He's term-limited. This is a crime spree with a clock ticking down to zero. Anything that throws him off for a week, a day, an hour is time he's not getting back. By the end of next year, regardless of midterm outcome, most of these lackeys propping him up will be scrambling for campaign jobs.
— Zeddy (@zeddary.bsky.social) September 26, 2025 at 5:54 PM
===
Kimmel felt like a real turning point. People see it for what it is and this time the backlash was strong enough that the institutions that have been collaborating all year reversed themselves.
The hyper online wing of Trumpworld really thought they had a Reichstag Fire and it's fizzling hard.— Zeddy (@zeddary.bsky.social) September 26, 2025 at 2:57 PM
===
Democrats have been presenting a united shutdown message. Trump, Thune and Johnson, not so much.
— Politico (@politico.com) September 25, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Politico is disappointed in their beloved GOP — but a nasty intragroup conflict makes for good copy! “Republicans’ shutdown blame game is fracturing”:
Republicans across the federal government are eager to hammer Democrats for making bold policy demands ahead of next week’s shutdown deadline. But they’re split on how to do it.
Senate Republicans, led by Majority Leader John Thune, are trying to keep the message simple: The GOP wants to keep agencies open for a few more weeks while negotiations continue while Democrats are asking for unreasonable concessions.
Speaker Mike Johnson and the House GOP are all in on a message focusing on how the Democratic wish list would undo Republican-passed provisions barring undocumented immigrants from accessing public services…
The diverging messages from GOP leaders comes after Trump reversed his decision to hold a White House meeting with top Democratic leaders — an about-face that came after Johnson and Thune privately warned him that it would undercut the party’s negotiating position.
Taken together, the visible cracks in the GOP front are raising internal concerns as party leaders face off against Democrats who are largely united behind a plan to focus on health care — particularly an extension of expiring insurance subsidies…
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have seized on Trump’s cancellation of the meeting, with Schumer accusing the president of throwing a “tantrum” and Jeffries criticizing Johnson for sending House members home until after the Sept. 30 shutdown deadline.
“They’re not even pretending as if they want to find common ground,” Jeffries told reporters Wednesday in the Capitol…
In a lengthy social media post cancelling the meeting, Trump decried Democrats for refusing to vote for a shutdown-avoiding spending punt “unless they can have over $1 Trillion Dollars in new spending to continue free healthcare for Illegal Aliens (A monumental cost!), force Taxpayers to fund Transgender surgery for minors, have dead people on the Medicaid roles, allow Illegal Alien Criminals to steal Billions of Dollars in American Taxpayer Benefits, try to force our Country to again open our Borders to Criminals and to the World, allow men to play in women’s sports, and essentially create Transgender operations for everybody.”…
The White House further scrambled the GOP strategy late Wednesday when it circulated a draft memo instructing agencies to create plans for mass firings of federal workers if Democrats don’t relent and a shutdown occurs. That alarmed some Hill Republicans who saw it as an unnecessary provocation that, in the words of one, “would give Democrats an excuse to vote against” the GOP-led stopgap — and muddy their message that it was Democrats, not Republicans, who were unreasonable hostage-takers…
Jeffries on Wednesday said it was Trump who was the “unhinged” one, citing his Truth Social screed Tuesday. He said the GOP has “no path forward” without Democratic cooperation.
“They’re running scared,” he said. “They have no defensible position, and that’s why, unfortunately, they’re marching us to a government shutdown.”
The old king is increasingly incoherent, and it’s getting harder to hide his incapacity from the peasants.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune says in an AP interview there's a "way out" of a government shutdown if Democrats "dial back" their demands.
— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) September 26, 2025 at 6:40 AM
The Associated Press tells some truths:
… “I’m a big believer that there’s always a way out,” the South Dakota Republican said in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday. “And I think there are off-ramps here, but I don’t think that the negotiating position, at least at the moment, that the Democrats are trying to exert here is going to get you there.”
Thune said Democrats are going to have to “dial back” their demands, which include immediately extending health insurance subsidies and reversing the health care policies in the massive tax bill that Republicans passed over the summer. Absent that, Thune said, “we’re probably plunging forward toward the shutdown.”
It’s just the latest standoff in Washington over government funding, stretching back through several administrations. President Donald Trump was the driving force behind the longest shutdown ever during his first term, as he sought money for a U.S.-Mexico border wall. This time it is Democrats who are making demands as they face intense pressure from their core supporters to stand up to the Republican president and his policies.
Democrats have shown little signs of relenting, just before spending runs out Wednesday. Their position remained the same even after the White House Office of Management and Budget on Wednesday released a memo that said agencies should consider a “reduction in force” for many federal programs if the government closes — meaning thousands of federal workers could be permanently laid off.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the OMB memo was simply an “attempt at intimidation” and predicted the “unnecessary firings will either be overturned in court or the administration will end up hiring the workers back.”
Thune stopped short of criticizing the White House threat of mass layoffs, saying the situation remains “a hypothetical.” Still, he said no one should be surprised by the memo as “everyone knows Russ Vought,” the head of the Office of Management and Budget, and his longtime advocacy for slashing government…
Jeffries: "Cancel the cuts, lower the costs, save healthcare. Not complicated. Eight words. Even Donald Trump should be able to understand that."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) September 26, 2025 at 1:22 PM
===
also, to be really clear about what’s being argued, johnson jammed thune with a CR that thune’s own members aren’t thrilled about, dems offered a better CR that some reps are interested in, thune does not want to negotiate and vought wants to destroy the government. who is at blame here?
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) September 25, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Democrats, not buying what Thune / Johnson are selling…
If the White House thought its threat to fire federal workers during a government shutdown would spark a Democratic retreat, so far, it’s not happening.
Instead, multiple congressional Democrats brushed off the prospect of mass layoffs — floated in an Office of Management and Budget memo first reported by POLITICO — as a negotiating tactic and vowed not to bend as a midnight Sept. 30 shutdown deadline approaches.
Among the Democrats still standing firm against a Republican-led seven-week funding punt include those representing many of thousands public employees who would be most at risk if President Donald Trump and OMB director Russ Vought follow through on their threats.
“Whether there’s a shutdown or not, they just keep firing government employees,” said Rep. Glenn Ivey, who represents part of Washington’s Maryland suburbs. “I don’t know that capitulating on this front slows that down. In fact, it might actually encourage them to think that they can stay on the track that they’re currently on.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland called the threats “mafia-style blackmail” in a statement, adding that the potential layoffs are “likely illegal.” Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said, “For Trump, people’s lives and livelihoods are just bargaining chips.”
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, added that Trump is a “petty wannabe tyrant” who will “try to abuse a shutdown.” But “that doesn’t mean he gets whatever he wants as a result,” she said…
But it’s not only Democrats who are showing signs of unease with the layoff gambit spearheaded by Vought. It’s emerging as the latest crack in what had been, until this week, a united GOP messaging front.
Senate Appropriation Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) called for passage of the seven-week stopgap bill but added that federal employees “should not be treated as pawns amid a needlessly partisan impasse.”
“No I don’t support mass firings,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) said in a brief interview. “But there’s a very simple way to avoid it … pass the CR, which Schumer and Jeffries have repeatedly supported in the past.”…
Other Democrats have joined Schumer in arguing that, shutdown or not, Trump is determined to wage war against federal employees and would pursue mass firings in any event.
“We know that Republicans wouldn’t stand up to Trump for doing any of these things at any other time anyway,” said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.). “That’s part of the problem is because they’ve shown to have no spine, no ability to stand up to a rogue administration. These threats just aren’t as strong as they could be.”…
thune is offering a handshake deal that republicans *might* discuss ACA subsidies in the *next* round, that’s a deal that isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on, thune has reneged on previous deals, he doesn’t have any credibility to offer one now
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) September 25, 2025 at 1:46 PM
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The Felon says the pressure is on the President if a shutdown happens.
Noted.👌🏾— 💫⭐️N. Jules⭐️💫 (@northjules.bsky.social) September 26, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Baud
Reposted
Clown show
Baud
They couldn’t possibly care about the millions of people affected by Trump’s health care cuts.
Baud
There was no evidence of Dem unease, only resolve.
Debbie(Aussie)
If Satby is around I would like to thank her. For the recommendation of the John Fuselgang book, k Separation of Church and Hate’. Having been brought up a Christian is was great to see him go after the the”christions’ as I have often done in my head. It’s nice to know, but certainly not necessary, that if such a place as heaven exists, this atheist might be included.
MagdaInBlack
@Debbie(Aussie): I’ve always been a fan of his. If you’re interested, he has been all over the progressive podcasts/youtube talking about this and he is a joy to listen to. Try doing a youtube search of his name and the book title, you should find some interesting conversation.
If you don’t mind a few well placed f-bombs, heres one, a bit old, but interesting still.
youtube.com/watch?v=HkwW3UGrZIs
Tom
The FCC did not pull Alex Jones’s broadcasting license after all the horrific stuff he did but they threatened to do so to ABC? Trump calls for blatantly politically motivated indictments but gets away with moving Ghislane Maxwell to a lower security prison after she meets with his personal lawyer? When will American voters wake up and end this madness of continuous embarrassment? “Conservatives” flood the zone with fake news and conspiracies, and a majority of Americans can’t focus on anything long enough to fight all the evil he is doing right out in the open. The courts and Congress are not even pretending to care about the Constitution. Each story is worse than the last but the world keeps spinning and the madness marches on. American carnage indeed…Tide, please turn any day now.
satby
@Debbie(Aussie): I ‘m glad you liked it. As
@MagdaInBlack: says, look for some recent appearances by him to enjoy how completely he owns whatever hapless faux Christian present tries to dress up their white supremacy as “Biblical”. Watching practicing religious folk skewer the hypocrites is a secret vice of mine.
I’ll also put in a plug here for Fr. David Gerlach, who in this clip lays out some reality about the the single issue abortion voters that might surprise some people. Religion has a powerful pull for a lot of voters, so anything that undercuts the rightwing’s claim to sole authority on it is welcome.
Gloria DryGarden
@satby: lovely short piece by father gerlach. Thank you.
MagdaInBlack
@satby: I just found one from 8 hours ago, on Wajahat Ali’s youtube, listening to it now =-)
He made NYT bestseller list, thru independent media (podcasts, YouTube) promotion.
And yes, like you, I very much enjoy the skewering.
Jeffro
people, if we need any further evidence that the tide is turning…UVA beat #8 FSU last night in double OT with Marco Rubio (FSU alum) (bleah) in attendance!
I’m pretty sure that’s one of the seven signs in the Book of Revelation, or something
satby
@Gloria DryGarden: I share a lot of his posts with an older (male) cousin who is an R voter just because of that single issue. I believe all the water you can pour on a rock eventually wears it away. A priest saying things like that is powerful to those types of people.
Baud
@Jeffro:
Nice.
Apparently, Texas teams always lose when Ted Cruz attends a game.
satby
@MagdaInBlack: Here’s one of Fuselgang on CNN a year ago and he nailed the landing.
Geminid
@Jeffro: I wonder if Chip Roy was there. You wouldn’t know from the way he talks, but the Texas Congressman is a UVA grad.
MagdaInBlack
@satby: Nice! ty
Jeffro
@satby: that’s an excellent clip – thank you!
Jeffro
@Geminid: I didn’t see Chip Roy, but Miyares (gag) and McGuire (barf) were also in attendance…neither of them went to UVA, so I’m sure they both were there to ask Lil’ Marco how the bootlicking is going.
Geminid
The Jerusalem Post reported some iinteresting poll results:
The broad outlines of the plan presented to Arab and Muslim leaders on Tuesday were reported Wednesday, and I assume that’s what Maariv’s respondents were reacting to.
A Jerusalem Post headline from last night indicates why a ceasefire cannot come too soon:
Geminid
@Geminid: The Jerusalem Post also reported on another Israeli war crime:
iKropoclast
If Republicans compromise with Democrats, all of the US will be trans…
Baud
@iKropoclast:
I hope Schumer doesn’t cave.
iKropoclast
@Baud: This time around, I don’t even know what caving looks like. Cutting a deal that won’t be honored? Extending things as they are to continue negotiations?
The risks and potential outcomes are so messy, even bult the messy standards of reality.
Baud
@iKropoclast:
Only half of America being forced to be trans.
iKropoclast
Forced? This is liberation, like Iraq 2003.
Loveofcoffee
Sometimes I feel poltics now is giving me whiplash- although I’m happy to see that some MAGA are starting to ‘see the light’ -and I am hopeful with all the talk about needing to build community- but I’m also afraid for all the truly vunerable people who will suffer for us to get there. I also would want more being made about the 1,200 people that ICE lost, and that the administration won’t say where the unhoused population that was in DC are.
NotMax
Weekend watch.
Take a break with some low key comedy.
Princess
Leaving aside the shutdown part of this post — I agree with the Dems approach and I hope they stick together…
…I personally am not feeling the optimism and tide turning sense of the first couple of tweets-quotes. I hope they are right! My gut may be wrong and I’m viewing these things from abroad so I have a different perspective but I’m feeling things are getting worse and worse. The generals thing has me spooked. The Comey indictment is really bad. But I think the scariest part of the US government right now is SCOTUS. I know scotus for most of its existence has ruled with the rich and powerful but still, this feels different. The birthright citizenship thing, the tariff thing — if they toss these the US truly has no constitution any more. Tariffs, I guess they can do one of their “he can do it for now and we’ll rule later” tricks but the citizenship thing has to be up or down.
iKropoclast
So will every American be forced to take a citizenship test?
bjacques
@iKropoclast: but if everyone’s forced to be trans, we’ll just end up with the same number of men and women, more or less.
Gloria DryGarden
@satby: may water wear away rock. What you said. A thousand times yes, and amen, be it so.
Professor Bigfoot
Blut und Boden.
That’s the way “citizenship” will be defined once the Supremes gut the 14th Amendment.
Just Nazis being Nazis.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
I know people have an iffy view of NPR but their “On the Media” show hosted by Brooke Gladstone is usually really good (probably why it airs here at 7 AM on Saturday). They talked this morning to a woman who lead the NIH research team focused on studying causes of autism. They were all fired on the eve of getting data from a longitudinal study they’d been working on. She said there are lots of environmental factors that seem to increase the risk like…air pollution, exposure to heavy metals, exposure to forever chemicals etc.
But of course the administration is doing the opposite of addressing those factors so they have to make up some BS about Tylenol. Proof that it’s all a grift – fire the experts studying the issue so they can’t tell everyone your made up “cure” is bullshit.
Then she talked to a guy who helps decide what primary science studies get funded and she brought up a headline that gene therapy had just been used to cure a case of Huntington’s disease for the first time. The guy said that started as a pure science study of a certain kind of worm – the kind of study that if discussed in a congressional hearing would be highlighted as a ridiculous waste. He works for the University of Washington I think so I’m sure on Monday there will be headlines about their funding being withheld. Fuckin’ A!
Ten Bears
Republican in Ruins …
As I am posting later this morn: I was long ago (turn of the century) caught up in a statistical model the context of which has no applicability to the task today, however … In conclusion I found that the model had grown too large, the population(s) too diverse across too great a territory, to be sustainable. A perpetual motion machine, bound to fail
What is going on cannot be sustained, the population is to large, diverse, spread out, and like a perpetual motion machine that feeds on itself until the remaining hollowed out husk implodes it is bound by all the laws of man and science to fail
When we look to history we see these things have always failed
This thing is coming to bite them on the backside …
mappy!
Have Rs ever had a shutdown when they held the WH (and House & Senate & SC)? I don’t think so.
The R playbook on shutdowns has been to have the party in power (D) get blamed, so this kinda flips that logic. Taco has spent a lot of goodwill capitol on him being able to fix every problem he was blaming Ds for. So if mr. fixit can’t, and the House can’t and the Senate can’t, whose fault is it going to look like… ?
Tough sell for the King’s media, to try and put Dumpty together again…
Baud
@mappy!:
Phylllis
Re the Zeddy tweet about Kimmel–buried below the fold on page 10 of my morning paper* was the news that both Sinclair and Nexstar will be putting his show back on the air beginning next week.
*Online reproduction of the print version Post & Courier published in Charleston; about as good an example of verisimilitude as one can find.
Geminid
@Gloria DryGarden: Good morning Gloria. I hope hope it’s a nice one out there. It’s a rain day in Virginia, but we had a late sunmmer drought so that’s a good thing.
I saw a New Lines article that moght interest you and others. It’s about European Bison, and is titled:
Pictures show Europen bison resemble their American relatives, but are somewhat taller. There are about 12,000 in Poland now, plus a group of 400 free roaming in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania.
The article is long, and raises questions about differing conservation paradigms.
This link might work:
Ed. It didn’t.
Suzanne
@Princess: I don¡t have any great tide-is-turning sense, either. And the Comey indictment is very, very bad. But I remind myself that we are all in bubbles, it’s unavoidable, and perhaps others are seeing change around the edges. I hope so.
I was out of town for work most of this week. Was insanely busy, though I did get to watch John and Joelle’s wedding from my hotel room. Return flight was delayed and I didn’t get home until 1 AM. Previous week was also very frantic. I am hoping that next week brings some sanity.
Suzanne
On the topic of work busyness….. I still am flummoxed how fast we can work and yet decision-making is still so slow. LOL.
Geminid
@Geminid: I’ll try that bison story link again:
https:/share.google/6xLfkRwMva3SwuCl
Nope. I blame Redis.
prostratedragon
“Through the Woods,” Yasmin Williams
Sally
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: This is my direct experience too. Sometimes in bio studies in particular, one has to study a paired down, simplified system in order to learns something about the much more complex one. And one that it might not be altogether ethical to do such studies on. Sometimes researches know that work will lead on to apply to, say, human biology, sometimes they don’t, and it is “blue sky” research, or research to study other environmental issues. But just reading the titles of research proposals does not tell either story.
My son’s Ph.D. thesis is one such where the title sounds totally bizarre, but actually involves working with encapsulids that can be triggered to fold and unfold, and potentially carry molecules, chemicals, to specific locations in the body, to cells, to repair or treat illness, or whatever. (I once asked him, since many of these chemicals will be toxins, what do you do with them once they have done their job of killing diseased cells. Oh, that’s not my problem, I just get them there! That’s for the doctors to worry about. (I suspect they could be chelated out)).
I mean, who would have thought, merely a fifty years ago how important quantum mechanics would be to our everyday lives. How could we live without quantum tunnelling – so esoteric. But of course, a roided up coke head can tell what is useful human knowledge and what is not.
bluefoot
@Princess: we don’t have a Constitution any more. SCOTUS has seen to that, between their regular decisions and the shadow docket, ignoring black letter law and years of precedent, the law is whatever is most convenient to FFOTUS and expands his power. People can get kidnapped off the streets just by looking a certain way, anything the president does is legal, the military is being sent to American cities on a pretext, speech and peaceful protest against MAGA is being labeled and pursued as domestic terrorism….I could go on.
Gloria DryGarden
@Geminid: good morning. I have seen YouTube’s about bison conservation programs in Europe. Maybe it wasn’t Poland. I’m trying to remember if the pure species population was so low, they had to cross with cows..
Eyeroller
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: I didn’t hear any interviews like this, but the worm was almost certainly Caenorhabditis elegans, a type of roundworm (nematode) that has been used to study neuronal development and signaling since the early 1960s. But of course somebody who knows nothing about science could conclude that worms have nothing to do with humans, especially since nematodes are generally regarded as parasites even though most species are free living.
The anti-science streak in American culture was noted a long time ago and not just by Asimov. William Proxmire’s “Golden Fleece Award” was notorious in the 1970s-1980s. He (or really his staff, I would assume) would pick some project whose title made it seem like useless research to people who didn’t understand it, and would present this “award” to show off his man-of-the-people saving-taxpayer-dollars chops. He very frequently attacked scientific studies to the point that, quoting from Wikipedia:
In some circles, his name has become a verb for unfairly obstructing scientific research for political gain, as in “the project has been proxmired.”
lowtechcyclist
@Jeffro:
Wahoowa!! And Micro Rubio having to suffer through it in person, unable to change the channel, is the icing on the cake.
Geminid
@Geminid: Now I see a mistake in my second try linking the bison article, so I will try once more.
Ed. That one didn’t work either. The article can be found by looking up New Lines Magazine. It’s one of their newer ones. Those interested might need to do an email signup to read it, but New Lines is worth it.
Percysowner
I admit I’m a little surprised that Jeffries and Schumer don’t also hammer the fact that they are the MINORITY Leaders and that if the Republicans can’t convince their OWN people that the CR isn’t a piece of shit, it’s not the job of the Dems to ride to the rescue. We HATED the Budget Bill. We want the government to continue functioning, but not if it hurts Americans the way the current Budget Bill will.
It would be interesting to see what would happen if they pass the CR with the changes the Democrats want. I think there is a non zero chance that Trump would veto it and then, yep, the whole thing is on the Republicans.
Another Scott
@Geminid: Thanks for the pointer.
NewLinesMag.com
Best wishes,
Scott.
thruppence
On a purely selfish and trivial note, in a week and a half I’m taking a vacation trip to DC that I’ve planned for months. Government shutdown; all the federally funded museums I want to visit will be closed. Thanks, Trump!
Matt McIrvin
@Sally: All those mean tweets about silly scientific experiments are even more dishonest than just reading the title: they usually describe (or mis-describe) some aspect of what the researchers are doing but leave out the motivation of what they’re trying to find out, which just makes it sound like some kind of surreal obsessive behavior. “They spent your money to put a shrimp on a treadmill!”
Sally
@Matt McIrvin: Yep!
Kathleen
@Jeffro: Also Reds beat Brewers in Milwaukee (Brewers are their Great White Whale especially on the road) and Mets lost so Reds still in wild card hunt. I had written them off weeks ago.
mappy!
@Baud: That worked out well… Are we looking at a trend here?
Geminid
@Gloria DryGarden: That article covers this question, I think. The authors do talk about the bison sharing a narrow gene pool.
The Euorpean bison lived in much of Europe including Iberia. They were adapted to forests and hilly lands. They became prize game animals and most were hunted out in the 19th century.
Geminid
@Another Scott: That’s the article! Thanks.
bluefoot
@Eyeroller: Even a lot of scientists these days minimize the utility of model organisms. I used to work with model organisms, in part for neurodegenerative disease research. Some of the mechanisms for development of amyloid in Alzheimer’s Disease were first demonstrated in C. elegans and Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies for those who don’t know). Hell, one of the major cardiac safety tests in clinical trials is named after the fly gene because that was where it was first discovered. That’s hERG, human ether-a-go-go, which is an ion channel critical for cardiac function.
The NIH cuts have put one of the biggest repositories of Drosophila knowledge at risk. It’s a resource that’s used by scientists around the world.
Jeffg166
Out front collecting seeds from the cosmos planted in the sidewalk bricks when I heard someone talking to me. It was a middle aged white Nazi who saw the No Kings sign and told me Joe Biden was a puppet. He said, You don’t want to be a puppet, do you? I ignored him. They are feeling braver to engage. Of course I am a little old white man and no physical threat to him unless I bought a gun.
Nukular Biskits
Good mornin’, y’all!
Dragging today. Got up 5 times last night to see if I could catch Mr. Armadillo in the yard. All for naught.
I be tired. Maybe he’s moved on?
Gin & Tonic
Too bizarre even to describe accurately, but now President Dementia is demanding, at Lara Loomer’s behest, that Microsoft fire their newly-hired President of Global Affairs, Lisa Monaco. His “truth” on the subject is completely unhinged
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
RandomMonster
Minor correction, offered in the spirit of helpfulness — it’s “Fugelsang”, and not “Fuselgang”. I only know because I hear his name regularly on the Stephanie Miller Show.
Gloria DryGarden
@rikyrah: good morning
@Nukular Biskits: good morning. I was up late, deleting emails to open storage and function in my yahoo email. Endless. I’ve been up all night coughing, at the tail end of a flu. Got lots to do today, it’ll be harder to focus on zero sleep.
what will you do with the armadillo if you catch him/ her?
Geminid, I’ll look up this bison link. I love that stuff. I think I heard bison, grazing, are much less damaging to the soils and environment, than regular cattle.
Another Scott
@Matt McIrvin: +1
Proxmire was a pioneer in figuring out memes that the press would cover and get his name in the news. Today’s social media has turned what he figured out up to 11^11^11.
Science.org (from 2012):
As we all remember, the goose gets it in the end.
:-(
But the Golden Goose Award is still going.
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
UncleEbeneezer
I just saw a tweet with Pete Buttigieg saying Dems need to tell voters how they will improve their lives and I’m like: WTF are you talking about?!!
Kamala did this. Biden did this. Hillary did this. Every House candidate who I’ve volunteered for does this. It’s right their in almost every script, every speech, every ad…Dems already do this, all day, every day. I love Pete but good God, can Dems please stop perpetuating this myth/lie that Dems aren’t doing the things that they routinely do? He sounds like a damn BJ troll.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Another Scott
@UncleEbeneezer: OTOH, we wouldn’t have heard about it at all if he’d given a speech saying that, say, Jeffries and Schumer are fighting exactly right. That wouldn’t be “news” to the MSM these days, amirite??
Politicians have to work in the media environment that exists, not in the one that we think should exist.
The enemies are the other guys. We need to give space for our guys to be visible to the normies and the gate keepers.
My $0.02. FWIW.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Baud
@UncleEbeneezer:
It’s not wrong advice. Agree that hasn’t been enough, but it’s still the right thing to do.
Unfortunately, it is true that, to appear fresh to normies, Dems have to pretend that other Dems haven’t done what they’ve done. But most of our noncommittal voters care more about style than substance.
Nukular Biskits
@Gin & Tonic:
I know I’m far from the first to ask this question,but WTF are the major national media sources and pundits who ran incessant stories about Biden’s mental faculties?
Cliosfanboy
@Kathleen: Same here, and then they went 1-2 against the Pirates, I thought it was over.
Matt McIrvin
@Another Scott: Proxmire was way more rational, and amenable to changing his mind in response to reasoned argument, than the people picking up his rhetorical baton. I don’t think he fully understood the monster he was creating.
Nukular Biskits
@Gloria DryGarden:
My answer in video form …
Another Scott
Meanwhile, …
Something something ham sandwich almost escaped these incompetent clowns.
Grr…
(via Popehat)
Best wishes,
Scott.
Miss Bianca
@Matt McIrvin:
That’s probably the most charitable interpretation that anyone, anywhere, could pass on most of these old-school Congressional chucklefucks. Proxmire was a fucking disgrace to the Democratic Party.
Another Scott
@Nukular Biskits: They’re in the crowd over there that’s obeying in advance.
:-/
Best wishes,
Scott.
Nukular Biskits
@Another Scott:
Yeah, someone (you?) posted about that last night and my first thought was how convinced were those 14?
bluefoot
@Another Scott: GFP! GFP has enabled SO MANY discoveries and SO MUCH knowledge. I think it’s something a lot of people don’t appreciate – we don’t know ahead of time what research will be “useful” (as if that’s the only measure of whether something is worth pursuing). As everyone knows, mRNA vaccines were pursued for years by a handful of people….and suddenly this niche field became critical to the entire world. Though that may make people of a certain stripe hate research all the more. Sigh.
Baud
@Nukular Biskits:
They were being kept there late.
Nukular Biskits
@Another Scott:
That may or may not be the conscious decision on the part of their respective editors/publishers/owners … but the practical effect remains the same.
If I had the time, I’d like to run through the issues of our local mullet wrapper to see how many times they ran “BiDeN iS oLd!!!111!!!” stories & op-eds* and contrast that to the count of similar stories about Trump. My guess is that the ration would be something like 15:1.
*Most of any such stories would be reprints or wire pieces from other sources … the Sun Herald doesn’t do much original reporting anymore and almost all their editorial pieces are from out-of-state or state/business officials.
Baud
@Miss Bianca:
I’m morally certain Democrats of the past were all paragons of perfection whose example we’ve strayed from.
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
You jest (?) but, given the drive for revenge, I gotta wonder how much pressure was exerted on those jurors.
Kathleen
@Cliosfanboy: Plus I just read 2 infielders are playing in the outfield. Some serious bizarro cosmic stuff.
Baud
@Nukular Biskits:
No, apparently the grand jury started around 7 pm.
Kathleen
@UncleEbeneezer: I agree with you. I’m sick of hearing this s**t.
bluefoot
@Baud: I’m of the opinion we should do everything we can. Some people are amenable to affirmative messages, some people want opposition and fight, some amenable to memes and entertainment, some want policy. Any one Dem could specialize in one type of messaging or tactic, but Dems shouldn’t limit to one thing. It can be like football – you have offensive coordinators, defensive coordinators, coaches for special teams, etc. There can be leaders who coordinate or are obvious spokespeople for the different message types and coordinate amongst each other so it’s a united front.
Nukular Biskits
Time to check the hummingbird feeders. Little bastards are creating quite a ruckus this morning.
Yesterday evening, there was one male Ruby body-slamming all the others coming near one of the feeders and doing so with such force I could hear the tiny thud.
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
I wonder if that’s standard practice.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, a good article on the status of rooftop solar, net metering, etc., etc., in Virginia, after the gutting of Biden’s federal programs at BlueVirginia.US. Lots of things happen at the state level and need to be watched and advocated for, no matter what happens in DC.
Similarly elsewhere, and similarly with other important issues, of course.
Best wishes,
Scott.
artem1s
@satby:
I think the mainstream, progressive religious leaders have been reluctant to ‘preach from the pulpit’ largely because they actually believe separation of church and state protects everyone’s right to worship as they see fit. And they are, rightly, more focused on their communities and congregations than they are making a buck off fear mongering and hate speech. And the denominations that have national funding support are less inclined to turn to grifting to keep their congregants engaged. But having well heeled donors in their parishes also makes them reluctant to offend and lose influential congregants by taking up causes that are more important to their less powerful congregants. It’s easy to support gay marriage if the purse strings are going to be opened when you do. Harder if you’re calling out for supporting the homeless guys who are camping out on your doorstep at night messing up the place. Harder still if your calling for support of more marginal groups like women’s reproductive health care and creating a sanctuary for immigrants and their families. New, new pope suggesting gays shouldn’t be murdered outright isn’t an act of a true progressive leader. Calling for an end to the Catholic Church’s discrimination of women lay and religious staff would be. Calling for the prosecution of those church and political leaders who participated in covering up sex crimes and human trafficking is obviously not something this Pope is willing to stick his neck out for. Don’t think for one minute that the mainstream denominations Bishops of all denominations involved in the pedophilia coverups of the last 30 years aren’t terrified of what the money trail is going to show in the Epstein files.
But I believe there may be many who are ready to join the ranks of folks like Dr. Rev. Barber who was instrumental in founding the Moral Monday movement. But now joining those ranks mean making yourself and your congregation a target in ways that only minorities have had to experience in the past. The only time I can remember mainstream church leaders taking that risk of preaching from the pulpit was during Vietnam. And that was mostly in support of college age white men. Once the draft was rescinded that was pretty much the end of any mainstream religious activism. The Catholic Church remains indifferent to it’s poorer congregants that had to endure losing their inner city parishes to pay off the pedophile lawsuits. And the protestant and evangelical religious schools are also turning a blind eye to the ongoing sexual scandals in their communities. Until they are willing to challenge their more well heeled donors or lose them, they are going to sit on the sidelines and worse, participate in the carnage for the bucks and the yucks.
Melancholy Jaques
@Tom:
That is the question, isn’t it?
Another Scott
@Nukular Biskits: No wasn’t me.
I see that it’s a 12 hour old story now, so I should have realized it was already mentioned here. (Popehat’s comment was about 15 minutes old when I saw it.)
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
JML
How weak do you have to be if you control all branches of government and can’t get a budget passed?
Pathetic.
Of course the DC media will blame Democrats (at best they’ll do the “a pox on both their houses!”).
Interesting Name Goes Here
@Percysowner: They have, at points. However, while it’s a message that needs to be said, it’s not a popular message, particularly amongst those on the left who are highly upset that Schumer and Jeffries haven’t turned into Moon Knight and Luke Cage yet.
Paul in KY
@Geminid: I don’t think they are quite as massive as an American bison.
Miss Bianca
@Baud: I used to love pointing out to my lefty friends who wanted “FDR-style” Democratic politics and decried what they saw as needless incrementalism on the part of modern Dems that programs like Social Security had originally been designed so as to exclude African-Americans, and that it was “incrementalism” that got us to where we were with it today. And that it was a commitment to a modern-day big tent that made incrementalism necessary.
Because I’m an asshole that way.
Paul in KY
@lowtechcyclist: I feel sorry for FSU that bootlicker Rubio is a graduate. Hope they at least get some good monetary donations from him.
Paul in KY
@Gin & Tonic: ‘Monaco’ as a last name means she’s woke or just has lady bits and shouldn’t be in such a position?
Paul in KY
@RandomMonster: There’s a pretty good bike rider that has that last name. First name is ‘Jacob’.
Deputinize America
@Another Scott:
When the acquittal comes, it’s gonna be funnier than shit – PLUS, Trump is going to get drug through the mud, you’ll see.
The old adage – be careful what you wish for, you just might get it – comes to mind here.
Interesting Name Goes Here
@Kathleen: I had someone yesterday (on this very blog) accuse me of being a Good German because I didn’t agree with his assertion that Democratic leadership is ineffective. This came after another person pushed the same nonsense and – naturally – cited Bernie as an example of doing it right.
Vibes and aura farming (whatever it’s called nowadays) is going to get us all killed.
suzanne
@Miss Bianca: I have come to the conclusion that FDR-style populism doesn’t win elections. (Please note that I am not saying that it isn’t good public policy.)
CNN apparently did a deep dive on political independents. Big surprise: they’re incoherent. They’re not just waiting for Dems to get leftier.
Nukular Biskits
To those on Bluesky, am I just not caffeined enough this morning or can we not upload videos?
I was going to post a video of hummers at the feeder but don’t see the option of uploading videos. I could swear I’ve done this before.
ETA: Nevermind. I’m an idiot.
Enjoy!
Nukular Biskits on Bluesky: HUMMERS!
trnc
I wonder if there’s any universe in which a top democrat would hold a press conference to quote that quote.
stinger
@bluefoot:
Yep to all this.
Melancholy Jaques
@Princess:
I don’t either, but I am not where they are. But I’m not seeing or hearing anything like the way the entire political media turned on Biden when he withdrew us from Afghanistan. And as much as we might love our “No Kings” demonstration [another one coming up in October], they are nothing like the tea party.
The political media treat everything, including the indictment of Comey – quite plainly a baseless personal vendetta – like an ordinary differences of opinion.
Our leadership, bless them, aren’t exactly acting like the ship is sinking. To a normie voter, it’s same old same old. Just go out an ask some but be prepared to be disappointed.
Shakti
Person who was in a coma for a couple of years/naif:
And now SCOTUS 6-3 : “Trump can freeze funding whenever he wants anyways? ” Why are these guys yelping about Democrats?
I obviously don’t want the Republican budget but this is endlessly stupid.
Eyeroller
@bluefoot: Yes, we need a variety of messages and messengers, but the constant slagging on Democrats by other Democrats is beyond tiresome at this point. In the particular example cited, Pete could have emphasized how Democrats are working to make people’s lives better. He’s supposed to be a good communicator, how about communicating positively for the party.
All this kind of messaging does is reinforce the “both parties are the same” “it doesn’t matter” bullshit.
Nukular Biskits
@Melancholy Jaques:
And that’s a large part of the problem.
When Dems do (perceived conventional wisdom) stupid/wrong things, the media is all over them with wall-to-wall coverage, “analysis” and editorializing.
When Republicans do BLATANTLY stupid/wrong things, often with malice aforethought, the media cranks up the “BOTHSIDES!!!11!!!”” Wurlitzer.
It’s an egregious double standard.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, … MarylandMatters.org:
It’s Calvinball management.
And, unfortunately, it will continue until people in positions of authority stand up and say NO.
85 hours to go…
Eyes on the prizes.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Interesting Name Goes Here
@bluefoot: Democratic politicians already do this.
It’s long past time the voters started paying attention to it, and not just when run through the filters of hostile media, grifting podcasters, and shitty social media.
Harrison Wesley
@Paul in KY: She’s a former DOJ official who made Trump unhappy.
Eyeroller
@Melancholy Jaques: I have concluded that the political media hated Biden from the start. In addition to being a Democrat, he defeated their golden boy Trump. The withdrawal from Afghanistan was their opportunity to wreck his Presidency and they jumped at it.
zhena gogolia
@Eyeroller: Yes.
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
@Baud: We should make sure Cruz has more free time to attend sporting events.
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
@trnc: Cheney was the precedent. Unfortunately.
stinger
@Geminid:
A mystery series streaming on PBS Masterpiece, a “Walter Presents” offering, is set on an island that is on the west governed by Germany and on the east by Poland. One of the main characters (on the German side) cares for a small herd of bison, in an open-zoo type of setting. You can get a good idea of the relative size of humans and European bison by watching her work with them. The show is titled The Nordic Murders.
Nukular Biskits
@Another Scott:
Meaning members of Congress, specifically, REPUBLICAN members of Congress.
Who have gone into hiding or outright removed their spines and what little personal integrity they may have possessed.
Another Scott
@UncleEbeneezer: Made me look.
Is this what you saw?
I don’t see a problem with that. Talking less about 47 and more about what we believe and want to do is probably a good thing. (We have to be seen as more than just anti-47.)
His Bsky thing doesn’t have that (yet). I don’t see him picking on Democrats, there.
FWIW.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Baud
@Another Scott:
Agree. Seems more about the debate over negative vs positive campaigning.
Baud
@Nukular Biskits:
IMHO media tends to talk about Republicans doing bad things in a matter of fact way. They get more excited about reporting the weather.
With Dems, the sky is always falling.
Miss Bianca
@suzanne: FDR-style populism wouldn’t have worked back in the day either if it hadn’t been understood that it was, to use Adam’s words, “white Christian Herrenvolk” populism.
Why do you think Bernie Sanders’s version is popular, at least among the very online left? Because it *only* talks about class, not race, or caste.
stinger
@Nukular Biskits:
So cool! Thanks!
Miss Bianca
@stinger: Please (don’t) tell me that the bison commit one of the murders…
Gin & Tonic
@Harrison Wesley: To add maybe a bit of context, Microsoft has for several years now had a digital threat analysis unit that is well-staffed with subject-area experts fluent in Russian, Ukrainian, Mandarin and Farsi, among other languages, and very well focused on disinformation. They’ve published papers on the Russian influence campaign in several US election cycles, and have provided extensive briefings to the NSA (in a prior administration at least) and to at least two other of the “Five Eyes.” So this is obviously a capability President Crazypants would want to destroy.
stinger
@UncleEbeneezer:
Linky?
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
This Tia Dalma quote from Pirates of the Caribbean came to mind when I read your response:
Nukular Biskits
@stinger:
You’re welcome.
Not sure if you saw the video where Ms. Biskits fusses at me for expressing my desire to see another Hummingbird Slamdown!
Baud
@Miss Bianca:
I’d be ok with that if it worked. Unlike FDR, Bernie hasn’t wrested any significant number of white white working class people away from Republicans. His only skill is giving speeches that college educated progressives like to hear.
Nukular Biskits
Okay. Coffee cup is empty. Dew should be off the grass now.
Weather is beautiful.
Time to
make the doughnutsfeed the little feathered beasties and do some yardwork.Baud
@Nukular Biskits:
Good quote. Maybe for the rotating tag?
stinger
@Miss Bianca: LOL. I can only wish they’d play a bigger role in the plots! They’re really just set design.
Harrison Wesley
@Gin & Tonic: Thank you! That’s some really clarifying background.
stinger
@Nukular Biskits: Oh yes. I’m on her side!
RevRick
@Debbie(Aussie): The whole Heaven is up, Hell is down notion is a metaphor that has some real physiological roots. When people are hopeful, their eyes do look upward, and when they are depressed, they do look towards the ground. And then there’s the reality that burial takes place underground. But Heaven/Hell is nevertheless a metaphor for a lived reality.
The whole idea that we either go up to heaven or down to hell after we die is Platonism imposed on Hebrew/Christian language. And we don’t need to look any further than the prayer that Jesus taught to see that this is the case.
The prayer opens with the assertion that “Our Father who art in heaven.” So, God dwells in heaven, but since the verb to be is an identity that means that heaven is wherever God is. And where in all of the universe is God absent? The answer is heaven surrounds us and indeed resides within us.
Jesus further makes clear that all this is meant for the present, not some vague future. “They will be done on Earth.” “Give us this day our daily bread.” And bread here means everything we humans need to thrive. And the last three petitions reference all the obstacles within us that keep us from living this reality. They are asking God to help us transform, now. The concluding doxology is an affirmation that God’s love can get through to us and won’t give up on us.
Percysowner
Trump has announced that he is bringing the full force of the U.S. Military to save “War Ravaged” (wait for it) Portland, Oregon?!
So Gavin Newsom pushed back and suddenly federal troops were reduced from 4,000 to 300. JB Pritzker basically told Trump to pound sand and that Illinois won’t take federal invasion and there has been no more movement on that front, as of now. Now he has moved on to what I’m sure he thinks of as a liberal, hippy dippy city that has people too weak and afraid to push back. Note, the City is already basically saying “What The Hell Dude?”.
It’s hard not to draw the conclusion that, like most bullies, Trump folds when he is stood up to. So, I’m hoping Governor Tina Kotek will weigh in, once she stops laughing over Portland being War Ravaged. Jesus! We live in interesting times, unfortunately.
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
👍
Nukular Biskits
@stinger:
lol
Ramona
@Eyeroller: I completely agree with you about this. The mainstream media chased the opinions of the war mongers who’d gotten fat on the 2 decade conflict and were butt-hurt that it was yanked away from them.
Melancholy Jaques
@Eyeroller:
I’m inclined to agree. I recall the Beltway Courtiers complaining from the beginning because they weren’t getting the savvy insider gossip that is their stock in trade.
stinger
@RevRick:
Interesting analysis!
Melancholy Jaques
@Baud:
It’s apparent that a lot of Democrats believe this, but I disagree. A forceful reminder should be the response. A version of What Have the
RomansDemocrats Done for Us? skit should be at the ready.WaterGirl
@Percysowner: Huh. I thought Portland had burned completely to the ground after the Black Live Matter protests. //
WaterGirl
@Nukular Biskits: stop that! please. :-)
Mr. Bemused Senior
Yes! I was lucky to learn about computers in the late 1960s. Now I carry around a device that has billions of transistors and storage that relies on quantum tunneling. It’s mind blowing to me.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
The poster is ignoring how lazy Trump is. It’s easier for Trump to order Jeffries and Schumer to get it done by social media, and go golfing.
Aziz, light!
@Percysowner: I just got my Antifa uniform back from the cleaners, so I’m ready.
Mr. Bemused Senior
The shoe event horizon.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Republican = Daddy party so salty speech is manly
Democrats = Mommy party so unlady like.
This is the MSM we’re talking about, so it’s not like they are deep thinkers.
artem1s
For the first time in a long time I was shocked and a little scared when I heard about it. But after a few days I started to see the timing on this as more of an act of desperation. Comey’s indictment is a shot across the bow for anyone in the DoJ, FBI or judicial branch who thinks they can bring a case against anyone for human trafficking (i.e. Epstein) or look too closely at those files. Who knows how much Comey knows but if he has any knowledge at all about the coverup and who was involved in the first Epstein case, it’s probably going to be dangled as a ‘get out jail free’ card if he declares the whole report about the 2016 Russian interference a hoax. As long as he does it under oath. Given the number of voters who want Comey to suffer for the October Surprise, it doesn’t surprise me that Trump has overstepped on this. There are still plenty of judges outside SCOTUS who are pissed at the way the judicial branch is being ignored, circumvented and even threatened. I don’t think the Comey indictments are going to scare them as much as pour fuel on that fire. Even if he’s a jerk, he still has a lot of powerful friends. And even some of his enemies will see this as an existential threat to the rule of law that protects them from the threat of political retribution and the masses they clearly hate.
Captain C
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Not to mention how lazy a large portion of the media is such that they just print what he blurts without question. Cf. ‘well, you know, he said he has nothing to do with Project 2025 so it must be true. I’m sure he never lies about anything…’
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Percysowner:
Remember during the LA attempted occupation the entire right was convinced LA was under Mexican occupation, who oppressed the white folks with their taco trucks, mariachi music, other unspeakable horrors. They have the same fantasy about Chicago, were the strapping young bucks in Cadillacs roamed the streets and willfully drive while being black!
I guess Trump is going to take us on a grand tour of every ignorant stereotype of American cities that Fox News pushes.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Yes this too. I mean, seriously, who is going to check their work to see if they aren’t just making shit up like Mark Twain did back in the day? The editors only care about filling space.
Aziz, light!
They’re talking about invading Portland because they know it’s their best bet that one of our local hothead anarchists will give them the excuse they need to start shooting protesters.
Betty
@Gin & Tonic: We have to start calling these bizarre demands Loomers. So what’s the latest Loomer a/k/a crackpot idea?
Betty
@UncleEbeneezer: Political pundit Dave Weigel recently chided moderate Dems demanding a more moderate message from the party saying it doesn’t matter how moderate the message is. It can’t get through to the public anyway. Kamala never espoused any wild-eyed ideas. She offered a set of positive actions to help people, but her message was drowned out.
MagdaInBlack
@Aziz, light!: It was my understanding that Portland was burned to the ground, just a smoking pile of rubble? What, then, would there be left to invade/protect?
artem1s
We know almost next to nothing about the generational exposure to leaded gasoline because the auto and oil industry have covered up the problem as the fault of brown babies chowing down on paint chips. The studies that have been done are focused on high lead levels due to one time exposures like eating paint chips or having the pipes in your house eroded by acidic water due to some bureaucrat’s decision to save $130 bucks a day treating the water to make it less acidic.
Almost no studies have been done documenting the leaded gas exposure of agricultural workers. Farm equipment spewed out toxic lead fumes on people, soil, and crops too. And underground and above ground gas tanks on those farms would leak lead and infuse the surrounding soil. The same soil that would become someone’s yard when the farm was sold off for development.
All those nice white flight families in the suburbs who taught their kids it was a waste of money to pay someone to change the oil in your car or change your own asbestos laced brake pads (visualize me raising my hand here) – there have been studies that suburban women are equally or more at risk of experiencing violent crime than urban woman. To my knowledge no one has linked domestic and gun violence to lead exposure (mostly because up until recently it was illegal for ER doctors to do research on gun violence). But there have been studies that link the reduction of violent crime since 1995 to the ban of leaded gas.
Breast and cervical cancers are other diseases that are suspected as having environmental causes, but the beauty care industry is fighting that research too. J&J baby powder has been linked to all kinds of cancers because of the asbestos in talcum powder (if you like your lungs and/or breasts throw out your talcum powder now – underarm deodorant too).
Yea, ground breaking research and reports into autism causes is going to be buried for probably the next decade – just like climate studies. Hopefully the longitudinal autism studies will find some non-fed bridge funding. It’s not the first time it’s happened and it won’t be the last.
Kayla Rudbek
@bluefoot: as Michael Faraday said when he was asked what use electricity was, “Madam, of what use is a baby?”
Kayla Rudbek
@artem1s: body powder is no longer talcum powder, hasn’t been so for a while now, if I recall correctly (I always tend to use it more on my feet and inside my athletic shoes anyway)
Jeffro
Seconded.
We have been swimming against the tides for quite some time now…a flood of dark money, a well-funded & well-organized MAGA message machine, a cowed (at best) media.
It’s small wonder our messages don’t get through when folks are being blasted 24/7 on all “channels” about how horrible we are
Harrison Wesley
@Betty: OK Loomer?
Kayla Rudbek
@Suzanne: the Comey indictment is very bad indeed, although it might finally be the thing that gets through to my business Republican attorney colleagues.
Although I’m not optimistic either, as Gene Quinn and most of the writers and commentators at IP Watchdog are still firmly brown-nosing the Republican Party even with the stupid proposals and the current wreckage at the Patent Office…the Registrar of Copyrights was fired by Trump because she wouldn’t roll over for the Silicon Valley dudebros pushing AI, but the USPTO in my opinion has rolled over and lost its collective spine among the leadership.
artem1s
then you have the coaches and players who blame everyone on their team for their losses so they can make more bucks when they get traded to their next team. Right now Mayor Pete is beating up on the actual players who are in the game so he can stand on the sideline and criticize and never risk taking a hit himself. If he wants back in the game, he’d needs to start running for office and be willing to get the shit kicked out of him by some arm chair quarterback influencer.
Kathleen
@Interesting Name Goes Here: “Vibes and aura farming”. PERFECT. Have not heard that before. This constant denigrating of the Democratic Party has certainly contributed to enabling ignorance among voters who “should be allies”. I had subscribed to several substacks of people I respected but who ended up smirking and inserting an obligatory “Dems aren’t meeting the moment”, I immediately click off and unsubscribe/cancel paid subscriptions. Ironically the best critique I heard of Dems was from Rick Wilson in an interview with Marc Elias. His critiques were not mean or denigrating and I considered them “helpful” as opposed to kewel kid dismissiveness.
So the point of this rambling rant is I refuse to subsidize the Grandpa Grifter “How To Get Rich By Demonizing Democrats business model that is the playbook for “liberal” or “Leftist” media.
I did not read the thread you mentioned and I’m glad I missed it.
ETA “Achtung”.
Eyeroller
@Kayla Rudbek: Most cosmetic powders are cornstarch, or something similar like arrowroot, and have been for quite a while. One can always read the ingredients list to be sure.
Mike in Pasadena
@Princess: And Thursday or Friday SCOTUS let trump withhold funds voted by Congress.
Anne Laurie: thanks for your hard work compiling great front page posts.
Nukular Biskits
@WaterGirl:
Not sure you’ll see this but I’m really trying …
Just couldn’t resist.
Kathleen
@Eyeroller: His real crime was choosing Black woman to be his VP. The was the real subtext underneath the “Biden is old/infirm/we would have Black woman President aaaaackkkkkk” frenzy.
Mike in Pasadena
@bluefoot: Wow. You really summed it up and now I’m really sad. Going for a walk.
Kathleen
@Miss Bianca: Apropos of nothing but I can’t help myself, what did the buffalo say to his son when he dropped himself off at school? “Bye Son!” I’ll be here all week. Try the plant based burger and make sure you tip your tables.
Kathleen
@Mike in Pasadena: Second. Thank you AL for your hard work and wit.
stinger
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: If they could write like Mark Twain I almost wouldn’t mind.
stinger
@artem1s:
Got a link? I ask because the only recent clip I have seen of Secretary Pete shows him saying there should be less talk about Trump and more about what everyday people need. Seems like good advice.
Captain C
@Mike in Pasadena:
When Baud becomes President I’m going to request that he witholds the salaries and perks of the Shitty Six of the Supreme Court. This includes
bribesgratuities.Matt McIrvin
@Percysowner: Portland gets one of the most extreme and bizarre cases of right wing urban phobia I’ve ever seen. Rural RWNJs in the Pacific Northwest genuinely believe that fucking Portland is a black hole of violent death from which no foolish traveler returns.
Aziz, light!
@Matt McIrvin: As a joke some years ago someone posted “Antifa is coming” flyers in laundromats and such around Klamath Falls, Oregon, and the MAGA nitwits down there turned that into rumors that busloads of Antifa soldiers and urban agitators (Black people) were on their way from Portland to invade them. So the nitwits got all het up and dozens of them turned out and stood around in the street all day with their assault rifles locked and loaded and their thumbs up their asses. I wish I were making this up.
chemiclord
@bluefoot:
The problem is that among all those different types of message, a significant minority of those receptive will INSIST that is the only type of message the Democrats should be using, otherwise, those other Dems are feckless losers that need to be primaried, and those voters will walk away from the ENTIRE election if they don’t get their way.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
Portland may do that on purpose to keep them away.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@artem1s: I’ve seen a couple of articles recently about a huge surge in cancers in young people (20s and 30s). Scientists don’t know for sure what is causing it, but obviously all the chemical crap and microplastics around now aren’t helping. Sad and horrible, but not surprising.
WaterGirl
@trnc: I guess you haven’t ever seen a clip of Jasmine Crockett.
Miss Bianca
@Kathleen: oh, AWK! Bison Dad jokes?! :)
Paul in KY
@Harrison Wesley: Thank you, sir!
Paul in KY
@WaterGirl: I’ve been told it’s a smoking hellhole where only mutant hippy antifa feast on carrion and engage in unspeakable drum circle rites…to Obama!!!