Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

“Cheese and Kraken paired together for the appetizer trial.”

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Come on, man.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Bark louder, little dog.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Monday Evening Open Thread: Perceptions Differ!

Monday Evening Open Thread: Perceptions Differ!

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Not sure I see the problem, myself — not paying enough attention to King Charles here?

And then there’s this clip, from our side of the water…


When you work for The Dumbest Man on the Internet, no point in trying for subtlety…

Reader Interactions

160Comments

  2. 2.

    Elizabelle

    Eh.  They remember all the shrieking over TFG walking in front of QE2.

    Got to say, I was a tad surprised at Biden out in front.  Side by side is good.  But maybe then KC3 would look short.

  5. 5.

    mrmoshpotato

    americans do not bow to kings. you may recall that we killed a bunch of you over this idea.

    LMAO!

  7. 7.

    Elizabelle

    Why aren’t they scrutinizing Charles for subliminal messages in his tie pin or cufflinks?  I did love QE2’s messaging via brooch.

    ETA: Brooch, not broach. Before Subaru Diane throws a scone at me.

  8. 8.

    Jay C

    SRSLY: I don’t see what the “slight” is here: Biden walking in front of C3? Presumably, somebody (like a Protocol Officer) figured out who was going to walk where, and (unlike his predecessor), I’m sure Joe would take care to listen…

    ADD: IIRC, Trump got (rightly) reamed for simply barging ahead and bigfooting Queen Elizabeth – not the case here at all.

  9. 9.

    Ihop

    Oh for fucks sake, I do hope Biden was telling that worthless old Jimmy Saville covering fop to get bent.

    Fully lapsed Irish catholic here; fuck the entire fucking British royal family, and most especially chuckles.

    Ihop plus a bunch.

  11. 11.

    Danielx

    Jordan Conradson sounds like a grade A douche rocket, surprising absolutely nobody.

  13. 13.

    Alison Rose

    I mean, I doubt Charles started out in front and Biden clotheslined him and yanked him back so he could go first. If Charles et al were so concerned about protocol, they would’ve made sure to send Biden down the line second. When TFG did this, it was in front of a tiny woman, and it was clear he was purposely trying to shove his wide load to the front, like he did with that group of world leaders.

    Since it’s an OT: I set up one of those Facebook birthday fundraisers, because they always bug you to do it, and yet they don’t show the posts to anyone, so I don’t know what the damn point is. If any jackals are on FB and feel so inclined to kick in a few bucks for the National Center for Transgender Equality, that would be lovely.

  14. 14.

    Betty Cracker

    To his credit, C3 and/or the palace spokespeople immediately threw cold water on the notion that it was improper for Biden to pat C3 on the back or walk in front. They said the former was a warm gesture and the latter the correct protocol under those circumstances.

  16. 16.

    CaseyL

    SFAIK (remembering when TFG did so), walking in front of the monarch actually is a violation of protocol.

    Seems odd for Biden to do that, since he’s an old hand at meeting-greeting foreign leaders.  OTOH, it’s hardly earth-shaking

    ETA: And Betty Cracker has corrected me: not a violation of protocol.

  17. 17.

    Tony Jay

    Could not give the slightest whiff of a dusty fuck about what Far-Right no-mark fashithead Paul Golding thinks about anything.

    When you’re the ‘leader’ of a group (Britain First) so far to the Right that you can’t even make it as a Tory MP or an advisor to Nu-Labour, that’s a sign that no one should give two fucks about anything you do, think or say. You’ve already said everything, and it’s a nice, concise “I am a racist gobshite, ignore me.”

    That said, “our king” gets an extra loud Go Fuck Yourself just for being so tone deaf. Stupid arse monarchists can go blow a manatee with that nonsense.

  19. 19.

    piratedan

    @Danielx: yeah he’s STILL arguing the issue regarding ballot reconciliation signatures on curated ballots… the same song and dance that Ms. Lake has taken to court multiple times in multiple venues and is still batting 0 for every damn time.

    so… bad faith gotcha stuff attempting to elicit a response on something that courts have already found to be bullshit.  Hobbs was transparent enough during each and every lawsuit, providing dotted i’s and crossed t’s to pass muster with the oh-so-liberal AZ state courts.

  21. 21.

    eclare

    @satby:

    I had an issue with TFG doing it, as clearly QE2 kept trying to pass him.  But it looks like Charles is ok with it, so who knows?

  22. 22.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Not gonna link or use up one of my gift links, but earlier today FTFNYT ran one of the stupider articles I’ve ever seen, listing some of the things Biden and King Charles have in common:

    1. They’re both old.

    2. They’ve both waited all their lives to get their current jobs, which they got once they were old.

    3. Neither of them likes their assigned official housing. King Charles goes home to Clarence House, or out to Windsor, whenever he can, while Joe “flees” the White House for “one of his homes” every weekend. This is to be expected of old people.

    4. They’re both concerned about climate change and the environment, unusually so for such old men.

    5. They both have embarrassing and problematic second sons. Such a burden for fathers no longer in the first bloom of youth.

    6. Also, they’re both old.

     

    Pretty sure I saw the name “Glenn Thrush” as one of the bylines, but I’m not going back to check.

  23. 23.

    Geminid

    Instead of harassing Governor Hobbs at the gym, Conradson should be working out. He was running out of breath towards the end of that clip.

  24. 24.

    geg6

    Fuck British royals.  I could not care less about their entitled feelings, especially not for that foppish dimwit Chuckles III. The UK would be better off if they decided to deal with him the way they did Chuckles I.

    And I now adore Katie Hobbs.

  34. 34.

    Roger Moore

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Just to get in my $0.02 (that’s $0.53 after inflation adjustment), King Charles doesn’t have an embarrassing and problematic second son.  He has an embarrassing and problematic family, and his second son has dropped out because they didn’t appreciate him calling them on their bullshit.

  38. 38.

    Tony Jay

    Just to clarify, the Paul Golding they’re responding to in those tweets isn’t a politician or a pundit or a commentator or any of those things. He’s a bona fide actual white power fascist knobhead who ‘leads’ a group of grunting thugs descended from the old National Front skinheads of the 80s.

    He’s about as relevant as Lars Ulrich’s drumming and should be run over by an ice-cream van or ignored, whichever takes less effort.

  40. 40.

    Betty Cracker

    @eclare: Source is Vanity Fair, which has an odd obsession with royalty for an American pub:

    According to a palace source, the King was unbothered by the president walking ahead of him during the inspection of the guard of honor. “Contrary to some reports, that is, in fact, correct protocol,” said the palace aide who confirmed that Charles was entirely happy with Biden taking hold of his arm. “The king is entirely comfortable with that kind of contact, and what a wonderful symbol of warmth and affection it was between both the individuals and their nations,” said the source.

  41. 41.

    Roger Moore

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    The “missing” Hunter Biden witness the GOP was promising for a while there was just charged by the DOJ with being a Chinese spy.

    Obviously, the Biden DOJ is circling the wagons and desperately flailing around to find an excuse to ignore the proof of Biden’s criminality. /MAGA

  42. 42.

    SpaceUnit

    At least he wasn’t laughing out loud at those dipshit hats.  Credit where it’s due.

  43. 43.

    cain

    Of all the countries to offend, the colonial former who has fucked up most of the world is the least. I Of course North Korea will always win in terms countries I don’t mind offending.

  44. 44.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Pretty sure I saw the name “Glenn Thrush” as one of the bylines, but I’m not going back to check.

    Yeah, so I went back to check. Glenn Thrush bylines a totally unrelated FTFNYT piece. My apologies.

  45. 45.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Baud:

    The NYT (and the LA Times, I believe) have cut their sports sections. NYT will use The Athletic, which they own. It’s a huge mistake and terrible decision.

  48. 48.

    Dan B

    OT: A rumor has it that the interim Texas AG has resigned.  So much winning in TX, if true.

  49. 49.

    Mike in NC

    Many of us were worried that Fat Bastard was going to expose himself to QE2 when he was in London. Apparently he didn’t, but the buffoon still looked like 10 pounds of shit in a 5 pound bag wearing that ill-fitting tuxedo.

  50. 50.

    Baud

    Speaking of weird timelines, via Mastodon

    Twitter Beats Out Threads for Coveted Taliban Leader Endorsement

    The fundamentalist group thinks Meta’s content policy, which includes a ban on support or praise for terrorist or hate groups, is “intolerant”

  54. 54.

    Ohio Mom

    @Betty Cracker: If you look at the King, he’s not at all annoyed — the Queen looked quite irritated at Trump when he pushed past her. I am just going to assume I this is part of Charles’ effort to modernize the monarchy.

    I wish him all the luck in this pointless endeavor.

  55. 55.

    bbleh

    @Jay C: @Betty Cracker: @eclare: I saw it, thought of TFG, and then immediately thought, nah, Chuck told Joe “after you,” Joe said “y’sure?” Chuck said some royal version of “yes” and off they went.

    At least he wasn’t wearing a tan suit.

    @Gin & Tonic: yes, often in the mouth/nose/throat, and then often in people who are … really unwell.  Also icky.

  58. 58.

    Kay

    So Republicans are going to have bloody, divisive primaries in OH, AZ and MT that wll probably end up with low quality candidates and also the AZ GOP no longer exists. That should make you-all happy :)

  61. 61.

    Kay

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Horrible people and the NYTimes reporters who are union members are fake unionists if they allow this.

    The whole point is you stick together! They’re just jettisoning the sports reporters?

  63. 63.

    Dan B

    College Republicans are having a convention headlined by Nick Fuentes and QAnon Shaman.  Also it’s July 30th in Prescott l, Arizona.

  65. 65.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Baud:

    It’s where you consistently find the best writing as well. In the late 80s early 90s, the sports pages in Boston, LA, San Francisco and NYC were all must-read sections, peopled by some of the best writers in the business.

    I would hit a local newsstand in 1993 and buy four or five papers, and that was my reading for the day.

  66. 66.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Alison Rose:

    When TFG did this, it was in front of a tiny woman, and it was clear he was purposely trying to shove his wide load fat, orange, fascist ass who has sucked Kremlin asshole since at least 1987 to the front

    I had to fix this. :)

  70. 70.

    scav

    Pish. See Shakespeare, Henry V Act 5 Scene 2

    King Henry O Kate, nice customs curtsy to great kings. Dear Kate, you and I cannot be confined within the weak list of a countrys fashion. We are the makers of manners, Kate, and the liberty that follows our places stops the mouth of all find- faults, as I will do yours for upholding the nice fashion of your country in denying me a kiss. Therefore, patiently and yielding. (kissing her) You have witchcraft in your lips, Kate. There is more eloquence in a sugar touch of them than in the tongues of the French council, and they should sooner persuade Harry of England than a general petition of monarchs. Here comes your father.

  72. 72.

    Bex

    @HumboldtBlue: Another angle on the picture of Karen D. showed her entire outfit.:  the T-shirt, camo pants and stilettos.  She ain’t no Jackie Kennedy.

  73. 73.

    Elizabelle

    Is it too much to hope that the FTF New York Times might redeploy their sportswriters to cover US politics instead?

    it would be fabulous to have some reporting from people who can actually observe, are not innumerate, and have memories longer than that of a goldfish.

    The Sulzberger Times fired the wrong crew.

  74. 74.

    Elizabelle

    I don’t see how people who actually professionally specialize in horse races, could do any worse than the fuckers on the political desk.

  76. 76.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Kay:

    The whole point is you stick together! They’re just jettisoning the sports reporters?

    Yup

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Good point. And I’ll raise you a Jim Murray. Who, oddly enough, began his journalism career working the Cop beat for the Daily News. He said if you want to train reporters on how to do the job, give them two years on the Cop beat at a New York daily.

    @Betty Cracker:

    There was some classic stuff written.

  77. 77.

    Brachiator

    There’s one of two things going on here. Either Biden is deliberately disrespecting our King because he’s an Irish nationalist, or, his Alzheimers kicked in and he hasn’t got a clue what’s going on. Take your pick.

    I mentioned in an earlier thread that Tory MPs and their cronies are butthurt that Biden no longer sees the UK as a super tight ally now that Britain has left the EU. They are also upset that Biden had to warn them to stop the bullshit over policies that might undermine the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland.

    BREXIT hardliners were really counting on a Trump election victory, which they believed would lead to a favorable trade agreement.

    Sucks to be them.

  78. 78.

    VOR

    Let’s be clear on the difference here. Biden is walking in front of King Charles, who is also walking in the same direction, roughly in sync. TFG stood unmoving directly blocking the Queen’s path as an obstacle she had to walk around.

  79. 79.

    geg6

    @Bex:

    I saw that!!!  Insane, wearing those heels with that outfit.  Bad choices this woman makes, huh?

  81. 81.

    TriassicSands

    Obviously, Biden must be impeached and removed from office for whatever unforgivable slight he has subjected poor King Charles to. I can’t even write “King Charles” without smirking — kings, queens, and other “royalty” in 2023 — historical artifacts and completely unnecessary. If the Brits want to have a king or a queen, that’s up to them.

    There’s one of two things going on here. Either Biden is deliberately disrespecting our King because he’s an Irish nationalist, or, his Alzheimers kicked in and he hasn’t got a clue what’s going on. Take your pick. — Paul Golding

    OK, but I’ll pick option three — Paul Golding is an asshole. As far as I’m concerned, Americans owe British royalty the same basic courtesy that they would give to any farmer, carpenter, or corporate executive. No bowing or scraping or worrying about “royalty,” which is a meaningless concept in the U.S. Hereditary position is not deserving of any additional respect or privilege.

    And kudos to Joe for keeping a straight face while looking at those idiotic costumes. Nothing is more important in summer in a time of a warmng climate than a black, two-foot high “bearskin” cap. Supposedly, the original purpose of the caps was to make the wearer look taller and more intimidating. My how things change. Today, to me anyway, they just look silly and clownish. And hot — except they are big enough to house a nice, compact AC unit.

    And Governor Hobbs! What gives her the right to exercise free of inane questions from a really stupid reporter?  (“Jordan” looks more like a stalker in that clip than a reporter, which, if he works for Gateway Pundit, makes perfect sense.)

    Additional Note: Stupid people confuse aging with dementia. There is no question Joe is old, but nothing he says or does looks anything like the dementia I’ve seen first hand. He’s never been articulate, so that can’t be a measure of senility. I’d be truly concerned about Biden as president if running a fast 100 meter dash were a key to his being competent. I do worry about him, because at his age decline can be rapid, but that is one reason we have a vice president and a constitutional amendment allowing the “new” president to fill her old office. The real problem is not the reality of Biden’s age, it’s the irrationality of the response to it.

  82. 82.

    MattF

    So… TFG continues to go all in with his repeated claim that Biden is a crackhead. He’s repeated it several times over a period of several days now, which is well beyond his usual attention span. I understand the logic behind ignoring it— Biden should not spend any effort denying that he’s a drug addict. That said, the basic principle that ‘every accusation is a confession’ leads to the conclusion that some drug-sniffing reporters ought to be asking pointed questions around MaL.

  85. 85.

    Elizabelle

    I feel so badly for the families on Los Angeles’s Palos Verde peninsula, whose homes are sliding down a hill into a canyon. A lot of that land has been unstable for decades. It is such a beautiful area, but there’s that road with the surface that is constantly buckling.  Twelve homes.

    Peartree Lane in Rolling Hills Estates.  No lie in that subdivision name.
    The local LA TV stations will have a lot of non-pay walled links to the story. It’s possible all the rain this year help to destabilize that hill. We are going to see so much change out of climate change.

  92. 92.

    Tim Ellis

    I love this “controversy” because it only has two possible paths:

    A) This is totally pointless, nobody cares, it means nothing and there is no disrespect or controversy at all (by far the most likely)

    B) It is in fact disrespectful to the British monarchy (much less likely but also WAY more awesome lol)

     

    Also very funny that Galding latched on to “Irish Nationalist”, as though “American” is not itself a cultural identity built entirely on rejecting the British monarchy lol

  93. 93.

    Mallard Filmore

    “Give it a fucking rest, Jordan. I’m at the gym.”

    I laughed out loud at this.  Then a few lines below saw that she really was at the gym, and the man chasing her really has a first name of Jordan.

  94. 94.

    Eolirin

    @Kay: Thank fucking God. That’s what we need to be able to win the Senate. Fingers crossed things keep breaking in our direction.

  99. 99.

    Roger Moore

    @HumboldtBlue:

    LA Times hasn’t cut their sports section, but they are substantially redesigning the print edition.  Apparently they now have a 3PM deadline for stories for the print edition, so they aren’t going to be able to get box scores, game stories, and the like out on the regular schedule.  To make the best of a bad situation, they’re reorienting the print sports section to focus on columnists, longer time frame stories, and other aspects of sports that aren’t so dependent on timeliness.  The up-to-date stuff will still be in the online sports section, though.

  100. 100.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Gin & Tonic: ​
     

    So? Herman Melville died 130 years ago. Not sure I see your point.

    I may have misread you. I thought your mention of Red Smith was a rebuttal to:

    most people didn’t know NYT had a sports section.

    My apologies if I read you wrong.

  103. 103.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Elizabelle: ​
     

    I don’t see how people who actually professionally specialize in horse races, could do any worse than the fuckers on the political desk.

    Word.

  105. 105.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud: ​
     

    Don’t even get mee started on Generalissimo Francisco Franco.

    We won’t be holding our breath.

  106. 106.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @zhena gogolia: ​
      Yeah, funny thing that. It’s almost like they have books of rules on how to perform various military ceremonies. I hear the Brits are kind of good at that stuff.

  107. 107.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Gin & Tonic: ​
     

    My comment was directed to HumboldtBlue, as an example of excellent writing from a “mere” sportswriter.

    So I see!

    Again, my apologies.

  109. 109.

    Steeplejack

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Twitter search doesn’t work for anyone who doesn’t have an account, so I (for one) have no idea what you’re talking about.

  110. 110.

    Roger Moore

    @TriassicSands:

    Americans owe British royalty the same basic courtesy that they would give to any farmer, carpenter, or corporate executive.

    I would say we owe them the same courtesy we owe any other head of state, e.g. the President of Germany or Governor General of Canada.  That is to say that they’re still a VIP, but they don’t deserve anything beyond the courtesy you would give to anyone who serves as the representative of their country.

  115. 115.

    Jackie

    It’s Sweet Georgia time!

    “The selection of two Fulton County grand juries will be made Tuesday, with one of the panels expected to decide whether to hand up an indictment for alleged criminal interference in the 2020 presidential election,” the Atlanta Journal Constitutionreports.”

    “One set of jurors is likely to be asked to bring formal charges against former President Donald Trump and other well-known political and legal figures. In a letter to county officials almost two months ago, District Attorney Fani Willis indicated the indictment could be obtained at some point between July 31 and Aug. 18.”

  117. 117.

    Dopey-o

    @Bill Arnold: We can reasonably assume, or at least suspect, that TFG is snorting Adderall in abusive amounts again,

    From the linked Wiki page:

    The side effects of Adderall vary widely among individuals, but most commonly include insomnia, dry mouth,

    I recall someone had a button installed on the Resolute desk to summon a soft drink, repeatedly. Someone who also wasn’t at his desk in the morning. Insomnia, dry mouth, lard ass….

  119. 119.

    Dan B

    @Betty Cracker:  Yes.  And QAnon Shaman doesn’t like Fuentes because of his promise to marry a sixteen year old when he turns thirty so he “can get the good milk”.

  120. 120.

    TriassicSands

    @Roger Moore:

    Which is, essentially, the same respect all human beings deserve until they prove themselves undeserving. (For example, former head of state and government Trump. Currently deserving of prison, not respect.)

    Treating leaders as special is what has made accountability so difficult to achieve. The fact that someone is elected by “the people” (who  are often quite wrong) is not a reason to treat them as though they were “royalty,” which is what we currently do with heads of state.

    When you treat people as though they are special, they begin to believe they are special, which often means the rules and laws don’t apply to them. Outside of politics, we see that constantly with professional athletes.

  121. 121.

    Betty Cracker

    @Leto: She also zinged Musk on the new Threads thingie:

    Imagine being a billionaire that fumbled the bag so hard and became so insufferable that 100 million people signed up for a new service just to get away from you

    @Dan B: Eww!

  122. 122.

    Brachiator

    @Roger Moore:

    LA Times hasn’t cut their sports section, but they are substantially redesigning the print edition.  Apparently they now have a 3PM deadline for stories for the print edition…

    This deadline by itself is crazy. How many local sports are completed before 3 pm?

    And I guess they are trying to drive people to the online edition. Sadly, I don’t think this will work to a great degree.

    The redesigned sports section will highlight features and photography. This is like going back in time to the era of Look and Life magazines.

    The last I checked, the new executives at the Times did not have newspaper experience. I suppose this makes them “innovators.”

  123. 123.

    JMG

    @Kay: They say they will reassign the sports reporters and editors to other departments, but that’s obviously bullshit. I mean, Tyler Kepner, their baseball reporter, has literally done nothing else his whole life (started a newsletter at age 12). They’re gonna move him to the police beat, or the Dept. of Agriculture? The Guild has two options. 1. Go the NLRB. 2. Organize the Athletic. My guess is they’ll do both.

    The latest Sulzberger is basically a less mouthy Elon Musk. Bad guy, has no idea as to what is the real value of his business.

  124. 124.

    moonbat

    @lowtechcyclist: Charles Pierce, still alive, also began life as a sports writer. Sports pages turn out good writers. As an old newspaper woman I witnessed this at multiple rags.

  125. 125.

    The Thin Black Duke

    Does anyone remember Lars-Erik Nelson? Columnist for The New York Daily News. Damned fine writer. A honest-to-God conservative who wasn’t insane

  126. 126.

    Brachiator

    @HumboldtBlue:

    @Baud:

    It’s where you consistently find the best writing as well. In the late 80s early 90s, the sports pages in Boston, LA, San Francisco and NYC were all must-read sections, peopled by some of the best writers in the business.

    I honed my writing skills reading Jim Murray and other LA Times sports writers. There were also a few sports reporters at the already dying Herald Examiner who were also great. And this was despite the fact that I have never been terribly interested in sports.

    I also lived for Paul Conrad’s editorial cartoons.

    And the sports writing at the Times continued to be pretty good for a while as the rest of the writing in the paper got flabby. The San Francisco Chronicle is also dying, but has great stories about city and local politics, so good that I can get a clear idea of what is going on even though I am in Southern California.  The LA times is weak, even though there are complex stories about city and county government that need to be written.

    ETA. Roger Ebert was originally a Chicago sports reporter.

  127. 127.

    JMG

    I was b Boston sportswriter for 30 years. I hope I gave pleasure to our readers. One great thing about covering sports is that you can assume a higher level of knowledge in your readers than on other beats. Yes, sports fans ate nuts, but they know the basics, and mostly a lot more than the basics, of what they care about. It’s not like covering politics where most of your readers couldn’t name their Congressperson at gunpoint, or covering like the Fed and having to write a paragraph explaining the federal funds rate in every story.

  128. 128.

    toine

    As a Canadian, I think former colonies should disrespect the monarchy more often. I mean that is how we got to be former colonies in the 1st place… And honestly, Brits, I know you all think Charles is a twat…

  132. 132.

    Brachiator

    @Elizabelle:

    I feel so badly for the families on Los Angeles’s Palos Verde peninsula, whose homes are sliding down a hill into a canyon. A lot of that land has been unstable for decades. It is such a beautiful area, but there’s that road with the surface that is constantly buckling.  Twelve homes.

    Not too long ago, there were land collapses down in Orange County. This affected Amtrak service, but I don’t think it endangered homes.

  133. 133.

    Kay

    @JMG:

    Tyler Kepner, their baseball reporter, has literally done nothing else his whole life (started a newsletter at age 12).

    Oh, that’s too bad. There was a month or so there when they were in contract talks when they all had union bugs in their Twitter banners so now I guess we find out if they meant it.

  134. 134.

    Elizabelle

    @JMG:  I despised his father, and hoped the son would be better.  But today’s Sulzberger is a fucking hot mess, too.

    And then:  Dean Baquet.  Replaced by Joe Kahn.  Who is worse.

    Fuck the fucking Sulzbergers.

    The FTF NY Times has been reducing the number of political stories open to reader comments.  They write about how old Biden is, or any other crap they’re peddling and … no way to clap back, or to find out their other reader commenters are just as disgusted.

    Most of the times, the comments are more informative than the story.

  135. 135.

    Elizabelle

    @Brachiator:  Now they are thinking of moving the Amtrak tracks away from the coastline.

    Have you ever been to Palos Verde?  It is spectacular, but you can see the damage where the landslides have been frequent.

    Which allegedly started in the 1950s, when a road-building crew excavated tons upon tons of dirt and started a massive section of land on the move to the sea.  And:  they never built the road!

  136. 136.

    Matt McIrvin

    @toine: Don’t you still have the monarchy? I mean, I don’t really understand it, but I didn’t think rejecting it was part of Canadian national identity. That’s supposed to be our thing.

  140. 140.

    Chris T.

    @JMG:

    One great thing about covering sports is that you can assume a higher level of knowledge in your readers than on other beats.

    The “downside” (?) of this is that you also have to know what you are talking about. As we see in so many non-sports stories, this isn’t true for other reporters.

    I think this is why sports reporters are generally so much better humans than other reporters… :-)

  141. 141.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Elizabelle:

    I don’t see how people who actually professionally specialize in horse races, could do any worse than the fuckers on the political desk. 

    Too long for a rotating tag! 🥰

  142. 142.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @Brachiator: ​  He started as a sports reporter at age 15, learning how to edit from Bill Lyon who would become a famed Philly sportswriter [which he explained in an engrossing interview with Tom Snyder (link)]​

  143. 143.

    Brachiator

    @Elizabelle:

    Have you ever been to Palos Verdes?

    Quite a number of times. It is an incredibly beautiful area.

    The Palos Verdes peninsula includes a community called Rancho Palos Verdes and another called Palos Verdes Estates. This sometimes confuses the hell out of newcomers and people visiting the area.

  146. 146.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Brachiator:

    I mentioned in an earlier thread that Tory MPs and their cronies are butthurt that Biden no longer sees the UK as a super tight ally now that Britain has left the EU. 

    Cry harder, Brexshit shit!  You racist (Our only banned word, not even plural)!

    Fuck ’em!

  147. 147.

    cain

    @David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: He’s got anxiety problems – there is another black cat and he has some similar problems – they lick off their fur. I’ve been trying various things like diets and what not. I’m trying to avoid getting kitty prozac – hopefully, I’ll get the right combination.

    Adding the new kittens has helped because one black cat likes to dominate the other. But the kittens kind of get between them – they like to cuddle the anxious one and then mock fight with the other – so now there is no aggression. :-) I think the fur is slowly growing back now – thanks to this new set of harmony.

  148. 148.

    RaflW

    The (putatively) American blue check squads, all with low follower counts, calling Joe Biden ‘arrogant’.

    Maybe it ricochets around the MAGAverse, but to normal people, it’s just absurd.

  151. 151.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @cain: ​
     Oh, I had a cat like that. doctor said he had an allergy and he would get a shot of prednisone every six months. Worked like a charm.

  152. 152.

    HumboldtBlue

    @JMG:

    One great thing about covering sports is that you can assume a higher level of knowledge in your readers than on other beats. Yes, sports fans ate nuts, but they know the basics, and mostly a lot more than the basics, of what they care about.

    Excellent point. I started out as a sportswriter and I found it the perfect training ground to learn to how be a basic competent reporter. You can’t fuck up the stats, the names, the details because your readers are well-informed if not more well-informed than you are for any given story.

    Accuracy matters, and it carries over to every other beat.

    When I moved to the news desk and started covering the courts — a fascinating arena itself — a local colleague emailed following a story on a murder trial and wondered if my sports background played a role in how easily I moved into covering the court. I told her it had everything to do with it.

    Sports and the courts share many similarities. It’s an adversarial relationship with two teams, we know their names and positions and when and where they are going to meet. We’ll have background information on all of them from past experiences and interactions, and we’ll discuss how they’ll go about this trial, what tactics will be used, etc. There is a pattern — the courts are very liturgical — and rituals (the national anthem) and each side has a goal — to win.

    It’s very much a competition, one with far more visceral human interactions on display — this ain’t a day at the races, it’s a murder trial — and each side is trying to win. They take turns while being presided over by a judge who calls out infractions and makes on the field decisions about how things proceed, and then there is an end.

    The results in the courts vary, because they’re not always black and white decisions, but we do get a result and I hustled to interview the key characters outside the courtroom following a trial the same way I hustled to get players and coaches comments after a game.

    Think of what it means to get a name wrong, or a key detail wrong about a ball team following a fucking game, and then imagine it’s the victim of a homicide. Accuracy is all.

  153. 153.

    RaflW

    @Roger Moore: Charles’s second son has the embarrassing temerity to have a brown wife. Yeah, I’m saying the Royal Court is racist.

    Is Charles? Overtly? Maybe not, though I have no way of knowing, really. Smothered in white privilege? About as much as is humanly possible.

    But the Court. The apparatus, hangers on, papers, etc. Racist as can flunking be imagined.

  156. 156.

    tokyokie

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Isn’t Thrush a bacterial infection of some sort?

    In the Man From U.N.C.L.E., T.H.R.U.S.H. was the Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity. Hope that clears things up.

  158. 158.

    opiejeanne

    @Elizabelle: Portuguese Bend? I remember the articles at the time. I think the area is fenced off now, but Bill in Glendale might have found a hole in the fence and taken photos.

  159. 159.

    Elizabelle

    @opiejeanne:   Yep.  Portuguese Bend.  LA Times:
    What’s causing luxury homes in Rolling Hills Estates to slide down a canyon? Here’s what we know
     

    The Portuguese Bend landslide was triggered in summer 1956 — nearly two decades before Rancho Palos Verdes became a city — when a Los Angeles County road crew was constructing an extension of Crenshaw Boulevard that would run from Crest Road to Palos Verdes Drive South.

    The crew dug up thousands of tons of dirt for the project and dropped it on top of the ancient landslide zone, which hadn’t moved in 4,800 years. The extension was never completed, but the weight and movement of the dirt shifted the balance of the earth enough to reactivate the slide, sending the land into a slow-motion descent toward the sea.

    In recent years, the landslide’s harm has been more incremental than the initial destruction in 1956 that tore up a community clubhouse and 130 area homes. City officials said the land moves sometimes horizontally, sometimes vertically. Sometimes inches, sometimes feet.

    Officials said it moves at a pace of roughly 8 feet, in a southwesterly direction, per year. Over the last 15 years, sections of land have moved from 100 to 225 feet horizontally and dropped 8 to 18 feet vertically.

    The most noticeable damage is to Palos Verdes Drive South — the road that winds along the coastal cliffs — warping it into a crooked, hilly mess with dips that make your stomach jump. The city has to send maintenance crews once a month to fill cracks, which costs roughly $1 million each year.

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