Breaking News: The WHO approved the first ever malaria vaccine, which could save tens of thousands of children in sub-Saharan Africa. The quest for this vaccine has been underway for a hundred years, a WHO official said, and is a "historic event." https://t.co/i1hcYBhbvb pic.twitter.com/wTNg6xWmzU
— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 6, 2021
It’s nowhere near perfect, of course, but here’s to fewer dead kids and a new treatment breakthrough:
… Malaria kills about half a million people each year, nearly all of them in sub-Saharan Africa — including 260,000 children under 5. The new vaccine, made by GlaxoSmithKline, rouses a child’s immune system to thwart Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest of five malaria pathogens and the most prevalent in Africa.
The World Health Organization on Wednesday endorsed the vaccine, the first step in a process that should lead to wide distribution in poor countries. To have a malaria vaccine that is safe, moderately effective and ready for distribution is “a historic event,” said Dr. Pedro Alonso, director of the W.H.O.’s global malaria program.
The vaccine, called Mosquirix, is not just a first for malaria — it is the first developed for any parasitic disease. Parasites are much more complex than viruses or bacteria, and the quest for a malaria vaccine has been underway for a hundred years…In clinical trials, the vaccine had an efficacy of about 50 percent against severe malaria in the first year, but the figure dropped close to zero by the fourth year. And the trials did not directly measure the vaccine’s impact on deaths, which has led some experts to question whether it is a worthwhile investment in countries with countless other intractable problems.
But severe malaria accounts for up to half of malaria deaths and is considered “a reliable proximal indicator of mortality,” said Dr. Mary Hamel, who leads the W.H.O.’s malaria vaccine implementation program. “I do expect we will see that impact.”…
The malaria parasite, carried by mosquitoes, is a particularly insidious enemy, because it can strike the same person over and over. In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, even those where most people sleep under insecticide-treated bed nets, children have on average six malaria episodes a year.
Even when the disease is not fatal, the repeated assault on their bodies can permanently alter the immune system, leaving them weak and vulnerable to other pathogens.
Malaria research is littered with vaccine candidates that never made it past clinical trials. Bed nets, the most widespread preventive measure, cut malaria deaths in children under 5 only by about 20 percent.
Against that backdrop, the new vaccine, even with modest efficacy, is the best new development in the fight against the disease in decades, some experts said…
The next step is for Gavi, the global vaccine alliance, to determine that the vaccine is a worthwhile investment. If the organization’s board approves the vaccine — not guaranteed, given the vaccine’s moderate efficacy and the many competing priorities — Gavi will purchase the vaccine for countries that request it, a process that is expected to take at least a year.
But as with Covid-19, problems with vaccine production and supply could considerably delay progress. And the pandemic has also diverted resources and attention from other diseases, said Deepali Patel, who leads malaria vaccine programs at Gavi…
Time to Go Through Your Pet Photos for the BJ Calendar
Baud
Total speculation, but I think the next decade is going to see a revolution in vaccines and treatments.
mrmoshpotato
Also good news:
Via bluegal
dr. bloor
Good Christ.
West of the Rockies
Excellent news.
I’d love good news on infrastructure, voting rights, and climate policy.
Then, of course, insurrectionists getting shit-canned, and Trumplings facing the music.
Baud
@mrmoshpotato:
And people complain that Garland isn’t tough.
debbie
I believe I heard that this is a series of four injections. I hope that doesn’t become a problem getting people to keep to the schedule.
Another Scott
Thanks for this. I saw it earlier.
I have vague recollection from a few months ago that some were claiming that vaccines weren’t good enough to roll out now because of the risk of making the parasite(s) even more drug resistant. I wasn’t able to find that in a quick search – I’m sure the experts have considered that and all it entails.
A bit on the larger context:
(PMI is the Presidential Malaria Initiative set up by W in 2005.)
Cheers,
Scott.
JoyceH
@Baud:
I think so too. Even with just malaria. This new vaccine has a 50% success rate, which sounds pretty low, but the first shingles vaccine was approved in 2006 with that success level, and in 2017 Shingrix was released with a 90% rate.
And mRNA sounds like it’s going to be useful across the board, for cancer and a lot of other things.
I also saw a thing recently where researchers were working on a generic coronavirus vaccine which would be effective against all coronaviruses, which would mean… a Cure For The Common Cold!
schrodingers_cat
Apparently Chuck Grassley complimented a Korean American judicial nominee on their people’s work ethic.
*Head desk*
Advice for well meaning but clueless or perhaps intentionally obtuse,
Matt McIrvin
@JoyceH: Well, for the coronavirus versions of the common cold, anyway. Most cold viruses are rhinoviruses.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
You don’t think white nominees get complimented for their … polka dancing abilities.
Elizabelle
Will take our good news where we find it. Reducing and eventually eradicating malaria and parasites is a moon shot.
I heart science, and being among people who respect (and expect more) of science and progress
I’m happy that Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter lived to see this rollout. The Carter Center has worked hard on Guinea Worm eradication, for which no vaccination exists. They have to be thrilled to see a malaria vaccine.
CarolPW
My sister is taking her beloved (by both of us) westie Bean to the emergency vet for euthanasia. He has significantly outlived the breed expectation and has been on a long downhill slide. I had offered to find a vet that would come put him down at home, the preferred option, because having her deal with that while taking care of a failing dog seemed a lot to ask. I have had that phone number ready, along with the number of a 24-hr emergency vet if either the home-option vet was not available or not available soon enough. I have been dreading the call for those numbers, and it came today.
At-home option was not until Monday, and since he is in some distress she is off to the emergency vet. Only good thing is it is the vet is the same one we used for our pets when we were kids in the 1950s.
Bean, my beloved dog Puck, and my equally beloved two cats (one brought from Iraq by her daughter and the other I got to keep him company) were all alive 3 years ago. Bean is the last, and I am bereft.
Benw
@CarolPW: so sorry to hear this. Putting a pet down is hard.
SiubhanDuinne
@CarolPW:
I’m so terribly sorry.
Baud
@CarolPW:
My condolences.
Raven
@Benw: oh, wrong person
Benw
@Raven: I meant to reply to CarolPW – yeah
SiubhanDuinne
@Elizabelle:
I would imagine that Carter Center teams will be part of the malaria vaccine distribution/administration program. It’s right up their alley.
And quite right, Jimmy and Rosalynn must be personally thrilled at this good news
Alison Rose
This is really terrific news. Massive props to all the people who’ve worked on this for what probably feels like 1000 years.
In very very different, less important, but also terrific news, the trailer for Cyrano dropped, and hot damn, this looks good. Huzzah for Peter Dinklage getting cast in a romantic lead role!
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Or being articulate.
Alison Rose
@CarolPW: I’m so very sorry. It is never ever easy.
Yutsano
@CarolPW:OOh my goodness. I don’t have adequate words for your situation. All I can offer you is my love and healing light.
Omnes Omnibus
@Alison Rose: I am very much looking forward to Cyrano.
CarolPW
@Benw: I was surprised to find it was equally hard when you aren’t the one actually having to do it, but only adjacent. The four pets spent years together because my sister stayed here often while we worked on a project we were doing in Oregon, and it is really hard to lose the last one.
Raven
@CarolPW: we were talking about our pups today. We had such a struggle with Lil Bit (for most of her 13 years) and Bohdi for his last two. Now we have a little girl who was savagely abused and she’s just so sweet. We know we did our best and letting them go was the right thing to do but if we hadn’t loved them so much I guess it wouldn’t hurt so much.
Raven
@Alison Rose: can it be better than Ferrer?
youtu.be/HrLToyNsOvM
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Pete Townsend never stops innovating
Cermet
“… even those where most people sleep under insecticide-treated bed nets …”
And you know what insecticide is used? DDT – thank goodness we stop the indiscriminate use of that insectide. Otherwise, insects would become tolerate and this extremely safe (for all vertebrates except bird shells) insectide would be useless. Banning it has kept this insectide highly effective. Used only for such extremely special applications (like nets) prevents it from harming other creates.
HumboldtBlue
@Alison Rose:
That looks promising.
billcinsd
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Dangit, I was going to go with Roger Daltrey, you establishment so and so
CarolPW
@Raven: My sister’s story with Bean over the last year has been very like yours with Lil Bit – a lot of support needed to keep him going and comfortable. I actually talked to her about some of the steps you had taken with Lil Bit, including the doggy diapers so thanks for that.
And I’ve had a couple of cats that were little shits, that I didn’t even like all that much, but it hurt like hell to lose them.
Alison Rose
@Omnes Omnibus: ME TOO! I can’t go to theaters (even sans COVID) so I’m hoping it won’t take too long for it to make it to Netflix or amazon or whatever. It looks glorious.
Mike in NC
Wife saw this report and noted that her dad contracted malaria in North Africa during WW2. My dad served in New Guinea and the Philippines but did not.
Alison Rose
@Raven: I’m a Dinklage stan so I say yes. I especially love the twist the new film does with the character. TBH could never really deal with the giant fake nose thing.
Sure Lurkalot
@CarolPW: Condolences to you and your sister. It’s amazing how much we love our pets.
germy
I really loved the Black Panther movie, especially the part played by Letitia Wright (Black Panther’s younger sister, a brilliant scientist) and it’s disappointing to see Wright is anti-vax.
Benw
@Alison Rose: I saw the original stage play in NYC with Dinklage and Bennett. It was really good and unexpectedly funny! And the songs by the Dessners were excellent.
HumboldtBlue
@Raven:
It certainly won’t be better than Martin. Steve Martin.
Benw
@CarolPW: sounds like a heartbreaking end to an era, but one that was lovely and will have many happy memories for you. Big hugs
CarolPW
@Sure Lurkalot: We love them so much because they are way better than a lot, or even most, of the people we deal with. Even the cats that are little shits are way better than a lot of people. Little shit cat is a relative term.
NeenerNeener
I know this is utterly off topic, but I’m looking for ideas to protect a large Basswood tree at the end of my driveway that the neighborhood drunks keep hitting with their trucks. They miss the curve in the road 4 houses south of me, drive across these 4 lawns knocking down the split rail fences on 2 of those lawns, and end up on my lawn, dropping truck parts all along the way. It’s happened 8 times now since 2007; the last two were just in the last 8 weeks.
I’m thinking about bollards or boulders but I run the risk of being sued by the drunks that are tearing up my lawn. Anybody got any other ideas?
Baud
Shep Smith’s CNBC show is really white, but he doesn’t yell like most TV people these days, and his segments are short.
dm
@Benw: Do they preserve much of Rostand’s script?
My favorite scene from that play was the duel at the beginning, where Cyrano takes down someone who insulted him with a series of much better ways to compose an insult (directed at himself) between strikes with the sword.
WaterGirl
@NeenerNeener: That seems crazy. Have you and your neighbors tried calling the city?
I am not a lawyer, but it sure seems like you should be able to add boulders as landscaping on your own property, without being sued by someone who was not only not invited to be on your property, but who has actually damaged your property.
HumboldtBlue
Some not so good news, AT&T are responsible for the emergence of OAN.
One America News, the far-right network whose fortunes and viewership rose amid the triumph and tumult of the Trump administration, has flourished with support from a surprising source: AT&T Inc, the world’s largest communications company.
Baud
@HumboldtBlue:
Seven?
sab
@NeenerNeener: Nope. We have a couple of neighbors with yards like that. One put in a huge rock garden with a humongous boulder in front of the tree. They figured they would get sued anyway for the tree ( somebody did kill herself in a fiery accident when she hit the tree while texting sober.) The other persuaded the city to put in a big guard rail like they have on highways, because drunks made the front room of their house too dangerous to use. Ugly but makes things safer in the house.
I ANAL, especially not in upstate New York. Maybe ask a personal injury lawyer (plaintiff or defense types) for a consult about the risks of a rock or a fence. Is your house at risk if they miss the tree?
HumboldtBlue
@Baud:
They live in an alternate reality.
Major Major Major Major
People really aren’t prepared for how awesome (and downright weird) med tech is going to get in the medium term. Except me, of course. Excited for my cancer vaccines, printed organs, and carbon nanomuscle prosthetics and augmentations!
sab
@Baud: They are probably counting MSNBC, CNN, the three broadcast networks and PBS. Everything to the left of Atilla the Hun is leftist to high pay executive types.
Major Major Major Major
@CarolPW: how awful, I’m so sorry to hear that.
Steeplejack
@schrodingers_cat:
Open letter to Grassley (thread):
CarolPW
@Benw: The dogs, my sister, and I were involved in the permitting and construction of the largest wind facility in the world at that time. The dogs went everywhere with us – fancy hotels, cattle ranches, sage steppe, sand dunes, grasslands. It was spectacular!
Elizabelle
@CarolPW: So sorry you are at the end of the Bean era. Kindest thing you can do for Bean, but so hard to lose them. Even if they are little shits. They’re still loved
ETA: Enjoy thinking of Bean and Puck living large as you traveled.
sab
@CarolPW: I am so sorry for you and her. Dogs sure don’t live very long.
ETA Deleted an inappropriate comment. I tend to laugh instead of cry in sad situations, but it’s not my place here.
NeenerNeener
@sab: Yes, in two of those 8 instances. The first one was a kid who fell asleep on the way to a construction job on a Saturday morning, missed the curve and finally stopped 3 feet from my garage door. If he had been going a little faster, at a slightly different angle he would have hit the room my father was sitting in at the time. My neighbors built a 4 ft high berm topped with arborvitae between our houses after that.
The second time the house was endangered a drunk went across the middle of the neighbors front lawn, went up that 4 foot berm like it was a Hot Wheels ramp and was airborne across my side yard and most of my driveway, until it finally landed and made a huge dent in the edge of the driveway. It kept going and was finally stopped when it hit a fir tree in front of the guest bedroom. My sister is afraid I won’t be able to sell the house when I retire next year. Mostly, though, the drunks stay closer to the road and hit the tree. My lawn looks like an auto parts store on Sunday mornings.
By the way, the airborne drunk left his truck on my lawn and walked home. The cops got his name and address from his insurance card in the truck and tried to pay him a little visit. He refused to let them in.
schrodingers_cat
@Steeplejack: That’s great thread. One thing stood out to me, this person makes a big deal of him and Lucy Koh being born in the US. So is this type of singling out okay if you are a naturalized citizen. Are we destined to be outsiders no matter how long we live here?
sab
I have been thinking about the malaria vax a lot today. After a year and a half of Covid I start to begin to imagine what it is like for parents who live in places where kids are at risk routinely from diseases like malaria.
Benw
@dm: hey, I’m not familiar with the original, but from what I read, they really slimmed the play down. There is a scene at the beginning of this version where Cyrano takes down a pompous tool with an insult and sword fight, like you say, that was really funny. Anyway, I really enjoyed it, and Dinklage was great.
Roger Moore
@schrodingers_cat:
I find it ironic that the people who are most eager to complain about minorities being hyphenated-Americans are also the quickest to talk about their ancestry unprompted. I’m sure plenty of people would be happy to be treated as just Americans, or simply as people, but assholes like Chuck Grassley can’t manage it. Every non-White has to be an exemplar of their people.
schrodingers_cat
@sab: A malaria vaccine would be life changing in the tropics.
mali muso
@sab: Speaking from my observation having lived in some of these places, one reaction is to have lots of kids hoping the odds are that a few might survive into adulthood.
Baud
@Roger Moore:
I wish more white people felt that pressure.
Benw
@CarolPW: love it.
sab
@mali muso: My dad was in the AirForce Reserves for twenty years after his service in Korea. One of his reserve duties involved service at the local bloodbanks. He was a US doctor in Korea.
One of their huge fears was Vietnam vets bringing malaria back to the Ohio valley from Vietnam. It had been a major killer in the nineteenth century, but was eradicated.. Some of the guys didn’t take their anti-malarials, hoping they would get sick and be sent home. It didn’t work. They just had to be sick over there. But it terrified the medical people back home.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Forget ordinary citizens even Republican Presidents don’t feel that pressure nor do Republican voters demand it of them.
NotMax
Long read about a too cozy collaboration.
zhena gogolia
@NeenerNeener: Land mines?
Seriously, that is really annoying.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
No lie told.
Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)
@NeenerNeener: Tough multistem shrubs that grow into large patches. Many large cultivars of groups like Viburnums and Spireas work and flower well too. They absorb a lot of energy and bring cars to a stop, but not too quickly. Then they grow back and look good fairly fast in the growing season. This often happened at a place I used to work and they got some settlement money from the insurance of the driver for property damage too.
I wouldn’t recommend thorny plants like roses though. They would be a pin to clean up and rescue people through.
Steeplejack (phone)
@schrodingers_cat:
No, I think he’s just driving home the point of how racist Grassley’s statement is, that even though he and Koh were born here they’re still seen as the “other” by nitwits like Grassley.
gwangung
@Roger Moore: These jackasses keep forgetting the whole civil rights movement, Black identity, Third World peoples coalitions etc are a REACTION….to white people’s racism. If folks of all colors could vote, get hired and live without getting hassled, there wouldn’t be a NEED for all that.
dww44
@sab: Yep, you are correct. That is exactly what they think . I’ve a couple of otherwise sane and educated friends who do not watch any nightly broadcast news because they are nicer to Biden than they ever were to Trump. When our fellow Americans are willfully blind, thanks to Fox et.al. I don’t know how we overcome that. It all just makes me so tired.
NeenerNeener
@Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!): That’s an idea. I’ll have to get the utility companies to mark out the water and gas before I try planting anything. A big patch of mophead cypress might do the trick, if I spend the money to get decent-sized ones. I actually can’t wait for winter now, because the drunks get stuck in the snow 4 houses down and never make it to my yard in the winter.
dm
@Benw: it turns out that the Steve Martin clip linked to earlier was that scene I mentioned, updated, but still done very well.
Mousebumples
Great news on this vaccine! And i agree with Baud that some great vaccine news is likely on the horizon. Very exciting prospects.
sab
@schrodingers_cat: I used to wear my Born in the USA Obama t-shirt proudly until I noticed the side-eye from my nephews with a Chinese born US citizen father and a Chinese born US citizen stepsister.
I was just trying to comment on the birther thing, but it was the wrong approach.
The only two Americans brave enough to challenge Trump at the impeachment were immigrants Fiona Hill and Alexander Vindman. The native born all just sat quietly on their hands.
Mary G
Despite the best efforts of the US Army my ex came home from Vietnam with malaria and had a miserable flare up every few years. Especially miserable for me being sent out many times a day for orange juice,.popsicles, and everything imaginable one item at a time.
This is only the first vaccine for malaria. I am sure scientists will come up.with more and better ones.
schrodingers_cat
@Steeplejack (phone): Yes I do see the point he is making. That he and Koh are not considered “real” Americans by people like Grassley even though they were born here because of their Korean ancestry.
But my point was slightly different, is it necessary to be born here to be considered a “real” American.
It was not necessarily a criticism of the tweet writer but an wry observation reading his tweets. Isn’t the subtext, that it is completely understandable if naturalized citizens are otherized but that the native born shouldn’t be.
NotMax
Medical alert.
sab
@NotMax: my sister in law, a major lefty, has been trying to persuade us to switch from Spectrum to ATT.
I think Spectrum’s local Ohio news is vastly superior to its predecessorTime Warners. Also too ATT phone service sucked, and I practically had to go to court to shut down my parents service when they sold the house that was then demolished. ( They had auto-billing, and dad is alive in a nursing home, but the bank account is still open.) No way would I sign on to them for cable. So this news about OAN makes me laugh, and I can’t wait to tell her.
ATT landline died every time we had a major rainstorm. Defeats the whole point of a landline.
sab
@Mary G: I did not mean to suggest that everyone serving in Vietnam caught malaria intentionally. I know mostly they didn’t. I had a brother in law who did (an altogether reprehensible human being.) Mostly they got it because it’s hard not to where it’s endemic, and the anti-malarials weren’t all that effective.
Gvg
@NeenerNeener: I don’t know what they are called but those barrels along side busy highways are filled with sand because it absorbs a lot of force when cars and trucks hit them without being deadly solid concrete. Like super airbags. Highway departments place them around overhead road pilings to protect them from vehicular impacts. It is supposed to be less deadly to drivers. I think you need something like that. Also, after impact, you just get a new barrel and put sand in that. You need a whole row. It doesn’t sound estheticly pleasing, but maybe you can have decorative hedges too.
Also you need to get on your local government to redesign that road. They did something wrong, or this wouldn’t be happening. Try to get them to fix it. That will take years of nagging, so the barrels will be necessary first.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Baud:
Yeah, when I saw that story earlier I thought, “Damn, I wish we had seven liberal/left channels.”
citizen dave
I also thought of the Carters, and looked up Jimmy. Coincidentally he just turned 97 years old on October 1 (quietly with no public events according to the google).
sab
@citizen dave: My dad is so old that he is (slightly) older than Jimmy Carter.
schrodingers_cat
Meanwhile in India. BJP is defeated in its Nagpur (where the RSS is headquartered) bastion in the local elections.
Out of the 8 dead in the Sunday incident one was a local news reporter.
Persistent Illusion
@WaterGirl: Here in CO, I lived on a steep road whose downside terminus was a neighbor’s yard. After the second drunk missed the curve, he installed 10 large boulders. This was 15 years ago, and I’ve not heard of all negative feedback.
Steeplejack (phone)
@schrodingers_cat:
I understood your point. I didn’t think he was even hinting that it was okay to otherize immigrant citizens.
Fair Economist
@schrodingers_cat: That’s good news!
schrodingers_cat
@Steeplejack (phone): I never said that he did. It was what was unsaid that bothered me just a little. YMMV.
Persistent Illusion
@Persistent Illusion: Sorry all s/b any.
schrodingers_cat
@Fair Economist: They were just the local elections but I will take it. India’s biggest state goes to polls next year. That will be the acid test.
schrodingers_cat
Mass AG Healey just won an injunction against the horrible Texas Law. I am hoping that she runs for Governor.
P.S. I seem to be talking to myself.
Professor Bigfoot
@schrodingers_cat:
It begins to feel that way sometimes— like they (conservative white people) are the owners, the rest of us tenants who can find our stuff on the sidewalk on any given day.
raven
@CarolPW: Aw, I’m glad we could help some.
Jim Appleton
I won’t bore you with the link.
My local counties in Oregon — Hood River and Wasco — show no real decline in Covid cases despite statewide improvement.
It’s not getting better here.
raven
@Mary G: Yep, my buddy was plagued for the rest of his life with it.
opiejeanne
@JoyceH: My niece who works for the UN, was posted in Uganda for several years and has malaria. She’s currently in Switzerland because she was temporarily assigned there after her baby was born, and then was told to stay put once Covid 19 struck.
I really wish the vaccine had been available before she was sent to Uganda.
opiejeanne
@raven: My grandfather suffered periodically from malaria until his death at age 82. We think he caught it in his 20s, or possibly earlier, when visiting St Louis, MO before 1910.
Another Scott
@schrodingers_cat:
Judge Robert Pitman is an Obama appointee.
113 page .pdf of the decision on DocumentCloud.
Just before the conclusion:
Cheers,
Scott.
Mike E
@NeenerNeener: Prudent lawn impediments aside, you might consider getting in touch with your local TV news team…we had this very situation get covered on the 6pm & 11pm newscasts after direct appeals to the d.o.t. went unheeded. The bad publicity (cars made it all the way into the abode) finally got traffic calming improvements made on Mad Max Rd
Weary by
mrmoshpotato
@Baud:
Jet black humor there.
opiejeanne
@mrmoshpotato: I laughed.
sdhays
Some more genuinely good news: Federal judge blocks enforcement of Texass’ near-total ban on abortion:
sab
@raven: Having reread my comment, may I apologize. I had two sort of relatives who tried to get malaria. One was the husband of a sister in law. The other was the husband of my cousin.
That is two out of dozens and dozens of Vietnam vets I have known. I am a a couple of years too young to have known many. Most of the Vietnam vets I have known basically wanted to survive to help their unit, and wanted to come home, in that order.
raven
@sab: There were more reasons not to take it other than trying to get out
New antimalarial drugs called chloroquine and primaquine were developed during the World War II research program and given to U.S. troops in Korea and Vietnam. “But they had a lot of the same problems as atabrine,” Nevin says. “Everything we’re seeing with mefloquine we were seeing in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.”
Westyny
@NotMax: you can’t get MSNBC on Direct TV without a $30 monthly surcharge. Fox comes standard, of course.
Jim Appleton
Someone here earlier today commented that Josh Marshall posted McConnell blinked.
Have not seen anything else.
?
raven
@sab: I have a relative who shot himself in the foot to get out of the bush. It probably happened more than we want to admit but, what do I know, I was a remf.
raven
@NotMax: We finished White Lotus. They are on the water a bit but really don’t show much of the island. It’s also some tricky shit they pull on you.
dww44
@sab: Exactly.
We should thank them for their principled courage. At the very least . Go buy their books.
Dan B
@NeenerNeener: I had a number of clients with similar situations. As long as the boulders or bollards are out of the right of way you should have no liability. Reflective material is a good idea since it demonstrates you have no intent to deceive a driver.
I had bollards on my parking strip from decades. People hit them but not as hard as they had hit the trees. If you are not being sued by drivers for damage incurred by hitting your Basswood there is little likelihood of being sued.
Suzanne
@NeenerNeener: Does your municipality have a zoning ordinance that covers fencing, setbacks, easements, visual barriers near a road, or rights-of-way? Or an HOA? If not, I would think bollards or boulders would be acceptable, as long as you are sure they are on your property (may need to get a survey). If you are having trouble with people driving onto your property, is it possible that more traffic control (stop signs or physical barriers like a curb) need to be put in?
Otherwise, my advice is what I usually recommend in neighborly disputes: snipers.
sdhays
@Jim Appleton: He’s offering some options – a compromise on making the reconciliation bill move faster or passing a short-term increase by unanimous consent that would push the crisis back to December, which would give more time to do it through reconciliation.
Josh thinks that McConnell is starting to believe that if he sticks to his guns, the Democrats will ultimately just nuke the filibuster, even if it’s just a “narrow nuke” to deal with the crisis. That’s the last thing McConnell wants – once Manchin and Sinema (and any more quiet skeptics) go ahead and nuke the filibuster for this, it’s going to be easier to get them to do it for other things like voting rights.
debbie
@Another Scott:
That last sentence! Boom, Supremes!
Jim Appleton
@raven: I have an old friend who really chopped off his finger tip to get out of the Viet Nam draft.
It was his left index finger.
They told him because he was right handed, that wasn’t his trigger finger.
Scott, if you’re listening, you’re laughing along.
Peace.
Another Scott
@Jim Appleton: They still haven’t voted on it, AFAICS.
TheHill:
I don’t know when they’re going to vote – it may depend on the exact language in the bill.
Moscow Mitch wants just enough of an increase in the limit to have another default risk just before the December holidays. That’s obviously not in the country’s interest, but we’ll have to see if they decide to fight another day.
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
SiubhanDuinne
@schrodingers_cat:
You’re not talking to yourself. Was just coming here to share the news if nobody else had done so. Small sigh of relief, without for a moment allowing myself to be complacent.
Villago Delenda Est
In light of this development, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz issued a statement warning everyone in the tropics to not get the vaccine because the Deep State of multiple countries are doing Bill Gate’s bidding and including nanotrackers in the jabs.
SiubhanDuinne
@opiejeanne:
Yup, me too. Out loud. If I had had cats, I would have scared a couple of lives out of them.
sdhays
@Another Scott: I wonder if Democrats will consider shoving in a debt increase into the reconciliation bill if this passes and just take the hit on time to get it over with. If they do that, they should just reinstate the Gephardt Rule and be done with it.
They should have done that in 2009.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
Sorry, Raven, not familiar with the acronym. What is a remf, please?
ETA: I think I can almost guess the last two letters.
L85NJGT
cdc.gov/malaria/about/history/elimination_us.html
Dan B
@NeenerNeener: A client of mine had a home in the priciest suburb of Seattle. A Microsoft exec missed the curve and roared down their drive and into a hundred foot Douglas Fir. My client sued the exec for the death of the tree, which was still standing but an arborist declared it to be mortally wounded. My client won a several hundred thousand dollar settlement. The exec was calculated at 60 mph. The speed limit was 30. High end Mercedes have amazing crash protection for the driver.
stinger
@Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!):
Also lilacs.
Another Scott
@sdhays: Lots and lots of Democrats have been saying they’re not going to do it via reconciliation. I assume that’s the default position, even after today.
(From yesterday):
TheHill says Schumer and Moscow Mitch are still talking about the size of the short-term increase.
We’ll see.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jim Appleton
@Another Scott: I don’t get how incrementalism helps McTurtle.
He’s fucked or he has some incredible card close to his shell.
Dan B
@zhena gogolia: Giant mirror? Huge motion activated, roaring , flame spewing Godzilla? Motion activated trebuchet? So many ideas?
mrmoshpotato
@sab:
That’s just weird.
Jeffro
OR…or…hear me out here, people…we could all just stock up, stay home for a month, catch up on our Netflix, and eliminate every virus on the planet. No more colds, flu, Covid-19, RSV, any of it.
It’s lazy and it involves snacks and streaming TV and why isn’t this a winning argument? =)
Another Scott
@Jim Appleton: He’s counting on Team D to cave.
We’d be in a much stronger position if S&M were team players, but they have been determined to throw up roadblocks that help Moscow Mitch in his destruction. Maybe they’ll get on board soon, but we’re not seeing public signs of them doing so.
The Democrats seem determined to fight the good fight with every tool they have. They seem to have a fire in the belly that I don’t recall seeing before.
I hope Schumer keeps the Senate in session continuously if the GQP continues to obstruct. He can play hardball too…
Cheers,
Scott.
Villago Delenda Est
@SiubhanDuinne: Rear Echelon Samuel L. Jackson catchphrase. I had a number of REMF jobs. Division staff is pretty REMF, for example.
Another Scott
@mrmoshpotato: Water is probably getting inside the wiring on the pole – I had the same problem years ago.
Cheers,
Scott.
mrmoshpotato
@opiejeanne: So did I.
Villago Delenda Est
@mrmoshpotato:
Could be a squirrel issue with the copper wires. They have this tendency to gnaw on the insulating wrapper around the copper, which exposes the copper to the elements. Can’t tell you how many times DSL connections failed to to poorly maintained copper (by the ILEC, which owns all the outside plant) when I was working at a local CLEC.
Dan B
@citizen dave: Jimmy Carter shares a birthday withe the People’s Republic of China.
Ask me how I know.
dww44
@Westyny: snd, ironically, ATT, the financial undergirder of OAN, owns Direct TV
dww44
@Dan B: How do you know?
mrmoshpotato
@Suzanne:
Someone has juicy neighbor disputes stories!
Another Scott
@Another Scott: More from TheHill:
Lindsey’s preening for the camera, as always. But this shows, yet again, that Moscow Mitch really doesn’t have control over his caucus. He just jumps in front whenever there are things they all agree on (like cutting taxes and confirming RWNJ judges).
It’s not a done-deal yet, but probably will be soon. What happens afterwards – in December – is still unknown. There seems to me to be no incentive for the Democrats to back down on this.
Cheers,
Scott.
Dan B
@dww44: Okay….. I was born the day the PRC was declared. I didn’t know until I was in my 30’s.
I have little (0) fondness for the Chinese Communist Party.
Another Scott
Cheers,
Scott.
mrmoshpotato
@Another Scott: I see.
opiejeanne
@stinger: The next to last kid who tore out my fence killed a very large old lilac, ripped it out of the ground like it was a Kleenex. We had placed boulders strategically to stop cars before they hit our fence. He took two of the boulders with him. He was drunk and had 7 other teenagers in the car with him, one who required stitches in her forehead. He damn near launched his car off of our septic hump. Thank goodness our house sits at the other end of the lot.
The last one tore out the gate and a couple of fenceposts, and ended up sitting on one of the biggest rocks. His parents ( who own one of the pontoon plane companies here) have gloated to a neighbor that they’re having the county make us take them away because they’re in the right of way, it turns out. We told the county official who contacted us about it that we’d gladly donate them to a park, if they’d like to remove them themselves but that we aren’t paying to have them removed. The rocks are still there. We were careful to select boulders that aren’t big enough to kill anyone, just inconvenience them mightily.
mrmoshpotato
@Villago Delenda Est: I remember some old wires ( probably electrical) in my parents’ alley years ago that would dance in a wind storm and spark like crazy.
Another Scott
@Dan B: A friend’s first born arrived on that day as well. Coincidentally, the first day that paid parental leave for federal employees took effect.
I suspect that there are a lot more October 1, 2020 birthdays that usual.
Funny how that works!!
Cheers,
Scott.
Yutsano
@Major Major Major Major: Space elevator cables or GTFO.
EDIT: Where did all our front pagers go?
Dan B
@opiejeanne: Kenmore Air? I’ve loved taking them to visit projects in the San Juan Islands, gorgeous!
Chetan Murthy
@schrodingers_cat:
I know the feeling (born in Bangalore, 1965, immigrated 1969, naturalized 1982). Two thoughts come to mind:
I’m proud of being an American, and proud that when we naturalized, we gave up our Indian passports, and did so officially, not just “wink wink nudge nudge”. My mom has a multiple-entry visa for India, but that’s it: none of us siblings even has that. We’re Americans. And I know I’ll never live or frequent a place where people might think less of me, simply b/c I look “like one o’ them furriners” or b/c I’m naturalized.
This isn’t the first time that a GrOPer has implied that an Asian-American was, y’know, a furriner. I remember when TFG did it to a female Asian-American correspondent, holding her responsible for PRC policy. I’m sure we could dig up footage of TFG implying that somehow April Ryan had special knowledge of politics in some African nation, simply because she was Black. We know he assumed she spoke for the entire Black community — he said as much at a press conference. It’s all disgusting.
Dan B
@Another Scott: I cooked dinner for ten at our dining room deprived house. They were puzzled but enjoyed the multi course meal and I enjoyed the absolutely wonderful conversation, and the leftovers!
espierce
@SiubhanDuinne:
rear echelon motherfucker
back in the rear, guarding the gear
Another Scott
RollCall:
It looks like reconciliation really isn’t the answer. It just kicks the can down the road and gives kooks in the senate more opportunities to throw bombs.
What is the answer? Well, it’s clear – get rid of the filibuster and bring back the Gephardt Rule – the debt limit is automatically raised when the funding bills are approved. But at present it looks like S&M won’t go along. So, who knows…
Grr…
Cheers,
Scott.
VeniceRiley
@CarolPW: Aww, I’m sorry about Bean for you. It always always is hard.
Villago Delenda Est
@Chetan Murthy: John Kelly was reportedly appalled at how little TFG knew about American history and the world in general.
oclib
@Yutsano:
they got tired of being big-footed by Master Yeti ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Tony Gerace
Kay
Political media think Biden should have kept up the war so Americans wouldn’t know they were losing.
Twenty years from now “are we still at war? Yes! That means we didn’t lose!”
Take heart. Maybe the next President can re-invade and tell them they’re winning again. It’ll be a lie but God knows you can’t tell these toddlers the truth- they’ll pitch a hissy fit.
Another Scott
@Another Scott: I only skimmed the decision, but I liked that he broke it out into “findings of fact” and “findings of law”. Not that it strongly constrains the ultimate outcome, but it helps some. (T.P. Jackson did the same with the MS Antitrust case and he was slapped down on appeal.)
ABL likes it.
Good, good.
Cheers,
Scott.
citizen dave
@Dan B: Another juicer asked you, but since I’m back let me add Happy Belated Birthday!
Another Scott
@Tony Gerace: We may never know – YouTube took his channel down, IIRC, for his antivaxx postings.
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Kay: Jim’s a garbage response to a single poorly framed polling question.
Not that the GQP/Forever War operatives and their enablers care, of course.
Cheers,
Scott.
Major Major Major Major
@Yutsano: I dunno about everyone else but I’m watching Fargo season 4
Dan B
@citizen dave: Happy B-day to Jimmy & Jina!
Kay
@Another Scott:
This is one that I don’t care if it polls well. I’m sure pretending you are winning, forever, is a solid political strategy. The question is if it’s a lie. It was a lie. Someone had to tell the truth about that war.
Good to see they learned absolutely nothing and can’t wait to start the next one.
stinger
@opiejeanne: Good lord! Construction guys in a pickup took off a couple of large branches at one end of my lilac clump, but the plant survived. Of course, they were driving across my lawn(!) and weren’t going at highway speed.
Kay
@Another Scott:
They “dislike losing”. Between losing and lying to them for another 20 years US media prefers “lying to them for another 20 years”. How do they feel about being lied to? Do they “dislike” that? Was that included as an option in the poll?
Chetan Murthy
@Kay:
Why wouldn’t they like it? The MIIC always leaves a wad of money on the dresser.
HumboldtBlue
Here’s Alice Cooper on the Muppet Show.
sdhays
@Another Scott: I’m finding myself more and more convinced by Atrios on this subject. The US will not default because all of this shit is made up. If the Republicans and Sinema and Manchin really did just throw up their hands, Biden will mint the stupid coin or the Federal Reserve will use its extraordinary powers to fix the problem. He can’t and shouldn’t say that, of course, because Congress needs to do its damn job.
But for whatever reason, the people who Sinema and Manchin (and some Republicans still) listen to do not like those options or at least don’t have confidence in them. They are afraid. And so I’m happy to let the Democrats squeeze Manchin and Sinema to make them fix this.
They care about the debt limit, their friends in the Republican Party care about the debt limit, but ALL OF THEM are held hostage to a handful of extra special GQP assholes and the nutty Republican base. If that’s not a compelling argument for filibuster reform, I don’t know what is.
Bring it on.
Kay
@Chetan Murthy:
Do they even cover Afghanistan anymore? I was told this Biden blunder of “telling the truth” would reverberate through the ages. They covered it for what, a month?
Soprano2
This Cardinal – Dodger game is killing me!! Aaarrrrgggghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!
Chetan Murthy
@Kay: heh indeed. I haven’t seen a peep on the WaPo or Guardian front pages. Not a peep.
phdesmond
@HumboldtBlue:
very therapeutic.
sdhays
@Kay: Did they really make it a full 30 days? I had the impression that a couple days after the last plane left Kabul, they had moved on, albeit with a snide comment here and there.
Entirely as predicted.
HumboldtBlue
@Soprano2:
The idea that a team can win 107 games and still end up in a one-off playoff is still patently absurd. I love the WC, just not in this instance.
Chetan Murthy
I’m guessing some of you have seen this: msn.com/en-us/news/us/hospital-system-says-it-will-deny-transplants-to-the-unvaccinated-in-almost-al…
It’s not enough, but it’s a start. Of course, the butthurt whining has already started. bqhatevwr.
Kay
@sdhays:
Maybe it just seemed like a month because it was the same film at the airport for days.
I support everything Biden is trying to do. I don’t actually hold him responsible for the completely dysfunctional US Senate. My God, what if they had been in charge of getting out. Never. They’d never get it done.
SFAW
@Alison Rose:
I caught a quick blurb about this on NPR. But apparently the news reader weren’t that kul-chured: it sounded like he/she was saying the film’s title is “Serrano.” So I’m thinking serrano chilis as a metaphor for something, but could not figure out what that might be.
rikyrah
This is good news. This vaccine will save lives??????
Chetan Murthy
@Alison Rose: I’m a massive fan of Rostand’s original play: I know enough French to be able to appreciate the verse, and watching the Depardieu version [ok, ok, even though he’s a fucking rapist][1] has always been a joy b/c of the language. Right down to the final verse. I wonder how they’ll approach the “fifty one betters” — “Ce n’est pas un cap, c’est une peninsule!” (“it’s not a cape, it’s a peninsula!”) and “a` la fin de l’envoi, je touche!” (“at the end of the envoi, I touch!” — or rather, “at then end of the poem, I’m gonna skewer your sorry ass!”)
[1] It’s not Depardieu’s acting that does it for me, but Rostand’s verse, so I guess I’ll just go find another French Cyrano movie — there gotta be lots.
I do hope that this new one with Dinklage is good; I was never very happy with _Roxanne_, since it has [spoiler!] a happy ending.
Soprano2
@Kay: NPR talks about it periodically, mostly about women and the Taliban. Of course, they ignore all the other countries that aren’t much better for women. ??
Soprano2
@HumboldtBlue: I had no idea there was a “play-in” game. This is one for the ages, though.
Chetan Murthy
@Soprano2:
Now now, those are allies.
mrmoshpotato
@Soprano2: Yeah! Would LA just win already!
Soprano2
@mrmoshpotato: They’re trying, we’re trying to prevent it! I will say I was impressed with Edman when he was here at their AA club. It’s cool to see them develop as players. Whoever wins, it’s a hell of a game.
mrmoshpotato
@Soprano2:
Stop that!
Soprano2
@mrmoshpotato: No! Edman made a hell of a catch earlier.
Soprano2
Well, that was a hell of a game. Figured it would be won with a home run. Congrats, we’ll be back next year I hope. Made ’em work for it.
HumboldtBlue
BOOM! Dodgers win
Edmund Dantes
@mrmoshpotato: no it isn’t. Verizon was accused of woefully neglecting their legacy copper lines to get people to switch over to fiber data and voip where there are larger profit margins. Wouldn’t be surprised if ATT was pulling the same shit.
Starboard Tack
@Chetan Murthy: That health system is UCHealth where I get much of my health care. It is a non-profit associated with University Hospital and the University of Colorado Med School. It’s a juggernaut that’s been expanding and swallowing small independent group practices for at least 5 years. It’s got plenty of money because it doesn’t have investors to satisfy, and it’s pretty insulated from political pressure. It’s not going to bothered too much by people complaining about the reasonable allocation of scarce transplant organs.
sab
@Another Scott: Originalists don’t believe in foundational. If the legal reasoning didn’t come out of their own original ass they do not believe it is valid.
SeatteDem
@Starboard Tack: medical centers are expanding and consolidating for a variety of reasons, but one major driver is the cost of software. The most common integrated billing and medical record systems cost hundreds of millions of dollars to license and support, so small hospitals on narrow margins cannot afford to keep up. Big chains reap the economy of scale and “rescue” the independents.
WaterGirl
@sab:
Mine did that for a long time (years ago) and I finally had AT&T come out and look. When it rained really hard water would get into their little box where some wire was degraded in some way.
10-minute fix, and the problem never happened again.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: In my case, it was a the house, not the pole, but it sounds like the same problem.