Just 17% of eligible 18 to 24 year-olds cast a ballot in the last midterm election.
Imagine what could happen if they doubled that number this year.
Registering to vote is the first step.
Register and volunteer at https://t.co/9eCOSzsyvL. pic.twitter.com/bCQaHRa8az
— Andrew Weinstein (@Weinsteinlaw) August 3, 2018
JUST IN: Judge says Trump admin, not ACLU, is "100 percent responsible" for reuniting migrant families https://t.co/1ujg1AXDtO pic.twitter.com/obkZCAREfs
— The Hill (@thehill) August 3, 2018
BREAKING: A U.S. District Judge has ruled that the DACA program must be fully restarted.
And, what do you know, the ruling doesn't require taxpayers funding a multibillion dollar "feel good" wall.
— JRehling (@JRehling) August 3, 2018
More than 700,000 undocumented immigrants are enrolled in the DACA program. https://t.co/PLrI0GeRqF
— POLITICO (@politico) August 4, 2018
BREAKING: Federal court orders New Orleans judges to immediately STOP imposing fines and fees on criminal defendants. Judges must assess ability to pay.
Big victory in our fight against unconstitutional fines and fees levied on poor people. @lawyerscomm https://t.co/m5FDwSUgCF
— Kristen Clarke (@KristenClarkeJD) August 3, 2018
If we didn’t accomplish anything under President Obama, why have Trump & Republicans in Washington relentlessly attacked his legacy & the progress we’ve achieved?
Elections have consequences. So much is at stake. We have to continue organizing, mobilizing & getting out the vote.
— Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) August 2, 2018
John M. Burt
One little thing I’ve been doing lately is to mention vote.org in every comment I make anywhere online: YouTube, Twitter, PornHub — every little bit helps, I suppose.
SiubhanDuinne
@John M. Burt:
Good idea.
Cermet
Between fines levied by courts (aka Debtor’s prison), and the highway robbery banks cause by fee’s on over drafts and requrements for checking accounts, the poor are kept in their proper class by the wealthy. Glad the white poor like this because it hurts blacks, too.
gene108
I did a John G. cole yesterday. We had a lot of scattered showers yesterday, with some being pretty strong.
I pull into the side of a Wawa, after work, on my way to dialysis to get a snack. I get out of my car and the rain starts to fall. I think (1) I should pick up the pace and (2) get under the bit of roof that juts over the wall, so I don’t get as wet.
I then proceed to run my chest smack into a utility box jutting out of the side of the wall and fall straight down onto my butt, with my legs flying up in the air. Thankfully, I don’t think anyone saw because there were no bouts of uncontrollable laughter.
But I am going to use this as motivation to get in shape, because all my flab didn’t give me the sort of cushion muscle would have.
rikyrah
Good Morning,Everyone ???
Steeplejack (phone)
@rikyrah:
Good morning! ☕
OzarkHillbilly
QFT.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
ThresherK
A fellow was looking for singatures to get a Social Democrat candidate’s name on the ballot or something, at the store yesterday.
I was kind to him and said “No”. I could have said “Have you confused Senator Chris Murphy with Joe ‘Blowmentum’ Lieberman?”
OzarkHillbilly
@gene108: My greatest Cole moment ever was in Spain. The wife and I are walking down the sidewalk when I espy one of those once in a lifetime, drop dead gorgeous, can’t tear your eyes off of, Spanish beauties walking towards us on the opposite side of the street. And I didn’t, take my eyes off her that is.
Walked right into a street sign, WHAMMMMM!!!!! Staggered backwards 3 or 4 steps before I finally caught my balance. My wife just looked at me, like WTF? I don’t think she ever saw the fair Spanish Lady.
Baud
@ThresherK: The answer to your question is “yes.”
@OzarkHillbilly: I think a true Cole moment would have required you to espy a fancy jar of mustard in a store window.
Immanentize
Good morning all!
I got my roof solar installed yesterday. Now I need to wait a month for inspections and National Hrid to hook it to the grid. This last bit is frustrating and some of the workers at Nat. Grid are on strike, soooo. All this good August sun will be wasted.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Seconded
Quinerly
Good morning from Poco and his tribe! Packing and organizing for our NC beach trip. We so need a two week escape. Have a great day, Juicers!
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
I think you and I have a different understanding of the word “greatest.”
Dorothy A. Winsor
Just checking in. I’m still planning to go home today. I’m currently awaiting breakfast of a yogurt and fruit parfait, blueberry muffin, coffee, and OJ. I hope it tastes as good as it sounds.
Immanentize
Also, I have vowed now to stick to morning threads and maybe law ones during the week, here. Evening threads are so scold-y. They make me grumpy. Is that a John Cole moment? Except for the morning part?
ThresherK
@SFAW: “Cole moment”?
Cole sounds like he’s watched his fair share of Laurel & Hardy and Benny Hill.
Immanentize
@Dorothy A. Winsor: It does sound very yummy. What’s a fruit parfait?
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor: It won’t.
@Immanentize: Shame on you.
Immanentize
@Baud: For continuing to show up in the morning?
SFAW
The Hill needs either better writers, or better tweet editors.
I don’t know if the tweet means the ACLU should GTFO of the business of reuniting families, or that the Shitgibbon maladministration should do it’s fucking job, and not try to pawn it off on the ACLU. I mean, I kind of assume it means the latter. But I guess since The Hill’s tweets are limited to 120 characters, there was no room to clarify.
Jeffro
Y’all should go read today’s article in the Post about Trumpov & Kobach’s sham “voting integrity” commission (sorry no link – I haven’t figured out how to do that on my phone) – every crooked thing we assumed they were doing, they were doing (and worse).
I know it’s already been disbanded, but I hope the powers that be keep it up with their lawsuits and discovery- this nonsense needs some SERIOUS sunlight!
SFAW
@Baud:
Not scold-y enough.
Baud
@SFAW: It doesn’t come natural to me TBH.
Jeffro
Oh, and Bret Stephens wants to warn everyone that Trumpov “will have blood on his hands” for inciting his followers against the media, noting IN THAT VERY SAME COLUMN the Annapolis newspaper shooting.
“Will”?
How about “does”?
Immanentize
@Jeffro: Here is your WAPO link
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
You’re probably very lucky your wife didn’t see what you were looking at. That street sign whack might have felt like a wee nudge in comparison.
JPL
@Immanentize: What do you think about the first week of the Manafort trial?
Dorothy A. Winsor
Holy shit. They sent me decaf and tell me I’m not allowed to have caffeine. I damn well better go home today
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: The ultimate Cole moment would involve mopping up a spilled jar of fancy mustard in a Subaru stuck in a farmers field.
eta: naked mopping at that
The Midnight Lurker
Good morning, Juicers. I start walking a beat today shortly, trying to turn out the vote. Registration has dropped sharply here (sigh), and O’Roarke is down by 6.5. He and Cruz have agreed on FIVE debates (sighs again). In good news, it looks like we might be able to kick Petey Sessions out in November, Colin Allred is kicking his ass!. Have a great day!
debbie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Now I’m hungry!
debbie
@JPL:
IANAL, but I’m convince Manafort was the inspiration for Paulie Walnuts.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Don’t tell them you frequent this place? They’ll take away your phone.
OzarkHillbilly
@Jeffro: No WaPo but here’s the Guardians take: Documents disprove White House voter fraud claims, says ex-member of Trump commission
SFAW
@Immanentize:
I’m guessing you’re talking about the Manafort-trial thing (Not sure, because I didn’t read many here last night.) If that’s the case: I understand your sentiments, but would suggest/request you not let it drag you down. Easy for me to say, I realize, and things sometimes annoy the crap out of me (and I’m pretty sure I annoy the crap out of any number of commenters here), but I’d hate to see you cut back because of that.
Of course, if I’m wrong about the catalyst — wouldn’t be the first time — then you recall what Miss Emily Litella used to say.
retiredeng
When I first read that the WH wanted the ACLU to fix this reunification mess my thought was WTF? The ACLU? Meanwhile way too many of the kids caught up in it are traumatized for life.
Immanentize
@JPL:
Moving fast!
Manafort is losing. I don’t think the defense is doing much in the way of helping his case. But then, they probably don’t have too much to work with. In any criminal case, the defense has to first work in the world of what I refer to as “facts beyond dispute.” You can’t make a jury believe, for example, that the witness who had to spend days in the hospital after a videotaped assault was never injured. Too much documentary evidence — a fact beyond dispute. But maybe you can convince the jury your client did not assault the witness, or only did so because the witness assaulted him first….
In Manafort’s trial, the illegal banking and money hiding is so well documented that those are facts beyond dispute. So his only play, really, is what we refer to as the SODDI defense (some other dude did it). But there is really only one possible other dude, and that is Gates…. So, the big reveal will be when Gates testifies.
eclare
Good morning! Reposting from yesterday, we had elections Thursday in Memphis/Shelby County TN. It was a blue tsunami. Two highlights : the activist who led the fight to remove confederate statues won a seat on the county commission, and we now have a Democrat for county sheriff, which is amazing. Democrats won 21 out of 26 positions. Fired up here, ready to go
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: My wife understands that I’m a man (one of the reasons she married me) and that as such I will look (all men look, most just lie about it) but if she had noticed she probably would have said something along the lines of, “And let that be a reminder to you.”
SFAW
@Baud:
I was going to make a comment re: how do you expect to win in 2020 if you can’t be scold-y? But then I realized, being scold-y is a Bernie trait; to win, you’ll need to up your game on lying and projection. Which I can’t see you doing, either. Oh well.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: She really didn’t need to say that because the street sign did all the reminding necessary.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize:
Pronounces “shoddy”, right?
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
I don’t know if you saw what I posted last night about voter fraud. I’m reading Amy Siskind’s The List:
From Amy Siskind’s The List:
Week 11 (January 22 — 28)
32. Trump called for an investigation into voter fraud, then delayed signing the executive order. Media uncovered that several Trump insiders are registered to vote in two states.
Week 12 (January 29 — February 4)
14. The AP reported that the voter fraud expert chosen by Trump to conduct his voter fraud investigation is registered to vote in three states.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Sounds like she has her shit together — so what happened to her, that she decided to marry YOU? (A statement/question sometimes made about Mrs. SFAW. Where “sometimes” == “always”)
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
Wow. I trashed Dunlap for agreeing to go on the commission- he was really the only legitimate expert on it and I thought he lent it credibility – but good for him. He got the records and now he got major media coverage of the records. I apologize. Good job.
Baud
@SFAW: I lie all the time. In fact, I’m lying right now.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Then you are indeed lucky! I’ve witnessed less understanding wives react, umm, poorly.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: Not that I needed it….
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: Ha! It should be. But it’s like soggy with Ds. But I’m going to steal that idea because the defense certainly (in most cases) at least rhymes with shoddy.
FlyingToaster
@Immanentize: Not all evening threads, but yes, this week, there was a lot of reaction to the ongoing trump WTF mess.
I usually peek in, see if the thread is fun or depressing, and wander away if it’s going to make me miserable. I’d rather spend my time on Boise Goats or Florida Gator Men than spend my leisure time letting this administration raise my blood pressure.
Immanentize
@Baud:
Norman. Coordinate.
WereBear
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Would not bet on it. But release is always good news.
I once was in the hospital overnight, and they came by and said I could leave. Which I did. And they called me at home telling me I had skipped a whole bunch of checks and paperwork.
Hey, you tell me I can go home, I go home.
Jeffro
@Immanentize: gracias!
MagdaInBlack
@OzarkHillbilly:
Ive always felt one can own a Renoir and still recognize the beauty of a Monet ?
SFAW
@Baud:
But if you are lying, then you are telling the truth, but then if you are telling the truth, then you are lying. But …
Norman, COORDINATE!!!!!
Fzzt.
ETA: I see Immanentize beat me to it
Quinerly
@Dorothy A. Winsor: glad you checked in with us. What a scare! Good luck today.
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
Dunlap’s exclusion from meaningful participation in the committee “was wrong, as well as unlawful”
That could be the Trump Administration seal. Wrong, as well as unlawful. Slap that on the podium.
zhena gogolia
We believed the stupid weather report, so put off our trip by a day to avoid the widespread severe thunderstorms that were predicted for our route just the day before. The sun shone all day yesterday. Now as we prepare to depart I’m looking into the pouring rain and the skies are dark and thunder-y.
JPL
@Immanentize: 24/7 news says the case might be confusing for the jury, but to my untrained eye is if you are not claiming income received, you are avoiding taxes. Your comments are always so insightful.
MagdaInBlack
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I was stunned yesterday at your post of your “event” … Today I’m happy to see you posting about breakfast and going HOME ?
Sorry about the decaf ?
Platonailedit
Flotus MO nailed it. Nonvoting gets shit like this.
tobie
@Immanentize:
On that note I wanted to ask: One thing that’s been irritating me a little about the Laporta testimony yesterday is that she stated her conversations about claiming larger loans to avoid paying income tax were with Rick Gates, not Paul Manafort. Obviously Gates didn’t sign Manafort’s tax return and evidently didn’t benefit personally from Manafort paying less tax. Still if Manafort’s team is going with the SODDI defense, might harp on this.
Immanentize
@JPL: And most jurors, regardless how grudgingly, pay their taxes.
eric
An interesting development: Trump goes after Lebron: “Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do. I like Mike!”
Putting aside the racism, I wonder if Lebron takes up the challenge. He is a popular fella.
trnc
@ThresherK:
Yeah, but they weren’t meant to be role models (not that I haven’t had my share of mishaps, like walking into a street post barrier or two).
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie:
Projection, alwaysit is projection with these assholes.
@SFAW: Temporary insanity? She likes to say she married a frog, and I’m still a frog. Her way of saying she knew I wasn’t a prince before we got married, ie I was honest about the kind of man I was, that she wasn’t going to get flowers on Valentines, that I was never going to remember our anniversary, that she would never find little love notes tucked away in surprising places…. Gacckkkkkk aaaaackkkk….
But I will bring her coffee in bed every morning and as her alarm clock I won’t mind her pressing the snooze button and come back in a half hour. That if I say I will do something for her, it will be done. That I will never berate her for “playing” with her creativity until 5 in the am on the wkends instead of vacuuming the living room, etc etc etc It also helps that I am not a violent alcoholic prone to screaming, splurge spending, coming home at 3 AM, getting arrested for a 17th DWI, etc etc etc
@debbie: Yes I am, very lucky indeed. In a million and one different ways.
gene108
@OzarkHillbilly:
Small blessings in life, we take for granted ?
Immanentize
@tobie:
Definitely they will make this point. But at some point jurors will ask, did Manafort get all the benefits from what was done? That’s what the whole clothing, property and high living evidence was for — to show Manafort benefitted from all the fraud and tax cheating (Gates probably did to). But Gates will testify that, at the very least, they were in it together.
tobie
@Immanentize: Good point. Gates won’t testify that he’s squeaky clean but that Manafort’s just as dirty as him. And he’s already plead guilty.
rikyrah
@Immanentize:
How much money will it save you?
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: I remember that. I think I remember pushing back a little (my memory is a little hit and miss these days and sometimes I just don’t feel like arguing) but yeah, he has done what I was hoping he would and as a person on the commission sue for transparency from a position of strength.
rikyrah
@Quinerly:
Morning to Poco and the tribe ? ?
Enjoy your vacation ?
frosty
Three good court decisions in one post. Nice way to wake up. Thanks AL!
Kay
@eric:
Conservatives hate LeBron because he’s self made, really good at what he does and very generous and civic-minded.
Understandably! It’s unfair that some people are better than they are.
He took on a tough job. That school is designed for the bottom 25% in the district. I’m thrilled he tried it but boy he didn’t pick an easy win. It includes some employment sweeteners for teachers so maybe he’ll draw really great ones. I so want him to succeed with it, because if he does they’ll replicate it.
trnc
@Jeffro:
If you have an android, you should be able to press and hold the link for a few seconds until the copy option pops up.
rikyrah
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Glad to know that you are on the mend. Take it easy and follow doctor’s orders about your recovery.
satby
@Immanentize: I mostly comment mornings. I’m on at night, but lots of times have very little to say. Omnes was correct about the cynicism running amok last night. It gets old.
@rikyrah: Good morning ?!
rikyrah
@Jeffro:
We knew who they were, but I do hope that it gets FrontPaged.
OzarkHillbilly
@MagdaInBlack: I’ll have to remember that!
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: Heh.
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
I sort of got it at the time- it IS a stronger position to start with “I assume they’re fair!” but I was afraid they would succeed in using his earned credibility to bolster their bullshit unearned credibility.
They had a lot of trouble finding Democrats. They put a retired county probate judge on there, which just has nothing to do with anything. At that point you’re just desperate.
tobie
Matthew Yglesias finally admits that the whole push for Single Payer over Expanded Obamacare has nothing to do with cost savings, universal coverage, or better care but political expedience afterall:
I still think that it would be easier to push for a reform of Obamacare (Medicaid expansion in 50 states; negotiated drug prices in Medicare; more generous subsidy scale for middle income folks; reintroduction of the risk corridors, etc.) than to move the 55% of the public that gets its insurance from its employer to a public system, but I guess that’s what makes me a neoliberal shill.
rikyrah
@eric:
He is still mad because LeBron called him
U BUM
I admit, that is the moment that I became a LeBron Stan.?
Immanentize
@tobie:
ETA. A good Boss never gives direct orders to the help. Especially illegal ones. Manafort’s signature on the tax documents is troublesome for him. And I think there has been testimony that Manafort was personally asked if he held any off shore accounts and he said, Nyet.
rikyrah
@Kay:
They also can’t stand him because he’s a self-respecting Black Man.
debbie
@eric:
I don’t know who “Mike” is, but I know LeBron has spoken out against bullshit, and there’s no reason to think he won’t this time.
Kay
@Immanentize:
I thought the point you made to me about how federal prosecutors have lost some bigger cases in the last years was a good one. I don’t know if this is true in your area of law but there’s a general understanding here that prosecutors only bring cases they are pretty damn sure of winning, so when they LOSE it can be shocking and rattle your confidence in them.
Defense lawyers here bitch about prosecutorial boasting on their win record and there’s truth to it- they have so much discretion on engineering a win before they ever get to trial. The general feeling is “of course you win- you don’t bring it unless you’re sure to win”. Defense doesn’t have that luxury. So when they LOSE- shit. Your sense is “how did that happen?”
Immanentize
@rikyrah: In the end, I will be 99% of need — but across the year. So, in July and August I will be pulling from the grid, otherwise it is no electric bill for me. And, if they can get production back on track, I’m getting a battery too which will allow me, even in the peak months, to have more than enough self-generated power. But I had to lay out the cost of the system. I can make that back in about 8 years. Long time, but I think it’s the right thing to do generally. And if I move, the fact that the house is 99% grid free is worth the cost of the system in my area.
Schlemazel
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Glad to hear you are good enough to go home. Stay well!
debbie
@debbie:
Maybe “Mike” is Michael Jordan, who never speaks out politically?
Kay
@rikyrah:
He really is loved though. I don’t think that kind of local affection can be faked. Maybe that’s what Trump is jealous of- people love LeBron. They can’t force us to love them, rikrah! We never will! This seems to drive the Trump Family crazy- that people don’t love them. They think they’re due it.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: Yeah, it was a credible argument, I just disagreed.
trnc
@Immanentize:
Sure, but it can’t really all come down to Gates testimony, right? Manafort’s team would just continue to say RG is trying to save his own skin.
On the other hand, some of the accountant’s testimony yesterday made it clear that she understood RG was doing things on PM’s behalf and that PM ultimately approved every action. Even if PM manages to convince anyone that RG was skimming, how does that mitigate PM’s own clearly bad actions in any way?
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: Yes, Michael Jordan, who never let politics soil an endorsement.
Schlemazel
@debbie:
I assume Michael Jordan.
Dump really is just the pettiest man on earth, isn’t he? The Rude Pundit has a piece up about how he is the guy who needs a trophy all the time. His campaign rallies are just to hear people cheer him. He holds weekly BS sessions (like the one this week with inner-city religious leaders) where the point is to go around the room and praise hair furor. But the real nut graph is the last. He hates CNN not because they don’t report the good things that he might be doing, they will not report his lies as truth.
Donald Trump: The Boy Who Always Needs a Trophy
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2018/08/donald-trump-boy-who-always-needs-trophy.html
Immanentize
@Kay: you nailed it. Prosecutors ethically shouldn’t, but do brag about their win records. My friend Mark in Texas famously said, “Any attorney who brags that he never lost a case is either a liar or a coward.”
Prosecutors are generally in the latter group. Sometimes they lose straight — like in Identification cases and sometimes jurors just are crazy people (as you pointed out there are a lot more of such folks than we admit)
But usually prosecutors — especially federal prosecutors or state prosecutors in big cases — lose because they get caught cheating. That is what happened in the OJ case. Yes, there was a good deal of evidence that he did the deed. But there was also lots of clear evidence that the police cheated. It’s a disease with them. Their desire to win makes the more zealous police and prosecutors cheat. And jurors HATE that.
eric
@Kay: He went back to Cleveland and brought them a championship through the force of his will ( and Kyrie’s ability to finish at the rim). His play chasing down Andre Iguodala was so awe inspiring that it is hard to hate him (even in LA).
gene108
@Kay:
I remember reading an article about early charter schools in Los Angeles 25-30 years ago. They took a public school, created different ways to teach, and if student outcomes were better, they would use those methods across the district.
Somehow greedy conservatives have warped the intention of what early charter school advocates intended beyond all recognition.
Kay
@tobie:
Deductibles are going so high for people with employer-provided insurance though. There will be another health care solution demand and it will be a lot stronger if it includes people who have health insurance.
They were always the missing piece in the politics of universal health care and they skew college and higher income so they punch above their weight as far as political influence. There will be an opening when it affects them. The push could come from the public, instead of policy people. Obama had to work around them, because they had good coverage and they were afraid of losing it. If/when they no longer have “good coverage” the politics changes. Then it;s no longer about “those other people” without insurance. It’s about the majority who have insurance but can no longer afford it.
If there’s ever Medicare for all that will be the reason- people who are used to good coverage slowly discover they no longer have it.
trnc
@Platonailedit: Unfortunately, the article had this quote:
I don’t disagree with that, but it isn’t the most important impact by a long shot. The Obama administration didn’t create the regs for touchy feelgood reasons. They did it because pollination is necessary for agriculture.
https://www.abfnet.org/page/PollinatorFacts
Immanentize
@Kay:
I preferred V.A. for all. It’s a much larger, functioning, vertical health Care system. If we could get more healthy people into the VA, with some payments/co-pays, it would be great. Maybe start with kids under 25.
Another Scott
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I missed your news yesterday, but found it this morning. I’m glad you’re recovering well and are still with us!
Best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery.
Post more often!
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@eclare: Excellent! Thanks for the good news.
Cheers,
Scott.
Kay
@eric:
This is like Greek to me. I don’t follow sports :)
I just like him. I think he’s a good person who remembers where he came from. I like his bluntness too, his dignity. Trump is attacking him because he gave an interview where he said he wouldn’t sit across from Trump. He’s under no obligation to respect Donald Trump. That isn’t the deal. He doesn’t have to go along with that. He’s under an obligation to accept the results of an election, which he has done. Anything past that has to be earned by Donald Trump. In LeBron’s view Trump hasn’t earned it, and LeBron knows something about earning what you have.
Kay
@Immanentize:
That’s interesting. I have never heard anyone say that. My father loves the VA. He’s a fan. He sort of hangs out there when he goes for meds and a check-up. They have coffee for a quarter so he gets a check up and then socializes- such as it is- he’s not that friendly. He may just be sitting there silently drinking cheap coffee :)
rikyrah
@debbie:
This true.
While James and Jordan’s games can be debated in the court.
Off the court, there is no doubt that LeBron James is a far better man than Michael Jordan. It’s not even close.
JPL
Gotta love Pete Souza
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmDqTONl1HY/?hl=en&taken-by=petesouza
rikyrah
@Schlemazel:
That BS session with the Prosperity Gospel Hustlers didn’t get 24 hours of of good propaganda, because social media, particularly Black Twitter, took an axe to the participants, reading them for absolute filth. Showing them to be dancing slave catchers with no credibility. When I say that Black folks were not here for the foolishness ???
NeenerNeener
@Immanentize: I have a guy coming out Monday afternoon to give me an estimate on what a solar roof will cost me. I’ve got the plug-in hybrid car, now I need the solar roof.
OzarkHillbilly
@trnc: The regulation they rolled back applied only to US wildlife refuges. From the Guardian:
and
The US regulatory agencies have long rejected (because of the big money pressure from the Monsantos and Du Ponts) the science showing a connection between neonicotinoids and pollinator die offs, so Obama did what little he could.
Immanentize
@Kay: Of course no one talks about it for two reasons — 1) it would make military service less special and 2) it would be easy to implement and therefore a huge threat to the insurance industry.
I get home and car insurance from USAA. They used to only serve ex-military officers. They have now expanded to enlisted military. I have USAA because my wife worked there for years when we were in San Antonio. And my son can get it too. That could be how the VA could be expanded.
Another Scott
@Immanentize: What do you do when the grid goes down (fallen trees in the neighborhood, etc.)? Around here in NoVA and suburban Maryland, AFAIK, when your part of the grid goes down you lose power even if your solar panels are making lots and lots. Is your battery system configured to keep the power up in such circumstances? Do you have a backup generator and transfer switch?
I think about solar off and on. But i also think about wiring upgrades so that we can have a high-speed charger (480V+) for an electric car (which we hope our next car will be). And we more than occasionally lose power for extended periods – occasionally for several days – so we’d probably want a backup system. We’d need lots of upgrades, probably. It makes sense to do it all at once.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
rikyrah
Happy Birthday to 44!?????
tobie
@Kay: I agree that the push will come from the people for better insurance. That is true. And fortunately there are relatively easy solutions to things like high deductibles: Regulate the industry. It’s worked fine elsewhere, and it even worked with the ACA, which did regulate the industry substantially (e.g., no lifetime limits; no preexisting conditions clauses; 80% of premiums must go to healthcare, etc.). Private insurers in Europe accept all sorts of regulations — why can’t that happen here?
Kay
@Immanentize:
My daughter is a PA and she told me VA jobs are sought-after. I was surprised by that because the sense media gives is that it’s lower tier health care. She says they get snapped up, usually by veterans.
When I worked at the PO rural veterans used to get mail-order meds thru the VA. We would have a whole parcel sack of just prescriptions. They got a 3 month supply in the mailbox, which they loved. It’s convenient.
MomSense
@Immanentize:
It could be worse. Ignoranus LePage and the Republicans in the Maine legislature got rid of net metering here. Another reason we need to make sure Mills will be our next governor.
Kay
@tobie:
I just noticed in my practice they’re really complaining. The deductibles are 4X what they were. We had the second-largest employer here start a clinic. Ordinary care is free as part of employer-insurance, then they get a deductible for fancier stuff. They love it. The idea was other employers would join the clinic and share costs and it’s worked to a certain extent. The local police signed on.
Schlemazel
@Kay:
My full metal jacket wingnut Bil (even the GOP is not anti-gov enough for him) LOVES the VA. He says the service is great & the doctors top notch. It stunned me beyond belief to hear him praise any government group
Schlemazel
@rikyrah:
I saw that, very grateful for their work.
JPL
@Immanentize: I have it because of my father’s service, and both of my sons now have USAA.
Steeplejack
Omnes alert!
Sergio Leone’s Man with No Name trilogy is running on TCM today, starting with A Fistful of Dollars at 12:15 p.m. EDT.
For a Few Dollars More at 2:15 and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly at 4:45.
Excellent prints, no commercials. What’s not to like?
Steeplejack
@debbie:
Michael Jordan. Discussed in the “Floriduh! Man and Gator” thread last night.
tobie
@Kay: My medical expenses are manageable when I stay in network but it’s true that even with 80% coverage of things that exceed mandated care (your annual checkup, your flu shot) the bill can be quite high. This is a problem.
Kay
@gene108:
What he’s doing is the hardest work he could have chosen. It’s not just a “district school” where he would have a mix of students in a low income district. That’s hard enough. No, he is taking the bottom 25% in a low income district, the kids other schools would prefer not to have because it is hard as nails to bring them up and they lower the average for the whole district. If his school gets bigger (they’re starting with just 2 grades, which is considered good practice) the good will ripple because every other school in that district can devote more time and attention to middling and higher performing kids if LeBron has the bottom 25%. It is REALLY ambitious.
JPL
@donlemon
true!
schrodingers_cat
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Good to see that you are feeling better. Get well soon. {{{ }}}
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: And admirable. I am in awe. He is using his celebrity to do good in the world.
Kay
@Schlemazel:
My father is a neat freak and he goes on and on about how clean it is. He would be informally inspecting it so it better be tidy. I suspect practitioners get the student loan deal for public service if they sign on, so that may contributing to the quality of the staffing. That’s a big draw.
debbie
@Steeplejack:
How you guys stay up so late is beyond me!
debbie
@rikyrah:
And, knowing Trump, he’s probably also implying that Jordan knows his place.
Kay
@gene108:
It’s good to see you here. I haven’t seen you as much. Maybe we’re on different Balloon Juice shifts :)
Immanentize
@Another Scott: Sorry — I was gone for a bit. Yes, if the grid goes down, the system stops sending to the grid and you can use direct power. The battery will charge while there is sun (or light) and keep the house going at night. Then, when the grid is back up, the connection can be reestablished and the electricity can again flow both ways. That is one of the reasons I went solar -+ In Sandy, we had our power knocked out for about a week. And my in laws were visiting. If I had this system then, we wouldn’t have had to throw out all the food in the freezer and eat take out for a week.
Kay
Dumb-ass big mouth Trump just put every Ohio GOP politician in a tough spot. They now either have to defend local, loved hero or defend Donald Trump. And he did it the week after James got blanket Ohio media coverage for opening a beautiful school for low income children.
Round one goes to LeBron.
Immanentize
@Steeplejack:
Have you grokked to this amazing orchestral version of The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly score?
It is truly awesome.
Immanentize
@JPL: It’s a great expanding system of high quality insurance and great user/customer service. Love them!
Immanentize
@Kay: Ha! And Kasich just set all the Ohio Trumpies up too. Bonus for Dems!
ETA. Now I am off to the yard to toil in the dirt.
piratedan
@Baud: cue obligatory nod to Nick Lowe’s tune All Men Are Liars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6hzkBihaew
Immanentize
@Kay: Last point/question on LeBron…. What are the odds Trump will go after him at today’s Ohio rally??
Anyone? Buehler?
gene108
@Kay:
Healthcare costs have been skyrocketing for 20+ years. Benefits have been carved out in a mad dash to sty ahead of the 10% (in a good year) rate increases. Employer-employee cost sharing has been going up for employees.
I really don’t know what it will take for people to realize they are on a bad trajectory with the current system.
I also don’t understand, why small to medium businesses aren’t clamoring for change, because they do not have the negotiating leverage larger companies have with insurers and end up being price takers for whatever the market prices them at.
I think we are in a situation of learned helplessness, where what you have is bad and getting worse, but it is at least something, while change is scary.
I don’t know how much worse it needs to get before change happens, because it is already pretty bad.
Yarrow
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Glad you are doing better. Take care of yourself and follow the doctor’s orders so you can get well as fast as possible.
@satby: I find cynicism lazy. It’s fear someone’s attempting to mask as savviness. It does nothing positive but instead brings people down.
RedDirtGirl
@debbie: My local Brooklyn ice cream store had a flavor called “Maple Paulie Walnuts” a few years back. Delicious!
RedDirtGirl
@Immanentize: I’ve been nervous about the fact that the prosecutor has gotten pushback from the judge for “harping on” the excessive spending angle. Hoping that doesn’t hurt the case.
tobie
@gene108: According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the annual growth in medical spending in the US as a percentage of the GDP between 1991 and 2014 was 4.9%. My understanding was that the ACA in its first few years significantly curtailed the growth in medical spending. Premiums rose because (a) Medicaid expansion didn’t happen in all 50 states and (b) Marco Rubio removed the “risk corridor” provision which would have helped insurance companies deal with the fact that sick people would sign up for coverage first. The crisis were facing right now is a manufactured one. Trump and Republicans have done everything to drive up costs for consumers.
gene108
@Kay:
Been lurking mostly. Usually get to threads, when they die. Thank you for saying you are glad to see me, Always good to be wanted.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Boom, goes the Lemon-ite
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Oh, the hashtag is an especially nice touch. I may have to forgive him for the black hole nonsense.
gene108
@tobie:
I just go by my anecdotal experience from managing benefits for my employer for the last 20 years.
The ACA may have slowed the overall spending on healthcare, but medical inflation is still outpacing everything else. And it adds up overtime. Every year premiums get higher. There’s no end in sight.
cleosmom
@OzarkHillbilly: Honey, most women look and figure — rightly — that the man in our lives will never notice.
glaukopis
Just rechecked the weather for my trip to Edinburgh next week. Last I checked, it was going to rain on two days out of 7. Now it’s every day. The Tattoo should be fun – apparently it’s never cancelled because of rain, you’re just supposed to wear appropriate clothes.
Julia Grey
@OzarkHillbilly:
That is a total expression of LOVE, man.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Just reading a bit about the school James is founding– it includes a food pantry and a job placement program for parents. He’s really making a community center, it seems, which is fantastic.
OzarkHillbilly
@cleosmom: I know. Now getting them to admit it…. ;-)
@Julia Grey: Now if only I could do it in a timely fashion. ;-)
JPL
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Pete Souza put up the perfect picture on his instagram. There’s always a picture. I hope Trump says something about King James while campaigning in Ohio later.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@JPL: is he in Ohio today? I can’t keep track of all the Hates they’re scheduling to placate The Beast. As somebody said on twitter, couldn’t Kellyanne just dangle keys in front of him and start a peek-a-boo game?
Steeplejack
@debbie:
Sleeping in bits and pieces either helps or is the cause.
Steeplejack
@Immanentize:
Haven’t seen it. Thanks, I’ll take a look.
grammypat
@JPL: What I like about Souza’s pic is that even though we can’t see O’s face, it seems obvious to me that it’s also got a huge smile. For all we know, they may both be giggling. Anyway … Happy Birthday Mr. President [in my best Marilyn Monroe voice].
TerryC
@Immanentize: “I preferred V.A. for all. It’s a much larger, functioning, vertical health Care system. If we could get more healthy people into the VA, with some payments/co-pays, it would be great. Maybe start with kids under 25.”
#VAcare4all – yes, I agree.