I guess it was back at Barrington Elementary School, and it must have been early in the year, because we were talking about the just-concluded Olympic Games — this had to have been 1968, I guess — and one of my classmates asked, “Who won the Olympics?” The teacher explained that no one country “wins” the Olympics, that athletes compete under their own flags and win individual events, but the whole spectacle was about international fellowship and friendship.
Yeah, tell that to Dick Ebersol, amirite? As I recall, he was the one who instituted medal counts, first on NBC, which jingoistic editors later adopted for newspapers, and so on and so on.
Since we have to live with medal counts, here’s an unpopular opinion: I like it when American athletes, especially those who are favorites, are upset in their events. My all-time favorite might be when the American men’s basketball team had to settle for bronze in the 2004 games. And I realize it’s not the athletes losing that gives me this grim joy, but the insane, over-emphasis on American athletes, especially in the handful of prime-time sports that NBC shamelessly milks for pathos — gymnastics, swimming, track and a few others. Because I’ve spent my career in media, I can’t watch a closeup of Simone Biles sitting on the sideline without reverse-angling through the fourth wall. I know she’s surrounded by photographers and lenses capturing her every nose-scratch, and while I don’t want her to crash and burn — excuse me, for her Olympic dreams to vanish, I do want NBC to think, just for a few minutes, whether maybe another sport might be worthy of a little bit of attention.
Alan told me about kayak cross, a new sport this cycle, described by a writer for New York magazine as “a kind of mix between a ski slalom and white-water rafting and something you would see on one of the silly game shows that air on ABC in the summer where people risk bodily injury for small cash prizes. It is easily the most ‘should be narrated by a B-list comedian’ event at the Olympics. People in the crowd at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium should have airhorns. These are the highest compliments I know how to give.” That is an excellent description; the videos are hilarious. Can we get a little comic relief between closeups of Simone Biles looking fierce and determined? Just a little?
I mean, I look at the clips that turn up in social-media feeds, and it’s often the weirdo sports like artistic swimming. There’s definitely an audience for this. You know what the most shared track-and-field clip was in recent days? The French pole vaulter who brought down the bar with his sizable penis, but did we see that on NBC? No. (OK, maybe we did. I didn’t watch every second in recent days. But I doubt it.)
Fortunately, other media outlets are still practicing journalism:
You should watch that. It’s good.
Now I’m watching diving. One of the things I like about the Olympics is the way different sports reward different body types, and no group excels at flinging their bodies through the air like compact Asian people. These Chinese women are amazing; they barely make splashes.
In other news at this hour, Tim Walz! That was a good introductory speech. Still not taking anything for granted, because man, these Republicans get scarier every day.
Sherri said on August 6, 2024 at 9:01 pm
When I have time during the day, I love watching Gold Zone on Peacock. Live, whip-around coverage of all sorts of events, coverage of any event where a gold medal is happening, with a focus on the sports, not on the celebrities in the stands. I swear I saw more shots of Tom Brady in the stands watching the gymnasts than I saw of any gymnast last night on NBC.
It was on Gold Zone today that I learned about Mijain Lopez, the Cuban heavyweight who has absolutely dominated Greco-Roman wrestling. Gold Zone showed his gold medal match, against a wrestler who had moved from Cuba to Chile because Lopez so dominated the sport that he had been unable to qualify for the Olympics from Cuba.
Lopez won the gold, his fifth gold in five consecutive Olympics. He becomes the first Olympian to win individual gold in the same event five times. This was his sixth Olympics; he finished fifth in his first Olympics back in 2004.
I also loved watching Mondo Duplantis blow away the competition and set a new world record in pole vault. He’s unreal.
I’ve dipped into all sorts of other sports because Peacock makes streams available for each sport at the Olympics. I’m no longer held hostage by what NBC deigns to show me!
1228 chars
Sherri said on August 6, 2024 at 9:18 pm
I like the Walz pick for many reasons, and I think it’s going to be challenging for the GOP to portray a former high school teacher, football coach, and National Guard non-commissioned officer as some dangerous radical lefty. He supports free lunches for school kids! He made schools provide tampons! OMG what a monster!
Of course, the same pundits who thought the Dems should hold some reality TV show to replace Biden also think that Harris should have found someone more moderate, by which they apparently mean a Republican. Why should Dems move towards the “center” with a party that wants to get rid of child labor laws and wants a nationwide abortion ban? What does that center even look like?
708 chars
Jeff Gill said on August 6, 2024 at 9:30 pm
Lots of Warren Zevon love in the Walz pick.
43 chars
Suzanne said on August 6, 2024 at 10:00 pm
Nikki Haley is claiming that Dems are anti-Semitic because they didn’t pick Shapiro for VP. But wait. The GOP’s VP pick is part of the far right schism inducing Catholicism, isn’t he? Did we miss Vance having a secret bar mitzvah?
Seriously, though, this Harris Walz team is bringing vibes to this race I never thought possible.
335 chars
jcburns said on August 6, 2024 at 10:00 pm
But Sherri, Peacock IS NBC under another banner…
And Jeff, I’ll sleep when I’m…well, actually I think I’ll go to sleep now.
136 chars
Sherri said on August 6, 2024 at 10:19 pm
I understand that Peacock and NBC are owned by the same entity, but the broadcast version of the entity has always refused to show me Olympics in any manner other than tape-delayed for prime time, and only the sports that are dominated by Americans. For $8/month, Peacock will let me see anything I want. I’d pay even more to get rid of the ads, but at least I’m rid of all the non-sports pieces.
400 chars
Sherri said on August 7, 2024 at 12:39 am
Tim Walz was a spectacular high school teacher: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/education/23education.html?unlocked_article_code=1.BE4.wK-3.anB7ShUoDKfo&smid=url-share
175 chars
David C said on August 7, 2024 at 6:26 am
I remember a few years ago they showed mixed doubles badminton during the Olympics. The announcing was bizarre. It went “He hits it, she hits it, she hits it…”. They stick to what they know, I guess.
201 chars
diane said on August 7, 2024 at 8:23 am
I bet the NYT won’t print anything that positive about him now.
65 chars
Jeff Borden said on August 7, 2024 at 10:00 am
Apparently, Walz is trending on MAGA texts as “Tampon Tim,” because he’s ensured students have free access to them at school. Yep. That’s who’s going to unleash “hell on earth.” A guy who wants menstruating teens not be be embarrassed while at school. What a monster.
267 chars
robert said on August 7, 2024 at 10:20 am
re: Olympic “winners” – I hate the medal count nonsense. Who “wins” the Olympics? Every athlete who gets to participate.
re: RethugliKKKan reaction to Tim Walz – witness a Xristofascist party devoid of humanity or christian values.
242 chars
David C said on August 7, 2024 at 10:55 am
Better Tampon Tim than Douchebag Don. One helps, one hurts.
59 chars
alex said on August 7, 2024 at 11:06 am
So glad Walz didn’t “couch” his contempt for Vance. The NYT called the zinger “wince-worthy” but that’s a more apt description of the Times’ political reporting methinks.
Haven’t been paying much attention to the Olympics but I’m remembering one of my favorite SNL skits with Gilda Radner.
415 chars
Jeff Borden said on August 7, 2024 at 11:17 am
Re: Olympics. I haven’t bought anything from Nike since its “You don’t win silver. You lose gold” commercials during an Olympics years ago. The obnoxiousness of that statement us still pretty stunning. Fuck Nike.
212 chars
4dbirds said on August 7, 2024 at 11:18 am
I know Maga women think they’re exceptions to the patriarchy, they aren’t but I can’t help but think normal women are tiring of the anti-women crap the Republicans keep laying on us. Kamel toe, tampon Tim, heels-up, slept her way to the top, not qualified, am I missing any, are simply making me angry and more determined to donate money and volunteer.
353 chars
Suzanne said on August 7, 2024 at 11:37 am
When I see and hear Tim Walz, I think of Coach Hines.
And it makes me smile.
https://youtu.be/r0_gW4yBwHU?si=1WoVcRtwiQYobGp1
129 chars
Jenine said on August 7, 2024 at 12:11 pm
Lots of love for Walz on bluesky https://bsky.app/ . I found this video posted there [ https://mediaspace.esri.com/media/t/1_d2sqkrju ] very inspiring. He goes over his career and the importance of using data to make people’s lives better.
239 chars
Scout said on August 7, 2024 at 12:37 pm
Best quip on Threads today: “Tampon Tim is gonna stop the red wave.” Bravo. And that’s how you counter their inane silly season crap.
I think VP candidate Coach Walz is a real life Ted Lasso. Folksy, genuine and just gol-derned NICE. He is the perfect accessory to joyful prosecutor Kamala. I’m so happy to ride the joy bus from now until November and beyond. Do the cheatin’ Republicans have a plan to steal when they lose? Probably, but the way this whole Biden handing the reins to Harris has played out I have confidence they’re prepared. It’s not going to come out of nowhere this time.
We have been watching the Olympics on Peacock too and it’s great being able to browse through what events you want to replay because the non-prime time stuff is all there. I love the white water rafting, the 3 on 3 basketball, the surfing, synchronized diving, the equestrian events and so much more. And I also loved watching mighty Simone in prime too, I’ll admit it. When she and Jordan Chiles goddess bowed to Rebeca Andrade on the medal stand? THAT is the spirit of the Olympics to me.
1088 chars
Dorothy said on August 7, 2024 at 1:21 pm
The more I learn about Walz the happier I feel. It seems he and Harris are an unbeatable combination. I surely will be clinging to that idea until the election happens.
I can’t get too focused on the Olympics. Sure they’re great, but paying close attention to the competitions means my eyes have to be on the tv screen instead of on my sewing machine and I’m enjoying my hand work too much to pull myself away to watch. I do keep it on sometimes and use the rewind button to see some of the exciting outcomes. It’s nice to have the competitions on in the background as I work (I mean play).
602 chars
FDChief said on August 7, 2024 at 9:10 pm
Tampon Tim? The MAGAtGOP will throw everything they can. They live on the Monkey Island that is wingnutlandia; of COURSE they’re gonna fling their poop. It’s all they have. What are they going to run ON? Project 2025? “Well, we’re going to cut Social Security, but fortunately you have a big garage for your parents to live in!”?
I enjoy the combat sports; fencing, especially, though the Turkish pistol dad has been fun. Modern pentathlon is the perfect distillation of the nationalism baked into the modern OG; sport as a day in the life of an early 20th Century military courier? K, then.
That kayakcross is a ridiculous hoot. They should have bow rams, though, to sink the other paddlers. Didn’t take the concept far enough…
736 chars
Sherri said on August 8, 2024 at 1:53 am
Speed climbing is insane.
25 chars
Dexter Friend said on August 8, 2024 at 10:32 am
Reporter: “What would you talk about if you sat down for beer with a voter who wanted to get to know you?”
JD: “Well I do like to drink beer. Kamala Harris is destroying the country!”
Geez, that reporter placed a Chicago-sized 16 inch softball on a tee and Vance still swung and missed.
289 chars
Jeff Borden said on August 8, 2024 at 11:58 am
The fake fucking hillbilly attacked Walz’s military record, accusing him of “stolen valor” for retiring before an Iraq call-up, while Mr. Big Time Marine went off to the war. What the fake fucking hillbilly neglected to mention was he worked in an air-conditioned press office in Iraq and never saw a second of real combat aside from dealing with recalcitrant printers.
The more I hear, see and read about Vance, the more I dislike him. He’s just a deeply unlikable jerk. Here’s what Amanda Marcotte wrote for Salon after attending the fauxbilly’s small rally in South Philly:
“One upside to the Vance event: There was no line to use the ladies’ room. Sure, there were women in attendance, but the gender ratio felt like the guest list on Joe Rogan’s podcast.”
“There was one kind of diversity in this small but weirdly intense crowd. Every type of white man that gets a hasty “swipe left” on his dating profile was in attendance: ‘Roided out dudes with bad tribal tattoos. Older men radiating “bitter divorce” energy. Men with enormous beards that have never known the touch of a trimmer. Skinny fascists wearing expensive suits, despite the oppressive heat. Glowering loners staring at the two women under 40 like cats watching birds out a window.”
Real stroke of genius by the Orange King to choose this mope.
1324 chars
Julie Robinson said on August 8, 2024 at 12:22 pm
From what I’ve read, Walz put in for retirement months before the deployment, and his replacement had already been trained and put into place. But what good would it do to tell a Magat?
Anyone else ready for the Olympics to be over? I’d like the Colbert show back again.
Now that our repipe is done the deconstruction in the bathroom has started. No surprise, he’s found more problems due to whoever worked on it before. The previous owner used unlicensed handymen who were often in over their head. So, there are leaks from the shower because they didn’t use cement board, and that made the floor next to the toilet spongy. The toilet that is sitting on a sand foundation. I ask you.
690 chars
Sherri said on August 8, 2024 at 6:58 pm
Weird continues to be salient because the right wing continues to be weird, from JD Vance storming Air Force 2 (and Trump spokesman Steven Cheung tweeted that the plane will have to be deep cleaned because the smell alone must be awful) to the Daily Caller attacking Tim Walz’s church.
They’re coming for the Lutherans now! The list of people they hate is getting pretty long.
Transgender people
Gay people
Women
Black people
Childless women
Cats
Immigrants
People who use IVF to have children
Children, unless they work so they can pay for their own damn lunches
Lutherans (the ECLA ones, anyway)
Sometimes the Police (they love them when the cops are attacking the people they hate, but hate them when the cops attack them)
Anybody who doesn’t recognize their obvious superiority
804 chars
tajalli said on August 8, 2024 at 7:51 pm
Sherri, I think you might be referring to ELCA (rather than ECLA), which is the largest lutheran synod in the US. Probably object to all that foreign sounding tuna hot dish and that the evangelical is confined to outreach in other countries, not here.
252 chars
Sherri said on August 8, 2024 at 8:40 pm
You’re right, tajalli, that’s what I meant. Typo.
53 chars
Deborah said on August 8, 2024 at 8:58 pm
As a former Missouri Synod Lutheran, and then an AELC Lutheran, I stopped going to church before the AELC merged with the LCA and I think it was called the ALC to become the ELCA, I have to say I find the right wing turning on Lutherans now to be hilarious.
Here’s what my right wing sister who lives in Minnesota has to say about Walz: “We don’t like Walz at all. He was a tyrant during Covid. During the George Floyd riots he sided with the rioters, not the residents, business owners downtown, fire department and police. He also presided over the worst Covid fraud in the US, the Feeding our Future for millions of dollars.
The good news is that if he gets elected VP, he will have to move to Washington DC and the job is mostly ceremonial, so he won’t hurt us anymore.” All I can say in response to that is “weird”. That fraud was something Walz had nothing to do with of course, but they are trying everything now.
934 chars
Julie Robinson said on August 8, 2024 at 9:39 pm
ELCA Lutheran here! Technically I belong to my daughter’s Covenant church, but my heart will always be in the ELCA. We ordained women over 50 years ago and welcome the full LGBTQ+ rainbow as pastors and members. We believe abortion is sometimes a necessary choice, immigrants should be welcomed as Jesus instructed in the gospels, and that science comes from God and is to be embraced. ELCA Lutherans are everywhere in Minnesota.
I think Walz has really gotten under their skin. When they go low, we go Minnesota nice.
521 chars
Sherri said on August 8, 2024 at 9:49 pm
So, in his news conference yesterday, Trump claims that he was in a helicopter with Willie Brown that almost crashed, and that Brown was bad-mouthing Harris.
Willie Brown has never ridden in a helicopter with Trump.
He always has and continues to support Harris.
The helicopter ride was likely one Trump too, with then Gov Jerry Brown and governor-elect Gavin Newsom to view wildfire damage.
The helicopter did not almost crash, or experience any difficulty.
This was the wildfire when Trump famously called for raking the forests.
That goes way beyond simple name confusion. I mean, I get that Willie and Jerry are both Browns, but if you just said Willie when you meant Jerry, then you wouldn’t go off on the tangent about him bad-mouthing Harris. And the whole helicopter almost crashing thing is just strange.
I’m paying attention to how the mind ages these days. My dad called me yesterday to tell me one of his brothers had died. But the way he told me was not the way he would have told me a few years ago. He did start with his brother dying. He started with how he and my mom were going to see another brother a couple of days ago, who lives three and a half hours away, and mentioned it to the brother who lives nearby. John (the brother who lives nearby) wanted to go too, even though his health was really bad; he’d had multiple stents in the last few months, his lung capacity was down to about 30%, and he needed oxygen all the time and a wheelchair. In order to manage all the gear, they were going in two cars. They made it there about lunchtime, and decided to get some lunch at an Arby’s before going to Charlie’s, the brother they were visiting. John went in the bathroom, was taking forever, they went to check on him, he was able to unlock the bathroom door, but was slumped over the washbasin, and minutes later, collapsed. One of the employees did CPR, they called 911, but he was dead.
This whole time I’m guessing that John died, but waiting for Dad to get to the point, and wondering when he’s going to get there. I don’t interrupt him, because I know that will make him mad, but what I wrote above is a more concise version of what he told me. My Dad is 86, and is still very active, and competent, but the decline is showing now.
2290 chars
basset said on August 8, 2024 at 10:08 pm
I have to think that “French pole vaulter” will be a popular adolescent boys’ Halloween costume this year. Easy one, too – just tank top and shorts, a piece of PVC pipe, and a couple of extra socks.
205 chars
alex said on August 8, 2024 at 10:59 pm
I watched Trump’s press conference on the NYT web site. The questions were inaudible and his answers were so risible that I’m amazed even someone as stupid as a Magat wouldn’t say WTF. He wouldn’t shut up about his crowd sizes which he says the press underreports while inflating the numbers for Harris. (He even claimed to have beaten MLK’s record in 1963 “on the same real estate.”) For the most part he came across as a sore loser and a crybaby, aside from the pathological lying.
And we’re supposedly only tied at this point? Man, what a fucking stupid country we live in.
He made all kinds of gross misrepresentations and it was all for the benefit of his cultists because any normal person would have been too ashamed to look so fucking bad. He says she supposedly “destroyed” not only San Francisco but the whole state of California with the help of her pal Gavin “New Scum.”
And the NYT has a fact-check about what’s false or misleading yet it’s still totally candy-assed and isn’t delving into why half of this country would trust this raving lunatic to be President.
1088 chars
Sherri said on August 9, 2024 at 12:52 am
US athletes discover healthcare is free at the Olympics: https://www.si.com/olympics/american-athletes-taking-full-advantage-of-free-healthcare-olympic-village-france
167 chars
Deborah said on August 9, 2024 at 5:46 am
I saw a couple of clips of Trump’s speech online and oh my, that guy is bonkers.
We have a friend who is 87 and he’s starting to have problems expressing himself. He’s a concert violist and can still play wonderfully, he gave a concert recently and it was amazing to watch him. He admitted to my husband that now he often forgets his train of thought while he’s speaking. He is able to gloss over it and spin on to something else. If you didn’t know that he’s glossing you wouldn’t notice it at all. It’s kind of remarkable how quick on his feet he is that way.
Trump on the other hand at 78 is obviously losing his ability to keep his train of thought and has a hard time finishing sentences etc. He clearly knows this about himself and constantly projected that onto Biden, even still after Biden dropped out of the race.
I agree if you can watch Trump lie, discombobulate, abusively name call etc and still plan to vote for him you need to seriously ask what’s going on within yourself.
1017 chars
David C said on August 9, 2024 at 6:14 am
Joe Rogan is now an RFK Jr. guy. “The only one who makes sense, to me”. This keeps getting better.
https://balloon-juice.com/2024/08/09/late-night-open-thread-confusion-to-our-enemies-2/
189 chars
basset said on August 9, 2024 at 10:53 am
I already have more camo clothing than I can wear, but I’m still disappointed that the Harris-Walsh camo caps are sold out.
125 chars
basset said on August 9, 2024 at 12:16 pm
Walz, that is… I’ll blame autofill.
39 chars
Deborah said on August 9, 2024 at 7:15 pm
LB and I are done with our painting project, thank goodness. I woke up this morning at about 3:30 and never went back to sleep, I got out of bed at 5:40 after reading the entire internet. Then it was work, work, work all day getting everything put back in the kitchen and general cleanup of the place. I don’t think this place has ever looked so clean. I still have to vacuum the living room furniture but I’m doing that in the morning tomorrow and I have a mountain of laundry to fold too.
I’ve been listening to podcasts as I’ve worked today, lots of stuff to feel good about.
581 chars
Deborah said on August 9, 2024 at 8:23 pm
FYI, for those interested this weekend is the peak of the Perseid Meteor shower.
80 chars
Sherri said on August 9, 2024 at 8:49 pm
Headline in the NYTimes: “Biden Promised Peace, but Will Leave His Successor a Nation Entangled in War”
Okay, so the writer is just going to ignore that Biden actually pulled US troops out of Afghanistan, something his three predecessors had not done? And that US troops are not actually fighting in a war right now? Yes, I know we’re sending arms to Ukraine and Israel, but by that definition of “entangled in war”, the US has been entangled in war nonstop since the 1930s. I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with that characterization, just the notion that Biden has been exceptional.
598 chars
David C said on August 9, 2024 at 8:56 pm
I read a Republican “strategist” said Trump is quiet quitting his campaign. Wouldn’t that be nice? They’d be stuck with weirdo Vance and succession is almost always problematic in cults. Maybe they’ll mix up some Flavor Aid.
224 chars
Julie Robinson said on August 9, 2024 at 9:29 pm
My two guys are out trying to view the Perseids right now. There’s a park a couple of hours away where no lights are allowed so it’s ideal. Unfortunately it started raining right after they left. There’s also no cell service at the park, and they texted me when they got there, but didn’t respond to my text back, guess they hit the zone.
This was a Christmas gift from our son, and the fact that he thought so far in advance, matched the dates, and made the reservations? He’s come a loooooong way, baby!
508 chars
alex said on August 9, 2024 at 9:34 pm
My garden is pumping out tomatoes and peppers so fast I’m beginning to feel like Lucille Ball in the famous chocolate factory skit. Gonna be making a year’s worth of tomato sauce this weekend.
Time for the Perseids again. Last year I mistook Elon Musk’s Starlink for the meteor show and called it a night.
Some of the funnier fallout from Trump’s bizarro news conference: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/09/politics/video/willie-brown-helicopter-story-trump-harris-ac360-digvid
485 chars
Deborah said on August 9, 2024 at 10:18 pm
We can’t seem to grow tomatoes at all in Santa Fe. This year LB got a couple of plants from a neighbor who has good luck growing them. LB did what he said adding bone meal to the soil in the large pots etc. the plants themselves are doing great in fact better than any previous year but only had one blossom and it didn’t materialize into a tomato. In years past she has gotten maybe a few tomatoes but the skins are tough and they were small. I gave up on trying but LB hasn’t given up hope each summer.
511 chars
Mark P said on August 9, 2024 at 11:39 pm
I’m going to read some tea leaves. I think the perception of the likelihood of Trump’s winning is beginning to change. NBC news tonight had a relatively long piece on Trump’s claim that he was on a helicopter with Willie Brown that almost crashed, and that Brown told him bad things about Kamala Harris. The claim was pretty thoroughly debunked (Willie Brown laughed at him),and made to look foolish as well. Every point was debunked: Willie Brown was never on a helicopter with Trump, no one who was actually with him in the helicopter flight in California said anything about Kamala Harris, and the helicopter did not suffer an emergency landing or any kind of trouble. The lie is not all that different from Trump’s other lies, but the treatment was. To me, that indicates that NBC bigwigs do not think Trump is going to win, so it’s safe to finally do their jobs and report on Trump’s lies, and, one hopes, everything else he does or may do that threatens democracy.
982 chars
David C said on August 10, 2024 at 6:05 am
Trump’s campaign is dying on the vine and everyone seems have received the memo except dipshit Dash at the Times. He might as well sell the thing to Murdoch.
157 chars
Jeff Borden said on August 10, 2024 at 9:48 am
I feel much better about November, but remain deeply concerned about the ratfucking plans put in place by the QOP. Several election deniers are on the boards of several swing states, ready to not certify results if the good guys are winning. And with our federal courts completely compromised there’s no assurance they won’t successfully create a Constitutional crisis. How far we have fallen…and how fast.
408 chars
alex said on August 10, 2024 at 10:08 am
And the helicopter story gets weirder still:
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/09/trump-plane-crash-california-00173487
126 chars
Deborah said on August 10, 2024 at 10:09 am
Now Politico has reported that there was a near helicopter crash but it was when he was with a different black guy and it was near his casino in Atlantic City when Trump was still married to Ivana. There was no talk about Harris because it was before her time in politics. They were looking at property or something. If Biden had told a story like that where he had names and circumstances so discombobulated he would be lambasted in the press.
edit: oops Alex mentioned it while I was typing.
494 chars
alex said on August 10, 2024 at 11:48 am
I’m guessing Trump got what he wanted out of that lie. It was a calculated effort to remind people that Harris had a relationship with Willie Brown so as to feed the Republican narrative that she didn’t get where she is on her own merits.
238 chars
Deborah said on August 10, 2024 at 2:23 pm
It’s official, my right wing sister said she’s voting for Trump. She’s taking Nikki Haley’s advice. The thing is Haley is toast if Trump doesn’t win and she’s probably toast if he wins. I didn’t expect her to vote for Harris but the last 2 elections she said she wrote someone in because her conscience wouldn’t let her vote for Trump. As I said before my niece told me that her mom wrote in Bannon so I don’t get how her conscience works. Also my sister is probably all in for Project 2025.
509 chars
Sherri said on August 10, 2024 at 3:16 pm
Can I have term limits for op-ed columnists, please? Kathleen Parker literally just wrote a “it’s a good thing she’s pretty” piece about Harris.
When people who have nationally syndicated columns write things like that, I’m not inclined to listen to the pearl-clutchers worrying about couch jokes
309 chars
Sherri said on August 10, 2024 at 8:46 pm
It’s nice to watch the Olympics and not be bombarded by betting, which has taken over all other sports coverage. I’m sure that won’t last.
I remember many years ago watching a skinny college kid play in the tournament for Davidson and telling my husband that Steph Curry had the most beautiful jump shot I had ever seen. Steph Curry still has the most beautiful jump shot I’ve ever seen, and he unleashed it in the 4th quarter of the semifinals and the finals to seal the wins for USA.
496 chars
David C said on August 11, 2024 at 7:25 am
If I was in a generous mood, I’d say Trump is confabulating. It’s a memory error that sometimes occurs with dementia or brain injuries. I’ve seen my mom, who has Alzheimer’s, do it. She mashes together something that happened in the past with something else that happened or she twists reality in strange ways. It could be that, or he could be lying like always and can’t keep his lies straight. It doesn’t matter, both say he’s not fit for the job.
449 chars
ROGirl said on August 11, 2024 at 8:12 am
He’s been lying his whole life and a) he’s gotten away with it, and b) he can’t not lie: he’s getting over on the rubes and the people who disdain him. His cognitive decline seems to amplify his distorted perspective on the world, but he’s also incapable of admitting that he’s wrong, and this fakakta helicopter story is only the latest example.
346 chars
Mark P said on August 11, 2024 at 9:12 am
My wife, who had a serious head injury 40 years ago and is now showing signs of cognitive impairment, confabulates. It’s really annoying, even when I understand why she does it, because she can’t be convinced otherwise. I’m not sure whether Trump knows he’s lying and just doesn’t care, or whether he actually believes his own lies. I do think he doesn’t care in either case. I still don’t really understand why the media treat him as if he’s a normal person when he’s clearly not.
499 chars
Deborah said on August 11, 2024 at 9:54 am
I once worked with a woman who couldn’t not lie. It was weird, she would tell obvious lies even when the truth was perfectly acceptable. I think there is a mental condition of being a pathological liar.
I follow George Conway on Threads and he has written extensively of Trumps pathological narcissism. He often quotes psychologists who explain toxic narcissism and its phases. Conway has described narcissistic injury where a narcissist suffers a blow to his/her ego and can become quite agitated. And then there is something called narcissistic mortification where he believes Trump is now. This is when a narcissist becomes aware of themselves and how they have screwed up. This phase is followed by narcissistic collapse when the narcissist becomes even more volatile and all hell breaks lose, this can effect physical health as well. Conway believes this is where Trump is headed and he has no idea what will happen if it does.
939 chars
susan said on August 11, 2024 at 4:48 pm
Well, yeah. Look at Dump’s latest screed
He is really losing whatever it he had, which was never much. It reads like he is talking about himself, which he is. Projection much?
492 chars