Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

The choice is between normal and crazy.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Come on, man.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Fight them, without becoming them!

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Friday Evening Open Thread: Buckle Up

Friday Evening Open Thread: Buckle Up

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He’s fine, praise Goddess. Apparently #JimmyCarter is trending because the GOP Death Cultists don’t have anything fresher to run on than Oooga booga INFLATION!!!!… and Chuck Grassley is pissed that he actually has to campaign this cycle, rather than automatically retaining his seat.

Also, too — concerning ‘our national mood’:

We avoided a lot of excess covid mortality, but covid is still around, and avoiding that mortality was socially dislocating. We avoided a recession, but inflation is high. We ended the Afghanistan quagmire with minimal casualties, but we didn’t win, & people are still suffering.

What people seem to want most of all is plain, unqualified good news, & they’re furious the world won’t give them any. Meanwhile, “if it bleeds, it leads” remains the watchword of an increasingly nationalized yet myopic news media. We’re building a hyperreality of total despair.

Or perhaps worse than total despair, a reality where 1/3 of the country is either delusional about the stakes, or willing to lie for profit, & the self-appointed arbiters feel obliged to indulge the lies & delusions for the sake of fairness, partly because they’re despairing too.

Also, to be clear, not everyone followed expert recommendations. Not all expert recommendations were correct. What matters is that the people who “played by the rules” saw no particular reward for doing so, & in American culture/politics that is a cardinal sin.

Reader Interactions

168Comments

  3. 3.

    zhena gogolia

    I guess I’m resigned to we’re going to lose, but the war isn’t over. We have to fight on.

  5. 5.

    SpaceUnit

    I’m taking a bit of time away from the news right now.  All the horserace BS is making me crazy.

    I think there’s a real chance that our godawful MSM is setting expectations for the Republicans to over-perform.  And when they don’t they’re going to assume they were cheated.  The good citizens of Booger Creek will then storm the local post office and kill someone.

  6. 6.

    JCJ

    So the words in the box start with

     

    We avoided a lot of excess covid mortality

     

    But conclude with

     

    What matters is that the people who “played by the rules” saw no particular reward for doing so

     

    I guess avoiding a lot of excess covid mortality isn’t a reward in this writer’s view.

  8. 8.

    eclare

    I am not resigned.  I am not optimistic, but I am not pessimistic either.  Anyone who says that they know what will happen next Tuesday is lying.  Polls have been wrong for years, throw Dobbs into that and who knows.

    Now is the time for guts and guile-Elizabeth Taylor.

  10. 10.

    zhena gogolia

    @eclare: I’ll be happy if you’re right! Just double-checked my polling place and made plans with hubby for which half-hour slot we have available on Tuesday, so should be okay.

  14. 14.

    Butter Emails!

    Republicans were willing to sacrifice more than 100 thousand of their most dedicated supporters in an effort to maintain power. I just can’t figure out how to convince their supporters that Republicans politicians care no more for them than the migrants they put in cages. That politicians willing to inflict cruelty and pain on one group for political gain are more than willing to inflict it on any group should it benefit them.

    How do you convince people that yes, the face eating leopards will eat their faces?

  15. 15.

    Will

    Buckle up is right. I’m starting to sweat it here in PA over the Senate. I thought Fetterman would aways win, but now I think he will win but it will be super close. Took my biweekly drive to meet some construction guys we do work with. We always get lunch. They were hardcore Fetterman all summer, but after the debate there was a lot of they just aren’t going to vote since they can’t stand Oz but think Fetterman is now mentally disabled. No amount of doctor statements are going to convince them otherwise. I know they’ll come around months from now as he makes more of a recovery, but we need them now so they’ll vote and make sure he wins comfortably.

  17. 17.

    JR in WV

    Fetterman has balls of chrome steel to stay in the race in spite of his medical condition, and as he said, “I’ll be much improved come January, and Oz will still be an asshole!” or words to that effect…

    We contributed to him back when that didn’t seem it would matter.

  22. 22.

    trollhattan

    Does not surprise that Grassley conveniently does not recall what stagflation was, what caused it, nor even how it’s defined. Do better, Iowa.

  25. 25.

    Martin

    What people seem to want most of all is plain, unqualified good news, & they’re furious the world won’t give them any.

    The US has this concept, deeply embedded in our educational system, that every problem has a correct solution. The notion that a given problem might be unsolvable, or that it’s a trolly problem where *someone* has to get hurt and the problem is determining who or minimizing among the only bad solutions is basically inconceivable. So when such a problem surfaces and we don’t get a ‘hey, everyone avoids Covid and is never too inconvenienced they can’t go to a bar’ solution, we take the view that whoever is in charge is incompetent and we’ll just declare everyone incompetent over and over for never finding the correct answer.

    It’s an old problem, well known to educators. Even when educators try to break the cycle, the public reacts angrily to the effort because they still can’t accept the basic premise.

    Give the Russian public credit for one thing – they don’t fall into this trap. Theirs is the opposite – all solutions are bad. Your focus is to make sure the inevitable pain falls on someone else.

  26. 26.

    Mousebumples

    #GOTV #GOTV #GOTV

    This is all about ground game, helping friends and family and neighbors get to the polls.

    Question from a coworker today if she should vote before work on Tuesday or after work with her boyfriend. I asked where she was registered – not at his house, not at his polling place. She’s there a lot, and Wisconsin allows same day registration… But I was frank that I thought she might not be able to vote “with him” since she wouldn’t have a bill or lease with her name and his address.

    I strongly encouraged her to vote before work, and then either go with him for fun, or offer to make dinner while he voted, or whatever Election Day activity worked for them.

    We’re way more politically clued in than most. Use what you know to help make sure our side, our allies, get to the polls!

  27. 27.

    Baud

    I don’t know what will happen, but the last two first term midterms, we weren’t even in the hunt.

  28. 28.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @eclare: ​
      I will be depressed if we don’t pull it out this year. Not until then. In 2020, it took until the GA run off to get the end results. And, if it happens, I’ll be depressed and then start in on 2024.

    Until then, well, I’ll be out canvassing tomorrow.

  31. 31.

    Geminid

    @Argiope: Harry Truman did well in 1948 running against a “Do Nothing Congress.” Joe Biden resembles Truman in ways. John Clyburn has remarked on the similarity.

    But I still believe that control of the House is a 50-50 proposition. I think we’ll keep the Senate and add one seat or more.

  33. 33.

    Xavier

    When my local TV newsfolks do a story on inflation, they seem to drive around town and get a picture of the highest price they can. Or else use a photo from weeks ago. Hopefully people (who do pay attention to actual prices) recognize this for what it is.

  35. 35.

    geg6

    @schrodingers_cat:

    So now two people who aren’t from here, don’t currently live here and never did have decided they know more about PA and who would do best here than the Dem voters who actually do live here.  You know nothing.

  37. 37.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @geg6: FWIW I think both s_c and z_g had a preference for Lamb from long before Fetterman’s stroke.

    @geg6: Eh, people here explain Wisconsin to me quite often.

  38. 38.

    kalakal

    I’ll save any depression ’till after the voting. Right now nobody knows including the highly paid bloviators in the media. For what it’s worth I tend optimistic.

    One thing I do not think will happen will be a ‘Red Wave’.

    Whatever happens, it’s not the end, we carry on

  39. 39.

    Delk

    It’s time to call out these bullshit poll results based on 100 people.  Plus the click bait media ‘conventional wisdom’ bleating based on those polls.

  40. 40.

    geg6

    I’m out until after the election, except perhaps non-political threads.  Eeyores and know-it-alls are too thick on the ground.

  42. 42.

    Will

    @geg6: I’m 100% Fetterman for a long time and he is still the best candidate. I don’t think it’s ableist to have supported Connor Lamb or say he would be at better candidate at this very moment. I think Fetterman without the stroke would absolutely crush Oz. I still think he will win. However, I would be open to the argument that Connor Lamb at this very moment might win by more points than Fetterman if he was the nominee.

  44. 44.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Martin:

    Give the Russian public credit for one thing – they don’t fall into this trap. Theirs is the opposite – all solutions are bad. Your focus is to make sure the inevitable pain falls on someone else.

    I think this is actually the American attitude about many, many things. There are so many festering problems in this country that almost every other affluent country has solved (public transit, gun control, universal health care), and we speak of them as if they’re impossibilities because of immutable human nature.

  46. 46.

    bbleh

    @zhena gogolia: @Argiope:  SpaceUnit: @Steeplejack: @kalakal: @Delk: et al. I do not yet subscribe unreservedly to the pessimism.  There has been too much flooding of the zone by Republican-aligned pollsters, and FAR too much willing doomsaying by MSM whose primary purpose is dramatic entertainment.  And when people point out that Dems have WILDLY exceeded expectations in LOTS of IMPORTANT races this summer and fall, or that early-voting turnout is likewise exceeding expectations, it barely makes a ripple.

    Forget the Eeyores.  Soldier on!

    Mousebumples: yes yes yes!  Also yes! Also this, also too.

  47. 47.

    SpaceUnit

    I’m taking a lot of hope from that recent vote in Kansas.  The polling on that was so far off it was laughable.  And it was fricking Kansas, a state that’s redder than a baboon’s ass.

  48. 48.

    Will

    @Delk: I really hope Mandela wins. He is a great candidate in my eyes at least from the national non Wisconsin view. Are the ads attacking on defund the police? That’s all I see here in Western PA on Fetterman and the local house race. I really hope an entire generation of promising politicians doesn’t get wiped out for being within a hundred feet of it.

  50. 50.

    bbleh

    @Delk: We have a local candidate who is the target of a surprising number of ads.  I infer from this that the Nazgûl are disturbed by her.

    Naturally I voted for her.

  52. 52.

    Elizabelle

    @geg6:  Me too.

    Fuck the Eeyores. People:  what did you do to entertain yourself before cable and the internet?

    Do it.

  53. 53.

    bbleh

    @oatler: that Nancy video — pretty much the entire video — got SEVERAL MINUTES of play on the CNN 6:00 news broadcast.

    !!!  Did I mention, !!!

    Dare I say it, for all the dust stirred up and sh!t thrown by the Republicans, this has not been good for the Crazies.

    And I realize that it’s too soon and cold and inappropriately political and so on, but I reeeely hope that when Nancy turns her gaze back to Washington, it is fiery and merciless.

  54. 54.

    Elizabelle

    @bbleh: @SpaceUnit:

    Applause to both of you for your comments.

    PS:  I am not saying “fuck you” to individual (beloved) commenters.

    Just.  Pull up your socks.  Turn off the news.

  55. 55.

    Matt McIrvin

    @bbleh: There’s a bizarrely intense and misleading smear campaign going on against our Democratic state auditor candidate. Why that seat over all the others, I’m not sure–it might be the one where the Republicans think they could pick up a win because it’s a bit obscure and they have a “liberal” attack (claiming she’s a homophobe because she belonged to an awful church in her youth, omitting that she disavows these views now and has been completely open about it).

  56. 56.

    Another Scott

    @JCJ: That box of text you cite is nonsensical.  Are we sure that it wasn’t generated by some AI??

    :-/

    America’s biggest problem is that the other political party sees the path to power in denying reality and making every single little thing into something to excite lizard brains.  Normal people don’t like that – they really don’t.

    Until we crush the RWNJs, and show them that reality doesn’t care about their guts and their feelings and their professions of purity and patriotism, we have to keep fighting them.

    We’ve got historically low unemployment.  We’re out of the forever war in Afghanistan.  Wages are rising for people, especially in the bottom 25%, for the first time in ages.  We’re reaching a critical mass in energy production and transportation that will make everyone’s lives better (cleaner air, cheaper transport, better transit, more reliable transportation, more transportation options (e.g. electric bikes)).  The RWNJ SCOTUS has ripped off the mask and thinks they can take reproductive and privacy rights away without consequence.  The GQP has put up terrible candidates.  Biden and Team D have passed lots of good policies that are helping everyone.  Biden knows how to talk to real people.  We have fired up Democrats everywhere, and fired up non-political people including young people.

    I like our chances.  A lot.

    Forward!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  57. 57.

    eachother

    Don’t bring trace amounts of cannabis oil into russia. Nine years in prison.
    Rather, be putin and his poodles. Kill tens of thousands of innocent civilians and enjoy caviar in the palace.

  60. 60.

    Roger Moore

    What people seem to want most of all is plain, unqualified good news, & they’re furious the world won’t give them any.

    I think this is wrong. There are a lot of people who want bad news because they want to grumble, especially when Democrats are in office.  That’s why you see so many people in the media trying to find the hidden flaw in the amazingly good economic numbers we’ve seen under Biden.  They want things to be bad, and they’re more than willing to look for the cloud behind every silver lining.

  65. 65.

    James E Powell

    @JCJ:

    I guess avoiding a lot of excess covid mortality isn’t a reward in this writer’s view.

    The view I get from normies is if no one they know was seriously ill or died, then it was all bullshit & Democrats are to blame for ruining everything

    It reminds me of the way that the financial collapse, bank bailouts, and housing crisis were all Obama’s fault the day after he was inaugurated.

  67. 67.

    Jackie

    I can’t be pessimistic whenever I see Jimmy Carter! He’s made of the same cloth as my Dad.

  69. 69.

    James E Powell

    @Baud:

    I don’t know what will happen, but the last two first term midterms, we weren’t even in the hunt.

    True. But I don’t think it’s abortion rights. I think I’m on record arguing that issue doesn’t affect elections. Happy to be wrong. I think it’s more of a lingering distaste for Trump & Trumpster Republicans.

    If we were facing various versions of John Kasich or Scott Brown in GA, OH, PA, and WI, I don’t think we’d have a chance in any of those states.

  70. 70.

    James E Powell

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I won’t be happy if we get waxed, but I’m not going to be depressed. We put good people up across the board. Our people are working hard. There are factors outside of our control working against us.

    We also have yet to find an answer for a political press that is apparently committed to protecting & promoting Republicans, no matter how horrible they are.

  71. 71.

    Geminid

    I was pulling for Conor Lamb, but Pennsylvania Democrats picked John Fetterman over Lamb and Malcolm Kenyatta by a wide margin, and that’s good enough for me. Fetterman’s stroke occured too close to the primary to be a factor.

    But I still think Lamb would have been a strong general election candidate, and certainly would not have been ‘crushed.” Lamb is more or less a clone of Senator Bob Casey Jr., and Casey  carried Pennsylvania by 600,000 votes in 2018.

    And as long as I’m talking Pennylvania Senate politics, I will give credit, not blame, to Oprah Winfrey for giving Mehmet “Dr.” Oz his start. He is a crappy candidate. Oz’s fame won him Donald Trump’s endorsement, and that was barely enough for him to eke out a primary win against a stronger candidate. Mr. McCormick would have been a tougher opponent for Fetterman, and a more dangerous Senator.

    I can just see Ms. Winfrey and Claire McCaskill cackling about fhis over a game of Spades.

  72. 72.

    James E Powell

    @Will:

    However, I would be open to the argument that Connor Lamb at this very moment might win by more points than Fetterman if he was the nominee.

    What would be the point of that argument?

  78. 78.

    Jackie

    @oatler: CNN left out the second half of her statement: She is confident the grassroots movement will carry the House.

    Nancy Pelosi is not a Pollyanna; so if she believes, I believe.

  80. 80.

    Another Scott

    We didn't do this propaganda to make you believe something, it was to make you believe nothing. Then you will do nothing. https://t.co/5rWLjNoUtM

    — Darth Putin (@DarthPutinKGB) November 3, 2022

    +1

    The truth, and reality, matters. Don’t get distracted by the lies.

    Eyes on the prizes.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  81. 81.

    SpaceUnit

    One thing I believe that our big media analysts and pundits are missing is that for Democrats TFG is very much on the midterm ballot and for Republicans he is not.  That works in our favor.

  82. 82.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Jackie: No speaker of the House is going to say she thinks her party is going to lose on the eve of an election. That would just be terrible politics even if she privately knew it was going to be bad.

  84. 84.

    Dangerman

    Voted today. In California, so it’s a yawner. I’m fairly sure I spent more on coffee this year than Newsome did to get re-elected. I didn’t see one commercial or print ad for him. His opponent either. Name meant nothing. Some guy willing to be humiliated for the team, never to be heard from again.

    I feel for you Folks in competitive States. I’d be throwing shit at the TV by now.

  85. 85.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @James E Powell: ​
      Wait, are you suggesting that the only people coming out to vote for Dems due to Dobbs were already Dem voters? I would take issue with that.

  86. 86.

    Tony G

    I was a young man, right out of college, during the Carter administration.  From my perspective, Carter (usually) told the ugly truth to Americans, and he was hated for it.  That set the stage for “Kindly Uncle Ronnie” Reagan, who lied his ass off about everything, and was loved for it.   Many people just want to hear the lies that they want to hear.

  88. 88.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Wait a minute. There was a DOOM movie?

    *Googles*

    Oh my god there was. Who in their right minds thought that was a good idea lol

    Never played Doom, but apparently it’s a good game, but I don’t think it would translate well on to the screen. Most video game based movies don’t

  89. 89.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Omnes Omnibus: And people have opinions about Elizabeth Warren too and when she came 3rd in MA during the presidential primaries it surprised them. Senators are pretty important so everyone gets to have an opinion about them.

    You know nothing

    @geg6: As opposed to you who knows everything about Twitter without even having an account. Am I right? I expressed an opinion, you don’t like it, scroll on.

  90. 90.

    Roger Moore

    @JCJ:

     

    What matters is that the people who “played by the rules” saw no particular reward for doing so

    I guess avoiding a lot of excess covid mortality isn’t a reward in this writer’s view.

    I think what they’re saying is that the people who played by the rules didn’t have as much lower COVID mortality as the writer thinks they should have.  They want this to be a morality tale, where virtuous rules followers were rewarded by largely avoiding COVID, while scofflaws died in droves.  That didn’t happen, largely because the rules were at least as much about protecting the community as the individual.  Yes, people who lived in communities where people were good about following the rules did better than people in communities where few people followed the rules, but that meant protecting rules breakers in compliant communities and punishing rules followers in non-compliant ones.

  91. 91.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud: I happened to be living in Russia at a time when there was nothing in the stores but black caviar. We ate it morning noon and night

  92. 92.

    Suzanne

    @Martin:

    The notion that a given problem might be unsolvable, or that it’s a trolly problem where *someone* has to get hurt and the problem is determining who or minimizing among the only bad solutions is basically inconceivable. 

    This is so, so true. I am always trying to explain tradeoffs, which I have to do often in my working life, and some people just do not think that way.

  93. 93.

    tobie

    I’m by nature anxious, so I turned off TV some time ago. Right now I’m phonebanking. I adopted NC as my state in June and have stuck with it because people there tend to be nice on the phone. Came home from work tonight, made an hour of calls and got 14 commitments to vote for Beasley and the Dem slate tomorrow or on Tuesday, 6 already voted, 2 undecided, 7 hangups, and 1 not voting because he’s bedridden. I know I’m calling a people the NC Dem Party thinks are Dem voters. Still this was an encouraging haul, balm to the soul really.

  98. 98.

    phdesmond

    what keeps me hopeful amid the deranging distractions:

    the blue tsunami set off by the Supreme Court June 24

    hitting land all across the land on election day.

  100. 100.

    Baud

    The gay characters in my Duolingo Spanish app make me feel better about our progress.

    It’s like watching HGTV but educational.

  102. 102.

    Geminid

    @Dangerman: You folks in Cali still have some tight House races. Republican Mike Garcia has a tough race in Katie Hill’s old seat. I’ve read that the Republican in the district that includes Palm spring has a competitive challenger. And Mr. Valadeo, one of two of the ten Republican Impeachers still standing, has a close race in the Central Valley.

    That’s three potential House pickups. We may need them too.

  103. 103.

    James E Powell

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I guess we’ll see. I am happy to be wrong about this

    From 2000, 2004 and 2016, voters who identify as pro-choice voted for the Republican in outcome determining numbers.

  104. 104.

    Lyrebird

    @James E Powell: Thanks for your balanced view…  I have no clue, but maybe because right now only Dems plus Cheney the Younger are willing to take any responsibility for ANYTHING AT ALL, it’s easy to blame them for everything.

    Glad we have early voting and that we have done that, boom.

    Total respect to the canvassers.  Based on my students’ work, I am only good at confusing people… sorry it’s been a long day.  but really I think I would be awful at cavassing.  Two years ago, I wrote a lot of postcards.  Been a lot of crises at home and at work this year, didn’t get any postcards out.  But we put out our signs and we voted.

    I am proud to have contributed to some of the BJ fundraising efforts, and I gave more to Judge Beasley and Congresswoman Demings.  Other family members have sent a big chunk to Lt Gov Fetterman.  I have huge respect for the way Lamb and other primary rivals immediately joined together.  Fetterman has lots of character, and I hope he wins the day against that sneak.

  109. 109.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Just wanted to thank you for being so optimistic all of this time. It’s very reassuring to read your reasonable takes on stuff.

    I took your advice recently and turned off the article feed that’s on my Google Chrome (Discover, I think it’s called). I think it’s generally helped me

  111. 111.

    eachother

    In the joystick days, Doom was my favorite. It took a lot of long nights but mrs. eachother got to the game’s end.
    No joy without the stick.  ;^)

  112. 112.

    Argiope

    @Omnes Omnibus: I was only in Russia for a few days in 1991, and the champagne was very cheap for Westerners then.  Worked great to wash down caviar.  I’m lower than the median BJ age by probably a decade or two, and it boggles my mind how much change Russia has undergone in the last 35 years.

  114. 114.

    Eyeroller

    The recent, supposedly non-partisan, polls I’ve seen have Fetterman comfortably ahead so is there something of which I am unaware?  He’s in less danger than Warnock or Cortez-Mastro according to those data.

  115. 115.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @WaterGirl:

    You too, for all of your efforts. It’s amazing to think Balloon Juice has helped raised millions of dollars over the past couple of years. And it feels incredible to have been apart of that. I also always be glad I wrote some postcards, no matter what happens next Tuesday

    I sincerely thank you WG from the bottom of my heart. For the past couple of weeks, your posts and comments have made me feel better too

  117. 117.

    SpaceUnit

    @MagdaInBlack:

    Agree.  And I refuse to give in to the negativity.  I like to think the Republicans are in for a rough night on Tuesday.

    I can’t help but think the folks wallowing in doom never played a sport in their life.

  120. 120.

    Jackie

    @Matt McIrvin: My thought was this: Nancy was giving an update about how her husband and family were doing since the attack. She wasn’t asked about the election at all. She volunteered that additional statement – which IMO she wouldn’t have said anything unless she felt confident in saying so.

  121. 121.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @sab:

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I’ve had sardines before from a salad bar and man were those things super salty. They were delicious! I imagine caviar would taste similar, then

  122. 122.

    El Muneco

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): A DOOM movie has the potential of being “Aliens only the horror is based on Dante’s Inferno rather than the visceral imagery of H.R. Giger”.

    That’s not what they made, of course, but these are the same people who managed to screw up Judge Dredd one and a half times, which should not be possible.

  124. 124.

    schrodingers_cat

    @James E Powell: That’s the conventional wisdom. We will know by the end of next week whether that’s true

    Ds won 5 special elections after Dobb and the Kansas referendum. I trust the actual elections more than the MSM narrative about the so called Red Wave.

  125. 125.

    RaflW

    Dude substantially older than Biden calling Biden old.
    I see that Chuck is as classless as ever.

  127. 127.

    El Muneco

    @Eyeroller: As you know, Bob, polls are worth nothing, but I did see a case where a poll pre-debate had Fetterman 48/43 and the same poll post-debate had massively changed, to 48/44.

  129. 129.

    zhena gogolia

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): It has a strong, salty taste. I like it best when it’s cut with something like butter or cream cheese. A little goes a long way.

    When you’re eating it all the time, you have to mix it with scrambled eggs or something. But you’re not likely to be in that position. Put it on a really crispy toast slathered with butter.

  130. 130.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    lol

    @RaflW:

    Dude substantially older than Biden calling Biden old.

    I see that Chuck is as classless as ever

    Yup. I seem to remember reading that inflation was also problem during the Nixon and Ford admins. And the beginning of Reagan’s. Chuck neglects to mention that though

  133. 133.

    RaflW

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yep.

    Various UUs scattered across the US texted over 150,000 sporadic voters (in voter files that are nonpartisan, but that focus on ppl of color, apartment renters, and other harder to reach demographics, in 4 targeted states) with info on how to vote early (in states where that’s still possible) and where to vote & what to bring to the polls on Tuesday.

    We’ll keep plugging away now-Monday at least. The goal is 800,000 texts – and we reply to people if they ask any questions! I lost track but probably did 4,500 texts today. On top of 3,400 the past two days into MN & WI (not states on the final 4 push).

    Other UUs are phonebanking, doing lit drops, etc.

    It.
    Ain’t.
    Over.

  134. 134.

    2liberal

    cnn is showing its new fascist ownership slant with headline ” New York Democrats are bracing for stunning Election Day losses, and they already have a fall guy”

  137. 137.

    Shakti

    I dropped off my ballot and my mother’s ballot at the Supervisor of Elections today. The parking lot was full and the drop off drive through took some time.  I was able to influence her votes for school board and the judicial retention races and the amendments. I tried to get her to vote for Val Demings but she wasn’t having it and left it blank.

    On my way back I received the umpteenth text from “Ron DeSantis” who I had blocked on the phone. My family firmly denies they signed me up for the Republican mailing list, even though I get texts addressed to my dad and mom, and I’m beginning to feel like I’m being stalked.

    Outreach has been decent. I’ve gotten texts from the state house, senate and school board candidates.

  138. 138.

    Geminid

    @zhena gogolia: Now that the James River has been cleaned up,  sturgeon swim all the way to Richmond. They’re protected, so no caviar harvest. There’s always shad roe in Central Virginia stores during spring time, though.

  139. 139.

    Citizen Alan

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Remember that evil hag from a few years back who was in danger of losing the soybean farm because of  Shitgibbon’s tariffs, and she complained that he “wasn’t  hurting the right people”?

  140. 140.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @El Muneco:

    Yikes, I remember watching a review video of the Sylvester Stallone version of Judge Dredd. That guy sure has fallen from grace

  143. 143.

    eachother

    @eachother:

    I will be canvassing the next three days. Snow and accumulations in forecast tonight through Wednesday.
    The new yard signs have survived intact three nights.

    The weather map showed clouds moving SE.  They paused, I tried to refresh the page thinking that was the reason for the pause and then, in the Pacific NW, the clouds shifted en mass to the NE.  It was strange to see and abrupt.  The temperature is forecast to crash too.  Cold and wet.  Not my favorite combination.

  145. 145.

    James E Powell

    @hueyplong:

    But you’ll concede it affected an election outcome in Kansas, won’t you?

    I think abortion rights as a stand-along issue, straight up or down, is a winner. Very different than presidential, senate, congressional or governor elections. Compare the result in the Kansas ballot issue with the Kansas elections

    If pro-choice voters considered abortion rights a priority, Roberts, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barret would not be supreme court justices.

  146. 146.

    thruppence

    Remember when George W. Bush was chosen to be president by the Republicans on the Supreme Court? I thought that was the worst political outcome conceivable. I guess I lacked imagination.

  148. 148.

    Citizen Alan

    My sister finally admitted that she voted for fir Trump and looks forward to voting for Desantis. She thinks Biden is senile. And she looooves Tucker Carlson.

  149. 149.

    AlaskaReader

    @Geminid: Sorry, There’s enormous damage already done, with more damage accumulating and Oprah has to be held accountable for foisting Oz and ‘Doctor’ Phil on the masses.

    She’s not yet been held to account and she should be loudly and explicitly counteracting the specific damages she spawned.

  151. 151.

    Lyrebird

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I’ve tried caviar once, and I thought, okay yes these are fish eggs alright.

    If you have the little orange fish eggs on the outside of your sushi sometimes, that is closer.  I like those little ones better than what I remember of the taste of caviar.

  152. 152.

    Ohio Mom

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): It’s not caviar, just fish eggs, but you can go to a Japanese restaurant and order salmon roe sushi. It will only set you back a few bucks.

    Salmon roe is salty and I don’t know if crunchy is the right word, the roe will burst in your mouth and it is like having a trip to the beach in your mouth. You could also get smelt roe sushi, which is definitely crunchy, they are much smaller than salmon roe.

    IIRC, caviar is roe that comes from sturgeons, and only sturgeons. It might also have extra salt added? Not sure.

  153. 153.

    Jackie

    From Political Wire:

    Ron DeSantis Says He Was Sent by God

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) released a new ad which appears to brand himself as the state’s messiah — created and sent by God to be a “fighter” for freedom.

    Florida Jackals who haven’t yet voted…. VOTE!!!

    The ad is embedded in the article. I 🤮🤮🤮

  154. 154.

    Citizen Alan

    @zhena gogolia:

    When I finally leave Mississippi for good. It’s entirely possible that we’ll never see each other again.  We’ve never been close,  and as she gets older she’s only grown more reflexively conservative.  And her oldest boy is a budding survivalist who gets all his news from YouTube videos.

  155. 155.

    SFAW

    I think Chuck “Catfish Mouth” Grassley has a lot of nerve commenting on Handsome Joe’s looks. [Yes, I know he wasn’t saying it in that way, but fuck him anyway. He’s a treasonous/traitorous motherfucker, and I hope he loses bigly.]

  158. 158.

    Ohio Mom

    Whatever I’ve heard last, I believe. Josh Marshall reminded his twitter readers that it’s possible the Republicans could make a good sweep, and that made me depressed. Nancy Pelosi said we are keeping the House and I am calmed and optimistic.

    Mostly I tell myself that waiting this out isn’t as bad as waiting for biopsy results (don’t worry, that was seven years ago, just a vivid memory for me).

  159. 159.

    Mousebumples

    @James E Powell: Pro-choice voters believed the lying liars on the Court when they said Roe was settled law.

    Not that it’s not, Pro-choice voters do not have the luxury of voting based on their second or third priorities.

    As a woman who (in some states) now has less bodily autonomy than a corpse, I reject your premise.

  160. 160.

    AlaskaReader

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Can’t speak to canned caviar, I’ve only ever eaten fish eggs raw straight out of the fish, but the taste of fresh fish eggs is distinctly modified by species and quality of habitat.

    I find fresh salmon eggs to have a more epressed ‘yolky’ taste the closer to maturity they are.

    ( …should anyone express any ‘queasiness’ over the eating of fish eggs, compare eating the eggs of chickens. I recommend the fish…)

  162. 162.

    Ohio Mom

    @Citizen Alan: Eh, lots of us have family members we are not in contact with, for various reasons (though mine died a few years ago, cementing the lack of contact).

    I hope you get to leave them and Alabama very soon.

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