Roe, roe, roe your vote. pic.twitter.com/4fXGYFOCB9
— Molly Ploofkins™ (@Mollyploofkins) October 24, 2024
Look, I’m a devout Cynic. That means I accept that terrible things will happen, innocent people will suffer for no reason, and a dispiriting percentage of the human population are idiots or monsters or both. I do my best to prepare for the untoward, but frankly, it’s a sin against Sekhmet, Goddess of Consequences, to waste my energies worrying about things that are not under my control.
Come November 5th, either a new era of joy & comity shall begin, or we’ll all need to buckle down to save what we can of our national heritage. And… If we must live without hope, there is always vengeance.
Meanwhile, I refuse to let some of the smallest and vilest humans ever grown in right-wing petri dishes destroy my mental and physical health. Sometimes refusing to doompost is a very special form of resistance.
Vice President Harris: Throughout my career, I’ve taken on predators, fraudsters, and repeat offenders. I took them on and I won. In 12 days, it’s Donald Trump's turn pic.twitter.com/XW9tXA4w9o
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 25, 2024
We’re taking back the flag, freedom, and family values.
And for good measure, football too. pic.twitter.com/A777iE4glH
— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) October 23, 2024
"I'm Bruce Springsteen and I'm here today to support Kamala Harris and Tim Waltz for president and vice president. And to oppose Donald Trump and JD Vance. Here's why — I want a president who reveres the constitution … Trump is running to be an American tyrant … " pic.twitter.com/5iAfgbhDvN
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 24, 2024
I am not voting for Harris because she's not Trump. I am enthusiastically voting for her because I believe she will be an amazing president. I was hoping we'd get 8 years of Biden, but I have zero doubt about her ability to do the job. She will win.
— Jean-Michel Connard ??? (@torriangray) October 22, 2024
COLLINS: What do you think Kamala Harris has to do to avoid a repeat of 2016?
HILLARY CLINTON: Well first of all I don't think she has Jim Comey in the wings waiting to kneecap her, so that's good. pic.twitter.com/lvDifIoifB
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 25, 2024
???: Keeping it real with Spike Lee. @KamalaHarris has what it takes to be President of the United States and is the only candidate in this race fighting for your rights to be a free citizen. pic.twitter.com/CEf7gwVhSr
— Bill Clinton (@BillClinton) October 21, 2024
What makes this election so crucial for those who really value democracy is that if Trump loses, he's gone.
And we now have a decent amount of evidence that other Republicans aren't really able to replicate his anti-democratic and far-right rhetoric and get away with it.
— Lakshya Jain (@lxeagle17) October 25, 2024
Comic relief…
This is a good video. Watch and share!
Sound on ?? pic.twitter.com/37BUDpWodP— Olga Nesterova (@onestpress) October 23, 2024
Baud
Hear hear, AL.
Nukular Biskits
Dammit Baud! The one day I can be first and you stole it from me!
j/k Good morning!
Baud
Word, HC.
NotMax
Wait a consarned minute — there’s an impending election? Why didn’t anyone mention this before?
//
Scout211
Thank you, Ann Laurie. You read my mind. 😊❤️
E.
It’s early, but I think Tucker Carlson is angling to be Trump 2.0. I don’t see anyone else even in the field yet.
satby
Right AL!!
And in the meantime, there’s still this guy nailing the job.
Click on it Baud, you’ll be happy you did.
Baud
@satby:
I’d like to see Trump jog like that.
lowtechcyclist
That had me laughing out loud.
Leto
@Baud: HRC was there to chew gum and kick ass. And she was all out of gum…
Baud
@Leto:
She’s the Patron Saint of People who Have Been Treated Like Shit.
She’ll always have a special place in my heart because of that.
satby
@Baud: And don’t for a minute think Biden wasn’t trolling him.
We’re at the twisting stage of knife insertion.
Baud
@satby:
After we win, the Biden lame duck period is going to be awesome. Fully immunized and nothing left to lose.
satby
@Baud: It will be epic. Best President of my lifetime still has a bucket list.
Leto
Obama and Springsteen displaying more coolness than I’ll ever experience. Or maybe this is the new cover for the detective book they plan to publish together? While Biden is out presidenting, Bruce steps in for a one off adventure.
Baud
@Leto:
Whoa. Definitely an album cover.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Scout211
Two more Los Angeles Times long time editorial writers have resigned over the owner blocking the editorial board’s planned endorsement of Kamala Harris.
Good for them.
Now do the Washington Post editorial board staff. Anyone there brave enough to buck Bezos?
Baud
@Scout211:
Wow. I love seeing people stand up for what’s right, in more than just words.
ETA: Especially media people. That’s an industry that’s losing credibility fast.
rikyrah
@Leto:
I love that picture 😍
moonbat
“And… If we must live without hope, there is always vengeance.”
AL, I love you. This is the first time I’ve laughed out loud reading this blog in weeks!
ETA And the Sekhment reference was chef’s kiss.
NorthLeft
@Baud: Unfortunately for Harris, the NYT is still around to put their thumb on the scales to normalize Trump and to ask serious questions of Harris’s behaviour, policies, history, appearance, strategy, campaign, family, friends, etc.
And they are the leaders of the pack of sniveling jackals who apparently hate women and revere Republican men.
Baud
@NorthLeft:
Don’t denigrate jackals.
narya
HAH! NFLTG Hillary is awesome; that made me laugh. And I am so glad that Joe also continues to do the right (if long overdue) thing. Thanks for this thread.
narya
@Leto: Nice. The interview/conversation series they did together was interesting. (Bruce is my Spirit Musician, and not just in the night.)
satby
Posts like this one are all over Twitter. There’s active pushback on media bullshit that ultimately gets out via other media too. Resisters are still there.
p.a.
That
ishas become un-American.cmorenc
@Baud:
Appreciate that Bill C is out doing good work for Harris in ’24, NEVERTHELESS cannot help but recall the reason Comey was in a position to kneecap Hillary in the final stretch was because Bill could not restrain himself from walking uninvited onto Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s plane when Hillary’s campaign plane happened to be in same airport / nearby gate, and Lynch had to recuse herself from the Justice Dept’s handling of butter-emails issues.
Baud
@satby:
Wow. Oklahoma!
Flanders Other Neighbor
Me too. One bit of advice I always gave my daughters to help deal with some types of people they’d encounter in life was, “Fuck those guys.”
Baud
@cmorenc:
I’m not blaming Dems for other people’s bad behavior. That’s a bad thing our side keeps doing.
Ukai
“I have shown him that a man without hope is a man without fear.” – Frank Miller
cmorenc
@Scout211:
Was the owner trying to pressure the editorial staff into a “no-endorsement” stance as an unstated, but implied approval-by-equivalency if Trump wins? Or was he trying to pressure them into actually endorsing Trump?
Harris will win California regardless of the LA Times.
satby
And OT, but this is just one of the greatest bird threads ever (captured in a screenshot).
geg6
Thank you, thank you, thank you, AL! THIS is what we all need to be feeling and projecting right now. Eleven more days. We can do this!
Melancholy Jaques
@cmorenc:
That’s one of those things that if a Republican had done it, it would have been a one day story without any consequences.
geg6
@cmorenc:
Do not be blaming Bill for Comey. This is total bullshit.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
I know, right? Oklahoma, not quite as far to the right as Wyoming, but giving it their best shot!
If there are some pockets of sanity among Republicans there, that’s pretty damned amazing!
satby
@cmorenc: That isn’t correct. Hillary was kneecapped by 30 years of propaganda on the hate channels that seeped into low info voters unconcious long before that incident. Comey provided the coupe de grace.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
Oklahoma is the home of the Trump Bible grift. I’m not even sure WY has sunk that low.
Chris Johnson
@E.: It’s not early to notice that: you just sound like a wackjob if you read deeply enough into it.
If this counts as early, I’m calling it: Tucker’s been an intermediary between Trump and literal Putin. He can travel more easily than Trump could, he’s done rave reviews of Russian supermarkets (not making that up) but is generally careful about how he’s framed, and he is bitterly bitterly jealous of Donald Trump, hates the man passionately, because he thinks HE should have been the Potemkin President, that he would have done a way better job for his master.
And that is true, he would have. But Putin does not trust capable people (or anybody really) so, Tucker’s capability is a mark against him. He is simply not enough of an abject loser for Putin to use as a catspaw. Anyone that smart and good at acting and playing a role might be plotting a betrayal.
So, Tucker is the heir apparent except that he’s absolutely not. If MAGA was organic and real then he’d be the guy, 100%, full stop. But it’s not, it’s a Russian influence operation like many others across the globe, and he’s too capable of being an authoritarian leader on his own, so he can’t be the fake President.
Tucker Carlson bears close attention, but that’s why I don’t think he’s in anything like a position of power.
tokyocali (formerly tokyo ex-pat)
@cmorenc: I read about this yesterday. I believe editorial had an endorsement ready to go when the orders came down from above that there would be no endorsement. I want newspapers to survive, but I’m really tired of billionaires swooping in to buy them up, claiming they will give editorial freedom only to renege when it affects their slice of the American pie.
satby
@lowtechcyclist: honestly, why I shudder a bit when readers here proudly claim this blog is where they get most of their news. This isn’t a news blog and shouldn’t be mistaken for one.
TBone
This is the kind of content that says we can all be grateful to be together to celebrate this moment in history! 💜
Bill Clinton had me at “maestro.”
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Good point.
New Deal democrat
I wanted to pick up on the post John Cole wrote overnight. “They hate us.” But *why?*
I used to say that the GOP was an alliance between Wall Street and the Bible Belt. I have come to think that second part has two closely overlapping components. The first part is the same. Wall Street doesn’t hate us. They are simply consumed by greed and want their tax cuts, and to hell with everything else.
The second component, however, *does* hate us, for two reasons.
The first was superbly laid out by Tim Alberta in his recent book, “The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory.” The following is a heavily abridged compilations of quotes from the book that make the ideology clear.
To start with, here is the major assumption, the Big Paradigm. Once you accept this proposition, everything else follows:
(P.103) “Adrian Rogers would always say, ‘The hope of the world is America. The hope of America is the Church. The hope of the Church is evangelical revival. And the hope of evangelical revival is the Southern Baptist Convention.’”
(P. 194) “God gave us this country. We are the keepers of this kingdom. and right now, we are allowing the enemy to take it from us.”
The forces of progressivism have put this Holy vision “under siege.” I’ll skip the discussion, but the primary such issue is abortion. Surprisingly COVID restrictions were also viewed as a way to close churches by the ungodly.
(P. 115-16) “Something had changed [between 2010 and 2016] …. Something they loved was soon to be lost. Time was running out to reclaim it. The old rules no longer applied. Despaerate times called for desperate — even disgraceful — measures.
[Evangelicals felt] Under siege.”
“imminent destruction justifies the unthinkable acts that may themselves lead to imminent destruction – has come to define the modern religious right.”
“In February 2022 a landmark national survey [ ] found that roughly two-thirds of white evangelicals either explicitly supported the notion of Christian nationalism of were sympathetic to it. The share of white evangelicals who expressed support for certain ideas [such as] that the government should declare Christianity the state religion .. dwarfed [all other demographics]…. Nearly 90 percent of white adherents to Christian nationalism agreed that ‘God intended America to be a new promised land’ run by ‘European Christians.’”
P. 435) “Michael Anton wrote his 2016 essay, ‘The Flight 93 Election,’ he argued that leftists had hijacked America; the only chance for its survival was if observations rushed the cockpit, knowing full well that they might just crash the plane themselves….. [T]he argument Anton makes – that imminent destruction justifies the unthinkable acts that may themselves lead to imminent destruction – has come to define the modern religious right.”
If the ends justify the means, then that includes being led by a singularly ungodly hero:
(P. 269) “Strang believed it was a relentless secular onslaught against … Christian values – that invited, and ultimately justified, the slash-and-burn tactics of the religious right.
[Author:] “Aren’t Christians called to a higher standard?
“Strang believed [Trump] had become a born-again Christian during his presidency….
“‘He’s our hero,’ Strang said. ‘He stands up for the values that we have. That’s why we support him.’
(P. 436) “[Mike] Huckabee [in] endorsing Trump for president in 2024 [did so n]ot becuase he was a righteous leader, much less a religious one … but becuase he fought with the same ferocity as his enemies[, despite being an] impious man ….”
“‘No politician is perfect,’ he said.”
(Pp. 325, 328) “Robert Jeffries, the most loyal of Trump loyalists, [said] … “Donald Trump came onto the payrground, found the bullly that had been pushing evangelicals around, and he punched them.”
In summary, the US is the modern “Promised Land.” Issues that would sideline evangelical doctrine aren’t just secular disagreements, they are assaults on this chosen status, and must be opposed by any means necessary, even by embracing “imperfect vessels,” much as the Hebrew kings like Saul.
The second, closely similar philosophy was one allegedly expressed by FDR to his attorney general Henry Morgenthau: “The US is a white Protestant country. Everyone else is here on sufferance.”
I don’t think FDR was expressing his own belief, but rather what he believed to be the core philosophy of America’s WASP majority. We see that now in the references to “real Americans,” vs. non-Christians and non-Whites. And yes, it is racist. And it justifies extra-Constitutional measures to preserve that dominance.
Christian nationalism and White racism aren’t identical, but needless to say they overlap far more than they don’t.
And that is *why* those people hate us.
satby
And a final one to chew on for the day:
dmsilev
@cmorenc:
The reporting is that he was trying to bully the staff into writing a “here are the good points and bad points of each candidate, you decide” no-endorsement editorial. Maybe they should have left the “Trump good points” section blank?
It’s actually kind of weird. He’s owned the Times for several years now and has tolerated a fairly liberal (by mainstream newspaper standards) set of columnists and editorial writers. What changed?
Soprano2
@satby: I can’t wait to see who he pardons. I hope there are a lot of good ones on the list
ETA – I’d much rather have our celebs than theirs. Ours are a lot more popular and talented than theirs.
Melancholy Jaques
@satby:
True, but I do take advantage of the many times that someone here reads & calls attention to something that I otherwise might have missed.
Soprano2
@Leto: Those guys need to make a movie or TV show! That is an extremely cool picture.
Tinare
@satby: This! The propaganda aimed at Hillary was non-stop from the second Bill started running.
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud: Sadist
ETA: Hell, I couldn’t jog like that and at least be breathing hard at the microphone.
p.a.
@New Deal democrat: And Conservative Catholics and Mormons are accepted as part of the coalition… for now. (Mormons barely, I believe.)
If they succeed, and of course there’s no New World Jerusalem, then they turn on each other.
Scout211
Eugene Robinson’s opinion piece in Washington Post (web archive version) sounds like it could have been written by a jackal or maybe all of the jackals.
A few snippets, but read the whole thing.
. . .
. . .
. . .
lowtechcyclist
@satby:
I agree, but I’m not seeing the connection to my comment. I googled Holt, and if any mainstream media have picked up his endorsement, it’s not showing. Something called the Philadelphia Citizen reported on this, but that’s the closest thing to media coverage I’ve seen. So I don’t feel remiss about learning about it here on this blog.
Maybe it’s all over Twitter, but I left there because of Musk’s antisemitism, and now that he’s full-blown fascist and Trumpist, there’s no way I’m going back. So yes, I will rely on others here to fill me in on things that make the news in that world but aren’t what the MSM calls news.
Omnes Omnibus
@cmorenc:
FFS, there was absolutely no need for Lynch to recuse herself because of that.
Soprano2
@satby: I find it interesting that the huge amount of high profile R’s who are breaking with their party to vote for Harris aren’t getting nearly the amount of breathless coverage as the polls showing that more black and Latino men say they’re voting for TCFG.
frosty
AL, you sent me down a rabbit hole to find out more about Sekhmet, Goddess of Consequences. She went on a rampage, laying waste to Egypt, so bad that Ra got worried. They formed a lake of beer and dyed it red. Sekhmet, thinking it was blood, tried to drink it all, got drunk, and gave up on her rampage.
Nice work by Ra and the Egyptians!
satby
@Tinare: Before. It started locally down south when she was a law student uncovering the segregation at “Christian academies” in the ’60s, before she was married:
TBone
@Leto: I was reduced to tears of joy watching Springsteen, et al. yesterday, and I don’t care who knows it.
TBone
@satby: 💙💙💙
twbrandt
@satby: one thing that has always impressed me about Biden is that he dresses really well. His suits fit well, his tie is the correct length, and he’s slim and trim. Quite a contrast to the other guy.
TBone
@Baud: good eye.
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud: I know! I still have friends outside of Tulsa, the last of the hippies in that part of the state. The hard, hard rightward turn of all the people around them has been tough for them to take. Would be great if Tulsa’s mayor followed the lead set by OKC’s mayor.
frosty
@Leto: Nice! The Republicans can’t match this level of coolness. OK, maybe JD Vance and Ted Nugent.
frosty
@Baud: NorthLeft called them sniveling jackals. The only ones I hang around with are members of a pack of vitriolic, vicious jackals. There’s a difference!
satby
@lowtechcyclist: I never said anyone had to be on twitter. But that’s where the media are, that’s often where news breaks, and that’s where the media is constantly hammered to do better by their own coworkers. As is Elmo, who is brutally mocked to his face.
Like with many battles: our side semi-disarmed, declaring they wouldn’t sully themselves fighting with Elmo’s disinfo. I don’t blame people if they made that choice, but that wasn’t mine. You do you.
TBone
@Soprano2: hmmmm
(In the ‘things that make you go 🤔’ dept.)
Raoul Paste
This is a superb post. Thanks AL
TBone
If this headline is accurate, they chose some weak sauce!
😆
https://www.wonkette.com/p/maybe-elon-musk-is-the-2024-russian
zhena gogolia
Love that B. Clinton video!
Fair Economist
@Scout211: I canceled my LA Times subscription over this. I was surprised, because one of the reasons was that the LA Times hadn’t descended into covering up conservative misdeeds as much as the NYT or the WP. But here we are.
Betty
@Leto: Needed Dark Brandon too.
zhena gogolia
I am so grateful to AL (and also WaterGirl) for keeping me sane.
zhena gogolia
The whole Atlanta rally yesterday is well worth watching.
Chief Oshkosh
@Soprano2:
Many people kid that Kid Rock is their big celebrity, and he probably is. But he’s not universally liked by them. I was in Nashville a few weeks ago, taking a foodie tour, and the guide was gushing about how Kid Rock still gets shutdown by the police several times a year for being too loud for too long at his crap bar and grille, which we were walking past at that point. Apparently that was supposed to be some kind of cool thing, that he’s thumbing his nose at authority or some such. My wife and I were the only liberals in the tour (I think), so it was encouraging that several of our co-foodies were saying things like “what an asshole” and “why don’t they just shut him down permanently.” One of them said loudly, “yeah, he’s a dick.” The tour guide changed the subject pretty quickly.
Captain C
@satby: FTFNYT: “Why this Republican endorsment shows further weakness for Kamala, unlike the glorious TCFG, who can do no wrong”
[TCFG drops N-bombs and outright heils Hitler at a ‘rally’]
FTFNYT: “Trump shows passion for racial issues, great historical leaders at bigliest rally ever. No, we are not TCFG supporters, look at our buried editorial somewhere”
Fair Economist
@satby:
I get that, but the MSM is becoming so gruesomely biased for the Republicans I think this blog is a better source of news at this point, even with the disadvantages.
You’d be just insanely off track on the economy or immigration if you got your news from the MSM. For example, they report Biden’s job numbers as “disappointing” and “ominous” when they are better than Trump’s were, which were described as “booming”. And, indeed, that’s a big part of why Harris isn’t doing better in the polls IMO.
Soprano2
@New Deal democrat: I heard Alberta interviewed about his book. He said after George W was a disappointment to them because he didn’t impose everything they wanted on the U.S., they decided they needed a bully to enforce what they want.
Soprano2
@satby: I agree. I think they have no idea how to model the electorate.
NotMax
Voting fun with AI.
;)
trnc
What do people make of the closeness in the polls but the huge disparity in rally attendance? I don’t want to be pollyanna, but I would think the diminished crowd sizes for DT’s rallies mean something. I understand that he has to book smaller venues in some places because he still owes money to the larger ones from past campaigns, but I feel like his earlier supporters would be gathering outside just to make their numbers known.
Kosh III
@New Deal democrat: Fixed it!
And the hope of evangelical revival is the Southern Bigot
BaptistConvention.’”Captain C
@satby: From his mouth to the FSM’s ears.
moonbat
@frosty: The ancient Egyptians knew that beer is an all purpose drink.
NotMax
@trnc
Just wait until the rally at Madison Square Total Landscaping.
//
RevRick
A bit of good news courtesy of my own PA7 District: UVA Crystal Ball shifted it from Tossup to Lean D. A recent county-by-county poll shows Harris outrunning Biden in two of the three counties and even with him in the third. PA7 is rated the most important swing district in the country.
Kosh III
My nephew is a poll worker in my hometown in rural East Tn. The Trumpers show up in maggot hats and shirts and other garbage despite clear signs not allowing campaign stuff. Some easily comply, others get hostile and argue.
I wish I could tell them all to go to hell but I recently saw a memo from Satan denying any desire to have them.
Baud
@RevRick:
👍
NotMax
@RevRick
There was a very recent Muhlenberg poll with very good prospects for Harris/Walz in the Lehigh Valley (no link as I’ll be blamed where I came across it).
satby
@Fair Economist: and to the point I just made: that site previously mentioned is where the fact based pushback on MSM misinformation and outright neglect of big stories is. It’s no longer a binary choice.
TBone
@NotMax: PA represent!
TBone
@NotMax: 😆💚
TBone
@moonbat: I once bought a Ben Franklin sweatshirt for a beer lover in my life:
“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
Don’t know if he really said that, but the sweatshirt was cool.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Kosh III:
That reminds me of an old Soviet joke from back when telling jokes were an outlet for dissent in the USSR.
After Lenin dies, his spirit goes up to Heaven. He is standing at the Pearly Gates, banging on them and loudly demanding to be let in. Saint Peter appears to see what the ruckus is all about.
When St. Pete sees who it is, he scornfully turns Lenin away – “you were a horrible person in life, an unparalleled liar and mass murderer. There is no place for you here. Get gone, you belong down there (points to Hell)”.
Lenin grumbles & makes threats, but leaves and goes down to Hell.
A week later Saint Peter hears another ruckus at the Pearly Gates. Investigating, he finds a small crowd of demons & devils mulling around, asking to be let in.
“What are you lot doing up here?” he asks.
“We are the first refugees”, they answer.
Salty Sam
And that’s a lot of words to say “they believe in bullshit and are acting on those beliefs.”
Aasimov refuted them easily with his “…they believe their ignorance is equal to others’ knowledge…”
RevRick
@NotMax: That’s the poll I’m citing.
Elizabelle
@Leto: Love it. They need Handsome Joe in his aviators there, too.
O. Felix Culpa
Thank you, AL, for refusing to doompost!!! I’m at poll worker training. Had to swear an oath to the Constitution. Proud to support our country’s democracy.
SatanicPanic
@Scout211: The Post endorsed Biden in 2020 and Hillary in 2016. Bezos bought the post in 2013. Not sure why you think he’s in the way. I know there are NY Post stories about this floating around but… it’s the NY Post.
Mr. Bemused Senior
HELLO My name is…
Inigo Montoya
You killed my father.
Prepare to die.
TBone
Yesterday I posted a xit referencing PA MAGA canvassers mistaking some nuns for voting frauds here in PA (107-year-old Sister Placida who “still motors around the monastery on her scooter”) and this is the cherry on top! 😆💜
https://eriebenedictines.org/news-stories.html/article/2024/10/23/press-release-benedictine-sisters-subject-of-fraudulent-claims
NeenerNeener
I saw a snippet from last night’s news down here in Jesusville, VA, that the guy who owns the “Trump Town” stores in Boones Mill, VA has been charged with sexual assault. That might lose him a few votes in his mayoral run next month.
Elizabelle
@O. Felix Culpa: Yay you!! Pollworkers rock.
SatanicPanic
I love the idea of Donald J Trump as the new Warren Jeffs. A creepy pervert issuing increasingly deranged proclamations from his jail cell to the dwindling core of his blind followers.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
As someone was pointing out; Those people, aren’t an alternative political philosophy, they aren’t even the fucking Nazis , they are bunch of camera mugging saboteurs, conmen and posers. Just look at the crappy mess the House is, and how nothing gets done without the Democrats consent. If the worst happens, there will be plenty of assholes stabbing Those people in the back and plenty of opportunities for us to help them.
NotMax
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ
Shades of The Investigator.
Satan: “I have certain rights too, you know.”
TBone
@Mr. Bemused Senior: ❤️
Elizabelle
The pilot video is hilarious. Hope it gets wide distribution.
Soprano2
@twbrandt: I agree, it makes a difference in how people perceive you.
Ridnik Chrome
I had not seen any photos or video of Bill Clinton in a very long time and was a little shocked to see how much he’s aged. It was one of those things that I was semi-aware of intellectually, but to actually see it threw me for a bit of a loop. Like when you run into an old friend or an ex you haven’t seen in ten or fifteen years.
Omnes Omnibus
@SatanicPanic: The concern is that, because Trump tried to cancel Amazon’s federal gov’t contracts while he was president, that Bezos is trying to avoid it happening again.
frosty
@RevRick: That’s good news. My brother is on his third election coming down from NY to canvass in Easton. I went to Allentown two years ago but I think PA-10 needs me more this year.
kindness
As to the owner of the LA Times telling his editorial staff that the paper would not endorse Kamala, the most compelling reason I’ve seen is that he and Musk are long term tech bro friends and share the same perspective. Another in the million reasons why tech bros should never be listened to for any topic. Fuck those guys.
narya
@frosty: Tell him to say hi to my mom and brother. :-)
Mom already voted–she donated to Harris within a DAY of her taking over the ticket–and bro . . . he loathes TCFG, but is also something of a gun nut; I don’t think he votes and I’m afraid to ask
ETA: canvassers actually DID come to my mom’s door and they were excited to find out she is voting for Harris and that she had door-knocked for Obama. She thought they were sweet.
SatanicPanic
@Omnes Omnibus: That might be true, but I would prefer a better source for this.
Elizabelle
@kindness: Yeah. I was really, really disappointed in Patrick Soon-Shiong there. I cannot imagine it played well with his subscribers. (Which includes me.)
Good article in LA Mag. (May eventually have a paywall, but you get a few free stories.)
Mariel Garza, Editor of the Los Angeles Times Editorial Page, Resigns After Owner Blocks Presidential Endorsement
Garza’s resignation follows Patrick Soon-Shiong’s refusal to allow editors to pen endorsement
Josie
If we must live without hope, there is always vengeance.
Sometimes refusing to doompost is a very special form of resistance.
Thanks, Anne Laurie, for these words to live by. I’m writing them in my journal for the day.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@lowtechcyclist:
Post-2016, she’s a hoot. Doesn’t hafta reign it in, exudes the “no more fucks left to give” vibe. It’s great.
Karen S.
Apparently, Charlamagne Tha God has some problematic things (I don’t follow him at all really), but this video from Twitter popped up on another blog. I think he’s spot on about CNN and legacy media in general. Anderson Cooper attempts to defend CNN in the vid.
Elizabelle
I had actually wanted to share Mariel Garza’s resignation letter to executive editor Terry Tang, because she is a profile in courage, unlike many of her MSM peers. From LA Mag:
Situation Normal
@NotMax: #109 Brilliant!. In Madison Wisconsin as kids we listen to that wonderful record frequently — I’m 74, so it was timely. McCarthy was…well, that when Joe Must Go was appropriate.
Omnes Omnibus
@SatanicPanic: I am truly sorry that my explanation was inadequate. I will endeavor to do better in the future.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Chris Johnson: Somehow, Trump can convince his followers that he’s a tough guy, which seems to be important to them. Tucker can’t even fake it. No one finds that believable. He’s a Grima Wormtongue at best.
Soprano2
On 1A I just heard the tired trope that “Democrats still think all Latin people are the same and only care about immigration”. I think it’s been well-established by now that “Democrats” don’t think this anymore, especially the ones who run campaigns. It’s a good illustration of no matter how much something changes, if the press gets it in their heads that it’s true they’ll keep repeating it forever. (I think there are some of these people who care about a particular situation in their family, like “my husband is here illegally, how can I fix that?”, but in general don’t like undocumented immigrants and so might vote for Republicans.)
SatanicPanic
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m not trying to attack you man, I’m just saying I’m withholding judgement for now.
Sure Lurkalot
@dmsilev:
It’s show time for Oligarchy ‘R’ Us.
Omnes Omnibus
@SatanicPanic:
And I was just promising to try to get you better information in the future.
Baud
@SatanicPanic:
Don’t discourage him from trying to do better.
Soprano2
@Elizabelle: I agree, that was funny.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Thank you.
ETA: This blog should be about self-improvement if it is about anything. Damn it!
Elizabelle
@Karen S.: Thank you. That is fascinating.
Anderson Cooper seizes immediately on the “is Kamala black” part of Charlamagne’s comment, but never addresses the “Donald Trump is a fascist” part. Which was the main point of his guest’s comment. Anderson will not go there.
Words matter. You need to use the “fascist” label. It has a definition, which fits, and his descriptive. MSM will not, by and large. Any more than calling him a liar.
And he keeps talking over some young black woman who wants to get a word in.
Interesting.
SatanicPanic
@Omnes Omnibus: I feel like you’re mad
I’ll say this- if WaPo doesn’t endorse I’ll drop my subscription.
NotMax
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
But one with evenly tanned testicles.
//
Another Scott
@satby: Interesting. He seems to have fully recovered from foot Parkinson’s. I was under the impression that that was impossible.
Good, good.
;-)
Thanks!
Cheers,
Scott.
Betty
@Ridnik Chrome: I think the weight loss is even more aging. He and Hillary are about the same age and she looks good.
ArchTeryx
I was late (and am late this morning) and noticed the beginnings of the scav/Mousebumples “drama” last night. I gotta say, both have a point. There are a lot of us scared out of our wits about this election — not convinced Kamala will lose but that TCFG might win — and aren’t trying to harsh everyone’s mellow. But at the same time, right now, morale is crucial. If the polls are even slightly right, this election is going to be pure trench warfare. When you’re exchanging artillery fire from the trenches, you ain’t worried about who is gonna lose or win. You just keep pounding. To quote one of the most famous generals from history:
“‘Hard pounding this, gentlemen, but we will see who can pound the longest.”
— Duke of Wellington, Waterloo, 1815.
Omnes Omnibus
@Another Scott:
It’s a miracle!
Elizabelle
@Scout211: It’s a good point, because Virginia early voting has been open for weeks. Where is the Washington Post endorsement?
WaPost readers were discussing that in the comments sections on the story about the LA Times refusing to endorse Kamala Harris, and editorial page editor Mariel Garza’s resignation.
Where is the Washington Post endorsement?
And, if and when they do endorse, I hope it’s not just “she’s not Trump.” Tack taken by Putz Sulzberger and his poltroons.
MSM has a serious, serious credibility problem. Anyone who ever wonders if US media could have stopped a Hitler in this country? We’ve had our answer, for years now.
Sure Lurkalot
@satby:
Not sure that’s the defense of Twitter you think it is because I see no evidence that legacy media is doing better, if anything, this election cycle is them at their worst. Mocking Musk has not stopped him from subverting our democracy or giving $150 million (pocket change) to his fascist supporting PAC.
Captain C
@Another Scott: Well, ya know, even Dr. Campos of LGM Medical, the nations’s foremost expert on Foot Parkinson’s and able to diagnose at a distance of over a thousand miles, even he gets one wrong occasionally.
geg6
@Karen S.:
He smacked Cooper around but good. The look on Cooper’s face and his weak tries at a comeback had me cheering during my morning coffee.
Captain C
@Elizabelle:
Given the FTFNYT’s record of fawning Hitler coverage, I don’t think they could or would have.
Spanky
@Elizabelle: WaPo endorsed Alsobrooks weeks ago. If they can’t find the guts to endorse Harris by now, fuck ’em. It’s beyond the point in time where it could help inform their readers.
Sure Lurkalot
@Karen S.:
Yep, even the not so sure this guy is an ally (see Liz Cheney) Charlemagne spoke truth to power and left Cooper sputtering about CNN’s “getting all the perspectives out there” bullshit. Just as bad as Sulzberger and Kahn’s “don’t want to put our thumbs on the scale, every POV is valid” philosophy of journalism. We need more voices ON AIR like this, not (just) pushback on social media, which to date, has been ineffective in challenging legacy media for its both sides claptrap and sanewashing.
Citizen Alan
@Elizabelle: i have always wanted to ask bob woodward, whether he regrets going public with the watergate story in the washington post. Because it occurs to me that if he just sat on the story until after Nixon left office and then published it in a book, he could have made a lot more money. And that seems to be all contemporary journalists care about.
dc
Charlamange tha God giving Anderson Cooper some truth medicine on CNN:
https://youtu.be/HecPjL6eFj4?si=_BtOekYw6UHjbcqP
Elizabelle
@Spanky: I have been happy to see Alsobrooks pulling ahead in the polling.
I think a lot of us should really cut back our purchases on Amazon too, and explain to them why. Jeff Bezos has been fucking with the WaPost for some time now. He has stuck with Murdoch alumni Will Lewis as Publisher and CEO. They both brazened that one out.
Steve LaBonne
@Sure Lurkalot: They know this is their last chance to take unchallenged control. The Republicans don’t have another Trump (however unfathomable his appeal seems to us, it’s obviously real), just a bunch of nerdy weirdos like Vance and Moses Johnson. It’s now or never.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Baud: And the Supreme Court, till we reform the law, says that nothing Biden does between now and Jan 20 can be illegal.
Too bad he’s too nice a guy to take advantage of that the way a Republican would.
TBone
Just got a call on my landline from this “conservative” PAC wanting to know if I received my mail ballot and whether I have voted yet.
NUNYA was my answer after asking who was paying Sentinal to ask such invasive questions!
https://sentinelactionfund.com/
(Hubby still a registered R)
Velocifowl
@cmorenc:
The Clintons and their hangers on can’t stop own goal’ing themselves because of their massive egos and desire for the spotlight.
It’s one of the reasons the hits land on them and they drive people away. Harris and her circle don’t have that issue. So the blows don’t land. Harris is also able to admit she was wrong or changed her mind rather than self righteously insisting it’s the fault of everyone else so she can’t be Comey’d. The attempts to land a hit on her simply wiff or bounce because she’s that damn good at this.
The GOP screwed themselves good and proper by forcing Biden out as Harris is amazing at this and a happy warrior who enjoys the fight rather than someone who’s defensive and angry. Attitude matters. People know it when they see it. And Harris has it by the tanker ship.
NotMax
@TBone
“You bet. I Xeroxed it and sent in seven of them.”
//
Ruckus
@satby:
Well we have 2 choices.
1 Go with the person that is actually quite capable for the job. Kamala Harris.
2 Destroy an actual country that belongs to all of us. Go with shitforbrains.
Seems like #2 might not be all that acceptable
Ksmiami
@Fair Economist: Bloomberg and yes the financial papers are more accurate on the economy. Jfc
TBone
@NotMax: 😆 oh I wish I would have thought of that answer!!! In my best Emily Litella voice!
Sure Lurkalot
@TBone: I especially liked this from the Sister Schmidt:
And they are seeking counsel for defamation. Wish I was an attorney and in that field, I’d pro bono that in a second.
frosty
@Citizen Alan: Woodward did fine financially be reporting Watergate as it happened then writing All the President’s Men with Bernstein afterward. Movie rights helped too I’m sure.
The NYT reporters could do the same.
TBone
@Sure Lurkalot: 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙
I am slamming my like button!
TBone
@frosty: I think that’s on TCM Friday night…if memory serves but I could be wrong.
trollhattan
@satby:
If it weren’t for Jill, my dream final departure from the White House for Joe would be at the wheel of his Corvette with Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the passenger seat. Top down (the Corvette, my god, you people).
Ruckus
@cmorenc:
Possibly to spite the LA Times.
As a long ago ex customer this seems like a better, more rational reason…..
I’ve been voting for a fair number of years/decades and while there have been other presidential elections that have seemed rather important, this one is especially so. We’ve on the job tested one of the candidates and come away in utter disgust. Or worse. Seems like there really is only one choice at this point.
TS
@Scout211: Quote from your link
Sludge is a great descriptive word.
Ruckus
@Chris Johnson:
Tucker Carlson is contemplating running for president?
That’s the best they can do? To replace shitforbrains?
Totally, absolutely pathetic.
Kay
I just put 100 on Kamala to win because fuck them – I’m confident
Anoniminous
@Soprano2:
Considering Harris’ campaign manager is Julie Chávez Rodriguez I reckon they know not all Latinos are the same.
Anoniminous
@Elizabelle:
We know what would happen since we know what happened when the real Hitler took power. They sanewashed him with “Now that he is chancellor he’ll moderate his views.”
They’re called “journalists” because “credulous stenographers” was already taken.
TBone
@TBone: yep All The President’s Men is on TCM at 8pm tonight (being retired, I forgot today is Friday – my weed guy showed up this a.m. too).
Followed by Citizen Kane.
Ruckus
@New Deal democrat:
One of the questions I’d ask is “Is religion politics?”
Because I understood that we have freedom of religion in this country.
It also means that religion has no place in government, because we have a free choice of decision of which path, which includes none, and that because of that choice it cannot be a controlling factor in our government.
skerry
I noticed some new Harris signs in my neighborhood this morning.
“Dudes for like, Harris, man”
Ruckus
@dmsilev:
What changed?
Is it possible that in some cases money talks louder than any other voice? Or at least attempts to?
Kay
Correction – kicked it back, depositing is unavailable in my region.
BUT I would have doubled my money
TBone
@TBone: just wanted to say how much I adore Agnes Moorehead in every single thing I’ve ever seen her in, and I grew up watching Endora so I wasn’t predisposed to like her. She’s amazing in her range.
Ruckus
@Scout211:
When shitforbrains is the best you got, you go with shitforbrains.
When an actual candidate is available and qualified, you go with the actual candidate.
One side has shitforbrains.
One side has an actual qualified candidate.
My choice is clear.
I’d very, very much hope that enough citizens agree.
Because if they don’t, I believe that this country is done.
Kay
Ok maybe if I buy bitcoin?
oh this is a rabbit hole!
Elizabelle
@Kay: yay you. I think so too.
Leto
Eastern PA, Carbon County, Dave McCormick sign: how to show you’re weak-as-F. This does not project confidence.
trollhattan
And there it is, profiles in chickenshittery.
H.E.Wolf
Bill Clinton is 2 months younger than the current Republican candidate for president. I know which of the two appears, to me, to be healthier at age 78.
BC in Illinois
@Ridnik Chrome:
@Betty:
Trump is two months older than Bill; a year older than Hillary.
ETA: Or what H. E. Wolf said.
Steve LaBonne
@trollhattan: None of the toadies are bright enough to understand that simply failing to enthusiastically support Trump puts you on the enemies list right alongside those who oppose him.
TBone
@Leto: weak is now my Word of the Day 🏆
New Deal democrat
@Ruckus:
And that is why they hate you, because they believe their religion was Chosen by G*d to control the government against any contrary force.
Ruckus
@satby:
I used to be on twitter, started early on.
When elon bought it I figured it would be floating in a toilet bowl very soon. I wasn’t wrong. Haven’t bothered or lost a moment since.
Baud
@trollhattan:
So no more endorsements of anyone?
The media is really digging their own grave this year.
SatanicPanic
I guess my generally blase attitude towards peoples’ issues with the media stems from a couple things:
The media doesn’t matter that much. Liberals are the only people who pay a ton of attention to CNN or NYT or whatever else. And liberals have long made up their mind about Trump. Why get so upset?
The liberal blogosphere is fighting the last war and is way out of touch with where voters are. This entire year I thought I was in bizarro world. Like, being told that Biden’s debate performance wasn’t disqualifying because he had a cold was nuts. Like, the kind of conversation where if you were at a party you’d be looking for an excuse to back out of. Blogosphere loves Biden, but IRL I’ve heard precisely ONE person (who can’t vote anymore because he’s dead) say they are happy about his presidency, everyone else is at best indifferent. Several people I know think he outright sucks. And I’m surrounded by liberals. Almost no one I know isn’t a liberal. Same goes for this idea that the media has gaslit everyone into thinking the economy is bad. Am I the only person who hears people complain about high prices all the time? Because they do. How can everyone be so sure about their opinion when it just sounds weird to the average person?
I don’t know how to reconcile these things. I want to think there is value to the blogosphere because places like these (or even DKos, where I am no longer welcome) really do great work fundraising and encouraging people to volunteer for campaigns. But beyond that I don’t know.
Go ahead and yell at me, I’ve gotten used to it.
Eunicecycle
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: yeah the whole ball-tanning thing wasn’t that masculine.
BC in Illinois
@BC in Illinois:
And let me point out, for those who wish to celebrate, that Hillary Rodham Clinton’s birthday is tomorrow, October 26th.
We can get together and give her a wonderful present.
On November 5th.
Steve LaBonne
@SatanicPanic: Trump’s campaign doesn’t think the economy is their big issue any more. They’re tripling down on xenophobia and transphobia. And the Harris campaign has pointedly snubbed the likes of FTFNYT and WaPo. Maybe you’re the one who’s out of touch.
SatanicPanic
@Steve LaBonne: That’s probably the right move for him, because for whatever reason, Americans seem to have really jumped on the xenophobia bandwagon. Trans rights I don’t know- I think the average person doesn’t care much.
Also I do think the average person is less upset about the economy because prices have flattened out this year and there are even some signs of prices dropping (fast food places offering competing $5-7 specials, for instance). And people have just gotten used to prices more.
Jeffro
@Ukai: totally awesome reference there ;)
Jeffro
peeps, Froette is now out in Montana for the week, helping canvass and what not for the Tester campaign(!)
updates to follow…
Steve LaBonne
@SatanicPanic: Which, you know, basically negates your previous comment. But if you get off on acting aggrieved, you do you.
Baud
@Jeffro:
Tell her we’re all rooting for her.
trollhattan
@Steve LaBonne:
“I know some talk about him behind his back about…things. But where am I going to find another clown besides John Gacy at this late hour? Brandon’s birthday is tomorrow.”
TBone
@BC in Illinois: 💙
SatanicPanic
@Steve LaBonne: It’s not that complicated- people have been upset about the economy all year and are just starting to settle down about it because prices have been levelling off.
Jeffro
110%. You know it’s a good economy when even the lying liars can’t deny it anymore, LOL
low inflation, low unemployment, booming stock market = just meeting expectations if it’s a Dem. best economy EVAR if it’s a Rep, of course.
Anyway, I think I saw something where trumpov was screeching “well, the price of gas is low but it should be much lower…” So now that’s the new standard for Dems: pushing prices to zero, and anything above that is unacceptable.
Jeffro
@Baud: I will! I already told her if Tester pulls it out, she gets to take all the credit. Just like I plan on doing if my 300 postcards to NC carry the state for Harris. =)
Karen S.
@Elizabelle: I noticed that too. It’s like he and other legacy media employees are allergic to the fact that Trump is indeed a fascist. If they’re scared of Trump and/or their bosses, then they should find other jobs.
SatanicPanic
@Jeffro: 2.4 percent is not low. It’s around what mature economies target. And coming after three years of high rates is not going to make people suddenly say “oh things are great”.
Harris is doing the smart thing by acknowledging that people are struggling, even in a good economy. We should take her lead.
Anyway
@Jeffro: Sweet! Ask her to go hiking in Glacier NP … =)
Sure Lurkalot
Damn, already canceled both the LA Times and the Washington Post this year (I gave up on the NY Times in 2020). What more can I do except continue to urge everyone to cancel their subscriptions? They are enabling fascism for tax cuts and clicks.
SatanicPanic
And Steve, I don’t “get off” on acting aggrieved. I’ve known you for a long time and that kind of comment is beneath you. I’m expressing what I think is a genuine concern of mine and yes, I am expecting people to respond negatively because that’s been my experience. I don’t know if there’s any point to continuing to be a part of the blogosphere and I’m trying to tell people why I think that.
Baud
@SatanicPanic:
It is smart of her. But we here often don’t parrot what candidates say because we understand nothing said here matters. We can express our own point of view.
Scout211
That was expected, sadly. The plan not to endorse was being leaked for the past few days and that Bezos would force that call. That’s why I asked (in my comment upthread) if there will be any WaPost editorial staff who would buck Bezos and quit.
Aziz, light!
@Chief Oshkosh: My nephew’s wife recently served a term on the Tulsa city council. They are progressive Dems with a lot of like-minded friends in the Tulsa area. And there are plenty of liberals in OKC, where I once lived for a few years. The urban-rural, blue-red divide is present in every state, which is to say that every state is purple. That said, I assume that OKC’s mayor is not running for re-election.
Velocifowl
@Chief Oshkosh:
I don’t like Kid Rock or his music but Kid Rock was the only one with common sense enough to realize that Trump showing him and everyone else classified intelligence was wrong and he shouldn’t have been there.
When Kid Rock is the voice of common sense you are in deep shit.
stinger
@Anyway:
And then send photos for On The Road!
Omnes Omnibus
@SatanicPanic: Ah, yes, one of the people who can diagnose dementia from afar speaks.
Ruckus
@New Deal democrat
And that is why they hate you, because they believe their religion was Chosen by G*d to control the government against any contrary force.
I’m OK with them hating me because they don’t understand the concept of freedom of and from religion and that we live in a country that allows both.
They also need a lot of assurance because they are so far outside of any possibility of any other belief but their own or that we live in a country that allows this.
I spent 4 yrs of my life defending their right to be insane and defending my right to tell them to fuck off.
Gvg
@trollhattan: investigate for blackmail. Too similar, not likely based on past behavior. Somebody is being threatened with harm.
SatanicPanic
@Omnes Omnibus: There you go again. Dude, I’m trying to tell you guys that the blogosphere has problems that matter and you want to make it about me.
In the end, my opinion on Biden never amounted to anything. I do think he’s suffering from some form of cognitive decline and I am willing to say that based on observation (all dementia diagnoses are based on observation). But I didn’t remove him from the campaign trail- elected Democrats, donors, and the views from the rank-and-file did. Why do you feel like telling me I’m wrong is so important? Does my personal opinion on the matter negate the fact that voters thought Biden was too old?
SatanicPanic
@Baud: I agree with all that. I’m just surprised and frustrated with how much the blogosphere in general has drifted from where public opinion is. Have we all just been talking to each other for too long?
Ruckus
@SatanicPanic:
Sounds to me like you are one of us.
I’ve been on this blog for a very long time. I’m on the internet, now that I’m retired a rather good amount of time per day. Not all day for sure, I do have an actual life…. such as it is.
We all have our viewpoints – hell that is one of the great things about this country and humanity. And it always amazes me that so many of us actually aren’t far apart on what we believe. Sure we often come at things differently, our brains (such as they are – or can be) do work differently, if for no other reason than we are actual individual humans and can actually think.
Randal Sexton
One thing I wonder about wrt mail in voting: in person voting would ensure more privacy, say for women who want to secretly vote for Harris against their husbands wishes. Mail in voting would make it easier for husband to control wife’s ballot. I wonder when/if this will get talked about or become an issue.
Omnes Omnibus
@SatanicPanic: Thinking someone is too old and saying they have dementia/foot Parkinson’s/whatever bullshit are different things.
Baud
@SatanicPanic:
Why? There are many issues where we depart from public opinion. It’s part of being liberal.
The blogosphere got its start disagreeing with public opinion about Bush and the War on Terror and Iraq.
EngineerScotty
One wonders how much the Post non-endorsement is because:
1) Bezos dislikes the Biden administration, particularly for its stance on labor issues
or
2) Bezos is afraid that Trump might win and retaliate against him (not against the Post but against his other business interests).
During Trump’s prior term, the two men were known to hate each other. But Bezos seems to be clearly mad at the Democrats for actually caring about workers and helping them organize the past four years. And given the change in the paper’s management the past year, I’m not really surprised by this.
trollhattan
@Steve LaBonne: .
“With tears in our eyes, trembling at his greatness, we respectfully and heartily endorse Donald J. Trump for president of the United States and of the entire planet.”
“Not good enough, you didn’t say ‘sir’. You are now my enemy.”
JPL
@EngineerScotty: Hopefully today a record amount of subscribers cancel. I did my part, although I’m prepaid until the end of the year. Still canceled though.
Ruckus
@SatanicPanic:
Also the minimum wage actually does change. When I started working it was $1.25/hr. I believe it is $16 now and moving to $17. When I started working (HS senior at a gas station) the cost of gasoline was $.35/gal. It has gone up a tad since. Where I live it’s $3.99/gal.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: This. My opinions and tastes differ from those of the general public on a lot of things.
SatanicPanic
@Omnes Omnibus: What does that really matter though? You can think “jeez that SatanicPanic guy is a kook” because I believe know what dementia looks like (based on experience). But who cares? The blogosphere was treating anyone who thought he was too old as both ageist and/or brainwashed by the media. But the man is 81! That’s sixteen years past retirement age. Nearly everyone I’ve talked to IRL thinks he’s too old. How do you want me to reconcile these two spheres?
@Baud: I think we’ve gone past where the average liberal is on many of the issues and that’s what I’m concerned about. Like the average liberal, at least in my experience, doesn’t have a problem talking about the economy as being a mixed bag for people. Online its like- the economy is great how could anyone think otherwise if not for the media?
Jeffro
@SatanicPanic: hmmm. We’ll just have to disagree on everything except “Harris is doing the smart thing”. ;)
Baud
@SatanicPanic:
We don’t have to conform even to the average liberal.
And every economy is a mixed bag. There’s never been a perfect economy
ETA : The more troubling thing is your discomfort with dissent.
UncleEbeneezer
It’s not just Wikipedia. There’s been an active campaign to frame all online discourse in an Anti-Israel slant. You can see it all over Social Justice accounts on Twitter too. The Soviets started this effort in the 60’s-80’s and the Global Left widely adopted it and continues to perpetuate it, to this day. Russia, Iran, China and even Hamas/Hezbollah themselves, are all participating in this widespread propaganda effort, and sadly a lot of well meaning Progressives and FreePalestine activists are helping them out. This is how Anti-Semitism spreads and becomes mainstream without people even realizing it. Beware of it and push back on it wherever you can:
StringOnAStick
@New Deal democrat: They have their own alternative history of the US that “proves” the founding fathers wanted this to be a Christian nation; David Barton I think? Anyway, reinventing history to fit their needs has been part of their cultural heritage for decades and of course is part of the home schooling curricula so their kids never get a chance to read anything else.
I have two older siblings of this type, one is just plain stupid and was an easy mark (Pentecostal), the other is southern Baptist and was looking for a religion that satisfied her already established hatred issues so it fit her racist ass like a glove. Yes, they hate anyone not of their group.
SatanicPanic
@Baud: You don’t have to conform to anything. I’m just wondering what’s the point though? Shouldn’t we want to be at least in the ballpark of what the public thinks?
@Jeffro: fair enough
Jeffro
@Anyway: Ha! Not at this time of year…
We did do a family trip out there one summer several years ago, drove the Going-to-the-Sun road, the whole 9 yards. Had a snowball fight in July(!) up at Logan Pass. Had huckleberry everything, too. =)
SatanicPanic
Baud why do you think I’m uncomfortable with dissent?
Baud
@SatanicPanic:
No, this is just a blog. We don’t represent anybody. Each of us can express their own individualized opinion.
TBone
@Ruckus: Pennsylvania minimum wage is still
$7.25 per hour
http://www.minimum-wage.org/wage-by-state?origin=serp_auto
SatanicPanic
@Baud: It’s not just here though. The entire blogosphere has gotten weirder and more insular. Maybe it’s just aged out of being a part of the conversation.
Omnes Omnibus
@SatanicPanic: There was a time when the public was okay with segregation. When it was against gay marriage. And so on. Why should we want to be near public opinion if we believe it to be wrong?
Ruckus
@SatanicPanic:
There are always some people struggling financially. It’s humanity. Some of us live off of SS and didn’t work into their 70s so that it is a reasonable amount.
TBone
@Jeffro: parenting skill level: expert
TBone
@Omnes Omnibus: 🎯
SatanicPanic
@Omnes Omnibus: I’ve said from the start that I’m talking about liberals. I am surrounded by liberals, almost no one I know isn’t one. The blogosphere routinely comes to conclusions that liberals find weird.
EDIT- the problem is that it’s nearly impossible to influence what you don’t understand and can’t relate to
Baud
@SatanicPanic:
Who cares how insular we are? If we die off, we die off.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
I don’t subscribe to the Washington Post, but I took a look at their front page, at the editorial headlines, and it looks like a lot of thumb-on-the-scales stuff. Harris’s pitch to voters failing, realignments catching Dems flat-footed, that sort of thing.
Is it my imagination? I know the FTFNYT’s been slanting things, and the LA Times’ non-endorsement speaks for itself, but what the hell?
trollhattan
Jim Acosta brings the heat.
https://crooksandliars.com/2024/10/jim-acosta-not-taking-your-election
SatanicPanic
@Baud: I do! Even a diminished blogosphere has value.
Baud
@SatanicPanic:
If it has value, it’s because people can express their own opinions. And of those opinions no longer have value because they’re out of step, then blogs don’t have value.
Steve LaBonne
@SatanicPanic: I don’t pretend to speak for anyone but myself. Generally, when someone acts as though they’re doing more than that, they end up talking nonsense. And when they keep trying to talk over those who disagree with them, that’s called trolling. Give it a rest.
Omnes Omnibus
@SatanicPanic: So what? I don’t pretend that any shit I post here has much of an effect in the real world. Also, half of what I post is me messing around and amusing myself.
Baud
@Bruce K in ATH-GR:
If they’re proven wrong in a couple of weeks, they’re counting on people not remembering what they did. And if they’re proven right, then they gain credibility.
SatanicPanic
@Baud: That’s why I’m concerned that we’ve gotten too insular. I would like it if the blogosphere were to have some value. (and to be clear, I think it still does in terms of donations and volunteering, but it’s diminishing)
trollhattan
Humble prediction: Next year, Amazon Prime goes up forty bucks, includes WaPo subscription.
Soprano2
No, I hear it a lot too and like you I know prices have gone up. The problem is that the press covers “the economy” as if it’s all about prices, and it’s not. I swear for the whole year of 2022 one of the daily NPR news programs had a program about how high inflation was almost every single day, but they rarely tried to explain the reasons for the inflation, which were many. (One reason 2019 prices aren’t ever coming back is because employers aren’t paying 2019 wages. In that year my highest-paid cook probably made $14-$15/hr. Now he makes $20/hr. Multiply that by pretty much every employer in America.) The economy is a lot of other things that they mostly ignore in favor of giving in to people’s “vibes”. I hear a lot of griping about the price of gas too, even though it’s been relatively cheap here for over a year. They think TCFG can bring back the gas prices that we had at the peak of Covid, which is impossible. I don’t want them to deny that inflation happened, but I want some balance in the coverage rather than overemphasizing inflation and underemphasizing every cause of it other than who is the president. ETA – I want to slap the people who complain that their 401K was better under TCFG, because it most certainly was not! The markets are at record highs right now, unless they’re absolute shit for brains investors their accounts should be doing great.
Baud
@SatanicPanic:
That’s too bad, but it’s out of your control. Things change.
Steve LaBonne
@Soprano2: Well said. Claims that having “news” media that intentionally and systematically misinform readers / viewers is not a problem are implausible to say the least.
Ruckus
@Baud:
We can have our own point of view?
In a free country?
Amazing!
SatanicPanic
@Steve LaBonne: Nah.
We’ve been interacting for over a decade. You know I’m not a troll just like I know you didn’t deserve to be kicked off LGM. I was there man. You can take this as me being weird or you can consider what I’m actually saying. Do you think LGM has gotten better because of all the people they drove away? Or has it gotten steadily weirder?
@Omnes Omnibus: Because I think the blogosphere maintains some value.
Soprano2
@SatanicPanic: There are always people who are struggling even in the best economy. Even in the late 1990’s there were people who were struggling. Like Kay says, if they’re taking two vacations a year and can afford a big new truck, they’re not struggling as much as they let on.
Jeffro
@TBone: thank you!
One of our favorite family trips ever. =)
SatanicPanic
@Baud: I’m just trying to say my piece about something I care about.
@Soprano2: Sure, I think the media has ignored some of the good news, and does a bad job of educating people. I just don’t think it’s that weird that people would say the economy sucks because they don’t like higher prices.
Baud
@Ruckus:
There’s no greater offense to decency than blog liberals engaging in the marketplace of ideas.
Baud
@SatanicPanic:
You have that right. But telling people to conform to the prevailing view about something isn’t going to move anybody.
Steve LaBonne
@SatanicPanic: For the record I came back to LGM long ago after Loomis did his thing- he doesn’t pay attention or even remember who he blocks so it’s easy to just create another account. I left voluntarily this time because of foot Parkinson’s, and you were part of that problem.
Omnes Omnibus
@SatanicPanic: And people are telling you that they either disagree with you on the substance or the importance of this concern.
Soprano2
Uh no, there is also testing involved including scans, and the diagnosis is made by people who are experts on the subject, not the average Joe who hasn’t even examined the person in person. Ask me how I know this.
Soprano2
@Baud: Oh yeah, the blogosphere was about 10 years ahead of public opinion on the Iraq invasion and occupation.
SatanicPanic
@Baud: It did me. I used to be more radical, but one day I realized I was so far away from even people on the left that I was never going to accomplish anything. Since then I became a mainstream Democrat and I’m sure the Democratic party appreciates my votes and my donations.
Maybe people have just resigned themselves to the death of the blogosphere and that’s fine I guess. I’m just trying to come to terms with it.
Elizabelle
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: Jeff (I have my own space program) Bezos owns the WaPost. He this year installed a Rupert Murdoch protegee, Sir (!) Will Lewis, as the Post’s CEO and Publisher.
WaPost still has some good stuff, but is touching Murdoch lite in other ways.
If the WaPost truly does not endorse, I think we should stop our purchases from Amazon too, and tell them why. More Amazon purchasers than Post subscribers, I think.
It is cowardly and wrong.
Also, it would be fun to picket the WaPost HQ with some signs:
WaPost cannot endorse a Black woman for President. Shame.
Send Jeff Bezos to Space. Keep him there.
Just say NO to Amazon and WaPost.
SatanicPanic
@Steve LaBonne: How was I part of the problem at LGM? I haven’t been there in years.
@Omnes Omnibus: I’ve noticed
@Soprano2: I know your situation but I too have dealt with a close family member having dementia this year, and I’d rather not get into an argument about this, because it’s really not the point I’m trying to make. OO brought it up and I responded, but can we just leave it? It’s not a fun topic for me.
Baud
@SatanicPanic:
Voting and donations are actions, not viewpoints. And even then, it’s hard to convince people to take actions by arguing that they’re out of step with the majority.
Steve LaBonne
@Soprano2: Eggs come down, they whine about gas. Gas is down, who knows what they’re whining about now because I don’t care. It’s an excuse, not a concern- unlike the hard core cultists they don’t like to admit that they are fascism-curious because for now there’s still some degree of cultural opprobrium attached that outside the Trump-enthusiast hellholes. People who actually are struggling generally vote Democratic when they vote at all. Very few people who are voting for Trump are actually struggling.
satby
@trollhattan: not enough people have cancelled subscriptions to either WaPo or NYT. I don’t know what it will take before people quit making excuses for funding this level of transgression against democracy.
@Sure Lurkalot: half of the stuff you read here comes from alternative media links shared on Twitter. Listen, IDGAF if you use it or not and I’m not trying to “defend” it. It’s a tool by which you can glean both information and garbage. Until there’s something else, a lot of info good and bad funnels through there. That’s all.
JPL
@Elizabelle: from the Post
The decision, 11 days before an election that most polls show as too-close-to-call, marks the second time this week that a major media organization has declined to issue an endorsement in the race between the Republican nominee, former president Donald Trump, and his Democratic Party opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, after years of making such endorsements. Earlier this week, Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times, blocked a planned endorsement of Harris, prompting the resignation of the newspaper’s editorials editor.
An endorsement of Harris had been drafted by Post editorial page staffers but had yet to be published, according to two sources briefed on the sequence of events who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The decision not to publish was made by The Post’s owner — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — according to the same sources.
“This is cowardice, a moment of darkness that will leave democracy as a casualty. Donald Trump will celebrate this as an invitation to further intimidate The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos (and other media owners),” former Post executive editor Martin Baron, who led the paper while Trump was president, said in a text message to The Post. “History will mark a disturbing chapter of spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.”
Soprano2
@SatanicPanic: I don’t think that’s weird either. Let me introduce another idea that’s worth thinking about. Remember how the opinions about how the economy was doing magically changed after the 2016 election even though TCFG hadn’t even become president yet? It’s possible there’s some of that going on too, and that if they like Harris better and she wins suddenly they’ll feel better about “the economy” even though nothing has actually changed in real life. Like how do you explain the people I’ve heard on the radio complaining that their investment accounts did better when TCFG was president? With the current stock market I’d say that’s almost impossible, yet I’ve heard people say it the past year!
SatanicPanic
@Baud: This is true but I’m doing what I can.
JPL
@satby: I canceled but it’s not effective til the end of the year, since I prepaid. It is recorded though.
Aziz, light!
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: I have a long-running wapo subscription that I am allowing to expire soon. They have been doing this horse race bullshit all year. When I leave comments on such articles, I usually add the rejoinder “democracy dies in false equivalence” (a play on their “democracy dies in darkness” page header).
Soprano2
@SatanicPanic: Sure, not a fun topic for me either. I just hated how people assumed Biden had dementia based on one bad performance in a debate. TCFG is much, much more likely to have some type of cognitive impairment than Biden, at least based on what we can see and hear.
Layer8Problem
@SatanicPanic:
Because you seem that way when people disagree with you?
SatanicPanic
@Soprano2: I definitely think there’s some of that going on. I don’t think most people ever really think very holistically about the economy. If they have a good job, then everyone has the ability to get a good job, right? If I own a home, then the economy is good because I own a home. And if their presidential candidate’s fate depends on the economy being good or bad, that’ll probably change their opinion too.
SatanicPanic
@Soprano2: That’s fair, I don’t think we should diagnose based on one event.
JPL
@JPL: FYI The above comments can be found on the STYLE section of the Washington Post. It would not surprise me if at some point they have highlights of what was supposed to run in the ‘Editiorial section.
Jeffro
Jamelle Bouie: The Guardrails Have Completely Failed. It Is Up To Us
(gift link)
SatanicPanic
@Layer8Problem: 🙄
Mr. Bemused Senior
@SatanicPanic: My metric on the economy is traffic on 101. Admittedly this is local, unscientific and biased. The economy is just fine.
Steve LaBonne
@Soprano2: There is always a lot of that going on, specifically nearly all Republicans always behave that way.
JML
@JPL: Solid shot by Marty Baron. He was a little more corporatist than crusader at the post, but sounds like he may have found a little of the fire he had at the Boston Globe again in retirement.
trollhattan
Donny clears up his views on Jack Smith. Conclusion: Jack Smith has Donny scared.
Sure Lurkalot
@Mr. Bemused Senior:
It’s a legitimate microeconomic measure. It’s on the road that see all the new car temporary tags and how everyone’s car is newer than mine (old trusty ‘Baru). It’s a major enough purchase to be a metric for how people are feeling about spending.
BarcaChicago
@Sure Lurkalot: Me too, so I canceled my Amazon Prime subscription. I use it a lot, but I don’t want to continue empowering and enriching Jeff Bezos. Meanwhile, the Philly Inquirer is my paper, and I’ve been impressed by them.
Ruckus
@BC in Illinois:
shitforbrains looks 20 yr older
@TBone:
Damn good reason not to live in Pennsylvania.
Ruckus
@Baud:
You don’t say…….
Kayla Rudbek
@Mr. Bemused Senior: my metric on the economy is number of new trademark applications (these are cheaper and easier than patents).
USPTO has patent and trademark dashboards and I see that trademark applications are up by 4%. So people are out doing business, opening new businesses, and filing for trademark protection for their products and services. Mom and pop are opening a new store? Trademark protection is cheap and easy to get.
Ruckus
@NotMax:
Is there a hole in your boat or has it been raining for the last few months?
Kay
@Elizabelle:
I genuinely like the odds! But I don’t want to buy bitcoin so I don’t think I can play. I can also bet big on Sherrod. But should I ?
In other news, my daughter has the best Halloween costume for a baby that I have ever seen. She’s an astronaut (the baby). She’s unsmiling in the photo too – it looks like a NASA photo :)
Msb
@O. Felix Culpa: thanks for your service!
Gloria DryGarden
@trollhattan: i can think of a rapist mentally deranged person who can leave..
Melancholy Jaques
@SatanicPanic:
I would prefer that you let the matter drop, since it’s moot. What is it that you hope to gain from this?
Bill Arnold
@satby:
I’ve been playing with https://lite.cnn.com/
One headline per line, no images, headline links full (text mode) articles.
Dan B
@Elizabelle: Chalamagne did great but I believe he could have personalized the fascist definition for Cooper. Charlemagne, “Do you believe your son will be taken from you by Trump’s far right Christian allies if Trump wins?”
Sometimes it’s necessary to shock people who don’t recognize their blind spots. A definition of fascism has no emotional resonance to people who have not experienced the horror.