Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It looks like winning debates is a black job!

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

Fuck that bum, let’s go Joe!

Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

In my day, never was longer.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

Israel is using food as a weapon of war. Unforgivable.

I was promised a recession.

American History and Black History can not be separated.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

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

White supremacy is terrorism.

There is one struggling party in US right now, and it’s not the Democrats.

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

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

If West Virginia and San Francisco had a love child.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

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Saturday Morning Open Thread: Genuine Accomplishments

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  3. 3.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    The two UK journalists who did the Project 2025 sting videos are climate activists:

    The nonprofit, the Centre for Climate Reporting, published a video of the meeting on Thursday – offering a window into the thinking of one of the top policy minds of the MAGA movement, who’s been floated as a possible White House chief of staff.

  4. 4.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    That’s good.  There are plenty of good people out there who care. But it seems like it’s not a salient issue in this election, despite the contradictions being heightened to the max.

  6. 6.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    That’s true but there are a lot of groups. I think the gun regs issue is also very salient (and great for Democrats) but you don’t hear much about them unless there’s another mass shooting. “Unless”. I mean “when”.

    We do sort of silo but as long as the people who care a lot about each issue hear it maybe that’s all we need. The gun safety groups are huge.

  9. 9.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    David Hogg takes ton of shit for sometimes criticizing Dems but he’s really built an issue movement for young people. The “moms” groups for gun safety are also huge (and were huge prior to Hogg – they were first). I think they have their moment of “media attention” and then recede from view unless you’re on that issue but the groups continue.

  12. 12.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    It was great. I’m convinced an English accent sucks Americans in. I know we won’t reach Trumpists but I think the Project 2025 guy cynically cackling about Trump denying it “20 times” at rallies while reassuring them that Trump is lying was an amazing “get” for the journalists. CNN really blasted it out. I was surprised.

  14. 14.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Oh, me too. This is going to be a dogfight to the finish. But we have most of the anti Trump 2020 coalition back and we don’t need more than that. I’m still shooting for Biden 2020 + NC + Senate. I think we already have the House.

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Elon Musk doesn’t stop tweeting. Over just seven days last week, he made nearly 650 posts to the social network he bought in November 2022 and half-heartedly rebranded as X. In addition, he spent nearly three hours battling through technical problems he would later attribute to an unproved hacking attack in order to host a “conversation” with Donald Trump, as well as livestreaming himself playing a couple of hours of Blizzard’s swords-and-sorcery game Diablo IV.

    The sheer volume of his content would be impressive enough on its own, but even as someone so addicted to posting that he spent more than the budget of the Manhattan project to buy the site, Musk’s consistency is alarming.

    Over the course of the week of tweets analysed by the Guardian, there was one 90-minute period – between 3.00 and 4.29am local time – when he never posted. Every other half-hour period, night or day, he sent at least one tweet. He posted at 4.41am on a Saturday morning, at 2.30am on a Wednesday night, and at 11pm six days out of seven.

    In that week, Musk’s longest continuous stretch without tweeting – with a different person, it might be safe to call this “bed time” – was just seven and a half hours, with a lie-in until 8.10am after a late-night posting session. His shortest overnight break, on Saturday night, saw him logging off after retweeting a meme comparing London’s Metropolitan police force to the Nazi SS, before bounding back online four and a half hours later to retweet a crypto influencer complaining about jail terms for Britons attending protests.

    You might have thought that a man with so much money could find better ways to waste what little time he has on this planet instead of seeking instant gratification 24/7, but his insecurities won’t let him.

  16. 16.

    Jackie

    Encouraging article to start the morning!

    The energy Vice President Kamala Harris has brought to the Democratic Party since President Joe Biden dropped out and endorsed her last month is reportedly spreading to down-ballot races.

    Politico reported Saturday that Democrats in both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate are feeling especially bullish about their chances in November thanks to the momentum Harris has been providing with her ascendancy. While House Democrats in battleground districts were hesitant about tying their brands to Biden, they’re now reportedly vying to have the opportunity to stump with her as they hit the home stretch of their own respective campaigns.

    According to the outlet, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) warned Republican members of Congress in a private call earlier this week that the “numbers are ominous” for the GOP this November. Currently, Johnson barely holds the gavel due to a razor-thin two-member majority. His speakership has been tarnished as multiple House Republicans have announced they were no longer seeking another term in office — including high-ranking committee chairs and member from safe Republican districts.

    Rep. Richard Hudson (R-North Carolina), who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee, has issued similar warnings to his party as Democrats continue to outpace Republicans in the campaign money race. Politico reported that Hudson said Democrats are “peaking really at the right time” with less than three months to go before Election Day.

     

  17. 17.

    karen gail

    @Baud: There are people who care about climate change but what I find worse is no one seems to care about Overshoot Day; we use 1.75 worth of earth’s resources (that is just this year) and rarely will anyone talk about it or that we have been in “debt” for years now when it comes to resources.

  18. 18.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I’m loathe to defend Musk, but couldn’t he just be scheduling tweets to post automatically every so often? Tumblr allows you to do so

  19. 19.

    Betty Cracker

    If I had big bucks to donate to politicians this year (I don’t!), I think I’d split it between Senators Brown and Tester.

  23. 23.

    danielx

    @Jackie:

    Rep. Richard Hudson (R-North Carolina), who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee, has issued similar warnings to his party as Democrats continue to outpace Republicans in the campaign money race.

    Probably doesn’t help that RNC money which would  customarily be allocated to down ticket races is being hoovered up by SFB. Got to pay those legal bills somehow, and perish forbid he spend any of his own money.

  29. 29.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    I admit that I am still enraged at that muthaphucka who threatened us.

    We’re already in the midst of another revolution… It can be bloodless if the left just shuts up and accepts it😠😠😠😠😠

  30. 30.

    Jackie

    I haven’t seen this reported on the teevee?

    DECATUR, Ga. (AP) — A large bronze statue of the late civil rights icon leader and Georgia congressman John Lewis was installed Friday, at the very spot where a contentious monument to the confederacy stood for more than 110 years in the town square before it was dismantled in 2020.

    Work crews gently rested the 12-foot-tall (3.7-meter-tall) statue into place as the internationally acclaimed sculptor, Basil Watson, looked on carefully.

    “It’s exciting to see it going up and exciting for the city because of what he represents and what it’s replacing,” Watson said, as he assisted with the install process.

    Lewis was known for his role at the front lines of the Civil Rights Movement and urged others to get in “good trouble” for a cause he saw as vital and necessary. In DeKalb County where the Confederate monument stood for more than a century, protesters have invoked “good trouble” in calling for the swift removal of the obelisk.

    The statue of Lewis will be officially unveiled on Aug. 24.

    https://apnews.com/article/john-lewis-bronze-statue-replaced-confederate-georgia-b0c51086a4b83750ff38b1af2167abde

  31. 31.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    I think there’s a propensity among normies to believe that we’re exaggerating how farRight these people are, so them speaking is so important. There’s a section in the video where he assures the “donors” that Republicans can effectively ban abortion nationwide thru just executive actions, which is what we’re telling voters. It’s true. One of them saying it is just gold.

  32. 32.

    Leto

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): possibly, but instead of spending all that time pre-programming shits to post, maybe he could’ve spent that time on making sure the video streaming portion of his site wasn’t an absolute clusterfuck of glitches. Same with the Diablo streaming. Much like Trumpov, you’re not dealing with a smart man here regardless of what his cult says. Between Shitter and the WankPanzer, the world really sees it.

  33. 33.

    schrodingers_cat

    @E: I responded to Baud’s question. Why don’t you find someone else to tone police. Ignoring comments you don’t personally like is also an option.

    I had muted you. I only saw your comment, because you lost the period after your name. Muting you now. Have a nice life.

  34. 34.

    Jeffg166

    @Baud:

    With summer on the wane here and a mild winter due to climate change on tap the worst of it for me this year is over.

  35. 35.

    schrodingers_cat

    @rikyrah: Its all over Twitter too. Tlaib’s sister’s threat to KH saying we are ready for her but she is not ready for us (I am paraphrasing)

    They will try to cause a disruption at the DNC I am pretty sure.

  36. 36.

    Jackie

    @Eunicecycle: Likewise here; I quickly scroll past any Musk mentions and skip posts that frontline him.

    I’ll probably miss seeing his death notice – unless “death” or “dead” precede his name 😂

  38. 38.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @E: Jesus Christ, maybe you don’t know as much as you think you do. S_cat is describing a real phenomenon.

  43. 43.

    Starfish

    @Baud:

    I agree that climate is still being treated like a niche topic and not something that is relevant to all of us. For example, there is stuff like Inside Climate News, Citizen’s Climate Lobby, and others.

    Conservatives like to stoke fears around degrowth environmentalists who say that consumer capitalism is at odds with our climate goals. (Fast fashion needs to go away.) They like to paint all climate concerns as degrowth environmentalism.

    All this AI nonsense is using a lot of energy, and big companies like Google have killed off their promises around carbon neutrality to focus on a tech that is not nearly as cool as people are pretending it is.

  44. 44.

    BR

    @Kay: ​

    Also there are signs the far right is looking to stir things up. It’s worth mentally preparing people on our side for agitators and violence.

  45. 45.

    Kay

    @BR:

    It’s literally the center of a Palestinian diaspora in the US. But they’re enmeshed into Chicago for generations. If there’s violence it won’t be them.

  46. 46.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @BR: Too many of the protestors are neither on “our side,” nor are they effectively on the Palestinians’ side.

  47. 47.

    dm

    @Kay: yes, podbro John Favreau talks about how, in his sitdowns with voters, people just don’t believe descriptions of right wing proposals could be accurate. “No one could believe that!”

  49. 49.

    Starfish

    @schrodingers_cat: Changing climate is going to destroy the world’s bread basket, and there are going to be a lot of environmental refugees. Here is a story about last month’s heat wave as experienced by Iran.

    In the US, there have been numerous heat-related deaths in Death Valley this year. There was that motorcyclist with his buddies and one from a few days ago where an incoherent dude (who had been overheated) got in his car and drove it off an embankment because the heat has an effect on the brain.

  50. 50.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Kay:

    I think people are worried about another 1968-like situation. Like right-wingers or the police provoking violence

  51. 51.

    Ken

    @UncleEbeneezer: Does it really matter who he gets for debate prep? He’ll not learn anything from it — especially not if the person actually responds like Harris would, because then he’ll get angry and walk out.

  52. 52.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @O. Felix Culpa: Yup.  Black and Jewish people all over Twitter are sounding the alarm.  Sadly, there’s a slice of our coalition that will defend obvious voter suppression attempts as long as they are from the Left and cloaked in some principle they agree with.

  54. 54.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: This is true. I heard a woman who does focus groups on the Obros pod. She said they have to tone down the things the right is planning a lot when they do focus groups because people flatly state that they do not believe these things are true when they tell them the real plans. These videos might help a little with that.

  55. 55.

    Starfish

    @O. Felix Culpa: She is frequently disparaging Middle Eastern people, by acting like the people concerned about Gaza are not real people or are not engaging in good-faith discussions.

    She does this while giving a lot of credibility to fringe social media takes. Then she cries out about oppression if she is called out on it.

    Here is a pro-Palestinian TikTok for good measure.

  57. 57.

    Jackie

    @BR:

    Also there are signs the far right is looking to stir things up. It’s worth mentally preparing people on our side for agitators and violence.

    Hopefully the same type of warnings will be issued like when antifa and the like were told to stand back on J6.

  59. 59.

    Kay

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    I understand that.

    I just said I would just assume that literally every pro Palestinian org will show up in their home town. 700k of them landed there after 1948.

    It’s better, really. They’re enmeshed into Chicago. They own businesses and sreve in government and have a stake in the place. If anyone can keep the lid on it’s them. Harris has done a smart thing. She’s quietly had dialogues with two “serious” pro Palestinian groups. Twitter focused on the protestors at the Michigan rally but what happened quietly and with no outrage was Harris spoke with the two leaders of “uncommitted” – they appreciated it and said so.

    You know by now US media and social media are often not an accurate depiction of what is actually happening. I know they’ll go nuts for any Dems in Disarray narrative and the fuckers in media love police bashing heads in. But Democrats have a BROAD coalition. They know how to do this. It isn’t 1968 with white union members attacking hippies. That Democratic Party no longer exists.

  61. 61.

    Kay

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    I know there will be malicious actors. There always are. Such is the nature of public demonstrations. I just want to be careful to acknowlege that Palestinians have a very close connection to the city of Chicago, and the Democratic Party in the city of Chicago, so I wouldn’t assume every actor is malicious or that this will be shocking or unanticipated by Democrats. They know exactly who lives in Chicago, precinct by precinct.

  63. 63.

    TBone

    Alexandra Petri:

    I am genuinely unsure whether Donald Trump understands how numbers work. As far as I can tell, he thinks math is a feeling and you can make a number as big as you want it to be by just wanting it enough, or as small as you want it to be just by ignoring it.

    …

    JD Vance, a childless woman with a cat, a childless woman without a cat, two parents with three children, and two cats who appear to be free agents, walk into a bar. How many votes are in the bar?
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/08/16/trump-math-crowd-size-elon-musk-satire/

  64. 64.

    Kay

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    This is a piece about Harris and the “Uncommitted” movement leaders. I know it isn’t covered and our media prefer conflict to drive clicks and they do half ass “optics” treatment of everything, but you knew that. They suck. Luckily they often don’t depict reality, which is more hopeful and decent.

    But I agree that violence will be their focus. Chapter 279 of “Democrats have to overcome shitty, low quality media work”. Onward.

  65. 65.

    brantl

    declared the Springfield Race Riot site a national monument to ensure its history can never be erased or repeated.

     

    FTFY, Mr. President.

  66. 66.

    Kay

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    In 2008 at the Democratic Convention in Denver I had this huge fight with an AP reporter because she came over to the Ohio delegation which had TWO Puma delegates and she only interviewed those delegate. I said “do you think this an accurate depiction of what is going on here to your readers?” She was so offended I actually felt bad – I got a little prosecutorial- but come the fuck on. Do your job. Stop driving conflict for your dumb career.

  68. 68.

    Kay

    There are also 30 DNC delegates who are “uncommitted” members so obviously they’ll be speaking out. Expect it. Democratic leadership is, I’m sure.

  69. 69.

    Starfish

    @Trnc: I missed the comment so I don’t know what Trump said about Cheerios, but I think “Can Kellogg sue” really depends on the gender of the Cheerio.

  71. 71.

    SatanicPanic

    My dad passed away two weeks ago and he had told me he wanted to be buried somewhere in a forest where he could decompose and go back to the earth. I appreciate the poetic nature of this request but… it’s pretty impractical. So we opted for a green burial. Which foregoes embalming and involves being wrapped in a shroud and a put in a wicker basket and then just lowered into the dirt. There’s a spot in Santa Monica that does this and the gravesites are all overgrown with native plants. It’s kinda pricey but it’s really a cool spot. (And nice because his dad is buried at the veterans cemetery in West LA so they’re close). I’d never heard of green burials, it’s a pretty great option if anyone is writing up their advanced healthcare directives and needs ideas.

  74. 74.

    Quiltingfool

    I was just over at LGM (I know, I know) and I read this comment from a reader that was pretty amusing (I have tears from laughing).  It was in response to Walz “white guy tacos” that RWNJ are screaming about.

    Long comment, sorry, but pretty funny.

    arning – If you can read this whole story without laughing out loud, then there’s no hope for you.

    Note: Please take time to read this slowly. If you pay attention to the first two judges, the reaction of the third judge is even better. For those of you who have lived in Texas, you know how true this is. They actually have a chili cook-off about the time Halloween comes around. It takes up a major portion of a parking lot at the San Antonio city park. The notes are from an inexperienced chili taster named Frank, who was visiting from Springfield, IL.

    Frank: “Recently, I was honored to be selected as a judge at a chili cook-off. The original person called in sick at the last moment and I happened to be standing there at the judge’s table asking for directions to the Coors Light truck, when the call came in. I was assured by the other two judges (native Texans) that the chili wouldn’t be all that spicy and, besides, they told me I could have free beer during the tasting, so I accepted.”

    Here are the scorecards from the event: Frank is Judge #3)

    Chili # 1 Eddie’s Maniac Monster Chili…

    Judge # 1 — A little too heavy on the tomato. Amusing kick.

    Judge # 2 — Nice, smooth tomato flavor. Very mild.

    Judge # 3 — (Frank) Holy *****! What the hell is this stuff?! You could remove dried paint from your driveway. Took me two beers to put out the flames. I hope that’s the worst one. These Texans are crazy.

    Chili # 2 Austin’s Afterburner Chili…

    Judge # 1 — Smoky, with a hint of pork. Slight jalapeno tang.

    Judge # 2 — Exciting BBQ flavor; needs more peppers to be taken seriously.

    Judge # 3 — Keep this out of the reach of children. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to taste besides pain. I had to wave off two people who wanted to give me the Heimlich maneuver. They had to rush in more beer when they saw the look on my face.

    Chili # 3 Ronny’s Famous Burn Down the Barn Chili…

    Judge # 1 — Excellent firehouse chili. Great kick. Needs more beans.

    Judge # 2 — A bean less chili, a bit salty, good use of peppers.

    Judge # 3 — Call the EPA. I’ve located a uranium spill. My nose feels like I have been snorting Drano. Everyone knows the routine by now. Get me more beer before I ignite. Barmaid pounded me on the back, now my backbone is in the front part of my chest. I’m getting s****- faced from all of the beer…

    Chili # 4 Dave’s Black Magic…

    Judge # 1 — Black bean chili with almost no spice. Disappointing.

    Judge # 2 — Hint of lime in the black beans. Good side dish for fish, or other mild foods; not much of a chili.

    Judge # 3 — I felt something scraping across my tongue,! but was unable to taste it.. Is it possible to burn out taste buds? Sally, the barmaid, was standing behind me with fresh refills. That 300-lb. woman is starting to look HOT…just like this nuclear waste I’m eating! Is chili an aphrodisiac?

    Chili # 5 Lisa’s Legal Lip Remover…

    Judge # 1 — Meaty, strong chili. Cayenne peppers freshly ground, adding considerable kick. Very impressive.

    Judge # 2 — Chili using shredded beef, could use more tomato. Must admit the cayenne peppers make a strong statement.

    Judge # 3 — My ears are ringing, sweat is pouring off my forehead, and I can no longer focus my eyes. I farted and four people behind me needed paramedics. The contestant seemed offended when I told her that her chili had given me brain damage. Sally saved my tongue from bleeding by pouring beer directly on it from the pitcher. I wonder if I’m burning my lips off. It really ****es me off that the other judges asked me to stop screaming. Screw those rednecks.

    Chili # 6 Pam’s Very Vegetarian Variety…

    Judge # 1 — Thin, yet bold vegetarian variety chili. Good balance of spices and peppers.

    Judge # 2 — The best yet. Aggressive use of peppers, onions, and garlic. Superb.

    Judge # 3 — My intestines are now a straight pipe filled with gaseous, sulphuric flames. I ***** on myself when I farted and I’m worried it will eat through the chair. No one seems inclined to stand behind me except that Sally. Can’t feel my lips anymore. I need to wipe my with a snow cone.

    Chili # 7 Carla’s Screaming Sensation Chili…

    Judge # 1 — A mediocre chili with too much reliance on canned peppers.

    Judge # 2 — Ho-hum; tastes as if the chef literally threw in a can of chili peppers at the last moment. **I should take note that I am worried about Judge # 3. He appears to be in a bit of distress, as he is cursing uncontrollably.

    Judge # 3 — You could put a grenade in my mouth, pull the pin, and I wouldn’t feel a thing. ! I’ve lost sight in one eye, and the world sounds like it is made of rushing water. My shirt is covered with chili, which slid unnoticed out of my mouth. My pants are full of lava to match my shirt. At least during the autopsy, they’ll know what killed me. I’ve decided to stop breathing; it’s too painful. Screw it; I’m not getting any oxygen anyway. If I need air, I’ll just suck it in through the 4-inch hole in my stomach.

    Chili # 8 Karen’s Toenail Curling Chili…

    Judge # 1 — The perfect ending, this is a nice blend chili. Not too bold, but spicy enough to declare its existence.

    Judge # 2 — This final entry is a good, balanced chili. Neither mild, nor hot. Sorry to see that most of it was lost when Judge # 3 farted, passed out, fell over, and pulled the chili pot down on top of himself. Not sure if he’s going to make it. Poor fella, wonder how he’d have reacted to really hot chili?

    :rofl:

  76. 76.

    Eunicecycle

    @SatanicPanic: I’m sorry to hear about the death of your father. It sounds like you were able to fulfill his wishes the best you could.

    I used to work in a green cemetery in Ohio. It was part of a nature education and preservation center; the cemetery was contiguous to the center’s land. We had a wooded area as well as a prairie

  78. 78.

    Captain C

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Over just seven days last week, he made nearly 650 posts to the social network he bought

    I’m sure ketamine or whatever experimantal stimulants he’s eating like M&Ms have nothing to with his tweaked out posting habits.

  80. 80.

    gene108

    @Trnc:

     

    @Starfish:

    Kellogg’s cannot sue about statements related to the Cheerios brand of cereals. A Kellogg’s lawsuit would be laughed out of court.

    Judge: “Kellogg’s why are you suing Donald Trump over his comments on a General Mills product?”

    I’d love to hear Kellogg’s lawyers explain that.

  81. 81.

    Leto

    @Quiltingfool: haha, good one! I had an airmen experience one of my chili’s like judge #3. Ofc I dropped 8 ghost peppers into it, but that’s beside the point. He got a day off for his efforts.

  82. 82.

    M31

    omg make it happen, we’ll win Texas AND Florida:

    One idea from the Minnesota governor and former football coach: attending a series of Friday night high school football games in key districts

    from a (yeah I know, fuck them) Politico article

    (more realistically, will help some downballot Dems in swing districts)

  84. 84.

    Soprano2

    I’m glad the Dems are having their convention in Chicago, and hope it goes well. Maybe that will excise the ghost of 1968.

  86. 86.

    Yarrow

    @SatanicPanic: It sounds like you’ve already moved forward with your plans. Just in case you want to look into this, or for anyone else who doesn’t know, there are Body Farms in the US that study body decomposition for forensic science, etc. It’s about the closest thing to decomposing in a forest. Here’s the Wikipedia link that lists the various institutions that offer it. Condolences on the loss of your father.

  91. 91.

    Captain C

    @gene108:

    Judge: “Kellogg’s why are you suing Donald Trump over his comments on a General Mills product?”

    I’d love to hear Kellogg’s lawyers explain that.

    “You see, Your Honor, the SCOTUS has pretty much established that standing is a thing of the past, and that anyone can sue anyone else over anything that happened anywhere, regardless of whether there were damages, or even any involvement by the plaintiff or defendant.  Therefore we want $100 million.  The case is clear.

    ETA:  See also, Ezal v. Random L.A. Bodega (1996)

  92. 92.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Starfish: Who are the “bad faith actors” here?

    Nobodies on TikTok who gave them a sad and who evidently have more power to silence people than the bad faith actors on their side; the government, the media, the military-industrial complex…

  93. 93.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Do your job. Stop driving conflict for your dumb career.

     

    I feel confident in saying that the media has not heeded your advice.

  94. 94.

    Eunicecycle

    @SatanicPanic: The families seemed to really appreciate it. They could help fill in the grave if they wanted to; most did not but some did. It was so peaceful with birds singing and butterflies flitting around.

    I’m speaking like it’s in the past, but it’s still there! It’s called Foxfield Preserve if anyone in Ohio is interested. It’s south of Canton.

  95. 95.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I had told our local newspaper that I would email them my thoughts (historic, Obama) but I can’t do two things at once – I can’t both be really present with people and also writing my dispatch or whatever in my head so I sent them like a 50 word email at 3 AM. I felt bad. Pay me next time. By the word.

  97. 97.

    JaySinWA

    @Soprano2:

    …

     I heard a woman who does focus groups on the Obros pod. She said they have to tone down the things the right is planning a lot when they do focus groups because people flatly state that they do not believe these things are true when they tell them the real plans. These videos might help a little with that.

    I suspect the pivot from they want to have a dictator, to they are weird is fueled by this. I think there is also an attempt to reframe the green new deal into jobs and freedom (from foreign oil) instead of impending doom.

    It appears to be working better than blunt talk that is too scary to accept.

  98. 98.

    zhena gogolia

    @Soprano2: In 1968, in case people have forgotten, American young men were being drafted and killed in Vietnam. (Not arguing with you, just trying to restore some context.)

  100. 100.

    Geminid

    @Starfish: I look up “clean energy news” every few days and find plenty of stories from news sites of all kinds: state, local, foreign, scientific and industrial among others.

    These sites are very diverse. I have found that the Oil Price site carries a lot of clean energy stories, because they intersect with the present and future of the hydrocarbon industry which is their primary  focus.

    Maritime Executive serves the shipping sector so they report on efforts to make maritime transport carbon-neutral. EU regulation is the main driver in this process.

    A couple months ago Maritime Executive had a neat article about a joint project between a Norwegian fish farming company and a Swedish wind farm developer. The Norwegians will site their large cages within a windfarm off Sweden’s southwest Baltic coast. One benefit: the fish are out of the way of coastal ship traffic including fishing trawlers.

    I noticed that Vice President Harris brought up global warming at her Arizona rally last week. She told her audience that Republicans claim global warming is a hoax, but she and her audience knew better.

  101. 101.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @Captain C: “Given that the defendant is a Republican, the Court finds for the defense, finds the plaintiff liable for the defendant’s court costs, and further orders punitive damages against the plaintiff in the order of eleventy zillion dollars and a chlorine trifluoride enema.”

  103. 103.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Kay:

    She was so offended I actually felt bad – I got a little prosecutorial- but come the fuck on. Do your job. Stop driving conflict for your dumb career.

    They only care about their career, thus, conflict driving.  Nothing’s changed since except I’m guessing you’d no longer feel bad for how you might go at one again in similar circumstances.

    If they are made to feel bad, an angel gets its wings.

  107. 107.

    Scout211

    Politico has an article up (no link because they now require a subscription) but the snippet paragraph says that instead of Michelle Obama’s, “When they go low, we go high,” the new Democratic saying is, “When they go low, we go with the flow.”

    Since I couldn’t read the whole thing I don’t know if Democrats are actually saying this or the author was just trying to be clever, but I don’t hate that saying.

  108. 108.

    Starfish

    @Geminid:

    That’s interesting about Maritime Executive. That is not a place that I would have considered looking.

    I noticed that Vice President Harris brought up global warming at her Arizona rally last week. She told her audience that Republicans claim global warming is a hoax, but she and her audience knew better.

    I think we need to be beyond this discussion where Republicans are allowed to frame global warming as either a) a hoax or b) too late to do anything about.

    The questions should be “What is your understanding of global warming? What is your plan for addressing it?”

  109. 109.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @zhena gogolia: Media crusades are okay when they’re against protestors, I suppose.

    That thing you and she are so mad they did to Biden? They do that every day and have for decades against every day Americans fighting for the rights and for just actions by the government.

    I also like to remind people S_C that was vehemently against BLM and unwilling to entertain any notions of police reform. She’s happy to use people as a prop to justify her own personal taking of offense, however.

  112. 112.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    @gene108: Speaking of cereal.  Jerry Seinfeld is in a movie titled “Unfrosted.”  It’s both funny and completely stupid.  A fun walk down memory lane it is.

  113. 113.

    Kay

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage:

    The PUMAS were a real thing at the convention. There was a real effort by the DNC to manage them, including essentially polling the delegates prior to the vote to make sure there wouldn’t be suprises. But they were the vast, vast minority and I thought “news” stories should reflect that. They didn’t.

    Everyone else was celebrating. It was a lot of fun. The southern delegations in Democratic politics are nearly all Black people and the Black House members sat with them on the floor, just working the room and having a ball. Really neat and a lot of fun. Louisiana’s delegation were the most rowdy, by far.

  114. 114.

    Ken

    @Betty: [Tulsi Gabbard] sort of resembles Harris so I think that’s the key point.

    I’m not seeing it. Unless his prep team is working on the basics, like “this is a woman, she can talk in your presence and even contradict you”?  With a stretch goal of “don’t stalk her around the stage”.

  120. 120.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): It’s possible Musk has sekret, super extra powers that allows him to schedule his Tweets, but a bigger issue is that someone who’s the CEO of three (or more?) different companies is tweeting almost 100 per day, every day.

    But I’d bet the round the clock tweeting has more to do with Musk’s well-known drug habits and his need to satisfy his insecurities and instant gratification.

  121. 121.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Sister Golden Bear: but a bigger issue is that someone who’s the CEO of three (or more?) different companies is tweeting almost 100 per day, every day.

    He can intimidate his workers at all his facilities at once on the internet. Jus sayin…

  123. 123.

    Kay

    They’re starting to cover that congressional Dems are starting to surge – it’s real, I think. With the exception of Tester. I don’t blame Tester for that. His state is so red it was probably inevitable gravity would ctach up with him. He had one good poll yesterday. Maybe the Dem tilt (if it materializes) can pull him over:

    Battleground Democrats are suddenly jumping at the chance to campaign with the top of the ticket. Outside groups are pushing resources toward offense. And swing House seats that President Joe Biden was losing by large margins are now tied.
    Democrats cautiously believed that Biden’s exit would revive their chances in key races. Now they’ve gotten a pile of evidence that it has — and it’s not just a brief moment.
    In recent days, dozens of Democrats in crucial House and Senate contests have finally gotten back post-Biden polling, and it shows the Vice President Kamala Harris effect is, indeed, real. Senate Democratic incumbents have been ahead in almost every single publicly released poll except in the red state of Montana. One Democratic group testing presidential numbers in competitive House districts rarely saw data that showed Biden above 50 percent; Harris is clearing that threshold and sometimes well above it.
     

    But think about this for a minute. Democrats are essentially the incumbents. I know the GOP has the House by a tiny margin but we’re still essentially incumbents. Republicans in Congress should be doing much, much better than this.
    If we beat Trump again MAGA disappears. It’s looking more and more like they won one Presidential in 2016 and that’s the real extent of the “movement”. It never had returns like media and GOP said it would. It always underperforms. Now we know Trump can be the exception, we have 2016, and he could do a black swan again, but as far as Congress “MAGA” is a fucking bust.

  124. 124.

    Geminid

    @Starfish: I was a little surprised at the Maritime Executive story because I had not heard of them before.  But I have found that industry magazines are good sources for clean energy news. The clean energy transition intersects with just about every industry from agriculture to air transport.

    These industry media sites serve a discerning audience. Their readers are not interested in aspirations or hype; they want to know what the bottom line is. Most major clean energy efforts are being carried out by private sector actors responding to a mix of government mandates and subsidies as well as broader market conditions, so these industry media sites are very relevant I think.

    The information in scientific and technical journals is mindboggling. Advances in materials science are contributing to better batteries, lighter and stronger electrical transmission lines and more productive solar panels.

    I was struck by one experiment with electrolysers. A team of South Korean scientists found that they could increase the efficiency of their electrodes by coating them with caffeine. An impressive but unsurprising discovery.

  125. 125.

    Lyrebird

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: That thing you and she are so mad they did to Biden? They do that every day and have for decades against every day Americans fighting for the rights and for just actions by the government.

    Uh… that is exactly why some of us maintain an alarm level re: what was done to Biden.  Because very legitimate issues like housing affordability, climate action, foreign policy can get derailed with a combo of mass media BS and get Code Pinked.

    I do not recognize what you say you’re reminding us of.

  127. 127.

    Citizen Alan

    @Baud:  I think most serious climate activists understand the existential threat to our species represented by the GOP. which believes as a matter of first principles that God gave us the Earth so that we could rape it to death (/ht Ann Coulter). Republicans are angry that the Cuyahoga River no longer burns because that means industry is thriving.

    That just leaves the non-serious “climate activists” who just like to bitch impotently about the environment because they want to use the issue as a vector to attack Dems. Just as the champagne Marxists who would never want to live in an actual Marxist society use the economy for that purpose and as a certain type of civil rights activists use “Defund the Police” for that purpose.

  128. 128.

    Bill Arnold

    @Baud:

    It’s amazing to see that no one cares about the climate anymore. I’ve seen nothing.

    TBH, the current focus for those working to mitigate global heating is/should be keeping the elderly felonious narcissistic tool of fossil fuel interests away from the levers of power of the world’s main superpower.
    But agreed that that should be including frequent comparisons between the Democrats and Republicans, and relentless bragging about what the Biden administration has done.

  129. 129.

    Baud

    @Geminid:

    I’m finding generally that more niche outlets do better reporting that the national media.  The problem is the breadth of topics covered.

  132. 132.

    Citizen Alan

    @Soprano2: It’s like I say: This issue is not that Trump/theGOP/Fox are all incredible liars. It’s that their followers actively seek out people who will tell them lies that comport with what they want to be the truth.

    Here’s what I would like to see from pollsters:

    1. Here is a statement about what Republicans openly plan to do about “Issue X.” Do you believe that statement is true?
    2. Regardless if your answer to question 1, if you knew for certain that Republicans really would do that about “Issue X” no matter how absurd or outrageous it sounds, would you still vote for them anyway?

    The percentage of people who would turn away from the GOP if the mask were fully ripped away is nowhere near as big as most of us would like to imagine. There’s a reason I call the GOP a death cult.

  133. 133.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Lyrebird: Uh… that is exactly why some of us maintain an alarm level re: what was done to Biden.

    That includes me. But she misses the protestor half half of the equation. I know someone else here upset about treatment of the protestors who won’t make the connection to Biden’s treatment.

    The media’s behavior in both circumstances is connected. The media wields power irresponsibly and always against our broader coalition. We have to be consistent in recognizing it even if the media occasionally lands on our side in a Democratic intramural dispute.

    I do not recognize what you say you’re reminding us of.

    She would not accept any solutions offered. She would not offer solutions of her own. She only seems to think of protestors in terms or being an image problem for Democrats.

  134. 134.

    RobertInNE

    @Gin & Tonic:

    The raw statement of 1.75 times is on it’s own at best misleading and confusing.

    If memory serves, this is an extrapolation based on protecting “what if the rest of the world’s population used the same amount of per-capita resources as the average US use”.  The US being used because we tend to stand out as the top users of materials.  Of course that’s itself based on averaging not only our population use but also across a number of different resources, some of which could be recycled if we cared to.  In context, within a discussion of world consumption patterns and resources usage it is possibly a useful top line figure to open eyes, on its own it risks painting people with environment concerns as not understanding math.

  136. 136.

    Soprano2

    @zhena gogolia: My husband came back to Chicago from Vietnam wearing his uniform in August during that convention. I’m definitely aware, but I take your point. I’m talking about how it turned violent and the press fixates on that.

  137. 137.

    O. Felix Culpa

    I quote:

    @Starfish:  She is frequently disparaging Middle Eastern people

    You made the accusation. You defend it.

    @E.: Reading is fundamental. What do they teach in the schools these days?

  138. 138.

    Starfish

    @Baud: I am finding this too. I subscribe to Chalkbeat because they cover regional K-12 education issues for specific cities around the country. They do a great job as local papers have let go whoever it is that they used to send to local school board meetings.

    Rewire does a great job with women’s health.

  140. 140.

    Kay

    The Palestinians in Chicago are Americans. They’re (justfiably) upset at what the US is doing in Gaza to Palestinians, exactly as many other groups of Americans either support or object to foreign policy that impacts their country of origin, religion or ethnicity. I confess I am baffled at not understanding this, or why this double standard exists among some commentors.

    Not everything is about Joe Biden. In fact, every single time Democrats make this about Democrats the Americans who object to what the US is doing in Gaza it see that as minimizing or trying to ignore or hide what’s happening. I agree with them. I don’t know how they could interpret it any other way.

  141. 141.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: I’m not as optimistic as you are that MAGA disappears if TCFG loses as well as a bunch of their candidates. They’ll say it’s because of cheating and double down. I don’t think they’ll go away that easily.

  142. 142.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    Oh, winning in politics is a pretty big incentive. These are some of the most competitive people in the country, all of them, Ds and Rs. It’ll be about them not the country for Rs, but they are going to get tired of losing. They’ve already had a quality decline in candidates and incumbents – that won’t reverse if they keep losing. It will get worse, and they’ll lose more, and so forth.

    But I see your point. This is just my guess. Winning is the only thing at the end of the day.

  143. 143.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: I hope you’re right. It’s not what I see in my neck of the woods, where the crazier candidates seem to do well, although it does seem that the craziest ones lost in the primaries this time. I think that’s because their “crazy” is so much more extreme than even 5 years ago. I know it’s not evenly distributed, though.

  144. 144.

    Geminid

    @Soprano2: I think some of the more feral Trump fans will walk away from politics if and when Trump loses this November. Many of them were never civically engaged before Trump came along and will revert to cynicism and apathy when he leaves.

    Ed. These people have no special  allegience to the Republican  Party and in many cases despise it.

    This could affect the balance of power within the GOP; we won’t know how much until the 2026 midterms though, and maybe not until their 2028 presidential primaries.

  148. 148.

    E

    @O. Felix Culpa: I made no such accusation. I have accused no one of disparaging Palestinian people. You sneer at me about reading being fundamental but I honestly have no idea what you are talking about. I was annoyed by the constant Eeyore attacks against over zealous advocates of two issues that are dear to me. That’s all.

  149. 149.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @E:  The accusation was made by Starfish, and my response was to Starfish. I block-quoted and linked to that accusation, to help you connect the dots. Being able to read block-quotes and links are useful skills for tracking comments and understanding what involves you and what does not.

  151. 151.

    Kay

    The other day I wrote that while I will be voting for Harris for myself and my country and countrymen and many other places and institutions in the world, I don’t delude myself that I’m voting for Palestinians. I said can’t imagine this getting worse for them. Nothing changes for them.

    Someone said “Dresden” and Trump would turn Gaza into “a parking lot”. Gaza is now a parking lot and as for Dresden…

    Read it and weep:

    By late April 2024 it was estimated that Israel had dropped over 70,000 tons of bombs over Gaza, surpassing the bombing of Dresden, Hamburg, and London combined during World War II.

  152. 152.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Whether he composes a tweet at 2 in the afternoon or at 2 AM it takes the same amount of time. Now, he may have a ragebot silent partner, but I wouldn’t know. I probably haven’t read more 6 or 12 of his xeets my entire life.

    Either way, his insecurities drive him to be the center of attention at all times.

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