Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

Second rate reporter says what?

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Barack Obama Just Made My Day in 5 minutes or less

Barack Obama Just Made My Day in 5 minutes or less

by | 145 Comments

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When he’s not campaigning, we don’t get to see Barack Obama at his absolute best.

I see him giving these speeches and remember all over again just how much I love this man, just how charming and funny he is, and how lucky we were to have had him as president for 8 years.

We have to win this!

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

145Comments

  3. 3.

    Betty Cracker

    I want Trump to lose because he is terrible for the country and a horrible person in every sense. But the more I read about Elon Musk’s machinations on behalf of Trump, the more keen I am to see Trump defeated to thwart Musk’s evil designs on our politics and society. Musk is arguably just as dangerous as Trump — he’s got an obscene level of wealth Trump can only dream of, and while he’s not the genius he imagines himself to be, he’s not as bone-stupid as Trump. Trump’s defeat would be a twofer.

  9. 9.

    EarthWindFire

    The guy to the right in the speech video is my spirit made real. I could watch him and listen to Barack all day.

  10. 10.

    Ishiyama

    Jasmine Crockett said today that the Harris/Walz team has 100 leading surrogates, spread across the country. The Obamas are just the tip of the spear.

    And Kamala just spoke briefly in Detroit; her repeated message was: The Power is with the People. (It’s her red diaper baby roots showing).

  14. 14.

    Steve LaBonne

    If we lose, and we may (though I don’t expect to), I damn well don’t want to hear any 2016-style recriminations. Harris and the campaign are not leaving a single damn penny on the table.

  16. 16.

    ArchTeryx

    I’m trying to make plans for either case – Harris wins, or TCFG wins, doG help us all. I’ve been gathering people, especially LBGTQ+ people, close to me in a safe-space community. If TCFG wins, I will be doing everything humanly possible to protect these people. So will all my cis-heterosexual friends.

    If Harris wins, and from my lips to doG’s ears, we’ll still have a close-knit safe-space community where these people can be themselves, mentor each other, and I can keep them under my wing. I don’t run a clique. Nobody has to kiss my sorry ass. I just make sure no haters get in and keep things supportive for all. No matter who wins, these people have a community to lean on. That’s what counts to me.

  18. 18.

    TaMara

    I watched that entire…I don’t want to call it a speech because it was so much more…let’s call it a filleting…of the moldy orange one. It was a thing of beauty.

  20. 20.

    ArchTeryx

    @Steve LaBonne: If you fight to the very end like that and still lose, it is not because you had a weak candidate. Or that TCFG is particularly strong – he always absolutely sucked goat balls as a candidate.

    But it holds up a mirror to the entire rural part of this country, all that land and people, and what is reflected back is pure ugliness. It’s a test of the country’s decency, and if we fail it, that’s on the TCFG voters. Every last one of them. They voted a monster into the Presidency, and when it starts shambling around and wrecking everything and killing people, that’s on them, too. Let the leopards eat their faces. I’m just going to try to armor the faces of folks I care about..

  25. 25.

    Freemark

    Just saw this in Lancaster,PA. Fuckers at the election office are violating state law and trying to prevent college students from voting..Assholes

  27. 27.

    Ksmiami

    @ArchTeryx: and that’s why I want to defund them all. Cut off their poisonous media, get rid of their medical care. Am I a bad person- probably, but I’ll hurt them more if it comes to that.

  28. 28.

    Steve LaBonne

    @ArchTeryx: Liberal churches will step up as they did before – the UU church I belonged to during Trumpreich I had an immigrant family in sanctuary. My current congregation is smaller but we’ll do what we can.

  29. 29.

    Lyrebird

    @Baud: You and Zeddary both made MY day.  At least I think your a “he”, and your morning comment to Anne Laurie and Zeddary’s here fit in with a pattern.  The opposite of a disturbing pattern.

    A pattern of men commenting who line up with my reality and not the Sadistic Orange Menace or Boof Supreme or Shady Vance.

     

    oh and maybe my tyypos will make someone else’s day more fun, but either way, keep on rockin’ the democracy-loving world WaterGirl. wish I had more scratch to throw in.

  31. 31.

    WaterGirl

    BR just sent me this lovely TikTok video of a young woman who met Kamala 20 years ago when she was homeless.  It’s a great window into who Kamala is.

    It looks like she has another video that follows the one I linked above, but I have’t watched that one yet.

  32. 32.

    FDRLincoln

    Harris is an excellent candidate and is running a remarkable campaign. If we lose, I won’t blame her and I don’t think most Dems will. She’s made no major mistakes, has made many masterful moves, and is not complacent or ignoring the wrong states. She’s been everything we could ask and more.

    If we lose, it is because of a deep sickness in our society, a sickness and rottenness that goes back 250 years. We had two chances to purge it, in the 1860s and the 1960s and both times the job wasn’t completed.

  33. 33.

    Lyrebird

    @ArchTeryx:

    re: @Steve LaBonne:

     

    I think you are not super far away in driving hours from NYS capital.  Cong Gates of Heaven and the maybe Methodists near there would also totally fit what Steve has said about UU churches, strong advocacy for trans rights.

  35. 35.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @FDRLincoln:

    Harris is an excellent candidate and is running a remarkable campaign. If we lose, I won’t blame her and I don’t think most Dems will. She’s made no major mistakes, has made many masterful moves, and is not complacent or ignoring the wrong states. She’s been everything we could ask and more.

    If we lose, it is because of a deep sickness in our society, a sickness and rottenness that goes back 250 years. We had two chances to purge it, in the 1860s and the 1960s and both times the job wasn’t completed.

    This.

    I’m positive that we’ll win the popular vote easily.  The oppressive, anachronism that is the Electoral Fucking College is where we might fail.

  36. 36.

    cmorenc

    Evangelicals supporting Trump are willfully blind to cloven-hoofed devil they have made a transactional bargain with, failing to remember that the devil’s skill in baiting people into making bargains with him by offering strongly coveted benefits, in exchange for…their very soul.

    In saying that, I am speaking in the framework of Evangelical Christian theology, where one of the key paradigms of the New Testament is Christ’s time in the desert, where he resisted Satan’s entreaties.  Myself, I don’t think Satan exists as a separate entity – rather Satan is the inherent part of each of us tempting us to sociopathy and greed, i.e. the part in us that undermines our humanity and reverts us to savage beasts.

  37. 37.

    Steve LaBonne

    @Lyrebird: Almost any UCC or ELCA Lutheran congregation and most PCUSA Presbyterian congregations, as well. (And Quakers of course but they’re even thinner on the ground than UUs.) The media like to ignore the religious left because it doesn’t fit their narrative, but we’re out there.

  38. 38.

    wjca

    @Baud: I was assigned to Balloon Juice.

    “Assigned”???  There’s someone who can tell Baud what to do?  Another illusion shattered. :-(

  40. 40.

    AWOL

    Dated message. Too mainstream. Not aware of what’s lurking in 2024/2025 that wasn’t present in 2016/2017.

    If the fascists win again, I do want bumbling and bluster and arrogance; division is a given in politics at any time.

    I can survive that. Most of us with actual IQs can. Most people here endured, pandemic or pre-pandemic.

    Militias, death squads, religious tribunals, genocidal rantings and actions, the destruction of every institution that allows us to eat, to breathe, to travel, to think, to fuck, to improve our own lot—that’s their agenda and they have a willing army with a decade of practice and 159 years of rage.

    Just so tired of this shit and the apathy of everyone I approach on this topic. They think democracy is just plopping down a vote every four years.

    I’m just glad I’m not John Cole in WV. That essay he wrote the other night was chilling, exact, and had legs across the internet. I felt like emailing it to my comfortable friends in Blue States, but it would just harsh their little mellows.

  41. 41.

    KatKapCC

    @Steve LaBonne: Most of the synagogues, too. The majority of American Jews are Reform (the more chill movement), and about 75% of all Jews in the US are Democrats.

  42. 42.

    cmorenc

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage:

    I’m positive that we’ll win the popular vote easily.  The oppressive, anachronism that is the Electoral Fucking College is where we might fail.

    …and probably by at least a modestly greater % than 2020, which Biden won by 51.3% to 46.8% or 7 million in raw national vote margin.  The margin is gradually progressing: in 2016, Hillary won the popular vote by 48.2% to 46.1% or 3 million votes nationally and 0.5% and 500k votes.  In 2012, Obama beat Romney by 3.9% and 5 million votes nationally. The only election since 1988 where the GOP candidate won the popular vote was 2004 (by 2.4% and 3 million votes nationally).

    Notice how Trump’s national total %s both times were in the 46% range, and Romney in the 47%

  43. 43.

    David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch

     10/19/2024, 8:05am ET

    Here’s where the candidates are today:

    Where’s Donald Trump? — In Latrobe, Pennsylvania, for a rally at 6 p.m. ET. Former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown said he plans to return to Pennsylvania to speak at the rally.

    Where’s JD Vance? — No public events.

    Where’s Kamala Harris? — In Detroit, where she will meet with faith leaders and give remarks at a get-out-the-vote event with Harris-Walz supporters at 1:30 p.m. ET. Popstar Lizzo is set to make an appearance alongside Harris in Detroit. Then Harris will head to Atlanta for a campaign rally alongside Usher, who will speak at the program.

    Where’s Tim Walz? — In Illinois to deliver remarks at 1:30 p.m. ET at a campaign reception. Then he will head to Omaha, Nebraska, where he will speak at another campaign reception at 5:15 p.m. ET, and then to deliver remarks at a campaign rally at 6 p.m. ET in Omaha.

    They’re not even bothering to spend money on Vance

  47. 47.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @cmorenc:

    Notice how Trump’s national total %s both times were in the 46% range, and Romney in the 47%.

    Yup.  It’s a new metric, at least for Presidential Elections, for the Crazification Factor.

  49. 49.

    Marc

    I’m a pessimist, but “this [drone] business will get out of control.”  Widely dispersed technology (basically cellphone parts) can easily be used to make thousands of cheap (like $100) drones, each with a few ounces of plastic explosive that can hunt down people or vehicles completely autonomously. No need for external guidance or GPS,  jamming won’t be enough to stop them, and there are a number of population centers in Israel within consumer drone range of the border.  We can hope is that nothing happens before the election, but this will result in a mass casualty event at some point.

  51. 51.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Steve LaBonne:

    Good point.  The floor is 27% (the Crazification Factor).  The ceiling is 47% (Crazification + Racism + the Faux “News” effect).

    Needs a pithy name.

  52. 52.

    KatKapCC

    Okay, way off topic but this was very touching. A Lakers rookie who idolized Steph Curry growing up got to meet him, and when the young man was asked about in a press conference, he was moved to tears. Another good example of a man not being afraid to have and show emotion.

  53. 53.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Melancholy Jaques: I’d argue that with Harris, now it seems like we are actually getting two!

    Reminds me of this famous exchange with Richard Williams (father/coach of Venus and Serena):

    Rick Macci: I think you just might have the next Michael Jordan.

    Richard Williams: No, brother, I got the next two Michael Jordans.

  54. 54.

    Ruckus

    @Betty Cracker:

    Absolutely this.

    Elon is using shitforbrains as his hit man in trying to own our government and country. His obscene wealth allows him to do pretty much whatever he wants in screwing over the US population to build his bank account to obscene levels. (actually a MORE OBSCENE level than it is now. He fits in to the segment of humanity known as greedy asshole, thinking it will make him a better person. Umpossible)

  56. 56.

    ArchTeryx

    @Steve LaBonne: That’s all too true. But suburban areas are also a lot more swingy than the sticks are. A lot of rural women may be forced at the point of a gun – literally, in some places – to vote for TCFG. Suburban women are a lot more independent, and they HATE what was done to Roe vs. Wade. They really, REALLY do not like that their most basic health care was stripped from them and their doctors are all fleeing red states. If we win, it’s going to be suburban women that carry the day.

  57. 57.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @KatKapCC: On a semi-related note, this made me laugh:

    Palestinian to NYT: Please, America, we do not love terrorism, we are normal people who just want this war to end.

    A thousand red triangle replies: lol, nice try Shlomo.

  58. 58.

    ArchTeryx

    @Lyrebird: Actually I’m about 30 minutes from downtown Albany. I work downtown, too, as a financial analyst. Albany is where I made my last stand, and I will not be moving from this city alive.

  59. 59.

    ArchTeryx

    I will say there is one thing I enjoy more than anything else: Validation.

    I’ve reduced a couple of my transgendered friends to happy tears, simply by accepting them, loving them, and supporting them as themselves. That’s what the fascists want to end. They want to force everyone to be like them and those that can’t, they want to murder. It’s that stark and that simple.

    Am I cruel for getting into that trans troll thread and telling them, “Do you want to be rounded up, shipped to a camp and executed? Then keep negging on Harris.” I’m stating reality. My friends know what is at stake. Far too few other people do.

    (Not sure if this is a dead thread or not. I’m always late to the party)

  60. 60.

    FDRLincoln

    We will win the popular vote without trouble. It all depends on if the EC fucks us again. Republic, not a democracy, blah blah blah…but if this had happened to the GOP twice in less than 20 years we’d have already had an amendment fixing this stupid anachronism.

  62. 62.

    ArchTeryx

    @FDRLincoln: I actually don’t think we’d EVER get an amendment like that. States, particularly poor, rural states, will NEVER vote to reduce their own power. Period. The EC is heavily weighted to land, not people, and those states WANT it that way.

    Start doing things like force the Dakotas to combine, and maybe then they’ll get the idea. But it would take that kind of extreme to ever get rural states to vote out the EC.

  67. 67.

    Geminid

    @ArchTeryx: It will be hard to pass a constitutional amendment of any kind in this decade. In the short and medium term, I think we “will have to run the machine as [we] found it,” as Abraham Lincoln put it.

  68. 68.

    Baud

    @ArchTeryx:

    Am I cruel for getting into that trans troll thread and telling them, “Do you want to be rounded up, shipped to a camp and executed? Then keep negging on Harris.” I’m stating reality. My friends know what is at stake. Far too few other people do.

    I often wonder whether this works better, and is more accurate, than accusing them of being allied with the people who would do the rounding up. That’s honestly how I’m more likely to view them.

  70. 70.

    KatKapCC

    @UncleEbeneezer: I do really want to know how people in the US think kicking Jews out of their stores does anything to help Palestinians. But of course…we know the answer to that…

  71. 71.

    Jay

    Joseph Cox
    @josephfcox
    Oct 18
    New from 404 Media: we’ve found exactly how a Musk-funded PAC is microtargeting Muslims & Jews with opposing messages. Happening with adverts on Snapchat; digging through data we found the exact ZIP codes the PAC is targeting. Includes areas with mosques 404media.co/this-is-exactly-…

    https://nitter.poast.org/josephfcox/status/1847309798888362104#m

    https://www.404media.co/this-is-exactly-how-an-elon-musk-funded-pac-is-microtargeting-muslims-and-jews-with-opposing-messages/

  72. 72.

    SpaceUnit

    @geg6:

    Yeah.  Steeler fans don’t give a shit about Antonio Brown.  They should get Matt Canada’s endorsement while they’re at it.

  73. 73.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @geg6:

    LOL. Antonio Brown is a laughingstock who threw his entire career away by refusing to get any kind of help (he was apparently an idiot in college as well, so it didn’t just start while he was in the NFL). Any time there’s a post of him on r/nfl, the MBC (Mr Big Chest/Checks) memes start up, along with the master list of all of his ludicrous “accomplishments”, like farting on a doctor’s head, and throwing furniture off a balcony.

    Tom Brady even tried to vouch for him with the Buccaneers and he screwed that up

  74. 74.

    Geminid

    @Jay: That story is making the rounds on social media because the examples of different ads pitched to Muslim- and Jewish-Americans are so clearly cynical. They also highlight broader Republican micro-targeting efforts and are just the tip of an iceberg.

  78. 78.

    Marc

    @Peke Daddy:  I know, I’m building an autonomous fixed-wing plane from Dollar Tree foam board (a single $1.50 sheet is enough) for fun.  Electronic parts, batteries, and motors for two ordered from AliExpress and delivered direct to my door from China in less than 10 days.  Plenty of open source flight control and image recognition software available, all necessary info and code is a Google search away. Just about any college engineering student (and some high school kids) could figure it out. Israel has just publicly demonstrated just how disruptive something like this can be, it seems they didn’t fully think about the implications.

  83. 83.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Another Scott: My assumption overall is that polling is off this cycle due to a couple reasons:

    1. A huge amount of deliberately awful red polls flooding the zone
    2. The chronic undercounting of all dem voting after Dobbs

    We’ll see how that goes, but it’s wild to me that even with the above Kamala is still at +2/2.5 nationally and the battleground states are close.

    I really do blame the media, who won’t accurately describe Trump or anything he wants to do. They’ve never been willing to call him a liar, let alone a racist, or a sexist, or openly corrupt. And that let’s him pretend to be “normal” to people who don’t pay attention at all

  84. 84.

    Jay

    There’s deeply cynical and then there’s things which might be illegal. In the first category we have an Elon Musk-funded PAC microtargeting Jewish and Arab communities with diametrically opposed ads about Kamala Harris’s support for Israel or Palestine. Amazingly cynical. But then you have what I’m going to describe next which comes from another Musk-funded dark money operation. They have set up fake sites impersonating the Harris campaign using fake policy positions and then sending out text messages also impersonating the campaign which aim to drive voters to the fake site. (A lot of potential legal and regulatory questions turns on word like “fake” and “impersonating”, which we’ll return to in a moment.)

    I found out about this from this article by Anna Massoglia at OpenSecrets. As far as I can tell she’s the first to report it. The project is the work of Building America’s Future PAC, which seems to be largely and perhaps now entirely funded by Elon Musk. It’s part of a network of Musk-funded PACs which are run and/or organized by a group of operatives who ran Ron DeSantis’s failed presidential campaign. America PAC is another of these entities organized with the same money and by the same operatives. That’s the one doing the canvassing and get out the vote operations.

    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/elon-musks-fake-sites-and-texts-impersonating-the-harris-campaign

  85. 85.

    Geminid

    @Marc: Drones would have become widespread even without Israel. It’s a natural technology for middle powers like Iran and Turkiye to develop because drones are far easier to build than advanced warplanes. That’s why Iran started building up their drone industry soon after the war with Iraq ended.

    Israel saw an example of drone use this morning when its Prime Minister’s house in Caesarea was hit by an Iranian-made Sayyid 107.* Hezbollah fired it from 70 kilometers away. The drone did little damage and Mr. and Mrs. Netanyahu were not home.

    This came during the run-up to Israel’s promised counter-strike on Iran, which may be why Iran’s UN mission issued a statement disavowing any responsibility on the part of Iran.

    The Iranians might wish Hezbollah hadn’t fired the drone at all given the present circumstances. It was a low reward, high risk operation at a time when Iran seems to want to dampen the escalatory spiral.

    * That is, according to the Turkish news site Clash Report. They said the Sayyid 107 is a a smallish drone with a 1.5-2.0 meter wingspan and a small radar profile, and a range of 100 kilometers. It can fly an irregular course which also makes it hard to intercept.

    The warhead must not be very big because the drone fired at Netanyahu’s house only blew the tops off two palm trees and did little visible damage to the house right next to them. Maybe a warning shot.

  88. 88.

    Jay

    @Peke Daddy:

    @Marc:

    @Geminid:

    And of course, there is the case from a few months ago where one Central American Gang, tried to kill the leadership of a competing Gang with an off the shelf Hobby Drone by loading it with it’s carry weight of explosives and smashing it into their cell block.

    Drones are already a problem here as criminals use them to smuggle, weapons, drugs, cellphones and money into prisons.

  91. 91.

    Marc

    @Geminid:  Drones would have become widespread even without Israel. It’s a natural technology for middle powers like Iran and Turkiye to develop because drones are far easier to build than advanced warplanes. That’s why Iran started building up their drone industry soon after the war with Iraq ended.

    I’m not so worried about the larger drones being built by middle powers, that was inevitable.  I’m more worried about various actors (state and non-state) using unconventional means of attacking civilians.  Do you want to live in a world where every phone could potentially have a literal “kill-switch”?  Or, a nice day at the market ends with a swarm of hunter-killer drones killing those who don’t manage to get away.  This is where we’re heading and your governments will not be able to protect you.

  94. 94.

    KatKapCC

    @WaterGirl: Shlomo is a Hebrew name. The red triangle is a pro-Palestine symbol. The joke is that supposedly pro-Palestine groups in the US would refuse to believe that anything sounding vaguely peace-seeking would not come from a “real” Palestinian and that it would be a Jew pretending to be one.

  96. 96.

    Jay

    @KatKapCC:

    And of course, it’s on “social media” so the replies are about as real and authentic as “Love Island” or “The Apprentice”,

    but it does create a “narrative”.

  98. 98.

    Marc

    @David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch:  sounds like the plot to the next “Mission Impossible” movie

    The concept is a staple of science fiction stories going back to the fifties, consumer technology has finally caught up, and people aren’t any smarter or kinder. Ukraine and Russia are already working out the kinks of getting this working in the field. Iran, Israel, etc. aren’t far behind. For that matter, want to make the phone business difficult for Apple?  Buy some iPhones from Amazon, swap out the batteries, then return them. The machines needed to rework LiPo pouch batteries (with an extra layer of stuff) cost a few thousand dollars, it would be extremely difficult to track them all down once they’re in the supply chain.  It really doesn’t take all that much to disrupt a technologically “advanced” society.

  99. 99.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, … WhiteHouse.gov:

    October 18, 2024
    A Proclamation on National Character Counts Week, 2024

    Presidential Actions

    In the Oval Office, I sit surrounded by portraits of exceptional American Presidents and busts of inspiring American leaders. They remind me each and every day that we are a Nation of dreamers and doers, of promise and possibilities, and of ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things. Above all, we are a Nation of good people, who show our kindness and character through small acts every single day. This National Character Counts Week, we celebrate the core values of decency, honesty, dignity, and equality that have long defined the character of America.

    Our Nation is strong, and our future is bright — in large part because of the upstanding character that resides within all Americans. I have witnessed it up close in educators like the First Lady, who inspire our Nation’s youth to reach for every possibility; mothers, fathers, and parental figures who raise their children with care, courage, and grit; first responders, who run toward danger to protect others; union workers, who are building America; and brave service members, who stand on the frontlines of freedom to defend our democracy. Across the country, American workers are writing the greatest comeback story we have ever known — restoring pride in our hometowns, pride in America, and pride in knowing we can get big things done when we work together.

    […]

    NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 20 through October 26, 2024, as National Character Counts Week. Now and throughout the year, I encourage all Americans to engage in efforts that honor and express the best attributes of our character, extend a hand of fellowship to their neighbors, and unite in service to their communities.

    IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
    eighteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-ninth.

    JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

    Good, good. Biden continues to try to bring out our best.

    On the other hand, I understand the Tmurp-JV campaign plan to release a statement calling for a week of public stonings and confiscation of the assets of those who don’t vote for him on January 5. FTFNYT will have a big story on the competing proclamations and the reactions of MAGAs and undecided GQP voters.

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  100. 100.

    Geminid

    @Jay: Iran has developed a very effective loitering drone that can knock down other drones. Hezbollah has shot down Israeli surveillance drones with it, and the Houthis have shot down a several U.S. Reapers with it. Although, it likely was Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps members operating the ones over Yemen.

    This Spring, Middle East Eye reported that Iran had provided this drone to the PKK, which is fighting the Turkish military from its bases in the mountains on the Iraqi side of its border with Turkiye. The story was that the PKK had downed at least one Turkish drone with the weapon. The Turkish Defense Ministry would not comment on the story as this is a very sensitive topic.

    Turkiye flies a lot of its drones out of a base in southeast Turkiye, near Lake Van. They are used to surveil and attack PKK forces in northern Iraq (apparently with the Iraqi government’s acquiescence).

    That’s how Turkiye could put an Afrin surveillance drone over Iranian President Raisi’s helicopter crash site in less than three hours last April. The site was in a remote mountain range not far from the  Azerbaijani border, where Raisi had met with Azerbaijani President Aliyev. After the drone located the burnt-out helicopter by means of thermal imaging, it flew back to its base and traced a crescent and star over Lake Van on the way.

  101. 101.

    Geminid

    @karen marie: As a practical electoral matter, Republicans do need to lie now. They are on the wrong side of public opinion on so many issues their best tool is negative partisanship. That dynamic requires painting a dishonest picture of a scary Democratic Party.

  102. 102.

    Jay

     

    @Geminid:

    There are consumer/hobbiest quad copters now that can lift a kilo, fly for an hour, have a 30km range if returning, 60km if on a one way run, and will follow a programmed path, using GPS markers and altitude pins.

    They don’t need a controller, just a programmer.

    So if you fit them with a 1 kilo bomb, program their route and end point, you can just launch it in the air, leave and it will hit within 15 feet of your target. Only good for stationary targets,

    Needs an active controller for moving targets, which cuts the range down to about 10 km because of signal strength, and in an EW space, makes the controller vulnerable.

  103. 103.

    RaflW

    Trump apparently just talked about the size of Arnold Palmer’s dong at his rally.

    Does he think he’s at Mar a Lago talking to a few of his cronies after dinner?

    WTAF.

    Nick Field
    @nick_field90
    The airport Trump flew into at Latrobe, PA is named for Arnold Palmer. So, of course, Trump had to start talking about Arnold Palmer’s dick. I mean, how could you not?

    This was also fully 10 minutes into a ‘weave’ about the lemonade ice tea guy.

    “Where are Kamala’s policies?”

  105. 105.

    JMG

    I would be remiss if I didn’t inform you all that Trump’s rally in Latrobe had him addressing the crowd about the size of the late Arnold Palmer’s penis.

  107. 107.

    RaflW

    @Jay: His brain is total mush. Particularly after about 4 pm or so.

    And Stormy has made everyone aware that DJT ain’t got that swing (I’m comparing their golf abilities. Uh huh.)

  108. 108.

    Geminid

    @Jay: When Iran staged a public funeral for Hamas leader Haniyeh, observers noted a Chinese-made anti-drone system guarding the site. It’s not clear if the truck-mounted energy weapon was intended to destroy drones or just blind them.

  111. 111.

    karen marie

    @Geminid:  The thing that irritates me is that no one in the media ever points out that accusing Democrats of being Marxists, communists and “far left” has been a go-to for the GOP for the last 50 years.  It’s brought out like it’s a brand-new shiny toy every single election cycle.  How is it never a story that this GOP narrative has never been proved true?

  113. 113.

    Jay

    @Geminid:

    War Translated has a bunch of video’s of ruZZian’s taking apart portable Chinese Military anti-drone systems, they are not impressed. Some use flatted, trimmed and shaped used beer cans for antenna’s held in place with SteelCoat 2 part epoxy. They work basically as 4 frequency range short range radio jammers.

    99% of the EW anti-drone systems are multi frequency radio jammers, that break the controllers connection with the active drone, or short range GPS jammers that “confuse” a autonamous suicide drone, sometimes both. The large truck mounted ones have greater range, but they effectively make a “bubble” which is a “no drone, no radio, no cell phones, no satellite comms” zone, even for your own. This is because in Ukraine, both sides tried switching frequencies, to the point where all frequencies need to be jammed because you don’t know what frequencies are being used.

    I guess directional antenna’s will soon be in use as comms between the operator and the drone.

  114. 114.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @KatKapCC: I don’t know if you saw the links I shared in some other threads but Izabella Tabarovsky has some great articles on the Soviet propaganda that gave us the “Zionism = Racism” and so many other catch-phrases adopted by the Left.  Including the original move/sin that is simply replacing “Jew” with “Zionist.”  The whole point was to 1.) spread Anti-Israel/US sentiment and 2.) enable shit like “No Zionists Allowed” discrimination against Jews.  I didn’t realize that Jews had separate passports and couldn’t go to the highest level schools (prevented by unsolvable “Coffin Problems”, only administered to Soviet Jews, on their placement exams.)

  116. 116.

    Ironcity

    @RaflW: Many years ago I had a flight instructor whose wife was Mr Palmer’s cousin.  Did some dual into Latrobe, a disproportionally nice airport for a town that size and learned 2 things:  1. Everybody in the place is some relative of Arnold Palmer 2. You do not dis Mr. Palmer.  Ever.  A little light fun, fine, but respect.    TCFG just screwed the pooch in Latrobe.

  117. 117.

    KatKapCC

    @RaflW: Do I…do I even want to know how that came about? Because I can promise you, I’ve had many Arnold Palmers in my lifetime because it’s a delicious combo, but…I never once thought about the namesake’s genitals.

    BUT NOW I WILL DAMN IT SO I GUESS THAT’S ANOTHER THING TRUMP HAS RUINED.

  118. 118.

    KatKapCC

    @UncleEbeneezer: The sad part is how easy it is to get people to believe the worst about Jews. Because they WANT to. But then, that’s been true for our whole existence.

  119. 119.

    Marc

    @Jay:  Needs an active controller for moving targets, which cuts the range down to about 10 km because of signal strength, and in an EW space, makes the controller vulnerable.

    There is no longer any need for an active controller, as long as you aren’t terribly picky about who or what you hit.  Here is an example from Amazon.  Note the presence of a 9-axis inertial measurement unit with magnetometer (compass) for flight control, B&W camera and TinyML for visual object recognition and tracking, all for $30.  It lacks motor controllers which are another $5 to $10 per motor.  I have one, but it’s a bit under-powered for my purposes, I use a Pi Zero 2W which runs plain old Linux, is about 10 times faster (cost $15), a separate IMU and precision altimeter ($5), higher resolution color camera ($5), and LIDAR for close range sensing ($10).  Navigation can be done by image matching against Google map “satellite” views. This is astounding technology for the price; I can remember when a usable IMU cost upwards of $50K.  All of these parts are literally in every phone made these days, which is why they’re so cheap.  Ukraine and Russia are both fielding cheap FPV drones that, once pointed at a target, are reasonably reliable at tracking it, whether moving or still, no further need for a control link or GPS, so EW does nothing.  That Genie is out of the bottle.

  120. 120.

    Thor Heyerdahl

    2026 brings 250th celebrations. If TFG somehow won the election, The Mall on July 4th would look like Red Square on May Day.

    If we’re lucky when he loses he lives exiled in Saudi Arabia until death – like Idi Amin.

  122. 122.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @KatKapCC: Yup.  And the same can be said of Black People which has made it so disappointing to see people like Coates, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Ibram X. Kendi and so many Black intellectuals who I genuinely admire, falling for the Anti-Semitic okey-doke.  But I think they are all heavily influenced by Angela Davis, who was one of the Soviets’ major assets for spreading this stuff through Activist and Academic circles.

  125. 125.

    KatKapCC

    @karen marie: Please don’t do this. Do not respond to someone talking about the bigotry they experience by telling them it’s not as bad as someone else’s. Jews have spent over 3,000 years being enslaved, attacked, exiled, and slaughtered over and over again, and we still face people today who think the world will only be okay once every single one of us is dead. Do not tell me antisemitism is not a problem. I would never deny that Palestinians and Muslims experience bigotry. Of course they do. And I can recognize that while also recognizing that my own people are only still here because millennia of attempts to completely destroy us were only partly successful. When you respond this way, what you’re showing is not how much you care about Palestinians, but rather how little you care about Jews. If that’s not actually true, then please rethink your words.

  128. 128.

    mrmoshpotato

    @KatKapCC:

    Do I…do I even want to know how that came about? Because I can promise you, I’ve had many Arnold Palmers in my lifetime because it’s a delicious combo, but…I never once thought about the namesake’s genitals.

    BUT NOW I WILL DAMN IT SO I GUESS THAT’S ANOTHER THING TRUMP HAS RUINED.

    Arizona Ice Tea Company calls it Half & Half. Think of it differently.

  129. 129.

    BlueGuitarist

    @RaflW:

    Palmer’s daughter Peg said that while her father appreciated Trump’s support of golf, he was not a supporter.
    “My dad didn’t like people who act like they’re better than other people,” she said. “He had no patience for people who are dishonest and cheat.
    “My dad was disciplined. He wanted to be a good role model. He was appalled by Trump’s lack of civility and what he began to see as Trump’s lack of character. … What would my dad think of Donald Trump today? I think he’d cringe.”
    https://www.nj.com/politics/2024/10/trump-makes-crude-remark-about-golfing-immortal-i-had-to-say-it.html

  133. 133.

    JMG

    The Pennsylvania Republicans begged Palmer for decades to run for Governor. He always declined, despite being a Republican himself, because he was smart enough to know that Arnold Palmer outranked any Governor by light years.

  136. 136.

    karen marie

    @KatKapCC: If you don’t like my comment, you know where the pie button is.  You might want to think about what you’re saying, because it’s pretty fucking shitty

    But please don’t bother responding, because I too know where the pie button is, and I’m going to use it.

  139. 139.

    MagdaInBlack

    @WaterGirl: I believe he’s done both physically and emotionally/mentally and it’s just a matter of whether his handlers can prop him up long enough for the election.

  141. 141.

    Geminid

    @Thor Heyerdahl: Saudi Arabia is right accross the gulf from Iran. I think Trump is too scared of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to set up on Saudi Arabia. With the IRGC opersting in Yemen to the west he’d be looking for drones over both shoulders.

  145. 145.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: Actually, Yemen is more to the south of Saudi Arabia.

    But I doubt if the Saudis would want to host an exiled Trump even if he did want to live there. They got their use out of him already, and once Truo0 loses again he will become a very useless guy. That’s one more reason why Trump fears losing so much.

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