldn’t even help them sew their jewelry into the hems of their skirts before they got the hell out of the country.

  256. 256.

    GibberJack

    @C Stars: It’s why the War on Drugs targets suppliers, especially brown immigrant cross border and black suppliers.

    The supposed party of capitalism ignores how demand creates supply and goes after hydra-headed supply.

    But they must. Else they bust white professionals and the elite and the politically connected. In an anti-drug program that is supposedly designed to pour l’encourager les autres they make examples of the wrong people, the wrong end of the chain.

    The whole war on drugs was a means to criminalize, put down and imprison the people they wanted to criminalize, put down and imprison.

    eta: see history of criminalization of marijuana use and which communities it was targeted against.

  258. 258.

    Glidwrith

    @Quiltingfool: Don’t know if you are still around, but I got the quilting block. Beautiful! I’m trying to figure out how to set it up both for display and so I can run my hands over it for the textures.

  259. 259.

    Quiltingfool

    @Glidwrith:  I had the block hanging by my sewing machine because I loved looking at it!  Gotta get started on 8 more of them!

    Now, I didn’t design the block, it is a pattern by McKenna Ryan – I bought three more patterns that have a cat in them (cat patterns are my weakness) with different outdoor backgrounds.  I have just focused on the sunflower pattern for now.

  260. 260.

    Gvg

    @Mai Naem mobile: he voted to impeach Trump. I suspect that had something to do with it. He voted with Trump like 87% of the time which is actually less than most of the party and he was very vocally anti Trump and anti Trump cult in the Republican Party while being very conservative himself.

    per Wikipedia he was anti ACA and criticized his party for not coming up with a good alternative plus show boating pointless votes against.

    Anti abortion and against same sex marriage. NOT a good fit for the culture at my University especially a lot of the suicide prevention and mental health support we have built up in the last 20 years. There are going to be problems. I suspect the republican appointed board thought he was a good idea, possibly meant to buffer against DeSantis who has been a problem for the University and all the schools in Florida.

    I don’t know why he is quitting the Senate, I just suspect the Trump impeachment has something to do with it.

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