Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

“Why isn’t this Snickers bar only a nickle?”

Not all heroes wear capes.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

DeSantis transforms Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

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

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

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

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

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Come on, man.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

You are here: Home / Politics / Education / Something Positive Open Thread: Schoolhouse Joe Rocks!

Something Positive Open Thread: Schoolhouse Joe Rocks!

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Somewhere, Peter Baker is shaking his head sadly. These kids aren’t savvy enough to understand that Biden is ‘too old’ and ‘too Democrat’ to be worth covering!… [unpaywalled gift link]

… Biden, accompanied by first lady Jill Biden, first visited the lunchroom — where a big banner touted the school’s valued traits of “excellence, responsibility, integrity and communications.” Then they dropped by an eighth-grade math class at the 300-student campus.

In the classroom, decorated with colorful posters that displayed math symbols and the order of operations, one student proclaimed loudly, “Joe Biden!” The president hugged one excited child and talked about whether she could someday become president.

“The hardest thing is to come back after three months of not doing any work, not doing any homework,” Biden told the students. Their teacher, Heather Thomas, explained that the class would spend the day reviewing concepts from last school year to see what everyone remembered…

Eliot-Hine was chosen for the visit, in part, because it broke trends last year when its students scored higher on a standardized test known as the PARCC exam than they did before the pandemic. Elsewhere in the city, most students saw incremental gains from 2022 — when scores plunged after virtual learning — but have not yet fully recovered to match the scores from 2019.

Children there also outperformed their peers across the city on the reading exam, officials said. City leaders pointed to the school’s participation in high-impact tutoring programs — consistent and small-group instruction — and training for math teachers…

Despite recent successes, the president’s query about the most challenging subject in school was met with a unanimous “math.” English — the subject that Jill Biden teaches at Northern Virginia Community College — received much more enthusiasm.

The first lady will resume teaching Sept. 5, she told the classroom of eighth-graders. “I’ve been working on my lesson plans and what I’m going to do the first day, so I’m excited,” said Jill Biden, who is the first woman in her role to maintain a full-time job outside the White House. “What you probably don’t know about teachers is that no matter how long you’ve been teaching, the night before you can barely sleep because you’re so excited.”…

Reader Interactions

171Comments

  7. 7.

    Alison Rose

    but but but I was told young people aren’t excited about him because he’s sooooo ooooold!! You mean to tell me the media spin is WRONG???

    Just because they can dig up a few whiny 20somethings who don’t understand or care to learn how government works and think a Democratic president should be able to give them everything they want with a wave of his hand doesn’t mean the majority of young folks agree. Most of them are smart enough to see the truth and to realize there is a massive chasm between Biden and TIFG or any Republican.

  18. 18.

    Scout211

    @Baud: People need to cheer me like that.

    People will definitely scream when they see you. But if you want them to cheer, you gotta put the pants back on.

  22. 22.

    bbleh

    Young Students Excited By Biden
    Will This Be A Problem For Older Voters?
    A discussion with a panel of political reporters

  23. 23.

    WaterGirl

    @eclare: Okay, maybe I’m losing it, but I think I have seen this post before.  And I swear this was one of the comments on the post about Biden in the classroom.

    They love Obama, love Joe.  And they visibly recoil from TFG and Cruz (his own daughters).  Absolutely they know.

    Maybe not the exact words, but definitely about loving Joe and Obama and recoiling from Trump and Cruz.

    Someone please tell me that there was at least another post about Joe and Jill showing up in the classroom, and kids screaming.

    Otherwise, I am going to have to conclude that I am working too hard.  Sigh.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    @WaterGirl:

    The WaPo article is from yesterday, so it’s not recycled news.

    You must be working too hard. You should try my strategy of hardly working instead.

  31. 31.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    Big deal.  Smokey Bear visited my classroom last spring.  My question to the nice Park Rangers was, “When did it change from Smokey The Bear?”  No good answer.

    Go Joe!  I’d freak if it was my classroom.

  33. 33.

    arrieve

    @WaterGirl: You’re not crazy. I know I read that before too. Maybe a comment in another thread?

    (Not that I mind reading it twice. It’s a sentiment that makes me smile.

     

    ETA: Or what eclare said.

  34. 34.

    bbleh

    @Omnes Omnibus: and y’know, I don’t think they intend to act like assholes (unlike, say, the J6 rioters).  I think they feel righteous, and having been punished for their actions, they feel somewhere between confused and martyred.

    Much is made of MAGA being a cult.  But I think the same is true, even more so and for longer, for a big chunk of the antiabortion crowd.

  37. 37.

    Mike in NC

    Try to imagine Fat Bastard visiting a classroom. He was reputed to be a shitty student wherever he went, which should surprise approximately nobody. His grades, his health, his taxes, his finances: all a deep dark secret. But he’s still running to be the American Putin.

  39. 39.

    bbleh

    @Mike in NC: lol I was just thinking about that.  Silence, confusion, some students visibly shifting uncomfortably and recoiling if he approaches, and the teacher talking loudly and issuing orders to try to cover for it.

    “This is the President, class, let’s clap for him!”  [scattered golf claps]

  41. 41.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    @eclare: Late 70s and into the 80s I could’ve sworn it was Smokey The Bear.  Maybe it’s one of those weird brain tricks

  44. 44.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @bbleh: ​
      I don’t think their intentions matter a tinker’s dam. Their actions showed them to be assholes.

  48. 48.

    Eunicecycle

    Remember when Obama wanted to make a welcome back to school appearance on the first day of classes and conservatives lost their shit? I know that’s a little different than what President Biden did, but it just reminds me once again how terrible Republicans have been for decades.

  50. 50.

    bbleh

    @Omnes Omnibus: oh I’m not saying the punishment isn’t just.  Don’t do the crime etc.  But I would bet that at least some of them are bewildered and hurt that it’s happening.  “But it was for the babies! It’s what Jesus would have wanted!”

    Cults is weird.

  54. 54.

    Al Rennick

    These kids aren’t savvy enough to understand that Biden is ‘too old

    @Anne Laurie

    Even though you’re totally in the tank for Biden, you should have the honesty to admit that Biden’s age is a legitimate concern for most Democrats:

    The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs survey found that Americans were more likely to say age would be a problem for Biden rather than former President Trump, who is just a few years younger than his successor. According to the poll, 77 percent of Americans — including 89 percent of Republicans and 69 percent of Democrats — said Biden is too old to be effective for four more years.

  56. 56.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Baud: ​
     then we need moar bread and circuses from you. And possible a Rubicon crossing, just to show that you’re serious.

  60. 60.

    Sure Lurkalot

    Yes, eight graders, having Joe and Jill Biden come visit your class is a BFD because Joe’s excellent presidenting is a BFD. He cares about your future and actually wants you to have one.

  61. 61.

    Steve in the ATL

    Caught a couple of minutes of fox “news” in the hotel lobby (and yes, I complained about it, as I always do). Sleepy Joe is now Corrupt Joe! Biden used fake email accounts when he was VP! And so on. I left before they showed any pics of Hunter’s [redacted because this is a family blog but you all know what I’m referring to].

    God help us–the right wing noise machine is going to destroy us.

  66. 66.

    gwangung

    @Al Rennick:

    Even though you’re totally in the tank for Biden, you should have the honesty to admit that Biden’s age is a legitimate concern for most Democrats:

    Honesty? From you?

    BWAH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

    I needed that after today.

  69. 69.

    Eunicecycle

    @eclare: yes that’s the one! I just hated it that Obama couldn’t do anything without the Right trying to twist it into something negative. Death Panels! etc. I wish he could run again but he’s served his time!

  71. 71.

    Elizabelle

    I love that video.  One little guy is bouncing in his seat, he is so excited.

    Also love that Biden is so comfortable with kids and teens.  Family man.

  72. 72.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @gwangung: Hey, he pops up every once in a while and explains what we are doing wrong in a tone of moral superiority.  Then he leaves.  Don’t kink shame.

  73. 73.

    Scamp Dog

    @Old Dan and Little Ann: I do remember the joke going “What’s Smokey the Bear’s middle name?”
    “I don’t know, what is it?”

    ”The!”

    I probably heard this over 50 years ago, come to think of it.

  74. 74.

    Major Major Major Major

    @eclare: @Old Dan and Little Ann:

    Late 70s and into the 80s I could’ve sworn it was Smokey The Bear. Maybe it’s one of those weird brain tricks

    hmmm

    Smokey Bear’s name and image are protected by the Smokey Bear Act of 1952 (16 U.S.C. 580 (p-2); previously also 18 U.S.C. 711)

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of theUnited States of America in Congress assembled
    That chapter 33 of title 18 of the United States Code be amended by adding a new sectionto be known as section 711, as follows:” – “§ 711. ‘Smokey Bear’ character or name”Whoever, except as authorized under rules and regulations issued by the Secretary of Agriculture after consultation with the Association of State Foresters and the Advertising Council, knowingly manufactures, reproduces, or uses the character ‘Smokey Bear’, originatedby the Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture, in cooperation with the Association of State Foresters and the Advertising Council for use in public information concerning the prevention of forest fires, or any facsimile thereof, or the name ‘Smokey Bear’as a trade name or in such manner as suggests the character ‘Smokey Bear’ shall be fined not more than $250 or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
    “The Secretary of Agriculture may specially authorize the manufacture, reproduction, or use of the character ‘Smokey Bear’ for a period not to exceed one hundred and eighty days, expiring no later than one year after the enactment hereof, by any person who, because of plans or commitments made prior to the enactment of this Act, would suffer substantial loss if denied such authorization.”
    Approved May 23, 1952​

     
    eta: HMMM

    Also in 1952, songwriters Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins had a successful song named “Smokey the Bear” which was performed by Eddy Arnold. The pair said “the” was added to Smokey’s name to keep the song’s rhythm.[27] During the 1950s, that variant of the name became widespread both in popular speech and in print, including at least one standard encyclopedia, despite Smokey Bear’s name never officially changing. A 1955 book in the Little Golden Books series was called Smokey the Bear and he calls himself by this name in the book.

  77. 77.

    Scout211

    Speaking of hearing those comments before, we had this discussion in a long-ago thread.  Here’s the scoop: Link

    Read the whole thing. A rescued bear cub in a fire became famous and was named Smokey Bear

    ETA: MMMM  beat me to it!

    News about the little bear spread swiftly throughout New Mexico. Soon, the United Press and Associated Press broadcast his story nationwide, and many people wrote and called, asking about the cub’s recovery. The state game warden wrote to the chief of the Forest Service, offering to present the cub to the agency as long as the cub would be dedicated to a conservation and wildfire prevention publicity program. The cub was soon on his way to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., becoming the living symbol of Smokey Bear.

    Smokey received numerous gifts of honey and so many letters he had to have his own zip code. He remained at the zoo until his death in 1976, when he was returned to his home to be buried at the Smokey Bear Historical Park in Capitan, New Mexico, where he continues to be a wildfire prevention legend.

    In 1952, Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins wrote the popular anthem that would launch a continuous debate about Smokey’s name. To maintain the rhythm of the song, they added “the” between “Smokey” and “Bear.” Due to the song’s popularity, Smokey Bear has been called “Smokey the Bear” by many adoring fans, but, in actuality, his name never changed. He’s still Smokey Bear.

  78. 78.

    Jeffro

    @Omnes Omnibus: hahahahahahahahaha!

    “and YOU get a bonus 5 months in jail…AND YOU get a bonus 5 months in jail…ALLLLLLLLLL insurrectionists get a bonus 5 months in jail!”

    (would that it were so, but we’ll take just this one instance for now)

  79. 79.

    Steeplejack

    @Al Rennick:

    [. . .] Americans were more likely to say age would be a problem for Biden rather than former President Trump, who is just a few years younger than his successor.

    That betrays their ignorance right there. Most recent poll respondents also think unemployment is a big problem, even though it’s at a 50-year low.

    I will take fit Biden over fat-ass Trump, or any other current prospective candidate, any day. And if by chance Biden dies—which can happen to anybody—we’ve got the capable Kamala Harris to step in. (“Oh noes a Negress!” 🙀)

  80. 80.

    Jeffro

    @Eunicecycle: Remember when Obama wanted to make a welcome back to school appearance on the first day of classes and conservatives lost their shit?

    ooo ooo I do!

    They lost their minds and went overboard and swore this was THE BEGINNING OF THE END SOSHULIST TAKEOVER INDOKTRINASHUN!!!1!…

    …and then suddenly a day after our President implored students to do their best and wishes them well, poof, nothing happened.

    No follow-up by the reporters with the crazies.  No effort by the Dems to roundly mock the nuts for at least a news cycle.

    Ah well…it’s not like anyone would have learned the lesson…

  83. 83.

    C Stars

    I know he’s old, he looks old and all, but it just makes me smile when I see him. I don’t know why, he’s just one of those people with good vibes. I think it’d be awesome to work for him and he seems to have surrounded himself with whipsmart young people. I have zero reservations about voting for him to be POTUS for another four years.

  84. 84.

    Jeffro

    OT but I just wanna point out that it’s not only Republicans (who) Love The Least Experienced Candidate

    ...but yes, they are indeed the worst about this.

    (increasing the standards for POTUS would have so, sooo many benefits)

    …many GOP voters are asking, “This time, why not the guy with the least experience?” It’s not how you’d hire someone for any imaginable job, and it flows from a combination of frustration and delusion about politics.

    We’ve seen this scenario in every recent Republican nominating contest: Voters suddenly become taken with a candidate who has never held office, might have had only the barest contact with the political world, and, when it comes to the office they’re running for, has little or no idea what they’re talking about.

    Why do GOP candidates offering this kind of drivel find such a receptive audience? The roots of the attraction might lie in people’s disgust with politics. A huckster such as Ramaswamy implicitly suggests you can sweep away whatever you don’t like about politics by electing a leader with sufficient confidence and a willingness to break things. Everything that is dull or infuriating about governing — sordid deal-making, endless maneuvering over legislation, promises that never come to fruition, compromises that disappoint, special interests that stop reform — will crumble before the visionary who brings an unsullied perspective to Washington. In the place of the old politics will be something inspiring, brimming with new thinking and common sense.

    The belief in the candidate who claims they can bring about that transformation is naive, even childlike. And while Democrats sometimes become briefly enamored of “outsiders,” they’ve usually been figures with ample political experience (such as Howard Dean), or never got support to match their media profiles. Andrew Yang, who resembled Ramaswamy in his lack of political experience, received a good bit of attention in 2020 but never garnered more than a few points in polls.

  86. 86.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @bbleh:

    It was Smokey the Bear. One of my roomies from the late 70’s was in an actors group and was hired to wear a Smokey costume to some elementary school event. He brought the costume home with him and we laughed our asses off when he wore it while ripping bong hits…lol!

    There are a few pictures out there but it wasn’t my camera.

  87. 87.

    wjca

    @Al Rennick:

    According to the poll, 77 percent of Americans — including 89 percent of Republicans and 69 percent of Democrats — said Biden is too old to be effective for four more years

    Of course, there was a lot of that “too old to be effective” buzz in 2020.  Doesn’t seem to have played out quite that way.

  88. 88.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    You’re not imagining things. Can’t be arsed to look for it now, but someone shared the video link (yesterday, I think) and there was definitely the discussion in the comments about how kids love Obama and Biden but recoil and cringe from TFG, Cruz, etc.

    Some topics are just so good they bear repeating.

  93. 93.

    stinger

    @bbleh:

    it was definitely Smokey the bear.  “Smokey the bear says, only you can prevent forest fires.”

    And he had a song! “Smoky the Bear, Smoky the Bear, Prowlin’ and a-growlin’ and a-sniffin’ the air, He can spot a fire before it starts to flame, That’s why they call him Smoky, that was how he got his name.”

  95. 95.

    Jackie

    @C Stars: Biden has the same ear to ear grin my dad had so he makes me think of my dad every time he grins and smiles. Plus “That’s a bunch of malarkey” was Dad’s way of saying BS in mixed company and children. In other words, Biden reminds me of my dad constantly – and his health didn’t start failing until his mid 90s.

  96. 96.

    mrmoshpotato

    Somewhere, Peter Baker is shaking his head sadly. These kids aren’t savvy enough to understand that Biden is ‘too old’ and ‘too Democrat’ to be worth covering!…

    If only Obama had stepped out from behind Biden to make Peter Slapdick really, really angry…

    Slapdick.

  98. 98.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I think people are getting too wrapped around the axle about the difference between Mr. Bear’s legal name (Smokey Bear) and his stage name (Smokey the Bear).

  99. 99.

    lowtechcyclist

    @eclare: ​
     

    Seriously? The park service removed the “the”?

    So much for the old joke about what Alexander the Great and Smokey the Bear have in common.

  101. 101.

    Scout211

    @rekoob: Here’s another account of Smokey Bear’s treatment in New Mexico:

    I love that story. The veterinarian that treated Smokey Bear. Sweet story!

  103. 103.

    C Stars

    @Jackie: Yeah, he just seems like a genuinely nice and optimistic person, who is no-nonsense underneath it all. Your dad sounds like a great guy!

  104. 104.

    Scout211

    I’ve been hanging around this place for far too long, it seems. Doesn’t anyone else remember when the great Smokey (the) Bear controversy erupted on a long ago thread on balloon-juice? It was a few years ago and it was the first time that I had heard of the Bear’s original name and history and how the “the” was added later for the song.

  105. 105.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Steeplejack:

    I did early yesterday morning, but upon checking back just now I see there were several additional comments even since then. The discussion overall was one of the best I’ve seen — lively, thoughtful, informed — and I’m truly glad that WaterGirl suggested devoting an entire Medium Cool to that one book. Many thanks to all who commented, wherever you land on the question of Richard’s culpability.

    And for those whose comments were on the order of “Never read it, but now I think I’ll give it a try,” I can only envy you. I think you’re in for a reading treat!

  106. 106.

    Spanky

    @Scout211:

     Doesn’t anyone else remember when the great Smokey (the) Bear controversy erupted on a long ago thread on balloon-juice?

    I am a bear of very little brain, and long-ago threads bother me.

  112. 112.

    Cameron

    @Jay: Honey?  Huh.  I must have misheard it back in 2012 when I thought Willard the Pooh’s little song went “Isn’t it funny/how a Bain likes money.”

  113. 113.

    eclare

    Wow.  Thirty thousand utility workers positioned to go into FL after Idalia goes through.  That is a lot!

  114. 114.

    Elizabelle

    Thinking of our Florida jackals, and everyone else in Idalia’s path. Be safe.  Be cool.

    Am glad to hear that a lot of folks evacuated.

  115. 115.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    I wish I could share my class pic!  lol…..  Thanks to all for all the fun information.

  118. 118.

    Brachiator

    Coming late to the thread again.

    My first thought on seeing Biden with the students was a reminder that he is fundamentally a decent guy. And the kids know it.

    Maybe I am biased, but I can’t think of any occasions where Trump appeared with young students. Or with people with pets.

  122. 122.

    TS

    @bbleh:

    But I think the same is true, even more so and for longer, for a big chunk of the antiabortion crowd.

    I see this as 100% controlling either women by men – or women by other women who have little joy in their lives & are looking for some meaning to their sad pointless existence. Probably fully controlled by the men in their lives.

  123. 123.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @Steeplejack: @SiubhanDuinne:

    SD, thank you for the Medium Cool discussion of Tey.

    After re-reading the Daughter of Time I remembered that I enjoyed the Franchise Affair, so I went back and re-read that. Two quotes struck me so let me share them with you…

    The criminal is a person who makes the satisfaction of his own immediate personal wants the mainspring of his actions. You can’t cure him of his egotism, but you can make the indulgence of it not worth his while. Or almost not worth his while.

    But with an egotism like Betty Kane’s there is no adjustment. She expects the world to adjust itself to her. The criminal always does, by the way. There was never a criminal who didn’t consider himself ill-done-by.

    Remind you of anyone? Thanks again.

  134. 134.

    Elizabelle

    @eclare:  I was out enjoying the beautiful moonrise tonight.  Spectacular in central VA.

    And then remembered Idalia is in the mix.  And this is just the beginning of the season.

  135. 135.

    Mike in NC

    @Brachiator:  Trump’s favorite audience was law enforcement types, where he’d tell them to not be afraid to rough up suspects. Just a sociopath in every sense.

  137. 137.

    Elizabelle

    Tomorrow night is the Blue Moon.  I will tell you, it looked full tonight.  Beautiful moonrise.

  138. 138.

    gene108

    @rikyrah:

    They aren’t serious,

    Republican voters are serious. They’re just not willing to admit they’re wrong for supporting 40+ years of failed Republican economic policy and stubbornly dig in to supporting the party. They know Republican Party orthodoxy can’t deliver.

    This is why they support candidates that promise to shake things up, no matter how inexperienced the candidate is. Throw enough folks, who want break government and maybe something they like might fall out of the rubble. They know the Republican status quo won’t do anything for them.

  140. 140.

    kalakal

    Update on Idalia just came in. Still heading north and nudged slightly to the west. Intensifying, expected to hit land as 130mph cat 4.

    About 125 miles west of Tampa. Fairly quiet at the moment in the Bay area. Lots of rain squalls

    repeated from below

  142. 142.

    Elizabelle

    @kalakal:  Keep us posted.  Hoping that your power stays on.

    At least you have lots of good book recommendations, to read by candlelight, if it comes to that.

  145. 145.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mike in NC:

    Trump’s favorite audience was law enforcement types, where he’d tell them to not be afraid to rough up suspects. Just a sociopath in every sense.

    and they, in turn, seem to be one of his most fervent constituencies, which is terrifying

    the whole police escort parade to his arrest seems to have faded from the news already

  147. 147.

    wjca

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    they, in turn, seem to be one of his most fervent constituencies, which is terrifying.

    It will be interesting to see if their deeply ingrained view of convicts (whether correctly convicted or not) will kick in.  Cult beliefs can be strong.  But longstanding habits can be strong, too.

  149. 149.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Mr. Bemused Senior:
    It’s a favourite theme of Tey’s. From The Singing Sands, here is her Inspector Grant musing about a disagreeable acquaintance:

    The vain vicious little bastard. He had had a profession that would give him his bread and butter, a profession that would have given him a certain standing, a profession that would have brought him spiritual reward. But that had not satisfied his egotistical soul. He had needed the limelight. And as long as he could strut in the light he did not care who paid for the illumination.

    And this, from much later in the same book:

    ‘I find vanity repellent. As a person I loathe it, and as a policeman I distrust it.’

    ‘It’s a harmless sort of weakness,’ Tad said, with a tolerant lift of a shoulder.

    ‘That is just where you are wrong. It is the utterly destructive quality. When you say vanity, you are thinking of the kind that admires itself in mirrors and buys things to deck itself out in. But that is merely personal conceit. Real vanity is something quite different. A matter not of person but of personality. Vanity says “I must have this because I am me”. It is a frightening thing because it is incurable. You can never convince Vanity that anyone else is of the slightest importance; he just doesn’t understand what you are talking about. He will kill a person rather than be put to the inconvenience of doing a six months’ stretch.’

    ‘But that’s being insane.’

    ‘Not according to Vanity’s reckoning. And certainly not in the medical sense. It is merely Vanity being logical. It is, as I said, a frightening trait; and the basis of all criminal personality. Criminals—true criminals, as opposed to the little man who cooks the accounts in an emergency or the man who kills his wife when he finds her in bed with a stranger—true criminals vary in looks and tastes and intelligence and method as widely as the rest of the world does, but they have one invariable characteristic: their pathological vanity.’

    Substitute our more clinical term “Narcissism” for Grant’s “Vanity,” and you have here a perfect description of TFG.

  152. 152.

    catclub

    Open Thread:

    Trump cited the ‘Scottsboro Boys’ case when he asked for a 2026 trial. Judge Chutkan rejected any comparison

    Can you say tone deaf lawyers?

  161. 161.

    Geminid

    @Villago Delenda Est: I don’t know about the lawyers, but Trump and people around him really think that Black people are going to sympathize with him because he’s been charged with a crime and had his mugshot taken. They started talking about this right after his Atlanta court appearance, and now they’re continuing with this Scottsboro Boys reference. It’s weird, and stupid. I think it also must seem very insulting to Black people.

  163. 163.

    wjca

    @frosty:

     “I’m not trying to scare you but you may find yourself in very close proximity to a library.”

    Not to worry.  “Willful blindness” will save you this time for sure.

  164. 164.

    TriassicSands

    OMG, now he’s done it. Joe Biden held the hand of a young girl. The Republicans will have him up on charges of child abuse, sexual assault, and possibly even rape (or using their best legal minds, conspiracy to commit rape). Add those charges to the as yet unknown, but, no doubt, laughable impeachment charges and Joe’s toast.

    It’s good to see him dropping in on school age kids. More visits like that might even encourage some youngsters, at an early age, to pay more attention to socio-political issues. No, I don’t expect them to become adolescent politicos, but this visit seemed to get the attention of a lot of them and maybe that will stick in the back of their minds as the years pass. Interest in government is dangerously low in this country. Every little bit helps. I’d rather see him visiting classrooms than entertaining murderous Saudi leaders. He can do both. Good for you, Grandpa Biden.

  166. 166.

    TriassicSands

    @Geminid:

    I certainly hope the response of most African Americans will have more to do with relief for seeing that a rich white guy has finally been indicted rather than thinking “gee, he’s just like me, a victim of a flawed justice system.” Part of what makes it flawed is that they get charged (even when it is unfair) while rich white guys skate by even when what they’ve done hurts far more people and is much more serious.

    @catclub:

    Of course, all the Scotsboro boys were running for president at the time, so we can see why Trump would bring them up. One thing we can always count on with Trump: He will come up with the most preposterous analogies, examples, and comparisons. Poor widdle Donnie, he’s just like a powerless black kid in racist Alabama. I mean, it’s so obvious.

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