I DON'T KNOW WHERE THE BOTTOM IS • US presidential elections part VIII

It's pretty horrifying that it isn't as well known, what's happening in Baton Rouge. Give Rod Dreher this much -- he's been on it all by default, as he lives there now.

Fuck washing a soul.

whenever I see the "—And To Wash Your Soul" subtitle, I think of elderly Herbert Hoover, sitting in a dark, cold room all alone, the finished manuscript piled on his desk, rueing the state of his soul.

i saw someone on the news say that this is the worst flood in LA history but that... can't be true, right? unless it's true in the same way that there were no terrorist attacks under GWB's watch?

from PPP's latest poll in Texas:

"We continue to find that Trump voters overwhelmingly buy into his preemptive claims about the election being rigged. Just 19% of Trump voters grant that if Clinton wins the election it will be because she got more votes, while 71% say that it will just be because the election was rigged. More specifically 40% of Trump voters think that ACORN, which hasn't existed in years, will steal the election for Clinton to only 20% who don't think it will, and only 20% who are unsure. Some things Trump says are a step too far even for his support base though. We find that 'just' 35% of Trump supporters think Barack Obama founded ISIS, to 48% who don't think he's responsible for that."

i saw someone on the news say that this is the worst flood in LA history but that... can't be true, right? unless it's true in the same way that there were no terrorist attacks under GWB's watch?

― Mordy, Tuesday, August 16, 2016 6:12 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

probably has an asterisks for 'non hurricane related flooding'

xp: New Orleans has been only lightly hit (though its pounding on the roof now), but Baton Rouge is home to some 50-60,000 that left in the aftermath of Katrina. A good number probably have been flooded out of different homes twice in 11 years.

ACORN...I remember in 2008 how Van Jones (first I'd ever heard of him) was put out there by Republicans as this shadowy, terrifying militant who was registering dead people and organizing a takeover of the government. These days, he's an affable, pretty funny (to me--I know he's been dismissed as a generic party hack by some on here) CNN commentator.

I don't dislike him but he's an awkward, halting, unimaginative speaker; often he just stammers.

I wonder if Trump has ever been confronted directly by Priebus or Ryan or some party higher-up on the idea that he's a plant for Clinton. I imagine him reacting like De Niro in Jackie Brown.

Priebus: Look, we know it's a ridiculous idea, we just want your personal assurance there's nothing there.
Trump: Fuck you for asking me that...How could you fuckin' ask me that?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYYK1enVHNg

Video imbeds are still not working for me, is that still the case for everyone else?

Yeah, and/but honestly I'm happier for it.

I am mildly unsettled by people whose first name is Van. Van Jones, Van Morrison.

Keep thinking their name is like that of Dave Van Ronk or Vincent Van Gogh, but they're somehow being precious by withholding their true first name.

Totally irrational and probably exclusive to me. And yet: you never hear of people whose first name is De.

Vincent Van Heflin

DeWitt Clinton?

I hate that too. Knew a guy whose middle name was Van, so when you said his full name it sounded significantly fancier than it was.

My future son: first name Mr., middle name Van. Good luck explaining that one, kid.

My future son's first name will be "FullsizeCargo"

Meanwhile

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/hillary-clinton-prepare-trump-debate-lewinsky-227033

Who should play Trump in Clinton's debate prep sessions?

(The corresponding question - Will Trump's debate prep include a Clinton standin; if so, who? - is inadmissible. He will no doubt assert that if he just gets a good well-done steak and sufficient blow-drying he'll be good to go; he'll wing it.)

Who should play Trump in Clinton's debate prep sessions?

Will Trump's debate prep include a Clinton standi

Roger Ailes apparently

Van Diesel, De Kelley
http://i.imgur.com/I4SvjFX.png

I kinda think Clinton should do a round robin debate with various random Trump supporters. She'd be working with roughly the same level of rationality and knowledge and vehement distaste. Maybe throw a kid with ADHD and a few severely mentally ill people into the mix. She certainly shouldn't treat it like any kind of normal debate.

Donald Trump is expected to visit the FBI’s New York office on Wednesday for his first classified briefing as the GOP nominee, with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn in tow.

So what are the odds Trump emerges and just starts saying "People, it is so much worse than I thought, here's what we need to do ..." and then just doubles down on his BS claiming the classified info he was made privy to - which of course he can't reveal to Americans - justifies whatever his plans are that day?

i think it's more a matter of how long it takes him to dip into that well. will he leave the FBI for a campaign stop and start in immediately? i think the answer to this is almost surely yes

Kurt Eichenwald at newsweek kind of dances around the point: trump's doctor might not exist

http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-health-doctor-490836

Color me shocked that the bewigged flesh plug might not actually be the healthiest president ever.

omg that somehow seems as insane as anything that has happened re trump xp

ctrl f'd std, sex, hiv and aids

disappointed

demand to know who that jacoby-esque picture was of then

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/12/15/23/2F5FF6DF00000578-3361739-Donald_Trump_s_doctor_Harold_Bornstein_seen_here_in_his_Twitter_-a-16_1450221682514.jpg

this "doctor's letter" was put out back in the primaries, and yeah i remember people finding something on a "jacob bornstein MD" at the time

him not existing (or at least the whole thing being fake somehow) is my gloss on the thing

er sorry, the other name on the masthead, harold

Trump's doctor either (A) Failed to detect the debilitating bone spurs that kept Trump out of the draft, or (B) Is a genius who has cured bone spurs but has kept this information from the general public for murky reasons.

Which is it?

I think Trump's claim is that (C) the bone spurs magically got better later in life because he is so extraordinarily healthy. But don't take his word for it - an extended correspondence with the invisible doctors should clear everything right up.

obv (C) Trump wrote his own medical record. "Extraordinary" is a Trump word, right?

aside: that longroom un-skewed polling site is down and has been (i think) since 538 posted about it last week

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-k_eX7N0ds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-k_eX7N0ds

oh been away i guess imbeds are broke

www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-k_eX7N0ds

I am mildly unsettled by people whose first name is Van. Van Jones, Van Morrison.

I went to high school with someone named Van Patterson. He was a year behind me. He turned out to have . . . unusual proclivities:

Nov. 23, 1991 1:13 PM ET
PAINESVILLE, OHIO PAINESVILLE, Ohio (AP) _ A 23-year-old man was convicted as the ''BVD Bandit'' for breaking into homes, fondling sleeping men and cutting off their underwear.

A jury on Friday found Van W. Patterson guilty of 21 counts of aggravated burglary, four counts of sexual imposition and two counts of robbery.

Lake County Judge Paul H. Mitrovich ordered another psychiatric evaluation for Patterson before his sentencing. Patterson faces up to 45 years in prison.

A psychiatrist testified that Patterson got sexual gratification from the break-ins. Such behavior resulted from years of sexual abuse in boyhood by his father, said Dr. Howard Gottesman, who treats sexual disorders.
Victims testified they were chasing the intruder when they realized their cut-up underwear had fallen off.

somehow every sentence of that story is more amazing than the last

sorry for the HuffPo but....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-eric-schneiderman-trump-university_us_57b2340ae4b0a8e15024e470

please Mr. Halen is my father's name

Tejas in play?

http://m.statesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/trump-has-six-point-lead-over-clinton-in-texas-bui/nsGjz/

nah

2020 mmmmaybe

the best thing about this is, ultimately, the GOP takeaway will be "Trump was a disaster, if only we would have nominated one of the 15 damaged, repellent dipshits that he walked all over in the primaries we could have won!!"

Texas is weird in that it's the metropolitan areas that trend conservative and the more rural immigrant-rich areas which trend liberal. So even with the ever growing non-white population in Texas, the people in the cities call the shots. 2020 even is probably wishful thinking.

IIRC, Texas is in play by 2024 if the Latino turnout climbs a good deal but not until 2032 if it doesn't.