Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

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

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

People are complicated. Love is not.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

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

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

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

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / When You’re Damned If You Do and You’re Damned If You Don’t (Open Thread)

When You’re Damned If You Do and You’re Damned If You Don’t (Open Thread)

by | 156 Comments

This post is in: 

When you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t, then you have the luxury of doing the right thing.

Finally a judge who understands that.

Fingers crossed that we actually see this information today.

In the meantime, though, let’s celebrate the rule of law and a judge who thinks no one is above the law!

Totally open thread!

 

Reader Interactions

156Comments

  1. 1.

    The Audacity of Krope

    If the court withheld information that the public otherwise had a right to access solely because of the potential political consequences of releasing it, that withholding could itself constitute—or appear to be— election interference.

    The obvious truth is having a great week in court.

  3. 3.

    Bobby Thomson

    Appendices II, III, and IV have been uploaded, but I’m not paying PACER for a bunch of redacted pages

  5. 5.

    TBone

    More gifts! 🎄🎅😁

    Tesla faces a new investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, concerning issues with its “Full Self-Driving” systems, and whether they are safe to use in fog, glaring sun or other “reduced roadway visibility conditions.”

    The probe follows an incident in which a Tesla driver who had been using FSD, struck and killed a pedestrian, and other FSD-involved collisions during reduced roadway visibility conditions.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/18/tesla-faces-nhtsa-investigation-of-full-self-driving-after-fatal-collision.html

  8. 8.

    bbleh

    CNN: “Special counsel Jack Smith on Friday released a massive trove of redacted documents in his 2020 election subversion criminal case against former President Donald Trump.”

    Talk about a Friday news dump!  Something for the chatterati to chew over ALL WEEKEND!

    Wouldn’t want to be a ketchup bottle at Mag-a-Lardo about now …

  13. 13.

    UncleEbeneezer

    From what I’m reading via various legal accounts who have PACER, this filing is largely redacted and doesn’t tell us much we didn’t already know.  I’m glad.  DOJ wants to actually WIN the case (and protect witnesses, investigators etc.) not try to effect the outcome of the Election.  This is exactly how a serious and apolitical DOJ is supposed to operate

    (Based on readings of Appendix 4, the only one that isn’t crashing.  Perhaps there’s more in 1-3 that might be less redacted)

  14. 14.

    WaterGirl

    @TBone: Thank you!

    All the links to cute stuff and songs in the middle of political threads can get pretty frustrating.  Particularly when there’s no way to tell if it’s relevant to the conversation.

  15. 15.

    Ken

    @TBone: “Full Self-Driving” systems, and whether they are safe to use in fog, glaring sun or other “reduced roadway visibility conditions.”

    That’s not an issue for the cybertruck, because the operator’s manual says not to take them out in fog or glaring sun since it will damage the stainless steel.

    As for other Tesla models, you have to expect some pedestrian-shaped bumps in the road when you do your beta-testing on the public streets.

  18. 18.

    Kent

    This is great.  But if more information was all that was required to sway the electorate, Trump would be at about 7% right now.  That is the reality we live in.

    I have a whole bunch of MAGA extended family . And they are frankly unreachable.

  20. 20.

    Leto

    And in other judgements from today: ‘It’s the First Amendment, stupid’: Federal judge blasts DeSantis administration for threats against TV stations

    “To keep it simple for the State of Florida: it’s the First Amendment, stupid.”

    That’s what a federal judge wrote Thursday as he sided with local TV stations in an extraordinary dispute over a pro-abortion rights television ad.

    Chief U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker of the Northern District of Florida granted a temporary restraining order against Florida’s surgeon general after the state health department threatened to bring criminal charges against broadcasters airing the ad.

    Antonio Banderas gif :)

  21. 21.

    Ken

    @UncleEbeneezer: Sure, but remember the fun last time was following the subtle clues (“defendant called P17, the Governor of Georgia…”) to find their identities. It even kept the MSM interested for a couple of hours.

  23. 23.

    Kent

    @Leto: What we need is some Streisand effect here.

    Various TV stations running the ad as news and reporting that this is the ad that DeSantis was trying to suppress.

  25. 25.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Ken:

    As for other Tesla models, you have to expect some pedestrian-shaped bumps in the road when you do your beta-testing on the public streets.

    I have never understood how they weren’t blocked from making ‘full self-driving’ tech available for use in cars to be sold to the public and used on public roads in the first place.  That just seems to me like a HUGE regulatory fail.

  27. 27.

    TooManyJens

    Have now knocked on 255 doors and written 55 postcards (got a way to go on that, since I’m mailing on October 24.)

    I’m scheduled to be in PA until the 28th. I’m thinking about extending that to the election but I’m torn because spouse and I miss each other. Also I’m tired but that’s manageable. We’ll have to talk about it.

    I’ve been talking with some undecided voters who are almost always just undecided between voting and not voting. Hopefully I’ve helped talk some of them around. There was also a woman yesterday who wanted to know if her relatives who are citizens but currently living out of the country could vote, so I pointed her to Democrats Abroad and might have gotten a few votes that way.

    OTOH, one of the people I talked to has a partner who’s a home health aide, and she told him that the husband of the couple she works with stole his wife’s mail-in ballot and used it to vote Trump. I said they should contact the election board and see if the wife can send in another ballot to supersede that, but I don’t know if she’ll be able to manage it. That fucker (the husband, obv.).

  28. 28.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @lowtechcyclist: That just seems to me like a HUGE regulatory fail.

    I was born into the Reagan administration. Nearest I can tell, that’s just how we do shit in America.

  29. 29.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @WaterGirl: Perhaps.  I’m just trying to prepare myself for the fact that there may be nothing major that we didn’t already know.  Hopefully, I’ll be wrong :)

  30. 30.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @UncleEbeneezer:  just trying to prepare myself for the fact that there may be nothing major that we didn’t already know

    Even if that’s the case, having a big flashing reminder placed in front of the public less than a month before the election can only be a good thing.

  31. 31.

    frosty

    @TBone: It would be helpful if you’d put the description or at least the song title with these links. I never click on them because it takes time to find out where they’re going.

  32. 32.

    WaterGirl

    @TooManyJens: Door knocking can be tough, but it sounds like you are great at it.

    How great is it that you and your spouse miss each other that much.  In terms of what it says about your relationship, that is! :-)

    I am getting tired, too.  Then I pull out my mantra “no regrets!”

    These are tough times.  Thanks for all your work.

  33. 33.

    Sister Golden Bear

    Don’t you think he looks tired.

    Recently, it’s become something of a pattern: Trump is scheduled for an interview with a neutral media outlet, the date nears and then … things fall apart.

    It happened just this week to planned Trump sit-downs with NBC in Philadelphia and CNBC’s “Squawk Box” — and that’s on the heels of him backing out of a “60 Minutes” episode earlier this month. Why does this keep happening? Playbook has learned that yet another outlet was given an explanation by Trump’s team for why their own interview wasn’t coming to fruition: exhaustion.

    In a conversation earlier this week, when describing why an interview hadn’t come together just yet, a Trump adviser told The Shade Room producers that Trump was “exhausted and refusing [some] interviews but that could change” at any time.

  34. 34.

    Bobby Thomson

    Looks like everything is still sealed except his tweets

     

    Edit: skimmed everything now – looks like virtually everything unsealed was already in the public record, except possibly a Hatch Act report from November 2020 after the election.

  38. 38.

    TBone

    @frosty: I forget how long it actually takes to click on anything because my phone uses a simple swipe that takes a millisecond.  If it’s truly a hardship, just skip over it, I’m pretty sure by the time I describe anything the feeling/moment is completely ruined.  It’s easy to just skip it.  When I see the word “poll” or “fear,” it’s easy to skip on by.

  47. 47.

    Scout211

    @TooManyJens: First, thank you so much for all your work knocking on doors and talking to voters.  Well done.

    Second, that’s so sad about the spouse who filled out his wife’s ballot without her permission.  I hope there is something that can be done about it.

    As the spouse of someone with Alzheimer’s, these are always tough issues.  Should I just fill it out and have him sign? Should I make him sit next to me and describe all the choices and make him choose? He asks me to do it for him but is that legal?  Would I be accused of filling out his ballot without his permission at some point?

    Your example is a reason why mail-in ballots can be a problem and exploited. And voting in person would be better.  But in my case, there would be zero chance my husband could figure out how to vote in person.  We could get disabled voter approval for me to join him in the booth but voting by mail is so much easier.

    It sounds like in your example, voting for the spouse was not done in good faith.  But my example is the same thing, but done in good faith?  I don’t know the answers but I see that in the near future, my husband won’t be voting at all, and that’s sad. But at least right now he does know who Trump is.

  48. 48.

    Josie

    @TBone: ​
     I don’t think it is a hardship. It’s just that many of us want to have a political conversation and don’t want to be interrupted by links that add nothing to the information presented in the post. I guess we are just not attuned to the “feelings” of the moment.

  50. 50.

    Lyrebird

    @Kent: Here’s hoping!

    And sympathy re: relatives.  I would struggle – some of my relatives approach horseshoe left territory but most have good sense at the ballot box.

    I’m sure you’re right that many are unreachable, but if a few staunch conservatives are disgusted enough to stay home, it’ll help… I think some of the (R) Florida school board candidates won who were running against MAGA/DeathSantis hypocrites.

  51. 51.

    Lyrebird

    @Josie: FWIW I always appreciate when people put link descriptions in on any thread, at least to clue me in to whether it’s a music or movie thing versus an in-depth article on what is going on.  Omnes sometimes says, “obligatory” – then I know it’s likely a pop culture link, and I found it helpful that @TBone: put those emojis in, let’s see if I can copy them: 🎶😆💜

    (Thanks TBone!)

     

    And thanks Josie, and above all thanks WaterGirl for your work here!  (it is not done ;-)

  52. 52.

    gene108

    I’m glad Judge Chutkan understands the courts bending over backwards to keep putting off Trump’s trials and the public being informed of the facts against him is also election interference.

  54. 54.

    TBone

    I was under the impression that the 🎶 label was a clue.  I use it every time.

    Thank you Lyrebird!

  56. 56.

    eclare

    @TooManyJens:

    I guess the wife would not want to prosecute, but isn’t what the husband did a crime?  He sounds like a real peach!  /s

    Thank you for the door knocking and postcards!  Got my 200 to NC mailed out this week.  Most popular name in my list, male or female, Jasmine.  There were three.

  57. 57.

    Anonymous At Work

    Judge Chutkan’s last 4000 opinions and orders in the case have all said the same thing, “If Little Donnie wants to say he’s a candidate for office, that’s good for him, but it will not have an effect on any ruling by this court.”
    And yet, TFG’s attorneys keep including it in their briefs as the main or only reason to oppose Jack Smith’s motions.

  58. 58.

    KatKapCC

    If I may quote the wise scholar Taylor Swift, “I’m damned if I do give a damn what people say!” Feels appropriate toward the Trump camp.

  59. 59.

    TooManyJens

    @Scout211: I’m sorry to hear about your situation. I’m not sure where the line is either. I guess when the person is able to convey a preference, even if they might not be able to express it without help, it’s OK to help them. It’s when they can’t that it would become unethical to vote their ballot IMO.

    My father-in-law had dementia in 2020, but wasn’t yet so affected that he didn’t know exactly how he wanted to vote. In this case, I gather that the wife is mentally competent to vote but didn’t get the chance. But it’s secondhand so I can’t be sure.

    I’ve had a few names on my walk lists where I’ve been told by relatives or other caregivers that the person is too affected by dementia to vote, and I figure they know better than I do. Yeah, there might be some bad actors there but in general people are trying to do the right thing. And I know you are too.

  60. 60.

    JaySinWA

    Waiting for the Kremlin-Court-ologists to parse the data dump.

    I watched the Al Smith Harris and Trump segments. Well, I dosed of in the middle of the Trump drone, so I didn’t see all of it.

    At the risk of bothsiderism I wasn’t impressed with the humor in either.

    The SNL assist in Harris’ didn’t hit my funny bone, maybe it did well with a Catholic raised audience but it seem stereotypical. OTOH Harris did okay in closing, but I wasn’t feeling the joy.

    Trump sounded slow and mostly just phoning it in. Blaming the writers when a quip didn’t land, claiming he didn’t think that was a good idea after having done it anyway. He’s lying of course, but if you take him at his word he is just parroting what his minders are writing for him. Not exactly Alpha male.

    Can we just bury Al Smith and let him RIP? This and the White House Correspondents Association dinner seem like buggy whip politics.

  62. 62.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Scout211: In PA, nobody is allowed to return your absentee ballot but you, let alone vote it. Not sure how they enforce it, but we’re always careful to individually put our ballots in the drop box.

    I’m suspect filling out the ballot of an individual with Alzheimer’s would be considered fraud in any state.

    Although PA does have an exception about a third party returning the ballot if you are disabled.

    The woman in TooManyJens story should absolutely contact her elections office and report the fraud. It may be possible (I think this took place in PA?) for her to get an emergency absentee ballot.

  63. 63.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Harry Litman:

    It actually makes sense this time that Trump didn’t seek an emergency appeal. The extremely heavily redacted appendices contain less info, & way fewer bombshells, then might have been assumed if he brought an appeal to keep them from coming out. This is likely to land w/ a thud.

  65. 65.

    UncleEbeneezer

    This Is Exactly How an Elon Musk-Funded PAC Is Microtargeting Muslims and Jews With Opposing Messages:

    An Elon Musk-funded group called Future Coalition PAC is targeting Muslim voters in Michigan and Jewish voters in Pennsylvania with diametrically opposed political advertisements about Kamala Harris. In areas of Michigan with relatively large Muslim populations, the Super PAC is painting Harris as a close friend of Israel and is suggesting that she is beholden to the beliefs of her Jewish husband Doug Emhoff; in parts of Pennsylvania with relatively large Jewish populations, the advertisements call Harris antisemitic and say she “support[s] denying Israel the weapons needed to defeat the Hamas terrorists who massacred thousands.”

    Meanwhile, a related PAC also funded by Musk is microtargeting likely Black voters on Snapchat with ads that says Kamala Harris is trying to ban menthol cigarettes (surveys have shown that 81 percent of Black smokers use menthols, and big tobacco has disproportionately marketed menthol cigarettes to Black Americans).

    …

  66. 66.

    Jackie

    @Sister Golden Bear: Heh, this very morning he abruptly quit an interview with Dan Bongino!

    Donald Trump was scheduled to appear with former Fox News personality Dan Bongino for an interview on Friday, but a few minutes into their discussion, the ex-president abruptly ended the questioning.

    Bongino, who has been supportive of Trump in the past, appeared to be confused.

    “Can I get, Dan, off the rec–, I gotta get going,” Trump said.

    https://www.rawstory.com/trump-dan-bongino-ends-interview/

    And… this!:

    “Donald Trump said he will meet with media mogul Rupert Murdoch and urge him not to allow negative ads against the Republican nominee or provide airtime to his critics on Fox News in the final stretch before Election Day,” Bloomberg reports.

    Said Trump: “I’m going to tell him something very simple, because I can’t talk to anybody else. Don’t put on negative commercials for 21 days. Don’t put them and don’t put on — they’re horrible people. They come and lie.”

  68. 68.

    Scout211

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: In PA, nobody is allowed to return your absentee ballot but you

    In California, we can return another person’s ballot, which I did for my husband.  The person who is turning it in prints their name and signs their signature on the outside of the envelope*.  This is the first election that I signed that.  For all the other elections, he dropped his in the drop box himself.

    *there is a place for that on the back of the envelope with the two lines.

    ETA  clarity

  69. 69.

    TooManyJens

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: In Illinois, which is where I actually live, it’s legal to help someone fill out their ballot if disability renders them unable to do so. But it still has to be their vote, and you have to disclose it. I’m not actually sure about the law on that in PA, I should look that up.

    I contacted the Election Protection hotline and they said that since it was a secondhand account, there wasn’t anything they could do. I haven’t tried contacting the actual election authorities yet. I did tell the person I talked to that they should look into some way the ballot the woman was sent could be nullified or superseded so she could vote her own.

    There’s a state rep. race here in Luzerne County where they misspelled a name on mail-in ballots so they sent out all new ballots with the correction. In that case, they said if you happened to send in both ballots, the first one they received would be nullified and the second one counted. So it seems like it should be possible for this woman too, unless that was a special case because of the error.

  70. 70.

    TBone

    @Mr. Bemused Senior:

    So last year, when he spotted an advertisement featuring a smiling Tim Sheehy running for Senate, Peach immediately recognized the ex-Navy SEAL’s face, he said. It was the same man who had told him years earlier that he had accidentally shot himself in the right arm after his gun dropped to the ground while he said he was loading up gear after a hike.

    Peach!

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/montana-ranger-comes-forward-with-account-of-sheehy-gun-incident/ar-AA1svFSR

  71. 71.

    TBone

    @TooManyJens: the rules for PA:

    If you have a disability that prevents you from returning your own ballot, you may fill out a form to designate someone else to return it for you. You must turn in the form with your mail ballot application, and the designee must have a copy on hand when they return your ballot.

    Otherwise, you must return your own ballot.

    https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2022/09/pa-election-2022-mail-voting-ballot-how-to-request-fill-out-return/

  75. 75.

    TBone

    This is a beautiful day.  We’re finally starting Fall Foliage here in the blazing sunshine. It’s going back into the 70s this coming week, back up from freezing. VP Harris and Gov. Walz are dominating, knocking every pitch out of the park. We have all the cool celebrities and rock stars. We have Jack Smith. We have so many favorable portents and, put simply, we’re on the correct side of history.  Cloud 9 FTW!

  77. 77.

    Jackie

    Dropped my ballot into the ballot drop box next to City Hall a bit ago! It felt soooo satisfying!💙

  79. 79.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Jackie:

    “Donald Trump said he will meet with media mogul Rupert Murdoch and urge him not to allow negative ads against the Republican nominee or provide airtime to his critics on Fox News in the final stretch before Election Day,” Bloomberg reports. 

    The orange manbaby doesn’t have the stamina to put up with negative ads.

  80. 80.

    WaterGirl

    @TBone:

    I forget how long it actually takes to click on anything because my phone uses a simple swipe that takes a millisecond.  If it’s truly a hardship, just skip over it,

    I’m pretty sure by the time I describe anything the feeling/moment is completely ruined.

    It’s easy to just skip it.  When I see the word “poll” or “fear,” it’s easy to skip on by.

    I’m gonna jump in here and defend frosty, who doesn’t deserve “If it’s truly a hardship, just skip over it,”

    Not a day goes by where I am not contacted by someone about this very thing.  Who wants to skip 20 or 30 comments in every post?

  81. 81.

    Eunicecycle

    @mrmoshpotato: isn’t this similar to the Florida case? First Amendment protections? I know Murdoch is Trumpy, but I hope he tells him to stuff it. After all, Trump didn’t follow his advice not to pick JD. See where that got Trump.

  85. 85.

    Soprano2

    @Sister Golden Bear: Can you imagine the huge firestorm that would erupt if Joe Biden did this? It should be wall-to-wall coverage, “Presidential candidate too exhausted to do interviews”. How can he be president if he’s too exhausted to even do interviews? Of course, at this point I think a lot of people believe it’s not exhaustion that is preventing him from doing interviews, but being a person who mostly babbles nonsense if he doesn’t have a prepared speech or script.

  86. 86.

    trollhattan

    KMN

    Millions of Latino evangelicals listen to this Sacramento pastor — and he backs Donald Trump
    Isaias Calero spent years attending churches in the U.S. trying to reach spiritual fulfillment. “I felt like something was missing,” said Calero, an immigrant from Honduras. “I wasn’t where I was supposed to be.” That changed when he moved to the capital region three years ago and his boss recommended New Season Church, a modest congregation tucked at the end of 44th Street in south Sacramento. Inside, Calero was drawn in by the church’s warmth and captivated by the powerful sermons of its lead pastor, the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez.

    “His manner of expressing the word of God is different,” Calero said of Rodriguez. “You really hear the words of God. It reaches your heart.” Each Sunday, Calero is among the thousands of English and Spanish-speaking members, in-person and live streaming from around the world, who are enthralled by Rodriguez. He is perpetually in motion, bouncing around the stage, cracking jokes and — at times — yelling at the top of his lungs.

    Okay, and who is this Rev Sam?

    In the early 2000s, former President George W. Bush invited Rodriguez to weekly calls with his senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove. Former President Barack Obama later appointed Rodriguez to multiple advisory councils, including a national abortion reduction task force. Rodriguez also advised both presidents on topics, including immigration and family life.

    Rodriguez thrived in this politically centered position, describing himself and Latino evangelicals as a mix of Billy Graham and Martin Luther King Jr. with “a little salsa tossed in.” Meanwhile, he continued demanding presidential administrations legalize the country’s millions of undocumented immigrants.

    His strong stance on immigration reform put him at odds with Trump during his first run at president. Rodriguez repeatedly criticized Trump for his divisive remarks toward immigrants. He began that Republican primary campaign working on Jeb Bush’s advisory team, then Marco Rubio’s, switched to Ted Cruz and only backed Trump after he became the nominee.

    At the president’s inauguration in 2017, Rodriguez became the first Latino evangelical leader to give a prayer at the ceremony. What has followed is complete loyalty to Trump, said Peter Montgomery, research director for People For The American Way, a progressive advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.

    I’m going to suggest that rubbing shoulders with Obama is the closest this dude has ever come to the Democratic Party. Wait, that’s on them!

    “I can’t even describe what’s happening with the Democratic Party,” Rodriguez said. “The donkey and the elephant are both not perfect. They both have issues, but the donkey, right now, is completely straight-up drunk.”

    Rodriguez believes the Democratic Party has turned its back on faith and Latino evangelicals — the fastest-growing group of American evangelicals. Today, Rodriguez said, Harris’ political party is one of socialism, anti-faith, anti-parental rights and anti-free speech. Even on immigration, Rodriguez sees Trump — despite his rhetoric — as the better option. The pastor notes the “wrong” done by President Joe Biden and Harris to allow millions of undocumented immigrants to cross the border over the last four years.

    https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article292246780.html#storylink=cpy

    In conclusion: This fuckin’ guy.

  87. 87.

    wenchacha

    @Sister Golden Bear:  Next time you are near 373 Ellis St., look up to see the mural, “We Used To Be Held,” by my daughter in law, Harumo Sato. She painted it in 2021, while I helped to care for her 6 month old baby. She is doing so much for public art in the Bay area.

  88. 88.

    mrmoshpotato

    @WaterGirl: I’m not paying attention to the trials for my sanity, blood pressure, etc.

    But it does reek of election interference and “Waaahhhhhh!!!!  Stop saying mean things about me!”

  90. 90.

    Soprano2

    @Jackie: I don’t think the stations can refuse ads from the candidates. Something is wrong with TCFG that he can’t even do an interview with a friendly interviewer.

  94. 94.

    Bill Arnold

    @Sister Golden Bear:
    – 60 minutes interview- declined
    – 2nd Debate w/ Harris- declined
    – CNN Town Hall- declined
    – CNBC interview- canceled
    – NBC interview- canceled
    – NRA Rally- canceled

  95. 95.

    Baud

    @Soprano2:

    Can you imagine the huge firestorm that would erupt if Joe Biden did this? It should be wall-to-wall coverage

     
    Hard to imagine. Can you point to a concrete example?

  96. 96.

    TBone

    @WaterGirl: that wasn’t supposed to be an attack, I hope Frosty didn’t read it as such.  I don’t post twenty or thirty songs in a thread.  After you asked me to give a clue, I made sure to label any music with 🎶 and I try to describe other links every time.  I’m doing my best.

    Frosty, I hope you weren’t feeling attacked.  If so, I apologize!

  99. 99.

    Jackie

    @Soprano2: I don’t think they can either, as Pudd’n Boots is finding out.

    It’s telling though, that TCFG seems to think as a candidate, he’s above the law, and can direct Murdoch on what ads Faux “may or may not” air – along with telling Murdoch who he “may and may not” have as guests.

    He’s truly feeling out of control of this election, and how it’s going.

  103. 103.

    KatKapCC

    @TBone: Well, we can see it’s a YouTube link since you don’t usually put them under other text. But people might want to know more than just “it’s music” and it’s not that difficult to type a few extra words.

  104. 104.

    David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch

    Kamala’s Fox interview generated $40 million in small dollar donations on Act Blue. It was the biggest single day of fundraising since the debate which saw $51 million pour in.​

  108. 108.

    Scout211

    Politico  Why does this keep happening? Another outlet was recently given an explanation by Trump’s team for why their own interview wasn’t coming to fruition: exhaustion.

    The Trump campaign had spent weeks in conversations with The Shade Room, a site that draws a largely young and Black audience — a demographic where Trump has been making inroads. It hosted an interview with Kamala Harris just last week.

    But no interview has materialized. As Shade Room staff began feeling that feet were being dragged inside Trump’s campaign, they pressed earlier this week to set a date for a sit-down.

    In response, a Trump adviser told Shade Room producers that Trump was “exhausted and refusing [some] interviews but that could change” at any time, according to two people familiar with the conversations.

    So there are now numerous articles about Trump’s exhaustion.

    And then,
    Donald Trump’s team denies he’s exhausted

    Trump’s national press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied that he was exhausted in a statement to Playbook, stating: “President Trump is running laps around Kamala Harris on the campaign trail.”

    LOL.

    ETA: typos

  112. 112.

    JaySinWA

    @TBone: That claim about Trump cancelling because he can’t deliver was why I watched the Al Smith Trump segment. He didn’t disintegrate, but he didn’t deliver with much energy. He didn’t “weave” for the portions that I kept awake for. He definitely kept himself on leash for the 30 minutes.

    @Jackie: ‘s Bongino story may present better evidence that he’s melting.

  113. 113.

    Starfish

    @TBone: It would be a kindness if you could avoid posting bare links and add a description. This is a web accessibility issue. On the internet, we don’t know who the person consuming our web content is. Bare links can be hard for people who use things like screen readers. How do the screen readers pronounce a long web address? How long does it take for a screen reader to say that in words?

    Generally, I like the songs you post, and I am guilty of posting bare links to my friends.

    But you know sometimes my sister sends me YouTube links when I am out on a walk, and I get to watching her videos never.

    I know some people here post bare links because they can’t quite figure out how to do it any other way, and I don’t want to add to the pile on if that is the situation.

    But if you could take the time, it would probably broaden your audience unless you are posting links to Nickelback songs.

  115. 115.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @NotMax: please release me…

    (my mind is in the gutter. )

    Please stop lying, let us go…

    can’t seem to get farther with it. I’ll never sound or look as throwback sexy as mr Humperdinck…

    song is too smooth and sweet for the things I’d like to say, about letting us go so we can talk to each other again, and have accurate news, and crush the lies and liars, and create a livable fair world for regular folks. Not a song to sing in a tux.

  116. 116.

    princess leia

    He can’t do interviews, but he has the stamina to be president? Yeah, lots of reporters forgetting to think this through… Or they know this has nothing to do with governing at all and don’t care.

  117. 117.

    West of the Rockies

    Harry Enten sure seems to be pushing the Trump is rocking it in the polls narrative.

    I find him annoying.  How credible is he, anyone know?

  119. 119.

    Captain C

    @Scout211:

    Trump’s national press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied that he was exhausted in a statement to Playbook, stating: “President Trump is running laps around Kamala Harris on the campaign trail.”

    “No, I didn’t hit the crack pipe before coming out and saying that.  Why are you pointing and laughing at me?” — Karoline Leavitt, probably

  120. 120.

    David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch

    Harris Drew Big Audience for Her Fox News Interview

    October 18, 2024 at 10:33 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 128 Comments

    Final numbers show that Kamala Harris‘ sit-down with Fox News’ Bret Baier on Wednesday drew 7.8 million viewers — nearly three times what Baier’s show normally gets, Deadline reports.

    The top local market for the interview was Pittsburgh.

    That’s a BINGO

  123. 123.

    David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch

    When John Lindsay successfully ran for mayor of NYC his slogan was “He is fresh and everyone else is tired”.

    Might be a good line to adapt for Kam’s surrogates: “She’s fresh and the old convict is exhausted”

  125. 125.

    dexwood

    @WaterGirl: ​
     Agree. Naked links, even if an emoji clue is present, are annoying. Like others here, I ignore them, but sometimes wonder if a link might be something I’d like. Can’t be arsed to find out, though, so scroll on by as usual.

  126. 126.

    Gin & Tonic

    @JaySinWA: ​
    This is probably low on most peoples’ list of things to care about, but does anyone have an explanation for why TFG went to what is widely advertised as a “white-tie dinner” in black tie? I’m sure he has people who work for him who know the difference, and I’ve seen photos of him at other events in white tie, so I’m sure he has an appropriate outfit.

  128. 128.

    JaySinWA

    @Steve LaBonne: Don’t you think he looks tired?

    Yes I do, but I suspect that was a rhetorical question.

    I tracked down the Bongino interview. It looks like they took some poetic license in the “abrupt ending” edits. I didn’t listen to the whole thing, but it was fairly long and the “abrupt” exit was apparently after the “formal” interview was over.

    I doubt that we’ll see a dramatic collapse, just the occasional weird lapses in his performance. He does look and sound tired. Past time for him to hang it up.

  130. 130.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @gene108:

    I’m glad Judge Chutkan understands the courts bending over backwards to keep putting off Trump’s trials and the public being informed of the facts against him is also election interference.

    Ditto tax returns, medical records. If norms are so easily shattered, maybe we should add to candidacy requirements. Colorado tried but the jokers on SCOTUS intervened, wrongly, IMHO, .though IANAL

  134. 134.

    MagdaInBlack

    @WaterGirl: Every time I have attempted to edit links to post here, the link then does not work. Obviously I am link illiterate, but there it is. So, I too will refrain from posting any more links, just to be safe.

  135. 135.

    WaterGirl

    @MagdaInBlack: Are you working from you phone?  I can’t even do the nice links from the phone. :-)

    Please don’t quit posting links!  It’s the sheer volume of the links unrelated to subject matter that seems to be of concern here, I think.

    I repeat, please don’t stop linking. :-)

  137. 137.

    Bill Arnold

    @MagdaInBlack:
    Please don’t stop linking; links are life (metaphor) in a community; they bring in additional eyes, and boost results in search engines.
    (Maybe add a word or three of description, like “music”. )

  138. 138.

    NotMax

    @WaterGirl

    please don’t stop linking

    No worries about that from this quarter. ;)

    In fact, have a rather nifty one lined up for a morning thread this weekend, presuming am awake then.

  139. 139.

    SFBayAreaGal

    Wow, is this pick on TBone Day? I have no problem with her links. I just scroll on by if I don’t want to click. Honestly I didn’t read what she posted as an attack on frosty.

    I believe some of us need to take a deep breath and let the good air in and then breathe out and let the bad air out.

  141. 141.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @MagdaInBlack: I prefer creating my own link to the assistance I get from the visual tab.  You can go over to the text tab and enter something structured like this:

    <a href=”link”>Display text</a>

    Just put the link between the quotes and what you want people to see between the carets.

  145. 145.

    Ruckus

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    He looks like he’s aging out. That means he’s in decline. All of us go through this, it’s more the length of time we are in this decline that is different. Some take a couple decades and some take days or weeks. Given the size of the age grouping of people aging out at any one time and the variation of the time it takes to age out, there are going to be a lot of differences. When someone starts, when they finish can vary a hell of a lot. In his case I’d bet medium time frame at most, just because of where he started – and how much of an actual humane person he was to start. Which in my opinion is minimal humanity.

  146. 146.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @MagdaInBlack: Fair enough. Whatever works for you, but what I described only functions in the “Text” tab in the comment box. That’s why I was able to type it in a way you could see it

  147. 147.

    frosty

    @TBone: Not feeling attacked. The emoji is a good clue. Takes awhile for youtube to come up, then gotta sit thru an ad. I don’t click on them any more.

  152. 152.

    JustRuss

    Somewhat related, I’m spending some time with a retired FBI agent, and asked what the feeling was around the agency re Comey’s October surprise. He said Comey is generally viewed as a straight shooter, but he should have held back due to policy and precedent. Even though Hilz was the worst person ever for her emailz *sigh*. He’s a neverTrumper now, so I just let that go.

  154. 154.

    glc

    @Juju: Not really a joke.

    Early on Trump went anti-mask when he realized his makeup was showing on his mask, and had one of his usual tantrums about it.  For a couple of days he was fine with masks, and the whole thing might never have become a political issue if it hadn’t spoiled his makeup.

  156. 156.

    Kosh III

    Hubby is totally apolitical aside from despising the Felon and all Rs, he always votes a straight D ticket.  When we go to the poll I always have a sample poll marked for him as his memory sometimes goes.
    As far as I am concerned, the last good Republican was my maternal grandfather who sat in the Tn House 1937-39-not that I was even born yet.

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