Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

People are complicated. Love is not.

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

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

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

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

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

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

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TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: How Can It Be ‘Friday Already’ When This Week Has Been So Long?…

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President Joe brought enough for everybody!

TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: Such A Quick Arrival, Such A Long Week...

(Clay Jones via GoComics.com)

Reader Interactions

262Comments

  4. 4.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I’m going to see the Barbie movie this morning.

    I told a friend that my DIL, the kindergarten teacher, asked me, and she somehow got the idea that my DIL was taking her class and I was going along to help chaperone. What an appalling thought. However I imagine there will be children there. And me. :-)

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    “We’re going to keep doing our jobs. We’re going to keep focusing on the solutions that matter.”

    Say what? Not spending hour upon hour spewing online, throwing tantrums and calling anyone whose head isn’t firmly affixed to your butt stupid names? What kind’a presidentin’ is that?
    //

  9. 9.

    Betty Cracker

    Yesterday I read some of the social studies guidance the FL Dept. of Education published. I wanted to see for myself what they’re up to, and wow. Good for VP Harris for calling it out to their faces. The “enslaved people picked up some useful skills” bit wasn’t the worst thing, IMO.

    The FL DOE literally “both-sides” the worst election-related massacre in U.S. history, which happened in Ocoee, FL. They insist on a long preamble about slavery throughout human history before addressing slavery in the U.S. They neglect to mention that Florida was a Confederate state, which seems pretty fucking relevant to the discussion in Florida schools, no?  

    It’s shameful as fuck. I graduated from a Florida public high school during the Reagan admin, and kids who graduate from that same school four years from now will be less informed than I was about Florida’s history — by design.

  11. 11.

    Tony Jay

    We’re on our second train of the day heading down to London so we can catch the Eurostar to Amsterdam tomorrow and transfer to a sleeper train to Zurich. 24 hours later we’re on another sleeper from Milan to Sicily and eight days on the beach. Then back on sleepers via Rome, Venice, Vienna and Paris. First Class all the way, bay-bee!

    I guess what I’m saying is “Good Morning, everyone!” 👍

  13. 13.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The Supreme Court of Misery slapped the AG down in his attempts to lie about the proposed abortion amendment.

    Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s efforts to inflate the cost of an abortion-rights initiative petition were unanimously rejected by the state Supreme Court Thursday, just two days after judges heard arguments in the case.

    The quick verdict, which was written by Judge Paul Wilson, was scathing in its opinion of Bailey’s refusal to sign off on the work of Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick, concluding that nothing in state law “gives the attorney general authority to question the auditor’s assessment of the fiscal impact of a proposed petition.”

    The ruling upheld Cole County Circuit Court Judge Jon Beetem’s ruling last month ordering Bailey to sign off on Fitzpatrick’s fiscal summary within 24 hours.

    A spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office said Bailey disagrees with the court’s decision, “as we believe Missourians deserve to know how much this amendment would cost the state, but we will respect the court’s order.”

    Yeah, because he had accomplished what he wanted:

    Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling acknowledged how Bailey’s unlawful refusal to sign off on the fiscal note has derailed the initiative petition process.

    “The attorney general was to have performed that task within 10 days of receiving the fiscal notes and summaries from the auditor, a period that expired more than three months ago,” Wilson wrote in his ruling, later adding: “Because of this logjam, the (secretary of state) could not — and, to this day, cannot — complete his duty by certifying the official ballot titles for the proposed petitions.”

    If the attorney general had “complied with his duty to approve the Auditor’s fiscal note summaries,” Wilson wrote, the official ballot summary would have been finalized “nearly 100 days ago.”

    I can’t say what I want to say, so I’ll just STFU.

    eta: to clarify, the GOP state auditor concluded that the Amendment would have NO fiscal impact on the state, Bailey wanted to say it would cost the state billions of $.

  15. 15.

    Bill Hicks

    Anyone know much about Indian politics and Modi? It is hard to figure out from the press, kind of like Israel. Today on NPR they had a four minute segment about the recent gang rapes and I don’t think they ever talked about it being a Hindu nationalist problem. They said it was an “ethnic conflict”, which it apparently is technically. A better explanation would be a bunch of Hindu nationalists killed and raped some minority Christians and that Modi has been supportive of Hindu nationalism kind of like Trump is supportive of white nationalism. Isn’t the issue really about the rise of Hindu nationalism in India as opposed to an ethnic conflict?

  18. 18.

    artem1s

    Emptywheel put up an exceptional post yesterday about the indictment counts and how Smith is tying the 2020 Trump campaign efforts to stop the counts in minority districts to the planning of the J6 insurrection. And how the DOJ may (possibly) be setting a stage for civil rights attorneys to bring cases that could nullify the Roberts’ SCOTUS ruling that gutted preclearance. The Smith (and Garland) investigation is truly looking at big picture, domestic terrorism stuff that would unveil the decades long GOP voter suppression strategies (gerrymandering, southern strategy, Brook Brother riots, Proud Boys, etc) for what they really are – criminal conspiracies formed with the intent to deprive minority citizens of their right to vote.

  19. 19.

    Geminid

    @Bill Hicks: Israel’s politics are hard to figure if you follow them through the American press. But the Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post are not paywalled and they give good coverage of Israel and the region. Haaretz is better but they limit articles unless you subscribe.

    I know you were asking about India, but there is a lot going on in Israel right now regarding the Netanyahu coalition’s judicial power grab.

  22. 22.

    eclare

    @NotMax:

    It doesn’t ring a bell to me, but I can’t say for sure.

    Per Google, she was Barbie’s sister.  Def never had one of those dolls, I don’t know anyone who did.

  23. 23.

    satby

    @NotMax: yes

    Good morning all. Been up three hours, had half a pot of coffee, and I feel like a nap already. Going to be a lazy day, I’m thinking.

  24. 24.

    bbleh

    “Uncle Jack! Uncle Jack! Can we open the Smithmas presents now? Cuz it’s Friday an’ yesterday was Thursday an’ you said Donnie hadta show up by Thursday but he din’t an’ now today is Friday so can we open the Smithmas presents now? Can we open the Smithmas presents now? Pleeeeeeeeeezzz??”

  25. 25.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I’m reading R. F. Kuang’s Babel, an alternate history of early 19th century England.  The book is subtitled Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford’s Translators’ Revolution. It’s hard to explain what this book is about.  “Babel” is the name of the Oxford college that trains translators. The book has a steampunk-like element with a specially treated silver used instead of steam to power everything, and translators treat the silver using the power of language and the difficulty of ever translating all a word’s nuances. The central character was born in China and (like children from elsewhere)  brought to England to become a translator because he has a native speaker’s understanding. He gradually comes to see the damage done by colonialism, capitalism, and racism, and then has to figure out if there’s anything he can do about it, especially since he’s benefiting from this system. My kindle says I’m at the 85% mark. It’s just before the First Opium War and I’m afraid this is going to end badly.

  30. 30.

    zhena gogolia

    @NotMax: The NYT has been exhaustively tracing Barbie history in article after article. They finally got around to “Solo in the Spotlight” (which I had!). But they haven’t mentioned another Barbie I had, who had three wigs with different hairstyles, and on top of that, you could dye each of them a different color!

  32. 32.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: Do you think this was kabuki theater to slow down the process? That’s what I think, because they’ll still have to litigate the atrocious language the secretary of state wants to put on the ballot.

  33. 33.

    Soprano2

    @Bill Hicks: I heard that story, and I agree they didn’t make it clear what it was about. They made it sound like some kind of tribal conflict.

  37. 37.

    Scout211

    @NotMax: @eclare:

    My sister had a Skipper doll and our neighbor had one, too. We had Barbies and Kens and Midges and Skippers in our neighborhood “girl gang” Barbie play days. We played all day with those dolls and all their accoutrements.

    For some reason, though, I am not interested in seeing the movie.

  40. 40.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    My mother wouldn’t let me have Barbie either.

    It’s one of those tricky things with girls. You don’t want them sexualized too early, and you don’t want them thinking that a great body and great clothes are the aim of life. OTOH, there’s nothing wrong with those things either.

  42. 42.

    Soprano2

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: It’s like the idea that black people were actually better off during segregation, because that meant they had doctors and lawyers and businesspeople. They totally neglect to say that the reason for this was because they couldn’t get those services from white people! I heard a Moth story told by a black woman who was small when Jim Crow laws were still in force. She said they always had to make sure to use the bathroom before they went to the department store, because there were no bathrooms there they could use. Her mother had to be really careful what clothes she bought them there, because the store wouldn’t allow black people to return clothing! This is the kind of world the MAGA’s think was “great”. It’s horrifying.

  44. 44.

    Tony Jay

    Oh, and after accidentally setting off the alarm in the toilet I came out and was confronted by a concerned looking Joanna Lumley.

    This is already a day.

  46. 46.

    Soprano2

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: As if cruelty was the only problem with slavery. I think some of them truly believe slavery wasn’t that bad for black people, just like they persuade themselves that being in prison isn’t that bad because after all they take care of you there.

  49. 49.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: Glad to know I’m not the only person who believes this. I never saw anyone state it out loud in the press, though, or at least I didn’t see it reported. It was obvious to me what was going on as soon as I heard about it.

  51. 51.

    NotMax

    @Tony Jay

    Venerable music hall joke.

    “What’s the difference between a French kiss and a Belgian kiss?”

    “The latter is more Flemish.”

    [rimshot]

  52. 52.

    JWR

    I don’t know who’s worse, Grassley or Comer. (Or both. Is Both a possibility?)

    In rare move, Grassley releases unverified FBI source report alleging Biden involvement in bribe

    Sen. Chuck Grassley on Thursday released a confidential FBI informant’s unverified claim that, years ago, the Biden family “pushed” a Ukrainian oligarch to pay them $10 million.

    The exceedingly rare step by Grassley, R-Iowa, further promulgates an allegation that Democratic critics warned against accepting at face value and which the White House continues to deny, saying it has been investigated under the Trump administration and “debunked.”

    Details of the unclassified document, known as an FD-1023, have emerged in recent months as Republicans search for any evidence that President Joe Biden engaged in the controversial overseas business dealings of his son Hunter Biden, which the president and his aides have repeatedly said he didn’t do.

    Rep. Raskin said last month that in 2020, the Justice Department interviewed the source, investigated the source’s claims and then closed the investigation.

    Comer, however, said then that the FBI told him that the allegations had “not been disproven.”

    In a speech on the Senate floor, Grassley said in June that “the Justice Department and FBI must show their work.”

  54. 54.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Tony Jay: Meanwhile here in the US where our national passenger rail system is limping along with less rolling stock than many cities, and where the system is thrown into chaos by any extreme weather (I was riding the trains on Monday and the heat knocked out half the signals in the busy Northeast corridor), Republicans are responding by cutting 2/3 from the Amtrak budget.

    I think they had some other infrastructure ideas as well, like dynamiting any bridges that had been repaired with Biden money.

  55. 55.

    Cameron

    @Betty Cracker: A friend of mine in SC called me up last and was seething about this. I told her that she was being very ungrateful; all this time she thought her ancestors had been brought here as slaves in chains, when in fact they were just foreign students with scholarships for America’s first technical schools.

  56. 56.

    Phylllis

    @Betty Cracker: Yep. Going to college in South Carolina was a culture shock in a number of ways, but the biggest was the complete dichotomy between what I had been taught about the Civil War/civil rights and what South Carolinians had been spoon fed. I can remember thinking ‘how did these ignorant cracker-ass crackers even figure out how to fill in the circles for their name on the SAT test, let alone make it to college?’

  57. 57.

    Anne Laurie

    @eclare: Def never had one of those dolls, I don’t know anyone who did.

    As many resentful parents have proclaimed since her first commercial, Barbie was *always* about the accessories — her outfits, her boyfriend, her teenage female friends, her ‘family’.

    Wikipedia’s got a long list, including up to ten different siblings, depending on how you count ‘reissues’.  (She also had a mother & father in the 1960s storybooks, but not in plastic life.)

    If Wikipedia is to be believed, Skipper has morphed from an 8-year-old tagalong to a 14-year-old techno-teenager.  Which is probably easier to market — to parents / grandparents, if not to little girls, who advertisers claim are far less interested in dolls & give them up younger than previous generations…

  60. 60.

    kalakal

    From late last night

    News from Engerland.

    There were 3 by-elections yesterdayy with the the Tories defending 3 “safe” seats. They got obliterated in 2 and hung on to the third (B. Johnsons recently vacated one) by less than 500 votes. Per the Grauniad

    Selby and Ainsty, tonight’s most exiting result, made history: it is the largest Conservative majority (20,137) overturned by Labour at a byelection since 1945.

    Here are the key numbers, via PA:

    The previous record was set at the Mid Staffordshire byelection in March 1990, when Labour overturned a Tory majority of 14,654.

    To win the seat, Labour needed a swing in the share of the vote of 17.9 percentage points

    They managed a swing of 23.7 points: the largest achieved by Labour at byelection since it won Dudley West from the Tories in December 1994 (29.1 points) and the second largest swing managed by Labour at a byelection since 1945.

    The Conservative share of the vote in Selby dropped sharply from 60% at the 2019 general election to 34%, while Labour’s share rose from 25% to 46%.

    Key figures for Somerton and Frome, via PA:

    Somerton and Frome is the fourth seat the Liberal Democrats have taken from the Conservatives at a byelection since the 2019 general election. All of the seats have changed hands on huge swings in the vote.

    The swing at Somerton was 29.0 percentage points

    This is well above the 14.9 point swing the Lib Dems needed to win the seat.

    As a pleasant extra that tool Laurence Fox ran in Johnson’s ex-seat and lost his deposit* getting only 2.3% of the vote.

    *In Uk parliamentary elections you have to put up £500 to take part. If you get more than 5% of the vote you get it back

  61. 61.

    Anne Laurie

    @sab: I had a Midge. Mom wouldn’t let me have a Barbie.

    I had a Midge, because she was supposed to be Irish-American.  But since my parents couldn’t afford an endless stream of outfits, I had to start sewing my own.  Eventually I moved to sewing some of my *own* outfits, and branched out to other needle skills… so Midge was absolutely a positive influence on *my* life!

    ETA: Reading further down, I see we shared this introduction to craftwork, as well…

  62. 62.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @NotMax: If you make any attempt to use a non-English language, Europeans will never think you’re American. They will however guess English, unfortunately for Tony. The English must be a little better than us about that language thing.

    I’m sure many jackals have had this conversation. “Where are you from? Are you Canadian? English? Australian? (long pause) New Zealand? (longer pause) I give up. Where?”

  65. 65.

    sab

    @Anne Laurie: Same for me. I had to sew all Midge’s clothes. When I got to mandatory Home Ec in middle school I already had years of experience sewing tiny clothes.

  66. 66.

    narya

    @zhena gogolia: My sister and I had Barbie, Ken, Alan (with bendy legs!), Francie, Skipper, Midge, and maybe one other named one? Scooter? At one point, my grandmother (who could do any kind of needlework) made clothes for them, including wedding dresses for my and my sister’s Barbies. I still remember what they looked like, too.

  69. 69.

    narya

    Since it’s OT: I had to replace the bulb in the microwave–the one in the light over the stove. I got an LED–but it won’t go out completely. The intertubes tell me that there’s just enough electricity coming through the socket to keep it lit. Is there any way to fix this? And if not, is this unsafe in any way?

  70. 70.

    Baud

    @kalakal:

    In Uk parliamentary elections you have to put up £500 to take part. If you get more than 5% of the vote you get it back

    Sounds like they’re trying to prevent Baud! 20XX! UK! from being a thing.

  71. 71.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud:

     That’s not new.  The “blacks were happier as slaves” canard has been around for a long time.

    Hell yeah, it was in my fourth-grade Virginia history book back in 1962.

    But it’s been quite a while since anyone was able to serve up that bullshit without being laughed out of the room.  I guess this is a case of “everything old is new again.”

  73. 73.

    Geminid

    Russian war criminal and milblogger Igor Girkin has finally landed in a pickle. Police dragged fom his home this morning, on a criminal charge of “extremism.”

  75. 75.

    Tinare

    I had a Growing Up Skipper. When you turn her arm she grew taller and got breasts. I also had a Mod Hair Ken. He had actual hair rather than painted on hair and stick on mustaches and beards. Very 70s groovy.

  79. 79.

    Baud

    @Tinare:

    I had a Growing Up Skipper. When you turn her arm she grew taller and got breasts.

    Now I’m curious about what the Growing Up Ken doll did.

  80. 80.

    Scout211

    @Baud: Now I’m curious about what the Growing Up Ken doll does.

    You’ll have to ask Marjorie Taylor Green.

  81. 81.

    montanareddog

    @Tony Jay: Be careful. Lots of bad things can happen on trains, and not just in Agatha Christie world. A stranger sits opposite you in the dining car, you chat and you mention your disdain for Flobalob. Next thing you know, he thinks you have agreed to murder his father if he assassinates that tub of lard.

  82. 82.

    narya

    @OzarkHillbilly: @sab: The bit of poking around I did suggested it’s not uncommon with LEDs, but I haven’t been able to find out much more. I’ll poke some more, but I’m not terribly worried. It is much cooler than the bulb that was in there before, which is an improvement.

  83. 83.

    Ken

    @Another Scott: Too bad about Count Binface.

    On the bright side, a guy wearing a trash can mask came in ahead of the UKIP candidate, so there is hope for the UK’s electorate.

    Oh, and also ahead of someone I’d never heard of, but who sounds vaguely like a UK version of RFK Jr. — so also good news for the US?

  85. 85.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @narya: ​ I seem to recall this being an issue with fluorescent bulbs from time to time but had not seen/heard anything like it with LEDs. Considering how little it takes to light up an LED, I suppose I should not be surprised.

  87. 87.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @artem1s: This is one of the reasons that Garland was the right person for the job.  All of this stuff is in his long-term wheelhouse as according to everything I’ve read, he has always been a passionate defender of Civil and Voting Rights and he views them as absolutely central to Justice.  I’ve seen many skilled former prosecutors in the past few days remark about what a smart approach this is, and how most of them never even considered it because they were focussed on much more obvious criminal statutes.

  89. 89.

    kalakal

    @Baud: Yep. Designed to keep out the riff-raff.

    It’s a typical Tory solution to a problem. About 30 years ago you started getting ridiculous numbers of joke candidates in high profile elections ( 30+) because the requirements were get 3 people to sign a form saying they support you and put up 2s 6d. Rather than change it to get a reasonable number of supporters they upped the money as they’re Tories and they’re rich bastards.

  92. 92.

    WereBear

    @eclare: I had a Ken and a Skipper!

    It pays to be the first grandchild. On both sides. Why did Jupiter, planet of money, swing so close at that particular time?

    Rich in Barbies doesn’t go as far as it used to.

  93. 93.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Fulton county prosecutors prepare racketeering charges in Trump inquiry

    The Fulton county district attorney investigating Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in the state of Georgia has developed evidence to charge a sprawling racketeering indictment next month, according to two people briefed on the matter.

    The racketeering statute in Georgia is more expansive than its federal counterpart, notably because any attempts to solicit or coerce the qualifying crimes can be included as predicate acts of racketeering activity, even when those crimes cannot be indicted separately.

    The specific evidence was not clear, though the charge regarding influencing witnesses could include Trump’s conversations with Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, in which he asked Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes, the people said – and thereby implicate Trump.

    For the computer trespass charge, where prosecutors would have to show that defendants used a computer or network without authority to interfere with a program or data, that would include the breach of voting machines in Coffee county, the two people said.

    The breach of voting machines involved a group of Trump operatives – paid by the then Trump lawyer Sidney Powell – accessing the voting machines at the county’s election office and copying sensitive voting system data.
    The copied data from the Dominion Voting System machines, which is used statewide in Georgia, was then uploaded to a password-protected site from where election deniers could download the materials as part of a misguided effort to prove the 2020 election had been rigged.

    Though Coffee county is outside the usual jurisdiction of the Fulton county district attorney’s office, the racketeering statute would allow prosecutors to also charge what the Trump operatives did there by showing it was all aimed towards the goal of corruptly keeping Trump in office.

  94. 94.

    sab

    @satby: Thunderstorms last night, so when husband fed the stray cat this morning the little guy was more than happy to come inside. Any advice? We are new at this.

  99. 99.

    montanareddog

    @Baud:

     

    Sounds like they’re trying to prevent Baud! 20XX! UK! from being a thing.

    The Brits are not entirely stupid.

  104. 104.

    gene108

    @Bill Hicks:

    Anyone know much about Indian politics and Modi?

    I don’t know a ton, but there are good English language newspapers in India, if you want a better feel. “The Hindu” and “Deccan Herald” / “Deccan Chronicle” are more focused on South Indian news, but cover national news too.

    “Times of India” is more national, but I think it’s behind a paywall now.

  105. 105.

    sab

    We have had our pitbull for about a year and a half. Do we ever need to wash her? She never seems to shed.

  108. 108.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @sab: We never wash ours, unless they return from gallivanting covered in mud. Then they get the hose.

  109. 109.

    WereBear

    @sab: I’d make up a room with food, water, and litter box, with a folded blanket. So he has a place to retreat to.

    Unless he’s already a lap sitter. In which case, he will tell you what he wants.

  111. 111.

    Miss Bianca

    @Baud: Oh? Oh, no. I grew to love Tony Bennett’s stuff, particularly his latter-year duets with Lady Gaga.

  114. 114.

    Kay

    @Suzanne:

    Name the flagship university — Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, among others — and the story tends to be the same. If the surrounding county was a reliable source of Democratic votes in the past, it’s a landslide county now. There are exceptions to the rule, particularly in the states with the most conservative voting habits. But even in reliably red places like South Carolina, Montana and Texas, you’ll find at least one college-oriented county producing ever larger Democratic margins.

    Thanks. That is interesting. They list Ohio but don’t go into specifics and I wonder if this trend extends to Ohio because although it seems like it should, I don’t think it has. Columbus is booming, lots of young people, Ohio State gets bigger and bigger and yet Ohio goes redder and redder. One of the NW OH counties I watch, Wood County, has Bowling Green State University and is a swing county but it has swung red lately, not blue.

    Anyway- good news for a lot of states but maybe trend not extending to OH?

  116. 116.

    satby

    @sab: FLEA TREATMENT immediately unless you already put one on him outside. Then, just to reduce tension with the others until he acclimates you may want to confine him to one room for a few days, longer if he’s unneutered. Set up a vet appointment for immunizations and the tests for FIV and FLP, and if he needs to be neutered a local TNR group may get him done at a reduced cost since he was an outside cat than ran inside.

    And good luck, he trusts you as safe people. Gaining that trust was the hardest part and you’re already past that.

  120. 120.

    Miss Bianca

    I didn’t have a Barbie doll – for reasons I don’t really remember, except that I really didn’t care for girl dolls, being more into GI Joe and Noble Knights and such, along with my brothers and their friends –  but I *did* have a “Dawn” doll, who was a miniscule Barbie rip-off.

    Anyone else remember “Dawn”?

    ETA: Speaking of GI Joe, I’ll never forget how mad my little brother got when one of my older sisters informed him that GI Joe was, in fact, a doll.

  121. 121.

    John S.

    @Kay:

    This just proves that Republicans are right! All these colleges are indoctrinating our kids with the woke mind virus. Surely there is no other explanation!

    /wingnut

  123. 123.

    Yarrow

    If anyone has been using Nitter to see Twitter without having an account and now it’s only showing old tweets from a few years ago, try clicking that Tweets & Replies tab at the top of the feed. That seems to be pulling up current tweets (and replies) for the moment.

  124. 124.

    rikyrah

    Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) tweeted at 8:05 PM on Thu, Jul 20, 2023:
    The MAGA right wing crowd can’t think beyond their lack of understanding of what science & civic democracy even are. ‘Trusting the experts’ is not a thing anyone claims. It’s distinguishing between people with knowledge, operating w/i the scientific method and random liars.

     

    Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) tweeted at 8:08 PM on Thu, Jul 20, 2023:
    2/ Kennedy’s campaign is an illustration. His is a campaign entirely floating by Republicans meant as a kind of taunt at Democrats. It’s an aggression. Their giddiness is watching a guy whose name still has a great allure among many especially older Dems preach the corrosive …

     

    Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) tweeted at 8:08 PM on Thu, Jul 20, 2023:
    3/ and predatory language of Trumpism. The whole campaign amounts to trolling.
    (https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1682195901626957825?t=tuiyCimMm5nA_YbIGMo9hw&s=03)

  125. 125.

    zhena gogolia

    @sab: My mother made the clothes for my Barbie (except I got the strapless black sequined gown “Solo in the Spotlight,” with a tiny little plastic stand microphone).

  128. 128.

    catclub

    @Geminid: ​
     

    but there is a lot going on in Israel right now regarding the Netanyahu coalition’s judicial power grab.

    understatement.

  129. 129.

    zhena gogolia

    @narya: I can see someone needs to do an “outsider art” exhibition at MOMA of home-made Barbie (Midge, Skipper, etc.) clothes.

  142. 142.

    Kay

    @John S.:

    I know you’re joking but it’s more than students or recent grads- people are either never leaving college counties after graduation or moving there. I sometimes consult with a lawyer/expert who lives in the research triangle area of NC. I don’t know his politics- he’s very buttoned up and I would never ask, but he mentioned to me that he thought Biden might carry NC last time based on his talking to people in his neighborhood. Didn’t happen, but I thought it was funny he brought it up.

  149. 149.

    Kay

    @WereBear:

    I think the extent of the voter suppression has yet to be discovered.

    I don’t think so. What I’m talking about is young, college educated people working and living in the city, not just “students”. They’re affluent. That’s why Columbus is booming – they’re either not leaving after college or moving there. GOP suppression tactics target more marginalized voters.

  150. 150.

    narya

    @zhena gogolia: There was a play in Chicago a million years ago that played off of Barbie. I cannot for the life of me remember the name of it, but it put Barbie in non-Mattel-approved situations, IIRC. I can’t track it down now because every search pulls up current stuff, but it was entertaining. My sister and I used our dolls as 3D characters in stories we made up. I couldn’t tell you a single one of them now, but it really wasn’t about the clothes, per se, because we didn’t have huge wardrobes for them.

  151. 151.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Kay:

    One of the NW OH counties I watch, Wood County, has Bowling Green State University and is a swing county but it has swung red lately, not blue.

    Our people are probably avoiding that area on account of the Bowling Green Massacre. ;-)

  152. 152.

    sab

    @WereBear: He is in the basement right now. So food, water and litter box. Pooped on the puppypad where the other cats piss on a shelf for some reason ( because they are cats).

    Pitbull is terrified of the basement. So he is safe from her there. By the time he comes upstairs she will accept that he is just another cat in the house. We still don’t know that it’s a he.

  154. 154.

    WereBear

    @Kay: Thanks, just saw your other comment.

    And I see why people would stay, and form like minded communities. How are you going to keep them down on the farm? There might be no jobs for them there.

  155. 155.

    Kay

    @lowtechcyclist:

    lol. The “college town” part of the county is maybe matched by the (also) growing blue collar part which is also nice and has genuinely affordable housing. But Trumpy.

  157. 157.

    rikyrah

    Jack Smith should still call for her to be taken off this case.
    Phucking unqualified clown.

    Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) tweeted at 8:55 AM on Fri, Jul 21, 2023:
    Judge Cannon set Trump’s federal trial for his documents/obstruction/espionage case for May 2024. She should have set it earlier. BUT it will be over months before the Nov. 2024 election. So people will know if they’re voting for a convicted felon or a completely exonerated man.
    (https://twitter.com/glennkirschner2/status/1682388915582369793?t=EvCn0fseqEOhtq83fIIBnQ&s=03)

  158. 158.

    Suzanne

    @Kay: My guess would be that the trend is more or less intense in some places, and it’s also interesting to look at this in terms of counties. Counties are not consistent areas. For example, the piece points out that Arizona is an example of this trend. Arizona has three large state universities. Arizona State is in Maricopa, which is the county that includes the vast majority of the Phoenix metro but also includes a huge unincorporated area west of the city. University of Arizona is in Pima County, which stretches all the way down to the border. And Northern Arizona University is in Coconino County, which is the second-largest-by-area county in the country and it includes some of those crazy FLDS towns on the Utah border. The city of Flagstaff is just a blue dot. So county analysis is inherently imperfect. Counties in the eastern part of the country are usually smaller in area and more culturally similar.

    Maricopa is bluing up, Pima has been blue for a while, and Coconino is red, with Flagstaff having been blue in the pattern of college towns for years.

  159. 159.

    JML

    @rikyrah: It was very cool to have Tony Bennett on MTV (back when MTV actually played music). I definitely was one of the people that loved his Unplugged album (and still have it). Until reading his obit I didn’t realize how difficult the 70’s had been for him, but it’s wonderful that he had such a deep second act later in life.

    Just an amazing voice, and it’s no wonder so many contemporary artists wanted to work with him. A true gentleman, who conducted himself with class and style. RIP, Tony Bennett. A live well-lived!

  160. 160.

    Kay

    @WereBear:

    It’s the cities but it’s also “inner ring” suburbs – older homes, close to the city, so less like a suburb and more like an urban area. That’s where they’re buying when they get ready to have kids. Those places are reliably blue now. It’s just a numbers game in Ohio. Republicans gained huge margins in red counties – 75/25, 80/20 and that worked and will work for a while but ultimately a huge county just stomps a set of rural counties with 15, 20, 30k people. They’re now maxed in those counties and not gaining outside them, so maybe, just maybe, it will start to shift bluer.

  161. 161.

    Jackie

    Alabama is defying SCOTUS:

    ““Alabama Republicans rejected calls to draw a second majority-Black congressional district this week, instead creating maps that Democrats and advocates say completely ignore a recent ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court,” NBC News reports.”

    What happens now? Does the SC ignore or?

  162. 162.

    Kristine

    @narya: Was this the light inside the microwave itself? I read that it can be dangerous to change those yourself–you need to make sure and discharge the capacitor or least make sure you don’t touch it.

  163. 163.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Baud: Yep, that’s exactly what I was going to say. The vast majority of my extended family and neighbors firmly believed this. Totally baked in to the environment that a lot of people grew up in. Now, decades later, I marvel that my parents somehow broke free of that mindset and didn’t raise their kids that way.

  164. 164.

    Geminid

    @catclub: The demonstrations tomorrow against Netanyahu’s power grab will be huge. He has a 4-seat Knesset majority, so he might ram the legislation through anyway.

    The pro-Netanyahu and anti-Netanyahu vote in the last election was roughly equal, but the failure of two anti-Netanyahu parties to reach the 3.25% threshold for Knesset representation resulted in a 64-56 majority for Netanyahu’s 4-party coalition.

    Polls show that the coalition would be crushed if elections were held now, but that is more incentive for his fractious coalition to hang together.

  165. 165.

    Kathleen

    @Betty Cracker: During DeSatan’s first run for governor I read that he had written a book that extolled the virtues of slavery, which was never mentioned much in subsequent stories as he slithered his way up the Rethug ranks. It seems particularly relevant now but national media do usual shrug and yawn. I will say local media in Florida seem to committing real journalism, and I salute them.

  166. 166.

    Kay

    @Suzanne:

    Right- and Ohio has sort of anemic growth overall – so my “these areas are growing” is in comparison to no or low growth statewide.

  167. 167.

    Roger Moore

    @Baud:

    The “blacks were happier as slaves” canard has been around for a long time.

    And the part about slaves benefiting from slavery has been around since slavers talked about Christianizing the savages.  The lies people tell themselves to rationalize their evil are the most toxic kind.

  169. 169.

    Kay

    @Jackie:

    I’m shocked because I keep being told that there is no institutional or “color of law” racism remaining in the US, yet these crazy, grasping, white people LEGAL machinations to block AA political power keep happening.

  172. 172.

    Anyway

    @Kay:

    . What I’m talking about is young, college educated people working and living in the city, not just “students”. They’re affluent. That’s why Columbus is booming – they’re either not leaving after college or moving there. GOP suppression tactics target more marginalized voters.

    yeah college towns are popular especially in red states. Also has the effect of concentrating likely blue voters so the red legislature can gerrymander the heck out of the rest of the state. Grrrr.

  173. 173.

    cmorenc

    @Phylllis:

    @Betty Cracker: Yep. Going to college in South Carolina was a culture shock in a number of ways, but the biggest was the complete dichotomy between what I had been taught about the Civil War/civil rights and what South Carolinians had been spoon fed. I can remember thinking ‘how did these ignorant cracker-ass crackers even figure out how to fill in the circles for their name on the SAT test, let alone make it to college?’

    I attended middle and high-school grades in a small southeastern NC town in the  mid-1960s, and in both 8th grade NC history and 10th grade US history classes,  and in discussions about the Civil War, “we” was always from the perspective of the southern Confederate side.  Also, discussions about slavery seemed to go out of their way to mention that some free blacks in the south also owned slaves, and that some owners were “good” to their slaves, others not so much.

    Interesting that when our town’s high schools became integrated my junior year, the fact that the influx of blacks instantly upgraded our high school football and basketball teams from losing to winning records defused much of the controversy over the change, especially among we students ourselves, who concluded that the black kids coming in were cool to hang out with – in school and at games, anyways.  Of course, from contemporary perspective this sports team factor sounds racist as Hell, but from the perspective of the mid-1960s initial implementation of Brown v Board of Education in southern schools – it beneficially worked to make what could have been an ugly, tumultous transition surprisingly chill and quickly accepted in our otherwise cracker redneck-y town.

  176. 176.

    Geminid

    @Kay: Politically, Virginia and Ohio have moved in opposite directions since 2000, and I think one reason is that Virginia has seen a lot of economic growth and Ohio has not.

  177. 177.

    Kathleen

    @Baud: It was the accepted thesis in acadame in the 1800’s and early 1900’s. I wrote a research paper in college that used folks music/spirituals to contradict the notion that Black people accepted slavery which was one the the rationales used to justify the heinous practice in academic circles. I remember how shocked I was to learn that in 1969/1970.

  178. 178.

    dm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: The subtitle says it all.

    I think it does “end badly”, but it’s a case of the “only way to fix such a broken system is to tear it down — leaving only rubble is to be preferred”.

    I’m not sure how I feel about that. I wonder what the scene will be one or two generations after.

  180. 180.

    Ejoiner

    Purely anecdotal, but on par from this discussion – I’m in SC and we recently held a wedding shower here for my daughter whonow lives in Chicago. It was a small gathering of about 2 dozen of OUR friends/age group because none of her friends from high school or college have remained in the state. (BTW, she graduated with an IB diploma from one of the better public schools in the state – within 5 years none of classmates still remained in SC and none that she has contact with intend to return). I’m betting that’s a pretty common pattern right now.

  184. 184.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    The “shooting themselves in the foot” thing drives me crazy. I say I’m over it  but then I return to it. Ohio’s public school rankings – as a state- have dropped 10 slots in the last 20 years. Well, “dropped” or stayed stagnant as other states improved and bumped OH down. They’re now at 34th (out of 50 states) – right above Missouri. Do they not see where this is inevitably headed?

  185. 185.

    Subsole

    @Tony Jay:

    Good morning!

    How are things over on the Isles?

    Heard there was a bit of a political upset, and a couple of Tories got knocked off in some local elections?

  186. 186.

    rikyrah

    Her unqualified azz should be replaced.

     

    Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) tweeted at 8:46 AM on Fri, Jul 21, 2023:
    BREAKING: Judge Aileen Cannon has set a trial date of May 20, 2024, in the classified documents case against Donald Trump, rejecting both the Justice Department’s bid to try the case in December and Trump’s request for a delay until after the 2024 election.
    (https://twitter.com/joncoopertweets/status/1682386613878267904?t=rswnpY56Upk8meWQirlyBA&s=03)

  187. 187.

    dm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I really think Kuang wrote themself into a bind with a wonderful setup, world, and characters, but really didn’t know how to end the setup other than with tragedy.

  190. 190.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    States that focus on “school choice” rather than supporting/improving the existing public schools that most people use either don’t get better in school rankings or drop. We know this because Ohio has followed this Right wing approach for 20 years and has dropped in national rankings every year. Yet. Still. Every legislative session we get another “school choice” giveaway to charter or private schools and nothing for the public schools that 95% of students attend. It’s a now 20 year failed policy and it doesn’t matter at all. They keep doing it and people keep voting for them.

  191. 191.

    Scout211

    @narya: According to a  Barb fan site, most of the Barbie family of dolls had versions with red hair.  Back in the 60s my sister’s Skipper had red hair and my Midge had red hair.

  194. 194.

    rikyrah

    DUPED?

    Woman, you can’t be serious. You knew that YOU weren’t the duly selected ELECTOR from Michigan. You  all met in secret.

    DUPED?

    Phuck outta here.

     

    Change  (@ChangeTheSyst14) tweeted at 4:26 PM on Thu, Jul 20, 2023:
    73 year-old Michigan fake elector, Michelle Lundgren, says “We were duped!” She’s facing 80 years in prison for her role in trying to overturn the 2020 election #FakeElector https://t.co/DmbEUOvaOF
    (https://twitter.com/ChangeTheSyst14/status/1682139837543882752?t=wefALYiCfxFAyUEuA5yOUw&s=03)

  196. 196.

    Yarrow

    @rikyrah:
    @The Thin Black Duke:
    I thought I’d heard that story before so I checked. The tweet is from today but the actual story is from last weekend. The tweet is misleading because it says Charlotte Observer but the linked article is to the Miami Herald.

    He’s still a MAGA dick, though.

  197. 197.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @rikyrah: ​
      May is not an unrealistic trial date. I don’t think you are going to see any pushback from the prosecution team on this. Trump’s people, otoh, will upset.

  200. 200.

    Baud

    @rikyrah: Yeah, duped by whom?  If you’re unwilling even to say in active voice that Trump lied, don’t even begin to expect sympathy.

  202. 202.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    It won’t matter for her criminal case (and I don’t believe she was duped) but I think Trumper turncoats are good. You never know what will reach people.

    I thought the 1/6 insurrectionist who testified at the hearings that he had fallen into far Right conspiracy  theories and ruined his life was very effective testimony, in terms of persuasion. They need to feel burned by the Right- tricked, ripped off.

  203. 203.

    p.a.

    @Kay:
    Is your base assumption that improving education (public, private, any kind) is anywhere on their priority list?

    They want to produce people who can put tab A into slot 1 and who are satisfied to not have to forage for food.

  204. 204.

    CaseyL

    @eclare: I had one (1) Barbie when I was about…6?

    Not one of the posable kind. I didn’t realize that, and broke her legs trying to make them bend.

    Having done that, I took off her head…and then ran to Mom, yelling “Her brain is hair!  Her brain is hair!”

    For some reason, that was my last as well as my first Barbie.

    (However, a couple years later I asked for, and got, a Johnny West doll – which I really only wanted because…. he had a horse!  Which you could put a bridle and saddle on! I really just wanted the horse :)

  206. 206.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    She says “they” (someone) had her “sign in” on an index card at the secret meeting and then transposed that signature to the federal electors form so the claim is they didn’t actually sign it. They were forbidden to take pics at the secret meeting but she (of course- because they’ll all constant liars and rule breakers, even their own rules) did take a pic of the index card. But obviously the existence of the index card doesn’t mean she didn’t sign the form.

  210. 210.

    Kay

    @p.a.:

    Well, not GOP politicians. Their voters. Yeah, I do think most of their voters want their children to get a solid education. The 27% GOP base are insane and hostile to education but most parents want good things for their children. I just think the ideological bent overcomes that and they refuse to look at the 20 year record. Ohio has one of the longest “school choice” records in the country. It’s not new here. They have results- they’re bad.

  212. 212.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: If you make any attempt to use a non-English language, Europeans will never think you’re American. They will however guess English, unfortunately for Tony. The English must be a little better than us about that language thing.

    Somewhat on-topic story from 1990:

    I’d just flown from NYC to Hamburg and was at the Hauptbahnhof hoping to arrange a ticket to Copenhagen to see my friend Kip but with a several-hours stopoff in Lubeck to see the town.

    As I reached the counter I asked the ticket agent (in German) if he spoke English. A little, he replied. Wahrscheinlich ist Ihr English besser als mein Deutsch, I continued, and proceeded in my best English-for-non-native-speakers fashion (speak slowly, simply, and clearly without shouting; do not mumble; avoid idioms).

    As I paid for and collected my ticket, the agent asked me if I was British. I showed him my US passport and asked him why he thought I might be.

    Because I can understand you, he replied.

    We often forget that most every English-speaker in Europe has been taught British English, and if (more like “when”) they fail to understand something we say in our slurried every-vowel-a-diphthong Yank manner, we immediately assume they are hard of hearing and REPEAT IT IN A SHOUT.

  213. 213.

    Subsole

    @Soprano2:

    These are the same people who have convinced themselves it is noble and right to spit racial slurs to someone’s face because it’s “honest”. Some of them really, truly do think that they are simply saying what everyone is thinking.

    Just complete Limbaugh brain. “The more obnoxious I am being, the more honest I am.”

    Arrogant.

  214. 214.

    Captain C

    @Baud:

    It appears Cannon has set Trump’s trial date for May 20, 2024.

    Which means it starts approximately 2 months before the Republican National Convention Hatefest.

  215. 215.

    Ken

    @Omnes Omnibus: May is not an unrealistic trial date. […] Trump’s people, otoh, will upset.

    If he wants it over quicker, he could change his plea to guilty and ask for expedited sentencing.

  216. 216.

    Subsole

    @sab:

    But I bet they were functional and solid!

    My grandma actually sewed one of my stuffed animals a coat, when I was a wee child. That coat is still in perfect shape.

    Better shape than its wearer, actually.

  218. 218.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    And probably did! It’s a shitty defense anyway because like all of them she never fucking shuts up so they have video of them trying to get into the statehouse to deliver this signed form and she’s all thrilled and telling media it’s top secret.

    She also seems to think bringing a crazy Right wing lawyer to your crime scene is somehow exculpatory- like the lawyer blessed it and removed crime.

  219. 219.

    Geminid

    @Kay: The other prison inmates will take delight in seeing someone who’s obviously dumber than them in the population. The guards might too!

  220. 220.

    Tony Jay

    Arrived in London with all kinds of plans to drop our bags at the hotel and do a bit of sight seeing before food and bed, but as ever we underestimated the draining grind of traversing the Underground with heavy backpacks and a truculently tired 10 year old.

    Currently sitting in a pub with a large beer and no intention of walking anywhere other than to the dinner table. I know my limits, and they have been reached.

    Also too, I did consider asking Joanna Lumley for a photograph, but, a) She’s a big Flobalob-loving Tory and I have issues with that, b) I don’t think it’s fair getting in someone’s face and demanding their time just because they’re famous, especially when they’re probably tired after a long train trip. She did, however, express concern when she saw the size of the backpack The Boy was putting on (it’s actually just clothes so quite light), and I made her snort by telling her he was actually a sturdy midget we rescued from a Circus, so now I’m conflicted.

    Yes there were elections, yes the Tories took a kicking. All we can really take from the results is that turnout was WELL DOWN and the Tories lost not because their voters went Labour or Lib Dem, but because they stayed at home. Wild Guess – the Tories dump Sunak before the next election, go with someone like Mordaunt, and eke back a few votes. They’re still going to lose, but it’ll be a low turnout election and could end up with a Lib/Lab coalition.

  221. 221.

    Subsole

     

    @Baud: I read this and now I can hear ringing and have a metallic taste in my mouth and it is entirely your fault.

  223. 223.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Subsole: And before Emancipation it was “They ARE happier as Slaves.”  Antebellum diary/journal entries are filled with white people making such claims.  It’s as old as Slavery itself.

  224. 224.

    mrmoshpotato

    NEW: President Biden has created a new working group of administration officials to study how to avert future debt-limit crises

    Punch the Rethuglicans in their fucking fascist faces, then throw them through the “debt ceiling.”

    Problem! Solved!

    ETA – or let Harrison Ford do it.  The actual President who wanted the job is a very busy man.

  225. 225.

    Juju

    @eclare: My older sister got a Barbie and a Skipper and I got a Barbie and a Tootie for Christmas the year they started making Barbie with bending legs. My Tootie had wired arms and legs. I don’t know what Skipper had. My sister never let me touch anything of her’s, Barbie related or not. I am six years younger than my sister. I can’t remember which one was the cousin and which one was the younger sister. It was probably printed on the box they came in. I never read the boxes, especially when I was six.

  226. 226.

    bbleh

    @rikyrah: @Omnes Omnibus: yeah they gotta litigate all the CIPA stuff, and go through all the defense motions whining about the volume of discovery, yada yada yada.  And I guess I have trouble seeing how this is gonna be a complicated trial.  Establish that release of the documents would harm the national defense (can’t be too tough, with all the, y’know, classification markings, plus Trump’s own taped admission), and establish that he had them (duh), and … what else?  (ETA I guess obstruction requires also establishing state of mind, no?  But how hard will that be, with all the camera footage and testimony from workers?) Plenty of time for a guilty verdict WELL before the election.

    As observed elsewhere, I think she may just have split the difference: May is midway between December and November.

  227. 227.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @bbleh: ​
      You also have to remember that this is not the only case on her docket. She can’t move cases that are already scheduled. And, fwiw, I doubt that the trial will actually start on May 20. It will probably be continued a couple of times.

  228. 228.

    p.a.

    I like the Brit expat with the Lost in the Pond youtube channel, who pointed out (or one of his guests did), how annoying many find it that Americans generally eff up the pronunciation and say ‘Bridish’.  I realized that’s how I was saying it as well…

  230. 230.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    The funniest part of it is her “we were called by members of the Republican Party…” like when members of the Republican Party summon you, you must go under penalty of law. I thought she would call on some actual authority to cover her ass, but it’s just their imaginary Authoritarian Government In Exile.

  231. 231.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Makes sense.  When Soros calls me to help undermine democracy, I’m usually let it go to voicemail because I think it’s a telemarketer, but once I hear the voicemail, I’m out the door.

  233. 233.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @kalakal: Your typing sound kind of Australian to me.

    I actually think I’m mostly OK at hearing the difference between English and Australian. But I’m embarrassed to admit that I spent the longest time trying to decide whether the Geico gecko’s voice was Australian or cockney.

  234. 234.

    Subsole

    @Kay:

    The fact these people never shut up really does put the lie to their entire pose of eternal persecution.

    People who have actually been on the wrong end of a social dynamic – or even just in mixed company –  know know how to shut up and blend in and not draw attention.

    Just privileged.

  236. 236.

    Paul in KY

    @Kay: Like a spell was invoked.  That’s somewhat like the crazyness of ‘Making Jeruselum the capital of Israel will bring Jesus back for the 2nd Coming’

    Like it’s a spell and Jesus, who’s currently ministering to the natives of Glawok 5, will be summoned back (last words to the Glawokese): ‘Jeruselum must have been made the capital of Greater Israel! Always love one anotherrrrr….’

  240. 240.

    SoupCatcher

    @JWR:

    Since you won’t lose money on every accusation is a confession with Republicans, I wonder how many bribes Grassley has taken.

     

    All of them, Katie?

  241. 241.

    Ruckus

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I think it’s more than half way convinced.

    This country has a horrible record of slavery and what it meant, how  it was done/handled, the concept that it was good for business, it was a business, it was good for the country, it put food on your table, the workers were valuable as workers because they weren’t human, that slaves weren’t human because of their skin color….

    They would try to justify their hate and depravity because they knew it was wrong, but they believed they were right being racists and slave owners because of that hate and depravity. The only thing they were right about was the side of the political aisle they occupied.

    And more than a few conservatives of today are still on that same side of this aisle. The right side. Not right because it’s correct but right because of what political conservatism means in the history of this country. That people of color are supposed to know their place in the hierarchy of humanity and shut up and do as they are told.

    It was 100000% wrong then and still is today.

  242. 242.

    Ruckus

    @prostratedragon:

    One of the comments on this site:

    ‘Americans need to see Trump as we see him here. We recognise him as a dishonest, untrustworthy, unreliable, tax-dodging imposter’

    Many Americans do as well.

  243. 243.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @sab:

    @Paul in KY: For what it’s worth, every source I read on Google tells me he’s cockney.

    More accent embarrassment: I worked with a Scottish guy, and there was another colleague who had what I thought was clearly a Scottish accent. So one day I started a conversation about that guy and my Scottish friend said “you mean that Yorkshire fellow?”

  245. 245.

    Ruckus

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    This was not my experience in Europe 5 decades ago. I believe maybe for 2 reasons. First American english really does not sound the same as English english. It may have been even more distinct back then but I really do not think so.

  247. 247.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Ruckus: I think I was misunderstood. My comment was about when not talking English. They can usually tell your native language is English by your accent. But the bare fact of your not speaking English was enough to rule out “American” in most people‘s minds.

  249. 249.

    Ruckus

    @Scout211:

    96 seems to be a rather long time to be breathing. No one in my extended family lasted as long as mom and she made it to the last day of 94. I’ve met one person who’s made it longer than my mom and she lives in the seniors complex I live in, she’s 97.

    Here is a list of oldest American humans and you have to get to #5 for one still alive. The first male is #11 the second is #37. There are 3 males in the oldest 100. Not a good run for us of that side of humanity.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_supercentenarians

  250. 250.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: Springfield has a major state university and two smaller private ones, and it is slowly turning purple. Six years ago there was only one Democratic representative from our area in the state legislature; now there are three, all women.

  251. 251.

    Ruckus

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    Understand. Yes most European countries are small enough that people often need to speak more than one language if one travels much at all. At least that was my experience traveling to many countries there 50+ yrs ago.

  252. 252.

    Captain C

    @rikyrah:

    DUPED?

    Is there a word for happily and willfully duped?  Like deep down she knew it was wrong, and illegal, but she cheerfully suppressed that and quickly convinced herself that she was Doing the Right Thing, which just happened to be what she wanted?  Because that sounds like the best case scenario for this BS.

  253. 253.

    Captain C

    @Omnes Omnibus: “Being properly and fairly tried (and convicted and punished) before he inevitably wins the election obviously infringes on the rights of my client, who should be allowed to do whatever he wants.  We are not cranks.”  —  Trump’s latest incompetent, unpaid lawyer

  254. 254.

    Captain C

    @Layer8Problem: In addition to being an incompetent, terrible, attention-hounding mayor, Adams is a deeply, deeply weird person with some truly odd obsessions.

  255. 255.

    Geminid

    @Captain C: Adams’ reelection will be the second held under New York City’s new ranked choice voting system. He barely squeaked by first time, in a low turnout primary. I think a strong candidate could beat him- if there is one.

  256. 256.

    Citizen Alan

    @Scout211:  My older sister had Barbies. I had Mego superhero “action figures” (i.e. what we called “socially acceptable dolls for boys”). But there was a dearth of cool villains for Batman & Robin to fight, so I absconded with her old Barbies to create a force of evil, disturbingly  proportioned Amazon Women for them to fight.

  261. 261.

    Geminid

    @Captain C: Adams might have lost under the old system, where there was a runoff if no candidate exceeded 40% in the first round. Adams had ~33%, but Kathy Garcia almost caught up.with him when the 3rd place finisher was eliminated.

    Oh well. Glad those guys are road testing ranked-choice voting and not me. I think it’s the coming thing, but I want to see how it works out before it gets to Virginia.

    I kind of like Alaska’s new system, with a jungle primary and the top 4 finishers advancing to a ranked-choice runoff in November.

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