Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

People are complicated. Love is not.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

“But what about the lurkers?”

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

If you’re gonna whine, it’s time to resign!

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Saturday Morning Open Thread: We’re Ridin’ With Biden!

Saturday Morning Open Thread: We’re Ridin’ With Biden!

by | 264 Comments

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But first, a progress report…

… Senators conducted a late-night vote Friday, advancing to next steps as they spin through objections from a core group of Republicans. More closely aligned with Donald Trump, the GOP’s presidential front-runner, the Republican senators aren’t putting a priority on stopping Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told the senators he would be willing to amend the package to win over more support, but the New York Democrat also warned they would stay in session “until the job is done.”

Even if the foreign aid package gets off the ground in the Senate with possible Sunday voting, the package still faces a deeply uncertain future in the House. In that chamber, the Republican majority is even more hostile to helping the U.S. ally in Europe, as the war enters its second year.

Attendance slipped Friday night as senators advanced the bill, 64-19, with 14 Republicans joining Democrats to move it forward…

======



Interesting argument. President Obama was careful to *never* be seen as angry, but President Biden is an affable old white guy who maybe should push his advantage as ‘America’s Righteous Grandad’ more often:

… Aside from discussions of the President’s cognitive faculties, the main focus — actually the two were melded together — was commentary about his anger. This seemed to be a universal response from the DC press corps, that the whole impromptu press conference was a mess because the President displayed clear and clearly genuine anger.

Is that wrong? As George Constanza might have said.

This goes to the heart of the etiquette of official Washington and who plays by those rules and who doesn’t. Anger is a natural human emotion. It’s a reaction to being attacked, being treated unfairly. Whatever you think of Biden, he clearly had a lot to react to. Special Counsel Robert Hur was charged with investigating whether Biden had violated the law by retaining classified documents. He decided, quite likely because he had found no basis for bringing charges, to take a series of gratuitous and transparently political swipes at Biden’s mental faculties, going so far as to claim that Biden was unable to remember when his son Beau died. Everyone knows that this was the central injury and core event of the latter part of Biden’s life. I experienced one profoundly traumatic loss in my life and four decades on if anyone seems to disrespect or make light of it, even unintentionally, it puts me in a mood to fight. It would be unnatural not to be angry. It’s a gratuitous and deeply personal swipe.

It’s probably not lost on you that Donald Trump is basically permanently angry. And not just angry in response to particular events but the kind of perpetual and often peristaltic anger that in day to day life most people find threatening or at least off-putting. But we virtually never hear anything about the purported damage from expressions of anger when it’s Donald Trump. That’s not bias. It’s simply that it’s assumed. So it just doesn’t come up. It’s no longer policed. That’s just what Donald Trump does. But there’s an additional factor that people don’t notice. Being responsive to this kind of press policing signals a basic weakness, a perpetual hedging, a practice of being controlled and responsive to the press chorus rather than indifferent to it. Trump’s able to work outside this framework of policing because he simply ignores it and because of that reporters decide it doesn’t apply to him. This isn’t just Biden. It’s not even just Trump. Democrats for a host of reasons tend to be far more responsive to this kind of policing. People want to see expressions of agency and power from political leaders. Trump’s ability to set the terms for how the press reacts and interprets his actions is itself an expression of power.

All of which is to say that it wasn’t just okay that Biden showed some anger. It was good. And he should do more of it. Both because people expect people to have normal and appropriate human responses and grow latent suspicions when they don’t see it but also because it’s Biden showing some energy and direction. They should put him in front of reporters and the cameras more, not less. If you are responding to the tut-tutting and line-drawing of the prestige media you’re losing. It’s as simple as that. You’re always either reacting or being reacted to. The latter is always better.

Reader Interactions

264Comments

  2. 2.

    different-church-lady

    Anger is bad and ineffective. Unless it’s Lindsey Graham throwing a fit during a supreme court nomination hearing, in which case it’s righteous and effective.  -30-

  3. 3.

    OzarkHillbilly

    If your day didn’t have enough worries already let me help fill it up: Atlantic Ocean circulation nearing ‘devastating’ tipping point, study finds

    Until now there has been no consensus about how severe this will be. One study last year, based on changes in sea surface temperatures, suggested the tipping point could happen between 2025 and 2095. However, the UK Met Office said large, rapid changes in Amoc were “very unlikely” in the 21st century.

    The new paper, published in Science Advances, has broken new ground by looking for warning signs in the salinity levels at the southern extent of the Atlantic Ocean between Cape Town and Buenos Aires. Simulating changes over a period of 2,000 years on computer models of the global climate, it found a slow decline can lead to a sudden collapse over less than 100 years, with calamitous consequences.

    The paper said the results provided a “clear answer” about whether such an abrupt shift was possible: “This is bad news for the climate system and humanity as up till now one could think that Amoc tipping was only a theoretical concept and tipping would disappear as soon as the full climate system, with all its additional feedbacks, was considered.”

    It also mapped some of the consequences of Amoc collapse. Sea levels in the Atlantic would rise by a metre in some regions, inundating many coastal cities. The wet and dry seasons in the Amazon would flip, potentially pushing the already weakened rainforest past its own tipping point. Temperatures around the world would fluctuate far more erratically. The southern hemisphere would become warmer. Europe would cool dramatically and have less rainfall. While this might sound appealing compared with the current heating trend, the changes would hit 10 times faster than now, making adaptation almost impossible.

    “What surprised us was the rate at which tipping occurs,” said the paper’s lead author, René van Westen, of Utrecht University. “It will be devastating.”

    He said there was not yet enough data to say whether this would occur in the next year or in the coming century, but when it happens, the changes are irreversible on human timescales.

    Your welcome.

  4. 4.

    Freemark

    It’s true about KH.
    “What if Biden Dies in office and Kamala becomes President?”
    Why does that bother you?
    “She isn’t qualified?”
    What makes her different than nearly every other VP in history?”
    “Umm….ummm”

    That isn’t even talking about how Trump is as basically old as Biden, and in worse physical and mental health. Of Trump’s VP may actually be quite a bit better President than Trump whereas Biden has been pretty awesome.

  7. 7.

    Kay

    If you are responding to the tut-tutting and line-drawing of the prestige media you’re losing. It’s as simple as that.

    Also the cycles media creates are exhausting and boring- for readers, for viewers, for listeners, for Biden and probably for media themselves. Over and over and over – they freak out, behave like lemmings and all pile on something. Then they’re called on it and they get defensive and snippy and punish whoever called them out with further negative coverage.
    It puts them too much at the center and they don’t belong there. They’re not that interesting. Their industry is not that interesting. The guiding light for reporters should be “does my behavior make this about me and the news industry rather than the subject of the news?” If it does that have to change methods and practices. It does. They have to change, Get better.
    My husband just told me there are SEVEN NYTimes articles or op eds in the NYTimes today about Biden’s age. Seven. Just like with Clinton in 2016, the NYTimes coverage of Biden is not “about” Biden, it’s about the NYTimes. What a goddamned bore – them again.

  8. 8.

    Rusty

    The US political press is a mess.  Its biased against the dems, the obvious places like Fox but also places like the NYT which is titled toward the well to do and connected and so is fundemantally conservative.   It’s biased against people of color, Iowa and New Hampshire, very white, are grand predictors of presidents, the South Carolina primary meant nothing because lots of black people voted.  When the biases are pointed out, the main stream press retreats to a pedestal where they claim to be above it all and engage in evermore extreme forms of both-sider-ism, which inherently helps the right with its more extreme positions.  The more Biden can go around or ignore the press, the better.  It’s sad to say that, but we will get killed in November if we dont.

  9. 9.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Over and over and over – they freak out, behave like lemmings and all pile on something.

     
    I feel this way about social media too.

    Media are like referees. If you’re talking about them, they’re doing their job wrong.

  10. 10.

    Scout211

    @OzarkHillbilly: He said there was not yet enough data to say whether this would occur in the next year or in the coming century

    Oh come on, you so-called scientists, give me a date and time!  If you can’t do that, then . . .

    (To quote a well-known philosopher), “Why worry?”  

    /s

  11. 11.

    OzarkHillbilly

    This is just plain insane: US dentist may lose eye after allegedly getting stabbed in face by ex-patient

    Papers filed by local police in New Orleans’s state criminal courthouse accuse Stewart of going to Tran’s Louisiana dental center office on 7 February and asking to speak to her. One of Tran’s co-workers then heard a loud sound, turned around and saw Stewart standing over the dentist while wielding a knife with a three-inch blade, police alleged.

    Another of Tran’s co-workers heard her remark: “I got stabbed in the face” while blood streamed down from around one of her eyes, police added in the documents. Stewart allegedly chased Tran, 32, as the dentist ran into another room and locked herself in there.

    Stewart is accused of trying to hurt two more employees at Tran’s office, including one who stepped in to defend the dentist. “She is crazy – she is trying to stab me,” one of the employees whom Stewart allegedly targeted was heard screaming, according to police.

    But that was just the final act:

    Nola.com added that the prosecutor recounted how – at the time of Tran’s stabbing – Stewart was wanted in connection with allegations that she tried to set a man’s apartment on fire on 31 January.

    The victim in that case told police that Stewart had beaten him with a hammer and hurled threats at him in the days before she allegedly approached his home, lit a match and ignited his window. The man put out the blaze with help from a neighbor.

    But wait, we’re not done yet:

    Meanwhile, on 9 January, a woman alleged that she and her daughters were confronted in a beauty store parking lot by Stewart, who also followed them to a nearby pharmacy. The woman asked Stewart to seek counseling after she said Stewart accused the woman of stealing her identity and food stamps – and threatened to come after the accuser’s family “when the time was right”, Nola.com reported.

    A civil court judge on 29 January signed an order prohibiting Stewart from contacting or going near that woman.

    Suffice it to say, Ms. Stewart needs help. One last little tidbit:

    This “is the latest chilling reminder that US healthcare professionals are suffering more workplace violence injuries than those in any other industry, including law enforcement, as the Associated Press reported last year.”

    I had no idea.

  12. 12.

    Kay

    Who covers Biden at the NYTimes this cycle? Are they any better at their job than Amy Chozick was with Clinton? Chozick did very, very well with but her emails- she wrote a book about herself and Hillary Clinton (Clinton as an afterthought- a minor character in a book about a NYTimes reporter) later optioned by HBO. She now follows the Kardashians, I believe, which is where she should have always been.

    If you want to read about reporters and editors and the news industry (ugh) you should read the NYTimes – their likes, their dislikes, their careers, their opinions.

  14. 14.

    Rusty

    @Kay: The NYT piled into the Harvard president story with an avalanch of stories, they continue to have front page stories “asking questions” about trans people.  It really has become a reactionary paper.

  15. 15.

    Kay

    @Rusty:

    and so is fundemantally conservative

    They’re all fundamentally conservative. Conventional. Traditional. They are more stodgy and hidebound than the local Rotary in my small Ohio city.
    What I love is how they completely ignore – even vehemently deny– the possibility of them changing anything and perhaps getting better at their jobs. Apparently it is impossible for any of them to be better. They are 100% perfect. There’s no culture of continious improvement in media, not even an attempt to ever do anything differently, even after catastrophic failures like the Iraq war or Clinton coverage. They stubbornly insist they can’t change or improve, like 5th graders who don’t want to do homework.
    Their industry is collapsing partly because of greedy financiers and grifter news but also partly because they haven’t improved at all over the last 100 years.

  16. 16.

    Kay

    @Rusty:

    The Harvard story was comical. The NYTimes put 7 reporters on Harvard while the mayor of the city where they are located was floating cuts to public colleges in that city that tens of thousands of peope attend. They’re weirdos who are obsessed with the Ivy League. Also? Constantly talking about the same 5 colleges is boring.

    They’ve had a bug up their ass about trans people for years now, because the reporters and editors are brittle and conventional people who all come out of the same backgrounds. It’s upsetting to them that trans people exist. Too “out there” for the super savvy set.

  17. 17.

    Kay

    Well, we can think of it as a rematch. Political media (following the NYTimes like lemmings) beat us with Clinton and got their boy Trump in but we were caught off guard. They’re trying it again, same playbook. Let’s beat them this time. Imagine the distress of the NYTimes reporters and editors when Biden wins. The worries about making the payments on their overpriced vacation homes will start immediately.

  18. 18.

    Suzanne

    a gaffe-prone, middling public speaker with above-average emotional intelligence and an instinct for legislative horse-trading

    Yeah, honestly, that’s fine. I’m good with that.

    No truer words have ever been spoken. But you could modify this to say: “Biden’s age is about Harris’ skin color and gender.”

    Word. I am so tired of people missing that sexism is real and powerful.

  21. 21.

    Scout211

    @OzarkHillbilly: The dark side is that my granddaughters will.

    True,  but we can hope that the younger generation and their children and grandchildren will be more aware of the threat of climate collapse and make the changes needed to slow the process.  As they say, teach your children well.  And hope.

  23. 23.

    Kay

    Too, Twitter has been so bad for political media. Every single one of them turning into a “brand” with opinions and commentary is just a disaster for news. The egos are out of control. They’re all vying for a slot on cable news or a book deal.

  25. 25.

    ColoradoGuy

    They all go to the same cocktail parties in NYC and DC. If it’s not the talk of that party, it’s not news. The attendees of these parties don’t know, or care, about history, economics, or the sciences. But they went to the right schools, and know the right people.

    As Driftglass says, there’s a club, and you’re not in it.

  26. 26.

    Suzanne

    @Kay:

    They’re weirdos who are obsessed with the Ivy League. Also? Constantly talking about the same 5 colleges is boring. 

    This is a thing I have noticed since coming back to the Northeast. Grown-ass adults who oh-so-casually mention where they went to college. It’s so weird.

  28. 28.

    Kay

    Joe Biden has told aides and outside advisers that Attorney General Merrick Garland did not do enough to rein in a special counsel report stating that the president had diminished mental faculties, according to two people close to the president, as White House frustration with the head of the Justice Department grows.

    Chris Hayes posted a list of special investigations and investigators. Every single one has been a Republican since Reagan. Republicans are always investigated by Republicans and Democrats are always investigated by Republicans. One would think it would have stopped not with Comey but well before that, with ridiculous hack and Jeffrey Epstein pal Ken Starr. We’re still hiring Ken Starrs.

    Also, and this is amusing, Reagan took 8 notebooks home with him – his personal notes- same as Biden. The idea what we always had airtight national security practices is nonsense, but we knew that with the emails too.

  30. 30.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The wife got her flu and shingles vaxes yesterday and now her arm feels like it’s going to come off. And we have no pain killers in the house other than the Vicodin I horde. Offered her one and she refused, so it’s off to Wally World I go.

  31. 31.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @topclimber: But who reads the NY Times in the demographics we need to turn out? Independent eggheads?

    No, I stopped subscribing after the Iraq War.

  32. 32.

    Baud

    @topclimber:

    I think quite a number read it, and many more get or validate their themes from it.

    Those of us who recognize the NYT for what it is are still a distinct minority of liberals.

  33. 33.

    Kay

    @Suzanne:

    I have a friend – I love him but not for this- who mentioned that he got a perfect score on the math SAT for years- well into our thirties. I finally told him to stop it, which he took quite well considering that this SAT score was apparently the high point of his life. The NYTimes hires people who don’t stop doing things like that, ever.

  34. 34.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Freemark: The only worry I have about Kamala Harris is that if we were suddenly stuck with her as our 2024 candidate, defeat would probably be certain because, for bad and wrong reasons, other people currently like her even less than they do Biden.

    But I preferred her to Biden as a 2020 candidate anyway and think she’d be a fine President. Reelection might be a problem for the same reasons as 2024 but, eh, we’d cross that bridge when we come to it, she’d have *been* President by then.

  35. 35.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Garland out his trust in the wrong person, but I don’t see how he could have realistically edited the special counsel report. The edit would have come out anyway, and it would look even worse if it looked like there was an attempt at a “coverup.”

  36. 36.

    mrmoshpotato

    This whole ramp up of concern over the President’s age tells me one thing:

     

    The Republicans are in serious jeopardy of an electoral wipe out in November and the Beltway Media is getting desperate.

    Also tells you they want a horserace, and they can take that horserace and shove it up their asses.

  38. 38.

    TBone

    I checked in on reaction to Fucker Snarlson’s interview over at a U.S. vatnik website and my comment is awaiting moderation 😆

    Tucker got pwned and you are all traitors to democracy, you pinhead fucks don’t even know the difference between “its” and “it’s” fercrissakes. Drunk and dumb is no way to go through life and your orange “savior” is about to go on the down escalator to a world of hurt. Penniless and crying like a little bitch.

    I signed it “BonyCarrot” at vatniksoup.com

  39. 39.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: According to an aide quoted by NBC, the Biden admin is on the same page:

    “Hur couldn’t make his case and he takes partisan, personal and untrue swipes at Joe Biden,” one aide, who requested anonymity to speak frankly about internal views of the president’s team, said. “[He] did it so the media would take the bait, and none of you have learned a damn thing since 2016…”

    “The media loves to be entertained. They love drama. They don’t get it with Biden because he’s doing his job and delivering for families. So they treat partisanship as a reason to manufacture scandal,” the aide said. “I think ultimately this election will be about someone who cares deeply about the truth, his job, making people’s lives better, following the law and being a decent person. And someone who is the opposite of all of those things. Despite you and your colleagues best efforts to focus on none of those things.”

    I’m all for working the biased refs.

  41. 41.

    SiubhanDuinne

    perpetual and often peristaltic anger

    Peristaltic! Great (if unorthodox) adjective, perfectly used to describe Trumpian anger. That’s a brilliant little piece of writing from TPM.

  42. 42.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Baud: Those of us who recognize the NYT for what it is are still a distinct minority of liberals.

    A pharmacist I worked with referred to the Times specifically as an outlet on the left and was baffled by my incredulous reaction. I duly informed her the “left” doesn’t have major media outlets and relatively conservative Democrats can only count on support from them during primary season.

    The media is all for Republicans.

  46. 46.

    Suzanne

    @Kay: ZOOOOOMG LOL. You are kinder than I am. My mocking would be pointed and incessant. Like, any time someone mentioned a number — “your lunch total was $15.27” — I’d be like. “JUST LIKE YOUR SAT SCORE!”.

    “It’s gonna be cold tomorrow, low of 20.”
    “SAME AS YOUR SAT SCORE!”

    I’m a douchebag, though.

  49. 49.

    Kay

    @topclimber:

    They are the leader in center-Right news. All the other outlets follow them.

    People said that for years about Fox. “But they have such a tiny audience compared to braodcast or network news!” – it didn’t matter because network news was picking up Fox garbage and mainstreaming it. The key is not what the public watches but what news industry people follow, what they see as successful or important. I think it goes back to hiring conventional, rigid people honestly. We would have more variety on what they cover if they were less conventional and stodgy.

    The NYTimes injected the NYTimes Iraq lies right into the mainstream of news, like an infection. Ditto with the emails coverage.

  50. 50.

    Suzanne

    @zhena gogolia: I have worked with a few people from Cornell, of all places, who manage to make sure I know it. They’re seriously just like Andy from “The Office”.

  51. 51.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @topclimber:

    But who reads the NY Times in the demographics we need to turn out? Independent eggheads?

    Someone pointed out, though, that in our mediate structure, TFNYT is anointed as be The Position from the Left. Therefore, all other reporting must be to the right of TFNYT’s position. And so we end up with a national press media that is waaaay to the right of just about everyone in the country on just about every issue.

  52. 52.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: I hope Garland suddenly develops an urge to spend more time with his grandchildren in a couple of months. That way, Biden could nominate a replacement while Dems control the Senate. Naming Hur as special counselor was an unmitigated disaster.

  54. 54.

    Geminid

    A delegation of House members visited Kiev yesterday. Rep. Abigail Spanberger’s website features a nice picture of her, Reps.  Jason Crow, Mike Turner, French Hill and Zach Nunn along with Amb. Bridget Brink flanking President Zelensky.

    A Reuters headline said they vowed to move Ukraine aid through Congress. Interesting, in that Turner (OH), Hill (AR) and Nunn (IA) are Republicans. Turner chairs the House Intelligence Committee. Rep. Michael McCaul (TX)  chairs the Foreign Relations Committee; a year ago McCaul led a CODEL to Kiev that included another Ohio Republican, Rep. Max Miller.

  57. 57.

    Suzanne

    @TBone: To be fair and transparent, there was some stupid-ass thing Trump said a few years back about, “They’re gonna ask you about your SAT score!”. And I was like, “OMG PLEASE ASK ME ABOUT MY SAT SCORE.”

  58. 58.

    Kay

    @Suzanne:

    He’s really smart but we were on a road trip once years ago and he was going to look under the hood and he held it up with the back of his head. I had to reach around him and unlatch the built in rod that held up the hood :)

  60. 60.

    topclimber

    @Baud: Or the final choice on election day becomes so f-ing obvious that they vote, regardless of the noise from NYT and its media chorus.

    And these guys grow more irrelevant everyday with the majority of our voters who get their news from the internet.

  62. 62.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Betty Cracker:

    And NBC couldn’t help themselves and went after Biden’s team not having an answer to questions about his age. Then even more concern trolling.

    Fuck the news, it’s out to fuck us.

  63. 63.

    Baud

    I wonder how the NYT is covering the special election. If the Republican wins, expect a lot more drama.

  64. 64.

    evodevo

    @Kay: ​
      Well, given the reactions of most of the cis/het males I have known, who get totally freaked out when hit on by gay guys, I’m wondering if the virulently anti-trans males have been out lookin’ for love at some time in their past and picked up a trans sex worker by mistake and have never gotten over it LOL. I mean, they are so FIXATED on this topic. I think I have run into maybe 3 or 4 trans people in my entire existence, so they can’t be as numerous (and, I guess, threatening??) as the wingers and FTFNYT make out… The ones I have known personally were great people, and about as non-threatening as you can get.

  65. 65.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    I’m not sure Bidne could do anything about it, either. Ethically. It would be interference with the AG for anyone from the Biden Administration to  say “you sure we want that fucking Trump hack – no one better is available?” So it’s probably very frustrating.

    They also think Garland moved too slowly on the Trump prosecutions thereby almost guaranteeing they won’t conclude until after the election. I no longer even think about those cases. My faith in the legal system is near zero at this point. It’s good I’m retiring. My heart’s not in it anymore.

  67. 67.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Odie Hugh Manatee: Fuck the news, it’s out to fuck us.

    When I consult primary sources; official documents, contemporaneous accounts of events, scientific observations; reality always seems to have a left to liberal bias. When I listen to the reporting, however…

  69. 69.

    topclimber

    @Chief Oshkosh: All we can do is concentrate on our voters, in the media channels they inhabit much more than they do the NYT.

    I trust that in the end, when it doesn’t matter to the outcome anymore, NEWS INC. will be part of the landslide that buries Trump.

  70. 70.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    As the final tweet reminds us, the NYT refused to endorse Joe Biden. I’d forgotten that. They looked at Trump and refused to endorse Biden. That tells you all you need to know.

  71. 71.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    The dopes who elected George Santos shouldn’t be a bellweather of anything but I agree- they’llrun with it if the Republican wins. I just hope there was some level of vetting by media this time- are they sure of the Republicans real name this time? Does she have outstanding warrants in this or any other country? Is she even eligible to run? The NY media won’t know until after she’s elected.

  73. 73.

    topclimber

    @Baud: That would be the NY Post. Crime will turn out the MAGA base but did you think they weren’t going to show up in 2024?

  74. 74.

    Scout211

    @Ironcity: Isn’t the quote “What, me worry?”

    I believe you are correct. Since I was not a Mad Magazine reader back in the day, I will claim ignorance of the exact phrasing.  Plus, I only had one cup of coffee at the time. I would like to blame auto-correct but that would be a stretch. I can’t think of any more excuses for my mistaken quote, so I will just say thanks for the correction.

  76. 76.

    Nukular Biskits

    @Baud:

    Now why would you inflict Tuberville on us this morning?

    I’ve slapped my forehead enough the past week over my own 2 US Senators (Hyde-Smith and Wicker) without having to worry about what that cornpone know-nothing had to say.

    ETA:  Apparently you have to be signed in to Reddit (?)

  77. 77.

    Kay

    @evodevo:

    It’s just nuts. There is now an entire publishing imprint devoted to “anti woke” authors.Their first sign up was for an anti trans book.

    I maintain a lot of privileged middle aged people (mostly men but not all, and mostly white but not all) were profoundly rattled by BLM, Me Too and Covid. They’re not resilient because they’re not flexible. The changes broke them. It was just too much for them to handle at once.

  78. 78.

    Ken

    I’m surprised at all of you. The media’s treatment of Biden and Trump is quite even-handed. Either gives a speech for half an hour, and the media edits it down and shows only eight words.

    The only slight difference is that with Biden, they pick the eight words where he makes a flub, while with Trump its the eight where he sounds coherent.

  81. 81.

    topclimber

    @Kay: Hopefully establishment Dems do a better job of turning out the vote than in 2022, but I am afraid the enthusiasm factor probably favors MAGA.

  82. 82.

    Nukular Biskits

    @Scout211:

    At least you didn’t have happened what happened to me.

    Background:  I have 2 Android phones.  The voice-to-text works nearly flawlessly on one (older) but comes up with all kinds of nonsense on the other.

    I was using V2T on Phone #2 while stopped at a traffic light to dictate a happy birthday text to a friend of mine a couple of days ago. Because it’s so quirky, I was speaking very slowly, knowing I’d wind up with “birth day” vice “birthday”.  You can only guess at my horror when I realized at the next light (when I had a chance to actually read what I had sent in haste) I had wished her a “happy bitch day”.

    DAMN BOTH YOU, AUTOCORRECT AND VOICE-TO-TEXT!

  85. 85.

    different-church-lady

    @Kay: Guess it might have been helpful if they had been half as curious about a congressman from New York as they were about an Ivy League college president.

  89. 89.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Baud: I don’t know that it is patently true that Garland couldn’t edit the report without much kerfuffle. And he wouldn’t have to do it himself – seems like he could just send it back the Hur, telling him to edit out the superfluous commentary. Hur could’ve balked and tried to cause a stir, but not likely enough stir to have 5 TFNYT front page articles (7 total) and total saturation of (so far) 3 news cycles.

    I used to think more of Garland (for reasons associated with his OKC bomber investigation/prosecution). Probably should’ve stayed at that position level. Still a good man, but maybe not the right man for the times.

    But, what’s done is done. I’m glad to see Biden stomping people over this. Here’s hoping, as one commentator suggests, that this is a “at long last, have you no decency” moment for the press, or at least, for the audience that the press courts.

  92. 92.

    Kay

    @topclimber:

    Oh, I don’t agree. I live in a 75% MAGA county and the enthusiasm has definitely waned. The hardcore Trumpists still love him but I think that group is probably halved. I actually think it’s a story that isn’t being told – the shrinking Trump base.

    Moderate or traditional Republicans are as exhausted as we are, too. A GOP judge just asked if she could appoint me to a county board because she’s afraid it’s being taken over by MAGATS – it’s the MR/DD board and an issue and people she actually cares about. She wants someone normal on there to counteract the crazy and she gets to fill an upcoming vacancy. I’m pretty sure she voted for Biden last time. They’re just fucking toxic, nasty people. The Republicans on the Board of Elections can’t stand them either.

    I don’t know if I’m taking it. I want to leave Ohio. It’s too far Right for me now.

  93. 93.

    MomSense

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Oh yeah it’s bad.  Gulf of Maine is warming faster than almost everywhere else.  There’s also the little matter of phytoplankton dying off.  It’s not just what whales eat.  Phytoplankton supply 50% of earth’s oxygen.  So the same warming and desalination that are threatening AMOC are killing phytoplankton.

  94. 94.

    BlueGuitarist

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:
    Reference was to the Times not endorsing Biden in the primary, they endorsed Biden for the general election, also endorsed Hillary, but they keep doing the but her emails bs like Groundhog Day.

  95. 95.

    Geminid

    @Nukular Biskits: I once did an emergency chimney repair. The customer was at work so I texted her a picture of her chimney wrapped in a tarp. She was so relieved, she texted me from work to “please forward your ass ASAP.” She was asking me to forward my invoice, but did not check her voice-to-text result before sending.

    I knew what she meant so I replied that I had to keep my ass with me but she could pay me when I finished the rest of the job.

  96. 96.

    Kay

    @different-church-lady:

    Just amazing right? In the center of the media in the country, George Santos goes completely unexamined. And he’s so dramatic! I don’t know how they could miss him. He’s not the only example either. I give you the guaranteed-to- be indicted from the get go Eric Adams. They could not manage to pin down his address. 

  97. 97.

    prostratedragon

    I suspect Hur is what you have to pay for Jack Smith; a little choppy, but should blow over soon. Also, Smith doesn’t walk away from The Hague on short notice, and unless there’s already something in place to work with.

  100. 100.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @BlueGuitarist: Thank you. That’s better. Also it means I didn’t forget what happened, which these days, is not always true.

    My morning news is that we’re picking up a new Prius for Mr DAW today. His car was 8 years old, and I wanted him to have every safety device possible when he drives.

  101. 101.

    tokyocali (formerly tokyo ex-pat)

    In the spirit of the Open Thread, I just got back from Taylor Swift’s last Tokyo concert. I can safely report that she did do one encore and barring any screw ups, she should be able to make the Super Bowl. She is a phenomenal entertainer with an amazing voice. Tokyo Dome was sold out to the rafters. Her fans know her songs backwards and forwards and they ranged from as young as five or six to sixties or seventies. They also traveled from other parts of the globe to see her. It’s been decades since I’ve been to a concert. Everyone with their phones up recording was a new experience. What happened to just living in the moment? Yes, I am getting old.

  104. 104.

    topclimber

    @Kay: The special election in an area which still has a strong establishment GOP base from the days when Republicans had a fabled machine here. That and the relative enthusiasm of likely voters (high amongst the MAGA but uncertain among Dems, in my view) favors the other side. I am afraid a good number of younger voters will not show up due to indifference or disgust over Palestine. Reproductive rights should help Dems, but it wasn’t enough the last time (2022) so who knows?

  106. 106.

    Kay

    @topclimber:

    I think it will be like 2012. Just a grind without real enthusiasm on either side. They’re exaggerating the enthuiasm for Trump. They live in NYC and DC. They don’t even live among the Trumpers. I would bet 50 bucks that the actual Trump base – the true believers- has been cut by half. They don’t even buy the stupid flags anymore! We have ONE remaining Trump nut house out in the country and all the signage and flags are all weathered and tattered.

  108. 108.

    Yarrow

    This seems relevant to a discussion of the media.

    "When 2,529 people were offered a free subscription to their local newspapers, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Philadelphia Inquirer, only forty-four accepted—less than 2 percent—according to an academic study set to be published this year…" https://t.co/KX9OXZ8mLf— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 9, 2024

  109. 109.

    TBone

    @Kay: there are no more signs here in my PA evangeluglican county (the hardcore kept their campaign signs up till 2023) except for two.  One has Pence taped over with duct tape (she’s not insane, much 🤣).  The house next to hers didn’t sell for 2 years, when we usually see sales within a month.

  110. 110.

    Eyeroller

    @Odie Hugh Manatee: The answer is “his age is what it is, but he’s in excellent health and the statements about his mental capacities in the report were lies.”  That sounds like what the advisors have been saying, but apparently the press refuses to accept it.

  111. 111.

    Kay

    @topclimber:

    Oh, I think we disagree about 2022 too. I think Biden/Dems had a very good showing given “midterm with our Party in the White House” and given the media predictions of a Red Wave. I think it’s unrealistic to expect Biden/Dems to win every cycle for 8 years. No one is held to that standard.

    Republicans here were furious about 2022. They took it as a huge loss.

  114. 114.

    Argiope

    @Kay: NE OH here, there are still some newer flags up in the rural areas and one hand-painted “Impeach Biden”.  But the heart has definitely gone out of some of them since Jan 6.  Several have taken down their flags as the indictments started to roll in.   I guess we have to wait and see if they go back up closer to November.

  115. 115.

    BlueGuitarist

    @Kay:

    I actually think it’s a story that isn’t being told – the shrinking Trump base.

    Good! Trust your judgement!
    it would also be good if there were news organizations that tell this story…. Won’t be the times.

    Hope we see that in Ohio elections

  118. 118.

    Kay

    @TBone:

    My middle son tracks this for me. He’ll text me “Bejing Biden guy took his signs down – I guess the county finally made him mow”. I don’t hear a word in the law ofice either and they used to sashay in there with their red (cult) hats, etc., picking fights with me.

  119. 119.

    JMG

    @topclimber: Who reads the Times is other reporters and editors. It sets the tone for political coverage right down to the smallest local TV news operation. That’s what makes it important.

  122. 122.

    sab

    @Baud: We have always been able to get it delivered to our door in Akron, Ohio, so apparently there is enough demand to support the whole delivery infrastructure. I haven’t read it since Clinton’s first term.

  123. 123.

    smith

    Regarding the ongoing whine about Harris supposedly being unqualified to be president: If she assumed the office tomorrow at the start of her presidency she would have more foreign policy experience than any of the presidents between G.H.W. Bush and Biden. She also has more experience in national poltics than any of them except perhaps Obama, who was even newer to the national stage than she is. She also has quite a bit more executive experience than Obama did (and TFG’s experience in that regard is highly questionable). So if those presidents were qualified, in what way isn’t she?t We know that the answer lies primarily in their respective personal plumbing. 

  126. 126.

    Kay

    @Argiope:

    I think covid was what deflated them here. They actually lost a lot of people. It’s all fun and games owning the libs and busting up imaginary pedophile rings until ten people you went to high school with and chat with every day on Facebook die of infectious disease in a year. It got really grim for them. They never really recovered their enthusiasm.

    It’ll be a slog, like 2012 was. Not “enthusiasm” but perseverance and mental toughness. We win that.

  128. 128.

    Geminid

    @Nukular Biskits: What made it extra funny was we had never met each other; a mutual friend told her I could fix her chiminey. She commutes from Waynesboro to Charlottesville every day and wasn’t around when I looked at the job. She said her fireplace was damp and she found pieces of brick on the ground. The cap wasn’t shedding water and needed repair, so I texted her my plan to fix it when the weather warmed up in March. But then there was a forecast for three days of rain followed by a hard freeze, so I went by with a ladder and tarped the chiminey.

    I ended up doing the rest of the job on a weekday and she mailed me the check, so we did not meet in person until a garden party hosted by our friend, 5 months later. We had a good laugh then.

  130. 130.

    topclimber

    @Kay: I am talking about a single district with a special election. You are talking about the national picture. I agree 2022 was a great showing for Dems in general, but not so much in this district or others like it in NY.

    Back to the FTFNYT and whether we should let them hijack so many BJ threads rather than worrying about their bias 24/7:

    AOC faulted the NY Dems for a piss poor social media campaign in 2022. Hopefully, they got the message because that’s where our most likely voters are.

  131. 131.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @evodevo:

    I’m wondering if the virulently anti-trans males have been out lookin’ for love at some time in their past and picked up a trans sex worker by mistake and have never gotten over it LOL

    No, but they’re terrified their buddies will ostracize or beat them to death if it’s revealed they ever did anything ‘gay’ or even had gay thoughts.

  134. 134.

    Kay

    @Argiope:

    They have as many fights as we do, too. Media just doesn’t cover the cracks in their coalition. They all hate Nikki Haley and Mitch McConnell and a substantial portion of them are not big backers of Israel and support abortion rights, despite their Party. They think Democrats outsmart their pols all the time.

  135. 135.

    sab

    @Kay: Yes. For example, I love Connie Schultz (Sherrod Brown’s wife), but she respects the NYT and she is teaching journalism now at Kent State. So all her students in Ohio are being trained to respect the NYT.

  136. 136.

    BlueGuitarist

    @Kay:

    Do you know/have an opinion about Jan Materni, Perrysburg city council member running for state house 75 (again)?

  138. 138.

    Starfish

    @Kay: Yes. There were some people tweeting so often that it was really a question whether they got any work done, and no one was punished for it unless it was some minor reporter having an opinion on some niche issue.

  139. 139.

    topclimber

    @JMG: And our prime voters watch local TV news a lot? NPR I grant you, which is a NYT clone, but if a news junkie like me hasn’t watched one in 10 years I doubt the under-45 chunk of our voters has either.

    Going all in with the anecdotal evidence.

    ETA grammar.

  140. 140.

    Barbara

    @Kay: Reporters at the NYT are way disproportionately hired from Ivy League schools.  I bet you can count on one hand those who graduated from SUNY or CUNY.  That accounts for (1) their interest in what happens at Ivy League schools and (2) their belief that Ivies are bastions of people selected solely on merit.

    It took my office a while to realize that if you only recruited from Ivies (and similar institutions) you were essentially relying on whatever approach to diversity they adopted as a proxy for your own.  We still recruit at Ivies but we have definitely added other institutions and varied our approach in other ways.

  142. 142.

    Kay

    @topclimber:

    I don’t think NY is a good bellweather though, partly because of your media. NY’ers responded to the crime panic much more than those in most other cities in 2022. There was a spike in crime in Detroit during the pandemic- Detroiters didn’t go full bore reactionary. Neither did Chicago or Illinois.

    I think that’s because you’re indundated with this NYTIme-sian bullshit in a way the rest of the country isn’t. Your state Party seems really weak and weirdly Right leaning too. It upsets me that both Dem Congressional leaders are out of NY because of this- that I consider NY as veering off Right and don’t think it should be a D template. I don’t think it’s a great place for liberals and/or Democrats. It just seems really susceptible to these media narratives and constant panics, from wokeness panic to trans panic to crime panic.

  143. 143.

    Barbara

    @Yarrow: It’s just bizarre to me that media — and perhaps newspapers in particular — don’t see the need to cater to the tastes of people who might be willing to consume their product.  I do have a sort of headline only subscription to a few papers outside of where I live, and some really stand out as being more attuned to what people who are reading them might actually be concerned about.

  144. 144.

    Barbara

    @OzarkHillbilly: When I got my first shingles shot that’s how I felt.  When I got the second shot, the tech told me that the secret was to take the vial out of the refrigerator for 10 minutes so that it went in the arm at room temperature, and indeed, the second shot had a much less painful aftermath.

  146. 146.

    Kay

    @Barbara:

    I just don’t know how they don’t die of shame promoting ending affrimative action while they keep the fucking crony “legacy admit” systems in place. How is this merit? I can’t take these people seriously. I knew it too. I knew they would end affirmative action and yet retain their special little snowflake admit system for themselves.

  147. 147.

    JML

    US political media is a disaster. The biggest vendors are corporate entities with affinity for the GOP (business greed of course) and they slant their coverage through editorial dictates. There are more right-wing commentators by far, and they know their mission: attack democrats, cover for republicans. The left-leaning commentators are obsessed with proving they’re smarter than the actual elected officials or their campaigns, so the closest you get to praise from them is a “yes, but”. And lefty politics for decades have been obsessed with the perfect over the achievable, so any accomplishment is immediately denigrated for not getting everything everywhere all at once rather than praised for advancing the goal. And of course, the political press as an entity loves gossip, scandal, and process stories rather than policy ones and a competent administration like Biden’s just doesn’t have much to write about on the gossipy side. They’re too boring.

    It’s miserable.

    The accusations that Kamala Harris isn’t “qualified” make me want to break things. bigotry rearing its ugly head again: she’s too black, and too female to ever be “qualified” for some people, and many of those shit weasels work in media. Fuck them all with a chainsaw.

  148. 148.

    Kathleen

    @Baud: They weaponized a dead son to attack his father. I have no words to describe my hatred and contempt. More media press allies need to use this framing.

  150. 150.

    3Sice

    Normies DGAF on Superbowl weekend. The FTNYT pile on is to motivate the traditional GOP donor base – who are noping on giving to a Trump controlled enterprise.

    Medice, cura te ipsum.

  151. 151.

    PAM Dirac

    @zhena gogolia:

    I believe that if it’s Harvard, there’s an actual law that you have to mention it.

    I remember a Sports Illustrated article many years ago mentioning that most of the “important” people in the Washington DC area were Boston Red Sox fans because they either went to Harvard or wanted people to think they went to Harvard.

  152. 152.

    Kathleen

    @Freemark: I maintain his selection of VP Harris is the primary reason they’re so hateful towards Biden. They’re nothing more than fascist racists.

  153. 153.

    topclimber

    @Kay: I am concerned about giving the GQP back a seat it should never have had in the first place, only filled by someone less cartoonish than Santos.

    I agree with Baud that bellweather or not the Times and the rest of News Inc will nationalize the outcome. (Though probably less so if the Democrat Tom Suozzi wins. Can I have a bot pitch?).

  154. 154.

    tokyocali (formerly tokyo ex-pat)

    @eclare:  I’m sure it’ll be wheels up soon. I wonder how she’ll handle the jet lag. I am useless the first few days when I arrive in California. Maybe they’ll have caffeine shots ready.

    @Elizabelle: She knows how to play to an audience and she’s got tons of talent. She also directs as well as stars in her videos. The video for The Man is kind of freaky when you realize that she turned herself into a man for that and how realistic she’s able to make it. I have to say that for all I enjoyed it, I appreciate that she uses that power to ask young people to vote and she’s chosen to side with the Democrats for now.

  155. 155.

    eclare

    @Kathleen:

    I know.  And I think they are trying to goad Hunter into a relapse.  Evil, reprehensible, vile, I run out of words.

    Two of Joe’s four children have preceded him.

  156. 156.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Popping in to observe that staunch D but normie spouse is not aware of the latest Biden is ooold tempest in a teapot. Anecdote yes, and perhaps also indicative of where the broader population is? Maybe take a few deep breaths and work on supporting voter turnout in whatever way fits your modus operandi.

  157. 157.

    Spanky

    @Kay:

    I don’t hear a word in the law ofice either and they used to sashay in there with their red (cult) hats, etc., picking fights with me.

    Did you start charging them your full lawyer rates for the time they were wasting? Because that would be awesome.

  158. 158.

    TBone

    @Kay: good job raising that one 😊 and I’m glad you’re not being accosted by Teh Stoopid at the office any longer.  I have stories about coworkers during Obama’s election (shudder)

  159. 159.

    eclare

    @tokyocali (formerly tokyo ex-pat):

    “The Man” is an amazing video and the lyrics are spot on.  So glad you brought it up.

    I expect Taylor will have caffeine shots, juices, aromatherapy, maybe a massage therapist, anything she needs on board her jet so that she will be ready to go for gametime.  Me, the change from standard time to daylight savings screws me up for weeks!

    I read that Travis bought a box so that his family (including bro Jason and his wife) and hers can sit together at the game, we should get lots of good shots.

  165. 165.

    Elizabelle

    @tokyocali (formerly tokyo ex-pat):  Flightradar24 is fun. https://www.flightradar24.com/VJT993/33f1c5ed

    In the event that “Vistajet: The Football Era” and “Vistajet Backup Quarterback” out of Tokyo are Team Taylor:

    Looks like two jets in the Taylor Swift entourage.  Both Bombardier Global 600s.  Both airborne.

    Departed 11:36 pm and 12:18 am local time respectively.

    Just check out the top left corner of the site for the most tracked jets.  They are there.

  167. 167.

    Elizabelle

    @eclare:  And talk about something that is going to wipe the “Biden is decrepit” stories off the map.  At least for a while.

    Taylor will get rest and pampering, and she can sleep sleep sleep after the big game is over.

  168. 168.

    oldgold

    All this pissing a moaning about Hur’s report, while justified, is not going to do a damn thing to stop the political damage.

  170. 170.

    eclare

    @Elizabelle:

    Thanks!  The ratings for this Super Bowl are going to be huge, CBS execs must be giggling.

    I kind of feel sorry for Usher, usually the halftime performer is the really big attraction outside of the actual game.  But I am sure he will bring his A game.  I’m sure he knows he had better.

  171. 171.

    Kay

    @Spanky:

    I have one client (I like him) who was going on and on about covid and as you know I’ll fucking debate until I drop from exhaustion or the other person strangles me but I was just done with that subject. I held my hand up in the stop position and said exactly that “you’re not paying me to debate you on this, are you?” He grinned and moved on. He’s kind of a pretentious conservative – says he wants to write in Margaret Thatcher (eye roll) – but other than that he is a good man.

  172. 172.

    RaflW

    Random update from the Masai Mara Reserve in Kenya: We saw a Silver Back Jackal on our game drive, and I thought of you all.

    😁

  173. 173.

    Scout211

    @O. Felix Culpa: Maybe take a few deep breaths and work on supporting voter turnout in whatever way fits your modus operandi.

    Good advice.

    And I realize making fun of the “Biden is old” meme is common here and fun, but finding a better way to reach the normies who worry about Biden’s age is important, IMHO.

    My adult children and grandkids over 18 are all Democratic regular voters but they all have expressed to me their worries about Biden’s age.  That may be because Mr. Scout is Biden’s age and is in obvious cognitive decline. That is there measure, which makes them worry.

    I talk them off the cliff by explaining Biden’s agenda and how it has benefitted them and the whole country and compare it to what the MAGA world has wrought.

    They don’t need much persuading but they need reassurance that the White House team behind Biden knows what they are doing and together, Biden and his team will be good for the country.

    Some folks (the media) may need to be mocked but not young Democratic voters who need information to help them worry less and show up to vote.

  175. 175.

    Nelle

    @Geminid: Zach Nunn is my rep.  I call once or twice a week about Ukraine.  Glad to see he went.  My calls are very tiny ripples in the opposite direction of the currents in which he swims.  But I’ll keep them moving.

  178. 178.

    Eunicecycle

    @zhena gogolia: the whole political situation has ruined my relationship with my best friend for the past 35 years. We used to talk several times a week. Now we sometimes go months without speaking. Not a cold silence, just that we can’t talk honestly anymore about so many topics that we just don’t talk. I wouldn’t call her MAGA but she tends to have very conservative opinions. For 30 years we could always still agree to disagree, but something is different. I know it’s a lot on me but I just can’t tolerate some of her opinions any more and I know she knows. But I still miss her.

  181. 181.

    rikyrah

    Excellent thread 👏🏾👏🏾🧵

     

    The Editorial Board (@johnastoehr) posted at 8:16 AM on Sat, Feb 10, 2024:
    The press corps is often anti-moral. Reporters often refuse to come to moral conclusions even when the evidence points to one. In this case, the evidence is the report itself. It openly editorializes on Biden’s memory, even exonerating him by way of its editorial. A THREAD
    (https://x.com/johnastoehr/status/1756321334122914249?t=DVlfIva2BumvP1hPegb6zQ&s=03)

  182. 182.

    Gvg

    @Kay: I would argue that the collapse of the funding flow from classified ads, and the loss of readership to free online sources has been bad for media. They are all concerned with losing their jobs, none of the companies are that secure, so like other workers who no longer believe a company has loyalty to them or will last long enough to pay pensions, journalists look after themselves. This means building their own reputation and own readership, is the only future they have. They are competing with their own employers and coworkers. They have to click bait to be heard above the clamor. It’s no way to produce factual reporting. It also clusters the news around a few subjects at a time, instead of spreading it out over the many subjects that need to be covered. If management had real control (and intelligence) they would be directing news gathering to be more spread out instead of pile on.

    As for our criticism of the NYTs, they are not in danger of bankruptcy or mass layoffs. A lot of the “better” reporting papers are or already went under. That means we can’t change things without changing the market conditions I think. I don’t know how to do that. All I can do is point it out so other people think about it. If someone has a good idea and puts it into practice, we will need to support it with money/subscriptions. It’s not just overpaid big shot journalists, the little local underpaid guys are being pushed by the market to be….over wrought hysterical click baiters. And pessimistic, I think this contributes to their always predicting economic doom. Their market for pay has shrunk a lot.

  185. 185.

    sab

    @PAM Dirac: “wanted people to think they went to Harvard..” Well finally someone has explained to me why Joe Scarborough from Florida panhandle and Alabama alumn is a Red Sox fan.

  188. 188.

    Baud

    @Eunicecycle:

    I’m sorry. I’m glad I’ve long been friendless. I couldn’t be friends with a Republican voters. I don’t think I could be friends with a non-blue voter, except maybe a normie who never votes.

  189. 189.

    Nukular Biskits

    @Eunicecycle:

    @zhena gogolia: the whole political situation has ruined my relationship with my best friend for the past 35 years

    Similar, but somewhat different situation with my youngest son.  He absorbed his mother’s absolute hatred for Hillary Clinton (“BUTTEREMAILS!”) and voted for Jill Stein (I honestly can’t remember how he voted in 2020 but it wasn’t for Trump).  He then bought into antivax conspiracies when COVID-19 MRNA vaccines came out and refused to get vaccinated.

    I have little tolerance for what I call “belligerent ignorance” and, at one of our occasional get-togethers, I finally told him that, as a grown man, he had every right to believe whatever stupid thing he wanted to believe but I was disappointed as I thought I had raised a man who believed in facts, evidence and science and we’d have to agree to set aside certain subjects to not be discussed.

    Harsh, yes, but IMHO necessary to maintain our relationship.

  192. 192.

    Mousebumples

    Talking about GOTV always makes me think of postcarding. Postcards to Voters only has Florida Vote By Mail right now (Hardee County), but they had addresses for the open NY House seat until a few days ago.

    I’ll hoping we can do postcarding (+music or whatever else) threads again in late summer/fall, leading into the November election.

    Related – if your state allows you to sign up to Vote By Mail, I’d encourage that! We just got our first ballots of the year, for the upcoming February primary. In Wisconsin, we can sign up for Vote By Mail for the year – though there is a permanent Vote By Mail option geared for the elderly or infirm.

  193. 193.

    Lyrebird

    @Geminid: Thanks for the tip for the photo!  I hope those OH reps are listening to their Ukr and Pol -American constituents…  and sign the discharge petition!

  194. 194.

    Lyrebird

    @O. Felix Culpa: work on supporting voter turnout in whatever way fits your modus operandi.

    Agreed on this!  The media’s influence on the under-25 voters does worry me, but in my own age bracket, I gotta agree with Josh Marshall: more unvarnished Joey O’Biden is GOOD!

    I remember when the press had the vapors when he told a potential voter “you’re full of sht” or something.  Maybe someone with better Google-fu can find it.  Anyhow, it was TRUE, it got huge smiles out of the other iirc construction workers at the event, and it served as further evidence that the Prez is a sensible, caring, human being.

    ETA: @Nukular Biskits: ​
      that’s heavy. credit to you for being another caring dad facing real sht.

  195. 195.

    Another Scott

    @Gvg: +1

    I don’t think FTFNYT is immune to these issues – they will just feel them a little later. (All it takes is new management.) As I skim their holding company’s latest quarterly report – click the Q4 2023 Press Release link, they are losing advertising revenue and only staying profitable by increasing digital subscriptions.

    Meredith Kopit Levien, president and chief executive officer, The New York Times Company, said, “2023 was a strong year for The Times that showcased the power of our strategy to be the essential subscription for every curious person seeking to understand and engage with the world.

    People have to vote with their dollars. If they want better news, they need to stop paying for crap news, and pay instead for people who are doing the job right.

    I send a monthly contribution to ProPublica.org

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  196. 196.

    Eunicecycle

    I appreciate all the kind words, since I don’t know how to reply to multiple commenters! Just to give a recent example of a discussion, I said something about the report that lots of Congressional reps and millionaires received PPP funding that they didn’t deserve. Her reply was “And isn’t it awful all those BLM people got that money and built those big mansions?” I honestly didn’t know WTF she was talking about so later I googled it and found it was mostly not true. She seems to think Portland and Seattle are just hellholes now, burned down by BLM protestors, and that all big cities are so crime infested. Her son lives in Chicago and she actively worries he’s going to get shot. We just don’t live in the same reality anymore.

  198. 198.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Scout211: Point to Trump’s obvious dementia.  That’s the alternative (oh, and it includes Fascism, a national abortion ban, reversing Climate actions, etc.). FFS, this isn’t complicated.  Biden’s first term has been incredibly productive and we’ve seen zero examples of his age/judgement hurting the country.  His VP is incredibly smart and capable and his administration is filled with people who have decades of experience and real expertise.  He’s got this.  They’ve got this.  Trump is the only thing young voters need to worry about and there is only one way to stop that threat.

  199. 199.

    smith

    @Mousebumples: I love vote by mail, and here in IL we have the option to sign up to have ballots mailed automatically for every election. If that could be made standard across the country it would make a huge difference in turnout.

    The new vote by mail law in NY just withstood a court challenge, which, along with the new Congressional maps expected to be in place there by November could, just in that one state, flip the House. Brian Tyler Cohen has an interview with Marc Elias about it here.

    We’ve had some victories in redrawing maps in several states and that, along with the effects of Dobbs,  make me optimistic about taking back the House

  200. 200.

    eclare

    @Eunicecycle:

    One of my cousins’ worldviews has shifted that way.  We were talking at a family gathering about where his high school senior son might go to college.  I thought it was an innocent topic, chance for him to brag about his son, happy talk!  My cousin said his son was getting so much mail from the service academies because no one wants to join the military anymore, it’s too woke.

    ?  I let it go.  Like you said, different realities, and somehow everything now is a battle.

  201. 201.

    Nelle

    And what a range in how we age.  We just got home from the Y, where DH swam his almost daily 32 laps.  He was just hired as a part-time instrument flight instructor.  He will turn 80 next week.

  203. 203.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Nukular Biskits: Ugh that sucks.  That’s like me and my Dad, so similar but reversed.  I ended up being the one who respects evidence, facts, science, expertise and exercises critical thinking.  And it’s extra-sad because he’s the one who stoked my interest in science, history and even politics.  But at some point his resentment of the gains of Black People, Women, etc., led him to buy into right-wing denial of reality on Global Warming and eventually the Covid vaccine.  It just shows that devotion to Conservatism can turn even very intelligent people into absolute fucking fools.

  204. 204.

    O. Felix Culpa

    With reference to GOTV, the dark side is doubling down on voter suppression, because that’s they only way they can win. To counter that, consider supporting Democracy Docket (an organization mentioned here in the past), which fights voter suppression in the courts and provides news and analysis on that issue.

  205. 205.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud:

    The media is not our friend.

    I don’t expect them to be our friend. I wouldn’t think it was good for democracy if they were.  And I don’t mind the hostility of Fox News, Newsmax, etc.; that’s their purpose in life.

    But the unquestionable anti-Dem bias of the supposedly impartial mainstream media, OTOH, is a danger to democracy.

    The good guys shouldn’t have to be fighting the Trumpublicans and the MSM at the same time. It is what it is, and we’ll just have to deal with it, but it still shouldn’t be the reality.

  208. 208.

    tokyocali (formerly tokyo ex-pat)

    @eclare: When I look at the lyrics, I can’t help wondering what experiences she had to be able to put that so succinctly. I crack up when I see the manspreading on the train because that so happens today. The newspaper is less as most people are on their phones, but that used to be prevalent as well.

    @Elizabelle: Awesome! Thanks. She must have packed up and gone straight from the dome to the airport. As others have said, she probably has everything she needs on the plane. I wish I could travel back to the US so comfortably. Lately, I dread the whole airport/security experience.

  209. 209.

    Brachiator

    @Another Scott:

    People have to vote with their dollars. If they want better news, they need to stop paying for crap news, and pay instead for people who are doing the job right.

    What are your sources for state and local news?

  210. 210.

    RaflW

    @eclare: I would like to do a couple OTR posts here after I get home. Pics are just with my phone, but we’ve had great luck with animal variety and proximity.

    I hope to also write about the earlier part of the trip, to Kakuma refugee camp and to NGOs in Nairobi working on refugee support.

  215. 215.

    Eunicecycle

    @eclare: Yes the different reality explains why all subjects become fraught with peril. That’s why my friend and I don’t talk that much any more. Even innocuous subjects somehow become partisan. I do blame myself because I can’t keep my mouth shut sometimes. Like the abortion issue in Ohio. She thought the exceptions for the life of the mother were good enough. I told her pretty frankly that they were nonsense; my daughter was an L&D nurse and that the hospital she worked at (part of a huge well-known CLEVELAND hospital) was afraid to ever try the exceptions loophole until the woman was on the verge of death. So no, they didn’t work

    ETA of course this was a topic we shouldn’t have talked about because it was sure to bring up our differences. But she brought it up.

  217. 217.

    Another Scott

    @Brachiator: ProPublica works with a network of state and local news outlets, to give important stories more visibility.

    I also read (and support) the ConnectionNewspapers.com (a small NoVA chain).

    For local and state political news I also read (and support) BlueVirginia.US

    Patch.com (spun out of AOL in 2014) is still trying to create a (mostly crowd-sourced?) local news ecosystem.

    There are options out there, but people have to be willing to look for them and support them.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  219. 219.

    Almost Retired

    @Suzanne:   Here in Los Angeles, I often hear “I went to school in Boston.”  My initial impression was “There’s nothing wrong with Tufts; no need to be embarrassed.”  But eventually I figured out it was a Harvard humble brag.

  220. 220.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Eunicecycle:

    I hear ya.  I had to cut off several people like that after the Orange Far Cloud got elected.  I’d known and interacted with them for, just like you 35 years.  We knew each others politics and had always managed to not bring them into the equation.

    When they started doing that, I cut them off b/c I saw where that was going.

    Sad but necessary.  Their loss.

  222. 222.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage:

    On a somewhat related note, several high school classmates have reached out to me via social media channels because we have a big reunion coming up and apparently the reunion organizers don’t have my current email. Thing is, I hated that retrograde rightwing town when I was growing up there back in the John Birch days AND I know that some of the organizers and attendees are hardcore MAGAts. Of course there are also some genuinely good and decent people in the mix, including those who have contacted me. I’m conflicted about how to respond. Any thoughts from the hive mind?

  223. 223.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Kathleen:

    They want horse race and fascism. They’re thugs and bullies. 

    Even DW News is whining about mental competency tests.

    I left a comment on the YouTube video saying we knew Dump was a fascist psycho since 2015, and they’re as stupid as stateside media.

  225. 225.

    Almost Retired

    @O. Felix Culpa:   I have the same issue every five years — Do I want to spend the money and energy to get from Los Angeles to my right wing hometown.

    Ten years ago, I suggested that the organizers set up a website where everyone can RSVP and indicate if they’re bringing additional family members and such.  Helpful, right?

    My actual motivation?  To see who was attending before I made my decision.  My 40th appeared to be a mini-MAGA reunion, so I took a pass.  The 45th is in July, and I’m watching the responses.

  228. 228.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @O. Felix Culpa: ​
     

    Have you gone to previous ones? Or is this something you’ve never done or haven’t in decades?

    I’ve seen probably half a dozen friends go to reunions of the 40+ year nature having never gone to one prior. In each case, they came back saying “That was a big fat waste of time.”

    But this is definitely one of those “your mileage may vary” things.

  229. 229.

    Geminid

    @Cheryl from Maryland: Cardinal News also covers Southside Virginia politics well. They’ve already posted several articles about the 5th CD primary contest between Bob Good and John McGuire. That one’s kind of funny: state Senator McGuire is calling House Freedom Caucus Chair Good a “RINO.”

    Cardinal News does a good job on more general news. When the Martinsville area competed for a Hyundai plant and lost out to a southeast Georgia locale, Cardinal News talked to a couple experts in the industrial development field; one said that a big factor in Hyundai’s decision was probably that the median age for Martinsville’s area was ten years older than that of the Georgia region.

  231. 231.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Betty Cracker:

    I’m all for working the biased refs.

    Can’t hurt, might help, you never know.  But I think they believe that the Dems will regard them positively no matter what they do.  If it starts sinking into their consciousness that a lot of Dems regard them as scum, it might have an effect.

    Sure, some of them will say, “both sides hate and despise us, it must mean we’re doing our job right,” but OTOH, most of them don’t want to actually hang out with Rethugs, so if enough Dems despise them, it may start getting through.

  233. 233.

    Roberto el oso

    Regarding where one went to school: the most egregious braggarts I’ve met have been from Notre Dame, for some reason.

  234. 234.

    Rusty

    @O. Felix Culpa: Go!  Hang with the people you like and miss, have minimal contact with the everyone else.  I came from a similar town, we are coming up on our 40th high school reunion and I am planning  to do just what I am recommending.   Go have fun.

  235. 235.

    Eolirin

    @Kay: It really wasn’t the crime stuff that did us in. It was that the governor picked a fight with the Orthodox jews who were already primed to be anti-vax and were super mad about covid restrictions, and there was a Jewish right wing governor candidate that was actually polling well and was running on how abortion rights were not at threat in NY.

    Dems did not turn out. Very conservative Jews turned out in record numbers. That extra turnout accounted for more than the margin in most of the seats we lost. Schumer’s margins were historically low, but tracked exactly with the rest of the state wide races. Yeah crime got banged on a bunch, but I don’t see evidence it was what actually drove turn out.

    CA also underperformed, and I think for similar reasons, despite the crime narrative not playing nearly as well there…

    There was no panic about abortion in NY or CA. We did not get the same kind of Dobbs bump. There’s no sense that extreme right wing policies are going to end up being enacted in either state. So there was far less of a sense of urgency about turning out. The Orthodox community on the other hand was very motivated. And not over crime.

  237. 237.

    Geminid

    @Eolirin: New York 2022 election sounds similar to Virginia’s the year before. Some Democratic voters here were apathetic, but Republicans were motivated in a way I had not seen in years. They were hungry.

  238. 238.

    Bill Arnold

    In November 2018 D.J. Trump provided written answers to questions from Robert Mueller’s team. An open book/take home test, and Mr. Trump’s answers were probably written by his lawyers in close interaction with Mr. Trump.
    Full text of Mueller’s questions and Trump’s answers
    The replies included:
    – 14 instances of “I do not recall”.
    – 6 instances of “I do not remember”.
    – 9 instances of “I have no recollection”.

    This was mostly about events 2-3 years in the past.
    D.J.T’s brain is now 5.5 years older. He has bragged many times about his memory.
    (Some of Mr. Trump’s failures of recollection were lies. Not gonna talk about it, though. This is probably why (IMO), on Trump Social, Trump “defended” Biden’s saying he didn’t recall.)

  239. 239.

    Lyrebird

    @Kay: pasting not working, my laptop is having problems…

    re: NY leadership,

    I think it’d be better to have more than one state, but as far as the state party…  the state party is just F’d up royally, it’s worth getting upset about; the state govt is a mess on all sides. How that looks as far as national representation is a very different story, take US house vs US senate.  the NYS congressional delegation has AOC and others pushing left left left.  I think Jeffries is fan flippin tastic, but then again I am a big Nancy SMASH! fan.  I figure if she thought Lieu or Schiff or Demings were ready for that spot, she woulda backed them for that spot.

     

     

     

    @Eolirin:

      may I ask what general quadrant you are in? Cap District, I think the crime narrative got a lot of play and made a difference. Albany Repubs have been taking down their tfg flags at least.

  240. 240.

    Eolirin

    @Geminid: Yep. Between the specific issues affecting certain Jewish communities and the sense that there was blood in the water given the closeness in polling for the governorship…

    It also didn’t help that Cuomo had effectively consolidated the state party apparatus behind him leaving a power vacuum.

    We didn’t lose those seats by very much. Slightly different maps, slightly lower R turn out, slightly higher D turn out, and we would have swept those races.

  241. 241.

    Another Scott

    @Cheryl from Maryland:

    Thanks for the pointers.

    TheBaltimoreBanner.com link to subscribe for $1, and the links on their home page to subscribe for $1, doesn’t work for me on Chrome on Winders. It works fine on Firefox. Weird. I haven’t seen something like that happen in a long time.

    Thanks again.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  242. 242.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @evodevo: Trans pron is one the most popular subgenre in the field. Also too, pretty much all prominent trans women on social media can tell you about men posting anti-trans comments, and then sliding into their DMs wanting to hook up.

    Just saying.

  243. 243.

    mrmoshpotato

    @steve g:

    NYT:

    Vote Republican for president, their candidate is 4 years younger. That’s all we got.

    They really ought to say that, then shut the fuck up.

  244. 244.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @evodevo: Trans (woman) pron is one the most popular subgenres in the field. Plus pretty much all prominent trans women on social media can tell you about men posting anti-trans comments, and then sliding into their DMs wanting to hook up.

    Just saying.

    Also FWIW, trans people make up an estimated 0.5% of the U.S. population — well over 1.5 million trans people. So it’s likely you’ve encountered more trans people, you just didn’t realize they were trans.

  245. 245.

    Eolirin

    @Lyrebird: I’m in Pat Ryan’s district. The one seat we barely pulled it out on in the close races. Everything south of me that we lost the margin was basically the Orthodox Jewish community turn out. And that was enough seats to have flipped the house.

    So yeah, it may have worked north of me more. I just want to push back on the idea that proximity to NY media beating on crime was all that determinative; the people living in and near the city didn’t seem that swayed by it. Urban crime narratives seem to have more effect in boosting things for Republicans in more rural areas, generally

    I should say, the Zeldin campaign was definitely beating that drum hard. I just don’t think it was what ultimately made the difference in the close races where I am and south of me. They still would have lost all of them if the anti vax part of the Jewish community hadn’t turned out in record numbers.

  246. 246.

    Another Scott

    @O. Felix Culpa: I went to my 10th HS reunion.  That was enough.

    They don’t have my e-mail address, but I get a form letter every year about the (multi-year) reunion coming up.  I ignore it.  (It’s 500 miles away, so I’ve got that excuse too, if I ever needed it.)

    In your case, if someone asks, “sorry it got lost in my e-mail InBox” or similar, if you don’t want to tell them you can’t stand the politics?

    Life is too short to voluntarily put yourself in a situation with no-upside.  For the people you know and like, interact with them separately.

    If someone gets belligerent about it, say you’re making a donation in honor of the class to JoeBiden.com, or something.  [ evil laugh ]

    Don’t agonize over it, whatever you do.  It’s not worth it.

    My $0.02.  :-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  247. 247.

    Kay

    @Gvg:

    Thanks- that a good way to look at it. Probably true.

    When I first started reading Twitter (I never posted) I thought it wouild be great for media- very egalitarian, would broaden their horizons, expose them to criticism but I changed my mind. I think it’s made them much, much worse. Much more of an echo chamber and much more of a clique. It now literally takes minutes for one of their alternate week panics/pile ons to take off and it is SO uniform.

    If we ever get some kind of nonprofit real newspaper(s) back we should bar the employees from posting, except as private individuals – it’s a recipe for conformity and group think.

  249. 249.

    Citizen Alan

    @Kay: Wow. I occasionally mention scores whenever the topic of college admissions for some reason comes up, but it’s always self deprecating. Standardized tests paid my way through undergrad, grad school, and law school, but I decided sometime around my sophomore year that they were actually a crock of shit and that I had just won the genetic lottery by being naturally good at an otherwise useless and overvalued skill: test-taking for its own sake.

  251. 251.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    No, but they’re terrified their buddies will ostracize or beat them to death if it’s revealed they ever did anything ‘gay’ or even had gay thoughts.

    Truth.

    Most chasers have a bad reputation for fetishizing/objectifying trans women.

    But there are cis men who truly love us, and those who are out about it catch never-ending shit about it because of they’re perceived as “gay.” I have mad respect for them.

  252. 252.

    Lyrebird

    @Eolirin: Thanks!  And agreed.

    It’s interesting, according to this ad-laden radio station webpage, yes the Albany crime rate has been going down steadily, but 22-23 maybe there was an uptick in violent crime specifically.  There was certainly an uptick in crimes with guns near our campus.

    Fear mongering and classic race baiting seems to go over well yes in the more rural parts here in Tonko’s district, even where people have been distancing themselves from MAGA, running for town board as “independent” because surely we are beyond all that partisan stuff but oh yeah aren’t the Dems cliquey and disorganized…

    SOme of the NY Dems are, but I also think we have a lot of strength, and i  pollyannaishly hope that the previous election was a wake up call.  I am not a huge fan of our governor, but I try to encourage pragmatism in my students, better make sure I am practicing it, right?

    I am rambling.   And it is not raining yet,  i gotta get outside!

  253. 253.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: Someone here had a good insight, that the main reason the press constantly writes about the “bad economy” is because their economy is bad. Look at what’s happened to newspapers the past 20 years. They see devestation in their industry and think everything is like that. It’s all about them.

  254. 254.

    cain

    @Kay: Let’s not forget that social media adds to the attention whoring they crave. It’s not just the article, they have the article and then they watch the effects of the article on twitter. It’s like a online soap opera – that’s not how it was prior to social media.

    Social media elevates their position and with it they can ask for more money etc. Which encourages them to write even more.

    Twitter’s fall hurt them more than anything else.

  256. 256.

    gwangung

    @mrmoshpotato: Hedge funds always get called good businessmen.

    Nothing further from the truth. They’re good at numbers and finance. They are SHIT at running businesses, and I wish people would remember that.

  257. 257.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Jeffg166: I always wonder about people who feel the need to tell me they are very smart.

    That group includes Trump. Wonder no more.

  258. 258.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: The other thing is that the special counsel is not a medical professional and has no business saying in a report that someone has diminished mental faculties. He can say someone said they couldn’t remember something because that’s a factual statement, but he’s not qualified to make an assessment of their mental function. There are tests for that given by professionals! It’s such an obvious hit job on Biden because it played to exactly what Republicans want the press to say about Biden. TFG says he can’t remember a lot when he gives depositions, but those reports don’t say he has diminished mental faculties!

  259. 259.

    cain

    @Nukular Biskits:

    I never hated Hillary, but I felt there was something corrupt about her – most of that was from her vote on Iraq and the way she handled that.

    I now know it was manufactured by Republicans and the media. What happened to her in 2016 was an atrocity. 2016 revealed the country in a way that mad me sad, angry, and disgusted. The curtain was thrown back. Hillary is a hero in my eyes and I regret that the news media attempt to ratfuck her had worked to a certain degree.

  260. 260.

    TerryC

    @O. Felix Culpa: Go.

    I skipped my 50th (East Liverpool, OH) because of the likelihood of MAGAts and I thought the place was a hotbed of MAGA. I wish I hadn’t.

    Afterwards I started hunting down sane, still-alive classmates and found some. And then some of their friends, different ages. Now I have a substantial social media presence in the home town I left in 1967 and it makes me feel much friendlier to the area. (Which is NOT how I felt when I left.)

  261. 261.

    wjca

    @Citizen Alan:  I had just won the genetic lottery by being naturally good at an otherwise useless and overvalued skill: test-taking for its own sake.

    Actually, I think a lot of it is a teachable skill.  Even for those without natural aptitude.

    For example, in a multiple choice test, if you don’t know the answer, do NOT just skip the question.  Eliminate the obviously wrong choices and then just guess.  That one tweak** can significantly raise your test scores.

    There are additional tactics.  But just that one can make a big difference.  In part because so few people know it.

    ** Based on basic statistics, but you don’t need to know that.  Let alone understand it,

  263. 263.

    Citizen Alan

    @wjca: Teachable, yes, if your parents are rich enough to pay for test prep courses. When I say genetic lottery, I mean things like that were intuitively obvious to me when I was taking the 5th grade achievement test, let alone the SAT or the LSAT.

Comments are closed.