Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

No Kings: Americans standing in the way of bad history saying “Oh, Fuck No!”

Human rights are not a matter of opinion!

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

“But what about the lurkers?”

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Our messy unity will be our strength.

Bark louder, little dog.

So many bastards, so little time.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Dog Blogging / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Working for the Biscuits

Reader Interactions

206Comments

  2. 2.

    raven

    I could never understand how folks can train a doggie and then let it go. I guess we’ll find out, sort of. Friday we go to meet a horribly abused dog with an eye toward fostering her.

  5. 5.

    Ohio Mom

    I am surprised he retains his puppy-like figure — must be expending a lot of calories foraging for stuff.

  12. 12.

    germy

    @rikyrah:

    Airlines (and their passengers):

    this weekend I went on a girls trip. 10 Black women flying first class. People literally could not process how it was possible.

    Staff tried to send us to regular lines. Passengers made snide remarks. One guy even yelled "are they a higher class of people than I am?!"

    Stay mad.

    — Angie Jones (@techgirl1908) July 28, 2021

  15. 15.

    MomSense

    @raven:

    So sad.  Hoping it’s a good match.

    I have good news and bad news about my doggo.  Bad news is she ripped her hind dew claw off last night running in the woods.  Good news is the veterinarian kept the clinic open and didn’t charge for treating her.

    Also there’s a reason they don’t show what the car looks like after driving Carrie home from prom.

  16. 16.

    rikyrah

     

    Rugged Amethyst #TexasBorn #CaliBred (@groove_sdc) tweeted at 9:54 PM on Tue, Aug 03, 2021:
    This race was not a test run for Democratic Black leadership but an exposé on the lack of it on the progressive left. Y’all let these white and non-Black folks talk about us like dogs and then when ya’ll needed us you ran up in a Black district like you had pull. You don’t. #OH11
    (https://twitter.com/groove_sdc/status/1422752734793584642?s=03)

  20. 20.

    Nicole

    @raven:

    I could never understand how folks can train a doggie and then let it go. I guess we’ll find out, sort of. Friday we go to meet a horribly abused dog with an eye toward fostering her.

    A friend of mine has taken up fostering dogs and she said while she always cries when a success goes to its forever home she’s found it so rewarding that she’s okay to let them go.  She’s only had one foster fail (i.e., a dog she ended up keeping herself- a senior dog with multiple health issues and the kindest nature imaginable; my friend was in love from day one).  Not too shabby and a happy ending for an old dog (I’m worried I’d end up with a houseful of dogs if I tried).

    May your fostering work out for you, and may it bring you as much joy as it has to my friend!  It’s a good thing you’re looking at doing.

  22. 22.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    MAPLE HEIGHTS, Ohio ― Shontel Brown, a Cuyahoga County councilwoman, defeated Nina Turner in the special primary election for Ohio’s 11th Congressional District, all but ensuring that she will represent the Cleveland-area seat in Congress.
    ***
    The race’s outcome also affirms President Joe Biden’s status as a sacrosanct figure among a critical mass of Democratic voters. Brown promised cooperation with Biden, while Turner had a history of clashing with Biden and other top Democrats.
    (link)

    You come at Uncle Joe ya better not miss

  24. 24.

    raven

    @Nicole: Thanks, we see it as a stop-gap until we find more of what we are looking for in terms of size. We also worry about taking on a doggie with “pre-existing” issues. Lil Bit was uninsurable and cost us a great deal of dough. We don’t regret any of it but don’t know if we want to do it again. (With full knowledge that you have no idea what the future will bring)

  26. 26.

    Percysowner

    @rikyrah:  Slate had an interesting take on this. They list why various mainstream Democrats backed Brown. Joyce Beatty, the CBC and Jim Clyburn for rational political reasons, although they admit Clyburn got snippy after some of Turner’s remarks about him. Hillary Clinton, OTOH, endorsed Brown because she was angry at Turner in 2015 and will never let bygones be bygones. Yep, Hillary was against Turner because she is a vengeful bitch.

  31. 31.

    Anne Laurie

    @debbie: All those retrievals with no rewards? I’d have quit after the first couple.

    Oh, I’m sure he’s getting his rewards — but you’d need a high-speed camera & a trained photographer to catch a shot in the interval between the cookie-drop and the snatch-&-gulp!

  32. 32.

    Gin & Tonic

    The first Black Member of Parliament in Ukraine, Zhan Beleniuk, becomes (I think) the first sitting MP of any country to win an Olympic gold medal – in Greco-Roman wrestling.

  34. 34.

    Anne Laurie

    @raven: I guess we’ll find out, sort of. Friday we go to meet a horribly abused dog with an eye toward fostering her.

    Fingers crossed that the best way forward can be found for you and doggie both!

  36. 36.

    Ken

    @Anne Laurie: you’d need a high-speed camera & a trained photographer to catch a shot in the interval between the cookie-drop and the snatch-&-gulp

    Coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Quicksilver gets a dog who can keep up with him.

    (You know you want to see it.)

  37. 37.

    Anne Laurie

    @OzarkHillbilly: Hmmmmm… I wonder how they will react when the dog brings them a cockroach?

    Oh, c’mon, you know dogs better than that!  An insect from under the furniture isn’t a ‘dropped object’, it’s a ‘free snack’!

    (People with guide dogs occasionally complain about their dogs’ craftiness at finding ‘random’ treats — detouring past the ice-cream shop in hope of finding dropped cones, or taking the route in the student union closest to the popcorn popper… )

  38. 38.

    Spanky

    @OzarkHillbilly:

     I don’t eat it because I’m a pescatarian now.

    Ah, she stays in shape by walking everywhere?

    ETA: Or is she referring to the church formerly known as the Church of Scotland?

  39. 39.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Percysowner: 

    Hillary Clinton, OTOH, endorsed Brown because she was angry at Turner in 2015 and will never let bygones be bygones. Yep, Hillary was against Turner because she is a vengeful bitch.

    I still have nightmares about how she ripped everyone a new one at the 2020 DNC.

    Oh Slate… Go home. You’re a bonehead.

  40. 40.

    Betty Cracker

    @Percysowner: The article has this quote from Turner’s concession speech: “We didn’t lose this race, evil money manipulated and maligned this election.”

    Didn’t Turner have something like twice as much money as Brown?

  41. 41.

    Spanky

    @Betty Cracker: Taking yet another page right out of tfg’s playbook. She’ll see how that plays with Democrats.

    ETA: And I wonder if her next move is to run as an Independent spoiler.

  44. 44.

    Geminid

    @rikyrah: @Sasha Beauloux was relentless! She has impressive communication skills. An earnest amateur, Ms. Beauloux does it in her time away from a responsible job. As a fellow Virginian, she makes me proud.

  48. 48.

    JPL

    @germy: CNN showed her unconcession speech.   It might be time to just ignore her and  hope she just rants and raves in her own home.    Bradley Foundation and others will probably support her, so that won’t happen.

  49. 49.

    germy

    I will work with the Biden-Harris Administration to pass a high-quality public option that will lower costs, drive down prescription drug costs, and expand coverage to achieve universal health care. I believe a public option that President Biden supports is the fastest and most immediate mechanism to get there. I would vote for Medicare for All if it came to the House floor. – Shontel Brown

    https://ballotpedia.org/Shontel_Brown

  51. 51.

    MomSense

    @Betty Cracker:

    That may be so but HER money wasn’t evil.  Seeing so many youngs (friends of kids) on social media posting memes about resisting  imperialist propaganda – unlike those poor Shontel Brown voters. Not long ago there was a discussion among this group about how if we were a socialist country we would get paid for doing what we love.  One young woman literally thinks in a socialist country the government would pay her to be a tarot card reader.  I thought about crashing their party for a minute.  Decided it wouldn’t go well and kept scrolling.

  53. 53.

    Betty Cracker

    Trying to stay off the polling crack, but this is good news IF true:

    The latest surge of COVID-19 might be catching up with Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis is now underwater with 49% of voters; only 44% approve of his job performance.

    In the St. Pete Polls survey, DeSantis nearly broke even among partisan voters, with Republicans not quite overcoming the Democrats’ opinions.

    For Democrats, 74% said they do not approve of his job performance and 19% said they do. For Republicans, 71% said they approve, while 22% said they do not.

    Independent voters broke against him, with 39% saying they approve of his job performance, and 51% saying they do not approve.

    This might be a blip related to the COVID surge in the state, or it might be an effect of DeSantis shedding the bipartisan disguise he wore after winning the GOP primary in 2018 and going all Trump, all Fox News all the time last year. Anecdotally, a lot of political normies I know were surprised — and not pleased — by that.

  54. 54.

    Geminid

    @Low Key Swagger: It sounds like Turner had a fat payroll, but lagged in mundane GOTV efforts like mailers. Both campaigns and their  pac supporters spent a ton of money on broadcast advertising.

    Using FEC filings, researcher Liz Burgh has spent time on the reciepts and expenditures of bothTurner’s campaign and related political action commitees. I look forward to her analysis of Turner’s money after the end of this quarter.

  56. 56.

    germy

    Meghan McCain’s (she seems nice!) husband keeps poking a sleeping mad dog:

    Last night on Fox, Ben Domenech described U.S. politics as a fight between "the enemies of everything this nation has ever been" and "the patriots, the Americans… who will do anything to preserve it," closing with, "what are you willing to do?" https://t.co/9hFBEgM6Xj pic.twitter.com/h3QipFe5E8
    — Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) August 4, 2021

  58. 58.

    Low Key Swagger

    O/T…but I’ve had a cough and sore throat for two days….sigh.  Get tested?  Or does it matter if I plan to quarantine regardless?  Team Moderna here.

  60. 60.

    Chris Johnson

    @The Thin Black Duke:
    Given that she’s taking money from someone who also funded Rohrabacher, and getting support from Briahna Joy Grey, I’m going to say ‘sock puppet for interests’ but it’s not corporate interests, it’s Russian interests.

    It looks more and more clearcut now. Not sure how much more obvious it can get.

  61. 61.

    Geminid

    @Betty Cracker: That negative number among independents should worry DeSantis. Base motivation for both parties should be high next year, and independents could make the difference. In Arizona, independents broke for Biden and Kelly last year. In Virginia, Democratic candidates have been winning a majority of independents the last few cycles.

    The last Wason Center poll of registered Virginia voters showed self-identified independents actually surpassing Republicans by 33%-26%. Now a Republican cannot win a statewide race withoit carrying a substantial majority among independents.

  64. 64.

    JMG

    Off to NYC in an hour for my son’s wedding. Packed my vaccination card in my computer bag just in case any restaurants or such I visit this week have their own proof requirements.

    @Low Key Swagger: Go ahead and get tested. If it comes back negative, you’ll feel ever so much better. If positive, nothing lost. It’s going to take a long time before we all don’t assume the worst about common things like coughing which are also covid symptoms. Even after vaccination I had mild panic reactions to the pollen-based allergy symptoms I’ve only had each spring and late summer of my life.

  69. 69.

    satby

    @Low Key Swagger: Well, it may depend on where you are and if you have other symptoms like fever or fatigue. Air quality has been terrible in a lot of the US due to all the fires out west, even though it’s improved in some places, so it could also be that. Most advise calling your doctor or local health department and seeing if they tell you to get tested after they ask you about symptoms you have.

    Edit: people, those tests aren’t free and there’s a protocol for requiring them.

  71. 71.

    Baud

    @MomSense:

    One young woman literally thinks in a socialist country the government would pay her to be a tarot card reader.

    This is how young idealists end up as resentful old conservatives.

  75. 75.

    germy

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I remember an old James Thurber short story about a very meek and mild mannered man who unfortunately looks exactly like a notorious gangster who has escaped from prison and whose photo is on the front page of every newspaper.

    He notices people staring at him whenever he goes on errands.  He develops a neurosis about it.  I won’t give away the ending.

  76. 76.

    Betty Cracker

    @Geminid: Yes, the NPA numbers jumped out at me too. DeSantis has to win a substantial portion of them to win in Florida too, and the way he presented himself in the general election and until 2020 reflected that. It was frustrating because it was such a shift from how he ran in the primary, and he got away with it!

    But the heel turn midway through his term was unmistakable, and I hope it will bite him on the ass, for the good of the state and the entire country. DeSantis is a fucking monster.

  78. 78.

    narya

    @Low Key Swagger: Test. Coworker who is very diligent, fully vaxxed, works from home, just got a positive test. Doesn’t know how she got it. (And she’s an epidemiologist by training.)

  79. 79.

    germy

    @MomSense:

    With a universal basic income and health insurance not tied to a job, she could get her wish.  Her customers might grumble about her tarot card reading fees, though.

  81. 81.

    Low Key Swagger

    @satby: I’m in a very rural area, don’t have to see anyone if I don’t want to.  I have been mowing, weed-eating and brush hogging for three days, and yes the air quality reminds of Los Angeles circa 1970’s.  I’m not against testing, but since there is no treatment available, and I can stay home, I was wondering what I gain from the test.  It ain’t the $125 they want, that actually seems reasonable for a rapid test.

  82. 82.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @MomSense:

    That may be so but HER money wasn’t evil.

    Just like Bernie only voted for the good parts of the crime bill, not like that evil Hillary Clinton who was… checks notes… First Lady at the time.

    My hot take on OH-11 and future (and past) primaries: If you hate Democrats, don’t run as a Democrat.

  83. 83.

    MomSense

    @germy:

    Right, but that’s just it.  She doesn’t understand the difference between UBI and capitalism with an adequate safety net and socialism.

  85. 85.

    Peale

    @Baud: if there’s one thing socialists everywhere agree on, it’s supporting traditional superstitions. That and that the combination of the Chariot, six of wands and three of cups is foreboding.

  86. 86.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @germy: The McCain-Domenechs are oppressed by her $20M trust fund (and Mummy is still on this side of the grass!) the (I’m sure very lucrative) TV job (where people whose parents are unknown made fun of her as if she were nobody’s daughter and suggested she benefited from nepotism), and his weird media platform that is bankrolled by IIRC the people who run The Hill

  87. 87.

    MontyTheClipArtMongoose

    @Baud: i enjoyed that we now know what ted lieu’s, ayanna pressley’s, & katie porter’s whole asses look like.

    those three, plus liz warren — whom we already knew from — didn’t need to do a damn thing in oh-11. but they just had to go try & look cool for the squad. (but of course, that will never work, anyway. i mean, ted lieu was in on the impeachment of el jefe maximo for the ukraine shakedown, which was just an adjunct of the phoney trump-russia collusion that the establishment of the instititional democrat party also tried to use to smear bernie, jill, & tulsi. #fakehorseshoe)

  88. 88.

    Elizabelle

    @Low Key Swagger:   Do you have a pulse oximeter?  If not, see if your local drugstore/pharmacy has one.  They’re more readily available and off the price-gouging cost charged earlier.  (Used to be like $15-20 and less pre-Covid.)

    If you don’t get the test, monitor your blood oxygen levels.  Covid is sneaky about lowering them while the patient feels no different.  Very odd disease in that manner.  I think you are good with any level above 92%; let your doctor know if readings drop below that.

  90. 90.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Ragnarok Lobster @eclecticbrotha 7m
    Once you take a retrospective view of the #OH11 race it won’t take long to notice nearly every media outlet adopted Nina Turner’s “Us vs The Establishment” framing while reporting on the contest. Few journos attempted to pierce the fog of Berner propaganda. And she still lost.

    Also, anti-Establishment Nina, like her patron Bernie before her, tried to pass herself off as an Obama Democrat when the polls turned against her.

  92. 92.

    Soprano2

    @satby:  Edit: people, those tests aren’t free and there’s a protocol for requiring them.

    True. However, where I live you can get a self-test at WalMart, again not free but no protocols needed. Wish we’d had those a year ago!

  98. 98.

    schrodingers_cat

    @MomSense: BS and his grifter cohort has taken a generation of young idealists and turned them against Democrats (and the United States even) by selling them impossible delusions. Not just here so many of my Indian Twitter mutuals who are doing yeoman’s work against the resident evil BJP are caught up in Magic Grandpa’s lies. It is insidious.

  99. 99.

    Ken

    @MontyTheClipArtMongoose: why didn’t hillary have nina iced like she did vince foster & ron brown?

    The cursed dagger she uses for undetectable murders only had three charges, and she’s saving the last one for something important.

  100. 100.

    Ohio Mom

    I think having a pulse oximeter on hand is good advice these days, it’s up there with having a thermometer, a basic first aid must-have.

    Disclosure: we have one, a souvenir from Ohio Dad’s heart valve replacement recovery. Along with a shower seat. Fortunately, knock on wood, both are collecting dust.

  105. 105.

    satby

    @Low Key Swagger:  If you aren’t referred by a doctor or health department / or have been in confirmed contact with a verified Covid case, the test is out of pocket, and if you develop further symptoms you can always go in a day or so. As Elizabelle notes, getting a pulse oxometer is good to monitor O2 levels, but the threashold for hypoxia is under 95% (not 92%) for more than a few minutes (O2 naturally fluxuates but should be between 97-100% for healthy individuals, or between 96-99% for people with chronic respiratory issues like asthma. As you note, vaccinated and a positive test absent other symptoms just keeps you home and isolated, and you’re doing that already.
    Some people just are anxious if they don’t know. But a false negative isn’t any better an outcome and is possible early.

  106. 106.

    MontyTheClipArtMongoose

    @Ken: looks like hillary’s thinking really has gotten more strategic since dropping mark penn after the 2008 primary.

  108. 108.

    satby

    @Elizabelle: 95%. Below for more than a few minutes is the beginning of hypoxia*

    *different for people with CPOD, I believe, though the goal of treatment for them is to get them to at least 95% I think.

  111. 111.

    ryk

    @satby: I wonder about that. The wife and I bought one last year at the beginning of the pandemic. She has always been in the upper 90s, but I have stayed around 92-93. The best I’ve seen is 95. I hope it’s just my thicker, calloused skin

  112. 112.

    satby

    @ryk: If you’re a smoker, quit and see your physician. That’s too low. If you’re already in treatment for any chronic respiratory or cardiac care, let your doctor know. Edit, it could be blocking from calluses, but let a doctor do a better test.

    Speaking of doctors, I’m late to leave for work. I’ll check back, but IANAD, so always check with your physician.

  113. 113.

    Chris Johnson

    @MontyTheClipArtMongoose: Don’t conflate Warren with the Russian-backed fake leftists like Joy Grey and Jimmy Dore.

    I watched the Russian trolls shiv Warren. Half the left literally think Warren is some kind of nazi rightwinger spook. You can tell if you’re talking to someone who’s been eating Russian propaganda because they start meming snake memes upon the mere mention of Warren. Russia went after Warren on all fronts, about as hard as they went after Clinton.

  114. 114.

    Kay

    Governor of Utah has had it with thier bullshit:

    “The CDC is asking all of you who are vaccinated to take one for the team once again, to protect people who are not vaccinated but who have the opportunity to do so,” the governor said.
    “I’m really tired, I’m really done with it. And I’m not really excited to have to sacrifice to protect someone who doesn’t seem to care.”

    Apparently didn’t get the message he’s supposed to coddle them.

  117. 117.

    Elizabelle

    @satby:   94-95, not 92.  Thank you.  I love pulse oximeters.  From the article excerpted below:

    detect … silent hypoxia early through a common medical device that can be purchased without a prescription at most pharmacies: a pulse oximeter.

    Pulse oximetry is no more complicated than using a thermometer. These small devices turn on with one button and are placed on a fingertip. In a few seconds, two numbers are displayed: oxygen saturation and pulse rate. Pulse oximeters are extremely reliable in detecting oxygenation problems and elevated heart rates.

    Pulse oximeters helped save the lives of two emergency physicians I know, alerting them early on to the need for treatment.  [Apparently also what alerted Boris Johnson’s physicians.]

    From April 2020, NY Times, re silent hypoxia.  Author is Richard Levitan, MD, emergency physician.

    The Infection That’s Silently Killing Coronavirus Patients

    This is what I learned during 10 days of treating Covid pneumonia at Bellevue Hospital.

    … Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs in which the air sacs fill with fluid or pus. Normally, patients develop chest discomfort, pain with breathing and other breathing problems. But when Covid pneumonia first strikes, patients don’t feel short of breath, even as their oxygen levels fall. And by the time they do, they have alarmingly low oxygen levels and moderate-to-severe pneumonia (as seen on chest X-rays). Normal oxygen saturation for most persons at sea level is 94 to 100 percent; Covid pneumonia patients I saw had oxygen saturations as low as 50 percent. [!!!]

    To my amazement, most patients I saw said they had been sick for a week or so with fever, cough, upset stomach and fatigue, but they only became short of breath the day they came to the hospital. Their pneumonia had clearly been going on for days, but by the time they felt they had to go to the hospital, they were often already in critical condition.

    … A vast majority of Covid pneumonia patients I met had remarkably low oxygen saturations at triage — seemingly incompatible with life — but they were using their cellphones as we put them on monitors. Although breathing fast, they had relatively minimal apparent distress, despite dangerously low oxygen levels and terrible pneumonia on chest X-rays.

    …  A major reason this pandemic is straining our health system is the alarming severity of lung injury patients have when they arrive in emergency rooms. Covid-19 overwhelmingly kills through the lungs. And because so many patients are not going to the hospital until their pneumonia is already well advanced, many wind up on ventilators, causing shortages of the machines. And once on ventilators, many die.
    Avoiding the use of a ventilator is a huge win for both patient and the health care system. The resources needed for patients on ventilators are staggering.

  118. 118.

    Chris Johnson

    @schrodingers_cat: I am deeply suspicious of anyone who is hammering Russian talking points and going after Warren. We know the Russians try to get a meme going starting from a bunch of different political positions. They’re quite cagey that way, but if you acknowledge that bad faith is all over the place then you begin to see the memes getting pushed.

    Warren’s a former Republican, like Cole, who watched banks and the financial sector behave appallingly, and flipped. The rest is just politics. I’m pretty sure she is more inherently capitalist than a lot of people would like. I appreciate her level of hostility towards financial bad actors.

  119. 119.

    Elizabelle

    @Ken:  @ Germy:

    Thank you both.  I have a New Yorker sub.  Will enjoy this story later today.  (Memo to self:  search for James Thurber material there.)

  121. 121.

    Kay

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Aaaand… here we go with the all-inclusive narrative putting everyone to the Left of Manchin into the Turner camp.

    This is what I mean when I say this site is no longer capable of rational discussion of anyone who has been jammed into this larger narrative.

    I’ll tell you what Elizabeth Warren isn’t doing today. She isn’t holding up infrastructure, voting rights and the budget like the attention hound, preening Right leaning faction of the Democrats. No one is begging Warren to vote for the agenda of Joe Biden. It’s assumed, like it’s assumed of all the other liberal Senators. A reliable vote, as always.

  122. 122.

    debbie

    @Elizabelle:

    To my amazement, most patients I saw said they had been sick for a week or so

    Because we’ve been trained not to freak out and contact our doctors immediately!!!

  123. 123.

    prostratedragon

    @ryk:  I second satby at 112, see a doctor fairly soon.  I’m not a doctor,  but I am a chronic hypoxia patient,  and low 90s definitely dulls the edge.

  124. 124.

    Elizabelle

    @Kay:   Yeah.  I am sick to death of Ms. Cat demonizing Elizabeth Warren. Too broad a brush.

    It’s like a Pavlov’s dog response.  Any time Senator Warren’s name comes up.  Enough.

    There is a lot of misinformation, and too many bots, on twitter.

  125. 125.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Kay: I am not putting them there. They jumped there on their own. I can’t make you see what you don’t want to see.

    Here is what Ohio Warren Dems are saying

    Shontel won by running up the vote in white, affluent suburbs—none of which are particularly struggling. The Democratic Party needs to think long and hard about who we’re fighting for because it damn sure isn’t poor people.

  127. 127.

    Ken

    @schrodingers_cat: Who are “Ohio Warren Dems”, other than being somewhat confused about who their Senators are?  Do they have any association with Warren?

    I mean, I could create a Twitter account named “Illinois Pelosi Dems” and post all sorts of political crap, but it would have exactly zilch to do with Pelosi.

  128. 128.

    Elizabelle

    @debbie:   Yup.  That, and the fact that Covid hypoxia sets in without the usual pain and symptoms.  Friends who have had pneumonia report feeling like a train ran over their lungs.  Not with Covid.  As Dr. Levitan says, they’re at 50% oxygen (which is horrendous) and using their cell phones.

    I guess the low oxygen might lessen one’s decision-making ability, too.

  132. 132.

    Kay

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I know you’re smarter than that. You’re now literally pulling individual twitter users as proof of your political science theory?

    She should denounce each and every one of them by name. “Lefty2016” or whoever needs a talking to.

    You know who’s fucking up Biden’s agenda? The same group who fucked up Obamas. They’re on the Right.

    Joe Manchin is on track to go down in history as losing the fucking Republic because he’s an egotistical attention hog who, incidentally, isn’t backing Biden’s agenda because he’s made a political calaculation that D’s WILL LOSE the Senate. That’s what Manchin’s betting on. He doesn’t want a bigger majority. He wants to be the deciding vote for the R’s next time.

    So let’s talk some more about who is a loyal Democrat. The threat isn’t on the Left.

  133. 133.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Did you know Warren endorsed Nina Turner? Probably not since she didn’t, but it fits the narrative, so that disinformation has been dumped into this thread too, along with the notion that Ted Lieu, Katie Porter, etc., are enemies of the Democratic Party.

  138. 138.

    debbie

    @Elizabelle:

    I’ve had pneumonia three times, and I think oxygen gets that low because a person can’t stop coughing long enough to take a frigging breath.

  139. 139.

    Ken

    @schrodingers_cat: Yes, I see that Senator Warren has a group called “Warren Dems”.  And I see that there’s a personal Twitter account that also uses that name. What I don’t see is any connection between the two.

    “Ohio Warren Dems” could be like those many Twitter accounts that claim to be people in India, but are fakes.  You can tell that because they post false reports of high numbers of COVID deaths in India, trying to make it look like Prime Minister Modi and the BJP have done a bad job handling the pandemic.

  141. 141.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    They’re all enemies. Consorting with AOC? Banished.

    There’s another open seat in Ohio. The Trump candidate won the primary. It’s a +14 R district so we’ll probably lose but if I were the Democrats I think I’d focus there rather than rooting out wrongthink in the ranks. They are a political party, right? Or are they social scientists crafting a meta theory of the US electorate through advanced Twitter studies?

  142. 142.

    germy

    I mentioned Greta Thunberg here once, and a commenter suggested  that she was a secret agent being controlled by a mysterious group who mean harm.

    There’s another commenter here who basically says “Wipe them out, wipe them all out” every time someone like Chuck Todd says something stupid.

    It would be unfair to tie  Biden or HRC  to those comments.

  143. 143.

    prostratedragon

    @Elizabelle:  You got that right.  I can briefly fall below 65 and it’s like suspended animation.  Even at 92 I’m not as sharp as I can be.  Having an oximeter and using it when that old familiar feeling comes on gives some support to a taxed brain.

  144. 144.

    Immanentize

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Who cares who endorsed who? There were two democrats running. I far preferred Shontel Brown! Made fun of Turner on line. Shontel won.

    Bernie Sanders was backing one of his staunch allies. And people close to Bernie chose to join him.

    I hate the “Squad” analysis. People need to get Ayanna Pressley’s name out of their mouths. She is a true Mass. Democrat in the Kennedy model — huge and effective local constituent services. She represents a lot of working people and people of color, so that is where her issue advocacy lies.

    And like it or not, she and AOC and Bush were successful (in part with lots of other) in getting the eviction moratorium extended so States could get the monies they received out to needful people. People who are decidedly “anti-squad” cared way more about critiquing the “Squad” than giving a shit about people made homeless.

    And I really like Warren, too!

    I am NOT directing this at you (just using your comment as a place for my pent up rant ?) but at all the weasels who want to make a big anti-leftist war of the worlds about every damn issue with the “Squad”  as their Koho-olawe Island.

    /End rant/

  145. 145.

    Tony Jay

    @Kay:

    From the broad pushback, it’s not this site running with the ‘Teh Left Are Always The Problem’ narrative as much as it is individual commentators.

  146. 146.

    Kay

    @Immanentize:

    People need to get Ayanna Pressley’s name oot of their mouths. She is a true Mass. Democrat in the Kennedy model

    It was never accurate but it no longer matters. Incredibly they have somehow jammed these people into “the white working class” who the fuck knows why or how it happened. We’re like 17 steps removed at this point. The yarn and the pins are all crossed up.

  147. 147.

    Immanentize

    @Kay: This. This this this.

    Only Democrats have power or agency, doncha know?

    This also why I love reading your thoughts here.

  149. 149.

    rikyrah

    @Betty Cracker:

    But the heel turn midway through his term was unmistakable, and I hope it will bite him on the ass, for the good of the state and the entire country. DeSantis is a fucking monster.

     

    a COMPLETE MONSTER.

  151. 151.

    Ken

    @Immanentize: Only Democrats have power or agency, doncha know?

    When you consider what happened to Gov. Hutchinson (see Dorothy A. Winsor above) and many similar incidents, that almost seems true.  Or at least, when Republicans try to exercise power or agency, they get curb-stomped by their base, so I imagine there’s some Pavlovian conditioning at work.

  153. 153.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Kay: The working class heroes who do the heavy lifting in politics know what time it is. It’s important to ignore the empty barrels online who do nothing but make noise. My poor Beloved still reads the comments written by idiots. Her dentist asked her recently, Do you grind your teeth at night? I refuse to let the trolls drive me nuts, Life is already difficult enough.

  154. 154.

    Immanentize

    @Ken: Good point. Maybe I should have said only Democrats have agency when it comes to positive results in the lives of Americans?

  155. 155.

    Geminid

    @schrodingers_cat: “Warren Ohio Democrats,” or whatever the handle is, has apparently been identified as a particular Cleveland area person. It’s not clear that the individual ever actually even supported Warren. The twitter handle may have a dual use: pushing Nina Turner, and tossing apples of discord amongst Democrats.

  157. 157.

    Elizabelle

    @rikyrah:  Yup.  The FDA warned about that.  Thank you for informing us.  The article below also mentions how women and people of color are underrepresented in medical testing.

    https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/fda-warns-pulse-oximeters-less-accurate-people-darker-skin

    Pulse oximeters, devices used for estimating blood oxygen levels, may be less accurate in people with darker skin pigmentation, the FDA warns. The tools are often used by patients at-home to monitor conditions, however the FDA cautioned that the technology have limitations and a risk of inaccuracy under certain conditions.

    Today many pulse oximeters are digitally connected, which has made the device popular for remote monitoring.

    While the agency doesn’t explicitly mention race, it cites a recent report published in The New England Journal of Medicine, which found, in two large cohorts of patients, “Black patients had nearly three times the frequency of occult hypoxemia that was not detected by pulse oximetry as white patients.”

    The agency went on to detail that poor circulation, skin pigmentation, skin thickness, skin temperature, the use of tobacco and fingernail polish can all have an effect on the device’s accuracy. 

  158. 158.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Kay: Balloon Juice Warren Democrats seem upset. Your grand theory in the primaries was that Mayor Bloomberg was going to run away with the nomination.

    This account is using the name of Warren’s PAC to smear Dems. May be Warren has nothing to do with the account, may be they have her tacit approval I have no idea and neither do you.

    Warren did say that the Dem primaries were rigged  2016. I haven’t trusted her since then, that and her opposition to the TPP tanking that part of Obama’s agenda.

    Please show me where Joe Manchin is bad mouthing Democrats in every forum.

    I don’t like the way Manchin votes but it is understandable since he represents WV. If he retires we would lose that seat.

    The Squad takes every Joe Biden success and spins it as a failure. We hold the Congress by a thin majority and that is in danger in 2022 because of the Squad’s antics.

  163. 163.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @schrodingers_cat: ​
      I am not a Warren Democrat. I never supported her in the primaries. I just doubt that a single twitter account that seems to have no official ties to the Senator from MA is conclusive proof of her endorsement of Turner or her spreading of anti-Semitic and anti-Black misinformation.

  164. 164.

    Ken

    @Geminid: I remember when it took Bill Donohue years to convince major media that he was some sort of official spokesman for the Catholic Church. Isn’t technology wonderful, that anyone can now do the same in minutes with a well-chosen Twitter handle?

  165. 165.

    Chris Johnson

    @Tony Jay: Yup. I figure if you can’t stand a certain amount of trolling around here, this isn’t your place.

    I always try to remember that the bad faith stuff can come from any angle. I feel like I’m particularly good at spotting bad faith leftists since I’m more leftist than most, hence I ended up in places where a lot of ‘social management’ was happening, in a heavy-handed way. you get to be able to spot it.

    Nina Turner ain’t ‘the Squad’. Nina Turner’s acting like a spook, like a Trump. I’m comfortable treating her like one, by now. Didn’t start out that way, but she wouldn’t be the first bad actor who managed to weasel into the Bernie campaign. Got to say I’m really disappointed in his ability to hire good people. He walked right into a whole lot of trouble for everyone. As long as he’s a loyal soldier from now on I won’t turn against him, but he’s peaked.

  167. 167.

    Ken

    @schrodingers_cat: Speaking as the Official Spokesperson(TM) for schrodingers_cat, I can confidently state that anyone can claim to speak for anyone else, and even use their name without permission.

    Next you’ll be telling us that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is a democratic republic.

  170. 170.

    Chris Johnson

    @Kay: The stated intention of Russian influence is to do exactly that. It’s how you know that stuff is working. They are always trying to create more chaos and what’s called ‘the Zone’, where it’s impossible to know anything is true or real anymore, and impossible to know where you are.

    A somewhat vague analysis of a very real tactic to create confusion in Putin’s enemies, of which we are among. It started within Russia, but it turns out we’ve taken a lot of damage from the same thing.

  171. 171.

    japa21

    @schrodingers_cat: ​
      She also later clarified herself. She stated there was bias in the DNC (there was) but that the overall process was fair and sh enthusiastically supported Clinton.

    We know you don’t like Warren, not everybody does, but I am curious about why you are so vehement in your dislike.

    By the way, I also objected to her opposition to TPP.

  172. 172.

    Kay

    @schrodingers_cat:

    The Squad takes every Joe Biden success and spins it as a failure. We hold the Congress by a thin majority and that is in danger in 2022 because of the Squad’s antics.

    Well, they’ll certainly be convenient to blame! Try my theory- we hold the Congress by a thin majority and that is in danger in 2022 because the attention hog “centrist” antics are once again completely fucking up a Democratic Presidents agenda. As they do with absolute consistency, on each and every bill and proposal. Elzabeth Warren didn’t cut infrastructure in half and turn it into a fucking privatization windfall. Manchin and Sinema and their friends and ideological bedfellows on the other side of the aisle did.
    Manchin’s excuses are bullshit. There is no large group of Manchin voters in West Virginia who will abandon Joe Manchin because the infrastructure bill went from 5 trillion to 3.3 trillion. This is just nonsense.
    There’s no West Virgina constituency for the senate filibuster. There are no “filibuster voters”.

  173. 173.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Omnes Omnibus: I don’t disagree. And Warren has had the sense to stay out this race. So I have no idea if she approves of the vile stuff this account is putting forth.

    That the account has her approval becomes believable because of her past history of knifing HRC and Obama.

    The folks who like her don’t agree and that’s okay by me.

  176. 176.

    Chris Johnson

    @Ken: Well, they can do that more effectively if they’ve got somebody who is supposed to be ‘on the other side’ going

    “OH HEY look at this person who you’ve never heard of who is supposed to be for Warren and who is saying terrible things! They are totally real and they and Warren should be hated and shunned, you can take it from me because I am another totally real person who happens to be totally against Warren and therefore I have nothing to do with this other person who is totally for Warren and saying terrible things!”

    A pincer with only one side is useless. Russia is known to direct influencers, with great enthusiasm, on apparently opposite sides to better establish their chaos-causing memes, and they like nothing better than sweeping dumb people and hotheads into their wake.

    So yeah: stop that. I’m only confident in spotting leftist bad actors, but I don’t like getting trolled and I don’t like the loyal Dems I support getting trolled, and I especially don’t like it when the trolling gets too clever and complicated. That’s bad for discourse.

  178. 178.

    laura

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: If you hate Democrats, don’t run as a Democrat

    Can I add and don’t demand to use the democratic party to use as your vehicle to elected office? The proper party for disruption, move fast and break things is the GOP.

  179. 179.

    Elizabelle

    @schrodingers_cat:

    That the account has [Elizabeth Warren’s] approval becomes believable because of her past history of knifing HRC and Obama.

    Wait, what?  Not about the HRC and Obama parts (and damn that Obama for signing into law the CFPB) — but that a fake account might try very hard to look like something affiliated with a politician’s views.  Slip in “this looks true” and the “this is whack” goes down way easier.

    I don’t know whether the twitter you are whinging about is endorsed by Elizabeth Warren personaly or not.  However, I would not go in assuming it is.

    Your friend,

    Elizabelle_schrodinger’s_cat_god created dogs, satan created cats

  180. 180.

    Chris Johnson

    @Elizabelle: No. Cat is either mistaken, reading a bunch of disinformation and believing it, or actively tricking you. I think if it was actively tricking it’d be more subtle than this, but some of the bad actor crap I’ve seen has doubled down on the obviousity for cover (like ‘Bad Faith’ podcast from Virgil Texas and Brianha Joy Grey)

  182. 182.

    Tony Jay

    @Chris Johnson:

    Yup. It’s often organised and coordinated, but it doesn’t have to be. People pick up the tactics and the terminology and apply it themselves and before you know it….

    Attacking ‘the Left’ as a monolithic whole for questioning the scale and scope of legislation they generally support with their votes, while brushing away anger with individual actors on the Right for voting against/threatening not to vote for legislation as somehow perfectly justifiable and not a problem… nope, don’t like it over here, don’t like it in the context of US politics either.

  183. 183.

    Geminid

    @Omnes Omnibus: I found this through reading Sasha Beauloux retweets. They had to do with a particular advocate against Turner. He’s a white guy concentrated on Turner’s funding. When the “Warren Democrat” pushed him he called the person out by name. There was discussion about the account. But that’s the closest I can say. If I can track him down I will let you know in another thread.

  184. 184.

    schrodingers_cat

    To paraphrase these comments

    Lefties are never wrong they can only be wronged.

    Manchin and Sinema sabotaging D agenda bad

    But Squad berating Biden administration from their social media perches and the MSM == activism.

    Warren who was a Republican until she was in her late 40s supposedly became a D because Rs were no longer fiscally responsible. And then during the primaries was M4A which is definitely not a fiscally responsible plan is not an opportunist. Because shut-up that’s why.

    Her ardent admirers constantly berate black women on Twitter some even using her Super pac in their IDs but its all good. Her admirers here continuously harp about my intelligence but I should take that as a compliment because they are righteous and good.

  185. 185.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Chris Johnson: schrodingers_cat has been a respected comment here for a long time.  Long before you appeared as Applejinx.  She may be wrong, but don’t go suggesting that she is a troll.

  186. 186.

    Chris Johnson

    @Omnes Omnibus: Not respected by me. I don’t buy it. I’ve had friends get sucked into the Trump/conspiracy/Russian-directed vortex, I have a brother who refuses to get vaccinated. The notion of Cat of old reading the wrong twitter threads for years and getting completely twisted is not surprising to me.

    If those twitter threads, those youtube channels, etc. are being fed by Russians, Cat is a casualty of the Zone. I never said she was Natasha Fatale with a secret decoder ring. That’s not how any of this works.

  187. 187.

    Elizabelle

    @schrodingers_cat:   You just don’t get it.  You’ve got a blind spot here.  It is sad

    Admire your fighting spirit, but you are willfully (obtusely??) misreading our comments.  I guess we will just have to agree to disagree.

    You don’t realize how badly you are overgeneralizing here.  With all of your “paraphrasing” (which is actually restating with bad faith).

    Her admirers here continuously harp about my intelligence but I should take that as a compliment because they are righteous and good.

    WTF??

  189. 189.

    Betty Cracker

    @Chris Johnson: You got sucked into conspiracy theories in 2016. It looks like you’ve overcorrected.

    Schrodingers Cat is not a troll. She’s just wrong.

    Incidentally, one of the main reasons I think being wrong in her particular way is destructive is because she and like-minded commenters sometimes have a tendency to jump the gun and call people trolls. Ironic that you’re doing the same!

  190. 190.

    Fair Economist

    @schrodingers_cat: Warren did not endorse Turner.

    OhioWarrenDem is just some rando and doesn’t speak for her.

    These are simple facts and political registrations of 30 years ago don’t change them.

  191. 191.

    Kay

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Who do more people see? Manchin swanning around on every tv broadcast or AOC’s Twitter feed?

    The Right side of the Democratic Party are objectively and consistently much worse team players in the Democratic Party. Always.

    Why give him cover and pretend anyone in West Virginia gives a shit about the filibuster? He should be embarrassed. Its ridiculous on its face. I don’t know why he refused to support the infrastructure plan until it met Mitt Romney’s benchmarks but it isn’t because voters in West Virginia are having hot debates over whether 5 trillion or 3 trillion is a good number.

  192. 192.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Kay: The Right side of the Democratic Party are objectively and consistently much worse team players in the Democratic Party. Always.

    Remind me again who was the sore loser in 2016 who wounded our nominee and whose attacks were used by the eventual Republican nominee. And who was it that expected to win in 2020 with 30% support in a divided field was it Sinema or was it Manchin? Or must be some other evil centrist

    Who do more people see? Manchin swanning around on every tv broadcast or AOC’s Twitter feed

    AOC is never on TV the poor dear.

  194. 194.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Tony Jay: Listen, you paid Russian troll, I’ve had just about enough of your crap.  I bet you wouldn’t know the Mersey if it bit you.

  195. 195.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Betty Cracker: @Omnes Omnibus: Thanks for defending me against the troll accusation

    According to him I work for the Kremlin, according to Bhakts, the CIA. Some fine women of these blog are convinced that I am dim or I am wrong because I don’t bow before the magnificence of their chosen gods. Whether I am wrong about Warren and the Squad remains to be seen.

    I upset you and many vets and Adam Silverman here because of my opinions about Trump’s generals, the ones in civilian roles as cabinet secretaries.

    Some in my family think I am an apostate because I don’t buy into the glory of the great Hindu rashtra that Modi is transforming India into.

    Anyway I am not trying to convince anyone of anything. I just call it like I see it. The name calling tells me that people don’t have good counter arguments. I have little influence on Twitter or here. So people are free to ignore my comments.

    I don’t see the world as you do.  Time will tell who is right and I have been wrong before. I am not afraid to change my positions or opinions when that has happened. During the last cycle I was wrong about Pete B. I accept when I am wrong and don’t think I am infallible.

    Will stick to topics where we agree for the most part and there are many of those topics when I comment.

    I am fond of most BJers even those I disagree with about the Squad or Warren or BS.

  197. 197.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @schrodingers_cat: The only person calling you names in any way is a well known loon.  The rest of us who are questioning you on this are seeing a degree of dislike, not to say hatred, for any and all political players who have ever been associated with Sanders that simply does not make sense to us.

  205. 205.

    Ruckus

    @Ohio Mom:

    I have a pulse oximeter and thermometer as standard equipment. I use them semi regularly and before vaccination quite regularly. It’s a simple way to see if you need to go farther in testing and they are valuable for more than possible Covid detection.

  206. 206.

    Chris Johnson

    @Omnes Omnibus: That’s Mr. Loon to you ;)

    Yeah, I’ll shut up about it for a while. The overcorrection thing could very easily be true. It’s absolutely the same mechanism that drives all this stuff everywhere: you see patterns and it’s about things you care about and the next thing you know…

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