Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Why did Dr. Oz lose? well, according to the exit polls, it’s because Fetterman won.

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

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

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

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

The revolution will be supervised.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

I really should read my own blog.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

This blog will pay for itself.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

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

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

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / President Biden Delivers Remarks On The Economy

Reader Interactions

118Comments

  1. 1.

    Old School

    Whatever he proposes, obviously it’s too big and needs to be 25% of whatever number it is.

  2. 2.

    Patricia Kayden

    Thank goodness that we now have a rational, calm leader in the White House.  Praying that Manchin and Sinema don’t mess up his plans in the Senate.

  3. 3.

    M31

    hmmmm, what happened after 1979 which made workers not get their share of growth?

    Fuck Ronald Reagan

  8. 8.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yes. Because if she blows shit up, stupid people will once again blame the Democrats for not getting anything done. And the Republicans will take back the House, Senate and the White House. And those same stupid people will be shocked. But it won’t be their fault, oh no.

  9. 9.

    Elizabelle

    @The Thin Black Duke:  I hope Schumer can have a little chat with her about taking away all of Sinema’s committees, should she be thinking of blowing anything up and endangering free and fair elections.

  11. 11.

    Elizabelle

    On second thought, although she worries me, I don’t want to talk shit about Democrats until the Senator proves (s)he cannot be trusted.

    Worry steals from peace of mind, and even joy, and is mostly an unproductive emotion; although it can keep one safe, in some instances.

    I will listen to Biden’s remarks, instead.

  12. 12.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Elizabelle: That’s a good attitude to have and well said, thank you. As a number of commentators previously observed, watching the sausage being made is a long, ugly, laborious and painful slog. The West Wing is a fantasy. I enjoyed it, but I never made the mistake of thinking it was a documentary.

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Elizabelle: I hope Schumer can have a little chat with her about taking away all of Sinema’s committees, should she be thinking of blowing anything up and endangering free and fair elections.

    At which point she switches party, blows everything up and insures her re-election.

  17. 17.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @The Thin Black Duke: @Elizabelle:

    I too want to live by Elizabelle’s good words and accentuate the positive but it only took about 2 minutes down the rathole called the internet to learn that Manchin does not want to “destroy our government” by ending the filibuster (over the 1/6 commission), believing there are 10 Republican votes to be gotten after McConnell has spent the day urging his colleagues to vote against it as a personal favor.

    Broke my optimism bubble right there. Time for a nice long walk!

  19. 19.

    Mike in NC

    Arrived in Key West via catamaran early this afternoon. Walked around for a few hours. The heat and humidity are debilitating.  Might chill out in our rooms until dusk and then go find a place for dinner. Probably do a bus tour tomorrow.

  20. 20.

    cain

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    @cain: Yes, unfortunately. Sinema is a Manchurian Candidate.

    I think Dem Senate people know that – but it seems the rest of the base do not know that – she is definitely going to stab us in the back. I”m not worried about Manchin – I am worried about what Sinema is going to do. I assume she wants to be still be Senator but she should be looking at the stuff going on in Arizona.

    But I’m worried about shit I hear – like Mitch McConnell referencing her in regards to helping stop Biden – see this – https://www.salon.com/2021/05/13/mcconnell-privately-assures-gop-that-kyrsten-sinema-will-kill-bidens-tax-hike-report/

    So you can see that McConnell agrees with us too.

  23. 23.

    Elizabelle

    This was a thread about Biden’s speech today.  It became one on Sinema and how we are likely to get screwed over again, because Democrats cannot win for all the losing we do.

    This is why I don’t come to BJuice much anymore. Utter buzzkill.  Ciao.

  26. 26.

    Ohio Mom

    OT (hat tip to Elizabelle) but I find Biden so very, very loveable. Those little zingers — “Some people have no shame” — delivered in that gentle voice.

    There is something so down-to-Earth about him that blows me away. Down-to-Earth but also so savvy, shrewd and streetwise.

  27. 27.

    cain

    @Elizabelle: There is plenty to celebrate – and Biden is doing a lot of great work – but the Senate is still a source of angst given its composition.

    To put it back on a more positive spin – it’s great that we have someone who has a solid vision of where we want to be today. I’m hopeful about a lot of things. But scared shitless about others.

  30. 30.

    misterpuff

    But I’m worried about shit I hear – like Mitch McConnell referencing her in regards to helping stop Biden – see this – https://www.salon.com/2021/05/13/mcconnell-privately-assures-gop-that-kyrsten-sinema-will-kill-bidens-tax-hike-report/

    So you can see that McConnell agrees with us too.

    McConnell will use any quote to blacken Dem’s eyes. This morning on CNBC he was quoting Fucking Larry Summers as a Democrat that believes Biden’s plan is inflationary.

    Thanks Larry. [eyeroll]

    At least the Undertaker had the manners to call the other side of the aisle “the Democratic Party”.

  31. 31.

    Brachiator

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Thank goodness that we now have a rational, calm leader in the White House.

    I only had time to watch the first part of Biden’s speech. I love that underneath the rational, calm exterior is a good politician who is willing to take on the GOP.

    I absolutely loved that Biden pointed out that Republican politicians are praising aspects of the recently passed relief efforts even though they all voted against it.

    Biden is reminding citizens who really is working for them. And he is doing it without grandstanding or malice.

  35. 35.

    James E Powell

    Biden will probably always be under-appreciated by the press/media and the great mass of voters, even the ones who voted for him.

    Manchin has rigid, unfortunate beliefs that he apparently will never change. Sinema, on the other hand, is a loose cannon who appears not to care whether she will get re-elected. Her standing among AZ Democrats dropped like bag of rocks when she got all loud about being against the minimum wage. She hasn’t done anything to recover.

    Our battlefield is in the counties & states, not the nation. Local Democrats need to be on local media screaming about Republicans standing in the way of Biden & Democrats helping local people.

  36. 36.

    rikyrah

    @Sure Lurkalot:

     

    believing there are 10 Republican votes to be gotten after McConnell has spent the day urging his colleagues to vote against it as a personal favor.

     

    He has to find the 10 Republicans

    or STFU and stop with the bi-partisan bullshyt.

     

    It’s put up or shut up time.

  40. 40.

    WaterGirl

    I’m not so sure that Manchin should be counted out.  He is saying that he thinks there are 10 good Republicans out there who will put country over party – if he doesn’t believe that, then he is already on our side and is posturing and that could possibly will help him win Sinema over when it doesn’t happen.

    If he does believe that there are 10 good Republicans out there, he is most assuredly going to be disappointed, and there’s no one who is more against smoking than a reformed former smoker.

    I do worry about this, but I’m not gonna slit my wrists just yet.

  41. 41.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @James E Powell: Manchin has always left wiggle room in his statements.  He can be against things like filibuster reform until, more in sorrow than anger, his GOP “friends” force him into it.  And he can do it without backtracking.
    Sinema hasn’t left herself that room.  Inexperience?  Inability? Insanity?  She will need to backtrack.  I hope she has the sense to do it.  My guess is that she will.  There will be a come to Jesus meeting where she is told she can be a hero or everything bad that comes down the road will be laid at her feet.  There isn’t a home for her in the GOP.

  42. 42.

    Joe Falco

    @rikyrah:

    This. Manchin needs a fire lit under his butt to find these mythical Republican senators or he can stop this charade and help his fellow Democrats and the nation.

  43. 43.

    Another Scott

    @cain:

    Voting rights are fundamental to our democracy and America is stronger when more people make their voices heard. That’s why we are proud to cosponsor the #ForThePeople Act in the Senate. pic.twitter.com/85Db6qv5rP

    — Kyrsten Sinema (@kyrstensinema) May 26, 2021

    I think we have to be patient and see what happens.

    I heard/saw a bit of a story yesterday that said (roughly, #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement) the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was filibustered for 3 months before the votes appeared to pass it. Yes, things are different now, but the legislative process is slow…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  44. 44.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Joe Falco: Let’s not push too far too fast.  Schumer knows his people.  If he isn’t pressuring them yet, let’s let it run.  Nothing needs to be passed right this minute.

  45. 45.

    Geminid

    @James E Powell: An OHPredictive poll of Arizona registered voters from two weeks ago showed Mark Kelly at +60% among Democrats, and Sinema +28%. So she’s definitely not as strong as Kelly among Democrats there.

    But there have been three important Senate votes so far in this Congress: 1) to convict trump for the January 6 insurrection  2) to organize the Senate with Chuck Schumer as Majority Leader and  3) to pass President Biden’s Covid relief package. Sinema voted right on all three. She still may let Democrats down on this infrastructure package, but I’ll wait till then to cuss her out.

    As for that mininmum wage vote, it was in practical terms a meaningless “voterama” vote. One of my Senators, Mark Warner (VA) also voted no. Although not as flamboyantly.

  47. 47.

    Another Scott

    OT: Speaking of being patient, sometimes it’s really bad to be patient…

    The Pirates radio call is marvelous. pic.twitter.com/Kkptci0PWg

    — Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) May 27, 2021

    OMG. Wow. I haven’t seen a play that bad in a very, very long time.

    (via dick_nixon)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  49. 49.

    Another Scott

    Back on topic:

    I think they feel they can get Manchin and it's largely a charade to give him cover.

    — Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) May 27, 2021

    Could very well be. We have to remember that Manchin has been quite successful as a Democrat in red WV. When we’ve needed him for the big bills, he’s been there.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  50. 50.

    Spinoza Is My Co-pilot

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Yeah, that was some “Round Or Flat, Opinion On Shape Of Earth Differs” bullshit by the WaPo’s fucking WH bureau chief. Our shitty media is a big part of the problem.

  55. 55.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    It is aggravating that the most conservative Dems seem to play Lucy with the football constantly with their own allies. Hopefully they finally let us kick the football in the end though…that finally did happen with Obamacare despite all the dithering from Max Baucus and others of his ilk, and nothing in Biden’s infrastructure bill is as controversial as Obamacare. So there’s hope.

    I’m just not sure what the folks like Manchin and Sinema think they’re gaining by dithering. I guess if they’re asking for pork for their State behind the scenes in return for their vote I can see the point. In Manchin’s case I could even see that happening – he seems like an old school give me earmarks politician. But I’m not sure that’s Sinema’s angle. Mostly the dithering just delays the inevitable and once the vote happens you’re in the same shitty position you have been in if you’d just voted the same way months earlier. Only you’re that much closer to your next election and the vote is not buried as far back in the minds of your constituents as it could have been.

  57. 57.

    Kay

    Well, whatever we get on infrastructure let’s brag about it. People want infrastructure investment and in 6 months they won’t remember all the haggling they’ll just know that Biden got it done and then we can remind them every day that Trump didn’t. Get it done. Just beat that to death.

    Normies don’t follow any of this. All they’ll pay attention to is whether he gets it or not, and even then he’ll have to tell them 10,000 times.

  58. 58.

    Brachiator

    @rikyrah: 

    The Legacy of Food at Southern Gas Stations Is Rooted in Black Survival

    Very interesting article. I did not know about the connection of ESSO gas stations to the Green Book and black employment.

    ExxonMobil’s predecessor, Standard Oil of New Jersey, distributed the book around the country through their Esso service stations as the only major retail distributor of the guide. In the 1940s, more than a third of Esso dealers were black, and the company also employed African-Americans as chemists, pipeline workers, mariners and office clerks.

  59. 59.

    Bruuuuce

    Just saw the list President Biden pulled out, of Republicans who touted ARP Investments after voting against them. He didn’t read it. but an astute photographer caught it in high resolution, and it’s perfectly legible. Next step is calling them out by name — unless the media will do it for us, the way they ought to. And not just these fifteen, but all the doublespeaking wormtongues on their side.

  63. 63.

    trollhattan

    Ida-hijinks.

    Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin (R) “issued an executive order banning mask mandates statewide among state political entities,” KTVB reports.

    “McGeachin is serving as acting governor while Republican Gov. Brad Little (R) is out of state at the Republican Governors Association conference. He’s expected to return Thursday evening.”

    McGeachin is challenging Little in the GOP gubernatorial primary over his handling of the pandemic.

    “I’ll show you, you masking fuckers!”

    Reminds me of Lt Gov Mike Curb who, while serving under Jerry Brown 1.0 did a bunch of hanky panky while Jerry was traveling out of state. This resulted in constitutionally clawing back CA Lt Gov powers to ensure the job description would be henceforth “governor lite.”

    Curb’s an…interesting guy, Christian “rock” producer, pro-gay Republican, supporter of death penalty for drug dealers.

  65. 65.

    Calouste

    @Cameron: Can’t the cruise lines just increase prices 100-fold, and give a 99% discount for passengers who show prove of vaccination? See, no “requirement”.

  67. 67.

    Brachiator

    @trollhattan:

    Reminds me of Lt Gov Mike Curb who, while serving under Jerry Brown 1.0 did a bunch of hanky panky while Jerry was traveling out of state.

    Yep, this was what the Idaho stuff reminded me of.

    Curb had quite a successful music career before he got into politics, everything from commercial jingles to songs used in motion pictures, and including stuff like this for kids.

    Curb wrote and produced music for the Hanna-Barbera animated series “The Cattanooga Cats”. The theme for the cartoon series “Hot Wheels” is credited to Mike Curb and the Curbstones.

    According to the Wiki, Curb is still alive and kicking, age 76.

  69. 69.

    cain

    @James E Powell:

    Our battlefield is in the counties & states, not the nation. Local Democrats need to be on local media screaming about Republicans standing in the way of Biden & Democrats helping local people

    Then all of us should be visiting our local Democratic offices and telling them to get out there and start talking with the press – and continue to hammer the GOP.Bring receipts.

    But you’re absolutely correct that this needs to happen at the very local level if we want to win the nation.

  70. 70.

    Another Scott

    @Cameron: Interesting.

    It looks like they don’t use any other southern US ports besides FL.  I assume they’re calling around…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  71. 71.

    trollhattan

    Vlad doubles down supporting Belarus in a very odd fashion.

    Russia has denied entry to two European airlines because they planned to avoid flying over Belarus to get to Moscow.

    Air France and Austrian Airlines have both had to cancel services after their flight plans were rejected by Russia.

    Some airlines are avoiding Belarusian airspace in protest after the government there forced a Ryanair plane to divert and land in Minsk on Sunday.

    A Belarusian dissident journalist and his girlfriend were then arrested.

    Russia is a strong ally of Belarus, and has remained steadfast in its support of the former soviet nation and its government.

    It is the first move from the Kremlin over the diplomatic conflict between Belarus and Western countries. Russia is yet to comment on whether all flights will be denied entry if they avoid the airspace.

    The European Union and UK have banned Belarusian airlines from flying over their territories, and have said more sanctions are to come, including against Belarus’s president of 27 years, Alexander Lukashenko, and other senior officials.

    The European airspace ban has forced Belarusian carrier Belavia to cancel 12 of its routes until 30 October, according to Reuters news agency. The routes affected are Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, Hanover, Kaliningrad, Milan, Munich, Rome, Vienna and Warsaw.

    A number of European airlines have stopped flying to or over Belarus, a move which directly affects the country’s revenue, because airlines pay to use a country’s airspace, amounting to millions of dollars per year.

    -BBC

    Soooo, “If you not are flying over Belarus territory you also now not are flying to Russia. I’ll show you!”

  72. 72.

    cain

    @Bruuuuce:

    Just saw the list President Biden pulled out, of Republicans who touted ARP Investments after voting against them. He didn’t read it. but an astute photographer caught it in high resolution, and it’s perfectly legible. Next step is calling them out by name — unless the media will do it for us, the way they ought to. And not just these fifteen, but all the doublespeaking wormtongues on their side.

    The media is not going to do it for them – if you want them to talk about it then Biden should be calling them out and say he’s happy to hold a press conference specifically only on that topic. (because we know the media will use it for some other bullshit)

    Same with the House and Senate – message discipline.

  74. 74.

    Cameron

    @Calouste: I like it, provided that no rich RWNJ ponies up the cost for a bunch of anti-vaxers.  After all, there’s nothing more important than owning the libtards.

  75. 75.

    piratedan

    I have no way of knowing which way Sinema is going to go, but she has been running ads in the state media markets regarding her support of the Voting Registration legislation that cleared the House.  So perhaps I am just waiting to see how the votes actually happen and not pay as much attention to what is “reported” or insinuated/implied.

  76. 76.

    Ruckus

    @misterpuff:

    He used Democratic Party because the message is not for the conservative side of the aisle, it’s for us. That’s what he does when he’s trying to turn us against one of ours. Granted she’s a loose cannon that doesn’t always point to the side that brung her, but she’s likely not one of his either. Don’t take his bait.

  77. 77.

    Another Scott

    @trollhattan: Agreed.  I’m just thinking of ways that the cruise line might thumb their nose at him.

    “Come to Savannah and take a magical cruise to …”

    (Unfortunately, it looks like Savannah is mostly a cargo port, with “American Cruise Lines” having a small presence (with relatively tiny ships) there.)

    MoRon DeSantis (h/t Twitter) is going to keep pulling crap like this until he’s slapped down.  What better group to do it than the cruise industry?

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  78. 78.

    Cameron

    @cain: And that list should go to the local Democratic HQ in all of these creatures’ districts.  “If your Representative Cletus Lee Goober thinks that (whatever the district got) is so great, why did he vote against it?”

  81. 81.

    Subsole

     

     

    @trollhattan: In fairness, he probably does view his puppets as part of Great Russia 2.0, and therefore refusing to fly over Belarus is refusing to fly over  Plainrus.

  83. 83.

    Gvg

    @Cameron: one of the CEO’s of the biggest cruise ship line previously said they could sail from non Florida ports, if desantis wouldn’t relent.

  84. 84.

    trollhattan

    @Another Scott: 
    The whole “I support business that think right” would seem fated to bite them in their asses but they keep playing the card anyway. NC and GA are working laboratories of passing legislation so vile it gets companies to detach themselves from the political fence and object, but it’s not a dependable foil. (Has Georgia reversed even one of the recent vote suppression laws?)

    Guessing that as long as they get low taxes, lax environmental regs, and right-to-work laws, most companies will hold their noses when the pro-klan/anti-gay laws get passed.

  85. 85.

    Cameron

    @Gvg: Yeah, Norwegian told him to shove it.  And Miami coughed up $260 million to build Norwegian a new terminal; the mayor is freaking out.

  86. 86.

    misterpuff

    @Ruckus: Not attracted by his bait.

    Just pointing out how the other side uses these “mavericks” (contrary showhorses) to try to drive wedges.

    Unless it speaks to your core principals, you should not be publically voicing “concerns” about other Dems or the Democratic administration.

  87. 87.

    debbie

    How well will Sinema do in the next election cycle with zero funds from the Democrats?

  88. 88.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @debbie: Hopefully, fueled by her self-interest, Sinema will eventually figure out that you “gotta dance with those who done brought you.”

  89. 89.

    Ken

    @Another Scott: What better group to do it than the cruise industry?

    Disney? Or, as they are known in Florida, the Independent and Sovereign Magic Kingdom.

    I also wonder if a little diplomatic pressure might be brought to bear on Panama and the other flag-of-convenience nations.  “Oh, we’re terribly sorry Mr. Governor, but we’re a Liberian vessel, and they require everyone on the ship be vaccinated. As does our insurance company.”

  91. 91.

    Calouste

    @Gvg: I assume the cruise lines looked at the costs of previous virus outbreaks (like noro virus) on board their ships, added one or two zeros at the end, and worked out it was a risk they couldn’t afford.
    Similar IMO to the discussion on a thread yesterday about maskholes being banned from airlines. It doesn’t make sense for these kind of companies to cater to them, because they don’t make more money off them then from a well-behaved passenger, but the asshole carries a significant risk of causing costly issues like delays, diversions, and reputational damage.

  92. 92.

    Kay

    Ryan Struyk
    @ryanstruyk
    ·4h
    Six in 10 Americans (59%) think the Republican Party is not acting in the best interests of democracy via new Quinnipiac poll just out.

    Guffaw. Agreed.
    The poll is infuriating. Almost 70% support Roe – right to choose- but the dopes also believe it won’t be overturned, which perhaps explains a lot – complacent on that.

  95. 95.

    Kay

    63, not 68 but still.

    Americans agree 63 – 28 percent with the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that established a woman’s right to an abortion.
    A majority of Americans, 61 – 28 percent, say they do not think it’s likely that the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that established a woman’s right to choose an abortion will be overturned within the next few years.

    So casually confident. Dopes.

  97. 97.

    japa21

    Totally OT, but I need to whine. Yesterday the Chicago area was in the 80’s. It is currently 48 and feels like 43. High tomorrow is 49. From A/C to turning the furnace  back on. This is disgusting.

  100. 100.

    trollhattan

    @Calouste:

    Calling it right now: “Mega-cruise liner gets stuck sideways in Suez Canal during Covid-noro-virus outbreak.”

    (1,184 feet is the current size champ)

  101. 101.

    Calouste

    @Ken: Another avenue is that, in international waters at least, the captain’s word is law aboard a ship. And they could forcibly quarantine anyone they suspect of having a contagious disease. They might even have the obligation to do that, to ensure the wellbeing of other people on board the vessel.

  102. 102.

    japa21

    @debbie: Cooler is fine. Almost cold enough to snow is ridiculous.

     

    Also, another OT. Mrs Japa and I have been following the peregrine falcons at Cal Berkeley from when they hatched. There are three of them and they were all named a week ago. The first of them fully fledged today. His name: Fauci.

  103. 103.

    WaterGirl

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Even when I say “Open thread” in the title or at the bottom of the post, if there’s any kind of content in the post, people seem to stick to whatever the content was.  :-(

    At one point this week, someone commented that just calling something an Open Thread does not make it an open thread. ?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️

  104. 104.

    Dan B

    @japa21: The Jet Stream has been whipsawed all over, as predicted by a rapidly warming Arctic.  It dipped down to southern California and blew all the way from their to northern Manitoba allowing Port Angeles and then Crater Lake to have the coldest temperatures in the 48 states and heatwave across the Midwest and East.  Hard to grow crops when the weather goes nuts.

  106. 106.

    Another Scott

    @Kay: Mary Ziegler was on On Point radio a couple of days ago.

    Thread:

    @billscher asks whether reversing Roe would produce backlash? It depends on how/ how clearly it goes down. That is bc we have a less than perfect sense of what people mean when they say they want Roe preserved–since Roe has come to mean so many things /1https://t.co/Rjj2UxPGKB

    — Mary Ziegler (@maryrziegler) May 26, 2021

    I’ve seen other lawyer-types say that the SCOTUS is unlikely to completely overturn Roe this time, but likely will the next (given the chance).

    tl;dr – It’s not completely bonkers to think that some form of Roe will remain at the end of 2022 – people are going to fight over the framing no matter what the language turns out to be.

    To be clear, in my view any restrictions on reproductive rights are indefensible. Women (and men) aren’t monsters that somehow enjoy abortions, and we don’t need panty-sniffers from the government checking up on us. The state has no business forcing women to reproduce or second-guessing their sexual and reproductive decisions. And we need to lay the foundation for preserving the rights we have and regaining those we’ve lost. It’s going to take more work than it should…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  108. 108.

    WaterGirl

    @japa21: High of 49?  Yikes!  (rushes off to see what our weather is supposed to be tomorrow

    edit: We’re going from mid-high 80s this week to a high of 61 tomorrow.  Not quite as bad as you, but still wild swings.  I actually prefer 60 to 80, so I am not complaining.

  110. 110.

    Kay

    @Another Scott:

    I’m afraid of that- that they’ll be a rush to minimize it like what happened after Roberts gutted the VRA, then it turned out that …Roberts had indeed gutted the VRA and tens of bad state voting laws followed.

  112. 112.

    Another Scott

    @trollhattan: I decided to look a little more closely at the Celebrity Cruise web page, where it talks about required vaccinations.  It points to this CDC page:

    Key Information for Cruise Ship Travelers

    * CDC recommends that all people avoid travel on cruise ships, including river cruises, worldwide. That’s because the chance of getting COVID-19 on cruise ships is high, since the virus appears to spread more easily between people in close quarters aboard ships. It is especially important that people with an increased risk of severe illness avoid travel on cruise ships, including river cruises.

    * Cruise passengers are at increased risk of person-to-person spread of infectious diseases, including COVID-19, and outbreaks of COVID-19 have been reported on cruise ships.

    * People who decide to go on a cruise should get tested 1–3 days before their trip and 3–5 days after their trip, even if they are fully vaccinated.

    * In addition to testing, passengers who are unvaccinated should self-quarantine for 7 days after cruise travel, even if they test negative. If they do not get tested, they should self-quarantine for 10 days after cruise travel.

    * Passengers who are fully vaccinated with an FDA-authorized vaccine or a vaccine authorized by emergency use by the World Health Organization do not need to self-quarantine after cruise travel.

    See recommendations for cruise ship travelers.

    (Emphasis added.)

    Sounds like a pain in the neck, even if one is fully vaccinated. And unless the ships enforce it, you know that the rabid anti-maskers aren’t going to bother to get tested beforehand…

    I sure hope the crews get hazard pay if they have to work on these things without a vaccination requirement.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  115. 115.

    Another Scott

    The economy is measured many ways, of varying quality. Similarly, COVID-19.

    CovidTracking.com:

    To understand any dataset, you have to understand the way its information is compiled. That’s especially true for a patchworked dataset like US COVID-19 data, which is the product of 56 smaller systems belonging to each state and territory in the country.

    In our year of working with COVID-19 data, we harnessed our attention on these systems and found that the data they produced often reflected their individual structures. This reality runs parallel to the country’s biggest public health data challenge: the data pipelines that so deeply affected the trajectory of the pandemic were not given the decades of support—financial and otherwise—needed to perform well under pressure. Instead, a novel threat arrived, and the data response we saw was fragmented, unstandardized, and limited by the constraints of the systems.

    In this post, we’ll offer a summary of how states reported the five major COVID-19 metrics—tests, cases, deaths, hospitalizations, and recoveries—and a look at how reporting complexities shaped our understanding of the pandemic. We’ll also link you out to in-depth resources, both on our own site and others, on the reporting of each metric.

    […]

    It’s worth a click over.

    tl;dr – As with the Great Recession, data early on was late and incomplete. Even now, there are data quality issues and differences in “nominally equivalent” data sets. We need national standards and national best practices to know what’s going on in the nation.

    (via GovExec)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  117. 117.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @traumaturdo: You are, as ever, a nasty, clueless imbecile. Fortunately for the future of the nation you are not only stupid but utterly powerless. Unfortunately there may be more wastes of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and trace elements like you lurking in the bushes. Hopefully they are few and will soon return those elements to the environment for the use of more intelligent forms of life, say, anything higher than pond scum.

  118. 118.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Gvg: ​My unscientific wild-arsed guess is that Cruise Maryland would be happy to take up some of the slack. Heck, offer new patrons a package including flights to/from BWI and 3 days’ accommodation on the ships prior to sailing with bus tours of DC and Baltimore.

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