Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The revolution will be supervised.

T R E 4 5 O N

Petty moves from a petty man.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

No Kings: Americans standing in the way of bad history saying “Oh, Fuck No!”

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

I really should read my own blog.

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

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

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

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

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

“But what about the lurkers?”

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / 2024 Primaries / Crash & Burn (Open Thread)

Crash & Burn (Open Thread)

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Last month, I was nervously watching the radar in the wee hours as Hurricane Idalia moved up the Gulf Coast. It sure looked like we would get lucky again, but I didn’t relax until the eye passed our latitude.

It’s too soon to completely discount the destructive force that is Ron DeSantis; I won’t relax until there is a 0% chance of him being sworn in as POTUS on January 20th, 2025. But while Hurricane Meatball hasn’t passed our collective latitude yet, the latest track is mighty encouraging. NBC News:

The Florida governor, once seen as the top rival to former President Donald Trump in the 2024 GOP primary, sits in fifth place in New Hampshire, according to a CNN poll released Wednesday. He hasn’t visited the state, which holds the nation’s second contest, in more than a month.

A Washington Post/Monmouth Survey of South Carolina voters earlier this month found him in only slightly better stead — fourth place — trailing Trump and a pair of home-state candidates, former Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott.

Earlier this week, he held a fundraiser for his leadership PAC and campaign in oil-rich Midland, Texas, which featured several former Trump donors. He continues fundraising in Texas on Thursday.

“His campaign needs a kick in the ass,” one DeSantis ally said. “It’s dead in the water.”

The problem isn’t the campaign, it’s the candidate — maybe give him a kick in the ass? It won’t help, but they might as well try.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

167Comments

  2. 2.

    Chris

    To me the root problem is the Republican base.  It’s true that DeSantis is a terrible candidate, but even if he wasn’t, the GOP base runs on oppositional defiant disorder.  There’s no way in hell they’re going to abandon Trump, because that would mean admitting, if only to themselves (especially to themselves, really) that they were wrong and all the Woke Socialist Liberals and the Elitist RINO Republican Elites that told them Trump was a bad idea were right.  And they simply can’t do that.

  3. 3.

    J. Arthur Crank (fka Jerzy Russian)

    I think his campaign, along with the candidate, needs a kick in the nuts.  I am willing to give out this advice for half the price of what other campaign consultants charge.

  5. 5.

    Ken

    The Florida governor, once seen as the top rival

    On wikipedia, that “seen” would have a superscript “[by whom?]”.  However this is a news article, and we can’t expect them to write “once seen by the media”.

  6. 6.

    Lyrebird

    miniscule and not important, unless you want to check, Miz BC:

    Should that “until” be a “while” leading up to the NON-ZERO?

  7. 7.

    dmsilev

    Betty, you must be conflicted. Sure, it’s great watching Ron deSantis suffer. But the down side for you is that soon he’ll be spending more time back in Florida.

  8. 8.

    sdhays

    I won’t relax until there is a NON-ZERO chance of him being sworn in as POTUS on January 20th, 2025

    I think you mean “as long as” instead of “until”.

    Regarding the pants kicking – we’ll never know if it could help without extensive trials.

  9. 9.

    Brachiator

    Meanwhile, the big money people are stumped. They supposedly fear that Trump will lose the general election, but don’t see any alternative. From CNN

    Levin, who has not backed a candidate in the primary, said the power of big donors to shape a presidential contest has waned in the Trump era, given the former president’s reliance on small-dollar contributors and his resilient grip on the GOP’s grassroots.

    And donors interviewed by CNN also said they were reluctant to join any anti-Trump faction in the general election should he secure the nomination.

  10. 10.

    Yarrow

    FYI, Nitter.net is borked because the guy who runs it messed with the server. The instances in this list work, though. It’s not a Nitter problem; it’s just that specific instance.

  12. 12.

    Betty Cracker

    Oh wait, this is a game-changer:

    (CNN) — Ron DeSantis on Wednesday said if elected president, he would not pay for further coronavirus vaccines for Americans.

    This is sure to capture the votes of the people who follow Dr. Hotez around to harass him in public as well as disgruntled RFK Jr. supporters!

  13. 13.

    Old School

    @Lyrebird:

    Should that “until” be a “while” leading up to the NON-ZERO?

    @sdhays:

    I think you mean “as long as” instead of “until”.

    She means ABSOLUTE-ZERO rather than NON-ZERO.

    The “until” remains to match the hurricane comparison.

  14. 14.

    rikyrah

    Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) posted at 10:41 AM on Thu, Sep 21, 2023:
    Just to put this in context, republicans cannot even agree to debate the pentagon spending bill. This bill usually passes by big margins.

    It failed twice this week.

    Kevin mccarthys House Republicans are in a state of crisis.

     

     

    Jordan Weissmann (@JHWeissmann) posted at 10:58 AM on Thu, Sep 21, 2023:
    This is the level of governance people kind of expected from McCarthy before he pulled off the debt ceiling deal.

    We’ll see if he finds a path to salvaging his speakership, but right now, it’s a shitshow.
    (https://x.com/JHWeissmann/status/1704887771331006951?t=TksXvub9WUFU8ZDJ0jCD7Q&s=03)

  19. 19.

    Chris

    @Ken:

    Yeah, you’ve got to love it.  The media tried so hard to manifest a DeSantis nomination that nobody else was asking for, and now that it’s finally clear that it’s never going to happen, they’re mystified that anybody ever believed it.

  20. 20.

    rikyrah

    I hope the election authorities are ready for the coming explosion of Mail Voting.

     

    Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) posted at 10:05 AM on Thu, Sep 21, 2023:
    Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed a slate of 10 election laws into effect that open access to voting by mail to most New Yorkers, and make other changes aimed at making voting easier.

    One bill also bars the state’s presidential Electors from becoming ‘faithless electors.’
    (https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/1704874513656136042?t=_b59V7PukUH4Ivnzwozr5A&s=03)

  21. 21.

    West of the Rockies

    I hope this hurts for DeSantis.   He hurts people,  gleefully.  His choices have meant death for many.  He deserves all the pain and humiliation and disappointment he is getting.

  24. 24.

    Chris

    @Brachiator:

    Levin, who has not backed a candidate in the primary, said the power of big donors to shape a presidential contest has waned in the Trump era, given the former president’s reliance on small-dollar contributors and his resilient grip on the GOP’s grassroots.

    It’s just so terrible that they live in a one-party nation and can’t support anybody but the Republican.  Gosh, what else could they possibly do if the Republican candidate is Donald Trump again.  I mean, that’s literally the only party nominating anyone for President.

    And donors interviewed by CNN also said they were reluctant to join any anti-Trump faction in the general election should he secure the nomination.

    Terrible, isn’t it.  Seriously, what else could they possibly do.  It’s a pickle, no doubt about it.

  26. 26.

    UncleEbeneezer

    J. TRUMP, Defendant. * * * * * * * * CRIMINAL NO. 23-cr-257 (TSC) ORDER

    Having considered the parties’ filings, and mindful of the Court’s responsibility to protect the fundamental right to a fair trial by impartial jurors from comments that are likely to influence the outcome of the trial or prejudice the jury venire, see Gentile v. State Bar of Nevada, 501 U.S. 1030, 1075 (1991), upon the Court’s finding that a narrowly tailored order governing extrajudicial statements by the parties is the least restrictive measure to protect this process from materially prejudicial outside interference, and pursuant to Local Criminal Rule 57.7(c), the Court orders as follows:

    1. The parties in this case and their attorneys are prohibited from making or authorizing statements to the media or in public settings, including through social media, that pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice to this case. Such statements include, but are not limited to, (a) statements regarding the identity, testimony, or credibility of prospective witnesses; and (b) disparaging and inflammatory or intimidating statements about any party, witness, attorney, court personnel, or potential jurors. The defendant is also prohibited from causing surrogates to make such statements on his behalf.

    2. Consistent with Local Criminal Rule 57.7, this prohibition does not preclude the defendant or his attorneys, agents, or others acting on his behalf from (a) quoting or referring – without comment to public records of the court in the case; (b) announcing the scheduling or result of any stage in the judicial process; (c) requesting assistance in obtaining evidence; or (d) announcing without further comment that the defendant denies the charges.

    HON. TANYA S. CHUTKAN UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

  29. 29.

    topclimber

    Betty, you made me think of a slogan: “Kick the ass in the ass.”

    But the truth is he is not an ass in the sense of being an idiot. He is just an uptight fascist who does not like people outside of his Evangelical circle and who can’t even fake it for political effect.

    I channeled Tony Jay and thought “kick the bum in the bum,” but he is so more competent and despicable than your typical jerk. No go, TJ.

    That leaves me with “Kick the Inquisitor in his anus.” And with the sure and certain knowledge that this needs more work.

  30. 30.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @rikyrah:

    This is the level of governance people kind of expected from McCarthy before he pulled off the debt ceiling deal.

    Uh, before he got totally fucking pantsed on the debt ceiling deal by the Democrats?  When he gave his hostage away for absolutely nothing and now has to miserably wait to have his tighty-whities displayed again by Biden and Jeffries?  So far, this is playing out exactly the same way as then.

  33. 33.

    Captain C

    @Chris:

    To me the root problem is the Republican base.  It’s true that DeSantis is a terrible candidate, but even if he wasn’t, the GOP base runs on oppositional defiant disorder.

    Bingo!  As awful a destructive force as TFG is, he’s only the most glaring symptom of this.

  34. 34.

    piratedan

    @bbleh: sounds like she is allowing Trump to continue to profess his innocence out in the public, but any statements regarding the court, the judge, the lawyers or potential witnesses is verboten.  At least that’s how I read it and I did NOT stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night.

  36. 36.

    Rusty

    I’m moving in the direction that the variation among the various Republican candidates in what they will do is small.  Yes, DeSantis will be more efficient in his evil, Trump more chaotic.  But in the end the party is generally committed to policies and actions no matter the particular candidate.  They all seem in favor of the Heritage Foundation plan to decapitate most of the professional staff of government agencies.  There is already a name of some conservative operative on some list for the future third associate undersecretary of OSHA roof safety  enforcement that will replace the current professional in that position.  No matter which Republican wins, that operative will fill the position and make sure that enforcement of the rules are minimal, fines are reduced to the cost of lunch, and will launch amendment of the rules to make them absolutely meaningless.  They all want to get rid of the Department of Education.  What little education money that will flow from the federal government to the states will be solely for school vouchers and lack any oversight at all.  All of them will nominate the same cut out candidates for the Supreme Court, young reactionaries to cement right wing policies for generations.  Everyone of them will sign a national abortion ban.  Everyone of them will sign a national ban on treatment for trans people.  So maybe DeSantis will be more ruthless on a few issues, maybe Trump gets caught up in a dick waving competition with some other foreign leader, maybe Haley is just a tad softer on some narrow issue (oil drilling at Yellowstone), but in the end it really won’t be any different for the vast majority of us and what effects our lives.  A pox on them all.

  39. 39.

    Captain C

    @rikyrah: I like how a bunch of ppl pointed out that the $78 probably included a couple of high-end double whiskeys, which of course the common people who he laughably purports to speak for drink all the fucking time.

  42. 42.

    New Deal democrat

    @rikyrah: This is a good opportunity to summarize something I intend to write more about at length elsewhere tomorrow: the disconnect between many economists, like Paul Krugman, believing inflation has been conquered, and a majority of Americans, who very much say it is not.

    In dry academic terms, Krugman is right. In the past 12 months consumer prices have only risen about 1% except to the badly lagging way in which rents and housing are calculated. In fact, if we were to use current YoY rents and house prices, all together consumer prices has actually *fallen* slightly.

    BUT, the two big consumer items, housing and cars, remain much more unaffordable than they were before the pandemic. The reasons are twofold; (1) these items are typically acquired in part via accumulated savings, not current income, and aside from the value of real estate holdings themselves, plus retirement account balances, median wealth has actually declined; and (2) the carrying cost for monthly payments have increased sharply, with mortgages going from 3% to 7%, and the days of advertised 0% interest payments on cars long gone.

    In other words, the 2 big ticket items in most Americans’ lives have gotten, and remained, much more expensive, even after wage increases, despite the average price action over the last 12 months.

  43. 43.

    cmorenc

    @topclimber:

    That leaves me with “Kick the Inquisitor in his anus.” And with the sure and certain knowledge that this needs more work.

    Simpler, un-pretentious phrasing that alliterates works much better, e.g.

    “blast to the butt”.

  44. 44.

    M31

    goddamn it, burgers and fries and a 5th of whisky at Newark Terminal B are too expensive and that’s such bad news for Joe Biden

  45. 45.

    sdhays

    @Frankensteinbeck: Back in April, he actually managed to get the House Republicans to pass a shit bill as opening for negotiations. That surprised many people, including me, but also the White House and Congressional Democrats.

    Most people were expecting McQarthy to just flop around while the Freedumb Carcass danced about flinging poo, which is what we’re seeing now. I guess the debt ceiling focused enough of the Freedumb Carcass that allowed McQarthy to cosplay as a semi-normal Congressional Leader for a few weeks. That’s no longer happening.

  46. 46.

    Old Man Shadow

    @cain: They were always worthless.

    See? This is why you need to tax wealthy folks at 90-95% again.

    They just can’t be trusted not to blow all of their money on useless shit when they’re left unsupervised. Lose sight of them for five seconds and suddenly they come back with NFTs and Twitter.

  47. 47.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @rikyrah: I have long held that the day Brooks’ exsanguinated, broken body is found in some Manhattan alley will be a day for dancing in the streets.

  48. 48.

    M31

    burgers and fries and a fifth of whiskey are too expensive at the airport and our pathetic woke military refuse to do anything about it

  50. 50.

    eclare

    OT:  got my covid booster (Moderna) at Walgreens this morning.  The waiting area seemed to have a quick turnover, so I asked the pharmacy tech if they were busy giving shots.  She said they had FORTY appointments scheduled today!

    Reporting from Memphis.

  53. 53.

    M31

    when Trump was president burgers and fries and 2 double scotches for me and a Shirley Temple for my new bride were only $8.50 at Newark Terminal A

  56. 56.

    bbleh

    @New Deal democrat: and yet, we read almost every day that what is fueling Americans’ perception of inflation is everyday items — grocery prices, gas prices.

    There seems to be a bit of a cottage industry in coming up with reasons to say, or to tell people, that inflation is high.  And certainly there is an echo-chamber effect: the media say it’s high, Americans hear it and manifest the usual effects of confirmation bias, and the media repeat their comments.  But just because they believe it doesn’t mean it’s true.

  58. 58.

    bbleh

    @eclare: Got mine at Wags too, plus flu, and they were backed up so they had to do 2 days’ appointments at once, but at least they HAD vaccine.  CVS doesn’t and has no appointments locally for the full 2-week period on the website.

  59. 59.

    Chris

    @bbleh:

    There’s also the inherent bias that on some level everybody believes that whatever they’re currently buying should be cheaper.

    “You always pay too much when you pay.”

  60. 60.

    Doc H

    “I don’t think it’s the campaign’s fault at all; it’s his,” Republican strategist Ed Rollins told Rolling Stone in July. “I think he’s been a very flawed candidate. I know some of the people around him, and some of them are good, talented people. But every time he opens his mouth, he has a tendency to — shall we say — think out-loud, and he clearly doesn’t understand the game. … When you get into these culture wars the way that he has, the vast majority of people don’t understand what they are.”*

    His habit of speaking in language only the most OANN/Newsmax poisoned people understand is not serving him well. Also,too, he’s repulsive.

  61. 61.

    eversor

    @Captain C:

    A single moderately high end whiskey is $40 on it’s own.  Good whiskey is $65 on up.

    I took the SO her sister and her nieces out for omakese sushi last week and high end whiskey.  Total damage for the five of us was 2000.  I blame Biden.

  64. 64.

    Ken

    @Villago Delenda Est: [NFTs] were worthless from inception on.

    People could sell them for money, so they were not worthless.  Now they’ve reached the end of the “bigger fool” chain, and no one will buy.  I’ll agree they were valueless from the start.

  66. 66.

    Subsole

     

     

    @rikyrah:

    Merciful God, has that man ever been within telescope range of life as it is actually lived by actual people?

    And America’s newspapers think this unalloyed claptrappery is the insight us peons need to hear, lest we lose our perspective.

     

    The mind reels.

  67. 67.

    realbtl

    One of the upsides about living in Montana is I checked WAG for booster appointments Wed and basically had my choice for today and tomorrow.

  70. 70.

    Chris

    @Subsole:

    The “Applebee’s salad bar” moment really should have been the end of his career.

    But hey, it’s mainstream media punditocracy.  The only way to fail is upwards.

  71. 71.

    New Deal democrat

    @bbleh: Well, in the last couple of months gas has gotten more expensive again, although at about $3.75 as a national average, it really isn’t that big a deal compared with the last 10 or 15 years.

    More concerning is that Russia and Saudi Arabia, both of which want to see Trump elected in 2024, appear to be cooperating in trying to drive the price up and cause a U.S. recession.

  74. 74.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @rikyrah: So, he spends $60 on whisky, $17 on actual food, and it looks like he doesn’t eat his veggies.

    He probably had drinks on the plane, too. Hope he didn’t drive home from the airport. Drunk driving is dangerous and illegal, Mr. Brooks.

  76. 76.

    Betty Cracker

    @cain: I was in a meeting a couple of years ago where a guy bragged about his Bored Ape NFT that he’d paid tens of thousands of dollars for. I thought, “what an idiot!” but said nothing because it was not my meeting.

  77. 77.

    Cameron

    I got my COVID shot this a.m. at Publix – only one other person there for it.  I could have waited until Saturday and gone to CVS, but I don’t know what foolishness DeSantis might try here in FL before then.

  78. 78.

    Brachiator

    @bbleh:

    There seems to be a bit of a cottage industry in coming up with reasons to say, or to tell people, that inflation is high.

    No. People are reporting that inflation is high, that is, the cost of living. It’s simple. They look at the money in their pocket and how much they pay for things.

    And even if the inflation rate is holding steady or even declining, this does not mean that prices have decreased or stop rising.

    And obviously the cost of living increases doesn’t hit everyone the same way.

    It is currently estimated that the cost of living adjustment for Social Security will be 3 percent for 2024. If you are a senior who depends on Social Security and your rent and medical expenses have risen more than 3 percent, you may be worried.

    The president cannot do much directly to keep inflation low, so it’s unfair that voters might hold him responsible for this. But his policies might boost the economy and keep inflation from rising too high.

    And of course the big lie pushed by conservatives is that government spending is mostly responsible for inflation.

  79. 79.

    Subsole

     

     

    @Chief Oshkosh: If I wanted to be a catty bitch, I’d suggest that maybe he was buying dinner for himself and the younger replacement for his young replacement wife.

  80. 80.

    CarolPW

    @bbleh: ​
     The soonest Rite Aid (where I usually get my vaccines) could get me in was October 20th. Fred Meyer didn’t have any appointments in their 14-day window. When I checked Walgreens yesterday I could have gotten it that afternoon but made an appointment for tomorrow.
    This is a red area with a very low vaccination rate, so I don’t think it is so much high demand as a gross underestimation in the stock of vaccine the other two stores needed.

  81. 81.

    Eunicecycle

    Some folks in the morning thread about Climate Corps were looking for the Postcard to Voters language for the Ohio Issue 1 Vote Yes campaign. Here it is:

    Vote YES on Issue 1 to end Ohio’s abortion ban.
    Give others the freedom to make personal medical decisions.
    Please vote YES starting October 11 through November 7.

  82. 82.

    Eunicecycle

    @CarolPW: I had an appointment at Rite Aid for Friday but they canceled it and rescheduled it for Saturday. The email said something about a supply issue.

  86. 86.

    Jager

    Late to the party as usual. I just got off the phone with a guy I’ve known and worked with since the mid-70s. He’s a 4th generation Florida guy, he thinks DeSantis is a pile of dog shit. He doesn’t blame native Floridians, but new arrivals and the mass of retirees in the state. As he said, “These old bastards sit around and drink all day with their pals and invent shit to be angry about.”

  87. 87.

    eversor

    @Subsole:

    He’s a snob.  He probably got some 60 buck pour of whiskey.  Which, while fine for a special occasion is silly for the airport.

  88. 88.

    FelonyGovt

    @rikyrah: I’ve got to think this could be a good angle for Democrats running in House races in Republican-represented districts that  Biden won in 2022  (such as CA-27, where the execrable Mike Garcia represents a district in Los Angeles County).

    “Do you like the complete disfunction, infighting and ineptitude that a Republican majority has demonstrated?”

  89. 89.

    rikyrah

    @Brachiator:

     

    Levin, who has not backed a candidate in the primary, said the power of big donors to shape a presidential contest has waned in the Trump era, given the former president’s reliance on small-dollar contributors and his resilient grip on the GOP’s grassroots.

    And donors interviewed by CNN also said they were reluctant to join any anti-Trump faction in the general election should he secure the nomination.

     

    That’s right. They’re scared of Dolt45. No better for them.

  90. 90.

    rikyrah

    @Betty Cracker:

    (CNN) — Ron DeSantis on Wednesday said if elected president, he would not pay for further coronavirus vaccines for Americans.

     

    for real?

    Who does he think would think this is a positive?

  91. 91.

    rikyrah

    @Chris:

    Yeah, you’ve got to love it.  The media tried so hard to manifest a DeSantis nomination that nobody else was asking for, and now that it’s finally clear that it’s never going to happen, they’re mystified that anybody ever believed it.

    they are so mad. They spent a year and a  half lying and fluffing him up. They were prepared to dismiss Democrats who dislike him. But, he can’t even get out of the GOP Primary…

    BWA HA AH AHA HA HA HA HA AHAH

  93. 93.

    rikyrah

    @Ken:

    @rikyrah: From the comments upstream, it sounds like Brooks spent $17 for the burger and fries, and topped it off with $61 for booze?

     

    To be honest, I knew that’s what happened. I know airport food is unreasonable, but, he wasn’t in a first class lounge. He was in the regular airport. At best, a cheeseburger will cost you $20.

  94. 94.

    OverTwistWillie

    @rikyrah:

    He predicted FOX’s exposure for the defamation would be $50 million-ish. When it came in an order of magnitude larger he was done. He might not have realized immediately, but that was it; with his family, the BOD, executive leadership.

    Fire sale time. Watch them grab any deal on the table for ABC out from under Disney.

  95. 95.

    Betty Cracker

    @rikyrah: Yep — for real. I think Doc H at #60 is right — DeSantis and team marinate in con-media 24/7 and have no idea how this crap lands with normal people.

    @Jager: He’s not wrong.

  96. 96.

    Bill Arnold

    @West of the Rockies:

    His choices have meant death for many.

    He is guilty of stochastic mass murder, just for his mishandling of COVID-19 public health measures.
    Legal systems haven’t figured out how to deal with these cases as criminal acts.
    Doesn’t make it less true. He is a mass murderer. So is Joseph Abiodun Ladapo, his quack Surgeon General.

  98. 98.

    eversor

    @rikyrah:

    It’s also a dumb metric for inflation.  The stuff people worry about is boring.  Gas, milk, eggs, meat, fresh produce, rent.  That is all up a good bit and while inflation has slowed down none of it has returned to where it was and is still going up.  Just at a slower rate.

    Dining out costs have not really risen.  And the higher you go up in dining the less they have changed at all.  People also stop dining out because their base bills have gone up enough they can’t.  Not because the shitty Applebees meal is two bucks more.

    I’m also going to hazard that the price of his groceries has not gone up.  If I got to Safeway or Giant or Trader Joes prices are noticably up.  If I go to Whole Foods or Wegmans prices aren’t up much if at all on things.  If I go to the fancy pants butcher shops, cheese mongers, fish markets, that he would be shopping at the prices never went up at all because they were always insane.   Normal person ribeye is up.  Fancy organic, grass fed, USDA prime, dry aged ribeye is the same 60 buck a pound it’s always been at the good place.

  99. 99.

    hotshoe

    @Yarrow:

    Addicted to using nitter for tracing down the twitter posts which folks screenshot here.

    So I was a bit relieved to see nitter.net cut off this morning. Cold turkey.

    But I am really glad to see that some of those nitter feeds are working, in case the craving gets too bad to resist ;) Thanks for the info!

  100. 100.

    Kay

    When you get into these culture wars the way that he has, the vast majority of people don’t understand what they are.”

    Rollins says that, but all Republicans run on anti woke. It’s what they ran on in 2022. DeSantis just takes it to extremes because he was dumb enough to listen to Christopher Rufo.

  101. 101.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Let’s Go Brandon seems to have died on a vine.  And that was a bottom up, organic message. Anti-woke is pure top down.

  102. 102.

    eversor

    @Kay:

    The best thing about listening to Rufo is he’s an idiot.  Rufo got started in the intelligent design fiasco and that backfired.  Also it wasn’t CRT that got Youngkin elected in the school fiasco in NOVA.  It was that the left wanted to lower the standards or cancel the AP program completely because it was dominated by Asians with whites as a second.   That caused holy hell up here as the AP program is a ticket to a school that matters.  Rufo just claimed it was CRT and trans and people believed him.

  104. 104.

    RaflW

    Kind of remarkable that Nikki is at 14.3% in the RCP average for South Carolina. They’re really just not that into her. Hahaha.

  106. 106.

    Tony G

    Personally, I would be happy to kick Ron DeSantis in the ass — free of charge.  Just give me a call.

  107. 107.

    RaflW

    @rikyrah: As I said to David over in the ratio: If you spent $60 on booze at the Newark airport, you may have a drinking problem.

    It looked like he was drinking some brown liquor on the rocks. I’ve been sober 21 years, so I am not well versed in prices now, but I’d hope to g-d a decent tot of bourbon would be like 20 bucks in a rip off environment like a terminal concourse. If he slugged three of those, alone, while waiting for a flight? Dude – wake up, you’re on the edge of trouble.

  108. 108.

    pat

    @pat: ​

    Just for some context, all food and BOOZE in a lounge is free. If he flies at all regularly from that airport, he must have some access to a business class lounge or similar.

    I don’t get it. Is he making stuff up???

     

    Maybe he has to pay for the lounge?  who knows…. it’s brooks..

  110. 110.

    Old School

    I met with US House Speaker @SpeakerMcCarthy, House Democratic Leader @RepJeffries, and US House Representatives.

    Ukraine is sincerely grateful to the House, both parties, and the entire American people for all the support.

    We have accomplished much together to safeguard democracy, freedom, and dignity—values shared by both of our nations.

    The Ukrainian people have suffered immensely as a result of Russian war crimes, but we have liberated more than half of the occupied territory from Russian invaders, and we can clearly see that victory is getting closer.

    During our meeting, we discussed the battlefield situation and priority defense needs, including air defense.

    I emphasized that a Ukrainian victory will ensure that neither Russia nor any other dictatorship destabilizes the free world again. To win, we must all stand together and work together.

    pic.twitter.com/q3Zk06vOru— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 21, 2023

    Also, reports that McCarthy denied Zelenskyy’s request to address Congress.

  112. 112.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Tony Jay: It’s never to late to give Meatball Ron an outer space fate!

    The magic potion is to catapult DeathSantis out into the ocean!

    Ron’s an ass who should be shitslapped with a large bass!

  114. 114.

    lowtechcyclist

    @New Deal democrat:

    BUT, the two big consumer items, housing and cars, remain much more unaffordable than they were before the pandemic. The reasons are twofold; (1) these items are typically acquired in part via accumulated savings, not current income, and aside from the value of real estate holdings themselves, plus retirement account balances, median wealth has actually declined; and (2) the carrying cost for monthly payments have increased sharply, with mortgages going from 3% to 7%, and the days of advertised 0% interest payments on cars long gone.

    In other words, the 2 big ticket items in most Americans’ lives have gotten, and remained, much more expensive, even after wage increases, despite the average price action over the last 12 months.

    Not arguing with you here.  But something just doesn’t add up.

    Let’s look at homes.  If people have less savings to put down for a down payment for a home, and interest rates have increased substantially (which they have) which makes, say, a $500K house more expensive to the buyer than it was before rates went up — then shouldn’t those factors push the list prices of houses DOWN?  Yet they continue to increase, and not slowly either, in the small sample of markets that I’m familiar with.

    Enough people are still shelling out for homes as if they can afford higher home prices to keep driving sale prices up, even as the interest rates go up.  If houses are more unaffordable now, how the devil is this happening??

    And with cars, what I’ve heard is that prices keep going up because the auto manufacturers can charge more and still keep selling their cars and trucks, not because costs are forcing them to raise prices.  So again, if cars are getting more unaffordable, more unaffordable for whom??  If houses and cars are getting more unaffordable, why aren’t home sales lagging and people cutting their list prices, and why aren’t car dealers looking at lots full of cars they can’t sell without cutting prices?

    It’s the same here as everywhere else in the economy.  People are spending as if they are doing great, financially.  I’ve got to ignore what people say if it doesn’t match up with what they’re doing.  And what they’re doing is putting down more money than ever for houses and cars.

  115. 115.

    eversor

    @RaflW:

    As a drinker of brown liquids it varies.  If you are out at a good place in the DC area a Johnny Black is going to be 20.  A Johnny blue or good single malt is 40, prices go up from there.  A good Japanese whiskey at a nice sushi place is like 65.

    It’s entirely possible he blew that whiskey money on one pour.

    As for the amount it depends on how long.  My last big drinking fest was when we all went out for omakese.  This is a four hour long chefs private sushi bar.  It’s a special occasions thing.  It’s not uncommon for people to go through four whiskeys over the course of it.

    Of course nobody knows the facts of what happened cause Brooks won’t provide the details.  Because he fabricated the situation.

  117. 117.

    Geminid

    @eversor: I thought Youngkin’s pounding of CRT as an issue was useful in a tactical way, as an issue with which to motivate the Republican base. In the past, Virginia Republicans have leaned into the gun rights and abortion issues. Those motivate their base, but they motivate the other side as much or more.

    Youngkin knew that in order to win, he had to keep those issues in the background. When he inveighed against CRT I think a lot of “normies” just scratched their heads. But the base Reoublican base heard the dog whistle loud and clear and rallied to it.

    Youngkin might have just stumbled onto this. The irony is that a lot of Republicans nationally thought that Youngkin had found the key to flipping a blue state. They have followed this bad take into political dead ends.

  123. 123.

    jonas

    @Jager: Yeah, it used to be that NYC Jews moved to Florida when they retired and they were typically pretty liberal — some of them Holocaust survivors. They’ve mostly died off and now the people moving to Florida are rich assholes leaving states like MI or NY because they think taxes are too high and there are too many queers running around. And yes, they just want to sit around and drink, play golf, and talk shit about minorities (trust me — I hear them when they talk about their plans to move). Just like their cheeto-faced god.

  124. 124.

    jonas

    @Ruckus: Yikes. That’s bad. Lemme guess: a few weeks ago, just as the refineries were getting ready to switch to their “winter formulation”, there was an equipment “malfunction” in Wilmington that halted production for a few days and sent prices soaring. Amirite?

    Like clockwork.

  126. 126.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @Ruckus: here in the SF Bay area it’s reaching $5.50.

    As far as general economic health, my gauge is freeway traffic and it’s definitely up, tech layoffs notwithstanding.

    To @New Deal democrat‘s point, yeah, I think we can expect bad behavior from the Saudis.

  128. 128.

    trollhattan

    @Ruckus: @Mr. Bemused Senior:

    How is it these asshats keep upgrading from the Camry to the RAM 2500? Are they immune to spending $5+ to fill that 31-gallon hot tub of gas?

    Just don’t get it.

    Also, in the less-affluent parts of town it’s over $6/gallon, yet another way we stick it to the poor.

    California will be switching to the winter formulation, which is their 2x/year excuse for raising it a half buck. Whee!

  129. 129.

    Anyway

    @RaflW:

    As I said to David over in the ratio: If you spent $60 on booze at the Newark airport, you may have a drinking problem.

    Airport restos have a hefty price tag. High taxes too.

  130. 130.

    bbleh

    @lowtechcyclist: aka the Theory of Revealed Preference.  And yes, perceptions can differ from reality, and actions can differ from both.  And of the 3, perceptions are the most mutable and least reliable IMHO.

  131. 131.

    Brachiator

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Enough people are still shelling out for homes as if they can afford higher home prices to keep driving sale prices up, even as the interest rates go up.  If houses are more unaffordable now, how the devil is this happening??

    This is a good question, and economists are struggling to find an answer. In California and some other markets, you have a small but sizeable upper middle class, many in the tech industry, who have high wages and savings who are expanding and driving high home prices. At the same time, lower income people are being priced out of living in California at all. BTW, in the UK there appears to be an income and housing imbalance so large that younger people with relatively good incomes fear that they may never be able to afford a home. Prices are high for existing homes and not enough new housing is being built.

    Also in the US, the cost of home insurance is skyrocketing in California and Florida as some insurers exit the market, and yet there is still a cohort of consumers who can afford the additional costs.

    Used cars are becoming more affordable, which is helping the car sales market. Lower income people who were kicked in the butt by halts in public transit during the pandemic are skimping and saving to buy cars. They can’t afford to be left hanging if they don’t have any other options.

    It’s the same here as everywhere else in the economy.  People are spending as if they are doing great, financially.  I’ve got to ignore what people say if it doesn’t match up with what they’re doing.  And what they’re doing is putting down more money than ever for houses and cars.

    Savings are declining and consumer debt is increasing. People didn’t squander stimulus payments during the pandemic, but used the payments wisely. Now they are piling on debt again.

    Wages have risen for some people. We get unemployment data, but I wonder how many people were able to get better jobs after the pandemic. Also, even though unemployment is low, homelessness is a big problem and some people have been permanently pushed out of the job market.

    Some measures of the economy are not telling us all we need to know.

  132. 132.

    kindness

    If Ron wants more press, he should have Casey wear that full length Dalmation hide jacket it took her so long to get made.

  133. 133.

    Geminid

    @Brachiator: One reason Republican elites have not banded together to oppose Trump is that they will need his voters next November. They want to salvage as many Congressional races as possible. If Trump heads the ticket he’ll lose a lot of Independent voters that may have been winnable by another Republican. But enough Independents might split their tickets so that Republicans could still carry some purple states and districts.

    But if the Trump voters stay home, those purple state and district candidates can’t win.

    And you never know. Trump could pull it off (although that seems unlikely). If he does, the craven Republican pols can say  “You know, I had my doubts at times. But deep down inside, I knew he could do it!”

  134. 134.

    Ruckus

    @jonas:

    Actually there are several refineries in CA and it seems most of them are having to work on something/something right now….

    We have effective rapid transit here in the greater LA area, transit train routes (I use one to travel across the county and it’s cheap!), diesel/electric routes and some very good bus lines. That transit train (overhead wire electric) is rather cheap, I pay 35 cents off peak to travel 50 miles, 85 cents rush hour. Takes about the same time as driving, given the normal traffic.

  136. 136.

    trollhattan

    Should also be noted Brent crude is around $93/bbl, a direct result of Vlad and our Friends the Sawdis dropping production. We can’t get off the stuff fast enough.

  137. 137.

    jonas

    @trollhattan:  How is it these asshats keep upgrading from the Camry to the RAM 2500?

    I’ve been noticing the same thing recently — once again, the supermarket parking lot seems to be full of these carrier-sized luxury SUVs that you know cost $75k and get like 15mpg. I’m sure the owners are furious about interest rates and the price of gas. But WTF are people thinking?

  139. 139.

    Tony Jay

    @NotMax:

    Britain direly needs a high-speed, high-capacity train network to allow for a general spreading-out of the economic power currently monopolised by London and the South-East. Hell, what it really needs is massive investment in new rail infrastructure to shift goods traffic off the roads plus a long-term, staged plan to invest in the North and Midlands and encourage green jobs/local agriculture in addition to urban jobs.

    HS2 is none of that. It was always just a corrupt bondoogle that was never, ever going to get any further than the Tory heartlands and now exists solely to shove billions of pounds into the pockets of Tory donors.

    Sadly, genuine infrastructure investment is anathema to Tory ideology and is one of the many, many things Nu-New Labour have ruled out in the name of ‘fiscal discipline’. The next Government won’t have the guts to cancel HS2 or actually try to improve it, they’ll just continue to shove money at it in the hope that something good happens.

  140. 140.

    jonas

    @Anyway: Airport restos have a hefty price tag. High taxes too

    Yeah, a burger and a beer usually sets me back about $25 at an airport these days. I’d say they charge about a 15-20% premium over an outside restaurant. It’s the concession fees, I’m sure, along with the fact that, hey, you’re stuck in an airport terminal. Where *else* are you going to go? Also, a lot of travelers are on business and expensing everything, so they’re not as price-conscious as they might otherwise be. Whether the NYT is going to reimburse Brooks for the $60 of liquor he washed his burger down with, I’m not sure.

  144. 144.

    Brachiator

    @Ruckus:

    We have effective rapid transit here in the greater LA area, transit train routes (I use one to travel across the county and it’s cheap!), diesel/electric routes and some very good bus lines.

    This is not entirely true. The rail system is being expanded, but there have been a steady cut back in bus service since the pandemic. Worse, crime and an increase in homeless riders make travel on some lines uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous.

    The transit agency and the sheriff’s department are engaging in a stupid ego and turf fight over providing law enforcement on trains and buses. Another transit agency, Foothill Transit, has police officers riding some routes, something I never saw in years of taking agency buses.

    They want to improve service in advance of the Olympics. They can do it, but it will be a challenge. But meantime even people who used to ride the trains and buses before the pandemic are avoiding the main lines. There are some specialty commuter lines that are doing okay.

  145. 145.

    Tony Jay

    @NotMax:

    I will stress, I’m not an economist, or a transport specialist (whatever that is), but since everything people said – could – go wrong – has – gone wrong, in exactly the way people who mistrust Tories said it would, then I’m working from the base equation that Hope ➕  Money ➗ Plans ➖ Tory Greed = Disappointment

  146. 146.

    Anyway

    OT – The only Ukrainian-born congress critter is Republican from Indiana. Anyone know her stand on funding for Ukraine?

  148. 148.

    Brachiator

    @Geminid:

    One reason Republican elites have not banded together to oppose Trump is that they will need his voters next November. They want to salvage as many Congressional races as possible. If Trump heads the ticket he’ll lose a lot of Independent voters that may have been winnable by another Republican.

    Yep. The elites are stuck. They excited conservative voters but can’t control them.

    I’m not sure that any Republican could excite Independent voters. The GOP tilts too much to the right.

    But if the Trump voters stay home, those purple state and district candidates can’t win.

    This is a wild card. I don’t know if the MAGA crowd will stay home if Trump is not the GOP nominee.

  149. 149.

    Ruckus

    @trollhattan:

    Apparently here in the land of Oz, money grows on something/something. I’ve never seen a something/something bush or tree but still they must grow here…..

    And so, I have as you might be able to tell, zero concept of why people purchase a full size 4×4 pickup, spend a bunch more for bigger wheels and tires and then never carry more than groceries in them. One can rent a full sized pickup around here for $20-30 for 2 hrs if the actual need arrises but I believe the major reason a lot of people in LA purchase them is a genital crisis of some sort. Now of course some people do actually use them for their intended usage, hauling stuff, but that seems to be somewhat of a rarity.

  152. 152.

    Ruckus

    @Brachiator:

    The bus companies I use have not cut back as far as I can tell and seem to be doing OK. As I don’t need the stress and cost of driving a lot, I take the train quite often. Now the Metro train system doesn’t run as tight a schedule on weekends or late at night as during the week but it does run 20 hrs a day and is often standing room only. I know because I’ve stood up for some time on them. And I’m not saying that all of this didn’t get cut back a lot during the covid bad times, it did, but it is back to working as far as I can see. BTW there is a bus terminal across the street from the complex where I live and 1/2 mile down the street is a track that is used by the diesel/electric commuter that runs every 1/2 hr. And a hell of a lot of people use both, which I know because I’ve used the Metro system and buses on both ends quite a lot for 7 yrs now.

  153. 153.

    Brachiator

    @Ruckus:

    You are very lucky if service continues to be regular where you are. But you are not commuting to work, right? You can be more flexible.

    BTW there is a bus terminal across the street from the complex where I live and 1/2 mile down the street is a track that is used by the diesel/electric commuter that runs every 1/2 hr.

    The diesel/electric. Is that Metrolink? Different service with a different ridership and not closely tied to the Metro system.

  154. 154.

    New Deal democrat

    @lowtechcyclist:
    “shouldn’t those factors push the list prices of houses DOWN?  Yet they continue to increase, and not slowly either, in the small sample of markets that I’m familiar with.”

    I had to step out and handle some business, so you may not see this, but I wanted to answer.

    The problem is that the average mortgage on an existing home is something like 3.5%. Huge numbers of people either bought or refinanced when mortgage rates were 3%, and now those people are locked in. They aren’t moving and trading their existing mortgage for a 7% one.

    As a result, the existing home market has collapsed. Sales are near 25 year lows. That has diverted people to the new home market, where apartments and condos are being built hand over fist, and builders are offering price or financing concessions. It’s the housing version of shrinkflation.

    Hope that answers your question.

  155. 155.

    Bill Arnold

    @eversor:

    Also it wasn’t CRT that got Youngkin elected in the school fiasco in NOVA. It was that the left wanted to lower the standards or cancel the AP program completely because it was dominated by Asians with whites as a second.

    That didn’t seem entirely believable, so poked. Here’s a typical story:
    Virginia isn’t eliminating accelerated math. It’s one of many states rethinking math education. (KATE MASTERS – APRIL 26, 2021)

    A minor political furor erupted in Virginia last week — over math.
    It started with a Fox News story declaring that the state Department of Education was moving to eliminate all accelerated math classes before 11th grade, “effectively keeping higher-achieving students from advancing as they usually would in the school system.”

    Guess the level of truth involved in that Fox News story. (A lot closer to false than to true.)

  156. 156.

    randy khan

    Just a note on the redistricting – because the Constitutional amendment ends up giving both parties what is effectively a veto, the new districts are not as favorable to the Dems as should be, and definitely not as favorable to the Dems as they would have been absent the amendment.  But they’re still better, and that should make a difference

  157. 157.

    Bill Arnold

    @pat:

    I don’t get it. Is he making stuff up???

    It’s possible Brooks was joking, using NYTPitchbot/DougJ’s tweets about the cost of X at restaurant as a template.

  158. 158.

    Bill Arnold

    Ah yeah. DougJ, after quote-tweeting Brooks:

    The airport in deep blue Newark, NJ might seem like a strange place to meet Trump supporters. But over the sound of a thirty-year-old woman explaining Taylor Swift to her sixty-year-old husband, you can hear whispers that Biden is the reason a burger and fries cost $78.— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) September 21, 2023

  160. 160.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Ken: I accept your friendly changing of the descriptor.  There are a lot of REAL stupid people out there.  Hello, tulipmania on line two!

  162. 162.

    Ruckus

    @Brachiator:

    Yes it is MetroLink and yes the service is good but not near as frequent. And costs more.

    As I stated during 2020 it was a lot less service. But the operators are separated from the commoners so it really wasn’t a lot less. But back then if I had to go to the VA, which was and is actually rare I would drive. But mostly during the height of Covid they did what care they could by internet. It wasn’t great but all things considered not bad. And no, I retired 2 yrs ago. Which I am rather enjoying after having a job or the Navy for 60 yrs. Yes I started early and finished late.

  163. 163.

    Geminid

    @Brachiator: I’m pretty sure that some of the MAGA crowd will stay home if Trump is not the nominee. The question is, how many? Republicans cannot afford to lose many base voters in the close districts and states.

    As for Independents, they are a disparate bunch. Over a third reliably vote for Republican candidates, and a similar number consistently vote for Democrats. At least, that’s what social scientists have found.

    But they are more likely to split their tickets than their partisan counterparts, which might explain how Susan Collins was reelected by a comfortable margin in a state Joe Biden carried easily. It also could account for the dozen or so Republicans elected in House districts that Biden won in 2020.

    This, I think, is one reason why Republican elites like Karl Rove might hope to salvage their position in Congress even if Trump is rejected by a majority of Independents, which seems likely at this point.

    They’d much rather have a more dynamic candidate with less baggage than Trump, but there doesn’t seem to be one in prospect. So, their best hope to retain the House and win a Senate majority  next year is to turn out their base and hope enough Independents split their tickets. That may be an iffy strategy, but I don’t see a better one for them in the short term.

  167. 167.

    Paul in KY

    @Baud: Went to a big music fest in Louisville last weekend and saw one doofus with a “Let’s Go Brandon” shirt. White male, looked to be in early 30s.

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