2:00PM Water Cooler 8/9/2022

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112 comments

1. dcblogger August 9, 2022 at 2:40 pm

   Still, it’s Oz who’s had control of the ground war for the past two months. His team says the former surgeon has made more than 120 general election campaign stops and traveled 2,463 miles in July alone while Fetterman was recuperating.”

   Ground game is NOT campaign appearances by the candidate. Ground game is your network of precinct captains and campaign volunteers. Given that Fetterman has won 2 statewide general elections, he clearly has a ground game in place. That is part of how he wiped the floor with Connor Lamb.

   Also, going to every country is not new, Beto did that in his Senate race against Cruz and came within a whisker of winning. He is repeating that this time, going to areas where Democrats never win. And polls are tightening.
   1. Lambert Strether Post authorAugust 9, 2022 at 2:48 pm

      > Ground game is your network of precinct captains and campaign volunteers. Given that Fetterman has won 2 statewide general elections, he clearly has a ground game in place.

      Excellent point!
      1. Michael Ismoe August 9, 2022 at 7:16 pm

         He’s only won one. He was elected LG in 2018 replacing a machine pol from Philly. He lost a statewide primary for senate in 2016 and won in 2022.
      2. square coats August 9, 2022 at 10:28 pm

         Lambert, I thought you might be interested in this ProPublica project that tracks politicians’ deleted tweets, particularly wrt Fetterman because, since they started tracking his in 2021, he doesn’t have any! I haven’t looked at other politicians exhaustively but every other politician I checked has plenty of tweets deleted regularly.
   2. flora August 9, 2022 at 3:10 pm

      Thanks, dcblogger. Great comment.
      1. Michael Ismoe August 9, 2022 at 7:11 pm

         “His team says the former surgeon has made more than 120 general election campaign stops and traveled 2,463 miles in July alone.”

         It must be really hard to find the Jersey Turnpike. He should have just followed the traffic “to the shore.”
   3. haywood August 9, 2022 at 4:43 pm

      Does he though? I’m genuinely curious. Fetterman is widely disliked within the state’s Democratic Party establishment, with the VERY NOTABLE exception of PAs powerful governor Wolfe.

      In his first statewide race, if he couldn’t tap into the local machines and broader Dem volunteer networks, he would have had to have built a giant operation for a Lt Governor primary campaign and then kept that going through the last few years years of covid and into this years senate primary, continuing into the dog days of summer now.

      I haven’t seen any of the usual “Look at how grassroots we are PEOPLE POWER” that usually accompanies such efforts. You’d think it would be there, especially with the candidate himself out of commission. Maybe this grassroots army exists. Maybe I’m missing it. I dunno. But I wouldn’t make the assumption that it HAS to exist.
      1. nippersdad August 9, 2022 at 5:35 pm

         I wonder if he is just too high profile to deep six in the same manner as Jessica Cisneros and Nina Turner. I think he would not allow Koch brother funds in the race to go unnoticed, and that would make public all of the other subversive activities that the Democratic party has engaged in the past few years..

         Maybe he is just too big to shiv?
2. Kelli August 9, 2022 at 2:40 pm

   “The Appeal of Ron DeSantis”

   He is the guy that the Democrats are terrified of. Therefore, it’s in their interests to promote Trump as they have binders of information, negative scripts and blackmail material on him.

   That would explain why his house was raided, in order to promote him as the chosen opposition.
   1. John August 9, 2022 at 2:49 pm

      Wasn’t Trump the Democrats preferred candidate in 2016? Wait a minute… why am I even thinking about an election that is 27 months in the future?
      1. ambrit August 9, 2022 at 3:13 pm

         Now we’re doing the Time Warp?
         1. hunkerdown August 9, 2022 at 3:25 pm

            Not for very much longer. The jump to the left has been replaced with jazz hands and access to the pelvic thrust is now under control of TV Licensing and subcontractors.
   2. Louis Fyne August 9, 2022 at 4:01 pm

      DeSanctis sitting 2024 out would be the worst thing that could happen to Democrats as 2024-2028 will be a basket-case regardless of who wins.

      An unblemished DeSanctis running in 2028 would run the scoreboard if 2024-28 was good or bad.

      “Pied Piper” strategies are developmentally dumb. Focus on your own game first.
      1. hunkerdown August 9, 2022 at 5:02 pm

         Game? What makes you think they’re competing rather than dramatizing?
3. Screwball August 9, 2022 at 2:47 pm

   Lots of MTG views I could never be converted to in a million years. But how come she’s getting these things right, and not one single Democrat is? I’m so old I remember when Democrats didn’t love cops and spooks! – Lambert

   Don’t forget war Lambert. Or at least for some that is. My PMC friends keep using the word nukes and frankly, it scares the $hit out of me.

   I get it though, they are having quite a time. For the last 6 years their lives have been totally consumed by Donald J Trump. They wake up each and every day in the hopes of seeing him perp walked to some prison for life, or better yet, the gallows. Along with all his supporters, who they hate maybe even more than him.

   But with the raid yesterday, they finally have him – the walls are finally closing in and there will be no chance he can run again. This opens the door to blue wave elections where they can vote harder for the democrats and American utopia will be the reward. And we all live happily ever after. The End.

   The what kind of end is what scares me. This country is in a bad place and neither of these parties is going to fix it – they are incapable and inept – and too many partisan serfs actually believe they can and will fix it. Not!
   1. Wukchumni August 9, 2022 at 2:52 pm

      We have French politics of the late 1930’s & German military might of the same era, what could go wrong?
   2. hunkerdown August 9, 2022 at 3:02 pm

      No, they’re performing the show that makes people think they’re doing something, can do something, and will ever do something against the reproduction of elite society. 100% bipartisan success, thanks to the 350 or so years of practice, plus whatever theology they recovered from their feudal heritage.

      Now that we’ve dispensed with the notion of sovereign rule as a valid mode of human social formation, let’s try direct democracy. Corporations can’t exist without 50%+1 allowing it? No problems detected.
   3. pjay August 9, 2022 at 5:54 pm

      – “McCarthy Says House Investigation of Hunter Biden Will Include U.S. Intel Chiefs” [National Review].

      Kevin McCarthy wants my vote.

      Some Trumpers are really testing the Schumer “six ways from Sunday” maxim. It would be nice if they actually meant it. Bet we don’t catch DeSantis making such statements; he’ll keep punching “woke liberals.”
   4. Larry August 9, 2022 at 10:04 pm

      Marjorie Taylor Greene loves cops and spooks. She just doesn’t like them when the act against “good people” and not “criminals”.

      She’s a vacuous shifting point scorer. She doesn’t care about the war in Ukraine, about funding police, or any issue of substance other than herself being in the media spotlight. Here is how she reacted to Trumps policy to withdraw from Afghanistan that Biden executed:

      https://www.foxnews.com/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-impeach-biden-afghanistan-crisis

      Yes, but she’s deeply concerned about spending money in Ukraine. Sure.

      The idea that Lambert cites her tweets as anything substantive or a reason to (tongue in cheek?) vote for Republicans suggests that he needs a wider Twitter net or some alternative conservative sources. Marjorie Taylor Greene is a bozo of the first order who flaps in the breeze like a wind sock.
      1. Lambert Strether Post authorAugust 10, 2022 at 5:07 am

         > Marjorie Taylor Greene is a bozo of the first order who flaps in the breeze like a wind sock.

         Unlike…. Unlike… Well, Bernie, I suppose, or maybe Ilhan. That’s about it on the Democrat side.

         What’s truly remarkable, MTG’s shiftiness aside, is that the words were spoken. Catch a liberal Democrat saying the same thing! On either [genuflects] the FBI or [m*sturbates furiously] Ukraine. They don’t want my vote. MTG does. Is that so bad?
         1. Larry August 10, 2022 at 6:13 am

            But words for MTG don’t matter, they’re fleeting. She has no principle other than attention. So I’m not at all surprised at what she “says”. Cops are bad when they go after the “good guys”. She’ll gladly cheer them on as they go after her perceived “bad guys”.

            War is bad when led by Biden. War will be good when led by Trump. If that’s courting your vote, then you get a simple vote.
            1. Lambert Strether Post authorAugust 10, 2022 at 2:08 pm

               MTG is uniquely “fleeting”? Please.

               Please reread. MTG is asking for my vote, fleeting words or not. The Democrats are not.
         2. Adam Eran August 10, 2022 at 3:30 pm

            I’ll agree about MTG being a bozo, but here’s the problem: I’ve written Justice Democrats, and more recently Pramila Jayapal, protesting the continued U.S. provocations in Ukraine, lack of change in neocon State Dept. personnel, etc. The best I’ve received in reply is a form letter from Jayapal saying she stands by the Ukies.

            Where’s the peace movement? What excuse does “the squad” have for their supine acceptance of war? Those are serious questions. The best I’ve found online is this site, where I sent a contribution.

            Better question: Could Lambert & Yves start a peace movement here?
4. ambrit August 9, 2022 at 2:56 pm

   Re. “A Bear Fight in the Colosseum.” I think that the artist is making the point that the real spectacle here is the in the Emperor’s box, not on the arena.
   Debord before Debord was a ‘thing.’
   1. John Zelnicker August 9, 2022 at 3:56 pm

      It looks like a bear head and paws in the bottom left corner, near background, behind the bottom of the left-most column.
      1. ambrit August 9, 2022 at 8:44 pm

         Aargh! Growlll! You are right. I underestimated the artist.
   2. lambert strether August 9, 2022 at 4:09 pm

      > Debord before Debord was a ‘thing’

      Alma-Tadema is the weirdest artist on my Twitter List, and I’m subscribed to a lot of surrealists. This painting is from 1909 (Les Demoiselles d’Avignon was 1907), and it really does make you wonder what was going on in the collective psyche of Imperial Britain immediately before World War I.
      1. ambrit August 9, 2022 at 8:57 pm

         Orientalism my dear boy, Orientalism!
         For example, “Vathek.”
         See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vathek
         Alma-Tadema’s work definitely has a Late Empire feel to it (and not a Louis Napoleon Empire either.). It has been said that the fine artists of a culture predict the near future of the society. They observe so closely and must analyze so completely to understand their subjects, and their own relation thereto.
         I subscribe to the idea that surrealism portrays an understanding of the underlying structure of “reality.” Dadaism on the other hand….
      2. dermotmoconnor August 10, 2022 at 3:48 am

         Arnold Toynbee, from ‘Civilisation on Trial’ (1947)

         The writer’s mind runs back fifty years, to an afternoon in London in the year 1897. He is sitting with his father at a window in Fleet Street and watching a procession of Canadian and Australian mounted troops who have come to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. He can still remember his excitement at the unfamiliar, picturesque uniforms of these magnificent ‘colonial’ troops, as they were still called in England then: slouch hats instead of brass helmets, grey tunics instead of red. To an English child, this sight gave a sense of new life astir in the world; a philosopher, perhaps, might have reflected that, where there is growth, there is likely also to be decay … They saw their sun standing at its zenith and assumed that it was there to stay— without their even needing to give it the magically compelling word of command which Joshua had uttered on a famous occasion.

         The author of the tenth chapter of the Book of Joshua was at any rate aware that a stand-still of Time was something unusual. ‘There was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man.’ Yet the middle-class English in 1897, who thought of themselves as Wellsian rationalists living in a scientific age, took their imaginary miracle for granted. As they saw it, history, for them, was over. It had come to an end in foreign affairs in 1815, with the Battle of Waterloo; in home affairs in 1832, with the Great Reform Bill; and in imperial affairs in 1859, with the suppression of the Indian Mutiny. And they had every reason to congratulate themselves on the permanent state of felicity which this ending of history had conferred on them. ‘The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.’

         this fin de siecle middle-class English hallucination seems sheer lunacy, yet it was shared by contemporary Western middle-class people of other nationalities. In the United States, for instance, in the North, history, for the middle class, had come to an end with the winning of the West and the Federal victory in the Civil War; and in Germany, or at any rate in Prussia, for the same class, the same permanent consummation had been reached with the overthrow of France and foundation of the Second Reich in 1871. For these three batches of Western middle-class people fifty years ago, God’s work of creation was completed, ‘and behold it was very good.’ Yet, though in 1897 the English, American, and German middle class, between them, were the political and economic masters of the world, they did not amount, in numbers, to more than a very small fraction of the living generation of mankind, and there Were other people abroad who saw things differently— even though they might be impotent and inarticulate.

         …All over the world, in fact, though at that time still under the surface, there were peoples and classes who were just as discontented as the French or the Southerners were with the latest deal of history’s cards, but who were quite unwilling to agree that the game was over. There were all the subject peoples and all the depressed classes, and what millions they amounted to!…

         To-day, in 1947, the Western middle class which, fifty years ago, was sitting carefree on the volcano’s crust, is suffering something like the tribulation which, a hundred to a hundred and fifty years ago, was inflicted by Juggernaut’s car on the English industrial working class. This is the situation of the middle class today not only in Germany, France, the Low Countries, Scandinavia, and Great Britain, but also in some degree in Switzerland and Sweden, and even in the United States and Canada. The future of the Western middle class is in question now in all Western countries; but the outcome is not simply the concern of the small fraction of mankind directly affected; for this Western middle class— this tiny minority— is the leaven that in recent times has leavened the lump and has thereby created the modern world. Could the creature survive its creator? If the Western middle class broke down, would it bring humanity’s house down with it in its fall? Whatever the answer to this fateful question may be, it is clear that what is a crisis for this key-minority is inevitably also a crisis for the rest of the world.
         UNQUOTE

         *

         Pity Fukuyama and his ‘centrist’ bobbleheads didn’t take the trouble to read more widely, might has saved us a bit of trouble. Toynbee continues (and this might have given Fuku a clue:

         *

         QUOTE: “Centuries before Communism was heard of, our ancestors found their bugbear in Islam. As lately as the sixteenth century, Islam inspired the same hysteria in Western hearts as Communism in the twentieth century, and this essentially for the same reasons. Like Communism, Islam was an anti-Western movement which was at the same time a heretical version of a Western faith; and, like Communism, it wielded a sword of the spirit against which there was no defence in material armaments.”
   3. wol August 9, 2022 at 5:37 pm

      Thanks for Alma-Tadema! I had my socks knocked off similarly at the old Tate by John Martin (1789-1854). Didn’t know of him previously. He influenced the great animator Ray Harryhausen (1920-2013), who owned several Martin engravings.
   4. Rodeo Clownfish August 9, 2022 at 6:55 pm

      Caracalla and Geta did have disagreements, and Caracalla ultimately did have Geta killed. Right in front of their mother, who was not in on the plot.
5. Wukchumni August 9, 2022 at 3:03 pm

   Ursus versus Purses?
   1. ambrit August 9, 2022 at 3:09 pm

      That’s assuming a ‘Sane Purse.’ See, we can all go on fishing expeditions! Spectacular!
      1. Wukchumni August 9, 2022 at 3:17 pm

         …a Dupondious in the hand is worth 2 Asses
         1. ambrit August 9, 2022 at 3:52 pm

            What? The Lupas are now cheaper? I knew that trouble was coming when the Ladies went onto a ‘piecework’ payment scheme.
            As a fellow from New Jersey who I worked with for a few years might have put it: *Grabs crotch* “Hey there! I’ve got your dupondius right here!” Here in the North American Deep South, that is known as “Showing your A–” since everyone knows that lupas won’t sell for less than two asses. Thus, “Showing your a–” means that you’re always a day late and an a– short.
            Still, that Dupondius joke took some brass I’ll grant you.
6. flora August 9, 2022 at 3:09 pm

   But I don’t think a violation of the National Records Act has an equivalent payoff. And speaking of records, we didn’t indict Clinton for running an unsecured server out of the bathroom in her home while in office.

   This all brings up the faint memory of the Clintons and some FBI files on their supposed political opponents they were apparently not supposed to have during the C. admin. Somehow the files, or copies of the files made their way into the White House basement. All of this, then and now, seems sort of like Dick Nixon territory.

   https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-01-19-mn-26366-story.html

   https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/05/us/hillary-clinton-s-fingerprints-among-those-found-on-papers.html
7. jr August 9, 2022 at 3:11 pm

   Foucault is a Fraud

   Debunking Post-structuralism with Camilla Paglia:

   https://youtu.be/GtDDURJipFs

   Camilla makes no bones about it. She declares Foucault knew jack about history or art. All is narrative. (Which, of course, implies the claims of Post-structuralism are merely narratives. Along with the notion of endless criticism.) Includes a nice side-swipe at that m0r0n Judith Butler and her “reality is linguistics” brain-bunny progeny. The more I read into this dreck, the more shocked I become at the patent $tupidity of it all.
   1. Lee August 9, 2022 at 7:47 pm

      Thanks for the link. What came up on Youtube next also worth a look.

      John Cleese’s War on Wokeism
   2. lyman alpha blob August 10, 2022 at 10:30 am

      Thanks for the Paglia – she’s always a hoot to listen to. There’s a lot of pro- and anti- Jordan Peterson stuff out there and a couple years ago I wanted to see if he was really as bad as some people claim so watched an interview between him and Paglia. She shredded him rather rapidly – he really is as bad as the claims.
8. Lemmy Caution August 9, 2022 at 3:24 pm

   Trump turned over the 15 boxes of documents in question to the National Archives in January. They were transported to a sensitive compartmented information facility — known as a SCIF — in the Washington D.C. area.

   According to the National Archives, there are some holes in the materials preserved by the Trump Administration:

   NARA has identified certain social media records that were not captured and preserved by the Trump Administration. NARA has also learned that some White House staff conducted official business using non-official electronic messaging accounts that were not copied or forwarded into their official electronic messaging accounts, as required by section 2209 of the PRA. NARA has already obtained or is in the process of obtaining some of those records.

   Also, according to a 2018 Politico article, Trump was accused of “tearing up” some official White House documents while in office. The article gave examples of the types of documents that fell victim to Trump’s “odd and enduring habit of ripping up papers when he’s done with them.”

   [The papers} included newspaper clips on which Trump had scribbled notes, or circled words; invitations; and letters from constituents or lawmakers on the Hill, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

   And here I was expecting something a bit more earth shattering — say 33,000 missing emails about yoga routines or wedding plans.
   1. nippersdad August 9, 2022 at 6:03 pm

      Politico is on it.

      “Laufman has the credentials to judge the severity of these matters. In addition to the Clinton case, he managed the investigation of David Petraeus, the former general and CIA director who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for mishandling classified material. CNN reported that one of the DOJ officials involved in the Trump investigation is his immediate successor.

      “For the department to pursue a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago tells me that the quantum and quality of the evidence they were reciting — in a search warrant and affidavit that an FBI agent swore to — was likely so pulverizing in its force as to eviscerate any notion that the search warrant and this investigation is politically motivated,” he said.”

      https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/09/why-the-trump-search-warrant-is-nothing-like-hillarys-emails-00050691

      Sure it is. I love the credentialism thing.
      1. Lemmy Caution August 9, 2022 at 6:13 pm

         Well, if the evidence is so pulverizing in its force such that it evicerates the notion of political motivation, I guess that’s that. I just hope the Politico writer didn’t blow a gasket while writing that sentence.
      2. nippersdad August 9, 2022 at 6:22 pm

         Reading about the precis of Laufman’s cases, Wiggin and Laufman seem to be pretty deep into this kind of thing.

         https://www.wiggin.com/person/david-h-laufman/

         Let the CYA exercises commence.
      3. Fiery Hunt August 9, 2022 at 8:07 pm

         Yeah, nippersdad, like you, I sure am glad the press is sure they’ve got pulverizing
         evidence.

         I feel comforted.
         Don’t you?

         smdh
      4. pjay August 9, 2022 at 9:19 pm

         LOL! Like the FISA warrants for the Russiagate “investigation”?

         Today’s “journalism” is a beauty to behold.
9. NoName August 9, 2022 at 3:26 pm

   I can’t help thinking of Macbeth when hearing about edifice burning as pandemic catharsis. “Performative liberalism” indeed.

   “It is a tale. Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury. Signifying nothing.”
10. Carolinian August 9, 2022 at 3:40 pm

    So the spin being put out by the sites not named Politico is that the raid actually helps Trump. I’m not sure I disagree. Turley also says that even a conviction is not disqualifying to run.

    And by Hunter standards Trump is a choir boy. The profound moral hypocrisy of the Dems/press does not go unnoticed by a public even bothering to pay attention. Trump is a terrible choice for the Repubs but can they come up with a better one? Are the Dems willing to?
    1. Carolinian August 9, 2022 at 5:29 pm

       Larry Johnson, certainly a conservative but lately respectable around here

       I am not here to argue that Trump was a perfect President. He was not. His personnel choices–especially his selections to head the FBI, the CIA, the Department of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff–were appalling and have come back to bite him in the ass. I know one intelligence officer who regularly briefed Trump. That person also had prior experience briefing Presidents Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. According to my friend, the President who was most attentive, asked the best questions and treated the “help” with respect was Donald Trump. Whatever his other faults, Trump’s treatment of the little people does say something positive about Trump’s character.

       When Trump was President he had the authority to classify and declassify information. Before he left office, Trump declassified intelligence and law enforcement documents that exposed the nature of the plot to force him from office [he means the Russiagate plot]. He acted legally and within the constraints of the Constitution. When he took those documents with him he was fully entitled to do so. We will find out whether or not Trump secured those documents somewhere beyond the reach of the FBI or at least kept copies in a safe location.

       https://sonar21.com/the-united-states-government-behaving-like-a-third-world-despot/

       Johnson likes Trump a lot more than I do but I think what can be objectively argued is that Biden has been worse than Trump and much more the loose cannon that Trump was initially feared to be. Trump likes to shoot off his mouth. Biden has provoked a world changing war in Ukraine and threatens to wreck the US economy. His vaccine mandate revealed an authoritarian impulse that is every bit what the Dems claimed to fear in Trump. You can’t be the “lesser evil” party when you are not even that.
       1. Yves Smith August 9, 2022 at 6:35 pm

          Just so you know, on the “treating the help well” point, one of the women at the salon I went to in NYC was part of the team that regularly got Trump and his guests TV ready on the Apprentice (the salon had one of its two NYC spaces in Trump Tower). She said he and his family were consistently polite and pleasant to deal with and everyone at the salon liked working with them.

          Her son has a mildly behavioral problem (needs high structure) and he was going to be at home during college, which she didn’t like at all since she had to work most days.

          Trump was known to come to Trump Towers lobby like clockwork every morning to pick up newspapers from the newsstand. She accosted him and asked for her son to have a job, any job, like a busboy in one of the Trump Tower restaurants (also operated by Trump) since he needed to work over the summer. He walked her to the nearest restaurant manager. “Tell your son to be here at 8:30 AM tomorrow. He’ll take care of it.”
          1. Larry August 9, 2022 at 10:17 pm

             This is bland hagiography Yves. Honestly, who cares about such a banal and personal story that has no baring on how the man conducted himself, the actions he’s taken, or the forces he’s stirred.
             1. Yves Smith August 9, 2022 at 10:31 pm

                No, it’s to confirm that Trump, contrary to popular assumptions, treats his help well, which was the point made immediately above. Or did you not read the thread with any care?

                The fact that you make it more than that shows that your are exhibiting a classic case of the cognitive bias called halo effect, of seeing people as all good or all bad. Your ire at the notion that Trump might actually have a good character quality or two side by side with his rampant ego and general unfitness for office is a sign of Trump Derangement Syndrome.
                1. Larry August 10, 2022 at 6:17 am

                   I don’t find it interesting that Trump treats his help well just as I wouldn’t find it interesting if Hillary Clinton did the same. I suspect there are many glowing encounters she’s had with help and the general public, but that doesn’t change my opinion of her as an important political figure and how I view her actions.

                   To take recent speeches, Trump has proposed putting homeless people in internment camps. Who cares how he treats the help when that’s how proposes the treat the least powerful amongst us?

                   I view the point you are making to be useful in softening perceptions of the man overall. That’s how I take it.
                   1. Yves Smith August 10, 2022 at 7:30 am

                      If you don’t find it interesting, why are you belaboring the point? Your conduct contradicts your statements.

                      I am confirming that what Johnson heard from his sources is accurate, despite it seeming implausible. My concern is the perceived accuracy of Larry Johnson since we do cite his work more that occasionally.

                      If you are going to smear me out and impute your fabricated motives, you are no longer welcome.

                      Actually, never mind, you are no longer welcome. I trust you will find your happiness on the Internet elsewhere.
                      1. Adam Eran August 10, 2022 at 3:48 pm

                         Thanks for sticking up for Trump, Yves. Yes, he was a problematic guy, but so many of my “liberal” friends have TDS (Trump derangement syndrome) that they can focus on virtually nothing else. Where’s the criticism of Obama, the progenitor of Trump (the anti-Obama)? Nowhere. They’re too busy being right about Trump to even care. [sigh]

                         Ralph Nader says there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the two major parties. Boss Tweed said “I don’t care who people vote for as long as I can pick the candidates.” Thank goodness for NC and the alternative to the pre-selected narrative.
             2. Carolinian August 10, 2022 at 12:00 am

                And the nonstop 24/7 negative hagiography? I honestly resent your comment which is an off the wall attack on two different anecdotes which shed a little bit of perspective if true. Some of us are here to learn, not to throw a bag over our heads. If cartoon villains are the only kind you care for then stick to the comix.
                1. jsn August 10, 2022 at 10:37 am

                   I rode an elevator at 601 W26th St, one of the worst elevatored buildings in the world for 15 floors with Donald Trump in about 2014 before the building put in Destination Dispatch elevators.

                   The elevator was packed from the lobby with around 20 people in the car. Over the five minutes or so it took to ride to the 15th floor or so where he got out, he talked and joked with everyone in the car, remembering names and coming back to people with relevant comments.

                   I was right behind him, so I can attest the hair is real, but very thin on top.
                   I think he’s a psychopathic narcissist, but good company in a crowded elevator.
       2. marym August 9, 2022 at 7:34 pm

          I don’t know anything about declassification – if it’s something the president just does in his mind, or if there’s a process. As far as his right to take the documents, I don’t know anything about that either, but it doesn’t seem to be a matter of classified or declassified. Here’s a link to the definition of “presidential records” in the PRA.
          https://www.archives.gov/about/laws/presidential-records.html
    2. Michael Ismoe August 9, 2022 at 7:29 pm

       Can you imagine the reaction if President Trump’s FBI had raided Hillary Clinton’s home in 2018?

       I’ll bet Nancy Pelosi would have impeached him.
       1. The Rev Kev August 9, 2022 at 7:36 pm

          It’s a good thing that Trump never thought to make any copies of all those records and had them hidden elsewhere out of the reach of the FBI. Hello? Hello?
11. Art_DogCT August 9, 2022 at 3:58 pm

    Regarding the absent bears, I found one. It’s in the lower left on the colosseum floor, half obscured by a column. What at first I took for gymnasts seem to be something like picadors, with one’s staff in front of the bear. If you follow the gaze of the woman at the left, bending over to look at something below her, you’ll see the blue and white striped pike, and the bear.
12. skippy August 9, 2022 at 3:59 pm

    “Innovative solutions to keep women salt miners hydrated” is the most neoliberal sentence I’ve ever read. – Lambert

    #MakingOpportunityUniversal as seen in bottom left hand corner just punches it to another level.

    BTW the bear is in the lower left corner partly obscured by the marble column. The painting could have been titled – Death is over elites boredom.
13. jr August 9, 2022 at 4:19 pm

    “Innovative solutions to keep women salt miners hydrated” is the most neoliberal sentence I’ve ever read. – Lambert

    Why in the name of fu(k would it take innovation to keep salt miners hydrated!?! Why was there any gray area that needed to be innovated? You cannot make this stuff up…
    1. Questa Nota August 9, 2022 at 8:10 pm

       I’d be relieved to go back to the salt mines knowing that there were such innovations for the distaff side. Can one still write that?

       Will said innovations help the staff side, too?

       If one has to relieve oneself, what better place than a salt mine!
       1. JBird4049 August 10, 2022 at 5:47 am

          I just have to note that being effective seems to be less important than being “innovative” for some reason. It is like an incantation like “diversity and equity.” Which has replaced words like fairness and equality.

          “Yes, we’re innovative in our diversity and equity.”
14. jr August 9, 2022 at 4:27 pm

    Crapification Watch:

    Windows 11 encryption bug could cause data loss, temporary slowdowns on newer PCs

    https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/08/windows-11-and-server-2022-encryption-bug-could-damage-data-on-newer-devices/?amp=1

    I keep on refusing to install 11, glad I have!
    1. digi_owl August 10, 2022 at 1:10 am

       A nice reminder that a new Windows 11 install will, if you do not bypass the microsoft account signup somehow, slap the C drive with encryption tied to said account.

       Lose access to that account somehow, and you’re new computer may well be a brick (at least until you format it and install something like Linux).

       I suspect far more data will be lost that way, than will be lost to stolen laptops etc.

       The days of us being the masters of our computing hardware is long gone it seems. PCs are becoming more and more like the terminals of old.
15. Samuel Conner August 9, 2022 at 4:38 pm

    > a Biden line at 633,000. per day. That’s rather a lot of cases per day

    Multiply that by 365 and divide by 3.38 million to get the projected % of the US population infected in one year (assuming no reinfections within a calendar year). That’s 68% for the current “Biden line” level.

    Somehow I think the daily “deaths from COVID” level is going to creep up over time as Long COVID damage accumulates.
    1. NotTimothyGeithner August 9, 2022 at 6:17 pm

       I tested positive yesterday. It was day 5 since the onset of symptoms including a day 0, but I wanted to make sure I was counted officially. I just had some cold symptoms for 36 hours and a lingering cough for about another day.
       1. Darius August 9, 2022 at 8:53 pm

          I tested positive three weeks ago. Was like a terrible cold the first few days. Bedridden. Still feeling low stamina.
          1. Boo Boo Bear August 9, 2022 at 9:24 pm

             Good luck to you Darius.
          2. NotTimothyGeithner August 9, 2022 at 10:34 pm

             Ugh, I’m sorry. I haven’t had anything that bad. Though that mysterious cold I had in December 2019 was marked by no stamina and overwhelming fatigue.
16. deplorado August 9, 2022 at 4:59 pm

    “Sympathy for Germany
    Jul 26, 2022
    YANIS VAROUFAKIS
    Greeks and other southern Europeans could now be feeling schadenfreude as Germany faces the collapse of its economic model in the face of the Ukraine war and the new cold war with China.”

    https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/germany-needs-new-economic-model-by-yanis-varoufakis-2022-07

    What he says makes sense, except this bit – it strikes me as true but not for the right reasons:
    “Low-savings countries with a structural trade deficit, like Greece or Ghana, do benefit from devaluation. High-savings countries with a structural trade surplus, do not – all that happens is that poorer domestic consumers subsidize richer exporters”

    Also, IMHO it is not so much “the collapse of its economic model” as “the collapse of its political leadership class” – those are still different things
    1. VietnamVet August 10, 2022 at 1:00 am

       Yanis Varoufakis was in the trenches when Europe’s junior Corporate/State subjugated the Greeks without firing a shot. Yet he cannot divorce himself from the Neoliberal belief system. It is, unfortunately, like the US Civil War Elephant. You only see parts of the whole, the tail or the foot on top of you. The whole system is built around maximizing this quarter’s profits and bonuses. The lives of others are of no matter. Coronavirus is allowed to rip the population to prop up the economy but the real costs of the illnesses and the pandemic’s disruptions are discounted. Profiteering from war, monopolies and shortages is intentional. Democracy is of no import. The future is unplanned. Exploitation is the goal.

       All the New World Order can do is seek greater profits and try to remain the global hegemon. Armament is shipped to Ukraine and China’s nose is rubbed with Taiwan. The move of nations to free themselves from dependence on Wall Street and the City of London contested. The West, as currently constructed, is simply incapable of rationing. The UK price protection plan for a family’s yearly electrical bill until Sept. 2023 is 7,844.96 pounds sterling or 9,477.98 US dollars. This cannot continue.

       Only working governments with democratic feedback from the people plus peace can avoid the looming End Days of a global nuclear war or climate change.
17. Will August 9, 2022 at 5:04 pm

    For gardeners and baseball fans:

    https://www.salon.com/2022/07/26/field-of-greens-the-curious-history-of-ballparks-doubling-as-edible-gardens/
18. Samuel Conner August 9, 2022 at 5:12 pm

    I am intrigued by the possibility of Roman Chamomile as a ground cover plant. Here’s a discussion of its use as a lawn plant

    https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/lawn-care/lawn-substitutes/chamomile-lawn/growing-chamomile-lawns.htm

    I have several plants in small pots, started from seed a few months ago, and they have not formed blossoms, but even the foliage smells like chamomile tea. I imagine that a mass planting would be wonderful. I wonder if the foliage scent has the same calming effect as infusions made from the blossoms. It doesn’t tolerate foot traffic well, however.
    1. Steve H. August 9, 2022 at 8:40 pm

       “For though the camomile, the more it is trodden on, the faster it grows”

       tho the source is suspect…
19. Jason Boxman August 9, 2022 at 5:53 pm

    I donated to Public Citizen this year, thinking they seem to do good on corruption reporting or whatever, but now I’m getting unhinged emails from Robert Weissman about 6 Jan and now this FBI raid. Ugh.

    And we do know that Trump took documents from the White House to Mar-a-Lago that by law — according to the Presidential Records Act passed in the wake of the Watergate scandal that forced Richard Nixon to resign in disgrace — should have been turned over to the National Archives.

    Add your name if you agree:

    Donald Trump must be held accountable if he violated the Presidential Records Act.

    (removed bold that was his)

    I wonder what he has in mind? I’ve never tried to search the Twitter, but found no mentions of Clinton’s email server nor the same in Google searches. I wonder if he had an opinion on that? The word “server” doesn’t show up in any Public Citizen posts on their web site, either, in 2016 timeframe, that are about Clinton’s law breaking.
    1. adam August 9, 2022 at 7:12 pm

       It does seem that Public Citizen, which I have followed for years, has been coopted somewhat by the neo-liberals. I’ve noticed multiple articles since the beginning of the year about Russia, Russia, Russia!, which has never been an interest of theirs before, along with a partnership with the elites favorite newspaper, the New York Times. Odd and sad.
       1. adam August 9, 2022 at 9:03 pm

          my apologies to all, I actually meant propublica not public citizen.
          1. Jason Boxman August 9, 2022 at 9:59 pm

             I’ve been sad to see this as well, as I’ve been donating annually to ProPublica. I decided the investigative work outweighs the crazy. They do some ground breaking reporting.
20. ghiggler August 9, 2022 at 5:55 pm

    > 2024

    The talking heads pointed out that during a lawful search, if evidence of other crimes is apparent, that evidence may be used to prosecute the other crimes.

    In other words, was this a more general fishing expedition, based on it being easier to prove well enough to get a warrant that Trump was hanging on to ‘classified national security information?’

     

    As far as “weaponizing the DOJ” goes, while, in general, co-opting the judiciary for political purposes is a sign of a failing state, it has a long history in America. Kennedy, Nixon, and Trump himself immediately come to mind.

    That said, co-opting the military steps beyond even these bounds. For that reason Trump’s statements about expecting loyalty from his generals, Michael Flynn’s statement that a Myanmar style coup should take place, and similar statements and attitudes do cause me concern.
    1. Michael Ismoe August 9, 2022 at 7:32 pm

       We are Haiti – if Haiti had been colonized by the English, instead of the French.
21. Will August 9, 2022 at 6:15 pm

    re relative Covid severity in Canada and four peer nations

    I don’t have the background to get into the weeds with something like this, but it seems weird to me that the study authors didn’t also look at comparing Canadian provinces. The four Atlantic provinces instituted a collective “bubble” in July 2020, which turned into 3 bubbles, when the 2 island provinces instituted their own in November 2020.

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-canada-idUSKBN2832LF

    The federal territories also had bubbles.

    Perhaps there are already studies out there covering this angle?

    Also, in the discussion, they admit that a major limitation of their study is the use of rate stats from Ontario to derive national numbers for Canada, which is then used to compare against other countries. They justify it based on quality of available data and population size (40% of Canada).

    But there are big difference among the provinces, and the Federal Territories, that would have affected local death rates etc., and not just because of the bubbles mentioned above. Quebec has a two-tiered healthcare system in all but name and Alberta (the Texas of Canada), is its own island of dysfunction that would not be out of place in the “southern” US. (The other 2 prairie provinces look kinda competent only in comparison to Alberta.)

    FYI – Quebec, Alberta and the Atlantic Provinces are about 22%, 12%, and 7% of the population, respectively.

    I understand you have to make assumptions and such when modeling, but I wonder if it would be more accurate to call this study “Relative Pandemic Severity in the Province of Ontario and Four Nations.”

    Or, “How the Vestiges of a Formerly Well-Funded Administrative Apparatus Ameliorated the Bumbling of Fail-Son Leadership: A Comparative Study”
    1. The Rev Kev August 9, 2022 at 7:25 pm

       We had the same in Oz where most States wanted nothing to do with this virus but the two biggest States wanted it to let ‘er rip for the good of the economy. And you had federal government undermining efforts to keep it out until they opened the floodgates. There is so much we could do right now like mandatory mask wearing with the government supplying N95 masks or ventilation but nothing is being done. So the policy here is bipartisan but is not reaping the herd immunity that they decided will happen.

       Lambert quoted a guy on twitter who said ‘As long as there are huge numbers of viruses mutating and transmitting, new variants can evolve, and they will evolve specifically in terms of transmissibility and immune escape.’ Pretty sure I said the same damn thing back in a comment in 2020 and I constantly failed biology as a subject in high school years ago. Blind Freddy could see this happening.
       1. The Rev Kev August 9, 2022 at 7:41 pm

          Goddammit. There was just a government ad on TV about what to do for this virus and it had the typical things like wearing a mask, testing, social distancing, etc. and then the guys says their aim right out loud – to slow the spread. And that is it. In other words everybody is going to get it and they are just fine with that.
22. Wukchumni August 9, 2022 at 6:24 pm

    ‘America’s drunkest city?’ Fresno leaders say 4 a.m. last call could solidify stigma

    https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article264336926.html
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    I would probably drink to wicked excess if I lived in Fresno, so I get it why it has been judged the drunkest city in the country, but if the leaders were really two sheets to the wind they’d have no last call instead of extending it from 2 am to 4 am.
    1. Sardonia August 9, 2022 at 10:13 pm

       I’d read years ago that Fresno was America’s fattest city. And now with this, I’m reminded of Dean Wormer’s advice in Animal House: “Son – fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life.”
       1. Wukchumni August 10, 2022 at 11:02 am

          One of the city founders way back when insisted on calling the fledgling metropolis ‘Cautionary Tale’ but was turned down.
    2. fresno dan August 9, 2022 at 10:58 pm

       Wuk
       I’ll drink to that
       actually, I have a question – when if first call?
       1. Sardonia August 9, 2022 at 11:26 pm

          4:01 AM. Fresno has this figured out. Close the bar at 4, allow one minute for the drunks to pee on the sidewalk, then open the bar back up.
23. XXYY August 9, 2022 at 6:29 pm

    Or setting CDC headquarters ablaze, plowing the rubble under, and then salting the earth?

    Performative and practical! I vote for this.
24. Earl Erland August 9, 2022 at 6:36 pm

    The Dems spend money to get Trumpistas on the ballots, state and federal. They then send the FBI to whack the the Hornets nest.

    “Mere Anarchy is loosed upon the world.”.
    1. Mo's Bike Shop August 9, 2022 at 7:36 pm

       Good catch. It makes me think about the sanctions from hell. They have bullet points, not plans.
25. Tom Stone August 9, 2022 at 7:01 pm

    I had an odd thought, is the Mar A Lago raid a squirrel?
    As in “Look,a squirrel!”.
    I know,that assumes there is a rational reason for the raid happening at this time and there is no evidence that any of the decisions made by the Biden administration have had a rational basis.
    1. Michael Ismoe August 9, 2022 at 7:46 pm

       It appears to be an attempt to assure Trump wins in 2024.
    2. Questa Nota August 9, 2022 at 8:12 pm

       There are those FOIA and whistleblower activities heating up, so maybe a little media front-running and limited hanging out.
    3. notabanker August 9, 2022 at 9:08 pm

       Well CNN ratings have been hammered and big pharma has milked the covid vaccine thing dry, so it is probably time to sell more boner pills in prime time. They should be able to drag another Trump drama out at least a year. Maybe Jan 6 was not as profitable as planned.
    4. The Rev Kev August 9, 2022 at 9:15 pm

       Note that nobody is now talking about Nancy’s trip to Taiwan now. Well, except those in China and Taiwan.
26. The Rev Kev August 9, 2022 at 7:53 pm

    Nancy Pelosi wants you to know that “No person is above the law except for my drunk driving husband who has engaged in insider trading for decades.”–

    https://twitter.com/DoctorFishbones/status/1557031094263943168
27. Carolinian August 9, 2022 at 9:07 pm

    Patrick Lawrence agrees with Yves that the Pelosi visit is some kind of turning point.

    https://consortiumnews.com/2022/08/09/patrick-lawrence-the-pelosi-fallout/

    Meanwhile Nancy is trying to trash talk Xi by calling him a bully–digging a deeper hole. Lawrence thinks she may simply not be that bright..
28. Tom Stone August 9, 2022 at 10:20 pm

    I see that the IRS recently purchased 5,000,000 rounds of ammunition for its agents…
    Nothing to see here, move along.
    1. JBird4049 August 9, 2022 at 11:20 pm

       Five million rounds for what are supposed to be office workers? Are they the police? Well… okay then. I just hope that they train and practice enough not to shoot themselves in the foot. (Looks around nervously)
       1. ambrit August 9, 2022 at 11:53 pm

          Yes, I have it on good authority that the Feds do think that way.
          Years ago I spoke several times with a Federal employee who was dragooned out of a desk job in New Orleans and sent to Waco Texas to assault the Branch Davidian compound. Many of those ‘going in’ were not trained in methods of combat and were thrown in with only their monthly pistol practice as training. Four agents were killed. The Feds evidently did not expect a robust defense from the cultists.
          Everyone I spoke with over the years who knew anything serious about then Attorney General Reno, who had final say over how the FBI handled the situation, stated the she was “a piece of work.”
       2. digi_owl August 10, 2022 at 1:14 am

          The number of government offices with some semblance of police authority in USA seems staggering.
          1. eg August 10, 2022 at 2:33 am

             My father made some comment back in the early’90s about how we live in a police state, at which I guffawed and dismissed as ridiculous.

             Now I wish I had asked him to elaborate and listened more carefully.
       3. marym August 10, 2022 at 2:58 am

          It’s the Criminal Investigation unit that’s armed. Whether that’s a good idea or not is arguable. However, the “office workers” are civil servants doing their best on a job we presumably think is necessary in an economic system that assesses and collects taxes. They shouldn’t be the scapegoats of anything we may argue is bad policy regarding taxation and its enforcement.
          1. JBird4049 August 10, 2022 at 8:50 pm

             I am not criticizing the individual office workers who are cogs and gears trapped in the machine like most of us. I am criticizing why tax auditors and collectors need the ammunition or the guns.
29. Tom Stone August 9, 2022 at 10:48 pm

    I mentioned the other day that a friend had inherited a Chaffee-Reece trials rifle from the 1882 trials.
    I had a chance to examine it in detail yesterday evening ( I took my good screwdrivers) and for a 140 year old tool it is in remarkably good condition, two screws were moderately buggered but with a little Kroil they came right out.
    The rifling is still clean and sharp with a little glazing, there are traces of blue here and there and an even patina on the rest.
    Mark ordered headspace gauges and a lee loader, if the headspace checks out we’ll be shooting it next weekend with mild smokeless loads
    140 years old, not many tools made today will still be in good working order come 2162 AD.
30. CoryP August 9, 2022 at 11:27 pm

    Since the Trump thing is in the news I’ll ask a question I’ve had for a while….

    Can anyone recommend a good source of analysis on the 1/6 and current Trump stuff?

    I’ve been dismissive of it all, and generally only read sources that are equally dismissive. But my alternative seems to be hysteria (MSM, WSWS, etc).

    Any good middle of the road commentators that would walk me through the important stuff, if any?
    1. ArchieShemp August 10, 2022 at 9:07 am

       Heather Cox Richardson does a good daily roundup. You could read recent ones, on Book of Faces or Substack.
       1. CoryP August 10, 2022 at 2:37 pm

          Thanks!
31. drumlin woodchuckles August 10, 2022 at 1:19 am

    Ultra-short video of a Tesla ( I assume a self-driving Tesla) hitting a sample “child dummy”, titled
    ” Tesla absolutely trucks child dummy in stoppage test.”

    https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/wkdh7r/tesla_absolutely_trucks_child_dummy_in_stoppage/

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