Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Bark louder, little dog.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Let there be snark.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

In my day, never was longer.

Second rate reporter says what?

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Always More News

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Always More News

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Tuesday Morning Open Thread 7

(Joel Pett via GoComics.com)

 
From Sunday:

Aaaand… an acronym for the true Biden aficianados:

Reader Interactions

125Comments

  4. 4.

    Ken

    A bunch of content creators have called for not posting to twitter today. I don’t think they said anything about reading or linking to it — I see all the above tweets are older.

    It will be interesting to see how many participate, though the campaign is fundamentally flawed as it assumes Musk will change his behavior in any way.

  7. 7.

    SFAW

    @Ken: ​

    In solidarity with those refusing to post on twitter today, I also refuse to do so.

    Of course, I don’t have an account, so not exactly a sacrifice.​

    ETA: And only in the loosest definition do I qualify as a “content creator,” so there’s that.

  8. 8.

    MazeDancer

    Today is Twitter Boycottt Day. A kind of user show of strength.

    Feels like setting the stage for Trump indictments. Saw one person tweet, if that happens, they’ll have to come back.

    Me, I’ll tough it out no matter what.

  12. 12.

    Spanky

    Biden, being a former lifeguard at a public pool,  absolutely will advocate for them. I won’t be surprised if we hear something from him.

  19. 19.

    lowtechcyclist

    @bookworm1398:

    Is there an anti-public pool lobby? Sometimes I am just bewildered by the news

    Not really. Just part of the overarching “government shouldn’t do nice things for people” belief set of the political right.

  20. 20.

    p.a.

    Elizabeth Warren
    @SenWarren

    Starting in 2024, the IRS will provide taxpayers an option to file taxes for free, directly with the government. That means an end to having to hand over $240 and your sensitive, financial data to companies like Intuit and H&R Block.

    Whatever happened to basic banking through the Post Office?  Too much of a good thing for “teh poors”?  DeJoy?

  22. 22.

    Caveatimperator

    Stupid ass Republican: “what about public pools?”

    Sensible people: “ummmm….plenty of cities do offer those, and the world hasn’t ended.”

  23. 23.

    lollipopguild

    @bookworm1398: There are a lot of people on the right who are against anything that has the word “public” in its name or that benefits the general public.

  24. 24.

    Betty Cracker

    I’m taking antibiotics for the first time in ages (to ward off infection from a nasty dog bite on my hand). I’d forgotten that adults get gigantic horse pills! Why doesn’t ALL medicine come in liquid or chewable bubblegum or fruit flavors? Supplements companies finally wised up and started offering adult vitamins in gummy form. Big Pharma needs to step up on this!

  28. 28.

    Lyrebird

    @H.E.Wolf: Wow, thanks for linking that!  If others want to watch some of the video recollections of younger Joe at the pool, you can watch the whole thing or just start at about 14:30

  29. 29.

    Caveatimperator

    @Baud:

    Funny that they think that. I live in an inner suburb of sapphire-blue Los Angeles (and my suburb is also sapphire blue). Yesterday I went grocery shopping and encountered no riots on my drive home, and there was plenty of food on the shelves that wasn’t looted. I even cooked with a gas stove and the Thought Police didn’t arrest me.

  30. 30.

    ian

    First time I’ve ever seen a graphic content warning on a political cartoon.  I personally think that cartoon is in poor taste, I guess people’s opinion of suicide as humor may vary by experience.

  31. 31.

    Jeffro

    After that NYT/Siena polling report from yesterday, I am more convinced than ever that

    *the next 15 months are going to be a complete zoo
    *the GOP is toast

    A full quarter of the GOP primary electorate is “not open to trump”.  I know many folks said yesterday that the same full quarter will pull the lever for him next November anyway, but I don’t think many (maybe not even most) of them will.  That’s huge for our side.

    Plus, Henry Olsen says trump’s “unviable“, so there’s that.  =)

    (in fairness to Hack er Henry, he does note the one thing that might sour many of the ‘persuadables’ in the GOP to not support trump: trump is directly diverting campaign PAC money to pay for his legal expenses.  Paging Rhonda Santis, paging Rhonda Santis, if you can hold off on the “anti-woke” nonsense for a half sec, I think we have found a winning issue for you…)

    The revelation that Donald Trump’s political action committee spent more than $40 million on legal fees in the first half of 2023 does more than cast doubt on the former president’s ability to run a competitive primary campaign. It provides yet another reason why Republican voters should reject his candidacy if he does not drop out first.

    Running for president requires more than charisma and a few rallies. It requires time and money — and lots of it. Candidates must constantly be on the road stumping for votes. They also need support from the modern apparatus that places digital and television ads and identifies persuadable voters that can cast ballots for them.

    This is especially true when running against an incumbent who can count on a united party for support. President Biden, along with the national Democratic Party and its state counterparts, will raise billions of dollars to crush whoever rises as his opponent. In 2020, Biden’s campaign and affiliated outside groups spent $1.6 billion while the Democratic National Committee and state and local parties spent another $1 billion. A cash-strapped candidate would not stand a chance against this onslaught.

  32. 32.

    Caveatimperator

    @ian: The graphic warning should have been above the cartoon instead of below it if they were going to put one in.

    Though I’m personally in the camp that black comedy shouldn’t be off limits, and I don’t think this cartoon handles the issue in a way that is demeaning to people with mental health problems.

  34. 34.

    Jeffro

    @Jeffro:

    MAGA die-hards should be rooting for Trump to drop out sooner rather than later. If so, establishment-leaning Republicans such as Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin might reconsider their decisions not to enter the race. If they do join the field, they would splinter the establishment even further, giving Trump the chance to endorse a clear MAGA alternative. That person would likely vault to the front of the pack overnight and inherit Trump’s base.

    Trump’s famous catchphrase on his show “The Apprentice” was “You’re fired.” In politics, though, the voters are the boss. If Trump won’t quit on his own, Republican voters should show him the door.

    Now…Henry is being shall we say purposefully obtuse here (“MAGA die-hards” are never going to give up their racist mouthpiece).  But as loathe as I am to say it, the rest of the party should indeed be rooting for Kemp or Youngkin to get in and provide a real alternative to trump.

  37. 37.

    eldorado

    what trump loves more than anything is getting back at people he feels betrayed him. he will burn the gop to the ground if there is a serious challenge

  38. 38.

    Ken

    @Jeffro: Isn’t there a fraud angle to this also?  (I mean, other than the obvious that Trump is involved.) The PAC stated the purpose for the funds being raised, and paying Trump’s legal bills — much less those of his co-conspirators — wasn’t on the list.

  39. 39.

    Geminid

    @Betty Cracker: If you like buttermilk, that makes a big pill go down easy. Yogurt might work too, or apricot nectar. The thicker, the slicker when it comes to large pills.

  40. 40.

    Cameron

    Considering that DeSantis uses private jets as if he were a Supreme Court justice, he probably shouldn’t talk a lot about how Trump spends money.

  41. 41.

    Kayla Rudbek

    Tuesday and I still have a case of the Mondays. The HOA is resurfacing the asphalt on my block so the air will reek all day today and tomorrow. Personally I don’t think that it needs resurfacing yet, and I’m not happy with how the HOA is spending my dues.  I’d much rather have the pool open after Labor Day and charging stations for electric cars at the common buildings and/or the local shopping center. The latest HOA monthly newsletter had a letter from a board member that was quite discouraging on the front of electric car charging stations. Maybe I should run for HOA board and ask for an audit of the spending.

    And the job I had a screening and first interview for has been reposted- I don’t think that I asked for enough money and they were worried about losing me. Mr. Rudbek is now suggesting that I apply for paralegal jobs in my field, which upsets me as I didn’t spend all that time in school to be doing paralegal work.  But even the paralegal or legal assistant jobs for my particular specialist field pay more than I was making as an attorney in government, so maybe I should swallow down my pride.

    I’m even seriously turning the idea of opening an Etsy store up, although I don’t know if I could knit fast enough to keep it supplied, and I don’t know if my embroidery and weaving skills are up to the level that I would prefer to start making sales.  Making jewelry might have too much competition.

    I’m feeling very discouraged today, so give me some good news.

  43. 43.

    Roger Moore

    @bookworm1398:

    Is there an anti-public pool lobby?

    Public pools were one of the early casualties of the Civil Rights rulings in the 1950s. Once White people couldn’t keep their public pools to themselves, a lot of them got shut down or sold to private clubs that were allowed to exclude Black members.

  44. 44.

    Chris Johnson

    @Jeffro: giving Trump the chance to endorse a clear MAGA alternative

    This cannot happen. Trump does not have an ideology or anything beyond the desire to be worshipped as a God. Failing that he has NO desire to make America, or anything, great anywhere ever.

    If you can’t make him King he not only doesn’t give a fuck what happens to you, he’s actually offended at your bullshit. What the fuck do you mean ‘alternative’, what’s wrong with you? He’s gonna give you two seconds to pretend you never said that, and that’s generous, believe him.

    If you can make him King, he STILL doesn’t give a fuck about you, but he’s happier and that alone should make it all worth while.

    Fucked up individual. I think most people have a hard time even keeping track of how fucked up Trump actually is.

  45. 45.

    eclare

    @Geminid:

    He’s an asshole Republican, but he doesn’t seem like an idiot, so even if TFG keels over I do not see him entering the race.

  46. 46.

    Jeffro

    @Geminid: yes – Kemp is smarter than Youngkin, who may still well enter the race late (or, enter just enough so that he’s considered as a VP)

  50. 50.

    Matt McIrvin

    @lowtechcyclist: Basically, the United States center used to have broad support for government-funded public goods until the civil rights movement established that these had to be shared with everyone including Black people. And swimming pools were a particularly intense case of this.

    The response from white America was to reject the idea of a public good entirely, which together with other crises of liberalism in the 1960s and 1970s led to the Reagan revolution, and a majority of whites still feel that way.

  52. 52.

    Betty Cracker

    @Ken: I thought surely that had to be illegal — raising money for one purpose and then spending it for something else — but apparently it’s all perfectly fine, according to what I’ve read. It’s ridiculous, but here we are.

  53. 53.

    kalakal

    And the air conditioning just broke. Woeful expressions on the faces of all that here do dwell. Just glad we have some ceiling fans, repair booked for this afternoon (hopefully).

  54. 54.

    Jackie

    @Betty Cracker: Glad you got antibiotics for the dog bite!

    As for horse pills – I can can handle those fine. Gummy chewables make me gag. And stick to my teeth – which as an antibiotic wouldn’t do an infection much good.

  55. 55.

    Kay

    It’s not a public pool bill, It’s a Jobs Bill!

    I would say that with a straight face. I think Biden would too.

  63. 63.

    Scamp Dog

    @Steeplejack: Nine pills a day? That’s bigger than I’ve ever heard of. On the other hand, gangrene is about as serious as it gets. I take it that you’re done with the regimen, so you must be doing okay now, I hope?

  68. 68.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    Either the Party or D voters wil have to vet more carefully and look at donors, like with RFK Jr and his GOP donors. I think that’s a heavy lift state level though. Santos got thru and he’s US House.

  69. 69.

    rikyrah

    BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA AH AH

     

    Miss Aja (@brat2381) tweeted at 4:32 PM on Mon, Jul 31, 2023:
    I’m in stitches y’all.
    I was listening to MSNBC and if Individual-1 would have never called Brad Raffensberger at home (trying to be sneaky), DA Willis would not have had jurisdiction. Brad lives in North Fulton County & that’s her  jurisdiction.

    Won’t He do it https://t.co/UeUnZTwhl6
    (https://twitter.com/brat2381/status/1686127660265791490?t=Dgn1IO0ZkOS5TXnlPUdXzw&s=03)

  70. 70.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    I love how they havce come up with this incredibly complex theory on Ukraine when what’s happening in Ukraine took place right in front of them.

    It literally doesn’t matter how anyone “handles”anything or how credible anyone is – these people will replace what they are seeing with their own eyes with a crackpot theory. They prefer that. They love this fantasy world where they’re constantly being tricked by Secret Forces and Actors. They’re never coming back.

  71. 71.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: Hmm! My family have been reliable “conservative” voters in our county for generations — I wonder if I could parlay that into a stealth county commission seat for Team Donk?

    Nah. My own dad would out me. ;-)

  73. 73.

    Ohio Mom

    @Cameron: I just use a sharp knife. Though it should be noted you shouldn’t cut time-release pills (I never heard of a time-release antibiotic so does not apply here).

    On public pools: Cincinnati used to boast that its city fathers of yore decreed that every child should be in walking distance of a pool. And so it was.

    In the last twenty or so years however, this seems to be forgotten. Many pools in poorer areas have been removed. Some because of gentrification (the pool was replaced with something else more appealing to well-to-do adults).

    Some have been replaced with spray parks, to which I say, When all the suburbs replace their public deep water pools with spray parks, then I’ll believe you that this is an improvement.

    Then there is the challenge the Rec Commision has every year of finding enough life guards. Of course, the fewer kids who can learn to swim because all they have in their neighborhood is a spray park, the fewer future lifeguards.

  74. 74.

    OverTwistWillie

    @Roger Moore:

    Fair housing practices are the underlying issue, and relitigating the Great Society is core to GOP ideology.

    Chicago 1966:

    On the evening of July 12th, well into a stifling Chicago heat wave, police attempted to shut down an open fire hydrant that west side youths were using to cool down. Opening hydrants and playing in spray was a time-honored Chicago tradition, and ghetto-residents felt (probably correctly) that they alone were being held to the letter of the law.

  76. 76.

    CaseyL

    I am in favor of public swimming pools as a pubic good.

    But GCC has entered the chat.

    As potable water becomes scarcer and more expensive, public swimming pools (and quite a few private ones) will join golf courses as an unsustainable use of it.

  77. 77.

    Juice Box

    That’s really good news about the IRS. There’s no reason that we should have to pay to e-file. There is an existing e-file option on the IRS’s website, but it’s just electronic forms so you have to know what you’re doing. I volunteer for the AARP/VITA Tax Aide program and this year the IRS is offering us extra training starting this week. Last tax season, we could call them on the phone and get an agent within a few minutes rather than wait hours for a return call. It’s great to see them putting their increased budget to work. Also, the jackbooted thugs are smoking hot.

  78. 78.

    rikyrah

    @Jeffro:

    e does note the one thing that might sour many of the ‘persuadables’ in the GOP to not support trump: trump is directly diverting campaign PAC money to pay for his legal expenses.

     

    They are the rubes giving him the money. He’s always been a crook. Why would he change now?

  79. 79.

    Ohio Mom

    @Ohio Mom: Reading over all the comments, I am now wondering how Cincinnati (“ the northernmost Southern city”) managed to keep its public pools through the Civol Rights era. Finding someone to ask is going to be a challenge — the people I would ask are dead or demented — but I’ll work on it. It’s an interesting question.

  80. 80.

    moonbat

    Just dropping in to endorse the CORNPOP Act of 2023

    And to say Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

  82. 82.

    rikyrah

    @Jeffro:

    This is especially true when running against an incumbent who can count on a united party for support. President Biden, along with the national Democratic Party and its state counterparts, will raise billions of dollars to crush whoever rises as his opponent. In 2020, Biden’s campaign and affiliated outside groups spent $1.6 billion while the Democratic National Committee and state and local parties spent another $1 billion. A cash-strapped candidate would not stand a chance against this onslaught.

     

    I saw something on TikTok, but, was unable to find the origin source.

    That Kushner took money raised in 2020 for the campaign, and the family just split it. Not that I don’t doubt that they’d do it…I’m skeptical.

    I know he stole all that money that they raised post election for the purposes of ‘ election integrity’ and to ‘fight the steal’. I know he got over $300 million then.

  83. 83.

    Roger Moore

    @CaseyL:

    Swimming pools are actually a surprisingly efficient user of water.  It’s not as if they have to refill them every day; the water is constantly filtered, treated, and put back in the pool.  One of the points people here in California are always making is that if it’s run efficiently, a backyard pool actually uses less water than a lawn would.  Public pools probably consume more water, even adjusted per surface area, but they’re still not a bad use of water.

  84. 84.

    Nelle

    @Kayla Rudbek: My sort of good news advice, for when I’m in a funk, is to watch and listen to birds.  Sounds corny, and I’m no bird experiment, but they give me a bigger sense of the world outside myself.

    I’m impressed with your creative thoughts, too.  Making something (I crochet and embroider) with my hands gives me practical evidence of what I’ve done.  I am embroidering a line a day to reflect a color of the sky, as a practice to make myself pay attention.  I thought I had done it enough years (I’m on my fifth year) but found that I missed it (I did have to find some dingy colors for the smoky skies).  I’ve got confidence that you will create a path that works, even if just for a little bit.  Hope this isn’t too advicey.

  85. 85.

    Elizabelle

    @Kayla Rudbek:  Go away, Monday.

    So:  today is the first day of a new month.  We have a full moon tonight (the Sturgeon Moon), and a blue moon on August 30.  Def get out and see the moon rise; it was spectacular last night.

    Wishing you well on the job front. Is there ever any point to checking in with the folks who reposted the job you interviewed for?

    Make something beautiful today, just because.  Eat some wonderful fresh fruit or veg.

    Keep on keeping on.

  86. 86.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Westerners safe from bombardment like long-shot third-party presidential candidate Cornel West continue to accommodate Russia. In a July 13 interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, West called Russia’s invasion “criminal” but insisted it was “provoked by the expansion of NATO” and is a “proxy war between the American Empire and the Russian Federation,” adding Neville Chamberlain-esque icing on the appeasement cake by proposing Ukrainian territorial concessions to Russia.

    The tell in West’s remarks was calling the U.S. an empire but referring to Russia by its de jure name, implicitly erasing its imperial, colonial character. It’s a common tendency among the segment of the left to which West belongs, one that Kazakhstan-born Pitzer College sociology professor Azamat Junisbai attributes to ignorance and a myopic, know-nothing focus on American imperialism to the exclusion of imperialism by other nations.

    “They’re kind of imperial about their anti-imperialism,” Junisbai said. “There’s something very provincial and strange about it where you literally do not know anything about what’s happening beyond this one issue you care about.”

    While West and other leftists blame “NATO expansion” for provoking Russia, Junisbai compares NATO membership – which, after all, the former Warsaw Pact and Baltic countries all sought voluntarily – to a restraining order against an abusive partner.

    “People don’t recognize that there was an abusive relationship, that there was colonialism,” he said, speculating that blindness to Russian colonialism could be due to a failure of Western education systems as well as Soviet propaganda and leftist valorization of the Soviet Union as a foe of Western imperialism. Another potential culprit is knee-jerk distrust toward American foreign policy popular among some leftists and alternative media that leads to a simplistic “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” worldview.

    “People, I think, just get so wedded to their vision of themselves as fighting ‘The Man,’ fighting the power that they are blinded and taken for a ride by Russia, in this case serving as useful idiots,” Junisbai said.

  87. 87.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud:

    Why aren’t feckless Dems pretending to be Nazis so they can win in red districts m

    Ah, the Juan Carlos I of Spain gambit!

  88. 88.

    rikyrah

    @Jeffro:

     But as loathe as I am to say it, the rest of the party should indeed be rooting for Kemp or Youngkin to get in and provide a real alternative to trump.

    What kind of alternative.

    Alternative to me means that you offer a different ‘ vision’ for the party.

    Not one of them has any POLICY differences from Dolt45.

    Not one of them.

    And, even if they did..

    This isn’t a party that cares about actual POLICY.

    They care about hate and perpetuating hate and cruelty.

    And, there is no better vessel for that than Dolt45

  90. 90.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    Eh, the right believes every blue city is a smoldering ruin.

    Whose to say it’s not because of the public pools?

    I think that theory works if the “public pool” is the Cuyahoga.

    And, because I don’t see SubaruDianne (or Steve in WTFKW) here yet: “who’s,” not “whose.”

  91. 91.

    Elizabelle

    @CaseyL:  Disagree.  It’s not like they’re filling the pool afresh every single day.  And pools are invaluable for cooling off, meeting your neighbors, socializing.  They seem to help cool the area around the pool, too.

    Think bigger.

    I’d stop us from flushing our toilets with drinking water before I ever touched a public pool.

  92. 92.

    Ken

    @Elizabelle: We have a full moon tonight (the Sturgeon Moon)

    Now I’m curious who names these things. The International Astronomical Union, perhaps?  Or is it one of those thing like anniversary gifts, where anyone can publish a list?

    To the google!

  93. 93.

    Kristine

    @Ohio Mom:

    (I never heard of a time-release antibiotic so does not apply here).

    Some antibiotics that can upset the stomach or are acidic pH sensitive have an enteric coating. Cut the tablet and so much for that.

  94. 94.

    Matt McIrvin

    @UncleEbeneezer: Even if we win in 2024, I swear, progressive “anti-imperialist” quasi-Putinism and other forms of horseshoe-curious leftism among people I know is going to be the death of me. I don’t know if I have the intestinal fortitude to deal with this any more.

  96. 96.

    Elizabelle

    @Matt McIrvin:  So step away from it.  I am serious.

    You monitor the lunatic left more than anyone else here, and are always here with gloom and doom.

    Find something better to do for a few weeks, and see if your life improves.

  98. 98.

    RaflW

    So, as a Minnesotan, can I just say, U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips would be a fool to try to primary Joe Biden. People are allegedly urging him to run, but of course those people will not be harmed if Phillips does this. In fact some of them might even get consulting contracts, one suspects.

    Phillips is a decent rep, if a bit too full of himself as a ‘centrist’. But even in an open primary for ’28, I’d be very hard pressed to support him. He’s dull. His policy positions are acceptable, mostly, but in the mainstream way that 2/3rds or 3/4ths of House Dems don’t stand out for either praise or ridicule.

    There’s nothing particularly special about Dean Phillips. I hope he doesn’t fall for the siren call of people who have their own interests, and not those of our successful president, in mind.

  99. 99.

    CaseyL

    @Roger Moore: Pools may be an efficient use of water when there is plenty of water to spare.

    When there is no longer plenty of water to spare, the equation changes.

    (Disclosure: My townhouse complex has a pool, heavily used during summer.  It is mightily expensive to maintain, but you’re right: the water usage isn’t what drives the expense.)

  100. 100.

    MazeDancer

    Cat food has been price gouged so painfully. Routine vet visits are hundreds of dollars.

    NYC shelters have surrendered pets living in hallways in carriers. And are turning away new surrenders. Why do people give up their pets? Financial constraints.

    If you can afford it, please consider adding a kitty or three to your home. We are in a cat care dire emergency.

    Also consider donating to your local shelter. Or your favorite pet rescue. Mine is The Herd that cares for special needs pets.

    And Satby’s rescue that targets the problem – too many unwanted cats..

  101. 101.

    Elizabelle

    @rikyrah:   Yep.  I winced when I got to the part about the suburbs with their swim clubs.  Which required membership.  Step down from the country club, but kind of the same principle.  It’s what we had, and I never really thought about it.  The pools drew from the suburb, so you could have segregation without ever having it in your rules and bylaws.

    (Albeit, the swim clubs were accessible by walking and biking, since they were in the suburb.  Answer to prayers to parents with a houseful of kids on summer vacation.)

  102. 102.

    hueyplong

    @rikyrah: I’d like to spin slightly your take on the absence of policy differences between Trump and the GOP.  Public adulation and personal theft are Trump’s only original “policies.”  So you could argue the rest is actually Trump adopting GOP crap and not the other way around.

    That’s part of why getting rid of Trump is only part of the current game.

  103. 103.

    Shalimar

    @Kay: Vetting candidates doesn’t sound that hard. I have free time though I am home-bound for the next few years. If all the records are online now, I could do it for the 2-3 House areas closest to me, for federal and state candidates.  I am sure there are hundreds of others like me.  It is a matter of organizing all of us.

  104. 104.

    Mel

    @Geminid: Unless the antibiotics are from the tetracycline / doxycycline or flouroquinolone (Cipro, Levaquin) grouos.

    Milk products are not okay within 2 hours or so either direction of the dosage time with those, as are vitamins / supplements or antacids that contain calcium, magnesium, potassium, etc.

    Basically, interferes with the body’s absorption of the antibiotics and renders treatment ineffective.

    Some citrus fruit juices, esp. grapefruit, can also interfere with the metabolism of antibiotics, antifungals, and a few other medications.

  106. 106.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @UncleEbeneezer: In Cornel West’s case, the dude done lost his mind when him and his family weren’t invited to Obama’s inauguration. It’s the same ego-fueled parasite that afflicted Clarence Thomas. The Disease of Me.

  108. 108.

    patrick II

    @rikyrah:

    The main difference in policy between Trump and other potential Republican presidential candidates is that with Trump we may not get another real presidential election until he dies. The man, once in power, does not intend to ever leave office again.

  109. 109.

    Hamlet of Melnibone

    @RaflW: Dean Phillips is my rep.  As you say, he’s fine, but nothing about him is particularly compelling.  He’s a good fit for a swing district that has a lot of wealthy people that like low taxes but not enough to put up with Trump’s hate.

    We had a Republican rep until Trump destroyed the Republican party in the suburbs around here.

    I don’t think Phillips will do anything stupid like try to primary Biden.  He’s kind of dull, but not an idiot.

    Just to be clear, I don’t consider dull as a negative for a politician, personally.  I like when the government runs smoothly without me having to pay attention.  I’m not naturally all that interested in politics.  I’d like to go back to a world where the stakes were mostly stuff I didn’t really care about.

  110. 110.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Matt McIrvin: Fortunately they aren’t a large portion of the Left (not enough to really influence Dem policy/consensus) and I find it fairly easy, IRL, to get away from them by blocking, unfriending etc.

  111. 111.

    Jeffro

    @rikyrah: yup.  Kushner ran it through all sorts of shell companies (right out of the usual trump playbook) and skimmed up to half of it away.

    You’d think the Kochs, etc, would be better at making sure that particular info got out.

  112. 112.

    Juju

    @Jeffro: Please stop using Rhonda as an insult. I know Rhonda and she’s a very nice person. She doesn’t deserve this comparison. Also, I don’t think implying incompetence or repugnance by calling a man a woman’s name is the insult you think it is, unless you’re an eight year old boy and you think girls have cooties. Grow up.

  114. 114.

    Geminid

    @Jeffro: I read that shale oil baron Harold Hamm dined with Trump at Bedminster last week and urged him to sit out the Presidential race and instead be a kingmaker. Then he flew to Virginia to urge foungkin’ Youngin to run.

    One problem here for Hamm is that Trump still believes that the only way out is through, that winning the presidency is his best hope of salvaging his perilous situation.

    Another problem is that Trump is a self-centered, vindictive guy more suited emotionally to the role of king-breaker. Trump would require another candidate to abase himself publically and repeatedly to keep his support, and the broader electorate would rightly see this as discreditable.

    Republicans could be better off accepting that Trump will be their candidate, and not fight it. He might not win, but at least his supporters would come out and (hopefully) vote for down-ballot Republicans. Then, maybe enough anti-trump Independents will split their tickets to elect purple state and purple district Republicans.

    That party is in a real bind now, and Republicans could not deserve it more.

  115. 115.

    CapnMubbers

    @The Thin Black Duke: More than the lack of invitation to the inauguration. I remembered Cornel West’s appearance on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman when he said he aspired to be Frederick Douglass to Obama’s Lincoln after the 2008 election.
    democracynow.org/2008/11/19/cornel_west

  116. 116.

    Geminid

    @Matt McIrvin: If you can’t just quit observing and interacting with this crowd, I recommend following Michael Paulauski. He and his allies have a very pugnacious attitude towards lefty soreheads.

    Magdi Jacobs, aka Mangy Jay, has a more dispassionate, but still effective, approach. She is also a calming influence.

  117. 117.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Geminid:

    One problem here for Hamm is that Trump still believes that the only way out is through, that winning the presidency is his best hope of salvaging his perilous situation.

    I think he’s right about that. He has a greater chance of winning the 2024 Presidential election than of avoiding criminal conviction without it. His best legal strategy may, in fact, be to become President of the United States and pardon himself (on federal charges) and/or delay prosecution.

  118. 118.

    kindness

    Cornel West will never be a Jill Stein/Ralph Nader.  And the Rose Twitter left that supported those folk in the past has gone quieter.  I don’t think they have the #s they used to.  Part of that is much of it was a front for just hating Hillary.  Bernie isn’t running so there isn’t anyone with ‘substance’ to hang their beret on.  Plus Uncle Joe has done some really good things the far left of us ought to appreciate.

    We need to pay attention to who is funding whom and shout that to the rooftops.  That’ll help.

  119. 119.

    rikyrah

    @kindness:

    We need to pay attention to who is funding whom and shout that to the rooftops.  That’ll help.

    Not only that, but, also point out what happened because of 2016.

     

    Think that you can afford to throw away your vote?

    That’s why we have the Supreme Court we do now.

    Direct line. Don’t pass go.

  120. 120.

    Steve in the ATL

    @SFAW: apropos of this thread, I am in Cincinnati at the moment!  Greetings from the NLRB office.  No pool here but there are spray areas down by the river.

  121. 121.

    Soprano2

    @rikyrah: Boy, this is my surprised face.  (not surprised, I suspected this all along) I wanna know where the press was, that they were able to keep this totally hidden from everyone.

  122. 122.

    Soprano2

    @MazeDancer: Cat food has been price gouged so painfully. Routine vet visits are hundreds of dollars.

    I’ve definitely noticed that. Cans that were around $0.50 just two years ago are over $0.80 now where I live. Dry food is a lot higher, too.

  123. 123.

    TheTruffle

    @Caveatimperator: New York City has wonderful public pools all over the city. Pools are great for cooling off and exercise. Many offer swim lessons.

    How are pools controversial?

  125. 125.

    JustRuss

    @CaseyL: An olympic pool comprises 2 acre-feet of water, equivalent to a month’s consumption of 54 households. For a city of thousands of people, the water needed for a pool seems pretty miniscule.

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