Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

If West Virginia and San Francisco had a love child.

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

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

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

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

The revolution will be supervised.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

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

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Russia bombs Ukraine’s maternity hospitals; Republicans in the House can’t sort out supporting Ukraine.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

No Justins, No Peace

We’re not going back!

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

Cole, when it comes to calico cats, restraint is overrated.

You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / (Extremely) TGIFriday Morning Open Thread

(Extremely) TGIFriday Morning Open Thread

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Since we all deserve a little schadenfreudalicious treat…

What’s that you say, Mr. Musk?…

Reader Interactions

295Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    VP @KamalaHarris taped a radio interview with @RickeySmiley. The interview will air Friday morning

    I don’t know who this is except that it’s not the New York Times. So good.

  5. 5.

    trnc

    The pic Baud linked to last night should be included with the Walz/JV xhit.

    Great title/photo pairing on reddit.

  6. 6.

    Ken

    @Baud: I’m still hoping for that Teen Vogue interview.

    Regarding Tim Pool, he’s gone on social media to explain how it’s all a big misunderstanding, and what he was really doing and why. You know, the kind of defendant that gives lawyers a headache.  He’s also said he’s going to cooperate fully with the FBI, which prompted this from Ken White:

    Look, there’s no constitutional prohibition on the FBI convincing a person to talk to them against the person’s interests, even if the person is an abject imbecile. But this is like watching a toddler sent to clean out the inside of a woodchipper

  8. 8.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Ken: ​
     

    I’m still hoping for that Teen Vogue interview.

    Me too – given their track record, I’d expect them to ask the sorts of serious questions that the MSM never bother with.

    It would be fun to compare and contrast the Teen Vogue questions with those that Dana Bash asked the other night.

  9. 9.

    Geminid

    I’m not sure if Janet Yellen followed the fast food discussion here yesterday but if she did, Yellen laid her marker down with an order at a Whataburger near the Austin, Texas airport.

  10. 10.

    catclub

    NPR is still on the ANC assault case. Good for them.
    They are now pointing out ‘ the trump campaign admits that it happened but Trump is still saying it never happened’. They also mentioned, ‘no, the Trump campaign has not presented the promised video vindicating their side.’

    I don’t think they are to the point of saying ‘Republicans in disarray!’

  11. 11.

    Kay

    Secretary of State Blinken believes there is still an opportunity of achieving normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel during Biden’s Presidency. He was also asked if Hamas leader Sinwar remains the only obstacle to a ceasefire deal.

    He is asked this over and over because he says over and over that Hamas is the only obstacle to a deal and it’s not true. It hasn’t been true since July 2nd, when Hamas agreed to the US proposal.
    But he still won’t admit it. It is just shameful how he sticks to this lie. Not even Biden sticks to this lie anymore because it is obviously and blatantly not true. At this point no one believes this is true besides the most low info Americans, yet the US Secretary of State cannot seem to utter the words that Netanyau is holding up a deal and has been since July 2nd.

  13. 13.

    lowtechcyclist

    @catclub:

    I don’t think they are to the point of saying ‘Republicans in disarray!’

    I just want them to get to the point of admitting that Trump’s brain is in disarray.

  14. 14.

    tokyocali (formerly tokyo ex-pat)

    Thank you, AL. I so appreciate the work you put into this.

    Re Walz, it’s another part of reclaiming freedom, the flag, and patriotism for the Democrats. Hammer that message home. He’s right. The republicans are all about doom, gloom, and rooting against the possibilities of America. Been there, done that, have the scars from 2016 to prove it, and we’re not going back.

  16. 16.

    Betty

    @Kay: It breaks my heart. Even Israeli commentators have acknowledged that Netanyahu is the obstacle. If his primary reason is to avoid jail time, I propose offering him a plea deal to get him out of the way.

  19. 19.

    Kay

    @Betty:

    I really, really resent the gaslighting from Blinken. He told us two lies. He told us the proposal the US put forth was Netanyahu’s proposal (not true) and then he told us for months that the only impediment to a deal was Hamas, also not true. Literally no one in the world believed these two lies other than Americans. As you correctly note, not even Israelis were fed this absolute bullshit.

    He took advantage of the US public and lied to us. He should resign. Whatever else he may be (incompetent) we know one thing – he’s a liar. No one is going to trust a negotiator who lies like this, nor should they. This was doomed from the start.

  21. 21.

    Geminid

    @Betty: Even if the US could deliver a plea deal ratified by Israel’s judicial system, I doubt if this would swing much weight with the PM. His corruption trial is on a pace to reach a verdict sometime next year, after the defense presents witnesses to rebut the testimony of the prosecution’s 200+. Then appeals could prolong the matter into 2027.

    It’s possible Netanyahu will eventually do prison time like former PM Ehud Olmert did, but it’s a distant prospect and Netanyahu is obsessed with his immediate political future.

  22. 22.

    Chris

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    They have been rooting against America since the election of a black man showed them that they are not America.

    Conservatives have a very distinctive vision of patriotism.  They love their country, because it keeps them at the top of the social order, and the second that’s not true anymore, they turn on it more viciously than any pinko-commie socialist one-worlder their imagination ever conjured.

    (See also, post-revolutionary France.  A century and a half of the peasants forgetting their place ultimately culminates in Vichy, because hey, at least the Germans will help the Right People put them back in their place where they belong).

  23. 23.

    Soprano2

    I listened to a “This American Life” podcast about what TCFG’s retribution would actually look like. They talked to Stephanie Grisham, who says she’s almost more afraid of Melania than she is of TCFG, because for most of the time she was at the WH she worked for Melania. She said Melania strong-armed the DOJ into filing a defamation lawsuit against someone even though they kept telling her that it was a private matter and she should hire her own lawyer. They talked to one of the people who funded the Lincoln Project, who said he now carries a firearm with him everywhere and has noticed strange black SUV’s parked outside his house. Both of them are laying down plans to leave the country if TCFG gets elected. They also talked to Alexander Vindman and his wife; he doesn’t want to leave and doesn’t think anything much will actually happen, while if TCFG wins she wants to leave the country and is concerned he’ll try her husband for treason! The most ironic part was when they talked to actual TCFG supporters about TCFG’s retribution. None of them believe he’ll actually do anything, and none of them care much about whether or not he does get retribution against his “enemies”. Talk about believing what you want to believe and what’s convenient!

  25. 25.

    Kay

    @Betty:

    And there’s absolutely no check on it, because the Republican Party is perfectly fine with killing every Palestinian in Gaza and so are US media. So there’s no due diligence, no fact checking, no opposition of any kind. That’s how Blinken was able to lie to Americans since January – there’s no accountability of any kind. The only reason he’s ever asked about these lies is there’s a foreign press corp at state department press conferences.

  27. 27.

    Mousebumples

    Good morning!

    FYI for postcarders in search of a new project – Postcards to Voters has addresses for 2 House races, I believe. One in NE (Tony Vargas) and another in MI (Kristen Mcdonald River). Still have FL Vote by Mail addresses, too.

    https://linktr.ee/getup_GOTV2024 – linktree with a bunch of Activism stuff, and WaterGirl has a bunch up in the menu, under 2024 Activism

    https://www.etsy.com/shop/To Voters – my preferred place to buy postcards, if they aren’t provided by the campaign

    Write on!

  28. 28.

    The Thin Black Duke

    When all is said and done, Tim Pool is gonna walk away unscathed from this clusterfuck.

  29. 29.

    Kay

    @Betty:

    He does so much continuing damage with Arab Americans and pro Palestinian liberals too because he consistently refuses to address Palestinian civilian casualties. The Biden Administration promised 6 months ago they would at least start giving lip service to the idea that Palestinians might be human beings yet Blinken still doesn’t express that. In yesterday’s press conference he only expressed sorrow that he wouldn’t be getting his deal with the Saudis – he once again forgot that Palestinians are people. Why does he have to be reminded of this? JFC, buddy. Say their name.

  32. 32.

    TBone

    “WhisperGate” prosecution 👍

    https://www.voanews.com/a/us-warns-russian-hackers-we-are-onto-you-/7773057.html

    The Justice Department unsealed the superseding indictment Thursday, accusing the Russians of carrying out the January 2022 “WhisperGate” malware attack that sought to debilitate Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure ahead of the Russian invasion the following month.

    “The WhisperGate campaign included the targeting of civilian infrastructure and Ukrainian computer systems wholly unrelated to the military or national defense, that include government agencies responsible for emergency services in Ukraine, the judiciary, food safety and education, seeking to sap the morale of the Ukrainian public,” said U.S. Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen.

    …

    DelBagno said the WhisperGate campaign also targeted the United States and dozens of NATO allies, going as far as to infiltrate a U.S. government agency based in Maryland while simultaneously accessing U.S. bank accounts.

    “The FBI, along with our law enforcement partners and allies, will relentlessly hunt down and counter these threats,” he said. “This type of cyber warfare will not be tolerated. The scope of Russia’s crimes cannot be ignored.”

  35. 35.

    satby

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: one of the substackers I subscribe to posted on interesting research on the “burn it all down” types that seem to be everywhere:

    The Need for Chaos Voter : These people, according to the new research, share a desire to “unleash chaos to ‘burn down’ the entire political order in the hope they gain status in the process.” This trait now has a name — and an established psychological profile.

    More: Their studies also show that people who score high on the Need for Chaos index express a greater willingness to participate in violent acts on behalf of a political cause.

  36. 36.

    Kay

    I’m going to get a covid shot before going to a huge wedding in Indianapolis on Saturday. Kind of dreading the wedding – my sister in law (mother of the bride) is a Trumpster who refused to speak to me at the last family event. I was perfectly willing to be polite and chat but she thinks I’m a “communist” now. My husband said to her “now? She was always one!” :)

    Anyhoo! I like her grown children – including the bride- and I think they like me so I can talk to them. All my sister in law’s friends look like the women at Mar A Lago- huge lips and boobs and hair extensions. They all look the same.

  39. 39.

    jonas

    @Jesse: They probably won’t be campaigning with Tester, but it will certainly energize Dems in the state and the GOP candidate Sheehy was recently caught on tape at a fundraiser saying some horribly racist shit about Native Americans. Recent polling is not encouraging for Tester, but I think it was done before the Sheehy incident, so we’ll see how he looks in a couple of weeks.

  40. 40.

    TBone

    @satby: a former pen pal of mine fits the description.  I gave her the what for HARD before ceasing all contact.  I hope that wallop still stings.

  41. 41.

    SFAW

    Walz: There is deliberate effort by some people to make them believe that things are pessimistic. Every time I hear Donald Trump give a speech, it’s like the next screenplay for Mad Max or something.

    I’m so old, I remember when the Partei of Traitors tried to make a thing out of Michelle Obama’s “proud for the first time” comment, saying she — and by extension, the blackity-black Moooslim she married — didn’t love America.

    Irony may be dying; I wonder if it will take a bunch of elected Rethugs with it when it goes.

  42. 42.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Teen Vogue and Dana Bash both try to provide their audience with information they want. It’s just that Bash’s audience is other DC journalists. She’s performing for them, while Teen Vogue writes for their readers.

    True, but it still wouldn’t be a bad thing if Bash (and with her, the DC Press Corpse in general) could suffer a moment of embarrassment by showing that a teen fashion mag was doing their ostensible job far better than they are.

    Regardless of what their real job is, they have to maintain at least some thin pretense of being the gold standard for journalism, or else the whole charade falls through.​

  44. 44.

    Kay

    @Another Scott:

    I follow it quite closely, but thank you. It’s pretty simple actually – the US Secretary of State should stop misleading the US public on the status of the negotiations. I was willing to accept that the strategy was to placate Netanyahu by lying about which party was stonewalling but since that strategy has now completely failed when he’s asked who is holding up the deal he should state what the whole rest of the world knows and says – Netanyahu.

    Biden finally said it last week. His Secretary of State disagrees with him?

  45. 45.

    Kay

    @Another Scott:

    Reading the heading on that call (that the Biden State Department wrote) do you now understand why Arab Americans and pro Palestinian liberals say the Biden Administration doesn’t consider Palestinians people?

    What’s missing from the heading on that call? Starts with a P….

    Why are release of the Israeli hostages the only objective? They promised us six months ago they would start treating Palestinians as people. Language matters.

  46. 46.

    BR

    @Kay: ​

    Adam has been saying for quite a while that Biden’s natsec team is in over its head. I’m optimistic though, in that he also says that Harris seems to have shown better foreign policy instincts and staffing.

  47. 47.

    Jeffro

    Today feels like a good day for some basic math:

    voting Harris > writing in Reagan or McCain

    “we don’t have to live like this” > “we have to get over it”

    America > Russia

    anyway, per that second one…I think we’re closing in on something like a half million American kids who’ve been in an active school shooter situation?  not just doing the drills: they’ve lived through an actual shooting at their school.

    THAT is a crime.  whatever happened to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”?

  48. 48.

    Kay

    @Another Scott:

    They’re going to fold on the Philadelphi corridor. That’s what that press conference was for.

    They’re going to allow Israel to occupy Gaza permanently. Complete and utter failure. They gave Netanyahu everything he demanded. He’ll just go further – they must know that by now.

    I actually have some sympathy for Harris inheriting this disaster. I hope she changes course. I think she might.

  49. 49.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Another Scott:

    ICYMI, (repost), WhiteHouse.gov/briefing-room backgrounder on the status of the Gaza talks (from September 4).

    Even though I’ve had ~20 years to get used to the idea that what reads in the paper like a one-on-one conversation between the reporter and the SAO* is really the SAO talking to a whole roomful of reporters, it still kinda skeeves me out that it’s perfectly OK for a whole roomful of reporters to know the identity of the SAO, in which case it’s very much an open secret, but the rest of us for some reason have to be kept in the dark.

    I’ll bet Netanyahu knows who the SAO is (if he cares to), it’s just us peons who don’t get to find out.

    *Senior Administration Official

  51. 51.

    Jeffro

    @satby: that is interesting stuff!

    “need for chaos” voter = “I will rule or ruin, and since I’m a loser who will never rule, I’m good with ruining literally everything”

    maybe we need to socialize these folks better at an earlier age?

  52. 52.

    trnc

    @catclub: ​
     

    NPR is still on the ANC assault case. Good for them.

    They are apparently trying to balance that by completely whitewashing DT’s appearance at the economic forum.

  55. 55.

    twbrandt

    School shootings aren’t a fact of life in Canada, the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, or any other civilized country. Vance is a fucking moron.

  56. 56.

    trnc

    @Jeffro: ​
     

    whatever happened to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”?

    It makes more sense when you understand they read that as “pur$uit of happine$$.”

  58. 58.

    lowtechcyclist

    @jonas:

    Sheehy was recently caught on tape at a fundraiser saying some horribly racist shit about Native Americans. Recent polling is not encouraging for Tester, but I think it was done before the Sheehy incident, so we’ll see how he looks in a couple of weeks.

    As a Virginia expat, I can’t help but be reminded of George Allen.

  59. 59.

    BritinChicago

    @twbrandt: “School shootings aren’t a fact of life in Canada, the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, or any other civilized country. Vance is a fucking moron.”

    Compare the headline from The Onion:
    ‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens

  61. 61.

    TBone

    @trnc: PS that’s not really the point being made by Hayes.  One such point is about subsidizing Uncle Clarence to stay on the Court, doing what he was already doing.

  64. 64.

    Kay

    @Another Scott:

    To explain – Blinken now tells us that Hamas agreed to 12 of the 14 conditions and Israel agreed to 10. I think he’s now telling us this because it has become blatantly obvious and reported literally all over the world (except the US) that Netanyahu added conditions after July 2nd. So they have to cover their ass with this “explanation”

    But Blinken himself caused the confusion! HE told us over and it was very simple – he said Hamas was the sole impediment to deal. That was never true.

    So if Americans aren’t getting Sec Blinken’s “nuance” – 12 of 14, 10 of 14, that is because Sec Blinken deliberately misled them on that issue. I wish he would just stop. He’s making everything worse.

  66. 66.

    waspuppet

    Every time there actually is an example that could lead someone to conclude that America is an unsafe, crime-ridden hellhole, the Republicans’ solution is to actively call for doing nothing.

    Enlightening.

  67. 67.

    Kay

    @Starfish:

    It is so funny you say that because one of them knows me from other things and heard I was coming and sent me a pix of her and her husband (like – “see you there!”) and I do not recognize her. I have seen plenty of face lifts but this is something more elaborate- the shape of her face is different. My daughter said “she sent you the pix so you wouldn’t be “do I know you MADAM?” :)

  69. 69.

    Geminid

    Mr. Cash goes to Washinton.

    CBS radio news reports that Arkansas will send a statue of native-born Johnny Cash to DC. It will replace one of two they removed from the Capitol’s Statuary Hall. The report began with a few bars from “Ring of Fire.”

  74. 74.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Jeffro:

    anyway, per that second one…I think we’re closing in on something like a half million American kids who’ve been in an active school shooter situation?  not just doing the drills: they’ve lived through an actual shooting at their school.

    THAT is a crime.  whatever happened to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”?

    Or more directly apropos, how about FDR’s Four Freedoms, the last of which is “freedom from fear”?

    Why should children have to live in fear, and their schools turned into fortresses, just so a bunch of assholes are ‘free’ to own weapons that have no place in civilian life?

    Not to mention, there are plenty of other ‘soft targets’ (as JV described our schools) out there: are we going to fortify every shopping mall, every movie theater?

    A ‘freedom’ for some that the rest of us have to defend ourselves against is making us a lot less free. That’s the bottom line here.

  75. 75.

    Kay

    @Starfish:

    I got a really beautiful dress from Thred Up (the used clothing site) so I’m thrilled with my thrifty deal. Highly recommend used designer clothing.

    I won’t be able to shut up about it so everyone will know I’m wearing a used dress, but luckily I don’t give a shit – it’s fab. I also stopped coloring my hair since a lot of these people have seen me last but I like the silver hair more than my old hair so that’s fine too. But I will stick out in this crowd.

  76. 76.

    TS

    @lowtechcyclist:

    JD Vance responds to the deadly shooting in Georgia by saying school shootings are just “a fact of life”

    while standing behind a bullet proof screen and making sure the secret service security is all around.

  77. 77.

    Matt McIrvin

    @lowtechcyclist: FDR’s Four Freedoms are interesting to me in that the last two are totally alien to the negative-liberty concept of “freedom” that the libertarian right has been pushing for decades. They believe, in essence, that want and fear are essential components of freedom, and that efforts to wipe them out are antithetical to freedom! But it’s possible to frame a robust liberalism in “freedom” terms, just not using their assumptions.

  79. 79.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Kay:

    All my sister in law’s friends look like the women at Mar A Lago- huge lips and boobs and hair extensions. They all look the same.

    I’ve never understood the whole Botoxed-lips fad.  Are big puffy lips supposed to be more attractive than normal or thin lips?  I certainly don’t find them so, but maybe that’s just me.

  80. 80.

    Matt McIrvin

    @satby: Everyone here knows, I’ve been morbidly fascinated with the manifestations of “need for chaos” that couch themselves in superficially “leftist” or “progressive” terms for a long time. I think because I’m driven by my own liberal guilt/anxiety to keep considering whether some of these people might be right. But often the intellectual arguments seem constructed in reverse from the horrifying conclusions. (And, yes, their influence on actual US politics is minute.)

  82. 82.

    Hungry Joe

    POSTCARD UPDATE — SERIES 2

    Postcards to Swing States:

    Yesterday — 10

    Running total — 182

  83. 83.

    trnc

    @TBone: ​
      OK, I’ll still quibble with something Hayes and many others have said – that Thomas is just ruling the way he would have anyway. That isn’t necessarily true. As an example, Thomas ruled in favor of Chevron deference in the early 2000s, but he did a 180 in June and wrote a concurring opinion that is absolute nonsense. Sure, maybe he just became more diehard rightwing on his own, but I believe 100% that the vacations and numerous one-on-one conversations with his benefactor contributed greatly to that change of mind.

    I strongly suspect there are other issues where Thomas could have been on the fence but leaned right because of all that.

  86. 86.

    TS

    @twbrandt: I believe the last time the schools in Australia had any drills related to attacks  was in 1942 (and probably for a year or tow thereafter) after 3 Japanese submarines came into Sydney Harbor & caused some soul searching for the country.

  87. 87.

    TBone

    @Geminid: they’re all getting built in flotation devices for all the “extra” beach front property Donvict insists climate change will provide!  Won’t even need snorkels!

  88. 88.

    Betty

    @Kay: Your anger is justified. The situation makes me feel so hopeless as Joe continues to allow Blinken to call the shots. It’s hard to accept that so many people can stand by and watch this level of destruction.

  90. 90.

    HumboldtBlue

    Liz Cheney can take her nasty republican ass and crawl back under whatever fucking rock that right-wing bitch came from. This idea that she is anything other than a rabid hateful right wing asshole is being spread by the same motherfuckers who worship bipartisanship just for the sake of it, because it looks good. She’s a fucking snake, a nasty fucking snake who would sooner watch a woman bleed out than actually do something to address health care in this country. On every fucking issue bar Trump, she’s 100 percent on the side of the assholes, the bigots, the religious freaks and the hateful, she’s not virtuous, she’s not being a stand up gal, she’s a cynical shitbag making sure that of all the shit her party spews the least amount splatters back on her as she stands there adding her shit to the fire hose of lies, hate, and bile that are the daily effluence from the GOP.

  95. 95.

    delphinium

    @Mousebumples: Good morning! Thanks for the reminder, just signed up to do some postcards for Tony Vargas.

    Finished up my first 100 postcards for NY house districts, just 100 more to do over the next few weeks.

  96. 96.

    karen marie

    @Jesse: Last I read, Tester was running from his party. I found it very annoying when Dem candidates did it in 2012 and I find it very annoying now. If him keeping his seat weren’t so important, I’d suggest Tester get stuffed.

  98. 98.

    different-church-lady

    DRAWING OF GOOSE: “Why are they a fact of life?”

    DRAWING OF GOOSE CHASING J.D. VANCE: “WHY ARE THEY A FACT OF LIFE, MOTHERFUCKER?”

  99. 99.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @HumboldtBlue: That one issue is a big one.  As far as I am concerned she can be told “Thank you for your service, now fuck off” the day after the election.

  101. 101.

    Falling Diphthong

    @Soprano2: I think that one thing going on here is that Trump endlessly chanted “Lock her up” about what his fans fancied must be real crimes (would he say so if not? inconceivable!) and then there were no charges, which he claims is an example of how magnanimous he is. Rather than that there were no crimes and it was fake all along.

    It’s why they were so enraged that he might face consequences for breaking the law, which the alleged model is Both Sides Forever.

  106. 106.

    RevRick

    @twbrandt: what the NRA and other gun nuts are really saying is that the rest of us have to cater to their sick fears and warped hero fantasies. That’s what “I need a gun for protection amounts to.”
    The reality is that a woman is far more likely to be murdered in a home with a gun than she is to be protected.
    So, how many so-called “responsible “ gun owners are really fucked up people? The truly responsible ones are willing to enact sensible gun control policies.

  109. 109.

    lowtechcyclist

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Liz Cheney can take her nasty republican ass and crawl back under whatever fucking rock that right-wing bitch came from. This idea that she is anything other than a rabid hateful right wing asshole is being spread by the same motherfuckers who worship bipartisanship just for the sake of it, because it looks good. She’s a fucking snake, a nasty fucking snake who would sooner watch a woman bleed out than actually do something to address health care in this country. On every fucking issue bar Trump, she’s 100 percent on the side of the assholes, the bigots, the religious freaks and the hateful, she’s not virtuous, she’s not being a stand up gal, she’s a cynical shitbag making sure that of all the shit her party spews the least amount splatters back on her as she stands there adding her shit to the fire hose of lies, hate, and bile that are the daily effluence from the GOP.

    She has stated that everyone ought to get vaccinated against Covid.  (See transcript of Wyoming debate at 1:00:13.) She regards Russia as a threat and that we need to aid Ukraine so it can defend itself. (Transcript at 58:37.)

    Maybe aside from Trump, Russia, Ukraine, and Covid, then….

  112. 112.

    hueyplong

    @HumboldtBlue: As Jan 6 taught us, there is plenty of time between election day until inauguration day during which many things can happen.  We can adopt your righteous rant as our groupthink during that interregnum.

    In the meantime, there is no reason to be allergic to a big electoral win, and in our times, the only way to get one of those is for people like Cheney to vote for our team.  So welcome aboard, Liz, and we’ll wait until December to tell her she’s getting off before the last stop.

  114. 114.

    gmknobl

    I’m all for everyone allowed, by law – that is codified, to own a hunting rifle once of age.  Then no other guns unless passing extreme hurdles and of course registration for those hunting guns and ammo also very strict with required lock up (no guns in sugar bowls, etc.).  Keep it much like Australia or Switzerland on guns and ammo.  So, that satisfies the (incorrect) interpretations of the 2nd amendment and prevents most of the issues we have with gun control today.  Oh, well.  If we ever get back to the gun bans on handguns talked about in the DC area when I was a kid, it will be a miracle.  But we need to go there again.

  116. 116.

    Geminid

    @Betty: Secretary Blinken does not call the shots in these negotiations. CIA Director Burns has been Biden’s point man ever since this round of negotiations began in Paris late January.

    Blinken has a say but he mainly acts as a spokesman in this particular matter. But there is a lot of state-level negotiating going on in the region, and Blinken plays an active role dealing with nations like the UAE, Qatar, Turkiye etc. on related issues.

    The other principal mediators are Egypt’s intelligence chief and Qatar’s Prime Minister al-Thani who came up with the basic template being used. Al-Thani has also acted as Hamas’s attorney more or less, and Egypt talks to Hamas as well. Israel’s negotiating team has been led by their Mossad and Shin Bet chiefs plus an IDF General.

  117. 117.

    Kay

    We’re having a local Sherrod event on Friday – his brother, Charlie Brown (real name) is coming. I’ve been away so will check out how the local Dems are feeling.

    Nervous I bet if it’s anything like the last THIRTY YEARS or so!

  123. 123.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    But why does what Blinken says to the US public differ so dramatically from what every other interested party says, including his boss, Joe Biden?
    That’s where people get the idea he’s freelancing and it’s not crazy – he himself contributes to this impression.

  127. 127.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @satby: The whole “burn it all down” fantasy is really prominent among Leftier-than-thou activists.  I went to a couple organizing meetings with some pretty radical immigration reform activists and in addition to the claims that there’s no difference between Dems and Republicans, the constant, wistful talk of revolution and tearing it down etc., immediately turned me off.  Not because I think they want to actually engage in violence, I know they don’t, in practice, but the pining for some great revolution was honestly kind of laughable/silly and their myopic obsession with the Dem Party (and ONLY the Dem Party) was ridiculous.  These are the same types who I’m sure have spent 10 months ranting about Biden, Harris, Israel, AIPAC etc., with nary a mention of Hamas…

  128. 128.

    Feckless

    Thank the FSM that I will never meet Tim Pool face to face.

    I saw Alex Jones on the street in Seattle.I think this was pre sandy hook.  Someone threw coffee on him, but sadly, it wasn’t me.

  129. 129.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    @satby:

    The Need for Chaos Voter : These people, according to the new research, share a desire to “unleash chaos to ‘burn down’ the entire political order in the hope they gain status in the process.”

    This attitude was common in European cultural elites in the years prior to 1914. Modris Ecksteins did a great job of describing the fashionable nihilism among the “smart set” of that pre-WW1 era in his book “Rites Of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age”.

    I agree that our current age exhibits what strike me as many similar motifs, including a frivolous & irresponsible attitude of nihilism among many of the more comfortable and secure people in our society. People who “want to see the world burn” have no personal experience of how much human suffering & misery comes in the train of actual chaos and are laboring under a monumental & catastrophic failure of imagination & empathy.

  130. 130.

    stinger

    “Well I would do that. And we’re sitting down. You know I was somebody. We had Senator Marco Rubio, and my daughter Ivanka was so impactful on that issue. It’s a very important issue. But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I’m talking about, that because—look, child care is child care. It’s—couldn’t, you know, it’s something you have to have it—in this country you have to have it. But when you talk about those numbers compared to the kind of numbers that I’m talking about by taxing foreign nations at levels that they’re not used to—but they’ll get used to it very quickly—and it’s not going to stop them from doing business with us, but they’ll have a very substantial tax when they send product into our country. Those numbers are so much bigger than any numbers that we’re talking about, including child care, that it’s going to take care. We’re going to have—I look forward to having no deficits within a fairly short period of time, coupled with the reductions that I told you about on waste and fraud and all of the other things that are going on in our country, because I have to stay with child care. I want to stay with child care, but those numbers are small relative to the kind of economic numbers that I’m talking about, including growth, but growth also headed up by what the plan is that I just told you about. We’re going to be taking in trillions of dollars, and as much as child care is talked about as being expensive, it’s, relatively speaking, not very expensive compared to the kind of numbers we’ll be taking in. We’re going to make this into an incredible country that can afford to take care of its people, and then we’ll worry about the rest of the world. Let’s help other people, but we’re going to take care of our country first. This is about America first. It’s about Make America Great Again, we have to do it because right now we’re a failing nation, so we’ll take care of it.”

    You cannot find a single passage of as many words, or twice as many words, of Joe Biden’s where his stammer and/or age made such utter nonsense of what he was trying to say.

  131. 131.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Omnes Omnibus: I believe we should applaud when any Republican does the right thing (because we want a world where doing so is incentivized and rewarded).  Doesn’t mean any of us are unaware or in denial of what a piece of shit Cheney is.  But yes, what she did for J6Committee was good.  What she’s doing now is good.  If George W. Bush comes out and supports Harris that would be good too.  He would still be a piece of shit for a whole host of reasons.  Bad people sometimes do good things.  Good people sometimes do bad things.  Shit’s complicated and life is full of nuance, context, etc.

  133. 133.

    Geminid

    @Kay: I really don’t pay much attention to what Tony Blinken or John Kirby say about about this conflict, or the question of what the US public knows and thinks about it. I concentrate on the conflict itself and the negotiations to end it, and the best sources here are Middle Eastern reporters and media outfits.

    Generally, the only American sources I go to are Laura Rozen and Axios. Rozen is a good aggregator of reliable reporting from all sides in this conflict, while Axios’s Barak Ravid evidently has William Burns and Jake Sullivan on speed dial; Lloyd Austin too. Ravid also still has the Israeli sources he developed during during the 20 years he worked for Israeli newspapers and TV stations.

    I’m not saying American public opinion and/or domestic politics aren’t important, but I concentrate on matters I think are more central to this catastrophic war because there’s plenty going on there and my time is limited.

  134. 134.

    TS

    @stinger:

    What changed since the media called out Sarah Palin on her word salad? Is Russian influence causing this or has the 4th estate decided trump is their savior?

  135. 135.

    Matt McIrvin

    @gmknobl: My experience with gun fans is that if you say that kind of thing, they’ll then insist that an AR-15 *is* a perfectly sensible hunting rifle or “varmint gun”, the definition of an “assault weapon” is just cosmetic and you’re an ignoramus about guns for insisting on such distinctions, etc., etc.

  136. 136.

    Steve LaBonne

    @ThatLeftTurnInABQ: This is the key to horseshoe theory. What extreme left and extreme right share is utter lack of empathy and contempt for the suffering of people who are not them, i.e.the “eggs” that would be broken in the making of their preferred omelets. This makes the transition from one extreme to the other very easy.

  137. 137.

    Matt McIrvin

    @UncleEbeneezer: I think that for them, it’s often not so much an actual yearning for chaos as a desire to dissociate themselves from any actual political power or institution or action beyond purely symbolic ones, to keep their hands clean. Gestures of rejection are very important to them.

  138. 138.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Chutkan, who sounded unimpressed by the “dismiss it immediately” arguments, set October deadlines for that argument, along with a series of others through the fall for Trump’s additional, disparate attempts to get rid of the case.

    One of those attempts rests on the right-wing contention that all special prosecutors — including Smith — are improperly appointed, mooting the whole case.

    “Is your argument that another district court in Florida, that plus dicta in a concurrence, those two things combine to warrant me going against binding D.C. Circuit precedent?” Chutkan asked Lauro incredulously, adding that the she didn’t find the Florida opinion — Judge Aileen Cannon’s ruling to dismiss the Mar-a-Lago documents case under this argument — “very persuasive.”

    It was one of the most combative moments of the hearing, when Lauro responded that Justice Clarence Thomas, writing in concurrence on the immunity decision, “directed us to raise this issue.”

    “He directed you to do this?” Chutkan asked quickly, causing Lauro to furiously backpedal.

    As she indicated that she would, Chutkan is keeping Trump’s many avenues to try to get the case nixed running more or less concurrently, thwarting Trump’s attempts to take them in turns and delay the case.

    “We all know that whatever my decision on immunity is is going to be appealed,” Chutkan said Thursday. “There needs to be some forward motion in this case.”

  139. 139.

    stinger

    @TS: Probably “Yes, both”. The media only both-sides things when they need to make Dems look as bad as Repubs are. When that’s impossible, they sweep it under the rug. See Steve LaBonne’s comment @ 132.

    Also, they got rid of Biden but weren’t able to replace him via an “open” convention that would surely have resulted in a white male candidate. Harris’s success has thrown the media off their game a little.

  141. 141.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Matt McIrvin: Exactly!  They are obsessed with avoiding anyone ever branding them “loyal Dems.”  Which given, the history of progress in the US with the Dem Party (or the pre-reallignment party equivalent) being the only one to actually help us win good things, will always be deeply weird to me.  How anyone looks at the coalition that got us Voting Rights, Civil Rights, Environmentalism, LGBTQ rights etc., and wants no part of it speaks volumes about their own values, performative stance and egocentric political identity.

  143. 143.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Geminid: CBS radio news reports that Arkansas will send a statue of native-born Johnny Cash to DC. It will replace one of two they removed from the Capitol’s Statuary Hall. The report began with a few bars from “Ring of Fire.”

    B-b-b-but Mr Cash didn’t write RoF, he only covered it:

    Written by Cash’s eventual second wife, June Carter Cash, and songwriter Merle Kilgore, “(Love’s) Ring of Fire” was originally recorded by June’s sister, Anita Carter, on her 1962 album, Folk Songs Old and New.

    You could look it up…

  144. 144.

    stinger

    @catclub: All for a guy who, despite having been president for four years, thinks the United States can “tax” other countries. And that even with huge tariffs on their goods, other countries will keep selling to the US and we’ll make trillions, I tell you, trillions of beautiful dollars, the best dollars in all history.

  145. 145.

    SatanicPanic

    Interesting:

    Eighty-eight corporate leaders endorse Harris in new letter, including CEOs of Yelp, Box

    Eighty-eight current and former top executives from across corporate America have endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president in a new letter shared exclusively with CNBC.

    …

    Other signers appear to be issuing their first public endorsements of Harris since she became the de facto Democratic nominee in July.

    They include James Murdoch, former CEO of 21st Century Fox and an heir to the Murdoch family media empire, and crypto executive Chris Larsen, co-founder of the Ripple blockchain platform.

  146. 146.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: Istanbul-based journalist Levent Kemal is one good source on the Gaza conflict. He reports on a wide range of Middle Eastern and African conflicts, so he only weighs in on this war when he sees an important development or wants to impress upon his readers the human toll in Gaza.

    This morning Kemal posted:

       The US military is preparing for the collapse of ceasefire talks amid concerns that their breakdown could spark a broader regional conflict. US officials have described the talks as 90% complete but admit difficult issues remain unsolved.

    Kemal is reporting on a Financial Times article that he links to.

  147. 147.

    TS

    @catclub:

    if you watch the video, I don’t think the lady who asked the question applauded – the men sitting with her definitely did. She knew it was nonsense.

  148. 148.

    Jackie

    I know, I know… BUT STILL!

    A new The Hill/Emerson College poll in Florida finds Sen. Rick Scott (R) barely ahead of challenger Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D), 46% to 45% with another 9% still undecided.

    If we can convince those undecided…🤞🏻🤞🏻

  149. 149.

    Another Scott

    @Kay:

    You and I interpret Blinken’s statements differently.

    E.g. State.gov (from August 20):

    Now, as I think everyone remembers, President Biden put out a detailed plan for a ceasefire and the release of hostages in May. The entire world endorsed it. The UN Security Council endorsed it. And since then we’ve been working to bring the parties along. A lot of work went into that, and we got to the point where, as we were working on implementing that plan, it was necessary hearing from both the parties to provide some clarifications, to provide some additional detail, and that’s exactly what went into the bridging proposal that our three countries put forward just a little over a week ago.

    Israel has now accepted that proposal – I heard that directly from Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday – and we hope and expect that Hamas will do the same. That’s the critical next step, but once that happens we also have to complete the detailed implementation agreements that go along with putting the ceasefire into effect. And there it’s very important that everyone do what’s necessary to bring the flexibility to the table to make sure that we can the get implementation agreed and that the parties to the ceasefire can make good on the commitments that they’ve made in the agreement.

    So that’s a process that’s ongoing at the same time. We’re engaged every single day with Israel, and our Qatari and Egyptian partners are engaged with Hamas, and over the coming days we are going to do everything possible to, one, get Hamas on board with the bridging proposal, and then to make sure that both parties work on and agree to necessary details of implementation that would allow everything to go forward. So what’s where we are. And I’d just return to what I started with, which is a strong sense, a strong commitment on the part of the United States, Egypt, Qatar, and for that matter many other countries, on the fierce urgency of now. This needs to get done and it needs to get done in the days ahead, and we will do everything possible to get it across the finish line.

    (Emphasis added.)

    As we all know, there’s no agreement until there’s an agreement on the exact text that people sign. Until then, it’s jockying and posturing. There is a framework that both sides see as a way forward, but both side are still in the “yes, but” stage until they sign the agreement to put the ceasefire and hostage exchange into practice, and move on to the other stage issues like who withdraws to wear and when and all the rest.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  152. 152.

    AM in NC

    @Kay: I stopped coloring my hair about 8 years ago (I’m in my mid-50s now) and I get multiple compliments every month from random strangers – various races, ages, and genders – about my hair.  I kept it long because I find it easier to take care of, and I think people aren’t used to long, silver hair, so they comment on it.

  154. 154.

    Leto

    WaPo: U.S. woman fatally shot at West Bank protest; witnesses say IDF shot her

    An American woman was killed Friday in the occupied West Bank, the State Department said. Two witnesses said the woman was shot in the head by Israeli forces who had opened fire.

    The woman, Aysenur Eygi, a 26-year old volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement, a pro-Palestinian activist group, had been attending a protest against Jewish settlement expansion in the town of Beita when she was shot, her colleagues said. Copies of her passport that circulated online said she was born in Turkey and the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement that she was a citizen.

    The Israel Defense Forces said it was “looking into reports that a foreign national was killed as a result of shots fired in the area.” The statement said that Israeli forces in the area of Beita, in the northern West Bank, “responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks at the forces and posed a threat to them.”

    “The details of the incident and the circumstances in which she was hit are under review,” it said.
    State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement that the United States was “aware of the tragic death of an American citizen, Aysenur Eygi, today in the West Bank.”

    “We offer our deepest condolences to her family and loved ones. We are urgently gathering more information about the circumstances of her death, and will have more to say as we learn more. We have no higher priority than the safety and security of American citizens,” Miller said.

    Jonathan Pollak, a volunteer with ISM, said the shooting took place about 30 minutes after protesters had dispersed, at a time when there were no active clashes taking place, and as foreign volunteers, including Eygi, stood observing at a distance of about 200 yards from the Israeli military.

    “There was no justification for taking that shot,” he said.

    When he and his colleagues arrived in Beita on Friday, soldiers were already deployed around a site where people were set to perform Friday prayers, he said. As soon as the prayers were over, “clashes began,” he said. The soldiers used tear gas and live ammunition “almost immediately.” There was also “stone throwing” at the soldiers, he said.

    The ISM activists retreated some distance away, down a hill, some 200 yards from the town where the soldiers were stationed. “We stood there for about half an hour,” he said. The soldiers took over a rooftop in the town, “a controlling rooftop” he said. Eygi was in an olive grove, according to Pollak and another ISM volunteer who spoke on condition she be identified by her first name, Mariam, for fear of retribution.

    “I didn’t see her at the moment of the shooting because I was looking at the soldiers,” said Pollak, referring to Eygi. “I saw the soldiers shooting. I saw the flare, I saw them aiming,” he said. Both he and Mariam said there were two shots – one that struck a metal object, and another that hit Eygi in the head.

    “We were clearly visible to the army, there was nothing happening where were standing,” said Mariam. “We were internationals,” she said adding that Palestinian youth who had clashed with the soldiers were much further away, up the hill. “We were just standing there,” she said.

    Fahim reported from Beirut, Morris from Berlin and Hudson from Washington.

  156. 156.

    Geminid

    @Uncle Cosmo: The song is still very much associated with Mr. Cash. I remember hearing it when it came out. I was riding in the family car on a cross country trip, and I remembered Cash’s name because his singing was so distinctive.

    Anyway, “Ring of Fire” is appropriate for this story because Cash’s likeness will stand in a ring of statues.

    Note: I must add my condolences on the Raven’s loss last night, and in the spirit of Greater Chesapeake Regional solidarity I denounce the lousy officiating.

  157. 157.

    Matt

    Anybody else been following the French situation?

    In a SHOCKING turn of events, Macron has decided to ignore the results of the election and form a government with the right-wing.

    Once again, “centrists” turn out to be fascists with a side of cowardice.

  159. 159.

    Leto

    @Geminid: In my first shop, I had a Sgt who would always sing that. He’d just break out:

    🎶I fell into a burning ring of fire,
    I fell down down down and the flames rose hi’er…”    🎶

    He’d even do the mariachi section! Eventually most of us would join along. I think that was always his plan, but it’s one of those really fond memories of service I have.

  160. 160.

    Ken

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    “[Justice Clarence Thomas] directed you to do this?” Chutkan asked quickly, causing Lauro to furiously backpedal.

    “My apologies, your honor, for the misstatement. I meant of course that his wife directed us to raise this, and told her husband to include it in his concurrence.”

  161. 161.

    Ken

    @stinger: [Trump thinks] even with huge tariffs on their goods, other countries will keep selling to the US

    Also that US consumers will still be buying at the higher prices. Maybe his college degree didn’t cover supply and demand?

  162. 162.

    Kay

    @Another Scott:

    Israel has now accepted that proposal – I heard that directly from Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday

    But you’re taking this out of context. Blinken is telling us on August 20th that Israel accepted the US proposal? He “heard this from Netanyau yesterday”?
    So why did he tell the US public that Israel accepted the proposal in July? And why did he tell us that Israel accepted only part of the proposal (“90%”) yesterday?
    You understand why he has zero credibility, given that context?
    That’s not even getting into the fact that Blinken said it was Israel’s proposal 2 months ago and he now says it’s Biden’s and that Israel has accepted it. I won’t even go into that whole lie sequence. Did he think we wouldn’t find out that the proposal was not Netanyahu’s? Who exactly is he bluffing with this? Not Netanyahu. Not Hamas. Not any other world leader. They all know. He’s bluffing the US public. It’s unacceptable behavior from him. He has to tell us the truth – not 2 months after a series of lies but all the time.

  163. 163.

    Geminid

    @Matt: Under the constitution of France’s Fifth Republic, President Macron has every right to form a government under the PM he chooses. There is no requirement to choose the party leader with the most Assembly members just because they won a plurality

    Ed. I’ll also point out that while Macron is described as a “Radical Centrist” and he leads a Center party, the centrists operating in France’s parliamentary system have few elements in common with the American “centrists” people often malign here.

  165. 165.

    scav

    @Ken: “college degree”!!!!?!!! Are you seriously suggesting the magnificent Drump brainstem has been contaminated by exposure to conventional thought?!

  166. 166.

    Steve LaBonne

    @Geminid: Barnier can only survive as long as Le Pen’s party tacitly supports him by voting against no confidence motions. Appointing a PM who is at the mercy of the fascists is a total betrayal.

  168. 168.

    Chris

    @Geminid:

    Fucked up constitution, innit?  And we’re not even talking about America’s for once!

    (Seriously, the entire concept of having not just a divided government but a divided executive always struck me as completely loony.  I assume it’s that way because De Gaulle wanted somebody onto whom he could pawn off all the executive functions that he didn’t care about).

  169. 169.

    Kay

    @Another Scott:

    I’ll predict it right now. They capitulate on Israel occupying parts of Gaza and say that it is “temporary” – a “bridging proposal”

    If Hamas accepts that they’re nuts. They may take it! At least 50,000 Palestinians are dead including 12,000 children so they may take the deal. But it’s an absolutely shitty deal the US negotiated from the Palestinian side. If Israel is allowed to remain in Gaza they will never leave. It will be another occupied territory. It means Blinken capitulated to every Netanyahu demand because he was desperate not to walk away empty handed. Netanyahu just waited him out and killed massive numbers of civilians while he was waiting.

  170. 170.

    Kristine

    Signed up for Geeks & Nerds for Harris/Walz. Some overlap with the guests for last month’s Trekkies, which was organized over 2-3 days and had a smallish turnout compared to the other drives. This looks like it will be bigger.

  171. 171.

    Chris

    @Steve LaBonne:

    My initial suspicion in the run-up to the election was that the centrists simply didn’t have it in them to hold their nose and accept a partnership with the left in the name of antifascism.

    The original results, and the way the left and center parties coordinated strategically to always have a strong antifascist candidate, were a strong and welcome indicator that I was wrong.  Less encouraging were the reports that Macron did not want this strategy, and was essentially overruled by his own underlings.

    What it’s looking like now: I was wrong to be suspicious of centrists in general, but right about Macron.  Alas.

  172. 172.

    Phylllis

    @Kay: I stopped coloring my hair about ten years ago. I’m more salt than pepper these days, but keep mine short. I also use the purple shampoo & conditioner* and get all kinds of compliments on my lavender hair.

    *Loreal, the same stuff Andie Macdowell purportedly uses. She’s been shilling for Loreal for a million years now, so I have no reason to doubt her on this.

  176. 176.

    Steve LaBonne

    @Chris: If his party is serious about being done with his nonsense, they can show it by voting with the left against Barnier. You might not want to hold your breath until that happens.

  178. 178.

    Scout211

    Apologies if this has been posted already:

    Tenet Media Shutters

    . . . After Being Accused of Taking $10 Million in Covert Kremlin Funding

    A contributor for Tenet Media announced on Twitter Thursday night that the company has abruptly shuttered, one day after the Department of Justice unsealed an indictment that accused it of being covertly funded by employees of a Russian state-controlled media outlet. Tayler Hansen, a self-described “field reporter” for the outlet, wrote that Tenet “has ended after the DOJ indictment.”

    . . .

    Tenet Media’s founders, Canadian conservative YouTuber Lauren Chen and her husband Liam Donovan, have not publicly commented on the allegations against Tenet. Nor has Canadian far-right activist Lauren Southern, a Tenet contributor who appeared in many of their videos. Other prominent contributors to the site, including far-right commentator Tim Pool, described themselves as “victims” in the Tenet scandal, who were unaware that employees of RT, the Russian state media entity, were secretly funding the company. Pool announced on Thursday that he has been contacted by federal investigators, writing, “The FBI believes I have information relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation and have requested a voluntary interview. I will be offering my assistance in this matter.”

    Nothing to see here . . .

  180. 180.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Starfish:

    Do they all have the bad plastic surgery?

    I was shopping at a store in a tony, suburban area the other day and I passed by 3 or 4 women who had “work done”. Their faces were smooth and shiny with an odd shape. Their eyes were sort of buggy and they all had the big lips too. From other indicators, they looked to be around 65-70.

    I don’t believe they think their procedures went badly since they all sported a similar look. I may not particularly like my own affects of aging…from 60 on, things do seem to (how do I put it), change more rapidly, but I’m not interested in trading places if that’s the vision of elder beauty these days.

  183. 183.

    jonas

    @lowtechcyclist: Good point, although that was the pre-MAGAfied Republican party that at least made a pretense of being ashamed about that kind of thing. Shamelessness is now their superpower and I’m sure Sheehy’s leaning into that hard.

  184. 184.

    Scout211

    @SatanicPanic: man, sure are a lot of conservatives taking money from Russia

    So many right wing influencers and media personalities who told everyone how smart they were all the time are suddenly claiming, “I know noth-ink! . . . noth-ink!”

    /Sergeant Schulz

  185. 185.

    gvg

    @UncleEbeneezer: Last night I was thinking that Bush should speak up sometime when Trump is praising Putin to say something like you know McCain was right and I was wrong, when he said he looked in Putin’s eyes and saw K-G-B. I was fooled by him. Trump admires a murderer.

  187. 187.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @hueyplong:

    In the meantime, there is no reason to be allergic to a big electoral win, and in our times, the only way to get one of those is for people like Cheney to vote for our team.  So welcome aboard, Liz, and we’ll wait until December to tell her she’s getting off before the last stop.

    I’m not of the opinion that Liz Cheney has long coattails. My disgusted with Trump Republican neighbor is going to leave the president box blank. That’s about as principled as I think most anti-Trump Republicans are going to get. Love to be wrong though.

  188. 188.

    Geminid

    @Chris: The constitution that deGaulle insisted upon has a unitary and powerful executive that shares some but by no means all of its powers with the Assembly. These powers are especially broad because France has a unitary system and not a federal one. Also, the President calls the foreign polcy and military shots. I’m pretty sure he controls the police and the prosecutors as well, although the judiciary is also powerful and I think they have independent status.

    Anyway, I’m not going to get get strung out over these current developments in France. They’ll muddle through them like they always do. Whether you like this particular result or not, the fifth iteration of the French Republican system has been far more stable than any of the four that preceded it, and that is no small thing.

  189. 189.

    Anonymous At Work

    Holy crap.  Just saw the first ad for Harris cut by Bernie Sanders.  Way to go Bernie!  Even when he supported or endorsed people in primaries, he never seemed to cut ads for them.  Shows that he is learning how to retail politick beyond himself.

  190. 190.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Scout211: ​

    I will be offering my assistance in this matter

    There were a couple of attorneys who were viral on Twitter? YouTube? a few years ago with “Shut the fuck up Friday.” Maybe he should listen.

  191. 191.

    narya

    Just got my first 10 addresses for the NE house campaign (Vargas).

    I have also let my hair go . . . sort of blondish grey? (It used to be very red, but, alas, it’s been greying for 20-some years, so it’s hard to tell that now.) I don’t have, and likely won’t get, that white/silver thing going on, but there are still so many different colors that I wouldn’t consider dyeing it. Well, I wouldn’t consider that anyway, because I’m cheap and don’t want to spend the money.

  192. 192.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Anonymous At Work: I’ve been getting a lot of fundraising ads featuring him on YouTube. Don’t know if it’s just the fundraising stuff aimed at people already deep inside the tent, or if it’s more. But I’m happy to see him on board vehemently endorsing the ticket.

  194. 194.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Jesse:

    Wondering if Harris or Walz will help out Tester in MT.

    And the abortion rights amendment on the ballot.

  195. 195.

    Ruckus

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    They are not America – but they are Americans. It’s a big country, it has a level of freedom – especially of speech that some other parts of the world do not. The fact that they are human means that they may have major flaws. Flaws of many types/depths/stupidity. They have a right to their choices, it’s part and parcel to this country. We just have to out number them and to insure they do not hurt others than themselves. And hold them accountable when and if they do.

  197. 197.

    sdhays

    @trnc: This is a critical piece that gets glossed over. Thomas may have always been a right wing crank, but the money his billionaire buddies spend on him is not just to keep him there, it’s insurance that he never evolves away from them. Maybe he never would even without the corruption, but we’ll never know.

  198. 198.

    prostratedragon

    there’s no constitutional prohibition on the FBI convincing a person to talk to them against the person’s interests, even if the person is an abject imbecile.

    Would be rotating tag-worthy if it weren’t so long. Actually the whole thing is worthy.

  199. 199.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    I’m not of the opinion that Liz Cheney has long coattails. My disgusted with Trump Republican neighbor is going to leave the president box blank. That’s about as principled as I think most anti-Trump Republicans are going to get. Love to be wrong though.

    I look at Liz Cheney much like I’m sure FDR looked at Stalin.  Although Cheney comes with far fewer troops and strategic impact that Stalin had, having a person with that profile providing the barest minimum of support probably has more weight with our Beltway Media Corpse than anybody else…and if that somehow drives better coverage for at least one news cycle, I’ll take it.

    So yeah, I don’t think her statement will suddenly change anti-Trump (R)s but I’m just fine with them leaving the presidential box blank when they vote.  It’s a win-almost-another-win situation.

  200. 200.

    Ruckus

    @lowtechcyclist:

    shitforbrains has a operational brain?

    stupid, ignorant, pompous, jackass is part of an operational brain?

    I thought that meant that the level of thought process in said brain was ZERO.

  202. 202.

    Josie

    @Sure Lurkalot: I agree. I have read that, once you start down that road, you have to keep going back for touchups. Not something to look forward to. I do dye my hair because the gray in my hair washes out the color in my face, but I would never consider cosmetic surgery. I honestly believe that smiling and laughing keep the bad wrinkles away.

    ETA: L’Oreal is the best.

  203. 203.

    Citizen Alan

    @Chris: At this point, my biggest fear is, of course, Shitgibbon winning. My second biggest fear is harris winning, but the GOP taking the senate, and then refusing to confirm any of her cabinet nominees, thereby making it hard for her to make any course corrections on anything but specifically gaza.

  204. 204.

    Citizen Alan

    @BritinChicago: Let’s be fair now. Things like this don’t happen than those other countries, because in those other countries, 40% of the population does not of ignorant deranged fascist religious nuts.

  207. 207.

    Ruckus

    @Soprano2:

    Yep.

    He is a bitter, pompous, arrogant, far worse than useless whatever 4 letter word you want to use. He’s not and never has been doing any of this national interest stuff for the country, only for his own, warped, idiotic version of his view of who he believes he is. I’d say that it’s God’s gift to humanity, but I may be incorrect and under estimating his level of what ever the hell it is that goes on in that lump on his shoulders.

  210. 210.

    SatanicPanic

    Trump is apparently claiming that a gang from Venezuela took over an apartment complex in Aurora, CO. Obviously it’s a lie, but this made me chuckle:

    Much of the firestorm goes back to a viral video that purported to show gang members, armed with weapons, storming through the complex, the Edge at Lowry Apartments. The Republican mayor of Aurora, Mike Coffman, posted a screenshot of the video on Facebook and announced the city would be seeking an emergency court order to clear the buildings by declaring them a “criminal nuisance.”

    …

    Coffman has since dialed back his rhetoric on the complex after touring it and talking with tenants.

    “Not sure where the truth is in all of this, but I’ll continue to work on it to find out,” Coffman said in a Facebook post Wednesday.

    Good job asshole. Maybe he should have toured the complex before making stupid claims?

  211. 211.

    Ruckus

    @Kay:

    They all look the same.

    That is a requirement to belong to the gang. One has to be the uniform.

    (No, that is not mis-typed)

  213. 213.

    BR

    Trump’s sentencing got delayed until after the election. We have to win this thing — institutions are not coming to help.

  214. 214.

    Baud

    @BR:

    I’m in the minority in being glad about that. I don’t think a sentence would have helped us and could have hurt us.

  219. 219.

    CaseyL

    @Steve LaBonne:

    In her most recent election, Collins accepted a last-minute $500K donation from a very shady character.  Staying in the Senate is of utmost importance to her.

    I don’t see her trading it in for a short-term diplomatic gig, and I also can’t think of anyplace Harris would want Collins to be our representative. I can’t think of such a place, myself.

  220. 220.

    Fair Economist

    @Geminid: Macron has the right to appoint anybody as PM, but when the election was won by a center-and-leftist alliance, to appoint somebody not broadly supported by the center and left is a slap in the face to the French electorate.

  221. 221.

    oldgold

    Throughout the NY trial I bitched about Judge Merchan moving the trial along too slowly.  Almost everyone here strenuously disagreed with me.

    I hope Merchan’s asinine decision to delay Trump’s sentencing until after the election causes some here to reconsider.

  222. 222.

    mrmoshpotato

    @SatanicPanic:

    Good job asshole. Maybe he should have toured the complex before making stupid claims? 

    He’s a Republican.  Do stupid shit now.  Bullshit apology later.

  223. 223.

    hueyplong

    @CaseyL: I can think of a place, but I don’t think we have ambassadorships there and I go back and forth as to whether it even exists.

  227. 227.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @BR: We have always had to win the election.  Courts don’t have the same timetable that elections do nor should they.

    It’s like in Major League:

    Cerrano: “I go to you. I stick up for you. But you no help me now, I say ‘Fuck you, Jobu.’ I do it myself.”

  229. 229.

    BR

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    There is an alternate universe in which Jan 6th was prosecuted rapidly starting in January 2021 and Trump is not the GOP nominee. It’s not unthinkable even in democratic countries. The UK has already sentenced many of its rioters from a month ago.​
     

    But I agree that that ship sailed a long time ago.

  230. 230.

    hueyplong

    @Citizen Alan: Several online MAGAs would threaten to kill Collins if she contemplated accepting such an offer, and then one of them would follow through if she did.

    Mmm.

    Make the offer.

  231. 231.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Ruckus:

    We just have to out number them and to insure they do not hurt others than themselves. And hold them accountable when and if they do.

    Well, that’s the rub, isn’t it? Majorities of Americans support some level of abortion rights and gun regulation, yet here we are, with women denied care and mass shootings happening regularly. Outnumbering means little in a gerrymandered state where a majority number of votes get a minority number of seats. Or with corrupt and compromised judges.

  232. 232.

    Ken

    @hueyplong: I can think of a place, but I don’t think we have ambassadorships there and I go back and forth as to whether it even exists.

    Liechtenstein?

  236. 236.

    Chris

    @hueyplong:

    “Hey!  We should hire Leo to tail Uncle Benny.”
    “Are you crazy?  Uncle Benny’ll spot him.”
    “Uh huh.”
    “Uncle Benny’ll kill him!”
    “…”
    “… Let’s hire him.”

  238. 238.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Ken: I’ve been there.  I was on the way to Davos and stopped for lunch.  A very nice grilled trout with a glass of the local white wine.

  239. 239.

    Ruckus

    @HumboldtBlue:

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I’m not saying I disagree – not in the least.

    But.

    What if she has seen maybe 10 watts of light? Is that the same as being fully in the dark – or is it possible that she’s learning?

    I’m not suggesting she is, just asking the question. Is it better that she does nothing or that possibly that 10 watts of light might get brighter? People do change, it is possible. And some change slowly, bit by bit rather than all at once. And some change 10 watts worth and nothing more. But it’s not a one step process. And it takes time. And sometimes you get doddle squat.

  241. 241.

    Baud

    One practical advantage to the sentencing delay is that, if Trump loses and engages in post-election shenanigans again, his bad acts should be admissible to enhance his punishment, assuming NY law permits it.

  243. 243.

    Msb

    @HumboldtBlue: At the “trifling cost” of her job, her social relationships, her physical safety and possibly her life?
    I don’t agree with any Cheney about any political issue, except for the primacy of the Constitution and the rule of law. In this moment of crisis, that exception is visible with the naked eye from space. When – if ever – there’s a Republican Party in which Liz Cheney has a prominent place, I will doubtless despise her as heartily as before. Until then, I will acknowledge any virtue she shows, especially when it is so vital to the survival of US democracy.

  244. 244.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Baud:

    I’m in the minority in being glad about that. I don’t think a sentence would have helped us and could have hurt us.

    I agree a sentence before the election would energize Trump’s “I’m voting for the felon” base. But I’m not glad, just disgusted that justice is delayed for Trump and his ilk. I’m also not optimistic that he will ever be imprisoned.

  245. 245.

    Ruckus

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    It’s humanity. In all it’s glory and all it’s shit.

    It can change and has many times in my 3/4 of a century, and in both directions, and sometimes on a dime.

    It’s humanity, sometimes it’s gorgeous and sometimes it’s shit. We control ourselves and in this country, little more, especially on personal issues. It often takes time, even if the change is absolutely necessary. And it almost always has a cost, which may be small or gigantic. And we control mostly only ourselves. We are a nation of freedom, we get to be great or great assholes.

    It’s humanity. In all it’s glory and all it’s shit.

  246. 246.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Ruckus: Well, as someone on Twitter or Bluesky said a couple of days ago:  there are a lot of seats on the bus, but she doesn’t get to drive.

    Also, if she is on a journey toward enlightenment, I say more power to her.  I will welcome people whose views have changed.  She still disagrees with Democrats on the vast majority of issues.  But I’ll  take the temporary alliance.  And, to be frank, I would not be surprised if she views us the same way.

  247. 247.

    wjca

    @Kay: If Hamas accepts that they’re nuts. They may take it! At least 50,000 Palestinians are dead including 12,000 children so they may take the deal.

    In what universe?  About the only thing in the world that Hamas values less than Palestinian lives is Israeli lives.  But it’s close.  Ideologues tend to be like that (see our local gun nuts).

  248. 248.

    TBone

    Holy shit! 😆😳👀

    He went on for an hour like that. My favorite part was when he trashed his own legal team (standing behind him) and got mad that they didn’t bring up “the dress” in the hearing today. Apparently, he didn’t understand that this was an appellate hearing and there would be no new evidence presented. (The dress was disallowed at his original trial.)
    He was obviously very upset.

    (Video at link for those of strong digestive fortitude). The text is 😆

    https://digbysblog.net/2024/09/06/todays-unhinged-trump-rant/

  252. 252.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @Kay: I have had short hair now for decades since I had thick, curly to frizzy hair which required way too much upkeep when long. When I started to go “prematurely ” grey in my 30s, as women on my mother’s side do, it changed to “having body”. I stopped coloring it in my 40s for various reasons, and like others have mentioned, use a blue shampoo and get quite a few unexpected compliments. My mother and aunt just got more and more ash blonde as they got older (dyed).

  255. 255.

    oldgold

    Merchan wrote that he made the decision “to avoid any appearance — however unwarranted — that the proceeding has been affected by or seeks to affect the approaching Presidential election in which the Defendant is a candidate.”

    This is bullshit. The election should play no role in the date of sentencing. Allowing this delay is doing the very thing Merchan claims to be avoiding – having the proceeding affected by the approaching Presidential election.

  257. 257.

    hueyplong

    @TBone: Think of this scenario:

    It’s October, and while polling is still reasonably close, Trump has fallen a bit farther behind Harris.  He has to think, “that librul, anti-Trump judge is flat out telling me that if I lose I’m going to jail.  Gas up the jet.  We’re out of here.”

  258. 258.

    frosty

    @Citizen Alan: ​If a Republican Senate doesn’t confirm nominees, then I think a Democratic president should put the foot down and say “You have 30 days to advise and if there’s no decision by then we’ll assume consent.” Obama should have done that with Merrick Garland. What are they going to do?

  262. 262.

    VagueGrant

    Heya folks. I have lurked here for literal decades, and figured I should actually talk to the community here! South Carolina recently passed an absolutely atrocious book-banning law, and my county school district has been forced to end book fairs, stop accepting book donations, and ban Google Search as a result. (Seriously, it’s dire—read the ACLU writeup of it.)

    My middle-school daughter is so mad about this that she’s getting her friends together to write letters to the local papers, our state legislators, and others. She also wants to get involved in some activism work on this front. However, I’ve been disconnected from local politics for a long time and I don’t actually know where I should start with that—that’s what I get for reading up on national politics instead of being locally active. I figure I’d reach out to the local ACLU chapter to start, but are there any other orgs folks can recommend? South Carolina, and Upstate SC orgs are preferred, but any national orgs you can recommend are welcome!

  269. 269.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Imo: Sentencing that will hold up on appeal >>> an exciting sentence now, that doesn’t.

  270. 270.

    StringOnAStick

    My wingnut elderly father hates tRump and refuses to vote for him (this time, he did the last two times, Boebert too); he plans to write in Nikki Haley.  He thinks she just might win!

    at 92, his connection to reality is not necessarily perfect but it’s better than the mango moron ‘s is.

  271. 271.

    Josie

    @Omnes Omnibus: ​
     Yes, I would guess that she doesn’t care whether we like her or not. She is doing this for her own reasons (which we don’t know) and will not worry about being liked.

  275. 275.

    TBone

    Just staked my Harris for President signs on the front lawn (not one, two – one facing forward to the street and the other out at the end of driveway facing traffic).  Also Casey for Senate.

    It felt like driving a stake through Donvict’s putrid flesh.

  276. 276.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Baud: Just a reminder to everyone that the “dirty books” referenced in the cartoons are books that mention queer and trans people exist.

    Project 2025 plans to declare anything as LGBTQ-related to be inherently pornographic— and then ban all porn. So my very existence will conveniently become illegal.

  278. 278.

    Miki

    @Kay: My experience is if I use it too often there is a definite purple sheen to my white hair. Using a clarifying shampoo fixes that problem, but so does just using the purple shampoo occasionally, like maybe once a week.

  279. 279.

    TBone

    @Sister Golden Bear: not trying to diminish your factual description. It is spot on.  I want to add to it –  just a reminder that The Diary of Anne Frank also upsets these fascist fucks. Anything by a Black author also.

  280. 280.

    Kosh III

    @cain: he dumb thing is that revolution is stupid and risky. You have no idea who is going seize control and it won’t be them.

     

    Look at Russia, they overthrew the awful Romanovs in Feb. and in Oct. a radical group with almost no support in the population took power. Why? Because the sailors at Kronstadt were radical Bolsheviks.
    Plus most revolutions have civil war shortly after the revolution.
    The US had the Whiskey revolt and the War of Treason in 1861.

  281. 281.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Geminid: I must add my condolences on the Ravens’ loss last night, and in the spirit of Greater Chesapeake Regional solidarity I denounce the lousy officiating.

    Thankyew.

    After losing 3/5 of the starting OL to free agency and then the OL coach dropping dead just 10 days back, I expected a >2 TD loss. I didn’t expect them to have 4 shots at winning (if you count Tucker’s uncharacteristic missed FG). How Lamar missed Flowers wide open for a TD is incomprehensible – and still it came down to one goddamn toenail.

    Fuck the zeebs, they’re all in the tank for Roger Greedell and his Barely Men drooling to monetize Taylor Swift. Fuck them all with an anthrax-dusted rusty chainsaw. And the fucking Chefs and their TV commercials.

  284. 284.

    Ruckus

    @A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan):

    You could have been a man and had a very good chance at going bald. In my case all my hair enlisted gravities help and fell to the bottom of my face.

    Getting old is easy, and not. But it’s something most of us do. Some fight it but that gets harder as the years/decades go by. Some give up and get bitter, which seems to make things worse. Much worse. And some accept that they are old and accept that they are the lucky one’s who make it that far. I’ve had a cousin who made 6 months and a mom who made 95 yrs. It’s a crapshoot. It’s life. It has it’s grand points, it’s not so grand points, and it’s points of pure shit.

    It’s life. It’s what we get and what we make of it. We can be bitter and we can be thankful – but not at the same time or likely the same life. I say enjoy what you can, accept what you can’t enjoy, look around a the world and see the beauty and the not so beautiful. There is a lot of the first and more than enough of the other.

  285. 285.

    Ruckus

    @oldgold:

    I’ll ask.

    Is this a delay or how busy this court is at this time? I’ve know a few lawyers in my life, long ago apartment complex had several living in it. I’ve also know lawyers because I owned my own business. Court dates are what they are, they rarely come as quickly as one might wish. SFB is shedding supporters every time he opens his gigantic mouth and complains about his life. 99% of his troubles are his fault. Inheriting $400 million and then making a bigger ass of himself seems to be a personal issue that is his fault. No one, ok one we know of, has attacked him but every other issue/problem he has is self made. I feel only contempt for his ability to live a life 99% of us would never be anywhere close to and fucking it up completely. Is most of his weight ego?

  286. 286.

    Kosh III

    @Sure Lurkalot:but I’m not interested in trading places if that’s the vision of elder beauty these days.

     

    Yeah, remember how Joan Rivers looked?  Her face was so tight you could bounce a medicine ball off it.

  287. 287.

    Geminid

     

     

    @EthylEster: This organization may be composed of Assyrian Christians. This group emigrated from Turkiye, Syria and Iraq in the past few decades. Most of their homeland is a conflict zone.

  288. 288.

    Kosh III

    @dnfree:Aretha didn’t write “Respect”, either.

     

    IIRC it was first done by Otis Redding and it barely moved the scale. He once said he was upset that Aretha did so great with the song until the royalty checks rolled in, then he was thrilled.

  289. 289.

    Kosh III

    @CaseyL:I also can’t think of anyplace Harris would want Collins to be our representative.
    Maldives, French Polynesia, Fiji, Lichtenstein, Andorra or any other lovely but irrelevant country.

  291. 291.

    Mark’s Bubbie

    @Msb: I’m in total agreement regarding Liz Cheney. Not only did she denounce Trump’s behavior on 1/6, not only did she serve admirably as vice chair of the 1/6 committee, but she ran for re-election, knowing that she was a sure loser, out of principle. I wonder how many death threats she & her family got. Must’ve been awful.

  294. 294.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: The Assyrian/Chaldean people’s homeland is in the mountainous areas along the Syrian, Turkish, Iraqi and Iranian borders borders. According to Wikipedia,

    “they are one of the few communities who resisted Arabization, Turkification, Persianization and Islamization during and after the Muslim conquest of of Iraq, Syria, Turkiye and Iran.

    Anatolia’s Assyrian/Chaldeans were caught up in the first Ottoman genocide against them and the Armenians in the 1880s, and then the much larger genocide of 1915. The Assyrians estimate they lost 250,000 people then, half their population.

    That’s when the first wave of Assyrian-Chaldeans emigrated to western countries including the US. More left Turkiye in the 1980s and 90s when the Turkish/PKK conflict raged across south-eastern Turkiye, and many fled Saddam Hussein’s repressive regime in Iraq and the Islamic Republic in Iraq. Another wave of emigration occurred this century after the Islamic State took over large portions of Iraq and Syria ~2012.

    The 2000 Census found that 83,000 Assyrian-Chaldeans lived in the US, including 36,000 in Michigan, 23,000 in California and 16,000 in Illinois.

  295. 295.

    wjca

    @Ruckus: Is most of his weight ego?

    Of course not.  His ego is inflated.  Like most things about him, it looks big but is actually hollow.

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