Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Every day Vance writes another chapter in the book called “Worst VP Pick Ever”.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

“Let’s not pretend [Trump] wants to engage in high-minded discourse.”

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

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

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

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

This fight is for everything.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

He really is that stupid.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Please don’t feed the bears.

So many bastards, so little time.

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

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Thursday Morning Open Thread: At Least We Have A Real President Now

Thursday Morning Open Thread: At Least We Have A Real President Now

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And then there’s two Senators who do *not* make me proud to be a Democrat…

Reader Interactions

175Comments

  1. 1.

    Matt McIrvin

    I think we need to prepare ourselves emotionally for Biden’s poll numbers plummeting into the basement again when the Omicron wave hits, and how that is going to be covered by the media. With any luck the wave only lasts a few months and we have tailored vaccines after that. But of course there could be more waves like this coming.

    The Republicans are coming into the 2022 and 2024 elections with a huge advantage: their platform is going to be that when they’re in control, you’ll be able to forget that COVID-19 exists, by the magic of them just telling you to forget that COVID-19 exists. I think it will be attractive even to a lot of people outside the wingnut orbit, because they’re exhausted.

  3. 3.

    rikyrah

    @Matt McIrvin:

    We only have a wave because of muthaphuckas who won’t get vaccinated. How, when there is a free vaccine on every other corner, is this the fault of 46?

     

    Nope, we gotta pushback against that bullshyt ?

  4. 4.

    Spanky

    @Matt McIrvin: 

    I think it will be attractive even to a lot of people outside the wingnut orbit, because they’re exhausted.

    Not gonna happen, and I cite the same non-existent evidence that you have.

  8. 8.

    Ken

    @Cervantes: Nor did Dr. Biden show up in the traditional “I don’t care” coat

    And have you seen the White House Christmas decorations?  Not one single Hellmouth.

  9. 9.

    Ksmiami

    I’m ready to launch Sinema and Manchin into the sun. JFC. And the college kid was exposed to Covid but was boostered so fun times upending the holidays. I’m so down on America- our country doesn’t work.

  10. 10.

    Mousebumples

    Good morning! Open thread query –

    Interviewed for an internal position yesterday in a new team. Did 1 interview with the prospective new supervisor (more traditional interview) and another “group interview” with prospective new coworkers (3 people).

    Planning to send out a thank you email today – only send to the supervisor? Also to prospective teammates? (eg, thanks for much for meeting with me, and here’s why I think I’d be a great addition to your team, etc.)

    I only sent this (as a physical letter) to the future supervisors when I first interviewed at this company 3 years ago, but I know all of these people now (and obviously, have their emails), so I’m waffling.

    Input (and general well wishes) are welcome. Thanks!

  12. 12.

    HinTN

    @Matt McIrvin: The radio told me yesterday that the evidence to date indicates that being boosted is sufficient in lieu of a tailored vaccine. Of course we’re just beginning to grapple with Omicron…

  13. 13.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin:

    If wingnuts have more moral fortitude than non-wingnuts, then they should be in power.

    I care about voter suppression and other antidemocratic actions, not about people making a choice to prefer Republican governance.  We are not entitled to victory.

  14. 14.

    HinTN

    @Ksmiami: James Fallows has a contributor writing about comparisons of the USA today and the end days of the Roman Republic.

    “Say goodnight, Dick.”

  15. 15.

    Geminid

    There was good news for Democrats last night, out of North Carolina. According to Politico and WRAL TV, State Senator Jeff Jackson (D-Mecklenburg)  is expected to drop out of the race for U.S. Senate. Another contender has also dropped out, and this more or less clears the field for former State Supreme Court Judge Cheri Beasley.

    On the Republican side, former Governor Pat McCrory and  Congressman Ted Budd are starting to unload on each other with attack ads. McCrory was thought to have a clear path to the Republican nomination until trump’s surprise endorsement of Budd at the state Republican convention. Now it’s a snarling dog fight.

  17. 17.

    WereBear

    @Ken: Priceless!

    But adversity has a way of making us break whatever beer goggles have sufficed in our life up to now. I sorrow at the devastation, but the stark fact it is ALL because Republicans have a death wish for the rest of us.

    If this does not bring itself to the attention of nominally rational people, then we know who the deranged are. Am I wrong?

  20. 20.

    NotMax

    Jeans with embedded LED displays won’t be far behind.

    UBC researchers have created what could be the first battery that is both flexible and washable. It works even when twisted or stretched to twice its normal length, or after being tossed in the laundry. Source

    “Is that a charger in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?”

  21. 21.

    Matt McIrvin

    @HinTN: I think it depends on what we think the vaccines are for.

    The most detailed (but very preliminary) results I’ve seen imply that having just gotten boosted is maybe 80-90% effective against Omicron infection. But we don’t know yet how that declines over time, and the R value is so high that it might not be enough to control the spread effectively. And being vaxxed but not boosted is effectively useless against infection, though still protective against severe disease and death. Long COVID impacts are of course completely unknown.

  29. 29.

    guachi

    @Baud: So do I. But I think we need to be prepared for devastating losses in 2022, more anti-democratic and anti-freedom legislation from increased R majorities at the state level, a debt default at the federal level, a depressed D base not turning out, and a general slow destruction of American democracy.

     

    Things are going to be dark in America for at least another 10 years.

  31. 31.

    Baud

    @guachi:

    What does it mean to be “prepared” for the worst-case scenario? How do you conduct your life differently from people who are not “prepared”?

  32. 32.

    Geminid

    @Baud: Well, NC is back partially, in that Governor Roy Cooper won reelection by a good margin last year. Joe Biden and Cal Cunningham came up about 70,000 votes short, though. There is not a lot of ticket splitting these days, but that seemed to make a difference in North Carolina.

  33. 33.

    Baud

    @Geminid:

    Yes.  Cooper done good.  I’m surprised not to have seen more written up about him to show how to win as a Dem in a fairly red state (albeit close).

  35. 35.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Matt McIrvin: Josh Marshall posted about a couple of new research papers that have yet to be peer reviewed, but the upshot is that there appears to be a reason omicron causes less severe illness. Apparently the researchers found that it replicates much faster in the upper respiratory tract (nasal passages) which enhances transmissibility, but it has a much harder time replicating in lung tissue than previous strains. Another wave is still going to be bad but that’s at least maybe some sliver of good news.

  36. 36.

    narya

    @Mousebumples: Good luck! Yeah, I’d send thank-yous to all. Depending on how well you know them, and what the position is, you could do it individually or as a group email. I also like to throw in something to the effect that I’m even more enthusiastic after meeting with you all and learning how this position would be part of your team. (At this point in my life, I usually DO have a pretty good idea.)

  38. 38.

    Layer8Problem

    Another open thread query, in Zhena Gogolia’s wheelhouse if she’s around: is there a decent translation of The Twelve Chairs? A native told me he thinks it’s untranslatable.

  39. 39.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:

    i have a better idea. Launch 10 random GOPer Senators into the sun. Problem solved.

    That’s OK, but better would be to select the GOPer Senators from states that have Democratic governors — might actually pick up a few Ds in the Senate.

  43. 43.

    Soprano2

    @Matt McIrvin:  I think it will be attractive even to a lot of people outside the wingnut orbit, because they’re exhausted.

    Yep, this is absolutely true. I know that here a lot of people are resigned that Covid is going to do what it’s going to do; they’re tired of the whole thing and wish they could just quit thinking and hearing about it. I guarantee you that Democrats are going to way underestimate the appeal of this to the average person. I don’t care whether you like it or not, whether you think it makes sense or not, it’s true.

    ETA – I’m not saying that Democrats shouldn’t push back against this message, but what I’m afraid of is that they will just ignore this and act like being exhausted by this is somehow selfish and wrong. Even people who are vaccinated and getting boosters are exhausted by it. Admit is, most of us are exhausted by it! Parents of school-age children in particular are just worn out by this whole situation, and our side needs to acknowledge this with empathy, not look down on these people as bad people.

  44. 44.

    topclimber

    @guachi: I can’t see how thinking the worst will make your predicted devastating losses of 2022 any easier to handle. As to debt default, I say you are totally wrong, citing the irrefutable argument of Spanky at #4.

  48. 48.

    Matt McIrvin

    @topclimber:

    I can’t see how thinking the worst will make your predicted devastating losses of 2022 any easier to handle.

    I think there are two types of people: people like guachi and me, who find bad surprises so devastating that it really makes us more functional to be pessimistic so we can take the hits later, and people like the rest of you who seem to be able to roll with them.

  51. 51.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin:

    who find bad surprises so devastating

     
    I don’t understand. That might make you think about worst-case scenarios. But having thought about it once, you won’t be surprised. It doesn’t explain dwelling on them.

  52. 52.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Soprano2: Looking around, it seems to me that the one thing that absolutely makes people the MOST livid is that their kids have to wear masks in school. They seem to be even madder about that than about school shutdowns.

    And I do find it hard to empathize with that, because my God, that’s the smallest thing. But it pisses them off SO MUCH. I think it pisses them off MORE that their kids are for the most part kind of OK with it. It’s the state training their children to be OK with something they hate–that puts it in a category with the “Common Core” and “critical race theory” panics.

  55. 55.

    Geminid

    @Baud: Roy Cooper beat Governor Pat McCrory by a little over 10,000 votes in 2016. Cooper had been North Carolina Attorney General for 15 years. Last year he won by ~250,000 votes. There was so much going on after that election that Cooper’s victory was little noticed. I had forgotten how close the Presidential race was until a jackal reminded me that Biden lost  North  Carolina by only a little under 75,000 votes. Clinton lost in 2016 by about 180,000, I believe.

    The January 5 Georgia Senate runoffs produced a lot of grist for the analysis grill. But the mill had hardly begun turning before the events of the next day eclipsed those victories, which were not yet certain. Still, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution did some very good post-election coverage.

  59. 59.

    topclimber

    @Matt McIrvin: Going with the no-evidence gambit again, I suggest that there are much fewer people who can go all out in pushing for positive change who are convinced it is a doomed effort than there are of those who see some hope.

  60. 60.

    Ken

    @Matt McIrvin: people like the rest of you who seem to be able to roll with them.

    Roll with them after they happen, yes.  The other part of that is to not roll over and give up before they happen.

  61. 61.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    I was and am in favor of addressing the school issue- I agree with you- but I have to say I follow it pretty closely and the polling has never matched the dominant narrative:

    Matt Barnum
    @matt_barnum
    ·Dec 14
    A meta-story of COVID and schools is how parent polls have stubbornly refused — over and over — to confirm the narrative that is preferred in much of the Discourse.

    Matt Barnum
    @matt_barnum
    · Dec 13
    A new poll shows that 58% of parents are concerned about how schools are handling COVID cases. Of those, 44% say schools aren’t doing enough to monitor COVID exposure, while only 34% say schools are too quick to quarantine students.

    I think Democrats need more information on what’s actually going on. There are thousands of public school districts and they’re wildly different. It’s just tough to get a read. Maybe ignore all the narratives and just talk to more constituents about schools?
    The test score drops are really dramatic, but even there parents aren’t (generally) freaking out. The “concern” polling on that has only gone up a point or two from pre-pandemic to now.
    A lot of people are politically motivated to go after public schools (I know you’re not one of them). I just think there’s a lot of Right wing money that goes into that, so caution is in order.
    Can’t hurt to talk about it though- be clear that Democrats are aware it’s hard for students and parents.

  62. 62.

    Soprano2

    I’ve got a situation with a bartender our manager fired. She was fired for drinking on the job and calling in excessively and generally not doing her job. This developed over the past few months; she has worked for us over 2 years and for most of the time she was fine. The problem is, these days we run so thin on staff we can’t tolerate too much calling in because there’s no one to fill in except our manager, who cannot work herself to death. So most of the time when people are fired they say “Fuck you, I’ll find another job” and go on, especially in a job market like this for servers and bartenders. Well, this woman insists that she was fired “for no good reason” and that she didn’t do anything wrong. She also has made some serious allegations against our manager, mostly about stealing and drinking on the job all the time. (Seems like projection to me.) She wants us to go around our manager and hire her back! She also wants the four of us to sit down and talk so she can make these accusations against our manager to her face (that’s not happening). We talked to a former bartender who worked for us for over 4 years and left at the end of October to move to Kansas City with her sister (she’s working at a place that has 99 beers on tap, who knew?!). She’s someone I trust to be honest with me, and since she doesn’t work for us anymore she doesn’t have an agenda as far as I know. She said this bartender offered her shots of Fireball in the mop closet at the very beginning! So, to me that confirms she was drinking on the job. After this conversation, and from knowing our manager for a long time, I don’t give any credence at all to the accusations made by the fired bartender.  The biggest problem to me is that the fired employee doesn’t have any proof at all of the serious allegations she’s making. My first thought about the stealing was why didn’t she come to us about it immediately?! I’m thinking about the text I’m going to send to the fired bartender telling her that she is not getting her job back (something we’ve repeated over and over), and that she needs to find a new job (who would want to come back in a situation like this anyway where you know we’ve told the manager what she accused her of doing?). I feel badly for the bartender; she’s a single mother with four children, and this is a terrible time of the year to lose a job, but OTOH our manager already hired her back once a couple of months ago after she said she was quitting, and we are not going to set the precedent that an employee our manager has fired can just go around that to us and get their job back. The fired employee has threatened to hire a lawyer, but I think it’s an empty threat because I don’t think she has a leg to stand on. This kind of situation is why I didn’t want to be a boss……..

  63. 63.

    Betty Cracker

    @Soprano2: I think you are 100% correct here. I also agree with what @zhena gogolia said at #54, in that it’s infuriating that Republicans might benefit from their sociopathic decision to politicize and prolong the pandemic for political gain. That’s a distinct possibility though — I’m seeing it with my own eyes in FL.

    I’m not sure how we respond to this situation politically, except, as you suggested, acknowledging the hardship and expressing empathy for the exhaustion we all feel rather than lumping everyone who’s not fully on board with maximum mitigation measures into the dumbass deplorable camp.

  64. 64.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    Parents in “majority minority” school districts were always more supportive of covid mitigations in schools than in majority white districts. There are a lot of majority minority districts and they’re big districts. That might be the disconnect.

  65. 65.

    Layer8Problem

    @Ken: It always seemed to me that saying “it’s useless, the Bad Guys will win and everything good is over” encourages people to crawl under the bed and get in a fetal position, instead of planning, organizing, and making an effort.

  66. 66.

    Betty

    @Ksmiami: The media and his colleagues need to stop playing Manchin’s game. He keeps inventing excuses for not supporting the BBB when the reality is he does not support it because the climate provisions hurt his family business. He is afraid to say that honestly so his objections never make sense. His constituents are some of the people in the country who most need what the BBB would provide. A shameless, selfish man. Sinema is just irrational.

  67. 67.

    Soprano2

    @Matt McIrvin: It’s the state training their children to be OK with something they hate

    Yes, this is true, but even the parents who are OK with the masks are exhausted by the whole situation, and who can blame them? If you don’t have a parent who stays at home, this situation can be a monumental PITA.

  68. 68.

    hueyplong

    It’s possible that seeing some well known GOPers shift from loud threats to quiet plea negotiations might improve people’s joie de vivre a bit.

    We’re not the only people on the internet who harbor a concern or two about the future.

    Just sayin’

  69. 69.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: Can’t hurt to talk about it though- be clear that Democrats are aware it’s hard for students and parents.

    This, 1,000 times. Don’t discount and minimize the huge PITA this has been for students and parents. I hear too much “it’s just a mask, what’s the big deal?” dismissal of people’s concerns with this whole situation. I mean, I agree with that for the most part, but the way I talk to people about it is vastly different from that attitude. I was talking to a co-worker the other day about people working remotely, and I reminded her that there are A LOT of jobs that can’t be done that way. Sometimes I think people who can easily isolate themselves discount how hard this has been for those who can’t.

  70. 70.

    Geminid

    @Layer8Problem: Ragnarok Lobster (@eclecticbrotha) put it succinctly:  “Doomposting is voter suppression.”

    Another Black Democrat observed that while Black Americans have struggled against repression for generations and never given up, “some of y’all white people are all tuckered out after four years.”

  72. 72.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    Agreed.

    My advice on the former employee is to end the dialogue. You’ve already made the decision. Don’t text her and don’t respond to her texts. Don’t engage further in any way.

  74. 74.

    frosty

    @guachi:  Into the pie safe with you. I got you on the phone last night; the laptop this morning. I don’t need to hear this doom BS first thing in the morning.

  75. 75.

    Baud

    @Layer8Problem:

    It always seemed to me that saying “it’s useless, the Bad Guys will win and everything good is over” encourages people to crawl under the bed and get in a fetal position, instead of planning, organizing, and making an effort

     

    I stuggle to think of any situation in any area of life where presuming futility and failure is used as a motivational tool.

    The only two I can come up with are (1) U.S. left-of-center politics and (2) military situations where fighters in a losing position are encouraged to take out as many of the enemy before they are overrun.

  76. 76.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: Actually, that’s good advice. I think I’ll take it. We indulged her way more than was really merited, but she’s fired and that’s the end of it. We told her we would talk to the manager about a meeting just to get her off the phone, but I never intended to actually do that because what’s the point? This is the first time anyone who was fired has wanted their job back. Who would want to come back under these kind of circumstances? If the unemployment rate was 10% I would understand, but for Christ’s sake it’s 2.4% here and literally every bar and restaurant in town with servers and bartenders is looking for help. I guarantee you she could have a job in a week! She kept talking about how all the regular customers were “her family”, which is a warning about letting customers replace your family.

  77. 77.

    cmorenc

    @Geminid:

    On the Republican side, former Governor Pat McCrory and  Congressman Ted Budd are starting to unload on each other with attack ads. McCrory was thought to have a clear path to the Republican nomination until trump’s surprise endorsement of Budd at the state Republican convention. Now it’s a snarling dog fight.

    McCrory used to be the epitome of a reasonable, moderate Republican when he worked for Duke energy and as mayor of Charlotte.  Back while he was Governor of NC and had taken a hard-right turn, I was seated on a plane ride next to someone who had worked closely with him back at Duke Energy, and he said his former co-workers at Duke were shocked by his radical transformation.  To a significant degree, this transformation was connected to McCrory’s efforts to win key support from Art Pope (our state’s local equivalent of the Koch brothers) to win GOP primaries, which after he won the Governor’s race in 2012, McCrory rewarded by making Pope his budget director.

  78. 78.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay: Maybe it’s an intensity issue? That is, the parents who think the schools aren’t doing enough are kind of resigned to it, whereas the parents who think the schools are doing too much are wild single-issue voters about it.

    Which might just be the same thing as saying that right-wing money is pumping this up.

  79. 79.

    frosty

    @Mousebumples: Since you know everyone, yes, I’d send the letter to all the interviewers; perhaps a different one to the co-workers thanking them for the interview, saying something about how you’ve enjoyed working with them?

  80. 80.

    Nelle

    @prostratedragon:  Did any of you see the conversation between Heather Cox Richardson and Rebecca Solnit the other night? Solnit says that being in tune with our senses grounds us in truth (greatly truncated here) and prepares us for fighting tyranny. She has just written a book on Orwell; the conversation is well worth it…two of the most intelligent women writing today on governance and truth. You can find it on Cox Richardson’s Facebook page.

  81. 81.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Geminid: Not to minimize your point, but there are a lot of people in a lot of countries outside the US who have struggled for generations with varying degrees of success. The short attention span seems to be a problem largely of white *Americans

  82. 82.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    It’s hard to learn because we’re socialized to respond and explain – especially you in a customer service business, it’s your go-to, which is good, but you really don’t have to in this instance.

  83. 83.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Betty: I think Sinema is on board with the latest BBB bill. Manchin is the lone holdout, and yeah, he doesn’t seem to be bargaining in good faith…he comes up with some new objection every time they concede to him on something he wanted reduced or eliminated.

    It’s mind boggling that we’re not involved in a single war and just approved a $750 billion defense budget with nobody blinking an eye but domestic spending that amounts to a quarter that size is somehow some ginormous bridge too far of a budget buster.

  84. 84.

    JMG

    There’s a consensus and documented evidence that 1. Remote work results in no loss and in some cases gains in productivity and 2. Remote learning cannot begin to reproduce the results of classroom-based learning. One would think, incorrectly of course, that this would lead people to recognize teaching is a damn difficult job.

  85. 85.

    Geminid

    @frosty: It’s a circular argument:

    “…prepare for devastating losses…a depressed D base not turning out…”

    Sometimes I think this damn blog needs a pi filter!

  87. 87.

    Baud

    @Gin & Tonic: I assumed the context in the tweet was limited to Americans, but it’s a good point to make.

    I think the reality is that, outside of BJ, a good number of white Americans on “our side” really aren’t that invested in defeating Republicans because they aren’t really that personally affected by Republican rule. And because they aren’t invested, they find it harder to accept the compromises needed to be party of a large and diverse anti-fascist coalition (and that, in turn, is what they find “exhausting”).

  88. 88.

    frosty

    @zhena gogolia: Best of luck with the surgery! Also, I’m entertained by how much you’ve enjoyed Get Back considering your first comments that you were watching it in 10 minute increments because not much was happening.

    I took your recommendation and binged it in three nights.

  89. 89.

    Kay

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I don’t know but it probably doesn’t matter. There’s no downside in asking them about schools and covid and expressing interest and empathy. It has been hard. The schools themselves are also a good indicator. It’s not actually true that they completely ignore parents and students. They’re on the ground. If they were getting huge pushback on quarantines they’d likely respond.

    I just think it’s fashionable in a lot of quarters to be like “those idiots who run schools! Why are they so dumb?” – they’re an easy punching bag.

  90. 90.

    Jeffro

    @Betty Cracker: it’s infuriating that Republicans might benefit from their sociopathic decision to politicize and prolong the pandemic for political gain. That’s a distinct possibility though — I’m seeing it with my own eyes in FL.

    It is infuriating and it is definitely happening.  Our party/officials did not get loud enough early enough that this was being encouraged by the GQP and Fox to prolong the pandemic – to kneecap Biden by kneecapping the country’s pandemic recovery – and now it feels like it’s probably too late.  Maybe someone will leak a memo or email from the RNC about it (please FSM).

    There was literally no reason in the world to oppose a highly effective, free vaccine.  But the GQP and Fox successfully turned vaccinations into a partisan issue by virtue of the Republicans’ die-hard opposition to anything a Democrat proposes.

    And now here we are.

  92. 92.

    germy

    Quote of the day:

    In Feb 1861, when insurrectionists moved to block electoral certification of Lincoln, Gen. Winfield Scott warned each man would “be lashed to the muzzle of a 12-pounder & fired out the window of the Capitol… I would manure the hills of Arlington with the fragments of his body."

    — Andrea Pitzer (@andreapitzer) December 16, 2021

  93. 93.

    Geminid

    @Gin & Tonic: It’s someone else’s point anyway. I have been impressed by the stalwart defense of the party and it’s leaders by Black Democrats on Twitter, but I try as much as possible not to make them speak for me and vice versa. I just wish I had taken down this lady’s name so I could have properly credited the quotation.

  95. 95.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay: I was confused by the fact that opposition to masks seemed higher in every age group than in the whole sample until I saw that less than half of the sample seemed to have given age information.

  96. 96.

    topclimber

    @JMG: Necessity being the mother of invention, perhaps the forced introduction of remote learning has pointed to new hybrid methods that we would be happy about if we heard about them.

  97. 97.

    Kay

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Our superintendent, who is hugely “political” and probably a Right winger, mandated masks and the kids took to it easily. Some parents complained but he stuck to it and it sort of died out. I think their big issue right now is behavior problems. I have a friend who is a 3rd grade teacher- 30 years- and she loves kids and she said they’ve “gone feral” :)

    I bet! They struggle with changes in routines. I think routines and predictability make them feel safe, especially because we have so many low income and their homes are always on the brink of economic disaster. They get scared. School is a safe haven for a lot of kids. It’s orderly.

  99. 99.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: I struggle with the requirement to be the bad guy. Plus, in these days of online stuff a disgruntled employee can cause you problems. She wanted us to talk to the regular customers about this! I’m not going to put any customer in a situation like that (or any current employees either), plus no one has asked us why we fired her or or to bring her back. I guess I just want her to acknowledge that she was fired and it’s over, but she’s never going to. My sister told me that the hardest thing about her business was firing people; even when it’s fully justified, she said it was hard to sit across the desk from someone and take away their livelihood. Now I totally understand what she was talking about.

  102. 102.

    germy

    Media when Trump's net approval was -20:

    "Your bubble may hate Trump, but we spoke with his supporters who say he's doing a great job."

    Media when Biden's approval is negative by single digits:

    "Is widely-hated 'president' Biden a historic failure? Our panel says yes."

    — April (@ALotOfOranges) December 15, 2021

    Watching the new coverage of the current president and the previous, you'd never guess that not only is Biden more popular than Trump was at this point in his presidency, he's more popular than Trump was at almost any point in his Presidency. pic.twitter.com/oikiUOtsju

    — April (@ALotOfOranges) December 15, 2021

    The prestige media showing its ass like this has been the most remarkable part of 2021. https://t.co/QfdPwQiUQl

    — Roy Edroso (@edroso) December 16, 2021

  103. 103.

    germy

    I'm triple-vaccinated. I'm not afraid of Covid anymore.

    I'm afraid of what happens if I get into a car accident in the middle of an outbreak that overwhelms every nearby hospital.

    — Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) December 16, 2021

    The hospital around the corner from us has now limited all elective surgeries. Beds are filling up with people who “did their own research”

  104. 104.

    Miss Bianca

    @Geminid: That’s the thing that keeps me going whenever I feel like giving in to despair – the realization that generations of African-Americans fought their whole lives for rights I take for granted, and never gave up and gave in because they couldn’t afford to.

    Why yes, shame *does* motivate me to examine my behavior, why do you ask?//

  106. 106.

    Matt McIrvin

    @germy: They could maybe justify it by saying that constitutional structural inequities mean that national Republicans functionally get something like a 5-10% credit on their actual popularity. Biden needs to be far more popular than Trump did to be successful–a Republican could win a presidential election millions down in the popular vote, but a Democrat never could.

  107. 107.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Matt McIrvin: Ah, the General George McClellan school of crises management, let’s be so terrified of what might go wrong we will ignore everything that’s right.

    Dude, the GOP controlled the entire government in 2017 and fucked  up and they sure haven’t gotten any smarter.  Hell, Ryan had to go to Pelosi to get bills passed in the House because Ryan’s own caucus is so fucking useless.  Compare and contrast that to Tom Delay.  So what’s the GOP super brilliant plan if they take the house in 2022; make Trump the once and future fuck up Speaker, or they go with McCarthy, that will turn out well.

  108. 108.

    ian

    @HinTN:

    Mr Fallows and his writer can check back in after we have survived 70 years of civil war.  Poor analogy.  Hell- for all his flaws as dictator, Augustus expanded civil rights throughout the empire.  Rome is not The United States, and both the republic and the empire took a lot longer to go go down then people give them credit for.

  109. 109.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    digby @digby56 22h

    CNN Poll has Biden at 49% approval, 51% disapproval. IOW, it’s 50/50. But they just did something I’ve never seen before. They discussed the polling average as a better gauge(45%) and are now pulling out every negative number within it to hammer him. Incredible.

    I don’t watch CNN, so I can’t speak to how they’re presenting this, but I will say that mentioning polling averages has been pretty standard for a while. What I’m not seeing anywhere but in non-blue-check Dem twitter is that this is a fairly solid comeback (~ 5 points, it seems to me) in Biden’s approval rating from the lows of two months ago or so.

  110. 110.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @Soprano2: Its been a good gig, and you have tolerated a lot from her. There is no guarantee that other employers will tolerate her behavior.

  111. 111.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    So what’s the GOP super brilliant plan if they take the house in 2022,

    It’s not taking the House, it’s taking state houses and governorships, then (1) passing laws entrenching the state-house leads with gerrymandering and election meddling, and (2) explicitly allowing the state legislature to throw out the presidential vote and appoint the presidential electors in 2024 and after. They’re doing all that out in the open.

  112. 112.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin:

    They could maybe justify it by saying that constitutional structural inequities mean that national Republicans functionally get something like a 5-10% credit on their actual popularity.

    Then they should do that.  At least it would educate their viewers about the hurdles that exist for Democrats.

  114. 114.

    Miss Bianca

    @jonas: Oh, myyy…however have I managed to miss that one? Thank you for that – I can only hope to be so well-roasted after I succumb to my dirt nap!

  115. 115.

    jonas

    @germy: The reason Trump’s popularity, or lack thereof, was a news story was that in a reasonable country, in a reasonable world, he should have had *no* support whatsoever, because he was an utterly unqualified moron and transparently horrible piece of human garbage. The fact that no matter how badly he fucked up or screwed over the country, he had a hard floor of support at around 40% was a remarkable feat. It taught the Republican party that they could, in fact, get away with anything without paying an electoral price.

  116. 116.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    Plus, in these days of online stuff a disgruntled employee can cause you problems

    It certainly can. I use a painter who does a great job and he had a year-long nightmare with a fired employee who trashed him online using Facebook. It’s a nightmare. I literally hand out his cards so I feel I was working opposite the Facebook maniac, maybe a wash that year? A good painter is a treasure. There’s not much you can do about it but honestly? The more you engage with this person the worse it will get. This is just going nowhere good.

  117. 117.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: They wouldn’t–it’s the long-term backup if he isn’t winning outright, or if he does win and then has a first term like Trump’s.

  118. 118.

    Betty Cracker

    @Matt McIrvin: You’re right, they are doing it out in the open, and maybe the corrupt conservative shithead Joe Manchin is doing us all a favor by smothering BBB on the down-low so Dems can move on to protecting voting rights. Not that Dems have the votes to accomplish that either due to the sacred filibuster, but maybe the GOP efforts nationwide to drive a stake through democracy’s heart would get more press coverage.

  119. 119.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @HinTN: Maybe it’s because I live in a liberal bubble but are we on the brink of mass starvation because of widespread piracy while mobs of our escaped slaves roam the countryside torturing every American citizen they can catch to death?

  124. 124.

    CaseyL

    @Mousebumples: I’ve sent “thank you” emails to everyone I interviewed with, when I have their email addresses.  When I don’t, I send the thank-you to the main interviewer, asking them to convey the thanks “to the rest of the team.”

  125. 125.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Betty Cracker: my latest notion is that Manchin is immovable, but if voting rights as an issue gets traction in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida… McConnell might be more inclined to let some watered down, better-than-nothing bill get around the filibuster, and even let Murkowski and perhaps Our Willard vote for it. McConnell wants the majority back. He wants to stop Biden’s judges.

    Tara Dowdell @MsTaraDowdell
    Biden is not getting enough credit for his judicial nominees. They are immensely qualified, diverse, and actually believe in justice.

  128. 128.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    It just hurts the President to be tied with Congress because everyone hates “Congress” so as long as Biden is haggling with them he’ll be underwater. That’s why they jam it all thru the first year. I don’t think most people know the substance of BBB but they know it’s held up (Manchin and Sinema) and he can’t get it done. He’ll do better when he can cut Congress loose. It’s a shame because he took the political hit without the reward – the months of delay is what kills them.

  130. 130.

    Baud

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Biden is not getting enough credit for his judicial nominees

    He also got no credit for ending the forever war in Afghanistan.  Nor for the Recovery Act or the Infrastructure Bill, and if Manchin lets us get the BBB, Biden won’t get credit for that either.

    At best, the most we can hope for is a slow uptick in poll averages, as we’re kind of seeing now.  But that’s more a function of the general mood, than any specific accomplishment.

  132. 132.

    cain

    @Matt McIrvin: lol – like changing parties is going to alleviate their exhaustion. All that will happen is that the plague will run nuts and they’ll continue dig in and forcing things to open while the death toll continues. Then the public gets exhausted and then tries to swing to the Dems – but this time though, the GOP will have a lock on congress and even the presidency.

    If anything I look forward to the GOP owning everything to a capricious voting public – and a minority Democratic party that always seems to end up in power when shit has hit the fan and end up having to fix it, and the GOP taking credit for it. At least that cycle will end.

    The GOP will continue to thrash the U.S. reputation, civil rights, and be all in on market fascism.

  133. 133.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    I’m bitter because once again we see the “kitchen table” policy that primarily benefits women sidelined. This country is backward on family leave and child care and preschool. We’ve stalled for 3 decades. Policy that primarily benefits women is always the last priority. We’re worse than all the other countries in our cohort and with Roe on top of it? Lurching backward on rights to fundamental autonomy and decision making? I just can’t deal. It’s gross. Pisses me off.

  134. 134.

    Baud

    @cain: At this point, my biggest concern is about foreign wars, particularly nuclear wars.  I was happy that didn’t come to pass with Trump.

  137. 137.

    cain

    @Soprano2: ​
     

    and our side needs to acknowledge this with empathy, not look down on these people as bad people.

    I would just open up the country – and those who are vaccinated will live and those who not will – well will suffer. Insurance companies will need to not cover COVID stuff. If they want to take the road to financial ruin – then by all means. Please proceed.

  138. 138.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: Yep, that’s what I think, the more we engage the worse it gets. We’ve talked to her twice, and the second time was when the really wild allegations about stealing and drugs came out. I suspect it’s mostly projection.

  139. 139.

    Eolirin

    @cain: It won’t work like that. A lot of the covid positive will survive, but by crashing the health care system people with heart attacks and cancer and who get into accidents that would have otherwise survived will die for lack of care. In large numbers. Even if vaccinated.

  140. 140.

    cain

    @Baud:

     

    @cain: At this point, my biggest concern is about foreign wars, particularly nuclear wars. I was happy that didn’t come to pass with Trump.

    Yes, that is a concern – I don’t know what to do about it. I’m also concerned that we’re going to end up joining up with the Russian and abandon NATO.

  141. 141.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: We had a 21-year-old come to our place on a Friday night for her birthday, which is karaoke night. It was, unfortunately, one of the few Fridays we didn’t go out there. Our manager says the birthday girl was literally screaming into the microphone on karaoke, and it was threatening to drive other customers away. She was also pretty drunk. Our manager asked her to please tone it down some, and the birthday girl called her a nasty insult, so our manager asked them to leave. They left extremely negative one-star reviews; our manager had to respond to all of them with information about what had actually happened. That’s all you can really do, and hope that people will see that most of your reviews are four and five star and act accordingly.

  142. 142.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    This is influenced by my recent trip to Denmark but come the fuck ON. This country treats women like shit. Everyone else is zooming ahead while we’re “debating” whether women should retain rights to basic bodily autonomy and decision making. I know it isn’t going to be Denmark and there’s problems with that too and it would never work here – too big, for one thing- but one fucking thing that makes their lives a tiny bit easier, seems like we could get that. We do not value the work that women do. It’s appalling and backward. I still can’t believe media had this big discussion where they decided that construction workers were just much more IMPORTANT than home health aides. Gross, backward people.

  143. 143.

    Baud

    @cain: Maybe.  That idea seemed particular to Trump.  I’m not sure if the other fascists wannabees in the GOP are on board. At the end of the day, we can’t guarantee the security of other countries.

  144. 144.

    cain

    @Eolirin: ​
     

    @cain: It won’t work like that. A lot of the covid positive will survive, but by crashing the health care system people with heart attacks and cancer and who get into accidents that would have otherwise survived will die for lack of care. In large numbers.

    But that’s my point – hospitals, insurance companies are not going to allow that and will put in place something that will self-sort via a priority system. Crashing your healthcare is not great market-wise either. Especially when they realize that govt is not going to solve this problem.
    Also new strains will be coming – what a mess.

  145. 145.

    cain

    @Baud: ​
     
    Yep – agreed. But people are going to be pissed at us. You can bet that business will also be disrupted.
    I’m curious if the GOP will move towards moderation once they’ve locked in govt and made Dems a permanent minority – I mean it’s hard to demagogue when you’re in power, I would reckon.

  147. 147.

    Baud

    @cain: Who knows?  I don’t do predictions, particulary that far out.  I can probably safely predict that the GOP will cut taxes for corporations and the wealthy, and if they feel immune for accountability, finally cut or privatize social security and medicare.  That has been on their agenda for a while, and I don’t have any faith in their new-found “populism” acting as a roadblock.

  150. 150.

    cain

    @Eolirin: Ultimately, people will vote if things don’t feel good. You can only cut taxes so much before even the afflicted will start feeling like dupes.

  152. 152.

    cain

    @Baud: ​
     
    Yes, that’s pretty predictable behavior. That’s the sane part of the GOP. There are still a lot of carnival barkers out there so we’ll still say a lot of shit that the media can peddle to the rest of us and get us all riled up for clicks.

  154. 154.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    We have close friends who own a restaurant and the husband could no longer read the online reviews because he was responding really aggressively, like “liar- never happened”. I personally would actually enjoy reading a restaurant person telling the hard truths about customers but I guess you can’t do it :)

  156. 156.

    daveNYC

    @Betty: I’m not even sure that Manchin is holding up the BBB just because of the Green New Deal stuff.  He is objecting the everything in the bill and I still have no idea what, if anything, that he would consider acceptable.  It’s an insanely bridge burning negotiation strategy and he’s applying it to what would be the President’s signature piece of legislation.  As bad as Manchin is, I’m legitimately surprised that he’s being this bad.

  157. 157.

    Brachiator

    @cain:

    I’m curious if the GOP will move towards moderation once they’ve locked in govt and made Dems a permanent minority.

    No, they won’t.

    This why it is vital to oppose them, and to beat them.

    Your musing reminds me of the predictions by pundits that Trump would magically pivot to the middle after he became president.

    Instead, he became more brazenly open with his ego-driven insanity.

  158. 158.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @daveNYC: I try to avoid the trap of thinking people I don’t like politically are dumb– Manchin is a very successful person and politician– but I do think he’s intellectually shallow, mercurial, and easily manipulated, by lobbyists and Republicans. I’ve read that the fraud Susan Collins is his closest friend in the Senate.

    Also he has a (not uncommon) moralistic view of policy, so to him family leave is just people getting paid to not work. Might as well be welfare!

  159. 159.

    Betty Cracker

    @daveNYC: A while back, Paw Paw Blacklung told us he was fine with zero social spending. I believe him. He’s probably just jerking POTUS and everyone else around because he loves the attention.

  161. 161.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, RollCall:

    […]

    Proponents of the child tax credit are also concerned that Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia — the near-lone Democratic critic of the expanded benefit — could pare back what’s currently in the bill.

    To appease Manchin, Democrats already limited monthly checks to individuals who make up to $75,000 and married couples with income up to $150,000, and trimmed their extension to only one year.

    “He is not at this moment a fan of the child tax credit,” Bennet said on a press call Tuesday.

    Manchin didn’t like monthly checks going out to those who could be seen as wealthy, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. He’d urged work requirements and called for further means testing of the benefit.

    Manchin also demanded spending cuts that led to a shorter expansion. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that the child tax credit provisions in the bill now would cost $185 billion over the next decade.

    Axios reported this week that Manchin has expressed concerns to colleagues that the child tax credit expansion could drive inflation and is underpriced when considering the cost of future extensions. Manchin said Wednesday that he doesn’t want the child tax credit expansion cut out of the bill, and has “always been for the child tax credits.” But he wouldn’t say whether he wants to extend the benefit as-is.

    Reports of new criticism from Manchin are making other Democrats wary of further cuts to the expansion. Some believed the issue was closed weeks ago and that Manchin had agreed with the White House to what’s in the bill now.

    “That is the operating assumption that all of us have had,” Bennet said. “And it’s bewildering to me why we would at a moment when families are facing the kind of, you know, increases in prices that families are facing that we would raise their taxes.”

    The Treasury Department reported Wednesday alongside the final 2021 checks that it had sent more than $92.7 billion in payments during the second half of this year. Of those funds, $470.7 million went to West Virginia families. The December round of checks went to 305,000 qualifying children in the state with an average payment of $446 per check, which was about the national average value.

    Activists in West Virginia and colleagues alike have put pressure on Manchin to back the child tax credit. And while some were concerned about further cuts, Brown said he believes the provisions will make it through the Senate intact.

    “I don’t want to skip anything with them,” Brown said of the monthly payments. “This is very significant in people’s lives.”

    (Emphasis added.)

    It’s almost as if this Manchin fellow doesn’t know how to do politics. He had concerns months ago, they were addressed. He had concerns weeks ago, they were addressed. Now he’s swearing he’s all for the Child Tax Credit (he calls reporters’ questions BS and says he’s not negotiating in the press), but apparently not this one, not this way, he has concerns. It’s impossible to negotiate with someone acting like that. Grrr…

    Here’s hoping he ultimately gets on board (it’s always possible that the actual status isn’t as doom-and-gloomy as the political rags say). I continue to think that something approaching BBBA will pass. Half a billion dollars of real cash money in 6 months is something that voters notice, especially when it suddenly goes away… It helps focus the mind, and all of these big things always seem to be about to die just before they pass.

    But even if it, and other things, ultimately have to be removed to get S&M on board, the BBBA would still be a Huge Victory and should be celebrated as such. Similarly with voting rights – there are many, many ways to skin these nazguls and the job is never done. Progress is always, always incremental.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  162. 162.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Another Scott: if the problem is debt, inflation, pay-fors and shit, wouldn’t a rather obvious solution be to undo (at least some of) the tax cuts for “those who could be seen as wealthy” (even mores so than a single parent earning $75K/yr) that Manchin (and Sinema) voted against (checks notes) about four years ago?

  163. 163.

    Jay

    @Soprano2:

    by this point in time of the internet, one would think most people would be social media aware.

    At work, we have the “Voice of the Customer”, an online review of their “shopping experience”, out of 3 to 4 thousand customers a day, despite the possibility of winning a $1k gift card, we get 3 to 4 “reviews” a day.

    In general, 75% are highly positive, 25% are vendettas.

    In my department, we get 3 to 5 VOC’s a year.

    When our current DS was new, they posted a scathing, over the top, VOC “review” to try to “amp” our customer service efforts through “negging”,……

    I quickly tore it down, ( bad for morale), and as soon as they were on shift, brought it up. Pointed out it was utter BS, line by line, and my final point was that the supposed “product” they were talking about, we don’t have, have never had, and will never have.

    So, it was a troll.

    Anybody who has any familiarity with “reading the comments” on social media, can read reviews an quickly sort out the paid hacks, actual customers from the vendetta’s and the trolls.

  164. 164.

    Kay

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    That’s why I think they’re blocking it. They want to keep the Trump tax cuts. It surely isn’t “fiscal responsibility” since Manchin didn’t pay for shit in the infrastructure plan. They operate in bad faith- they’re liars. Unfortunately that approach is winning.

  165. 165.

    Kay

    Democrats can’t put in a more robust social safety net with Donald Trump’s tax giveaways intact. Anyone who says they’re “fiscally responsible” yet ignores the revenue side is a liar.

    The Right wing Democrats are protecting those tax cuts. That’s their line in the sand.

  166. 166.

    Another Scott

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Manchin has said that he wants to get rid of TFGs tax cuts, and that’s fine.

    Trouble is, of course, that even if he’s sincere, there’s no mechanism to do so in the present Senate except through reconciliation, and that’s a bunch of slight of hand that requires the Parliamentarian to go along and for every single one of the 50 to agree with all of it.  There are tax changes in the BBBA, but apparently that’s not enough to get him on board yet…

    Grr…

    Even when S&M get what they say they want, they dither because they don’t like Democrats going alone.  It’s extremely frustrating, but we have to take what we can get until we can afford to lose their votes.  Take the win and build on it.

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  167. 167.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Another Scott:

    Manchin has said that he wants to get rid of TFGs tax cuts, and that’s fine

    I missed that. I guess it’s Sinema who has said no tax increases?

    It’s extremely frustrating, but we have to take what we can get until we can afford to lose their votes.  Take the win and build on it.

    I’m all for that. I’m a pragmatist to my bones. I just don’t know if Manchin will ever get to Yes, either because he doesn’t really want to, or because the people whispering in his ear will keep him moving the goal posts all over the place. Same with Sinema. And again, all politics and calculation and influence aside, I think they’re both temperamentally erratic.

  168. 168.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay: On the one hand, people totally lie in those reviews. On the other hand, if the proprietor snaps back, will anyone believe it? Or will it just mark the proprietor as a touchy loon?

  169. 169.

    SFAW

    @Benw:

    Why random? Let’s pick the 10 worst! :)

    Ten is chump change, should make it 100 “pour encourager les autres.” (I think that’s the phrase.) They’re ALL* worst, the problem is which former Senators to include as well.

    ** OK, I’ll give a pass to Murkowski. And maybe DiFi.

  170. 170.

    SFAW

    @cain:

    I’m curious if the GOP will move towards moderation once they’ve locked in govt and made Dems a permanent minority – I mean it’s hard to demagogue when you’re in power, I would reckon.

    You forgot to use the sarcasm font. I hope. Because if you didn’t mean it sarcastically, then you haven’t been paying attention for the last five* years or so.

    * It’s been going on somewhat longer, but TFG brought it to full-on evil.

  171. 171.

    Soprano2

    @Matt McIrvin: That’s why it’s crucial to respond in a calm, factual way. You don’t call them a liar, but you do say what happened from your point of view. I think if people can see that most of your reviews are good and the angry one star is an outlier, they can figure it out. I think it would be a real problem if someone has an actual vendetta against you, though.

  172. 172.

    Another Scott

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    NYMag (from September):

    Joe Manchin attracted a great deal of press attention last night by issuing a long statement expressing his list of mostly familiar grievances with Joe Biden’s Build Back Better agenda. What drew less attention were some shorter and more elliptical comments he made laying out areas of agreement. If you read between the lines, and add some optimistic assumptions, you can see the outline of a potential deal.

    The biggest problem Democrats face is financing the program, given that every dollar Democrats can raise, either through higher taxes on the wealthy or reduced spending on prescription drugs, has a team of lobbyists pleading its case. Manchin laid out a practical way through: repeal of the high-end portion of the Trump tax cuts to pay for it. “I want to do a tax overhaul,” he said. “One thing you understand that all Democrats agreed on, there’s not a lot of things we all agree on, is that the 2017 tax cuts are unfair and weighted toward the high end. Let’s fix that.”

    The benefit here is that Democrats are already on record as voting against the Trump tax cuts. Manchin and Sinema both voted them down. And their opposition has been amply supported by a host of studies showing the Trump tax cuts utterly failed in their intended goal of encouraging business investment, and simply dumped a windfall gain on the rich.

    […]

    As always, the devil’s in the details.

    HTH!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  173. 173.

    Reverse tool order

    @Soprano2:

    Re your fired employee: If you are still tempted to second guess, here is a question for you. Does that take you somewhere useful? The answer falls somewhere in the range no-maybe-yes.

    If your answer is “no”, you can discount all the yak-yak/noise down to zero value. Onward to the current problems.

    PS: I hate having to fire people too. Sometimes you have to.

  174. 174.

    dnfree

     

    @Soprano2: once I was involved in a situation involving me wanting to explain a situation to someone so they would understand it.  They had invoked getting a lawyer.  My lawyer told me to stop all contact at that point. Don’t respond in any way once someone has threatened legal action, no matter how much you want to explain it to them.

  175. 175.

    Mike G

    ‘Don’t hesitate to ask for anything,’ President Joe Biden said as he toured through the battered remains of two Kentucky cities

    A Real Manly President would show up to patronizingly throw some paper towels, question whether they were really part of the US, then jet outta town. Republicans can’t feel alive unless they’re seeing themselves reflected in performative cruelty.

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