Believe them!
President Biden visited a daycare today—the result is ?? ?? ?? pic.twitter.com/h6jg4Wc4l4
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) October 15, 2021
Our infrastructure has fallen from the best in the world to 13th.
But just as importantly, America ranks 35th out of 37 major economies when it comes to investing in early childhood education and care.
We cannot be competitive in the 21st century if we continue to slide.
— President Biden (@POTUS) October 15, 2021
U.S. President Joe Biden touted his funding for childcare plan at a speech, ‘How can we compete in the world if millions of American parents, especially moms, can’t be part of the workforce because they can’t afford the cost of childcare or eldercare’ https://t.co/iSDJjyK8O8 pic.twitter.com/dKsfmBk6FW
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 16, 2021
Hmmm beginning to think that whole 'deplorables' thing might have had just a littttle bit of merit. https://t.co/l9WqzSzqTT
— Centrism Fan Acct ?? (@Wilson__Valdez) October 15, 2021
zhena gogolia
Wonderful! Thank you for that pick-me-up as I grade papers!
Anonymous At Work
Obama and Biden are the most decent people who have been elected in my lifetime. Obama is Cool Dad and Biden is Grandpa. Why the hell are people surprised about that? Biden lived for his children and lives for his grandchildren. I’d be worried if this wasn’t the case.
MomSense
@Anonymous At Work:
Biden was a single dad before there was any public acknowledgement of the challenges of single parenting.
ETA I’d add Carter to your list of most decent people. I’d put him at the top of the list actually.
bbleh
Biden Retreats To Daycare As Adult World Proves Too Challenging
Is this the final death knell for the Biden presidency?
Trump supporters demonstrate strength, claim victory
Special to the New York Times
zhena gogolia
@bbleh: Too close for comfort!
Baud
Whoever said never work with dogs or children didn’t know Joe!
Raoul Paste
Biden versus the angry mob party
JPL
Whatever happened to the exceptional part of our nation. I’m beginning to think that was a lie.
MattF
Alexandra Petri explains the thinking of that Senator.
Alison Rose
Of course, we know the right is just going to screech about “why isn’t he wearing a mask?????” even though none of them ever bother.
But help me out, what is the “now-familiar expletive phrase” because it’s apparently not familiar to me. I’m trying to think of how you turn “Biden” into a swear word.
Alison Rose
@MattF: I swear, WaPo paywalls 99% of the shit on their site. Like they’re fucking hurting for money…
zhena gogolia
@Alison Rose: F–k Biden is what they say. Very imaginative.
James E Powell
@Raoul Paste:
That needs to be the theme for the midterms.
Old Dan and Little Ann
My wife had to yell at her sister and her aunt out at dinner last week because they were whispering about fetal tissue in vaccinations. I’d cut off any of my own family if they were bugfuck crazy.
sab
@Baud: He does make really difficult things look effortless.
MattF
@Alison Rose: Sorry. Petri’s piece is hard to summarize.
… and continues in that vein…
Another Scott
Go Joe!
BlueVirginia – Virginia Candidate/Party/etc cash on hand in September numbers look very good.
The VA GQP’s wackiest crank – and Youngkin surrogate:
[ womp, womp ]
Forward!!
Cheers,
Scott.
Chief Oshkosh
@Raoul Paste: Actually, the angry mob party is less of a problem than Mansemina. He’s boozin’ it up on this yachet and she’s yuckin’ it up in Paris, all while Rome burns. As soon as we elect two more D Senators, I say put ’em on Manchild’s boat, set them adrift halfway to Bermuda, and let nature take its course.
Chief Oshkosh
@zhena gogolia: But they say it a lot! So they got that goin’ for them.
Hell, I’m so old that I can remember when Secret Service would detain you if you yelled “Fuck you!” just once to Darth Cheney.
stinger
@Baud: I believe that was ol’ W.C, my little chickadee!
columbusqueen
Children, like pets, know the truth about adults. Compare any encounter between little ones & Barack and/or Joe, with how kids react to the shitgibbon. Can’t forget the look of terror on Little Miss Detroit’s face in 2016 as Trump leaned over her.
Baud
I can’t believe Biden didn’t get any of those kids to cut his lawn.
eclare
@columbusqueen: QFT
Another Scott
@Chief Oshkosh: The senate is on break. They’ll vote when the time comes.
There are feelers being placed in the press (e.g TheHill, WaPo, FTFNYT) about some climate provisions being removed to get Manchin on board. But Biden is also saying that this isn’t the end of getting his agenda passed – they can do another reconciliation bill next year. He’s not giving up – he’s taking the win and will build on it.
They’re doing the work to get the bills we need passed. It’ll get done.
It won’t be as much as we’d like and we need, but it gets the ball moving. And more will follow. And it will be a great victory!
I’m really uncomfortable with demonizing S&M. We need their votes and we’ll get their votes eventually. Trashing the process of give-and-take is dangerous and it makes it harder to defend the final product and tell voters that we’re making things better. We need to keep pushing them to do better, but as with children we need to praise them when they make progress…
We need to remember that our choices are incremental progress or moving backwards decades. There is no path forward guided by perfect humanistic technocrats…
Forward, and elect more Democrats in every election!!
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Kay
The reality of this hasn’t caught up with the professional pundit Right and professional pundit contrarians. They’re still citing lower vaccination rates among AA and Latinos as evidence that “it’s not just the far Right” and it’s no longer true.
But they love it so much they can’t let it go.
Baud
@Another Scott: ?
@Kay: ?
debbie
Nice job, MAGAts, with the language around very small children. Bet your parenting skills will one day result in your destruction by your spawn.
Kay
I don’t actually know how the child care push will come out. It’s really brand new for Democrats on a cohesive, national level.
Judging by Tucker Carlson the Right is confident it’s a loser politically – the sneering has already begun- but the truth is mothers AND fathers are spending more on daycare than they are on their mortgage and in this country unless men support it ain’t gonna happen, so we’ll see if men step up. They better or they aren’t getting it. It becomes about “moms” (women) and it’s never happening.
MomSense
In ironic news, my son volunteers at a farm that supplies produce, eggs and meat to the local food pantry. He received an email invitation to attend a seminar on boosting your immune system and staying healthy during COVID. They were supposed to do an elderberry syrup training. Seminar was canceled because the guy got COVID and is in bad shape.
opiejeanne
@Kay: Thanks. I was dismayed when I saw the claims that POC still weren’t getting vaccinated, so this is a relief.
Baud
@Kay:
I can’t remember the last time we were rewarded for doing something positive.
Baud
@MomSense:
Antivaxxer or innocent breakthrough case?
Kay
@Baud:
ACA. It just took a decade. Also, the FMLA which most of the Right opposed and is now so standard they could never take it away.
Democrats are better at policy. They just have to drag it over the finish line and survive until it becomes bulletproof.
This is one that I really think could benefit from a lot of work and thought towards who should be the face of it and how it’s presented. It becomes about “single mothers” and we’re screwed. This country could give a rats ass about “single mothers” or their children. Feminizing it is the death knell. There is no coherent “feminine” voting bloc. It doesn’t exist. People want it to exist! It just doesn’t.
MomSense
@Baud:
Anti vaxxer. There is a subset of anti vaxxer in Maine who are organic farmers/holistic healers etc.
Barbara
@Kay: I’ll say it until I’m no longer able to talk: it is appallingly easy to trick oneself into believing something to be true not because it is true but because it makes sense to you in the context of your own world view. It’s shocking how many journalists are impervious to being corrected with facts.
Baud
@MomSense:
Then I don’t care.
@Kay:
But when were Dems rewarded for passing those bills?
Kay
@opiejeanne:
I think the credit is probably due to the trusted “locals” who were able to get past the resistance. The Obama campaign used to call those people “validators”. It matters who tells you something. You have to have trust, and trust isn’t easy to earn. They found the local people who had it asked them to use it.
zhena gogolia
@Another Scott:
Thank you. I agree totally. I’m so sick of the perpetual bashing of these two.
zhena gogolia
@Kay: The NYT actually had a front-page story on this.
zhena gogolia
@MomSense: A friend of mine’s son was working on an organic farm (not in Maine), and his boss not only wouldn’t get vaccinated herself, she was forbidding him to do so. His parents found some way around it.
Kay
@Baud:
Well, I think they were “rewarded” more broadly, in that they base a lot of their reason for existence on those “kitchen table” practical improvements. They consistently poll better on health care and education and the like. It’s as essential to Democrats as tax cuts and demonizing out groups is to the GOP.
schrodingers_cat
@MomSense: Science doesn’t care whether you are a believer.
Kay
@Barbara:
I think it served two purposes. Righties could use it to claim it wasn’t just the far Right and Lefties could use to promote their continuing (boring) narrative that Democrats don’t understand their own AA base, because all Democrats are white, college educated Brooklynites.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: There is little distance between newagey people and the RW religious kooks. The horseshoe is real.
Starfish
Sure would love if some money would actually go to this thing that is a real problem rather than having a photo op with a preschool. I know he is a nice President, and you are a fan, but it sure would be nice if things got done.
The amount of child care for the under fives has absolutely plummeted. The number of substitute teachers has declined when the need for them due to COVID quarantines has gone way up. Opening schools back up without any plan for the lack of substitutes was really something. We have now been in a pandemic for a year and a half, and a lot of people who have children are either nursing extreme burn out or have had someone in their family drop out of the work force.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: Elected Democrats understand their base, that’s how they get elected. Most of the national political news media on the other hand are Ivy League educated mostly white east coasters who find regular Dems boring.
This manifests itself in Republican worship like Politico or Dem bashing from the left like the Jacobin, Intercept, Nation and being a journbro.
L85NJGT
@Kay:
Close one eye, hold up thumb….27%
Kay
@Barbara:
Democrats should abandon anti vaccers. Oppose them. Be contra to them. If it’s a 30% position and 27% are the far Right we’re talking about 3%. The Right can have them. It’s not a worthwhile position, especially because it’s wrong and kills people. Easy decision. Bye bye.
Baud
@Starfish:
That’s a weird criticism of Biden. He can’t act unilaterally.
stinger
@zhena gogolia: We don’t need to bash them, but on the other hand the incessant front-page publicity they get for being “mavericks” is exactly what one of them, at least, is doing it for.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Many ostensibly on our side want Biden to be a Democratic despot like the Orange Ogre and Garland to be like Barr.
Ruckus
@Alison Rose:
The owners likely think they are hurting for money, because they likely think they are worth far more than they have.
Money is like heroin, it’s addictive and so very few know when enough is enough. Even fewer know when more than enough is enough.
Quinerly
@zhena gogolia: l agree with you and Another Scott.
dnfree
@Barbara: that is an excellent explanation for why the evangelical Christians in my family are so susceptible to conspiracy theories. You can’t correct them on either the voting conspiracy (there’s so much smoke there must be a fire!) or the Russian connections to Trump (no evidence at all!). In my youth I didn’t care whether what they believed made any sense, but since Trump arrived on the scene it’s clear that their insistence that the extremely unlikely stories in Genesis are true has carried over into their worldview. They’re accustomed to believing that the majority of us aren’t able to understand the truth.
schrodingers_cat
@stinger: Yep. Agreed. Starve these attention hogs of the publicity they seek. We don’t have to comment about their every sneeze and fart.
schrodingers_cat
@JPL: Some of the stupidity we have witnessed is pretty exceptional, you have to admit. It is weapons grade.
Starfish
@Baud: A teacher was out at my child’s school because her child had COVID. That meant that on the days where they could not find a substitute for her class of 26+ students, those students were packed in the other two classes because there is a shortage of substitute teachers. When needed, the principal and librarian can take classes. That means there briefly there were two fifth grade classes with 39 children a piece.
This week, my child was not feeling well on Monday. He stayed home Tuesday with a stomach bug. He was feeling better Wednesday, but we kept him home just in case. Because he missed two days of school with minor symptoms, he had to get a COVID test on Wednesday and was allowed to return to school on Friday after his COVID test results came back Thursday night.
I need you to appreciate how hard this is for parents.
Also, this is early in the season when everyone in school is going to get sick.
zhena gogolia
@Starfish: He’s visiting the child-care center as a way of promoting the bill that he has proposed that will do something about it.
zhena gogolia
@stinger: They’re getting a lot of front-page publicity right here at BJ. I’m sick of it. It just aggrandizes them and demoralizes Democrats.
Baud
@Starfish:
Nothing you have said supports what you said in your original comment.
Kay
@L85NJGT:
I’m willing to “understand” a lot. I really am. There have to be limits. The Democratic coalition is plenty broad already. We don’t have to become indiscriminate.
Anti-vaccers and school board threateners? Jettison. Cut em off. We can have standards.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Thanks for a better response.
Sure Lurkalot
@schrodingers_cat: What’s also tiring? Trying to “figure them out”. They are corrupt. We have a system that doesn’t punish their form of corruption. Someone upstairs or last thread said the problem wasn’t Citizens United. I have to disagree and add Buckley v Vallejo as on the trajectory of that slippery slope.
WaterGirl
@stinger: @zhena gogolia:
Yet when I put up a post related to an announcement by Biden in some important policy area, those posts get very few comments.
Posts that promote positive political action get far fewer comments than Manchin and Sinema bashing posts. The post earlier this week promoting an example of what we can do to fight for the things we want? It got very few comments.
The energy is often there for complaints and expressions of frustration, but not for the positive things Democrats are doing. We would rather talk about the two who are poking the stick through he bicycle spokes than the 40 or so Democrats in the senate who are downright awesome.
?♀️
Starfish
@Baud: I am tired, and my patience is also tired.
Betty Cracker
@Another Scott: It’s probably not possible to prove who’s right here, but I think it’s a good thing to point out that Manchin and Sinema are corrupt outliers. Otherwise, if Congress fails to pass critical voting rights protection, isn’t able to lower prescription drug costs and use the money to expand the safety net, can’t meaningfully address the climate crisis, etc., people will blame “the Democrats.” I’d rather see the blame placed where it actually belongs.
MagdaInBlack
@WaterGirl: Funny how that works, aint it.
PAM Dirac
@Barbara: I think it was Richard Feynman who said that the scientific method is a way to minimize the chance that you get fooled and the easiest person to fool is yourself.
WaterGirl
@MagdaInBlack: I hope that didn’t come off as whining. But when I try to provide the alternate programming – not just the hot topics, writing about positive stuff that we are doing – that at least some people here say they want – it doesn’t seem to generate much conversation.
?♀️?♀️?♀️
Benw
@Baud: Dems were rewarded in 2018 by running hard on preserving ACA benefits; they picked up a ton of seats, right? Which makes sense to me because the bill was written to phase in not until 2014 and then there was a lot of churn in the exchanges and uncertainty. 2018 was probably about the right time for the ACA to have settled in and felt normal to people.
opiejeanne
@Barbara: Colbert nailed it: Truthiness.
Ksmiami
@Chief Oshkosh: I don’t think they’ve thought about their own dismal futures … I think they’re both in for a world of hurt no matter what
Shana
@Another Scott: The Post actually had one of their editorials today about Amanda Chase and what a loon she is and her work for Youngkin’s campaign.
I got my booster shot yesterday and am achy all over so I bagged my afternoon canvassing. I feel guilty but know I couldn’t have done it.
Ksmiami
@WaterGirl: Because we are dealing with 2 corrupt as fuck outliers that are gambling with Biden’s agenda and our future as a democracy. The other stuff doesn’t matter right now and they need to be isolated from the Democratic Party.
Bill Arnold
@MomSense:
The 5 Best Immunology Textbooks of 2021
WaterGirl
@Ksmiami: But some people here say that more than just that matters.
I know that for any positive post I put up – that focuses on political action or the good things Dems are doing – you and a few others will immediately chime in with predictable bashing of 2 Dems.
You beat a single drum over and over, yet you don’t seem interested in taking any action to help influence the outcome.
You say: “The other stuff doesn’t matter right now and they need to be isolated from the Democratic Party.”
But the other stuff DOES matter. Bitching on Balloon Juice does not isolate these two Dems for the Democratic party. And isolating them would only insure that we don’t have 50 votes for anything.
I don’t understand why you push that, when that path is the most certain path to Dems losing.
edited
Bill Arnold
@zhena gogolia:
I will never forgive Manchin (or his descendants) if he manages to significantly remove global-heating mitigation funds from legislation. (That would make him a mass murderer in the fullness of time.)
Betty
@Another Scott: If only it were actually give and take. Doesn’t look that way to me. Progressives have given a lot to no avail.
Ksmiami
@WaterGirl: like what? I mean my family gave thousands to Democratic candidates to win and pass the Democratic agenda and block the GOP from taking over our electoral system only to have Manchin plead fealty to the filibuster and not the voters. I don’t know what you expect from me and others in the face of 2 people 2 total assholes holding up the Biden agenda.
MagdaInBlack
@WaterGirl: It wasn’t whining. I’ve noticed the difference in responses. I think it’s just human nature at work.
Eta: Plus, people need to vent. It’s good to have a place to vent.
different-church-lady
@bbleh: you been interning with Doug J?
WaterGirl
@Ksmiami: Hard work and an effort to change things? Phone calls to elected officials? Canvassing? Helping people to get registered to vote?
Anything that has a chance of positively affecting the outcome of these bills or positively affection the outcome of the coming elections. Not giving up.
Edit: it’s pragmatism that will get these two bills passed. Burning Manchin and Sinema at the stake will not.
different-church-lady
@WaterGirl: Hey, at least we’re no longer hating on the 40 or so anymore. Progress!
Ksmiami
@WaterGirl: but I do all that and more… but without concrete passed legislation there’s no momentum… that’s why Sinema and Manchin deserve so much scorn Rt now.
Betty Cracker
@WaterGirl: Comment count isn’t a good gauge of a post’s value, IMO. Dave’s healthcare posts and AL’s pandemic posts usually don’t draw a ton of comments, but I think people value them.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: You make a good point!
Starfish
@WaterGirl: The request coming from folks who do not like the tone lately is not “Why are you constantly bitching and not being productive and positive?” but “Why can’t I micromanage your emotions?”
That second request is, “Why can’t you cater to me specifically?”
If I was making that request, it would be “Why doesn’t John post more funny stuff,” and I am not allowed to micromanage his behavior, and he is allowed to be tired too.
MomSense
@Starfish:
What state are you in? Our state has used pandemic funds for childcare centers, pre schools, and schools.
Baud
@Benw:
Hard to say. The GOP attempt to repeal finally woke people up about the ACA. Not sure I would call that a reward.
different-church-lady
@Starfish:
“JOE, WHERE’S MY SAMMICH, DAMMIT!”
Ruckus
@Another Scott:
I think it can get difficult to remember and to understand that the conservative side of the aisle is not particularly interested in making the future better, they want/believe that backwards is the proper direction, that things were better before. They weren’t. And time does not go backwards and this isn’t the golden times and neither was the wayback. This is humanity, in all it’s glory, pimples and warts. Some of us understand that it can be better if we have equality, people who worship money do not think that in any way. And humanity is changing, as it always has and always will, it is the nature of things. Some will fight any change, they don’t see the possibilities. Some want their cake and ice cream. And some would just like to get through the day.
We have more freedom than we’ve ever had, people can be openly gay or whatever, and not everyone likes that openness or can accept differences, same as it always was. For some strange reason it seems that many feel that someone else not being like them diminishes them.
Our federal government does work in some ways not like normal humans and many don’t understand those workings. We also have a society that allows a lot of behavior that is at least socially unacceptable in other places. We are free to be haters and demand everyone be like us, whatever that us is. We are free to not understand our differences, as we are free to understand them. We are one of the bigger countries, one of the wealthiest and we still have poverty and hunger and those advocating more of the same. This is after all humanity. To expect more is fine. To not understand why we settle for less than perfection, no matter what that word means to any one of us, isn’t.
Starfish
@different-church-lady: I hope it is a paid internship. If it is unpaid, he is going to have to walk out and protest. Then Doug will have to post “Democrats in disarray.”
different-church-lady
I just checked the fine print on my user agreement, and as it turns out, nobody is making us read this blog!
stinger
@WaterGirl: I apologize. I was mostly thinking of MSM publicizing them; BJ posts to a large degree necessarily tend to reflect that. I love the positive posts (and comments) but often am reading long after the threads have died. And I live in a red state and have little local reporting of a positive nature to share.
Ksmiami
@WaterGirl: for the record, pressuring our elected representatives to do the right thing isn’t burning them at the stake; it’s democracy. The fact that they’re all in on corruption isn’t my fault.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
The scary thing is I think they would still try to repeal it if they ever got a trifecta again in spite of how popular it is
Starfish
@MomSense: I am in Colorado. The people in the Denver area with the youngest kids seem to be having the hardest time right now.
different-church-lady
@Starfish: sure, but how far is five bucks gonna go nowadays?
Starfish
@different-church-lady: This sandwich has no mustard. I am sending it back.
MomSense
@Bill Arnold:
This was more of the harness the magical properties of elderberries while surrounded by crystals and drinking kale smoothies.
sab
@Ksmiami: A big problem is that not enough people know what is in the legislation. That is partly on all of us. The more time we spend bashing Manchin and Sinema for stalling is less time that we spend on selling what is in the packages they are holding up.
I think that selling is what Watergirl on the Front Page and kay and another scott in the comments (among others) are trying to do.
We all know what Manchin and Sinema are. We really need to be spending a lot more time on what is in these bills, and also on other stuff going on in the executive branch. It’s boring because it’s not scandalous but it is important.
different-church-lady
@Starfish: And you know why the sandwich has no mustard? Well, neither does Cole.
ian
@Bill Arnold:
That’s like some biblical retribution shit there.
Is there a Manchin gene? Do we tattoo the babies from his family to mark them for eternity?
Takes a decent measure of hate to pass down your dislike of one person’s politics to his/her offspring.
Baud
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Sure. Why wouldn’t they?
WaterGirl
@Starfish: I’m not responding to people who are complaining about tone. I am responding to people who are talking about subject matter and content.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@WaterGirl:
I agree with BC that # of comments doesn’t always reflect how valued the post is. I don’t always comment on your posts but I read them. I think that idea you had last night to post about positive accomplishments by Dems and allies is a great idea : )
The Thin Black Duke
@Ksmiami: We’re doomed! DOOMED!
Baud
FWIW, I don’t care about Manchin and Sinema. I care about promoting this law and the infrastructure bill to the voters once they pass. My fear is that we have a repeat of 2009-10 where people just grouse about what they didn’t get in this fight.
sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): They will talk and talk about it but they won’t do it.
Starfish
@sab: I think no one can sell what is in the package until Manchin and Sinema agree on something. The details are not worked out yet until these two agree to something.
If they sell “An Important Thing,” and Manchin or Sinema decide that that thing is not going to be in the package, then the time selling “An Important Thing” has been wasted.
The latest stories are trying to pressure Manchin for removing the climate change provisions. Is that going to work? Probably not.
OzarkHillbilly
@different-church-lady: All the mustard is at the Mustard Museum of America in Wisconsin.
eta: my bad. the National Mustard Museum.
Another Scott
@Betty Cracker: There’s a fine line between pushing people on our side to do what we want on the one hand, and being pre-disappointed before seeing the outcome on the other. I’m not sure where the line is.
“Corrupt” is a red-flag word for me for people on our side. I remember how much damage St. Bernard did with it not too long ago… Getting donations from PACs and business groups and so on is part of our system (except for those few who can foreswear them (and sometimes they say they do but actually don’t – Ayala won the Lt. Gov. primary in VA.) until we have public funding (and that’s not even on the horizon).
We have 50 people in the Senate. We need all of their votes. That’s the fortunate (we have the majority and the leadership) and unfortunate (we need every single one) reality. That means each one of them can have claimed red-lines on the final bill. Just as what happened with the PPACA.
Manchin is a co-sponsor on Klobuchar’s voting bill. Sinema has been a sponsor on other voting bills this session. The problem, of course, is whether there are 50+ votes to gut the filibuster for the bill. All of them have said they want a strong voting bill – so there’s a conflict. Neither have said that they’re dead-set against the RB the way the GQP has. Many, not just S&M, have said they don’t want to kill the filibuster – carveouts might be more popular (but too many claim to worry about a slippery slope). The vote(s) next week may give more clarity on how these conflicts will be resolved. I think that strong bills will pass.
There’s no One Weird Trick. We have to keep pushing forward and take the incremental wins.
tl;dr – Let’s see how they actually vote on the actual bills.
[/rant #34212]
Cheers,
Scott.
Professor Bigfoot
@Kay: in this country, if it doesn’t benefit white men it simply doesn’t happen.
that’s just how it is.
stinger
@Another Scott:
This. In a way, I can’t blame people who’ve figured out how to Get Publicity from getting as much publicity as they can. If in the end they come down on the side of the angels, I don’t want to have bashed them too much!
WaterGirl
@stinger: No apologies!
debbie
@Kay:
I’ve had intermittent FMLA for five or six years. It is great, but you need to deal with a lot of bureaucratic bullshit.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl: I agree with BC’s point.
RaflW
@Barbara: Several of them enjoy going on twitter to stamp their feet over how uncorrectable they are.
“I’m imperturbable in my incorrectness!” is a look.
Professor Bigfoot
@zhena gogolia: I keep asking people to “show me the AOC-style Democrat who can win statewide in West (bah Gawd!) Virginia.”
Joe’s a conservative and he represents a state that just HATED Barack Obama.
But we need that vote to keep the Senatortoise from Kentucky from the Senate Leader’s gavel.
debbie
@Baud:
Plus the first statement is just wrong. Joe is trying, has tried, and will never stop trying on human infrastructure (I hate this term). People who complain deep down only want a dictator that will do their bidding. ? ?
Ksmiami
@sab: eh I would have just been happy with Biden as not Trump and appointments of normal people in government and the judiciary. But I’m in a privileged position so I get the importance of legislation that helps move America forward.
smith
An appropriate example: Research suggests that if we had high-quality universal early childhood education, the crime statistics would plummet when those children grow up. Instead we build more prisons.
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
But the one true mustard is in Eastport. First place the sun touches in the US every morning is the home of the golden mustardy goodness. Coincidence?https://rayesmustard.com/pages/about Raye’s
Quiltingfool
@WaterGirl: I like the positive posts! I may not comment, but I do like seeing posts that show there ARE actions being taken to help Americans. I get so tired of the constant complaining re Manchin and Sinema; yes, they are assholes and drama llamas, we know that. Bitching about them may momentarily make you feel better, but it changes nothing. If I could personally make those two get with the program, I’d get my ass to Washington and do it. However, I doubt they’d listen to me.
Betty Cracker said that many folks don’t comment on a couple of front pagers, but they read them. That’s me. The info is good, and I have nothing of value to add. I appreciate ALL the front pagers!
mrmoshpotato
Hillary Clinton was being nice just calling this trash deplorable.
Mike in NC
MSNBC needs a new slogan: “This is good news for
John McCainSteve Bannon”Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
Well, I guess it makes me wonder what they’re capable of. They tried to privatize Social Security in the early 2000s and might try again in the not so distant future
OzarkHillbilly
@MomSense: Well, it certainly ain’t in no abandoned Subaru in the middle of a WV cornfield.
Benw
@Baud:
I think that’s just the other side of the same coin. For a lot of folks, the ACA’s benefits were the main issue in 2018 and the Democrats won big because of it. Seems like a reward!
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@sab:
We can only hope. And stay eternally vigilant : )
Another Scott
@Starfish: I suspect, with no evidence, that they’re getting pretty close to deciding what will be in the RB. The pace of balloons saying “this will be cut/the timeframe will be reduced/this will be revisited next year” seems to be increasing.
I don’t think they have a solution to the timing issue yet. Supposedly Sinema is demanding that the BIF be voted on first. With her, we can’t know how accurate the reporting is, but she has staked nearly her entire political identity (based on her Twitter feed) on how mavericky she was in being a negotiator on that. And she hasn’t talked much publicly about the RB except that $3.5T is too big. Since the BIF already passed in the Senate (with 69 votes), it’s not clear to me how much leverage she has in the pace of things in the House. I’m sure Pelosi will figure it out, but it may take additional time…
We’ll see.
Cheers,
Scott.
OzarkHillbilly
That’s never stopped anybody before.
mrmoshpotato
@JPL:
What’re you talking about? We’re exceptional being a first world country without universal healthcare!
USA! USA!
LeftCoastYankee
It’s getting close to time for the president to do some of these Legislative Agenda appearances in Arizona and West Virginia.
Make the “Look at Me!” caucus sweat the negative attention and have to play defense at every chance.
trollhattan
@Baud:
Those toddlers immediately turned on the Secret Service, biting several agents.
Wait, wrong guy.
mali muso
As a Virginian, I would love some positive energy directed towards us as we get down to the wire for our state elections. Postcards, texting/calling, GOTV, donations, all that good stuff.
Another Scott
@trollhattan: [ snort! ]
Hey, that reminds me, where’s the First Cat? Weren’t we promised a First Cat, also too? What is Biden hiding from us, and more importantly, why??!!1
I blame Big Dog…
Cheers,
Scott.
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
Ha! Prolly a lot of subarus in the parking lot, though.
Geminid
@Professor Bigfoot: A Mark Warner style Democrat wouldn’t win West Virginia. Manchin could be the last Democratic Senator from that state this century. But as you note, he voted to make Chuck Schumer Majority Leader, and that is why this legislation is even being considered.
Kay
@zhena gogolia:
It demoralizes you and the other people who say it here. I don’t know that it “demoralizes Democrats”.
It could just as easily make Manchin and Sinema into outliers so they don’t harm the brand -that’s the other, equally valid theory.
I don’t object to people who don’t like the tone on the blog- I object to people calling forth an imaginary army of Democrats to back up their personal opinion.
sab
@Another Scott: That is an issue. Also what would a new cat do to the furniture since they live in a museum?
My step-son is trying to get ttheir new dog adjusted to the family rabbit.
ETA With Major it would probably be prudent to get a cat with claws intact. Foreign governments could give us cat trees.
JoyceH
@Starfish:
Isn’t there any backroom dickering going on? You know there must be some green energy companies that are planning expansions based on the passage of the reconciliation bill. How about having a couple CEOs meet with Manchin about putting a couple green energy plants in West Virginia? “Man, if this bill passes, I can build my wind turbine blade/electric car battery factory in Wheeling!”
They keep talking about WVa and coal – there are fewer than 14,000 coal miners in WVA now, about the same number of West VIrginians work at Walmart!
We need to wean these guys off fossil fuels. Yeah, sure, bribe them. But get those clean energy jobs into the red areas. It won’t turn all the Republicans into Democrats, though it will turn some of them. But it will be a great step toward making renewable energy bipartisan again. And that’s half the battle.
eclare
@sab: I would not even try it. The potential downside is just too great.
Miss Bianca
@Shana: I keep trying to tell myself, in the moments or hours of malaise that seems to follow my every attempt to write or do theater or do political work or *anything* these days, that self-care is as important as care for others. And sometimes self-care consists of just sitting on the couch, for me.
Sure, it’s an attempt to minimize my feelings of guilt over my periods of inactivity, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true!
JoyceH
@sab: They need to do a LOT of prep work, and not just plop a kitten down! How does Major do around cats? Do they have cats in Delaware? Because, maaaaan, ‘the president’s dog killed the new kitten’ would be a PR nightmare!
Another Scott
Meanwhile, … Dean Baker at CEPR:
The economy is doing well, and the supply-chain and other issues are a sign that more growth is available ahead. Smart guidance by the FED and the federal government will make things even better.
Don’t fear the inflation monster! It’s temporary, and the economy needs some inflation to work properly!
Forward!!
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@JoyceH:
In fairness to Manchin, Obama and Hillary got pilloried trying to get West Virginia coal culture to accept that they had to move into the 21st Century.
Benw
@WaterGirl: the mistake was getting rid of the sports posts. People LOVED bitching on the sports posts! :)
The Braves/LA playoff game tonight isn’t until 8 pm ET. This is BULLSHIT
JoyceH
On the cat topic, I’m feeling pretty disgruntled now – my inherited cat peed on the bed. Abby has always been a ‘problem pee-er’, but she’s been pretty good since I’ve had her. I’ve given her her own litter box with an old towel in it, since she likes to pee on fabric. But she’s been backsliding lately, and… it’s discouraging.
WaterGirl
@Benw: Delayed gratification!
WaterGirl
@Baud: You left a letter out of “.com” again. Does your device not remember you? Or do you have a secret kitty you haven’t told us about that walks on your keyboard and hits the delete key? :-)
WaterGirl
@JoyceH: That would be discouraging. Have you checked in with WereBear to see if she has any ideas?
My go-to if someone stops using the litter box is to think that maybe they have a bladder infection.
Miss Bianca
@Starfish: Honestly, I just wish Polis and the Colorado Department of Education would go ahead and decide to be the Designated Assholes in the room and declare vaccine and mask mandates for preK-12 classrooms. For one thing, it might help get subsitiute teachers back in the classrooms. I’ve been a sub before, I’ve been vaccinated, my local red-county school district is desperate for subs and just raised their pay. And why won’t I do it? Because I don’t want to get fucking COVID, is why. And I bet I’m not the only once and future sub out there who feeIs this way. If Polis felt like taking the risk, I bet he might be surprised at how it would affect our currently surging COVID rate.
tl:dr version: I’ve been disappointed in the state’s COVID responsiveness lately – don’t get me started about it!
Another Scott
@JoyceH: The stories I’ve skimmed about this has Manchin saying that companies are already changing over to green energy, so the federal government has no business paying them subsidies. That’s an argument that one can make in good faith, even if it’s misguided. It seems to me there are ways to finesse that (fewer overt subsidies for upper middle class people to get breaks on buying or leasing a Tesla, more public-private partnerships, more training for people to get non-coal jobs, increased export subsidies, more rural electrification and reliability subsidies, etc.).
He’s not saying NO to greening the economy – he just wants it done differently on the federal level.
I think he’s wrong in his arguments, but there are creative ways around them.
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@WaterGirl: Thanks!
WaterGirl
@mali muso: If you have links to those volunteer opportunities, I would happily put them up in a thread. I can’t recall when the actual “election day” is, but it must be coming up soon because coverage is heating up.
smith
@JoyceH: I feel your pain. I lived for 17 years with an inveterate bed-pee-er. The only way I could cope was to keep the bedroom doors closed at all times and never let her in. That worked, but then my kids would leave their jackets on the floor…
schrodingers_cat
The trouble is that the self described progressives want Biden to govern to the left of FDR when our Senate majority is zero. (50 + VP
Many of whom did not vote for the email lady and spent 2016 pouting for the Vt Messiah.
WaterGirl
@Baud: You do have a secret kitty! I knew it!
JoyceH
@WaterGirl: Well, with Abby, her peeing tends to be a Statement. Yes, sometimes it means ‘my litter needs to be changed’, but sometimes it’s just disgruntlement about something. I think there’s some sort of power dynamic going on with her and Liam that I don’t comprehend. I’ve got a Feliway defuser which is supposed to be calming, but I just don’t know.
She used to spend most of the day on the recliner in the living room, but for some reason she’s been avoiding that lately. Last week I had a cleaner in who did the floors and also had a new leather sofa delivered – so I wonder if the living room smells differently to her.
Alison Rose
@zhena gogolia: I’m bowled over by their cleverness.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
Huh. Hillary and pilloried kinda rhyme
Benw
@WaterGirl: I want to be gratified RIGHT NOW
WaterGirl
@Alison Rose: Yelling “fuck Biden” across the street from a daycare place with children outside.
FAMILY VALUES!
WaterGirl
@Benw: So say we all.
Kathleen
@Baud: How can we expect anyone else to compliment or reward Dems when most of the pissing and moaning is from the “How Democrats Disappointed Me Today” Club? I know we pride ourselves on being a big tolerant tent but damn it there comes a time when a little lock step support is much more helpful. And I have no idea why I even said this.
WaterGirl
@JoyceH: You know her better than I do, but with a behavior change, I always think bladder issues first. If I were you, I would keep an eye out for WereBear.
Betty Cracker
@Another Scott: I get that we have to deal with him, I really do. But Manchin literally owns coal mines. He’s not debating climate policy in good faith, FFS. It’s embarrassing to pretend otherwise.
eclare
@Miss Bianca: My self care involves checking in on the dencam for the Mama cheetah who just had five cubs! Thanks Elizabelle!
Miss Bianca
@smith: It’s not just “high quality early childhood education”, however. Maybe it’s just a sign of my times as a family literacy coordinator, but I prefer to think of ECE as *one component* of an education system like family literacy. Because the actually highest correlating factor to children’s success in school (and subsequent education/training programs) is the education level of the mother. Raise the education level of the parents – particularly the mother – and you pretty much automatically raise the achievement level of the child.
Pretty sure I remember some studies showing that if a child goes to a quality preschool program but doesn’t get the reinforcement of literacy at home, that any early literacy gains over their peers have pretty much vanished by 3rd grade. That’s something that a lot of early childhood education advocates don’t want to talk about, in my opinion.
This is why it makes me crazy when we talk about *every single other type of education* EXCEPT non-college adult education. GED, ESL, vocational training…there’s this weird grudge against even *talking* about the need for it, let alone *paying* for it.
Part of the whole “build more prisons rather than more schools” mentality seems to be this weird vengefulness and resentment of the need for second chances – like, “we GAVE you an education when you were a kid and YOU blew it, so no more for you!”
Kathleen
@schrodingers_cat: Some of the New Agey people are from The Left as well.
Alison Rose
@WaterGirl: Bet you a lot of them are the same people who want to ban books from schools because of teh gay. It’s so inappropriate for children!!!!!
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@WaterGirl:
LOL right? They’re apparently doing these chants at a bunch of sporting events; even the Ryder Cup a few weeks ago. It’s so childish
Soprano2
@Starfish: I keep telling people that situations like this are a significant part of the reason for the labor shortages. How can you do anything but work at home when this is your reality?
Kathleen
@schrodingers_cat: Are you referring to “Do Something” Twitter? People I thought added value to the conversation have disappointed me. I’m also suspicious about motives of the some of the “Do Somethingers”.
mrmoshpotato
@Benw:
Sir, that’s for cheese and raw veggies.
sab
@eclare: @JoyceH: Actually I agree with both of you. We thought long and hard before bringing in the pitbull, and one of the cats was hers. It’s worked out well, but that’s all due to her. Major does seem to have a jealous streak. He was always crowding in on Champ in photos
ETA Another thing Clintons never got credit for. How was Socks prevented from knocking priceless treasures off the counters.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Miss Bianca:
I think that weird vengefullness and resentment you mention is spot on why GEDs, etc are looked down upon. If you fall down, no second chances. It’s super toxic
schrodingers_cat
@Kathleen: Oh I know.
NotMax
@sab
Magnets.
WaterGirl
@Kathleen: Hopefully you’re not thinking of the “Do Something!” link in the sidebar. :-)
edit: just teasing, I know you aren’t.
Miss Bianca
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): It’s honestly one of the only things I defend about Lauren Boebert – that she got her GED. People use that as a cheap shot against her – like, “hur hur, *of course* she’s dumb, she only got her GED!”
And I’m all like, “I’ve *taught* GED students. Hell, my ex-husband was a GED student and he’s one of the smartest guys I know. Boebert being a GED student has *nothing* to do with her being as dumb as she is evil.”
Kathleen
@Another Scott: NYT: “The Bidens Got A Cat. Then Major Saw It. The Story the White House Is Trying To Hide” (By 16 New York Times Political Reporters)
Kropacetic
Even though they outnumber the deplorables, the rules cut against them. The exceptional need to excel more.
WaterGirl
@Miss Bianca: We have a cryptic crossword puzzle creator in an Authors post this weekend. Post just went up.
Kathleen
@WaterGirl: LOL! No I am not! I agree with your other posts about the focus on the positive. “Heart Emoji”.
OT but I need to get back on the All On The Line Wagon. Congressional Maps draft due 10-31 and crickets from our friendly Rethugs. Final maps due 11-30. Looks like we’re on rinse and repeat cycle. I did hear there are more than 3 law suits that have been filed over legislative maps (Mark Elias and Company filed one of them) but they will probably be combined at some point.
To Miss Bianca’s point I had to take a break for a hot minute.
Another Scott
@Betty Cracker: He’s said his investments have been in a blind trust for 20 years. Joe Manchin IV (not the senator III) is the principal at his coal brokerage company, so he has (at least teeny-tiny) plausible deniability… OpenSecrets has his 2018 disclosure numbers.
WVGazetteMail has an excellent, long, detailed, article on the issues with coal and electricity in WV:
Tiny excerpt:
Coal is going away, even in WV. The question Joe needs to answer is what he’s doing for WV after-coal.
Manchin turns up his performative outrage to 11 when “outsiders” talk about what WV should do. A way to possibly get to him is by talking about high electric rates and WV being an outlier that’s hurting the people. And federal requirements that coal plants need to satisfy, the costs, the fact that other places are doing so, and what that means for WV rate payers.
There are ways to finesse this.
We’ll see.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
NotMax
@WaterGirl
Missed a bet not titling it Tales from the Cryptic.
;)
Kropacetic
That may be. But he must have a sense of what they are. Surely he knew before they went into the trust.
lowtechcyclist
I would be glad to courteously remind him that there aren’t going to be any ‘outsiders’ with respect to global warming. It’s coming for us all, unless we act quickly and effectively.
So we all need to have a say when it comes to putting carbon and methane into the atmosphere. Jurisdictional lines aren’t going to mean jack shit.
Kropacetic
You hear that, everyone? Eat a bean burrito and do your part.
JoyceH
@WaterGirl: I’m pretty sure what’s going on is some kind of psychodrama, but I should probably have her looked at by the vet – I’ve had her for almost two years and my vet hasn’t seen her yet. I just hate having to go to vet with pandemic protocols – they come out to the car and take the animal in while you wait outside. Not that I want to go inside right now, COVID is really bad here now.
taumaturgo
@Another Scott: To say “corrupt” is a red flag word is to say corruption has zero influence in elections and policies. It is precisely because of the corrupt legalized bribery system that the existing political party duopoly is beyond repair, much like the crumbling capitalism and weak democratic institutions. Joe, as well as every other long-term democrat (and R’s), is a product of this corrupt system and with such experience, he should have been able to manage it accordingly. Only in a corrupt dysfunctional “democracy” policies that have 75+% of voters approval are laughed off by the elected officials. Accountable only to the monied oligarchs, this well-meaning corrupt class is out to stuff their pockets at the expense of the wellbeing of the country. Crime of the Century and Dopesick TV series highlights how deadly can political corruption be. Only by electing more uncorrupted politicians that are not beholden to corporate power can the corruption virus in US politics be erradicated.
Aaron Rodgers Mustache
@Alison Rose: i have seen savushkina street accounts on disqus refer to biden as biteme.
sec football fans just make it coarser & yelp “forkjoebiden”. (they don’t say fork.)
Another Scott
rofl.
Cheers,
Scott.
mrmoshpotato
@Another Scott: I see Ken failed to start with a sketching session. Tell them to try something different when you’re working with paper.
Oh, and that pumpkin sucks.
Miss Bianca
@Another Scott: Oh, I think it’s a *cute* pumpkin! (I know, I know, “cute” is not really the point of jack o’lantern carving.)
Shakti
@Miss Bianca: It’s difficult, but then I realize she flunked hand washing which definitely comes before any GED requirements and she should actually know how to do given her claims of long term restaurant industry experience.
Another Scott
@mrmoshpotato: I think he’s complaining because it looks very much like him. And his kids are saying he’s scary like a goblin, or something.
(Who hope’s he’s not dissecting the frog!)
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@NotMax: I should have run it by you first!
WaterGirl
@JoyceH: I totally get that about the pandemic protocols about the vet. Handing over your pet and getting a phone call afterwards is just not the same as the back and forth when you are together.
Plus, I always used to think of stuff in the middle of the visit before, so all of those things get left out of the conversation.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: That was laugh out loud funny.
Dan B
@JoyceH: The problem with Green Energy Jobs in West Virginia is like the problem in many red states, lack of enough educated and skilled people. Tesla has a Gigafactory outside Reno. It has stalled. Their other Gigafactories have grown because they are in locations with universities and with skilled, and / or, easily retrainable labor. It won’t help coal miners if West Virginia gets a Nissan all robot factory that employs fifty technicians who would prefer to live where there are more cultured and educated people.
Professor Bigfoot
@Kathleen: Got myself blocked on FB by a friend because I “reflexively defend Democrats.”
Well, if y’all* wouldn’t reflexively attack Democrats we wouldn’t be having this discussion.
And no, what y’all* doin’ is NOT constructive criticism. It’s defeatist fucking bullshit and I’m almost as tired of it as I am of Trump-sucking neo-Confederate shitweasels.
(*rhetorical “y’all.” Not talkin’ about y’all. )
Another Scott
@Dan B: It can and has been done.
WaPo from 1991:
“Build it and they will come.” (Especially if wages and benefits are appropriate.)
Manchin has once-in-a-generation power. We’ll see how smart he is about using it.
Cheers,
Scott.
Dan B
@sab: Museum Wax, lots of Museum Wax.
Another Scott
Watching the RedSox/Astro’s game with J.
First inning, RedSox batting.
One out. J says “I’m not liking the look of this. It’s like the game yesterday… :-(”
Two outs.
Bases loaded.
J.D. Martinez grand slam.
“Yay!!11”
There may be a political lesson in there… :-D
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@Professor Bigfoot:
Block him back. Obviously he doesn’t give you the respect he asks of you.
topclimber
@WaterGirl:
Don’t let the jackals get you down.
Dan B
@Another Scott: Thanks for the reminder. I’m very rusty about the current state of earmarks. Manchin seems to beyond rusty about earmarks but we may see something next week.
MisterForkbeard
@Professor Bigfoot: I have a friend I dropped in 2020 because of that. It was a constant “Democrats are the real villains except for Nina Turner and Bernie”. Just wasn’t worth dealing with.
JoyceH
@WaterGirl:
There is definitely something going on – yesterday Liam and Abby were sitting on the bed AT THE SAME TIME. But now today they’re thundering around the house, mostly Liam chasing Abby. I don’t know if they’re making friends (finally!) or what?
But I do think I’ll try to get her to the vet, mainly because this vet hasn’t seen her yet, might want to introduce her before something really bad happens.
mrmoshpotato
@Another Scott: Haha
Kropacetic
@topclimber: It’s natural for conflict to drive more engagement. Usually in those situations, participants will feel either threatened or harmed and be likely to act defensively.
Where people basically agree; once the finer details are worked out and stories are shared, all that’s left to do is sing kumbaya.
mrmoshpotato
@MisterForkbeard:
Aren’t you a bit old to be friends with children anyway?
oatler
@Aaron Rodgers Mustache:
The hate site Ricochet routinely calls Biden “Xiden” just as they called Obama “Buraq Hussein”.
Baud
@oatler:
Why would they call Biden Christ?
Another Scott
Oooh. Another grand slam. This time by Devers.
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@Another Scott:
One hour in and still only in the top of the second.
Frank Wilhoit
@Another Scott: The two problem childs do need to be demonized, but not for any of the reasons advanced so far, all of which depend upon mind-reading without having first established the presence of a mind. The reason is defying the Party whip, which ought to be ABSOLUTELY UNFCCKINGTHINKABLE.
mrmoshpotato
@Another Scott: Woo hoo!
mrmoshpotato
@Baud:
The longer fucking of the Trashstros, the better. Go Red Sox!
ETA – I’m all for people on the Green Monster chucking trash cans on the field in Boston.
Kropacetic
Damn, and I can’t even listen to Fucker Tarlson. You have strength.
oatler
@Baud:
Think it’s a reference to President Xi. Who they hate, of course.
oatler
@Baud:
Think it’s a reference to President Xi. Who they hate, of course.
brantl
I love listening to Joe do easy, homespun truth. It’s so fun after TFFLG. (The Former F’ing Last Guy)
Another Scott
Another home run (+1 this time) by Kiké Hernandez.
Cheers,
Scott.
Elizabelle
@brantl:
The Former Fucking Loser Guy. Loser, loser, loser.
Kropacetic
@oatler: Oh, that makes sense (in Rethug speak). I was thinking it was combining Xanax with Biden, which would be a reference once removed from Sleepy Joe.
mrmoshpotato
@Elizabelle:
TFLFG – The Fucking Loser Former Guy
He’s still a loser (and a Soviet shitpile mobster conman, and the Kremlin’s orange fascist shitstain.)
Chetan Murthy
@Starfish: Get off the cross, someone else needs the wood.
No shit you’re tired. No shit. But understand what’s possible for Biden and the Dem leadership to accomplish. Want more? Elect more Dem Senators, how’s about?
Jesus, what IS it with these children that think because they cry loud enough, they’ll get cake?
Another Scott
Meanwhile, …
Yet another reason why strategic missile defense is not a solution to real problems and cannot meet its claims.
(via CherylRofer)
Cheers,
Scott.
Kropacetic
Save that kind of talk for BJ after dark.
WaterGirl
@topclimber: I appreciate the encouragement!
WaterGirl
@JoyceH: Interesting times…
Patricia Kayden
Kathleen
@Professor Bigfoot: One of my brothers supported Bernie in 2016 (though he knew Clinton would win nom and he would vote for her). It got to the point where I said “we have to agree to disagree”. When I expressed admiration for Jen Rubin and retweeted Charles Johnson from Little Green Footballs he said, “I didn’t realize how right wing you’ve gotten”, but he didn’t realize Rubin and Johnson had changed their political affiliation.
mrmoshpotato
@Kathleen: Charles Johnson ditched the Rethuglicans a LONG time ago.
Chetan Murthy
@Kathleen: I was pro-Hillary (and anti-Bernie) all along. But as long as your brother did his duty and voted for *the Democratic nominee* when it counted, I don’t see any reason why that’s problematic.
As some say, in a way Bernie won: his agenda is the agenda of the (maybe vast) majority of the party, after all. I certainly support almost everything he supports (“almost” only b/c I’m not going to go over and check the list). So your brother’s fine, eh?
Another Scott
Meanwhile, …
Another victory for ABL!!
And another example of how big online media is too much of a monoculture created and controlled by young white guys.
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
Jesus H. Christ. MLB has an official crypto exchange.
Another Scott
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
Oooh. I like it.
Good job https://twitter.com/harrisonjaime
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Baud: Fox is getting in on the online betting stuff with Win Big Papi’s Money. No potential for conflicts there…
(Virginia recently legalized online betting.)
Cheers,
Scott.
lowtechcyclist
@Another Scott: Should tell you about the first game I ever saw at Fenway. Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, 1977. KC was the visiting team.
Tiant started but didn’t have his good stuff, got pounded. Brought in rookie Mike Paxton for some seasoning, and boy howdy, did he get seasoned. By the middle innings, the Sox were down 10-4.
The friend who I’d gone to the game with was a big Red Sox fan, and he was down in the dumps at that point. I said, “but this is Fenway. Anything can happen.”
It did, too. The Red Sox scored the next 13 runs. Final score: Sox 17, Royals 12.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS197705280.shtml
Another Scott
@lowtechcyclist: That’s great.
I remember seeing Tiant on TV. What an amazing character, and a great pitcher when his stuff was working!
Thanks.
eta: Oh, I get to tell my RedSox story! We were on SouthWest, in the fall of 2004, had just landed, and the pilot announced for the cabin “for those interested, the Yankees just beat the RedSox 19 to 8.” There was assorted cheering and I confidently said “they can come back!” to derisive laughter.
It was so sweet a few weeks later! :-)
Cheers,
Scott.
japa21
@Baud:
Notice it is on the umps uniforms. Seems obvious. The way they have been doing this year is pretty crypto to me.
Kropacetic
So absurd as to be unprintable yet so emotionally correct. **Chef’s kiss
The Moar You Know
Only in America could you have a situation where one member of a zero vote-margin ruling coalition is being asked to vote to dismantle his own business and voters genuinely expect that he would do so.
The climate stuff will come out or it won’t pass. That’s the shitty reality of the situation. If you wanted a different outcome you should have put in more time/donated more money to get more Democratic senators elected. Ones who don’t own coal brokerages, of course.
Kropacetic
@The Moar You Know: He’s supposed to represent the people, not himself. I would bet the people of WV need a sustainable future after coal. It’s ending one way or another, inevitably.
Kathleen
@mrmoshpotato: I know! I had to tell him!
Kathleen
@Chetan Murthy: Oh, it really wasn’t. We’re fine. I didn’t even get upset when he said I was “right wing”. He really did not like the Clintons at all but did his duty! And I think he likes Biden. It wasn’t worth my while to alienate my brother.