Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

No Justins, No Peace

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

“woke” is the new caravan.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

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

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

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

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

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Thanks for reminding me that Van Jones needs to be slapped.

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

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

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

We are aware of all internet traditions.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread

Open Thread

by | 141 Comments

This post is in: 

Anne Laurie has asked me to watch over her soccer threads to make sure they post at the right time – this is nighttime for Anne Laurie so she obviously can’t watch them herself!

Anyway, she told me that there were matches today at the usual times, but I only see a post for the match at 3pm.

So this is a makeshift post in case there IS a match at noon.  If there is, can someone tell me who’s playing so I can at least have the teams in the title?

Update: Sounds like no soccer until the match at 3pm, so this is a totally open thread.

Reader Interactions

141Comments

  6. 6.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    Whoever posted that link to the Sterogum series on #1 hits…I want the rest of my life back.

  9. 9.

    raven

    I had my 3-week follow up and the PA said “You thought everything was going to be resolved in THREE weeks”! I feel lots better, this is going to take time.

  15. 15.

    Argiope

    @raven: Seems like it would have been sporting of them to tell you that up front to reduce concern.  Patient education, how does it work? Still, great news!

  16. 16.

    Felanius Kootea

    I’ve been disgusted by the pressure Arkansas conservative donor Walter Hussmann put on the UNC journalism school to get them not to hire Nikole Hannah-Jones.  He pressured the journalism school Dean, the chancellor, the board of trustees, going further up the chain each time he didn’t get his way. A man who spent one year as a journalist and then inherited his family’s media co decides that he knows that a black woman who’s won Polk, Peabody, Pulitzer Prizes and a MacArthur Fellowship is unqualified to teach teenagers journalism.  And UNC wrings its hands and doesn’t know what to do because his name is on the J-school building. Ugh. I lost respect for UNC Chapel-Hill over this but the Hussmanns of the world are a real problem.

    I understand why Hannah-Jones chose tenure at Howard over tenure at UNC in the end. Who wants to go where you are merely tolerated, your hiring turned into an embarrassing spectacle, over where you are celebrated and get to shape the future of journalism for many up and coming students who have the same hunger you did?

  18. 18.

    Spanky

    @raven: Good!

    I yanked my back out of whack back in May, and after I didn’t feel much improvement after a week was thinking of seeing a doc. The common opinion of  Doctor Google was that it could take 6 weeks! For a simple strain. Yeesh.

    Took 4, which was bad enough, but in reality it wasn’t that bad a pull.

  23. 23.

    Hoodie

    @Felanius Kootea: The school has been cowardly, but they are stuck in a bit of a vise.  The state leg has been steadily defunding the state universities for years.  When the GOP legislature packed the Board of Governors with GOP hacks, programs like the Poverty Center at UNC and a similar center at NC Central were cut.  The universities are increasingly relying on private donors, who expect their wishes to be met.

  24. 24.

    Nicole

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:

    Whoever posted that link to the Sterogum series on #1 hits…I want the rest of my life back.

    i’m really sorry. If it’s any consolation, I introduced it to a group of friends at a party this weekend, and I am sure they’re gonna be sending me hate emails in a matter of days.

  25. 25.

    Felanius Kootea

    @burnspbesq: Given the number of East Coast (i.e., Boston-area) transplants to the research triangle area, I was hoping against hope. Waste of time.

  26. 26.

    Gravenstone

    @Felanius Kootea: Even better, young journalists who are unlikely to be inclined to view and report the world through the same lens that gives us the Walter Hussmann’s of the world. I hope he chokes on that realization every day.

  27. 27.

    jimmiraybob

    Who’s covering the Mike Lindell beat? I understand that he has a very specific deadline for The Resurrection of Trump – August 13th.  Or is it the 2nd Coming and the triumph of the promised Kingdom of Trump?

    I’m a bit skeptical though.

    Please carry on.

  30. 30.

    Almost Retired

    I can’t figure out why things are so bad, COVID-wise, in SW Missouri.  It’s not like it’s the only state with a pig-ignorant Republican Governor or a “Don’t Tread on Me” rural culture.  But the numbers are alarming.  We’re driving from Los Angeles to St. Louis later this month for a family event.  We planned on doing some hiking in the Ozarks, and checking out Eureka Springs, AR and the Crystal Bridges Walmart Blood-and-Guilt Art Museum in Bentonville on the way home.

    But fuhgettaboutit.   We’re filling up the tank in St. Louis, packing some sandwiches, rolling up the windows, masking up, and not interacting with anyone until we hit Denver.  Maybe the full-up hospitals in Springfield are sufficient to meet Missouri’s “show me” requirement before the holdouts act responsibly.

  31. 31.

    The Thin Black Duke

    Open thread? Here’s my latest essay about Sharon Stone’s nasty verbal attack at Meryl Streep the other day. Bottom line, Sharon is pissed off at the wrong person.

  32. 32.

    PsiFighter37

    Going to Portland (the one in Maine) next week. Looking forward to unplugging and (hopefully) spending some good, quality time with the kiddo. Fingers crossed that it doesn’t rain too much, either.

  36. 36.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    Sometimes, it never rains but it pours. Weekend before last I woke up because my apartment’s main circuit breaker tripped, shutting down my CPAP at six in the morning, and I ultimately determined that the cause was short-circuits due to water getting into the walls from a bad leak in my water heater in my attic space. Had to replace that (turns out that it should have had an expansion tank, which the replacement has), I’m going to need to repaint the hall, the kitchen, and the bathroom, and the water in the walls messed with my front-door intercom.

    Then I learned that a family member of a loved one died suddenly yesterday, twenty years younger than me, and it’s thrown me for a loop.

  37. 37.

    PsiFighter37

    @JPL: Good. Definitely more of a handful, lots of fun to be around…when I have the energy. Parenting is relentless. Add in work, the stress of other life things (we are buying an apartment, buying a car and trying to line up renovation plans on said apartment), and life isn’t as fun as it could be. Gotta keep the chin up, though. She’ll be 2 in September, so I can now sympathize with people who say how fast time flies, as well as trying to cherish as much of the time when she is this little.

  38. 38.

    Amir Khalid

    @jimmiraybob:
    The thing is, Pillow Guy’s dates are indeedvery specific — but they’re also quite mobile. I think he started with a resurrection date in March or April. When nothing happens, or looks like happening, he pushes the date back a month or two. I do believe he’ll end up pushing the date back past November 2024.

  39. 39.

    Feathers

    @The Thin Black Duke:  So Sharon Stone standing up for herself is reason for you to dump misogynist garbage all over her? Saying that a woman speaking her truth is doing it for “attention” is just lazy bullshit. Sorry.

  40. 40.

    Martin

    @Felanius Kootea: That was a brilliant result. Turning Hussman into a liability for UNC is something that needs to happen more often, and having Howard be the beneficiary is perfect all around.

  41. 41.

    Soprano2

    @Almost Retired: I don’t know why they’re so bad here either. Springfield is the third-largest city in MO, and we’re in the epicenter of it. All I can think is that our vaccination rate in Greene County is just under 40%, and we’re probably the highest county in this area for vaccination, plus people from all the surrounding counties work in the city. All the sick people from those surrounding counties end up in the hospital here. This is a hotbed of the MAGA’s. You could still hike down here and avoid most people, but I wouldn’t blame anyone for avoiding us right now. We just had a big Gold Wing Riders event here last weekend, too

    And no, those full-up hospitals won’t have much effect on the “you aren’t the boss of me libtard” crowd, not when their doctors told them they don’t need that shot because they’re young and healthy, or they’ve already had Covid, or they believe all the crap on the “40 reasons not to get vaccinated” list I saw in the office last week.

  43. 43.

    Almost Retired

    @Soprano2:   It’s a shame, isn’t it, because it’s such a beautiful place.  My wife has never been to the Ozarks, so we were looking forward to it.  Another time (and at a better time of year, weather-wise).  Stay safe.

  46. 46.

    mrmoshpotato

    Kids! Unload your UHaul full of fireworks before starting to shoot them off!

    People shooting off fireworks in Toledo, OH turned their neighborhood into a war zone when their performative patriotism (or just stupidity), turned their neighborhood into a war zone after the U-Haul truck they rented exploded with the fireworks inside. pic.twitter.com/EQguCzpZWY— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) July 5, 2021

  47. 47.

    Soprano2

    @Almost Retired: It is a shame. You should come back at the middle or end of September/first of October. It’s still warm enough to do things outside, but cool enough that you aren’t dying from the heat and humidity. Later in the fall can be beautiful, too, but maybe too cold for doing outside stuff – the temps can be iffy then.

  49. 49.

    West of the Rockies

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    Thanks for the link!  That was a good, focused essay.  I get Stone’s essential point that other actresses are equally talented.  But trashing Streep to make that point was stupid.  Misogyny in practice isn’t limited to just men.

  51. 51.

    JPL

    Wow!   Ida Mae Wells, aka Nikole Hannah-Jones,   sure can write.  At the link is her letter declining tenure at UNC..     link

  52. 52.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @West of the Rockies: Thank you. As I wrote, Streep isn’t the enemy, especially when she is one of the few older women in Hollywood that isn’t stuck playing generic ‘grandma’ roles. For that alone, Streep deserves applause, not villification.

  54. 54.

    Almost Retired

    @Matt McIrvin:  That totally makes sense.  Thanks Mr. Occam :)  I’m guessing the Florida Panhandle saw the SW Missouri numbers, and said “hold my beer.”

  55. 55.

    VeniceRiley

    @The Thin Black Duke: Urgh. I’m not clicking, but it reminds me of many FB posts in recent days about some awesome young woman with major accomplishments … They always end with a couple “Don’t be like the Kardashians.” sentences; usually pointed directly at the youngest one. You know, the one who runs her own beauty empire. They treat her like some tik tok influencer.
    OR – The usual sh*t from so-called journalists and opinion writers doing a Republican piece that absolutely HAS to cram some distant beef about the Clintons in. For balance.

  57. 57.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Almost Retired: I feel sorry for places where the vaccination numbers are actually OK, but they’re adjacent to plague holes and the virus is clearly spilling over. My own area benefits not just from better-than-average vaccination levels but by being deep into New England and surrounded by other places that are if anything doing better. (Even so, we could do better than we are.)

  59. 59.

    StringOnAStick

    @Jackie: Not smoky here currently, but it’s only a matter of time as summer rolls on. We bought an air purifier for when that happens.  I think my vision has suddenly changed a bit and that is giving me migraines, I should go get an eye exam.

  60. 60.

    Pennsylvanian

    @The Thin Black Duke: I imagine Meryl would agree that there are many, many other actors who meet or exceed her level of talent. She has lost many more awards than she has won, and her body of work isn’t without its flops, but she’s also got some exceptional performances, in my opinion.

    Stone sounds rather bitter in that rant. She is right that Hollywood sucks in so many ways for women, but tearing into Meryl Streep just feels like there is a personal beef there, like that journalist pulled a trigger for her. I doubt she’ll advance the power of her own work, movie or book, by attacking Meryl Streep. Awkwardly done, Sharon Stone.

  61. 61.

    Immanentize

    @JPL: both NHJ AND Ta-Nehisi Coates?!

    I think my next career will be in journalism with a masters at Howard.

  62. 62.

    RaflW

    Since this is an OT, and I’m not sure I can attend watergirl’s politics organizing zoom this evening: I’m thinking about the politics of a surging Delta variant.

    Those of us in the fact-based community will know that it’s largely the fault of people who have been led to believe that they don’t need a vax, don’t need to mask, and can just resume life as normal when normal is far off in the future (but much more available for the vax’d).

    The same people who refuse to get the shot, and who at best grudgingly complied with the emergency orders to mask, and whipped them off the moment the rules were lifted, well, they’re gonna go into hyperdrive to blame Biden for ‘screwing up’ the pandemic.

    IMO it’s gonna get hella ugly. Can anybody talk me off this ledge? It’s boosted my anxiety the last 24h as the Delta news (even factoring in the useful info on base rate bias in the Covid thread this morn) has taken a turn. Minnesota going back above 1% positivity is making me just feel like dang, man.

  63. 63.

    JustRuss

    Went mountain biking in the Cascades yesterday.  This is the driest year I’ve ever seen, and last year was the worst for wildfires in Oregon.  Fire danger is at Extreme, it was a sweltering 92 degrees….and some idiot had a nice little campfire going.  He put it out after people yelled at him, but I don’t see how our species survives with morons like this roaming free.

  66. 66.

    StringOnAStick

    @RaflW: It seems to me that R antivaxxers have been so loud and proud about their refusal that them suddenly changing their minds and blaming Biden for what is coming in their areas just won’t fly.  It would require them to loudly admit they were wrong, a real kick in the ego.

  68. 68.

    MattF

    @RaflW: IMO, it’s just another case of “Libtards say do ‘X’, so I’m gonna do ‘not-X’”. There’s ample information coming in from all sides that doing ‘not-X’ endangers your life, particularly if you’re in a less-vaccinated area, but that won’t stop them. If you are vaccinated and live in a highly vaccinated area, the risk is small. I just don’t see any particular new political consequences.

  69. 69.

    StringOnAStick

    @JustRuss: Where were you biking?  We are new to Central Oregon but I followed the daily temperatures for years before we moved and it wasn’t like this before. A small part of why we left the Denver area is because it was getting hotter, and after that three day stretch of 100 it’s been cooler there than here. I just got my mountain bike back after replacing a worn out shock, and it’s been hotter than I want to ride in.

  71. 71.

    Almost Retired

    @Matt McIrvin:  Yeah, I agree.  The blue or purple spot in a red state is in a tough place.  To use Sporano2’s example, Springfield, Missouri’s County has a just under 40% vaccination rate – which is not great, but better than many of the surrounding goober Counties.  Some are under 20%.

    So Springfield has to deal with these unvaxxed fuckwits coming into town to get their gun racks polished and their teeth pulled.

    Like New England, Los Angeles is doing pretty well (although there are discouraging numbers coming out of South LA), and the rednecks in California’s rural parts make it a point of pride to never go to Los Angeles or San Francisco.  So there’s that.

  73. 73.

    Ohio Mom

    Bruce K in ATH-GR:

    Sorry to hear about the death of your loved one’s family member. I haven’t had the experience (yet) of someone in my circles who is significantly younger than me dying but I’ve had a handful of acquaintances and a cousin in my generation die in the past couple of years and each time it did shake me up.

    This year’s brood of 17 year cicadas were my third — and the second in this house, where I only have to step out in the front yard to be deluged. Doing the math for the next time around — hmmm, 66+17 — yikes! I may not be around for that.

  74. 74.

    mrmoshpotato

    @JustRuss:

    Fire danger is at Extreme, it was a sweltering 92 degrees….and some idiot had a nice little campfire going.  He put it out after people yelled at him 

    Ninety-two too chilly for him?  Needed a fire?

  75. 75.

    Brachiator

    @Felanius Kootea:

    I understand why Hannah-Jones chose tenure at Howard over tenure at UNC in the end. Who wants to go where you are merely tolerated, your hiring turned into an embarrassing spectacle, over where you are celebrated and get to shape the future of journalism for many up and coming students who have the same hunger you did?

    Well said. Totally agree with you. I was just reading about this today, and learned that Hannah-Jones had graduated from UNC and had wanted to give back to the school, had felt some loyalty. It’s sad how things turned out, but it is a tremendous gain for Howard.

  76. 76.

    laura

    I’m a hot mess of tears – the good kind. In early April my closest and dearest friend was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. And then got every break the universe could provide. During her biopsy- after removing her ovaries the surgeon could see the offending organ was in fact her appendix. Better still, UCSF’s appendicidal cancer expert was in the building and come in to take a look and make a plan. She had a very long debulking and scraping surgery on the 28th and a hipec chemo lavage ( a hot temp liquid chemo treatment that hopefully killed anything that was cut or vacuumed out. Appendicidal cancer is a slime not unlike snot and it had been sloshing around her abdominal cavity and had involved many organs.

    This high risk high reward surgery and treatment should provide a median of 15 years life expectancy though she may need additional hipec chemo’s in future years. She’s just been sprung and is being driven back home to Santa Rosa and I am awaiting the greenlight to head over to provide home care until she’s able to get around on her own. I’m so very grateful – just to have my dearest friend and co-conspirators returned from death’s door. As always- fuck cancer.

  80. 80.

    Matt McIrvin

    @RaflW: We just have to tell them, over and over, that Joe Biden isn’t the guy who told anyone not to get vaccinated, or who made it in any way hard to do. And if he somehow brought in the stick, everyone would be screaming about that.

    One small mercy of Delta is that it’s wiped the “meet the KRAZY LIBERALS who won’t leave lockdown!” stories off the news.

  82. 82.

    Matt McIrvin

    My concern is that coverage of Delta focuses too much on sensational stories of breakthrough infection and not enough on how this thing reproduces twice as fast among the UN-vaccinated. It gives the impression that the variants are making vaccination irrelevant when they’re actually making it more important than ever.

  83. 83.

    Mary G

    @Felanius Kootea: @JPL:  That statement by Nikole Hannah-Jones packs a wallop:

    “The Board of Trustees wanted to send a message to me and others like me, and it did. I always tell college students and journalists who are worried that they will face discrimination, who fear that they will be judged not by their work but for who they are or what they choose to write about, that they can only worry about that which is in their own control: their own excellence. I tell them all they can do is work as hard as possible to make themselves undeniable. And yet, we have all seen that you can do everything to make yourself undeniable, and those in power can change the rules and attempt to deny you anyway.

    I had not known all the details of the clusterfuck, especially that she had accepted that tenure was not forthcoming and signed a five-year contract, but the “conservative” assholes determined to block her objected to even that. She said nothing publicly, but some brave soul told the world what was going on and the shitshow began. The behavior by the UNC board of trustees is abominable.

  84. 84.

    Miss Bianca

    @The Thin Black Duke: Nicely done. But jeez…actors. We have such titanic egos, and so often, with so little to be so egotistical about. Get a grip, Sharon

    @Feathers: *That* was your takeaway? I, a feminist and an actress, looked at what Stone said and thought, “what an ungrateful insert-sex-related-epithet-here.” The TBD made a valid point: hate on the system, Sharon, not your sisters. And don’t have the hubris to compare yourself to Streep, that just makes you look pathetic.

  85. 85.

    TomatoQueen

    @laura: Very glad for your friend and for you too, this will be a joyous reunion. Appendicidal cancer? Jee-bus Cripes.

  86. 86.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @RaflW: I mean, maybe this take will be popular in the right wing fever swamps because they already think absolutely everything about America has gone to pot since Biden replaced TFG, but I have a hard time seeing it becoming a narrative anywhere else. He’s telling everyone to get vaccinated. The vaccines supply is ample. The opportunities to get vaccinated are there.

    The places where Delta is spreading fast are areas where a significant chunk of the population won’t take that advice or avail themselves of the supply.  It would take a massive twist in the narrative to turn that around and make it Biden’s fault. IMO people not brainwashed by right wing propaganda will continue to blame TFG and those who support him for any ongoing Covid crises.

  88. 88.

    Miss Bianca

    @laura: Oh, wow. My ex-fiance (long irrelevant story) died of cancer of the appendix, which I never even realized was a thing. Glad to hear that your friend’s prognosis looks so hopeful.

  92. 92.

    Ken

    @WaterGirl: Testing my new iPad with the Smart Keyboard.

    I assume you’re happy the above didn’t come out as “Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn”.  Er, unless you typed “Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn” and smart keyboard turned it into the above.

  93. 93.

    Elizabelle

    I loved this article from the LA Times.  It’s funny, too. Author Firooza Dumas previously wrote “Funny in Farsi,” which I might have to find now.

    My mother has been a citizen diplomat

    When we moved to California in 1972 for my father’s two-year engineering assignment, my mother came ready with a suitcase full of presents. Long before Oprah gifted her entire audience with brand new cars, my mother gifted every American who crossed our path with some tchotchke from Iran.

    … Among this endless supply, my mother had also brought a large selection of Persian clothing. I had literally never seen anyone in Iran wear the stuff that she brought. There were unflattering paisley caftans, and many, many vests, some with leather trim, others with sheep skin with a very strong odor of sheep. Let me state that Persian textiles are among the most beautiful in the world and should I ever have a chance to visit Iran without the danger of being thrown in jail for being a writer, I will return with suitcases full of textiles, especially all things paisley.

    … Whenever my mother, with the best of intentions, gifted one of these items of clothing, usually a vest, I was with her, reluctantly translating. Even though my mother left the talking to me, she always added three words at the end, in her heavily accented English, “From my country.”

    I cringed as my mother constantly reminded people that we were from somewhere else. Our unpronounceable names with their abundance of syllables and too many Zs were already a dead giveaway. I did not want to be a citizen diplomat.

    Days after gifting an item of clothing, my mother would often ask me if I had seen the recipient wearing the gift. I wanted to lie and say yes but I also wanted her to stop gifting the clothing. For a second-grader trying to blend in, the routine had gotten embarrassing. It wasn’t just the overpowering odor of sheep emanating from underneath the gift wrap, but also the confused look on the recipients’ faces, a look that combined the question, “What is this?” with the fear of attracting rogue sheep.

  94. 94.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Miss Bianca: Thank you, Miss Bianca. I made the point of running my essay past my Beloved first, just to be sure I wasn’t driving up Mansplaining Blvd. As an aside, if I was an actor, I’d gladly bend the knee to Streep. Rank does have its privileges.

  97. 97.

    jimmiraybob

    @Almost Retired: ​
     

    “I can’t figure out why things are so bad, COVID-wise, in SW Missouri.”

    It’s a very Trump Evangelical part of the state. There are certainly some good Ozarks places to go that aren’t going to be a nightmare – but I wouldn’t go on the weekends. Hope you get a chance to enjoy a little of our hidden country. Also too, don’t rule out some touristing in the countryside near Columbia, MO – lots of cave action. And then there’s Arthur Bryant’s BBQ in KC (original location) – if you stop look at the pictures on the wall (Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama have all made the pilgrimage).

  98. 98.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @opiejeanne: Thanks. The BJ community is populated by excellent wordsmiths. I definitely have to do my best in such esteemed company.

  100. 100.

    zhena gogolia

    We should give credit to a company like Hallmark that said it would not support members of Congress who voted against certifying the election, and has kept that pledge—even asking two such senators to return donations given before the insurrection. https://t.co/8JRhso1nKM— Noah Bookbinder (@NoahBookbinder) July 6, 2021

  101. 101.

    Kay

    Nice (giant) headline in the local paper-

    “Brown celebrates pension bill at candy company”

    They shored up pensions in the stimulus law- it’s been a looming issue for a decade and they finally got it done so Sherrod came out to brag about it.

    This is how Sherrod Brown wins in Ohio. He once came out to a drug treatment center here to brag about the ACA. There were like 11 people there :)

    Very personal service in red counties.

  102. 102.

    Matt McIrvin

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: I think the fear comes from the fact that this basically happened during the post-2008 recession and the recovery therefrom: red-state governments immiserated their own constituents and successfully blamed it on Obama. But the causality may have been harder to impute there.

  104. 104.

    Ruckus

    @StringOnAStick:

    Had them for decades. I now take B2 and magnesium oxide daily and that cuts the occurrences down a lot. A lot, a lot. When I started I was getting 1-4/week, now it averages about one every 4-6 weeks. And I have a prescription for zolmitriptan which knocks those out in about a half hour.

  107. 107.

    WaterGirl

    @feloniousferb: I’m familiar with military time, we have to use that when scheduling posts on Balloon Juice.  But somehow I didn’t recognize that as time, maybe because no : in between.  As in 21:00.

    Is that something people would want a post about?  We could let Anne Laurie know.

  109. 109.

    2liberal

    “someone”  should start an NBA finals thread for each finals game.  Starting tonight! Go Suns!

  111. 111.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, …

    Grim news that the no. of Covid inpatients in England is now growing at 38% per week – the fastest rate of increase since last Oct.

    Hospitals are *already* flat out, with queues of 8+ hours for A&E and many staff off with Covid or self-isolating.

    How will we care for you all?

    — Rachel Clarke (@doctor_oxford) July 6, 2021

    :-/

    (via IamHappyToast)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  114. 114.

    James E Powell

    @West of the Rockies:

    I don’t see anything Stone said that is trashing Streep. She said she was “an amazingly wonderful woman and actress.” Stone didn’t say others were better, just equally as good and deserving of equal respect.

    I disagree with Stone. I see Streep as the no doubt best of the last 40 years. But I get her point. Clumsy question, clumsier overreaction. And the outrage directed at Stone is also an overreaction. Streep doesn’t need anyone to defend her.

  115. 115.

    Soprano2

    @Almost Retired:So Springfield has to deal with these unvaxxed fuckwits coming into town to get their gun racks polished and their teeth pulled.

    I wouldn’t exactly characterize them like this, but it’s a lot more than this – I work with these people every day! So does everyone else in Springfield. Quite a few of them live in town. It’s maddening.

  116. 116.

    Another Scott

    Speaking of getting the message out in the hinterlands…

    From a return to the 57 States and territories strategy to historic Voter Protection investments and now with our new Campaign Pipeline Project… @TheDemocrats are building a strong apparatus to make history by going #Bluein22 !!! https://t.co/B2yawDk83S

    — Jaime Harrison, DNC Chair (@harrisonjaime) July 6, 2021

    Democrats.org:

    This program is the first announcement we’ve made as part of the initial $20 million investment in our midterms strategy that Chair Harrison announced earlier this year. Target states include: Virginia, New Jersey, Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. Organizers in Virginia and New Jersey will be redistributed to other states following the elections this year. Similar to our 2020 Organizing Corps program, the Campaign Pipeline Project is committed to hiring diverse, local talent that best represents the states and communities these organizers will work in.

    Good, good. Recall B-J’s first 7 states are: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  117. 117.

    sdhays

    @Another Scott: No, no. It’s all good. BoJo (or does he prefer Flobalob? I know I do.) has declared that England will be opening up “on schedule” next week.

    I’m sure everything’s going to be fine!!! //

  118. 118.

    sdhays

    @James E Powell: This is what I thought when I saw her comments. She wasn’t attacking Streep, just the condescending way Hollywood and the Hollywood press uses Meryl against other accomplished actresses. She probably could have articulated her point better, but it was a response to very lazy, very tedious question that every woman who works with Streep gets asked, and she reached her breaking point. It wasn’t a press release, just off-the-cuff frustration with a question.

  119. 119.

    James E Powell

    I know this has been talked about here & elsewhere, but the numbers are shocking.

    A new UNC study found that at least 1800 communities that had a local news outlet in 2004 were without one at the beginning of 2020.

    This has consequences & repercussions. I admit that nobody has come up with a solution, but that shouldn’t stop us all from being alarmed. Are we all just conditioned to accept that whatever the almighty market gives us is the best we can do?

    What do you guys think?

  120. 120.

    Kent

    @Almost Retired: SW Missouri is Branson which is basically a year-long Sturgis Rally for country music fans.  They come from all over and pack into the country music bars and venues.

  122. 122.

    Kent

    @WaterGirl: I have the same exact thing.  Loving it.  Just got mine last week.  Actually I have what I think is the Magic Keyboard.  I also bought the Logitech Slim Folio keyboard on sale at Amazon but I like the Apple one better.

  123. 123.

    Kathleen

    @The Thin Black Duke: Excellent essay! I was shocked by Sharon Stone’s comment about working on Law & Order SVU. She demeaned everything about the show though she didn’t call anyone out specifically. Most actors – including very famous established stars would kill (no pun intended) to work on that show. Not her! I’ve only read positive things about how great the cast and crew are to work with.

  126. 126.

    Another Scott

    @Felanius Kootea: For those who missed it, her full statement (via the NAACPLDF) is well worth reading.

    […]

    “I cannot adequately express my gratitude to you all. But I will not be joining the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a professor.

    “I cannot imagine working at and advancing a school named for a man who lobbied against me, who used his wealth to influence the hires and ideology of the journalism school, who ignored my 20 years of journalism experience, all of my credentials, all of my work, because he believed that a project that centered Black Americans equaled the denigration of white Americans. Nor can I work at an institution whose leadership permitted this conduct and has done nothing to disavow it. How could I believe I’d be able to exert academic freedom with the school’s largest donor so willing to disparage me publicly and attempt to pull the strings behind the scenes? Why would I want to teach at a university whose top leadership chose to remain silent, to refuse transparency, to fail to publicly advocate that I be treated like every other Knight Chair before me? Or for a university overseen by a board that would so callously put politics over what is best for the university that we all love? These times demand courage, and those who have held the most power in this situation have exhibited the least of it.

    “The Board of Trustees wanted to send a message to me and others like me, and it did. I always tell college students and journalists who are worried that they will face discrimination, who fear that they will be judged not by their work but for who they are or what they choose to write about, that they can only worry about that which is in their own control: their own excellence. I tell them all they can do is work as hard as possible to make themselves undeniable. And yet, we have all seen that you can do everything to make yourself undeniable, and those in power can change the rules and attempt to deny you anyway.”

    […]

    It had to be painful to tell the story, but it’s important that she did so.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  128. 128.

    J R in WV

    @raven: ​
     

    I had my 3-week follow up and the PA said “You thought everything was going to be resolved in THREE weeks”! I feel lots better, this is going to take time.

    I wondered if you were a little overly expectant… just because you’re allowed to go home and walk around doesn’t mean you’re actually recovering that quickly, much less getting over what the procedure was intended to repair.

    So glad for you that you have this new perspective! Best of luck over the next couple of months!!! Take care, be safe, take your time !!!

  131. 131.

    J R in WV

    @Felanius Kootea:

    Well, Felanius Kootea has put the foot right on the target here. Well said, M Kootea !!!zA1111

    More power to Howard and their new J school founded by Coates and Hannah-Jones!!! And may UNC and their J School named for a racist slob from Arkansas receive all the plaudits they deserve = ZERO.

  132. 132.

    Another Scott

    Popehat’s PSA for how to determine whether there’s an FBI agent in your group of big-talkers…

    Adam's right. Here's some other rules for identifying the FBI agent in your midst:

    /1

    https://t.co/NT978W87hL

    — SchemeToDefraudHat (@Popehat) July 6, 2021

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  133. 133.

    debbie

    @J R in WV:

    One of the many joys of aging. Everything takes damn longer. My doctor has learned to duck (figuratively speaking, of course) whenever she estimates the length of time it will take to recover from whatever stupid thing I’ve done to myself.

  134. 134.

    J R in WV

    @JPL:

    Nikole Hannah-Jones sure can write.  At the link is her letter declining tenure at UNC….     link

    Wow, what a letter to the world. Ms Hannah-Jones wrote a studied letter to the UNC Board of Bigots, and tore them a new excretory orifice, without using a single swear word or Latin slur. What a great job.
    And I’m sure she will have more respect and support at Howard University than at University North Carolina in forever.
    As a liberal progressive, I’m so proud of the letter, her position, her ability to define her position. What a heroine! I hope UNC realizes how badly they have been treated by the white supremacist wealthy alums and begins to put those bigots in their proper place…​
    ​
    ​

  136. 136.

    J R in WV

    @MattF:

    I had to go into town on business today, and stopped on the way for the necessary 50-pack of masks from the drug store. I wore one all the time I was in town, until I was headed south towards the farm.

    I plan to wear a mask for the next several months, or until people are required to wear masks or prove their successful vaccination statue…   these Darwin deniers and morons deserve to die ASAP and burn in hell at the moment!

  139. 139.

    Miss Bianca

    @rikyrah: Woot! I knew she was a serious competitor, and with Daddy’s money behind her she has been fortunate enough to train with and ride the very best in the field. Good luck to her, and the US Equestrian Team!

  140. 140.

    Another Scott

    @James E Powell: Patch is/was trying to do local newspaper type stuff.   I don’t know what their business model is or how well they’re doing.

    I assume that someone is trying to do the usual “get big enough fast enough, then own the market or get bought out” type of thing. It seems to be the only thing that succeeds these days (at least according to the business news types).

    NoVA has a bunch of local newspapers under the same Connections umbrella that tries to cover local news. They do an excellent job, but it’s hard for them to make money (even being plastered with real estate ads).

    Dunno. I agree that it’s a problem. Lots of mischief happens in governments when they’re not being watched.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

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