Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

Everybody saw this coming.

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

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

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

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

The lights are all blinking red.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

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

You are here: Home / Politics / Thursday Late Night Open Thread

Thursday Late Night Open Thread

by | 218 Comments

This post is in: ,

It’s getting late, and nothing else is going on in the back room.
So here are some greatest hits from this week and a couple of new things, too.

Definitely been a long month this week.  Heading to bed.

In case you missed it, here’s what is possibly the most gracious note, ever.

Also in case you missed it this morning.  Well done, Marsh Family!

Apologies for the photo of the orange guy, but I liked the meme.  h/t Subaru Diane

I’m sorry, Jackie, I couldn’t help myself.

I’ll try to be better tomorrow.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

218Comments

  1. 1.

    RinaX

    When J.D. Vance’s name was floated as a VP pick, I figured there was no way we’d get that lucky. Even I was unable to forsee just how disastrous he would be.

  3. 3.

    RepubAnon

    Rupert Murdock seeks to continue destroying Democracy after he goes to hell.
    NY Times Gift Link

     

    The Secret Battle for the Future of the Murdoch Empire

    Rupert Murdoch, the patriarch, has moved to change the family’s irrevocable trust to preserve his media businesses as a conservative force. Several of his children are fighting back.

    …

    The trust currently hands control of the family business to the four oldest children when Mr. Murdoch dies. But he is arguing in court that only by empowering Lachlan to run the company without interference from his more politically moderate siblings can he preserve its conservative editorial bent, and thus protect its commercial value for all his heirs.

    Those three siblings — James, Elisabeth and Prudence — were caught completely off-guard by their father’s effort to rewrite what was supposed to be an inviolable trust and have united to stop him. Lachlan has joined on Mr. Murdoch’s side. Remarkably, the ensuing battle has been playing out entirely out of public view.

  5. 5.

    elliottg

    Vance has a fairly thick skin; Trump not so much. We need to expand the couch thing to get under Trump’s skin. I’m not sure how exactly. 1. Does he like to watch? 2. Does he join in? 3. Does he secretly wish he had the courage to couch? Maybe something else.

  7. 7.

    lamh47

    @WaterGirl: did u see the last tic tok I posted in previous open thread.

    The Tik Tok gen is NOT letting up on that Vance and couch story and I.AM.LIVING.FOR.IT

  8. 8.

    Martin

    @elliottg: It’s not about getting under Vance’s skin, it’s about making it impossible for anyone to take him seriously, because you can’t look at him and not think about him fucking a couch.

    Different tactics against different strengths.

  9. 9.

    lamh47

    Ok…wow! Whatever it takes to get her into the WH. Can’t trust ’em afterwards, but get her in and worry bout it later!

    @PortiaMcGonagal

    We’re going to be in “the enemy of my enemy” is, if not my friend territory, my strategic ally working towards a common goal. GOP group puts up swing-state billboards with ex-Trump supporters now ‘voting for Harris’

    x.com/PortiaMcGonagal/status/1816472677126905892

  11. 11.

    lamh47

    btw, the white women for Kamala Harris call has already raised over 1.8M.

    And broke the Zoom call number records…close to 150,000 women in on the call!

    I know it’s early, but IDK this feels… don’t even want to say and jinx it.

  16. 16.

    Ken

    A new wrinkle in the couch story, which I first saw on Bluesky: People are asking why Vance hasn’t released a statement denying the incident.

    (I suppose technically this isn’t about the couch story, but about the weaponization of the couch story. It’s also an interesting angle on LBJ’s “make the SOB deny it”.)

  21. 21.

    Poe Larity

    I don’t think that Marvin’s voice will help me much with the Covid blues.

    Maybe Kenneth Copeland was right about demon tubes.

  23. 23.

    Jackie

    WaterGirl:

    I’m sorry, Jackie, I couldn’t help myself.

    You’re forgiven 😂

    Wait! No you’re not! OMG! I now have the worst ear worm, thanks to you😡

  24. 24.

    Martin

    @lamh47: There’s another 30K watching on YouTube. We put it on because Ms Martin wanted to join in.

    There has never been a call for white women by Democrats to my knowledge. This never happened for Hillary. This is a BFD. I hope they can find the strength and unity that black women have demonstrated.

  29. 29.

    Jackie

    That veteran saluting President Biden… 😭

    He expressed my feelings so well. Thank you, President Biden.♥️

  30. 30.

    frog

    @Ken:  People are asking why Vance hasn’t released a statement denying the incident.

    Taking a page from Bill Clinton’s time …

    “I did NOT have sex with that couch.”

  33. 33.

    Suzanne

    @Martin: I get the sense that lots of white women thought back I. 2016 that their husbands and fathers respected them, and have had the mask pulled off since.

  34. 34.

    Mike in Pasadena

    I am really tired of articles that say something along the lines of, “here’s what the polls say in the states that will decide the election.” They then describe what is happening in the six or seven states that “decide” the election. So, are they telling me that both presidential candidate do not want or care if they get California’s 54 electoral college votes? No, they are claiming California is a sure bet for Harris. Izzatso? Voters  in California gave more votes to Trump  in 2016 and 2020 than at least a dozen redstates/purple states gave to Trump, that’s how big and red California is. Not so long ago we’ve had a parade of rethuglican governors — can you say Schwarzenegger? He and Pete Wilson are recent examples. Ok, rant over.

  35. 35.

    West of the Rockies

    OT…

    Anyone here in the Chico, CA area?  We have a 120,000+ acre fire burning.

  37. 37.

    bluefoot

    @Sister Golden Bear: Word. Plus I can’t believe TCFG getting shot at was less than two weeks ago. And it’s just under a month since the slew of bullshit SCOTUS decisions.

    I need to take some time to breathe but I’m job hunting too. And I feel like I need to brace myself for all the racism, misogyny and hatred that’s going to be unleashed. I already was treated to some by a supposed ally earlier today….and they doubled down once I pointed out what they were saying. Just ugh.

  38. 38.

    Jackie

    Welp, TCFG went chicken💩 about debating MVP:

    Donald Trump’s campaign is now saying debates can’t be scheduled until the Democratic nominee is official, even though Joe Biden was not “officially” the Democratic nominee at the last debate, CNN reports.

    Kamala Harris responds: “What happened to ‘any time, any place’?”

    I hear frantic chickens squawking in the coop!😂

  44. 44.

    VFX Lurker

    @lamh47:

    btw, the white women for Kamala Harris call has already raised over 1.8M.

    And broke the Zoom call number records…close to 150,000 women in on the call!

    I know it’s early, but IDK this feels… don’t even want to say and jinx it.

    I took LOTS of notes. I owe WaterGirl and this community a proper synopsis of the call, but here’s some quick notes:

    • 136,000 people signed up, but Zoom can only handle 100,000 attendees. Zoom crashed at least FOUR TIMES during the call. (The same thing happened Sunday night with WinWithBlackWomen). Overflow for the white women call spilled over to YouTube. (I think WinWithBlackWomen had to take a similar approach).
    • The recorded call and stats will be posted online soon on the Answer the Call 2024 website.
    • In addition to crashing Zoom, attendees overwhelmed the donation pages. Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow advised viewers to save the links and try again if they couldn’t donate now (I donated right before the call started).
    • Organizers repeatedly emphasized on the call that we were NOT forming an organization. We were here to support and get behind existing organizations that are already doing the work.
    • White women needed to be prepared to step into the gap between Kamala and racist vitriol (ex: “DEI” and “affirmative action hire”).
    • White women need to talk to their bigoted relatives.
    • White women need to work HARD for the next 100+ days, and keep working after we elect Kamala Harris to office.
    • Pink (the singer) and sports stars Megan Rapineo and Sue Bird spoke.
    • Step one was DONATE. Campaigns run on money!
    • Step two was to sign up for the 7pm Eastern call this Sunday (Women for Harris).

    There’s more, but I’ll see if I can type up something better for WaterGirl.

  45. 45.

    Mike in Pasadena

    @Harrison Wesley: Never too early or late to roll out the “grab ’em by the pussy” tape. I think he should have his face rubbed in his “locker room talk.” Again and again. I’ve never heard talk like that in school, college, civilian, or military locker rooms. In fact, I think all of the locker rooms I’ve visited, the denizens like and love women. They talked about dates, bodies, and attitudes of women, girlfriends, mothers, dates, but I never heard “grab ’em by the pussy.” Or anything like it.  Ever. And I wouldn’t claim they were all classy locker rooms.

  46. 46.

    Jackie

    Totally off topic: The weak on border Biden administration announced:

    “American law enforcement has arrested two top leaders of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most dominant criminal groups in Mexico,” the New York Times reports.

    “The two operatives, Ismael Zambada García and Joaquín Guzmán López, are among the most powerful drug traffickers in Mexico and command massive transnational cocaine and fentanyl businesses that move narcotics into the United States, Europe and elsewhere. Both men were in custody in El Paso, Texas.”

    Associated Press: U.S. authorities have arrested “El Mayo” Zambada, a historic leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

  48. 48.

    dmsilev

    So, when the couch inevitably comes forward to tell its side of the story and goes on some talk show, will it be sitting atop another couch?

  51. 51.

    gene108

    I have no idea what the JD Vance “couch fucking” meme is about and I am okay with this.

    I’m trying to wrap my head around Vance. At what point did he decide to sell his soul to Peter Thiel to get into MAGA politics?

    Also, if Vance wants to increase birth rates, why do he and his wife only have three children?

    Honestly, the guy just seems to be off. Like he’s askew from the plane others inhabit in life.

  52. 52.

    Bill Arnold

    @Ken:

    It’s also an interesting angle on LBJ’s “make the SOB deny it”.)

    LBJ would be absolutely howling about the couch-fucker narrative.

  54. 54.

    Chet Murthy

    @gene108: Notwithstanding that his wife has the decency of a shoggoth, she surely wouldn’t submit to being an ambulatory womb, what with her high-powered career.  I can only hope that she finds out she shouldn’t have quit her lawyerin’ job so quick, that ol’ hubs get flushed like the verbal diarrhea that he so much is.

  55. 55.

    Scout211

    @West of the Rockies: Anyone here in the Chico, CA area?  We have a 120,000+ acre fire burning.

    My SIL has family in the evacuation warning area.  It’s 124,000 acres now. It’s a scary fast moving fire.  Park Fire

    They already have a suspect in custody.  Multiple witnesses saw him push a car that was on fire into a ravine in the upper Bidwell Park area. Police said it was registered to his mother. SFGate

     

  56. 56.

    BR

    @gene108: ​
    From what I can tell he was a low level employee at Thiel’s venture capital firm about 8 years ago (a “Principal”, which means he had no decision-making power) and worked there for several years. Thiel must have realized he had the potential as an empty vessel to push his agenda.

  57. 57.

    West of the Rockies

    @Wapiti:

    Fire was straight up arson.  42 year old moron pushed a burning car down into a gully.  It’s his third strike (molestation of a minor and robbery causing great bodily injury).

  58. 58.

    West of the Rockies

    @Scout211:

    I think Chico is semi-safe. Wind direction and burn path are north/northwest & east.

    I hope your SIL stays safe.

  62. 62.

    bluefoot

    @West of the Rockies: I used to live in CA and all I have to say is what kind of psychopath deliberately starts a wildfire? In freaking July no less, pretty much guaranteeing maximum spread and damage.

  63. 63.

    Geminid

    @Jackie: There is a story here: how did those two powerful druglords end up in El Paso, Texas, and what role did Mexico play?

  65. 65.

    Suzanne

    You know, occasionally I marvel at how fast things happen. A week ago, I had no idea I would be on a Zoom call supporting Kamala Harris for President. And if you have told me that I would be rolling with laughter at memes about a VP candidate sticking his dick in his couch…. I would have said WTF. LMAO. What a difference a week makes.

  66. 66.

    lamh47

    yes…this is how you do it!

    Black women leading the charge again!

    This is one of the women who organized the Black Women Win Call (and group) that started these “for Kamala Harris” calls rolling!

    LFG!

    @JotakaEaddy

    This is everything!!!! Yes. Please DM me we are organizing a united we win call soon. With all the groupw that have organized calls !!! We would love to have you join.

    x.com/JotakaEaddy/status/1816643183389901234

    This was in response to a tweet from a young lady with autism who wanted to advice on setting up a zoom call for people with disabilities for Kamala Harris!

  67. 67.

    Fake Irishman

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    You are so right about the last week feeling like a year. it’s crazy to think that it’s only been a century since the pandemic started. And only two millennia since the 2016 election.

  70. 70.

    Fake Irishman

    @Suzanne:

    I know! The world has changed quite a bit in a week. Cheryl Rofer is actually cracking wry couch  jokes with the commenters (“I really can’t see him as a mid century modern sort of guy”) in an LGM thread (heck, I’m reading LGM and enjoying it) Everyone is exhaling a bit; we deserve it.

    How’s life in the building design biz? My wife’s college roommate got an architect job with the National Parks service about a two years ago. Her area of responsibility is the west coast and Hawaii. How sad. Some really unique places and really unique design issues (OK , we have to make this cave system ADA compliant AND the lighting system  can’t kill this endangered lichen that only grows on this stalagmite)

  73. 73.

    KatKapCC

    @VFX Lurker: THANK YOU. Ugh I am so annoyed. It took a bit for me to even get in, and then our dang power went out about 20 minutes later! I was like “are you kidding me right now”. But it sounds like this went amazingly well! Saw Shannon Watts on Twitter note: 164,000 total participants, over $2mil raised in 90 minutes, tens of thousands of new volunteers registered. Really incredible.

  76. 76.

    Chet Murthy

    I’m going to re-up this link that Bill Arnold posted in the previous thread (copying from Bill’s comment):

    Have him read this new glorious and optimistic Cat Valente rant. The piece sprawls a bit, and is only partly reflective of the title.
    If You Think You Know How This Ends, You Haven’t Been Paying Attention – The only thing we can predict about this election is that we cannot predict goddamned thing about this election–and we cannot forget that now (Catherynne M. Valente, Jul 24, 2024)

    Well worth the read.

  77. 77.

    H.E.Wolf

    @VFX Lurker: ​
     Thank you for the summary details of the Zoom call. Much appreciated.

    Between your postcard writing and your on-the-spot reportage, you are a force to be reckoned with! :-)

  79. 79.

    Jackie

    @Geminid: I’m still reading, but the AP link gives a lot of hints. It might actually get MSM coverage.

    The U.S. government had offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to the capture of Zambada, who eluded authorities for decades.

    *snip*

    “Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, and the Justice Department will not rest until every single cartel leader, member, and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

     

    Mexican authorities didn’t immediately comment on the arrests.

  80. 80.

    H.E.Wolf

    @BR:I’m curious if anyone is organizing a Latinos for Harris zoom call. ​

     Yes, it’s been/being organized. Google will have the details….

  81. 81.

    Roberto el oso

    @Mike in Pasadena: I definitely hear what you’re saying re California. And here in Texas we have exactly the reverse thing going on, where the state provided the 4th largest number of Democratic votes in the last 2 elections of all 50 states.

    And I’ll see your Govs Schwarzeneger & Wilson (not to mention Reagan and Nixon) and remind folks about Ann Richards, Jim Hightower, Lloyd Bentsen, & LBJ.

    Hope it’s not too long before we join y’all in the Blue column.

  82. 82.

    Martin

    @West of the Rockies: We are. The problem is that half the land, and generally all the land being burned, is federal land. CA can’t do prescribed burns on federal land, NFS has do to that, and they have been so gutted by GOP budget austerity they don’t remotely have the money.

    Very little of CA forests are CA state land – less than 5%. Half is federal and half is private.

  85. 85.

    Martin

    @KatKapCC: Important also to note that there is going to be an organizing call this Sunday. That’s where it really counts – folks need to get on that call, sign up to organize, and get to work.

  86. 86.

    Jackie

    More breaking news: Aug 7th is the date we’ll learn MVP’s VP pick!

    Vice President Kamala Harris is making plans to announce a running mate by Aug. 7 and her aides are conducting the first round of interviews with people in consideration by video calls given the tight timeline,“ the New York Times reports.

    “If she meets the Aug. 7 deadline, Ms. Harris will have squeezed a process of vetting, choosing and introducing a running mate, which typically takes months, into just over three weeks.”

    “The Harris campaign began the vetting process on Tuesday and aims to make its selection quickly in order to eliminate legal risk related to securing ballot access in Ohio.”

  88. 88.

    frosty

    @bluefoot: We’re Road Tripping the PNW and have been near three wildfires in a week. One closed SR20 eastbound out of North Cascades National Park so we had to take the long way around back down I-5 (sigh) to Grand Coulee… where another wildfire caused the dam tour to be closed due to bad air quality. Today we arrived at a state park south of Coeur d’Alene. A little smoky here, too.

  89. 89.

    karen marie

    @lamh47: I may finally have to get with the program and get a zoom setup.

    I assume it means I have to buy a set of earphones with a mic. Any recommendations or advice?

  90. 90.

    Martin

    @Roberto el oso: Y’all are close. If TX Latinos could cast votes at the same rate as white voters, and their voting split holds, TX would be blue, or at least the other side of purple. Lot of structural barriers to fixing that, but they’re within reach.

  91. 91.

    wil

    Glad you guys finally came around.

     

    Jesus.

     

    Took long enough.

     

    You’ll certainly never be mistaken for the leading edge of anything.

  92. 92.

    Martin

    @karen marie: Nah. You can just use your phone/computer speakers. You’re going to be muted on these calls so it’s mainly a listen in and maybe type something in chat experience.

  94. 94.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    As we read this blog, Vance is checking to see if his wife is a sleep before slipping off to the living room for a party with that special something!

  96. 96.

    Jackie

    @frosty: We’re getting smoke in the Tri-Cities, WA from OR/ID fires. Today was significantly more noticeable, probably because the winds have picked up.

  98. 98.

    K-Mo

    @wil: Speaking of being late …

    We’re kind of past the venting/blood-letting stage and onto the kicking ass/ mocking stage.

  102. 102.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Jackie:

    Ms. Harris will have squeezed a process of vetting, choosing and introducing a running mate, which typically takes months, into just over three weeks.

    I doubt that process was started a few days ago.

  103. 103.

    Martin

    @karen marie: You’ll want headphones when these calls get a lot smaller, or you’re on a call for local organizing. You can’t let people talk with 30,000 people so everyone has to be muted. When that’s 100 or so, you can have it so people can ask to ask a question and they’ll unmute you to do that, and then you might want a speaker/headphone, but again your phone mic/speaker can work just fine.

  104. 104.

    karen marie

    @frosty: I don’t have a mic. I’ll have to get one. It seems like all the organizing stuff is happening on zoom.

    I made calls for Obama. They made it really easy. Now it involves trainings on zoom. I was hoping I could avoid zoom forever but it appears that’s not possible.

  105. 105.

    Martin

    @HumboldtBlue: In practice it was. Doing any of the real work before the announcement would have given it away, and if the news was correct that Nancy smash was still on a call with Biden on Saturday, definitely not before then.

  106. 106.

    wil

    @K-Mo: I’m not here that often.

    Frankly, you people here were so back-asswards and far behind the curve on Biden needing to drop out that I decided this site isn’t worth much when it comes to political knowledge and mostly stopped reading the front page as well.

    Good job.

  108. 108.

    wil

    @K-Mo: I mean good job getting on board with Kamala, now that everybody else was already there long ago.

    Take a seat there in the back, if there’s one left.

  109. 109.

    BR

    I just watched an interview with Mark Kelly from today. If you watch with the sound off or with it on but don’t pay attention to the words, the dude is awesome for the role of Astronaut VP, which will definitely win some voters. If you listen to the words, he’s not a great speaker.

  110. 110.

    wil

    @Roberto el oso: You should really just apologize for being so slow on the uptake.  It was obvious to all that Biden needed to step down weeks before any of you here would even allow such an opinion to be voiced.

    All you did here was show off what little jerks you all are.

  112. 112.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Martin: ​ 

    Still, she’s next in line for the presidency, and there has gotta be a file with some potential VPs for her to choose from if it comes to that, and I would suspect some of the names we’re hearing now are among them.

    And I still think, that while the wave broke on the weekend, the rumbling that caused that wave had been coming for a week or two

  114. 114.

    ArchTeryx

    I couldn’t have been more wrong about how Biden’s withdrawal would play out. I never in a million years thought it was a carefully planned and orchestrated event. That cunning old mustelid Dark Brandon and Kamala Harris snookered everyone, most especially the Republicans. I’ve never seen them quite so wrong-footed before –  however long it lasts before the torrent of bigoted filth starts pouring forth.

    I’m a lot less frightened than I was a few days ago. Though I don’t consider myself out of the woods until TCFG is put out to pasture permanently. We still have an election to win.

  117. 117.

    CapnMubbers

    @West of the Rockies:  I left California a year after escaping Paradise, as did most people I knew. Two friends still live there. One lives in Chico near Nord Highway and W. Sacramento; the other rebuilt in Paradise. Thanks for posting this—I will contact them (from southern Utah) and check the CalFire map.

  120. 120.

    Aziz, light!

    @Martin: A small correction — it’s the USFS, not NFS. I retired a few years ago from a career in the FS research branch. As you noted the agency hasn’t been funded to do more than a small fraction of needed prescribed burns since 2010 and earlier owing to anti-science Congress critters and CRs in place of budgets. For decades to come the Era of Megafires as we call it is only going to get worse.

  125. 125.

    hotshoe

    I heard someone say “kick him in the goolies” — got curious and looked it up. According to wiki:
    Probably from Hindi गोली (golī, “ball; pill; bullet”)

    So appropriate to start using this phrase for Kamala Harris and Dems taking down the weirdo Red-hat boys.

  127. 127.

    Chet Murthy

    @karen marie: 1. are you planning on using a laptop or tablet?  They often have built-in mics (and of course, speakers)

    2. often headphones for phones have a built-in mic (and they’re cheeeeeep).

    It’s worth checking what sort of jack you have on the machine you plan to use.

  128. 128.

    Dangerman

    Sigh.

    Sectional needs to go away. Goodwill? Free sign?  Lighter fluid?

    Thanks JD.

  129. 129.

    KatKapCC

    BTW this won’t be seen by many but hopefully someone will share it in an early morning thread: The ActBlue ticker has now surpassed the highest-donation week since it has kept track. The earliest week in their weekly totals list was Sept 18 2020. The week of Sept 27 2020, ActBlue received $219,655,343. So far this week, they’ve taken in $221,692,669. And there’s still a little over two days left. Pretty amazing!

  131. 131.

    Chet Murthy

    @ArchTeryx: You are not alone.  I’ve been in some pretty dark places this last month-ish, and I was pretty damn certain the Dems would mess up this handoff.  I was expecting a Thunderdome tournament right up to and including the convention, with all the disarray, recriminations, and losses, that that entails.

    It’s good to see the Dems in array instead.  Of course, this means little for the actual content to come: we don’t know what the electorate will do, and there’s a ton of work to do.  But at least, there won’t be internecine kidney-stabbing to start it all off.

  132. 132.

    karen marie

    @dmsilev: After I watched that – very funny – I watched a piece from Nicolle Wallace’s show. I am not a fan of paid opinionaters but I thought Lauren Leader and Nicolle Wallace did a very good job in making clear what the GOP wants to do and how “deeply weird” they are.

    I am delighted with the use of “weird” because it is so simple, direct, and irrefutable.  And, I hope, effective.

  133. 133.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @gene108:

    Vance has always been a manipulative, grifting fake.  His book is complete bullshit.  He was always poised to sell himself to the highest bidder and a hateful asshole ready to fall into the cruelest bigotry.

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Your whiteness will not save you from what the patriarchy has in store for you.

    On my mind lately is that even being a white man won’t.  I grew up in the bigoted South, but despite being a straight white male, something about me made them identify me as Other.  I got stuff like insults screamed at me from a passing car.  I saw both sides of their bigotry growing up, which left me unsurprised by Trump and easily able to translate their seemingly insane drivel.

  134. 134.

    wil

    @eemom: Well, you’ve certainly got an insular, clique-y little site, congratulations.

    You all here were literally the LAST people in the world to figure out that Biden needed to step aside.  The VERY LAST people.  Smart you are not.  Politically savvy you are not.  Wise you are not.

    Just clique-y and full of attitude and misguided praise for yourselves, nothing more.

    Anytime you get to thinking you are smart or politically knowledgeable ever again, just remember how you were the LAST people to figure out this obvious situation in the election of 2024.

    My I-told-you-sos are rich and well-deserved.  You’ve earned every one.

  136. 136.

    karen marie

    @cain: In Mesa (“The Groves” on google map) it rained like stink around 6-ish (? wasn’t paying attention to the clock) along with about two minutes of hail. Very exciting but the whole thing didn’t exceed 10 minutes. It rained for a few minutes around 9. I’m always happy to have rain but my dog is not a fan of sky that goes boom.

    It didn’t rain on you but relatively close. It’s so weird here. I’ve sat on my balcony and watched it rain next door.

  138. 138.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @ArchTeryx:

    I never in a million years thought it was a carefully planned and orchestrated event.

    I don’t think it was.  I expected it to play out like this.  The Democrats have been in array for years on everything but Biden’s age.  We’ve been beaten down by the press attacking Biden, and every side of the party wants to fall behind whoever has the best chance of winning.  That’s Harris, and was obviously Harris from the start.

    A brokered convention was only the pundits’ fantasy.  Even the slow to endorse just wanted it clear to everyone that Harris had the support of the delegates locked up.  It removes questions of legitimacy.

  140. 140.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Someone call Watergirl please.  We have personal attacks on line one.  My email is not available.

  142. 142.

    karen marie

    @eclare: Haven’t got a laptop. Desktop, tablet and phone. No way I’d zoom on a tablet – screen is too small to make anything more than two or three minute videos a bore.

  144. 144.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @wil:

    This is completely unnecessary and trollish. All you’re doing is trying to pick a fight and stir people up. It doesn’t matter who was right or wrong, all that matters is we do what we have to in order to defeat the GOP

  145. 145.

    Chet Murthy

    @karen marie: Most modern desktops have some sort of built-in sound; does it have a headphone jack?  Do you have headphones (with a mic?) ?  If so, can you try it out?  You could try a video call with Google Meet or Zoom ?

  147. 147.

    KatKapCC

    @wil: That’s an interesting thing to say considering how much arguing and debating and sniping was going on here over the past few weeks, and probably longer. Yes, there were people who did not want him to step aside, but there were plenty who did. The threads got downright vicious at times. But if it serves your ego to think everyone else was wrong and you alone were right, go right ahead. Very Trumpian of you.

  149. 149.

    karen marie

    @Chet Murthy: Desktop. I have headphones (without a mic) I use for transcription.

    Took a look on Amazon. They have plug-in stick-in-your-ears headphones with mic for about $20. That should work.

  150. 150.

    tomtofa

    Both Snopes and AP felt the need to do a fact check on the Vance couch story. AP took theirs down, presumably when a higher power there got wind of it. It’s still up on the Internet Archive, for now.

    After detailing the rumor, they judged that it was false.

    Hahahahaha.

  153. 153.

    Chet Murthy

    @karen marie: Before you purchase, I’d bet somebody you know has a pair of headphones-with-mic that they use with their phone (or more likely, that they used with their previous phone, since many latest-model phones lack headphone jacks entirely) that you could borrow to test out the sound.  Heck, they might be glad you’re borrowing it, and make the loan on condition that it never comes back (b/c they were planning to put it out with their e-waste anyway).

    That’s how I got rid of my trickle-charger and 50ft extension cord: “you can have it, but you can’t return it!!!”

  155. 155.

    sanjeevs

    WSJ has an article on Vance’s VC career. It is not impressive

    Vance moved to the Bay Area shortly after graduating from Yale Law School in 2013 to pursue a career in entrepreneurship. He visited the offices of Mithril Capital, a San Francisco-based firm co-founded by Peter Thiel, for a meet-and-greet with parts of the investing team, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mithril wasn’t hiring at the time, and Vance eventually landed a role as chief operating officer at a small biotechnology company.
    Vance pitched the biotech company several times to Mithril investors, the person said. In 2016, he left the biotech firm to join Mithril as a junior investor. Vance’s memoir was published that summer and became a bestseller with its unrelenting portrayal of poverty in working-class America.
    In the year Vance worked at Mithril, a former colleague said he never once saw him in the office. Another colleague said he remembers seeing Vance at the office, although he did travel a lot to promote his memoir. Neither remembered significant deals that Vance drove during his time at Mithril.
    In March 2017, Vance left Mithril to join Revolution, an investment firm founded by Steve Case, a co-founder of AOL.
    uring Vance’s time at Revolution, he was the lead partner or co-lead on 14 deals, according to a person familiar with the deals. They included California-based defense tech startup Anduril Industries, North Carolina-based artificial-intelligence startup Pryon, as well as AppHarvest.
    Vance joined Pryon’s board in June 2019. Pryon’s chief executive, Igor Jablokov, said Vance was an engaged investor who helped the company forge connections with venture capitalist Jim Breyer and Chase Koch, the son of billionaire libertarian tycoon Charles Koch.
    Vance left Revolution in 2019. Shortly after, he started Narya with Greenspon. The pair raised $120 million in their first fund with backing from Thiel as well as venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, according to a person familiar with the fund’s financials.
    Colin Greenspon, who co-founded Narya with Vance, said the nature of early-stage venture investing means it is too early to tell if his investments will ultimately be successful. But “it’s 100% not too early to tell that he was a good investor,” he said.

    Inside Republican VP Nominee JD Vance’s Short-Lived Career as a Venture Capitalist – WSJ

    TL,DR – He was crap at investing, great at billionaire networking.

  157. 157.

    KatKapCC

    Bahahahaha y’all, we got Heather Cox Richardson talking about the couch. From tonight’s letter, after discussing some lighthearted social media hijinx from VP hopefuls:

    That sense of fun is an enormous relief after years of political weight, and it has spilled over into making fun of the Republican ticket, most notably with a false story that vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance wrote about—and I cannot believe I am typing this—having sex with a couch. The story is stupid, but worse are the denials of it, which have spread the story into populations that otherwise would likely not have seen it.

    What a time to be alive.

  158. 158.

    karen marie

    @Chet Murthy: I am LOLing at “modern desktops.”

     

    Thank you for the encouragement though.  I’m tired of “new technology.” It’s like enough is efuckingnough already. But needs must on this one (zoom) if I’m to do my part in helping America dodge a bullet.

  162. 162.

    wil

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):This is completely unnecessary and trollish. All you’re doing is trying to pick a fight and stir people up. It doesn’t matter who was right or wrong, all that matters is we do what we have to in order to defeat the GOP

    I am not.  Just acknowledging that I was right after all the attacks two weeks ago and being dismissed as a troll when I was just making my points.

    Well, I was right, and most of you were wrong and real assholes about it.   And yes, it does matter, because most of you were self-important pigs about it and you were WRONG and dead last to the party.  So whether you all admit it or not, that’s the truth.

    So I told you so.  That’s all I had to say.  This is why I rarely commented before even though I’ve been reading this site for far longer than most of you here have.

    Adios, amoebas.

  164. 164.

    karen marie

    @Chet Murthy:

     

    That made me laugh.

    Yeah, no. I know no such people, but it’s fine – Amazon’s got some small sets under $20 that should be fine. I’m not going to be podcasting.

  165. 165.

    hotshoe

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Vance has always been a manipulative, grifting fake. His book is complete bullshit.

     
    One of my friends — lifelong democrat — said how much she learned from Vance’s book. Seriously. This woman has much too soft a heart for our real world.

    I don’t want rant at a friend who is going to vote our way, for sure, but I did feel obliged to gently tell her that Vance is lying about Appalachia, for selfish fame and money.

    Sorry, old gal, he’s no hero.

  166. 166.

    Chet Murthy

    @karen marie: It’s a pity you’re not in SF, or I’d “loan” you a headset-with-mic, on condition that you take 3 more, and can’t return ’em.  I have a pile I’ve picked up over the years with various phones, and from work, and that I’ve bought, all waiting in a box to be put out with e-waste.

  168. 168.

    wil

    @KatKapCC: when I was here anyone who said Biden needed to step aside was labeled a troll and banned.

    Silly group of people.

    I don’t mind saying I told you so, now that things have gone the way I said they needed to go.

    When it comes to political knowledge, insight and strategy, don’t anybody quit their day jobs.

  169. 169.

    JoeyJoeJoe

    wil is most definitely not arguing in good faith.  It got suspended for 10 days for personal insults and spamming.

    go fuck a couch, wil

  170. 170.

    Fair Economist

    A Mastodon user has posted the page with the couch fucking story. It was in the first hardcover (so to speak) edition but later removed (for obvious reasons.) This is probably why the AP pulled its “false” factcheck

    All of us had found ourselves beheld by the eroticism of two cushions, side-by-side, with that lush, inviting valley between.

  171. 171.

    karen marie

    @Chet Murthy: Instead of ewaste, call your local Democratic party, see if they can hand them out to people like me for use in GOTV and trainings.

  173. 173.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @wil:

    You’re the one being a real asshole at this point. Nobody cares if you were right or not. There’s a new zero tolerance policy for this obvious insulting, trolling BS. I expect you’ll be banned tomorrow at the latest

  181. 181.

    wil

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Banning me won’t matter.

    I was right. Obviously you say you don’t care because you guys were wrong.

    Glad you are all on board with Kamala Harris now, after everybody else figured it out first. Good job.

    Clearly, it’s still a sore spot for you folks.

  182. 182.

    MisterForkbeard

    @JoeyJoeJoe: He already did a “fuck you all I’m out. I’m great and you’re awful and you need to acknowledge it but pay attention to me as I flounce out hey I’m back and yelling more” performance in this very thread. Kind of impressive.

    He’s attacking the commenter’s for being loyal to Biden and we’ve admitted some of us went overboard. Also, this guy is being a jerk and I’m sure he’ll be banned again for it tomorrow

    But he’s just trolling for kicks now. let him be, he’ll be gone in the morning.

  184. 184.

    hueyplong

    @JoeyJoeJoe: Not sure “wil” is arguing at all.  Might constitute a taunt if it improves. No doubt we’ll soon see.

    The “adios” part was predictably fraudulent.

  185. 185.

    Poe Larity

    @WaterGirl: My test didn’t show a line until after an hour or two. My fever/chills have broken already so maybe false alarm.

    5 relatives are positive from wedding last weekend…

  186. 186.

    hotshoe

    @Jay: ​
     
    Hard to believe, excellent if true, that there are no human fatalities in such a fire — I guess the civilians evacuated in time and the firefighters found safe places to make their stand. Although “safe” is relative, too, some firefighters were forced out of town by poor air quality (and no respirators). Not safe :(

  187. 187.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @ArchTeryx: I think the Democrats had a general plan for Harris succeeding Biden worked out in 2020, because of Biden’s age, and then they took a more serious look at after Dobs.

    And I don’t think it was really about could Biden win, this  is more abut  GOP has show then are utterly useless, SCOTUS is broken, so the Dems need the house, senate and the presidency to do it.

  189. 189.

    hotshoe

    @eclare: ​
     
    It’s so weird that I have a hard time seeing it in print. My brain refuses to make it make sense.
    Is it really possible that someone could have sat at his keyboard and typed in those letters in those sentences and then said to himself “yeah, that’s good, that’s a good story: ????
    I’d almost rather believe that I’m hallucinating, instead of believing that some entity printed those words.

  190. 190.

    wjca

    @Geminid: There is a story here: how did those two powerful druglords end up in El Paso, Texas, and what role did Mexico play? 

    Naturally it was the Feds making the arrest.  Certainly Gov Abbott, and the rest of the elected state officials there, couldn’t spare time from their performances to actually engage in government.  Besides, “government is the problem” so they couldn’t do that.

  191. 191.

    KatKapCC

    @wil: Look, you’ve achieved your goal of annoying the shit out of everyone here. Why don’t you actually follow through on your I’M TAKING MY BALL AND GOING HOME threat and go back to annoying the shit out of everyone in your real life. If there even is anyone for you to annoy, that is. But hey, there’s always auto-fellatio, which strikes me as your favorite hobby.

  192. 192.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @hotshoe: My brain refuses to make it make sense.
    Is it really possible that someone could have sat at his keyboard and typed in those letters in those sentences and then said to himself “yeah, that’s good, that’s a good story: ????

    Or the ghost writer Vance hired decided to check if the client was really reading what they were writing for Vance.

  194. 194.

    Jay

    @hotshoe: The town was mostly evacuated 3 days ago. Only firefighters and a few residents who fed and sheltered the firefighters remained. 2 days ago they pulled out all the firefighters except for the Structure Fire crews with respirators, and the last residents left. This morning, they pulled the last of the crews out.

    Helicopters that arn’t equipped to fight fires, from all agencies and private groups have been sweeping the mountains, lakes and trails to evac hikers and climbers, 430 people so far.

    Half of the town is gone, so far, so if you have Jasper National Park on your “bucket list”, postpone your visit until 2030.

    In BC we have 430 major forest fires going right now.

  195. 195.

    wjca

    @KatKapCC: The story is stupid, but worse are the denials of it, which have spread the story into populations that otherwise would likely not have seen it.

    As ever, it’s the (attempted) cover-up that does the damage.

  196. 196.

    scav

    Whining and pleading for attention in a self-congratulatory way at the very bottom of a dying midnight thread.  Under the guise of pie.  Truly a triumph of the wil.

  198. 198.

    Maxim

    @Poe Larity: The at-home tests can have false negatives as often as 90% of the time if you test as soon as your symptoms start. It’s best to wait a couple of days.

  199. 199.

    JWR

    @dmsilev:

    From Stephen Colbert and his crew, in regards to couchfucker:

    I just saw that here on the left coast! Hooray, it broke through!

    Also, ya think Trump just learned how to spell ” lyin’ “? As in “L-Y-I-N-apostrophe”? He always tells us things he just learned, and this sounds like another one of those things.

  200. 200.

    Sally

    @gene108: If they have only three children, does that mean they use the dreaded birth control / abortificants (so-called). And if he is so in favour of two parents, one income families, why is his wife working in a high powered lawyer job?

    Hypocrisy spelt republican, again.

  201. 201.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    I see no point to the “I was right and you were wrong, therefore I am awesome and you all suck, and I will keep banging on about this until you acknowledge my awesomeness and superiority to your patheticness” posts other than to start a fight and divert energy from the battlefront we need to be worried about, i.e. America versus the Trumpists. The Dude’s admonition to Walter Sobchak comes to mind, but so do some less charitable interpretations: over the past month, our coalition was tearing itself apart between genuine anxiety, stubbornness, and I don’t doubt a certain amount of enemy action through agent provocateurs.

    Getting back to the topic at hand, it’s kind of amazing the tightrope that Biden and Harris and Pelosi had to walk, Harris especially needing to get ready to take over the top slot without giving even the slightest impression of disloyalty. Like I’ve banged on about before, I’m certain that they were acting on contingency plans that have been in place for years, but if even one breath leaked that they were doing it, the Trumpists and the money men would have undoubtedly moved to create even more chaos and dissension than were already in place.

    I think this was part of why so many of us were afraid – there were so many ways that Biden’s withdrawal could spell doom for America, and giving in to the pressure felt too much like giving in to the manipulations of the money men.

    And I have to be honest, I already respected Kamala Harris, but I didn’t have confidence that she could pull the fighting factions together, let alone as quickly and skillfully as she has. I was wrong about her in the same way that three and a half years ago, I was wrong about Biden; I thought his role would be to stop the bleeding caused by the Trumpists, to hold things together while the next generation got ready. I didn’t think he would be the transformative president he turned out to be.

    So yeah, in retrospect, Biden did have to step aside. But if it had happened any sooner, it probably wouldn’t have worked out as well as it has.

  203. 203.

    Jay

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR:

    The new guidelines are, if you see something, say something, to John or Watergirl. So I said something.

    We are entering peak troll season, so don’t engage, report.

  206. 206.

    Martin

    @HumboldtBlue: Nah. She has unlimited time to choose a VP in that case. There’s formally no rush. The line of succession still applies – goes to Speaker, etc.

  209. 209.

    Dan B

    @VFX Lurker: Thanks for the preliminary synopsis.  I was one of the Grand Marshals of the Seattle Pride Parade along with Megan and Sue.  It’s exciting they were on this Zoom.

  210. 210.

    Dan B

    @Martin: Much of the city of Jasper, Alberta just burned.  The conservative government of Alberta cut the fire protection budget by 35% (as I recall – don’t quote).  The worship of austerity and hatred of government caused this tragedy.

  211. 211.

    wil

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR:

    I think this was part of why so many of us were afraid – there were so many ways that Biden’s withdrawal could spell doom for America, and giving in to the pressure felt too much like giving in to the manipulations of the money men.

    And I have to be honest, I already respected Kamala Harris, but I didn’t have confidence that she could pull the fighting factions together, let alone as quickly and skillfully as she has. I was wrong about her in the same way that three and a half years ago, I was wrong about Biden; I thought his role would be to stop the bleeding caused by the Trumpists, to hold things together while the next generation got ready. I didn’t think he would be the transformative president he turned out to be.

    So yeah, in retrospect, Biden did have to step aside. But if it had happened any sooner, it probably wouldn’t have worked out as well as it has.

    Thank you for the thoughtful response.

  215. 215.

    WaterGirl

    @Frankensteinbeck:  Being an arrogant, “I told you so” asshole is not ban-able.

    Not unless he keeps it up, going from thread to thread to thread, saying the same thing, trying to stir up shit.  Even then it’s a judgment call.

    It’s when your goal is to derail a thread – or even if your actions are derailing threads, regardless of what your intentions are – you will be up for serious banning consideration.

    Wil got his childish and annoying na-na-na-na-na I told you so, and we’ll see where he goes from here.

    Balloon Juice still wants to be a place where people can disagree and where we’re open to new people.  But we’re no longer open for business to people who are of ill intent. Not that we ever were before.

    But if your aim – or the repeated result of your comments – is to disrupt, you’re not going to get the 4-strikes process that will remain in place for everyone else.

  216. 216.

    No One You Know

    @VFX Lurker:

    I was frankly astounded at the rules offered by one speaker about the rules for allyship. I must be in a bubble, because I can’t believe it’s… this basic. Here’s what I got:

    1. Don’t talk over BIPOC people. ( This is a thing?!)

    2. Seek out content created by BIPOC.

    3. Know when not to engage a troll, online or offline.  Walk away before things spin out of control… or you do.

    4. Ask, “who is missing from this story?”

    5. Being an ally means speaking up when you’d rather be silent. You can’t disagree on silence.  Silence gives assent!

    6. Personal conversations count! A lot!

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