This Sunday on 60 Minutes, @BillWhitakerCBS interviews Vice President Kamala Harris. She discusses the situation in Israel and Gaza in the wake of the Hamas terror attack and urgent domestic issues, including gun violence prevention and immigration. pic.twitter.com/MZBk6oWNH8
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 27, 2023
"Our democracy is on the line. And I, frankly, in my head, do not have time for parlor games.” – @VP on #60Minutes when asked by @BillWhitakerCBS about #BidenHarris2024 chances of reelection.
YESSSSS! These complicit media's obsession with her approval ratings is way overblown. pic.twitter.com/L9iOAzSREW— KAMALA NATION (@KamalaNation) October 28, 2023
A good day for democracy!??https://t.co/4sp9XkObNM
— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) October 26, 2023
I've officially been drawn out of my congressional district by a small group of politicians.
It’s blatant corruption, but I’ve got news for them:
I’m running for Attorney General, and I’m going to use that job to fight political corruption.
Join us: https://t.co/tb9ykB1pUH pic.twitter.com/nEcQnXEw5g
— Rep. Jeff Jackson (@JeffJacksonNC) October 26, 2023
I’m glad I was able to hand deliver her a copy of my upcoming book for establishing the January 6 Select Committee and supporting the investigation into the day’s events. @SpeakerPelosi @TeamPelosi pic.twitter.com/mIlUXcGIN9
— Staff Sergeant Gonell, Aquilino (@SergeantAqGo) October 26, 2023
The largest-EVER investment in our grid—and it’s going to be life-changing.
As extreme weather events fueled by climate change continue to strain the nation’s aging transmission systems, we're ensuring our grid provides reliable, affordable power to all.https://t.co/STix2C0Tzd
— Secretary Jennifer Granholm (@SecGranholm) October 24, 2023
Scofflaws shall be duly punished:
BREAKING: Rep Jamaal Bowman has been criminally charged with one misdemeanor count of falsely pulling a fire alarm for the September 30th incident in the Cannon Office Building, according to court documents, @dnlbrns & I report.
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) October 25, 2023
Meanwhile, the Rethuglican Death Cultists:
You can’t really blame Comer for not wanting to hold another impeachment hearing. The first one was a total disaster.
More evidence media should assume everything he puts out is cherry picked and hiding the full facts. https://t.co/5NhgPT5VG4 pic.twitter.com/JJTubxekUn— Josh Schwerin (@JoshSchwerin) October 27, 2023
… In late September, the impeachment inquiry held a hearing involving a handful of witnesses, none of whom could provide any evidence impugning Joe Biden or his son, by their own admissions. The 2019 impeachment of Donald Trump — probably the target of Johnson’s sniffy disparagement of “the other team” — had released its final report about three weeks after its first hearing (which was followed by four more days of hearings). The Biden “impeachment inquiry” has held no more hearings in the month since the first one. And, by his own admission, Comer doesn’t want to.
“I don’t know that I want to hold any more hearings, to be honest with you,” Comer said while speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill last week. He complained that it was hard to keep members present for hours on end, given that so many had other commitments. Instead, he said, he preferred depositions, which “you can do more with.”
There’s a truth buried in that, of course. You can do more with cherry-picked transcripts when your goal is to coat Joe Biden with insinuations and unproved allegations. Had Devon Archer’s deposition been a hearing, the final result would have been that viewers saw him acknowledge that Biden was not involved in his son’s work. There would have been multiple Democrats on hand to evaluate Archer’s testimony critically, something that does Comer (and, by extension, Johnson) no good. In 2019, the witnesses were generally deposed before offering live testimony with cross-examination from Republicans. Comer appears to prefer stripping out that last bit…
One would think that at some point, Comer would need to present evidence that withstands objective scrutiny — including by non-right-wing media outlets. The value of adjudicating these things in public hearings is that they are tested and challenged, making the surviving evidence stronger. We can be more confident that Biden’s role in the firing of the Ukrainian prosecutor was not corrupt because the assertion was evaluated during the 2019 impeachment…
Baud
Jeff Jackson makes the best short videos. Don’t know anything else about him though.
I’ll be back here full time next week. Behave yourselves in the meantime. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.
YY_Sima Qian
I don’t recall an FP post on the Lewiston, ME shooting. Has it really become that routine?
AM in NC
SOOOOOOO glad Jeff Jackson is going to run for AG here. A focus on corruption is what we need. And fingers crossed that our current AG (Josh Stein) is our next governor (although GOP fuckery – and turncoat Tricia Cotham – in our state Leg regarding gerrymandering, has guaranteed a Republican super-majority).
I just hope Democrats here understand that it is going to take MULTIPLE voting cycles to claw back power from the GOP, because not much can really change until we re-claim the state Supreme Court, and that can’t happen until 2028 at the earliest. I just HATE what these evil, retrograde bastards are doing to my adopted state.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
My brain is reeling with the possibilities!
SiubhanDuinne
@YY_Sima Qian:
I can’t recall either if it was front-paged, but there was certainly plenty of discussion about it in comments. I don’t think anyone here, including the FPs, view Lewiston or any gun violence as routine or unworthy of discussion.
ETA: Sadly, of course, it is routine in the sense that with easy access to guns, such events are all too predictable.
zhena gogolia
@YY_Sima Qian: What is there to say about it?
Geminid
@Baud: I am glad to see Rep. Jackson will run for North Carolina Attorney General. He has the elements of s formidable politician, and could add strength to the ticket.
North Carolina will be a real battleground next year. I think the Biden campaign intends to win it.
zhena gogolia
@SiubhanDuinne: I’m done discussing it. It’s over. It will never get better.
Geminid
@YY_Sima Qian: I think mass shootings have in fact become routine. There was still a post last evening centered on gun violence, plus a lot of reporting and discussion here Thursday night when the Lewiston shootings happened.
OzarkHillbilly
I read yesterday that he pled guilty and paid his fine.
eta: and tore into the GOP
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Hmmm, I won’t do anything you would do. It’s probably safer.
Scout211
Pleading guilty to a misdemeanor and paying a fine was a wise decision for Rep. Bowman, IMHO.
When he pulled the fire alarm during the beginning of the House Speaker debacle, there was a lively discussion in the comments with some disagreement about the seriousness of his actions. I think his decision threads the needle between his actions and his intent, putting an end to further discussion and media focus.
The question of whether he accidentally or purposely pulled the fire alarm is now not even an issue. In the end, pulling a fire alarm when there is no fire is a crime even if it accidental. Accidental crimes are still crimes, although they are often punished less severely.
No matter where you stand on whether he should have been charged or whether he should or shouldn’t have taken a guilty plea deal, it’s over now. I think this is wise, IMHO.
Nukular Biskits
Good mornin’, y’all!
Was wondering where everyone was, given the Blogfather’s last night post was still up when I crawled out of bed this morning.
Geminid
@AM in NC: North Carolina’s Republican gerrymander may break down some in the next few years. That happened in Virginia the last decade. The state helped elect Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, but in 2011 Republicans drew a House of Delagates map that was good for a 65-35 majority. By 2020, Democrats controlled the House 55-45. A couple of those seats gained were the result of a VRA lawsuit that changed 11 districts, but most of them were due to demographic change and political shifts.
Jackie
This would be great news! I sincerely hope he runs! Dunn is a true patriot and a J6 hero.
topclimber
Sorry but I simply must wear pants today.
Yarrow
@YY_Sima Qian: Not necessarily routine but certainly not a surprise given that we do nothing to stop them. Also, white guy with problems. Not exactly outside the norm for this sort of terrible thing. It’s just awful. But what’s there to say that hasn’t been said before, really?
Anyway
@YY_Sima Qian:
Very sad reading the names and bios of those shot in Lewiston. All those lives cut short – tragic.
laura
@YY_Sima Qian: yes, it is routine, so routine as to become a daily occurrence. The Supreme Court’s current interpretation of the 2nd Amendment is that citizens have the Right to expect to be shot anywhere, anytime by anyone under any and all circumstances because freedom.
AM in NC
@Geminid: I’m trying to be hopeful, and our new state Dem chair is trying to build the Party in all areas of the state, so I am hoping that things will get better (plus, demographically, things are really moving in a better direction). It’s just been absolutely shocking to see how quickly the Republicans have undone so much progress in NC in such a short time. Thanks for helping me to keep the faith over what looks to be a real slog!
sab
@YY_Sima Qian: Mass shootings with assault rifles are still not routine, but the smaller mass shootings ( four killed) absolutely are routine.
Geminid
@Jackie: I hope Harry Dunn does make a run for that seat.
Next year, Maryland will have two other primaries for open seats. The big one is the contest to succeed Senator Ben Cardin. Rep. David Trone is running for Senate, so his district in western Maryland is open too.
OzarkHillbilly
Not a drag queen in the bunch:
satby
@Geminid: @Jackie: I follow Harry on Twitter and he’s genuinely a nice guy. And furious at the GOP. I hope he runs too.
Geminid
@Geminid: I think Virginia will have three significant primaries for House of Representative districts next year. Rep. Jennifer Wexton has a very serious neurological malady and must retire. Rep. Abigail Spanberger has let Democrats know she will not run for reelection in the 7th CD and will instead run for Governor in 2025. Democrats will also select a candidate to run against Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans in the coastal 2nd CD.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@OzarkHillbilly: I don’t know about that “not a drag queen” thing. Have you seen how these guys dress?
mrmoshpotato
But but but, isn’t Biden corrupt, senile, and OOOOOLLLLLLDDDDD???
What a bunch of slapdicks…
Eolirin
@Geminid: It’s also possible if we can hold Tester’s seat that we can move voting rights legislation next cycle. Going to be a rough election for the Senate but it’s not unwinnable.
satby
@Dorothy A. Winsor: nowhere near enough foundation garments and makeup!
Jeffro
Since this is an OT, here’s a little break from politics: did y’all know that taking 6 sacks is worse than giving up a touchdown via interception?
It’s true!
For NFL Quarterbacks, Decision By Indecision is a Dangerous Choice
Also love the part about the ‘menu test’. =)
WaterGirl
@Baud: Yay! A Baud sighting! Looking forward to lots more next week.
And by next week, do you mean like Monday, two days from now? Or the Monday that’s 9 days from now?
Ken
From Emily Dickinson: The Discarded Drafts.
mrmoshpotato
@SiubhanDuinne:
@Baud: We’re gonna do everything you wouldn’t do (and some of the stuff you would do)! You’re not the boss of us!
ETA – though wearing pants and not wearing pants at the same time might rip a hole in the space-time continuum, so beware.
WaterGirl
@OzarkHillbilly: Ooh, I think this charge is total bullshit and is definitely political. I would love to see where he tore into the GOP. Might you have a link or be able to direct me where you read that?
Geminid
@Eolirin: Montana Republicans could have a rough Senate primary if Representative Rosendale runs. He’s a mean one.
NotMax
Grids. West of Rockies, east of Rockies for all intents and purposes.
Suzanne
Those tunnels sound like an absolute nightmare.
Forgive me for being ill-informed….. is it possible for the IDF to seal the entries to the tunnels with concrete and not go into them at all?
In construction, we have a number of underground mapping technologies like GPR, but I don’t think any of them go that deep. I am sure the Israeli military has better. But there’s also limits.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊
Eolirin
@Geminid: Fingers crossed for infighting. I think it’s the best chance we have of a good outcome.
NotMax
narya
Hospice folks are coming to talk to mom and dad this morning; Mom’s gonna call me (or FaceTime, possibly), so I can be “there” too. Let me give thanks to Jimmy Carter for being so public about his choices!
mrmoshpotato
@Eolirin: All the infighting. And a few slap fights for good measurement. Preferably they hit each other with fish.
New Deal democrat
@Geminid: FWIW, Dave Wasserman thinks Democrats will sweep the Virginia legislative elections.
i’ve seen absolutely zero polling on how the GOP’s “we are so sweet and reasonable with our 15 week abortion limit” [that we will abandon the nanosecond we win] ad has been going over. No evidence of any Dem counter-ad.
Another Scott
@YY_Sima Qian: The American Personal Explosives Council for Families reminds you that the number of unsanctioned nursery school demolitions is actually very, very small. We should not lose sight of the fact that the actions of a few unbalanced people cannot interfere with the fundamental right of collectors, fishermen, homeowners, and those afraid of kids who wear their pants too low, to stock their home magazines with personal explosives. The 10th Amendment explicitly says that anything not explicitly forbidden is a right of the people, therefore anyone trying to restrict keeping and bearing personal explosives is pushing unconstitutional policies.
This has been a public service of The American Personal Explosives Council for Families.
//
[ sigh ]
Cheers,
Scott.
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I grew up in the Catholic church.
AM in NC
@narya: So glad to hear that your parents were able to accept the idea of hospice and are going to meet with them. Sending your whole family strength through this process.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
9+
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
Can’t find the image at the moment but one of the many favorite panels from the comic Stinz* was him standing in a pond, complaining to his wife : “Woman, thou hast hit me with a fish!”
*short synopsis: Amish centaurs.
Matt McIrvin
@YY_Sima Qian: My response to them is to get analytical and detached because it’s the way I cope.
These big mass shootings are an interesting and frustrating phenomenon in that they’re kind of separate from the general trend in homicide.
Homicide and general crime in the US had been decreasing ever since the 1990s to the 2010s. Things had been kind of flat, with some noise, until all the COVID shutdowns happened, and then there was an alarming spike in homicides (but not other crimes!) that lasted through 2020 and 2021 and now seems to be clearing–but it was still small compared to the huge crime wave of the 1970s-80s-90s.
But these spree killings are different. They’re a small fraction of all gun homicides or gun deaths. But they’re getting worse and more frequent, as far as I can tell. So they might become a substantial fraction of gun deaths in the future, though they’re not now.
They also distort thinking about general violence. They’re done with different types of weapons–semiautomatic rifles instead of handguns. Many Americans carry a handgun in public because they imagine it will somehow be useful if a spree killer pops up (I’m not sure how). But handguns kill far more people, on the whole.
Which is not to say spree killings are not a huge problem. I do think it makes sense to give them some special regulatory attention, with such things as assault-weapon bans, if it actually helps prevent them (and the partial ban that existed a while back, as porous as it was, did). They have a social effect far beyond the body count. These mass shootings are functionally a kind of terrorism, whether or not they’re political–their ability to terrorize affects everyone and warps our whole society.
That also, I think, creates a social-contagion effect: when a lot of people are thinking about spree killings it makes someone more likely to do another one. It’s kind of how things were with serial killers in the 1970s and 1980s. You don’t hear about serial killers as much as you used to, though fictional crime dramas are still somewhat fascinated with them, especially these Zodiac- or Son of Sam-type figures who have some kind of theme and leave taunting theatrical clues. And there aren’t, in fact, as many serial killers as there used to be. Mass murderers have to some extent replaced serial murderers in the public imagination.
narya
@AM in NC: Mom has been totally on board–she asked me to call them, which I did, told her the details, and she acted on it. Can’t tell what dad actually thinks–he was never a man of many words, and they have gotten significantly fewer. I’m basically framing this as the way for dad to stay at home as his needs change, and not end up in the hospital–he does NOT want to go to the hospital. We’ll see what happens today. And thanks for your kind thoughts.
OzarkHillbilly
@WaterGirl: Jamaal Bowman calls Republicans who compared him to Capitol rioters ‘crazy’
Also a correction on what I said above:
So, he has not yet pled guilty or paid his fine. My bad for misremembering.
Geminid
@Suzanne: This tunnel network is so exrensive with so many concealed entrances it probably cannot be sealed off. Israel appears to be intent on blowing holes in the tunnels instead.
Another Scott
@Matt McIrvin: +1
https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/ has live numbers.
2021:
21,009 gun deaths not suicide
26,328 gun deaths by suicide
40,603 gun injuries
690 mass shootings
Mass shootings are horrific and do indeed terrorize by design. And are low-hanging fruit for public policy – and are honestly the absolute least we can do as a sensible nation. But we need to do much, much more to make gun violence rare in this country.
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Suzanne: @Geminid:
TheDrive.com – Does Israel Really Have ‘Sponge Bombs’ For Sealing Tunnels?:
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
Geminid
@New Deal democrat: According to a Richmond Times-Dispatch article, the Republican are the ones doing counter-ads. They were concerned enough about Democratic ads saying Republicans would take away women’s abortion rights that they felt they had to counter them. I think they wanted to keep the issue in the background, like Youngkin did in 2021, but decided they could not get away with that this time and needed to play some defense.
I expect Democrats to keep running ads on this issue. I’m hoping they can also work in some ads about the gun safety laws Republicans have vowed to repeal.
Princess
@Suzanne: the hostages are in the tunnels.
YY_Sima Qian
Thanks everyone! I have not had the time to read all of the comments in every thread, & as I am 12 – 15 hrs off from most people here, some posts are knocked off the 1st page by the time I log on.
However, past mass shootings w/ such a horrendous casualty count had generally warranted FP mention above the fold, IIRC.
Anyway, the continued inability & unwillingness to address gun violence, or even the smaller subset specifically due to assault weapons, not only weighs on the safety of all US residents & add cost to society, it damages the US’ international standing & the credibility of the liberal democratic style of governance that the US is so vocal, prominent & insistent in promoting. (I really do think it is time for other liberal democracies to pick up the baton, & preferably leading by example rather than rhetoric.)
Any idea if the Lewiston mass shooting will at least move the needle at the state level? Mainers seem to have the reputation of having a libertarian bend.
Albatrossity
@Baud: Jeff Jackson also has a great newsletter to his constituents. I am not one of those, but it is a good read!
JoyceH
@Geminid: Another problem with the tunnels is that apparently is where the hostages are.
YY_Sima Qian
@Matt McIrvin: Thanks for the informative response! Lots of interesting takes. Getting analytical & detached is my defense mechanism, too!
On the topic of utility of handguns in response to mass shootings carried out by assault rifles, I think people wielding pistols & revolvers & not wearing body armor (which people do not wear when doing everyday business) will almost invariably lose any confrontation w/ assailants armed w/ assault rifles & wearing body armor (which mass murderers wielding rifles tend to do). They are more likely to hit other bystanders in their panicked reactions.
Suzanne
@Another Scott: We have closed-cell building insulation that works like that. It’s much more expensive than typical building insulation, so we use it only in certain circumstances. I had to use it on an interior renovation project when we went in and found that the existing insulation inside the brick veneer was rotted out and replacing a traditional vapor/air barrier wouldn’t be possible. It’s insane…..spray it in and it looks almost like thick soap suds, but within ten minutes, it’s hard and scratchy and absolutely airtight.
Suzanne
@Princess: I know. Most of those hostages are not going to survive what is coming.
Geminid
@JoyceH: Yes, Hamas almost certainly is hiding some or all of the hostages in the many kilometers of tunnels they have built. That may complicate Israel’s targeting decisions to some extent, but I don’t think it will keep them from bombing the tunnels.
sab
@narya: We had a delay in getting hospice in for my mom. The first hospice person came in and said “Oh no. She needs to be in the hospital.” Which made no sense. She wanted to stay at home. She’s had a bad fall and had hurt her neck. Her condition was progressing downhill and there was nothing that a hospital could do for her that hospice at home couldn’t do at home.
So we sent that hospice person away and called the doctor back. Doctor agreed rhat she hadn’t been clear enough with the hospice peole about the medical situation. About a week later we had another hospice person come by and she set things up for home hospice.
Be persistent. In sounds like you and your mom have a handle on things.
Barbara
@YY_Sima Qian: Yes, there was. The focus was Jared Golden and other Mainers who opposed controls on automatic weapons with the mostly unconscious assumption that no one they cared about would ever be in danger.
RevRick
Secretary Granholm’s announcement is fantastic news. It’s a double win for our country, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and making our economy more resilient.
I shared the article on Facebook.
Matt McIrvin
@YY_Sima Qian: I think the Lewiston shooting might lead to some kind of “red flag” law in Maine to deny weapons to people deemed dangerous. I do worry about the stigma that singling out mentally ill people will carry–I’d rather see broader gun restrictions than this focus on specific “bad guys”, which is always the approach acceptable to the right. But it’s a baby step.
One thing I didn’t emphasize is that these mass shootings are really good, profitable events for the gun industry. Not only do they incentivize people to carry handguns “for defense”, they also promote the particular type of weapon that the killer used. There’s always a rush to buy them, in part sparked by paranoia that the liberals are going to ban that gun so you’d better get those now… but in part because a lot of people just think it’s cool to own the same weapon that the murderer used.
Barbara
@narya: My dad never went to a hospital but it took a lot of strength on my mother’s part to avoid it. Wishing you and your parents the best.
RevRick
@Another Scott: I’ve read somewhere that the presence of a gun in a home increases the risk of being murdered for a woman by three times.
Geminid
@Matt McIrvin: I think Red Flag laws are more than baby steps. Like all gun safety laws, they are imperfect, but I think they have saved lives.
Mousebumples
Reminder – postcards and music thread tonight at 8pm blog time! If you’re writing postcards for a Nov 7th election, please try to mail them by Tuesday, October 31. (or sooner)
WaterGirl and Postcards to Voters both have Ohio addresses, for Issue 1.
I’m in St. Paul right now – going to Queen + Adam Lambert concert tonight. Hoping to have enough daylight to do some postcarding on the drive home tomorrow.
Happy writing!
Matt McIrvin
…Also, the demographics of mass shootings are different from general homicide. Most crimes are done by young men, but mass shooters are pretty likely to be middle-aged or older guys. That gets missed because of the particular attention paid to school shootings, where the perpetrators skew young. But that’s specific to the ones that happen in schools, which have a population of overwhelmingly young people.
Another Scott
@RevRick: They’re dangerous for everyone in the home.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9715182/ – from 1998:
Emphasis added.
My Life Member of the NRA gun collecting uncle shot himself in the finger while cleaning a rifle (which was loaded when he thought it wasn’t). Guns are dangerous, not least because people are human and make mistakes. They need to be stored in controlled locations and only used under rigorously controlled situations. Like, say, in a militia…
Cheers,
Scott.
It's long been known that Republicans
It’s long been known that Republicans can’t win free and fair elections, so they gerrymander the shit out of every place they can to maintain minority rule. Especially true in NC, where Republicans were out of power for many decades until they launched a racist attack on Obama and got their cave dwellers out to the polls.
Mike in NC
Matt McIrvin
@YY_Sima Qian: My impression from talking to people with contacts in the gun-enthusiast world is that there’s a popular legend within the community that some huge number of would-be mass shootings that “the media doesn’t tell you about” were prevented by someone pulling out their trusty sidearm–nobody had to get shot at all! The absence of actual data isn’t particularly a hindrance here because of the inherent difficulty in verifying such claims and the belief that there’s a conspiracy suppressing them.
Kay
Good poll for Issue 1 in Ohio.
Anti choice lobbyists rewrote the language of the law to deceive voters and to a certain extent they were successful- the original language garners more support than the deceptive language lobbyists inserted.
However- even WITH their attempts to deceive voters, the poll is 60/40 “yes” on 1. So good news.
I have some concerns in this state with Right wing religious issues like anti choice, because I watched what happened when George W Bush demonized gay people to win the state for Bush in 2004. Kerry’s polling was good, but Catholic and fundamentalist churches campaigned for Bush and that dragged him over the finish line. They’re doing the same for “no on 1” so we’ll see if they get their voters out.
Matt McIrvin
@Another Scott: Like I said about mass shootings, the way that gun fans get around such statistics is to claim that all sorts of crimes were prevented by some good guy brandishing a gun without ever having to fire it, and that nobody is tracking those incidents so you’ll never hear about them. Sometimes they claim they’ve personally done this dozens of times–frequencies so high that they’re difficult to believe.
OzarkHillbilly
Apparently, nobody is interested in rescuing her. So for now, she will continue to live a solitary life. Which has to be torture for her.
OzarkHillbilly
@Matt McIrvin: A vivid imagination is a requirement for those who want to join the 247th Armchair Brigade.
Suzanne
@Matt McIrvin: It’s such bullshit. Many of these mass shooters don’t plan to survive the incident, so they’re not going to be thwarted by a gun. Good Lord.
Geminid
@OzarkHillbilly: Now that the sheep’s story made the Guardian, the poor critter might be rescued. People love that sort of story.
OzarkHillbilly
@Geminid: Yep, that’s what I am hoping for. I can’t imagine it would be all that difficult to do in calm seas.
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: While it may not be applicable to Ohio, I wonder whether the fraction of religiously observant people who can be manipulated in this way has changed enough since 2004 to affect the efficacy of this approach.
Gin & Tonic
Seems like Elmo gets stupider by the day, here re-posting Iranian propaganda. I’d like to bet him real money to see which of the alleged US bases in Afghanistan or Turkmenistan he could name (there are none, of course.)
Link is to a screenshot, so you don’t have to give him engagement.
gene108
@Geminid:
Obama won NC in 2008. The first Democrat to win the state since 1964. NC’s gone Republican in subsequent presidential elections.
There’s no real shift in NC politics, even with the massive influx of new people, which I have seen. I remember, when I was in high school, Harvey Gantt running a competitive race against Jesse Helms and a lot of us thought as more and more non-rednecks move to the state things will change for the better.
But NC’s still a slightly Republican leaning state, where Democrats can still be competitive and win some statewide races.
I don’t see the influx of professional middle class folks to the Triangle or Charlotte or other population centers having effectively overwhelmed the rural conservative vote the way Northern Virginia’s population influx did in Virginia.
smith
Here’s some good news: Ford and Stellantis have agreed to match the GM settlement proposal, so the auto strike may soon be over with a big win for workers. Here’s hoping Biden gets some credit for his strong support for labor in this.
Kay
@smith:
Wow. Huge. Thanks for letting us know.
Geminid
@OzarkHillbilly: The rock climbers might beat the boaters to the rescue. Two rival teams might end up fighting each other for the beast while the accompanying TV crews film the brawl.
OzarkHillbilly
@smith: Don’t worry, the GOP will be sure to blame him for this travesty against the free market and God’s laws.
OzarkHillbilly
@Geminid: Heh.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, …
Owl is a thief
Cheers,
Scott.
Kay
@Matt McIrvin:
Maybe, and of course a 60/40 margin is bigger than anything Kerry had. Still, I think it will be close. The fundie and Catholic churches around here are basically campaigning 24/7 on it. The assumption should be their voters come out.
I remember 2004. I wasn’t online for politics then, but I was volunteering locally and my job was to go to polling places and monitor the lists they have to post at intervals. I saw a ton of minivans with religious stickers (YES, the fundie radio station letters, anti marriage equality, etc.) and thought “oh fuck, they’re out, we’re done for”.
I was right too. The marriage equality issue was what put him over the top.
smith
@OzarkHillbilly: That’s pretty much baked, in no matter what. I’m hoping, perhaps too optimistically, that people who actually work for a living might notice.
OzarkHillbilly
@Another Scott: Too funny.
Geminid
@gene108: In 2020,Biden cut Clinton’s 2016 losing margin in half, to around 80,000 votes. And besides incoming residents, there is a large pool of unregistered, infrequent and new, younger voters that can be tapped. A lot of people are sceptical like you, but that won’t keep the Biden campaign from putting many more resources into North Carolina than it could last time.
And I gotta say, this whole notion that “liberal Northern Virginia” accounts for Virginia’s recent shift towards Democratic candidates is a very 20th century view in my opinion.
OzarkHillbilly
@smith: If the guys in my local are anywhere close to the norm, it won’t make much of a difference. Too many of them were consumed with cultural demagoguery.
Ruckus
@YY_Sima Qian:
Shootings – yes. A shooting of that level – not so much.
It’s a relatively small population state, with a very brutal shooting of a lot of people. (Not that every shooting isn’t brutal and horrible- this one is way, way past brutally horrible)
We have a gun problem in this country. And yes that is massively understating it. I had 3 guns in my house, not one has been fired in over 50 yrs but still they were there. Yesterday I had the police come out and turned them in to be destroyed. I’ve thought about doing this for years, just never did. I wish I’d done this long ago.
Because of our history, or at the very least, the history that we’ve been taught, and the movies that have been with us for all of my life that involve guns, it seems normal. But it isn’t and it in many cases builds a resistance to laws because the history is told that we formed this country by overwhelming the British and kicking them out – with guns. We wrote laws that allowed everyone to own guns because that’s how we started this country. We have people that have displayed pictures of 200 or more guns that they own. I served on a US Navy warship 50 yrs ago and we didn’t have anywhere near that level of small arms on the ship with a crew of just over 300.
I have no answer for any of this, I’m not sure that one could even exist in this country.
Ruckus
@Matt McIrvin:
Sometimes they claim they’ve personally done this dozens of times–frequencies so high that they’re
difficultimpossible to believe.FIXITFY
gene108
@Matt McIrvin:
I’ve gone to gun nut YouTube channels where they review guns, what bullets work best in those guns, different types of bullets by material, weight, etc. and the comments are full of folks talking about how to make their gun the as lethal as possible.
If someone can kill fifteen people and injure dozens of others, than it’s just what gun nuts need for the most effective home defense, defending the USA from tyranny, hitting targets at the gun range, and so on.
Kay
I look at the photos of Harlan Crow and I’m really struck by how he’s always in these pensive, thoughful poses in front of a fire in a library or in a beautiful outdoor setting, and they look really contrived and planned (by him) to me – “I am now thinking about Classical Liberalism”.
He’s managed to convince himself he’s some kind of Great Thinker because he inherited a bunch of real estate.
Conservatives are now ANTI merit. They sort of imitate what they think “earned” might look like.
Captain C
@Gin & Tonic: Like many, I’m wondering if Melon Husk is spending too much time lost in the K-Hole.
(warning: link leads to one of the most bizarro videos I’ve ever seen)
cain
@Matt McIrvin:
oh yeah, that’s because in their heads everything is a hollywood movie from the 60s and 70s where something bad is about to happen and a gunslinger shows up pointing his shotgun at suspects and then they put their hands up and slowly walks away. The gunman and the alleged victim – high5s, maybe there is a dinner involved, and then it’s over.
cain
So, they are like AI algorithms. :)
WaterGirl
@Baud: It helps to know! :-)
Jeffro
Yup. It’s part of it but not all of it. VA has one of the higher %s of college-educated residents (and those voters have been shifting D), plus its college towns seems to be creating bigger and bigger blue ‘islands’ across the state.
Politico had a good piece on the latter trend, here.
Jeffro
@Kay:
Hmmm…now where else have I seen that particular combo…hmm…let me think…
Anoniminous
@cain: Conservatives and AI algorithms are the same in that they both worship the past. The difference is Conservatives worship a past that never existed while AI algorithms worship a past that is always 100% determinative of the future.
Kay
@cain:
Also? The neediness. Harlan Crow doesn’t want to just not pay taxes and buy our judges, he also DEMANDS that we like and admire him. I feel like that’s new on the Right- the petulant demands that people admire them.
No. I don’t want to. Just because he’s rich that doesn’t mean he can order people to think he’s a good person.
WereBear
@Yarrow: There’s a book. Dying of Whiteness. By a doctor.
Geminid
@Jeffro: When Virginia Democrats flipped 3 Congressional seats in 2018, one was in Northern Virginia, one was in the Richmond suburbs, and one was in the Hampton Roads area. I think these three victories can be accounted for by the same demographic changes and political shifts.
WaterGirl
@OzarkHillbilly: Thank you! Good on him for calling them out. Also in him making it clear that they know hew didn’t do it to disrupt the proceedings.
thank you.
lowtechcyclist
@smith:
I’m still going “who? oh yeah” when I see references to Stellantis. I apparently missed the news whenever Chrysler got either bought up by Stellantis, or got around to identifying itself as Stellantis in the U.S. It’s only been a month or two since I first heard of Stellantis.
Ruckus
@Geminid:
Yes we have mass shootings and that we have them at all is too much.
However.
And yes that however is doing a lot of work, we have a nation that allows guns, in a nation that was formed by the citizens having and using guns and very few places that have more than minimally restrictive laws about guns. We allow the selling of weapons of war, we have a history of weapons of war in this country because of the founding stories. We have stories of the wild, wild west. But those stories are often about weapons very unlike the individual weapons of today. Today’s weapons allow mass shootings. Today’s weapons scare the police – who carry a lot of weapons and wear bullet “proof” vests. This is one such story. The weapon is a truck. watch
Ohio Mom
@Ruckus: I am, in a half-assed way, decluttering and downsizing our possessions, and while we have no guns, we have lots of stuff we should have tossed long ago.
The worst is the stuff other people didn’t know what to do with and gave to us. Finally got rid of the piano MIL gave Ohio Dad when he was single and she was redecorating and it was in her way. We lugged that piano from D.C. to Ohio for no reason.
Then there is the broken Pachinko machine a friend’s mother gave Ohio Dad when she was clearing out her house to move into a retirement home. She said she thought he’d find it entertaining to fix but I suspect it was mostly that she knew he was an easy mark. She remembered how much money she’d spent on it and winced at putting it in the trash.
The list goes on. It’s hard to get rid of things, if for no other reason it’s a chore, and a chore that can easily be put off. So good on you for calling the police and ridding yourself of that burden.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
One thing that always gets me about the “good guy with a gun” arguments is that I know, from personal experience, that except in the hands of a remarkably skilled, well-trained expert, a firearm is not a precision instrument. True for rifles, triply true for handguns.
When I got conscripted, I turned out to be one of the better rifle shots in my training company, and even so, I didn’t always hit the target on the firing range, never mind the bulls-eye. I haven’t fired or even picked up a firearm since I turned in my weapons upon mustering out. And for the record, playing a video game that includes a gun does not prepare you for the reality of a live firearm, even if it’s the same model.
smith
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: The “good guy with a gun” myth has very little to do with guns and everything to do enabling a bunch of guys who fear they are insignificant to imagine themselves as heroes. The price of a gun is a small sum to pay for that.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
Side note to everything else: today is October 28, which in Greece is the national holiday “Okhi Day”, literally “No Day”, less literally “Fascists, Take Your Occupying Army and Fuck Off” Day, commemorating the day in 1940 when Fascist Italy demanded Greece allow the Italian army to occupy “certain unspecified strategic locations” within Greece, to which Greece responded, well, see above.
(The actual phrase spoken by Greek Prime Minister/dictator Ioannis Metaxas to Emmanuele Grazzi, Mussolini’s ambassador to Greece, was “Alors, c’est la guerre”, but that’s still a bit of cumbersome name for a holiday.)
wjca
Kind of rough on any pregnant women here, wouldn’t you say? Need to think these things thru better. Just sayin’,
P.S. The original of that quote, IIRC, was “Don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do, and don’t do some of those things!” Which is even more restrictive. Albeit somewhat imprecise.
Frankensteinbeck
@Gin & Tonic:
Pro-Iranian propaganda? From Musk? The only two explanations I can think of are pure trolling or ‘Any enemy of The Jews is a friend of mine.’ He is such a troll. A childish little shit who will take any position that he thinks makes nice people unhappy.
@Kay:
I think what changed is that they used to think they were getting that admiration. I know the evangelicals are right in believing that they used to get public praise for God Told Me To Do It and these days they get told to go see a psychiatrist.
Geminid
@Geminid: One striking aspect of the 2018 Blue Wave is that a very large portion of the 40 House seats Democrats flipped were primarily suburban districts. This was the case in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Georgia, Michigan, Kansas, Texas, Colorado and California. It was a nationwide trend.
One thing this tells me is that suburbs in the US are now more similar culturally, socially, and politically. The Richmond suburbs voted like the Northern Virginia suburbs, and they both voted like suburbs of Atlanta, Philadelphia, Denver, Kansas City, Houston and LA.
Most of the Representatives elected that year were fairly similar too, I think. They tended to fall into the liberally moderate or moderately liberal center of the House Caucus.
There was a handful Blue Dogs elected that year, but like Xochitl Torres Small, Joe Cunningham and Kendra Horn lost in 2020. Others like Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill left the Blue Dog kennel for the New Democrat Coaltion this January. And I think that now the main practical difference between a Blue Dog and a New Democrat is branding. I could say the same about the majority of New Democrat and Progressive Caucus members.
Bill Arnold
@Kay:
There needs to be more of a downside to extreme wealth, especially when that wealth is used to massively amplify one’s personal ideology.
A good fraction of the population needs to be fearless enough and resistant enough to bribes to consistently tell the trashy loud rich to their faces (somehow) that they are trash and that trash voices amplified by wealth are still amplified trash voices.
Don’t know how to achieve this.
Some of these fuckers actively use their money to shut down loud opposing voices, e.g. buy formerly critical media outlets to stop them from being critical. Or corrupting critics with couch change (hundreds of thousands of dollars, low millions).
Kathleen
@Kay: I was on David Pepper’s Blue Ohio Zoom meeting yesterday and the consensus was if Dems can get the vote out it should pass.
The other clarification to counteract all the lies in the ads was to tell people Issue 1 will simply restore Roe Vs Wade protections. Nothing more. I found that very helpful.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Matt McIrvin: Hmm. Plausible if those incidents were arguments over a parking space and the gun owner “won” by brandishing the gun. Or maybe the crime was his neighbor blowing a leaf into his lawn.
Brachiator
@Anyway:
I watched a couple of news clips of interviews with family members. Some appeared to be stunned. Some may have been medicated. But they wanted to talk about their loved ones who had been killed or wounded. They wanted to bear witness.
These folks and their loved ones were just ordinary people, just trying to live their lives. And so many of them had jobs or did volunteer work dedicated to helping others.
The photos of these people and their loved ones showed a lot of happiness, a lot of kindness.
Their deaths are a terrible loss. And I don’t know, maybe we can’t stop all gun crime, but it should be possible to reduce it.
WaterGirl
@RevRick: I agree that it’s a big Joe Biden deal, and I love that Granholm mentioned that in her announcement.
I would posit that it’s a triple win.
WaterGirl
@OzarkHillbilly: That’s horrible.
Anoniminous
@Frankensteinbeck:
Hard to over-estimate how really excellent that is.
Good News! (even)
Matt McIrvin
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I assume that if anything ever happened, it was generally “panicky guy gets scared of seeing a brown person or having his honor impugned in public, pulls out his gun, people back away carefully”.
Anoniminous
@Brachiator:
It’s always difficult to process the Face Eating Leopard Party promotes the eating of faces and the face being eaten is you or someone you know.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Too late, I’m already wearing pants.
Geminid
@Another Scott: The Times of Israel just put up a long (for them) article about the challenges Hamas’s tunnel network present the IDF. It quoted Gaza Hamas Chief Yihyah Sinwar claiming ” the tunnels we have in Gaza exceed 500 kilometers. That would be in a territory of 360 swuare kilometers, approximately twice the size of the District of
The Times also reported that PM Netanyahu will hold a news conference, his first since before October 7, at 8:30 pm this evening, local time. He will appear with Defense Minister Gallant and Minister Benny Gantz, the two other members of Israel’s War Cabinet.
The War Cabinet was created by Gantz and Netanyahu 2 1/2 weeks ago as part of the agreement under which Gantz and his 10 other National Unity party joined the government. The agreement was then ratified by the Knesset, typical practice for coalition agreements.
Besides Gantz, Gallant, and Netanyahu, Ron Dermer and Gadi Eisenkot serve on the War Cabinet as “Observers.” Dermer is a Netanyahu ally, while Eisenkot belongs to Gantz’s party. Like Gantz, Eisenkot is a former IDF Chief of Staff.
lowtechcyclist
@WaterGirl:
What was the breakthrough? I missed that part.
Even without a breakthrough, it’s important to make the points that:
1) This sort of thing should be bipartisan.
2) But it isn’t anymore. Dems are stepping up to take care of basic structural stuff like this, and Repubs aren’t.
3) Increasingly, the GOPers just don’t have the knowledge base to address issues like this. They’re good at yelling about ‘wokeness’ and unborn baybeez, but they’ve been pretty much reduced to being culture warriors because that’s all they know how to do.
4) So if you want this to be a functional country, vote Dem. If you want America to be a fucked-up mess, vote GOP.
Geminid
@WaterGirl: This jackal is barking, “Climate Post! Climate Post! Climate Post!”
karen marie
The Republican “spending bill” that cuts $5 billion will go over like a lead balloon.
As a reminder, this is what the legislation, worked on for a year by Democrats, contained:
The article is silent on the IRS budget but I’ll guess that’s cut as well, or shortly will be.
The whole thing is so astonishingly stupid it would be hard to believe.
Geminid
@lowtechcyclist: Maybe also:
5) vote Dem if you want your community to get new employment opportunities in the Clean Energy Transition, and more prosperous businesses too. And if you want your kids to stop breathing diesel fumes on their way to school.
Brachiator
@Jeffro:
Maybe he’s not listening to his coaches. I’m not a super sports guy, but I always see pro QBs trying to get rid of the ball rather than taking a sack. There typically seems to be a scheme to let the QB dump the pass if necessary.
Chris Johnson
@NotMax: OMG. Thank you. That comic is freaking AWESOME. Somebody grew up on Walt Kelly! Can’t believe I never heard of Stinz.
Salty Sam
Our daughter’s roommate is swept up in “Getting Stuff” that she is convinced she needs in order to be living a successful life. We, OTOH, have been downsizing continuously for the past decade. I gave her a wee bit of parental advice- after decades of Getting Stuff, I’ve found that getting rid of that stuff is MUCH more difficult than it’s procurement.
I’m not sure the advice has been heeded.
Sister Golden Bear
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Drag queens dress more subduedly.
Geminid
@Brachiator: Throwing the ball away seems to be an acquired skill for most NFL quarterbacks.
My friend Stephanie is an ardent Commanders fan. Back in the day, she and her Mom used to stand and sing the team’s fight song whenever they scored a touchdown.
Stephanie is also a fairly objective student of the game, and when I asked a couple of weeks ago if Howell had the elements of a good quarterback, she said she thinks he does. He needed to learn to to throw the ball away, she noted, but she thought he would
Ed. Dolly Parton fans may get to see Sam Howell in action on Thanksgiving. The Cowboys and Commanders have scheduled a football game around Ms. Parton’s Halftime performance.
Ruckus
@Kay:
the petulant demands
Like a child wanting ice cream instead of actual food for dinner.
And yes I do like ice cream. I just hardly ever buy any.
Jeffro
You too? =)
It sounds like a bit of background description in a near-future sci-fi novel: “When Robert Kirkman left his LifePod unit and took the maglev to work at the Stellantis plant, he didn’t realize it would be his last day on Old Earth.” (or something like that!)
Jeffro
@Brachiator:
@Geminid:
It’s something that many of us who have followed the game for years kind of know intuitively, but it’s amazing to see the stats on it!
<QB takes sack.> Coach: “thanks Jake, you just cost us 1.7 points! Throw it away next time!”
I explained it to Mrs. Fro once as “college QBs have 3 seconds max to get the ball out of their hands, and pro QBs have 2 seconds max.” I think that gets the idea across ok.
karen marie
@Geminid: See my comment above. House Republicans have already passed a bill rescinding that.
Ruckus
@narya:
It can be difficult to take care of parents and siblings when they get old enough to need assistance. I know from first hand experience. One thing to remember is to ALSO take care of yourself, both physically and mentally. I’ve been there and the time and effort is really not helped by the situation. Make sure to give yourself a break once in a while and to remember that this happens to many/most of us at some point. Don’t forget the good times even if they were few and far between, or maybe even especially if they were.
Geminid
@karen marie: Those numbskulls are passing a lot of bills that will never make it into law. A lot of these stupid measures will make it into Demacratic attack ads next year.
Some have already made it. During the Debt ceiling standoff this Spring, when Republicans passed a budget with 22% budget cuts that including for Veterans Administration funding, the next day Democrats had an ad up in the Virginia 2nd CD ripping Republican Congresswoman Jen Kiggans for that vote. Her coastal Virginia district is chock full of active and retired military and their families who were likely not amused.
The next budget Republicans voted on protected the VA, but too late for Kiggans. She voted for the first one and 2nd CD voters will hear plenty more about it.
The Lodger
@Suzanne: As long as Hamas isn’t keeping hostages in the tunnels, sealing off the entrances isn’t a bad idea.
The Lodger
@NotMax: Amish centaurs? Do they draw their own buggies?
Geminid
@The Lodger: I can’t think of any other other place besides the tunnels where Hamss would keep the hostages. There are miles and miles of them, according to Hamas’s Gaza leader over 500 kilometers worth.