Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

No one could have predicted…

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. don’t touch it.”

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

This fight is for everything.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

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

Consistently wrong since 2002

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

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

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Oligarchs, Insurrectionists, Authoritarians, and Wanna Be Dictators

Oligarchs, Insurrectionists, Authoritarians, and Wanna Be Dictators

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So many things happening on so many fronts!

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In indictment news:

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Open thread.

Reader Interactions

210Comments

  1. 1.

    rikyrah

    Heard about the suit at Tesla years ago, which only stiffen my resolve to never buy one.

    Non-Whites encounter racism at work on a daily basis.

     

    For it to rise to the occasion of mass lawsuits and now Government Agency Accusations…means that this place is hell on Earth for those Black employees.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    If you were wondering why trump ordered the house republicans to shut down the government and kick children and infants off assistance and not pay our troops – here’s why

    Yeah, that’s a dumb take.

    People are doing that “Trump is master genius” thing again.

  4. 4.

    mrmoshpotato

    The lawsuit accuses Tesla of violating “federal law by tolerating widespread and ongoing racial harassment of its Black employees and by subjecting some of these workers to retaliation for opposing the harassment.”

    Wha?  It’s almost like Melon Husk is a racist, apartheid-loving shitstain!

  6. 6.

    Baud

    @WaterGirl:

    Yes, the shutdown isn’t going to affect Trump’s criminal proceedings any more than it’ll affect any other criminal proceeding pending in federal court.

  7. 7.

    Rusty

    @WaterGirl: To have an effect on his trial, the government shut down would have to go on so long that world markets would collapse.  The shut down will stop long before that is a possibility.

  9. 9.

    Fake Irishman

    @rikyrah:

    If I were the UAW, my next big to-do project after settling the Big-3 strike is organizing Tesla.  Easier said than done, and they’ve failed to organize the big foreign automakers in the south for years, but the new leadership has some ideas and the union as a whole has some energy and drive we haven’t seen since the 1970s….

  10. 10.

    Rusty

    It’s interesting the Gen. Milley and Biden have both delivered sharp statements about defending democracy in the last few days.  I am not sure what to make of the timing, but maybe it’s in recognition that the primaries aren’t all that far away.

  11. 11.

    Ken

    DENIES motion to dismiss on grounds that Chesebro did the alleged conduct while “fulfilling his duties to a client as an attorney.”

    Did the judge write “Crime and fraud exception, remember? We’ve covered this before.” — in proper legalese, of course, though some of these recent rulings have been remarkably direct, even snarky.

  12. 12.

    scav

    I think another issue is assuming the Freedom Caucus is under any coherent, consistent form of control.  They and HeWhoKeepsLosingCases may both see a shutdown as a dramatic & cunning winning move and personal victory, but it could just be a case of Toddlers’ Parallel Tantrums.

  13. 13.

    Yarrow

    I wouldn’t exclude the possibility that TFG did “order” some of his closest allies in the House to keep holding out so the government will shut down and that he did so in the mistaken belief that means his court cases will halt. But he says lots of things. And the House Republicans have other interests as well.

  14. 14.

    Geminid

    @Baud: It doesn’t take a master genius to pull the strings of a few Republicans like Gaetz. I am not saying Trump is engineering a shutdown but it wouldn’t surprise me.

  16. 16.

    Ken

    @Baud: If the shutdown does affect the court, it would be immensely satisfying if the judge’s last order was that all defendants be held in custody until the court can resume operation.

    (Double bonus if the appeals court can’t then hear the inevitable appeal.)

  17. 17.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    I look forward to watching Gen. Milley’s 60 Minutes interview on Sunday.

    Asshole Alert!!

    Asshole Bill Maher’s Real Time is back on the air tonight and two of his guests include asshole Ron DeSantis and asshole conservative commentator Mary Katharine Ham.

     

  18. 18.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Ken:

    Did the judge write “Crime and fraud exception, remember? We’ve covered this before.” — in proper legalese, of course, though some of these recent rulings have been remarkably direct, even snarky. 

    Have we got to these rulings just being “🙄 No.” yet?

  19. 19.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Baud:

     

    People are doing that “Trump is master genius” thing again.

    No, it’s the opposite. Trump is an idiot, but he knows what’s worked for him in the past. His entire approach to any process that might remotely hold him accountable is to delay, delay, delay. And even though it’s stupid to think that the government shutdown will overall affect his legal problems, he probably has a vague feeling that anything that mucks up the federal government has some chance, even if very small, of adding a delay to one or more of his many appointments with Death Jack Smith.

  21. 21.

    JaySinWA

    @Baud: That doesn’t mean that Trump doesn’t think it would work. It would fit with his magical thinking and he probably would have some idiot telling him it would. OTOH I doubt that is foremost in what is left of his feral brain. I think it is more about sowing disruption in general, kind of like redecorating the walls with ketchup.

  22. 22.

    Ruckus

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Wha?  It’s almost like Melon Husk is a racist, apartheid-loving shitstain!

    NO, say it isn’t so!

    I’m just kidding, say it loud, say it often. A rich toddler who has a long way to go to get to grown up, even as he has lived long enough to have grown up a couple of times. He’s just not into being grown up, having actual responsibility and reasonable concepts of life outside his own.

  24. 24.

    trollhattan

    @Rusty: I believe in contemporary Republicanspeak what Milley is stating renders Milley helplessly woke. Whatever the fuck woke even means.

    Constitutions are for wusses. Except that Holy 2nd Amendment. That’s for Real Mens.

  25. 25.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Baud: You’re still applying a level of intelligence and understanding to Trump that he has never demonstrated. Just because his beliefs about the effects of a shutdown on his situation are wrong does not mean that he doesn’t believe that they are right.

  26. 26.

    trollhattan

    @Wyatt Salamanca: Odds Maher and guests conclude the Real Problem is woke liberals approaching infinity to zero.

    He’ll softball the hell out of those two mooks while lauding them for being so very brave to come on the show.

  27. 27.

    bbleh

    MEANwhile Squeaker McQarthy’s little right-wing jalopy of a bill failed miserably, with 21 (!) Republicans voting against.  So shutdown it is.

  28. 28.

    Geminid

    @Baud: Yeah, I think if Trump is acting here it’s because he hopes a shutdown will hurt the economy. He is also a chaos agent who thrives emotionally on chaos, and thinks he can thrive politically as well.

  30. 30.

    Gravenstone

    @Rusty: I suspect it’s because of the increasingly virulent rhetoric coming from Trump. He’s closer every day to openly calling for outright insurrection (again).

  31. 31.

    JoyceH

    DC circuit should set up a GoFundMe page – plenty of people would pony up to keep Trump’s appointment with destiny on schedule.

  32. 32.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Wyatt Salamanca:

    Asshole Alert!!

    Asshole Bill Maher’s Real Time is back on the air tonight and two of his guests include asshole Ron DeSantis and asshole conservative commentator Mary Katharine Ham.

    Definitely sliced deli ham that gets gross and slimy after 3 days.

  33. 33.

    smith

    @Yarrow: It’s also telling that TFG apparently doesn’t understand that GA and NY courts are not part of the federal system, and if he were able to significantly slow down Jack Smith that would just clear the way for speedier action on the state cases.

    Also, it looks like Fani Willis is offering a plea deal to Chesebro and Powell, and if they, and subsequently others, go that route, that will make TFG’s appointment with her faster and easier.

  34. 34.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @rikyrah: Yep. You make an excellent point. No matter how bad the situations are in the lawsuits, the sum reality was and is very likely way, way worse for Black employees.

  35. 35.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud:

    Oh, good. I’m sure Maher will press DeSantis on all his violations of the First Amendment. 

    Oh look!  A comedian! :)

  36. 36.

    Citizen Alan

    @Baud: Shitgibbon doesn’t have to be a “genius” to come up with the idea of “The  government can’t prosecute me if I destroy it first.” It’s the sort of demented toddler reasoning one might expect from him and the Freakshow Caucus in the House.

  37. 37.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Chief Oshkosh: The old “maybe the horse will talk” maneuver? Delay everything, kick the can down the road and maybe some unforeseen event will happen that saves him.

  38. 38.

    Alison Rose

    @Baud: If he isn’t too busy saying things that are painfully unfunny while awaiting the obedient laughter from the audience as though they were all given lobotomies upon entrance.

  39. 39.

    JWR

    Did anyone need more reason to hate Repubs? Well, here ya go.

    Acyn
    @Acyn 15h
    Dale: So the Congresswoman is right. Congressman Donalds did leave out critical context.. Donalds did not release the Hunter Biden text message that preceded his uncle’s response so he didn’t allow people to understand this was about alimony,
    Sep 29, 2023 · 2:55 AM UTC

    It was about freakin’ alimony, among other things that aren’t bribes or prostitution rings or etc.! I would only fault AOC for not telling us what that message was about in real time, because that’s what I was waiting to hear about.

    @Wyatt Salamanca:  Re: Maher: Christ, what an asshole!

  40. 40.

    hueyplong

    Trump’s bullshit is analogous to early 1945 German strategy (refuse to surrender, buy time, hope for miracle weapons/allied coalition breakup). So everyone here is correct. Trump is pushing a shutdown, his cognitively challenged trolls in the House are doing it to shut down the prosecutions, and it’s not going to work.

    It’s nearing the point at which the media are going to have to decide whether bothsiding Eisenhower and Goebbels is really the way to go.

  41. 41.

    MattF

    OT. Got an appointment for a COVID shot tomorrow at a CVS pharmacy. Local (suburban MD) vaccination sites have been waiting for supplies, looks like they’re finally arriving.

  42. 42.

    Ruckus

    @hueyplong:

    It’s nearing the point at which the media are going to have to decide whether bothsiding Eisenhower and Goebbels is really the way to go.

    Do you think they are in any way capable of making that sort of decision? Or at the least have any desire to?

  44. 44.

    bbleh

    Gonna go out on a limb here and say that TIFG’s expressed or implied wishes are certainly not the only, and maybe not even the principal, reason most of the Crazies are voting to shut things down.

    It’s true he’s a chaos agent, but so are they.  Their brand is gleeful destruction.  Plus, it allows them to pose as Stalwart Defenders of half a dozen or more hopelessly doomed reactionary pipe-dreams (apparently, the bill required resumption of all activity on The Wall) as well as the usual not-at-all-racist wholesale destruction of WIC, SNAP, etc.  It raises their profile substantially, increases their bargaining power (at least as long as Qevin’s nuts are being held in escrow), and thrills the red-meat base.  What’s not to like?

  45. 45.

    narya

    @Baud: I actually do think that it’s part of it–he’s someone who presses every lever and button he can, as the J6 and GA indictments demonstrate. Mind you, I don’t think it’s some big mastermind thing, I think it’s just his standard MO–pressure wherever, however, and whoever he can; delay in every way possible; assume your opponents will just give up–because those thing have all worked for him most of his life. Teri Kanefield, I think, said that he’s used to doing this in CIVIL suits, because that’s what he’s mostly faced; he doesn’t understand that criminal cases work differently. Even there, Cannon was so awful the first time around, he thinks that it works at the federal criminal level, too, because it appeared to do so. So, yeah, I DO think it’s a piece of his “shut it down” orders to McCarthy; it’s another piece of linguini to throw at the wall.

  47. 47.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    OT

    2024 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to announce he will run as an independent on October 9 in Pennsylvania, Mediaite has learned.

    Kennedy’s campaign machine is now planning “attack ads” against the Democratic National Committee in order to “pave the way” for his announcement in Philadelphia about running as an independent, according to a text reviewed by Mediaite.

    “Bobby feels that the DNC is changing the rules to exclude his candidacy so an independent run is the only way to go,” a Kennedy campaign insider told Mediaite.

    h/t https://www.mediaite.com/politics/exclusive-robert-f-kennedy-jr-planning-to-announce-independent-run/

  48. 48.

    Jeffro

    @WaterGirl:I think everything Trump does these days is to stay out of prison, or delay it inevitably.  So that one rings true to me.

    Rings true here too.

    Sometimes burning down the government doesn’t involve a match (or even a rioting mob).  If there’s a shutdown and it lasts more than a day, he’ll be tweeting “Keep it up until they drop the charges!!  MAGA!”

  50. 50.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Baud: You said the OP was a dumb take and that because it ascribes a level of genius to Trump that is silly. I agree that that is silly.  I’m saying it’s a solid take because Trump is so ignorant and stupid that I think it is likely that Trump encouraged some of his supporters in the House to act in ways that will move us towards a shutdown the government and it’s a solid take his likely motive was a vague feeling that that will somehow delay his cases. It’s a level of ignorance and stupidity that fits with everything he does.

    But apologies if I misunderstood your intent. Unfortunately I have divided attention today.

  52. 52.

    Jeffro

    @MattF: good for you!

    @Ruckus:

    Mrs. Fro and I found we had more soreness than usual in our arms at the site of the injection, and we felt a bit more fatigued than usual the next day.  Nothing to worry about, but FYI.

  57. 57.

    BlueGuitarist

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Have we got to these rulings just being “🙄 No.” yet?

    James Madison, ahead of the curve on emojis in political discourse, argued in Federalist 46 that the national government would be restrained from abusing its authority by the frowny faces of governors.

    ok, well, actually: “the frowns of the executive magistracy of the state”

    ☹️

  61. 61.

    hueyplong

    @Ruckus: A few convictions might get it done.

    Surely everyone has noticed that the things Trump is saying for public consumption on a daily basis right now are much worse than anything he said the only time he actually won something (2016) and at nearly every point of his term as president.  It will get even worse as the trials approach and then take their course.  It will get more and more difficult to normalize.

  63. 63.

    Jeffro

    Way OT but: there is a mid-sized praying mantis hanging out on our deck, in between the two hummingbird feeders.  I kinda want to warn the little buggers or shoo the mantis away (but mantises have to eat too, right?)

    Thoughts?

  66. 66.

    wjca

    @smith: It’s also telling that TFG apparently doesn’t understand that GA and NY courts are not part of the federal system, and if he were able to significantly slow down Jack Smith that would just clear the way for speedier action on the state cases.

    There is also the detail that, as I understand it, the Special Counsel is funded separately.  And already funded for the next year plus.  So, not helping on that front either.

  71. 71.

    Brachiator

    @rikyrah:

    Heard about the suit at Tesla years ago, which only stiffen my resolve to never buy one.

    Non-Whites encounter racism at work on a daily basis.

    For it to rise to the occasion of mass lawsuits and now Government Agency Accusations…means that this place is hell on Earth for those Black employees.

    The sad thing is that racism and sexism is rife in the tech industry. Many of the executives and employees are relatively young and grew up and even lived in supposedly liberal communities, and yet are sometimes just as bigoted as old Jim Crow era racists. Some companies have non-white CEOs and yet still the racism and sexism continues.

    Activision Blizzard…

    Wednesday morning, hundreds of Blizzard employees rallied outside the company’s main campus in Irvine, California to protest the company’s handling of sexual harassment and discrimination charges. They’re asking the gaming studio to agree to four demands, including ending mandatory arbitration in all employment contracts. “Until these demands are met, we won’t stop fighting,” a walkout representative tells The Verge.

    The move comes after the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) sued Activision Blizzard on July 20th, alleging the company had a pervasive “frat boy” culture where female employees were constantly harassed, discriminated against, and underpaid.

    Pinterest…

    On Tuesday, CEO Bobby Kotick wrote a public letter calling the initial response “tone deaf.” He noted the company was engaging WilmerHale, an outside law firm, to audit its “policies and procedures.”

    Last year, Pinterest hired WilmerHale to investigate its company culture after two prominent Black women who’d worked at the company went public with allegations of racism and discrimination.

    And of course, Microsoft plans on buying Activision for $69 billion. Racism and sexism are profitable.

  72. 72.

    H.E.Wolf

    @mrmoshpotato: ​Have we got to these rulings just being “🙄 No.” yet?

     Indeed we have. Thanks to Electoral-Vote.com, you can read about it here:
    https://electoral-vote.com/#item-5 [worth clicking the link for their snarky intro]

    From the relevant paragraph in the link above:
    “And yesterday, the appellate court issued one of the shortest legal rulings we’ve ever seen. The executive summary: ‘Hmmm. No.’ The actual ruling isn’t much longer than that.”

  77. 77.

    randy khan

    Reading those two decisions back to back in the Chesebro case and seeing how bad the arguments were – “I didn’t get a target letter even though that’s only a thing under federal law and even then DoJ is clear that you don’t need to get one to be a suspect” – I have to wonder if Chesebro has the best lawyers and if they realize that filing things that stupid only tends to make the judge annoyed at you.

  80. 80.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, … RollCall.com:

    “The CR’s gonna fail. The votes aren’t there,” Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., one of those pledging to vote against it, said before the vote. “That being said, I would consider a seven-day CR with conditions,” Ogles said. “We have to keep moving appropriations bills.”

    Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., called a seven-day CR an “outstanding idea” that would be discussed among the conference later on Friday.

    “I think it may be the only one that could possibly pass because it would alleviate the concern of some that we’re relieving the pressure of the calendar that, unfortunately, Congress historically needs to operate,” Good said. “If you did it for a week with the requirement, you pass two or three bills, and you can do another week and pass two or three bills, then you’re showing progress.”

    Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., another holdout, said “I’m sort of thinking three days,” but then added: “What difference does it make if you’re talking about three days or seven days?

    Next week, House GOP leaders intend to bring to the floor the fiscal 2024 Energy-Water and Interior-Environment bills. If they can pass those two, the House will have passed half of the dozen annual appropriations bills, after the three they passed Thursday night and the Military Construction-VA measure that passed before the August recess.

    This sounds too much like Underwear Gnomes to me. Why would the Senate consent to a system like this??

    We’ll see…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  81. 81.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @Baud: @trollhattan: @mrmoshpotato:

    @JWR: @RandomMonster:

    As much as I hate DeSantis and resent the fact that Maher will give him the ultimate blowjob tonight by praising his handling of COVID and his war on wokeness, I take comfort in the fact that Ron will be humiliated in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary and will likely withdraw from this race within days of his New Hampshire defeat.

    @Baud:

    @Yarrow:

    I was a great admirer of RFK Sr., but I’m hard-pressed to identify a more pathetic individual than RFK Jr.

  82. 82.

    trollhattan

    @Geminid: ​
    Oh hell yes, he’d jump at the chance. All that camera time, all that bitching about how bad Democrats and big pharma are. But, can he gaze adoringly at our lord and savior Trump on command? Not an easy skill for everyone.

  83. 83.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @MattF: That’s good…I had a confirmed appointment at CVS on the 17th and when I arrived, I was informed they had no Covid vaccine…didn’t bother to let me know beforehand though.

  85. 85.

    lowtechcyclist

    @trollhattan:

    Constitutions are for wusses. Except that Holy 2nd Amendment. That’s for Real Mens.

    I one-up those silly 2A people by being a Third Amendment absolutist. :-D

  86. 86.

    Ruckus

    @Jeffro:

    Thanks!

    I have over the decades had so many shots that it has to be pretty bad to really bother me. And yes I’ve had some of those. I also have to be stabbed every so often for blood samples, like Wednesday this week. I used to hate needles as a kid but I’ve gotten so used to them that most of the time they don’t even raise an ouch any more. People have told me that their Covid shots hurt like hell and I really never noticed them. So if one out of six is a bit of a bother that’s a good record. I’ll let you all know if it’s much worse than I expect.

  87. 87.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @Geminid:

    I agree with you.

    RFK Jr. is completely shameless and I believe there are no limits when it comes to how much he’d debase himself for personal gain.

  88. 88.

    catclub

    There was an amusing headline on CNN:  “Rightwing commentators angry that one of the Univsion moderators asked hard questions.”

     

    They really think the only  discussion that matters is that within the rightwing echo chamber.

    Of course, how do you convince voters who are not tuned into that echo chamber?  Well, not my problem.

  89. 89.

    rikyrah

    Qondi Is State Department Bae’s Left Handed Guitar (@QondiNtini) posted at 0:34 AM on Fri, Sep 29, 2023:
    Three important things happened in the past 24 hours:

    1) President Biden gave one of his most consequential speeches on democracy

    2) Vice President Harris sizzled in Miami at FIU on her #VPCollegeTour

    3) Representative Jasmine Crockett broke the Internet and the GOP

    A  https://t.co/D9dzP7YAov
    (https://x.com/QondiNtini/status/1707629959102001401?t=p6fZ5xqEkoHWy4gyD_OhOA&s=03)

  92. 92.

    Alison Rose

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Oh fuck her. How dare she have the audacity to get anywhere near Petty’s music. And I wonder about the permission — you don’t need it to just cover a song, but I think you do to release it, right? It’ll be interesting to see what comes of this. If she did it without the permission, I will laugh so hard. Especially because, as your link includes, Petty’s estate came down hard on TIFG’s campaign for using the song.

  95. 95.

    japa21

    @Another Scott:  Oh, the Senate might go along with it, but all it does is drag it our and every Friday becomes a show-down day, and the public will just constantly be re4minded of how bad the GOP is.

  98. 98.

    Ruckus

    @hueyplong:

    He is also an old, pompous, arrogant asshole, with absolutely nothing to show for it. Every thing he’s ever done could not be valued above the level of decaying shit. Just remember he started his adult life by stealing money from his siblings to start his life of pompous arrogant asshole and he’s only gone down hill from there. He could have been a somewhat normal rich human being but no, he had to try to beat his slumlord dad at being complete and utter shit and he’s finally made it – by leaps and bounds.

  99. 99.

    Brachiator

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Bobby Kotick is an absolute sack of shit.

    He’s really something. I looked up some random info about this guy.

    In addition to his responsibilities as CEO of Activision Blizzard, Kotick is also a member of the board of trustees for Harvard Westlake School and he is chairman of the committee of Trustees at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where he serves as vice chairman of the board of directors.

    A lot of “good liberals” send their kids to Harvard Westlake. And of course some parents were implicated in the “Varsity Blues” scandal, paying “donations” to get their undeserving dumb ass kids into elite colleges.

  100. 100.

    wjca

    @Ruckus:  I used to hate needles as a kid but I’ve gotten so used to them that most of the time they don’t even raise an ouch any more.

    I still hate needles.  Doesn’t keep me from being a regular blood donor though — after all, somebody’s got to do it.  20+ gallons and counting.

  102. 102.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Good lord, MSNBC is reporting that Las Vegas cops have arrested a suspect in the Tupac Shakir murder — 27 years to the day after he was killed. Police are holding a presser right now.

    W O W

    Sorry, not to the exact day. Twenty-seven years ago this month.

  103. 103.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Geminid: I don’t doubt it’s occurred to trump. His stuck-in-amber perceptions of glamor and celebrity worship probably make him fantasize about having a Kennedy as his subordinate

  104. 104.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @Baud:

    I mean you were polling at 0.0001% of the vote, which was up from 0.00009% the week before! With all that Baudmentum, they had to shut it down!

  105. 105.

    Gretchen

    I was amused to see from the comments by people who know cowboy hats that Elon was wearing his backwards during his macho display at the border yesterday. Also, black fet hats are for cool weather – everybody else was wearing summer white straw hats. The people around him are all afraid to tell him when he looks stupid.

  106. 106.

    lowtechcyclist

    @hueyplong: the things Trump is saying…will get more and more difficult to normalize.

    Our Villagers and mainstream media courtiers are up to the challenge.

  108. 108.

    Gretchen

    @Alison Rose: Yes, Tom Petty’s family probably hasn’t sent a cease and desist letter to Lara Trump about recording his song because they didn’t know about it. Good job, Eric, for making sure they know, and that your expensive education didn’t teach to you spell vicious.

  109. 109.

    coin operated

    @Wyatt Salamanca:

    “Bobby feels that the DNC is changing the rules to exclude his candidacy so an independent run is the only way to go,” a Kennedy campaign insider told Mediaite.

    Looks like the DNC learned a thing or two after letting Bernie trash the place.  That jackhole should have been stomped out of the Democratic primaries from the get-go

  110. 110.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud:

    “In this house, we do not quarter soldiers.”

    We don’t draw them either, but that’s got nothing to do with the Third Amendment. ;-

    ETA: And of course, I got beaten to it.  Good going, wjca!

  111. 111.

    Alison Rose

    @Gretchen: That’s what I’m wondering. Did she not get permission and now they’re gonna know because she couldn’t keep her whiny trap shut? That would be amazing. I suppose it’s possible they did give her permission to record it, since that’s different from playing it at a campaign event.

  112. 112.

    henqiguai

    @SiubhanDuinne: (#102) ​
     

    MSNBC is reporting that Las Vegas cops have arrested a suspect in the Tupac Shakir murder

    Currently running the police news conference. But, clearly, this is just a ploy by the vast right wing conspiracy to deflect attention from the Trump indictments…

  113. 113.

    HumboldtBlue

    First Fulton County defendant, Scott something-or-other, has cut a plea deal and will prolly testify against the Kraken Lady and Cheeseman.

  114. 114.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Alison Rose:

    Interesting to see it on MSNBC when some people on MSNBC have engaged in exactly this bullshit!

    I am firmly in Driftglass’ camp…MSNBC is not our friend. Was tuned in earlier this week when Biden was on the picket line. Katy Tur said something to the effect that “oh my, it looks like no one is there.”

    I should have been surprised they covered the UAW picket line at all since it so interrupted their regularly scheduled All About Trump show.

  115. 115.

    Cliosfanboy

    Keep in mind Musk’s grandfather moved the family to Apartheid South Africa to Canada after WWII specifically because he thought Canada was getting too “woke” (or whatever the 1950 equivalent was) and South Africa was deliberately recruiting white racists to move there.​

  116. 116.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    @Sure Lurkalot: Same here in Suburban, MD – although I did get a reschedule text after my appt (thanks CVS).  Rescheduled and got the COVID shot and flu shot last Wednesday.  Flu shot was for 65+, and it did knock me back the day after.

  117. 117.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Gretchen:

    Good job, Eric, for making sure they know, and that your expensive education didn’t teach to you spell vicious.

    Maybe he meant ‘viscous.’ In the words of Peorgie Tirebiter, “heavy on the 30-weight, Mom!”

  119. 119.

    trollhattan

    @Ruckus: I too am a human pincushion, having returned to allergy shots as a grownup, repeating what I went through as a junior high kid with no voting ability.

    Get four jabs every two weeks, so a covid or flu shot is no big thang.

    Except, covid shots 2 and 5 knocked me for a loop afterwards, just not the jab itself. Like arranging to be sore and sick.

    Worst shot ever was my shingles shot. Jab was nothing but by the time I reached my car my arm felt like I’d had a losing round with a murder hornet. A good half hour before I felt safe enough to drive home. God, what a bastard that was.

  122. 122.

    Tony G

    @WaterGirl: In my experience in life, there are people who are very stupid in general, but whose intelligence greatly increases when it comes to saving their own ass or increasing their wealth.  Trump seems to me to be one of those people.

  124. 124.

    trollhattan

    @Sure Lurkalot: ​
    But, if not MSNBC who plays the part of “even the liberal…”?

    One of the Republican victories has been convincing folks, everybody in effect, that any network not named Fox is a liberal cabal of lying liars. I do not know how to unfuck that chicken.

  125. 125.

    trollhattan

    @Geminid: He’d get the platform he craves, and a significant chance of being President if Trump won.

    Oh thanks, now how am I supposed to sleep?

  129. 129.

    smith

    @HumboldtBlue: Thanks again. This one is interesting in that the defendant, Scott Graham Hall, was involved in commandeering the voting machines in Coffee County, which is one of the main charges against Sydney Powell. With her trial coming up in just a few weeks, I bet both Hall and Willis were eager to deal. I assume he is slated to testify then, and it may pressure Powell to cop a plea as well.

    The one disappointment is that he got no jail time, but I guess you have to accept that for the first of the flippers.

  130. 130.

    Jeffro

    @Ruckus: good deal (and good luck!)

    I usually have zero side effects from things like flu shots, shingles shots, etc.  This one I felt a little gassed for a day (but nothing that couldn’t be managed through).

  131. 131.

    Jeffro

    MANTIS UPDATE: nothing so far…I think he’s waiting for the sun to go down a bit, the evil-lookin’ son of a gun

  132. 132.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Trump has publicly stated his reasoning, so all of this speculation is moot.  He said that he demands any new budget specifically strip Smith and the federal prosecutions against him of all funding.  He ordered the House to not pass a budget unless they get that.

    I have not heard that anyone is pushing for that budget provision, so presumably Trump is not a factor in the budget negotiation or any resulting shutdown.

  136. 136.

    Alison Rose

    @Jeffro: Years ago at a previous apartment, I had a giant praying mantis just chilling on the outside of my balcony door. When I posted a photo, everyone told me they were good luck. I was like, I don’t give a fuck, it’s creepy looking and I’m afraid to open the door.

  137. 137.

    sdhays

    @rikyrah: Yeah, the only shocking thing about this lawsuit is that it took this long to file. It’s a vile company run by a vile man and I’ll never own anything from one of his companies.

  140. 140.

    smith

    And the plot thickens even more for the trial in GA — it looks like there could be a lot more defendants going to trial on Oct. 23:

    Also during Friday’s hearing, Judge McAfee opened the door to the possibility that more defendants may join the Oct. 23 trial.

    Earlier this month, when McAfee severed the 17 defendants from the speedy trial, he ordered that all the remaining defendants must waive their right to speedy trial or they will “immediately” join the Oct. 23 trial — but as of Friday, McAfee said, six defendants had still have not waived.

    “I will be checking in with everyone today,” McAfee said of the defendants who have not waived their right to speedy trial. “Based on the feedback and the response we get, if it dramatically shifts the dynamic, we will make room. Perhaps instead of two tables, we’ll be getting three or four.”

    I wonder if these defendants haven’t done the waiver yet because they also are talking to Willis about plea deals.

  142. 142.

    sdhays

    @Wyatt Salamanca: LOL. DeSantis…from Trump successor to trying to get some attention on a lame cable show hosted by a guy who really should have retired more than a decade ago.

    I hope he feels how much he has fallen every single minute.

  145. 145.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @Juju:

    Bill Maher is officially dead to me.  I posted the alert as a public service to others so that they could avoid tuning in to Real Time while channel surfing.

    Maher is a moron and a hypocrite. He claims to oppose Trump, yet he’s only too happy to kiss DeSantis’ ass.  DeSantis is every bit as repulsive as Trump and would be a truly horrible President if elected. Maher can go fuck himself.

  147. 147.

    Ken

    @Jeffro: MANTIS UPDATE: nothing so far…I think he’s waiting for the sun to go down a bit, the evil-lookin’ son of a gun

    Sometimes when they’re still for a while, it’s because they’re going to molt, and one twice as large will rip out of the old shell.

  148. 148.

    lowtechcyclist

    @trollhattan: ​
     

    Stop eating with your hands, son, use your entrenching tool.

    After we first adopted the kiddo, I remember thinking of that line dozens of times at mealtime!

  149. 149.

    jonas

    @HumboldtBlue: I saw that over at TPM as well. This guy is pretty small potatoes, so no surprise that Willis was willing to offer a deal. But if he gives up Powell, that’s a BFD. I think four people in addition to Trump should be financially ruined and/or do hard time for their role in the plot to overturn the election: Giuliani, Powell, Clark, and Eastman. Maybe Meadows, too. If the more bit players get a deal to give up those four crooks, I’ll take it.

  151. 151.

    rikyrah

    Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) posted at 0:52 PM on Fri, Sep 29, 2023:
    NEWS: 198-232, the House votes to tank McCarthy’s stopgap funding bill. 21 Republicans vote with Democrats to sink the bill. A disaster for GOP leadership, which could embolden the Democratic-led Senate… and it makes a shutdown even more inevitable.

     

     

    Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) posted at 1:13 PM on Fri, Sep 29, 2023:
    Presiding over the House’s failed CR vote: Rep. Mike Lawler, who has urged his colleagues to avoid a shutdown. He represents the sort of Biden-to-GOP swing district in New York where a shutdown is bad politics.

     

    Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) posted at 1:36 PM on Fri, Sep 29, 2023:
    Republican leaders just made their swing-district lawmakers vote for a short-term bill with controversial spending cuts, only for their own hardliners to kill it — and leave those front-liners vulnerable to the attacks without the reward of funding the government.
    (https://x.com/sahilkapur/status/1707826817141239956?t=YxUIZnmAbDgEokZ290Yh2A&s=03)

  152. 152.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Wyatt Salamanca: ​
     

    Bill Maher is officially dead to me. I posted the alert as a public service to others so that they could avoid tuning in to Real Time while channel surfing.

    Was there a time when he wasn’t an asshole posing to be somewhere in the middle but really being on their side? If so, it was a long long time ago.

    Joe Rogan’s basically the newer, supposedly hipper version. Equally despicable.

  154. 154.

    JoyceH

    @jonas: if I’m understanding what I heard on the news, the bail bondsman can tie the fake elector plot directly to Clark and perhaps to Meadows and Trump as well.

  156. 156.

    MisterForkbeard

    @JWR: Honestly, the Dems should propose that Byron Donalds is censured for blatant lying. Clearly falsifying accusations and evidence in what they say is a serious affair.

  161. 161.

    kalakal

    @Alison Rose:  I think you don’t need permission to put a cover version on a streaming platform – the streaming companies/ your distributer should take care of the licensing and royalties. Most unknowns get it done by their distributer eg CDBaby, Distrokid etc.

    If you release as a physical/downloadable thing then you need a licence, video is another licence.

  162. 162.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Another Scott: ““I think it may be the only one that could possibly pass because it would alleviate the concern of some that we’re relieving the pressure of the calendar that, unfortunately, Congress Republican Saboteurs historically needs to operate,” Good said”

    Fixed

  163. 163.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Ruckus: Getting mine next week sometime. My schedule will be wide open, apparently, since I’ll be on furlough from work thanks to Squeaker McQarthy.

  164. 164.

    Jackie

    @Baud:

    I’m worried he’ll take votes away from Cornel West.

    I think RFK Jr will pull votes away from TIFG.

    TIFG is gonna be pissed – so much for Bobby Jr becoming his VP. Disloyalty!!!

  169. 169.

    Ohio Mom

    I was supposed to get my Covid shot today but canceled because I’ve had a wicked virus since Monday night. My temp reached 103.7 at one point. I didn’t know that was possible.

    The doctor swabbed me for Covid, Flu a&b and RSV, everything came back negative. So I’ve given up a week to acquire immunity to a mystery.

    He told me to drink liquids, I said, most of the time I try drinking, I throw it up.

    There’s a reason he’s my least favorite doctor in the practice and why (unlike the doctors I like) there are always openings in his day for last minute appointments. Making a note to go to the emergency room if something like this ever happens again.

  172. 172.

    Barbara

    @HumboldtBlue: I think she wanted to deal with a lot of these people before they were indicted.  There was a suggestion that the lawyers for some of them did not actually communicate her offers of immunity, which is a huge ethical violation.  I still think that’s her goal — no one wants to have such a big pool of defendants in a single trial.

  173. 173.

    Yarrow

    @Ohio Mom:  Yikes. I hope you feel better soon. It’s a good plan not to get the vaccine while your immune system and body in general is under such stress.

  175. 175.

    bbleh

    @Ohio Mom: yeah 103.7 is kind of alarming.  He’s right about the fluids of course, and it doesn’t need to be just water.  Or maybe fresh fruit?  But keep an eye on that temp, and not to be unduly scary but don’t rule out a bacterial infection automatically.  If it gets that high again, I’d say yeah, take a trip to the ER/urgent care.

  177. 177.

    Ruckus

    @Rusty:

    It is likely because both of them have worked many, many years trying to protect this county, it’s citizens, it’s laws and it’s democracy.

    Four things that the conservative side seems to not believe in whatsofuckingever.

  179. 179.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Baud:

    I’m worried he’ll take votes away from Cornel West.

    I would be LOLing like mad if this weren’t kind of real and scary.

  180. 180.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @Ken: I think Baud may be holding out for the endorsement of the National Radical Meadow Party of Bloom County, which in 1988 ran two candidates who didn’t wear pants.

  181. 181.

    Jackie

    Let’s see if they can be trusted…

    Top Republican senators said Friday they won’t try to prevent Democrats from replacing the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) on the Judiciary Committee after the vacancy left Democrats without a majority on the key panel,” NBC News reports.

  182. 182.

    Craig

    @kalakal: eventually there needs to be a license through ASCAP. Since it’s Petty’s song the publishing needs to get paid. Judging from his life, I’d think there was a blanket with ASCAP about not allowing anything. Not a lot of Petty covers out there.

  184. 184.

    bbleh

    @Rusty: @Ruckus: apparently it also polls well as an issue — Trump’s overt authoritarianism and lawlessness apparently have alarmed more than just political and legal junkies.  And it hardly hurts politically to wrap yourself in the Constitution.  More power to both of them, say I!

  185. 185.

    Bill Arnold

    @Geminid:

    He is also a chaos agent who thrives emotionally on chaos, and thinks he can thrive politically as well.

    He is massively overconfident in his skill at riding the Chaos Tiger. Republicans suck at it, in general.
    They still don’t understand why they lost the 2020 elections, or why their expected Red Tsunami in 2022 was a fizzle.

  187. 187.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Barbara: ​ 

    There was a suggestion that the lawyers for some of them did not actually communicate her offers of immunity, which is a huge ethical violation.

    That’s huge, if true. Yes, and the consensus from the lawyers on TV echo yours, whittle down the number of defendants and get these deals made.

  189. 189.

    Yarrow

    @bbleh:  If Dems want to make themselves the party of Democracy, Anti-Authoritarianism, and The Constitution, I’m fine with that. Take back all the Freedumb and Patriot crap from the Rs.

  191. 191.

    Bill Arnold

    @MattF:

    COVID shot tomorrow at a CVS pharmacy

    Got mine (also at a CVS) Tuesday. Felt shitty (warm, achy) about 24 hours later, to bed early, next day was fine.

  192. 192.

    Jackie

    “The White House estimates that 3.5 million federal workers will have to go without pay if the government shuts down,” ABC News reports.

    “Roughly 2 million of them will be military.”

    The LAST federal employees to lose pay should be our military – if ever!😡

  193. 193.

    Steeplejack

    @Bill Arnold:

    If I ever win the lottery, part of the haul is going to go for PSAs promoting landscape mode in on-line videos, unless you’re doing an interview of a single person (or it’s TikTok).

  195. 195.

    smith

    @HumboldtBlue: I think that story was from last winter or spring. The lawyer paid for by the Georgia GQP failed to pass on the immunity offers to a number of the fake electors. They changed lawyers, and — voila! — only 3 fake electors ended up being charged. I assume those not charged were the ones who took the deal and agreed to  testify. The lawyer should have lost her license, but I’ve not seen anything since about any consequences.

  200. 200.

    kalakal

    @Craig: For streaming services that’s normally taken care of by your distributer. If they’ve tried to release it independently then they may well have “neglected” that step. Apple has a list of of things they won’t let through, if there’s a problem of that nature they could find out from Apple what it is rather than scream persecution. Point I was making is once an artist has released a song they can’t ban cover versions.

    Personally I think he’s just going for free publicity, a lot more people have now heard of this cover than would have done before and he get’s to whine about evil libs picking on his wife. Before he started whinging who ever did a search for Lara Trump on apple music?

    And I really don’t believe it was no 21 or whatever in most streamed.

  201. 201.

    Mike S. (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)

    @Jeffro: If it is big enough for you to worry about the safety of visiting hummingbirds it it probably a female Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis) and you can squish her without compunction, that it what I do to invasive insect species. (Except European Hornets I give them a wide berth!)

  202. 202.

    Ruckus

    @MattF:

    CVS wanted to charge me for my shot. Because I use the VA I have no healthcare insurance. And there is no VA payout because they will give the shot to all vets for free. But Wednesday when I was at the VA they didn’t have vaccines and wouldn’t for at least a couple more weeks. And the VA clinic where I go gives the Pfizer and I have had both and like the Moderna better. I’m amazed that I didn’t scream swear words as I walked out the door. Maybe old fartitus has taught me a couple of things.

  204. 204.

    Eyeroller

    @Jeffro: I’m not going to scroll all the way down for any other replies to this, but praying mantids that are big enough to kill hummingbirds are usually not native to North America and should be eliminated if they threaten the birds.  They are generally Chinese mantids.  Hummingbirds did not evolve to deal with these insects. There are native praying mantids.  If it’s truly mid-sized it may be native, but I wouldn’t take the chance.

  205. 205.

    Ruckus

    @trollhattan:

    We are all enough different that this can happen.

    I’ve told the story of boot camp here before but we got 7 shots, 4 with pneumatic vaccine guns and 3 with needles. All in about 1 minute. The next morning I passed out in chow line and spent 9 days in hospital with a 105 deg temp. Good times.

    I’ve had so many shots over my lifetime that there is no way I can recall all of them. I do remember getting the polio vaccine at 5 or 6, which was a sugar cube with a blue dot. The entire famdamnly got dressed up to go stand in line in the early evening at a bank.

  206. 206.

    Brachiator

    @different-church-lady:

    As a media professional, vertical video makes me stabby.

    It is easier for many people to hold a phone steady with portrait mode. Smartphone cameras are a compromise over defunct traditional cameras.

  207. 207.

    Eyeroller

    @Mike S. (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!): European hornets seem to have settled into a niche that doesn’t threaten natives; they have been here since around 1840 and seem to have naturalized themselves.  Asian hornets are a much bigger problem in North America.  European hornets are common where I live and are pretty benign away from their nest.

  209. 209.

    Tony G

    @RandomMonster: The last time I watched one of Bill Maher’s “comedy” shows was in the mid-nineties, when he offered the courageous “contrarian” opinion that massacres of civilians by American troops during the Vietnam War had been necessary to “fight communism”.  Another asshole in a bar, just better paid with a nicer suit.

  210. 210.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Eyeroller: ​
     

    European hornets seem to have settled into a niche that doesn’t threaten natives; they have been here since around 1840 and seem to have naturalized themselves. Asian hornets are a much bigger problem in North America. European hornets are common where I live and are pretty benign away from their nest.

    There should be an Asian hornet v. European hornet joke in here somewhere. All I can say is, if I see either one carrying a coconut by the husk, I’m running.

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