Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

He really is that stupid.

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

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

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

This blog will pay for itself.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Monday Morning Open Thread: We’ll Live With It, Somehow

Monday Morning Open Thread: We’ll Live With It, Somehow

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Monday Morning Open Thread: We'll Live With It

(John Deering via GoComics.com)


And it’s not just the far right wing that’s irked about President Biden’s Big Infrastructure Deal…

Reader Interactions

220Comments

  1. 1.

    debbie

    It’s not that government was ever evil. It’s that evil people were allowed to control and take advantage of it for their own selfish benefit.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    Hmm.  I didn’t read Kate as critical of Biden.  I think she’s off though.  This is reimbursement for all the goodness we would have had if Dems had held control of the federal government for more two 2-year periods since 1980.

  3. 3.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Walked barefoot into the kitchen this morning and found myself splashing through a puddle. The faucet appears to be leaking. Building maintenance is due soon. (Biden is right. Pipes are important!)

  7. 7.

    Baud

    Any Nashville peeps with thoughts?

    Justice Democrats, the progressive group that launched Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s historic 2018 campaign, made its first splash of the 2022 midterms on Monday by endorsing Nashville activist Odessa Kelly as she kicked off her Democratic primary challenge to longtime Tennessee Rep. Jim Cooper

  8. 8.

    Baud

    The Real Presidential Immigration Villain Is Bill Clinton (Ruben Navarrette Jr/The Daily Beast)

    Clinton was wrong about a lot of things, but that someone can write this after Trump shows that privilege is alive and well.

  13. 13.

    OzarkHillbilly

    ‘Allergic reaction to US religious right’ fueling decline of religion, experts say

    Just 47% of the US population are members of a church, mosque or synagogue, according to a survey by Gallup, down from 70% two decades ago – in part a result of millennials turning away from religion but also, experts say, a reaction to the swirling mix of rightwing politics and Christianity pursued by the Republican party.

    The evidence comes as Republicans in some states have pursued extreme “Christian nationalist” policies, attempting to force their version of Christianity on an increasingly uninterested public.
    ……………………………..
    Among other groups Gallup reported, the decline in church membership stands out among self-identified Democrats and independents. The number of Democratic church members dropped by 25% over the 20 year period, with independents decreasing by 18%. Republican church members declined too, but only by 12%.

    David Campbell, professor and chair of the University of Notre Dame’s political science department and co-author of American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, said a reason for the decline among those groups is political – an “allergic reaction to the religious right”.

    “Many Americans – especially young people – see religion as bound up with political conservatism, and the Republican party specifically,” Campbell said.

    “Since that is not their party, or their politics, they do not want to identify as being religious. Young people are especially allergic to the perception that many – but by no means all – American religions are hostile to LGBTQ rights.”

    Research by Campbell shows that a growing number of Americans have turned away from religion as politicians – particularly Republicans – have mixed religion with their politics. Campbell says there has always been an ebb and flow in American adherence to religion, but he thinks the current decline is likely to continue.

    “I see no sign that the religious right, and Christian nationalism, is fading. Which in turn suggests that the allergic reaction will continue to be seen – and thus more and more Americans will turn away from religion,” he said.

  14. 14.

    Jeffery

    After a few billionaires die in bridge collapses or crash due to poor airport infrastructure they might get the idea.

  16. 16.

    Geminid

    I caught Buttegieg’s MTP interview on a local radio rebroadcast. Buttegieg was an excellent communicator, advocating for a very sound initiative. Senator Wicker (R-MS) followed Buttegieg. Wicker hemmed, then hawed. He had nothing. “If we want more jobs, the last thing we should do is tax job creators,” Wicker said. A flimsy argument with little popular appeal, I think.

  21. 21.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @raven: The relevant shut-off valve is too stiff for either me or Mr DAW to turn. There are two valves under the sink, one to the faucet and one to a filtered water station. That second one turned and we shut it off just in case we were wrong about which place was leaking. But no, it’s the faucet. It’s a pretty steady seep.

  22. 22.

    zhena gogolia

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    It’s really unfortunate. Our church is a haven for our LGBTQ+ members, and they get a lot of support from it. The liberal church has totally lost the PR wars.

  24. 24.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: I haven’t read that particular piece, but over the years, I’ve noticed Ruben Navarrette Jr. is reliably wrong. Aronoff, on the other hand, is mostly right, IMO. I guess we could quibble about how much of the Democratic Party’s 90s-era “third way” shtick was a performative reaction to Republican dominance vs. a genuine embrace of the GOP’s absolutely wrong economic/regulatory/welfare state framing, but it was a thing either way.

  26. 26.

    rikyrah

    Infrastructure was the missing part of the Obama Recovery. The GOP blocked him at every turn.

    Infrastructure is needed.

    Not only is it not wasteful, but the jobs are on the ground jobs that can’t be exported overseas. Then, there is the matter of contracts that will be given to non-White businesses throughout this.

     

    Don’t pay the GOP any mind. Just plow through Democrats.

  31. 31.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker:

    Of course. I don’t embrace a return to the economics of the 90s.  But one of the hallmarks of progress is that it makes the past looks worse.  The more interesting question to me is would we be where we’re at without going through the past we went through.  It was Clinton that represented the first turn away from Reaganism, as the Republicans understood at the time, as evidenced by the Gingrich Revolution, the creation of Fox News, and a turn away from reality on the right.  We can only speculate whether someone else could have done better.

  32. 32.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @raven: I’m sure there is, but I hope maintenance can turn the sink valve because I’d like to have water elsewhere in the condo. At the moment, the water is seeping onto the countertop where we’re sucking it off with a rag that’s draped to drip into the sink. It seems to be working. The water on the floor had evidently run off the counter and collected there all night.

    Maintenance starts work at 7am (ie 23 minutes ago). They should have a work order from us waiting for them.

  35. 35.

    HinTN

    @Baud: I am well south of Nashville and I have no knowledge of Ms Kelly but I’ve known Jim Cooper for a long time. What I’ll say is that he’s grown more Blue Dog every year. He used to be my Congresscritter and he was kinda sorta ok as the replacement for Al G when he moved up to the Senate.

    Nashville is really blue and Jim is out of step with that.

  36. 36.

    Geminid

    @OzarkHillbilly: The Virginia Republican embrace of the political evangelical movement is one factor that helped turn Virginia blue. Even many churchgoers don’t like the idea of hardshell Baptist preachers running their state. So the Republicans have gotten to the point where they can’t win a statewide election with the bible thumpers, but they can’t win without them either.

  37. 37.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: It probably needs replacing too, so don’t get your hopes up. Fortunately, it will take longer to empty the cabinet than it will to replace the shut off valve.

  43. 43.

    eclare

    @Baud:  Not Nashville, but Memphis.  Seems like a weird target to me.  He always struck me as a good guy.  And Nashville does not strike me as a hotbed of Justice Democrats.

  44. 44.

    rikyrah

    Last night, on Versus, it was Earth Wind and Fire versus The Isley Brothers.
    4 hours of fantastic music and stories.

    This is the context for this tweet

    (((RuggedAmethyst))) (@GrooveSDC) Tweeted:
    One of the things that bother me about some of the largest online Black personalities on the right (Candace Owens) and the left (Bri Bri Greyjoy) is I never see them celebrating in cultural Black moments like this historic #Verzuz. I never really see them celebrating Blackness. https://twitter.com/GrooveSDC/status/1378878164374536195?s=20

  45. 45.

    HinTN

    @rikyrah: It’s D+7 Nashville and surrounding.  Tennessee is gerrymandered all to hell to ensure Murfreesboro is counterbalanced by some serious Red counties. Chattanooga, too.

  47. 47.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Baud: Besides, the real immigrant villain was Reagan, who gave employers the pass that to this day they still have, who also was the deregulation villain, the government doesn’t work villain and the shift tax burden to workers villain. TFG was bush league compared to Reagan and that may be an intended pun.

    And I didn’t even get to the Iran Contra stuff. Darn.

  49. 49.

    TS (the original)

    @rikyrah:

    Infrastructure was the missing part of the Obama Recovery. The GOP blocked him at every turn.

    Interesting how the GOP and the media blocked everything President Obama tried to do – they don’t seem to be having the same success when attempting to attack Biden.  I wonder why that may be?

  50. 50.

    Geminid

    @OzarkHillbilly: Demographic factors may make Virginia different: a 20% African American population, many immigrants, a larger portion of college educated. Also, a more dynamic economy, funded in part by tax dollars from 49 other states, seems to help. But I don’t count Missouri Democrats out. They may need division among Republicans to break through, though..

  52. 52.

    PattyBoye

    @Baud: @Baud: 

    Longtime lurker, first-time commenter. Cooper is a semi-reformed Blue Dog. He has become more progressive along with the party. I have never much cared for him, but he will be very tough to beat. Nashville is blue, but also very establishment-friendly because of the hospital corporations, southern aversion to change and the state’s general redness. This might come off for the Justice Dems, but it will not be easy. The younger set here has been awoken by Floyd, BLM, etc. but I am not sure they have the sizable base to topple him.

  54. 54.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: I’m lazy. I learned a long time ago to just replace old troublesome stuff with new as opposed to trying to fix it. Especially when it comes to plumbing. I hate plumbing. Have I told you lately how much I hate plumbing? I really hate plumbing.

    YMMV.

  55. 55.

    germy

    The face of a Roman baby who died 1800 years ago. The death-mask was made accidently when cement sealing the sarcophagus leaked inside and formed a mould of the child's face. The baby from Roman Lutetia (modern Paris) was buried with its feeding bottle. 1st-2nd century AD pic.twitter.com/3J1CzuItTI— Gareth Harney (@OptimoPrincipi) July 8, 2020

    The child's small, stone burial sarcophagus was discovered in 1878 in the gardens of a Paris convent. Inside were the remains of the child with this death-mask and a perfectly preserved small glass bottle. However, there was no indication of the cause of the child's death. pic.twitter.com/remxSsPMQj— Gareth Harney (@OptimoPrincipi) July 8, 2020

  57. 57.

    Baud

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    Reagan doesn’t get nearly enough scrutiny.  Frankly, I’m tired of the obsession with hating the Clintons.  Even when the criticism is legitimate, it’s usually not that super relevant to anything except getting clicks. And a lot it is simply bullshit.

  59. 59.

    delk

    En route to first shot. Three places within walking distance but I have to drive to the suburbs. Sigh. Lincoln Square to Des Plaines for the locals.

  61. 61.

    Geminid

    @rikyrah: Jimi Hendrix played for the Isley Brothers in the early 1960s, and his guitar work is on some of their recordings.

  64. 64.

    zhena gogolia

    @rikyrah:

    He is. I could watch a loop of him doing this, interspersed with Jen Psaki saying, “What people are saying this?,” all day long.

  66. 66.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: It’s ultimately unknowable, probably, whether Dem pol acceptance of GOP framing was genuine or performative. I lived through those years too, and I don’t think it was just the 1990s.

    On the bright side, the GOP has little incentive to dust off the old video from earlier in the present century to mock elder Dems for echoing GOP talking points from the Reagan and Bush I and II eras. It undermines the current “socialism” bullshit.

  68. 68.

    Amir Khalid

    FDR’s New Deal kept Republicans out of the White House for two decades, didn’t it? So I guess they see Biden’s US$2 trillion New-Dealish infrastructure proposal as a declaration of war against their party. Mitch McConnell’s guff about it being the wrong path for America is basically just defensive propaganda. (If he thinks it is extravgance to fix long-neglected highways and bridges, what does he think America should be doing about its infrastructure?)

  70. 70.

    The Dark Avenger

    @Starfish, if you never play, winning is out of the picture.  I agree that the forces of what i  term Radical Centralism are strong, therefore, we must be stronger.

  71. 71.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker:

    I think it was a mixture of genuine and performative.  It does seem wrong to assume that the progressivism of 2021 is the same as the progressivism of pre-1990s that the Third Way types were rallying against, however.

  72. 72.

    Betty Cracker

    @MagdaInBlack: It’s a scary situation. I used to drive past that toxic waste dump all the time before we moved a few years ago. Tampa Bay is so important to aquatic biodiversity in the region, and thanks to chronic neglect of these known problems through 20+ years of state-level Republican misrule, we’re on the brink of an unthinkable disaster.

  73. 73.

    Low Key Swagger

    @Baud: Hmmm.  I’ve interviewed Jim Cooper, my daughter did an internship in his office, and he has been supportive and given speeches at various fundraisers I put together back in 04.  He is known to be a bit gruff…my daughter would say he’s an asshole, but she respected his work ethic.  He is also known to read proposed bills in their entirety, and I would trust his take.  He’s a Blue Dog, but not a rabid one.  He’s pretty well respected in his district.

  76. 76.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Geminid: “If we want more jobs, the last first thing we should do is tax job creators cremators,” Wicker would’ve said if he had a shred of honesty or decency about him. (He’s Thuglican so of course he has neither.)

    Too bad we can’t figure out a way to lop off a few QALYs off the lives of them thar job cremators every time they close a plant and wreck a community to ship operations over to a third-world hellhole where the locals work for peanuts so the corporation’s owners can have another thousandth of $0.01 per share in their dividend checks. Don’t kill ’em off – let them live to 90 so long as the last 30 years are spent in utter agony.

  78. 78.

    Starfish

    @The Dark Avenger: I am okay with some leftist, but the leftist bro-nonsense being led by men being garbage humans can miss me.

    It looks like they got rid of Cenk Uygur and became a little more focused. Those are good signs. I think 2022 is going to be tough because there are a lot of centrist Democrats up for re-election.

  79. 79.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @MagdaInBlack: Oddly enough, electrical work doesn’t bother me at all. I find it strangely quieting. When we bought our house, the main panel was a nightmare of spaghetti going to unnamed under-amped breakers. It’s in a horribly uncomfortable location but I actually enjoyed taking it all apart and putting it all back together. I got a very satisfied feeling looking at it afterwards and being able to know what everything was with just a glance.

  80. 80.

    SFAW

    @Percysowner:

    What does “pared down” mean, Roy? The same type of thing as the $600B “counter-proposal”/joke that the Partei of Traitors tried to get the President to agree to?

    It’s not President Biden’s style — well, maybe it is, but … — but he should go on TV and say something like “I’ve proposed a $2T bill, fully funded, which would result in 19 Million new jobs. The Other Guys are proposing … something. Probably something that’s a giveaway to their corporate and wealthy benefactors, and will result in a few new jobs, MAYBE? And they’re going to cut important programs, ones which help REAL Americans, so that they don’t have to vote for a small tax increase on corporations and the super-rich. I can’t tell if they think I’m stupid, or if they think Americans are. It’s probably both.”

  82. 82.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Newsletter? That sounds like work and I’m allergic to that.

    And here I was worried that you’d revert to your training/experience, and use your Estwing on the keyboard.

  83. 83.

    Soprano2

    @rikyrah: Infrastructure was the missing part of the Obama Recovery. The GOP blocked him at every turn.

    Infrastructure is needed.

    Yep, the needs are immense. I guarantee you we could spend $200 million on the sewers here without any problem at all, and that’s one mid-sized city in one state. Our unmet stormwater needs were $75 million the last time it was assessed, and I’m sure it’s bigger now. Plus, lots of these jobs  are “manly”, which was a big gripe I heard about the last recovery, how those jobs aren’t for “real men”. I do a *rolleyes* over that, but evidently it’s important to a lot of people. Helps it be even more popular.

  86. 86.

    Soprano2

    @Geminid:But I don’t count Missouri Democrats out. They may need division among Republicans to break through, though..

    We’re all rooting for Greitens to be their candidate for senator in 2022. Right now I’m reading that he’s the odds-on favorite. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Republicans in MO who want to be in the Senate, so it won’t surprise me if half a dozen or more of them jump into the race and thus enable Greitens to win the primary. If they were smart they’d all coalesce around one candidate; if they did that, Greitens would lose. If he’s their candidate Democrats could actually have a chance in that race.

  87. 87.

    Emma from FL

    I must say I’m growing very fond of Pete B. He will absolutely NOT allow the jerks to talk over him and cloud the message.

  91. 91.

    BruceFromOhio

    @Geminid: ​
     

    “If we want more jobs, the last thing we should do is tax job creators,” Wicker said.

    I really hope the GQP sticks with the historic tropes they trot out to say “no” to everything. They’ve already started the “Lucy and the football” bullshit that failed on the America Rescue Plan. Will be interesting to see how the conversations go back home in red districts with shit falling apart, and how that gets barfed up by Faux, MTP and the rest of the gasbaggery gallery.

    This was a great story: behind the scenes as a working mother.

  93. 93.

    NorthLeft12

    Whenever I see the term “neoliberal”, I am pretty much certain that it is being used to smear liberals, and the person using it is usually/always a right leaning libertarian who hates liberals and everything they stand for.

    BTW, who is Kate Arnoff, and should I care?

  94. 94.

    Xavier

    @eclare:  Aaagh. Hate the trope that money is cheap, now or any time. Money is free, at least for the people who make it (Federal Government).

    If you have concrete and steel and labor and equipment and knowhow and no money, you can have roads and bridges. If you have money but lack concrete or steel etc. you can’t have roads or bridges. Money doesn’t have any relevance to what the Federal Government can or can’t do.

  95. 95.

    mrmoshpotato

    And then Pete added, “And fuck your both-siderist bullshit, Chuckles.  You’re lucky we don’t let Hillary fling you into the Sun after all the misery you caused this country, you fucking hack.”

  96. 96.

    Quiltingfool

    @OzarkHillbilly: My husband was a floor installer and worked in many large lake homes around Lake of the Ozark.  He was working in a home owned by two St. Louis brothers who were electricians (owned a large business).  One of the men visited to see how work was progressing and took a gander at the wiring in the junction box and was appalled at that hot mess.  My husband said he promptly rewired the box and when he was done it was a thing of beauty.

    I just wonder what that guy said to the electricians…

  97. 97.

    Low Key Swagger

    @Xavier: Not arguing, but explain this?  Workers must be paid, materials purchased, etc.  If borrowing money if cheaper because of low interest rates, is it not “cheaper money”?

  98. 98.

    eclare

    @Emma from FL:  I noticed a couple of weeks ago he was on several talk shows, Kimmel, Morning Joe, etc back to back.  Joe knows he is an excellent communicator.

  99. 99.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    @Geminid:

    I don’t know Virginia but I did a few stints in St Louis and family and friends still live there and I just don’t see the Virginia conversion happening there.  My personal experience is of a populace that clings to its divisions. It was the clique-iest place I’ve ever lived.

  100. 100.

    rikyrah

    Uh huh ?

    There's a lot of white men right now opining on this election law from a position of obvious white male privilege. Election laws like this do not affect people like them the way they do BIPOC people who disproportionately live in areas with long lines. https://t.co/K4OS7ijLQb— David Darmofal (@david_darmofal) April 5, 2021

  101. 101.

    MagdaInBlack

    @eclare: We hadn’t gotten in to that yet, when I sold it ( 25 years ago.)  Never know what you’ll find in an old farm house ?

  103. 103.

    guachi

    Buttigieg is great to sell Democratic policies to the masses, especially in the face of Republicans. He wasn’t so great when going against other Democrats to sell Democratic policies to Democratic primary voters.

    I’m glad he has a cabinet post, though I don’t know where being Secretary of Transportation takes someone in public service after this. Unless he moves to a different state to run for office or Harris chooses him as VP.

  104. 104.

    Quiltingfool

    @Soprano2: Oh, I hope you’re right about Greitens, but jeez, I dunno.  I live a little north of you, and around my neck of the woods, people believe Democrats are evil to the core and will not care that Greitens is a shitty human being.  I’ve had Facebook friends (relatives) who call Democrats “demons.”  They do back off, though, when I tell them that I must be a demon, then, as I’m a Democrat.  For some reason they don’t want to piss me off.  Not sure why, but I think it is easy for them to be horrifically disrespectful when they aren’t face to face.

  107. 107.

    Technocrat

    @Baud:

    Reagan doesn’t get nearly enough scrutiny

    100% agree. I suspect part of the problem is that it’s Ancient History to the current crop of pundits. The people who were politically aware in 1981 (17+ years old) would be 57 or older.

    My daughter has strong opinions about the Clinton Era and she was an infant when he was in office. Reagan is just a generically bad Republican to her.

  108. 108.

    John S.

    @Low Key Swagger: Is there something magical in the water of TN?

    I know 2 families that have moved to Knoxville in the past 6 months, and another 3 that are considering moving there. I’m not sure I fully understand what the appeal is.

  109. 109.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Quiltingfool: I saw Greitens on Guliani’s little youtube show, and my, the smarm is strong in Mr. Greitens. Not the brightest candle either, not that it matters to his base.

  110. 110.

    citizen dave

    @NotMax:  I’m surprised this band lists Bobby Darin for Mack the Knife. Per wiki: “Mack the Knife” or “The Ballad of Mack the Knife” (German: “Die Moritat von Mackie Messer”) is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their 1928 music drama The Threepenny Opera (German: Die Dreigroschenoper).

    I’ll see this one and raise to Nick Cave’s version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3_2zbZwDlM

  112. 112.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Amir Khalid: Mitch also had his chance with Trump to stop this from happening. Trump wanted to a big infrastructure program and Turtle shot it down. This is likely why Biden is doing it because Biden knows it’s the kind of government spending that has bipartisan popularity.

  114. 114.

    Quiltingfool

    @MagdaInBlack: Old farm houses?  Rehabbed a couple of them.  Old farmers aren’t the best builders.  We took a chimney out of our old house (wasn’t needed anymore); found out the brick chimney was supported by a stack of wood slabs and a wood post.  Also, they attached part of the chimney to a hanging wall.  My husband looked at the resulting hole and made a small pantry!  OTOH, the 2×4 studs were oak – very solid!

  115. 115.

    mali muso

    @rikyrah: I didn’t get a chance to watch it live, but would like to see if it’s accessible after the fact.  One thing that is becoming apparent to me in my admittedly brief journey as a parent to a Black child is the importance of connecting her to culture and history that celebrates Black joy.

  116. 116.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud:

    Clinton was wrong about a lot of things, but that someone can write this after Trump shows that privilege is alive and well. 

    Ruben shows that being a dumbass is alive and well too.

  117. 117.

    Xavier

     

     

    @Low Key Swagger: Yes, money hires people and buys materials, and most of us, including state and local governments must earn, borrow, or tax to get it. The Federal Government just prints. What fools a lot of people into believing that the FG borrows is that much of what the FG prints is in the form of bonds, which are no more and no less than future money eagerly accepted by people with labor or materials to sell.

    Whythe FG does things that way is a holdover from gold standard days. Obsolete of course, but it serves the purposes of people who don’t want the Gov to do things.

  118. 118.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Xavier: Money doesn’t have any relevance to what the Federal Government can or can’t do.

    Tell that to a Republican looking for campaign cash. ;-)

  119. 119.

    Quiltingfool

    @MagdaInBlack: Stupid is not an impediment to a political career for Missouri Republicans.  Neither is smarmy.  Just look at our cast of state Republicans…like Gov Parsons.  The list is long.

  120. 120.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Quiltingfool: The stories could go on forever ?  My husband considered the movie ” The Money Pit” a documentary.

    Eta: We were young and dumb and full of dreams ?

  121. 121.

    John S.

    @Quiltingfool: It’s always easier to hate a strawman from afar without having to encounter the real thing. I have experienced this many times with antisemitics.

    I remember being on a trip in the UK and being out one night drinking with some friends and acquaintances. One bloke started spouting off some nonsense and I smiled and asked if he thought any of those things were true about ME. The look on his face was priceless when he realized he had been enjoying the company of a Jew.

  124. 124.

    Xavier

     

    @Low Key Swagger: Yes, money hires people and buys materials, and most of us, including state and local governments must earn, borrow, or tax to get it. The Federal Government just prints. What fools a lot of people into believing that the FG borrows is that much of what the FG prints is in the form of bonds, which are no more and no less than future money eagerly accepted by people with labor or materials to sell.

    Whythe FG does things that way is a holdover from gold standard days. Obsolete of course, but it serves the purposes of people who don’t want the Gov to do things.

  125. 125.

    Ben Cisco

    @TS (the original):

     

    Interesting how the GOP and the media blocked everything President Obama tried to do – they don’t seem to be having the same success when attempting to attack Biden. I wonder why that may be?

    Ooo, ooo, I know!

  126. 126.

    mrmoshpotato

    Happy Easter Monday (which we United Statesians don’t celebrate)!

    Have a 20-minute piece from John Oliver about the national debt.

    Spoiler – tax cuts don’t pay for themselves!

  127. 127.

    Kathleen

    @Baud: As horrible as It was a case could be made that Reagan was just as bad if not worst in his way. He just used an inside voice.  ETA and  I agree with what you said about Clinton. Also I’m weary if the purer than thou Brostorians who are so dismissive of JFK but now I’m venturing into “get off of my lawn” land so I’ll shut up.

  130. 130.

    WereBear

    @Quiltingfool: They do back off, though, when I tell them that I must be a demon, then, as I’m a Democrat. For some reason they don’t want to piss me off. Not sure why, but I think it is easy for them to be horrifically disrespectful when they aren’t face to face.

    I have concluded they know they are lying: and since they KNOW you are not a demon, it shuts them up.

    Something that has leaked out about the White Supremacy Movement (which is all part of this fascist thing) is that every single one of them know they are lying.

    But it suits their purposes. And they don’t care.

  131. 131.

    Geminid

    @guachi: Joe Donnelly won a Senate race in Indiana in 2012. . He lost it by 6 points in 2018, (the same year McCaskill lost in Missouri), but I wouldn’t rule out a successful Buttegieg Senate campaign in 2024. He is a confident man, and may give it a shot.

  132. 132.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: Oh, I know it’ll still be an uphill battle, but I think a lot of what helped Biden would also help Democrats if Greitens is the candidate. I think a lot of educated people in the suburbs will be repelled by Greitens, and if the right Dem ran they might have a chance.

  135. 135.

    SFAW

    @citizen dave:

    There have been various versions/styles for Mack the Knife. The 1954 Blitzstein version was closer to the original than Darin’s (in terms of style, the words in the Darin version were approx the same), but some liberties were taken with the translation. [Not sure I have a lot of appreciation of Brecht’s lyrics. Great playwright, but not sure about him as a lyricist.]

    But Darin’s version is the one most Americans know, so I’m not sure why you would be surprised.

    The Nick Cave version? Never saw it before, but I give it a resounding “Meh.”

  136. 136.

    GregMulka

    @Geminid: This is a state that voted almost 2 to 1 for non-partisan redistricting and then less than 12 months later voted to hand redistricting back to Gov. Pig-Fucker because the same ballot measure also limited lobbyist gifts to $2 as opposed to $4. The racism and the stupid is real strong in this state.

  137. 137.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Soprano2: Any ideas as to what “the right DEM” looks like in Misery? Serious question, I’m just a little too jaded.

  138. 138.

    Xavier

    @WereBear: I had a thought about Trump’s lying, he does it to see who believes and/or repeats. Any fool can tell the truth and be believed, but if you tell a baldfaced lie and people accept it, you’ve got something.

  139. 139.

    Geminid

    @Sure Lurkalot: A knowledgable commenter similarly tempered my optimism about Arizona turning blue like Virginia did. And Arizona is closer to purple than is Missouri. Demographics seem to be somewhat determinative in electoral politics. If that is the case, Missouri could out of reach for Democrats. A strong state office candidate might crack Republican dominance, like Steve Beshear did when he won the Kentucky AG race, then was elected Governor.

  142. 142.

    WereBear

    @Geminid: I see a pattern where a state that the younglings tend to leave and cluster in big enough cities have less demographics available to shift things, especially with gerrymandering.

    Were I stuck in some red states, through family obligations or poverty or the like, I would definitely set out for the biggest city I could.

    I moved from a small town to a big city in Florida, which improved things. Though… not enough. Which helped me set out for the Northeast.

  143. 143.

    Cameron

    @Betty Cracker: I was at a friend’s place on Siesta Key over the weekend and I don’t live in that part of Manatee County anyway, but it appears they’re creating a man-made disaster in the bay to avoid a man-made catastrophe on the land.  Fortunately, Governor DeCovid was able to come down and do a Photo-Op of Concern, so it’s all good.

  144. 144.

    WaterGirl

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: My sister and a niece both went through this at their places, with a ton of water damage that required replacement of floors, subfloors, etc.

    I hope you don’t have all that ahead of you, but at least if you do it won’t be out of your pocket, and hopefully repairs will be less risky because of higher vaccination rates.

  145. 145.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Soprano2: I guarantee you we could spend $200 million on the sewers here without any problem at all, and that’s one mid-sized city in one state.

    I haven’t checked to see how much Baltimore City is spending on water lines and sewers – which IIRC were in such bad shape that the Obama Administration demanded we fix them – but City residents are paying through the nose. My monthly water bill was $20 previously; it’s now upwards of $80 with no end in sight. I hope President Uncle Joe can manage us some relief – between this & property taxes and insurance redlining etc. it’s already too damn expensive to live inside the City limits.

    (NB Baltimore County [which as I have noted is a completely separate political jurisdiction from the City] shares the metro water & sewer facilities, and property owners there are also dunned for the repairs, but the County keeps “official” water bills low by bundling the repair charges with the property tax bills. When I inherited my parents’ house in the County, the taxes seemed outrageous – until I looked at the breakdown & saw the sleight-of-hand.)

  146. 146.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: Not that much. Someone who doesn’t threaten rural people that much, but who motivates Democrats to vote. Someone like Jon Tester in Montana, for example. Not sure there’s anyone in MO like that right now who’d be a viable candidate. I wish Jason Kander would give it another shot, but I understand why he wants to stay out of politics for now.

  148. 148.

    Soprano2

    @GregMulka: The racism and the stupid is real strong in this state.

    You’ll get no argument about this from me; I think one reason the Republican redistricting amendment won is because they scared people in rural areas that some of “those people” would be put in their district by the Clean Missouri reform. I heard a lot of talk about “skinny districts” that would snake out of cities into the rural areas; the message couldn’t have been clearer! It scared them into undoing the reform. It also seemed to me that Clean MO didn’t push back on it enough, either.

  149. 149.

    Soprano2

    @Uncle Cosmo: Yeah, I see that just like us Baltimore is under a consent decree. That’s common these days. I didn’t see a dollar amount – we agreed to spend $50 million over 10 years on top of the $17 million we spent during the first consent decree. The good thing about that is that the money goes toward infrastructure improvement rather than fines. Just a casual perusal makes it sound like they may start pursuing improvements on the private side to stop basement backups during heavy rainfall. I’m not surprised your bills went up – we had to raise rates quite a bit too, partly because the previous department head thought it was good politics to keep the bills artificially low for a long time, which meant we had to raise rates a lot when we needed the money for improvements. Strangely enough, my city is one of the furthest-along in the U.S. when it comes to eliminating stormwater from the sanitary sewers. Our program started in 1993, when most programs weren’t even addressing the problem! That’s the program I was hired on for; I’ve been here since the beginning of it.

  150. 150.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Amir Khalid:

    Mitch McConnell’s guff about it being the wrong path for America is basically just defensive propaganda. (If he thinks it is extravgance to fix long-neglected highways and bridges, what does he think America should be doing about its infrastructure?)

    He thinks that America should be doing nothing about its infrastructure.  He is a pathologically evil man who opposes helping people even when it would help him politically.  This is the asshole who when Barrett was confirmed declared it was his birthday present to Hillary Clinton.  Even worse, this is the asshole who, when asked about the deaths and suffering caused by Covid, laughed.  He wants to burn America to the ground.

    It’s up in the air why he wants to destroy everything.  Personally, I think it’s because he’s an Alabama-then-Kentucky aristocrat who was already an adult when desegregation happened, and he is frothingly angry at America for electing a black man his boss.  He will stop at nothing to get revenge on the hoi polloi vermin for that.

  151. 151.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Soprano2: Someone who doesn’t threaten rural people that much, but who motivates Democrats to vote.

    From what I see, that DEM would have to be pro life, pro gun, anti taxes, hard care Christianist, anti-immigrant, anti LGBTQ, pro-coal…

  152. 152.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    In plumbing news, maintenance tells me they need to “rebuild” my kitchen faucet. They’ll shut the water off about 30 minutes from now, so they have time to notify the people above and below me, since the shutoff will probably affect them too. The guy wasn’t sure how much of the units the shutoff would affect since he had to consult some chart. He hoped it was just the kitchen, laundry room, and one of the bedrooms. We’ll see.

  153. 153.

    citizen dave

    @SFAW: My surprise is a music group not attributing the original writers of the tune they post on youtube.  It’s like when American Idol let’s one of their contestants say something like “I’m going to sing Make You Feel My Love by Adele.”  It’s just not factual.

  155. 155.

    Low Key Swagger

    @John S.: Interesting that you say that.  Twenty years ago, I knew a great many evangelical types who moved from California (and other places) to Knoxville.  Personally, I have no use for Knoxville, it’s proximity to the Smokies is all it has going for it.  Nashville has been booming for the last 12 years or so.  The lack of a State income tax is a draw, of course, and our weather in Middle Tennessee is rarely extreme.  I moved here twenty years ago because I could buy land cheap.  That’s no longer the case.  Five acre lots can bring 200k or more.  I bought 70 when the price was roughly 2k an acre.

  156. 156.

    Captain C

    @NorthLeft12: I also see it used often as an insult by performative online leftists, for whom it seems to mean “someone also left of center but who doesn’t agree with me 100% and is therefore the worst.”

  157. 157.

    L85NJGT

    @Soprano2:

    Concrete sewer pipes will last forever. The issue is remediation of combined sewer systems. They are clustered in the urban northeast and midwest, and dump raw sewage into local waterways during heavy rain events. They either have to be split out into storm and sewage systems, or adequate storage and wastewater treatment capacity needs to be built.

    The GOP no spend alternative is Cholera outbreaks.

  158. 158.

    Another Scott

    @Xavier: Not only that, but the (vast majority of the) money that the federal government prints is money that we owe ourselves.  It’s bookkeeping entries.  It’s taking money from our wallet and putting it in our pocket.

    Interest rates being so low for so long is telling us that there is not enough demand in the economy.  More money needs to get out to people who will spend it.  That happens by printing money and directing it to the bottom 50% of the economy.

    Until we have sustained inflation – something we haven’t had in about 35 years, the economy can handle every dollar we throw at it with (almost) nothing but good effects.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  161. 161.

    Central Planning

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Happy Easter Monday (which we United Statesians don’t celebrate)!

    Some do. It’s Dyngus Day in Buffalo. I’ve never been, but I want to go just to check out my crazy ancestral history.

  162. 162.

    artem1s

    @Technocrat:

    My daughter has strong opinions about the Clinton Era and she was an infant when he was in office. Reagan is just a generically bad Republican to her.

    my experience with Raygun and Clinton babies is they uniformly have been trained to spit out GOP CDS talking points.  Lately the line is Bill caused the banking crash in 2009 – not W or a GOP Congress or even hedge fund mismanagement.  Doesn’t matter whether they are Dems, Independents, or GOP voters.  It’s the same BS the media has been churning out for decades – first against Carter then Bill and the Killary.

    The Clintons taught the DNC and the DCCC how to raise big money and the GOP wants Dems to unilaterally disarm their fundraising apparatus.  It doesn’t matter who is the darling rose twitter favorite of the day.  If they start to succeed at their jobs or pose a threat by appealing to traditionally big GOP donors, they will be forever branded as NEOLIBERAL.  Or whatever scare label the GOP (and the Kochs) comes up with next. There is no clear definition of the term so it means whatever the GOP wants it to mean.  It has no more substance than TeaParty.

    Can anyone honestly believe that Bill is a supporter of supply side economics?  Or Hillary? Nancy? Joe?  What they are is supportive of is BiPOC and LBGTQ and getting access to the big institutions and opportunities traditionally reserved for Whites.  Anyone who is screeching NEOLIBERAL on twitter is repeating a GOP racist dogwhistle.

  164. 164.

    Soprano2

    @L85NJGT: Concrete sewer pipes will last forever.

    Come sit by me, six feet away, while I watch CCTV inspections of concrete pipe with exposed rebar, or that is obviously crumbling. Concrete pipe does not last “forever”. The solution for a lot of it is to line it with a good CIPP liner. I doubt that’s “forever” either, but it does add structural stability and the companies claim it has a 50 year life. We’ve got some that was done in the 1980’s and so far have no problems with it.

  165. 165.

    cain

    @Soprano2: ​
     
    I for one would love to see those old trains in Chicago and New York modernized. Especially Chicago – ugh those MTA trains are so ugly and an eyesore.

  166. 166.

    Soprano2

    @L85NJGT: The issue is remediation of combined sewer systems. They are clustered in the urban northeast and midwest, and dump raw sewage into local waterways during heavy rain events.

    Yep, combined sewers are a real problem. Luckily we don’t have them here, although I think St. Louis has some. Unfortunately, they were designed to dump that sewage in local waterways during heavy rain events, under the philosophy that the solution to pollution is dilution. We know better now, but those cities are stuck with those systems until they can be separated. That would be an excellent use of the infrastructure funds, because those repairs are EXPENSIVE. Lots worse than what we have here.

  167. 167.

    Ruckus

    @Jeffery:

    I’m going to hurt myself laughing that they will every get the idea that having more money than they can spend in 20 or 100 lifetimes no matter how hard they try is anything but the only way to live and how special they are that they can afford to buy anything without even thinking about it, and fuck everyone else in the world.

  169. 169.

    mrmoshpotato

    @artem1s:

    Lately the line is Bill caused the banking crash in 2009 – not W or a GOP Congress or even hedge fund mismanagement. 

    Wow.  Just wow.

  170. 170.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @Geminid: @OzarkHillbilly:

    As Missouri Republicans get more and more Trumpy and hostile to the metropolitan areas, I have hope the suburbs will slowly turn blue. They’ve were more purple tinted these last two election cycles than they have been in a while. That is the most I can hope for. Rural Missouri was (and still is) enthusiastically pro-Trump.

  174. 174.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Ruckus: I’ve always wondered how much money would be enough for these ultra-rich fuckers who just need massive tax cuts.

  175. 175.

    Ruckus

    @Amir Khalid:

    Same as he thinks about any issue. All that money should go into his and his sponsor’s pockets. Any other location is just wrong.

  176. 176.

    J R in WV

    @burnspbesq: ​

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I loved going barefoot until Spouse found a dead scorpion in the family room.

    How did a dead Republican sneak into your family room?

    You know you deserve that scorpion, it’s payback for moving to TX.

    I hate TX more than plumbing — wait, I take that back, nothing is as bad as a plumbing problem.

    Our kitchen sink is draining really slow… might be a Republican stuck in there somehow…!?

  177. 177.

    Ruckus

    @mrmoshpotato:

    It is a simple answer. Really.

    ALL OF IT.

    Repeat after me. ALL OF IT. Every last fucking dime, nickel and penny. No one else deserves any of it.

  178. 178.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @L85NJGT: ​

    Watch what they do rather than what they say.

    The KY legislature just changed the Senate vacancy appointment law.

    Which means McConnell thinks he’s at risk of a health problem removing him from his seat, and that McConnell is not acting out of personal greed, but an ideal he wants to see continued after his death. That ideal is “You will all suffer for this.”

  181. 181.

    Soprano2

    @Steeplejack (phone):  Yep, I’m in Springfield, MO. I’ve lived in this part of the country my whole life, which is why I laugh at anyone who says I just don’t understand Trump voters. I’m surrounded by them everywhere I go!

  182. 182.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Ksmiami: Hear hear!  To hell with Moscow Mitch and a health problem removing him from his seat.  Fate can do better.

  185. 185.

    mali muso

    @Soprano2: My sympathies as well. I had the misfortune to spend the last two of my high school years in Camdenton. I have not had the urge to return since I left in the late 90s.​
    ​
    ​

  186. 186.

    Soprano2

    Thanks for the sympathies, but it can be much worse. I grew up in a small town about 25 miles from here, population around 1,000. Again, when they say I don’t know anything about Trump voters, I just laugh and laugh and laugh. Shoot, my mother probably voted for him (I engage in don’t ask/don’t tell with her when it comes to politics)!! Springfield isn’t that bad, it’s slowly getting better as it’s grown and more people have moved here.  You would be surprised at what it’s like now compared with 20 years ago. The City Council was extremely smart about Covid, which makes them different than any other town around here and the state. They even have a concrete plan about how to remove restrictions that’s based on metrics, which is one reason those pundits saying “just a little bit longer” piss me off so much, because I know it’s possible to talk about the actual metrics that are needed to lift restrictions!

  187. 187.

    L85NJGT

    @Soprano2:

    Well maybe not forever, but some of those Roman pours have lasted a really long time. I believe rebar is the issue, rather than the concrete.

  188. 188.

    Soprano2

    @L85NJGT: The issue is hydrogen sulfide, and other gases that are in the sewer that break down the concrete. We had a terrible overflow quite a few years ago when the liner in a concrete force main failed, and the sewage just ate that pipe like it was nothing. A pipe that was supposed to last 50 years failed after just a few because of that.

  190. 190.

    cain

    @mrmoshpotato:

    I suppose the same will be done for Obama. A Dem pres always seems to take over after a dumpster fire the Republicans have caused.

    I can never understand we can’t keep power despite all these successes.

  191. 191.

    cain

    @mrmoshpotato: ​
     
    My bad, yes, I meant CTA.. for some reason it was MTA in my head – I should know better given I grew up with Chicago only 1.5 hours away.

  193. 193.

    cain

    @Frankensteinbeck: ​
     

    If a man is seeing his mortality, you’d think he took stock in his life and hope that he handles his affairs given a possible appointment with the Almighty.
    I suspect that he has no religion other than wealth, and if his only care is that Republicans take his seat.. it just shows what a small minded man he is.
    Also, he doesn’t want to spend on infrastructure because he doesn’t want America to be strong – his partner Putin doesn’t want a strong America either.

  195. 195.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Quiltingfool: We took a chimney out of our old house (wasn’t needed anymore); found out the brick chimney was supported by a stack of wood slabs and a wood post.

    This was a not uncommon method of construction at the time. Chimneys caught fire frequently and easily back then and this sort of supporting structure would burn and crumble causing the flaming chimney to collapse away from the rest of the house or it could be pulled away with hooks if the firefighters could get to it in time.

  196. 196.

    Jinchi

    @Amir Khalid: ​
     

    (If he thinks it is extravgance to fix long-neglected highways and bridges, what does he think America should be doing about its infrastructure?)

    Right-wing orthodoxy is that public roads and highways should be handed off to private investors, who can ensure that the investment goes only to necessary areas, like the road from the factory to the airport, and isn’t wasted on frivolous nonsense, like the roads to city neighborhoods.

  198. 198.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @cain: ​

    I suspect that he has no religion other than wealth, and if his only care is that Republicans take his seat..

    If he has no religion other than his wealth, he wouldn’t give a fluff what happens to his seat. Après moi le deluge. That you see in someone like Trump and Putin.
    McConnell has a cause. It’s an evil cause, but he cares about it. I don’t know why it’s difficult for people to think a major political figure’s primary motivation could be hate.

  199. 199.

    J R in WV

    @L85NJGT:

    Concrete sewer pipes will last forever. The issue is remediation of combined sewer systems….

    The GOP no spend alternative is Cholera outbreaks.

    I have to differ. Concrete sewer pipes have iron reinforcement material inside, which rusts and swells eventually —  this is the same way bridges fail, the re-bar rusts and swells, shattering the concrete. So while long lasting, not nearly forever. You’re correct about needing separate storm water drain systems, or course.

    Also, creating Portland cement for concrete construction is a huge energy hog, and puts a shit ton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere on top of the fuel combusted in the process. IIRC heating and grinding limestone into Portland cement releases most of the CO2 in the limestone, on top of the fuel used to heat the giant drum full of limestone. Google teaches us burning limestone [ CaCO3 -> CaO + CO2 released as a waste byproduct ] and so to produce 4,000 millions tons of cement annually about 1,500 million tons of CO2 is released…

  200. 200.

    gvg

    @TS (the original): ​
     I know it was partly racism, but always remember time chronology and memory matter. We white democrats noticed what happened with Obama and the republicans and are almost as mad and cynical as black democrats. Biden got to see it close up. We don’t want to allow the GOP to screw us again. Notice also that democrats are sticking together a lot better. That was also true after the primaries when almost all the other candidates became very active supporters of Biden and I think they were much more careful in the primaries to not attack each other in a way that gave republicans a later opening.

  201. 201.

    J R in WV

    @Mel: ​
     

    @burnspbesq: Google “assassin bug.”

    That’s the critter that cured my 5 decades long barefoot habit.

    “assassin bug.” Looks like that would do it — ouch!

    When I was a little tyke, running in the yard, stomping my tiny feet as little kids do, I landed upon a twig from a big locust tree nearby. These locust trees have long strong thorns, one of which plunged through my foot. Bits came out of the top of my foot later on.

    Was a very long time before I was barefoot anywhere but the apron of the tiny concrete pond next door at granddad’s house. Wore shoes to walk over next door, to walk up to the grandparent’s house, everywhere. Still do, esp outside. So many thorns in the woods… Not to mention bees, wasps, etc.

    No scorpions in WV, tho!!! Thankfully!

  202. 202.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio

    @Baud: Jim Cooper will be very hard to beat. He delivers.
    He calls himself “fiscally conservative”, but he’s a reliable vote in the D column without a lot of arm-twisting or dramatics.
    I’m not sure she’d win in the general if she did take out Cooper; Nashville looks blue compared to the rest of Tennessee that isn’t Memphis, but it’s blue-violet at best.

  206. 206.

    The Moar You Know

    I don’t know why it’s difficult for people to think a major political figure’s primary motivation could be hate.

    @Frankensteinbeck: Reagan’s was.  He hated this nation, everyone in it who wasn’t one of his Hollywood pimp pals, and every freedom it offered to anyone who wasn’t already white, male and rich.

    People and historians always talk about Nixon being the hater, but he hated specific people, not America.  Reagan hated America both as an ideal and a reality.

  207. 207.

    NotMax

    @citizen dave

    Of course aware of that (long time appreciator of the classic Lotte Lenya version in German, the version sung by Bertolt Brecht which Ernie Kovacs regularly incorporated into his program for blackout bits a close second).

    Orchestra I linked above is from Venezuela, so something in the description of the video may have gotten lost in translation, bypassing that it is an orchestration based on the jazzier arrangement written for Darin.

    Dick Clark had advised Darin not to record the song because of the perception that, having come from an opera, it would not appeal to the rock and roll audience; he subsequently acknowledged his error. Frank Sinatra, who recorded the song with Quincy Jones on his L.A. Is My Lady album, called Darin’s the “definitive” version. Source

    Incidentally, here’s a rare recording of Lotte Lenya and Louis Armstrong beltin’ it out.

  208. 208.

    Ruckus

    @Xavier:

    If it had ever reached the stage of a plan, do you really think that would have made any difference? Wouldn’t the plan have the value of warm dog shit, I mean considering who would have come up with it?

  209. 209.

    Geminid

    @J R in WV: Analysts say concrete production accounts for 8% of the world’s man-made greenhouse gases. Work is being done to reduce concrete production’s carbon footprint, but some is irreducible. Although alternate materials can be substituted for concrete in some instances.

    This is one of several reasons I am skeptical of proposals to replace much of air transport with high speed rail. That would take a whole lot of concrete and steel, whose carbon footprint needs to be counted. And carbon neutral jet fuel is available. It costs three times more than regular fuel, but it’s cost will come down.

    I believe that a climate package proposed by Democrats last fall called for gradually phasing in carbon neutral fuel for air transport. Congressional Democrats will likely introduce a package of energy initiatives this by June. I’ll be interested in how they treat air transport.

  210. 210.

    Ruckus

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I think you are pretty spot on about him.

    He brings no value to anything he touches except his own wallet. He is a selfish, racist asshole, IOW a fine republican.

  212. 212.

    joel hanes

    @L85NJGT:

    Roman concrete =/= modern Portland concrete

    It’s a different material, and lasts much longer, but is much less convenient to make and transport.

  213. 213.

    Ruckus

    @Another Scott:

    This is true, Forbes is the manual for the race to the bottom.

    An nice thing they do though is to name the richest 400 people in the country so that we know who to blame. They say that the wealthiest 600+ are all billionaires. Also the durning the pandemic the Forbes 600+ billionaires gained $434B in net worth. I didn’t see any mention of how many lower worth people lost jobs/income during the pandemic but it seems like it’s more than 600+ individuals/families. I like that I earn less in a year than most of them make in a minute, actually it’s likely far less.

  214. 214.

    Mel

    @J R in WV: Wow, yes, getting spiked by a locust tree hurts! I got one through the skin between my index finger and thumb when I was five or six, and still have a scar.

    I was a barefoot farm kid and stepped on about everything a kid steps on or in – briars, pinch beetles, broken glass, yellow jackets, poison ivy, you name it- but that assassin bug packed a wallop!

    We always called them “wheel bugs” when I was a kid. Such a disarming moniker for such a diabolical little creature. The odd part is that they were everywhere on our farm and my grandparents place, but I didn’t get zapped by one until decades later, in my tiny backyard urban garden in the city.

  215. 215.

    citizen dave

    @NotMax: Thanks for all this, especially the Louis and Lotte Lenya duet.  I did not know about that one.

    Found a one-time version from Tom Waits at a 1987 Berlin show on youtube.

  217. 217.

    Geminid

    @evodevo: I think the Romans had volcanic material near at hand. Much of Latium was covered with ash from volcanos that were active not that long in geologic time before the Romans showed up.

    Romans did a lot of building with thick terracotta tile bedded in their strong cement, coursed like we course brick.

  218. 218.

    Tall Tom

    @John S.: I live in Knoxville, because it is where I found work.  The main attractions are that it is a mid-size city, moderate climate, access to mountains & lakes, college town, with no significant traffic issues, low property taxes, & TN has no income taxes.  The down side is that the state is under Rethuglican control, and everything that goes along with it.

  219. 219.

    billcinsd

    @Geminid: Both Donnelly and McCaskill were greatly aided in 2012 by opponents that opened their mouths and said stupid things. Donnelly’s opponent said, ” “life is that gift from God that I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.”

    Clinton, well really his economic team, absolutely shares some of the blame for the 2008 crash … or did you all forgot how they sidelined Brooksley Born’s attempt to regulate derivatives and derivative swaps

  220. 220.

    Geminid

    @billcinsd: McCaskill’s ads even helped the hapless Todd Akin succeed in his nomination contest in 2012.  But she had already won that seat in 2006, and she went down fighting in 2018.

    My point was, though, that the Indiana Senate seat Donnelly lost to Mike Braun in 2018 may be winnable by Buttegieg in 2024. Braun is mediocre even for a Republican. Pete Buttegieg seems like an astute politician, though, and he’ll judge better than I whether that seat is worth a shot.

    I haven’t said anything about Bill Clinton’s culpability for the Great Recession. But as you have raised Clinton’s inaction on a proposal to regulate derivatives, I would just point out that George Bush had seven years to attend to this problem. So I would debit this and other failures that led to the recession to his account. And I think the Federal Reserve kept interest rates too low after 2002.

    But I am no economist, and have only general knowledge of the causes of that recession. I just know that I was hit pretty hard economically, and that others with more to lose were hurt far worse.

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