Man, Pence is a goofy asshole, but good for him and JB for that moment. The petty spitefulness has got to be one of the Piglord's defining traits, and it's that petty spitefulness that caused him to dismantle Obama's Pandemic Response Team and cost us tens of thousands of lives (as well as the prolonged measures we've enacted to try to get this shitshow under control.) Basic civility in life is underrated.

Fuck Biden for giving Pence the time of day. Pence is fucking evil. Again, this is why Democrats are fucking spineless dumbshits. I guarantee you if Biden somehow manages to win this election, it's going to be essentially "all is forgiven". Pence bears responsibility for killing 200,000 Americans. But yeah, go say hi.

"Civility" is bullshit Mike. Civility is the excuse for killing 200,000 Americans and not calling out those responsible for it.

Pretty in Pink @3, I get your point. But both Biden and Pence are professional politicians, and for either of them to give the other the cold shoulder on the anniversary of 9/11 would have just come across as petty and petulant and distract from the real news today.

About the "all is forgiven," Biden has already gone on the record that, if he's elected, he's not going to pardon Trump or stand in the way of Justice Department investigations of Trump and his cronies. The question may be, can Trump preemptively pardon himself?

Anyway, the thing that I'm furious at Biden about today is that he was out in Shanksville, PA talking to this 90-year-old woman who lost her son in 9/11 and there he was with his nose sticking right out of his mask. Just when you think Biden isn't the dumbass he's made out to be, there he goes and fails the "I am not an idiot" test.

To his credit, Biden has been given numerous invitations to be a dumbass in this campaign, and he has by and large found a way to decline those invitations.

3 - Being civil and cordial with your adversaries is good governance.

As dangerous and disturbing as this smoke may be for us Seattleites, obviously we're the lucky ones relatively speaking.

The one number that jumped out at me is that 500,000 Oregonians--10% of the population of the state--is under evacuation orders. And for an event that just never happens in Oregon. Until now.

I appreciate CA Gov. Gavin Newsom's restrained anger over these fires and how we're now living through climate change:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/largest-wildfire-california-history-grows-750-000-acres-n1239923

Really, we're living through a series of biblical plagues now. The difference between the pandemic and climate change: the pandemic might be with us for a few years, climate change will be with the human race for a few thousand years.

@3 I do want to clarify that I’m responding to “civility” as “bs” when it’s used to maintain the status quo, to defend/ignore/excuse horrible people and the horrible things they do. When it’s used to silence us.

I appreciate sincere civility among those I respect and I offer at least superficial civility amongst those I don’t know.

As for Trump, Pence, Republicans, the trolls and dumbfucks here, you can all go fuck yourselves.

@6: Yes, we'll have hysterics decrying the end of human race for a few thousand years still.

Look, both parties are betrayers. Both are sold out to the highest bidder. The status quo are murderers. We have hundreds of military bases throughout the world to maintain imperialism.

We have millions of poor people incarcerated over bullshit. Yet you suckers buy into it. You think that these politicians are going to make anything better? It is the people that fight back that make it better. So you have to be bootlickers and can’t stand up. Shame on you.

You are party to climate change because you don’t want change and here we are. No. The antifascists are not the same as the fascists. Trump just had an antifascist assassinated.

Cliff Mass is a stooge and anyone who takes him seriously is an idiot.

Go back to sleep. You have to be asleep to believe in the american dream just like George Carlin told us.

But more people will and are going to wake up. Now or soon.

@10: "Look, both parties are betrayers. Both are sold out to the highest bidder. The status quo are murderers."

Then flip a coin to determine whether you'll vote for Biden or Trump.

"You think that these politicians are going to make anything better?"

They like to think so - but you have to do your part and vote.

"It is the people that fight back that make it better."

Yes, the people who dedicate their lives to public service do. Not the Molotov cocktail servers, not the window smashers, not the private home invaders, and not the freeway and bridge blockers.

The funny thing about "Cliff Mass" is that almost no one in weather nerd circles ever even mentions him.

Contrast that with Ryan Maue, who while often ridiculed, at least gets a mention.

Speaking of Ridicule, back in the late 00's, the Oregonian made a big announcement that it would no longer mention Global Warming and Climate change in its articles, as it (according to their editors -and probably its Newhouse overlords) wasn't relevant to local content.

Then, less than a week after its announcement, published yet another piece by its favorite climate science denying crank, Gordon Fulks.

Haven't heard much from old Gordo lately.

Not to Worry, Sarge
the Capitalists have a
Special Place just for you, too.

A. the Army
B. Prison
C. the Streets

Making America GREAT
yet again (just not for You).

Everything's sepia outside.

and yet, Global Warming aka
Catastrophic Climate Change

is Still
a Hoax.

Meanwhile we're still subsidizing
Big Fossil. Go figure?

@4 cressona, those are all good points, and I understand the conventional wisdom. But 40 years of conventional wisdom isn’t doing Democrats any favors.

As long as Democrats keep up the "professional politician" bs, they're basically telling the American people that at the end of the day, "we're all the same, it's just a difference of opinion".

Democrats need to stop playing by Republican rules and start holding Republicans accountable and be willing to make a point of it in the media and their public statements. They have to call them out by name. They have to call them out for what they are.

Just as a theoretical exercise, consider the game of “who would it take?” where you would think it was the wrong thing for Biden to give a friendly hello and share a 9/11 moment together. What’s the threshold of “horribleness” that needs to be crossed where that’s not acceptable?

If Biden wants to be “civil” in a handshake amongst enemies gesture, fine. Then afterward, he should make a point of how Pence is directly responsible for killing 200,000+ Americans, well over 50 x’s the number that lost their lives on 9/11. He needs to call out Republicans who played political games with 9/11 first responder funding for years why those responders suffered, went bankrupt and died. It's sick that Pence even has the gall to stand at the site of 9/11 and express his outrage. He doesn't have a right to outrage.

Republicans have already normalized 200,000+ deaths, and Democrats are going along with it. Many liberal-leaning/democrats in these comment sections have done so, maybe without even realizing it. I’m beyond disgusted. I’ve beyond had it with the pleasantries.

Glad to see Inslee’s rebrand. The more I hear from the guy, the more I appreciate him as governor.

You Republican dumbfucks still think climate change is a hoax? How many times do you have to be completely wrong on every fucking issue for you to maybe even entertain the thought that you’ve been a stupid dumbfuck your whole life? What’s it going to take? There’s deprogramming, even for the cult of dumbfuckery. There is help for you, but you first need to admit you have a problem. I don’t know how much more “real” this can all get before you dumbfucks figure it out, but we've run out of time.

The rest of us would really appreciate it while we can still breath.

@20: "I’m beyond disgusted. I’ve beyond had it with the pleasantries."

If you wonder why you're not getting the respect you think you deserve, this is why.

@22 raindrop, eat shit you dumbfuck.

(p.s. normally I wouldn't even acknowledge the content of whatever the fuck it is that you unfortunately feel the need to share with us on any given day - you're too much of a fucking dumbshit to waste my time with. However your reply is such a non sequitur, and so fucking stupid even for you, that I have to ask how the fuck does that have anything to do with anything I wrote? FTR, I don't actually give a fuck what your answer to that is. My god you're a fucking dumbshit)

@23: What you see as a non sequitur is quite indicative of your overall toxic politics. What is seen by most as a rather innocuous moment when two candidates cross paths at a memorial service, when to engage in a confrontation would not only be disrespectful to the memorialization of the departed, but another stupid viral moment in the media that campaigns try to avoid, they decided to (drum roll) have a pleasant greeting.

You really think Biden needs to atone for the greeting by enumerating Pence's failures on covid? Fine, but he does that already.

My god you're a fucking dumbshit.

ouch

Karens gotta karen.

@25: I'm not the one in pain.

@9, @14, @22, @24, and @27: Are you and Doofy roommates? When was the last time you had your triglycerides checked and a full physical exam, Rainy? FFS, your IQ has obviously reached the negative regions.

@10 Ivy, re politicians vs the people - that’s a great distinction between Republicans and Democrats in that Republicans “lead” their people, while Democrats let the people lead. Ideally, as a “democracy” the Democrats have the right approach. Government is supposed to represent them, not rule over them.

The problem in reality is that, collectively, the “people” do not make political decisions based on upholding the ideals of a free, equal, and just society. They are easily led astray, and when one side, Republicans, lie, cheat and steal to get what they want, the other side is forced to fight back to protect those ideals. And Democrats are just terrible at fighting back. As a political organization, they’re not constructed to handle it.

So yes, it’s up to us, the people. Unfortunately, it's not looking so good.

@10 Ivy, p.s. - I always enjoy your posts and perspectives. Thanks for sharing them.

Listen up...and listen good. Before you shut all the powerplants down and take all the dams off the river, you better have a backup plan. All you people want to plug your cars in and work remotely, requires energy, and a lot of it. I've been to a couple of third world countries, and all of you entitled fucks better think hard about it. I've got a few more decades to live on this rock, quit making it miserable....And one more thing, maybe we should just wipe ourselves out and call it a day...god I hate this shit.

@18:

Theatrical stage lighting designers use a standardized pallet for plastic "gels", the transparent color sheets inserted into lighting instruments. This color is officially known as "Bastard Amber".

http://www.mainstage.com/Files/RoscoColorChartNbr.htm

@31:

About 22,000 miles/square - slightly less then the size of the state of Virginia - of solar panels would supply the entire country at current levels of usage. The really tough part will be creating enough storage capacity to hold enough of it for times when the sun isn't shining, but we're working on that. Space-based solar would be more versatile, not to mention orders of magnitude more efficient, but scaling up that technology is probably beyond our current means.

@33: So nothing wrong with hybrid solutions until we get to those economies of solar scale.

"How do you like your state; char-broiled or Cajun blackened?"

yes, Governor, you shouldda had the entire Prison Population out day and nite, raking the Forests like our Brilliant Hair Furor / Cadet Bone Spurs, always recommended, followed wih a nice well-chilled glass of Bleach.

trumpf's 'brain' is full of brilliance!

oh and we like it covered in about 6" of sweet dark Crude but looks like we'll settle for Catastrophic Climate Change's never-ending Fires.

Didja know
Koch's Klean Koal
IS 'edible'?

More well-Fracked Aquifers, everyone?
Who's up for more Capitalism?

All for Some and
None for the Rest!

Haydn @35, excellent points. Clearly in the past few years there has been a massive outbreak of poor forest management across not only the entire US West and Canadian West, but also Australia. If I recall correctly, in recent years the atrocious forest management practices have spread as well to Norway and Russia. Go figure!

Not only that but we're also facing global failures in glacier management the likes of which the world hasn't seen before.

Back in my day, people knew how to manage their forest and their glaciers and their tropical storms too, for that matter.

@38 cressona, chuckle of the day!

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/12/us/los-angeles-county-officers-shot-compton/index.html

That took me like three seconds to find you stupid-ass fuck.

@45,

Yes, your sterling reputation will surely lead everyone to believe you're playing 3-D chess in an effort to get links to CNN pasted to the thread, and not an idiot who's too stupid to properly use a search engine resulting in links to CNN being posted to the thread.

What's interesting about our resident whack-a-mole troll is that he (and of course it's a he) truly believes the rest of us think the same way he does, and we somehow can't be exposed to news that doesn't reinforce some preconceived fantastical notion we have of the world.

Tonight NBC Nightly News (hardly a right-wing media outlet) aired the same story about the shooting of the two police officers. And in the same episode (or maybe it was the night before), they aired the story about a white cop in Georgia punching a restrained black man in the head. A black man who was the passenger in a car that had been stopped for a broken taillight.

Kinda reminds me now of how Donald Trump views the American people, as he confessed to Bob Woodward back in February when he said he didn't want "a panic." In Trump's twisted mind, we can't handle the truth.

trumpfy also knowingly LIED to his hungry True Believers when he said, "it's just a fucking Flu, for God's sake! get OVER it!" and his followers Believed him, Rallied with him and then started dropping like used-up cannon fodder; and how he (trumpf) absolutely Hated them, for being so easily-manipulated, and then Dying, before they'd even Voted for him, yet ...

Haydn @49, I'm just responding now out of concern for you. What person in their right mind is commenting on a blog at 3:06 AM? I can understand insomnia, but is posting angry comments really going to help with insomnia? This seems to be further evidence that you have some serious mental health issues you're dealing with.

I can understand your genuine concern over wildfires and climate change and policing, but before you try to save the world, maybe you need to try to save yourself.

So tell us, what time zone are you in? And if you don't live anywhere near Seattle, why are you so obsessed with us?

Just asking out of concern for your mental health. I'll let you get the last word here.

@37 & @48 kristofarian for the WIN, baybee!

@50 cressona: I wonder if @49 (and presumably @51) could be herrbrahms or an evil twin?

@53 Professor_Hiztory: Numbingly true. Rabid, "proudly" unmasked MAGA tools out en masse, keep fahting fer their Free Dumbs. They're willing to lose EVERYTHING and see the United States go down the toilet---all because of Trumpty Dumpty's latest racist shit spew.