Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Republicans in disarray!

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Consistently wrong since 2002

White supremacy is terrorism.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

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

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

The willow is too close to the house.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Carrying the The Idiot Ball

Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Carrying the The Idiot Ball

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From the genius responsible for both Leverage and the Crazification Factor:

This term was coined, I heard, by actor Hank Azaria, who was complaining about a show he was on and asked “who’s carrying the idiot ball this week?” The modern conservative intellectual movement is now reduced to passing around the idiot ball.

Dr. Seuss is this week’s idiot ball, and in order to be part of the show, you have to carry it. You have to make bad faith or stupid arguments to be part of the show. The difference is, now, *everybody* has to pass the idiot ball around, all episode.

Freedom Fries. Antifa. Dr. Seuss. Millions of missing ballots. Neanderthals. Ordinarily smart people have to pretend to be earnestly dumb and make idiotic arguments about each of these, or be tossed from the show.

Ross absolutely knows that this was a decision by the rights holder to pull books with illustrations which are racist by even lax standards. This is their right, and is actually just smart capitalism. But he has to carry the Idiot Ball.

So now, you have the shorthand. Whenever you hear some ridiculous fake scandal or outrage, you can just chalk it up to “Oh, it’s this week’s Idiot Ball” and it says everything you need to know about both the subject, and the person carrying it.

But remember, the ball’s just the ball. The person carrying it’s the idiot.

So… who’s carrying the Idiot Ball, today? Or battling for possession of same?

Reader Interactions

179Comments

  3. 3.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    maybe I haven’t read enough of his columns to make a fair judgment, but base on the half dozen or so I have tried to make my way through, Douthat is among other things a pretty bad writer

    does he know he’s an affirmative action hire?

  5. 5.

    zhena gogolia

    I saw that headline and my eyes just bounced off it. I haven’t read a word he’s written for many years, but man.

    (written from my house stuffed with books)

  6. 6.

    dr. bloor

    Hah.  I saw the Idiot Ball thread when it popped up, but I hadn’t connected him to the Crazification Factor.

    I want to be John Rogers when I grow up.

  9. 9.

    JMG

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: He is not a very good writer on his best days, but he has approximately 95 percent less malicious bad faith as the average conservative op-ed guy, which makes him the best of the lot.

  11. 11.

    Roger Moore

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    does he know he’s an affirmative action hire?

    No, he does not.  No conservative will ever admit to themself that they got where they are because of who they are rather than because of their own hard work.  That’s something that only happens to Those People.

  12. 12.

    zhena gogolia

    @Steeplejack:

    Yes, I forgot to post that. I’m so glad to see he’s still so funny in the post-Trump era.

    I worry that JL Cauvin (though still funny) has not really found a good path forward. Mitch McConnell rap battles are not everyone’s cup of tea.

  18. 18.

    zhena gogolia

    By the way, Kay showed up last night! I hope she starts appearing more frequently.

  19. 19.

    Salty Sam

    OT? I got my first Covid vaccine shot today! Here on a tiny out-island in PR- they had shots yesterday for pre-registered native residents, and released the leftovers today. In and out in an hour, registration, shot, observation. Next one (Moderna) scheduled for 28 days!

    I’m more excited about this than I thought I would be!

  20. 20.

    dmsilev

    Here’s some fun schadenfreude. Marc Thiessen thought that Joe Manchin was his buddy, his bosom bipartisan pal. They’ve had a falling out.

    Manchin promised to back his ‘Republican friends.’ Instead, he betrayed them.

    On Feb. 2, after 10 Senate Republicans went to the White House and offered President Biden a path to a bipartisan filibuster-proof covid relief bill, Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) publicly backed their effort. Speaking to Fox News’s Bret Baier, Manchin declared: “I have made it very clear . . . we’re going to make this work in a bipartisan way. My friends on the other side are going to have input. And we’re going to do something that we agree on. I’m not just going to do it just down the lines of, just saying party-line vote.” He further told MSNBC, “If [Democrats] think that they’re going to . . . just shove it down people’s throats, that’s not going to happen.”
    Well, that is precisely what happened. Biden rebuffed an offer from Republicans to negotiate a compromise bill, and Senate Democrats jammed his $1.9 trillion spending plan down people’s throats on a party-line vote, using the budget reconciliation process that requires only a simple majority to pass. And Manchin provided the deciding vote that let them do it.

    (Republicans, especially the social-conservative pundit types, sure are big on that “jammed it down people’s throats” thing. )

    Already, Manchin is signaling that he will do the same on Biden’s next big priority — a $2 trillion to $4 trillion climate and infrastructure spending bill. Once again, he is talking tough for his constituents back home. “I’m not going to do it through reconciliation,” as with the covid spending bill, Manchin told Axios’s Mike Allen. “I am not going to get on a bill that cuts [Republicans] out completely before we start” (emphasis added). The message to the White House is clear: Make a pretense of actually negotiating this time, but in the end I’ll be with you.

    Anyway, if Joe Manchin can get worthless jackasses like Thiessen so upset, maybe we should be a bit more appreciative of him.

  28. 28.

    Baud

    @dmsilev:

    maybe we should be a bit more appreciative of him.

    Manchin’s grandstanding for minor changes was annoying was fuck, but a Democratic Senator from West Virginia is definitely something worth appreciating.

    I’m liking his noises about filibuster reform.

  34. 34.

    Jeffro

    @dmsilev: I posted about this in the previous thread a bit ago…that’ll teach me not to keep up!  ;)

    Yes, Thiessen…too bad, so sad (the fucking hack)

  36. 36.

    dr. bloor

    @Jeffro: It arguably should be named the “Thiessen Ball,” or for our football-loving friends perhaps “The Idiot Ball Presented by Marc Thiessen.”

  39. 39.

    dmsilev

    So some of my minions had scheduled vaccine appointments cancelled because, and I swear I am not making this up, a bunch of soap opera production staffers and other Hollywood types tried to jump the line in such numbers that the city had to cancel the whole drive-through event.

    People who are legitimately eligible are being rescheduled for next week, so not the end of the world, but still a major annoyance. Basic problem is that the state’s reservation system doesn’t allow limiting based on ZIP code or anything else, so all you need is one person to forward an email with a link to a ‘limited’ appointment and the opportunity will, shall we say, go viral. Follow up phone calls to screen works in small numbers, but doesn’t scale.

  40. 40.

    germy

    In Syracuse today, @SenSchumer indicates federal government is aiming to take over the vaccination process.

    “…They will remove all these requirements and people can just line up and get the vaccines.”

    I have Sen’s full quote below and will have more on this on @News_8 at 5 pic.twitter.com/j346jUrWSj

    — Jack Watson (@JackWatsonTV) March 9, 2021

    Clarification from @SenSchumer's office: To clarify, the federal government is not taking over vaccine distribution; The substantial federal assistance in the American Rescue Plan will ensure that vaccine distribution is a complementary local, state and federal effort. https://t.co/tuKcxqWbR8

    — Adam Chodak (@AdamChodak) March 9, 2021

  42. 42.

    dmsilev

    @Baud: Thiessen was whining about that as well.

    I hope (but doubt) that he reads the WaPo comments to his columns. The commentariat there is every bit as hostile to him as we are, though because of the moderators they’re not quite as vulgar sadly.

  43. 43.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @dmsilev:

    The message to the White House is clear: Make a pretense of actually negotiating this time, but in the end I’ll be with you.

    I mean, isn’t that what he already did by listening to that laughable $600 billion dollar proposal by a few “moderate” GOP Sens? Murkowski even got her (pretty good) amendment added to the package and she still voted against the ARA

  45. 45.

    PJ

    @Baud: ​
    If you look around the comments section and can’t tell who the idiot ball is, you’re it.

    ETA: Cheryl got there first, and more pithily.

  50. 50.

    Ken

    @WaterGirl: Dare I hope that once in a while, Jennifer Psaki will ask a reporter “Have you read John Rogers’ comments on TV writing?”

  52. 52.

    Uncle Cosmo

    Can we lash Theissen, Douchehat and a half-dozen other RWNJ “poundits” to a sled & send them to Alaska to run the Idiotarod? With any luck they’d be found board-stiff in a snowbank next spring.

  53. 53.

    Roger Moore

    @zhena gogolia:

    For me it’s not so much happiness as relief.  I don’t feel exactly relaxed about COVID, but I’m not nearly as stressed out about it as I did.  I can go to the store or take the train to work and not tense up if someone isn’t wearing their mask right.  It’s not just the light at the end of the tunnel, but actually seeing enough of the tunnel to know how far away the exit is.

  54. 54.

    Patricia Kayden

    Crucial from new Pew poll:57% say Biden made good faith effort to work with GOP55% say Rs did *not* make good faith effort with Biden.This suggests voters are rejecting the Official Narrative that not winning GOP support is inherently a failure:https://t.co/VDmy3KVAT1— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) March 9, 2021

  56. 56.

    germy

    I don’t say, of course, that no one will be helped by getting a $1,400 check. But the same can be said of almost any policy you can imagine, including leaving fully loaded Lamborghinis at randomly selected intersections with the doors unlocked and the keys inside. Giving away sports cars would still be a poor use of government funds; it would cost far more than any conceivable benefit to the car recipients, and the help most likely wouldn’t go to those who need it most.

    (Megan McArdle)
    THE McARDLING CONTINUES.

  60. 60.

    Ken

    @germy: Does McArdle have any opinions on spending a few hundred million renting golf carts for the Secret Service?

  64. 64.

    rikyrah

    ???

    So Larry Hogan hired Trump's shitty CDC director and now all of a sudden Maryland is opening back up. There is zero reason to do this now while it is still Hunger Games trying to get a vaccine appointment. Disgraceful. https://t.co/2VahFNHH4a— BlackWomenViews Media (@blackwomenviews) March 9, 2021

  65. 65.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Also, from the replies in that thread:

    Terry Bouton
    @TerryBoutonHist

    Replying to

    @ThePlumLineGS

    Given that every poll about Biden or the Democrats or policy proposals stands at about 56% and has been at that mark for months, isn’t the real story more about the stabilization of a new political coalition? This kind of consistency is what political realignment looks like.

    4:31 PM · Mar 9, 2021·Twitter Web App

  66. 66.

    West of the Rockies

    A hackey-sack of idiocy  then, this idiot ball, only instead of an actual hackey-sack, it’s  a big, sticky turd.

  70. 70.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @rikyrah:

    It’s not just Republicans unfortunately. I read that Connecticut is also lifting some restrictions. I think it’s far too soon.

    Here’s what the state’s governor said:

    “I think Connecticut has earned it,” Lamont said of the reopening plans, which he announced nearly a year after he first announced coronavirus closures in March 2020.

    The governor noted that it appears the vaccine is working to keep the numbers lower and make it safer to reopen. He also pointed out that the variances are still a risk factor that they are watching as they make the decision to reopen.

  71. 71.

    dmsilev

    I want every child to know that this is what vice presidents and generals in the United States Armed Forces look like. pic.twitter.com/y2OFL1z29r— President Biden (@POTUS) March 9, 2021

    (Click through for the photo. The generals are the two who had their promotions delayed last fall because of fears that T**** would screw them over pretty much out of spite)

  74. 74.

    Jeffro

    @Uncle Cosmo: we need to get some sort of an online leaderboard going, so that irritated libs can vent and bust on these guys, which would move them up and down in the Idiot Ball rankings on a daily/hourly basis.

    Wait…no…that’s what they want, the subs.  Never mind.

  75. 75.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I had this Dr Seuss discussion at my book club this afternoon. I was on the opposite side from most of the elderly, outraged ladies. When I said it was the copyright owners making the choice, they protested that “someone” must be pressuring them. I’m afraid that at that point I said, “Bullshit.”

  76. 76.

    germy

    Vaccinations are up.

    Infections are down.

    $1400 survival checks are on the way.

    Dems don’t just talk about it.

    We are about it.

    — Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) March 9, 2021

  77. 77.

    Jeffro

    @Patricia Kayden: it’s almost like…in the aftermath of the trumpov maladministration…we’re no longer a 50-50 country anymore.

    look into THAT why don’t you, snooze media?  55-57% ain’t huge until you look at how closely this country has been divided for the past couple of decades.

    And that’s even before you get into how many more folks OUR Senators represent than THEIR Senators, etc etc etc

  78. 78.

    germy

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:  When I said it was the copyright owners making the choice, they protested that “someone” must be pressuring them.

    Biden.  Biden made a phone call.

  79. 79.

    Jeffro

    @germy: ok that’s it, she’s going up on the wingnut leaderboard, stat.

    Nowhere near as high as Thiessen and Abernathy, but still.

    Yes, McMegan: ensuring people have food and can pay their rent is JUST LIKE leaving Lambos at intersections, with keys in the ignition.  It’s absolutely just like that.

  80. 80.

    J R in WV

    The comments below Joe Biden’s tweet are amazingly stupid, nasty, ignorant, and incoherent. Oh, wait, Republicans. Not amazing after all, just typical.

    I don’t suggest you read them, same, same as always… “stupid, nasty, ignorant, and incoherent.”

  83. 83.

    Jeffro

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): this is it, this is it, this is IT!

    When you can get those kinds of numbers, that’s how you know you are now the center-center party in American politics.  Too bad, so sad, GQP, thanks for playing!

  85. 85.

    quakerinabasement

    That’s interesting. Now, what’s the term for when a show’s goofiest, most incompetent character suddenly is revealed to be a savant in some unexpected domain of knowledge? Happens a lot on sitcoms that last more than one season.

  86. 86.

    PsiFighter37

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Lamont has been a disappointment. From what I have gathered, even pre-pandemic, he pissed off a lot of stakeholders on various things. Opening things up to full capacity in 2 weeks’ time is just plain stupid. I think he would’ve done a fine job as a senator had he beaten Holy Joe, but as an executive, the fact that he ran a small-time telecommunications company is really starting to show…running a state like Connecticut, which is densely populated and heavily reliant on the 2 urban centers it sits between (NYC, but also Boston for the eastern part of the state), means you need someone who can swing it. I would not be surprised if Republicans figure out to regain a governorship they held for 20+ years before 2010, but the local party has atrophied so much that even fairly unpopular candidates like Dan Malloy and now Lamont have still gotten elected on the strength of pure urban machine GOTV.

  88. 88.

    Ken

    @germy: Biden.  Biden made a phone call.

    Excellent. The magician has them looking at the hand that’s making the sweeping gestures….

  89. 89.

    Mary G

    My favorite John Rogers quote, which he said the other day would probably be engraved on his headstone:

    “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.”

  92. 92.

    germy

    @Jeffro:

    She uses the same logic as people who say “Oh, you want to raise the minimum wage?  Why not make it a hundred dollars an hour, then?  Or two hundred dollars an hour?  Huh?”

  93. 93.

    danielx

    So… who’s carrying the Idiot Ball, today? Or battling for possession of same?

    Too many to count.

  95. 95.

    Brachiator

    @Roger Moore:

    For me it’s not so much happiness as relief. I don’t feel exactly relaxed about COVID, but I’m not nearly as stressed out about it as I did. I can go to the store or take the train to work and not tense up if someone isn’t wearing their mask right.

    I haven’t had the second shot yet, so I still don’t want people breathing on me. But I also feel relief.

  97. 97.

    Jeffro

    @germy: exactly.

    “Where does it end?  WHERE DOES IT END???”

    “Um…it ends around approximately where we suggested, because we PUT IN THE WORK to figure out what a sensible minimum wage should be?  Does that register with you, like, at all?  Isn’t jumping to strange ‘$100/hour!’ paranoia strike you as a way to avoid actually engaging with the argument, and coming to a sensible conclusion?”

    They’re so lost in weird-world Randian Land that they have no idea how things actually work here on Earth.  Which is why I like to tease the Randians…so much low-hanging fruit!

  98. 98.

    Mary G

    @dmsilev: They still haven’t fixed that? A bunch of rich Hollywood and private school donors were passing around the code to get inoculations at the Cal State LA site a couple of weeks ago.

    At least down here both times I went they were very strict about checking ID and proof of eligibility. So they could have turned the interlopers away, but that would’ve caused a riot when there were so many.

  100. 100.

    gwangung

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: 

    Make ’em name names.

    It’s never “someone” who pressures a publisher; it’s a specific organization.

    I know most of the organizations on the Asian side who might do that; none of them ever had it on their agenda.

  103. 103.

    Mo Salad

    My favorite piece of Rogers’ wisdom, even ahead of the 27%:

     

    There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.

  104. 104.

    Catherine D.

    NYS has opened vaccine eligibility to 60+, so I registered with the county board of health. Fingers crossed!

  106. 106.

    Cameron

    Bro spent four years believing that the thing they carried around for him was the “nuclear football.”  Who’s gonna break the news to him?

  107. 107.

    Mary G

    Not guilty, your Honor:

    New info on what happened with @POTUS dog Major, per Secret Service official:Major nipped agent’s hand at WH. Injury was “extremely minor.” No skin puncture. No bleeding. Agent continued their duties, all per official.— Sean Sullivan (@WaPoSean) March 10, 2021

  108. 108.

    germy

    @Jeffro:

    There’s a local blog I read sometimes. The blogger wrote one post about police reform efforts in the city.

    Of course, a dude named “Cato” had to use the comments section to express his displeasure with the reform:

    I read this report. The opening quotations are inappropriate – this is not a black power manifesto.

    When another commenter replied to say his comments sounded bigoted, “Cato” said this:

     I have ancestors in my line from ancient Illyria, who fought against Roman and Caliphate subjugation. Slavery and subjugation are not only African-American issues.

    Somehow, I assume he’s an Ayn Rand fan.

  110. 110.

    Frank McCormick

    Something I’ve been saying for years: if someone hands you a bucket of shit, please, don’t try to pass it on.  Just drop it.

  111. 111.

    PsiFighter37

    @Mary G: Crazy that that could happen. NYC is very strict – if you don’t match the criteria, you cannot get it. I signed up for Dr. B on a flyer, just in case something comes through, but realistically I am not expecting to get the vaccine until it is broadly available, whenever the hell that is. I know Biden is making optimistic noises, but I am so used to governmental ineptitude over the previous 4 years that I will be thrilled if I have it by the end of the summer. Any earlier is gravy.

  112. 112.

    Jeffro

    @germy:Somehow, I assume he’s an Ayn Rand fan.

    Yeah, um, wow.  Yes, he most definitely is that.  Holy cow.  We are all Illyrians now, LOL.

  113. 113.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): There’s a huge difference between “lifting some restrictions” and “100% open, and mask mandates are now illegal”.

    I see various Republican sources trying to both sides this. And there’s really no comparison, but it’s telling that whenever it’s brought up Dems and Liberals still say that Connecticut is jumping the gun here.

    It’s just not news, because they’re jumping a gun and not a shark.

  114. 114.

    Roger Moore

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    It’s not just Republicans unfortunately. I read that Connecticut is also lifting some restrictions.

    There’s a huge difference between lifting some restrictions and throwing the state wide open.  Connecticut is allowing most businesses to open without capacity limits, but it is continuing to require masks and physical distancing there.  It’s also continuing to restrict theaters and other large gatherings.

  115. 115.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    @Baud:  I can’t believe Biden hasn’t rotated my tires. He sold us out!

  116. 116.

    Brachiator

    @germy:

    I don’t say, of course, that no one will be helped by getting a $1,400 check. But the same can be said of almost any policy you can imagine, including leaving fully loaded Lamborghinis at randomly selected intersections with the doors unlocked and the keys inside.

    You wonder how someone could be so stupid and be able to get a job as a pundit. I also enjoy the glaring inconsistency at play here.

    Which is hilarious as McArdle is also the author of “No stimulus makes no sense” from October 2020, when Republicans were offering a gigantic program and she thought “there are good reasons for even a deficit hawk such as myself to support an aggressive stimulus.” Looks like the deficit hawk has spread its long-folded wings once more!

    Total freaking idiot.

  117. 117.

    Jeffro

    @germy: also this

    I am an individual, and do not affiliate with ‘groups’. There is a tendency to do structured classification of people, which forms the basis of racism or subjugation (profiling) in the first place.

    Cultural value studies rate ‘group affiliators’ as higher on the ‘collectivist’ axis, which is in conflict with ‘individualist’ values. It is on display for all to see. Do a linguistic analysis of Lexis Figuero’s public speech, and you will see the collectivism. He is acting as a mouthpiece for a demographic, not an individual.

    …is just wow to the wowth degree.  I think it’s the quote marks around ‘groups’ that may have tipped me off  ;)

  118. 118.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Mary G: 

    My favorite John Rogers quote, which he said the other day would probably be engraved on his headstone:

    Damn, I had no idea that he was the author of that quote too! He’s a national treasure, is what he is.

  119. 119.

    germy

    @Jeffro:

    Lexis is a local BLM activist.

    The comments on that blog are insane.  The blogger’s policy is non-interventionist, though.  He rarely pushes back.

    The last time he bothered was at the beginning of the pandemic, when a commenter called “Just The Facts” called covid a hoax and a way for liberals to control the United States.

    But usually the blogger keeps out of reader comments.

  120. 120.

    TheflipPsyd

    OT? Just found out the author of one of my favorite children’s books passed away. I loved The Phantom Tollbooth and have read it too many times to count. I have laughed out loud each time. Introduced it to my kids a number of year’s ago and although they love it as well, it is one of those books that only gets better as you age and can get all the subtle humor. Just wanted to share in case anyone else loved the book as well. Here’s to you Norton Juster – thank you for all the laughter and joy. And for teaching me how to stay out of the Doldrums

  121. 121.

    dmsilev

    @Mary G: The city says they check ID for proof of eligibility (age and or occupation, and you have to either live or work here for the city-run clinics), but they were worried about the practicalities of turning away several hundred people, not to mention the very real possibility that some people would be confrontational. So, cancel the clinic and rebook by phone where you can filter out most of the interlopers. A lot slower though; my minion reports spending most of an hour on hold before she got through.

    Edit: when I got my shot, they checked both my driver’s license (proof of residency) and work ID (proof of eligibility).

  122. 122.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    When I said it was the copyright owners making the choice, they protested that “someone” must be pressuring them.

    @germy:

    Biden.  Biden made a phone call.

    Nah, either Soros or Antifa, those Emmanuel Goldsteins of contemporary conservatism.

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I’m afraid that at that point I said, “Bullshit.”

    And there was much rejoicing.

  123. 123.

    Roger Moore

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: ​
     
    There’s a reason the Republicans talking about this always show other Seuss books rather than the ones that are actually going out of print: the books in question are lesser works that nobody really cares about. The publishers feel comfortable stopping publication because the books don’t sell a lot of copies, so it isn’t a great sacrifice to give up on them. It’s the market at work.

  125. 125.

    A Ghost to Most

    @Mary G: This quote describes both me (LOTR nerd), and my best friend in the Air Force, and best man.

    He turned into the greediest Rand acolyte possible. I recently told him:

    “Enjoy the Kingdom of [his surname]. If you ever get back, I’ll be over here in America. AMF.”

  128. 128.

    cain

    Mansplaining to Rep. Katie Porter never goes well, Mr. Murphy. https://t.co/L85yYVY5dO— CajunBlueAZ™ ? (@CajunBlueAZ1) March 9, 2021

    Watching Katie Porter destroy mansplainin oil executive is the kind of energy I’m here for. Love that woman. She’s a goddam gift.​
     
    ETA – Love the fact that’s she being labeled as serial killer due to all the murders she’s been committing :-)

  130. 130.

    Roger Moore

    @PsiFighter37: ​
     

    Crazy that that could happen. NYC is very strict – if you don’t match the criteria, you cannot get it.

    The problem is that the sign-up site just asks people if they’re eligible; it doesn’t have any way to confirm they are. The on-site staff will check for eligibility and turn people away if they aren’t eligible, but by that point an appointment is booked and taken away from someone who should have gotten it. It’s not the end of the world if a few people sign up and get turned away, but in this case more than half the spots were taken by ineligible people.
    I think this gets back to what a number of commentators were saying about the advantage of going with a strictly age-based system. Age is much easier to confirm than employment-based eligibility, so it makes it harder for people to try to cheat the system. If you want to give employment-based vaccinations, you probably need to have team that go out and vaccinate eligible people at their workplaces.

  131. 131.

    dmsilev

    @Roger Moore: Look up the editorial cartoons he drew during WWII (collected in the book Dr. Seuss Goes to War). There are a whole bunch of them railing against racism, both Nazi and White->Black in America. There are also some of the most virulently racist anti-Asian cartoons you can imagine, ‘inscrutable Oriental fifth columnists’, that sort of thing. It’s really quite jarring.

  132. 132.

    karen marie

    @Ken: Or the SS having to spend tens of thousands of dollars renting a studio apartment across from Javanka’s because they weren’t allowed to one of the numerous toilets in Javanka’s house?

  133. 133.

    dmsilev

    @Roger Moore: Next week, when the state opens eligibility to people with various pre-existing conditions, is almost certainly going to be a mess. No idea how they’re going to do the screening.

  134. 134.

    lowtechcyclist

    @TheflipPsyd:

    Just found out the author of one of my favorite children’s books passed away. I loved The Phantom Tollbooth and have read it too many times to count. I have laughed out loud each time. Introduced it to my kids a number of year’s ago and although they love it as well, it is one of those books that only gets better as you age and can get all the subtle humor. Just wanted to share in case anyone else loved the book as well. Here’s to you Norton Juster – thank you for all the laughter and joy. And for teaching me how to stay out of the Doldrums

    He is now in the Lands Beyond. (“Beyond what?” thought Milo.)

    My copy of The Phantom Tollbooth is practically falling apart from all the times I’ve read it.  What a truly wonderful book – not only one of the best children’s books ever, but one that I know I won’t outgrow if I live to be 100.

    And Jules Feiffer’s illustrations are perfect for the book, the way Tenniel’s are perfect for Alice, and Axel Scheffler’s are perfect for The Gruffalo and so many other of Julia Donaldson’s books.

    Thanks for everything, Norton Juster, and when you arrive at the afterlife, I hope you’re greeted, not by St. Peter, but by the Whether Man.

  135. 135.

    Roger Moore

    @Brachiator: ​
     

    You wonder how someone could be so stupid and be able to get a job as a pundit.

    She isn’t stupid. She’s smart enough to know there will always be work telling the rich and powerful that they deserve their nice stuff, and she’s going to make a comfortable living doing it.

  139. 139.

    Kent

    @Roger Moore:If you want to give employment-based vaccinations, you probably need to have team that go out and vaccinate eligible people at their workplaces.

    That is what they are doing at my school district now that teachers and school staff are eligible here in WA.  The district is holding it’s own shot clinics on-site and managing the sign-up through the school district’s internal computer systems.  The “partner” health care providers just show up and stick arms.  The district HR staff do all the administration.

  141. 141.

    lowtechcyclist

    @rikyrah:

    ???

    My sentiments exactly.

    Sure, the metrics are improving here in Maryland. But they’re still twice as high as they were in late June and early July of last year.

    Fuck that worthless shithead with rusty farm implements.

  142. 142.

    Lyrebird

    Makes me so irritated that people like R Douthat and C Cilizza (sp?) still get paid for their hot air and not more people like our front pagers here.

  145. 145.

    Lyrebird

    @Kent: Hi this is OT, but if you read my reply, let me ask:

    I am trying to write an article that relates to standardized testing.  I would like to interview you.  Zero promises that this will lead to anything big, but if you would be willing, please comment again or send Anne Laurie an email permitting her to share my RL contact information with you.

  147. 147.

    rikyrah

    Pasadena canceled a vaccination clinic for essential workers and residents 65+ after 900 of the 1,500 slots were taken by people who aren't eligible to be vaccinated yet — including workers in Hollywood and the news media, the city said: https://t.co/3xzs3GzceJ— Laura J. Nelson ? (@laura_nelson) March 10, 2021

  148. 148.

    Roger Moore

    @dmsilev: ​
     

    Next week, when the state opens eligibility to people with various pre-existing conditions, is almost certainly going to be a mess. No idea how they’re going to do the screening.

    It seems to me that the logical approach would be to turn it over to healthcare providers to handle people with preexisting conditions rather than having them at the big vaccination sites. After all, it’s the providers who know which patients would be eligible in the first place, and most of them are actually interested in helping people. It does potentially leave things open to providers cheating by vaccinating whoever they want, but that would be true if you let them just tell the authorities who should be vaccinated.

  149. 149.

    Mike in NC

    @dmsilev: I once borrowed the book on what Dr Seuss did in WW2 from the Fairfax County Public Library years ago. Crazy stuff by modern standards.

  152. 152.

    Roger Moore

    @Kent: ​
     
    The only problem with going on-site for vaccinations is that there are lots of small employers who just don’t have enough people to make it practical. It’s great if you’re a school system vaccinating its teachers, or even a supermarket that wants to vaccinate all employees. But a mom-and-pop restaurant or a family farm, both of which are eligible as food workers, might easily be too small to make it practical to send someone out.

  153. 153.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    I read The Phantom Tollbooth about 8 times over the years with small reading groups of 4th and 5th graders. Never a complaint.  I would occasionally show a YouTube clip from the original movie. The Chroma Conductor scene was quintessential 70s trippy.

  154. 154.

    Kent

    @Lyrebird:

    @Kent: Hi this is OT, but if you read my reply, let me ask:

    I am trying to write an article that relates to standardized testing.  I would like to interview you.  Zero promises that this will lead to anything big, but if you would be willing, please comment again or send Anne Laurie an email permitting her to share my RL contact information with you.

    Sure….send me an email to kent dot lind at camas dot wednet dot edu

  157. 157.

    kindness

    Douthat made his name writing a book saying the Nazi’s were liberals because the Nazi party had the word socialist in it’s title.  He wrote a whole book that did nothing but tried to link modern liberals with the Nazi party.

    I am not giving Ross any benefit of the doubt regarding this idiot ball.  Ross Douthat is a real idiot.  He says things that he has to know are complete fabrications.  Yet he repeats them earnestly.  Conservatism now days requires bad faith arguments as a basis.  Bill Buckley would be both horrified and proud of them from what ever firey pit of hell he now exists in.

  159. 159.

    TheflipPsyd

    @lowtechcyclist: Rainn Wilson narrates the story on audible. It’s  one of my go-tos for nights I can’t fall asleep. He does an excellent job bringing all the characters to life.

    Glad to see there are others who enjoyed the book. I borrowed the movie from the library a few years ago. Chuck Jones’ work is very recognizable and well done.

  160. 160.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @James E Powell:

    Hell, I thought that was Pelosi. McCarthy wore that stupid “Pelosi Payoffs” button when the House passed the ARA so it could go on to the Senate

  161. 161.

    Ruckus

    @Salty Sam:

    It is a great feeling, after a year of worry, never going anywhere other than work and groceries, and many don’t haven’t even done that. As I’ve said here before, can’t do machine shop by zoom.

  162. 162.

    dmsilev

    @rikyrah: See above about how some of my coworkers had their appointments canceled. They were caught up in that situation. The city public health department is in process of rebooking all of the legit appointments, first getting in touch with people by phone to confirm their eligibility. Which is tedious, which is why they didn’t do that initially.

  163. 163.

    Amir Khalid

    @kindness:

    Douthat made his name writing a book saying the Nazi’s were liberals because the Nazi party had the word socialist in it’s title.

    Are you sure you’re not thinking of Jonah Goldberg?
     ​

  165. 165.

    lowtechcyclist

    @James E Powell:

    What Amir Khalid said.  Also, the things they attack AOC about at least have some relation to things she’s actually said or done.  Soros and Antifa, though they actually exist, might as well be as fictional in our world as Emmanuel Goldstein was in the world of 1984, given the near-absence of any connection between what they actually do, and what the wingnuts claim they do.

  167. 167.

    Gin & Tonic

    @TheflipPsyd: Ooh, such a shame. That was also my favorite book for many years, which I also introduced to my own children. A couple of years ago I bought a brand-new, commemorative (50th anniversary?) edition.

  168. 168.

    Death Panel Truck

    This term was coined, I heard, by actor Hank Azaria, who was complaining about a show he was on and asked “who’s carrying the idiot ball this week?”

    Probably Herman’s Head. Both he and Yeardley Smith were on that idiotic show.

  169. 169.

    Wolvesvalley

    @TheflipPsyd: Oh, no! I am so sorry to know this.

    I first encountered Juster’s work in college, when an art teacher had my design class read that small masterpiece, The Dot and the Line. I did not discover the wonders of The Phantom Tollbooth till several years later. I will have to get them both out and read them again.

    “To the vector belong the spoils.” Always.

  170. 170.

    Ruckus

    @Brachiator:

    After my first shot I was about 2% relieved.

    After my second I got to about 95% relieved after 2 weeks. Was probably about 50% in 3 days, mainly because I felt like crap on toast for the first 2. I’m sleeping better, thinking slightly clearer and beginning to feel like there might be something to this retirement thing.

    It feels more like life, rather than just existence.

  172. 172.

    dr. luba

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: That happened to me at a Bible study meeting (in India) when someone started talking about Obama, the ACA and the Mark of the Beast…..

    I don’t think I’ll be invited back….

  173. 173.

    Miss Bianca

    @Baud:

    Next time, tell them to skull fuck a kitten.

    And here, Dear Reader, is where I lost it

     

    @TheflipPsyd: Oh, noes! Phantom Tollbooth is one of my favorites, too. I’ll never forget my sixth-grade English teacher reading it out loud to us.

  176. 176.

    Sebastian

    I would pay cash money if Psaki instead of “oh so this is the airplane of today” quipped “oh so you are carrying the ball today”

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