Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Cole is on a roll !

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

The words do not have to be perfect.

The current Supreme Court is a rogue court. Very dangerous.

No one could have predicted…

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

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

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

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

…and a burning sense of injustice to juice the soul.

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

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

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Days Since JD Vance Insulted Women Across America: Zero

Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

The lights are all blinking red.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Birdwatching / Saturday Early Evening Open Thread

Saturday Early Evening Open Thread

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Here’s a small flock of Roseate Spoonbills (with bonus egret) flying near Cedar Key:

Pink birds flying over water

I took that photo in October while searching for flamingos who were blown off course by Hurricane Idalia.

***

We were watching the Olympics earlier and are now listening to the Rays game on the porch. It’s surprisingly pleasant weather thanks to the cloud cover and frequent rain.

Speaking of weather, since Memorial Day, I’ve been wondering why the orange fart cloud is persisting in Florida. He always decamps to Jersey or somewhere. Spending a summer in Florida is as unpleasant as wintering in Buffalo.

My theory is he’s afraid of the law — he’s getting sentenced in September, if I recall correctly. Maybe he hopes DeSantis and the FL GOP would refuse to extradite him, which the spineless pricks probably would.

Anyhoo, open thread.

Reader Interactions

158Comments

  4. 4.

    Ishiyama

    Saw a black-crowned night heron and a pair of nene geese yesterday afternoon in the park.

  5. 5.

    Pika

    Went to Anna Maria this winter and was so thrilled to see spoonbills! Thank you, Betty

  7. 7.

    Ruckus

    @p.a.:

    I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it was my nickname for his shittyness – ShitForBrains. SFB for short.

  8. 8.

    RandomMonster

    Does the orange fart cloud have any dick-tatorial chodes like Orban to meet in Merde-a-Lardo?

  10. 10.

    Poe Larity

    If he was a bird, what would he be?

    The 7-day average test positivity rate is currently at 6.5%.

    As we go, so goes the rest. Consider masking up. Am having the low energy jeb blues.

  12. 12.

    Harrison Wesley

    There are certain words that I can only imagine being said in the voice of W. C. Fields, and ‘roseate spoonbills’ are two such words when said together.

  13. 13.

    Mike E

    Mark Robinson aka Black Trump is getting unwelcome attention from his wife’s “seriously deficient” non-profit having to repay $132,000 back to a NC state agency. She recently shut down the org in order to help with her husband’s race for governor, supposedly.

  14. 14.

    Chet Murthy

    @Poe Larity: I never stopped masking in public places and mass transit …. when there wasn’t some positive payoff to unmask.  It’s actually somewhat surprising at first, how few opportunities there are to unmask in public, that are worth the bother.  I guess if I were trying to pick up MOTAS, it might be different.  Today I lifted weights for 2hr, masked the whole time no problemo. [my mask has an exhale valve, so my exhalations are not filtered]  I was the only one masked person in the weight room.

  15. 15.

    Chet Murthy

    @BR: I read it, and thought “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, who talks like that?”

    What he’s supposed to say is “WTF are you asking me about whether my WIFE [with raised voice] is white or not?  SHE’S MY WIFE!”

    FFS, I hope for her sake she’s getting something she really wants out of that relationship.  And I hope for the kids’ sake that they aren’t being damaged.

  16. 16.

    prostratedragon

    The most amazing thing has just happened: I’ve seen an interesting News Hour on PBS. Joining about halfway through, they had a feature on tomorrow’s national election in Venezuela; an item about electronic grocery shelf tags, which is somethingbto keep an eye on; and a feature about breaking as a new Olympic sport.

    Regarding the last, it seems that the cultural convergence among younger people which has been going on since mass media has shifted into the next gear.

  17. 17.

    Splitting Image

    I read on Wonkette today that there have been no cases of guinea worm so far this year. It is very possible that Jimmy Carter has outlived the disease he spent decades eradicating.

  19. 19.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    How are people watching the Olympics, if you are?

    I like watching at least a couple complete events if I can, from early rounds up to the finals. I was always annoyed at network coverage, particularly in gymnastics, because they would only show finals, and only events with Americans in them, and they would keep the cameras on Americans changing their socks or rubbing powder on their hands while some commentator talked about an amazing vault by a Russian which they didn’t bother to show us.

    So I signed up for Peacock during Olympic trials, which seemed to have pretty good coverage of everything, round 1 to the end. And today was the first time I watched an Olympic event on Peacock, round 1 of men’s gymnastics.

    And… we watched only Americans, watching them powder their hands or clap each other on the back, while a commentator talked about some of the other great stuff that other teams were doing in the event. Aargh.

    There are a couple of other groups in this round that do not include the US. The coverage there has to be more balanced.

  21. 21.

    trollhattan

    Cedar Key? Yes I do.

    Lurve the pink birbs. Other than the zoo’s flamingos we have zero pink birds ’round these parts.

  22. 22.

    lamh47

    Usha…lordt…you in danger girl.

    “she’s not white…but I love” her… DAFUQ…SMH

    @KaivanShroff

    “Obviously she’s not a white person…but I love Usha, she’s such a good mom.” Honestly this is such a weird way to respond to white supremacist attacks on your Indian American wife. Pathetic.
    https://x.com/KaivanShroff/status/1817314276065132685

  25. 25.

    Jacqueline Squid Onassis

    Speaking of the Rays, you can be assured that Randy Arozarena will be welcome in the PNW.

  26. 26.

    Mousebumples

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: we have Peacock (shared with my in laws), and we’ve been enjoying the Gold Zone – which has shown multiple gold medal matches (eg fencing) even if no US involvement. We also watched Greece-Canada men’s basketball (Team Giannis!) live.

    I’ve had issues pausing and rewinding Live Sports, which is annoying. And they just randomly insert commercials sometimes which is also Not Great. Also don’t like that you can’t start watching something that just finished… They eventually have things ready to replay… But not right away, which is annoying/dumb.

    But it’s Day 1 (*ish). We’ll see how things shake out.

  27. 27.

    lamh47

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: I signed up for Peacock when they had a flash sale, so I can watch any event any time or LIVE, instead of waiting for the NBC nets broadcast.

    Also able to record events that happen way early in the morning and some sports that are not shown on any of NBCs broadcast nets.

  30. 30.

    oldgold

    Vance: “Obviously she’s not a white person… but I love Usha, she’s such a good mom.”

    ”BUT!”

    What the Hell?

  33. 33.

    Mousebumples

    @Josie: I think it’s referring to her South Asian heritage. (Juicers, please correct me if I’m wrong!)

  34. 34.

    Splitting Image

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    How are people watching the Olympics, if you are?

    I like watching at least a couple complete events if I can, from early rounds up to the finals. I was always annoyed at network coverage, particularly in gymnastics, because they would only show finals, and only events with Americans in them, and they would keep the cameras on Americans changing their socks or rubbing powder on their hands while some commentator talked about an amazing vault by a Russian which they didn’t bother to show us.

    I gave up on the Olympics ages ago for just this reason. Following a single event through the initial heats to the finals was completely impossible. It’s the epitome of quantity over quality.

  35. 35.

    Chet Murthy

    @Josie: “desi” refers to “desh” (which is Hindi for “homeland”).  I say all this as someone who knows no Indian languages, so take it with whatever salt you wish.

  38. 38.

    scav

    @lamh47: Well, I mean, clearly it goes without saying he wouldn’t love the woman if she were childless — that’s the real deal-breaker.

  39. 39.

    Chet Murthy

    @Hungry Joe: “Kumquat” was definitely a 50-point word for me, until I moved to California and saw them one day in the grocery store.  I tried ’em, and BOY HOWDY I was sold!  Now they’re just another form of citrus!

  41. 41.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Pika:

    Went to Anna Maria this winter and was so thrilled to see spoonbills! Thank you, Betty

    We’ll be on Anna Maria Island in two weeks!  Ever since adopting the kiddo back in 2009, we’ve gone there almost every year.  I know it seems weird to go in August, but we’ve got to conform with school vacations. Also, the house we rent is right on the water on the bay side of the island, so anytime you’re outside, you’re just steps away from the water.

    The cottage we rent is called Ship Watch and you should give it a look-see if you’re planning on going back there sometime.

  42. 42.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I did Dem canvassing earlier today.  Got to watch fencing and rugby sevens.  Today, I didn’t even have use my AK.  I gotta say, it was a good day.

  44. 44.

    karen marie

    @Chet Murthy:  Will it be worth having to live in hiding when Trump loses and the MAGA hordes go after Vance and his family?

    I don’t think she realizes what she’s set herself up for.

  45. 45.

    frosty

    Cedar Key! I saw my second Spoonbill there this year on Bridge #2. (First was a flyover near Everglades, barely glimpsed). It’s awesome that you can see them from your house.

  46. 46.

    Ramona

    @Josie: “desi” translates to fellow country person in Hindi. So Indians in the US refer to one another as “desi”. The word for country or land is “desh”.

  49. 49.

    Chet Murthy

    @karen marie: IIUC they have a house in the Bay Area (where she’s been living a lot of the time w/kids), and they’ll just return there.  Ain’t like she’s gotta live in ….. Fort Worth TX (where asshole MAGAts would accost her on the street asking her why she’s still here, why she hasn”t gone back to where she came from, nobody wants her here, etc).

    It’s the paradox of tolerance: we’ll tolerate all sorts of shit from these bastards and still allow them to live peacefully in our communities, when we really need to run ’em all out on a rail.  Ah well.

  50. 50.

    Starfish

    @NotMax: That interview felt a little pointless because he stays on message so strongly and basically answers “That is up Harris’s campaign” when it comes to messaging, or whether he wants to be Vice President or anything else.

    I liked the part where the journalist was whining about “Why are we being attacked so much for discussing Biden’s age?” Cry harder little journalist.

  51. 51.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Splitting Image:

    I read on Wonkette today that there have been no cases of guinea worm so far this year. It is very possible that Jimmy Carter has outlived the disease he spent decades eradicating.

    That would be so cool – I know it was one of his big ambitions in life. And guinea worms really are (were, with any luck) a horrible infestation, which was why JC was so invested in the effort to kill them off.​

  52. 52.

    banditqueen

    @lamh47:  …”but” ??

    @KaivanShroff

    “Obviously she’s not a white person…but I love Usha, she’s such a good mom.” Honestly this is such a weird way to respond to white supremacist attacks on your Indian American wife. Pathetic.

  54. 54.

    Hungry Joe

    @Chet Murthy: Kumquats are odd in that the skin is edible … and sweet. As I understand it they’re citrus, but on a side branch of the citrus family tree. I tease out the seeds, but most people don’t bother.

  56. 56.

    karen marie

    @Chet Murthy:   The MAGA horde will be baying for blood when Individual-1 loses.  I don’t think anywhere will be safe for her.  I certainly wouldn’t feel safe.

    @Starfish:  Thank you for watching and reporting.  Saves me wasting my time!

  57. 57.

    Starfish

    @Splitting Image: I just wanted to watch the boat parade on YouTube and could not figure out how to do it. All these tiny clips of things I do not care about at all with commentators who are all much worse than Leslie Jones.

  64. 64.

    Ken

    Maybe he hopes DeSantis and the FL GOP would refuse to extradite him

    “Use of unnecessary violence in the apprehension of the Blues Brothers Orange Felon has been approved.”

    Probably not going to hear that, but it would be delightful if Trump could never again visit New York, or California, or New Jersey, or Illinois, or…

  66. 66.

    Ramona

    @Josie: IIRC, the comment you might be citing reads, “we all know what kind of desi she (i.e. Usha, Vance’s wife) is”. I think the commenter meant that she is the kind of ethnically Indian person who finds common cause with conservatives.

  67. 67.

    JaySinWA

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    She’s also not a couch, so you can understand his ambivalence.

    I keep thinking about the line from Soylent Green where women were part of the furniture.

    Maybe he thinks of her as a couch cover?

  69. 69.

    lowtechcyclist

    We’ve had a couple of really nice days yesterday and today here in southern Maryland, and I was on my bike both days.  First time I’ve ridden on consecutive days since I don’t know when, so I was wondering how my body would feel about that.  The answer was, it felt pretty damned good.

    If I do the C&O/Gap trails from DC to Pittsburgh in a year or two (probably two), I’ll want to ride on consecutive days (probably alternate two days on, one day off) so this was a step in that direction.

  71. 71.

    Chet Murthy

    @Josie:

    he seemed to be putting her down with his comment.

    I think he’s trying to thread the strait passage between “I love my wife, STFU Megyn” and “well those brown people, y’know …..”

    The strait passage between decency/caring/humanity/family and …. ambition.  One presumes that his wife, watching (with perhaps their children) will be understanding.  As the bus trundles over her.

  76. 76.

    Chet Murthy

    @brendancalling: [full disclosure: I was born in Bangalore, so South India, just like Usha [not gonna try to remember her maiden name]]

    North Indians have a lot of Aryan genetic heritage, but the further south you go, the more we’re Dravidian, and IIUC, related to the Aborigines of Australia.  South Indian languages (again IIUC) are related to those of the Aborigines, and not to Proto-Indo-European (as Sanskrit/Hindi are).  So she probably isn’t Aryan (even as “Aryan” refers to peoples of Central Asia, and not, y’know, Swedes, haha).

  77. 77.

    Jay

    @Josie:

    @Chet Murthy:

    @Ramona:

    it is actually a very inclusive word, and refers to any expat or descendent of Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan descent and culture anywhere in the world, other than their home or root countries.

    When the Brit’s banned slavery, they instituted “indentured servitude” and shipped millions of South Asians around the globe to supply a cheap, menial workforce

    the key words in the comment are “we know what kind”,…..

  78. 78.

    scav

    @Jay: Well, if she keeps her clothes on, he keeps his eyes tightly tightly closed and thinks of his inordinate need for offspring . . . . well, he might manage it. . . .

    If she’s wearing a wooden corset?

  79. 79.

    Jackie

    BettyCracker, what the WHAT??? The VILLAGES?!?!!

    A Florida area known for being a “hotbed of Trump support” is reportedly seeing a bump in enthusiasm for Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday.

    Over the weekend, Harris had some success in Florida, according to onlookers.

    A social media account called Kamala’s Wins flagged the development.

    “The villages in Florida, typically dominated by MAGA extremists, have been completely taken over by Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign,” the account wrote Saturday. “This is a remarkable turnaround.”

    Democratic influencer Jon Cooper said, Wow! I live only an hour’s drive from The Villages in Florida.”

    “Trust me when I say it’s a SUPER-RED community that’s usually a real hotbed of Trump support,” he added this weekend. “The fact that there are over 200 golf carts at this rally for [Harris] today is INCREDIBLE!”

    Commentator Brian Tyler Cohen also weighed in, saying, “Wow.”

    “The Villages, traditionally a hotbed of Trump support in Florida, is out organizing for Kamala Harris this weekend.”

    @QondiNtini said, “I can’t believe my eyes. GOLF CARTS AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE.”

    “American flags. BEYONCÉ PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND. KAMALA SIGNS EVERYWHERE IN THE VILLAGES (!!!) IN FLORIDA,” the account added. “This is real. This is happening. She did this. Freedom we can’t lose.”

    https://www.rawstory.com/florida-hotbed-villages-kamala-harris-maga-territory/

  80. 80.

    montanareddog

    @lamh47: I actually feel sorry for the poor woman. She has bought into patriarchal culture and issued that BS “DEI hire” statement about MVP the other day and her husband throws her under the bus like that.

    No wonder he has become intimate with the upholstery

  81. 81.

    tam1MI

    Just saw my first anti-Kamala ad while watching Olympic volleyball on Peacock.  It was from the Preserve America PAC attacking her on “border security”.

    It’s almost the textbook definition of “preaching to the choir”.

  82. 82.

    trollhattan

    @Jay: His proclivity for Tufted Americans is well known in certain circles. The love that dares not creak its name.

  84. 84.

    trollhattan

    @tam1MI: The whole “open borders” schtick is so fraught. Where the fuck are these open borders? Some frickin’ mountain between Montana and Canada? Y’all try getting our of your $85k trucks on the Mexico side and try to walk across to the States in some random desert. See how that goes.

  86. 86.

    karen marie

    @Chet Murthy: According to her wiki page, she was born in San Diego but her parents are immigrants.

    Her wiki also says she clerked for “then–District of Columbia Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh [in 2014-2015] and in 2017–18 for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.”

    She was a registered Democrat at least as recently as 2014. Not a registered Republican until 2022, although she donated to that asshole Blake Masters’ senate campaign in 2021.

    I question her intelligence.

  88. 88.

    BR

    @montanareddog: ​
    She and Vance are peas in a pod. Their friends — and this is telling that friends are doing this — have leaked emails to the press in the last day showing both of them trashing Trump and the MAGA ideology and now both of them are out there toeing the line. And they are using her as the mouthpiece for racial attacks against Harris. She clerked for Roberts — she’s in it for the power.

  89. 89.

    RevRick

    @tam1MI: It’s the same language that the KKK and xenophobes used against immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe in the early 20s to justify the Immigration Laws restricting immigration. Can’t let criminals, radicals, brutes and the disease-ridden from the shithole countries of Italy, Poland, and Russia pollute our pure Anglo-Saxon stock, can we?
    (Three quarters of my ancestors came from aforementioned shitholes).

  90. 90.

    Jay

    @trollhattan:

    I remember the tale of some Ohio “diner town” where they cheered the deportation of illegals,……………….until the guy who ran the only restaurant in town got deported.

    Even his wife was supporting the deportation of illegals, until they took her husband.

    Funny that, after he was arrested and deported, most of the town was “well, we didn’t mean like that, and not him.”

    The town still has no restaurant, and the guy’s wife had to move and take the kids with her, because he was the “breadwinner”.

  91. 91.

    Chet Murthy

    @karen marie: Right sorry, I knew she was born in San Diego: I meant that her family is from South India, not her specifically.   And that hence, she’s not really gonna qualify as Aryan (just as I don’t).

    Re: her politics — “there’s a fine line between stupid and …. clever”.

    She’s clever, I think we can all give her that.  Ain’t the same thing as smart.

    I remember reading that the Nazis bureaucratically decreed that some favored Jewish families were actually Aryan, just because some high-up wanted it done.  Maybe she thinks that can happen for her; I think she needs to check the back of her hand, compare it with a paper bag, and think again.

  93. 93.

    SatanicPanic

    @montanareddog: That was great, thank you.

    One thing I’ve thought about recently is how marginalized the horseshoe left was during the 2008 Obama campaign. They were there, no doubt, but relative to every other race they were a joke after the primary. Everyone else was like- dude if you nerds can’t see how historic and awesome this is we don’t have time for you. It feels like that this time.

  95. 95.

    Chet Murthy

    @Jay: The guy’s name was Roberto (IIRC).  And his wife was originally an undocumented immigrant from (drum roll) Greece.  She got regularized eventually.  But he didn’t.

  100. 100.

    KatKapCC

    @oldgold: The full quote is still dumb but slightly changes it:

    Look, I love my wife so much. I love her because she’s who she is. Obviously, she’s not a white person, and we’ve been attacked by some white supremacists over that. But I love Usha, she’s such a good mom.

    He’s not saying “I love her even though she isn’t white”. He’s addressing the commentary about her race and sort of saying “Yeah, she obviously isn’t white” as like a “duh” comment, and then going on to talk about what he loves about her. The clip clearly cuts short, I assume he said something beyond “such a good mom” but it’s Vance, so who knows. But the abbreviated quote going around is being a little unfair.

    And now I will bathe in lye to cleanse myself after offering the tiniest bit of defense of that piece of shit.

  101. 101.

    trollhattan

    @SatanicPanic: ​
    Stolen election; budget-destroying, deficit-building tax breaks for the rich; 9-11; one war, two wars, marketing for wars three and four; capped by the market and real estate crashes and not a recession, the Great Recession.

    That was what Obama offered an escape from.

  103. 103.

    Princess

    @oldgold: I can’t believe im defending Vance but this is the full quotation:

    “Look, I love my wife so much. I love her because she’s who she is,” he told host Megyn Kelly on her show Friday. “Obviously, she’s not a white person, and we’ve been accused, attacked by some white supremacists over that. But I just, I love Usha.”

  104. 104.

    Jay

    I have heard that the couch is so mad at JD Vance that it’s making him sleep on his wife.

  106. 106.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    “she’s not white…but I love her”

    which is what he said of the couch

  108. 108.

    SatanicPanic

    @trollhattan: it was more than that tho- Obama himself felt like one of us in a way that no one else had. Im not Black but I am mixed like him and my son is more mixed.

  109. 109.

    Ksmiami

    @Omnes Omnibus: “Saw the police and they rolled right past meNo flexin’, didn’t even look in a brother’s direction as I ran the intersection…Today was a good day.”

  110. 110.

    Jay

    They are so weird.

    Speaker Moses and his “Son” are porn watching monitoring buddies,

    Dolt 45 and sharks, batteries, Hannibal Lecter,

    JD Vance downloading the Couchsurfing App.

    They are weird.

  111. 111.

    bbleh

    I love the name “Roseate Spoonbill.”  It’s so lyrical.  It would work positively for … lots of things!  (which I won’t suggest because someone will decide to be publicly very offended)

  115. 115.

    prostratedragon

    @lamh47:  “Obviously she’s not a white person … ”

    Wow man (to quote a 4-year-old I once knew)! You’re right.

  116. 116.

    zhena gogolia

    OMFG, why did Buttigieg give those ghouls [the NYT] an interview??? The questions are disgusting.

    Newsmax would have been fairer.

  119. 119.

    zhena gogolia

    @zhena gogolia:
    (Fifth or sixth question about Biden’s age)

    You know, we in the media were raising legitimate questions about Biden’s age and his ability to run, and yet reporters were being excoriated by the campaign for asking those questions, and by Biden in public. How do those attacks on the press sit with you, now knowing what we know? Well, look, I’ve never participated in an attack on the press. I think that it is natural to feel strong, passionate, defensive even, about the person you believe in when you feel like they’re being attacked, especially when you feel like they’re being attacked unfairly.

    But it wasn’t unfair. Well, certain dimensions I think were unfair. For example, the fact that in a given day, you might have almost identical flubbing of names by the two major candidates, but only one of them would have that plastered in certain people’s commentary. And look, again, it’s the nature of being passionate about the person you believe in to come to their defense.

    “But it wasn’t unfair! Wah wah wah 😩!”

  121. 121.

    bbleh

    @Ksmiami: I love how the Felon is caught in a bind.  On the one hand, it’s a terrible mistake, becoming increasingly more terrible and evident by the day.  On the other, he would have to ADMIT to a MISTAKE, and that would violate Scripture.

    It’s a little late for a Friday news dump.  They might be thinking it’s just part of the Kamala Honeymoon and it’ll blow over, plus there are legalistic difficulties cuz he’s now the formal nominee, so maybe they’ll wait it out a little longer.

    I hope so!  He’s the stepping-on-rakes-and-in-buckets gift that just keeps on giving!  And the contrast with the upcoming Superstar Dem VP Nominee will be most welcome.

  122. 122.

    Jay

    So someone has remade the iconic “Hope” poster of Obama, into Hope, (Obama), Hate, (Dolt 45), Heal, (Biden), Grow, (Harris), Couch (Vladimir Cushion),

  125. 125.

    Suzanne

    I’ve been wearing my KAMALA hat out and about this week. Yesterday, it spurred a nice conversation with an older white guy in Costco. This afternoon, an employee at Trader Joe’s, who looked to be in his mid-20s — and is adorable, hello — also complimented me on it. I thanked him and said, “I’m excited!”, and he said, “Me too!”

    He must be new….. never noticed him before. ;)

  127. 127.

    catclub

    @Jackie: Curious about the current numbers? As of 2023, there are approximately 85,000 golf carts cruising around The Villages.

     

    so 200?  curb your enthusiasm. pun intended.

    More than last week’s Biden parade, not necessarily a majority in the villages.

  128. 128.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Jay:

    Couch (Vladimir Cushion)

    No No NO… it’s Vladimir Futon, we decided this yesterday, or earlier today, I can’t recall.

  131. 131.

    phdesmond

    @Josie:

    it’s comparable to the Biblical phrase which has long been translated with a “but” instead of an “and.”

    Song of Solomon 1:5-7

    New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

    5 I am black and beautiful,
        O daughters of Jerusalem,
    like the tents of Kedar,
        like the curtains of Solomon.

  133. 133.

    SatanicPanic

    I think regardless of what you think about his answer, you really have to ask why in the fuck a white man with a brown wife ends up being interviewed by white nationalists. Like dude if you love your wife you’re not palling around with these scumbags in the first place. They don’t like your wife! Protect her, dumbass

  134. 134.

    bbleh

    @Ksmiami: “don’t worry, we won’t CUT junior out of the will — the media may SNIFF at it for now, but it’s all going to BLOW over.”

  135. 135.

    Chet Murthy

    It just occurred to me that Vance’s answer is somewhat like Dukakis’ back in 1988:

    Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis didn’t exactly charm his way into voters’ hearts during the 1988 debates with his response about whether he would support the death penalty should his wife, Kitty, be raped and murdered. A longtime opponent of the death penalty, Dukakis responded to the startling question from CNN’s Bernard Shaw, “No, I don’t, Bernard, and I think you know that I’ve opposed the death penalty during all of my life. I don’t see any evidence that it’s a deterrent and I think there are better and more effective ways to deal with violent crime.” While some criticized the fairness of the question, to viewers the answer seemed both dispassionate and dismissive. Years later, Dukakis would recall his response, saying, “I have to tell you, and maybe I’m just still missing it … I didn’t think it was that bad.”

    You can’t answer this question purely from a public policy perspective, without destroying yourself as a husband and family man, in the eyes of the viewers.  At least, so it seems to me.

  137. 137.

    bbleh

    @Chet Murthy: concur, but (1) any politician running for office who tries to answer such a clearly provocative question from a public-policy perspective is a damn fool, and (2) he wasn’t a fool for addressing it as a matter of public policy but rather as a matter of racism and exclusionary nationalism, which of course is what matters to the modern Republican Party.

  139. 139.

    KatKapCC

    @Chet Murthy: Ehhhh…I mean, I’m 100% against the death penalty in any and all cases. If people tried to interpret his comments to mean that he wouldn’t care if his wife was raped and killed, that feels like an unfair twist. I get that to people who do support DP, at least in some cases, it can seem absurd, but if you’re against it, you’re against it, no matter what. I suppose he could have tried to express that it would be very difficult to stick to those convictions in a situation like that, but that convictions aren’t convictions if they are erasable.

  140. 140.

    Chet Murthy

    @bbleh: Right, I was addressing only the Dukakis situation in my comment.  Your comment extends that to the Vance situation, and is what I’d say about that, yeah.  Vance didn’t properly address it as a family man, a husband, a father; instead, he addressed it as a candidate with the minimum acceptable attention paid to his wife.   And …. that’s not really any better than what Dukakis did.  I have to wonder what wives watching that would think, regardless of their race.

    Shorter: the parallel here is that in both cases, Dukakis/Vance did not adequately answer the question -as husbands and fathers-.  They answered as politicians.  And these questions (ISTM) need to be first answered as husbands and fathers, and only afterward can they be addressed politically.  Any other approach is simply not going to be seen as authentic or …. -human-.  It’ll be seen as -indecent-.  And hell, it -is- indecent.

  141. 141.

    Chet Murthy

    @KatKapCC: I’m against DP.  But if I got asked the question, I’d say something like:

    I’m going to answer this question from two perspectives, because, -becuase-, BECAUSE you made it a personal question.  So number one, from a personal perspective, I’d want that man executed, and I’d want to pull the switch myself.  I’d want him dead and in the ground.  And let me just say that you’re asking me about my -wife-, about my life partner here.  Number two, as a matter of public policy, and -setting aside that you asked me about my wife-, ….blablablabla……

    And the truth is, that’s how I’d actually feel.  Does that mean that I would have to recuse myself if I were involved in such a case?  Yeah I think it does.  But to pretend that somehow I wouldn’t want to murder the bastard …. that’s just saying I have no feelings whatsoever.

  144. 144.

    SatanicPanic

    @Chet Murthy: the only way to defeat that kind of question is empathize with the people who would ask that question in good faith. Because there are people who wouldn’t understand why you’d feel one thing but think another.

  145. 145.

    Jay

    @Chet Murthy:

    It’s a lose, lose hypothetical. If you say “yes” you are a hipocrite , if you say “no”, you allegedly don’t love your wife enough. It’s a “gotcha” question.

    The way to answer it is to go on the attack.

    ” That’s a stupid question, and a pathetic attempt at a “gotcha”, and it’s always the same question you guys ask, and it’s always based on some (get shouty!) sick fucking fantasy about the hypothetical rape and murder of MY WIFE OR MY DAUGHTER!,  how sick and deranged are you that you have these fantasies, running around in your head 24/7″.

    One can expand on this if one wants, from it being their fantasy and they are the rapist murderer, all the way to them “holding” sick and twisted “Death Wish” fanatasies.

  147. 147.

    Chet Murthy

    @SatanicPanic: No, @Jay: is right: you can’t directly answer the question, b/c any direct answer is going to be wrong.  You have to impeach the question instead.

  148. 148.

    catclub

    @Jay: twisted “Death Wish” fantasies.

     

    Buttigeig in the NYT interview mentioned that Trump is rolled up in death wish fantasies.

  149. 149.

    KatKapCC

    @Chet Murthy: Not sure if saying “I’d pull the switch myself” would be the best thing for a campaigning politician to say…

    Well, maybe a Republican.

  150. 150.

    Chet Murthy

    @KatKapCC: Well, that’s why I put it in the “answering for myself, -personally-, not as a politician, not as a matter of public policy, as a husband and father”.

  151. 151.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Mousebumples: In Hindi, Desi – native, videsi – foreigner. Typically Indian Americans/south Asians in the US refer to each other.

    If you call someone who lives in India desi, they will probably deck you, because they would think you are calling them a country bumpkin.

    This is mostly (North) Indian-American slang.

  153. 153.

    bbleh

    @Chet Murthy: exactly so, as a politician.  And by doing so they demonstrate their LACK of POLITICAL talent.  What halfway sensible politician doesn’t know to respond to an attack on one’s family on a human rather than political basis?  And if they don’t know, omg what on earth are they doing in whatever race they’re in, and frankly why should they hold political office?

    Some people criticize elections for being about “vibes” rather than “policy,” but in part they ARE about CHARACTER, which is closely related to vibes, because — as with laws — you can’t write policy to cover everything, and at some point you have to depend on the PERSON to make the right call.  And if a candidate responds to a question about family like a dispassionate humanoid or sociopath, *I* sure don’t want him/her holding public office!

  156. 156.

    Jay

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Yup, in the Diaspora, and it’s inclusive, a means of getting around some of the nationalist and religious divisions.

    Fahad mentioned once that he didn’t know where he was “from”. His family lives in Pakistan, but they didn’t always, and I don’t just mean before the ’48, and family history was lost, so they don’t even know where they lived before Partition.

    It’s not uncommon. A significant chunk of our South Asian population came here from Uganda, when Idi Amin kicked them out. Few know where there “home” villages were in India, Pakistan or Sri Lanka because at the time, they were 4th generation Ugandans.

    My wife is Metis, Northern Cree and “Russian”, except “not Russian”. Turns out her Great Grandfather came to Canada from a village in Siberia. I thought it was a bit “weird” that a “white” “Russian” emigrated to Canada from a Yurok Village in Siberia. Turns out that there were Methodist communities in Ukraine. The Tsar saw them as a threat, and had them all deported to Siberia in the early 1800’s. I have been trying to find out which village her family was deported from, but no luck so far. So her roots are Ukrainian, not Russian. When she told her Mom, her Mom said, that explains some things. Nobody at the Russian Cultural Center likes my borsch. They switched over to the Ukrainian Cultural Center, where everybody likes her borsch.

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