“It’s nasty out there,” Trump said as he arrived in Iowa. It’s -10 degrees here pic.twitter.com/FvhwEB8mzf
— Tyler Pager (@tylerpager) January 14, 2024
Yes, yes, you’re sick of it already… but if ‘we’ don’t cover the early probably-meaningless scrums, we might miss some once-in-a-career upset…
Blowing snow at Des Moines airport and long delays on the DSM tarmac to get to the gate — few ground crew could make it in to work, our pilot said — but flights are landing in central Iowa. https://t.co/fcLq6SpAYn pic.twitter.com/kOns9zqooa
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) January 13, 2024
Mr. Charles P. Pierce, one of the writers I’m counting on to get me through the next eight months, with an extract from his Saturday subscriber blog — “A Bleak Forecast In Iowa And the Weather’s Bad, Too”:
… The last Iowa caucus I attended took place in a gun store way out in the boonies south of Des Moines. It was a Republican caucus and fifteen people attended. Ted Cruz won the balloting, I think. I lost track of the results as I lost track of the route back to Des Moines, which gave me a lot of time to dwell on the fundamental absurdity of granting this archaic, jerry-rigged process pride of place in our selection of the next president of the United States. Somewhere around Indianola, I determined that the Iowa caucuses had seen the last of me.
The last time around, the caucuses descended into farce. Plagued by a bug-ridden mobile app, incompetence at the highest level, and campaigns determined to take advantage of both of these things, it took sixteen days for the Iowa Democrats to determine finally that Pete Buttigieg had won more delegates than Bernie Sanders had. By then, of course, the country had returned to not giving a damn what happens in Iowa, which is the sensible thing to do.
The Democratic Party gave up its participation in this goat-roping. There was much weeping and rending of garments over this, mostly from people who believe that a quadrennial trip to the cornfields is just too fcking adorable. But a barely organized gathering of god-bothering white hayshakers has as much to do with the modern Democratic Party as it does with Luxembourg’s Chamber of Deputies…
The Democrats, who don’t have a real nomination fight anyway, sensibly decided to kick off with four straight primaries in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada, and Michigan. New Hampshire helps them maintain the quaint, and the other three are states vital to the general election. They even got the Nevada Democrats to abandon the caucus process for a primary. There is no Democratic caucus event until March 12, and that one is in the Northern Marianas Islands. Iowa is buried in the chaos of Super Tuesday on March 5, and it’s a mail-in vote. Which is pretty much where it belongs.
Iowa never had a firm grip on its pride of place. It jumped ahead of New Hampshire in 1972, but nobody thought much of the Iowa caucuses until 1976, when a win there gave the longshot candidacy of Jimmy Carter its first real boost. Still, most of the kickoff attention remained focused on New Hampshire’s primary, which established its reputation at least as far back as 1960. But the facts on the ground were changing in Iowa. The rise of activist conservative religion changed the landscape first of the Iowa Republican Party, and then of the politics of the entire state. The first inkling of what was to come came in 1988, when crackpot preacher Pat Robertson took a strong second behind Robert Dole in the GOP caucuses. As Iowa slid faster and faster toward its personal Lord and Savior, it became less and less relevant to the Democratic Party until its banjaxed 2020 process finally exhausted the party’s patience. So the Democrats left the state to Jesus—and, to the weather…
I am in Iowa, where the weather conditions are “The HMS Franklin and HMS Erebus Set Sail Into Creaking Ice On A Futile Hunt For The Northwest Passage” and all you got was this column https://t.co/cF55gtYA4K
— Alexandra Petri (@petridishes) January 13, 2024
National Treasure Alexandra Petri, at the Washington Post— “Iowa’s caucus system is snow way to pick a president” [gift link]:
Time for a civics lesson! In the United States, what is the first step we take to decide who gets to be on the ballot for president?
Simple! We have all the people who want to run for president go to Iowa for, say, 11 months. First, we have them eat corn under intense scrutiny and be photographed sliding down a large slide. (This must tell us something important about them — perhaps how quickly they could get down from an international summit?) They then go to a lot of event centers and restaurants and shake hands and give stump speeches as the weather gets steadily colder.
And then, we pick a weekend — ideally in the middle of January. A holiday weekend when it is so cold and snowy that Iowa, a place that is actually accustomed to snow, begins Friday by canceling school. A weekend when the local weather team is urgently telling you not to leave home if you can possibly help it, because if you are outside for five minutes with any exposed skin, you will develop frostbite. A weekend when the weather is anticipated to hit minus-25 degrees with wind chill, and minus-2 without it — a temperature so low that I had to check that it was, indeed, in Fahrenheit, given that water freezes at 32 degrees. I don’t know what water does at minus-2 degrees, but I guess I will find out!…
I see some problems with this system. I would see more problems with it, but the visibility is not very good here with all the snow. It is like being in a snow globe that someone has shaken vigorously, except you cannot turn things upside down to get them to stop. I spent a few minutes outside trying to see whether I could get coffee, and when I returned, I looked like the last survivor of a failed polar expedition. I felt as though I should apologize to all the boosters of my expedition for not finding the Northwest Passage…
Look, it is barely an insult to the Republican candidates to say that it is difficult to imagine being excited enough by any of them to want to go outside in this weather. “We need an accountant in the White House!” is hardly an applause line in a warm room with a bar in it…
… I think it’s bad any time there is an obstacle to voting. So I already do not love the caucuses, a system that requires people to be available for an extended period of time on a weeknight, something that I have discovered, as a parent, is literally impossible. Candidly, I do not think that, in order to express a preference about who gets to be the next president, you should have to load up a sled behind a team of huskies, wrap yourself in approximately 48 layers of insulation, announce, “I am just going outside and may be some time,” and find a babysitter on a Monday night. Hell of a way to choose a president!
No. This is far too cold for Hell.
It will be 1st caucus for 34% of likely Republican caucusgoers—lower than the 40% who said that in final Iowa Poll ahead of 2016 caucuses.
2012 entrance polling found 38% were 1st time caucusgoers.
This year, Trump leads among 1st-timers: 56%. Haley 14%. DeSantis 13%.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) January 14, 2024
And the challengers’ teams are hoping all the newbies get lost in the snow on their way to their local polling sites.
Furthermore, Underdog Grifter Vivek Ramaswamy has released his cunning plan to trick MAGAts into voting for him instead of the God-Emperor… and said God-Emperor is ANGRY. But I’m saving that for a post after y’all have a chance to get your breakfasts first.
Baud
“It’s nasty in here.” / Wherever Trump is.
Denali5
Please refrain from capitalizing references to TFG. It is not warranted.
Chief Oshkosh
I was with the bastid until he dissed ma people, those fine folk at Luxembourg’s Chamber of Deputies!
Princess
Is the cold affecting Pierce’s brain (or mine?)? I thought the NH primary was unauthorized by the Dems.
It doesn’t take a genius to predict a disgracefully low turnout tomorrow. But whose supporters will be the most motivated to turn out? You might think it will be Trump’s opponents.
NotMax
Tranquil weekend morn a fine time to kick back with some inspired silliness.
Baud
@Princess:
Yeah, that was weird about New Hampshire.
Ken
That planeload of reporters reminds me of when a hurricane strikes, and the news organizations send some poor soul (and camera crew) out into the wind and rain to tell us that, indeed, a hurricane is coming ashore here. The weather disaster on top of the scheduled caucus disaster just enhances the similarity.
Kay
DeSantis is complaing that Trump has a “Praetorian Guard of conservative media” around him – “Fox News, the websites” and they don’t hold Trump accountable.
He’s right of course. I would add the the podcasters (Shapiro and ilk) and the video chat shows (Tucker Carlson, Glenn Greenwald, Joe Rogan). But of course DeSantis can’t complain. He never held Trump accountable either and “conservative media” is part of the GOP – they were never independent.
Betty Cracker
@Princess: I think you’re right about the NH Dem primary being meaningless this year. Also, Pierce is wrong when he includes South Carolina (along with NV and MI) as a state “vital to the general election.” It’s significant in the Dem primary but hasn’t been a factor in the general for generations.
Baud
@Kay:
I give him points for not blaming Dems for his loserosity.
Scout211
Growing up in Iowa, I remember my dad attending the caucuses but they were not really national news back then. My father was a staunch Republican and was always proud to vote in the caucuses for whichever Republican was his choice that year. But the caucuses back then seemed local and not really all that newsworthy to the national press, except for the results.
The January weather I do remember, though. Ugh. The subzero temps with blowing wind and snow and ice . . . just no. Hence the move to California.
I do remember that one time as a college student at Iowa when it was -25 outside (not wind chill factor) and I had to walk to work because my old car was frozen solid and wouldn’t start. It sounded like a nightmare, but it really wasn’t. The sun was out and there was no wind. It felt balmy without the wind and the blowing snow. The weather they are having now is the worst of the worst January weather in Iowa. And the current political climate in Iowa is no better.
Kay
@Baud:
He has a whiny voice so it’s harder to tell, but I think he’s bitter as hell. I toyed with the idea he might bolt and be a genuine cult defector, but no. He’s a follower. Born to follow directions.
This is partly why I so defend the right of Democrats to dissent w/in the party. We do not want the type of echo chamber they have on the Right. It has not benefitted them as an organization and it has not benefitted the country. It leads to a decline in quality.
H.E.Wolf
In that first photo, the former president looks a bit like someone lost in a large hotel lobby in his pajamas and bathrobe.
Baud
@Kay:
I’ve got no problem with dissent. But things often go beyond that to affirmatively aiding fascists. That’s where I draw the line.
Shalimar
@Baud: Everyone knows Disney is responsible for DeSantis’s loserosity. This is why we must boycott the NFL.
Kay
@Baud:
There’s a bunch of reasons to be glad DeSantis is failing but the biggest to me, as far as national import, is that he took orders from Christopher Rufo and focused on “wokeness” and DEI and anti gay and trans and it FLOPPED, nationally. I find that so heartening. I’m sorry it worked in FL, but it doesn’t work anywhere else.
Nukular Biskits
Good mornin’, y’all!
@Baud:
I second that.
gene108
The problem Republicans have in moving on from Trump is they have nothing to replace him with.
There policies, such as they are, are not very popular even among Republicans.
They can’t change because their billionaire sugar daddies won’t allow it, conservative media can’t allow it or they’d lose viewers, and their voters stopped being reality based years ago.
I hope they eventually choke on this toxic concoction they’ve brewed.
Nukular Biskits
Pierce nails it here.
Scout211
And surrounded by a half dozen
mafiaenforcerssecret service men with panicked looks on their faces, wondering what the idiot will do next.Michael Bersin
I had a lot of fun covering the lead up to the 2020 caucus in Iowa (it’s a four hour drive to Des Moines), but the caucus system in Iowa is not by any definition a sane or practical way to pick a presidential candidate.
Media market ad sales people really love it, though.
Iowa – Meta – #ForThePeople – August 10, 2019
CCL
Don’t remember ever seeing a photo of that former guy with his top shirt buttons undone and his shirt collar open. Surprised that this is his look in the Iowa freezer.
Baud
@Kay:
Yes. It also suggests that Trump has no coattails and no heirs. Whatever spell he has cast over his cult (and others , frankly) may be unique to him.
If I were better at being subversive, I’d go to right wing spaces and spread the rumor that in 2028 there will be a major backlash against whichever party is in charge that will last for decades, in an attempt discourage them from coming out.
Suzanne
These are the times that I think back to Arizona’s PEVL (permanent early voting list) and muse on the fact that they did something really great. And, of course, they could never institute it today.
If you sign up to be on the PEVL, you get a ballot mailed to your home for each election. State, local, school board, generals, primaries, everything. You sign up once, and I think as long as you do so approximately six weeks before an election, you’ll get a ballot for that election. And every election thereafter. You can mail the ballot back (signature goes on the outer envelope) for free, or you can put it in its envelope and drop it off at any polling place (not just yours) on Election Day. There’s a website you can visit to check to see if your ballot was received and counted. (They used to allow ballot collection, which I did as a canvasser, but no longer. Of course. Can’t make it easy.)
This system is fucken great. Of course, Arizona experiences different problems from Iowa…. ask me about the 2016 primary, in which I stood outside on the sidewalk of Hardy Drive in Tempe for over three hours in ludicrous heat, and with no water supplied.
zhena gogolia
@H.E.Wolf: He does! If it’s so fucking cold, why does he have his neck exposed?
Suzanne
@Kay:
It seems like they are scraping together all the old assholes in Florida. I feel bad for everyone else forced to endure it. But if we can get them all in one place, they’re easier to ignore.
Scout211
So Trump decided that an ex-mobster is good as a character witness.
. . .
The man is demented.
LiminalOwl
@Kay:
Repeating for emphasis. I so appreciate this about you. Thank you.
bbleh
For a while, I’ve felt about the Iowa caucuses like I feel about the Kardashians: they’re famous for … being famous. Like, everybody gets all breathless and dressed up to go to The Event Of The Season, and that’s the ONLY thing that makes it The Event Of The Season.
I suppose it’s good for some local businesses, but it’s not at all clear to me that that outweighs the general Pain In The Ass that it is for a lot of people. The Dems are right: cancel the whole thing and do it by mail.
Now, how about some cat pictures or something.
Baud
@Scout211:
To be fair, ex-mobsters have better character than Trump.
LiminalOwl
@Baud: And this too.
Butch
As far as being “tired of it,” yeah, MSNBC gets shut off the minute I see the “Decision 2024” logo and cable news in general has started to seem like squirrels chattering at each other.
LiminalOwl
@CCL: Harking back to his glory days in the 1970s maybe?
lowtechcyclist
@Suzanne:
Maryland’s doing this now. The piece of mail I got a few days ago from the board of elections says, “You can choose ‘I want to receive a mail-in ballot for all future federal and state elections.’ Mark your choice on the included form or online, and we will automatically send you a mail-in ballot for all future federal and state elections.”
Hell yes I’m taking them up on that!
Ken
In Terry Pratchett’s Moving Pictures, the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork is troubled by the same observation. Though he’s chiefly bothered because he thinks it will end up with him having to have someone killed.
mrmoshpotato
It’s nasty wherever Dump is.
mrmoshpotato
Better be getting combat pay – and not just because of the frigid weather.
Scout211
Remember this?
He was returning to the White House after the disastrous Oklahoma super spreader rally.
Betty
@Princess: I think the Dean Phillips campaign may have confused him.
Another Scott
@Kay: +1
The press wants Ron to start a fight for the clicks. The don’t want TIFG’s crack[pot] lawyers to sue them for actual investigative reporting on their own.
Grr…,
Scott.
artem1s
@CCL:
that photo is weird. I can’t remember the last time I saw one where he looked like a normal human being. without the odd posture and gesturing and squinty, weaselly way he sizes up a room he almost looks vulnerable. the way everyone does when they walk in from a blizzard. thank Jeebus he can’t maintain that for very long anymore. the MAGAts will start to feel sorry for him and insist he get to be Grandpa President for life.
Baud
@Betty:
Dean Philips’ campaign confuses everyone.
lowtechcyclist
@H.E.Wolf:
In addition to looking like he has no idea where he is or what he’s doing there, he looks old.
MomSense
My dad’s house and barn are ok! I finally heard from the neighbors across the street and they are fine as well. I was watching video of buildings just down the street and in the bay riding the surf as they were washed out to sea.
It’s a beautiful, sunny day which helps with the clean up. If you haven’t watched footage of the storm, it was massive and caused destruction along the entire coast and along river communities. We had hurricane force gusts with an astronomical high tide – highest recorded. I think every county in the state is now in a state of civil emergency. All but two, the two southernmost counties, were after the storm before Christmas and then the two storms this week just destroyed the coast.
Jackie
@CCL: We saw him look like that following his dud rally in OK when the teenaged Tic Tok-ers scammed him in ‘20. Dejected, red tie bunched in hand as he walked away from the helicopter all alone.
Elizabelle
@lowtechcyclist: He looks like
someonesome old geezer who has just been evacuated. That’s his pajama top under the overcoat.“Why am I in this lobby? Where am I??”
Curious what happened to his tie. Maybe that IS a pajama top.
Baud
@MomSense:
Happy your dad’s stuff is ok.
Nukular Biskits
Again, for me the issue here isn’t Trump (although he definitely IS an issue) or the way the media runs after him transcribing his every thought-burp.
It’s the elected Republicans who refuse to answer as to why they continue to support him, even when faced with Trump’s statement on the public record like total presidential immunity.
That and the willingness of our supposedly-liberal press to refuse to commit actual acts of journalism and ask them (elected Republicans) about those statements.
CCL
@Scout211: thanks, hoping that this is slight evidence that he knows things are becoming unraveled if he is out in public allowing himself to photographed disheveled.
dmsilev
@Suzanne: California has a very similar system. It’s great.
MomSense
@Baud:
Thank you. I’m so relieved and yet I feel so sad for people who have lost everything. So many businesses will not recover from this.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: I wish there were more agreement on where the line between “dissent” and “affirmatively aiding the fascists” lies. It seems to be all over the place even on this blog, which is relatively homogeneous demographically and politically.
lowtechcyclist
@Nukular Biskits:
Wouldn’t mind that so much if they didn’t usually leave out the genuinely outrageous and/or crazy stuff he says.
TBone
@Scout211: he has also compared himself to Capone. I hope he meets a similar end (dying alone in syphilitic spasms in diapers in Florida after a lengthy prison term).
mrmoshpotato
@Scout211: Haha, don’t even have to look at that picture to remember. What a sad sack.
Betty Cracker
I’m excited about the Iowa caucuses because there’s a good chance Ron DeSantis will experience his greatest public humiliation to date.
Kristine
@lowtechcyclist: so is Illinois. I’m all signed up.
TBone
Musical interlude
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5UXnulANF8g
RevRick
@Jackie: And yet he’s going to romp to victory, leaving DeSantis or Haley the dubious honor of scoring a sad touchdown *.
*A sad touchdown is when a team that is hopelessly losing scores in the last five minutes of the game, playing against the scrubs.
Nukular Biskits
@Betty Cracker:
I have no doubt that you’ll relish that … LOL! And I won’t blame you one bit.
I’m still baffled as to why Floridians elected him in the first place. Granted, Democrats didn’t put up much of a candidate with Crist during DeSantis’ reelection bid but that doesn’t explain why [the majority of voting] Floridians are so goo-goo eyes over him. IIRC, weren’t there also some electoral shenanigans when DeSantis ran against Andrew Gillum?
Scout211
Yes. But now every registered voter gets a mail-in/drop-off ballot here in California with no sign-up necessary. We can also vote in-person on Election Day or at early voting centers.
TBone
@Scout211: I thought of that immediately also, one of my favorite photos where he looks utterly defeated.
Harrison Wesley
@Betty Cracker: True, but then he’s gonna come back, and he’ll be looking to use all of his vindictive nature to exorcise his major butt-hurt on everybody who lives here. Batten down the hatches.
OzarkHillbilly
@mrmoshpotato: He puts the ass in nassty.
oldgold
Here in the Hawkeye State I have been getting daily calls from pollsters and political operatives. This morning the phone rang. I thought here we go again. To my surprise it was the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Apparently, it is so cold they have gone to telemarketing.
JPL
@MomSense:Thank you for updating us. The videos from Maine are terrible and next week is supposed to be bitter cold.
Robin Goodfellow
His hands look so small in that picture. Sad.
eclare
@lowtechcyclist:
I clicked on the photo and enlarged it, there is a clear line where the orange paint ends. It’s gross.
Michael Bersin
@Betty Cracker:
There’s that.
That’s the way I’d feel about Josh Hawley, Eric Schmitt, Jay Ashcroft, Mark Alford….
eclare
@MomSense:
Glad you and your family are ok! I need to google “Maine storm”, we didn’t get much news of it.
LiminalOwl
@MomSense: Good to hear that you and your family are OK.
Soprano2
@Kay: There are places where it does work some – all the rural parts of Missouri, for example. I think the further you are from a large city, the better it works because those people don’t have much experience with people who are different than they are (at least that was my experienceof a small, rural town). I don’t know why it worked in Florida – they have enough large cities that I think it shouldn’t have.
Scout211
Interesting result in (another!) poll of Iowa voters.
43% of Nikki Haley voters say they will vote for Biden in the general election if Trump is the Republican nominee.
TriassicSands
@Denali5:
Sorry, but when I refer to TIFG, I have to capitalize P-O-S.
TriassicSands
I was reading an article about the November election, and it occurred to me that if TIFG wins, it will be reminiscent of the Reagan years — Mourning in America.
Another Scott
@eclare: Over the holidays, the Wizard of Oz was frequently on in the background. There’s at least one scene where the WWotW’s green makeup ends too soon in her hair. It’s distracting.
His morning routine must be horrible for anyone who has to witness it, because you know that the orange paint isn’t the only insane thing about it…
Cheers,
Scott.
Jackie
Should TIFG voters no show due to complicity and the truly horrid weather conditions – his major supporters live in rural districts…
He will probably still win, but maybe not by the huge margins he’s been crowing about. Will he scream RIGGED CAUCUS?
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
One very bright line is voting, and whether one discourages people not to vote. In another time and place, it might be an option. But not in an age of fascism.
Another is spreading misinformation.
But oftentimes it is murky.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
👍
Last poll I saw had Haley in second place after Trump.
Baud
@Scout211:
No way. I don’t believe it.
Yarrow
@Scout211:
I wonder if her support comes from Dem crossover votes? Also, that’s hilarious. Does she even have supporters that aren’t just anti-TFG?
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Betty Cracker:
The only winners were the ad people and local-yokel morning news affilicates selling the ad times that ran in-between updates on the weather.
I base that on my totally scientific analysis of having been in Ames for week this time last month and watching said local-yokel news each morning for 30 minutes.
DuhSantis dominated the commercial time. I’ve been making trips to Ames for work during caucus season since forever and was always struck by the sheer tidal wave of TV ad time basically burned.
lowtechcyclist
@Scout211:
Interesting result in (another!) poll of Iowa voters.
That’s the Des Moines Register poll, the one that Ann Selzer has been running for approximately forever. The “if you’re only going to read about one Iowa poll” poll.
Here’s just the results, without having to read a news org’s spin.
Baud
Iowa is too woke for DeSantis.
Yarrow
I haven’t seen TFG much because I avoid pictures and video of him as much as possible. But I saw a video of him a few days ago. Wow, does he look old and not well. His face is kind of lumpy. He’s aged since he left the White House.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a lot of people like me who haven’t seen much of him in the last four years. They’re in for a surprise when they do. The “Biden is old” talking points aren’t going to work all that well when TFG gets more screen time.
Dangerman
If only Trump could turn blue (from the cold) and orange (from Heaven knows what), he’d make a helluva Boise State mascot. A shitty President, but, mascots serve a valuable purpose, too. One can’t just go to a game and watch it, drink whatever, and ogle the cheerleaders. Or so I’ve heard.
frosty
@CCL: It’s very strange that he went out in public looking like this. Remember, this is they guy who smacked his son because he was going to go to a Yankees game without wearing a suit.
MomSense
@JPL:
It’s so sad. I’m not sure if it looks as bad as it was in the videos – especially when you don’t know what places are supposed to look like. So many historic buildings, 100 -200 years old were lost which provides some perspective on how unusual these storms were.
frosty
@Soprano2: Anti-woke worked here and we’re only 25 miles from Baltimore. We just elected the Moms for Liberty slate to the school board. Granted, it was closer than the usual 65%-35% R to D landslide, but still.
Kay
@Another Scott:
DeSantis saying this is just more insular circularity though. All Republicans do is describe conservatism and Republicans- there’s nothing outward facing, nothing for normies.
DeSantis describing the Right wing media echo chamber is interesting only to media and the GOP base. Normal people just don’t care about whether Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan criticize Trump, or, hilariously, “hold him accountable”. That’s exclusively for obsessives.
You would never hear Joe Biden expound on Rachel Maddow. That’s why Joe Biden is going to win.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: @H.E.Wolf:
With his body language, I think he presents like a lost 7-year-old boy.
Yarrow
@MomSense: Glad your dad’s place is okay. Unfortunately storms like this will only become more common. Sigh.
Soprano2
@eclare: I don’t think we got any news about it because all the weather news is about the cold.
It’s -3º here, with the high projected to be 3º today. It’s supposed to snow about 1-2″ this afternoon. It could be a lot worse, I could be in Iowa or further north. I am so glad I got the gas furnace; I still find myself cringing when it goes off, because before that meant someone had to go outside to stoke the fire. 🥶🥶 I just watched my 70+ lb dog figure out how to squeeze onto the couch when the people are already there, because we ended up both falling asleep on the couch last night.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: So glad about your dad’s house and barn! Not just housing, it’s like a community center filled with memories.
Where is your dad at the moment? I’m sure he’s safe and warm, but all this stress can’t be helpful!
Yarrow
@Kay: I wonder if TFG will pick for his VP candidate will be Tucker Carlson.
MomSense
@eclare:
We had one right before Christmas that destroyed river communites with flooding. Then two this week, which were worse on the coast but also flooding along the rivers.
In Sagadahoc County there are six rivers that feed into Merrymeeting Bay – which is a significant wildlife habitat. There is no where to go that isn’t affected by the flooding.
Like a lot of places, humans created the towns and cities along the rivers and on the coast which makes those communities so vulnerable to storms like these.
Soprano2
@frosty: It could be a sign of mental deterioration, or just chance that they got that photo.
MomSense
@WaterGirl:
He’s in Florida for the winter, but obviously watching the coverage of the storms. When you see a house that you have looked at across the bay your whole life, and your grandmother, gr grandmother, and gr gr grandmother also looked at from the porch, get tossed in waves and go under it shakes you.
Kay
@Another Scott:
Because DeSantis is really criticizing GOP base voters, right? They consume exclusively Right wing media and they’re too stupid to hold Trump accountable themselves- they’re waiting for Fox News or Joe Rogan or Glenn Greenwald to tell them Trump is not a fiscal conservative, for example? They’re too stupid to look at his deficit spending themselves?
None of conservative media uttered a peep when Trump was droning like crazy or ginning up the mess in Israel by rubber stamping Netanyahu over and over but surely GOP voters could have seen it and rejected it. Why do they need Joe Rogan to tell them Trump is bad?
Soprano2
@MomSense: In that way it’s like the Lahaina fires – lots of historic buildings lost. I’m glad your dad’s stuff is ok.
eclare
@Soprano2:
Yeah the weather news here is about how cold it is. We’re not supposed to get above freezing til Thursday.
Dogs are so funny, a few days ago mine figured out how to wedge herself between my back and the back of the couch. She likes to be snug!
Josie
@Betty Cracker:
That will definitely be the icing on the cake that is the ridiculous caucus night.
Kay
@Yarrow:
Trump picks losers as subordinates. This is really, really common with bad managers. That’s why he picked Pence- Pence was due to lose his re elect in Indiana and Trump rescued him, therefore Pence was beholden to Trump. Trump cannot have anyone smart or competent as a subordinate because Trump is dumb and incompetent, so expect an absolute wimpy loser of limited talent and intelligence like Pence. Look for a weak governor. That’s who he’ll pick.
Jeffg166
@eclare: She likes the hot water bottle on top of her.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: It really would shake you.
My sister sent me video of a relative’s house in Maine, and the water was swirling around it, and water was rushing out of the house just across the street. Just beyond the house across the street was the ocean.
It was shocking to me.
So lovely to live on the water like that, until something like this.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊
Subsole
@lowtechcyclist: Yep.
If the media wanted end this guy, they’d play one of his latest speeches, uncut. This dude is the doddering old man with pudding between his ears that everyone jokes about Biden being. It’s just gibberish and applause lines.
Dude said he could destroy magnets by pouring water on them…
rikyrah
@Kay: tell that truth
peter
@lowtechcyclist: We have this in VA too, with SMS messages confirming status, online tracking, etc. A great system, though I miss the election-day festive atmosphere of our local polling place.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: Once the storm passes, thinking ahead to future storms, it might make sense to look at what family treasures are on that property and maybe relocate things – that wouldn’t be missed day-to-day – to somewhere less vulnerable?
rikyrah
@MomSense:
Been following by reading you. Sounds horrible 😞😞
Mother Nature is not playing with us
oldgold
There is a new national ABC poll out this morning. Some takeaways:
“Personal assessments are about equally negative for both men. Just 33% of Americans have a favorable opinion of Biden — down sharply from 50% the summer before the 2020 election — and about as few, 35%, express a favorable view of Trump. (It’s 28% for DeSantis and Haley alike.)”
“Biden leads Trump, by 15 points, in one of three attributes tested in the survey — being honest and trustworthy.”
“Forty-seven percent say Trump has the mental sharpness it takes to serve effectively as president, compared with 28% who say this of Biden.”
“31% approve of how Biden is handling the economy, while 56% disapprove.”
“Biden’s rating for handling immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border is especially low — just 18% approve, about half what it was in spring 2021.”
Elizabelle
@Scout211: I believe that. Those voters, if they’re being honest, sashayed right past DeSantis and are voting for Haley as a mitigating vote. Trying to put the least toxic Republican up.
Absolutely can see them voting for Biden. Or perhaps not voting, or doing a write in.
rikyrah
@Nukular Biskits:
Tell it. They say with a straight face that they would support him, even if convicted 😡😡
No phucking follow up after that ridiculous statement 😡
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Not familiar with the Northwest Passage story Alexandra Petri references, so I’ll accept “Robert Scott frozen into the Antarctic ice” as a metaphorical substitute for the weather conditions and the caucus.
WaterGirl
@Kay: I have wondered if he is thinking of picking a family member, maybe one of the “boys”?
WaterGirl
@eclare: Like Henry, who often makes what I call a “Henry sandwich”.
Elizabelle
@MomSense: Those houses are like beautiful old 200-300 year old trees, and it always hurts when one of those falls.
My sympathies. I would be sad, too. The ocean took out a lot of families’ memories and treasures, and their sense of safety and place.
(I never feel like that when one of those coastal behemoths floats away on the North Carolina coast. Those are just IGMFY houses, and built because of money.)
Highest tide ever in Maine. In most years, that would be a big headline. This year, it’s just part of all the change rushing at us.
satby
@MomSense: Great news about your dad’s place. Terrible news about all the destruction.
WaterGirl
@Subsole:
Maybe one of the Biden PACs should do just that. Or maybe 5 minutes uncut, because most people won’t click on a long video.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Yarrow: Saw a few of these voters interviewed on The Meidas Touch channel. They managed to find one DeSantis voter who still somehow thinks DeSantis walks on water, and one Haley voter (same).
Both said they would vote Biden if their preferred candidate doesn’t win, and both listed Jan 6 as a turning point.
Kay
My grandaughter in Denmark is watching the festivities on tv as Denmark coronates a new King. The Queen stepped down. It’s a huge deal and all of Denmark is watching this ceremony. She’s three and she told me he needs his flyverdragt – that’s a one piece snowsuit that children wear in Denmark. Her face was all crinkled up with concern – she’s afraid he’s cold waving from the balcony.
Yarrow
@Kay: Well, Tucker is a loser. He lost his job at Fox and now does some podcast or something from his garage. He also sucks up to TFG so who knows. If TFG has dirt on him maybe he could own him.
But yeah, he’ll definitely pick someone weak who he can own. I don’t pay much attention to Republican Governors so I couldn’t even come up with a name in that category.
satby
So, I’m not making coffee today after all. I had cleaned off my car yesterday and this morning it had a couple more inches of snow, but the snow cover over the windshield had frozen to the glass. So, I contacted the coordinator, and came back inside. It’s beautifully sunny out, but still -6°. My only outside trips will be to keep the birds fed.
MomSense
@WaterGirl:
There are a bunch of papers and books that are supposed to go to Harvard – but those libraries are all at sea level. So many treasures around the world are vulnerable.
Josie
@WaterGirl:
I just looked closely at his body language in that first photo, and he looks kind of pitiful. If I didn’t despise him so completely, I might feel sorry for him.
Ken
@Yarrow: North Dakota’s governor Doug Burgum, who ever-so-briefly ran for the Republican nomination?
Elizabelle
@satby: Yay! Better to stay safe and keep the car in one piece.
MomSense
@Elizabelle:
Interesting bit of history. The barn is one of the oldest buildings in Maine. It was moved shortly before the war of 1812 from across the street to where it is now. It was a good thing because British war ships were in the bay and nearby farms (owned by relatives) were burned down. If the barn had been across the street yesterday it would have washed out to sea like the other buildings did yesterday.
MomSense
@rikyrah:
They’re addicted to the racism. fuckem
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Jeffro
I’m reading that Charles Pierce piece and I can NOT imagine any sane, moral, normal human being caucusing for Ted Cruz.
“THIS is the person we must support for president! Yes, YES…TED CRUZ!!”
Seriously??!?
Baud
@Jeffro:
He won Iowa in 2016.
Anyway
@Kay:
Yes. So annoying to hear people call MSNBC the liberal equivalent of Faux News — they are not in the tank for establishment Ds. Conservative media is partisan in a way no liberal- leaning outlets are.
Elizabelle
@MomSense: Wow.
Do you have a link for the building?
It is shocking to see buildings that date from the Revolutionary War and shortly after fall to weather.
Makes me curious how much this is happening in Europe, which has much older settlements. Germany and its neighbors had some killer floods maybe 2 years ago.
Another Scott
Billionaires are stupid, part MMMVLIX – Billionaire megadonor Bill Ackman to donate $1M to Biden challenger Dean Phillips.
He should be using that million for his wife’s beam-in-the-eye plagiarism defense:
(See the original for embedded links.)
Grr…,
Scott.
Jeffro
I think this is correct. It’s easy for folks to forget that trumpov had decades of being a celebrity going for him and this (completely wrong) image as a deal-making, super-savvy rich guy.
Star power (barf), as it were.
I can’t envision the same poison cocktail of fame, corruption, incompetence, and malice striking again anytime soon…knock on wood.
bjacques
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: There was an excellent miniseries a few years ago, directed by Ridley Scott and airing on the BBC, called “Terror”, about Sir John Franklin’s ill-fated 1845 expedition to find thee Northwest Passage. It’s definitely worth seeking out. So the references to the two doomed ships made me laugh out loud.
Though Iowa reminds me more of an Antarctic base whose residents are trapped with Trump the walking carrot.
gene108
@Nukular Biskits:
What else do Republicans have to get behind?
Policies? Nope. Even Republicans don’t like Republican policies, which is one reason the House cannot agree on a budget and why ballot referendums to repeal abortion bans have succeeded.
They’re boxed in, not so much by Trump, but their utter dependence on billionaires, the billionaire funded lobbying groups and think tanks, and right-wing media to define what they believe at any given moment. The most active supporters are conservative Christian religious fanatics, which is why they keep caving in to the fanatics in the Freedom Caucus.
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, in 2012, tried to sell the notion that Republicans were a party of ideas and it failed miserably. Republican voters cheered Trump when he said he’d raise taxes on Wall St., provide affordable healthcare, etc., in 2016, thereby cutting the last legs off of whatever intellectual heft Republicans pretended they had.
Devotion to Trump is the only thing holding Republicans together at a national level. They can manage at the state level in places like Idaho, Wyoming, Alabama, Indiana, etc., but those state leaders are looking out for their own interests. I doubt they could agree on a national policy agenda that affected people outside their states, other than maybe a national abortion ban.
I think most Republicans are okay with this status quo, because they have nothing else. This is why they accept Trump.
Jeffro
@Baud: I know that, I’m just saying I can’t imagine being a die-hard Ted Cruz supporter and especially can’t picture going to the trouble of caucusing for him.
Elizabelle
@Anyway: That photo of the planeload of reporters (including Dana Bash, gag): was thinking “there’s your problem right there, bunch of pundits winging their way in, and right back out again.”
I would love to see them reading Umberto Eco’s “”Eternal Fascism: Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt.” (Wikipedia link on Ur-Fascism, which lays them out.)
(Rev Rick brought this up yesterday, and it fascinates me, because how can you not see how it applies to Republican politics??)
The media industrial complex is a HUGE part of this problem.
Baud
@Another Scott:
Hard to fault Philips for the successful grift.
Elizabelle
@gene108: Low taxes. That’s it.
MagdaInBlack
@satby: I chiseled my car out yesterday and made sure it ran. I’ll do the same today. Other than that, I’m ensconced in the “penthouse” til tomorrow
Eta: I’ve survived this crap in a drafty farmhouse while hauling 5 gallon buckets of hot water to the chickens and ducks, I’ll probably survive this too 😉
Steeplejack
Thought for the day. Saw this on a friend’s Facebook page. (Don’t think a link with graphic will work.)
Kay
Joe Biden is partly responsible for the upsurge in labor power. The most pro labor President of my lifetime and you will not even find it mentioned on the Left. They’re absolute poseurs. If you don’t care about labor unions you don’t care about working people. Period. That the Left decided to SIT OUT the biggest pro labor surge in my lifetime and refuse to credit Biden for some of it tells me all I need to know about them.
Thirty years of listening to them weep and moan about how we lost labor unions and the US worker is getting screwed and they finally get a pro labor President and they’re too ultra cool to admit it.
Useless.
Baud
@Steeplejack:
👍
MomSense
@Elizabelle:
Not really for the barn. Bangor Daily News did a video some years ago but I just tried to find it and there was a link to nowhere.
My son’s band did a music video inside the barn – which I think is on their youtube channel. Silver Heels the Band
You can at least see it in that video.
Kay
@Another Scott:
The billionaires are just flailing around, enraged. They’re bad at this. They should go back to living insular lives that never intersect with normal people.
Who told them they were in charge of popular culture and social norms and had to control everyone?
Another Scott
@Another Scott: @Baud:
Grift is right.
And another thing: TheHill headline is wrong, of course. It’s illegal to donate more than, what, around $6k total to a candidate for the primary and general elections. Headlines like that feed cynicism. And it’s illegal for PACs to coordinate with candidates. But, someone has to enforce the laws…
Grr…,
Scott.
Yarrow
@Jeffro: In 2016 he was still a relatively new senator and thus less well known. He was younger and thinner and his young family made a nice picture if you didn’t look too closely. He hadn’t yet morphed into Cancun Ted, the horrifying Wolverine reject he is now.
Jeffro
@Yarrow:
@Kay:
I can see him picking Elise Stefanik or Tim Scott.
Outside chance of Kristi Noem or Katie Britt.
satby
@Elizabelle: oh Terri Kanefield has a blog post for you today! Making Sense of It All, A Journey Through Books P1.
Yarrow
@Kay: I love that spotlights have been turned on the billionaires. They’re all routinely bad at most things outside of being rich. If they didn’t have so much money and power it would be funny.
MomSense
All this local destruction makes me think of Ukraine and Gaza. It’s one thing for nature to destroy but for humans to do this to each other. It’s a never ending trauma.
Anyway
@Subsole:
I’m convinced this is the 2024 media putting its thumb on the scale – by not giving more airtime to Dolt’s speeches. They mostly read or post his statements which masks his unhingedness. In 2016 they gave him plenty of free airtime — this time they’re shielding him.
satby
@MagdaInBlack: I did that too, that’s why I’m so annoyed that it’s a frozen block again this morning. It started, but until the snow cover can be pulled off the windshield it’s not going anywhere. And I’m not wasting gas running the defrost if I don’t have to.
Kay
@Jeffro:
He has to rescue the person. He wants leverage- people who owe him so won’t stand up to him and they can never, ever appear smarter than he is. It has to be someone who would lose their next race.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: Yikes. Maybe a safe-deposit box in the meantime?
Elizabelle
@satby: Thank you!!
WaterGirl
@Kay: What do you think of my theory about one of the male spawn? I really don’t think he would trust anyone else at this point. He needs to be able to totally control the VP.
I mean, from Trump’s perspective, even Pence couldn’t be counted on when Trump finally needed him for something.
eclare
@MomSense:
I read this morning that 2/3 of the homes in Gaza have been destroyed. If you are lucky enough to survive the war, there is no place to go back to.
TBone
@Steeplejack: excellent!
LiminalOwl
@Scout211: Is it possible that enough voters are basic Republicans except concerned about the reality climate change? That’s the only plausible explanation I can think of.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
The weird thing is according to one polling claims the Base just loves Donny Dumbasses polices, not Donny Dumbass himself. And my reaction is, “When did Trump ever have policy?” So I think this from Donny just saying what ever the crowd he is in front of likes. DeSantis mistake was he actually tries to do this stuff and it turned out for every group that likes gay or migrant bashing on the Right there is another group that hates it.
Trump, the buffet of American politics.
MagdaInBlack
@Steeplejack: 🌻❤️🌻
Baud
@LiminalOwl:
Doubt it. I’m not completely sure as many liberals as we think are concerned about climate change.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Subsole: That’s because the MSM is nothing but sound bites. People were mocking GW Bush for doing the same thing.
LiminalOwl
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I first learned about the Northwest Passage via songs, as is my wont. A shallower dive than the miniseries (though I might watch that too):
Stan Rogers, “Northwest Passage” https://youtu.be/xMRpYtAhGAo?si=U10525GYOZ94PMpM
Pentangle, “Lord Franklin”. https://youtu.be/ysFKjWG_W54?si=L-ST3zbQNQYgih1K
Herdman, Hills, and Mangsen, “Waiting for Isabella” https://youtu.be/gB1FaFh4iKA?si=ceONZwoIb3gKIxTw
Baud
@Kay:
Sadly, I bet the members of that union are staunchly Republican.
MomSense
@eclare:
No place to go back to is, I fear, the plan.
Tom Levenson
I think Kari Lake has a real shot at the VP slot. She’d be a disaster, I believe, but Trump may reject “handling,” seeing as it got him the traitorous squish Pence last time out.
Who he picks is going to be a measure of the power of what political observers seem to think is a professional and competently led campaign (and thus a very different one from the 2020 operation). If he does go for someone who gives no cover to reluctant Republicans trying to persuade themselves to ignore insurrection, that would suggest to me that he’s going to monkey wrench his own campaign at frequent intervals.
That political punditry is, of course, worth much less than you paid for it.
bbleh
@Betty Cracker: @Baud: I hate to side with Anthony “Please, It’s Not My Fault, Really” Kennedy, but in this case I think the remedy for bad speech really is more speech. I don’t know that misinformation or a bad idea (truly bad, like not voting, I mean wtf) expressed and met with a clear and if necessary vociferous response is worse than the misinformation / bad idea never being expressed at all. After all, some people might have heard the M/BI elsewhere and think it’s true or reasonable, until somebody gets flamed (in a loving and positive way, of course) for propagating it. But when it comes to political speech, I’m all for rough-and-tumble and put the nice china safely away, and others’ mileage no doubt will vary.
bbleh
@oldgold: argh, I really think “approval” polls at this point are worse than useless, because they don’t compare apples to apples, they have little to no bearing on a head-to-head choice that will emerge into most peoples’ consciousness only in about 8 months, and they’re confounded with SO many other things like it’s cold outside and I hate shoveling snow and my boss is being a jerk and estimated taxes are due and grumble mutter.
emjayay
@Scout211: Yes, it’s all about the wind chill factor.
Baud
@bbleh:
I’m not sure what your point is. No one is suggesting criminalizing this stuff.
eclare
@MomSense:
I think the same.
bbleh
@Baud: Nor am I. I’m saying I don’t know that a “line,” or “agreement” on it, is a good thing. (Other than the usual: threats of violence, bigoted remarks directed personally or generally, etc.) But bad information, bad political ideas, meh. Let a thousand flowers bloom, and then go after ’em with a weed-whacker.
lowtechcyclist
@Kay:
This. While I continue to find it troubling to give ownership of a term like ‘the Left’ which should apply to a fairly large swath of the body politic to this small but loud contingent of far-left rabble rousers, I agree that anyone who considers themselves to be on/to the left of the Democratic Party who can’t be bothered to cheer the pro-labor developments of this past year doesn’t deserve a response to any of their bullshit.
CCL
@frosty: That’s what I thought too.
3Sice
@H.E.Wolf:
I’m sorry sir, the breakfast buffet closes at 9am… no sir, this is an Extended Stay America…
m.j.
I was out driving this morning. The sundogs were amazing. There’s lots of ice in the atmosphere.
mrmoshpotato
@OzarkHillbilly:
Well done.
mrmoshpotato
@m.j.: Car’s heat must be working well. :)
wjca
Or perhaps you could just sound it out and write “puss”. Just a thought.
Ksmiami
@LiminalOwl: it’s also why authoritarian dictatorships make colossal blunders- a dictator doesn’t want talent- they want loyalty so this hires and their ideas are the worst…
Librarian
Speaking of Trump and mobsters, in that picture he looks like Vincent “The Chin” Gigante.
Another Scott
@bbleh: I’m generally in the more-speech-is-better camp too, but some things have a history, and it’s becoming a slightly less-strongly-held belief now.
(repost) A.R. Moxon – Questions for Substack:
Decent points, I think.
The Constitution is not a suicide pact”, also too.
Of course, where and how to draw the line is a big and difficult problem.
We need more public shunning. That would help too (but of course can be weaponized as well).
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ruckus
@Kay:
It leads to a decline in quality.
They can get worse?
How is that possible?
mrmoshpotato
Playoffs?
Go Cowboys!
Go Lions!
Geminid
@Tom Levenson: One factor working against Lake as a VP pick: Trump has the radical base nailed down tight already. The more strategic pick would be someone who reassures the remaining Chamber of Commerce, Wall Street Journal Republicans and Independents.
One might say, well how could a clown like Trump be strategic about this decision? My answer is that Trump has a low cunning and he knows his back’s against the wall. He has to win. I think people around him including campaign manager Suzie Wiles will caution Trump that he could lose a winnable campaign by picking some flaky lightweight, that he’s better off going the conventional route and choosing a Governor or Senator.
Freshman Senator Britt might fit the bill. She has no national brand of her own that might challenge Trump’s ego. And having worked as Richard Shelby’s chief of staff, Britt ought to know how to subordinate herself to a powerful man.
The Pale Scot
@Yarrow:
I’ll always remember his toddler screaming in horror as he tried to hold her up and kiss her
wjca
I’m having a (no doubt unrealistic, but not totally ridiculous) fantasy about Iowa:
Too bad the real world doesn’t care what I’d like to see.
Another Scott
@wjca: “Former president Turnip could not even get half of GQPers in one of the most conservative states in the country to support him. What a loooser. Sad.”
Fingers crossed.
Cheers,
Scott.
Gvg
@lowtechcyclist: In the south, unions have been demonized for so long that most of the younger generations (plural) don’t even know what they are, or how they could benefit. So they grow up to be liberal, supportive of civil rights and totally blank on unions.
Organizers are starting to talk them up, but it’s like starting a kindergarten. Biden’s outspoken support has helped in that now they have heard of unions. And because republican fanatics are so anti union, the younger reaction seems to be to listen. But I would not automatically assume someone who says they are on the left but doesn’t have a position on unions is fake.
Also the job market here has never sounded like your descriptions. We don’t have much manufacturing at all. No apprenticeship programs, barely any unions. It’s good now, but not like the Midwest.
Ruckus
@gene108:
The problem Republicans have in moving on from Trump is they have nothing to replace him with.
When you hit rock bottom, yes there is no where else to go but up.
For the SFB party, their up button is broken, the down button is stuck in the active position and throttle is at full speed.
I believe they are actively seeking to find out what is below rock bottom.
sab
@eclare: Forty years ago I used to happily go out in temperatures like this to cross country ski with my norwegian elkhound/lab mix dogs. They liked it too.
Now my current dog (pitbull) and I don’t even want to get out of bed, much less go outside.
Ruckus
@Scout211:
The man is demented.
If only that was the end of it.
Having worked in a clinic as a mental health counselor I would suggest that demented is not even close to what he is. He has a concept that money is everything, but while he’s got money, he doesn’t have MONEY! Last I checked (a number of years ago) he barely made the Forbes 400 and that in his mind is not good. Normal humans would be ecstatic to be in the Forbes 4,000,000 but then he is anything (everything?) but normal.
wjca
Only consider how often we thought they had hit rock bottom. And then discovered we suffer from a failure of imagination — they keep finding new depths to surprise us with.
Martin
Mom has decided to not caucus. It’s -17, and the parking lots are full of snow, and she’s not really feeling it. The former are just validations for the latter.
Martin
He’s going to go for maximum loyalty. If he had a more loyal VP, he wouldn’t have had to care about the other groups.
Geminid
@Martin: I guess that is a relief. I hope she is able to caucus next time.
artem1s
@WaterGirl: In the end, IMO TIFG’s VP pick will be a matter of who has the highest bid. Cash up front, of course as a consulting fee to secure his ‘advise’ on how to run their campaign should mean Jack Smith and SCOTUS betray him and keep him off the ballots. He’s already got their donor lists – that’s just not going to do anymore. He’s cash strapped and even in his mental state he can see the possibilities that he will win are dwindling fast. The only thing left for him to do is grift the hell out of it while he can (and then flee the country). He will, of course, assure multiple people that their ‘bid’ is the only one he’s taken. If Jared, Jr. and Dumberer are stupid enough to ‘bid’ too, he’s not above stealing from his own spawn. But obvious reasons I doubt he ever gets to declaring a VP pick.
apocalipstick
@Soprano2: FL Democrats ran the dessicated corpse of Charlie Crist against DeSantis. That’s a big part of the 20-point margin that made Puddin’ Fingers seem so strong.
Jeffro
@Kay: any of those folks would owe him, just by being put on the ticket.
they’re all suitable bootlickers, so no issue there
Fester Addams
@Librarian: That guy reaching into his coat behind him makes him look like a C-list mobster about to get rubbed out.
dirge
Generally, yeah, but there has to be a (necessarily fuzzy) line, or oh shit, this is a nazi bar now. I think the real problems are zombie ideas, whack-a-mole arguments, and trolls. I’m often reminded of a talk some engineer gave, expressing the idea that debunking bullshit takes 10x the energy of generating it. The implications are significant: if you don’t have a mechanism for shutting it down before it gets started, it’s going to be impossible to carry on any conversation amidst the noise.
Where then does the line belong? I’ve certainly seen people here get shouty at facially innocuous opinions, and bend over backwards to accommodate increasingly obvious trolls. That’s fine, you can’t get it right all the time. There’s a lot of open ground between “heil hitler” and “democrats are bad at messaging,” and no hard and fast rule for navigating the grey areas.
Rules of thumb might include: am I talking to someone who’s reasoned themselves into a position that they’re willing to be reasoned out of? Is it acceptable to ignore this person/topic, or is it obligatory to rebut, allowing them to hijack the conversation? Is anyone learning anything, or are we all just increasingly frustrated? How many times have we covered this, and how did that go?
Or use the CIA Simple Sabotage Field Manual as a scorecard.
Bottom line, is this conversation leading to catharsis, insight, decision, or action? Are we at least having fun? If not, it’s probably not helpful, and maybe should be shut down.
Kay
@sab:
I’m going to venture out when my husband gets back from pickleball – the sun is out! The key is face covering. I wear a hat, neckwarmer and a scarf and wrap the scarf loosely over my nose. Also- no jackets. You need a coat. I have one of those long down coats all women wear in Chicago – I like it because as I walk and warm up I can unsnap it from the bottom.
Anyway
@Gvg:
Yes, my anecdata supports this. Example – I know some staunch Ds from Jackson MS that just don’t see the utility of labor unions. They are onboard with all the other parts of the D coalition but unions are too Yankee. They are not unusual. Hope the younger generation sees the value of unions.
Jay
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin%27s_lost_expedition
Franklin’s lost expedition was a failed British voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain Sir John Franklin that departed England, United Kingdom in 1845 aboard two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, and was assigned to traverse the last unnavigated sections of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic and to record magnetic data to help determine whether a better understanding could aid navigation.[2] The expedition met with disaster after both ships and their crews, a total of 129 officers and men, became icebound in Victoria Strait near King William Island in what is today the Canadian territory of Nunavut. After being icebound for more than a year Erebus and Terror were abandoned in April 1848, by which point two dozen men, including Franklin, had died. The survivors, now led by Franklin’s second-in-command, Francis Crozier, and Erebus‘s captain, James Fitzjames, set out for the Canadian mainland and disappeared, presumably having perished.[3]
Ruckus
@Nukular Biskits:
Who else do they have?
Their entire party seems to be extras from the Nightmare on 7th St. They hired a clown who doesn’t know he’s a clown. Which means he’s not good at anything.
Ruckus
@Yarrow
Wow, does he look old and not well.
He IS old and not well, at least in the head.
Now is he really, really old? Not according to my scale – seeing as I’m not that far away from his years but people often think I’m as much as 10 yrs younger than I am. And I live in a seniors apt complex with the oldest that I know of being 97. Two years ago she seemed younger than SFB. Smarter for sure.
Elizabelle
@Geminid: I hope in 2028 she gets to mail in a ballot, because Iowa has gone to primaries. These caucuses are ridiculous.
Voters should be required to ride up on horseback.
Ruckus
@WaterGirl:
Most 7 yr old boys, lost or not, are better humans. Hell, most humans are better, he’s the thing everyone’s parents warned their sons to never be.
He has been, his entire adult life, a disaster. Not a level 5 hurricane with extra earthquakes disaster, but close, like a level 4.
Ruckus
@wjca:
I’m talking about the rocks on the sea bottom.
That’s how rock bottom SFB is, he doesn’t have to drown in his own sweat, he’s got a couple thousand feet of salt water above him.
He’s so rock bottom no other living human has ever gotten that low. And that’s saying a lot.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@m.j.: Was in the nearby town of Media, PA this morning. There are huge blocks of ice on the sidewalks everywhere.
Of course, that may be because they’re having an ice-carving festival this weekend.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Jay: Thanks to you and others for all the historical edification.
Does anyone else remember hearing that thanks to climate change, there now is a navigable Northwest Passage?
Edit: The answer is yes. Sort of. Sometimes. See Wikipedia.