“and before I go I’d like to give all of you a very special personal gift, a cocktail napkin I’ve been coughing into” https://t.co/3jefqx9Qod
— kilgore trout, new tone haver (@KT_So_It_Goes) July 29, 2020
a good rule of thumb is take whatever opinion you have of these people as human garbage and remember it’s always ten times worse https://t.co/jQi8wbR35I
— kilgore trout, new tone haver (@KT_So_It_Goes) July 29, 2020
My God this gets even worse. Louie Gohmert is a horrible human being. https://t.co/ELLr8LGepZ
— Melissa Ryan (@MelissaRyan) July 29, 2020
Does McConnell's proposed liability protection extend to Congress as an employer?
— Michael Link (@MichaelLink) July 29, 2020
There’s always another shoe to drop…
ACTUALLY… here is a video of AG Barr and Gohmert.
While Barr arrived with a mask, it was off when he walked into the hearing room, so both men were not wearing masks at this time. pic.twitter.com/xm6wuq6QvW
— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) July 29, 2020
Justice Dept. Spokeswoman Kerri Kupec says "The Attorney General will be tested today."
— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) July 29, 2020
And, presumably, at intervals for the next three weeks.
Another thing to think about is which members shared the mic after Gohmert questioned Barr.
He is the 4th most senior GOP member of the Judiciary Committee and therefore among the earliest Republicans to question Barr.
— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) July 29, 2020
“I swear, I must’ve gotten it off a toilet seat Louie Gohmert’s spittle-flecked mic.”
The way 2020 is going, no more of them will get the ‘rona — or at least they’ll have sufficiently weak cases to pretend they didn’t get it — which their fellow death cultists will insist ‘proves’ that it’s ALL A HOAX WAKE UP SHEEPLE!!!…
I don’t know why after four years of this there’s still a prevailing opinion the GOP could somehow exit this in any functional state. there’s only dysfunctional states at various paces of dysfunction, so this is like arguing over what station is on the radio as the bus crashes https://t.co/EhQLh4ZdC1
— kilgore trout, new tone haver (@KT_So_It_Goes) July 29, 2020
answer: it literally does not matter
— kilgore trout, new tone haver (@KT_So_It_Goes) July 29, 2020
chopper
god, it would really fit right in to 2020 being the intro to a post-apocalyptic story written by the worst hollywood hack to have louis gohmert preading a deadly virus all over the capitol.
Xantar
Also, one of the co-founders of Turning Point USA has died of Covid-19 related complications.
Baud
Fair, since he tests us every day.
Baud
@chopper:
People should have learned well before now to social distance from Gohmert.
jc
The GOP has Trumped the shark. But let’s remember who’s voting for these evil clowns …
Trump’s base: clueless white suburbanites, monster truck driving assholes-and-proud-of-it, low-info blowhards, knuckle-dragging bullies, science-denying dummies, Evangelical Christian hypocrites, those who are vulnerable to BS conspiracy theories, earth-raping corporate shills, greedy one-percent swamp creatures, shut-ins, racists, misogynists and homophobes, dumb people for whom Trump is their idea of a smart person, Stockholm syndrome victims, totally gullible suckers, folks who have no idea how our government works, those who would prefer a civil war over a united America, entitled, deplorable douchebags, Limbaugh listeners, shameless liars, fanatics and fools …
Baud
The Twitter machine is going to need more hamsters in its engines.
Jeffro
Kilgore is right, there is no point in gaming out which particular variety of lunatics will be running the asylum once the slow-mo train wreck that is the modern GOP finally comes to a complete stop, explodes, and burns. There is no stopping their insanity, their greed, their racism, their corruption, or their complete ignorance of science, truth, and facts.
Oh, and I hope Barr catches the Gohmert Virus, too.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: True, if it wasn’t the ‘rona, it’d be something else.
Baud
@jc:
Aka Real Americans®
lollipopguild
@Baud: The Common Clay of The New West……..
Kay
Roger Moore
@Jeffro:
I think the big difference is who is running the right-wing media when everything is over. The Republican party didn’t become insane by accident. There was a long-term project of diverging ever further from reality, and the right-wing media was the key driver of that process. If the media continues the push ever further into insanity, the party and the nation will continue to suffer. If they decide the current degree of craziness is no longer helpful and try to bring things a little closer to reality, the insanity will hopefully start to abate.
Jeffro
Interesting… Fox News is promoting both a Jack Kemp “how he did it”* series and also something called “America Together”, which I guess is a recurring, feel-good series on Americans doing stuff, um, together
*bring people together while espousing conservative principles
Anyway, Orwell is like, “Really? That’s pretty bold, Faux peeps!” The oversized orange corpse isn’t even cold yet.
I’m betting on a WHOLE lot more GOP nonsense about trying very hard to sound all unifying and “can’t we all just get along?” And of course the Hawley-style outright lying about their positions on the things that matter most here as they try to minimize the damage from trumpov’s impending landslide defeat.
moops
@Roger Moore: I think the media are in a bit of a tougher spot than that. The years long project to drive them to their nutcase divorce from reality has been successful. It’s what has left them so completely vulnerable to the ravings online. Turning back to reality is painful and most will seek out other media that caters to their delusions.
Jeffro
@Roger Moore: see below (great minds and all that! )
I think they are about to switch tactics and pretend that they are the party of peace, reconciliation, negotiation, and all that could be good in this world…if it weren’t for those TDS Democrats!
It’s also good cover for their outright lying per Obamacare/pre-existing conditions, the budget deficit and national debt, etc.
”Why are the Dems so angry?!” Over and over again.
Brachiator
@jc:
You know, morons.
Ken
@Roger Moore: “The” right-wing media? I’m expecting it to fracture too. I’m sure Trump thinks he’ll have his own channel, he’s been bad-mouthing Fox a lot, and there’s that OAN or whatever it’s called which is also criticizing Fox as part of the “fake news”.
Jeffro
@Ken: Agree. One channel for the TCNJ conspiracy nuts, and one for the corporate right-wingers trying desperately to keep the Dems from restoring more progressive tax rates, sensible environmental regulation, and so on.
I wish them well…meanwhile, reality will continue on and the center-center Dems have as much room to maneuver as they have ever had in my lifetime. Go for it, Biden & Co! Hit the ground running and don’t let up!
TS (the original)
Melbourne,Victoria, Australia – turning into a massive covid-19 hot spot – reportedly over 700 new cases today. And our PM – in his wisdom – has decided the Defence Minister & the Foreign Affairs Minister should visit the USA because Pompeo wants to have an “in-person” meeting – presumably this proves you love trump.
We now have new cases in my state because 3 people visited Melbourne & lied about it when they returned, avoiding quarantine. Visited a myriad of different places & then tested positive to the virus. The next couple of weeks will determine what harm they have gone.
Not only the US that has the fools.
laura
So he came “home” to notify his staff that he’s got the ‘Rona. That he believes he may have caught it because he’d worn a mask a time or two really elevates it to performance art. Bad performance art.
Yutsano
@Ken: I could see Sinclair maybe starting something with the Drumpf family since only Sinclair has any seed corn to start that.
Redshift
@Xantar:
I can’t believe it took me until just now to realize that “turning point” = TP, to create an association with “tea party”.
namekarB
This. There is no “moving on” as long as the noise machine is spewing lies and half truths. And there is no curbing the noise machine as long as corporations continue to spend on advertisements.
<sigh> and then there is what to do about social media . . .
Roger Moore
@moops:
I agree there are some people who are completely lost to reality, and the news refusing to give them what they want will only drive them to other news sources that will. To some extent, the existence of an ever crazier set of right wing media is an indication of how this is taking place. Fox acts as a gateway crazy, but the news junkies demand ever harder stuff. Pretty soon, the crazies have to get an ever bigger dose, moving to Breitbart, then InfoWars and OANN.
But there are lots of people who stay with Fox and never graduate further down the path to crazytown. And Fox is always bringing in new viewers to make up for the ones who died or moved on because it wasn’t insane enough. If Fox dials back the crazy, those people may never move on to the crazier stuff.
Also, and very importantly, Fox serves as an important part of the story-laundering pipeline that moves the craziest stories from the fever swamps of the internet into the mainstream. As an allegedly legitimate news source, something appearing on Fox gives it the support it needs to move to CBS or the New York Times. If they stop promoting the crazy to their viewers, they’ll also tend to break that pipeline and help keep the crazy from reaching more middle of the road news sources.
noncarborundum
@Redshift: Also “toilet paper”, but maybe that’s just me.
Ken
Do you have to let them back in?
WaterGirl
What does the PM in this mean? “ever since PM came out, I’ve gotten a flood of emails…”
Mike in NC
Updating a terrible old joke from junior high school:
Q: What’s brown and lays in the corner?
A: Gohmert’s pile
Redshift
@Jeffro:
Also expect a rerun of “where the jobs?” as the Dems work to deal with the depression they created.
cintibud
I think Dems need to highlight that the GOP wants to protect jerk bosses who knowingly infect their employees from any liability – RE Gohmert
namekarB
And here I thought I was the only old geezer and just nod and smile and pretend I know. Yeah, What does PM stand for in his tweet?
sdhays
@namekarB: I assumed it meant “the evening edition of ‘Playbook'”, but I don’t know for sure.
Roger Moore
@namekarB:
I think it’s not the big companies that are really driving things. One of the really toxic things about the right wing media is that it’s selecting for people who have had their critical faculties damaged. The same people who are willing to buy the inconsistent nonsense that makes up contemporary right wing thought are also willing to buy whatever junk product advertises on right wing media. It’s a natural target for hucksters and con men, and they can afford to pay good advertising rates to get at such a profitable audience.
Frankensteinbeck
@Roger Moore:
I continue to disagree with this theory. Like Trump, right-wing media is an effect, not a cause. At most, it is an element in a vicious cycle. Right wingers went looking for someone to validate their craziness. Most of the time Fox gets its insane conspiracy theories from chain emails or right wing radio hosts who get it from gossip going around in crazy land. Seeing America get more and more equal and being unable to deal with it has driven a third of America increasingly insane with terror, and Fox is at best the frosting on that cake.
TS (the original)
@Ken:
They have to go through quarantine when they return – but unlike mere mortals they will no doubt be allowed to do so at home – with any expenses covered by the government. Mortals – if allowed into the country – have to quarantine at their own expense at a specified hotel – sometimes twice if they are going through multiple states.
Quite OK by me if the US keeps them.
Hungry Joe
All this speculation about the form(s) that may emerge from the scattered shards of what was once the Republican Party reminds me of discussions right here, in 2016, about how the GOP was about to become a “rump” party, and would it survive or re-group under another name.
Redshift
@namekarB: Private message, I’m guessing. A generic term that goes by different names on various social media platforms and communication tools.
sdhays
@Hungry Joe: If Comey had just followed the rules, it might have happened that way.
joel hanes
@Roger Moore:
There was a long-term project of diverging ever further from reality
In 1973, Republican operative Paul Weyrich founded The Heritage Foundation, with money he got from the Coors family.
In 1979, Weyrich and Jerry Falwell founded “The Moral Majority”
Weyrich is one of the major villians of American 20th century politics, and hardly anyone knows his name.
Aleta
Suzy
@jc:
@Redshift: A new president Biden should warn Americans that it will take more than a couple of years to repair the damage. He has to give hope, but on the other Han not create such high expectations that it will end up in a backlash like 2010.
HumboldtBlue
This guy talks about cars… and 2020
Redshift
@Roger Moore: Interesting piece by Greg Sargent the other day about how the feedback loop with Fox is continuing to damage Trump’s election chances.
Roger Moore
@Frankensteinbeck:
And Fox was more than happy to do so. Validating right wing grievance is a critical part of the crazification process. Back when the news media had some dedication to factual accuracy, people who wanted their unhinged grievance validated had to hunt for someone to do it. Fox put a source of grievance validation in every cable package. Protecting wingnuts from reality is central to driving them off the deep end.
Again, though, Fox is taking crazy ideas from the fever swamps and pushing them into the mainstream. That’s a vital part of the way the whole Republican party has been infected with those ideas rather than just the lunatic fringe.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
What the heck, so the Wingnuts are at the “Well if I can’t POWN Libertards then it’s open season on my fellow conservatives!” stage.
debbie
@Baud:
Isn’t getting tested the same day he’s exposed too early to find anything?
cliosfanboy
@Redshift: i did not notice until you pointed it out.
lgerard
@Aleta:
Absolute classic!
What a dumbass McCarthy is
Ken
@debbie: Yes, but some people are still having trouble with the concept of “incubation period”.
Redshift
@Suzy: It’s a tough task, but it needs to be done. However, I disagree that the midterm backlash had anything to do with the administration having unrealistic expectations. Boehner’s “where are the jobs” rant was a deliberate attempt to whitewash the fact that the country was losing 800,000 jobs a month at the end of the Bush Administration and lay it all at the feet of Obama. And people losing their minds about a Black president. But the reality is that despite the general punditry wanting to assign “the reason” for a midterm loss, a large chunk of it is just what happens in a midterm election after a change of parties, and that’s a tough problem.
noncarborundum
@WaterGirl:
It’s a Politico thing:
trollhattan
These people surely deserve one another but how the hell do we deserve them?
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Does botox cause brain damage?
WaterGirl
@debbie: That’s the equivalent of 20-year-old me. I didn’t keep track of my checks in a checkbook. Every so often I would call the bank and get my balance. If there was money in there when I made the call, I figured I was good.
In my defense, I was 20.
WaterGirl
@noncarborundum: Thank you!!!
Poe Larity
These rock-ribbed staffers probably asked form a staff picture with Gomer. Just in case.
Yutsano
@WaterGirl: “I can’t be out of money! I still have checks!”
– 2/3rds of college students in the 90s.
Chris Johnson
@namekarB: Russia is running the right wing media.
On the one hand that means it’s not going to get better, on the other hand they are trying SO hard to kill all Americans that it’s both burning through their own miserable idiots, and limiting on-ramping from others. It’s like a death spiral, pretty literally. Not much point getting new wingnuts, it’s all about making the ones they have absolutely crazed and turning them loose as terrorists.
Also, without the open cooperation of tech giants like Google and Facebook they don’t have good data on how it’s working. They do not have lines of communication that feed situational info up to their leaders because of the distributed nature of the thing. So they depend on the tech giants and their extremely good data acquisition, and they can afford it but are limited by what the tech giants are willing to do.
In a recent fight that lost me several brainwashed friends who have been heavily pilled, one thing I worked out (and even got confirmation of sorts from the kid on the other side of the argument) that YouTube is no longer funnelling people to Nazis for clicks. We both remembered, we both acknowledged that there was a time that was happening, but trying it again in July 2020 just failed. I couldn’t get to Nazis even trying my best, this time. The ex-friend was banging on a study someone had done, that suggested that YouTube had taken to trying to funnel people moderately left.
I call that ‘covering their ass’ and find it plausible, and here’s my opinion: good. Too little too late, not nearly enough oversight, but if they’re that scared about what they have done, good. They SHOULD be scared, they picked the wrong fuckin’ side and it suits me fine that they’re trying to make like it didn’t happen.
patrick II
Last night we had a thread speculating about the purpose of Republicans’ sudden return to support for hydroxychloroquine. Most speculated the reason was money, and I’m not saying they won’t take the opportunity, but my own thought was that it was a magic bullet to allow them to open business and schools. Here is Rush today:
SiubhanDuinne
@Suzy:
I agree, and he should start doing so during the transition and lay it out explicitly in his inaugural address. At the same time, he and his team should establish a series of clear, measurable markers of short-term progress so that they will have real accomplishments to point to during the 2022 midterms.
Poe Larity
Still in the hospital:
Danielx
@patrick II:
He is still alive?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Poe Larity: why won’t they give him the hydroxychloroquine?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
I picked the right singer way the hell back in 1983
WaterGirl
@Yutsano: Yep! :-)
“But I had a bunch of money in there yesterday when I called!”
patrick II
@Danielx:
Sadly, yes. I listen to him sometimes to see what the competition is up to. He is good at what he does (rwnj fairytales). I swear his goal is to take as many with him as he can when he finally hits the dirt. He is just a horrible person.
A Ghost to Most
Yea, not feeling too much sympathy for people who would willingly work for America’s Stupidest Congressman.
Redshift
@patrick II: Well, everything leads to the mindless go back to work/school -> economy gets better -> Trump gets reelected, but I still think this push is that the people who coordinate right-wing messaging have figured out that the death rate is climbing to the point where the “it only matters if it affects someone close to me” base will start getting getting significantly hit. They’re desperate to have something for them to blame other than Trump screwed up, so, viola, there’s a cure “they” aren’t giving you.
Jess
@patrick II: Yeah, you first, Rush. Take the magic cure and go to a Trump rally and give everyone a hug, including Trump. Own the libs!
Jinchi
That was my thought when we were told Trump gets tested several times a day.
Redshift
@Chris Johnson: YouTube has apparently made some changes to their algorithms that were mindlessly driving viewers toward extremism by suggesting “similar” videos with no filter. There’s some good research indicating that the Flat Earth craze was largely generated by that, and has died down because of the changes. (A more innocuous example.)
patrick II
@Redshift:
I agree.
Miss Bianca
@WaterGirl: This sounds a little too much like present-day me.
Gin & Tonic
So it looks like this dog may be a keeper. To bring anyone who might be interested up to date, we have an old friend who needs to re-home a dog she got from a rescue 6-8 months ago, I think. Friend had developed mobility issues with a balky knee transplant, and has in recent days been slated for emergency surgery. Dog is active (major understatement.) My darling wife, having a heart of gold, said we’d take her for two weeks and see how it works out. We’re one week in and at least one of us seems already to have decided.
It’s been a time of adjustment, and in the first few days I was finding myriad ways to say “you know, we are under no moral obligation here.” But we have a decent-sized yard, and the dog pretty much stays in the area when we let her out, and now, mirabile dictu, returns fairly quickly after we whistle. She is super-loyal to us already, and seems to love the grandkids who are visiting now. The story had her as part Aussie shepherd and part border collie, but I’m not buying it, as neither the coloration nor the coat are anything like either of those – she looks like just like a downscaled German shepherd, with the short, coarse, quick-drying coat, mostly brown and black – although the tip of her tail is white. But boy, she loves to run. Not interested in fetching, we may work on that (my daughter’s dog *loves* the frsibee.) But now I’m thinking maybe agility training. Has anybody done that, have any words of wisdom?
Chris Johnson
@Redshift: Yup. A hell of a cautionary tale. And yeah, it looks like they’ve evolved away from that… for now. Which pleases me, and if they want to lean a bit left to make themselves look less guilty I’m not going to complain.
J R in WV
The false idea that Hydrocychrloquine or however it is really spelled, can prevent and cure Covid-10, and that we should just give it to everyone and reopen the nation for business, will only work for about 2 or 3 weeks after that trick is attempted.
When several hundred thousand people drop out ill, and thousands of people are dying every day, the sheer fraud will be exposed, and everyone who participated in it will be, should be, criminally prosecuted for their part in the fraud.
That lady in TX who rants about demon seed causing one disease and different demons causing a different disease, she needs to be shut down for malpractice as well. Dangerous, it’s why doctors are regulated, lies about medical issues cause people to die, needlessly. Yank her license, close that “clinic” and put her out of business permanently.
Ella in New Mexico
Alas
Wapiti
@Jinchi: In the Secret Service’s defense, their job is to protect the Presidency and that probably means they want to contact trace every one he has contact with. So sticking a swab up his nose every 4 hours might reduce contact tracing.
Plus, he’s an asshole licking Putin’s boots, so sticking a swab up his nose every 4 hours is just a small payback. For the safety of the Presidency.
debbie
@Jinchi:
No way Trump tolerates a stick up his nose several times a day.
Kay
They surrendered in the Battle of the Courthouse – the battle they started.
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic:
Congratulations! She sounds great.
randy khan
@J R in WV:
I have not watched that video, as there’s no way it contains any useful information, but a RWNJ on my Facebook feed informed me that one of the doctors in it had done studies in 2005 that showed it was effective against COVID-19. Needless to say, I did not find that convincing.
WaterGirl
@Miss Bianca: I’m not quite sure what you mean by that. The people running the country are about as mature as 20-year-olds?
Aleta
If he’d just used that magic powder, he’d have killed the woo’un mask virus completely dead. Only himself to blame.
Robmassing
That’s easy. Because burning it down in order to burn it down is the only strategy.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: I’m interested in the update!
I took an agility training class with my dog when he was depressed after we lost our other dog. I wasn’t all that into it, but it was definitely good for him.
If the new pup is smart with a lot of energy, it could be just the thing to help with her focus.
I took in a dog that was abandoned by a co-worker’s neighbor. The co-worker was heading out on a 2-week vacation, so I said I would keep him while they were out of town and just until they found someone to take him when they returned.
Well, by the time they got back, AC (the dog’s name) thought he had a new home, and whenever I was out for the evening (we used to do that, right? go places?) his greeting when I returned sounded just like Chewbacca!
There was no way I was going to let him think he was being abandoned again. At that point, I had never wanted a big dog, a boy dog, or a black dog, and he was all three.
One of the best dogs ever.
Gin & Tonic
@WaterGirl: Yeah, those “take the dog for two weeks” things are quite the scam, aren’t they? The dogs have that all figured out.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Redshift: I’m sure you’re right, but the first thing I think of when I hear TP is toilet paper. It was an abbreviation my mother used and I expect it is quite common.
Robmassing
@Jeffro:
Yup. I’ve been seeing “can’t we stop pointing fingers? I’m so tired of all the politics!” for months now
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Sweet dreams are made of this (photo)
Peale
@J R in WV: I’m just not sure what the game is here. Are they going to force teachers and children to take large doses of it and declare everything is safe so let’s get back to work? It’s not a bad plan, per se. The long-term side effects might not really show up until well after November. Or its a genius plan to give us something that will make us sick so we all have to stay home for 10 weeks, which would have an noticable impact on the spread of the disease.
stacib
@Redshift: It didn’t help that the Democrats ran away from the Affordable Care Act, the legislation they had spent the prior term creating and voting into law. They allowed the Republicans to define it on tv and in ads with death panels and all that bullshit, and then they themselves wouldn’t defend or explain to their own constituents.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: He was really a special dog. I think when they have been abandoned, they totally appreciate their new lives even more than before.
Even my sister who doesn’t really like dogs loved AC. I have no idea what his name meant, but that was his name so I kept it. When people asked why his name was AC, I would answer “because he’s such a cool dog”.
SiubhanDuinne
PrankishPramila Jayapal is on Lawrence O’Donnell. She just said that earlier today, after Nancy Smash had ordered that everyone entering the House chamber must be masked, she (Jayapal) asked her colleague DebbieLeslieLesko to put on a mask.Lesko’s response? “Shut up.”
ETA: Corrections. Zany, wacky, crazy Autocorrect!
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Kay:
I am concerned about the “with conditions” part of the story. The Feds could easily decide to move back in if other incidences happen and Trump could claim that the Goons weren’t the ones provoking the violence
Puddinhead
@randy khan: that paper gets shared repeatedly on social media. In vitro only. People never seem to mention that there were no studies in that paper that involved a challenge with live virus in a living organism. Lots of stuff works in cell culture and never does squat in vivo. But it’s a lot of pictures of part off the abstract and stuff like “OMG! They knew!” Facebook U. and Twitter State’s respective science programs leave a lot to be desired.
Steeplejack
Lawrence O’Donnell made a good point on his show tonight, albeit somewhat indirectly. He was introducing his segment with Jonathan Swan of Axios, who did a video interview with Trump and asked him about the alleged Russian bounties on U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Clips from the video went viral today; the whole thing will be shown on (I think) HBO on Monday. This is the first time anyone has asked Trump about it, and O’Donnell was gloating a bit about the vaunted New York Times having to repeat someone else’s reporting (with attribution). Being “scooped,” in other words. (Personally, I couldn’t find a story about it on the Times site a little while ago.)
Anyway, it raised the question—in my mind, at least, and I’m sure others’—of what the hell are Maggie Haberman and her coauthors on all the Times White House “insider” stories doing when they’re leaving stuff like this untouched? I get that they’re there mainly to pass on the leaks of “officials speaking not for attribution,” but come on. They don’t have to do only that.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Chris Johnson: I haven’t had that experience. A number of the youtube adds I have seen have been cronovirus denying or adverts for trump.
MisterForkbeard
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: This is when you remember that Madonna is actually pretty old and is therefore a little more susceptible to quackery :(
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Steeplejack:
Too much work, I imagine. As for Haberman specifically, I remember reading that her family had some shady ties to the Trump family/Organization IIRC
Jim, Foolish Literalist
he plays golf four times a week, and still puts on tan-in-a-bottle.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Ksmiami: I have family that are Republicans. This statement is completely out of line.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
I hope Madonna was hacked, because if she really thinks this, I’m very disappointed
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Oh my god, who the fuck tells him he looks good with that orange spray tan shit?
SiubhanDuinne
@Steeplejack:
I had to dig.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/29/us/politics/trump-putin-bounties.html
Pissed me off that the FTFNYT writers couldn’t see fit to mention the actual interviewer, Jonathan Swan.
MisterForkbeard
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I could see it play out that way:
This would require some level of planning by Trump or a lot of dumb luck, though.
patrick II
@Steeplejack:
I saw a part of that interview on Rachel (with Ali Velshi sitting in) earlier tonight. Trump was asked why he hasn’t done anything or talked to Putin about it. Trump’s answer was that he didn’t know, they never brought it to his attention. And then said it was fake news.
It can’t be both. He’s just so incoherent it’s tough to have any discussion that means anything with him.
But the thing is, he knows about it now. What is he going to do about it now?
different-church-lady
@Baud: In response, Trump will invite himself to throw out the first pitch at Robert F. Kennedy stadium.
(He’ll be saved the embarrasment of showing up at an abandoned sports venue when he self-cancels the next day.)
dww44
@Redshift: I read those midterms and the shellacking that’ Democrats received being the result of the passage of the ACA and the “taking my country back” whining meme. The taking back part worked because it was really about taking the country back from “those” people. It was in 2010 that white democrats here in the South largely disappeared from elective office.
MisterForkbeard
@patrick II: What’s he going to do? Nothing.
The article posted earlier in the thread was pretty explicit about it. It was definitely in his daily briefing in Feburary and was common knowledge in the CIA by May. It’s been reported for weeks. Trump doesn’t care and doesn’t want to know anything about it, but has issued multiple contradictory explanations and has also falsely claimed that intelligence agencies didn’t think the information was real.
So: Nothing. He’ll do nothing. Worse than that, he’ll continue to reward Putin.
@dww44: If I recall correctly, the ‘silver lining’ was that most blue dog Democrats were removed from office and the conservative faction of Democrats was decimated. The whole party was a lot more united in the House (if also out of power), and it’s continued to be significantly to the left of the 2009 party ever since.
Ian R
@Redshift:
Also, TP, as in “fit only for wiping one’s ass” and “owned completely by the Koch brothers”.
Benw
@Gin & Tonic: dude you’ve got a keeper
Jean
@WaterGirl: And Gin & Tonic: My two dogs were about to start agility training (they had passed their Canine Good Citizen test), when COVID shutdowns started. But several of the dogs who were in training with them in several other classes had done agility, and both small and large dogs loved it, particularly the high energy dogs, of course. It’s fun, great for focus, and builds confidence, not to mention more bonding for person and pet. I’m sitting here with $250 worth of agility equipment and no trainer. Our trainer was going to come to our yard to work with us. Some day. . .
Citizen Alan
@randy khan: Did you explain to him what the “19” in Covid-19 stood for?
Aleta
Heaven has provided another opportunity to push hydroxychloroquine. LG’s interview with an East Texas TV station. (Telling them he has no symptoms.) (He sounds sick.) I transcribed one bit:
No wake up calls allowed for Republicans locked in the hold of our Captain’s sinking cruise ship.
Citizen Alan
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:
Are you quite certain they don’t privately say the exact same thing about Democrats but make allowances for you because you’re “one of the good ones”?
HumboldtBlue
His girlfriend was struggling with her hair loss from alopecia. Get out the tissues.
dww44
@MisterForkbeard: I suppose from others’ points of view that might have been a positive, but from where I sit, smack in the middle of a now total R-10 district that was up until then represented by a so called, nevertheless sane and rational, blue dog Democrat, I don’t think the country gained anything. The GOP were not bat….crazy just a short 10 years ago. So what democrats gained in a united move leftward was more than offset by a gallop rightward and everyone lost in the good governance category.
jonas
@patrick II: So let me get this straight. Vaccines for measles or rubella (and eventually Covid) are a Soros/Gates/Demon sperm-sponsored scheme to inject tracking chips in your kids or whatever, but the government should force everyone to take hydroxychloroquine — an imaginary treatment — so we can all go back to school.
Roger that.
BigJimSlade
I caught it from the toilet seat,
I caught it from the toilet seat,
It jumped right up,
and grabbed my meat!!! (zappa)
jonas
Well, that can’t be possible, seeing as this is all a Chinese hoax or whatever. I’m sure a visit from Louis Gohmert would cheer him up.
James E Powell
@Steeplejack:
One can only infer that they are all doing or not doing exactly what their bosses want. They did the same for the Bush/Cheney Junta, both before and after the 2000 Selection. They admitted they had negative stories about Bush that they declined to publish because they didn’t want to influence the election. But Cf. Hillary’s emails.
jonas
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Ooh, I’m seeing a potential running mate for Kanye there!
jonas
@Steeplejack: Just to be clear, Haberman doesn’t report on Trump — it’s a fools errand — she reports on what people are “saying”, “whispering,” or “tweeting” about Trump, all with a “word on the street is…” kool-kidz air of distance that allows her to signal she knows it’s all bullshit without actually risking her access.
James E Powell
@dww44:
I usually get slammed for saying this, but Obama’s decision to look forward and not establish Bush/Cheney and Republican responsibility for the financial crisis meant that Republicans could quickly establish an argument to vote for them in the midterms.
Because the Democrats did not light fires and crusade against Wall Street, Republicans, FOX, Sinclair, and RW radio were able to blame the financial crisis on Jimmy Carter and irresponsible black people. This is now accepted as established truth in right of center America, even among those who are not foaming at the mouth bigots. The truth was never explained to them.
Obama was even blamed for the bank bailouts because he voted for them.
Steeplejack
@jonas:
That’s a fair take. Not sure it should be a full-time job, though.
James E Powell
@jonas:
Maggie Haberman carries water for Hope Hicks and Ivanka. It’s presented as super secret only the kool kids know inside dish, but it’s almost always they story they want to be told. Often, it’s just distraction.
Calouste
@Steeplejack: Maggie HawHaw-Haberman is just there to repeat Nazi propaganda.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Redshift: I don’t know, every time I watch a video by an historian on the Bronze Age You Tube inevitably tries to get me to watch a video on how ancient Sumerians were really space aliens.
Calouste
@randy khan: IIRC, HCQ was thought of as a treatment for SARS, which is related to COVID-19 and happened in 2004/2005, but SARS died out before they could test it on actual patients.
ballerat
@Poe Larity: Four weeks hospitalized doesn’t sound good. I read somewhere (statistics from Italy’s wave?) that by the 4th week the survival rate drops fast.
James E Powell
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Nice to know I’m not the only one watching lectures about the Bronze Age.
Miss Bianca
@WaterGirl: No, I’m referring to me personally.
WaterGirl
@Miss Bianca: Oh! Glad I went through that phase early. :-)
a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio
@Redshift: It’s there now. A friend’s uncle just died down in Alabama, after catching the virus at his granddaughter’s Great Big Ill-considered Wedding, sending a big shockwave of “How could this happen to one of us?” among all his Nice White Alabaman neighbors & acquaintances.