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Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

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I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

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The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

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In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

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Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Greetings Earthlings

Greetings Earthlings

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I was very pleased the hear that Breyer is finally stepping down, getting his decrepit ass off the court, and allowing some new blood in. This is, of course, at best, a rear guard action since the court is locked in to the right for probably the rest of my life unless Thomas dies and Alito strokes out, but it is important nonetheless. That is, of course, unless Mitch McConnell decides you need 92 votes to confirm a judge or some bullshit.

At any rate, of the liberal left choices, the most important qualifications are:

1.) Are you under 50?
2.) Are your parents still alive.

I want someone 40 years old who will be on the bench until the are 90.

My personal preference would be a gay atheist person of color whose politics are to the left of Lenin, but I am flexible so long as it is not another god damned fetus fetishist catholic.

***

In other news, since I tested negative, I called my doctor and informed them that I am now on day eight of a chest cold, and they set me up with a video teleconference with a physician’s assistant. This is the third time I have done this since the COVID pandemic started, and I really enjoy the ease of it. They send me a text message with a link, I click on it, allow camera access on my phone, reach to the right of my desk where I keep the shirt I put on when on camera, and wait for them to show up.

We had a little chat, and she decided I should be on an antibiotic at this point, and she called in a scrip.

Short, sweet, and done.

Went and picked up my zpack and swung by the grocery store and picked up the first fresh fruit I had bought in a week, and came home with 40 bucks worth of strawberries, raspberries, bananas, grapefruit, and pineapple. I also got some soup from my italian joint, and I came home and pigged out on fruit, which I had missed the past few days.

I have done the tasting platter of decongestants this past week, and I am pleased to say that I have settled on one I like, the Mucinex Clear and Cool, which is like a refreshing breath mint. It has a heady aroma of peppermint with notes of spearmint, a pleasant syrupy mouthfeel, and just a solid minty fresh feel as you swallow, followed by a pleasant minty aftertaste. A very pleasant blend.

Reader Interactions

62Comments

  2. 2.

    trollhattan

    Lingering sinus infections can be a pain. Had one for god knows how long that an ENT doc finally diagnosed, then nuked it with antibiotics and steroids (to reduce inflammation and open the air passages). It worked, dang it, and I hope you get this thing licked as well. Breathing is fundamental.

  3. 3.

    dmsilev

    They send me a text message with a link, I click on it, allow camera access on my phone, reach to the right of my desk where I keep the shirt I put on when on camera, and wait for them to show up.

    I note that while you mention reaching for the shirt, actually donning it is omitted from the list of steps….

    Anyway, hope the cold clears up quickly.

  4. 4.

    Percysowner

    The things I want to continue after COVID is less of an issue Telemedicine, Bankers Lines at grocery stores and curbside pickup. I love being able to click a link and talk to my doctor for things that don’t require an office visit. I have to go in for my annual, but that’s about it for actual seeing the guy. I also love that I don’t have to try and guess which grocery line will move the quickest. They just go in the order that you got there. I will also probably keep curbside pickup for a long time, because it’s nice to not have to wander around the store, or go into a restaurant

  5. 5.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Finally stepping down? Would you have had him do it before 2010 2014? Because it is pretty clear that we weren’t getting anyone on the Court from then until until last January. And both Thomas’s and Alito’s seats could open up in the reasonably near future or don’t you expect to live very long?

     

    Fixed.

  6. 6.

    trollhattan

    Cycling past the Sacramento and American river confluence I spotted a big ol’ head pop out of the water, then disappear. Waited awhile and saw it again–bigass sea lion, I guess getting salmon heading up the American. The amazing bit is that’s at river mile 60 upstream of the Sacramento River terminus, which itself is many miles east of The Bay. That’s a long dang way to travel for salmon. IDK what the longterm effects of freshwater might be, but a good meal seems to be worth it.

  9. 9.

    Brachiator

    I click on it, allow camera access on my phone, reach to the right of my desk where I keep the shirt I put on when on camera…

    Remember to put on pants, too.

    Feel better.

    CNN showed a number of black women under consideration for the Court. All are fine by me.

  11. 11.

    JMG

    My daughter’s in the wine business in France, and your rap on cold medicine sounds eerily like she describes expensive Bordeauxs to her clients.

  16. 16.

    Suzanne

    a gay atheist person of color whose politics are to the left of Lenin, but I am flexible so long as it is not another god damned fetus fetishist catholic

    Works as well for a SCOTUS Justice as for a Tinder profile.

  21. 21.

    stinger

    Your description of your decongestant is charming, but I must be the only person in America who doesn’t like mint. I buy children’s toothpaste, which is fruit-flavored rather than minty.

    ETA: I see I am joined by NotMax, who after all lives in Hawai’i and everyone knows that’s not part of America. (Flight attendants going to the Islands used to ask passengers if any of them had Hawaiian money in their purses/wallets. Then, Ha-ha, they’d tell them they all did!)

    Kind of like some people think New Mexico isn’t part of America….

  24. 24.

    lurker

    ya know…the medicine is not supposed to taste good …

    if you start looking forward to it, bad things can happen…

    hope you feel better soon, and glad to hear the video thing went well and that you had a shirt on for it… ; – )

  25. 25.

    SiubhanDuinne

    For the first time I have seen a picture of Judge Ketanji Jackson Brown, and OMG do I ever want a SCOTUS Associate Justice with dreads! (Yes, she is also beyond qualified — I’m not that shallow.)

  27. 27.

    Ohio Mom

    @stinger: Me too! Tom’s strawberry or  the orange mango, with fluoride is my current favorite.

    For a while, there was a brand that made grapefruit flavored toothpaste I liked very much (“hello” brand, I think) but apparently it didn’t sell well and it disappeared. I also tried Burt’s Bees fruit-something and it foamed up in my mouth like I had rabies. Ugh. 

  28. 28.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @stinger:

    I like mint, but not in toothpaste or mouthwash. I go out of my way to order deliveries of cinnamon-flavoured toothpaste/gel and classic cinnamon Lavoris. They are surprisingly hard to find in stores so I just make Jeff Bezos a little richer once a year.

  30. 30.

    Suzanne

    @Ohio Mom: The excessive sudsiness of some toothpastes grosses me out to the point of gagging. I like mint, though. I like the charcoal toothpastes. They feel nice and clean without feeling like there’s shampoo in my mouth.

  33. 33.

    James E Powell

    I saw three names being tossed about. I have only heard of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson because of the Don McGahn case, the one in which the court of appeals held that the house cannot use the courts to enforce their subpoenas.

    I’m for whoever Biden picks.

  35. 35.

    Ohio Mom

    @Ohio Mom:  I’ll add that I’ve seen some other interesting toothpaste flavors —marshmallow was one of them, watermelon another — but if they don’t have flouride, I pass them up. I am still getting cavities and I’m old enough for Medicare! My teeth need all the help they can get.

  36. 36.

    Suzanne

    @Ohio Mom: I was using fluoride-free for a bit while I was having some skin issues, and my favorite was a vanilla mint toothpaste. Once it cleared up, I went back to fluoride, but the vanilla mint was pretty good.

  37. 37.

    mrmoshpotato

    @lurker: What? Tell that to 6-year-old me who regularly took a liquid antibiotic that tasted bubble gumish.

    Not sure if I’d like a drink that flavor these days (how much booze is in it?), but yum!

  38. 38.

    Auntie Anne

    @SiubhanDuinne: A person who shares my love of cinnamon flavored dental hygiene products – I thought I was the only one! The Crest cinnamon is my toothpaste, and Lavoris my mouthwash, too.

  40. 40.

    lurker

    @mrmoshpotato: each kid had a separate preference for flavor of medicine, and the main thing I remember is that the second kid hated what the first kid liked… typical…

    i do recall from my childhood that some of the flavored stuff, particularly the cherry flavors of some medicines were worse than unflavored stuff from other brands – go figure…

  41. 41.

    lurker

    @SiubhanDuinne: ya know, i had signed off, and i signed back on mainly to mention that reading your comment implanted that ear worm and it is still going … at least an hour later (ETA maybe not an hour yet)… thanks Obama!

  42. 42.

    lurker

    @debbie: if it is a bit of a consolation, pretty sure no one I went to high school with should be allowed anywhere near the SCT. ; – )

  43. 43.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Auntie Anne:

    Cinnamon used to be ubiquitous in the dental hygiene section. I wonder why it just up and disappeared. Deliberate marketing manipulation, of course, but why?

  45. 45.

    burnspbesq

    The McMinn County (TN) school board is getting a thoroughly deserved pounding on Twitter and Facebook. Lots of folks offering free copies of “Maus” to any kid who wants one.

    Wondering which book those assholes win ban next.

  47. 47.

    Auntie Anne

    @SiubhanDuinne:  I think it’s because people prefer things that taste sweet. I’ve noticed, for example, that plain old white bread is sweeter than it used to be.

  48. 48.

    StringOnAStick

    @SiubhanDuinne: Some people have allergic reactions to cinnamon oil.  I can rarely find cinnamon Trident gum even when every other flavour is on display. I think the general trend is “the sweeter it is, the better it sells,” .

  49. 49.

    James E Powell

    Graham, Murkowski, and Collins voted with Democrats to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to the DC Circuit. That was June 14, 2021. Can’t wait to hear what’s happened since that will cause them to change their minds about her.

  50. 50.

    Starboard Tack

    @SiubhanDuinne: I got my fluoride gel today and didn’t notice until I got home that it’s fruit flavor instead of the usual mint. I hope it’s not that sickly sweet like the marshmallows in Lucky Charms.

  53. 53.

    JCJ

    @trollhattan:

    It would be really impressive if a sea lion followed them up the Fraser River in British Columbia.  The salmon there swim over 600 miles to spawn.

  54. 54.

    Sebastian

    Thomas won’t (politically) survive 2022. Ginni is radioactive.

    Kavanaugh will get swept up in the Deutsche Bank Trump scandal.

    Not sure about Ms Blank Paper.

    Gorsuch probably there to stay, sitting on Garland’s chair. I dream of Garland indicting McConnell for poetic justice.

  55. 55.

    iainlaw71

    Grapefruit interacts with lots of medicines.  Check that it’s OK to eat it while you’re taking the antibiotics.

  56. 56.

    BeautifulPlumage

    Dead thread, haven’t read comments: thank you. Under all of what I love about this blog is your personality and the reminder to appreciate the little things (which combined make up the big things). Very glad to hear the test were neg & your getting help with your cold/??.

  57. 57.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    fetus fetishist catholic.

     

    None of them are against abortion. Especially a oversexed freak like Thomas. Hell Kavanaugh likely paid for the abortions of his date rape victims.

    But they can’t run on tax cuts for the rich or segregation so they had to invent a reason. The most telling evidence is they opposed Jimmy Carter who was actually against abortion and supported a twice divorced boob who signed the most liberal abortion laws as governor.

  58. 58.

    Groucho48

    The Washington Post has a sad that Breyer is retiring before the Republicans have a chance of nominating his replacement. But, of course, they blame Dems for being partisans.

    In recent years, Justice Breyer, 83, has argued publicly that Americans should not see the court as a partisan institution, but one in which justices try to apply in good faith Congress’s instructions and the Framers’ constitutional commands. Though solidly in the court’s liberal wing, he has often sought to diminish the role that ideological differences play in the court’s decisions. It would be fitting for his replacement to share his overriding commitment to these principles.

    Breyer was wrong because the Court is full of right-wing ideologues, nominated for partisan, ideological reasons. Breyer knows that. All Dems know that. The Post knows that. But, they feel that the Dems shouldn’t act like Republicans have because that would be wrong. For reasons. Only Republicans should be allowed to be partisans. Because they will be no matter what anyone says, so, we have to accept it as given. Dems, on the other hand, try to be fair, so, we can dump on them.

    Your liberal media at work.

  59. 59.

    Gvg

    @Groucho48: Meh. I don’t interpret it that way. Democrats are different than republicans. Doing the same thing for our side just because republicans are being hyper partisan would cause us to loose support among our voters.

    I don’t want the court to rule certain ways because it’s best for our team at that moment. I want them to obey the laws. I need fair and impartial. I don’t think it is moral to tip the scales toward the wealthy and corporate over all people.

    I need a court that lives in reality not fantasy land though. Breyer annoyed me by not recognizing the courts loss of reputation and respect was earned by its members. He blamed us for their collective fault.

  61. 61.

    dr. luba

    Antibiotics are so overprescribed, or prescribed so early in the course of a disease, that we forget how powerful they are (when used correctly).

    quite a few years back I was in India, at a large mission hospital, volunteering (mostly education and oversight, as I don’t have an Indian medical license).  I had a URI, which was getting worse.  Instead of working at my friends’ house on a presentation, I went in to the hospital so as to be out of the way of the servants (it was cleaning day).  As I was sitting at a desk, working away, several of the young doctors came by and all said “Ma’am, shouldn’t you be resting t home?”  Apparently I looked as bad as I felt….

    I went home, to bed, and my friend picked up some Azithromycin for me.  Within an hour or two of the first dose, I felt like a new woman!

    Antibiotics are truly a miracle of modern medicine!

  62. 62.

    dr. luba

    As to decongestants, I am old school–Sudafed OG for me.  None of that newer fake stuff that doesn’t have pseudoephedrine in it. The 12 hour capsules dry you up wonderfully.

    Thanks to the meth heads, though, it’s now expensive (although an ancient generic) and behind the pharmacy counter, and you practically have to sign your life away to buy it.

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