What started as a press conference on future presidential debates quickly spiraled into Donald Trump venting about media coverage of his rival and insisting that his rally crowds — especially in South Carolina — are bigger. "I have hundreds of thousands of people," Trump declared at his lectern Aug. 8. "In South Carolina, I had 88,000 people. But as the former president stood before reporters, he fumed. "Nobody's had crowds like I have, and you know that. And when she gets 1,000 people and everybody starts jumping. You know that if I had 1,000 people (you) would say, people would say, 'That's the end of his campaign,' " he said. That's when he claimed he draws hundreds of thousands of people, including an 88,000-person rally in South Carolina. But the rally Trump appeared to be referencing wasn't a rally at all. It was a football game. The former president seemed to be mentioning his Nov. 25 appearance at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia for the state's biggest college football spectacle of the year: the Clemson-South Carolina football matchup. The game was not a Trump campaign rally. It's a college duel that takes place every year. His appearance was brief. Trump walked onto the field, standing at the 25-yard-line with Gov. Henry McMaster. Loud cheers greeted him along with scattered boos. Trump waved to fans and the student section. He made no remarks. He just smiled and waved. Bakari Sellers, a former South Carolina lawmaker who is now a well-known political commentator on CNN, ripped into Trump for his claim. "Donald Trump is lying. In South Carolina he did not have 88,000 people," Sellers wrote on social media. "He showed up to a Carolina-Clemson game. Hell, I was there!!" https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/trump-88000-sc-rally-fact-check-not-true/article_44834f04-55b7-11ef-b33d-4345fa6aa03d.html

I thought they put the top rocks up there first.

@CHAS said in RFK Jr. and the bear: Also when I was a kid, a friend of my Uncle Ed, put a bag of fish under the seat of his new Cadillac. His friend did not know that Uncle Ed would park the car at the Memphis airport on a summer day and leave for a month. Have you seen the movie Grumpy Old Men?

I had exactly the same thought about what current espionage efforts might look like. I can't even imagine the risk that these folks take. I'm totally risk-averse. I'd make a lousy spy. Don't know if you caught the other spy story I posted a few days ago. Agent Zo

A Republican activist who signed a document falsely claiming Donald Trump had won Arizona in 2020 became the first person to be convicted in the state’s fake elector case. Loraine Pellegrino, a past president of the group Ahwatukee Republican Women, has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of filing a false document, Arizona Attorney General’s Office spokesperson Richie Taylor said Tuesday, declining to comment further. Records documenting her guilty plea haven’t yet been posted by the court. Still, court records show Pellegrino was sentenced to unsupervised probation. Before the plea, she faced nine felony charges. Seventeen other people had been charged in the case, including 10 other Republicans who had signed a certificate saying they were “duly elected and qualified” electors and claimed Trump had carried Arizona in the 2020 election. President Joe Biden won Arizona by 10,457 votes. Joshua Kolsrud, an attorney representing Pellegrino, said in a statement that his client has accepted responsibility for her actions. “Loraine Pellegrino’s decision to accept a plea to a lesser charge reflects her desire to move forward and put this matter behind her,” Kolsrud said. https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/arizona/republican-activist-becomes-first-person-convicted-in-arizonas-fake-elector-case/75-753edbba-2bbc-49dd-9b00-f82254ed2e43

@jon-nyc And weird. Really weird.

What an extraordinary set of images. A stunning result of the cooperation of multiple specialists. Big Al

Oh, that makes it even sweeter.

Monet Chonks. Love ‘em!

Done.

Interesting. Never heard for this before.

@wtg said in Welcome to Chicago!: "He did crap the bed today," Scott Jennings, a Republican political strategist, told CNN after Trump's appearance at the conference. "The only question is if he's going to roll around in it or get up and change the sheets." Normally I don’t like such crass comments. But this time, it’s very apt.

We're heading down to the North Michigan Ave part of the world in a little while. Hopefully it'll be early enough and far away enough that we won't run into any traffic issues. Looks like all the closed streets are well south, down in your neck of the woods.

Weird response.

Strawberry Mac sounds good and it reminds me of a watermelon salad that I had at a friend's house. I've made several variations on it. The original recipe is chunks of watermelon, slivered onions, chunked feta cheese, sprigs of mint, and an oil and vinegar dressing. The proportions of each are totally up to the cook. I'm on the fence about the cheese, so I usually leave it out. I'm not wild about mint, so I swap it for dill or cilantro, but basil would also work. I season the oil and vinegar dressing with salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and powdered garlic. (I prefer fresh garlic most of the time and I'm sure it would be amazing in this dish, but it would also make the recipe all about the garlic. The powdered garlic stays in the background better, IMHO. Also the salt, ground black and cayenne peppers, and ground garlic seem to help the vinaigrette emulsify.) I'm sure this would also be good made with other melons or a medley of them. This salad is great the first day and arguably better on the second, after the flavors have blended, although this may be more true of my non-cheese version. It doesn't seem like feta would be happy in watermelon juice for very long. A

That is hilarious! Thank you, Doug.