The Democratic nominee for governor of Virginia, Abigail Spanberger, maintains a double-digit lead over her Republican opponent, according to a new poll.
— Politico (@politico.com) July 16, 2025 at 2:37 PM
===
well, that ought to tamp down on the rumors, great work, everyone
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) July 16, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Maurene Comey, who prosecuted Jeffrey Epstein and is former FBI Director James Comey’s daughter, was fired Wednesday from her job in the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, according to two people familiar with the matter who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The reason for her firing was not immediately clear. She did not immediately respond to phone calls and an email seeking comment. Spokespeople for the Justice Department and the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment.
Comey, who had worked in the U.S. attorney’s office for nearly a decade, prosecuted both Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell…
Comey’s firing also comes as the Trump administration is reportedly investigating her father, whom Trump has long reviled. The investigations apparently relate to James Comey’s role in the probe of links between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia, as well as a recent Instagram post by James Comey that Trump allies saw as threatening to Trump.
And in recent months, Maurene Comey has been the target of renewed attacks by voices in Trump’s right-wing base, including Laura Loomer, who called on Bondi to fire her in May. More recently, Loomer has been leading the MAGA base’s outcry over the Justice Department’s decision not to release further Epstein-related documents.
Maurene Comey was given no explanation for her firing, according to a third person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to discuss it publicly. That person also said the decision to fire her didn’t come from the office’s interim U.S. attorney, Jay Clayton, meaning it was likely made by someone at the Justice Department’s headquarters…
=====
Look! Over there! A distraction…
good luck next year joni ernst
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) July 16, 2025 at 4:51 PM
On The Road – beckya57 – Alaska cruise
Baud
Good on Abigail Spanberger. Should be a triple digit lead though.
Mai Naem mobile
For Comey’s sake I hope he’s had his go bag ready to go and skipped town.
Jeffro
And that’s BEFORE most Virginians hear where Winsome Earle-Sears stands on the issues.
AG Miyares, later this year: “thanks a lot, Winsome! Now I have to quit hurting Virginians and get a job.”
Virginia = too educated and diverse and anti-trump (statewide, that is). But keep pouring money into the race, GOP!
hueyplong
The post prompts a few idle thoughts:
1. Laura Loomer seems to be the Martin Bormann of this administration.
2. Kind of weird for Trump to think the ultimate diversion from his existential threat is to attempt to revive a very short-term pop culture brouhaha from 40 years ago (setting aside the fact that he’s some kind of diet coke freak who wouldn’t know one full sweetener from another).
3. There is no way the pig has a clue as to why Iowa might not enthusiastically cheer on this latest brilliant Trumpian coup.
Ohio Mom
Making America Healthy Again by making Coke tastier.
Suzanne
It’s incredibly telling how FFOTUS believes he can distract his base away from the Epstein stuff by literally talking about soda. Like giving your dog a treat. Just utter contempt. TBH, I’m here for it.
Baud
@Suzanne:
Reposted from below.
Viva BrisVegas
The US government directly controls domestic cane sugar prices through import restrictions, subsidies and price setting. It does so to the advantage of big corporate southern sugar growers, mostly in Florida, Louisiana and Texas. It’s one of the many unfair restrictions on free trade that the US imposes on other countries and that Trump ignores. It’s only the artificially inflated cost of sugar that makes corn syrup an attractive alternative in US soda drinks.
Corn growers in Iowa and across the mid-west will not be made happy by this deal between Trump and Coke. If such a deal actually exists.
Unless Trump is intending to screw over some of his most dedicated and generous supporters in the south by allowing cheaper imports, the domestic price of cane sugar will have to increase as demand increases. So expect the price of Coke to increase.
Baud
@Viva BrisVegas:
Suzanne
@Baud: LMAO. The memes are getting spicy. To the point that I might be getting curious about this, too.
If there is a list, I will note that I fully expect some Democrats, interesting celebrities, etc. to be on it. SuzMom and I were discussing this over the weekend because we took a trip to the art museum, and I noted that great artists have been shit people for, well, ever. Caravaggio was a murderer, Degas was a pedophile, Carl Andre probably pushed Ana Mendieta out a window.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
A great documentary (funny and informative) on corn and how we got to where we are with it:
youtube.com/watch?v=tbRHGHYMGpU
Explains so much about corn syrup, trade policy, etc. Again, not at all dry, the animations alone are a hoot.
Baud
@Suzanne:
Sure. We’re not perfect. We’re just disproportionately better.
Mai Naem mobile
Josh Johnson has another long stand up on tfg and epstein, and it’s good.
youtu.be/q5M16u2bAeA?si=FkutCthzqAopHnKq
Suzanne
@Baud: Agree. And, like, ultimately I’m not ride or die for any of these people. I can believe in the principles I believe in, or enjoy some people’s art/work product, and separate that from any shittiness they may have in their personal lives.
It’s good to separate politics from fandom. I’m increasingly disturbed by fandom.
Baud
@Suzanne:
Makes sense. We’re in an age where both religious and secular cults are running rampant.
satby
@Mai Naem mobile: He’s always good!
p.a
The Random
NumberIdiocy Generator is going to circuit-fry waaayyyyy before 2028.Horrifyingly, the Random Cruelty Generator gets stronger and stronger.
mappy!
We know Taco is prominent in the Epstein annals, that’s old news that the average maga doesn’t care about in the least. However, I’m guessing that there are a lot of monied Republicans and monied sycophants on that list that don’t want any light shown on them. So maybe it’s circle the wagons time? Who is really being protected, not Taco…
(reformulated from below)
Princess
Iowa and Joni Ernst was the first thing I thought of when I saw Trump’s coke post.
Also too, I think the US produces no cane sugar. It’s all from the places he’s imposed huge new tariffs on.
ETA okay I’m wrong. Let’s talk about Epstein some more.
Suzanne
@Baud: It’s a weird thing, how we even talk about it. There’s been this transition from speaking in the active voice to identifying oneself with some group (inchoate though it may be), and that implies a different relationship. Instead of saying, “I like Star Wars”, it’s “I’m a Star Wars fan”.
Maybe it’s my generational mistrust of institutions, but I’ve never been comfortable talking about myself that way. I don’t like to identify myself with groups. I prefer to describe myself by what I do. FFOTUS has very much used group identity and signifiers (like the damn hats) to great success for him, and it’s definitely one of the weirder things about the last ten years.
Baud
@Suzanne:
I miss the Obama years when our identity was grounded in our cell phone OS.
.
Perhaps because I wasted so much of my youth trying to fit it, I’m now kind of the opposite: I affirmatively don’t want to fit in too closely with any group. I’m too much of a universal heretic for it to work out anyway.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Suzanne: Booktok jumps on anyone praising the Harry Potter books because of Rowling’s statements on trans people. I understand the resistance. You don’t want to put money in Rowling’s pocket, though god knows, she has plenty. But I still think readers should be able to enjoy the books
Princess
@Suzanne: I’m personally wary of fandoms of all kinds – of associating myself as part of a corps of fans. I suspect this is just neurotic on my part.
I do think fandoms serve in some way to replace religion in many of their members’ lives — shared bodies of stories lore and or practices, community etc.
Baud
@Princess:
I hear Epstein was a big booster of cane sugar and promoted it among all of his clients.
Princess
@Dorothy A. Winsor: This goes to my point about fandoms as religion. The Potter fandom was more than just liking the books. It was community, story, and a way of thinking about ethics and values especially for oddball kids. When Rowling came out as hating trans people, it struck at the core of that. There’s no way to just like the books now.
Geminid
@Jeffro: I think Republicans had better spend money in New Jersey, not Virginia. Winsome Sears is in way over her head and is a lost cause. Mikie Sherrill’s opponent Jack Ciattarelli might have a chance in New Jersey, although early polling shows her with a good lead.
It’sa little weird that of the three important races this year, the New York mayoral contest is getting much more attention than the other two combined. The two states and the city have comparable populations, with NYC’s the smallest.
But it’s very understandable because of NYC’s unique prominence in American political culture. Also, there’s some intra-party drama, and the media converge on “Dems-in-disarray” stories like sharks smelling blood in the water.
I suspect the sharks will miss their meal though. We should know more on this score after Zohran Mamdani and Hakeem Jeffries meet tomorrow in New York. These are two smart and pragmatic politicians and I am interested in seeing how they handle this encounter.
Princess
I confess I don’t know where it’s going or if it’s going anywhere but I do love Epstein social media. Long may it last. It’s got all the ingredients of a story with legs and the bad guys keep feeding it.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
Baud
@Geminid:
I don’t care that much about NYC, but it’s hard to miss the news. According to the headlines, Mamdani has clarified the intifada issue, which I assumed was a prelude to his meeting with Jeffries. I wonder if there are other sticking points. We’ll find out soon.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Shalimar
@Baud: I really don’t understand why Coke doesn’t offer a sugar version. Mexican Coke sells for 4-5 times what domestic Coke does, albeit in small quantities because of the price. You would think they could get a premium by catering to that market with an additional product. They don’t need to replace Coke like they did in the ’80s. Just add a domestic alternative.
Geminid
@Dorothy A. Winsor: It’s funny how “cancellation” goes. I usually seperate artists’ work from their politics. But ever since I heard how Paul Simon stole a song from Los Lobos, I switch the radio dial when one of his songs comes up.
Baud
@Shalimar:
Coke Premium?
Yeah, I don’t know the answer to that one.
Baud
BretH
@rikyrah: GM!!!
TurnItOffAndOnAgain
@Dorothy A. Winsor: The problem with JK is she has literally said her money from her books and the show that’s coming out are all directly going into anti-trans organization funding. She’s a real foaming at the mouth type now, and really is one of those people you should not give even a little money anymore.
Betty Cracker
@Suzanne:
Same.
p.a.
@TurnItOffAndOnAgain: Library!
Ken B
@Shalimar: I read somewhere that Coke does sell a cane-sugar version during some religious holiday(s?).
Supposedly, the Coke bottles you occasionally see with yellow caps are kosher/halal.
Another Scott
@Jeffro: Miyares winning again could throw a big monkey-wrench in progress in Virginia. I worry about him. :-(
VirginiaMercury.com:
Of course, Miyares is the incumbent and has had 4 years to fundraise, while Jones has only been the nominee for a few weeks.
But here’s hoping that Jones ups his game and makes Miyares set even more money on fire.
Forward!!
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
dc
Coke (and similar) is a waste of money. Everyone should just cease to drink it, here and everywhere.
Anyway
@Baud: I am always worried about NJ governor/senate races. Too many NJ D-disappointed, R-curious coworkers, acquaintances, friends over the years…not a perfect sampling but enough to be aware of the difficulties below the surface.
catclub
@Mai Naem mobile: I have not that much concern for that self righteous blowhard.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@TurnItOffAndOnAgain: I wouldn’t buy one of Rowling’s books, but I don’t think people should be jumping down the throats of a 20yo happily reminiscing about how they got into reading because of Harry Potter. They probably are unaware of what Rowling is saying, so you could (should?) try to educate them, but I hate to see people shaming them for a happy memory
Suzanne
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I will never give Rowling another cent, because I don’t like what she’s doing with her money. But, agree, the books can stand on their own. I already own them, anyway.
Librettist
Coca-Cola isn’t going to take a high margin product and turn it into…. Coke.
For his next trick, big brain will be recommending GM badge Cadillacs as Chevys.
Baud
@Anyway:
Yeah, NJ is always closer than it should be, and elected Christie twice. Having a female nominee won’t help. But hopefully the Trump effect will be decisive.
Anyway
Plus Coke and the like are old people’s drinks – goes with Cheeto’s aesthetic. Sparkling water (of many flavors) is what I see most on offer.
catclub
Not just that, both Simon and the Beatles stole from Bach, so turn them off too.
Betty Cracker
RC is better than Coke.
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: Spoiler alert: by being a colossal dick.
Another Scott
@Viva BrisVegas: The US Sugar Beet lobby is undoubtedly very, very upset. Why should they be discriminated against?? Their product is better than cane and more sustainable identical sugar!!1
I expect to see tractor trailers of sugar beets being dumped in front of Mar a Lago any day now…
[/snark]
Seriously, everything about modern life and modern government is complicated when looked at seriously and carefully. 47 making mouth noises is just him making mouth noises – there’s no actual thinking behind it…
(As we all know.)
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
p.a.
Still extant!
RC Cola (short for Royal Crown Cola[1]) is a carbonated colabeverage owned in the United States by Keurig Dr Pepper and internationally by RC Global Beverages, Inc.
ETA: Moxie owned by Coke, and uses hfcs
Annndddd… Upper 10 was once a flagship brand for RC Cola, it has been largely discontinued in the US and Canada due to the success of 7 Up, also owned by the same company, Dr Pepper Snapple Group.
catclub
@Baud:
So you are saying you are a perfect member of the Groucho Marx club?
Librettist
@Gin & Tonic:
He and his son are being such low balling dicks that I don’t believe Paramount shareholders will ever approve that deal.
gene108
@Geminid:
Ciattarelli did better, in 2021, against Murphy than most people expected. The race was much closer than anyone expected based on Murphy’s poll numbers.
I feel Republicans were still mad about Trump’s 2020 loss, in 2021, while Democrats wanted a breather from all the work they put during Trump 1.0.
I think there was a real enthusiasm gap that benefited Republicans in 2021 in the NJ election.
I’m not sure how enthusiastic voters are this year.
Geminid
@Another Scott: I’m interested in seeing how Jay Jones does on the campaign trail. In-person appearances can only do so much for a candidate, but the former Delegate seems to have the elements of a strong politician and I want to see what his game is like. Jay Jones is young and ambitious and I think he’ll put in the work.
If Jones can beat Jason Miyares I expect he’ll be our next governor after Abigail Spanberger. Another easy prediction: Spanberger will move on to the Senate when Tim Kaine retires in 2030.
catclub
From CNN:
It took this long? Extremely slow learners.
Suzanne
@Baud:
This is me, as well. (Well, I didn’t really try too hard to fit in, I was always weird.) But, like, I am just not a joiner.
ETA: I realize that there are many exceptions to this…… but strong alignments with groups feels like a thing authoritarian Republicans do. Maybe that’s why it chafes on me, even in non-political contexts.
catclub
@Gin & Tonic: and also owning a company that was and is a firehose of money for going on 40 years.
Layer8Problem
@p.a.: Clicked on your nym accidentally, saw your Providence image, said “I got that! I know those streets!”
And now I have to go hunting for RC around here.
Betty Cracker
From Politico:
The other day, I heard a clip on a podcast of a Dem who’s running in the Dem primary to face Collins. Can’t remember his name, but he’s a former Congressional staffer. Sounded like someone who could knock the Furrowed Brow off her perch, but I know nothing about Maine politics.
On the podcast, they ran a clip of Collins in her first senate run advocating for term limits and vowing to serve a maximum of two terms. If she runs again, this will be her fifth or sixth term? Just run that on loop!
Librettist
Also, dum-dum might want to avoid reminders of what consumers are now paying for over sweetened carbonated beverages.
Baud
Geo Wilcox
@Viva BrisVegas: It’s just an excuse to raise prices on crappy drinks.
Another Scott
@Librettist: Inorite? $7.50 for a 12 pack??!! That’s highway robbery!!
Why in my day you could get a cold bottle of Coke – in a Glass bottle! As the Founders intended!!1 No PFAs and Microplastics and …!!11 – from a vending machine for a dime!! A DIME!!1
And where is that Epstein File anyway!!11ONE
Best wishes,
Scott.
Geminid
@catclub: A very poor analogy.
lowtechcyclist
@Princess:
I wouldn’t have considered myself a part of Potter fandom, but I loved the books. And one of the series’ strengths was saying, in effect, that it’s okay to be different. And like you say, Rowling’s TERFing was a betrayal of that.
If other people can continue to enjoy the Potterverse despite Rowling’s exclusionary attitude towards trans persons, I won’t tell them they shouldn’t. But I can’t. Not as any choice or act of will: at a gut level, I just can’t.
Suzanne
@lowtechcyclist:
I know what you mean. I loooooved The Cosby Show as a kid, and I can’t bear to see his face anymore and so I’ve never watched any of the reruns. It makes me sad…. it was a great thing, and I would have loved for my kids to enjoy it. But nope. It just creeps me out now and makes me uncomfortable.
All of this is personal, and on some level irrational, and I think everybody will draw different lines around what they enjoy and that’s fine.
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: I’m a little surprised Rep. Jared Golden hasn’t thrown his hat in Senate ring. He’s young and ambitious.
Golden was elected in 2018, as were Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill. The three joined fellow freshmen Chrissy Houlahan, Jason Crow and Elissa Slotkin in an informal, Class of 2018 nation security-oriented caucus.
Crow was a Marine Corps veteran, Crow was Army, Houlihan Air Force and Sherrill Navy, while Slotkin and Spanberger were both CIA. Now that’s what I call diversity!
geg6
@Shalimar:
They do. Or at least, my local grocery store stocks it here in Western PA.
The Other Bob
I refer to Mexico coke as an economics lesson in a bottle.
Want cane sugar in Coke? Drop the sugar tariff.
Scout211
Governor Newsom and the legislature are considering legislation to get around our non-partisan redistricting.
If ya can’t beat ‘ em, join ‘em!
Shalimar
@Betty Cracker: I prefer RC too. I also agree with dc that all of them are too expensive and bad for you and I’m trying to quit. For the moment, I buy the $1 Walmart imitation brands.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Cherry Coke, Vanilla Coke, Cane Sugar Coke.
Betty Cracker
@Suzanne: I agree that it’s personal and on some level irrational. We’d do better as a coalition if we’d approach each other with a bit more grace instead of making every-goddamn-thing a hill to die on.
Recent example seen on social media: People who avoid Substack (for very good reasons) and go out of their way to scold everyone who uses Substack or links to Substack essays. I’m not saying the platform isn’t problematic, but sorry, Paul Krugman and Heather Cox Richardson are not objectively pro-Nazi because they use Substack, FFS.
Same with x-Twitter. It’s a hobbyhorse for me; I nuked my account and will not use that fucking platform. I think it’s a huge problem that media figures and government outfits still use it. But I’m not going to jump into anyone’s mentions to scream at them about it.
p.a.
I’ve seen non-Mexican restaurants with the sign “we have Mexican Coke.” In Mexican restaurants, while they probably have Coke, Jarritos prominently fills the cases. Made with cane (or sugar beets) sugar as well.
Betty Cracker
@Geminid: Golden would probably be an improvement on Collins. That’s as much as I can say for him.
Google told me who the candidate I referred to in #62 is: Jordon Wood, who was Katie Porter’s chief of staff and held a leadership position in End Citizens United. The campaign slogan on his website is “Maine needs courage, not just concern.” Amen!
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I scold, therefore I am.
Miss Bianca
@Geminid: Wait, Paul Simon stole a song from Los Lobos?
Miss Bianca
@Shalimar: And I drink Mexican Cokes when I do indulge, because hell yeah there’s a difference in taste!
Belafon
@Baud: If I could only stop buying Oracle products the way I stopped buying from Amazon.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Maybe TACO man is one of the blackmailers. I mean Trump ran a totally NOT a sex worker Modeling Agency.
RaflW
I’m not at all sure Mexican Coke uses cane sugar. Glass bottling I think helps the flavor (or the drinking experience).
But let’s unpack the Trump ‘blurt’:
1. Coke will probably lie in the US like it does in Mexico (I know, it’s Coke’s bottler in Mexico, but distinction w/o a difference).
2. Coke may use like 1% ‘real sugar’ so it can be on the label.
3. Trump desperately wants us talking about something other than Jeffrey Epstein, the collapse of QAnon support for Donnie Dazzlehands, and the infighting w/in his Admin and between Trump and GOP members of Congress who are afraid that The Base will turn on them if they don’t keep whipping the Epstein conspiracy.
Belafon
@Suzanne:
Kind of a weird phrasing. I don’t conform to any group, but I am part of some because I share common interests or values. Like being a Democrat, or my current obsession, “K-Pop Demon Hunters.”
Geminid
@Miss Bianca: My understanding is that Paul Simon approached Los Lobos with a proposal for a collaborative project. But when they met for a rehearsal session, Simon just sat back and listened to the band play.
The project came to nothing. At least, that’s what the band thought until they listened to Paul Simon’s next album. They recognized one of the songs they’d practiced in front of Simon, but it was under his name
Ed. This matter was discussed here on Balloon Juice and that’s how I learned of it. Maybe someone else can provide more detail, or correct my version.
Shakti
@lowtechcyclist:
I just default assume an adult who came to the Harry Potter universe in the last ten? years (ie wasn’t a child) is anti Trans.
Rowling has been very loud and active about it, it’s the hill she’s decided to die on with her fuck you money.
Plus she’s never been the type of person to sit back and let her books stand alone, she actively kept announcing lore outside her books for her fans items, that’s why she’s rich.
The thing is, unless you come to those books as a kid, it’s meh. She doesn’t write on two levels. It’s mid at best even for kids. HBO is betting nostalgia will power their not reboot of Harry Potter.
Of course, a fan of any other of Rowling’s writing is definitely anti trans, especially if they like her detective series.
SpaceUnit
The Coke CEO had trump on speaker phone. When he agreed to use cane sugar he was winking at his assistants and making the jack-off gesture with his hand.
Belafon
@Shakti: I would ask any adult that became a fan of Harry Potter in the last ten years to name the first time Sirius Black is mentioned in the series.
Miss Bianca
@Shakti: I came to the HP books as an adult and thoroughly enjoyed them, not least because they got so many kids to read. As a former library worker, I appreciated that.
Her other, “adult-oriented” stuff…well. I read one of her detective series, back in the day before she went cock-a-whoople over trans existence, and I was…less impressed. Same with The Casual Vacancy – enjoyed it when I first read it, but have since come to the opinion that rank classism is right up there with trans panic as her most noxious character traits.
Haven’t looked back.
Cheryl from Maryland
RE: Virginia — Since many articles are all about the money in the race for Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attorney General, it appears that the Jones, the Democratic candidate for Atty. General is struggling against Miyares. Not so per an actual poll — Jones polls 9% ahead.
Baud
Keep fucking that chicken.
jonas
@Viva BrisVegas: That was my thought when I saw this — does he have any clue about *why* soft drink manufacturers use HFCS instead of cane or beet sugar? No. Trump has no clue about anything, ever.
I’m sure the sugar barons of south Florida are all high-fiving each other, but if this actually happens, and he doesn’t end up backpedalling everything by the end of the day after speaking with the head of the Midwestern corn growers association, be prepared to spend a *lot* more on your Coke.
danielx
@Baud:
Look up the Geezer’s Paradox, and feel fortunate.
I was at a concert recently and seemed to be one of about ten guys out of thousands without facial hair. Evidently being clean shaven is now a countercultural thing. Who knew?
lowtechcyclist
@Betty Cracker:
I just don’t like colas in general that much anymore. And I’m at a point in life where I really don’t need the calories from naturally sweetened beverages, whether it’s sugar or corn syrup that’s doing the sweetening.
I used to buy Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper, but it’s been unavailable in Maryland for a decade or so. Apparently there are soft drinks that you can get in stores in parts of the country, and in other parts, you can’t even order them online. I don’t get it.
In the meantime, I drink the occasional can of A&W Root Beer Zero, but mostly drink Splenda-sweetened sweet tea.
Raoul Paste
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
“Maybe TAcO man is one of the blackmailers….”
On one hand, I can see Trump pondering “how can I make money off of this?“. On the other, blackmailing elites sounds like a dangerous business, indeed.
lowtechcyclist
@p.a.:
I remember Upper 10. I don’t think I’ve even seen it in >50 years.
jonas
@Baud: So he keeps comparing the “Epstein files” to the Steele dossier, and calling it a Clinton-Obama “hoax” or whatever, which suggests that what he does know about them is that there is a lot of salacious stuff about him in there.
jonas
I want that to be the name of my PCP practice.
me
@Baud: Richest lawnmower though.
MagdaInBlack
@Betty Cracker: RC and a Moon Pie?
Shalimar
@danielx: I did not know Black Sabbath’s bassist had his own paradox.
E.
@catclub: different kind of “stealing.”
lowtechcyclist
@Suzanne:
Yeah, Cosby too. I’ve got a couple of his LPs buried somewhere deep in my collection, but I can’t bring myself to dig them out and listen to them, even though he obviously wouldn’t get a dime from it. And even though I can still hear some of his routines in my head.
Yeppers.
Betty Cracker
@lowtechcyclist: I can’t abide artificial sweeteners in any form, but you’re right — a lot of sugar isn’t good. I mostly drink water and unsweetened iced tea. Every now and then I’ll have an RC or a Coke, but it’s rare.
Betty Cracker
@MagdaInBlack: Yum!
me
@me:
Oops, that link was supposed to be to the relevant part of that video. youtu.be/-zRN7XLCRhc?si=SXbAJtAO5dKv5CSf&t=2035
danielx
@Shalimar:
And looks better than Bill Ward.
Soprano2
@Baud: It will never not be funny to me that my stepson told Larry Ellison that they didn’t take pie orders, but if he wanted pies they had some he could buy! He only vaguely knew who Ellison was. I bet no one talks to him that way!
Geminid
@Cheryl from Maryland: That’s good news. The poll shows Spanberger up 12%, with Hashmi and Jones only 2 and three points behind her.
That might be a matter of name recognition. I think Spanberger’s is pretty high considering she represented one of eleven Virginia congressional districts.
I found some anecdotal evidence for this in an informal poll I did of five Charlottesville friends after Spanberger put the word out that she would run for governor. They are committed Democrats with politics ranging from moderate to liberal to very liberal. All five were enthusiastic about her, and these are people who typically pay little attention to Virginia politicians unless it’s the governor or their own U.S. Representative.
Suzanne
@Betty Cracker:
Sing it, friend.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Well part of the problem is Rowlings seems to view the books a work in progress, and her statements turn the series from the nerdy and weird kids blossoming in the right environment into a staff measuring contest between two groups of assholes fighting over who gets to waggle their wands in everyone else’s faces.
lowtechcyclist
@Betty Cracker:
Hell, a Joe Manchin clone would be an improvement over Collins. Which shows how true it is that the worst Democrat is still better than the best Republican.
Princess
@Betty Cracker: I have a theory that Collins did start as an actual moderate but they found a billionaire to marry her a while back and since then she votes the way he wants and cosplays moderate for the folks at home. The part about marrying the billionaire is true and many women change their politics to suit their husbands but I haven’t sent the work to check her voting record to see if it correlates with her marriage.
Miss Bianca
@lowtechcyclist:
@Suzanne: Mnemosyne used to link to an essay called something like, “How to Be a Fan of Problematic Things”. I’ll have to see if I can find it. (update: oh, here it is.)
In the meantime, for me anyway, whether or not I can still be a fan of problematic art or artists seems to depend in large part on whether the artist is still living or dead. Like, I can’t go back to anything Bill Cosby right now, even tho’ I massively enjoyed his LPs and the Fat Albert cartoons as a kid (never did get into The Cosby Show).
But I still enjoy the plays of Bertolt Brecht and admire the art of Picasso, even tho’ they were both massive sexist pigs and exploiters of women in their day.
I know, it’s a weird and arbitrary standard.
Princess
@lowtechcyclist: I’m the same. I read them all and enjoyed them and got rid of all my copies. My step kids still like them and I don’t yuck their yum.
danielx
@Betty Cracker:
Never developed a taste for carbonated sort drinks, probably because the only time mom allowed us to have them was if she bought 7-up because somebody had an upset stomach. Water or fruit juice, not to mention beer.
mrmoshpotato
@MagdaInBlack: Yes please.
Rachel Bakes
@Suzanne: asked our queer daughter recently if we should get rid of our HP books since she has no interest in finishing the series and has her favorites in other version. She responded that we should keep them in case we want to reread sometime so we don’t add to library circulation numbers. It’s a long game but makes sense. If anyone wants to get them I recommend checking thrift stores.
Omnes Omnibus
@dc:
Many things that people enjoy are a “waste of money”.
jonas
@RaflW: If you watch the whole video, it’s really interesting. At first, he detects no sucrose (= no pure cane sugar) in the Mexican Coke. Scandal!! But it turns out what’s going on is that the high pH in carbonated beverages catalyzes the sucrose so that after a while, it breaks down into fructose and glucose, which are also the basic components of HFCS, only in slightly different ratios. So if you’re going out and buying Mexican Coke thinking it’s fundamentally different from the US variety, on a molecular level, they’re virtually identical. Oh, and for some reason, the Mexican stuff contains twice the sodium.
lowtechcyclist
@Shakti:
I came across them in my early 50s, I guess it was. Bought Deathly Hallows when it came out in hardback so my wife and I could read it right away. So I think you can get the idea that we found it a bit better than meh.
Miss Bianca
@lowtechcyclist: And I’ll probably keep my Harry Potter books as well, even if I never read them again. Yeah – my standards are definitely weird and arbitrary.
Princess
@jonas: I wonder who those Florida sugar barons think will harvest their sugar cane with all their farm works imprisoned in a concentration camp
jonas
@Baud: Eh, one MAGA choad replacing another, slightly more insufferable, MAGA choad on a list of overall insufferability.
Princess
@jonas: The sodium is probably what makes it taste better. Salt enhances flavour.
Baud
Old School
@Miss Bianca:
All Around the World (Myth of Fingerprints) on the Graceland album is Paul Simon and Los Lobos. The song is the result of a jam session. Los Lobos is credited as musicians, but not songwriters.
Baud
JML
@Miss Bianca: It’s a very hard thing for many people to separate the art from the artist, and it’s something I struggle with.
Rowling & Harry Potter is a bit like what’s happened with Neil Gaiman, where their works grew out a community around them where people made friendships and connections beyond the works themselves, and were often people who felt isolated & alone. Their later actions go beyond just finding out that the author might be a crappy person to something that’s more like a betrayal of what people felt were the foundational principles of the works themselves.
While I haven’t tossed my HP books, I can certainly understand those who have. It’s been a real struggle for me with Gaiman, whom I’ve met multiple times and seen him interacting with fans in person, so finding out the darkness behind the public face has been hard. For now, those books & comics sit on the shelf and in their boxes, and I have no interest in revisiting…but I haven’t gotten rid of them either. He may not be broadcasting grotesque politics constantly the way Rowling has, but he’s been actively hurting people. He’s been more of an active author and creator still than Rowling (who had one idea that worked and has written nothing of any interest since), but she’s still insanely rich and profiting off her works at sickening scale.
Sigh.
Redshift
@Geminid: I saw all the candidates speak at the campaign kickoff bus tour, and Jones is definitely a good speaker. He talked about what the real job of the attorney general is (fighting fraud, protecting people from predatory lakes, etc.) and how his opponent has left regular people having out to dry because he isn’t doing it. (Miyares, like Youngkin, spends all his time on performative lawsuits and charges against Northern Virginia over Fox News outrage bait.)
I’m sure he has other pitches for less wonky audiences than Dem volunteers, but it was solid.
prostratedragon
ICYMI:
@Baud:
Sick, they are.
Glidwrith
@mappy!: There’s an article from Mother Jones by Leland Nally dated October 9, 2020. Titled “I called every number in Jeffery Epstein’s little black book”. It looks legit, perhaps someone can provide a direct link.
Miss Bianca
@JML: I hear ya, and ugh, OMG, Neil Gaiman. I never want to hear about him again. Yes, I loved Sandman, even tho’ it was creepy AF, but it’s going to be a long, looong time before I ever revisit it, and as for the rest of his works…I’ve never felt the urge, oddly. But I do realize that he was an extremely approachable artist at cons, etc, as these things go, so yeah…I bet it feels like a personal betrayal.
And this all gets back to the fucked-up concept of “fandom”.
Anonymous At Work
Can’t believe Spanky thought firing Epstein’s prosecutor would tamp things down. Also, he now has made her unemployed and possibly looking for a payday. She probably has a sense of professional ethics, though.
Second, Epstein’s victims were just told that they aren’t safe in secret anymore, giving them an incentive to go public. First one to name a new name will set of a Level-6 shitstorm (scale only goes to 5).
Third, Coca-Cola with cane sugar will devastate Iowa but also require opening up markets to Brazilian cane sugar. The US has kept domestic prices high and a trade surplus running over Brazil with those restrictions. If those restrictions fall, Florida’s about to be hit by a tourism drop, a local worker shortage, and a commodity’s price drop on a big local crop. The only good news is that Iowa as a super-special-first-in-nation Presidential election state will be disrupted.
frosty
@Another Scott: A dime! A dime!!??!! Theft in broad daylight! In my youth you could get a cold glass bottle of Coca-Cola from a vending machine for a nickel! And you’d like it! It wasn’t a 20 oz monster that you couldn’t finish. Nosirree, just a perfect 6 oz bottle that stayed cold until you were done!
Betty Cracker
@danielx: My mom’s Rx for upset tummies was ginger ale, preferably Vernor’s.
Mom was a nurse, but she loved junk food and let us indulge in it too, including candy that’s very bad for you like Pixy Stix. She was busy as hell as a single mom, rarely cooked anything more complicated than Hamburger Helper and would frequently come home with a Domino’s pizza and 2-liter bottle of Coke or whatever for supper.
HER mother was the first health food nut I ever knew, though ideas about what constituted health food were different in those days. Gran would serve cream cheese and pineapple (a ring of canned pineapple) sandwiches on Roman Meal bread. Also pimento cheese sandwiches, which I much preferred, but to this day I can’t stand the thought of Roman Meal bread.
Omnes Omnibus
Odysseus, Powell, Trump, and democracy.
Suzanne
@Miss Bianca:
It’s fine. The thing I remind myself is that we don’t have to have hard lines around this stuff. Art is meant to enhance your life. Knowing that an artist is an asshole can reduce one’s enjoyment of their art, but it’s up to each person to determine exactly how much they enjoy/appreciate the work and how much it’s diminished by the artist’s grossness. I don’t think there’s a firm standard.
I also think that smart people can hold two ideas in the head at the same time, and that appreciation of a work isn’t the same as endorsement of that person’s views. Like I said to my mom….. every art museum is an array of people ranging from “problematic” to “terrible”, and I still think Caravaggio was brilliant and the art endures and it didn’t get cooties on me.
Geminid
@Redshift: Jay Jones comes from a politically involved family. His grandfather was a prominant civil rights attorney in the 1950s and 60s, and was the first African American to serve on Virginia’s state board of education. His father Gereald(sp?) Jones was a influential member of the House of Delegates before he was confirmed as a Circuit Court judge.
He and Ralph Northam were allies, which I think was the reason Northam backed Jay Jones’ long-shot primary challenge to Attorney General Richard Herring in 2021.
TS
@Baud: They have to do the both sides option & add in Clinton, Gore & Bill Gates – when they report on democrats activities, we never hear about any GOP folks.
frosty
@Suzanne: We had all of Cosby’s records when I was growing up. I remember sitting on the living room floor playing Monopoly and laughing so hard Coke came out my nose. Watched every episode of I Spy.
When the news came out about his sexual assaults I dug into the details and found out he’d been doing it all along, even back when I was laughing at his records and watching his show, so I couldn’t pretend it was OK back then. It wasn’t.
chopper
@Ohio Mom:
let’s make coke healthier by slightly changing the ratio of fructose and glucose!
Librettist
What is this Coke bull?
Trump loving troglodytes maintain their PURITY OF ESSENCE through mass consumption of Mountain Dew.
Albatrossity
I guess if you are an employee of the corporate media, or lobotomized (but I repeat myself), it would not be clear. But it’s CFB for the rest of us. She had access to all the Epstein material; she could leak it. And she is a blood relative of that communist marxist woke guy that Trump had to fire 8 years ago.
Miss Bianca
@Librettist: Now, when Mountain Dew goes back to being sugar-fueled, WHOO DOGGIES, WATCH OUT!
catclub
@Cheryl from Maryland:
Early polls are not necessarily accurate. Susan Collins trailed in the polls and won easily in the election.
I would say, better than trailing by 9%, but whatever.
JML
@Miss Bianca: They’ve done it for Mt Dew a few times as I recall. Candidate I was working for was excited, because she was a bit of a purist on the hi-fructose corn syrup and a few other things. (this led her down some silly roads during the pandemic, unfortunately…)
since diet pop is my Caffeine Delivery System (I just don’t like coffee) the real sugar in pop issue isn’t too relevant for me.
catclub
When I was 5 years old, I walked home from church with my brother. I found a half full glass bottle of Fanta Orange on a dumpster, and drank it.
(It was not cold.) There was however, a wasp in it and I got stung on the lip.
catclub
@chopper: as long as you can still use it to strip paint.
Albatrossity
@jonas: Actually, it has a low pH, about 2.5 for regular Coke. Incidentally, that is about the same pH as vinegar…
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: Interesting read!
@Suzanne: I love Caravaggio’s art. Apparently, I would not love to have met him in a dark alley. :)
Other MJS
Is this a reference to her “everybody dies” remarks? What am I missing?
cope
@danielx: And I remember when tattoos were a sign of non-conformity.
Geminid
@Anonymous At Work: A switch to cane sugar won’t devastate Iowa farmers. At least, I read yesterday that only four percent of US corn is used for high fructose syrup production. Ethanol production uses more, and so do corn-based foods. I think the largest portion of the corn crop is used for animal feed.
Harrison Wesley
@lowtechcyclist: Trump Coke
Miss Bianca
@Other MJS: I *think* it refers to the Shitgibbon’s pronouncement on sugar in Coke, which would (presumably) have devastating impacts on Iowa’s corn/high fructose corn syrup economy.
At least, that’s my takeaway from squinting at it long enough.
ETA: Altho’ Geminid is ahead of me with the skinny, per usual. :)
Lyrebird
@Other MJS:
I’d wager they are talking about the corn syrup business, a big deal in her state
Princess
@JML: I loved Gaiman but on a recent reread, I found them to be, while well-written and amusing, so deeply misogynistic that they and he disgusted me. Then the scandal came fully to light, and then I threw them in the trash.
I think it was reading the deeply problematic Ocean at the End of the Lane that made me see the earlier ones in a new light. I wonder what you’ll see if you ever come to reread them. Many smart decent people who knew him personally were fooled by him.
Lyrebird
@Geminid: Thanks, good to have some more info. I am glad you and @Jeffro: are keeping an eye on the VA Gov race. That Politico photo choice makes cynical me think, “oh they are trying to see if a smart white woman laughing can rile up the reactionaries as well as we did showing Madam VP laughing.”
BlueGuitarist
@Glidwrith:
the Leland Nally article
motherjones.com/politics/2020/10/i-called-everyone-in-jeffrey-epsteins-little-black-book/
Nally is also the source for the suddenly more important tidbit that J Epstein claimed to have studied math with the unabomber, which Donold blabbered about substituting his mit uncle….
bsky.app/profile/newseye.bsky.social/post/3lu5w4zp2322x
don’t forget good trouble demonstrations today!
Bex
I just threw out all my Caravaggio and Degas paintings. I didn’t sell them because that would not be politically correct. P.S. I like Rowling’s detective series. Sue me.
JML
That’s not one that I ever read (sounds like a good thing?), but I loved Good Omens, Stardust, and The Sandman (I even got the “Nicholas Was” Christmas cards and sent a couple to friends I knew would appreciate it) among others. Before this came out I had been thinking about re-reading American Gods, which I hadn’t ever revisited and hadn’t loved as much as others…and now it just sits tucked away, and the desire to pick it up has utterly vanished.
It was notable how many of Gaiman’s works are readily available now at HPB, whereas previously you’d maybe see 1 copy of one or two books and now there’s a full shelf in paperback AND hardcover. I think there were a lot of people who dumped their collections in a real “eff this guy” moment. And I can’t say they were wrong.
Lyrebird
yes, including some dear friends of mine. A few decades ago, I read about 3 pages of a Sandman novel at a friend’s apartment and thought, uhhhhhhhhhh I don’t like this, seems like he hates women. Kept the friend but didn’t read more. Sad to learn his issues go way beyond the printed page of a comic book novel.
Baud
Via Reddit, the future of Republicans in Congress.
frosty
@Geminid:
I was visiting a friend in Northern Neck a month ago. Spanberger has yard signs everywhere I passed through. Her campaign is getting her name out early.
Geminid
@Lyrebird: Yeah, Abigail Spanberger has a nice laugh. She can also blind someone with a flick of her hand if she needs to. Spanberger trained as a CIA agent and practiced that trade for several years. Before that she was a Postal Inspector and I bet she was a tough one. Spanberger has a ruthless streak and that’s one reason I like her.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
MFing racists.
Bokonon
Bwahaha. That’s Oracle’s whole business model. And they are absolutely brilliant at this. Someone or something FORCES you to use them.
Suzanne
@Bex: I read the first couple of the Rowling detective series and lost interest. Meh.
It is staggering to me how she is choosing to just….. destroy so much of the goodwill she had. Like, if I had that kind of money…. poof!
New Deal democrat
@Geminid:
That is only one such claim against him. Way back at the beginning, a folk singer claimed that he stole the arrangement of “Scarborough Fair” from her. And there is also evidence that one or more of the big songs on his “Graceland” album were basically re-writes of tunes already in the repertoire of his South African collaborators.
His response apparently was “so sue me, the contracts say that all results of the collaborative sessions are exclusively mine.”
Uncle Cosmo
@lowtechcyclist: Cherry Woke, Vanilla Woke, Coke-Cane! (snnnnfffff) ;^p
Omnes Omnibus
@Suzanne:
She is a true believer in her cause.
Sure Lurkalot
@TS:
And three Dems to one Trump…Dems are THREE times as BAD as Trump! NBC…fair and balanced!
Belafon
@Miss Bianca: I like American Gods, Anansi Boys, and Coraline, just because they were good stories. Eventually he, and Rowling, will no longer be able to earn money from their works, but I won’t be around to see that.
Melancholy Jaques
@Geminid:
Your summary is accurate. Here’s a story with more details.
I’m not a big fan of jam bands and I’m not even sure that Los Lobos is a jam band, but I love that band. Haven’t seen them in years, but back in the day, I never missed a show.
Suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus: She’s ludicrous.
Spanky
@Anonymous At Work:
Say whut?
trollhattan
Because I are a political genius, of the confederacy:
Virginia–gettable
N Carolina–gettable
Georgia–gettable
Missouri–gettable-adjacent
That bottom slice of AZ-NM–participation ribbon
The rest of that lot–not in my lifetime nor my kid’s.
Your latest Very Fine People Who are Also Traitors news:
Keep that in mind the next time Trump tells a woman reporter hers is “a nasty, nasty question.”
Omnes Omnibus
@Suzanne: Sure, but if her cause was a decent one, would we criticize her for burning down her goodwill in aid of that cause? I don’t think so. People here would laud her courage. It’s the cause, not the devotion to it that is problematic.
princess leia
@Albatrossity: My dental hygenist reminded me that no-sugar flavored carbonated sodas like LeCroix are vinegar level PH as well and suggested I stop drinking them to protect my teeth!
trollhattan
@princess leia:
Because I dislike seltzers like Lacroix, I go with sparkling mineral water. It has minerals–its in the name! Second choice: Brawndo. It has the electrolytes plants crave.
Baud
@TS:
@Sure Lurkalot:
True, but here it works for us. None of the Dems are current or future office holders, and the key is to keep the MAGA base interested.
Suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus: Agree. But, for example, Mackenzie Scott shovels gobs of money to causes she supports, and we never hear a word from her. Rowling could have chosen a similar path, but she’d rather just be an attention-thirsty shithead on Xhitter.
Geminid
@Geminid: I wouldn’t say that Abigail Spanberger has a ruthless streak just because she was a CIA sgent and Postal Inspector. But I’ve sensed a ruthless element in her that I think is what attracted her to those jobs.
Omnes Omnibus
@Suzanne: That’s why I said she was a true believer, one of the fanatics.
mrmoshpotato
@trollhattan: Comedian Steve Hofstetter is celebrating Straight Month by posting one of these daily on his YouTube Posts page.
It’s disgusting, but not surprising, how much Trump trash are also pedos.
Suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus: The narcissism is strong with her, for sure. Is that essentially inevitable once someone becomes outlandishly wealthy?
Miss Bianca
@mrmoshpotato: Uh…is Hofstetter “celebrating” or criticizing? Not sure I want to click on the link to find out.
(Reason I ask is that this comedian has expressed interest in renting our theater for a show.)
ETA: OK, I clicked. Whew! Glad that he’s not siding with the pedo-bros.
Belafon
@Suzanne: Scott needs to buy Vogue and it’s sibling publications before her ex does.
Old Man Shadow
Should’ve sent Don Jr. to talk to the Coca Cola people. We could have gotten the cocaine back.
peter
@Albatrossity: My paternal grandfather, a cabinet maker, emigrated from Poland and settled in the Chicago suburbs. He had a shop where he made beautiful desks and other structures. I remember asking once about big Mason jars on the shelves above the bench. He soaked his iron/steel screws and other fasteners in Coca-Cola to roughen up their surfaces so they’d hold the wood more securely.
Mr. Bemused Senior
If Abigail Spanberger has a ruthless streak, good.
P.S., I wonder where Ruth is.
Boris Rasputin (The Evil Twin)
@Baud: “Universal Heretic”
Is that your band name as well?
Also, nominated!
Eolirin
@Suzanne: I think unless you’re a very rare kind of person the second everyone stops saying no to you, it’s only a matter of time until you turn into a monster.
I think this is what happens to almost all of them. Any flaw you have, any darkness at all, they just become unmitigated. And how many people are free of any of that.
And we’re collectively incapable of processing nuance and contradictions in a person so it’s especially compounded in the effect it has on how we view them.
We have to find labels, and we then define an entire person by them when people are… messy. They can be all the things we see, even when they contradict each other.
That’s never a defense of their actions and especially not meant to make light of the consequences of those actions. Being rich and famous you can do a ton of damage. But we never treat celebrities like people either. And that’s all they are at the end of the day.
People are broken, almost to a one. And giving them power amplifies the damage that brokenness causes.
I’m not so foolish as to think it wouldn’t happen to me too if I suddenly was in their places. I don’t think there are many who wouldn’t get fucked up by it
I don’t know why people want it or aspire to it. It’s dangerous.
jonas
@Albatrossity: You’re right. I Was thinking high acidity as I wrote but that equates to a low pH.
Other MJS
@Miss Bianca:
@Lyrebird:
Ah, thank you.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
The recent rambling aside about his uncle and the Unabomber struck me as old pop-culture in the same way.
I guess his dementia is kind of focusing him somewhere around the 1980s as he loses touch with current reality.
catclub
Contrasted with:
Indiana
West Virginia
Ohio
Iowa
Baud
@catclub:
Some hopeful Iowans here have said Iowa is gettable.
BellyCat
Woody Allen exempted (at least for me. YMMV).
gvg
@Baud: they do, or at least I can find Mexican coke in grocery stores in small amounts with cane sugar marked prominently. Regular grocery store, not even a hispanic one, which I could also check out if I cared. I switched to doet years ago so I don’t bither and haven’t really checked the prices but they don’t seem super high, just higher. If people wanted it more, enough to pay cane sugar Coke could have outsold corn syrup Coke at any time and corrected the market that way.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud:
Cane sugar Coke will certainly help with that.
lowtechcyclist
@frosty:
Glad to hear it. This business of “the campaign doesn’t really begin until after Labor Day” hasn’t been true for decades. The Republicans realize this and are preparing the terrain for the next campaign more or less continuously.
Eolirin
@catclub: Pre-Trump 2.0 I genuinely felt places like Ohio might be able to be put back into our column in 10-20 years. But I think predictions are impossible with this extreme of a change to baseline conditions.
We are in the middle of a political, economic and social discontinuity, and until we get to the other side of that, we aren’t going to know what is and isn’t possible.
catclub
@Baud: Good luck with that.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
Is he related to Corn Pop?
Suzanne
@Belafon: I don’t think she seems like the media-buying sort, but maybe I’m wrong. That is a thing people do when they want to have influence, and I don’t know if she wants that kind of influence.
Similar thing as the paradox of leadership, that the people who seek it the most should have it the least.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: It’s an East Coast/West Coast thing, like Biggie v. Tupac.
Belafon
@Suzanne: She probably doesn’t, but I also don’t want to live in a dictatorship. She just has the money to do things I can’t.
tam1MI
@Geminid: It’sa little weird that of the three important races this year, the New York mayoral contest is getting much more attention than the other two combined.
Possibly because that contest has become a real race. All the candidates – Mamdani, Cuomo, Adams, and Sliwa – have equally good chances of winning it.
The fact that Mamdani is not running away with this thing is further proof we live in the shittiest timeline.
lowtechcyclist
@Mr. Bemused Senior:
You relentlessly and doggedly persist in asking that question. ;-)
RevRick
@Geminid: The Jersey mook has no chance against Sherrill. The only reason New Jersey got as close as it did was because Hispanics in North Jersey shifted massively towards Trump. In view of all the ugly ICE raids and manhandling of minority Representatives, do you really think that Hispanics are now going to look favorably on Trump’s Jersey mini-me?
BlueGuitarist
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
yes, but also see the unabomber reference above at 161;
Trump often talks about his uncle when people say he is stupid, and he put an Epstein story about the unabomber into a fake story about his uncle.
Eolirin
@tam1MI: Sliwa’s ceiling is that 22%. He can’t win. This is a race between Cuomo and Mamdani.
Also that’s an outlier poll. From the article:
Geminid
@tam1MI: I need to see more polls before I believe Mamdani does not have a substantial lead.
Baud
@tam1MI:
Weird. I saw a poll on Blue sky yesterday that had Mamdani well ahead. November is a long ways away.
lowtechcyclist
@Eolirin:
You’re right about that. But what people see is: never having to work again, being able to vacation anywhere they wanted whenever they wanted, and have all the toys they always wanted to have. That’s why people want it, and who can blame them, when that’s what they see?
Eolirin
@RevRick: Honestly, I wouldn’t assume they won’t stick with Trump in much larger numbers than you’d expect until I had data showing otherwise.
But I also don’t think the political headwinds going into that election are going to be blowing against Democrats in the way they’d need to for a loss to happen.
Redshift
@Geminid: I think it would be hilarious if there’s a wingnut figure dumb to try their bit about never having had a real job, just government jobs with Spanberger. Sure, try that on the CIA agent!
Redshift
@frosty:
It certainly helps that’s she’s started running a year before the primary. I don’t think name recognition will be a problem, especially since her opponent’s only advantage is being Lt. Governor, an office that no one ever thinks about.
Geminid
@RevRick: No, I do not believe Ciattarelli can or will win. But New Jersey Republicans are hungry in a way that reminds me of Virginia Republicans in 2021. The difference is that Mikie Sherill is a strong candidate who is running a vigorous campaign, and she’s taking nothing for granted
Ed. Also, Trump is in office again and he proved to be a potent motivator for Democrats his first term, even in state elections like the ones here in Virginia, 2017 and 2019.
Suzanne
@lowtechcyclist: Having enough money to be free of the risks of capitalism would be a really good thing, IMO. To be able to leave a shitty job, or not have to have one, would be good for society, IMO. To be able to cover all of those first-tier-of-Maslow’s-hierarchy needs without paid labor. To not have to choose between your time and your health, or your family, or your house.
But that’s different by many degrees from the kind of brain-warping money we’re talking about.
Martin
So Coke has acknowledged all this promising exciting new products in the future.
I read that as Coke was completely blindsided by this, and rather than call Trump a liar and face a Bud Light treatment, they’re going to do some test markets for a more expensive sugar based Coke this winter and hope everyone forgets about all of this.
Archon
I treasure the Enders game series. Finding out the writer (Orson Scott Card) was a right wing weirdo hurt my soul.
Also, are the people saying Mexican coke taste better than regular coke virtue signaling and I missed the memo or do you actually believe that? Mexican sprite is debatable, Mexican coke is a terrible soft drink. I’d rather drink a Pepsi than Mexican coke…ok maybe not but still, terrible.
chemiclord
@Geminid: I suspect it’ll be handled fine. I think the only thing Jeffries has said on the issue is that Mamdani might want to clarify what “Globalize the Infantada” means to him, because it’s a loaded term that can be easily misunderstood or willfully misinterpreted.
Which… is true? And as far as I’m aware Mamdani has done just that.
People wanting drama are going to have to work hard to manufacture it.
Ramona
@Suzanne: I am a Jackal, ride or die :-)
lowtechcyclist
@Eolirin:
Also also, my recollection from when I used to follow polls more closely is that HarrisX was a crap pollster. So it’s the sort of outlier a candidate especially wouldn’t want to panic over.
lowtechcyclist
@Suzanne:
Absolutely true. It’s just that when they think about, say, winning the lottery for a nine-figure amount, people don’t see past the obvious stuff to see the peril lurking behind it.
I wouldn’t want half a billion dollars to land on me, not just because I’d be afraid of how it might change me., but because even if I kept my senses enough to deal with it Mackenzie Scott style, I’d not want the responsibility of trying to make the most beneficial use of all that money. That would definitely not be what I want to take on during my reclining years.
tam1MI
@Eolirin:
@Geminid:
@Baud:
I’ve never been so glad to have been schooled in my entire life! 😊
MrPug
OMFG! I agree with Trump on something. Pure cane sugar Coke is better!
Geminid
@chemiclord: I read Monday that Mamdani intended to clarify his position on use of the “Globalize the Intifada” slogan this week. He may have done so by now.
Yeah, people will have to work hard to manufacture drama out of this race. And I’ve seen some working very hard to make ‘fetch’ happen, here and elsewhere.
But I think that Mamdani is too smart and pragmatic a politician to let himself be used as a cudgel or battering ram against the Democratic establishment. His political future depends on being a successful New York Mayor, and waging intra-party fights undermines that future.
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
For most of his life, shitforbrains has always been alone, looking for some group to support him as top of the heap. He “inherited” money, which helped him climb part of the way up that heap. But in humanity someone has to show why and how they should be top of the heap. Now I think a lot of people voted for him because of the money, because there really wasn’t any other reason to. They thought he must be smart because he has money and “owns” tallish buildings. I don’t believe there was any other real reason. And he played the game well enough, so they had faith in his abilities. Of which he has very few. And he’s aging out – and less than gracefully.
mrmoshpotato
@Miss Bianca: Oh totally criticizing and mocking.
chemiclord
@trollhattan:
IT’S LIKE SHAVING YOUR CHEST WITH A LAWNMOWER!
Ramona
@Omnes Omnibus: Thanks for this! Very edifying!
Ruckus
@lowtechcyclist:
If you inherited half a billion, you could give most of it away to any groups you wanted to support but prior didn’t have the means. You could give away $450 million (or more!) and still be rather wealthy, and possibly enjoy both sides of the inheritance – getting it and using it well.
Origuy
Coke sells Kosher for Passover Coke in areas where there are enough observant Jews. Corn syrup is kitniyot, which means leavened, and is chamet, not kosher for Passover. You can tell by the yellow caps on the bottles. I don’t think it comes in cans. It’s sold at the same price as regular Coke so there’s always people drinking it who aren’t observing Passover.
Coke has tried varieties with reduced real sugar; Coke Life had sugar and stevia and came in green cans. It was all right. I think they have tried other forms. The problem is limited shelf space. Something else has to go for a new variety. Same with vending machines and soda fountains. I can’t even get Coke Zero a lot of places.
Denali5
I can’t believe the CF managed to shift the conversation from the pedophile evidence in the Epstein files to corn syrup versus sugar cane in Coke.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Ken B: Can’t you get cane sugar Coke at Mexican grocery stores and restaurants?
Timill
@lowtechcyclist: Fortunately you can avoid the responsibility:
First, a “$514M win” pays only $245M as a lump sum, and $154M after tax.
Secondly: take the annuity, so you don’t have all that money at once. That pays a net of $5M in the first year, increasing over 30 years to $20M in the last year.
usamega.com/mega-millions/jackpot/2024/11/29/married-filing-jointly
See? You can handle that…
Marc
Captain Obvious here: approaching 250 comments and from my outsider point of view, no one really gets it. This thread is about tribes. Tribes that you join by being born as part of a family, having a certain skin color or appearance, having a circle of friends, going to a specific church, high school, college, watching sports ball, or taking some critical/cynical viewpoints of other tribes. The folks who comment on this blog are a tribe.
What’s going on now is that a certain large subset of the white tribe has decided they’ve had enough of all of this sharing with other tribes thing. The white man’s burden requires that they take over the world and move on to the stars. While we’re arguing over whether our values allow us to listen to Bill Cosby records or watch a Woody Allen movie, that white tribe is actively destroying any mechanism that gave members of other tribes the rights to vote, go to a school of their (more or less) choice, join the military, work for the government or White Corporate America, etc.
A number of people have asked who’s going cut the sugar cane when the migrants are gone? That will likely depend on which tribe(s) the
fascisttechbro trained AI systems will sort you into from birth. /rantRuckus
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
As a former mental health counselor (long ago) I can state that as an old fart grows older and is nearer the end (and that end can be not all that close…) everything, including the control/recall of the brain somewhat stops looking forward most of the time. Now everyone is different in their aging but if someone is/has always been pretty much a narcissist – and he is, everything is about them. The concept me, me, me, Me, ME, ME, and that’s shitforbrains, is the definition of narcissist. In his mind the world rotates about the stick stuck in his uncomfortable place. He doesn’t know from the stick, but he knows from the world rotating around it. It’s his world.
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
Actually no it isn’t. I worked in a professional sport, part time for 30 years and full time for 10. I met a few people that had MONEY, and I’d say it was about 50/50 that they would be narcissistic. For some the money is the only thing in their head, for others it was nice to have but they could get along fine without it. For some, wealth is the only thing that counts but for others living a decent life is far better, the money just makes it easier. It’s humanity, in all it’s good/decent and in all it’s not.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Betty Cracker: spoken as a true Southerner!
lowtechcyclist
@Ruckus:
In theory, yes. But that would mean I’d be giving the money to a handful of groups that readily utilize an eight-figure donation, which would mean groups we’ve all heard of that are already raising large sums of money. I’d want to give a good chunk of the money, at least, to groups that could make use of $1M or even $100K, but getting that money would make a big difference.
I know a few local groups like that. There are plenty more out there.
Miss Bianca
@tam1MI: I think the fact that Cuomo decided to get back into the race after having his ass handed to him in the Dem primary was a prime indicator of living in the shittiest timeline.
Ramona
@tam1MI: IIRC NYC mayor is ranked choice?
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Betty Cracker: what is the Southern deal with pimento cheese? I generally love cheese, but just can’t with pimento.
Martin
@Ramona: I think only for primary and special elections. I think the general is the usual majority.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Other MJS: I think it refers to the fact that she is a senator from Iowa, which grows a lot of corn.
Ramona
@Ruckus: Don’t underestimate the role of ‘Apprentice’ in his success at winning the Republican nomination in 2016.
Gloria DryGarden
@Suzanne: he’s grasping at straws.
to drink his sodas with I mean.
auto predict changed with, to epithets. Kind of apropos, don’t you think? Freudian slips from the universe. The spaghetti is flying! Monstrous!
danielx
@BellyCat:
I hear that. Chinatown is a great movie, but Roman Polanski….
Gloria DryGarden
OT, but pleasant
i read some poems at an open mic last night, first time in decades. Only one other person over 55 there. Odd to hear the writings of 20 and 30 year olds.
SWMBO
Haven’t read the thread or checked the facts in this but if it is true, will any of the MSM look into this? My money is on NO.
youtube.com/watch?v=FCjY6dxFYRw