Whew, what a week. Sorry for being mostly absent, but I have a week-long commitment with a social-media client that is kinda tapping my energy, although today I got to watch this YouTube clip as part of it, and it cheered me right up and I bet it’ll do the same for you. Watch the whole thing; it just keeps getting better.
I’m mostly cheered up on a lot of fronts. As we’ve been discussing in comments for the last month, it’s been…a fucking month. A lot, as the kids say. But now, things are looking up and I can feel my energy and optimism returning, although I’m not taking a goddamn thing for granted this time. If Kamala can appear appropriately presidential in coming weeks — or at least present as a credible alternative to angry grandpa — we have a real shot.
Also, I sent her $100. I’m sure that’ll make the difference.
“Are you worried it might come back to bite you?” Alan asked of this donation. Journalists aren’t supposed to make political donations, but hell, I’m barely a journalist anymore, and who the fuck cares. This is life or death. I’m on the side of life.
Also, I once donated to a couple of Jennifer Brunner’s campaigns in Ohio, and no one cared. So pfft.
As I imagine you’ve been doing, I’m mainly just absorbing the news, trying to synthesize it and get through the day and into the night without lying awake half of it, thinking about whether to stay and become a fighter for democracy or check out and find a nice cheap property in the Italian countryside. In between, I watched the latest adaptation of “Presumed Innocent” and came away thinking man, what a piece of crap.
How about you?
Sherri said on July 24, 2024 at 9:02 pm
Better a publicly disclosed campaign contribution than the faux view from nowhere/I don’t do politics stance of a Peter Baker.
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Suzanne said on July 24, 2024 at 9:03 pm
We just finished watching Biden’s speech. It was heartfelt, honest, and inspiring. I was a bit disappointed that he didn’t announce that since SCOTUS said the President has complete immunity for official tasks, he was ordering Trump & his minions have their citizenship revoked and sent to live in the Hillbilly country that Vance pretends to be from.
And now, let’s go Kamala!!
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brian stouder said on July 24, 2024 at 10:24 pm
I was taken aback – and energized! – by President Biden’s definitively PRESIDENTIAL action; he did precisely the right thing, and at the right time. And now it’s up to ‘We, the people’ to rise to the occasion and also ‘do the right things’ in the upcoming election cycle.
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alex said on July 24, 2024 at 10:35 pm
I had to attend an HOA meeting tonight and miss the speech. Nothing like abjectly stupid people to drag me back down into the doldrums, but only for an hour and a half.
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Dexter Friend said on July 25, 2024 at 6:04 am
I guess Joe had to do it, but the speech was in the manner of Ike’s farewell “military-industrial complex” farewell, and Joe has a load more to do until January 20.
Trump called the USA a “stupid country ran by stupid people” and said Harris was the worst VP in history; she flunked her bar exam, she would destroy America. Also, when Trump said it was not shrapnel or glass that cut him, but a bullet, the media dropped all questions about maybe it was not a bullet, and went on with Trump’s story. Just now, MSNBC is reporting there is an intensive investigation trying to find the truth.
I rescind my questions about “can she win? Is she able to assume the office’s problems and do a great job?” I said and wrote that because it seemed she had been pigeonholed into women’s healthcare. The claims she is a failed border crossing czar is just more bullshit. Trump’s orders to halt Lankford’s plan is what heated up the border.
Harris is ready and smart enough to handle any crisis. My vote is forthcoming.
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Jeff Gill said on July 25, 2024 at 8:56 am
I “manage” variations on my name in donations, to watch how the mailing lists get sold. It’s morbidly fascinating to see how they cross party & ideological boundaries over time.
Harris is working brilliantly through this immediate ramp-up. I think she has two challenges past the VP pick: the odds are quite high that Jimmy Carter will die before the election, and that funeral will be a strange interlude . . . and I cannot help but wonder after last night if Biden will yet make of her an incumbent, which will complicate her campaign in these hundred days. It very well could help, but so many former truisms are gutted and hollowed out today, so who knows. But her odds are excellent right now. Harris has my vote (already did) & my donation.
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Andrea said on July 25, 2024 at 9:31 am
I thought Rebecca Traister’s take was spot on.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/the-thrill-of-taking-a-huge-risk-on-kamala-harris.html
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Sherri said on July 25, 2024 at 3:12 pm
The first ad is out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z3yMK0m6rQ
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alex said on July 25, 2024 at 4:36 pm
Now that’s the kind of strong messaging I was hoping to see from the Dems before. Republicans have no claim to a monopoly on freedom, especially when they treat it like a finite resource that will disappear if others are allowed to have it. We needed someone energetic and attractive as an alternative to the negative and grotesque figure that is Donald Trump. And she was right in front of us the whole time.
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Julie Robinson said on July 25, 2024 at 4:55 pm
Love it! Even better, Kamala will be on Ru Paul’s Drag Race tomorrow night, apparently filmed a month ago. What timing. https://youtu.be/b9onKJOl8dY?si=g-JHMG-H1cWubCY6
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Sherri said on July 25, 2024 at 6:49 pm
https://www.vox.com/culture/363230/jd-vance-couch-sex-hillbilly-elegy-rumor-false
My favorite JD couch joke is “that’s not what intersectional means.”
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David C said on July 26, 2024 at 6:20 am
The fact checks only say he didn’t write in his stupid book that he fucked a couch. But the important question of whether he fucked a couch or not is still out there (Cokie’s Law). It’s up to Vance to clear this up by categorically denying he fucked a couch.
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alex said on July 26, 2024 at 8:04 am
Gives a whole new meaning to couch surfing. And where he comes from, they do it on the front porch or out in the road.
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Suzanne said on July 26, 2024 at 8:44 am
The couch screwing story is clearly fictional but the spreading of it faster than the wildfires is just desserts for the party that regularly weaponizes fake stories to attack those they don’t like.
As the Good Book says in Galatians 6:7 “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”
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Jeff Borden said on July 26, 2024 at 11:45 am
I refuse to mock JD Vance for being a homosectional.
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Sherri said on July 26, 2024 at 12:51 pm
Thread win for Jeff!
I think the QOP has become so insular that they no longer see or hear just how weird and unlikable their candidates are.
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Dexter Friend said on July 26, 2024 at 1:27 pm
Vance takes this famous scene/line from “Blue Velvet” to new heights:
Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper):
“Right, Ben…LET’S GO FUCK—I’LL FUCK ANYTHING THAT MOOOOVES !! Hahh hahhhh! “
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Sherri said on July 26, 2024 at 1:56 pm
JD Vance has now clarified in an interview with Megyn Kelly, that he has nothing against cats.
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Suzanne said on July 26, 2024 at 4:08 pm
The right is even beginning to realize that they are off the rails.
https://www.thefp.com/p/gop-rabbit-hole-2024-rnc-milwaukee
“ But it’s hard to see how we reinsert the genie back into the bottle. The border separating reality and unreality, acceptable versus unacceptable opinion, has been dissolved. In today’s postmodernized Republican Party, everyone has a legitimate point of view, and facts are just “narratives” or “constructs,” and the only thing that really matters is how big your audience is and whether your content goes viral.”
The publication this is from is a new media company founded by Bari Weiss.
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Mark P said on July 26, 2024 at 4:37 pm
Sherri, given Dexter in #17, the cats are probably mighty relieved.
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Deborah said on July 26, 2024 at 6:58 pm
I don’t want to sound like a naysayer but what happened to the Republicans after their convention being so caught up in fervor and enthusiasm for Trump, after he announced his guy Vance and his swaggering over his “taking a bullet for democracy”, has me worried that us going gaga for Harris so fast and so hard may need some cooling off. As much as I love the momentum, I guess I’m a typical Democrat trying to yank the thrill of winning to being too cautious and succumbing to ultimate defeat. Someone talk me out of this anxiety. Please.
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tajalli said on July 26, 2024 at 7:53 pm
Deborah, sometimes I have observed the same lemming-like shift of the crowd of either political stripe and figured I’ll just wait out the good or bad hysteria that’s fueling these rushes, wait out the name calling by either side, wait out the trumpeting and posturing and pontificating.
What I suspect has happened was that the political atmospheric solution had become so super-saturated with disgust for the outrageous attacks from the right extremists, that the Biden bloopiness at the debate created a long-awaited crystallization of intention. And Bang! The needed mobilization has happened.
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brian stouder said on July 26, 2024 at 9:01 pm
Well, her roots are the very definition of Law and Order; she’s already been under the microscope of American national, institutional political executive responsibility; and indeed, she’s well-spoken, wicked smart, and (not for nothing) she’s pleasant to look at/listen to/root for. I think she’s our next President.
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Deborah said on July 26, 2024 at 11:30 pm
Thank you tajalli that makes a lot of sense. I needed that.
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Dexter Friend said on July 27, 2024 at 1:12 am
MSNBC: Cooper, Kelly, out. It’s Josh Shapiro and if this hold true for a little while, I will be ecstatic, may buy a round at the gin mill, nah, I never go in those places anymore. 🙂
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David C said on July 27, 2024 at 6:10 am
I don’t know much about Josh Shaprio. About all I know is Atrios https://www.eschatonblog.com/, who lives in Philadelphia, isn’t too keen on him. I’ll have to study up for myself. I see Tim Walz knocking it out of the park. He’d make a fine VP candidate. I think he’d help in Wisconsin quite a bit. There is a rivalry between Wisconsin and Minnesota, but it’s a friendly one and we really like each other a lot.
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basset said on July 27, 2024 at 7:45 am
Getting away from the electoral process for awhile… next Wednesday, the 31st, is “Black Tot Day,” the 54th anniversary of the day the British navy stopped giving its sailors a daily two-imperial-ounce ration, or “tot,” of rum.
I’m half Brit and my grandfather on that side was a navy man so I have standing to do the traditional shot, gotta find someone to call “up spirits” though.
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alex said on July 27, 2024 at 10:15 am
So this morning the WaPo is skewering Usha Vance for badmouthing the orange blob before opportunistically changing her tune: https://wapo.st/3WFmp9q
Another gift article.
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Jeff Gill said on July 27, 2024 at 10:21 am
I’m not throwing away my shot. (Or my tot.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic7NqP_YGlg
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Dexter Friend said on July 27, 2024 at 12:04 pm
Yeah, man, read up on Shapiro. His numbers are outstanding; he’s a winner. He’s smart, in command of all issues a President would need to be on top of, and is just 100% perfect to be picked, and he will be, unless , well, as Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) was informed at the end of the movie, “forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.”
Meaning forces we can’t control , do control us and our environs. Hell, maybe Gretchen will rise up to be VP. I mean, Ozzy told us years ago:
“I’m going off the rails on a crazy train
I’m going off the rails on a crazy train
Let’s go!
I’ve listened to preachers, I’ve listened to fools
I’ve watched all the dropouts who make their own rules
One person conditioned to rule and control
The media sells it and you live the role
Mental wounds still screaming.”
…for me, it took a couple years to get over my disappointment at Stacey Abrams getting shut out and Harris elevated. Now, of course, I am over it and am “out there” preaching for a Trump-must-never-see- The Oval Office-again. A two headed snake or a skunk would be better than the rapist.
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Sherri said on July 27, 2024 at 1:15 pm
The downsides to Shapiro, independent of anything he’s personally done, are
-that he’s only been governor a year and a half. Before that he was AG, and that gives us a ticket with two former AGs at the top.
-he’s Jewish, which would bring the Israel-Gaza problem back to the forefront.
Replacing him as governor would be Dem Lt Gov Austin Davis, but replacing the Lt Gov with a Dem would depend on the Dems gaining control of the state senate.
Every option has pluses and minuses.
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basset said on July 27, 2024 at 3:28 pm
Deliberately avoiding politics once again… I see Olympic basketball is played with a USA-style rectangular lane instead of the international tapered version, when did that start?
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tajalli said on July 27, 2024 at 3:49 pm
I’m with you, Bassett. Gave my neurophysiology a rest and re-watched What the Bleep Do We Know
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yTVC25Pkys
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Sherri said on July 27, 2024 at 4:42 pm
The trapezoidal lane went away after the FIBA World Championships, so the 2012 London Olympics were the first without the trapezoidal lane. The three point line was also moved out then.
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SusanG said on July 27, 2024 at 6:07 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG2rU76HvIE
We have Trump fatique
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brian stouder said on July 27, 2024 at 7:15 pm
Susan, superb video! Thanks for sharing it
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charlie zone said on July 27, 2024 at 7:47 pm
Shapiro’s problem is his very strong support for Israel. That will alienate a lot of younger voters. Harris has chance to separate herself from Biden’s support for the war in Gaza. She should pick Walz.
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Deborah said on July 27, 2024 at 8:26 pm
I listened to a Buttigieg interview on the NYT and it’s such a shame he probably won’t be picked because he’s openly gay. That guy is such a good communicator it’s amazing. He lays it all out clearly and concisely, can point to the big picture and can think on his feet like no one I’ve seen before. Such a shame.
I’m still for Mark Kelly, he seems to have most things going for him except his senate seat would need to be filled in Arizona. But the Democratic gov can appoint someone and that holds for 2 years.
Edit: it’s not going to be Walz or Pritzker.
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Sherri said on July 27, 2024 at 8:43 pm
So, JD Vance may not be a couchfucker, but the boy still ain’t right.
His response to white supremacist attacks on his wife?
“Look, I love my wife so much. I love her because she’s who she is,” he told host Megyn Kelly on her show Friday. “Obviously, she’s not a white person, and we’ve been accused, attacked by some white supremacists over that. But I just, I love Usha.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4795119-jdvance-wife-white-supremacist-attacks/
Or his statement to his former friend, who is transgender:
“I have a 1:30,” Mr. Vance wrote. “I will always love you, but I really do think the left’s cultural progressivism is making it harder for normal people to live their lives.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/27/us/politics/jd-vance-friend-transgender.html?unlocked_article_code=1.-k0.y9kb.S6zwjBOWhlQm&smid=url-share
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Suzanne said on July 27, 2024 at 9:16 pm
Sherri, Vance also added that his wife is “such a good mom.” Which I guess means she should get to vote. I wonder if he considers his kids white?
He is so deluded if he thinks the right won’t at some point come after his wife since many of them are iffy on interracial marriage.
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Dexter Friend said on July 28, 2024 at 7:41 am
It’s tough, picking the right VP. Trump messed up, McCain did too. Quayle was good for a few laughs way back when.
Now Harris must make the proper choice. I have been in the Shapiro camp for weeks, but damn it, if he is axed because of his faith and stances , so be it. Shapiro gets it thrown at him from both sides, some plaudits, some poison arrows, from both Jews and Arabs. Harris may just go all-white Protestant and select the Lutheran Walz, who amazes me with his strenghts, his resume of his whole adult life, his speaking style, his enthusiasm.
The Gaza war is horrible, and I believe Shapiro possibly could work in his capacity as VP to help end it. I know many USA voters don’t, can’t distinguish between anti-right-wing-Netanyahu’s barbaric policies being challenged, and anti-Semitism. Personally, I get called anti-Semitic for my criticism of Netanyahu, while I am all for the 80% of Israeli Jews who want the bastard thrown out and into prison. Netanyahu is the reason Israeli border defenses were compromised on October 7, after all.
I believe Josh Shapiro has a firm grasp of The Region and would be a great asset to Harris regarding USA involvement there. And if Harris sees differently, again, I will support her decision. Being a native Hoosier, living near South Bend until I was 42, I would love to see now-Michigan (Traverse City) resident Pete be selected, but I see no momentum.
So it is Shapiro for me, with Walz being OK too. I have also written how Beshear would help the ticket.
Think this is easy? Nope.
https://forward.com/news/638442/josh-shapiro-israel-palestine-antisemitism-arab-muslim/
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basset said on July 28, 2024 at 9:20 am
2012? Where have I been… not watching basketball, anyway.
Pottery update: wheel throwing skills are not there yet, but I can now make a kinda sorta looks like it mini version of what I’m trying to do… our “wild” clay has been cleared to go into the kiln… starting to process more of it and maybe make something in the next week or so.
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alex said on July 28, 2024 at 10:48 am
Cletus Goes to the Snake Oil Emporium — a gift article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/28/us/politics/far-right-miracle-cure-medbed.html?unlocked_article_code=1.-k0.I9Uq.cKG3csowLDUt&smid=url-share
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David C said on July 28, 2024 at 12:47 pm
That’s some weird-assed shit, Alex. A slipped disc in the spine of community as Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit said. I know that’s an odd reference but they are one of my favorite bands and they lyric comes back to me about every week when something bad happens.
We were out this morning and saw a pickup that was half plastered with Trump shit and the other half plastered with fuck Biden shit. I hope the asshole spends the next month peeling them off.
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Mark P said on July 28, 2024 at 1:19 pm
One of my neighbors, who is a nice guy who brings us, his elderly neighbors, meals occasionally, showed me a Trump flag he got to fly on his pickup truck. He wanted one without “2024” on it because he wanted just “Trump” when he hung it on a wall in his house.
Oh, remember, I live in MTG’s district that went around 70 percent for Trump last time.
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