Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

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

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

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

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

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

No one could have predicted…

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

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

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

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

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Saturday Morning Open Thread: One Small Thing to Look Forward To

Saturday Morning Open Thread: One Small Thing to Look Forward To

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Meanwhile, Fox News and its reporter Peter Doocy contine their campaign to kill as many Americans as possible…

… I, like Doocy, was intrigued by where this number came from Thursday. I, unlike Doocy apparently, actually did 30 seconds of research on it. That’s all the time it took to find the publicly available study — which even has the number Psaki cited in its title, “The Disinformation Dozen” — from the Center for Countering Digital Hate. The study was picked up by the likes of NPR and others in May.

Nor did anything in Psaki’s comments Thursday suggest that this was from some kind of government study or research project. But Doocy jumped from her factoid to not just assuming that it was, but also that this amounted to “spying” and that the “spying” was specifically done by the surgeon general’s office (perhaps because Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy appeared with Psaki on Thursday?)…

Reader Interactions

100Comments

  1. 1.

    Spanky

    The fleas are back. Blech. Time to dose the cats again.

    And why is that shit so expensive?
    (A: Because they can.)

  2. 2.

    Spanky

    Btw, how can Fox have an embarrassing blunder when they refuse to be embarrassed? Or even admit they’re wrong? If other journalists are embarrassed for them, that’s a problem.

  5. 5.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    We’re back from our 3-day bus trip to Taliesin and various other touristy sites. Taliesin was good. Apparently it had fallen into disrepair a few years back but it’s now a UNESCO World Heritage site and is being repaired. We also enjoyed our last stop, Galena, for the Grant stuff. Nine Civil War general came from there which shows you what connections can do. OTOH, House on the Rock in WI was loud, chaotic, and horrifying.

  7. 7.

    Baud

    But Doocy jumped from her factoid to not just assuming that it was, but also that this amounted to “spying” and that the “spying” was specifically done by the surgeon general’s office

    BJ’s favorite pundit will be all over this on the next episode of Tucker Carlson.

  9. 9.

    Anne Laurie

    @MattF: This is, by far, the stupidest hot take I have ever seen.

    It’s by (or ghosted for) Conrad Black, convicted felon & good friend of Donald Trump.

    You see Black’s name, you don’t need to bother reading any attached material to know it will be specious… and stupid.

  10. 10.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Ex-St. Louis Police Officer Gets Two Weekends in Jail, (3 years) Probation for Covering Up Beating

    Her boyfriend got 52 months, the other 2 cops were convicted in a 2nd trial after their first one ended with a hung jury and have yet to be sentenced.

    I bring this up for the sole purpose of quoting the closing paragraph:

    More than 120 people were arrested the same night as Hall, leading to dozens of similar complaints of police abuse. No charges have been filed in response to any of those complaints.

    In other news, water is still wet, fire is still hot.

  11. 11.

    The Thin Black Duke

    Good morning, folks. I wanted to share my latest essay about The New Normal that the anti-vaxxers given to the rest of us. Although I really try not to indulge in torture porn, I hate what these dickwads did because it never had to go down like this. How did we equate wearing a piece of cloth over our faces to wearing a straitjacket? Maybe I should put a shot of Jim Beam into my next cup of coffee…

  12. 12.

    dmsilev

    @MattF: Even assuming that Trump was capable of moderating himself (a huge huge assumption), his base loves the fact that he’s a performative asshole and everyone else hates his guts and won’t forget the years of performative assholishness, so who exactly would such a shift attract?

  15. 15.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Spanky: I don’t know about fleas, but we have lots of ticks here, and I can say that Simparica is a fucking miracle drug

    ETA: Oh, you said cats, sorry.

  21. 21.

    germy

    Biden is winning over rose twitter, one account at a time.

    A thread:

    I don’t think most people get how big the child tax credit payment that Biden has introduced could be a game changer in terms of social policy. It’s the best thing I’ve seen in my whole adult life of being interested and involved in politics

    — Alex Sayf Cummings? (@akbarjenkins) July 16, 2021

    It’s amazing. Fantastic. I almost don’t want to support it because my identity as a person people hate might damage the cause. But this is really the best policy proposal I’ve seen in my entire life

    — Alex Sayf Cummings? (@akbarjenkins) July 16, 2021

  22. 22.

    MomSense

    @germy:

    Those fuckers.  They were too busy with their Kamala is a cop to pay attention when she was proposing it as a candidate.

  24. 24.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @germy: This is why the GOP is terrified. Enacting progressive policies like the Child Tax Credit totally negates the “both parties are the same” nonsense. No, the crazies will never give an inch, but the people out there with empty pockets and empty bank accounts who aren’t empty-headed will see that it makes a big difference which party is behind the steering wheel of the House, Senate and Presidency. There’s a reason why Mitch is making noises about a deal. (Of course the turtle is lying through his beak. Thankfully, Biden is ignoring him)

  26. 26.

    leeleeFL

    @Baud: So, we’re not blaming Obama anymore?  Thank FSM!  That was exhausting!  Thanks for the heads-up!

  27. 27.

    Elizabelle

    @germy:  Ms. rose twitter:

    I almost don’t want to support it because my identity as a person people hate

    LOL.  What’s up with that?  And then, in her very next tweet:

    if we could push @TheDemocrats into doing this

    Because Democrats need to be pushed to do anything, by rose twitter.

    The self importance of this one. It burns.

  29. 29.

    dave319

    Hey, Joe! Yeah, Joe Biden, over there! You Are The F*cking PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. If you guys have missed the Big Lesson of Trump since 2016–i.e., lead with action, no matter how outrageous to the Village, and let the midget-mind media catch up to you, while succeeding in bending the terms of attention span in your direction–then you guys have failed all those folks who busted their asses to get you elected.

    Yeah, Cucker Fox and F*ckbook ae killing people, you’re dead-on 100% correct, Joe. Now convene a presidential media moment–no Q&A, chattering classes, no bothsiderism, no fearful timid centrist Sister Mary Tut-tut squeaking, just “Y’all shaddup and listen”-and use the awesome power of your office to call these evil MFs out directly . Launch a Presidential commission to fight the spread of disinformation simultaneous to Nancy Smash forming a select committee of her own.

    Walk. Chew gum. Lincoln did a ton of governing with his other hand while prosecuting the Civil War .

  30. 30.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Elizabelle: Reminds of of the type of people I would see at condo association meetings. Loud, obnoxious, and constantly bitching about the shit that needed to be done. Did these annoying empty barrels getting in the way ever do anything> Of course not. But they always knew who was doing it wrong.

  42. 42.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Do any jackals have experience with breast biopsies? How painful is it during and after?

  44. 44.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @MomSense: No one better tell them that the monthly, fully-refundable child tax credit was one of Kamala’s signature policy proposals during the primary campaign…

  45. 45.

    dave319

    One criticism of Joe accompanied by one big praise of Joe, from LGM’s review of Rebecca Traister’s piece in NYMag:

    “But you have to move forward the best you can. Biden has certainly learned. As we’ve stated many times around here, Biden is a politician’s politician, which means he moves with the party. That hasn’t changed now that he is the party leader. In the 90s, Biden would have been as awful as Bill Clinton. In the 20s, he has the most progressive economic program since Lyndon Johnson. That’s because the grassroots has moved and pushed him hard. Keep on pushing!”

    https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2021/07/personnel-is-policy

  47. 47.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @The Thin Black Duke: Good essay. I saw a post on Kos yesterday about growing anger toward the unvaccinated. On this trip I just took, almost no one was masked. That was fine on the bus. We’re all vaccinated. But I saw tons of young people especially without masks.

  48. 48.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: “Stewardess, I can read science words… oh wait, I don’t read biological words.”

    I’m a little lost in the jargon and I’m not sure how they measure efficacies like that 60% number. What they’re measuring is antibody response, and the number they’re measuring is something called “titer”. I have no idea how to interpret any of that, but the numbers that jump out at me are:

    • 20 participants
    • 1 breakthrough infection, but it was “minimally symptomatic”. I think they would call that a 95% efficacy

    Also they are talking about a one-dose J & J (10 participants) vs two-doses (10 participants). I didn’t know there was a two-dose J & J.

  49. 49.

    Roger Moore

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    1 breakthrough infection, but it was “minimally symptomatic”. I think they would call that a 95% efficacy

    No.  You get the efficacy number by comparing how many vaccinated people get infected to how many unvaccinated people get infected.  To make up some numbers, supposed you have a study with 10,000 vaccinated people and 10,000 people who got the placebo.  5 vaccinated people get sick and 100 people who got the placebo.  Because the vaccine reduced infections by 95% (from 100 to 5) it’s considered to be 95% effective.

  52. 52.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: High density environments increase the risk of infection. This isn’t an opinion, it’s a fact. Damned if I know why some folks find this so hard to understand.

  53. 53.

    Elizabelle

    @The Thin Black Duke:   One of those very types survived the Surfside collapse, and is now making “poor me, what are you going to do for me?” noises when, if memory serves, he was one of the firebrands who refused to pay and questioned everything.  Aggressively.  Very curious if correspondence and the minutes of the board meetings will ever come out.  Some of those condo owners doomed themselves and others to their fate.

    Always looking for a silver lining:  the dangers of condo board management are fatally apparent — in this case, it seems the board tried to do the right thing.  A lot of members quit over the years, out of frustration.  It was some of the owners who would not cooperate.    Absentee or in the rubble?  To find out.

  56. 56.

    CarolPW

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: I’ve had 2 – no pain at all during and minimal afterwards. Aspirin- rather than Percocet-level pain. I was awake for both, but they are perfectly happy (and some prefer) to knock you out for it if you want.

    Good luck.

    ETA – mine were cut the lump out biopsies.

  57. 57.

    laura

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: yep, right here, just had one a couple of months ago. The needle biopsie did not hurt, but the post procedure was tough. the attendings used a tremendous amount of pressure on the site to minimize the potential for swelling. Swelling is bad. Swelling equals pain. But it felt like they took turns standing on one foot on my breast. It was a benign lump and I chose to have it removed instead of monitored. I hope this is helpful info. Get the biopsy, knowledge is power.

  58. 58.

    Roger Moore

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    What they’re measuring is antibody response, and the number they’re measuring is something called “titer”.

    Antibody titer is a standard way of testing to see whether a vaccine is successful at producing neutralizing antibodies.  They have antigens (the things antibodies are supposed to recognize) from the disease, and they test to see how many antibodies from your blood bind to them.  Obviously more binding is better.  In this case, it looks as if the antibody levels took almost two months after vaccination to reach their peak and then declined modestly after that.  They are still plenty high after 8 months, so the antibody response is still protective after that long.  The rate of falloff suggests it will probably stay high enough for a good long while.

    They also looked at cellular immunity by seeing how many helper (CD4+) and cytotoxic (CD8+) T-cells responded to the viral protein.  Cellular immunity is a kind of second-line response. If your body is challenged by virus, the antibodies can bind to it and keep it from ever getting into your cells.  If that’s ineffective, e.g. if you are exposed to so much virus there aren’t enough antibodies to bind it all, cellular immunity takes over.  Cytotoxic T-cells kill cells invaded by the virus before it has a chance to reproduce, and Helper T-cells rally the rest of the immune system to fight the disease.  A strong cellular immune response means any case is more likely to be mild or asymptomatic rather than moderate or severe.

  59. 59.

    SFAW

    @leeleeFL:

    So, we’re not blaming Obama anymore?  Thank FSM!  That was exhausting!  Thanks for the heads-up!

    If you had been paying attention, you’d know/recall that Biden is just a figurehead, and that it’s really Obummer who’s controlling him from behind the curtain.

    Or is it Soros? Or Hitlary? I can never remember which Spawn of Satan is controlling Sleepy Joe these days.

  62. 62.

    kindness

    I don’t watch Fox so I’m not sure how they edit Doocy’s segments.  Must be good editing because he gets pantsed hard every day by Psaki.  My rose colored glasses make me miss the era of Walter Cronkite where Republicans felt their opponents were loyal opponents, not the enemy.  Our media is failing us as a people.

  65. 65.

    MontyTheClipArtMongoose

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: you say that about house on the rock. next, will you say it about the most famous graduate of west milwaukee high school, liberace?

    (i will not stand for this scandalous talk of my fair state.)

  66. 66.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @MomSense:

    @CarolPW:

    Thanks. I think it’s the needle kind. The doctors are being very cautious not to be either alarmed or say “it’s probably nothing” even though it’s probably nothing. I’m doing my best to be the same to just be supportive and not scared, but we’re both tiptoeing around this conversation this weekend and looking a little haunted. Biopsy is a scary word.

    The mammogram itself is very painful for her, and the followup was even worse than the routine one.

  67. 67.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @debbie: I’m a South Bronx guy. Don’t ask me how I wound up living in Massachusetts. Too many Red Sox hats around here. Grr.

  69. 69.

    Gvg

    Well, we had been planning a garage sale for 2 weeks from now and we just called it off. My sister the hospital doc reports this week every hospital in north Florida is full of Covid. Two weeks ago her hospital had 1 covid patient. Monday they had 4, Tuesday they had 15 and had to send more to other hospitals. They have lots of staff out sick. She says a third of the employees out sick were vaccinated. Until this week they hadn’t seen a single case in a fully vaccinated person.  Also people getting from outdoors close to other people. A cousins nurse friend at a different hospital went from 2 or 3 to 45 covid this week but they were all unvaccinated.

    I tried to get things done shopping and all because I knew we would have another wave. Our idiots elected are incapable of learning about go slow, be cautious, don’t try and wish away problems, do the work. I am kind of furious, can you tell?

  71. 71.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    Peter Doocy is, hands down, the dumbest goddamn member of the White House Press Corps.  This fucking clown is a disgrace to journalism and the first amendment every time he opens his mouth.  The apple certainly doesn’t fall far from the tree because his dad is a goddamn moron as well.  I don’t envy Jen Psaki having to deal with this breathtaking buffoon on a daily basis.

  72. 72.

    White & Gold Purgatorian

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    I’ve had two needle biopsies. The first a couple of decades ago with no local anesthetic before hand and it was painful. The more recent had a local and no pain at all during the procedure. In both cases there was considerable bruising afterwards and discomfort hat lasted maybe a week. Best wishes for a good result.

  73. 73.

    Geminid

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Galena’s Congressman, Elihu Washburn, was a political ally of Abraham Lincoln, and was a staunch advocate for Grant and other local officers. Grant had lived in Galena only two years when the war started, and the Congressman hardly knew him. Washburn knew officers who served with Grant, though, and they were impressed by him. When Grant received his promotion to Brigadier General, he is said to have remarked, “This is Washburne’s doing.”

    After the Battle of Ft. Donelson, Grant’s thick headed commander Halleck removed Grant from command under vague charges. Illinois officers protested to Washburn, who took the matter up with Lincoln. Lincoln told Halleck basically to put up or shut up, and Grant was restored to command shortly before Shiloh.

    Later in the war, Washburne was one of many urging Lincoln to make Grant commander-in-chief, and he helped pass legislation authorizing the rank of lieutenant general. Lincoln then appointed Grant to the position.

  75. 75.

    Bill Arnold

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    There’s a reason why Mitch is making noises about a deal. (Of course the turtle is lying through his beak. Thankfully, Biden is ignoring him)

    All the Republican noises/moves about making a deal since Biden was inaugurated have been delaying moves, in part to buy time which in turn buys an increased probability that the Senate power will shift due to death or incapacity (which could go either way, to be clear).
    It’s loathsome behavior on their part. Not in the same category of evil as their pro-Pandemic(/mass death) moves for political gain, but still loathsome.

  76. 76.

    jackmac

    @MattF: It’s typical nonsense by the disgraced “Lord” Conrad Black who spent time prison for various counts of fraud. That’s all you need to know.

  78. 78.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: My husband was also horrified by House on the Rock. Because I like kitschy trashy weirdness, I kinda liked it…once. It was damned pricey when we went, which was early ’90’s.

  80. 80.

    debbie

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    I know how that feels, I lived in Boston before moving to NYC. I had to remain very low-profile when the Bruins played the Rangers because I loved the Bruins. Lots of side eye.

  81. 81.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Doocy is a douche.  Who could have ever imagined that?  He’s got all the qualities of your standard Villager vermin (lazy, stenographer, entitled, arrogant) coupled with an ideological bent that Goebbels would approve of.  Plus, he’s his loathsome father’s son.

  83. 83.

    Elizabelle

    @jackmac:   And, Donald Trump pardoned the deplorable Conrad Black.   The Guardian, 16 May 2019:

    Donald Trump has pardoned Conrad Black, the former media mogul who owned the Daily Telegraph and the Spectator before being jailed for fraud, shortly after he wrote a book praising the US president.
    Black, a Canadian-born British citizen, was once known for his extravagant lifestyle as he ran an international newspaper empire that included the Chicago Sun-Times and the Jerusalem Post. But he ended up serving three and a half years in prison [yea!] after he was convicted in 2007 of siphoning off millions of dollars from the sale of newspapers owned by the company he controlled.
    Since leaving jail Black, who is a British peer, has been on a quest to clear his name. Last year he published a book entitled Donald J Trump: A President Like No Other, writing that Trump “is not, in fact, a racist, sexist, warmonger, hothead, promoter of violence, or a foreign or domestic economic warrior”. He suggested the president had been misunderstood.

    Got to say, cannot argue with that title.  Only thing that might improve it is apostrophes around President.

  87. 87.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Old Dan and Little Ann: Of course, the exact opposite is true.  The other day the rest of the press corpse laughted at Jen’s first response to Douchy’s idiotic question.  “Welcome back!”

  89. 89.

    Zelma

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    Re needle biopsy, I’ve had more than my share.  The most painful part is that they flatten the breast the way they do with a mammogram.  At least, that’s what I experienced.  Not fun!  The needle part you don’t feel.  I am so glad I never have to have a mammogram again.  (Or wear a bra.)

  92. 92.

    J R in WV

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: ​
     

    Do any jackals have experience with breast biopsies? How painful is it during and after?

    I assisted Wife during her biopsy some years back, and just asked her about her experience.

    During the procedure she was fully medicated and out, so zero pain during.

    Also she reports no pain worthy of mentioning afterwards on our way home from the outpatient event. Her path report was also negative.

    We hope this bit of information helps you relax some.

  93. 93.

    J R in WV

    Actually, I had a needle biopsy myself, with local anesthesia the procedure didn’t hurt at all, afterwards my right nipple was V tender for a couple of days, but nothing you would need medication for. Probably near 20 years ago. Bandaid on after, maybe a few drops of blood, Very low impact, really.

  96. 96.

    TriassicSands

    @MattF: 

    Conrad Black, convicted of felony fraud, sentenced to 42 months in prison, and pardoned by the world’s greatest champion of truth, justice, and the American way, Donald J. Trump. This idiot gave up his Canadian citizenship so he could accept a British peerage. What a piece of work.

  100. 100.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: it hurts, although I was able to go walk around outside afterwards (after stopping for painkiller on the way home). But I was decidedly not up to moving very fast.  My advice: a very supportive and/comfortable bra, and bring your painkillers with you and take them before you get into the car to ride home.

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