Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

White supremacy is terrorism.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

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

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

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

The revolution will be supervised.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Nevertheless, Life Goes On

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Nevertheless, Life Goes On

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I think the whole world — as well as many of us — feels worn-down, touchy, gun-shy. There was that moment in May when it seemed like vaccination might finally loosen the global pandemic’s grip… and then came Variant Delta.

Maybe we can envision this as the second part of a trilogy, where the clean opening arcs are smudged by narrative complications. Can we start the third, triumphant arc over the summer, beginning on Independence Day?

Reader Interactions

134Comments

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Before I go quench my insomnia, I want to leave this here:

    A married couple from Connecticut hosted a second wedding ceremony when the groom, who has a type of dementia, proposed to his wife again after forgetting they were already married.

    Despite struggling to remember his marriage due to early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, Peter Marshall, 56, has never forgotten the love he has for Lisa, 54, his wife of 12 years, whom he has recently mostly regarded as his favorite caregiver given his deteriorating memory.

    “It’s been devastating, but I’ve done my best to stay positive and focus on one day at a time,” Lisa Marshall told the Washington Post. “My mantra has always been to have no regrets.”

    While watching a wedding scene on TV last year, Peter asked Lisa to marry him, not remembering the wedding proposal the next day, and forgetting that he and Lisa were already married.

    “I said, ‘Do what?’ And he pointed to the TV, to the scene of this wedding and I said, ‘Do you want to get married?’ He said yes and had this huge grin on his face,” said Lisa Marshall, according to NBC New York. “He doesn’t know that I’m his wife. I’m just his favorite person.”
    ……………………….
    On 26 April, the couple renewed their vows in front of family and close friends. The wedding was officiated by dementia specialist Adrianna DeVivo, a licensed wedding officiant who had helped Lisa create a care plan for her husband.

    “There wasn’t a dry eye, and I was over the moon,” Lisa said to NBC New York. “I hadn’t seen Peter that happy in a long time.”
    ………………………………………..
    “One day at a time,” she said. “I don’t know who I am to him now, but I know that he definitely loves me and feels safe. When the bus brings him back home each day, we’ll sit on the porch for an hour and hold hands.”

    She added, tearfully: “[At the wedding], he leaned in and he whispered in my ear, ‘Thank you for staying.’”

    Damned wife, how many times do I have to tell her no cutting onions first thing in the morning???

  8. 8.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I love how you always try to portray yourself as a grumpy old curmudgeon, but we all know full well that you’re really just a big ol’ marshmallow softy.

    Thanks for this sweet story.

  9. 9.

    germy

    Curtis Sliwa, now officially the Republican nominee for the mayor of the City of New York, notes in his victory speech that each of his 15 rescue cats have their own distinct personalities

    — Eliza Shapiro (@elizashapiro) June 23, 2021

  12. 12.

    germy

    @rikyrah:

    I was impressed with what I saw.

    Walton says her life and work experiences have shaped her political ambitions. At 19, she gave birth to twin sons who were born prematurely and required care at the NICU. Although the care was good, the staff used jargony language. It was hard to make informed decisions about her children’s care. So Walton went back to school. She became a nurse and then went back and worked in the same NICU that cared for her sons. “Being able to deliver babies and save lives and have that type of impact on families was so meaningful,” Walton said. The experience also caused her to reflect on how women of color are treated in hospitals across the country.

    “It’s not only health care, it’s finances, housing—every system in this country was designed to exclude poor people and people of color,” Walton said. “And until we start having serious conversations about how we undo that, and until we begin to pursue policies that actively undoes the harm that’s been caused, we’re not going to get very far as a country.”

    Her activist background and working-class solidarity have won her support in the city of 255,000 with a nearly 30 percent poverty rate. She’s backed by organizations including the Democratic Socialists of America and a local teachers federation, and she was recently praised by the Challenger, a weekly Buffalo newspaper for the Black community.

    https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/06/in-buffalo-new-york-voters-consider-a-socialist-mayor/

  18. 18.

    Betty Cracker

    Biden’s approval rating among independents is encouraging

    ETA: Not that I believe in polls anymore. After the last two presidential election cycles, it’s sort of like believing horoscopes.

  20. 20.

    germy

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I remember him from the 1980s.

    He was all over TV back then.  He and his (then) wife seemed like real grifters.

    NY media back in the ’80s tried so hard to make him a hero.  But there was something unsettling about him, even then.

    He’s more horrible now, by the way.

  21. 21.

    raven

    @Gin & Tonic: Two day opioid free so that’s good. I got in a half-mile walk so far and plan to do it throughout the day. Sitting hurts so I fired up my veridesk and will try to keep moving. I told the boss lady I was taking my kitchen back today so at least I can contribute in that way. All-in-all it’s good but it’ll be a while before we know if it worked.

  24. 24.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @rikyrah: Wow. Good for Morgan Stanley.

    I see a Houston hospital fired or accepted the resignations of about 150 people who refused to be vaccinated. Maybe they can go take some of those unfilled food worker jobs

  29. 29.

    Baud

    @raven:

    I care more about the credit than the blame. We’ve been demanding a withdrawal since forever.  Time to start rewarding good behavior.

  31. 31.

    Gin & Tonic

    @raven: Good that you’re off the pills. Hope this turns out for the better, but you have to give it time.

  32. 32.

    narya

    Pulled two ticks off me since returning from the wilds of WI. I think they must be hiding in something, because I actually returned mid-day Monday, and I found these last night (nymph, had just attached) and this morning (on my back, so hard to get to; fully engorged). Here’s hoping they’re not Lyme carriers; I had it once and did not enjoy a full month of antibiotics.

  35. 35.

    satby

    @raven: They probably are. But the fired people aren’t all nurses or doctors anyway, and they refused multiple deadlines to get vaccinated. So fuckem. It was a clear mandate and there’s a rock solid rationale, and refuseniks don’t belong in healthcare.

  36. 36.

    Baud

    Dear 41% of whites w/no college degree,

    Thank you.  It’s hard going against the majority of one’s demo, especially when that majority is large and radicalized.

  41. 41.

    NotMax

    Noticed while poking around Amazon that the prices on masks – including specific brands/types approved by the CDC – have dropped by 50% or more. Also that a huge number of the suddenly crawled out of the woodwork sellers (most of product of questionable provenance) have gone bye-bye.

    BTW, don’t believe ever mentioned that if in the market for them, perusing the listings in Amazon’s Industrial & Scientific product category has the proven the most fruitful path, IMHO.

  43. 43.

    satby

    @Baud: Thank you on behalf of my cohort, but it’s not as hard as you’d think. And some of the “disapprovers” probably include people who think Biden is too moderate.

  45. 45.

    germy

    One of Rembrandt’s biggest paintings, “Night Watch,” is now a bit bigger. Parts snipped off centuries ago have been digitally restored thanks to artificial intelligence, and the completed work is on display at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum. https://t.co/mkUe0pkxHe

    — AP Europe (@AP_Europe) June 23, 2021

  46. 46.

    SFAW

    @rikyrah:

    Reason #931,467 why all Rethugs should be deported/exiled to cages in the Marianas Trench

    ETA: I’m probably undercounting, but unlike Daniel Dale, I can’t track everything those traitors do.

  48. 48.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @raven:

    Good luck, I hope it works out for you. :) My doc is setting me up with a pain management doc but I think my low back problem is beyond pain management as it’s clicking and grinding as I (try to) move and bend.

    Gettin’ old sucks but the other option is a lot worse!

  49. 49.

    germy

    Every major social problem in America can be linked to fatherlessness

    Wherever involved fathers are rare, crisis is certain to follow

    And billions in government spending is no substitute for fatherhood

    — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 20, 2021

    Marco’s father was around while he was growing up, but Marco become a major social problem nonetheless. https://t.co/Rsa1qRfBG9

    — Daily Trix (@DailyTrix) June 21, 2021

  51. 51.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    I think they have a quickie shot that prevents Lyme.  Not sure if you are outside the window.

    I think the standard protocol is doxycycline (an antibiotic, usually pills). I think the window is probably greater than 24 or 48 hours.

    But, I am NOT a medical professional, only married to one, narya should see one ASAP, of course

  52. 52.

    satby

    @rikyrah: Oh rikyrah, that’s part of the risk people assume when they expatriate to a different, poorer country; especially one they chose for a way to “avoid the high costs and taxes” of their home first world country. I’m on a couple of expatriate web groups and they by and large are right wing zealots (or old hippies like me) who can’t wait to escape the “horribly deteriorating” conditions of the US for paradises like Ecuador or Belize so they can have servants on a SS income.

  53. 53.

    germy

    @Baud:

    Whenever Rubio makes a statement that sounds outdated or nonsensical or bigoted, it’s basically him starting with the conclusion that we shouldn’t raise taxes on the rich, and then he works backwards to fill in the blanks with whatever he thinks supports that conclusion.

  54. 54.

    Soprano2

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Maybe they can go take some of those unfilled food worker jobs

    I saw that the nurse leader of the group found a job with a private health care organization of some kind, but wouldn’t say what it was because she’s afraid they’ll be harassed. It shouldn’t be hard for an enterprising reporter to figure it out and “out” them – I’d want to know that a health care organization was knowingly hiring people who aren’t vaccinated by choice. The excerpt where I got that also said she took a call from Alex Jones to be on his show, so that tells you a lot about her. It’s as if they don’t know what “right to work” means. Even here in conservative MO the voters have rejected that multiple times.

  55. 55.

    Jeffro

    Interesting piece (apologies if this has already been posted/discussed): How a Conservative Activist Invented the Conflict over Critical Race Theory

    ‘Political correctness’ is a dated term and, more importantly, doesn’t apply anymore. It’s not that elites are enforcing a set of manners and cultural limits, they’re seeking to reengineer the foundation of human psychology and social institutions through the new politics of race, It’s much more invasive than mere ‘correctness,’ which is a mechanism of social control, but not the heart of what’s happening. The other frames are wrong, too: ‘cancel culture’ is a vacuous term and doesn’t translate into a political program; ‘woke’ is a good epithet, but it’s too broad, too terminal, too easily brushed aside. ‘Critical race theory’ is the perfect villain,” Rufo wrote.

    He thought that the phrase was a better description of what conservatives were opposing, but it also seemed like a promising political weapon. “Its connotations are all negative to most middle-class Americans, including racial minorities, who see the world as ‘creative’ rather than ‘critical,’ ‘individual’ rather than ‘racial,’ ‘practical’ rather than ‘theoretical.’ Strung together, the phrase ‘critical race theory’ connotes hostile, academic, divisive, race-obsessed, poisonous, elitist, anti-American.” Most perfect of all, Rufo continued, critical race theory is not “an externally applied pejorative.” Instead, “it’s the label the critical race theorists chose themselves.”

  56. 56.

    Soprano2

    @germy:  Every major social problem in America can be linked to fatherlessness

    This shit makes me crazy. Way too many people want simple answers – more married couples = better kids is way too simplistic. I always ask people “So, if the father beats the mother regularly, should he still stay so the kids aren’t fatherless?”. They always say no, of course not, but when they make statements like that they never think about this kind of situation.

  57. 57.

    Baud

    @Soprano2:

    Way too many people want simple answers

    Some answers are simple.

    Every major social problem in America can be linked to fatherlessness Republicans.

    See?

  58. 58.

    Barbara

    @rikyrah: ​ If he is an American citizen he can likely figure out a way to fly to Hawaii or the West Coast to get a vaccine. Whereas, can you imagine the effort it would take to customize delivery and administration of vaccine to people like him all over the world? What a self-entitled jerk.

  59. 59.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @germy: Usually, “fatherless” carries racial meaning. I wonder if that’s fading, especially among younger people. My impression is that single motherhood is more common than it used to be.

  60. 60.

    Betty Cracker

    @Jeffro: I’ve been working on a post about Rufo’s wildly successful fraud. I may or may not ever finish it, but it’s kind of a fascinating case study.

  61. 61.

    Soprano2

    @Baud: The computer ate my first reply, which was that this is even too simplistic but more correct (for example, TFG would have been better off if his father had died when he was very small). One thing I’ve seen improve in my 60 years is the increased involvement of fathers in their children’s lives as something other than a financial provider. My former boss quit working so many hours when he realized how much of his kid’s stuff he was missing, and that was a good thing for all of them. A man of my father’s generation never could have made a choice like that – it was all work, work, work for more money. Men today place a lot more value on being involved in their kid’s lives whether they’re married to the mother or not, and I think that’s all to the good.

  62. 62.

    Spanky

    @satby: Funny you should mention Ecuador. An acquaintance of mine retired early and he and his wife moved to Ecuador. Nice villa overlooking the ocean with views from the pool. He sent some great pictures.

    Then he had a heart attack and died. At 61. A survivable heart attack if he was in the States, but it took too long to get him to a hospital, which may or may not have had the right technology and skills.

  63. 63.

    Soprano2

    @Barbara: Whereas, can you imagine the effort it would take to customize delivery and administration of vaccine to people like him all over the world? What a self-entitled jerk.

    They want the benefit of living in the U.S. without having to actually live here. It doesn’t work that way.

  64. 64.

    FelonyGovt

    @Barbara: Exactly. I have a friend who is an American living in Mexico. She came to San Diego (twice) to get vaccinated.

  65. 65.

    Citizen Alan

    @germy: 

    For some reason, I am put in mind of the ship of Theseus and wonder if it is still the same painting now that a removed part has been recreated and added back on by someone other than the artist. Damn you, Wandavision!

  66. 66.

    Bluegirlfromwyo

    @Soprano2: Second the not thinking it through. My stepson lost his mother very young. It didn’t make him a social problem.

  67. 67.

    sanjeevs

    The UK has rejected claims from Russia that warning shots were fired at the British warship HMS Defender in the Black Sea on Wednesday morning, as it sailed off the coast of the disputed territory of Crimea.

    Britain’s Ministry of Defence said “no warning shots have been fired” at the destroyer, contradicting a statement made by its Russian equivalent which said that shots had been fired and a warplane dropped four bombs close to the ship.

    The UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said HMS Defender was carrying out “routine transit from Odesa towards Georgia across the Black Sea” using an “internationally recognised traffic separation corridor” which the ship exited at around 9.45am UK time.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/23/russian-ship-fired-warning-shots-at-royal-navy-destroyer-hms-defender-moscow-says

  68. 68.

    A Ghost to Most

    @Betty Cracker: 

    June 23, 2021
    Florida students required to register political views with the state to promote ‘intellectual diversity’
    Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation requiring students, faculty and staff at Florida’s public universities and colleges to register their political views with the state as a way to encourage “intellectual diversity.”

    The state will require taxpayer-funded colleges and universities to issue surveys to determine “the extent to which competing ideas and perspectives are presented” on campus and whether students, faculty and staff “feel free to express [their] beliefs and viewpoints,” although it’s not clear what will be done with the poll results, reported the Tampa Bay Times.

    Nice “state” you got there. Shame that something happened to it.

  69. 69.

    Spanky

    On that Gallup poll in the OP: What goes unsaid is the changing numbers in affiliation. Far fewer people self-identify as Republican today as they did 20 or even 10 years ago. Every poll should mention either total responses in each category, or percentages identified as Dem/Ind/Rep.

  70. 70.

    germy

    @Citizen Alan:

    I’m reminded of the old story about a family that claimed to have George Washington’s ax.

    “It had been passed down through many generations and was the original ax, although they’d had to replace the head twice and the handle three times.”

  71. 71.

    Soprano2

    @A Ghost to Most: Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation requiring students, faculty and staff at Florida’s public universities and colleges to register their political views with the state as a way to encourage “intellectual diversity.”

    I wonder if it ever, ever occurs to these people how the things they want are exactly the things an authoritarian leader would want. Besides, something like this is easy to fuck with. I think they should sue to refuse to do it  and see what happens. Seems like a violation of free speech rights, but IANAL so what do I know.

  72. 72.

    Soprano2

    @Spanky: What goes unsaid is the changing numbers in affiliation.

    I wonder if this is deliberate? Seems like relevant information that people need to know, but they leave it out, making it seem like Republicans are more dominant in the U.S. than they actually are.

  73. 73.

    Cameron

    @Soprano2: I’m sure it’s occurred to them that that’s what an authoritarian leader would want.  That’s why they did it.  DeSantis is determined to out-Trump Trump, and the legislature is just fine with the program.

  74. 74.

    Ken

    @germy: One of Rembrandt’s biggest paintings, “Night Watch,” is now a bit bigger. Parts snipped off centuries ago have been digitally restored thanks to artificial intelligence

    “Are you sure about this?”

    “It’s what the computer model indicates, and we trained it for over 170,000 hours on the whole range of human art.”

    “It’s just — I didn’t realize Rembrandt was so into cat memes.”

  75. 75.

    germy

    @Ken:

    Apparently they worked off a copy that a different artist had made  many years ago.  The copyist had worked from the complete painting.

  77. 77.

    SFAW

    @Baud: 

    Every major social problem in America can be linked to fatherlessness Republicans.

    It’s scary/gratifying that I had that exact thought.

  78. 78.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Soprano2:  My former boss quit working so many hours when he realized how much of his kid’s stuff he was missing, and that was a good thing for all of them.

    I had a boss in the 90s tell me I wasn’t “dedicated” because I was going home to my family and wasn’t working all the nights and weekends that the young single guys were, and I was working plenty of long nights.

    That guy ended up having an affair with one of the people under him, shortly after the birth of his first child. I don’t know what happened to him after that, as I left the job.

    That same guy, when we were working a job at a remote site, had us working 7 x 12 hour days, 9 am to 9 pm, despite the fact that everyone would have been a lot more productive if they occasionally had a few hours to breathe and see the area we were in (San Diego) and despite the fact that it was in direct violation of company policy.

  79. 79.

    narya

    @SFAW: I’m gonna hold off til I see if I get any symptoms. I know where the two of them were, and one wasn’t attached long. last time I had Lyme I had an absolutely classic bullseye rash (I know not everyone gets that), and the new resident w/ my doc was sort of excited, because here in the city, docs don’t see much of that.

  80. 80.

    Ken

    @A Ghost to Most: They’re polling college students about their viewpoints? Have any members of the Florida Legislature ever gone to college? I mean as a student, not for “dates”.

    They’re going to get 60% Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and 40% Rastafarian. Or maybe the students will decide to really mess with the poll and they’ll get 90% MAGA Forever.

  81. 81.

    Jeffro

    @Betty Cracker:I’ve been working on a post about Rufo’s wildly successful fraud. I may or may not ever finish it, but it’s kind of a fascinating case study.

    Good!  I look forward to that.

    He’s really all out in the open about it: “We’re going to take this thing, and use it as an all-encompassing conspiracy theory that will send right-wingers into an unthinking rage and help them write off any discussions of racism – to include systemic racism – before it goes too far (which is to say, goes anywhere at all)”

  82. 82.

    SFAW

    @A Ghost to Most:

    What the fuck? Do they have to sign loyalty oaths as well? And would those oaths be to DeathSantis? Or to That Fucking Guy?

    For some reason, I was unaware that the First Amendment meant you HAVE TO state your political views when asked by the Geheime Staatspolizei Florida “education” authorities.

  85. 85.

    SFAW

    @Ken:

    I mean as a student, not for “dates”.

    I thought Gaetz didn’t go for those older than high school age?

  86. 86.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Funny thing about those food and retail workers. I remember a bunch of memes several years back when Obama was pushing a higher minimum wage basically mocking those workers for asking for more money because they could all be replaced by robots…so I’m wondering where the robots are? I guess they’re not quite as ready to take away work from the service and retail sector as stupid internet memes said they were. I have a feeling there’s a high overlap between the people complaining about worker shortages and those who spread those “the robots will replace you” memes.

  87. 87.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @narya: Ticks in the upper midwest are horrible this year. In early June we spent a week on Lake Michigan in the vicinity of Silver Lake – I have a former babysitter who owns a house right on Lake Michigan and she rents it out to people she knows a few weeks a year. Anyway it was a wonderful week – first time I’d seen my almost 80 year old parents and my sister in a year and a half. The only black mark was that the dune grass between the beach house and the beach was infested with ticks like nothing I’ve ever seen before, and I’ve been playing in the dune grass along Lake Michigan pretty regularly for a half century. They all seemed to be the larger wood ticks that don’t carry Lyme but we were very careful about fully checking ourselves and the dog after passing through the grass coming and going. I’d say at least 50% of the time I’d find a tick on my pants.

  88. 88.

    Ken

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: There’s a new mattress chain that doesn’t have any sales staff, just a showroom where you can lie down on mattresses before placing your order at a kiosk. I assume they still have warehouse staff who pull the mattress and deliver it.  I’m wondering how long it will last (seems ripe for vandalism).

    Two different grocery chains near me used to have self-check, but pulled them and restored checkout clerks. I don’t know why, but I suspect discrepancies in the produce inventory.

  89. 89.

    Jeffro

    OT but Jamelle Bouie is laying out multiple excellent reasons why Sinema is a moron (well, not in those words) with her stance on the filibuster.  Paraphrasing below…

    • if stability is of the highest value and it is achieved with a 60-vote cloture threshold, why not go back to a supermajority of 67?  why not 80?  why not all 100 senators?  What’s magical about 60?
    • to do anything at all in our government, a party has to win at least two election cycles across 4 years…that time and deliberation already stabilize (freeze?) our government
    • our system already offers (too much?) stability in its separation of powers, equality of states, independent judiciary…it doesn’t need more by having 60-vote (or higher) requirements to pass something/anything

    Other commenters in his tweet thread:

    • “make the Articles of Confederation great again!”
    • “how does Sinema reconcile with reconciliation, then?  Shouldn’t she be against it?”

    He’s got a great overall point, though: part of the problem with our system is that it’s way too easy to jam it up/way too hard to make progress.

  90. 90.

    germy

    @Jeffro:

    Sinema has a crowd of reporters and cameras parked outside her office.

    She has accomplished what she’s been looking for.

  91. 91.

    Feathers

    @Soprano2: This. What follow on studies have found about divorce causing problems in children is that alcoholics/depressed/can’t-keep-a-job/etc. people are more likely to get divorced. The likelihood of a child having one of these problems tracks with their parent’s personal issues, not their parent’s marital status.

  92. 92.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @NotMax: ​What’s “more than a tad unsettling” to me is the background score – a massed-orchestral version of Adeste fideles , better known as the Christmas carol “O Come All Ye Faithful”. Not saying it’s blasphemous – but wouldn’t “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” have been a more felicitous choice?

    (And I highly doubt Abe’s teeth were in anywhere close to that good a condition, dentistry being what it was in those pre-fluoride daze.)

  94. 94.

    Ohio Mom

    [email protected]:
    That’s what I was fantasizing, a movement to get all the students, faculty and staff to proclaim they are loyal Right-wingers.

    What could Florida do them? Insist more Commie teachers be hired?

    I know it won’t happen but a nice flight of fancy for a moment.

  97. 97.

    narya

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: The campsite we used (Kohler-Andrae) is on the lake. I hadn’t gone down to the lake until the last morning, when I decided it was dumb not to at least wander over there. And I suspect THAT was my mistake. As long as the two I found were the only ones, I might be okay. I wish I’d found the bigger one last night, but oh well.

  98. 98.

    Kristine

    @Spanky:

    Far fewer people self-identify as Republican today as they did 20 or even 10 years ago.

    I pretty much assume that a significant chunk of voters who identify as IND are Republicans Ashamed To Say So.

  101. 101.

    Gin & Tonic

    @narya: If the tick was attached for less than 24 hours, you should be fine. If it was 48 hours and you get a prescription right away, you can probably get away with a single 200mg dose of doxycycline.

    I unfortunately know quite a bit about tick-borne diseases.

  104. 104.

    CaseyL

    @Spanky:

    That is correct, but I suspect a lot of “Independents” are “GOPers ashamed to say so.”

    I also suspect, that for all they may disapprove of this or that, when an election comes around, they still vote GOP.

  105. 105.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @germy: I thought “Fatherless” is code for “we threw all the black men in jail and their kids still are uppity”

  106. 106.

    WaterGirl

    I saw the first tweet and was reminded of a cartoon that one of the equine vets had up on his door when I worked at the vet school.

    It was a list of horse ailments in the first column and the treatment in the second column.  Every ailment had “shoot the horse” as the treatment in the second column.

    If we did this for most of the press questions that Psaki gets, the second column would be “because you’re a fucking moron”.  All the way down.

  107. 107.

    debbie

    @narya:

    Even out here in the boonies of the Midwest, they’re talking about a proliferation of tick populations. If you can’t get in to see your GP today, go to Urgent Care.

  108. 108.

    mapaghimagsik

    My work is having a day and a half party in Las Vegas.  They are very eager to have people come back into the office. I feel like they’re not watching the Delta variant and doing good risk management.

    Love the work and the company, but I think they’re making a mistake.

  110. 110.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Ohio Mom:

    I don’t see why this is considered such a fantasy. It would be trivially  easy to organize a campaign/movement for this over social media

  111. 111.

    Barbara

    @leeleeFL: ​ This can get complicated, but you might read the enclosed decision that literally just came down regarding the disciplinary action taken against a cheerleader by a public school district based on her criticism of the school or the program to understand how First Amendment rights are evaluated in a school setting. Mahanoy
    Public universities have even less interest than a local school district in “policing” the views and morals of its student body, and zero legitimate interest regulating participation, admission, hiring or firing based on a person’s political views.

    I would also say that asking people about their views is an invitation for an employment lawsuit if there is ever a disadvantageous employment decision made against an actual or prospective employee. You should not try to find out things that would be illegal if you acted on them, whether it’s health status or political opinion.​​​​

  113. 113.

    Betty Cracker

    @BlueGuitarist: I worded my response poorly: I meant Rufo’s blueprint for demonizing an obscure legal analysis framework is an fascinating case study on how to cause a panic, not that my post on the topic is fascinating! ;-)

  114. 114.

    Geminid

    @Baud: The number of people with college degrees who identify as Democrats has increased over the past few decades. I remember reading some time in the 1970s, maybe about the Ford/Carter contest, that this demographic was majority Republican. Now it seems to be majority Democratic. There are more degreed non-whites now, but the trend seems to include white voters as well.

    Some political scientists make this a factor in their election models, and it may help account for the many suburban seats flipped by Democrats in 2018, including districts in states like Virginia, Georgia, and Texas. In Kansas that year, Sharice Davids flipped the 3rd(?) district by carrying the Kansas City suburbs.

    And in the modern economy, level of education seem to track with economic growth. I’ve wondered if this might partly explain how economically dynamic Virginia has gone from purple to blue this past decade, while Ohio, with a relatively static economy, has gone from purple to red.

  116. 116.

    Logan Brown

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: ​
     

    I had an assistant principal tell me 10 years ago that I wasn’t dedicated enough to my students because I wasn’t submitting busy work to make her look good (no one else on the staff was either). I pointed out that between being department chair, teaching 3 preps, and traveling to 3 different rooms that I didn’t have time to do it while helping with my (then) 4th grade twins. She had the audacity to tell me to drop any activities outside of teaching including being my son’s cub scout den leader.

    I pointed out to her that he was only going to be 9 once and that I didn’t want his teachers to complain that *his* father didn’t focus any on him. She wrote me and others up and forced us to leave the school. No idea what happened to her but people didn’t want to stay.

  117. 117.

    Geminid

    @debbie: In Virginia, people are very scared of tick-borne disease. Besides Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is prevalent. I don’t know a lot of people, but three acquaintences are allergic to red meat because of it. One of them later went to the ER with a fever and mental disorientation. The docs diagnosed her with another tick-borne disease, Erichthiosis(sp?), and knocked it out with antibiotics.

  118. 118.

    Unique uid

    @Gin & Tonic: I’m in Michigan, had a positive test result for Lyme last Friday. The lab machine was broken,so it took 9 days from the blood draw.
    I saw the doc two weeks ago (also delayed due to needing a Covid test, and someone not picking up the sticks). His prescription was doxycycline 100 mg, once daily, 10 days.
    The first blood test also showed low iron, which maybe is a Lyme symptom?  Got 65mg iron pills for that.
    Took the first iron pill, got dizzy the next day. Ended up in ER, dizziness could be from Lyme or iron pill, or low iron?  Had a vertigo drug that fixed me up, ER also gave me ten days of doxycycline, but twice a day, the CDC recommendation.

    Feeling much better now. Never saw an embedded tick. Did find a sort-of bullseye around my right nipple, maybe I missed a nymph there?  I think I’m up to pulling 7 adult ticks off me this year, more than my previous 60 years combined.

  121. 121.

    Jeffro

    @Geminid: I have a friend who got a tick bite and now can’t tolerate meat (especially red meat) or dairy.  He’s lost 40 pounds.  Cue the obvious, envy-based jokes.

    Also, my dog tested positive for erlichawhatever and she’s on antibiotics now too.

  123. 123.

    narya

    @Gin & Tonic: @debbie: Just talked to my doc, who called in one 200mg dose. THANK YOU for the heads up! I didn’t know that was a new protocol, and I’ll be able to go pick it up today.

  125. 125.

    JustRuss

    @satby: I especially like the “They left us here” phrasing.  No, you chose to move to the other side of the damn planet, you’re not a fricking victim.  Also, please tell me more about personal responsibility.

  127. 127.

    VOR

    @germy: My two memories of Marco Rubio on TV.

    He did the Daily Show when Jon Stewart was host, can’t remember when. Stewart managed to get Rubio off canned talking points and it was so clear Rubio could not think on his feet.

    After the Parkland school shooting there was a televised town hall. Rubio attended, which was pretty gutsy. I’ll give him credit for that. He had a talking point about the difficulty defining an assault weapon, therefore it was impossible to ban them. One of the speakers proposed a simple ban: no semi-automatic weapons. Rubio said something like “surely you can’t be serious” and the audience made it clear that, yes, that was a popular position. He was clearly taken aback and didn’t know what to say.

  128. 128.

    Ruckus

    @Geminid:

    I also think that a lot of those long term republicans were very crappy at their jobs, likely answering the phones but ignoring anything more. But for a long time no one ran against them or the person that did had no real ideas or experience and the concept “the devil you know” took over. But at some point people get fed up and a person who even sounds like they might represent the people who vote for them runs, wins and then does the job far better, like at all. That changes minds and political parties. The bottom of the rung is the person that most see/hear about in their local town/newspaper. Sure there is news about the top of the heap, but that’s often slanted, the bottom, the people that actually end up effecting their lives, those are the people that get old and stale and entrenched because there is no limit on how long they serve like president. They are also the ones who are hardest to get out of the way of life moving on. But it’s often a transformative change when it happens.

  129. 129.

    Ruckus

    @VOR:

    That sounds like the first time he’d ever talked/listened to anyone that wasn’t paying him to follow the company line or the loud mouths that kept the company line in business.

    IOW he’s with the ones that bought him. Gee I wonder how many republicans fit into that demographic? (And yes a few dems as well)

  130. 130.

    J R in WV

    @Soprano2: ​
     

    Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation requiring students, faculty and staff at Florida’s public universities and colleges to register their political views with the state as a way to encourage “intellectual diversity.”

    Perhaps there should be an official “Fuck You!” party?

    Or an organized effort to encourage Independent as the only choice?

    I doubt they could successfully expel an otherwise successful student for declining to state a political opinion. N/A would be a potential answer also too. This pisses me off quite a bit, if you can’t tell.

  131. 131.

    Geminid

    @Ruckus: The rise of evangelical conservatives as power players in the Virginia Republican party also has alienated a lot of moderately conservative Republicans and Independents. Even churchgoers may not like the idea of Baptist preachers calling the shots in government. Now, the bible thumpers and their tea party crank allies dominate the party in many areas, including my 5th Congressional District. There, this alliance was able to replace a one term Rebublican incumbent with a Liberty University administrator. But they had to use a caucus and convention process to do this, and their candidate carried the 5th by only 5 points. The district was drawn in 2011 by Republicans to be safely red, and will hopefully be redrawn more neutrally by a new independent commission for the 2022 election.

    Now the gun nuts are also a drag on the party. Many suburban voters favor reasonable gun safety measures, and this was a winning issue for Democrats regaining control of the General Assembly over the 2017 and 2019 elections. As the Republican party has shrunk, the gun rights voters are even more powerful. Consequently, the Republican candidate for governor has to try to appeal to the base with coded language, while soft pedaling the issue for the general audience. Talking out of both sides of one’s mouth has become an essential skill for Republican politicians in Virginia and elsewhere.

  132. 132.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Gin & Tonic: Yeah I’m aware. We didn’t find any embedded on any of us so I think we’re OK. I kept checking for like 5 days after we left the lake.

  133. 133.

    J R in WV

    Wife had a reaction of a tick a month or so ago, we had Doxicycline on hand, 100 mg  for 10 days. Was a lump at the bite site, went away during the antibiotic treatment…

    Our dogs get oral monthly doses for internal and external parasites. Sometimes we get nearly dead ticks crawling along from being on a dog, other times they’re quite active and need drowned in alcohol. Lots of them even though we aren’t outside that much any more. I hesitate to hike much as a knee could fail at any moment, & I don’t want to have to crawl home.

  134. 134.

    rikyrah

    @Ken: 

    There’s a new mattress chain that doesn’t have any sales staff, just a showroom where you can lie down on mattresses before placing your order at a kiosk. I assume they still have warehouse staff who pull the mattress and deliver it. I’m wondering how long it will last (seems ripe for vandalism).

    You think they are there to sell mattresses.
    I believe most of those mattress stores are money laundering fronts.

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