Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

FFS people, this was a good thing. take the win.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

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

It looks like winning debates is a black job!

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

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

“They not like us!” (that’s for sure!)

“But what about the lurkers?”

Peak wingnut was a lie.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

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

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

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Reader Interactions

177Comments

  4. 4.

    sab

    Fuck! I know VanGogh  had problems but his art was wonderful, and he did sacrifice his ear for that girl.. Trump wouldn’t cut off his ear for anyone. I do hope he has a hideous scar.

  5. 5.

    KrackenJack

    Too soon? I say not!

    I would’ve bet money that TCFG wouldn’t pick anyone like Vance given his propensity to elevate unqualified people who will be loyal to him. Vance is not that.

    Vance and Thiel are already preparing a 25th Amendment plan. I can only guess that Thiel’s money overcame TCFG’s sense of self-preservation.

  10. 10.

    El Cruzado

    Vance has a few things going for him:

    • A long career telling richer, more powerful people what they want to hear.
    • A character arc of protest, then submission, like the distinguished senator from South Carolina.
    • Peter Thiel’s loan of his Smithers may come with some Peter Thiel’s money.
  11. 11.

    citizen dave

    My guys, Tenacious D (Jack Black and Kyle Gass) are in trouble for similar humor–or attempt at humor, YMMV.  The joke was in context, a birthday wish to the devil, but it’s not a good look.  Apologies forthcoming, I’m sure.  Especially since Jack Black was at the recent Biden fundraiser.

  13. 13.

    Al Rennick

    Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, convinced Biden will lose, has been working the phones since June 27 in hopes of finding a way to ease him off the ticket.

    One of her colleagues was struck to see her chatting, furtively but openly, with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries last week in a corner of the House Democratic cloakroom in plain sight of a dozen lawmakers.

    The extent of Pelosi’s behind-the-scenes role hasn’t been fully revealed and may never be if the former speaker has her way. But I’m told by people familiar with the exchanges that she’s stage-managed phone calls to Jeffries, plotted strategies with the biggest names in Democratic politics and told one former elected official that Biden’s legacy can’t be destroying the party.

    h/t https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/07/15/republicans-trump-unity-column-00168219

     

     

  15. 15.

    Cacti

    JD Vance. 39 years old, going on 80.

    A young face selling the same stale Republican ideas.

  16. 16.

    Poe Larity

    One plus of global warming is that I won’t need to turn the AC up to 78 degrees like my parental units did.

  17. 17.

    hueyplong

    @Al Rennick: Bullshit.

    No sources.

    Pelosi and Jeffries were “chatting,” “openly.”  No representations as to what they were chatting about.  And if she were “furtively” working him, why do it “openly?”

    Finally, it’s Politico.

    So, bullshit.

  18. 18.

    sab

    We were supposed to get a new roof today, but bad weather was predicted. It didn’t happen. Went south of us, and also north over the great lake.  Rinse repeat tomorrow.

    Disappointing, but I am very much in favor of keeping roofers off the roof in thunderstorms and not having my roof removed in a downpour.

  19. 19.

    Jay

    Noted troll reposting unsourced trolling, already debunked.

    Off the record, staffers report that Noted Troll has a tiny dick and wears diapers. Is also mad at his Mom for not keeping the Cheeto’s, Pop Tarts and Mountain Dew Code Red stocked up in the snack cupboard.

  20. 20.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Jay: Started to read it. Think I’ll save it, I’m having a nice angst-free evening with the wife right now.

    But yeah, Dot Number One, that bit from the Alex Jones show about how it would be really great for MAGA if TFG were assassinated and Mike Flynn put in is… kind of chilling in retrospect.

  21. 21.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @hueyplong:

    Don’t entertain that troll. They literally only comment that shit and mostly in the last few weeks. They never try to engage with anyone here to be apart of the community

  22. 22.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Jay: If the dots connected, they would’ve waited a day until Vance was officially VP. As the Red Queen put it:

    Johnny J.D. will rise gallantly to his feet and lift Ben Arthur’s Trump’s body in his arms, stand in front of the microphones and begin to speak. The speech is short. But it’s the most rousing speech I’ve ever read. It’s been worked on, here and in Russia, on and off, for over eight years. I shall force someone to take the body away from him and Johnny J.D. will really hit those microphones and those cameras with blood all over him, fighting off anyone who tries to help him, defending America even if it means his own death, rallying a nation of television viewers to hysteria, to sweep us up into the White House with powers that will make martial law seem like anarchy!

  26. 26.

    Doug R

    @sab: There’s a theory out there that he and a buddy got really ripped on absinthe and then had a “duel” and the buddy sliced his ear off.

    Then in the morning, buddy was like: “Man you were nuts last night, sliced your own ear off”.

    Like I said, a theory.

    Which kinda fits Trump even more.

  28. 28.

    Harrison Wesley

    Funny – someone in England who I went to high school with sent me that picture earlier today.  Vincent van Gag.

  30. 30.

    Jay

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    As we know, it’s almost impossible to have a conspiracy of this kind, but it is easy to use stochastic terrorism to fire up a lone gunman.

    Unfortunately, the lone gunman will act randomly.

  31. 31.

    Gvg

    It is very scary that Flynn was able to reach General in our armed forces. I would assume he was a stooge tending criminal and possibly already a traitor before he was out. Also from what I have heard his brother and son need to be kicked out too. We don’t want partisan witch hunts, but we don’t want bought traitors in our ranks either. How do we tighten things up?

  34. 34.

    Another Scott

    @Sister Golden Bear: That’s such a great movie.

    There’s some story that when JFK heard they were going to make a movie based on the book he asked, “Who’s playing the mother?”

    Angela should have won the Oscar for that.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  35. 35.

    hueyplong

    @Sister Golden Bear: That’s hilarious.  I actually lifted the same passage, did the same corrections, and for some reason the post didn’t take.

    So obviously I kind of agree with you.

  36. 36.

    Eyeroller

    @Doug R:  Some people who have analyzed the available data say that Ross took about equally from Clinton and Bush, and Clinton still would have won narrowly without him.  That is probably true with RFK Jr this year as well.  The concern is that third-party votes can be capricious, as we saw in 2016.  And probably the Johnson votes were more significant than the Stein votes that year.  It can increase the uncertainty.

  37. 37.

    Chris Johnson

    @KrackenJack: So I’ve been telling people to google this:

    “dark enlightenment Thiel”

    The more you dig, the more you’ll find that these people have things to offer an old man like Trump, specifically an old would-be King like Trump who is nearly as old as Joe Biden. It’s very like how Naziism got infiltrated by ‘esoteric Nazis’ who were FUCKIN WEIRD CREEPY, even for Nazis.

    It’s like that. If you’ve studied Dark Enlightenment because you’re a nerd and it’s horrifying, none of this is new to you, and you have a good guess as to what was promised to Trump.

    Let’s just say Thiel thinks he has solved mortality, and therefore he and Vance could well be offering that to Trump. I’m not making that up, but I’m not saying he is right. I can however say that ethical problems with his ideas are a thing, and that Trump would not give a fuck about that part.

    The Trump campaign got MORE creepy by LOTS when Thiel came on board. You might not believe that’s possible, but it did.

  39. 39.

    OGLiberal

    Just saw a chyron on MSNBC that said the Dems have paused ads and are softening their rhetoric.  Anybody agree with me that they should stop that now?  Sit back, be polite, and then rage machine will come out in his acceptance speech looking tough and strong – a fighter – and squishy undecideds will be like, “wow, that guy will protect me…will fight for me.”

    This is still a winnable race but need to get back on the attack.  Of course, the media will then accuse the Dems of brewing hate but they’re doing that anyway.

  42. 42.

    Kirk

    The DNC convention rules state that to be nominated as a candidate a declaration must be turned in that includes their name, 300 to 600 signatures of attending delegates, and the signed approval of the nominee. This must be turned in no later 6pm of the day preceding start of official nominations. No more than 50 of those signatures can be from any single state.

    On the first ballot only pledged delegates can vote, and for a candidate to win the final ballot they must get sufficient votes to have a majority of all the delegates, both pledged and automatic. Only after that can the automatic delegates have their votes considered, whether in addition to the first ballot or as a part of all subsequent ballots.

    “Joe must step down” bloviators need to explain the next steps that explain how their expected candidate navigates the stated process. If they aren’t answering that they’re just asking for a circus, bread optional. It doesn’t matter how rich and well known the person they’re backing might be, it matters if they can get at least 300 delegates to say, “Yes, that person.”

  43. 43.

    Chris Johnson

    @OGLiberal: There is no point fussing about what the media SAY the Democrats are doing. At this point you gotta go no-contact. Certain media properties are worse than others. Isn’t Morning Joe on MSNBC? Or would be if they had not cancelled them to run Trump propaganda?

  47. 47.

    Suzanne

    Arrrrrgh. They’re finding out more and more about Thomas Crooks. He apparently bought the rounds on Saturday morning at the gun store next to the Sheetz I go to. Roads in Bethel Park were shut down in that entire neighborhood because there was concern about explosive devices. What a trauma for that community.

  48. 48.

    Harrison Wesley

    @OGLiberal: For sure Dems shouldn’t slow down with broadcasting the real contents of the GOP platform.  What would be the GOP response – “we didn’t write those things that are written in our platform?”  The media could try to cover for them, but I don’t think that would work.

  49. 49.

    Suzanne

    Axios is reporting that Vivek Ramaswamy wants Vance’s Senate seat.

    It’s a motherfucking carousel of craven assholes.

  50. 50.

    WaterGirl

    @OGLiberal: On Beau’s podcast last night he reported that they were pausing to assess how things were playing out, not that they had made a decision to soften.

    The TV pundits are all unreliable narrators.  

    That can’t be said enough.

  55. 55.

    Yutsano

    @Suzanne: Axios is reporting that Vivek Ramaswamy wants Vance’s Senate seat.

    Let him have it. He’ll have to defend it in three months assuming DeWine bothers to fill it

    EDIT: appreciate tots & pears. I need my car to start and hopefully replacing the battery fixed it.

  61. 61.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Al Rennick: We saw this earlier. There’s basically no sourcing and the quotes don’t back up what the author says. And it even says explicitly that Pelosi would deny it.

    Meh.

  62. 62.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @WaterGirl:

    The TV pundits are all unreliable narrators.  

    That’s a much better, safe-for-television version than mine:

    “The TV pundits are all lying sacks of shit.”

  63. 63.

    Jackie

    @Other MJS:

    Donald Trump met this morning in Milwaukee with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to discuss the possibility of the independent candidate endorsing the Republican nominee,” Politico reports.

    TCFG can’t decide if RFK jr hurts or helps him, but it’s curious that Kennedy’s in Milwaukee.

  64. 64.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Suzanne: I read that the FBI got into his phone. It’ll be interesting to see what that leads to.

    Dude certainly looks like a Republican tryhard. His friends say he was really, deeply conservative and his dad was a committed libertarian. The only evidence otherwise is a onetime $15 donation to… someone or something on ActBlue two years ago.

  65. 65.

    Eyeroller

    @WaterGirl: I thought I saw they were resuming today (Monday).  If not, why not?  Trump never paused.

    Why do we always have to “go high”?  It just gets us kneecapped.

  66. 66.

    UncleEbeneezer

    That was fast:

    ALERT: Special Counsel Jack Smith spokesman:

    “The dismissal of the case deviates from the uniform conclusion of all previous courts to have considered the issue that the Atty General is statutorily authorized to appoint a Special Counsel. The Justice Dept has authorized the Special Counsel to appeal the court’s order”

  68. 68.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Jackie: It’s nice to see that in these troubling times that two wealthy nepo-babies with somewhat different horrifying points of view can come together…

  69. 69.

    Fair Economist

    @cintibud:

    How many places do we need to say “Fuck JD Vance.

    We could say it in the rain. Or in the dark. Or on a train. Or in a car. Or in a tree. Nobody likes Vance, you see.

  72. 72.

    Tony Jay

      … after a period during which the Republic’s government oscillated between Plebian orators and Patrician dullards, the public career of Trumpus Foetidus Bufo and his barely remembered junior Consul (for verily, who outside the realms of dusty academia remembers the many humiliations heaped upon Plumbeus Denarius Lactaea?) would, despite his dramatic fall, be seen by later generations as the tipping point when all of the iron certainties of service and duty finally gave way to a contest of rival fortunes. Where Bufo had led, other – far wealthier – magnates would follow, purchasing the minor offices of state for their loyal servitors (see Janus Rusticus Vancus) with such abandon that many could foresee a time when the armies of the Republic would march into battle under a general like Quercus Moschatus or Petrus Strigus Tilia, whose only qualifications for Imperium were to be literally richer than Croesus and eager to buy what they could not earn…

    From ‘An Empire – If You Can Keep It’ by Professor William Zane

    Ah, I got nuthin.

  73. 73.

    Harrison Wesley

    @Jackie: RFKJRFAKENEWSCOVID might have been deluding himself that he would be Trump’s VP choice.  Or that Trump would be his.

  74. 74.

    Anonymous At Work

    @KrackenJack: Agreed.  First hard cough by TFG, and Vance will spring into action.  Dan Pfieffer thinks it’s a Bush-Cheney thing, where Vance will be TFG’s “Dick Cheney” to carry out the dirty work.

    Maybe, but Vance will try to get half the Cabinet appointments to go his way.  If TFG knows anything (Narrator: He doesn’t), he’d have Vance submit an un-dated resignation letter.

  77. 77.

    elliottg

    Here is my biggest problem with the United States today. I simply don’t recognize it. I realize that this is the same problem that the fascist m*****f*****s on the Right have with me so I can’t even begin to understand them. I can’t even talk to anybody in the middle because I don’t know what I’m supposed to be arguing for or against. I mean Nazis are bad should be self-evident, but it isn’t. Destruction of the rule of law within the federal judiciary should be self-evident, but it isn’t. I mean I get that Biden is old and that’s a liability, but if you have cancer, you don’t complain about getting chemo if you plan on maximizing your chances of survival.

  78. 78.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Anonymous At Work:

    Vance will be TFG’s “Dick Cheney” to carry out the dirty work.

    Vance hasn’t shown the kind of competency to do that.  He wouldn’t know where to start.

    Darth Cheney, otoh, had decades of experience.

  79. 79.

    Harrison Wesley

    @Fair Economist:  Would you, could you vote for Vance?/Would you do it in advance?

    I would not, could not vote for Vance/My girlfriend would look at me askance.

  83. 83.

    SenyorDave

    I posted this earlier on another forum, and I was criticized.  I stand by it.

    I wish he’d succeeded. I’m pretty pragmatic and consider myself to pretty utilitarian. I didn’t wake up thinking that I’d like to see him assisinated, but if it was going to be attempted I wish it had been successful. In all the talk here about how terrible the Republican party is we sometimes forget how uniquely awful Trump he is. Is he Hitler? No, but he is far and away the worst person to ever seriously run for president, and I include Wallace and other similar types. He is an evil person, and worse yet, he surrounds himself with evil people. Let’s say Nikki Haley had to step in as the nominee. Does anyone think she would have handled Covid substantially differently than Biden would have?  She would have listened to the experts like any normal president. And people like Stephen Miller and Steve Bañon would not be in the administration. I might not like Haley’s policy but she cares about the country and is not an evil person. She would have a cabinet with like minded people who at least have a basic level of competence, and are not chosen based on how they much they suck up to Trump.
    And then there is Project 2025. With Trump there is no question in my mind that all policy will be directed by the Heritage people, who seem to be kind of like a slightly softer version of the nazi party.
    Trump is an evil person who does evil shit and surrounds himself with people just as evil. And now the Supreme Court, and a federal judge have given their permission to do anything he wants.

    Bottom line is once the Heritage people get the executive branch they’ll do anything to keep it.

  84. 84.

    elliottg

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: ​
     

    Vance got his law degree from Yale coming from a non-privileged background. He wrote a bestseller that became a feature film. He is very wealthy and connected. He got elected senator. Seems pretty competent to me even if he is a worthless sh*t.

  87. 87.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @SenyorDave: Getting myself ready to see the media put this obscure internet comment up against Trump’s savagery to validate “both sides, but really Ds are worse.”

    We all know the D activist set are more powerful and should bear more scrutiny than Republican politicians.

  92. 92.

    ArchTeryx

    @SenyorDave: Think that comment is a good candidate for deletion, mods. Really, it is NOT a good idea to post that shit on the Internet. Especially now.

  94. 94.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @elliottg:

    Entirely different skillset.  There’s tons of debate on Vance at Yale and what that means or doesn’t mean in terms of some generic idea of “competency”.  A book became a feature film, same can be said for transphobe JK Rowling, I wouldn’t consider her skillset relevant to doing Hair Furor’s ‘dirty work’.

    Getting elected Senator?  Tommy Tuberville managed that and he’s dumb as a bag of rocks.

    Cheney and crew when they came onboard in 01?  They had an agenda (not good internationally or domestically, I saw it first hand in the DOT mode where I worked–and I’d technically worked for him when he was Sec Def) and carried it out ruthlessly across all levels of the Federal government.  It was scary.  I endured 4 years of Hair Furor’s reign of error and from a federal employee perspective, there wasn’t that much to worry about because of the sheer incompetency of the administration, again, I’m looking at this in the context of the ruthless efficiency of Bush/Cheney.

    Felonious D has for the most part never surrounded himself with competent people because he’s afraid of competent people.  His (mal)administration was certainly proof of that for the most part.

    He is wealthy and obviously well connected to scumbags like Thiel.  That’s really his only demonstrable talent.

  96. 96.

    lowtechcyclist

    @schrodingers_cat: ​
     

    Its an important enough announcement that deserves its own thread IMHO.

    Yabbut when there’s two threads that have already been almost entirely about the VP choice, it seems like overkill to start a third just because it hasn’t been in the thread title.

  97. 97.

    Soprano2

    @SenyorDave: If you think today’s Republican party would nominate Haley I have a bridge in NY City to sell you super cheap.

    ETA the rest of your comment is repulsive.

  99. 99.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Trump gifted the Democrats with a far-right weirdo of a running mate. Now if my own party can shut the fuck up about Biden and focus on the actual general election, I just think we can win. You know, if my party would take it’s fucking Xanax and get to work.

    I would add that this doesn’t only apply to The Dem Party™ but really, all of us. It’s time to stop bashing Biden (or defending those who do), get to work and stop Trump.

  103. 103.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    I’m shocked it’s vance. I was sure it would be Joan Rivers or Meatloaf.

  105. 105.

    TS

    Anyone that would work with/for trump has failed  in too many ways to count. The Australian media seems to have given the election to trump – including the small portion that isn’t owned by Murdoch.

    I continue with hope but the fight against Biden sure equals the fight against Hilary – this time the media might well destroy itself.

  106. 106.

    karen marie

    @Al Rennick:   Anything not attributed to a specific person is garbage.  Do not believe any of it.

    That gossip hurts not only Biden but Pelosi.  Ask yourself, who wants to hurt both of those people.

  107. 107.

    Jay

    @Jackie:

    @ArchTeryx:

    I found it quite interesting, in the sense that they believe that Nikki Haley would be the nominee, (nope, MAGGoT’s won’t stand for that), that whom ever get’s the mantle won’t be as bugnut and vengeful as Dolt 45, that Project 2025 and Project 47 will die quietly, and a ReThug Cabinet would be sane.

    Almost like they have completely ignored what the ReThugs have become over the past few decades and are wish casting for 34 Felonies Rapist Pedo to be replaced with Saint Ronnie.

  108. 108.

    WaterGirl

    @SenyorDave:

    I posted this earlier on another forum, and I was criticized.  I stand by it.

    And I am going to criticize you for that comment here.

    Trump is indeed a terrible person and much of what you are saying is true.

    But assassination is never the answer.  As a society, we simply have to resolve political issues without violence.

    I don’t want to live in a world like the Hatfields and McCoys, or gangs, where they kill one of yours so you kill one of theirs

    edit: your comment has been marked as SPAM while we wait for Cole to decide whether it can be visible to others or not.  hopefully he will see my text soon and make a decision.

  110. 110.

    Trivia Man

    I’m a fan of deliberately obtuse… JD Vance? The former governor of Indiana? I thought trump hated him?

  111. 111.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Harrison Wesley:

    Heh heh, very nice!

    Using that context, there’s another Clint Eastwood quote that’s also applicable:

    “A man’s gotta know his limitations.”

    Should the unthinkable happen and that team of fascists get elected, we’ll look back on this moment, see who was more accurate, then hopefully chuckle as we’re being rounded up.

  115. 115.

    wjca

    @elliottg: Seems pretty competent to me

    But competent at what?  For example, I’m competent with computers, but would be hopeless trying to fix an internal combustion engine.

    Cheney knew how government, specifically the Federal government, works.  Vance? Not so much.

    EDT comrade scott at #93 got there first

  116. 116.

    Citizen Alan

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage:  I am very interested to see how JD Vance holds up under a debate with Kamala Harris. I expect him to appear callow and ignorant but for the media to clutch its pearls about Kamala being uppity in the presence of a white man. Not in those words, but that will be the transparent subtext. And God help us all if Kamala sighs in exasperation at Vance’s idiocy.

  117. 117.

    M31

    @Trivia Man: ​
     

    lol was Rumsfeld implying he was an “A” hired by that notable “A” GW Bush?

    also that phrase is a totally stock commonplace, at least the “known unknowns” was a less stock commonplace

  122. 122.

    eversor

    @Anonymous At Work:

    Trump is an instinctive fascist.  Vance is a hardcore fucking theocrat who converted to Cathlocism at Rod Dreher’s urging because the leading Catholic thinkers are flat out integeralist/monarchist/fascists in the tradition of what Christianity truly is because he realizes the key to fascism is Christianity.

    Peter Thiel despite being a gay male who throws gay sex parties loves Vance and Christianity because he also knows Christianity is the core of fascism.

    Vance is several times worse than Trump because Vance actually is Christian.

    We are going to get a fascist theocracy good and hard and we fucking deserve it because too many people refuse to admit what Christianity fucking is.

    Even David fucking French admits this entire situation is a result of Christianity.

  123. 123.

    Citizen Alan

    @elliottg:  JD Vance is Lonesome Rhodes from A Face In The Crowd if he’d been a writer instead of a singer. Someone who ruthlessly parlayed his homespun good ole’ boy background into political power despite his personal hatred of the very lower class people to whom he appealed..

  125. 125.

    Cacti

    @WaterGirl: That’s an absolute statement, but is it really true? Would the assassination of Mussolini, Hitler, or Franco in the 1930s have been objectively bad or wrong?

    Hard to say, as we don’t know what would have happened afterwards.

    I agree with you generally that in a functioning democracy, violence isn’t the answer because the ballot box exists. But that option isn’t available to everyone in all places.

  128. 128.

    Jay

    @cain:

    It always come down to their “Sparta” delusions, and warrior/king fantasies.

    Funny thing, it’s never Genghis Khan who did spread his seed far and wide,…..

  131. 131.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @3Sice: Texas wants to do their own mini electoral college for statewide elections. Soon all Texans will be without power.

  133. 133.

    West of the Rockies

    Why respond to Al Pendick?  He never engages. He just does his pointless hit-and-run thing and scampers off like the fat-bottomed rat he is.

  134. 134.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Citizen Alan:

    I haven’t watched a debate since Biden eviscerated the Granny Starver in 12.

    Harris will similarly slice and dice that clown.  I might hafta tune in for that one.

  136. 136.

    Captain C

    @Jay: Bret Devereaux did a great series (as you probably know) on the myth of Sparta and why they were not all they were cracked up to be (and why it was probably an awful place to live no matter who you were).

  137. 137.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @Other MJS: there are people who think he is Robert Kennedy Senior. The Robert Kennedy who was assassinated  by Sirhan Sirhan. As Biden would say no joke. I  just want to watch a documentary of what happens between now and Jan 2025. I don’t want to actually experience  living through it.

  140. 140.

    Elizabelle

    On a Red Wine & Blue zoom chat, awaiting Heather Cox Richardson.  50K responded; over 30K online and growing at the moment

  141. 141.

    SomeRandomGuy

    @MisterForkbeard: That said, I did understand a reference that “Nancy Pelosi would be talking to people, taking the temperature, and making a plan.”

    Anyone who hasn’t thought through “Imagine if Joe Biden *really* can’t continue, due to a medical condition – how do we cleanly bring up Harris as THE nominee, without validating R-hate?”

    So reporting that she’s in discussions is stupid – of course she’s in discussions. There need to be discussions. What there doesn’t need to be is *action*, unless/until some event happens – heart attack, stroke, or, as I suggested before Trump’s ear, an assassination attempt. Who will give what speech, when, in what circumstances?

    Also: there’s a rumor circulating that Trump self-inflicted his ear injury, with a trick from his WWE days. I don’t give it any credence, but as people have pointed out, for a coward, he was unusually bold.

  142. 142.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: I’m not discounting Kamala Harris and her debate chops but I am not underestimating Vance. He went to Yale. He’s got to have picked up some knowledge about debating there. I just hope Kamala doesn’t overcompensate trying to come across as a nice non threatening technocratic black woman. I want to see the woman who grilled Bill Barr.

  144. 144.

    cain

    oh man – the widow of the supporter who died. She declined to speak with Biden because her husband is a devout Republican.

    https://twitter.com/SteamboatUSA/status/1812969269266948108

    Crazy. Not taking a call from the President of the United States. I remember when conservatives used to respect the office. This devotee’s wife will not get a single call from Trump. He went golfing – he didn’t give a FUCK about this person or her loss.

  146. 146.

    SomeRandomGuy

    @MisterForkbeard:  Elseweb, I saw a mention that there’s another person, same name, who made the donation. Obviously, if I give you a reference of “elseweb” I don’t know who said it when.

    The one thing it doesn’t is create any sort of motive, any more than Judge Merchan had any reason to dislike Trump before actually *meeting* him. “He gave some dollars to Democrats, which made him want to murder Trump” is even more stupid than the normal R-hate.

  150. 150.

    Ohio Mom

    @MisterForkbeard: I read somewhere that the donation was made by a different Thomas Crooks, an older man who is a Democrat. Guess that combo of names is not that rare.

  152. 152.

    Harrison Wesley

    @WaterGirl: Indeed.  We are several years away from that dark, evil Gohmerta – the traditional Sicilian Code of Stupidity.  Asparagus!

  153. 153.

    Miss Bianca

    @cain: I called it, tho – I knew Biden would reach out  before Trump did. If he ever does.

    As for the widow…well, I had best not express my opinion.

  154. 154.

    TBone

    @cain: and she took a call from Dem Governor Shapiro.  He said she gave him permission to speak about her husband.

    What a loon.

  157. 157.

    Harrison Wesley

    @cain: Wow, I remember that old song.  “‘Cause she’s got – physiognomy, physiognomy..”  At least I think it went something like that.

  160. 160.

    wjca

    @Miss Bianca:  I knew Biden would reach out  before Trump did. If he ever does.

    I’d bet he also reached out to the families to the two who were critically wounded as well.  Their names may not have been made public (that I’ve seen), but he can surely get them.

    For TCFG, of course, being wounded makes them losers.

  163. 163.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @cain: bbbut he was a church going man. Guess their church tells them not to talk to Democrats.  I feel sorry for the woman since she’s probably going through the anger part of grief. I feel worse for their kids.  Losing a parent is hard at any age but that’s a really tough age to lose a parent.

  164. 164.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @Miss Bianca: she can reach out to Biden when TFG refuses to give her her gofundme money.  Josh Shapiro will probably take care of it faster since he’s the former PA AG.

  165. 165.

    Gretchen

    @cain: Vance kept his wife pretty much under wraps during his Senate run. Few pictures or appearances as a couple.

  166. 166.

    cain

    @Mai Naem mobile: If she’s angry she’s going to keep her mouth shut. The GoFundMe set up has her up several million dollars.

    I suppose it’s ok if you get that much cash that you don’t get a condolences from Trump.

  167. 167.

    cain

    @Miss Bianca: Totally fits Trump’s personality. The man, who has jesus behind him with all those pictorials totally doesn’t give a shit about the people who died.

  169. 169.

    Trivia Man

    @M31: I know he was just a corporate meme machine, but he had several pithy phrases that I found value in considering.

    I didn’t take it as praise for Dumbya but rather a comment on insecure “leaders” who can’t stand the thought of being upstaged in any way. (I seem to recall that he was Cheney’s dude, W had little to do with his position)

  170. 170.

    Chris T.

    @Jay:

    Yup, and the funny thing is Greek’s weren’t white until after 1976.

    A lot of Americans don’t seem to remember their own history. My own ancestors immigrated from Germany (during a time when Germans were unwelcome) and Ireland (during a time when the Irish were unwelcome).

    Also, the KKK were primarily anti-Catholic in the 1920s (my Irish ancestors were, of course, Catholic).

    That said, “whiteness” has always been rather sloppily defined in the US. Most Europeans were “white”, they were just undesirable. Wretched refuse, you know. The shores were teeming with them.

  173. 173.

    Roberto el oso

    @Mai Naem mobile: Have you actually seen/read/heard this? That there are some people who think Kennedy is his father? I’m not disputing that you might have seen/read/heard this but I find it extremely hard to believe such people exist, even given the depths of ignorance and idiocy among certain elements of the electorate

    ETA: just to say that I absolutely believe there are low-info types that might think he is LIKE his father, but not that he literally is RFK sr.

  175. 175.

    evodevo

    @cain: ​  Well, I think Alex made it as far as the Indus River, at which point his army said Uh Uh, and he had to turn around. o​

  176. 176.

    No One You Know

    @sab: Pedant replies… actually, van Gogh lied to protect his housemate, Ganguin, and the dream of the “artist community in the south.”

    Ganguin was a bad-tempered individual ill-suited to such an experiment. He was also an excellent swordsman. I’ve read an account that says in an argument Ganguin struck Van Gogh with his sword.

    Van Gogh is also believed to have lied to protect another friend, a younger man playing with the gun that shot him. Impossible to prove, now, but there’s circumstantial evidence.

  177. 177.

    No One You Know

    @cain: Alexander the Great reached India. His armies rebelled at being that far from home  IIRC.

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