I didn’t even know the GOP was trying to block a ballot initiative. I thought the whole point of ballot initiatives is for the people to have a say.
Hazarding a guess that the OH Supreme Court is majority Republican?
And still, the GOP lost.
Still not tired of winning!
🚨BREAKING: Ohio Supreme Court unanimously REJECTS GOP lawsuit to block Reproductive Freedom ballot initiative. Clears last legal hurdle to November election. Proud of the @EliasLawGroup team who litigated this case. https://t.co/Lb1mrjVTWt pic.twitter.com/6jypaqWld1
— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) August 11, 2023
I put that together last night. Since it appears that Anne Laurie and I are thinking along the same lines, I guess I’ll post this one right after hers.
Something else to celebrate!
He gets indicted, once the leader of the free world.
He gets arrested, read his rights.
He gets arraigned, now a criminal defendant.
There is a protective order put in place.
Literal mountains of evidence are being sent his way.
It is becoming very real for him.
— Jack E. Smith ⚖️ (@7Veritas4) August 12, 2023
Open thread.
Alison Rose
Yes, but Republicans think people having a say is gross. Certain people, at least.
grubert
Can’t imagine this won’t have an effect on elections.. wind at our backs kinda thing
Baud
I don’t think this is accurate since he never quite accepted that role.
Alison Rose
@Baud: I suppose we’d have to insert the word “ostensible” in there.
Baud
@Alison Rose:
Ok, but we should insert it in all caps.
Alison Rose
@Baud: Very fitting.
japa21
@grubert:
I made the point a couple days ago that I feel very good about the 2024 elections, and those happening this year.
A lot of people vote GOP for a lot of reasons, most of them having nothing to do with GOP policies, and most of them not being racist bigots.
It may be tradition, it might be wanting to make sure Dems don’t win, it might be a lot of reasons.
The fact is, the GOP has been very good at keeping its racist, bigoted, anti-women core under wraps. And then Trump came along.
I remember a focus group in Wisconsin early in Trump’s presidency. It was of folks who had voted for Trump and they were asked why they voted for a racist who made racist statements. The response was almost uniformly, “I didn’t believe him”, “I thought he was just saying it”, “I don’t think he meant it”.
And the reality is, most people don’t pay attention to policy issues; if they did, the Dems would win big in every election.
And they still didn’t going into the 2020 election.
Dobbs changed things. DeSantis has changed things. The Ohio referendum changed things.
The GOP is no longer hiding its real agenda and people are noticing. Sure the racists, bigots, misogynists see it and love it. But more and more people don’t. Yes, there will still be some who vote GOP to spite the libs or because they always have and always will and remain blind to the reality.
But the number is declining.
Torrey
Or “once the ‘leader’ of the free world” for certain definitions of “leader,” “free,” “world,” and “free world.” Fortunately, we can keep the “once.”
WaterGirl
@Alison Rose: @Baud:
Baud
@WaterGirl:
👍
Alison Rose
@WaterGirl: Exactly.
Remember when we were like “okay so Angela Merkel is now technically the leader of the free world” and then everyone had to mentally adjust to the notion of the leader of Germany being in that role.
Mr. Bemused Senior
“Ostensible.” That is a big word. Do you want me to read the whole thing?
Torrey
Also, I don’t always appreciate poetry, but this Jack E. Smith fellow has the gift.
West of the Rockies
I wonder if there is a genuine chance that Trump tries to hightail it to Ecuador or Russia and start a revolution from a country that won’t extradite him. It’s got to cross his mind.
sab
@Alison Rose: Ohio Republicans thought the whole point of ballot initiatives was to get their base to the polls.
Ohio didn’t really need an anti-same-sex ballot initiative in 2004, since gay marriage had never been legal in Ohio. But there it was and we passed it and voted for Bush 2.
Ohio didn’t really need an only citizens can vote in local elections (mostly tax and bond issues) but there it was and we got JD Vance.
Alison Rose
BTW it’s opening weekend for the EPL, so everyone please wish Newcastle luck 🖤🤍🖤🤍
sab
@Alison Rose: Seriously? I thought I was the only person in North America rooting for Newcastle.
Alison Rose
@sab: THE TOON ARMY IS TAKING OVER BALLOON JUICE! :)
I’ve been a Newcastle fan for 20 years, nearly to the day, because it was just a few weeks over 20 years ago that I met my ex-boyfriend who was the one who got me into soccer, and since he was a NUFC fan, obviously I was too. And I continued after we broke up :P
sab
@Alison Rose: My grandfather was from Newcastle Pa and I did my junior year ( 1975-1976) abroad in Durham England just south of Newcastle where I discovered the wonders of soccer.
cope
@Alison Rose: Funny how we start following a particular team. I’m a Liverpool fan because, while on a tour of Britain with some friends, my wife bought me an LFC t-shirt. That was well over 15 years ago and here I still am, eagerly awaiting tomorrow’s away opener against Chelsea.
Ken
Yes, I read through that and thought it could be set to music. Although after WaterGirl’s edit — well, it reminded me of this classic:
A decrepit old gas man named Peter,
While hunting around for the meter,
Touched a leak with his light.
He arose out of sight,
And, as anyone can see by reading this, he also utterly ruined the meter.
Anonymous At Work
Next up, Missouri’s second attempt to deny a state constitutional amendment over abortion. The first time, the [elected][male][Republican] state Attorney General argued that fetal viability is worth eleventy-bazillion dollars and that the ballot language and entire initiative signature process was bunk for failing to present those “costs.” Now, some people are suing because every fetus that gets aborted would have grown up to be Warren Buffet/Bill Gates/George Soros and Missouri needs to account for the loss of tax income as a result.
“Different people” launching the suit rather than the [elected][male][Republican] state Attorney General being the hold-up, so it’s unlikely that the state supremes will invoke FAFO sanctions but getting there.
Alison Rose
@sab: Man, what I wouldn’t give to have been able to see a match in a place like that, in a country where almost everyone cares about soccer.
feebog
I think a significant part of that 57% majority vote was made up of right leaning independents and Republicans. Voters aren’t stupid, they resented being treated that way. Don’t be surprised if the abortion initiative passes by an even larger margin. When that happens, not only women in Ohio win, but women in adjacent states with abortion restrictions win as well.
Kay
Local Republicans say it doesn’t matter because “only” 22 counties voted NO.
They know it’s bad for them though – they’re just super bitter and agrieved all the time now and they never laugh at themselves – they used to even 10 years ago but no longer. Such a SOUR ideology. GRIM. Giant, entitled chip on all their shoulders. It’s not at all attractive. No wonder they keep attracting misogynist Nazis.
Alison Rose
@cope: I love hearing Americans’ stories about how they chose their team :) One friend is a Norwich City fan because she likes their badge, LOL
ARoomWithAMoose
LegalEagle’s presentation on the legal machinations of the 6 named conspirators to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4-Si_OtmZs
sab
@Kay: Those being the 22 counties where all the people live.
ETA The big counties had 300,000 people voting. The little counties had 5,000 people voting. I had no idea we had so many unpopulated counties.
ETA2 So they wanted to have under 5% of 5000 people in one county be able to stop a ballot initiative for the rest of us.
Ken
With the stellar work the Missouri legislature is doing, any such future billionaires will leave the state as soon as they can.
Although if they’re Republican-leaning, they might live in the state but declare themselves citizens of Texas to avoid income tax.
OzarkHillbilly
@Anonymous At Work: Hmmm… I wonder if they should ought to add up all the lost taxes from people moving out of a slave state like Misery?
@Ken: Great minds and all that. You might should worry tho.
eclare
@Alison Rose:
I like Liverpool because of Mo.
When I lived in London in 1996 I got to see a friendly at Wembley. Very eye-opening since soccer hadn’t gained the following in the US that it has now.
raven
My wife was in Columbus last week visiting het nephew. They cleared the decks so he could go vote!
Anonymous At Work
@OzarkHillbilly: “That’s speculative” when used against Republicans. When used BY Republicans, there is a concrete, evidence-based hard mathematical formula that must be used (however, no one knows what it is just that Democrats didn’t use it properly).
Another Scott
Meanwhile, from the “every accusation is a confession” files…
(via nycsouthpaw)
Cheers,
Scott.
Nukular Biskits
Any Republican who claims to be all about individual freedom needs to explain their position in light of the GOP’s constant attack on the rights of pretty much everyone except heterosexual white (mostly male) evangelicals.
Alison Rose
@eclare: Dang, and Wembley is like 90,000 people!
Alison Rose
@Anonymous At Work:
Why do these people never think that the fetus could have been the next Charles Manson or something?
PAM Dirac
@Alison Rose:
My brother became a Liverpool fan. Spends a lot of time with the LFC fan group in San Diego. For his 50th birthday he treated himself to a trip to England to see Liverpool play at Anfield. He was in heaven.
eclare
@Alison Rose:
Well, this was 1996, old and not as big. Plus the football stadium at the SEC college that I went to sat around 100k.
I would love to go to the Wembley as it is now!
raven
Baud
@Alison Rose:
Pretty sure they mentioned the possibility of a fetus becoming a future GOP nominee for president, so that idea is covered.
Timill
@Alison Rose: That’s how it works… I had a girlfriend in Cambridge MA once; the girlfriend is long gone, but the Red Sox and Patriots remain.
Of course, some Newcastle fans are born to it…
Steeplejack
@Baud:
And he got laughed at by the U.N. General Assembly.
Omnes Omnibus
@raven: That’s a great movie.
WereBear
When the first criminal charges were announced, I told Mr WayofCats that this was real jail, and he’d never dealt with that.
That’s also what is sinking in. We mean it, and the DOJ is not some hapless contractor who did business with you to their regret.
eclare
@raven:
Wow! What a shot! And that was before drones.
MagdaInBlack
@Baud: Oh damn ! 🤭
Alison Rose
@PAM Dirac: That’s so cool :)
@eclare: Ahhh gotcha
WereBear
@japa21: I agree completely, because the Republicans kept that veneer of respectability going. They were politicians first, con artists second.
Trump is always con artist first. And I don’t think he has other gears.
eclare
@Timill:
It can also work in the reverse. My ex is a huge Patriots fan, I loathe the Patriots.
Alison Rose
@Timill: LOLOL! Yeah, back when I met the ex, I was very much in my goth era, and I remember being relieved that his team’s colors were black and white. I was like, I can work with that!
Matt McIrvin
@Anonymous At Work: they need to outlaw condoms, pulling out and sexual abstinence, then, right?
Steeplejack
@Alison Rose:
Amen to that. Go, Magpies!
WereBear
@West of the Rockies: This is when I’m glad he has Secret Service protection, don’t ya know :)
kindness
We all see Trump will lose his Washington DC case. Trump and his lawyers know it too. I suspect Trump thinks he’ll be able to whip this loss up to a big election winning issue. Trump probably expects to overturn his loss on appeal to the higher courts he packed with Federalist Society sociopaths.
It just seems so Underpants Gnomes to me though: 1) Lose Court Case(s), 2) ?????, 3) Profit!
Alison Rose
@Matt McIrvin: Shhhh don’t give them any ideas!!
WereBear
@ARoomWithAMoose: Thanks, next in queue!
cain
@feebog: And those adjacent states will be working on even more draconian laws that will show that it isn’t just talk – I mean look at Texas. There is real harm coming to women/trans-men who get pregnant. Those restrictions don’t give a shit what your party affiliation is – when your spouse dies from a preventable death because of politicians. There is no way you can spin that with decades of propaganda against democrats wrt to abortion. There is only one party that is at fault. There is no way to ‘both sides it’
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
We need a Sex Police!
Steeplejack
@Alison Rose:
I fell in love with Alan Shearer in the early ’00s.
Baud
@cain:
Twitter says. “Hold my X.”
cain
@sab: that’s pretty much your electoral college right there.
The Thin Black Duke
OT, but while surfing at Blue Sky (Thanks, Ms. Cracker), a number of people are saying that Twitter’s coverage on the devastation in Maui is gawdawful. It’s mostly insane conspiracy theories spewed by QAnan shitweasels. Thanks for nothing, Elmo.
Alison Rose
@The Thin Black Duke: Jewish space lasers, again?
cain
@Alison Rose:
crazy white people are just statistical noise..
but if it is black – well, that’s another story. ::angry sarcasm::
The Thin Black Duke
@Alison Rose: No, but–God help us–some nutjobs are babbling something about sex trafficking. Hawaii is on fire, and these idiots are amplifying this hateful nonsense on Twitter. But hey, they have the magic blue talisman, so it must be true.
Eunicecycle
@Baud: But not the child killed in a school shooting? Couldn’t she have grown up to be president? Well probably SHE couldn’t but that’s another issue.
cain
@WereBear:
But what they realized is that their base loves con artists – they want the pageantry of hate and weaponized demonstrative art.
The GOP as a political party doesn’t have any ideas other than culture war.
As the climate change start becoming more real – their policies would be pretty much “give all your shit to red states as real americans” I mean we pretty much do that anyways. The red states will fight amongst themselves like a bunch of ragged angry hyenas.
Alison Rose
@The Thin Black Duke: JFC.
cain
@Baud: https://imgur.com/gallery/OGLX0
WereBear
@Alison Rose: From what I know of my true crime history, yes, it would have him, these days. His mother was somehow “taken advantage of” and the man vanished.
Alison Rose
Yaaassss the new guy making his mark already! HWTL!
(I promise I won’t keep commentating about the match, just had to get that out :P)
West of the Rockies
@WereBear:
I didn’t think about that… presumably the Secret Service would not allow Trump to just slip out of Mar-a-Largo after midnight to jump on a red eye to Moscow.
Don’t know that I’d bet my life on it though.
Matt McIrvin
@WereBear: I still don’t believe it, can’t believe it. The world will not allow Donald Trump to go to prison for his crimes. There will be some special arrangement. Or he’ll become President and pardon himself (where he can) and there will be all these solemn explanations about how the Founding Fathers knew the President can’t be in prison. Something will happen.
WereBear
@West of the Rockies: Just imagine The Sting, cast with tRump and his cronies.
And very low budget…
Omnes Omnibus
@Matt McIrvin:
Why don’t you just wait and see what happens? Putting an ex-POTUS in prison is unprecedented, but so is what he has done.
WereBear
@Matt McIrvin: Oh, he’s not going to prison-prison. He’ll get a building at an military base, like John Dean.
He’s a security risk anywhere he goes.
Do we want him ranting in the TV room? Starting a riot in the cafeteria? Creating a network on the outside like the people who were raising those giant dogs who killed a woman in San Francisco?
We need a tRump jail and that is what they will do. Sorry about that. :)
bbleh
It is becoming very real for him.
And it’s going to get a whole lot realer, with a GA indictment and quite possibly another Federal indictment, and then the discovery starts rolling in, and the lawyers start wanting to meet to talk about this item and that item and what we can say about this and that and how we should approach this issue and that issue and …
It’s been mentioned before, but IIRC the narcissistic personality is prone to sudden collapse, and I wonder whether that may happen, right in the middle of some meeting perhaps.
Should we start a pool? Maybe by month, or by season, plus the “never” option? I’d at least be interested in a poll. I’ll say … late winter. Lousy weather, trials approaching or maybe even starting, lots and lots of tense meetings …
And if THAT happens, then what? They’d try to cover it up of course, but you can’t keep a candidate completely out of the public eye, especially one like him. Interesting problem.
WereBear
I long assumed he would decompensate before he actually got imprisoned. He’s also in real danger now of running out of money, which would ‘splode his head more than any other option.
The Thin Black Duke
@WereBear: So Trump is overdecompensating?
WereBear
@The Thin Black Duke: LOL! We can only hope.
WereBear
For that matter, do we want tRump at a Club Fed, with lots of other schemers? ISOLATE THE VIRUS.
Alison Rose
@Omnes Omnibus:
THIS. I’ve grown weary of pundits and such being like OMG THIS IS HISTORIC AND UNPRECEDENTED TO INDICT A FORMER PRESIDENT and I’m like…yeah, and so were his crimes. It’s not like every other president also staged a coup when they lost reelection but Trump is the only one being prosecuted for it.
eclare
@WereBear:
I want him at Angola, but that’s just me.
And yes, I know that will never happen as Angola is a state prison.
eclare
@Alison Rose:
Yep. My thoughts exactly.
WereBear
@eclare: You know, Alcatraz is still there.
WereBear
@eclare: Or, come to think of it, Parchman.
brantl
I hate them too, and I don’t even follow football. Those cheatin’ weasels!
frosty
@Ken: Nice pun!!
Yutsano
@WereBear: So is Elba, but I don’t think the French will go for that.
Citizen Alan
@Alison Rose: Bold of you to assume they wouldn’t support Charlie Manon, given that he was a charismatic white psychopath who wanted to start a race war.
Ken
The late-night thread mentioned Sam Bankman-Fried’s bail was revoked for witness tampering. Here’s a threadreaderapp from the hearing.
The judge mentions the relevant laws and rulings, including one reaffirmed by the Supreme Court this June, that amounts to “If something the defendant said can be interpreted as witness tampering, it is to be treated as such, even if the defendant says otherwise.” I imagine we’ll be hearing about that again in one or more of Trump’s trials.
(From the judge’s description and example, the original Supreme Court case (Giboney v. Empire Storage & Ice Co. 336 U.S. 490 (1949)) established that a couple guys going into a store and saying “Gee, this is a nice business you’ve got here, it would be a shame if it burned down” is in fact intimidation, even though they might argue that those were true statements that anyone might make.)
Alison Rose
@Citizen Alan: True, but didn’t his groupies kill a pregnant woman? Meaning, a fetus? How will they choose sides?????
Anoniminous
@Matt McIrvin:
If only Trump was a black kid caught with three grams of crack then we could put him in jail for life. But he’s white & there it is.
Ken
Yeah, but they never filed charges against Obama for being President while black.
WereBear
@Yutsano: Would you believe that’s the first thing I thought of?
“I hear St. Elba is free.”
eclare
@Citizen Alan:
Don’t forget the swastika on his forehead!
WereBear
@Citizen Alan: Honestagawd, if he’d been taller… it would have been different.
Imagine a 5′ 9″ tRump. That’s the world average, and I think it would have been different. Taller lifts, certainly.
Kay
The restoration of reproductive rights initiative isn’t a done deal, however. The anti womens autonomy and agency groups will peel off some of the Repubs who voted “NO”. I still think we can win the next round though.
Citizen Alan
@WereBear: Surely his daughter-wife hasn’t blown through that $2b her Lectroid husband got from the Saudis for bringing peace to the Middle East!
WereBear
@eclare: Oh, well, if we’re going Tarantino on his adze…
Redshift
@WereBear:
More important, he can’t outspend DOJ and make them settle, like a contractor suing for non-payment. They have better lawyers than he’ll ever be able to hire, and they have as many of them as necessary.
Omnes Omnibus
@Citizen Alan: He can’t be a Lectroid. His name is Jared.
Citizen Alan
@Alison Rose: That’s different. The pregnant woman killed by the Manson family didn’t choose to end her pregnancy. And the GOP is perfectly fine with women who miscarry and die in the process.
bbleh
@Ken: see if THAT doesn’t prove that DOJ is in the tank for the Demo-rats then what WOULD?!?
Anoniminous
@WereBear:
Or, perhaps, the judicious repeated application of a white folding chair to various bodily parts?
WereBear
@Citizen Alan: Maybe not (handbags and facial filler are expensive) but I hear they aren’t speaking.
Perhaps to safeguard their own assets. Unfortunately, Evil Son-in-law probably was not involved with J6.
And they can leave the country. I hear NY society has pointedly suggested such.
kalakal
@eclare: Ask the British nicely and they’ll lend Rockall
WereBear
@Anoniminous: To be fair, we should use a pool noodle.
Then everyone could get a turn.
WereBear
@kalakal: I like it!
Gretchen
Missouri passed a ballot initiative a couple of years ago to expand Medicaid. The Republican governor and legislature came up with reasons why they didn’t have to and just didn’t.the legislature just refused to appropriate money for it and the governor just said, well, can’t do it then.
Redshift
@Kay: I’m loving the fact that the genius new idea that seems to be spreading like a virus among Republicans is to “compromise” on a 15-week abortion ban. As in, they have a (large) faction that wants a total ban, and the rest who either don’t, or do but are practical about it, so they’ll agree on a compromise and then turn to Democrats and say “see, it’s a compromise, you should agree to it!”
They honestly don’t seem to grasp that when they say “we really want a total ban, but we’ll settle for 15 weeks,” voters hear “we want a total ban.”
And they don’t seem to grasp that negotiating with themselves doesn’t mean a damn thing about negotiations the other side.
Please proceed, wingnuts.
Omnes Omnibus
@kalakal: IIRC, the Dangerous Sports Club’s first event was a black tie tea party on Rockall.
artem1s
I’m pretty sure Issue 1 special election was pretty much driven by the Kasich/Vance never Trumper fascists who believe in privatizing everything (including schools and health care) and that they want be the sole arbiters of what is and isn’t codified into law. There is a factional war going on with the Ohio GOP. It’s about money and not any of these cancel culture issues. They don’t care about that crap. But they were willing to use the anti-abortion and transphobic fanatics to get more restrictive legislation in the Constitution so they can keep control of their heavily gerrymandered districts and keep the special interest money flowing into their pockets. The MAGAt and religious fanatics are taking money away from the party coffers and they want it back.
Brachiator
@Matt McIrvin:
The world doesn’t care. But for many Americans, the idea of a former president going to prison would tarnish the myth of American exceptionalism.
I don’t think that the Founders imagined that a scoundrel might be elected president.
But I also think that Trump has tried to exploit this reluctance to bring the hammer down hard because he is a former (or current but displaced) president. He is shameless.
sab
OT Dobby the formerly demon cat likes fur covered catnip stuffed toy mice with rattles. I buy them at the grocery in the cat section. They come in threepacks.
The new cat likes them also. I give her the black ones because she is black. Dobby gets the gray and white ones because he is gray and white. That way I can keep track of who has been given which toy.
The new cat plays with all of them. Dobby resents that. He has been collecting the gray and white mice and bringing them back to the bedroom. He now has a little pile of them. He does a trilling meep when he is carrying a captured toy mouse through the house.
Redshift
@WereBear:
Yeah, but he really needs to be investigated for using his government position to enrich himself. Everything the wingnuts are investigating Hunter Biden for (other than dick pics, eww), Jared did out in the open and a thousand times worse.
Gretchen
@Redshift: and they seem to think this is a fine « compromise » despite all the stories of women having their water break at 18 weeks unable to get treatment. They’re so ignorant of late pregnancy complications they think they’re offering something reasonable. They’ll say why would someone wait until 20 weeks? Let me list the reason…..
Redshift
@sab: Lol, cat dynamics.
sab
@artem1s: Don’t forget privatizing prisons and the turnpike.
ETA Excellent point. I think you have really explained the dynamic.
Baud
@Redshift:
Yeah. I don’t see any anti choice states relaxing their abortion restrictions to 15 weeks.
M31
least sympathetic opera heroine ever
WereBear
@sab: I think MIne! Mine! is in the DNA of all mammals.
Maybe not a sloth. They are famously solitary.
We had a Russian Blue mix who would take his toys out of the toybox and put them back when he was done.
Captain C
@WereBear: He should be put in with the sex offenders. He’ll fit right in.
WereBear
@Captain C: And those Epstein connections! He’ll make friends fast.
Matt McIrvin
@Brachiator: They imagined that if a scoundrel became President, other institutions would reject and thwart him out of self-interest. They didn’t think partisan loyalties would override institutional ones and keep half the country in the scoundrel’s pocket.
Redshift
@Gretchen: They don’t know anything about it because it’s just about power and control, and that outcome is all that matters. The details of pregnancy and abortion are icky wimmin stuff they don’t want to think about, so they just hand-wave it away.
sab
@artem1s: My hisband agrees. He thinks the GOP powers were shocked when Roe was overturned. They were using the abortion issue like an ATM. They wanted to milk that cash cow forever, and the Supreme Court killed her.
Another Scott
@eclare:
I want him to be sent to MDC Guaynabo in Puerto Rico for lots and lots of reasons…
(But, yeah, he’s not going there either.)
Cheers,
Scott.
eclare
@kalakal:
Perfect!
Redshift
@WereBear: Or the Colbert line from a while back – “He might become the leader of a white supremacist gang – but this time, in prison!”
Kirk
If I had input, I’d remember that Trump signed an executive order that Gitmo would remain open indefinitely, and let Karma have her way. Heck, make it a designated site for all the insurrectionists.
eclare
@sab:
I wondered how the new kitty was! What’s the name again?
sab
@WereBear: I put the pitmix’s food down last night and the new cat ran over and started chowing down. The pitmix went over to move her and the new cat (8 lbs) smacked the pitmix (60 lbs) in the face and then hissed at her. The pitmix ran to me for help.
This new cat has no idea that cats eat on counters because there are dogs on the floor.
The Thin Black Duke
sab
@eclare: We changed her name to Sadie. She mostly comes to Kitty.
Anoniminous
@WereBear:
Commensalism – interaction between two organisms of different species in which one derives some benefit while the other is unaffected – and Mutualism – interaction between two organisms of different species in which each member benefits – are way more common. Nature documentaries don’t show it because an hour of nothing much happening is boring. Even some predators co-cooperatively hunt, e.g., the lionesses in a pride, while others are solitary and have a highly developed ‘what is mine is mine and what I can take from you is mine,’ e.g., wolverines.
WereBear
@sab: The first problem with using fanatics is that they don’t stick to the plan.
HumboldtBlue
At least eight explosions have been observed on the Kerch Bridge in the Crimea.
WereBear
@Redshift: I loved that. But when you consider his hypnotic effect on unthinking minds, it’s true.
Precautions must be taken.
WereBear
@Anoniminous: The African wildcat is known to hunt in pairs, and I have a bonded pair who plays that way.
Cats are social animals, but they do like to own things.
Jackie
@Omnes Omnibus: There’s ALWAYS A FIRST TIME for everything! And, who better than TIFG to be the first – and hopefully LAST ex-president to be imprisoned for trying to steal an election by stealing votes from seven states?
Cacti
@brantl: And with Brady gone, Belichick has been demoted from “genius” to the below average coach he always was with every QB not named Tom Brady.
Jackie
@WereBear: “He’s also in real danger now of running out of OTHER PEOPLES money”
Fixed it for you 😁
HumboldtBlue
@sab:
Durham, England, is the birthplace of the most successful manager in English football history, Bob Paisley.
Paisley worked with Liverpool for 44 years and in his nine-year tenure as manager from the mid-7os to the mid-80s, Liverpool won 20 trophies, including six league titles, three European cups and three league cups.
It’s a record that will never be matched, even Pep Guardiola, in his pomp at Man City, has no chance, and he’s won five of the last six league titles, but only one European cup.
And Toon lead Villa 3-1.
Cameron
@Kirk: I’ve long thought that Guantanamo would be the ideal tropical paradise for Trump to spend the rest of his golden (well, golden-dyed) years. I had sort of hoped that after the election, President Biden would graciously offer to fly him back to Mar-a-Lago in Air Force One, which would mysteriously overfly southern Florida and wind up in Cuba.
sab
@HumboldtBlue: Husband (keeper of the remote) finally tuned into the Newcastle game. Yay!
kalakal
@Alison Rose:
And so far no lurking Mackems have risen to the challenge
Miss Bianca
@WereBear:
Now *there’s* a rotating tag for ya! LOL!
Alison Rose
@kalakal: They can come on out, we can keep the derby friendly here ;)
WereBear
@Jackie: Right on :)
bbleh
@Kirk: @Cameron: and when a hurricane comes by and trashes the place, show up, toss ’em a few rolls of paper towels, and jet off.
sab
@Cacti: He kind of sucked in Cleveland. Maybe now my Boston BIL will believe me.
Jeffro
Ha!
I like the idea of him bunking in some abandoned barracks with only a 17″ tv for company.
Alison Rose
@bbleh: Heh, looks like you’re talking to Kirk Cameron. What’s that fucker doing here??
Jeffro
@eclare:
@WereBear:
@Yutsano:
@kalakal: If he’s found guilty, I’m actually good with him avoiding a prison sentence entirely. All he has to do is walk across America at the point of a pitchfork.
He can start in New York City. They’ll give him a nice send-off, I’m sure.
sab
@sab: Husband keeper of the remote got that title because me getting cable for his color tv was a condition he imposed before he moved in with me
ETA Since I still had a very old B&W tv I bought at a yard sale that didn’t seem like I was giving up much. I am more radio and books.
Bupalos
@sab: that’s why it’s a little unfortunate we’ll be bringing our popular and motivating initiative in an off year. I’m pretty sure at this point the Ohio GOP would much prefer go back to the status quo ante, before they caught the car with Dobbs. If it was just about politics, I’d prefer to wait a year at least.
jonas
@sab: Well, their only option at this point is to try to raise money off pledging to pass a national abortion ban bill, but given how the state-level referendums are going, I don’t think they want to be drawing too much attention to that…
Cameron
@Alison Rose: Oh, God…..
Geminid
@Jeffro: I still say, stick that asshole in Fort Jefferson, in the Dry Totugas. That’s where they imprisoned Dr. Mudd for setting John Wilkes Booth’s broken bone.
People say, “You can’t do that, it’s a National Monument now with thousands of visitors a year.” But Fort Jefferson is supposed to be the biggest brick structure in the Western Hemisphere! There’s got to be a corner they can set aside for the Orange Churl. They could charge the visitors extra for a chance to to see his miniature golf course.
UncleEbeneezer
@japa21: A vote for Republicans is a vote to perpetuate and expand racist policies. Period. It doesn’t really matter what their stated reason is, how they really feel about PoC or if they even understand racism. The result is more racism and the voters are the ones that enable it.
I know there are Repubiclans who don’t aren’t overtly racist (I have several in my own family), but give me five minutes of talking to any of them about why they support GOP policies and I can pretty much guarantee I’ll find some racist sentiments or stereotypes that they believe in strongly, even if they aren’t the dominant part of their political identity.
sab
@Bupalos: On the positive side, we may well get abortion protection done this year.
I am so old that I was a reproductivly able female before Roe and it was scary even if you were a happlily married faithful wife. Legislatively imposed 18th century medicine in the 20th century.
I have a heart condition that pregnancy might have killed me. So celibacy for life?
Alison Rose
A 5-1 win is a very nice way to kick off the season!
eclare
@Alison Rose:
Congrats!
sab
@Alison Rose: Yay! and congrats.
Omnes Omnibus
@UncleEbeneezer:
Even if they aren’t in favor of the racist policies per se, they are willing to go along with them in order to get their tax cuts or whatever else.
japa21
@UncleEbeneezer:
And the people that go to Tom Cruise movies enable Scientology. even if they know nothing about it.
Chief Oshkosh
@Redshift: They also don’t understand that Roe WAS the compromise.
ETA: It’s likely that others have made this comment here; I just got in from chores.
Kay
@Redshift:
I’ve been reading them a really long time on abortion and they can’t adopt “15 weeks” because if they do that means they’re accepting the basic Roe/Casey premise – that there are three sets of rights- the pregnant person, the embroyo or fetus, and the state interest and the pregnant persons rights trump in the first trimester. They’re just moving the Roe/Casey “rights slider” a little over to the “fetus/state right” direction. That is not the moral/religious claim. The claim is “life at conception” – so me and my 6 week pregnancy are equal in rights. In practice of course it’s not even “equal” they sacrifice the pregnant woman every time. It’s a marker of womanly marytrdom if she dies in service to the child. At anti abortion events they love telling these gory pregnancy stories where the mother, whatshername, bled out but the miracle baby survived “and I am that baby!” – it’s their fucked up religious beliefs that sacrifice women. May as well burn us at stake.
“15 weeks” is what they tell dopey gullible centrists. That’s never happening.
bbleh
@Alison Rose: Lol no. He wouldn’t listen anyway. He has all the answers, so his mission is to talk, not listen.
Cameron
@Kay: Do they have a problem with Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac? If not, is that just because it’s two guys ‘n God, or that Isaac was a person of post-nativity and thus irrelevant, or what?
El Muneco
@Alison Rose: I’m a Leyton Orient fan because for a period in the late 90s they wore an extremely garish bright-red-and-white checked shirt(*). I figured that anyone brave enough to wear that to Colchester on a Wednesday night in November, in the Thud and Blunder of the old Third Division, was mentally tough enough to deserve my fandom.
(*) I once got a comment that my replica jersey was pretty loud. On a golf course, not a place known for understated apparel.
UncleEbeneezer
@Omnes Omnibus: Exactly. And Republicans have only gotten more and more overt in their racism. There’s really no plausible deniability anymore for their voters.
Omnes Omnibus
@El Muneco:
Honestly, it was your own fault for golfing.
Uncle Cosmo
@Ken:
;^p
WereBear
@Jeffro: Shades of Game of Thrones.
Wag
@sab: I’m rooting for them too!
sab
My husband just yelled up the stairs at me “the dog and I are doing a bowl.” OMG and JFC. Husband has an Rx. The dog doesn’t. She came to our house with a habit. Should she be indulged? She is a pitbull and they are persistant. My husband is corrupting a dog. That seems wrong.
Wag
@sab: I lived in Newcastle UK when I was in kindergarten back in 68, then spent a summer there while at university in the 80’s, so I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for NU.
sab
@sab: Meanwhile, we are on tornado watch or maybe even warning.
eclare
@sab:
Stay safe! Storms in Memphis have been bad this year.
sab
@Wag: Newcastle from American eyes is amazing. Usual dingy northern industrial city (American rustbelt) but also a Roman wall, a gothic medieval church, a Norman church and a wrought iron Victorian railway station all within a quarter mile. Outside the quarter mile the usual vibrant northern city that the London government hopes to ignore.
Uncle Cosmo
Since I have zero interest in the sport, the league, or the city, I will be happy to –
O’s & Crows, hon!
(NB Not holding my breath.)
Wag
@sab: it was super dingy summer of 83 while Thatcher was crushing the coal miner union, but the people were amazing and the city center was so cool. The Northumbrian countryside was amazing for cycling.
Ruckus
@japa21:
There is a reason this old fart uses the word rethuglican. When I first reached voting age I was very much into politics and racism was far worse than it is today, as in far more obvious ways. And as more and more people woke up (see what I did there?) a sort of platonic shift started happening among vast majorities of citizens. The age of TV and more openness was upon us. Communications got a lot better, the small town got exposed to the rest of the world so to speak. And of course it has taken a long time to become what it is today, far more openness, far more places to discuss issues such as racism, like this blog. (I wonder if one reason elon bought twitter was to gain some control over one of those far more openness venues) My point is, we have come a very long way in my lifetime, we, as in the American population, have woken up to see humanity in more than just who lives next door. We didn’t really used to be able to do that very well, at least not on a person to person basis. And now we have conservative politicians screaming about WOKE, as if waking the hell up is wrong. It is in no way wrong, it’s just an asinine way of describing and trying to make becoming better humans wrong. Of recognizing that equality means exactly that – equal. Not above because of the color of one’s skin or their birth certificate or lack of one. We are equal. In opportunity, in position, in humanity. Skin color is bullshit. My whiteness is not a power point, someone’s brownness is not a selling point. IT’S THE COLOR OF SKIN. It varies. It’s not wrong, or right. IT’S THE COLOR OF SKIN. We are all somewhat different, this is one of the differences. We ALL have the chemical in us as part of being human that gives us skin color. The only difference is how much. We are all better (or worse) at something, because we are all human and making a new human by two other humans creates a different human. It’s life, it’s how it works. One’s kid(s) are not clones, they are new humans. One’s skin color, (etc) is not an indicator of anything but skin color, of genes creating another human being.
Jay
@sab:
pot is not good for dogs or cats.
Occasional exposure is okay, but pot has more impact on them than humans.
Edibles seem to be the cause of most THC poisonings.
sab
Thunderstorm warning here in NE Ohio. Lots of thunder. Lots of rain. A few tornadoes. Basically normsl Ohio summer weather.
Miss Bianca
@sab: Err…a bowl of what? Ice cream?
If it’s weed? I don’t think dogs are supposed to be metabolizing THC, just sayin’…
sab
@Jay: Husband has been blowing smoke at this dog for a while. They both love it. What are their or her risks.
Cameron
@sab: I did that once with my dog. It obviously disagreed with her, watery eyes, coughing, crying – I felt like a complete shit, and about two inches tall, to boot. Never even smoked in the same room with her again.
Jay
@sab:
her risks are THC Intoxication and addiction. Addiction could lead to her “overdosing” on a stash.
https://vcacanada.com/know-your-pet/marijuana-intoxication-in-dogs-and-cats
AWOL
@sab: Weed, tobacco, incense, and most commercial air deodorizers are awful for the small lungs of cats and dogs.
People who blow weed in the cats’ face for fun are sadists.
Eyeroller
@sab: One should be very careful about dosing dogs with any drug not approved by a vet, and even more so for cats. As carnivores, their livers are not as effective at handling toxins (their prey metabolized plant drugs/toxins for them). Dogs are more omnivorous than cats so it’s generally not as dangerous, but it’s still risky. Cats have very limited ability to metabolize drugs and a lot of those that humans can consume safely, or fairly safely (like acetaminephine) are deadly to cats.
Ruckus
@sab:
Likely the same thing that can happen to humans. We begin to like the results and then really like the results. Now pot doesn’t have the same level of power at that as say heroin for most people but it gets closer for some. Also not as dangerous as other drugs. Dogs and cats are also smaller than we are so the effects of exposure may be larger. But just like most everything else we vary in our appreciation of that smoke. Other animals are as likely to do the same.
Ruckus
@Eyeroller:
Another good reason not to expose pets to toxins.
Frank Wilhoit
@artem1s:
Remember the good old days when John W. Wolfe was running the Dispatch?
sab
My ricecooker has a lttle grill. Can I steam small potatoes in it?
Jay
@sab:
Yup.
smedley the uncertain
@Yutsano: Dry Tortuga…
Subsole
@Baud:
Oh, that’s gonna be fun…
“Attention! Attention! This is the State Genital Inspector! We have you surrounded! Exit the stall with your pants down and your hands up or we will open fire! You have 20 seconds to comply!”
Subsole
@The Thin Black Duke:
Every accusation is a confession.
Where did those missing immigrant children that Donald’s Most Holy and Christian government misplaced end up???
Pity we don’t have any journalists in this country.
Another Scott
@Subsole:
DHS.gov:
The most recent one is dated July 31, 2023.
Cheers,
Scott.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@The Thin Black Duke: “… Twitter’s coverage …”
Someone over at LGF used the name “birdchan” instead of Twitter/Xitter/Shitter…
Very accurate. Maybe enshittify it Musk style and call it “Xbirdchan”…lol
Ruckus
@artem1s:
It’s about money and not any of these cancel culture issues.
To the people you are talking about it is ALWAYS about money. They don’t use money, they worship money, it is their holy grail. Having more allows them to get even more. In a race they think to the top. But people who worship money rather than humanity, or at the cost of humanity, create horrible issues for everyone else. Money shouldn’t be the end all be all of humanity, for many should be obvious reasons. Making money from/for doing something/anything positive rather than just for the money’s sake is not the same thing as doing it only for the money. But it’s complicated because someone like Jeff Bezos provides something that is at least in someway positive. Yes he’s rich, yes he has a LOT of money. He didn’t steal it, he employees a lot of humans to deliver a lot of stuff a lot of humans get paid to build. He reengineered selling stuff. Not a great humanitarian premise but an often useful one.
Ruckus
@Cameron:
I’ve been to Gitmo. 3 times.
Walked around for a couple of minutes saw the high fence and guard towers. Walked back to the ship.
So I can say with actual knowledge that it seems like it would be a very lovely place for someone with the DTs (thats the donald trumps – it has to be a disease, no one can be normal with the DTs)
Ruckus
@Jeffro:
Nine inch black and white. That way he can hate half of what he sees.