Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

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

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

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

It looks like winning debates is a black job!

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Republicans don’t trust women.

President Biden is doing good where he can, and getting it done.

Not all heroes wear capes.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Let me file that under fuck it.

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

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Friday Evening Open Thread: That Was A *Really* Expensive Debate for TFG….

Friday Evening Open Thread: That Was A *Really* Expensive Debate for TFG….

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… [O]n Wednesday, it was pretty clear that Trump’s widely panned debate performance dragged down the shares of his company. Trump Media, which trades under the ticker DJT, fell as much as 19 percent from last night’s highs to its lowest point all year of $15.35. (This year, shares are down about 74 percent from its high in March, shortly after going public.) To put that into perspective, it is now less valuable than it was in January, before the publicly traded shell company that ultimately bought it — Digital World Acquisition Company — was cleared to merge with Trump Media as part of the process of going public through a SPAC. It also erased $467 million of Trump’s net worth about a week before he can cash out all his shares…

Trump Media’s only real asset right now is the social-media network, which is essentially a less reputable version of Elon Musk’s X. It is the kind of place where brain-wormed conspiracy theories about stolen elections, the cops who actually did the January 6 insurrection, and Haitian migrants stealing and eating dogs go unchallenged. The moments when Trump most clearly lost control of himself during the debate was when he seemed to be aping the users of his very own social network. You can see how the plunge in DJT shares is not just a reaction against Trump spinning out in prime time but a broader realization that the kinds of posts on Truth Social have little value outside its tiny network.

This has a direct impact on Trump’s net worth. In March, Bloomberg valued his fortune at $6.5 billion with the majority of his wealth, about $3.9 billion, tied up in his stake of DJT. With shares trading trading below $16 — down from a high of $61.96 in March — that stake has fallen to less than $1.8 billion. The price of the stock is expected to fall even farther during the next few days, as traders look to get ahead of the expiration of the lockup agreement, which prevents insiders like Trump from selling their shares before September 19…


This morning found the former apex predator of American politics looking for some hand-holding. Donald Trump said on Fox & Friends that he is “not inclined” to do any more debates, but that if he does, he wants only the friendliest possible moderators—his suggestions were the Fox News hosts Sean Hannity, Jesse Watters, or Laura Ingraham…

Even some of Trump’s most reliable sycophants had to recognize that the fault lay neither in the stars nor in the moderators but rather in the candidate himself. Others in the former president’s universe, though, have refused to acknowledge that truth. During the debate, the conservative activist and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk posted on X: “Did you really think they were going to give Trump a fair debate? Trump got shot on July 13th, and now a drive by shooting on September 10th.” Megyn Kelly posted: “These moderators are a disgraceful failure and this is one of the most biased, unfair debates I have ever seen. Shame on you @ABC.” Other reactions were even more hysterical. Sean Davis, a co-founder of The Federalist, suggested not only that ABC lose its license but that the moderators and network executives be charged with “criminal election fraud and interference.” “What you saw last night from ABC has never happened before in American history,” the former Trump aide Stephen Miller complained in a post on X. “We’ve always had leftwing bias from establishment corporate press. This was something else entirely: this was aggressively working to sabotage and undermine the democratic process.”…

Attacking debate moderators and the media in general is nothing new for Trump. He makes no secret of his loathing for the press and for anyone who holds him to account. Indeed, he tried to inoculate himself against a poor debate performance by pre-attacking ABC, accusing it of liberal bias. But it wasn’t the moderators or the network, or even Harris, who forced Trump to begin ranting that “they’re eating the dogs!” That was all Trump. Ever the showman, he may understand just how awful last night’s show was for him—which is why he’s pointing the finger at everyone else.

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    190Comments

    1. 1.

      Villago Delenda Est

      TCFFG/PAB’s announcement that he won’t sell his stake has resulted in a surge to around $18 a share. We shall see just how long this mirage can sustain the share price of an outfit that is losing money as fast as Leon’s “X”.

      Reply
    3. 3.

      Citizen Alan

      @Villago Delenda Est:

      I have little to no understanding of securities law. But if Shitgibbon has successfully goosed the price of his stock by promising not to sell and then he sells anyway the second he’s able to, is that legal? Because it seems incredibly fraudulent to me. But then I don’t actively invest in the stock market, because everything about it seems incredibly fraudulent to me.

      Reply
    4. 4.

      KatKapCC

      To paraphrase Lewis Carroll, I guess remaining on good standing with Trump requires believing in about 600 impossible things before breakfast, and all of them involve how smart and great he is.

      Reply
    6. 6.

      satby

      Before we swirl into total schadenfreude ODs, I just want to publicly thank Joy in FL for her donation to transport expenses. So grateful!

      Reply
    7. 7.

      oldgold

      Fox News

      “Fox News appears to be doing its best to keep viewers ignorant of the growing controversy involving Donald Trump and his latest association with racist conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer.

      According to TV Eyes, a database of television news captions, Fox News has not mentioned Loomer a single time in the past week. The only mention of Loomer across the Fox platform includes a single fleeting mention of the conservative pundit by Fox News contributor and former George W. Bush aide Karl Rove during an appearance on Fox Business.”

      Reply
    8. 8.

      Mai Naem mobile

      I hope any Haitian Americans who end up getting negatively affected by TFG’s garbage sue him and JV to oblivion. Assholes know what they’re doing but have their security details dealing with any consequences  they might face. And I hate the pig’s voice. JFC I never want to hear this pig’s voice again after this campaign.

      Reply
    12. 12.

      Bill Arnold

      @Villago Delenda Est:
      A price to sales(not earnings, sales) ratio this high (616) is a meme stock ratio, in space. But it’s been much higher, so reentering from orbit, and many would like to burn up on reentry.
      Trump Media & Technology Group PS Ratio: 616.15 for Sept. 13, 2024
      ( via )

      Reply
    14. 14.

      Ken

      @Villago Delenda Est: There are other insiders with large holdings who will be free to sell on the same date. I’m sure, though, that their mutual interest in establishing Truth Social as a sound business will outweigh the knowledge that whoever starts the rush will profit most.

      Reply
    15. 15.

      waspuppet

      @HumboldtBlue: Like I said Tuesday, I couldn’t watch the debate live. He sets off every domestic abuse trigger I’ve got.

      I’ll be really curious about Sept. 19. I don’t know whether Trump will be able to resist selling out—it’ll make him a billionaire for the first time in his life*. It’ll ruin everyone else who bought shares of Pravda** Social, and people don’t seem to think that’ll make a difference in the election, but I think it might.

      *(For a few minutes until Vlad, MBS and the Chinese call for their cuts and he’s back to negative net worth.)

      ** (Russian for Truth, just in case anyone didn’t know the inspiration for the name and in fact the whole thing.)

      Reply
    16. 16.

      Bill Arnold

      @Ken:

      I’m sure, though, that their mutual interest in establishing Truth Social as a sound business will outweigh the knowledge that whoever starts the rush will profit most.

      I may steal that. :-)

      Reply
    18. 18.

      Villago Delenda Est

      @Ken: Already some of the rats have abandoned the ship.  I imagine as the 20th and 25th loom in the near future, a lot more will sell to make some money off this, if not for the fabulous riches they imagined when the IPO went out.

      Reply
    26. 26.

      Ken

      @Baud: Trump has said he won’t sell the stock, so the man’s well-known sense of honor means — oh hell, even I can’t finish it.

      I also think there will be some interesting shenanigans on the buying side. The RNC may end up owning 80% of the company, after supplying the “pump” to keep up the price until Trump finishes his “dump”.

      Reply
    27. 27.

      BC in Illinois

      One thing that Trump did, during his Tuesday evening job interview, was to provide a new phrase to our political discourse.

      Or at least the concept of a phrase.

      My favorite:

      The emperor has a concept of clothes.

      Reply
    30. 30.

      Bill Arnold

      @columbusqueen:

      Dear God, I need brain bleach now.

      There are rumors circulating already. I have not scried[1] into them, ’cause ewww.
      [1] Note: the internet can be used as a scrying tool. :-)

      Reply
    32. 32.

      Elizabelle

      I am just exhausted with all things Trump period.  He’s a horrid, horrible person. Holding my breath until he is soundly defeated this November, and hopefully a lot of Republicans too, nationwide. And then let the judicial system go medieval on his ass.

      Enough.

      Reply
    34. 34.

      Bill Arnold

      @Geminid:

      Matt Drudge is pushing the Trump/Loomer Affair story.

      What is Matt Drudge up to these days? He has been entirely off my radar.
      There’s at least one suspicious picture.

      Reply
    39. 39.

      geg6

      @Geminid:

      This is delicious.  Just as Melanoma’s book is dropping.  I hate them both so much.  I wish them nothing but misery for the rest of their lives.  Scum.

      Reply
    42. 42.

      Prescott Cactus

      After saying he wouldn’t sell DJT stock closed up 11.79% today.

      In Wall Street parlance and with a bit of irony, “a dead cat bounce.”

      Reply
    43. 43.

      Nukular Biskits

      @Geminid:

      For the most part, here on the MS Gulf Coast (at least in my neck of the woods), it was nothing more than a prolonged thunderstorm.

      Was up @ 4 a.m. yesterday morning, took my usual walk (rain had already moved well north, but winds were … brisk) and then went to work.

      Reply
    47. 47.

      CaseyL

      @Elizabelle: ​

      Trump was invented to show everyone just how happily humans will sell their souls for pure evil, in case we’ve forgotten since the Nazis and the Soviet Union.

      Reply
    48. 48.

      Nukular Biskits

      @Parfigliano:

      I have the feeling many MAGA people are going to waive their life savings bye-bye due to Truth Social stock.

      Good.

      I can’t say as I don’t empathize with that. But …

      These same folks will then be first in line demanding that sweet, sweet “socialism” that they regularly denounce when it benefits anyone else.

      Reply
    52. 52.

      lowtechcyclist

      @geg6: ​
       

      This is delicious. Just as Melanoma’s book is dropping.

      I don’t give a damn who’s fucking whom, but I’m sure that Melanoma would be quite happy to never have to be physically intimate with Dump ever again, so she probably hopes the rumors are true.

      Reply
    54. 54.

      caphilldcne

      Open thread so I’m just going to say my dear friend and neighbor of 15 years passed away on an overseas vacation with his wife. I am devastated on her behalf and I miss him already. I shall take care of the cat temporarily and he was a good Democrat and I shall be donating to Balloon Juice GOTV efforts in his name. I’m so sad. I thank you for this community.

      Reply
    59. 59.

      lowtechcyclist

      In March, Bloomberg valued his fortune at $6.5 billion with the majority of his wealth, about $3.9 billion, tied up in his stake of DJT.

      This part had me wondering: what’s the deal with the other 2.6B?  Does Trump actually have real assets worth that much, or is that more bullshit?

      Reply
    60. 60.

      TBone

      This fucking guy has a serious case of The Cope.  It’s the witchcraft! 😆

      “What you’re seeing now is a real Jezebel,” Wallnau declared. “When you’ve got somebody operating in manipulation, intimidation and domination—especially when it’s in a female role trying to emasculate a man who is standing up for truth—you’re dealing with the Jezebel spirit. … So, with Kamala, you have a Jezebel spirit, a characteristic in the Bible that is the personification of intimidation, seduction, domination and manipulation.”

      “She can look presidential,” he continued. “That’s the seduction of what I would say is witchcraft. That’s the manipulation of imagery that creates an impression contrary to the truth, but it seduces you into seeing it. So that spirit, that occult spirit, I believe is operating on her and through her.”

      https://crooksandliars.com/2024/09/jezebel-christian-nationalist-cant-cope

      Reply
    70. 70.

      Frankensteinbeck

      Something else I’m wondering about this stock sale:  The company that merged with Trump’s to give it value existed for no other reason than to give him $3 billion.  Its investors didn’t know that.  The merger was against the company’s posted rules and intent.  Are there going to be law suits when the stock finally becomes officially worthless?

      Reply
    76. 76.

      Mai Naem mobile

      @SW: I remember seeing a blurb years ago that he had bought a really expensive property in Florida(IIRC it was $3M.) I’m guessing he moved there to save on taxes.

      Reply
    77. 77.

      wjca

      @Ken: The RNC may end up owning 80% of the company, after supplying the “pump” to keep up the price until Trump finishes his “dump”.

      Does anyone know what volume of Truth Social share trade on a normally day?

      Can’t cash out unless someone is willing to buy.  And for the number of shares TCFG would want to sell, even offers of $.01 may be in short supply.  I definitely can’t see him spending his own money (which you know is how he sees RNC money), especially when he’d have to pay commissions on every transaction.

      Reply
    79. 79.

      Matt McIrvin

      @Nukular Biskits: Lots of offices these days have phone booths–most of the time, they don’t have phones in them! Just a chair and a little shelf with power and sometimes wired network connections. They’re just booths where you can have a call or a remote conference with some privacy and without bothering people.

      Reply
    82. 82.

      HumboldtBlue

      Bonier: There’s this notion that polls underestimated Republicans, but in the end, what happened in 2022 is that polls overestimated Republican support. Since the Dobbs decision, we’ve seen a continued track record of Republicans underperforming—underperforming previous benchmarks and underperforming polling. People will still tell you today, “Sure, VP Harris is leading in the polling averages, but in the end, Donald Trump overperforms polling because that’s what happened in 2016 and 2020.”

      It’s a fallacy. The most recent example we have is throughout these primaries, where Donald Trump badly underperformed the polls. Can we say with certainty one way or another? We can’t. But we have to keep in mind that, consistently, Republicans are underperforming. All of the data we have at this point suggests that they will underperform again.

      Reply
    84. 84.

      wjca

      @Nukular Biskits: There’s a sucker born every minute …

      But most of them don’t include the silver spoon that would let them buy a ton of Truth Social shares.  I suppose the Saudis might be feeling benign….  Ha!

      Reply
    85. 85.

      BR

      @HumboldtBlue: ​

      I’ve decided to just believe that the polls are generally about right within the margin of error. They have underestimated Trump support in the past, and I think it may matter if he personally is on the ballot. But I also think pollsters have corrected for their past mistakes and are underestimating the Dobbs effect. Combined, I figure these things probably cancel each other out and the polls are probably (once averaged) generally right.

      Reply
    86. 86.

      lowtechcyclist

      @NotMax: ​
       
      Except that most of the properties that bear his name, he doesn’t own much of. He hardly owns any of Trump Tower in NYC, for example. And it’s hard to believe that his golf courses are worth hundreds of millions each, because there are plenty of golf courses. It’s not like owning a major-league ballclub.

      Reply
    88. 88.

      Geminid

      I tuned into the Harrisonburg radio station to see what Mark Levin was barking about, but it’s Friday so they were broadcasting the Superior Concrete Game of the Week. It was the Waynesboro Generals versus the Broadway Gobblers (Broadway is a big turkey growing and processing center and they lean into that).

      The Generals had a fourth and long and they brought in their punter: 5 foot, 3 inch tall Saùl Reyes. The announcers were wondering if the snap might go over Reyes’ head but he caught it. Then he blasted a 50 yard punt over the receiver’s head.

      Reply
    89. 89.

      caphilldcne

      Many thanks to all. Yes, unexpected and on a vacation planned awhile. We’ll pull all the friends together here. Everyone go live your best lives cause it’s short and you never know when. Peace

      Reply
    93. 93.

      Citizen Alan

      @Nukular Biskits: I’m sure some billionaire (foreign or domestic) will be able to find enough spare cash in the couch cushions (Vance joke not intended) to buy Trump out. It’s easier than other mechanisms for legalized bribery.

      Reply
    100. 100.

      Nukular Biskits

      @caphilldcne:

      Many thanks to all. Yes, unexpected and on a vacation planned awhile. We’ll pull all the friends together here. Everyone go live your best lives cause it’s short and you never know when. Peace

      I have a very good friend up in VA who married her best friend, even though both had originally decided to not get married.  After looking over their finances, they both decided to retire early and tie the knot.

      I was visiting them about 4 or 5 years ago and we killed several bottles of wine.  They had a huge map of the US in their basement with to concentric red circles drawn on it.  They had bought a GMC 3500, a travel trailer and a Harley.  The smaller circle was their “shakedown run” and, after working out the kinks, the larger one was the Big Adventure.

      They both told me they knew they only had X number of years before health issues beset one or both of them so they were seizing the opportunity to live as much life together as physically possible.  I told them, jokingly, that I hated both of them.

      Phil died last September of prostate cancer that had metastasized and moved into his bones.  Neither he nor Debbie had any regrets.

      It was from them that I learned life is truly ephemeral and that every opportunity should be spent doing things you love with the ones you love.

      Phil, I miss ya. Thinking of you tonight, Deb … and tomorrow I’ll raise a glass of bourbon in his honor.

      Reply
    101. 101.

      Nukular Biskits

      @Citizen Alan:

      @Nukular Biskits: I’m sure some billionaire (foreign or domestic) will be able to find enough spare cash in the couch cushions (Vance joke not intended) to buy Trump out. It’s easier than other mechanisms for legalized bribery.

      I hadn’t considered that but you’re probably right.

      It would be kinda like having your campaign, a friendly “think-tank” or a billionaire buddy buying up all your books so you can claim you were on the FTFNYT’s best seller list.

      Reply
    103. 103.

      Eunicecycle

      @NeenerNeener: God I think I might hate JD Vance more than Trump. Joy Reid just showed clips of Vance talking to Yamiche Alcindor about the Springfield situation and his replies were so full of hate. His face and his eyes just radiated meanness. I was very triggered by it.

      Reply
    104. 104.

      patrick II

      I just saw a picture of Laura Loomer with a T-shirt that said “Donald Trump has done nothing wrong”. It reminded me of when Michael Che wrote a joke for Colin Jost having him say “Woody Allen did nothing wrong”.
      The joke is everybody knows Woody did something wrong — except Jost’s wife Scarlett Johannsen who was in a Woody Allen movie and won’t acknowledge it. Not that I would ever compare Johannsen to Loomer but both Woody and Trump have done something wrong, I just don’t have to see Woody every damn day.

      Reply
    106. 106.

      BR

      @Eunicecycle: ​

      @NeenerNeener: God I think I might hate JD Vance more than Trump. Joy Reid just showed clips of Vance talking to Yamiche Alcindor about the Springfield situation and his replies were so full of hate. His face and his eyes just radiated meanness. I was very triggered by it.

      He really is something. While we all have seen this clip, I just stumbled on it and John Oliver’s summary was just exactly that:

      https://www.tiktok.com/@lastweektonighthbo/video/7402654430123838763

      Reply
    107. 107.

      scav

      As for the banality of evil that is Vance, that banality goes trebled at least for his spiritual advisor, the Pope going all both-siderist in his evaluation of the candidates.

      Reply
    110. 110.

      Bill Arnold

      @TBone:
      Ah, good, the Newsweek piece didn’t have the Jezebel part.
      In my, uhm, technical opinion, “intercessory prayer”, as commonly practiced by such christian supremacists, is a form of witchcraft.

      While Harris is supposedly operating under an occult Jezebel spirit, Wallnau claimed that Trump has “an Elijah mantle on him, probably from the intercession of a million Christians.”

      Sigh. Since, during the debate, the felonious narcissist said “I probably took a bullet to the head”, that brings back into play Revelation 13 and the interpretation that the Trump head is now the wounded head of thef Beast, apparently “miraculously” healed. ( NIV: “One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed.” )
      It’s time to spread this more widely, perhaps. The usual “D.J. Trump is the AntiChrist” shtick doesn’t include this.

      Reply
    114. 114.

      Tony G

      @geg6: Somebody ghost-wrote a book for Melania?  Well, I’m going to rush out and buy that!  What on earth of any interest to anyone could the ghost-writer possibly write about that hooker?

      Reply
    122. 122.

      wjca

      @Tony G: What on earth of any interest to anyone could the ghost-writer possibly write about that hooker?

      Well, if she were to reveal that Putin personally recruited her** to be Trump’s handler….

      ** Nobody except a hooker being willing to take an assignment that required spending time close to him.

      Reply
    124. 124.

      Jacel

      @Mai Naem mobile: It was bad enough for a friend when her husband passed away while they were traveling in Canada this past year. The complications were multiplied simply by it happening in another country, however friendly and nearby compared to other nations.

      Reply
    128. 128.

      SomeRandomGuy

      You know, I was over at Mahablog, and realized how “weird” really is a perfect descriptor, much though I hold to my “weirdo” status. I mean, one reason I call myself a weirdo is I have neuro issues that *are* weird; I’m also a shaman with a weird (the noun definition :-) ); I also delight in perversity of all sort, especially the fun, sexy, consensual sort.

      I also know parts of me are “weird,” as in, “unexpected, and in some way disturbing to the observer,” and they shouldn’t be, but, hey, life is life. There aren’t any parts of me that I know of that are “weird, and in some way disturbing, and, damn it, yes, this *should* be disturbing!”

      Well, Vance hangs with people who say “God created Women to be Subservient to Man” and that Women’s Greatest Purpose is childbearing.

      Yes, that leads to the very, very *weird* sense that the happily childless, and, indeed, the childfree women, are, in fact, secretly miserable, seething at the lost chance of fulfilling their biological imperative.

      Seriously – how fucking *weird* is that? Rather than, you know, talking to enough women, some who have children, some who don’t, about how *they* feel, just, you know, making it up, because your Bible convinces you it makes sense? It’s weird. In the bad, “ew, don’t get any of that on you,” sense.

      Well – spreading hate about Haitians is nasty, and cruel, but, consider the other side of it.

      If you hated Haitian immigrants for a reason, wouldn’t it be normal to mention that reason, and, if you had to acknowledge you had no reason, wouldn’t it be really fucking weird to make up bullshit like “they’re eating the dogs!”?

      What kind of grown-ass adult *does* that?  If the editor prints that “Letter to the Editor” about eating dogs, we expect them to explain “we’ve seen many such baseless, hateful, claims in letters; we print this below only to let you know how people are making up completely insane claims about immigrants, for the crime of looking, and speaking, differently.”

      And we expect the editor to do that because, hey, there’s this weird, dangerous, hateful, thing going around. Wait, what was that first word again?

      I don’t mean to say “weird” is the proper attack, but, I think it’s the proper attack *position*.

      “Why go full on ‘They Killed The Dog!’ Has TFG been watching John Wick again?” <– that makes it look strange that anyone would do it, and posits a yet-stranger reason, if you *did* do it.

      Okay. My brain stopped working for the day, possibly before I started typing.

      Reply
    129. 129.

      scav

      @sab: There is a particularly useful virtue known as shutting the fuck up especially when you have nothing of value to contribute and will only further besmear you and your organization by sounding off.

      Reply
    130. 130.

      Jeffro

      @eclare: re: “collective PTSD”

      …hell YES we do!

      Think about everything this malicious, corrupt clown has cost us, on both a personal level and as a country.

      for NINE years now (more if you count his constant birther racist lies and kneecapping of Obama)

      it makes me see red just thinking about it, and I’ve been lucky:

      – I’m not an election worker getting death threats

      – I’m not a woman in need of an abortion, bleeding out in a parking lot somewhere

      – I’m not some CIA informant, executed because trumpov sold my name on a list (or even was just sloppy with classified documents at his fucking golf club)

      – I’m not one of the 1M+ Americans who died from Covid (or bleach, or Ivermectin) or their millions of grieving kids

      Nearly 9 years later, America, and what did the GOP’s never-ending downward spiral of enabling trumpov cost?

      A LOT

      Reply
    137. 137.

      TBone

      @Bill Arnold: interesting angle.  You’d think someone in that world would notice, but I guess they’re too busy being spoon fed cherry-picked verses that conform to the whackaloon patriarchal “doctrine.”  It’s all crazy-pants to me!

      Reply
    139. 139.

      mrmoshpotato

      Anyone remember off the top of their head which show (Colbert/Kimmel/Meyers) had a Tales From The Crypt joke this week?

      Reply
    143. 143.

      Jackie

      @sab: Well to be “fair,” I can’t exactly see the Pope openly supporting abortion…

      He should have just stayed silent and followed Walz’s advice: Mind your own damn business!

      Reply
    146. 146.

      sdhays

      @Sister Golden Bear: Catholic hospitals deny woman basic health care, and they muscle their way in to rural areas so that women don’t have any local options, even in blue states. They kill people. But they care so much about “life” 🙄.

      It’s a rotten institution, so even the best they have are still pretty shitty.

      Reply
    150. 150.

      Villago Delenda Est

      @sdhays: Here in Tracktown, USA, the dominant health care provider is “PeaceHealth”, which is a Catholic owned multistate monstrosity.  It’s known locally as “Our Lady of the Sacred Wallet.”

      Reply
    151. 151.

      Jackie

      @karen marie:

      what the fuck was her intent?

      I’m sure it wasn’t to be responsible for electing Harris for president because Ohio went Blue!* Lol!

      *Snark. But could you imagine IF that happened?!?😂

      Reply
    152. 152.

      wjca

      @karen marie: What the fuck was her intent?

      To impress her immediate social circle, at no cost to herself (or, probably, anybody else).  Just a little garden variety racist blather.

      Didn’t expect anybody else to notice.  Definitely did not expect to see her name splashed across the national press.  Oops.

      EDT sdhays got there first

      Reply
    156. 156.

      Sister Golden Bear

      @sdhays: Oh I’m well aware. Especially since the American bishops are extra reactionary.

      FWIW, while it’s not comparable at all in scale to women and pregnancy, Catholic hospitals are also extremely shitty to trans people as well. They got sued in CA for denying a hysterectomy to a trans man right before he was supposed to go to the operating room, because they’d realized he was a trans man.

      They’re also horrible on end of life care. When my mother was dying of cancer, my brother and I agreed that we would not take her to the nearest hospital in case of an emergency, because it was a Catholic hospital and we didn’t trust them to honor her “do not resuscitate” legal document.

      Reply
    158. 158.

      MagdaInBlack

      @Jay: LOL !! Oh yeah.  Wild geese, call 911.

      I raised geese. Best watch “dogs” I ever had. The original pair followed me everywhere, because I was “mom.”  But don’t YOU try to get near me.

      Reply
    167. 167.

      Harrison Wesley

      @Bill Arnold: How long before Trump starts hawking ‘the genuine Donald Trump Elijah Mantle?’  “He came up to me, Elijah, the prophet guy – big guy, wonderful guy – he said to me ‘Sir,’ with tears in his eyes, ‘sir’…………..

      Reply
    176. 176.

      SomeRandomGuy

      @Sister Golden Bear: I can grant that he says “TFG hates migrants, Harris kills babies,” but I *can’t* deal with how he doesn’t mention that:

      1) TFG executes prisoners
      2) TFG kills babies, just, you know, not quite as *many*, and
      3) TFG cheers death. I mean, that’s disqualifying alone, but it includes the deaths of people presumed innocent.

      All of those are just a clear violations of the church’s teachings regarding life. That Harris would allow the *choice* of abortion is something the church condemns, just as it did with Biden. But, if it was Islam that forbade something, no one in the US would care. We would say “Your religion doesn’t get to tell *us* what to do!”

      I will argue, yes, with the pope, that this is a case where we must render to Caesar a medical decision, not a moral one, and leave the moral one between mom, doctor, and others-invited (hopefully dad!), and, you know, God. Just as we’d leave that Islamic rule between Muslims and God.

      Reply
    177. 177.

      Ohio Mom

      @Sister Golden Bear: I seem to remember the Pope urging people to vote against Trump in a previous election, but which one? I’m going with first time, when he was running against Hillary.

      Anyway, the Pope is just figuring out now that Democrats are the pro-choice party? Duh.

      Reply
    181. 181.

      Elizabelle

      @caphilldcne:  My condolences.  I hope your friend’s passing was peaceful, and you and his widow will be in our thoughts.

      @Sister Golden Bear:  I cannot fathom what Pope Francis was thinking.  “Blessed are they who smear their immigrant neighbors with fervent reports of pet eating.”

      He’s not been in great health, and just undertook a long Asian trip, so am hoping he just spoke in fatigue.

      If he cannot see the difference between Trump and Harris ….  Jesus!

      Reply
    184. 184.

      jayne

      @Ohio Mom: Yeah, this particular Pope is not exactly a fan of Trump or the Far Right – he did tell people that COVID precautions and vaccinations were a moral obligation under the commandment to Love One’s Neighbor, among other things. But he’s still Catholic, which means that abortion, IVF, and the death penalty are all a big no. However, since this isn’t a Catholic nation, the leader of the Vatican City State’s opinion on US elections should carry just about the same amount of weight as that of the prime minister of Luxembourg.

      Reply
    187. 187.

      Another Scott

      @Sister Golden Bear: @sab: @Jackie: @Anotherlurker:

      Angry Staffer 🌻

      @Angry_Staffer
      17h

      Deleted my tweet on the Pope. Had some folks reach out to me to suggest that maybe the Pope was giving cover to right-wing Catholics to vote for Harris despite the “abortion issue” Not sure if that’s right or not, but I’m sympathetic to the idea.

      Sep 13, 2024 · 7:31 PM UTC

      Maybe?  Dunno.

      The Pope’s interests and concerns are very different from those of us trying to elect a sensible government in the USA.  Getting people to think about the “lesser evil” is important as it gets people to think!

      While there are disagreements, the Biden Administration and the Pope seem to get along well, and this seems revealing:

      During a roundtable summit on artificial intelligence, which was the primary purpose of his trip to the G7, Francis told the world leaders gathered in Italy they must use their power in service of the common good and to engage in much needed “healthy politics.”

      FWIW.

      Cheers,
      Scott.

      Reply
    189. 189.

      Ruckus

      @Citizen Alan:

      They might, but what would be the point? Spend millions to save that? The only people who can’t see that SFB’s clock it coming unwound very rapidly are the people that have their heads located in a very dark, smelly place. Those people with a lot of money are not going to see enough of a benefit because anyone looking (and paying any actual attention whatsoever) can see his brain aging out and going full bore insane at the same time. I’ve dealt with older folks aging out because I’m now the oldest in my extended family  and not one of them went out in the manner SFB is doing. Not anywhere close, or in any way, shape or form. SFB is a guy born/raised in a wealthy family, with seemingly little guidance. As he got older and inherited $400 million (there is likely some concern that not all of that was intended for him but his siblings were doing all right on their own and seemingly didn’t actually want the money, made from their fathers, how shall we say, rent collecting. Some may have described it as rent gouging/theft. This may be a rumor – that’s how I took it way back then)

      Reply
    190. 190.

      Ruckus

      @Eunicecycle:

      I won’t write the words that comes to mind here when I have to read anything about jd but the word prick does come to mind……. Also the concept that he’s trying to make up for something, either that or he’s just being himself, neither of which endears him to anyone. SFB may appreciate him, they do seem to belong to the same spoiled children’s club.

      Reply

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