Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

The lights are all blinking red.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

This blog will pay for itself.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

You are here: Home / John Cole Presents "This Fucking Old House" / Friday Night Open Thread

Friday Night Open Thread

by | 189 Comments

This post is in: 

Currently watching the Arizona rally as I write this. If you missed it and want to see it, here is a link to youtube:

The vibe is fantastic and the place is electric, and I think two simple reasons her rallies are so much better is that the music is better (and provided with the artist’s permission) and the crowd actually claps on the right beat and moves in unison. At a Trump rally when the music goes on it looks like someone dropped a bag of white marbles on a beige linoleum floor and they are just rolling in a thousand different directions.

I am glad to see the big rallies, because we need to win by such a margin in the fall that they can not steal it.

***

Had a lovely day today. Got some work done despite the fact I have not seen a paycheck since the middle of June and didn’t get one today but don’t worry the business office will have it sorted by next payday I promise, putzed around the garden a bit, and then went to the gym for a few hours. Walked a couple miles, used some machines, and swam for an hour.

I really regret not going back to the gym years ago, but I was just so out of shape and ashamed. It’s only been a month and I can already tell a real difference in my swimming and in my shoulder strength and flexibility, and I just feel so much less stiff all over. Such an improvement in such a short time.

If you are in the same boat as me and avoiding the gym for the same reasons, fuck ’em. Get up, go out there, and live your best life. And honestly, no one cares. Although I wish the old dudes in the dressing room were a little bit more bashful. Fucking hell just flaccid dongs everywhere up in that joint and no fucking shame in their game. Just stand there talking to each other having whole conversations while butt nekkid.

***

I need a graphic artist to step up and help me out. I have an idea for some new shirts, mugs, and stickers for the election I want to roll out. Holler if you are interested.

That’s about it for me, although I thought you guys would find this sticker funny:

Friday Night Open Thread 16

Have a good one.

Reader Interactions

189Comments

  1. 1.

    Matt McIrvin

    Although I wish the old dudes in the dressing room were a little bit more bashful. Fucking hell just flaccid dongs everywhere up in that joint and no fucking shame in their game. Just stand there talking to each other having whole conversations while butt nekkid.

    This is every gym men’s locker room and I want to know why.

  3. 3.

    Baud

    Last time I went into a sauna, I thought it would be empty. Nope. Three old fat white dudes refusing to hide their shame while gabbing it up.  It was deeply disturbing how aroused I was.

  7. 7.

    BigJimSlade

    Back when I could jog (that was phased out around 1995-96), I would feel like I had been beaten up in an alley afterward. (Being 6′ 2″ and around 200, I don’t have the most lithe frame in the world, so my body would take a pounding while running.) But after swimming (which I started in, hm, 1991 I think), I often feel improved and lighter – there’s nothing like it!

    I did 90 laps today and felt great after :-) (and I’m closer to 190 now – the pandemic really upped our exercising habits in this household, which we’re already going pretty strong).

  8. 8.

    sentient ai from the future

    man, she shut that shit down with style and grace and directness and fucking swiftness.

    hell yes.

  12. 12.

    BR

    Walz was a great choice — he’s really stepped up to the national stage in a way that most state politicians can’t.

  14. 14.

    wjca

    @geg6: Because men are gross and clueless, especially in packs.

    It’s just that the ones who are are more visible/memorable.

  15. 15.

    StringOnAStick

    I’ve been struggling with an Achilles strain since June, it’s better but it is so damned slow even withPT.  I’m going to try the pool tomorrow because the stationary bike just makes it angry and I’m gaining weight and losing fitness rapidly.  It’s depressing.

  17. 17.

    lamh47

    What’d I say…the Harris/Walz campaign has been stellar on rapid response when it comes to not letting allowing media time to set the same narratives they would usually try!

    Here’s she is reacting to hecklers after the interruption yesterday, look how quickly she has changed her reaction/tone/words…but still firm!

    VP: Which includes respecting the voices that I think that we are hearing from. Let me just say this on topic of what I think I am hearing over there. Let me say, I have been clear — now is the time to get a cease-fire deal and get the deal done.

    https://x.com/Acyn/status/1822071908680278392

  19. 19.

    KatKapCC

    flaccid dongs everywhere up in that joint

    But enough about Trump and Vance rallies…

  21. 21.

    Ruckus

    John, what the hell is a paycheck?

    Aw the retired life, very rarely have to worry about going to the bank for any reason.

  22. 22.

    lamh47

    @lamh47: Oh and how about this for “divine” timing.

    This is literally the tweet from PJB no less than 5min after the clip:

    @POTUS

    Earlier, the Amir of Qatar, the President of Egypt, and I called on both sides of the Israel-Hamas conflict to resume discussion and advance our peace deal without delay. It’s time to conclude the ceasefire, and hostages and detainees release deal. There’s no time to waste.

    5:43 PM · Aug 9, 2024

  23. 23.

    Steve LaBonne

    Our ticket consists of two absolutely dynamite shit-kicking campaigners and speakers. I’m 68 and I’ve never seen anything quite like it. What a feeling.

  24. 24.

    Damien

    @wjca: I dunno, should men feel ashamed in a place where nudity is kinda a given? We all got dicks, and at some point I think either you get over it or you’re one of the guys who are (acceptably!) walking around in a towel.

    But as someone who started doing martial arts and weights a little bit over a year ago, I second what John said: it’s never too late, and at the same time whenever you find the exercise you like you’ll wish you started years ago.

    So worth it, even without all the floppy locker dongs

  29. 29.

    bbleh

    … we need to win by such a margin in the fall that they can not steal it.

    THIS!  Also this also, too.  Seen the news out of GA recently?  And apparently there are also snakes at work in SC.

    We need to SWAMP them.  And that means VOLUNTEERING and GETTING OUT THE VOTE.  Ain’t nobody but us gonna do it.

  30. 30.

    Phylllis

    I’m glad to hear you’re feeling better. I started walking just about every day when I retired last June, and now I’m up to two miles a day. There are a couple of steep hills in the neighborhood and I no longer wheeze like a creaky accordion on the way up.

  31. 31.

    karen gail

    We can all thank the Puritans and other religious groups for making people ashamed of their bodies; along with the levels of hypocrisy that exist.

  33. 33.

    danielx

    Images I didn’t need, or maybe descriptions I didn’t need.

    That being said, what the fuck? Are people supposed to feel shame for being naked in a locker room or sauna because they’re old?

  35. 35.

    Phylllis

    @bbleh: And apparently there are also snakes at work in SC.

    Oh yeah. Joe Wilson might be keeping quiet these days but his son Alan, the state AG, is a sneaky, evil snake in the grass.

  36. 36.

    delphinium

    @Matt McIrvin: At least the naked guys were standing. At the gym I went to many years ago, some of the naked women would sit on the benches with nothing under them. Didn’t mind the nudity at all, but damn those benches had to be so filthy with people putting their shoes or bare feet on them, sweaty clothes, dirty towels, etc. Made me want to throw a clean towel quick before they sat down.

  40. 40.

    BellyCat

    @Phylllis:  That’s GREAT!

    My GF, a geriatrician, beats me up about getting 8,000 steps per day (which apparently is good insurance against dementia) and she definitely walks the talk herself. I’m a wee bit less committed, which probably helps explain both my mental state and my mailing address for a few here <cough, Kropenhagen, cough> at Ye Olde Pie Shoppe.

  42. 42.

    lamh47

    It’s always changing the goalposts which tells me some of the protest is 100% performative and muddies the efforts of folks protesting in good faith…sigh

     

    @PettyLupone

    Kamala Harris addresses hecklers in Arizona and says she is committed to a ceasefire AND to getting hostages home. I TOLD YOU SO. So now that she’s taken your notes and responded the way y’all said she should put some respect on her name.

    @PettyLupone

    Muting this. Bless your hearts. She responded the way y’all claimed you wanted. Move the goalposts and you will only expose your own hypocrisy. I want a peaceful resolution asap for everyone involved. That’s all. 
    https://x.com/PettyLupone/status/1822075528578511264

  45. 45.

    Phylllis

    @BellyCat: It helps that my husband is equally dedicated. We don’t walk together, but I think by both of us ‘getting out there’ it keeps us kind of accountable to each other.

  48. 48.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Steve LaBonne: I was thinking the same thing. I’m 66 and never has it been like this. Altho, I was too young to remember Kennedy’s campaign, so I dunno.

  49. 49.

    BellaPea

    @delphinium: This is gross, but whatever. Back in my 20s, I did a lot of aerobics at a local health club. I made the mistake of sitting on a bench in the dressing room with nothing on after a shower and ended up with a case of the crabs. It took me forever to get rid of those things–had to sterilize all of my towels, sheets and underwear. I would never do that again. AWFUL!

  50. 50.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Fucking hell just flaccid dongs everywhere up in that joint and no fucking shame in their game.

    Would “The Flaccid Dongs” be a good name for a band? Asking for an ex….

  51. 51.

    TaMara

    I was just going to listen to the rally while I did other things, but got caught up in the sheer joy.

    Walz trolling Trump on crowd sizes. Shushing the Lock him up chants with, hell, beat him at the ballot box. And Harris adeptly handling the protesters with compassion AND firmness.

  52. 52.

    bbleh

    @Matt McIrvin: @geg6: @BellyCat: naw, it’s just nervousness and a little bit of overcompensation. And I think some of the nervousness is very much the opposite of latent gayness; rather it’s a general lack of self-confidence and a near-total lack of understanding of gayness.  They’re XX-year olds with the sexual and emotional maturity of sixth-graders; that’s all.

  53. 53.

    David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch

    The speech was disappointing.  Not once did she mention her position on the Designated Hitter rule.

  54. 54.

    dmsilev

    This is kind of hilarious. Apparently TFG can’t/won’t recognize that the NYT is really on his side, so he called them up and screamed at them for reporting on his helicopter fantasy:

    Former President Donald J. Trump on Friday afternoon vehemently maintained that he had once been in a dangerous helicopter landing with Willie Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco, and insisted he had records to prove it, despite Mr. Brown’s denial.
    In an angry phone call to a New York Times reporter as he landed several hours away from his planned rally in Bozeman, Mont., because of a mechanical issue on his plane, Mr. Trump excoriated The Times for its coverage of his meandering news conference on Thursday at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and home, during which he told of an emergency landing during a helicopter trip that he said both he and Mr. Brown had made together.

    “We have the flight records of the helicopter,” Mr. Trump insisted Friday, saying the helicopter had landed “in a field,” and indicating that he intended to release the flight records, before shouting that he was “probably going to sue” over the Times article.
    When asked to produce the flight records, Mr. Trump responded mockingly, repeating the request in a sing-song voice. As of early Friday evening, he had not provided them.
    Mr. Trump has a history of claiming he will provide evidence to back up his claims but ultimately not doing so.

    And that’s a piece written by noted Trump-fluffer (and probable recipient of the phone call) Maggie Haberman.  He’s a scorpion, Maggie, stinging you is in his nature.

  55. 55.

    FastEdD

    Yeah, I noticed KH addressed the protestors and acknowledged that she wanted a ceasefire too. The tumult died down and she continued her speech-that’s the way you do it. It doesn’t have to be a confrontation. I love how we have recurring themes and slogans and music. All of it positive, everyone knows the words.

  57. 57.

    Ruckus

    @Damien:

    I was in the USN and boot camp was like an oversized locker room. I was in 2 different companies because I spent a week in the hospital, for I forget what illness and it’s 80 guys with everything hanging out. High school gym class was smaller. Get on a ship and it was even more crowded and just as naked.

    Now I never did actually understand why some thought that exposure was a problem. On board ship you do everything with several others within reach. There were just over 300 men on board but seats for only around 50 on the mess deck, so a meal took a bit of time and no one chewed every last bite for more than a few seconds. If I remember correctly we had about 80-85 men in engineering, beds stacked 3 high and one “head” for about 100. (A head is the bathroom) There were other groups on board that used the same head. Of course without excess water, no one was taking a shower out at sea. Just imagine the good times!

  58. 58.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud: Okay, I’m not going to be able to watch these rally speeches if that happens every time. Pisses me off royally.

    When have they ever done that at a Trump rally? When?

  62. 62.

    bbleh

    @dmsilev: holy hell, and it’s now in a Vichy Times article!

    Yes it’s hilarious, but I’m willing to say it’s also significant.  This is the Premiere Trump Whisperer saying out loud and in print that he’s a bit of a lunatic.

    “In a sing-song voice”?  That’s … arguably harsh.

    @BR: maybe, but what good would it do?  The cult will never waver, and to anyone else this is … unflattering at best.

  66. 66.

    NotMax

    @BellaPea

    Y’know the old joke about how to get rid of crabs?

    You;ll need (a) a razor, (b) lighter fluid, (c) a match and (d) an icepick.

    Shave one side of the pubes.
    Set the other side on fire.
    As they run out, stab them with the icepick.
    :)

  68. 68.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    W O W, that is really gorgeous. Love the colours, love her eyes and cheekbones. You must have had MORE DAMN FUN doing that. Now I’m yearning to be in a place of my own with all my colouring stuff out of storage.

  69. 69.

    HumboldtBlue

    I hear ketchup splashing against the wall.

    Mesa, AZ Republican Mayor John Giles: I do not recognize my party. I have something to say to those of us who are in the middle: You don’t owe a damn thing to that party. You don’t owe anything to a party that is out of touch and hell-bent on taking us backward. And by all means, you owe no loyalty to a candidate who is morally and ethically bankrupt. In the spirit of the great Senator John McCain, please join me in putting country over party and stopping Donald Trump.

  70. 70.

    RSA

    I hear that TFG keeps insisting he went down on Willie Brown in a helicopter. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s a weird hill to die on.

  74. 74.

    NotMax

    If some quarters are to be believed, the gentlemen in the locker room were engrossed in discussion of the Roam Empire.

  76. 76.

    BR

    I don’t know if Harris does this on purpose, but when she’s speaking at a rally, she speaks slower than she does to a small audience. Maybe it’s just that I’m used to watching all videos on 1.5x, but I find the rally pace too slow.

  80. 80.

    NotMax

    @BR

    Depends on the speed the teleprompter scrolls?

    FTR, ain;t nothing wrong with using a teleprompter.

  83. 83.

    raven

    @Ruckus: I never gave a shit about all that either. I’ve been going to the Y every weekday for 20 years and there are people there who are obviously uncomfortable but not me.

  85. 85.

    Bupalos

    @zhena gogolia: Consider it a compliment. Everyone understands innately that Trump basically has nothing to do with any issue that anyone cares about, because Trump doesn’t have any opinions or positions beyond “Trump!”

    Protesting Trump’s position on Gaza would be like protesting the Hamburgler’s position on the management of herring fishing rights between Norway and Sweden.

  86. 86.

    TBone

    Since exercise outdoors is free, I have never been inside a gym locker room as an adult.  Now, after reading about them here, I’m never, ever setting foot in one.  Ever.  If I do join the gym for winter, I will do whatever needs I have before and after at home, tyvm!  Blech!

  87. 87.

    Scout211

    @dmsilev:

    When asked to produce the flight records, Mr. Trump responded mockingly, repeating the request in a sing-song voice

    Mags actually printed that?! He mocked her in a sing-sing voice like a child?! This is too funny.

  88. 88.

    Lyrebird

    @Damien: ​
     I dunno, should men feel ashamed in a place where nudity is kinda a given?

    Note: I have never been in a men’s locker room, not a men. But I generally feel more relaxed in those women’s locker rooms with a good proportion of people who are just like, yeah, we have bodies, and hey we just worked out and it’s all no big deal.

    @BigJimSlade: ​
      Thanks, great cartoon. If I show it to them, the young men in the house will laugh and also refuse to go into locker rooms for another decade or so I think.

  90. 90.

    Suzanne

    @TBone: Most women’s locker rooms have private changing stalls and much less of a norm around talking.

    I consider changing clothes in view of others to be for children and prisoners and, as such, I don’t do it. I have designed a bunch of locker rooms in recent years and I think there is a norm that is slowly changing, too. To me, it’s like having a phone conversation in a public place: just generally not great.

  91. 91.

    Bupalos

    @BR: Yeah I don’t know if that’s coached or what. It does feel a little unnatural to me.

    Her 2019 campaign was terrible in every way but I don’t remember this thing where    we    make    sure    there’s    enough        separation     between     the      words.

    I’m impressed by how she’s warming up to feeling crowds though… this is a major change for her – that she can enjoy crowd-energy, which is often a problem for people who are intelligent and thoughtful.

  92. 92.

    Ishiyama

    @MagdaInBlack:

    I remember the 1960 campaign, but only vaguely; going to a neighbor’s house because they had a television to watch the Kennedy-Nixon debate, and the dartboard in our basement with a Nixon-Lodge poster on it. And the song High Hopes.

  93. 93.

    NotMax

    Grr. Got an e-mail that my basic Netflix plan (with no ads) which I’ve had for years is definitely going bye-bye.

  94. 94.

    KRK

    Fucking hell just flaccid dongs everywhere up in that joint and no fucking shame in their game. Just stand there talking to each other having whole conversations while butt nekkid.
    ***
    I need a graphic artist to step up and help me out.

    DUDE… the three little asterisks are not enough of a break between these thoughts.

  95. 95.

    TBone

    Once on a family day trip to a Fire Island beach, I decided to take a long walk along the water’s edge.  I was watching the waves come in, head down, ambling along.  I suddenly realized I’d got pretty far away from my family and turned around to head back when I finally noticed…

    Everyone was naked!  Mostly older, male people.  It was not a good surprise for a ten y.o. girl 😆

  96. 96.

    Bupalos

    @TBone: HA this is fantastic.

    But what, do you live in the south? We northerners have to stoop to indoor exercise occasionally.

  98. 98.

    Ishiyama

    @BR: ​I don’t know if Harris does this on purpose, but when she’s speaking at a rally, she speaks slower than she does to a small audience. Maybe it’s just that I’m used to watching all videos on 1.5x, but I find the rally pace too slow.

    That’s probably training as a litigator; speak slowly for the sake of the court reporter (and the jury, if there is one).​

  99. 99.

    TBone

    @Bupalos: no, I dress appropriately and burn more calories when it’s cold outside.  If it’s too nasty, I just have hot cocoa and laugh.

  102. 102.

    TBone

    @Suzanne: thanks for that – of course I’ve been to changing rooms and beach bath houses that have the privacy stalls, that’s perfectly fine.  It’s the standing around nekkid talking or people sitting down nekkid and getting pubic lice that’s a bridge waaaay too far for me!

  105. 105.

    Lyrebird

    @Ishiyama: @BR:

    Wondering if you’ve ever spoken or given announcements in a stadium.  In my limited experience we were consistently told SLOW DOWN when practicing.  The video recording is really clear, but with lots of speakers (the electrical boxes, not the people) over lots and lots of yards, it changes the needs.

  106. 106.

    TBone

    @NotMax: 😳

    I’m sure my parents were unaware of the nude beach section a ways up from where we were.  Mom definitely would’ve at least warned me!

  107. 107.

    TS

    @dmsilev:

    Ah but he talks to the NYT. That he talks nonsense and lies is of no mind, he realises how important they are & he talks to them. Those uppity others – they could get such good advice and they just refuse to take it or discuss the policies that the NYT just knows the country is screaming out for.

  108. 108.

    Steve LaBonne

    @Ishiyama: When I first started testifying in court as an expert witness for the prosecution, I had to learn to slow down my naturally fast New York rate of talking. The first couple of trials the poor court reporter had to call me to fix a couple of spots where she couldn’t keep up. Between years of that discipline and being old, my normal rate of speech is now a lot slower than it once was. ;)

  109. 109.

    Bupalos

    @Lyrebird: Oh yeah, that might be it. In 2019 it was smaller venues. It’s true, we’re all watching, but the rally is for the folks there who are really feeling it.

  110. 110.

    3Sice

    Trump’s plane was forced to divert to Billings due to mechanical issues. Sherrod Brown was not injured.

  112. 112.

    BR

    I think the good news is that the DNC is coming up, and that speech will be different than the stump. She can do a bunch of rallies going into the DNC and then there’ll be a shift in focus after that.

  113. 113.

    Bupalos

    @Steve LaBonne: The most effective rhetoric is that slow rhetoric that announces it isn’t afraid for the audience to spend time. go ahead and spend time with it. If you can make it sound natural, which takes a freak of nature. Some mix of resonance and tone. Dave Chapelle is for me the gold standard. He’ll talk for like 5 minutes straight saying a minimal number of words, very simple concepts, things that you really have little opinion about….and somehow can parley that into a feeling of profundity. Which he can build really incredibly simple “jokes” from. Often there aren’t even any jokes, he’ll talk in this slow, deep, profound way for 5 minutes with no actual joke, and yet you’ll leave convinced he told you some jokes.

    Too bad he got hung up on anti-trans hysteria.

  114. 114.

    Lyrebird

    @lamh47: So glad to read this!  And so glad to see you in threads so often again!

    @zhena gogolia: Yeah, and myself I’m ticked at the media for giving less than zero credit to Joey O’Biden who in Detroit did the same – he even elevated the protesters’ concerns, and waved at the “Four More Years!” folks to let the protesters be heard.  And then responded thoughtfully and substantively.  Then resumed his main argument.

    As noted already by@sdhays: , such a contrast with the malign puppet.

    PHEW.  HOORAY FOR HARRIS-WALZ!

    I just wrote out a few more postcards.

  117. 117.

    catclub

    @BigJimSlade: did 90 laps today and felt great after

     

    wow. I am always in a hurry and only have a high gear. Not sure I could do that many. OTOH, I am 5-6 seconds faster per 50 yards than a year ago.

  121. 121.

    Bupalos

    @TBone: I’ve had really positive and some negative reactions to “takes” you’ve offered up here… but you are absolutely an  interesting person… and… (the highest compliment I know how to offer “internet” people)…. I have no doubt you’re a real person.

  122. 122.

    TerryC

    @Matt McIrvin: YMCAs and a time when pool filters could not handle fibers from underwear and swimming suits. I hearken from those times and find modern men amusingly shy.

  123. 123.

    Chet Murthy

    @BellaPea: I always wear flip-flops when walking around in the locker room, the showers, the pool area.  No way I want athlete’s foot or some worse fungus.  And yeah, good point about a towel and wiping down the bench before sitting on it. Crabs!  Oof!

  124. 124.

    Ishiyama

    @Steve LaBonne: ​
      My first professional employment was in Shawano County, where we had one judge, and a court reporter who still took notes in shorthand. That’s when I learned the habit.

  125. 125.

    Flanders Other Neighbor

    I wish to report that my 17 YO college-bound daughter says the KamalaHQ account on TikTok is awesome and she views every post.  She’s hugely bummed that she missed the cutoff to vote by a few weeks, but I’m super-proud she wants to vote.​
    ​
    ​

  126. 126.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Heh heh, all this talk of, well, what y’all are talking about reminds me of the Marine Corps Marathon in 1995.  The lines for the too-few porta-potties were too long and the women didn’t wanna wait for a pre-run tinkle.

    There were some bushes, high enough to “go” in.  I stood “guard” (none of them knew me but I guess I looked trustworthy) with my back to them as maybe half a dozen went just to make sure nobody came by and if they did, I was to usher them along their way.

    One thing you learn in distance running (and I’m talking ultra-marathoning here), when you gotta go, you gotta go and you’re not prim and proper about it.  Everybody’s in it together.

  127. 127.

    Citizen Dave

    @Bupalos: I watched the Walz/Harris event tonight.  It seemed to me that both of them (what, 3 days for Walz?) are essentially off-book, or off the teleprompter.  I didn’t notice a slow cadence from Kamala, but that’s just me.  My turnoff would be if she started doing the Mike Pence thing of emphasizing every single word with pauses in between.  Though I think it’s a natural thing many of them do, but Pence was the biggest abuser of it

    Kamala’s stump speech is sensibly not that long already.  If she speeds up it would be what, 15 minutes?

  129. 129.

    TerryC

    @Ruckus: Now I never did actually understand why some thought that exposure was a problem. On board ship you do everything with several others within reach. There were just over 300 men on board but seats for only around 50 on the mess deck, so a meal took a bit of time and no one chewed every last bite for more than a few seconds. If I remember correctly we had about 80-85 men in engineering, beds stacked 3 high and one “head” for about 100. (A head is the bathroom) There were other groups on board that used the same head. Of course without excess water, no one was taking a shower out at sea. Just imagine the good times.

    True story from aboard the USS Comstock (LSD-19) just before the Tet offensive: We all had heard it was coming; About 80 of us in one bunkroom, four to a stack.

    At midnight, just before the Deck Chief came through, a dozen guys stripped down and sat in  circle holding each others’ cock.

    Helicopters flew in and out all of the next day taking them back to the USA leaving the rest of us to think: “Hmm.”

  130. 130.

    Leto

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: if you’re not carrying some TP, and maybe a few wet wipes, are you even running an ultra? I just want to take this opportunity to apologize for going #2, during my first ultra, on this UK estate stone wall. Held on to the gate, did the business, and caught back up with my running buddy. I did not take out what I took in. Sorry/not sorry!

    And agree, all this talk here… Americans are such damn prudes. Our puritanical streak is something we’ll carry forever.

  131. 131.

    Flanders Other Neighbor

    My go-to exercise is mountain biking.  There’s a park close to home for the keeping fit stuff, and a ton of awesome trails not far away.  I was up in the Sierra last week and will be up again in less than a month- it’s like a cathedral for me.  And no gross locker rooms or naked guys hanging around gabbing, not that there’s anything wrong with it..

  133. 133.

    Citizen Dave

    Male here, near retirement age.  I joined some gyms in the last few years. I never shower there, but use the locker room to take off outer clothes and put on shoes I only use for the gym/treadmill.

    First at the YMCA.  OK, but hated the smelly locker room. Even joined it a second time for a day or two, but one visit and seeing the locker room made me do the Arrested Development thing, “I’ve made a terrible mistake”.

    Second was a  Christian-themed one a mile from me.  Very small.  I only treadmill.  Quit due to super-loud Jesus music bleeding over my earphones, some Fox News showing on the tvs, and generally just the clientele.   Third was a much larger, Christian-themed gym.  Very nice facilities, but quit it this spring due to an increasingly-filthy locker room.  Looked grimey.  Terrible design and materials.  Too many idiot high schoolers, not wiping down treadmills after use.

    Walking outside this summer.  Have to find a new gym this fall.  Have my eye on a small one, far suburb.  Looking forward to my rich city’s new fitness/community center opening fall of 2025.

  134. 134.

    Jackie

    Dems cheer as Republican mayor endorses Harris/Walz at Arizona rally:

    https://www.rawstory.com/john-giles/

    Video at end of article and, IMO, worth watching. Poor guy, he’s NEVER been in a crowd that large or as joyfully rambunctious! He did enjoy the atmosphere, though 😁

  136. 136.

    Sanjeevs

    @Bupalos: I really liked Chapelle on his Inside the Actor’s Studio interview. His pauses are so perfect.

    Too bad he’s become a bore now.

  137. 137.

    Bupalos

    Tim Walz is un.be.fucking.lieveable.

    This dude is scary good, and it’s even more scary that he was just kinda doin’ some ice fishin’ and coaching in Minnesota…. and just got plunked on the ticket and OMFG this is probably the best Democratic speech I’ve heard since… dunno. This is so natural, it’s supernatural. He is loving this, he means this, he savors every word….it’s incredible they put this guy on the ticket.

  140. 140.

    Citizen Dave

    @Princess: Sorry, yes.  Tired tonight.  (Kamala is my #1.  I’m the only person in my large metro area who had a Kamala sticker on my car in 2020.  Still have a couple.)  I had the rally on for most of the preliminary speakers, so was just writing it in the order they spoke in.

  141. 141.

    Bupalos

    @Sanjeevs: Yeah he’s such a talent, and I agree, I almost can’t listen to him anymore.

    When Trump won the first time, hopefully the only time [crosses self and tosses salt] he did a thing on SNL that was both brilliant and real, and then ended in a kind of nihilism that broke the spell for me.

    The gist was “yeah, we black people knew Trump would win, because we’ve seen this and live with this all the time. Liberal white people were like OMG, and we were like yeah duh!” Which was such an education.

    And then the kicker (in the monologue and a sketch) was that he didn’t really care that much, and was pleased that as a rich person he’d be getting a tax break and would just lay back and enjoy more money.

    Which I can also appreciate, there’s a kind of social conscience in saying that and empowering black people to be allowed to be total greedy assholes just like generations of lucky whites…. but also… now to me he’s also just another rich asshole who wants to suck up every penny….

    Still complicated. Wouldn’t pay a dollar to see his show anymore though. Fuck that dude. Of course he shits on trans people.

  146. 146.

    Bupalos

    MVP is just straight up hot. I have a whole feminist dialogue I could go into here… What’s interesting here is that when men know how to do this thing that she knows how to do (and it isn’t really physical), it just gets accepted as some kind of talent that we all respect. “Oh that distinguished man that can command the room…”

    I think MVP should get that respect, because she just knows how to… do the thing that she does.

  147. 147.

    theturtlemoves

    @3Sice: ​ Billings is a better choice for him, anyway. Bozeman is actually vaguely progressive with MSU there but Billings is full redneck and a giant swath of it reeks from all the oil refineries.

  148. 148.

    Gvg

     

    @BR:  speaking to a large spread out crowd with bleachers that can cause echos may mean more carefully spaced words work better.

    I was in marching band for junior and high school, 6 years total and playing together so the band sounded right was tricky. Sound bounced around in stadiums and you had to follow the drum major, not your ears because the band was so spread out that sounds arrived noticeably late. Also full stadiums sound different than empty or partially full because people absorb sound and bleachers bounce it and cause echos.

    Being heard clearly takes practice and expertise. What you hear on television probably comes from a microphone right by her. You can hear her better than most of the people there.

  149. 149.

    Ishiyama

    @Bupalos:

    Tim Walz is un.be.fucking.lieveable.

    This dude is scary good, and it’s even more scary that he was just kinda doin’ some ice fishin’ and coaching in Minnesota…. and just got plunked on the ticket and OMFG this is probably the best Democratic speech I’ve heard since… dunno. This is so natural, it’s supernatural. He is loving this, he means this, he savors every word….it’s incredible they put this guy on the ticket.

      Yup. Yah sure. You betcha. There are lots of guys with his attitude, but not a lot with his experience and practice.

  150. 150.

    wjca

    @Bupalos:  the thing that she does.

    In ancient times, when I was in the military, we called it “command presence.”

    Some people have it naturally.  But as it turns out it’s teachable.  And the military does try to teach it.  Kinda amazing how many politicians (and senior executives) haven’t learned it.  Can it really be that they just don’t know about it…?

  153. 153.

    KatKapCC

    @Quinerly: I’m shocked it even happened at all, but not shocked in the least that he can’t tell two Black people apart. Especially ridiculous since Willie Brown has always had a pretty notable style.

  156. 156.

    lamh47

    “Before he hung up with POLITICO, Holden assured a reporter that nobody discussed—let alone criticized—Kamala Harris as Trump claimed Brown did.
    “He either mixed it up,” Holden said. “Or, he made it up. This was just too big to overlook. This is a big one. Conflating Willie Brown and me? The press is searching for the real story and they didn’t get it. You did.”

    So once again the media didn’t get the narrative they wanted…and also every Black person looks alike to agent orange, even if they is a large difference in height…OR…Chump so old his recollection is off.

    Soooo…long time RACIST or just OLD…2 things that DO NOT help Chump’s in the narrative game…smh

     

  157. 157.

    Bupalos

    Guy’s I’m going through the rally and OMFG Tim Walz is making me slightly scared that the thing where they didn’t want Shapiro because the oratory might overshadow…. OMFG Walz just delivered what really might almost be a problem it was so good. I’m not sure I’ve heard a better speech playing off the audience…. ever??! Like, I’m going to have to watch BClinton footage now… This was so electric.

    This is like Harrison Ford being pulled off of building sets to try and just fill a role, and “oh no! he’s stealing scenes.” I’m only halfway through but Walz needed to dial this back a smidge because I’m worried for MVP. This is so natural. Is it the football coaching thing that had him ready for this?

  158. 158.

    Ishiyama

    @Bupalos: ​Is it the football coaching thing that had him ready for this?

     In a word: Yes. Halftime speeches to the team.​
      “I’m not crying, you’re crying” (about his & Gwen’s IVF experience).

  160. 160.

    BR

    @Bupalos: ​

    I’m not worried, because unlike Shapiro, Walz has enough goofiness (in a good way for a VP) that people who are more traditional won’t see it as presidential.

  161. 161.

    Quinerly

    @lamh47:

    Helicopter story intrigues me. I still think the original question about Willie Brown was a plant. Not a reporter. Someone from his campaign. Preplanned within the campaign. And Trump is so fucked up in the head that he screwed up his answer. Ended up not really attacking Harris.

    So now we have 2 helicopters almost 30 years apart, 2 Black men who look nothing alike, White Jerry Brown with Trump and Trump wanting forests raked to prevent forest fires, and Trump threatening to sue the NYT, the newspaper that aids and abets him and continues to work to get him elected. It’s kinda funny. Ha ha funny.

  162. 162.

    Ishiyama

    @Jackie:

    @lamh47: WOW! When you lose Jesse Ventura…

    Didn’t TCFG love Jesse? Until now, anyway…

     
    Walz invited Ventura to the signing ceremony for cannabis legalization. And he spoke.

  163. 163.

    Quinerly

    @Jackie: I think he loves Hulk Hogan. Wasn’t Hogan at the RNC?

    Ventura has been off the radar for a bit. I could be wrong.

    Edit to add. Hogan gave a pretty long speech at the RNC. Called Trump his hero.

  164. 164.

    RandomMonster

    I’ll take your graphic challenge. Give me a try. And if you hate my shit, well 99% of what I did in the videogame industry never saw the light of day, I’m impervious to rejection and don’t give a shit.

  165. 165.

    Bupalos

    @BR: Kamala got on top of it. I’m into her part now. I’m not sure she quite understood how electric his performance was, but she is delivering her part really well too.

    She did her “I know his type” line with such underlying energy and joy. She measured it out and set it up and in the end was bursting out of her skin. She’s feeling this too. She delivered that line while she was feeding off the energy. It’s so awesome that people are showing up and bringing this.

  167. 167.

    Bupalos

    @Quinerly: Who loves hulk hogan?

    Trump?

    Trump doesn’t love anyone, but he might associate Hulk Hogan with a prior era when Donald Trump was… slightly less disgusting because his bit part role in American history wasn’t so firmly defined?

  168. 168.

    Bupalos

    @BR: Dunno. I’m a little worried. Not much, but a little. That wasn’t something that ambitious people walk away from. He had that crowd in the palm of his hand, and he was working it. That was ridiculously effective oratory. I bet he didn’t know he had that in him, and now that he’s stretching his legs…..

  169. 169.

    Trivia Man

    I have a theory on the Kamabla “slur”(?)

    We all know he is stuck in the 80’s, and back then the ultimate attack on anyone was THEY SUPPORT NAMBLA!!* He sees kAMaLA and his brain just makes the leap. Just like so many of the RWNJ memes and inside jokes… they tell each other a story, no matter how convoluted, and then create a pithy punchline. They just repeat the punchline ad nauseum. If you are in the crowd… you get up to speed and then you are an insider. One reason I try to at least visit some of the cesspool – fox news online and reddit r\conservative usually. I want to know what their inside jokes mean so I can counter them.

    *North American Man Boy Love Association

  170. 170.

    KatKapCC

    @Bupalos:

    I’m only halfway through but Walz needed to dial this back a smidge because I’m worried for MVP.

    What do you mean by this?

  172. 172.

    Trivia Man

    @Damien: nudity has gotten such a bad reputation. I am in the camp that we should normalize naked much much much more widely. It shouldn’t be a trauma to see an incidental body part of any description. Aggressively crowding someone while naked is a dick move (ha!) but just being in the room doing whatever should not be an ordeal.

    Some of it may be age related, although many of you here are my age or older (Gasp!) In my day, starting in middle school,, it was group showers every day. Required, no exceptions. I don’t recall any bullying or teasing about nudity but I could have been oblivious as I was and am to so much social context. Many years later I realized that there had to be gay people in that locker room, but I didn’t know of any personally and it never crossed my mind to speculate. How awkward was that for them?

    I recently did a public nude event and I was a little surprised at how easy and natural it felt. I have been a very strong supporter of casual nudity for years, I just never actually practiced it as anything more than my own apartment – i walked to the shower naked, even if a roomie’s guests have spent the night. But riding a bike in a crowd of 200 through a crowd of thousands did not seem outrageous at all. Happy to report that the crowd was (apparently) 80%+ supportive. With maybe 2% offended or outraged. Looking forward to next year, or sooner if the opportunity arises.

  173. 173.

    prostratedragon

    Just heard on The Twilight Zone, “The Jungle,” set in NYC:

    Chad, tell me something. If you wanted to find a dead goat on an hours notice, where would you go?

  174. 174.

    KatKapCC

    @Trivia Man: Not everyone is comfortable being nude in front of strangers or having strangers be nude in front of them, for various reasons. Sometimes religious ones, sometimes general discomfort, and for victims of sexual assault, it can be triggering and traumatizing. There is nothing wrong with any of those and none should be brushed off. You being comfortable with something doesn’t mean other people are wrong or repressed for not being so.

  176. 176.

    Trivia Man

    @danielx: When I discuss casual social nudity, much more theoretical than actual because of our puritan society, I use this comparison – I am talking about the difference between a college frat party hot tub and a swedish family sauna. Both equally naked but night and day in effect.

  177. 177.

    Ruckus

    @NotMax:

    Haven’t gotten that one but I get several others a week telling me that blah blah blah whatever is being canceled because something, something and it’s all bull and shit. It’s all a scam.

  178. 178.

    wjca

    @Trivia Man: the difference between a college frat party hot tub and a swedish family sauna. Both equally naked but night and day in effect.

    And, in our society/culture as it is today, the former is far more likely to be the experience and expectation than the latter. We might well be better off to change.  Of course, we’d also be better off without racism and misogyny.

    None of that will be achieved any time soon, although I would definitely prioritize the latter two.  It would be a mistake to procede as if the change, or even just agreement on the desirability of a change, was already a done deal.

  180. 180.

    NotMax

    @Ruckus

    You may not have the barebones basic plan, which was closed a while back but those of us with it were grandfathered in.

    Now grandfather will be swimming with the fishes.

  181. 181.

    NotMax

    Yikes! Fixy fix.
    @Ruckus

    You may not have the barebones basic plan, which was closed a while back but those of us with it were grandfathered in.

    Now grandfather will be swimming with the fishes.

  183. 183.

    wjca

    @Darkrose: I find it very interesting that no outlet has named the reporter who asked the question.

    Just means nobody wants to do so publicly.  Since it would mean being banished.

    Still, I expect that, out of a group who has lots of experience receiving leaks, someone will figure out how to leak the information to someone who will publish it.  May take them a while, but I’m confident someone will figure it out.

  184. 184.

    Princess

    @Quinerly: So, this is a dementia thing Trump did there — conflating two events that are decades apart. The first sign I knew something was wrong with mom was when she erased fifteen years from a story she was telling, Now she’s completely unmoored in time thought she still remembers all of us.

  187. 187.

    Chris Johnson

    @Lyrebird: I’m a sound engineer, and confirmed. This is a necessity for any public sound production in a large space.

    The music version of it is, if you want to play stadiums you have to control your tempo to where you can be HEARD in stadiums. The bigger the stadium, the simpler the music and the slower the tempo.

    Voice intelligibility follows exactly the same rules. If you gabble in a stadium, your words will blend together acoustically: you have to give the words time to spread across the room or you’ll be voice-jamming yourself without meaning to. It’s just physics and cannot be worked around, any more than you can play a superfast thrashmetal thing in a stadium and not just have it become GRRGHXZZZZHZHZ, featureless noise. This is why Bob Rock had Metallica drop tempos to the point where they were able to do tracks like ‘Sad But True’, which works in stadiums.

  188. 188.

    Chris Johnson

    @KatKapCC: I pie some people when they seem to be trying out narratives to see what will stick. This thread has been… weird on that front. Hello, fellow kids!

    Also, interesting embedded notion of how they ‘didn’t want Shapiro because ORATORY’ (apparently the idea there is to put across that Harris speaks badly?) when there are quite a few other reasons why Shapiro might not have been the best pick that have nothing to do with oratory…

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