Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When we show up, we win.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

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

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

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

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

American history and black history cannot be separated.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

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

In after Baud. Damn.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Back to the ‘Real’ World

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Back to the ‘Real’ World

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People dap in *Iowa*, now. (There is, of course, a WikiHow.)

And the Congressional summer recess is over:

Meanwhile, the NYTimes‘ Peter Baker is at it again:


Recommended reading:

Reader Interactions

192Comments

  2. 2.

    zhena gogolia

    I was just reading the infuriated comments in response to Bret Stephens’s latest turd, “Why so Many Americans Are So Down on Joe Biden.” ARGGHHH

  6. 6.

    J. Arthur Crank (fka Jerzy Russian)

    I did not click on that poll link.  From the image, it looks like they take the last few points, fit a line, and extrapolate to 2024?  I don’t even know where to begin, apart from restating the need for an army of nut-kicking robots programmed to react to people who say stupid shit.

  7. 7.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @zhena gogolia: “Why so Many Americans Are So Down on Joe Biden.” ARGGHHH

    Because we have a media culture that both employs people like Bretbug and has no problem paying him to put a slightly edited version of this concern trolling once a week.

  11. 11.

    Baud

    You know what’s worse than losing to fascists. Spending all of your time worrying about losing to fascists.

    Maybe if more liberals stopped working, the NYT would realize there’s not a market for this type of reporting.

  13. 13.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    TFG comes from a different handshake tradition where the traditional greeting of a guest involves grabbing firmly on their hand and then trying to pull them off their feet.

    We do remember him doing that to world leaders, right?

  17. 17.

    smith

    @Baud: Looking at the number of comments they typically get when they publish something that liberals take exception to, I’d say there is a huge market for it. FTFNYT political reporting is a giant trolling operation, and the fact that it agitates liberals is a feature, not a bug. What has always puzzled me is the fact that so many people not only volunteer to be trolled by FTFNYT, they actually pay for it. From the outside it almost looks like a sado-masochistic relationship.

  25. 25.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud: I never felt this way before. It’s hard when you can’t just up and leave. I’ve been working since I was 16, and I’m done.

  29. 29.

    lowtechcyclist

    @J. Arthur Crank (fka Jerzy Russian):

    From the image, it looks like they take the last few points, fit a line, and extrapolate to 2024?

    I think the solid lines connect the exit polls from past elections, and the dotted line connects to the 2023 poll results featured in the story.  You’ll notice that the last dots aren’t at 2024 but to its left.

  33. 33.

    J. Arthur Crank (fka Jerzy Russian)

    @lowtechcyclist:   Thanks.  I can’t see the article, as it is paywalled for me.  Where does the 53% come from?  The “nonwhite” points seem higher.

  35. 35.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @zhena gogolia: ​It’s hard when you can’t just up and leave.

    One of the advantages of being a union carpenter, and if one doesn’t exercise that option, the contractor will happily do it for you!

  37. 37.

    Steeplejack

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I’m not even sure those white people were doing it right. I thought dapping was basically just bumping fists. That was what enabled the RWNJs to see the satanic nature of Barack and Michelle Obama. Anybody remember that controversy? Seems like a hundred years ago.

  40. 40.

    bbleh

    @smith: This.  It’s long been a principle of advertising that what gets people excited sells more product, and the easiest way to get people excited is to get them angry.  Another good way, of course, is to amuse them, to entertain them, and this is why I stopped reading the Very Earnest Pleas From Very Serious Journalists about halfway through: they seem oblivious to the fact that entertainment has eclipsed information as a mission of most media, very much including the national political media.  (I distinguish sharply between non-political reporters and political ones.  The FTFNYT routinely has excellent, knowledgeable, informative reporting on all sorts of things that aren’t American politics.)

    To the Very Serious Journalists I would say: you’re absolutely right, and good luck with that.  To everyone else I would say: the (political) media is as it is and it ain’t gonna change soon, especially not with a WWE ringmaster running for President, so don’t waste time criticizing it or hoping it will change.  Factor it into your plans and soldier on.

  44. 44.

    J. Arthur Crank (fka Jerzy Russian)

    @OzarkHillbilly:   I am too lazy to look it up, but two possibilities come to mind:

    1. “pad” spelled backwards.  This is a verb, so one can do that.

    2. Short for “dapper”.  That is not a verb, as far as I know.

  46. 46.

    cmorenc

    Media coverage of the GOP primary/nomination race has so far been overwhelmingly horse-race type coverage, rather than focusing on substantive differences between the candidates, other than generally pointing out that Christie is running as the anti-Trump candidate and Nikki Haley is running as the not-Trump candidate.  You’ll get no clue from the MSM what Tim Scott is actually about, beyond being a black GOP presidential candidate. The only GOP presidential wanna-bes whose substantive views have received any coverage are Ramaswamy and DeSantis, because some of their positions (and actions in DeSantis’s case) are too outlandishly contrarian and extreme for the MSM to ignore their value as click-bait coverage.  But it’s still 99% horse-race and click-bait type coverage.

  47. 47.

    Baud

    @bbleh:

    Another good way, of course, is to amuse them, to entertain them,

     
    There are times I feel libs get overly entertained by Republican behavior. Mockery and ridicule are important, but it’s a delicate balance.

  50. 50.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @J. Arthur Crank (fka Jerzy Russian): @Steeplejack: What I learned:

    The dap is a friendly greeting between 2 people to express solidarity.It includes a wide variety of gestures, but it can be any handshake you have with a close friend. Most people create their own dap with unique snaps, slaps, and fist bumps—there’s no “right” or “wrong” way to dap someone up![1]

    So we all know what a dap is, but I at least didn’t know I knew. The closest I come to one is the grasping of each others’ right hand thumbs and pulling ourselves into a shoulder hug.​

  51. 51.

    Betty Cracker

    In an AP interview, VP Harris answered a question on voter concern about the president’s age and her readiness to assume the job should that be necessary:

    She repurposed the US Postal Service’s slogan admirably — he delivers for you! She also deftly handled the question about her readiness by pointing out that she took the same oath as every other VP and full understood the import.

    Great answers, I thought.

  55. 55.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud: It’s very good, but framed as “Harris dismisses concerns about Biden’s age,” which makes her sound flippant (not what you see in the clip). They’re so desperate for controversy.

  57. 57.

    cmorenc

    @Baud:

    There are times I feel libs get overly entertained by Republican behavior. Mockery and ridicule are important, but it’s a delicate balance.

    It’s kind of like enjoying the mockery of Hitler in the “Downfall” parodies – it’s only fun because you already know for sure that the monster is flailing in the face of imminent defeat.  No so much fun to watch Hitler make similar gestures at the Nurenburg rally as he consolidated power to begin aggressively menacing other European countries and Jewish people.

  58. 58.

    MisterDancer

    @Steeplejack: I thought dapping was basically just bumping fists. That was what enabled the RWNJs to see the satanic nature of Barack and Michelle Obama. Anybody remember that controversy?

    There’s a whole sub-culture around signifying being part of a in-group via a dap, like what OzarkHillbilly quoted. It can be just bumping fists, but like the video shows, there can be so much more.

    Hilariously, I ran into a school chum during my morning constitutional, today. And part of the greeting process was to do what I’ll call a basic farewell dap. It signified we’re part of the same general Older Black Male social group, if not close enough for a more elaborate one.

    Related: that was the “problem” with the Obamas’ bumping fists. It was a “sign” that they “only really cared about Black people”. That, in other words, White folx couldn’t trust that shifty Black POTUS. The kind of “WTF-ery” that people not aware of the concept can turn from curiousity into a reason to hate, pretty quick, in my experience.

  59. 59.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    My new roommate is here trying to convince me two red bulls and a cheese stick aren’t breakfast.

  63. 63.

    Kay

    God almighty but the NYTimes political team cannot help themselves- they have to put their big fat thumb on the scale every cycle.
    This cycle is going to be as bad as “but her emails” cycle (or when these ridiculous hacks trashed Al Gore for 6 months thus electing Bush – they love daddy figures).
    Hopefully the public is wise to it now. They might be. They completely ignored the media promotion of the “red wave”, for example and other than in FL for one cycle no one outside of opinion columnists seems to care about “wokeness”.
    I hope we’re seeing voters diverge more and more from media narratives. That can only help Democrats.

  67. 67.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @OzarkHillbilly: This is actually pretty helpful.  For the longest time I thought Dap-ping was one specific technique and I was always confused because sometimes there was a fist-bump, sometimes a high-five or hand-shake, sometimes a small hug/shoulder-bump, but sometimes not, etc. (all things I’ve done/do with people myself).  But I never even considered that “dap” was a category of greetings with multiple variations.  That makes so much more sense now.

  69. 69.

    Elizabelle

    LOL.  I love Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker’s satirist:

    Proud Boy to Be in Prison Until He Is Elderly Boy

    “However, let’s be clear: while we Proud Boys are considering changing the name of our group, ‘Elderly Boys’ is not one of the options in the mix,” the former Proud Boy said.

    Tarrio said that, because of the behavior of other former Proud Boys at their trials, “Despondent Boys,” “Weepy Boys,” and “Belatedly Remorseful Boys” were all names that the organization was considering.

    “We’ve been holding focus groups, but so far there’s been no consensus,” he said. “We may have to bring McKinsey in on this.”

  71. 71.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Honestly I’m probably more confident in our VP Harris now than I was when Biden was Obama’s VP.  Not because Biden was bad, I just saw him mostly as the goofball Trans-Am dude from the memes, at the time.  Aside from Clinton/Gore, I’ve never felt better about how we would fare if some tragedy resulted in VP needing to take over.  Harris is eminently qualified, whip-smart, listens to experts and is probably one of the main drivers of the values of this Administration (like the perpetual focus on Systemic Racism) that I am so proud of.  I’m not worried at all about Biden’s age.  I’d hate to see anything happen to him, because he seems like such a great guy, but I’m not even remotely worried that VP Harris could step in and do great.

  72. 72.

    JAFD

    Greetings from Nuuk to all jackals and fellow travellers !

    is 88 F here now, supposed to go to 95 F, ‘heat advisory’ in effect to tomorrow night.  Been pretty mild summer – and the 22-23 winter – here, tho, so not complaining.  Sometimes I think Muthah Nature futzing with us, saving up the baleful effects of climate change to Hit The Media And Political HQs Last.

    Trying to work up enuf reserve coolth to spend it walking to drugstore, get prescripts refilled.  Or take nap.

    Stay loose !

  74. 74.

    smith

    @Kay: I think it may be an artifact of more people relying on social media for their news, rather than on corporate media sources. This could be good or bad, but certainly it signals to me that the Dems should really bear down on delivering our message that way. It seems to me that techniques for online influencing have developed a lot, and we’ve seen how much malign influence campaigns, al a the Russian efforts in recent elections, can actually affect voting. This is especially true since, as you have often pointed out, Dem policies are really popular. No misinformation required to turn that popularity into votes.

    ETA: The tiktok video rikyrah posted above is a great example.

  76. 76.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @raven: Chucks?

    I keep mine simple. Closed fist bump, maybe some individual flair after the connection.

    My friends know to do this with me because I am both very clumsy with my hands and awkward about direct contact.

  77. 77.

    cain

    @smith: @Baud: Looking at the number of comments they typically get when they publish something that liberals take exception to, I’d say there is a huge market for it. FTFNYT political reporting is a giant trolling operation, and the fact that it agitates liberals is a feature, not a bug. What has always puzzled me is the fact that so many people not only volunteer to be trolled by FTFNYT, they actually pay for it. From the outside it almost looks like a sado-masochistic relationship.

    100% this – and we don’t quit – we just keep on engaging but they are getting what they want. Those articles are judged on engagement in terms of success – good or bad. So if you have 25k hits – it’s a great article – even if the whole thing is bullshit.

    We need to be smarter and actively move to other publications that actually respect us and our opinions. Fuck the NYT and let’s also move on to new sources of information  – let’s break the old cycles.

  79. 79.

    cain

    @bbleh: @smith: This.  It’s long been a principle of advertising that what gets people excited sells more product, and the easiest way to get people excited is to get them angry.

    Fun anecdote. The beginnings of spam started (a phrase coined thanks to USENET back in the day) – a laywer or some such advertised on USENET and was met with very angry response – but the breadth of the response was so large that instead of being intimidated – they realized that it was a gold mine because clearly a lot of people are engaged – and thus began the art of spamming. (we were already trolling back when)

  81. 81.

    jonas

    Has the NYT ever polled people about their concerns about Trump’s age and fitness? He’s only a couple years younger than Biden and already talks like an ornery, dementia-addled grandpa screaming at his nurses in the convalescent home.

    To be fair, there are a number of other concerns about Trump that perhaps pre-emt a discussion of his age, such as whether or not he will die in prison. But worrying about prison at Trump’s age can really stress the brain. Can he handle it? (the Times should be asking…)

  82. 82.

    Betty Cracker

    Apparently Elon Musk spent Labor Day weekend ginning up antisemitic mobs on the site formerly known as Twitter. He amplified antisemitic screeds and accounts and blamed Jews for wrecking the platform’s revenue stream. He’s threatening to sue the ADL for billions. Josh Marshall:

    But the key here is not really about lawsuits or the ins and outs of defamation. It’s that the richest man in the world who holds a commanding position in near-earth-orbit space delivery, electronic cars and global communications spent the weekend churning up hate against Jews as the source of his financial losses. Musk is sometimes compared to the innovator Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company. And the comparison seems increasingly apt, if not in the way many have intended.

    Yep. In a second Biden term (please FSM), I hope there will be a push to stop subsidizing this right-wing creep’s businesses and fund development of government capabilities so no one has to rely on him for space travel, satellite communication, etc., in the future. If Musk and his fellow oligarchs were made to pay their fair share of taxes, that would probably be enough to fund it all.

  83. 83.

    Geminid

    I like Cheryl Rofer’s twitter account picture. It shows a NAFO Dog in goggles and a lab coat with a sunflower on its pocket, holding up a beaker of chemicals.

    This morning Ms. Rofer retweeted an item from Ron Klain:

       For pundits who dismiss Bidenism as a force in our party, Gabe Amo just won a crowded primary by centering his campaign on experience working for- and close alliance with- Joe Biden.

    Gabe Amo won yesterday’s primary for the nomination to run for David Rhode Island Congressional seat vacated by David Cicilline. I belive Mr. Amo is 33 years old.

  85. 85.

    Miss Bianca

    @Geminid: That is some excellent news, there. I get so tired sometimes of the Cult of the Savvy and their Biden-bashing. Nice to get real-world reminders that a critical mass of folk don’t subscribe to that worldview.

  86. 86.

    sdhays

    @Baud: I thought you were issuing a call for a liberal Galt’s Gulch. We’ll show those damn conservative moochers!

    Who’s going to empty the porto-potties?

  89. 89.

    Tony Jay

    As the Politics/News part of the FTFNYT exists mainly as a defensive membrane for Republican shithousery and a trolling operation aimed at actual, real-life politically aware Liberals, the politics/news part of the FTFGuardian serves exactly the same purpose here with the geographically specific signifiers scratched off. They are terrible at their ‘jobs’ and revel in it.

    This, however, is an excellent bit of sports journalism, and about the only part of the mendacious rag I fully endorse.

  90. 90.

    artem1s

    @rikyrah: ​  wow! that was amazing – that poster is amazing. this is the first thing I’ve seen on TikTok that made me want to join and follow someone.

  93. 93.

    sdhays

    @UncleEbeneezer: Yep. Harris has just about the most well-rounded background for being President of any President, ever. And she has excelled in every job the voters have given her. I have zero concerns.

  94. 94.

    geg6

    @zhena gogolia: ​
     
    Come sit next to me. My 25 year anniversary with the University is coming up next week and that was after 9 years at the local community college. And that doesn’t count all the jobs I had before that: waitress, department store clerk, bartender, lifeguard…

    I have never felt so done with working as I am this fall. Never.

  95. 95.

    Ken

    @twbrandt: Plus with Red Bull, cheese sticks, and a pop tart, you’re three quarters of the way to a Chopped basket.  Probably for the dessert round.

  96. 96.

    Geminid

    @tam1MI: Sounds like a Special Master or two will draw the new Alabama map. That was how Virginia’s Supreme Court handled redistricting once the state’s new redistricting commission deadlocked. They picked two Special Masters to draw new Congressional and state legislative districts. One was nominally Democratic, one Republican and they seemed to have produced neutral maps. They worked within the Voting Rights Act requirement for African American representation.

  97. 97.

    Tony Jay

    @OverTwistWillie:

    I can think of two Jonas brothers who shot hoops considerably above their expected performance level, there are likely more, but I’m not the person to ask about that. Perhaps it’s simply that the mystical animal musk they coated themselves in to entrap their sizzling better halves has started flaking off.

  98. 98.

    smith

    @cain: One thing that the liberals who are lured to FTFNYT by the prospect of a good fight don’t recognize is that they are being influenced unwittingly in ways that are not obvious. As has been noted many times before, FTFNYT and other corporate media frequently present stories with a Republican frame, even stories that are not necessarily recognized as political. Examples are stories on economics or about violence. This is particularly true for the headlines, which are a frequent target of complaint here. This framing serves to nudge liberal readers rightward, whether they know it or not. So, FTFNYT not only collects your money so that you can be abused, it also subtly pushes you toward opinions that are more favorable to the interests of the mobster-oligarchs who own them.

  99. 99.

    Kay

    @smith:

    I know Biden is old, but IMO his social media marketing to normies was quite good in 2020. I think he ran a good campaign and is again.

    There’s nothing we can do about the NYTimes – as you say- we just have to go around them. Biden isn’t afraid of going after the cringy, icky voters that the nasty (misogynist) Right dismisses- like middle aged women. That’s big. There’s a lot of them. The “wine moms” the douchebros disparage. I think they’re coming out.

  105. 105.

    Another Scott

    Speaking of the real world, one for the coders – https://grugbrain.dev/

    big brain type system shaman often say type correctness main point type system, but grug note some big brain type system shaman not often ship code. grug suppose code never shipped is correct, in some sense, but not really what grug mean when say correct

    Applies in many fields of human endeavor!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  109. 109.

    MisterForkbeard

    @tam1MI: Is Alabama the state that keeps getting struck down and keeps ignoring it?

    There’s like… 3 red states that keep doing this and don’t face any penalty for it.

    @jonas: They have, actually. They do this very very rarely and then talk about how people are much less concerned about it than for Biden… and neglect to mention that it’s because they spend an inordinate amount of time screaming about “Biden is old” but don’t do that for Trump.

  110. 110.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @bbleh:

    To the Very Serious Journalists I would say: you’re absolutely right, and good luck with that.  To everyone else I would say: the (political) media is as it is and it ain’t gonna change soon, especially not with a WWE ringmaster running for President, so don’t waste time criticizing it or hoping it will change.  Factor it into your plans and soldier on.
     

    Just wanted to read this again. Best advice I’ve seen in a while.

  111. 111.

    geg6

    @cain: ​
     
    I am one of those that has completely given up the FTFNYT. Been quite some time now. And guess what? I don’t miss it at all. I don’t miss their recipes or their stupid word games or their science writing or anything else they spew. I can find recipes, word games and science and culture writing everywhere, especially on the ‘net. NO ONE NEEDS THE FTFNYT! And if you are constantly saying they suck but you can’t do without their crossword puzzle, you have a problem I can’t fix.

  114. 114.

    Geminid

    @OverTwistWillie: I get a sense that Trump’s support is starting to soften among a portion of Republicans. This would present a real opportunity for DeSantis if he had a more attractive personality.

  115. 115.

    p.a.

    I hope to one day enjoy the Italian breakfast of brioche stuffed with whipped cream and the thimblefull of nuclear coffee.

    Or Sicilian brioche with gelato.

  116. 116.

    Scout211

    USA Today  has an interesting, but oddly confusing poll up today.  They polled 900 eligible voters who were planning not to vote in 2024.

    Summary: Most of those non-voters would vote for Trump if they voted, but because Trump has convinced them that elections are rigged, they plan not to vote because he convinced them that their vote doesn’t count. Shhh, don’t tell the Trump campaign! LOL

    I hope this affects many more Trump supporters and they stay home like they did in the Georgia special election for Senate.

  117. 117.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @MisterForkbeard: I’ll go one farther, we likewise can come here for a far more nuanced and informative discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the Biden administration than anything one Bretbug can proffer.

  118. 118.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @p.a.: I hope to one day enjoy the Italian breakfast of brioche stuffed with whipped cream and the thimblefull of nuclear coffee.

    This sounds phenomenal. And I’ve only recently been getting into the potential of using coffee as a flavoring agent.

  120. 120.

    Kay

    @Scout211:

    I think that’s a real thing in my 70% Trump county and I’m thrilled they polled on it. I’ve heard it over and over anecdotally – big, whiny “it’s all RIGGED anyway” and a vow not to vote.

    It’s the best!

  123. 123.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I hope we’re seeing voters diverge more and more from media narratives

     
    This has been my fervent wish for a long time.

  124. 124.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Baud: No media narratives for me. Primary sources, Balloon Juice(mainly to augment my supply of primary sources), and nothing else.

  125. 125.

    Scout211

    Update on one of Trump’s many court cases: Link

    A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that Donald Trump is civilly liable for defamatory statements he made about the writer E. Jean Carroll in 2019 when she went public with claims he had raped her decades earlier.

    Judge Lewis Kaplan, as part of that ruling, said that the upcoming trial for Carroll’s lawsuit against Trump will only deal with the question of how much the former president should pay her in monetary damages for defaming her.

  126. 126.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    I think people have caught on. I was very encouraged by yesterday’s conversations about the MSM and connecting the dots between their professional malpractice when it comes to reporting the truth about President Biden’s accomplishments, and how it is rooted in their anger about being UNable to financially profit from the Biden Administration. Someone even got me to see the lightbulb of how this reaches back to the 2020 PRIMARIES, and how they have been mad since then, because they wanted Bernie to win and then be defeated by Dolt45, who is their cash cow. I hadn’t linked it back to the Democratic Party primaries.

     

    They resent the Democratic Party base, which is why they continue to refuse to cover them.

     

    THOSE PEOPLE upset their financial plan.😒😒😒

  129. 129.

    jonas

    @Geminid: Trump is eminently shiv-able, one would think, but all the other candidates have agreed on a unified message of “Trump is being persecuted and we can think of no reason you should vote for us rather than him.” “Okay,” reply Republican voters. It’s campaigning in Bizarro mode.

  131. 131.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @cain: Of course he is.  He probably thinks the Southern Poverty Law Center and NAACP are the REAL RACISTS too!  For someone who claims not to be a Nazi, he sure seems to agree with them on a lot of things…

  132. 132.

    smith

    @Jackie: And of course, whether elections are rigged will be an issue raised again and again in the upcoming trials, so the Goobers can be reminded again and again of why it’s useless to vote.

  133. 133.

    MisterDancer

    @rikyrah: Concerned Parent in North Texas BRAVELY visits downtown Chicago and BARELY SURVIVES.

    At some point I’ll tell my story about being the only Black kid in the van when my school trip stopped for gas on the South Side of Chicago in the late 1980s.

    TL;DR: Nothing Happened.

  134. 134.

    Kay

    Democrats worried over Biden chances are ‘bedwetters’, ex-Obama adviser says
    Jim Messina, who helped Obama win in 2008 and 2012, says Democrats ‘continually believe every bad thing people say’

    Guffaw. It’s funny cause it’s true.

    And DON’T respond to this by saying “I am still traumatized over 2016” because that was SEVEN YEARS AGO so saying that IS bedwetting :)

  135. 135.

    Ken

    @Scout211: I think this is basically the way judges say “Did you learn nothing the first time?”

    I also think there’s a good chance he still hasn’t learned and will make more defamatory statements about her.

  136. 136.

    Ken

    @jonas: I’m fairly sure that the strategy of all the Republican candidates is “I hope the courts or the Democrats take him out of the race.”  Which is what you can expect from a political party that has settled on a “we have no agency” approach to everything.

  137. 137.

    smith

    @Kay: It would be a lot easier to get past that trauma if he would just go away. It’s the potential for his second coming that provokes the widespread enuresis.

  138. 138.

    jonas

    @bbleh: The final line in the breaking CNN story made me chuckle:

    Trump has denied any wrongdoing. He has appealed the jury’s verdict and all rulings against him.

    Yes, he does do that.

  140. 140.

    Jackie

    @Kay: Bedwetters VOTE!😂  The unfortunately real fear that TIFG may win in ‘24 will motivate them to pull on their depends and get to the polls en masse.😊

  143. 143.

    jonas

    @Ken: I also think there’s a good chance he still hasn’t learned and will make more defamatory statements about her

    I’m sure there’s an all-caps, spittle-flecked Truth Social post being queued up right now that will cost him another couple mil. As I remarked after the first verdict, it would be sweet if Trump simply refuses to pay and a judge awards Carrol a lien on Trump Tower or Mar-A-Lago or something and she eventually ends up owning it.

  145. 145.

    Brachiator

    @jonas:

    I’m sure there’s an all-caps, spittle-flecked Truth Social post being queued up right now that will cost him another couple mil. As I remarked after the first verdict, it would be sweet if Trump simply refuses to pay and a judge awards Carrol a lien on Trump Tower or Mar-A-Lago or something and she eventually ends up owning it.

    Let’s say that Carrol ends up with Mar-A-Lago. What would she do with all those boxes of classified documents that Trump might have to leave behind?

    //snark

  146. 146.

    narya

    To all of you who are counting down til you can retire, you have my best wishes. A year ago, I was where you are now, and . . . once you’re mentally over it, it is just hard to power through. My leaving took a slightly different path–severenced out, plus unemployment, followed by some consulting–but I am so very glad not be WORKING working, and I’m sending all good thoughts and deep breaths your way. The biggest (both in terms of hassle and in terms of cost) pain for me was that I had to get health insurance on the exchange for five months–it would have been nice to avoid that. Good luck to all of you!

  147. 147.

    catclub

    @rikyrah: ​
     

    how this reaches back to the 2020 PRIMARIES

    But the MSM did not complain that THERE WERE NO GOP PRIMARIES in 2020. Funny that.

  148. 148.

    Geminid

    @jonas: Some of the candidates, mainly Hutchinson and Christie are not defending Trump that way. But I don’t think they expect to win anyway.

    It seems to me that DeSantis is the only prospect besides Trump who could win this nomination. I think that’s why Republican elites have not yet given up on him despite his pitiful performance to date. If they don’t have him they have no one.

    But I think you are right about Trump being vulnerable. Trump had over 90% support among Republicans when he ran in 2020, and now he’s hovering around 50. That’s not a good number considering he was just President. But DeSantis doesn’t seem to have the “right stuff” to overtake him. DeSantis doesn’t seem very trainable either.

    Oh well, this is Karl Rove’s problem and not mine.

  149. 149.

    Renie

    There should have been no recess.  Schumer should have made them all stay and vote on, at least, the top level of the military nominees.

  152. 152.

    WaterGirl

    @prostratedragon: That version of This Land Is Your Land was played on a great TV show a couple of years ago.  The show was great so of course it was cancelled.  They used the song in an episode about voting rights, and I loved the episode and that version of the song so much that I still have it saved on Tivo and watch it occasionally.

  154. 154.

    catclub

    @Geminid: Some of the candidates, mainly Hutchinson and Christie are not defending Trump that way. But I don’t think they expect to win anyway.

     

    Exactly, but if Trump does collapse they should be in a better position than all the sycophants.  …maybe.  People hate being reminded they were wrong.

  160. 160.

    Jackie

    Jack Smith is like a dog with a big juicy bone! He’s not gonna let it go until he’s good and done with it!

    “Special counsel Jack Smith is not done with former President Donald Trump and his entourage, despite charging him with four criminal counts over his attempt to overthrow the 2020 election and more than three dozen other charges over his hoarding of classified documents in Florida,” CNNreports.

    “The clash between the hard-driving prosecutor and the world’s most famous defendant escalated even further on Tuesday, as new details of Smith’s widening probe into election interference emerged. The special counsel is now looking at how money raised off baseless claims of voter fraud was used to fund attempts to breach voting equipment in several states won by President Joe Biden.”

  165. 165.

    Bill Arnold

    @Baud:
    There was an atrocious NYTimes headline (subsequently changed) about Biden not meeting with Desantis in Florida. (Desantis refused to meet with Biden.)
    Curiously, none of the 3 authors chose to link to the piece on their twitter account. They do not control the headlines; pro-Republican political operatives do. Being “press” does not mean that they are not political operatives.

  168. 168.

    Jackie

    The Loser loses yet again!🤭😂

    A New York judge quickly dismissed a last-minute requestby Donald Trump to delay his bank and tax fraud trial in New York.

    The former president’s attorneys asked for a three-week halt so the judge can rule on requests from both New York attorney general Letitia James and Trump for a summary judgment in the $250 million civil suit, but Justice Arthur F. Engoron scrawled a nine-word response, reported The Daily Beast.

     

    “Decline to sign; Defendants’ arguments are completely without merit,” Engoron wrote on the draft order, signing with his initials.

  169. 169.

    cain

    @catclub: I think we should replace the theme song to “Maude” with “Baud” –

    🎝
    That uncompromisin’, enterprisin’, anything but tranquilizin’,
    Right on Baud! 🎝

  170. 170.

    cain

    @geg6: And if you are constantly saying they suck but you can’t do without their crossword puzzle, you have a problem I can’t fix.

    Absolutely – and we can do the same thing to NPR.

  171. 171.

    Bill Arnold

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    I adore wikihow, thanks! Two searches of use are:
    term/phrase-to-look-up urban ( or urban dictionary)
    and for stuff that people do,
    term/phrase-to-look-up wikihow

  172. 172.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @rikyrah: It’s hard not to notice how much of the constant Biden/Harris-bashing comes from people who still can’t seem to get over the 2020 (or 2016, for that matter) Dem Primaries.  They’ve been pushing the Everybody Hates Hillary (and Biden) narratives and when the Primary results (and Biden’s achievements) prove them wrong, rather than just admitting that they are out-of-touch with the majority of Dem voters they just double-down and find a new angle for why Biden is the wrong person for the job.  It’s the same sort of incredible denial that Trump voters suffer from.  You see the same thing from these mostly-white*, mostly-male* Very Online Leftists all the time.  I know a dude like this who thinks the majority of Dem voters all share his loathing of Obama.  It’s so weird.

    * Not All/Only

  173. 173.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @billcoop4: Sophie Turner is a fantastic actress who kicked major ass in Game of Thrones.  She was also superb in the True Crime series, The Staircase, about the Scott Peterson affair.  Joe Jonas is one of the Jonas Brothers.  Really popular band.  Not my thing.  But Jonas and Turner were a pretty big power couple matching.  Unsurprisingly it didn’t last.

  174. 174.

    Bill Arnold

    @smith:

    It seems to me that techniques for online influencing have developed a lot, and we’ve seen how much malign influence campaigns, al a the Russian efforts in recent elections, can actually affect voting.

    There are agenda-driven social scientists who are constantly attempting to show that influence operations do not work.
    I consider them to be the enemy, and full of shit. These tools work, and with very narrow election margins common in the US and elsewhere, they matter, a lot.
    (They (some of them) deliberately encourage the press to describe their experiments/studies in ways that their experiments/studies do not support.)

  175. 175.

    Ken

    @Jackie: “Decline to sign; Defendants’ arguments are completely without merit,”

    I keep trying to read this as a haiku, but alas….

  176. 176.

    Jackie

    @narya: Now I’m confused:

    After a three-judge panel struck downAlabama’s most recent congressional map on Tuesday, the state attorney general’s office says he intends to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
    A statement from Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office says that although they are “disappointed” in Tuesday’s ruling, “we strongly believe that the Legislature’s map complies with the Voting Rights Act and the recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court.”
    “We intend to promptly seek review from the Supreme Court to ensure that the State can use its lawful congressional districts in 2024 and beyond,” it continued.

    https://themessenger.com/politics/alabama-attorney-general-to-appeal-redistricting-decision-to-supreme-court

  177. 177.

    smith

    @Bill Arnold: Sounds like the arguments tobacco companies used to make that their commercials aimed at children didn’t actually encourage children to smoke.

  179. 179.

    Bill Arnold

    @smith:
    Actual peer-reviewed academic studies. A few recent examples:
    How do social media feed algorithms affect attitudes and behavior in an election campaign? (SCIENCE, Guess et al, 27 Jul 2023)
    Reshares on social media amplify political news but do not detectably affect beliefs or opinions (SCIENCE, Guess et al, 27 Jul 2023)
    Like-minded sources on Facebook are prevalent but not polarizing (Nature, Nyhan et al, 27 July 2023)
    (I have personally done or observed a few custom influence operations. There is a bit of craft involved, but the massive connectivity in social media is a very powerful resource.)

  182. 182.

    narya

    @Jackie: Both are true, I believe. The federal three-judge panel said, screw it, we’re putting a special master in place to draw the districts, AND the state is going to appeal that ruling to the Supremes (they’ve asked that the ruling be put on hold meanwhile).

  183. 183.

    M31

    @Ken:

    @Jackie: “Decline to sign; Defendants’ arguments are completely without merit,”

    I keep trying to read this as a haiku, but alas….

    decline I to sign:
    completely without merit
    these arguments are

    (turned into Yoda for some reason)

  184. 184.

    wjca

    @narya: It won’t be surprising if the Supreme Court’s response to the Alabama AG’s appeal amounts to “FODS!” as they decline to hear the case.  Few things more universally irritate judges, at every level, than people who blatantly ignore a court order.  An appeal is one thing; simply ignoring what you were ordered to do is utterly unacceptable.

    A, perhaps inappropriate, analogy is this.  In the view of pretty much every police department, it’s one thing if you kill the occasional bank president it the course of a robbery.  But kill a policeman and every cop, not only in the local department but every cop everywhere, will be all in on taking you down.  It’s simple self-preservation.

  185. 185.

    geg6

    @narya: ​
     
    I have at least 2.5 years before I go because I have to wait to qualify for full SS. I am technically single (never married any of the 3 men I’ve lived with over my lifetime and never wanted to), so I can only depend on my own SS and savings (what there is of that). So my countdown is a long one. I just hope I make it to that point.

  186. 186.

    satby

    @narya: And because the legislature defied the previous federal court rulings including a SCOTUS one, they can appeal but it’s not at all given that the case will be taken up by SCOTUS again. 

  187. 187.

    Miss Bianca

    @wjca: OK, I have searched for “FODS” as an acronym online and while I am getting some interesting results (my favorite being the “Friends of Dorothy Society”, which is “online UK gay and lesbian bellringers” and which I presume refers to Dorothy L. Sayers), none of them seem appropriate. So, I am going with my own interpretation as being something along the lines of “Fuck Off and Die, Stupid”, but I don’t mind a correction.

  188. 188.

    narya

    @geg6: I was/am fortunate–I was able to bow out before full SS eligibility, and I’m not actually taking SS right now. My big goalpost was Medicare, because health insurance is so fking expensive. I planned to use 401k dollars when savings and severance and everything ran out, but the consulting I’m doing is enabling me to delay that, too.

  191. 191.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @geg6: I have at least 2.5 years before I go because I have to wait to qualify for full SS. I am technically single (never married any of the 3 men I’ve lived with over my lifetime and never wanted to), so I can only depend on my own SS and savings (what there is of that). So my countdown is a long one. I just hope I make it to that point.

    You should set up a spreadsheet and run the numbers. Remember that unless you have a surviving spouse or child, your payouts end with your death; and that if you don’t take SocSec the minute you turn 62, you miss out on however many monthly payments until you do take it. Two good arguments for taking it as early as possible.

    When I ran the numbers a few years back, I took it at age 66. Turned out that way I’d be ahead of the game until age 83 and I figured that after the few $$$ extra wouldn’t make the difference between filet mignon and dog food, assuming I could even taste the difference by then, or knew what planet I was living on or what century it was.

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