130 Comments
Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Thank you for throwing yourself on that particular bomb. You're a better man than I am (and I mean that sincerely).

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Greater love hath no man than to face the risk of potential brain damage for his friends.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

I only saw a couple of clips myself, but as I said on twitter Ramaswamy is such an annoying weirdo I want to shove him in a locker, and I’m not even a guy.

But I really do enjoy watching Nikki Haley’s absolutely visceral loathing of Ramaswamy. It’s very reminiscent of Amy Klobuchar’s seething animosity toward Pete Buttigieg in 2020. It is the white-hot hatred of women over 50 who have had to hammer, claw, and repeatedly throw their shoulders against a locked door before they finally -- battered and bleeding – gain admittance, and then are forced to witness mediocre younger men simply turn the knob and blithely wander in. I can’t stand Haley and I was never a fan of Klobuchar, but I do completely recognize and empathize with their feelings.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Hearted once. Not enough hearts.

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Dec 7, 2023·edited Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Understood and I sympathize, but Buttigieg has demonstrated that he's a lot more than a mediocre younger man. He disables Republican bullshit deftly, and seems to be on top of things at Transportation; but to be fair, in 2020 he was still just the ex-mayor of South Bend.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Yes and no, in my opinion. He's very good on TV and he's done a good job going on Fox and rebutting their nonsense (not that it matters to their viewers). But he also let Biden maneuver him into the very thankless job of Transportation Secretary, which I believe was Dark Brandon's way of putting the young line-jumper in his place.

But yeah, I think Buttigieg will eventually get there. Wouldn't surprise me if he's President one day.

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Because America deserves a FIRST Gentleman, and not just a second Gentleman.

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Hopefully I'll be dead or I will have to travel to one of the coasts and walk into the sea.

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C'mon in, dear – the water's fine...

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Lol. Thankfully I'm in Iowa, so it's a lengthy trip.

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Don't worry. Being an Idiot Out Walking Around (IOWA), you might make it there someday...

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Klobuchar probably has done things or has positions I don't like, but she's the only national Dem with a sense of humor as sharp as those on display here. (That's, I say, that's a compliment, son.) Although Swalwell and Dan Goldman aren't bad.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

"Even under the best circumstances (i.e. sober)"

This is obviously some new characterization of "best circumstances" of which I was previously unaware...

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Dec 7, 2023·edited Dec 7, 2023

Also, “change society without going through the constitutional process” is chump-speak for "failure to pay my campaign enough for doing your dirty work for you".

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Gosh, society is changing? All the time? Who gave it permission to do that, huh?

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“change society without going through the constitutional process”

The Civil Rights Movement did this while actually going through the "constitutional process" and conservatives are *still* mad about it.

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Vein-poppingly.

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Require society to change via the constitutional process? So, central planning? The right has gotten so far down the spectrum it's left the frame, and re-emerged as the far left? I know these idiots will say anything, but really?

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If government does it, it's social engineering. If corporations pay lip-service to societal change in order to increase profits (while continuing to exploit workers) it's wokeness. There's just no winning with these people.

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Fill out these "Proposed Social Change" forms in triplicate, we will get back to you in due time.

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You toook one for the team. As soon as Nikki and Vivek began appearing on my TL last night, I closed my ipad and turned on the tv. Skipped the GOP asshat parade and rewatched the debate episode of South Side.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Points for the “Hardcore” clips!

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

"DeSantis roars — or does his castrati version of a roar" once again a single line worthy of the price of admission.

I often wonder if the average moderately intelligent and aware Roman at about 2 C.E. felt the same way when they looked around at what was happening in their world? Well, if I can quote my dear departed Mother: "This is just stupid."

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Yeah, but that should be the singular "castrato."

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This is the best kind of pedantic.

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Many years ago (decades before Youtube, etc.) I spent a memorable evening among Unitarians in a geodesic dome in the wilds of Upstate NY listening to a rare recording from the 1920s of the Very Last Castrato, singing in the service of the Italian Roman Catholic church which had decided his fate in boyhood. It made me marvel at the strange threads of unrelated events coming together in an unforgettable moment.

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I had the same thought as rfc but just waited for somebody to do the dirty work

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"his castrati version of a roar "

Let's be honest -That's pretty hurtful.

Good job!

Meagan Kelly is looking pretty...gaunt. It's probably just her rotten soul but I think I'll tell people I heard she's become a crackhead.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Yeah, that's Whitey-Boots version of a roar, alright.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Instant classic Edroso, but unfair to castrati. Those guys were probably glorious. Totally worth it.

DeSantis makes having no balls look pathetic.

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Fair!

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I will add that some men don't have balls, for various reasons, and there's nothing wrong with that.

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Hmmm...

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But enough about Kevin McCarthy.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

News nation, normally — not a joke — gets an audience in the high five figures. Given those low numbers, based, in large part, on a large part of the potential audience not even knowing what a NewsNation is or where to find it, I wonder what the debate’s were. Or to be precise, I wonder but not to the extent of looking it up.

Because the media buzz, these debates aren’t auditions to be the Orange Tumor’s veep; they’ll all come out as certified losers which, you know, isn’t fPOTUS’ thing.

Indeed, the prime role of the debates were to show the base how insane they can be on the Trump scale. (Spoiler: No one can even come close let alone top him. Donnie Jr’s an example of this failure. Anyway, the base knows their losers.)

The only caveat to that, which is above my pay grade, is who gets the nomination if Donnie Sr ends up incapable of running and drops out.

Also: I’m required to post the reminder that Ramaswamy’s wealth is based on fraud and nothing else.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

What's News Nation's deal? Is it supposed to be news for Republicans who don't like Fox? Because if it is, we've already got that, it's called MSNBC.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

From where I am, it looks like a huge mystery.

Their journalistic product, so to speak, is not especially better or worse than any other outlet other than not looking economically viable.

Which is to say of no importance.

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Dec 7, 2023·edited Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Their pitch seems to be "not left or right, straight down the middle", which seems tailor-made for people who want news from a conservative point of view but want to be lied to and flattered that their own views stand right in the "middle."

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

The Mrs has started putting it on. Understandably, I’m not impressed in the least.

Like the rest, the important stuff goes unreported or misreported. Any difference from the others too insignificant to matter.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Spectrum News! Yesterday they had a story about how the public library in Racine has hired a social worker to help connect library patrons with social services. Also you can check out a blood pressure monitor if you want. News you can use!

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Yeah, that best they can do. They all fail on the important stuff.

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"public" library

"social" worker

"social" services

Sounds suspicious to me.

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They put some thought into that slogan. One thing the Hard Right and Loony Left have in common is they are convinced they are the majority. Anyone who panders to that might have a shot, but everyone so used to getting adrenaline shots from media will fall asleep to simple propaganda. NN has to step up their game, start televising mass shooting or something.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

News Nation, formerly WGN America, formerly WGN Superstation, formerly WGN Channel 9, Chicago (where I used to watch Chicago Cubs baseball), was a Tribune Media property before Sam Zell (of cursed memory) got hold of the newspaper and tried to turn it into USA Today. Years later the Trib is a shell of its former self; WGN can only be seen in Chicago, and News Nation is owned by something called Nextstar, and there is no sports programming.

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"Of cursed memory" is right

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That's THEM? Huh. I remember when for some bizarre reason our cable feed included that channel, along with Channel 11 from NYC. Must have been some weird package thing.

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Whaaat? Far-left liberal Commie Democrat MSNBC?

Pshaw! Next you'll be telling me the NYT isn't far-left!

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God. "Who gets the nomination" would be a thing of wonder. It would make the last couple of episodes of Succession after Logan dies look like King Lear. I mean, these are not serious people.

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And we sure as fuck don't love them.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

This is pretty much OT, but I have to rant about it somewhere:

For reasons that escape me, Mrs. Derelict likes to watch the PBS Newshour. Last night's show had a Judy Woodruff special report on covid. Judy spoke with a man who had written a book detailing how all the statistical evidence shows that not getting vaccinated was more likely to result in death, how Republicans were mostly unvaccinated, and how Trump-supporting areas had covid death rates far in excess of other places. That took up perhaps 30 seconds of Woodruff's special report.

The rest of the report was: A middle-age couple who moved to Florida because of Desantis's anti-vax and anti-lockdown policies; a wealthy businessman who opened an "alternative clinic" to provide right-thinking people with all those medicines Big Pharma won't let you have (Ivermectin, etc.); a doctor who worked at said clinic and was absolutely against the covid vaccines . . . and pretty skeptical about some of the others; stock footage of Desantis and Ladapo crowing about being anti-vax.

The entire special report was a showcase of Rightwing medical cranksterism being presented as straight news with the epidemiologist at the top for "balance." When Woodruff was anchoring Newshour, she would perform amazing feats of mental gymnastics to force Rightwing talking points into every discussion. In retirement, she's still working very VERY hard to make sure the Rightwing view gets air time. Shame on PBS for airing such bullshit.

And if you're wondering just how it is that polls are showing Trump leading Biden, look no further than the "respected" news and media. How many totebaggers watched that thing last night and came away thinking "maybe there's something to this anti-vax thing. Why WOULD the government want us to be vaccinated?!?!?!"

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Jesus. That is all I have to say about that.

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"Welcome back to The Apocalypse Is Right. Jesus, come on down!"

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Even worse, the prompt at the beginning of the segment was "Woodruff speaks with medical experts". Which, maybe one or two. The third and fourth were denier docs, and everyone else (that is by far most of the segment) were proud denier citizens. So not only was it pathetic, it was falsely described by the PBS team.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

These days EVERYBODY is an expert.

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Dec 7, 2023·edited Dec 7, 2023

Up next: PBS News Hour changes its name to "People having opinions about stuff hour."

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My snake-handling segment got cut for time. It’s really not what you know, it’s who…

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

It is appalling, full stop. I mean, just imagine: "NASA and astronomy experts agree the moon is a planet. However, the governor of Florida and scientists at this lab in Tallahassee believe it is in fact made of green cheese. At PBS Newshour, we decided to take a closer look."

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Good analogy, but this is even worse, unlike crackpot ideas about the moon, crackpot ideas about vaccines actually kill people.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Counterpoint: true, unless you book your seat on one of Elon Musk's Space X rockets.

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This country [Greatest Fill In The Blank] produced (so far) over 100 million covidy cases – that's twice as many cases as any other nation, including the two that are 4 times larger than us. This country also suffered upward of 1 million deaths (almost exactly 1%) – also highest in the world – as a result, and is in the "Top" 15 nations in deaths per million residents, at a rate 4 times the average of the 200 or so others.

Crackpot Nation.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Everyone will say "Nobody knows the numbers" and I do not care what they say, because the numbers are what they are and nobody can reliably refute data just because it doesn't match their opinion.

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And I have to prove to some idiot's satisfaction, off the cuff, that it ISN'T made of green cheese, or I lose (and then it is).

Believe it or not, most of my assertions are well-documented. But even if I could point to them, it wouldn't matter.

I blame "cable TV," for popularizing formats that mostly benefit liars and sophists.

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You spelled "cabal" incorrectly.

1 mark for effort.

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Why indeed! For added fun, the moron virus has now spread to pet owners: apparently a lot of them feel it would be caving to tyranny to get their dogs and cats the rabies vaccine. So they don’t. Time to buy stock in whoever makes the post-bite treatment!

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Rabid Rightwingers getting actual rabies? Since they're already foaming at the mouth and acting aggressive, they probably won't get treatment until it's too late.

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"Well, let's have you stop watching Fox News for a couple of days and we'll see if the symptoms persist. If they do, it's probably rabies."

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"Sick 'em!"

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Thanks for the recap. You’d have to Clockwork Orange tape my eyes open to make me watch those four, even with the audio off. Actually, maybe someone should make one of those fake audios of debate highlights, you know, like Vivek yelling “I like big bottoms” at Haley and Christie shouting “Come and get ‘em!” back. Best we get some yucks out of this exposure of America’s low IQ id.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Whatever happened to Bad Lip Reading? They still a thing? Their "coverage" of the 2016 Democratic debates was hilarious.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

I checked in last week. Was disappointed.

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Dec 7, 2023·edited Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

"This woman... makes the best beans."

"Pinto! Pinto!"

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“ By his typos, shall ye know him...”

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I just watched their Ron DeSantis yesterday and had significant laffs.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

" Despite all the yelling, it seems being a Republican nowadays is a sad business. " An estimable quote. Thank you for your service.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Sad yelling is the definition of pathetic. Trump's doing alot of it over his trials. "The case should have never been brought. Sad day for America" etc.

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He does this thing (well, he does many things, but I'm thinking of one thing in particular) where it's pure assertion, a deliberate refusal to support an opinion with fact. "Obamacare is a disaster" he says, and that's ALL he says. Any normal person might feel a need to provide some facts, some evidence, to back this up, but that's for weak people, for losers, who are in the subservient position of needing to persuade others. Strong men don't persuade, they just force themselves on us: "You WILL believe." Doesn't actually work on thinking people, but who needs them to win an election?

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Dec 7, 2023·edited Dec 7, 2023

And this does work on the weak-minded, who think, "Well, must be something everyone knows, I won't embarrass myself by asking questions."

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I thought "Just Asking Questions" was part of the right's schtick.

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Dec 7, 2023·edited Dec 7, 2023

I know this from observing students, asking a question in public, even when you're sincere, takes a lot of courage. Asking questions when you KNOW you're full of shit is best left to professionals, especially the ones who have practiced long and hard to get that "quizzical face" down.

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Yeah, it's the Roy Cohn method. Always attack; never engage with the details. To argue your case on the merits is to concede that there's an argument. It suggests that your opponent is a peer on some level.

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State "Biden is senile", confidently and repeatedly, as if it's a long-established fact that everyone knows to be true. Providing evidence would spoil the effect.

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Counterpoint: Queensman is younger AND seniler! Wait til he's Uncle Joe's age!!

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What if these GOP primary debates are designed to shred our last respect for what passes for democracy? A good number of Democrats have already decided that primaries & debates just weaken the annointed candidate of the cycle, and the GOP knows that TFG will win any primary they hold, no matter how indicted, confused, or demented he becomes.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Mos Lykly

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Good question. Trump's contempt for debates is just part of his general contempt for democracy, which his supporters seem to share. Not that these particular debates don't deserve contempt, but not because debates force "the winner" to share a stage with "losers."

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

OMG, Roy. It's Purple Heart time, for sure. I can't believe you watched that!

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Dec 7, 2023·edited Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

I don't know how you do it, I just scan the transcripts and it gives me agita. Like with the third Republican debate (collect the full set!) I went through the transcript looking for one specific thing: This was days after the 10/7 Hamas attacks, and I was looking for just the merest expression of empathy for the Israeli people and what they had suffered (not empathy for the Palestinians, don't make me laugh, these are Republicans.) Simple enough thing to do, right? Our ally has been attacked, women and children murdered, toss out a pro-forma "thoughts and prayers" for the victims.

But no. Not one bit. Straight to "finish them" and "smoke the terrorists on their southern border" (someone get Vivek a map and a compass).

As Roy says about this debate, it's all about being Butch. Any expression of empathy, even to people in an allied country murdered by terrorists, is just too weak and soft and sissy for their target audience. Jesus, if these people aren't all monsters they're doing a damn good simulation of monsters.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

"smoke the terrorists on their southern border"

Like they need any incentive to try to kill migrants crossing the Rio Bravo. This is standard Exterminate The Brutes Republicanism.

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"Terrorists." You know, like the terrorist fixing your roof or raking your leaves.

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EtB conservativism, considering it's apparently in the British and Israeli governments as well.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

"I was shooting ellipses like Celine"

Nice ... This year I tried and failed to become a remote legal transcriptionist. So hard. Deciphering the audio was bad enough, but the editing and formatting standards were high, and one had to work very quickly to make any money. I gave up.

Still unemployed and almost out of ducats. I even tried making TV commercials for those little tins of ground tobacco. That didn't work out either, but it looks good on my CV. "Snuff films - 2023."

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I don't know how anyone does that work.

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Nothing to sniff at!

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I have a bunch of the qualifications but it was nuts.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

I tell folks “Roy reads (and contestualizes!) the Right so you don’t have to.,,I couldn’t stomach last night’s proceedings: I’m glad you’re willing to watch this malign foolishness.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

"contestualizes" makes sense AND reminds me of a Bush-ism!

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Roy contestualizes, Trump incestualizes.

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At first I thought, "this is just glib," but we're talking about a man who went out of his way to make it completely clear that he'd like to fuck his daughter.

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Dec 7, 2023·edited Dec 7, 2023

I'm sure he's made it completely clear to HER, on more than one occasion.

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