…some days I have to admit these seem to come together a lot easier than others…so if this ends up a little all over the place (well…more so than usual) I apologize…but it’s literally all a bit fucking much for me today…so first off I want to get this in
…because…this fucking year is taking entirely too god damn much & what it’s giving back is enough to make me wish there was a god just so when I get around to shuffling off this mortal coil I could while away my eternity giving them the piece of my mind I generally try to spare you lot from…but naturally instead of feeling like it might be appropriate to skip the rest of the news & just take some time to be sorry a talented individual is dead before their time…there is just truckloads of egregious shit going down that it seems like it might plausibly be irresponsible to take an eye off for even that long
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/27-states-issue-warnings-about-residents-receiving-unsolicited-seed-packets-from-China
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/29/nevada-sheriff-911-blm
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/07/29/we-must-all-talk-about-gold-again-right-now
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/28/us/covid-19-colleges-universities.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-announces-steps-roll-back-daca-program-n1235115
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/29/women-who-voted-trump-who-regret-decision
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/28/trump-jr-coronavirus-misinformation-twitter
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/dark-money-pac-s-coordinated-reopen-push-are-behind-doctors-viral-video
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/07/28/trump-calls-GOP-coronavirus-bill-semi-irrelevant
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/07/28/coronavirus-tort-liability-reform
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/07/28/coronavirus-bailout-wall
Can his aggressive version of ethnonationalist populism prevail in 2020? The answer is not obvious.
…& the thing is…there’s been a couple of big deal things this week that frankly are going to be a while getting entirely unpacked & shaken out because they’re both part of ongoing efforts to specifically drag their respective proceedings out while the people who know damn well what they’re doing is criminal busy themselves papering over the cracks in their post-hoc justifications in the hope that somehow the extreme torsion required by their pretzeled logic will pass for a legitimate defense of their actions…& I really could go on about either at greater length than I suspect many would appreciate but between the “tech giants” & the so-called Attorney General…”hulk smash” is frankly a plan I could get behind…although to be fair I think billious Bill Barr actually looks like he comes from a different cartoon
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/29/nypd-officers-unmarked-van-arrest-protest-video
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/28/bill-barrs-election-meddling-is-total-riot
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/07/28/conservative-armed-militias-protests-coronavirus
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/29/umbrella-man-white-supremacist-minneapolis
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/07/28/bill-bar-testimony-live-updates
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/28/william-barr-hearing-democrats-federal-agents-trump
…oh…& then there’s the small matter of the “interim” guy at Homeland Security who’s past his expiry date…literally…the guys on the Opening Arguments podcast do a much better job of explaining it than I would
…but what it boils down to is that really everything he’s done since the day he should have been yanked out of the position ought by law to be considered void “ab initio”…which sadly doesn’t mean since all the way back when he got installed…but does mean upwards of a month’s worth of his bullshit (& counting) ought to get stuck down & out with no waiting
…& that shit is a fucking footnote in this batshit-fucking-crazy media landscape…which brings me to these “poor” assholes
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/07/29/five-things-antitrust-hearing
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/07/29/big-tech-ceo-hearing-lies
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jul/28/facebook-amazon-antitrust-hearing-apple-google
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/07/29/apple-google-facebook-amazon-congress-hearing
…so how about we don’t have to wait for the death of a legendary name in civil rights before we hear from someone who actually sounds like a for-real president?
…not saying he owes it to me or anybody else to be out there talking…just that I miss having someone like that to listen to & right about now I’d be all ears
Thanks for the much-needed early morning uplift! We are all that bear.
I am so tired of hearing about people who ‘regret voting for Trump.’ No, fuckwit, you completely abrogated your responsibility to your fellow citizens and the world, and you made a spiteful, ignorant, and uninformed choice. People have died because you voted for an orange shitweasel and you are partially to blame for those deaths. You don’t get to say “My bad” and get any sympathy from me. In many ways you’re worse than the Nazis, misogynists and the white supremacists, because at least they made an informed decision to support their hateful worldviews. You’re just fucking stupid.
and there it is.
Everybody in the US – call your Reps, call your Senators, tell them this is unacceptable. Call even if you live in a Blue state, let them know you support the decision to fight this. Call, don’t email. Give them your name and zip code. If you don’t they won’t add it to the tally. Call today, call every time you see this idea advanced and normalized. I call my Red state Rep and Senators so much I think the aides cringe when they see my name come up on the caller ID.
Oh, good. Noted Constitutional scholar Donald J. Trump has recommended delaying the elections. As I understand it, Congress would have to agree to do that. Good luck getting the House to support your scheme, Donny.
Although it does illustrate the importance of mid-term elections. If the GOP controlled the House right now, we’d be in serious trouble.
“It is way too early in the morning for this bullshit.” -a thing Meg says everyday
Me too. The thing is, Trump is like a octopus throwing out an ink cloud to confuse predators. Or maybe a better analogy is that he’s a skunk creating a billowing stench cloud when it’s threatened. His nonsense Twitter barrages are just instinctive reactions to threats.
That said, I’m sure he’s got “best people” looking into it. But the Constitution is pretty iron-clad on this. And even if he could delay it, his term of office expires on Jan. 20 and without an election, on that day the Speaker of the House becomes President and Trump becomes a trespasser. President Pelosi would have him arrested.
When Barr was asked about this he said he hadn’t looked into it. Which means he’s looking for a way circumvent Congress.
Exactly.
🤬🤬🤬
Do you really think this wannabe dictator cares about your constitution? He will do whatever it takes to delay, cheat, or steal this election. Laws & constitution be damned. McTurtle & the fascist brigade have been working towards this for a long time packing courts and such. I have no doubt this new private army we now see nightly is just warming up for the big show in November. Here is just one scenerio…
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/what-president-could-do-if-he-declares-state-emergency
I got this in a newsfeed and practically felt an aneurysm coming on. We held a Presidential election during the Civil War (well, at least the northern states did.) We held a Presidential election during WWII.
And I love how he defends absentee voting (which is what he and most of his Cabinet do) but not mail-in voting. What, exactly, makes the two procedures different when it comes to vote counting? Although in New York it’s been a shit show but that’s because we have an inept Board of Elections whose fame is known internationally. I’m surprised women are allowed to vote because it has only been 100 years and they’re still “working out the kinks.” We had Democratic primaries on June 23rd and some races still haven’t been called. But then again participatory democracy is an idea both parties hate with equal passion in NY. There we have comity and bipartisanship.
…absentee voting good…universal absentee voting bad…he basically said straight up “we want our votes, not their votes”
…whether “our” is white or GOP voters & whether “their” voters are non-white or non-GOP almost doesn’t matter at that point…it’s not the first time but it’s another clear admission that they know any accurate assessment of the prevailing opinion of the citizenry results in their interests taking a colossal kick in the teeth
…it’s like the fact that the FEC “lacks a quorum” & therefore can’t make any rulings about the cluster fuck of dodgy campaign finance violations from last time let alone this time…they aren’t even really trying to pretend they aren’t breaking the rules any more…it is entirely crazy-making
[this is fine everything is fine dot gif]
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/30/us-gdp-q2-2020-first-reading.html
The U.S. economy saw the biggest quarterly plunge in activity ever, though the plummet in the second quarter wasn’t as bad as feared.
And now, Rock You Like a Herman Cain has passed away from Covid 19.
https://apnews.com/1f42d17e21ff6dc4ea3b49dacfd10483
Bless his heart.
RIH – Rot in hell
…perhaps a trifle harsh…but then again…not entirely unfair as sentiments go?
…pretty sure R for roast would fit the bill, too
Do/did you by any chance have RockYouLikeAHermanCain as a username over on Jezebel? It is/was one of the best usernames ever.
That’s a hilarious name. I wish I was clever like that.
Haha – no that wasn’t me – but I think that’s what I was thinking of when I posted this morning.
The cofounder of the right wing group Turning Point USA also just died from COVID. A longtime Texas GOP official died last month from COVID.
These people still don’t get Trump is demanding they give him human sacrifices for his ego.
The NBC article about Biden calling Trump’s doctor a “crazy woman” is despicable.
It never mentions everything she believes that justifies calling her that — nothing about demon dream sex, illuminati, reptilians, alien DNA…. The network news is determined to gloss over anything that might get pushback from the GOP.
A harder read,than the cute bear in the pool (SERIOUSLY, that bear is ADORABLE!😁🤗),
But a really good story, and an extremely happy ending, that pairs with my rant earlier this week on training for terrible scenarios, and *why* it’s so vitally important that we fail in the safe times & build our muscle memory for the emergency situations (as was made so clear by the stories about Rick Rescorla’s preparations for events like 9-11.)😉🤗💖
We prepare, we train and make the accidents in *the safe time,* when real lives aren’t on the line, so that when those seconds & minutes count, we (hopefully!) don’t lose lives💖💗💞;
https://kstp.com/health/minneapolis-nurse-saves-baby-thanks-to-extra-training-july-29-2020/5810910/
Dunno if you have the DOT for friday, or if someone else does, Jake, but I thought you might like Dahlia’s article over on Slate, if you haven’t seen it yet.
I miss her writing about the USSC, but I get why she said she needed to stop that part of her beat, after the Kavanaugh bullshit.
And I ADORE the fact that the calm, measured, NPR reporter I’ve listened to and read for years now is at a solid enough point in both her career and her life, that she can just swear in articles now, and it’s not even edited out!🤗😉😁💖
I forgot the link:
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/07/trump-threat-to-delay-election-distraction.html
There was also this today,
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/07/listen-morgan-freeman-narrates-the-op-ed-john-lewis-wrote-to-be-published-on-the-day-of-his-funeral/amp/?__twitter_impression=true&s=09
Freeman did a great job, and did full justice, to the words of Representative Lewis💖💖💖
“weaponized chaos muppetry”
…pretty much nailed it right there, I’d say…thanks for that
Thought you’d probably enjoy that phrase as much as I did!😉😆😂🤣💖