Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

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

In after Baud. Damn.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

Democrats have delivered the Square Deal, the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and now… the Big Joe Biden Deal.

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

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

I was promised a recession.

No one could have predicted…

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

The US Supreme Court is on the ballot in november.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

“They not like us!” (that’s for sure!)

The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Cole, when it comes to calico cats, restraint is overrated.

You are here: Home / Climate Change / How about that weather? / Labor Day Monday Morning Open Thread

Labor Day Monday Morning Open Thread

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Rick ‘Bat Boy’ Scott really, really hates Ron DeSaster…

E.J. Dionne, at the Washington Post, looks at the bright side — “At last, a Labor Day when workers can celebrate their power”:

Workers and organized labor are cool again. Young Americans are the country’s most pro-union generation. Labor has poll ratings most politicians only dream about, and the Biden administration is making workers’ pay, benefits and rights its calling card…

Let’s stipulate: Although membership in unions is ticking up again, the organized share of the workforce is still stuck at about 10 percent.

But so many other indicators suggest that labor’s long decline is over. Heralds of change include well-publicized organizing efforts in new sectors of the economy, broad public sympathy for the Hollywood writers’ struggle, and big wage gains by workers increasingly willing to strike for them.

There is also President Biden, the most outspokenly pro-labor president since Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman. Progressives such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) support Biden’s reelection partly because they get how the often-unheralded work of his administration is making a new era for labor possible…

Lest anyone doubt where the administration stands, the Treasury Department released what it proudly called a “First-of-Its-Kind Report” on the economic value of organized labor. It found that unions raise the wages of their members by 10 to 15 percent, have “spillover effects” that benefit nonunion workers, “reduce race and gender wage gaps” and “boost businesses’ productivity.”

The report reflected how a large majority of the country feels. A recent Gallup survey found that 67 percent of Americans approve of unions. That’s down slightly from 71 percent last year, but Gallup emphasized that 2023 was “the fifth straight year this reading has exceeded its long-term average of 62%,” up from an “all-time low of 48% in 2009.” The survey also found a record-high 61 percent saying “unions help rather than hurt the U.S. economy.”…

Reader Interactions

138Comments

  1. 1.

    Nukular Biskits

    Ever look at the responses to President Biden’s social media posts?

    Talk about unhinged.  There is almost never any rational, coherent response from his (and I’ll use the term here) “opponents”.

    Reminds me of that FDR quote:

    They are unanimous in their hate for me — and I welcome their hatred.

  2. 2.

    WereBear

    I’ve been out of the loop for over a month with various family emergencies. I’ll have to hunt down the Biden speech reference. If someone has the linky handy, I would appreciate it.

    My world-roaming aunt usually comes here on Labor Day, though there was a gap during the Plague Years. I wanted to go kayaking but I’d lost the key to the padlock. The bolt cutter doesn’t work. I bought too well, before the world fell down, and now I will take bolt cutter tips. While I am not strong, my aunt is. These days I blame the boltcutter.

    Before my neighbor went away to camp she said I could use her word code to borrow her kayak. She hadn’t mentioned it was a racing kayak and fit me like a wet suit. We had fun and I did a lot more cornering than I wanted, but set back home alone. The kayak refused to let go, and I was rescued from my situation by two ladies from a distant lake, who nudged their inflatable kayaks against my borrowed one, against the next door concrete breakwater, having lost my sandals into the farthest reaches of the kayak, beyond the pegs.

    The ladies and I sorted it out, but it showed me that I am ready to go back to paddling, and now that’s it’s fall, it might be every day that isn’t raining.

    Need giant Ziplocs, and I am about to replace this iPhone 8, anyway.

  4. 4.

    Nukular Biskits

    @WereBear:

    To me, it’s fascinating, in a car-wreck rubbernecking kinda way.

    That so many people (and I realize a lot of what’s on Twitter, for example, is nothing more than trolls and ‘bots) can let such hatred and rage consume them to the point of making caricatures of themselves.

  6. 6.

    bbleh

    Over two-thirds of Americans who responded to this poll say they don’t trust polls, and when contacted again another 10% denied they participated at all.

    I am so sick of borderline-meaningless horse-race “poll” stories …

    @HinTN: I had to think that one over too, but I think what he means is, if given all the evidence in their faces the voters choose “this” — ie Trump — then it would be pretty clear that there was never anything Biden could have done about it, least of all doing what all the “centrist” pundits keep telling he should do, ie “reaching out” (“pandering”) to the (white) “working class.”

  7. 7.

    Baud

    But so many other indicators suggest that labor’s long decline is over.

    Only if they turn out to vote blue next year.

  8. 8.

    lowtechcyclist

    Harold Meyerson has a good article about Labor Day 2023 over at The American Prospect.  He reports that Biden’s NLRB has handed down some decisions that remove some major barriers to union organizing, so it should be a good bit easier for workers to form unions, and get them recognized, going forward.

  9. 9.

    Wvng

    @Nukular Biskits: the universal social media assault on anything the administration does is relentless and stunning. They blew up the comments on every Psaki press briefing, from the very beginning.

  11. 11.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @WereBear: I wanted to go kayaking but I’d lost the key to the padlock. The bolt cutter doesn’t work. I bought too well, before the world fell down, and now I will take bolt cutter tips.

    Not knowing what lock you have nor how it’s constructed or what materials were used, I suggest a locksmith. Both times I used them the cost was very reasonable.

  13. 13.

    WereBear

    @Nukular Biskits: To me, it’s fascinating, in a car-wreck rubbernecking kinda way.

    It’s a giant doomsday cult forming and destroying itself before our eyes. Like all cults, the more it insulates their followers from reality, the more they love their leader for doing that for them.

    They have always hated reality, anyway. They don’t realize it’s like b-12. Without it, our brains can’t make sense of anything.

  14. 14.

    LiminalOwl

    @rikyrah: Good morning!

    Since it’s an open thread: my beloved and I were driving home last night from a social get-together—the first since the Before Times, I think—and saw a green fireball! It was beautiful, and I wish there had been time to get a picture. Nothing about it in local news yet.

  16. 16.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @rikyrah: He is saying that that is what certain pundits are telling Biden he needs to do (to win the white WC vote). Never mind all his real accomplishments for the working class that those critics never seem to take note of.

  18. 18.

    Lapassionara

    @Wvng: paid for by Vladimir Putin, no doubt. I’m sure he is highly motivated to get a Republican in office in 2024. And no doubt, the Republicans will pull all sorts of tricks too. We must outwork them and out think them at every turn.

  19. 19.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Seeing as this is Labor Day, I’m going to whine about how much I still miss working. Not all the blood and sweat, not dealing with the assholes, not the bone deep ache of overtaxed muscles and tendons, just the part of being on a crew building something that will still be around long after we are all dust and ashes.

  20. 20.

    Betty

    Boston Globe headline about the election: Uninspired, Undecided and Anxious.  They describe voters as tired of Trump and ambivalent about Biden. There is no awareness in the media that this is a critical election with enormous stakes. So frustrating.

  21. 21.

    bbleh

    @Lapassionara: fortunately the latter will not be a problem

    @Betty: the thing I take away from this type of article, as well as related ones comparing Republican voters who are uncertain about voting for Trump with Dems who are uncertain about voting for Biden, is that I think the Republicans are comparing Trump with known, realistic alternatives — non-indicted non-criminals ranging from relatively middle-of-the-road to hard-right — while the Dems are comparing Biden with a fuzzy ideal, the second coming of Barack Obama or something.  IOW, a lotta Republicans are like “oh gawd Trump is really kinda bad,” while a lotta Dems are like “gee I wish there were someone more perfect.”

    I think once the race becomes more about a choice between just those two, things will shift appreciably.  (Which is not by any means to say we can just sit back and wait for it to happen.)

  26. 26.

    Kay

    @lowtechcyclist:

    This is huge – I noted it here at BJ (as did SteveinWTF) but it got almost no media coverage:

    Two Fridays ago, the National Labor Relations Board restored a good deal of labor law to its original purpose of enabling workers to bargain collectively for better pay and working conditions.

    In its decision in the Cemex case, the Board ruled that when a majority of workers at a company or worksite affiliate with a union (something they could do by signing affiliation cards), the employer could either recognize that union voluntarily or request that the Board hold an election. If, during the run-up to the election or the election itself, the employer committed an unfair labor practice (ULP), the Board would immediately declare the union recognized and order the employer to begin bargaining with it.

    What’s been intereresting (but not that surprising) to me has been how few of the sort of “internet Lefties” have recognized Biden’s really great labor accomplishments.
    Joe Biden has been great for hourly workers. It’s just a fact.

  27. 27.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Betty: I get that voters are weary. The constant craziness around Trump wore me out, so I assume it wore other people out too. You’d hope that would mean voters would choose the non-crazy, but I’m afraid it just makes them stop paying attention.

  30. 30.

    WereBear

    @OzarkHillbilly: That will be the last step, certainly. I live with a man, who must try his own strength. Not even because women tried it and my aunt is in better shape that both of us :)

    But because it’s there. Then, we will call a locksmith. Or, someone like him.

  32. 32.

    Kay

    @Betty:

    A lot of normie Democrats and D leaners still think Biden will be replaced by someone younger. A D! But younger. They don’t really understand the primary process – they don’t understand a lot, which politicians can’t say but is true. They’ll come over in polling in the coming months once it’s binary in their minds.

  37. 37.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    A lot of normie Democrats and D leaners still think Biden will be replaced by someone younger. A D! But younger.

    Hunter stands ready.

  38. 38.

    Geminid

    @Betty: At least the ambivalence about Biden can  be remedied, and we have 15 months to accomplish that.

    I’m not sure there is a cure for being tired of Trump. It seems to me that can only get worse.

  39. 39.

    Betty Cracker

    Gotta admit, when I heard the Bidens would be visiting Live Oak, I was worried about what kind of reception they’d get. My Suwannee River peeps live in that area (as did my mom during her too brief retirement — the lone hippie in the area while she lived!). It’s as MAGA-ridden as anywhere else in the South. But it sounds like people appreciated the presidential attention. Good!

    Also, Rick Scott really does despise DeSantis as noted in the OP, and it was a brilliant move to swoop in and undermine him like that. Advantage: Navy Hat Nosferatu

    @Kay: I agree with this 100%.

  40. 40.

    oldgold

    I spent Friday night drinking beer with a gaggle of millennials. Among other things, we discussed politics. They abhor Trump as a malignant narcissist and do not embrace Biden because they believe he is too damn old for the job. I think they are right.

  41. 41.

    zhena gogolia

    @WereBear: It was a long time ago — not recently. I might be able to find the link later today.

    Can’t do it right now because I’m at work. 😃

  42. 42.

    Geminid

    @WereBear: The locksmith may be able to supply a new key. They can tell you if they will.

    A 4″ angle grinder could probably cut through the chain. Harbor Freight has cheap ones. I bought one there for $12 dollars once that has given good service. If you have to buy a new tool, a grinder has more uses than a bolt cutter. Gotta wear good eye protection though.

  43. 43.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Someone suggested Newsom. I didn’t say “are you an idiot? How do you think this works?” but it’s what I thought. I say instead “I think Biden has been a great President and is underrated”. They don’t see it as a choice between two yet, but they will.

  45. 45.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Newsom is younger, of course, but I have no idea how the rest of the country will respond to a liberal from California.

    Every possible replacement has a vulnerability, and if they don’t, one will be invented for them.

  46. 46.

    BC in Illinois

    In an hour, we’re off to the Japanese Festival at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.

    Taiko drumming, sumo, food court, grandchildren, low 90 degrees.

    It should be great.

  47. 47.

    WereBear

    @Geminid: Excellent tips, thank you!

    Perhaps the padlock has proved itself against today’s bolt cutters. I will return them in any case.

    I consult the local locksmith. Tomorrow, because it’s Labor Day, as well :)

  48. 48.

    Baud

    @Kay: What really disturbs me about Dems who are taking the lead from the NYT and talking about Biden’s age, is that all of the questioning about ability to serve a full term can be applied to a nominee who is a breast cancer survivor, or who has received mental health treatment in the past, or who has a disability.  Most Dems would be horrified if the GOP and the media attacked our nominee on those grounds, and they would ask themselves “how that could happen.”  Maybe look in the mirror and have some foresight.

  49. 49.

    Geminid

    @Baud: Newsome or anyone else would have to win an expensive and likely a divisive primary season. That’s one reason Rachel Bitecofer said last year:

       We’d be fools not to nominate our incumbent!

    I may wish President Biden was younger, but I still agree with Bitecofer on this point.

  50. 50.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Oh, sure. Agree completely. But these are normies who don’t pay that much attention so they have that annoying “has anyone considered that Biden is old?” thing where people who don’t now that much about something assume their “ideas” are new. I don’t deny the age issue – I just go to his competence and experience, which is a strength.

    I think the Biden Admin planning and manuevering on student loans, for example was 1. genuinely brilliant lawyering 2. much more deliberate and intentional than they have let on and 3. one of the upsides of having people with experience.

  51. 51.

    LiminalOwl

    @Betty: I was going to post about that headline! And I really wonder how much of that message is self-fulfilling prophecy. Or worse.

  52. 52.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Geminid: ​ A face mask or goggles are better. I was working a job and needed to grind down some K-D door jambs to make them fit. Looked high and low for a mask and came up blank, so I just used my safety glasses. That evening I was in the ER but they couldn’t find the piece of grit. 2 days after that I went to an eye doctor who did find it but only because it had started to rust.

    Afterwards, he told me to put triple antibiotic ointment on the eye, and that was how I found out I was allergic to 3ab ointment. I had chemical burns over half my face before I got back to a Doc and they said, “STOP!!!”

  55. 55.

    narya

    So, the late night TV hosts (Colbert, Oliver, Fallon, Kimmel, and Meyers) are doing a podcast together (Strike Force Five), with proceeds supporting their staff; sponsors include Ryan Reynolds’ Mint Mobile and the George Clooney tequila. I listened to the first episode and it’s an amusing listen–this morning I rummaged through the ratings, and, hooboy, there is a lot of hate for them. Shouldn’t have been surprised, I suppose, but damn, some people need to get a hobby other than Faux News. (Also a lot of love, and for those of you who listen to podcasts, it’s good brain candy.)

  57. 57.

    LiminalOwl

    @Betty: Where? I googled and couldn’t find any report. We saw it from the MassPike, somewhere between Worcester and Springfield.

  59. 59.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Obama was stymied on student loans because Obama hired Arne Duncan, and Arne Duncan is a dope. He’s not smart and he hired people who were also not smart. Duncan was Obama’s greatest failure, IMO. Duncan actually wrote a book after Obama about how public school administrators and teachers “lie” to parents. That’s the central premise of the book – how these mostly earnest public employees are all liars and self interested. Those greedy 2nd grade teachers again and their demands for 45k a year! Just fucking incredible coming from Mr. Harvard Legacy Admit. It could have been written by Ted Cruz.

    Duncan is also a sexist. His dismissive comments about “moms” who opposed him should have been disqualifying.

  60. 60.

    Suzanne

    @Geminid: Agreed.

    I actually do think Biden is too old. That’s not a commentary on the quality of the job he’s done. I believe that, in general, the job takes a shit-ton of energy, and I also think that we should turn our institutions over, age wise, more than we do. But I also don’t make the perfect the enemy of the (really) good. So he’s got my vote. It would be strategically stupid to try to replace Biden.

  64. 64.

    Geminid

    @LiminalOwl: I saw one of those green fireballs once. It was a meteor that landed 300 miles from me, in North Carolina. There were a lot of pictures of that fireball because it flew by on a Friday night, and people at high school football games filmed it despite the stadium lights.

  66. 66.

    Citizen Alan

    @Geminid: I really wish joe biden were thirty years younger. I also really wish I was thirty years younger. Only absolute moron’s base important decisions on things they wish were true but indisputably are not.

  67. 67.

    Xavier

    You simply can’t have a healthy economy that isn’t broad based. Unions helped us get there in the 50s, then Reaganomics tried to convince everyone that trickle down was the way to go.

  68. 68.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    When you have someone who has been in government for a long time, understands the ins and outs, and has positive intentions… Things can happen.

     

    Student loans- time for the whiners in Congress to actually WRITE THE BILL.PASS THE BILL. GET THE BILL TO 46’s DESK TO SIGN

  69. 69.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: When I get sucked into these conversations with normie Dems and left-leaning indies, I also don’t deny the age issue because, IMO, it’s a valid concern. To me, it feels like gaslighting to deny it.

    But as you say, there are great counterarguments, including Biden’s accomplishments and experience, plus the near certainty that a contested primary would hand the election to the fascists.

    I think you’re right that people will come around when it’s a binary choice. The danger as always is some people will stay home, but hopefully Repub awfulness will drive turnout too, along with a positive message and receipts.

  73. 73.

    rikyrah

    😂😂😂😂

     

    chris evans (@notcapnamerica) tweeted at 1:09 PM on Sun, Sep 03, 2023:
    Proud Boy Joe Biggs was sentenced to 17 yrs in prison for his role in January 6th. He openly sobbed in the courtroom as the judge read his sentence.

    Now he says he needs to leave jail. because he “can’t eat the food here” and is begging Trump to help him https://t.co/6pjgNpj7gX https://t.co/iWEx90KdWV
    (https://twitter.com/notcapnamerica/status/1698397934268645882?s=02)

  75. 75.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    This is very “momish” but their narrative is terrible for their young admirers. They’re making young people hopeless with the irrational, DOGGED gloom and doom, and hopeless people aren’t politically active so it’s also dumb politics.

    I’m spending the summer with my youngest who is a Lefty and I’m shocked at how pessimistic he is – I have to POINT OUT to him that he is not, in fact, making minimum wage but is instead making 18 with an ovetime bump that averages out to 22. He did the average! So he knows this. But when he talks about “the country” he insists everyone else is making 7.50. It just isn’t true. But he’s a decent person and can be reasoned with so he’s come around a bit.

  77. 77.

    Geminid

    @OzarkHillbilly: Yes, you should have really good eye protection such as goggles when using a grinder. I have often been careless in that respect, but mostly I’ve cut stone and that’s not as hazardous as cutting metal.

    And ear protection is a must. Its a horrible noise.

  79. 79.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    He is “confident” Trump will help him. They are the biggest fucking suckers in the world. He just donated 17 years of his life to… Donald Trump. Chump. They put their own families SECOND to this ridiculous NYC real estate crook. Their children! They value Donald Trump more than their kids.

    He won’t do 17 though. They get early release in the federal system.

  81. 81.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    On the “binary” theme I do also point that Trump is almost as old because our ridiculous political media never point that out and my doing it it lets them “win the point” – it sounds like I’m agreeing with their “they’re all too old” larger argument. I think that helps when we get to “choice of two”. Trump is a couple of years younger than Biden, so also old. Just a fact. Not a fact that the NYTimes political team chooses to recognize, but still fact.

  84. 84.

    Geminid

    @Xavier: The only Black Friday sale I ever made it to was at Harbour Freight. I bought their collapsible ladder for $149. It extends to almost 16′, yet I can fit it into the back seat of my Honda Accord. It’s heavy and the legs splay out so it’s extra stable.

    Harbor Freight is also a good place to buy inexpensive holiday presents.

  85. 85.

    oldgold

    @Kay: Our politIcians are marketed through television. That visual medium is not doing President Biden any favors.  At times it is painful to watch. For whatever reason, the visuals, for the most part,  of the Orange menace, are just not as bad in regards to his age.

  86. 86.

    PIGL

    @Wvng: it’s the same in Canada. It’s organized brigading, aided by some enthusiastic volunteers, no doubt, and neither the media that operate the comments sections, nor the Liberal party even seem aware that it’s happening.

     

    people wonder why the Democratic Party the liberals are sleeping in the polls? Look no further.

  87. 87.

    Nukular Biskits

    @Baud:

    A lot of normie Democrats and D leaners still think Biden will be replaced by someone younger. A D! But younger.

    Hunter stands ready.

    I think you should promote that on rightwing social media sites.  That would be a hoot!

  89. 89.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Yep, good point. Lately, as it begins to sink in that we’re headed for a 2020 rematch, I’ve seen a couple of the worst media offenders finally include the fact that Trump is 77, which is progress of a sort?

    But I think we’ve got to be realistic that Biden comes across as old. He just does. It’s no reflection on him — he seems physically fit, and he’s done a good job. But some people look and sound every bit their age, whereas others don’t.

    My MIL is 85, but you’d never guess it. She’s sharp as a tack and can run circles around plenty of people in their 50s and 60s. The same is true of Biden, but he looks 80.

  90. 90.

    Kelly

    @LiminalOwl: I saw a green fireball many years ago. Out for a walk on a clear winter night. 50 times bigger than any star then it blew apart.

    One summer night camping on the Rogue we saw what we later learned was a Soviet rocket stage burning in over the Pacific. It was visible long enough for the whole group to turn around and get a look. Half a minute maybe.

  91. 91.

    cmorenc

    @oldgold:

    I spent Friday night drinking beer with a gaggle of millennials. Among other things, we discussed politics. They abhor Trump as a malignant narcissist and do not embrace Biden because they believe he is too damn old for the job. I think they are right.

    This is exactly the net result of a conversation I had a week or so ago with a group of eight folks who were all 70-ish themselves at an outdoor picnic.  Trump is awful, but Biden is so old.  Somehow the GOP meme that Biden is borderline senile has taken hold nearly as much as recognition that Trump is a corrupt, malevolent sociopath.   I doubt there are any Trump voters in the group, but the critical question is how many of them will ffeel motivated enough to show up to vote in 2024.

  95. 95.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    He does look old. I maintain the fact that Trump is overweight helps Trump look younger. Slim older people look more frail than overweight older people- especially men because suits are very flattering to overweight men – compare Trump in golf clothes, where it’s obvious he’s flabby and substantially overweight – like, 40/50 pounds- to Trump in a suit. But Biden is probably naturally thin so I don’t think eating more would help. I DO think Biden is probably healthier, partly because being mean-spirited and nasty all the time is bad for your health. Biden is a happier person – grateful, kinder, sense of humor.

  96. 96.

    gene108

    @zhena gogolia:

    “also old” and in much worse shape, which to me evens it out

    Trump masks his infirmities in public, as much as possible. He only gives speeches behind a podium. He doesn’t move around or go into crowds. Plus, he’s loud.

    For whatever reason, President Biden has become very soft spoken. He really cannot project his voice like he used to do, which makes him sound frail.

  97. 97.

    JML

    @Betty Cracker: It’s the hair. thinning, bad plugs…it doesn’t just make him look old, it can make him look a little off. He got some bad advice a long time ago that he needed to fight back against going bald when the treatments weren’t natural-looking. ah well.

    It’s Labor Day, so I’m celebrating by singing Solidarity Forever loudly.

    They say our day is over; they say our time is through,
    They say you need no union if your collar isn’t blue,
    Well that is just another lie the boss is telling you,
    For the Union makes us strong!
    (Chorus)
    They divide us by our color; they divide us by our tongue,
    They divide us men and women; they divide us old and young,
    But they’ll tremble at our voices, when they hear these verses sung,
    For the Union makes us strong!
    (Chorus)

  98. 98.

    Subsole

    @Nukular Biskits:

    Said it before, saying it again:

    I take my hat off for no one when it comes to my contempt for the GOP.

    But I have never in my life hated anyone enough to eat the shit these folks eat daily for the sake of their spite.

    Which is a problem, overall, because I genuinely do not know how to engage with that kind of derangement.

  102. 102.

    Kay

    Bill Maher
    @billmaher
    Sep 3
    I always have a great time when I get to see my friends in Texas especially @JoeRogan!

    The “cranky middle aged and Boomer white men whining about wokeness” grift seems to be endlessly profitable. They really need to age more gracefully. It’s embarrassing. They both DRESS like 22 year olds, too. Do they not see how cringeworthy that is? Whatever woo woo “hormones” or ground rhino horn they’re taking is not going to work. They’re “older men” now. Bitter, ungenerous older men who are clinging to their Glory Days as bold contrarians, but still older. Conventional.

  103. 103.

    Subsole

    @Kay:

    Funny enough, they didn’t have much to say about the MASSIVE reduction in drone strikes under Viden, or the increased transparency of same.

    But then, they didn’t have much to say when Trump cranked the dial so hard that it snapped off.

    Curiously reticent, those Podcast Proletarians.

  104. 104.

    Nukular Biskits

    @Subsole:

    I’m all about trying to find consensus, when/where available.

    But many (most? all?) of these folks (meaning the hardcore MAGA types) are simply not going to engage in a factually-based civil discussion.

    Like our blogfather said back in 2009:

    I really don’t understand how bipartisanship is ever going to work when one of the parties is insane. Imagine trying to negotiate an agreement on dinner plans with your date, and you suggest Italian and she states her preference would be a meal of tire rims and anthrax. If you can figure out a way to split the difference there and find a meal you will both enjoy, you can probably figure out how bipartisanship is going to work the next few years.

    You’ll Never Get This 21 Minutes Of Your Life Back

  105. 105.

    Mike in NC

    I’ve voted in every election since 1972. Polls are pure bullshit pushed by our incredibly lazy and corrupt news media to please their corporate masters.

  108. 108.

    Kay

    @Subsole:

    Or the Afghanistan pullout! They’ve really discredited themselves during Biden. To supposedly be these huge boosters of US manufacturing and to not notice that it is a fucking booming?

    They’re frauds. If you actually care about working people you notice when things improve for them. I think the railroad labor issue was instructive. They all bashed Biden for not supporting a strike but then they failed to notice that at the same time Biden was negotiating a favorable deal for the workers. It’s like it was BETTER for the Left if the workers didn’t get sick time. They suck as advocates and I say this as a professional advocate. Advocates don’t so fall in love with their argument that they forget the practical reality of the people they’re (supposedy) advocating for. It’s ego.

  109. 109.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Chief Oshkosh: My body is shot. Bone spurs on 5 of 7 cervical vertebrate, 3 rotator cuff surgeries, my hip is going, my back is constant pain, severe arthritis in my hands, etc etc etc. It’s hard enough for me to accomplish the few things I do around here. If I were able, I would surely engage with them.

  112. 112.

    Professor Bigfoot

    Leave to get one thing done and not only is this thread dead, but there are two new ones.

     

    AND IT STILL AMAZES me the way white people ERASE the CURRENT SITTING VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

    All this talk of replacing Biden *with another white man.*

    Do y’all hear yourselves?

  114. 114.

    WereBear

    @Kay: I am trying on the concilatory phrase, “We all know what’s wrong, now let’s all fix it.” Which everyone, so far, has cheered.

    Even people I know are Trumpists. Keep them calm and hope they recover. They will when their surroundings improve.

  117. 117.

    Subsole

    @rikyrah:

    Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone between or beyond, behold:

    The folks who think they are going to win multiple race-wars, and hold the rest of us down while they do it.

  118. 118.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @rikyrah: They are old and Black and don’t use all the right Social Justice speak, so naturally young, white Progressives (especially dudes) are dismissive of them (or even worse: see them as part of the problem and resent their political power).  It’s sad but definitely a thing.  I’ve seen it play out so many times in Police Reform discussions when the white dudes insist that anyone who doesn’t want an immediate end to any form of policing is a Fascist, than older Black People have to explain to them how it’s not that simple (because the problem is actually in THEIR community and they remember the 90’s etc.) and then the Progressive, white dudes get all indignant and storm out muttering about the Duopoly under their breaths.

  121. 121.

    Kathleen

    @Baud: Subtext to the “concern” is that Black woman VP will automatically become President if anything happens to Biden.

  123. 123.

    Ruckus

    @WereBear:

    I’ve got an iPhone 14 pro and it’s by far the best mobile phone I’ve had in the over 25 yrs I’ve had one. (mobile service is just a tad bit better as well…) Not cheap but then occasionally one gets what they pay for. I just realized that it’s been 20 yrs since I’ve even had a landline.

  124. 124.

    Bill Arnold

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    A green fireball? You mean like an explosion? Or a chemical fire?

    Meteor, very bright, green.
    Haven’t seen a green fireball in several decades; the one I last saw was when on top of a 4 -story Midwest building with visibility to around 10 miles, and it was much brighter than the moon, with features 10 miles away lit up enough to see.

  125. 125.

    Soprano2

    @narya: Thanks for telling us about it, I’m missing Colbert something fierce. They all probably need an outlet – can you imagine how frustrating it must be for them to not be able to do comedy right now?

  126. 126.

    Bill Arnold

    @Betty Cracker:

    The same is true of Biden, but he looks 80.

    Biden on a bicycle is very very strong evidence that he retains his facilities.
    There are recent complaints on the right that a phone interview of D.J. Trump must be a deep fake to make Trump look bad. (Not; there was preparatory back and forth with the interview team.)
    Trump Phone Interview Was So Odd People Wrongly Thought It Was AI – ‘BIZARRE’ – But the ex-president is proudly promoting his appearance on Real America’s Voice. (Zachary Petrizzo, Sep. 01, 2023)

  127. 127.

    lowtechcyclist

    Since this thread is only mostly dead:

    My take on Biden’s age is that he’s not too old. Two criteria: first, how has his age impacted his Presidenting so far? If anyone can show me where it’s hindered him in doing his job, that would be a first. And clearly his long political experience has been a big plus.

    My second criterion is: is there reason to believe he can’t continue to function at a high level for as long as he needs to? Well, how long is that? Fourteen months. Anytime after Election Day 2024, if his age really is starting to affect his work, he can step aside and let Kamala Harris take over. I can’t see a reason to believe he won’t hold up for fourteen months. It’s true that some people’s faculties go south all at once, but that’s the exception. He ought to be fine for fourteen months.

    I think that ought to satisfy anyone who’s genuinely on our side, rather than looking to stir up shit.

    It wouldn’t surprise me if, sometime during his second term (please, Lord, let there be one!), he decides that the demands of the job are too great. In which case our excellent VP would take over the reins, and life goes on.

  130. 130.

    Juju

    @oldgold: Are we referring to the same people?  I see a reasonably healthy looking and in shape 80 year old, compared to a fake orange tanned ambulatory potato in a blue suit. One gets regular exercise and the other seems to use a golf cart for just about all of his walking distances. The fake tan makes Trump’s face look like actual orange peel. Ick.

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