I’m heading out of town…and neglected to tell the kitten. He is not amused.
Sorry for the blurry photo – he does not stay still but for a millisecond. He has bonded well with the petsitter, but I do suspect he’ll get into his fair share of trouble while I’m away.
I had to move some flowers over the weekend, but am keeping them in pots until I’m back and can water them daily. Been a very dry summer here so far and this week looks no different. Hoping we have a good monsoon season starting the end of July. Pictured are red echinacea. I have several colors that I’m turning into a big grouping. They were scattered around before.
I am on a news blackout and have been since the debate. The few times I’ve checked in, I get stabby, so I’ll continue to ignore our failed media until I return home. How is everyone else handling this shitshow?
This is an open thread
ETA: And congratulations to Dr. David!!!
cain
I’m good – big daddy told the children that we are going forward and to knock it off.
Hopefully, once the press gets the idea that nothing is going to change they’ll move on to another news cycle.
OzarkHillbilly
You and me both T. And BJ when it gets too…. Yeah, too. Just too much.
eclare
Looks like you could zip up the kitty in that bag and take him along!
O. Felix Culpa
Kitty’s looking pretty stabby. He’s probably been reading the BJ comments in your stead.
sab
Typoed my nym again!
(Fixed by WG)
CaseyL
I don’t know if it’s a trick of the light, or if Kitten really does have one eye half-closed and the other not, but that is a PERFECT facial expression for skeptical disgruntlement. I mean, I can see the arched eyebrow!
Yutsano
Kitteh demands to be purse kitteh. There will be no arguments hooman!
I’m starting the training class that will lead me to start my actual case work! So that has me focused.
VFX Lurker
I have stepped up my postcard writing and donation efforts. I always feel better after doing them.
zhena gogolia
tuxedo cats are always witty
Old Man Shadow
That look, man.
“Of course you realize, this means war!”
Beware of falling anvils when you return.
KrackenJack
Did a news blackout before the debate. Saw a panicked fundraising email from Newsome the next morning so I extended it to Monday – which was just in time for the King George the XLV ruling. Went back into isolation for another five days. I’m still skipping over posts and articles liberally.
We just need to keep doing the work.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: yep, I walk away a lot. A lot. We’re a long way from the people who responded to “the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself”.
Though an hour ago I just sent another donation to the Biden/Harris campaign.
UncleEbeneezer
Make It All Go Away – Brad Meldhau
Seriously though, I’m actually quite uplifted by the the strength and total Not-Here-For-Your-Bullshit energy of the response from the base of our coalition and their allies. I’m heartened by the number of people who actually have understood that Listen To Black People is so much more than just a feel-good slogan. And after listening to Christopher Bouzy’s Spoutible interview that Moonbat linked earlier, I have good hope/spirits for November.
When I’ve stepped away from the fights here at BJ, we have been doing things like going to the beach, going to see the horror film Maxxxine and re-watched Barbie. We are already looking forward to a trip up to Cambria, CA for some coastal/beach action and visit to Hearst Castle at the end of August.
TaMara
@VFX Lurker: You are the best of us! Thank you.
satby
@Yutsano: oh, that’s great!
sab
The little fuzzball is gone! Now you have a skeptical but always curious tuxedo.
O. Felix Culpa
@VFX Lurker:
I just got my postcards to North Carolina voters. Need to write 200 cards to mail by Oct. 15th.
I’ve used postcardstovoters in the past and quite like them. This time I decided to try postcards to swing states, though. They let you choose which state you want to write to; I let them choose for me and got NC. They provide the postcards, script and addresses; you provide the labor and the stamps.
Old School
Don’t worry – we’ll still be talking about replacing Biden when you get back!
prostratedragon
Kitty: “What am I doing in this bag?!!”
Karin Jean-Pierre has had enough of Ed O’Keefe’s bullshit:
O. Felix Culpa
@Old School: Hush your mouth! :)
cope
Gearing up for triple digit heat here on the Western Slope toward the end if the week. Not yet boycotting news and such but I have cut back to 500 calories of “news” per day and already shed 2 pounds.
satby
@satby: whoever that is up there with the typo’d nym, it’s not me 🧐
Yutsano
@satby: Doth we have a mystery on our hands?
I’ll get my pipe.
satby
@prostratedragon: good for her. I would have gone right over the podium at him. Not productive, but oh, so satisfying.
TaMara
@satby: I put that back in pending – I sent WG & Cole an email about it…in case it’s someone trying to spoof you.
dkinPa
I posted this earlier today at the end of an almost dead thread, so reposting again. I’m being selective in what I read. Refusing to click on any more Biden Old articles anywhere, and I wrote Josh Marshall at TPM to say I was absolutely riding with Biden, and hoped he would stick with him, too. I gave up on television years ago, so I’m spared the worst of people freaking out. Was very pleased that Anne Laurie posted the Dana Houle tweet thread below. I copied the whole thread and am sending it to friends and relatives. (If you didn’t see it, go look for it — it would be a disaster to abandon Biden now, from a purely logistical standpoint.) Also, writing postcards — honestly, it’s quite soothing. If you’re not good at talking to people but want to help Dems, it’s perfect. Okay, here’s what I posted earlier:
I have a long, long relationship with the Washington Post. We lived in Northern Virginia when I was growing up and my parents always had a subscription. Used to read the comics pages to my younger sisters when I learned to read. Lived in D.C. during Watergate. Thought they did a good job during the Trump administration.
So, I called their subscription department this morning to politely bitch and told them I was seriously thinking of dropping my subscription. Actually talked to two people, both of them young. The first let me finish my spiel, then said she was transferring me to the digital department and please hold. Seemed to take a while, but I realized that was because she was giving Person #2 some background. Unloaded even more on Person #2, and found him receptive. (He let slip that “a lot of us are concerned.”) If I’m going to cancel, I want the higher-ups to know damn well why. Was assured that he would pass my concerns up the line.
Passing this on to urge everyone to make some noise, whether it’s to the paper you subscribe to, or your representatives. I called my two PA senators over the weekend and left messages urging them to stand loud and proud with Biden. (Planning to follow up with letters and emails later this week.)
UncleEbeneezer
One of my fave podcasts, the Three Guys On podcast, had a fun time analyzing Biden’s post-debate visit to Waffle House where he was dapping it up, joking and showing plenty of energy and coherence with black voters.
As they noted, Biden has an easy way with the community that shows he’s spent a lot of time with them and has always taken them seriously and been willing to listen and learn from them. It’s the kind of thing you can’t fake. And it’s one of the big reasons (in addition to thinking he could win) they backed him instead of Bernie, Warren or Buttigieg in 2020 and still are doing so in 2024.
Torrey
Unfortunately, politics is somewhat adjacent to what I do, so I’ve been spending some time talking my friends down off the various ledges on which they’ve come to roost. One of them kept talking about how all these commenters had been talking about Biden’s age for the last six months, and I have been pointing out that folks in that business are ALWAYS talking about the president’s health, age, stamina, brown suits, intelligence, reliance on a nefarious VP, school-marmish-New-England-accent-and-gestures, wife-with-an-astrology-fetish, etc., and that thus, they can honestly say in this case that Biden’s health / age has been brought up in private conversations with them for six months. Which, if you think about it, is just when the Christmas season ended and everyone had to get back to writing about politics. So when they say “Many people have brought up in private conversations their concerns about X” they’re being accurate, strictly speaking, but not really truthful, in the sense of conveying truthful information. Sheesh!
satby
@TaMara: thanks.
dkinPa
Oops, forgot to mention that I love the kitten and his expression! But, yes, how dare you leave that adorable creature!
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: I’m in anger management for a reason. My wife doesn’t need this shit.
Jay
https://nitter.poast.org/United24media/status/1810299104603361353#m
Almost Retired
@O. Felix Culpa: Thanks for the link. I just signed up for the swing state group (encouragingly, the website says that they don’t need further volunteers for Wisconsin and Montana). I requested Nevada because I’m sure that people in that state love having Californians tell them what to do.
I’ve resisted the postcard effort because of my wretched handwriting – pharmacists are like “…dude… what is this? I don’t read Arabic.” But I will block print. It will take forever.
Rusty
I think Joe is close to killing off the any serious drop out pressure. The base spoke and they want him. (Hooray!). My take is the NYT and WP got way over their skis on this one. They managed to drive out the presidents of Harvard and Penn and thought they would just roll the US president too. It worked with the others because there was a limited audience that is bought into both papers and the other various MSM. Get a few university board members worried and you can drive the agenda. For Joe, the electorate wasn’t willing to let a bunch of over entitled editors and pundits take away their choice. They not only missed, but I think they seriously hurt themselves in the long run. There was a certain respect that they knew what they were talking about. After the first day, even me who has a full time job, family, and night classes figured out that it would be super hard to replace Biden. Ballot access, money, campaign staff and more. The fact that people who have this as their full time job couldn’t figure this out was galling. Well, either they were too dumb, or disingenuous, or likely both. Who could respect them now? The supposed experts didn’t even acknowledge the difficulties, they just went off the deep end. They were marginally useless before, now they have shown they aren’t even competent. They are also completely out of touch with the average voter, which makes anything they say even more useless. I welcome their irrelevancy.
prostratedragon
@satby: Yeah, both parts of my nym are meaningful; the prostration is a frequently-desperate effort at control.
dkinPa
@O. Felix Culpa: Thanks for the link to postcards to swing states! I bookmarked them; occasionally Postcards to Voters has a lull and this looks very similar.
UncleEbeneezer
@O. Felix Culpa: Wonderful! I usually get my postcards from my local UDH and/or Swing Left (I have a good friend who is a leader there) but maybe I will try Postcards To Swing states so I can pick my target. You should have no problem doing 200 by October. If you do them in batches of 25 it only takes 60-90 minutes to knock out a batch. I just put on some music and trudge through. In 2020/2022 BJ had some Postcard Threads/Sessions. They were always fun too. I’m guessing there might be some of those as we get closer to crunch time.
Kristine
@O. Felix Culpa: I signed up with them too. Still waiting on my packet. Ordered my stamps in time to beat the price increase.
I let them choose for me, so let’s see if I get NC too.
TaMara
@CaseyL: Oh, no, he was definitely giving me a look. He has so much personality (nothing against any of my other cats – but this dude is a tiny spitfire)
eclare
@satby:
As Nancy said about TCFG, I’m going to punch him out, I’m going to go to jail, and I’ll be happy.
geg6
@OzarkHillbilly:
Same.
And thanks to TaMara for a politics-free thread!
Quinerly
@prostratedragon: I listened to this in real time. She was awesome.
I have recommended this press briefing now on 3 threads.
BellaPea
I read an interesting article about the leadership crisis in The Washington Post on my newsfeed. It seems that Bezos came in with noble intentions “you report the news, no interference from me” and then he dropped the ball when his marriage fell apart. At least the Murdoch dick the main editor proposed bringing in got so much opposition that the guy never took the job officially. It’s too bad all of our media outlets have become so compromised.
Kristine
@Almost Retired: I’ve been advised to block print postcards because younger folks didn’t learn cursive in school (for the most part) and have trouble reading it. My printing is still a little swirly but it’s not cursive.
geg6
@prostratedragon:
LOL! And then he wrapped up by saying Biden is meeting with the CBC in order to shore up support from them. As if they are the ones who are doubting Biden. What a hack.
dkinPa
@Torrey: Yes, I’ve also been spending time talking friends and relatives off ledges and out from under the bed. Mostly emailing them helpful articles (most of which I find here on B-J), as I’m not good at marshaling my thoughts and thinking on my feet.
rikyrah
@prostratedragon:
They were so disrespectful to her today 😡😡😡
eclare
@Kristine:
I’m 55, and I have trouble with cursive!
Jackie
Has this new Project 2025 ad been posted? I’m so glad some of our media is finally paying attention!
https://youtu.be/CzvpRDstSk0?si=s_fs93BeEYM4cdbQ
Quinerly
@OzarkHillbilly:
You been following this Rolling Stones story in Missouri?
https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/how-fishing-led-rolling-stones-perform-ozarks-2024-07-08/
O. Felix Culpa
@Almost Retired: I block print too. My handwriting used to be bloopy grade school, and now is barely legible. Plus, huge swaths of the youngs can’t read cursive any more.
Or what Kristine said at #43.
Kristine
@eclare: My handwriting has definitely changed over time. A little less legible, though it varies.
Better just to print. Kicks all questions to the curb
O. Felix Culpa
@rikyrah: Can’t imagine why. /s
eclare
@Jackie:
That’s good.
delphinium
@prostratedragon: The press is such unprofessional, pathetic hacks. I don’t know how she can stand doing her job.
TaMara
@O. Felix Culpa:
@Kristine:
I feel ya! I’ve taken to sketching out chapters by hand and sometimes when I’m trying to read my notes later while typing the chapter, I’m like, what demon got hold of my pen?! LOL
prostratedragon
@geg6:
Always be closing!
Almost Retired
@Kristine: Yup. Block printing to me seems like a medium more suited to a hostage ransom note, but if no one can read my cursive, there’s no point to participating in the postcard effort.
Eyeroller
@prostratedragon: The CBC already came out with full support. I don’t know what this current gaslighting is.
OzarkHillbilly
@Quinerly:
Uuuccckk… The Stones, Table Rock Lake, 20,000 people…. Not my cup of tea. Give me a gravel bar, a deep pool, a tight line, a bell and a whippoorwill… Heaven to me.
Eyeroller
@Almost Retired: If one wants to write with any fluency or speed, one comes up with some form of cursive whether taught or not. Some conventions of cursive will fall away, like the capital Q. But most is pretty self-explanatory.
wjca
My problem is that my “normal” handwriting is not only block print but all caps. Too many years writing (and reading) mainframe computer code. I can do upper and lower case . . . but it’s slow.
UncleEbeneezer
@Rusty: The Republican efforts to get scalps at Penn and Harvard were clearly bad-faith, witch-hunts to attack higher-ed. But I follow several Liberal Zionists who oppose the war, want a Cease Fire, are literal peace activists, positively LOATHE Netanyahu/Likud, but also talk a lot about systemic Anti-Semitism in our society and the fact that we are mostly ignorant and/or in denial about it.
All of which is to say, it’s not just Republicans, hardcore Zionists, Likudniks etc., who think there’s a serious problem throughout our society, including the Left and in Academia and are raising an alarm about it. Last month Stanford’s SUBCOMMITTEE ON ANTISEMITISM AND ANTI-ISRAELI BIAS OF THE JEWISH ADVISORY COMMITTEE AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY released a report titled “It’s in the Air”: Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias at Stanford, and How to Address It and it paints a pretty ugly but not surprising picture (given how crappy our education spaces are at recognizing and handling Racism, Misogyny, Transphobia etc., I assume they have similar blind-spots for Anti-Semitism). Looking through the list of subcommittee members, none of them (that I could find info on) seem like obvious, bad faith, MAGA jerks. So while a lot of the discourse is pushed by assholes like Bari Weiss, ADL (who I don’t trust at all and who grossly weaponize their identity and spout Islamophobia), other people who I really do respect, like Josh Marshall, Daniel Goldman, Magdi Jacobs (for just a couple examples) also see a real problem.
To be clear, just using your comment as a good jumping off point, for something I’ve been thinking about a lot, not because I think you are in denial in any way.
Quinerly
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’m a Stones chick. 20,000 people aren’t that many people.😉
H.E.Wolf
[How is everyone else handling this shitshow?]
Same as a number of others on this thread: ignore the news, buckle down and write postcards (and do data entry for my state Democratic Party).
I also phoned my 2 US Senators and my US Rep (2 voicemail and 1 intern), and said truthfully that I was a longtime liberal Democrat who had volunteered on their campaigns, and that I’m strongly supporting Biden’s candidacy and would like them to do the same.
Then I thanked the intern for the work he was doing, which shocked him silly. :)
H.E.Wolf
That would be perfect for postcards! Block print, in all caps, is easy to read.
Almost Retired
@H.E.Wolf: Amen! You are consistently a force of reason and sanity!
Bex
@cain: Watched MSNBC tonight after my blackout for four or so days. Not too bad. Nicole Wallace devoted most of her second hour to project 2025. Same for Katie Phang during the next hour. First story on Joy Reid featured an interview with Jasmine Crockett (always a pleasure) about Black solidarity with Biden.
H.E.Wolf
Only because I delete my intemperate rants before posting them. :)
And also, I was very fortunate to have some wise and temperate elders in my family when I was growing up. I don’t always live up to their example… but most of the time, I try to.
H.E.Wolf
@Almost Retired: PS: thank you for the very kind words. Truly appreciated.
H.E.Wolf
It takes me forever, too. I am a SNAIL. But my meager output still helps swell the numbers!
Steeplejack
Question for people who write postcards: are the cards you get slick or more card-stock-y? I am left-handed and have a hard time writing on glossy surfaces without smearing everything. I use the least smeary pens I can find (yay, Pilot G2!), but even they are usually no match for a slick, glossy surface. I can even smear with a ballpoint!
H.E.Wolf
@Steeplejack: I too am a southpaw, and I use matte-surface cards and ballpoint/fountain-pen ink.
I write everything with a piece of scrap paper tucked under my writing hand, and have since childhood… because otherwise I can and do smear any kind of ink (and some pencils).
My secret weapon is White-Out tape. :)
Redshift
I’m also mostly tuning out, too (probably should do that more if the time.) I’m signed up for the first day of canvassing at our local campaign office next Saturday, and I called my reps, one to politely tell them off and urge them to drop this nonsense and get on board, and the other to thank them for staying away from it.
Mousebumples
Postcarding tip if you’re worried about your handwriting – I’ve gotten neon printer labels to add MOST IMPORTANT INFO (eg candidate, election day, website, etc.) a second time.
I handwrite, as instructed. And then I use that sticker to make sure the most important part is legible.
My handwriting is usually fine if I work at it. But if I’m doing a bunch of postcards in one sitting, my tired hand handwriting can get less readable.
Avery has some good quality labels.
H.E.Wolf
Clocking out – thank you to everyone for the thread full of practical tips and action items!
Mousebumples
@Steeplejack: postcards to voters has an Etsy store with great cardstock for glossy cards. Not sure what Postcards to Swing States sends.
We’re in the middle of bedtime, but I can toss the Etsy link in this thread later tonight if someone else doesn’t beat me to it.
UncleEbeneezer
O. Felix Culpa
@Steeplejack:
The cards I just got from postcards to swing states are glossy on the front, and less slick on the writing side. I haven’t started writing on them yet, so don’t know how smeary they are. Hopefully not, because I share your problem with smearing ink, which can be frustrating.
Torrey
@dkinPa:
Thanks for this reminder. If a lot of individuals make a little noise each (very politely, of course), it really does add up. The Powers That Be are certainly aware that the relatively few people who make some noise represent a lot of people who feel the same way but, for whatever reason, don’t make noise.
Quinerly
@Bex:
MSNBC has been great starting with Wallace.
Sen Fetterman up next on Jen Psaki’s show.
Mousebumples
@Redshift: thanks for volunteering!
Steeplejack
@H.E.Wolf:
Thanks! I’m wondering about situations where they send me the cards and I don’t get to choose them myself.
Mousebumples
@Steeplejack: might be worth asking. I’m sure you’re not the first southpaw to write with them?
Ruckus
I follow the news here. I have found that if I watch or read too much stuff about which I effectively can do extremely little to absolutely nothing about, drives me up a wall – and I’m too old to attempt to climb walls, with or without rope or harness or elevator. This site, especially as I’m west coast, is actually a big help, because a lot gets hashed out, at least to some level before I see it.
zhena gogolia
@Ruckus: Yes, that usually works for me too, as long as the trolls stay away!
Mousebumples
@Mousebumples: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ToVoters
Steeplejack
@Mousebumples:
Thanks for that link. The two cards I looked at include details on the card stock and ink-worthiness.
laura
Monday shot out of a cannon, and there’s been all manner of good news to savor. Let’s be excellent to each other and pull the wagon and be grateful to be of service to a Greater Good- saving democracy. Let’s call out the alternative, let’s laugh and dance and strengthen solidarity at all levels. Let’s join together in a fight worth having and also spend the time necessary recharge and hang on a hammock or on the porch or near a pool/pool table and restore the well of the soul and eat the special foods of the season and see the family and look forward to the task at hand.
mvr
Also (mostly) on a news blackout. I’ve been fishing a lot to keep me off the internet.
Chris T.
@dkinPa:
They had the best comics for a while, after the Moonie paper went under maybe? I forget. Anyway three full pages of comics!
Of course that was back when papers lived off classified ads…
Prometheus Shrugged
@UncleEbeneezer: Sorry, dead thread, I know, but…I was very unpleasantly surprised by Brad Mehldau’s off hand admission to Rick Beato that he was a fan of Ayn Rand. I won’t stop listening to his music because of that admission–his occasional return to straight jazz recently has been especially brilliant–but still, WTH…very disappointing…