Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Please don’t feed the bears.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Democrats are back in array!

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

The US Supreme Court is on the ballot in november.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

Republicans in disarray!

“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Bark louder, little dog.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

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

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Reader Interactions

255Comments

  1. 1.

    Steve in the ATL

    Speaking of Halloween, who here is an expert on German Christmas markets?​ Flying in and out of Frankfurt, thinking of spending half the trip there and half in Cologne/Bonn/Dusseldorf. Thoughts? Logistical advice? Danke!

  6. 6.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Omnes Omnibus: ​
     fair point! And the cold…so cold. We felt like Snowden in Catch-22. And also it snowed, which is fun when you’re at Christmas markets.

  7. 7.

    Barbara

    @Steve in the ATL: Planning a vacation?  Based on the relentless volume of travel and cruise related solicitations I get, Christmas markets are being marketed similar to travel to — for example — the Camino de Santiago.  Like when you go there 80% of your fellow shoppers might also be American tourists.

    ETA: Per comments from Omnes, it’s possible they might have more than their fair share of the same people who go on distillery tours of Scotland.

  9. 9.

    Betty Cracker

    Good news about Badger (our dog — I mentioned in the previous thread that we were at the vet’s office because he’s ill). He’s got a mild case of pancreatitis. They gave us medications to treat him, and he should be back so his old self within a couple of days. 🤞

  11. 11.

    Dangerman

    I said treat, dammit, not trick.

    The plan WAS to have a procedure Monday and be on pain meds (and hopefully out of it) Tuesday and Wednesday).

    They moved the procedure to Wednesday (spoken like Jim Carrey in Liar, Liar, the ink is blue).

    As long as my hopefully not MAGA driver doesn’t get too toasted Tuesday. That night: “I’m having surgery in the morning, ding dong the witch is dead” (sorry for the mashup).

  12. 12.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Barbara: ​
     I hope not! We’ve been before and it wasn’t bad at all (where bad=full of American tourists). Hopefully that will be the case again!

  13. 13.

    JCJ

    @Steve in the ATL:  In addition to Glühwein I had Eierpunsch at the Weihnachtsmarkt am Kölner Dom.  It was a warm egg nog type of drink.  The main market there in Cologne is right by the cathedral which makes a very nice setting.  The market in Aachen is nice.  If you can make it there the markets in Strasbourg (Straßburg) are very good as well as Colmar.

  15. 15.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Betty Cracker:
     

    mild case of pancreatitis

    Didn’t know there was such a thing! People I know who’ve had pancreatitis say it’s the worst pain ever. Like worse than watching FSU attempt to play football. Anyway, that’s good news.

  16. 16.

    Barbara

    @Steve in the ATL: Good to know!  I have seen river cruises being advertised with a theme of stopping at one Christmas market after another.  I suspect that it’s still relatively few people traveling abroad at that time of year, and just a small percentage of customers.

  18. 18.

    Scout211

    Brilliant array of comics, AL!  Thank you.

    Now that we live out in the boonies, I miss having the littles trick-or-treating with so much joy and excitement.  Also, too, I miss all that leftover chocolate candy that I am forced to eat.

    Happy Halloween all you jackals!   And for Día de Los Muertos tomorrow and Saturday, I hope all your memories are a blessing.

  20. 20.

    Steve in the ATL

    @JCJ: ​
     

    Glühwein … Eierpunsch … Weihnachtsmarkt am Kölner Dom

    German is such an eloquent language!

    Strasbourg is on our list of markets to visit, but that will be for another trip. Don’t want to spend too much of our trip on intercity travel. That’s why we are looking at Cologne/Bonn/Dusseldorf–close to Frankfurt. If there are other good ones without having to travel more than a couple of hours from Frankfurt, I’m all ears!

  22. 22.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Omnes Omnibus: good to know.  We were considering that as it’s not far from Frankfurt but thought we’d get more bang for the Euro going northwest to a higher concentration of places.

    Would like to try Konstanz at some point as well, when we are flying in and out of Zurich.

  23. 23.

    New Deal democrat

    For those of you who may be partaking in a Halloween get-together, the following has gotten rave reviews from my neighbors:

     

    NDD’s BOO-rbon Halloween spirits:

    1 cup bourbon (Knob Creek maple flavored, otherwise regular bourbon + 1 tbsp. Maple syrup)

    1/2 cup ginger beer

    1/2 cup hard apple cider

    1/4 cup lemon juice

    1/2 tsp. Brown sugar

    1/4 tsp. Cinnamon

    1/4 tsp. Ginger

    1/8 tsp. Allspice

    1/8 tsp. Cloves

    mull and chill, then strain to remove spice grains before serving

  24. 24.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @KatKapCC: There are a couple of other things that I have seen in that city that might qualify.  But, as Graham Norton says, let’s draw a veil.

  25. 25.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    @Betty Cracker: so glad to hear it!

    I remember when my cat got diagnosed with pancreatitis.  I’d never heard of it before, so, sitting there at the vet’s, I googled it, and the first entry said that key risk factors (for human pancreatitis, as it transpired) were “drug interactions, illegal drugs, and alcohol abuse.” I looked at my cat, who looked back at me, and said to her, “What have you been up alone all day while I’ve been going to work?”

  30. 30.

    Velocifowl

    @p.a.:

    I was certain Clinton was going to lose in 2016 and unsure of Biden in 2020 but I feel confident about Harris now.

    As for Holiday drinks we have glogg and advocaat.  Which are souped up mulled wine and eggnog from farther north.

  32. 32.

    Uncle Cosmo

    O/T – and I bet this has been posted long ago, but for anyone unaware, check out this 1958 TV western from a rather obscure series called “Trackdown,” about a snake-oil salesman predicting the end of the world and claiming he alone can protect the town. It’s not just this part (starting about 3:30 in) –

    Ranger: He got a name?

    Bargirl: Trump.

    Ranger: I bet it fits.

    Lots of eerily prescient details in under 25 minutes – and the good guys win in the end. Enjoy!

  33. 33.

    RaflW

    @Barbara: The Christmas markets in Stockholm were a peaceful delight (granted, I went in 2012 before this current wave of overtourism). Skansen, the culture park right in Stockholm, also gets all gussied up for the holidays.

    Watching the guests dance around to Nu Är Det Jul Igen while the snow fell, I was transported back to Christmasses of my youth & young adulthood when mom would put on the Swedish Christmas record and we’d dance around the house (alcohol may have been involved. lol).

    My suggestion, but then I’ve not been to Germany in Xmas season.

  34. 34.

    Yarrow

    @Betty Cracker: Yay! Good news. Thanks for letting us know. Y’all certainly didn’t need dog drama on top of everything else you’re dealing with. Glad it’s something easily treated.

  35. 35.

    CaseyL

    Great news about Badger!  Here’s to a speedy recovery!

    There are apparently no children anywhere near my townhouse complex. I think I got trick-of-treaters twice, in all the years I’ve lived here, and those were when I first moved in.

    I buy candy every year, on the theory that the one time I don’t will be the time they all show up.

    So maybe I should get my ass in gear and head out to the store. Sigh.

    (I have a bad head cold and am disinclined to do anything at all. But I also need a few other things, so…)

  37. 37.

    Dangerman

    Anyone else notice that during the Dodgers Trophy Ceremony, only one flag on stage, and it was K (I’ll be careful with his name) Hernandez and it was the flag of Puerto Rico.

    Sign him again, Dodgers. Dude just wins (and hurts players, sorry Cody). Also sign Walker please. Big and brass.

  38. 38.

    JCJ

    @Steve in the ATL:  Cologne was a big enough Christmas market when I was there and I would estimate most people there were Germans.  I went to the market in Rothenburg which was nice but overrun with tourists during the day.  We spent the night there so the daytrippers definitely thinned out after about 4 or 5 pm (the market was open until 8p)

  39. 39.

    Baud

    @p.a.:

    Yeah, I’m mostly dead inside. Probably not too much longer until I’m dead outside. The world and the future belong to young people. They’ll do with it what they will.

  41. 41.

    Honus

    @Aimai: Mrs Honus and are flying to France for a two week river cruise the day after the election.  At this point, having already voted over a month ago, I wish we had already left.  Til next Tuesday seems like an eternity.

  44. 44.

    Sure Lurkalot

    I didn’t see any news of this when it happened a couple of months ago, but this story about a Wells Fargo employee whose death at her desk went unnoticed for 4 days tells you what you need to know about corporate America and their B-school ideas about work and productivity. Good links too if you’re inclined to going down some ratholes. Suitable for the holiday because this is indeed scary shit.

    https://pluralistic.net/2024/09/27/sharpen-your-blades-boys/#disciplinary-technology

  46. 46.

    RaflW

    @Steve in the ATL: I had a mild case of pancreatitis.

    It was very weird. I generally felt like crap, but like maybe the precursor to stomach flu? Fever, and my mid-back ached.

    Thankfully a dr. ordered blood tests, white blood count thru the roof, so he sent me to the hospital for a CT scan, and that showed the problem. By the time the radiologist filed the report, though, the referring dr. had gone home.

    The on-call dr. spoke to me on the phone, saying “You need to be admitted to the hospital right now.” I asked if that could be avoided, and she was incredulous “You’re very ill!” “But I’m pacing up and down the hall outside radiology talking to you. Oh, and I drove myself here for the scan.” “WHAT?!” “Yes, really.”

    She imagined me being wiped out, laying on a gurney in an ER exam room. She let me go home! Nothing but h2o for 24 hrs, then only clear white grape juice and a few saltines for the next 24, and very gently adding back soft, low fat foods. Fully recovered in abt. a week.

    But I guess that’s not typical!!

  47. 47.

    Kristine

    @Betty Cracker: hoping Badger recovers quickly and fully. Pancreatitis isn’t fun for puppers (or anyone else).

    I wish I could hide through Tuesday. I keep finding news bits that the T-word has the edge according to metrics like the betting pools and financial markets and I know it’s because the msm wants a horse race and the powers behind the betting pools and financial institutions want him to win. But lizard brain is driving me to hide under the bed until it’s over. Or scream. Maybe both.

  48. 48.

    Ksmiami

    @Velocifowl: I am so worried rn. But I’ve reached out to contacts in swing states. I just don’t understand America any more. A nation on brink of suicide because eggs are 1.00 more per dozen.

  50. 50.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud:   Hugs, Baud.  I am thinking of dialing back my interest in politics after the fact.  Although.  Got to support Harris Walz.  And:  if 🎃🎃🎃 thought he had been savaged in court before….

    I do know one thing. I am not going to follow any news of President Kamala in any gaslighting US press corpse news outlet.  ☠️☠️☠️

    Unsubscribing.  Have had enough.

  51. 51.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Happy Halloween!!  We are gonna go to a cathedral down the street that is having a Halloween concert of festive tunes played on the gigantic pipe organ.  Then we’ll probably just come home and watch some scary movies.

  52. 52.

    Honus

    @Anonymous At Work: when doctors or therapists are working on my joints and say describe the pain from 1 to 5 with 5 being the worst Ive ever felt, I always tell them “I’ve had gout and passed kidney stones, so we’re not going to get to 5.”

  54. 54.

    Elizabelle

    The way the MSM is positioning TCFG as a potential winner?  Scrape them all back into the hellscape they emerged from.  #NoCredibilty. I am sick of the manipulation.  No more.

  56. 56.

    RaflW

    @Ksmiami: The populace has received a combo of poisonous propaganda & permission to be their worst selves. I did not want a John McCain presidency, but I think back to those days and how he stood up to his own base who were in an “Obama is an ineligible Kenyan” rage. There’s no one like that now in the whole party, at least not with any standing whatsoever.

    And the result is that people’s base instincts are being encouraged. Post 9-11 almost a third of Americans were in favor of putting American citizens in detention camps, just for their national origin. I’d imagine the numbers are at least as bad as that again now, over complete bullshit like what Vance & Trump did in Ohio.

    I fervently hope for a Harris win, and that Mike Johnson is the minority leader (or deposed and some other craven GOP idiot is minority leader). But there’s a generation of work ahead to repair the rifts, and that’s only if we win! Eghad.

  57. 57.

    RaflW

    JFC.

    The latest Marquette Univ. poll of WI is out. Harris 50/Trump 49. I just fucking can’t with this shit. It’s intolerable. I do not want to live in this godforsaken country any more. It’s just rotten.

    eta: Recombobulation Area blogger reminds me that things were indeed worse before Biden dropped out. So, okay, I’ll just hang on for now (no choice, really).

  58. 58.

    Suzanne

    @Honus: Mr. Suzanne and I got back from a trip to Egypt a week-and-a-half ago. We both voted before we left, and then we enjoyed 10 days of not being surrounded by MAGA bullshit or any campaign ads. Although, I will note, some of the Egyptians we met asked us who we thought would win, and all of them mentioned how much they hate Trump. It seems that hatred of al-Sisi is incredibly potent there, and multiple Egyptians brought up that Trump referred to him as “my favorite dictator”.

    Being back in the U.S. — and seeing how many houses put out Harris signs while we were gone — has definitely brought the election right back to top of mind. Which is terrifying.

  59. 59.

    pajaro

    @Kristine:

    It’s really unnerving that the formerly rational markets or polling data have been corrupted by MAGA money, in the former, and dozens of Repub. partisan polling results, in the other.  Even the responsible polling is really hard to trust–it’s one thing to be close, but it’s another when there’s no movement at all, which is not what one would expect with truly random samples.  So I don’t think that there’s any easy way to know what’s happening, other than guesses one can make based on early voting numbers, and even they require guesses about how women, or African-American men, etc. are choosing to vote.

    I don’t think I’m going to be able to know in advance, one way or other, how this is going to go, and that will make the next few days pretty uncomfortable.

  60. 60.

    Bill Arnold

    @Uncle Cosmo:
    That is very very good. Wish it had a transcript.
    [6:11 the Trump character says] “Be careful I can sue you.”
    …
    [9:14]“When we were kids we were all afraid of the dark. Then we grew up and we weren’t afraid anymore, but it’s funny how a big lie can make us all kids again.”

    Plenty of good “Trump” quotes in it.

  63. 63.

    Soprano2

    @Steve in the ATL: Be sure to see Cologne Cathedral while you’re there if you haven’t already seen it. It’s the largest Gothic cathedral in Europe, and the sound when you sing is amazing!

  64. 64.

    Jeffro

    I’m a little bummed today.  As a relatively recent empty nester, I am remembering all the great costumes and fun times we had with our kiddos on Halloween.

    It’ll pass – our doorbell will be ringing in just a few hours, and all will be well.  But still.  (sigh)

  65. 65.

    Velocifowl

    @Ksmiami:

    It has nothing to do with the price of eggs though.  People vote their identity, not their interests.  Unless their society has a single mono cultural identity people are going to break off into sub groups.  The GOP is nothing more than the white masculine Christian party.    The Democrats are the party for everyone else.

    This entire election is about that schism.  When the right can’t win on identity issues it resorts to authoritarianism or fascism and the rich jump aboard.  We saw this in run the up to WW2 where Catholics went all in on Franco for identity issues and in Germany the socially progressive werhmach era created an identity backlash that lead to Hitler.

    It’s not about eggs.

  66. 66.

    Ruckus

    @Kristine:

    I could also be because some of these jackasses don’t want a woman as president. Seemingly they’d rather have shitforbrains than a smart, competent woman. Likely because they think they can get away with more…..

  67. 67.

    Honus

    @Dangerman: Roberto Clemente (whose nickname, without irony, was “The Great One”) was from Puerto Rico.  When people start talking about Latin ball players I point out that Clemente was born in the United States, but George Washington was not.

    Now that I think about it, it probably wasn’t wise for Trump to insult the home place of the most beloved sports figure in Pittsburgh

     

    @Dangerman:

  73. 73.

    Bupalos

    @RaflW:do not want to live in this godforsaken country any more. It’s just rotten.

    We’re entering a period of global political destabilization. It’s not like the U.S. is a big outlier here. If it weren’t for our little electoral college flaw we’d likely be feeling pretty good about ourselves right now, relatively speaking. Unfortunately we left that gun laying around in act 1 and now here we are in act 2.

  74. 74.

    Scout211

    The Ecomomist (web archive version) backs Kamala Harris. Take that, WaPost.

    Some snippets:

    Next week tens of millions of Americans will vote for Donald Trump. Some will do so out of grievance, because they think Kamala Harris is a radical Marxist who will destroy their country. Some are fired up by national pride, because Mr Trump inspires in them the belief that, with him in the White House, America will stand tall. Yet some will coolly opt to vote Trump as a calculated risk.

    This last group of voters, which includes many readers of The Economist, may not see Mr Trump as a person they would want to do business with, or any kind of role model for their children. But they probably think that when he was president he did more good than bad. They may also believe the case against him is wildly overblown. Central to this calculation is the idea that Mr Trump’s worst instincts would be constrained: by his staff, the bureaucracy, Congress and the courts.

    This newspaper sees that argument as recklessly complacent. America may well breeze through four more years of Mr Trump, as it has the presidencies of other flawed men from both parties. The country may even thrive. But voters claiming to be hard-headed are overlooking the tail risk of a Trump presidency. By making Mr Trump leader of the free world, Americans would be gambling with the economy, the rule of law and international peace. We cannot quantify the chance that something will go badly wrong: nobody can. But we believe voters who minimise it are deluding themselves.

    . . .

    These policies would be inflationary, potentially setting up a conflict with the Federal Reserve. They would risk igniting a trade war that would ultimately impoverish America. The combination of inflation, out-of-control deficits and institutional decay would bring forward the day when foreigners worry about lending the us Treasury unlimited money.

    America’s economy is the envy of the world, but that rests on it being an open market which embraces creative destruction, innovation and competition. Sometimes it seems as if Mr Trump wants to return to the 19th century, using tariffs and tax breaks to reward his friends and punish his enemies, as well as to finance the state and minimise trade deficits. Politics could yet wreck the foundations of America’s prosperity.

    . . .

    Next to Mr Trump, Kamala Harris stands for stability. True, she is an underwhelming machine politician. She has struggled to tell voters what she wants to do with power. She seems indecisive and unsure. However, she has abandoned the Democrats’ most left-wing ideas and is campaigning near the centre, flanked by Liz Cheney and other Republican exiles.

    She has ordinary shortcomings, none of them disqualifying. Some of her policies are worse than her opponent’s, for example her taste for regulation and for further taxing wealth-creation. Some are merely less bad, on trade and the deficit, say. But some, on climate and abortion, are unambiguously better. It is hard to imagine Ms Harris being a stellar president, though people can surprise you. But you cannot imagine her bringing about a catastrophe.

    Presidents do not have to be saints and we hope that a second Trump presidency would avoid disaster. But Mr Trump poses an unacceptable risk to America and the world. If The Economist had a vote, we would cast it for Ms Harris. 

  75. 75.

    Bupalos

    @Velocifowl:The GOP is nothing more than the white masculine Christian party.    The Democrats are the party for everyone else

    You need to get this message down to the rio grande valley pronto!

  76. 76.

    Mokum

    @Steve in the ATL: The Christmas market in Aachen is cool, and you can see the throne of Charlemagne in the Dom, an amazing building. If you want a small town Christmas market you can try Bad Munstereiffel, very picturesque. I didn’t see any Americans in either place last year.

  79. 79.

    Geo Wilcox

    @Honus: Don’t forget to also tell them that Spanish has been spoken here on the American continent longer than English. THAT really freaks them out.

  81. 81.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Steve in the ATL: ​
    Late and maybe not exactly responsive, but depending on exactly when you are there, the St. Nicholas parade in Küssnacht, Switzerland (near Lucerne) is loads of fun.

    We went to a lot of Christmas markets that trip, in Vienna, Munich and lots of other points in southern Germany. Other than the ubiquitous gluhwein mentioned by Omnes, after two or three it’s all the same. Lots of American tourists and Chinese knick-knacks (sp?) I’d say bring warm shoes, but with climate the way it’s going, flip-flops may be more appropriate.

  82. 82.

    Omnes Omnibus

    People, I am begging you.  Stop doomscrolling.  Stop looking at the polls.  Stop preemptively condemning your fellow citizens.  Do something positive.  For the election, for yourself, for your house, for other people.  Volunteer, donate, go for a walk, have drink, have a cup of tea, eat an edible.   Wrestle your dog.  Confuse your cat.  Have sport sex.  Just stop with the shit.  Okay?

  83. 83.

    John S.

    @Scout211:

    Next to Mr Trump, Kamala Harris stands for stability. True, she is an underwhelming machine politician. She has struggled to tell voters what she wants to do with power.

    According to who, other than the smug editors at The Economist?

    And she isn’t struggling to define herself. This is just another media concoction that they just can’t seem to let go of.

  85. 85.

    Scout211

    @Steve LaBonne: They can take their asinine caricature of Harris and fuck themselves with it.

    Oh yeah. It was weak sauce as far as an endorsement goes (that’s why I included that part to highlight how weak it was), but it will bug Trump to no end to be dissed by them if his handlers tell him about it or if the press asks him about it.  And maybe a few of the readers will back off from the myth of Trump being good for the economy.

  87. 87.

    catclub

    @Kristine: ​
     Looking at the stock market down a lot today, I instantly thought it was people going to the sidelines fro a week. But who knows.
    The market has been really fabulous all year, and I do not see that as optimism that Trump will win and bring business nirvana.

  88. 88.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Scout211:

    These motherfuckers can go fuck themselves. What utter fucking bullshit.

    She has ordinary shortcomings, none of them disqualifying. Some of her policies are worse than her opponent’s, for example her taste for regulation and for further taxing wealth-creation. Some are merely less bad, on trade and the deficit, say. But some, on climate and abortion, are unambiguously better. It is hard to imagine Ms Harris being a stellar president, though people can surprise you. But you cannot imagine her bringing about a catastrophe.

  90. 90.

    Elizabelle

    @HumboldtBlue:

    It is hard to imagine Ms Harris being a stellar president, though people can surprise you.

    Fuckers at The Economist couldn’t figure out Biden, either.

    The BBC also takes its cue from rightwing framing; I think their partner might be CBS?

    Anyway, fuck ’em.  I think most of the journalists copy each other and purvey “conventional wisdom” anyway.  Stale, false, stale.

  91. 91.

    Baud

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Agreed about not looking at polls. What will they say other than it’ll be close? Even if we win big, however, it’s OK to condemn the millions who will vote for Trump.

  93. 93.

    Colleeniem

    1. @Steve in the ATL: it’s a bit outside of cologne

     

    @Mokum: You said it! Don’t sleep on Aachen, it’s beautiful, historic and quaint even in the non holiday months. It’s Christmas Market is huge compared to its small size.

  94. 94.

    ArchTeryx

    @Steve in the ATL: I’ve had acute pancreatitis and can confirm. It will absolutely wreck you (as in, kill you) if not treated very quickly, and the ride is worse than kidney stones.

    But like most inflammation-based diseases it can appear in mild form too.

  97. 97.

    West of the Rockies

    What’s with Trump’s cosplay BS?  McDonald’s worker one day, garbage man (dressed like a 1950’s soda jerk for some reason) the next… That all you got, bro?  Weak-ass sauce.

  99. 99.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Baud: Condemn away.  I’ll even join you.  I just want to wait until the votes are in before I start.*

    *Known MAGAs are, of course, an exception.

  101. 101.

    ArchTeryx

    @Baud: Being dead outside doesn’t sound so bad to me sometimes. But I want it to be on my terms, not the MAGAts. Which is why I still bother to be frightened.

  102. 102.

    Xantar

    @catclub: my stock portfolio (which is essentially an S&P index) is up 26.9% over the past year which is simply nuts. It’s been breaking even more or less for the past month, but in the longer term it’s just been on blastoff. I think even if the market just sat still for the next two months I would still easily come out ahead of the historical performance.

  103. 103.

    Jackie

    Liz!

    Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) used Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s latest rant about women voters to make the case for supporting Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign.

    On Twitter, Cheney posted a video of Kirk’s recent appearance on the Megyn Kelly show in which he fumed about a campaign targeting conservative women that encouraged them to vote for Harris — and to keep it a secret from their families.

    “It’s so gross!” Kirk fumed. “It’s just so nauseating where this wife … who comes in with her sweet husband who probably works his tail off to make sure that she can go and, you know, have a nice life, provides for the family. And then she lies to him, saying, ‘Oh yeah I’m going to vote for Trump’ and then she votes for Kamala Harris as her little secret in the voting booth.

    “Kamala Harris and her team believe that there will be millions of women that undermine their husbands and do so in a way that it’s not detectable in the polling!”

    This prompted Cheney to remark, “Listen to this twit make Donald Trump’s closing argument. Women, you know what to do. Vote Kamala.”

    https://www.rawstory.com/liz-cheney-charlie-kirk/

    Same subject, Jesse Watters threatens his wife with divorce should she vote for TCFG LIVE ON FAUX!

    https://www.rawstory.com/jesse-watters-comment-about-harris/

  106. 106.

    Uncle Cosmo

    One December a few years BC I was visiting Prague, and discovered a modest Christmas market of stalls scattered along Náměstí Republiky between Obecní dům and the Palladium. Easily reached via the yellow Metro line or a 7-minute walk from Wenceslas Square

    Unfortunately the Kotva department store further down the street, which was my go-to spot for Czech glassware to bring home (as gifts or otherwise), is boarded up for renovations (or replacement, no one was quite sure when I was there in September). Those who can afford it can visit the Moser shop (entrance on Na prikopje or in the Black Rose shopping mall (you should visit anyway, it’s like a Museum of Glass, and looking is free). For the less pricey but still lovely Bohemia stock, their shop is a left turn from the bottom of Wenceslas Square and around the corner to the beginning of Narodni Trida, right by an entrance to the Mustek metro stop. I bought some things there and found the prices actually comparable to the Kotva (which advertised 30-40% discounts). Go visit, it’s not often crowded.

  108. 108.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Elizabelle: You know I lived in Bamberg for a while, right?  Our go-to bar, Eulen Speigel, was on the pedestrian street leading up to the Rathaus.  On the non-cathedral side.  The Schenckerla brewery was a Sunday afternoon staple after the officers’ club champagne brunch.

  110. 110.

    ArchTeryx

    @Baud: Generally it’s not productive to reveal all your cards before the flop even turns. I have multiple disaster plans, and I hope I never have to use any of them. But better to have them than not.

  114. 114.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    An Ohio woman posted on tiktok today that she usually voted on election day, but today she was voting early because her husband was afraid that election day might be dangerous. Sigh. (I know from previous posts that this woman is a Democrat but it wouldn’t surprise me if Trump has created fear of election site violence in people from both parties.)

  116. 116.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Ksmiami: If you think that I am advising against people who would be at risk making plans, you are entirely mistaken.  I specifically named the behaviors that I am suggesting that people avoid.

  117. 117.

    Baud

    @ArchTeryx:

    Fair enough. But that’s the reason people give for dooming in the face of legitimate uncertainty. I’m nervous too because I don’t know what will happen, but I don’t see a justification for replacing my ignorance with a negative prediction.

  119. 119.

    ArchTeryx

    @Baud: Very much so. In a way, dooming is a form of steam pressure release – dumping the sum all your own fears out into the Internet can be cathartic. But trying to drag everyone else down with you is not productive – especially before anyone knows what’s in anyone else’s hand. The cards are still being dealt. The real game has yet to begin.

    Once people have actually voted, the cards have been turned over, and (I hope) TCFG files 10 million lawsuits because he’s been thoroughly drubbed, then that’s the time to seriously consider your future actions.

  120. 120.

    FelonyGovt

    @Jackie: Every day in every way these fuckers show their utter contempt for women. It makes me furious and I sure hope it hasn’t escaped the notice of many, many other women.

  122. 122.

    zhena gogolia

    @FelonyGovt: Trump saying he’s going to protect women whether they like it or not — could we have a more rapey presidential candidate? Couldn’t they get Harvey Weinstein to run?

  123. 123.

    Baud

    @Jackie:

    I don’t know if it’s a false trend, but the whole “wives bucking their MAGA husbands” meme has definitely been a popular social media theme this year.

  124. 124.

    Ksmiami

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’m just saying that a lot of us can cope, be anxious, do activities but also be mindful that Trump will the ruin of America and decide to make plans to arm up, gtfo, travel etc.-simultaneously

  125. 125.

    FelonyGovt

    @zhena gogolia: Yes, I really wished that statement had gotten more airing. It got lost in the firehose of vitriol and nonsense constantly spewing out of his piehole.

  126. 126.

    ArchTeryx

    @Baud: It’s enough of a threat that choads like Charlie Kirk are out in the open screeching about how any tradwife voting different than their husband is as good as committing adultery. In a close election every vote counts and they well know it.

    I do worry about the MANY rural polling places that allow husbands into the booth to monitor their wives. Yes, this happens. A lot more than you might think. A lot of Election Protection folks are assigned to urban areas, but I wonder if a few volunteers might just be assigned to rural ones, to report these kinds of shenanigans to EP lawyers.

  127. 127.

    Scout211

    Jackie: I hope the Trump surrogates keep pumping up the bros with their misogynist and paternalistic approach because each time they do, they will be in fact be pumping up all women to vote for Harris.

    Headline on the Daily Beast:

    MAGA Bros Are Freaking Out Because So Many Women Are Voting

  129. 129.

    Anoniminous

    @FelonyGovt:

    Getting a lot of play on TikTok.  60% of US TikTok’ers are women.  55% of TikTok users are under 30 – almost universally pro-Harris.  Add the fact the average female has 3-5 peer friend the message is out there.

  130. 130.

    Velocifowl

    @Ksmiami:

    Fleeing is giving up but I won’t fault people for saving their own hide.  With travel you have to come back if you can come back.  Arming up is fine for those of us who’ve had formal training and many of us are veterans but if you are arming up now with no formal training your not going to be taking on the goon squads effectively.

    The only thing that can be done now is getting people to vote and stressing identity issues not talking about the stock market.

    The largest issue is drilling it through peoples skulls that winning this election is not winning the war or even moving forward.  It’s hauling the assault and we have to start preparing for the next assault the day after we vote.  The fact that it took the MSG event to shock the Puerto Rican community into action at this level shows the sheer amount of apathy and lack of strategic thinking on our side.  That’s not to pick on PR they are just the latest example in a long line of examples of people not getting until they are specifically targeted before there is a massive outrage.

    Being outraged is good.  Having breakdowns (not saying you are but many are) is counter productive.

  132. 132.

    Steve LaBonne

    @Scout211: And the pollsters are busy underweighting them, and overweighting Republicans (I saw an egregious Wisconsin example of that the other day), so they can end up with a tie. That’s the safest place for them to be in a close election when they don’t actually have any idea what’s really going on.

  134. 134.

    Nunc Pro Tunc

    @WaterGirl: Sorry to use this as a forum for business, but I didn’t know any other way to reach you.

    I made a donation to Four Directions, and someone told me I should let you know just in case there was any matching.

  135. 135.

    Elizabelle

    @Omnes Omnibus:  Totally noticed you lived in Bamberg.  Lucky puppy.  Love it there.

    My DOD friends have moved back to Germany, and I am so visiting them next year.  Beyond time to go back.

    (Husband works for DOD schools.  They make the employees rotate home, briefly for a year, every few years.  He flew back to Europe on day 366.)

  136. 136.

    Bupalos

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’m going to suggest that “making plans” – when the plans are about running away or buying guns is just about the worst possible thing that could go on here. It’s playing in the fascists fantasy sandbox.

    Democracy can and probably will survive another Trump regime if we keep our heads, stay in reality, and show some courage. The more we do “half the country is voting for Nazi Germany, so I’m running” the more damaging a Trump regime would potentially be.

  137. 137.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Ksmiami: JFC, I wasn’t telling people not to be anxious.  I was suggesting that people not wallow in their anxiety.  Go read the words I actually wrote.

  138. 138.

    WaterGirl

    @Nunc Pro Tunc: No problem!  You can always reach me by email, too.  WaterGirl at balloon-juice.com

    There are no matches at the moment.  But the donation is much appreciated and will be put to good use in the coming few days.

  140. 140.

    Anoniminous

    @Steve LaBonne:

    The credulous stenographers journalist could know what is going on but that would require research and thinking.

    The simple fact is: if Harris’ support actually turns out to vote she’ll win.

  141. 141.

    Peale

    @Steve in the ATL: The best Christmas market I’ve been to outside of Nuremburg’s and Munich was the one they have in Osaka, Japan. LOL. Yep. They import Germans into Osaka each year. I’d say check it out, but a trip that is “Frankfurt for a few days, then Osaka, then check out the Cathedral at Cologne” is probably poses logistics problems.

  142. 142.

    hueyplong

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’m with you.  There is an ongoing attempt to flood the internet with material designed to depress the Dem vote and Dems in general.  In a better world it irritates more than it depresses.

  143. 143.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @Velocifowl: … winning this election is not winning the war or even moving forward. It’s hauling [halting?] the assault and we have to start preparing for the next assault the day after we vote.

    This. The fact that we’re in this position indicates to me we have a very serious problem. A large number of people living in this country are on a path to destroying it [some intentionally, some from apathy or inattention, …].

  144. 144.

    TBone

    In my best Electric Company yell:  📣 Hey you guys!

    Everyone at the red county Pennsyltucky Walmart laughed and smiled and high fived me about my Cat Ladies for Kamala and black cat ears costume, EVEN THE MEN!!!  People were going out of their way to come over and compliment me.  Not one single naysayer or dirty look.

    WE ARE GONNA CRUSH IT!

    🎶📣

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iPUmE-tne5U

    My baby blue Chucks are flying high!

  147. 147.

    Velocifowl

    @Anoniminous:

    Harris is going to win unless the GOP pulls Johnson’s little secret to create his new Christendom.  The benefit of driving up the vote now is that more people will be outraged when they try or succeed in tossing the actual election making it harder to pull off or do what they want after.

    They’re making their own position worse by revealing their strategy in advance.  Telegraphing your next steps is a horrible idea in a conflict and a conflict this is.

  148. 148.

    Soprano2

    @Velocifowl: I agree with this. Commodities are an especially stupid thing for people to be angry about when it comes to price, because there are so many factors that go into their prices. If there’s bird flu and millions of chickens have to be slaughtered, the price of chicken and eggs goes up temporarily. It has nothing to do with the government! You’ve summed it up pretty well, I think.

  149. 149.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Bupalos: Here, I am just going to note that it is entirely reasonable for immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, etc., to think seriously about what they would do if there is a second Trump administration.  We have the example of Central Europe in the 1930s to teach us this.  Quite frankly, everyone should have thought about what they will do if push comes to shove.  I certainly have.  This is not the place or time for a discussion of anyone’s specifics.

  150. 150.

    Jackie

    @FelonyGovt: Well Jesse Watters has a national audience – several who probably reacted with the same shock and horror his co-hosts exhibited in live time!

  151. 151.

    Ksmiami

    @Omnes Omnibus: touchy. I know that- I’m just saying some people actually prefer to be in a heightened state of anxiety when faced with crisis. It tends to focus the mind

  153. 153.

    TBone

    @Baud: It was different today – the crackling electricity of joy and impending victory is palpable!   The checkout guy dressed as Tink Teletubby, elderly ladies high fiving, the less abled male greeter, literally everyone is ON BOARD!  MEN were complimenting me unabashed!

  154. 154.

    Soprano2

    @Scout211:  True, she is an underwhelming machine politician. She has struggled to tell voters what she wants to do with power. She seems indecisive and unsure. However, she has abandoned the Democrats’ most left-wing ideas and is campaigning near the centre, flanked by Liz Cheney and other Republican exiles.

    OMG, what bullshit. Economist, I think your opinion is colored by her gender! If you put her words in the mouth of a white man, they wouldn’t be saying this.

  155. 155.

    Baud

    @TBone:

    Via reddit

    Rural PA: You have more Democratic neighbors than you think

    I spent last weekend canvassing near Lancaster (and will again this weekend), and I noticed something interesting. As a canvasser, I had a list of registered Democrats and independents to try to speak with.

     

    This was about 20 minutes outside of Lancaster, in a pretty rural area. On two occasions, the Democratic voter I spoke with wished me luck but warned me, “We’re one of the few,” or “You won’t find a lot of Democrats around here.” In fact, I was knocking on about every fourth house — and these were just the voters we weren’t sure were voting blue.

     

    At the end of my canvas, I got an Uber back to Lancaster. The car stopped in the wrong driveway, and when I got there, the 40-something white male homeowner was standing on his lawn. I apologized and said I was getting a ride after canvassing. He asked me who I was backing. When I told him, he nodded and said, “You’ve got two votes here.”

     

    Rural Democrats: Don’t assume you’re an island.

  156. 156.

    Jackie

    @FelonyGovt: MJ played that at least 4 times this morning. It’s almost bumped the Puerto Rico/garbage “joke” into second place. That footage has been/being played on MSNBC today.

  157. 157.

    Soprano2

    @Omnes Omnibus: I agree. I don’t worry about the polls because I don’t think they have any idea how to model the electorate. When you see how much the same numbers can vary depending on the assumptions they make about the electorate, you realize how easy it is for pollsters to manipulate people with their polls.

  158. 158.

    Soprano2

    @John S.: All of that bullshit is their way of saying something like “She’s a woman, we just don’t understand those people, but we’re not as scared of her as we are of TCFG”.

  159. 159.

    Velocifowl

    @Mr. Bemused Senior:

    We’ve always been in this situation since before we were a nation.  Each step forward just drives them to further extremes to roll it all back.  The next presidential election will be dumber than this one.  There’s nothing that can be done except to keep pushing and get others to help.

  160. 160.

    Soprano2

    @Elizabelle: Ugh, I tried that smoked beer. I thought it was terrible, but of course I don’t like beer. Kolsche was pretty good, though, at least some of it.

  161. 161.

    Captain C

    @Jackie:

    Jesse Watters threatens his wife with divorce should she vote for [against?] TCFG

    I think this falls under the category of ‘don’t threaten me with a good time.’

    He also apparently said it would be D-Day in his house if she did, to which the reply is, ‘Yeah, let’s roleplay.  You be the Germans like you want to be, and I’ll be the 8th Air Force.  Bombs away, motherfucker!”

  162. 162.

    ArchTeryx

    @TBone: That’s why I am hoping Election Protection sends a few volunteers to Pennsyltucky polling sites, so husbands can’t directly interfere with their wives’ votes. Rural votes count too, and in a statewide election this close EVERY vote counts. They should be doing all they can to prevent MAGAt men from doubling up their votes using their wives as hostages.

  165. 165.

    Soprano2

    @Jackie: Just wow, ladies, the right-wing attitude toward women laid bare right there. Notice how he assumes they don’t work to earn money and instead live off their husbands. Gross, gross, gross, then they wonder why no women want to date them.

  166. 166.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Mapanghimagsik: love it. Cultural observances.

    i need the day after off, because late night spiritual “observances”

    but no desire to explain to folks in mainstream religions.

  167. 167.

    Baud

    My guess is that Jesse Watters isn’t going to do anything to his wife, but he wouldn’t mind inciting his viewers to engage in a little domestic abuse.

  168. 168.

    Velocifowl

    @Ksmiami:

    Being in a heightened state of anxiety is the worst possible thing should the shit hit the fan.  For those of us who served that’s drilled into your head quick.  People in heightened states do dumb shit.

  170. 170.

    Anoniminous

    @Velocifowl: ​

    Trump is a lying blustering incompetent bully. Johnson isn’t any better. The prospect of those two morons actually over-throwing the US Federal Government and retaining power through some half-assed palace coup-de-etat is laughable.

  172. 172.

    Elizabelle

    @Steve LaBonne:  Van captives.  LOL.

    And telling them they won’t have their motel room bill paid for if they don’t get major numerical results is just asking for them to provide fraudulent numbers.  (Which may have been the impetus for that threat, frankly.)

  174. 174.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Jackie: wildly mind blowing.
    and if the aforementioned wife is “at home,” while he “works his tail off” I can imagine she works hard so he can have a nice life.

  176. 176.

    Jackie

    Harris comments about TCFG’s misogynistic “promise” to protect women:

    Kamala Harris said that Donald Trump’s comment that he would protect women “whether the women like it or not” showed that the Republican presidential nominee does not understand women’s “agency, their authority, their right and their ability to make decisions about their own lives, including their own bodies,” The Guardian reports.

    Said Harris: “I think it’s offensive to everybody, by the way.”

  178. 178.

    Steve in the ATL

    @planetjanet: ​
     sehr gut!
    @Soprano2: ​
     wouldn’t miss it!
    @Suzanne: ​curious. When I was last there–about four years ago–al-SiSi was quite popular, especially compared to his predecessor. I guess the bloom is off the Egyptian rose!

  179. 179.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @TBone: fabulous. I know you looked incredible in your cat ears and cat ladies for Kamala shirt, too.
    delicious story of goodness. In pennsyltucky, no less.

    i was just reading headlines on Apple News on my tablet. Just the f___ g headlines.
    your story makes me feel better

  180. 180.

    Kristine

    @catclub:

    The market has been really fabulous all year, and I do not see that as optimism that Trump will win and bring business nirvana.

    I’ve read in various places over the years that, while the market likes deregulation etc, they like stability even more. Musk and his buddies may be looking forward to disruption that drives folks to sell assets (homes, companies, etc) that they can snap up for pennies on the dollar, but the market in general? Maybe not so much.

  181. 181.

    Velocifowl

    @Ksmiami:

    I can understand that.  I’ve been through enough crazy situations in life I sort of go into a zen state while others lose their minds.

    On election night I’m going to open a bottle of scotch and smoke a cigar regardless of the outcome!

  182. 182.

    Anoniminous

    @Steve LaBonne:

    Even those dumbasses at 538 know Trump Has-To-Have North Carolina is in play at R + 1.1% and that’s after the recent dump of BS polls from Republicans.  Since Dobbs pollsters have been under-counting Dem by a minimum of 4% and, as you point out, Harris’ ground game we have to give Harris the edge to win.

  183. 183.

    Kristine

    @Ruckus:

    I could also be because some of these jackasses don’t want a woman as president. Seemingly they’d rather have shitforbrains than a smart, competent woman. Likely because they think they can get away with more…..

    I hope they get broadsided.

  185. 185.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @TBone: fabulous. I know you looked incredible in your cat ears and cat ladies for Kamala shirt, too.
    delicious story of goodness. In pennsyltucky, no less.

    i was just reading headlines on Apple News on my tablet. Just the f___ g headlines.
    your story makes me feel better

     

    @Baud: We have a lot of ways to fight. We’re trying to avoid the more destructive ways. That’s what this election is mostly about.

    indeed, a most excellent summary

  189. 189.

    evodevo

    @Steve in the ATL: ​
      Every town has a Christkindlmarkt in Dec. great place to sample Xmas goodies, drink Gluhwein till you are tipsy (DON’T DRIVE), buy all kinds of crafts, and visit the local Kathe Wohlfahrt store. My husband was into beer steins at that time and bought some good ones at various markts.

  190. 190.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Uncle Cosmo: ​
     yeah, Prague is not a big religious town. And with that history it makes sense. Any time of year, however, eat at Food Lab in the Jewish Quarter!

  192. 192.

    TBone

    @ArchTeryx: the women here are not submissive, as a rule.  I know a lot of people here in Union County, Pennsyltucky (though I’ve since been shunned by the MAGAs) and I would not characterize a single woman friend or acquaintance as submissive.  In fact, quite the opposite.  They run the farms and the households and tend to roll up their sleeves and take no shit.

  193. 193.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Gin & Tonic: ​
     thank you. That’s too far for this trip but we do this about every other year, so I have filed it away for future travel.

  194. 194.

    Bupalos

    @Omnes Omnibus: Timothy Snyder makes the contention in Bloodlands that on the whole Jews who fled Germany had about the same rate of survival as those who stayed. If you somehow got off the continent, much better, but that was not available to many. If you fled east, significantly worse.

    I think even those who feel themselves to be at elevated risk might want to think the entire equation through. What happens to the U.S. if we run, and what happens to the places we’re imagining we can go to be safe if the United States no longer backstops a global order and if those places are receiving lots of refugees.

  196. 196.

    Soprano2

    @Omnes Omnibus: Hmmm, didn’t have any of that. I had some awful apple wine in Frankfurt a long time ago. We like the sweeter German wines, spatlese and auslese. It was hard to find them in the stores there, most of the wine was “trocken”. That surprised me. My one regret was that I was never able to go into an Aldi’s in Germany; I wanted to see if they were the same as they are here.

  197. 197.

    evodevo

    @Steve in the ATL: When you have time (another trip further south?) Rothenburg auf der Tauber is a must see.  We stayed there for two days in a hotel next to the town square and still didn’t see it all – and it’s a small town.  The worst crepes I ever ate were at a booth at Strasbourg’s christkindlmarkt lol – whocouldaknowed!  And Baden Baden is an interesting place to stay if you want to see the Schwarzwald area.

  201. 201.

    Bostondreams

    @HumboldtBlue: I feel like an idiot but I can’t tell whether he was being satirical or not. I THINK he was making fun of the Trumpers and mock outrage?

  203. 203.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Bupalos: I am not telling people to stay or run.  That would be fucking presumptuous as hell.  I think that thinking through the potential consequences of a Trump win is sensible.  As is deciding how one would handle it.  I think doomscrolling and similar behavior is not sensible and I was advising against it.  That’s it.

    FWIW I think that Harris is likely to win, and I would not be surprised if it is a big win.

  206. 206.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Steve in the ATL: ​
    It’s funny, my dear wife had seen about a 15-second segment on TV about the parade in Kussnacht, and said “Hey, I want to go to that.” So that’s what we did. It was great fun, and the start of about two weeks traveling around Switzerland, Austria and Germany. But it sounds like you’ll be pretty far north.

  210. 210.

    cain

    @Baud: I’m ok with condemning trumpers.

    I don’t look at polls unless someone posted on here and I pretty much ignore it.

    We are going to win, and we are going to win big. I’m going to be drunk and happy on Nov 6th.

  211. 211.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Velocifowl: the socially progressive werhmach era created an identity backlash that lead to

    That’s the interesting part, I wish I knew more about that. Eso as a possible parallel. I need to learn more about this. If it was covered in my history classes, I seem to have missed it, lost in all the horrifying waves of influences and causes. Can you recommend any good sources, not too dense?

    (I’m really low tolerance for the history of white men and their wars, businesses, and their successfully crushing quests for power. )

  216. 216.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Omnes Omnibus: I think she’ll win too.

    there’s doom scrolling. And then, there’s there are headlines. Crazy slanted headlines on my news feed. CNN, wsj, huff post, making the R guy sound plausibly electable, making the D lady seem lame but semi ok.

    That Economist article
    struggling? Underwhelming? How dare they write that way, or even think that way?

  217. 217.

    Gloria DryGarden

    Had I a husband, and were I a stay-home domestic goddess partner,

    i might consider offering serious repercussions were he to vote  for that unspeakable man boy candidate.

    ( spoken in my best attempt at using a British accent, doing a Helen mirren/Emily blunt  imitation)

  221. 221.

    Velocifowl

    @Gloria DryGarden:

    Essentially what happened is the cosmopolitan middle class accepted women’s rights, gay rights, cross dressing, and a more liberal culture.  This caused a backlash from traditionalists including rural Germans, Protestants, and Catholics.  They sided with Hitler and the Church was instrumental in drafting and justifying the final solution.  Of course the industrialists threw in with them and the rest is history we all know.

    It’s the same backlash story that keeps happening.

  222. 222.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Kristine: oh, it’s you suggesting the broadside event?

    One imagines many things, as a soothing mental release of the anxious tension. On imagine beaucoup des choses , non? C’est vrai, ça.

  224. 224.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Velocifowl:

    My impression, correct me if I’m wrong, is that happened over a relatively short period of time. Germany did not have a long history of liberalism and constitutional government like the US does, where rights were gained over a lengthy period, with backlashes and some backsliding along the way, of course. It’s not exactly 1:1

  225. 225.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Aimai:

    Somebody hit me over the head until the next month is over. I absolutely can’t take it anymore.

    Join the club.

  228. 228.

    Velocifowl

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    You’re correct.  The issues and the sides are the same but the time span is not.

    Many on the right will outright state that they get to do a fascism now because that’s always the result of social liberalism in these areas.  So if you don’t want fascism you must never have social liberalism because that always results in fascism.

    These people don’t change it’s always the same stuff no matter where or when it happens.

  229. 229.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Jackie:

    What’s really weird to me is this part of what Diaper Boy said:

    “It’s so gross!” Kirk fumed. “It’s just so nauseating where this wife … who comes in with her sweet husband who probably works his tail off to make sure that she can go and, you know, have a nice life, provides for the family.

    He turned 18 in 2011 – he doesn’t remember when things were like that here, unless you were an evangelical or part of some other culturally conservative cult.  Hell, I’m four decades older than he is, and while I remember that world, that was a looooooooong time ago.  Where does he get this shit?  And what normie wouldn’t find that vision of marriage a bit jarring?

    Not only isn’t it the 1950s anymore, the 1950s were 40 years before he was born.

    What a weirdo.

  230. 230.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): The first gasps of liberal democracy came from the 1848ers, a generation that had  absorbed the ideas behind the French Revolution that Napoleon had brought in with his imperial conquests.  The Weimar Republic was the first attempt at governing the unified Germany under those principles.  It was handicapped from the beginning by its association with the loss in WWI and by the fact that liberal democracy really only appealed to the educated, largely urban middle class.  The urban poor had communism.  The rural peasants were led both the Protestant and Catholic Churches and trended conservative and authoritarian.  The upper classes were largely monarchist or thought that the could harness and control the fascists.  The lower middle classes who found the fancy liberals to be condescending and snotty were ripe for recruitment by the fascists.  It was not set up for success.*

    *This is full of overly broad generalizations and any one statement could be picked apart by a historian of the period.

  231. 231.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Velocifowl: just accepting rights for women and gays? Sheesh.

    So we’re going to be constantly in for it, unless we can help these “traditionalists” to soften their views.

    Thank you for your quickie explanation, perfect.

    how about the traditions of ancient Sumerian, and matrilineal, nature-honoring, goddesss-centered old old civilizations? And two -spirit honoring Native American cultures?
    For some reason, I think back on the inquisition and the burning times, and the things that happened to not only people with slightly heretical views, but to anyone of Jewish descent, and the healers, herbalists, and  midwives that the new male doctors wanted to put out of business, and the rich or strong-minded widows (think drug repo) and uppity women, across a pretty long time. All those cat owners that had less rats, and were less at risk for plague. All those rural people who relied on local midwives in spite of biblical ideas that women should suffer.

    Not going back to a time in which women and gays (and other liberal-accepted groups ) can’t be accepted, and have to hide, be submissive, etc.
    (I’m including diversity and plurality here, and BIPOC peoples, and ongoing immigrants, just trying to avoid cumbersome sentences)

    on a tangent, because I wonder how the white Christian male dominion-ists might get what they need without crushing everyone else,

    there’s the thought of the difference between having ethics and morality (which does not require a belief in a God),

    and obeying, obedience.
    which circles back to Hitler, Franco, fascism, the inquisition,

    things devoutly to be avoided. If we can.

  235. 235.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @lowtechcyclist: agree. I made a few comments in this thread, picking on this very block quote.

    someone needs to make him a special dinner, laced w some substance that prevents erections for a month, or makes his thingy wither for a time. ( Since there aren’t herbs to make it fall off)

    Dont worry, I don’t know of any herbs that do that. It’s the thought that counts.

  236. 236.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @lowtechcyclist: figure skating videos on YouTube. Gymnastics. Archeology, geography, coral reefs, octopus and dolphin and whale videos. If it gets really bad, ocean waves and rain in the woods on YouTube.

  238. 238.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @Anoniminous:

    tl;dr – from what we know Harris is poised to win + reasons

    I would supplement that tl;dr with [my paraphrase] “our efforts are producing positive results but we must continue working like demons until all the polls close.”

  239. 239.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @TBone: me too. Can I wear a ballerina costume please?

    The weather has never permitted, and I sadly never had any heart for other costumes.
    it’s become a holiday for ancestor connection, and releasing the old, to look ahead.

  240. 240.

    Velocifowl

    @Gloria DryGarden:

    We can’t make them soften their views.  There’s always a certain portion of humanity where those views are hardwired into them.  There’s nothing you can do about it other than being aware that xx% of the population is like that and is always going to congregate in strict hierarchies which in our European based historical sense has been the Church.  The moment they lose control they go for societal collapse and establishing an autocracy which is just fine with the wealthy and the aristocracy.

    The barbarians are always at the gates.  And they see social progress as the barbarians at their gates.  It’s a fight that never ends.  It’s just hard for us to defend against because the very nature of a free society gives them the means to press the self destruct button within the system.  Historically they always do once things change enough.  Germany it happened quickly because they changes happened quickly.  With the US our changes happened slowly and the backlash also happened slowly but we’ve ended up at the same critical moment none the less.

    Still, the notion that this conflict is going away is wrong.

  241. 241.

    Aziz, light!

    I’ll take the Economist’s endorsement despite its anti-Harris bullshit. I’ll take any endorsement that might induce country-club Republicans to change their vote this time. If they need to hear the usual slanders about Democrats to maintain their air of superiority, fine — if it changes their vote this time. I’d actually like to see more outlets damn Harris with faint praise while explaining in no uncertain terms why the alternative is worse — if it changes votes from R to D. There are plenty of Republicans who are neither magats or never-trumpers who might be persuaded to vote D while still being allowed to feel good about themselves because they’ve been fed some anti-Harris bullshit they can tell each other at the country club buffet to rationalize the heresy of voting D.

  251. 251.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @TBone: wow.
    i never truly listened to the words so well before. Whatever Mick’s character, he sure made a lot of great music!

  252. 252.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Steve LaBonne: im crushed!

    no. Jesus did not teach them domineering behavior nor to crush others. (Iirc from childhood church stuff)

    Let them play Football, then use tools to build houses and barns and refinish kitchens and then to carve tree stumps into mermaid and owls and bears and such, and with the leftover energy let them play global football (Soccer), then ride bikes for 50 miles, then come in and crush the apples in the cider press. After that they can come in and chop the onions for dinner prep.

    if they can be busy with trying to convert people to their religion, I can desire to convert these lost men back to their true nature, which is not toxic masculinity. Some inner empowerment and relishing of life, embracing vulnerability ( which exists, no matter how hard they try.)

    oh, ok. I know some people are black and white thinkers, and literalists. That right-wrong polarity, it’s an early stage in faith-ing. That’s where some people are. Agnostics, and atheists, are a more advanced stage. [reference: Charlotte Davis kasl, in her book, “beyond the 12 steps”.] Those one’s, I can believe, can’t be converted. L

    Let me read up on deprogramming, and consider how their development out of black and white thinking might be encouraged.

  253. 253.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Bill Arnold: I shall relish looking through that. Star hawk gave an incredible lecture on early Sumerian writings, and she teased out some very interesting angles on male female relations as writing and the warrior king standing army way of society was coming in with the new conquering nomadic people, but bits of the older ways seeped into the writing. What had to be restructured to get the guys into leaving sweet sweet home life, to be in a regular standing army….
    It was some older poetry with the queen in it, a little spicy.
    I hope I can find some of that

    Thanks for this great resource.

  254. 254.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Ksmiami: D for disease

    F for fear.

    in the USA, these are failing grades. Not a good way to live.

    In their Christian Bible, those aren’t recommended, either. I’m not saying they are Christians, but they pretend to be, and use religion as their excuse for control and darkness. Jesus would be turning over in his grave, if he has one.

    other religions have a dark, controlling streak, or some sects that are.

    It’s a grave situation.

  255. 255.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Omnes Omnibus: sport sex. It’s a new phrasing for me. Does it mean have sex for the fun of it?

    i mean, I know it’s a sport, and all…

    after all, one Christmas as dad and sister and I waded through sears to knock off the items on my moms Christmas list, we headed to lingerie to buy mom her new nightgown, dad said he didn’t understand why this department was called lingerie, it should be called sportswear.
    which went over my head until I grew up…

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