When I was a kid, I was unknowingly raised by actual no-shit communists. The big-deal organization was called Der Arbeiter Ring (Workman’s Circle), and it was no coincidence that their version of Jesus was FDR. The fact that he was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Jews through his policies of violently preventing their escape from the Nazis was just completely ignored or denied because his “labor” and central state policies were perfectly in accord with the Ring’s desires. I, of course, wasn’t old enough to get the dynamic, so to me, Der Ring meant a beach- the only beach in the Baltimore area that Jews were allowed to use- and thus it was a wonderful organization.
Fortunately, that generation is my family faded out, so that by the time I was 10 years old, no commies were telling me about the wonders of wealth redistribution and the rights of the working man (meaning “the right to exclude outsiders from their guilds, prevent the free market and flow of labor, and impose cartels on consumers”). In their defense, they DID provide their form of welfare, insurance, and the aforementioned beaches for the kids. And before the US decided to have highly restricted immigration, they were instrumental in helping newcomers find work and make new lives for themselves here. No clean demarcation between good and evil, Arbeiter Ring was both.
So much for my thoughts on Labor Day.
And speaking of thoughts, there are a few birthdays today, including one of (((us))) whose work lives on at nearly all college campuses; a weird example of a celebrity musician being an incel; a fascinating guy who blurred scientific boundaries; another one of (((us))) whose work memorably lives on; a guy whose… diction was… famous for random… pauses; a guy who slept with Elizabeth Montgomery; a guy whom everyone thought he was good, but he was just a pretender; a Dr. Phil wannabe (at least Dr. Phil’s money) and might be one of us; and a guy who don’t play that.
And I now enact labor for Sloopy and Banjos and bring Links.
I hadn’t heard about this before, but this makes me love Martha Stewart even more.
Speaking of which, h/t to Professor Roy Spencer for digging this up. You mean the catastrophic climate models don’t even pass a first principles test? Huh.
I dunno, sounds like good parenting to me.
“But don’t worry, everything is fine and we’re winning.” This is like the 0-14 football team replacing the coach as if that’s going to fix the fact that they are fundamentally terrible.
C’mon, you gotta admit this is hilarious.
They needed this stuff more than the stores did.
Woodchipper, with extreme prejudice.
I have four or five versions of this Paul Cebar-written masterpiece, and Peter Mulvey and Redbird might have come close to doing it best. This is one of the Old Man’s favorite songs.
whaddup doh’
whats goody
“Ignored the climate crisis”
Christ, allow yourselves to have some fun you assholes.
Are we talking about Martha Steward and Glacier Ice? Because I don’t even slightly understand the criticism. Are they saying anything with the word “glacier” in it is owned by the climate change police?
Yeah, that…just people who get off on being holier than thou I guess.
Exactly this
Icebergs are meant to be free. Wild icebergs should be protected from exploitation.
I thought maybe they considered the reference to using an iceberg for cocktail ice insensitive to the families of Titanic victims because “too soon” or something. 🙄
I like your made-up feigned offense better than the real one.
How Can You Have FUN While the World is FreezerBurning?
/derp
The Internet Turns Everything to Shit in action.
Colorado replaced the coach on their 1-11 team and everything is different.
Of course, he also got rid of most of the players and even the recruits from the old coach.
He’s already got the 1 W, now needs to avoid the next 11 possible Ls.
I do like his attitude and cowboy hat
It is kind of proof positive that college is 90% about being able to bullshit or mesmerize stupid young athletes into coming to your school.
Now it’s all about transfers.
Well shit…
Beat me to the punch by two hours and I was too lazy to read the comments before posting.
Alt-text: “Everyone thought it would be the other way around, but don’t worry FDR, it’ll just be the tip.”
“No, I’m not homeless,” he said. “I just have one home. I have a beautiful home. I’m down here for the day because I can’t go home home.”
That’s surprisingly coherent for Joe Biden.
A man has been arrested after allowing his 10-year-old son to drive a pickup truck on a Phoenix-area freeway, authorities said Sunday.
I THOUGHT THIS WAS AMERICA
Old Guy Music is good.
It was a few months ago when he was insisting that they were real (& spectacular) that I knew for sure he was trolling.
Biden’s homes?
How a grocery store is handling theft.
So no more coconut or shea butter products?
As a white guy who uses those products I find that offensive.
The real crime is that those thieves have been priced out of buying national brands and have had to resort to this. The real criminals are the grocers.
Laughable that thieves would steal tools.
Do they need them for work?
The black gangs stole them from the white shops so they can sell them to the Mexicans at discounted prices.
There are other ways to handling theft but it’s a lot messier.
Rooftop Koreans FTW
“Clean up aisle 3.”
So, when do we start having to put a $1K deposit down to go grociery shopping?
‘Cause you know that is what is gonna happen.
A membership card or show a state ID card, along with having your picture taken should take care of it.
Costco waives hello.
Yeah. Also Sam’s Club. I haven’t heard of mob-level shoplifting at either place.
Mornin’
Kayla Lemieux now appears as a man with a scruffy beard.
Troll level: 11
The Tiktok kerfuffle will be resolved as soon as the CCP agrees to share their data with our 3-letter agencies. Personally, IDNGAF if they are monitoring my browsing history; if I did, I wouldn’t open a browser or an app, ever.
LOL.
I’m convinced.
I’m a little sympathetic to the labor movements of old. Getting paid in monopoly money that can only be used at the store owned by the business you worked for and having government troops show up to shoot you for demanding better conditions is pretty awful.
It’s on the same level as mean tweets.
Organized labor served its purpose. And then the pendulum swung too far the other way and now they basically exist as a parasite that kills its host slowly but surely.
There’s a reason they’ve died out beyond the public sector where not losing money isn’t an actual concern or can be pushed off far longer than in the private sector.
Reminds me of how the Tea Party originally started with a purpose and then was infiltrated and co opted by the RINOs
How long until Biden’s DOJ fines Giant for being “racist”?
Meant as a reply to ROAT’s link.
ROAT
Good morning, alles.
As much as I’d like to just chill for the day, in a few hours I’ll go to Home Depot and fetch a carpet cleaner to deal with Her Majesty’s couple of spots on the guest room carpet.
Grrr.
Mornin’. Don’t forget to stop at Nordstrom’s when you’re done.
Can you get some national-brand detergent while your out?
I missed whether that’s your new cat euphemism for your boyfriend.
Lolz, most definitely not the boyfriend.
He did write me a lovely note this morning though, in reply to one i sent him last night. We both use Protonmail for end-to-end encryption, but who are we kidding?
The Brits seem to be learning from their subjects in Poutinelandia
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/british-court-rules-competent-conscious-patient-can-be-denied-life-sustaining-treatment
If the Gard case didn’t force reform to the ghoulish UK system, nothing will. People will sacrifice any and all freedoms over there for the notion of “free” healthcare.
Absolutely correct.
Have you considered killing yourself? It doesn’t really matter. We already decided to kill you.
It’s just smart business, as their productivity is so low.
Hospitals need patients to stay in business. OTOH socialism hospitals don’t need patients, since care is limited.
https://media.makeameme.org/created/correctamundo-7eej71.jpg
And it seems that it’s time to start lynching some school officials.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/oklahoma-school-hires-drag-queen-principal-once-arrested-child-porn-drugs
Groomer’s being more inclusive these days. They don’t want to leave out the poor, brown kids.
They are like after dinner mints.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/09/new-jersey-mayor-ambushes-james-okeefe-after-he/
Signorello.
Pancione.
I’ve seen the Sopranos, O’Keefe is gonna be sleeping with the fishes.
including one of (((us))) whose work lives on at nearly all college campuses
this one is too obscure for me I dont get it
oh wait it was not ion the article but on he sidebar
Today is my birthday as well. Spent half the day in the ER yesterday. 7mm kidney stone. Hoping it passes soon. The pain is truly exquisite at times.
Oof.
💊🎂🎁🎈
I hope you told the ER docs today was your birthday so they’d give you the good drugs.
And I sincerely hope today is better than yesterday! Have a happy if you can, and please feel better ASAP! 😟
Thanks for the well wishes. Started with morphine. That wasn’t making a dent so they broke out the dilaudid. That got it to a dull roar.
Welcome to the club, I am the proud owner of a 4mm stone which announced its presence on Thursday. Hasn’t passed yet, hoping it does soon. In the meantime, i still have a few Vicodins left. 7mm is problematic, good luck.
Yep. Might have to get it blasted.
Yikes! I hope it passes on its own and some more powerful drugs make for a good birthday.
Seconded!
My first (and hopefully last) stone broke on its own (or through the power of my intense hatred) so it passed ok.
Enjoy the drugs! Tell them to keep ‘em coming!
Drink more beer to help the kidneys !
Great, something else too look forward too.
Happy stone day?
About a dozen years ago, my dad had a 27mm stone in his bladder.
Struvite. *shudders*
He had to go in twice, the first time for the ultrasound to break it up into a bunch of smaller pieces, and a second time for the catheter to extract the pieces.
Ouch! Damn!
Ouch! I feel your pain! I have had a lifetime of those…. not fun.
Get the good painkillers. Nothing else touches internal organ pain.
Hope your birthday gets happier.
We are all getting older as we discuss the best caliber of kidney stones.
Holy shit. Good luck with that. You to Patzer.
Happy birthday, Milo
Sorry to hear about your troubles. Get better soon!
HBD 🙂
Get well soon.
“[S]ome leftist political activists do not actually strive for social justice and equality but rather use political activism to endorse or exercise violence against others to satisfy their own ego-focused needs.”
https://twitter.com/SteveStuWill/status/1698457862240866395
[S]omeAll leftist political activists do not actually strive for social justice and equalityFTFY
So, communists in the family. Yeah, I got a few. My grandfathers sister (a nurse) and her husband (a doctor) found Berkeley in the fifties too conservative and after Castro took Cuba the went to help the sugar cane harvesters, and then moved to (as jews) to East Berlin. Never allowed back in the states, they died broke, lonely and, after ’89, dissapointed.
All my family were officially communists. Not much choice really.
Of course there is no choice. Communism is hip and rad. Where as everything else is pure evil incarnate.
hippies were not looked upon favorably really
Preferring Biological Children Is Immoral
Most people say they want their kids to be their own genetic offspring—but such a desire is in conflict with other evolving values around parenting and family.
https://www.wired.com/story/ethics-children-parenting-family-biology/
The job of an ethicist is to come up with rationalizations for things normal people find morally repulsive.
This is correct.
“Other evolving values” does sound better than “shit we made up between bong rips”, though.
Not to me. I got the heebie jeebies just reading that phrase.
Yeah…. passing on your genes is literally “the meaning of life”. I don’t think you can word salad your way out of that one.
*hands cyto a pair of stained Lee Carpenter jeans*
My life is complete. I have served my purpose.
A Summer in Copenhagen 1935 | Remastered with Sound
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41vEcwPGcFY
Snowball fight in Lyon, France in 1896
Using original footage by Lumiere, this fim has been upscaled and colorized using the open-source AI tool, DeOldify
https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1698309867776495680
Can I use DeOldify on my back?
Repeated three times, lol – four if you count ‘lawlessness’.
The pendulum swinging back this time is going to be one for the history books.
If it swings.
I am seeing all sorts of signs that “the people” have had it.
Someone posted a compilation of “react videos” to that “Rich Men north of Richmond” video. You know the kind, where some young kid from the hood makes faces while he watches Led Zepplin and says “wow! they good!”.
Well, this one was a bunch of redneck dudes and hood rats reacting to a country song with a simple guitar and voice arrangement.
And there were tears. Lots of them. Lots of black guys and black women with real tears.
They get the populist message. They live in a world where “your dollar don’t mean shit”.
And the media and the DNC don’t see those folks. I do. I go to church with them. My kids are on sports teams with them. I hang out with them at school events. And they are not down with any of this. Not the spending. Not the illegal immigration. Not the rainbow flags. Not the drag queens at kids story time. Not the men who identify as women are really women. None of it.
Yet…. somehow the votes are counted.
So if a pendulum swings, but nobody cares and they count the votes anyway and everyone cheers for the new boss, same as the old boss… did the pendulum actually swing?
The new boss will slowly be not the same as the old boss; but that only works if people who are not crazy radical lunatics start showing up at the primaries.
But yeah, it is my belief that half of more of the good little liberals who profess to believe all that garbage… don’t. They only do so for appearance’s sake.
They believe it because to not believe it would be to open themselves to things that they most definately DON’T believe: that guns are good, that abortion is wrong, and so on. And until the Dem party loosens themselves from the grip of college freshman level hystrionics, that isn’t gonna change. Think of it as a reverse of when the R’s were under the grip of the religious right. There was a reason people broke for the left, and that comes down to too much self-righteousness on the part of the party leaders.
I have given up on trying to mindread whether someone is a true believer, a cynical grifter, or a useful idiot. I take them at their word (as a true believer) absent something to the contrary. IOW, until you convince me otherwise, I regard you as an irrational, quasi-religious fanatic.
Capitalism is good. Let me explain.
Sabine Hossenfelder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRPHp2EjNR8
That was actually good, like all of her stuff…. but it was also a stealth climate change ad.
For those who don’t want to sit through to the end, the punch line is that capitalism and free markets work – but only if things have accurate pricing. So we need carbon taxes.
“Accurate pricing” can’t be pulled out of one’s ass.
Wow. That’s impressive. To get so close, and then completely and utterly miss your own point.
Also — I want a T-shirt of her with the caption “But that is another story”
Meet the “Makin Institute for NeuroChange” – they can help you with NeuroSports, NeuroDating, NeuroFriendship and even NeuroParenting https://makininstitute.com please neurostop saying neuro so neuromuch
https://twitter.com/Neuro_Skeptic/status/1697594884259987879
My favorite fictional detective was Neuro Wolfe.
larf
When I was a freshman at Caltech in 1979, Max Delbruck was, for some reason I never learned, leading one of the recitation sections for Physics 1a. I was not able to get into that section, sadly. You can imagine having Goodstein for a lecturer and Delbruck as a TA. Only in Pasadena…
I had to dig through a dozen articles to find the one that zeroed in on the real reason I can’t watch the U.S. Open this weekend (or Live with Kelly and Mark! (who the fuck are Kelly and Mark?)).
PS. How the fuck can they get away with blacking out a local TV station? I thought that was a no-no.
Yeah, I am pretty sure they are required to carry them…..
but Disney was probably the one doing the blacking out, not spectrum.
‘This is like the 0-14 football team replacing the coach as if that’s going to fix the fact that they are fundamentally terrible.’
Flawed take. For example: the Deion Sanders led Colorado Buffaloes will win at least 8 games and make a bowl appearance despite finishing 1-11 last season. I’d bet good money on it. In fact, I’d say at the collegiate level a quality coach/recruiter can make all difference in the world very, very quickly…
Also..0-14? 1978 came and went a long time ago. 😉
Also, Neon Deon with the bizarro take that he is “a loud black man with a 75% black locker room, and ya’ll can’t take that”
Uh… is he aware that the rest of college sports exists?
I’m not saying that Sanders is an intellectual giant or anything, that was a ridiculous statement. Just saying he’s a charismatic guy who can recruit five star talent and his brief track record as a college coach is pretty damn solid. He obviously knows the game and draws talent, coaching ability or not.
Zelensky only replaced the wartime minister. The Colorado team is more like Theseus’ ship
That’s a fair take. If Vassal Z could get his hands on tens of thousands of highly equipped, highly trained US troops I’m sure Ukraine would be putting up a far tougher fight…but not to worry! His handlers are working that scenario into existence as we speak!
Good morning, Old Man!
People are retarded. And Martha looks damn fine for 82. And there is, has never been, and will never be a climate crisis.
I’m going to a glacier today. Maybe I’ll carve a chunk and use it in a cocktail later in her honor.
There will be, in a few billion years when the sun’s radius has expanded to the orbit of Mars.
It still isn’t a crisis. It’s nature.
Rocky Mountain National Park?
Arapahoe. St. Mary’s
Aaaah, very cool. Have fun.
Thanks! I’m sure it will be a zoo, but I’ve been meaning to get there for some time.
End your summer with heaping helpings of titties on Labor Mammary Monday.
https://archive.ph/C3svA
over at TOS, ENB is upset that the Alabama AG is saying that he can prosecute people for conspiring to truck people out of state to get abortions that would be illegal in the state.
Meanwhile, a neighboring AG who is actually prosecuting *attorneys* for giving their client legal advice about how to seek a redress of grievances with the state government is apparently doing the lord’s work.
https://reason.com/2023/09/01/alabama-says-helping-with-out-of-state-abortions-is-criminal-conspiracy/
I am unsure what your objection is on the reason article.
The irony of recent history
” the Alabama AG is saying that he can prosecute people for conspiring to truck people out of state to get abortions ”
CWAA
Members of the Manchester branch joined other CPB members and tens of thousands of Communists from around the world this weekend at the @pcp_pt
festival @festaavante
to celebrate the achievements of our Portuguese comrades, and international communism.
https://twitter.com/CpbManc/status/1698412320819405308
I wonder if their Portuguese comrades have a body count.
https://twitter.com/Culture_Crit/status/1698452711312605419
community notes are expanding
My carbon monoxide alarm went off at 6am. Coincidentally just after I took a dump.
It’s possible this is why men don’t want to date me.
Is this one of those “roast me” posts?
I doubt it’s the first reason, but it could be number two.
Oh my, that one stinks.
Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner are heading for divorce, TMZ reports.
https://twitter.com/PopCrave/status/1698344262721572933
*doesn’t click link*
I don’t know who those people are.
Oh come one everyone knows Sansa Stark !
sometimes norwegian politics is a bit funny
https://twitter.com/joakial_/status/1698066117959242016
53 degrees. Climate crisis, indeed.
would you people stop rubbing your low temps in my face? I am looking at at least 8-10 more days of 30 C 🙁
Lucky. We’ve still got global warming here. I don’t think it got below 60 last night.
Hah. It didn’t get below 70 here last night, and will be hotter today & overnight. Bleah
90 or greater every day this week. Fuck me.
Yikes!
One more warm day in our 5 day heat wave, then fall starts. Forecasted highs are 91 today, 65 tomorrow
High 80s next couple days. 90s towards the end of the week.
Lost central air Saturday night – fairly certain the blower motor has been fried.
Just gonna wait to call someone until tomorrow – not gonna pay holiday rates to avoid an uncomfortable night or two.
Which blower? If both of them stopped then it’s very unlikely it’s the motors.
Good point, could be a bad capacitor. Those are a common failure.
Yes, if it’s the outside motor it could be the start cap.
Sounds like a fuse on that line went out. Where does power stop?
Just the main blower in the inside unit – outside compressor spins up right away (that’s almost new, actual furnace is quite old).
I can hear the rely click but nothing but a bad smell from the blower motor. I can spin the squirrel cage by hand, so it’s not bound-up.
Given the age of the unit the big question will be “repair or replace?” With the high temps later in the week, it might be “both” If they have the motor in stock.
“I can hear the rely click but nothing but a bad smell from the blower motor.”
Oh, that does sound like a bad motor.
Mine died (bad bearing in motor led to a death wobble in the squirrel cage and took several blades out and jammed it) early June while it was still coolish. The week after I installed the new assembly with parts bought from various corners of the internet, we went into summer overdrive temps of 100* + days that we’re still experiencing.
48 for the low here, which isn’t helping dry the ground.
“I missed this Cancer Moonshot announcement. Did you?”
They want us dead.
Wherein mRNA vies with AGW to be the biggest grift in world history.
The is still the funniest twitter exchange I’ve ever seen and I laugh every time
https://twitter.com/woke8yearold/status/1697844523177562167
Not feeling very stoic today, just finished burying my dog that died last night.
There haven’t been many things I wanted to do less than how little I wanted to go dig that hole.
Smoke
Tuesday, he was fine and he started to vomit Wednesday.
Thursday he was low on energy, but I wasn’t worried, he has had a sensitive stomach before.
He puked water that night, that worried me, so we took him to the ER, they gave him a hydration packet and we took him to the regular vet Friday.
They ran X-Rays and did a blood test for all kinds of things, and had no clue, his kidney function was low, his liver function was high, and his platelets were low.
They gave us a bunch of pills to treat the symptoms and we made an appointment for Tuesday.
Every day he got worse, and he died last night.
What can make a ridiculously healthy dog go downhill and die that fast with the vet not knowing what caused it?
I did bury him in his favorite spot in the backyard on our little hill where he would sit and look at the lake sometimes.
Sorry ron 😞
Awww… RIP, Smoke.
Shit, that sucks. Very sorry.
So sorry to hear that, Ron. Their unconditional love makes their loss that much harder. Treasure the good memories.
Sorry for your loss, ron.
I’m sorry Ron. My dog Holley died in much the same way – sudden onset kidney failure. I know it’s tough.
Whoa, sorry man.
Ron, I am so sorry about your pup.
Smoke is a beautiful boy. I’ll be praying for you and the fam.
Jeeeeze. That made me tear up. Well, he’s got His spot.
I’m so sorry.
Sorry, for your loss 🙁
Damn, sorry about your dog Ron. That sucks.
So sorry.
I’m so sorry, ron! Please allow yourself to be un-stoic about this. IMO, it would inappropriate to be stoic, at least to be so right away. Grief in all its stages and manifestations IS appropriate.
Sorry Ron.
Fuck. So sorry to hear that.
Thanks everyone, I gotta go find something to do.
I keep reaching down to pet him because he always laid right under my chair when I would be on the computer.
My wife always said that I chose him at the pet shop and he chose me at the house.
Happier Times
Ron, I’m very sorry for your loss. It’s very hard and rough to deal with.
Sorry to hear that. Hard to day what they get at some times or what gets at them.
It would have been easier to deal with if he was old or sick, but he was 5 and always happy and healthy.
My nickname for him was “Happy Boy”.
Shit. Sorry, Ron — my last dog was much longer but similar symptoms (I think it was pancreatitis but the vet wasn’t sure). I miss her to this day — and cried digging her grave too.
Smoke was much younger, so it must be more painful — I’m sorry. The moments you know you enriched his life and he enriched yours are part of what makes life worth living.
When they go, they take a piece of you with them. But the memories eventually heal you.
I’m sorry ron. Those are wonderful pictures of Smoke.
So sorry, Ron 🙁
Well, here I am. Goals today: Call Anthem and see about a claim that they denied as “unnecessary.” Standard WoD is straight-up evil. You know what might make pain meds, even semi-strong ones? How about cracking your femur around your titanium replacement stem? That really is a humdinger how much that might hurt. Well, for you Big People. It’s only my second time breaking it. Left now gets the inside-jokes Right slips in.
Part II: Try and get doc authorization for a refill of that shit. I’ve been rationing them. That’s a fun game.
Finally. clean up my room. Cleaning folk come tomorrow. I haven’t done shit to my little alcove in two weeks. It is in dire need of making me look semi-representable. Oh. And get a doc’s note saying when I can work/what I can/should do. (‘Not N’ is a longer list. I’m stubborn.)
This is a fairly good time to be semi-crippled to match. Good bit: Can pretty much get out of any responsibility. This is incredibly healthy, natch. Con: I lean closer to being treated like an invalid. Somewhat deserved. Especially from my parents as I George Costanza my way living with them. They have to be reminded not to please avoid any hint of impropriety.
Cubs play at 2. Yesterday’s game was entertaining.
I am not tremendously excited to spend Monday with the parental units. And I can’t really escape. I can hole up, but that’s not advisable today. Hrm.
Bring on the Workers’ Paradise
And there are limits to how much help the White House can provide. The administration has taken steps to boost union participation in public works projects, for example. But it’s gotten nowhere with unions’ biggest priority — passing the PRO Act, which would make it easier for private sector workers to organize and harder for companies to push back.
National Socialism, FTW!
I read this piece a year ago when it came out and it may have gotten linked here, but it is well worth a read. I think it lays down the only path forward for those of us not wanting to live in Woketopia. It won’t be easy or quick, but cultural change usually never is. The ideas in it won’t necessarily be new to everyone here, but it is well written and the author has a good substack column.
https://www.city-journal.org/article/a-new-counterculture
Terrific essay. Thanks for the link! I liked this
“All of what was once revolutionary is now a new orthodoxy, with conformity enforced by censorship, scientistic obscurantism, and eager witch-hunters (early-middle-aged, zealously dour, tight-lipped frown, NPR tote bag, rainbow “Coexist” bumper sticker, pronouns in email signature—we all know the uniform).”
The obvious answer is Pol Pot. But I think there’s more than a little bit of accepting the premise in that. The self licking ice cream cone and gatekeeping requires it, but none of those institutions truly require it nor did they do so in the past.
Political genius
The White House and allied Democrats are staying quiet about Trump’s legal woes, hoping voters will mobilize around them on their own. Is it a risky strategy, or just part of Biden’s genius?
——-
For Biden, the attempt to stay above the fray is a relatively easy choice. His brand is all about returning Washington to functioning normally, and the contrast he wants to draw is that he, unlike Trump, is a believer in the nonpartisan dispensing of justice. “I think the president has been clear on the issues that underlie all of these indictments, like the issues of democracy, of the rule of law, of having an independent justice department,” a Biden insider says. “The irony of people being like, Why won’t the president comment on the indictments? Part of what Trump is indicted for is weaponizing the Justice Department! And people want us, in some sense, to do the same thing? Why would we do that? Our guy stands for the opposite of that.” The ongoing federal investigation of the president’s son is also a disincentive: Biden commenting on the cases against Trump while Hunter Biden is still under scrutiny by a special counsel would give oxygen to Republican what-about-ism.
——-
At all levels, Democrats are following the old maxim that when an adversary is tripping over himself, you stay out of his way. For electeds not facing voters, staying quiet is seen as avoiding a Republican trap. “Our thinking is that Trump is going to inject politics into this no matter what,” the senior Democratic operative says. “So there’s no benefit to us making this a political issue because if there’s a conviction, we want people to have faith it was a fair process. We need to defend the legal process and the legal system, and not make the courts political.”
Totally not political. Joe is at once everywhere and nowhere. Far above the fray, he observes approvingly.
Anyone who writes this is not a serious person.
Biden almost certainly can’t play 2D Candy Land, much less 4D chess.
“Smash Mouth singer dead at 56: Steve Harwell ‘passed peacefully and comfortably’”
https://nypost.com/2023/09/04/smash-mouth-singer-dead-at-56-steve-harwell-was-on-deathbed/
So here’s a radical thought: Maybe Joe Biden knows what he’s doing. This time around he’ll also be able to boast a record of delivering tangible results for millions of Americans on things like lower drug prices and higher wages. Still, there will come a time in next year’s campaign when Biden needs to address—viscerally, not legalistically—how his predecessor’s rule-breaking matters beyond the courtroom, and the dangers of what Trump would do with the power of a second term. “I would not ever expect Joe Biden to directly make Trump’s legal proceedings a center of his campaign reelection effort,” says Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s former White House communications director and now a CNN contributor. “Joe Biden has never hesitated to call out the existential threat he believes Donald Trump poses to the country. What he’s not doing is auditioning to be a legal analyst on MSNBC.”
Joe Biden gets results. He saved us from certain existential doom. We’d all be speaking Russian by now if Trump had won.
Just don’t talk about grocery prices, or gas prices, or educational achievement, or….
“Stacy Davis-Gates is President of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and a prominent opponent of school choice.
SubX News reports, however, that Davis-Gates does support public education alternatives for some children: her own. One of her children attends a private Catholic high school in Chicago.”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/09/chicago-teachers-union-president-opposes-school-choice-except/
CWAC
elf-appointed zookeepers
Once declared extinct in the wild, Canis rufus — the only wolf species found solely in the United States — was reintroduced in the late 1980s on the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, just across the sound from eastern North Carolina’s famed Outer Banks. Over the next quarter century, it became a poster child for the Endangered Species Act and a model for efforts to bring back other species.
“The red wolf program was a tremendous conservation success,” says Ron Sutherland, a biologist with the Wildlands Network. “It was the first time that a large carnivore had been returned to the wild after being driven extinct, anywhere in the world.”
But the wild population is now back to the brink of oblivion, decimated by gunshots, vehicle strikes, suspected poisonings and, some have argued, government neglect.
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Out here, farming and leasing land to hunters are big business. The red wolf is seen by some as competition, and a threat to a way of life on a fragile landscape already imperiled by climate change.
“They don’t belong here!” a woman shouted at agency staff during a recent public meeting on the program.
Add to that a widespread mistrust of government and the road ahead looks long and perilous for “America’s wolf.” But allies like Akin and Sutherland say they have to try.
As it was yesterday, so must it be tomorrow.
“a threat to a way of life on a fragile landscape already imperiled by climate change”
Oh, fuck off.
The only thing more dangerous than a wolf is one that demands you go to work. Excpet I thought they were more northerly?
Good. There are far too many deer around due to lack of apex predators.
I don’t want elves appointing zookeepers.
Orcs would just eat the animals.
Do you think elves would go around butchering beavers?
The service has yet to identify suitable locations for other wild populations and it’s unclear whether the North Carolina wolves have a half century.
If Greenland continues to melt at the current rate, the East Coast could see more than 3 feet (0.9 meters) of sea level rise in the next 50 years, says Jeffress Williams, a senior scientist emeritus with the U.S. Geological Survey. The average elevation at Alligator River: about 3 feet (0.9 meters).
“They ought to be factoring that in,” says Williams, who works at the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center in Massachusetts. “Because within 50 years, a lot of the habitat areas that they’re looking at will very likely be underwater due to sea level rise or, certainly, underwater during the storm surge events such as such as hurricanes.”
I’m convinced.
And in 50 years when it’s not underwater, all of those predictions will be memory holed for the next round of doom.
You know better than that: “all of the
authoritarian diktatsmeasures we took have bought us time, but more must be done!”