Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

This fight is for everything.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

The revolution will be supervised.

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

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

The willow is too close to the house.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Second rate reporter says what?

Let there be snark.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

So many bastards, so little time.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Space Cadets Assemble!

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Space Cadets Assemble!

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Speaking of space cadets…
Thursday Morning Open Thread: Space Cadets Assemble!

(Jack Ohman via GoComics.com)

Their tears, they are *delicious*!

Reader Interactions

366Comments

  2. 2.

    Fair Economist

    It’s great jui jitsu for Harris to talk about price gouging, because the media had spent SO much effort getting people obsessed with inflation and now she is going to get people to talk about how much corporations and monopoly are driving it.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    “an absolute menace to womankind”

    Excuse me, Mr. Vance prefers to be seen a menace to “femalekind.” Thank you for your understanding.

  10. 10.

    oldster

    That clip makes it sound like Nikki Haley is endorsing Kamala over Trump. Is she?

    Or was that just an inadvertent admission on her part, followed by a reversion to lock-step loyalty?

  12. 12.

    Fair Economist

    @oldster: Yeah, that was an odd comment from Haley after she endorsed Trump at the convention. Maybe she is having second thoughts? Or maybe she is trying to sabotage Trump,  so she can say “I told you he couldn’t win” in her next campaign?

  16. 16.

    Geo Wilcox

    All I can say about the Swift boating of Mr Walz is this: there is no way in hell the Harris team neglected  scouring every potential VP candidate’s history with a series of fine toothed combs AND talked with any organization that either employed them or worked with them in any lengthy capacity. The Harris team knows everything about Mr Walz on every level possible. That is the argument I use when people talk to me about his military service. I ask them if they really think the Harris team was stupid enough to tap anyone with anything squishy in their background. They all say no.

  17. 17.

    lowtechcyclist

    Good morning, y’all!  Another fine day here on the island.  About to go on a dolphin tour by boat, even though plenty of dolphins have showed up within Frisbee distance of our deck in the past few days.

  18. 18.

    raven

    Oh look , they whine too!

    So they are going to press on with the epic makeover. Can the giant con job work? Legacy media is cooperating, indeed the Manhattan-Beltway media elite are complicit in this giant con, just as the dead-ender Never Trumpers have obliged themselves to be. But does it really work in PA, MI and WI? Does the “I’m for no taxes on tips” really sell NV or promises of border enforcement (this time she really rest means it) work in AZ?

  20. 20.

    Kay

    @oldster:

    She’s criticizing Trump’s campaign. Republicans do just as much criticizing of GOP campaigns as Democrats do of Democratic campaigns- a lot of Republican voters where I live are mad about Trump’s position in the race too. They think he should be winning and they’re blaming him and the campaign for being behind in polls – alternating with blaming polls and blaming media.

    They’re passing around 2020 polls where Trump overperformed (he overperformed most polls in the final results in 2020, so that is true) to comfort themselves.

  21. 21.

    p.a.

    @Chief Oshkosh: I don’t like name-calling in general, but will make an exception for the anti-PC party: Cotton, Hawley, a few others remind me of wrestler/manager “Classy” Freddie Blassie’s* favorite insult: pencil-necked geek.

     

    *he may have been pre-tRump’s WWE buffoonery.

  23. 23.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Chief Oshkosh: I never forget. We have a Cotton look alike here in Misery. Wait a minute, he lives in Virginia now.

    And Miserians will vote for him anyway.

  24. 24.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: It’s almost jarring when you meet these people in the real world. Actually, it IS jarring. I’m not talking about the true grifters at one end of the spectrum or the morans at the other end. There’s a great swath whose thinking is so driven by confirmation bias that they cannot process facts in front of them. Thankfully, the Republicans are doing us the favor of distilling and redistilling this group down to a hard core, losing the slightly less weird with each heat-cool cycle. Hopefully this process will continue with less and less collateral damage to our Union, but it’s not happening fast enough.

  25. 25.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Trump has nerve talking about Harris and Walz having only public sector jobs. The man has never had what I’d consider a real job. He inherited money and spent his life wasting it. The closest he’s come to a real job is The Apprentice. At least he was working for someone else. (I think. That’s right, isn’t it?)

  26. 26.

    Jeffro

    that Erick Erickson tweet is par for the course.  all the GOP has are prayers and delusions, and they’re just about out of prayers.

  27. 27.

    Kay

    Vance debated Tim Ryan in 2022. They were both competent at it. It was probably a draw, with perhaps a slight advantage to Ryan who was really aggressive and has a quick wit. Anyone who wants to torture themselves for 57 minutes and watch can do so.

    Vance does fine so don’t expect a lopsided result when he debates Walz.

  28. 28.

    Jeffro

    and per that Rampell tweet: I know trumpov’s base will believe anything he tells them (“the $35 insulin cap was my idea!”) but trying to sell this as a bad economy, at this point?  good luck.

    (plus it’s pretty clear from recent polling that voters do not tie Harris to inflation, rising interest rates, etc the way they did with Biden)

    Try something else, GOP!  oh wait…you can’t, can you?  LOL

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: Vance does fine so don’t expect a lopsided result when he debates Walz.

    Vance will be greatly hindered in a debate with Walz by the fact that he now has to toe the trump toady line.

  31. 31.

    Kay

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I feel like that’s vintage Republican too, and tired. It’s a GOP attack you would hear in 1987.

    Republicans think Trump is slipping because he is turning into a standard Republican, that he has lost the MAGA attention getting edge. They don’t say this but maybe like a meaner Jeb Bush.  There’s some truth to it, IMO. They don’t blame him though – they blame his campaign managers.

  33. 33.

    Baud

    @Jeffro:

    but trying to sell this as a bad economy, at this point? good luck.

     
    C’mon. Your second paragraph seems correct, but after everything we’ve seen over the last three years, trying to (falsely) sell this economy as a bad economy is one of the few not-weird things they’ve done.

    The last month of good feelings does not make the gaslighting of America ancient history.

  34. 34.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @raven: promises of border enforcement

    One of the most hair-ripping lines of propaganda emanating from our media is that we now have open borders and the administration is resistant to enforcement.

    This is categorically untrue.  Indeed, they’re a little more enforcement-focused than I would personally prefer (I’ll live).

    This is the fundamental reason the parties have difficulty working together. One party insists on rewriting facts on a whim.

    Even as a bipartisan, enforcement-heavy border bill emerges, they reject it. To listen to my father, my information connection to Lower Wingnuttia; it was filled with energy and DEI stuff and things that don’t belong in a “border” bill.

    Think I get an opportunity to explain that weird things get in bills all the time as a product of compromise? Or further suggest that maybe energy is relevant here to power facilities or take additional advantage of the installations we’re putting in? That DEI is absolutely relevant where we’re dealing with cross-cultural interactions?

    Nah. Allowing a common understanding of facts might weaken the hold of the Faux News parasite, which reacts angrily upon any attempt to do so. Instead, just continue to assert over attempts at explanation that energy and DEI shouldn’t be in a “border” bill.

    Fuck the intersectionality of anything, I guess.

  36. 36.

    Chief Oshkosh

    I was just told by ABC Good Morning America that Trump spoke about his economic policy plans (no taxes on Social Security!) at last night’s rally. No mention at all of the bizarre behavior and mindless drivel coming from his pie-hole. No analysis of the new shiny object of no SS taxation.

    Shameless.

    (And before you ask, no, I’m not allowed to touch the TV remote…)

  37. 37.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Jeffro: trying to sell this as a bad economy, at this point? good luck.

    A fair amount of the American populace are certain this is a terrible economy, all they have to do is look at how much they are paying at the grocery store or the interest rates on their credit cards. People see what they want to see, and FOX is here to give it to them.

  38. 38.

    matt

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: Yeah, that complaint about the border bill is dumb. Laws aren’t magically less or more effective because they are clustered on one topic versus changing multiple things at once. Republican might not want to vote for a bill that includes things they don’t want, but that’s just the nature of Congress. Might as well say ‘Republicans only want to vote for bills they write’ and in a split Congress you’ll simply not pass anything with that approach.

  40. 40.

    Wag

    @oldster:

    Either way, I’ll take it. Once Nikki sees the errors of her ways and denounces Trump, we should welcome her with open arms.

  46. 46.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax: Running away is becoming a habit for Hotfoot Hawley.

    @Geminid: Yep, something most every STLan is sure to brag of every time Goodman’s name comes up.

    Oh yeah, we all went to school with him too. (inside joke)

  47. 47.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @matt: Republicans only want to vote for bills they write’ and in a split Congress you’ll simply not pass anything with that approach.

    Well, that is why the media has helpfully redefined bipartisanship as Democrats doing what Republicans want and asking for nothing.

  49. 49.

    Kay

    Dems strong congressional numbers are the untold story of this cycle. Arizona and Michigan are so good.

    Arizona –Gallego +9

    Michigan –Slotkin +8

    Nevada –Rosen +18

    Pennsylvania –Casey +13

    Wisconsin –Baldwin +7

  50. 50.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Vance will be greatly hindered in a debate with Walz by the fact that he now has to toe the trump toady line.

    It certainly is weakening him in public, but you never know.  People can have an ‘at their best’ night, and he’ll surely be trying for one.  He does seem to have molded himself to Trump in an absolutely pathetic and, yes, weird way.  He makes sure to repeat Trump’s stupidest word vomit.  It’s very good to know that he can do better, so we have to wonder if he will.

  51. 51.

    JML

    The GOP is so used to the political media doing their will that they think they can change the narrative on Tim Walz just by saying the narrative has changed on Tim Walz. There’s zero evidence that any attack on Walz is “working”, that anyone has turned on him, so of course they’re declaring victory and trying to rebrand Walz as some kind of failure…and expecting the media to just repeat it as fact.

    The fact that I almost expect the media to do just that, makes me hate the media so much.

  53. 53.

    Jeffro

    @Baud: right…hence the “at this point?” part.  I hear you about all the gaslighting that went on (and that they’re still trying to do), but (VIBES ALERT) it feels like it’s way past its sell-by date.

    I mean, between the stock market’s nearly instant snap-back last week, inflation now below 3%, interest rate cuts very likely next month, etc etc…really, really tough to sell a “CRUSHED ECONOMY” to voters.

    He knows it, too.  That’s why the freebies are starting to fly, fast n’ furious.  Half-price electricity, of all things.  This is in addition to “no tax on tips!” and “no more taxing Social Security!”   Things are going so well for the US economy that the only way to top it is with fantastical promises.  Maybe next he’ll offer every American family a loving, already-house trained dog or cat (or both?)

    but yeah, some will still try.  We’re one mislabeled can of peas away from “VEGETABLE PRICE INFLATION!  WHEN WILL IT END?!?” on Fox.  Doesn’t mean it will work well, or with as many people as it used to, but they’ll try.

  54. 54.

    Another Scott

    @raven: The powers that be really are trying to make the “no taxes on tips” into this season’s astroturf economic issue.  Cruz has a bill, TCFFG is all for it, Kamala has a plan.  It’s universal!!  Everyone wants the same thing!!

    Except, of course, everyone doesn’t want the same thing.

    Just about everyone has a really strong sense of “fairness” going back to when they were toddlers.  Fairness is a really strong thing in our heads.  It can be weaponized against us, or it can be used to help us be better towards others.

    I’m generally against new tax carveouts.  It invites distortions by those with money and power so that they keep even more.

    I think most of us are wary enough to know that “no taxes on tips” isn’t a panacea and that employers, partnerships, law firms, traders, and all the rest will try to use it as a windfall.  Employers will try to make more types of jobs “tipped” jobs to save wage expenses.  15-20-30% cut in tax expenses!  Free money!  Cuts funding for Social Security and Medicare, also too!  WooHoo!  :-/

    Eschew bumper sticker economic policies driven by monsters.

    Eyes on the prizes.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  55. 55.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Jeffro: inflation now below 3%,

    But but but when will prices go back to what they were in 2020 2019 2018??????

    I think you overestimate the economic intelligence of the avg American.

    eta and I see you addressed this point w/

    We’re one mislabeled can of peas away from “VEGETABLE PRICE INFLATION! WHEN WILL IT END?!?” on Fox.

    Which reminds me to “Read to the end tom, BEFORE you open your big fat stupid mouth!”

  57. 57.

    Kay

    Democrats congressional polling doesn’t really support the idea that people are mad about the economy. There’s no movement towards Republicans at all. Tester and Brown are in a dogfight but they’re both in dark red states. It looks like 2022, where people were supposedly mad about crime and critical race theory yet also didn’t move that much towards Republicans.

    This is shaping up to be the third cycle where the “MAGA movement” has underperformed. It actually never went beyond Trump. They won almost nothing on it except his one race in 2016. If he loses this time this supposedly massive political realignment is going to turn out to not mean much at all.

  59. 59.

    brendancalling

    @Chief Oshkosh: That was how the Washington Post covered it as well, and it’s pathetic. So pathetic that I have begun working the refs, by emailing the reporters directly, and shaming them. I’m a subscriber too. Here is the Post’s shitty coverage, and my letter which went to all three of the nitwits who wrote it: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/08/14/trump-rally-speech-north-carolina-economy-jd-vance/

    Good morning Mr. Stein, Ms. Levine, and Mr. Arnsdorf,

    I’m a Post subscriber, so maybe you’ll take these comments seriously.

    I noticed you buried and barely mentioned the fact the Trump went off the rails AGAIN: two brief paragraphs, in muted language, at the end of an article that portrayed him as normal.

    At this point you are actually ENABLING him. Stop lying to your readers, stop hiding the facts. If this was Biden, you’d be all over it, pointing out that he’s old, over and over again. That’s what you spent the past four years doing. The double standard is blinding—just like your paper’s refusal to release the hacked Trump documents after gleefully publishing the Clinton hacks (while hiding behind these “ethics” you have suddenly acquired).

    Stop it. Do your job. Report the facts. Right now you look anything BUT objective. If “democracy dies in darkness” it is reporters like you that are turning out the lights.

    You should be ashamed of yourselves. I’m certainly embarrassed for you, and will be reconsidering my subscription to the Post. I don’t like paying for misinformation.

    Good day to you,
    Brendan Skwire

    i really hate our legacy media.

  60. 60.

    Kay

    I guess they can say MAGA gave them Florida and Ohio. But Democrats got GA and AZ so even that’s not wildly impressive.

  61. 61.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Geo Wilcox:

    Rick Wilson (yes, I know) suggests that the Dems should go on offense on the issue of military service. Instead of looking at timing of Walz’s retirement paperwork, basically attack Bone Spurs on his lack of service and disrespect for those who are or were in the military.

  62. 62.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    My working theory is that people had unspent residual stress and unfairly took it out on Biden.  The good news appears to be they are not taking it out on all Dems collectively.

  64. 64.

    Kay

    MAGA will really start to freak out if/when pollsters reduce Trump’s share with Black voters. His polling is dependent on a supposed 20-30% share of Black voters. Black voters aren’t that large a share of all voters so even if they take him down to 10% he won’t drop much, but he will drop further. Then they’ll really start screeching.

  67. 67.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I agree. I think covid was a major event and people never really processed it in a constructive way. The violent crime drop has been dramatic. I think kids were really harmed by it so I’m hoping that starts to fade too. It should, if it follows the pattern of everything else.

  68. 68.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Our juvenile delinquency and truancy docket quadrupled, but it’s gradually easing. I think kids were profoundly disrupted by covid, much more than we thought.

  69. 69.

    3Sice

    The weird attacks on Walz are in the Rovian tradition. Dear Leader did a massive fuckup in VP selection, and they are wishcasting it back to the Democrats. They have faith in the transitive properties of a “giveback”, at least as far as the GOP to media narrative is concerned.

  70. 70.

    different-church-lady

    That caravan’s been moving toward the border since 2004. That’s gotta be the slowest moving caravan ever seen.

  74. 74.

    Another Scott

    Doug Landry

    @dougblandry

    9h

    This is a campaign with 9 straight years of advance experience and $300 million in cash on hand what in the hell is going on here?

    [ pictures of JV event ]

    Aug 15, 2024 · 3:39 AM UTC

    [ womp, womp ]

    Lots of JEB! “please clap” energy there.

    Run up the score!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  77. 77.

    Scout211

    The Biden administrationsaid Thursday that it had reached an agreement with drugmakers to lower prices on the 10 costliest prescription drugs under Medicare.

    It’s part of the federal government’s first-ever drug pricing negotiations, a cost reduction it claims could help ease the financial burden on the estimated 1 in 7 older adults in the U.S. struggling to pay for their medications.

    Here are the negotiated prices for the drugs, based on a 30-day supply:

    Eliquis, a blood thinner from Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer: $231 negotiated price, down from $521 list price.

    Xarelto, a blood thinner from Johnson & Johnson; $197 negotiated price, down from $517 list price.

    Januvia, a diabetes drug from Merck: $113 negotiated price, down from $527 list price.

    Jardiance, a diabetes drug from Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly: $197 negotiated price, down from $573 list price.

    Enbrel, a rheumatoid arthritis drug from Amgen: $2,355 negotiated price, down from $7,106 list price.

    Imbruvica, a drug for blood cancers from AbbVie and Johnson & Johnson: $9,319 negotiated price, down from $14,934 list price.

    Farxiga, a drug for diabetes, heart failure and chronic kidney disease from AstraZeneca: $178 negotiated price, down from $556 list price.

    Entresto, a heart failure drug from Novartis: $295 negotiated price, down from $628 list price.

    Stelara, a drug for psoriasis and Crohn’s disease from J&J: $4,695 negotiated price, down from $13,836 list price.

    Fiasp and NovoLog, diabetes drugs from Novo Nordisk: $119 negotiated price, down from $495 list price.

  78. 78.

    Kay

    @PGourevitch

    5m

    Unless reporters at Bedminster today are given working microphones so their questions can be heard by all, which they were denied at Mar-Lago, they should refuse to take part in Trump’s pretend press conference today

    Part of their anger towards Harris is because they’re scared of Trump and he humiliates them literaly every day. They feel safer attacking Harris, because she’s not a fucking insane and mean lunatic, and she’s a woman.

  79. 79.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    It was the polling w/Biden though. Never Black women – just men. Over and over and over. I don’t blame pollsters for using it in a model. If it shifts she’ll be consistently up in both GA and NC.

  80. 80.

    TS

    @Scout211:

    And the Washington Post Heading

    White House touts $6 billion in Medicare drug price savings

    They go looking for words to denigrate Biden’s achievements while talking up trump’s b.s.

  82. 82.

    Kay

    @TBone:

    But not so much for kids. Their schools and social events have resumed. I work in juvenile courts so I knew remote school would be a disaster. Ohio has had online charter schools for 20 years. Theyr’e almost always a disaster. Abusive or neglectful parents often keep their kids out of school, for “homeschooling’ or “online school”. They do it because when kids are in school there are other adults observing them, and these parents don’t want other adults seeing their kids. It lands them in court. Judges are pretty much on to it but it took a decade for us to figure it out.

  83. 83.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: Speaking as a former Republican; You’re over thinking it;  Ask dad why they didn’t do this when Trump was president and they controlled both houses. The answer is simple; immigration is the like balancing the budget, all performative,

  86. 86.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @TS: You mean we didn’t get “Biden cuts Medicare budget by $6 billion”? Oh well, we’ll get it from the Republicans soon enough, and then they can quote “sources say”.

    I cut my long-standing ties with the FTFNYT yesterday… almost. I was down to a digital-only subscription, which I mostly kept for access to games and the archives. I stopped that, but they offered me the games for $0.38 a week and (stares at floor, shuffles feet) I kinda took them up on it.

  87. 87.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Scout211: Xarelto, a blood thinner from Johnson & Johnson; $197 negotiated price, down from $517 list price.

    I wonder how much of that will get passed down to me? I might even be able to take my Xarelto every day.

  88. 88.

    p.a.

    How ’bout one, JUST ONE! of these fucking national media bobbleheads asking the Orange Shitstain, “what is your health-care plan?  You had 4 years in office and then 4 years out.  Where is it?”  I guess this is not a legit question, since I didn’t major in journalism!😡

  89. 89.

    mrmoshpotato

    A caravan of migrants from across the world continues to head towards our southern border, and the Biden-Harris administration has not said one word about it.

    From across the world!

    Oh shut up, Tom Cotton, and continue to neglect the people of Arkansas.

  97. 97.

    hueyplong

    I’m afraid to try one of those famous FTFNYT games or puzzles, because they must be more addictive than heroin.

  99. 99.

    Kay

    John Bresnahan

    @bresreports

    New: Harris’ campaign announces $90 million more in paid media buy for August. Per campaign: “This $90 million paid media buy will target voters in every battleground state and expand the campaign’s reach into markets like Marquette, Alpena, Toledo, Erie, and Youngstown – markets where the Trump campaign is ceding the airwaves as their candidate spends this crucial stretch consumed by personal grievance and his latest conspiracy theories instead of communicating with the voters who will decide this election.”

    Toledo and Youngstown!
    It’s probably because Toledo reaches Michigan, though, so don’t get our hopes up :)

  102. 102.

    mrmoshpotato

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Vance will be greatly hindered in a debate with Walz by the fact that he now has to toe the trump toady line shove his head up Dump’s fat, orange, fascist ass. 

    Fixed.

  103. 103.

    Starfish

    @OzarkHillbilly: Jobs in the tech sector have been pretty brutal for the last couple years. Layoff after layoff. I know that is just one sector, but it does not feel great.

  106. 106.

    TBone

    @matt: I’ve seen two stories today already about Texass pols saying they’re going to continue busing migrants to blue states, but they can’t find enough migrants to bus.

    😆

  109. 109.

    Kay

    @TBone:

    The first thing Palestinians do when they’re shuffled off to yet another “safe area” (that isn’t safe) is set up a school. They have a really high literacy rate under almost impossible conditions. We’re a wealthy and huge country bristling with billions and billions in weapons defenses. We can run a damn school system in adverse conditions. A lot of the world manages to. It’s what we value. We don’t actually value kids or education, although we talk a good game.

  110. 110.

    catclub

    @TBone: At his Mar-a-Lago ‘press conference’ he promised to tell which way he will vote on the abortion rights Amendment in Florida. Soon, in an announcement.  Will the press ask about that?

    yeah, right.

  113. 113.

    Kay

    @hueyplong:

    Maybe. I don’t really know Youngstown, other than they’re sort of prickly and don’t like outsiders. Which I kind of admire, really. It’s its own place.

  114. 114.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: I hope she’s criticizing the VP pick and the way they did it, because it seems obvious to me that even with that 170+ pages of vetting that was leaked they didn’t do much vetting of him at all. They don’t seem to know about all these times he said insulting things about women, because they don’t seem to be prepared for them. Either that, or they’re so far inside their own bubble that they don’t realize how these things he says sound to ordinary voters.

  115. 115.

    Kay

    @hueyplong:

    The Ohio spending will help Sherrod and Marcy Kaptur, both of whom are really important to Democrats if they want to get anything done.

  117. 117.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: But Ozark he’s building a house in Ozark, MO. LOL I think that house has been being built for several years now, he should fire that contractor. Of course, I’m sure they love the expensive private school their kids go to in VA and have no intention of moving them to Ozark, MO. They should have built in Nixa school district, that’s one of the best public schools in MO.

  119. 119.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    I haven’t heard her criticize Vance but she sort of is with her “Trump campaign” complaints. All of them apply to Vance too.

    Nikki Haley wins whatever happens. She’s very good on tv – it’s easier than running for office and really lucrative. That’s going to be her job.

  120. 120.

    Soprano2

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I find it highly insulting whenever someone says that a public sector job isn’t a “real job”. Tell that to the people I work with, who clean and repair sewers every day – tell them they aren’t really working or helping the public, please.

  121. 121.

    catclub

    I think CNN wants to say “Lets you and him fight.” to Biden and Pelosi.

    The president saw Harris as having remained unflinchingly loyal even as a flood of Democrats were calling on him to drop out of the 2024 race over the course of July – or, as in Pelosi’s case, were publicly articulating their concerns.

    Did Pelosi publicly say those things? I was not aware. They want a grudge played out. I doubt either Biden or Pelosi will oblige.

  123. 123.

    cain

    @Fair Economist:

    Well, when Trump collapses and his cult with him Nicki is also fucked. Instead the new leader is the Republican party is going to be Liz Cheney who will be completely free of Trump stink.

  125. 125.

    Soprano2

    @Geminid: Yes, he’s an alumnus of Missouri State University. Goodman headlined a recent big fundraising drive they did. In 2023 my choir sang at the wrap up for that effort. I was almost close enough to talk to Goodman! (I took a picture of him backstage.) Evidently he shows up in town every now and then and goes places where people treat him like a normal person.

  126. 126.

    Mike E

    @Baud: A one world government is how you end up with a United Federation of Planets. #NotWeird

    Let’s not talk about the genetic augments whom start WW3 first…😳

  127. 127.

    TS

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

     I kinda took them up on it.

    I can’t bring myself to leave WaPo because I have a subscription for $US19/year 0.36 per week (for 2 subscriptions and a monthly gift pass). I justify myself by thinking they aren’t going to make millions out of me and pointing out their lies on every political column.

    Cheapest newspaper sub in my world is more than $19/month

  128. 128.

    catclub

    @cain: Predictions about the future are hard. I have no idea who would end up on top if they draw away from everything Trump.  I always had my eye on Mike Pompeo.  Smart and evil.

    Tucker Carlson? telegenic and rich?

  129. 129.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @mrmoshpotato: Yep, I knew a Tom Cotton from local theater decades ago, and for second there, I was wondering, “nice guy, but why the heck are they quoting him on THIS subject?”

  131. 131.

    catclub

    @TS: I had a .gov email and WAPO gives subscriptions to them for free… forever ( so far, two years after that email went away.)

     

    Got any friends in government service?

     

    ETA: I wonder how many people I could share that with.

  132. 132.

    Leto

    @catclub: part of why Sen Kelly wasn’t selected was he wasn’t seen as loyal enough to the Biden during that time. I honestly don’t know why people are surprised at this. Trust is something built up over a lifetime and lost in an instant.

    Edit: same thing with me, wrt WaPo. Last time I used that .gov email was 7 years ago. They don’t follow-up on it past the initial confirmation.

  133. 133.

    Kristine

    Looking forward to the Space Cadets for Harris/Walz call. I’d resisted to this point because I already donate monthly, but I couldn’t pass this one by.

    Wish I could get one of those badges, but it’s probably just a graphic.

  134. 134.

    Soprano2

    @Another Scott:  Employers will try to make more types of jobs “tipped” jobs to save wage expenses.

    That’s exactly what will happen. If you think you’re tired of being asked to tip everyone at the register now, make tips tax-free and see what happens. The devil is in the details – what exactly are “tips”? Which jobs qualify? Can employers just willy-nilly change jobs to get tipped income in order to save themselves wage expenses? And so on. I’m with you, I generally don’t like carve outs like that because it distorts things.

  135. 135.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Kay:

    A lot of the world manages to. It’s what we value. We don’t actually value kids or education, although we talk a good game.

    That’s OK. We balance that by not valuing elders.

  136. 136.

    Nelle

    @TBone: Yes, and we are still pulling the covers over our heads about it.  Ah, yes, everything is back to normal.  Except my friend, the pathologist, has been in bed for a week with covid.  The neighbor, a judge, is home with it.  CDC says, go back to work when you don’t have a fever.  Will I get it from a nurse at the dr’s office?  The pharmacist?  Oh, it’s like the flu now?  Another friend tells me that, after six MRI’s, a dr suggested that the lesions on her spine may be caused by Long Covid.

    But yeah, that’s all in the past.  Whistling in the dark, we are.

  137. 137.

    Mike E

    @catclub: I’ll be that guy and point out how Joe Biden picked Kamala Harris, saved us from Trump, stepped aside like no other powerful leader has in centuries, thwarted the ravenous media by insisting on MVP being his successor AND NOW does the job he’s clearly suited to do: be a great president while Harris/Walz barnstorms the county. Fuck all the haters.

  139. 139.

    Kathleen

    @brendancalling: I love this. I’m afraid I would devolve into incoherent burbling sprinkled with epithets if I attempted a letter. I stick with short Xeets mocking them for copying and pasting Republican talking points.

  140. 140.

    p.a.

    @Soprano2: My brain-dead tRump relatives are all “government tit, government tit!”, since Reagan. Mother and #2 son: public school employees.  Father: lifer Nat’l Guard then USPS (if you want to annoy a reich winger inform them that the military is gubmint work), #1 son SSI total disability, bad back, that he spent 10 years trying to get.  I have pics of him shoveling snow after he qualified, but y’know: family😡.  They were all Fox-Obamacare-leftyLeftyLEFTY until #1 son got diagnosed w cancer, then signed him right up.  At least the mom admitted (not the other chuds tho), “it really helped him.”

  141. 141.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: I’ve told people that I understand the “roaring ’20’s” better now after Covid. People just wanted to have fun and forget all the sickness and death. I’m of the firm belief that we all had some PTSD from Covid, and that’s still being worked out in all kinds of ways. I think it will affect the people who were kids in ways we can’t anticipate.

  142. 142.

    Kathleen

    @Soprano2: Exactly. People who drive busses, pick up garbage (the most important job on the plant as far as I’m concerned), fix the roads, etc etc etc

  146. 146.

    Sanjeevs

    @Soprano2: I’m struggling to think of a single world leader during Covid who won reelection.

    i really think the best negative ads would show Trump’s idiocy during Covid. It’s  a two-fer.

  149. 149.

    Leto

    @Nelle: Listen, just send the kids to school. Sure long term covid is def gonna fuck them up, and we have zero guidance in place to ensure their safety, but just send them. See how much local counties, states, and the federal government have ensured something like that won’t happen again? How much they’ve invested in the proper infrastructure to mitigate that? Just send’em! It’ll all be fine. Sure, some kids will die. But that’s just the sacrifice we’re willing to make to ensure parents don’t have to deal with their children. Gotta make sure capitalism keeps on keepin on.

  150. 150.

    different-church-lady

    @TBone: COVID is not still a major event. It is now millions of small, personal events that are potentially destructive.​

  154. 154.

    trnc

    Not sure what to make of this. The Events tab on https://kamalaharris.com/ forwards to democrats.org. There are plenty of organizing events, which is great, but no info on the rally in Raleigh, NC tomorrow, even when I search. There are no details in the news announcements.

  155. 155.

    TBone

    @matt: oh please don’t give them ideas!

    Paid actors is a favorite, so it’s possible they’ve already thought of it though. 🙄😡

  156. 156.

    EarthWindFire

    @p.a.: There is nothing worse than a retired military officer turned defense contractor on the “government tit” crap. They were the only worthwhile thing in government, and their private sector job (not at all paid with taxpayer funds) makes government more efficient than evah!!! They let you know it. Just after they tell you they’re so glad their kid can stay on their insurance until they’re 26.

  157. 157.

    Josie

    @Soprano2: ​
     I’m not sure I understand what the parameters are for “a real job.” It sure felt real all those years I spent as a middle school librarian. I would love to see one of those posers perform that job.

  158. 158.

    Baud

    Today

    President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are set to appear together in Maryland to discuss their plan to lower out-of-pocket costs for seniors on Medicare.

  161. 161.

    TBone

    @Chief Oshkosh: it’s Joseph Cotten day today on TCM Summer Under the Stars.

    Stellar performances in so many films…tonic masculine in some, pure evil in others (Shadow of a Doubt is on the schedule).

  162. 162.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    I feel a little apart from that because it didn’t affect me that much. We didn’t miss a day at the law office and the economy has been booming in NW Ohio for 5 years. All our lawyers did well.

    My youngest suffered though. He was miserable. He’s a social being and he missed track and band and just the hubbub and activity of school. The word I kept thinking of watching him was “diminished”. He derives energy from other people. He sort of gave up and his grades dropped and we bickered constantly. Eventually I found him a good counselor and she really helped. His first year college grades were quite bad though, but he’s recovered a decent GPA.

    What people miss I think about kids with challenging home conditions, the kids we see in juvenile court, is that school and extracurriculars are the one organized, predictable not-chaotic area of their lives. School is safe. It’s clean, they’re fed, no one is screaming or hitting anyone else. We just took that away from them. They were lost. And REALLY angry. I had only been challenged physically by a juvenile in the process of representing them once in 20 years prior to covid. It happened three times during the worst year of covid. We really did a number on them. But it’s fading. It’s better.

  167. 167.

    cain

    @rikyrah:

    And they were dumb enough to post that racist photo in comparison to some 1950s neighborhood.

    Supporting Trump as a black man has got to be a weird lift and being constantly embarrassed is the other.

  169. 169.

    Fake Irishman

    @Kay:

    And Youngstown overlaps with western PA.

    But still, get a few more voters out on the margins saves a House seat, couple of state legislative contests, nets Sherrod Brown 20,000 votes….

  170. 170.

    TBone

    @Leto:

    @different-church-lady:

    It all *waves hand* leaves me so fucking angry.  Kids can’t protect themselves!

    Why aren’t the adults doing it??? Where are the HELPERS as Mr. Rogers told us to look for???

    My medical system here is in complete denial.  It does not exist here.

  171. 171.

    jonas

    @Kay: I note Tester’s not up there. I sure hope DSCC and other orgs have a plan to pull him over the finish line…

  173. 173.

    Fake Irishman

    @Kay:

    And your observations about kids might translate into broader society: look at how all forms of violent crime have been cratering over the last three years.

  174. 174.

    brendancalling

    @LAC: I encourage everyone to work the refs. Shame is a powerful motivator, and reporters treasure their (largely self-promoted and not actually real) reputations for honesty, objectivity, and accuracy. (Does not apply to opinion columnists, but actual reporters).

    ”How can I trust your reporting anymore” is not a question a credible reporter wants to be posed.

  176. 176.

    prostratedragon

    @Citizen Dave:  When that damn show appeared my two thoughts were, “Shoot, we were almost rid of the guy” and “Who wants him back?” Figured someone had to be intending to use him, possibly politacally.

  177. 177.

    Leto

    Way OT: the women’s Tour de France is happening right now. In today’s stage, about 6km from the finish, a huge crash which included the yellow jersey. She managed to get back up, finish the stage, but she lost the jersey due to that crash. Something I’ve noticed wrt the men’s and women’s race, is that the course for the women’s race just seems… bad. More back roads, more turns, more bunched up turns. It just seems like an inferior course compared to the men’s. There’s pinch points with the men’s course, which we saw with this year’s race, but from a laymen’s perspective the women’s course seems worse.

  178. 178.

    cain

    @Starfish:

    I work for a tech company and we are laying off 20k people.

    My wife’s ex husband has been trying to find a job at the director level since October. It’s almost been a year. Job interviews are bogus.

    When I look at /r/jobs it seems scary for the gen Zs and millennials.

  179. 179.

    BR

    @TBone:

    Yeah, I’m deeply frustrated by how society has given up on COVID. I have Long COVID as a result of two infections, despite never taking my mask off a single time indoors in the last 4.5 years. It is Biden’s worst failing in my view — there was an opportunity in the two mega bills (American Rescue Plan and the infrastructure bill) to have funded mitigation efforts (i.e. HEPA-level filtering in all buildings) that would have also been a huge stimulus to the trades while also costing less than a few highways. I don’t know why congress and Biden didn’t do it.

  181. 181.

    TBone

    @Kay: I was decidedly not safe in school as a child or as a teen.  I was abused on the regular by teachers in some cases, and students in others.  And that’s despite my own mother being a teacher in the District…

  183. 183.

    Hildebrand

    @Soprano2: The cleaning service we use has recently started asking us to leave a tip via Venmo – my wife responded, ‘why, aren’t you paying them enough?’

  186. 186.

    trnc

    @Fair Economist: It’s great jui jitsu for Harris to talk about price gouging, because the media had spent SO much effort getting people obsessed with inflation and now she is going to get people to talk about how much corporations and monopoly are driving it.

    Also worth mentioning that while the media just blithely blame Biden for inflation for spending, zero members of the media have asked about DT’s role in inflation by not spending on infrastructure as he promised to. That would have spread out the spending, and Biden wouldn’t have had to pick up the slack.

    Also no questions about record oil profits that artificially increased inflation.

  188. 188.

    TBone

    @Leto: my local news (!) ran a longish story today about the disparity in female life expectancy we have worsened, especially for females of color.  My local TV news is truly revamping their formerly very “conservative” image, and I’m so here for it!

  189. 189.

    Leto

    @TBone: per the CDC, as of a week ago 6 AUG, 32 states are seeing a rise, 3 are in decline, and 8 are stable. 63% of the US is seeing a rise. Maybe it’s local, but it’s a hell of a lot of local. Anyone masking up? Distancing? Limiting contact? Are we talking about the rise in the news? I’ll just answer those rhetorical questions: no. It’s basically Han Solo in the detention center: “Everything’s perfectly all right now. We’re fine. We’re all fine here now, thank you. How are you?”

    But whatever. I’m one of the masses going to back to school here in 2 weeks, I’m sure it’ll be fine. 👍👍

  190. 190.

    TBone

    @BR: it is maddening, but I think the EPIC Rethug hissy fits would have derailed so much more of his agenda if they had that to scream about. Fuck.

  194. 194.

    BR

    @TBone:

    There was such an easy way to sell air filtration for every building — get a bunch of burly HVAC repair dudes on stage for the announcement and then send them out to the 50 states to sell it to the swing districts. Dems had congress, so it’s not like there would have been much selling needed. And it probably would have been in the noise in terms of cost.

    While they were at it, they could have pushed for the lead free pipes funding more aggressively — my understanding is that got cut back from the original funding levels they’d planned.

    Indoor clean air and clean water are probably more important for our physical and mental well being — especially kids — than almost anything else.

  195. 195.

    Geminid

    @jonas: Both Tester and his opponent have raised plenty of money and there’s more coming. This could be a very good year for Montana radio and TV stations.

    Regarding advertising spending, I saw that the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee reserved $6 million dollars of ad time for the Portland, Oregon market. They’ll use it to defend Laurie Chavez-DeRemer’s Oregon seat and to attack Marie Gluesenkamp Perez in the Washington district across the Columbia River. Both woman flipped seats in the 2022 midterms after the incumbents lost their primaries.

  196. 196.

    Leto

    @trnc: that would require an informed media, one that actually understood basic policy, basic economics. Or a paraphrased Dick Cheney, “You work with the media you have, not the media you wish you had.” There’s a reason they’re called stenographers. Not even particularly good ones at that, to be honest.

  198. 198.

    Citizen Dave

    @catclub: I had never heard of this until now (free washpo for .gov address).  I have one, state variety.   Tried it, washpo said it/my group doesn’t have an eligible subscription.  Guess I’m stuck with their summary emails, which are often infuriating–and mostly only the subject header is read by me.

  205. 205.

    Geminid

    @BR: Virginia spent a lot of ARA funds on modernizing HVAC systems in public schools. Local governments matched the state money with their own ARA funds. I expect air quality was taken into account in the new systems but I have not looked into this. But these investments were some good counter-cyclical spending and saved operation and maintenance costs going forward.

    Most ARA money was spent in the first couple years, but last Fall I heard about a groundbreaking event for Harrisonburg’s new Homeless Center. The local radio report noted that the $5 million cost was coming out of ARA funds.

  208. 208.

    TBone

    @BR: PS I’m sorry to hear that you are also suffering.  Which I should have said much earlier because I know what it’s like.  Brain is not optimal some days – even my vision gets blurrier and then when I have a good day, I can see clearly again.

  209. 209.

    BarcaChicago

    Hello from Chicago! I’m signed up for a couple airport Help Desk shifts as a DNC volunteer (all the shifts filled very fast, it was hard to grab them). So as a convention volunteer, I was invited to the DNC Volunteer Party at Wrigley Field tonight – it should be a high-energy and fun time, I’m looking forward to it :-) Now, if I am able to score a floor pass, I will be super thrilled….

    I did get a pass to Election Night 2012 at McCormick Place through my role on a volunteer team – it was an incredible experience. The pass itself is actually gorgeous – a lanyard with a pass designed like 1700s calligraphy, I have it tucked away with a bunch of Obama swag from both campaigns.

  211. 211.

    BR

    @TBone:
    Thanks. I’ve been banging the drum (to the limited extent I can) about clean air and water since well before the pandemic (partly because I’ve had an interest in the effect of environmental public health — lead and other toxic chemicals and their effect on society, and pathogens and pandemics). It’s so easy to overlook and yet it makes such a big difference. We fear the things we can see more than those things we can’t see — it’s also why climate change has until recently been woefully underfunded. (During the second year of the pandemic, when interest rates and bond rates hit rock bottom, I was pushing for California to make a bold investment in going zero carbon in 5 years. With bond rates where they were, borrowing even $300 billion to build massive green infrastructure would have paid itself back almost immediately.)
    And thanks and sorry to hear about you — yeah my vision does get blurry sometimes as well, mostly fatigue related for me. I’ve been lucky to not have (much) brain fog. It’s mostly been “post exertional malaise” — fatigue after doing anything even mildly strenuous. Long COVID makes me feel like I aged 15 years.​

  213. 213.

    TBone

    @BR: yep on aging.  I have the before and after photos to prove it!  And the fatigue has changed my life in too many ways to count.

    Clean air and water are so vital that the Supremacists Court took a whack at them.  For which they shall burn in hell for eternity.

    I wish understanding  science was mandatory at the price of, if you fail, you don’t get to drive a car, ever.  Or reproduce.

  216. 216.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

     

    I don’t know if you’ve seen my previous posts,but, I totally think Allred is blowing it in Texas.

    I am seeing too many posts and Videos from political active people talking about him not reaching out to the base.

    Beto lost by 2% points in an off-election year.

    His campaign doesn’t seem to grasp that this is a Presidential year and that he needs to get out the base,

    I’ll say it again..

    Ask Beasley and Mandela Barnes about how running away from the top of the Democratic Party worked out for them.

  217. 217.

    hueyplong

    @schrodingers_cat: Well, my Stein/Trump friend, you should know that Trump actually died and a duplicate was created by Hillary in a basement, using Jewish laser surgery on a homeless immigrant in the basement of a pizza parlor.  Why do you think Trump is struggling so?  HE ISN’T REALLY TRUMP!!! The only safe thing to do is to keep is to keep yourself clear of the voting records, which will be used by the Libs to send you to a camp after the election.  Under no circumstances are you to vote.  Just wait for post-January instructions.  Stein would tell you herself, but she has been kidnapped by Antifa and is being held in the remnants of a smoldering Portland building.

    Now, all this is on the QT so don’t tell anybody.

  218. 218.

    rikyrah

     

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    It certainly is weakening him in public, but you never know.  People can have an ‘at their best’ night, and he’ll surely be trying for one

     

    He will also have to answer about all his offensive statements against women…

     

    Did Ryan bring that up at their debate?

  222. 222.

    tam1MI

    @schrodingers_cat: My former BS sis, Jill Stein voting, T curious friend said that migrants with Ebola are invading the US and that it was an ISIS plot.

    I wonder how she would respond if you replied to her. With,” Good heavens, that sounds serious! We’d all better mask up again!”.

  223. 223.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    Part of their anger towards Harris is because they’re scared of Trump and he humiliates them literaly every day. They feel safer attacking Harris, because she’s not a fucking insane and mean lunatic, and she’s a woman.

    They should do their phucking jobs, and why, I, and others, believe Harris should pay them dust.

    Phuck those muthaphuckas. Do their phucking jobs, or get a new one.

  226. 226.

    tam1MI

    @BarcaChicago: Hello from Chicago! I’m signed up for a couple airport Help Desk shifts as a DNC volunteer (all the shifts filled very fast, it was hard to grab them). So as a convention volunteer, I was invited to the DNC Volunteer Party at Wrigley Field tonight – it should be a high-energy and fun time, I’m looking forward to it :-)

    Report back here and let us know how everything goes! And have fun!

  228. 228.

    rikyrah

    @matt:

    @mrmoshpotato: Someone tell him there are usually lines at our busier border crossings, it’s like there’s always a caravan.

    Which group is coming now. I can’t keep up with all the different groups invading from our Southern border.

  230. 230.

    rikyrah

    @Soprano2:

     I hope she’s criticizing the VP pick and the way they did it, because it seems obvious to me that even with that 170+ pages of vetting that was leaked they didn’t do much vetting of him at all. They don’t seem to know about all these times he said insulting things about women, because they don’t seem to be prepared for them.

    The only vetting done was to see if Thiel’s check cleared.

    That’s it.

  231. 231.

    rikyrah

    @cain:

    Instead the new leader is the Republican party is going to be Liz Cheney who will be completely free of Trump stink.

     

    She’s not an elected official.

    My money’s on Kemp from Georgia.

  233. 233.

    Soprano2

    @p.a.: Wow, that’s a high level of complete unawareness of reality. I actually had someone I worked with tell me that we really aren’t government employees because we work for a “utility”. I replied that my paycheck says “city of” so yeah, we definitely work for city government. That’s how bad the denial can be with some people who have learned to hate “the government”. Every time my mother would start in with that I would remind her that she was talking about people like me, so she’d say “but it’s only the federal government where they’re bad”, and I’d reply I was sure it was like where I worked, most people are good and a few aren’t as good.

  236. 236.

    Soprano2

    @Sanjeevs: I really think that’s part of what was driving the negative feelings about Biden, the association with Covid times. It might have been subconscious, but it was there underlying things. Whether it’s right or wrong people don’t want reminders of that time right now.

  238. 238.

    KatKapCC

    @oldster: If you watch the whole clip, she talks about how badly we need Trump to win and what he needs to be doing in order to win.

  240. 240.

    CaseyL

    @mrmoshpotato: ​

    Cotton is being hyperbolic, of course, but he has a tiny bit of fact.

    The latest cottage industry among South American coyotes is Chinese nationals, who travel first to South America and then head north. Many of them across the infamous Darien Gap. Quite a few have been detained by US immigration services.

  241. 241.

    Soprano2

    @Josie: I’m not sure I understand what the parameters are for “a real job.”

    I think to them it means “place where you had to make a profit and weren’t paid by the government”. That’s dumb, but that’s what they mean. A lot of them really think we don’t do anything worthwhile. I’ve done both private and public jobs, and to me they’re about the same.

  242. 242.

    Sean

    @rikyrah: Allred almost surely is blowing it here. I live in Texas and haven’t caught even the barest glimpse of whatever campaign he is running, as opposed to Beto who worked his way through every city and town big and small for years to make connections and build enthusiasm. I suppose if there is some magic left in the world and the coalition is truly changing with Kamala’s candidacy, maybe the enthusiasm could put him over the top. But this shithole (I’m allowed, as a native Texan), just reinstalled Greg Abbott, one of the most vile people in the world by 10 fucking points in the last election. After a myriad of overwhelming failures on energy policy, severe weather preparedness, border politics, etc. 10 fucking points. Texas is Texas. I don’t expect Allred or Kamala to do well here, although I do expect much better things beyond my borders.

  243. 243.

    TS

    @trnc:

    Can’t find that anywhere else – would be all over the media if trump had a full up venue. So please Harris/Walz are getting their message out in lots of other ways

  244. 244.

    Kay

    @TBone:

    It was the nuttiness of the closures too – how they didn’t make sense unless you realized that the only measure was “profit”

    My son couldn’t go to school or band or track or see his friends but he still had to go to his ice cream parlor drive thru job. He’s smart. He got that. What I need isn’t important, only money making enterprises matter. That’s what we essentially told them. Everything you need or care about must close, and only low level service people have to go to work.

  246. 246.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: We didn’t miss a day in the office either because we were considered “essential”, but I knew a lot of people who did, and of course I had employees at the bar who collected unemployment because we were closed for 9 weeks. If we hadn’t owned the building we would have gone out of business because there was no way we could have paid the rent she was charging us. I know a lot of teachers, and most of them will agree that Covid caused a lot of the discipline and other problems they’d been seeing in school to get a lot worse. Most all of them also think it was a mistake to close schools like some places did, although in places that weren’t willing to have people wear masks it was problematic to have school. The problem was that no one knew what was the best thing to do. It was a terrible situation that I hope we never again see in my lifetime or beyond.

  247. 247.

    Fair Economist

    @Kay: It’s like repeatedly infecting children with a brain-damaging disease (COVID) is damaging their brains.

    Hoocudanode?

  248. 248.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    Oh, I agree. And I think it’s dumb for people to use hindsight – no one knew. I just don’t want to forget it so we don’t do it again. School is essential. It has to be always a top priority.

  251. 251.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Kay: So, in August 2020, when there were no vaccines, no definitive conclusions as to transmission, school districts around the country would just snap their fingers and improve the ventilation in our aging and underfunded schools and it would be done! Instead of active shooter drills for the kiddos, we’ll teach them how to use the PPE provided to all schools by the Trump administration!

    I don’t disagree that the kids suffered and the effects are far reaching but it’s laughable to think any of this could have happened. We still haven’t done these things as the world experiences surge after surge, variant after variant.

  252. 252.

    Kay

    Bravo to these British journalists:

    CNN — 
    Last month, Russell Vought sat in a five-star Washington, DC, hotel suite, bowing his head in prayer with two men he thought were relatives of a wealthy conservative donor.
    Vought, one of the key authors of Project 2025, a right-wing blueprint for a second Trump term, expected the meeting would help his think tank secure a substantial contribution. For nearly two hours, he talked candidly about his behind-the-scenes work to prepare policy for former President Donald Trump, his expansive views on presidential power, his plans to restrict pornography and immigration, and his complaints that the GOP was too focused on “religious liberty” instead of “Christian nation-ism.”
    But the men Vought was talking to actually worked for a British journalism nonprofit and were secretly recording him the entire time.

    I hope CNN airs the video on the network. We all know if this were a liberal group it would be blanket coverage.

  254. 254.

    rikyrah

    @Sean:

    I haven’t seen anything about him talking about the 2.1 million Texas voters who have had their voter registration messed with..have you?

    He has plenty of phucking money. What the phuck is he doing with it?

  255. 255.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Soprano2: We also had the Trump administration in charge when Covid hit.  You can’t tell me that any Democratic administration would have handled it better.

  256. 256.

    Kay

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    Just be consistent then. If schools aren’t essential then many for profit businesses aren’t essential either. Setting it up so only low wage workers (and of course their children and families) are being exposed is horrendous – it’s a clear message on what and who matters.

  257. 257.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @rikyrah:

    My money’s on Kemp from Georgia.

    Yep. I’ve been thinking that since he was first elected governor. He’s a mean, shitty, shitty human being, but he’s from the old school and knows how to hide it.

  259. 259.

    Bill Arnold

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    Took me while to remember who Tom Cotton is.

    He was ratio-ed on that tweet about 3.5 to 1, which is hard to do on the current Fascist Twitter
    He seems to enjoy being despised.

  261. 261.

    rikyrah

    @tam1MI:

    Pro- Palestinian protesters threaten to disrupt Democratic convention, claim “thousands” will be in Chicago.

    After not hide nor hair of them being seen during the RNC.

    Any doubts they are trying to throw the election to Trump?

     

    They have an approved protest route.

    And on that route and in the approved spaces, the CPD has to follow their new ‘ protester rules’.

    Outside of that?

    Well…

    and, the UC and McCormick Place are in neighborhoods.

    Mess with those people if you want to.

  263. 263.

    Sean

    @rikyrah:

    No. I haven’t seen him saying much of anything about any issue. When Beto ran, you couldn’t throw a rock without hitting a sign, campaign event, rally, volunteer operation, registration drive, etc. I haven’t seen Allred’s campaign doing any of those with any similar urgency or frequency. It honestly reminds me of the early-mid 2000’s campaigns where a statewide Dem just raised money, campaigned via ads, then coasted to a 5-10 point loss in November. People got excited about Beto because he actually RAN a campaign. In the end, he failed, but he fucking tried and he still works hard on voter outreach and mobilization. Texas is a very hard state for a democrat to win in (see: no statewide wins in 30 goddamn years). Allred is not doing nearly enough, imo. I’ve been donating to Beto’s voter registration/mobilization efforts and close races elsewhere. I’m not burning cash on Allred.

  265. 265.

    Kay

    “Trump is claiming to distance himself from Project 2025, but I’m not worried about that. He’s been at our organization, he’s raised money for our organization. He’s very supportive of what we do”

    God, this video is just gold. He also says Trump will hire people like him to limit abortion nationally.

  266. 266.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Soprano2:

    The devil is in the details – what exactly are “tips”?

    Sales commissions! Free private plane trips and fishing excursions to exclusive destinations for services rendered!

  267. 267.

    Sean

    @Baud: Maybe I’m wrong. Hopefully I am. Maybe their strategy is more data driven and they’re allocating resources that aren’t hitting me where I live. But I honestly don’t know. I don’t feel enthusiastic about the chances.

  268. 268.

    SatanicPanic

    @tam1MI: I used to be pretty sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, but if it comes down to our democracy vs. their state, it’s an easy calculus for me. Sorry Palestine.

  270. 270.

    Kay

    The far Right fascist says “expect to hear Trump say at rallies 20 more times that he’s against Project 2025- don’t worry about that”.

    I have thought for a long time that Americans are just such suckers for a British accent. Both the journalists have one.

    Trumpist got snookered by it.  It’s also the secret to Andrew Sullivan’s success :)

  271. 271.

    catclub

    CNN:

    Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign reached out to Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign to arrange a meeting about a possible role in her administration if he drops out of the race and endorses her, a Kennedy campaign official and a Democratic official told CNN.

    Ambassador to Crazy AntiVaxistan?
    Plus having him stay in could switch Florida. haha

  272. 272.

    Bill Arnold

    @brendancalling:

    So pathetic that I have begun working the refs, by emailing the reporters directly, and shaming them.

    This is the way.
    Thank you.
    More people should do this; it doesn’t take many.

  275. 275.

    gvg

    @Soprano2: Fast food places are already putting tips on their bills. I don’t like it. I feel they should pay a decent wage AND I don’t know who really gets that tip. Besides I only interact with an employee on a line counter for a few minutes. That is not a tip type job IMO.

    Reducing wages and making them tips also means you are cutting your SS earnings for the future and your potential workers comp if you need it.

  276. 276.

    Ilieitz

    So you all know that the Repubs are all claiming that Kamala’s crowds are a.i. generated and today I read that gymnastics are fake too. So I put 2&2 together and realized that the trump we’re seeing on TV is a.i. generated also. The real Trump had a major stroke and is bedridden. Trump’s handlers freaked out so they brought out the Trump 2025 bot but all the kinks haven’t been worked out so that’s why he slurs his words and acts like a brain dead moron. That’s my theory and I’m sticking with it

  277. 277.

    Bill Arnold

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    Rick Wilson (yes, I know) suggests that the Dems should go on offense on the issue of military service.

    Yes. Basic argument is
    – Both Vance and Walz served honorably. (Vance, 4 years AD, Walz 24 years NatGuard.)
    – The top of the GOP ticket is a guy who dodged the Vietnam draft with 4 college deferments and an allegedly-faked medical condition (bone spurs) after those ran out. There is no evidence (that I know of) that there was ever surgery for the “bone spurs”, though this should be checked.
    – Anyone who attacks Walz (who served honorably for 24 years) and does not attack Trump (who actively avoided service) is a dishonest partisan propagandist.

  280. 280.

    Captain C

    @rikyrah:

    Reporters:  We’re the bravest truth-tellers of all!  Society depends on our courage and truth!

    TCFG:  DEOIJFONOERN!!!!  COFVEVE!!!  IVANKA!!!!  I EAT REPORTERS!!!!

    Reporters (running away):  Eek!   We should find a Democrat to crap on, not this handsome, smart, coherent, totally incorruptible fellow who just threatened to eat us!

  282. 282.

    Manyakitty

    @tam1MI: they’re bullshit and don’t deserve the time of day. This kind of garbage undermines whatever shreds of credibility they had left. Fuck them.

  283. 283.

    Jackie

    To the surprise of…

    nobody:

    “Attorneys for Donald Trump asked the judge overseeing the former president’s Manhattan criminal case to postpone his sentencing, now set for Sept. 18, until after November’s presidential election,” Politico reports.

  284. 284.

    Captain C

    @CaseyL:

    Many of them across the infamous Darien Gap.

    I read a book called The Cloud Garden about a pair of adventurous hikers who tried to cross the Darien Gap and got captured for 9 months by FARC guerillas who had no idea what to do with the pair, as neither’s family was anything close to wealthy.

  288. 288.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @tam1MI: Meanwhile negotiations for a Cease Fire begin today with one major player, Hamas, refusing to participate.

    It’s kind of wild how the US somehow is more responsible for stopping the war that it didn’t start and can’t stop, than Hamas, who did start it and can stop it, but won’t even try.  Hamas apparently has no agency, no complicity, no moral obligation to the Palestinian people and we all just have to pretend they are a complete non-factor in the ending the war they started and won’t quit.

  289. 289.

    Citizen Alan

    @cain: I don’t know. Part of me thinks they will never forgive Liz Cheney. To the Maga freaks, voting to impeach Shitgibbon is a much bigger deal than simply running against him in a primary in which she, for the most part, did not go negative against him.

  291. 291.

    Captain C

    @catclub: He could be the ambassador to the great garbage gyre in the Pacific.  We’ll let him build his own house when he gets there.

  293. 293.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Lydia Polgreen penned an excellent Op-Ed in the NYTimes about the Cass Report. You can read a non-Times link of the whole thing, here:

    Even social transition, which can include a child adopting a new name or style of dress but involves no medical interventions, is treated with some suspicion in the report, saying “sex of rearing seems to have some influence on eventual gender outcome, and it is possible that social transition in childhood may change the trajectory of gender identity development for children with early gender incongruence.”

    The report is shot through with language like that. It seems to encourage everything that can be done to preserve the possibility that a child might turn out not to be transgender and avoids anything that might too enthusiastically affirm a child’s sense of themselves.

    At one point the report posits that because a child has never had the experience of growing up in their assigned sex, they would have no way to know whether they might regret transition. “They may have had a different outcome without medical intervention and would not have needed to take lifelong hormones,” the report says, referring to children assigned female at birth.

    It is hard to know what to make of a statement like that. A person gets only one life; waiting to see how it works out isn’t really an option. To a queer woman like me, this is an ominous echo of something many of us have heard many times in our lives: Maybe you just haven’t met the right man yet. The wish — whether expressed by a parent, a teacher, a therapist or a suitor — is a wish for a child not to be queer.

    It is hard to find a satisfying explanation for these kinds of conjectures and conclusions in the report other than this one: Many people find transgender people at best unsettling and possibly deluded or mentally ill, or at worst immoral and unnatural. They appear to believe it would be better not to be trans.

    As much as Cass’s report insists that all lives — trans lives, cis lives, nonbinary lives — have equal value, taken in full it seems to have a clear, paramount goal: making living life in the sex you are assigned at birth as attractive and likely as possible. Whether Cass wants to acknowledge it or not, that is a value judgment: It is better to learn to live with your assigned sex than try to change it. If this is what Cass personally believes is right, fair enough. It can charitably be called a cultural, political or religious belief. But it is not a medical or scientific judgment.

  294. 294.

    tam1MI

    @schrodingers_cat: They are an op or too stupid to realize what they are doing. And they are not doing actual Palestinians in Gaza any favors either.

    I’ve given up on hoping that those assholes can effect any kind of positive change in the situation they pretend to care about.

    And the saddest thing is, the Palestinians don’t have the luxury of being able to wait around for the clowns claiming to speak for them to get their act together.

  295. 295.

    Jackie

    BAHAHAHAAA!!!

    “Donald Trump’s campaign is expanding its ranks as he seeks to regain his footing in the presidential campaign, bringing on a handful of top allies — including former Trump 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski,” Politico reports.

    “Lewandowski, who has remained an informal Trump adviser since his first campaign, is being brought on to advise the campaign’s senior leadership team, according to a person familiar with the move and granted anonymity to speak freely. He joins several other former Trump aides who will play similar roles.”

    Too bad, so sad Steve Bannon’s unavailable 😂

  296. 296.

    narya

    @Omnes Omnibus: The things I think a Dem administration would have done better: (1) managed the distribution of PPE much better (w/o involving Jared’s B-school buddies, or whoeverthefuck they were); (2) helped people understand science a little better (instead of bleach and ivermectin and shining lights); (3) prioritized supporting the folks most at risk, both economically and disease-wise; and, possibly, (4) protecting workers at, e.g., meat plants better. That said, there was still so much happening, at such a fast pace, that anyone would have struggled to manage it WELL

    ETA: And used the pandemic plan that existed, modifying as needed, instead of tossing it out.

  297. 297.

    Paul in KY

    @O. Felix Culpa: Think that would be good. Gov Walz served 24 freaking years! After 20 you can retire whenever the fuck you want. My dad retired when they were fixing to send him to Vietnam. No one complained. Was seen as a smart move.

  300. 300.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Manyakitty: Actually it looks like Hamas is sort-of participating, indirectly:

    Hamas officials reiterated on Wednesday that they are not going to participate in the talks.

    • The White House and the State Department said Qatar made it clear that it will make sure Hamas participates in the negotiations.

    • A source with knowledge of the issue noted that Hamas officials who are involved in the negotiations are already based in Doha and the talks were never supposed to be direct.

    • Hamas told the mediators that while its representatives would not participate in the talks, they would be willing to meet with the mediators afterward to receive an update and see if Israel presented what Hamas considers a serious and practical proposal for a deal, the source said.

  302. 302.

    Paul in KY

    @cain: I think Nikki is better situated than Liz. Nikki is more sympathetic to your average MAGA, shithead and just feels they were taken advantage of by a skilled conman. Liz has pretty much gone scorched earth on MAGA.

  303. 303.

    Juju

    @catclub: Trump’s vote on the overturning of the abortion ban in Florida means absolutely nothing, especially if he becomes president. A National abortion ban will supersede all of the state  amendments overturning the bans. People need to remember that when they vote.  If Trump becomes president again, there is no doubt what will happen nationally in regards to abortion rights.

  304. 304.

    Paul in KY

    @Mike E: I always thought Khan Noonian Singh should have been banned from competative sports for his genetic enhancements.

    Typical Harvard cheater.

  305. 305.

    StringOnAStick

    The details in the cartoon are perfect: a floating ear bandage, the top of tRump’s bald pate showing as the hair ferret floats off. There’s a photo with devil horns drawn in it but I’m not sure who it is supposed to be, any ideas?

  313. 313.

    Another Scott

    @rikyrah: Heard a bit of a segment on the radio yesterday on migrants crossing the Darién Gap.

    It was apparently based on this FreshAir segment and a story in the September issue of TheAtlantic.

    I heard things like:

    (roughly) Nearly 700,000 people are expected to cross the nearly impenetrable Darién Gap this year!…

    Ummm… :-/

    Yeah, they’re trying to make Caravans a thing again.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  314. 314.

    Kay

    @tam1MI:

    Cause nothing says “I care about Palestinians” like excusively looking at this goddamned human rights disaster in terms of the US Presidential race.

    It isn’t about Joe Biden. It’s about the slaughter the US is backing in Gaza.

    “Our partners” as they say at the US  State Department briefings every day when they dodge questions about daily fucking atrocities and blandly repeat the same lie over and over again. We’re PARTNERS in this. This is as much the United States as it is Israel.

    Whoever gets elected this stain remains. It isn’t going anywhere so trying to make it disappear from the news and the poliitcal arena isn’t going to work.

    It is worse now than it was a month ago. Gets worse every single month. 

  315. 315.

    Kay

    Why are we okay with Ukranian Americans not voting for the GOP and not okay with Arab Americans not voting for any US President supporting this slaughter? Why is that?

  319. 319.

    Another Scott

    @Sean: We’ll have to see.

    I think Cruz is worried.  There were stories a while ago about him claiming to be bipartisan and reaching across the aisle and so forth.

    TheHill.com (from May):

    The massive bipartisan undertaking also comes at an important time for Cruz, as he is up for reelection in November and is staring down a match-up with yet another well-funded House Democrat, Rep. Colin Allred (Texas).

    The two-term senator remains a favorite for reelection in the Lone Star State, but he has tried for months to burnish his bipartisan bonafides in order to lock down moderates and cut off any avenue for Allred to replicate the scare provided six years ago by former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas).

    Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) recently declared that Democrats were going to pick off the seat despite decades-long struggles by the party in the state and the uphill climb they face. No Democrat has won statewide in Texas since 1994.

    Cruz said he plans to campaign on the FAA bill back home in the coming months. One of the main wins for the state in this package is expected to be a direct flight between Reagan Washington National Airport and San Antonio. Cruz noted that San Antonio is home to a large population of active duty service members and veterans, and that a flight to and from an airport that’s mere steps from the Pentagon would be of great benefit to the state.

    Beto got a lot of attention – there were even Beto signs in NoVA…?? – but apparently the time wasn’t right for him. Maybe it is now.

    We’ll see.

    Agreed that pushing GOTV is important to create the future we want to see.

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  320. 320.

    Kay

    I suggest that Democrats would be a lot more credible on concern for Palestinians if they didn’t completely ignore, minimize and try to avoid the humanitarian crisis unless it migrates into the US Presidential race.

    You understand Palestinians don’t give a shit who wins our election, right? Nothing changes for them.

  322. 322.

    Bill Arnold

    @TBone:
    If you don’t monitor your blood pressure and heart rate, consider doing so. SARS-CoV-2 infections can longish-term (often gets better though on the scale of months) muck up the autonomic nervous system and in particular the sympathetic nervous system, and from what I’ve seen of current COVID-19 research literature, this is not well understood. (Haven’t been rigorous about reading, though.) The usual interventions appear to work, especially exercise, but also diet, weight loss, heart meds.

  323. 323.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Baud: I really hope so.  Nothing good can happen without Netanyahu and Hamas being willing to let it.  America/Blinken/Biden don’t have a magic, green lantern ring, despite what many will tell you.

  324. 324.

    Paul in KY

    @rikyrah: I would love it if these ‘protesters’ got outside their approved route and then happened to get mouthy with Chicago’s finest…

  325. 325.

    Another Scott

    @Bill Arnold: The draft people seem to have been weird about feet.

    An old hippie colleague said that he avoided the draft because he  (genuinely) had flat feet.  But he also said that back then he was doing gymnastics and all kinds of physical things without any problems at all.

    ??

    Yeah, TCFFG missing the draft was hinky as hell, and was yet another illustration of how unfair it was.  Hit him with everything, but don’t expect that his draft dodging is going to matter – “old news” and all that.

    “Hey, Donold, what about that $10M from Sisi in Egypt?  Quite the coup!  Bigly!  Shows the benefits of having friends in high places, amirite?  Any other big cash infusions like that from your friends that you want to tell us about?”

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  326. 326.

    Geminid

    Axios reporter Barak Ravid just posted:

       An Israeli official tells me the Gaza hostage and ceasefire talks in Qatar are expected to continue tomorrow. Israeli negotiators will stay in Doha tonight.

    Barak Ravid had an article previewing the Doha talks in Axios yesterday evening, titled “Pressure grows as ‘last chance’ negotiations for Gaza deal resume.”

  327. 327.

    Kay

    Vote for the Democrats for your own sake and your countries sake, absolutely. For Ukraine. For NATO! Nothing wrong with that. But the outcome makes not a bit of difference for Palestianians, so don’t kid yourself on that.

  329. 329.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Kay:  Do you think that Trump would continue the current negotiations for a ceasefire or would he just encourage Netanyahu to turn Gaza into a parking lot and them build luxury beachfront hotels?

  330. 330.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    I just don’t understand why the far Right Israeli government wouldn’t sign it months ago when the United States said over and over that the proposal was Israels. So they wouldn’t sign their own deal? Or we were misled on who this deal came from. Ah. A lie.

  331. 331.

    Paul in KY

    @Kay: I just don’t want Arab Americans voting GQP. If they want to sit it out or vote for RFK the Ever So Lesser I certainly understand that.

    Any Ukrainian American should vote DEM and (IMO) is a traitor to their former homeland if they vote GQP.

  333. 333.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: Of course he will. They all know TCFG doesn’t give a shit about policy, he’s willing to let them do whatever they want to do if he gets elected.

  334. 334.

    Kay

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Have you seen photos of Gaza? Is IS a parking lot. They are set to lose 2% of their civilian population in this war. That’s a massive figure in the context of 2 million people. It’s 10X the Ukranian civilian casualties. We have helped almost completely block basic medical care for 2 months – among a group of people who are bombed daily.

  335. 335.

    Kay

    @Paul in KY:

    Maybe I just lack the capacity to imagine what could possibly be “worse” than what is happening there. We would assist in killing 4% of the civilian population?

  337. 337.

    Kay

    @Paul in KY:

    You see how it becomes a much less compelling argument as the civilian casualty number reaches 100,000. There will be….4,900 fewer dead civilians? 10,000 fewer? I understand why Palestinians probably lost interest in Joe Biden’s political fortunes.

  339. 339.

    Kay

    @Paul in KY:

    Thanks. No one would insist anyone of any other ethnicity or religion back US policy that slaughters civilians. We only demand this of Arab Americans and Muslims.

    Prior to 2000, they voted for Republicans. Then Republicans (and many Democrats) went full bore anti Muslim after 9/11 so they came over to Democrats.

    Now where do they go? They have no advocates in US politics.

  340. 340.

    Geminid

    @Kay: From wglhat I’ve read, Hamas has acted as a stumbling block until last month when they modified their position on seversl key issues. That was when Netanyahu added new conditions to the negotiating team’s mandate.

    Israel’s lead negotiators in this matter are the Mossad and Shin Bet chiefs plus an IDF general. They pushed back, telling Netanyahu’s security cabinet that these conditions would prevent a deal and that time was running out for the hostages. Then they submitted a written statement to that effect for the record. The Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, seconded their opinions.

    So then Netanyahu assented to a new mandate modifying his changes, and the Israelis in Doha are operating under under that mandate.

  341. 341.

    Another Scott

    @Kay: It can always get worse.  Always.

    Not to go all “whataboutism”, but…

    ThirdWay.org (from June 27):

    Takeaways

    * The worst humanitarian catastrophe on Earth right now is in Sudan.
    * 8.8 million people have been displaced1 —the worst such crisis in the world.2
    * 2.5 million people are expected to die of starvation by September 2024.3
    * The current reported death toll of 15,000 is not credible—the US envoy to Sudan estimates it to be as high as 150,000.4
    * The warring factions—the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces—are committing the most brutal war crimes imaginable against Sudanese civilians.
    * Human rights groups, journalists, and the international community have profoundly failed to report—let alone prevent—these atrocities.
    * American action is needed now to prevent calamity on a scale surpassing the Rwandan genocide.

    Hamas and PIJ are monsters. Bibi and the IDF and the RWNJs in the Israeli government are monsters. There is only so much the USA and their neighbors can do when monsters want to fight each other. Nobody – not the UN, not the USA, not “moderates” in the region – wants to put their own military on the ground there to make them stop fighting. The best we can do is keep pushing them to negotiate.

    And that’s what Biden is doing, while also trying to keep other actors in the region from making things worse. Because it can always, always get worse.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  342. 342.

    Paul in KY

    @Kay: Killing them all. Moving them to ‘Nazi Style’ detention camps. Taking away all their children and giving them to settlers to ‘raise’. I can go on…

  344. 344.

    Paul in KY

    @Kay: I still think having a Democratic President in there is categorically better than what they would get from the GQP side.

    Short version: Our side absolutely hates Netanyahoo and Likud and only deals with him as the current head of a formal ally government.  Their side absolutely loves him/Likud/Palestinians-Are-Our-Slaves party and the even more whackadoo members of his coalition. Can you at least see the difference?

    If you can, they should, IMO.

  346. 346.

    brantl

    I don’t want to have to watch Melted Barby, so what did Trump-in-high-heels have to say about Trump-in-shoe-lifts?

  347. 347.

    Ruckus

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    At least he was working for someone else. (I think. That’s right, isn’t it?)

    Actually no. He’s never actually worked a day in his shitty life. OK he may have had to act like he was thinking, but we all know how well he does that… But actually work? Nope. Never happened. He’s been a pompous, arrogant ass his entire life, either practicing to get worse at it, or proving that he knew how to.

  348. 348.

    tam1MI

    @Paul in KY: I just don’t want Arab Americans voting GQP. If they want to sit it out or vote for RFK the Ever So Lesser I certainly understand that.

    RFK Jr. is as bad as Trump on the issue. His father was murdered by a Palestinian.

  349. 349.

    Ruckus

    @Another Scott:

    Because it can always, always get worse.

    It seems to me that after this length of humanity – where we are today, that we should be able to see that absolutely, it can always get worse, no matter how bad it is at this moment. If humans can make it better, humans can also make it worse. And over the history of mankind, have made it worse, often more than the opposite. It takes little effort to make things worse, but it takes a lot of true effort to make it better. This country, this type of government was supposed to do that – make it better. And it often does, but it takes effort and work to do that – make it better. And it is as much humans – like shitforbrains, that work at making it worse for most or all. It takes a consensus of humans to make it better, not greed or hate or bullshit. It takes understanding that while not all humans are good – because some really aren’t, it still takes humans to make it better. And because humanity includes ALL humans, it takes effort, work, sometimes loss to make it better. It takes a concept that better is possible, but better is not just better for one, that we have to work together towards better to get there, even if it is only very tiny steps.

  350. 350.

    Paul in KY

    @tam1MI: Yeah, but he has -800 percent chance of winning, so if they are aggrieved by the aid we have given our formal ally and want to take a stand by not voting for our candidate, then voting for him is fine (IMO). Just not GQP.

    And if not the Bearcub Blaster, then vote Green….

  351. 351.

    Bill Arnold

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    Lydia Polgreen penned an excellent Op-Ed in the NYTimes about the Cass Report

    Good essay, many thanks for the (archive) link!
    Yeah, the Cass report is not a scientific document (and the Review not an actual review of the science), it is an agenda-driven political document, as all the pushback from researchers (or frankly, even just a mildly inquisitive reading) makes clear.
    I despise such abuses (and abusers) of the scientific process. They are a form of scientific fraud.

  352. 352.

    tam1MI

    @Kay: Now where do they go? They have no advocates in US politics.

    They could try electing some, but they seem more interested in vandalizing buildings and chanting anti-semitic slogans than in doing things that might be effective in advocating their cause.

    So far, the only explanation for their actions that makes sense is that they are hell-bent on throwing the election to Trump in order to Teach The Democrats A Lesson.

  353. 353.

    artem1s

    @Chief Oshkosh: ​ 

    No analysis of the new shiny object of no SS taxation.

    As if there is going to be SS once P25 murders it.
    Ten percent of nothing is, let me do the math here, nothing into nothing, carry the nothin’…
    Even Jayne Cobb knows can figure out if you don’t have SS income to begin with, then there’s no tax due.

  356. 356.

    Bill Arnold

    @narya:

    (1) managed the distribution of PPE much better

    A major flaw was discouraging usage of quality PPE (N95-level or better) by the general population, for many many months.
    I mean, people were literally scolded as murderers for using N95 respirators if they were not health care workers.
    (With a good elastic, N-95s can offer substantial protection for a while, much much longer than single-use. Fit is most important.)
    With the pre-Omicron strains, general usage would have made a substantial dent in spread.

  357. 357.

    artem1s

    @Another Scott: ​ 

    I’m generally against new tax carveouts. It invites distortions by those with money and power so that they keep even more.

    It’s called Theft of Labor. Anytime your boss tries to pay you under the table for overtime so you can avoid paying taxes and they can avoid paying matching taxes, they are stealing from you. Stealing social security, medicaid, unemployment, disability, workers comp, etc.

  358. 358.

    wjca

    @Leto: Sure, some kids will die. But that’s just the sacrifice we’re willing to make

    It’s getting back to the mid-1950s.  Substitute covid for measles,  mumps, and chicken pox, but same deal.  And remember how wonderful the economy and the world were!

  359. 359.

    Kay

    @Paul in KY:

    The US has been comppletely and utterly  ineffective against Netanyahu and the rest of the far Right wing Israeli government. They have gotten nothing – no concessions whatsoever. They haven’t won a single concession over 10 months. Netanyahu wins every single round. They just had a huge scandal involving the IDF raping handcuffed Palestinian prisoners – videotape and medical records, neither the US or Israel deny it, yet the US rewarded that with 130 billion dollars.

    We are responsible for this. We “partnered” in each and every action taken. That’s the language we use. It’s deliberate. We endorse it.

  360. 360.

    Kay

    @Paul in KY:

    I’m voting for Kamala Harris. I see the benefit to myself, my country, North America and Europe. But I’m not deluding myself that it helps Palestinians. It doesn’t.

  361. 361.

    Ruckus

    @artem1s:

    As an ex employer I agree 10000%

    I owned a business that made tools for others to use to build things. If I told you some of the tools I made or worked on you would recognize many of those things. It required skilled labor to make and skilled labor is or should be expensive because the company owner is making money from the intelligence, knowledge and learned skills of the employees and absolutely has to share that money with the skilled workers that made those tools. We always paid on the high side, for better workers, for better skills, for better outcomes. And because we knew what it took to get there, be there and the knowledge it took to make that effort.

  362. 362.

    dww44

    @p.a.: hypocrisy awareness has never been their strong suit….even the pre MAGA ones. Had 3 uncles (WWII vets all) and an Aunt who were USPS mail carriers and in her case postmistress of a facility domiciled inside her family’s general store.  Republicans all of them  but had no qualms about taking advantage of government largesse.  They all farmed as well and didn’t thumb their noses at agricultural subsidies either.

  363. 363.

    Ruckus

    @wjca:

    I do. I was born in the first half of the last century. Things were a hell of a lot different then than now, other than some humans are still trash. I can think of one alive today who has been at the top of the executive ladder and is pure shit sort of walking. His name is shitforbrains – or something like that.

  365. 365.

    Paul in KY

    @Kay: All true. Not sure what we can realistically (given AIPAC & our historical ties with Israel, etc.) do when the leader is being such a dickwad.

    I know there will be no feet-to-the-fire (except for the Palestinians) if TFG gets his grubby paws on the White House again.

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