Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

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

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Books are my comfort food!

Their freedom requires your slavery.

He really is that stupid.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

No one could have predicted…

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

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

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Late Night Open Thread: Oops, They Did It Again…

Late Night Open Thread: Oops, They Did It Again…

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Alternate soundtrack: Who’s Zooming Scamming Who?

Of course, Elmo’s gonna be a little busy with his *existing* duties for the immediate future…


Reader Interactions

116Comments

  3. 3.

    SpaceUnit

    The picture of Musk up top is a hoot.

     

    Not sure a last minute and desperate outreach to that all-important Juggalo demographic is a winning campaign strategy though.  I could be wrong.

  8. 8.

    bjacques

    Those big donors won’t care if Xitter goes belly up financially, since it’s really a vehicle for various influence operations that would otherwise make them legal targets. Xitter is disposable, and they’ll keep using it until it’s no longer fit for purpose. Meanwhile, it’s getting results that are worth more to them than a few billion dollars.

    Musk is self-destructive and the sooner his inevitable crash comes the better. A trillion bucks are worthless when you’re dead. And Thiel and Andreessen are looking pretty worn out these days.

  11. 11.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    The Saudis’ value-out of Twitter, I suspect, will come not from monetary returns but from the ability to direct, divert, or suppress content as they see fit from time to time.

  14. 14.

    Jay

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR:

    Shitter is censored via Apartheid Clyde in Saw-di Arabia and a bunch of other states.

    Freeze Peach Apartheid Clyde is full of shit.

    He “throttles”, “rate limits” posts he doesn’t like and removes “community notes” countering the Nazi horse shit he is selling.

    How this guy gets vital NatSec Federal Contacts, IDK.

  16. 16.

    SpaceUnit

    @columbusqueen:

    I believe that Putin is one of the most toxic figures in recorded human history.

    He managed to consolidate the powers of state with those of organized crime and is corrupting governments worldwide.  Placing trump back in the Whitehouse would be his coup de grace.

  17. 17.

    lowtechcyclist

    Budget experts of both parties are extremely skeptical… laughing their asses off.

    Fixed that for ya, Jeff Stein of the WaPo.

  19. 19.

    p.a.

    How many of the “gubmint is inefficient” squawkers work for large corps with corporate offices that would make a Roman emperor envious, and Chief Officers lighting cigars with $100 bills in one of their 7 homes?  How many are business owners screwing employees out of OT and holiday pay?  Yet on those abuses, *crickets*.

  20. 20.

    lowtechcyclist

    I’m sure that if Trump is an incoherent mess tomorrow night, we’ll see a deluge of editorials and op-eds saying he must step aside, just like we saw with Biden after the June debate.

    Hahahahahahahahahahaha….right.  If only.

  23. 23.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @SpaceUnit:

    They lean a bit left as a group.

    Juggalos are loudly and ferociously anti-fascist.  Not the allies we expected.  Possibly the allies we deserve.

    @bjacques:

    Those big donors won’t care if Xitter goes belly up financially

    No way.  Almost none of those big donors have a stake in influence peddling, and Musk is clumsy as shit doing it.  The banks are way more invested than MBS and sweating bullets carrying this dead weight loan they thought they could sell.

    MBS is probably happy, yeah.  In his case it’s throw-away money and censorship is worth it.  He could also be a dumbass who really thinks Musk can pull this off.  Rich, powerful, and murderously ruthless definitely do not protect you from fart-huffing.

  25. 25.

    TBone

    Yet another example of a RWNJ overestimating the size of his tribe.  They just can’t math.

    But this one is very dangerous in additional ways – he owns 2/3 of the satellites orbiting our planet.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    @TBone:

    # of satellites is a useless measure. He owns one satellite service, which is dominant in its market space but which requires a lot of small satellites to work.

  30. 30.

    superdestroyer

    The left win version of the efficiency review is bringing in McKinsey to reorganizing some government agencies business processes and all of the civil servants have to spend weeks teaching the junior consultants who actually do the work how the government operates.

  32. 32.

    TBone

    @TBone: this is where I got that crazy idea

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/elon-musks-spacex-rockets-past-new-milestone-launches-7000th-starlink-satellite/ar-AA1q67mn

    SpaceX is looking to launch 144 times through the end of the year, averaging twelve times per month.
    Earlier this week, Musk said that T-Mobile US Inc. subscribers will get direct-to-cell satellite connectivity with the help of Starlink later this year. The service will be available to T-Mobile customers in the U.S. exclusively for a year before the company opens it up to other carriers, he added.

  33. 33.

    mrmoshpotato

    It’s funny how everyone has to suffer through a billionaires midlife crisis.

    What’s the definition of Dump’s crisis – entire-life crisis?

  36. 36.

    mrmoshpotato

    @SpaceUnit:

    Placing trump back in the Whitehouse would be his coup de grace.

    Yup.  And that’s on top of being able to trick enough Americans into starting chapter 1 of this crap.  We don’t need a chapter 2.

  37. 37.

    mrmoshpotato

    @TBone: I’ve never looked into how the company is structured, but the thought of the Saudis buying up the whole thing… NOPE!

  38. 38.

    TBone

    @mrmoshpotato: yes, I would move anything I had away from them immediately and, if it were through my employer, I would demand to see the manager 😆 after circulating a petition throughout the workforce asking for requiring a change of strategy.

  40. 40.

    mrmoshpotato

    @TBone:

    Pooty is having a good laugh and these moronic fucks pretend they don’t know it. 

    “What are rubles?” asked the moronic horses’ asses.

  41. 41.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @p.a.:

    Yup.  38+ year Club Fed employee here.  Old friend back in St Louis was a point-haired mid-level manager at McDonnel-Douglas/later Boeing (when bought out).  We spent 20 years comparing our respective “corporate” (in a generic sense) horror stories.

    I had a couple of doozies over that period but nothing compared to the number and type he would relate.

    Any time I hear some neoliberal asshat from our side or typical rwnj from their side yammer on about bringing business practices to gubmint, I realize they are no ally.

  42. 42.

    TBone

    @mrmoshpotato: indeed.  Most of MAGA unaware that any form of monetary exchange besides the Almighty Dollar exists, so they are completely innocent!  Innocent, I tell ya!

  43. 43.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Jay: The right-libertarian-ish concept of “freedom” is basically that money should be power. You’re not free unless you can do anything you want (including pushing other people around) with your money, and if you don’t have any money, that’s your fault.

  44. 44.

    EireIAm

    Has no one else noticed that DOGE is the name of the cryptocurrency Musk was promoting (dogecoin)?

  47. 47.

    p.a.

    @EireIAm: Has no one else noticed that DOGE is the name of the cryptocurrency Musk was promoting (dogecoin)?

     

     

    Maybe he wants to buy Venice?  (Another sinking investment.)

  50. 50.

    lowtechcyclist

    @EireIAm:

    Has no one else noticed that DOGE is the name of the cryptocurrency Musk was promoting (dogecoin)?

    I knew that Dogecoin was a variety of cryptocurrency, but I didn’t realize Elmo had any connection to it.

    Since I think of crypto as vaporware, I figured giving him that label was a way of making fun of him.

  52. 52.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: Yes, the “night watchman state”. Basically government needs to be reduced to a mechanism to protect the rich from everyone else and help them do their bidding.

  53. 53.

    TBone

    Two articles at different sites outlining Stasi tactics being used in the U.S.:

    Exhibit A:

    Texas has sued to block federal rules that prohibit investigators from viewing the medical records of women who travel out of state to seek abortions where the procedure is legal.

    The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in Federal District Court in Lubbock, targets medical privacy regulations that were issued in 2000, and takes aim at a rule issued in April that specifically bans disclosing medical records for criminal or civil investigations into “the mere act of seeking, obtaining, providing or facilitating reproductive health care.” (TFTFNYT)

    Exhibit B:

    https://digbysblog.net/2024/09/08/big-lie-part-xxiv/

  54. 54.

    sdhays

    @TBone: I have to say, I’m impressed that the Donvict could tell Putin was joking and didn’t go into an all caps tirade on Shart Social confessing to all the things he’s done for Putin and how shitty he is for “betraying” him

    Maybe that will be an October surprise.

  56. 56.

    Kay

    .@RadioFreeTom says JD Vance’s comments on childcare underscore his apparent belief that “everyone else is just there to be a supporting player in the life of people like [him]. Your grandmother, your aunt and uncle, they don’t really have lives, they’re just there to help you.”

    True, I think.

  57. 57.

    TBone

    @sdhays: I’m sure he has a burner phone direct line to Pooty and was warned advised in advance that Pooty would be making that “joke” because you’re absolutely correct about what his howling response would have been otherwise.

  62. 62.

    gene108

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Trump is going to get whatever energy booster he was on for the last debate.

    As long as he’s loud, nothing else matters.

    There is no expectation for him other than to be loud.

  64. 64.

    Kay

    @TBone:

    I always need “it” – this thing- explained without using the word “narcissist” – everyone uses “narcissist” but I don’t know what that means.

    THAT SAID I am right now getting ready to spend at least a week in Toledo with my middle son at his house. He was in a car accident and dislocated his hip and tore tendons in both legs so cannot walk and has to have a PT come to his house. But he’s a quiet and nice person who didn’t even ask for the help, so not JD Vance.

  67. 67.

    BellyCat

    @Matt McIrvin: Basically government needs to be reduced to a mechanism to protect the rich from everyone else and help them do their bidding.

    All they need to control are the courts and the police. Government can be totally eliminated.

  68. 68.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Kay:

    THAT SAID I am right now getting ready to spend at least a week in Toledo with my middle son at his house. He was in a car accident and dislocated his hip and tore tendons in both legs so cannot walk and has to have a PT come to his house. But he’s a quiet and nice person who didn’t even ask for the help, so not JD Vance.

    Yipes! That sounds painful as well as difficult.  My prayers for a full recovery.

  69. 69.

    Shalimar

    @Kay: My brother absolutely treats all of us that way.  It’s a narcissistic trait, not just a rich asshole trait.

  70. 70.

    trnc

    If she isn’t already, Kamala should be making it clear that republicans who are endorsing her are doing so on their own and getting zero promises on policy concessions. The endorsements on top of the misreporting about any promise she made to put a republican in the cabinet will no doubt encourage purity ponies to come out of the woodwork again.

  71. 71.

    Kay

    @TBone:

    Right, but people seem to use it to label any bad behavior. For me, it works better if they just describe the bad behavior.

    The “aunts and uncles” part of JD Vance’s childcare program are amusing. Aunts and uncles would be either young people who have their own jobs or older people who have their own jobs and children. He seems to be unfamiliar with “families”.

  72. 72.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @zhena gogolia: Oh sure.

    Thing is, aside from the verbal diarrhea Trump is going to spew, there’s no getting around the fact that the optics are bad.

    Next to Kamala, Trump is going to look like an old man, and as image-conscious as a huge chunk of our electorate is, that’s going to make a difference.

    There’s a reason why Trump sounds like a jerk whose girlfriend dumped him whenever he rants about Biden being “stabbed in the back.” There’s nothing he can attack Kamala with that she hasn’t seen as a black woman existing in White America.

  74. 74.

    BellyCat

    @Kay:

    The easiest summation [of narcissism] is a person saying to a group, “Enough about me. What do you guys think about me?”

    Essentially, everybody else is simply a prop in a theater performance in which you are the star.

    I was raised by one, then married one. It’s a pernicious condition.

  75. 75.

    TBone

    @Kay: it’s a very specific personality disorder.  I don’t use it to describe anything else, but overuse can be a problem.  However, in the case of MAGA and their leaders, the description is apt.

  76. 76.

    Shalimar

    @TBone: I try, and also avoid contact whenever possible.  It mostly helps, but he still goes off over something trivial every few months and threatens to destroy everything i care about.  And then gaslights afterwards and pretends nothing extremely weird and terroristic happened.

    The problem is no matter how little I care about him and realize he will never do a single thing to help me, he still expects me to contribute to “the family”, which is always shit that helps him.

  79. 79.

    Kay

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Thanks. Local 8 of the IBEW took good care of him. His business agent was at the hospital in Ann Arbor before I was. He was leaving the job site in Ann Arbor and headed home to Toledo when he wrecked. They got him on short term disability immediately. He has a walker but he’s not supposed to use it until the PT says he can. His house is a ranch which is nice – no stairs.

  80. 80.

    TBone

    @Shalimar: oh dear, I’m sorry! His persistence is very troubling. Maybe employ tactics like “Oh, that’s (name) on my other line ringing in, gotta go!” and hang up abruptly without any explanation whatsoever. Or say “I have other plans with my group” even if such group is fictional.  If you haven’t already tried those.  Repetition of those exact same methods over time should clue him in (make him lose interest in trying to get you to participate).  I’m sorry you have to deal with this 😔

  83. 83.

    BellyCat

    @Shalimar: he still expects me to contribute to “the family”, which is always shit that helps him.

    The reason that “family“ is so important to a narcissist is because friends would never put up with their bullshit. They can walk away. When it’s family, it’s far harder to walk away.  And you will never be able to meet their definition of what family is because they are the center of the family.

    The only thing that works is to create a firm buffer zone with clear boundaries and disengage as much as possible.

  85. 85.

    trnc

    @The Thin Black Duke: I think you’re right about how he’ll look directly next to her, but it looks like a lot of people are expecting completely unhinged rally-style rants at the debate and I would caution not to get their hopes up on that. That’s basically the prediction for every debate of his, but I predict his usual debate appearance – lying his way all the way through it, but generally forming complete sentences.

    Kamala will, of course, be judged on puerile crap like whether she’s smiling too much or not enough. I am expecting a mix of policy talk, serious talk about the dangers he presents and, not least, mockery of his bullshit. That could do him in, but I suspect the number one debate advice he’s getting is to not take the bait.

    As for the moderators, I have never expected them to fact check in real time and I don’t consider that to be their job. There is always plenty of fact checking after the debate, and they generally point out that he is by far the biggest liar anyone has ever seen. The moderators just need to ask their questions, keep the time and decide which questions should be pressed when he doesn’t answer them. I know, I know – “All of them, Katie.”

  87. 87.

    Shalimar

    @TBone: Problem is our mom is 78 and has dementia so I am her full-time caregiver.  And my brother as the owner of a roofing company with jobs all over has decided he doesn’t need his own place to live so he is here most nights.  He also talks on occasion like mom is his personal property.  He has also always been her favorite so even when she was mentally at her best she supported him 100%.  It’s a total mess and always will be.

  88. 88.

    Shalimar

    @BellyCat: Not possible while mom is alive, which I hope continues for years more.

    If he were successful, at least he wouldn’t be here most of the time.  But work is always just a few months to a year away from being amazing while always sucking right now.

  89. 89.

    Tony G

    One of Elon’s ideas for government efficiency will be to replace the FDA with a Blue Check system.  If a manufacturer of food or drugs pays enough money to the Republican Party then  their products will get a Blue Check certifying their safety.

  90. 90.

    Chris T.

    @p.a.:

    How many of the “gubmint is inefficient” squawkers work for large corps with corporate offices that would make a Roman emperor envious, and Chief Officers lighting cigars with $100 bills in one of their 7 homes?  How many are business owners screwing employees out of OT and holiday pay?  Yet on those abuses, *crickets*.

    That’s because “efficiency” means “I get all the money, nobody else gets anything”. At least, it does when they say the word. Glory!

  91. 91.

    BellyCat

    @Shalimar: That’s rough. The only card you have to play is “keep doing X and you can take care of mom full time. Otherwise, respect my efforts.”

    And be prepared to deliver. A few days of taking care of her may sober him up. 

  92. 92.

    BellyCat

    @Shalimar:  Dr. Ramani offers excellent videos on YouTube regarding narcissism. Might be helpful, if only to know you’re not alone. No magic bullets but improvements often can (slowly) be made through one’s own responses. Sending strength your way.

  93. 93.

    TBone

    @Shalimar: crikey!  I had a similarly vexing situation when Dad died and Mom was left alone at home in the middle of dementia.  However, I put my foot down after the first six months of free caregiving and fled the County to go live in my upstate cabin in the woods.  Yes, I felt guilty leaving Mom in their “care,” (which was no care at all because they were in charge of her millions which they knew they’d be inheriting). I almost took her with us to the mountains but I knew that wouldn’t be safe for anyone. I spoke to her daily on the phone and visited as much as I could. Getting physically away from the situation is the best thing I did – it allowed ME to survive mentally. 

  94. 94.

    Salty Sam

    @TBone: have you used the Gray Rock method?

    Interesting-  I was in a relationship once with a Borderline Personality Disordered woman.  BPD shares many traits with Narcissists (gaslighting, emotional manipulation), and I discovered that “GrayRock” technique for myself.  I called it “Emotional Invisibility”.

  99. 99.

    zhena gogolia

    @trnc:

    There is always plenty of fact checking after the debate

    That is no substitute for Max Frankel staring in disbelief at Gerald Ford on live TV and saying, “Did I understand you to say, sir, that the Russians are not using Eastern Europe as their own sphere of influence in occupying most of the countries there?” It was unfair but effective.

  100. 100.

    Kay

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    @zhena gogolia:

    Thanks. I just read his discharge paperwork. They gave him ketamine when he got to the hospital for pain. A lot – apparently popping a hip back in is painful as hell.

    I had no idea that was mainstream now. I think of it as weird online Righty recreational drug. Elon Musk uses it.

  102. 102.

    Shalimar

    @BellyCat: We did a trial run of that this past weekend.  I have a bad cold and don’t want to infect mom so I have stayed away from her except for giving her medicine (which he can’t be trusted to do, and she has a UTI so the antibiotics are essential).  Meanwhile he had his girlfriend and her kids visit so mom didn’t leave her bedroom for more than 48 hours because the living room and sun room were full of people.  She usually spends more than half her time in the living room where it is easier to watch her.

    Net result was he doesn’t seem to have done a single thing for her, and my kitchen is a wreck because no one other than me* cleans up after they cook.  We have had similar problems before when he took her on vacations to see his daughters 2000 miles away and couldn’t be bothered to give her any medicine.  He wants everyone to think he takes care of mom, but he doesn’t actually want to do anything.

    *brother, girlfriend, and our cousin all made meals. none of them cleaned a single pot, pan, or dish from 6 people for 4 meals.

  103. 103.

    TBone

    @Shalimar: as painful as this sounds and IS, stepping away is about you preserving YOU.  Limiting damage that you are being barraged with from all directions.  You can’t care for anyone else unless you care for yourself first, as the priority. It sounds counterintuitive when dealing with a narcissist, but it’s the only way to be sure you survive all of this utter shit being thrown at you.  Sometimes you gotta let the failure unfold on its own.

    They are DEPENDING on YOU to clean up everything – don’t let them continue to USE you (enabling is the official word).

  104. 104.

    Chris T.

    @Kay:

    I had no idea [ketamine] was mainstream now.

    It’s a tranquilizer with anesthetic, dissociative, and hallucinogenic properties. It has the weird property (for anaesthetics) of boosting respiration, which makes it attractive for certain kinds of injuries. It’s also relatively cheap, which is probably another source of its attractiveness here. (Compare isoflurane and sevoflurane, used for pet surgeries in veterinary practice; sevoflurane is roughly 10x the cost, though it has some preferable properties, so most vets still use isoflurane as far as I know.)

    For (much) more see the Wikipedia article.

  105. 105.

    trnc

    @zhena gogolia: ​
     

    That is no substitute for Max Frankel staring in disbelief at Gerald Ford on live TV…

    Sure, but it’s one thing to deal with one or two outrageous statements from a serious politician in 1976 and a whole other thing to try to deal with DT like that in 2024. He’ll just continue to claim whatever and has zero shame, and our political landscape is completely different now.

    Kamala will need to cherry pick from the gish gallop and introduce facts that he might not bring up, like how similar all of his stated goals are just like Project 2025 that he says he’s never heard of.

  108. 108.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    I find now as a widow with my husband’s mother still alive that there iare assumptions on the part of her friends and care home that I have nothing else to do but be deeply involved in her care.  Which I’m not going to be, especially because she did wrong by him and his sister when they were teens.  So my go to phrase is: I have plans for that day.”  I sure do, even if it is sleeping late, going for a walk and watching a movie.

  109. 109.

    Bill Arnold

    @Kay:

    I think of it as weird online Righty recreational drug. Elon Musk uses it.

    (See also the wikipedia article pointed to by Chris T.)
    Not so much righties as highly competitive techbros. The hardcore among the nootropics set sometimes use it as a “neuroplasticizer”, in self-experimentation attempts to gain a competitive mental advantage. It has similar effects to some of the psychedelics in that regard. Sometime 2016ish some papers started appearing showing experimentally that it (also some psychedelics, DMT in particular) actually has such effects (the hippies were correct), and its use in the rapid treatment of depression is becoming more mainstream. (That last (depression) is Musk’s alleged interest.) Very active area of research.
    The problem is that one’s mental surroundings direct the changes, and they can be rapid.
    Musk’s problem (well, one among many) is that he is gullible and easily manipulated, and critically, does not know it, and he has been captured by a right wing echo chamber, in part of his own construction. Paid bluechecks on X are amplified to the top of the sort, and they are mostly right wing (or musk fans), so he mostly sees them. That echo chamber (his mental surroundings), combined with ketamine, is making him turn (neo-)Nazi faster. That’s the theory, at least.

  112. 112.

    BellyCat

    @Shalimar: Been offline and just saw this. I’m very sorry. You sound like a “giver” and they sound like “takers”. This makes it doubly hard. Reflecting on what you need to protect your own self then clearly communicating it, while also stipulating consequences for violations, is a path we all must travel. But you *have* to apply the consequences for violations (such as “if you say or do X, you have to leave”) for improvement to happen. Narcissists do NOT want to be ignored.

  113. 113.

    Ruckus

    @TBone:

    They just can’t math

    They only have 10 fingers……

    10 cents, 10 dollars, 10,000 dollars – what’s the difference when you are doing the accounting with your fingers?

  115. 115.

    Ruckus

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage:

    A lot of businesses are ONLY interested in the bottom line. Not how they got there, not how they create/operate/protect the journey, only the bottom line. Make the most for the least. Sure you actually do need a business to be profitable, but that should mean providing a product of some sort, be it money management, stock info, selling groceries, repairing cars, etc, not just the end of the month bank account increase. Sure a profit is important, if you are losing money, you are losing. But the product – the getting there – is important as well. Giving entities a rational reason for entrusting an entity with money is providing something positive. Screwing them isn’t.

  116. 116.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay: I know ketamine is used a lot as a *veterinary* anesthetic. They gave it to my cat when he had a procedure done. I remember thinking I was thankful he couldn’t write, because I associate it with people spewing nonsensical cosmic revelations from the computer minds at the end of time.

    (Maybe the dosage is different?)

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