Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

People are weird.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

“But what about the lurkers?”

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

The jury literally has a bell they can ring to force Trump to show up on command. Greatest thing ever!

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

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

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Biden: Oh no. We’ve upset Big Pharma again.

The choice is between normal and crazy.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Words for me to keep in mind for tomorrow

Words for me to keep in mind for tomorrow

by | 105 Comments

This post is in: 

I thought I’d check in with (fake) jack Smith before I head to bed this evening.  Not sorry I did!

Jack E. Smith ⚖️

@7Veritas4

Whoever her pick is, here are some things to keep in mind:

– You all have your favorites. She has been meticulous (and discreet) in the selection process for a reason. She’ll need all of them to campaign and win in November.

– Some of you will be disappointed when your favorite isn’t selected. That’s ok. Don’t have a tantrum about it.

– Remember the assignment. We’re in this to preserve democracy, not convince each other why we’re right about who Kamala Harris should’ve picked as her running mate.

Okay, so the first two were kinda preachy, but I found the third one to be an excellent reminder.

Republicans don’t need our help trashing the VP choice.  If I were Kamala, I would be choosing someone I connected with rather than someone who could bring in this constituency or that one.  Barack chose well, and Joe chose well, so I suspect Kamala will likewise choose the person she wants to be the last person in the room with her.  Who am I to judge who that person is for her?

When I used to interview folks for positions in the IT group I managed, one of the interview questions went something like “Can you tell us about a time where you complied with a policy with which you didn’t agree?”  It was never a good sign when the person couldn’t come up with something, or did come up with a situation, but spent the whole time telling us why he was right.

Cole has a category called stream of consciousness, I guess that’s the one I should have used for this rambling post.

Open thread.

 

 

Reader Interactions

105Comments

  1. 1.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Trump looked like death warmed over in that podcast with the Tate Sniffer he did today (and DO NOT asked me what “Tate Sniffer” means, somethings are best left unsaid)

  4. 4.

    rekoob

    I’ll start. I agree that your point 3 makes the most sense. Preserve democracy!

    I’ll also add that I’m grateful for all the conversations and the fundraising. Onward and upward!

  10. 10.

    Trivia Man

    @WaterGirl: Not even if I can promise you a memorable Tik Tok dance? Have you ever seen convict dance WITH somebody? Its as vivid as you suspect it is. Next to the gifted Cyber Truck, unfortunately the fancy wrap isnt visible in the dancing clip.

  11. 11.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Trivia Man: Put that pain to good use and share it with the next duffus who tries to claim it’s unfair to call them weird.

  16. 16.

    Chet Murthy

    “Can you tell us about a time where you complied with a policy with which you didn’t agree?”  It was never a good sign when the person couldn’t come up with something, or did come up with a situation, but spent the whole time telling us why he was right.

    And it doesn’t matter whether you thought the policy was right or not.  It doesn’t matter whether you were right or not.  Sometimes, you have to follow the group, and That.  Is.  That.  And on the day you decide that you can’t do it any longer, you have to leave.  But as long as you stick around, you have to comply.

  18. 18.

    Jackie

    Have a good bottle of 🍷  ready to celebrate with Kamala and her VP choice tomorrow!

    I’ll toast to the Harris/“?” team and then send a🖕🏻 salute to the tears and anger coming from MAL!

  26. 26.

    Trivia Man

    @Chet Murthy: An old boss said “I want your advice and input. But when i make the decision, and I WILL make the decision, i want you marching that direction just like it was your idea all along.”

    At work i am happy to make decisions whenever asked or if nobody else will.   But it doesn’t hurt my feelings if they choose something I wouldn’t. I gave my input, told you why (if you asked), but it’s your decision to make.

  31. 31.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @WaterGirl: Speaking as a registered Democrat, I full approve of Donny going on National TV for 90s mines by himself the 4th.

    I bet you his campaign manger look at the Trump on that pod cast and said, “oh shit” and posted the AI kneeling Trump to distract.

  33. 33.

    Dangerman

    @WaterGirl: I tried to make it small so no one would gag.

    Perfect positioning for my stream of consciousness; won’t need a step ladder.

  38. 38.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @HumboldtBlue: I run role playing games were I try to come up with the most absurd characters possible, and then there is Adin Ross, were I just give up.

  39. 39.

    NotMax

    Open thread?

    Suppose should have expected it — the new Joe Rogan special on Netflix is currently sitting at #1 in the top ten TV shows there.

    Blech².

  41. 41.

    WaterGirl

    @NotMax: I know!  Netflix shoved that in my face last night.  I had to add it to my list in order to click on NOT FOR ME, and then take it off my list!  And then they still shoved it in my face.  Grrrr.

  42. 42.

    Another Scott

    Similarly, … APNews.com:

    Updated 10:32 PM EDT, August 5, 2024

    TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 share index soared as much as 10.7% early Tuesday, a day after it plunged a near record 12.4%.

    The index yielded some of those early gains to trade 8.7% higher at 34,211.83 by late morning. The gains followed sharp losses on Wall Street that were dramatic but not on the same scale as Monday’s debacle in Tokyo.

    The Nikkei is now close to the level it was at a year ago. Its biggest ever percentage gain was 14.2% in October 2008.

    Shares rose by double-digit percentages similar to their losses a day before, with Toyota Motor Corp. up nearly 12% by late morning.

    Computer chip maker Tokyo Electron jumped almost 12%, Honda Motor Co. advanced 16% and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group was up 7.6%.

    […]

    DON’T PANIC

    Eyes on the prizes.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  43. 43.

    NotMax

    Cole has a category called stream of consciousness

    Blog could use a category, judiciously employed, labeled scream of consciousness.
    ;)

  49. 49.

    FastEdD

    @Another Scott: Looks like the Dow might repair some of the damage tomorrow. From what I could tell, interest rates in Japan are really low, and that spilled over into worries about our own rates. The markets of course do not always respond in rational ways. Good news = bad news in strange ways.

  50. 50.

    Jackie

    @KrackenJack:

    Lift team” is the designation in the medical field.

    😂🤣😂 That’s absolutely right! And usually requires a minimum of four people!🤣

  51. 51.

    UncleEbeneezer

    There’s also the possibility that the VP Harris chooses, will change their stances from ones we don’t like to ones we do.  People change, grow, adapt, evolve etc.  Leave some space for that.  The Joe Biden that pushed the Crime Bill, opposed bussing and acted poorly towards Anita Hill is not the same man who did so many great things for Black voters, the past four years.  I’m sure some of that came from listening to Obama.

  52. 52.

    danielx

    @HumboldtBlue: ​
     Ooh, in his hot and hip gaming chair. The only people I’ve ever seen testing those were people who looked to be fifteen years old, people who looked like you wouldn’t to get within six feet of for fear of their odor, or both.

    Granted a lot of fifteen year olds fall into the latter category.

  53. 53.

    danielx

    @FastEdD: ​
     True. TFG is being right pissy right now about the possibility of the Fed lowering interest rates before the election. Evidently he’s concerned that might juice the economy a bit, which would be bad – for him.

  55. 55.

    cain

    @Chet Murthy:

    I was in IT for 15 years, and I generally disagreed with just about everything. I stayed because i liked the people and I was comfortable. Plus, it was doing Linux/Unix and that was great. But man, IT is just toxic white man vibes. Just ick.

    If Watergirl asked me that question, I likely would have bombed it. I’m really good at my job, but I’m pretty opinionated about some things. But I couldn’t remember all the stuff that I would disagree with. Besides, my open source work is more important to me. :)

  56. 56.

    David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch

    London calling:

    watched UK betting sites all day, the odds swung hard as bets came in, and based solely on what the odds were when betting closed, looks like it’s gonna be Walz for VP

    …will the collective self-interest of British bookmakers be right?

    — Zaron Burnett III (@Zaron3) August 6, 2024

    Its beginning to look a lot like Sgt. Walz

  58. 58.

    Gretchen

    What kind of answers did people give about complying with policies they didn’t agree with? I can’t really think of anything in my experience, beyond the stupid HR policies of writing up people whose were supposed to get 6 sick days a year, who took 6 sick days in a year, for excessive absence. I can’t imagine that answer would play well with management, because management were exploitive jerks.

  60. 60.

    cain

    Anybody seen this?

    https://mastodon.social/deck/@[email protected]/112883139593104772

    I’ve spent this year writing for the @newrepublic about how a group of Silicon Valley billionaires has gone WEIRD. Now their weirdness is mating up with Trump’s MAGA weirdness in the 2024 election.
    Here’s a few things to understand about these guys:

    #1: They despise democracy. These Trump-loving billionaires believe democracy is bad. They want to create their own corporate dictatorships called Network States. They are actively trying to build these weird little dictator cities all over the world.

  61. 61.

    Chet Murthy

    @cain: I worked in enterprise I/T, and ended up spending a lot of time cleaning up massive customer dumpster fires.  That necessarily meant having to not tell customers the whole truth about the products they’d bought.  I would keep my mouth shut and let he salesman standing next to me lie, while I confined myself to telling the truth, nothing but the truth, but not the whole truth.  -Inside- the company, I was unceasingly clear and truthful, to the point where eventually I was (ahem) relieved of the duty of working with customers (b/c I’d always come back with more evidence of what we needed to fix, and why it was so important to fix it).  Which I was fine with: I never liked working with customers (stupid fucks, they deserved everything they got, good and hard, for buying enterprise shit).  I eventually quit, but went back years later to work on quantum computing.  When it became clear that I had to work with the company’s products, I quit instanter.  B/c no way  was gonna work with those products.

  62. 62.

    Spanish Moss

    If I were Kamala, I would be choosing someone I connected with rather than someone who could bring in this constituency or that one.

    I agree! Great interview question, by the way.

  63. 63.

    YetAnotherLurkingJackal

    @WaterGirl:  This pic woke a long-buried memory.  It reminded me of him attending a National Prayer Service at the National Cathedral on his first day in office.   The thing was broadcast live on several networks, and lasted more than an hour.  Like the “empty podium” airtime he received during the campaign, I remember thinking, “why is this being televised?”

    He was better at feigning alertness and some semblance of piety in those days, but he slipped a bit.  At a bit over 39 minutes in, he slumps and assumes his arms-crossed “I’m bored” attitude.

  65. 65.

    Spanish Moss

    @Chet Murthy: I was a software architect in the electronic design automation industry, and they wouldn’t let R&D anywhere near sales calls. The rare R&D interactions with important customers were handled by an application engineer from our company who was dedicated to that particular customer. The first time I went on a customer visit I was given a 2-page write up on how to talk to a customer, which was mostly a list of things not to say. They were afraid that we would make product commitments that we couldn’t keep. I was afraid to open my mouth.

    It sounds like a very different experience from yours! I am so glad I was never in a sales situation, it sounds awful. We were generally taken to these meetings to make the customer feel good, they loved talking to R&D. It was fun, they made you feel like a visiting dignitary, and it was fascinating to get their perspective on our product.

  66. 66.

    TS

    @Jackie:

    Do you have the follow up photo of TCFG trying to stand back up?

    My thought exactly, he gets no exercise and I would think it unlikely that he could get up – or get down into that position – I’m going with photoshop unless anyone (not a MAGA) actually saw him get up/down.

  67. 67.

    cain

    @Chet Murthy: Might be better working on open source stuff. I’ve never had a problem with customers (they were all internal).

    Open source community people though – entitled brats.

  68. 68.

    cain

    @Spanish Moss:

    I was always a very reasonable customer. But I also smelled bullshit easily. I generally ask for a live installation that I can run the paces.

    My employer was pretty hard nosed about stuff.

    That was Intel. I got laid off and then came back years later -they are going through some hard times sadly.

  69. 69.

    Spanish Moss

    @cain: They probably didn’t let us near a sales situation because we weren’t good enough at bullshit or being evasive. 😜

    I visited Intel once, it was the most secure facility I ever entered. They even searched my purse, which I did not expect. Thank goodness I didn’t have anything embarrassing in there.

  70. 70.

    Chet Murthy

    @cain: Thing is, I got a PhD for a reason:  I wanted to work on problems that weren’t solved, or weren’t solved well enough by my estimation.  -Products-, customer work, is by definition stuff that we know how to do: otherwise, well-run businesses would never bet their business on it.  I’m just completely uninterested in that.  I did it for 20+ years, b/c hey, gotta pay the bills, but ….. Jesus, I’d never do it willingly.  So sure, I work on some OSS projects (in OCaml) b/c I think those projects are the right way to solve certain problems, and others are doing it wrong.  But no way I’d actually want to work with -customers-.

    In grad school a classmate worked in complexity theory.  I asked him: “but nobody will never use what you do, nobody else will ever care, why do it?”  He replied “for the beauty of it; I don’t care if nobody ever uses it, why should I?”  At the time, I didn’t understand.  But today?  Yeah, I’m 100% with him.

  71. 71.

    Tony Jay

    @Gretchen:

    What’s been edited out of the picture are the skid-pads on his knees and the slug trail from where he was slid into the frame by a team of (unpaid) manatee wranglers. 

  72. 72.

    Chet Murthy

    @Spanish Moss: the entire time I was in enterprise I/T, I worked in the Research Divsion.  People working on the same aisle were doing software research, etc, etc.  I ended up working “in the business” b/c of some contingent reasons, and also b/c I was never good at doing what I was told.  I found that the closer you got to the customer, if you were able to “move green dollars”, management wouldn’t tell you what to do or how to do it.

    As for “afraid to open your mouth”, well, I think it helped that I’d seen Glengarry Glen Ross, and that famous closing line (“never open your mouth unless you know the shot”).  I worked with some excellent salespeople, and they were very good at helping me understand what to say and not say.  The problem was, -all- my employer’s products (that I worked with) were absolutely SHIT, I mean SHIT, Just complete SHIT.  I worked with a bunch of Java products, and more-or-less, after a few years the pattern was that I’d go in, teach the customer how to use the products without using ANY of the special features of the products (the ones that they’d bought the product for), and get them back on the road going straight.  B/c those special features all sucked, all were broken, all were the cause of all the harm.  So after a few years, the customers were switching over to open-source equivalents and just buying my employer’s JVM.

    You do that for a little while, and you learn two things: (1) your employer is incapable of building anything worth shit, (2) your employer’s customers are imbeciles, who deserve the get robbed daily.

    I’m glad I’ll never have to do that shit ever again.

  73. 73.

    Ruckus

    When I was an employer I made decisions about hiring based upon character because skills had to be proven. This was in specialty manufacturing and required skills that talking didn’t prove in the least. They had to prove they could do the work, had knowledge about the tools and how to not cause bleeding on any kind of regular basis, to themselves or especially to anyone else. So you weighed the gut feeling, looked at their hands (clandestinely) to see if they had damage that looked like they were a spaz and everything else was gut feeling, did they seem that they would fit in. Even in a big city the possibles were limited – and everyone had to get adjusted, and prove they had a clue.

    @WaterGirl:

    I can’t listen to him, and I certainly can’t bring myself to watch him.  Shudder.

    What actual human being can?

  74. 74.

    Chet Murthy

    @cain:

    I stayed because i liked the people and I was comfortable.

    I stayed b/c money in the bank is insurance and when you have enough insurance you can say “fuck you” and leave.  And when I finally had barely enough, I did just that — GTFO.

  75. 75.

    Chet Murthy

    @cain: One of the things I remember finally figuring out (after 15yr) was that nobody cares if you’re right.  What they care about, is whether you make your manager and your manager’s manager look good.  That’s all anybody cares about.  It took me from 1995 to 2009 to figure that tidbit out.  Remedial, I know.  Slow learner.  But basically, as long as you make your mgmt chain look good, they don’t actually give a good goddamn if your work helps the company succeed or not.

    Real revelation, that.  I left 4yr later, for a shit-ton more money, b/c by that point I had contempt for my employer.

  78. 78.

    Chet Murthy

    @BellyCat: Yep, 100% agree.  If you want the satisfaction being right (or as I put it, “being -correct-“, “being able to look back in 20yr and know that you made the correct decisions”) then there’s basically no place in life for you.  Life is about playing well in the sandbox, and that’s all it is.  Period.

  79. 79.

    Chris Johnson

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Sadly, don’t need to ask, I already knew about that.

    Also sadly, Trump is now targeting sub-Tim-Pool media. I mean, Adin Ross? What the hell is next, Sneako? Dear fucking god, these people. How are more Republicans not running whilst suffering dry heaves.

  80. 80.

    BellyCat

    @Chet Murthy:Life is about playing well in the sandbox, and that’s all it is.  Period.

    Trouble is, before social media there used to be one big sandbox. Now, a thousand sandboxes have bloomed. Many of which despise the other sandboxes.

  81. 81.

    NotMax

    @BellyCat

    There have always been a multitude of sandboxes. But a significant percentage by consensus were banished to the outskirts of the playground.

    Not anymore.

  83. 83.

    BellyCat

    @NotMax: That aspect is a strong positive. The intolerance to this beneficial phenomenon by some is a strong negative, made worse by communication channels which reject all perspectives from more tolerant sandboxes; thus becoming increasingly uniform in belief and isolated by choice.

    Sort of a sandbox inversion.

    Which might not be so bad (good riddance!) were it not for the whole fear mongering, desire for control, and proliferation of guns.

  84. 84.

    BellyCat

    @NotMax: The internet may have leveled the playing field but also given it a downhill slope.

    Intuitively, this seems right. Let’s hope the sewage eventually collects at the bottom. Not sure how this will happen or how long it will take given the ease with which bad faith actors can broadcast untruths.

  85. 85.

    Princess

    @WaterGirl: number three is really good advice. I’m inclined to be cranky but I’ll try to button it when my first second and third choices are not hers.

  86. 86.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    @HumboldtBlue: I love how Snoop and Flavor Flav are wearing coordinated outfits with Ms. Stewart and Ms. king, but embellished in their own fabulous styles.

  87. 87.

    K-Mo

    “Be careful that you don’t practice your religion in front of people to draw their attention. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.“
    Matthew 6:1

  88. 88.

    stinger

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Re: the second picture — did you ever notice that all the “Blacks for Trump” people are basically the same, from one rally to another? Maybe not the same individuals, but they’re all young men. No grandmothers or grandfathers, no moms with little girls happily holding up signs and wearing friendship bracelets. Just guys willing, I suspect, to take the $50 bucks and then laugh with their friends about it afterward.

  89. 89.

    Chris T.

    @Chet Murthy:

    In grad school a classmate worked in complexity theory. I asked him: “but nobody will never use what you do, nobody else will ever care, why do it?” He replied “for the beauty of it; I don’t care if nobody ever uses it, why should I?” At the time, I didn’t understand. But today? Yeah, I’m 100% with him.

    I share Zach Weinersmith[1]’s opinion of the pure-theory guys, that they get upset if someone finds a practical application for their theory. 😀

    [1] smbc-comics.com — see, e.g., https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/apply

  90. 90.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @stinger: I would expect the actual blacks for Trump to be real estate agents and middle managers like the rest of his base.

  91. 91.

    Ken

    @Chris Johnson: Also sadly, Trump is now targeting sub-Tim-Pool media.

    That’s a very good point. Also, I can see what’s in it for the podcaster, but why does Trump do it? He can do an hour of saying whatever he wants at his rallies, with people actually cheering him.

  92. 92.

    BritinChicago

    I don’t really have a favorite. I’d be happy with any of the people mentioned as VP (thrilled, in fact, because it would mean MVP was POTUS). So I want the VP-nominee to be the one who would most help with winning. I recognize that I’m poorly placed to know which one that is. I just hope some people advising MVP have that knowledge.

  93. 93.

    Ken

    @Ken: Ah, I see one reason Trump might have done it. The podcaster gave him a Cybertruck and a gold Rolex (and possibly/probably violated election law doing so) according to Rolling Stone.

    I like one response I saw to the Cybertruck report: “Could be an assassination attempt.”

  94. 94.

    pluky

    @Spanish Moss: “Product commitments we couldn’t keep.” In my corporate career, the sales people were more likely to cross that line than those of us in development.

  99. 99.

    chemiclord

    Sure, the first two bits of advice were preachy, but maybe we needed to hear them anyways, because the number of ostensible “Dem” voters who have been notorious for throwing tantrums and getting all up in their feelings when things don’t do exactly their way have historically been depressingly high, especially on social media.

  100. 100.

    Another Scott

    @WaterGirl:

    BBC.com:

    Former US President Trump posted this AI-generated image of himself, but a closer look shows he is missing fingers

    It’s all stupid, an attempt to draw attention to himself again.

    Sad.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  101. 101.

    Ruckus

    @Chet Murthy:

    Life is about playing well in the sandbox, and that’s all it is.

    I think this has a lot of truth to it, we are all part of a whole and life does work a bit better when you fit in. But. There are times when fitting in is not the entire answer. Because if all you do is fit in, then it really isn’t your life. Only fitting in is giving up, in my opinion. We are individuals, we bring at least the possibility of more than fitting in. And it does not have to be not fitting in at all, but finding your spot, what it is that makes you – you. Maybe a part of the whole, but a specific part. Think of it as a car. There are bits and pieces that could be left out and it would still be a car and work fine. Some shinny bit likely doesn’t NEED to be there, but other bits do. We may not be the WHOLE but we can be a positive bit. Because like that car, the whole is made up of bits.

  102. 102.

    Ruckus

    @Another Scott:

    SFB is the anti model of human being. The negative example, the thing mom told you not to be. She may not have explained it in easy to understand sentences, but there is a reason I call him shitforbrains. He is, along with people like him, the anti human. Sure, he’s part of the whole, he’s just the negative part, the balance that shows that there is a negative side to being human. We are all capable of being that on that side, it’s just that being 1000% negative is being a crappy human, as he proves daily.

  103. 103.

    Ruckus

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Is that a tarted up cybertruck next to them?

    I was next door to a Tesla dealership getting my car serviced Monday and walked over to check out the cybertruck. As someone who used to manufacture high precision metal pieces, I almost started laughing my ass off at the quality of them, the fit and finish is not up to current automotive standards. It’s not horrible it’s just that it’s all straight lines – of which many aren’t all straight. There were 10-12 of them on the lot, I was not impressed – not in any way, shape or form.

  104. 104.

    Ruckus

    @BellyCat:

    Same in most aspects of human life. We are creatures who normally live a reasonably long life. No guarantee that it will be long, that’s just the average, had a cousin that lived 6 months, have a neighbor who is 98 yrs old.

  105. 105.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:

    If you didn’t want anyone to gag you shouldn’t have shown it at all.

    OTOH it is good to sometimes see someone completely out of character. The only thing he would kneel and pray to would be a mirror. I believe that while he has supporters, in reality, actual humans have a distaste for him the moment he speaks or steps out of a blacked out room – IOW when you can see or hear him. Otherwise we can – and do assume (yes I know….) that he doesn’t exist. It makes the world a livable place if you can manage that. Otherwise you are likely have a stench in your nose and a desire to wear a blindfold, which makes doing much of anything rather difficult. Removing him from the picture, any picture, makes life much, much better. No longer having to think about him in any way, shape or form will make this a better world. I mean he’s one among billions, but look at him – if you haven’t eaten in a couple days, because otherwise…….

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