Democrats trying to save Republicans.pic.twitter.com/Wp5T33insN
— ??Powerful Mel Ankoly ?? #ForThePeople (@Mel_Ankoly) April 18, 2021
Proof of concept:
It's difficult to run against a popular president who just funneled a massive amount of stimulus into the economy to help the country recover from the pandemic.
Republicans are increasingly becoming vocal about their predicament.https://t.co/QcheRg3qsP
— Politics Insider (@PoliticsInsider) April 18, 2021
Madam Vice President:
Spotted at the National Arboretum this morning, @VP and @SecondGentleman. Tipster says they weren’t recognized by others. pic.twitter.com/Ys1hE8PNyZ
— Christopher Cadelago (@ccadelago) April 18, 2021
New this evening: VPOTUS headed to N.C. tmrw to deliver her first major speech on the economy. She'll also tout the admin's $20 billion EV school bus plan, highlighting her policy footprint that threads through the far-reaching infrastructure proposal > https://t.co/dTlwVADI2B
— Jacqueline Alemany (@JaxAlemany) April 18, 2021
Science!
gotta shake that dust off the rotors. let's do this https://t.co/nvC7Z4NTyR
— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) April 19, 2021
Baud
Wright Brothers — Mars Edition.
indycat32
I just had a $4000 vet bill because my cat Ollie at thread. My vet suggested I might want to get pet insurance. I’m asking for recommendations, please and thank you.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
?????
Holy Shit!
S. Cerevisiae
The first flight was a success! Congrats to NASA and JPL and yay science!
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Baud
@S. Cerevisiae:
Glad to see a Juicer finally get her due.
Baud
MJ “both sides” the Democratic and Republican primaries as promoting “extremes.”
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@indycat32:
Site moderator Watergirl has always recommended “Pet Plan”
debbie
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
Just wow. I wish we would stick with robotics. They provide so much more information.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@Baud:
well known extremists like Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton
NotMax
FYI long read, the quadrennial Global Trends report compiled by the National Intelligence Council published last month (.pdf file), laying out trends and scenarios of perceived import applicable to the upcoming twenty years.
TL;DR taste: Have pulled three pages with a conspectus of discrete topics as an overview. #1 – #2 – #3
Shall refrain from going on with my own reaction to specific parts of the contents, as this is not the venue for what would end up being a veritable wall of long paragraphs.
NotMax
@Baud
Fly Barsoom Air.
Baud
We’ll be at war with the Belters before we know it!
John S.
What’s up with that Qinnipiac poll up top? That’s one hell of an outlier.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone ???
rikyrah
@indycat32: $4000???
Dorothy A. Winsor
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: I just saw a tweet about a Lin Wood presentation saying the Bidens, Obamas, Clintons, and Bushes are all involved in sex trafficking. See? He’s bipartisan!
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Dorothy A. Winsor
We saw our son and DIL on Saturday for the first time in a year. DIL has been teaching kindergarten on zoom. She says the 5 year olds have figured out how to put backgrounds on their zoom, so she had to make rules. I need a 5 year old to come to my house and explain how to do digital stuff.
WereBear
That’s almost as tricky as human health insurance. I suggest getting an estimate and break out a spreadsheet: if you had gotten insurance when you got the cat, how would it have broken down over time?
My cats stay inside and I space out their well cat visits and vaccinations, partly because vet visits are such stressors for cats. It can be a better choice for dogs since they don’t mind a car ride, and they go out, being exposed to stuff.
If you have one or two cats and you build it into the budget of care expenses, it can give one piece of mind and a clear head about care decisions. So, might be worth it.
I don’t have a comfortable budget that way, and always multiple cats, so I spend on the best food and a cat fountain, keep close watch on their mood and behavior to catch stuff early, and have honed my vet-questioning skills so I get the best info from them as I make certain kinds of decisions.
germy
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
No mention of Matt Gaetz?
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Ingenuity’s mind blowing success reminds me of the jaw dropping journey and accomplishments of science as seen in the opening of Enterprise (video)
Dorothy A. Winsor
@germy: You jest.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Seriously, people should keep their children away from Lin Wood. It’s always projection.
rikyrah
60 Minutes (@60Minutes) Tweeted:
“There are racial disparities in health in the United States. Over 200 Black people die prematurely every single day,” says Harvard public health professor David Williams. He’s spent a quarter-century researching the impact of racism on health.
Link
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
That’s like the wretchedest specimen of morning Wood ever.
//
rikyrah
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
?????
I bet it was wonderful ?
rikyrah
And The Tweet Goes On (@lacadri34) Tweeted:
If you didn’t expect Ronald Reagan or Herbert Walker Bush to end racism, you had no business expecting this of Obama. Black people are not the authors or benefactors of white supremacy. It’s your job to dismantle white supremacy so we can try to be black in peace. You’re welcome. https://twitter.com/lacadri34/status/1383949751687647232?s=20
WereBear
@germy: Every accusation is a confession.
Also, these wild conspiracy theories always have anti-Semitism at the bottom of that rabbit hole. It puts a lot into perspective that way.
Amir Khalid
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
That is, he’s delusional in a bipartisan way. I’m wondering why he still has a law licence.
rikyrah
The Hill (@thehill) Tweeted:
Former GOP operative installed as NSA top lawyer under Trump resigns after being placed on leave https://t.co/tbKVCx8QA4 https://t.co/iwualu3ODt https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1384111056000221194?s=20
germy
raven
@indycat32: We have used Embrace for 14 years, they are good.
Try this site.
rikyrah
Name a Special Prosecutor
Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) Tweeted:
You’ve gotta wonder about the motivations of members of Congress opposing a robust commission to investigate the insurrection on January 6th.
Ok, no you don’t. It’s kinda obvious. https://twitter.com/CREWcrew/status/1384113791739203584?s=20
Dorothy A. Winsor
@rikyrah: It was amazing. In one way, it felt odd to be sitting in someone else’s house without a mask, sharing a meal, chatting. I another way, it felt like we’d always been doing this.
prostratedragon
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Yaaaay!!
WereBear
@Dorothy A. Winsor: It was just a couple of weeks ago I had a nightmare about being fored into a crowd and no one was wearing masks.
raven
@WereBear: We spent $50k on Raven’s cancer. That’s when we got it on Bohdi but Lil Bit, who costs us thousands, was uninsurable.
Kristine
@germy: I take that to mean that he didn’t realize that they were going to shout each and every quiet part from the rooftops. Or maybe he’s trying to head off findings from Jan 6. Or both.
Immanentize
@rikyrah: I guess the NSA was wrapping up their security review of Ellis’ handling of classified information.
Today is a holiday in Massachusetts! Oh joy.
germy
My wife and I watched this yesterday, and something felt off. Then I see this thread today:
Immanentize
@raven: We need Obamacare (Biden care?) For pets.
NotMax
@Immanentize
Patriots’ Day candy half price tomorrow!
:)
WereBear
@raven: Yes, if we can build it into the budget when we get the pet, it can be really useful.
zhena gogolia
@germy:
Martha Raddatz sucks so bad.
raven
@Immanentize: Well, there have been such great advances in vet med but they ain’t cheap. The ultrasound to determine that it was time to let Lil Bit go was $3k. We don’t have kids so we’ve gone all in but I know not everyone can take that path.
Ohio Mom
Indy cat:
$4,000 — ouch! Glad your cat is better. I have a vague memory of Watergirl talking about pet insurance.
ETA: I see someone else answered you first. I’m relieved my memory still appears to be working.
Immanentize
@NotMax: do you bite the head off the chocolate Paul Revere or the horse legs first?
rikyrah
Looking for the lie ??
See none
EJ Dionne (@EJDionne) Tweeted:
The Obama years taught Dems that Republicans aren’t staking out one position today to lay the groundwork for reaching a mutually agreeable compromise tomorrow. Rather, many Dems figure the GOP will just string them along & then give them no votes
My column https://t.co/EAW2rnKYbm https://twitter.com/EJDionne/status/1383957958682288131?s=20
germy
@WereBear:
I had a different dream. I found myself in a large store. Everyone else was masked. I realized to my horror that I’d left my mask at home.
germy
@zhena gogolia:
She always has a look of terrified panic when she reports anything any Democrat does anywhere.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@WereBear: It’s going to take us a while to get over this
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Immanentize: I know it’s Patriot’s Day but there aren’t really chocolate Paul Revere’s, are there?
germy
Immanentize
@Dorothy A. Winsor: In the better multiverse there are!
Soprano2
They did the smart thing – they made it unbearable for him to stay. He never should have been appointed in the first place.
rikyrah
The Hill (@thehill) Tweeted:
Republicans are sounding the alarm that divisive candidates running across the country could cost them key Senate and gubernatorial races next year. https://t.co/bcyo5lz4s0 https://t.co/f8cMLLThiv https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1384117104421457925?s=20
Kay
@rikyrah:
Well, Republicans in congress are now saying they’ll support “600 to 800 billion” infrastructure but if they won’t support a tax increase that’s not even a real offer- they have to repeal some of Trump’s massive tax giveaway and they cannot do that.
What they want is for Democrats to raise taxes and then they get to spend the money.
Kristine
@raven: thanks for the review site link. I have a policy from Trupanion for Gaby, and the latest reviews I read were good ones.
I have insurance mainly to cover that one huge bill, like the surgery and chemo for King when he was diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma. I had ASPCA insurance for him, and while they were easy to deal with, the policy I had set an upper limit of $3000 per incident and 180 days between treatments for the same diagnosis. Trupanion is different in that they set a deductible per condition/diagnosis, but after that they cover that condition regardless of how many times it recurs.
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
Wouldn’t Revere-shaped tea biscuits be more in the spirit?
:)
germy
@Immanentize:
I have this image of Anderson giving a complicated powerpoint presentation on Administrative friction and administrative lubrication — Pet Health insurance edition (while my cat watches, her anxiety increasing).
rikyrah
???
Zach Everson (@Z_Everson) Tweeted:
“Trump’s Florida clubs remain a must stop for Republican stars and hopefuls alike. The GOP’s fealty to the former president doesn’t just inflate his ego, of course. It also pads his bottom line.”
me for @NBCNewsTHINK
https://t.co/4cbH6ZK8dx https://twitter.com/Z_Everson/status/1384115484266663936?s=20
germy
rikyrah
All the while their Orange Savior is VACCINATED and has been since December ??
Danielle Ivory (@danielle_ivory) Tweeted:
The @nytimes analyzed vaccine data for nearly every US county.
We found COVID vaccination rates were lower, on average, in areas where most residents voted for Donald Trump in 2020, even controlling for factors like population density and education.
https://t.co/UnBg4L4MHJ https://twitter.com/danielle_ivory/status/1383424851856138248?s=20
mrmoshpotato
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: You forgot that hippie anarchist, Jimmy Carter!
Soprano2
What they have said they want is for Democrats to raise the hated gas tax, which is regressive, so they can campaign against that in 2022. Now the gas tax needs to be raised and be indexed to inflation, but that has nothing to do with paying for this bill.
rikyrah
Jesse McKinley (@jessemckinley) Tweeted:
NEW @SienaResearch poll this morning shows @NYGovCuomo
favorability sliding deeper underwater – 40-52% – down 16 points from Feb. Lowest of decade-long tenure.
Silver lining: 51% still say he should not resign, up 1 point. 37% say he should, up 2. https://twitter.com/jessemckinley/status/1384107335463817218?s=20
Immanentize
@NotMax: Paul Revere cookies actually can be had around here I think.
Maybe….
Immanentize
@germy: Dog says, “Silver! Shiny! Take silver!”
Kay
@Soprano2:
It shouldn’t be Democrats job to raise revenue and then Republicans job to determine how its spent.
Unless they’re willing to raise revenue they shouldn’t be part of any “600 to 800 billion” spending proposal. Two trillion plus increased revenue is more responsible than 800 billion with no increased revenue.
rikyrah
@Kay:
When. Asked where they got the number for their offer, they admitted that there was no rhyme or reason to it. They pulled it out of the air.
Bad faith actors all day long ??
indycat32
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Thanks. My attempt at searching the site resulted in a lot of Mayhew/Anderson posts.
NotMax
@germy
“There will be a wait of a few extra minutes while the software downloads to reprogram the nanobots for Español.”
//
Steeplejack (phone)
@germy:
Interesting thread. Thanks.
mrmoshpotato
@Immanentize: ? You bite the horse’s ass first! Everyone knows this!
Kay
I used the free tax preparation software from the links on the IRS site last night to prepare my son’s tax return- he only had 4100 in AGI because he’s a high school student, but it was easy to get to and it’s promoted right on the IRS site. Free state return too.
You’ll recall that the big tax preparation companies were hiding the free option- NPR reported on it and there was outcry and a couple of lawsuits – so I’m glad it’s fixed and it works now. Easy. If you’re under 72k in income and you have an uncomplicated return you should be able to file free.
Soprano2
@Kay: Oh, no doubt. I read that this is the trick they’re trying to pull – get Democrats to raise an unpopular tax, vote for the bill and take credit for it, then depend on voter’s poor memories and campaign against the unpopular tax they told Democrats to raise! I have confidence Democrats aren’t falling for it – they can read polls like everyone else.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: No. No, señor. Not on, those, trays. Uno, dos, tres.
Kay
@rikyrah:
I noticed that too. The number. “Only 6% is infrastructure!” – apparently the found some more infrastructure if they’re supporting 800 billion.
Soprano2
@Kay: It stuns me how many people who could have filed the 1040EZ form when it still existed paid a tax preparer $50 because they were so afraid of the IRS. People really believe that if they make a math error on the tax form the IRS is going to throw them in jail, rather than correct the error and send them a notice about it. If you’re computer literate at all you can file the free forms as long as you taxes are uncomplicated.
indycat32
@raven: Thanks. Helpful site. Don’t know why it didn’t come up on my search yesterday.
Kay
@Soprano2:
Democrats have a popular tax hike- the proposal to raise the tax rate on corporations is popular. Why they would veer off into a gas tax is beyond me.
Geminid
I see that Vice President Harris travels to Greensboro and High Point, NC, today. She will make a speech on the economy at Guilford Community Technical College, then tour an electric school bus factory. Electric school buses are among the most attractive initiatives in the administration’s infrastructure plan. Once people understand that kids will breath cleaner air, every district that can use them will want them. Life-cycle costs of electric buses are less than those of diesel buses, so the transition is a matter of financing. Also, Cummins Engines is developing an electric drivetrain package with which to retrofit existing buses and trucks.
On Friday, VP Harris is heading to New Hampshire for more events. Like North Carolina, New Hampshire is a purple state with an important Senate race coming next year.
Soprano2
@Kay: Oh yeah, it’s just Republicans trying to bribe Democrats into raising a tax that doesn’t affect their biggest donors by saying “We’ll give the press the opportunity to write that story about how bipartisan your bill is if you just do this one little thing”. I think Democrats will go ahead with the original plan, because they’ve already seen that they don’t need Republican votes in order for the American public to be happy with the results.
Baud
@Kay:
I can only assume the push is coming from climate advocates.
Of course, even if they don’t raise the gas tax, the Republicans will
linelie about the Dems raising the gas tax. But it’s still better that they don’t.Raven
I@indycat32: I also wanted to say that I did a couple of reviews on that site and they did a thorough verification before they used them.
Kay
@Baud:
An increase in the gas tax was already pre-demonized because oil companies ran a huge ad campaign when Obama was proposing climate change legislation. It was all over Ohio, tv, radio, signage. They had stickers on gas pumps. These people have to pay attention to how their issues are being portrayed outside liberal circles. They’re professional advocates. They shouldn’t be caught off guard so much.
Geminid
@Baud: There’s not much point in raising gas taxes when more and more electric cars will be using the same roads as petroleum powered cars. Although some may like the punitive aspect.
In his March 2019 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists article titled “We Need a Better Green New Deal,” U. Mass. economist Robert Pollin dicusses carbon taxes among other topics. He’s concluded that carbon taxes may not be worth their political cost, especially when government mandates, such as state renewable electrical generation mandates, can accomplish the same goals. Pollin did see merit in using revenue from a modest carbon tax to fund clean energy initiatives, especially research and development.
The Pollin article, actually an interview of Pollin by a Bulletin editor, is well worth reading. Pollin has focused on the clean energy transition since 2008, and helped write several state’s renewable energy plans.
Kay
@Geminid:
I feel like there’s an aspect of “not keeping up” operating here. Alternatives are exploding and they’re mainstream. One of the largest commercial contractors in Ohio has an entire part of the business devoted to building for alternatives.
In my 70% Trump town they are expanding the solar field they built with Obama stimulus money. Completely uncontroversial. The dumbest Trump meme was his ridiculously out of touch rant on “ind mills”. Wind turbines are conventional now. It’s a huge industry. They may still be opposing them on NIMBY grounds in Martha’s vineyard or whatever, but that’s not the reality in most of the country. They are absolutely accepted in “lunch bucket” circles because they’re working at turbine jobs. Already.
It isn’t 2012.
WaterGirl
@indycat32: Sorry to hear of your adventure with Ollie, but glad Ollie is still with us!
There are pre-existing conditions with pet insurance, so your best bet is to get the pet insurance as soon as you get a new pet. I call Pet Plan to get things going before I bring them home, and i believe there is a 2-day waiting period.
But that way you’re covered for whatever happens. If Ollie’s 4k adventure is not a chronic condition, it won’t matter, but if it is a chronic condition, it is likely/possible that it won’t be covered.
I have had all my guys covered with Pet Plan since the beginning of 2010. Henry had ACL surgery 3 years ago for $3,500, and between the deductible and the copay, it cost me $500 out of pocket.
Pet Pla
edit: With my financial situation, I can much more easily put out the money for pet insurance on a regular basis – as opposed to having to put out a huge chunk of money when something happens.
After I lost my kitty soulmate, I swore that never again would I have to factor in the cost when deciding about treatment.
WaterGirl
@Soprano2: It’s the little people who get screwed by the IRS. I don’t blame people for being worried about that.
Ken
I thought his name was linked to it because he signed it. Was I mistaken, or is Gosar a con artist’s dream come true? “Just a standard contract, no need to read it, sign here…”
Ken
They should be rewarded by becoming a standard case study in journalism ethics courses.
Ken
Well, they need to get out of there, and back to the coal mines, the way God intended the US to meet its energy needs.
indycat32
@WaterGirl: I’m hoping eating thread isn’t a recurring thing with him. But then, he ignored thread on my machine for two years and then suddenly decided it looked tasty. Needless to say, all thread is now hidden away in a container a cat cannot open (fingers crossed – they’re sneaky little devils).
Betty
@Baud: You know they are talking about AOC and friends.
Citizen Alan
@germy: That is literally what the phrase “the banality of evil” is talking about.
WaterGirl
@indycat32: Yikes! While you’re at it, if any ribbon of any kind is where he can get at it, please lock that away, too. Especially the kind of ribbon that you can curl with scissors – that can shred their insides.
WereBear
@indycat32: In case it’s helpful, I have an article about cat pica:
Cats and Hair Ties, or What is Pica?
J R in WV
@rikyrah:
Oh, Please… Oh PLEASE~!!!!~
StringOnAStick
@indycat32: We have a cat with chewing issues so we’ve learned to never leave anything made of fabric out where she can get to it. Clothes are always put away, closets always closed, towel bars mounted very high (she loves chewing towels), and a king size sheet as a bedspread that is tucked in on all 4 sides when we aren’t in bed. We don’t know if she’s growing out of it (3.5 year old orphaned at 2 weeks) or if we’ve learned how to keep things away from her. We’re hoping that the longer she goes without chewing something, the less compelled she’ll be eventually.
Uncle Cosmo
@germy: That actually happened to me last week in a Big Lots. First time during the Pandemiconium. I started talking to one of the employees (who was a few yards away) & realized I’d walked in sans mask … so I immediately exited & retrieved one from my car.
germy
@StringOnAStick:
Our cat is a very good girl, but she will chew (and swallow) plastic. She will also chew any electrical cords. I had to replace my macbook power cord because of that. She also leaves bite marks on the actual electric plugs.
I’ve spoken to her about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.
germy
@J R in WV:
I don’t know.
I mean, the former guy was about as divisive as a candidate could be. I remember laughing when he won the 2016 nomination. I thought this meant we’d have Hillary in a landslide.
And then election day happened.
Soprano2
@WaterGirl: Sure, but paying someone else $50 to file your return doesn’t do anything to prevent that. I’m talking about people who are terrified that if they make a math error the IRS is going to haul them to jail! Conservatives have been really successful in making people terrified of the IRS.
indycat32
@StringOnAStick: Ollie hasn’t tried to eat plastic, but he likes to bite it. The edge of my shower curtain is covered in bite marks.
indycat32
@WaterGirl: No ribbon, but every spool of thread, scrap of fabric, anything that might attract him is put away. My house has never been so neat.
Kay
@Ken:
The greener energy people won the argument, but it’s like they don’t know it. Don’t look at Trumpsters “rolling coal” or whatever. Look at the fact that Wal Mart now offers 4 electric lawnmowers.
Mainstream. There are already tons of “green jobs”. They get to move on from Al Gore now, shift to Phase Two or whatever.
Some Democrat needs to run for Congress on a platform that Republicans are killing green jobs, because it’s true.
Kay
@Ken:
We have the ridiculous situation where red states are bristling with “green jobs” and Democrats are like “do you think we can persuade them?”
Done! It already happened. They could literally shift to Republicans as job killers right now and get away with it.
dnfree
@Immanentize: See the Revere Oneida stainless flatware that comes up with your search? We picked it in 1967 when we got married. It still looks good and works fine.
JaneE
Having commuted for years at the same time as school busses whose diesel exhaust had completely and permanently obscured the “school bus” written on the back, I say electric school buses can’t come soon enough.
WaterGirl
@indycat32: Finally a reason to be really neat!
I am also super careful about disposing of dental floss after I floss.
WaterGirl
@indycat32: Mr. Bear loves my shower curtain liners, too! Even the cloth liners!