OPEN THREAD.
In case you are interested, Vice President Kamala Harris is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin today, delivering remarks highlighting the historic funding in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that will remove and replace lead pipes all across the country.
In spite of the importance of the issue, there wasn’t much to the speech. But if you want to watch, here it is:
Open thread.
WaterGirl
Madame VP is being introduced right now.
The Dangerman
Sounds like a cinch.
WaterGirl
@The Dangerman: easy peasy!
jnfr
I’m watching NASA TV Science Live right now. I’ll have to catch Madame Vice President later.
dmsilev
@jnfr: Yep. The Webb telescope has arrived at its destination. Well done, to all involved.
Next, a few months of carefully fine-tuning the mirror positions and bringing the instruments online.
Geminid
I was checking out Senator Warren’s Twitter feed this weekend and noticed she was talking up benefits the Infrastructure bill is bringing to Massachesetts. Representative Val Demings has been doing this in Florida also, and pointing out that Marco Rubio voted against it.
Meanwhile, the Rage of Mar-a-Loco is calling for primary challenges to the 13(?) Republican Representatives who voted for the bill. Trump knows that this spending will help Biden and other Democrats politically, but that horse has left the barn and he’d do better to shut up about it. Just stupid vindictiveness on his part.
Baud
@dmsilev:
I hope God is dressed and ready for his close-up.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I don’t believe that God wears pants.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I expect not. God
manMADE man in his image and all the pictures from the Garden of Eden show Adam to be butt naked.edited
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: See, your aversion to pants should be a big hit among the evangelicals.
Van Buren
Having surgery tomorrow, so while I’m under, try not to let WWIII start.
Baud
@Van Buren:
Good luck.
Baud
@Baud: man man = made man
Tdjr
@Van Buren: Is the VP going to be in charge?
Good luck!
Tony Jay
@Van Buren:
I think we can push a few things back, juggle the timetable a little. How long are you going to be under, exactly?
HumboldtBlue
Commander Billie J. Farrell takes command of USS Constitution, the first woman to do so.
trollhattan
@Baud: “Bless thy Holy Butt Cheeks; may our conduct please them evermore.”
trollhattan
@HumboldtBlue:
Which copy?
Baud
@trollhattan:
The Bible teaches proper butt usage.
HumboldtBlue
@trollhattan:
Hah! Does Nicolas Cage still have a copy?
Just One More Canuck
@Baud: words fail me.
Roger Moore
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
So you’re saying Baud is closer to God than the rest of us.
Mike in DC
Is, uh, Adam coming back any time soon to comment on the whole “imminent Armageddon” thing going on in Eastern Europe? Just wondering.
Tarragon
Manman is a superhero who was bitten by a radioactive man giving him the proportional strength and agility of a man
jnfr
@dmsilev:
So, so happy for this project.
burnspbesq
ICYMI, Wills got her special grand jury. Trump must be shitting bricks.
https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/breaking-fulton-judges-greenlight-special-grand-jury-for-trump-probe/DEBK3IQKLZHLBO6EYBGDXAHAU4/
I’m sure we’ll hear him bitch about how he can’t get a fair trial in Atlanta because… you know.
LongHairedWeirdo
I think I finally came up with an interview question that should have been (and still *should* be) asked. All journalists might deserve to be called to account for not having asked it in spring/summer 2020:
Please note: it is *excruciatingly* correct to say that a plan that costs more (but still a reasonable amount) and saves more lives is “conservative”.
Taking wild gambles with the lives of everyone in the entire fornicating country was unthinkably radical until about two years ago. But it was never, ever, “conservative”. Words mean things.
ETA: I think it’s better to say you can’t just let an UNKNOWN number of people die, for no reason. I still think it’s good in either version.
Van Buren
@Tdjr: I think the BJ constitution stipulates that Baud is in charge.
Starboard Tack
@Mike in DC: May be there.
mrmoshpotato
@Geminid:
And that horse’s ass should throw himself and his entire adult family into the Sun.
mrmoshpotato
@Van Buren:
We’ll hold off until you’re conscious again.
Soprano2
I checked the local Covid dashboard this afternoon, and it’s quite the thing. The 7-day case rate per 100,000 people is 1,841 as of today, which is much much higher than it has ever been here (previous high was 608). The number hospitalized is still lower than the highest number we had last summer during delta, but it’s getting close – 238, the high for us was 271. I think about what it would be like without vaccines, and well that’s just a horrible thought.
H.E.Wolf
I got it. Good one! :)
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
Not to worry, WWIII will be history well before the surgery is.
:)
oatler
@trollhattan:
“You’re pretty uptight for a naked chick.”
Tdjr
@Van Buren: Excellent! Baud 2022!
HumboldtBlue
I did not know Hilary Mantel had given a series of lectures on writing, historical fiction and answering critics who claim a lack of historical accuracy.
Yarrow
The week is starting off well for Boris Johnson, I see.
gene108
@Geminid:
That’s pretty much accounts for a good deal of TFG’s decision making. It’s pretty on brand for him, and something Republican voters admire him for.
Montanareddog
@Tony Jay: i see there are reports of yet another Number 10 shindig during lockdown, this time a birthday party for the bloated blonde blatherer himself
ETA: as Yarrow said at 38
West of the Rockies
Excellent news on piles. I would LOVE to see power lines buried here in the west. The faster, the better.
Scout211
My sister got her free COVID test kits today. 2 iHealth test kits with 2 tests in each box. So two boxes. I wondered if it was 2 boxes or 4 boxes, so now we know. She is in Orlando.
Yarrow
@Montanareddog: It’s a bit of a distraction to watch the chaos from afar. Re: the PM’s wife:
Heh.
Spanky
@West of the Rockies:
Is there some new research on power lines and hemorrhoids that I somehow missed?
Felanius Kootea
@Tarragon: ???
West of the Rockies
Remember when George Allen’s racist Macaca utterance utterly tanked him, but Trump’s “Where’s my Africa-American” meant nothing?
Christ, I hope he faces consequences. Go Fulton Co!!!
West of the Rockies
@Spanky
Oops… make that pipes!
Montanareddog
@Yarrow: things are so bad, even Piers Morgan is talking sense
LongHairedWeirdo
“Senator Paul, if you did not believe the things you say about Dr. Fauci, you’d be guilty of extending t he pandemic. You are asking after baseless conspiracy theories – do you, in fact, have any evidence to support those conspiracy theories, that has not been released to the public? If not, why would you promulgate misinformation, that could worsen the pandemic?”
Unique uid
Lead pipes – the devil might be in the details…
Since I have history with both of the Michigan cities that have been in the news for lead, I paid some attention to that part of the infrastructure bill. I believe the Federal money has to be matched 50/50 with state or local money. I fear some states might plead poverty and not come up with their share.
Also, it was estimated that the Federal amount was just barely (probably not…) sufficient to cover 50% of replacements. Especially given the usual construction cost overruns, recent wage inflation, etc.
Not trying to complain about Biden, a 110% supporter here. The infrastructure bill is fantastic, been waiting all my adult life for that.
Yarrow
@Montanareddog: He seems adept at figuring out which way the wind is blowing and how he can get some attention for pointing it out.
rikyrah
@Van Buren:
Prayers for you that it goes well.
zhena gogolia
Thanks to Uncle Ebeneezer for recommending Last Night in Soho!
trollhattan
@Soprano2:
Wow, wow, wow, case rate is 1,841? What pestilence-ridden place is this?
Our peak (Sacramento County) case rate seems to be easing back from its Jan 10 peak of 239, down to a still very high 166 (previous peak was 65 in 2020). The test positivity was 61% a week ago, meaning more than half of folks asking “Do I have it?” are getting “Yup” for their troubles. We’re also at record hospitalizations, but not for ICU cases.
Geminid
@gene108: Not all Republican voters admire Trump for his stupid vindictiveness. Some just think Democrats are scary and voted for Trump as the lesser of two evils. I know people like that.
Republicans in Nebraska’s 2nd Congresional District may be wondering how the hell their Congressman, Dan Bacon, can hold onto his seat this year with Trump trashing him. Joe Biden carried the 2nd by 6% (and got an Electoral vote out of it). Bacon won by 15,000 out of 330,000 votes cast. He was one of only nine Republicans to win a district carried by Biden, and all nine will be prime targets for Democrats this year.
Van Buren
@rikyrah: Thanks, I have every reason to believe it will go smoothly.
If I survived being shown the “Good faith estimate” of $251,000 (of which I am responsible for $95-yes, union insurance is awesome-I think the surgery itself will be a breeze.
Roger Moore
@trollhattan:
When the test positivity rate is 61%, you can bet you’re missing a lot of cases because they just aren’t being tested. LA County has the highest case rate in the state, but our positivity rate topped out at 25% or so. That makes me think other places are just as bad but simply aren’t catching all the cases.
WhatsMyNym
@trollhattan: How are you defining case rate?
trollhattan
@WhatsMyNym:
trollhattan
@Roger Moore: That’s probably very true. “I can’t find tests” is a common lament here, the last month or so. (I know a couple who paid about $2k in December at SFO, to board their flight while meeting the mandated 48 hour negative test window.)
Geminid
@West of the Rockies: One promising clean energy development is a 350 mile electrical transmission line from wind generator fields in western Iowa to Illinois. The line will be underground, and almost all of it will run along existing railroad right of ways. Siemens Industries pioneered this buried DC transmission system in Germany, and is a major investor in the $2,5 billion project. This system costs more than aboveground lines, but it is way easier to get right of ways and permits.
Brachiator
@Yarrow:
Someone is having fun with Boris. Every time he lies, a new revelation is leaked to the media.
I still want to know how the Metropolitan Police, which guards Number 10 Downing, somehow never ever, ever saw anything.
raven
@Geminid: Forgotonnia!
Starboard Tack
@Geminid: Why DC?
UncleEbeneezer
@zhena gogolia: Glad you enjoyed it too!
Geminid
@Starboard Tack: I don’t know. I hope Siemens does.
Actually, I bet somebody here can explain. My own knowledge of electricity is not very current.
Starboard Tack
@Geminid: Nikola Tesla is sad.
zhena gogolia
@UncleEbeneezer: I haven’t finished it (I’m using it for my 4 X/day stretching) but I am savoring it and will watch it again with my husband. The music alone is incredible!
trollhattan
@Starboard Tack: IIUC DC is better for long-distance transmission (less loss) and also interconnects between non-synchronized AC distribution systems.
HarlequinGnoll
@Baud: made me think of this comic (assuming i did this correctly)
Link
Starboard Tack
@trollhattan: I’m not familiar with that. I should
check it out.Spanky
@Starboard Tack: Nikola Tesla is pissed.
Starboard Tack
@Geminid: I see what you did there. I helped survey railroad lines in Missouri in the 90s for long line fiber optics.
Yarrow
@Brachiator: I sort of imagine his flunkies playing “New Story Whack-a-Mole.” They think they’ve got on top of the last story and the Story Mole pops up again.
germy
Biden is a truth teller:
NotMax
Just put on a Romanian silent film comedy from 1961 about the heist of an atomic device, They Stole the Bomb, on Tubi.
Has the look of being filmed with a not very well maintained Soviet knock-off 8mm camera.
;)
Cameron
@Spanky: …and he’s being recognized more and more.
germy
LongHairedWeirdo
I guess I’m not anyone’s biggest comment-flag but, just to expand on my “interview” questions, the idea is to find questions that delve into uncomfortable areas, and seed twitter. Force them to actively defend their indefensible positions, because “people *are* asking questions”.
I’d try it, if my life wasn’t such that joining any social media platform is doomed.
You see, crazy thing. Fatigue can make you say stuff, because you felt you had to say something, and it’ll be just off. Fatigue means you hide all your hurts – but when you’re at your worst, those hurts can all explode as you run out of cope. And worst, it means sometimes you just can’t be there, like a friend, or even a decent person, should. I literally can’t engage as a friend, in normal conditions, with normal people. Stop and think – please don’t pity! – of how empty that makes a life.
Long term fatigue might be caused by Covid-19. These motherfuckers are causing more people like *me* to suffer. And I don’t have the heartlessness to inflict this on them, even if they inflicted it on others. (I didn’t say it would be unjust – merely that *I* wouldn’t do it.)
And though I thought I’d never say these dumbass words again, love is stronger than hate, and the truth is stronger than lies; and the greatest lie *ever* told is that a single heart’s love can’t make a difference.
I’m down far today, so I won’t check for replies. Feel free to mock the bleeding heart if you feel you just gotta :-) because, hey, guilty as charged.
debbie
@Soprano2:
I was trying to find the equivalent for Ohio and struck out, but I see that Omicron cases have increased in one month from 28.77% of all cases to 92.15% through 1/15/22. Pretty freakin’ fast.
debbie
@Yarrow:
I’m not sure the Queen’s ever liked him. Ironic that the photo of her sitting alone at Phillip’s funeral may end up being what does him in.
zhena gogolia
@debbie: All I can think of is who’s going to play him in season 6.
Baud
@germy:
Hahaha. I’ve never been prouder to have voted for the man.
Brachiator
Sigh. I am listening to a talk radio host claim that Putin is eager to hang onto Ukraine because “Russia has been invaded time and time again” over the years and needs Crimea and Ukraine as buffer states. He said, “look, Napoleon invaded, and Hitler.” Well, that’s two.
I didn’t think that Napoleon invaded through Ukraine. And in any case, both those invasions were miserable failures.
Also, the idiot was somehow trying to blame Biden for not understanding Putin’s fears.
Goddam, this is going to be a long year of stupid.
debbie
@germy:
Context:
Starboard Tack
@trollhattan: The reduction in line loss must be greater than the conversion losses, unless you also include the cost of synchronization.
CarolPW
@trollhattan: The transmission line from The Dalles in Oregon down to California is DC to minimize loss (I think it’s called Big Eddy).
Kalakal
@Brachiator: And their name is Dominic Cummings. Pro tip, never sack a person who knows where all the bodies are buried and who has a personality that makes a dyspetic weasel seem congenial. He’s a vile creep but he’s a good hater
Baud
Google knows all.
Tony Jay
@Montanareddog:
It is to laugh.
I only sent a guest-post rant to Anne-Laurie yesterday covering what was then the latest spasms in Flobalob’s death by a thousand leaks.
Bloody out of date now, isn’t it? Fucking Tories and their machine-gun scandals.
debbie
@zhena gogolia:
I nominate Ricky Gervais.
Baud
@Brachiator:
Starboard Tack
@CarolPW:
That’s cute.
Baud
@Tony Jay:
If the royal family is ever going to successfully reclaim power from Parliament, now seems like the time to make the attempt.
zhena gogolia
@germy: LMAO! I’ve watched it 10 times in a row!
zhena gogolia
@Brachiator: Fuck them. Ukraine is a sovereign nation.
Brachiator
@Tony Jay:
Some of this seems to be coming from usually reliable pro-Conservative media sources.
I half expect the Queen to say, “enough of this parliamentary bullshit. I’m taking over again!”
WaterGirl
@debbie: I have never been his biggest fan, but that was a great response from McCain.
Starboard Tack
@Baud: I found that, too. For a given max voltage a DC line will transfer more power but also have greater R loss. I need my calculator.
Kalakal
@Brachiator:
And in breaking news Belgium demands a demilitarised buffer zone consisting of 30% of Germany, 40% of France, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Denmark and, just to be on the safe side, Lichtenstein
debbie
@germy:
Was this from last week’s marathon conference or from something more recent?
trollhattan
@Brachiator: To fend off hoards from…Romania? Moldova? Belarus clearly not a problem for Vlad.
If nothing else, I hope Vlad’s reward for this monkey business is Finland and Sweden deciding to join NATO. He’d love that.
Spanky
@Baud: I think the royal family has collectively said “fuck it”, and moved on.
CarolPW
@Starboard Tack:
To be clear, it’s the substation that’s called Big Eddy and it’s named after a nearby feature in the Columbia River, appropriately used for another type of current.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
If Anne could get rid of Charles and William quickly and quietly, she might be able to pull it off.
debbie
@trollhattan:
Hell, it wouldn’t happen, but I’d love to see every nation in the world submit an application just to piss him off.
trollhattan
@CarolPW: Coincidentally, also my porn name.
Roger Moore
@Starboard Tack:
DC can actually be more efficient for transmission for long distances point-to-point. Where AC really shines is if you need to tap power out along the way. AC can easily be converted from one voltage to another using a transformer, so it’s possible to keep the transmission voltage high for efficiency and then convert to a lower, safer voltage for use. But if you’re just going to move a lot of power over a long distance and not tap it along the way, it may be more efficient to transmit it as DC. That true even accounting for some losses from converting from AC to DC and back. For something like a solar plant, which generates DC power to start with, it makes even more sense to transmit the power as DC.
Geminid
@Starboard Tack: People have called below ground electrical transmission a game changer. When I first read an article about the Iowa-Illinois line, the reporter noted that a proposed above ground line from Nebraska east had been held up for years because of permitting problems, and still had not been approved. People in the right of ways hate these power lines. But there are rail lines most everywhere.
Above ground lines are also more vulnerable. About six years ago there was an unusual dry windstorm that toppled a big set of transmission lines right onto I-64 between Charlottesville and Richmond. It took hours to get traffic moving again, and days to get the power line restored.
Yarrow
@debbie: She doesn’t have to like him. She’s been on the throne since Churchill was Prime Minister. The PMs come and they go. This one will likely go soon.
Starboard Tack
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: There’s always the tower.
Brachiator
@LongHairedWeirdo:
No mockery from me…
The weight of this sad time we must obey,
Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say
— King Lear
Cameron
@Brachiator: Maybe I’m not following this in enough detail, but what I’ve heard of Putin’s case seems to go like this:
“We are deeply concerned over our national security.”
“We do not feel safe with countries that border ours and that are NATO members armed with long-range missiles.”
“To show our good faith, we are going to invade a country that borders ours that is not a NATO member and does not have long-range missiles.”
WTF?
Steve in the ATL
@Geminid:
NotMax says “off my corner, ho!”
Yarrow
@Brachiator: @Kalakal: It really seems to be a fight to the death between Dominic Cummings’ side and Carrie Johnson’s side. They’re both ostensibly “conservatives” so they’re fighting it out in traditionally conservative media.
CarolPW
@trollhattan: I thought I had seen you somewhere before!
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
Putin is definitely getting his money’s worth for all the American political commentators he bought.
debbie
@Yarrow:
My guess is she’d prefer sooner rather than later.
zhena gogolia
@Kalakal: Right.
burnspbesq
@Tony Jay:
The truly astonishing thing about all this is that the Tories can’t defenestrate Boris because they don’t have anyone as good or better to slot into the job. He’s the Duncan Ferguson of British politics.
Brachiator
@trollhattan:
Finland has been very careful to say that they have no intention of joining NATO. Finland has always had a very … cautious … relationship with Russia and the Soviet Union. They are careful not to give offense.
Roger Moore
@Starboard Tack:
I think the conversion is less of an issue when the source is solar, since that starts as DC. I don’t know that for sure, though; I’m not 100% certain you can run the solar in a way that generates the extremely high voltages you want for transmission or if you need to convert to AC to transform to higher voltage. If you can just connect the solar in series and get high voltage that way, you can put the AC conversion close to the point of use, which is probably smart.
Geminid
@Steve in the ATL: I guess I’d better rain in my wit before the pedants get on my case.
Starboard Tack
@Roger Moore: I get that. DC has a steady current flow that makes better use of the lines capacity and for a given power transfer the R loss is the same.
Tony Jay
@Brachiator:
According to the rumour-mill Sue Grey (the civil-servant behind whose inquiry all Johnson Loyalists find shelter) has been speaking to the Met officers who were on guard duty during Party Time. Apparently they’re really, really eager to spill what they know, almost as if they’ve been gagged up until now.
We’ll find out in a day or two.
Yarrow
@debbie: Maybe. He did lie to her, however, which is some kind of firing offence. How he didn’t lose his job after that I don’t know.
Roger Moore
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
She’d need to get rid more than that. The monarchy follows a depth-first system, and for whatever reason the change to age only preference wasn’t imposed retroactively. That means Anne would need to eliminate all her brothers and all their descendants to become heir.
Brachiator
@burnspbesq:
Hell, the Tories didn’t have anyone better lined up when they toppled Theresa May.
But I take your point.
Soprano2
@trollhattan: That’s per 100,000, the 7 day average. It’s SWMO, Greene County, where the vax rate is under 53%. The previous high was 608!
Starboard Tack
@Roger Moore: I’ll ask my brother what he knows about that. He’s retired IBEW.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Roger Moore: I was making a joke about Anne’s apparent strength of character relative to the rest of her family, not literally suggesting… oh never mind.
MomSense
Friday night I stopped at the fish market on the way home from work and bought sushi grade yellowfin tuna and made poke bowls for dinner. Soooo delicious.
Today I stopped at the fish market and they had fresh Atlantic Salmon. I made some homemade teriyaki – like sauce and am about to air fry the salmon fillets. They look so tasty. While it cooks I’ll quickly toast some sesame seeds and warm/thicken the marinade on the stove top so I can glaze the salmon when it’s done.
debbie
From Fiona Hill’s NYT op-ed:
Why am I beginning to picture Putin as Iago?
Yarrow
@Tony Jay: I’ve read that Sue Grey’s report will go to Johnson who can the redact it before releasing it. He’ll be able to see the whole unredacted report so he’ll know who said what, who gave her what info. There seems to be some kind of guessing game as to who might say what and will that fly back in their faces and how. Meanwhile, all the Tories seem to be running around trying to figure out who they can trust (no one!) and where they can hide (nowhere!).
Frank Wilhoit
@Yarrow: Her mistake was accepting Cameron’s resignation. It would have been entirely constitutional to order him to stay at his post. She could have used the same words that her grandfather said to Ramsay Macdonald: “By God, Sir, you got me into this and you will get me out.”
Starboard Tack
@Roger Moore: The tower’s not big enough
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
But they did anyway. That should be a warning to Johnson that lack of competent replacements isn’t as protective as he might hope.
Brachiator
@Steve in the ATL:
RE: My own knowledge of electricity is not very current.
I thought that the term for “ho” in electrical circles was “ohm.”
Starboard Tack
@Brachiator: That’s from a song The Electric Horseman sang in that movie. Ohm, ohm on the range.
Roger Moore
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Honestly, I would love to see some (non-fatal) twist that would make Harry the heir apparent. His willingness to buck the family to protect his wife and children seems like evidence he has his head screwed on straight.
Kalakal
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: As she’s an ex olympic athlete who once fought off an armed kidnapper (who shot 3 people in the attempt) I’d say Anne has considerable strength of character
Tony Jay
@Baud:
It was Andrew’s job to line up the funding and diplomatic pre-approval for The Second Restoration, but he got… distracted.
@Brachiator:
I think we’re seeing the external light show from a difference of opinion between factions of the Right over what constitutes ‘pro-Conservative’.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Hate to tell you, but it’s not just Charles and William she’d have to get rid of. There are 16 people currently between Anne and the throne (all three of her brothers — yes, including the odious Andrew — and all of her brothers’ children and grandchildren).
ETA: Or what Roger Moore said, better and sooner.
trollhattan
@Soprano2:
Jeez, I’d be furious and despondent, in equal measure. And also stay inside.
Hope it’s in the process of peaking there!
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
For sure she’s a take-no-prisoners kind of gal. And works harder than almost any of the rest of them. Tough lady, Anne.
No name
@LongHairedWeirdo: No mockery but good thoughts sent to you.
Kalakal
@Roger Moore: Someone should repeat the names William Hague, Ian Duncan Smith, Michael Howard, Theresa May to Johnson. If there’s one consistent thread to the Tories it’s self preservation. If they percieve you as a liability you’re under the bus. They may worship Thatcher her but they knifed her without a second thought
Montanareddog
@burnspbesq: probably for the same reasons that Republican leadership is so feeble; the Brexiteers and the Trumpista idealogues have driven all the genuine talents from their respective parties.
Tony Jay
@burnspbesq:
I think it’s more that the various gobshites queuing up to replace Johnson are all terrified of making the first move and being torn apart by their rivals (and their allied media outlets/social media vultures).
Once he’s been forced out by losing a VONC, then the coast will be clear for the orgy of blood to start without anyone being piously accused of inclement eagerness.
These are, after all, such humble people.
skerry
@Spanky: I’m glad to see I’m not the only one with that thought.
Yarrow
@Tony Jay: Gove seems to have been keeping a very low profile through this party stuff.
Tony Jay
@Yarrow:
It’s true, the report does go to him. Hence the current push to have the whole thing published openly so the Flobby One can’t pick and choose what gets released.
Thing is, he’s already so comprehensively gutted that a redacted whitewash wouldn’t last two minutes. The Grey Report either gives Tory MPs cover to make him resign or it gets dismissed as a cover-up and they use that as their cover.
It always takes a while to happen, then whoosh.
Montanareddog
@Yarrow: No doubt Gove is clever and ambitious and is keeping his powder dry. But he is an Iago (2nd time mentioned in the thread) without the charm. No way the Tories (Parliamentary party or the membership) would ever select him.
Yarrow
@Montanareddog: I don’t think he knows that, though. Like most of them, he’s got aspirations.
@Tony Jay: Indeed. Slowly, slowly…then all at once. It’s amusing to watch it all unravel from here. I see that people have knives out for Sunak as well. They should, given how much government money he just wrote off as a loss.
Tony Jay
@Yarrow:
Very. With his divorce and the swirling gossip about his sexuality I think he’s been told very clearly that he’s not going to be allowed another tilt at the brass ring so he’s slithering around waiting to see whose lap he should coil up in.
Yarrow
@Tony Jay: He did do some good stuff recently re: the cladding scandal. It makes me ill just to have written that.
Squid696
In general, AC is preferred for power transmission because you can transmit high power with low current by using transformers to raise the voltage to a high voltage. Power is a function of voltage and current, but resistive heat losses are a function of current only. So, the less current you use, the less power is lost due to resistive heating. Normally, we envision AC being transmitted on towers where the conductors are spaced far apart. However, when you have to place AC conductors closer together, like in a subsea or underground cable, you have to use dielectric insulation to isolate the conductors, like in coax cable, and you start to get a large amount of capacitive losses. At long distances, the capacitive losses in an AC cable more of a problem than the resistive losses in a DC circuit or the dielectric insulation needed is so great as to make it impracticable.
Roger Moore
@Montanareddog:
Republican leadership is feeble because the inmates like running the asylum.
Tony Jay
@Yarrow:
And the blackmail/bribery of MPs touches him too. He’s the Chancellor, he controls the money.
I really can’t see Sunak making it past the seething racism of the Tory grass-roots, but evidently his rivals are making sure that ‘Dishy Rishi’ goes into any leadership contest well-bruised and already badly limping.
Montanareddog
@Tony Jay: in other words, Gove knows not to piss off the Johnson loyalists, nor any potential replacements. Makes sense what you say.
Kalakal
@Tony Jay: I’m not sure I’d write Gove out of contention. He’s Uncle Rupe’s blue eyed toad and that’s a major asset
Tony Jay
@Yarrow:
Anyone can talk a good game. With Tories, always wait to see what’s left of their big promises once the mechanism of review and legislative drafting has finished with them.
debbie
@Montanareddog:
I can just about see Will’s nose twitching at all the story ideas in today’s world.
Tony Jay
@Kalakal:
Even Saruman never seriously considered putting Grima Wormtongue on the actual throne. 8-)
Montanareddog
@Tony Jay:
Don’t agree with that. He controls education funding, but the Education Secretary controls which school districts get more or less funding.
Interesting one, that. Definitely a factor, but he’s not Muslim, and the Tory party is nothing if not malleable in the pursuit and continuance of power. Misogyny also runs deep yet they chose the first female major party leader over 40 years ago,and another one since.
Steve in the ATL
@Starboard Tack: which local? I’ve negotiated with a bunch of them!
Montanareddog
@debbie:
Astute remark
Another Scott
@LongHairedWeirdo:
We cannot force them to do anything. They cannot be shamed by us. Remember that GQP debate when Rubio turned every question into an opportunity to chant his “let’s dispel with” (sic!) talking point?
Politics for the RWNJ is a matter of being the person with no-one on their right. To be the “True Conservative”. They know that their value is not in representing the sensible wishes of their constituents, but rather in holding the office. Once in office, they get the attention of party elites and wealthy donors who want their pet projects addressed, and have the power to try to twist the system to reward those in their tribe, punish those outside it, and prevent anyone outside it from ever holding the office again.
These RWNJs have shown for decades that they don’t care what sensible people think. The way out is to defeat them in elections because they won’t get any better.
Thanks.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Starboard Tack
@Steve in the ATL: San Diego
NotMax
@Brachiator
“What a revoltin’ development.”
– Chester A. Riley
;)
Just One More Canuck
@Yarrow: “No-one told me it was against the law” – Boris Johnson
Yarrow
@Just One More Canuck: “No one told me it was my birthday!”
Tony Jay
@Montanareddog:
“So, Chancellor. You were entirely unaware of how your Cabinet colleagues were spending the money you gave them? No one in the Treasury kept track? Concerns were never expressed? We can see now how the loss of over four billion pounds to furlough fraud happened on your watch. You’re not really in command of your brief, are you?”
It’s not just education spending. There’s no way Sunak didn’t know what was going on. And in this new era of sudden interest in Tory scandal, the question will be asked. What did the Chancellor know and when did he know it?
On the other issue, I can see the Tories picking a woman of brownness before they’d ever allow a brown man to sit atop the throne.
Yarrow
@Tony Jay: If that’s so, then welcome to PM Priti Patel, she who is currently revoking the citizenship of anyone who has even the most tenuous claim of citizenship in any other country in the world. Mostly brown people, of course.
Ruckus
@mrmoshpotato:
He doesn’t have nearly enough money to get his own dumb ass headed that way, let alone all the family…
Ruckus
@Tony Jay:
Which hurts worse, your tongue or cheek?
NotMax
@Tony Jay
That there’s a Heeping helpful of snark.
;)
Another Scott
@trollhattan: The HV DC Wikipedia page is good.
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Tony Jay:
(via slender_sherbet)
Cheers,
Scott.