Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

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

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

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

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

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

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Truly, A Big Biden Deal!

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Truly, A Big Biden Deal!

by | 189 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

More than 800 lawmakers, elected officials and other political leaders from both sides of the aisle gathered on the White House lawn Monday afternoon to celebrate the passing of an infrastructure bill that President Biden believes will revolutionize how Americans go about their lives for years to come.

After months of attempts to get House members to back the legislation, enough lawmakers — including 13 Republicans — supported the bill that ultimately looked drastically different from the one Biden originally proposed. However, Biden will list the passage of the $1.2 trillion bill as a key accomplishment of his first term and is doing so with a ceremony that the White House probably hopes convinces viewers of how hard the president is working for the American people…

Members of Congress, governors, mayors, state and local elected officials, as well as labor leaders, business leaders and other stakeholders, sat before a dais that included 30 key players from both sides of the aisle and representing diverse communities across America…

Reader Interactions

189Comments

  1. 1.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Let the death threats on turncoat Republicans begin.

    Wait a minute. They began weeks ago.

    Oh well. Doing things for one’s constituents is so last century.

  3. 3.

    rikyrah

     

    Jennifer ‘pro-voting’ Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) tweeted at 9:48 AM on Mon, Nov 15, 2021:
    The trivialization of coverage, default to false equivalency, amplification of GOP spin and habitual treatment of Rs’ conduct as within the normal boundaries of politics have serious implications for a democracy that relies on an informed citizenry. https://t.co/vUvMuuZytq
    (https://twitter.com/JRubinBlogger/status/1460273443723784192?t=N7asfORiAmmYQr-LjU9Wgw&s=03)

  5. 5.

    NotMax

    Slowly, slowly twisting in the court.

    Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared in court for the first time in over half a year on Tuesday as a one-time confidant prepared to take the stand against him in a high-profile corruption case.

    But the long-awaited testimony was delayed until next week after a legal challenge from Netanyahu’s lawyers.

    Nir Hefetz, a former Netanyahu aide, is a star prosecution witness in the case against Netanyahu, with his close proximity to the Netanyahu during several years in office a key part of the evidence. Hefetz left a long career in journalism in 2009 to work as a spokesman for Netanyahu’s government, then in 2014 became the Netanyahu family’s spokesman and adviser.
    [snip]
    His lawyers immediately asked that Tuesday’s session be delayed following reports that another witness had come forward with new evidence alleging that Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, had accepted an expensive bracelet as a gift from two billionaire friends, Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan and Australian billionaire James Packer.

    Netanyahu’s lawyers argued that the former prime minister and his wife were caught off-guard by the allegations and had the right to study the evidence before Hefetz took the stand.
    [snip]
    Netanyahu has been accused of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases. Source

  6. 6.

    Geminid

    I sometimes think that two centuries from now, astute historians will call this The Age of Impatience. But I am extrapolating from what I observe while I am driving.

  7. 7.

    debbie

    @NotMax:

    I enjoyed the news that Israel’s about to limit the number of years a prime minister can serve. Shockingly, Bibi’s on the wrong side of that rule.

  10. 10.

    debbie

    And seriously, what was with Bannon’s “Stand by” statement yesterday? Isn’t that known affirmation of pending violence enough to charge him with something?

  11. 11.

    dr. bloor

    Opinion by Jennifer Rubin: “Whether the country has lost the requisite patience and trust in government to allow for such a mature conversation remains unknown. Biden nevertheless has no alternative but to try.”

    Whowoulda thunk slowly strangling public education and turning journalism into horse race porn has consquences?

  12. 12.

    Geminid

    @NotMax: And Israeli Defence Secretary Benny Gantz is still pushing for an inquiry into the Submarine Affair. Several people close to Netanyahu have already been charged with taking kickbacks on a contract to purchase submarines from Germany. If the apparent link to him can be proven, this case could blow Netanyahu out of the water.

    Another interesting recent Israeli news item was an open letter a group of former generals wrote. The letter called upon the government to stop resisting the restoration of the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem that dealt with Palestinian matters. The trump administration closed it a couple years ago.

  13. 13.

    Ken

    @NotMax: Interesting legal strategy; apparently Netanyahu can delay indefinitely, as long as more people keep coming forward with evidence of corruption.

    And I do chuckle slightly at the misprint “his close proximity to the Netanyahu”. Maybe in Netanyahu’s own mind….

  14. 14.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Go, Joe! But re Bannon, Netanyahu, Rittenhouse, etc, I’m beginning to despair of the right people ever going to jail.

    Re my personal infrastructure, I’m getting an new washing machine this morning. Yesterday the old one smelled like it was about to burst into flames, so building management is delivering a new one.

    Also I have two doctor appointments today. It’s a good thing I have something good to read: Amor Towles’s THE LINCOLN HIGHWAY. I love the characters.

  16. 16.

    Geminid

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Knowledgable observers of Netanyahu’s criminal trial say that between recesses and appeals, there may not be a final resolution of these charges until 2023. The trial started in April, I believe.

  17. 17.

    Subsole

    @OzarkHillbilly: The book burning ignoramuses ARE doing something for their constituents.

    They are, in fact, doing the ONLY thing their constituents care about: bubble-wrapping the world for conservatives’ tender little feelings.

     

    Blech.

  18. 18.

    Immanentize

    Depending on how things turn out in the Rittenhouse and Aubry-related trial, and with all this violence as politics blah blah, I sadly expect the Age of Assassinations.

    I blame Baud. And video games. And that hippy-hoppy music.

  21. 21.

    Geminid

    @Ken: Netanyahu took a vacation a few weeks ago on the Hawaiian Island of Lanai, and was reported to have dined with the Island’s owner, “Tech Giant” Larry Elder. Some people cried foul since Elder may be a witness in Netanayahu’s case. The response from Netanyahu’s spokesman was, Well, almost everybody is a witness!

  26. 26.

    NotMax

    @Geminid

    That would be Larry Ellison.

    Not that there’s any connection (there isn’t) but read just last night that the price for regular at Lanai’s only gas station is currently $6.09.

  27. 27.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Subsole:The book burning ignoramuses ARE doing something for their constituents.

    Doing something TO their constituents is not the same as doing something FOR their constituents.

    @Immanentize: That all depends. What color are those doing the threatening? Bonus points for innocence if the recipients are black.

  28. 28.

    Kay

    @Another Scott:

    They broadened the witch hunt to include school counselors and suicide prevention:

    The attention to social emotional learning in particular has been further fueled by loyalists to former President Donald Trump. The Center for Renewing America, which was started by a former Trump administration official, published a glossary that claimed that teachers and counselors were embedding critical race theory into social emotional learning programs. And state GOP lawmakers who tried to stop certification of Joe Biden’s win in the presidential election in Wisconsin proposed legislation that would outlaw social emotional learning and other educational concepts that they labeled as “state-sanctioned racism.”

    Moral panics don’t follow the limits set by the original promoters of the panic. People take them and run with them. 

  30. 30.

    sab

    As I remember during Obama years Joe Biden was in charge of that infrastrucure plan. A lot of money was spent on actual infrastrucure and other useful stuff with almost no corruption, and the MSM pretty much ignored that too. Local press covered local projects finally moving forward, but all the national press covered was bank bailouts.

  32. 32.

    Starfish

    @Another Scott: Why should they still be talking about it? They were ramping up this nonsense in the run-up to elections. They have won the school board races they were going to win.

  34. 34.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Wyoming Republican party stops recognizing Liz Cheney as member

    It was “laughable” for anybody to suggest Cheney isn’t a “conservative Republican”, said Cheney’s spokesperson, Jeremy Adler, on Monday.

    “She is bound by her oath to the constitution. Sadly, a portion of the Wyoming GOP leadership has abandoned that fundamental principle and instead allowed themselves to be held hostage to the lies of a dangerous and irrational man,” Adler added.

    Cheney is now facing at least four Republican opponents in the 2022 primary, including the Cheyenne attorney Harriet Hageman, whom Trump has endorsed. Hageman in a statement called the latest state GOP central committee vote “fitting”, the Casper Star-Tribune reported.

    “Liz Cheney stopped recognizing what Wyomingites care about a long time ago. When she launched her war against President Trump, she completely broke with where we are as a state,” Hageman said.

    Fitting for a state that has had a complete break with reality.

  36. 36.

    Ken

    @NotMax: the price for regular at Lanai’s only gas station is currently $6.09.

    Considering the logistics, that seems almost cheap. Now you have me wondering how the station’s tanks get refilled. Do they ship a filled fuel truck once a week, or is there a dedicated truck on the island? Or maybe they transfer fuel directly from ship to station, if it’s close to the docks….

  39. 39.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The defense attorney Mark Richards contested Binger’s closing arguments, saying there had been “a rush to judgment” in his client’s case while accusing prosecutors of “lying” or “misrepresenting” the video footage in which they argued Rittenhouse was the one who provoked the fatal encounter.

    “Mr Rosenbaum was shot because he was chasing my client and going to kill him – take his gun and carry out the threats he made,” Richards told the jury.

    Throughout the trial, multiple witnesses – including some of the state’s – have testified that Rosenbaum charged and lunged at Rittenhouse.

    Richards argued that Grosskreutz should have “retreated” and not confronted Rittenhouse after the latter shot Rosenbaum. Grosskreutz should have “let him be and go give aid and comfort” to Rosenbaum, said Richards.

    “Instead, he joins the mob, chasing Kyle, arms himself, and runs in – the fifth or sixth person there to the melee,” he added. “Mr Grosskreutz decides he’s going to shoot my client. Unfortunately, my client shot him first. If he retreated, it’s over.”

    There you have it folks, Jared Loughner was only defending himself from the mob.

  43. 43.

    Ken

    @OzarkHillbilly: I could swear there was a politician who was saying that students should be taught that, in an active-shooter situation in school, they should rush the shooter and try to disarm him.

  44. 44.

    Wvng

    Eric Boehlert (Pressrun) and others have noticed relentlessly negative coverage of Biden at the Post since Marty Baron left and Buzbee took over the newsroom. The latest was a front page piece in Biden not being gloomy enough. Does anyone have info on Buzbee that could have predicted this shift?

    Boehlert: “can’t make this up. premise of WP piece is Biden refuses to talk abt how awful everything is !”

    https://twitter.com/EricBoehlert/status/1460111777191141382?s=19

  45. 45.

    NotMax

    @Ken

    $4.39 at both stations up the street here. But that was when I visited last week; prices may have nudged higher since.

  47. 47.

    Geminid

    @OzarkHillbilly: It’s not the state of Wyoming that has a complete break with reality, but rather the state Republican party apparatus.

    I read a couple weeks ago that the trump-endorsed candidate, Harriet Hagedorn (sp?) has lagged in fundraising. And while a couple candidates dutifully dropped out to clear the field for Hagedorn, a couple have stayed in. I suspect that Darth Cheney may be involved here.

    I think Wyoming allows reregistration by Democrats and Independents on primary day, and this could end up being a factor in the outcome of this race.

  48. 48.

    Starfish

    @Kristine: I am not concerned so much with cheering a political party.

    I am concerned that a school district near me trying to create an opportunity zone for COVID infections.

  49. 49.

    L85NJGT

    Yeah…. but did Joe have them park a front loader on the White House lawn, then pretend to operate it like a toddler?

    Owned, libtards!

  50. 50.

    sab

    @Wvng: Before the WP she had three decades at Associated Press, I always figured Bezos and crew were going to do a bait and switch on that paper.

  51. 51.

    Soprano2

    @Gin & Tonic: Fun fact – my stepson who lives on Maui talked to Larry Ellison on the phone about an alleged pie order. He told Ellison “We have pies but we don’t take orders, if you want them you can come and buy them”. I doubt he even knows who Ellison is. He has a strange life – evidently running into celebrities is normal when you live on Maui.

  52. 52.

    NotMax

    Can’t help but wonder how/if this is related to the U.K. ditching the EU?

    Royal Dutch Shell proposed moving its headquarters from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom and streamlining its structure Monday in hopes of making it easier to move forward in a world transitioning away from a dependence on fossil fuels.

    The company, which has been incorporated in the U.K. with Dutch tax residency and dual class shares since 2005, said it wanted to move to a more conventional structure to make the company more competitive as it seeks to meet the challenges of shifting toward cleaner energy.

    Dutch officials said they were “unpleasantly surprised.” Source

  53. 53.

    trnc

    @Geminid: ​

    Netanyahu took a vacation a few weeks ago on the Hawaiian Island of Lanai, and was reported to have dined with the Island’s owner, “Tech Giant” Larry Elder.

    You mean Larry Ellison, the CEO or Oracle. Elder is the failed California governor recall candidate.​
     

    ETA: And literally everyone beat me to it.

  56. 56.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: I love how they argue that people who just saw a shooting should have just let the shooter walk away. Under what other circumstances would they be making this kind of argument?

  57. 57.

    bluegirlfromwyo

    @Geminid: I think Wyoming allows reregistration by Democrats and Independents on primary day, and this could end up being a factor in the outcome of this race.

    Anecdata alert: While this is true, Wyoming Democrats make the national party look as organized as Marie Kondo. Last I talked with my stepbrother in Cheyenne, he didn’t seem to think it would be a factor. We’ll see.

  58. 58.

    sab

    @Kristine: That was our experience in my county in Ohio. In the Republican suburbs only one anti-masker won. In every other race the pro-mask, pro-vax candidates won. The local papers noticed this.

  59. 59.

    Anne Laurie

    @Ken: I could swear there was a politician who was saying that students should be taught that, in an active-shooter situation in school, they should rush the shooter and try to disarm him.

    No, that was Megan McArgleBargle — who said it would work ‘even for kindergarteners, if there were enough of them.’

    Maybe some enterprising Repub picked up the idea from her, but IIRC, the pushback at her proposal was pretty intense.

  60. 60.

    Soprano2

    @NotMax: He said some blonde singer almost ran over him in her car. He wasn’t sure if it was Brittney Spears or Christina Aguilera. I told him “You live a weird life”. LOL He works at Mana Foods, so I figure he sees a lot of people.

  61. 61.

    Wag

    I do have to say that I’m pleasantly surprised by the leftward sweet my thhat Ms Rubin has taken over the past few years.  Following in th footsteps of our blogmaster.   I nominate Ms Rubin to be an honorary jackal.

  62. 62.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    My washing machine was just installed. The guy installing it said this was the last one in their storeroom, but at least it now takes only a month to get new ones. It used to take three months.

    First time I’ve heard that a supply chain was improving

  63. 63.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    So with the Infrastructure bill the government works as it was designed too. Naturally members of the Press are vowing to never let such an awful thing happen again.

    One of the interesting things about the Pitchbot is the reporters Doug retweets or the reporters who end up losing it over Doug’s parody of them.  A lot of them come across as poorly educated and incurious. Everyone points the finger at social media but I am convinced it’s the sheer dumbassery of the press that’s got us in the situation were are in with the way they treat everything as a matter of opinion. “West in Historical Drought, say Climate Scientists, Jewish Space Lasers evaporate rain clouds says man in parents basement, the answer is complex”

  64. 64.

    Geminid

    @bluegirlfromwyo: The Wyoming Democratic party will probably take no stand on this primary, and rightfully so. I expect “outside” PAC money will pay for advertising telling Independents and Democrats, Come on down! If I lived in Wyoming, I’d probably come out and vote for Cheney, just like I’d come out and vote for fellow Impeacher Tom Rice if I lived in his South Carolina district. But that’s just me. Other Democrats might make a “heighten the contradictions” argument against voting for the lesser of two evils in a safely Republican district. Or they might just go, vote for Liz Cheney? Ewww!

  66. 66.

    NotMax

    @Soprano2

    a.k.a. The Hippy Dippy Market.

    Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

    Must go back 25 or 30 years to when I last happened to be in there, to pick up a cold drink, and witnessed a tourist wandering the aisles, confused, until he finally stood stock still and loudly shouted to the ceiling “Where’s the meat?”

    ;)

  69. 69.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Kay:

    social emotional learning

    …has been a target of conservatives for awhile now.  Their children are coming home saying that being a violent, abusive, raging asshole is not the definition of masculinity, and hoo boy, do conservatives hate that.

  73. 73.

    Kay

    The evidence against the GOP dominating on public education is Democrats have won three special statehouse races in a row in NH running specifically against the Republican on public schools.
    There are people in our Party who know how to do this and succeed at it, so my suggestion would be look at their races – talk to them- instead of taking the advice of national pundits who had their prior beliefs validated in Virginia.
    Ask the winners how they won. Really look at it. Take it apart precinct by precinct. You can ask James Carville or you can ask someone who makes this work without banning lists of terms or pretending that racial disparities don’t exist in public schools- they do exist.

  74. 74.

    Betty Cracker

    @Wag: Yeah, I think Rubin’s change is sincere. I don’t think she’ll swoon over Chris Christie if Trump drops dead and that’s who the GOP settle on. She would have six years ago.

  75. 75.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @L85NJGT: That article is one, there was another in the Washington Post claiming this will be the last bipartisan bill in US history.

    and

    Now, Reality Sets In.

    Should be added to the list of overused Press phrases like “In the Ohio Roadside Dinner”, “both sides are guilty of”, “Some people say” and “the answer is complex”

  76. 76.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: But in any event, Cheney knows she has to get close to 50% of Republican voters. She might not be able to pull that off, but I wouldn’t count her out. This will be a test of the durability of the trump cult.

  79. 79.

    Jeffro

    @L85NJGT: Yeah…. but did Joe have them park a front loader on the White House lawn, then pretend to operate it like a toddler?

    I’ve been sayin’…the WH would do well to have a “On this day four years ago” segment to these daily Psaki news conferences.  Just remind everyone: this is where trumpov was golfing, this is what he was tweeting, this is how he embarrassed our country on Day X of his “presidency”; President Biden, in contrast, is working to pass ________ legislation, restore relations with world leader _______, and roll back polluter-friendly rule ________ on HIS Day X

  80. 80.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Soprano2: Infrastructure is in Blunt’s wheelhouse. As best I recall, he always got the CDC of STL (carpenters) endorsed him every time he ran because he always brought home the bacon.

    @Geminid: It’s not the state of Wyoming that has a complete break with reality, but rather the state Republican party apparatus.

    But then you repeat yourself. Seriously, I would not be in the least surprised if you could count the # of WY DEMS on 2 hands & 2 feet and have digits left over. Yes, I am being sarcastic, but it is far closer to the truth than most would like to admit.

  81. 81.

    Jeffro

    @Geminid: the amount of ‘false flag’-ish, “Dems are sneakily registering and voting as Reps!!” finger pointing in this race is going to be unbelievable.

  82. 82.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I don’t pretend to understand the supply chain– media/econ pundits seem to have pretty much stopped talking about microchips, even though I gather it’s still one of the biggest factors, especially with regard to cars, new and used, which markets are a big factor in inflation, I am told. That said, this seems to go against the recent CW:

    Scott Lincicome @scottlincicome 1h
    Christmas is saved: “Walmart Raises Forecast and Says Shelves Are Stocked for Holiday Shoppers”

    there was actually a good, short article on the causes of inflation three or four days ago in the Washington Post, but it’s buried under op/eds and political articles when I searched for it yesterday. One interesting thing was how much extreme weather events– i.e. climate change– were a factor in the slowdown of the petroleum supply– i.e., a major cause of climate change.

  85. 85.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Kristine: Thanks for sharing this. I had read about multiple losses for the CRT Panic candidates in OH and figured: shit, if they lost there, they must not have had the sort of wide success as the MSM and scared Dems/Progressives made it sound (not that I blame the latter, we are right to be scared- and never underestimate Racism in the US) so it’s nice to see a more comprehensive account. ~30% of the whackos winning seats on school boards (in suburban Red regions) is still awful, but about what I would expect. It certainly isn’t some major trend.

  86. 86.

    Kay

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Well, they’re wrong. The anti-bullying initiatives work. Turns out Lord of the Flies is a novel, not an actual description of the inevitable result of children in groups, and students can actually be required to treat other people decently in school and they will follow that rule. Fake it till you make it- works every time.
    The old way, where they were NOT required to treat other people decently in school, was wrong.
    It’s a higher standard. They meet it, most of them. It was my understanding that conservatives were in favor of higher standards.
    No one should have ever put up with bullying. That we somehow “have to” because of the inherent human condition or some bullshit excuse is nonsense.

  87. 87.

    debbie

    So the refugees caught between Belarus and Poland have started fighting back. Surprisingly, they brought stun grenades with them and are using them.  //

    Putin et al. need to be kicked out of the UN and whatever organizations they pretend to belong to.

  88. 88.

    sab

    I live in Ohio and I am retired, so we do actually eat at a sort of diner place that only serves breakfast and lunch. The owner had a special last summer where you could get a free pancake breakfast if you could show a vax card. So now he knows who is vaxed.

    We ate there a couple of days ago and he had a great mask: A big screaming bald eagle with an American flag behind it. It looked like something a biker would wear. So that is his statement to his customers about masking: Real Americans wear masks. Almost all of his waitresses wear masks.

  90. 90.

    Another Scott

    @Kay: Meh.

    We’re a big country.  You’ve pointed out that there are nearly 14,000 school districts in the USA.  There are always going to be some cranks on some of them.  And cranks trying to get on them has been a thing since the beginning.

    Yes, it’s a problem and it can be a serious problem if we let it.  But it’s nothing new and people have always needed to pay attention to who is elected to seats of public trust.

    A bigger problem now, IMHO, is that some crazy crank in West Overshoe, NE can get national (or international) attention very, very easily (e.g. via a Tweet).  And the popular press is more than happy to give it to them.  Clicks!!  Engagement!!1  So that crank gets greater visibility, and greater local power, and it gets blown up into some great trend sweeping the nation!1  When it’s not – it’s just a crank and 99.9999999% of people should ignore it.

    We need to be vigilant, but we must also be smart.  We need to stop being led around by what the Engagement Media wants to push to drive their revenue.  Good public policy is not created by feeding narcissists.

    We outnumber the cranks and we need to remember that.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  92. 92.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @sab: ​The only one I ever knew died some years ago. He was a truly nice guy. A rare thing among accountants. s//

  93. 93.

    rikyrah

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Re my personal infrastructure, I’m getting an new washing machine this morning. Yesterday the old one smelled like it was about to burst into flames, so building management is delivering a new one.

     

    Good reason to get a new one.

  94. 94.

    Geminid

    @OzarkHillbilly: But not all Republicans are in the trump cult, even if they voted for him. The few Republicans I know would much rather have voted for a Bush or a Kasich. And Wyoming has a lot of Independents. Many of them voted for trump, but they may be skeptical of a party that can cast out Cheney. They voted for her, too.

    I think this will be a real fight. trump is setting up a trial of his strength in a lot of other states also. He is endorsing very promiscuously. Some of the people he’s endorsed are shaky, others are flakey. trump is too lazy to thoroughly vet his endorsees. I think his henchmen are involved, and they are self-interested. I don’t wonder if money is changing hands, just how much.

  97. 97.

    Kay

    @Another Scott:

    Democrats don’t pay enough attention to state races, except every four years for the elections in VA and NJ.

    Find the state candidates who win and ask them about it. I mean, honestly, it’s the LEAST they could do. They just have to talk to the winners! WTF else are they doing? Watching James Carville on cable?

  101. 101.

    Cameron

    @debbie: I saw something earlier about Germany suspending Nord Stream’s certification.  I don’t know who’s retaliating against who, though.

  102. 102.

    Another Scott

    In other news, a thoughtful thread on the Pennsylvania US Senate race.

    People who don't live in PA really need to step back when it comes to the US Senate race here. Some of us who live here in this state have been watching this race from jump because its outcome actually affects us. We know the dynamics of this race.

    — THEE Lynn V ?? (@lynnv378) November 16, 2021

    tl;dr – She thinks Fetterman loses the primary. Thinks Kenyatta is running too far left of center. Thinks Lamb has to work to get turnout in the east side of the state. The race is still fluid. But read it yourself.

    (via eclecticbrotha)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  103. 103.

    Kristine

    @UncleEbeneezer: the only reason I knew was because I subscribe to LeTourneau’s posts. She was the best writer at WM for a while—I followed her over to Progress Pond. Then she went walkabout for a time because she felt drained and wondered if anything she wrote made a difference. This current environment really beats the good ones about the head and neck.

  105. 105.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Geminid: it’ll be something if, after having face-planted when she tried to Bigfoot her way into the Senate on a campaign platform of “Do you know who my father is?”, if she pulled off a Murkowski as a principled anti-trumper to stay in the House

  106. 106.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    I myself was actually skeptical of the counselors in schools because I am a tightwad and it seemed faddish, but I have come to believe they help the most at risk kids a lot, and the most at risk kids are the biggest challenge in public schools. As you know I live in a very white and very Trumpy area so these are at risk white kids who are meeting with counselors weekly. A larger district to the east of mine has a whole program where they bring in the parents. Juvenile judges are impressed with it. I haven’t seen enough of it yet to decide.

    So let’s just wait the panic out and all of these people will go back to ignoring public schools, which on balance was better.

  107. 107.

    Geminid

    @Jeffro: The anti-Cheney forces have to be careful here. It’s one thing to denounce Democrats coming to vote for Cheney. Denouncing Independents may be another matter. They might ask, if my vote is so dirty, why do you ask for it in the general election?

    This Wyoming race will be very interesting. I am hoping some of the state newspapers are not paywalled, because that is where the good coverage will be.

  109. 109.

    rikyrah

    @Another Scott:

    I read it this morning on my commute. I have been following her thoughts about the race for awhile.

     

    I agree with her that the main objection is to get rid of Fetterman,

     

    I have been giving monthly donations to  Malcolm since he announced, but, if he loses to Lamb, I won’t be that upset.

    The only goal is to WIN. Period.

    PA is Philly at one end, Pittsburgh at the other and Alabama in the middle (thanks, James Carville).

     

    Whoever can win that is what I want, as a Democrat.

  111. 111.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    I never saw Counselors as faddish. I believe every school needs one, and I mean elementary through High School, and High Schools need more than one.

    I was offended by the ‘ 90 thousand dollar salary’, as if someone who has gone to school and received their Masters Degree – which is the minimum requirement for a Counselor here, shouldn’t be compensated.

  112. 112.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    My brother is still waiting for the wall oven for the Sighthound Hall kitchen renovation that started in June. Everything looks great except for the gaping hole.

  115. 115.

    Barbara

    @Kristine: Thanks for this.  I really like Nancy LeTourneau but I stopped reading Washington Monthly after Trump won.  Too many of the other commenters there were the written equivalent of people who talk simply because they love hearing the sound of their own voice.

  118. 118.

    debbie

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Appalling. I also believe I heard Putin suggest a day or two ago that the EU should pay Lukashenko to stop. At least (from seeing photos) the immigrants have coats now. Small favors.

  119. 119.

    Barbara

    @rikyrah: ​ This really isn’t true. I mean, Pittsburgh is at one end and Philadelphia in the other, but south and west of Pittsburgh is what I would call the gateway to Appalachia, and west of Philadelphia are the fast growing counties surrounding Harrisburg, the capitol, that are increasingly diverse. To the west and slight north of that is State College, in Centre County, and to the far northeast are the “NYC Exile” communities. So, sure, looking at it on a map and at the ultimate distribution of places more or less likely to vote red/blue, I suppose you can think of it like that, but it has never really been true.

  120. 120.

    bluegirlfromwyo

    @Geminid: Not necessarily. The best news in your original post on this was that Trump’s endorsement of Hageman didn’t drive away all the other candidates. A split ballot is to Cheney’s advantage. There’s no runoff requirement in Wyoming.

  121. 121.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Geminid:

    But not all Republicans are in the trump cult, even if they voted for him.

    Yep, and I know both of them. Let’s be honest tho, that is a distinction without a difference. “They aren’t racist PoS, they just vote for them.”

    The few Republicans I know would much rather have voted for a Bush or a Kasich.

    And yet they still found a way to hold their noses and vote for the lying, racist, misogynistic, demented, crazed, PoS anyway. Sorry, they get no credit from me.

    And Wyoming has a lot of Independents.

    Who always find a way to vote Republican. Independent in name only.

    Many of them voted for trump, but they may be skeptical of a party that can cast out Cheney. They voted for her, too.

    Having their poor tortured souls torn in 2. I have no more sympathy for the Republican voting people of WY than I do for the ones of Misery.

    I think this will be a real fight..

    It might be. and as I stated above, I would not bet against Liz Cheney.

    trump is setting up a trial of his strength in a lot of other states also. He is endorsing very promiscuously

    As always, never underestimate the stupidity of trump.

  122. 122.

    Geminid

    @Another Scott: Fetterman has a enthusiastic following nationally, and has raised a ton of money. Kenyatta has lagged far behind in that area. It may be that, rightly or wrongly, people think a 31 year old gay black man would not win the general election.

    So a lot of people think the primary will come down to Lt. Governor Fetterman and Congressman Lamb. For some inexplicable reason, the only woman of the top four candidates is mostly ignored. That is Val Arkoosh, veteran Chaiman of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners. A suburban county near Philadelphia, Montgomery County has 870,000 residents. Arkoosh has gotten support from Emily’s List and a PAC that favors candidates with STEM backgrounds (she is an M.D.)

  123. 123.

    Edmund Dantes

    @Soprano2: cause he was a good guy with a gun by default.

    just like how cops magically know people they’ve met on the street they haven’t identified were career criminals* before they were forced to shoot them in the back when they were fleeing.

    * career being any misdemeanor, unpaid parking tickets, or bad school disciplinary record they may have had

  124. 124.

    Betty Cracker

    @Another Scott: A lot can change this far out, and polls are often garbage, but I just saw one within the last two weeks or so that showed Fetterman way ahead in a three-way race for the Dem primary. IIRC, it also showed the abusive loon Trump endorsed for the GOP side ahead of competitors, but none of the GOP candidates had anything like Fetterman’s numbers among Dems.

  125. 125.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    It’s dumb too. If a 90k a year counselor keeps 20 of them a year in school and out of the juvenile justice system it’s a great return. Shit, TEN of them. Do they know what crisis in patient treatment for suicidal juveniles costs Medicaid? A lot. A “high touch” juvenile facility for kids with serious mental health problems costs the state 30k a year per kid and the beds are PRIZED. There’s not enough of them.

  126. 126.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @germy: heh. Brian Williams has been asking every night “Why is the Lincoln Project the Democrats’ best messenger?” I guess he missed the part where the target audience for their ads– Brian Williams and his own hyper-engaged political junkie audience (yes, that includes me)– proved to be an electorally insignificant from Maine to South Carolina

  127. 127.

    Fair Economist

    @Geminid: Were I in Wyoming, I’d re-register as a Republican to vote for Cheney in the primary. We’re in a tough fight for the existence of democracy in America, and we have to take all the allies we can get. Even *her*.

    It’s not like it really makes any difference who gets the Dem nomination there, anyway.

  128. 128.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: One interesting thing was how much extreme weather events– i.e. climate change– were a factor in the slowdown of the petroleum supply– i.e., a major cause of climate change.

    The electric shortages in China, caused by the catastrophic rain storms they’ve been having is part of it.

    Incidentally the same thing is happening in the Pacific Northwest.

  129. 129.

    Ben Cisco

    @Wag:

    I do have to say that I’m pleasantly surprised by the leftward sweet my thhat Ms Rubin has taken over the past few years.

    Realizing your ass is next on the target list tends to give your focus more focus.

  131. 131.

    bluegirlfromwyo

    @Jeffro: Like OH says, there aren’t enough of them anymore. In the 2020 congressional race, the Dem candidate got around 25 percent of the vote and the libertarian got 10. That’s part of why I’m not convinced that the dem and independent vote will be a big factor. A push for them to vote for Cheney in the primary is probably the only viable strategy for democracy lovers but it’s far from a guaranteed one.

  132. 132.

    Geminid

     

     

    @OzarkHillbilly: I am not saying anything about having sympathy for anyone. And I’m not differentiating between the moral culpability of different trump voters.

    As for Independents, I’ve noticed that they often are described as Republican voters who are Independent in name only. That framing does not jibe with voting in states like Arizona. When voting rolls closed last October, registrations stood at 35% Republican, 32% Democrat, 31.7% Independent.* The turnout in November was very high. It’s hard to see how Biden and Kelly could have won Arizona without carrying a majority of Independent voters.

    Glenn Youngkin won Virginia because he carried the Independent vote. But Democrats Northam would not have won by 7 points in 2017,  Kaine by better than 10 points in 2018, and Biden and Warner by 10 points or better last year if they had not polled even or better among independent voters.

    *those registration numbers were highlighted in a story by Arizona Public Media, because this was the first time in years that Democratic registrations exceeded those of Independents.

  133. 133.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: I heard the Obama Boys interview Danica Rohem about her win in VA. I learned more about how Democrats can win their races from listening to her than I learned from any national pundit. You’re right – talk to the people who won!

  135. 135.

    Kay

    Warren Gunnels
    @GunnelsWarren
    ·9h
    If you wanna know how rotten the system is the Senate’s expected to pass a defense bill so full of corporate welfare it’ll cost $1 trillion, will include the $10 billion Jeff Bezos bailout to the moon, has zero offsets & you won’t hear a peep about how it could ignite inflation.

    “Budget hawks” who don’t care about this should not be taken seriously or listened to. They’ve really gotten away with this far too long. All of the whining and moaning about the cost of BBB is in this context.
    They have to be more consistent than they are. No one who looks at this is fooled. It’s insulting to continue to expect us to be fooled.

  136. 136.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Geminid:

    I sometimes think that two centuries from now, astute historians will call this The Age of Impatience. But I am extrapolating from what I observe while I am driving.

    With respect to climate change, we’ve been patient for three decades.  Clinton couldn’t get his BTU tax through Congress, Obama couldn’t pass cap-and-trade, and of course Republicans did nothing helpful and were counterproductive where and when they had the opportunity.

    We’ve really run out of time for patience.

  137. 137.

    JWR

    @rikyrah:

    The trivialization of coverage, default to false equivalency, amplification of GOP spin and habitual treatment of Rs’ conduct as within the normal boundaries of politics have serious implications for a democracy that relies on an informed citizenry.

    On Monday’s PBS “mean gurls” segment, Tamara Keith said something like:

    The problem in this country is that we have two sets of facts.

    No, we have one set of facts, and a whole ‘nother set of lies. There actually is a difference. Why so hard to point this out?

    Yeah, rhetorical. Even still, it’s maddening.

  140. 140.

    hueyplong

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: That is kind of funny.  You can tell they’ve got their fingers on the dump button, waiting to find out whether the guest and Ingraham merely misunderstand each other or whether instead the guest is about to surprise her by deviating from the party line

    The “Who’s On First” aspect kind of adds to the tension.

  141. 141.

    sixthdoctor

    letthemfight.gif

    MORE NEWS from GOP meeting: Rep. Chip Roy and McCarthy got into a heated exchange, per source.

    Roy lamented that he has to now go back to his district and explain why people should bother voting Republican when they handed a victory to Dems, and argued leadership should act.
    — Melanie Zanona (@MZanona) November 16, 2021

  144. 144.

    hueyplong

    @sixthdoctor: How can I tell my constituents that we had a chance to burn down the economy but 6% of Republican congresscritters voted not to do it?

    I’m telling you, Donny, they’re nihilists.

  145. 145.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I’m seeing this re-tweeted all over, and I wasn’t gonna watch it cause I hate the sound of Laura Ingram, but curiosity got the best of me and it is pretty funny

    “What’s the name of the guy who plays first base?” – Lou Costello

    “This is UTV! For you, the viewer!” – Firesign Theatre

  146. 146.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Geminid: per Wiki, the island was bought by the Dole family/company, and Ellison bought 98% of the island from Dole Inc for $300M, the rest is state land and private homes

    (and along those lines, what the hell does it mean that the Rose family “owns” Schitt’s Creek, but Roland and the town council have to pay their motel bills, and they apparently don’t draw one thin Canadian dime in rent from anybody?)

  147. 147.

    JWR

    Jenna Ellis: coo-coo coup plotter:

    Superlawyer Jenna Ellis Cooked Up Crafty Election Stealing Memo

    … According to ABC news, “Doctor” Ellis’s crafty plan entailed Vice President Pence rejecting electoral votes from Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin on January 6. Never mind that the Vice President’s duties involve opening the state certifications and announcing the tally. Self-described “constitutional lawyer” Jenna Ellis had deducted that Pence could unilaterally order state legislatures to reconvene and issue new slates of electors by January 15.

  150. 150.

    Geminid

    @Betty Cracker: I read in Politico that Pennsylvania Republicans are alarmed at trump-endorsed Sean Parnell’s wife-choking, also his lurid special ops novel. They are trying to entice  a hedge fund manager into the race. Pulling a “Youngkin,” so to speak.

    Meanwhile Doctor Oz is considering testing his wizardry in the Republican Senate primary. This could be a bruising contest. I’m just hoping the Democratic side doesn’t turn into too bad of a brawl.

  152. 152.

    Betty Cracker

    @Geminid: That quack Doctor Oz — for real?!? LOL! Here’s hoping they rip each other to shreds on the R side and the Dems are able to put any hard feelings aside and win the damn race.

  153. 153.

    Kelly

    @NotMax:  the price for regular at Lanai’s only gas station is currently $6.09.

    and the farthest you can drive from Lanai City is about 10 miles

  154. 154.

    frosty

    @Geminid: Oh, FFS! We already have a hedge funder: Toomey. I thought we were going to get rid of these guys finally.

    My take on the race? 2016 was a year for populists; that’s why Trump won. I think Fetterman would have beaten Toomey because of that. The Democratic candidate, Katie McGinty, was too establishment and didn’t stand out.

    Could be this year is different. I’ve seen the argument that Lamb is the same type of candidate as Casey and should do well across the state, and it makes sense to me.

    I grew up in and now live in South Central and the tug-of-war between Philly and Pittsburgh candidates never had much of an impact on us, near as I can tell. We’re on the wrong side of the Suskie for Philly and the wrong side of the mountains for Pittsburgh.

  156. 156.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, …

    If you are wondering why the #Rittenshouse gun charge was thrown out just before the jury started to deliberate, Mike's got the relevant statutes below.

    As for why it happened so late–that's because criminal procedure is TERRIBLE when it comes to resolving legal disputes . . . . https://t.co/nbqdmKButW

    — Carissa Byrne Hessick (@CBHessick) November 16, 2021

    [ Boggle! ]

    (via Popehat)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  159. 159.

    Geminid

    @frosty: It would be ironic if Pennsylvania Republicans put up a hedge fund manager to try to replace a hedge fund manager. But Parnell’s history has leaders scared. His wife’s accusations are too serious to be written off as divorce case slander, which Parnell is trying to do. And the passages from his novel that the Politico article excerpted are grotesquely misogynistic and violent.

    But Parnell evidently intends to tough it out. Party leaders cannot control their base, especially with a trump-endorsed candidate. One of the other candidates in the race has been hitting Parnell hard over the domestic violence issue, but hard core trumpers may shrug that off as fake news. I think it will be poison in the general election, though.

  160. 160.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Another Scott: So basically the judge forced the lawyers defend against charges that the Judge thought weren’t proper. Sounds like the Judge is a bozo in more ways than one.

  161. 161.

    Kristine

    @Starfish:

    I am concerned that a school district near me trying to create an opportunity zone for COVID infections.

    I think the main point of the post was that the anti-mask etc brigade wasn’t as successful nationwide as the MSM would’ve had us believe.

    I hope the idiots in your district don’t succeed in their attempts. I’m sorry you have to deal with that.

  162. 162.

    Geminid

    @zhena gogolia: Youngkin was embarrassed and it showed. He put up a much better front during the campaign. He only had to do this for five months, because the process that nominated him* was short and obscure.

    * Actually, the process by which Youngkin bought the nomination.

  163. 163.

    Kristine

    @Barbara: The comments section at WM was one reason I canceled my support. It’s devolved into trolls and folks trying to out-smartass one another. The substantive discussion gets buried.

  164. 164.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    American car assembly lines roared back into action last month, according to official data released Tuesday, a sign the effects of the global semiconductor shortage that has hobbled production may be ending. …

    The Fed said factories recovering from Hurricane Ida made up about half of the overall gain in production.

    However, auto production was still 1.5 percent lower than October 2020, a sign of the lingering damage from the shortage of crucial computer chips that forced some factories to cut production.

    my emphasis– I think the new-ness bias of the news industry has allowed the microchip shortage to fall out of coverage

  167. 167.

    bluegirlfromwyo

    @Geminid: As you well know, Youngkin didn’t talk to anyone he didn’t handpick in the 5 months before the election (aside from the one debate he tried to avoid and, in retrospect, McAuliffe perhaps should have). I don’t think he’s going to find being governor very pleasant. Oh well.

  168. 168.

    Kay

    Tabitha Irvin, a junior at Downers North, said she felt it was “ironic” that people wearing American flag masks, hats and shirts were at the meeting calling for a book to be banned when, in her view, the issue was about free speech.

    Suburban district. Small, loud minority of residents in the district want to ban the book, student speakers want to keep it. It’s not “required” reading- one of the students speaking in support wasn’t even aware of the book but thinks they should keep it in case someone else wants to read it. What a concept, right? That’s she’s not the only student in the school?

  169. 169.

    PJ

    @Kay: in my experience as a child, bullying was an inherent part of human behavior because adults were too lazy or self-absorbed or afraid to stop it (or because they actually enjoyed seeing one child terrorize others.)

  171. 171.

    J R in WV

    “There’s a show called “Laura Ingraham” on Nefllix?”

    No, there isn’t — there’s apparently a show called “You” on Netflix that has nothing to do with you, Laura!

    Amazing bit. Can’t be deliberate… pre-written, she doesn’t act well enough to pull it off, plus it makes her look stupid, something she would never participate in. Amazing~!!!~

    Recommend it to everyone. Tell us you are a stone narcissist without using the word narcissist!

  172. 172.

    Matt McIrvin

    @PJ: When I was in junior high school I thought my PE teachers were just incredibly oblivious toward the students bullying one another. I now realize they were pro-bullying and tacitly supported people terrorizing me. I liked when we had a joint session with the girls’ class (they were gender-segregated most of the time) because the girls’ teacher would shut that down.

  174. 174.

    Kay

    @PJ:

    I agree. I accepted it as inevitable myself. How crazy is that? “Sure! That’s just what happens in schools”

    In schools. Why did we all put up with this? I changed my mind.

    What’s always interesting to me is the social sanctions. They began shunning bullies – they have their own “norms” and sometimes new ones replace old ones. It’s a better norm! Most of them are going on to workplaces. Those will be better too.

  175. 175.

    JMS

    @Geminid: Val is not just my county commissioner but she lives in my township. She had to put up with the horrible and stupid Joe Gale during the pandemic. She is highly competent, but generates the excitement of a typical suburban mom. (I’m one too). Fetterman may have raised his national profile but he has actually already won a statewide race which the other candidates have not, so I don’t think he’s a candidate who only looks good to outsiders. But unlike the gov race, this primary is still competitive.

  178. 178.

    Kay

    @Jeffro:

    Im following the Arbery case in my usual obsessive manner but sometimes I have to turn it off. I get too mad. I listened to a motion hearing where the defense lawyers were arguing Arbery might have been carjacking one of the trucks that were pursuing him. They’re saying this ridiculous thing because they need a felony for the GA “citizens arrest” bullshit, but the prosecutor went bananas – she was spitting mad at this newest distortion of “victim” and “aggressor”.

    The common theme in these fake-cop wingnut shooting cases is the shooters INSIST they are victims. It’s almost funny how these manly-men are terrified of the slightest resistance when they’re barking out orders to people. Real brave in the big truck with the gun. Not so brave out of it.

  179. 179.

    Geminid

    @JMS: I wasn’t saying Fetterman was popular nationally but not in the state. I just attribute much of his $9 million+ campaign haul to his popularity nationwide.

    Fetterman did win the five-way primary for Lt. Governor, and that was a statewide contest. But Fetterman won in the general election as part of a unitary ticket with Tom Wolf at the top as nominee for Governor, and that does not neccesarily prove his electability on his own.

    Governor Wolf endorsed Attorney General Shapiro as soon as he announced for Governor. He has kept mum so far on the Senate race.

  180. 180.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay: I remember when someone mentioned to me that a school bully punching someone was, legally, assault and battery and was stunned. What, there are laws against just punching someone?

  181. 181.

    JWR

    @Kay: From your link:

    “The problem is … this is liberal code for teaching children how to perform oral sex, anal sex, wear strap-on dildos,”

    Drats! Foiled again! They saw right through our sneaky liberal code.

    But srsly, there are some pretty thoughtful students attending and speaking out at these  Downers North shindigs.

  182. 182.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: I don’t know why they would even listen to people who don’t live in the district. I know I wouldn’t. Who cares what people from another school district want you to do?

  183. 183.

    Soprano2

    @PJ: In my experience the adults didn’t think there was anything they could actually do about it, because they believed it would just go “underground”. The advice was to grow a thick skin and try not to cry when they did it, which is a pretty hard thing for a 7th grade girl to do.

  184. 184.

    Soprano2

    @Matt McIrvin: It’s the “we had to go through that and we survived, you can survive it too” attitude. I’m so glad that doesn’t rule all the schools anymore. I loved learning and school except for having to deal with the bullying kids. My dad was the school superintendent at my school from 5th to 7th grade, and since we were a K-12 school I was in the same hallways as the seniors when I was a 7th grader. If they were mad at my dad, well they could always get at me! You can imagine what that was like. I didn’t feel comfortable in school again until I was a senior, and all those older kids who picked on me were gone. The teachers seemed to be helpless to stop it.

  185. 185.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Soprano2: For boys’ PE, I think there was a certain amount of “fight your own battles, this will make you a MAN”. Of course, they got you coming and going because the school administration was also cracking down hard on fighting

    edit: also, often what people got beaten up for was being bad at sports, so the teacher probably saw that as an incentive to get better.

  186. 186.

    Zelma

    @Kay:

    Anecdata here.  For inexplicable reasons, my son’s class in elementary school was almost three-quarters boys.  The teachers all insisted that it was the best class they’d had in years.  (About 60 students divided into three classes with the make-up of the class changing every year.). I got some insight into the dynamics of the class from my kid.  Apparently there was a lot of self discipline among the students.  If someone got out of line, the other kids handled it themselves.  I’m not completely sure of the methods, but it wasn’t bullying.  I remember my son reporting that he had had to have a talk with Joey because he’d acted up in class.  And I’m sure it was just a talk.

    Sadly, a number of the boys got into trouble once they moved to the larger junior high school.  I have no idea how or why the class developed this behavior pattern, but it’s clear that positive peer pressure works.  If bullying and bad behavior are stigmatized by other students, the atmosphere can be very different.  Which is why the anti-bullying efforts are so important.

  187. 187.

    sab

    @WereBear: What a great idea.

    You have been a big help to me in adjusting to life with cats so that my husband’s cats will be happy. Two of them now think they are mine. And the most recent one, that we thought would be a problem forever because of his very bad neglect in his first five years elsewhere has become everyone’s favorite playful kitten. Dogs, cats and people all think he is fun

    ETA I think this is his first experience of feeling totally safe in his surroundings.

  188. 188.

    Mo Salad

    @OzarkHillbilly:  This CPA here was about to unload on you when I noticed the end s//  at the end.

     

    Then I thought about it awhile. We have been a bunch of miserable fucks since the pandemic started. Working from home. PPP. ERTC. HHS Stimulus. All stuff that didn’t exist two years ago.

Comments are closed.