Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Let me file that under fuck it.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

When I was faster i was always behind.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

This blog will pay for itself.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2020 / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: It Still Matters

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: It Still Matters

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207Comments

  1. 1.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Hillary Clinton is the Most Exonerated Politician Ever. Again.

    Fixed that for you WAPO.

  4. 4.

    JPL

    I’d love American Factory to win.   It’s surprising that trump hasn’t been tweeting about the nomination.   It was nice that Hair Love received a nomination also.

  7. 7.

    bjacques

    If the Academy were to give the nod to Obama while snubbing Trump for his Oscar-worthy performance in Home Alone 2, I just don’t know what would happen.

  13. 13.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @germy: Thanx. As much as I love Frontline (I go to their website at least once a month to peruse their latest) I’ll have to pass on that bit of naval gazing. I don’t think I have the stomach for it. Maybe after 2020, if sanity has regained supremacy.

  17. 17.

    Baud

    Apropos of the tweets in the post, here’s Rachel’s nice take down of the NYT again.   Rachel loves journalism and especially the NYT, so this is pretty amazing.  Fast forward to 5:00 in to skip the lead up.

    https://youtu.be/gKEf6HkdIFw

  21. 21.

    Patricia Kayden

    I will never not be furious about the way the media has treated Secretary Clinton.  They worked in lockstep with Republicans to destroy her reputation and cast her as a corrupt politician.
    And I bet they’ll print whatever dirt Russia provides to Trump re Biden.  They haven’t learned.

  27. 27.

    Kay

    Randi Weingarten
    @rweingarten
    ·10h
    Highlights today from the awesome #RallyinTally to #FundOurFutureFL … over 15,000 strong 4 public education

    Interesting. Florida. Many southern states have “education associations” rather than real teachers unions so they’re limited in what they can do on strikes and such and 15,000 isn’t that many compared to some of the teacher strikes we’ve seen in the last 5 years BUT a teacher strike in a state or anger around public education cuts has generally been a good early indicator for Democrats in the state. I think national Democrats know this and that’s why so many Democratic presidential candidates have such elaborate plans on education, even with the limited federal role. They can’t have missed it- it played a big role in state races in PA, MI, WI, LA and then Kentucky. It’s a vulnerability the GOP has that we haven’t exploited enough, IMO. They’re bad on education in addition to being bad on health care.

  29. 29.

    mrmoshpotato

    @satby: “And the GOP magically turned into a pile of shit when Trump called Mexicans criminals, drug mules and rapists.”

  30. 30.

    JPL

    @Baud: Michael Schmidt’s byline was on several of the Clinton hit pieces.   I question Nicole Wallace’s judgment in choosing to date him.

  31. 31.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: The way trump and his acolytes lie it’s obvious they think their voters are idiots. The fact that their base either swallows them wholesale or just don’t care says they’re right.

  32. 32.

    debbie

    @germy: 
    I thought it would be too depressing to watch. They’re rerunning it tonight. Is it worth watching? Is there stuff we didn’t already know?

  34. 34.

    Kay

    @Patricia Kayden:

    I will never not be furious about the way the media has treated Secretary Clinton

    It’s just bad work that the NYTimes won’t print anything on Clinton’s exoneration other than using a Reuter’s story on it. They do their job poorly. They obsessively covered the smear and allegation based mostly on a book written by a Right wing operative and now they refuse to cover the exoneration because it makes them look bad. They misled their readers and they continue to do so. Bad work.

  35. 35.

    mrmoshpotato

    @satby:

    I like her newly discovered sense of reason 

    Don’t worry.  It’ll pass.  Same with Rick “ETTD” Wilson.

  37. 37.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby: Assuming you are speaking of Ola Azul, I have absolutely no idea of what you are talking about. If you are speaking of somebody else, I have no idea of who you are talking about.

    Either way, I’m not very curious about it one way or the other.

  38. 38.

    JPL

    @debbie: I woke during the middle of the night and put on PBS.  Obama was singing Amazing Grace and I had to turn it off.   It’s just so depressing

  39. 39.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    As someone who was a daily reader (practically cover to cover) from 1978 to the early days of the Iraq invasion, it is really very, very sad what the NYT national/international bureau has sunk to.

  40. 40.

    Baud

    @OzarkHillbilly: I go back and forth between whether their base are idiots and whether their base understands how dependent they are on Trump and the GOP to protect them from us.

  42. 42.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby: All conservatives do, after all this shit didn’t just spontaneously erupt with trump. A few of them have looked into the mirror, but even most of those like to say the DEMs made them say/do what they accepted out of political expedience.

    ETA reworded for clarification

  43. 43.

    mrmoshpotato

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    The way trump and his acolytes lie it’s obvious they think their voters are idiots. The fact that their base either swallows them wholesale or just don’t care says they’re right. 

    Why not all three?  Oh sorry.  The third is: the GOP has gone all in on becoming a cult.

  44. 44.

    satby

    @mrmoshpotato: as I said in the earlier thread: enemy of my enemy still probably my enemy, but if we can utilize them to just win we should. Because until we win, nothing changes. So all hands on deck.

  45. 45.

    Kay

    Maggie Haberman
    @maggieNYT
    .@amychozick
    got her hands on that “Clinton Cash” book, y’all

    And here’s the breathless coverage of the allegations in the book.

    And just to add the icing on the cake, Choziick, who covered Clinton in ’16 and led the NYTimes shitty and deceptive work on Clinton, went on to sell a book and a tv deal about the campaign.

    It’s one big fucking racket. Clinton Cash (book) to NYTimes coverage of Clinton based on the book to books by NYTimes reporters about their shitty coverage of the 2016 campaign. They don’t just sell it once. They repackage it and sell it again, under their own “brands”.

  47. 47.

    Butter Emails

    Just because Trump is widely known as Shitmidas doesn’t mean that many of the things he touched weren’t already shit or well on the way there.

  48. 48.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @JPL: By that standard, if you new my ex you’d wonder about my judgement too. NW just dated the asshole, I married her.

  50. 50.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: “Union” is a dirty word in FL, which is why employees in every industry routinely get hosed. But the FL Dept of Ed really screwed themselves by sending out a threatening email to teachers in one rural (deeply Republican) county about attending the rally. It’s an issue that scares Republicans, and it should.

  52. 52.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    Trump has brought up so many basic questions- so many definitions. What is “reputation”? Do you get to keep a good one when you no longer live up to it? How long do you get to keep it? If the NYTimes has a good reputation, a good brand, yet they suck and have sucked for years, can they just keep the reputation forever based on past work? Or do they have to lose it? I think they have to lose it. I think that’s the definition of a “reputation”. That you can lose a good one.

  54. 54.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby: I don’t pie people, Even the people who really grate on me say something I need to hear every now and again. Ola never bothered me. Sometimes he’d ramble on in that lingo of his and it would get tiresome. When he did. I’d just stop reading him. Other times he could be quite succinct and insightful.

    To each their own.

  55. 55.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    I’m fascinated by the rural Republican conundrum on public schools, because we have the exact dynamic you describe here. They break with GOP orthodoxy on that one area, always as a result of GOP overreach where the state and national GOP ideology runs headlong into a rural public school supported by local Republican voters. It’s because of the nature of schools, I think. They have local outlets and the outlets are everywhere :)

    There’s no other public entity like them- no other public entity has a location in every town, in every state. It’s the one issue where far Right ideology on the state or national level LANDS, immediately, locally and it lands everywhere. 

  58. 58.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    They’re seeing some of it in Texas too and before that it was North Carolina. It’s interesting because it started in the north and moved south. PA, MI, WI, then WV and KY, and now it’s moving south. WV was the most interesting to me for two reasons- that was a wildcat strike, they’re not allowed to strike and they did, and they shut down every public school in the state. Every county. That’s unheard of for a strike that is technically barred by law. They just did it. They didn’t ask permission.

  61. 61.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: A lot of small towns around here (I assume the same is true in all rural areas) have a post office, a public school… and outside of a dozen or 2 residences, maybe a church, that’s it. The public school is the very center of the community, it’s where all the events are held, everything from school plays to fund raisers, to weddings. The teachers, they aren’t just teachers, they are friends and members of that community. It’s personal.

    ETA want to add that the teachers are trusted, people believe what they say, they aren’t like those big city union thug teachers who only care about a bigger paycheck.

  62. 62.

    rikyrah

    Uh huh ?

    If Steyer & Bloomberg spent what they're spending (for a nomination they won't get) to ensure everyone was registered, had WHATEVER ID was needed, could clear every hurdle the GOP places in their path, and had rides on Election Day, Trump & the GOP would be done. Priorities guys.— Tim Wise (@timjacobwise) January 14, 2020

  63. 63.

    sab

    @Kay: For some reason, many good journalists still love the NYT. I.e. Connie Schultz. I have some such journalists in my family. I. just don’t get it, but there we are. Maybe because they appreciate the battles between editors and reporters that they fight daily and we don’t really see. Still trying to support the good reporters while the editors destroy the brand.

  64. 64.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    That’s how reputation works, IMO. It’s hard to get a good one but it’s also hard to lose a good one.

    When I first started working for the postal service as a manager I was always early for work because I had to meet this mail truck and you only get one shot at it and it’s like a catastrophe if you miss it- so with weather and raising kids I would allow a lot of wriggle room. But then I got more complacent and I would cut it closer. For as long as I worked at the post office I was “the person who got their early” although I hadn’t gotten there early for years. 

    I lived on those first two years for the next eight. I was officially and forever the punctual person. But I imagine if I has started missing the truck I would have eventually not been the punctual person.

  65. 65.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: Ha, they should!

    @Kay: The GOP governor (DeSantis) comes across as a typical Trumper dolt, but he’s just playing dumb for the rubes. I think he understands the dynamic you describe. He’s made some smart moves to try to placate this still-purple state, including proposing more education funding. But the genuine Trumper dolts in the legislature and bureaucracy don’t always go along.

  66. 66.

    rikyrah

    Kay,

     

    The thread was dead by the time I read the good news.

    Congratulations ???

     

    May your new sweetie pie ?? bring you endless joy ??????

  67. 67.

    NotMax

    The numbers are in. Since January 1sr Maui has been the recipient of up to 17 inches of rain. Six inches of that this past weekend alone.

    @OzarkHillbilly

    Ditto. Never have. Of course the pie filter not being available due to my choice of browser set up makes the process of decision moot.

  71. 71.

    satby

    @different-church-lady: truth. And we gotta recognize when the refs are playing us, which is a bigger issue. We neglect how POV filters what we see and then how we interpret what we see. Kent last night linked to a good example of bias in reporting that is breathtakingly obvious when placed side by side, but since the reporting was years apart most people were probably oblivious to how they were being groomed by that bias.

    We think we know people here and IRL based on sometimes daily interaction, but we only know a curated view presented to us. And then we make assumptions and act accordingly, and we’re often wrong. Which takes us by surprise, but it shouldn’t.

  72. 72.

    Baud

    @sab:

    The NYT’s good stuff is good.  People compromise their principles all the time to preserve what they value. It’s not too dissimilar why we support an imperfect Democrat party.

    The problem is the unwillingness to put any pressure on the NYT to improve. It’s really only their domestic political desk that’s horrific.

  74. 74.

    rikyrah

     

     

    Only the best people. Nader is all up in the Seychelles Islands meeting between Erik Prince and the Russian Oligarchs.
    Only the best with Dolt45.????

    Phucking Demon ??

    Steph aka RB ? (@state_of_wtf) Tweeted:
    Nader held 14 yr old Czech boy’s passport after flying him into Dulles Int Airport.
    Once at his residence, he assaulted him nightly & kept the child silent by threatening him and his mother w/ imprisonment should they ever attempt to report him.
    Best ppl?
    https://t.co/XLJdo8nSJ9 https://twitter.com/state_of_wtf/status/1216864851043278848?s=20

  75. 75.

    Betty Cracker

    @sab: I’ve discussed the NYT and its status as the American journalistic gold standard at length with a friend who’s the managing editor of a fairly large daily. My impression is that she and her peers don’t take the political coverage and opinion page all that seriously. They’re assessing the paper on its hard news and investigative reporting capabilities alone, and The Times does have world-class reporters working those beats.

  82. 82.

    prufrock

    @Betty Cracker: That letter was one of the most baseless threats I’ve ever seen.  I know that in my county (Pinellas), they have billboards begging people to become teachers.  Because of the circumstances, the profession is just about scab-proof.

  86. 86.

    bjacques

    @mrmoshpotato: that kind of sockalism really needs a rebranding. Something that maybe a little less explicit but making it plain that the benefits of good government should flow to *our* kind of people. Call it instead, oh…social nationalism.

  87. 87.

    NotMax

    Have begun watching Thieves of the Wood on Netflix (subtitled, not the dubbed version as in the trailer). So far has kept my attention enough to commit to continuing, although it is a bit leisurely paced. Three episodes in, several scenes have already stood out for very impressive, almost Hitchcockian camera work.

    Feel sympathy for the hair stylists who had to forget all the rules in order to essentially “undo” the hair of much of the cast into an unkempt state. Also for the continuity checkers who needed to keep track of the locations and intensity of filth on people.

  89. 89.

    Betty Cracker

    @satby: IMO, it was the way the political team created a narrative around those story lines that was the problem. I’d fault the hard news team more for failing to investigate the Trumps right in their own back yard until after the election.

  90. 90.

    Immanentize

    @Kay: Some commenter was bemoaning his Trumper family members in Pennsylvania and Ohio the other day.  Last night I was wondering if not talking about Trump at all! but turning the conversation quickly to DeVos might be one strategy of finding common ground.  People really dislike her (and Amway for that matter)

  93. 93.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    That was true in small town Iowa too.  It’s one reason they resisted school district consolidation. When they lost their school, the town was done.

    OT: But I see Joni Ernst is making noises about joining the Senate Rs who will vote for witnesses.

  95. 95.

    Amir Khalid

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Is turkey bacon any good? I’ve only ever had beef bacon, and that was in burgers as a substitute for the oinky kind — never with eggs for breakfast.

  101. 101.

    JPL

    Ivanka is coming to town today.   Another front is arriving mid morning, so maybe it will rain on her parade.

  105. 105.

    NotMax

    @Amir Khalid

    Uncured turkey bacon done in the microwave between paper towels is a not unreasonable facsimile. There’s even such a thing as eggplant bacon.

  106. 106.

    Patricia Kayden

    Heads would explode if the Obamas win an Oscar.  I’d love to see it just to see Trump’s epic tweet rage meltdown.

  107. 107.

    Quinerly

    Good morning everyone! I’m out of here in less than a week! Would love to meet jackals in the Santa Fe/Albuquerque most anytime the month of Feb! Also will make my way to Gallup for 3 nights 2/27-3/1 and will be in Farmington, NM the week of 3/1-3/8. Day trips from Santa Fe probably to the Moriarty area, Mountainaire area, Bosque de Apache area, and perhaps as far south as Belen, NM. Not sure after Farmington. May go west a little to Canyon de Chelly area for a couple of nights or start working my way back to St. Louis by way of Crestone and Colorado Springs. Would love to connect with a meet up or if you just want to grab a beer somewhere. Cheryl has my email. Have a good day!

  112. 112.

    Chris Johnson

    @OzarkHillbilly: ola’s truly bizarre patois didn’t offend me in the sense of ‘being mad at someone who talked different’ (hell, I’ve read Pogo since I was a little kid, and Walt Kelly wasn’t a real Southerner)

    What bothered me was this: why would you do that? To me it seemed obvious that it was perhaps not a native English speaker who was trying real hard to put on a persistent identity and become a trusted member of an online community devoted to American politics. It’s that ‘stochastic terrorism’ thing I keep talking about: be a troll, but not a drive-by troll, be a MOLE and get known by people so they trust you and accept you as one of their own.

    And THEN influence them in specific, useful directions.

    Without IP addresses I can’t be trusted to identify these folks, and my speculations have privately been pretty wild and all over the map. But it’s very like the John Le Carre recommendations: you gotta be distinct, gotta have good entertainment value, you’re probably real consistent (ola’s downfall) and if possible you know the other trolls and back them up if they’re challenged. It can be on any side of any issue so long as the goal of ‘destabilize’ is served.

    I don’t and didn’t mind the insane faux-redneck lingo. I didn’t like the impression that I got, that ola was a Russian troll trying to develop a persistent identity in a colorful way, on Balloon Juice, so they could stoke the flames of argument wherever possible.

    Seems like in this case I wasn’t wrong.

  113. 113.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    Thanks. She really is extremely adorable.

    My daughter is impatient to get out of the hospital. It was a really long labor and she just wants to go home now. She’s a medical person so was very involved in her labor plan- she wrote it, including the meds she wanted. One thing she used was laughing gas for pain which I guess is newer in labor and she was very pleased with her choice. It’s fast acting but also not long lasting and the person taking it can tailor it to what the person needs. It gives her a lot of control. I love her clinical discussion of her own plan- what worked, what didn’t.

  114. 114.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Mike R:Oh, I don’t kick myself for it. I have done my penance triple what most pay who marry such, and would willingly pay it yet again for the sake of my sons. Her finally going to prison was the end of my time in purgatory. My sons still make allowances for her and the things she did and no doubt still does but that is the love every son has for their mother. The depth of their forgiveness is bottomless, as I hope it always is. She is still their mother after all.

  119. 119.

    raven

    @Chris Johnson: This is fucking bullshit. Rofer has taken it upon herself to declare what “her” objectives are for this blog and further explain “her” guidelines. Ya’ll don’t like the dude fine but I guarantee you he’s no goddamn russian troll. Fucking sheep.

  121. 121.

    raven

    And don’t hand me some bullshit about dredging up a dead thread. This goes to the heart of what this place is supposed to be and right now it sucks.

  123. 123.

    Shalimar

    Meanwhile, the Trump Foundation was breaking the law repeatedly during the campaign. NY Attorney General’s office told them to cease and desist raising money illegally in New York state in October 2016. The Foundation was later shut down for illegal activity, all of which was reported during 2016, mostly by the Washington Post’s David Farenthold. Yet, there weren’t anywhere near 200 articles on the Trump Foundation in the New York Times and Washington Post.  They repeated lies about Clinton far more often than they repeated truths about Trump.

  124. 124.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Chris Johnson:

    so they could stoke the flames of argument wherever possible.

    I never saw that from him, but these AM threads tend to be more friendly and mostly they are the only ones I participate in.

    I never saw anything truly objectionable from him. He just seemed like a strange dude, one that added a little more color to the place.

  129. 129.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: @mrmoshpotato:

    Somebody who is hoping to buy the NWS we paid for, for nickels on the dollar. More socialism for the wealthy.

    ETA For the record, according to Michael Lewis (the 5th risk) trump had him lined up to head up the NWS. Too many obvious conflicts of interest even for republicans, so withdrew his name from consideration. The mfer is an A #1 skumbag.

  132. 132.

    Nicole

    @Kay: That’s amazing they’re using laughing gas in labor; what a good idea!  I’ve never had it, but it was offered by my child’s pediatric dentist when he had to get a baby tooth pulled in November.  My 9-year-old kid was VERY anxious about the whole thing so we forked out the additional $100 for the nitrous oxide (because insurance doesn’t care if a child is panicking, I guess) and it was the best money I’ve ever spent.  They decided at the last minute they’d better pull two and he was totally cool with it.  It definitely lived up to its colloquial name with him.

    Afterwards the only unhappy person was me, because, after watching my son’s reaction,  I was SUPER bitter that MY dentist didn’t offer it to me either of the times I had wisdom teeth pulled.  I mean sure, that was 20 years ago BUT I REMEMBER.

    I could have used it during labor, too, come to think of it.  Your daughter is smart and clearly an awesome advocate for herself.

  134. 134.

    satby

    @Chris Johnson: @raven: No one  (with the keys to the joint) said he was a Russian troll. And again, Cheryl didn’t ban him, John did. No idea why, had long since set him to ignore. But I really think we danced this dance already, and if a troll’s object is to derail than this could be the second thread so derailed.

  135. 135.

    Kay

    @raven:

    I’m going to vote with raven here. I don’t think it fits with the general culture of this place to do a lot of policing. People can skip comments. There’s no duty to read people you don’t like.

    Also, it’s a politics blog. It will get “divisive”. That’s the nature of the thing. I get that a lot of you are opposed to Bernie but he’s a top tier candidate and his supporters are allowed to support him. There are tens of millions of them. They’re not all “trolls”.

  138. 138.

    raven

    @satby: Tough shit, I’ll bring it up whenever I want to. Cole doesn’t even read the goddam blog half the time. Rofer pushed it,  go back and read all that bullshit about “her” stuff. I’ll jihad the shit out of this and if I get banned fuck it.

  139. 139.

    Matt

    You would think legitimate media outlets would self-reflect on their coverage that often treated long-ago disproved accusations as unsettled.

    You’ll know they’ve started doing that when the suicide announcements start coming in.

  140. 140.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: I remember when Santorum (as Senator) tried to shut down the NWS from putting their own data on line in a user friendly fashion in order to help the Weather Channel.  So backwards.

  142. 142.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @Patricia Kayden: I used to be incandescent with rage, and never let an opportunity to educate my Democratic friends who “just couldn’t vote for her, she’s too corrupt”  go by…But it’s just exhausting and most don’t want to listen to facts anyway (never let facts get in the way of a good story) so now I just walk away.

    They might have to admit they were wrong and that let themselves be duped and maybe helped get the Orange Menace elected. They think it’s OK because we live in a blue state but that shit is how blue states stop being blue…

  143. 143.

    Kay

    @Nicole:

    That’s amazing they’re using laughing gas in labor; what a good idea!  I’ve never had it, but it was offered by my child’s pediatric dentist when he had to get a baby tooth pulled in November.  My 9-year-old kid was VERY anxious about the whole thing so we forked out the additional $100 for the nitrous oxide (because insurance doesn’t care if a child is panicking, I guess) and it was the best money I’ve ever spent.

    Yeah, she’s a surgical PA so she can order meds and she’s been pleased with it as a tool so made sure it was ready to go for herself. They call it “sipping”. Sipping gas. The idea is people can be trusted to gauge their own pain. It was true too- she put off using it for hours and it was really intense labor. Much longer than I would have gone.
    Peds dentistry has gotten so much better. It used to be awful and terrifying for kids and now it’s not. I saw a difference between just my oldest child and my youngest. Turns out all that terror and pain was not essential :)

  146. 146.

    Immanentize

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    PS (AND PSA). Get the shingrix shots.  Shingles sucks very much.  It hurts.  It’s dangerous.  It can last a lllooooong time.  My shots were free on my insurance.

  148. 148.

    raven

    @Immanentize: I had it in my eye when I was finishing my diss. It can be stress related and I couldn’t stop what I was doing so it double sucked. Get the shot(s).

  151. 151.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @different-church-lady:  Maybe just ignorant. Wunderground doesn’t do anything the NWS already does with the exact same data for free. Why *pay* for it twice?

    ** I was about to say “I have no idea how they make their money…” when I remember at least in part I do. They have tiered services, the more you pay, the more accurate their forecasts become. As Lewis pointed out in his book, if the NWS was privatized under that model, how would it affect severe storm warnings? Would the high paying corporate customers get their tornado warnings 15 mins before the general public? More accurate snowfall predictions? Rainfall amounts? If they didn’t, what the fuck are they paying for?

  155. 155.

    satby

    @raven: hostility noted. “Rofer” has a name most of us use, and the attacks by that other person on her probably had more to do with him getting bounced than his completely fake “this is just how me and the people I work with talk”. Because you and I both know that’s not true. The ugliness being shown toward Cheryl in all this is surprising.

  157. 157.

    Kay

    @raven:

    I got them and I’m ridiculously proud I went back for the second dose, because I’m a bad patient. I felt very grown up and responsible :)

    Do not want shingles.

  158. 158.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: Hand in hand. I hate them cocksuckers.

    The NWS is my favorite govt agency. I use it daily for both short and long term forecasts. They save lives every day and get no credit for it at all. According to Lewis they have a culture there of avoiding credit, shunning it, because being recognized for what they do and how central it is would be “bad”.

  159. 159.

    raven

     

     

     

     

     

    @satby: You think I care what “most of us” do? And who is the Chris Johnson dude who all the sudden shows up and explains his “concerns”. I hostile because I’m fucking pissed off. If you don’t like it they tell me that’s what the pie filter is for.

  160. 160.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Chris Johnson: Oh, for Christ’s sake.  I was really annoyed by his schtick, but wow.  You’ve decided that he was a Russian troll because he chose to talk funny?  And you wonder why I have decided you are a loonie.

  161. 161.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay:
    It used to be awful and terrifying for kids and now it’s just awful and terrifying for adults. FTFY ;-)

  162. 162.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: The only people who don’t need shingrix are people who never had chicken pox.  Because shingles is chicken pox, dormant in your spine, waiting (as Raven mentioned) for a moment of low immunity and usually high stress to come out and dance on your body.  I had it after a particularly difficult case.  But I was lucky, it only crept across my side and abdomen.  Felt like I got kicked by a mule, over and over.  Vicodin barely touched the pain.

    But Raven got the face kind which is really bad and can blind you.  I feel strongly about this just to stop people from suffering so much.

  165. 165.

    Kay

    My daughter’s been good for me in nagging me to get tests and shots. My doctor once told me avoiding doctors is just the flip side of hypochondria and just as extreme and I think I agree with that.

    She had me get the heart scan they do- she thinks some of the new scans are bullshit but not that one. It gives you a percentage on your heart health. My husband is sporty and he was in top 15% for his age and I was just average, so I was mad. Not mad enough to start swimming for hours though :)

    I have to say though it has made me more aware, and I am a person who sometimes eats a Slim Jim and Skittles for lunch. I probably can’t get away with that forever, sadly, since they’re delicious :)

    Nagging works, is the thing. People do it because it works.

  167. 167.

    raven

    @Omnes Omnibus: ”

    The discussions about banning are long and intensive, but they are behind the scenes. It is not something John likes to do. It’s not something anyone on this thread, for example, needs to worry about for themselves. My guidelines are the thing WaterGirl calls shit-stirring and messing around with identities.

    My objective is to protect the community and provide a good place for discussion. I’ll post more about disinformation all through this year, as the opportunity presents itself.”

     

    Who dat?

  168. 168.

    satby

    @raven: no. But I never took you for that kind of misogynist. You continue to put the blame on Cheryl instead of where it belongs, using contemptuous terms to do so. Not commenting on some blog isn’t a huge injustice, it’s an inconvenience.

  170. 170.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    My dentist is not awful and terrifying. I admire his business. I sit in there and think “this place is a fucking money machine“. That’s how I while away the time at the dentist- speculating on his gross revenue while admitting his overhead is very high :)

    They’re good! Nothing hurts. That was the key all along. Stop hurting people. I drive an hour to get there and have for 25 years. Worth every mile.

  171. 171.

    Immanentize

    @Baud:
    if you had chicken pox, you can get shingles.
    Anyone who had chicken pox can get shingles and one in three do.
    You don’t just stop having a risk of shingles without vaccination
    Here is the info. graphic

    I just got my shots at Walgreens. Free.

  172. 172.

    satby

    @raven: her attempt to explain why she might ask for someone to be banned, but you know she didn’t do the banning.

    And if it doesn’t have anything to do with gender, how come Adam gets a pass for pointing out similar behavior in his Psyops posts.

    Another edit: rage on. You’re being a dick about this even though you know better because you feel like you’re defending a friend. Whatever. Done with this.

  173. 173.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: My last visit to a dentist cost me 5 teeth. Not right then, but over the next 2 years. Probably not his fault (long story) but If I hadn’t had the root canals I am certain I would not have lost all 5 in just 2 years.

    As far as painless goes, maybe they have evolved int the last 20 years, but they never were for me. I’ve got a broken tooth right now that I fear I will have to go to an oral surgeon for and am putting it off as long as possible. Right now there is very little pain with it and when there is it very tolerable.

    I know it ain’t smart but that’s me. And nagging don’t work on me.

  174. 174.

    raven

    @satby: Go look and you’ll see I don’t comment on either of their posts about that stuff because I’m not really interested in it. I said as much to her Sunday and I stand by it.

  176. 176.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Quinerly: Give me a buzz when you’re around. My schedule is crazed (in all senses of the word) due to party stuff, but would LOVE to see you again.

  177. 177.

    Nicole

    While folks are discussing getting shingles vaccine shots,  let me make a PSA to fellow Gen-Xers to think about getting the titer test for measles immunity.   I got two measles shots as a child, but last year went for the test and lo and behold, I was no longer immune.  Neither was my husband, who is also a Gen-Xers, but five years older and grew up halfway across the country.  Our GP was super relaxed about us getting the test (oh, just go to a Quest office whenever), but within five hours of her getting the results, we were both in her office getting a booster shot because she was VERY FIRM about it.

    I think the vaccine has vastly improved since we Gen Xers were getting them in the late 60s/70s, and I think most baby boomers had measles, so Gen X seems to be a pocket of folk who need to make sure they’re still immunized.

    Also, I think sometimes about how the chicken pox vaccine may end up turning shingles into a very, very rare occurrence for the Zennials/Gen Alpha/whatever it is they end up calling them.  I know I got my son vaccinated as soon as he was old enough.  I got chicken pox at 15 and it SUUUUUUCCCKED.  No shingles yet, though my husband had an outbreak at 40 and was miserable.

  178. 178.

    satby

    @OzarkHillbilly: 27 years ago a very dear friend had a heart attack during childbirth at age 43 which went undetected until two days later after they had sent her home, still complaining about chest pains, because pre-menopausal women were thought to be “practically immune” to them. Then they told her to start following a cardiac diet using margarine and fat substitutes (which are increased sugars and sugar alcohols). Gave her lots of medication. That was the standard of care for the time.

    Now we know margarine and most fat substitutes were worse for heart health, that high sugar is more damaging, and that many of those drugs actually caused diabetes in cardiac patients.

    I admire the improvements modern medicine has brought into our lives but it’s still an evolving science.

  179. 179.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Kay: laughing gas for pain which I guess is newer in labor

    Perhaps newer in the U.S., but not new elsewhere at all. I was given it by the midwives more than three decades ago in Hong Kong with my first child’s birth, which was also protracted, a portent of things to come. :)

  181. 181.

    Nelle

    I have a horror of shingles and, when insurance wouldn’t pay, I forked over top dollar for the shots.  At what age should one be getting the shots?  My daughter, 35, has poor immunity and psoriasis from strep (got into kidneys and skin after dental procedure).  If anyone will get it, it’s her.

    I had a back molar pulled a few years ago (they wanted me to get an implant.  Seriously?  I was 65.).  When they saw how scared I was, they gave me a valium.  Then laughing gas.  Apparently, he really had to dig and struggle to get the thing out and my body reacted as if in pain.  He stopped and asked how bad the pain was.  I replied, “I’m quite jolly.  Carry on!”  I’d just returned to the States and apparently still had some NZ lingo well ingrained.  Afterwards, I was bruised from upper cheek down into the neck.  No pain in the procedure, though.

  183. 183.

    NotMax

    @Nelle

    It used to be classed as an old person’s disease, but is not. I suffered an outbreak when in my late twenties. Waist to neck, front and back, on one half of the torso only (classic display). Was told at the time that could expect only one more bout, on the other side, if it should ever appear again.

  184. 184.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby: I know, but I still have no interest in visiting a dentist unless it is absolutely necessary. I think it’s because I have tender gums (the only part of me that is tender) flossing is tear bringing painful. So I don’t.

    I had never had a cavity until I was 43. Not one. (assuming the dentist wasn’t lying) I haven’t lost a tooth since the 5. This broken tooth (other than the front lower 4 I had smashed in in HS but managed to hang onto) is the first problem since then.

  185. 185.

    Kay

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    more than three decades ago in Hong Kong with my first child’s birth,

    Oh, that’s funny. So many new things are just old things that come back. I never got it and I woud have taken it- I would have taken anything on offer. It was SLIM PICKINGS. I was pissed off considering this during her labor, resenting that they don’t seem to put a lot of effort or research into childbirth. The older I get the more radical I get. “oh, fuck you people- you don’t care because it’s just women”. If it was a universal experience there would be a whole suite of wonder drugs.

  186. 186.

    Barbara

    @raven: One thing that I remind myself from time to time is that meet ups and other various bits and pieces of real life aside, there is no way for us to verify what people say about themselves.  I have participated in the past in forums where it gradually became clear that someone was making stuff up.  A lot of the time, most of the stuff they were posting about themselves was simply fabricated.  When it became really embellished or turned into a plea for money, well, it became more obvious.  I don’t find it amusing or a good way to break up a boring day to write low brow fantasy fiction about myself, and I don’t really like interacting with those who do. But again, it’s hard to verify when someone has crossed that boundary.   I don’t know about any person in particular.  I don’t know what signs might clue someone in to the possibility that fakery might be happening, and I don’t like the idea that someone might get dinged when they are just odd or unusual.  I just think it’s useful to recognize that it is a conundrum and not express too much high dudgeon in individual cases.

    My two cents.

  187. 187.

    Another Scott

    @different-church-lady: I used to love Wonderground before I noticed that they set about a bazillion cookies and other detritus.  And that was before they were bought out by Weather.com.

    Use the source, Luke!

    See the national radar loop!

    The local forecast and radar pages desperately need an interface update, and there were updates being worked on in Obama’s time, but that seems to have disappeared. I wonder why… :-/

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  189. 189.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Kay: Having the nitrous oxide was a godsend. I’m glad your daughter had access to it. I wonder if having women (midwives) mostly manage the birth process also lends itself to more helpful practices.

  190. 190.

    Another Scott

    @raven: Thanks.

    I was under the impression that one needed to be over 60 to get the vaccine.  I see from your link that is for the older vaccine and that the newer one (Shingrex) is recommended for people over 50.

    I hated, hated, hated chicken pox.  So painful, so itchy.  I want nothing to do with Shingles.

    We live in an age of amazing advances.  We need to be sure we take advantage of them.

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  192. 192.

    Jinchi

    .@BarackObama has landed his first-ever Oscar nomination for American Factory

    That’s got to hurt Trump. You know he thinks he was robbed of his Oscar for best leading man in Home Alone 2.

    This is worse than Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize.

  194. 194.

    Johnnybuck

    I’ve mostly been a lurker at this blog since 2009. One of the things I’ve always liked about it is the way people mix it up, and the fact that, for the most part, only the most egregious behavior will get you banned. There are plenty of folks that post here that I routinely skip in threads because I don’t much give a shit about what they think. That works pretty well for me but your results may vary.

    The election, and particularly, the Democratic primary of 2016 is apparently still very raw for a lot of folks that post here. I certainly understand that. But lately, the tone moderators and the troll accusations against anyone who offers a different take are having the effect of driving away, or chilling the discourse. It was the free-wheeling attitude of this blog that attracted me in the first place. I would hate to see it devolve into some sort of insular community.

    Anyway, carry on.

  196. 196.

    satby

    @raven: didn’t your personal contact with the guy start Sunday when you asked WG to pass your email along to him? So what, 36 hours? And otherwise you know as much about him as he shared here? Barbara has a point.

    and though I don’t know why I’m absolutely confident that he didn’t get banned for his fake writing style people. John wouldn’t ban over that.

  197. 197.

    emmyelle

    Not to let “Rs” off the hook, but my Bernie-loving aunts, uncles, cousins, and sibling still choose to believe all of the smears.

  198. 198.

    Barbara

    @Johnnybuck: Well I hope you keep posting.  I am not inclined to jump on people as trolls, but there is clearly a kind of pattern, where someone “new” begins commenting at length and making the same comments over and over again, or dropping cryptic but provocative comments to stir the pot.  They also tend to cluster in threads about certain election related subjects.  I do think that when it becomes clear someone really is just trying to derail a discussion your best bet is to ignore them.

  199. 199.

    teapot37

    While “American Factory” is from the Obamas’ production company, neither of the Obamas themselves are nominated for the film.  The nominations went to Steven Bognar and the husband-and-wife team of Julia and Jeff Reichert, who were the directors and producers of the film.

  200. 200.

    leeleeFL

    @bjacques: the event horizon? A second big bang?  A massive tantrum?  Stroke, coronary?  All possible.  C’mon Academy, do the work!

  201. 201.

    StringOnAStick

    @raven: Hey, the next time you have personal contact again, please say hi for me.  We share so.e outdoor enthusiasm s.

  204. 204.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @Another Scott:  In some places the problem is shortages, at my healthplan they are only giving the ShingRX shot to people over 65 because they don’t have enough available.  They tell me I can get it when the new batch comes in.  Having seen what my nephew went through when he got shingles in his early twenties I want NO part of it.

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