Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Second rate reporter says what?

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

The lights are all blinking red.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

The frogs are rarely mistaken.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

So many bastards, so little time.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

It’s a new day. Light all those Biden polls of young people on fire and throw away the ashes.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / New Boyfriends (Open Thread)

New Boyfriends (Open Thread)

by | 247 Comments

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I hate shopping for clothes and have ordered pretty much everything I wear (except undergarments) from LL Bean for decades. But I had a pants incident recently that prompted an emergency shopping trip.

Valued commenter Baud can’t relate, but those of us who regularly wear pants know that their primary function is to cover our butts and naughty bits, and my existing stock of pants were no longer reliably doing that because they’ve become too loose.

I literally got pantsed in my own yard the other day while talking to our mail lady. One of the dogs excitedly (because of the presence of the mail lady, a favorite) ran up, put his front paws on my thigh and bounced off, causing my pants to fall down around my knees.

I hauled them back up immediately, and the mail lady had the tact to pretend nothing happened, but it was embarrassing!

Belts help with some pants, but I don’t want to wear belts all the time. So I broke down and went shopping for jeans that fit. I expected a giant hassle, but I discovered apparel called “boyfriend jeans” that fit great! I have no idea why they’re called that. But for the first time in 30 years, I have new boyfriends.

Open thread!

P.S. Still haven’t decided whether or not to watch the debate. Leaning toward skipping it so I don’t expose my eyes and ears to the sloshing orange bag of liposuction clinic medical waste.

Reader Interactions

247Comments

  1. 1.

    oldster

    I recognize that I am a coward, about this and other things, but I will not watch the debate tonight.

    I also will not watch election returns on election night. I’ll try to sleep, and find out what happened the next day.

    I try to get involved when I can help. But being a passive observer, when I cannot intervene, is too much like watching a horror movie. And I don’t watch them either.

  4. 4.

    Chet Murthy

    bag of liposuction clinic medical waste.

    Liposuction clinic medical waste libel!  I have it on good authority (Tyler Durden!) that that stuff can be turned into excellent, excellent soap!  Unlike TCFG!

  6. 6.

    Chet Murthy

    @Ksmiami: I never watch debates, never watch speeches.  B/c I already decided (based on written accounts, prior policies, results) how I’m voting.  But back in the summer/fall of 2016, I did watch “The Trump Show” down at my local bar.  B/c good, clean fun.  [um, and then it wasn’t, sigh]  I’m tempted to watch tonight, to see VP Harris wallop the everlovin’ daylights out of the Orange Menace.  I mean, on the principle that VP Harris is our spirit great white shark, and TCFG is a bag of chum that got dumped in the ocean.

  7. 7.

    Quicksand

    My wife loves her boyfriend jeans.  I had to ask her what they were, and apparently they have a lower waist, straight legs, and sit more loosely around the hips.

    That was enough information for me!

  8. 8.

    sdhays

    @Chet Murthy: What’s the electric car in this analogy? Tim Walz? Biden?

    JD Vance is the couch because…JD Vance is always the couch, even if there isn’t a couch.

  10. 10.

    TBone

    Swalwell to Jordan:

    “I hope you’re okay,” he told Jordan. “I don’t know if the aliens who are eating your ducks are in the room with us right now but, Mr. Chairman, this is a serious issue. These people [i.e., witnesses at the hearing] have loved ones who have been lost, and you tweeted this, so I am sorry that you came here expecting seriousness.”

    😆😎🔥

    https://www.rawstory.com/jim-jordan-2669159592/

    “You would expect some seriousness, some gravitas, respect for the people who came here,” the lawmaker insisted. “What in the hell is this the chairman tweets? ‘Protect our ducks and kittens in Ohio’ because he goes down some crazy rabbit hole completely debunked that aliens are eating pets.”

  12. 12.

    Old School

    According to Wikipedia:

    In fashion design, “boyfriend” is a style of women’s clothing that draws heavily from corresponding men’s garments. Boyfriend-style clothes are designed to be looser or boxier and tend to be oversized – giving the appearance that one is wearing a “boyfriend’s clothing”. The style can be traced back to the 1960s, when Marilyn Monroe wore her boyfriend’s loosely-fitting jeans, which contrasted her feminine looks with a masculine aesthetic.

  13. 13.

    Geminid

    I want to hear how Harris and Trump sound, so I’ll probably listen on radio for a while. Then I’ll read about the rest in bed because I need to get to sleep early. Eyes shut at 11pm is the goal.

  14. 14.

    Elizabelle

    I might watch the debate.  I think all of us should be sure the batteries in our remotes and mute buttons are working handily.

    For Trump, I may just watch him on mute with closed captioning.

    And there might be an idea for getting around the FTF NY Times and others sanewashing him.  Photograph or screenshot the silliest responses and captioning you see, and share it on social media.  A lot of people (OK, me) never click on any clip to watch or listen to Trump.  But you can take in a lot of information from the photo and caption.

  15. 15.

    Phylllis

    Is this a brand or a style? I’ve found as I’ve settled into middle age that the Not Your Daughter’s Jeans brand works really well for me. I have a pair of culotte jeans from them that I snagged on the Dillard’s clearance rack for $14 years ago that I’m still wearing.

    Not watching the debate. Will probably flip back and forth between the two WNBA games until bedtime.

  16. 16.

    Tony Jay

    BC – You could always bring the wearing of stylish braces back into fashion. Rainbow ones. Metallic ones. Tartan ones. Ones that look like keyboards. There are no internationally recognised limits to their versatility, and they also keep pants up.

    Or I’m sure Cole could hook you up with his Bib ‘n Braces guy. Get you a few sets colour coded for each day of the week, put in huge turn-ups. Have you looking like a proper cult-leader in no time.

    Fortunately for me the debate is on waaaaay too late. I’ll check in come the morning to find out how many vertebrae the corporate media have shattered bending over backwards to normalise whatever crap Stench gets up to.

  18. 18.

    hueyplong

    I can’t stand the sound of Trump’s voice.  As per usual, will read the postings of those of you who are in fact watching.  If Trump drops dead on the stage, well, that’s why God created instant replay.

  19. 19.

    JPL

    We already know how the MSM will phrase the election.   trump lunged towards Harris and showed great restraint by not choking her.

     

    The watch or not watch issue is interesting.   I chose not to watch Biden/trump because I thought Biden would be okay.   I;m not sure I’ll be able to sleep either way.

  20. 20.

    geg6

    I love a boyfriend cut jean.  I have a pair of boyfriend cut stretch ankle length Levis and I’d wear them every day to work if I could.  So comfy!  But I rarely wear jeans around the house.  I’m all in on yoga pants and sweats.  15 working days until that’s my every day uniform!

  21. 21.

    sdhays

    @TBone: “I hope you’re okay. I don’t know if the aliens who are eating your ducks are in the room with us right now…”

    Haha! Perfect.

  24. 24.

    Chet Murthy

    @SuzieC: ” I’ll follow commentary on The Big Picture”

    Do you mean Barry Rithholtz’s investment site?  He does debate liveblogging?  I never knew!  Huh I bet his take on things would be a little different from the dirty-fuckin-hippie sites I haunt: I mean, we hippies aren’t gazillionaires (Barry’s a Dem, and from what I understand a good guy, but still, as Cyndi Lauper said, “Money Changes Everything”).

  27. 27.

    mary s

    @Chet Murthy: Agree! But our media overlords are fixated on debates and press conferences and other performances, so I can see why they inspire anxiety in the rest of us.

  29. 29.

    SatanicPanic

    @FastEdD: back in the 2000s I had a phase of wearing women’s jeans because they hadn’t really started making good skinny jeans for men. I was shocked by the tiny pockets. Glad it was still flip phone era because my current phone would never have fit.

  30. 30.

    mrmoshpotato

    One of the dogs excitedly (because of the presence of the mail lady, a favorite) ran up, put his front paws on my thigh and bounced off, causing my pants to fall down around my knees.

    Who’s the guilty party?

  31. 31.

    UncleEbeneezer

    I will be working this eve so I will miss the debate which I’m totally okay with.  I won’t have the patience for all the sane washing of Trump, and hyper-critical, perfectionism demanded of Harris that I know the Media will deliver.  It would only piss me off so I’m fine with reading about it or watching clips of it later.

  33. 33.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    Betty Cracker @ Top:

    P.S. Still haven’t decided whether or not to watch the debate. Leaning toward skipping it so I don’t expose my eyes and ears to the sloshing orange bag of liposuction clinic medical waste.

    I’m intending to skip it. I’ll read about it in the live blogs. Don’t want to watch or hear the orange gro(y)per.

    I’ll probably watch some clips later if it goes well.

  34. 34.

    2liberal

    Betty – I’ve been wearing suspenders for over 30 years and recommend that solution. Cole is also a supporter (so to speak).

  36. 36.

    Old School

    Mike Sington
    @MikeSington

    “Call a spade a spade.” Trump Senior Adviser Danielle Alvarez gives shocking racist response while defending Donald Trump’s attacks on Kamala Harris. (Video: CNN)

    1:14 PM · Sep 10, 2024

    Wow.

  37. 37.

    Harrison Wesley

    I’m not tuning in to the debate.  Will be getting a 7 a.m. recap from my best friend via phone and a noon recap from LOML in person.  No point in tuning in, since I’d get the 7 a.m. and noon recaps anyway.

  38. 38.

    SatanicPanic

    if people are worried about sane washing it might make sense to watch it, rather than getting your info second hand from blogs. The blogs do their own curating which I don’t think is great and you may end up going into the world and talking to people in a way that’s somewhat divorced from reality. Or get a normie to watch it for you.

  39. 39.

    suzanne

    @SatanicPanic: A couple of years ago, I ordered a pair of Levi’s online, and they fit great. Until I tried the pockets. Literally they were only deep enough for my fingers up to the second knuckle. Fucken ridiculous.

  41. 41.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Geminid:

    I need to get to sleep early. Eyes shut at 11pm is the goal.

    Damn, that’s ‘early’?  I have nights where I wake up during the night before that.

  42. 42.

    HumboldtBlue

    Tonight is the much anticipated debate between Kamala Harris and the convicted felon. The corporate media is already hard at work undermining Kamala’s momentum and lowering the bar for Trump. They are prepared to once again totally ignore Donald’s lies and normalize his unhinged rants.

    We refuse to let the MAGA-loving corporate media own the narrative and spin the truth into oblivion about the debate tonight. We won’t let that happen.

    We just launched a massive social media campaign, kicking off a full day of action, to get ahead of corporate media‘s lies about the debate. A lot of you have been asking for more behind-the-scenes info on how these massive pressure campaigns and social media operations work.

    Here’s an exclusive look at our plan for today, with some background on how we will be able to make such a big difference on the way the debate is portrayed on social media and by the Press.

  43. 43.

    Aziz, light!

    Hell yeah I will watch the debate. I will force myself to endure the stench of feces oozing from Trump’s anus mouth, which I normally avoid. I want to reward Harris for putting herself out there, see how effectively she conveys her message, and show that she’s a fighter, while hoping she can trigger the moron to blow up. I think we owe it to her to tune in.

  47. 47.

    Chris

    @MattF:

    Re: The ‘debate’. I don’t watch reality shows.

    I think the analogy on an earlier post is accurate: it’s pro wrestling for nerds.

  50. 50.

    Gretchen

    I love that when they notice that there are fewer birds in Ohio in the fall than there were in the summer, they jump to the conclusion that the obvious explanation is that migrants ate them. Couldn’t be that the birds migrated south.

  51. 51.

    2liberal

    @Tony Jay:

    BC – You could always bring the wearing of stylish braces back into fashion. Rainbow ones. Metallic ones. Tartan ones. Ones that look like keyboards. There are no internationally recognised limits to their versatility, and they also keep pants up.

    Or I’m sure Cole could hook you up with his Bib ‘n Braces guy. Get you a few sets colour coded for each day of the week, put in huge turn-ups. Have you looking like a proper cult-leader in no time.

     

    He beat me to it!  By “braces” he actually means “suspenders” according to my English to English google translate function.

  52. 52.

    SatanicPanic

    @suzanne: I believe it! Some women’s pant pockets are basically coin purses. It’s weird. I dunno why women can’t get useful pockets

  53. 53.

    JaySinWA

    @Chet Murthy:

    Liposuction clinic medical waste libel!  I have it on good authority (Tyler Durden!) that that stuff can be turned into excellent, excellent soap!  Unlike TCFG!

    I thought some of it was recycled to make puffy lips.

  54. 54.

    geg6

    @Aziz, light!: ​
     
    I’ll support her in every way I can but my mental and emotional health requires me to avoid any extended exposure to Cheetolini. The last time I did expose myself to him, I couldn’t sleep for days. He disturbs me in a very core part of myself and I just can’t.

  57. 57.

    Michael Bersin

    Meanwhile, the Missouri Supreme Court heard oral arguments this morning in the appeal from the Cole County District Court [state issue litigation originates in Cole County/Jefferson City] taking the previously certified women’s reproductive rights initiative off the November ballot. The suit was filed by some right wingnut anti-choice state legislators and others. The circuit judge was Christopher Limbaugh [yes, a relative]. The appeal was punted by the Court of Appeals to the Missouri Supreme Court. The ballot deadline is 5:00 p.m. today. Lame duck Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft [yes, a legacy from that family] performatively decertified the initiative on Monday, contrary to a stay. The appellants have asked that he be held in contempt.

    The Supreme Court oral arguments were livestreamed at 8:00 this morning.

    From the appellant brief – via Missouri ACLU:

    “….That language mirrors the Constitution’s delineation between the two types of initiatives. It means a statutory initiative petition (one “proposing laws” and signed by five percent of voters) shall list the statutes being amended, while a constitutional initiative petition (one proposing “constitutional amendments” and signed by eight percent of voters) shall list the “constitutional provisions” being amended. Section 116.050 simply does not require what the circuit court said the proposed constitutional amendment here must do.

    Context and common sense support this reading. When one is amending the Constitution, it is natural to identify other provisions of the Constitution being repealed. Similarly, when one is amending or enacting a statute, it is natural to identify other statutes being repealed by the enactment (which, as described below, is what the legislature does when enacting a law).

    But it does not make sense that Section 116.050 would require a petition to identify statutes to be “repealed” when amending the Constitution, nor to identify constitutional provisions being “repealed” when amending statutes. A statute cannot amend or repeal the Constitution. And in plain and ordinary parlance, a constitutional provision may render a contrary statute unconstitutional—i.e., may invalidate, abrogate, or limit a statute—but it does not repeal a statute…. “

    So, we wait on the Missouri Supreme Court.

  63. 63.

    JaySinWA

    @Quicksand: Internet source says they are called boyfriend jeans because the loose fit makes them look like you borrowed them from your boyfriend.

    What Are Boyfriend Jeans?
    Boyfriend jeans are slouchy denim pants with a loose fit through the thighs and waist, meant to capture the look of a person borrowing their boyfriend’s worn-in jeans. Boyfriend jeans come in high-waist styles but traditionally sit lower on the waist to create a baggy silhouette. Unlike skinny jeans and mom jeans, boyfriend jeans do not have a tapered leg, making them similar to straight-leg jeans.

    https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-style-boyfriend-jeans

  64. 64.

    Michael Bersin

    @SpaceUnit:

    “….The important thing was that I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn’t have any white onions, because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones….”

  67. 67.

    Chet Murthy

    @JaySinWA: i remember 15 years ago there was the opposite, jeans that looked like you’d Borrowed them from your girlfriend, with a really really skinny fit, for men obviously.

  68. 68.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Betty, how do these jeans fit through the crotch? TMI here but my jeans are suddenly too short through the crotch, which can be painful. I went up from a 6 to an 8 and it’s still that way

  69. 69.

    Shalimar

    Still have not listened to any MSNBC since the trauma of the last debate because of the constant trolling coverage of Biden, and I only read about impressions of that debate later in the night.  I definitely do not have the masochism necessary to watch this one.

  71. 71.

    Central Planning

    I’ll watch the first 5 minutes or so of the debate to see how it’s going. If the mods are kowtowing to Trump and his gish gallop isn’t stopped or they don’t do ANY fact checking, I’ll pass on the rest of it.

  74. 74.

    KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))

    I’ll be watching the debate. I don’t understand people who

    SQUIRREL!

    have the self-control not to watch.

  75. 75.

    Super Dave

    Betty,

    the sloshing orange bag of liposuction clinic medical waste.

    This part of your statement made me think of Charlie Pierce’s recent piece on Agent Orange (https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a62134810/native-american-nevada-cancer/), which ultimately led me to think “Agent Orange” is the perfect moniker for TFG, since he’s the (almost) human embodiment of that awful poison.

    Always thinking of you and wishing you well. Nothing against any of the other front pagers (I enjoy them all), but you’ve always been my favorite, and you still are.

  76. 76.

    Trollhattan

    During the first covid year or so I had a doctor appointment for something or other and when they weighed me, I learned there was more of me than before covid. Or ever.

    Explained why some clothes weren’t fitting, but as I was WFH I luckily didn’t need to do anything about it either. Basically wore shorts two continuous years.

    Started exercising that the extra me away, a process that proceeded in tiny increments and still had lots of stuff what don’t fit.

    Then I caught covid. In a week all that extra mass was gone, and then some. Clothes fit again.

    In conclusion, covid is a disease of contrasts.

  77. 77.

    Elizabelle

    @Old School: Ick.  Danielle Alvarez is someone you need a hazmat suit to watch.  Interestingly, the “spade” comment is probably the only one she hasn’t rehearsed for days.  She has her talking points and mission.

    FWIW, shame on CNN for giving someone like Alvarez a platform.

    And Nikki Haley and her “a Democrat woman.”  All righty there.

  78. 78.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @SatanicPanic:

    I dunno why women can’t get useful pockets

    When women started wearing pants in the mid-1900s the “official” reason from fashion designers was not to ruin the silhouette line with things like keys, etc. Also too, pockets in women’s dresses were (and still are) extremely rate. Hence the joke that if a woman compliments another woman’s dress, she’ll reply “Thanks, it has pockets!”

    Unofficially, it was enforcing societal norms, i.e. women might be wearing pants because they had to be women’s pants which still required you to carry a purse due no pockets (which was extremely common) or pockets that were so vestigial as to be useless for actually putting stuff in. Fake pockets are still extremely common in women’s pants—much to the eternal frustration of half the population.

  86. 86.

    Baud

    Valued commenter Baud can’t relate, but those of us who regularly wear pants know that their primary function is to cover our butts and naughty bits,

    True. Can’t relate because my bits are niiice.

  89. 89.

    Scout211

    @sixthdoctor: BREAKING: Missouri Supreme Court rules abortion rights amendment will appear on November ballot

    Yay! I posted about that Ashcroft abomination this morning.  I was so hoping the Missouri Supremes would do the right thing.

  90. 90.

    Jinchi

    @hueyplong: I can’t stand the sound of Trump’s voice.

    Same here. I can’t even tolerate impressions of him.

    I might watch clips of Kamala post debate, just to see how she does, but I think we all know who TFG is at this point and there’s no value in listening to his nonsense.

  91. 91.

    Baud

    I might have watched if it were on earlier. Even if it’s stellar, it’ll wind me up too much and I won’t be able to sleep. Tomorrow would be miserable. I’ll enjoy the AL roundup.

  92. 92.

    Bupalos

    I was too skurred to watch the last one, this one I feel OK about. And I want to get the feel of it for vague purposes of thinking about how to effectively spin for Harris.

  93. 93.

    Tony Jay

    @2liberal:

    Americans call braces ‘suspenders’?

    Hmmmm. I wonder if early Prince originally planned to debut looking like a Cockney chimney sweep, but since his stylist was English and didn’t like to make a fuss, a legend was born.

  94. 94.

    Geminid

    @lowtechcyclist: It’s as early as I’ll get to sleep tonight. I’m not anxious about the debate, but I’m interested. I work tomorrow and I need 6+ hours sleep to feel ok. I rarely sleep past 5 am anyway.

  96. 96.

    Kirk

    I want to watch long enough to see if the orange one actually shows, to get an idea of how addled he seems, and to see how biased the moderators appear to be. Then, unless there’s a figurative explosion, I plan to bail to something else. Don’t know what, maybe crack open a book, maybe clean something, just have to see what appeals at that point.

  102. 102.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    My wife geeks out on night’s like tonight.  It’s like her Super Bowl.  We’ll be watching and rooting for Kamala.  Since my hope for drumph stroking out last debate was not met, I’ll simply hope for it again.

  105. 105.

    Glidwrith

    Speaking as one who has literally dealt with giant sloshing orange bags of medical waste……ewwwww, definitely not watching tonight.

  106. 106.

    Tony Jay

    @Central Planning:

    Oh, they’re braces too, Mr Smartypantaloons. We’re a small country so a lot of our words have to multitask.

    And OMFG but are those stereotypes about British teeth way out of date. Everyone under the age of 50 who isn’t a spice addict (still a large number) comes back from their package holiday to Turkey looking like a Kardashian at a Bee Gee convention. And don’t even get me started on all the bleached anuses out there.

  108. 108.

    gvg

    @suzanne: Check and see if they have the real pockets sewn together with what is meant to be a temporary stitch. Some of them do that so that the pants stay looking nicer and more ironed while multiple people try them on and don’t rehang them neatly fast enough. About half the time I have to take a seam ripper and open the pockets up after I get them home.

    Rarely they also sometimes do make decorative sort of half pockets that only have tops of pockets for looks and not anything useable. That is weird.

    Leggings often don’t have pockets at all so that the body silhouette stays nice and trim. I don’t buy that type. Don’t have the body for that to be worth it anyway. How anyone can operate without pockets…

  109. 109.

    Doc H

    I’m going to watch Cassandro. “The true story of Saúl Armendáriz, a gay amateur wrestler from El Paso that rises to international stardom after he creates the character Cassandro, the ‘Liberace of Lucha Libre.'” David Kurtz at TPM gave me the idea in this AM’s Morning Memo:

    It’s the professional wrestling-ization of our national politics, a reality TV version of exaggerated masculinity with puffed-out chests, cock-of-the-walk strutting, and bulging veins. Democrats have long ceded this base-level stagecraft to Republicans. But with Trump himself a product of pro wrestling and intuitively familiar with its themes, even to the point of his willingness to play the heel role, the Harris campaign seems determined not to retreat from confrontation on the lizard brain level.

    Rather than watch the orange heel, I’ll watch an interesting (I hope) story – and that it’s about a gay Mexican is icing on the cake.

  112. 112.

    suzanne

    @gvg: Oh, do not worry: I checked. They just have dumb pockets. They’re just dumb. My jeans from Madewell, OTOH, have good pockets.

    My leggings that I wear for running have a pocket on the side of the thigh for my phone.

  114. 114.

    Central Planning

    @Tony Jay:

    And don’t even get me started on all the bleached anuses out there.

    Now I have to: How do you know how many are actually out there? Are you a bleacher (one who does it for others, not asking if you get it done!)

  118. 118.

    Geminid

    I’m curious about foreign policy questions. There will be at least one about the Gaza War, maybe one about Ukraine (or a question about both). I hope Harris hits Trump hard on his pro-Russian Ukraine policies. I think that’s a good line of attack against him.

  120. 120.

    Tony Jay

    @Central Planning:

    Back of an envelope calculation. Taking into account the popularity of lip implants, face peels, eyebrow reshapings, teeth whitening, and other visible signs of watching too many really crap reality-TV shows about ‘celebrity influencers’, I’d say there are probably twelve to fifteen albino Trump-mouths per every 500 British bums.

    I keep mine au natural. I don’t even go in for weaves or beading anymore.

  121. 121.

    Trivia Man

    @Geminid: And the clear facts on afghan withdrawal.

    HE negotiated with taliban at camp david WITHOUT the afghan  government.

    HE released 5,000 fighters.

    HE refused to let the army brief the elected  president (AND VP cough cough) before Jan 20

  123. 123.

    Mai Naem mobile

    I’ve listened to debates on the radio since first Obama-Romney one. I happened to be coming late from work and traffic that day was a nightmare so I ended up listening to most of it. I think you get a better feel for how it’s going. You aren’t distracted by the visuals. I usually record it on CSPAN and watch at least parts of that later. I like CSPAN especially the pre-debate coverage. It gives you a much better feel for the room than the regular  tv  news media.

  125. 125.

    Redshift

    I almost never watch debates. No matter how well my candidate is doing, they always make me feel anxious, and I’m not generally prone to anxiety.

    I went to the debate watch party at the local campaign office last time because it was their first big event, and I wanted to make connections and socialize. I lasted about fifteen minutes once the actual debate started, and then bailed (which is pretty much what I was expecting.)

  126. 126.

    Anyway

    @Tony Jay: comes back from their package holiday to Turkey looking like a Kardashian at a Bee Gee convention.

    Ha ha. The hotel in Istanbul had a number of men with bandages on their noggin – a little discreet googling revealed that IST was a popular destination for hair follicle transplant surgery. My flight back was through Heathrow and there were guys who’d had the surgery and progressed to removing the bandages …

  128. 128.

    Weftage

    I rarely listen to political speeches or debates, since they rarely convey new information. But I’m going to tune in this time, and just leave it running (with the sound off) to add to the viewership numbers. If viewership is down from the Biden-Trump session, the media will chalk it up to a lack of interest in Harris. They have no doubt pre-written the 143,287.6 stories about her Fading Campaign. (Trump is, by all statute and custom, infinitely interesting, so low viewership couldn’t be his fault, now, could it.)

  132. 132.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @Trivia Man: i honestly don’t think the vast majority  of Americans care about the Afghan withdrawal. We’d been there for two decades and sank in a lot of blood and treasure. I feel bad for the women in Afghanistan but I just don’t know how you change a culture like that. Maybe some of the more moderate Islamic countries can influence the taliban but its not going to come from a western country. I’ll never understand how any of these kind of people think it’s good for their country overall to hold back and not educate half of their population. That’s just dumb.

  133. 133.

    bbleh

    I’m going to watch because I want to see what the normies ACTUALLY see, and not what various interpreters or curators tell me they saw or that they should have seen.

    ETA and I shall take the MO Supremes decision as an Omen

  134. 134.

    The Audacity of Krope

    I’m only interested in primary debates. General election debates only tend to include one person I would ever consider voting for, so the debate is a waste of my time on that alone.

    That’s before you get to the media’s whole aversion to edifying questions…

  135. 135.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @bbleh: I’m going to watch because I want to see what the normies ACTUALLY see

    It doesn’t matter what they see contemporaneously. By this time next week, they will have seen what they were told to see.

  136. 136.

    kindness

    Betty have you thought about overall shorts?  They make them for women.  You’d look like a 70’s girl, that’s all.  As to the debate tonight, I’m leaning to the Cliff Notes version.

  137. 137.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @prostratedragon: Vance is such a garbage person. Usha Vance embarrasses me as an Indian American and she’s not some uneducated hillbilly. She’s well educated and knows full well what JV is doing with his garbage comments.

  139. 139.

    CaseyL

    I’ll follow the debate online but will not watch. It’s too nerve wracking at the best of times and right now – with the MSM in the tank for Trump – is hardly the best of times.

  140. 140.

    narya

    I maybe might go downstairs and watch with my neighbor (she’s hosting a couple of people), but it’s also possible that I stay home so I can dip into or out of the whole thing as needed. I’ve been kind of dull and tired today (despite a vigorous morning strength workout and then making four pots of beans), and sometimes that means I’m better off staying away from people. We’ll see.

  142. 142.

    hitchhiker

    I am the sort of person who has to leave the room if it’s the 9th inning and my team is only up by one and the other guys get a lead-off walk. Like, I can’t take any sort of suspense, and I’m talking about a team that has never been in a world series. This happens in regular season games when they’re trying to stay above .500. Mr hitchhiker has to holler for me when it’s safe to come out.

    I don’t actually care that much when they lose; I just don’t like to watch it happening.

    OTOH, I really, really love watching when things go bad for people who deserve it. I hope that’s trump tonight, and I think there’s a decent chance it will be.

    But I don’t think I can watch it in real time, in case I’m wrong. I’ll read the commentary here, and if things are going well I’ll probably turn it on.

  143. 143.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Butch:

    Ooooh, nice.  What you’re gonna do is a gazillion times better than watching the debate.

    However, we do need jackals to take one for the team watch the debate in order to get hot takes tomorrow morning before what my wife says Totebagger Radio will have said which will have me ranting at clouds.

  144. 144.

    bbleh

    @The Audacity of Krope: I dunno about that. For one thing, “first impressions.”  For another, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” And for a third, a lot of them don’t tune into commentary.

    My impression is that there are still a lot of “Kamala-curious” out there, and I would guess a lot of them will tune in for at least the first half-hour or so.

  146. 146.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @bbleh: You forgot about narrative. Biden/Trump was not the first debate where the chattering class disagreed on the outcome with focus groups full of average voters.

    Whose impression took hold? You even see it all over this thread, the media spin is more important than the debate.

  147. 147.

    Jeffro

    I’m watching tonight!

    Got my “dirty fucker” t-shirt w/ trumpov’s face on it all ready and everything!  ;)

  148. 148.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @The Audacity of Krope:

    Well, with due respect, Biden didn’t exactly do himself any favors on that front. “Vice President Trump”? I get he got mixed up and that can happen, but it didn’t help impressions, it reinforced them, which had been being pounded on by the media for years. People were already primed for it

    ETA: i think Biden was and is a great president btw, on many issues.

  149. 149.

    Baud

    Different setting, but Harris knocked it out of the park at the DNC. She really stepped up when she needed to.

  150. 150.

    Jeffro

    Harris opening statement:

    “Thank you David and Linsey for moderating this debate, and a huge thank you to American voters all across the country watching tonight.

    I have to admit, it is strange sharing the stage with a convicted felon and adjudicated rapist…”

  151. 151.

    narya

    Betty, I’ve had good luck with clothes from Title 9; their Clamber line (pants, capris, skorts, shorts) have a ton of pockets (two that zip!), a wide waistband that is elasticized but not ugly, and are (for me) super comfortable.

  152. 152.

    Chris

    @The Audacity of Krope:

    IIRC, the gold medal there was the Gore/Bush debate in 2000.  Focus groups and polls suggested that viewers thought Gore won the debate.  The media went into an absolute frenzy of articles about Gore’s “sighing” and his “professorial” and “condescending” trial.  Within a few weeks, public opinion of the debate now reflected what they wanted.

    “Who you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?” has been a successful media scam since forever.

  153. 153.

    bbleh

    @The Audacity of Krope: @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    yeah I don’t think the situations are really comparable. There is no pre-existing narrative about Harris that’s even remotely similar, and unless she does something spectacularly wrong, it’s not at all clear either that the Narrative will be uniform or focused or that it will influence low-info voters more than their own impressions.

    But … we shall see.  I’m gonna watch anyway.

  156. 156.

    Starfish

    @prostratedragon: Wow. That is on the school district’s hiring practices though. Isn’t the district checking for valid licenses or requiring specific licenses for people driving busses?

    There is a huge bus driver shortage because very few people want to work the split shift that bus drivers deal with, and the pay is less than what you would make driving a bus in your local transit authority if you have one.

    There are a lot of lower education related things that are relying on people who want to work with children to value that higher than getting paid, and I am sorry, that is not how anything works.

    For example, during the pandemic, we learned how little substitute teachers got paid.

  158. 158.

    Mike in Pasadena

    @oldster: i got as far into the comments as your post. Like Cracker i dont know whether i can tolerate the lies he will spew, but im going to bed at 3 pm on Nov. 4  with quaaludes or a thorazine drip infusing calm straight into my veins. I made the mistake of staying up to 11 in 2016. Never could sleep that night. Kept asking myself, “Are there really that many stupid, ignorant, bigoted people in this country?” Answer: yes.

  159. 159.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Biden uses full sentences and understands policy. He continues to do amazing work.

    Trump babbles. He was deemed the winner of the debate because he babbles vigorously. Any perspective on that debate that deemed Trump the winner was and is fully lizard-brained.

    Unless your waking up from a multiple-decade coma, these debates have no informative value. I know who the good and bad guys are, nothing said tonight is even approaching likely change that.

    @Chris: IIRC, the gold medal there was the Gore/Bush debate in 2000.

    Thank you for providing a concrete example. My memory is trash for hard data.

  160. 160.

    frosty

    @suzanne: I just got a two new pair of 505s from Kohl’s. The pockets are deep like they used to be! The watch pocket is wide enough to fit my iPhone 13 mini (where I’ve carried my phones ever since the first LG flip). Both of these have been issues recently but they seem to be OK now. I should order 3 or 4 pairs and hang on to them for the time when these wear out.

    I’ve been wearing these since they came out in 1967. Except for when I was in college in California and switched to 501s. My classmates sneered at me for being an East Coast Preppie because my jeans had a zipper instead of buttons.

  161. 161.

    dmsilev

    @Jeffro: You don’t think she’ll show up, walk over to his podium, and give him a good squirt of pepper spray right in the face?

    It’d be a great dominance move.

  162. 162.

    Kirk

    @bbleh: I’ve not read the decision but I’m guessing that part of what swayed it was Ashcraft’s pre-emptive attempt to moot the case by decertifying it. Maybe not that in itself, but ignoring the stay ordered by the court.

    Still an omen I want to believe in, but more complex and comprehensive.

  163. 163.

    Jackie

    @Michael Bersin:

    The Missouri abortion amendment STAYS ON THE BALLOT!

    The Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the amendment to protect abortion rights will stay on the state’s Nov. 5 ballot, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

    A majority of the seven-member court voted to reverse a Friday ruling by a county judge that threatened to strip the measure off the ballot.

  164. 164.

    Tony Jay

    @Anyway:

    My friend bought himself an apartment in Turkey so he qualified for residency and could jump the queue to get his work done instead of waiting for an NHS appointment. He claims he had three hernias (one there, two down there) he needed doing, but given he’s a manly man who looks like a buttered barrel rolled around in monkey hair, we instantly decided he’d gone over to have a set of enthusiastically applied Chinese love balls removed from his u-tube.

    I swear, the sewers beneath most Turkish resorts must contain more fatty offcuts than a bowl of tripe.

    @Trollhattan:

    Paris Fashion Week turns its fluttering eyes towards you, Maestro. That is a strong look.

  165. 165.

    JaySinWA

    @Tony Jay:

    …

    I’d say there are probably twelve to fifteen albino Trump-mouths per every 500 British bums.

    I keep mine au natural. I don’t even go in for weaves or beading anymore.

    Woven Bum beads?

    Ooh-dream bead weaver-i-believe-you-can-get-me-through-the-night

    ooh-dream bead weaver-i-believe-we-can-reach-the-morning-light

  168. 168.

    mali muso

    Count me in as another one who won’t be watching but will be catching up tomorrow morning.    Listening to or seeing TFG’s voice/face results in a rage reaction for me, and I need my rest.  Plan to be up at 5:30am to hit the gym.

    Thanks to all the brave souls who will be bearing witness.

  171. 171.

    Chet Murthy

    @Mai Naem mobile: I read that her family was Hindu nationalist.  Googling, I found this: https://www.indiatoday.in/world/us-news/story/usha-chilukuri-vance-relative-went-to-jail-during-emergency-granduncle-grandaunt-rss-worker-2569144-2024-07-19

    So if this is at all indicative of her family in general, she’s …. not exactly a decent person.  Combine that with clerking for Roberts, and being OK with her husband as a running-mate to TCFG, and …. well, she’s well-and-truly blotted her copbook.

  172. 172.

    Baud

    @mali muso:

    Thanks to all the brave souls who will be bearing witness.

     
    Agreed. Someone has to do the work.

    One reason I watch less is, frankly, the Internet conversation is less fun than it used to be. Some of that is because of Trump. But not all of it.

  174. 174.

    Tony Jay

    @JaySinWA:

    Any bead-weaver exposed to my Forbidden Forest would emerge from the sepulchral gloom with the moon-pale mien and thousand yard stare of a Coldplay groupie. 

  176. 176.

    dnfree

    Back in the 1950s we hadn’t yet heard of “boyfriend jeans”, but at one point I (female) and my two younger brothers closest in age to me all wore size 12 boys’ jeans. (We were close in height and all of us were skinny.) My mom got them at Penney’s or Sears, I think. So I guess I had “brother jeans”.

  177. 177.

    OId Man Shadow

    Yep. I’ll not be watching. I’ll check in tomorrow to see how she did and how many folks are demanding she drop out and let Walz take over.

  179. 179.

    Chris

    @The Audacity of Krope:

    Unless your waking up from a multiple-decade coma, these debates have no informative value. I know who the good and bad guys are, nothing said tonight is even approaching likely change that.

    Yep.  I haven’t watched a debate since 2008.  Anybody who knows so little about politics that the debate might actually influence their vote is almost definitionally too dumb to know what they’re voting on, both before and after the debate.  I did watch a debate between two local candidates in 2016 and could practically feel my brain cells dying.

    Elections require a critical mass of dumb people, so I hope Harris does well, and that the media isn’t able to hang a loser narrative on her.  I have no interest in watching that shit myself, though.  Not when I could be doing something more productive like watching grass grow or watching paint dry.

    Thank you for providing a concrete example. My memory is trash for hard data.

    In the interest of full disclosure, it’s not something I remember firsthand: it’s something I read later in historical context.  I was twelve in 2000, had only a vague idea of politics but didn’t follow it closely.  Happy to be corrected if this retelling is inaccurate: but it gels pretty well with what I’ve seen of the media in more recent times.

  181. 181.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @OId Man Shadow: I’ll check in tomorrow to see how she did and how many folks are demanding she drop out and let Walz take over.

    …and the contrived reason for doing so that they don’t really agree with but that’s the narrative and we must appease the narrative.

  182. 182.

    Chet Murthy

    @Starfish: Reading the article linked by prostratedragon, it appears that it was the minivan driver who was from Mexico.  But I could be misreading.

  183. 183.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @Chris: In the interest of full disclosure, it’s not something I remember firsthand:

    Upon your reminder, I was sure. You got that right.

    @Chris: Anybody who knows so little about politics that the debate might actually influence their vote is almost definitionally too dumb to know what they’re voting on, both before and after the debate.

    I’ll make an allowance for 18 year old children, but you have this pretty much nailed.

    Especially stupid are the ones who are committed to persuadability. Like you ought not to stand by prior decisions or maintain a set of values. It is a keen show of bias and discrimination, after all, to always reject anthrax in favor of Italian food

  184. 184.

    Chet Murthy

    @The Audacity of Krope: “Especially stupid are the ones who are committed to persuadability.”

    The people who can be persuaded by the kind of fact-free display we’re going to get tonight are the stupidest people living, walking talking advertisements for the lucrativeness of a career in grifting.  And yet, they’re the people who will decide this election.  [spit]

  185. 185.

    realbtl

    Somewhere between ages 65 and 75 the Levis I had worn comfortably on my hips since age 12 began to fall to the floor.  Sigh, belts and suspenders it is.

  190. 190.

    Baud

    Well, Reddit is blowing up because Dave Grohl has admitted he cheated and has a lovechild. So maybe no one will care about the debate.

  191. 191.

    Jackie

    @Miki: My son – who was 11 at the time – is still 💔. Then suffered again in ‘92 when the Blue Jays beat his team, again.

  195. 195.

    Trollhattan

    Rebecca Traister long read on how we got here and may be on the brink of: electing the first woman president. H/T Digby. A sampling; as the saying goes read the whole thing.

    Harris was making people feel good and hopeful about the future, and she seemed to understand in her gut how important that was to actually winning an election. Early on, CNN reported that veteran Democratic pollster Geoff Garin had advised the campaign to stop saying “We’re not going back” and using the term weird. Harris declined to follow Garin’s advice, CNN noted, asserting that she “wasn’t going to listen to the pollsters herself and would instead trust the instincts she had buried under self-doubt for so long.”
    Those instincts told her to act like someone who was not just suddenly at the top of her party but part of a rowdy, happy coalition. She took the elation she was receiving from the crowds and made that energy the motif she would return to again and again: joy.
    While surely every number cruncher in Greater D.C. was advising her to pick Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro for vice-president, Harris went with Tim Walz, a favorite of the internet masses, who saw him as lovable, progressive, and a crucial couple of ticks to Shapiro’s left on Israel. “When she picked Walz,” veteran campaign strategist Rebecca Katz told me, “it was like hope came back. She trusted her gut, not a poll. And no one has done that in Democratic politics in a long time.”
    The campaign also showed itself to be in conversation with young people, who were making memes and using words D.C. campaign veterans could barely understand, much less deploy smoothly. But Kamala HQ’s social media dressed itself in Brat green; a team of young staffers issued press releases written in internet patois, responding to one of her opponent’s deranged press conferences with a “Statement on Trump’s … Whatever That Was.” And Lil Jon appeared at roll call to make a “to the window, to the Walz” reference that no one over 45 was likely to get.
    It might have felt as though the campaign had devised some exquisite social-media operation, but it was mostly doing a thing that is important in movement building: reflecting back what was being projected at it. As the pollster Tresa Undem, who specializes in attitudes around gender, told me in August, “The social-media reaction from Gen Z and millennials is absolutely off the charts, and I’ve never seen anything like it. But for her campaign to reflect it? I’m blown away every day.”
    The approval she got this summer gave her swagger, and she spoke with a vivid assuredness not often heard from a party that has too frequently been mealymouthed in its commitment to humane and moral policy positions. Shortly after rolling out economic proposals, including an expanded Child Tax Credit and EITC and money for first-time homebuyers, Harris was asked how she plans to pay for them and she didn’t flinch. “When you are strengthening neighborhoods, strengthening communities, and … investing in a broad-based economy, everybody benefits and it pays for itself.”
    This kind of unapologetic muscularity felt like a balm, which made it all the more worrisome that, in perhaps the biggest fumble of her young candidacy, Harris did not listen to those who were asking her to find a way to bridge the vast chasm between the Biden administration and what so many young people energized by her campaign also want: an end to Israel’s assault on Gaza.

  197. 197.

    tam1MI

    I just heard a great suggestion on another message board so I am passing it on here:  Sometime during the debate tonight, make a donation to the Harris campaign.  You don’t even have to watch the debate to do it!  And any amount should be fine – if enough people donate, those $10 and $25 will add up fast.  Best of all, the ratfucker media will be forced to report on the money surge, which will disrupt their pre-planned stories about Harris’s “calamitous” and “disastrous” debate.

  200. 200.

    CaseyL

    On the topic of Comfy Pants that Fit, I have to say I prefer leggings, even without pockets; or “skinny” sweatpants, which do have pockets.

    I do like comfort, but I also don’t like a lot of loose, heavy fabric that bunches up when I bend or sit.  The only jeans I like are skinny jeans that have stretch fabric mixed with the denim.

    I’m also very fond of the kinds of pants you find at what we used to call “ethnic” or “hippie” boutiques.  Usually rayon or bamboo fabric with some kind of colorful print, elastic waistband, not tight-fitting but not too wide, and lightweight fabric so you almost don’t feel like you’re wearing anything at all.  (Clearly not suitable for cold weather, but that’s probably not much of a consideration in Florida.)

  201. 201.

    zhena gogolia

    @Trollhattan:

    she spoke with a vivid assuredness not often heard from a party that has too frequently been mealymouthed in its commitment to humane and moral policy positions.

    B.S.

  203. 203.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @zhena gogolia: she spoke with a vivid assuredness not often heard from a party that has too frequently been mealymouthed in its commitment to humane and moral policy positions.

    B.S.

    Are we talking about Democrats? Because this has definitely been my consistent impression of Democrats until, oh, about 3 years ago and they’re still fighting that impulse.

  205. 205.

    WaterGirl

    I got my hair cut today, and my hair person asked if I was watching the debate tonight.  She never talks politics and she asked what time the debate was and she hoped she would get home from work in time to catch the debate.

    That means it must be time for the people who don’t pay attention to pay attention.

  207. 207.

    Chris

    @The Audacity of Krope:

    And wouldn’t you know it, I wasn’t far from 18 the last time I was eagerly watching presidential debates!  Ah, the innocence of youth.  Yeah, 2008 clarified a whole lot of things.

    Especially stupid are the ones who are committed to persuadability. Like you ought not to stand by prior decisions or maintain a set of values. It is a keen show of bias and discrimination, after all, to always reject anthrax in favor of Italian food

    I think what really pisses me off is the commitment to persuadability when we keep having the same debate over and over and over.  I’d be far more persuadable to new politics if we ever actually had new politics, if bad ideas were allowed to die and debates moved on to new topics.  But no, instead we have to keep having the same debates again and again, because we’re never allowed to conclude “Republicans are wrong.”

    “Is it possible to run a large welfare state without either destroying the economy or leading to a communist regime?”  This was a legitimate debate to be having in 1924.  In 2024, when every developed democracy has been doing it for three quarters of a century without any of that happening (even little old us, however flawed the welfare state), the debate is over.  People who want to keep having it aren’t asking questions in good faith, they’re spinning wheels because their questions were answered long ago and they just didn’t like the answers.  And taking these people’s arguments as if they were in good faith doesn’t make you sophisticated and open-minded, it makes you a dupe.

    We’re a quarter of the way into the twenty-first century, and yet we’re still living through the hundredth iteration of Roosevelt vs Hoover, and the two hundredth iteration of Lincoln vs the Know-Nothings.  Jesus wept.

  210. 210.

    SatanicPanic

    @The Audacity of Krope:

    Trump babbles. He was deemed the winner of the debate because he babbles vigorously. Any perspective on that debate that deemed Trump the winner was and is fully lizard-brained.

    I talked to multiple smart, informed liberals who aren’t terminally online the day after the debate. No one said Trump won, but all of them were in despair at how poorly Biden came off. “The end of western civilization” was how one friend described it. I didn’t watch it originally so I went back and watched a few clips and he looked and sounded terrible. The most ludicrous spin on that debate was coming from liberals on the internet who were trying to tell me Biden did just fine.

    @tam1MI: This is a great idea and I will do it.

  213. 213.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Jeffro:

    “Thank you David and Linsey for moderating this debate, and a huge thank you to American voters all across the country watching tonight.

    I have to admit, it is strange sharing the stage with a convicted felon and adjudicated rapist…”

    “…And what’s that smell? Could one of you open some windows?”

  217. 217.

    SatanicPanic

    @The Audacity of Krope: You’re working from a definition of lizard brained that’s different from any one I’ve seen. If Biden had turned in that performance in 2019 he’d be retired right now as a former VP.

  218. 218.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @SatanicPanic: Lizard brained, appealing to base animal instincts. Biden old, weak. Trump strong.

    Panic, classic lizard brain response. Your flight instinct was triggered with nowhere to go.

  219. 219.

    SatanicPanic

    @The Audacity of Krope: Nonsense. No one complimented Trump. They all pointed to Biden being too out of it to continue. Where’s the substance in this?

    “We be able to help make sure that all those things we need to do, child care, elder care, making sure that we continue to strengthen our health care system, making sure that we’re able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I’ve been able to do with the, with the COVID, excuse me, dealing with everything we have to do with…,” Biden said before freezing for several seconds.

    “We finally beat Medicare,” he continued.

    Literally if that block quote didn’t say “Biden” you would think it was Trump speaking.

  221. 221.

    piratedan

    I’ve got a debate bingo card, but it’s a coverall game and every spot is labelled “feckless disappointing journalism”… I like my chances.

  222. 222.

    Ruckus

    There is only one person to vote for on the top pick in this election. Shitforbrains has climbed into the term I use to describe him, OK fallen into it and all too well. He is by far the worst choice on a ballot in my over half a century of voting. Other than the other times he was on one. He is a far worse than useless POS. And he was long before he went full on craptastic.

  223. 223.

    BellyCat

    @Chris: “Is it possible to run a large welfare state without either destroying the economy or leading to a communist regime?”  This was a legitimate debate to be having in 1924.  In 2024, when every developed democracy has been doing it for three quarters of a century without any of that happening (even little old us, however flawed the welfare state), the debate is over.

    Truth.  How many decades are needed to settle the “efficacy of trickle-down economics” and “privatize all government functions” arguments? Seems we have a bit more to go before we hit a century of this horseshit.

  224. 224.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @SatanicPanic: Yet Biden still continues to deliver for the American public. I’m not going to take advice on who or what is past its use date from someone who continues to defend mass media.

  225. 225.

    Ruckus

    @mrmoshpotato:

    “DonOLD, do have to go change your underwear?”

    From what I’ve seen written, and this was years ago, the answer is YES! I saw somewhere that he wears diapers. And has for some time.

  227. 227.

    SatanicPanic

    @The Audacity of Krope: The argument for keeping Biden was that even if he were too old he had a competent staff around him that could keep things rolling. No one seems to consider that this might actually be the case right now

    Edit- and you know what? You don’t have to “take my advice” or agree with me. But your condescension is off putting. Suggesting my friends are thinking with their lizard brain is just straight up dickish. Don’t be that guy.

  229. 229.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Chris: These are excellent observations and conclusions.

    Keynes was right.

    All the rest of it is make-work for later economists and grifters.

  230. 230.

    WaterGirl

    @tam1MI: You think $404,000,000 in the bank isn’t enough for Harris?

    The SURGE of donating after the Biden bad debate didn’t do a single thing to stop the attacks on Biden.  It won’t help tonight, either.

  235. 235.

    mrmoshpotato

    Tune into TCM (I don’t know what’s on tonight) once you’re sick of Dump’s lying his fat, orange, fascist face off.

    Or baseball your bones if you have MLB.tv.

  236. 236.

    Citizen Alan

    @oldster: I cannot bear the thought of listening to Shitgibbon’s voice or his general stupidity. And I have questioned the value of Presidential debates ever since “NO PUPPET! NO PUPPET! YOU’RE THE PUPPET!!!” wasn’t enough to sink him.

  239. 239.

    Ruckus

    @Kirk:

    How addled he is….. The answer is A LOT. And that was before, now he’s ADDLED. Next week they’ll be plugging a neon sign on his back

    “ADDLED – DO NOT BELIEVE AND IF POSSIBLE DO NOT EVEN LISTEN

    it’s not worth your time and your ears will appreciate it immensely”

  246. 246.

    SomeRandomGuy

    I literally got pantsed in my own yard the other day while talking to our mail lady. One of the dogs excitedly (because of the presence of the mail lady, a favorite) ran up, put his front paws on my thigh and bounced off, causing my pants to fall down around my knees.

    I hauled them back up immediately, and the mail lady had the tact to pretend nothing happened, but it was embarrassing!

    Yes, but then, you and your husband (who’d been wanting to rent a room) will find two gentlemen come by, trying to rent a room, just to be near the mysterious and oh-so-composed woman, who flashed her underpants to others, accidentally of course. After hijinks ensue, the king of Germany may stop by to ask about that room rental….

    (That’s the plot of a play reimagined by Steve Martin, where a woman has exactly the same thing happen, but, as the play goes on, finds that the enormously embarrassing episode became a way to teach her that she’s still attractive to men, though her life is ground down by the dull/ordinary. And you thought live theater was boring!)

    Clothing sucks, especially when it’s purely functional, and refuses to function. Still: you and Janet Jackson now have a story to share of wardrobe malfunctions, next time she calls to chat.

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