Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Can we lighten up on the doomsday scenarios?

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

If West Virginia and San Francisco had a love child.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

It could be worse. Vance could have said “post-menopausal sows.” Waiting for that audiotape to surface.

American History and Black History can not be separated.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

It looks like winning debates is a black job!

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

You are here: Home / Elections / Biden-Harris 2020 / Saturday Morning Open Thread: More Good Ideas from the Biden Team

Saturday Morning Open Thread: More Good Ideas from the Biden Team

by | 260 Comments

This post is in: , ,

… Party leaders are mulling a wide array of proposals that would extend the availability of broadband in hard-to-reach rural areas, raise Internet speeds for American households, assist families who are struggling to pay their Internet bills and provide more funding to schools for computers and other equipment. Many Democrats say they are bullish about their prospects, believing they can shepherd a series of record-breaking investments at a time when the resurgent coronavirus is forcing Americans to work and learn from home again.

Their first major opportunity could come as part of a new coronavirus stimulus package, a top priority for Biden as he prepares to enter the White House in January. The president-elect previously endorsed a House-passed relief bill that includes $4 billion in emergency funds to help low-income Americans stay online in a pandemic that has left tens of millions out of work and strapped for cash. Biden also reaffirmed his commitment to universal broadband on Tuesday as part of a broader preview of his economic-recovery agenda.

Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), a top Biden ally who led a broadband task force this year, said he “absolutely” expected the president-elect to move aggressively on the issue within his first 100 days in office. He acknowledged this week that lawmakers “still expect to get some opposition from Republicans” on additional spending, but he expressed optimism that the inequalities brought to light by the worsening coronavirus pandemic might spur Congress to act.

“Broadband in this century must be treated as electricity was in the 20th century,” Clyburn said…


I remember reading that the Very Serious Pundits of the 1930s scoffed at FDR’s Tennessee Valley Authority, claiming the self-reliant people of the Appalachians didn’t need big government bringing overhyped ‘frills’ like electricity (with the subtext that those miserable hillbillies wouldn’t know what to do with anything more advanced than a kerosene lantern anyways). But getting access to 20th-century technology not only improved thousands of peoples’ lives, it cemented a generation of Democratic voters.

Also, since we’re gonna need something to bribe Repubs more afraid of #MoscowMitch than their own constituents…

Reader Interactions

260Comments

  3. 3.

    Immanentize

    Ahhh.  The good morning thread.

    Just FYI, I am pro-earmark and always have been.  They key is to not tie them solely to seniority as they were before.

  5. 5.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: This is a good point .  Also, who knows what actual needs a District has better than its representative?  The no-earmark rules have left Congresscritters without clear ties to their communities and states.  With the version of Gerrymandering we have +- with cities being carved up and reaching far into suburbs and rural areas to make red districts, such representatives would have to pay more attention to sub/urban concerns.

  6. 6.

    mrmoshpotato

    The Trump administration is not giving Joe Biden’s transition team access to government email

    The destruction caused by these traitors is going to be more mind-blowing than it already is.

  12. 12.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Counter opinion – Rural broadband is a waste of time, money and political effort. The recipients won’t appreciate it, and will simply use it as an excuse to not move away from moribund economies while simultaneously engaging in broader spread of psychotic conspiracies, racism, and hatred.

  13. 13.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Party leaders are mulling a wide array of proposals that would extend the availability of broadband in hard-to-reach rural areas, raise Internet speeds for American households,

    This hillbilly can dream, the problem is too many of my neighbors don’t. They believe ignorance is bliss and they are bound and determined to pass it on to their children.

  14. 14.

    germy

    Accused Kenosha Gunman Kyle Rittenhouse Freed, Poses For Photo With Actor Ricky Schroder

    Here’s my one and only memory of Ricky.  I never saw him in any TV shows or movies, so this is all I remember:

    1970s Mike Douglas Show.  Ricky was a guest with Gary Coleman.  I guess the theme that day was kid actors.

    Coleman was very young, but amazingly witty and mature.  At one point, Douglas asked him if he’d ever get married.  Coleman said “I want to find someone who looks like me.”

    Ricky guffawed.  “You want to find someone who’s short and a black midget??”

    I remember thinking that Ricky was a piece of shit.   And I guess I wasn’t wrong!

  17. 17.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Immanentize:

    AMEN – Killing off earmarks wrecked all notions of bipartisanship and sensible government in Congress, and I blame the Teatards for that (along with the FDL-types for handing so much control of Congress to them to “teach centrist Ds a lesson”). Boehner wasn’t half bad when he had pork to dole, and you didn’t have fringe congressmen like Massie who’d rarely be seen in their districts, knew nothing about them, and who simply did Koch Bros economic and social bidding.

  18. 18.

    Immanentize

    @rikyrah: Good morning!!!  I remember four years ago when you abandoned the three happy faces and couldn’t even write “good morning.” Well, things ain’t great, yet, but they are looking up!  ???

  19. 19.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Baud:

    Nice thought, but the dudes will drunkenly blush into ladyboy channels of Pornhub while their women will simply dig in to BBC vids as they bake a casserole for the Klan potluck.

    Everything is oxymoronic to their public self-image.

  23. 23.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @NotMax:

    I think I saw that Brach’s is making candy corn Thanksgiving dinner – both sweet AND savory.

    I’m totally down for that.

  25. 25.

    Geminid

    Abigail Spanberger and her opponent went after each other hammer and tongs in the Va. 7th congressional debate, but one issue they agreed on was funding expanding rural broad band. This addresses a real need, and while it would have a tiny stimulative effect short term, we’ll need every bit of countercyclical spending we can get.

    It looks like Biden, Pelosi, and Schumer will have to be strategic in the order in which they try to push through needed legislation. A rural broadband proposal is a good leading project to get republican buy-in. Another might be comprehensive immigration reform, which has passed the Senate before. And, believe it or not, legislation promoting renewable energy and energy conservation has a chance if only because it would generate badly needed jobs. I bet that if Murkowski, Warren told their staffs to work it out, they could come up with legislation that would pass the Senate. It would not go as far as needed, but the legislation would not preclude further efforts. And it might help get a few Republican senators in the habit of voting for Democratic proposals. Ultimately, they are responsible to their constituents, not McConnell.

  26. 26.

    OzarkHillbilly

    After a string of sleepless nights and 2 days of up and down up and down up and down a ladder, I decided to take preventative measures to stave off the storm of charlie horses I knew was coming, and took a vicodin. I didn’t get the CHs (thank dawg) but I still had trouble falling asleep. When I eventually did fall asleep, holy shit, what a nightmare/dream.

    I dreamt I was suffering from severe sleep deprivation. Nothing I did was right, kept forgetting simple little steps like putting a filter in the coffee machine basket. Everything I tried to do was just like that. Finally my wife had had enough and chased me out of the house where she thought I couldn’t do as much damage.

    That’s when things went south.

    I got in my truck to run a quick errand. I soon forgot what the errand was and ended up driving to N STL. There was this strap on top of my dashboard and it was bothering me, so I pulled on it. It came with some difficulty but in the process I pulled up the rug covering my driver side floorboard, which opened a hole into my engine compartment (I used to own a truck with just such a hole, driving thru puddles at speed was not a good idea) and out of the hole came a whole menagerie of animals, starting with about 17 possums (in the dream I lost count) a wolf, a hawk, a pheasant, and a couple more I no longer clearly remember. So I’m fighting my truck to the curb and trying to brake with a cab full of not very happy wild animals crawling all over me. I finally get stopped and spill out of the truck with all those critters and only one passerby even notices this very strange happening. I forget what he said.

    The dream went on, and on, and on, with me parking the truck and continuing on foot but soon I can’t remember where I left the truck. I know I can end the nightmare by simply calling my wife, but I really don’t want to because of how embarrassed I am about the whole situation. I suffer thru several more pratfalls, each more embarrassing than the last and still I resist calling her.

    Finally I give up and call her. My first words were, “Honey? I’m lost. Well, not really, I know where I am (I am looking up at a street sign) but I have no idea where the truck is.”

    And guess what? Yeah, that’s why I didn’t want to call her.

    I think I need better drugs.

  27. 27.

    Immanentize

    Comments 22 and 23 reflecting the variety of Balloon Juice opinions as well as the (pumpkin) spice of life.

  33. 33.

    rikyrah

    Congrats to Ezra Klein on his new position at the NYT. However, I've been concerned their columnists don't grasp the Black voters who are the base of the Democratic Party & I haven't seen this understanding in Klein's reporting. & tweets like this don't understand the Dem. Party. pic.twitter.com/TvSWGFJ5Dq— David Darmofal (@david_darmofal) November 20, 2020

  38. 38.

    Emma from FL

    And the ones that can be reached, and the wild geniuses that spring up in odd places, and the desperate looking for survival info — we abandon them because, what the hell, they’re not us and not worth it?

    Jesus. I never want to be that much of a Republican.

    (added) oops. Link didn’t show. This is a comment to Edmund Dantes’ counter opinion @12.

  39. 39.

    NotMax

    @OzarkHillbilly

    Upshot being you woke up more tired than when you went to sleep?

    (Being one of the (lucky?) band who never, never, never remembers dreams, unsure if that’s how it works.)

  50. 50.

    germy

    @debbie:  I think he changed his name from “Ricky” to “Rick” to appear more mature.

    My only memory of him is that MIke Douglas episode.  Ever since then, if I saw him mentioned in the press, I’d think “Oh, that little asshole.

    It was sad to see what happened to Coleman.  He was a wise and funny kid on talk shows.  I think he was mistreated by family and the industry to the point where he just imploded.

  51. 51.

    Gin & Tonic

    This is weird. A distant relative died after a long illness. We got an email about Zoom-based visitation and a streamed funeral mass, normal for these times. But the ending was, in lieu of flowers, donate to this GoFundMe for her husband. They were both retired medical doctors, they have adult children. Flowers may have always been stupid, donations to meaningful charities are OK by me, but if this were an in-person funeral, would they be expecting mourners to slip a C-note into hubby’s hand while expressing condolences?

  52. 52.

    Baud

    @2liberal: 

    That reminds me of a question I’ve been meaning to ask.

    If we expand the House one day, will Nate Silver have to rename his website?

  53. 53.

    Steeplejack

    I would like to step away from my usual “just the facts, please” mandate for a moment to pass on this unsubstantiated rumor about Donald Trump Jr. going into quarantine because of COVID-19.

    Don Jr. is in rehab.

    — And The Tweet Goes On (@lacadri34) November 21, 2020

    It would be irresponsible not to speculate.

  55. 55.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Emma from FL:

    Retort:

    Visit Topix to learn about all that wholesome rural goodness in remote communities that expanded rural broadband will bring. They’ll still be trashing each other and everybody they know, but it will just allow for faster posting.

    Back to you.

  56. 56.

    Amir Khalid

    Open thread? Right. Pedantry warning.

    I just saw a video on my rec page titled “How to make homemade doughnuts”.  That is cringeworthy phrasing: juxtaposing make and homemade like that introduces a redundant second make: of course homemade doughnuts are doughnuts you make. Is it that hard to think of “How to make doughnuts at home”?

    Harrumph.

  62. 62.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: My nightmares are never really scary to me, I always want to see how they end. I called this one a nightmare/dream just because of the overwhelming sense of frustration I was feeling, that I was going to reach my inevitable fate and I couldn’t even remember what that was.

    One funny/strange part was when I found myself walking down a street amongst a parade of women of all shapes, sizes and ages dressed… differently, not to the 9s but not for the kitchen or work. I walked with them for several blocks before I entered into a Jamaican Jerk restaurant via a 2nd floor patio (very colorful) and then thru the kitchen (I apologized to the owner, explaining I was lost). They were doing take out only and I thought about getting some but didn’t for… reasons.

  66. 66.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Steeplejack: That’s a question that’s difficult to ask. Hey, sorry about your wife, are you broke?

    ETA: They live in what’s probably a million dollar house in one of the tony Chicago suburbs.

  69. 69.

    germy

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Mirtazapine has been found to reduce the time it takes for a person to fall asleep, as well as reducing the duration of early, light stages of sleep and increasing deep sleep. It also slightly reduces REM sleep (dream sleep) and night-time waking and improves the continuity and overall quality of sleep.

    About twice a week I’ll take one, when the insomnia gets too bad.  But for me it causes very vivid dreams.

    The last dream was a very vivid “hidden room” dream, where I discovered a hidden doorway in the house I grew up in, and found a whole attic I never knew existed, filled with beautiful antiques.

  70. 70.

    Steeplejack

    Got my hair did yesterday—after 21 weeks—and felt so good I came home, rolled in some leaves, raced around the apartment for a bit and turned over my water bowl. Invigorating.

    I had a long talk with my brother last night, who flew to Las Vegas on Thursday for “possibly unnecessary but we’re doing it anyway” family business—squaring away our mother’s house and possessions for sale. He is taking all the coronavirus precautions he can, and he reported that our RWNJ brother, who lives in Las Vegas, has been low-key and coöperative. Small mercies. Bro’ Man has been sending me photos of stuff he finds, releasing clouds of nostalgia. He is shipping a lot of stuff back here to Virginia, where we can go through it at leisure.

    He reported that his flight (American) was packed—no empty middle seats. And the airline changed it from a nonstop to one with a stop in Charlotte so they could fill the plane.

  74. 74.

    Scout211

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    Counter-counter opinion:  Hey, hey, hey. Even a good portion of jackals on this site are rural and would love to be able to watch a show on Netflix or Hulu or any other streaming service.

    That’s what rural broadband is for, right? I wouldn’t know, since I am rural and I have very slow, very unstable Internet.  ?

  76. 76.

    evodevo

    @OzarkHillbilly:  Many types of opiates will have those effects…I know at least two friends that happened to…their nightmares were awful. Both never touched the stuff again because of those dreams…try an antihistamine + ibuprofen…or maybe a valium…

  82. 82.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @WereBear: Oh I knew it was a dream all along, I always do, and like I said above, I always want to see how they end.

    Only once did I have a nightmare so bad I was desperate to wake up. When my oldest was just a babe they thought he had cystic fibrosis. Kept testing and testing him and always he came back borderline.

    In my dream I am carrying him into the OR. I lay him down on the table among a dozen or more doctors and nurses, all masked and gowned up. Just as I put him down they all changed into berobed and cowled supplicants and begin to circle the table, chanting in a language I don’t understand. I grabbed him up and held him close saying, “Don’t you worry, I won’t let them get you.” And then I started screaming “I want to wake up now. Now now now now. Wake up wake up WAKE UP….

  83. 83.

    germy

    Anyone else here ever have the “hidden room” dream?

    I have one a couple of times a year.

    I find a door I didn’t know about, climb a rickety and possible unsafe staircase into a giant attic space.  Antiques everywhere.  Old tools and very ornate and victorian style household items. Old toys from my childhood I’d forgotten about.  I always wake up wishing I could explore more.

    But when I have nightmares, I really have nightmares… sleep paralysis, the whole works.

    It’s exhausting trying to get a good night’s sleep sometimes.

  85. 85.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Scout211:

    Counter-counter opinion:  Hey, hey, hey. Even a good portion of jackals on this site are rural and would love to be able to watch a show on Netflix or Hulu or any other streaming service. 

    ANAMANIACS 2020!

  86. 86.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Gin & Tonic: They probably denied the life insurance claim. On the more serious side, it’s entirely possible that after a long illness the medical debt could be overwhelming.

  88. 88.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Steeplejack:

    Docs are notoriously lousy investors. Extreme competence at core skill doesn’t necessarily extend to other areas.

  89. 89.

    Emma from FL

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I’m sorry but nothing changes my mind on this topic. I have a respect for humans as a species and too much personal knowledge of the weird and wonderful people that grow out of rocky soil. I am a big believer in never leaving anyone behind if they want to come along.

    Your “solution” smacks too much of paternalism and a view of a human subset as untermenschen that can be ignored on the way to progress.

    Nope.

  91. 91.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @germy: Anti depressant, uck. They and I generally don’t get along well at all. Still, I’ll talk to my doc, this bout of insomnia I’m going thru right now is the worst one yet. I have a feeling it’s because of the antibiotics they put me on.

  92. 92.

    NotMax

    @Scout21

    One things about Netflix is that their service is designed to be pretty forgiving when it comes to less than optimal connection.

    Too, both Netflix and Prime provide an option to download movies or programs (however pokey that may be on a below par connection) for later viewing.

  94. 94.

    JMG

    @OzarkHillbilly: The best thing about retirement is I don’t have to fly around the US on business anymore. Not that they’re perfect, but I have only used Delta, Air France and JetBlue since. No American and NEVER United in my life, thanks.

  95. 95.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @evodevo: Antihistimines do nothing for me anymore, I can’t take ibuprofen because of cross reactions and valium, again antidepressants and I don’t get along, besides none of them would do a damn thing for my charlie horses anyway but the opiates do help with.

    As for the dreams, they don’t bother me. When I was on chantix the dreams were magnificent, better than acid. This was almost on that scale.

  96. 96.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: After reading that addition, I think the drugs you do have are just perfect.

    I have interesting stress dreams too.  No matter how they start, they always seem to end with me looking for a bathroom.  Then I wake up and go to the bathroom.

  97. 97.

    germy

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I agree with you about SSRIs.  The one I mentioned is in a different class, and I only use it once or twice a week for insomnia.  I don’t want to take anything every day.

    Everyone reacts differently, you’re right.  Best to talk to your doctor.  You deserve a decent night’s sleep.

  98. 98.

    NobodySpecial

    I have lucid dreams, but not like other people. I can’t change events in them, but I can manipulate time in them. Had one today that involved me living in Tier 3 lockdown, but it was my hometown in the 80’s, but none of the locations led anywhere but a machine shop door that led into a lobby where a local mom and pop grocery store owner I knew in my teens was examining modern vending machines.

    Not exhausting, but definitely not something I hope to see again.

    Oh, and I’m very glad to see earmarks come back. It caused a lot of buildings to be made, and urban renewal is an important part of revitalizing cities.

  99. 99.

    Sab

    @germy: My hidden room dream are terrifying. The room is amazing, but I have to crawl through tiny passages to get there and I worry the whole time that I will get stuck trying to crawl back out. Claustrophobia.

  100. 100.

    BretH

    I have recurring dreams where I’m back being a bike messenger in DC in the 80s. But these turn into frustrating episodes where the radio isn’t working and I either can’t find change for a pay phone or I dial wrong and I’m stuck while all the time I know I should be moving on to my next pickup or drop.

    In reality my wife and I both agree it was the best job we ever had.  Fun fact: about this time of year was when we picked up gift samplers from Seagrams to deliver to every lawmakers’ office on Capitol Hill.

  102. 102.

    germy

    @Sab:

    Interesting.  I never had that.  But the rickety old stairs to get into the hidden attic were often frightening.  I don’t like heights, and the stairs had gaps, were rotting, or designed by someone who liked climbing.  I felt I was risking my life to attempt the climb, but I couldn’t stop, too much curiosity.

    One hidden room dream I had took place in a basement I didn’t know about.  I went downstairs, and found another set of concrete stairs leading further downstairs… and saw an old abandoned bistro.  A small stage in one end of the room, and chairs and tables set up.  And then a waitress came up to me and I had to explain I was the owner of the house and had gotten lost.

    But usually it’s an old attic, and the experience is always deeply moving… unlocking a hidden past, uncovering forgotten memories.  All the hidden beauty,

  103. 103.

    Immanentize

    @MomSense: @OzarkHillbilly:
    In the Boston area, earmarks often went to various community or justice programs that really put the small amounts to good and efficient use. Unlike block grants or State-wide initiatives that were totally wrapped up in politics, earmarks were direct infusions into organizations that did a lot of work for the money.

    Yes, I got a couple for juvenile justice work that a block grants would never have funded because all that money went to cops and prosecutors.

  104. 104.

    NotMax

    @JMG

    Never, under any circumstances, Alaska Airlines ever again.

    Talk about yer nightmares… . Would fork out a premium to travel on Nocturnal Aviation instead.

  105. 105.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @danielx: @Immanentize: I’m wondering if I can get another Chantix script even tho I haven’t smoked in 10 years. A lot of people can’t handle the dreams but I thought they were fantastic and wanted more. This one was almost as good.

  107. 107.

    Scout211

    @NotMax:

    The download option does not work for rural internet customers because most are forced to use a satellite service. Each download and each stream is added to the metered use limit that you pay for. The download limits on the satellite internet providers are a bit higher than they were when we first moved here 12 years ago, but you can still use it up fairly quickly if you try to stream.

    We found a local guy who bounces internet from a commercial feed from the Bay Area and he has a couple of towers to send it to his customer’s homes via radio receivers. We were happy to cancel the satellite service because his service is unlimited. But unlimited slow and unstable is still not streaming service ready. Most of the time I can join a zoom meeting but not every time. Often, his equipment fails and we are out for hours or days. He was in the hospital last year and we were out for almost 3 weeks. It’s slow and unstable, but better than satellite.

    We live exactly one mile from a housing development with wired broadband. No company will string those wires that extra mile because there are not enough customers to be worth it to them financially. I hope this new Biden plan can improve that because out here, we would really like to have faster and more stable internet.

  108. 108.

    artem1s

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    – Rural broadband is a waste of time

    I think Joe is being coy here.  Sure it’s a way to shore up rural infrastructure.  And the USPS has been advocating for this to be part of their services for decades. Let them be ISP providers in areas where there is no coverage.  Even rural communities can recognize how bad it is when you screw up the USPS. But another goal is to get low/no cost coverage to inner city kids whose parents can’t afford $50-100/.mth cable bills. NE OH is ‘weird’ in that CLE and Akron have been laying fiber optics for decades now. And open hot spots are everywhere.  No need to pay for mobile hot spot or sign into your T-mobile account if you want to go to a coffee shop and work online.  Some community development corporations are paying for wireless coverage with council funds and giving away wireless access to nearby residents. I’m pretty sure the city schools will expand the existing hotspot zones such as MetroHospitals; Case Western campus, and University Circle, already have. But funding for this type of coverage for city residents is highly dependent on state legislature’s attitude toward ‘big government’ hand outs.  This type of community wireless program was so popular in rural areas that cable companies got state legislatures to outlaw them starting back in the late 90s. Joe is reinventing Obamaphones for the internet.  White and olds will love it -until they are told by Faux to blame their slow speeds on poor Black kids in the cities playing games on the innertubes – it’s important for our schools and workforce to have access to broadband everywhere,.  Japan has had 100% coverage for decades now – we are lagging behind developing countries.  not doing this keeps people in pig ignorance and makes us a shithole country

  111. 111.

    Steeplejack

    @JMG:

    I used to fly United on my approximately annual housesitting trips to Las Vegas because they were the only one who offered nonstop service from Dulles (maybe at the times I needed—don’t remember). But their in-flight wi-fi was so crappy that the last couple of times I switched to Delta and, even with a stop in Detroit or Minneapolis, I had a better experience. Sounds minor, but the wi-fi is a major consideration for me—really cuts down the subjective flying time.

    Like you, I don’t have to fly anywhere now.

  113. 113.

    germy

    @artem1s:

    If the internet was just some weird and fun hobby, like it was decades ago, it’d be different.  But nowadays internet access is a necessity.  Work, school, everything.  It should be a public utility.

  117. 117.

    Immanentize

    @Amir Khalid: As someone who speaks German, I thought you would wholeheartedly approve of combined words like “fundraise.” That’s language evolution for you.

  119. 119.

    germy

    @Sab:  The room is amazing, but I have to crawl through tiny passages to get there

    What do you see in the hidden room? What is the room like?

  120. 120.

    stinger

    @Emma from FL: Yes, I don’t understand a liberal/progressive thought process that leads to the idea that extending broadband throughout the country is a waste of time, money, and political energy. Only Americans living in cities deserve good internet? Only Republicans live in rural areas? The existing urban/rural divide isn’t large enough?

  122. 122.

    topclimber

    @Geminid: Great to finally arrive at a live thread while you are commenting.

    I read the article by Robert Pollin that you suggested. It was quite informative and quantified the numbers on things like planting trees (could be 10% of the solution) and the role of energy efficiency (why Germany spews so much less carbon without really doing much more in renewables than us).

    I did not find his arguments against a carbon tax conclusive. He said these have not worked at the state level, but I suspect part of the reason a race to the bottom effect when the tax is not uniform throughout the US.

    I would also have like him to delve more into the problem of buying out the contracts of coal-using utilities. It just seems dumb to pay more later to fix what we can fix now. Perhaps we can offer these companies a long-term payout or equity in green sources. If they don’t like it, let them take it to court for 10 years while the problem gets addressed now.

    I also question whether the “New Deal” part of the GND should be separated out. We need a sustainable society to go with climate control. At least in the initial stages of the debate, they are worth linking. If the GOP scores points on us because of “socialism” but is pretends to be receptive to the Green part, at least you have something to take out of the bill as a compromise as you call their bluff.

    At some point, a Green New Deal should be a core tenet of the Democratic Party. It does not have to be one big bill.

    Finally, the article is much more measured in how it characterizes AOC and Markey than many here are. It is clear their argument is with earlier drafts of the bill. Pollin himself is quoted in the comments as saying he was responding to discussions with GND staffers, not actual legislation.

    Actually GO to the links in the article where the GND is mentioned and you see a bill that aims for a 60% carbon reduction by 2030 and 100% by 2050. This is on par with Pollin’s max of 80% by 2035 and 100% by 2050.

    Is AOC a show horse who rushed out a draft memo in order to grab the spotlight for the squad? Could well be. Was she badly served by a chief of staff she has since fired? Could well be. Does she learn by mistakes and know when to be a work horse in terms of actually drafting legislation? Yes.

    The question remains: what purpose is served by knee-jerk dismissal of someone who is already influential in the climate change debate, is a spokesman for many in the generation that will most feel the pain of this existential crisis, and who will very likely be moving the ball forward when many of the current leaders in Congress have left the scene.

    We are talking about a battle that will last at least a generation. It helps to start out with people who are passionate about it.

    Thank you for reaching out with a rational response on this issue. It is clear you are not an AOC fan but you seem to have your eyes on the prize.

  123. 123.

    danielx

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I remember mine for about five minutes upon waking, although I’ve had a few where I’ve been awakened by something or someone and stayed awake rather than possibly falling back into the same dream.

    I did have one that’s stayed with me. The classic where you dream you can and do fly through sheer magic/force or will, and then – can’t, and fall. Woke up screaming right before I hit the ground – fortunately. I’ve no great desire to find out whether if you die in a dream you also die in real life.

  125. 125.

    JMG

    @NotMax:  The only two times I flew Alaska it was fine. Of course, that was in 2004. Oh, in fairness I should mention I once flew Virgin Atlantic back to Boston from London in 2018. It was perfectly satisfactory.

  127. 127.

    jnfr

    I was very happy to hear about bringing back earmarks. Horse-trading can be useful!

    I’m even happier to hear about universal broadband. That is a much-needed infrastructure upgrade.

    Yes, I look forward to getting good things done again.

  131. 131.

    Nicole

    @debbie:

    He was in NYPD Blue for a few years and was also the kid in that Jon Voigt tearjerker The Champ. Yawn.

    Uh, SILVER SPOONS!  I loved that show and thought he was super cute then.  Of course, I also thought the boyfriend I had when I was  19 was super cute and he also turned out to be a right wing nutjob, so my taste has improved since I was a kid, is what I’m saying.

    (In retrospect, Silver Spoons was not, in fact, a good show. Even Erin Gray being in it couldn’t really improve it.)

  132. 132.

    Immanentize

    Ivanka’s going to jail,
    Ivanka’s going to jail!

    Probably not, but they are sweating her in New York. I suspect she, Jared and their Covid kids will soon hightail it to Israel.

  134. 134.

    Immanentize

    CBS confirms: Ivanka subpoenaed for civil and criminal NY probes. Key to note many foreign money cases begin with fraud on taxes, a loan application, etc. If money is illicit, it requires layers of lies to hide its origin. Manafort case worked this way. https://t.co/IuuFenZ5nO— Robert J. DeNault (@robertjdenault) November 21, 2020

  136. 136.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    We once had a United flight to Europe that was unnecessarily unpleasant. Things like they ran out of food. I don’t mean they ran out of selections. They ran out of actual food on this overnight, 9 hour flight. There were multiple other things too that I’ve wiped from my mind. We never fly United if we can help it.

  138. 138.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    I had a dream I had insomnia.  I couldn’t awake up.  -Steven Wright

    I had a dream the other night my boss told me I had Covid.  Yikes.  I feel bad for people who dont remember their dreams.

  139. 139.

    Sab

    @germy: Its mere existence is amazing. It is a big room hidden inside in the middle of a big house not unlike the money pit my parents had that I sold to the neighbor who flattened it. (And that house was not big enough to have a hidden room.)

    Big room full of antique furniture and interesting nicknacks and antique mechanical inventions. And lots of art in various media. But nothing alive. No pets wandering through. Also too tall bookshelves.

    Trite when you think about it.

  141. 141.

    germy

    “I hate dreaming because I just want to sleep. I’m fast asleep, and next thing you know, I have to build a go-cart with my ex-landlord.”  (Mitch Hedberg)

  145. 145.

    Sab

    My Catholic husband is talking to his brother about my religious background (high church Episcopalian.) Kind of hilarious. Husband calling to me for verification. Yes we girls had to where hats to church. Yes we wore kleenex if we forgot our hat.

    Of course my husband thinks the founding principle of Anglicanism was divorce, not avoiding of political imterference by foreign princes, kings and emperors in one’s own country’s religious life.

  150. 150.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Untied Airlines and American Airlines: one’s inept and the other is crooked on alternating days of the week.

    Delta is the only major US carrier worth considering, in my experience. I recently had to travel by air. Delta is doing OK with the seating and they are aggressive with mask requirements.

  152. 152.

    MomSense

    Paging Subaru Diane.
    I think we need a 12 days of Christmas except change it for 12 days of treason and use the batshit crazy rantings of Rudy. So far I’ve got 2 Venezuelans and a George Soros Conspiracy.
    maybe we could start with 12 My cousin Vinny

  153. 153.

    Matt McIrvin

    @JMG: I flew Virgin Atlantic economy between Boston and London in January as one leg of a trip to Singapore. It was terrifying claustrophobic hell; they had the seats jammed so close together it was really psychologically disturbing, like being jammed in a slot to the point of partial immobilization for several hours. If they’d just left two or three more inches it would have been much better.

    (The other leg was Singapore Airlines on an A380–that was actually quite good. But I don’t think they’re gonna be flying those any more.)

  155. 155.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Scout211: On our satellite service we get, I think unlimited streaming from something like 1AM to 4 AM. My wife uses it for certain things but I never have. She is unable to work from home because while data transmission is fast, voice communication has a 30 second lag.

  160. 160.

    Geminid

    @topclimber: Glad you checked out the Pollin article, in the 2019 March issue of  The Journal of the Atomic Scientists. (were I not a fat fingered digital dinosaur, I could give a more convenient link for others). In spring 2019 The Journal also had a good article by British climate scientist Myles Allen that is also worth checking out, especially for his appraisal of value of negative CO2 emission technologies. Allen served on one of the U.N.’s IPCC working groups that contributed to its call for achieving net-zero emissions worldwide by 2050.

  161. 161.

    John S.

    @JMG: Same for me. Delta isn’t perfect, but they have earned my loyalty over the years and lots of miles flown. American and United are fucking awful.

  165. 165.

    SFAW

    @Immanentize:

    the (pumpkin) spice of life

    Ack!

    Mrs. SFAW loves that shit. I, on the other hand, have a more refined palate, preferring my McD’s fries without pumpkin spice TYVM.

  167. 167.

    O. Felix Culpa

    The disparity in internet access affects poor schoolchildren. We now have setups where kids without at-home internet sit in parking lots of local businesses during specified hours so they can access broadband to do their schoolwork. I am not willing to punish these children just because some (many?) have benighted parents. Building out rural infrastructure is essential and I’m glad it’s a Biden administration priority.

  168. 168.

    artem1s

    @germy:

      It should be a public utility.

    I agree with you. But there are those who live in areas that have been working on broadband access for decades now and they don’t realize this isn’t the norm for everyone.  I think what NE OH has been doing should be happening more everywhere. I see the benefit and I don’t object to bringing broadband to rural areas.  But I know some people who benefit from open access will think just like the commenter above because their privilege is invisible to them.  I think Joe is smart enough to know that selling the idea of rural coverage will also mean inner city coverage as well (maybe more). the GOPers will scream about it but it doesn’t mean you don’t provide it just because they can’t stand it benefiting poor black kids too. My point is, the usual GOP state and local ratfuckery has left a lot of communities, rural and urban, stuck depending on the  “invisible hand” to decide whether they deserve access to a vital service.  And it’s happened largely because some Puritan idiot with power has decided ‘those people’ won’t use it in the right way so we’re going to save them from it for their own good.  But what they really mean is they believe the right communities deserve good services because they are rich.  Some communities have resisted reserving broadband for only the rich.  They should be emulated.  The state and local legislatures that have monopolized what should be a public utility are going to resist and they will use their typical fall back position of “more for BIPOCs means less for whites”.  So once again, the poorer communities, white and black, end up waiting.  And those who live in areas with good coverage don’t care because their communities invested in the infrastructure a decade ago and the cost is invisible to them now.  Austerity for thee but not for me!

  171. 171.

    WaterGirl

    @Immanentize: Imagine the risk if Trump and his minions could see the email messages, and therefore the planning that Biden is doing.

    They would know in advance and do everything they could to destroy anything before it could make it off the ground.

    This little email stunt from Trump is, I think, is a blessing.

  172. 172.

    Matt McIrvin

    On balance I have actually had OK experiences on United over the years, but every single American Airlines flight I’ve been on has been badly fucked up in some way, like I was in the hands of an organization in chaos. When they merged with US Airways I was astonished that the merged airline chose to call itself American rather than US Airways; it was like voluntarily naming yourself Shit Airlines.

    These days (well, for some value of “these days”–it’s been a while) I fly Southwest most of the time, and the actual flights are fine, a combination of OK service and really competitive fares. I’ve had some gnarly situations at airports, which are not entirely Southwest’s fault.

  174. 174.

    Sab

    @John S.: Don’t fly much, but my one trip with them was really good.

    They stomped me severely forty years ago when I applied for an administrative job. I thought I had had a good interview, and they sent me a scolding letter about how rude it was that I did not not show up for an interview.

    None of us were in the airplane flying side of the organization

    ETA Delta this was

  175. 175.

    different-church-lady

    @germy: I constantly have hidden room dreams about my first adult apartment — a place I left 18 years ago. I’m back, all my stuff is there, and I discover an entire set of rooms I didn’t know about when I left.

    This dream has an additional layer: it’s the first time I’ve been back to this apartment in many months or years, all my stuff has been there the whole time, I haven’t paid the rent in all that time and also own a house somewhere, but I can’t remember exactly where, so I have no idea how I’m going to manage all this housing money I owe…

  177. 177.

    2liberal

    @ozarkhilbilly  if they have wacky tobaccy in your state you might try this:

    wilwheaton.net/2019/11/following-the-footsteps-of-a-ragdoll-dance/

  179. 179.

    NotMax

    @JMG

    Flew Virgin Atlantic – once – from Maui to NY (and back). Zero displeasures about it. Alas, they’ve since pulled out of providing service to or from Maui.

  180. 180.

    WaterGirl

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: When we hate on red states, we are also hating on some very Dems that live in red states.  So that bugs me in the same way that it pisses me off when people want to group all boomers together, or all of any other group together.

    Except Republicans, anyone who is still a republican has chosen their group and they don’t give a shit about anyone else.

  181. 181.

    germy

    @different-church-lady:

    Yes!  The extra house dream.  I had that one a few times.  Anxiety because I forgot where it is, I’m worried about the taxes, and maybe the plumbing is going.

    Usually, the hidden room is in the house I grew up in.  But lately, I’ve been having the “I just bought this old house and keep finding new parts I didn’t know about” dream.  The doors are not secure, so anyone can get in. The doors don’t even fit in the doorway, and I start worrying about intruders or stray animals.

  183. 183.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @germy:

    She still smokes. To me, that’s the real nightmare.

    It is. After 20 years of trying to quit, I thank dawg for the gift of chantix because without it I would probably still be smoking. My last year and a half I was smoking 4 cigs a day. After 2 months on the chantix I was still smoking 4 cigs a day. Fear of not making it is what finally got me over the hump, but Chantix is what got me up there..

  185. 185.

    germy

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    What I find unsettling is the TV commercial I keep seeing; narrator is a woman speaking in a quiet, spooky voice:  “So you quit smoking, and thought ‘that’s that…’   It’s a commercial for lung scans, and the visual is a pair of lungs made of wooden matches that catch fire.

    It worries me because I quit smoking years ago and said “that’s that…”

  190. 190.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @germy: I was talking with somebody the other day about the possible condition of my lungs. I smoked for 36 yrs, was a carpenter for 35 years during which I breathed endless amounts of sawdust, gypsum dust, concrete dust and more than a little asbestos. Is it any wonder I ended up with COPD? And who knows what else I might come down with before I die?

  193. 193.

    There go two miscreants

    @OzarkHillbilly: Did you ever try mustard for the charley horses? Not rubbing it on, eating some. My father used to get pretty severe leg cramps, and he found that three or four spoons of plain yellow mustard made them go away pretty quickly. I have the same problem and it works for me. I keep some and a spoon near the bed. Sounds crazy but it seems to work.

  194. 194.

    germy

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Best not to dwell on it.  I quit smoking in 1989, but continued with wacky weed, smoking that heavily.  I quit that in 2009.

    When I go, I hope it’s peacefully in my sleep.  And if that happens, then to hell with the passengers of the bus I’m driving.

  195. 195.

    Geminid

    @germy: My anxiety dreams almost always reflect my worries about my automotive insecurity, having spent many years struggling with shaky vehicles. In the dream I’ll park my car in a strange community, and go looking for someone that I can’t find. Then I’ll realize that I’m lost, and can’t find my way back to my car. When I finally see it in the distance, the car is sliding into a river, or falling into a sinkhole, and I say, “Oh no, I’ve lost my car again!…Again!?” That’s when I realize it’s that recurring dream.

  198. 198.

    germy

    @Geminid:

    Interesting.  I have reoccurring anxiety dreams about cars.  I’m trying to drive up hill, and the car simply doesn’t have enough power to make it up.  I keep stepping on the gas, but the car slowly rolls backwards.  And I’m always losing my car in an outrageously large dream parking lot, or in a strange dream neighborhood.

    I drove shitty cars for most of my life, so I understand the source of those dreams.

  199. 199.

    Mary G

    @Immanentize: I figured that outraged tweet about Democratic political persecution she put out the other day meant something had hit a nerve. She’ll be screaming “HOAX! WITCH HUNT” before long.

  201. 201.

    JML

    @John S.:

    I just listened to the Armageddon Update (Christopher Titus podcast) and boy are they not fans of Delta any longer!

    I haven’t flown in a while since my conference this spring got canceled because of the pandemic, my conference this fall got canceled (technically put online, but…not the same)) because of the pandemic, etc. But my impression is that the airline models are broken and they’re desperately cutting corners and trying to layer in fees to keep the stock prices up, C-suite bonuses rolling, etc.

  204. 204.

    Miss Bianca

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE. I live in one of these rural communities you are so contemptuously dumping on, and I work with our local economic development council, and the ONLY DAMN THING that is going to keep the Q-Anon crazies from taking over our public life is reliable broadband that brings in and KEEPS in young working families and liberal types who move here without a trust fund. To say nothing of being able to keep our kids in school.

    At this point, I’m starting to wonder whether the economic bankruptcy you so eloquently fear and bemoan here would be just recompense for your apparent moral bankruptcy. Join the hoi polloi, boy – maybe it will give you some fucking humility.

  206. 206.

    debbie

    Jeez, I’m so dull I just have dreams about things that have been worrying me. That, and running downhill at 100 mph.

  207. 207.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Sab: Reading the Bible doesn’t help. It is complicated.

    And full of errors. God sure has a crazy sense of humor cause his inerrant word sure does confuse a lot of people. I guess that’s the way he wants it tho.

  208. 208.

    Kristine

    @Scout211: Progressive friends in upstate NY need to use their phones as hotspots because local monopoly would charge $$$$$$ to provide service.

    I think broadband should be a standard utility.

  209. 209.

    piratedan

    Rural Broadband isn’t about the right now, its about all those kids and younguns out there being brought into the future when it gets there.

    Shit, run it out of the Post Office (might as well, if we’re also going to make them mini-banks) and if nothing else tap it into library networks and the like, if you want more, its there… but make information and knowledge available to those who need it/want it.

    Why are these folks lost to the Dems because certain entities play to their fears and have seized the narrative, something like this allows those who are still open to it, a chance to know otherwise.

  210. 210.

    Gvg

    @OzarkHillbilly: thank you for sharing. It was lighthearted entertainment for me. You are a smart guy.

    i never seem to remember if I have any dreams. It sort of bothers me because other people do. I know I do dream, because sometimes when I wake up, I can remember a little for a few minutes, but it fade quickly.

  211. 211.

    Geminid

    @Miss Bianca: John Clyburn is right to push rural broadband. Clyburn grew up in segregated South Carolina, and as an adult joined the struggle for civil rights that is still ongoing. One of the many things he learned is that vindictiveness stands in the way of progress.

  212. 212.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Once lost our nice seats due to a Tokyo snowstorm. Ended up completely rerouting – Dragon Air economy from Hanoi to Hong Kong (Asian configuration seating), and economy again from Hong Kong to Dallas next to the aft head.

    That was a long travel day after sleeping in the lounge in Hanoi.

  213. 213.

    Matt McIrvin

    @germy: When I was a teenager, people kept telling me I looked like Ricky Schroder. It was a dig–they were saying I looked like a little kid. But I remember occasionally wishing the resemblance had held as we got older, ’cause that guy ended up way, way better-looking than me. The celebrities I got compared to kept sliding downhill, from Ricky Schroder to Gary Busey and then Larry Bird and then… Chris Elliott, and I think someone recently thought I looked like former DNI James Clapper. All these increasingly hideous guys.

    Anyway, I guess I can stop wishing now.

  214. 214.

    Salty Sam

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:Counter opinion – Rural broadband is a waste of time, money and political effort. The recipients won’t appreciate it, and will simply use it as an excuse to not move away from moribund economies while simultaneously engaging in broader spread of psychotic conspiracies, racism, and hatred.

    What a load of elitist garbage.  I would have paid good money for broadband access when I lived in rural Texas, but it was not available AT ANY PRICE because the cable companies had determined that there weren’t enough subscribers on our road for it to be profitable to them to run their cable (the nearest road, across the creek, had more homes on it, and enjoyed cable broadband).

    I am not denying the recipients you describe exist- hell, I lived amongst them for most of my adult life.  But they aren’t the only people out there.  Next time you might make your argument using a slightly narrower brush, you arrogant pontificating twatwaffle.

    ETA-  just realized how much your comment mirrors what AL mentions about what the Very Serious Pundits of the 1920’s said about bringing rural electrification to people of Appalachia…

  215. 215.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @piratedan:

    Those folks have been lost to progressive causes for the 80 year period since FDR electrified their homes and wrecked watersheds via the TVA…..

  216. 216.

    Starfish

    @Miss Bianca: Your reply was way more passionate than mine was here.

    On the plus side, rural broadband would let remote school happen. It would let remote tech workers live anywhere and revive some communities.

    On the minus side, everyone’s craziest will be on Facebook looking for pedophiles in pizza shop basements if the online platforms do not get their crap together.

  222. 222.

    Scout211

    @Kristine:

    Agree.  We pay for more data on our wireless plan than we need most months.  But when our internet went down due to our guy who provides our internet being sick in the hospital and unable to climb the tower to fix it, we had to use our phones for hotspots. Bills need to be paid, etc.

    But even using our wireless data plan is not ideal.  We had new neighbors move into a nearby property and were shocked that they had no cell service from their house.  They had to walk 1/4 mile to our property and make calls and use their data plan. They had to switch to another wireless service to be able to use their phones.  Even cell service is spotty in rural areas.  And many people who live in the higher elevations don’t have any cell service at their home locations.  They have to have landlines, which are not upgraded or updated by AT&T anymore.  So often, they need to drive miles to be able to make a call after a storm.

    We love living out here on our 5 acres, but it is almost like living in the dark ages of dial-up.  Most people don’t get that.

    As I said upthread, we live exactly one mile from a small housing development but no wired services will string their wires that one mile due the expense vs. profits.  This broadband plan will (hopefully) fund that cost for the providers.

  223. 223.

    Matt McIrvin

    @JML: The whole airline industry is reeling right now, trying to figure out how to stay viable and what kind of world is going to exist on the other side of this. It will probably be significantly smaller. I think leisure travel is going to bounce back but a lot of wasteful business travel is just going away forever, now that companies have realized they can operate without it. And that was the bread-and-butter of a lot of these airlines because those were the customers who paid full fare.

  231. 231.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Leisure travel is fucked until 2022, because you need routes and capacity, and a large amount of aggregated skill an knowledge among vendors, hoteliers, restauranteurs and the like is evaporating.

    Maybe we can all learn to code and write apps for each other. Got to do everything possible to save ignorant old white folks from suffering the consequences of their stupid ducking choices, even at the cost to the young and the dreamers who were good at their tasks.

  232. 232.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Starfish:

    My grandparents were central Kentucky trailer trash, and many of my cousins still live that life. My mother wholly embodies every one of those values I despise so well.

  233. 233.

    scav

    There’s also the issue of in a pandemic, forgetting the sheer amount of shopping that is now done for safety reasons over the internet.  Strip a solid proportion of that from poorly served areas, leave ’em to drive miles and expose themselves even if they would rather not. (This over and above the longstanding issue of the interwebs being the only source of certain items for rural areas.) Rather an extra heartless bonus that.

  234. 234.

    Michael Cain

    @Kristine:

    I think broadband should be a standard utility.

    I was deeply involved in broadband when the fundamental regulatory decisions were made.  At the time, there were excellent reasons to not make it a utility (more precisely, a common carrier).  Most of those reasons still exist.  For 25+ years, Congress has refused to get off its ass and do the necessary restructuring.  We may have reached the point where it would be too expensive (in terms of which companies are suddenly bankrupt).

    Many billions of dollars have been poured into subsidies for rural broadband.  The people doing it seem unable to realize just how expensive hybrid fiber-coax or hybrid fiber-twisted pair capable of supporting broadband are over those distances.

  237. 237.

    Gvg

    @Michael Cain: then how come other countries have it? There are ways if we try. Expensive things can become cheaper, compromises can be made. We know it can be done, because it already has been done.

  238. 238.

    Fair Economist

    @germy: I can’t remember any specifics, but I think I have hidden room dreams. I know I have dreams where I find places where they don’t actually exist.

    When I was young I had sleep paralysis almost every morning I woke up spontaneously. Nasty. Now almost never.

  241. 241.

    J R in WV

    @Scout211:

    Counter-counter opinion:  Hey, hey, hey. Even a good portion of jackals on this site are rural and would love to be able to watch a show on Netflix or Hulu or any other streaming service.

    That’s what rural broadband is for, right? I wouldn’t know, since I am rural and I have very slow, very unstable Internet.  ?

    We have a sat dish up on the ridge — outside the neighbor’s house, where neighbor hosts a network center, they ran an ethernet cable down the hill in a 1.25 inch water line for conduit.

    But the sat link is not very satisfactory, as weather causes major slowdowns, and in evenings we can’t get the news channels with any satisfaction.Not to dismiss it, text access to Blogs and articles is usually fine outside stormy weather.

    A real fiber connection with real hi-speed access would be a huge improvement. Like actually watching things I see discussed here on B-J!

  245. 245.

    Michael Cain

    @Gvg: Didn’t say it can’t be done, just said that doing so would take a major effort.  Fundamentally, Congress has to create a new category of service with some, but not all, of the common carrier requirements.  The FCC set out to do this by rule under Obama.  They were going to be tied up in court for at least a decade, because it involved selective enforcement of the laws, and Trump’s new guy at the FCC reversed it promptly.

    The US also doesn’t have single-payer health insurance (or a regulated medical finance system that is effectively single-payer), even though the rest of the developed world does.

  246. 246.

    AliceBlue

    One night about a week ago, I dreamed Mitch McConnell died. Then last night I dreamed I was in a literal knock-down, drag-out fight with Melania. I won, of course.

  247. 247.

    CaseyL

    Earmarks is definitely how the post-WWII legislative process was designed to work – mutual backscratching – and ending it was catastrophic.

    I can’t help wondering if the catastrophe was intended (by AEC, Heritage and Federalist lobbyists) because once the earmarks were gone, Congresscritters had nothing concrete to show their constituencies, no record of local accomplishments to tout…. thereby becoming more depending on advertising and Big Money contributors to pay for it.

  249. 249.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Michael Cain: I don’t think anyone has even implied that it wouldn’t require a major effort.  But wouldn’t that major effort involve new jobs?  The process as well as the end result would have benefits.

  251. 251.

    J R in WV

    @germy:

    And I’m always losing my car in an outrageously large dream parking lot, or in a strange dream neighborhood.

    We once took a mid-winter trip, forget now if it was one to HI or the SW. We flew into CRW on the last flight of the night, it was snowing hard, my coat wasn’t the heaviest, there was construction going on at the airport, so the parking garage was closed for that work.

    Parking was a huge flat area with nearly no lighting, all the cars were covered with snow. I did not remember where we parked on the way out of town.

    Was NOT a dream, just a nightmare!!! Spent forever wandering looking for a white VW in the hard snow.

    Have also flown in late at night to find my battery dead. Had a jump charger in the trunk, that worked.

  252. 252.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    I only want rural broadband as a bargaining chip – give us urban-area funding, and the goobers that vote for Moscow Mitch get broadband and farm subsidies. Keep denying funds to “Democrat cities” and we zero out the farm subsidies and no internet for you. Quite frankly I think Biden should propose stopping farm subsidy payments to scare those assholes into realizing we can inflict pain on their voters too.

  254. 254.

    Ruckus

    @JMG:

    When I worked in pro sports I had to travel extensively around the country, about 7 months a year. A Hertz counter person told me once I was in the top 5% of users of their service, because I rented so often. Anyway… I had to travel on a lot of different airlines and at the end of the day, they all suck. But you are correct, some suck a lot worse. And the model of air travel in this country is that we can provide air travel to most anywhere. And they do. But that means they have to have mostly full planes to make any money. And planes only last so long because they get used as much as possible. And right now their business model doesn’t work at all. We may go back to seeing what limited air travel really looks like once again.

  256. 256.

    Geminid

    @Ruckus: I live near the flight path for a regional airport, and the passenger flights I used to see twice an hour are down to a few a day. Business air travel will never be what it was, because managers see that much of it is unnecessary and a source of avoidable stress.

    Brick and mortar corporate  offices will also decline, a customer tells me. He is at the end of a career advising large businesses on “corporate transformation,” and still keeps current on management trends. He says managers are discovering that many of the meetings they would have when all employees were aggregated in the same buildings were actually unneccesary, and distracted people from the essential work.

  259. 259.

    ballerat

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: My thought too.

    And not just porn, they’ll just get faster access to their rightwing qanon conspiracy crap and aggrieved racist FB pages.

    They don’t want high speed broadband. They don’t use it. They’re not knowledge workers, they’re not people who do teleconferencing for their jobs nor do they give a shit about distance learning.

    They will not thank Biden or dems for it. It will not earn Biden or any dem a single vote.

    In fact they’ll bitch that their tax money went to the not-white unworthies who are now getting free stuff for nothing on their dime.

    And it will be yet another subsidy of the red and rural by the cities and blue states.

    I am totally uninterested in this. I am so fucking tired of subsidizing people who refuse to accept we’re legit americans.

  260. 260.

    ballerat

    @Miss Bianca:

    the ONLY DAMN THING that is going to keep the Q-Anon crazies from taking over our public life is reliable broadband that brings in and KEEPS in young working families and liberal types who move here without a trust fund

    My wife and I are educated liberal types with kids and we work in the STEM fields. We moved to the Western Slope in Colorado before covid, and the only thing that made it possible was 1) we can work remote and 2) we could get broadband. Sort of. Good enough for what we need it for.

    But we’re wondering if we made a good choice.

    I’ve got a few things to say regarding red rural communities. First, they wanted Q, then let it eat them and their communities alive.

    Case in point: Lauren Boebert.

    Second, we learned most people here do not want anything better than mediocre schools. I say that because if the majority did, they’d fund them. Just not a priority. Ditto apparently for science and facts and other not very useful stuff. We had no idea. Now we do.

    This election pretty much convinced me that rural red america is on a down-bound train, and it is because red rural americans insist on being there. And just like you can’t steer a train they can’t be dissuaded. They embrace the crazy, the stupid and the fail. There is no good outcome for people who insist reality comports to their will.

    Let them crash and burn. They didn’t logic and reason themselves into where they are now, and logic and reason won’t get them out.

    I do appreciate your efforts with your school board. Good on you. We had been very active in our kids’ schools and our community before we came here. We aren’t very interested now.

    Why stay here, in red rural america? They’ve embraced downwardly mobile. We don’t want to be on that failtrain.

    We don’t have to live here. We’ve no family here, no jobs here, we rent and we can go anywhere.

    Covid and the election really alienated us from this community. We need to reevaluate why we moved here. It’s a beautiful physical environment here but our children’s future needs more than that.

    After 4 years of seeing exactly what Trump was and 200,000 people dead from covid, the election offered a stark choice. And still a large majority here demanded more of the same. It became clear that this area is not going to change anytime soon.

    If you have hopes educated liberal young families will move to such places in enough numbers so as to change these dynamics, I think you will be disappointed. It seems to me red rural communities have become a lot less likely to attract such people. And I see it continuing to be even less so.

    And remind yourself this: most people in those red rural communities want it that way. They’ve made it clear they don’t like people like us. They don’t consider us to be legitimate americans.

    It’s going to take way more than just installing broadband to change that.

Comments are closed.