788 thoughts on “These scriptwriters are overpaid”

  5. In my dreams, Trump and Pence are both incapacitated on ventilators, and Nancy Pelosi gets to nominate a Supreme Court Justice.
    The pair recover just in time to be decisively defeated in the election. Trump’s lenders abandon him, he is bankrupted and indicted for some fraction of his many crimes. He flees to Moscow, where Putin grants him a small pension and a correspondingly small house in Novosibirsk.

  6. In my dreams, Trump and Pence are both incapacitated on ventilators, and Nancy Pelosi gets to nominate a Supreme Court Justice.
    The pair recover just in time to be decisively defeated in the election. Trump’s lenders abandon him, he is bankrupted and indicted for some fraction of his many crimes. He flees to Moscow, where Putin grants him a small pension and a correspondingly small house in Novosibirsk.

  7. “[Trump] flees to Moscow, where Putin grants him a small pension and a correspondingly small house in Novosibirsk apartment with balcony, on a high floor, where we can soon find out if Trump is a ‘flight risk’.”

  8. “[Trump] flees to Moscow, where Putin grants him a small pension and a correspondingly small house in Novosibirsk apartment with balcony, on a high floor, where we can soon find out if Trump is a ‘flight risk’.”

  9. All excellent scenarios.
    Meanwhile, and since this is an Open Thread and we all deserve a laugh, I thought you ought to know that there are increasing rumours that BoJo has already separated from Carrie Symonds (mother of new baby) and is having an affair with a Russian violinist.
    Continuity experts have been flummoxed by internet rumours that the Prime Minister may have already moved onto his fifth wife; skipping over number four, various plot twists and all sense of propriety. Instead, Mr. Johnson is on the verge of creating a space/time paradox where is he is in a constant state of divorce and marriage.
    Referred to by scientist as ‘Schrodinger’s horny tom cat’, Mr. Johnson is simultaneously in a box masturbating, while having an affair with your wife. Some in the UK are suggesting that information of the affair is hidden behind a super-injunction, while others suggest it is just super-gonorrhoea.
    Fans of the ongoing saga of Mr. Johnson’s love-life are concerned that key episodes, DNA tests and subsequent child support payments may have been missed. His new paramour confirmed: ‘I am dating the PM – but quite frankly, who isn’t these days? He told me that he loved me but that was full five minutes ago, so he may have already moved on’
    And on the “we all need a laugh” front, Schrodinger’s horny tom cat did it for me.

  10. All excellent scenarios.
    Meanwhile, and since this is an Open Thread and we all deserve a laugh, I thought you ought to know that there are increasing rumours that BoJo has already separated from Carrie Symonds (mother of new baby) and is having an affair with a Russian violinist.
    Continuity experts have been flummoxed by internet rumours that the Prime Minister may have already moved onto his fifth wife; skipping over number four, various plot twists and all sense of propriety. Instead, Mr. Johnson is on the verge of creating a space/time paradox where is he is in a constant state of divorce and marriage.
    Referred to by scientist as ‘Schrodinger’s horny tom cat’, Mr. Johnson is simultaneously in a box masturbating, while having an affair with your wife. Some in the UK are suggesting that information of the affair is hidden behind a super-injunction, while others suggest it is just super-gonorrhoea.
    Fans of the ongoing saga of Mr. Johnson’s love-life are concerned that key episodes, DNA tests and subsequent child support payments may have been missed. His new paramour confirmed: ‘I am dating the PM – but quite frankly, who isn’t these days? He told me that he loved me but that was full five minutes ago, so he may have already moved on’
    And on the “we all need a laugh” front, Schrodinger’s horny tom cat did it for me.

  11. Quoting from here:

    Gonna be like an October Surprise Advent Calendar

    Is this year over yet? I’m not sure how much more fun I can take.

  12. Quoting from here:

    Gonna be like an October Surprise Advent Calendar

    Is this year over yet? I’m not sure how much more fun I can take.

  13. Later in the script, Trump is put on a ventilator while in a medically induced coma.
    Pundits breathe a sigh of relief and opine that “at last, Trump has become Presidential”.
    I’m hoping that Trump decides that he has to spend the rest of 2020 being dead, for tax purposes.

  14. Later in the script, Trump is put on a ventilator while in a medically induced coma.
    Pundits breathe a sigh of relief and opine that “at last, Trump has become Presidential”.
    I’m hoping that Trump decides that he has to spend the rest of 2020 being dead, for tax purposes.

  15. What happens if Trump is incapacitated or dies before the election? Two separate questions I guess. I mean does his name stay on the ballot?
    I suspect Pence would have a better chance. What Republican opposition Trump has is mostly due to his personality. Not sure Pence has any.

  16. What happens if Trump is incapacitated or dies before the election? Two separate questions I guess. I mean does his name stay on the ballot?
    I suspect Pence would have a better chance. What Republican opposition Trump has is mostly due to his personality. Not sure Pence has any.

  19. What happens if Trump is incapacitated or dies before the election? Two separate questions I guess. I mean does his name stay on the ballot?
    The RNC chooses a new candidate. Most deadlines for certification and passed and many ballots have already been printed, so he probably stays on the ballot in most states.
    Then Electoral College electors either do or don’t adhere to the RNC’s choice depending on factors.

  20. What happens if Trump is incapacitated or dies before the election? Two separate questions I guess. I mean does his name stay on the ballot?
    The RNC chooses a new candidate. Most deadlines for certification and passed and many ballots have already been printed, so he probably stays on the ballot in most states.
    Then Electoral College electors either do or don’t adhere to the RNC’s choice depending on factors.

  21. What happens if Trump is incapacitated or dies before the election? Two separate questions I guess. I mean does his name stay on the ballot?
    Yup, ballots are locked down at this point. If Trump were to die, but win the Electoral College vote, then Pence (who would already be President) would continue in office for the new term.
    If Pence had also died, and the office passed to Pelosi? Not sure what options the “electors pledged to Trump/Pence” would have.
    The ones required by state law to vote for whoever won there would quite possibly be stuck. But the others might be able to decide to vote for someone else. However, judging by the current state of the race, that would (again, if Trump won) probably mean nobody had a majority in the electoral college. I think that kicks the election to Congress.

  22. What happens if Trump is incapacitated or dies before the election? Two separate questions I guess. I mean does his name stay on the ballot?
    Yup, ballots are locked down at this point. If Trump were to die, but win the Electoral College vote, then Pence (who would already be President) would continue in office for the new term.
    If Pence had also died, and the office passed to Pelosi? Not sure what options the “electors pledged to Trump/Pence” would have.
    The ones required by state law to vote for whoever won there would quite possibly be stuck. But the others might be able to decide to vote for someone else. However, judging by the current state of the race, that would (again, if Trump won) probably mean nobody had a majority in the electoral college. I think that kicks the election to Congress.

  23. Don’t know just how well Pence would do with the GOP, actually. The last survey I saw around the time of the conventions had the favorability ratings for Pence and Harris among GOP voters close enough to fall within the margin of error. Also, Pence’s favorability with women in the GOP is 10 points lower than his favorability with men.
    Looks like the same problem with the suburbs for the GOP ticket no matter which of them is at the top.
    The big question for me is about the baked-in chauvinism of the independent swing voters.

  24. Don’t know just how well Pence would do with the GOP, actually. The last survey I saw around the time of the conventions had the favorability ratings for Pence and Harris among GOP voters close enough to fall within the margin of error. Also, Pence’s favorability with women in the GOP is 10 points lower than his favorability with men.
    Looks like the same problem with the suburbs for the GOP ticket no matter which of them is at the top.
    The big question for me is about the baked-in chauvinism of the independent swing voters.

  25. Lawfare just posted a bit list of “election law” info for a variety of states.
    There’s been those rumors of R states just “having the Legislature pick the electors!”, but it turns out that there’s a FEDERAL requirement that state law that is in effect 6 days *before* the election should govern.
    And if they want to change that law, they’ll also have to get a governor’s sign-off, assuming that there aren’t state constitutional complications as well.
    All of the states surveyed by Lawfare, with the exception of SC, did not give the legislature or Governor the power to do more than “replace an elector with another pledged to the same candidate” in case of vacancy, and mostly it was the electors themselves that had that power.
    So, the lawbreaking necessary to evade state vote outcomes would be much more than is otherwise hinted. Not that it wouldn’t be tried, of course.

  26. Lawfare just posted a bit list of “election law” info for a variety of states.
    There’s been those rumors of R states just “having the Legislature pick the electors!”, but it turns out that there’s a FEDERAL requirement that state law that is in effect 6 days *before* the election should govern.
    And if they want to change that law, they’ll also have to get a governor’s sign-off, assuming that there aren’t state constitutional complications as well.
    All of the states surveyed by Lawfare, with the exception of SC, did not give the legislature or Governor the power to do more than “replace an elector with another pledged to the same candidate” in case of vacancy, and mostly it was the electors themselves that had that power.
    So, the lawbreaking necessary to evade state vote outcomes would be much more than is otherwise hinted. Not that it wouldn’t be tried, of course.

  31. Does anyone know if the President has started his hydroxychloroquine treatments yet? (Or maybe bleach cocktails/injections?)

  32. Does anyone know if the President has started his hydroxychloroquine treatments yet? (Or maybe bleach cocktails/injections?)

  39. Remember all the times Trump told Americans that all they needed was access to emergency helicopter transport action to a military hospital so they could get experimental drug cocktails -so get back to work!?
    Hoax!
    FOAD GOP

  40. Remember all the times Trump told Americans that all they needed was access to emergency helicopter transport action to a military hospital so they could get experimental drug cocktails -so get back to work!?
    Hoax!
    FOAD GOP

  43. Biden speaking so impressively from Grand Rapids earlier. You get a sense of what he is capable of when not hectored and interrupted. He’s in a delicate position, obviously. It’s going to be hard to campaign on the state of the nation without insulting/blaming Trump in a way that would alienate Americans given the understandable feelings of instability about the POTUS being flown to Walter Reed and put on experimental treatments. On the basis of this speech, he’s up to it.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRhEbxh9vdI

  44. Biden speaking so impressively from Grand Rapids earlier. You get a sense of what he is capable of when not hectored and interrupted. He’s in a delicate position, obviously. It’s going to be hard to campaign on the state of the nation without insulting/blaming Trump in a way that would alienate Americans given the understandable feelings of instability about the POTUS being flown to Walter Reed and put on experimental treatments. On the basis of this speech, he’s up to it.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRhEbxh9vdI

  45. BBC correspondent just said that Biden’s speech from Grand Rapids got a tremendous amount of coverage across the US networks “coverage that Biden doesn’t necessarily always get”. Good. It was excellent.

  46. BBC correspondent just said that Biden’s speech from Grand Rapids got a tremendous amount of coverage across the US networks “coverage that Biden doesn’t necessarily always get”. Good. It was excellent.

  47. So first he was going to spend his convalescence at the White House according to the official statement from his Doctor but, whoops, off to Walter Reed with you.

  48. So first he was going to spend his convalescence at the White House according to the official statement from his Doctor but, whoops, off to Walter Reed with you.

  51. Leading one to wonder if the “mild symptoms” are quite so mild after all.
    It’s not like this White House has much of a reputation for candor. In fact, if the news about Hope Hicks hadn’t broken, you get the impression they would have tried to avoid admitting anything at all.

  52. Leading one to wonder if the “mild symptoms” are quite so mild after all.
    It’s not like this White House has much of a reputation for candor. In fact, if the news about Hope Hicks hadn’t broken, you get the impression they would have tried to avoid admitting anything at all.

  57. Trump arriving at the debate “too late” to be tested, then standing there yelling in Biden’s direction, when he knew he had Covid-19, should be considered an act of attempted assassination.

  58. Trump arriving at the debate “too late” to be tested, then standing there yelling in Biden’s direction, when he knew he had Covid-19, should be considered an act of attempted assassination.

  59. Suppose you were one of the marks donors who Trump met with after testing positive. But without wearing a mask or telling them. Would you be looking to stop payment on your check?

  60. Suppose you were one of the marks donors who Trump met with after testing positive. But without wearing a mask or telling them. Would you be looking to stop payment on your check?

  63. OK, give the scriptwriters credit for this one. It’s starting to look like the superspreader event may have been the nomination announcement festivities last Saturday for Judge Barrett. So, if enough Republican senators come down with covid-19 as a result, they may not have the (healthy) votes to confirm her. Not before the election. Maybe not even after.
    Some plot twists really are pretty neat. If you can pull them off.

  64. OK, give the scriptwriters credit for this one. It’s starting to look like the superspreader event may have been the nomination announcement festivities last Saturday for Judge Barrett. So, if enough Republican senators come down with covid-19 as a result, they may not have the (healthy) votes to confirm her. Not before the election. Maybe not even after.
    Some plot twists really are pretty neat. If you can pull them off.

  65. So, if enough Republican senators come down with covid-19 as a result, they may not have the (healthy) votes to confirm her. Not before the election. Maybe not even after.
    Thom Tillis and Mike Lee have both tested positive, both are on the Judiciary Committee.
    Grassley isn’t getting tested because reasons, though he’s been at meetings with people who have since tested positive. My theory: he figures that if he gets tested and is positive, he’ll have to isolate, and he apparently thinks that’s worse than the risk of getting COVID and having a serious case.
    I.e. if he has it and is asymptomatic or only has a mild case, then he might even be able to keep it secret, and won’t have to isolate. Never mind how many other people he might infect along the way.
    He’s 87.
    Can we put these people in jail yet?

  66. So, if enough Republican senators come down with covid-19 as a result, they may not have the (healthy) votes to confirm her. Not before the election. Maybe not even after.
    Thom Tillis and Mike Lee have both tested positive, both are on the Judiciary Committee.
    Grassley isn’t getting tested because reasons, though he’s been at meetings with people who have since tested positive. My theory: he figures that if he gets tested and is positive, he’ll have to isolate, and he apparently thinks that’s worse than the risk of getting COVID and having a serious case.
    I.e. if he has it and is asymptomatic or only has a mild case, then he might even be able to keep it secret, and won’t have to isolate. Never mind how many other people he might infect along the way.
    He’s 87.
    Can we put these people in jail yet?

  69. if he has it and is asymptomatic or only has a mild case, then he might even be able to keep it secret, and won’t have to isolate. Never mind how many other people he might infect along the way.
    He’s 87.
    Can we put these people in jail yet?
    Given his risk factors, it may be more a matter of him (and them) putting themselves, and each other, in the morgue instead. It’s not like nobody’s been telling them the risks.

  70. if he has it and is asymptomatic or only has a mild case, then he might even be able to keep it secret, and won’t have to isolate. Never mind how many other people he might infect along the way.
    He’s 87.
    Can we put these people in jail yet?
    Given his risk factors, it may be more a matter of him (and them) putting themselves, and each other, in the morgue instead. It’s not like nobody’s been telling them the risks.

  75. I’m actually a little bothered by this. It’s weird and kind of mixed up. I know part of it is just the instability that it represents, but I surprisingly feel some kind of worry for Trump. When Herman Cain died, it was a little weird that I felt sadness, but I still got why I felt that way. I’m at a loss as to why I give even a quarter of a rat’s ass about Trump. Trying to be coldly rational, I don’t think he deserves my (or any?) concern.

  76. I’m actually a little bothered by this. It’s weird and kind of mixed up. I know part of it is just the instability that it represents, but I surprisingly feel some kind of worry for Trump. When Herman Cain died, it was a little weird that I felt sadness, but I still got why I felt that way. I’m at a loss as to why I give even a quarter of a rat’s ass about Trump. Trying to be coldly rational, I don’t think he deserves my (or any?) concern.

  77. hsh, you’re a nicer person than I am. My feelings about this situation aren’t the mix I would have predicted ahead of time, but worry for Clickbait is not one of them.
    From Twitter, via a BJ commenter:

    23 POSITIVE COVID TESTS:
    1+2. President & Melania Trump
    3. Bill Stepien, Trump campaign mgr
    4. Hope Hicks
    5. Kellyanne Conway
    6. Sen. Mike Lee
    7. Sen. Thom Tillis
    8. Ronna McDaniel
    9. Notre Dame Pres. Jenkins
    10-12. Three WH reporters
    13-23. Eleven staffers frm Cleveland debate

    I would add to the headline: “…so far.”
    Maybe the weirdest thing about this outbreak is that it didn’t happen sooner. They’ve been begging for it for months. If only the virus would just stay within the circle of malevolent idiocy!

  78. hsh, you’re a nicer person than I am. My feelings about this situation aren’t the mix I would have predicted ahead of time, but worry for Clickbait is not one of them.
    From Twitter, via a BJ commenter:

    23 POSITIVE COVID TESTS:
    1+2. President & Melania Trump
    3. Bill Stepien, Trump campaign mgr
    4. Hope Hicks
    5. Kellyanne Conway
    6. Sen. Mike Lee
    7. Sen. Thom Tillis
    8. Ronna McDaniel
    9. Notre Dame Pres. Jenkins
    10-12. Three WH reporters
    13-23. Eleven staffers frm Cleveland debate

    I would add to the headline: “…so far.”
    Maybe the weirdest thing about this outbreak is that it didn’t happen sooner. They’ve been begging for it for months. If only the virus would just stay within the circle of malevolent idiocy!

  81. “If only the virus would just stay within the circle of malevolent idiocy!”
    The odds are even that the list of the malevolent are more dangerous alive than dead.
    But I fear their malevolence reaches from the grave with malign grasping claws.
    “When Herman Cain died, it was a little weird that I felt sadness, but I still got why I felt that way.”
    Understandable in the land of the normative, the regular human being. Ya know, most people.
    But, Herman Cain would have counted you as one less Biden voter had you succumbed to the pandemic.
    If Joe Biden has tested positive for Covid instead of Trump, and in addition tested positive for store-bought processed ham and Wonder Bread, think of the malevolence that would be issuing forth from all points vermin fascist conservative at him and his family.
    We are dealing with murderous EVIL.
    But low taxes and stolen voting franchises, healthcare insurance removed from the pre-born and the post-born and a gun pointed at the crotch compensate in full of fucking shit conservative movement America.
    Everything is a nihilistic subhuman transaction.

  82. “If only the virus would just stay within the circle of malevolent idiocy!”
    The odds are even that the list of the malevolent are more dangerous alive than dead.
    But I fear their malevolence reaches from the grave with malign grasping claws.
    “When Herman Cain died, it was a little weird that I felt sadness, but I still got why I felt that way.”
    Understandable in the land of the normative, the regular human being. Ya know, most people.
    But, Herman Cain would have counted you as one less Biden voter had you succumbed to the pandemic.
    If Joe Biden has tested positive for Covid instead of Trump, and in addition tested positive for store-bought processed ham and Wonder Bread, think of the malevolence that would be issuing forth from all points vermin fascist conservative at him and his family.
    We are dealing with murderous EVIL.
    But low taxes and stolen voting franchises, healthcare insurance removed from the pre-born and the post-born and a gun pointed at the crotch compensate in full of fucking shit conservative movement America.
    Everything is a nihilistic subhuman transaction.

  85. Amen Brother.
    RBG and Bob Gibson?
    … not to mention 1 million of my fellow humans…
    This year is bulls***.

  86. Amen Brother.
    RBG and Bob Gibson?
    … not to mention 1 million of my fellow humans…
    This year is bulls***.

  87. I read yesterday that Judge Barrett had Covid-19 earlier but recovered. Could that have been a deciding factor in choosing her over the other contenders, i.e. assuming that she is now immune and not at risk to ‘create another vacancy at an inconvenient time’ so to speak?
    Would be quite ironic, if a GOP nominee would catch it at the very hearings from an unmasked GOPster.

  88. I read yesterday that Judge Barrett had Covid-19 earlier but recovered. Could that have been a deciding factor in choosing her over the other contenders, i.e. assuming that she is now immune and not at risk to ‘create another vacancy at an inconvenient time’ so to speak?
    Would be quite ironic, if a GOP nominee would catch it at the very hearings from an unmasked GOPster.

  89. Listening to the news this evening, I find myself apparently out of phase with my fellow citizens. The term that was getting used, repeatedly, was “crisis”. And I kept wondering: What crisis?
    To my mind, a crisis is when there is imminent danger that something bad will happen, or it already is happening, and it isn’t obvious how we as a nation get out of it without major damage. But we don’t have that.
    What we have is a President moved to a hospital temporarily. From which he can do pretty much any of his official duties.** (And even the tweeting that actually seems to mostly occupy his waking hours.) Especially at a time when there aren’t any visible international issues. There’s the economy and covid-19, of course, but he wasn’t doing anything there anyway.
    Granted, he can’t go around fleecing marks schmoozing donors and holding campaign rallies. Which might be a crisis for his reelection campaign, but hardly for the nation. To get to a national crisis, you’d have to believe that his reelection was a) critical to the nation, and b) on track, until this happened. Make that zero for two.
    So I’m just not seeing a crisis. Tough times for him personally. But at least he’s got top notch medical care available.
    ** Unless his condition is far worse that reported. Which, given the demonstrated veracity of this administration, it might be. But any reporter making that assumption should be saying so.

  90. Listening to the news this evening, I find myself apparently out of phase with my fellow citizens. The term that was getting used, repeatedly, was “crisis”. And I kept wondering: What crisis?
    To my mind, a crisis is when there is imminent danger that something bad will happen, or it already is happening, and it isn’t obvious how we as a nation get out of it without major damage. But we don’t have that.
    What we have is a President moved to a hospital temporarily. From which he can do pretty much any of his official duties.** (And even the tweeting that actually seems to mostly occupy his waking hours.) Especially at a time when there aren’t any visible international issues. There’s the economy and covid-19, of course, but he wasn’t doing anything there anyway.
    Granted, he can’t go around fleecing marks schmoozing donors and holding campaign rallies. Which might be a crisis for his reelection campaign, but hardly for the nation. To get to a national crisis, you’d have to believe that his reelection was a) critical to the nation, and b) on track, until this happened. Make that zero for two.
    So I’m just not seeing a crisis. Tough times for him personally. But at least he’s got top notch medical care available.
    ** Unless his condition is far worse that reported. Which, given the demonstrated veracity of this administration, it might be. But any reporter making that assumption should be saying so.

  91. Could that have been a deciding factor in choosing her over the other contenders, i.e. assuming that she is now immune and not at risk to ‘create another vacancy at an inconvenient time’ so to speak?
    There is apparently some question as to how reliably, and for how long, the virus produces immunity. Of course, knowing that requires more attention to science that many of those involved generally show….
    Also, she is being reported as “testing negative.” But depending on which test was used (i.e. what it tested for), someone who had previously had the virus would have tested positive. At least, that’s what the test I have gotten was supposed to report — it looks for the antibodies to the virus. So if you “test negative” that means you don’t have the antibodies present any longer. Which (I am not a doctor) would appear to mean that you are no longer immune.

  92. Could that have been a deciding factor in choosing her over the other contenders, i.e. assuming that she is now immune and not at risk to ‘create another vacancy at an inconvenient time’ so to speak?
    There is apparently some question as to how reliably, and for how long, the virus produces immunity. Of course, knowing that requires more attention to science that many of those involved generally show….
    Also, she is being reported as “testing negative.” But depending on which test was used (i.e. what it tested for), someone who had previously had the virus would have tested positive. At least, that’s what the test I have gotten was supposed to report — it looks for the antibodies to the virus. So if you “test negative” that means you don’t have the antibodies present any longer. Which (I am not a doctor) would appear to mean that you are no longer immune.

  95. Never mind not wanting to wish anyone illness or death, what really worries me is that this will add to the election chaos narrative that Trump is so eager to create. And if the Democrats win while Trump is more or less incapacitated there will be no end to the challenges to the legitimacy of Biden’s presidency.

  96. Never mind not wanting to wish anyone illness or death, what really worries me is that this will add to the election chaos narrative that Trump is so eager to create. And if the Democrats win while Trump is more or less incapacitated there will be no end to the challenges to the legitimacy of Biden’s presidency.

  101. hsh, on your 11.58: I think I understand this. I had something of the same reaction when BoJo had it, and was in ICU. Now admittedly, I did not have quite the depth of justified disgust and contempt for BoJo that we all (or almost all) have for Trump. But I definitely thought very, very ill of him, and the effect of his machinations on this country. But there was something, I suppose a sort of atavistic fear of chaos combined with a kind of human sympathy. And in the case of Trump, there is in addition of course the fear of what this will do to the race. So, a bunch of emotions, hard to disentangle, and easily interpreted as a worry for the POTUS’s health…

  102. hsh, on your 11.58: I think I understand this. I had something of the same reaction when BoJo had it, and was in ICU. Now admittedly, I did not have quite the depth of justified disgust and contempt for BoJo that we all (or almost all) have for Trump. But I definitely thought very, very ill of him, and the effect of his machinations on this country. But there was something, I suppose a sort of atavistic fear of chaos combined with a kind of human sympathy. And in the case of Trump, there is in addition of course the fear of what this will do to the race. So, a bunch of emotions, hard to disentangle, and easily interpreted as a worry for the POTUS’s health…

  103. Well, succumbing to Karmavirus while running a high fever is a type of DIAF.
    Needz moar dumpster, tho.

  104. Well, succumbing to Karmavirus while running a high fever is a type of DIAF.
    Needz moar dumpster, tho.

  105. Thought this tweet, by Carole Cadwalladr, was food for thought

  106. Thought this tweet, by Carole Cadwalladr, was food for thought

  107. Yup, although I don’t think it lasted among those not originally susceptible to that particular brand of the “patriotism” virus. And it did make him more reasonable about Covid in the aftermath. I hope (and pray – thoughts and prayers) that attitudes to Trump are sufficiently advanced in the US that it won’t have the rocket fuel effect, but it is true that in general Americans have much more reverence for the office of leader than us cynical Brits.

  108. Yup, although I don’t think it lasted among those not originally susceptible to that particular brand of the “patriotism” virus. And it did make him more reasonable about Covid in the aftermath. I hope (and pray – thoughts and prayers) that attitudes to Trump are sufficiently advanced in the US that it won’t have the rocket fuel effect, but it is true that in general Americans have much more reverence for the office of leader than us cynical Brits.

  111. wj on blatherers blathering about a “crisis” — with notable exceptions, the media is worse than useless. Not going to elaborate, except to say that the level of analysis and thoughtfulness is far higher on the handful of blogs I read.
    *****
    BoJo/Clickbait: Take this with a grain of salt, because I watch/listen to very little of either of them, the latter on purpose because it makes me ill to listen to his voice, and former because I don’t actually do a lot of viewing, I mostly read.
    But my impression is that their public personas are not alike at all. BoJo presents himself as a kind of lovable bumbler, right? (Maybe lovable is too strong, but in that direction.) Clickbait…well, someone else can try to sum up his schtick in two words, I’m not going to try, but it isn’t lovable and it certainly isn’t bumbler. So hsh and GftNC’s urge toward compassion (?) notwithstanding, given Clickbait’s track record and his own words, attitudes, and actions, I don’t think his illness on the face of it will move many hearts, or votes, in the way Cadwalladr says BoJo’s did.
    However, what is going to be a huge problem is the effect on the framing of the campaign. Per random BJ comments (which I take with a large grain of salt), this is already going on. Biden suspends negative campaigning, Biden, Obama, and the Clintons all issue well-wishing messages, the Rs continue on their merry way, pumping out vicious nonsense about the Ds, including Obama.
    At least for a while, and depending on how sick Clickbait is, the Ds will act like decent human beings and the Rs will go on being what they are. Which I think will be a hard needle for Biden/Harris to thread in terms of campaigning.
    That’s the crisis, if there is one. Not in Clickbait’s inability to do his job (he has never been able to do his job), but in the cynical manipulation of people’s notions about the election.
    E.g. this, although it has the added tang of being from a non-American.

  112. wj on blatherers blathering about a “crisis” — with notable exceptions, the media is worse than useless. Not going to elaborate, except to say that the level of analysis and thoughtfulness is far higher on the handful of blogs I read.
    *****
    BoJo/Clickbait: Take this with a grain of salt, because I watch/listen to very little of either of them, the latter on purpose because it makes me ill to listen to his voice, and former because I don’t actually do a lot of viewing, I mostly read.
    But my impression is that their public personas are not alike at all. BoJo presents himself as a kind of lovable bumbler, right? (Maybe lovable is too strong, but in that direction.) Clickbait…well, someone else can try to sum up his schtick in two words, I’m not going to try, but it isn’t lovable and it certainly isn’t bumbler. So hsh and GftNC’s urge toward compassion (?) notwithstanding, given Clickbait’s track record and his own words, attitudes, and actions, I don’t think his illness on the face of it will move many hearts, or votes, in the way Cadwalladr says BoJo’s did.
    However, what is going to be a huge problem is the effect on the framing of the campaign. Per random BJ comments (which I take with a large grain of salt), this is already going on. Biden suspends negative campaigning, Biden, Obama, and the Clintons all issue well-wishing messages, the Rs continue on their merry way, pumping out vicious nonsense about the Ds, including Obama.
    At least for a while, and depending on how sick Clickbait is, the Ds will act like decent human beings and the Rs will go on being what they are. Which I think will be a hard needle for Biden/Harris to thread in terms of campaigning.
    That’s the crisis, if there is one. Not in Clickbait’s inability to do his job (he has never been able to do his job), but in the cynical manipulation of people’s notions about the election.
    E.g. this, although it has the added tang of being from a non-American.

  113. Absolutely right on the (entirely cynical and misleading) nature of BoJo’s image, which made it easy to have compassion for him for people who hadn’t seen through him, and (maybe) even a little for people like me, who had.
    Apart from that, I largely agree with this:
    At least for a while, and depending on how sick Clickbait is, the Ds will act like decent human beings and the Rs will go on being what they are. Which I think will be a hard needle for Biden/Harris to thread in terms of campaigning.
    Hopefully they will be able to thread that needle. The extraordinary circumstances of Trump’s initial (and long-lasting) behaviour on the pandemic, combined with his current karmic comeback, combined with the number of Americans who have died, will I hope render it possible.

  114. Absolutely right on the (entirely cynical and misleading) nature of BoJo’s image, which made it easy to have compassion for him for people who hadn’t seen through him, and (maybe) even a little for people like me, who had.
    Apart from that, I largely agree with this:
    At least for a while, and depending on how sick Clickbait is, the Ds will act like decent human beings and the Rs will go on being what they are. Which I think will be a hard needle for Biden/Harris to thread in terms of campaigning.
    Hopefully they will be able to thread that needle. The extraordinary circumstances of Trump’s initial (and long-lasting) behaviour on the pandemic, combined with his current karmic comeback, combined with the number of Americans who have died, will I hope render it possible.

  115. Funny, there suddenly appear in my mind some literary examples of sympathy given to unsympathetic characters when they’re sick, injured, or dying. Rogue Riderhood in Our Mutual Friend, the horse Epic Steam in Jane Smiley’s Horse Heaven……
    The aftermath, at least with Riderhood, is that everyone goes back to disliking him once they see he isn’t dead after all. With Epic Steam it’s a little more complicated.
    😉
    I bet there are lots more examples, but I’m going to go out and enjoy what there is of the fall color.

  116. Funny, there suddenly appear in my mind some literary examples of sympathy given to unsympathetic characters when they’re sick, injured, or dying. Rogue Riderhood in Our Mutual Friend, the horse Epic Steam in Jane Smiley’s Horse Heaven……
    The aftermath, at least with Riderhood, is that everyone goes back to disliking him once they see he isn’t dead after all. With Epic Steam it’s a little more complicated.
    😉
    I bet there are lots more examples, but I’m going to go out and enjoy what there is of the fall color.

  117. I don’t think the polling really bears out Cadwalladr’s claim about Johnson. At best there was a minor bump.
    And ‘rocket fuel’ is a wild exaggeration.

  118. I don’t think the polling really bears out Cadwalladr’s claim about Johnson. At best there was a minor bump.
    And ‘rocket fuel’ is a wild exaggeration.

  119. Trumps dr just said he was diagnosed 72 hours ago. That means he knew he was infected Wednesday. And then he did two days of events.
    Psychopath

  120. Trumps dr just said he was diagnosed 72 hours ago. That means he knew he was infected Wednesday. And then he did two days of events.
    Psychopath

  121. Nigel, I agree with you, though BoJo’s Covid came at a time when, in hindsight, there seemed to be a lot more potential for things to happen, at least from where I’m watching it from. And from that same view, Janie is right that BoJo plays the game a different way from Trump, so the parallel is not exact.

  122. Nigel, I agree with you, though BoJo’s Covid came at a time when, in hindsight, there seemed to be a lot more potential for things to happen, at least from where I’m watching it from. And from that same view, Janie is right that BoJo plays the game a different way from Trump, so the parallel is not exact.

  123. Well, not quite outside yet. But am I the only one who didn’t know this fascinating factoid? Per Wikipedia, concerning Clickbait’s grandfather:
    The family story of his death is that “on May 29, 1918, while walking with his son Fred, Trump suddenly felt extremely sick and was rushed to bed. The next day, he was dead. What was first diagnosed as pneumonia turned out to be one of the early cases of the Spanish flu, which caused millions of deaths around the world.
    You’d think someone with that family history would have taken “it’s just the flu” in a different light.

  124. Well, not quite outside yet. But am I the only one who didn’t know this fascinating factoid? Per Wikipedia, concerning Clickbait’s grandfather:
    The family story of his death is that “on May 29, 1918, while walking with his son Fred, Trump suddenly felt extremely sick and was rushed to bed. The next day, he was dead. What was first diagnosed as pneumonia turned out to be one of the early cases of the Spanish flu, which caused millions of deaths around the world.
    You’d think someone with that family history would have taken “it’s just the flu” in a different light.

  127. the Ds will act like decent human beings and the Rs will go on being what they are
    So be it.
    I don’t have a problem with Biden pulling the negative ads. Some of it is surely calculated and some it is likely… decency.
    Which is kind of refreshing.
    Let Trump et al be Trump, and let Biden et al be Biden. Let the differences between the two be drawn as sharply as possible.

  128. the Ds will act like decent human beings and the Rs will go on being what they are
    So be it.
    I don’t have a problem with Biden pulling the negative ads. Some of it is surely calculated and some it is likely… decency.
    Which is kind of refreshing.
    Let Trump et al be Trump, and let Biden et al be Biden. Let the differences between the two be drawn as sharply as possible.

  129. At least for a while, and depending on how sick Clickbait is, the Ds will act like decent human beings and the Rs will go on being what they are. Which I think will be a hard needle for Biden/Harris to thread in terms of campaigning.
    I’m not sure it will be that hard a needle yo thread. It’s a great set-up for focusing the campaign on covid and how to deal with it. Something Trump has been frantically trying to avoid. Don’t even have to mention his name, just keep up the drumbeat about how to deal with the virus and the economy.
    Not running negative ads about Trump doesn’t seem like that much of a loss for the Biden campaign. a) Most people’s views of him are already locked in. b) There are still folks, like the Lincoln Project, who can run negative ads. And c) it frees up money for other things.

  130. At least for a while, and depending on how sick Clickbait is, the Ds will act like decent human beings and the Rs will go on being what they are. Which I think will be a hard needle for Biden/Harris to thread in terms of campaigning.
    I’m not sure it will be that hard a needle yo thread. It’s a great set-up for focusing the campaign on covid and how to deal with it. Something Trump has been frantically trying to avoid. Don’t even have to mention his name, just keep up the drumbeat about how to deal with the virus and the economy.
    Not running negative ads about Trump doesn’t seem like that much of a loss for the Biden campaign. a) Most people’s views of him are already locked in. b) There are still folks, like the Lincoln Project, who can run negative ads. And c) it frees up money for other things.

  131. Open thread. Closed on our new townhouse in Fort Collins, CO yesterday. Smoke from the two large-ish fires was thick enough that the first range of foothills were invisible at three miles distance. We’re not as bad as the worst parts of California. Looking at the air quality map, where the scale is usually green-yellow-red, they’ve added some purple (very unhealthy) and brown (hazardous) markers in California.

  132. Open thread. Closed on our new townhouse in Fort Collins, CO yesterday. Smoke from the two large-ish fires was thick enough that the first range of foothills were invisible at three miles distance. We’re not as bad as the worst parts of California. Looking at the air quality map, where the scale is usually green-yellow-red, they’ve added some purple (very unhealthy) and brown (hazardous) markers in California.

  133. You’d think someone with that family history would have taken “it’s just the flu” in a different light.
    You’d think that about someone with vaguely normal psychology. And vaguely normal family dynamics. Not to mention that it’s always questionable whether Trump knows anything about history, even family history. If he didn’t experience (or fantasize) it himself, it just isn’t real to him.

  134. You’d think someone with that family history would have taken “it’s just the flu” in a different light.
    You’d think that about someone with vaguely normal psychology. And vaguely normal family dynamics. Not to mention that it’s always questionable whether Trump knows anything about history, even family history. If he didn’t experience (or fantasize) it himself, it just isn’t real to him.

  135. E.g. this [suggestion to delay the election], although it has the added tang of being from a non-American.
    Perhaps the fact that it’s from a non-American explains something about why it’s so detatched from reality. American elections aren’t flexible the way those in parliamentary systems typically are.
    1) The date of the election is set by Federal law. It could, theoretically, be changed by Congress passing a new law. But the logistics, both for passing the new law and for actually holding the election, are a mess.
    2) Not least because the Electors still have to be chosen, and vote, before January 20th. On that date, if they haven’t, Trump (and Pence) is out and the Speaker of the House becomes President. Changing that requires amending the Constitution. Good luck doing that in 3 months, if it can be done at all. Ratifications by a sufficient number of states, which are rolling over their own legislatures this election as well**, take a lot of time. And would enough states be willing?
    ** And changing the dates of their election, no matter what Congress might do with the Federal election, would be an additional challenge.

  136. E.g. this [suggestion to delay the election], although it has the added tang of being from a non-American.
    Perhaps the fact that it’s from a non-American explains something about why it’s so detatched from reality. American elections aren’t flexible the way those in parliamentary systems typically are.
    1) The date of the election is set by Federal law. It could, theoretically, be changed by Congress passing a new law. But the logistics, both for passing the new law and for actually holding the election, are a mess.
    2) Not least because the Electors still have to be chosen, and vote, before January 20th. On that date, if they haven’t, Trump (and Pence) is out and the Speaker of the House becomes President. Changing that requires amending the Constitution. Good luck doing that in 3 months, if it can be done at all. Ratifications by a sufficient number of states, which are rolling over their own legislatures this election as well**, take a lot of time. And would enough states be willing?
    ** And changing the dates of their election, no matter what Congress might do with the Federal election, would be an additional challenge.

  141. russell: Let Trump et al be Trump, and let Biden et al be Biden. Let the differences between the two be drawn as sharply as possible.
    As I have often quoted before, Macaulay on Julius Caesar’s following, “the finest sentence ever written”:
    I triumph and rejoice that my action should have obtained your approval. Nor am I disturbed when I hear it said that those, whom I have sent off alive and free, will again bear arms against me; for there is nothing which I so much covet as that I should be like myself and they like themselves.”
    Caesar of course cared about how he would be perceived by history. Trump, perhaps, not so much.

  142. russell: Let Trump et al be Trump, and let Biden et al be Biden. Let the differences between the two be drawn as sharply as possible.
    As I have often quoted before, Macaulay on Julius Caesar’s following, “the finest sentence ever written”:
    I triumph and rejoice that my action should have obtained your approval. Nor am I disturbed when I hear it said that those, whom I have sent off alive and free, will again bear arms against me; for there is nothing which I so much covet as that I should be like myself and they like themselves.”
    Caesar of course cared about how he would be perceived by history. Trump, perhaps, not so much.

  143. Add Chris Christie to last night’s list.
    I think Clickbait cares a lot how he’s perceived by history. It’s just that he’s so detached from consensus reality (and I say this advisedly, Marty’s FB friends notwithstanding), he doesn’t realized how history is going to see him. I think he imagines history is going to see him the way his cult followers do now. Like that sign in the yard of a little house in western NY state that I know I’ve mentioned before, that I drove past on one of my Ohio trips: “Trump is love.”
    He added “LOVE!!!” at the end of a tweet last night. I said on BJ that it’s a wonder he didn’t melt like the Wicked Witch of the West when he tried to type that word. 😉

  144. Add Chris Christie to last night’s list.
    I think Clickbait cares a lot how he’s perceived by history. It’s just that he’s so detached from consensus reality (and I say this advisedly, Marty’s FB friends notwithstanding), he doesn’t realized how history is going to see him. I think he imagines history is going to see him the way his cult followers do now. Like that sign in the yard of a little house in western NY state that I know I’ve mentioned before, that I drove past on one of my Ohio trips: “Trump is love.”
    He added “LOVE!!!” at the end of a tweet last night. I said on BJ that it’s a wonder he didn’t melt like the Wicked Witch of the West when he tried to type that word. 😉

  145. Regarding BoJo: ironically the die-hard Tories writing and reading the Telegraph are furious with him ever since he got Covid and has finally taken it more seriously: even though their average age is probably at least 60 and they are likely overweight etc. they detest anything that might inhibit their precious ‘freedoms’

  146. Regarding BoJo: ironically the die-hard Tories writing and reading the Telegraph are furious with him ever since he got Covid and has finally taken it more seriously: even though their average age is probably at least 60 and they are likely overweight etc. they detest anything that might inhibit their precious ‘freedoms’

  147. I think Clickbait cares a lot how he’s perceived by history.
    Well, for sure in the Ozymandias self-aggrandising sense. But any action which could contribute to a favourable historic verdict (even if he recognised that – which is doubtful) would take last place in the moment to considerations of self-enrichment, base-pacification, and grift-concealment.

  148. I think Clickbait cares a lot how he’s perceived by history.
    Well, for sure in the Ozymandias self-aggrandising sense. But any action which could contribute to a favourable historic verdict (even if he recognised that – which is doubtful) would take last place in the moment to considerations of self-enrichment, base-pacification, and grift-concealment.

  149. So hsh and GftNC’s urge toward compassion (?)
    In my case, I’m not sure it’s compassion. The more I think about it, the more it seems to be a matter of not wanting to experience the death of a sitting president. It’s dreadful and dark.

  150. So hsh and GftNC’s urge toward compassion (?)
    In my case, I’m not sure it’s compassion. The more I think about it, the more it seems to be a matter of not wanting to experience the death of a sitting president. It’s dreadful and dark.

  153. I’m not sure such a “sick enough’ exists. But sick enough to minimize the damage he can do between now and January? That’s a worthwhile, and not entirely unrealistic, hope.

  154. I’m not sure such a “sick enough’ exists. But sick enough to minimize the damage he can do between now and January? That’s a worthwhile, and not entirely unrealistic, hope.

  155. Well, for sure in the Ozymandias self-aggrandising sense. But any action which could contribute to a favourable historic verdict (even if he recognised that – which is doubtful) would take last place in the moment to considerations of self-enrichment, base-pacification, and grift-concealment.
    This is what I mean about consensus reality. This is how it looks in your mind, but do you actually think that in his mind he thinks he’s making a choice between a favorable historic verdict and any of those bad things you listed? He does not do bad things! Clearly you have been deluded by fake news and the evil socialist Ds!

  156. Well, for sure in the Ozymandias self-aggrandising sense. But any action which could contribute to a favourable historic verdict (even if he recognised that – which is doubtful) would take last place in the moment to considerations of self-enrichment, base-pacification, and grift-concealment.
    This is what I mean about consensus reality. This is how it looks in your mind, but do you actually think that in his mind he thinks he’s making a choice between a favorable historic verdict and any of those bad things you listed? He does not do bad things! Clearly you have been deluded by fake news and the evil socialist Ds!

  157. I think he’s constantly making calculations about self-enrichment, base-pacification, and grift-concealment, and has knowingly been doing so for decades (base-pacification only since he was POTUS). I think he’s always known that he has to talk up all his businesses, and that over-the-top PR is totally necessary for his money-making activities, whether true or not (and it doesn’t matter which). As for the historic verdict, I kind of believe that on one level he thinks the world ceases to exist when he dies, so it doesn’t matter too much. Apres moi, le deluge

  158. I think he’s constantly making calculations about self-enrichment, base-pacification, and grift-concealment, and has knowingly been doing so for decades (base-pacification only since he was POTUS). I think he’s always known that he has to talk up all his businesses, and that over-the-top PR is totally necessary for his money-making activities, whether true or not (and it doesn’t matter which). As for the historic verdict, I kind of believe that on one level he thinks the world ceases to exist when he dies, so it doesn’t matter too much. Apres moi, le deluge

  159. I think he’s constantly making calculations about self-enrichment, base-pacification, and grift-concealment, and has knowingly been doing so for decades (base-pacification only since he was POTUS).
    I didn’t say he wasn’t, and so what! Those things aren’t wrong! They’re what you have to do to win, to not look like a loser or a sucker (like all those people buried in those cemeteries in France, or John McCain, who got captured).
    And looking like a winner is all that matters, and what both life and history [and above all the demons in your own psyche, but that’s *my* gloss, not his consciousness saying that] will reward you for. He’s not making a choice between those things and history’s verdict, because there’s no conflict. Those things are what get you the correct verdict!

  160. I think he’s constantly making calculations about self-enrichment, base-pacification, and grift-concealment, and has knowingly been doing so for decades (base-pacification only since he was POTUS).
    I didn’t say he wasn’t, and so what! Those things aren’t wrong! They’re what you have to do to win, to not look like a loser or a sucker (like all those people buried in those cemeteries in France, or John McCain, who got captured).
    And looking like a winner is all that matters, and what both life and history [and above all the demons in your own psyche, but that’s *my* gloss, not his consciousness saying that] will reward you for. He’s not making a choice between those things and history’s verdict, because there’s no conflict. Those things are what get you the correct verdict!

  161. Would Poe rewrite his Masque of the Red Death looking at the current WH and its inhabitants? 😉
    The only one wearing a mask in the WH seems to have been involved in giving Jabbabonk the infection.

  162. Would Poe rewrite his Masque of the Red Death looking at the current WH and its inhabitants? 😉
    The only one wearing a mask in the WH seems to have been involved in giving Jabbabonk the infection.

  163. I’m rather fascinated to see that Trump’s doctor is a “doctor of osteopathic medicine”. In the UK, osteopaths are regarded as New Age cranks by the medical establishment, with a possible exception made for their physical manipulation to treat musculo-skeletal pain. I see from looking it up that in the US doctors of osteopathic medicine are held to have equivalent expertise to MDs, and have to complete equivalent training. We are lucky enough to have a few lawyers who weigh in occasionally on legal matters, but if we have any medically qualified lurkers who can give an opinion on this issue, or if any of our regular commenters know anything about this, I would be fascinated to hear. I have a particular (but admittedly hardly benevolent) interest in non-scientific magical healing systems.

  164. I’m rather fascinated to see that Trump’s doctor is a “doctor of osteopathic medicine”. In the UK, osteopaths are regarded as New Age cranks by the medical establishment, with a possible exception made for their physical manipulation to treat musculo-skeletal pain. I see from looking it up that in the US doctors of osteopathic medicine are held to have equivalent expertise to MDs, and have to complete equivalent training. We are lucky enough to have a few lawyers who weigh in occasionally on legal matters, but if we have any medically qualified lurkers who can give an opinion on this issue, or if any of our regular commenters know anything about this, I would be fascinated to hear. I have a particular (but admittedly hardly benevolent) interest in non-scientific magical healing systems.

  165. My niece’s husband is an OB/GYN whose medical accreditation is as an osteopath. The content and duration of his training was the same as for a regular MD, and his practice includes a lot of surgery.
    I cannot speak for Trump’s doctor. 🙂
    In any case, probably different between the US and the UK.
    I have a particular (but admittedly hardly benevolent) interest in non-scientific magical healing systems.
    There’s reiki, which some would call magic (but I would not).
    A good friend healed himself of a fairly aggressive bladder cancer with diet and weed. Another good friend healed herself of cancer with herbs, plus she stopped exposing herself to toxic materials (she had been a fine art printmaker).
    I did know a man who was healed of Parkinson’s disease, apparently from prayer and the laying on of hands.
    Life can be mysterious.

  166. My niece’s husband is an OB/GYN whose medical accreditation is as an osteopath. The content and duration of his training was the same as for a regular MD, and his practice includes a lot of surgery.
    I cannot speak for Trump’s doctor. 🙂
    In any case, probably different between the US and the UK.
    I have a particular (but admittedly hardly benevolent) interest in non-scientific magical healing systems.
    There’s reiki, which some would call magic (but I would not).
    A good friend healed himself of a fairly aggressive bladder cancer with diet and weed. Another good friend healed herself of cancer with herbs, plus she stopped exposing herself to toxic materials (she had been a fine art printmaker).
    I did know a man who was healed of Parkinson’s disease, apparently from prayer and the laying on of hands.
    Life can be mysterious.

  169. wrs.
    “Life can be mysterious”: corollary, whatever works.
    My PCPs (primary care physicians) have been a mix of MDs and DOs. I couldn’t even tell you which were which; they function the same.
    I have also seen, on and off, two people whom I teasingly call “voo-doo” practitioners. I can’t even remember what they call the modalities they use (nothing famous, like reiki), but they’re both conventionally qualified as well (one as an occupational therapist, one as a PT) — which is partly why I like them — they have a foot in both camps and can think flexibly.
    Story, partly told before: 20 years ago I was diagnosed with an auto-immune skin condition. The dermatologist said that as with most auto-immune diseases, they don’t know what triggers it and there’s no “cure.” But — he said — there was some suspicion that diet played a role, and he gave me a long list of foods and substances that *might* trigger outbreaks (including NSAIDS and food dyes, besides a list of foods that I don’t remember, but it didn’t include wheat).
    That’s when a friend recommended the first of my “voo-doo” people, who said, among other much easier things to follow up on, to stop eating wheat.
    I’ve written about that before, but suffice to say that except for one springtime outbreak (when I had been eating M&Ms for months as my daily chocolate fix — food dye, take note), after I quit eating wheat, the skin problem went away.
    Recently I’ve had to break in a new dermatologist for a new problem. He’s young, I like him pretty well. When he asked about my history I told him about the skin condition (call it X) and the wheat. He said, “Well, I doubt it has anything to do with diet, X just burns it self out sometimes.”
    !!!
    Not being quick on the draw with verbal rejoinders, and not knowing him well, I didn’t say what I wish I’d said, which is “Wait, theorizing about diet is unscientific [which was his implication], but you want me to believe in something called ‘burning itself out’?!?!?”
    As we’ve discussed more than once, people can be smart in some ways and not so smart in others. Medical education — well, there’s a topic.
    There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy

  170. wrs.
    “Life can be mysterious”: corollary, whatever works.
    My PCPs (primary care physicians) have been a mix of MDs and DOs. I couldn’t even tell you which were which; they function the same.
    I have also seen, on and off, two people whom I teasingly call “voo-doo” practitioners. I can’t even remember what they call the modalities they use (nothing famous, like reiki), but they’re both conventionally qualified as well (one as an occupational therapist, one as a PT) — which is partly why I like them — they have a foot in both camps and can think flexibly.
    Story, partly told before: 20 years ago I was diagnosed with an auto-immune skin condition. The dermatologist said that as with most auto-immune diseases, they don’t know what triggers it and there’s no “cure.” But — he said — there was some suspicion that diet played a role, and he gave me a long list of foods and substances that *might* trigger outbreaks (including NSAIDS and food dyes, besides a list of foods that I don’t remember, but it didn’t include wheat).
    That’s when a friend recommended the first of my “voo-doo” people, who said, among other much easier things to follow up on, to stop eating wheat.
    I’ve written about that before, but suffice to say that except for one springtime outbreak (when I had been eating M&Ms for months as my daily chocolate fix — food dye, take note), after I quit eating wheat, the skin problem went away.
    Recently I’ve had to break in a new dermatologist for a new problem. He’s young, I like him pretty well. When he asked about my history I told him about the skin condition (call it X) and the wheat. He said, “Well, I doubt it has anything to do with diet, X just burns it self out sometimes.”
    !!!
    Not being quick on the draw with verbal rejoinders, and not knowing him well, I didn’t say what I wish I’d said, which is “Wait, theorizing about diet is unscientific [which was his implication], but you want me to believe in something called ‘burning itself out’?!?!?”
    As we’ve discussed more than once, people can be smart in some ways and not so smart in others. Medical education — well, there’s a topic.
    There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy

  171. corollary, whatever works.
    Indeed.
    As far as I can tell, there is no set of assumptions about the world that explain everything that actually happens. No theory, no collection of axioms, no system of beliefs. There’s always something that falls outside the lines.
    You can either pretend that those things don’t exist, or you can accept the limitations of human understanding.
    And then, go with whatever works.
    🙂

  172. corollary, whatever works.
    Indeed.
    As far as I can tell, there is no set of assumptions about the world that explain everything that actually happens. No theory, no collection of axioms, no system of beliefs. There’s always something that falls outside the lines.
    You can either pretend that those things don’t exist, or you can accept the limitations of human understanding.
    And then, go with whatever works.
    🙂

  175. but you want me to believe in something called ‘burning itself out’?!?!?”
    It’s a highly scientific term.
    As far as I can tell, there is no set of assumptions about the world that explain everything that actually happens.
    Entropy shall prevail.
    Go forth and laugh…heartily.

  176. but you want me to believe in something called ‘burning itself out’?!?!?”
    It’s a highly scientific term.
    As far as I can tell, there is no set of assumptions about the world that explain everything that actually happens.
    Entropy shall prevail.
    Go forth and laugh…heartily.

  177. … Recently I’ve had to break in a new dermatologist for a new problem. He’s young, I like him pretty well. When he asked about my history I told him about the skin condition (call it X) and the wheat. He said, “Well, I doubt it has anything to do with diet, X just burns it self out sometimes.”..
    The interactions between the gut (in particular the bacteriome) and the immune system are a very active area of research. I have a family member with SIBO (which the average MD isn’t even aware of), and that very definitely has immune system effects.
    Thus far no one really knows anything particularly useful, other than… it’s complicated.

  178. … Recently I’ve had to break in a new dermatologist for a new problem. He’s young, I like him pretty well. When he asked about my history I told him about the skin condition (call it X) and the wheat. He said, “Well, I doubt it has anything to do with diet, X just burns it self out sometimes.”..
    The interactions between the gut (in particular the bacteriome) and the immune system are a very active area of research. I have a family member with SIBO (which the average MD isn’t even aware of), and that very definitely has immune system effects.
    Thus far no one really knows anything particularly useful, other than… it’s complicated.

  181. Biggest nonsense in the Bacevich article: suggesting that Biden is comparable to Harding as a pick. He seems to have missed the detail that, until Trump, Harding ranked as our most corrupt President ever. That one just brought me up short.

  182. Biggest nonsense in the Bacevich article: suggesting that Biden is comparable to Harding as a pick. He seems to have missed the detail that, until Trump, Harding ranked as our most corrupt President ever. That one just brought me up short.

  183. If I were going to attack Biden, I would do it differently. But I think Bacevich just meant Harding was seen as a mediocrity.
    In my current mood where I’m not going to pick on Biden until after ( I hope) Trump’s defeat, that’s all I will say on that. I thought the author was being silly in even hoping that the Republicans will take up any of his four proposals. They might pretend to care about fiscal discipline if a Democrat is in, because that has always been what Republicans do. But it’s all fake. And in fairness to Bacevich, I don’t think he expects Republicans to reform.

  184. If I were going to attack Biden, I would do it differently. But I think Bacevich just meant Harding was seen as a mediocrity.
    In my current mood where I’m not going to pick on Biden until after ( I hope) Trump’s defeat, that’s all I will say on that. I thought the author was being silly in even hoping that the Republicans will take up any of his four proposals. They might pretend to care about fiscal discipline if a Democrat is in, because that has always been what Republicans do. But it’s all fake. And in fairness to Bacevich, I don’t think he expects Republicans to reform.

  185. “I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M.,” Trump tweeted. “Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. … I feel better than I did 20 years ago!”
    Meanwhile, seating is sold out:
    https://wtop.com/dc/2020/10/empty-chairs-sit-on-ellipse-near-white-house-in-remembrance-of-those-who-died-of-covid-19/
    Trump is down with dead fucking others:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzxuknbQ5VY
    Do not dare place a chair in that memorial representing any of the Trump murderers, now infected, deliberately, by their fellow vermin, who may die of the virus.
    Instead, replace EACH of the dead with 1000 heavily armed gunmen and gunwomen to wreak vengeance.
    Then America can feel good again:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPgmIO_73DU

  186. “I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M.,” Trump tweeted. “Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. … I feel better than I did 20 years ago!”
    Meanwhile, seating is sold out:
    https://wtop.com/dc/2020/10/empty-chairs-sit-on-ellipse-near-white-house-in-remembrance-of-those-who-died-of-covid-19/
    Trump is down with dead fucking others:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzxuknbQ5VY
    Do not dare place a chair in that memorial representing any of the Trump murderers, now infected, deliberately, by their fellow vermin, who may die of the virus.
    Instead, replace EACH of the dead with 1000 heavily armed gunmen and gunwomen to wreak vengeance.
    Then America can feel good again:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPgmIO_73DU

  187. “In my current mood where I’m not going to pick on Biden until after ( I hope) Trump’s defeat, that’s all I will say on that.”
    My only complaint about Biden is “that ham sandwich needs more mustard.”

  188. “In my current mood where I’m not going to pick on Biden until after ( I hope) Trump’s defeat, that’s all I will say on that.”
    My only complaint about Biden is “that ham sandwich needs more mustard.”

  197. That’ll be the steroids talking. 😉
    Back when our kids were little, my father already had significant problems with arthritis. When we went to visit, his arthritis doc was willing to prescribe 10 days worth of pretty potent steroids so that he could enjoy the kids. He sometimes remarked to me how different it was to wake up in the morning and nothing hurt. Of course, the down side was that he had to spend another 10 days tapering off of them.

  198. That’ll be the steroids talking. 😉
    Back when our kids were little, my father already had significant problems with arthritis. When we went to visit, his arthritis doc was willing to prescribe 10 days worth of pretty potent steroids so that he could enjoy the kids. He sometimes remarked to me how different it was to wake up in the morning and nothing hurt. Of course, the down side was that he had to spend another 10 days tapering off of them.

  199. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/ammon-bundy-refuses-to-wear-a-mask-ruins-high-school-football-game
    Bundy compares himself to Jews in Germany and black people in the Jim Crow South.
    But that comparison is just a LITTLE off because as a Jew in 1930s Germany, the football game would merely have been interrupted for a bit while they beat the shit out of him and shipped him off to a concentration camp for slave labor and then gassing, and in the Jim Crow South, again, the referees would have called a brief time out while they lynched him from the goalposts and then the game would resume on third down and goal.
    But as a confederate racist piece of dog shit AND a Nazi, he would know that.
    Obama made his biggest mistake by not calling in an airstrike on the Malheur National Refuge Office Building and the Bundy Ranch and killing all of them.

  200. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/ammon-bundy-refuses-to-wear-a-mask-ruins-high-school-football-game
    Bundy compares himself to Jews in Germany and black people in the Jim Crow South.
    But that comparison is just a LITTLE off because as a Jew in 1930s Germany, the football game would merely have been interrupted for a bit while they beat the shit out of him and shipped him off to a concentration camp for slave labor and then gassing, and in the Jim Crow South, again, the referees would have called a brief time out while they lynched him from the goalposts and then the game would resume on third down and goal.
    But as a confederate racist piece of dog shit AND a Nazi, he would know that.
    Obama made his biggest mistake by not calling in an airstrike on the Malheur National Refuge Office Building and the Bundy Ranch and killing all of them.

  201. Prednisone tapers are God’s gift to RA patients. Every few years they change my medicine which requires missing doses. They give me a 7or 5 day taper and I have the best two days. Then its downhill. A 10 day taper would make my year for sure.

  202. Prednisone tapers are God’s gift to RA patients. Every few years they change my medicine which requires missing doses. They give me a 7or 5 day taper and I have the best two days. Then its downhill. A 10 day taper would make my year for sure.

  207. my dad avoids the taper by getting prednisone from all of his Drs at the same time.
    and he won’t take anything else.
    he’s the worst patient ever.

  208. my dad avoids the taper by getting prednisone from all of his Drs at the same time.
    and he won’t take anything else.
    he’s the worst patient ever.

  209. The White House is now thoroughly contaminated with Covid-19, a deadly pandemic.
    The current subhuman chimpanzee inhabitants are deliberately spreading their diseased feces and sputum and in every lavatory, on every surface, in every bed, in every drawer and closet, and in the galley, especially preparing the space for the new inhabitants next February.
    Joe Biden’s first order of business is to condemn the White House and order its demolition with explosives.
    Save money by not hiring Ecolab to disinfect the place and never set foot in it.
    Send the bill for the damages and the worth of the historical structure evenly split between the Trump Organization and the Republican National Committee.
    If they refuse to repay, send Navy Seals and Special Forces after them to exact payment in flesh and blood.
    The White House has not contacted to warn or perchance APOLOGIZE to the many people, workers, caterers, reporters, etc, who attended the Coney Barrett Christian vermin spreadathon, as even civilized dogs and crocodiles wearing trousers might think to.
    Some of those humans are reporting they were infected by the subhumans as well.
    I don’t think Jim Jones let his cult members know either about the contents of the Koolaid they were sipping in his honor.
    A Murderous Cult.
    Why the calm?
    Why not savage, killing violence?

  210. The White House is now thoroughly contaminated with Covid-19, a deadly pandemic.
    The current subhuman chimpanzee inhabitants are deliberately spreading their diseased feces and sputum and in every lavatory, on every surface, in every bed, in every drawer and closet, and in the galley, especially preparing the space for the new inhabitants next February.
    Joe Biden’s first order of business is to condemn the White House and order its demolition with explosives.
    Save money by not hiring Ecolab to disinfect the place and never set foot in it.
    Send the bill for the damages and the worth of the historical structure evenly split between the Trump Organization and the Republican National Committee.
    If they refuse to repay, send Navy Seals and Special Forces after them to exact payment in flesh and blood.
    The White House has not contacted to warn or perchance APOLOGIZE to the many people, workers, caterers, reporters, etc, who attended the Coney Barrett Christian vermin spreadathon, as even civilized dogs and crocodiles wearing trousers might think to.
    Some of those humans are reporting they were infected by the subhumans as well.
    I don’t think Jim Jones let his cult members know either about the contents of the Koolaid they were sipping in his honor.
    A Murderous Cult.
    Why the calm?
    Why not savage, killing violence?

  211. There is evidence that RBG’s vigilant clerks had been tipped off that there was a trump conservative movement plot afoot to kidnap her remains and the subsequent issuance of an executive order making it a felony to congregate and mourn her passing publicly, so they acted.

  212. There is evidence that RBG’s vigilant clerks had been tipped off that there was a trump conservative movement plot afoot to kidnap her remains and the subsequent issuance of an executive order making it a felony to congregate and mourn her passing publicly, so they acted.

  213. “Joe Biden’s first order of business is to condemn the White House and order its demolition with explosives.
    Save money by not hiring Ecolab to disinfect the place and never set foot in it.”
    Nonsense. Just tent the place and fill the tent with the gas that they use to kill off an infestation of termites (the non-subterranean ones that they get in hot climates).
    Best to act quickly, before things get out of control. So how about, Thursday? Is Thursday good for everyone?

  214. “Joe Biden’s first order of business is to condemn the White House and order its demolition with explosives.
    Save money by not hiring Ecolab to disinfect the place and never set foot in it.”
    Nonsense. Just tent the place and fill the tent with the gas that they use to kill off an infestation of termites (the non-subterranean ones that they get in hot climates).
    Best to act quickly, before things get out of control. So how about, Thursday? Is Thursday good for everyone?

  215. More stuff for the writers’ room
    via LGM
    https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/10/don-jr-thinks-trump-is-acting-crazy-presidents-covid-joyride-has-family-divided
    Ok, now, the flaky pushy son starts to exhibit concern while the ones people believe have a little more sense go all in on the kool-aid
    https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/05/politics/trump-secret-service-trip/index.html
    The script writes itself
    Dr. Leana Wen, an ER physician and CNN medical analyst, tweeted that if Trump were her patient, “in unstable condition + contagious illness, & he suddenly left the hospital to go for a car ride that endangers himself & others: I’d call security to restrain him then perform a psychiatric evaluation to examine his decision-making capacity.”
    Make sure the actors can do the medspeak!
    https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/trumps-moment-of-reckoning-arrives/616620/
    The president’s symptoms, including high fever and fluctuating oxygen levels for which he received supplemental oxygen, combined with the measures being taken by his medical team—including prescribing remdesivir and dexamethasone, a corticosteroid used in a wide range of conditions for its anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant effects that can have psychiatric side effects
    Don’t forget to have the minor character in the cold open say something that can be twisted into Cassandra like foreknowledge.
    https://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2020/04/looking-for-death.html

  216. More stuff for the writers’ room
    via LGM
    https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/10/don-jr-thinks-trump-is-acting-crazy-presidents-covid-joyride-has-family-divided
    Ok, now, the flaky pushy son starts to exhibit concern while the ones people believe have a little more sense go all in on the kool-aid
    https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/05/politics/trump-secret-service-trip/index.html
    The script writes itself
    Dr. Leana Wen, an ER physician and CNN medical analyst, tweeted that if Trump were her patient, “in unstable condition + contagious illness, & he suddenly left the hospital to go for a car ride that endangers himself & others: I’d call security to restrain him then perform a psychiatric evaluation to examine his decision-making capacity.”
    Make sure the actors can do the medspeak!
    https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/trumps-moment-of-reckoning-arrives/616620/
    The president’s symptoms, including high fever and fluctuating oxygen levels for which he received supplemental oxygen, combined with the measures being taken by his medical team—including prescribing remdesivir and dexamethasone, a corticosteroid used in a wide range of conditions for its anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant effects that can have psychiatric side effects
    Don’t forget to have the minor character in the cold open say something that can be twisted into Cassandra like foreknowledge.
    https://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2020/04/looking-for-death.html

  217. Why not switch the oxygen for ozone? “Mr.President, we have this special oxygen made just for you with 3 atoms instead of merely 2.”

  218. Why not switch the oxygen for ozone? “Mr.President, we have this special oxygen made just for you with 3 atoms instead of merely 2.”

  219. Why not switch the oxygen for ozone?
    Because you really don’t want Trump dead or long-term disabled before Election Day. That’s probably the Republicans’ best chance for victory via a sympathy vote. Exactly who would get sworn in as a result come January isn’t crystal clear. But Trump, Pence, or someone similar? All horrible.
    The ideal, from the Democrats’ point of view, is Trump obviously, visibly, very sick. But well enough to insist on staying in charge, and have his bodyguard of syncophants acquiesce. Combined, if possible, with enough ill (or worse) Republican senators that the Senate cannot do anything on a pary line vote.

  220. Why not switch the oxygen for ozone?
    Because you really don’t want Trump dead or long-term disabled before Election Day. That’s probably the Republicans’ best chance for victory via a sympathy vote. Exactly who would get sworn in as a result come January isn’t crystal clear. But Trump, Pence, or someone similar? All horrible.
    The ideal, from the Democrats’ point of view, is Trump obviously, visibly, very sick. But well enough to insist on staying in charge, and have his bodyguard of syncophants acquiesce. Combined, if possible, with enough ill (or worse) Republican senators that the Senate cannot do anything on a pary line vote.

  221. It doesn’t stop, ever:
    https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2020/10/trump-administration-overrules-fdas-vaccine-approval-protocols
    No more FDA, no more CDC, no more science if Trump and millions of his filth are not removed from the face of the Earth.
    He will be personally approving all new drugs going forward. Cancer cures, diabetes miracle pills, and nostrums for the flu will be sold out of vans down by the river by maskless low-quality shitheads.
    All medicines approved in the United States will be required to carry the trump name so we know who our Daddy is.
    Bill Bennett, the lout of virtue, who somehow has not been shot in the head after all these decades of horseshit, is telling us, approvingly in his stentorian slot machine speech, that Trump will double down on the message that the pandemic is nothing, the virus is a hoax, Biden is a sniveling pussy for wearing a mask.
    Bennett is noting Trump’s mighty animal spirits, which is what subhuman conservatives tell you just before they shove their big swinging dicks up your arse.
    They are most definitely animals.
    Put them down.
    I want a Supreme Court that declares bullets in motion are protected God-given speech

  222. It doesn’t stop, ever:
    https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2020/10/trump-administration-overrules-fdas-vaccine-approval-protocols
    No more FDA, no more CDC, no more science if Trump and millions of his filth are not removed from the face of the Earth.
    He will be personally approving all new drugs going forward. Cancer cures, diabetes miracle pills, and nostrums for the flu will be sold out of vans down by the river by maskless low-quality shitheads.
    All medicines approved in the United States will be required to carry the trump name so we know who our Daddy is.
    Bill Bennett, the lout of virtue, who somehow has not been shot in the head after all these decades of horseshit, is telling us, approvingly in his stentorian slot machine speech, that Trump will double down on the message that the pandemic is nothing, the virus is a hoax, Biden is a sniveling pussy for wearing a mask.
    Bennett is noting Trump’s mighty animal spirits, which is what subhuman conservatives tell you just before they shove their big swinging dicks up your arse.
    They are most definitely animals.
    Put them down.
    I want a Supreme Court that declares bullets in motion are protected God-given speech

  225. We know who requires a travel ban.
    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/10/5/1983698/-At-least-3-businesses-in-North-Carolina-close-for-deep-cleaning-following-Ivanka-Trump-s-visit
    Confine them to the White House and then move them to solitary confinement in a concentration camp.
    If they cross a state line, shoot them on sight.
    The Chinese Flu never had it so good.
    It found it’s perfect host and vector.
    Out with the pangolins and in with subhuman republican murderers, sez the virus in its planning meetings.

  226. We know who requires a travel ban.
    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/10/5/1983698/-At-least-3-businesses-in-North-Carolina-close-for-deep-cleaning-following-Ivanka-Trump-s-visit
    Confine them to the White House and then move them to solitary confinement in a concentration camp.
    If they cross a state line, shoot them on sight.
    The Chinese Flu never had it so good.
    It found it’s perfect host and vector.
    Out with the pangolins and in with subhuman republican murderers, sez the virus in its planning meetings.

  229. We could have avoided all of this if Hillary Clinton hadn’t died of lung cancer and advanced syphilis three weeks before the 2016 Presidential election.
    Conservatives tried to tell us she was lying about the severity of her symptoms, but no, we wouldn’t listen.
    We thought we knew better, but we were blinded by hypocrisy, Marxism, metrosexual terror and high deductibles.

  230. We could have avoided all of this if Hillary Clinton hadn’t died of lung cancer and advanced syphilis three weeks before the 2016 Presidential election.
    Conservatives tried to tell us she was lying about the severity of her symptoms, but no, we wouldn’t listen.
    We thought we knew better, but we were blinded by hypocrisy, Marxism, metrosexual terror and high deductibles.

  233. When your go-to guy is John Calhoun, you know you’ve lost the plot.

    rural areas have two to three times as much representation in the U.S. Senate as do large urban cities, despite the two areas containing about an equal number of voters.

    so we’re not really talking about “tyranny of the majority” here. we’re talking about conservatives breaking stuff if they don’t get their way.
    there isn’t a good long-term outcome to that.
    what doesn’t seem to occur to all of the people complaining about the overwhelming power of scary people who live in big cities, is that the Electoral College is what makes the scary people in big cities powerful.
    electorally, CA is a proxy for LA and SF. NY is a proxy for NYC. MA, for Boston.
    TX is on its way to being a proxy for Houston and Dallas. AZ, for Phoenix. CO, for Denver. FL, for Miami and Orlando.
    want to preserve the voice of rural voters? get rid of the electoral college.
    then every vote gets counted.
    538 says half the people in this country live in rural areas. if their votes actually got counted, maybe they’d get more attention.

  234. When your go-to guy is John Calhoun, you know you’ve lost the plot.

    rural areas have two to three times as much representation in the U.S. Senate as do large urban cities, despite the two areas containing about an equal number of voters.

    so we’re not really talking about “tyranny of the majority” here. we’re talking about conservatives breaking stuff if they don’t get their way.
    there isn’t a good long-term outcome to that.
    what doesn’t seem to occur to all of the people complaining about the overwhelming power of scary people who live in big cities, is that the Electoral College is what makes the scary people in big cities powerful.
    electorally, CA is a proxy for LA and SF. NY is a proxy for NYC. MA, for Boston.
    TX is on its way to being a proxy for Houston and Dallas. AZ, for Phoenix. CO, for Denver. FL, for Miami and Orlando.
    want to preserve the voice of rural voters? get rid of the electoral college.
    then every vote gets counted.
    538 says half the people in this country live in rural areas. if their votes actually got counted, maybe they’d get more attention.

  235. Is that what passes for learned commentary on the right?
    What DeRensis actually wants, and what Trump and McConnell want, is the same as what Calhoun wanted – a tyranny of the minority. There was no other way to sustain slavery, just as there’s now no other way to bestow ever more power and wealth on the rich.

  236. Is that what passes for learned commentary on the right?
    What DeRensis actually wants, and what Trump and McConnell want, is the same as what Calhoun wanted – a tyranny of the minority. There was no other way to sustain slavery, just as there’s now no other way to bestow ever more power and wealth on the rich.

  237. TX is on its way to being a proxy for Houston and Dallas.
    At which point, a Republican Electoral College win becomes essentially impossible. Then we may see a Constitutional amendment to get rid of it. The question being, can we make it happen this time, and speed the day?

  238. TX is on its way to being a proxy for Houston and Dallas.
    At which point, a Republican Electoral College win becomes essentially impossible. Then we may see a Constitutional amendment to get rid of it. The question being, can we make it happen this time, and speed the day?

  239. 538 says half the people in this country live in rural areas.
    US Census dept says it’s 19%.
    they define rural as “not urban”. and they define urban as:

    • Urbanized Areas” have a population of 50,000 or more.
    • “Urban Clusters” have a population of at least 2,500 and less than 50,000.

    so, if you live in a community with more than 2,500 people, you’re urban!
    which seems crazy. but they’ve used that definition since 1950.

  240. 538 says half the people in this country live in rural areas.
    US Census dept says it’s 19%.
    they define rural as “not urban”. and they define urban as:

    • Urbanized Areas” have a population of 50,000 or more.
    • “Urban Clusters” have a population of at least 2,500 and less than 50,000.

    so, if you live in a community with more than 2,500 people, you’re urban!
    which seems crazy. but they’ve used that definition since 1950.

  243. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/10/06/trump-coronavirus-mask-doctors/
    Does it occur to anybody else that, thanks to Trump and McConnell, the GOP may be looking at a significant die off of those members who actually make up the party? In the White House. In the Senate — both senators and Republican staff members. And also in the capitals of Republican-led states.
    It’s probably trite, but “Darwinism in action” comes to mind. All those years of denying science are coming home to roost.

  244. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/10/06/trump-coronavirus-mask-doctors/
    Does it occur to anybody else that, thanks to Trump and McConnell, the GOP may be looking at a significant die off of those members who actually make up the party? In the White House. In the Senate — both senators and Republican staff members. And also in the capitals of Republican-led states.
    It’s probably trite, but “Darwinism in action” comes to mind. All those years of denying science are coming home to roost.

  245. if you live in a community with more than 2,500 people, you’re urban!
    which seems crazy. but they’ve used that definition since 1950.
    Once they get the 2020 census done (say in another year or so), perhaps the Census Bureau can consider bringing their definitions into the 21st century.

  246. if you live in a community with more than 2,500 people, you’re urban!
    which seems crazy. but they’ve used that definition since 1950.
    Once they get the 2020 census done (say in another year or so), perhaps the Census Bureau can consider bringing their definitions into the 21st century.

  247. It’s probably trite, but “Darwinism in action” comes to mind.
    Karmavirus knows what it likes.
    NOM NOM NOM, MAGAts.

  248. It’s probably trite, but “Darwinism in action” comes to mind.
    Karmavirus knows what it likes.
    NOM NOM NOM, MAGAts.

  249. Once they get the 2020 census done (say in another year or so), perhaps the Census Bureau can consider bringing their definitions into the 21st century.
    They change the definition of rural pretty much every census. I still remember the one from 1990: don’t live within 25 miles of a town/city with 25,000 people.

  250. Once they get the 2020 census done (say in another year or so), perhaps the Census Bureau can consider bringing their definitions into the 21st century.
    They change the definition of rural pretty much every census. I still remember the one from 1990: don’t live within 25 miles of a town/city with 25,000 people.

  251. If the census works as Jabbabonks and his henchbeings intend, there will be only cities in rural areas left in the official statistics. California and NYC will be declared uninhabited wastelands with a few purely red isles spread across the map. And the Bundy ranch will acquire statehood.

  252. If the census works as Jabbabonks and his henchbeings intend, there will be only cities in rural areas left in the official statistics. California and NYC will be declared uninhabited wastelands with a few purely red isles spread across the map. And the Bundy ranch will acquire statehood.

  253. Trump, Oct 2, 2014, ranting about people knowingly spreading a disease:

    The Ebola patient who came into our country knew exactly what he was doing. Came into contact with over 100 people.Here we go-I told you so!

  254. Trump, Oct 2, 2014, ranting about people knowingly spreading a disease:

    The Ebola patient who came into our country knew exactly what he was doing. Came into contact with over 100 people.Here we go-I told you so!

  255. TX is on its way to being a proxy for Houston and Dallas. AZ, for Phoenix. CO, for Denver. FL, for Miami and Orlando.
    I won’t speak to the others, but Denver only if you mean the Front Range urban corridor. Most of the growth in absolute terms has been outside of Denver proper. The cities at the ends of the corridor — Colorado Springs 60 miles south of Denver and Fort Collins 60 miles north are good-sized cities in their own right and growing at ridiculous rates.
    Full disclosure: I’m in the process of moving from one of the large Denver suburbs to Fort Collins. Not because it’s less expensive — it’s not — but the granddaughters live there.

  256. TX is on its way to being a proxy for Houston and Dallas. AZ, for Phoenix. CO, for Denver. FL, for Miami and Orlando.
    I won’t speak to the others, but Denver only if you mean the Front Range urban corridor. Most of the growth in absolute terms has been outside of Denver proper. The cities at the ends of the corridor — Colorado Springs 60 miles south of Denver and Fort Collins 60 miles north are good-sized cities in their own right and growing at ridiculous rates.
    Full disclosure: I’m in the process of moving from one of the large Denver suburbs to Fort Collins. Not because it’s less expensive — it’s not — but the granddaughters live there.

  257. I’d guess Phoenix = Phoenix, Glendale, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Peoria, and a bunch of other places on the order of Goodyear or Apache Junction.

  258. I’d guess Phoenix = Phoenix, Glendale, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Peoria, and a bunch of other places on the order of Goodyear or Apache Junction.

  259. Trump decides to hold the economy hostage.

    President Trump said Tuesday that he was withdrawing from economic relief talks until after the election, abruptly ordering Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to stop negotiating with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
    …
    “I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hard-working Americans and Small Business,” Trump wrote.

    remember how Obama the Marxist tyrant was so arrogant and thought everything was about him?
    good times.

  260. Trump decides to hold the economy hostage.

    President Trump said Tuesday that he was withdrawing from economic relief talks until after the election, abruptly ordering Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to stop negotiating with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
    …
    “I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hard-working Americans and Small Business,” Trump wrote.

    remember how Obama the Marxist tyrant was so arrogant and thought everything was about him?
    good times.

  261. Denver only if you mean the Front Range urban corridor.
    Generally: states that have a mix of urban and rural populations end up being a proxy for their more urban populations.
    Rural people would, in my opinion, have a stronger voice in national government without the Electoral College than with it.
    People in predominantly rural *states* might not. So, maybe not a good deal for WY and VT.
    But rural *people* would likely come out ahead.
    Also, people like (for example) my sister, who lives in a city (Phoenix) but doesn’t espouse “big city values”.
    A million people in MA voted for DJT in 2016. Basically, the middle of the state and a big chunk of the state between Boston and the Cape. That’s about 1 in 3 people who voted in MA, the alleged bluest of blue states.
    Those folks might as well have stayed home.

  262. Denver only if you mean the Front Range urban corridor.
    Generally: states that have a mix of urban and rural populations end up being a proxy for their more urban populations.
    Rural people would, in my opinion, have a stronger voice in national government without the Electoral College than with it.
    People in predominantly rural *states* might not. So, maybe not a good deal for WY and VT.
    But rural *people* would likely come out ahead.
    Also, people like (for example) my sister, who lives in a city (Phoenix) but doesn’t espouse “big city values”.
    A million people in MA voted for DJT in 2016. Basically, the middle of the state and a big chunk of the state between Boston and the Cape. That’s about 1 in 3 people who voted in MA, the alleged bluest of blue states.
    Those folks might as well have stayed home.

  263. My first thought was that Trump thinks he is buying votes. That is, people will vote for him in order to get the stimulus package passed.
    And he may not be entirely wrong. In that, after he loses, McConnell may refuse to pass the package during the post-election session, on the grounds that it would help President Biden.

  264. My first thought was that Trump thinks he is buying votes. That is, people will vote for him in order to get the stimulus package passed.
    And he may not be entirely wrong. In that, after he loses, McConnell may refuse to pass the package during the post-election session, on the grounds that it would help President Biden.

  265. I wonder which doctor will take responsibility for cutting off Trump’s dexamethasone supply when (if) he recovers. I can’t see the quack who’s been lying for him having the courage.

  266. I wonder which doctor will take responsibility for cutting off Trump’s dexamethasone supply when (if) he recovers. I can’t see the quack who’s been lying for him having the courage.

  267. I wonder which doctor will take responsibility for cutting off Trump’s dexamethasone supply when (if) he recovers.
    At least we’re probably only on the hook for it until Jan 20. Then it’s just a matter of who in the private sector will sell it to him on (bad) credit. That’s assuming Medicare refuses to pay for it . . . which it shouldn’t.

  268. I wonder which doctor will take responsibility for cutting off Trump’s dexamethasone supply when (if) he recovers.
    At least we’re probably only on the hook for it until Jan 20. Then it’s just a matter of who in the private sector will sell it to him on (bad) credit. That’s assuming Medicare refuses to pay for it . . . which it shouldn’t.

  271. McConnell may refuse to pass the package during the post-election session, on the grounds that it would help President Biden.
    sounds like a tall tree / short rope situation.

  272. McConnell may refuse to pass the package during the post-election session, on the grounds that it would help President Biden.
    sounds like a tall tree / short rope situation.

  273. I strongly disagree with the argument that one sort of voter is swamped by another sort. Every small district, whether in town or country, is massively outvoted by the rest of the state, but voters are individuals, not eusocial insects.
    It’s fantastically unlikely that anyone’s vote will swing a presidential election, unless they’re on the Supreme Court. So should we all, excepting Supreme Court Justices, stay at home?
    No we should not. Our vote may have no chance of changing the outcome, but nevertheless we vote, because democracy is precious.

  274. I strongly disagree with the argument that one sort of voter is swamped by another sort. Every small district, whether in town or country, is massively outvoted by the rest of the state, but voters are individuals, not eusocial insects.
    It’s fantastically unlikely that anyone’s vote will swing a presidential election, unless they’re on the Supreme Court. So should we all, excepting Supreme Court Justices, stay at home?
    No we should not. Our vote may have no chance of changing the outcome, but nevertheless we vote, because democracy is precious.

  275. Trump is beginning the deliberate and evil burning down of the economy and the markets and his vermin conservative movement Orcs will blame the prospect of the Marxist, Muslim, Radical terrorist, chink-loving ham sandwich Joe Biden for the swoon.
    The both sides types will be along soon to blame it on us.
    Yup, fuck 2020.
    We may have to fuck 2021 because we are at war.

  276. Trump is beginning the deliberate and evil burning down of the economy and the markets and his vermin conservative movement Orcs will blame the prospect of the Marxist, Muslim, Radical terrorist, chink-loving ham sandwich Joe Biden for the swoon.
    The both sides types will be along soon to blame it on us.
    Yup, fuck 2020.
    We may have to fuck 2021 because we are at war.

  279. The government will be shut down until the Inauguration when Trump scuttles all budget talks scheduled for early December.
    The Republican Party and trump will attempt to declare the current debt limit null and void as well to plunge the country into financial chaos by refusing to pay the bills.
    Social Security checks and Medicare payments will be halted by the Republican Party and Vladimir Trump.
    They’ll rape, pillage and torch the landscape like any subhuman army of malign Evil.
    There will be massively savage killing violence.
    If Trump wins the election, and he sounds fucking confident that he has all of the corruption in place in key states and ready to go to steal it outright, what I just described will be child’s play compared to what these subhumans will do if they remain in power and wreak vengeance on their enemies.
    After all, they have the Russian Orthodox punishing God on their side*:
    https://www.christiancentury.org/article/features/unexpected-relationship-between-us-evangelicals-and-russian-orthodox
    *They are permitted sexual threesomes and secret abortion clinics as long as their hate for us is maintained.

  280. The government will be shut down until the Inauguration when Trump scuttles all budget talks scheduled for early December.
    The Republican Party and trump will attempt to declare the current debt limit null and void as well to plunge the country into financial chaos by refusing to pay the bills.
    Social Security checks and Medicare payments will be halted by the Republican Party and Vladimir Trump.
    They’ll rape, pillage and torch the landscape like any subhuman army of malign Evil.
    There will be massively savage killing violence.
    If Trump wins the election, and he sounds fucking confident that he has all of the corruption in place in key states and ready to go to steal it outright, what I just described will be child’s play compared to what these subhumans will do if they remain in power and wreak vengeance on their enemies.
    After all, they have the Russian Orthodox punishing God on their side*:
    https://www.christiancentury.org/article/features/unexpected-relationship-between-us-evangelicals-and-russian-orthodox
    *They are permitted sexual threesomes and secret abortion clinics as long as their hate for us is maintained.

  283. I’d just recently went for a VH re-listen to see if I could get a better appreciation for what they did. As a teen in the ’80s they were an inescapable part of the musical landscape, but so much of their larger-than-life status was an effect of the time.
    I don’t think Eddie will ever be one of my guitar heroes, but his rhythm playing on those first few albums, overshadowed as they were by his era-defining solos, were simple and tasteful and catchy as hell.

  284. I’d just recently went for a VH re-listen to see if I could get a better appreciation for what they did. As a teen in the ’80s they were an inescapable part of the musical landscape, but so much of their larger-than-life status was an effect of the time.
    I don’t think Eddie will ever be one of my guitar heroes, but his rhythm playing on those first few albums, overshadowed as they were by his era-defining solos, were simple and tasteful and catchy as hell.

  285. Generally: states that have a mix of urban and rural populations end up being a proxy for their more urban populations.
    I always make a point of separating urban into urban and suburban, then argue that most states go blue or red based on their suburbs. NJ is a blue state because the suburbs vote blue. Colorado is an overwhelmingly suburban state and has shifted from red to blue because the suburbs shifted. Texas is — so far — a red state because its suburbs vote red. My friends there tell me that the shift that is apparently happening in Texas is almost exclusively a suburban thing. The AP ran a piece about the Phoenix suburbs shifting.
    With tongue only partially in cheek, I have said for many years that the Democrats need to be careful about embracing people who say the suburbs are an abomination that must be destroyed.

  286. Generally: states that have a mix of urban and rural populations end up being a proxy for their more urban populations.
    I always make a point of separating urban into urban and suburban, then argue that most states go blue or red based on their suburbs. NJ is a blue state because the suburbs vote blue. Colorado is an overwhelmingly suburban state and has shifted from red to blue because the suburbs shifted. Texas is — so far — a red state because its suburbs vote red. My friends there tell me that the shift that is apparently happening in Texas is almost exclusively a suburban thing. The AP ran a piece about the Phoenix suburbs shifting.
    With tongue only partially in cheek, I have said for many years that the Democrats need to be careful about embracing people who say the suburbs are an abomination that must be destroyed.

  287. …but voters are individuals, not eusocial insects.
    Indeed. But large groups have statistical properties that can be discussed. Not Harry Seldon psychohistory sorts of properties, but still… Why did the west Denver suburbs make a big shift towards Democrats starting in the 2005-06 timeframe? At least part of it was they got environmental religion. They spent a week sweeping forest fire ash off their decks and cars. The Republicans had no answer to questions about forest management and climate change.
    An interesting side question to that is to note that the national Democratic Party missed it completely. When Udall was up for re-election in 2014, huge amounts of (D) PAC money poured into the state, all of it spent on abortion/birth control. If they had spent any money on the proper environmental slant, Udall would have won, instead of giving us six years of Cory Gardner. Gardner’s big campaign buy this year? Gardner as the champion of managing environmental responsibility. I don’t think it will work, but the Hickenlooper campaign isn’t spending nearly enough effort on it.

  288. …but voters are individuals, not eusocial insects.
    Indeed. But large groups have statistical properties that can be discussed. Not Harry Seldon psychohistory sorts of properties, but still… Why did the west Denver suburbs make a big shift towards Democrats starting in the 2005-06 timeframe? At least part of it was they got environmental religion. They spent a week sweeping forest fire ash off their decks and cars. The Republicans had no answer to questions about forest management and climate change.
    An interesting side question to that is to note that the national Democratic Party missed it completely. When Udall was up for re-election in 2014, huge amounts of (D) PAC money poured into the state, all of it spent on abortion/birth control. If they had spent any money on the proper environmental slant, Udall would have won, instead of giving us six years of Cory Gardner. Gardner’s big campaign buy this year? Gardner as the champion of managing environmental responsibility. I don’t think it will work, but the Hickenlooper campaign isn’t spending nearly enough effort on it.

  289. but his rhythm playing on those first few albums, overshadowed as they were by his era-defining solos, were simple and tasteful and catchy as hell.
    totally.
    and it’s as much a part of his unique style as the solos. but it’s the part that nobody tried to (poorly) imitate.

  290. but his rhythm playing on those first few albums, overshadowed as they were by his era-defining solos, were simple and tasteful and catchy as hell.
    totally.
    and it’s as much a part of his unique style as the solos. but it’s the part that nobody tried to (poorly) imitate.

  291. I always make a point of separating urban into urban and suburban, then argue that most states go blue or red based on their suburbs.
    Makes sense.
    And then, if the ‘burbs in a state vote red, thus taking the state as a whole red, it’s the blue voters who might as well stay home.

  292. I always make a point of separating urban into urban and suburban, then argue that most states go blue or red based on their suburbs.
    Makes sense.
    And then, if the ‘burbs in a state vote red, thus taking the state as a whole red, it’s the blue voters who might as well stay home.

  293. Meanwhile, the Biden campaign just made a big ad buy in Florida (unsurprising), Arizona (ditto), and . . . Texas(!). If they’re seriously spending money there, things are going better than I realized.
    Perhaps they are basing their optimism on this. Trump just shut down the stimulus package. Without it, a lot of airlines are going to be doing big layoffs. And Dallas, the only sort-of red metro area in Texas, is home of Southwest Airlines and a major hub.
    Senator Cornyn may be feeling a cold party-ticket breeze. Heartbreaking.

  294. Meanwhile, the Biden campaign just made a big ad buy in Florida (unsurprising), Arizona (ditto), and . . . Texas(!). If they’re seriously spending money there, things are going better than I realized.
    Perhaps they are basing their optimism on this. Trump just shut down the stimulus package. Without it, a lot of airlines are going to be doing big layoffs. And Dallas, the only sort-of red metro area in Texas, is home of Southwest Airlines and a major hub.
    Senator Cornyn may be feeling a cold party-ticket breeze. Heartbreaking.

  295. Speaking of Hari Seldon: Asimov wrote a short story Franchise in which elections are decided by a single voter, chosen by ingenious algorithms to be exactly the median.
    In any election under any system there’s a median block of voters which decides the election (this year in the USA it looks like it will be in Pennsylvania). Talk of a particular area being electorally dominated by some large part of it rather misses this overall point.
    Electoral systems should be fair in the sense that everyone’s vote carries about the same weight. (That is, they should be if your objective is to operate a democracy: if instead you want to elect fascists you’d prefer a different system, as does the Republican Party.) They can’t possibly be fair in the sense that everyone can be the swing vote.

  296. Speaking of Hari Seldon: Asimov wrote a short story Franchise in which elections are decided by a single voter, chosen by ingenious algorithms to be exactly the median.
    In any election under any system there’s a median block of voters which decides the election (this year in the USA it looks like it will be in Pennsylvania). Talk of a particular area being electorally dominated by some large part of it rather misses this overall point.
    Electoral systems should be fair in the sense that everyone’s vote carries about the same weight. (That is, they should be if your objective is to operate a democracy: if instead you want to elect fascists you’d prefer a different system, as does the Republican Party.) They can’t possibly be fair in the sense that everyone can be the swing vote.

  297. Kamala Harris should also renege on the agreement and carry a loaded weapon on to the debate stage for self-defense against republican superspreading murderers:
    https://juanitajean.com/sure-mike-we-trust-you/
    If there is an Ebola outbreak in America, the subhumans will rush toward their trump republican gods to be exposed and gleefully hemorrhage into the faces of innocent Americans.
    Infect me, oh Donald, oh Mike, please, my profit-loving God, infect us so that we may infect our fellow man!
    We are in the hands of malignant, murderous evil. The hands of subhuman fake American Christianity whose minions will kill for their corrupt, ruthless faith.
    The Founders left us unprepared for this brand of Evil and their words are useless, unless we believe the British were a Zombie invasion.
    In the spirit of both sides so it, Joe Biden should scrap the mission of the National Institutes of Health and the CDC and the FDA to encourage via death advisories heart disease, cancer, diabetes among the filth in the conservative movement.
    The government could distribute free Camel unfiltered cigarettes contaminated with the polio and smallpox viruses to their 80 million marks below the scum line.
    Up with lead poisoning and syphilis for their fetuses, pre- and post-.
    Condoms, schmondoms. Go ahead, swallow, bitches! Enjoy that bareback threesome with Jesus!
    “Only a pussy gets vaccinated” should be the CDC messaging for obese subhuman white conservatives.
    It’s what’s for dinner in asshole America.

  298. Kamala Harris should also renege on the agreement and carry a loaded weapon on to the debate stage for self-defense against republican superspreading murderers:
    https://juanitajean.com/sure-mike-we-trust-you/
    If there is an Ebola outbreak in America, the subhumans will rush toward their trump republican gods to be exposed and gleefully hemorrhage into the faces of innocent Americans.
    Infect me, oh Donald, oh Mike, please, my profit-loving God, infect us so that we may infect our fellow man!
    We are in the hands of malignant, murderous evil. The hands of subhuman fake American Christianity whose minions will kill for their corrupt, ruthless faith.
    The Founders left us unprepared for this brand of Evil and their words are useless, unless we believe the British were a Zombie invasion.
    In the spirit of both sides so it, Joe Biden should scrap the mission of the National Institutes of Health and the CDC and the FDA to encourage via death advisories heart disease, cancer, diabetes among the filth in the conservative movement.
    The government could distribute free Camel unfiltered cigarettes contaminated with the polio and smallpox viruses to their 80 million marks below the scum line.
    Up with lead poisoning and syphilis for their fetuses, pre- and post-.
    Condoms, schmondoms. Go ahead, swallow, bitches! Enjoy that bareback threesome with Jesus!
    “Only a pussy gets vaccinated” should be the CDC messaging for obese subhuman white conservatives.
    It’s what’s for dinner in asshole America.

  301. Re: swing state, etc.
    Lo, these many years ago, there was a very close election in which my vote was one in a smallish district. Initial count had the R up by ~20. Recount the D won by 6-ish. One of those votes was MINE.
    This was for a seat in the state house of reps, and that one seat flipped the house from R to D, first time in many many decades.
    The odds for an individual voter to have that large an impact is low, but so are the odds of winning the lottery. Yet it happens.
    I refuse to buy lottery tickets, though.

  302. Re: swing state, etc.
    Lo, these many years ago, there was a very close election in which my vote was one in a smallish district. Initial count had the R up by ~20. Recount the D won by 6-ish. One of those votes was MINE.
    This was for a seat in the state house of reps, and that one seat flipped the house from R to D, first time in many many decades.
    The odds for an individual voter to have that large an impact is low, but so are the odds of winning the lottery. Yet it happens.
    I refuse to buy lottery tickets, though.

  303. David Brooks hits some nails on the head, albeit with a conservative elite and scholarly foam hammer, for what he misses is that the consequences he condemns are largely the result of multi-decades-long, radical political and faux-intellectual strategy by the vermin.
    https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/collapsing-levels-trust-are-devastating-america/616581/
    I mean, he sat in rooms with William Barr and company for 40 years.
    Didn’t he hear what the subhuman louts were saying?
    The conservative movement has put “Disruption” at the head of the list.
    Well, here we are.
    The Zone …. it is full.

  304. David Brooks hits some nails on the head, albeit with a conservative elite and scholarly foam hammer, for what he misses is that the consequences he condemns are largely the result of multi-decades-long, radical political and faux-intellectual strategy by the vermin.
    https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/collapsing-levels-trust-are-devastating-america/616581/
    I mean, he sat in rooms with William Barr and company for 40 years.
    Didn’t he hear what the subhuman louts were saying?
    The conservative movement has put “Disruption” at the head of the list.
    Well, here we are.
    The Zone …. it is full.

  307. I’d just recently went for a VH re-listen to see if I could get a better appreciation for what they did.
    I compiled a list of their greatest non-hits. Some of their best songs, at least from the standpoint of someone who’s into metal, got little to no airplay. My list is exclusively from the DLR-fronted material. Van Hagar is verboten.

  308. I’d just recently went for a VH re-listen to see if I could get a better appreciation for what they did.
    I compiled a list of their greatest non-hits. Some of their best songs, at least from the standpoint of someone who’s into metal, got little to no airplay. My list is exclusively from the DLR-fronted material. Van Hagar is verboten.

  309. I wonder what worldwide thermonuclear war with China and Russia will look like conducted by our diseased leadership via Zoom, while the rest of us get to experience it in person:
    https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a34291492/joint-chiefs-quarantine-covid-19/
    The last of the nuclear arms treaties Trump has pulled America out of expires for good in January, replacing it with the 90 minutes he spent years ago “studying” the matter, of which he knows all there is to know and more than anyone.
    I’m sure Trump is already planning with Putin to make life a threatening nuclear Hellscape for Biden and the rest of us.
    I love the smell of hypersonically-delivered nuclear warheads just about any time of the day.
    You know that thing Trump devised to deliver us personal national security messages directly from his fingertips to each of us on our cellphones some time back?
    It’s now programmed to go only to conservative phones in red states.
    Trump has already convinced Putin to re-target
    Russia’s land- and sea-based nuclear arsenal at blue liberal hotspots in America.
    We commies and liberal nigger fag slime in blue states will be as Lieutenant Slothrup in Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow”, while the Covid-infested red states live in, choking on their own pandemic sputum.
    We liberals be alerted by what’s up only when the tippy-tip of the missile makes contact with our foreheads.

  310. I wonder what worldwide thermonuclear war with China and Russia will look like conducted by our diseased leadership via Zoom, while the rest of us get to experience it in person:
    https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a34291492/joint-chiefs-quarantine-covid-19/
    The last of the nuclear arms treaties Trump has pulled America out of expires for good in January, replacing it with the 90 minutes he spent years ago “studying” the matter, of which he knows all there is to know and more than anyone.
    I’m sure Trump is already planning with Putin to make life a threatening nuclear Hellscape for Biden and the rest of us.
    I love the smell of hypersonically-delivered nuclear warheads just about any time of the day.
    You know that thing Trump devised to deliver us personal national security messages directly from his fingertips to each of us on our cellphones some time back?
    It’s now programmed to go only to conservative phones in red states.
    Trump has already convinced Putin to re-target
    Russia’s land- and sea-based nuclear arsenal at blue liberal hotspots in America.
    We commies and liberal nigger fag slime in blue states will be as Lieutenant Slothrup in Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow”, while the Covid-infested red states live in, choking on their own pandemic sputum.
    We liberals be alerted by what’s up only when the tippy-tip of the missile makes contact with our foreheads.

  311. Yever notice how conservatives readily don a bullet-proof vest at the drop of a hat, but consider a medical face mask to be inconvenient at all times.
    Aim for their heads.

  312. Yever notice how conservatives readily don a bullet-proof vest at the drop of a hat, but consider a medical face mask to be inconvenient at all times.
    Aim for their heads.

  321. From Nigel’s link:

    In 2017, then–White House Counsel Don McGahn said in a speech to the Federalist Society that “the greatest threat to the rule of law in our modern society is the ever-expanding regulatory state”

    I’m trying to understand how that makes sense.
    Arguing that a regulatory state threatens individual liberty makes sense. Whether you agree with it or not, or in which specific cases, is another question, but it is at least a coherent argument.
    How a regulatory state threatens the rule of law is more or less beyond me.

  322. From Nigel’s link:

    In 2017, then–White House Counsel Don McGahn said in a speech to the Federalist Society that “the greatest threat to the rule of law in our modern society is the ever-expanding regulatory state”

    I’m trying to understand how that makes sense.
    Arguing that a regulatory state threatens individual liberty makes sense. Whether you agree with it or not, or in which specific cases, is another question, but it is at least a coherent argument.
    How a regulatory state threatens the rule of law is more or less beyond me.

  323. The Evil Ones deliberately spread the virus among themselves to cause a second wave of the infections throughout the Nation’s Capitol, killing many and debilitating a functional Washington DC as the seat of governance in America just as the subhuman conservative movement has wanted to do for 40 years:
    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/06/us/politics/coronavirus-dc-white-house-congress.html
    Now that Amy Coney Barrett, oddly, but surely malignantly …. she is a ruthless radical for her causes … the only individual at her nominee death cult soiree who, she claims, already and conveniently was infected by the virus last summer … will be in place to deny health insurance coverage for a significant segment of DC’s population, the pandemic can really get a hold on the city and its human infrastructure.
    I wonder how the CPC would have handled this situation?
    “What a 6–3 Supreme Court Could Do”
    Don’t pack the Courts.
    Eliminate them.

  324. The Evil Ones deliberately spread the virus among themselves to cause a second wave of the infections throughout the Nation’s Capitol, killing many and debilitating a functional Washington DC as the seat of governance in America just as the subhuman conservative movement has wanted to do for 40 years:
    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/06/us/politics/coronavirus-dc-white-house-congress.html
    Now that Amy Coney Barrett, oddly, but surely malignantly …. she is a ruthless radical for her causes … the only individual at her nominee death cult soiree who, she claims, already and conveniently was infected by the virus last summer … will be in place to deny health insurance coverage for a significant segment of DC’s population, the pandemic can really get a hold on the city and its human infrastructure.
    I wonder how the CPC would have handled this situation?
    “What a 6–3 Supreme Court Could Do”
    Don’t pack the Courts.
    Eliminate them.

  327. He literally saved Christianity, he did:
    https://juanitajean.com/holy-crap-4/
    Well, he introduced them to threesomes, buggery, and cuckolding (not really “introduced”; they’ve been practicing for centuries, if not in the sacristy, while scarfing up the contents of the grifting plate, then in the motel at the truck stop outside of town, where diesel-fueled Jesus thrives and occasionally buys ammo and a blow job and joins the money-changers in a poker game.
    Merry Christmas to them all, and to all, go fuck yourselves:
    https://www.thecut.com/2020/10/melania-trump-bashes-christmas-migrants-in-leaked-tape.html
    The Holy Trinity, umm, Threesome:
    https://www.rawstory.com/2020/08/jerry-falwell-jr-says-his-wife-had-a-fatal-attraction-affair-with-the-pool-boy-report/
    My Grandmothers were Christians.
    Nary a pool boy came near them and all my Grandfathers liked to “watch” was Lawrence Welk and Gunsmoke on TV.

  328. He literally saved Christianity, he did:
    https://juanitajean.com/holy-crap-4/
    Well, he introduced them to threesomes, buggery, and cuckolding (not really “introduced”; they’ve been practicing for centuries, if not in the sacristy, while scarfing up the contents of the grifting plate, then in the motel at the truck stop outside of town, where diesel-fueled Jesus thrives and occasionally buys ammo and a blow job and joins the money-changers in a poker game.
    Merry Christmas to them all, and to all, go fuck yourselves:
    https://www.thecut.com/2020/10/melania-trump-bashes-christmas-migrants-in-leaked-tape.html
    The Holy Trinity, umm, Threesome:
    https://www.rawstory.com/2020/08/jerry-falwell-jr-says-his-wife-had-a-fatal-attraction-affair-with-the-pool-boy-report/
    My Grandmothers were Christians.
    Nary a pool boy came near them and all my Grandfathers liked to “watch” was Lawrence Welk and Gunsmoke on TV.

  333. You may have caught this, in spite of the flood of news. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2020/10/06/joint-chiefs-isolation-after-coast-guard-admiral-tests-positive-coronavirus-pentagon-says
    So, all but 1 of the Joint Chiefs are now in quarantine. But did you catch where they got exposed? An event for Gold Star families at the White House.
    The military is conservative. And, contra Trump, courageous about putting themselves in harms way to defend their country. But gratuitously endangering their families is one of the things that will get them really worked up. Another piece of his base alienated. The man’s on a roll!

  334. You may have caught this, in spite of the flood of news. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2020/10/06/joint-chiefs-isolation-after-coast-guard-admiral-tests-positive-coronavirus-pentagon-says
    So, all but 1 of the Joint Chiefs are now in quarantine. But did you catch where they got exposed? An event for Gold Star families at the White House.
    The military is conservative. And, contra Trump, courageous about putting themselves in harms way to defend their country. But gratuitously endangering their families is one of the things that will get them really worked up. Another piece of his base alienated. The man’s on a roll!

  335. stable genius:

    Trump had instructed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday afternoon to abandon bipartisan talks over a stimulus package, complaining that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was making unreasonable demands in negotiations. “I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election,” the president said.
    About seven hours later, Trump appeared to reverse himself in a new string of tweets.
    After canceling talks, he publicly urged members of his own administration to work with congressional Democrats to approve additional federal stimulus measures.

  336. stable genius:

    Trump had instructed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday afternoon to abandon bipartisan talks over a stimulus package, complaining that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was making unreasonable demands in negotiations. “I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election,” the president said.
    About seven hours later, Trump appeared to reverse himself in a new string of tweets.
    After canceling talks, he publicly urged members of his own administration to work with congressional Democrats to approve additional federal stimulus measures.

  337. It’s the Art of Deal with a crocodile, spin them one way and then the other repeatedly until the prey is disoriented and exhausted.
    Walk away from the negotiation, humiliate the other party and have proxies go after them in the media, and then allow bargaining to continue as long as the other party reappears on its knees and with a ball-gag in its mouth.
    It’s the American Way. Ask any surviving Cherokee.
    Republicans are planning distribution centers and kissing booths across the country to rejuvenate this neglected pathogen, nearly put to death by evil atheist scientists back when human life, for an short enlightened time, meant something, and who don’t know a good profit center when God reveals it to them:
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/scarlet-fever-is-making-a-comeback-bacterial-clone-could-be-to-blame/ar-BB19MPZQ?ocid=uxbndlbing

  338. It’s the Art of Deal with a crocodile, spin them one way and then the other repeatedly until the prey is disoriented and exhausted.
    Walk away from the negotiation, humiliate the other party and have proxies go after them in the media, and then allow bargaining to continue as long as the other party reappears on its knees and with a ball-gag in its mouth.
    It’s the American Way. Ask any surviving Cherokee.
    Republicans are planning distribution centers and kissing booths across the country to rejuvenate this neglected pathogen, nearly put to death by evil atheist scientists back when human life, for an short enlightened time, meant something, and who don’t know a good profit center when God reveals it to them:
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/scarlet-fever-is-making-a-comeback-bacterial-clone-could-be-to-blame/ar-BB19MPZQ?ocid=uxbndlbing

  339. How a regulatory state threatens the rule of law is more or less beyond me.
    One view is that the rule of law is being subverted by unelected bureaucrats pulling rules and regulations out of…thin air with little or no input from elected representatives.

  340. How a regulatory state threatens the rule of law is more or less beyond me.
    One view is that the rule of law is being subverted by unelected bureaucrats pulling rules and regulations out of…thin air with little or no input from elected representatives.

  341. the elected representatives created the rules by which those unelected officials operate.
    do people want to elect the whole fucking org chart?

  342. the elected representatives created the rules by which those unelected officials operate.
    do people want to elect the whole fucking org chart?

  345. He literally saved Christianity
    few people know this, but Trump also discovered penicillin and invented the internal combustion engine.
    some people say, anyway.

  346. He literally saved Christianity
    few people know this, but Trump also discovered penicillin and invented the internal combustion engine.
    some people say, anyway.

  347. David Brooks hits some nails on the head, albeit with a conservative elite and scholarly foam hammer, for what he misses is that the consequences he condemns are largely the result of multi-decades-long, radical political and faux-intellectual strategy by the vermin.
    Gave up reading as soon as Brooks began spinning out our current moment as the fulfillment of some philosophical first principle that he believes as an article of faith.
    We are a nation of broken institutions because the right wing anti-government media and have spent all their money, time, and energy demonizing and de-legitimizing the role of government, of non-commercial science, and of public policy.
    Four decades of intellectual segregation and demonizing propaganda has an effect. We are living with that effect right now.

  348. David Brooks hits some nails on the head, albeit with a conservative elite and scholarly foam hammer, for what he misses is that the consequences he condemns are largely the result of multi-decades-long, radical political and faux-intellectual strategy by the vermin.
    Gave up reading as soon as Brooks began spinning out our current moment as the fulfillment of some philosophical first principle that he believes as an article of faith.
    We are a nation of broken institutions because the right wing anti-government media and have spent all their money, time, and energy demonizing and de-legitimizing the role of government, of non-commercial science, and of public policy.
    Four decades of intellectual segregation and demonizing propaganda has an effect. We are living with that effect right now.

  349. Gave up reading as soon as Brooks began spinning out our current moment as the fulfillment of some philosophical first principle that he believes as an article of faith.
    I gave up as soon as he started going on about the 60’s.
    The 60’s were 50 to 60 years ago. Seeing them as the Cause Of Our National Decline would have been like somebody in the 60’s looking back to the Taft regime as the cause of all our problems.
    It’s been a long, long time since the hippies were a significant voice in our national conversation. For good or ill.

  350. Gave up reading as soon as Brooks began spinning out our current moment as the fulfillment of some philosophical first principle that he believes as an article of faith.
    I gave up as soon as he started going on about the 60’s.
    The 60’s were 50 to 60 years ago. Seeing them as the Cause Of Our National Decline would have been like somebody in the 60’s looking back to the Taft regime as the cause of all our problems.
    It’s been a long, long time since the hippies were a significant voice in our national conversation. For good or ill.

  351. One way excessive regulations could undermine the rule of law is people being more or less forced to violate them on a regular base because it beocmes technically impossible to obey all of them. If this becomes common, people could begin to see laws the same way, in particular, if the state is unable or unwilling to actually enforce the regulations.
    Traffic regulations are a prime example. Over here it is actually ‘priced in’, e.g. the police knows how much people exceed speed limits and put signs with lower numbers up, so people will drive as fast as the authorities see as reasonable (“Okay, people tend to go 15 km/h over the speed limit. We consider 60 km/h to be safe in this location, so let’s put up a 45 km/h speed limit sign. But we will hand out speeding tickets only, if speed goes above 60 km/h.”

  352. One way excessive regulations could undermine the rule of law is people being more or less forced to violate them on a regular base because it beocmes technically impossible to obey all of them. If this becomes common, people could begin to see laws the same way, in particular, if the state is unable or unwilling to actually enforce the regulations.
    Traffic regulations are a prime example. Over here it is actually ‘priced in’, e.g. the police knows how much people exceed speed limits and put signs with lower numbers up, so people will drive as fast as the authorities see as reasonable (“Okay, people tend to go 15 km/h over the speed limit. We consider 60 km/h to be safe in this location, so let’s put up a 45 km/h speed limit sign. But we will hand out speeding tickets only, if speed goes above 60 km/h.”

  353. Over here it is actually ‘priced in’, e.g. the police knows how much people exceed speed limits and put signs with lower numbers up, so people will drive as fast as the authorities see as reasonable
    We see something similar here.
    Back in the early 1970s, as a result of price-fixing to the oil markets, there was a national mandate to reduce the maximum speed limit (previously 70 mph) tp 55 mph. But at least in the West, with longer distances, that was regarded as impractical. So it was routinely ignored. Ignored by the police as well — unless they either needed to generate funds from giving tickets, or wanted to harrass someone.
    Then oil prices went back to normal. So speed limits were put back up. And we all kept going 10 mph over the posted limit. Still do. Fortunately, that particular bit of “priced in” law breaking hasn’t generally spread to other parts of the law. But the risk that it might have, or that another similar occasion might, is very real.

  354. Over here it is actually ‘priced in’, e.g. the police knows how much people exceed speed limits and put signs with lower numbers up, so people will drive as fast as the authorities see as reasonable
    We see something similar here.
    Back in the early 1970s, as a result of price-fixing to the oil markets, there was a national mandate to reduce the maximum speed limit (previously 70 mph) tp 55 mph. But at least in the West, with longer distances, that was regarded as impractical. So it was routinely ignored. Ignored by the police as well — unless they either needed to generate funds from giving tickets, or wanted to harrass someone.
    Then oil prices went back to normal. So speed limits were put back up. And we all kept going 10 mph over the posted limit. Still do. Fortunately, that particular bit of “priced in” law breaking hasn’t generally spread to other parts of the law. But the risk that it might have, or that another similar occasion might, is very real.

  355. Yes, Kyle Rittenhouse was too regulated.
    I doubt his dumb mother knew whether gun cross-state licensing laws were laws passed with the so-called “input” of elected representatives or merely rules enforced from thin air by unelected bureaucrats.
    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-petty-tyranny-of-license-laws/
    “One view is that the rule of law is being subverted by unelected bureaucrats pulling rules and regulations out of…thin air with little or no input from elected representatives.”
    What about …. aw, fuck it! Why be sucked into this horseshit?
    I don’t see that many Americans give a shit one way or the other how the rules came to be or are enforced.
    They just don’t want to follow the law and its rules.
    You aren’t the boss of me!
    The conservative Supreme Court may think it will decide what laws should be enforced and not enforced, but I dare them to send their fed agents to try and enforce any of their bullshit.
    Fuck them. They are not the boss of me. They have disqualified themselves from attempting to govern me by virtue of their who they are.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFroMQlKiag
    The conservative/libertarian version of that cartoon would end with gunfire in the first ten seconds of the video to halt lawmaking altogether.
    No law was passed anywhere that mandated wearing a mask or social distancing to prevent Covid spread.
    Nevertheless, I’ve deputized myself to enforce the rules set forth by unelected so-called bureaucrats regarding the matter.
    Please get in my face in public without a mask regarding the provenance of those rules.
    Preferably at a polling place on November 3.
    You will have canceled any Rule of Law preventing me from beating the fucking shit out of you.

  356. Yes, Kyle Rittenhouse was too regulated.
    I doubt his dumb mother knew whether gun cross-state licensing laws were laws passed with the so-called “input” of elected representatives or merely rules enforced from thin air by unelected bureaucrats.
    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-petty-tyranny-of-license-laws/
    “One view is that the rule of law is being subverted by unelected bureaucrats pulling rules and regulations out of…thin air with little or no input from elected representatives.”
    What about …. aw, fuck it! Why be sucked into this horseshit?
    I don’t see that many Americans give a shit one way or the other how the rules came to be or are enforced.
    They just don’t want to follow the law and its rules.
    You aren’t the boss of me!
    The conservative Supreme Court may think it will decide what laws should be enforced and not enforced, but I dare them to send their fed agents to try and enforce any of their bullshit.
    Fuck them. They are not the boss of me. They have disqualified themselves from attempting to govern me by virtue of their who they are.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFroMQlKiag
    The conservative/libertarian version of that cartoon would end with gunfire in the first ten seconds of the video to halt lawmaking altogether.
    No law was passed anywhere that mandated wearing a mask or social distancing to prevent Covid spread.
    Nevertheless, I’ve deputized myself to enforce the rules set forth by unelected so-called bureaucrats regarding the matter.
    Please get in my face in public without a mask regarding the provenance of those rules.
    Preferably at a polling place on November 3.
    You will have canceled any Rule of Law preventing me from beating the fucking shit out of you.

  357. One view is that the rule of law is being subverted by unelected bureaucrats pulling rules and regulations out of…thin air with little or no input from elected representatives.
    The extreme Federalist Society position is that Congress can’t delegate legislating to the executive branch at all. So rule-making by executive agencies — eg, the FTC, FCC, EPA, etc — or by the Cabinet-level departments — eg, the Interior Dept setting grazing fees for the national forest lands — is all unconstitutional, even where Congress has provided detailed guidance.

  358. One view is that the rule of law is being subverted by unelected bureaucrats pulling rules and regulations out of…thin air with little or no input from elected representatives.
    The extreme Federalist Society position is that Congress can’t delegate legislating to the executive branch at all. So rule-making by executive agencies — eg, the FTC, FCC, EPA, etc — or by the Cabinet-level departments — eg, the Interior Dept setting grazing fees for the national forest lands — is all unconstitutional, even where Congress has provided detailed guidance.

  359. “One view is that the rule of law is being subverted by unelected bureaucrats pulling rules and regulations out of…thin air with little or no input from elected representatives.”
    One can understand then why cities are burned to the ground because black men are shot in the back or their windpipes shit down by kneeling cops.
    I mean, are there actually specific laws on the books passed by elected representatives mandating that exact behavior by law enforcement, or did Rudy Giuliani and a bunch of white racist police forces and their conservative consultants pull that stuff out of the thin air emitted from their butts.
    Obamacare. It’s a law.
    Gay Marriage. It’s a law.
    Abortion. It’s a law.
    When they are taken off the books by filth, they will still be the law for the majority of Americans and then violent chaos against the minority who took those laws away from us will be the new law of the jungle and we won’t require any unelected bureaucrats to show us how it’s done.

  360. “One view is that the rule of law is being subverted by unelected bureaucrats pulling rules and regulations out of…thin air with little or no input from elected representatives.”
    One can understand then why cities are burned to the ground because black men are shot in the back or their windpipes shit down by kneeling cops.
    I mean, are there actually specific laws on the books passed by elected representatives mandating that exact behavior by law enforcement, or did Rudy Giuliani and a bunch of white racist police forces and their conservative consultants pull that stuff out of the thin air emitted from their butts.
    Obamacare. It’s a law.
    Gay Marriage. It’s a law.
    Abortion. It’s a law.
    When they are taken off the books by filth, they will still be the law for the majority of Americans and then violent chaos against the minority who took those laws away from us will be the new law of the jungle and we won’t require any unelected bureaucrats to show us how it’s done.

  361. like somebody in the 60’s looking back to the Taft regime
    Mr we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again.

  362. like somebody in the 60’s looking back to the Taft regime
    Mr we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again.

  363. There is a certain logic to the chain of events wherein laws prohibiting buggery/sodomy were taken off the books in most states and by coincidence the Federalist Society deciding they were legally permitted to sneak up behind us in secrecy have their way with America.

  364. There is a certain logic to the chain of events wherein laws prohibiting buggery/sodomy were taken off the books in most states and by coincidence the Federalist Society deciding they were legally permitted to sneak up behind us in secrecy have their way with America.

  365. Trump this morning October 7, 2020, again demanded the arrest and jailing of Hillary Clinton, via the trash talking machine.
    Yeah, we’re a nation of laws.
    We’re a nation of pigfucking subhumans is what we are.
    I wish Ms Clinton, soon, before the election, would show up at the White House gate, or better, walk (perhaps traipse or shashay, as conservatives are always accusing her of doing) into the Justice Department office of Bill Barr or the FBI and surrender to the authorities, fall to her knees, thrusting her arms out, her wrists together, and demand she be cuffed, and scream “Do your woist, coppers! I just can’t take it anymore! I did it.. by God, I did it all!”

  366. Trump this morning October 7, 2020, again demanded the arrest and jailing of Hillary Clinton, via the trash talking machine.
    Yeah, we’re a nation of laws.
    We’re a nation of pigfucking subhumans is what we are.
    I wish Ms Clinton, soon, before the election, would show up at the White House gate, or better, walk (perhaps traipse or shashay, as conservatives are always accusing her of doing) into the Justice Department office of Bill Barr or the FBI and surrender to the authorities, fall to her knees, thrusting her arms out, her wrists together, and demand she be cuffed, and scream “Do your woist, coppers! I just can’t take it anymore! I did it.. by God, I did it all!”

  367. Listen to the stinking subhuman potty-mouthed Christian Republican Conservative, otherwise known as the Sweetheart Mom of the Reagan Rodeo, talk to her 15-year-old daughter.
    https://twitter.com/DanielNewman/status/1313493879421906946?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1313493879421906946%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailykos.com%2Fstory%2F2020%2F10%2F6%2F1984046%2F-Kellyanne-Conway-s-daughter-strikes-again-on-TikTok-as-the-Whistleblower-of-our-time
    The kid is angry because Donald Trump gave her mother a deadly virus, and her mother affectionately accepted the gift and then, after telling the daughter wearing masks indoors was idiotic, then spent the day constantly coughing all over the house, so now the daughter is infected as well.
    The house is so contaminated that husband George, career conservative ratfucker but lately of the Lincoln Project, has been forced to throw his collected of alleged Bill Clinton dick pics he assiduously collected from the 1990’s in the contamination bag headed for incineration.
    Kellyanne is distraught as well because she wanted to frame the dick pics and display them on the living room mantle.
    The kid recently tried to be legally declared independent of her batshit parents, but if she knows what is good for her, she should stick around and share in the proceeds of the upcoming most popular and lucrative reality show of all time: Shitheads Know Best, or is it Make Room For Fucking Daddy.
    I don’t think I’d have let my son go over to that house on a play date when he was young, though I might send some unelected bureaucrats over there to disinfect the joint and question that mouth her Christian mother eats with.

  368. Listen to the stinking subhuman potty-mouthed Christian Republican Conservative, otherwise known as the Sweetheart Mom of the Reagan Rodeo, talk to her 15-year-old daughter.
    https://twitter.com/DanielNewman/status/1313493879421906946?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1313493879421906946%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailykos.com%2Fstory%2F2020%2F10%2F6%2F1984046%2F-Kellyanne-Conway-s-daughter-strikes-again-on-TikTok-as-the-Whistleblower-of-our-time
    The kid is angry because Donald Trump gave her mother a deadly virus, and her mother affectionately accepted the gift and then, after telling the daughter wearing masks indoors was idiotic, then spent the day constantly coughing all over the house, so now the daughter is infected as well.
    The house is so contaminated that husband George, career conservative ratfucker but lately of the Lincoln Project, has been forced to throw his collected of alleged Bill Clinton dick pics he assiduously collected from the 1990’s in the contamination bag headed for incineration.
    Kellyanne is distraught as well because she wanted to frame the dick pics and display them on the living room mantle.
    The kid recently tried to be legally declared independent of her batshit parents, but if she knows what is good for her, she should stick around and share in the proceeds of the upcoming most popular and lucrative reality show of all time: Shitheads Know Best, or is it Make Room For Fucking Daddy.
    I don’t think I’d have let my son go over to that house on a play date when he was young, though I might send some unelected bureaucrats over there to disinfect the joint and question that mouth her Christian mother eats with.

  369. The extreme Federalist Society position is that Congress can’t delegate legislating to the executive branch at all.
    Because, of course, members of Congress are such experts in things like medicine and economics and engineering and so on** that they can write the necessary detailed stuff into law. Riiiiight. Gotta admit it reflects a really optimistic high opinion of politicians.
    ** And even those who do know something are immune to holding nutcase views about other fields. Cf Dr Rand Paul. (OK, maybe not a great example for convincng Charles. But still.)

  370. The extreme Federalist Society position is that Congress can’t delegate legislating to the executive branch at all.
    Because, of course, members of Congress are such experts in things like medicine and economics and engineering and so on** that they can write the necessary detailed stuff into law. Riiiiight. Gotta admit it reflects a really optimistic high opinion of politicians.
    ** And even those who do know something are immune to holding nutcase views about other fields. Cf Dr Rand Paul. (OK, maybe not a great example for convincng Charles. But still.)

  371. Mr we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again.
    History rhymes yet again.
    Except now Archie Bunker is POTUS.

  372. Mr we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again.
    History rhymes yet again.
    Except now Archie Bunker is POTUS.

  373. Except now Archie Bunker is POTUS.
    Hey! Carroll O’Connor was a damn good actor. And had good script writers. We’d be far better off with Archie Buncker as POTUS. I’d be seriously unhappy with him, but we’d be better off.

  374. Except now Archie Bunker is POTUS.
    Hey! Carroll O’Connor was a damn good actor. And had good script writers. We’d be far better off with Archie Buncker as POTUS. I’d be seriously unhappy with him, but we’d be better off.

  375. Archie: Dose people can work their way up like I did!
    Edith: Yeah, Archie’s uncle got him the job on the loading dock.
    And he enjoyed a good whatchamacallit, a “menstrual” show, down at the lodge, theah, with Barney and the fellas.

  376. Archie: Dose people can work their way up like I did!
    Edith: Yeah, Archie’s uncle got him the job on the loading dock.
    And he enjoyed a good whatchamacallit, a “menstrual” show, down at the lodge, theah, with Barney and the fellas.

  377. Archie was a good sort in his way. He was fundamentally honest and when it came down to it, he had a conscience in the way most regular folks do, just enough to be forgiven.
    Way out of Trump’s league, as in way above Trump’s league.
    Union man. May not have voted for Trump after the union scuttlebutt that Trump consistently stiffed his workers.
    Probably would have gone for Gary Johnson. After all, what is dis heah Aleppo you keep shootin your mouth off about, Meathead? Hanh?
    Who needs it!

  378. Archie was a good sort in his way. He was fundamentally honest and when it came down to it, he had a conscience in the way most regular folks do, just enough to be forgiven.
    Way out of Trump’s league, as in way above Trump’s league.
    Union man. May not have voted for Trump after the union scuttlebutt that Trump consistently stiffed his workers.
    Probably would have gone for Gary Johnson. After all, what is dis heah Aleppo you keep shootin your mouth off about, Meathead? Hanh?
    Who needs it!

  381. Nigel’s comment and cite at 11:05am is must reading and should be a front-page post.
    If Governors and Presidents and bureaucrats cannot govern, even in emergency situations, I presume when savage violent insurrection in America arises to butcher and slaughter the entire conservative republican movement, government and its powers, even in emergencies, will be forced to stand down and let it happen.
    After all, law enforcement and the military at all levels are unelected bureaucrats and will be a thoroughly hobbled administrative state.

  382. Nigel’s comment and cite at 11:05am is must reading and should be a front-page post.
    If Governors and Presidents and bureaucrats cannot govern, even in emergency situations, I presume when savage violent insurrection in America arises to butcher and slaughter the entire conservative republican movement, government and its powers, even in emergencies, will be forced to stand down and let it happen.
    After all, law enforcement and the military at all levels are unelected bureaucrats and will be a thoroughly hobbled administrative state.

  385. That TPM article misses something, I think. State legislatures trying to invalidate mail in ballots isn’t just about Trump. Those guys are also trying to save their own offices. Those invalidated ballots would likely, in this day of straight party voting, mean a bunch of them lose, too.
    Of course, I suppose someone like Kavanaugh could (in the unlikely event he wanted to) find a rationalization for invalidating those mail ballots for President, while still counting them for lower level offices. Roberts would probably choke on that, however. Which is why Barrett is so critical.

  386. That TPM article misses something, I think. State legislatures trying to invalidate mail in ballots isn’t just about Trump. Those guys are also trying to save their own offices. Those invalidated ballots would likely, in this day of straight party voting, mean a bunch of them lose, too.
    Of course, I suppose someone like Kavanaugh could (in the unlikely event he wanted to) find a rationalization for invalidating those mail ballots for President, while still counting them for lower level offices. Roberts would probably choke on that, however. Which is why Barrett is so critical.

  389. Well if you think a $2 million home (with a $1.6 million mortgage) is “just scraping by” . . . .
    Even in the seriously expensive areas close to Silicon Valley, that counts as at least moderately wealthy.

  390. Well if you think a $2 million home (with a $1.6 million mortgage) is “just scraping by” . . . .
    Even in the seriously expensive areas close to Silicon Valley, that counts as at least moderately wealthy.

  391. A quick check shows $400,000/year household income is 98th percentile. And this from Russell’s link:
    “A middle-class lifestyle is defined as: owning a home, having two kids, saving for retirement, saving for college, going on modest vacations several weeks a year, and retiring in one’s early 60s.”
    50th percentile is $70,000. And how many people have jobs that allow for “several” weeks of vaction?

  392. A quick check shows $400,000/year household income is 98th percentile. And this from Russell’s link:
    “A middle-class lifestyle is defined as: owning a home, having two kids, saving for retirement, saving for college, going on modest vacations several weeks a year, and retiring in one’s early 60s.”
    50th percentile is $70,000. And how many people have jobs that allow for “several” weeks of vaction?

  395. Not sure I buy the “retiring in one’s early 60s” as middle class either. I think 70 would be closer.** Unless, that is, one got hit by an age-based layoff and couldn’t get a new job. Which isn’t quite how I define “retire.”
    ** And those last 5-8 years’ income is a big part of funding that retirement.

  396. Not sure I buy the “retiring in one’s early 60s” as middle class either. I think 70 would be closer.** Unless, that is, one got hit by an age-based layoff and couldn’t get a new job. Which isn’t quite how I define “retire.”
    ** And those last 5-8 years’ income is a big part of funding that retirement.

  397. Fox News headline:

    More voters think neighbors backing Trump over Biden: Fox News poll

    How many people think their neighbors suspect them of supporting Trump, I wonder? And how many people who think their neighbors support Trump assume those same neighbors think they support Biden? Who do you think your neighbors think you’re going to vote for, and how does that affect who you think they’re going to vote for? Does that in turn affect who they think you’re going to vote for? If so, does that then affect who you think they’re going to vote for?
    I don’t know about you, but I tend to vote the way I think my neighbors think I’m going to vote, so we need to figure this out quickly.

  398. Fox News headline:

    More voters think neighbors backing Trump over Biden: Fox News poll

    How many people think their neighbors suspect them of supporting Trump, I wonder? And how many people who think their neighbors support Trump assume those same neighbors think they support Biden? Who do you think your neighbors think you’re going to vote for, and how does that affect who you think they’re going to vote for? Does that in turn affect who they think you’re going to vote for? If so, does that then affect who you think they’re going to vote for?
    I don’t know about you, but I tend to vote the way I think my neighbors think I’m going to vote, so we need to figure this out quickly.

  401. I have a neighbor who attended a Boris Badenov concert and threw her underpants at him on to the stage only to find out later that she had mistaken him for Tom Jones:
    https://digbysblog.net/2020/10/a-moment-of-zen-4/
    I was not affected, except that I think she might have with INfected me with the Covid-19 when I rang her doorbell and innocently asked why she had a hypersonic missile parked in her garage and she said “Oh, THAT! That’s my Sex Bomb, honey. You no never mind yourself about that. Now, are we done here?”
    A guy on FOX News last night characterized Harris in the debate as “Hillary Clinton in blackface”.
    In Rwanda and the Balkans, once-friendly neighbors ended up overnight slaughtering each other over less.
    I would love to be a fly on Mike Pence’s head to imagine flying away at the last second before the blade of the guillotine severed my perch.
    Is it next week yet?

  402. I have a neighbor who attended a Boris Badenov concert and threw her underpants at him on to the stage only to find out later that she had mistaken him for Tom Jones:
    https://digbysblog.net/2020/10/a-moment-of-zen-4/
    I was not affected, except that I think she might have with INfected me with the Covid-19 when I rang her doorbell and innocently asked why she had a hypersonic missile parked in her garage and she said “Oh, THAT! That’s my Sex Bomb, honey. You no never mind yourself about that. Now, are we done here?”
    A guy on FOX News last night characterized Harris in the debate as “Hillary Clinton in blackface”.
    In Rwanda and the Balkans, once-friendly neighbors ended up overnight slaughtering each other over less.
    I would love to be a fly on Mike Pence’s head to imagine flying away at the last second before the blade of the guillotine severed my perch.
    Is it next week yet?

  403. Pence, in spite of hanging out with superspreaders, seems to be immune from Covid.
    And is attractive to flies, and doesn’t even notice them crawling on his body.
    There are VAMPIRES in his family. Explains a lot.
    There’s a lot “at stake” in this election. Make sure to sharpen yours.

  404. Pence, in spite of hanging out with superspreaders, seems to be immune from Covid.
    And is attractive to flies, and doesn’t even notice them crawling on his body.
    There are VAMPIRES in his family. Explains a lot.
    There’s a lot “at stake” in this election. Make sure to sharpen yours.

  405. Yes, I remember some evangelical loony making hay with an occasion Obama was divebombed by a few flies, and deducing from it that he was a servant of the Lord of the Flies. Something tells me that same loony is not going to make that deduction this time, despite the fact that the fly seemed a lot more at home this time, and didn’t even get killed.

  406. Yes, I remember some evangelical loony making hay with an occasion Obama was divebombed by a few flies, and deducing from it that he was a servant of the Lord of the Flies. Something tells me that same loony is not going to make that deduction this time, despite the fact that the fly seemed a lot more at home this time, and didn’t even get killed.

  407. https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2020/10/mike-pences-fly-has-a-twitter-account
    Well, why not? If it’s good enough for the late Herman Cain, why not the fly.
    Honey, there’s a fly in my soup?
    Well, what’s a fly doing in your soup?
    The dead man’s crawl.
    Trump is bagging the next virtual debate.
    HIS fly however, has agreed to show up, if a landing spot for it is certified to be disinfected of all viral conservative contaminates.
    Trump, as confirmed by Christian Devil Pence’s non-answer answers last night, is not leaving the now thoroughly discredited Office of the President, no matter the vote, which he and Barr will steal anyway.
    “78 Days”
    The title of the historical account to be published at some distant date referring to the number of days between November 3, 2020 and January 20, 2021, during which America will be transformed into a smoking ruin.

  408. https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2020/10/mike-pences-fly-has-a-twitter-account
    Well, why not? If it’s good enough for the late Herman Cain, why not the fly.
    Honey, there’s a fly in my soup?
    Well, what’s a fly doing in your soup?
    The dead man’s crawl.
    Trump is bagging the next virtual debate.
    HIS fly however, has agreed to show up, if a landing spot for it is certified to be disinfected of all viral conservative contaminates.
    Trump, as confirmed by Christian Devil Pence’s non-answer answers last night, is not leaving the now thoroughly discredited Office of the President, no matter the vote, which he and Barr will steal anyway.
    “78 Days”
    The title of the historical account to be published at some distant date referring to the number of days between November 3, 2020 and January 20, 2021, during which America will be transformed into a smoking ruin.

  409. A Beatle writes:
    NO FLIES ON FRANK
    There were no flies on Frank that morning – after all why
    not? He was a responsible citizen with a wife and child, wasn’t
    he? It was a typical Frank morning and with an agility that
    defies description he leapt into the barthroom onto the scales.
    To his great harold he discovered he was twelve inches more
    tall heavy! He couldn’t believe it and his blood raised to his
    head causing a mighty red colouring.
    ‘I carn’t not believe this incredible fact og truth about
    my very body which has not gained fat since mother begat me at
    childburn. Yea, though I wart through the valet of thy shadowy
    hut I will feed no norman. What grate qualmsy hath taken me
    thus into such a fatty hardbuckle.’
    Again Frank looked down at the awful vision which clouded
    his eyes with fearful weight. ‘Twelve inches more heavy, Lo!,
    but am I not more fatty than my brother Geoffery whose father
    Alec came from Kenneth – through Leslies, who begat Arthur, son
    of Eric, by the house of Ronald and April – keepers of James of
    Newcastle who ran Madeline at 2-1 by Silver Flower, (10-2) past
    Wot-ro-Wot at 4/3d a pound?’
    He journeyed downstairs crastfallen and defective – a
    great wait on his boulders – not even his wife’s battered face
    could raise a smile on poor Frank’s head – who as you know had
    no flies on him. His wife, a former beauty queer, regarded him
    with a strange but burly look.
    ‘What ails thee, Frank?’, she asked stretching her prune.
    ‘You look dejected if not informal,’ she addled.
    ‘Tis nothing but wart I have gained but twelve inches more
    tall heavy than at the very clock of yesterday at this time –
    am I not the most miserable of men? Suffer ye not to spake to
    me or I might thrust you a mortal injury; I must traddle this
    trial alone.’
    ‘Lo! Frank – thou hast smote me harshly with such grave
    talk – am I to blame for this vast burton?’
    Frank looked sadly at his wife – forgetting for a moment
    the cause of his misery. Walking slowly but slowly toward her,
    he took his head in his hands and with a few swift blows had
    clubbed her mercifully to the ground dead.
    ‘She shouldn’t see me like this,’ he mubbled, ‘not all fat
    and on her thirtysecond birthday.’
    Frank had to get his own breakfast that morning and also
    on the following mornings.
    Two, (or was it three?) weeks later Frank awakes again to
    find that there were _still_ no flies on him.
    ‘No flies on this Frank boy,’ he thought; but to his
    amazement there seemed to be a lot of flies on his wife – who
    was still lying about the kitchen floor.
    ‘I carn’t not partake of bread and that with her lying
    about the place,’ he thought allowed, writing as he spoke. ‘I
    must deliver her to her home where she will be made welcome.’
    He gathered her in a small sack (for she was only four
    foot three) and headed for her rightful home. Frank knocked on
    the door of his wife’s mothers house. She opened the door.
    ‘I’ve brought Marian home, Mrs Sutherskill’ (he could
    never call her Mum). He opened the sack and placed Marian on
    the doorstep.
    ‘I’m not having all those flies in my home,’ shouted Mrs
    Sutherskill (who was very houseproud), shutting the door. ‘She
    could have at least offered me a cup of tea,’ thought Frank
    lifting the problem back on his boulders.

  410. A Beatle writes:
    NO FLIES ON FRANK
    There were no flies on Frank that morning – after all why
    not? He was a responsible citizen with a wife and child, wasn’t
    he? It was a typical Frank morning and with an agility that
    defies description he leapt into the barthroom onto the scales.
    To his great harold he discovered he was twelve inches more
    tall heavy! He couldn’t believe it and his blood raised to his
    head causing a mighty red colouring.
    ‘I carn’t not believe this incredible fact og truth about
    my very body which has not gained fat since mother begat me at
    childburn. Yea, though I wart through the valet of thy shadowy
    hut I will feed no norman. What grate qualmsy hath taken me
    thus into such a fatty hardbuckle.’
    Again Frank looked down at the awful vision which clouded
    his eyes with fearful weight. ‘Twelve inches more heavy, Lo!,
    but am I not more fatty than my brother Geoffery whose father
    Alec came from Kenneth – through Leslies, who begat Arthur, son
    of Eric, by the house of Ronald and April – keepers of James of
    Newcastle who ran Madeline at 2-1 by Silver Flower, (10-2) past
    Wot-ro-Wot at 4/3d a pound?’
    He journeyed downstairs crastfallen and defective – a
    great wait on his boulders – not even his wife’s battered face
    could raise a smile on poor Frank’s head – who as you know had
    no flies on him. His wife, a former beauty queer, regarded him
    with a strange but burly look.
    ‘What ails thee, Frank?’, she asked stretching her prune.
    ‘You look dejected if not informal,’ she addled.
    ‘Tis nothing but wart I have gained but twelve inches more
    tall heavy than at the very clock of yesterday at this time –
    am I not the most miserable of men? Suffer ye not to spake to
    me or I might thrust you a mortal injury; I must traddle this
    trial alone.’
    ‘Lo! Frank – thou hast smote me harshly with such grave
    talk – am I to blame for this vast burton?’
    Frank looked sadly at his wife – forgetting for a moment
    the cause of his misery. Walking slowly but slowly toward her,
    he took his head in his hands and with a few swift blows had
    clubbed her mercifully to the ground dead.
    ‘She shouldn’t see me like this,’ he mubbled, ‘not all fat
    and on her thirtysecond birthday.’
    Frank had to get his own breakfast that morning and also
    on the following mornings.
    Two, (or was it three?) weeks later Frank awakes again to
    find that there were _still_ no flies on him.
    ‘No flies on this Frank boy,’ he thought; but to his
    amazement there seemed to be a lot of flies on his wife – who
    was still lying about the kitchen floor.
    ‘I carn’t not partake of bread and that with her lying
    about the place,’ he thought allowed, writing as he spoke. ‘I
    must deliver her to her home where she will be made welcome.’
    He gathered her in a small sack (for she was only four
    foot three) and headed for her rightful home. Frank knocked on
    the door of his wife’s mothers house. She opened the door.
    ‘I’ve brought Marian home, Mrs Sutherskill’ (he could
    never call her Mum). He opened the sack and placed Marian on
    the doorstep.
    ‘I’m not having all those flies in my home,’ shouted Mrs
    Sutherskill (who was very houseproud), shutting the door. ‘She
    could have at least offered me a cup of tea,’ thought Frank
    lifting the problem back on his boulders.

  411. I don’t know about you, but I tend to vote the way I think my neighbors think I’m going to vote, so we need to figure this out quickly.
    I guess things are different there in the East. Here we have a secret ballot, so nobody knows how I voted. Even if I put up a yard sign, it only proves who I’ll claim to support. It’s not unheard of for someone to have 75% of the yard signs, and lose badly.

  412. I don’t know about you, but I tend to vote the way I think my neighbors think I’m going to vote, so we need to figure this out quickly.
    I guess things are different there in the East. Here we have a secret ballot, so nobody knows how I voted. Even if I put up a yard sign, it only proves who I’ll claim to support. It’s not unheard of for someone to have 75% of the yard signs, and lose badly.

  413. We have secret ballots, too. But my neighbor’s are a bunch of wannabe Schrödingers. They assign probabilities to my voting for given candidates, which makes me accordingly likely to vote for them. But if I really want to vote for someone, I assign very lopsided probabilities to my neighbors’ potential votes, which then swings their estimations of my voting probabilities toward my preferred candidate via mutually reinforced subjectivity.
    You guys don’t do that in Cali? What kind of weirdos are you?

  414. We have secret ballots, too. But my neighbor’s are a bunch of wannabe Schrödingers. They assign probabilities to my voting for given candidates, which makes me accordingly likely to vote for them. But if I really want to vote for someone, I assign very lopsided probabilities to my neighbors’ potential votes, which then swings their estimations of my voting probabilities toward my preferred candidate via mutually reinforced subjectivity.
    You guys don’t do that in Cali? What kind of weirdos are you?

  415. Peeking at the twitter feeds of assholes has its pleasures.
    https://twitter.com/SenMikeLee
    He says he is covid negative.
    Yet:
    https://www.abc4.com/news/top-stories/utah-sen-mike-lee-tests-positive-for-coronavirus/
    Scrolling down, he cites this “fascinating” study, Reason Magazine-worthy.
    https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/republicans/analysis?id=24D7BEE1-5398-422D-AF71-21AD125B2E60
    Please read the following in the calm, rational, smarmy cadence and tone of Milton Friedman explaining to you why corporations have no other reason for their existence but to profit him and fuck all else:
    Lee’s cites could even be true.
    Yes, perhaps women are giving birth less often because they don’t have room in their vehicle for a third car seat.
    Fine, get rid of the car seat regs.
    Indeed, birth rates may then rise as un-carseated post-born (and pre-death for a few airborne moments) fetuses hurtle thru windshields in collisions, and choke on their binkies while perishing from massive head trauma.
    Mom might rush home after recovering from HER injuries without any help from the now abolished Obamacare and Medicaid, take a look at the hospital bills, and either: deny her husband sex altogether because look what just happened and what it has cost us, OR, begin attempting to have another child because, as in, and I’m old enough to remember this, the old days when families lost a child due to dreadful accidents and made replacement fetuses for the now dead post-born children aborted by drunk and careless drivers or simple awful fate, non-reimbursable.
    The same logic (Logic!?) applied before modern science, now ignored, brought us vaccinations and better obstetric care.
    Families lost a surprisingly large percentage of their living children to various plagues and unsafe practices and thus increased their birth rates to replace them.
    This is still the case in many parts of the world.
    Birth 11 kids and maybe six made it to adulthood.
    So, let’s review:
    The more living children who die and are killed due to lax regulation or no regulation administered or non-administered by the administrative state, the higher the national birth rate.
    When fetuses outnumber born children who are swept away … post-born aborted … to death before their time, we will return to being a Christian, rational civilization.
    Or, you could read the same above in the calm, rational voice of this subhuman monster as he explains to his victims … like some comedian said Mike Pence talks down to women, like a serial killer explaining calmly why he is going to do what he is going to do to you … what he going to do to them and they will, perchance, even like it.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es83ejXi5wg
    Sleep.

  416. Peeking at the twitter feeds of assholes has its pleasures.
    https://twitter.com/SenMikeLee
    He says he is covid negative.
    Yet:
    https://www.abc4.com/news/top-stories/utah-sen-mike-lee-tests-positive-for-coronavirus/
    Scrolling down, he cites this “fascinating” study, Reason Magazine-worthy.
    https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/republicans/analysis?id=24D7BEE1-5398-422D-AF71-21AD125B2E60
    Please read the following in the calm, rational, smarmy cadence and tone of Milton Friedman explaining to you why corporations have no other reason for their existence but to profit him and fuck all else:
    Lee’s cites could even be true.
    Yes, perhaps women are giving birth less often because they don’t have room in their vehicle for a third car seat.
    Fine, get rid of the car seat regs.
    Indeed, birth rates may then rise as un-carseated post-born (and pre-death for a few airborne moments) fetuses hurtle thru windshields in collisions, and choke on their binkies while perishing from massive head trauma.
    Mom might rush home after recovering from HER injuries without any help from the now abolished Obamacare and Medicaid, take a look at the hospital bills, and either: deny her husband sex altogether because look what just happened and what it has cost us, OR, begin attempting to have another child because, as in, and I’m old enough to remember this, the old days when families lost a child due to dreadful accidents and made replacement fetuses for the now dead post-born children aborted by drunk and careless drivers or simple awful fate, non-reimbursable.
    The same logic (Logic!?) applied before modern science, now ignored, brought us vaccinations and better obstetric care.
    Families lost a surprisingly large percentage of their living children to various plagues and unsafe practices and thus increased their birth rates to replace them.
    This is still the case in many parts of the world.
    Birth 11 kids and maybe six made it to adulthood.
    So, let’s review:
    The more living children who die and are killed due to lax regulation or no regulation administered or non-administered by the administrative state, the higher the national birth rate.
    When fetuses outnumber born children who are swept away … post-born aborted … to death before their time, we will return to being a Christian, rational civilization.
    Or, you could read the same above in the calm, rational voice of this subhuman monster as he explains to his victims … like some comedian said Mike Pence talks down to women, like a serial killer explaining calmly why he is going to do what he is going to do to you … what he going to do to them and they will, perchance, even like it.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es83ejXi5wg
    Sleep.

  419. I notice some Biden-Harris signs on my walks thru the neighborhoods.
    Saw only one trump sign, but that was on the forehead of a guy walking toward me, coughing and wiping his nose on the back of his hand.
    Maybe he was trying to game me, by getting me to think he was some sort of modern reverse psychology Zombie Paul Revere.
    I crossed the street.

  420. I notice some Biden-Harris signs on my walks thru the neighborhoods.
    Saw only one trump sign, but that was on the forehead of a guy walking toward me, coughing and wiping his nose on the back of his hand.
    Maybe he was trying to game me, by getting me to think he was some sort of modern reverse psychology Zombie Paul Revere.
    I crossed the street.

  421. You guys don’t do that in Cali? What kind of weirdos are you?
    You have no idea.
    But for a (totally fictitious) overview, he could try Fox News. Or Rush Limbaugh.
    Of course, being fiction they completely miss the ways that we actually are weird. Their loss.

  422. You guys don’t do that in Cali? What kind of weirdos are you?
    You have no idea.
    But for a (totally fictitious) overview, he could try Fox News. Or Rush Limbaugh.
    Of course, being fiction they completely miss the ways that we actually are weird. Their loss.

  425. You guys don’t do that in Cali? What kind of weirdos are you?
    I’m sure wj can speak for himself, but I will go so far as to say that if you strike “Cali” and substitute “the West”, we’re the kind of weirdos that do ballot initiatives, non-partisan (or at least bi-partisan) redistricting, and vote by mail on a large scale. Not just in blue states, either.
    If the Dems find themselves in a position to pass a new Voting Rights bill, I suspect that there’s going to be a lot of behind-the-scenes dickering to keep the Western Senators satisfied that their states’ current systems aren’t forced to be abandoned to meet some national standard.

  426. You guys don’t do that in Cali? What kind of weirdos are you?
    I’m sure wj can speak for himself, but I will go so far as to say that if you strike “Cali” and substitute “the West”, we’re the kind of weirdos that do ballot initiatives, non-partisan (or at least bi-partisan) redistricting, and vote by mail on a large scale. Not just in blue states, either.
    If the Dems find themselves in a position to pass a new Voting Rights bill, I suspect that there’s going to be a lot of behind-the-scenes dickering to keep the Western Senators satisfied that their states’ current systems aren’t forced to be abandoned to meet some national standard.

  427. Michael, that hits the high points. (Although we do have some non-political weirdness as well.)
    I would say the best national standard would be to just roll out what we do. Although, as Florida’s government to their felon voting initiative suggests that an attitude adjustment will be necessary to make it all work properly.

  428. Michael, that hits the high points. (Although we do have some non-political weirdness as well.)
    I would say the best national standard would be to just roll out what we do. Although, as Florida’s government to their felon voting initiative suggests that an attitude adjustment will be necessary to make it all work properly.

  433. Scrolling down, he cites this “fascinating” study, Reason Magazine-worthy.
    True that…
    “Are car seat mandates responsible for reducing the number of children born each year? A provocative new study claims that the steady upward creep in the ages at which states mandate children use a car seat is prompting women to either postpone or opt against having a third child.
    The paper, by Jordan Nickerson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and David Solomon of Boston College, argues that most vehicles cannot fit a third car seat in the back row, necessitating the purchase of a larger car if a parent is going to cart around three children at once. That added cost, they argue, disincentivizes some women from having a third child.”
    Do Car Seat Mandates Reduce the Number of Children Families Have?: A new working paper argues that car seat laws are discouraging moms from having a third child.

  434. Scrolling down, he cites this “fascinating” study, Reason Magazine-worthy.
    True that…
    “Are car seat mandates responsible for reducing the number of children born each year? A provocative new study claims that the steady upward creep in the ages at which states mandate children use a car seat is prompting women to either postpone or opt against having a third child.
    The paper, by Jordan Nickerson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and David Solomon of Boston College, argues that most vehicles cannot fit a third car seat in the back row, necessitating the purchase of a larger car if a parent is going to cart around three children at once. That added cost, they argue, disincentivizes some women from having a third child.”
    Do Car Seat Mandates Reduce the Number of Children Families Have?: A new working paper argues that car seat laws are discouraging moms from having a third child.

  435. MI militias go nuts.
    It’s time to recognize that “militias” are not militias as sanctioned and recognized by the Constitution. For good or ill, the militias discussed in the Constitution no longer exist, except maybe in form of the various national guards.
    This isn’t about whether private individuals should be able to have guns. It’s about whether we allow private armies to form and make decisions for themselves about what aspects of government – constitutional, elected governments – they will and will not accept.
    Whatever happens on Nov 3, the period from then until January 20 is going to be a wild ride.

  436. MI militias go nuts.
    It’s time to recognize that “militias” are not militias as sanctioned and recognized by the Constitution. For good or ill, the militias discussed in the Constitution no longer exist, except maybe in form of the various national guards.
    This isn’t about whether private individuals should be able to have guns. It’s about whether we allow private armies to form and make decisions for themselves about what aspects of government – constitutional, elected governments – they will and will not accept.
    Whatever happens on Nov 3, the period from then until January 20 is going to be a wild ride.

  439. today’s Word Of The Day is: Stochastic Terrorism:

    the public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is statistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted: The lone-wolf attack was apparently influenced by the rhetoric of stochastic terrorism.

    Trump should be imprisoned. in epoxy.

  440. today’s Word Of The Day is: Stochastic Terrorism:

    the public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is statistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted: The lone-wolf attack was apparently influenced by the rhetoric of stochastic terrorism.

    Trump should be imprisoned. in epoxy.

  441. Hartland? Michigan.
    Apropos name. Lots of Blue Meanies in the Red Zone flooded with shit.
    Planes full of coastal elites don’t fly over that flyover town for fear of being shot down.
    Just a few miles north of Ann Arbor where the son pursues post-Dark Ages science at the doctoral level, as a new lethal darkness descends once again.
    Happily, though the decision is not final quite yet, he’s heading for Connecticut to take a position with a major pharmaceutical company, unless something better turns up fast.
    It’s a blue state, but rightwing EVIL is infiltrating everywhere. Time is running short to find secure sanctuary.
    “78 Days: When the Zone Overflowed With Shit”
    These guys too in Michigan:
    https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/michigan/2020/10/08/michigan-ag-burkman-wohl-turn-themselves-in-on-voter-intimidation-charges/
    Their arrests, and the militia arrests contravene all of the President’s intentions and orders against the Deep State.
    But their criminal records will qualify them for seats on the Michigan Supreme Court.
    Trump is a fellow conspirator … hell, he’s the ringleader.
    But the Rule Of Law, we are told, does not extend, ever, to the hallowed Office of the Presidency, meaning trump’s fat behind, until January 21, when impeachment charges are filed by Republican vermin in the House against Joe Biden.

  442. Hartland? Michigan.
    Apropos name. Lots of Blue Meanies in the Red Zone flooded with shit.
    Planes full of coastal elites don’t fly over that flyover town for fear of being shot down.
    Just a few miles north of Ann Arbor where the son pursues post-Dark Ages science at the doctoral level, as a new lethal darkness descends once again.
    Happily, though the decision is not final quite yet, he’s heading for Connecticut to take a position with a major pharmaceutical company, unless something better turns up fast.
    It’s a blue state, but rightwing EVIL is infiltrating everywhere. Time is running short to find secure sanctuary.
    “78 Days: When the Zone Overflowed With Shit”
    These guys too in Michigan:
    https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/michigan/2020/10/08/michigan-ag-burkman-wohl-turn-themselves-in-on-voter-intimidation-charges/
    Their arrests, and the militia arrests contravene all of the President’s intentions and orders against the Deep State.
    But their criminal records will qualify them for seats on the Michigan Supreme Court.
    Trump is a fellow conspirator … hell, he’s the ringleader.
    But the Rule Of Law, we are told, does not extend, ever, to the hallowed Office of the Presidency, meaning trump’s fat behind, until January 21, when impeachment charges are filed by Republican vermin in the House against Joe Biden.

  443. MI militias go nuts.
    And discuss potentially killing police officers if necessary. The police have seemed to embrace the “militia” types when they’ve shown up at protests. It appears to be a fraught relationship.

  444. MI militias go nuts.
    And discuss potentially killing police officers if necessary. The police have seemed to embrace the “militia” types when they’ve shown up at protests. It appears to be a fraught relationship.

  445. MI militias have always been nuts. They are to right wing 3%er white supremacist Red Dawn Cosplay Enthusiasts what Florida Man is to Redneck Darwin Award Winners.
    Every time one of my RW pearl clutcher relatives bemoans the graffiti on a courthouse or state capital, I want to send them a picture of the bombed out shell of the Murrah Building.

  446. MI militias have always been nuts. They are to right wing 3%er white supremacist Red Dawn Cosplay Enthusiasts what Florida Man is to Redneck Darwin Award Winners.
    Every time one of my RW pearl clutcher relatives bemoans the graffiti on a courthouse or state capital, I want to send them a picture of the bombed out shell of the Murrah Building.

  453. We’re charged with felonies that could cost us four years of our lives and our law licenses.
    As lawyers, and therefore officers of the court, they should celebrate that the law would be being followed.

  454. We’re charged with felonies that could cost us four years of our lives and our law licenses.
    As lawyers, and therefore officers of the court, they should celebrate that the law would be being followed.

  459. If they pulled those guns on a squad of Oath Keepers or the Michigan militia, four more years and their law licenses would have been the least of it.
    If they had been black and were waving guns around from their front porch at a demonstration of white proud boys with any cops in the vicinity, they’d be full of bullet holes and spending eternity in a crypt wherever they bury stupid people in the town.
    They should count themselves lucky, take the four years in jail, hopefully alongside lots of minority inmates, and win time off for good behavior by serving as jailhouse legal experts for folks who actually ARE fucked by the system.
    Idiots.

  460. If they pulled those guns on a squad of Oath Keepers or the Michigan militia, four more years and their law licenses would have been the least of it.
    If they had been black and were waving guns around from their front porch at a demonstration of white proud boys with any cops in the vicinity, they’d be full of bullet holes and spending eternity in a crypt wherever they bury stupid people in the town.
    They should count themselves lucky, take the four years in jail, hopefully alongside lots of minority inmates, and win time off for good behavior by serving as jailhouse legal experts for folks who actually ARE fucked by the system.
    Idiots.

  463. OT:
    John Tyler’s grandson died at 95 on September 26th. John Tyler, 10th POTUS, born in 1790. The grandson that died was his second youngest grandchild. The youngest is still alive at 91 years old.
    John Tyler’s son, the father of the aforementioned grandsons, was born when John Tyler was 63. That son, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, had his sons in his 70s with a second wife 35 years his junior.
    Koo-koo, baby. (Incidentally, John Tyler was a lifelong slave-owner who sided with the Confederacy when the Civil War began, but that’s ancient history dontcha know.)

  464. OT:
    John Tyler’s grandson died at 95 on September 26th. John Tyler, 10th POTUS, born in 1790. The grandson that died was his second youngest grandchild. The youngest is still alive at 91 years old.
    John Tyler’s son, the father of the aforementioned grandsons, was born when John Tyler was 63. That son, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, had his sons in his 70s with a second wife 35 years his junior.
    Koo-koo, baby. (Incidentally, John Tyler was a lifelong slave-owner who sided with the Confederacy when the Civil War began, but that’s ancient history dontcha know.)

  465. WaPo:

    Raise Up for Trump, a new campaign and political action committee launched Thursday, is looking for businesses to sign a pledge: If the president gets reelected, their employees will get a raise. If he isn’t? Too bad.

    none dare call it vote buying.

  466. WaPo:

    Raise Up for Trump, a new campaign and political action committee launched Thursday, is looking for businesses to sign a pledge: If the president gets reelected, their employees will get a raise. If he isn’t? Too bad.

    none dare call it vote buying.

  469. Used to be you could buy off conservative business leaders by raising them up with a blowjob from a working girl, or boy, and forget about pledges for wage increases for their employees altogether, since they will welch on the pay increases anyway.

  470. Used to be you could buy off conservative business leaders by raising them up with a blowjob from a working girl, or boy, and forget about pledges for wage increases for their employees altogether, since they will welch on the pay increases anyway.

  471. Raise up is just Trump supporters explicitly trying to use management leverage in a way that the right always howls about if it is a union trying to have a voice.
    Yes, I did just get off of a grievance call.

  472. Raise up is just Trump supporters explicitly trying to use management leverage in a way that the right always howls about if it is a union trying to have a voice.
    Yes, I did just get off of a grievance call.

  473. I shouldn’t … but this sums up the mask fear among the frightened Peterpandemics.
    https://www.mediamatters.org/dennis-prager/dennis-prager-says-karen-pence-was-more-masculine-kamala-harris-husband-not-wearing
    These conservative republican sissies have a castration complex.
    They see a mask and all they can imagine is Lorena Bobbitt sawing off Mr. Happy with boning knife in the middle of the night and feeding the morsel to the piranhas Rush Limbaugh keeps in his man bidet.
    Plus the big tub of dog shit … Prager .. goes after the widow of the actor who lost his leg and then life to the Covid.
    I’d like to fight him. Feeling a bully’s cheekbone cave into shards under a sucker punch is one of life’s rare animal spirit pleasures.
    But the most unforgivable of the turds falling from his pie hole is insinuating that Karen Pence is a gender transitioning woman on male hormone therapy because she didn’t wear a mask on stage at the debate.
    As Mike Pence will tell anyone, she wears a chastity belt and only Jesus and Donald Trump share the key.

  474. I shouldn’t … but this sums up the mask fear among the frightened Peterpandemics.
    https://www.mediamatters.org/dennis-prager/dennis-prager-says-karen-pence-was-more-masculine-kamala-harris-husband-not-wearing
    These conservative republican sissies have a castration complex.
    They see a mask and all they can imagine is Lorena Bobbitt sawing off Mr. Happy with boning knife in the middle of the night and feeding the morsel to the piranhas Rush Limbaugh keeps in his man bidet.
    Plus the big tub of dog shit … Prager .. goes after the widow of the actor who lost his leg and then life to the Covid.
    I’d like to fight him. Feeling a bully’s cheekbone cave into shards under a sucker punch is one of life’s rare animal spirit pleasures.
    But the most unforgivable of the turds falling from his pie hole is insinuating that Karen Pence is a gender transitioning woman on male hormone therapy because she didn’t wear a mask on stage at the debate.
    As Mike Pence will tell anyone, she wears a chastity belt and only Jesus and Donald Trump share the key.

  475. Anecdotal contact tracing since subhuman conservative republican killers won’t let us to the formal scientific method.
    A friend of mine just emailed to tell me a friend of HIS has a brother-in-law whose wife is a big fish in the Minnesota GOP. The Chair of the Party recently had a close-up maskless tete-a-tete with the genocidal maniac himself, Pol Donald Pot.
    The Chair then had dinner, a buffet affair, with the GOP wife mucky-muck of the friend and now the woman and her entire family are infected with the virus.
    My thoughts and prayers go out to heavily-armed liberals.
    Whatever you do, lay off the pangolin vichyssoise served at yer local GOP cuckolding parties.

  476. Anecdotal contact tracing since subhuman conservative republican killers won’t let us to the formal scientific method.
    A friend of mine just emailed to tell me a friend of HIS has a brother-in-law whose wife is a big fish in the Minnesota GOP. The Chair of the Party recently had a close-up maskless tete-a-tete with the genocidal maniac himself, Pol Donald Pot.
    The Chair then had dinner, a buffet affair, with the GOP wife mucky-muck of the friend and now the woman and her entire family are infected with the virus.
    My thoughts and prayers go out to heavily-armed liberals.
    Whatever you do, lay off the pangolin vichyssoise served at yer local GOP cuckolding parties.

  477. Hmm, I see that Trump called Kamala Harris a communist and a monster in a one hour rant on Fox, as well as saying he was cured of Covid, and that he is “a perfect physical specimen”. Just the latest in a long list of episodes which under anything like normal times would have people seriously considering deploying the 25th Amendment.

  478. Hmm, I see that Trump called Kamala Harris a communist and a monster in a one hour rant on Fox, as well as saying he was cured of Covid, and that he is “a perfect physical specimen”. Just the latest in a long list of episodes which under anything like normal times would have people seriously considering deploying the 25th Amendment.

  479. INAL but this might trigger some lawsuits.
    “Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh announced that President Trump will host a “virtual rally” on his nationally syndicated show on Friday as Trump seeks to gin up enthusiasm among his supporters heading into Election Day.
    “I’m thrilled to announce that our commander-in-chief, President Donald Trump, will be right here tomorrow hosting the largest virtual rally in radio history,” Limbaugh said on his show Thursday afternoon. “It will be special, and I am really looking forward to it.””
    Limbaugh: Trump to hold ‘virtual rally’ on radio show Friday

  480. INAL but this might trigger some lawsuits.
    “Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh announced that President Trump will host a “virtual rally” on his nationally syndicated show on Friday as Trump seeks to gin up enthusiasm among his supporters heading into Election Day.
    “I’m thrilled to announce that our commander-in-chief, President Donald Trump, will be right here tomorrow hosting the largest virtual rally in radio history,” Limbaugh said on his show Thursday afternoon. “It will be special, and I am really looking forward to it.””
    Limbaugh: Trump to hold ‘virtual rally’ on radio show Friday

  481. Small potatoes compared to the email I just received from the local GOP mayoral candidate:
    One of my campaign promises is to expose and investigate corruption wherever we find it…
    Furthermore, as a loyal career US Military Officer that loves my country I have a duty to report this to the FPPC.
    As an elected official, Irvine Council Member Farrah Khan without permission from the US Government took gifts from and traveled to the hostile foreign government of Azerbaijan. A government that is currently at war with Armenia.
    Of further concern during this trip Khan chose to share the stage and spend time with Iranian government officials that attended the event. The United States just today imposed new sanctions on Iran’s financial sector to stop illicit access to US dollars.
    In my professional opinion as a Retired Military Police Captain and Anti-Terrorism Officer, it appears Khan is not loyal to our country based on her own stated activity and publicly available information.
    I believe that the FPPC must step in here to curb what appears to be an obvious violation of the law.
    Mark Newgent
    Captain
    US Army, Retired
    mobile: 949-287-3272
    Unhinged.

  482. Small potatoes compared to the email I just received from the local GOP mayoral candidate:
    One of my campaign promises is to expose and investigate corruption wherever we find it…
    Furthermore, as a loyal career US Military Officer that loves my country I have a duty to report this to the FPPC.
    As an elected official, Irvine Council Member Farrah Khan without permission from the US Government took gifts from and traveled to the hostile foreign government of Azerbaijan. A government that is currently at war with Armenia.
    Of further concern during this trip Khan chose to share the stage and spend time with Iranian government officials that attended the event. The United States just today imposed new sanctions on Iran’s financial sector to stop illicit access to US dollars.
    In my professional opinion as a Retired Military Police Captain and Anti-Terrorism Officer, it appears Khan is not loyal to our country based on her own stated activity and publicly available information.
    I believe that the FPPC must step in here to curb what appears to be an obvious violation of the law.
    Mark Newgent
    Captain
    US Army, Retired
    mobile: 949-287-3272
    Unhinged.

  483. the hostile foreign government of Azerbaijan
    “Hostile”? News to the US State Department. For example (from the State Department website), “The United States and Azerbaijan have a Trade Relations Agreement and a Bilateral Investment Treaty.” Not sounding all that hostile.
    But perhaps you have a large local population of Armenian-Americans. Armenia and Azerbaijan are definitely hostile . . . to each other. In fact, if our government wasn’t MIA diplomatically these days, we’d be involved in trying to resolve their heating up war.

  484. the hostile foreign government of Azerbaijan
    “Hostile”? News to the US State Department. For example (from the State Department website), “The United States and Azerbaijan have a Trade Relations Agreement and a Bilateral Investment Treaty.” Not sounding all that hostile.
    But perhaps you have a large local population of Armenian-Americans. Armenia and Azerbaijan are definitely hostile . . . to each other. In fact, if our government wasn’t MIA diplomatically these days, we’d be involved in trying to resolve their heating up war.

  485. “Unhinged”
    Yeah, must be, to put out his mobile phone number like that.
    Of course, it’s Irvine, so it’s from behind the Orange Curtain.

  486. “Unhinged”
    Yeah, must be, to put out his mobile phone number like that.
    Of course, it’s Irvine, so it’s from behind the Orange Curtain.

  487. He might also have mistaken Armenia for America. During the lesser Bush’s reign Iraq got confused with Iran on a regular base, a lot of people even in public positions have mistaken the Republic of Georgia for the US state of the same name (or the island of South Georgia for that matter) etc.
    Over here there was the joke that the Bayreuth (Richard Wagner) festival should be cancelled out of caution should there be a crisis in Lebanon because US bombers heading for Beiruth could end up in the wrong place.

  488. He might also have mistaken Armenia for America. During the lesser Bush’s reign Iraq got confused with Iran on a regular base, a lot of people even in public positions have mistaken the Republic of Georgia for the US state of the same name (or the island of South Georgia for that matter) etc.
    Over here there was the joke that the Bayreuth (Richard Wagner) festival should be cancelled out of caution should there be a crisis in Lebanon because US bombers heading for Beiruth could end up in the wrong place.

  489. “Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh announced that President Trump will host a “virtual rally” on his nationally syndicated show
    as if his everyday show isn’t a rally for Trump.

  490. “Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh announced that President Trump will host a “virtual rally” on his nationally syndicated show
    as if his everyday show isn’t a rally for Trump.

  493. One of my RW-crank friends, who claims to be politically independent and a non-partisan, thinks the 25th A bill Pelosi proposed is really for Biden so they can make Harris president, who will then become a left-wing dictator. Of course, people need to wake up to the reality of this planned coup d’état, which is an extension of the dictatorial COVID-19 restrictions people are sheepishly going along with because they’re a bunch of cowards.

  494. One of my RW-crank friends, who claims to be politically independent and a non-partisan, thinks the 25th A bill Pelosi proposed is really for Biden so they can make Harris president, who will then become a left-wing dictator. Of course, people need to wake up to the reality of this planned coup d’état, which is an extension of the dictatorial COVID-19 restrictions people are sheepishly going along with because they’re a bunch of cowards.

  497. as if his everyday show isn’t a rally for Trump.
    ‘Live from Nuremberg, it’s Donald Trump live!!’

  498. as if his everyday show isn’t a rally for Trump.
    ‘Live from Nuremberg, it’s Donald Trump live!!’

  499. Lindsey Graham won’t take a C19 test so they canceled his debate.
    Can’t decide if toxic masculinity thread is by

  500. Lindsey Graham won’t take a C19 test so they canceled his debate.
    Can’t decide if toxic masculinity thread is by

  503. The way things seem to be going for him, Graham may figure any event where he might get asked awkward questions is to be avoided at all costs. Better to spend his hours begging for donations on Fox News. To run ads which don’t involve having to explain himself on any of a number of topics.

  504. The way things seem to be going for him, Graham may figure any event where he might get asked awkward questions is to be avoided at all costs. Better to spend his hours begging for donations on Fox News. To run ads which don’t involve having to explain himself on any of a number of topics.

  505. If they don’t take COVID tests they can’t test positive and be quarantined. In the case of any senator, it’s to avoid making Turtle have to scuttle the Barrett confirmation vote.
    Of course, if they refuse to get tested but still get very sick, it won’t work. Do we need a magical thinking thread as well as a toxic masculinity thread?

  506. If they don’t take COVID tests they can’t test positive and be quarantined. In the case of any senator, it’s to avoid making Turtle have to scuttle the Barrett confirmation vote.
    Of course, if they refuse to get tested but still get very sick, it won’t work. Do we need a magical thinking thread as well as a toxic masculinity thread?

  507. Well, I suppose, if you look at it right, there are three possibilities:
    – you test negative, so no problem
    – you test positive, and are real sick, so you can’t go vote of Barrett
    – you test positive, but don’t have much in the way of symptoms, so you could have voted . . . as long as nobody knew you tested positive.
    Option 3 is, for some, the critical one. And the critical reason not to get tested. (Or, more accurately, not to release the results.) Refusing to admit to having been tested is just a way to hedge your bets.

  508. Well, I suppose, if you look at it right, there are three possibilities:
    – you test negative, so no problem
    – you test positive, and are real sick, so you can’t go vote of Barrett
    – you test positive, but don’t have much in the way of symptoms, so you could have voted . . . as long as nobody knew you tested positive.
    Option 3 is, for some, the critical one. And the critical reason not to get tested. (Or, more accurately, not to release the results.) Refusing to admit to having been tested is just a way to hedge your bets.

  515. https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/10/michael-klare-how-the-us-plays-nuclear-chicken-with-russia-and-china.html
    One thing that I hate about the “ Resistance” is that on Russia, the criticism of him is almost the opposite of what Trump’s administration actually does. In the real world it has been hostile to both Russia and its allies and one rarely if ever sees anyone try to make some logical connection between “ Trump is Putin’s puppet” and the Trump Administration’s actions.
    Now if you wanted to argue that Trump is a puppet, and I would not, his behavior comes much closer to matching everything that Netanyahu and Bonesaw want. But that is consistent with having a common attitude towards Mideast politics. Trump is a far right Republican in his actions, including towards Russia. People like Bolton don’t like him because he isn’t aggressive enough— they want us to be bombing or invading Iran and not just targeting their people with sanctions. And Trump is too stupid to live up to the role of leader of the free world. The far right Trump opponents want someone just as militaristic without Trump’s personal issues.

  516. https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/10/michael-klare-how-the-us-plays-nuclear-chicken-with-russia-and-china.html
    One thing that I hate about the “ Resistance” is that on Russia, the criticism of him is almost the opposite of what Trump’s administration actually does. In the real world it has been hostile to both Russia and its allies and one rarely if ever sees anyone try to make some logical connection between “ Trump is Putin’s puppet” and the Trump Administration’s actions.
    Now if you wanted to argue that Trump is a puppet, and I would not, his behavior comes much closer to matching everything that Netanyahu and Bonesaw want. But that is consistent with having a common attitude towards Mideast politics. Trump is a far right Republican in his actions, including towards Russia. People like Bolton don’t like him because he isn’t aggressive enough— they want us to be bombing or invading Iran and not just targeting their people with sanctions. And Trump is too stupid to live up to the role of leader of the free world. The far right Trump opponents want someone just as militaristic without Trump’s personal issues.

  517. people say Trump is Putin’s puppet because he says shit like: “President Putin says it’s not Russia. I don’t see any reason why it would be,” when asked if Russia meddled in the 2016 election (which they did).
    people say Trump is Putin’s puppet because his campaign sought and welcomed Russia’s help in the 2016 election.
    people say Trump is Putin’s puppet because he denies that Russia pays a bounty for killing US soldiers.
    people say Trump is Putin’s puppet because he gave secret info to the Russian ambassador, while standing in the oval office.
    people say Trump is Putin’s puppet because he says Russia was right to invade Afghanistan.
    etc, etc, etc, etc..
    he also has a similar conflicted relationship with China, alternately fawning and bashing them.

  518. people say Trump is Putin’s puppet because he says shit like: “President Putin says it’s not Russia. I don’t see any reason why it would be,” when asked if Russia meddled in the 2016 election (which they did).
    people say Trump is Putin’s puppet because his campaign sought and welcomed Russia’s help in the 2016 election.
    people say Trump is Putin’s puppet because he denies that Russia pays a bounty for killing US soldiers.
    people say Trump is Putin’s puppet because he gave secret info to the Russian ambassador, while standing in the oval office.
    people say Trump is Putin’s puppet because he says Russia was right to invade Afghanistan.
    etc, etc, etc, etc..
    he also has a similar conflicted relationship with China, alternately fawning and bashing them.

  519. people say Trump is Putin’s puppet because it’s likely that he has laundered money for Putin, and owes him personally (and this has nothing to do with policy that is “good for” Russia; it has to do with what’s good for Putin).
    But this discussion is distracting me from horrifying hypocrite Ben Sasse, who is pontificating right now on the subject of “civics” and “the rules of the road” as if Merrick Garland is sitting on the bench. What a despicable fraud.

  520. people say Trump is Putin’s puppet because it’s likely that he has laundered money for Putin, and owes him personally (and this has nothing to do with policy that is “good for” Russia; it has to do with what’s good for Putin).
    But this discussion is distracting me from horrifying hypocrite Ben Sasse, who is pontificating right now on the subject of “civics” and “the rules of the road” as if Merrick Garland is sitting on the bench. What a despicable fraud.

  521. People say Trump is Putin’s puppet because of the damage he continually does to America’s alliances (NATO, etc.). That is, potentially, far more damaging than anything else (e.g. sanctions against individual Russians, or even Russia as a whole) that he does.

  522. People say Trump is Putin’s puppet because of the damage he continually does to America’s alliances (NATO, etc.). That is, potentially, far more damaging than anything else (e.g. sanctions against individual Russians, or even Russia as a whole) that he does.

  525. I’d say Trump’s actions toward Russia are mixed. I’d say Trump’s personal deference toward Putin is bizarre. And I’d say the number and nature of contacts between people in Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russian nationals, including people with ties to Russian intelligence, were criminal and bordered on treason.
    Just my opinion, on all points.
    Also in my opinion, the interesting area to look at here are financial relationships between Trump and his companies, and Russian oligarchic money.
    Chercher l’argent is always good advice, but is especially so in Trump’s case. He’s greedy, greedy people are vulnerable.

  526. I’d say Trump’s actions toward Russia are mixed. I’d say Trump’s personal deference toward Putin is bizarre. And I’d say the number and nature of contacts between people in Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russian nationals, including people with ties to Russian intelligence, were criminal and bordered on treason.
    Just my opinion, on all points.
    Also in my opinion, the interesting area to look at here are financial relationships between Trump and his companies, and Russian oligarchic money.
    Chercher l’argent is always good advice, but is especially so in Trump’s case. He’s greedy, greedy people are vulnerable.

  527. Underlining sapient’s 10:57 AM:
    Courtpackers, unmentioned by the both side do it cucks:
    https://digbysblog.net/2020/10/funny-that/
    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/republicans-rbg-barrett-supreme-court-confirmation
    Lindsey Graham ventriloquizing RBG from her grave regarding Merrick Garland on behalf of their fascism.
    Sick fucking republican conservative shit. I’m surprised he didn’t have a working puppet of RBG sitting on his lap flapping her dead mouth with his subhuman thrown voice shitting out of it.
    And this, a fucking neo-Christian Trump cult murderer shows up for the kill:
    https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/12/mike-lee-coronavirus-amy-coney-barrett-428937
    Check him for Novichok concealed on his subhuman non-person.
    If I’m sitting in public and religious cocksucker Lee comes up to me unmasked with his diseased lips flapping infecting sputum into my kisser, I’m GOING to catch the virus alright …. from the gouts of his virally-loaded blood splashing from his florid hemorrhaging face that my toxically masculine fists have just opened to the bone.
    He won’t have a chance to draw his firearm, which I’m sure he carries as well.
    See, these rabid animals don’t respond to the humanly decent norms of please and thank you and have a good day.
    We might as well tip our hats to crocodiles as they grip us in their jaws.
    Assault them.
    Hurt them.
    The conservative movement has brought out the best in me.
    Peace and Love.

  528. Underlining sapient’s 10:57 AM:
    Courtpackers, unmentioned by the both side do it cucks:
    https://digbysblog.net/2020/10/funny-that/
    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/republicans-rbg-barrett-supreme-court-confirmation
    Lindsey Graham ventriloquizing RBG from her grave regarding Merrick Garland on behalf of their fascism.
    Sick fucking republican conservative shit. I’m surprised he didn’t have a working puppet of RBG sitting on his lap flapping her dead mouth with his subhuman thrown voice shitting out of it.
    And this, a fucking neo-Christian Trump cult murderer shows up for the kill:
    https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/12/mike-lee-coronavirus-amy-coney-barrett-428937
    Check him for Novichok concealed on his subhuman non-person.
    If I’m sitting in public and religious cocksucker Lee comes up to me unmasked with his diseased lips flapping infecting sputum into my kisser, I’m GOING to catch the virus alright …. from the gouts of his virally-loaded blood splashing from his florid hemorrhaging face that my toxically masculine fists have just opened to the bone.
    He won’t have a chance to draw his firearm, which I’m sure he carries as well.
    See, these rabid animals don’t respond to the humanly decent norms of please and thank you and have a good day.
    We might as well tip our hats to crocodiles as they grip us in their jaws.
    Assault them.
    Hurt them.
    The conservative movement has brought out the best in me.
    Peace and Love.

  529. In the interests of keeping the subhuman both-sides-do-it delusion of everlasting parity and bipartisan savagery alive, the Governor of Michigan should execute this zombie deputy, and since HE IS gummint, chalk it up to anti-conservative-government violence, long overdue.
    https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/extremist-sheriff-and-former-fox-guest-dar-leaf-defends-alleged-terrorist-plot-kidnap
    My kid’s in Michigan. When is Governor Whitmer going to protect him from murderous republicans by executing all of them?

  530. In the interests of keeping the subhuman both-sides-do-it delusion of everlasting parity and bipartisan savagery alive, the Governor of Michigan should execute this zombie deputy, and since HE IS gummint, chalk it up to anti-conservative-government violence, long overdue.
    https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/extremist-sheriff-and-former-fox-guest-dar-leaf-defends-alleged-terrorist-plot-kidnap
    My kid’s in Michigan. When is Governor Whitmer going to protect him from murderous republicans by executing all of them?

  531. I wonder if our absurd syncretic reality TV monetizing cultural corruption will host a nascent movement of Zen Toxic Masculinity.
    Meditation Ashrams outfitted with cage fighting facilities and blood drainage gutters.
    The sound of one hand punching.
    Punch-drunk Theistic Zen.
    Plastic Soul, man, plastic soul.

  532. I wonder if our absurd syncretic reality TV monetizing cultural corruption will host a nascent movement of Zen Toxic Masculinity.
    Meditation Ashrams outfitted with cage fighting facilities and blood drainage gutters.
    The sound of one hand punching.
    Punch-drunk Theistic Zen.
    Plastic Soul, man, plastic soul.

  533. Rod Dreher is going to have a fit over this WOKE technology:
    https://www.cnet.com/news/nasa-astronaut-shows-off-new-23-million-space-toilet-that-just-landed-on-iss/#:~:text=A%20recently%20designed%20space%20toilet,%2C%20Virginia%2C%20and%20arrived%20Monday
    This is an example of exactly the type of Weimar Wokeness that made the Nazi Party indispensable to re-establishing conservative stand-up-and pee-like-a-man-in-space Aryan values in Germany.
    Yever get the feeling Dreher is one of them lick-the-white-icing-and-throw-away-the-chocolate-halves Oreo pervs?

  534. Rod Dreher is going to have a fit over this WOKE technology:
    https://www.cnet.com/news/nasa-astronaut-shows-off-new-23-million-space-toilet-that-just-landed-on-iss/#:~:text=A%20recently%20designed%20space%20toilet,%2C%20Virginia%2C%20and%20arrived%20Monday
    This is an example of exactly the type of Weimar Wokeness that made the Nazi Party indispensable to re-establishing conservative stand-up-and pee-like-a-man-in-space Aryan values in Germany.
    Yever get the feeling Dreher is one of them lick-the-white-icing-and-throw-away-the-chocolate-halves Oreo pervs?

  537. One can only imagine Dreher’s reaction if NASA starts considering how to deal with childbirth in zero G. But then, it’s not an issue that he’s likely to face personally.

  538. One can only imagine Dreher’s reaction if NASA starts considering how to deal with childbirth in zero G. But then, it’s not an issue that he’s likely to face personally.

  539. One can only imagine Dreher’s reaction if NASA starts considering how to deal with childbirth in zero G. But then, it’s not an issue that he’s likely to face personally.
    Deep in his paranoid victim heart I am sure that Dreher lives in fear that any societal acknowledgement of trans visibility will lead us all down the road to where he will be forced, literally, to give birth to a child.

  540. One can only imagine Dreher’s reaction if NASA starts considering how to deal with childbirth in zero G. But then, it’s not an issue that he’s likely to face personally.
    Deep in his paranoid victim heart I am sure that Dreher lives in fear that any societal acknowledgement of trans visibility will lead us all down the road to where he will be forced, literally, to give birth to a child.

  541. Deep in his paranoid victim heart I am sure that Dreher lives in fear that any societal acknowledgement of trans visibility will lead us all down the road to where he will be forced, literally, to give birth to a child.
    I don’t think so. I think he just can’t stand, he Can. Not. Stand, the fact that people exist in the world who don’t experience life in the same crabbed, fearful, limited, color-inside-the-lines way that he does. In his psyche, if these people exist and are allowed to be openly themselves, then he is erased. That sets up a dynamic where you have to obliterate or be obliterated.
    He’s terrified of a monster that he made up himself and projected onto other people, including me. I don’t actually appreciate it much.
    Amateur long-distance psychological analysis of the day. Worth what you paid for it.

  542. Deep in his paranoid victim heart I am sure that Dreher lives in fear that any societal acknowledgement of trans visibility will lead us all down the road to where he will be forced, literally, to give birth to a child.
    I don’t think so. I think he just can’t stand, he Can. Not. Stand, the fact that people exist in the world who don’t experience life in the same crabbed, fearful, limited, color-inside-the-lines way that he does. In his psyche, if these people exist and are allowed to be openly themselves, then he is erased. That sets up a dynamic where you have to obliterate or be obliterated.
    He’s terrified of a monster that he made up himself and projected onto other people, including me. I don’t actually appreciate it much.
    Amateur long-distance psychological analysis of the day. Worth what you paid for it.

  543. Well, turning the psychoanalysis back on us (or the left), I’m assuming that the fascination with Dreher is his advocacy of crunchy conservatism
    https://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/articles/entry/america-crunchy-conservative-counterculture/
    https://www.utne.com/community/meet-the-crunchy-conservatives
    from that last link
    One day last summer, I told a colleague I had to leave early to pick up my weekly batch of fresh vegetables from the organic food co-op to which my wife, Julie, and I belong. “Ewgh, that’s so lefty,” she said. And she was right: Organic vegetables are a left-wing cliché. Indeed, I once made fun of neighbors who belong to a co-op that delivers fresh fruits and vegetables from local organic farms to our Brooklyn streets. But then the neighbors gave us one week’s vegetable shipment, and we were knocked flat by the intense flavors. Who knew cauliflower had so much taste? It was the freshness of the produce, not its organic status (of dubious nutritional advantage), that we were responding to. Now, Julie usually picks up our weekly delivery in her National Review tote bag.
    Unfortunately, as we realize more and more, someone can still be a total dick regardless of how similar their superficial lifestyle choices may be to others…

  544. Well, turning the psychoanalysis back on us (or the left), I’m assuming that the fascination with Dreher is his advocacy of crunchy conservatism
    https://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/articles/entry/america-crunchy-conservative-counterculture/
    https://www.utne.com/community/meet-the-crunchy-conservatives
    from that last link
    One day last summer, I told a colleague I had to leave early to pick up my weekly batch of fresh vegetables from the organic food co-op to which my wife, Julie, and I belong. “Ewgh, that’s so lefty,” she said. And she was right: Organic vegetables are a left-wing cliché. Indeed, I once made fun of neighbors who belong to a co-op that delivers fresh fruits and vegetables from local organic farms to our Brooklyn streets. But then the neighbors gave us one week’s vegetable shipment, and we were knocked flat by the intense flavors. Who knew cauliflower had so much taste? It was the freshness of the produce, not its organic status (of dubious nutritional advantage), that we were responding to. Now, Julie usually picks up our weekly delivery in her National Review tote bag.
    Unfortunately, as we realize more and more, someone can still be a total dick regardless of how similar their superficial lifestyle choices may be to others…

  545. They found a striking linear relationship between support for Trump and an authoritarian mind-set: The stronger a person supported Trump, the higher he or she scored on the RWA scale. People saying they strongly disapproved of Trump, for instance, had an average RWA score of 54. Those indicating complete support of the president, on the other hand, had an average score of 119, more than twice as authoritarian as Trump opponents.
    Many fervent Trump supporters, Altemeyer and Dean write, “are submissive, fearful, and longing for a mighty leader who will protect them from life’s threats. They divide the world into friend and foe, with the latter greatly outnumbering the former.”

    one strong, clear trend this election season is “conservative” candidates trying to portray Dems as being unwilling and unable to “keep us safe”. president, governor, state and federal representatives and senators – all of the commercials from Republicans are about fear. they’re afraid of change in any manner; they’re afraid of all Others; they’re afraid that they won’t be in charge.
    what they’re running on makes it perfectly clear that conservatism is, at heart, fear.

  546. They found a striking linear relationship between support for Trump and an authoritarian mind-set: The stronger a person supported Trump, the higher he or she scored on the RWA scale. People saying they strongly disapproved of Trump, for instance, had an average RWA score of 54. Those indicating complete support of the president, on the other hand, had an average score of 119, more than twice as authoritarian as Trump opponents.
    Many fervent Trump supporters, Altemeyer and Dean write, “are submissive, fearful, and longing for a mighty leader who will protect them from life’s threats. They divide the world into friend and foe, with the latter greatly outnumbering the former.”

    one strong, clear trend this election season is “conservative” candidates trying to portray Dems as being unwilling and unable to “keep us safe”. president, governor, state and federal representatives and senators – all of the commercials from Republicans are about fear. they’re afraid of change in any manner; they’re afraid of all Others; they’re afraid that they won’t be in charge.
    what they’re running on makes it perfectly clear that conservatism is, at heart, fear.

  547. lj —
    1. Defensively or not, I will say I am not remotely fascinated with Dreher. I used to look at him now and then when I read the Daily Dish and old Andrew linked to him, but I would never even remember he existed if people here didn’t mention him now and then.
    2. Organic food — people like Dreher and Sullivan love to bring up that alleged factoid about organic food being of “dubious nutritional advantage,” conveniently ignoring the fact that there are other value choices at work besides some narrow definition of “nutritional value.” For instance: how we treat the land. How many untested chemicals we ingest. The economic structures built around food production. Funny, Here is a very current article about Maine Grains, where I buy most of my flour — all of it grown and milled in Maine. I buy organic varieties, but Maine Grains isn’t strictly organic. See, it’s complicated, something the Drehers and Sullivans (and Barretts) of this world would rather not have to face up to.

  548. lj —
    1. Defensively or not, I will say I am not remotely fascinated with Dreher. I used to look at him now and then when I read the Daily Dish and old Andrew linked to him, but I would never even remember he existed if people here didn’t mention him now and then.
    2. Organic food — people like Dreher and Sullivan love to bring up that alleged factoid about organic food being of “dubious nutritional advantage,” conveniently ignoring the fact that there are other value choices at work besides some narrow definition of “nutritional value.” For instance: how we treat the land. How many untested chemicals we ingest. The economic structures built around food production. Funny, Here is a very current article about Maine Grains, where I buy most of my flour — all of it grown and milled in Maine. I buy organic varieties, but Maine Grains isn’t strictly organic. See, it’s complicated, something the Drehers and Sullivans (and Barretts) of this world would rather not have to face up to.

  549. Dreher’s entire shtick is “BE AFRAID”. and i don’t doubt that he is truly and deeply terrified of everything he sees; and i’ll hypothesize that he tries to find shelter from his myriad fears in strict religious dogma and the self-righteous condemnation it teaches.
    but he’s still a fool and a caricature.

  550. Dreher’s entire shtick is “BE AFRAID”. and i don’t doubt that he is truly and deeply terrified of everything he sees; and i’ll hypothesize that he tries to find shelter from his myriad fears in strict religious dogma and the self-righteous condemnation it teaches.
    but he’s still a fool and a caricature.

  551. I really have no use for people who think they’ve won an argument when they’ve defined it out of existence. (I mean e.g. Dreher and Sullivan.)
    Not a single person I know who buys organic buys it solely for its “nutritional value.” And I know a lot of them, Maine being a hotbed of organic fandom and activism.

  552. I really have no use for people who think they’ve won an argument when they’ve defined it out of existence. (I mean e.g. Dreher and Sullivan.)
    Not a single person I know who buys organic buys it solely for its “nutritional value.” And I know a lot of them, Maine being a hotbed of organic fandom and activism.

  553. Who knew cauliflower had so much taste? It was the freshness of the produce, not its organic status (of dubious nutritional advantage), that we were responding to.
    Plus, I’m sure he did a careful comparison with fresh but non-organic vegies to prove that the “intense flavors” were just because the food was fresh, and not in the least because it was organic.
    Bah.

  554. Who knew cauliflower had so much taste? It was the freshness of the produce, not its organic status (of dubious nutritional advantage), that we were responding to.
    Plus, I’m sure he did a careful comparison with fresh but non-organic vegies to prove that the “intense flavors” were just because the food was fresh, and not in the least because it was organic.
    Bah.

  555. I do wish, however, that I could figure out a way to monetize my neuroses… 😉
    Neat trick if you can pull it off.

  556. I do wish, however, that I could figure out a way to monetize my neuroses… 😉
    Neat trick if you can pull it off.

  557. Don’t want to (and really can’t) say who individuals read, but D and S are sort of mainstays among people who want to be liberal but ‘just raise questions’. Of course, if I suggest that they be ignored in the main and ridiculed when they are raised, I’m sure we would hear squeals of concern about a ‘cancel culture’ (which, incidentally, is a hobby horse both of them like to ride) and how illiberal us so-called liberals are. whatevs…

  558. Don’t want to (and really can’t) say who individuals read, but D and S are sort of mainstays among people who want to be liberal but ‘just raise questions’. Of course, if I suggest that they be ignored in the main and ridiculed when they are raised, I’m sure we would hear squeals of concern about a ‘cancel culture’ (which, incidentally, is a hobby horse both of them like to ride) and how illiberal us so-called liberals are. whatevs…

  559. Perhaps someone can riddle me this. If “cancel culture” is a thing, how is Rush Limbaugh (not to mention Fox “News”) still around? I mean, if those nasty libs could, wouldn’t those be top of the list?

  560. Perhaps someone can riddle me this. If “cancel culture” is a thing, how is Rush Limbaugh (not to mention Fox “News”) still around? I mean, if those nasty libs could, wouldn’t those be top of the list?

  561. Oh, don’t you know that liberals by definition suffer from low blood pressure? They need the fix to keep themselves viable and RW media are cheaper than drugs (at least in the US). Of course there are unwanted side effects for both but that’s inevitable.
    Given the content of comment sections on liberal media (including liberal youtube channels), RWers use the same recipe (despite suffering from hypertension where the drying paint live channel would be more appropriate).

  562. Oh, don’t you know that liberals by definition suffer from low blood pressure? They need the fix to keep themselves viable and RW media are cheaper than drugs (at least in the US). Of course there are unwanted side effects for both but that’s inevitable.
    Given the content of comment sections on liberal media (including liberal youtube channels), RWers use the same recipe (despite suffering from hypertension where the drying paint live channel would be more appropriate).

  565. Dreher, as a professional victim, so very sorely put upon by the infidel hoards that surround him, will never be satisfied until he is CRUCIFIED.
    I say his wish should be granted. Remember, use deck screws and large washers, not those crappy unreliable ‘nails’.

  566. Dreher, as a professional victim, so very sorely put upon by the infidel hoards that surround him, will never be satisfied until he is CRUCIFIED.
    I say his wish should be granted. Remember, use deck screws and large washers, not those crappy unreliable ‘nails’.

  569. This is the wackiest piece of writing at TAC yet:
    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/my-fling-with-a-proud-boy/
    “He leaned in to kiss me. I thought about all the men. The men I’ve had. Air Force and antifa. Bodybuilders and bums. Incels and transhumanists and dozens of other emotional cripples crawling through me for years and years. Our culture makes us addicts. Ever since the sexual revolution. What’s my id going to do to me later in life if I’m incapable of sustained, temperate love?”
    I call bullshit.
    She sez she’s young. So, what the Hell does she know about the so-called sexual revolution 50 years ago except that she apparently has access to birth control (say thank you) to avoid being impregnated by the U.S. Air Force, hooded Antifa arsonists, Arnold Schwarzenegger, bums, woman-hating INCELs, and transhumanists, whatever those are, but I have a feeling she got it fore and aft, not that there is anything wrong with that?
    And a Proud Boy, who knows a Muslim Proud Boy who has introduced scores of women to conservative family values moral turpitude but still expects to find a virgin to marry after laying waste far and wide.
    Maybe Falwell Jr. and the wife should give these folks a call.
    These conservative horndogs are having way too much fun.
    The only question I had during the sexual revolution was: So, when does this sex I’ve heard so much about start?, because the word “No!” seemed to be as big a part of the vocabulary as it had been since forever (as the word “Yes” has also been around forever) when Marilyn Monroe announced to a friend that the best part of making the big time is she could finally stop blowing studio bigwigs, which is what the term “Merit” has meant in America since the getgo.
    I kid, sort of, but so did Thomas Jefferson.
    It’s a wonder Pat Buchanan himself didn’t get a piece of this action, but maybe he’s one of those pervs who just likes to watch the gangbang and then spank the miscreants afterwards for good measure …. after starting a fistfight.
    Naughty, naughty boys and girls!
    I’m recently seeing, as TAC goes full bore during election-season for Trump against commie trans-socialist warmongering child molester Biden, a lot more WTFs in the comment sections as the commentariat wises up to the extent of the assholery Buchanan has been up to since he encouraged Richard Nixon’s worst bullshit Scots-Irish white-trash fascist tendencies.
    Anyway, I shan’t be linking to TAC anymore here.
    The honest Larison is worth the visit and their literature critic, Prufrock, though conservatively biased, is pretty good too.

  570. This is the wackiest piece of writing at TAC yet:
    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/my-fling-with-a-proud-boy/
    “He leaned in to kiss me. I thought about all the men. The men I’ve had. Air Force and antifa. Bodybuilders and bums. Incels and transhumanists and dozens of other emotional cripples crawling through me for years and years. Our culture makes us addicts. Ever since the sexual revolution. What’s my id going to do to me later in life if I’m incapable of sustained, temperate love?”
    I call bullshit.
    She sez she’s young. So, what the Hell does she know about the so-called sexual revolution 50 years ago except that she apparently has access to birth control (say thank you) to avoid being impregnated by the U.S. Air Force, hooded Antifa arsonists, Arnold Schwarzenegger, bums, woman-hating INCELs, and transhumanists, whatever those are, but I have a feeling she got it fore and aft, not that there is anything wrong with that?
    And a Proud Boy, who knows a Muslim Proud Boy who has introduced scores of women to conservative family values moral turpitude but still expects to find a virgin to marry after laying waste far and wide.
    Maybe Falwell Jr. and the wife should give these folks a call.
    These conservative horndogs are having way too much fun.
    The only question I had during the sexual revolution was: So, when does this sex I’ve heard so much about start?, because the word “No!” seemed to be as big a part of the vocabulary as it had been since forever (as the word “Yes” has also been around forever) when Marilyn Monroe announced to a friend that the best part of making the big time is she could finally stop blowing studio bigwigs, which is what the term “Merit” has meant in America since the getgo.
    I kid, sort of, but so did Thomas Jefferson.
    It’s a wonder Pat Buchanan himself didn’t get a piece of this action, but maybe he’s one of those pervs who just likes to watch the gangbang and then spank the miscreants afterwards for good measure …. after starting a fistfight.
    Naughty, naughty boys and girls!
    I’m recently seeing, as TAC goes full bore during election-season for Trump against commie trans-socialist warmongering child molester Biden, a lot more WTFs in the comment sections as the commentariat wises up to the extent of the assholery Buchanan has been up to since he encouraged Richard Nixon’s worst bullshit Scots-Irish white-trash fascist tendencies.
    Anyway, I shan’t be linking to TAC anymore here.
    The honest Larison is worth the visit and their literature critic, Prufrock, though conservatively biased, is pretty good too.

  571. This is the wackiest piece of writing at TAC yet
    “Dear TAC – I never thought this would happen to me….”

  572. This is the wackiest piece of writing at TAC yet
    “Dear TAC – I never thought this would happen to me….”

  573. When do both sides get to do this?
    https://www.courant.com/breaking-news/hc-br-newtown-congresswoman-jahana-hayes-racist-zoom-bombers-20201013-c3tuwix4bnhmllswcxs57croby-story.html
    It’s 2020, conservative racists!
    Stop, now!
    Maybe the authorities, whatever those are, can track down these terrorists by contacting the young woman who dated the Proud Boy and the entire crew of the minesweeper, the USS Hello Sailor!
    She’s probably having dinner with them this weekend.
    It’s also time for the Democratic Party to officially invite United Nations Election Monitors in to watch over and interdict the conservative filth intending to steal the November election at every polling station in America, AND Covid sufferers in North Dakota, Michigan, and Wisconsin should request WHO and Chinese Communist Party officials visit their states en masse to oversee the murderous republican party pandemic response teams, if any of the latter can be located.
    America is full of incompetent subhuman shit.

  574. When do both sides get to do this?
    https://www.courant.com/breaking-news/hc-br-newtown-congresswoman-jahana-hayes-racist-zoom-bombers-20201013-c3tuwix4bnhmllswcxs57croby-story.html
    It’s 2020, conservative racists!
    Stop, now!
    Maybe the authorities, whatever those are, can track down these terrorists by contacting the young woman who dated the Proud Boy and the entire crew of the minesweeper, the USS Hello Sailor!
    She’s probably having dinner with them this weekend.
    It’s also time for the Democratic Party to officially invite United Nations Election Monitors in to watch over and interdict the conservative filth intending to steal the November election at every polling station in America, AND Covid sufferers in North Dakota, Michigan, and Wisconsin should request WHO and Chinese Communist Party officials visit their states en masse to oversee the murderous republican party pandemic response teams, if any of the latter can be located.
    America is full of incompetent subhuman shit.

  575. “Shut up n***r, go pick your cotton”
    but nobody better call Trump supporters racists! we don’t want to alienate them.

  576. “Shut up n***r, go pick your cotton”
    but nobody better call Trump supporters racists! we don’t want to alienate them.

  577. Gosh, Senator Whitehouse is presenting a helluva convincingly argued case in the Barrett hearing….

  578. Gosh, Senator Whitehouse is presenting a helluva convincingly argued case in the Barrett hearing….

  581. When Trump and his supporters want to Make America Great Again, what is the previous period of purported greatness they’re harking back to? Before or after the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
    In England, this sort of nostalgia seems to refer to the Edwardian Age, around 1905 say. The lost world of The Go-Between, when English gentlemen played cricket on the village square on long summer afternoons, or travelled without a passport through Europe and the British Empire, with servants to carry their luggage.
    Meanwhile, women and poor people didn’t have the vote. Infant mortality was about 20%, mainly poor people. Less than one person in a thousand had a car – all rich people. Contraception was largely unavailable, especially if you weren’t rich.
    The lack of mobile phones and aeroplanes and antibiotics and the internet aside, it was indeed a wonderful time to be rich and male and without a conscience.

  582. When Trump and his supporters want to Make America Great Again, what is the previous period of purported greatness they’re harking back to? Before or after the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
    In England, this sort of nostalgia seems to refer to the Edwardian Age, around 1905 say. The lost world of The Go-Between, when English gentlemen played cricket on the village square on long summer afternoons, or travelled without a passport through Europe and the British Empire, with servants to carry their luggage.
    Meanwhile, women and poor people didn’t have the vote. Infant mortality was about 20%, mainly poor people. Less than one person in a thousand had a car – all rich people. Contraception was largely unavailable, especially if you weren’t rich.
    The lack of mobile phones and aeroplanes and antibiotics and the internet aside, it was indeed a wonderful time to be rich and male and without a conscience.

  583. what is the previous period of purported greatness they’re harking back to? Before or after the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
    the time when they were children, when Daddy protected them and nobody talked about ickky stuff like race and gender.

  584. what is the previous period of purported greatness they’re harking back to? Before or after the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
    the time when they were children, when Daddy protected them and nobody talked about ickky stuff like race and gender.

  585. Not only did nobody make them hear about icky stuff like race or gender, but all the icky people were kept in their proper places, either in the ghetto or in the closet.
    Or for that matter in the kitchen.
    Also, their doctor was white and born in aMurrica and had a name they could pronounce and spell. And was male. And didn’t do abortions or hand out birth control pills.

  586. Not only did nobody make them hear about icky stuff like race or gender, but all the icky people were kept in their proper places, either in the ghetto or in the closet.
    Or for that matter in the kitchen.
    Also, their doctor was white and born in aMurrica and had a name they could pronounce and spell. And was male. And didn’t do abortions or hand out birth control pills.

  587. When Trump and his supporters want to Make America Great Again, what is the previous period of purported greatness they’re harking back to? Before or after the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
    I’d say early 1950s. That is, when everybody else was still struggling to rebuild from WW II, so we were the only ones around. (They don’t, mostly, quite say that we need another war to destroy everybody else’s infrastructure. But it would probably be required to get us back to that level of dominance.) And definitely pre-1957 — both pre-Sputnik and pre-Brown v Board of Education.
    Some of them were children then. Others only know it from stories of their parents. But that doesn’t seem to make a difference. (Those who were adults then, the ones who remain, know enough about the reality to have less fantastical views.)

  588. When Trump and his supporters want to Make America Great Again, what is the previous period of purported greatness they’re harking back to? Before or after the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
    I’d say early 1950s. That is, when everybody else was still struggling to rebuild from WW II, so we were the only ones around. (They don’t, mostly, quite say that we need another war to destroy everybody else’s infrastructure. But it would probably be required to get us back to that level of dominance.) And definitely pre-1957 — both pre-Sputnik and pre-Brown v Board of Education.
    Some of them were children then. Others only know it from stories of their parents. But that doesn’t seem to make a difference. (Those who were adults then, the ones who remain, know enough about the reality to have less fantastical views.)

  589. Also, their doctor was white and born in aMurrica and had a name they could pronounce and spell. And was male. And didn’t do abortions or hand out birth control pills.
    Actually, I suspect he did do abortions. Or at least make on-the-QT referrals to someone who did. Provided you were rich, of course.

  590. Also, their doctor was white and born in aMurrica and had a name they could pronounce and spell. And was male. And didn’t do abortions or hand out birth control pills.
    Actually, I suspect he did do abortions. Or at least make on-the-QT referrals to someone who did. Provided you were rich, of course.

  591. Also, their doctor was white and born in aMurrica and had a name they could pronounce and spell.
    Also, as an incredibly snobbish State department person once said to me (approximately 25 years ago), who had a name which ended in a consonant. I guess this was to exclude Italian Americans, which would fit with stories Janie has previously told. Ah yes, there is no doubt that the fabled era of yesteryear to which they hark back has to have all sorts of acceptable racism enshrined therein..

  592. Also, their doctor was white and born in aMurrica and had a name they could pronounce and spell.
    Also, as an incredibly snobbish State department person once said to me (approximately 25 years ago), who had a name which ended in a consonant. I guess this was to exclude Italian Americans, which would fit with stories Janie has previously told. Ah yes, there is no doubt that the fabled era of yesteryear to which they hark back has to have all sorts of acceptable racism enshrined therein..

  593. first doctor i remember (i’d be 5 or 6) was Dr Kureshi. he was either from Pakistan or India, and given his name was probably Muslim.
    i don’t know why the good patriots of Shithole NY (pop 17K) let him into the town. but they did! and he stuck needles in me every week!
    MAGA!

  594. first doctor i remember (i’d be 5 or 6) was Dr Kureshi. he was either from Pakistan or India, and given his name was probably Muslim.
    i don’t know why the good patriots of Shithole NY (pop 17K) let him into the town. but they did! and he stuck needles in me every week!
    MAGA!

  595. @GftNC — most definitely.
    I may have told this story here before, among others, but one of my good friends from high school was the son of a doctor. Irish last name, mongrel mix behind it. Though he was invited, Dr. Dad wouldn’t join the country club because they were such snobs. As evidence, they blackballed Italians for many years. Finally an Italian-American doctor was invited to join (yes, his last name ended in a vowel). Then he turned around and blackballed [am I still allowed to use that word?] the black doctor who had come to town, and whom someone had nominated.
    Pulling the ladder up behind you………

  596. @GftNC — most definitely.
    I may have told this story here before, among others, but one of my good friends from high school was the son of a doctor. Irish last name, mongrel mix behind it. Though he was invited, Dr. Dad wouldn’t join the country club because they were such snobs. As evidence, they blackballed Italians for many years. Finally an Italian-American doctor was invited to join (yes, his last name ended in a vowel). Then he turned around and blackballed [am I still allowed to use that word?] the black doctor who had come to town, and whom someone had nominated.
    Pulling the ladder up behind you………

  597. Their favorite moment in American history is right around the corner, as EVIL is afoot.
    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/10/13/1986163/-California-orders-Republican-Party-to-remove-illegal-ballot-boxes-party-says-it-won-t-comply
    https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2020/10/does-federal-law-ban-voter-intimidation-views-differ
    https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2020/10/not-even-pretending-any-more
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/appeals-panel-upholds-abbotts-order-for-just-one-ballot-box-per-texas-county/2020/10/13/bc51869c-0d4d-11eb-8a35-237ef1eb2ef7_story.html
    The cite for the newly packed Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Trump Administration’s suit to halt the counting of ballots nationally at some point soon after November 3, 2020 and the seizing and destruction of those uncounted ballots by federally-appointed vigilantes is upcoming in good-quick time.
    Why, within weeks, as the crow flies.
    Biden may WIN the election by 10 million votes, but the crookedly paid off republican vermin electors in key states will throw the Electoral College in his favor.
    Should Biden somehow prevail, the subhuman Republican Party has many back-up favorite moments in the hopper for us, including assassinations of key Democratic figures, mutinies and sabotage by deep state conservative confederates, seeded throughout the federal administrative state by the deep state Trump putsch, of federal policies enacted by the Biden Administration, and of course, an avalanche of Supreme Court rulings declaring the entirety of the New Deal and the subsequent 75 years of landmark legislation dealing with Civil Rights, racial integration, taxation, and the social safety net unconstitutional, and all further substantive governance by any Democratic Administration and Congress in the future will be sharply circumscribed even if enacted by majority representative government bodies, should those come to be.
    My favorite moment is a number of years down the road when whatever savage Civil War battle delivers a slaughtering, butchering coup de gras to the leading lights of the fake Christian conservative movement and their Karens and male republican traitors and assholes that will be the equivalent of the decisive, though not final by any means, Battle of Vicksburg in 1863.
    Our side will feature guerilla battalions of aggrieved and heavily armed pissed-off immigrants, refugees from the late Obamacare and other healthcare insurance programs, and all of the OTHERS who will be refused the rights and fruits of American citizenship by the fucking scum.
    The Republican Party armies and air forces, commanded by their savage God, will gleefully resort to nuclear and biological (that has already started) warfare against key liberal and Democratic targets on the mainland, but I’m confident that when they see what befalls their subhuman civilian operatives at the hands of freedom fighters, they will be decisively turned back and all that will remain is a savagely hunted, racist conservative remnant of flinty irreducible malign nostalgia, soon chased to ground like Quanah Parker’s Comanche remnant of starving women and skeletal ponies in 1875, for the day before Brown versus Board of Education subjected the filth to sharing their schools and living publicly with niggers.
    Meanwhile, go Braves.

  598. Their favorite moment in American history is right around the corner, as EVIL is afoot.
    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/10/13/1986163/-California-orders-Republican-Party-to-remove-illegal-ballot-boxes-party-says-it-won-t-comply
    https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2020/10/does-federal-law-ban-voter-intimidation-views-differ
    https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2020/10/not-even-pretending-any-more
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/appeals-panel-upholds-abbotts-order-for-just-one-ballot-box-per-texas-county/2020/10/13/bc51869c-0d4d-11eb-8a35-237ef1eb2ef7_story.html
    The cite for the newly packed Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Trump Administration’s suit to halt the counting of ballots nationally at some point soon after November 3, 2020 and the seizing and destruction of those uncounted ballots by federally-appointed vigilantes is upcoming in good-quick time.
    Why, within weeks, as the crow flies.
    Biden may WIN the election by 10 million votes, but the crookedly paid off republican vermin electors in key states will throw the Electoral College in his favor.
    Should Biden somehow prevail, the subhuman Republican Party has many back-up favorite moments in the hopper for us, including assassinations of key Democratic figures, mutinies and sabotage by deep state conservative confederates, seeded throughout the federal administrative state by the deep state Trump putsch, of federal policies enacted by the Biden Administration, and of course, an avalanche of Supreme Court rulings declaring the entirety of the New Deal and the subsequent 75 years of landmark legislation dealing with Civil Rights, racial integration, taxation, and the social safety net unconstitutional, and all further substantive governance by any Democratic Administration and Congress in the future will be sharply circumscribed even if enacted by majority representative government bodies, should those come to be.
    My favorite moment is a number of years down the road when whatever savage Civil War battle delivers a slaughtering, butchering coup de gras to the leading lights of the fake Christian conservative movement and their Karens and male republican traitors and assholes that will be the equivalent of the decisive, though not final by any means, Battle of Vicksburg in 1863.
    Our side will feature guerilla battalions of aggrieved and heavily armed pissed-off immigrants, refugees from the late Obamacare and other healthcare insurance programs, and all of the OTHERS who will be refused the rights and fruits of American citizenship by the fucking scum.
    The Republican Party armies and air forces, commanded by their savage God, will gleefully resort to nuclear and biological (that has already started) warfare against key liberal and Democratic targets on the mainland, but I’m confident that when they see what befalls their subhuman civilian operatives at the hands of freedom fighters, they will be decisively turned back and all that will remain is a savagely hunted, racist conservative remnant of flinty irreducible malign nostalgia, soon chased to ground like Quanah Parker’s Comanche remnant of starving women and skeletal ponies in 1875, for the day before Brown versus Board of Education subjected the filth to sharing their schools and living publicly with niggers.
    Meanwhile, go Braves.

  599. Remarkable how the white racist conservative movement, which included much of the Democratic Party as well, despised Italians like Christopher Columbus, except for his genocidal deeds, which they’ve come to adore.

  600. Remarkable how the white racist conservative movement, which included much of the Democratic Party as well, despised Italians like Christopher Columbus, except for his genocidal deeds, which they’ve come to adore.

  611. our new Justice either doesn’t know simple facts of the law or is afraid to tell us she knows them.
    but yes, liberals exist.

  612. our new Justice either doesn’t know simple facts of the law or is afraid to tell us she knows them.
    but yes, liberals exist.

  613. I guess she would consider it a trick question, if asked whether the constitution as a whole or in part is unconstitutional [there is a school of thought on the Right considering at least several amendments to be exactly that and going back to the Federalist Papers the whole idea of a Bill of Rights was not to the liking of some of the Founders].

  614. I guess she would consider it a trick question, if asked whether the constitution as a whole or in part is unconstitutional [there is a school of thought on the Right considering at least several amendments to be exactly that and going back to the Federalist Papers the whole idea of a Bill of Rights was not to the liking of some of the Founders].

  615. did anyone hear that?
    it sounded like a giant whiff.

    The federal prosecutor appointed by Attorney General William P. Barr to review whether Obama-era officials improperly requested the identities of individuals whose names were redacted in intelligence documents has completed his work without finding any substantive wrongdoing, according to people familiar with the matter.

  616. did anyone hear that?
    it sounded like a giant whiff.

    The federal prosecutor appointed by Attorney General William P. Barr to review whether Obama-era officials improperly requested the identities of individuals whose names were redacted in intelligence documents has completed his work without finding any substantive wrongdoing, according to people familiar with the matter.

  619. Keep trying! (from cleek’s WaPo link):

    The end of Bash’s case is similar to that of a review conducted by John Huber, the U.S. attorney in Utah, who was asked in November 2017 by Sessions to look into concerns raised by Trump and his allies in Congress that the FBI had not fully pursued cases of possible corruption at the Clinton Foundation and during Clinton’s time as secretary of state. The Post reported in January that the inquiry had effectively ended with no tangible results. In the months that followed, Trump bemoaned the state of the inquiry on Twitter, asserting that Huber “did absolutely NOTHING.”

    Or found absolutely NOTHING. Because it was all bullsh*t to begin with. How much did they spend on this stuff, since that was the big concern about the impeachment hearings? Also, too – Benghazi!
    What a bunch of tools…

  620. Keep trying! (from cleek’s WaPo link):

    The end of Bash’s case is similar to that of a review conducted by John Huber, the U.S. attorney in Utah, who was asked in November 2017 by Sessions to look into concerns raised by Trump and his allies in Congress that the FBI had not fully pursued cases of possible corruption at the Clinton Foundation and during Clinton’s time as secretary of state. The Post reported in January that the inquiry had effectively ended with no tangible results. In the months that followed, Trump bemoaned the state of the inquiry on Twitter, asserting that Huber “did absolutely NOTHING.”

    Or found absolutely NOTHING. Because it was all bullsh*t to begin with. How much did they spend on this stuff, since that was the big concern about the impeachment hearings? Also, too – Benghazi!
    What a bunch of tools…

  621. The revelation that U.S. Attorney John Bash, who left the department last week, had concluded his review without criminal charges or any public report will rankle President Trump at a moment when he is particularly upset at the Justice Department. The department has so far declined to release the results of Bash’s work, though people familiar with his findings say they would likely disappoint conservatives who have tried to paint the “unmasking” of names — a common practice in government to help understand classified documents — as a political conspiracy.

    but Obama was a tyrant

  622. The revelation that U.S. Attorney John Bash, who left the department last week, had concluded his review without criminal charges or any public report will rankle President Trump at a moment when he is particularly upset at the Justice Department. The department has so far declined to release the results of Bash’s work, though people familiar with his findings say they would likely disappoint conservatives who have tried to paint the “unmasking” of names — a common practice in government to help understand classified documents — as a political conspiracy.

    but Obama was a tyrant

  623. Out of curiosity, I googled for information on the Durham investigation into the FBI’s Russia probe and found this:
    https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/09/politics/fbi-russia-barr-trump/index.html

    …Even more disappointing to Barr and Trump, current and former Justice officials say the Durham probe has yet to find evidence to bring any major indictments against the people Trump considers his political enemies, CNN has reported, although Durham is still investigating.
    One telltale sign indictments aren’t in the offing is that intelligence documents provided to Durham by the Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe are now being declassified and turned over to Congress by Ratcliffe.
    If those documents were going to be used in prosecutions, the Justice Department wouldn’t allow them to be released now, officials say.

    Imagine that.

  624. Out of curiosity, I googled for information on the Durham investigation into the FBI’s Russia probe and found this:
    https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/09/politics/fbi-russia-barr-trump/index.html

    …Even more disappointing to Barr and Trump, current and former Justice officials say the Durham probe has yet to find evidence to bring any major indictments against the people Trump considers his political enemies, CNN has reported, although Durham is still investigating.
    One telltale sign indictments aren’t in the offing is that intelligence documents provided to Durham by the Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe are now being declassified and turned over to Congress by Ratcliffe.
    If those documents were going to be used in prosecutions, the Justice Department wouldn’t allow them to be released now, officials say.

    Imagine that.

  625. I, for one, hope that Trump gets so very angry that he shoots Barr in the middle of 5th Avenue. A “Second Amendment Firing”, one might call it.
    He won’t lose any votes, so he might as well.

  626. I, for one, hope that Trump gets so very angry that he shoots Barr in the middle of 5th Avenue. A “Second Amendment Firing”, one might call it.
    He won’t lose any votes, so he might as well.

  627. Even more disappointing to Barr and Trump, current and former Justice officials say the Durham probe has yet to find evidence to bring any major indictments against the people Trump considers his political enemies,
    And AG Barr, low as he has sunk, hasn’t quite reached the point of going to trial with flat out manufactured evidence. Yet. Although Trump’s comments on the subject suggest there may be plans for after the election . . . if he wins.
    Happily, every day so far this month, 538’s forecast either ups Biden’s chances by 1 (out of 100), or drops Trump’s by one, or both. I expect that to thrttle back soon, as there just aren’t enough Trump Chances left to last until Election Day.

  628. Even more disappointing to Barr and Trump, current and former Justice officials say the Durham probe has yet to find evidence to bring any major indictments against the people Trump considers his political enemies,
    And AG Barr, low as he has sunk, hasn’t quite reached the point of going to trial with flat out manufactured evidence. Yet. Although Trump’s comments on the subject suggest there may be plans for after the election . . . if he wins.
    Happily, every day so far this month, 538’s forecast either ups Biden’s chances by 1 (out of 100), or drops Trump’s by one, or both. I expect that to thrttle back soon, as there just aren’t enough Trump Chances left to last until Election Day.

  629. I expect that to thrttle back soon, as there just aren’t enough Trump Chances left to last until Election Day.
    As I understand it, part of their calculation involves the possibility for something to change the course of the election in Trump’s favor, which becomes increasingly less likely as election day approaches. So, even if nothing changes but the passage of time, Trump’s chances continue to diminish. I guess you could call it an uncertainty fudge in favor of the less likely winner that becomes less significant as that uncertainty decreases along with the time left until the election. (If that makes any sense, verbally or conceptually.)

  630. I expect that to thrttle back soon, as there just aren’t enough Trump Chances left to last until Election Day.
    As I understand it, part of their calculation involves the possibility for something to change the course of the election in Trump’s favor, which becomes increasingly less likely as election day approaches. So, even if nothing changes but the passage of time, Trump’s chances continue to diminish. I guess you could call it an uncertainty fudge in favor of the less likely winner that becomes less significant as that uncertainty decreases along with the time left until the election. (If that makes any sense, verbally or conceptually.)

  631. hsh — have they forgotten 2016, and Comey? Wasn’t that less than a week before the election?
    Although I have no idea what the prognosticators were saying at the time, either before or after his little surprise.

  632. hsh — have they forgotten 2016, and Comey? Wasn’t that less than a week before the election?
    Although I have no idea what the prognosticators were saying at the time, either before or after his little surprise.

  635. hsh — have they forgotten 2016, and Comey? Wasn’t that less than a week before the election?
    You’d have to ask them. But there is the big bombshell about Hunter Biden’s emails being recovered from a damaged computer left at a Delaware repair shop. So maybe Rudy Giuliani will play the role of Comey this time around, revealing that Hunter introduced Joe to a Burisma oligarch. I can’t imagine this one will fall apart under further examination (at least not for Trump’s hard core base, including some people in congress, who seem to love them some Russian propaganda).

  636. hsh — have they forgotten 2016, and Comey? Wasn’t that less than a week before the election?
    You’d have to ask them. But there is the big bombshell about Hunter Biden’s emails being recovered from a damaged computer left at a Delaware repair shop. So maybe Rudy Giuliani will play the role of Comey this time around, revealing that Hunter introduced Joe to a Burisma oligarch. I can’t imagine this one will fall apart under further examination (at least not for Trump’s hard core base, including some people in congress, who seem to love them some Russian propaganda).

  637. have they forgotten 2016, and Comey? Wasn’t that less than a week before the election?
    They definitely haven’t forgotten. And they’ve made changes to try to address the problem.
    On the other hand, the race then was a lot closer. The actual 2016 results were well within the published margin of error. If the results differ by the same amount, and in the same direction (the thing about error ranges is that you are equally likely to be off in either direction), then Biden still wins easily.
    At this point, Trump would need
    1) the polls to be off the same way,
    2) but by even more,
    3) to draw another inside straight with the Electoral College,
    4) AND to have the courts decide a bunch of law suits all in his favor.
    Even with a one in a million shot, there is still that one chance. But it’s not the smart maney bet.

  638. have they forgotten 2016, and Comey? Wasn’t that less than a week before the election?
    They definitely haven’t forgotten. And they’ve made changes to try to address the problem.
    On the other hand, the race then was a lot closer. The actual 2016 results were well within the published margin of error. If the results differ by the same amount, and in the same direction (the thing about error ranges is that you are equally likely to be off in either direction), then Biden still wins easily.
    At this point, Trump would need
    1) the polls to be off the same way,
    2) but by even more,
    3) to draw another inside straight with the Electoral College,
    4) AND to have the courts decide a bunch of law suits all in his favor.
    Even with a one in a million shot, there is still that one chance. But it’s not the smart maney bet.

  639. So maybe Rudy Giuliani will play the role of Comey this time around,
    seems to me like Rudy’s playing the same role – spread as much bullshit as possible and hope Biden slips in it.

  640. So maybe Rudy Giuliani will play the role of Comey this time around,
    seems to me like Rudy’s playing the same role – spread as much bullshit as possible and hope Biden slips in it.

  641. This one will turn out to be as important as the one about the $3.5M payment to Hunter Biden that wasn’t a payment to Hunter Biden.

  642. This one will turn out to be as important as the one about the $3.5M payment to Hunter Biden that wasn’t a payment to Hunter Biden.

  645. 1. Not that it matters, but I was being sarcastic.
    2. This tale of a broken laptop and more suspicious emails…
    First of all, they’ve been trying to damage Biden with accusations about his son and Ukraine for a long time, and all that has happened is that Biden has polled better and better (not saying the Ukraine stories are causing that, just that they don’t seem to be accomplishing their goal of turning people against him, at least not in enough numbers to matter).
    Secondly, Biden isn’t Hillary. For better and worse, but in this case what I mean is that I think there were a lot of people who wanted to believe Hillary was nefarious. I just don’t think it sticks, with Biden. Plus it is, in fact, 2020 and not 2016.
    Thirdly, no fiction writer would invent such an uncreative bunch of villains. Emails, again?
    Giuliani and Clickbait are quite a pair. I saw a clip that probably went around everywhere last night of Clickbait dancing…why isn’t he in protective (from himself) custody at this point?

  646. 1. Not that it matters, but I was being sarcastic.
    2. This tale of a broken laptop and more suspicious emails…
    First of all, they’ve been trying to damage Biden with accusations about his son and Ukraine for a long time, and all that has happened is that Biden has polled better and better (not saying the Ukraine stories are causing that, just that they don’t seem to be accomplishing their goal of turning people against him, at least not in enough numbers to matter).
    Secondly, Biden isn’t Hillary. For better and worse, but in this case what I mean is that I think there were a lot of people who wanted to believe Hillary was nefarious. I just don’t think it sticks, with Biden. Plus it is, in fact, 2020 and not 2016.
    Thirdly, no fiction writer would invent such an uncreative bunch of villains. Emails, again?
    Giuliani and Clickbait are quite a pair. I saw a clip that probably went around everywhere last night of Clickbait dancing…why isn’t he in protective (from himself) custody at this point?

  647. At this point, Trump would need
    What Trump needs is to squeak out a win in a couple of swing states.
    It’s not out of the question.
    The (D)’s need to GOTV. Everywhere. If you’re so inclined, it’s not too late to send postcards and/or phone bank.
    Polls don’t elect the POTUS. Voters don’t even elect the POTUS. The electors do, and that is highly game-able scenario.
    No rest until Nov 3. Or, really, until January 20.

  648. At this point, Trump would need
    What Trump needs is to squeak out a win in a couple of swing states.
    It’s not out of the question.
    The (D)’s need to GOTV. Everywhere. If you’re so inclined, it’s not too late to send postcards and/or phone bank.
    Polls don’t elect the POTUS. Voters don’t even elect the POTUS. The electors do, and that is highly game-able scenario.
    No rest until Nov 3. Or, really, until January 20.

  649. One of the tragic losees of our time is that it has gotten so hard to be sure when sarcasm was intended. Even from those one knows fairly well.
    Still, I should have picked up on that. Sorry.

  650. One of the tragic losees of our time is that it has gotten so hard to be sure when sarcasm was intended. Even from those one knows fairly well.
    Still, I should have picked up on that. Sorry.

  651. wj — absolutely nothing to be sorry about. I just wanted to clarify.
    And yes, it’s hard to tell these days.

  652. wj — absolutely nothing to be sorry about. I just wanted to clarify.
    And yes, it’s hard to tell these days.

  653. Did early in-person voting yesterday; from getting in line to walking out the door, 22 minutes. Fortunately my county seems better prepared than some of the other populous metro Atlanta counties, where there have been reports since early voting started on Monday of multiple hour waits (as much as 8 and even 12 hours). Fulton County has been using State Farm Arena (where the NBA franchise plays) as an early voting location, which is working mostly well, but not every county has a similarly-sized space; Fulton is also geographically expansive, stretching far into the northern suburbs, where folks are not very inclined to brave the urban hellhole.

  654. Did early in-person voting yesterday; from getting in line to walking out the door, 22 minutes. Fortunately my county seems better prepared than some of the other populous metro Atlanta counties, where there have been reports since early voting started on Monday of multiple hour waits (as much as 8 and even 12 hours). Fulton County has been using State Farm Arena (where the NBA franchise plays) as an early voting location, which is working mostly well, but not every county has a similarly-sized space; Fulton is also geographically expansive, stretching far into the northern suburbs, where folks are not very inclined to brave the urban hellhole.

  655. Fulton is also geographically expansive, stretching far into the northern suburbs, where folks are not very inclined to brave the urban hellhole.
    I’m guessing more sarcasm, or at least a related form of poking fun. Parody, perhaps, aimed at provincial suburbanites.

  656. Fulton is also geographically expansive, stretching far into the northern suburbs, where folks are not very inclined to brave the urban hellhole.
    I’m guessing more sarcasm, or at least a related form of poking fun. Parody, perhaps, aimed at provincial suburbanites.

  657. Also, too, my wife and I used our local drop box for our mail-in ballots. She did the actual dropping, which required her to sign the outside of the envelope as the person other than the voter performing the delivery. Not sure how they would have known the difference, but we played by the rules.
    My ballot’s status is “received” when I log on to the elections website. It only took a couple of days for the status to be updated. I just have to wait for it to change to “accepted,” which is what’s shown for my primary ballot sent through the mail.
    Since setting up the login, I can access my entire voting history going back to 1996, when I registered in my current municipality.

  658. Also, too, my wife and I used our local drop box for our mail-in ballots. She did the actual dropping, which required her to sign the outside of the envelope as the person other than the voter performing the delivery. Not sure how they would have known the difference, but we played by the rules.
    My ballot’s status is “received” when I log on to the elections website. It only took a couple of days for the status to be updated. I just have to wait for it to change to “accepted,” which is what’s shown for my primary ballot sent through the mail.
    Since setting up the login, I can access my entire voting history going back to 1996, when I registered in my current municipality.

  659. Trump, before inauguration, did call the 5th district “falling apart” and “crime infested”, which is what I was thinking of, but I guess I borrowed Duncan Black’s frequent usage.

  660. Trump, before inauguration, did call the 5th district “falling apart” and “crime infested”, which is what I was thinking of, but I guess I borrowed Duncan Black’s frequent usage.

  661. … and going back to the Federalist Papers the whole idea of a Bill of Rights was not to the liking of some of the Founders].
    Some were concerned that the government would feel free to abuse any rights left unenumerated.

  662. … and going back to the Federalist Papers the whole idea of a Bill of Rights was not to the liking of some of the Founders].
    Some were concerned that the government would feel free to abuse any rights left unenumerated.

  663. russell’s not wrong. From a piece in today’s NYT called Biden is Not Out of the Woods:
    One way to measure voter enthusiasm is to compare voter registration trends for each party. A Democratic strategist who closely follows the data on a day-to-day basis wrote in a privately circulated newsletter:
    Since last week, the share of white non-college over 30 registrations in the battleground states has increased by 10 points compared to September 2016, and the Democratic margin dropped 10 points to just 6 points. And there are serious signs of political engagement by white non-college voters who had not cast ballots in previous elections.
    David Wasserman, House editor for The Cook Political Report. wrote on Oct. 1 that voter registration patterns over a longer period in key battleground states show that “Republicans have swamped Democrats in adding new voters to the rolls, a dramatic GOP improvement over 2016.”

  664. russell’s not wrong. From a piece in today’s NYT called Biden is Not Out of the Woods:
    One way to measure voter enthusiasm is to compare voter registration trends for each party. A Democratic strategist who closely follows the data on a day-to-day basis wrote in a privately circulated newsletter:
    Since last week, the share of white non-college over 30 registrations in the battleground states has increased by 10 points compared to September 2016, and the Democratic margin dropped 10 points to just 6 points. And there are serious signs of political engagement by white non-college voters who had not cast ballots in previous elections.
    David Wasserman, House editor for The Cook Political Report. wrote on Oct. 1 that voter registration patterns over a longer period in key battleground states show that “Republicans have swamped Democrats in adding new voters to the rolls, a dramatic GOP improvement over 2016.”

  665. Barrett was asked if she believes a president should unequivocally commit to a peaceful transfer of power
    “To the extent that this is a political controversy right now, as a judge I want to stay out of it, and I don’t want to express a view,” she says.

    OK, that’s clear. The proposed Supreme Court Justice thinks that the ability of the President to act directly contrary to the law isn’t a matter of law.
    Which means, essentially, that everything is a political question, and there are no laws. Just what you have the power to get away with. Glad we cleared that up.

  666. Barrett was asked if she believes a president should unequivocally commit to a peaceful transfer of power
    “To the extent that this is a political controversy right now, as a judge I want to stay out of it, and I don’t want to express a view,” she says.

    OK, that’s clear. The proposed Supreme Court Justice thinks that the ability of the President to act directly contrary to the law isn’t a matter of law.
    Which means, essentially, that everything is a political question, and there are no laws. Just what you have the power to get away with. Glad we cleared that up.

  667. everyone who thought the GOP would nominate someone who isn’t a thoroughly doctrinaire wingnut, please raise your hand. now hit yourself with it.

  668. everyone who thought the GOP would nominate someone who isn’t a thoroughly doctrinaire wingnut, please raise your hand. now hit yourself with it.

  669. everyone who thought the GOP would nominate someone who isn’t a thoroughly doctrinaire wingnut, please raise your hand
    Of course they would. But that didn’t necessarily mean they would nominate a completely out-of-the-closet wingnut. Yet they have.

  670. everyone who thought the GOP would nominate someone who isn’t a thoroughly doctrinaire wingnut, please raise your hand
    Of course they would. But that didn’t necessarily mean they would nominate a completely out-of-the-closet wingnut. Yet they have.

  671. but why wouldn’t they? the outcome is guaranteed, and norms are passé. why try to please anyone who isn’t part of the team?

  672. but why wouldn’t they? the outcome is guaranteed, and norms are passé. why try to please anyone who isn’t part of the team?

  673. If she’s seated, Coney Barrett will be the third sitting SCOTUS justice to have worked the (R) side in Bush v Gore.

  674. If she’s seated, Coney Barrett will be the third sitting SCOTUS justice to have worked the (R) side in Bush v Gore.

  675. If she’s seated, Coney Barrett will be the third sitting SCOTUS justice to have worked the (R) side in Bush v Gore.
    Even she seemed surprised at that! Not.
    I am incredibly pessimistic today. Sorry folks. Will come back if I have some good tidings to bring.

  676. If she’s seated, Coney Barrett will be the third sitting SCOTUS justice to have worked the (R) side in Bush v Gore.
    Even she seemed surprised at that! Not.
    I am incredibly pessimistic today. Sorry folks. Will come back if I have some good tidings to bring.

  677. Barrett looks like she’ll be close to a Scalia 2.0. Or a 3.0 if you count Gorsuch. Justices often don’t rule on cases the way the people who nominate and vote for them hope they will.

  678. Barrett looks like she’ll be close to a Scalia 2.0. Or a 3.0 if you count Gorsuch. Justices often don’t rule on cases the way the people who nominate and vote for them hope they will.

  679. The not-the-worst-president-we’ve-had gave his dupe child AND the dupe military attache who carries around the nuclear “football” the Covid-19 virus.
    At least William Henry Harrison had the good grace to fucking DIE BEFORE his inauguration as he held you in armchair so you could feel his disease.
    More guns.
    Less healthcare.
    Fewer subhumans.

  680. The not-the-worst-president-we’ve-had gave his dupe child AND the dupe military attache who carries around the nuclear “football” the Covid-19 virus.
    At least William Henry Harrison had the good grace to fucking DIE BEFORE his inauguration as he held you in armchair so you could feel his disease.
    More guns.
    Less healthcare.
    Fewer subhumans.

  681. Justices often don’t rule on cases the way the people who nominate and vote for them hope they will.
    That’s absolutely true, and I’m hoping for that, of course.

  682. Justices often don’t rule on cases the way the people who nominate and vote for them hope they will.
    That’s absolutely true, and I’m hoping for that, of course.

  683. That’s absolutely true, and I’m hoping for that, of course.
    Except that such a variation can go two ways. And the fact that we can’t imagine her rulings being worse than we expect just means we have a failure of imagination.
    (Sorry, I’m sleep deprived this week, and next. Makes me even grumpier than usual.)

  684. That’s absolutely true, and I’m hoping for that, of course.
    Except that such a variation can go two ways. And the fact that we can’t imagine her rulings being worse than we expect just means we have a failure of imagination.
    (Sorry, I’m sleep deprived this week, and next. Makes me even grumpier than usual.)

  687. I’m sleep deprived this week
    The trouble with virtual conferences with a world-wide audience is that somebody is going to be up at terrible hours. For me, this week and next are a conference running on Central European Time (Hamburg, Germany). Which is, in California, graveyard shift. It’s been a while since I could do that without batting an eye.

  688. I’m sleep deprived this week
    The trouble with virtual conferences with a world-wide audience is that somebody is going to be up at terrible hours. For me, this week and next are a conference running on Central European Time (Hamburg, Germany). Which is, in California, graveyard shift. It’s been a while since I could do that without batting an eye.

  689. Dropped off my ballot at a dropbox on Saturday. Received and confirmed by the board of elections on Tuesday. My vote is safely in.
    Go Katie Porter.

  690. Dropped off my ballot at a dropbox on Saturday. Received and confirmed by the board of elections on Tuesday. My vote is safely in.
    Go Katie Porter.

  691. Some were concerned that the government would feel free to abuse any rights left unenumerated.
    Details are for wussies and commies.

  692. Some were concerned that the government would feel free to abuse any rights left unenumerated.
    Details are for wussies and commies.

  693. This guy sounds reliable.
    https://www.thedailybeast.com/man-who-reportedly-gave-hunters-laptop-to-rudy-speaks-out-in-bizarre-interview

    Throughout the interview, Mac Isaac switched back and forth from saying he reached out to law enforcement after viewing the files in the laptop to saying that it was actually the Federal Bureau of Investigation that contacted him. At one point, Mac Isaac claimed that he was emailing someone from the FBI about the laptop. At another point he claimed a special agent from the Baltimore office had contacted him after he alerted the FBI to the device’s existence. At another point, he said the FBI reached out to him for “help accessing his drive.”
    Mac Isaac referenced the infamous Seth Rich conspiracy theory—which holds that a DNC staffer who police say was murdered in a botched robbery was actually killed off by Clinton allies because he leaked committee emails—as reason for his paranoia. He said he made a copy of the hard drive for the purposes of personal protection.
    “They probably knew I had a copy because I was pretty vocal about not wanting to get murdered,” he said, “so I’m going to have a copy.”

    I’m not sure why I’m paying any attention to this. It’s probably some perverse fascination with how far gone so many people seem to be these days.

  694. This guy sounds reliable.
    https://www.thedailybeast.com/man-who-reportedly-gave-hunters-laptop-to-rudy-speaks-out-in-bizarre-interview

    Throughout the interview, Mac Isaac switched back and forth from saying he reached out to law enforcement after viewing the files in the laptop to saying that it was actually the Federal Bureau of Investigation that contacted him. At one point, Mac Isaac claimed that he was emailing someone from the FBI about the laptop. At another point he claimed a special agent from the Baltimore office had contacted him after he alerted the FBI to the device’s existence. At another point, he said the FBI reached out to him for “help accessing his drive.”
    Mac Isaac referenced the infamous Seth Rich conspiracy theory—which holds that a DNC staffer who police say was murdered in a botched robbery was actually killed off by Clinton allies because he leaked committee emails—as reason for his paranoia. He said he made a copy of the hard drive for the purposes of personal protection.
    “They probably knew I had a copy because I was pretty vocal about not wanting to get murdered,” he said, “so I’m going to have a copy.”

    I’m not sure why I’m paying any attention to this. It’s probably some perverse fascination with how far gone so many people seem to be these days.

  695. early voting in NC started today.
    took me two hours to get through the line.
    signs were up along the line for every candidate, except Trump himself.

  696. early voting in NC started today.
    took me two hours to get through the line.
    signs were up along the line for every candidate, except Trump himself.

  699. On a positive note…
    (Politico’s Tim Alberta, from Arizona)
    https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/10/15/letter-to-washington-from-phoenix-429433
    …When I called the Maricopa County elections office, a spokesperson told me that 180 people cast ballots at McDowell Square that day. I spoke with about 15 of them. There was a great deal of diversity—age, background, socioeconomic status—but they all had two things in common.
    First, they were Hispanic, which was intentional for the reporting of this piece.
    The second thing was not intentional: Nobody had voted for Trump. I stayed until the polls closed, speaking to every person I could, hoping to find a single supporter of the president. For the first time in this series, every citizen I encountered was voting for the same candidate.
    I know, I know—it’s a microscopic sample size. Still, if I were working to reelect the president, it would scare the hell out of me. Trump might be able to weather a bludgeoning from upscale white suburbanites or a groundswell of Hispanic voter intensity. In Phoenix, there is mounting evidence of both…

  700. On a positive note…
    (Politico’s Tim Alberta, from Arizona)
    https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/10/15/letter-to-washington-from-phoenix-429433
    …When I called the Maricopa County elections office, a spokesperson told me that 180 people cast ballots at McDowell Square that day. I spoke with about 15 of them. There was a great deal of diversity—age, background, socioeconomic status—but they all had two things in common.
    First, they were Hispanic, which was intentional for the reporting of this piece.
    The second thing was not intentional: Nobody had voted for Trump. I stayed until the polls closed, speaking to every person I could, hoping to find a single supporter of the president. For the first time in this series, every citizen I encountered was voting for the same candidate.
    I know, I know—it’s a microscopic sample size. Still, if I were working to reelect the president, it would scare the hell out of me. Trump might be able to weather a bludgeoning from upscale white suburbanites or a groundswell of Hispanic voter intensity. In Phoenix, there is mounting evidence of both…

  701. “It’s the perverse appeal of train wrecks.”
    Well, there is a perverse appeal when watching from a distance. And repeating the viewing in slo-mo.
    Jeez, lookidat!
    But trains wrecks are absolutely riveting when we are passengers on the train hurtling down the track, not a brake to be heard engaged, and you hear the engineer cackling maniacally over the train’s intercom, and then a conductor screams that the train has been diverted to a siding marked “1000-foot cliff straight ahead” and then the latter throws his ticket-puncher into the air and dives headfirst out the nearest window.

  702. “It’s the perverse appeal of train wrecks.”
    Well, there is a perverse appeal when watching from a distance. And repeating the viewing in slo-mo.
    Jeez, lookidat!
    But trains wrecks are absolutely riveting when we are passengers on the train hurtling down the track, not a brake to be heard engaged, and you hear the engineer cackling maniacally over the train’s intercom, and then a conductor screams that the train has been diverted to a siding marked “1000-foot cliff straight ahead” and then the latter throws his ticket-puncher into the air and dives headfirst out the nearest window.

  703. The Hispanic vote is far from monolithic. But if anything like what he found in Arizona should be happening in Texas….

  704. The Hispanic vote is far from monolithic. But if anything like what he found in Arizona should be happening in Texas….

  705. One might raise a tentative finger and inquire to no one in particular whether the bar in the lounge car is still open.

  706. One might raise a tentative finger and inquire to no one in particular whether the bar in the lounge car is still open.

  707. No, Trump has not been ‘tough’ on Russia.

    Trump’s policy on Russia sanctions has been an elaborate ruse, designed to project toughness while actually doing little to follow through. The reality is that Trump, far from taking a tough line, has proactively undermined sanctions from Day One of his term in the White House.
    The results are clear. As Trump’s own FBI director recently emphasized, Russia is continuing to interfere in our politics today. That’s not because the sanctions have failed to achieve their purpose. It’s because Trump never intended them to work in the first place.

  708. No, Trump has not been ‘tough’ on Russia.

    Trump’s policy on Russia sanctions has been an elaborate ruse, designed to project toughness while actually doing little to follow through. The reality is that Trump, far from taking a tough line, has proactively undermined sanctions from Day One of his term in the White House.
    The results are clear. As Trump’s own FBI director recently emphasized, Russia is continuing to interfere in our politics today. That’s not because the sanctions have failed to achieve their purpose. It’s because Trump never intended them to work in the first place.

  709. “Since setting up the login, I can access my entire voting history going back to 1996, when I registered in my current municipality.”
    I find this terrifying. So your secret ballot is not only not secret, it is a permanent record.

  710. “Since setting up the login, I can access my entire voting history going back to 1996, when I registered in my current municipality.”
    I find this terrifying. So your secret ballot is not only not secret, it is a permanent record.

  711. I could be wrong, but I think the only thing being tracked is the fact that you submitted a ballot. I.e., that you voted.
    That’s pretty much been in the public record for quite a while now.

  712. I could be wrong, but I think the only thing being tracked is the fact that you submitted a ballot. I.e., that you voted.
    That’s pretty much been in the public record for quite a while now.

  713. So your secret ballot is not only not secret, it is a permanent record.
    Is there not an important difference between “a history of which elections you voted in” and “a record of how you voted in past elections”?
    Knowledge of the latter would indeed compromise the secret ballot. But I am hard pressed to see how the former would be a problem.

  714. So your secret ballot is not only not secret, it is a permanent record.
    Is there not an important difference between “a history of which elections you voted in” and “a record of how you voted in past elections”?
    Knowledge of the latter would indeed compromise the secret ballot. But I am hard pressed to see how the former would be a problem.

  715. My entire voting history sounded different to me. If its just that you voted not so much.
    But knowing your voting history is tracked would, I suspect, make many people uncomfortable.

  716. My entire voting history sounded different to me. If its just that you voted not so much.
    But knowing your voting history is tracked would, I suspect, make many people uncomfortable.

  717. I’ve been a poll worker for several elections now. One of our duties was, every hour per state law, to post outside the polling place a list of who had voted so far. (This being used primarily by partisans seeking to make sure all of their supporters turned out.)
    It amounted to a pretty darned public record of whether you had voted. So merely having it available online as well doesn’t seem much of an innovation.

  718. I’ve been a poll worker for several elections now. One of our duties was, every hour per state law, to post outside the polling place a list of who had voted so far. (This being used primarily by partisans seeking to make sure all of their supporters turned out.)
    It amounted to a pretty darned public record of whether you had voted. So merely having it available online as well doesn’t seem much of an innovation.

  719. i was surprised when i first saw that voting history is all on-line in NC, too. but, now i find it a lot less worrying than having my property values and county tax records available to anyone who wants to look.

  720. i was surprised when i first saw that voting history is all on-line in NC, too. but, now i find it a lot less worrying than having my property values and county tax records available to anyone who wants to look.

  721. just checked my own .. in MA, doesn’t look like they have the whole history, just where your current ballot is in the process. and it looks like it’s just for mailed ballots.
    almost everything about the voting process is regulated and managed by the states, according to their own rules.

  722. just checked my own .. in MA, doesn’t look like they have the whole history, just where your current ballot is in the process. and it looks like it’s just for mailed ballots.
    almost everything about the voting process is regulated and managed by the states, according to their own rules.

  723. Not to put too sharp a point on this, if you get antsy about someone knowing you cast a ballot (but not knowing who you voted for), you really can’t complain about how voter fraud is a huge problem in elections.

  724. Not to put too sharp a point on this, if you get antsy about someone knowing you cast a ballot (but not knowing who you voted for), you really can’t complain about how voter fraud is a huge problem in elections.

  727. Alcohol is slurred speech protected by the First Amendment.
    And, let’s DO make a very sharp point about this. If complete historical records are being kept of the number of times a citizen, by name, cast a ballot in each election (not WHO or WHAT we voted for) and it is available to all, then what the Hell is this entire “voter fraud” hysteria on the Right about? …. he asked with an innocent face.
    The only reason to be terrified about the practice is if an individual voted more than once and/or in the wrong jurisdiction.
    It has been stated here not awfully long ago by someone named Marty without followup identity verification that voting is a privilege that should be limited by some vague and suspicious regulatory measures.
    Yes, one vote per person, not one vote per drink.
    The secret to cheating is to get drunk and vote often using a different alias each time.
    They who can hold their liquor .. WIN!
    A candidate who doesn’t know any alcoholics will not get far in an American election.
    Seven states, I think, still bar alcohol sales on election day.
    That’s why Republicans stock up for weeks beforehand in those states.
    Selling VOTES is still permitted 365 days a year.
    Some careful law enforcement investigation should get to the bottom of the scandal:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGtzMbKOVts

  728. Alcohol is slurred speech protected by the First Amendment.
    And, let’s DO make a very sharp point about this. If complete historical records are being kept of the number of times a citizen, by name, cast a ballot in each election (not WHO or WHAT we voted for) and it is available to all, then what the Hell is this entire “voter fraud” hysteria on the Right about? …. he asked with an innocent face.
    The only reason to be terrified about the practice is if an individual voted more than once and/or in the wrong jurisdiction.
    It has been stated here not awfully long ago by someone named Marty without followup identity verification that voting is a privilege that should be limited by some vague and suspicious regulatory measures.
    Yes, one vote per person, not one vote per drink.
    The secret to cheating is to get drunk and vote often using a different alias each time.
    They who can hold their liquor .. WIN!
    A candidate who doesn’t know any alcoholics will not get far in an American election.
    Seven states, I think, still bar alcohol sales on election day.
    That’s why Republicans stock up for weeks beforehand in those states.
    Selling VOTES is still permitted 365 days a year.
    Some careful law enforcement investigation should get to the bottom of the scandal:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGtzMbKOVts

  729. The President of the United States proudly admits ordering the cold-blooded murder of an American citizen by the government without resort to a trial by jury or even a fucking arrest:
    https://twitter.com/Acyn
    I’ll buy the next round.
    Fucking subhumans.

  730. The President of the United States proudly admits ordering the cold-blooded murder of an American citizen by the government without resort to a trial by jury or even a fucking arrest:
    https://twitter.com/Acyn
    I’ll buy the next round.
    Fucking subhumans.

  731. Times change.
    Early 19th century ballot boxes were often made of GLASS, so that the ballots could be seen inside.
    The concern, at the time, was ballot box “stuffing”, in which there would be ballots in the box before any voter had a chance to put their own in.
    And if you don’t have the courage of your convictions, to let your neighbors know how you voted? Tough shit, wimp.
    I fully expect Trump to use the result that there are precincts that record ZERO votes for Trump as “evidence” of fraud. Rather than evidence of multiple-digit-IQ.

  732. Times change.
    Early 19th century ballot boxes were often made of GLASS, so that the ballots could be seen inside.
    The concern, at the time, was ballot box “stuffing”, in which there would be ballots in the box before any voter had a chance to put their own in.
    And if you don’t have the courage of your convictions, to let your neighbors know how you voted? Tough shit, wimp.
    I fully expect Trump to use the result that there are precincts that record ZERO votes for Trump as “evidence” of fraud. Rather than evidence of multiple-digit-IQ.

  735. Since setting up the login, I can access my entire voting history going back to 1996, when I registered in my current municipality.
    I understand that North Carolina provides this information (though in the form of a multi-gig data file) on all their voters, to anyone.

  736. Since setting up the login, I can access my entire voting history going back to 1996, when I registered in my current municipality.
    I understand that North Carolina provides this information (though in the form of a multi-gig data file) on all their voters, to anyone.

  739. the web site also tells you:
    County: CHATHAM
    Status: ACTIVE
    Voter Reg Num: xxxxxx
    NCID: xxx
    Party: DEM
    Race: WHITE
    Ethnicity: NOT HISPANIC or NOT LATINO
    Gender: MALE
    Registration Date: 08/05/2016
    NCDMV Customer: Yes

  740. the web site also tells you:
    County: CHATHAM
    Status: ACTIVE
    Voter Reg Num: xxxxxx
    NCID: xxx
    Party: DEM
    Race: WHITE
    Ethnicity: NOT HISPANIC or NOT LATINO
    Gender: MALE
    Registration Date: 08/05/2016
    NCDMV Customer: Yes

  741. Any paranoid RWNJs that dislike having their state collect voter information on them are invited to sit out this November election, and all future elections as well.
    Easy peasy!
    Erasing the information already collected? That’s harder, but they can do it. All they have to do is say “Trump Jesus” three times while sucking on a bullet.

  742. Any paranoid RWNJs that dislike having their state collect voter information on them are invited to sit out this November election, and all future elections as well.
    Easy peasy!
    Erasing the information already collected? That’s harder, but they can do it. All they have to do is say “Trump Jesus” three times while sucking on a bullet.

  743. I understand that North Carolina provides this information (though in the form of a multi-gig data file) on all their voters, to anyone.
    I haven’t checked lately but the complete driver license database use to be available for a fee from many states.

  744. I understand that North Carolina provides this information (though in the form of a multi-gig data file) on all their voters, to anyone.
    I haven’t checked lately but the complete driver license database use to be available for a fee from many states.

  747. Ibram X. Kendi takes heat on these pages for his alleged Marxist approach to racism in America:
    https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/threat-voter-subtraction/616746/
    Increasingly blatant evidence shows restricting voting rights by hook and crook in America is a plank in the anti-Marxist conservative right wing platform for stealing elections, and that position is more patently Stalinist than it is Eisenhower.
    I’m more Groucho, Chico, and Harpo than Karl or Zeppo, but Kendi nails it on this issue, though Margaret Dumont may pop a monocle and tut-tut.
    Also, I’m glad Trump finally came around to my view that cannibalistic pedophilia is a bad, bad thing.
    So, I guess I deserve a Nobel Prize for beating him to the punch, even though I still order anchovies on pizza from joints that may have a basement.
    Meanwhile, the White House murderous vermin have denied all emergency funding to California for the catastrophic fires and their aftermaths, though Kellyanne Conway’s first task when she returns from infecting her family with the pandemic virus is to fly out there and blow David Nunes, though I hear Stephen Miller is eager to monopolize that job too.
    I hope Biden doesn’t follow suit and deny emergency funding for Texas and Florida and everything red in between the next time they are submerged.
    Just make sure none of the monies go to registered republicans in those states.
    In fact, bill THEM to rebuild infrastructure and property and compensate their liberal and Democratic neighbors’ lives who are lost.
    It’s a game.
    Two can play.
    To his credit, Biden won’t.
    I’ve voted for him anyway.

  748. Ibram X. Kendi takes heat on these pages for his alleged Marxist approach to racism in America:
    https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/threat-voter-subtraction/616746/
    Increasingly blatant evidence shows restricting voting rights by hook and crook in America is a plank in the anti-Marxist conservative right wing platform for stealing elections, and that position is more patently Stalinist than it is Eisenhower.
    I’m more Groucho, Chico, and Harpo than Karl or Zeppo, but Kendi nails it on this issue, though Margaret Dumont may pop a monocle and tut-tut.
    Also, I’m glad Trump finally came around to my view that cannibalistic pedophilia is a bad, bad thing.
    So, I guess I deserve a Nobel Prize for beating him to the punch, even though I still order anchovies on pizza from joints that may have a basement.
    Meanwhile, the White House murderous vermin have denied all emergency funding to California for the catastrophic fires and their aftermaths, though Kellyanne Conway’s first task when she returns from infecting her family with the pandemic virus is to fly out there and blow David Nunes, though I hear Stephen Miller is eager to monopolize that job too.
    I hope Biden doesn’t follow suit and deny emergency funding for Texas and Florida and everything red in between the next time they are submerged.
    Just make sure none of the monies go to registered republicans in those states.
    In fact, bill THEM to rebuild infrastructure and property and compensate their liberal and Democratic neighbors’ lives who are lost.
    It’s a game.
    Two can play.
    To his credit, Biden won’t.
    I’ve voted for him anyway.

  749. From Nigel’s link:

    A Pew Research survey last month found that 41 percent of Republicans believed that QAnon was “somewhat” or “very good” for the country.

    That’s f**king insane.

  750. From Nigel’s link:

    A Pew Research survey last month found that 41 percent of Republicans believed that QAnon was “somewhat” or “very good” for the country.

    That’s f**king insane.

  751. the GOP is a cult dedicated to opposing teh libz and Q gives them a rich new mythology to justify their opposition.
    the only sane thing to do is vote third party to make sure nothing about the GOP changes and the libz don’t win, amirite?

  752. the GOP is a cult dedicated to opposing teh libz and Q gives them a rich new mythology to justify their opposition.
    the only sane thing to do is vote third party to make sure nothing about the GOP changes and the libz don’t win, amirite?

  755. “somewhat” good for the country?
    Does that mean they are against pedophilia but feel that eating children can be tolerated, as long as the latter practice is consensual?
    Again, our intelligence services need to find Q or the many Q’s and deep six them via deep state action.
    I grow more conservative as I age regarding terminating the terrorist enemies of my country.

  756. “somewhat” good for the country?
    Does that mean they are against pedophilia but feel that eating children can be tolerated, as long as the latter practice is consensual?
    Again, our intelligence services need to find Q or the many Q’s and deep six them via deep state action.
    I grow more conservative as I age regarding terminating the terrorist enemies of my country.

  757. Another bit from Nigel’s link:

    At a NBC News town hall on Thursday night, Trump himself refused to denounce QAnon when asked about the movement. “I know nothing about QAnon. I know very little,” the president said. “I do know they are very much against pedophilia. They fight it very hard.”

    On the other hand:
    https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/qanons-obsession-with-savethechildren-is-making-it-harder-to-save-kids-from-traffickers/

    “It’s extraordinarily frustrating,” said Lisa Goldblatt Grace, co-founder and executive director of My Life My Choice, an anti-trafficking nonprofit. “We’ve worked so hard for the last 18 years to shift the narrative and have people understand this is happening in our communities. QAnon instead gives folks this incredibly sensationalized ‘other’ to fear and be angry about.”
    In reality, child trafficking in the U.S. doesn’t look like a bunch of Hollywood and D.C. elites performing satanic rituals on children they stole from suburban playgrounds. Instead, kids who are sexually exploited are often poor, children of color, immigrants, or some combination of the three, and they’ve often been in the child welfare system or run away from home. In 2018, 1 in 7 kids who were reported as runaways to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children were likely victims of child sex trafficking, according to UNICEF.
    “We see minors who are in a vulnerable position — maybe they’ve run away from home, maybe they’ve been kicked out of their home — and then engage in sex acts for money in order to have food to eat and a place to stay,” said Jean Bruggeman, executive director of Freedom Network USA, an anti-trafficking group. “Almost never is there any kind of abduction or solely a use of physical force or locking people away. It’s generally much more subtle coercion.”

    They fight it very hard, but they’re so divorced from reality that their fight is counterproductive to the cause of stopping child sex trafficking. How Trumpian.

  758. Another bit from Nigel’s link:

    At a NBC News town hall on Thursday night, Trump himself refused to denounce QAnon when asked about the movement. “I know nothing about QAnon. I know very little,” the president said. “I do know they are very much against pedophilia. They fight it very hard.”

    On the other hand:
    https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/qanons-obsession-with-savethechildren-is-making-it-harder-to-save-kids-from-traffickers/

    “It’s extraordinarily frustrating,” said Lisa Goldblatt Grace, co-founder and executive director of My Life My Choice, an anti-trafficking nonprofit. “We’ve worked so hard for the last 18 years to shift the narrative and have people understand this is happening in our communities. QAnon instead gives folks this incredibly sensationalized ‘other’ to fear and be angry about.”
    In reality, child trafficking in the U.S. doesn’t look like a bunch of Hollywood and D.C. elites performing satanic rituals on children they stole from suburban playgrounds. Instead, kids who are sexually exploited are often poor, children of color, immigrants, or some combination of the three, and they’ve often been in the child welfare system or run away from home. In 2018, 1 in 7 kids who were reported as runaways to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children were likely victims of child sex trafficking, according to UNICEF.
    “We see minors who are in a vulnerable position — maybe they’ve run away from home, maybe they’ve been kicked out of their home — and then engage in sex acts for money in order to have food to eat and a place to stay,” said Jean Bruggeman, executive director of Freedom Network USA, an anti-trafficking group. “Almost never is there any kind of abduction or solely a use of physical force or locking people away. It’s generally much more subtle coercion.”

    They fight it very hard, but they’re so divorced from reality that their fight is counterproductive to the cause of stopping child sex trafficking. How Trumpian.

  759. On racial bias, Booker had a great question for Barrett:
    https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/10/amy-coney-barrett-hearing-cory-booker-called-bluff-about-racism.html
    …“I understand that you weren’t aware of specific studies I cited, which are central to the important work of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which advises federal judges or provides recommendations to federal judges,” he continued. “So I just want to give you an opportunity today to share what studies, articles, books, law review articles, or commentary you have read regarding racial disparities present in our criminal justice system.”…
    Which she was unable to answer.

  760. On racial bias, Booker had a great question for Barrett:
    https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/10/amy-coney-barrett-hearing-cory-booker-called-bluff-about-racism.html
    …“I understand that you weren’t aware of specific studies I cited, which are central to the important work of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which advises federal judges or provides recommendations to federal judges,” he continued. “So I just want to give you an opportunity today to share what studies, articles, books, law review articles, or commentary you have read regarding racial disparities present in our criminal justice system.”…
    Which she was unable to answer.

  765. She doesn’t strike me as someone who has read widely.
    Whaddya mean? She’s read all 73 books multiple times (and Esther is her absolute fave – Esther/Ahasuarus = OTP).
    No one needs any other books.

  766. She doesn’t strike me as someone who has read widely.
    Whaddya mean? She’s read all 73 books multiple times (and Esther is her absolute fave – Esther/Ahasuarus = OTP).
    No one needs any other books.

  767. She doesn’t strike me as someone who has read widely.
    Including not having read widely about stuff that you’d expect any Federal judge to be aware of. (But perhaps she merely wasn’t paying attention when her law school class went over the Bill of Rights. Cram enough to pass the exam, then forget it immediately. That sort of approach seems plausible.)

  768. She doesn’t strike me as someone who has read widely.
    Including not having read widely about stuff that you’d expect any Federal judge to be aware of. (But perhaps she merely wasn’t paying attention when her law school class went over the Bill of Rights. Cram enough to pass the exam, then forget it immediately. That sort of approach seems plausible.)

  769. Cram enough to pass the exam, then forget it immediately. That sort of approach seems plausible.
    Hey! That’s what got me through school! Everyone’s a critic these days….

  770. Cram enough to pass the exam, then forget it immediately. That sort of approach seems plausible.
    Hey! That’s what got me through school! Everyone’s a critic these days….

  771. Hey! That’s what got me through school! Everyone’s a critic these days….
    I got thru some classes that way, too. But not on subjects critical to my career. In those, I paid attention. And, if I was using the information, the knowledge stayed reasonably fresh.

  772. Hey! That’s what got me through school! Everyone’s a critic these days….
    I got thru some classes that way, too. But not on subjects critical to my career. In those, I paid attention. And, if I was using the information, the knowledge stayed reasonably fresh.

  773. I generally paid attention if I liked the class. But I liked a good number of them, so I guess it worked out well enough. (No one’s looked at my transcripts for decades, anyway.)
    Being able to provide significant help to my son when he was taking AP physics last year might be the crowning achievement of my own education. ;^)

  774. I generally paid attention if I liked the class. But I liked a good number of them, so I guess it worked out well enough. (No one’s looked at my transcripts for decades, anyway.)
    Being able to provide significant help to my son when he was taking AP physics last year might be the crowning achievement of my own education. ;^)

  777. McArdle: “We have long lines for voting for the same reason we have long lines for major concerts: it’s a rare event for which demand occurs all at once.”
    And yet, lots of other states have elections equally infrequently. And we don’t see those long lines there. Why might that be?

  778. McArdle: “We have long lines for voting for the same reason we have long lines for major concerts: it’s a rare event for which demand occurs all at once.”
    And yet, lots of other states have elections equally infrequently. And we don’t see those long lines there. Why might that be?

  783. she sees everything through Econ 101-colored lenses.
    That seems to be a common problem. Things like basic supply-and-demand curves, highly abstracted to illustrate concepts, are taken as being equivalent to laws of nature that apply universally. I guess viewing the world in such a simplified way provides a convincing illusion of clarity.

  784. she sees everything through Econ 101-colored lenses.
    That seems to be a common problem. Things like basic supply-and-demand curves, highly abstracted to illustrate concepts, are taken as being equivalent to laws of nature that apply universally. I guess viewing the world in such a simplified way provides a convincing illusion of clarity.

  787. But knowing your voting history is tracked would, I suspect, make many people uncomfortable.
    At least for federal elections, states that do registration are required to maintain their voter registration lists. Eg, remove dead people or people who move away. Or in many states, who have not voted for long enough. Such information is considered public so that the states’ work can be checked by anyone.

  788. But knowing your voting history is tracked would, I suspect, make many people uncomfortable.
    At least for federal elections, states that do registration are required to maintain their voter registration lists. Eg, remove dead people or people who move away. Or in many states, who have not voted for long enough. Such information is considered public so that the states’ work can be checked by anyone.

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