Not much to report here- starting to understand island time because every day the weather is the same. Because it was so nice and I wanted something somewhat light and easy to cook, I was feeling fajitas. So I whipped up some of those and made a fruit salad with a pineapple base, and that was dinner.
So help me allah, should anyone ever mention replacing Biden in front of me I might make the nightly news. It’s so fucking insane and what is nauseating is I have lived through this type of media driven nonsense so many fucking times. Remember the Hillaryis44 and PUMA (Party Unity My Ass) crowd going into fucking June thinking they still had a path to victory? Or the Bernie folks convinced the maths would work out for them? Or the unskew the polls idiots? Every single one of them was denying what was clearly right in front of their fucking faces. And over and over and over again. And the media was right there with them, in many cases enabling their nonsense.
This is worse than even any of those previous cases. This is a sitting fucking President. Do these imbeciles not understand the fucking power of incumbency? And not only that, how would they fucking do it? Just invalidate the will of the Democratic voters, who, by the way, are still fucking going out every primary and saying “Yeah I like Biden.” It’s insanity, it’s anti-democratic, and it is basically impossible. Only two things are going to keep Biden off the ballot at this point- him saying “Fuck all of you I’m off to drive a corvette and eat ice cream,” or his death. And you can make all the fucking old jokes you want, it will have to be a sudden and unexpected passing like a heart attack or embolism, because he may be old, but he’s healthy as fuck and under constant surveillance by THE BEST FUCKING DOCTORS IN THE WORLD. If money and the best modern medicine can keep that meth addled big mac chomping diet coke swilling Trump alive, Biden ain’t going anywhere.
Speaking of, Biden won Michigan. Again.
And because of this stupidity being mainstreamed, we’re subjected to nonsense like this:
Bill Ackman talking about Dean Phillips here is a good example of Bill Ackman knowing absolutely nothing about how politics works pic.twitter.com/M8QI3FkGZ7
— Peter Hamby (@PeterHamby) February 26, 2024
That’s Bill Ackman, an asshole of nearly unparalleled achievement in the field of being an insufferable thin skinned prick, whom I am sure you have all heard of because of his recent DEI bullshit. It goes without saying that as an asshole of that magnitude, he is, of course, a billionaire. It’s really a chicken or the egg argument- do only assholes become billionaires, or do billionaires become assholes? Another fucking imbecile with all the money in the world and all they want to do is either make people adore them or burn it all down. All I want is to be able to afford a new roof and a pool. Fucker.
At any rate, seeing that reminded me of something I know I have said or written at least a dozen times, but one of the most depressing realities about becoming an adult is the repeated, multiple times daily, near constant re-realization that almost everyone in real positions of power is an absolute fucking moron outside their narrow niche area of expertise, and often times, in that, too. And the corollary, of course, is that everyone actually qualified to do the job and smart enough to be in a position of power either has imposter syndrome like seemingly half the women I know or they are too smart and realize they don’t want nothing to do with real power and the moral dilemmas and the consequences. So we’re left with fucking half-witted sociopaths.
Speaking of assholes, this made me smile because I am a garbage human being:
That is all.
It’s still early, so I think I am going to go clean up after dinner and try to steal the remote from Bunny. Wish me luck.
War for Ukraine Day 734: Ukraine Splashes Another Pair of SU-34s
Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)
There’s nothing wrong with congratulating Limbaugh on his remarkable achievement. Don’t feel bad about it. Embrace it.
trollhattan
Mwa-ha-ha./archvillian voice
Enjoy, a massive change of scenery can be wonderful.
We have One More Winter Storm approaching after being teased with 72 for a few days. Yup, one of the false spring sucker here. Guess we need the water for all those fucking almonds.
Jackie
😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂
Oh, I mean good luck!
Jeffro
People like Ackman actually make me wonder if we shouldn’t (in addition to having an EXTREMELY progressive income tax) just flat out take away rich folks’ right to contribute to campaigns.
(Sometimes I think we should take away their right to vote too, but they can keep that, if we just take away their wildly distorting effects on our nation’s discourse and elections.)
“Congratulations! Your net worth is over $20M!! The only downside is, you have to just…go and live your life of luxury, only contributing to our nation’s civic life if you vote. Just your one vote, though. And don’t let us catch you near a microphone.”
Scout211
I was about to add a comment when the post disappeared but I’m glad it’s back up. Righteous rant, good sir.
The Ackman video was stunning in that it made me cringe and become slightly nauseated.
Perfect description.
But now that the results are coming in for the Michigan primary, every single word that asshole said in that smarmy interview was not just wrong, it was dead wrong. Right now his guy Phillips is running slightly behind Marianne Williamson. Good pick, Ackman.
eclare
So John calls Joelle Bunny now?
Chacal Charles Calthrop
LGM had a rather amusing post on Ackman spoofing the Hero’s Journey:
https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2024/02/bill-ackmans-journey
dmsilev
@Scout211:
It’s even more impressive when you remember that she ended her campaign a few weeks ago.
piratedan
@eclare: yes….
no idea if this is representative of Manga Bunny Girl play or not, but I fear we digress into the field where too much information resides.
Steeplejack
@eclare:
Yes. He described the dubbing circumstances in a post a couple of weeks ago. From February 13:
eclare
@piratedan:
My first thought was Honey Bunny in Pulp Fiction.
Princess
CNN right now re Michigan:
“While Biden easily won the Democratic race, but the results carried some warning signs for the president. ”
“Trump continues to dominate: Trump has won every 2024 GOP contest so far, and is closing on winning the nomination ”
Guess which candidate has a bigger share of his party’s supporters voting for him? Go ahead, I dare you.
These people are all clowns. The line about Biden isn’t even *grammatically* correct.
Doc Sardonic
@piratedan: It’s a Big Lebowski reference.
eclare
@Steeplejack:
Thanks!
piratedan
@Doc Sardonic: yeah, but my response was more fun :-)
sab
58° in NE Ohio at 10:40 pm, and the temperarure is supposed to go up not down for the rest of the night. Argh.
Lyrebird
The candidate who shows plenty of evidence of being in full possession of his faculties perhaps? The one who hires good people and pays them? Who clearly loves and respects his wife?
the CNN fools are nauseating. maybe tools is more appropriate
Brachiator
@Princess:
I’m not sure what these warning signs are supposed to be and don’t much care.
And Trump has legal problems that are not going away. And he will probably get into more trouble. The GOP will have to deal with all his baggage.
Anoniminous
“Despite winning 80% of the vote Biden heads into Super Tuesday a weak candidate in a divided party” —- says every talking head, everywhere.
And then they wonder why the News Media are going bankrupt.
Librarian
Yes, whatever the uncommitted total is in Michigan, the media is going to eat it up with a spoon and portray it as “bad news for Joe Biden,” because of course they will.
Quinerly
@eclare: mine too.
Love that movie.
SiubhanDuinne
I guess I just don’t get out enough. I’ve never heard of Bill Ackman, but listening to that nonsensical dreck spewing from his mouth, all I could think was “Christ, what an asshole.”
ETA: I didn’t recognize him or remember his name, but I just looked up his Wikipedia page and realize I do know who he is after all. Christ, what an asshole.
dmsilev
@Anoniminous:
Josh Marshall wrote this a couple of hours ago before the vote counts started coming in:
Right now, uncommitted is at about 14% of the vote, so, you know, not all that much higher than it was for Obama 12 years ago. Somehow, that doesn’t seem to be leading the news headlines.
CaseyL
@Anoniminous:
Alas, it’s mostly the good news outlets that are closing down, or being taken over by rich assholes who gut them and then close them down.
Honestly, if I could wave a magic wand and simply make everyone on the planet who’s worth more than $5 billion disappear, I’d do it in a heartbeat, no regrets.
I’d make an exception for Mackenzie Scott. But that’s it.
Steve in the ATL
1. No one becomes a billionaire without being a bastard.
2. It’s 70° here in L.A. What? Haha—no, not THAT L.A—I’m in Lower Alabama! Where I did I have a remarkably passable Valpolicella earlier, most unexpectedly. Paired nicely with my possum filet and squirrel brains.
ETA: a special thank you to our blog master for preparing for journey here by posting overalls pictures. Roll tide!
mrmoshpotato
With you 100,000%!
Joelle
I started watching Bridgerton tonight so Cole wisely pussed out with the remote and blew up a bunch of tanks or orcs or something in the den of inequity. He’s made some pretty good chow the past two nights so I did him a solid and cleaned the kitchen after I was properly introduced to all the debutants about to be trafficked OG style. It was a good night.
NotMax
First I’ve heard the name and I wish that happenstance had been indefinitely postponed.
Jackie
@Brachiator: And, TIFG is losing to Biden, despite/in spite of the uncommitted (protest) votes 😂
gwangung
@dmsilev: That’s actually informative.
But +3 is really not that big of a bump in uncommitted…might be within the noise of elections behavior (or it might not…but it’s not that big).
Let’s see how the night goes…
mrmoshpotato
No, you aren’t a garbage human being. That Trump-trash pile of shit (no offense, shit) IS STILL DEAD! 👍👍👍
gwangung
@SiubhanDuinne: Ackman is an idiot savant, whose forte is in finance. He’s just a plain idiot in everything else.
Frankensteinbeck
@dmsilev:
This is incredibly good news. Thank you. Up until now we’ve only had anecdata of how much trouble the issue will be. How angry individuals are tells us nothing, we need to know how many are angry. It sounds like not enough to show up beyond statistical noise. This is an important issue we shouldn’t take lightly, but it’s also an extremely complicated, no-win issue that I do not envy Biden having to deal with.
NotMax
Did someone say bunny?
:)
wjca
Also @Steve in the ATL: No one becomes a billionaire without being a bastard.
It’s more that billionaire assholes are so visible. The ones who aren’t bastards mostly don’t show up. See, for example, Warren Buffett. Got rich while making a lot of people in his home town rich as well.
EDT Note that Howard Buffett (Warren’s son) has been spending big bucks ($500 million) on aiding Ukraine.
dmsilev
I should caveat the comparison with 2012 by noting that it was a caucus held at the tail end of primary season, so total turnout was notably lower than today. Hence, not a perfect match. But still seems like important context.
sukabi
I’ll join you in your garbage can John, I laughed at Rush’s sobriety too. lol
Odie Hugh Manatee
Ahh yes, PUMAs and GoatBoy, I mean myiq2xu. What a clown, literally. Those were innocent days compared to the shit we have going now.
Oh yeah, fuck the fucking New York Times. Nothing in particular, just something that crosses my mind too often in these times.
Jackie
@Joelle: I called it early for you winning the battle of the remote 😂👍🏻
Frankensteinbeck
Studies say that being an asshole is an advantage in getting super rich, because you’re willing to focus on money in a way decent people won’t. When you get that rich you’re also isolated in a bubble of no consequences that tends to show off who you really are, and that is not flattering for most people. A lot of us are good only because we work at it. Think of it as being drunk all the time. Finally, as @wjca points out, you almost never hear about the super rich who aren’t spending their time and wealth inflicting their assholery on the rest of us. Why would you hear about a billionaire who is content to enjoy luxury, run companies efficiently, or spend time with his loved ones?
dmsilev
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
Ah, now that’s a
namestring of characters I haven’t seen in a long time. Thankfully.Chetan Murthy
@Jeffro:
Before Citizens United (FFS, the acronym pissed me TF off really, really did, fuck them), rich folks could contribute the Federal max, like anybody else. But now, they can contribute gazillions. A good start would be undoing that fucking decision and reinstating real limits on campaign contributions of all sorts. And *disclosure* too. Again, FFS.
Steeplejack
@Joelle:
Stand your ground!
NotMax
Now afflicted with an earworm hearing Martita Hunt as the elegant headmistress emerita searching through the school cajoling “Bunny? BUHnny!” in 1965’s Bunny Lake Is Missing.
;)
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Odie Hugh Manatee: @dmsilev:
Ugh. I could have lived quite happily never having encountered that sequence of characters. Oh, well.
Frankensteinbeck
@dmsilev:
I see what you did there.
Steeplejack
@Frankensteinbeck:
I did some back-of-the-envelope calculations in a comment downstairs. Turns out that the population of Dearborn, the epicenter of “uncommitted” opposition to Biden, is about 110,000, or about 6% of the population of Wayne County (1.8 million). As I wrote downstairs:
ETA: MSNBC now showing “uncommitted” at 13.4% statewide (with 57% of the vote counted).
NotMax
Near-standard Hawaiian winter/spring forecast in a nutshell:
“It’ll either rain at some point today or it won’t.”
TS
@Princess:
Biden is the nominee, democratic voters are thinking they don’t even need to vote – and still he gets over 80% – beating trump any which way what way. trump is not so popular this time around. Media obviously wants to be locked up in cages again
West of the Rockies
Congratulations to us: Limbaugh “has assumed room temperature.” (As he used to say about Ted Kennedy, et al.)
Jackie
MSNBC had Michigan’s State Senator Mallory McMorrow on earlier – impressive as always. I hope she runs for a federal seat in a few years!
For those who don’t remember who she is, she’s the spirited ginger haired suburban mom who took umbrage at being called a Groomer a few years back by a MAGAt:
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/28/mcmorrow-theis-michigan-senate-00048330
Here’s her speaking of that accusation:
https://youtu.be/iLWo8B1R0MY?si=m4aGRntk5gw_nhqn
Brachiator
@dmsilev:
It’s hard for me to worry about this. If the uncommitted vote here is related to Gaza, then what the world looks like in October might make a difference. And even here, the GOP will have signaled their policy goals, so the alternatives may be more clear.
Jacqueline Squid Onassis
Having gone to school with Billy from 2nd through 11th grade, I feel confident that being a billionaire makes one into an asshole. He sure wasn’t when I knew him but he’s just a giant, gaping asshole now.
wjca
In other words, a guy who isn’t totally fixated on being as rich as possible. Instead he acts like a normal human being; the billion plus being incidental to who and what he is.
Frankensteinbeck
@wjca:
Hell, even a guy committed to being as rich as possible rather than making that wealth your problem. If Musk weren’t so determined to cause misery to feed his ego and just focused on business, we would barely know his name.
Origuy
A singalong for the thread:
You’re an Asshole Tonight
By Bird & MacDonald
thalarctosMaritimus
@gwangung: And even there, I’m informed, he’s renowned as an asshole among assholes.
frosty
John, I have to say this was a rant with language to match Ms. Cracker’s*. I enjoyed it immensely – it’s good to see you writing so often!
* Consider this to be high praise!
Hoppie
Fake Irishman
@dmsilev:
Update: “uncommitted” has been dropping as a share of the vote as more vote has come in. Even in Washtenaw, home of the hyper plugged in, international, university crowd, it’s fallen below 20 percent. In Wayne, with the large Arab and Muslim (both Arab and non-Arab) population, it’s fallen below 18 percent.
Statewide it’s at 13.3 percent and falling every time I hit refresh on the Detroit Free Press’ web site.
This looks pretty similar to Obama 2012.
danielx
@West of the Rockies:
Christ, I hope not. Alive and dripping…..
prostratedragon
@Fake Irishman:
Also:
danielx
@wjca:
As opposed to an abnormal human being whose identity is totally wrapped up in money, and whose money is wrapped up with his identity. It certainly doesn’t seem to have made TFG happy. No wonder he’s crazy as a shithouse mouse and getting crazier.
Fake Irishman
@Brachiator:
Also, while the Muslim and Arab vote (a Venn diagram with significant but not majority overlap) is an important part of the Dem coalition in Michigan I would submit the following:
1. It is relatively small, even in a close state like Michigan
2. Foreign affairs generally plays a vanishingly small role in the vast majority of voters decisions. (Remember how HW Bush won a second term based on his extraordinarily successful foreign policy of managing the end of the Cold War, stopping nuclear proliferation, and building a gigantic coalition to check real Iraqi aggression? Neither do I.)
3. There was already significant erosion in the Michigan Muslim and Arab vote for Democrats in the 2022 midterms. Likely reasons include the abortion referendum. (Dems still won big majorities in places like Dearborn and Hammtramak, but they were getting like 60 percent instead of 80 percent they were getting in 2018 and 2020)
And no, I’m not suggesting that we should triangulate on women’s issues, but I am suggesting we have a sense of proportion.
VFX Lurker
So, the news reports on an “uncommitted” protest vote for weeks, reports on the “uncommitted” protest vote on election night, and will keep reporting on Michigan’s “uncommitted” voters for the next week, despite a Biden blowout.
I feel so informed.
Anoniminous
@dmsilev:
As I said elsewhere tonight, it’s easy being Uncommitted when you know Biden is going to win and you don’t have skin in the game. You can register a protest vote knowing it’s meaningless.
wjca
Do you suppose we should credit Joelle’s influence/inspiration?
Brachiator
@Fake Irishman:
True enough. And more simply, the primary results here may not say anything significant about voter intent in the general election.
It might be interesting if uncommitted voters were tracked for the next few months, but otherwise you cannot draw any conclusions from these primary results.
Anoniminous
@CaseyL:
One take-away from the TechBro enrichment of the past twenty years and the complete bullshit they’ve done with those piles of money is the uber-wealthy are incapable of using their money wisely, which to me includes humanely. Goes to show why one secondary definition of “nouveau riche” is “greedy uncultured asshole.” (and see Trump, too, also)
Fake Irishman
@VFX Lurker:
Pretty much.
and it’s not just a Biden blowout: it’s “uncommitted” moving the needle by a grand total of less than 1 percentage point over 2013. (Seriously, every big batch of Election day votes in Washtenaw and Wayne counties are dropping the uncommitted share by a percentage point or two in their respective counties. Over the course of the night, “uncommitted” has dropped from more than 15 percent to less than 13 percent statewide.
wjca
Well, it’s looking increasingly like his wealth is somewhere between a house of cards and an illusion. So it’s understandable that he isn’t happy — he knows, even if he has conned others on the subject, that he does not, in fact, have the money that means so much to him.
Frankensteinbeck
@wjca:
He has the property, and great Jehoshaphat, is he proud of it. That was something I noticed in these trials. A huge chunk of his ego is wrapped up in the real estate he owns.
With any luck he will be forced to sell most of them to pay his fines.
Chetan Murthy
For those who follow Ackman’s idiocies of late, this might be amusing: https://brontecapital.blogspot.com/2015/06/herbalife-very-long-post.html
TL;DR Ackman shorted Herbalife, argued it was a pyramid scheme. John Hempton (well-known for uncovering shorts) investigated and concluded that Herbalife wasn’t a pyramid scheme at all. He went long. Turns out, he was right and Ackman was wrong.
Ackman’s just Gordon Gekko in short pants.
gwangung
@Fake Irishman: And, of course, this will not change the narrative from the mainstream media. “Biden faces challenges from within the party” is going to be the story for weeks.
dmsilev
@Frankensteinbeck: I think every time he’s forced to sell one of his properties, the new owner should make a huge big deal about peeling off and destroying the giant ‘Trump’ signs he plasters all over his stuff. You know, burning the signs in a bonfire or a group smash-with-hammers event or whatever.
prostratedragon
We’ll be finding out how much is encumbered, of white elephant status (Mar a Lago), or not owned by him at all beyond naming rights. I think he’s supposed to own 40 Wall St., as AG James has recently reminded him.
wjca
Except that, if most of it is mortgaged to the hilt (definitely the smart money bet), his share of its value is a fraction of its nominal total value.
Which also impacts how many properties he would have to sell, in order to net enough cash to pay his fines. And, if he does that, his illusion of wealth starts to collapse.
EDT It appears that several of use are on the same page here.
P.S. I wonder if “naming rights” have any residual value at all?
piratedan
I know that if I had 44 Billion dollars to spend, I sure wouldn’t think that allowing Nazi’s a free-forum to espouse their white supremacy fascist bullshit to be THE cause that needed to be righted….
Maybe something like developing a company to clean up the oceans or developing tidal energy or eradicating spam calls on every phone network.
NotMax
@prostratedragon
Ivanka (AFAIK) is not forbidden doing business with banks registered in NY.
An end run cash scramble to pay for Daddy dearest’s fines? Just sayin’.
Chetan Murthy
@piratedan: That’s b/c you’re not Apartheid Clyde.
Chetan Murthy
@NotMax: I for one am banking on his offspring being chips off the ol’ block. Treating him like he treated his pappy and siblings. That is to say, 100% down to slip in the shiv.
RobertS
If you’re so rich, why aren’t you smart?
JFC. This nitwit thinks that 60% of the Republican’s won’t vote for Trump. We’re running Republican primaries RIGHT NOW, and the never Trumpers are at best 30%.
BSChief
I too am a garbage human being.
Manyakitty
@sab: the storms keep splitting to the north and south of us. So far, we’re only getting a little rain.
prostratedragon
@NotMax: Might be legally permissible, and she could be interested in salvaging some scraps of her eventual inheritance, but I’m thinking she’d still get a rousing Trump welcome at the half billion level. Even with any remaining properties under guardianship.
As to what else rich people could, the last weeks have seen one donate roughly the same amount as TFG fraud fine to humanitarian aid in Ukraine, and another donate a billion dollars to make Einstein Medical tuition-free. It’s almost as if they’re making a point, though these must have been in the works for a while.
cain
@eclare:
The Russians have something like that called Zakya.
HumboldtBlue
Just finished episode 1 of Shogun. Visually stunning, it’s got promise. The 44 people who reviewed it for Rotten Tomatoes were unanimous in their hearty approval.
NotMax
@HumboldtBlue
From one of the sources I routinely check in advance:
Don’t always agree with their takes but a helpful way to cull the dross nonetheless.
HumboldtBlue
@NotMax:
I’ll watch episode 2 tomorrow, and then I think I may let the entire series play out before I watch the following eight episodes.
Villago Delenda Est
@Joelle:
I always look forward to your postings as for once we get an alternate view of the misanthrope Cole.
Villago Delenda Est
@Anoniminous: The Trumps are “new money” that never aged. TFG’s granddad was a pimp, dad never got out of Queens and had no aspirations to be Manhattan high society (unlike Donald) and Donald basically pissed away all of Fred’s fortune.
NotMax
@HumboldtBlue
Waiting until the whole season becomes available always a good tactic. IMHO.
Did the same with State of Happiness on MHz Choice and no regrets. Ability to binge has a lot going for it.
rmjohnston
Rudy Giuliani won’t be three years sober until at least five years after his death.
piratedan
@rmjohnston: pickled prosecutors purloined a parcel of private papers
Tony Jay
FTfGuardian headlines this morning.
Yes, they could be FTFNYT headlines. Yes, they deliberately give a false impression of the actual results and what they mean. Yes, the FTFGuardian wants to be the UK version of the FTFNYT in every terrible way it can.
Nothing new there.
Also, too, since it looks like Michigan’s Muslim community are still pressing the button for Genocide Joe despite being disgusted with his policy on Gaza, how about we try dropping the “Oh they’re doing it wrong so we should just ignore them” line and maybe acknowledge that they’ve got a serious point?
NotMax
@Villago Delenda Est
Grandad even floated his entire ‘hotel’ upstream as the gold diggings petered out where it had been.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@HumboldtBlue: Having you watched “Capote vs the Swans”? – it’s Good ole fashion delicious trash.
prostratedragon
@David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: Set it up to record all the episodes so I can speed through the annoying ads. Pretty good series, recommended.
Manyakitty
@Tony Jay: hey, gfy with that Genocide Joe bullshit. Not cute or funny.
Tony Jay
@Manyakitty:
Should have been in inverted commas.
Other than that, the point stands.
lowtechcyclist
@Anoniminous:
Indeed. I’d gladly pay for a WaPo subscription if they weren’t doing their share of purveying this bullshit along with all the other usual Village bullshit.
And just Fuck The Fucking New York Times, because every now and then our favorite acronym should be spelled out in full.
Paul in KY
@Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.): Next time I’m in St. Louis I shall stop by the cemetery to shower him with congratulations!