Via CSPAN’s Jeremy Art on Twitter, this comparison snapshot of the roll call of states at the Dem (left) and Rep (right) conventions speaks a thousand words:
Speaker Pelosi has a favorite saying: “Our diversity is our strength, and our unity is our power.” I like that. But you can’t say the Republicans aren’t diverse. Sure, it’s four older white men in that picture, but only half wear glasses. And while three have dark suits with white shirts, the Hawaii delegate appears to be wearing an aloha shirt.
I’m not watching the convention, but from clips I’ve seen on Twitter, it’s clear that whichever one of y’all said it would be like CPAC on steroids was dead right. One speaker said, “Joe Biden is hiding in the dark, waiting to take the lives of our unborn babies.” Seriously — that’s a direct quote. Video here. (I personally think “Joe Biden, Baby Assassin” will be a tough sell…)
Someone on Twitter noted that Trump’s speech today went on twice as long as Biden’s acceptance speech last week (and Trump’s was still going on when that report was filed). It’s all grievances (they spied on meeee!) and self-aggrandizement (I’ve done more for The Blacks than anyone!).
In other news, kick-ass Attorney General of New York Letitia James is investigating charges that Trump inflated his wealth on lender documents, which I’m told is a big fat no-no. Details at The Post. An excerpt:
In the filing, signed by a deputy to Attorney General Letitia James, the attorney general’s office said it is investigating Trump’s use of “Statements of Financial Condition” — documents Trump sent to lenders, summarizing his assets and debts.
The filing asks a New York state judge to compel the Trump Organization to provide information it has been withholding from investigators — including a subpoena seeking an interview with the president’s son Eric.
The attorney general’s office said it began investigating after Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer,” Michael Cohen, told Congress in February 2019 that Trump had used these statements to inflate his net worth to lenders.
That’s going to leave a mark. And so much for an “upbeat” convention.
Open thread!
Yutsano
Still watching the hearing. After the Republican rant Mrs Lawrence is about to lay her considerable USPS experience on DeJoy. This should be fun.
EDIT: and not only was our roll call better, I now want the roll call to be done that way from now on even when we can have live conventions again.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
This was too good to leave downstairs in storage, and it is MINE!
Gin & Tonic
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Yeah, I told you, you’re going straight to Hell for that.
Yutsano
@Gin & Tonic: Doesn’t he have a condo in the same building as me down there?
Baud
We have calamari.
They have sardines.
Baud
Via Reddit.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Yutsano: Amen. I loved the Dem Roll Call. Getting to see all those states was extraordinary, and definitely a keeper.
germy
TRIGGER WARNING: the Falwell family engaged in animal abuse and murder.
TaMara (HFG)
@Baud: I suspect popcorn futures to rise.
I don’t know that bottom guy looks like a mugshot for a dude caught in a sex ring sting.
rp
They’d be crazy to go back to a traditional roll call. The scenery and personalized statements were great.
NoraLenderbee
Speaking of roll calls, here is the breakdown of votes on the Post Office bill. You can see which Rs voted Yes with the Ds.
https://projects.propublica.org/represent/votes/116/house/2/182
clay
@Baud: Given her public behavior, I could never imagine Melania saying anything but praise for her husband!
Ajabu
I don’t know, Betty. So far their convention seems pretty upbeat* to me.
*My definition of upbeat being Spiraling down the greased slide to oblivion.
Yutsano
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): I actually like the speeches having feedback, but having the state delegations cheer while a representative back home calls out your vote in the actual state/territory is much more powerful to me. If nothing else, we need to keep that. It’s also a great method of involving those delegates who can’t go to the convention for whatever reason.
TaMara (HFG)
@germy: I think you should have posted a warning about that tweet. Seriously. Not everyone needs to read it or be exposed to what it links to.
germy
I don’t see any mobility scooters in the crowd.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@TaMara (HFG): I was thinking a hostage video, he really didn’t look like he wanted to be there.
Johnny Gentle (Famous Crooner)
And that’s only because he’s supporting the Boogaloo bois.
sdhays
@Baud: If you were able to randomly record an hour or two, here and there, each and every one of these people, I guarantee you would pick up each one disparaging the others. Considering that it’s not illegal to record someone in New York, the only thing that’s shocking is that this hasn’t happened before.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA: The things one does for their race.
PJ
@germy: JFC, that’s one fucked-up family. There are people who are cruel because institutions encourage it, and then there are people who are cruel because it gives them immense pleasure.
Yutsano
Since the thread be open: I didn’t want to drop this in the California thread, but Scott Peterson just had his death sentence thrown out. And I’m okay with this.
Betty Cracker
@clay: The Third Lady seems to be an awful person in every way just like her husband, but there’s no doubt in my mind she despises Trump. She radiates contempt whenever the two are together, and you can practically see a thought bubble over her head that reads, “Why aren’t you DEAD yet?”
RaflW
I gather that in his afternoon offleash area ramble, Trump complained that the networks didn’t cover the roll call. While of course failing to notice that the RNC scheduled the roll call during the day, not in the evening time block the nets agreed to air the RNC.
Of course Captain Grievance-pants would complain about anything anyway, so it’s all gonna suck and be awful no matter what.
narya
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): @Yutsano: I third the motioni. I’ve been saying this for the last week, and there seems to be a lot of folks saying it. It was very cool, it was very powerful. I also realized, as I discussed the Dems’ convention, that the tight two hours meant no talking heads ChuckTodding constantly, and I also thought that the speeches, because they weren’t interrupted, were better able to craft a narrative. Someone here pointed out that some folks speechify better with crowds, and I get that, too.
trollhattan
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I’m-a not disappointed I don’t know the reference, but will note this Wonkette tidbit from Falwell Jr.
That’s, like, half an extra Falwell.
RaflW
“Sure, it’s four older white men in that picture, but only half wear glasses.” How they deal with their receding hairlines also shows a nice diversity of strategies.
(nb: my hairline cannot even be said to be receding at this point. It’s done gone)
Adam L Silverman
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: The Reuters reporting has now broken. There was no spit roasting. It was what I suggested it was last night. Jerry Falwell, Jr’s kink is being a submissive, passive observer of his wife having sex with other men.
Martin
@germy: Idaho has been a big nazi state for as long as I can remember.
Yutsano
Jeebus DeJoy is so bad at this.
@Martin: I will stand up for at least southwest Idaho: the Boise area is turning slowly more blue. Boise doesn’t quite have the population to dominate state politics yet, but between Boise and Moscow (home to the University of Idaho) there are areas of hope. But yes northern Idaho has been has been a hot bed for racists and white supremacists for decades.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Thread
Looks like Eric took the Fifth
germy
Okay, I think that’s proof he was watching.
Someone announcing that their spouse was having an affair; would they make sure to add “Something in which I was not involved” ?
oldster
Looks to me like our Democratic representatives are outside living the life of the free and the brave, while those Republican slugs are hiding in their basements.
Adam L Silverman
@Johnny Gentle (Famous Crooner): Also, the head of the Hawaiian delegation is a white woman. Not a white man. So it says something that she didn’t do this bit.
A Ghost to Most
@germy:
Ritualized cannibalism also too.
Barbara
@Martin: But it also has seen major influxes in population from other states, most notably California. Within some period of time it will be more like Oregon, with the same kind of tension. That would be my guess, anyway.
Jay
@Adam L Silverman:
and there is a very good chance that Becki’s consent was not freely given, fully informed in a relationship of equality.
Emma from FL
@A Ghost to Most: Ahem. Apostates? Because ritualized cannibalism is a Catholic thing.
germy
@Adam L Silverman:
Isn’t that Roger Stone’s thing? And Manafort’s?
What is it with these conservative Trump supporters?
Gravenstone
@Baud: And this surprises who, exactly? They’re a viper’s nest of fucked up people who hate each other as well as themselves. And they take their dysfunction out on the rest of us just because they can.
Adam L Silverman
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: @trollhattan: Here’s what happened according to a real reporter, not a credulous hack at the Washington Examiner:
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-falwell-relationship/
Much more at the link.
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
“Joseph watched God do it.”
//
Martin
I am down with Ohio GOP moving to impeach DeWine for not being sufficiently subservient to Trump early in the pandemic.
Watching the GOP continue to eat its own does raise the question – how do they get in front of this? How do they whip the QAnon caucus on votes? Somewhere out there are GOP strategists muttering to themselves ‘Cuckolding. Why’d it have to be cuckolding?’
germy
@Adam L Silverman:
So he tosses his wife to the wolves but continues to deny his own involvement.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Adam L Silverman:
Hush, you – you’re wrecking my triumph of humor with truth.
It was a great line.
?
Betty Cracker
@Adam L Silverman: The pictured delegate is Amy Agbayani, an immigrant from the Philippines. She’s done outstanding work for immigrants.
Jay
@germy:
Roger Stone and his wife appear to be drug fueled “swingers”,
Manifort got off on arranging to have his wife violently raped by strangers.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@NotMax:
?
Kay
When the horrible FL state education secretary barges in to scold public schools he refuses to wear a mask.
They should bar him from the premises.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
MSNBC just showed footage of a crowd gathering outside a food bank for an upcoming trump speech, maskless people leaning toward each other to speak
Adam L Silverman
@germy: Apparently the “cuck” epithet is projection.
Beyond that I honestly don’t know, don’t really want to know, and if they all weren’t hypocritical about it in ways that are actually attempts to weaponize their morality, which they do not actually practice, to punish others, I wouldn’t care either. As long as no one got hurt, they could enjoy their kinks to their hearts content.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@NotMax:
As I’ve said before – if I had a time-space machine, I’d learn Aramaic and use it to go a couple of thousand years to Joseph to say “does she really think you’re stupid enough to buy that bullshit” while handing him a large rock.
I mean, didn’t he have a wingman who would tell him these things?
Ken
“At least when he insists on sex, it’s over in a couple of minutes and I can get back to something enjoyable.”
JPL
Is paying off the pool boy an acceptable use of funds for a non-profit? OMG how many people associated with trump are going to jail. Will trump sacrifice his son, Eric? I’m so pleased that we have a number of attys. who comment on this blog.
Yutsano
I don’t care what anyone else thinks: Ayanna Presley looks fantastic!
Ken
They should appease him by broadcasting it tonight during the one hour they’ve allotted, instead of whatever’s happening live at that time.
germy
@Yutsano:
Strong and confident is always a good look.
Kay
Anyone who thought the Trump people would have an “uplifting” message at the convention doesn’t know them.
It has been 100% nasty and mean-spirited for 4 years. It’s who they are. Swaggering, obnoxious assholes.
Ken
“Also, I want to emphasize that I was not using hamsters to pleasure myself while watching my wife and the pool boy.”
germy
@Ken: I don’t think he cares, I think he’s just complaining because he wants his base to be good and mad at the MSM.
Adam L Silverman
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: It was almost an airtight line.
What hasn’t come up yet, other than rumors and rumored in other reporting, is that they’ve been doing the same thing with their personal trainer. Who they also hooked up with sweetheart deals using Liberty U money. In this case things are a little different, as the trainer is married. So in that case, if the rumored behavior are true, the affair either involved the trainer’s wife or the affair involved the trainer cheating on his wife.
Adam L Silverman
@Betty Cracker: The Republican Hawaiian head of the delegation is a white woman. I wasn’t referring to the Democratic side of things, I know they got that right.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Ayman Mohyeldin just asked Nancy Pelosi if Democrats were responsible for Republicans not passing more economic aid because they didn’t “keep the pressure up”. Nancy Pelosi is a bit too flabbergrasted to scold him properly, but she tries.
Eljai
@germy: When Jerry Falwell Sr. died, my first thought was “Good, I’m glad he’s dead.” Still glad he’s dead.
PJ
@germy: I confess I do not understand the sub/dom thing at all. But there are powerful men who enjoy being humiliated. I wonder if it has to do with their belief, prevalent in Republicans, that they need to dominate others in regular life to be a “man”, and their inability to express normal human compassion for others and themselves, including the recognition that we are all weak and vulnerable, leaves them craving for an experience of humiliation in their fantasy lives. In other words, the closest they can get to acknowledging their vulnerability is enacting a display of submission before another that they themselves are directing – because their fragile egos will never allow them to acknowledge a lack of control over life and admit their own powerlessness.
Yutsano
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Do you have a clip of this by chance?
Ken
Spanked with a copy of Forbes magazine, was it?
Ruckus
@Baud:
We have calamari.
They have McDs and american cheese on day old white bread, with imitation mayo for those who think that McDs is too modern.
PJ
@Ken: Ha, I had forgotten about that!
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: That’s not actually what immaculate conception means theologically. It meant that Mary was herself without sin. It has absolutely nothing to do with a supernatural impregnation.
Ken
@Ruckus: And they’ve only had McD’s for four years, since Trump took over and gave them a choice between that or well-done steak with ketchup.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Yutsano: Absolutely, the Roll Call from the states themselves was an unexpectedly radical improvement over the traditional RC within the convention hall. I loved seeing our great country and the special speakers they had chosen (Matthew Shepard’s parents, for example).
Yutsano
“So let’s see how you came to work for this impeached President…”
I like me some Rashida Tlaib!
EDIT: she keeps saying it!
Greg
I think they made a good decision to have their roll call early in the day. It seems to pale in comparison (pun intended).
Jay
@Ken:
So in keeping with Evangelical traditions it was a wetsuit, self asphyxiation and multiple inserted dildos?
Ken
@Jay: “I can only emphasize, once again, that it was not hamsters.”
Frankensteinbeck
@PJ:
Kinks are usually something the person fears and/or hates twisted around until it’s safe and rewarding. It’s a kind of catharsis.
Yutsano
KATIE PORTER TIME!!!
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Adam L Silverman:
Oh, I think the whole thing was an evolving set of acts, not unlike peeling the layers of an onion.
Becki wanted better sex and was flattered into itJerry learned about it and got some tingles, so they played at cuckoldry. I suspect that they went on to full swaps.
Again, not my circus, not my clowns, but doing the moral scold thing while being down with the freaky freaky is a great error.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@narya: Yes! The tightness of the convention leaving no slack for the talking heads was a real bonus, IMO. Also, no more rude cutting away from the podium for what the networks considered unimportant speeches to listen to the talking heads bloviate. Also, the speeches themselves were tighter. Except for the crowd feedback which I’m sure some speakers missed, I thought the more intimate affect of the speeches was very effective. Michelle Obama, of course, but also Biden. Biden’s speech felt like an address from the Oval Office. The only one I think would have been punched up with an audience was Kamala’s.
Salty Sam
“Joe Biden, NINJA Baby Assassin”
Ruckus
@trollhattan:
Most people would be better off if they lost 80 lbs.But it’s possible that Jerry only retained the crappy parts and that half of a jerry that he lost was the better part. I mean, would the devil give up the good or the bad?
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
It. Was. A. Jest.
Marvel at how much time you invest in keeping that blanket wet.
Betty Cracker
Another low-quality hire:
That’s the guy Trump called a “gofer” he hardly knew who was making things up. They can’t get anyone else. It’s the bottom of the barrel or nothing.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Adam L Silverman: Oh God, on the one hand I get a little titillation hearing about this, and on the other if I never have to hear anything about Jerry Fucking Falwell, Jr. ever again in my life, that would be great.
Fraud Guy
@PJ:
So what does this have to do with Diaper David Vitter?
pamelabrown53
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I think we’re overdue for a remake of “Elmer Gantry”…updated for our time and lack of censorship.
I think you should right the adapted screenplay. You deserve a big paycheck after all the income you’ve lost!
Dorothy A. Winsor
If anyone’s interested, I blogged about how I thought people were happier when they had a project to work on–anything from needlework to an election I suppose!
sdhays
@Ken: Rats?
Ruckus
@Ken:
Not really a step up is it?
germy
New York Times headline:
“Trump Demonstrates The Power Of Forgiveness”
pamelabrown53
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Thank you for the link to your blog post. I will take your advice to heart; I truly believe that immersing oneself in a project is a wonderful way to ward off low grade depression. A sense of learning and accomplishment is important in the best of times.
Uncle Omar
Without wishing too much harm on “‘red” states, wait until Hurricane Laura and the resulting damage to the lower Mississippi Valley take over the news cycles on Tuesday, Weds, and Thursday bumping these criminal morons off the news and newspapers. I can hardly wait to the Presidential* whining. Especially when someone points out that Obama would have cancelled his speech and gone out Presidenting if such a disaster had happened on his watch. You know, like he did when Superstorm Sandy hit New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, etc..
Dorothy A. Winsor
@pamelabrown53: I’m glad you found it useful! It’s a theory I’ve been working on for a while. It seems true for me.
Adam L Silverman
@Salty Sam: Ninja babies are the worst type of ninjas because they use their cuteness and helplessness as weapons to disarm their targets before carrying out their assignments for their shinobi.
NotMax
@pamelabrown53
Would settle for a digitally remastered version of Marjoe.
A clip.
louc
Speaking of Idaho, this just happened.
NotMax
@NotMax
BTW, available free (with ads) on the Roku channel and also on Tubi TV.
WaterGirl
@Yutsano: Without clicking on the @jim… I was desperately hoping you weren’t asking for a clip of the religious hypocrites in action.
Jay
@PJ:
Sub-Dom is a power inversion relationship usually, but it’s a double reversal.
the Sub is usually the “power person”, (type A), the Dom is usually less powerful, ( type B), in their normal lives,
But, the sub cedes control of the encounter in trust, however, after a joint scripting of the event, ( or a repeat of a past event), the Dom’s role is to give the Sub what they want.
So while the Sub appears to be the “bottom”, they are actually the top.
The difficulty of achieving this in a relationship with out someone taking advantage, is why there are a large number of Professional Doms.
@Frankensteinbeck:
according to “Kink”, the only exhaustively researched modern study of kinks and fetishes, most kinks are the result of a sexualized experience while a young child. Such as playing in your Mothers Closet.
WaterGirl
@Yutsano: Someone please post a link of Katie Porter when it comes out.
WaterGirl
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): Last night on Pod Save America they Obama bros were all saying they mostly preferred the online version, but they thought we wouldn’t be able to do this next year because the TV stations weren’t going to want to air it if they couldn’t interrupt and have talking heads.
I kept (silently) yelling at them – we have streaming, who cares if the TV stations don’t want to air the convention?????!?!??!
Not to mention C-SPAN. Have they never heard of C-SPAN?
Also should have mentioned that it could be seen on Roku, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, all sorts of places where it could be watched on a TV set without having to watch
I couldn’t believe they were saying that.
NotMax
@WaterGirl
Well, there’s a not insignificant number of people either without internet or without connection robust enough to comfortably handle streaming.
catclub
@Betty Cracker: Is Sims trump’s body man who was dropped?
Subsole
@Betty Cracker: In fairness, she seems an extremely misanthropic person in general. Likely thinks that about everyone she bothers to think of. Maaaaybe not her kid.
NoraLenderbee
@louc: Golly, why didn’t they call the police?
Subsole
@germy: Powerful people tend to get off on having someone kick the shit out of them in private.
Keeps their chi balanced, or something.
mrmoshpotato
Assclowns – one and all. And now I will go back to ignoring the Russthuglican shitshow.
Subsole
@Adam L Silverman: It’s like the lamest imaginable version of Fleetwood Mac.
And we don’t even get a baller album out of it.
Subsole
@PJ: I think this hits it on the head.
Bodacious
@Yutsano: I’ll second that!!! Just moved away from Boise a few months ago. The first visitor we ever had at our door was a Democratic canvasser. The young people are awesome there and make me feel hope for the future. Also, they HAD a very well coordinated and welcoming program for immigrants; not sure the status of that. With a huge employer being Micron, high tech has brought a lot of diversity to the area. It was a very welcome and pleasant surprise to us. Still, a lot of guns per population.
Subsole
@Fraud Guy: Infantilism. What’s more vulnerable than an infant?
Ken
The corpse would be a better show than this.
lowtechcyclist
I want to go all Paranoid Android on those suckers, grab them by the shoulders and shout, “Life! Don’t talk to me about life!” in their faces. “You fuckers stood by Trump while he stood aside and let 180,000 Americans be killed by the coronavirus – that’s how much of a tinker’s damn you give about life. Look, I don’t know or care why you’re against abortion, though I can guess. But it’s got nothing to do with your reverence for life, because you have none.”
Seriously, it’s time to just let these bastards have it when they bring up abortion. No need to be polite, no point in saying it gently. After the carnage of this year that they raised no objection to and laid their hypocrisy bare and defenseless, anytime any of them goes “but abortion…” the response they get ought to make them feel like their heads got blown off. If it happens to them often enough, maybe they’ll get a bit gun-shy about bringing it up.
James E Powell
MSNBC correspondent after Trump just spewed lies for nearly an hour: “On Thursday he may appear more presidential. I think that’s the contrast we may see later in the week.”
What in the wide, wide world of sports is the matter with these people?
KenK
Then it seems there was some cheating going on in an ‘either/or’ or ‘both/and’ fashion?
VeniceRiley
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’m all for Nancy picking up the mic stand and smashing the camera over any day now.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Betty Cracker: They rehired the guy knowing full well he is going to write another tell all book about them ROFL.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@James E Powell: busted link
James E Powell
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Let’s try it again with a different link.
MSNBC correspondent after Trump just spewed lies for nearly an hour: “On Thursday he may appear more presidential. I think that’s the contrast we may see later in the week.”
KSinMA
@lowtechcyclist: Well said!
joel hanes
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan):
… leaving no slack for the talking heads was a real bonus, IMO. Also, no more rude cutting away from the podium for what the networks considered unimportant speeches to listen to the talking heads bloviate. Also, the speeches themselves were tighter.
QFT. Cut the networks out of the convention — their “analysts” and “anchors” and “pundits” subtract value.