Midweek Meh-Ness [DOT 13/9/23]

13/9/23 MegMegMcGee 32

Hope everyone is having a great week! I start pickleball lessons this evening so laugh at me and/or wish me luck. The funny thing is that my friends were the ones that wanted to sign up, but when they sent out the link I signed up and then the class was full. So now I’m going with no friends!

Alrighty then.

McCarthy ‘doing Trump’s bidding’ by backing Biden impeachment inquiry, president’s campaign spokesperson says – live
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2023/sep/12/trump-indictments-mccarthy-government-shutdown-biden-politics-live-updates

Oh great now he has a gun because people just leave guns laying around their homes/garages

Escaped Pennsylvania prisoner now armed with a stolen rifle and ‘extremely dangerous,’ police say
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/12/us/danelo-cavalcante-inmate-search-pennsylvania-tuesday/index.html

Awful

Thousands missing and feared dead after floods submerge eastern Libya
https://wapo.st/44SkTl4

Sprots! [Yikes, he is dangerous; choking is often a precursor to murder]

Girlfriend of Rockets’ Kevin Porter has fractured vertebra
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/38386284

Stonks!

Stock futures are little changed as Wall Street awaits key consumer inflation data: Live updates
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/12/stock-market-today-live-updates.html

Sorry it’s late and I can’t get tweets (x’s?) to embed. But I promise you this is worth the click.

https://x.com/Eve6/status/1701473978421027030?s=20

Have a great day!

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32 Comments

    • …à propos of nothing in particular that’s one of my favorite header pics I don’t get to pick because I’m not on wednesday any more…so thanks for dusting it off?

      …as for the other bits…I really wanted to be able to see the funny side of the place that got flooded by about 600,000 gallons?litres? IDK but either way a shit-ton of red wine

      …but the two dams that collapsed to cause that tragedy in libya kinda took the chuckles out of it?

    • He’s just a tool to peel off Democratic votes from Biden. So I’d say self-awareness is pretty low on his list of attributes. And that list largely consists of “Last name: Kennedy.”

      TL;DR: He’s just a tool.

      • …if…as it certainly gives every appearance of being…it really is a foregone conclusion that the GOP ticket is going to have a guy at the top who’s a criminal defendant in enough cases to make that a full-time gig requiring a budget he apparently can’t get anywhere but via the murky bookkeeping of a presidential campaign…& which would be relying on as many thumbs on as many scales as can be contrived at the state & electoral college levels for pretty much all its plausible routes to success

        …are we…by which I mean me, really…maybe not giving enough thought to the potential of the current crop of third-party candidates in terms of spoiler potential?

        …the much bemoaned “base” support for the so-far-alleged-but-plausibly-convicted administration holds worryingly steady around the low thirty percent region…so if third party votes get pulled mainly from the less illegitimate side of the aisle & the margins are slim in the states that get labelled as battlegrounds

        …andrew yang or cornell west or whoever might be more of a concern if they devote themselves to finding fault with the dem ticket in a blend of a circular firing squad & the “perfect” being the enemy of the good in a purity test sort of a way?

        • I think that’s why the horse race media are pushing the “Biden is too old” line. At this point that’s the only fault they can find to carp on. But they want to chisel away at it until it widens, to provide a big enough gap for these spoiler assholes to occupy.

          Yes, I worked that metaphor.

    • Well, given that that’s his own voice, maybe he has to strain slightly less than the rest of us do.

  2. There are places where you would expect some people to keep a rifle in the garage, but suburban Pennsylvania is not one of them.

    • I dunno, Luigi. I’d argue that guns don’t belong next to the washing machine. The garage is often an entry point for burglars. So you’re kind of just arming them? Which is what happened.

      • Where I live there are no burglars.  There are just about no people.  But there are bears and coyote and goddamn groundhogs and a gun is the handiest noisemaker for chasing them off.

        I have developed a different relationship with firearms since living in the mountains.

  3. Florida Man says “Dammit, I’ve got a speech and I’m going to give that speech and I’m not going to consider the fact that MAGA Bitch McCarthy already caved to our batshit demands.” ‘Cause when a Florida Man decides to do something stupid, there ain’t no stopping him.

    Gaetz attacks McCarthy in wild House speech

  4. The escapee is about an hour (50-ish miles) from us. I have an acquaintance who lives in the search area, and who has been getting the reverse 911 calls, in addition to having nearby streets barricaded as the search continues. His escape is causing quite a fuss.

    • …so…just recently there was a guy in the UK who escaped from prison & it was all over the papers…in part because that doesn’t happen very often but also because it was literally the stuff of a movie script on paper so the usual suspects lapped it up & asked for seconds

      …he wasn’t a convict (though he most likely will be for one thing or another now he’s post-jailbreak) but “on remand” while they get around to trying him for terrorism offences…& he literally lashed himself under a lorry with bedsheets like (I’m told) a scene from the paddington sequel movie…plus he’d had some military training

      …so day one when it was mostly speculation & very little fact there was all sorts of stuff about how they were searching the largest park space in london because he could disappear there like stallone in rambo or something

      …but by the third day or so they’d figured out he dropped off the truck pretty soon after it left & after that (I think) it took a day or two to track him down & now he’s back in custody & the talk of manhunts lasting for months all sounds a bit over the top…which maybe shouldn’t be a surprise in one of the most video-surveilled cities on the planet

      …but…how differently that “military training” part plays in a UK context than it does if your escapee is in the US is hard to get past for me…particularly in the sense that, were I to own firearms, I can’t really conceive of feeling casual enough about them for them not to be locked down any time they were out of my sight?

    • I wish there was sound on those videos.
      “DON’T YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!??!”

    • It’s almost hard to believe that she and the movie are approximately the same age. Or that a kitschy vehicle about a newly deceased couple and an undead smart-ass poltergeist is actually the more dignified party in this case.

    • Laughing and singing too loud?!

      Please. Fucking rude if she was singing along or anything during a show. That’s basic theater manners.

  7. I start pickleball lessons this evening

    But seriously, good for you for trying a new thing. Maybe you will add some more friends?

    • haha thanks. It seems fun so we’ll see!

      • Speaking of adding more friends, if you and Manchu don’t meet up, then I almost don’t even know what the hell this platform is even for!

  8. The impeachment nonsense is incredibly frustrating from a media perspective. With Trump’s impeachments, there was endless sniping at the Democrats. And they’ve flipped the script for the benefit of the GOP.

    — Oh, maybe the Dems have evidence and a good reason, but here are random reasons why not. Now the press is skirting the fact that the GOP has nothing, either dropping it into a “however” graf buried in their stories, or leaving it out.

    — Oh dear, does this increase partisanship? Now, there’s no such handwringing.

    — Will this drive the GOP to back Trump even more? Now they’re not even whispering of the possibility that Democrats will be enraged and turn out.

    — Why are they doing this if it’s DOA in the Senate? Now they’re not going there in order to increase the legitimacy of the GOP’s — and their — effort.

    The press is refusing to deal with the risks to the GOP for launching a baseless effort, but they’re also refusing to deal with the damage to the country that the GOP is doing, just like they refused to address the damage they did by the GOP blocking Trump’s impeachment, especially after 1/6. They know if they have address the substance of the charges they’ll have to pass judgment, so they hide behind procedure and pretend both sides are the same.

    And they’re failing to address the damage to themselves by amplifying GOP hype that is impossible to live up to. They’re making a huge risk of being like the weathercasters who overhype a possible blizzard which turns out to be a tiny dusting of snow. Except weathercasters have gotten much smarter about hedging and updating forecasts. The political press is cheerfully following the GOP down a path loaded with landmines.

    • …from what I’ve seen there’s been a decent amount of mccarthy getting dragged over the part where he & the GOP were agreed on it being performative nonsense with no teeth

      https://x.com/speakermccarthy/status/1176637249435426816 [from about this time in ’19]

      …it may well be a lot like the gazillion times mango unchained said one thing on twitter & everyone remembered the corresponding tweet that said the reverse…so doesn’t really answer your criticism…but…at least some people do notice this stuff & point it out in places that aren’t too hard to come across?

      https://www.axios.com/2023/09/12/mccarthy-vs-himself

      …&…as a fan of irony

      https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/12/trump-doj-assist-biden-impeachment-probe-00115393

      …there’s a few things about it that I can’t help but like…such as it not only being a hollow gesture but being a day late & a dollar short for keeping the lone wolves™ from his door?

      https://www.axios.com/2023/09/12/matt-gaetz-mccarthy-impeachment-motion-to-vacate

      • Marcy Wheeler has been running with how many major outlets — NY Times, Washington Post, NBC, Politico, Semafor — for months have been treating the impeachment story as a process story — here’s how it’s moving forward.

        And she’s been noting how few bother to address the substance-free nature, if they do at all.

        Having a few bits float through while this goes on is how the NY Times retrospectively defended their 2016 coverage of Clinton, where they dug out the occasional references buried inside the last 15% of a story about Trump’s attacks to note random problems with his narrative. And of course they ignored the giant imbalance overall.

        It’s a problem on the substantive level, but what’s more even if the press eventually comes around to the real story, they’re ruining their own credibility by flip flopping and climbing out of a blindingly obvious mud pit. The country desperately needs a credible press.

        There’s a justification for being wrong on complex, difficult stories early on and eventually reversing course. But there’s never been a good reason to think McCarthy’s path on impeachment has been anything but a joke. Laundering his POV was a mistake then, and the political press has made their end game pointlessly hard.

        • …again…not disagreeing with the substance of that…& I’m aware that not everyone who comes across this or that bit of coverage finds that it lands the same way for them that it does for me…but, that said, I paid attention to the impeachment stuff about orange foolius because it was obvious they had merit & the spineless act of denying senate confirmation served as an indication (not to mention its own indictment) of one half of a two party system

          …whereas I pay (somewhat less) attention to this circus because its existence is indicative of some other things that seem like they bear keeping an eye on…& in that sense I suppose I tend to discount its currency in campaign terms since I don’t think it’s designed to sway people so much as to placate potential deserters in that sense

          …but after the farce it took to get him seated as speaker the inside baseball of a scenario where he offers a thing he knows to be almost entirely meaningless save it’s potential ability to keep alive one strand of a false equivalence narrative that holds water with a dwindling supply of voters…shortly before an ostentatious bid to remind him of how precarious his unenviable position is…I dunno…but if I knew how I’d be inclined to throw chum in those waters & hope a feeding frenzy broke out sooner than later?

          …they’re impeding stuff rather than making headway (good or bad) with legislation which plays to their choir as painting biden in an ineffective light…so of they preoccupied themselves with publicly failing to be able to agree amongst themselves enough to take advantage of being able to set an agenda outside of the nut jobs they installed in the judiciary…I feel like maybe that’s a win for the side of the angels?

  9. wait what? mike tyson has a coffee shop?

    does it sell magic ears?

    https://nltimes.nl/2023/09/13/former-boxer-mike-tyson-amsterdam-official-opening-coffeeshop

    good on him n all..but im not so sure i agree with this part

    Marijuana has been unjustly labeled as a drug. It is demonized,” he told the newspaper De Telegraaf. He said he personally uses cannabis as a pain reliever. “I never smoked during my career,” he noted, “but I use it now also because of the injuries I have.”

    i mean…i agree its a pain reliever……most of those are considered drugs tho…..and i know plenty long term stoners who have gone more than a little bit off in the head

    i know plenty that are perfectly fine too…but i think its probably earned being called a drug

    • Umm, yeah. It’s funny, but over the years I’ve known quite a few daily marijuana users. And (in my non-medical opinion) a great many of them are self-medicating for underlying conditions. And I’m not talking about chemotherapy — though I’ve known a few of those too. I mean undiagnosed conditions like ADD and bipolar disorder and things like that. If it works for them, fine, but yeah, it’s a drug and pretending that it’s not is just ridiculous.

      • i’d agree with self medicating for underlying conditions…for better or worse

        i mean….i quit weed once i cottoned on it was making my underlying depression worse

        and that was before i knew i had depression….i just connected the misery spiral one night

        and blamed weed….then didnt get as betterer as i expected….but it was an improvement

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