I’ve been awol the last couple of days- went out for a metaphorical pack of cigarettes and never came home to you kids. I hope you will have me back. A couple of quick housekeeping notes:
1.) RJud and Watergirl are working on her credentials and we should be joined on the front page by her in the next few days. Yay!
2.) Look for a very special post from Watergirl about the Balloon Juice store either tonight or tomorrow! Very exciting.
3.) Pay no fucking attention whatsoever to the polls. Remember 2016.
4.) I am officially forbidding any of you from dying for at least the next year. The OzarkHillbilly news is fucking awful, and I am so sick and tired of death. It just feels like every couple of months we are losing someone and I just need it to stop.
I was thinking this morning (I know, strap in) that one of the most irritating aspects of Jd Vance’s assault on his own constituents is that these people are here LEGALLY. They are doing it the way you are supposed to, and the message this sends to other lawful immigrants and people here on work visas is just horrible and could have very serious consequences.
I really don’t think most Americans truly appreciate just HOW dependent the United States is on immigrant and migrant workers. And I need to be clear. I am not just talking about the fact that almost every restaurant across the country will be without line cooks should every migrant and immigrant legal or otherwise disappear, decide not to come here, or be deported. I’m not just talking about the idle construction sites across the country or the crops rotting in fields or all the other things people typically think of when they think of immigrant workers.
It’s far more serious than that. If legal immigrants, guest workers, and everyone disappeared or just decided it’s not worth it to come to a country that hates you or where deranged hicks are going to be calling in bomb threats at your kid’s school every day, this country would be fucked. You literally would have most hospitals running at half staff, and those goes double for teaching hospitals. There would be a horrifying shortage of general practitioners. Dave Anderson can talk about this more, but rural healthcare would collapse overnight. We would have a shortage worse than our worst nightmares during the pandemic. Catastrophic gets close to describing how bad it would be. Every company would lose half or more of their IT staff. Wall street, the nbanks, real estate, tech industries, would all crater.
It’s terrifying to even think about it, really. All so two scumbags can peddle racist bullshit to try to scare a few ignorant twats to the polls. Not to mention, if JD Vance really cared about animal welfare in Ohio, he’d be screaming about the abuses that go on in Amish communities with their livestock and all the god damned puppy mills.
Anne Laurie posted it earlier, but that report in the NY Times would, in a sane society, be a career ender. We’ll have to settle for his reputation being destroyed. But that report is… brutal is the only word I can come up with.
With that in mind, I drove around the state this weekend picking up signs and delivering them, so I am gonna challenge you all- What are you doing to help get a Democratic President, House, and Senate?
Jeffro
What’s amazing is, in an alternate universe, there’s a ‘conservative’ case (ie, one based solely on selfish economic reasons) for legal immigration and lots of it (maybe LOTS more of it). But that would mean having principles other than “hating on brown people”. So…out you go, ‘conservative’ case!
I’ve heard that America runs on Dunkin’, but it really runs on cheap labor and boy the rich folks sure get mad when cheap labor gets a little less cheap and looks even a little less white.
Devore
Sending in a steady stream of cash.
Chet Murthy
@Jeffro: The business side of what used to be the Republican party always made the case for immigration. Here’s the Cato Institute:https://www.cato.org/immigration
Most Americans are immigrants or descended from immigrants who sought opportunity and freedom on our shores. They and their children worked hard, assimilated, and added to our nation’s prosperity. Immigrants today continue to become Americans and, in the process, make the United States a wealthier, freer, and safer country. However, our current immigration system excludes most peaceful and healthy immigrants. Congress should look to America’s past for inspiration to expand and deregulate legal immigration.
twbrandt
As I said on bluesky, I didn’t think I could despise anyone as much as I despise Donald Trump but JD Vance proved me wrong. And given that he is obviously intelligent (you don’t get a law degree from Yale if you’re an idiot), this makes him if anything even worse.
Just a despicable human being.
Kayla Rudbek
Good news from my doctor today: no more metformin needed. I am still on the statins and the Mounjaro, reassess in December or February. And I need to get more calcium and go ahead and eat some more carbs before I go for long bike rides.
Scout211
Wow. I had no idea you were required to have credentials to post here on the front page. That is super fancy!
Chet Murthy
@twbrandt: “he is obviously intelligent; you don’t get a law degree from Yale if you’re an idiot”
The law-talkin’ guys (and gals) at LG&M make a cogent argument that we can’t actually assume that.
he’s a vet
he’s from a backward area
That is -exactly- the kind of student that a selective schools will admit b/c it makes ’em look good, and they’ll do so even if he doesn’t do so well on his LSAT,etc
Yale doesn’t give grades: once you’re in, you’re in
upon graduation, the best he got was a clerkship with a -district- judge in -Kentucky-; that’s pretty much bottom-of-the-barrel for a -Yale man-
and after that, what did he do? Became a gofer for Peter Thiel. I mean, that’s what the job “principal” is at a VC firm: he’s the dogsbody.
Nothing there gives any indication that he’s actually intelligent.
Jeffro
@Chet Murthy: ‘expand and deregulate legal immigration’??!?
why, those…those HEATHENS!!
We’re told a lot about America being a land of ideals but not all of them are good ideals. Certain folks are having a tough time with the notion that it’s (past) time to let the ideal of white male supremacy go, that’s for sure.
Kayla Rudbek
WordPress just ate my good news: no more metformin needed according to my doctor. I still need statins and Mounjaro, more calcium, and I can eat more carbs before my long bike rides. And I would be one of those people screwed if my doctor decided to go back to her native country.
CaseyL
I am sending money once in a while, and doing postcards.
I should do more, but I’m not much good at phoning people. I used to love door-to-door canvassing, but it has gone high-tech and seems to require a phone with more functions than mine has.
Chet Murthy
I feel guilty for not doing any phoning, but …. I’m not good at dealing with people who need to be convinced and for whom a listing of the facts doesn’t do the job. No longer write by hand — not really in 30yr. Sigh. So I send money.
WaterGirl
@Cole
That very special post is the one that went up 10 minutes before this one. :-)
So if anyone wants Harris Walz car magnets, take one step back to the previous post.
Joy in FL
I saw my first Harris Walz TV ads tonight. I’m watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Hulu, and the same ad has come up twice. Kinda cool to see an ad for my candidate.
Also on the way home this afternoon, I saw a Trump Shop. I saw it too late the think about going in, but I think I might do that another day. I’m curious about it. I don’t think, however, that I will do it on a day when I have my Cats for Kamala shirt on : ) The county I live in is red. More red in the 2020 election than in the 2016 election. Yet whenever I wear a Harris shirt, at least one person comments that they like it. Same in 2020.
lamh47
Just reading tweet about Chumps town hall with Sarah Huckabee and it’s just ridiculously sad…smh.
This dude still talking about his crowd size. She absolutely broke him over that.
I love that idea that every night when he goes to bed he falls asleep with nothing but nightmares about small crowd sizes…
lamh47
West of the Cascades
@lamh47: And all the other small things in his life.
John Cole
@WaterGirl: I told them to look for it!
lamh47
Ya’ll. I just picked up my new glasses today and LORDT…I have not been seeing my best!!!!😳
BABY…I don’t know what I BEEN seeing, but it ain’t never been this clear and crisp! Got me feeling like Jasmine and Alladin…baby!
Quinerly
I look forward to Jonathan stories.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/meet-jonathan-worlds-oldest-living-land-animal-who-is-191-years-old/articleshow/113412810.cms
dlwchico
My neighbor is in his 70’s and a retired Air Force guy.
I was pleasantly surprised the other day when he was talking to my wife while they were both out front and he mentioned he was going to pick up some Harris/Waltz signs and asked if he should pick some up for us. (we said yes).
Also, had the neurologist do some nerve conduction tests on my legs and right arm and he doesn’t think it is ALS (though he is going to send me down to UC Davis for a second opinion) and instead thinks it might be caused by my radiation and chemo from 20+ years ago when I had colorectal cancer.
Apparently it is a thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation-induced_lumbar_plexopathy?
Jeffro
@lamh47: I am starting to wonder about what would break through, what would get across to America’s normies that the kind of lies trumpov & Vance have been telling have been tremendously harmful to this community.
A 48-hour protest carried live on TV, YouTube, FB Live, etc? Speaker after speaker, all ages, Haitian immigrants and Springfield residents alike, coming up to talk about how trumpov & Vance’s lies have caused them to cancel X, to avoid Y, to miss out on Z?
Alternated with Springfield’s employers talking about what great employees these legal immigrants have been?
And (bless me) some national immigration/economics/law experts opining on the HUGE benefit to America from folks like these coming here and contributing?
I dunno. I guess a kid can dream…
MattF
@lamh47: Black woman says “That’s a small crowd. And it appears to have undergone shrinkage.’
Chet Murthy
@lamh47: please to share?
Hungry Joe
I’m not posting my POSTCARD UPDATE anymore because I reckoned it was getting tiresome, but I’m still churning ‘em out. Might road trip to Arizona in early Nov. to door-knock GOTV if I can convince a couple of people to go with me. If not, I’ll probably at least drive from my solidly blue Congressional district in San Diego (Sarah Jacobs is GREAT) to North County and walk some precincts for Mike Levin, whose swing district has gotten even … swing-ier.
lamh47
@lamh47: Two pairs of glasses, one for reading and one for driving.
https://x.com/psddluva4evah/status/1836166842228089183
twbrandt
@Hungry Joe: please do post your postcard updates. They are a great motivator for those of us who are also postcarding.
lamh47
https://x.com/Acyn
lamh47
This bad built brunette bish…
Fuq you Sarah!
Glory b
And now, Libs of Tik Tok have targeted a group of Haitians here in Western PA (Charleroi, in Washington County).
The local Republican state rep is on Twitter, frantically telling Libs that she follows & reports them, but this time they are WRONG!!
She says the Haitians there are good, hardworking people & literally BEGS Libs to PLEASE leave them alone!
Once again, they were recruited to work at a local business. The owner bought & renovated 3 apartment buildings for them to live in, putting the properties back on the tax rolls too.
Seems like the Haitian hate might be ready to blow up in their faces.
MazeDancer
My Harris-Walz yard sign finally arrived. Will be installing it Sunday, the first day of Autumn.
What I am doing is PostCards.
PostCard Patriots launches next week. For those that can’t wait, you can always click on my nym.
Thinking of adding another section of potentially important races, for which I can’t get addresses, so people will know about them and can donate if they like.
rk
I heard Kamla Harris just now with the black journalist association. She sounds if she has a cold. Hope it’s not Covid. I just worry about it.
lamh47
Fuqn’ rambling…and folks talked about Biden…
Chet Murthy
deleted
middlelee
I’m working in the Auburn Area Democrats Club office Thursday mornings where we sell signs and give away bumper stickers and drive the Trumpers crazy who occupy all the other offices in the building. Lots of people come in and write postcards or letters or ask about canvassing and more. It’s fun.
I also write postcards at home. Just mailed 10 this morning and have 5 on my desk to write and mail tomorrow.
I have another life where I do laundry and cook and clean house and take care of my two cats.
raven
Well fuck, I was at the gym when the Ozark post went up and just now saw the news. He and I emailed a good bit and he was so helpful in pointing me in the right direction. His old man was a See Bee on Saipan and so was my wife’s dad. We traded some good tales and I’m really going to miss him.
frosty
What I’m doing
– signed up for canvassing training and my first shift for Janelle Stelson to send Scott Perry home. I’ll do more shifts after that.
– wrote my first 25 postcards for CA47 to keep Katie Porter’s replacement. I’ve got another 25 addresses to start on.
I lived in Huntington Beach for a year and I’m mortified how MAGA it got.
– donating to all of WG’s thermostats!
Chet Murthy
@rk: “Hope it’s not Covid.”
It’s something I thought about back in the spring: that every politician pretty much has to resign themselves to getting COVID multiple times, b/c that’s just part of the goddamn job. They can’t use the measures we can use (masking, distancing) b/c that’s anathema to being an effective retail pol. It is what it is.
P.S. Though of course, if the rest of us would just do our goddamn part, COVID could still be squashed and those pols could politick in safety. Grr.
Salty Sam
I think there is plenty of enthusiasm and money going to the top of the ticket, and my financial situation precludes donating heavily anyway. Since I live here in Texas, I’ve volunteered to knock on doors and make calls for Colin Allred- nothing, NOTHING would make me happier than to kick Ted Fucking Cruz to the curb in November, and with the state of the Senate race, we need all the help we can muster there.
Side note: a friend of my brother is volunteering in Ukraine (he’s a firefighter and
EMT)- he just got back from his third trip over there. He reports that the general attitude in Ukraine and Europe towards our upcoming election, with a very real possibility of a second Trump presidency, is “WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!?!”
Can’t really find fault with them for that…
karen gail
@lamh47: One thing I have tracked for years is Overshoot Day; this year the world will use 1.75 world’s worth of resources. Doesn’t sound all that bad, except with all the Overshoot days we are about 20*+ years in debt. Climate Change, that hoax!” is considered a side effect.
And the GOP wants to remove all limits and regulations; guess they are planning on Planet B or escaping to Mars.
different-church-lady
Another infuriating aspect of the “CLOZ DE BORDERS!!” screamers is they seem to honestly believe if we got rid of all the ‘dirty furriners’ then suddenly white Americans would be willing to take all these shitty, dangerous, low-paying jobs.
different-church-lady
@lamh47: They shoot horses, don’t they?
dmsilev
@lamh47:
Wut? I mean, really, even by Trump standards that’s some Authentic Frontier Gibberish.
different-church-lady
@rk:
FUCK!!! WE’RE DOOMED!!!! REPLACE HER WITH WALZ!!!!!!!
Chet Murthy
@dmsilev: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLrnkK2YEcE
different-church-lady
@dmsilev: I think even Gabby Johnson wouldn’t be able to sort that one out.
rk
@Chet Murthy:
Anecdotal (but some studies show it’s effective). My spouse has never gotten Covid, even when the entire family had it. He does nasal irrigation daily. That’s the only reason I can think why he hasn’t gotten it. True he doesn’t go out much, but does not mask when going to stores etc.
lamh47
Good lordt this man is dumb
Nukular Biskits
WTAF???????????? ???????????????? ??????????????????????
DAMMIT! NOT AGAIN!
Thanks, John, for posting that. Given I have a crappy day job, I often miss out on stuff you guys share during normal business hours. Had you not mentioned OzarkHillbilly’s passing and linked to Watergirl’s post, I probably wouldn’t have found out until this weekend.
Dammit.
Sympathies to all who knew and/or loved him.
Ohio Mom
@lamh47: I love the feeling of new glasses and how sharp everything looks.
@dlwchico: Crossing my fingers it’s the fallout from chemo and radiation. People forget how hard cancer treatment is on bodies. I don’t think you are ever quite the same physically. I certainly am not (not complaining though!).
On the topic of my junior Senator, J.D.: the scariest thing I’ve read — maybe it is a little paranoid — is that should Trump be elected, the plan is to 25th Amendent him to make room for Vance, the sociopathic pupet. Who would be a more successful at doing horrible things than Trump would.
There is a big scandal unfolding about Sherrod Brown’s Republican opponent but Vance’s attack on Springfield is taking attention away from it.
Phylllis
Apropos of nothing, there’s a new book out about Elmo’s takeover of Twitter, titled Character Limit. Loving the pun.
stacib
@Hungry Joe: I’m not tired – you give me hope.
Harrison Wesley
@lamh47: WTF does that mean? It doesn’t even read like Artificial Intelligence; more like Artificial Stupidity.
frosty
@Hungry Joe: I agree with the others. Keep posting your updates. They’re inspiring.
WaterGirl
@lamh47: That made me laugh!
Scout211
I dunno, it doesn’t seem to me even that well thought out. It looks more to me like to be part of the tribe they hate who their leader tells them to hate. Period.
Quinerly
Hey Cole! I have been hoping to catch one of your threads. Sure hope I can make you smile with this comment.
I was out of town in Mountainair, NM at the Sunflower Festival a few weeks back when you posted about your love of “Dark Winds” now on Netflix. Way too late seeing your post to comment timely.
They just wrapped filming Season 2 in my neck of the woods, here outside of Santa Fe. I have tons of pictures of the vintage cars they brought in for filming in July in Lamy, NM and in April in Cerrillos, NM. I went over to both locations. We were asked not to take any pictures of the actors, but I did get to meet Zahn in Cerrillos in the Spring. Huge crush. The trading post (Casa Grande Trading Post) that was featured in season 2 (not in season 1, that was a different location) will be in season 3. It’s been there in Cerrillos since the 1970’s and is owned by the Brown family. One of the sons is a close friend of mine. The Browns also own a mine stake in a turquoise mine and a petting zoo in Cerrillos. His girlfriend and I have been collaborating on some SW inspired jewelry with SW and Chinese turquoise (as an aside, a lot of beautiful uncut turquoise coming out of China). She’s a silversmith. Anyway, “Dark Winds” was filming in Cerrillos several days for season 3. Don’t know how far you are in season 2, but the scene where Leaphorn goes home to his parents…the inside living area and kitchen was filmed at my friend’s home there at the trading post. He, his parents, and all his siblings built that compound/trading post from scratch…starting when his parents came to the area as young hippies from NY in the early 1970’s. By building, I mean the old way….the family made the actual adobe bricks. His parents added on each time a child was born. It’s just cool to see it used in movies and even better for it to be featured so prominently in “Dark Winds.”
The crew was in Lamy, NM filming in July. That’s very close to my home. Both George RR Martin and Robert Redford are producers. Sometime since 2020 Martin and a group of investors bought the historic train station in Lamy. Amtrak still stops twice a day and now leases back from Martin’s group half of the station. The other half of the tiny station has been turned into a tap room for a local microbrewery that is somehow connected to Martin. (I haven’t seen him at the bar this summer, but he was a semi regular with “entourage” summer of 2022….strange dude to chat with. That’s another story for another time). Anyway, they filmed for several days in Lamy. I got tons of pictures yet again….the vintage cars and trucks. And, a vintage TRACTOR! Season 3 will feature a train robbery or something with a train as they had a late 1960’s locomotive there. Bartender friend at the tap room had to clear out the bar side (pictures, tables, etc) and they also filmed inside.
I took JoJo las Orejas one day out with me to see if they could use an incredibly photogenic Australian Cattledog mix in any scenes. JoJo was very disappointed when he was turned down.
Looks to be an exciting season 3. Many months to wait, though. Production was late starting because of the strike. I have been a huge fan of the books and was thrilled when Tony Hillerman’s daughter started writing her books to add to her father’s series. She’s very cool and very approachable.
I must say that retirement is pretty cool.
Thanks for giving great blog….it’s pretty great when you and others share little tidbits not related to current events/political. Nice that we have a space for dog and pics/stories, travel info, garden chats, and tributes to those we care for who leave us.
Just wanted to say thank you. Much appreciated. (And I gots cool vintage tractor pictures…….)
Matt McIrvin
@Ohio Mom:
They couldn’t actually do it. Trump would not cooperate, and if the President doesn’t cooperate, a supermajority of the House AND the Senate is required to keep him out of power for more than a short time. It’s intentionally harder to swing than an impeachment conviction. They’d have to get bipartisan cooperation for their scheme, and if the point is to establish the JD Vance Imperium, I doubt that would happen.
(And if Trump were willing, the 25th Amendment’s disability provision wouldn’t be needed at all–he’d just resign. But he won’t.)
Salty Sam
So do I, but unfortunately the last prescription I got wasn’t right, and my new glasses have been worse than the OTC readers I’d been using. Fortunately I have a good ophthalmologist to go back to, she’s just 300+ miles away. Oh well, I’ll make a weekend of it.
Geminid
@lamh47: So Trump is bringing up the air craft carrier catapults again. Trump raised this matter 5 years ago at least, when he visited the USS Ford at the Newport News shipyard, when it was mostly built. He was flat-out wrong then on the merits of steam vs.magnetic catapaults, and I expect the Navy explained this to him.
But Trump can’t be wrong, so he’s been babbling about magnets and water ever since.
VFX Lurker
I am writing Postcards to Voters and donating to most Balloon-Juice fundraisers. I also wrote 200 Postcards to Swing States for CA-27, which I will mail on October 24.
Thank you for helping to focus our efforts where they will do the most good. You rock.
Ohio Mom
@Matt McIrvin: That’s reassuring in a weird way.
lamh47
@WaterGirl: Seriously…I was like the clips of babies who discover new taste or even kids who get glasses for the first time…LOL
Poe Larity
@Matt McIrvin: His kids will off him before Looper is prego.
rosalind
@Quinerly:
thanks so much for your post! my friend turned me onto “Dark Winds” last year and I binged it. Can’t wait for Season 3! Love the picture you painted of your home area.
Mark’s Bubbie
@rk: OMG me too! I am still a Covid virgin even though my husband has had it twice.
CaseyL
@Quinerly:
Oh, what fun! It’s nice that the production crew seems to have been approachable. It’s great fun to watch a TV show or movie being shot… for maybe 10-15 minutes. They tend to do one scene over and over again, in single pages of script (or even single lines of dialog), so unless you’re The Biggest Fan Ever of that show it can get monotonous.
What’s also fun is comparing the locations they shoot in to the finished product that turns up on the screen. They’re notorious for disassembling the city, so to speak, and splicing it together in ways God and Nature never intended. I’ve lived in two cities that were locations for TV and film, and we always got a giggle seeing how parts of town far, far apart in real life are next to each other on screen. Including in chase scenes – that’s some great sleight of hand!
Kristine
Writing Postcards to Swing States (mine is Georgia). Donating to Harris/Walz, DLCC, Fair Fight, and have donated to most of the drives here.
Looking forward to any postcard meets here. Music would be good, or TV (though that can be too distracting).
Ramona
@Hungry Joe: no, no, not tiresome at all! Please keep posting!
Quinerly
@rosalind:
You are so kind! Not being originally from here makes all this movie stuff in my own backyard so exciting. I get a little star struck from time to time. It’s easy to find various sites where various movies, series, etc are being filmed. Fun retirement hobby. For the most part, everyone is friendly and will let you take a few pics of props, vehicles, sets.
Quinerly
@CaseyL:
💙💚💛💜
Heidi Mom
I’m doing 200 postcards for Postcards to Swing States; have been making a small monthly donation to the Biden-then-Harris campaign for about a year; and am the person who talks my friends down off the ledge on Facebook.
Ohio Mom
@Salty Sam: The optometrist may be at fault. The labs that make the lenses don’t always get it right.
If you have a good optometrist, they will check the glasses when they come in, and if necessary, send the glasses back for a redo, and let you know there’s been a delay — as my current one did the last time around.
If you have a bad optometrist, they will stick the glasses on your nose without checking, and hurry to cash your check/process your credit card payment.
Years ago, I had an optometrist who did just that and the glasses were never quite right. When I went to my ophthalmologist she took them to her prescription-reading gizmo and declared, “This is not the prescription I wrote.”
Then she asked me which optometrist I went to, and upon hearing my answer said, “We’ve had a lot of trouble with them, next time, go to X or Y.”
TS
@Hungry Joe:
I enjoy seeing them, don’t find them tiresome at all. Living outside the US, nothing I can do to stop trump, but we are always pleased to see what everyone on BJ is doing. Keeps us hopeful the US will stay sane.
Matt McIrvin
@Ohio Mom: I looked into this back when it was being knocked around as a desperate fantasy about replacing Trump with Mike Pence, who… well, even then, there were people who argued that Pence was worse, but that wasn’t the majority opinion.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
Right wingers like Vance know that we are very dependent on immigrant labor and that has been the secret to our growth, keeping SS funded, etc. That’s why they are so obsessed with women (especially white women) having as many babies as possible. Otherwise, there won’t be enough workers. That is also why they want to take away a lot of benefits to the poor. They want American workers to be as desperate and willing to do anything for a job as migrant workers are.
mrmoshpotato
@Salty Sam:
Can’t fault them for that whatsoever.
Ohio Mom
@Matt McIrvin: I think we can all agree Vance is worse than Pence. There is no bottom of the barrel when it comes to Republicans.
David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch
@lamh47:
SuzieC
Letter writing parties with Indivisible Central Ohio. We’re up to 20,000 Vote Forward letters to Dem-leaning voters in Ohio.
mrmoshpotato
@karen gail:
Let them enjoy the weak magnetic field (or is it non-existent?) and unbreathable air.
Chief Oshkosh
Writing postcards, donating to various down-ballot candidates, and getting a bunch of normies fired up by sending them carefully-selected YT vids that I think will appeal to them AND get them to start thinking about how politics is actually important to pay attention to.
mrmoshpotato
@Nukular Biskits: So you broke the margins…
Kayla Rudbek
Let’s try this one more time: good news from my doctor today, I can stop the metformin. Still on the statins and the weekly shot, and I need to get more calcium into myself. I can also start eating more carbs before long bike rides. I forgot to ask her about how often I should test my blood sugar.
Chet Murthy
@Kayla Rudbek: Whooooo! Goddamn! Excellent work!
karen marie
I am so angry with what my “fellow Americans” have been saying and doing, I am at a point that I would find it deeply satisfying to let them get what they deserve. And get it good and hard.
dmsilev
@David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch: Queeg was actually competent….
Quinerly
@Ohio Mom:
I actually think Vance is worse than Trump. I get American Psycho vibes.
Quinerly
@Kayla Rudbek:
Great news!
Chet Murthy
In addition to all the other military capabilities that the EU/NATO has learned they need to build up (b/c they can’t rely on the US), we can add another: satellite imaging. B/c without that, all those precision weapons are useless. The UK can authorize Storm Shadows to be used over Russia, but without the targeting info that you can only get from US satellites, they’re toothless. Sigh.
twbrandt
@Kayla Rudbek: \o/
BR
It’s good to see that AP put the right headline on this piece:
https://apnews.com/article/senate-ivf-vote-trump-harris-1bb3d09855a23802045fe7e6a5696561
Peke Daddy
Doing my best to keep the flame burning, John.
frosty
@Kayla Rudbek: Good news on the carbs for bike rides! And everything else.
cain
@Jeffro: somebody needs to take a poll there. It used to be a Trump voting district.
karen gail
@Quinerly: So glad to hear that someone else is getting bad, creepy, psycho vibes from Vance; now that I have read his comments I have gone from creepy vibes to being convinced of full on evil.
Quinerly
@Quinerly:
Oops….typo. Season 3 just wrapped. Damn you tiny keyboard.
Kayla Rudbek
@frosty: yes, I have had at least two incidents of bonking (cycling term, equivalent in running is hitting the wall) on rides, most recently this past Sunday. It’s unpleasant to have nothing left in your legs and still being miles from home. In retrospect I don’t think that taking the shot of medicine on Saturday before cycling was the best timing, so now it’s going to be a shot on Wednesdays and going from there.
BigJimSlade
And, of course, Trump is married to an immigrant, and JV Dance’s wife is 2nd generation. Hopefully those 2 women kick their spouses in the nuts each night.
Jackie
Jumping ahead: If this already was covered, SORRY!
Haitian BS is spreading past Springfield, OH. Haitians are taking YOUR jobs!
GOOD for State Senator Bartolotta (R) for doing the right thing by stepping up and calling out the BS!
Of course, now she’ll have a bullseye on her back from TCFG and Vance.
Sister Golden Bear
@Quinerly: You might consider becoming an extra—you not only get to watch the filming, but you get a nominal amount of cash plus lunch.
Quinerly
@karen gail:
Something seriously wrong with him. It’s very different from what’s wrong with Trump. Hard to explain. He literally makes my skin crawl. As a woman, I would actually fear him if caught alone with him. Ted Bundy vibes. That’s who I was trying to think of when I said American Psycho.
pabadger
My wife and I are doing postcards and recruiting others to do so. We’ve done or distributed 450 so far with 75 more going out and 300 more arriving in the next few days.
We are using Activate America which is easy to use and you get to chooseu which state/race to do.
It is empowering and frankly I am sleeping better.
Sister Golden Bear
@karen gail: People who think the Rapture is imminent want to rape and pillage the planet for as much profit as possible before it happens.
karen marie
@different-church-lady: What do you think children are for?
pabadger
@Chief Oshkosh: way to go!!
which organization do you use for the postcards?
different-church-lady
@Quinerly: It’s because Vance is aware of what he’s doing and choosing to do it, while Trump is just naturally nuts.
Ruckus
What really, really burns me is that many of the citizens of this country have only been here one or two generations at most. Part of my family, grandparent level, was an immigrant to this country. I do not know the history of farther back or the other side of grandparents or prior but if not for that grandparent I wouldn’t exist as the person I am now. IOW at least one of my parents was first generation American. (Hell my father came from Kansas City to the west coast as a one yr old in a horse drawn wagon) How many other citizens can say they are only second generation American – besides a hell of a lot of them. This is a country that puts citizens above money, and many seem not to do that or at least didn’t not all that long ago. And that was a hell of a concept when it was founded, that the citizens counted other than as laborers – or slaves. Sure we had slaves at one time but we fixed that. We are still not out of the crap that caused for our country, but we are making progress. It’s one of the reasons I very, very much support Kamala Harris for president and supported Barack Obama, to help us get over the racism. Both are great humans and we need all of that greatness we can find. We aren’t fully over the racism yet, and because humans I’m not sure we will ever fully get there. But every step helps us get closer.
different-church-lady
@karen marie:
Getting on my nerves, mostly.
pabadger
@Heidi Mom: good on ya!
@Kristine: way to go!
cain
@Jackie: she must know a lot of them personally. She can’t look any of them in the eye if she keeps mum. Never mind the business owner who hired them.
pabadger
@VFX Lurker: nice! Keep up the good work!!!
Chet Murthy
@different-church-lady: I would have said that TCFG has been a criminal, a sociopath, a danger to all around him, for so long that we’ve become somewhat used to it, where Juicy Divans …. is new to the scene, and we’re not yet inured to the danger and the disgust.
Sister Golden Bear
@Quinerly: Vance is the epitome of the comeback to the “what is a woman?” supposed gotcha question that the cultists love throwing at any trans supporters — I.e. a woman is anyone who instinctively covers her drink whenever she sees Vance, even if it’s just in TV. The boy ain’t right.
Harrison Wesley
@Quinerly: Look, if you’re caught alone with him, just say, “Hey, why don’t you grab yourself a seat?” and head out the door while he’s…distracted…..
mrmoshpotato
@different-church-lady:
No! The orange shitstain has at least some idea of the heinous shit coming out of his fat, orange, fascist face.
Please do NOT let this racist, fascistic, pussy-grabbing, rapist pile of shit off by saying he’s “naturally nuts.”
ETA – Oh, I forgot he’s also a traitorous sucker of Kremlin ass hole.
tjlabs
Let me enlighten some of you about the reality of using “illegal immigrant workers”. I was in the restaurant business for over 30 years. I followed the US government regulations re IRS form I-9 re verification of eligibility. No matter that their proof was fictitious or not, my legal obligation was fulfilled. The bottom line is that each and everyone of them was paid by check. And they all had taxes and FICA and Medicare deducted from their pay. But unlike true American citizens, they did not file income taxes and therefore never recouped whatever tax benefits they would have been entitled to. So the bottom line is that illegal or not, they still paid taxes.
Quinerly
@Harrison Wesley:
😊
Quinerly
@Sister Golden Bear:
Nailed it!
Quinerly
@different-church-lady:
Interesting way to look at it…….
H.E.Wolf
Late to the party, but here’s my answer:
Lots (and lots and lots) of database updates for my state’s Democratic Party.
Small but steady trickle of postcards to voters.
Maintaining a hopeful mindset, because worry is exhausting and I need the energy for GOTV tasks.
When we get closer to election time, I’ll adorn our front yard with my two “VOTE” signs, a long-ago purchase from the local League of Women Voters.
Bostondreams
@rk: How did she do at this talk? Hoping it went well.
Captain C
@lamh47: If Biden was still the candidate and said these things, the FTFNYT would publish a special evening full-size edition with nothing but coverage of this. Lead article would be an ‘editorial’ by pinch the lesser himself demanding that all Democrats everywhere resign immediately.
Ruckus
@mrmoshpotato:
I like how you think.
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: Fixed.
I don’t have Steep to text me when this happens. :-(
Jay
@BigJimSlade:
3 of Dolt45’s wives have been immigrants, proving once again that America needs Immigrants to do the jobs Americans don’t want to do.
Jackie
@cain: If you read the article, the business owner has actually renovated buildings to convert them for affordable housing for the immigrants he’s hired.
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl: Thanks.
I know. RIP Steep.
frosty
@pabadger: I’m using Activate America too. I like that they give me the script so I don’t have to think something up myself.
mrmoshpotato
@Jay: Marla Maples is American.
Ruckus
@different-church-lady:
shitforbrains used to know what he was doing but either senility has fully set in or his brain has ruptured into at least a few dozen parts. ‘
If it’s parts, they are shitty, useless, ignorant, pompous, arrogant, asshole – and there may be more part designations needed, but at least that covers most of them.
It is quite possible that it’s both….
Geminid
I guess Tommy Tuberville has won the Idiot-net for today. CBS news just played a soundbite of the Alabama Senator expressing his consternation that Donald Trump has undergone two assasination attempts in two months:
Chet Murthy
@Geminid: was potato town raised in America? The phrase is ” wake up and smell the coffee, it’s burning”
mrmoshpotato
@Chet Murthy: Hahaha!
CaseyL
@Kayla Rudbek:
That is fantastic news! Good on being able to carb up before biking.
I’m a Type II, though I’ve gotten my blood sugar down to pre-diabetic levels (with metformin). I’m no endurance athlete – in fact, I’m no kind of athlete, though I do walk and hike – but I can’t imagine trying to do major athletic activity without being able to carbo load. Like you say, you just run out of gas.
Congrats, and good work!
Jay
@mrmoshpotato:
She was born in Georgia, which I am reliably informed is a former Soviet State on the Black Sea.
//
mrmoshpotato
@Jay: LOL! Nice rebuttal!
BigJimSlade
Sometimes it’s just because others told them it was bad and wrong. Resentment is a drug, and some people can’t get enough.
pabadger
@frosty: woo hoo! Thank you so much. I also live in Perry’s district.
pabadger
@middlelee: thank you so much
pabadger
@MazeDancer: I am doing post cards too!
pabadger
@twbrandt: agreed!
pabadger
@Hungry Joe: thank you!
pabadger
@Chet Murthy: we do what we can. Thank you!
pabadger
@CaseyL: I have a hard time doing direct voter contact anymore myself. So it’s post cards.
Sandia Blanca
After trying and feeling overstressed by block walking and phone banking, I have settled on my perfect ways to work for electing Democrats: (1) registering voters, and (2) answering calls to the voter assistance hotline. Our laws in Texas are some of the most restrictive in the nation,* so getting people registered in time, and helping them understand the ins and outs of the election process, and very fulfilling. Several good organizations put on voter registration events, so I do as many of those as I can. The voter assistance hotline is run by the Texas Democratic Party, and I can work from the comfort of my home, answering calls from confused or frustrated voters and helping remove the obstacles keeping them from voting.
*For example, there is no online registration, and you must be registered 30 days before the election.
pabadger
@Devore: every dollar counts!
rk
@Bostondreams:
She was good. I saw snippets of it. She answers questions like a normal human. Which is such a change from the clown show that’s Trump and Vance.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Sister Golden Bear: Like the saying making the rounds:
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Sister Golden Bear: Like the saying making the rounds:
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Sister Golden Bear: Like the saying making the rounds:
Bruce K in ATH-GR
Gaah! Quadruple comment! FYWP!
Deleted.
Hey, is there any chance someone with website mojo can clear out the remaining triplicates?
KrackenJack
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: Nah, it bears repeating.
Manyakitty
@Ohio Mom: to clarify, ophthalmologists are surgeons, optometrists are eye doctors who do exams and treat disease, and opticians dispense the glasses. Important distinctions.
Manyakitty
Ran out of edit window and lost all my new comment. Grr
Anyway, if you need a routine eye exam, an ophthalmologist is generally a waste of money. They don’t focus on refractions and usually farm that part out to a tech. If you actually want a thorough eye exam with the doctor figuring out what to use for your glasses, see an OPTOMETRIST.
Signed, a licensed optician for 20+ years
Manyakitty
Never mind
BigJimSlade
@Jay: Lol, yes, exactly.
Paul in KY
@lamh47: Great news! I sure had a happy realization when I got my first pair at age 8: “You mean people see like this?!?!”
Matt
If you want a preview of this, take a look at the UK. They did a mild version of this with Brexit, and they’re “mildly” fucked now.
Of course the Leavers are sure that it’s all the fault of immigrants, still.
Meanwhile, Labour is celebrating having purged themselves of the left by planning for austerity, NHS privatization, and more immigration crackdowns. Feel that “centrism” BABY!!!!