…situation normal [DOT 13/8/20]

the exception that proves the rule...

…we knew pretty much how most of this was going to sound

Biden’s pick for vice president comes with important advantages, but also some complexities.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/12/kamala-harris-joe-biden-vp-black-progressive-women

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/12/what-to-make-of-the-kamala-harris-vp-pick-our-panels-verdict

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/harris-has-been-called-too-cautious-and-deliberate-that-makes-her-a-great-running-mate/2020/08/11/story.html

…but somehow the bar for some things just always manages to wind up lower than you’d imagine

Her Voice? Her Name? G.O.P.’s Raw Personal Attacks on Kamala Harris

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/12/donald-trump-and-his-campaign-launch-scattergun-attacks-on-kamala-harris

Kamala Harris Crystallizes Trump’s View of Women: They’re ‘Nasty’ or Housewives

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/harris-vp-pick-creates-dilemma-trump-campaign-which-lobs-conflicting-attacks

…but then, the counterproductive midas touch is pretty much the man’s signature move

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-admin-failed-assess-risk-civilians-saudi-arms-deal-government-n1236457

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/after-trump-doubled-down-goya-has-it-helped-boost-or-tank-sales

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-says-biden-will-hurt-god-such-2020-posturing-really-ncna1236298

Will Trump Take the Hit After Ohio State Football Is Canceled?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/more-than-200-aviation-companies-doubled-dipped-into-federal-pandemic-payroll-aid/2020/08/11/story.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-wants-states-pay-25-his-new-unemployment-benefit-states-n1236291

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/businesses-fear-getting-caught-middle-trump-s-payroll-tax-cut-n1236336

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/08/11/paid-sick-leave

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/how-trump-s-wechat-ban-cuts-lifeline-asians-could-cost-support

…it’s right up there with “somebody else pays for it”, “that’s not my responsibility”, “ask my attorney”, “sign this NDA”, “good lawyers don’t take notes”

Trump’s lawyers and economic advisers have studied how far they could stretch executive authority to set tax policy, though the legality of any cuts is dubious.

….&

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/art-deal-trump-s-negotiators-are-often-hardliners-who-struggle-to-close

…oh, yeah…”Mr Putin – he & I have a very good relationship – assures me”

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/reckless-foolish-why-russia-s-vaccine-has-experts-alarmed-n1236466

…I mean…it’s not something you hear him boast about…but his numbers have him way out in front by some metrics at least

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/12/how-donald-trump-is-driving-americans-to-renounce-their-citizenship

…so…it’d be tempting to think they’d kind of eat themselves out of existence in a fit of political canibalism

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-rallies-end-coronavirus/2020/08/11/story.html

…but behind the cavalcade of cretinously corrupt connivance that supposedly passes for an administration currently

Trump’s Cabinet From Hell

…there are some people with altogether different resources…so the bad news (like it isn’t all bad news these days) is that after this shitshow there’ll be no rest for the wicked…& that pretty much fucks up any righteous plans for a lie-in when you think about it

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/why-former-republicans-back-biden-over-trump-attack-senate-republicans-ncna1236472

…I mean…I know I’m not saying anything particularly new here

Even when we speak the same tongue, understanding and being understood can be a struggle.

…but this thing we somewhat euphemistically refer to as the media landscape

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/aug/11/facebook-too-big-to-fail-says-oxford-university-research-paper

…like some other things we’re struggling to get used to…it’s not going away

We’re so used to thinking of snotty-nosed kids as germ propagators. But that’s just not how Covid-19 works.

…which means what in the face of how slow they’ve been to get to grips with the outright bullshit peddled for literally no good reason on their platform(s)?

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/facebook-removes-seven-million-posts-sharing-false-information-coronav-rcna77

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/11/qanon-facebook-groups-growing-conspiracy-theory

QAnon Followers Are Hijacking the #SaveTheChildren Movement

…not least if it’s true that “copying is faster than innovating”

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/did-instagram-copy-me-after-congressional-hearing-startup-founder-wonders-n1236392

…& speaking of “innovating”

More tech companies met with government agencies on Wednesday to fight disinformation on social media.

…I don’t know about you but I feel like they haven’t made it as far as the bare minimum that ought to be expected thus far

How Trump Allies Work the Refs in Silicon Valley

…while we’re at it…can we please for the love of all that is holy not have the debates be a complete shitshow…there’s supposedly a first time for everything

Presidential debates could use a serious overhaul.

…& it’s an online world these days

Israel says the attack was thwarted, but a cybersecurity firm says it was successful. Some officials fear that classified data stolen by North Korea could be shared with Iran.

…well…some pretty significant bits of it, anyway…there are clearly some who haven’t yet mastered the rudimentary google fu required to notice that they have their unmasked head firmly wedged in their ass

The sheriff forbade his deputies from wearing masks while on duty, with some exceptions, and also barred visitors to his offices from wearing them.

…so it’s hard to be surprised at some of the things that frankly (nearly) any idiot could tell you

Confidence in Police Is at Record Low, Gallup Survey Finds

…but if we can say that some things are a long time coming

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/looting-chicago-was-long-time-coming-some-experts-say-n1236303

…then can agree the corollary is that a corresponding bunch of stuff is long past its expiration date?

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/misogyny-sexist-violence-result-male-entitlement-here-s-why-ncna1236464

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/white-supremacists-made-charlottesville-a-symbol-of-racism-black-residents-say-it-still-is/2020/08/11/story.html

…because this shouldn’t still be a question that needs to be asked

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/cornel-west-is-america-even-capable-of-treating-the-masses-of-black-people-with-decency-and-dignity/2020/08/11/story.html

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17 Comments

  1. I think you have to go back to Reagan to find a more committed group of Cabinet officials who not only don’t believe in the mission of the departments that they head, but would like to see them abolished or transformed in very disturbing ways (cf Betsy DeVos, who would like to turn America into a nation of the home-schooled or graduates of for-profit Christian charter schools. She will accept nothing less!)
     
    Luckily there’s so much chaos, incompetence, and churn in this administration that the vast bulk of the quasi-permanent bureaucracy can just keep their heads down and do their jobs as best they can.
     
    But back to Reagan. One of the earliest figures to get dumped out of the Reagan administration was a woman named Anne Gorsuch. She was the Administrator of the EPA. She thought it was wildly overreaching, cut back the staff, fought and won battles to get all kinds of statutes and regulations removed, and invited corporate polluters in to advise on policy. Problem was, many of the Reaganauts were nut jobs but they drank water and breathed air. Gorsuch herself died fairly young, 62, of cancer. 
     
    If this name sounds familiar it should. Her son Neil is on the Supreme Court. 

    • I think you’re giving DeVos too much credit. I don’t think she wants a nation that’s educated at all. What she’s looking for is a tiny minority of educated people who serve the rich oligarchy. The majority should be uneducated manual laborers who will till the fields, clean her properties, do her laundry, and maintain her lawns and yachts, preferably for free. Or at best, room and board. 
       
      If this sounds familiar, it should. Up until 1865, we had just such a system in place. 

      • You might be right! I forgot about her brother, who’s running that vast homicidal mercenary temp agency (“No GED? No problem!”).  And the family wealth roots in Amway, which relies on an army of the gullible and willing to be fleeced. 
         
        About 20 years ago I had this friend who was very beautiful. She still is, but there’s a reason why I’m putting this in the past. She was complaining to me that she was constantly getting catcalled and worse out in public. I had no advice to give her. Shortly thereafter I was walking along and I found a pin/button on the sidewalk. I took it home, cleaned it up, and gave it to her. She wore it and it worked like a charm. It said, “Ask Me About Amway!”

    • A very stern letter has been written so we have nothing to worry about.

      There is this in PN though…LOLOL:

    • …he’s not even trying to hide the fact that he has to cheat to stand a shot of winning

      …somehow it’s not okay to declare his campaign illegitimate, though…even though it’s finances almost certainly are?

      …it’s “political correctness gone mad”, I tells ya

      …don’t mind me…I’ll just be over here drinking until my liver decides it’s had enough

  2. I saw a decent comment on The Root today recommending leftists stop attacking Kamala and spend the next three months attacking Pence instead.  After three months, go back to attacking Kamala.

    As a “radical”? leftist, I couldn’t agree more. For the first time, ever, I was going to vote NDP here in Canada because I like Jagmeet Singh…until I watched the debates…because all he did was trash the Liberal Party and Trudeau (rightly, mind you) and not the Conservative. Thinking of some bullshit long term plan? of some sort to steal Liberal votes instead of attacking the Conservatives. I imagine that strategy switched more right-ish Liberal voters to Conservative voters than it did Liberal to NDP. If he had attacked the Conservative “leader-lol” he likely would have attracted more Liberal voters who are closer to the left.

    Mind you, I have no clue what I am talking about.  Leftists…it’s embarrassing to refer to myself as one.

    • …it’s a fair point…I think it could be argued that the seemingly endless hashing over of who he’d pick & before that the primaries had more than enough of that sort of thing to say that it’s been acknowledged

      …& pence arguably doesn’t get enough shit for being a proximate cause to the engineering of trump’s “win” the first time…the “I’m-not-racist-but..I’m ‘christian'” vote was kind of central to that whole thing & I don’t know that he could have held that down without his religious fig leaf in place?

    • I have been fighting that fight myself the last few days. The time for dragging Kamala and Biden is after the election. Hold them accountable for the next four years, but FFS get them in there first. 
      Speaking of which, a good read on how the “Kamala is a cop” narrative serves white supremacy more than ones #Ally cred.
      https://www.facebook.com/597760876/posts/more-on-kamala-sorry-im-on-one-tonight-its-a-little-bit-too-convenient-for-white/10157258113965877/
      May just change my name to Salty Tits for a few months.

    • …I feel for you, there…nobody with any kind of.functioning faculties wants to find themselves on his side of a line

      …all the same ducking a vote is a pretty dubious tactic however you go about it

      (cf. Mitch McConnell the vote-ducking-bitch’s vote-ducking-bitch)

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