As y’all know, I despise Ron DeSantis to the depths of my soul, maybe even more than I abhor his former mentor/current tormenter the orange fart cloud. So I’m following accounts of the DeSantis campaign struggles with an unseemly amount of glee. I beg your forgiveness!
Josh Marshall has an update at TPM under a promising title: “GOPers Hit the Half-Drowned Ron with Their Paddles as He Struggles to Climb Back in the Campaign Boat.” (Sounds like Marshall loathes the schmuck almost as much as I do.) The “Dead Bounce Ron Daily Update” begins as follows:
In today’s episode of the ongoing collapse of the DeSantis campaign, we have a new moment which we might see as the severed segments of Dead Bounce Ron roiling and twitching around, much like a worm that has been cut into pieces but continues to wiggle and move about almost as if nothing had happened. Yesterday in response to a question about ersatz candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., DeSantis said that while he wouldn’t choose Kennedy as his vice president, he would consider him to run the FDA or CDC.
This is of course a ridiculously inane suggestion. But the key is that it was immediately attacked even by many of DeSantis’s erstwhile allies or the kinds of Republicans he needs to gain the support of to remain in the race.
As Marshall notes, Repubs see RFK Jr. as a ratfuck opportunity. No one is seriously considering putting that lunatic in charge of a lemonade stand, let alone a federal agency. So, that was a dumb self-own by DeSantis and an opportunity for rivals to attack him.
Also, Nazi eruptions in a campaign are a bad look, even for Repubs, especially outside of districts like those repped by MTG and Gosar. It’s not like Repubs are sincerely horrified, but a parade of overt fascists is embarrassing for those who are still pretending their party isn’t a gr0yper cesspool.
Also? DeSantis just sucks at being a human being and even more at being a presidential candidate, and that perception is snowballing among people he needs to win over NOW:
Meanwhile, DeSantis reportedly crashed and burned on a fundraising jaunt through the Hamptons, according to The New York Post, even as RFK Jr. made bank on Hamptons Republicans eager to fund his trolling operation. According to the Post, DeSantis was reduced to cutting the minimum contribution in half — essentially offering discount fundraisers — and ended up having to scrap two events for lack of interest.
Of course, it’s the Post. So who knows? But why spoil a good story?
The loser stench is growing, and the first GOP debate takes place less than a month from today, dog help us. DeSantis better hope to sweet merciful Christ that Trump shows up at the debate (he won’t). Because otherwise, his fellow aspirants will aim their piñata bats at the maggoty meatball in their midst.
Open thread.
NotMax
Heh. No sooner do I post something OT below than an Open Thread appears.
Some jackals will be saddened to hear that Max (formerly HBO Max) has announced the cancellation of Perry Mason.
BR
Apparently Teen Vogue is doing a better job covering some of the bad bills in congress than bigger outlets:
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/kids-online-safety-act-lgbtq-youth
…
This and its tag teamed bills are all being quietly pushed together and Dems are currently on board, which is just crazy. Here’s a hopefully working version of the link from the previous thread: https://www.badinternetbills.com/
Dorothy A. Winsor
Teen Vogue has been hitting it out of the park for a couple of years now. Who could have guessed?
Jeffro
The other (non-trump, non-DeSantis) GOP candidates must not want the nomination very badly, or perhaps they’re just getting bad advice. The time to stomp on ol’ Ron is NOW. He (and his fluffers in the media) are blocking any possibility of an alternative trump alternative from emerging in time to be viable.
Verily, there doth be disarray on yon Republican side. LOLOLOL
Alison Rose
RFK Jr seems like the kind of dude who thinks there are benefits to drinking your own urine, so I definitely wouldn’t buy any lemonade from him.
MattF
Rod Dreher swears up and down that the (Jewish) proto-Nazi who selected the video of an occult fascist rite for the background of a DeSantis campaign ad says he had no idea what it was. But I’d give the boy some credit for having an accurate political and aesthetic instinct for what was needed there.
NotMax
@Jeffro
Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titan.
:) (Too soon?)
jimmiraybob
First: I would just like to say that I don’t think that Francisco Franco gets enough attention.
Second: I propose that Trump and DeSantis meet on Fifth Avenue (is there a 5th Ave in Florida?) and shoot somebody, and see who loses/gains the most voters.
Roger Moore
@jimmiraybob:
Before they do this, let’s make sure all the bystanders are removed so it’s only Trump and DeSantis around. We wouldn’t want any innocent third party murdered in this test.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I live in an over-55 condo building, and today is the quarterly Town Hall meeting. You haven’t lived until you’ve listened to a cranky old man complain how there’s no place to park his motorcycle, and then a cranky old woman complain that the restaurant portions are too big. And yet, in a little while, I’m going.
Ejoiner
@NotMax: yes, it’s a shame…great production/acting/writing/etc. etc. Really enjoyed this second and, turns out, final season. C’est la vie :(
HumboldtBlue
@NotMax:
Wasn’t that announced a few weeks ago?
Trivia Man
@Dorothy A. Winsor: time to come up with your own! I suggest a complaint that incoming mail isn’t being sorted alphabetically by sender when put in your box. Bonus points for keeping a straight face.
Marcelo
The other reason Josh covers Ron’s implosion so thoroughly is when Ron was ascending months ago Josh boldly called that his campaign would go nowhere so he’s bathing in the glee from being right this whole time.
Jackie
Pudd’n Boots just can’t help himself:
”New York Times: “On the day his presidential campaign said it had laid off more than a third of its staff to address worries about unsustainable spending, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida began his morning by boarding a private jet to Chattanooga, Tenn.””
Barbara
@Dorothy A. Winsor: That cranky old woman could be me in a few years. Restaurant portions are too big. I am only 5’2″ tall for heaven’s sake. I don’t need that much food. Doesn’t anyone care about short people?
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
And the food is awful!
piratedan
@BR: do we know which Dems are “on board”? I’ve read that claim, but have not found specifics. Would like to harass properly, if you take my meaning.
NotMax
@HumboldtBlue
It may have been. If so, I missed it then. Came across it as a single sentence in a media round-up article somewhere or other datelined today.
BR
@piratedan:
Here’s a list of co-sponsors for just one of the various bad bills:
https://www.techdirt.com/2023/05/02/bipartisan-panic-26-senators-support-terrible-dangerous-unconstitutional-kosa-act/
Here’s one more of them, with overlapping but slightly different sponsors:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/1207/cosponsors
And one more, with a smaller list of sponsors (and would give the DEA — yes, the DEA — the ability to snoop on any communications):
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/1080/cosponsors
piratedan
@BR: tyvm! I keep forgetting to actually check the congressional links!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Trivia Man: Good idea. I could also take a notebook and see if I get any book ideas. The Thursday Murder Club sold a lot of copies.
@Barbara: They’re too big for me too, so I take them home. Actually, Mr DAW and I often split a meal.
rikyrah
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Not allowed to take doggy bags home?
Gin & Tonic
Hell, even Language Log is dunking on Rhonda:
cain
@NotMax:
Goddam it – I loved that series. It was pretty good! I was looking forward to next season. Meh.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@rikyrah: You can take doggie bags. If you want, they’ll even split your dinner in two when you order, serve you one half, and give you the other half in a take out bag.
rikyrah
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
trying to see what is worth complaining about then.
Brachiator
@NotMax:
I see that there was a story about this in June, which somehow I missed. This is unfortunate. I really enjoyed the series and it’s take on Perry Mason.
Perry Mason is cancelled, but the crappy DeSantis campaign soldiers on, for now. Life is so unfair sometimes.
ETA. 538 did a pointless story on how the GOP Primary might shake out should DeSantis give up. Anything said about this would just be wild speculation. Too many variables at play. Hell, I am surprised that DeSantis has made it this far.
Hungry Joe
@Barbara: Since no one else has said it, I guess I have to:
Randy Newman cares.
FelonyGovt
The New York Post is Murdoch-owned, AFAIK, so this may mean Murdoch is tossing ol’ Puddin’ Boots an anchor as well.
Baud
@Gin & Tonic:
The fact that he called it Mandarin instead of Chinese is why he will never be at Trump.
Steeplejack
@jimmiraybob:
Maybe they could take aim at each other. Simplify the problem.
Yarrow
@rikyrah: It may depend on if meals are included in whatever residents are paying. If they’re included and the woman thinks they’re too big she might be thinking she’s paying for food she doesn’t eat and they should make portions more reasonable to save money. Or something.
rikyrah
@Marcelo:
Nothing wrong with tooting your own horn…..
rikyrah
@FelonyGovt:
Hasn’t Fox News stopped fluffing Ronnie?
Yarrow
@FelonyGovt: Wasn’t there a story a bit ago about Murdoch turning on DeSantis?
cain
@Baud: He should have said 37 pronouns in Thigh.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
OT, and maybe old news to y’all
I heard something in the car just now that trump is denying he’s being indicted, or that he’s been told he’s being indicted, or… something. But I was busy swearing at the idiots going slower than me and the maniacs going faster than me, so I don’t know if it was specified as to which indictment he announced last week that he is denying today
dmsilev
So, then who will be the next Not Trump touted by the political media? Tim Scott or Nicki Haley perhaps?
eversor
@BR:
It’s already happening. As a person who enjoys the odd porn video (which is to say, everyone) a funny thing happened in VA… many of the bigger sites require an ID and login for legal reasons now. Of course this is instantly dealt with via a VPN so it’s not stopping anything.
I feel like we are rushing towards this sort of mass conservative censoring of the internet via geolocation. Where, nobody wants to have their name on a list of stuff that’s being looked at, but not everyone is savvy enough to get around it. With a side dose of “why do you have a VPN” and maybe attacks on that.
The best part is for all the Christian screaming about how liberals are going to install a social credit system and monitor people for traditional views on gender roles leading to persecution of Christians they are racing to build their own monitoring system. Of course theirs is OK, religious liberty!
lowtechcyclist
@Hungry Joe:
Short people are just the same as you and I.
FelonyGovt
@rikyrah:
@Yarrow: Could be, if so I missed it, and who are they supporting now? I thought they had moved on from TIFG.
cain
For your reading pleasure:
https://elonmusk.today/
lowtechcyclist
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
And the person in the next lane who was doing exactly the same speed as you, so you couldn’t get over. Can’t forget that person.
dmsilev
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think the story about Trump getting a “you’re probably getting indicted” letter is about Jack Smith’s Jan 6 investigation, so Federal not state crimes. But, to be fair, it’s hard to keep track.
dmsilev
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think the story about Trump getting a “you’re probably getting indicted” letter is about Jack Smith’s Jan 6 investigation, so Federal not state crimes. But, to be fair, it’s hard to keep track since there are so many crimes.
Edit: WordPress doesn’t like me today I guess. Sorry for the double post.
Trivia Man
@Dorothy A. Winsor: You just might hear something that works as a motivation/ trigger point reason to commit a crime. Something SOMEONE is passionate about to the point of white hot rage but wouldn’t even register with everyone else.
SuzieC
It concerns me that RFK Jr. had a major fundraising haul in the Hamptons.
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
The most likely outcome would be that Trump would romp to the nomination. Of course that’s also the most likely outcome if DeSantis stays in the race. This one more problem with horse race reporting on politics. Sometimes the race is the 1973 Belmont Stakes, and reporters don’t do their audience any favors by pretending Secretariat isn’t a 1:10 favorite.
Baud
@Baud:
Be at = beat.
Proofread, proofread, proofread.
Anoniminous
@lowtechcyclist:
But they have tiny little fingers and tiny little minds, they’re going to get you every time
Nettoyeur
@NotMax: In some ways, Ron DeS’s campaign is looking more and more like a Ron! situation.. However, Jeb! was arguably a nicer human being.
Roger Moore
@dmsilev:
You can’t tell the
playersindictments without a score card!Jackie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: TIFG is denying he’ll be indicted for J6.🤭
Phylllis
@Nettoyeur: Talk about a low bar.
Ken
First prize: A fundraising dinner with DeSantis!
Second prize: Two fundraising dinners with DeSantis!
Hoodie
I predict Christie will eat DeSantis in the first minute. He likes Florida cuisine.
schrodingers_cat
Orange Error is going to win the nomination is my guess.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Huh. I wonder if his lawyers have persuaded him he needs to be afraid of that one
ETA @schrodingers_cat: I’ve thought for a while now the only thing that will stop him is all the McD’s fryer grease coming home to roost (let it be so)
Anyway
@SuzieC:
Rich, disruptor bros with money to burn love RFK Jr and his transgressive views, is my guess. He has many backers in SiValley.
Steeplejack
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
“The idiots going slower than me and the maniacs going faster than me.”
My driving experience exactly. What a coincidence!
Yarrow
@SuzieC:
@Anyway:
He’s also a Republican op. He’s supported by Republican money.
lollipopguild
@SuzieC: Look at it this way, every dollar they give to RFKjr is a dollar that is not going to trumpolini or any other repthug.
lollipopguild
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I was holding out for a lighting bolt on one of his golf courses.
NotMax
@https://balloon-juice.com/2023/07/27/moar-ron-open-thread/#comment-8910846
A line of Brink’s Vespas backing up to the loading dock.
//
Patricia Kayden
Not sure that “Nazi eruptions” are a problem for GOP candidates.
Republicans can’t even keep resolutions denouncing racism in place when they take ish over.
https://apnews.com/article/missouri-school-board-antiracism-resolution-8cc65daf5f31b7ee6a482f3b52bc682a
rikyrah
@SuzieC:
Not me. We see him coming a mile away. I’m so glad the Democrats changed their order for 2024. The base of the party will speak first. …and that’s that.
Steeplejack
Damn. Went out back to water the small peach tree* here at Sighthound Hall and started feeling bad after a while. Am I sick, or could I be that out of shape? Came inside and saw that the temp is 98° and there’s a heat warning on until tomorrow night.
* Peach tree sapling was bought by niece and nephew a few years ago from the “hopeless” bin at a nursery and named Otis. It prospered and actually started setting (small) fruit this year, then promptly fell over in a heavy rain, splitting the trunk. Doughty landscaping crew cyborged it back together and got it standing again yesterday, said to give it a lot of water. Mission accomplished for now.
[Narrator: He could be that out of shape.]
NotMax
Whoopsie doodle. Reply fail. Fix.
@Nettoyeur
A line of Brink’s Vespas backing up to the loading dock.
//
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack: We LOVED Down with Love! So funny and witty!
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack: Stay in the A/C!
rikyrah
I have seen the news about the Houston School District FIRING ALL THE LIBRARIANS and making LIBRARIES DISCIPLINARY CENTERS.
I just have to continue to ask..
Isn’t this the school district where Abbott et al, got rid of the duly ELECTED school board and replaced them with GOP stooges?
Manyakitty
@rikyrah: WHAT in the actual fuck?????
Gravenstone
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Be funny if Willis and Smith rolled dice to see which was going to get to present their indictments first, just to add to the drama.
Jackie
No J6 indictment today ☹️
“A deputy clerk at the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. said no indictments were returned today by the grand jury and none are expected for remainder of the day, Politico reports.”
NotMax
@rikyrah
Did he accidentally on purpose say “Blueston” by any chance?
geg6
All of Josh’s commentary about Bootsy Meatball has been high on the snark scale. It’s very apparent that he despises him and takes great joy in his travails.
rikyrah
HISD to eliminate librarians and convert libraries into disciplinary centers at NES schools
ByRosie Nguyen![]()
Wednesday, July 26, 2023 9:37AM
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Students at dozens of Houston ISD schools will return in a few weeks without librarians and to former libraries that have been converted into disciplinary spaces.
New Superintendent Mike Miles announced earlier this summer that librarian and media specialist positions would be eliminated at the 28 original schools being overhauled under his reform program, New Education System (NES). Both the librarian and media specialist positions are similar, but librarians typically have an advanced degree in library science.
https://abc13.com/hisd-libraries-librarians-media-specialists-houston-isd/13548483/
Jackie
@Gravenstone: They’re waiting until WaterGirl gets home so she can celebrate properly – and with us.
Elizabelle
@NotMax: Does David Zaslav do anything right? I think he needs a tumbrel number, low as possible.
Anyway
@Jackie:
We had layoffs at work today and scuttlebutt is we’re now “done for the day – no more expected today”. Survived this round …
Jackie
@Anyway: That sucks! Fingers crossed for you🤞🏻🤞🏻
Yarrow
@rikyrah: It’s not all the librarians but it’s a lot of them.
And yes, it’s the district the state of Texas took over. HISD is the largest school district in Texas. It’s a big grab.
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
Glad you liked it! I looked it up for a rewatch, but I’d have to pay, which I’m trying to avoid while I’m on the Sighthound Hall accounts. Maybe later.
Excellent casting all around. Sarah Paulson: “The sofa nearly devoured me!”
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
Inorite. Even Chip, the resident (non-)sighthound, who has been sticking close by me at all times in hopes of human food and emotional attention (in that order), went and stood in some shade while he supervised the watering.
It snuck up on me, because I hadn’t been out today and it was “only” 93° yesterday.
Manyakitty
@rikyrah: speechless. 🤬
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
There is something deeply and truly Orwellian about this.
HumboldtBlue
@FelonyGovt:
ba-dum-tssh!
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack: She’s really funny. They’re all great.
kindness
We should start an over/under betting line for the prospect of Queenling Casey dumping Meatball Ron when he loses the Republican primary.
rikyrah
@Anyway:
Fingers and everything crossed for you
rikyrah
@Yarrow:
lips so pursed.
In case you didn’t understand
THE SCHOOL TO PRISON PIPELINE
different-church-lady
I can sort of see how anyone on his campaign staff might be confused. Anyone might assume that the guy who talks like a Nazi and governs like a Nazi and promises to be a Nazi as president would want Nazi things in his campaign. I mean, talk about mixed messages from the boss…
catfishncod
@jimmiraybob: obligatory —
https://youtu.be/BjRqj_STFFM
different-church-lady
@rikyrah:
Why bother with the pipeline? Just put razor wire around the school and…
Yarrow
@Steeplejack: Make sure you’re drinking a lot more fluids than you usually do. It’s very easy and common to get dehydrated in this kind of heat and not know it. Go outside early and late only unless it can’t be avoided. Watering in the heat is inefficient anyway since more of it evaporates. Your pets need extra water as well.
Older people can lose the signals to the brain that tell them they’re thirsty and that plus not wanting to have to get up so much and get to the toilet means they may not be drinking enough water. Prompting them to drink extra water can be especially important in that age group because dehydration can lead to confusion and falls.
Unless you have a health reason not to, make sure you’re getting enough potassium – bananas, avocados, watermelon, that kind of thing can help.
different-church-lady
@jimmiraybob:
DE SANTIS: “Okay now, in the last round you shot five people at random, and I sent seven trans-queers to the gas chambers, so, through eight frames makes the total….”
Yarrow
@rikyrah: It’s awful. They’re also cutting teach pay and surprise, surprise, they can’t fill teacher positions.
Roger Moore
@rikyrah:
I would say the goal is to convert those schools into prisons, but even prisons have libraries. I saw this quote in the article:
This is madness. You don’t close an achievement gap by closing the libraries. You sure as hell don’t do it by installing a “discipline center” in every school. It’s more of the bigoted view that the only thing poor kids will respond to is punishment, so the schools need to be harsher.
Steeplejack
@Yarrow:
Point taken. Went out because I just got the “water it” directive a while ago and wanted to get a good start. Will continue at dusk and dawn.
Old School
@rikyrah:
Then they can use the prison library!
Edit: Roger Moore got there first.
Yarrow
@Steeplejack: Since you’re watering a peach tree, the best thing to do is turn the hose on a very low trickle and put it under the tree. Go inside and set a timer for 15 minutes. Go back outside and move it to a slightly different location under the tree. Go back inside and set the timer for another 15 minutes. Deep watering is more effective and drip irrigation, which this method somewhat mimics, is far more water efficient. And you can keep your time outside to a minimum.
Leto
@Roger Moore: it’s also telling that they’re closing all the libraries in predominately POC neighborhoods, while basically leaving all the predominately white ones open. I mean, absolutely not subtle.
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
The sad thing is that even if DeSantis pulls out of the race, other GOP candidates who are just as odious will scramble to take his place.
rikyrah
@Leto:
Thought that it was obvious.
CaseyL
@BR:
I can see, if the GOP has power, them tying this into Musk’s X version of WeChat and that being the only online protocol allowed in the US, just like in China.
I can also see a big return to “analog” organizing and information sharing. Samizdats. Posters. Flyers. Sotto-voiced news uttered in passing on crowded intersections.
Things which might, ironically, slip under TPTB’s notice because they’re too busy checking the WeChat surveillance records.
Jeffro
@geg6: “Bootsy Meatball” = I’m dead here, me. =)
Ken
I’m beginning to think anyone who wants to run for office should be required to play SimCity at the medium level and show they can achieve a viable city with a population of a million. Jeez, schools and libraries are the first things you build when trying to attract the more valuable businesses.
(Also they flunk if any of their power plants blow up, or if the game offers the toxic waste plant — its way of saying you’re badly screwing up.)
Paul in KY
@Baud: Half his goober incels probably think he’s talking about Mandalorians. ‘But, fuhrer, I like the Mandalorian. He kills many space untermenschen!’
steve g
In the video if you track it down:
“If you’re president, sic him on the FDA if he’d be willing to serve. Or sic him on CDC,” DeSantis said, in response to a question about whether he would pick Kennedy as a running mate.
Siccing someone on the FDA or CDC is not exactly what appointing a head of those agencies is supposed to be about. DeSantis has no self control, though, and can’t help but step right in the mud puddle. It might work in Florida, but it will not work in DC. He is not ready for the big leagues.
Steeplejack
@Yarrow:
Thanks for the tip, but the water hose does not quite stretch far enough. I have to stand 10 feet away and spray the base of the tree.
Leto
@rikyrah: obvious to us, we’ll see what the reaction is in the school district. Idk if they can vote the fucker out, or do something to change the school board leadership. Hope so.
Brachiator
@Yarrow:
I bet that next they will offer vouchers as a solution, and try to dismantle public schools.
Ksmiami
@Brachiator: Texas is literally hell. Everyone blue should get the ef out
Roger Moore
@steve g:
It perfectly encapsulates the Republican attitude toward governance. They see running the government as a chance to destroy all the parts of the government they don’t like from the inside.
Yarrow
@Steeplejack: That’s not good! They need a longer hose or an extension.
Yarrow
@Leto: No, because the state took over the school district. They can’t get rid of the guy in charge – only the state can. Texans can elect some new people who would have the power to change things, possibly. State takeovers of school districts in the past have lasted 2-5 years.
Subsole
@Alison Rose:
That is an actual thing! There are people who think it is healthy and good for you. They call it ultra-filtrate plasma or something equally pseudo.
You will likely be crushingly unsurprised to hear that it grew out of Covidiots who wanted to make sure they got unvaxxed blood: y’know, to keep the
Jew particles5g nanobots out of their systems.There’s also some overlap with the hyper testosteroid Online Alpha crowd, who think masculinity is stored in the pee – which is, apparently, stored in the balls.
Steeplejack
@Yarrow:
There is a faucet with a hose that is closer, but the handle on that one unscrews instead of turning on the water. I don’t have the tools to fix it. I’m ad-libbing until the landscaping crew (or the family) comes back.
laura
@Steeplejack: we use a bucket with a couple small holes to do the slow deep tree water. 5 gallon bucket with a couple few gallons moved around the base. Last Summer I keeled over after an afternoon of yard work. Smacked the back of my head on the lino, scared the spouse, and ended up with a really bad case of vertigo. Don’t be me Steep😉
lowtechcyclist
@Yarrow:
From the beginning of June:
Texas Education Agency picks Mike Miles for Houston ISD superintendent as state takeover begins
My loathing for Greg Abbott has reached DeSantis levels.
Betty Cracker
@steve g: I hope DeSantis flames out so spectacularly in this run that he never gets another shot.
Yarrow
@lowtechcyclist: I’m fully aware. He’s not elected so can’t be voted out.
Yarrow
@Steeplejack: You should be able to get a ten foot or longer hose for not much money at your local Home Depot or similar. Use it to extend the hose you’re using. Depending how long you’re there it may be worth it, especially if the heat keeps up. Spraying water from a ten foot distance is shockingly water inefficient and you’ll have to stand out there for ages to water the poor tree enough.
lowtechcyclist
Remember when Abbott was boasting about how people and businesses were moving from California to Texas? I bet the Texodus will start soon enough, if it’s not already underway. Outlawing abortion and miscarriage-related medical care, getting rid of school libraries, and trying to kill off immigrants in the Rio Grande…a lot of people won’t want to live in a place that’s governed like that, and those that can find good options elsewhere will leave. Brain drain ahead.
They’re working on turning most of the former Confederacy into the backwater it was before civil rights.
gvg
@Steeplejack: Do you have some extra buckets or can get some, say from pool chlorinator tablets or restaurant food buckets? Get big buckets, drill a few holes in them so they leak slowly. Go out and fill buckets and let them drip water. They can water a tree for an hour slowly while you are safely inside.
This is mimicking what the professionals do which is large leaky bags that can water a tree for several days. Road crews use them to get highway trees started. Fill them up once a week. You can buy those online…I have thought about getting one. The road crews go back with a water tanker to refill newly planted trees in medians.
lowtechcyclist
@Yarrow:
Yeah, just adding a cite for others in the thread.
Geminid
@Yarrow: A good, inexpensive rehydration mix: cool water, lemon or lime juice, sea salt. I’ll mix up a batch in a half-gallon or gallon jug.
lowtechcyclist
@Betty Cracker:
Indeed.
What I have to wonder is, of all those alleged journalists that were writing DeSantis puff pieces several months ago, did any of them actually spend time with the guy before writing them? I’m guessing not, given how bad he is at pretending to be a human being. Even Richard Nixon did a better job of that than DeSantis.
Steeplejack
@Yarrow:
“Spray” was a bad choice of words. It was a solid stream of water, and in 10 minutes or so I drenched the ground around the base of the tree.
I will look into a hose extension or a holey bucket.
Lyrebird
@rikyrah:
I didn’t know about the firing, but that makes more sense, no actual educators would actually pull that crap!
I guess they were getting jealous of Florida again in their attempts to be the most repressive.
Yarrow
@Steeplejack: Even so, water in the air evaporates in heat. Drip irrigation is the way to go to reduce water loss through evaporation. Until you’re able to come up with another method water in early morning or late evening when the sun won’t evaporate as much in the air.
Steeplejack
@Yarrow:
I get it.
Yarrow
@lowtechcyclist: The most recent data shows that people are moving to Texas. This article is from December, 2022:
Eyeroller
@Ksmiami: “If I owned Texas and Hell, I’d rent out Texas and live in Hell.” –General Phil Sheridan
MazeDancer
The Lincoln Project doing their best to hit Tiny D while he’s down.
They made an ad for him.
Especially effective use of Ron talking against himself at the end.
Timill
Anyone round Santa Monica that could be persuaded to extract a couple of FIP cats? We are told that someone has two cats, has decided to treat only one of them, and hasn’t fed the other since Sunday. This would probably involve being along with Animal Control (and the cops) but if AC take them, they’ll have to put them down as AC can’t treat FIP.
At this stage we’re still finding out what’s going on, so email marcia.illingworth at gmail for more details.
zhena gogolia
@MazeDancer: That’s great.
UncleEbeneezer
UncleEbeneezer
Ruckus
@Jeffro:
I’d bet that many of the republican candidates for any office have talked at least to the people that would be working door to door so to speak – IOW local rethugs, to find out if they would vote for someone other than SFB for president. I’d bet they are asking currently would they vote for SFB or his Florida not buddy, Pud in Boots. I’d bet many of the people that would be working on getting a rethug president have heard that Pud in Boots is not all that well received. Because every time he opens his mouth, he reminds them that his public persona is that of a 5 yr old who likes fart jokes and seems to hate them or actually any other human.
Ruckus
@Alison Rose:
OK, that got an out loud laugh from me….
UncleEbeneezer
@NotMax: That’s a shame. I thought it was pretty overrated at first, but it grew on me. I wouldn’t rank it as any sort of prestige tv, but it was fun and crazy stylish.
CaseyL
@lowtechcyclist:
Maybe. I dunno. A lot of the people who moved to Texas moved there precisely because they support those kinds of policies.
And the ones who moved there “because it’s cheap” (it isn’t, or at least not anymore) are unlikely to leave because chances are they liquidated everything to make the move.
I’ve been reading some articles about the upheaval in Israel, and more than one person has noted that “American-style” RW politics, eagerly taken up by Netanyahu, is driving a lot of the RW energy there. The far right parties making up Netanyahu’s coalition are loud and proud about it, too.
Seems to me that fascists all over the world are taking off their masks and letting everyone see what they intend to do with power.
Jackie
@UncleEbeneezer: The draining of the pool and “accidentally” flooding the area the boxes of documents were kept.
Steeplejack
So early this evening we had a short rainstorm here, so peach tree Otis got some organic watering.
Citizen Alan
@Jackie: I’d thought it was where the servers for the security cameras.
HeartlandLiberal
Betty Cracker in no way needs to beg for forgiveness.She always tells the truth.She always sees things in their true light.She also lives in a swamp, but that is another story.
The German word Schadenfreude exists for a reason. Those crafty Germans.