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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

Not all heroes wear capes.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

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

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

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

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

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

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You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: As We’ve Been Saying…

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: As We’ve Been Saying…

by Anne Laurie|  March 26, 20248:45 am| 204 Comments

This post is in: Elections 2024, Proud to Be A Democrat, Our Failed Media Experiment

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Biden-Harris Campaign Co-Chair Landrieu: When Donald Trump was in office he lost 2.5 million jobs, the economy and Wall Street were crashing. Joe Biden has come in and stabilized all of that, creating 15.5 million jobs and maintaining the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years pic.twitter.com/aJtEp5egxf

— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) March 25, 2024

As Biden tours the country and visits swing states, Trump is fundraising and playing golf (from @AP) https://t.co/vF3oPLB7rQ

— Josh Boak (@joshboak) March 25, 2024

You’d think that maybe, perhaps, possibly, even the lazy media stenographers are getting tired of the same old WakKy AnTIcs from TFG and his ‘Base’… Per the Associated Press, “As Biden tours the country and visits swing states, Trump is fundraising and playing golf”:

… Trump has held just a single public campaign event since he locked up the Republican presidential nomination on March 12: a rally in Ohio funded not by his campaign but by backers of a Senate candidate whom he had endorsed. The events page on his campaign website has had nothing listed.

Biden, meanwhile, has been barnstorming the country. After a trip to North Carolina on Tuesday, the Democratic president will have touched down in all of the 2024 swing states in the less than three weeks since his State of the Union address…

Trump’s campaign faces a serious money shortfall and mounting legal bills as he fights four criminal indictments. His focus in recent weeks has been on wooing potential donors as his campaign builds its infrastructure across battleground states to catch up to Democrats, who have a significant head start.

For Biden, 81, the tempo is a message in and of itself as he aims to combat persistent voter concerns about his age. Whoever wins in November will be the oldest president to be inaugurated, though polls find that voters see the issue as more pressing for Biden. Trump is 77.

Both sides are projecting confidence and accusing the other of trying to hide its candidate’s problems…

Trump has been spending his days in and around his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida — fundraising, hosting elected officials who frequently visit, and meeting aides.

But Trump has also made time for other pursuits. He recently said he won two championships at his Palm Beach golf club, writing on his social media site that they were “very exciting” wins on a “GREAT and difficult course.” He visited his golf club in West Palm Beach on Sunday to accept two trophies from a cheering audience…

Some allies of the former president argue that holding fewer rallies helps him not only by saving money but by limiting opportunities for him to go off-script and say something that might alienate swing voters…

No longer the party of "when they go low, we go high." https://t.co/csA1q5WgMP

— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) March 26, 2024

Hard to believe a President whose opponents have demanded public release of dick pics of one son, and have implied he's forgotten about the death of his other son, would dare alllow his campaign to rough up a gentle, warm soul like Donald Trump.

Really, REALLY baffles me. https://t.co/LN7t529yza

— Steve Singiser (@StevenSingiser) March 26, 2024

Nuh uh, Dark Brandon gave us a new motto: "When they go low, we club them over their motherf$%^*ing heads" https://t.co/UvnCDVJZoZ

— Ragnarok Lobster ?? (@eclecticbrotha) March 26, 2024

Sharing is caring:

What’s on the ballot this election?

? Reproductive rights
? Social Security and Medicare
? Student loan forgiveness
? Affordable health care

And more. Make sure you’re registered to vote at: https://t.co/ZKn8fJEh9z

— The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) March 25, 2024

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Previous Post: « Cold Grey Dawn Open Thread: TFG, Spiraling
Next Post: The Bridge »

Reader Interactions

204Comments

  1. 1.

    Jeffro

    March 26, 2024 at 8:50 am

    I’m down with Ragnarok!  (the tweeter, not the actual Ragnarok  =)   Somebody bring me my club!!

    Speaking of GOP nonsense, here’s an actual exchange on Fox “News” yesterday re: the uproar over Ronna Romney’s hiring:

    “This seems to me to be an example of the hermetically-sealed bubble in which these people on the left live” –@BritHume to @BretBaier

    Yes, really.

  2. 2.

    JML

    March 26, 2024 at 8:52 am

    “Won 2 championships?” So basically he took 2-3 strokes off every hole he played.

    “6 strokes on the par 4, sir?”

    “I had a birdie! Anyone who says otherwise is stealing from me! I heard a bird tweet like I do on my brilliant thing that I own and it is the best so I had a birdie!”

    “3 it is, sir.”

  3. 3.

    NotMax

    March 26, 2024 at 8:53 am

    Before Women’s History Month passes, a nod to Mary Florence Potts, a recent inductee to the National Inventors Hall of Fame*.

    *A free museum in Alexandria, VA which looks to be an edifying visit.

  4. 4.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 26, 2024 at 8:54 am

    A little bit of fun for the morn:
    John Carpenter on horror classic The Thing: ‘It was an enormous failure and I got fired’

  5. 5.

    Spanky

    March 26, 2024 at 8:55 am

    The party of “When they go low, we go high” LOST. I’m happy to see the Biden campaign playing politics as it’s supposed to be played.

  6. 6.

    Jeffro

    March 26, 2024 at 8:55 am

    Btw this is one of the few times I’ve seen Mr. Bouie just out-and-out vent, and every bit of it is spot-on: No One Is Above The Law, Except, Apparently, Donald Trump

    (gift link)

    Although Trump is entitled to an appeal, which he is pursuing, it still feels outrageous that the former president would get this unexplained courtesy after years of willfully defrauding the public. At the same time, it feels typical of Trump’s relationship to the various institutions of American life. If there seems to be a different set of rules for Trump, under which there is always a reason to look the other way or give him a second chance, that’s because for all intents and purposes, there is.

    At no point during his long career as a celebrity real estate mogul and businessman has Trump faced any meaningful consequences for his fraudulent, even criminal, behavior. He has operated, for decades, with a shield of impunity crafted from his shamelessness, his celebrity and his craven willingness to intimidate critics with litigation or even just the threat of litigation.

    What is striking is the extent to which this shield of impunity has only been strengthened by the political and legal institutions of the United States. First and foremost among these is the Republican Party, which has never wasted a chance to thrust itself between Trump and the consequences of his actions. When it was the “Access Hollywood” tape, Republicans were there for Trump. They were there for Trump when it was his callous reaction to the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville. They were there for him when he was impeached for trying to coerce the government of Ukraine into supporting his political prospects, and they were there for him when he was impeached for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election…

    …Over the weekend, the Republican pollster Frank Luntz* issued a warning to Letitia James that seizing Trump’s properties would put him back in office. “If the New York attorney general starts to take his homes away, starts to seize his assets, it’s all going to be on camera,” he said on CNN. “Pundits are going to sit there and scream about this, ‘This man cannot be elected.’ You’re going to create the greatest victimhood of 2024, and you’re going to elect Donald Trump.”

    This is exactly backward. It is the refusal to enforce the rules — enforce the law — against Trump that has put him in a position to win the White House a second time. It is the impunity, as much as if not more than the cultivated sense of victimhood, that anchors his political appeal.

    *so hey, once again, fuck Frank Luntz

  7. 7.

    Tony Jay

    March 26, 2024 at 8:55 am

    When they go low, I raise a knee at speed.

    Worked so far.

  8. 8.

    Kay

    March 26, 2024 at 8:59 am

    @Jeffro:

    I am so, so sick of these peopel threatening us. Do the right thing, follow the laws and the process, and let the chips fall. Whatever happens will be better than bowing before Donald Trump and Frank Fucking Luntz. I refuse.

  9. 9.

    eclare

    March 26, 2024 at 9:00 am

    Morning Joe reported that TIFG’s campaign was considering a rally in AZ, just for TIFG, no other candidate.  His campaign called it off due to lack of funds.

  10. 10.

    Scout211

    March 26, 2024 at 9:00 am

    Oral arguments scheduled for today at SCOTUS  to decide whether to restrict access to mifepristone nationwide.  This is a very big deal.

    CNN will have Live updates and will play audio live (as will other news services).

    The fate of the abortion pill lies with the Supreme Court.
    The high court, which has a conservative supermajority, holds the power to maintain full access to the drug or reverse regulation changes that made medication abortion more accessible in recent years. This includes allowing the pills to be prescribed via telemedicine, delivered in the mail and used up to 10 weeks of pregnancy instead of seven.

  11. 11.

    zhena gogolia

    March 26, 2024 at 9:01 am

    @Spanky: When I saw that Luntz tweet, I didn’t at first notice that it was Luntz. I thought it was a Democrat praising Biden.

  12. 12.

    Ksmiami

    March 26, 2024 at 9:03 am

    Nothing good survives this Court… nothing.

  13. 13.

    Baud

    March 26, 2024 at 9:04 am

    @zhena gogolia:

    Makes sense. A lot of Dems have a habit of praising using negative language.

  14. 14.

    eclare

    March 26, 2024 at 9:05 am

    @Jeffro:

    Great editorial, thanks.

  15. 15.

    Scott

    March 26, 2024 at 9:06 am

    Landrieu needs to be on Fox Business, CNBC, Bloomberg.  Not MSNBC.  Stop talking to the already converted.

  16. 16.

    Harrison Wesley

    March 26, 2024 at 9:06 am

    @Scout211: I’ll be damned.  I didn’t know any of the Justices had medical/pharmaceutical degrees.  Guess if I get busted for anything, I’d better call my cardiologist ASAP.

  17. 17.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    March 26, 2024 at 9:08 am

    Excuse me? The Trumpists and the rest of the 21st-century GOP turned Presidential politics into mob warfare, and now the Democrats are supposed to just play nice?

    We can get back to “they go low, we go high” when Donald Trump has died in prison and the Republicans have spent an entire generation in the political wilderness. Until then, screw that.

  18. 18.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 26, 2024 at 9:09 am

    @Spanky: The party of “When they go low, we go high”

    You have to remember that a black man running for President doesn’t have the option of hitting his opponent below the belt. He has to hold himself to a higher standard lest he get attacked for being a thug, and too many white people believing it because “did you hear what he said about that white man instead of giving him his due deference? Uppity dawg damned ni-CLANG!”

  19. 19.

    dmsilev

    March 26, 2024 at 9:09 am

    Wait, Frank Luntz is complaining that Democrats are being mean? Frank Luntz, the guy who figures out ways to cloak Republican agendas in words that make them seem less awful? That one? Seriously?

    Fuck him.

  20. 20.

    Spanky

    March 26, 2024 at 9:10 am

    @Scott: You make it sound like he can get airtime at any network at will. Most of them are not interested in giving the Bidden campaign any oxygen.

  21. 21.

    Scott

    March 26, 2024 at 9:11 am

    @Spanky: Then you shout loud that they are censoring you.  That is how the game is played these days.

  22. 22.

    The Thin Black Duke

    March 26, 2024 at 9:11 am

    Some white people in America genuinely believe that they will never be treated as badly as black people. That’s the foundation of their refusal in ignoring the escalating number of red flags.

    They’re right. At least until the fascists run out of POC to oppress.

    Day late, dollar short.

  23. 23.

    Spanky

    March 26, 2024 at 9:13 am

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR:

    We can get back to “they go low, we go high” when Donald Trump has died in prison and the Republicans have spent an entire generation in the political wilderness. Until then, screw that.

    The Dems should never go back to WTGLWGH, but I’m afraid that’s exactly what will happen.

  24. 24.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 26, 2024 at 9:13 am

    @Harrison Wesley: There they go practicing medicine without a license again.

  25. 25.

    Jeffro

    March 26, 2024 at 9:15 am

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: We can get back to “they go low, we go high” when Donald Trump has died in prison and the Republicans have spent an entire generation in the political wilderness. Until then, screw that.

    ExACTly.

    Related to the ‘entire generation’ part: if there is an upside to all of this eight-years-and-counting crapfest the GOP has subjected us to, it’s that I never, ever, have to listen to Republicans lecturing me about anything.  Literally anything, ever.

    Deficits?  eff off

    Keep the country safe?  eff OFF

    Candidate character?  EFF OFF

  26. 26.

    rikyrah

    March 26, 2024 at 9:18 am

    Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊

  27. 27.

    rikyrah

    March 26, 2024 at 9:19 am

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    No lie told

  28. 28.

    rikyrah

    March 26, 2024 at 9:19 am

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR:

    👍🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

  29. 29.

    rikyrah

    March 26, 2024 at 9:20 am

    @Scout211:

    Still got my money on Big Pharma

  30. 30.

    Scout211

    March 26, 2024 at 9:20 am

    Just for your amusement this morning, CNN found a media person who thinks that NBC News hiring Ronna McDaniel is a good decision.  Can you guess who?

     

     

    It was . . .

    HUGH HEWITT!

    😂

  31. 31.

    Ksmiami

    March 26, 2024 at 9:21 am

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: nah, I’d rather keep kicking them in the shins

  32. 32.

    Another Scott

    March 26, 2024 at 9:21 am

    @Scout211: The fact that they took the case at all is a very bad sign.

    But this is what they do.

    They want to tear down the ability of modern government to function for the common good.

    “Feudalism now, Feudalism tomorrow, Feudalism forever!” – [/GWallace]

    Fight for 15!!

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  33. 33.

    Anonymous At Work

    March 26, 2024 at 9:21 am

    “When they go low, we grind their face into the dirt since they seem to like it down there.”

  34. 34.

    Harrison Wesley

    March 26, 2024 at 9:23 am

    “When they go low?”  Why do all these Republicans keep trying to suck my dick?

  35. 35.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 26, 2024 at 9:26 am

    He spent the weekend golfing, the morning comparing himself to Jesus, and the afternoon lying about having money he definitely doesn’t have.

    I must have missed something. What did he say, or do, that was in any way Christ-like?

  36. 36.

    Another Scott

    March 26, 2024 at 9:27 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: +1

    Horse’s Mouth (1:42).

    She was talking about raising her kids, in the context of being in the White House and being the first African Americans there.

    Biden’s kids are grown. ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  37. 37.

    NotMax

    March 26, 2024 at 9:29 am

    Harrison Wesley

    “When they go low?”

    Snakes have to use binoculars to spot them.

  38. 38.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 26, 2024 at 9:33 am

    @Scout211: You mean Huge Fuckwit?

  39. 39.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 26, 2024 at 9:37 am

    @Another Scott: Thanx for that clip. If I ever knew I had long ago forgotten the context.

  40. 40.

    topclimber

    March 26, 2024 at 9:43 am

    @Another Scott: Also: MAGA never picked on Sasha and Malia in the revenge porn style they saved for Hunter. Dark Brandon just might be a bit more motivated to school those shitheads.

    As for Chelsea Clinton, “all” they did was call her ugly. So is that even relevant to the discussion?

  41. 41.

    Baud

    March 26, 2024 at 9:47 am

    @Another Scott:

    The fact that they took the case at all is a very bad sign.

    No, it’s not. The Fifth Circuit gutted the law. The good guys appealed. I’m not saying trust the Supreme Court, but the fact that they took the case is not a bad sign of anything.

  42. 42.

    Tony Jay

    March 26, 2024 at 9:48 am

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    Oh, come on now. Surely you’re aware that there are literally legions of white, middle-aged cranks (sans wives/offspring despised) who feel your pain on a deep, deep level? The most downtrodden minority in the world, apparently. Natural allies in the battle against oppression and suchlike.

    Oh, hang on, now that I think about it I’m not sure about the accuracy of that description. /s

  43. 43.

    Shalimar

    March 26, 2024 at 9:50 am

    @Spanky: I think the correct response to Frank Luntz is “Fuck You!”

  44. 44.

    Shalimar

    March 26, 2024 at 9:52 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: I assume Trump has been crucified on a cross of gold again.  Making him pay for things is so un-Christian.

  45. 45.

    BlueGuitarist

    March 26, 2024 at 9:54 am

    @zhena gogolia:

    excellent!
    Luntz can’t complain about the content being obviously true.
    Harry Truman, “I just told the truth and they thought it was hell.”

  46. 46.

    BlueGuitarist

    March 26, 2024 at 9:56 am

    @NotMax:

    can’t go lower than Republicans,
    A bar so low you’d need a metal detector to find it

  47. 47.

    Another Scott

    March 26, 2024 at 9:57 am

    @Baud: Why did the 5th Circuit feel that they could make stuff up and gut the law?  Because the SCOTUS has created the climate for them to do so.

    My $0.02.

    We’ll see.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  48. 48.

    RevRick

    March 26, 2024 at 9:59 am

    @Tony Jay: I’m in favor of the SING method Sandra Bullock demonstrated as her talent in Miss Congeniality. Solar plexus – Instep – Nose -Groin!

  49. 49.

    BlueGuitarist

    March 26, 2024 at 9:59 am

    @Another Scott:
    Thanks!

  50. 50.

    BlueGuitarist

    March 26, 2024 at 10:00 am

    @rikyrah:
    Good morning!

  51. 51.

    lowtechcyclist

    March 26, 2024 at 10:01 am

    Whoever wins in November will be the oldest president to be inaugurated, though polls find that voters see the issue as more pressing for Biden.

    Can’t imagine how that could have come about, can you?

  52. 52.

    Layer8Problem

    March 26, 2024 at 10:02 am

    @dmsilev:  “Luntz, you actively work for a party down with insurrection!”

    “Yeah, but their money’s green.  It’s hard out there for a political strategist.”

  53. 53.

    Baud

    March 26, 2024 at 10:03 am

    @Another Scott:

    Agreed. But there nothing bad to be read into the Court’s decision to review the case.

  54. 54.

    RevRick

    March 26, 2024 at 10:03 am

    @eclare: Given how many cities and towns Trump has stiffed for costs incurred from his rallies, I would not be surprised if they demand some sort of upfront payment.

  55. 55.

    Robmassing

    March 26, 2024 at 10:03 am

    @Spanky: Frank Luntz tsk-tsk-ing the Democrats, whom he would much prefer to see being kicked by the likes of Marge and TFG and rolling over begging for more

  56. 56.

    catclub

    March 26, 2024 at 10:04 am

    @Harrison Wesley: If they rule against the FDA it is more the court not allowing democrats in the federal government to run the federal government.  Dismantling government whenever Democrats are in power.

     

    As Lincoln said: Rule or ruin.

  57. 57.

    catclub

    March 26, 2024 at 10:05 am

    @RevRick: They do now, but they took a long time to figure it out..Slow learners.

  58. 58.

    BlueGuitarist

    March 26, 2024 at 10:05 am

    @Another Scott:

    yes, fight for 15
    and 51
    (DC statehood)

  59. 59.

    lowtechcyclist

    March 26, 2024 at 10:05 am

    @NotMax:

    Before Women’s History Month passes, a nod to Mary Florence Potts, a recent inductee to the National Inventors Hall of Fame*.

    *A free museum in Alexandria, VA which looks to be an edifying visit.

    Cool! I’ll have to plan a visit for the next time I’m headed across the Wilson Bridge.

  60. 60.

    RevRick

    March 26, 2024 at 10:05 am

    @Scout211: The arrogance of the courts intervening in scientific and medical expertise is absolutely appalling.

    Not to mention, the plaintiffs lack any sort of standing according to longstanding legal principles.

  61. 61.

    Kay

    March 26, 2024 at 10:06 am

    @Scout211:

    It’s political dynamite for Republicans though. Boom. If the Supreme Court six are really loyal Republicans they’ll save conservatives from themselves and tank this case.

    I’m torn. Strategically it would be better for the good guys if they outlaw – short term loss but long term gain, but maybe no one should be gaming these things.

  62. 62.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 26, 2024 at 10:06 am

    @RevRick: IIRC, El Paso did so recently.

  63. 63.

    Baud

    March 26, 2024 at 10:07 am

    @Kay:

    I can see them tanking based on standing.  It would actually be consistent with their professed standing principles (which they disregard when it’s convenient).

  64. 64.

    Torrey

    March 26, 2024 at 10:08 am

    But Trump has also made time for other pursuits. He recently said he won two championships at his Palm Beach golf club, writing on his social media site that they were “very exciting” wins on a “GREAT and difficult course.” He visited his golf club in West Palm Beach on Sunday to accept two trophies from a cheering audience…

    I don’t know if this has been linked before in one of the threads, so apologies if it’s a duplicate. But in case anyone is wondering about the specifics of how Trump manages to win all those trophies in more detail than “he cheats like cheating is going out of style,” here’s a deep dive into the specifics. I have to admit, “creativity” is not an attribute I’d have assigned to TFG, but dang if he hasn’t found some pretty impressive ways to be totally unethical. Or maybe I just don’t understand the etiquette of golfing tournaments.
    WARNING: the link goes to a Chris Cilizza video. If you have the same reaction to CC’s dulcet tones as I do (chewing a ball of tinfoil with a mouth full of fillings isn’t in it, is what I’m sayin’), I suggest you mute the sound, turn on the captions, and run the video at 1.5 speed. Same info, mostly de-Cilizza-fied.​
     
    Edited to change 1/5 speed to 1.5 speed. Definitely, don’t run it slower.

  65. 65.

    Baud

    March 26, 2024 at 10:08 am

    @Kay:

    Strategically, it would have been better for Ohio to not have its abortion referendum last year. But it was the right thing to do.

  66. 66.

    rikyrah

    March 26, 2024 at 10:10 am

    @Kay:

    👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👍🏾

  67. 67.

    satby

    March 26, 2024 at 10:11 am

    OT, but an exciting morning here at cas de crazy. I had a knock on my door about 8:15 am, and it was a young woman breathlessly asking me to help her cousin, neither of whom I know. It was raining, the cousin, also a young woman, was trying to stay hidden from the street and the possibility that her abusive boyfriend would see her. As they’re trying to explain, I hear a baby crying. I told them to get up on my porch out of the rain and they went back and grabbed two car seats with babies and all their clothes and diapers in garbage bags. I called 911 and asked for a cop car to be sent, and had the girls come sit inside. Long story short, the bf hadn’t abused her that morning, but it was a pattern and he had told her he was coming home from work to “beat her ass”. Her fear was real. The cops (three squads) couldn’t arrest on a potential beating or hearsay (I didn’t expect them to) and they waited for almost 1/2 an hour for me to get a Lyft that could come take the whole crew to a safe relative’s house. One car followed the Lyft, because the boyfriend’s car had been spotted by the girls driving by just before they came out of my house.

    Last night the cops were out because shot spotter notified them of gunshots in my area, which I thought was someone pounding on my back door. They didn’t find anything. Bodies, they’re looking for gunshot victims after the fact.

    Exciting morning, having another coffee to calm down.

  68. 68.

    rikyrah

    March 26, 2024 at 10:13 am

    @RevRick:

    Absolutely, they demand payment up front

  69. 69.

    lowtechcyclist

    March 26, 2024 at 10:14 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    You have to remember that a black man running for President doesn’t have the option of hitting his opponent below the belt. He has to hold himself to a higher standard lest he get attacked for being a thug, and too many white people believing it because “did you hear what he said about that white man instead of giving him his due deference? Uppity dawg damned ni-CLANG!”

    No lie told.  It was also why Obama had by far the squeakiest-clean Administration in my lifetime up to that point: on account of his skin color, he couldn’t afford the least hint of scandal.  (Shirley Sherrod paid a price for that, unfortunately. But that was the situation Obama was in.)

  70. 70.

    rikyrah

    March 26, 2024 at 10:14 am

    @satby:

    👀👀👀👀

  71. 71.

    satby

    March 26, 2024 at 10:16 am

    @rikyrah: I’m definitely going to be in that first responder’s report as “the crazy cat lady at 1618xxx”

  72. 72.

    Kay

    March 26, 2024 at 10:16 am

    @Baud:

    I agree! I struggled with that, but it really doesn’t matter because I am not actually in charge :)

    I just think there’s this profound ignorance on the Right about how deeply unpopular their abortion views are – I get it – they weren’t really tested for 50 years because Roe was a backstop. I was surprised by how much support we got in Ohio. Early on, when they were collecting signatures (paid people to gather) I spoke with the woman who came to my door. In the course of that she showed me her signatures – a lot of my rock-ribbed, college educated GOP neighbors signed. That is one issue where it’s better to use paid signature people. If I had been going to door they would not have signed because they wouldn’t want anyone they know to know they signed.

    It’s been really amusing to watch people like Kelly Anne Conway. She genuinely doesn’t get it. The NYTimes political team don’t either. They treat abortion like it’s 60/40 anti choice and it just isn’t. They were wrong for 50 years. It always had more support than they said. All those years of Democrats daimtily dancing around the issue while 60% of people were quietly in agreement with them.

  73. 73.

    Leto

    March 26, 2024 at 10:17 am

    Listening to part of the Supreme Court argument and the urge to repeatedly throat punch Kennedy is overwhelming.

  74. 74.

    moonbat

    March 26, 2024 at 10:17 am

    @The Thin Black Duke: A corollary of that is that a lot of white people believe that if POC are put in charge of things they WILL be treated as badly as they have treated black people in the past and that scares the crap out of them.

    Such a scary job of projection in that they think POC only want full participation in the system so they can hurt others.

  75. 75.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 26, 2024 at 10:21 am

    @Kay: They treat abortion like it’s 60/40 anti choice and it just isn’t.

    Why do I suspect they thought that because in their heads, only women who had abortions wanted them to be available.

  76. 76.

    Kay

    March 26, 2024 at 10:21 am

    @Baud:

    I think we get a political benefit just from the constant attacks. They made good on one threat. A large group of women will never trust them again.

  77. 77.

    Old School

    March 26, 2024 at 10:21 am

    Trump playing golf. (It’s not clear to me if it’s from this weekend or not.)

    I bring you the Club Champion and Senior Club Champion for the third consecutive year. pic.twitter.com/e94ZCs42cX— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) March 26, 2024

  78. 78.

    Baud

    March 26, 2024 at 10:23 am

    @satby:

    She was lucky to have found you.

  79. 79.

    Manyakitty

    March 26, 2024 at 10:23 am

    @Harrison Wesley: 😁🤣

  80. 80.

    Baud

    March 26, 2024 at 10:23 am

    @Leto:

    Kennedy?

  81. 81.

    Leto

    March 26, 2024 at 10:24 am

    @Baud: Alito. I fucked up. Not enough coffee!

  82. 82.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 26, 2024 at 10:25 am

    @Leto: Kennedy?

    Never mind.

  83. 83.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    March 26, 2024 at 10:25 am

    @Jeffro:

    *so hey, once again, fuck Frank Luntz

    Sideways with a rusty chainsaw.

    Whenever I bitch about our media environment or fauxgressives like The Turd (Yglesias) or Larry Summers, I must never forget Luntz as someone who goes on the tiny ice floe and pushed far out to sea.

  84. 84.

    Baud

    March 26, 2024 at 10:25 am

    @Kay:

    I hope so. A fundamental right is gone. People either engage with the politics of it or they submit.  There will be people groping for a middle ground, but there isn’t any.

  85. 85.

    Kay

    March 26, 2024 at 10:26 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    It amazes me how dogmatic and narrow they are. No one in media said to themselves “wow- if they outlaw abortions what about miscarriages?”

    No one told them they had to stop thinking when they came to the word “abortion” and just analyze using the narrowest meaning possible. I mean, obviously that’s what the Right wanted them to do – “abortion = sluts who kill babies” but surely they can do some of their own thinking and EXTEND this concept a little. They really thought it wouldn’t bleed into “healthcare”? Or, more likely, womens health is so unimportant no one bothered to think at all.

  86. 86.

    Leto

    March 26, 2024 at 10:28 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: you have to at least cite/footnote Baud if you’re gonna swipe his material :p

  87. 87.

    TBone

    March 26, 2024 at 10:30 am

    The origin of the case today is U.S. district judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of Amarillo, Tex., who determined that the FDA did not follow proper procedure when it approved mifepristone in 2000.

    If these fuckers are granted standing, nothing, and I mean nothing, this Court does is legitimate.  You can’t just make shit up that may occur in the future and call it harm.

    A pivotal issue in the Supreme Court case is whether the antiabortion doctors have legal standing to sue, says Mary Ziegler, a professor at the University of California, Davis, School of Law, who studies the history of abortion. Although the doctors who brought the suit don’t perform abortions, they claim they have standing to sue because they could potentially treat people who go to the emergency room for serious complications caused by mifepristone.

    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-supreme-courts-mifepristone-ruling-could-affect-abortion-access-and/

    Yes, I’m aware of the wedding cake case where no one even owned a bakery.

  88. 88.

    Marleedog

    March 26, 2024 at 10:34 am

    @Baud: Kennedy’s retirement  wrought Boof.

  89. 89.

    artem1s

    March 26, 2024 at 10:35 am

    @eclare: ​ 

    His campaign called it off due to lack of funds.

    I imagine there are few, if any cities that will allow him to hold a rally unless he pays up front. Another factor in play this election – no more freebies. Even red states don’t want to foot the bill when he comes to their towns.

  90. 90.

    snoey

    March 26, 2024 at 10:39 am

    @Old School:

    Classic video, still worth a replay.

  91. 91.

    Leto

    March 26, 2024 at 10:39 am

    @TBone: wait, you mean citing two studies that were retracted, and a blog post, doesn’t merit a serious argument/judgement? Intellectual dishonesty is a guiding principle with these fools.

    Just a continual attack on the entire regulatory structure of our government. They simply will not stop.

  92. 92.

    matt

    March 26, 2024 at 10:39 am

    I’d say that  the Democrats changing gears from ‘when they go low we go high’ to ‘let’s torture some Republicans’ suits my mood just fine.

  93. 93.

    TBone

    March 26, 2024 at 10:43 am

    @Leto: we have to keep stopping them for as long as it takes.

  94. 94.

    TBone

    March 26, 2024 at 10:46 am

    Clarence makes me want to smash the TV, that smarmy bumblefuck of a little man.

    🎶

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c2llgxeRCnY

  95. 95.

    Another Scott

    March 26, 2024 at 10:47 am

    @Baud: Ok, maybe.

    I was listening to the SCOTUS hearing a little while ago.

    The RWNJs, Alito in particular, seem to be OUTRAGED that someone claiming that their oh so pious religious fee-fees are being hurt by not being able to sue the FDA.  It’s an OUTRAGE!  What about if the FDA broke into their home and killed their goldfish??  They wouldn’t be able to sue the FDA then??  What kind of TYRANNY is this??!!

    The Sensible Three seem to be calm and collected about it, so I ass-u-me that it will be kicked back to the 5th Circuit with directions about lack of standing.

    But I would look for various things in the footnotes indicating that if someone’s oh so pious religious fee-fees are being hurt in a demonstrable way, then they would have standing to sue the FDA and the rest of the government.  And, of course, they’ll try again so there will be another case or few next term unless we Fight for 15!!

    We’ll see.

    Thanks.

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  96. 96.

    Paul in KY

    March 26, 2024 at 10:47 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: One of the scariest & grossest films I’ve ever seen!

  97. 97.

    Tony Jay

    March 26, 2024 at 10:47 am

    @RevRick:

    Nice! I do appreciate thoroughness.

  98. 98.

    Leto

    March 26, 2024 at 10:49 am

    @TBone: agreed. Just stating that as long as they draw breath they will always be a threat.

  99. 99.

    TBone

    March 26, 2024 at 10:50 am

    @Leto: 👍 it has been ever thus.  We’ll keep dulling our swords on them.  Or should I say sharpening.

  100. 100.

    Barbara

    March 26, 2024 at 10:50 am

    @Kay: I will take short-term wins on this issue.  Women’s lives and livelihoods are literally at stake.  I don’t want them to be sacrificial lambs no matter how much more promising the long-term outcome of a short-term loss is.  And I haven’t actually noticed that all of those short-term losses during the last 30 years resulted in a more secure set of long-term gains. They should have, but all they did was lull too many people to sleep while at the same time they smoothed the path for overturning Roe v. Wade.  Root for the wins, always.

  101. 101.

    Melancholy Jaques

    March 26, 2024 at 10:50 am

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    Some white people in America genuinely believe that they will never be treated as badly as black people.

    And yet there are white people in America who genuinely believe that they are already being treated worse than anyone ever treated black people.

  102. 102.

    Captain C

    March 26, 2024 at 10:51 am

    @JML: When he plays against Al Czervik, and still loses:

    “I won!”

    “You cheated!”

    “I ain’t paying you!”

    “Moose, Rocco, help Donald find his checkbook…”

  103. 103.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 26, 2024 at 10:52 am

    JFC, Alito sounds like a little snot. You can hear the nastiness and condescension just oozing out of every word. Especially when he’s questioning a female.

  104. 104.

    Leto

    March 26, 2024 at 10:52 am

    Alito is such a dishonest fuck. Add genital kicking to the throat punching. Alternating or simultaneous. Dealer’s choice.

  105. 105.

    cmorenc

    March 26, 2024 at 10:52 am

    @dmsilev:

    Wait, Frank Luntz is complaining that Democrats are being mean? Frank Luntz, the guy who figures out ways to cloak Republican agendas in words that make them seem less awful? That one? Seriously?

    Luntz is genuinely talented at skillfully probing for the elements in the social, economic, and political landscape that motivate voters – not merely those motivating firmly partisan voters to actually turn out, but what factors are most likely to make less firmly partisan voters to swing (and turn out).   What’s really to hate about Luntz is that he has chosen to put his considerable talents to work for the forces of darkness rather than light.   True, he will sometimes use his focus-group skills to deliberately skew the results in a GOP-favorable fashion on behalf of his GOP paymasters, but his true skill is when he uses focus-groups in an objectively exploratory way to probe for what buttons, if pushed, will be most effective with people, albeit the results are used to push people toward the dark rather than light.  Yeah, he can be a loathsome hack, but a talented one.  I wish he worked for us, not them.

  106. 106.

    TBone

    March 26, 2024 at 10:53 am

    Scalito tossing his birdie out of bounds.  Fuck off dude is exactly the correct answer she just gave

  107. 107.

    TBone

    March 26, 2024 at 10:54 am

    @Leto: 💙

  108. 108.

    Ohio Mom

    March 26, 2024 at 10:54 am

    @satby: How did they know to knock on your door and not some other neighbor’s — who might not have been as welcoming, as cool- headed under pressure and as strategic? Did they scope out the neighborhood earlier and identify you as their best source of help? Maybe we’ll never know.

    Hoping for a good resolution for them and that the boyfriend gets what he deserves (which could include an epiphany and a transformation, not just involvement in the criminal justice system, I’m feeling charitable today).

    Now back to spring cleaning. I’m moving furniture and cleaning under it, and not a moment too soon, lots of dust mice.

  109. 109.

    Barbara

    March 26, 2024 at 10:55 am

    @Melancholy Jaques: When you started out way ahead of others, ending up in a tie can feel like a loss.  I am not defending this, but I think it’s useful to at least understand the the psychology at work.  It’s similar to studies that show people’s negative feelings at losing a dollar are much more intense than their positive feelings are at gaining a dollar.  We are primed to hate losing.  I think what’s important is to emphasize that in this scenario no one is actually losing.

  110. 110.

    JPL

    March 26, 2024 at 10:55 am

    @Kay: My hunch is that they thread the needle.   They’ll keep the drug, but use the Comstock Act to prevent the drug from being mailed.

    Fortunately, my hunch is already wrong so maybe they’ll just toss the case.

  111. 111.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 26, 2024 at 10:56 am

    @Paul in KY: I love it, one of my all time favorites. And I am one who generally poo-poos horror flicks.

    Alien and Aliens get high marks from me too.

  112. 112.

    Paul in KY

    March 26, 2024 at 10:56 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: Christ was persecuted, dontchaknow. Just exactly like TFG.

  113. 113.

    Spanky

    March 26, 2024 at 10:57 am

    It’s great to be white and powerful, episode infinity: (gift WaPo link)

    HOUSTON — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), a conservative firebrand acquitted last year in a historic impeachment trial, has reached an agreement with prosecutors to avoid trial on long-standing state felony securities fraud charges.

    Paxton was charged nearly a decade ago, accused of defrauding investors at a Dallas-area tech company by not disclosing that he was paid by the company to recruit them. The case has been delayed for years by pretrial disputes over the trial’s location and special prosecutors’ fees.

    Under the agreement reached in Harris County district court on Tuesday, prosecutors would dismiss felony charges against Paxton if he successfully completes community service and advanced legal education classes and pays restitution of about $300,000. He had previously pleaded not guilty

    I suspect there may already be a GoFundMe out there for his legal fees. Bet he’ll get someone else to pay the fine too?

  114. 114.

    Nora

    March 26, 2024 at 10:57 am

    @TBone: ​
      Standing? Standing is a joke to this Supreme Court. States suing to declare the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional because — how exactly were STATES injured by the existence of that act?

    Gone are the days when the plaintiffs suing to overturn Connecticut’s anti-birth control law were thrown out of court TWICE because they couldn’t show personal and individual harm. Long gone.

  115. 115.

    TBone

    March 26, 2024 at 10:58 am

    NONE of the Hippocratic dudes are abortion providers, you ignorant dolt! She’s making shit up. (Directed at counsel)

  116. 116.

    Leto

    March 26, 2024 at 10:58 am

    The Danco lawyer, mifepristone maker, ripping the original lower court ruling for relying on retracted studies and a blog post.

  117. 117.

    Barbara

    March 26, 2024 at 10:59 am

    @JPL: Okay, do you realize what that would open up for the modern practice of pharmacy?  That drugs are being routinely shipped through the mail every day?  That’s a hard, hard needle to thread.

  118. 118.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 26, 2024 at 10:59 am

    @cmorenc: In his defense, the forces of darkness do pay better.

  119. 119.

    Paul in KY

    March 26, 2024 at 11:00 am

    @satby: Need to be armed (IMO) in case that BF comes looking for revenge. Innocent people have been killed in past for that reason. Please be safe!

  120. 120.

    Leto

    March 26, 2024 at 11:01 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: those three movies, as well as Terminator, spent a lot of time in my imagination as a child. For good and bad. I miss some of the old school special effects they used to use.

  121. 121.

    Kay

    March 26, 2024 at 11:02 am

    @Baud:

    It’s somewhat similiar to conservatives with health care. There’s only so many ways one can provide universal coverage. That’s not “unlimited posible options, if people would just come up with the magic formula that aligns with our incredibly narrow and rigid ideology!”

    Democrats had plenty of “health care plans” on the shelf. They pretty much ran through every possible plan. The problem wasn’t “find the Goldilocks formula” – the problem was Republicans would accept only one plan “no health care for the 45 million who didn’t get it”

    They can’t design a law that bans abortion but allows best practices health care for pregnant people – all the myriad issues women have while pregnant. This law would be like a medical textbook. Texas just sent it to their medical board for “guidelines” but I think those guidelines are just going to be another area for choice people to attack – they’re going to have to outline when you let the pregnant person die. This is not going to be acceptable to a lot of women.

  122. 122.

    Kay

    March 26, 2024 at 11:04 am

    @Baud:

    I mean, they COULD. They could write a law with a broad exception for a health care professional to make the call. Done. A health care pro signs off, the state butts out. But they will never do that. Because they don’t trust women -they think we’re evil.

  123. 123.

    catclub

    March 26, 2024 at 11:04 am

    @Barbara: The other lesson is: revise or repeal the Comstock Act.

  124. 124.

    JPL

    March 26, 2024 at 11:05 am

    @Barbara:  It has to do with lewd material and abortion drugs, so then the supremes would have to consider what they consider lewd.

    I just read the Comstock, himself felt that abortion was fine in order to save the life of the female.   I assume that Alito will not bring that up when they meet next month, to determine whether hospitals have to save the life of the woman.

  125. 125.

    Spanky

    March 26, 2024 at 11:05 am

    @Leto: Creepiest film I’ve seen is Nosferatu, and those effects were made 102 years ago.

  126. 126.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 26, 2024 at 11:05 am

    @Leto: I enjoy Terminator I & II but to me they don’t qualify as horror, more Sci-Fi/action flicks.

  127. 127.

    smith

    March 26, 2024 at 11:06 am

    In regard to going low on the bastards, it’s my understanding that game theorists have concluded that the optimal long-term strategy in a prisoner’s dilemma situation is tit-for-tat (I’m sure any mathematicians present will correct me if I’m wrong): basically, they go low, you go low, they go high, you go high.

    I’ve been deeply frustrated for years that so many Dems don’t perceive that with a two party system, you are essentially playing a prisoner’s dilemma game, and that a tit-for-tat approach would be much more effective in keeping the GQP line than always trying to grab the moral high ground.

  128. 128.

    catclub

    March 26, 2024 at 11:06 am

    @Kay: They could write a law with a broad exception for a health care professional to make the call. Done. A health care pro signs off, the state butts out. But they will never do that. Because they don’t trust women -they think we’re evil.

     

    Well, a male healthcare professional who is not an irrational female.  Also has to be member of Opus dei

  129. 129.

    Citizen Alan

    March 26, 2024 at 11:09 am

    @Spanky: Agreed. If a pollster were to ever ask me what is the number one thing I look for in a political candidate, my answer will be “do they understand that the Republican party is the enemy, and it must be utterly destroyed by any means necessary?”

  130. 130.

    JPL

    March 26, 2024 at 11:09 am

    @satby: You’re a good person.

  131. 131.

    satby

    March 26, 2024 at 11:10 am

    @Paul in KY: I am the daughter of a (late) homicide cop, and I WILL NOT have guns in my home. It’s a fucking fantasy that in a gunfight *you* will be Dirty Harry and the other guy will be unlucky. Don’t kid yourself.

    Edited to add: I have known how to shoot since I was a child, so this isn’t about fear of an inanimate object, but an understanding of the danger they pose the the people who own them.

  132. 132.

    catclub

    March 26, 2024 at 11:10 am

    @smith: I’ve been deeply frustrated for years that so many Dems don’t perceive that with a two party system, you are essentially playing a prisoner’s dilemma game, and that a tit-for-tat approach would be much more effective in keeping the GQP line than always trying to grab the moral high ground.

     

    There are plenty of rank and file republicans who think the exact same thing about the GOP being too nice and not hitting back at the Democrats.

  133. 133.

    BlueGuitarist

    March 26, 2024 at 11:11 am

    Wrote some postcards for the Alabama special election and will keep an eye on the results tonight, which will mostly be about abortion and IVF

  134. 134.

    rikyrah

    March 26, 2024 at 11:11 am

    @Baud:

    Standing is why this case shouldn’t have been taken in the first place 😡😡

  135. 135.

    Leto

    March 26, 2024 at 11:12 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: true, but you’d also have to move Alien 2 into that action category versus the first one which is squarely in the horror.

    I’m interested in the Alien movie coming out that’s set between Alien and Alien 2. It’s suppose to track much more in the og movie theme, ie horror style v action. Also nothing to do with the whole prequel/space jockey bs. Finger’s crossed and all.

  136. 136.

    BlueGuitarist

    March 26, 2024 at 11:12 am

    @satby: you are awesome

  137. 137.

    artem1s

    March 26, 2024 at 11:15 am

    @JPL: ​ 
    The SCOTUS originalists extremist want to try to discredit the FDA and bring all the agency’s regulations and operations into question. It’s not just targeting abortion access in this case. They always have a broader agenda in mind – abortion is a handy issue to push it thru and damn the ‘unforeseen’ consequences. After all there was no FDA back in the 1600’s when Alito was a strapping lad looking forward to his future of chattel wives and slaves who would bend the knee to his every wish. :P

  138. 138.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 26, 2024 at 11:15 am

    @Leto: Alien 2 into that action category

    Yeah, valid point. My feelings regards to Aliens may be be due to an echo effect from the first one.

  139. 139.

    smith

    March 26, 2024 at 11:17 am

    @catclub: Doesn’t matter really, as long as their side experiences painful consequences for bad faith actions. I think one example of the Dems actually getting it was when they refused to save McCarthy’s speakership when he tried to screw them over with the CR last fall. I also think it’s a hopeful sign that we now have a bunch of Reps willing to make things painful for the Treason Caucus. We could use more of that in that Senate.

  140. 140.

    Spanky

    March 26, 2024 at 11:17 am

    Update from the WaPo:

    At a news conference around 10 a.m., officials said that at least eight people were victims of the bridge collapse.

    Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul J. Wiedefeld said that one person declined treatment at the scene, one person was hospitalized, and six people were unaccounted for.

    Officials believe that those six were working on the bridge repairing masonry and potholes at the time of the collapse, according to Wiedefeld.

    So, you’re dropping a load of hot asphalt onto the pavement and the whole thing drops out from under your feet. Jaysus.

  141. 141.

    Baud

    March 26, 2024 at 11:19 am

    @smith:

    I’ve been deeply frustrated that Dems don’t get rewarded when they go tit-for-tat because people want to cling to the old memes.

    We do a crap job recognizing and rewarding behavior we’d like to see.

  142. 142.

    rikyrah

    March 26, 2024 at 11:21 am

     

    Stephon Dingle WJZ (@Stephon_Dingle) posted at 5:39 AM on Tue, Mar 26, 2024:

    IMPLICATIONS OF #KeyBridgeCollapse: “This is going to be catastrophic for many reasons,” one resident said.
    “Number one, the harbor’s blocked. Number two, we’re not going to get any more new car deliveries at this time. Amazon is just on the other side of the river and you can forget your same-day, next-day delivery packages. The beltway is going to be a parking lot. The tunnels are going to be over-jammed.” @wjz

    https://t.co/KNGYibLhTe
    (https://x.com/Stephon_Dingle/status/1772573994857726165?t=3-bSDX54cKYUqY01HC3k7Q&s=03)

  143. 143.

    Leto

    March 26, 2024 at 11:21 am

    Plaintiff’s lawyer arguing that “the border states” are providing Mif, and then the women are coming back to banned states and the poor doctors are having to deal with it. Doesn’t the same then apply to guns/gun laws? Nah, those are sacrosanct and can never be touched/addressed.

    Edit: it seems even the Sinister Six are having a lot of troubles with this lawyer and her arguments.

  144. 144.

    JPL

    March 26, 2024 at 11:22 am

    @artem1s: True   It would be just like the founding fathers intended.

  145. 145.

    rikyrah

    March 26, 2024 at 11:22 am

    @artem1s:

    This is where Big Pharma comes in. Do I think that they would love to carve out an exception for this one medicine?

     

    Absolutely.

     

    But, I don’t think that they can. Which means Big Pharma wins

  146. 146.

    sdhays

    March 26, 2024 at 11:27 am

    @Old School: Oh, my!

  147. 147.

    Geminid

    March 26, 2024 at 11:29 am

    @smith: I don’t think Democrats refused to save McCarthy last year. He never asked for help and Democrats didn’t offer any. McCarthy rolled the dice on holding Republican defections at 5 or less, and missed by 3.

  148. 148.

    smith

    March 26, 2024 at 11:30 am

    @Baud: True, and of course the media finds Dems occasionally going low much more reprehensible than it finds constant bad behavior by Republicans.

  149. 149.

    JPL

    March 26, 2024 at 11:30 am

    @rikyrah: Gorsuch and Roberts are both concerned about undue harm to any corporation.   Unless they attempt a carveout, the law stands.

    maybe

  150. 150.

    stinger

    March 26, 2024 at 11:32 am

    @satby:

    It’s a fucking fantasy that in a gunfight *you* will be Dirty Harry and the other guy will be unlucky. Don’t kid yourself.

    Former Army sergeant here. Agree 100%.

  151. 151.

    Jeffro

    March 26, 2024 at 11:33 am

    @rikyrah: possible, sure

    Port of Wilmington is just right up the road, though.

    And all the commuters who’ve recently been coming back to the office for a couple days a week now have very good reason to work from home full-time.

  152. 152.

    Tony Jay

    March 26, 2024 at 11:34 am

    @Paul in KY:

    And he was white, just like his Dad! Checkmate, Libtard.

    Ah, remember the days before the Great Online Sorting when you’d have to deal with morons saying things like that and misinterpreting your WTF response as some kind of victory to crow about?

  153. 153.

    Paul in KY

    March 26, 2024 at 11:35 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Alien is just about the scariest movie I’ve ever seen. Was hiding down in the theater seat about 1/2 time when I first saw it!

  154. 154.

    There go two miscreants

    March 26, 2024 at 11:35 am

    @catclub: …revise or repeal the Comstock Act.

    Repeal, absolutely. There’s a long list of obsolete laws that have been mooted by court decisions but lie in wait for our no-longer-trustworthy courts to reactivate. (Many at the state level, of course, but we should do what we can.)

  155. 155.

    Leto

    March 26, 2024 at 11:39 am

    Good rebuttal by the AG. Idk if it’ll make a difference, but fingers crossed and all. Still need to add 6 seats to the court, as well as repeal the Comstock Act. Republicans should be all for it. Repealing a law? Waaaahoooooo!

  156. 156.

    satby

    March 26, 2024 at 11:42 am

    @Baud: @Ohio Mom: Thanks. I assume the cats have passed my name and address around 😀

  157. 157.

    wjca

    March 26, 2024 at 11:43 am

    @RevRick: Not to mention, the plaintiffs lack any sort of standing according to longstanding legal principles.

    I’m betting that the political hacks on the Court, cognizant of the fury that erupted over Dobbs, will decide to find the original plaintiffs lack standing.  (Which, as you say, they clearly do.)  And thus overturn the 5th Circuit.  Which keeps the issue of abortion from looming even larger over the election.

  158. 158.

    Leto

    March 26, 2024 at 11:43 am

    @stinger: same here. I know I’m going to inherent some of the parents guns. Three are family heirlooms, the rest I’ll dispose of. Those three I’ll render inop. I spent 22 years training/using guns that very few people ever will. Also I’ve seen/cared for firsthand the aftermath of these weapons. I’ll never have them in my home. The spare 2 1/4″ thick spare Ash table legs I made are a very good home defense weapon.

  159. 159.

    WereBear

    March 26, 2024 at 11:45 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “To be great is to be misunderstood.”

  160. 160.

    Almost Retired

    March 26, 2024 at 11:46 am

    I caught the last part of oral arguments (time zones and all), and good lord that true-believer self righteous bigot of a lawyer for the “religious” doctors was just awful.  First year of law school moot court level awful.  Other than Alito, all the justices seemed skeptical on standing and the potential scope of what the plaintiffs were seeking.  SG lawyer was spectacular and Brown Jackson is my new favorite justice with her  “cut to the heart of the matter” style of questioning.  I feel better about the potential outcome than I did before.

  161. 161.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 26, 2024 at 11:47 am

    @WereBear: ​ That’s just what I tell my wife!

  162. 162.

    Paul in KY

    March 26, 2024 at 11:49 am

    @satby: Then have a big spiked club and an exit strategy. The weapon, IMO, would be a temporary thing.

  163. 163.

    wjca

    March 26, 2024 at 11:51 am

    @moonbat: a lot of white people believe that if POC are put in charge of things they WILL be treated as badly as they have treated black people in the past and that scares the crap out of them.

    It’s parallel to why a lot of fathers get extremely twitchy about their daughters’ boy friends: they remember how they treated girls when they were that age.  And are terrified that their darling daughters might get treated the same way.

    Men who didn’t behave that way are much more relaxed, in my experience.

  164. 164.

    Paul in KY

    March 26, 2024 at 11:56 am

    @stinger: IMO, if they come in with a gun, then it’s a gunfight. If they come in with a baseball bat or something like that, then it’s a medieval weapons fight.

    My personal feeling is that if they can shoot the gun, then I can too. Not afraid at all of freaking out or not being able to do the deed, etc. But that’s just me.

    Satby does need to be aware that those POSes can irrationally attack a good Samaritan. Very small chance of the loser doing that, but if they do, you need to be ready (IMO).

  165. 165.

    Paul in KY

    March 26, 2024 at 11:58 am

    @Tony Jay: Curses! Foiled again by your superior reasoning powers! Can’t get anything past a true Murcan…

  166. 166.

    Kayla Rudbek

    March 26, 2024 at 12:05 pm

    @lowtechcyclist: yes, it’s inside the main building of the US Patent and Trademark Office, so you can walk over to Old Town Alexandria after you are done with the museum. Most of the old patent models are at the Smithsonian American History though.

  167. 167.

    Kayla Rudbek

    March 26, 2024 at 12:09 pm

    @TBone: but on the patent law side, if you lie to the USPTO during prosecution about something important to patenting, the patent is dead when/if that gets discovered. The saying “false in one thing, false in all things” was originally written down in Latin, that’s how old that rule is.

  168. 168.

    Matt McIrvin

    March 26, 2024 at 12:24 pm

    Luntz: “They won’t hold still while we punch them”

    The person who said “When they go low, we go high” is the same one they slammed as “Stokely Carmichael in a dress”.

  169. 169.

    Matt McIrvin

    March 26, 2024 at 12:29 pm

    @Paul in KY: Alien is not just scary, it’s well-written science fiction with smart political/social themes in the background. It’s amazing how good a movie it is.

    Aliens followed that up with one of the most entertaining and quotable action flicks of the 80s. And continued the social themes to some degree, but in caricature. “You know, Burke, I don’t know which species is worse. You don’t see them fucking each other over for a goddamn percentage…”

  170. 170.

    Matt McIrvin

    March 26, 2024 at 12:36 pm

    @Kay:

    I just think there’s this profound ignorance on the Right about how deeply unpopular their abortion views are – I get it – they weren’t really tested for 50 years because Roe was a backstop.

    The whole political pundit class as well. It’s this axiom derived from the past 50 years of American politics that abortion is the anti side’s issue, and the best liberals can do is neutralize it through some kind of compromise or change the subject.

    But it was all contingent on Roe remaining standing and it still feels like they don’t get that.

  171. 171.

    Baud

    March 26, 2024 at 12:38 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    They won’t “get it” until they’re forced to get it because of sustained action by voters.  The media pundits will the last the identify the trend because it’s a trend that supports the side they look down on.

  172. 172.

    Mike in NC

    March 26, 2024 at 12:44 pm

    Fat Bastard is awarding himself golf trophies now. Sort of predictable, isn’t it?

  173. 173.

    Harrison Wesley

    March 26, 2024 at 12:44 pm

    @Spanky: Remake comes out at the end of this year, by the guy who made The Witch and The Lighthouse.  Should do justice to the original.

  174. 174.

    Frankensteinbeck

    March 26, 2024 at 12:49 pm

    @Mike in NC:

    Apparently Trump has been doing this for years.  Sometimes he even holds tourneys where he’s the only player.  Lying about being a good golf player is one of his big ego props.

  175. 175.

    Frankensteinbeck

    March 26, 2024 at 12:54 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Want a fascinating contrast?  The Black Hole came out the same year and had a bigger budget.  Strip everything else away but the words and actions and it’s an excellent script.  Compare the two movies and you see how execution is everything.

  176. 176.

    cain

    March 26, 2024 at 1:04 pm

    @Tony Jay: when they go low a rapid roundhouse kick will help them also go sideways.

  177. 177.

    Jeffro

    March 26, 2024 at 1:04 pm

    @Leto: The spare 2 1/4″ thick spare Ash table legs I made are a very good home defense weapon.

    amen!

    I have an aluminum baseball bat – same idea.

    A friend of mine once asked me why I had the bat in the house instead of a loaded pistol (you know, for “home defense”).  I told him, “because if I hear something in the middle of the night and it turns out to be my kid, I can always check my swing – but I can’t call the bullet back”

  178. 178.

    satby

    March 26, 2024 at 1:07 pm

    @BlueGuitarist: 😂 opinions differ, but I appreciate that, thanks!

  179. 179.

    cain

    March 26, 2024 at 1:08 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Remember back in the old days when comparing yourself to Jesus as considered blasphemy?

  180. 180.

    cain

    March 26, 2024 at 1:13 pm

    @Kay:

    I’m torn. Strategically it would be better for the good guys if they outlaw – short term loss but long term gain, but maybe no one should be gaming these things.

    I’m torn too – but white women need to be shown repeatedly that they are in the cross hairs. By far, the biggest supporters of GOP supported patriarchy are by in large white women. (from real life experience by my wife, and convos with PoC women)

  181. 181.

    Matt McIrvin

    March 26, 2024 at 1:28 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: Yeees! And the third big one from the same year was Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which is somewhere in between–an insanely ambitious misfire, but with some decent ideas and gorgeous cinematography in there, and it revived Star Trek as a screen franchise.

  182. 182.

    Matt McIrvin

    March 26, 2024 at 1:34 pm

    …Oh, yeah, and there was also Moonraker–perhaps the most ridiculous movie in the (main) Bond franchise, but I kind of love it.

  183. 183.

    prostratedragon

    March 26, 2024 at 1:36 pm

    @Tony Jay:  There you go!

  184. 184.

    evodevo

    March 26, 2024 at 1:38 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly: ​
      Yes..one of my favorites. Most people don’t know enough developmental genetics or evolution to know that the processes that normally produce people and animals from embryos can go horribly wrong a LOT of the time, and the things that played a part in this movie greatly resemble what happens when biology goes awry. My embryology textbook had a LOT of illustrations that would shock your average person, so the whole premise of the movie was not that far out… PLUS Kurt Russell!!!

  185. 185.

    Paul in KY

    March 26, 2024 at 1:41 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: I enjoyed the heck out of Aliens! Not as scary as 1st one, though.

  186. 186.

    Subsole

    March 26, 2024 at 1:42 pm

     

     

    @Harrison Wesley:

    I dunno. Same thing happened to me. I even wore a studded leather face mask to scare ’em off. No joy. It just seemed to encourage them.

  187. 187.

    Paul in KY

    March 26, 2024 at 1:43 pm

    @Jeffro: I have a kid now and all guns out of the house. Go with the Medieval stuff.

  188. 188.

    prostratedragon

    March 26, 2024 at 1:48 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    A seasonal answer from Handel. Maybe “god.”

  189. 189.

    prostratedragon

    March 26, 2024 at 2:16 pm

    @satby:  Hope the help sticks. And do stay safe yourself.

  190. 190.

    UncleEbeneezer

    March 26, 2024 at 2:33 pm

    @smith: Or side doesn’t want Dems to go low.  We have moral constraints based on important principles that the GOP will never have.  “Going low” would be doing something like arresting Trump without any investigation, warrants, grand jury indictment etc.  Most people in our coalition rightfully don’t want that because we actually believe in the principles of due process and know that if we ignore norms, rules and laws the way Republicans will, now we would just have complete lawlessness and chaos.  Going tit-for-tat works great in game theory but in real life, when dealing with Nazis, all it does is make you into Nazis too.  Tit for tat would be using Voter Suppression, Gerrymandering etc., as unfairly as the GOP does.  If Democrats did that it would be death for the very concept of Democracy in America.

  191. 191.

    VFX Lurker

    March 26, 2024 at 3:00 pm

    @Leto: I’m interested in the Alien movie coming out that’s set between Alien and Alien 2. It’s suppose to track much more in the og movie theme, ie horror style v action. Also nothing to do with the whole prequel/space jockey bs. Finger’s crossed and all.

    I’m too chicken to play it, but I’d like to recommend the Alien: Isolation video game. It captures the visual brilliance and terror of the Ridley Scott film.

    I have high hopes for the new film as well, though for me the only films in the series that matter are Alien and Aliens.

  192. 192.

    catclub

    March 26, 2024 at 3:02 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: One category  in all those boxes from the search of Mar-a-lago was the framed Time person of the year covers,  all with him.

  193. 193.

    Paul in KY

    March 26, 2024 at 3:05 pm

    @VFX Lurker: Prometheus isn’t that bad once you figure out what the hell it’s about. Still not near as good as the Alien/Aliens ones.

  194. 194.

    brantl

    March 26, 2024 at 4:38 pm

    @Spanky: That was Michelle Obama’s quote, and they WON.

  195. 195.

    Matt McIrvin

    March 26, 2024 at 5:06 pm

    @Kay:

    I’m torn. Strategically it would be better for the good guys if they outlaw – short term loss but long term gain, but maybe no one should be gaming these things.

    I’m becoming allergic to that kind of accelerationist reasoning. It’s how you get people claiming it would be better to lose the next election than to win it, sometimes in support of spoiler candidates (I see someone write that article every single time).

    Nah, winning is better than losing, because there’s potentially substantive harm happening here.

  196. 196.

    trnc

    March 26, 2024 at 5:45 pm

    Late to the party, but anyway … Luntz has obviously done awful things in service of crackpot right wing ideas, but I wouldn’t be so sure that his “we go high” comment was a slam on Biden. He’s been pretty outspoken against DT, wrote “Someone saying “just the flu” is about the closest thing we currently have to an IQ test,” mocked claims that Biden lost in 2020 and had extremely nice things to say about Biden personally. He may very well be working for republicans, but I think it’s possible his post was meant as an “Attaboy.”

  197. 197.

    trnc

    March 26, 2024 at 5:48 pm

    @brantl:

    @Spanky: That was Michelle Obama’s quote, and they WON.

    She said it at the 2016 Democratic Convention.

  198. 198.

    wjca

    March 26, 2024 at 6:11 pm

    @Paul in KY: I have a kid now and all guns out of the house. Go with the Medieval stuff.

    In addition to umbrellas, the umbrella stand next to the front door holds two broad swords.  And not pot metal display pieces either.  (I suppose it helps that I actually know how to use one.)

  199. 199.

    TerryC

    March 26, 2024 at 6:45 pm

    @Paul in KY: My wife would freak out at the music when it came on for a radio ad!

  200. 200.

    TerryC

    March 26, 2024 at 6:48 pm

    @Paul in KY: I have faced down hand guns pointed at me close in anger twice. The first time I was fifteen and I soaked him down with the garden hose I was holding – he in his red convertible with the top down and a handgun aimed at me.

  201. 201.

    Paul in KY

    March 27, 2024 at 9:48 am

    @wjca: A terrible weapon, when wielded by someone who knows how to use one. Good choice.

  202. 202.

    Paul in KY

    March 27, 2024 at 9:50 am

    @TerryC: You are lucky you weren’t shot! Glad you survived those 2 encounters!

  203. 203.

    Geminid

    March 27, 2024 at 11:41 am

    @Paul in KY: A friend keeps a machete in her truck, on the floorboard between the driver’s seat and the door. She showed me the machete and its inscription; it’s a “Lorena Bobbit Special Edition” some friends picked up in Mexico.

  204. 204.

    Paul in KY

    March 27, 2024 at 12:54 pm

    @Geminid: Ha!  I like her style.

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