Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

We still have time to mess this up!

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

You cannot love your country only when you win.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

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

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

You are here: Home / Books / TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: Role Models

TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: Role Models

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  1. 1.

    Baud

    Once again, I read the title and thought the post was about me.

    Maybe I’m missing it since I don’t watch the news as much, but what I like most about MVP is that she’s not constantly making news, but just doing the work, day in an day out.

  3. 3.

    NotMax

    Short, short notice for those who subscribe to Sling. Free preview of AMC+ and other associated channels now through October 10, including a library of selections from Sundance Now, which carries the glowingly reviewed Scandinoirvian series Wisting (all 10 episodes available on demand).

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    I love the idea of exploring the unknown. There’s so much out there that we still have to learn.

    “The universe is like a safe to which there is a combination. But the combination is locked up in the safe.”
    – Peter De Vries
    ;)

  8. 8.

    Ken

    Synchronicity strikes; just a couple of days ago, I was trying to remember Doris Lessing, specifically her Canopus in Argos series. Unfortunately I thought of LeGuin first, and my brain would not get away from that.

  11. 11.

    Spanky

    Since the topic is role models, I’ll note that cnn.com’s blurb on Tesla moving its HQ to Texas has a picture of Musk that is very reminiscent of L’il Kim. The North Korean one.

    I don’t think that boy is quite right.

  22. 22.

    sdhays

    That’s a lovely picture of those kids with our wonderful VP, but I had to chuckle at the young lady who seemingly didn’t get the memo that everyone was supposed to wear blue.

  30. 30.

    John S.

    @sdhays:

    The stupidity of electing sheriffs is a none too subtle point made in Django Unchained:

    My name is Dr. King Schultz, and like yourself, Marshall, I am a servant of the court. The man lying dead in the dirt, who the good people of Daughtrey saw fit to elect as their sheriff, who went by the name of Bill Sharp, is actually a wanted outlaw by the name of Willard Peck, with a price on his head of 200 dollars.

  31. 31.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I got my flu shot and 2nd pneumonia shot Wednesday. I still need to get my 2nd Shingles shot. I thought I had to wait a year but the google says 2-6 months, .so now I’s cornfused.

  34. 34.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @OzarkHillbilly: If only. Nope, sadly, sheriffs are elected. He MIGHT lose the next election, in 2022, but…

    Sheriffs departments have long been the problem children of law enforcement (not that regular ol’ police departments are covering themselves in glory, but they do compare better overall). Sure would be nice if there was a way to make law officers obey the law.

  39. 39.

    Ken

    Does the Vice President always get to be chair of the National Space Council?  And if so: Baud, are you looking for a Vice President?

  41. 41.

    John S.

    Joe Manchin, still a giant fucking asshole.

    Video of Joe Manchin With Head in Hands During Chuck Schumer Speech Goes Viral

    Video of Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) holding his head in his hands while listening to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) give a speech about the debt limit has garnered more than 100,000 views on Twitter.

    Though it was not immediately clear if Manchin’s gesture was a sign of fatigue or an indication of displeasure with Schumer’s remarks, the West Virginia senator later criticized the speech in remarks to reporters.

    “I just think that basically what we’ve got to do is find a pathway forward, to make sure that we deweaponize. We have to deweaponize. You can’t be playing politics. None of us can—on both sides,” he said.

  43. 43.

    Betty

    @rikyrah: I can envision some disgusted West Virginians kidnapping him and  holding him until he relents. What a terrible human being.

  44. 44.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @John S.: Josh Marshall at TPM has an excellent piece up on “The Speech” right now. Bottom line: wankers are going to wank.

  46. 46.

    John S.

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    Marshall’s piece is good, but more focused on the beltway press framing things incorrectly as “Republicans were nice to Democrats, and the Democrats were mean to them.”

    He doesn’t really talk about this fucked up framing coming from a Democratic Senator.

  47. 47.

    lowtechcyclist

    @sdhays:And this is why it’s beyond stupid that we elect sherifs in these United States.

    Seriously.  The fact that county police in most jurisdictions don’t ultimately report to civilian leadership is both ridiculous and dangerous.  It’s like if we elected a general to run the military, so that he was responsible to nobody.

  48. 48.

    Baud

    @John S.:

    Meh. Manchin can deweaponize by stating that he will support a filibuster carve out if the Republicans play games with the debt ceiling.  That will end the gamesmanship.

  49. 49.

    Immanentize

    On a note of hopeful beauty — I am setting off today to drive from Boston to Binghamton NY. The last half of the drive is in Upstate NY from Albany southwest. Usually, at this moment every year, the rolling glacier-created hills are covered with autumn color — trees on fire with reds oranges and yellows. I look forward to this drive, but who knows what the trees will be doing?

  51. 51.

    mali muso

    Good morning! Got my flu shot yesterday at Target. Fun fact, they give you a $5 coupon off $20 purchase, so it felt like a win/win. Going to schedule a flu shot for the widget and then continue to live in hope that by the time her 5th birthday rolls around in November, she will be eligible for the Pfizer jab.

    On the politics front, I received a very sweet handwritten postcard reminding me to vote for Wendy Gooditis here in Virginia. I’m going to try to get my act together to go down to the registrar’s office today and cast my early vote for team Blue.

  54. 54.

    germy

    Get to a red state. Now. You do not have the time you think you do. Your only chance is a red state. Coronavirus is ushering in the communist era for the West very quickly.

    — Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) October 7, 2021

    Thanks, I’m good.

  55. 55.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I’m trying to remember. Don’t sheriffs have some special place in the Sovereign Citizen scheme of things?

    They use the term “Constitutional Sheriffs” but damned if I know what that’s about, because the Constitution doesn’t say jack shit about sheriffs.

  58. 58.

    Soprano2

    @rikyrah: Biden’s Dept of Education is taking care of this a little bit at a time, but I bet he doesn’t get much credit for it from the people demanding that they forgive $50,000 for everyone! I hope they fix the program that promised loan forgiveness for people who did “x” years of public service type jobs, that program is an absolute mess. It’s shameful how bad it is.

  71. 71.

    NotMax

    @germy

    The single memory which has stayed from a visit there is of a fantabulous meal at the long since disappeared Keeler’s.

  73. 73.

    Geminid

    @lowtechcyclist: Gun advocates calling for permitless concealed carry laws call this “Constitutional Carry.” To which I ask, if it’s so Constitutional, how is it that you need a statute to effect this?

    Permitless concealed carry laws were enacted this year in South Carolina, Texas and other states. A similar law is proposed for Ohio but has not yet passed. It’s a terrible idea which a majority of people oppose. The Texas Tribune reported a poll showing that 58% of Texans opposed permitless concealed carry.

    In 2019, a tea party-type challenged my State Senator, Emmit Hanger in a Republican primary. She made so-called constitutional carry a prominent part of her platform. I was interested to see Hanger use this issue against her in his mailings. Hanger won easily, and I was not surprised. His district is mostly in the Shenandoah Valley, and those people may be conservative, but they are not radical.

  74. 74.

    trnc

    As expected, CNN is making republicans out to be the heroes who averted debt default, and Schumer is apparently rude for having accurately described what republicans are doing. Rinse, lather, repeat.

    Bonus – Manchin decrying the weaponization of politics while supporting the number one political weapon wielded by republicans.

  75. 75.

    Woodrow/asim

    They [AIDSTruth] had learned the hard way that fighting denialists in the press often backfired. Conspiracy movements thrive on all public mentions, including scathing ones. As long as their theory gets mentioned, there will always be one person out of a thousand who becomes intrigued and Googles the theory. All press, including bad press, helps a conspiracy movement grow.

    From “The Controversy Behind the Scenes of Dallas Buyers Club“, which is an outstanding article, overall.

    AIDS activists have been thru the ringer. I’ve talked to a couple I know about the current COVID/anti-vaxx stuff, and…well, it’s the situation that happens over and again, where a marginalized population’s exploitation ends up a proving grounds from abuse of the larger population, in a later crisis.

    I cannot imagine how horrific it is to see the same shit, the same abuse of people and misuse of science while people die en masse, come around again.

    And yeah, I think there’s something to the idea that there are other ways to fight qAnon and similar movements — that we’re not just fighting in the court of public opinion and risking these toxic ideas being exposed to more and more people. Especially given how risky “Just Google It” can be in this era, where bots and memetic ideas flow thru social media like water…well, as the guy working to patch my leaky roof reminds me, “water always wins”.

  80. 80.

    germy

    @Ken:

    Yes, they do.

    Google it.

    I did, and now google is shivering with glee over my history.  I expect some really strange ads now.

  81. 81.

    Ken

    @germy: That’s exactly why I didn’t google it.

    (Which I’m legally allowed to say, since Google(TM)(R)(C) is my search engine of choice.)

  86. 86.

    zhena gogolia

    @Steeplejack: We’re enjoying The Crown. My husband is just learning that Prince Philip was kind of a jerk.

    I really don’t care about that family, but it’s well written and has lots of good soapy plot twists, great costumes and sets, and fabulous acting. Alex Jennings is so, so good.

  88. 88.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Two men from Solomon Islands who spent 29 days lost at sea after their GPS tracker stopped working have been rescued off the coast of Papua New Guinea – 400 kilometres away from where their journey began. Livae Nanjikana and Junior Qoloni set out from Mono Island, in Western province, Solomon Islands, on the morning of the 3 September in a small, single 60 horsepower motorboat. The pair planned to travel 200km south to the town of Noro on New Georgia Island, using the west coast of Vella Lavella Island and Gizo Island to their left as a guide.
    ………………………….
    Just a few hours into their journey, they encountered heavy rain and strong winds, which made it hard to see the coastline they were supposed to be following.

    “When the bad weather came, it was bad, but it was worse and became scary when the GPS died,” he said. “We couldn’t see where we were going and so we just decided to stop the engine and wait, to save fuel.”

    Surviving on oranges they’d packed for the trip, coconuts they collected from the sea and rainwater they trapped using a piece of canvas, they floated about 400km northwest for 29 days, eventually spotting a fisher off the coast of New Britain, Papua New Guinea.

    “We didn’t know where we were but did not expect to be in another country,” Nanjikana said.

    The men were so weak that when they arrived in the town of Pomio on 2 October they had to be carried off the boat and to a nearby house.
    ………………..
    “I had no idea what was going on while I was out there. I didn’t hear about Covid or anything else,” he said. “I look forward to going back home but I guess it was a nice break from everything.”

    29 days and not one mention of Manchin or Synema, sounds pretty good to me.

  91. 91.

    Just Chuck

    Had to scan that pic for a few seconds to pick out Madam VP from the kids.  She’s so tiny!

  95. 95.

    Betty Cracker

    @zhena gogolia: Alex Jennings really is terrific in that role, and the catty dialog with the wife is first rate. I love the insults for the family, i.e., “desiccated hyenas,” etc., and have wondered if those are from the Duke’s letters, the writers’ room or a combination.

  96. 96.

    zhena gogolia

    @Betty Cracker: I know, I have to look that up, we wondered if they were real letters. I bet they are.

    The Churchill eulogy for George VI is all from the actual speech — edited down a lot, but all his words.

  99. 99.

    Burnspbesq

    @NotMax:

    Drive west from Bahstan on I-90 and you hit nothing but un-cities all the way to Cleveland. Worcester, Springfield, Albany, Utica (!!!), Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Erie, Akron.

  101. 101.

    zhena gogolia

    @Betty Cracker:

    Netflix drama The Crown to explore Royal relationship with Nazis

    “For the Duke of Windsor’s letters, most of the problems came because reprinting material is copyrighted,” [Annie Sulzberger, researcher for The Crown] said.

    “That was covered by a publisher and it was so complicated to try and track down who owned the copyright ot the letters themselves. So we decided that we’d just put it aside and rewrite, very close. We wrote in the same tone but we didn’t use the words.”

  102. 102.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: The leeches in the boat, or the sharks outside of the boat…. That’s a connundrum but I’d probably go with the sharks.

  104. 104.

    Jeffro

    Pretty good piece up in That Paper: David Shor is telling Democrats what they don’t want to hear

    here’s the truly frightening thought for frustrated Democrats: This might be the high-water mark of power they’ll have for the next decade.
    Democrats are on the precipice of an era without any hope of a governing majority. The coming year, while they still control the House, the Senate and the White House, is their last, best chance to alter course. To pass a package of democracy reforms that makes voting fairer and easier. To offer statehood to Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. To overhaul how the party talks and acts and thinks to win back the working-class voters — white and nonwhite — who have left them behind the electoral eight ball. If they fail, they will not get another chance. Not anytime soon.

    Have to agree.  This is one of the major reasons I want them to hurry the heck up with infrastructure and reconciliation, we have SO much more to do, and quickly.

  106. 106.

    Steeplejack

    @germy:

    @Rschooley (thread):

    I guess just telling them to follow orders and they won’t get hurt is off the table then?

    Imagine if police leadership was as dismissive of any other year’s leading cause of death in their ranks. “People get shot, what are you going to do?”

    A lot of police out there suddenly thinking defying rules you don’t agree with is okay.

  108. 108.

    Kayla Rudbek

    So irritated right now with the pharmacy. I called them last Saturday to get the liquid tamoxifen pickup location straightened out. Still not in the store as of this morning, which means that I have been on the lactose-tainted medication for over a week now. With all the digestive, sleep, and skin problems resulting from that. I even went to the store in person on Wednesday to check the status.

  109. 109.

    germy

    @Steeplejack:

    If police officers quit they lose their pensions. They also aren’t likely to get hired by private sector which is requiring vaccines. These polls suggesting massive exodus in light of vaccination rules are rubbish. Call their bluff. They serve to protect public. Time to adult up.

    — Juliette Kayyem (@juliettekayyem) September 10, 2021

  110. 110.

    prostratedragon

    @Jeffro: Maybe my partial optimism is groundless, and keeping in mind that the present situation is nothing like the mid-60s which one shouldn’t have expected to last forever, but I’m (much) more worried about whether we can get ahead of the time-sensitive problems looming at us than about whether we’ll tend to have as much of an opportunity as we have right now to fix them.

    Otherwise, on this day in 1871: the Great Peshtigo, WI, Port Huron, and Chicago fires burned, along with another that was just pervasive in lower Michigan.

  111. 111.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @germy: In Massachussetts, the story went from “hundreds of staties filing resignation paperwork” to “dozens of us! dozens!” from the police union to

    An upcoming vaccine mandate for Massachusetts State Police that won’t allow the option of submitting negative Covid test results to keep working has led to dozens of state troopers resigning, according to the union that represents them, but state police say they’re only aware of one trooper who is actually planning to leave because of the mandate so far.

  114. 114.

    zhena gogolia

    @jo6pac:

    Muratov: “I posed this question today to the government officials who decided to congratulate me — Will we be declared foreign agents by receiving the Nobel Prize? I didn’t get a straight answer.”— Anton Troianovski (@antontroian) October 8, 2021

  115. 115.

    Betty Cracker

    @zhena gogolia: Fascinating! I loved the scene with the Churchill speech. His rivals all licking their chops in anticipation of the old goat flailing, their chagrin when he pulled it off…

  117. 117.

    Betty Cracker

    @Jeffro: I read that this morning too. Very interesting piece, and a lot of it speaks to the controversies we discuss here on the regular.

  121. 121.

    dnfree

    @OzarkHillbilly: the second shingles shot laid me up for three days with fever, chills, the whole “flu” experience.  Never happened to me with any other vaccinations, including Covid.  Just don’t schedule something for the day after, in case.

  126. 126.

    Ramalama

    I came here for the Doris Lessing posting. And am leaving with the thought of how Manchin is a little like Bernie Madoff. People wondering after the fraud was revealed how anyone could trust their money with a guy named Madoff. How Democrats are stuck trying to whittle down very popular programs to appeal to a guy named Mansion. Who lives on a yacht.

  127. 127.

    raven

    We went to the kickoff for the “dog parade” last night and there was a couple there who were in the vet’s office when they brought Artie in. They were stunned that she made it and even more stunned at how well she is doing. They kept thanking me and I kept saying “you don’t need to thank me, I got the good end of this deal”.

  129. 129.

    James E Powell

    @NotMax:

    Never been to Albany, but William Kennedy’s novels make me want to spend some time there. It’s on the list.

  130. 130.

    dnfree

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: my husband served on our far smaller county board.  It’s pretty difficult to rein in the sheriff because they claim all kinds of terrible disasters will befall the citizens of the county if the budget is cut.

    Our sheriff said twelve squad cars needed replacing (a significant number in our county).  The board demanded that every vehicle in need of replacement be examined by an outside evaluator, which the sheriff hated.  And why had the sheriff and his chief deputy gotten brand new vehicles before this need for replacements was announced?  Eventually, the board agreed to allow I think four a year for three years. The sheriff was pissed at any questioning of his priorities, and my husband always tried to drive under the speed limit on county roads, since the sheriff thenceforward regarded him as an enemy.
    Oh, and the local press, what there was left of it, all came to photograph the somewhat rusty car the sheriff put on display, and never asked to see the other eleven. I remember when reporters  were suspicious, not gullible.

  133. 133.

    Geminid

    @Jeffro: I am not so pessimistic about Democrats’ electoral chances the rest of this decade. Even with reapportionment and redisricting, I Iike our chances to hold the Hoise next year, and I believe we’ll add to our Senate majority. In states like North Carolina and Texas, Republicans may have already squeezed as out as many seats as they could in 2011.

    And gerrymandering does not neccesarily prevail over demographic and political change. In 2018, Virginia flipped 3 seats on a Republican drawn map, and two Texas Democrats did the same.

    In any event, we have to hang onto power in upcoming elections. If the Republicans take over they can gut any program* that Democrats enact. But I like our chances. For one thing, Democrats are united and Republicans are not. They have big problems, not the least of which is their former president.

    *D.C. statehood could not be undone. But I will be very surprised if that is passed by this Congress. Besides Manchin and the Wicked Witch of the West, Democrats from New Hampshire, Nevada, and Arizona face tough Senate reelections and will not want to take that vote.

  136. 136.

    Jeffro

    @Geminid: I hear you, but I’d rather we stay at least a little pessimistic and act with much greater urgency.  I think the odds of holding both the House and the Senate are really slim (primarily because of the Senate).

    The article in question has a great interactive thingamabob that shows what outcome we’re likely to get if we get 2020 Biden-esque levels of turnout, if  we do (or don’t) win back some of the non-college whites, if racial polarization gets better or worse, if voters split ballots, etc.

    But the X-factor for me is one you touched on a little bit: Republicans are not as united, and they may well fall apart across the coming year as indictments drop and the strains of continuing to support trumpov become even more apparent.

  137. 137.

    Betty Cracker

    @Jeffro: The thing that struck a worrying chord with me is how much the conundrum reminded me of the situation in Florida.

  138. 138.

    Ruckus

    @rikyrah: 
    And this from a man who is relatively rich in his state, and pretty damn well off in any state. And the poor in his state have to accept one thing, when the wealthiest country in the world could easily afford all of them and he’s made his money from one of the absolutely dirtiest power sources in the world and the backs and lungs of the citizens he supposedly serves digging that coal out of the ground. What a stunning example of a selfish ass.

  139. 139.

    James E Powell

    @lowtechcyclist:

    That has to be pretty obvious to all concerned. I’m sure Biden, Pelosi, and Schumer know this in their bones.

    A lot of press/media think they are characters on The West Wing. They imagine Ron Klain asking his staff, “Have you guys seen this Shor column? He’s making sense. Maybe we ought to rethink our whole approach.” Of course, he is saying this as they are all walking.

  143. 143.

    Geminid

    @Jeffro: I feel urgency also. It’s important that those program dollars start flowing by next spring so voters can see the effects with their own eyes before they make up their minds about who to vote for. The physical infrastructure investments in particular will have a lag between enactment and implementation. I am just pushing back at the notion that Democrats will.be marginized after this Congress. I think Republicans have the greater chance of being marginalized. They certainly are working hard towards this end.

  144. 144.

    Ruckus

    @Baud:

    He doesn’t want to end the “gamesmanship.”

    He is a totally self serving senator, only imposing himself in the middle when it’s good for him and him alone, and when he does this it’s always bad for his side of the aisle. He always makes things worse for his side when he plays his game of look at ME.

  145. 145.

    Geminid

    @Jeffro: What if we don’t win back a portion of non-college educated whites? I am more interested in building support among Latino working class and middle class people. That demographic group is in increasing, while the working class white vote is static.

  146. 146.

    Hoodie

    @OzarkHillbilly: Just went through this.  My doc says you don’t have to redo the series, just take the 2nd shot.  Felt pretty crappy afterwards, about like Covid #2 shot.

  148. 148.

    SteverinoCT

    @Immanentize:I look forward to this drive, but who knows what the trees will be doing?

     

     
    We have friends with a place in Schoharie County, off I-88, and love the scenery. We also go to Lake George to have a nice drive (from southeast CT) and use the webcams to check out the foliage in advance: Lake George Webcam. Right now pretty meh.

  150. 150.

    Matt McIrvin

    @rikyrah: Trump’s problem was that he usually DIDN’T use the teleprompter. Whenever he deigned to actually read it, he’d give this wooden, grudging performance that said a few nominally sane things and the reporters would go off on how the New Trump was Presidential.

  153. 153.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: I’m not suggesting that we write off white working class people. This group does seem more susceptible to right wing culture war issues and racist dog whistles. But the thinking members of this cohort just want good jobs with good pay, decent health care, and the opportunity good education and upward mobility for themselves and their children. That is also what the Latino people I have worked with and live among want. The Democratic party’s task is to deliver on these needs, and make it clear that it is doing so.

  154. 154.

    Ruckus

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Good choice. Go in one or two bites instead of millions of little ineffective bites that won’t kill you but cause an infection that is almost impossible to get rid of.

  156. 156.

    Another Scott

    @Immanentize:

    TheConversation:

    Here’s what biologists do know. As summer turns to autumn, the days get shorter and colder, both of which are signals to trees to stop photosynthesizing and producing the chlorophyll that makes their leaves green. With green chlorophyll out of the picture, the orange and yellow carotenoid pigments in the leaves that are masked by all the chlorophyll production all summer have their moment to shine.

    In some trees, cooler weather cues the production of a chemical called anthocyanin, which helps trees pull the nutrients from their leaves into their trunk and roots. Anthocyanin is responsible for those gorgeous red and purple leaves on trees like red maples and dogwoods.

    While every tree is different, studies have found that earlier spring bud burst, warmer temperatures and a dry fall are linked to a later fall foliage season. A shorter foliage season can result from a hot summer and wet fall. Additionally, the concentration of nitrogen in the atmosphere – which humans are releasing into the atmosphere on faster time scales than nature does – affects just how red those gorgeous maples get.

    The northeastern U.S. has gotten warmer and wetter over the last century. How have these climate changes affected the timing, vibrancy and duration of fall foliage in Acadia National Park? Have tourists, in turn, changed how and when they visit the park?

    Lots of implications resulting from the stuff we’ve put in the air over the last 150+ years…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  158. 158.

    Another Scott

    Job openings: 11.7m

    Unemployed: 7.7m

    The 1.5 openings per unemployed is the highest ever recorded

    Nominal wage growth in September was faster than it was in the previous eight months and has been averaging the fastest in forty years.

    This is a very tight labor market.

    — Jason Furman (@jasonfurman) October 8, 2021

    MotU MBA: “If only there was something that could be done…”

    What’s that??

    TheHill:

    The Bank of America is increasing its minimum wage to $21 an hour amid labor shortages across the country,

    The company announced the increase Wednesday, following its move in May to make all its U.S. vendors pay its employees at least $15 an hour.

    […]

    Bank of America has been increasing its minimum wage over the past few years, going from $15 in 2017 to $17 in 2019 to $20 in 2020.

    In the announcement, the company said they want their minimum wage to hit $25 an hour by 2025.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  160. 160.

    Matt McIrvin

    @OzarkHillbilly: It’s 2-6 months for Shingrix, but I think for people who are past 6 months they’ll say “just get the second one ASAP”. Doctor might know though.

    I got my second shot right at the very end of that window, because most of the intervening period was filled up with my knee surgery saga and I didn’t want a shot that would lay me flat during all that if I could avoid it. But then I got it because my eligibility for COVID vaccination was looming and I needed to leave two weeks in between (per CDC guidelines at the time, no longer the case).

  162. 162.

    Jeffro

    @Geminid: if I understand the article (and similar ones I’ve read) the Latino working class is beginning to trend more like the white working class…trumpov actually made slight gains with Latinos in 2020.

    So I think focusing on working-class concerns might help Ds with both groups

    ETA: or, what you said at #153  =)

  163. 163.

    Jeffro

    @Another Scott: that’s amazing

    I should read more about this.  Are there just too many half-staffed, half-busy workplaces?  Are there still millions of workers on the sidelines for whatever reason?

    I know there seems to be some skills disconnect between the millions who are out of work and the jobs that are open.

    The country would do well to ‘ping’ every un- and under-employed person in the country to see if they’re interested in being a nurse or teacher, because talk about labor shortages…whew…

  164. 164.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Jeffro:

    That might only be because Dems didn’t go door to door as much as they did in the past. Plus the Trump effect

  166. 166.

    Another Scott

    @Jeffro: My understanding is that a lot of it is childcare and similar disruptions caused by the pandemic.

    (From August 28):

    A child-care shortage existed before the coronavirus pandemic, but the events of 2020 exacerbated it. In some states, day-care employees were not designated essential workers during last year’s shutdowns, and their workplaces had to close permanently. One study found that in the United States, two-thirds of child-care centers shut down in April 2020. Zachary Parolin, a co-author of the paper and an assistant professor at Bocconi University, in Italy, told me that 29 percent of all centers nationally remained closed or operating at half-capacity as of this June. He anticipated that this figure would increase in the coming months as the Delta variant spreads.

    About 35 percent of child-care workers lost their job early in the pandemic, and only about two-thirds have returned to work, according to Malik. Many of these workers—including employees of day-care programs, part-time babysitters, and full-time nannies—were already hesitant to resume their job and expose themselves to the coronavirus. Now Delta has heightened that feeling. Prior to the pandemic, Sittercity.com, an online platform that matches families and babysitters, had an average of one sitter for every five families seeking care. During the pandemic, that ratio got worse, dropping to one sitter for every 10 families. By the end of July, the ratio was 1 to 14, Zenobia Moochhala, the site’s CEO, told me.

    This is yet another thing that the RB addresses.

    Vaccinating the remaining school kids, and requiring masking while community spread is high, will help. But it’s likely to be a long slog, especially if these provisions are stripped out of the RB.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  170. 170.

    Soprano2

    @Jeffro: I think there are a significant number of women with children who have dropped out of the workforce due to Covid exposures and quarantines for their children. Most employers can’t keep people when every few weeks they have to suddenly take several days off to stay at home with their quarantined children. That may suck, but it’s a fact of the workplace. I think once we get Covid in kids and schools under better control some of those people will start coming back to the workplace. Factor in Covid-inspired early retirements that normally wouldn’t have taken place, and I think you’ve got a significant part of the explanation for the extremely tight labor market. People persist in the “people just don’t want to work” fantasy, or the “just raise all the wages to ‘x’ and the problem will go away” fantasies. I think it’s more complicated than that.

  171. 171.

    Soprano2

    @Another Scott: What he said, too. Here in Springfield some local businesses posted a billboard that says “Get off your Butt. Get.To.Work Apply Everywhere”. Lots of people like it because they persist in believing this fantasy, even though unemployment here is 2.3%. In business school back in the early ’80’s I was taught that reaching an unemployment rate like this was basically impossible, yet here we are.

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