Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

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

This chaos was totally avoidable.

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

We will not go back.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

He really is that stupid.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

One way or another, he’s a liar.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

You are here: Home / Politics / This and That on a Sunday Morning

This and That on a Sunday Morning

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I don’t know who this is, but he is an excellent surrogate for President   Trump   BIDEN BIDEN BIDEN BIDEN BIDEN.

I imagine this is old news by now?

Once again, we have the foxes guarding the henhouse. Sigh.
I really appreciate Sheldon Whitehouse.

This 2-minute video of Sheldon Whitehouse is devastating to Clarence Thomas. Whitehouse has to be one of the hardest working and hardest hitting senators we have.

Bernie Sanders telling the truth.

We talked about this last week, but when we did I had forgotten this very important point. I talked about Judge Henderson (conservative judge appointed by a Republican) having the most seniority, and therefore she has first dibs on writing the opinion, and I suggested that she might be slow-walking the opinion. What I had forgotten was that Henderson had voted AGAINST expediting this case. The other two voted FOR expediting the case, so they took up the case very quickly. But there are no rules about how quickly/slowly rulings have to be issued. Hoping Judge Henderson is not one more person who is willing to trash her reputation for Trump.

It seems like we might be playing the child’s tile game – with 15 numbered moveable tiles which can be moved around in a plastic frame with room for 16 tiles. Only this time, it’s not tiles we are moving around in order to get the desired result – it’s Trump cases. With the DC case officially off the docket for now (see above) it’s possible that the Alvin Bragg NY trial could move into the March slot.

Not sure how closely everyone is following this with Fani Willis.  Some may care about her choice to have an affair with a co-worker, but legally it looks like she is in pretty good shape.  We shall see.

I guess Biden did well in South Carolina.  No one could have predicted!   As far as I’m concerned, Haley should say in the race and keep bashing Trump in ways that would be hailed as unsportsmanlike if our side said it.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

233Comments

  1. 1.

    brantl

    Isn’t is amazing how the Rethuglicans stick together? It’s like little clumps of shit…. turning into one big clump of shit.

  6. 6.

    Scout211

    I am not sure if the new Jack Smith filing in the Cannon court on Friday was covered here yet, but it seems to fit here.

    Prosecutors hit back at Trump’s accusations of political bias in classified documents case

    Special counsel Jack Smith’s legal team on Friday rejected former President Donald Trump’s claims of political bias in the classified documents case against him in Florida.

    The 67-page filing came in a response to an effort by Trump’s lawyers to get prosecutors to turn over certain documents that they claim will serve as evidence of bias and misconduct surrounding records that were retrieved from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence. Smith’s team urged the court to deny Trump’s request in its entirety.

    “Discovery requests must be based on specific demands, tied to the case, for items material to preparing the defense,” prosecutors wrote. “Instead of meeting those standards,” they added, Trump’s team was seeking records “based on speculative, unsupported, and false theories of political bias and animus.”
    . . .

    Prosecutors also disputed the Trump team’s timeline of events leading up to the Mar-a-Lago search. They defended the National Archives and Records Administration’s formal referral to the Justice Department in February 2022, which they said came after “months of efforts” to retrieve government documents from Trump after he had left office.

    Analysts on several news sites see this as a warning shot for Cannon to follow the facts and the law rather than get caught up with the Trump lawyers’ smoke and mirrors.  The 67-page filing is linked above in the text.

    Added:  And I read some legal analysts calling this filing highly unusual at this stage because it was so strongly worded.

    Oh, and so far, we still have power but this will be a very long day with high winds here.  Fingers crossed.  The Central coast is predicted to have hurricane force winds today.  😳  We “just” have a high wind warning.

  7. 7.

    TBone

    @WaterGirl: everything I admire in a man. That first video interview I posted is priceless.  Not very long, I highly recommend those who might not be as familiar with him as we are watch it.

  10. 10.

    citizen dave

    I just saw Kyrsten Sinema on my tv for a couple minutes (CBS Sunday Morning).  Not sure when this happened, but the weirdo look and clothes are gone, and she has dialed up the reasonable, non-offensive white woman to 1000.

  18. 18.

    citizen dave

    @WaterGirl: I hope so.  Sinema was touting a bipartisan border bill from the Senate side.  But of course the House speaker has given her no indication of House success.

  23. 23.

    TBone

    @WaterGirl: My muffler fell off my car.  Went to local repair shop.  2 days later, after it was “fixed,” it fell off again (both times in the middle of a busy roadway). Go back to repair shop and the first guy was gone.  Hubby was the manager and he managed to talk me out of even more cash.  Despite the fact that I was screaming at him at our meet cute, he persisted.  But I got my money’s worth 🤣

  25. 25.

    NotMax

    @WaterGirl

    Holy cow

    I see what you did there ;)

    What could they possibly do for all that time?

    They could do better. It’s not a very good show overall.

  26. 26.

    TBone

    @NotMax: pierces my red, white, and blue, heart every time.  Whenever hubby is getting an earful from me and protests, I remind him “I was yelling at you when we met, are you surprised?”

  27. 27.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, …

    Alex Floyd
    @alexjfloyd
    Feb 1

    -NC Republicans are going into 2024 $72K in debt while Democrats in the Tarheel state are sitting on a $3.7M war chest.

    -In AZ, MAGA extremist Kari Lake forced the state party chair to resign and is now being accused of blackmail while the party was on the verge of going broke.

    [ images ]

    Feb 1, 2024 · 5:25 PM UTC

    Good, good.

    Yeah, yeah, Citizens United and SuperPACs and Brinks Trucks Full of Cash.

    Still, I like our chances, very much.

    (via HarrisonJaime)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  30. 30.

    Another Scott

    On topic, from the Electoral-Vote.com mailbag:

    B.R. in Eatontown, NJ, writes: I’ve seen articles on this site, along with any number of articles in news websites (The New York Times, The Washington Post, etc.), and comments/questions by readers here, all wondering what’s taking so long for the Court of Appeals panel that’s considering the presidential immunity challenge by the ex-president to render an opinion. Having been involved in some major appellate cases in New Jersey in the past, and having served as a law clerk to a judge, I think these are unrealistic about what’s involved in producing an opinion in a case like this one.

    First, you have to understand how judges work, particularly in cases like this that involve novel issues never before considered. [ long discussion of the steps and processes ]

    Yeah, one of the judges may be sandbagging the process. But even if they weren’t they still would be very unlikely to be done yet. It’s going to take a while even if they all work diligently to do it right.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  36. 36.

    sdhays

    All I know about the situation with Fani Willis is that 1) I’m baffled why this is something opposing council can even whine about to a judge rather than an administrative matter and 2) the ninnies over LG&M have already concluded that the case is over and Willis’ career is finished.

  37. 37.

    oldgold

    The world spins much faster than it used to. The judicial system needs get in synch with this quickening.

    The slow grind of our system is not refining justice. It is denying justice and placing our Republic in jeopardy.

  38. 38.

    TBone

    @different-church-lady: I hadn’t made a comment in public for years (in 2020 I intentionally accelerated my lifetime ban from Fascistbook and gave up ALL social media for all time).  Then I found the jackaltariat and my resolve vanished.  Thanks to all of you for helping me find my voice again.  I hope you don’t regret it.

  40. 40.

    TBone

    @sdhays: yesterday on MSNBC Tristan Snell said exactly that (first part).  His new book is about how the legal system can beat Rump using all of the cases he’s lost over the years (Trump University et al.)

  42. 42.

    different-church-lady

    @sdhays: It’s mostly Campos: he’s a doom troll. What’s the opposite of cherry picking — turd picking? He turd picks incessantly. I needle him about it a lot.

  43. 43.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, … NotebookCheck.net:

    In the 2024 El Prix winter EV battery test, however, the new Model 3 Highland not only saw its range drop the whopping 30% in the freezing weather, but gave way to most of its direct competitors from China, including the BYD Dolphin. On paper, the new Model 3 Highland had the longest official range of all electric vehicles that took part in the testing. In reality, however, it clocked a rather high 18kWh/100km power draw during the drive in freezing temps, throwing it towards the tail end of the ranking.

    Tesla’s main competitor BYD that just became the world’s largest EV maker last quarter, also had a participant – the BYD Dolphin – and it lost about 20% of its advertised range compared to the Model 3 Highland’s 30%. KIA, NIO, XPeng, BMW, and Lotus EVs did great, only losing 12%-14% of their official range numbers in the tasking winter test with temperatures ranging from -2 to -10 degrees Celsius (28.4 to 14 degrees Fahrenheit).

    The greatest surprise, however, besides the unexpected dethroning of Tesla in the cold weather range test, came from one premium newcomer, the HiPhi Z. This Chinese model, which will soon be available in the European market, turned out to be best prepared for driving in adverse winter weather. Its range dropped just 5.9% from the advertised numbers in ideal conditions, beating the second EV in the ranking twofold.

    (Emphasis added.)

    There are still lots of improvements being made, and more possible, with EVs.

    Tesla better get on the stick and move their technology forward, rather than spending so much time touting paint colors, and making fonts on their screen too small, and … The world is leaving them behind.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  46. 46.

    Other MJS

    I don’t know who this is, but he is an excellent surrogate for President Trump.

    My interests being what they are, the Facebook algorithm shows me tons of stuff about astronomy and space travel. Most of these posts are reliably haha-ed by flat earthers and other trolls of that ilk. Probably the most common comment is “LOL, CGI!”

    Point is, I’m tempted, whenever they dig up a Black Trumper, to post “LOL AI Deep Fake!” not because I believe it but just to piss them off.

  47. 47.

    trollhattan

    @Scout211: ​
    NWS predicting gusts as high as 55 here. Some “gust.”
    0.9″ at the house since midnight and since dawn it has only gotten darker. The day, it will be a long one.

  49. 49.

    schrodingers_cat

    From the Guardian, posted without comment.

    The weirdest campaign’: South Carolina delivers a win, but Biden still faces an uphill path

    David Smithin Columbia, South Carolin

    The headline doesn’t really match the content. We need a Guardian pitchbot.

  56. 56.

    Matt McIrvin

    @different-church-lady: Campos is getting weirder and weirder: making all these posts about the danger of “doomerism” alternating with doomy pronouncements and it feels like he’s carrying on a public argument with himself.

    And, you know, I kind of feel it, because the same catastrophizing arguments go on inside my own head, but he seems to have absolutely no inhibitions about it.

  58. 58.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Other MJS: They always go “Why no stars?” as if space pictures are supposed to always have stars in them but NASA just forgot to put them into their fakes and has been making this elementary mistake for 60 years straight.

  59. 59.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Matt McIrvin: Eh, people are complicated. And they should be able to manage and process ideas pulling in two directions.

    I hope the anti-doomer impulse wins out in the end.

  63. 63.

    Chief Oshkosh

    Just like everything they touch, the modern conservative movement has turned the judiciary into a shitfest. Their only “power” derives from a loose agreement among the citizenry to not tar and feather them at every opportunity. They are the weakest branch per the Constitution, yet here we are.

  66. 66.

    WaterGirl

    @Alison Rose: Holy shit, yes, of course I meant Biden.

    Excuse me while I go stab myself in the hand for making that mistake.  I must have been thinking “against Trump” and my brain-finger connection went crazy.

  71. 71.

    Sure Lurkalot

    Stop sweating a theoretical No Labels challenge, Democrats Biden’s fire bell in the night is here: it’s RFK, Jill Stein, Cornel West taking thousands of votes in Ann Arbor, Madison + Dearborn. That’s how Trump wins.

    Guess which publication and you win a pony!

  73. 73.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Any jigsaw fans? We just got word that our newly-discovered puzzle company is going out of business. Feel free to show them some love.

    https://www.quordlepuzzles.com/collections/store-closing

    We’ve bought a half-dozen of their small puzzles, which are surprisingly difficult (70-100 pieces but easily takes a couple of hours). Beautifully made wooden puzzles in unusual shapes, most have an irregular border that follows the shape of the artwork.

    I’m going to buy a bunch more at their close out sale.

  83. 83.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Campos is getting weirder and weirder: making all these posts about the danger of “doomerism” alternating with doomy pronouncements and it feels like he’s carrying on a public argument with himself.

    Ever read Steve M at No More Mister Nice Blog? Picks up a Republican take or poll as absolute, incontrovertible truth then chops up in the processor, stirs up in the mixer and bakes a 3 layer Democrats are doomed cake.

  86. 86.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @WaterGirl: Diameter and number of pieces. As I said, we’ve been doing the Small ones, which are maybe 6” in diameter but easily take 1 1/2 – 2 hours. Somewhere on their website is an estimate of solving time vs size

    In other words, the same art with more pieces.

  87. 87.

    TBone

    @schrodingers_cat: I’m thinking that badge of Honor can be turned against the revolting rethuglicans.  Many people wish for immortality who don’t know what to do on a rainy afternoon.

  91. 91.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Quadrillipede: ​Whitehouse for President? (In, like 2032 or so… 🤷‍♂️)

     When he’s 77? Unlikely. Especially when he’s on track to be a Lion of the Senate!

  92. 92.

    Scout211

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: my first thought is to charge the devices so at least I can stay online if there’s an apocalypse.

    What?  There’s another way to prepare? Huh.

    All my devices are plugged in and charging right now.  But . . . the generator is sitting in the garage and not set up yet or filled with gasoline.  I think I may be in la-la land right now.

    But denial feels so good.

  96. 96.

    TBone

    @Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: thank you for that encouragement.  I am like weird Barbie and tend to hyperbole sometimes but I try to corrall myself when making a point.  Sometimes less successfully than I’d like.  I appreciate being accepted here.  I might ‘splode otherwise.

  97. 97.

    NotMax

    Thinking about possibly getting this for Mom’s upcoming birthday. (Her kitchen is red and white, so of course the red one.)

    Not that she drinks a lot of wine, more for the handful of times times a year she has family or friend meal gatherings. I know her hands can’t deal with a more traditional corkscrew anymore. Any thoughts from the assembled crowd?

    For the record, have other gift alternatives in mind in case the consensus is bleak.

  101. 101.

    Alison Rose

    @Steeplejack: Shearer definitely helped me love it, but I’ll admit I joined the Toon Army thanks to my then-boyfriend. I was a typical American who didn’t care about soccer and thought it was boring even though I’d never watched it, but I wanted to be the cool girlfriend who is into his hobbies and such…and so then I started watching soccer and was like, oh wait this is fucking great. And since he was a Newcastle fan, of course so was I.

  102. 102.

    TBone

    @WaterGirl: NO REGERTS. I am just now catching up checking back in here after A M. self care and I’m beyond… can’t even find the word.  Rendered speechless is not easy to do, people!  How the hell did I just block quote that. Sigh

  105. 105.

    WaterGirl

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Thanks, I figured it out after asking the question.

    The small ones seem like they would be really small, so I was thinking about the large ones before I came back, re-read your comment and saw that you were getting the small ones.

    Now I’m torn.

  111. 111.

    Scout211

    @NotMax: Any thoughts from the assembled crowd?

    Ours stopped working fairly quickly.  I would not recommend, but that’s just my experience.

    We went back to using the one we already had, like this one (which is the OXO version, even better).  

  113. 113.

    TBone

    @Kelly: THANK YOU. After completing the recent course of ABX for strep, my symptoms (feels like Long Covid again) have merely lessened but not subsided.  I’m writing an “I told you so” to the P.A. who denied my request for Paxlovid.  Lady scientists ROCK THE WORLD.

  114. 114.

    Scout211

    @TBone: FYI, you can undo the quote box in edit.  Just put your cursor on the paragraph and select the quote icon again. It will delete the block quote.

  115. 115.

    TBone

    @Scout211: I’m so busy in my head that I forget how to use word processing and that skill used to be my entire life!  Aaaarrrggghh WordPerfect I’m not anymore 🤣

  116. 116.

    NotMax

    @Scout211

    Thanks for the feedback.

    Can’t see a shrinking, rapidly approaching 100 old lady with arthritic hands having the moxie for the OXO, though.

  118. 118.

    Steeplejack

    @NotMax:

    Someone gave my brother one of those electric wine openers. I was meh about it, and I don’t think he uses it anymore. (Don’t know the reason—maybe recharging issue?) But it would be nice for someone with dexterity issues.

    That said, if your mother drinks wine only a few times a year, I’d say get her something she’d use more often, or maybe a foodie basket of some sort. Gift basket roundup at the Wirecutter. (Or Google on Amazon is paywalled.)

  119. 119.

    wjca

    @Alison Rose: The majority of the inland half of CA is very rural. As is much of the NW portion, too.

    @WaterGirl:

    To provide more details:

    From the Tehachapis to the southern border, the coastal half is largely urban/suburban, while the inland half is largely rural.
    The area around San Francisco Bay is urban.
    In the Central Valley, there are urban spots (Fresno, Sacramento) but otherwise agricultural.
    Everything else is rural.

    The people are, overwhelmingly, urban/suburban.  But the land area is overwhelmingly rural.  Not quite Wyoming level rural necessarily (although there is a lot of that), but easily Iowa level.

  121. 121.

    NotMax

    @Steeplejack

    No prob, have a plethora of alternatives I’ve gathered over time from which to choose.

    @NotMax

    May as well let out the rant about OXO.

    50% of their stuff is pretty darn good, the other 50% is absolute doo-doo. 100% is overpriced.

  123. 123.

    karen gail

    @NotMax: As an older person whose hands don’t work as well as once did, I would hate to receive a gift that reminded me of that.
    Give some thing personal to her that doesn’t remind her every time she sees it that she is no longer “young.”

  124. 124.

    Alison Rose

    @wjca: I’d say the North Bay — meaning in this case Marin and Sonoma and I suppose Napa too — is suburban mostly. Once you get past Santa Rosa, it’s more rural. (I guess SR could be called “urban” but it’s mostly neighborhoods surrounding pockets of “city”)

  126. 126.

    Scout211

    @NotMax: 50% of their stuff is pretty darn good, the other 50% is absolute doo-doo. 100% is overpriced.

    No argument there but the ergonomics are much better for hands with arthritis.  I get most of my OXO utensils at Home Goods and Marshall’s so the prices are reasonable.

  130. 130.

    NotMax

    @Steeplejack

    Swear by old faithful style for wine openers.

    Not necessarily recommending a particular brand of these, just randomly linked to one for the picture. May have picked up the one I’ve been using for multiple decades from Hammacher Schlemmer way back when.

  132. 132.

    patrick II

    I saw this morning that Donald Trump is taking criticism for saying he looks like Elvis Presley although he does remind me of what Elvis must  look like now.

  133. 133.

    Alison Rose

    @karen gail: I’m not asking this in a combative way, but — are you saying you’d rather struggle with something than be given a tool to make it a little easier? I could totally understand being put off if someone gave you an assistance device that you didn’t need, but if you could benefit from it, why would that be insulting?

  134. 134.

    wjca

    @Alison Rose: I’d say the North Bay — meaning in this case Marin and Sonoma and I suppose Napa too — is suburban mostly.

    I should have said “urban/suburban” rather “urban” there, too.  Mea culpa.

  137. 137.

    TBone

    @Alison Rose: I once gave my SIL a hard-floor cleaning robot for Xmas. Back when they were a new thing. Unbeknownst to me, their “cleaning lady” had just quit which I learned from my 5 y.o. nephew in his own words, whispered to me as a secret that morning when we were alone. I didn’t even know they HAD a cleaning person! I got a stern upbraiding meant for my nephew about keeping secrets and l, if looks could kill when she opened the companion gift (Swiffer mop pads) before the robot, would now be stone dead. I gave my nephew a dinosaur robot named Jagger that year😆a type of Transformers toy.

  139. 139.

    JMG

    @Steeplejack: The electric wine openers have a big flaw. The two I’ve had both broke because of their inability to cope with the composite plastic corks some wineries use instead of either screwtops or traditional corks. They get stuck halfway or less in the cork and trying to remove them leads to cracks in the plastic part of the apparatus.

  140. 140.

    karen gail

    @schrodingers_cat: I am almost Biden’s age; and I think he is too old, too stuck in his ways, unwilling to see the world from the point of the average voter. (The average age of voter is either in late 30’s or early 40’s depending on who did the statistics.)

    Personally, I have hated that rich old white men have been in charge since the death of President Kennedy, I know Obama was an outlier, but I was hopeful after he was elected that there would be changes.

  142. 142.

    Anotherlurker

    @NotMax: I saw this dance routine when I was working the Tony Awards.  “The Will Rodgers Follies” was a nominee that year.

    The whole crew was impressed!  BTW, it should be no surprise that the bovine beauties are quite shapely: they are Broadway dancers! Dancers are amazing athletes who don’t get the respect that they deserve.

  146. 146.

    JMG

    To all political reporters, the South Carolina primary never happened. This is because an NBC poll this morning had Trump leading Biden by 47-42. It is gospel in the political number cruncher universe that polls (NBC poll is in all honesty a top class one) are more important than actual election results because reasons. Sometimes they are and sometimes they aren’t, but “maybe” and “it depends” are forbidden words in our discourse.

  148. 148.

    karen gail

    @Alison Rose: I know I have limits, so I have work arounds; I can see giving that cork screw as a side gift when given with a couple of bottles of good wine. (Personally, I did that; I gave a cork screw with bottles of wine to a person who didn’t have one.)
    But for a birthday gift? sorry, but appliances aren’t my idea of what to give someone for a birthday or christmas gift; they should be more personal.
    The thing is that inside I am still the miniskirted young woman who went to see Credence Clearwater when they opened for another band. I would rather receive a gift that remembers that I am more than a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother.

  150. 150.

    Peke Daddy

    @karen gail: Biden has always been in the precise center of the Democratic party. That center has shifted left. So has he. His first term accomplishments are up there with every Democrat since FDR.

  151. 151.

    AWOL

    @sdhays: That’s Paul Campos. One minute the world is ending. The next minute he’s writing about his sports teams. And that OP was loaded with cynical assumptions. He needs better meds.

  154. 154.

    Redshift

    @NotMax: Yeah, I’ve discovered that suction cups seem to be a thing they don’t do well, weirdly. We got a shower corner caddy that’s held up with suction cups that look good, but it stays up for about a month and then falls down in the middle of the night. Before we knew about that, we got different one that hangs in the shower pipe. Fortunately it only has suction cups for stability, but they don’t hold for more than a day or two. I like a lot of their other products, though. More attention to design than a lot of brands.

  155. 155.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @karen gail: I am almost Biden’s age; and I think he is too old, too stuck in his ways

    Couldn’t disagree more. Biden is a notorious listener, he mingles and interacts with voters routinely.

    He also clearly learns from them. The way he frames things and his attitudes have shifted over time. He’s more focused on “everyone” than he ever was as a Senator.

    This is the best Biden has ever been. I could never have voted for 04 Biden. Today I love Biden.

  156. 156.

    Feckless

    Regarding Haley she will be the candidate.

    Trump will die of natural causes or the Republicans will kill him either way they will scream Joe Biden is an assassin and the media will go along with their lies in full both siderist style.

    Haley who is absolutely 100% maga will be tRump without being Trump and liberal media is going to make it happen.

    Keep repeating those bindens old jokes hahaha.

  157. 157.

    kindness

    @Sure Lurkalot: I was going to mention that site.  Yea far too many decent liberal sites have writers that are prone to shitting their pants over what I would know as bullshit.  Our side doesn’t have a Fox News so such is life.

  158. 158.

    Marcopolo

    @karen gail: wow! perhaps you aren’t aware that Biden, throughout his term as Prez has surrounded himself with the most diverse group of cabinet officers & staffers in history—yes, more diverse than even obama.  and, apparently, he listens to these folks. heck, look at his judicial picks too.  really sensing a lot of projection in your comment.

  159. 159.

    Bill Arnold

    Bernie Sanders makes a good point: bribery should be considered a form of free speech, to be consistent with Citizens United.
    Article II Section 4 says suggests that bribery is bad: “Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
    But that word obviously must mean something else in that section.

    /s

  160. 160.

    Scout211

    @karen gail: My adult kids (all 3 are Democrats) worry about Biden’s age, too. Their dad is exactly Biden’s age and he is in cognitive decline (officially diagnosed) so that is their measure of someone of that age.  It definitely worries them and they wonder how well he can lead the country.

    But when I ask them what the alternative is, they quickly state they would never vote for Trump.  So they will vote for Biden but they wish they could vote for someone closer to their age.  When I ask them which issues are important to them, those issues are all the issues important to the Biden administration.

    So I do understand how you feel. I just hope you can see beyond his age to see that the issues that matter to all Democrats are the same issues that the  Biden administration supports.  He does have a lot of younger people working in his administration, including VP Harris, so policy issues are not just for the olds.  Younger voters are part of what build his electoral agenda so they are not being left out.

    ETA: added text

  163. 163.

    trollhattan

    @NotMax: ​
    The electrics can work if the screw is of proper design: large diameter, five or more turns. No augurs but a proper wire screw (like yours shows).

    IMHO (from staring at the video) this model should work so long as mom isn’t intimidated by electronics in general.

    For anybody with a wine cellar, you can’t have just one kind of opener given what happens to corks over the years.

  166. 166.

    karen gail

    @Marcopolo: Yes, I am aware; just we see the Presidency as the man who holds of the office. He is the one in the public eye, he is the one people focus on, he is the one who sets the tone, he is the one that history ranks. A good president has excellent advisors and listens to them, but as President Truman said “the buck stops here.”

  167. 167.

    Alison Rose

    @karen gail: You can be whoever you want on the inside, but you still are who you are. That doesn’t mean you are nothing other than a mother and grandmother; it means you are a person with a lot of life lived, which is a good thing, but also that you now might need help with things you didn’t used to. Hell, I’m only 43 but due to years of illness, I have the upper body strength of a toddler, so I’ve had to acquire things to help me open bottles and jars. It is what it is.

    When I gave my mom a large-print edition of a book for her birthday, that wasn’t me saying “HEY MOM REMEMBER HOW OLD YOU ARE LOL HOW FUNNY THAT YOUR EYES SUCK NOW”. That was me recognizing that her eyesight isn’t great anymore and in order to read easily, large print is often necessary.

  169. 169.

    Quiltingfool

    @Sure Lurkalot: Whew, you got that right about No More Mister Nice Guy!  Dems don’t EVER do ANYTHING right, according to Steve.

    I skim through his essay and go straight to comments.  Several commenters tell him nicely that he is an Eeyore and is a bit full of shit.

  176. 176.

    Lapassionara

    @karen gail: I am Biden’s age, almost exactly, and I think he is very sharp mentally and exercises regularly, so his physical health is good. West Germany had a Chancellor after the war who served (IIRC) until he was 87 years old, so having a leader in his or her 80’s is not per se unworkable. We are in a situation where both major party candidates are seniors, but one is sharp and fit and the other is on the verge of dementia. I know which I prefer.

  177. 177.

    Quiltingfool

    I love doing jigsaw puzzles.  However, owning a cat and working on a puzzle over several days isn’t a good combination.

    Ask me how I know.  Lol!

  178. 178.

    divF

    @karen gail: You are making unsupported assertions out of the blue. You’re either an idiot, or a troll. Either way, I don’t have time to waste on you. Pied.

  182. 182.

    karen gail

    I believe that Biden is “perfect” for holding the line, for listening to advisors; but there comes a time when we as a nation need to change. I firmly believe that we need younger and more agile minds in Oval Office, in Congress. I hate that our first response as a nation is war, and more war, that we are willing to throw weapons at every conflict.
    Once upon a time, I marched for peace; Vietnam ended up the US has become more war like and not less.

  183. 183.

    Anyway

    @Steeplejack:

    I was afraid you were linking to the traditional waiter’s corkscrew. I hate those!

    Glad I’m not the only one that struggles with the traditional corkscrew! Always a crapshoot for me.

    Now champagne bottles — I’m really good at opening those! :P. Barest pop, no stupid gushing out of the bubbly …

  184. 184.

    Hob

    @karen gail: That’s all true, but I’m still not seeing where you got the part about Biden not being willing to consider the average voter’s concerns. So I’m joining the other commenters who asked you to give examples of that. It’s not self-evident to me as it seems to be to you.

  187. 187.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Lapassionara: Can we get that Tweet back up with the young man who got a surprise half hour ride and conversation with Mr. President?

    He offered an assessment of the President’s knowledgability and sharpness.

  188. 188.

    Alison Rose

    @karen gail:

    that we are willing to throw weapons at every conflict

    LOL forever that you think younger people would automatically be against this. Also, some conflicts deserve our help. Or are you gonna out yourself as a vatnik?

  189. 189.

    Baud

    @karen gail: Other than Biden being old, white, and male, very few of your observations reflect reality. Biden is sharp and has produced a lot of change, and he’s not a warmonger.

    Anyone can have their preferences for what the president should be like, and almost no one will have their preferences satisfied 100%. The only thing the fascists care about is what people do on election day, and for that reason, it’s the only thing I care about too.

  190. 190.

    wjca

    @trollhattan: I’d like the election to be decided by a bicycle race between Biden and Trump.

    Why can’t we have nice things?

    My first thought was “but suppose the Supreme Court decrees that TIFG gets to go downhill, while Biden has to go uphill?”

    But then I realized: TIFG is unbalanced, so he’ll fall over.  And lose anyway.  :-)

  191. 191.

    Mousebumples

    Alas, it’s threads like this that make me wish the pie filter worked on this phone/browser. Something went wonky. I’ll settle for mentally blocking those comments from my view. Hopefully.

  196. 196.

    JMG

    @smith: Random samples are, well, random. Sometimes you get a more R sample, sometimes a more D one. It is so hard to get a sample today that these swings will occur of necessity. If I had to guess, right now the confirmed Biden and Trump voters out there are close to equal. I believe (could be wrong) that the decisive bloc is people who don’t want to vote for Biden but who really don’t want to vote for Trump. They’ll either stay home (very close election that could go either way) or wind up voting for Biden (results close to 2020). In life, nobody escapes doing things they’d rather not.

  198. 198.

    narya

    For you jigsaw puzzle lovers, I started doing these. No, not as satisfying as doing meatspace puzzles (which I have loved since I was very young), but I don’t end up with More Stuff. Plus, cats can’t get to them.

  199. 199.

    Alison Rose

    @smith: I’ve tried to imagine him as a child doing normal child things, and I just can’t. Riding a bike, playing board games, coloring, playing with Legos…none of it. I imagine him as a bully from the moment he could walk, just stomping around breaking everyone’s toys and ripping up their drawings and such.

  201. 201.

    Scout211

    @smith: I think it’s unlikely that TFG ever learned to ride a bike.

    But I’m assured that he is a world class bicyclist with many, many beautiful wins.  I’ve heard people say, “Sir, you are a winner among winners on the bicycle racing.”  Why, he doesn’t even have to compete with Biden because that would be ELECTION INTERFERENCE! MAGA!

    The end.

  205. 205.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @karen gail: I hate that our first response as a nation is war, and more war, that we are willing to throw weapons at every conflict.

    Once upon a time, I marched for peace; Vietnam ended up the US has become more war like and not less.

    The first issue to really activate me as a voter was opposition to the USA PATRIOT Act and Iraq War. At the time, I had a heaping helping of oppobrium for Joe Biden specifically.

    That said, he has been more restrained in his use of our military than any President I’ve ever witnessed. Low bar, granted, but, I’ll take the obvious improvement over anything else on offer.

    Also, one gets the sense you’re running on vibes. This is a receipts and appropriate historical context community.

  206. 206.

    Geminid

    There are Eeyores everywhere. I follow a Turkish engineer, Bora Bingol, on Twitter. He’s an ardent member of the scrappy, opposition “Homeland” Party. Anyway, last month Bingol got fed up with one of his colleague’s doomsaying:

       Enough with your negativity pumping. No one is your emotional punching bag….You say what you think, thank you, but other people are not your emotional sand bag, other people don’t have to suffer your pain every minute.

    BECAUSE WE ARE IN A POLITICAL PARTY NOT A RELATIONSHIP.

    Politics is done in political parties, so let’s act like we are in a political party  please. Strongly request. Thanks.

  208. 208.

    TBone

    There’s a tramp sittin’ on my doorstep
    Tryin’ to waste his time
    With his methylated sandwich
    He’s a walking clothesline
    And here comes the bishop’s daughter
    On the other side
    And she looks a trifle jealous
    She’s been an outcast all her life

    Me, I’m waiting so patiently
    Lying on the floor
    I’m just trying to do my jig-saw puzzle
    Before it rains anymore

    Oh the gangster looks so fright’ning
    With his Luger in his hand
    But when he gets home to his children
    He’s a family man
    But when it comes to the nitty-gritty
    He can shove in his knife
    Yes he really looks quite religious
    He’s been an outlaw all his life

    Me, I’m waiting so patiently
    Lying on the floor
    I’m just trying to do this jig-saw puzzle
    Before it rains anymore

    Yes, yes now
    Oh, all right

    Me, I’m waiting so patiently
    Lying on the floor
    I’m just trying to do this jig-saw puzzle
    Before it rains anymore

    Oh the singer, he looks angry
    At being thrown to the lions
    And the bass player, he looks nervous
    About the girls outside
    And the drummer, he’s so shattered
    Trying to keep up time
    And the guitar players look damaged
    They’ve been outcasts all their lives

    Me, I’m waiting so patiently
    Lying on the floor
    I’m just trying to do this jig-saw puzzle
    Before it rains anymore

    Oh, there’s twenty-thousand grandmas
    Wave their hankies in the air
    All burning up their pensions
    And shouting, “It’s not fair!”
    There’s a regiment of soldiers
    Standing looking on
    And the queen is bravely shouting,
    “What the hell is going on?”

    With a blood-curdling “tally-ho”
    She charged into the ranks
    And blessed all those grandmas who
    With their dying breaths screamed, “Thanks!”

    Me, I’m just waiting so patiently
    With my woman on the floor
    We’re just trying to do this jig-saw puzzle
    Before it rains anymore

  213. 213.

    dexwood

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: ​
      Thanks for the link. We generally do puzzles all Winter long to while away the evenings. Usually with music or a movie in the background. We just ordered three, one of each size.

  215. 215.

    Quadrillipede

    @wjca: TIFG is unbalanced, so he’ll fall over.

    He did look pretty unsteady waddling down that shallow ramp the one time…

  217. 217.

    Eyeroller

    @JMG: Swings like that actually mean the samples are not truly random. I am not a pollster, but I know a little of the statistics behind it. If you can get a truly random sample it’s quite amazing how accurately they can predict the broader public even with a relatively small sample size. Getting that random sample is what is difficult and seems to be getting more difficult.

  218. 218.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @karen gail: @NotMax: As an older person whose hands don’t work as well as once did, I would hate to receive a gift that reminded me of that.

    Give some thing personal to her that doesn’t remind her every time she sees it that she is no longer “young.”​

    Peachy. Then the next time she has someone over and wants to open a corked bottle of wine, what’s she gonna do, break the neck on the edge of the countertop and pour out the drinks with glass shards as an extra added attraction??? Or get her visitor to open it (who may be just as old and unhandy, so back to the counter’s edge)?

    Speaking for myself (someone else no longer within shouting-at-clouds distance of middle age) I can’t avoid being “reminded” of my age, which first happens when I wake up and continues through to bedtime; and I would luuuuuuv to receive any gift that promises to make my daily life a little easier. You don’t, that’s your lookout.

  219. 219.

    schrodingers_cat

    What I find funny is that Biden gets zero credit from these so called peace activists for his Afghanistan withdrawl. Also after bleating about drones when Obama was President, these peace warriors went completely silent over Trump’s use of the said drones.

  220. 220.

    TBone

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    “break the neck on the edge of the countertop and pour out the drinks with glass shards as an extra added attraction???”

    Is that the wrong way to do it?  Hmmm, no wonder my guests have been increasingly infrequent.  And still I can only block quote by accident SMDH idgit!

  222. 222.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @TBone: ​When I was a straphanging youngun in Bawlmer, there was a riddle:

    What’s the difference between drinking beer out of a longneck Dundalk stye vs Sparrows Point style?

    (Informative aside: Dundalk, the ‘burb just outside the Bawlmer city limits where I grew up, was notorious for a high %age of transplanted rednecks & their kids, who would kick the crap out of you if you looked sideways at them (and that’s just the girls). To its southeast, Sparrows Point – in the shadow of and downwind rust plume from the Beth Steel mill that was once the largest tidewater steel mill in the world and employed 30,000 including many of our parents, grandparents and older brothers) – was so tough the residents scared the crap out of us.)

    That said, the answer:

    Dundalk style: Break off the neck against the nearest curb and pour the beer down your throat.
    Sparrows Point style: Same as Dundalk style except, Toss the broken neck with cap into your mouth, chew it up and chase it with the beer poured down your throat.​

  224. 224.

    Lyrebird

    @NotMax: ​ Can you afford to give it to her WITH a nice bottle of wine that you guys would enjoy sharing? Then it can be more, “hey, let’s celebrate your birthday – I wondered if this thing might be handy for you”

    @Uncle Cosmo: ​
     
    FWIW I am younger than Cole, though not by much, and I love getting things that help me not trigger middle aged joint pain.​

  225. 225.

    NotMax

    @Lyrebird

    Can afford it but being 6000 miles away throws a spanner in the works (as the Brits put it) logistically.

    (No compunctions when splurging, within reason, on gifts for others. It’s only when it comes to buying for myself that Sir Cheapskate rears his head.)

    ;)

  228. 228.

    catclub

    @NotMax: It’s only when it comes to buying for myself that Sir Cheapskate rears his head.)

     

    I have changed from that attitude. If I am going to waste energy deciding whether some small item is more expensive than I would like, instead, I just buy it.

  229. 229.

    Ruckus

    @Scout211:

    Here in SoCal we are supposed to get gusts to 30-35 today/tonight and over the next 4 days about 8-9 inches of rain.

    That’s a bit of rain.

  231. 231.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Ruckus: “How do you forget how old you are?”

    When you look at an old picture of yourself and think you’re looking into a mirror?

    That’s all I got…

  232. 232.

    dnfree

    @NotMax: We have a wine opener that looks very similar that we got years ago from Pampered Chef for around $80.  It works great!

  233. 233.

    Gvg

    @NotMax: I recently got myself something like this

    https://www.amazon.com/Function-Plastic-Bottle-Opener-Canning/dp/B09T96LRDQ/ref=sr_1_54?crid=WZ148LT0VEGE&keywords=rubber%2Bcoated%2Bbottle%2Bopener&qid=1707097805&sprefix=Bottle%2Bopener%2Brubber%2Caps%2C247&sr=8-54&th=1

    which is not what you asked about but I love it. My hands hurt so much sometimes that even the pressure of using the kind you grip together seems too painful. This type opens soda and water bottles only, but so easily with no pressure on my hands. It’s specifically what I needed.

    I am afraid I don’t drink alcohol so I can’t help on the type you asked about. I tried several other thingS that didn’t meet promises though and I suspect you will have to try a few to find a good one.

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