You have absolutely no control over how Harris does in the debate tonight and regardless how she does the media and the right wing are going to shit all over her, so there is absolutely no fucking point spending your whole day stressing about it.
This post is for me as much as it is for you.
Nelle
Thank you. I just said something similar. Off to do other things now. Beautiful morning in Iowa.
Scout211
Good advice. Thanks for the reminder.
Scout211
@Nelle: Fall weather is one thing I really miss about growing up in Iowa. Enjoy your beautiful morning. 😊
Antonius
There’s a lot of this identical advice going around. I said to Mrs. Antonius the other day that I don’t bother to watch the debate, because the only important thing is how the MSM spins it the next day.
Belafon
TikToker discovers croissant lamp from Temu is an actual pastry covered in resin
https://www.today.com/food/trends/temu-croissant-lamp-real-pastry-resin-rcna169972
Belafon
Brining this over from the other thread:
TikToker discovers croissant lamp from Temu is an actual pastry covered in resin
https://www.today.com/food/trends/temu-croissant-lamp-real-pastry-resin-rcna169972
balconesfault
@Antonius: Yep – having a debate with Mrs. Balconesfault, since she wants to watch the debate – I want to drink beer and catch Astronomy On Tap here in Austin at the Celis Brewery.
Marleedog
Won’t watch. Will get hot takes from the commentariate here.
OT, I think Imissed it, but I have not been notified that I won the quilt. Did WG have the drawing?
balconesfault
@Belafon: Shop like a millionaire!
Jackie
You’re absolutely correct, Cole. It will be what it will be.
It’s the Post debate analyzing by the “experts” telling us what we saw, that matters. //
SW
You all can tell me how it went tomorrow.
Dangerman
No stress. No watching.
Think I’ll put on some Pink Floyd (hi Raven) or stream Radio Paradise (or is it Paradise Radio, fuck if I can remember; this getting old shit is … well, shit).
twbrandt
I won’t watch the debate. I know who I am voting for, and nothing will change that. And I cannot stand listening to that fucking guy.
OId Man Shadow
I wish I had been raised Zen or Taoist so I would maybe be better at accepting things as they happen and existing in the moment.
I’m not very good at this.
And people suck.
ArchTeryx
I’ve concluded that both the debate itself and the media spin are worthless, because both are utterly predictable.
The thing to watch is how the Democratic voters and bigwigs react afterward. Maybe it’s too much of a hot take. But the media spin the last time seemed to amplify pre-existing doubts among own own base as to whether Biden could beat Trump. And the stakes have never been higher.
The media can spin like a tornado, but if nobody outside of Republican partisans is listening, it’s just churning up mud in an empty field. It’s when our side starts echoing them you know you have a big, big problem.
SatanicPanic
I’ve been saying this for weeks now- Kamala Harris is the best we have. If she can’t beat Trump in the debate or in the election then we were never going to win anyway. Stressing it is just not worth it.
The Audacity of Krope
My MSM boycott absolutely covers this event. Will not watch.
Jackie
It’s come down to this:
And the MSM won’t contradict him about his too many flip flops to list. <head banging on desk>
TaMara
New ad dropped from Harris campaign. They really are looking to tweak him until he completely melts down
RedDirtGirl
@Marleedog: Good point. I guess I could have still won! I’ll enjoy that thought for a few more moments!
Scout211
@TaMara: Oooooh, so good! Thanks for posting that!
The Audacity of Krope
They, like we, know he has only ever had one sincerely held position in his life.
I get mine.
Sean
There is no world in which I won’t stress about it. Even if I did, I’d find something else to freak out about as a stand in. I was born a worrier and I’m always going to worry.
But I won’t spend my day trying to make anyone else worry.
:)
TBone
Just here to shout out a Gritty welcome to VP Harris Philly style!
https://x.com/GrittyNHL/status/1137772810707898369
(As seen in Teen Vogue)
Kelly
Today may be the last warm day for swimming in the river. The “debate” starts 6 pm PDT which is prime swimming time. Not gonna harsh my river swimming mellow.
TBone
@TaMara: 😆🤩🔥
zhena gogolia
I’m not stressing about her. I’m stressing about our people, hoping they have some grit this time.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
👍
The Audacity of Krope
Weird thing I see on Snapchat today, a vocally pro-Trump former friend of mine posted several memes lamenting how immigrants are treated.
Baud
@The Audacity of Krope:
Maybe he’s talking about Melania.
zhena gogolia
@TaMara: That is great. She looks so good.
The Audacity of Krope
@Baud: That would certainly be more consistent; but, no, it was very generalized anti-(anti-)immigration rhetoric
Baud
@The Audacity of Krope:
Our side always reacts like what Trump says is popular beyond his base of deplorables. Possibly because the media amplifies him so much. We just don’t know.
Jackie
@TaMara: I saw that earlier and 😂
ETA: I bet TCFG’s debate handlers are trying desperately to hide his TV remotes 🤣
Uncle Lefty
I hope she has practiced a few self defense moves to neutralize the Convicted Felon when he bulrushes her. (She’s going to make him lose his shit.)
Tenar Arha
I think I will go book shopping & to the discount Tuesday movies this afternoon or tonight, so I’m not tempted to stress too much about it. It’s a balancing act though, because if I get home too early I’ll be tempted to watch it or read the comments.
ArchTeryx
@Uncle Lefty: I’d put up money for pay-per-view for the first time in 35 years if I thought it was going to end with her kicking that creep in the crotch.
The Audacity of Krope
@Baud: That may be. What I’m seeing here, though, is a deplorable fellow (I will vouch for this personally) vehemently against Trump’s most noteworthy policy position.
Baud
@Uncle Lefty:
I hope she remembers to bring her mace.
TBone
My initial, brief flirt with stress this morning led to a kitchen that is now sparkling clean from top to bottom, and I am pleasantly relaxed after polishing the wood cabinets – wax on, wax off 😊
Just the glass cooktop and stainless sink left to polish (not with wax).
Baud
@The Audacity of Krope:
🤞
TBone
@Baud: 😆 I would love to see that, I just got a visual!
Jackie
@Baud:
Bear spray 😉
TBone
@ArchTeryx: me too
Baud
@Jackie:
Doubt it. She would choose the bear.
cmorenc
@SatanicPanic:
Yep – while I am confident Harris is very good at rhetorically rising to the moment, and has the right professional background and experience to draw on – there’s a good chance that the moderators will throw an awkwardly phrased “gotcha” question at her that will also line up well for Trump to riff off on with an obfuscating firehose of misinformation and gestures intended to present a dominating image. She handles this situation well when it arises, she wins the media and public perception game (outside the FOX-verse anyways) She stumbles, and that’s what the media and public perception will focus on.
Nuttin’ we can do about it, either way.
geg6
@zhena gogolia:
Totally this. I trust our own side only slightly more than your random GOPer at this point.
Belafon
@Uncle Lefty: She might be able to squeeze a few things in, but it seems that the debate setup is designed to minimize their interactions with each other.
zhena gogolia
@geg6: Yep.
Antonius
@balconesfault: The debate is ephemeral, the stars are about as forever as anything gets.
JWR
In his introduction to the following segment, Ian Masters writes: “Then we look into the House Republicans’ release today of a report on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan which is a political hit job against VP Harris whose name was mentioned 251 times even though in the transcripts of the Foreign Affairs Committee’s 3,288 pages of interviews, her name only came up three times and she was in Singapore and Vietnam when the chaotic withdrawal and deaths of 13 servicemen happened.”
The way they tell it, she probably squeezed the trigger 13 damn times. :(
pat
Just started a new book (murder mystery) and that will be my daily activity. Plus laundry, plus roasting some tomatoes to go with some meatballs…
TBone
Mood music!
https://youtu.be/sZDAGGuZKJE
JML
I went to the dentist this morning to have them fix a filling that had cracked. Good news: they didn’t charge me for it (I dunno if that’s because my insurance is good (it is) or because they’re the ones that did the original one and it didn’t last, but I don’t know that i care). Bad news: I went to work afterwards. Good news: they made sure i was comfortable throughout by shooting me up with all the novocaine in the county. Bad news: might not start to feel half my face until the weekend…
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: Same. Watching the coconut emoji closely. And the elected Ds who abandoned Biden.
zhena gogolia
@schrodingers_cat: For some reason I remembered this morning that it was also Schiff who was pushing the idea that Robert Mueller was senile.
schrodingers_cat
@geg6: Me three.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: And that Merrick Garland is weak and not doing enough. Did you see NP’s delusional quote?
Dave
@OId Man Shadow: It’s not easy to keep the balance between accepting and giving up agency which can be a trap of that sort of thinking
I’m not going to watch because well I know what I believe and if something truly extraordinary were to happen well I read about it and have plenty of opportunity to celebrate, angst, or just be confounded on my own time.
Matt McIrvin
@SatanicPanic: Online liberals are a bunch of technocratic what-iffers and we’ve all got our genius choice that a politician should have done instead. “Oh no, she should have picked Shapiro!” is already gaining ground, because she didn’t pick Shapiro so we can’t go “oh no, she shouldn’t have picked Shapiro”.
zhena gogolia
Hmm, YouTube shorts is feeding me Tim Walz content. Maybe that’s the way to spend the day.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
We have to you well, padowan.
zhena gogolia
@schrodingers_cat: No — what was that?
Rachel Bakes
Thanks John. Need to remember this
Mr. Bemused Senior
Not only do I have to accept things and people as they are, I have to accept myself as I am. Bleah. 🥲
Josie
@geg6:
With good reason. I will never forgive Schiff, Doggett et al.
The lesson here is to react as if she hit a home run no matter what actually happens. Perception is critical.
Maxim
My housemate wants to watch. I do not. Having to watch / listen to That Person is too painful.
tam1MI
Especially the approximately 30 elected Dems who pulled out the long knives the second things got rough and proved they could not be trusted to look out for anyone but themselves.
mrmoshpotato
@Belafon: Holy shit! And I thought they only sold clothes that would disintegrate if you looked at them funny.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@schrodingers_cat:
I really don’t think the situation is the same at all. Biden was behind before the debate and that’s why he and his team wanted that debate in June to give him a boost and dispel notions about his age. It unfortunately did the exact opposite in a very visible way in front of tens of millions of viewers, confirming their worries. The media pounced on it, who had already been writing Biden is Old stories for years. Fighting the media wasn’t going to work imo and they saw Biden tanking their reelection chances in their internal polling
Betty Cracker
I passed by a couple of Sav-a-Lot employees who were taking a smoke break a while ago, and they were talking about the debate. In response to being asked what channel it’s on, one said, “It’s on ABC, so you just know they’re gonna ask Ka-MALL-uh what her favorite color is and ask Trump how to solve all the world’s problems.”
Had to roll my eyes and walk on. These are people with shitty, low-paying jobs, and they were clucking over how unfairly treated a so-called billionaire is. It boggles the mind.
TBone
@JML: use a straw until then! Ask me how I know…
zhena gogolia
@tam1MI: Yes.
bluefoot
I had two pretty depressing interactions over the weekend wrt the election. Both were similar. One person said they were thinking about voting Trump because it would be better for their stock price. The second said she was considering voting Trump because it would be better for opportunities in her industry (biotech) because Harris will continue with drug pricing limits, etc. This is in greater Boston, both women in their late 40s, both white. Seriously, wtaf? Both are well off, especially the first. Having slightly more money is more important that protecting people’s rights and holding off fascism? And this is in supposedly deep blue Massachusetts.
TBone
@Betty Cracker: facepalms infinity activation
zhena gogolia
@bluefoot: That is depressing. But we’ll win MA.
bluefoot
@zhena gogolia: Both are liberal but somehow they’ve decided Trump will be better for their bottom lines. Which in itself is not a rational point of view, IMO. Which I argued to each of them. People need to get their freaking acts together and vote responsibly.
Steve LaBonne
@bluefoot: Modern Republicanism is all about IGMFY.
Matt McIrvin
@bluefoot: Massachusetts has a fair number of libertarian-ish techbros who are well into the Elon Musk cult. They’re probably voting for Trump, not much to do about it.
Yarrow
@zhena gogolia: With you on this. Although I’m not stressing because I have too much else to do and my stress will change nothing about this debate or its aftermath. Whatever happens is out of my hands.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
You know how we often observe that a lot of them engage in projection?
The other half of it is that they also engage in appropriation. It’s the reason so many of them act like they are victims, because our side represents those who have been historically disadvantaged in society.
mrmoshpotato
@Steve LaBonne: Yup. IGMFY since the 80’s.
Baud
@bluefoot:
What makes them liberal?
Ned F.
@twbrandt: Yes, exactly. At this point I just can’t watch any Trump without it activating my gag reflex. Besides, 9:00 is my bedtime and I don’t want to retire angry.
geg6
Here’s what I’m doing today…
Working my 15th workday until retirement. While there, I will eat lunch at our campus bistro where they are serving my favorite dish they make (chicken and spinach alfredo pizza) for the last time. After that, I will certify my VA Chapter 33 educational benefits recipients for the required second time and sort through some scholarship thank you letters. And then go home, make dinner and finish watching Wise Guy: David Chase and the Sopranos on MAX. The debate should be over by then and I’ll catch up on TPM and BJ. It it’s a disaster, I’ll find out soon enough. If it’s great news and Kamala rips him apart limb from limb, again, I’ll find out soon enough. I’ve had enough of the MSM and will not be following them or subjecting myself to their garbage on this matter or anything else. Just found out yesterday that David Muir is the moderator and, apparently, the most popular evening news anchor. That tells me everything I need to know about the level of the interrogation we’ll see in the debate. A himbo with no gravitas or real knowledge about anything, really.
Steve LaBonne
Harris will do just fine. And historically even the talking head chatter in the immediate aftermath can be quite different from where public opinion ends up settling. I’ll watch a few clips tomorrow, maybe.
zeecube
Well, it’s looking like Francine will be passing over me as a Week Cat 1 or strong Tropical Storm, so I will busy myself today with battening down the hatches. Plan to watch debate from the bunker.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@bluefoot:
How did they respond to your arguments?
Bruce K in ATH-GR
I’m just trying to go through my working day. 9pm Eastern is 4am local, and I’m not staying up or getting up to subject myself to that unmitigated bastard at stupid o’clock in the morning.
tam1MI
Those elected Dems showed us who they are and we believe them.
Yarrow
@Josie:
Yep. We’ll see what happens. I’m skeptical.
la caterina
Thanks, Cole. I needed that.
Ruckus
@OId Man Shadow:
Aww life. It is what it is, you can’t really change it, you can however experience it. It is easy to make it worse, difficult if not almost impossible to make it better.
It’s the one we get, enjoy it, revel in it, leave it better than when you came, do your best, not your worst and it will reward you with time, friends, sunshine, darkness of night, laughter and occasional terror.
zhena gogolia
@Yarrow: I’m hoping it’s too close to the election for a similar kind of freakout.
geg6
@bluefoot:
Sorry, but they are most definitely NOT liberals. They make vague gestures toward liberal policies, but no actual liberal would vote for Trump or cite their own self-interests as the best reason to vote for Cheetolini.
Bostondreams
@bluefoot: if they vote trump, they cannot be liberals. They are selfish idiots.
OId Man Shadow
@bluefoot: They think everything will be normal. That there won’t be fascism. That they’ll be okay. That the leopard will never bite their faces off. That their daughters will have access to birth control, education, and the freedoms they take for granted.
And by the time they realize they were wrong… (well, they probably won’t realize they were wrong, they’ll blame someone else) it will be too late.
Matt McIrvin
…I should add: Massachusetts also has a lot of these sort of “we need 2002 Mitt Romney back” NPR-listening centrists, and I am pretty sure they are for Harris this time around. We also have a lot of Bernie-left techies, they’re gonna be all in for Harris too.
Geminid
@Steve LaBonne: John Kenneth Galbraith:
geg6
@tam1MI:
Exactly. I don’t trust a single one of them.
Yarrow
@zhena gogolia: There is always plenty of opportunity for a freakout. I’d much prefer it be on the R side this time. Like if TFG says the n-word or calls her some misogynistic slur or says she’s stupid or dumb. Or, better yet, slurs his words to the point where even the regular media can’t hide it. A very obvious issue. The media is just tiptoeing into the “he’s old” area, so anything like that would be a push that could be used.
zhena gogolia
@Yarrow: Well, yes, I’m hoping for a freakout on their side, but they don’t do that.
Access Hollywood, 34 felony convictions, liable for sexual assault . . . no freakout.
bluefoot
@Steve LaBonne: Yeah, IME here in MA, IGMFY is pretty much New England, no matter what political affiliation. The exceptions are young people and many (but certainly not all) POC.
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): At least one of them grudgingly admitted that I was right about how biotech will go if Trump wins so she was listening. It was disconcerting for me though – how money was more important than the other things she cares about: abortion rights, voting rights, etc. It’s as if those things are abstract. I guess as a well off white person maybe that’s true?
OId Man Shadow
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
One constant is Trump. He’s always been who he is.
That’s why I don’t trust the newcomers. They’re not committed to vote against fascism. They’re not voting on principle. They’re not with us to vote for freedom for women and minorities. They’re not with us to vote for liberty and justice for all. They’re voting with us because the campaign has good vibes now.
If that changes, who knows if they’ll stick around?
Kay
I’m in Toledo taking care of my middle son this week – car crash injury. I just cleaned out his fridge – appalling.
He has homing pigeons and he’s on the couch reading a 1918 Navy manual on how to train them he found online, just as calm as can be. Also medicated, but still. He’s voting for Harris.
Yarrow
@zhena gogolia: Nope. They’re known for their falling-in-line skills. A visible health issue on stage during the debate could move the needle, though. They spent years saying “Biden is old.” Payback would be delicious.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@tam1MI:
Biden was fatally wounded after that debate and the subsequent media storm. Whether fair or not, it confirmed long-standing worries and perceptions of a lot of people, including Dem voters. That couldn’t be dismissed or wished away. Biden wasn’t going to win, so the party, which included those 30 Dems, took a gamble because the stakes were too high, especially if Biden was tanking downballot races
balconesfault
@JWR: I am so pissed at not only the media, but at plenty of Dems I know, for accepting the line that the Afghanistan withdrawal was “botched”.
After Trump signed a treaty with the Taliban, and released hundreds of Taliban fighters, the options were:
a) adhere to the terms of the treaty (Biden even stretched the timeline to give the Kabul government more time to prepare, and Americans more time to leave) and withdraw our military forces
b) try to stay, and have the Taliban, who had pretty much stood down once Trump signed off on the Agreement, ramp up attacks on US military bases, resulting in US military casualties.
The other bullshit is bullshit. For example – “we should have had a more structured withdrawal to allow more Afghanis who didn’t want to be controlled by the Taliban to get out”. If we had supported all the Kabul government officials and the military leadership leaving, the Biden Administration would have been blamed for making the Taliban takeover “inevitable”.
“US should have gotten all our military equipment out of the country instead of letting the Taliban take it over”. Sure – again, we’d have been accused of eliminating the Kabul Government’s ability to defend itself by taking away all the weaponry they needed to fight the Taliban – and the Taliban takeover would have been (rightfully, in this case) labelled Biden’s fault.
“US should have kept a few thousand soldiers as a military presence in Bagram to fortify the Kabul government.” Had we not made it clear that the US was completely withdrawing, we wouldn’t have had the cooperation we received from the Taliban when exiting the country, and there would likely have been a lot more attacks on the US as we were trying to exit. Imagine one or more of our transport planes being brought down? As it was, the only terrorist attack on our troops was by a 3rd party, and the Taliban cracked down on them afterwards to prevent any more successful attacks. The Taliban WANTED to see our backsides, and didn’t want to give us any excuses to stay longer.
And then there are just the dead enders who argue that Biden could have ignored Trump’s agreement, and just decided to continue the “stay forever and change Afghani society to be more democratic and more accepting of women’s rights”.
They are idiots. We spent way too much in men and money trying to do that. Biden did what we needed to do. All the counterfactuals ignore reality.
Baud
@bluefoot:
Yeah. Especially since the stock market has been going gang busters under Biden. Pathetic.
Ksmiami
@OId Man Shadow: exactly- fuck them.
Belafon
@Betty Cracker: You should have told them they could watch it on Fox to see if that’s any better. :)
Kay
He has some kind of weed/coconut oil reduction in his fridge in mason jars. It’s a pretty light green. And no I didn’t sample any – I’m like this naturally.
zhena gogolia
@Yarrow: I’m not expecting a visible health issue on stage. His handlers know how to handle him.
Matt McIrvin
@bluefoot: Electing Republicans can be good for the stock market in the short term just because stock traders are Republicans and when Republicans are elected, it makes them happy.
They tend to crash the economy down the line, though. I used to buy the savvy person’s doctrine about how Presidential administrations don’t really have any control over the business cycle, and recessions will happen when they happen. But when the last recession that actually happened under a Democrat was Jimmy Carter’s, and the one everyone was predicting for the past couple of years hasn’t even materialized yet… well, it gives one pause. I do think it’ll be hard to prevent it from coming through Harris’s whole term (or terms) if she’s elected, but I have far more respect for government’s ability to get people through downturns OK. Republicans seem to like to just let them rip.
bluefoot
@OId Man Shadow:
Yep. I got into an argument with a friend about this a couple of weeks ago. He thinks he. his wife, and his kids will be fine no matter what the outcome of the election. Even more stupidly, he was trying to convince me (a single, middle aged WOC) that *I* I am going be fine no matter the outcome.
I can’t even….
TBone
@Ruckus: 💙 all available at this full service blog, too!
Trollhattan
“Heads, I win; tails, you lose.”
-D. Trump
Haven’t convinced myself to watch.
Matt McIrvin
@bluefoot: I’ll probably personally be fine in a second Trump adminstration… and it drives me nuts, because it’ll be like being fine during the Nazi Holocaust. It’s like: well, maybe I’m obligated to do something to make sure I’m NOT fine.
Ruckus
@TaMara:
Him literally melting down would be a thing to watch. Except, he basically has been doing this for decades and he’s still here. He is one of life’s cruel jokes, the minimally human entity that does his damnedest to destroy everything because he has only a negative idea of how to be an actual human being.
And he is trumping himself, which is destroying everything and most everyone around him.
He is a perfect example of a human disaster, what not to do, say or be. Not a good idea, not a positive concept, word or premise in his entire life. And if one of those actually had existed, his only goal would be to destroy it as soon as possible, to protect himself from any positive thing whatsoever.
At least we have an almost perfect example of how best to attempt not human. And succeed
Jackie
BAHAAHAAAHA!!!
Kamala’s trolling TCGF continues to include during the actual debate!
Josie
@bluefoot:
Yeah, people like that will go on thinking they are fine until suddenly they are not. They need to do a bit of historical research.
TBone
@Kay: I have a friend who makes that, she calls it butter. Sounds like a lot of saturated fat to me.
zhena gogolia
@Yarrow: Even that supposedly incoherent answer about child care that O’Donnell was talking about — I watched the clip. It wasn’t as bad as it was painted. Sure, he never finished a sentence, but he’s wily in the way he gets it back to his punchline, “Make America Great Again.” The thrust of it was, “Who are you piddling middle class people who are worrying about child care? The amount you spend on child care is peanuts in my world of big tycoons. How dare you ask me about such a trivial issue? Just sit your child down on his gilded rocking horse and wait for the full-time nanny to get back from her bathroom break.” https://www.gettyimages.com/search/2/image-film?phrase=melania+donald+and+barron+trump+at+home+shoot
balconesfault
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):Biden was fatally wounded after that debate and the subsequent media storm.
I love Joe Biden as a President. I think he’d have been extremely capable in that role for 4 more years, as long has his health holds up. In terms of decision making, I think his cognitive skills are all there.
But he’s older, and older people have slower cognition. Which doesn’t really matter when you have a week to decide on a major policy proposal … a day to decide on how to respond to the Republicans proposing another stupid thing … or even an hour to consider experts input and decide on how to respond to a geopolitical issue.
But when needing to formulate a response in seconds to absolute bullshit being thrown about by a man with no concern for the truth … Biden has slowed a step, and the media was more than ready after months of priming the pump to claim that this was prima facie evidence that his ability to do the things a President really needs to do (see above) had eroded.
So Biden showed once again that he still had the cognitive skills to make the right decision for the country, and turned over the reins to Harris, who is ready to deal with the theatrics that the media and the “undecided voters” in our electorate demand.
zhena gogolia
@Matt McIrvin: I wouldn’t be so sure you’ll be fine. A lot of Russian people in Moscow and St. Petersburg thought they’d be fine too.
TBone
@Jackie: 🔥🤘
balconesfault
@Matt McIrvin: Electing Republicans can be good for the stock market in the short term just because stock traders are Republicans and when Republicans are elected, it makes them happy.
They tend to crash the economy down the line, though.
The people who finance Republicans love boom and bust cycles. They have the assets to profit during the boom, the insider knowledge to hedge as the cycle is peaking, and the capital to buy up distressed assets when the market crashes.
geg6
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
They made their choice and the idea that we can’t criticize them or hold them accountable is ridiculous. They’ve shown me that they cannot be trusted to not go running screaming to the press with any half-baked excuse for their freakout. They aren’t loyal enough to work behind the scenes and/or weren’t trusted enough by the White House to even discuss the matter. I wouldn’t trust any of them as far as I can throw them. I trust GOPers less, but that’s a low bar for them to clear.
bluefoot
@Matt McIrvin: It depends on how one defines “fine.” If “fine” = not dead, then yeah, many people will be fine. But I don’t think ANYBODY is going to be fine if TCFG wins. I have one friend who grew up in East Germany (he was 18 when the Wall fell) and moved to the US in his 20s, and one who grew up one of the Soviet republics, his family emigrating to the US when he was 13. Both of them to this day carry psychological scars from that. Their parents even more so.
OId Man Shadow
@Matt McIrvin: Same. But like you, my conscience won’t let me be fine.
And I love this sometimes stupid, infuriating country and want to see those ideals about liberty and justice for all become real here and universal.
Kay
@TBone:
It’s kind of fun, snooping around his kitchen (with his permission). I told him “I reorganized the weed section of your fridge” :)
Baud
@balconesfault:
Agreed. And a lot of voters are addicted to the boom part.
Yarrow
@zhena gogolia: I’m not expecting it either. But it would be great if it happened.
Greebe
For my part I think I will be tuning in to the debate. It will be a good exercise to try to embody the stoic privilege of control that John expresses in his post.
Then I will spend an hour or so watching Rocky Kanaka’s Sitting With Dogs to cleanse the palette and sleep peacefully.
geg6
@Jackie:
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Hillary must be laughing her ass off at this.
rikyrah
Take Back the House and Save the Senate (@Needle_of_Arya) posted at 9:30 AM on Tue, Sep 10, 2024:
Elon Musk didn’t buy Twitter because he believed it to be a viable investment; he bought it to help get DJT elected and then destroy it altogether
it goes to “the white man’s meaning of ‘free speech’ vs. the constitutional one”; he can’t abide the very existence of the latter
(https://x.com/Needle_of_Arya/status/1833513342864171503?t=Qm2e1YWuZ_KJzRLm-yPftQ&s=03)
Jackie
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): In all respect, let’s don’t refuel this. It’s done, it’s over.
As Harris suggests; It’s time to look forward.
zhena gogolia
@Yarrow: Agreed on that!
rikyrah
Bakari Sellers (@Bakari_Sellers) posted at 5:58 AM on Tue, Sep 10, 2024:
Last week Venezuelans this week Haitians. We see you. It’s sick and Xenophobic
(https://x.com/Bakari_Sellers/status/1833460134128886070?t=Kaf-CcwRo3cM9GoUGq3GWg&s=03)
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@balconesfault:
This is my take as well. He could still do the job of president but not the campaigning part as well and the exhaustion probably got to him. Plus, he did have a cold
rikyrah
Dan Froomkin (PressWatchers.org) (@froomkin) posted at 6:10 PM on Mon, Sep 09, 2024:
“If you believe that your name has been improperly removed from the list of registered voters, please file an online complaint with the Civil Rights Division, or call us at 1-800-253-3931. https://t.co/K68WJNy942
(https://x.com/froomkin/status/1833281922157711466?t=5OWXRE1Cd9zD1OGGUYnbuA&s=03)
Matt McIrvin
@balconesfault: Busts provide cheap labor and goods too, as long as you’re sitting on a pile of money to buy it with.
Betty Cracker
@zeecube: Yikes — stay safe! Francine has kept the temperature bearable on this side of the Gulf by flinging lots of cloud cover our way. Drizzly and highs in the 80s for days.
Yarrow
@bluefoot:
OMG, the ignorance and privilege of this person to do that. I can’t imagine!
comrade scotts agenda of rage
“Inner Peace Through Lowered Expectations”
rikyrah
Richard Stengel (@stengel) posted at 7:28 AM on Tue, Sep 10, 2024:
Balance is a false god. Treating a fact and a lie as equal is not balance but malpractice. It favors the liar. The press is protected in this country so it can protect democracy. That’s also your job as you moderate tonight.
(https://x.com/stengel/status/1833482783433343285?t=tI1q1K6UZgobHojg20tZ1g&s=03)
rikyrah
Kenny Akers (@KeneAkers) posted at 6:42 AM on Tue, Sep 10, 2024:
Harry S. Truman
33rd U.S. President—“Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don’t need help. That’s all there is to it.” https://t.co/AHXHXNikBU
(https://x.com/KeneAkers/status/1833470979194163367?t=b9n22F2DYe3eGzYDdOaBwA&s=03)
StringOnAStick
I’m missing the debate because I’m helping lead our ukulele/strings sing along group tonight. Probably won’t be the usual 50 people because so many will be home watching it, the group means pretty left in general and people were talking about how excited they were about it last week. I’ll catch up by reading about it here after we get back home. My husband can’t stand watching or even hearing the orange fart cloud, so you people are my only near realtime resource.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia:Rep Nancy Pelosi in interview on ABC today: “Pretty soon… I won’t be the most powerful woman in politics”
KH is the most powerful woman in politics right now as the VP. So what the hell is NP trying to say.
Trollhattan
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Sign up for my time-proven self-help seminar—Dare to be Average—today. Operators are standing by.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Betty Cracker:
@bluefoot:
‘MURKA!!!!! FUCK YEAH!!!!!
The big-assed asteroid strike can’t happen soon enough.
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: He is going to say something nasty about Indians tonight. I can feel it in my bones.
TBone
@balconesfault: that’s what I mean when I talk about the “overlords” taking it out of our hides. I don’t like to think about it too much, bad for blood pressure…
zhena gogolia
@schrodingers_cat: Ugh.
TBone
@Kay: 😂💜
Kay
JD Vance
Liar. They called the office of their Senator rather than local police? Yeah, sure they did. Not only that, the called their US Senator to say their neighbors pet was missing?
If this were Walz 15 national media people would be following up on this bullshit as I write – watch while not one of them go after Vance.
They’re a cartel. They coordinate on what they do and don’t cover. Not a real competitive market. That’s why the work quality is so low.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jackie:
I agree it’s over but I’m not the one who raised the worry about this debate. I was trying to say why I thought this wasn’t the same situation
TBone
@rikyrah: nice 👍
piratedan
@schrodingers_cat: the part that really frosts my cookie is how while the J6 Congressional Committee was uncovering all of this evidence of wrongdoing, collusion, planning for the events of the day that involved not only 45, but members of his administration, certain members of Congress, the media and the spouse of a SCOTUS member. The DOJ was SCREAMING for all of this to be shared with them.
Congress did so, three plus years ago…. wtf has happened since?
We have one indictment being delayed by SCOTUS themselves (shocker) but what about EVERYONE else? Why no indictments, no prosecutions? It’s been stonewalled somehow, by whom? Why is the DOJ just fucking sitting there on all of this?
Villago Delenda Est
@Geminid: THIS THIS THIS!
Kay
Would any of the “many residents” who called JD Vance’s office be willing to say so publicly? I think we need verification of this ridiculous fairy tale he’s telling.
JMG
I’m in the Cotswolds on family vacation, so I’ll be asleep through the debate. No way of telling how it’ll be reported, which is what matters, not what actually happens in the debate.
superdestroyer
Harris can only lose the debate by committing a huge gaffe or world salad miss. Trump cannot lose because there is no gaffe, world salad, or lie that will cause a single voter to change his opinion of Trump.
This is probably why Trump is going to win the electoral college in November.
Yarrow
@schrodingers_cat: First all ugh. But it’s also likely that his nasty comments about Indians, that he thinks would be about Harris, will be nasty comments about Native Americans. He’s already mixing up asylum seekers with people escaping from asylums.
zeecube
@Betty Cracker: thanks. Expecting high wind and power loss. I get to test out the whole house generator installed last year. If things truly go south, we have plans to evacuate to panhandle at pet friendly hotel.
Balconesfault
@schrodingers_cat: when she was Speaker of the House, she was definitely more powerful than VP. Guess she still remembering those days.
OId Man Shadow
@Kay: Not fairy tale.
Blood libel.
He’s slandering Haitian immigrants as bloodthirsty savages and devils who can’t be “civilized”.
He wants a violent response. He wants a mob to support what he plans to do to those immigrants.
Citizen Dave
I think the debate will be interesting to see how much, and on what, Harris attacks Orange Turd. I’d love something about his whole life has been based on bullshittery, fraud, blatant racism, etc. Also, pointing out his/too many Repubs support of Putin, maybe leave it dangling as to why that is the case.
She will do great. We would have won with Biden, we will win bigger with Harris. Enthusiasm is very high.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Steve LaBonne:
Modern Conservatism:
50% Cleek’s Law
40% IGMFY
10% Special Pleading to Justify It All
Sticking it to the moochers, the takers, the welfare cheats, the gun grabbers, the promiscuous minority women.
All revolving around the GPQ’s Unholy Trinity of Authoritarians, Fundamentalists and Freemarketeers.
rikyrah
New democrat….. unless dems act like wimps![]()
(@reesetheone1) posted at 8:26 AM on Tue, Sep 10, 2024:
Meh.
White voters are gonna do white voter stuff.
Dems ARE STILL IN DENIAL that America can elect Trump again.
They like their cheap groceries gasoline and they don’t like illegal immigration.
All Trump is doing is running the 2016 campaign all over again.
(https://x.com/reesetheone1/status/1833497391095271479?t=V0SER2x_NZ_SJdUFw9pb9w&s=03)
Baud
@rikyrah:
Gas is pretty cheap right now.
schrodingers_cat
@Balconesfault: Was, being the operative, right now she is not the Speaker.
Baud
@Citizen Dave:
👍
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@superdestroyer:
Known right wing troll from OTB says what?
rikyrah
Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) posted at 7:37 AM on Tue, Sep 10, 2024:
New in PN: Sanewashing and the damage done
“Sanewashing doesn’t just sanitize Trump’s public statements. It actively protects him and promotes the illusion he’s a sensible candidate and reasonable choice for voters.” https://t.co/NzyFNzpyGR
(https://x.com/atrupar/status/1833484910583046481?t=2QWkLG0tkw2i_up115CH3g&s=03)
Matt McIrvin
@Geminid: I actually think many of them are NOT selfish–they’re bootlickers. They’re actually quite selfless and generous toward people who are richer and more powerful than themselves. And it goes beyond self-interest.
rikyrah
Serious “OG KHive” Black![]()
(@NicsuPR) posted at 7:10 AM on Tue, Sep 10, 2024:
You can’t be mad at what happened to Tyreek Hill and be a Trump supporter. #VoteBlue #HarrisWalls2024
Trump’s vow for police ‘immunity’ could spell trouble for Black communities
https://t.co/JKN3xKDPVT
(https://x.com/NicsuPR/status/1833478084034474013?t=y-MhvAri7p-D3eCSXuaNfA&s=03)
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
Natural serfs.
Citizen Alan
@Betty Cracker: The fucking peasant mentality. The idea among far too many poor people that they should worship the very people responsible for their poverty and snap their jaws angrily at anyone who tries to help them
rikyrah
John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) posted at 7:09 AM on Tue, Sep 10, 2024:
how interesting that the made-up Haitian-immigrants-eating-pets-in-Ohio garbage is being spread by “influencers” on Moscow’s payroll
(https://x.com/JohnJHarwood/status/1833477913456324750?t=HwAcBWKP9rg3-CseRd_TaA&s=03)
Geminid
The World Nomad Games are under way in Astana, Kazakhstan. Two thousand athletes from 89 countries are competing in events like wrestling, horseback wrestling, horseback archery and falconry. The U.S. has a team competing in Kok Bar, or goat polo. The winning team gets to eat the goat after it’s been barbecued.
The Games run September 8-13, and includes music and dancing. Participants compete in native dress, which in the case of the US team means cowboy clothes.
sdhays
I haven’t seen anyone make this point, so here goes:
Yes, the polls are close and it’s anyone’s guess who would win if the election were today, BUT the trend lines aren’t good for the Donvict. He’s the one trailing in most polls (even if it’s within the margin of error) and Harris is both more popular and has gained in popularity over the last month or so. He’s not winning right now, Harris is (again, not saying we have this in the bag, just that anyone would rather be in Harris’s position at this point in the campaign).
So, whatever the expectations, “just surviving” isn’t really good enough for him. He needs to do better than he’s ever done in a one-on-one debate. I think that’s unlikely.
rikyrah
𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐨𝐩𝐞 (@exavierpope) posted at 3:43 AM on Tue, Sep 10, 2024:
Tyreek Hill being roughed up by cops in South Florida and Haitian immigrant eating pet disinformation parroted by JD Vance, Elon Musk and others on the right shows America still has yet to dislodge itself from the vestiges of slavery and the culture of anti-Blackness
(https://x.com/exavierpope/status/1833426087876940145?t=qeumitADf4tSaMPD6NYp1w&s=03)
Baud
@Geminid:
Where can I watch that?
Mike
@twbrandt: AMEN!
amen amen amen
Better things to do.
rikyrah
Terry Lee Watkins Jr. 王瑞民![]()
![]()
(@TerryWatkinsJr1) posted at 1:37 AM on Tue, Sep 10, 2024:
I’m sick to my stomach.
Missourians worked hard to get Amendment 3 on the ballot. And the authoritarian forces that is the MISSOURI GOP worked tirelessly to take it off the ballot and out of the hands of our voters.
Republicans are a threat to women everywhere. https://t.co/BuYNNspdUk
(https://x.com/TerryWatkinsJr1/status/1833394278938144832?t=xsVsdZK2GXBqLdoCKla0Rg&s=03)
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@rikyrah:
How exactly are “Dems in denial”?
Geminid
@balconesfault: Qatar played a key role in coordinating our withdrawal with the Taliban. The operation was very successful outside the one security lapse that led to the US casualties.
geg6
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
It will be if they decide to make it be. I will never trust any of them ever again.
wenchacha
@ArchTeryx: As Lawrence O’Donnell pointed out, the pres. debates are an artificial construct which doesn’t really replicate most skills needed by a POTUS. A President has advisors, doesn’t have just two minutes to explain positions, etc.
Kamala Harris will be great, but who knows what the media geniuses will say.
sdhays
@schrodingers_cat: I think she just left off “in American history”. Because, for now, Nancy Pelosi has been the most powerful woman in American history. The VP’s position is strange, so it’s not really equivalent to the Speakership, and Pelosi was one of the most consequential and masterful Speakers in the nation’s history, period.
rikyrah
Jess Piper (@piper4missouri) posted at 7:32 AM on Tue, Sep 10, 2024:
If you ever wonder why the wealthy spent so much money buying up Secretary of State and Attorney General positions in red states, look at Missouri.
They are attempting to subvert the citizen-led petition process because they know abortion will win in November.
(https://x.com/piper4missouri/status/1833483615637835796?t=BSpSshROpW26qB7DwZccTg&s=03)
Ruckus
@geg6:
If your retirement is anything like mine you will enjoy it. I started working at 12 and retired at 72, with a side step into military life at 20, during Vietnam, which I only got within half a world away from. From many I’ve met at the VA, I really, really did not miss anything good. And the healthcare at the VA has been pretty good, better than active duty healthcare and in some ways better than community healthcare. One does sometimes have to know how to work a maze to get things to happen, but then it is life….
Kay
@rikyrah:
And some rich people who went to very expensive colleges!
Thereby proving once again that wealth and education don’t matter at all if the person is of poor character. They’re lowlifes. They wouldn’t last a day doing the work Haitians do in Ohio. They work at a turkey processing plant in this county – miserable, dirty, dangerous work.
Jackie
@Baud: As are groceries!
Granted this just covers online shopping, but surely in-store shopping is reflecting lower prices as well? They are in my neighborhood.
gvg
@schrodingers_cat: Uh, no. Vice President has pretty much no real power. Any Senator or House member has more. Its become traditional within my lifetime for Presidents to actually use the VP’s as deputy’s, but legally they are about nothing. Clinton started it by the way, and I approve because it prepares them and the public better. I think with the assassination of Kennedy and the nervousness of the atomic era, we really needed more of this style. Bush Jr continued it (not a fan, but still think the office should be more than a placeholder like it used to be) and now it’s pretty much set…except Trump gave no power to Pence.
Candidates for President also have no real power. Even within the party the power is temporary unless they win.
She won’t be more powerful than Pelosi until she IS President.
Matt McIrvin
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Maybe I’m not looking in the right places but I see NOBODY feeling complacent about this election. If anything, Democrats are leaning over in the direction of pessimism and despairing that it’s even close.
geg6
@Balconesfault:
Or you know, she’s pretty old. Maybe too old to function properly in public? Maybe she should resign, just to be safe.
raven
@geg6:Wise Guy is awesome
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Maybe it’s a marketing-adjacent background skewing my perceptions, but I tend to see it as more of a branding problem. These were late middle-aged women with crappy jobs in a redneck town, so I assume they’re victimized plenty. Dem policies could materially improve their circumstances, but they keep voting for the same shitheads who’ve been screwing them all their lives or not voting at all.
Some people like that can safely be dismissed as deplorables — white supremacists, woman haters, queer-phobes, etc., but I think at least some are reachable.
They have to be convinced Dems aren’t all sneering elitists. The Harris-Walz campaign seems aimed at gettable voters by focusing on freedom and government action on middle-class issues. I hope it works!
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Geminid:
http://www.shepherdsofhimalayas.com/women-of-the-world-nomad-games.html
I need a video stream of the horse archery competition, all I’ve seen thus far are snippets.
This is so cool.
rikyrah
Ragnarok Lobster![]()
(@eclecticbrotha) posted at 3:55 AM on Tue, Sep 10, 2024:
Presidential debates are not about policy.
Presidential debates are about the media helping Republicans win elections.
(https://x.com/eclecticbrotha/status/1833429192228089890?t=T8gPM4L2aehqMzcFMnEzEA&s=03)
Mike E
@Villago Delenda Est: George Carlin (from memory, paraphrased):
“If I fall out of an airplane I will always land to the left of the line… liberals, progressives and Dems care about people. Repubs, conservatives and RWers care about property and tax refunds, not people.”
schrodingers_cat
@gvg: Pelosi is only a Congresswoman right now. She is not in any leadership position right now.
SatanicPanic
@Matt McIrvin:
Yup. Baud has it right- nothing we say matters. Harris/Walz is the strongest ticket I’ve seen, maybe since Obama/Biden, maybe ever. If she doesn’t know how to win this, none of us do either.
Matt McIrvin
@gvg: Kamala Harris’s most important power over the past 4 years has been a tiebreaking vote in the Senate… which, if you think about it, is less power there than an actual Senator has, but important because things are balanced on a knife edge.
TBone
Goin’ in with Philly attytood:
Lips, hips, and potato chips!
💋
Geminid
@Baud: Don’t know. Somebody’s probably streaming the games. I’d like to watch them just for the colorful garb. The Astana Times has some pictures that show competitors wearing some very neat looking hats.
Kay
I think she could ignore the questions and just talk directly to viewers about 3 or 4 major issues. She probably won’t, because Democrats still have to pretend media operates in good faith – which I understand and support (it’s for normies) – but she could. Trump never answers the questions.
But I’m not watching. I’m confident she’ll do great – she’s really talented.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I think that may be true of some people who vote for Trump. But someone who thinks Trump has been treated unfairly is probably in the deplorable camp. My 2¢.
Long term, we do have to figure out how we can expand our pool of voters. I’m not sure what is the most efficient way to do that.
Trollhattan
@Baud: ESPN17–The G.O.A.T.-Goat Network.
What they fail to mention is 2nd place also get goat, just not cooked.
Jackie
@Matt McIrvin: Democrats being Democrats. It’s in our DNA to fret and worry 😉
Hoodie
@Kay: The only people who would call his office about that are cranks who lie about having seen something so that they can get the attention they crave in their miserable lives. I have a friend who is a reporter for the local paper and also has the dubious honor of handling the letters to the editor. He says they’re consistently from the same handful of cranks. Of course, Vance knows this, too, as members of congress get similar input crank-dominated input. However, it gives him deniability when it’s shown that the stories are nonsense, hence his hedge. And the press wastes time tracking down this ridiculous nonsense.
Matt McIrvin
@Hoodie: I have been receiving reports from my constituents that they saw Principal Skinner and Miss Krabappel in the closet making babies and they saw one of the babies and the baby looked at them.
balconesfault
@Geminid: Given all the things that COULD have gone wrong … it was extremely successful. But the media was getting frustrated with Biden’s quiet competence, and were pissed off that he was taking their war away.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
Ha!
balconesfault
@Baud: “Long term, we do have to figure out how we can expand our pool of voters. I’m not sure what is the most efficient way to do that.”
Clearly the Kamala nomination did that.
https://afro.com/kamala-harris-inspires-young-black-women-voter-registration/
TBone
Outlook at Casa TBone:
Sassy!
Frankensteinbeck
@rikyrah:
Nope. Nuh-uh. Musk has been consistent and plain from day one. He bought it to force liberals to be subjected to hate speech as legitimate discourse. Especially transphobic hate speech, but he likes the whole field.
Musk didn’t want to destroy Twitter and is angry it’s failing. He’s the idiot narcissist he looks like. Sure he wants to elect Trump, but that wasn’t part of the plan, it just came up.
As ever: These people aren’t evil masterminds. They’re not Lex Luther. They’re shitlords.
Baud
@balconesfault:
Whatever marginal increase in young black women she attracts is a drop in the bucket and isn’t nearly enough to expand our voter base.
Kay
@Hoodie:
Oh, I agree.
Media and Vance are only doing it so they can do “scary Black immigrants in Ohio” – it’s become so predictable that they will demonize immigrants in the last weeks of a campaign we have a term for it “the caravans”. We all knew it was coming.
SatanicPanic
@Matt McIrvin: Is complacent the same as being checked out? I am kind of that. I mean, I’m following the news, and I’m donating as much as I can, but at this point I’ve accepted that I can’t control the outcome and that life isn’t fair.
balconesfault
@Matt McIrvin: “Kamala Harris’s most important power over the past 4 years has been a tiebreaking vote in the Senate… which, if you think about it, is less power there than an actual Senator has, but important because things are balanced on a knife edge.”
Did she have the “power” to cast that vote in a way contrary to how she was directed by Biden?
Baud
@balconesfault:
Yes. It would be a historically epic scandal, but she does.
Matt McIrvin
@balconesfault: Well, theoretically, yes, but it wouldn’t generally be a good idea.
Kay
@Hoodie:
Ohio has a relatively small number of immigrants compared to many other states, so Vance was probably confident he could smear Haitians and juice up his horrible base. They want to beat Sherrod Brown too, so expect more lies like this.
Betty
I thought of you when I saw a post on Threads announcing the retirement of Jim Luby at the University of Minnesota. He developed several new kinds of apples, including the Honey Crisp.
Matt McIrvin
@Frankensteinbeck: Lex Luthor is consistently portrayed in the comics as more competent than these weasels. He got himself elected President for a while and was a better one than Trump because he figured it was in his best interest.
Kay
The Alitos are mooching off a German Princess. Just gross people who discredit the whole justice system.
Peke Daddy
Not only watching it live but listening to Keith Olbermann’s post game commentary, too. Got a suspicion Hair Furor is going to drive a stake through the heart of his campaign tonight, triggered by just having to share a stage with one of those people, with help from Harris in gang prosecutor form, unfiltered. It will upset me less than the media enablement post game spin oozing from every electronic orifice, and Olbermann will be displaying ionospheric levels of dudgeon, serving to lightning rod my anger.
Hoodie
@Baud: That’s pretty clear, you have to offer them a vision for the future that makes them think their lives will be better sooner than later, instead of an existential slog towards decline and irrelevance. Otherwise, they get very cynical and start thinking in short term ways. Clear, but not easy to do. It helps if you’re a positive, attractive person because there is a good bit of living vicariously in people’s views of candidates. Kennedy and Obama succeeded in that way, at least to some extent. Harris has a lot of the same advantages and it seems she understands what she needs to do. I feel better having a polished, attractive advocate like her than Joe (God love him) shouting at Trump.
balconesfault
@Frankensteinbeck: “Musk didn’t want to destroy Twitter and is angry it’s failing. He’s the idiot narcissist he looks like. Sure he wants to elect Trump, but that wasn’t part of the plan, it just came up.”
Yep.
Elon liked getting on social media and shitting on out groups.
He found that he kept getting criticized for shitting on out groups by the people who prefer civil discourse – and that the people who want an internet full of misogyny, racism, and homophobia/transphobia became fanboys of him.
So he wanted to help those fanboys come out of the dark corners of the internet and help him flame those of us who want civil discourse, and the way to do that was to buy Twitter and change the rules.
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: Haven’t heard about her in a while. The family name always reminds me of Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: I think the Harris-Walz campaign’s focus on individual freedom and a hand up for the middle class may be partly calculated to help us shore up Latino support. Whichever way that demographic leans in the future will be critical to our prospects.
Emily B.
@bluefoot: They’re being selfish jerks because they can be. Massachusetts will go for Harris, so they can safely put on a personal performance of being an “independent voter”—you know, one who weighs the issues and doesn’t slavishly follow a party line. (Same thing happens with some far-left voters in blue states. )
Idiots.
Kay
@Matt McIrvin:
They took 900 bucks in concert tickets and also accomodations at the castle. Can we pay these people a lump sum so they’ll resign? Make him an offer. Worth every penny to get rid of him and his bitter, resentful wife.
tam1MI
Clearly she is having memory issues. Time for her to step aside in favor of whoever the “internal polls” say is the better choice.
Hoodie
@Betty Cracker: I think an underappreciated aspect of the freedom theme is that it also expresses a faith in the American people, that you have confidence in their ability to make their own decisions and not be a bunch of wild animals. The thing about the current GOP is that they deeply distrust Americans, which is reinforced by their relentless depiction of America as a shithole with Haitians eating park ducks, schools castrating young boys, doctors killing infants, etc.
SatanicPanic
@Matt McIrvin: I tried to find a historical example and the only one I could find was John C. Calhoun (VP to Andrew Jackson) voting no and killing Martin Van Buren’s candidacy for Minister to Great Britain (apparently a job at the time). Jackson responded by replacing Calhoun with Van Buren on the ticket for his reelection bid. So that didn’t go well for Calhoun.
OId Man Shadow
@Matt McIrvin: I thought the animated Justice League handled that storyline better:
Salty Sam
John Nance Garner (FDR’s VP in the 30’s) was quoted as saying VP job “…is not worth a bucket of warm piss.”
Sandia Blanca
@balconesfault: Mr. Blanca is contemplating attending that same gathering! How about an impromptu mini-meetup?
Dorothy A. Winsor
People sometimes treat worrying as if it were magic. If they worry hard enough, they can make something happen.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Sounds like the premise of a new DAW YA novel.
Trollhattan
@Salty Sam:
Pence proved his worth staring intently at North Korea, across the DMZ.
scav
More critically than missing the debate, I’m going to up my game and avoid large swathes of the paid opinions on the debate. There’ll be a lot of sound and fury no doubt. Will still be work to do on the other side.
karen gail
I may or may not watch; because I can’t hear him anyway I read the cc and watch reactions. The joy of never really having heard him is something that makes me ever thankful when I read the comments about his voice.
It is easy to be zen when you realize that as a person you have no more control over politics and politicians than you do over the latest tropical storm.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Kay: We could try, but I think at this point that they’d only be moved by the proverbial “offer he can’t refuse”.
zhena gogolia
@Citizen Dave: I like your attitude!
zhena gogolia
@Baud: They said goat polo, not goat f–king.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Baud: I don’t need more ideas! I need to stop.
David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch
Nothing’s riding on this except the Constitution
and the future of the country.
I just want to tell Kamala good luck, we’re all
counting on you.
Matt McIrvin
@Dorothy A. Winsor: There are all the old superstitions about optimistic statements bringing the Evil Eye. Say something encouraging and you’d better knock on wood to ward off the bad luck.
Burnspbesq
Hell’s bells, there’s a pennant race going on. I’ll be watching the Mets.
If Trump melts down, there will be no lack of opportunities to see it on replay. Not like anything that happens tonight is going to change my vote.
David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch
@Burnspbesq:
they all laughed when the Mets added Grimace and Hawk Tuah at the trading deadline, but who’s laughing now
Ruckus
@bluefoot:
I guess as a well off white person maybe that’s true?
It’s true of anyone well off. Money buys a lot more than just better food. I live in SoCal so skin color may not have the same restrictions as elsewhere, but money has a loud voice and MONEY has a louder voice, and that applies everywhere.
Peke Daddy
@Salty Sam: “I am Vice President. In this I am nothing, but I may be everything.”
John Adams
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Are you hacking into my browser history again?
Ruckus
@karen gail:
It is easy to be zen when you realize that as a person you have no more control over politics and politicians than you do over the latest tropical storm.
Actually you can have more.
We have the right/job to hire our employees to run the government. It is our duty to at least hire someone who also has our interests in consideration – rather than only their own. Shitforbrains only ever has his own interests – because in that cesspool he calls a brain, his own interests are the only concepts. Of course he often screws those up royally as well as everything else. And now seemingly he’s gone completely round the bend and ended up with his head very, very firmly stuffed all the way up his exhaust port, so his every “thought” is, well, shittier than usual.
Burnspbesq
@David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch:
Best record in the NL since June, but they were so bad in April and May that it might not matter. It doesn’t help that 13 of their last 18 are against division leaders or the futhermucking Braves.
balconesfault
@Sandia Blanca: Sounds good, if I can persuade the wife. I’d likely be wearing shorts and a red Hawaiian shirt – which should make me largely indistinguishable from countless other Austin 60-something white guys ;-)
Sure Lurkalot
@Baud:
Maybe unpossible. US has the most vibrant economy in the world today and the media along with a large percentage of Americans think we’re in a recession. I understand we have a large swath of undereducated voters but if you’re a political journalist and don’t know what tariffs do or what an economic recession is, you should get another beat
Bidenomics has addressed more concerns of the not wealthy in 50 years. Yes, it’s still a struggle for too many but at this point I just have to accept too many don’t want help. They want hate
Manyakitty
@schrodingers_cat: ugh. I wish you were wrong, but it’s a strong possibility.
Sandia Blanca
@balconesfault: LOL! Still need to confirm with Mr. B, but I’ll wear my “Texans for Harris Walz” shirt, and he’s wearing shorts and long hair
ETA: I wonder if Salty Sam might be available to join in? Astronomy On Tap at the Celis Brewery, 7:30 tonight.
Other MJS
@OId Man Shadow:
Normalcy bias. “Oh, well, if this doesn’t work out we’ll vote for someone else next time.”
Soprano2
@bluefoot: The stock market is at record highs right now, how can they think TCFG will be better for their bottom line?
Mandarama
@Sandia Blanca: I just want to cheer for y’all going to Astronomy on Tap. My son is an Astrophysics Ph.D student, and he and his buddies are starting a chapter of AoT in western MA! They are hoping to use Austin’s as a model, I think.
Sandia Blanca
@Mandarama: Awesome! I was looking at their site, and was amazed at all the locations around the world that have chapters.
trnc
I haz powers. Just you wait and see.
trnc
“In another demonstration of failed leadership, Harris conveniently nowhere near Afghanistan during troop withdrawal.”
Matt McIrvin
@Soprano2: A lot of guys reporting from the front seat of their pickup truck say the economy SUCKS.
Villago Delenda Est
@Geminid: As much as I hate to be pedantic (ha!) what a lot of people don’t grasp is that the withdraw under fire is VERY complex and something is bound to happen that is bad, like some casualties. It was a pretty well executed operation, but no one in the MSM has the slightest fucking clue about how difficult such an operation is to pull off even with faults and failures.
Cheryl from Maryland
Watching The Comedy of Errors. Not the debate, but the actual play by Shakespeare. Where the women rule the doofus men. Karma, make it so.
Geminid
@Villago Delenda Est: US troops weren’t under fire exactly, but was a chaotic and hazardous hazardous situation. Trump’s pusilanimous deal with the Taliban the year before ensured that.
Colette South
@Scout211: Fall is my favorite time here in Iowa. I can do without July and August but they just keep coming back . . . .
Kosh III
“Run away! Run away!”
Brave Sir Robin
Ruckus
@SatanicPanic:
My dog could beat shitforbrains in this debate – and he’s been deceased for 10 yrs. The sewer system at my apartment complex could beat shitforbrains and it’s full of S _ _ _. Oh wait, so is he…..
Ruckus
@Kay:
Apparently didn’t hurt his brain……. he’s remaining calm, taking his meds and voting for Harris. Ya done good!