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”.

This country desperately needs a functioning Fourth Estate.

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

Motown is Joe-Town!

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Somebody needs to explain to DeSantis that nobody needs to do anything to make him look bad.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Republicans in disarray!

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

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

“Let’s not pretend [Trump] wants to engage in high-minded discourse.”

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

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

Republicans don’t trust women.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: Livestream of President Biden’s Speech At the LBJ Library

Open Thread: Livestream of President Biden’s Speech At the LBJ Library

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Biden is due to speak starting at 5pm blog time (4pm Austin time).

Reader Interactions

195Comments

  2. 2.

    Steve in the ATL

    This is disappointing.  I was expecting a thread about the Lithuanian women’s beach volleyball team!

  6. 6.

    cain

    @Baud:

    🎶 LBJ took the IRT down to 4th street USA, when he got there what did he see? The youth of America on LSD 🎶

    Hair – Broadway Musical

  13. 13.

    BR

    Glad to see the NYT is back at it again — now scolding Dems for calling Vance weird and saying we should be so very scared about all the too-liberal things Harris has said that the GOP is going to be running in attack ads. In case anyone thought the NYT could change its stripes.

  14. 14.

    cain

    @BR: Please cancel your subscriptions, folks. Find other places to congregate that actually practices real journalism.

  17. 17.

    edgefigaro

    Open thread: DNC got back to me about being a full time paid organizer in Wisconsin (probably, im illinois, have a bunch of wis relatives, FIB lets go), I have a phone interview on wednesday.

    Any thoughts, advice, words or wisdom, prior experience, encouragement, discouragement?

  18. 18.

    BR

    @cain:

    Yeah, I’ve been trying to get all the normies I know to cancel their subscriptions. I think many folks have even forgotten that they’re still subscribed, or they subscribes to games only or something like that.

  19. 19.

    KatKapCC

    @BR: Oh no!!! Not “weird”!! That’s the cruelest thing you can say about a person!!! Why are Democrats so mean????

    Lord, they are tiresome.

  21. 21.

    sdhays

    @BR: Do they report just how many individual pieces of furniture Vance has literally fucked and whether it was all consensual? Because I can’t read anything about Vance until those questions are SETTLED.

    ETA: And these are the types of questions the FTFNYT really excels at.

  24. 24.

    zhena gogolia

    I am so looking forward to this thread being free of long-distance neurological diagnoses.

  32. 32.

    BR

    @rikyrah: ​
    Yeah, my hope is that elected officials and insiders also don’t pay attention to the NYT any longer. They’re the most weak willed about this stuff.

  34. 34.

    Baud

    @BR:

    I was pleased Biden ignored them, but I can’t blame Kamala if she wants to bend a knee. The NYT is clearly the intellectual slaveholder of a bunch of Dems who consider themselves free thinkers. We can’t afford to have them distracted by the NYT agenda.

  35. 35.

    hueyplong

    @BR: There is no reason to give undue credence to regional papers that blatantly promote local favorite sons (like Trump).

  36. 36.

    Gin & Tonic

    @cain: ​
    I’ve actually seen Hair the musical, on Broadway, and just noticed this – the IRT doesn’t stop at 4th St.

  37. 37.

    edgefigaro

    @Omnes Omnibus: Dunno. The og application had ~10 battleground states where they were looking for organizers, and I offered up to be a Wisconsin Democrat in the cover letter, mentioned i have relatives in appleton and eau claire. Set up an interview today for wednesday. It’s only a half hour, trying to figure out what I even need to ask

    My relatives are… uhh… Republicans. Not MAGA, but still…

  38. 38.

    Bupalos

    @zhena gogolia: Biden’s doing a great job here and they’re deploying him perfectly. He has a lot of credibility as a long time establishment pol and a court reform sceptic. and this is perfect: “trust me I’ve been around forever and it’s never been like this.”

    Also even as he does a nice job here, there is no way in hell he was up to a full campaign, and even doing a nice job there have been several instances where the stutter now intrudes in a way it never did before. There’s no way his decline wasn’t going to suck up all the oxygen.

  40. 40.

    edgefigaro

    @hueyplong: yeah, ima mention that I’ve been a lurker here for over a decade and could probably slide into the comment section easily enough.

    Ya’ll the ones who directed me to apply in the first place.

  43. 43.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @edgefigaro: Appleton and Eau Claire are both winnable.  Eau Claire should be blue.  Appleton will a little more purple.  Both would be very livable.  There are universities in each.  But you know that already because you have family there.  Good luck.

  44. 44.

    Eyeroller

    @BR: It will be difficult for many Democratic politicians, because they have been attuned to the FTFNYT as the “liberal media” for decades now, and the FTFNYT drives a lot of the topics that TV media chooses to cover.

    For those who still subscribe to their games or recipes, I have read that those actually subsidize their “news” operation.  So one has to give that up as well.  (I had full access but never played the games, and their recipes are too complicated for my simple tastes and status anyway, so it was easy for me, but I understand why others may have a problem abandoning that.)

    It’s a shame because their non-political reporting seems good, at least as far as I can tell, but the attitudes of their publisher and editor toward political reporting has now made me suspicious of the quality of their other reporting as well.  And of course there’s the truism that if one reads an article on a subject one knows well, one notices how much they get wrong, but of course on other topics they’re completely correct.

  47. 47.

    cain

    @Gin & Tonic: well they are on LSD – so who knows where they took the IRT :D Wherever it is, it was a trip. :

    ETA – my parents took us kids to Hair – we must have been like 6 and 3 or something and we didn’t understand any of it but a number of people my dad said gave us the raised eye for bringing kids to a show with nudity and bad language. But literally been listening to this soundtrack my entire life.

  49. 49.

    edgefigaro

    @Omnes Omnibus: Advice? Ehh, I’ll hedge. But I did click a link I found on BJ last week.

    Besides, in my travels I’ve ebbed and flowed in my blog watering holes over the past two decades with a lot of ebb after the blog market crashed, but the balloon juice has been the place that has stuck around and I’ve stuck with. Feels appropriate.

  50. 50.

    JoyceH

    @KatKapCC:

    Oh no!!! Not “weird”!! That’s the cruelest thing you can say about a person!!!

    The Right is screaming about the ‘weird’ framing, because it’s so descriptive and effective. (I think Walz used it first, which is why I’m for the guy – he’s got good instincts.) So much of what Trump and the modern GOP do, in addition to being corrupt, incompetent, or extreme, are just effing WEIRD. Putting your daughter in a West Wing office? Weird. Hiring your caddy and son’s wedding planner for high level government positions? Weird. Throwing paper towels to hurricane victims? Amending a weather map with a Sharpie? Holding a baby orphaned by a mass shooter and doing thumbs up and grinning like you’re posing with a hunting trophy? Weird weird weird!

    And BTW, this is why it’s pointless to try to reason with committed Trump supporters, because they have no SENSE of what’s weird. I was watching the news one day, and they had one of those bits where they interview Trump supporters waiting for a Trump rally. And one woman gushed to the interviewer that she’s for Trump because he just LOVES this country so much, said something to the effect that ‘what other politician has ever hugged the flag like that!’ And I was screaming at the screen, ‘no other politicians do that because it’s gross and repulsive’. And yes, it’s WEIRD. And they don’t see it. They just don’t. The Trump merch. The Trump Heads, who follow the rallies around like Dead Heads only more hateful. The images merging Trump with Christ. SOOOOO WEIRD!

  51. 51.

    cain

    @Eyeroller:

    It’s a shame because their non-political reporting seems good, at least as far as I can tell, but the attitudes of their publisher and editor toward political reporting has now made me suspicious of the quality of their other reporting as well.  And of course there’s the truism that if one reads an article on a subject one knows well, one notices how much they get wrong, but of course on other topics they’re completely correct.

    It’s the same with NPR – but apparently, the Koch brothers made a big donation and now all the programming is tilted in the right ward direction.

  54. 54.

    cain

    @jackmac:  Whoops! Sorry – the only embarrassing thing about Hair is that “Hari Krishna” song.. lawd.  But the best one is “Aquarius” –

  56. 56.

    Eyeroller

    @cain: I think it was the late and (by some) unlamented David Koch who was the big contributor to NPR but yeah.  David Koch also contributed heavily to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Johns Hopkins University for medical research, and many other liberalish-sounding philanthropic endeavors, despite being nearly as reactionary as his brother.

  58. 58.

    MattF

    @cain: Ack. West 4th Street is an IND station. In fact, you can practically define ‘express IND subway train’ as ‘a train that stops at the West 4th Street station’.

    ETA: Forgot that the E train became a local train, long ago.

  59. 59.

    BR

    Just watched a Josh Shapiro speech in support of Harris. He’s actually pretty good at this. Better than Cooper and Beshear and Kelly. Not sure I like his policies, but if he wins PA eh. Reminds me a little of Bill Clinton.​

  60. 60.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Baud:

    The NYT is clearly the intellectual slaveholder of a bunch of Dems who consider themselves free thinkers.

    For that matter, NPR serves the same function for the Totebagger crowd. I’m sure the Venn Diagram overlap between the two is massive but I sure see (and hear) a lot of people who don’t subscribe the FTFNYT but live and die by NPR’s craptastic news coverage.

    Per Cain at #51, the “capture” of NPR began during Dubya’s reign of error when they put the screws on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in terms of funding.  That coincided with glibertarians like the Kochs stepping in at the NPR level (as you mention) to fill the funding void.

    More importantly, Dubya started nominating people for the CPR Board who’s sole purpose was to lean in them vis a vis their news programming.

  61. 61.

    Kay

    @edgefigaro:

    How do you prioritize tasks? What organizational tools do you use (like Votebuilder, look it up)  Describe a time you had to meet a deadline/number/series of tasks? Do you have a reliable car? Is it insured?

  62. 62.

    Emily B.

    @Eyeroller: I keep thinking about how the NYT completely wiffed on the George Santos story. A Long Island paper, The North Shore Leader, had already turned up some red flags in September of that election year, but the Times didn’t publish its exposé until AFTER Santos was elected.

    I know the NYT has deliberately pivoted away from local coverage—but jeez, this was a congressional race in a district that includes parts of Queens. Couldn’t a Times reporter be bothered to read the local newspaper, maybe make a few calls?

  64. 64.

    Lochnessmom

    @Bupalos: if you say “I told you so” 50 more times do you think we’ll get it yet? Took a fucking break from the blog so we could stop hearing about Biden’s decline, but it’s like nothing has changed in the last week.

  65. 65.

    KatKapCC

    Are men not capable of keeping any thoughts at all inside their heads?

    PARIS — Swimmers Mollie O’Callaghan, Shayna Jack, Emma McKeon and Meg Harris had just clinched gold for Team Australia in the women’s 4 x 100-meter freestyle relay on Saturday night.

    Then, as they were leaving the Olympics Aquatic Center, commentator Bob Ballard was heard talking about them on the Eurostar broadcast: “Well, the women just finishing off. You know what women are like … hanging around, doing their makeup.”

    The commentator’s on-air remarks drew sharp criticism on social media for being sexist, and the Olympic broadcaster said on Sunday that it had taken Ballard off of their Olympics coverage.

    And of course, a non-apology: “The comments I made during the Australian freestyle relay victory ceremony on Saturday have caused some offence,” he wrote in a post on X. “It was never my intention to upset or belittle anyone and, if I did, I apologise.”

    Siiiiigh.

  66. 66.

    zhena gogolia

    I just did my first 20 postcards to Nevada. That makes me feel better.

    But they didn’t warn me you couldn’t use cursive. So humanity invented an easy way to write twice or three times as fast, but we’re throwing it out, huh?

  67. 67.

    Kay

    @edgefigaro:

    you can probably take a Votebuilder training on you tube before Wed – throw some of that lingo around. Even if they know you are bluffing they’ll be impressed you bothered to prepare.
    Dont go crazy though or they’ll make you a lead :)

  68. 68.

    Scout211

    I have not read all the comments today, so apologies if this has been posted and discussed:

    News today that it not news, but important just the same:

    WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters) –U.S. foes targeting November’s election with influence operations are expected to adapt to presidential contest developments, a U.S. intelligence official said on Monday, in an apparent reference to Joe Biden dropping his reelection bid.

    The official said unidentified foreign actors were especially focused on “events that occurred this month regarding the presidential race”, without referring directly to President Biden’s decision to withdraw.

    The official’s comments indicated that U.S. intelligence agencies expect foreign actors to refocus their influence operations on Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Biden endorsed as the Democratic Party standard bearer.

    “We expect these actors to adjust to these events and incorporate them into their influence narratives, seeking to undermine democratic institutions,” the official said, without identifying the foreign actors.

    . . .
    A senior intelligence official said that Tehran and Moscow maintain their same presidential preferences as in past cycles, whereas Iranian operatives are attempting to tear down the Republican ticket while Russia has made efforts to smear the Democrats, according to prior intelligence community assessments, opens new tab.

    The Iranian mission to the United Nations denied in an email that Iran engages in any “activities intended to influence the U.S. election” and said that many such accusations are “characterized by psychological operations designed to artificially pep up election campaigns.”
    . . .
    Meanwhile, Chinese government entities are using a China-based technology company to enhance covert influence operations in the United States, the official said. While the Chinese government probably is not planning to influence the U.S. election outcome, it is leveraging social media to sow divisions among Americans, they added.

  70. 70.

    Jay

    @zhena gogolia:

    They don’t teach cursive in most US schools anymore, and havn’t for decades. They do teach it in Medical schools and Pharmacy programs, but look at the results,…….

  72. 72.

    Scout211

    @KatKapCC: I read that earlier and thought, sure bro, it’s never offensive when you belittle world class athletes who are your better and reduce them to silly females.

    Ugh.  What an ass.

  73. 73.

    different-church-lady

    The effective thing about the weird campaign is: the only way to counter it is to stop being weird.

    Which they can’t do.

  74. 74.

    BR

    Watched the whole Shapiro stump speech — I think he’s top tier at this. He’s able to match Walz’s rhetorical ability. Very very different style. Shapiro seems a bit more slick, like he intentionally copied Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. But it works.

  75. 75.

    Lochnessmom

    @zhena gogolia:  did you say Beetlejuice three times?

    I was just taking a break for self care. Too much anxiety kicked up that weekend and then everybody was all tense and it was making me physically ill.  Better now!

    And now I can go back to being anxious about different stuff.

  76. 76.

    edgefigaro

    @Kay: How do you prioritize tasks?

    Thats the best part. I dont!
    Sorry, i couldnt resist.
    I’ll take a look at votebuilder tomorrow. Thanks for the tips, its what i was looking for when i entered this post

  77. 77.

    Eyeroller

    @Jay: “Decades” is doing some work there. I don’t have kids so don’t know what happened in schools say 20 years ago.  I know that most people age 40+ can read cursive.  I also know that people who don’t really learn cursive end up with some variant of it because block-printing is just too slow.  As a matter of fact, that is sort of how I ended up.  My handwriting is a mixture of cursive and block and I’m in my 60s.

    Also in the US at least nearly all prescriptions are filed electronically now…

  79. 79.

    Geminid

    @Emily B.: The Democratic candidate that Santos beat said his staffers presented Santos’s problematic past to NYC newspapers and were told that it was not a story because Santos could not win.

    Republicans may have thought the same thing. I saw a report that in the closing weeks of the 2022 campaign, when Republicans realized they  had the opportunity to flip New York Congressional districts, they directed money to several other New York candidates but not to Santos.

    They likely knew Santos was a potential embarrassment and I think they accepted conventional wisdom that the would pick up 20 seats so Santos’s race did not matter.

    I suspect Santos’s win was an unpleasant surprise for New York Republicans. It has already resulted in a guilty plea by his treasurer, Nancy Marks. She was a veteran Long Island Republican operative.

    Santos himself has yet to make a plea deal, which suggests to me that there is at least one more shoe to drop in this affair.

  81. 81.

    SW

    Johnson was a sociopath.  Everyone credits “the master of the senate” for the genius to pass the civil rights act.  The conventional wisdom is that yes, JFK proposed the legislation but only someone with the skill of LBJ could get it passed.  Bullshit.  Jack Kennedy proposed the legislation and Jack Kennedy’s ghost got it passed.  People who never would have considered voting for the bill did so in the aftermath of Kennedy’s murder.  Largely because of the national trauma inflicted by the assassination.

  83. 83.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @BR:

    Just like Clinton and Obama, the best two (R) presidents of my lifetime.

    As many of us have said here previously, his stance on school vouchers is a line in the sand.  Everybody should read this piece as it outlines his activeness in the school voucher scam and the only thing stopping it was Dems in the PA House who categorically rejected another piece of Reaganomic misery.

    https://www.thecentersquare.com/pennsylvania/article_155b4402-c5d4-11ee-9ff0-f76befd5c26e.html

    Heh heh, Kay and I actually agree on this and Kay and I don’t agree on anything.

  84. 84.

    Scout211

    @Jay:They don’t teach cursive in most US schools anymore,

    It’s coming back to US schools for several reasons:

    California elementary schools are now required to teach cursive in the classroom.

    It has not been a requirement since 2010, but many schools including a portion of classrooms at Stockton Unified School District continued teaching it.

    Stimulating brain development, signing documents, reading old documents are some of the reasons that it’s coming back.

  85. 85.

    Kay

    @edgefigaro:

    ha! I looked. There’s tons of you tube videos. If you actually learn Votebuilder you’ll be the Votebuilder person so just work on that, train volunteers, help other organizers – not a bad plan.

    youre going to do great

  86. 86.

    Ohio Mom

    No one is going to call moment on Biden’s speech? The part toward the end when he recaps his start in politics was absolutely charming. He was relaxed and his comedic timing was perfect. He’s going to be a great elder statesman for us.

    I’m trying to think if the Republicans have any elder statesmen. So far, drawing a blank and realizing the question answers itself.

  87. 87.

    rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun)

    Got my new glasses today. I graduated to bifocals. Are they supposed to be THIS hard to see out of?

  89. 89.

    lowtechcyclist

    @cain:

    But literally been listening to this soundtrack my entire life.

    I’ve been listening to the Hair soundtrack since my mid-teens.  Met a guy named Claude the other day – said his name, then said ‘as in Jean-Claude Van Damme’ and I was thinking, “and I believe that God believes in Claude, that’s you.”

  91. 91.

    Scout211

    @rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun): I graduated to bifocals. Are they supposed to be THIS hard to see out of?

    If they are blended bifocals, there is definitely a learning curve of several weeks.  The sweet spot in the middle of your lenses is the best vision but it means you have to move your head more to see out of that sweet spot.

    It takes some time, for sure.

  94. 94.

    Ohio Mom

    @rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun): It takes a while for your brain to get used to bifocals and adjust. I hated them at first but I don’t even notice that there are two prescriptions in the lens anymore.

    Now trifocals, I wasn’t brave enough for that idea, and now, after cataract surgery, I don’t have to.

  95. 95.

    3Sice

    I read a biz page story that airlines are dropping flights to Austin because, well, reasons….

  97. 97.

    rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun)

    @Ohio Mom: the top half is clear but the bottom half looks fuzzy, like the lens is dirty and has prints on it. But nope, it’s clean! That’s what is driving me nuts. My autism demands clean glasses at all times.

  98. 98.

    Ohio Mom

    @Scout211: Yes, I think that book could have been titled “What’s the Matter with Iowa?” just as easily as it was for Kansas.

  101. 101.

    lamh47

    It truly is sticking in Chump’s craw that he is unable to get any air time thanks to the all the coverage of MVP Harris.  He has been ranting on Truth Social all day…ahaha.

    Here he is ranting about Fox News playing MVP Harris rally and Project Lincoln ads “all day”…smh

    @PettyLupone

    He hates all the attention on Harris. It’s driving him crazy! My heart is so full, you guys. 
    https://x.com/PettyLupone/status/1818026315519508846

  102. 102.

    zhena gogolia

    @rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun): Does it look that way when you’re looking down through that part to read? It should be clear then. If you’re trying to look straight out at a distance through the bottom part, it will be fuzzy.

  103. 103.

    Kay

    The NYTimes political reporters are bored with our “weird” campaign.

    Watching the book deals disappear and realizing they backed the wrong horse as Trump fades into the background…

    Delicious. They were measuring the drapes for Trump II and we snatched it away from them.

  104. 104.

    zhena gogolia

    @zhena gogolia: I’ve had bifocals for years, but I got a new prescription this week and I’m still adjusting, because the distance/reading areas are different sizes now.

  107. 107.

    Scout211

    @rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun):the top half is clear but the bottom half looks fuzzy,

    That’s the close-up (reading vision) at the bottom.  Like Jay said at #92, look down (or through the botton of your glasses) for close-up vision and look up or (through the top of your glasses) for distance.  You will get used to it but take breaks if it’s too difficult.

  108. 108.

    lowtechcyclist

    @zhena gogolia:

    But they didn’t warn me you couldn’t use cursive. So humanity invented an easy way to write twice or three times as fast, but we’re throwing it out, huh?

    This lefthander says, fuck cursive.  I’ve been able to take notes faster by printing than with cursive since ninth grade.  Thank goodness it’s disappearing from common use.  Nobody should have it inflicted on them.

  109. 109.

    Ohio Mom

    @zhena gogolia: The moment I finished typing that sentence, I realized how silly a question it was. They have no wisdom to pass on.

    The marginally smarter ones seem to go into seclusion (I said *marginally*). GW and Romney come to mind.

  110. 110.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @3Sice:

    Heh heh, that sent me down a rabbit hole.  I’m guessing what you saw was the announcement yesterday by AA announcing 5 routes will no longer be nonstop.

    Budget carrier Allegiant announced some significant changes to its service to Austin.

    But other than those two, nobody else.

    Sounds like some real corporate-specific reasons rather than some fundamental change in the flying profile of Austin?

  111. 111.

    rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun)

    @zhena gogolia: you described what’s happening perfectly. There’s a little blurriness, but I suspect it’s from these being a new prescription.

  112. 112.

    wjca

    @Baud: The NYT owns half the Dem party. They know it too.

    Except they don’t realize it’s the horseshoe liberals half….

  114. 114.

    rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun)

    @Kay: Think of poor JV Dunce and all the book deals HE’S gonna miss out on after this lol

  115. 115.

    3Sice

    The village is trying to retcon Vance’s selection. Mush Brain was trying to stop his polling slide with white working class males. See… he was stratergizing!

  118. 118.

    Lochnessmom

    @The Thin Black Duke: guess I made the mistake of thinking it was safe to unpie some people.

    And I’m not like super thin-skinned, but I also recognize when certain things are really going to be intolerable for me and act accordingly so I don’t become part of the problem by forgetting that I don’t have to tell people they are wrong on the internet…. I guess I need to make it a daily affirmation, lol.

  120. 120.

    KatKapCC

    @Kay: People should start tweeting out their dumb headlines and cringe lines from Haberman articles with “Y’all, why is the NYT so weird?”

  121. 121.

    lamh47

    @lamh47: Yes the GOP tried to cyphon off Black male voters for Trump

    That was the purpose of Tim Scott and all his type to reach out to those voters.

    But a majority of Black male voters are still Dem voters..and just as perceived disrespect of PBO/Michelle only got so far even in GOP circles, take it from me or rikyrah when we tell you, those same voters will not take kindly to disrespect of Kamala Harris.  Her being an HBCU and a member of the Divine 9 (not honorary, but pledged) amplifies that 2 fold more than even PBO/Michelle had.

    Not that I want to give GOP any advice, but tread lightly.

  122. 122.

    rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun)

    @lowtechcyclist: I’m so happy the kids aren’t learning cursive anymore. There are other and probably more effective ways to teach fine motor skills than writing a capial Q thirty times.

  123. 123.

    Eyeroller

    @Jay: There are also different styles of cursive.  I have a little bit of difficulty reading the very few samples I have of my grandfather’s (born 1905) Spencerian cursive from when he was young.  Interestingly, as he got old his handwriting became more like a block+cursive combo.

  126. 126.

    Eyeroller

    @rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun): The capital Q in Spencerian style cursive (which persisted for a long time) makes no sense and I abandoned it as soon as I didn’t have to use it anymore.  But most of the other letters are not all that far from their block-print counterparts.

  127. 127.

    HumboldtBlue

    @MattF: ​ 

    Geeeeeeeeeezzzz… they should have finished off with “I’m voting for Trump in November”

  129. 129.

    Jeffro

    OT but serious question here in the Fro household re: Gov Josh of PA

    Is it “Sha-peer-o” or “Sha-pie-ro”?  We just want to pronounce it however he pronounces it.  Also there may be a small bet riding on this. =)

  130. 130.

    KatKapCC

    Waiting on the Women For Harris organizing call, which it seems is now just a livestream rather than a Zoom? I wonder if the participation level was too high.

  132. 132.

    Fake Irishman

    @SW:

    I know a lot of historians that would disagree with the take in Kennedy’s ghost passed civil rights. (Not to mention voting rights in 1965)

  133. 133.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @KatKapCC: Won’t work. What might work is calling them what they are, gossip girls (even the male ones), not reporters. They sit around passing judgement, typing mean things, and feeling superior. They are the worst people you went to high school with.

  136. 136.

    Geminid

    I was wondering this afternoon: what else will we learn about J.D. Vance? I suspect there are other skeletons in his closet that have yet to be reported.

  139. 139.

    Jay

    @NotMax:

    Shitter has gotten worse and worse and Apartheid Clyde is deep in his swamp.. Andrew Tate get’s to use the nword freely, “Community Notes” on bot, troll, misinformation and Vatnik posts are getting pulled, pro Ukraine posters are getting suspended, throttled and censored, death threats from the alt-reich are tolerated. Anybody who points this out on shitter, either gets suspended, banned or throttled.

  140. 140.

    KatKapCC

    @VFX Lurker: Has it started yet? I’m still on the thumbnail with annoying hold music playing.

    Okay, now it’s showing her first ad. Maybe about to begin.

  142. 142.

    Scout211

    @NotMax:  Regulators consider first federal rule on AI-created political ads

    Amidst a campaign tinged by concerns about so-called “deep fakes,” the Federal Communications Commission is proposing a first-of-its-kind rule to mandate disclosure of AI-generated content in political ads, though it may not go into force before the election.

    Regulators have been slow to grapple with the new technology, which allows people to use cheap and readily available artificial intelligence tools to impersonate others. FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel says disclosure is a critical — and perhaps just as importantly, doable — first step in regulating artificially created content

    However,

    The social media platform X has not only not banned videos created with AI, but its billionaire owner, Elon Musk, has been one of their promoters. Over the weekend, he shared with his 192 million followers a doctored video made to look like a campaign ad for Vice President Kamala Harris.

    The government does not regulate social media content, but the FCC has a long history of regulating political programing on TV and the radio, including maintaining a database of political ad spending, with information that TV and radio stations are mandated to collect from ad buyers. The new rule would just have broadcasters also ask ad-buyers if their spot was made with AI.

  143. 143.

    sab

    @Bupalos: I just put away my Biden Brandon t-shirt, because I agree. He will be great on this, which no candidate should touch. 50+ years experience will be hugely helpful.

  144. 144.

    wjca

    @Ohio Mom: I’m trying to think if the Republicans have any elder statesmen. So far, drawing a blank and realizing the question answers itself.

    Take a look at the Lincoln Project.  The “elder” may be arguable, but their vigorous antipathy to TCFG and his minions is statesmanlike.

  145. 145.

    prostratedragon

    @Gin & Tonic:  Christopher Street-Stonewall station takes in West 4th, as in “Positively 4th Street.”

    No doubt this assures my place in Hell.

  147. 147.

    Eyeroller

    @Sister Golden Bear: Left-handers really should write right-to-left from what I’ve read, so anything linking left-to-right will be unnatural.

    That doesn’t mean right-to-left writing systems were invented by left-handers; there may be other reasons (like how stone carving works) but it’s all very interesting to consider.

  149. 149.

    sukabi

    @BR: lol…

     

    to be fair, I saw that ad a few weeks ago, long before Vance’s couch affair came to light…. but it will probably hit a bit different for everyone now… lol

  150. 150.

    Hungry Joe

    My cursive was always sloppy, nearly illegible. When I was a freshman in college  a T.A. suggested I switch to block printing — on tests, at least, because “It pisses people off when they have to struggle to read your handwriting, and you don’t want to piss off people who are grading your tests.” He added that if I printed REALLY clearly it’d make my essays seem more reasoned and better-written.

    Aside from my signature, I haven’t written a word in cursive since.

  153. 153.

    sab

    @zhena gogolia: We in the comments have told you, a teacher, that the kids and the not too literate cannot read cursive.

    I am biased. I could never comfortably write cursive. After failing handwriting for four years, my sixth grade teacher told me ” Who cares? Your handwriting is sort of printy, but it is completely legible.”

    ETA This was in 1966.

  154. 154.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @wjca

    Definitions from Oxford Languages ·

    noun
    a skilled, experienced, and respected political leader or figure.

    Or, from Wikipedia,

    A statesman or stateswoman is a politician or a leader in an organization who has had a long and respected career at the national or international level.

    Maybe I’m nitpicking, but really, can you name a single Republican who fits the definition of “statesman”, never mind “elder statesman”? A long and respected career? I can’t think of one.

    ETA there are a few whom I respect, e. g. Liz Cheney, but broadly?

  155. 155.

    Jay

    @sab:

    Felon Husk is rapidly turning the Dead Bird site into Truth Social or Gab, with out the hyped dollar valuation.

    It was at $12.1 Billion in January, it’ a lot less now. It’s worth much less than MAGA.

  156. 156.

    VFX Lurker

    @KatKapCC: ~121,000 viewers on the overflow YouTube link and rising. So far, this call is rocking. Love everything the speakers have said so far.

    At the beginning, viewers were asked to donate some amount of 47 (ex: $4.70, $47) to Kamala Harris tonight. Will do that later tonight.

  157. 157.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Hungry Joe:

    My cursive was always sloppy, nearly illegible.

    TAs for six years of college, undergrad and grad school, cursed me regularly because as an Arts and Parties major, exams were always essay.

    And your description of your writing was mine.  It’s gotten even worse over the years from disuse.  In the early days of word programming, I still drafted stuff on legal pads but over time, stopped.

  158. 158.

    Kirk

    @zhena gogolia:

    But they didn’t warn me you couldn’t use cursive. So humanity invented an easy way to write twice or three times as fast, but we’re throwing it out, huh?

     

    The few times I’ve seen it tested, the speed difference between cursive and printing was negligible.

    And in general, cursive is harder to read even for those who grew up with it. The extreme example to demonstrate is the word “minimum” – it shows that the ligatures (or loops if that’s your style of cursive) do not have the clarity of letter separation given by simple spaces.

    Me, my handwriting is illegible regardless unless I slow down a lot and go to what I consider my calligraphy speed. That is clear and legible. But my print is still easier to read later.

  159. 159.

    Rusty

    @BR: Thanks for reminder, just canceled my games subscription.   That’s a cash cow for the NYT.

  160. 160.

    sab

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: I am a retired public accountant in a small firm, and I curse whenever a small client sends workpapers with beautiful Palmer Method cursive. Gorgeous, but I never can read most of it. And I was educated on Palmer Method cursive.

  161. 161.

    KatKapCC

    @VFX Lurker: Yeah, it’s been great to hear from all these different ladies. I do hope that we get to some concrete action-oriented stuff, like what people can do for GOTV, groups to join, etc.

  163. 163.

    sab

    @Jay: OT: we are in the process of moving 1 mile up our hill. No truer words than no moves are more difficult than the shortest.

    I finally checked my e-mail. Thrilled to see yours. . Sorry to have ignored it.

    ETA My e-mail is on my actual computer. That is downstairs in the basemenr. BJ contact is on my Nook. That difference is part of why we are moving.

  164. 164.

    Kay

    @hueyplong:

    It is real. 2015. Thye planned their Clinton coverage around an anti Clinton political book. They did no original work.

    I post that about once a year – I feel like it’s all you need to say about them.

  166. 166.

    WereBear

    @Fake Irishman: Not the take in the five volumes (so far) of Robert Caro’s LBJ biography.

    Though the Master of the Senate used it the sentiment of the moment, and it was JFK’s legacy.

    But Johnson was once a teacher in a border town, and on the gravel team behind mules, and once went out of his way to get a Mexican veteran properly buried in his hometown in Texas.

    I don’t think it was possible to like him. At the same time, when we look at the times, it was amazing it happened.

    And he was right, but we didn’t “lose the south” for a generation. We’ve been punished since the Reagan Revolution.

  167. 167.

    Kay

    @sab:

    Hi sab. When my juvenile clients (the girls) see my handwriting – I write longhand when I interview them – they say “you have such nice handwriting!” I don’t. It’s standard, even cursive. They act like it’s calligraphy.

  168. 168.

    Kay

    @sab:

    Hi sab. When my juvenile clients (the girls) see my handwriting – I write longhand when I interview them – they say “you have such nice handwriting!” I don’t. It’s standard, even cursive. They act like it’s calligraphy.

  171. 171.

    sab

    @Kay: When I write cursive I feel like it is calligraphy. And I am pretty good at calligraphy. I just don’t use it for every day.

    Cleaning out my house for the move and we found some thing my grandmother used to get herself in the DAR ( Daughters of the American Revolution.)

    I couldn’t actually read the guy’s name. Patrick Henry signed it making him (whomever) a major.

    So much for cursive. I cannot read Elizabethan writing either (mostly but not always.)

  173. 173.

    sab

    @Kay: I think they learn keyboarding instead of penmenship, I feel so old when I wander outside my normal life.

    But my grandmother grew up with horses as a normal part of town life. Pooping everywhere. But no tailgate exhaust.

  174. 174.

    Salty Sam

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage:

    Sounds like some real corporate-specific reasons rather than some fundamental change in the flying profile of Austin?

    Austin airport is undergoing  significant expansion construction, and some airlines are being affected negatively from access fees, etc.

  175. 175.

    Jay

    @sab:

    No biggie, I figured that you would reach out when you reach out and were busy moving and unpacking.

  176. 176.

    Geminid

    @topclimber: My parents were from Wisconsin and we were Packers fans back in the day. I still am somewhat, but not like I am an Atlanta Braves fan (we had just moved from Huntsville, Alabama to Milwaukee when the Braves won the 1957 World Series).

    So now I mainly get my Packers news from Twitter polemicist Ragnarok Lobster. Mr. Lobster is a Chicago resident but a serious Packers fan. He’s also a student of the game and has a good sense of humor.

  178. 178.

    Kay

    Trump is just babbling on Fox defending Vance.

    “He loves family. That’s all he said”

    Is that what he said? No. Of course not. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him defend anyone before. He’s not very good at it.

  179. 179.

    M31

    lol I had to read some 1752 German cursive for a (music) project, and holy shit it was impossible

    you thought fraktur was bad (and it is) this is like no letter is even remotely like the printed equivalent

  180. 180.

    Miki

    I loved Joe here. No pressure to make him into a weird pumped up old guy. Just a heart felt pol doing what he does best – engaging with the folks that matter.

    Go, Joe.

  181. 181.

    Kay

    @DPsaledakis
    : Hamas has accused Israel of blocking ceasefire Patel: I’m not gonna get into specifics…Hamas needs to accept that deal Daphne: Has Israel added new conditions Patel: Not gonna speak to the process

    The Biden people have no credibility on this. They just go out there day after day and bob and weave and go right up to the line of lying. Who do they think is fooled by this? NINE MONTHS of it, every weekday. I mean, my God, Put these poor spokespeople out of their misery and replace them.

  183. 183.

    sab

    @Kay: Those twelve kids blown up by Hezbollah in “israel” were actually Syrian citizens in the Gollan Heights. Huge targetting error by Hezbollah. Probably would not even have been at risk if Bibi had not wandered by.

    Extremely ancient Drug Czar and formal general said this on MSNBC.Barry McCaffrey.

  184. 184.

    Quiltingfool

    Ah, the cursive handwriting debate!  My father had beautiful penmanship, and he thought I should, too.  So he gave me Palmer Method templates so I could practice at home.  I have really good cursive handwriting, lol!

    In my last years of teaching, if I wrote in cursive on the board, I had kids who couldn’t read it; they weren’t taught cursive.  So print it is!

    Like Kay, I did have some students who thought my handwriting was so pretty!

    Oh, if you have a hard time reading someone’s cursive, they aren’t doing it right.  :)

  185. 185.

    Geminid

    @sab: Hezbollah would never have targeted that village.  There are a lot of Druze in Lebanon and their neighbors learned centuries ago not to mess with the them.*

    There is an Israeli military base 3 kilometers away though, and that may have been the target. There is reporting that a Hezbollah-related news site claimed that Hezbollah had lauched a missile at the base but this was denied once people realized where the missile landed. Now Hezbollah and its allies insist the culprit was an Israeli Iron Dome missile gone astray, which is possible.

    With a population of over 12,000, the town of Majdal Shams is the largest of four Druze towns in the occupied Golan Heights. In 1981, Israel attempted to impose Israeli citizenship on the citizens but backed down after the people staged a 19-week general strike.

    Now the Druze have permanent residency, which entitles them to participate in government programs like health insurance and higher education, as well as free movement within Israel. Israeli citizenship is still an option but as of 2010 only 10% had taken it. That number may have increased since then.

    Majdal Shams is located on the slopes of Mt. Hermon to the north. It is very close to the ceasefire line, and there is a hill 1 kilometer from the town called “Shout Hill” because residents used to communicate with their relatives across the line with megaphones. Now they use cellphones.

    The town is surrounded by cherry and apple orchards and is an agritourism destination

    * The Druze earned their warlike reputation while surviving as an unorthodax religious community in an often hostile region, since 1100 C.E. Theirs is an esoteric religion and they have not accepted converts since that time.

    Almost all Druze marry within the faith. I believe the 2004 movie The Syrian Bride is about a Druze  marriage and is set in Majdal Shams.

    Israel’s Druze threw in with the newly created state in 1947 and have been some of the IDF”s most dedicated fighters since. They number around 120,000 citizens total.

  186. 186.

    Sally

    @BR: Someone else has said that he is indeed top tier when reading speeches, but much less so when off the cuff.

  187. 187.

    Geminid

    @sab: Actually, Netanyahu was in Miami when the missile struck Majdal Shams. The PM had turned two days of official business into a six day junket, and was celebrating his expat son’s birthday. “Drinking pink champagne” as a furious Majdal Shams resident put it.

  188. 188.

    Sally

    @lamh47: I hope Harris doesn’t name her VP till the end of the convention. Just to keep the media (spit) buzzing around her and not him/that.

  189. 189.

    Betty

    @BR: Doesn’t work for me. I can’t help but see Shapiro as another very ambitious DA who lucked out with a wacko opponent in the Governor’s race and got lots of tv opportunities during the crazy effort by Trump challenging the PA election results.

  190. 190.

    Gretchen

    @zhena gogolia: I wondered about cursive when I was doing Postcards to Voters. I’ve heard that younger people can’t read cursive, so it’s no use sending them cards written in mystery language. But it’s so much faster!

  191. 191.

    Bupalos

    @Lochnessmom: haven’t said it once. This was a response to a post from “ the other side” that was raising the issue AS IF the problem here was people being too down on Biden’s decline, which…. Was not the problem.

    omnes channeling Elsa gave the correct advice.

  192. 192.

    Bupalos

    @Scout211: tellin’ y’all, the value we had in strategic uncertainty that we just gave away because “ZOMG CHAOS!!!!” when there was no actual chaos on offer was an absolute own goal. Just listen to nancy next time, please? She’s smarter than us.

  193. 193.

    Bupalos

    @Jay: I’ve met a lot of people >40 that don’t know which way the “greater than” symbol is supposed to face.

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