Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

The lights are all blinking red.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

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

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

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

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

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

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Thursday Morning Open Thread: Internet Hangover Balm

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World spins onward…
Thursday Morning Open Thread 8

(Jack Ohman via GoComics.com)


Of course, our Very Serious Media, come hell or high water, wants to keep things… balanced:

Not buying that!

Reader Interactions

246Comments

  2. 2.

    bjacques

    The Republicans will give us Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion–well, two of those things, anyway.

  3. 3.

    Jeffro

    Is Ingraham trying to drive Dems’ numbers even higher with Gen Z?

    (ok, ok…higher with Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z?)   =)

  6. 6.

    Jeffro

    Meanwhile, here’s ex-president* thug life, noting that the J6ers were full of “love and unity” on “the most beautiful day they ever experienced”

    Just run it on a loop, Ds!

    Jan. 6 was a very interesting day because they don’t report it properly,” he told Carlson in the previously recorded interview, which was posted Wednesday night on X, the website formerly known as Twitter. “People in that crowd said it was the most beautiful day they ever experienced. There was love and unity. I have never seen such spirit and such passion and such love. And I’ve also never seen, simultaneously and from the same people, such hatred at what they’ve done to our country.”

    trumpov has never, not once, disavowed political violence (and in fact, as we know, encourages it from his supporters).  Dems ought to make an issue of it every day.

  8. 8.

    OverTwistWillie

    Vivek was Trump’s pre-debate pick as a potential VP, so that he “won” mindshare is no shock.

    There are those running for VP, and those running for the death/conviction slot, so inconsistent, incoherent messaging is what you are gonna get; and then there is Ronnie…. he was probably thinking about baseball during the Ukraine question and reflexively raised his hand.

  9. 9.

    Ken

    Judging from the radio ads I hear when driving in downstate Illinois, 30% of rural America’s economy is pot stores. Possibly that’s not a good metric, since it means the rest is buying and selling gold, and personal injury lawsuits.

    I’ll also note that when I used to go on work trips (involving long cross-country drives), the *** PORN MEGASTORES *** were always in rural areas. Are those still a thing, or does everyone use the internet now?

  12. 12.

    JPL

    Hours before he was slated to surrender at the Fulton County jail on Thursday, former President Donald Trump shook up his Atlanta legal team. Defense attorney Steve Sadow will replace Drew Findling as Trump’s top Atlanta lawyer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has learned.

    Sounds good

    BTW local news showed a group of twelve marching in front of the jail entrance with posters and matching shirts supporting trump.   I just glanced quickly but then realized that it’s the most diverse group that I’ve seen supporting him.   Can we say paid????????

  13. 13.

    bjacques

    @Matt McIrvin: and since the Democrats didn’t deliver on the acid, I feel betrayed, and they’re a bunch of shitlibs so I have no choice but to vote for Trump. /s

  15. 15.

    MazeDancer

    Switching from the loud and obnoxious crazy of GOP to the staid and solid good policy world of the Dems feels boring to some people.

    They like the stimulation of yelling and outrage.

    Unfortunately, many of these people are members of the US media.

    Vivek will get the spotlight for a while.

  17. 17.

    Percysowner

    Alexandra Petri was on fire about the debate I watched the (Trumpless!) GOP primary debate so you don’t have to

    Here’s the intro:

    MILWAUKEE — If you said, “Would you like to watch Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Doug Burgum, Mike Pence, Asa Hutchinson and Chris Christie talk to each other for two hours? FYI, the place where they’ll do so is hotter than Beelzebub’s armpit!,” I would have said, “No, thank you.” But if you said, “The alternative is watching Donald Trump talk to Tucker Carlson on the website formerly known as Twitter,” I would say, “I can’t wait to hear what Ron, Vivek, Nikki, Tim, Doug, Mike, Asa and Chris have to say!”

    Sadly, I couldn’t find a gift link, so if you’re out of WaPo articles it’s behind a paywall.

  18. 18.

    Jeffro

    The headline seemed a little Pitchbot-tty, but the piece is pretty sound: J-Rubs on Biden Goes Positive: Izzat Gonna Work?

    Historians tell us that fascism arises in a mood of “cultural pessimism” that fosters a demand to entirely remake government and casts the authoritarian strongman as a messianic-like figure who can arrest decline. Without cultural, economic and political ruin and ensuing panic, there is no crisis to quell. By contrast, if a democracy is producing real gains and people see improvement, voters will be less inclined to throw the entire system overboard to follow the cult leader. No wonder hyperbole, fearmongering and hysteria are part and parcel of the MAGA message.

    Trump is nothing if not consistent. One need only recall his weird and repulsive inaugural address in 2017 (“American Carnage”) to understand how violence, mayhem, decline and fear are essential to his message. This time around, you can expect more of his apocalyptic language (“You’re not going to have a country anymore”) and a shockingly dark picture of the United States. For Trump, the present is always bleak; hence, we have to go back to the past to make America great again — and rely on him to fix things.

    Biden, therefore, has the task of not simply correcting the economic record but also of diffusing — perhaps mocking — Trump’s excessive negativity. Things are bad for Trump, but they need not be bad for the rest of us. We’ll be just fine if we keep our heads about us, look at the facts and trust in ourselves. That’s not a bad pitch for Biden or, for that matter, any democracy trying to ward off a hysterical demagogue.

    Frankly

    “Things are bad for Trump, but they need not be bad for the rest of us. We’ll be just fine if we keep our heads about us”

    sounds to my ears like a pretty good all-in-one message!  “trumpov’s going down, down, down…but just look at the rest of us!  Manufacturing booming, unemployment low, inflation going down, and it’s all because we have adults at the wheel.”

    (it’s a good hint to everyone except the most hardcore MAGAts: come on in and join the winning team!)

  20. 20.

    J. Arthur Crank (fka Jerzy Russian)

    That jmart fellow is pretty sharp.  History is littered with examples of campaigns being derailed by the criminal actions/legal problems of their opponents.  I am surprised that President Biden hasn’t already resigned to save himself from a massive defeat.

  21. 21.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Whoever is doing Biden’s social media is really good at it.

    WHOA. President Biden just released a campaign ad out of Nikki Haley's own words, "You have Ron DeSantis, you've got Tim Scott, you've got Mike Pence. They all voted to raise the debt. Donald Trump added $8 trillion to our debt." Absolutely amazing. This is how it's done.— Victor Shi (@Victorshi2020) August 24, 2023

  23. 23.

    Geminid

    @Albatrossity: I think speechwriter William Safire was credited with that line spoken by Spiro Agnew.

    Safire wrote a good Civil War novel titled Freedom. Long, but worth reading if you are interested in that war’s history.

  25. 25.

    lee

    I know we say this every election cycle but dog-damn I think the media is going once again lower the bar on just how bad they are going to be.

    @Ken: ​
    Yes they are still a thing. They are still scattered about in Texas (some in rural areas some in metro areas)

  27. 27.

    Uncle Jeffy

    Watched an hour+ of the shouting match and finally gave up. Not an iota of rational thoughts or sound policies from the entire mob. Next time I get the urge to watch this kind of craziness, Mrs. UJ has promised to give me a gooo hard slap.

  28. 28.

    danielx

    @Ken:

    Noted when driving to the Keys that they still exist, and still have humongous billboards along the interstates. Billboards usually followed by a humongous cross in the next few miles, followed by another toy store billboard. It’s like they can’t decide whether to get holy or get their freak on. Evidently it’s a Southern thing.

  29. 29.

    lee

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I believe the person running Biden’s twitter was hired away from running New Jersey’s social media. She has been on fire from the day she started. She had that video of M Traitor Green praising Biden up within hours.

  30. 30.

    EarthWindFire

    @Jeffro:

    People in that crowd said it was the most beautiful day they ever experienced. There was love and unity.

    Nothing says love like a gallows, broken windows, and shit smeared on the wall. Hallmark really needs to get on this.

  31. 31.

    Betty Cracker

    The Petri column is a hoot — here’s a gift link. Also an excerpt featuring Pence responding to Ramaswamy:

    Hush. I despise you. Never say that we are not patriotic enough. During the Trump-Pence administration, I hugged the flag every night, with my wife’s approval. There is an eagle that would be very sad to hear you say that, as would Ronald Reagan, who is an angel now.

    LOL — she captured the tone.

  35. 35.

    Jeffro

    Charles Blow: DeSantis is sinking. Guess who’s rising?

    Oh Ron, Ron…I can only imagine how you’re feeling today.  In fact, I may actually spend quite a bit of today imagining how you’re feeling.  LOL

    There would have been no DeSantis without Trump. Trump endorsed DeSantis for governor of Florida when DeSantis was struggling against a strong Republican opponent for the party’s nomination. DeSantis rode Trump’s endorsement to victory.

    So, there was always something in the DeSantis campaign that knew that he was Macbeth coming to kill his king. The only problem was that DeSantis had ambition, but not the bloodlust. He lacks the courage, which is ironic given that DeSantis wrote a book before his run entitled, “The Courage to Be Free.”

    DeSantis has a chronic personality problem. He simply doesn’t connect with people. He smiles the way a Doberman bares its teeth: it feels forced, aggressive and dangerous. You feel like you should retreat from it. And when he’s not forcing a smile, he reflexively scowls.

    He has a resting wince face.

    He is not only emotionally aloof, but completely detached. He abides in aggression because the rest of the emotional range has either atrophied or failed to develop in the first place. In fact, during debate prep in 2018, one of his advisers told him that on the debate stage he would need to write “LIKABLE” in all caps at the top of his note pad.

    Speaking of the GOP’s previous flirtations with minority candidates a la Cain, Carson, etc.

    They are the amuse-bouche, the tasty appetizer before the party gets serious and sits for the meal.

    Now, it is Ramaswamy’s turn.

    At one point, Chris Christie attempted to insult Ramaswamy by saying that “the last person at one of these debates who stood in the middle of the stage and said, ‘what’s a skinny guy with an odd last name doing up here,’ was Barack Obama, and I’m afraid we’re dealing with the same type of amateur.”

    Ramaswamy glowed at the comparison and shot back: “Give me a hug just like you did to Obama, and you’ll help elect me just like you did to Obama too.”

    Let’s be clear: Vivek, you are no Barack.

    You have a shallow, CliffsNotes understanding of the issues, but because you speak with speed and confidence, polished diction and a toothy grin, the incoherence is disguised by the delivery. Ramaswamy is the kind of person who gets hired for charisma rather than competence.

    At points, it seems obvious that Ramaswamy is being intentionally contrarian, outlandish and provocative in his proposals and pronouncements in order to provoke a reaction and garner more attention. In doing so, he is the personification of click bait.

    …along comes Ramaswamy, also wealthier and more polished than DeSantis, to once again steal his shine, to make him feel small and insignificant.

    There were points during the debate when Ramaswamy sparred with Mike Pence and Chris Christie while literally looking past DeSantis as if he wasn’t there.

    DeSantis didn’t crash and burn Wednesday night. He made no real errors. He stayed on message and forcefully delivered his points. But the debate delivered its own point to him: His star is setting while another rises.

  37. 37.

    Jeffro

    Meanwhile, Frank Bruni with the issue here: The Republican Party Debate Was an Infuriating Display of Moral Cowardice

    Ron DeSantis faulted Donald Trump for the Covid lockdowns during his presidency. Nikki Haley slammed him for runaway government spending. They did so early during the Republican presidential debate on Wednesday night and they did so readily, as if showing voters just how dauntless and independent they were. What guts!
    What bunk. When they were later asked to raise their hands if they would support Trump as the 2024 Republican nominee even if he’d been convicted of a felony, up shot DeSantis’s arm. Haley’s, too. No hesitation. No equivocation. No concern about which of Trump’s 91 felony counts might be under discussion. No insistence that they’d have to see how strong the evidence turned out to be. Just fealty. It’s what the Republican electorate seems to insist on, so it’s what all eight candidates onstage in Milwaukee except Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson pledged.

    The (electoral) beatings will just have to continue until (the nation’s) morale improves, I guess.

  39. 39.

    Betty Cracker

    @Jeffro: Yeah, I watched the debate in anticipation of seeing DeSantis get clubbed by the other nonentities and was disappointed. But Blow’s point that being ignored is worse is a good one.

  41. 41.

    Scout211

    I really enjoyed the debate live blog on Wonkette last night.  It was all snark and over-the-top making fun of the candidates.  Live blog

    If you have a few moments and need a laugh, check it out.

    ETA:  posting part of the abortion section:

    NIKKI HALEY: I hate abortion because my husband was adopted. But stop demonizing all the abortions! Just some of them! Can’t we all agree on not giving ladies the DEATH PENALTY for having abortions?

    RON DESANTIS: Oh I banned the shit out of abortion in Florida. Six week ban in Florida. I heard a heartbeat one time in an unborn babby. Ron DeSantis knows a lady named Penny who used to be an abortion, but now she isn’t HAHA SUCK IT DEMS.

    MIKE PENCE: Oh I’ve been fucking up women on this for YEARS. Jesus Jesus Jesus. I am complete Christian fascist and if you elect me we will go so goddamned Handmaid’s Tale your heads will spin.

    Also, Nikki Haley is my friend, but she is a woman, therefore a lib.

    9:38: Haley is like goddamn, stop lying, there’s not gonna be an abortion ban because there ain’t no 60 percent of the Senate to do that.

    Martha MacCallum says let’s get Governor Bergman in here! Come on, Governor “Bergman!”

    He says no federal abortion ban. Fuckin’ Goverman Burgner! Or whatever!

    9:41: Asa Hutchinson also too hates abortion, and now there is a split screen between Hutchinson and Burgernor Govman, because they are fighting for last place here we guess.

    9:42: Tim Scott will not let California and New York and Illinois abort all their babies on the last day of pregnancy, as is currently required by the laws of those states. Also we think he just started crying or something.

  42. 42.

    mrmoshpotato

    Who’s ready for some more face-melting heat today?  Stay cool my fellow Midwesterners.

    And go Cubs!

  45. 45.

    Kay

    “Those are three massive issues that are clouding his re-election campaign.”

    Not the clouds! Not those again!

    The nitwits have decided the fact that Donald Trump is a criminal is somehow Joe Biden’s problem? No, it’s not.
    Donald Trump is 100% responsible for his crimes and they are HIS problem.

  46. 46.

    jonas

    @Ken:  Are those still a thing, or does everyone use the internet now?

    In rural areas with no broadband, I guess you still have to get your porn the old-fashioned way — at a windowless store with parking in the rear.

  47. 47.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Hell, Hunter Biden’s legal issues aren’t Joe Biden’s problem.  But at least that’s a piece of idiocy that’s within historical norms.

  48. 48.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Geminid:

    Safire wrote a good Civil War novel titled Freedom. Long, but worth reading if you are interested in that war’s history.

    But then I’d have to read Safire Halfwit. Hard pass.

  51. 51.

    jonas

    @Kay: I don’t know if it’s been polled or anything, but I suspect a majority of Americans also assume that Hunter Biden is part of his dad’s administration or a member of the Cabinet or something. Trump hired his family to be close advisers — didn’t Biden?

    Trump’s flamingly corrupt nepotism broke both norms and brains, especially in the MSM.

  52. 52.

    Ken

    @Scout211: So allowing for Wonkette’s slant, about half the entities* on that stage recognize that abortion is a huge loser for the Republican party, while the other half think going full Handmaid’s Tale will convince the Republican base to choose them over Trump.

    * I will not say “candidates” because that implies they have a chance at the nomination.

  53. 53.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    How is Trump’s legal jeopardy Biden’s problem?! I swear that’s pure Pitchbot territory:

    “Donald Trump is facing so many charges in so many jurisdictions that by Election Day, he may be preparing to go to prison for the rest of his life. Here’s why that’s bad news for Joe Biden.”

    And my dreams last night were better than watching those bastards at four in the goddamned morning would have been, and my dreams last night were nightmares.

  54. 54.

    Heidi Mom

    The interaction between Jeff Bridges and John Goodman is lovely.  The conventional wisdom may be that actors are people who are desperate to heal their own emotional wounds (I’m thinking in particular of a line that I can’t quite recall from James Lee Burke’s In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead), but on closer examination it seems that quite a lot of them are exceptionally talented but otherwise “normal,” likable people.  Jeff Bridges certainly seems so (I don’t know enough about John Goodman to say).

  55. 55.

    cain

    @Jeffro: Laura can’t change her spots. She doesn’t know anything else but what she’s been doing – and the new generation needs a different messaging – they’ve been drunk on angry boomer/genx juice.

  56. 56.

    Kay

    @jonas:

    Things are dark and stormy in The New York Times coverage of Hillary Clinton – or maybe The Gray Lady has merely misplaced her thesaurus.
    TPM Reader AR wrote in after he noticed that in recent months the go-to metaphors in the Times’ Clinton campaign coverage were clouds and shadows.
    “Like many people, I’ve been bothered by an ominous, insinuating tone in the NYT’s Clinton coverage. HRC always seems to be inhabiting a gloomy, almost Tolkienesque realm of cloud and shadow. The latest Weiner story gave me a strong sense of deja vu, so I went searching for instances of “cloud(s)” and “shadow(s)” in stories from the past few months.”
    AR found 20 articles since early May using “clouds” or “shadows” as the de rigueur metaphor of choice. (To be fair, three of the examples are Associated Press stories the Times ran.)

    Rigidly conventional people who will be unable to cover Donald Trump’s criminal trials because it is outside their incredibly narrow experience.

    It’s always a dark and stormy night for Democrats.

  57. 57.

    Soprano2

    @Ken: There’s one near Fort Leonard Wood on I-44. They’ve done everything they can to try to shut it down, but it’s still there.

  58. 58.

    cain

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Biden and his team are fucking pantsying these clowns and I’m hear to see it.

    You can probably hear the teeth gnashing going on with the GOP because they know this is going to be a problem for down ticket elections as well.

  59. 59.

    Gregory

    From the cited tweet or Xcrete or whatever they are called now:

    <i>I like that issue number 2 is that his opponent is a felon.</i>

    It’s a flat-out lie that Biden “hasn’t figured out what to say” about Trump’s many criminal charges. It’s obvious that he <i>doesn’t intend to comment on it</i>, to <i>not help Republicans portray the charges as politically motivated</i>.  It’s also obvious that this jackass wants Biden to say something ill-advised.

  61. 61.

    cain

    @Geminid: I used to read that guy’s articles in the paper (it’s always funny to recall this since younger generations probably have no recollection of reading the newspaper or watching the evening news) – I don’t read the newspaper anymore – I think part of it is that the internet age is just go go go – and everything seems to be moving so fast that you don’t have time to sit down – you just want to multi-task.

  62. 62.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Ken: * I will not say “candidates” because that implies they have a chance at the nomination.

    Grifters works.

  64. 64.

    stinger

    @Ken:

    *** PORN MEGASTORES *** were always in rural areas. Are those still a thing, or does everyone use the internet now?

    Why you asking us? How would we know?

  65. 65.

    suzanne

    @Ken:

    Judging from the radio ads I hear when driving in downstate Illinois, 30% of rural America’s economy is pot stores. Possibly that’s not a good metric, since it means the rest is buying and selling gold, and personal injury lawsuits. 

    I am always stunned by the number of fireworks stores I see when I drive out on the interstates. And the amount of money people spend on this shit.

  67. 67.

    RaflW

    @Ken: “Shockwave” (tagline “you know you want to”) has billboards announcing their adult superstoreness all thru the dairy belt of central Wisconsin along the interstate.

    And, no, on my cross-state drives I never want to. On the extremely rare occasion that I would, I’d go to Smitten Kitten in Uptown, Minneapolis. “The Smitten Kitten is a sex-positive, education-based, body-safe sex toy store.” It’s owned & run by women, and you can tell. I mean, if shame is your kink, they’ll respect that! But the shop really is education & exploration based.

  69. 69.

    RaflW

    @Percysowner: The photo they chose to illustrate (column now titled “These moments totally happened at the GOP primary debate”) is hilarious. It shows three men obviously all talking at the same time, and the moderator with his palm up to the all, apparently trying to shush them. Hah!

    And ZOMG, this line! “Baier: Governor Haley, when polled about you, people say, ‘Who?’ and ‘Huh?’ and ‘The comet?'”

    Coffee almost spouted.

  71. 71.

    Leto

    Do I wish that Biden was younger? Sure I do. I wish that he was younger so that when he finishes his second term, he and Obama can get back to their crime fighting/detective side gig and continue those amazing adventures. O’Man is waiting in the Firebird with some aviators, just roarin’ to go!

    Biden delivered on student loan relief/forgiveness, as well as so much more. They can all fuck right off with that nonsense.

  74. 74.

    Geminid

    @lowtechcyclist: I read it and didn’t get any conservative cooties (at least, I don’t think I did).

    Safire did some good research, and has a lot of the interplay between various figures of the day. One I knew little about was Marylander Anna Carroll, a political pamphleteer and pre-war player in American “Know Nothing” Party politics.

    Freedom being a novel, Safire gets to imagine some conversations between Carroll and another Marylander, “Old Man” Blair, who was a Jacksonian Democrat and the father of Postmaster General Montgomery Blair and Army General Frank Blair.

    They talk about Seccession (both are firmly opposed) at the beginning of the book, which starts when Ft. Sumter is bombarded. Then Carroll and Blair talk a lot about Emancipation.  The novel ends January 1, 1863  when another character, Abraham Lincoln, signs the Emancipation Proclamation. 

  75. 75.

    Ken

    @RaflW: Oh, right. I knew the billboards didn’t say “porn megastore”, but I couldn’t remember the preferred euphemism was “adult superstore”.

  77. 77.

    cain

    @Ken: The south is the only place I’ve seen where you regularly see adult super stores while traveling down the high way. The bible belt has more sex stores.

    Portland has the most strip clubs per square mile so we do have some of them beat. :-)

  78. 78.

    RaflW

    @Jeffro: So Pence raised his hand? He still says he’d vote for the guy who sent his goon squad to terminate him? Lordy, what a freak.

  80. 80.

    rikyrah

    Joey Politano 

    @JosephPolitano

    Republican candidates seem to be rapidly converging on a plan where weapons would no longer be given to Ukraine to support its defense and would instead be used to bomb Mexico, a world-historically terrible foreign policy proposal

    I don’t know how many times this needs to be said.

    The GOP being willing to bomb Mexico has absolutely NOTHING TO DO WITH DRUG CARTELS and whatever ‘ threat’ they are to America.

    It has to do with the
    SEVEN HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS WORTH OF LITHIUM

    Recently discovered in Mexico

    AND
    Has been NATIONALIZED BY THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT.

     

    Stop Letting the MSM allow these clowns to set the narrative that it’s the Drug Cartels that they are getting all big and bad with. They don’t give two shyts about the cartels.

  83. 83.

    JPL

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:  The local news have showed the Blacks for trump group in matching shirts and matching signs.   I’m not sure how much it cost to hire them, but it’s obvously chorigraphed.

  84. 84.

    Geminid

    @RaflW: I took that as a notional expression of allegiance to the Party and it’s nominee. It was also a condition for inclusion in the debate, and will be for the next ones.

    And that makes me wonder: who the hell is going to watch the next ones?

  85. 85.

    JPL

    @JPL:  whoops choreographed

     

    trump has to control everything.   I just hope someone asks what it is costing the campaign to stage this.

  87. 87.

    Betty Cracker

    @Geminid: Not me! Learned my lesson last night. It was torturous. Good thing I had my new Ina Garten series as a chaser to wash away all that stupidity, mendacity and insanity.

  88. 88.

    JWR

    Hmm. Steve Sadow, TFG’s latest attorney, is pro-choice, as is the now fired Drew Findling. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 26, 2022

    Steve Sadow knew a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade was coming. He wants to make sure anyone prosecuted because of an abortion gets the best defense possible, free of charge.

    “If a doctor believes that it is appropriate to violate the law, at least as written, I want to be there to defend them because they need somebody in their corner and that is what I do,” he said Friday, hours after the Supreme Court released its opinion.

    […]

    Attorney Drew Findling issued a similar statement following the decision.

  89. 89.

    Geminid

    @Betty Cracker: Fox is gonna have to move these debates to Saturday nights so as not to sacrifice prime time ad revenue. Towards the end they’ll probably be on Saturday mornings.

  90. 90.

    Betty Cracker

    @Geminid: Is Fox News running all the GOP debates this election season? I vaguely remember Romney’s dumbest niece announcing that the party had pulled out of the presidential debates organization. I wonder what that portends for the general election version…

  92. 92.

    Kay

    Also, Vivek Ramaswamy is 5’7″, which is shorter than DeSantis. It’s not his fault but it is a problem in a US Presidential contest, I think. 

  93. 93.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Betty Cracker: ​
      To be fair, she’s dumbest Romney niece of whom we are aware. I know the idea that dumber might exist boggles the mind, but we shouldn’t rule it out.

  94. 94.

    Anyway

    @Geminid:

    And that makes me wonder: who the hell is going to watch the next ones?

    The guests on Cable gabfests? Because they have to —

  96. 96.

    Mel

    @danielx: Get their freak on. Repent! Get their freak on again. Repent! (Again!)

    Rinse, repeat, over and over.

    The whole “Just repent! and you’re forgiven!” schtick is just a re-loadable Get Out of Jail Free card in their weird live-action moral Monopoly.

  98. 98.

    Geminid

    @Betty Cracker: Actually, I don’t know that Fox is showing the other debates. I’m not sure any more are scheduled yet. I guess other networks will be willing despite the smaller audiences.

  99. 99.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Kay:

    I can’t look or listen to Ramaswamy without getting a Tom Haverford vibe from Parks and Rec, except that Haverford wasn’t a hateful piece of shit.

  100. 100.

    Kent

    @rikyrah: They don’t give two shits about lithium either.  It’s all about racism and posturing to the lowest common MAGA denominator of brown people bad so let’s get rough on them.

  101. 101.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Mel: Which was why I found it so funny when all the usual right-wingers piled onto Nancy Mace for joking about having unmarried sex with her fiance, throwing around words like “sinner” and “fornicator”.

    I thought she was forgiven and sins don’t count any more? Could it be… sit down for this one… they don’t apply that rule to women?

  103. 103.

    wjca

    @Geminid:

    I’m not sure any more [Republican debates] are scheduled yet. I guess other networks will be willing despite the smaller audiences.

    As long as the writers’ strike is on, they might as well.  Reruns can get soooo tedious and just don’t bring in the eyeballs.  So basically a wash.

  104. 104.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Kent: ​
      There are always two levels to this shit. The GOP base is ready to attack the enemy of the day, but that enemy is chosen for other reasons. The question is why Mexico now, and lithium helps to answer it.

  105. 105.

    Kay

    Navigator Research@NavigatorSurvey
    12h

    Nearly seven in ten Americans (68%) oppose banning high school classes like AP African-American history.

    68%! Karl Rove used to talk about “70% issues” as untouchable.

    Democrats should run loud and proud on education. The anti woke bullshit is really unpopular. Navigator Reseach did a focus group last night and every time the Republicans would spout a conservative line on education the independents in the group would reject it.

  106. 106.

    Ruckus

    @Jeffro:

    This is the line that describes him best in my opinion.

    He is not only emotionally aloof, but completely detached. He abides in aggression because the rest of the emotional range has either atrophied or failed to develop in the first place.

    And I think it’s failed to develop. He’s pissed that he’s a governor and should be revered just for being him, but that everyone can see exactly what he is. And has the minimum of common sense not to want any part of it.

  107. 107.

    frosty

    @wjca: You know what happened after the Cubbies won the World Series in 2016, don’t you? So “Go Cubbies … almost!”

  108. 108.

    Geminid

    @Kay: I think Virginia Democrats are making better public education the third of their major issues in the upcoming legislative elections, along with abortion rights and gun safety.

  109. 109.

    Delk

    Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max service is making a bigger push into news with a new 24/7 CNN stream that’s scheduled to debut on September 27th. It’s called CNN Max, and in a press release this morning, the company said the new service will “be part of an open beta for news that will enable experimentation with product features, content offerings, and original storytelling, all with the input and feedback from the Max community.”

     Link

  111. 111.

    Baud

    @Delk:

    be part of an open beta for news that will enable experimentation with product features, content offerings, and original storytelling,

     

    I wonder if they’ll test reporting on the news.

  112. 112.

    smith

    @frosty:

    @wjca: You know what happened after the Cubbies won the World Series in 2016, don’t you? So “Go Cubbies … almost!”

    Yep, people on the South Side knew better.

  114. 114.

    japa21

    @wjca: ​
      Cubs season is practically over. The just played 8 games against the 3 worst teams in the American league and were lucky to have won 5 of them. In the process they fell further behind the Brewers who swept 2 of the American league division leaders. At best Cubs may make a wild card spot.

  115. 115.

    Ruckus

    @jonas:

    Trump’s flamingly corrupt nepotism broke both norms and brains, especially in the MSM.

    He doesn’t trust just anyone to cheat for him. He trusts his family somewhat because it’s all he’s really got, the hangers on who seem to think, this is their only chance to be something. (It looks like they think it’s better to be considered shit over absolutely nothing. How’s that seem to be working out?)

  116. 116.

    smith

    @JPL:  The local news have showed the Blacks for trump group in matching shirts and matching signs.

    That’s the group that two of the defendants, the ones who tried to coerce Ruby Freeman into a false confession, are affiliated with.

    One aspect of that sinister episode that I wasn’t aware of until recently: Remember how Kutti told Freeman that if she didn’t confess, something bad might happen to her and her family 48 hours later? Well, in the afternoon the next day Freeman got a call from an FBI agent telling her she needed to leave her home urgently. She did, and then, right on schedule, 48 hours after Kitti’s threat, a mob showed up at her house. It’s pretty clear to me that they were threatening to lynch Freeman, and had assembled the means to do it.

  118. 118.

    Brachiator

    Coming late to the thread. But hey, it’s Southern California.

    Jeff Bridges surprising John Goodman by putting on the original THE BIG LEBOWSKI “Dude” sweater to speak at Goodman’s Walk-of-Fame ceremony. His expression is priceless. Love that they’re genuine friends.

    A very sweet moment. But it’s from March, 2017, I think.

    Anyway, two great actors.

  119. 119.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: The Repubs onstage with him seemed to genuinely dislike Ramaswamy, like on a personal level, not just because he’s polling higher than they are. That was one of the only amusing aspects of the debate for me.

    Also, I thought it was weird that Ramaswamy not only said once but repeated the following: “The nuclear family is the best form of governance known to mankind.”

    What the hell is that supposed to mean?

  120. 120.

    Kathleen

    @Percysowner: Here’s a gift link:

    https://wapo.st/3EtpuzH

    I left comment in WaPoop article about the debate and said that whenever they consider writing usual horse racy/substance free articles about Republican politics they should save money and just republish the Petri piece. It’s cheaper for WaPo and more illuminating for readers.

  122. 122.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @rikyrah: ​They don’t give two shyts about the cartels.

    Au contraire, they own stock in the arms industry and Mexico is a major market for them.

  124. 124.

    Jeffro

    @Leto: Do I wish that Biden was younger? Sure I do. I wish that he was younger so that when he finishes his second term, he and Obama can get back to their crime fighting/detective side gig and continue those amazing adventures.

    I loved those books!  Biden was hysterical.  =)

  125. 125.

    Jeffro

    @RaflW: Pence did indeed.

    Since Hutchinson was the only one who didn’t raise his hand (Christie tried to fudge it), I think that’s just about game, GOP.

    Unless Asa goes on a real tear, of course…

  128. 128.

    Alison Rose

    @Betty Cracker:

    Also, I thought it was weird that Ramaswamy not only said once but repeated the following: “The nuclear family is the best form of governance known to mankind.”

    What the hell is that supposed to mean?

    I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be shocked if he believes in corporal punishment.

  129. 129.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: Democrats should run loud and proud on education. The anti woke bullshit is really unpopular.

    They should indeed.

    Anyone complaining about “woke” this, that, and the other is just self-outing themselves as a racist, and everyone knows it.

  130. 130.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: Republicans like minorities who tell them they are right about other minorities. I think that’s his big appeal, as well as Haley and Scott.

  131. 131.

    Soprano2

    @Kent: I agree, it’s possible some people here care about the lithium but wanting to bomb the border is all about keeping out the scary brown people. It says something about today’s GOP that proposals to bomb an ally are met by the press with a “ho hum, what are they saying now?” instead of “Holy shit, I can’t believe they think dropping bombs on our neighbor who’s our friend is a good idea, what’s wrong with them?”.

  132. 132.

    Jeffro

    @Geminid:  I think Virginia Democrats are making better public education the third of their major issues in the upcoming legislative elections, along with abortion rights and gun safety.

    “We want to make our public schools better; they want to destroy them” is a pretty good argument.

    I used to say ‘they’re good and getting better every day, but we need you (dear parents) to be a part of the process’.  Works on multiple levels.

  133. 133.

    raven

    A dose of “there are still good people in this world” and “government can work for us”. I was surf fishing yesterday afternoon non the Outer Banks and it was really windy and rough. I moved my stuff when a family came down and managed to leave my backpack with my wallet and $50 or so in it. I got a call late last night from a National Park Service Ranger and someone turned it in completely untouched. The guy was really efficient, told be exactly how much money was in it and where to top to retrieve it. I’m feeling really lucky even though surf fishing here is really difficult for someone who has lost strength and balance more than I knew. We’re going offshore on a big ass boat tomorrow so I’m hoping I can hack that!

  134. 134.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Jeffro: So Chris “close down bridges to hurt my political enemies” Christie is still insulting President Obama? Good to know. He’s a douche.

  135. 135.

    RaflW

    @Shalimar: I say it as ‘zitter’, like the small skin eruptions that plague teens and, while causing angst, become unimportant as one matures.

  136. 136.

    rikyrah

    @Kent:

    @rikyrah: They don’t give two shits about lithium either.  It’s all about racism and posturing to the lowest common MAGA denominator of brown people bad so let’s get rough on them.

     

    The corporate overlords that want their mitts on that $700 Billion Dollars worth of Lithium care. …and, that’s why they are all for invading Mexico.

  137. 137.

    Brachiator

    @Betty Cracker:

    Also, I thought it was weird that Ramaswamy not only said once but repeated the following: “The nuclear family is the best form of governance known to mankind.”

    Maybe he’s trying to hit the “family values” trope hard.

    Didn’t watch the debate and don’t know much about this guy, but I think it kinda interesting that he is a Hindu running for the GOP nomination.

    Typically a Republican candidate tries to show that they are the “right kind of American” by converting to some form of Christianity. Judaism is also acceptable.

  139. 139.

    wjca

    @frosty:

    You know what happened after the Cubbies won the World Series in 2016, don’t you?

    Correlation is not causation.  (Unless, I suppose, one is a MAGAt.  Which I’m pretty sure you are nothing like.)

  141. 141.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Kay:

    Karl Rove used to talk about “70% issues” as untouchable.

    In Ukraine, “don’t give up territory for peace” polls a hair over 90%. I don’t think apple pie with ice cream would get 90% in America.

  142. 142.

    wjca

    @japa21:

    Cubs season is practically over. The just played 8 games against the 3 worst teams in the American league and were lucky to have won 5 of them.

    When one lives where the A’s are the local team, the bar is pretty low.  For a major league,  vs AAA, team — which is where the A’s are now.**

    ** Wjy Las Vegas wanted a second AAA team is something of a mystery

  143. 143.

    Bupalos

    @rikyrah: Feels a little Greenwaldian to me. Lithium is all over the place, and there are alternative chemistries and technologies that will be coming available if it really is a bottleneck. I think the Republicans want to talk about bombing brown folk in their primary for the obvious reason. They want to harvest racial resentment, not lithium; Just their tried and true evil scheme, not a new one.

  144. 144.

    Geminid

    @Jeffro: In the last General Assembly session, Democratic House members introduced a package of bills intended, as they put it, to help ensure that every Virginia student could get a “world class” education. They knew the bills would not pass, but they were setting up messaging for the fall.

    Education is a good issue for Virginia Democrats. They are defending existing laws on abortion rights and gun safety that have majority support. Improving education is a positive policy that will resonate well with most voters.

  145. 145.

    frosty

    @wjca: ​ Correlation is not causation …

    Well, sure. However, show me the ballplayer who isn’t superstitious. Like wearing the same socks the next game after he hit a grand slam. Same deal, let’s avoid the jinx! Plus, Go O’s!!!!​

  146. 146.

    mrmoshpotato

    “Those are three massive issues that are clouding his re-election campaign.”

    I see jmart is a jackass.  Good to know.

  147. 147.

    rikyrah

    @Geminid:

    Education is a good issue for Virginia Democrats. They are defending existing laws on abortion rights and gun safety that have majority support. Improving education is a positive policy that will resonate well with most voters.

     

    I agree.

    One the one side, people talking about banning books and Whitewashing American History.

     

    Yes, the Democrats absolutely should run on education.

  149. 149.

    Bupalos

    @Gin & Tonic: Lots of folks don’t understand how looney this “territory for peace” sounds. When attacked by a ravenous shark, show you are reasonable- Cut off your leg and offer it in exchange for a promise to leave you alone.

  150. 150.

    trollhattan

    Suppose I’m glad we have people paid to watch such “debates” because I’d rather fill out a time sheet by the minute without repeating a single WBS#.

    The Dude sweater surprise is an absolute hoot. When Bridges was working with the “Lebowski” costumer designer before filming, she is said to have come to his house and check out his closets for inspiration. The story continues.

    The Dude is a fashion paradox. While the filmmakers dressed him in “the ugliest parody of California style they could manage…The Dude looks resplendent, glorious and perfect.” Picking out his wardrobe mainly from thrift stores near his home in Venice, California, the film’s costume designer Mary Zophres explains that “it’s obvious The Dude gives little thought to what he wears, and the costumes show that. Things tend, well, not to match.” It would be easy to recreate his closet: a tattered bathroom, oversized board shorts, hippie-patterned weightlifting pants, stretched-out t-shirts, a faded yellow bowling shirt, worn out sandals, a few hoodies, and a big comfy Pendleton Cowichan sweater. What makes The Dude a fashion icon, however, is not any individual garment but the way they come together to create a look that is immediately recognizable and much beloved. His old sweater became so popular that Pendleton resurrected the style for a line they call “The Dude’s Collection.”

    The Dude abides.

  152. 152.

    Raven

    @frosty: I have my lucky fishing shirt all ready. I caught my 130 lb Yellowfin in it 11 years ago and have caught numerous others in it in the 20 years I’ve had it’

  153. 153.

    Bupalos

    @The Thin Black Duke: You’d need to explain to me exactly what the middle step is between bombing Mexico and collecting all that sweet lithium. Which I now see is mostly bound up in clay soil and currently not profitably extractable at all.

  154. 154.

    JWR

    Speaking of Hutchinson, did y’all see this story? (From Politico)

    Inside the text-for-pay campaign that got Asa Hutchinson on the debate stage

    […] Awake in the middle of the night on June 14, Barbour and Conrad Lucas, the former West Virginia GOP chair who is also helping on the Hutchinson super PAC, racked their brains. Inspired by the grassroots campaigns he worked on while growing up in Mississippi, Barbour, the nephew of former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, got the idea. He was due in a couple days to interview a recent college graduate about doing some political work.

    “My thought was, if you get somebody to call their friends, family, somebody they know — all they’re asking for is $1 — certainly they’re going to say ‘yes,’” Barbour said.

    […]

    As for the TV appearances that ultimately put Hutchinson over the RNC’s donor requirement Saturday, campaign manager Rob Burgess, who has made earned media a central component of Hutchinson’s campaign strategy, said he “called in as many favors as (he) could” in recent weeks to keep his boss on the air.

    Since the start of August, the former Arkansas governor has appeared more than 30 times on television, not including his radio or print interviews.

  155. 155.

    Kent

    @rikyrah: Yeah, I don’t buy it.  Oregon and Nevada have enormous lithium deposits.  It isn’t a rare mineral.  And the fact of the matter is that most of the biggest mining companies around the world aren’t even American.  If Mexican lithium resources were privatized it wouldn’t even be American companies taking advantage.  It would be Chinese and Canadian companies.

    The answer as usual is simpler and stupider.  None of these candidates are actually planning real invasions of Mexico.  That notion is just plain stupid.  They are just tossing it out to rile up the rubes.  It is the 2024 version of ‘build the wall and Mexico will pay for it’

  157. 157.

    Miss Bianca

    @JWR: Bergman or Burghdoff or whatever his name is – North Dakota Governator dude –  did that “20 for 1” gift card deal to qualify for the debate – send me $1, I send you a $20 gift card! A friend of mine actually donated to his campaign and got one of those cards. We used it all up yesterday buying snacks and drinks at our post-staff meeting happy hour. :)

  159. 159.

    Mike in NC

    What to watch on TV tonight:

    (1) “What We Do In The Shadows” (10 PM Eastern on FX)

    (2) “Fat Bastard Gets Arrested Again” (TBD!)

  160. 160.

    Betty Cracker

    A couple of the Repubs who were debating last night limply defended teachers against their party’s years-long onslaught, without explicitly calling out the person onstage who embodies that assault, DeSantis, who didn’t say “woke” even once, IIRC.

    Burgum and Haley maybe? Hutchinson? (I admit I was fiddling with my phone and playing with the dogs instead of strictly paying attention the whole time; it was too painful!)

    I remember thinking at the time, uh-oh, they’ve finally realized demonizing teachers doesn’t play well outside loony red districts. So they pivoted to demonizing teachers unions instead.

    Good move — a union is faceless compared to little Snotleigh’s 2nd grade teacher, whom even Repub parents probably know and like…

  161. 161.

    RaflW

    @Betty Cracker: It’s Christianist patriarchy signaling. The president (always a man) is the daddy, and the family prayerfully obeys house daddy, just like daddy (pretends to) prayerfully obey sky Daddy’s rules.

  163. 163.

    Yarrow

    @Betty Cracker:  I don’t think that’s new. They’ve demonized teachers unions for decades. They’re also doing the “teaching is a calling” crap now so they can justify not paying teachers anything.

  164. 164.

    Roger Moore

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR:

    How is Trump’s legal jeopardy Biden’s problem?

    The underlying assumption is that he must talk about whatever the media cares about.  They want to talk about Hunter, Trump’s indictments, and his age, so it’s suspicious that he wants to talk about abortion and the state of the economy instead.

  165. 165.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Kay:

    Horace Mann, a Whig:

    His six main principles were: (from Wikipedia)

    1. the public should no longer remain ignorant;
    2. that such education should be paid for, controlled, and sustained by an interested public;
    3. that this education will be best provided in schools that embrace children from a variety of backgrounds;
    4. that this education must be non-sectarian;
    5. that this education must be taught using the tenets of a free society; and
    6. that education should be provided by well-trained, professional teachers.

    In the year 2023, the Republican Party does not believe or support any of these principles.

  167. 167.

    JWR

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Those “three massive issues” are certainly clouding Jonathon Martin’s alleged brain. I say that if we can’t have term limits for political pundits, can we at least have a few AP journalism students to sex up the joint?

  168. 168.

    Yarrow

    This is so true.

    What's funny is that Vivek is going to campaign with furious Debate Bro energy for six nonstop months and then Trump will casually refer to him as "Rama-smarmy, or whatever" and he'll immediately turn to dust— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) August 24, 2023

  169. 169.

    RaflW

    @Roger Moore: “They want to talk about Hunter, Trump’s indictments, and his age, so it’s suspicious that he wants to talk about … the economy instead.”

    Meanwhile, NPR will do their 17th host-reporter open mic gab about “Why isn’t Biden’s economic record getting traction?”

  171. 171.

    Jeffro

    @Betty Cracker: I remember thinking at the time, uh-oh, they’ve finally realized demonizing teachers doesn’t play well outside loony red districts. So they pivoted to demonizing teachers unions instead.

    That’s like when Rod Paige (remember him?) tried to tell America that teachers’ unions are “terrorist organizations”.  (Ah for those heady post-9/11 days)  He tried to walk it back by saying hey, individual teachers?  Love ’em!  NOPE – we’re not having it, Rod.

    There’s a story in the Post today that notes how when there are outright vacancies, school divisions are taking almost anyone they can get their hands on.  One superintendent (principal, maybe?) has a waitress he befriended working as a long-term substitute teacher now – no training, no degree.  Think about that, suburban parents.  (And Dems, PLEASE help suburban parents connect those dots!)

  172. 172.

    Jeffro

    @Geminid: Trump might leave Ramaswamy alone. Trump might see him as an ally, which I think Ramaswamy is

    He’s trump’s hype man.

    He’s Flavor Flav to trump’s Chuck D. (a comparison that unfortunately Vivek would probably dig)

    He’s just a distraction and a way to keep trumpism rolling while trump himself swirls down the bowl.

  173. 173.

    Citizen Alan

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Well to be fair, she joked about having unmarried sex that morning before coming to the National Prayer Breakfast (or whatever Talibangelical event it was). Morality aside, it was an incredible misreading of the room. Maybe if she’d gone on to say that “Of course, I prayed for forgiveness immediately afterwards and plan to remain chaste until I am married. My pastor now holds the key to my chastity belt.” she’d have been okay.

  174. 174.

    JPL

    Meadows is granted 100,000 bond.   I was hoping he’d go into hiding.   That would have added a little excitement

  175. 175.

    Roger Moore

    @cain:

    The south is the only place I’ve seen where you regularly see adult super stores while traveling down the high way.

    I think there are one or two on US-101 between LA and San Francisco.  I think it’s really more about the need to advertise.  If I want to go to an adult superstore her in LA, I know I can just go to Hollywood Blvd and have plenty of options.  They don’t need to put up billboards.

  176. 176.

    wjca

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Hopefully they beat the White Sox today

    Definitely with you there.

    (Is a puzzlement: Why does nobody trying to trash Obama point out that he is a White Sox fan??? Are they allergic to the truth?)

  180. 180.

    Yarrow

    @Citizen Alan:  I thought she also told her fiance no, when he wanted sex, which may be the bigger problem for the evangelicals. In their world, if the man wants sex he gets it. That’s the woman’s job.

  183. 183.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Bupalos: Not now.  There are deposits of oil that aren’t currently economically viable and yet the oil companies want them.  The mob didn’t just decide that invading Mexico was a great idea.  Someone put that idea there.

  184. 184.

    JPL

    @smith: This looked more like a paid group, since they had prepared signs and one size fits all shirts.

    Kutti was granted a 75,000 bail.  I’m sure Kanye will cover that.

  187. 187.

    RaflW

    @Geminid: I get “Bill Barr writing a transparently obsequious ‘legal’ memo/crush note to Trump” vibe from Ramalamadingdong. (As perhaps does @JPL)

    Though if he gets the VP nod for the ’24 ticket, I think his arc of fame could be rather Palin-esque.

  188. 188.

    Roger Moore

    @rikyrah: ​
     
    I don’t think the “lets bomb Mexico” is mostly about lithium; it’s about needing to get their bigoted freak on. It’s the 2024 version of building the wall and making Mexico pay for it.

  189. 189.

    rikyrah

    @smith:

    One aspect of that sinister episode that I wasn’t aware of until recently: Remember how Kutti told Freeman that if she didn’t confess, something bad might happen to her and her family 48 hours later? Well, in the afternoon the next day Freeman got a call from an FBI agent telling her she needed to leave her home urgently. She did, and then, right on schedule, 48 hours after Kitti’s threat, a mob showed up at her house. It’s pretty clear to me that they were threatening to lynch Freeman, and had assembled the means to do it.

    Which is why I want her UNDER the Jail.

  190. 190.

    JPL

    @rikyrah: Not yet.

    Local news said about 100 protesters, but I think that includes pro-trump, paid trump supporters and anti trump supporters of which there are many.

  191. 191.

    Bupalos

    @Josie: When we didn’t bomb Canada to get their poutine? I’m all for casting dyspeptic side eye at the uglier machinations of our empire, but this is just…like… no. Matt Taibbi wouldn’t ?#@! this one with Glen Greenwald’s #$@.

  192. 192.

    Maxim

    ABC News: “Philosopher and presidential Green Party candidate Cornel West currently owes more than half a million dollars between unpaid taxes and unpaid child support, according to tax records.

    Records show West owes nearly $466,000 in federal income taxes from 2013 until 2017. This came after he accrued (and later repaid) a debt of nearly $725,000 from 1998-2005, and more than $34,000 in 2008, according to tax records in Mercer County, New Jersey – where he owns a home.

    Additionally, West has an outstanding $49,500 child support judgement from 2003, records show.”

  194. 194.

    RaflW

    @smith: Sounds like the FBI is monitoring some of the worst corners of the Internet, and taking that seriously when warranted. Good.

  197. 197.

    rikyrah

    Fani Willis ain’t new to this.

    She true to this.

     

    She just submitted the request that the trial FOR ALL 19 DEFENDANTS BEGIN

     

    OCTOBER 23, 2023

     

    BWA HA HA HA HA HA AH AH AH AH AH HAH A AH

  201. 201.

    Jackie

    TIFG has hired a high profile made for TV lawyer:

    “Steven H. Sadow is a nationally known, high profile defense attorney who has been practicing law for over 43 years. He is a sole practitioner at his firm.”

    snip

    “Mr. Sadow’s trial and appellate practice focuses on the following: high-profile & celebrity criminal defense , white collar defense, including healthcare fraud, and general criminal defense, including murder and RICO cases.”

    snip

    “Several of Mr. Sadow’s cases have drawn national media coverage. Television networks such as Court TV, NBC and A&E have featured his cases. Mr. Sadow obtained an acquittal for his client Joe Sweeting, who was tried along with former NFL football star Ray Lewis for two murders that occurred during a post-2000 Super Bowl brawl in Atlanta.”

    snip

    “In one of the most high profile federal cases in Georgia history, Mr. Sadow successfully defended Steve Kaplan, the former owner of the notorious Gold Club strip establishment, against RICO charges.”

    Many more well known celebrity cases in the link:

    https://www.bestlawyers.com/lawyers/steven-h-sadow/2338

  202. 202.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Ken: Yeah the average MAGA is pro pot legalization and is into porn. At least amongst the small sample I’m acquainted with. I mean, I don’t really discuss their attitudes towards porn but it’s a pretty safe bet. As for pot some of them think the Democrats are the scolds on that issue. It’s delusional but so is at least half of everything they believe.

    So the Republicans have lost the plot on those issues with their own voters. Or, they may still be on the trail of the plot on those issues when it comes to at least a portion of the evangelical block but the but the working class/redneck nihilistic hedonist wing lives pot and booze and I’m pretty sure porn too. And they probably don’t care much about abortion.

  203. 203.

    smith

    @RaflW: That was my impression, too. It also strongly suggests that the mob at her house was an organized action, coordinated with people like Kutti and her co-conspirators, and the FBI has an idea of who organized it.

    Speaking of her co-conspirators, it turns out Harrison Floyd has an outstanding charge for assaulting two FBI agents serving him a subpoena for a DC grand jury back in Feb, and nothing has been done to bring him to trial since. Maybe someday we’ll learn more about why that is.

  209. 209.

    Geminid

    @JPL: I read about an April, 2022 prayer breakfast where Meadows told the gathering that he had been “greatly humbled.”

    I think Meadows may have been telling the truth. He had a safe Congressional seat when he went to work for Trump. By now Meadows likely would have been North Carolina’s new Senator instead of Dan Bishop.

    Instead, he stepped in a deep pit of shit. Besides the Georgia charges, there is still a real chance Meadows will face federal felony charges. I think he is looking at prison time, and the only question is how much.

    At least that will give Meadows time to write his memoir. Maybe he’ll title it Humbled, and take it on the prayer breakfast circuit when he gets out.

  213. 213.

    Shalimar

    @Jackie: It’s Trump.  The guy Sadow is replacing is well-known for representing hip-hop artists.  Trump likes lawyers he sees on TV.

    edit: and female lawyers in their 30s

  214. 214.

    Geminid

    @Yarrow: Ramaswamy has a ceiling, I think, with this primary electorate, and that makes him useful to Trump. He’s not a threat, but he helps keep the non-Trump vote divided. Ramaswamy has not been anti-Trump so far, and echoes Trump’s basic (and base) themes. He probably will campaign for Trump after the convention if Trump is the nominee.

  216. 216.

    Mike in NC

    @Betty Cracker: So they pivoted to demonizing teachers unions instead.

    This is a Nikki Haley specialty. As governor of SC, she repeatedly denounced labor unions and the members of unions as  “cockroaches” but don’t ever expect anybody in the media to bring that up.

  217. 217.

    Soprano2

    @RaflW: I always want to yell at them “Because you aren’t talking about it, you idiots! Why do you constantly act as if you have no agency about these things?”

  218. 218.

    Soprano2

    @Jeffro: Our school system said they had 140 vacancies at the beginning of the school year. I don’t know how many of those are teachers, but it seems like a lot.

  220. 220.

    Roger Moore

    @Yarrow: ​
     
    I think the stuff about no sex before marriage is a talking point, not a guide to real-world behavior. It’s a point where religious conservatives have decisively lost, as Mace’s case points out. She might get some fingers wagged in her direction for talking about it, but nobody is going to do much more than that. They sure aren’t going to kick out everyone who lives (or lived) with their fiancee before getting married, or they won’t have many people left in the movement.

  221. 221.

    Geminid

    @RaflW: Ramaswamy is more like Cabinet material. For VP, I think Trump will pick someone of higher political status like Governor Noehm (I’m not ruling out RFK Jr. though).

  223. 223.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Omnes Omnibus:

      There are always two levels to this shit. The GOP base is ready to attack the enemy of the day, but that enemy is chosen for other reasons. The question is why Mexico now, and lithium helps to answer it.

    There are also the two levels of why the GOP billionaires and other movers and shakers are choosing that enemy, and why the base is eager for that fight.  Racism is unquestionably at the core of the latter.

    And about the former: sure, there’s the lithium. But barring TFG or another GQP nutjob winning next November, we aren’t going to acquire that lithium by force of arms.  So it’s hard for me to see a connection between ‘GQP billionaires want Mexico’s lithium’ and ‘GQP influencers are getting all het up to bomb Mexico.’

  224. 224.

    piratedan

    @Roger Moore: it’s the American response ideal of a three day war, just see Mexico as a proxy for Ukraine.

    the reasons don’t matter, it would be just because ‘we could”.

  226. 226.

    wjca

    @Geminid:

     I think Ramaswamy is more like Cabinet material.

    The question is, if (God forbid!) Trump wins, which cabinet post would he get.  Which, I suppose, is the same as which post is he least qualified for?

  227. 227.

    Roger Moore

    @Geminid: ​
     

    At least that will give Meadows time to write his memoir. Maybe he’ll title it Humbled, and take it on the prayer breakfast circuit when he gets out.

    I thought the traditional title was “My Struggle”.

  228. 228.

    Jeffro

    @Soprano2: that’s just nuts

    I hope parents remember: for every flat-out teacher vacancy:

    1. That means the whole grade level’s/subject area’s classes are much larger than they would normally be, OR
    2. There’s someone in there who wouldn’t normally be in a classroom teaching position for one reason or another who’s now teaching your kids.

    Oh and 3) because of #1 or #2, some other teacher in that building is that much more stressed and likely to leave now.

  231. 231.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Yarrow:

     I thought she also told her fiance no, when he wanted sex, which may be the bigger problem for the evangelicals. In their world, if the man wants sex he gets it. That’s the woman’s job.

    It was the worst of all worlds. First, she’s clearly having regular sex with a man she’s not married to.  (So there’s obviously not much repentance going on, if that matters.  She believes that it’s A-OK to have sex with someone you’re not married to, and she’s acting on that belief.)

    Second, having settled into this harlotry ;-), she refused to satisfy her man’s needs that morning, and as you point out, the man is the boss, and the woman’s supposed to satisfy him.

    And third, she was flagrant about the whole business at a prayer breakfast.

    She’s not going to get the sort of bye that Trump got from the fundagelicals back in 2016, and ever since.  She’s toast.

  232. 232.

    Mike in NC

    @Geminid:  Our new GQP senator is Ted Budd, also a former representative and a MAGA election denier.

    I think at least one of Nixon’s henchmen went to prison, found God (or pretended to), and made a pretty good living after that as some sort of motivational speaker.

  233. 233.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    @wjca: As a Cardinal fan of longstanding, I must, regretfully, disagree.
    But you do you, Boo, go right ahead.

  235. 235.

    misterpuff

    @Soprano2:  It says something about today’s GOP that proposals to bomb an ally are met by the press with a “ho hum, what are they saying now?” instead of “Holy shit, I can’t believe they think dropping bombs on our neighbor who’s our friend is a good idea, what’s wrong with them?”.

     
    They know what they did!

    (They didn’t pay for The Wall)

  236. 236.

    Geminid

    @Mike in NC: Thank you for the correction! Dan Bishop is the Republican Representative from a district south and east of Charlotte. Ted Budd is so mediocre I forgot his name.

  237. 237.

    Mike in NC

    @Geminid:  In the South, just being a mediocre white man gets you close to 50% of the vote. I can say that after 20 years in Virginia and 15 in North Carolina.

  238. 238.

    Calouste

    Regarding the lithium in Mexico: $700 billion is a little less than half of Mexico’s GDP, and about 2.7% (or 10 days) of the US GDP. Not really significant in the grand scheme of things.

  239. 239.

    Yarrow

    @lowtechcyclist:  Yep. For the fundies it’s a bad combination. I couldn’t believe she said that at a prayer breakfast. I don’t care what she does but those people do. How did she not know that? Making a joke at a prayer breakfast about refusing to have sex with a man she’s living with but not married to is mind bogglingly tone deaf.

  244. 244.

    Tony G

    @Jeffro: Ingraham is obsessing about legal pot???  Apparently this dimwit thinks that the year is 1968 and that she was born in 1938.  (Actually, most of the people who watch her little show were born in the 1930’s.)

  245. 245.

    unctuous

    @jonas:

    Trump’s flamingly corrupt nepotism broke both norms and brains, especially in the MSM.

    Because deep down inside they love that shit. It’s what they dreamed of doing when they were geeks in middle and high school.

    They fantasized about being adored and above the rules and boss moves like grabbing ‘em by the pussy and cheating at everything with no consequences.

    In the soul of every media pundit lurks a fantasy of being like Donald Trump. And the closest they can get to it is by being a media pundit.

    That’s why they are wired for him. He is their spirit animal.

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