Happy birthday @POTUS. We are forever grateful for your reliable support in the fight for our Independence.
Wish you many years, Mr. President! pic.twitter.com/Y0MfHs218f— Ukraine Front Lines (@EuromaidanPR) November 20, 2023
President Biden speaking straight ?? in San Francisco! ?? ?? ??
"The Press and pundits can keep being surprised as much as they want. But since I came off the sidelines to go toe to toe with Donald Trump, we haven’t stopped winning and he hasn’t stopped losing." – @POTUS… pic.twitter.com/5PsFSj59uG
— Chris D. Jackson (@ChrisDJackson) November 16, 2023
Our Major Media needs a new pork chop ‘narrative’…
The young people on TikTok are spoiled brats. Here’s why their poignant stories of economic anxiety are such bad news for Joe Biden.
— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) November 19, 2023
Reuters did a poll where they polled a bunch of statements and ceasefire polled well, but not as well as "Israel is responding the same way as any other country in their position would" or "Palestinians should be allowed to flee to other countries" which y'all say is genocide. https://t.co/we4KwxvyxS
— WBHD – A John Fetterman Democrat (@What46HasDone) November 19, 2023
I’m not as 100% as he seems to be; there could be a health issue, some weird external shock, procedural chicanery, etc. But the assumption that Biden’s margin will shrink or vanish AFTER 1/6, Dobbs, & indictments/trials is on its face whacky https://t.co/b0JuGyPjcZ
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) November 17, 2023
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊
OzarkHillbilly
Blech.
mrmoshpotato
I would’ve preferred “and he’s a loser,” but still BAM! POW! to the orange nutsack.
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
Good morning, Sunshine!
And a very happy birthday to President Biden.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
Awe 🥰
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah: Soon, my Gdaughters will wake up and it will all be…. different. ;-)
Dorothy A. Winsor
I think I’ve said before that I believe people are happier when they have a project. So, I’ve just thought up a reading project. Goodreads posted their finalists for best read of the year in 15 categories. I think I’ll go through and read one from each category. If I’ve already read one, I’ll read another.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@OzarkHillbilly: Ah. You have small noisy guests!
rikyrah 🎂🧁🍰🍨🍨
Happy Birthday to President Joe Biden 🌸😁🌞🥰🍨🍰🍰🎂
Chief Oshkosh
@mrmoshpotato:
You’re right. Sometimes redundancy clarifies:
“The Press and pundits can keep being surprised as much as they want. But since I came off the sidelines to go toe to toe with Donald Trump, we haven’t stopped winning and he hasn’t stopped losing…because he’s a loser. L-O-S-E-R.”
Kay
Oh, they’re going to be mad! They’ll be a lot of flouncing and hurt feelings! It’ll be like when they demanded he reinvade Afghanistan and he refused.
On that point, I follow Amy Klobuchar on social media. She’s very involved in helping refugees from Afghanistan. Just steadily working to bring them in, get them aid. Have you heard ONE DAMN WORD about refugees from Afghanistan since media had their big, phony months long hissy fit about how they cared so much about the refugees?
It’s like how they stopped giving a shit about email process and procedure the moment they knocked Clinton out. Frauds.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Here’s an article from Wired, reporting that Swedish union workers are on strike against Tesla. That included dock workers, cleaners, etc.
lowtechcyclist
@rikyrah:
Good morning!
It’s a bright, sunny morning here in beautiful Calvert County. Kinda nippy, but it is late November after all.
VOR
Thing is, TFG is only 3 years younger so not really an improvement in that regard. And TFG is the one making gaffes which make you question his mental acuity. Yeah, I wish Biden was 20 years younger but if my alternative is TFG then I’m crawling across broken glass to vote for Biden.
Baud
@rikyrah 🎂🧁🍰🍨🍨:
“Biden celebrates birthday, ignoring widespread controversy about his age.”
/NYT
dm
That Joe Trippi tweet sounds like it was written by the NYT Pitchbot
Baud
@Kay:
Agree. And what the media reports on ends up being what social media talks about.
SiubhanDuinne
@VOR:
@Baud:
Media and pundits carry on about Joe’s age as if it were a moral lapse, or some kind of character flaw.
p.a.
“Closure”: when the media move on to the next shiny object.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
Just like email management best practices issues was going to undermine national security.
M31
“We haven’t stopped winning and he hasn’t stopped losing, and I for one am not tired of it. My new campaign manager, Major the dog, has promised to bite Donald Trump in the balls and piss on his shoe. I’m Joe Biden and I approve this message”
New Deal democrat
I have one bone to pick with the “John Fetterman democrat” tweet.
If you follow up and go to the Reuters poll, there is majority support for a lot of different, but non-contradictory, opinions, e.g., Israel is reacting as any other country would do under similar circumstances, but also Israel should call a ceasefire and attempt to negotiate.
But most importantly, the top result in the Reuters polls was that Gazans should be *allowed* to flee to a safe country (which is not genocide), not that Gazans should be *forced* to flee to another country (which under some definitions is genocide.
Betty Cracker
If Speaker Johnson wasn’t a reactionary weirdo with a horrifying political agenda who is 2nd in line to the presidency, I’d almost feel sorry for him: Marjorie “Gang” Greene will make his life a living hell unless Johnson goes the McCarthy route and clutches the viper to his, um, bosom, in which case she’ll just make his life a living hell in other ways. (WaPo)
She’s also angry about the recent government spending bill, pissed off about the congressional calendar and furious over the possibility of linking Ukraine aid to border security funds. Best of luck, Johnson.
Jeffro
@Dorothy A. Winsor: oh good, another reason to buy more books!
(Narrator: Jeffro did not, in fact, need another reason to buy more books.)
j/k and thanks Dorothy – I’m off to check out the lists!
mrmoshpotato
@Chief Oshkosh: And also add Ace Ventura’s “La-who-za-her!”
SiubhanDuinne
@Betty Cracker:
Phrasing, WaPo!!!
mrmoshpotato
@Kay:
You’ll be able to hear the butthurt from Uranus! I say “Fuck their feelings!”
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Jeffro: I live next door to the public library. That helps keep the book budget under control.
RevRick
@SiubhanDuinne: Too bad his first name isn’t Peter or Willie.
mrmoshpotato
@SiubhanDuinne: Shouldn’t that be “tugging a Johnson,” or is that more of Blowbert’s territory that Majorly Trash Girl dare not try to invade?
sab
My stepkids stopped by yesterday to watch football with their dad. They brought their big goofy dog. Our pitbull was unhappy about that and spent the whole afternoon barking at him with her mouth full of dog biscuits. I was impressed. I didn’t know she could do that with her mouth full. He just shrugged it off and cheerfully ate his own biscuits.
mrmoshpotato
@RevRick: Or Big, Small, Tiny, Enormous, Slapdick, Assclown, Moron, or Ron.
Jeffro
“I WON’T STOP UNTIL I HAVE RE-WRITTEN HISTORY!!! EVEN THE HISTORY THAT THE ENTIRE WORLD WATCHED HAPPEN, LIVE ON TV! I WILL HAVE MY ORANGE GOD-KING BACK!!”
Jesus, the voices in that woman’s head must really be something…
RevRick
@mrmoshpotato: lol
mrmoshpotato
@Jeffro: Kids, don’t huff your own farts. Just – don’t.
OzarkHillbilly
I am gratefully deaf to them.
Scout211
The “season of the diet sun” gives us the most beautiful sunsets. I look forward to the evenings here in the fall with so many gorgeous sunsets.
In other news today, the Appellate Court will hear arguments on Trump’s partial gag order in Judge Chutkan’s court. I will be following the live updates. The ability of a judge to issue gag orders seems like a very big deal to me, but IANAL.
Ksmiami
FYI, the retail expectations are that Black Friday and cyber Monday will be huge. There’s a huge disconnect because the press is innumerate.
Baud
@Ksmiami:
People are drowning their economic sorrows through shopping, you heartless bastard!
OzarkHillbilly
@Ksmiami:
@Baud:
I shall endeavor to not spend a nickel on either of those days. I sure as shit am going to avoid Wally world like plague house of horrors that day.
Ksmiami
@OzarkHillbilly: Why won’t you think of the poor Walton heirs? Why aren’t you going to do your patriotic duty to CONSUME! /Commie libtard
OzarkHillbilly
@Ksmiami: Because I’m a Commie libtard and proud of it!
Soprano2
@Kay: Every now and then I hear a story about how some of them are still having problems, or about people still trying to get them out of Afghanistan, but otherwise no we hear nothing about it now. They didn’t really care about it other than as a way to punch Biden.
Soprano2
I appreciate that explanation about sunlight, because I’ve always wondered about that effect. Now I have the explanation for it!
RevRick
Gee, I wonder why this is happening:
Hyundai just announced that they’re going to raise workers’ pay 25% by 2028.
This follows announcements by Toyota that they will raise pay by 9-10% starting in January, and by Honda saying they will raise pay by 11% in January.
For some reason, UAW President Shawn Fain said, “UAW stands for ‘You’re welcome!’l
RevRick
@Soprano2: New Zealand would like a word.
SFAW
@mrmoshpotato:
Or, for people from Bahston: LOO-ZAH!
Soprano2
I’m still trying to come down off my perch of despair after reading Adam’s post about Israel yesterday. I love all the information and knowledge he brings, but I know those posts will always be depressing. They never have any good news for Democrats in them.
narya
According to a recent text I received, venison tenderloin will be back on the menu at Chez Narya (or, as my friend calls it, the Just Bite Me Lakeside Cafe). (The season opened Saturday in Wisconsin.)
Tony Jay
@Soprano2:
No, silly, you don’t understand. It’s not on the Giants of News Media to do Old Joe’s job for him by grandstanding on behalf of all those people he may or may not have abandoned to the tender mercies of
Ho Chi MinhThe Taliban inSaigonAfghanistan. By staying silent on the important matter of your elderly President’s absent minded failure to inform the population about what he’s probably got wrong over there, they are, in fact, just being professional and non-partisan. Something they should be commended for.Tsk. It’s like some people don’t understand the first thing about the role of the Fourth Estate in a thriving bipartisan democracy.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, … GovExec.com:
(Emphasis added.)
“You can pay me now, or pay me later…”
That’s just the tip of the iceberg, of course. The Federal Government is huge. There are around 436 federal agencies.
Cheers,
Scott.
Geminid
@OzarkHillbilly: I’ve only made it to one Black Friday sale but it was worth it. I bought one of those foldable, extendable ladders at Harbor Freight for $149. A heavy, stable ladder that I can fit in the back seat of my car.
Another Scott
@Soprano2: The world is big and complicated. Lots of good and bad things are always happening.
KyivIndependent.com:
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
rikyrah
@p.a.:
You mean when it was like BABY FORMULA SHORTAGE EVERYWHERE,
and, then, once the Biden Administration resolved the issue,
they didn’t say shyt about it?
rikyrah
@RevRick:
I wonder if the workers in those plants will put 2+ 2 together and come up with UNIONS ARE A GOOD THING?
rikyrah
@sab:
Dogs who are chill crack me up.
rikyrah
@Another Scott:
Good luck, Argentina. You will need it.
MomSense
@mrmoshpotato:
Especially if you’ve been huffing Sudafed and Adderall!
H.E.Wolf
@Soprano2:
I decided in Jan. 2017 that I couldn’t afford to consume information that brought me to despair, particularly about things I had no personal power to change. It wasn’t healthy for me, and it paralyzed my capacity for action where I could be effective.
Instead I’ve found small, concrete, positive actions I could take at the personal (very micro) level. In many cases (hello, postcarding and data entry!) I’ve been able to see a small, measurable result from what I’m doing. It has improved my spirits, which has allowed me to continue to lend a hand.
This is descriptive, not prescriptive. :-) Everyone’s different – this is what worked for me.
Geminid
@Jeffro: Have you been to the Green Valley Book Sale, over in the Shenandoah Valley?. It’s a couple of big buildings full of new, discounted books. I think that long ago, some enterprising Mennonites started the business in a barn. It opens for six weeks at a time, and right now it will be open until right before Christmas. There are a lot of nice books there of all kinds, and it’s a very pretty drive.
lowtechcyclist
@Geminid:
I’ll have to put it on my list for next year!
Geminid
@lowtechcyclist: The Green Valley Book Fair is not far from Grand Caverns. That’s my idea of spelunking: a cave I can walk into but not too far, and then walk back out of before I get too claustrophobic.
The Book Fair isn’t far from Harrisonburg either. I hear James Madison University has a botanical center where people can buy native plants. I need to get over there and buy a Flame Azalea.
wjca
I understand that people, including members of the press, tend to live in information bubbles. But most of us also have some real world interactions — if only with our families. And that means we probably have first hand experience with the reality that people age at different rates.
It beggars belief that so much of of the press would be part of the minority which doesn’t have that experience. But if they do have that experience, how do they not notice that same phenomena also occurs in the people they are covering? Anyone looking at, or listening to, politicians (not just Biden and TIFG) has lots of examples of people who are still “acting young” well past 65, and others who “look and act senile” before they ever reach their mid-60s. It’s pretty hard to miss. Or should be.
RevRick
@rikyrah: Given that the plants tend to be located in Southern “Right to Work “ states with a long tradition of pitting the working class against each other along racial lines, organizing is an uphill battle. But who knows?
Kathleen
@SiubhanDuinne: Media consider choosing Black women for VP slot a character flaw. They cannot comprehend the concept of “moral”.
wjca
Fixed that for you. (Or, to be fair, your source.)
“Deferred maintenance” is a flat out fraud. Proposing it, whether in government or in business, should be cause for summary termination. A forced resignation not an option, not is claiming some weasel words like “reduction in force”; you get the black mark of being flat out fired on your record.
Burnspbesq
Oral argument ongoing in Trump’s appeal of Judge Chutkan’s gag order. You can listen on the D.C. Circuit’s YouTube page.
i’m not exactly an impartial observer, and we’ll have to see how the Government’s argument goes, but Trump’s counsel is increasingly looking like a pile of smoking wreckage.
Omnes Omnibus
@Burnspbesq:
She can’t concede any hypothetical because her client has no self-control.
Poe Larity
Micro$oft just threw $10B invested in OpenAI out the window and hired Sam Altman to build a competitor.
Must be nice to have options.
Baud
@wjca:
Much of right wing economic thinking is grounded in monkeying around with depreciation.
wjca
Most of my depreciation is reserved for RWNJ politicians.
sixthdoctor
@H.E.Wolf: That’s a very good perspective and something that I’ve tried to implement. Anger without purpose is just poison.
It’s strange, when I remember to, I say to myself “You don’t have to be angry right now,” and it’s honestly worked. Of course, with 25 years of regular therapy you’d think I’d have a better handle on it…
NotMax
Repeated from overnight thread.
No need to watch the whole video, but please do go see and hear the measured statements by a citizen who is my new hero (1:49 to 3:54). Link should go to the beginning of the segment
“There is no right way to do the wrong thing.” Formidable sentiment.
Soprano2
@H.E.Wolf: Maybe I should try some postcarding. I have a pretty full schedule, but it might help me feel better. When I read stuff like “70% of Arab Americans have said they will never vote for Joe Biden again because they think he’s directly responsible for killing babies” or the same thing about young people, it’s pretty dispiriting. I think idealism can be a force for good, but it can also be stupid, with people with almost no experience with the real world expecting Biden to solve a problem that’s been intractable since 1948! It’s particularly frustrating since I think Biden has said more about the civilians in Gaza needing help than I think most any other president would feel safe saying, and yet it still isn’t enough for these people. They want the U.S. to totally cut off all aid to Israel and quit supporting them, and that’s politically unrealistic.
Chris Johnson
@Poe Larity: The AI scene is FLIPPING OUT. I can’t even load Hacker News this morning. Something absolutely crazy happened at OpenAI and nobody has a clue what brought it on. Started when they randomly fired their chairman on half an hour’s notice.
Leto
@Burnspbesq: just from a lay observation, it seems that Trumpov’s lawyer (former Missouri solicitor general) is basically arguing that unless Trumpov is allowed to threaten/intimidate anyone then his free speech rights are being trampled. The judges have given pretty clear examples of what was agreed upon protected speech (can be critical of the government), versus what is over the line (calling for Mark Milley’s death).
Ken
@Chris Johnson: If the new OpenAI chair is never seen and only speaks through a telephone, I’ll assume the AI revolution has begun.
Soprano2
@Leto: So they are arguing that death threats are a permissible form of free speech. Not surprising. Which attorney is a former MO solicitor general?
Baud
@Soprano2:
I wouldn’t put much stock in things people are saying while the fighting is ongoing.
Mousebumples
@Soprano2: I like it! I know it’s not for everyone, but it’s a way to feel like I’m making an impact.
You can do it on your time, where you can carve out time to write. I usually write after kiddo bedtimes when Mr. Mouse and I are watching sports or other TV stuff.
Citizen Alan
@New Deal democrat: Either way, it’s a dumb question because it presumes that there are other nations which will be happy to absorb hundreds of thousands of impoverished Gazan refugees. Has anyone polled the question of whether the United States should allow 100,000 or so Gazans or palestinians to immigrate to the US as refugees? Somehow, I can’t imagine that winning widespread approval..
Leto
@Soprano2: D. John Sauer, former MO SG
Edit: basically his argument is that everything the fat bastard says is “core political speech”. There’s nothing he can say that isn’t protected.
Scout211
Lapassionara
@wjca: Ditto! Since I am a few months older than Biden, I am keenly aware of the affect that my age has had on my abilities. So far, I’m with the crowd that believes that 80 is the new 60. I have lost some spring in my step, but I blame the pandemic for that, when I could not go to the gym. Biden has stayed physically active, and he appears to me to be totally capable. His stuttering issue can give the impression that he has slowed down mentally, but I watched his press conference after his meeting with Xi, and he handled questions with skill and demonstrated knowledge of the pertinent areas. Compared to the orange menace, he is amazingly qualified.
Leto
US gov lawyer up, Cecil Vandevender. That was fun to type out.
mrmoshpotato
@OzarkHillbilly:
Isn’t it a plague house of horrors every day?
trollhattan
@Chris Johnson:
Microsoft being the prime investor in Open AI hires the two Open AI dudes the second they’re out, which I guess is like betting on both teams in a sportsball match.
Also indicative of how much money is sloshing around in MS’s coffers but holy hell, that board managed to destroy an industry-leading company in 48 hours. Which says everything I feel about boards in general.
mrmoshpotato
@narya:
Hehe, and why is that?
Scout211
IANAL, so asking a dumb question maybe.
Is the Appellate 3-judge panel in Trump’s gag order appealable beyond asking for full panel review? Will this be appealed to SCOTUS if they don’t get the ruling they want?
Because I can already see what Trump will claim: all three Appellate judges were appointed by Democrats! Bias! Election interference! They were mean to me!
Added: Link
Geminid
@mrmoshpotato: That’s how I felt last week when I went grocery shopping at Walmart and saw the Pumpkin Spice Special K.
John S.
@Lapassionara:
I think this is where all the polling falls short. If and when it actually comes down to Biden vs. Trump, people have to make a binary choice. It won’t matter as much that Biden is old, young voters have economic anxiety, that different factions of Democrats disagree on Israel, etc.
It’s a real choice with real consequences, as the people of Argentina are about to find out.
Baud
@Scout211:
Yes. They can seek SCOTUS review.
UncleEbeneezer
@Soprano2: Honestly, I think the best tactic to take with the people claiming they can’t vote for Biden because he did/didn’t do X is to just change the subject to: “So you are okay with Trump rounding up Undocumented People and putting them in concentration camps? Yes or no?” Or “So you are okay with a Federal Abortion Ban?” Or “So you are okay with another Muslim Ban and Transgender Military Ban?” etc. You’ll never convince them on I/P or whatever their pet issue is. But then again, you are also unlikely to convince them on anything else, which is why I refuse to engage with them, for the most part.
Scout211
@Baud: TY
Soprano2
@Leto: Ugh, he was Hawley and Schmitt’s Solicitor General, no wonder. I listened to a podcast On the Media ran back in October about Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society. One of the things they talked about was that he concentrated on building up formerly obscure offices, like Solicitor General, in order to weaponize them for conservatives. I can’t find it on their Web site; I don’t think they did it, I think it was done by a sister group and they just ran it.
Harrison Wesley
@Scout211: “They were mean to me!” – Mr. Swill
stinger
I might care more about Joe Trippi’s opinion — on anything — if he knew the plural of “leaf”. I’m shallow that way.
Soprano2
@Citizen Alan: Has anyone paid any attention at all to how these type of refugees are received in other countries? (unless they’re white Ukranians, then they’re welcomed by everyone with open arms. Funny how that works, huh?)
Baud
@UncleEbeneezer:
I don’t know if it’s best to challenge them if passion has displaced reason.
Maybe something like “I can’t have allowing Trump to win on my conscience.” Draw a moral line in the sand and leave it to them to figure out what side is the line they want to be on.
IMHO the worst thing one can do is come off as apologetic.
YMMV.
Soprano2
Anyone who has had much experience with people who actually have dementia knows that there is no way Biden has it; he couldn’t take questions like he did at that press conference if he had dementia. People in the press have to know this, at least some of them, and know that TFG shows signs of some type of mental deterioration because of the way he repeats things and continues to believe in things that are wrong (the 1917 pandemic, for example) even after he’s told differently.
Baud
@Soprano2:
The dementia thing was always gaslighting.
Eunicecycle
@NotMax: very nice! He’s so calm yet makes his point eloquently.
mrmoshpotato
@Geminid: Are you familiar with HBO’s Last Week Tonight, and their ongoing love of pumpkin spice?
Jeffro
@Geminid: yes! I started going there all the way back in my undergrad days in the Valley. =)
(haven’t been in a while, though…thanks for the reminder!)
Michael Bersin
@Chris Johnson:
You think they found out that the business plan consisted solely of off-year election interns in the vast basement of the RNC coding and posting random stuff?
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Chris Johnson: @Michael Bersin:
It’s a known problem with AI systems. You can’t figure out how it made a decision.
Leto
@mrmoshpotato: THE SPICE MUST FLOW!
Michael Bersin
@Soprano2:
Missouri right wingnuts are true believers. There are no “moderates.”
Brachiator
@NotMax:
Great video clip.
Good to see it is very popular in various social media places.
Soprano2
@Baud: I know, but the press has a responsibility to resist gaslighting rather than leaning into it. Some of them have to know, from personal experience, that there is no way Biden has dementia. I wish they would say so.
Geminid
@mrmoshpotato: No, I’m not familiar with it and I’m glad of that. I just know I’m buying my Special K at the Stanardsville Great Value for next few months. I need to get a couple things at Walmart but I’m gonna avert my eyes when I pass the cereal aisle.
piratedan
apologies if this becomes tl;dr…
Reflectively, I find myself looking in the mirror as I cruise thru social media lines with a fair amount of youth and people that I would nominally consider political allies and see a LOT of parallels between our own political angst over the events that led up to and transpired since the J6 attack and what is taking place in Gaza right now.
There’s a helluva lot of “DO SOMETHING” going on right now and am still surprised about how ignorant (and maybe rightly so) people are regarding the relative recent history of the region and who the players are that make change so difficult and the very same folks that would have likely been screaming (and in some cases did scream) that we don’t NEED to be in Afghanistan/IRAQ/Somalia are advocating that we need to institute a cease fire by any means possible, and yes they’re talking about boots on the ground.
Now are these people political movers and shakers, not really, but are they filling the ranks of people threatening Jews in the US and elsewhere in the world… it appears that they likely are.
There are times when I wish I could go all Morgan Freeman/Red narrative mode in speaking to these folks to have them understand what it is that they are advocating for as an end game are the very same that the Administration is pushing for, a two-state solution with Hamas gone and Israel to stop this settlement crap on the West Bank. That would require people to be recognizant that it’s not an easy solution, but killing innocent civilians isn’t exactly a winning policy either. It’s NOT easy because of history and context and a whole lotta crap like universal white people guilt allowing the Holocaust to happen (and looking the other way while the Nazi’s did it) and a not so awesome attitude to Jews for centuries. It also ignores that white folks haven’t exactly been cognizant of the rights of peeps of Arabic decent and how this whole western demonocracy thing isn’t exactly embraced by Arabs as a whole nor does it seem that other Arab states feel a need to offer Palestinians a helping hand other than to keep them out of THEIR country but here are some guns, go knock yourselves out.
I don’t have answers to get the actors on the stage to step to “our” directions, but I’m pretty sure that the Dem response, while murky and muddled is a damn sight better than Gaza glowing right now. Despite that, I wish I had something to offer these folks other than wait and see but its very difficult even when you’re the last superpower standing to ask people that have been abused for so long to stop fighting and attempt to be rational and table all of that hate and history, especially so when those in charge really don’t want to do it knowing that as soon as they stop, they’re going to be replaced.
Soprano2
@Michael Bersin: You don’t have to tell me that, I live in Springfield. LOL I’ve seen John Ashcroft and his family at a local restaurant once, and the Blunts are from around here too, as is our current governor. Josh Hawley even pretends to live down here!
Subsole
@Baud:
Welllllll….in fairness, I am sure it did, given who ended up in charge.
Among other failings moral spiritual ethical intellectual logical and physical…
Right disease, wrong vector.
Network news, folks. The only people on earth who can hit the bullseye while simultaneously missing the entire damn target…
CaseyL
@UncleEbeneezer: I had an exchange like that on a WaPo comment board.
Some numbnuts said he couldn’t possibly vote for Biden because of the “slaughter of thousands of innocents.” I asked if he was OK with the unconstrained slaughter of innocents by assault weapons here in the US, and OK with the deaths of women and children for lack of medical care, and the suicide or outright murder of people for their lifestyles.
He didn’t address my comment at all, but simply repeated himself, the slaughter of thousands, etc.
I told him he was a moral vacuity, and left it at that.
There are a lot of people who come across as moral vacuities. They may possibly be exactly that, but they’re likelier to simply be ratfucking bad faith actors.
Soprano2
@piratedan: That’s a pretty good summation of how I feel right now, too. I get so frustrated with the people who wonder why Biden hasn’t solved a problem that’s been intractable since after WWII! Read a little history, people. I feel worse for Arab-Americans, I cannot imagine how they are feeling right now, but the solution isn’t to quit and thus help TFG get elected again.
Miss Bianca
@Citizen Alan: I feel like the White House/Democrats ought to be hiring a polling team on that issue asking people, “Well? Are you in favor of granting asylum to a potentially unlimited number of Palestinian refugees? No? No one else is either, funny that…”
Yeah, this is a problem that can easily be solved by just yelling “Ceasefire!” loud enough, sure…
Michael Bersin
@Soprano2:
Mark Alford (r). Before that, Vicky Hartzler (r). Also, Rick Brattin (r).
I rest my case…
Subsole
@mrmoshpotato:
True. Some Titanian’s auditory receptors are already perking up at the ass-fractured keening…
Which is remarkable, given the absolute lack of any interplanetary medium through which soundwaves can propagate.
Ruckus
@Another Scott:
I see. Someone who misunderstands that freedoms all have one thing in common – they are all FREE.
Has zero concept that all freedoms cost someone something.
Paul in KY
@rikyrah 🎂🧁🍰🍨🍨: Most Happy Birthday to our POTUS!!!
Michael Bersin
@Soprano2:
Yeah, Americans tend to have really short memories.
Trump Muslim Ban protest at Kansas City International Airport – January 29, 2017
Baud
@piratedan:
Certain issues lend themselves to DO SOMETHING rhetoric. Gaza is certainly one of them.
The bigger problem is the absence of credit when something is done.
Soprano2
@Michael Bersin: Yeah, you win, although I have Eric Burlison (R-Crazy), and before that I had Billy Long (R-Too Well-Fed) for reps. I’m lucky that I live in the part of the city that has Betsy Fogle (D) as a rep, and before that I had the fantastic Crystal Quade (D). It’s slowly getting better here, we now have 3 Democrats in the state legislature up from only 1 eight years ago.
Kay
@rikyrah:
Well, they’re free riders. They benefit from labor unions but don’t belong to one or pay dues. It happens a lot in all kinds of industries. The bootstrapping free market anti union workers enjoy the benefits of the wage floor the union shops put in place (and paid for) but they don’t pay and they don’t have to strike.
We see it in Ohio with charter schools. All charters are vehemently opposed to unions but public school unions are holding up wages for charter school employees. Without labor unions they’d all be making 15 bucks an hour. Remember it when they’re beating their chests over how they don’t need unions because they are EXCELLENT, or whatever. They don’t need unions because someone else pays for them.
mrmoshpotato
@Leto: Yes. (Never had one of the damned things myself.)
Baud
@Kay:
If you’re not free riding, you’re a chump.
Subsole
@sixthdoctor:
I dunno. Having any conscious influence over the vagaries of your endocrine system seems pretty remarkable to me.
H.E.Wolf
Based on reading your comments here over the years, I’ve got the impression you’re a “can do” kind of person… so postcards might be a good fit!
I’m a slow writer with other things on my plate, so PostcardsToVoters.org is a good fit for me: a very low minimum of 4 or 5 addresses, and 3 full days to write (4 days, if I ask for addresses on a Thursday). Plus there’s no penalty for taking a break and resuming days/weeks/months later. :-)
To sign up: Email [email protected]
I check their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/TonyTheDemocrat.org/ – I’m a non-account-holder) to see what’s current. I
Once someone is signed up, it also works to email their address bot and say “Send me 5 addresses”, which returns a list of current campaigns. [email protected]
Soprano2
@Kay: My mother worked for a free rider GE plant. She loved it because she didn’t have to pay union dues but she got the same pay and benefits the union people got. Of course, now there is no GE plant here because they closed it down in the early 2000’s and shipped all the jobs to Mexico, but luckily for her that was after she retired.
Michael Bersin
@Soprano2:
Mark Alford (r) and Eric Burlison (r). Same difference.
The only two from Missouri:
Mark Alford (r): continuing to vote for chaos
Soprano2
@Michael Bersin: Yep, we also have Mike Moon (R-Totally Insane) down here, he’s in the Rick Brattin mold. Those Brattin ads during the primary in 2020 were something else, I had never even heard of that guy before.
cain
@piratedan:
You can bet that they are using Israel to do anti-Semitic nonsense under the guise of criticizing Israel’s genocide. We should be clear that Israel is not Judaism. Although, Israelis do share some of the blame for repeatedly re-electing a sociopath right winger and his party. As a nation, you’re saying that what’s happening in the West Bank is ok.
I’d be curious to know if there are polls on what people’s sentiments are on settlers.
rikyrah
@Chris Johnson:
Does this have anything to do with them not being able to skirt copywrite and intellectual property laws?
Burnspbesq
The panel seemed genuinely concerned about the imprecision of some of the lines Judge Chutkan tried to draw in her order, but Trump’s counsel’s intransigence clearly didn’t go over well. I think the government “won” today, but that doesn’t guarantee that it’s going to like the opinion when it comes down.
Michael Bersin
@Soprano2:
Ah, yes. Mike Moon (r). I concede.
Maybe if we all think of Ceres as a dwarf planet Rep. Mike Moon (r) will be okay with it
Burnspbesq
@cain:
We should also be clear that Hamas atrocities don’t justify Israeli violations of the law of armed conflict.
Ruckus
@Soprano2:
That would be giving Joe something. And Joe is old so Joe can’t do anything. Just ask them. Age is a funny thing. Some are very old at 65 and some are not so old at 80. Neither of my sisters lived as old as dad or even close to mom. Yesterday I walked a total of 7 1/2 miles and I’m in my middle 70s. Now I don’t do that much very often but it is all in how one takes care of one’s self and how the world does as well. People do live and can live well into their 90s. Or more. The 50 oldest recorded still alive are all over 112, the oldest is going on 117 yrs old. There are 2 men in that age group, neither live in the US. 8 live in the US.
cain
Have you seen the netflix show about people living long lives (and looking fabulous) ? You should check it out. But a lot of the people whose communities have a thriving senior population – it comes down to food and exercise.
MazeDancer
POTUS pardoning turkeys Liberty and Belle, if you are into that sort of thing. (And, why, yes I am.)
Mr.Biden strikes just the right tone. Playful, yet not mocking.
Wish he had mentioned Indigenous People’s Day.
Ruckus
@cain:
it comes down to food and exercise.
Yes it does. I think it also helps if one either drinks alcohol in real moderation or not at all. And then there are the genes. One thing that amazes me is that when I was born, the only disease with a vaccine was smallpox. The polio vaccine came about in the mid 1950s, too late for 4 people I know/knew who live/lived with the after effects. Strangely, all of them women.
Sister Golden Bear
@Baud: “President celebrates birthday. Here’s why it’s bad news for Biden.” — FTFNYT
Baud
@MazeDancer:
Indigenous Peoples Day is associated with Columbus Day, not Thanksgiving.
Baud
@cain:
I’m surprised they didn’t say it comes down to watching Netflix.
NotMax
@Ruckus
Tuberculosis vaccine first administered medically in the 1920s.
Soprano2
@Ruckus: This is why I’m diligent about exercising – I want to stay as strong as I can. I feel I’m a pretty young 62, although sometimes my body says otherwise. My face, OTOH, looks like I’m mid-40’s. I don’t even have crow’s feet yet! My secrets 1) don’t smoke, 2) stay out of the sun, and 3) good genetics, which you can’t control. All the women on my mother’s side of the family aged the same way I have. I’m a terrible judge of age because my face looks so young.
trollhattan
@Baud:
Believe this week is “We Bailed Your Asses Out Day.”
mrmoshpotato
@Sister Golden Bear: “Biden celebrates birthday. Do you we’re a bunch of hacks because he’s so OOOOOLLLLLDDDDD?”
-FNYT being somewhat honest.
Matt McIrvin
@Chris Johnson: it can only be due to human error, Dave. This sort of thing has cropped up before, and it has always been due to human error.
evodevo
@Soprano2:
There’s evidently a huge disparity between the youngs’ polling on the Israel/Hamas question, and the olds…I say it’s because of that fact…we have been watching this stuff go down for 60 years, and NO ONE has solved it yet. Expecting Biden to pull a rabbit out of the hat on it is ingenuous at best. I expect naivete plays a big part in this…We olds know better…
Ruckus
@NotMax:
You do know I’m old don’t you?
And BTW thanks!
sab
@Ruckus: Which of you is older?
sab
@Soprano2: Plan ahead on exercising. I did it a lot until my parents age derailed it, Mom’s disability, Dad’s dementia.
Suddenly caretaking absorbs all your time. You will need back up. Think about how to get that (family, short term hired help.) You will need it, but with it you can be good to go for years.
StringOnAStick
@wjca: Aging at different rates is real. I’m 65 and spent the day backcountry skiing on a peak in Central Oregon. I have made it point to stay active. My younger sister is 60, thinks that a walk around the block is enough exercise for any day; she looks, sounds and thinks much older than 60.