Got the ol’ mammogram today. Never my favorite medical checkup of the year, but since they’ve gone digital, the tech always lets me look at the images so I can marvel at My Miraculous Body, Breast Division. And it’s less painful now that I don’t have to worry about the appointment falling during the time when the Miraculous Body turns the Breast Division into a sore thumb, so to speak. It’s just four uncomfortable squeezes that last a few seconds.
The clinic was running late, though, and I didn’t get in until 25 minutes past my appointment. I was feeling a little testy about this, probably displaced testiness from current events, transplanted into an area where I’m normally very chill. The tech apologized for the lateness: “The earlier patient got some bad news, and needed some extra time to get herself together.”
That was a shaming moment, right there. So OK, then: It was a nice day, I rode my bike in the mild temperatures to the clinic and had to wait an extra 25 minutes, during which I was able to scroll the nation’s greatest news sources on a miracle device I carry in my hip pocket. Plus I got to look at the insides of my boobs. Testiness is reconsidered. Count the blessings instead.
Otherwise, it was a quiet Tuesday, although I woke up and doomscrolled at 4 a.m., which I really shouldn’t do, but it’s either that or stare at the ceiling. Watching the president heave for breath last night is probably what did it. This barking asshole. This pestilence. October is going to be the longest month ever, like a dream where the escape door keeps retreating into the distance. Then, should Biden win, the transition period will last 17 years.
Ugh. Oh, well. RIP Eddie Van Halen. I was never an enormous fan of that cock-rock stuff, but I always turned up “And The Cradle Will Rock” when it came on in the car. Sixty-five is too young to die, said the nearly 63-year-old.
Sherri said on October 6, 2020 at 7:16 pm
The little shit Stephen Miller has tested positive. I think he should be treated in an ICE detention center.
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Heather said on October 6, 2020 at 8:40 pm
I think we’re all entitled to be a little testy with President Superspreader in the house.
An old friend of mine was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer this spring. It’s spread to her spine. She’s pretty realistic but also somewhat circumspect, so from what I can gather, it’s all about management. She hopes to see her 4-year-old graduate from high school. Now that’s some perspective.
“1984” was one of the greatest rock albums of all time. RIP, Eddie.
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Peter said on October 6, 2020 at 8:51 pm
I haven’t heard the term doomscrolling before, but that describes me all too well.
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Dorothy said on October 6, 2020 at 8:56 pm
Not a Van Halen fan but when I heard he’d died, I Googled him. TMZ’s obit article shared this tidbit: Eddie was a long time heavy smoker but he did not think that was the source of his throat cancer. He attributed it to holding a metal guitar pick in his mouth a lot over the years. Ohhhh kay then!
On Sunday night a new Masterpiece Theater series came on – “Flesh and Blood”. We have a PBS membership and Apple TV so I looked for the program, and binged the last three episodes today after watching Sunday’s episode on Monday. I really liked it! Imelda Staunton and Stephen Rea, plus an actress I recognized from Gosford Park. It was nice to get lost in it and ignore all the political zingers flying around. I think I’m going to have to follow this formula a LOT in the next 4 weeks. Maybe even until Inauguration Day, God willing.
My granddaughter now purposely sets out to make us laugh. Which is pretty terrific for a three year old. On Sunday she was doing her imitation of how her daddy drives his truck, sound effects and all. She was ‘driving’ through the living room and said “Mimi, do you see me driving like Daddy?” “Yes Olivia, I do.” “Are you going to laugh now?!” Well of course I did!
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LAMary said on October 6, 2020 at 9:24 pm
If last night’s trumpian display of arrogance, ignorance and irresponsibility wasn’t enough to get you doomscrolling, today we learned that there will be no stimulus package until after the orange thug wins the election. So if anyone was counting on that stimulus check to help them keep their home, too bad. You have to vote for that monster first.
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basset said on October 6, 2020 at 10:11 pm
Did something this week that I had meant to for quite awhile… bought the “extended special edition” of volume 1 of Mark Lewisohn’s Beatles mega-history.
Volume 1 covers the beginning till the end of 1962 and he wrote it way long, so the standard version is about seven hundred pages, have had that since it first came out in 2012 or 13, and the extended is over sixteen hundred in two boxed volumes. It’s on the shelf waiting for me, have a little work to clear up then I will buy some good wine and dive in. I just hope he lives long enough to finish volumes two and three.
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Jeff Borden said on October 6, 2020 at 10:30 pm
I believe tRump knows he’s facing a tidal wave in November and has decided to burn the fields and poison the wells. He’s that kind of asshole.
Folks, let’s face it The Republican Party is howling, barking, rabidly mad. They are participating in the wholesale vandalism of our democracy. All to pack the courts with junior Justice Beer Bong and Justice Handmaiden.
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LAMary said on October 6, 2020 at 10:42 pm
Johnny Nash died today. He’s the “I Can See Clearly Now” guy. I always liked that song. Great to sing along at full volume in the car.
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beb said on October 6, 2020 at 10:45 pm
It’s hard to know if it is the the “dex” speaking but ruling out an economic stimulus before the election, when he needs something to make people think well of him is nuts. All he cares about it appears is whether he gets that “handmaiden” on the Supreme Court. Why , since the Evangelicals already have 5 of the nine slots. Maybe he’s worried that Thomas will retire or die soon leaving an opening for Biden to fill. Maybe he’s worried that Justice Roberts is a squish.
Twitter? Facebook? was weird over the weekend, blocking people who wished the president would die because it was distasteful or something. But all the times conservatives have made death threats to liberals are OK.
Ars Technica has a report on a change in how Facebook promotes groups. Basically they are forcing Groups messages onto to people whether they want to or not. But an underlying issue is that Facebooks algorithms are designed to promote ever more extreme messages in order to get you “involved” which is to say, spend more time on the app. In other words, Facebook is designed to amplify conspiracy thinking, not handicap them. All the more reason to say that “Facebook must die!”
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jcburns said on October 6, 2020 at 10:52 pm
Nice subtle Katharine Graham reference, Nancy. Trying to picture the current Attorney General saying something that slimy. Kinda easy to picture!
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LAMary said on October 7, 2020 at 12:33 am
The current AG might not even know who Katie Graham was.
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Dexter Friend said on October 7, 2020 at 2:45 am
The only Van Halen I bought was 5150, featuring Sammy Hagar, right? I never was a big fan; it seemed Van Halen in all its configurations appealed to a slightly younger crowd than mine. Poison and Def Leppard and Quiet Riot were other groups like that, but I really still dig Cheap Trick. I was a big fan of Henry Rollins when he was screaming out those videos. Anybody remember Jawbreaker? Those fuckers really rocked. Enough…rest in peace, Eddie VH.
On September 18, 2007, I had my first colonoscopy. I was scared shitless (heh heh) as I had been having problems. And so, of course, the doctor kept me waiting on the table for 45 fucking minutes with two surgical team members standing over me. The reason was the same as what delayed nance’s procedure , bad news for the previous poor bastard. The chatty assistant told me the man had demanded a re-test when his first test indicated really bad news for him. Then, the second test results indicated progression of cancer. The patient’s wife was in denial and causing a scene…so I had to wait. Anyway, my test was clear and clean. 7 years later the VA sent me to Ann Arbor for another test, which was also okey-dokey. I’ll be 75 when the next test is due, but they don’t normally test old goobers.
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Deborah said on October 7, 2020 at 3:54 am
Dexter, Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick is Uncle J’s next door neighbor. I’ve only seen him a couple of times when he’s been in his car pulling out of his driveway. He’s a big deal in that town, they say he’s a good guy. I’m not familiar with the music at all.
I’m having my typical early morning insomnia, doom scrolling. Not a good habit.
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alex said on October 7, 2020 at 7:43 am
Soon to be 59 and still haven’t had a butt scope. And dealing with enough other medical issues that it’s not high on the list of priorities right now. But I must sing the praises of Trulicity, which despite being enormously expensive has given me excellent diabetic control. I’ve also managed to shed 30 pounds in a year just by switching to fruit smoothie meal replacements at breakfast. Next up, getting back on CPAP.
Elated at the news that Biden is beating Trump by 14-16 points nationally. Even with the GOP’s efforts to suppress the vote and cast doubt on the validity of the election, Trump’s gonna get the humiliating defeat he deserves even if he doesn’t live to see it.
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Deborah said on October 7, 2020 at 9:09 am
Things seem worse than bad for the Trump camp and now we find that he hasn’t been tested for weeks because he found the tests uncomfortable. That’s about the most irresponsible thing I’ve heard yet. If I were Harris I wouldn’t debate Pence tonight even with plexiglas shields. And Biden certainly shouldn’t debate Trump next week. What a mess.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 7, 2020 at 9:19 am
Or is Trump pivoting to building up his base for a post Jan. 20th “Trump TV” channel, which along with programming will feature lots of ads for gold, silver, molybdenum, high thread count sheets and specialty pillows, along with promos for video courses on Hitler and World War II plus a virtual college that’s Trump University rebooted?
A thought that flickered through my head as I doomscrolled.
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Julie Robinson said on October 7, 2020 at 11:06 am
Deborah, where did you read that Trump hasn’t been getting daily tests? I haven’t been able to find that elsewhere.
We are gearing up for a trip that I’m dreading on so many levels. Mother, 88, and experiencing some new medical issues, wants to go see her sister, who is recovering from breast cancer. If you remember me writing about my horrible conservative uncle in Iowa, that’s where we’re going. Plus she wants to see all the places she lived in the state. It will almost certainly be her last visit.
Many hours in a car/public restrooms/hotels/hateful uncle. Whee!
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Beobachter said on October 7, 2020 at 11:44 am
Julie@17:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/06/us/politics/white-house-coronavirus.html
By Maggie Haberman and Annie Karni
Yet the president himself was not tested every day, according to two people familiar with the practices. A senior administration official would only say on Tuesday that Mr. Trump was tested “regularly.”
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Julie Robinsonp said on October 7, 2020 at 12:08 pm
Thanks, Beo. I read that story but I thought it ended earlier, judging by all the ads. Guess I miss the old days of -30- at the end of an article.
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Jakash said on October 7, 2020 at 1:02 pm
A follow-up to Suzanne’s recent Hall-of-Fame buffet report, which featured a distinct lack of Covid caution by the other participants, from today’s Sun-Times:
“As Illinois reported another set of relatively low coronavirus infection numbers Tuesday, Chicago officials urged residents to avoid visiting Indiana as cases tick up in that state.”
I’m sure there’s questionable stuff going on all over, including Chicago, but I’d have a hard time dealing with rampant refusal to observe the CDC guidelines, and the places we go around here are appropriately observant, for the most part.
Funny, Julie @19. These days reading an article is like a kind of puzzle. “Hmmm… is *this* the last sentence? Is that ad right below it the last one, or are there 3 more ad breaks to come, before you wrap things up?”
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Sherri said on October 7, 2020 at 1:09 pm
I said a few days ago there was no way that giant toddler was getting daily tests. Plus, Republicans haven’t lived in the reality based community for years, remember?
I think they truly believe they create their own reality.
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Deborah said on October 7, 2020 at 1:11 pm
Julie, I read it on Kurt Eichenwald’s Twitter. He reported it 2 days ago (where I don’t know?) and said it was confirmed by the NYT. I too looked at the NYT site and couldn’t find that full claim. Not sure if the NYT was in the process of writing the story and Eichenwald jumped in ahead? There is so much swirling around out there with what is or isn’t happening in the WH, it’s confusing. Eventually the full story may come out but who know?
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 7, 2020 at 1:18 pm
So, I early voted today. Our large county (2nd largest in Ohio for square mileage) has just the one location, our single drop box outside, which is a subject for a later screed. But . . .
Good news, bad news: the good news is they have a great set-up here, with the technology clearly ready to roll and smoothly operating. You wait in a mask-mandated, six-foot tape marked line snaking like waiting for Santa back and forth in a conference room using tables to create the aisles, and the line moved quickly. Three stations in service, two more currently vacant in between (staffing, I assume, this was early on day 2 here). One station was literally only one elderly, deaf, wheelchair bound gentleman the whole twenty minutes I was there, as probably forty-plus other voters were processed through the other two desks, with plex-barriers and masks on staff with terminals in front of them. If you have a current address driver’s license, it was a case of sign in and move on into the next room with the standard voting machines (a disposable stylus you picked up to sign with and took into the voting room), and if there was something else going on like a changed address, they seemed to deal with it quickly.
And I got to vote for “Friend of NN.C” Jennifer Brunner, too! Good fortune to her in the final tally.
Bad news? Not terrible, really. There was in a chair, in a corner of the final space between the end of the waiting line and the terminals with staff where you got your ballot. Seated in it, and I feel bad for speaking so judgmentally about appearance, because it just goes against the grain, but . . . a man in a mask, yes, but his visible face was a suffused red of someone about to have a stroke, not sun burn or healthy tan, but a scary red, eyes glaring to match, with brows and shock of hair above, all a silvery-grey wild swirl of manic energy at momentary rest. He had a satchel with bottles of water sticking out sitting under his elbow, a grimy windbreaker over stained khaki slacks, too short, and so displaying bright (new?) white socks in moccasins down at the heel. Creeping up to the end of the line, I watched a number of others in front of me glance nervously his way, then away, thinking perhaps he was waiting his turn but had seated himself out of weariness or something else health related. But there he sat, warily eyeing each person coming through the line to the desks.
And it hit me: this is a Trump poll watcher. He’s keeping a valiant eye out for socialists, or inappropriate campaign insignia, or maybe for child abductors. Was he intimidating? Well, yes, in a way, but once you saw this pollwatcher you were in too deep to turn back anyhow, so if unnerving anxious voters was the point, he was poorly placed. I’m sure most of us going through the line will remember him, though. And if the idea was to push people to vote a certain way, I’m not thinking this particular look is going to pull people over towards the equally manic, anxious, frenetic candidate.
But overall, I have to say based on next-to-nothing, the early voters were looking suspiciously more like Biden supporters than Trump ones. I heard the lines went up the stairwell yesterday for the first day, and it was backing out the door into the lobby as I went through today. The overall numbers for both mail-in and early in-person are clearly towards over 50%, possibly above 60% versus the old school polling places on Nov. 3.
And if I’m hit by a truck now, it doesn’t matter, because my vote is cast.
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Deborah said on October 7, 2020 at 1:24 pm
We went to a get together at a friend couple’s deck last night, we were extremely socially distance to the point that we almost had to yell at each other to be heard across the divide. They both have health complications so I totally understand. But the interesting thing was that we walked to their place in Wrigleyville, about 4 miles from our place. We walked up Clark Street mostly and I have never seen so many unmasked young women before. Clark St has a lot of bars, it was early evening so not very crowded (thank goodness) but what is it with young women? Do they not want to wear masks because they don’t want to cover up their faces so young men will be more attracted to them? The young men that we saw mostly had masks on. Maybe the unmasked men go out on the town later, it was strange.
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Dave said on October 7, 2020 at 2:35 pm
Jeff, TMMO, I remember when a WOWO (Fort Wayne) talk host insisted that Allen County, IN, was the largest county in square miles east of the Mississippi. Being the loyal native Ohioan that I am, I called him and told him there are at least two counties in Ohio that are larger, Ashtabula and Licking. This was before everyone had easy ‘net access so I don’t know if he ever confirmed it or believed me. BTW, Ross County, OH, is also larger than Allen County, IN.
There are several counties throughout the eastern United States that dwarf the largest Ohio counties, with the largest one located in Maine. Of course, I didn’t know that then.
We received our mail-in ballots yesterday and have the choice of either dropping them off at one of several available locations or mailing them back.
Our neighbor down the street, roughly a block away, has been flying a Trump flag for a couple of months now. Yesterday, for the first time, I saw that the neighbors on either side of him have put up Biden/Harris signs. It made me laugh.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 7, 2020 at 3:47 pm
I ordered online a yard sign saying “Any Functioning Adult 2020” and it hasn’t been stolen or vandalized. There are Biden signs on one corner, a trio of Trump signs on the next, with a flag on a garage door (violation of HOA covenants, but I’m no longer a trustee), all of which intermittently vanish and are replaced, while mine has not moved . . . but I keep seeing cars slow down and people taking pictures. One of my Trump neighbors waved me over to his car, and nervously I went over, and sure enough he pointed at my sign, then said “Good one . . . I really don’t like how Trump behaves, myself.” Not sure if that was progress or not, but it’s not open warfare.
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LAMary said on October 7, 2020 at 4:40 pm
I will probably drop my ballot in one of drop boxes the state has installed all over the place. If I was to vote in person I would go to Dodger Stadium. There’s a giant voting location there on one of the VIP levels. I might have dreamt this but I believe LeBron James had something to do with getting the stadium as a voting location. Free parking too.
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ROGirl said on October 7, 2020 at 4:42 pm
A house in my neighborhood had a bunch of awful Trump crap in the front yard. On top of the fence that separates it from the house next door were 2 huge Black Lives Matter banners.
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Deborah said on October 7, 2020 at 5:21 pm
I thought this was interesting by Stuart Stevens the never trumper, member of the Lincoln Project, it was written back in 2003 in Outside Magazine about performance enhancing doping https://www.outsideonline.com/1924306/drug-test. It explains a lot about various chemicals like HGH, steroids etc that athletes (and some wealthy people) use to enhance strength and stamina. The kind of steroid that Trump is on is also banned in various sports.
By the way, the editor in chief of Outside Magazine, Alex Heard lives in Santa Fe and the print version of it is produced in one of my favorite buildings there that I pass all the time. I have never met him but I follow him on Twitter.
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susan said on October 7, 2020 at 5:25 pm
I like this billboard.
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susan said on October 7, 2020 at 5:44 pm
and a few days ago, I put up this sign. It’s still there.
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LAMary said on October 7, 2020 at 5:59 pm
About 20 years ago I had a boss who was old and wrinkly.. He looked a lot like Larry King on a bad day. He took HGH and had convinced a few of my coworkers to do the same. He still looked like Larry King and none of the guys taking HGH did any growing or got skinnier or any of the stuff it was supposed to do. There was a guy named Gregory who worked there. He had been a basketball player in high school. His desk was across from mine and every time the boss walked by he’d tell him, “Dan. You’re still short. Mary is taller than you. I’m taller than you. Her kids are taller than you (not true at that time). The HGH is gonna kill you Dan and you’ll still be short.”
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St Bitch said on October 7, 2020 at 6:03 pm
Don’t need one of those ”Grab Him by the Ballot” signs, susan…just gotta have one! How?
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Sherri said on October 7, 2020 at 6:40 pm
Want to understand what McConnell is planning? Read this: https://prospect.org/coronavirus/unsanitized-end-stimulus-talks-foreseeable-disaster/
This is why I think expanding the court is essential, and doing it quickly is important. Don’t wait for the rulings overturning the work of the Dem majority; that’s what the GOP hopes for. They hope that by then it will be 2022 and there won’t be a Dem majority, because it’s not going to be easy to fix the mess the GOP has left. Structural changes to address the problems of minority rule need to happen out of the gate.
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susan said on October 7, 2020 at 6:50 pm
Saint B. – I got the sign here. It’s expensive (30 bucks for one. Free shipping! Yah!). But if you buy five, they come out to $18/each. Buy 10, $13/each. Not too bad. The one I really wanted, but figured it would be stolen within days, was this one. Same pricing. I tried to get the local Dem HQ to take four of those, and sell them for whatever, and consider that a donation from me. What’s not to like?? They are just too pearl-clutching for that one. Then I asked if they would like a donation of four of the “Grab him by the ballot” signs. They never got back to me. I thought that was just stupid. I couldn’t even get friends to chip in and buy one or the other so we could get a good price. Jeezo. So I bit the bullet and went solo. It’s worth it. Printed on both sides, well-made, comes with wire stand.
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alex said on October 7, 2020 at 8:11 pm
Last week the neighbors on one side of me draped a ginormous flowing red Trump MAGA banner over the front of their house. Then the neighbors on the other side of me put up a Black Lives Matter sign. Then the MAGA banner vanished. Not sure if it was theft, or if they were shamed out of it, but glad it’s gone. The BLM sign remains.
Just got a call on the landline from the RNC so decided to pick up and fuck with them. They asked if I’d be willing to take a 60-second survey. First question: Do you think that the media coverage of Donald Trump has been fair? “Yes.” That’s all, no more questions. Thank you for your time.
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Mark P said on October 7, 2020 at 8:43 pm
Alex, that’s strangely comforting. If Trump’s campaign is getting their polling numbers like that, then they have no idea what’s going on.
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susan said on October 7, 2020 at 9:36 pm
Saint B.— I answered your query about the sign a few hours ago, but the comment hasn’t appeared! ?? Anyway, I got the sign from here. It’s expensive to buy one (30 bucks. But hey! Free shipping!). But if you buy five, the unit cost goes down to $18. If you get 10, $13 each. I couldn’t find anyone to go in with me on a bundle—not even the local lame Democratic HQ, so I bit the bullet and got one. It’s worth it! Well-made, two-sided full color, comes with metal pokey stake.
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Deborah said on October 7, 2020 at 10:36 pm
Pence has gone over his time in every instance. It’s obviously a strategy the campaign has decided works to their advantage. I disagree of course, I think it makes Pence looks like he doesn’t have to follow the rules which Trump did last week as well. I don’t think this strategy works in the Trump campaign’s favor at all.
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Bitter Scribe said on October 7, 2020 at 10:42 pm
Watching the VP debate. How does anyone with eyes to see, ears to hear and a knowledge of English not realize that Mike Pence is a completely useless suit that’s not only empty but made of wet paper? He is a living version of Ted Baxter from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”—someone whose one and only talent is looking good while reading bullshit in soothing dulcet tones. For Christ’s sake, the guy fell on his ass trying to govern the Mickey Mouse state of Indiana. As president he’d last as long as a toy balloon drifting across a fire pit.
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alex said on October 7, 2020 at 10:58 pm
I’m skipping the after-show punditry in favor of my facebook feed tonight, where one post is having a glibfest over a fly that landed in Pence’s hair and also the fact that he looked like he has pinkeye which is one of the signs of COVID. Wonder if anyone else picked up on those things. I didn’t. I was too gobsmacked by how much of a better liar he is than Trump. He’s one oily motherfucker. Or Mother fucker. That one time they made demon spawn anyway.
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Deborah said on October 7, 2020 at 11:31 pm
Ted Baxter is the absolute perfect comparison, good one Bitter Scribe. The fly made him look like a dork, it’s one of the things I’ll remember for a long time. My husband and I laughed and laughed. Also Pence just looked pissed the whole time, while Harris looked happy and animated.
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Dave Kobiela said on October 7, 2020 at 11:42 pm
I really wish Kamala would have finished one of her answers with “…and Michael, there’s a fly on your head”.
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Dave Kobiela said on October 7, 2020 at 11:43 pm
Best fly comment on twitter: “That fly is Pence’s only black friend”.
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Sherri said on October 7, 2020 at 11:55 pm
Remember when Alex Jones used to claim that Hillary and Obama were demons that smelled of sulfur and attracted flies? Good times.
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St Bitch said on October 8, 2020 at 12:13 am
Thanks, susan!
I could easily have missed your post.
Mos def will have to splurge on that sign!
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LAMary said on October 8, 2020 at 1:07 am
One thing I have to give Pence credit for. Consistency. Everytime I see him I hope he does or says one thing to improve my opinion and he never does. He always sucks. Never stops, never waivers. Sucky 100% of the time.
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Jakash said on October 8, 2020 at 1:30 am
Very surprised to see white-haired old man Chuckles Grassley offer his objective, substantive opinion that he’d rather have dinner with the white-haired old man in the debate than Kamala, if he was offering an invitation. “MOST LIKEABLE”
The reply from “SnarkyBlonde” about My Pants nails it, though: “He seems like a terrible dinner guest. He interrupts, gets completely off topic, shows up despite being exposed to covid, and attracts flies.”
https://twitter.com/Orvieto2016/status/1314038935752900608
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Sherri said on October 8, 2020 at 1:35 am
Farhad Manjoo nails the biggest problem with the Electoral College:
https://twitter.com/fmanjoo/status/1314018516589142017
40 million people live in California, but for the purposes of electing a president, they might as well not exist.
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Dexter Friend said on October 8, 2020 at 3:15 am
LA Mary, LeBron worked it out to have Staples Center be a voting place.
I applied for my ballot to be mailed to me but so far, not yet…I seem to remember it is supposed to be here around the 10th. If it does not come, I’ll just mask up and go vote in person. That fucking Texas governor decreed the county that Dallas is in gets one drop-off box. The county dwarfs Rhode Island.
My wife Carla Lee was excited because her knee replacement was a “go” for the 15th. Then a nurse didn’t like the look of the knee spacer area (the spacer is the hardware implant that is supposed to allow the tissues to heal before the permanent joint is implanted.) Friday she consults with the surgeon but she is thinking she will receive bad news. If infection has returned, we just do not know anymore what the path is.
I watched the Yankee-Tampa Bay baseball game on the big TV sans sound with the debate on my phone. I missed the live shots of The Fly but saw it on post-coverage. I cringed when Pence laid out the facts of Harris’s career as a prosecutor because it was true. However, his lies and blowhard bullshit about Trump taking care of Americans from day one was sickening. Pence was dull and listless. I am glad they only debated once. And as Alex posted, Biden is running away with this thing.
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Suzanne said on October 8, 2020 at 6:19 am
I watched every last bit of the debate. The fly on Pence was pure comedy gold, especially since he didn’t seem to notice. He was what I expected; a lying sycophantic weasel who talked over both women because they are women. An evil Ted Baxter who doesn’t realize that those more evil than him back him because he is so easily manipulated. I thought Kamala handled him well.
A quick check of the Right after the debate shows that they are saying that she talked way more than he did and he had to keep talking over her and the moderator because Harris was given so much more time. You know, the women folk were ganging up on him and he had to reclaim his time.
I thought the fly was God’s reminder to My Pants that He sent plagues, including one of flies, to a guy named Pharoah who was given all kinds of power but thought he knew better than the Almighty.
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David C said on October 8, 2020 at 6:25 am
The flygate conspiracy theories from the wingnuts are going to be delicious. “It was a robot fly from Obama and the DNC sent to embarrass Pence”.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 8, 2020 at 10:18 am
I know what John Harwood was thinking about last night.
https://youtu.be/Qfv2c0wTZg4
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Julie Robinson said on October 8, 2020 at 10:31 am
Ack, I missed the fly! Pence was droning on and I decided to brush my teeth. It was over by the time I got back. It’s been fun seeing reactions, though.
Pence blatantly ignored the rules by talking over his time beginning with the first question. At one point, Susan Page reminded him, in a voice full or frustration, that he had agreed to abide by the rules. It didn’t make any difference.
So, absent a kill switch on the mics, how about using chess clocks? Each person has a total amount of time to talk and the clock ticks down as they speak. Put the clock in front of them and in front of the audience. If they go over several times, their time is up and they don’t get to speak anymore. Maybe that means their opponent gets to answer the last few questions alone.
Was this the last debate? Trump has pulled out of the next one and I’d lay odds he’ll find an excuse for the final one as well. I hope Biden gets the full 90 minutes himself.
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LAMary said on October 8, 2020 at 10:33 am
Dexter, I’m a few miles off then. I’m glad Lebron negotiated using the Staples Center. I’m also impressed by his involvement with getting the fines and reparations of ex felons paid in Florida.
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susan said on October 8, 2020 at 10:47 am
Last evening, I watched a zoom presentation by our chapter of the state’s native plant society, on local endemic plants. Bet I learned more than from watching the vice “debate.”
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 8, 2020 at 11:38 am
Y’all up north doing some weird stuff . . .
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/10/08/feds-thwart-militia-plot-kidnap-michigan-gov-gretchen-whitmer/5922301002/
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susan said on October 8, 2020 at 11:41 am
Que sorpresa. Not. “Susan Page of USA Today criticized for hosting off-the-record event honoring Trump appointees”
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St Bitch said on October 8, 2020 at 12:02 pm
Senator Kamala Harris ‘bugged’ the hell out of me out of the gate when she didn’t even answer the first question in last night’s non-debate. Yet she WAS effective when she followed Aaron Burr’s advice to Hamilton, (“Talk less, smile more”) and let the impact of coronavirus on all of our lives do the rebutting.
As a piece of improvisational political theatre, last night was sensational!
Listen to Iz Kamakawiwo’ole and hear why I will forever-after think of the current vice-president as “the little grocery pence”:
The Fly
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Jim said on October 8, 2020 at 12:13 pm
LeBron is also helping to arrange rides to the one dropbox in Houston for people who want to vote early.
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