Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Glad to see john eastman going through some things.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

This blog will pay for itself.

Everybody saw this coming.

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

As long as McCarthy is Speaker, the House will never be in order.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

“woke” is the new caravan.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

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

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

He really is that stupid.

Cole is on a roll !

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

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

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

You are here: Home / Climate Change / How about that weather? / Monday Morning Open Thread: Goodbye to January (At Last)

Monday Morning Open Thread: Goodbye to January (At Last)

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Our immediate neighborhood got incredibly lucky with this weekend’s blizzard (half as much light, fluffy snow as the official Boston total — Spousal Unit thinks the roaring sideways gales carried the excess downhill from the gentle rise our house stands on). So I still have some sympathy left for Betty Cracker and Adam, whose environs aren’t prepared for hard freezes…

Some good Biden administration news to start the week:

Reader Interactions

186Comments

  4. 4.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I just saw a headline that a baggage cart was sucked into a plane’s engine at Ohare when the plane slid on ice.  Everyone who’s ever flown will see that headline and know one of those suitcases had to be theirs.

  5. 5.

    Betty Cracker

    The healthier lifestyle vs. vaccines and masks talking point is a favorite of Florida’s crackpot surgeon general.

  10. 10.

    Cermet

    Well, the Ukraine ‘crises’ is partly self inflicted. We certainly should have offered Russia guarantee’s that NATO would never expand into Ukraine. Considering that would be essentially ‘game over’ for Russia as an independent nation, AND we had made/given such guarantee’s previously about Eastern Europe, it should have been given. Stupid to the n^th power.

  13. 13.

    gene108

    Good read from Eric Boehlert on PressRun

    Want more proof that the mainstream media remains committed to downplaying good news about the Biden economic boom?

    When the Commerce Department on Thursday announced that the economy just grew at the fastest rate in nearly 40 years, posting robust growth numbers not seen since the Reagan era, none of the network newscasts treated the announcement as a big deal. In fact, two of the three newscasts, “ABC World News Tonight” and “CBS Evening News” didn’t even cover the story on Thursday — “NBC Nightly News” gave it one sentence.

    The same media that remains in inflation hyperventilation mode, just cannot work up the energy to consistently inform news consumers about the red-hot economy under President Joe Biden. It won’t billboard the fact that it grew so rapidly in the fourth quarter of last year that it pushed the annual gross domestic product rate — the broadest measure of economic activity — to an eye-popping 5.7 percent. (The GDP under Trump never got above 3 percent.) Consumer spending also soared 7.9% last year, the quickest clip in since 1946.

    So attached to the idea of using economic news to bash Biden, the press doesn’t know what to do when the data demolish the media’s preferred storyline. That was obvious by the fact that the coverage of the blockbuster GDP news seemed to go out of its way not to mention him.

    https://pressrun.media/p/biden-boom-hits-new-heights-press?r=4i2kc

  15. 15.

    satby

    So, starting tomorrow and continuing through Thursday here in northwest IN, a winter storm will first dump rain for a nice baseline of ice and then a predicted 12-18 inches of snow. Glad I only have to work today at the doctor’s office!

  16. 16.

    germy

    @Cermet:

    We certainly should have offered Russia guarantee’s that NATO would never expand into Ukraine.

    I’m trying to understand this sentence, but I can’t.  Was something lost in translation?

  19. 19.

    Kay

    @gene108:

    The economic reporting has been terrible, almost from the get go. It started with the “bash the lazy deadbeats who won’t go back to work” and has continued in that direction.

    It’s ideological. They are not comfortable with income supports and subsidies going to ordinary people.

  21. 21.

    SFAW

    Housman’s an asshole, but not especially liking Psaki’s response. She could just have said “The WH has always encouraged leading a healthier lifestyle, even when certain segments criticized Mrs. Obama for encouraging that. But you DO realize that the ‘healthier lifestyle’ thing would take years of concerted effort, whereas the vaccines and masks are something that everyone can do RIGHT THE FUCK NOW, you moron. It also apparently escaped your notice that lots of formerly-healthy people have died from COVID. I might also ask how you propose that the elderly — one of the larger ‘co-morbidity’ (so to speak) factors — can become non-elderly. ”
    Now, I don’t really expect her to bring up the bullshit that the RWMFs pulled on Michelle, but the other stuff is certainly something she could pull off.

  23. 23.

    NeenerNeener

    Up here in Almost Canada the forecast for February is more January. My 90 ft long by 10 ft wide driveway is  covered in ice and I haven’t been able to get my big garbage tote out for 2 weeks. According to the weather websites the next 2 weeks is more bitter cold and snow/ice. I am not amused.

  24. 24.

    germy

    @Spanky:

    I think I understand it now.  It was the apostrophe s that threw me off.

    What Cermet is saying is that we should have promised Putin we wouldn’t expand NATO into Ukraine.   But would this have led to a promise from Putin that he wouldn’t invade Ukraine?  That’s what I don’t understand.

  25. 25.

    Matt McIrvin

    Paul Campos wrote a thing at LGM months ago where he compared the risk ratio for COVID death/severe illness from being obese to the risk ratio from being unvaccinated. As I recall, while both things contribute to higher risk, it’s a gigantic difference–the added risk from severe obesity is there but is actually pretty modest, and being slightly overweight by BMI standards isn’t an added risk at all, whereas being unvaccinated is just a gigantic risk.

  26. 26.

    SFAW

    @Josie:

    Exactly who on this blog do you think you are convincing with this repetitive dreck?

    Gin & Tonic, maybe? Because G&T seems not to know anything about Ukraine. I mean, really, how can a Rhode Islander know any of that stuff?

  27. 27.

    Soprano2

    @Betty Cracker: Bill Maher has been bloviating about this for the whole pandemic. Even before it he talked about fat people as if they have a contagious disease he could catch. It’s good to eat better, live a healthier lifestyle and be at a more healthy weight, but it’s also a damn hard thing to do for a lot of people. I lost 35 pounds almost 10 years ago, and I’ve gained a little of it back. I struggle with it every day. So they’re suggesting something that’s hard and expensive for most people rather than something that’s relatively easy to get, and free. SMH

  28. 28.

    SFAW

    @Spanky:

    It’s hard to say, since I don’t speak Moron.

    Hell, it’s my native language, and even I can’t follow Cermet’s “logic.”

  30. 30.

    japa21

    @satby: Watergirl had been moaning and whining about no snow in her area.  She’s in line for 12-18 inches as well.  We are right at the current northern line and may get a couple inches.  Of course a slight change in course could give us a foot.

  31. 31.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Soprano2: “What about fat people” has been one of the standard whataboutisms for “wellness”-oriented alt-medicine cranks since forever. If you follow their diet and exercise regimen you become immune to all disease!

  33. 33.

    Soprano2

    @Cermet: Can you explain how we can offer something to Russia that isn’t actually ours to give? You keep saying this as if it’s something that would be easy. Why do you think we have this power anyway?

  36. 36.

    Betty

    @Betty Cracker: Our “wellness anti-vaxxers” have been on this for a while. As if you could turn around your state of health in a week or two even if that were enough to get the same protection as the vaccine provides.

  38. 38.

    Betty Cracker

    I read several hot takes on the Joe Rogan vs. Neil Young controversy that suggested Spotify didn’t give a damn because they’re more invested in podcasts than music and Rogan is their golden goose, so they won’t rein him in. But maybe lawyers and/or Spotify had a word with Rogan? (via Daily Beast)

    In an Instagram video posted Sunday, hours after Spotify announced plans to fight the spread of pandemic misinformation, Rogan apologized to the streaming service and said he’ll do more research before allowing COVID quacks onto his podcast show in the future. The host said he’ll “try harder to get people with differing opinions on” and “do my best to make sure I’ve researched these topics.”

    That dumb meathead’s vow to conduct research isn’t particularly comforting, but the fact that he felt the need to apologize and signal a course correction is.

  39. 39.

    germy

    what happened to all those women who were faking seizures after the vaccine, are they still keeping that up lol

    — Emma Berquist (@eeberquist) January 29, 2022

    Remember them? They were all over social media for one brief shining moment.

  41. 41.

    Soprano2

    @japa21: They’ve already issued a winter storm watch for our area, and say we’re going to get about an inch of snow. That means people will go crazy in the stores and school will be cancelled, it’s nuts! IMHO there is no reason to cancel school or freak out when there’s an inch of snow here – you’ll be able to get to the store tomorrow, and busses can run just fine. Now a foot of snow, that would shut things down!

  43. 43.

    Soprano2

    @Matt McIrvin: To hear people like Maher tell it, losing hundreds of pounds is easy-peasy, everyone who is fat should do it! I assume he’s been naturally thin for his whole life; some people who have never struggled with extra pounds have no understanding of how hard it is. They also don’t understand that you can be healthy and fit and not thin.

  46. 46.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    He could hire and pay a fact checker or editor. 90% of this grifting is an inability to recognize that they don’t know everything and can’t do everything, so might have to take a cut of the profits and fucking hire a professional who does. 

    I listened to a Rogan podcast on mushrooms once with my youngest who at that time listened to Rogan- he’s at school now and I don’t think he does anymore. About an hour into I recognized that no one reviews what they’re saying for basic accuracy, and since I am a gardener and read about plants and such, it’s a waste of time for me to listen to their uvetted an unverified opinions on mushrooms. If I’m going to do an hour on mushrooms I want it to be real information. It is less valuable to me because he won’t put any money into vetting it or verifying it. It’s just gross. Release 100k a year off the haul and hire a professional.

  47. 47.

    BlueNC

    Broke out the pie filter for the first time EVER, and wow, that’s pretty fun!

    I may not be an expert on Russia or Ukraine, but I know a troll when I see one.

  49. 49.

    Nicole

    @Soprano2:

    I assume he’s been naturally thin for his whole life; some people who have never struggled with extra pounds have no understanding of how hard it is. They also don’t understand that you can be healthy and fit and not thin.

    I read an interview with him a few years ago, and he’s got really weird eating habits.  The man has a seriously disordered relationship with food.

  50. 50.

    zhena gogolia

    @Kay: I overheard my physical therapist talking to another patient about how brilliant Rogan was. My confidence dropped precipitously.

  51. 51.

    mrmoshpotato

    The @DailyCaller’s @ShelbyTalcott asks Psaki whether Biden has considered encouraging Americans to live a healthier lifestyle amidst a pandemic that is killing people with obesity, heart disease, diabetes, etc.

    “Shelby, you can chug bacon grease for all I care.”

  52. 52.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Soprano2: He’s a vegan and animal-rights activist; a lot of this stuff stems from that–animal testing gave him the animus toward medicine.

  54. 54.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I listened to a Rogan podcast on mushrooms once with my youngest who at that time listened to Rogan-

     
    I didn’t know you did shrooms, Kay.

  55. 55.

    Jeffro

    @germy: didn’t it make some folks magnetic or something?  Spoons stuck to them and what not?  I think that was before ivermectin cured everything, though.

    I wonder what happens if you consume ivermectin, then stick a spoon to your magnetic forehead, followed by large doses of vitamin D?

  57. 57.

    Matt McIrvin

    @germy: There are people who faint when they get shots–some of this may have been that. (I have had a similar reaction to the old-school glaucoma test that involves poking your numbed eyeball.)

    I’ve seen antivaxxers jump on these incidents and insist that fainting means the shot has poisoned you. One woman who was asking about her daughter fainting, I saw get pounced on in real time. “Absolutely, your daughter fainted because she’s been poisoned, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise and don’t let her get the second shot.” Tried my best to say otherwise but it was incredibly sad.

  59. 59.

    Anyway

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Haven’t various arms of the US govt done that for years? Tell us to exercise more, eat vegetables etc – why do we need a President to tell us that. Sure he has more important things to work on.

  60. 60.

    Kay

    @zhena gogolia:

    It should. My son thought he was brilliant when he was 17. Now that he’s 19 he’s grown out of it.

    It’s just that you have X amount of time to read about interesting things. I don’t want to do my own fact checking. I think he should pay for it and do it. They’re like “I CHECKED and that study he mentioned exists”. Ok, so you spent 4 hours listening to a barrage of unverified information and that’s just the START? You then have to spend 8 hours fact checking the snippets you recall? Is this a hobby?

  62. 62.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: It’s particularly galling in Rogan’s case because he signed a $100M deal with Spotify. In the Instagram video, he claims the show came together unplanned — just him talking to friends — so he never had guidelines or really much intent around it, and then it blew up. Maybe that’s even true, though I don’t believe for a second it was all organic. But once you get a $100M contract, you’re a business. Act like it.

    PS: Was the show about “magic” mushrooms? I’ve never listened to a whole Rogan episode, but I have heard lengthy snippets. My brother is a big fan, and I suspect a lot of his anti-vaccine nonsense comes straight from Rogan.

  63. 63.

    Anyway

    @Matt McIrvin:

    A lot of wealthy celebs who are generally fit eliminate a lot of categories of food. It’s very high maintenance, not really followable for a person with a day-job, family responsibilities, limited income etc

    The “wellness” industrial complex at work.

  64. 64.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Betty Cracker:

    The healthier lifestyle vs. vaccines and masks talking point is a favorite of Florida’s crackpot surgeon general. 

    Oh crackpottery…

    Someone tell this slapdick that they’re the same side of the coin.

    “Kids!  Live a healthy lifestyle, and don’t take medicine that will keep you healthy.”

    ?

  65. 65.

    SFAW

    @Kay:

    That’s why I have undying (so far) respect for Daniel Dale. The amount of time and effort it must have taken to call bullshit on all of Trump’s lies would have driven me to despair.

  66. 66.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: This year’s playoffs were by far the most exciting I can remember, even though my teams lost. I hope the Superb Owl isn’t a giant disappointment after all that.

  67. 67.

    Jeffro

    Jennifer Rubin putting it out there today: trumpov is a traitor

    This reaffirms a disturbing and incontrovertible fact that Republicans refuse to address: They stand by and may well nominate someone who sided and still sides with violent seditionists bent on overthrowing the duly elected government of the United States.

    In vernacular, former president Donald Trump is a traitor, someone who betrayed our Constitution. And still the GOP cannot bring itself to part with him. Even so-called moderate Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) cannot rule out supporting him in 2024. (Recall she was convinced he had learned his lesson in deciding to vote to acquit him in the first impeachment trial.)

    All of this underscores the moral and intellectual depravity that has gripped the Republican Party.

  68. 68.

    Dr. Fungus

    @Kay: At first  I read that as you (not the podcast) being on mushrooms while listening to Rogan. I wouldn’t wish that experience on anyone.

    ETA I see Baud got there first.

  69. 69.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    It veered into magic mushrooms and also Lions Mane (too woo woo for me) but I sort of loathe woo woo gardeners so I have a low tolerance. I only lasted an hour because my son was cute asking me to listen- he’s earnest and I also honestly felt it was a test on my “openmindeness” which is okay. It’s fair to ask me to listen first.

  72. 72.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    I don’t understand the “lets look it up right now” thing. That people put up with that. How about you look it up ahead of time with some of the 11 million dollars you’re paid? You’re going to have to pay me for doing your “research”.

  73. 73.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @satby:

    It’s insidious, because if you push back you’ll be accused of hypocritically opposing a healthy lifestyle.

  75. 75.

    Kay

    I wish every judge in this country would recognize that poor people don’t have printers. They have phones. They use the phone for everything. If it’s not ON the phone they don’t have it. Is there a printer on the phone? No? then they don’t have it.

    Do they think these people are sitting in home offices compiling documents?

  79. 79.

    Kay

    I went to a vegan restaurant in Toledo with my middle son and his GF yesterday. I feel like I have to tell DougJ “In this vegan hipster restaurant in the rust belt…”:)

    But I love Toledo and I’m thrilled they have a busy restaurant for the youths. It was good too!

  80. 80.

    Ken

    @germy: But would this have led to a promise from Putin that he wouldn’t invade Ukraine?

    Especially as Putin doesn’t see it as an invasion, but as restoring the natural Russian border at the Dniester.

    EDIT: Oops, sorry, mixed up my Eastern European rivers. I meant the Danube, obviously.

  81. 81.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Query: Does anyone here subscribe to (as in, pay money for) Aaron Rupar’s substack thing? I like Rupar and used to check his tweets at least once a day, but now Twitter has made that impossible. So is his new venture worth the money?

  82. 82.

    Geminid

    @Kay: The Washington Post had an article yesterday about Tim Ryan and his Senate campaign. So far Ryan has visited 72 out of Ohio’s 88 counties.

        Asked what had surprised him on his travels, [Ryan] didn’t have to think too hard.

    “The level of hopelessness, I think, in some areas, it’s just really…it’s out there, you know,” Ryan said. “And it shouldn’t be. It shouldn’t be.”

    [Ryan’s approach] is a pitch to empathy and understanding, not knowing for sure whether the people he hopes to reach are ready to hear what he is saying. But he is not aware of any other way, at the moment, than speaking to four or five people at a time.

    The article goes into more detail about Ryan’s policy proposals, fundraising, and the problem of winning back some of the white working class voters who helped Barack Obama carry Ohio in 2008, and Sherrod Brown win in 2018. It’s titled, “Tim Ryan’s appeal to Ohio’s White working class: Trust Democrats again.” Today’s Politico Playbook had a link to  the article which allowed me to sneak by the Post’s paywall.

  83. 83.

    SFAW

    @Kay:

    Wait, did you go to the vegan restaurant to chug (or in Steve in the WTFKW’s case, sip) bacon grease? I am so confused — am I mixing up conversations?

  84. 84.

    ian

    @Cermet:

    We certainly should have offered Russia guarantee’s that NATO would never expand into Ukraine. Considering that would be essentially ‘game over’ for Russia as an independent nation,

    Is this snark?  A country’s independence does not end when your neighbor joins a defensive alliance.  It would be equally silly to say the United States lost it’s status as an independent nation when Castro drove out Batista.

  86. 86.

    Ken

    @Jeffro: I wonder what happens if you consume ivermectin, then stick a spoon to your magnetic forehead, followed by large doses of vitamin D?

    We know what happens. The only question is, do you use it to become a superhero or a supervillain?

  88. 88.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    I asked how many counties (to his staff) before our local event began (because it’s something you ask in Ohio and they’re competitive about it) and the local newspaper reporter used it in his article.

    All 88. Required.

    I’m a little cool on “winning back the white working class” although I am also aware of reality and Democrats won’t win in Ohio if that keeps slipping. It’s just a fact. They aren’t going to be able to make it up without bringing some portion back. I like Sherrod’s frame better- “all working people have the same set of economic issues”. I don’t know why this is so hard for Democrats to grasp. ALL. Jesus.

  89. 89.

    Wapiti

    @Matt McIrvin: I was getting a shot at a doctor’s office. The tech told me that they had a woman patient about a month prior, and the patient’s husband was in the room. When they gave the woman the shot, the man passed out.

  90. 90.

    Kay

    @SFAW:

    I had this big bowl with oats in it. I like oats! I’m a bad test for accepting new food. I like almost all food and will try anything. They had really good coffee which honestly is all I care about.

  92. 92.

    Geminid

    @SiubhanDuinne: I finally broke down and “joined” Twitter so I could keep following Mangy Jay, Ragnarok Lobster and company. I had to enter my phone number, a birthday (not my real one), and a password. Aside from having to make an exception to my general policy of noncompliance with big companies, I haven’t suffered. At least as far as I know.

  94. 94.

    Yarrow

    @Kay:  Knowing things and having done the research isn’t Rogan’s brand. He positions himself like the buddy of his listeners. He’s “learning” while they do from the various people on his show. His listeners would “look it up right now” so he does too. It’s part of how he establishes rapport with them. He’s non-threatening in that way. Wouldn’t be surprised if his “he’s a lot like me” scores are high.

  96. 96.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    I don’t blame Ryan too much for the “white working class” framing because that’s the old fashioned, conventional framing media use, but part of their job is to change the question to one they want to answer. It’s the difference between “pretty good” and “really good”

    Sherrod would have smoothly moved from “white working class” to “working class” which is true, more inclusive and makes more sense. Don’t take Politicos stodgy category. Make your own.

  97. 97.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Soprano2: To hear people like Maher tell it, losing hundreds of pounds is easy-peasy, everyone who is fat should do it! I assume he’s been naturally thin for his whole life; some people who have never struggled with extra pounds have no understanding of how hard it is. They also don’t understand that you can be healthy and fit and not thin.

    Preach it!  I’m a pretty fit guy, but occasionally my weight has climbed upwards, and bringing it back down is work.

    Eight or nine years ago, my weight had climbed above 200, which is more than a 5’9″ guy should be carrying around.  Took me most of a year to get down into the 180s.  Then more recently, it took me another year to get from the upper 180s down into the low 170s, which I’m basically happy with.

    But people who spout off that it’s not really that hard to lose weight can stuff it, AFAIAC.  And they can’t tell me I’m just using that as an excuse for not losing weight because I have lost weight.

  98. 98.

    Kay

    @Yarrow:

    I question the whole idea that one should be offended or affronted by someone who knows more about something though. Why are they so fragile? Why are mushrooms about their feelings anyway?

  100. 100.

    Wapiti

    @Kay: I had a router go out two weeks ago, on Saturday morning, of course, so I couldn’t get to customer support for 2 days. So I was off the internet and it drove home how much I use it. After a few hours I remembered that I could use my phone if I turned mobile data on.

    It all reminded me that a lot of people need a smart phone to deal with our society.

  102. 102.

    danielx

    @Baud: ​
     
    Was my first thought and then I thought, listening to Rogan while on mushrooms? What kind of masochistic hell ….

  103. 103.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: My printer basically quit working with my computer when I upgraded to Win10, and the response I got from Epson was “Yeah, sorry, that software doesn’t work with that platform anymore, too bad”. So it just sits there, unused. I think I’m going to take it to my mom’s house when I have the sale so they can try to get a few bucks for it. If I want to print stuff I do it at work. So it’s not just people with only phones who can’t print at home.

  105. 105.

    Kay

    @Wapiti:

    But they have smartphones. And they use them for everything, really nimbly. They use every bit of that smartphone capacity. What they don’t have is printers. So stop demanding paper from them and acting like the doc they show on their phone is any less reliable than whatever they would print out- which would be the doc they’re showing on their phone. No one is checking the kerning.

  106. 106.

    Geminid

    @Kay: The “White working class” framing was the Post’s, not Ryan’s. As a practical matter, I guess that’s who you are talking to in Ohio’s rural counties.* And of the several battleground Senate races, Ohio is the one where Democrats actually need to shift this demographic to win.

    But I agree that Democrats need to run campaigns that appeal to all working class and middle class voters. The white ones will either see past whatever social and cultural issues keep them from voting their interests, or they won’t.

    *On the other hand, there are a lot of Black people living in the South’s rural districts.

  107. 107.

    SFAW

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Hell, it took me 10 years to learn how to spell Quonochontaug.

    Well, I can understand that, and “sounding it out” doesn’t help, since native Rhode Islanders pronounce it “Fred.”

  108. 108.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Ken:We know what happens. The only question is, do you use it to become a superhero or a supervillain?

    If you choose the latter, don’t tell your parents.

  109. 109.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Wapiti: My father has always had a pretty strong reaction to the sight of blood, especially coming out of one of his children. When my sister was a kid she was rambunctious enough to be pretty accident-prone and there were some times when he nearly passed out as a result.

  110. 110.

    JMG

    In the near west suburbs of Boston, one redeeming factor of the blizzard was that the wind blew most of the fine-grained snow off of roofs, sparing us the absolute worst feature of a New England winter, ice dams.

  114. 114.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    “White working class” does something else too- it implies that white people are the only people working.

    How many Politico articles have you read about the “black working class”? It’s a stodgy and outdated way to talk and it isn’t true. If they want to say “middle and lower income white people who might be put off by appeals to black people” then say that. The issue isn’t “working”. That’s not the division.

    White people don’t own “working”. Men don’t own “working”. Why do these people talk like it’s 1956?

  116. 116.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    Sherrod Brown used a visual aid, a poster, in the senate, that said “taking care of children is work”

    Democrats don’t have to accept these categories. They were imposed by rigidly conventional people in media – it’s a choice. Pick a broader category. That’s allowed.

  118. 118.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    Obama did this beautifully with home health aides and he did it years prior to the ridiculous 2021 “debate” in media over whether construction workers are the only people who work.

    Home health aids are majority minority and overwhelmingly female. He told us THEY WORK and their work is valuable. Who on the Right or at Politico (but I repeat myself) would even dare to contest that?

    Broaden the category and don’t accept that the division is between white people who work and non white people who are, I guess, doing something else?

  120. 120.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    the division is between white people who work and non white people who are, I guess, doing something else?

     
    Stealing supreme court seats.

  123. 123.

    burnspbesq

    @Kay:

    Entry-level MFPs are like fifty bucks. Ink is where the companies make their $.

    . If you can afford a phone, you can afford a printer.

  124. 124.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    What if, in addition to going to a Teamsters hall, Tim Ryan went to a Cleveland nursing home and talked to the black working class? About their work. It’s Cleveland so there will also be white working class there so he can also talk to them. It’ll also be 80% women.

    That would be interesting, right? No one else does it. They just aren’t bound by these frames. They can move.

  125. 125.

    WaterGirl

    @japa21: Not the two most flattering descriptors, but fair enough!

    I do have to thank you for calling my attention to the upcoming huge snow – I have been waiting to buy groceries but it sounds like I should go first thing in the morning before the freezing rain and then snow deluge starts.

  126. 126.

    germy

    @burnspbesq:

    But who can afford the ink?

    I had a printer (cheap epson that came with the old mac) many years ago.  It seems like every other week I was buying cartridges.  And the prices were insane.

  127. 127.

    WaterGirl

    @BlueNC: Thanks for the reminder that it’s time for me to remove the holiday cookies from the pie filter rotation.  I’ll have to find some Valentine’s Day sweets in the next week or so.

    edit: I did leave the snowflake cookie since it’s winter and we are still getting snow.

  129. 129.

    zhena gogolia

    @Kay: I’m dreading having to get a printer when I retire. I have no room for it and I’m sure it will never work.

  130. 130.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    I have to say though, Ryan is personable. He likes to talk and he likes people. We had his meet in a coffee shop and he struck up a conversation with the attendant – probably 20-ish- and the attendant whipped his head around when Ryan told him he was running for Senate and said “cool!” – sincerely. I love uncool youths- not cynical. His staff had to take him away. He’d still be talking to that kid if they didn’t wrangle him.

  131. 131.

    Captain C

    @Kay:

    I listened to a Rogan podcast on mushrooms once with my youngest

    You can understand how I initially completely misinterpreted this, and wondered why you’d waste a good ‘shroom trip like that, yes?

  132. 132.

    Geminid

    @Kay: It is suspect framing, and it got repeated so much after 2016 that sometimes people here conflate “working class voters” and “rural voters” with white voters. I saw this in some of the resentment some people had towards the rural* broadband accessability measures in the Infrastructure bill, and towards the bill itself. As if we were casting pearls before swine. But if you look, a lot of highway project workers are Black and Latino, at least in Virginia. And I noticed that when Conor Lamb accepted the endorsement of the Philadelphia Council of Building and Construction Trades, the Council President he stood behind was a Black man.

    * the Infrastructure bill”s broadband expansion initiatives included underserved urban communities as well.

  137. 137.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    I think that healthcare has just screwed me sideways. I’m losing my last connections to the US, so I can’t maintain US insurance, which has me worried about whether a break in continuity of insurance will leave me uninsurable when I finally make it back home. I tried to sign up for an international policy, but because of one serious health condition, I was denied.

    I was paying way too much to keep continuity of insurance, with the concern that at some point I’d need life-saving surgery that would bankrupt me if I did it uninsured (that’s still the worry, even though my condition is currently stable), so now I’m stuck on the horns of the dilemma of eventual bankruptcy-or-death again.

    Yeah, I have insurance through work here in Athens, but the surgeon to deal with my condition is in New York. And something tells me that my Greek insurance policy is not going to cover thoracic surgery in the Big Apple.

  138. 138.

    Captain C

    @Ken:

    Especially as Putin doesn’t see it as an invasion, but as restoring the natural Russian border at the Dniester.

    EDIT: Oops, sorry, mixed up my Eastern European rivers. I meant the Danube, obviously.

    Once he gets to the Danube, it’ll be the Rhine, once he gets to the Rhine it’ll be the Thames, and once he gets there, the Mississippi.  At least in his head.

  139. 139.

    WaterGirl

    @germy: Cermet has been here for a very long time, but i see no reason to waste my time wondering about why someone would continue to spout misinformation about Russia and Ukraine.

  141. 141.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Betty Cracker:

    That dumb meathead’s vow to conduct research isn’t particularly comforting, but the fact that he felt the need to apologize and signal a course correction is.

    as long as we’re spreading “information” based on pure speculation and whatnot: Rogan is all ‘roided up, right?

    also: I listen to a fair number of podcasts, not Rogan, but… are they that lucrative? ads for underwear and phone-therapy make bank?

  146. 146.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    Josh Mandel said Tim Ryan was too afraid to debate Morgan Harper (ie, teh blacks) during his debate with her. Not my candidate, but I give her credit for calling bullshit on that.

  147. 147.

    debbie

    @WaterGirl:

    I would be interested in why he thinks every country shouldn’t have the right of self-determination. Unless he’s Neville Chamberlain’s long-lost son.

  150. 150.

    Kathleen

    @Kay: Sherrod did masterful job on town hall I attended via telephone several years ago. An older man asked what Sherrod would do about job losses affecting white people and Sherrod firmly yet kindly pointed out that working people were Black, Hispanic etc in addition to white people and those issues touched every group

  153. 153.

    Ohio Mom

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: Did you go over this with David Anderson? You can email him and he will answer — he was incredibly helpful to Ohio Family a couple of years ago.

    Look around the front page, you’ll find the How to Contact Front Pagers somewhere.

  154. 154.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: The press is going to have to be dragged kicking and screaming away from their favored framing of working class as “big burly white guys who work in factories and steel mills”, because that’s how it was in the 1950’s and that’s what they still think of when they hear “working class”, even the young ones evidently.

  155. 155.

    Kathleen

    @Geminid: Thanks but I still have subscription to WaPoo though I’m unsure if I will renew. Rubin, Waldman, Sargent, Sullivan and Petri keep me there plus Eugene Robinson though he got flaky last week and I felt compelled to fire off a screed in Comments.

  157. 157.

    Kosh III

    Here in Nashville we will be happy to say goodbye to January.
    We had rain on a Monday which froze overnight with 2″ of snow then falling on us.
    Naturally everyone panics as if the world is ending and gets the proverbial “milk and bread” from the stores.
    Then a light snow on Thursday.  We started thawing out on Sunday.  I hiked 5 miles in the snow at Frozen Head State Park.
    Next  weekend it rained on Saturday morning, turned to ice and snow and stayed that way till Monday. sigh…no hike.
    Next week it snowed 2″ on Thursday, didn’t thaw out till Sunday. Saturday I hiked at Big South Fork Natl Park.
    Next Friday it snowed lightly here,, I hiked with some buds to Frozen Head again—at least 6″ on top at 3400ft elevation.

    So Yeah,  bring on warmer weather…and arrest the traitor Trump.

  159. 159.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Kathleen:

    Eugene Robinson though he got flaky last week and I felt compelled to fire off a screed in Comments.

    ?? what column was that? I’m a big Robinson fan, but even the best have their off-days or wild-hair topics.

  160. 160.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @Ohio Mom: Didn’t think to contact him personally – I’m seeking advice from a stateside lawyer who handles my family’s affairs, so we’ll see how that goes. But I’ll keep that in mind, thanks. Keep some fingers crossed for me.

  164. 164.

    Kalakal

    @WaterGirl: It’s bizarre. He makes the same statement every day, gets shredded for it, doesn’t respond to questions on it, and then it’s rinse and repeat. I could understand it if he made the statement, and then responded to replies in order to win others over to his point of view. As it is it just comes over as a cut and paste excercise from Russia Today and about as convincing.

  166. 166.

    Ken

    @WaterGirl:  I’ll have to find some Valentine’s Day sweets in the next week or so.

    Once again, Groundhog Day gets short shrift.

    And it’s such a natural; google gives me dozens of pictures of sausage pies.

  168. 168.

    Ken

    @Steve in the ATL: ​So West Memphis, Arkansas will be safe?

    Don’t forget that Putin also considers Alaska a disputed territory. So there’s an eastbound progression as well: the Yukon, the Columbia, the Colorado, and the Mississippi.

  169. 169.

    Ohio Mom

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: David Anderson is always glad to be of help. You can talk to your lawyer and Anderson, after all Anderson is free.

    I am guessing that for him, finding solutions to health coverage questions scratches the same itch crossword puzzles (or Wordle or Soduku or…) do for many of us.

    Also, I don’t know how old you are, but if you can hang on until 65 and Medicare — not that Medicare isn’t it’s own maze.

  171. 171.

    Geminid

    @Ken: And China still considers Northern Manchuria it’s territory. That’s an area of 1 million square kilometers ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Peking (1860). I think Chinese maps show it as part of China.

  173. 173.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

     And I noticed that when Conor Lamb accepted the endorsement of the Philadelphia Council of Building and Construction Trades, the Council President he stood behind was a Black man.

    That’s another area where we would do well to really look at it and describe the whole issue. For example. In Ohio, when Kasich went after public employee unions, that was a big issue for AA working people, because there is a historical reason why so many are in public employee unions. It’s because public employment had objective benchmarks for hiring – tests and certifications- that private sector employment didn’t have. So because private sector employment depended more on subjective factors, that opened the door to more bias and racism. So historically they were not getting hired in private sector jobs (subjective emplyment evals that included bias) but WERE getting hired in public employment (objective measures like civil service tests).
    It’s why discussions about AA and objective measures (like standardized tests) are so hard. When you introduce more subjective measures racial bias can also be introduced. So in a union environment, where seniority matters to advancement, that’s an objective measure that AA people might have to rely on more than white people, because “subjective” can introduce racial bias.

  174. 174.

    Ruckus

    @Ohio Mom:

    And if you are dead of Covid it really won’t matter if your body isn’t ever going to be featured on “Lifestyles of the Lean and Muscular!” except as a bad/before example.

    Jenn’s response that getting vaccinated is the deal now, is exactly what the “news” correspondents are trying to avoid as the answer. These daily “news” gathering are really about the news business trying to twist their misinformation programs to their point of view, not actually report what the message that is given by the administration. (I like that I don’t have to type maladministration like I did for 4 yrs.)

  175. 175.

    James E Powell

    @japa21:

      If a Dem said it, it would be top headlines for a good 4 years.

    And nearly every Democrat would be rushing to microphones to condemn that person.

  177. 177.

    Kathleen

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Topic was Supreme Court nomination but he had to get in digs about Dems being “mopey” plus one other pejorative. I basically said I didn’t see that and pointed out Dems are under attack from Right, media, foreign powers and its own Left and as the last line against Fascism they’re under incredible pressure from all sides. I also said I was never prouder to be a Democrat and support Pres Biden and VP Harris 100%. I said some other stuff but that was the gist. I copied and pasted in Heather Cox Richardson’s Substack and got a lot of positive feedback. I’m just done with attacks on Democrats. Done.

  178. 178.

    Kathleen

    @Kay: You have provided context for why Rethugs actively undermine government, government offices, public service jobs and unions etc along with of course voting processes.

  181. 181.

    J R in WV

    @BlueNC: ​
     

    Broke out the pie filter for the first time EVER, and wow, that’s pretty fun!

    I may not be an expert on Russia or Ukraine, but I know a troll when I see one.

    cermet is looking to replace Bill in Portland [aka BiP] , our previous most obvious Russian troll, with cermet’s nearly criminal advice on geopolitical issues rather than BiP’s Brinks Trucks full of money for their least favorite politicians.

    Yes, the pie safe is a wonderful invention, I’m so glad our professional staff implemented that vastly improved tool-set!

  183. 183.

    Miss Bianca

    @Kay:

    White people don’t own “working”. Men don’t own “working”. Why do these people talk like it’s 1956?

    Late to this party, and of course someone else may already have made this point, but methinks it’s because they want to take us *back* to 1956.

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