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You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Supermoon

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Supermoon

by Anne Laurie|  July 13, 202212:34 pm| 302 Comments

This post is in: Balloon Juice, Biden Administration in Action, Commentary, Open Threads, Politics, Proud To Be A Democrat!, Science & Technology, Space

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(No wonder everybody’s been so flaky for the last few days!)

In the year of our lord 2022, the National Statuary Hall collection in the U.S. Capitol is getting its first statue depicting a Black American, Mary McLeod Bethune.

There are still nine Confederates. https://t.co/UWOibUjWOe

— Gillian Brockell (@gbrockell) July 13, 2022




Why it matters:

… Since the role of the ATF director became a position requiring Senate confirmation in 2006, only one person – Democratic President Barack Obama’s nominee B. Todd Jones – has ever won confirmation.

The rest of that time, it has been led by a string of acting directors, hobbling its ability to propose and adopt tougher gun regulations.

Democratic senators and anti-gun violence group Brady praised the confirmation.

“While certainly not a panacea to the gun violence epidemic plaguing our nation, having Mr. Dettelbach at the helm of the ATF will ensure the feds have all hands on deck in the fight to stop gun trafficking, prevent illegal possession of firearms, and make sure our kids can’t get their hands on dangerous weapons,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement…

Biden commended the Senate for confirming Dettelbach, saying in a statement that the new ATF director would play a key role in implementing a recently passed bipartisan gun safety bill…

Biden nominates 5 new judges, but not Republican abortion opponent https://t.co/Uzk0ka3rus pic.twitter.com/mcQhldsWs0

— Reuters (@Reuters) July 13, 2022

I don't think the media was outright lying about this, it was just an ongoing negotiation they portrayed as a done deal. This has happened many times before.

— Moment Meeter (@agraybee) July 12, 2022

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Reader Interactions

302Comments

  1. 1.

    rikyrah

    July 13, 2022 at 8:36 am

    Good Morning Everyone

  2. 2.

    Steeplejack

    July 13, 2022 at 8:41 am

    @rikyrah:

    Good morning!

  3. 3.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 13, 2022 at 8:43 am

    Supermoon…. Ummm no. It’s just full moon which if you hadn’t been told you probably never would have noticed it’s slightly larger appearance.

  4. 4.

    Steeplejack

    July 13, 2022 at 8:44 am

    My job as Dr. Pepper’s social media manager is great, it’s nothing but tweets and posts and laughs and a little marketing, there’s never any trouble, I’m just going to take a biiiig sip and then open Twitter to see what is

    — ImpressionableChildHat (@Popehat) July 12, 2022

  5. 5.

    Starfish

    July 13, 2022 at 8:44 am

    Good morning. Do you know about Professor Khiara Bridges? She is calm and cool in responding to Republicans who act like clowns when it comes to understanding who can get pregnant.

  6. 6.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 8:45 am

    @rikyrah:

    Good morning.

  7. 7.

    Starfish

    July 13, 2022 at 8:46 am

    @Steeplejack: Like I mentioned in an earlier thread, Monday was a great day for the Dr. Pepper social media manager to go on vacation.

    Can you guys write some tweets for me about how everyone deserves a Dr Pepper? I’m taking a break bc I deserve a Dr Pepper. Thx Peppers ❤️
    — Dr Pepper (@drpepper) July 11, 2022

  8. 8.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 8:46 am

    @Steeplejack:

    Heh.

  9. 9.

    narya

    July 13, 2022 at 8:47 am

    Good morning everyone! I’ve been thinking about the two jamokes who testified yesterday, and others who’ve done Bad Things and come to truly regret their actions (not just regret getting caught). What’s their path? (I feel the same about folks who’ve been incarcerated.) If we don’t provide paths for people to truly make amends and make changes in their lives, they are, I don’t know, lost. What’s the restorative justice in this situation?

  10. 10.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 8:48 am

    @Starfish:

    Now soft drinks are woke.  When wil it end?

  11. 11.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 8:48 am

    @narya:

    1. Get a real job.
    2. Keep head down.
  12. 12.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 13, 2022 at 8:49 am

    I don’t think the media was outright lying about this, it was just an ongoing negotiation they portrayed as a done deal. This has happened many times before.

    Huh. Wonder why it keeps on happening.

    our own people fall for it

    Evergreen observation (zg?) from yesterday. A recent meeting I had with stalwart Dems was consumed by Biden’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad judicial appointment. What a betrayal!

    And so it goes….

  13. 13.

    Raven

    July 13, 2022 at 8:49 am

    @narya: The Oath Keeper was not in DC and not arrested.

  14. 14.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 13, 2022 at 8:49 am

    As drought shrivels Lake Powell, millions face power crisis

    Lake Powell’s considerable power-generating abilities are already on the decline.

    When the lake is full, its dam can produce 1,320 megawatts, or 5bn kilowatt-hours of power annually – about the same amount as a large fossil fuel plant. But with water levels now 100 feet below the lowest elevation marker, hydropower production has dropped to 800 megawatts.

    The alarming drop has forced authorities into extraordinary action. On 14 June, the Bureau of Reclamation announced that to protect critical reservoir levels in 2023, between 2 and 4m acre-feet of water must be conserved, setting a 60-day timeline for state and tribal leaders to agree a plan. Water use estimates released in June show the upper basin states collectively used 3.5m acre-feet of Colorado River water last year, while the lower basin states used around 10m acre-feet.

    “The system is at a tipping point,” Commissioner Camille Touton told the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. “Unprecedented is now the reality and the normal in which Reclamation must manage our systems.”

    According to Jack Schmidt, the Janet Quinney Lawson Chair of Colorado River Studies at Utah State University, that would be the largest cut in water use in the 100-year history of the Colorado River Compact, an agreement made in 1922 that divided the river’s water between the upper basin states (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming), the lower basin states (Arizona, California and Nevada), 30 tribal nations and Mexico.

    “It’s huge,” says Schmidt, who believes the cutbacks could represent up to a third of water use in the entire basin. “We have to reduce consumption right now,” says Schmidt. “That’s the only big solution that is available.”

    I can’t wait for the lawsuits.

    ETA

    Such a calamity might not be far off. The Bureau of Reclamation, the US federal agency which manages the Colorado River’s infrastructure, forecasts that even with significant proposed cuts to water allowances there is a 23% chance power production could halt at Glen Canyon Dam in 2024 due to low water levels and that it is within the realm of possibility that it will happen as soon as July 2023.

  15. 15.

    Ken

    July 13, 2022 at 8:50 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: As XKCD reminds us.  I wonder how many people will go look at the moon right after sunset, and think “ooo supermoon” when it’s just the usual horizon illusion that makes it look so big.

  16. 16.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 8:50 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I blame trans folks.

  17. 17.

    Anne Laurie

    July 13, 2022 at 8:50 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: It’s just full moon which if you hadn’t been told you probably never would have noticed it’s slightly larger appearance.

    Counter-argument:  Any full moon brings out the ‘loonies’ in us all.  I never believed this until I started doing weekly AKC obedience classes with my first dog.   When the class fell within a day or so of a full moon, normally well-mannered dogs got goofy — and the not-so-well-mannered, sometimes completely nutzo!

  18. 18.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 8:51 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    “That’s no supermoon.”

  19. 19.

    Immanentize

    July 13, 2022 at 8:53 am

    @O. Felix Culpa: You have it backwards:

    The negotiation was leaked as a done deal,
    which means it was in reality a secret back door done deal, and
    The only reason it didn’t happen yesterday was because of the efforts of the highly moral lefties who forced POTUS to not do the deal that never existed!
    But he is still planning to do the deal.

  20. 20.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    July 13, 2022 at 8:53 am

    @Baud: Good plan.

    I don’t wish ill on these people, but I don’t spend too much time sympathizing with them either. They did dumb stuff.

  21. 21.

    narya

    July 13, 2022 at 8:54 am

    @Baud: For anyone w a criminal record, that can be problematic, but yes. Maybe volunteer somewhere, too.

    @Raven: Oh, right. But still.

    I’m not suggesting instant forgiveness or something; definitely need to put the work in, and lots of it. I guess I’m also thinking about the prisoners in CA who learn to fight fires and do it well, and then cannot get jobs as firefighters when they get out because of their criminal records.

    I’m being vague; sorry to start off the morning thread with these ramblings!

  22. 22.

    Immanentize

    July 13, 2022 at 8:56 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I can’t wait for the lawsuits water wars.

    FTFY

  23. 23.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 13, 2022 at 8:56 am

    @Immanentize:

    Of course. Silly me.

    I saw a tweet earlier saying something to the effect of “brb, I’m getting wheels to put on the goalposts.” Fits your sadly not-so-fictional rationale perfectly. :)

  24. 24.

    germy shoemangler

    July 13, 2022 at 8:56 am

    “Just think – tonight, tonight when the moon is sneaking around the clouds I’ll be sneaking around you. I’ll meet you tonight under the moon. Oh, I can see it now – you and the moon. Wear a neck-tie so I’ll know you.”

    (Groucho Marx to Margaret Dumont)

  25. 25.

    Immanentize

    July 13, 2022 at 8:57 am

    @Ken: oh, I hope they do so because if it sparks a little joy in them, who are we to shit on it?

  26. 26.

    Ken

    July 13, 2022 at 8:59 am

    @Immanentize:  if it sparks a little joy in them, who are we to shit on it?

    Scientists.

  27. 27.

    eclare

    July 13, 2022 at 8:59 am

    @Anne Laurie:   My ex who was a paramedic said the same about full moons.  He hated when his shift lined up with a full moon.  One person’s story, but still…

  28. 28.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 13, 2022 at 8:59 am

    @Immanentize: As the saying goes, “Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting.”

  29. 29.

    Math Guy

    July 13, 2022 at 9:00 am

    I recommend “The Water Knife” by Paolo Bacigalupi.

  30. 30.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    July 13, 2022 at 9:00 am

    @Math Guy: Great book!

  31. 31.

    TS

    July 13, 2022 at 9:01 am

    @Starfish:

    Republicans who act like clowns

    All of them – I lost a few minutes of sanity listening to Hawley.

  32. 32.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 13, 2022 at 9:02 am

    @Anne Laurie: @eclare: Speaking only for myself, I’ve never noticed any difference.

  33. 33.

    Betty Cracker

    July 13, 2022 at 9:03 am

    Regarding the proposed (but thankfully not realized) nomination of shady anti-choice Judge Chad Meredith, the media didn’t mislead the public. Gov. Beshear, Democrat of KY, released emails from the White House, the first dated 6/23 (the day before Roe fell) notifying the governor that Meredith was “to be nominated tomorrow,” along with a follow-up six days later indicating that the earlier notice was “pre-decisional.” The latter looks an awful lot like ass-covering after the shit hit the fan. 

    We don’t know the terms of the alleged “deal” and perhaps never will now that Meredith’s awful record has been in the spotlight. In some scenarios, prior to the SCOTUS overturning Roe, it might have been defensible to give a lifetime appointment to an anti-choice judge in exchange for a bloc of other judges. For temporary political appointments, it seems less defensible.

    My theory is Beshear or someone in his office leaked this info to stop the Meredith nomination, and it worked. But pinning this on the media is a cop-out, IMO. The media does lots of shit that’s worth calling out. This isn’t one of those things.

  34. 34.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 13, 2022 at 9:04 am

    @TS: Only a few minutes of sanity? You must have turned it off after “Hello…”

  35. 35.

    rikyrah

    July 13, 2022 at 9:04 am

    The  MSM hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt. They got played, which is why folks are like, ‘ they weren’t actually lying.’.

    No, they were phucking DUPES, cause they wanted to be.

  36. 36.

    Immanentize

    July 13, 2022 at 9:05 am

    @Ken:

    No room for poets, huh?

    But look at the webbscope pics!

    Now tell us that they are not actual pictures, but rather just approximations and imaginative renditions of images colorized from infrared….

    And no you can’t come to any of my parties. Which by the way will be under a full diamond moon on a beach by the sea. And I will be dancing with one hand waiving free.

  37. 37.

    germy shoemangler

    July 13, 2022 at 9:06 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    I’m glad highly moral lefties helped stop this nom, if it was a nom

  38. 38.

    Immanentize

    July 13, 2022 at 9:06 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Then there are the folks who drink whiskey and water!

  39. 39.

    germy shoemangler

    July 13, 2022 at 9:06 am

    @Immanentize:

    What will the other hand be doing?

  40. 40.

    Ken

    July 13, 2022 at 9:06 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Which Colorado River state was it that came up with the brilliant plan of building a giant pipeline to pump Mississippi River water into the Colorado?

    (Someone will now answer “All of them, Katie”, but I’m remembering that one of them actually allocated money to study the idea.)

  41. 41.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 9:07 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    I don’t understand the timeline.  When did the story break? If the follow up letter happened on 6/29, was that before or after the story broke? I thought the story broke after, but time is an elastic concept for me these days.

  42. 42.

    Jeffro

    July 13, 2022 at 9:08 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: we are indeed in the ‘found out’ phase re: climate change

  43. 43.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 13, 2022 at 9:11 am

    @narya: Make amends?  Step out of public life.  IOW follow John Profumo’s example.

  44. 44.

    Geminid

    July 13, 2022 at 9:11 am

    @eclare: I forget when or where, but I remember a woman magistrate remarking to a reporter that she saw more domestic violence cases on nights around a full moon.

  45. 45.

    eclare

    July 13, 2022 at 9:11 am

    @Jeffro:   Yep.  We have had decades of fucking around.

  46. 46.

    Immanentize

    July 13, 2022 at 9:13 am

    @germy shoemangler: the other hand will be driving memory and fate deep beneath the waves.

  47. 47.

    Anne Laurie

    July 13, 2022 at 9:16 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Speaking only for myself, I’ve never noticed any difference.

    Well (tongue firmly in cheek) considering some of the stories you’ve shared with us…​

  48. 48.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 9:17 am

    @Baud:

    Doing my own research (it’s all the fad these days), the earliest story I found was from June 30.  Maybe it broke a few days sooner.

  49. 49.

    Betty Cracker

    July 13, 2022 at 9:17 am

    @Baud: According to the Reuters article linked in my comment, the “pre-decisional” email was sent “hours before” the Courier-Journal first broke the story.

  50. 50.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    July 13, 2022 at 9:18 am

    @Anne Laurie: 50% of crimes are committed within 7 days of a full moon. That’s a fact.

    Also 40% of sick days are taken on Mondays or Fridays.

    This has been today’s episode of “statistics that sound meaningful but aren’t”.

  51. 51.

    satby

    July 13, 2022 at 9:18 am

    @Baud: very true. And the “get a job part” is harder for the little fish than the sharks in the tank, who will end up, as John Bolton did yesterday, bullshitting their way through media appearances.

  52. 52.

    Starfish

    July 13, 2022 at 9:19 am

    @germy shoemangler: It was eleven-dimensional chess. Biden did not like his own deal with McConnell, so he leaked the selection to some lefties, so they could go “Argle Bargle” and kill the whole thing.

  53. 53.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 9:19 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Thanks!

    Obviously, Biden didn’t nominate the judge “tomorrow,” as the original email said. Maybe because Dobbs came down that day.  We’ll probably never know the details, but all’s well that ends well.

  54. 54.

    germy shoemangler

    July 13, 2022 at 9:19 am

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    I used to work at a place that demanded a doctor’s note if you needed to call in sick Monday or Friday.

  55. 55.

    NotMax

    July 13, 2022 at 9:23 am

    Mumble mumble, moneyvchangers, something something.

    “When Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin, I think that he was divinely inspired,[…] that a benevolent God of some sort either sent him or sent him the idea.” Source

    head/desk head/desk head/desk

  56. 56.

    sab

    July 13, 2022 at 9:24 am

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: I love that! Within 7 days of a full moon is two weeks, a week before and a week after. That is half of any given month.

    Sounds impressive though, doesn’t it?

  57. 57.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    July 13, 2022 at 9:24 am

    @germy shoemangler: Something I read in a Groucho biography: Margaret Dumont was part of the Marx Brothers stage act in vaudeville, and they were all kind of assholes to her (i.e. pranks) off-stage. She got fed up enough one time that she packed her bags and left, and they all had to go to the train station in the middle of the night and plead with her to come back.

  58. 58.

    PAM Dirac

    July 13, 2022 at 9:24 am

    @Immanentize:

     
    And forgetting about today until tomorrow.

  59. 59.

    Starfish

    July 13, 2022 at 9:25 am

    @Baud: Andy Bashear turned over the White House emails to the press because people were being skeptical. The first email was dated 6/23 and a follow-up was dated 6/29.

    Courier Journal said they broke the story on 6/29.

    People were disparaging this newspaper because it is based in a red state.

  60. 60.

    Betty Cracker

    July 13, 2022 at 9:26 am

    @Baud: Agreed! I think it’s worth pointing out that this wasn’t a media created nothing-burger. One thing I know I have a tendency to do that I’m trying to stop doing because it’s unfair: lumping all the media together into one unthinking blob. 95% of the Beltway media people deserve that, but our disappearing local dailies still do the heroic work of democracy.

  61. 61.

    rikyrah

    July 13, 2022 at 9:26 am

    GET THEE VACCINATED OR GET THEE A TOE TAG. (@JamesMWilliam18) tweeted at 2:31 AM on Wed, Jul 13, 2022:
    FIN/My President and Vice President have appointed and confirmed thee most Black, AAPI, Indigenous and Latino judges IN HISTORY.

    FOR LIFE. This is what VOTING does for you.

    Do not let your inability to do everything keep you from doing something. #VoteBlueOrWeAreScrewed https://t.co/5XOe62KGcv
    (https://twitter.com/JamesMWilliam18/status/1547121534216585219?t=rLXLpI3ENZkgbs3S_B5aDw&s=03)

  62. 62.

    Gin & Tonic

    July 13, 2022 at 9:27 am

    @Baud: It’s like a big pizza pie, no?

  63. 63.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 13, 2022 at 9:27 am

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    A recent meeting I had with stalwart Dems was consumed by Biden’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad judicial appointment. What a betrayal!

    Did they have any opinions on Biden’s other 80-something (I believe) district court nominations which include (again, IIRC) a record number of Black women?

  64. 64.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 9:28 am

    @Starfish:

    I have zero problem with being skeptical of media reporting.  They haven’t earned our trust. And recall that, at the time, there was no public information about the existence of any judicial vacancy, which lent support to the skepticism.

    We have a few more facts now, so our views should be updated accordingly.  The main thing we don’t know, and may never know, is the exact terms of the supposed “deal” that was struck.

  65. 65.

    Immanentize

    July 13, 2022 at 9:28 am

    @PAM Dirac: that one is harder for me.

  66. 66.

    TS

    July 13, 2022 at 9:29 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Profumo did have inherited wealth. Not everyone is so lucky in their birth to be supported for life by their parents. It  would probably work for many who are currently in congress, but not for anyone.

  67. 67.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 9:30 am

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    A recent meeting I had with stalwart Dems was consumed by Biden’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad judicial appointment.

    I’m curious about the racial makeup of the Dems you deal with.  Care to share?

  68. 68.

    Starfish

    July 13, 2022 at 9:30 am

    @Baud: That led to skepticism, but within days a judge went on senior status, and it was expected that she would fully retire if they replaced her with another conservative.

    Everything in the initial report came to be supported by more and more evidence as the story evolved.

  69. 69.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 9:30 am

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I hate it when it hits my eye.

  70. 70.

    rikyrah

    July 13, 2022 at 9:30 am

    Hmmmmmmm….

    YT: Zwotea.Tendani (@ZwoteaTendani) tweeted at 2:42 PM on Tue, Jul 12, 2022:
    When jheńe Aiko said that she doesn’t like the term of falling in love and said that we should learn to grow in love . It really hit me .
    (https://twitter.com/ZwoteaTendani/status/1546943044947165187?t=pIcrF3EOmekkq-YszpRT6g&s=03)

  71. 71.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 13, 2022 at 9:31 am

    @Baud:

    100% melanin-challenged.

    ETA: These were (are) solid activist Democrats, who do real work towards getting Dems elected. Which is why the effect of media-driven stories such as this one (perhaps true?) and “Biden is too ooold” can be problematic. They sap morale and motivation among those most likely to work for Dems, not to mention regular voters.

  72. 72.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 9:32 am

    @Starfish: Right, that’s what I said.  We have more confirmed facts now.

    Didn’t the original reporting say it was a deal for a slate of judges, and then later reporting say it was for only US attorneys in KY?  That’s a major fact that hasn’t been locked down one way or the other (to the extent this story remains interesting to people).

  73. 73.

    rikyrah

    July 13, 2022 at 9:32 am

    uh huh

    uh huh

     

    MeidasTouch.com (@MeidasTouch) tweeted at 8:53 PM on Tue, Jul 12, 2022:
    Republicans are currently going on Fox to try to intimidate Merrick Garland, threatening to investigate and impeach him if they take power.

    They know indictments are coming—and there’s nothing they can do about it. They are only digging their holes deeper.
    (https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/1547036373604917249?t=4nYWuaS8qjA1ls58niJTcA&s=03)

  74. 74.

    germy shoemangler

    July 13, 2022 at 9:32 am

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    Yes, they were pretty shitty to her.  Touring was stressful enough but they made her endure endless “pranks” like stealing her clothes, etc.

    After her death, Groucho perpetuated the falsehood that she was a clueless person with no sense of humor.  He’d tell interviewers that Dumont didn’t understand the jokes and was exactly like the characters she portrayed.

    In reality she was a woman with a fine sense of humor, who knew exactly how to play it “straight” so a co-starring comedian could shine.

    She spoke about it whenever anyone cared to ask. She said it was important to support the comedian without upstaging him or directing attention away from his character.

    And yet Groucho made her sound like an amateur with no craft or understanding who wandered onstage one day.

  75. 75.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 9:32 am

    @O. Felix Culpa: Thanks.

  76. 76.

    rikyrah

    July 13, 2022 at 9:33 am

    say it from the rooftops!

     

    Robert Garcia (@RobertGarcia) tweeted at 4:43 PM on Tue, Jul 12, 2022:
    Let’s be crystal clear: @POTUS has been incredibly effective. He saved lives due to his pandemic leadership, brought back the economy by passing the American Rescue Plan, record job growth, an infrastructure bill, historic judicial appointments & gun safety legislation. Onward.
    (https://twitter.com/RobertGarcia/status/1546973660061126656?t=f8tg05_R9EXVrYPC0Ry78g&s=03)

  77. 77.

    Starfish

    July 13, 2022 at 9:33 am

    No one watched the video of the law professor dunking on Hawley that I posted in the second link from comment 5. Should I blame AOC or Biden supporters for this?

  78. 78.

    geg6

    July 13, 2022 at 9:34 am

    @eclare:

    My sister, a former x-ray tech, says the same thing.  Hated working nights with full moons.

  79. 79.

    Evap

    July 13, 2022 at 9:34 am

    @Steeplejack:  Dr Pepper was my favorite drink as a kid.  When I was really young it was only available in the south and it was a big deal to get one when we visited my grandparents in Alabama

  80. 80.

    Geminid

    July 13, 2022 at 9:35 am

    ‘@O. Felix Culpa: Hmm…100% melanin-challenged. Was there much evidence of X Chromosome Deficiency Disorder?

  81. 81.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 13, 2022 at 9:36 am

    @TS: I am not saying that people need to devote their lives to volunteer work.  I am saying that stepping away from public life after you’ve been, at the very least, an utter embarrassment is probably one of the things that should be part of rebuilding a reputation.  Good works are probably a good idea too.

  82. 82.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    July 13, 2022 at 9:36 am

    I saw a sample of Dumb ass Donny’s latest Truthers;

    * It has to be Hutchinson he tried to call because he keeps on ranting about her.

    * How the hell the MAGA hats think Trump is always calm and cool is beyond me, those tweets read like a child throwing a tantrum.

    * Musk and Trump is bromance is over, and that drama has started lol

  83. 83.

    Immanentize

    July 13, 2022 at 9:36 am

    @Starfish: What are you talking about? Many of us saw that yesterday and commented about it in prior threads.

    Do you want a cookie?

  84. 84.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 13, 2022 at 9:36 am

    @Starfish:

    How do you know no one watched? Perhaps there are folks who watched but didn’t feel a need to comment.

  85. 85.

    Ohio Mom

    July 13, 2022 at 9:38 am

    @narya: Having once known a couple of very involved AlAnon members, and as a result, heard more than I might have liked about the 12 Steps, I have very mixed feelings about the program.

    But they do have a well worn pathway for making amends.

    Now as with everything else AA-related, there’s no research or data on effectiveness. It could be a model for a starting point though.

  86. 86.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 13, 2022 at 9:38 am

    @Starfish: How do you know that no one watched it?

  87. 87.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 13, 2022 at 9:39 am

    @Geminid:

    In this case, no. Which is why the conversation was all the more worrying.

  88. 88.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 9:39 am

    @Starfish:

    AOC supporters.

  89. 89.

    Starfish

    July 13, 2022 at 9:39 am

    @Immanentize: I was working and missed a lot of what went on yesterday and was poking around for everyone’s summary of the January 6 hearing.

  90. 90.

    zhena gogolia

    July 13, 2022 at 9:40 am

    @O. Felix Culpa: How much time and energy was spent on this here blog, including front-page posts, on this “story”?

    It’s okay, though, Biden is still old.

  91. 91.

    Steeplejack

    July 13, 2022 at 9:40 am

    @Evap:

    I was wondering if there would be a big shift to Mr. Pibb, but today I learned that Mr. Pibb died in 2001. But the dream lives on with Pibb Xtra.

    By coincidence I had some sort of Pibb beverage last week with my Popeyes chicken sandwich. I was getting my occasional homeopathic dose of fast food to keep my digestive system strong and resistant.

    . . . Whoa, flashback. Was it only a few years ago that Popeyes (no apostrophe, similar to no period in Dr Pepper) introduced their chicken sandwich and there was tumult in the land because they were in such short supply? Long lines and unrest in the streets. Why, yes, the Google tells me it was 2019. Another weird artifact from the Trump years.

    ETA: I’m so old that I remember the times before the Coke hegemony and we used to drink RC Cola when we visited the grandparents’ farm in Tennessee.

  92. 92.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 13, 2022 at 9:40 am

    @Immanentize: The way I see it, all photos are fake, in the sense that they’re reconstructions attempting to evoke or illustrate something about the light in the original scene. Some are designed to mimic as closely as possible what you would see with your eyes if you were there; some are not. But the ones made by (legit) scientists are true, too, in that they’re telling us something real about the subject, something that might otherwise be invisible.

    The Webb telescope ones are an interesting case in that they’re all taken with infrared light, but in some photos of distant galaxies, that light has been redshifted by the expansion of the universe such that it was originally visible light, so it’s possible to reconstruct what would have been visible-light colors if you’d been closer to the subject.

    Not that it would have been easy to see them. Astronomical photos of pretty nebulae and galaxies are generally bringing out details you couldn’t see easily even if you were there, since they do much more than magnify–they’re using big apertures (that’s the whole point of the telescope), long exposures and sometimes special filters. But these techniques are generally showing us something true about the subject that we couldn’t see with a more human-like view.

  93. 93.

    Starfish

    July 13, 2022 at 9:41 am

    @Baud: Did I tell you that with the redistricting, my sister is now in AOC’s district?

  94. 94.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 13, 2022 at 9:41 am

    @Starfish:

    No one watched the video of the law professor dunking on Hawley that I posted in the second link from comment 5. Should I blame AOC or Biden supporters for this?

    I saw it last night. Did I miss the post where Cole made a rule that we all have to comment on your comments?

  95. 95.

    debbie

    July 13, 2022 at 9:41 am

    Something else to kill TFG with: St. Andrews has awarded honorau =r Jack Nicklaus

  96. 96.

    germy shoemangler

    July 13, 2022 at 9:42 am

    @Starfish:

    I made the mistake of reading some of the youtube comments under the video.  Whew!

  97. 97.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 9:42 am

    @zhena gogolia:

    Don’t fret.  I’m working on a Dorian Gray painting of Biden as we speak.

  98. 98.

    Ken

    July 13, 2022 at 9:42 am

    @Starfish: Neither. It’s an odd-numbered Wednesday with a supermoon, so you blame VP Harris.

  99. 99.

    Another Scott

    July 13, 2022 at 9:43 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    NASA – Beware the micromoon.

    A more accurate and scientific term is “perigee syzygy” (pear-ih-jee sih-zih-jee). Syzygy is the alignment of three celestial bodies, in this case the Sun, Moon and Earth. But that doesn’t quite roll off the tongue as easily as supermoon.

    “Tonight’s Durian Perigee Syzygy is brought to you by Carl’s Jr, Brawndo, and Starlink”

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  100. 100.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 9:43 am

    @Starfish: Is she an AOC supporter?

    I assume that district is still heavily D.

  101. 101.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 13, 2022 at 9:43 am

    @Anne Laurie: Yeah but that’s my norm all month long.

  102. 102.

    schrodingers_cat

    July 13, 2022 at 9:44 am

    @O. Felix Culpa: IDK whether I want to call Bernie and Warren fans who want to undo the results of the primaries where their favorites lost as “our own”.

  103. 103.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 13, 2022 at 9:44 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Well, someone might have brought his record of judicial appointments up. ;)

  104. 104.

    Starfish

    July 13, 2022 at 9:44 am

    @Ken:

    That totally makes sense.

  105. 105.

    germy shoemangler

    July 13, 2022 at 9:44 am

    @zhena gogolia: It’s okay, though, Biden is still old.

    They search day and night for a scandal and the best they can come up with is that Biden isn’t getting any younger.

    He’s still sharper than TFG and many in the beltway press

  106. 106.

    WaterGirl

    July 13, 2022 at 9:45 am

    @Starfish: For real?  Their social media manager went on vacation the day before the hearing?  Or people just being funny?

  107. 107.

    sab

    July 13, 2022 at 9:45 am

    @debbie: Ask Benton Harbor MI about Jack Nichlaus.

  108. 108.

    Starfish

    July 13, 2022 at 9:45 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: You should know that that rule only goes into effect if I find the mustard.

  109. 109.

    Starfish

    July 13, 2022 at 9:46 am

    @WaterGirl: No. That looked real. I think it is hilarious.

  110. 110.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 13, 2022 at 9:46 am

    @Steeplejack: It always bothered me that the Bs in the Mr. PiBB logo looked kind of like German eszetts, which make an S sound, so if you pronounced it that way…

  111. 111.

    satby

    July 13, 2022 at 9:46 am

    @Starfish: And yet, at the end nothing happened. But here we all are still discussing it as if it had and deep-mining the story for the faint whiff of a betrayal that never occurred, details of which were never fully disclosed. While the coup plotters continue to succeed in trying game future elections; but that’s old news.

    Sorry, not personally directed at you, just frustrated at the continued focus on all the chaff thrown into the air.

  112. 112.

    Immanentize

    July 13, 2022 at 9:47 am

    @Matt McIrvin: I completely agree with everything you wrote.

    And you too are off the party list.
    No circus sands for you!

  113. 113.

    WaterGirl

    July 13, 2022 at 9:47 am

    @Raven: I don’t think narya was saying they were arrested.  I think she was saying that she has a similar concern about people who have been incarcerated.

  114. 114.

    Scout211

    July 13, 2022 at 9:48 am

    @narya: The bill was passed to fix that.

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed a bill allowing inmate firefighters to have their records expunged, clearing the path for them to be eligible for firefighting jobs upon release.

    The bill, sponsored by Democratic Assemblywoman Eloise Reyes, lets prisoners who received “valuable training and [placed] themselves in danger assisting firefighters to defend the life and property of Californians” to petition the courts to dismiss their convictions after completing their sentences.

    That will make them eligible to receive EMT certification, a hiring requirement of municipal firefighting departments. However, one that former inmates are prohibited by state law to pursue.

  115. 115.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 9:48 am

    @satby: Generally agree, although today’s discussion was triggered by the Reuters tweet discussing Biden’s 5 new judicial nominees.

  116. 116.

    satby

    July 13, 2022 at 9:48 am

    @Starfish: I watched it yesterday. She was very good, but I don’t think it dented him much. He’s odious down to the bone.

  117. 117.

    Geminid

    July 13, 2022 at 9:48 am

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: I read in a Raleigh News and Observer story that trump has cancelled a rally in North Carolina scheduled this Friday. They referenced an Axios report that he and his children will testify Friday under oath, in a civil proceeding concerning Trump Organization finances brought by New York AG Leticia James.

    Organizers of tbe North Carolina rally are not offering ticket refunds but rather tickets to future rallies. The next one will be in Wisconsin August 20.

  118. 118.

    Starfish

    July 13, 2022 at 9:49 am

    @Baud: Her area of New York was represented by a lot of older Greek people. She disliked that all her representation was a lot of older Greek people, but she did like her Greek person who retired because his wife either got ill or died. She felt like her area is definitely super lefty.

    She said that Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney are now in the same district, and there is potential that this will be ugly because they have both been around a long time.

  119. 119.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 13, 2022 at 9:49 am

    Funny how stuff like this keeps happening

    Will Sommer @willsommer

    This anti-Trump arson and graffiti attack became a big cause celebre on the right in 2020 as proof of liberal violence. Now the feds say it was staged by the pro-Trump property owner as part of an insurance fraud scheme.

    Molla submitted insurance claims totaling more than $300,000, receiving only $61,000 in the process. He then accused his insurance company of “defrauding him.” Court documents show he also yielded more than $17,000 from two GoFundMe accounts.

    I wonder if he majored in insurance maximization strategies at trump university that afternoon in the Minnetonka room at the St Paul Ramada (West)

  120. 120.

    NotMax

    July 13, 2022 at 9:49 am

    ‘@germy shoemangler

    Dumont’s final appearance. Groucho was 74 and she 82. Ms Dumont died several days after this performance.

  121. 121.

    Starfish

    July 13, 2022 at 9:51 am

    @satby: Can we stop with the pretending that everything is cool until awful things happen?

    How many people shouting about women’s rights being under attack were told that they were being overly sensitive and that Roe would never be overturned, and yet…?

  122. 122.

    trollhattan

    July 13, 2022 at 9:51 am

    @Gin & Tonic: @Baud:

    If it’s in a reef, with big teeth, ‘ats a moray.

  123. 123.

    germy shoemangler

    July 13, 2022 at 9:52 am

    @NotMax:

    She played supporting roles for many different comedians, even W.C. Fields.

  124. 124.

    trollhattan

    July 13, 2022 at 9:53 am

    @Another Scott: “The thirst annihilator.”

    Need to rewatch “Idiocracy.” Mood.

  125. 125.

    UncleEbeneezer

    July 13, 2022 at 9:54 am

    @Baud: The important part is that the usual suspects got a week or two of bashing Biden on something that never ended up happening.  Most of whom will never admit “you know, we don’t really know the details of the deal so let’s move on” and but will continue to bring it up when they want to bash Biden/Dems with “remember that time Biden tried to…”

  126. 126.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 13, 2022 at 9:54 am

    @schrodingers_cat:

    In this instance, the folks I was with are not part of that group. They’re faithful Democrats heavily involved in grassroots organizing. While the stories that get floated regarding Biden might be thin to entirely specious, they have a real effect on real people who do the work. Which is why “our side” needs to get savvier at sniffing out bullshit, as well as be prepared to challenge the rare bad decisions that Biden’s administration can make without giving up on our team altogether.

  127. 127.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 9:54 am

    @Starfish:

    How many people shouting about women’s rights being under attack were told that they were being overly sensitive and that Roe would never be overturned, and yet…?

    Told by whom?  We lost a Senate seat in Colorado for six years because Udall was viewed a cheesy in his raising the alarm about abortion rights.  Up till now, most of the dismissiveness on abortion I have seen has come from the left because it took the focus off of economic issues.  I’m going to pull a Psaki and ask who specifically told you that abortion rights were safe.

  128. 128.

    eclare

    July 13, 2022 at 9:54 am

    @satby:   Agree.  Judges have been confirmed, the end.

  129. 129.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 13, 2022 at 9:54 am

    @Starfish: ​
      Ah, but here either there was no deal or the deal was scuttled. Either way, no bad thing happened. I am not sure how much we need to continue beating this horse.

  130. 130.

    germy shoemangler

    July 13, 2022 at 9:55 am

    @satby:

    It’s one of those clips where every side has their own interpretation.  The trolls see it as Hawley winning the debate and making her look foolish.  Our side sees it as a brave woman speaking truth to a sleazeball.

    Our interpretation is correct, in my opinion.

  131. 131.

    schrodingers_cat

    July 13, 2022 at 9:56 am

    @Starfish: It was the Vt senator who called Planned Parenthood establishment. It was the so called progressives who jeered when HRC when she said that Trump could appoint up to 4 Supreme Court justices.

    Now the same people have the gall to turn around and attack Biden. We were alive in 2015-2016. Your historical revisionism won’t fly here

    Here is Kamala Harris arguing for pre-clearance for abortion rights in 20 fucking 19. This is the same woman who many progressives are leaping over by calling for contested primaries and calling  her stupid and other memes by selectively playing edited clips of her speeches

    Link to WP where BS called Planned Parenthood part of the establishment

  132. 132.

    Ken

    July 13, 2022 at 9:56 am

    @trollhattan: I heard it as “When an eel bites your heel And make-a you squeal, That’s a moray.”

    Also “He’s a comic, a ham, His name’s Amsterdam, That’s a Morey.”

  133. 133.

    cain

    July 13, 2022 at 9:56 am

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    I remember reading that and thinking “what the fuck is Biden thinking” it seemed really weird that he would do that. Lo and behold, they arent going with that pick.

    Fucking media..

  134. 134.

    brendancalling

    July 13, 2022 at 9:57 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Sigh.

    I’ve probably remarked about this overall topic  few times here at Balloon Juice, but in my 20s I was a doorknocker for Greenpeace. My topic was almost always water resources and the impact of what we used to call the greenhouse effect on weather patterns. A big part of my spiel, before asking for a donation, was how scientists were saying we have 10-20 years to figure that out. This was in 1991, which was 31 years ago.

    Color me not-at-all-surprised about Lake Powell, Lake Mead, or any of our other shrinking reservoirs. This was predictable and predicted. We’re in for a really rough ride soon, and it looks like that’s coming even sooner for Colorado.

  135. 135.

    Immanentize

    July 13, 2022 at 9:58 am

    @satby: Hi Satby. Yes you landed right on the head of my complaints as well. I hope you are well.

  136. 136.

    Soprano2

    July 13, 2022 at 9:58 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:  The year they divided the water was an unusually high year. It’s caused problems ever since.

  137. 137.

    WaterGirl

    July 13, 2022 at 9:58 am

    @sab: I had the same conversation in class with my criminology professor in grad school.  Half of the crimes committed by women are either during their period or in the days just before or just after.

  138. 138.

    wenchacha

    July 13, 2022 at 9:59 am

    @Ohio Mom: I just watched Michael Pollan’s ” How To Change Your Mind” on Netflix. He researches and samples various psychedelics that may be useful in treating mental illness.

    He traces the recent history of various chemicals, and reveals that Bill W., founder of AA, was a participant in LSD research being done, back before it was illegal. He had a profound spiritual awakening, and was able to quit alcohol and develop his method.

    Interesting to me that what was his hallucination became “Christianized,” which is exactly what turns off many people to the AA model. Not to mention, it was the chemical reboot of Bill W’s brain that helped him, and could be helpful for so many others who struggle with addiction.

  139. 139.

    satby

    July 13, 2022 at 9:59 am

    @Starfish: Listen, no one is pretending everything’s cool, and as a person who was already an adult when Roe was decided (and BTW: an adult before I could open a checking account in my own name, not get fired for being pregnant in a job even if I was married, and subjected to unending amounts of male attention now considered harassment or even assault) the last thing I will tolerate from a younger person is an accusation that we were unaware of the danger. I’ve screamed the impending danger  since the 90s to my younger friends and co-workers and got treated like a crank for my trouble. Sit the fuck down before you dare lecture people who actually spent their youth fighting for rights subsequent generations so took for granted.

  140. 140.

    zhena gogolia

    July 13, 2022 at 10:00 am

    @Starfish: How about those people who shouted that when it was time to vote for Hillary Clinton? How were they treated? “Don’t blackmail me . . .”

  141. 141.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 13, 2022 at 10:00 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    The only reason to bring it up is to look at how it demoralizes faithful Democratic workers IRL. And consider why such stories are floated and how we can help our folks can get just a titch savvier about them.

  142. 142.

    Ken

    July 13, 2022 at 10:00 am

    @Geminid: Organizers of the North Carolina rally are not offering ticket refunds but rather tickets to future rallies.

    Somewhere, someone is having a lightbulb moment, and realizing that profits will increase if they never bother renting the venue, or doing anything else to organize the rally.

  143. 143.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 13, 2022 at 10:01 am

    @Baud:

    Told by whom?

    Yeah, I keep seeing this. Who was saying this? I don’t remember ever seeing it here. DNC Ogre-Puppets HRC and Biden regularly said Roe was on the ballot. They were accused by right, center and no small amount of the left for fear-mongering

    We lost a Senate seat in Colorado for six years because Udall was viewed a cheesy in his raising the alarm about abortion rights.

    After Darrell Issa’s hearing on birth control where (IIRC) all the witnesses were male clergy, mostly white, people raised hell. Remember Sandra Fluke? That was in the winter of 2012.

  144. 144.

    NotMax

    July 13, 2022 at 10:02 am

    ‘@sab

    Benton Harbor

    Chickenman! “He’s everywhere, he’s everywhere!”

    :)

  145. 145.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 13, 2022 at 10:02 am

    @O. Felix Culpa: That is fair.

  146. 146.

    Immanentize

    July 13, 2022 at 10:02 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: The beating of horses, alive or dead, must continue until Biden agrees, on primetime TV, that he is a neoshitlib and immediately announces he will not run for a second term, nor will any woman or person of color run in 2024.

    Ask DougJ if you don’t believe me!

  147. 147.

    SFAW

    July 13, 2022 at 10:02 am

    @TS: ​
     

    All of them – I lost a few minutes of sanity listening to Hawley.

    Seeing a headline re: That Seditious Fucking Asshole’s “transphobic” questioning/statements, it struck me that we need something to replace “-phobic” when the behavior shows not fear, but hatred. [No, I’m not interested in the “but their hatred is driven by fear, so …” semantic/bullshit argument.] Same thing for “homophobic.” But I’m not enough of a Greek (or Latin) scholar to come up with something appropriate. But the sooner someone comes up with something to replace that sugar-coating bullshit, the better. Call them out on it, every time.

  148. 148.

    Betty Cracker

    July 13, 2022 at 10:03 am

    @germy shoemangler: One of the Media Matters people did a tweet series yesterday showing how that phenomenon works. He used a clip of a recent appearance by Pete Buttigieg on Fox News. Buttigieg was asked about protesters outside of a restaurant where Kavanaugh was dining.

    Buttigieg’s answer was great; he absolutely pantsed the Fox guy in the eyes of anyone left of center, so the clip went viral. But the Media Matters guy showed how edited versions were recycled to gin up rage on Hannity’s show, Laura Ingraham’s, etc., in a deceptive way. My takeaway: don’t go on Fox News!

  149. 149.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 10:04 am

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    Yeah I think we just need to flood the zone with positive stories of what we’re doing, have done, and are fighting to do.  No point engaging with negative people.

  150. 150.

    eclare

    July 13, 2022 at 10:04 am

    @brendancalling:   I moved to Memphis in 2004 mainly because my aging parents were here, but I also took into account water supply.  For all of its faults, Memphis has great water from an aquifer.

  151. 151.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    July 13, 2022 at 10:05 am

    Well after 2 1/2 days of barely moving, the hound seems on the mend.  Phew.  Regarding the moon, I’ve always thought that since the moon and the tides are linked and we are mostly water, it makes sense people go wonky during full moons.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.  My mom was a nurse for 30+ years I’ve been teaching for 20+.  We both agree the moon messes with people.

  152. 152.

    UncleEbeneezer

    July 13, 2022 at 10:05 am

    @WaterGirl: I read her comment more as pointing out the fact that we can’t really be for Restorative Justice and also be like “f*** this person forever” when shitty people try to be better.  It’s a big problem with the prospect of any real restorative justice/Abolish Prison becoming a reality in this country.  People just aren’t that forgiving, in general, even on our side.  The amount of time people are spending reminding us how awful Cheney/Pence are (as if that’s some sort of brilliant insight) speaks volumes about how we treat shitty people when they try to do something good.  We like to sort things into black/white, good/bad.  We all do it.  The same applies for wanting a sane GOP.  Folding our arms and scolding people like Cheney really does nothing to help incentivize more Republicans to try to follow Cheney’s lead.

  153. 153.

    Geminid

    July 13, 2022 at 10:05 am

    @Starfish: Maybe I’m wrong, but I seem to remember talking with you about the “degrowth” strategy for combating climate change. I could not give much of a summary of the degrowth position, but I have since found more in an interview of economist Robert Pollin by C. J. Polychonou, published in Truthout July 3, 2021.

    Pollin is not neccesarily a fan of this strategy: “I would say [I have] large areas of agreement along with significant differences.” But he does give a fuller explaination of the degrowth position, in its proponents’ own words.

  154. 154.

    SFAW

    July 13, 2022 at 10:06 am

    @NotMax: ​
     
    I see your Chickenman, and raise you a Roy Kent

  155. 155.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 13, 2022 at 10:06 am

    @Betty Cracker: Jill Biden got selectively edited by the Post so that it looked like she was equating Latinos with breakfast tacos.  It’s not just Fox.

  156. 156.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 10:07 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    And stuff like that is why we are skeptical of the media.

  157. 157.

    eclare

    July 13, 2022 at 10:08 am

    @Old Dan and Little Ann:   Great news about your pup!

  158. 158.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 13, 2022 at 10:10 am

    Texans urged to save energy as extreme heatwave strains power grid

    I wonder if musk is having 2nd thoughts about moving his operations to Texas.

  159. 159.

    UncleEbeneezer

    July 13, 2022 at 10:11 am

    @SFAW: First Google response-

    Homophobia: dislike of or prejudice against gay people.

    Everybody knows damn well that “phobia” in this context doesn’t refer only to fear.  Nobody is confused by this.  Anyone pretending to be is just pulling the oldest bad faith, bullshit move in the book.

  160. 160.

    germy shoemangler

    July 13, 2022 at 10:11 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Texas is great for him because he doesn’t have the burden of things like safety regulations  or workers’ rights.

  161. 161.

    Immanentize

    July 13, 2022 at 10:12 am

    @wenchacha: uhhhh,

    Alcoholics Anonymous was officially founded in 1935, although that redemption model for treatment had been kicking around since the 19th century.

    LSD was first created in 1938 at the very earliest?

    Maybe peyote? Psilocybin?

  162. 162.

    satby

    July 13, 2022 at 10:12 am

    @Immanentize: back at cha

  163. 163.

    Another Scott

    July 13, 2022 at 10:13 am

    @Matt McIrvin: +1

    It’s always a wakeup call for me to remember how little of the electromagnetic spectrum our eyes can sense.

    NRCAN.gc.ca has a good discussion. Yet it doesn’t mention “cosmic rays” – with energies above 10^20 eV…

    Our eyes aren’t cameras, our ears aren’t microphones, our memories aren’t non-volatile, etc., etc. Our brains make a model of reality, but that model does not capture the richness of actual reality.

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  164. 164.

    Barbara

    July 13, 2022 at 10:14 am

    @Starfish: If you are speaking of your own friend group, okay, you know them I don’t, but people in my friend group have been worried about protecting abortion rights since at least 1980 when Ronald Reagan was first elected.  Yes, actively worried, and being told as often as not that we were too strident, one issue voters.  But yeah, over time, we kept saying the same thing until people tuned it out, until, what do you know, one day it actually turned out to be true.

    Many people, probably disproportionately women, have cared passionately about protecting abortion rights for a long time. Just one example:  When the governor of Virginia tried to pass one of those hateful mandatory pre-abortion ultrasound laws women in the state raised a hue and cry loud enough to get him to back down.

    So please do not insult people by suggesting that they are guilty of taking rights for granted when they clearly did not, even if many others were way too complacent about maintaining the security of rights that others fought long and hard for.

  165. 165.

    germy shoemangler

    July 13, 2022 at 10:14 am

    @Another Scott:

    My cat perceives more reality than I do.

    Smell, sound, sight…  she’s more aware than I am.

     

    Our brains make a model of reality, but that model does not capture the richness of actual reality.

    This may explain why people become republicans.

  166. 166.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 13, 2022 at 10:17 am

    so fucking old I remember the dismissal of “gonadal politics”

  167. 167.

    SFAW

    July 13, 2022 at 10:18 am

    @UncleEbeneezer: ​
     
    I know how it’s used, thanks so much for educating me.

    I also know that people use “bemused” when they mean “amused.” “Everybody” knows that the two words can be used interchangeably, except not really.

    I don’t want some ambiguous bullshit to give them cover. Call it what it is: hatred.

  168. 168.

    Geminid

    July 13, 2022 at 10:18 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Someone remarked that if guns needed refrigeration, Republicans would have made the Texas grid much more reliable than it is.

    I’m hoping that Beto O’Rourke and Texas Democrats can make their state’s lousy electrical grid a winning issue. Freezing and baking in one’s own home is a “kitchen tabe issue” if there ever was one. Texas has been run by Republicans for two decades now, and “Throw the Rascals Out!” can be a potent campaign theme.

  169. 169.

    WereBear

    July 13, 2022 at 10:19 am

    @germy shoemangler:

    This may explain why people become republicans.

     
    Reality is not their friend. So they avoid it.

  170. 170.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 13, 2022 at 10:19 am

    @germy shoemangler: But he will still have to pay highly inflated prices for electricity whether he gets it or not.

  171. 171.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 13, 2022 at 10:21 am

    Shifting gears, I just watched Liz Cheney’s opening remarks from yesterday’s hearings. (I missed the first 15 minutes.) She is excellent at reading Trump for filth, and I’m here for it.

  172. 172.

    Immanentize

    July 13, 2022 at 10:21 am

    @WaterGirl: I remember back in the early ’80s when some radical Dems were slapping “violence against women” stickers on books at bookstores which were about  PMS (written by men).

  173. 173.

    schrodingers_cat

    July 13, 2022 at 10:21 am

    @O. Felix Culpa: I am seeing outright lies, half truths and ageist attacks on Biden-Harris from many blue check leftie media types.

    Along with rags like NYT and Politico.  Vichy Times and Politiho is what I like to call them

    Ds are doing better in the generic ballot for the midterms so B team for Republicans is working hard to change it. Afterall the 4th house is not going to build itself.

  174. 174.

    Betty Cracker

    July 13, 2022 at 10:22 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Fox News is a dedicated propaganda arm of the Republican Party, and as such, it can always be counted on to twist any Democrat’s words for maximum bad faith. The Washington Post, for all its failings, is not.

  175. 175.

    SFAW

    July 13, 2022 at 10:22 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    But he will still have to pay highly inflated prices for electricity whether he gets it or not.

    He’ll just have the prices raised on Teslas to cover the increase.

  176. 176.

    schrodingers_cat

    July 13, 2022 at 10:22 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yep and those same folks Biden to step down because he is too nice and not a fighter.

    Their idea of a fighter, someone who tweets instead of legislating, does Insta stories about painting their nails.

  177. 177.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 13, 2022 at 10:24 am

    @Another Scott: Those cosmic rays aren’t part of the electromagnetic spectrum at all–they are charged particles of matter. So the means of detecting them are different.

    And now we also have ways to observe neutrinos and gravitational waves, notoriously difficult things to detect.

  178. 178.

    AliceBlue

    July 13, 2022 at 10:25 am

    What’s going on with Dr. Pepper?

  179. 179.

    Another Scott

    July 13, 2022 at 10:25 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: There’s a third possibility – the deal has been put off for some future time.

    Who knows.

    My bottom line – Biden is not stupid.  Biden has been doing politics a very, very long time.  He knows how the Senate works better than anyone.  He knows how judicial appointments work better than anyone.  If he’s trying to do a deal, it’s because he thinks it’s a good idea.  But he also knows that politics is the art of the possible, and what’s possible depends on the time-frame and current events.  He’s not going to burn his presidency down on something that will have toxic politics even if he thinks that ultimately it’s a good idea.

    (biden-i-got-this.gif)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  180. 180.

    snoey

    July 13, 2022 at 10:26 am

    @Immanentize:

    Psychedelics had no role in the founding of AA, but Bill W. was an enthusiastic participant in LSD experiments in the 50’s.

  181. 181.

    zhena gogolia

    July 13, 2022 at 10:26 am

    @AliceBlue: Sidney Powell was drinking it during her deposition — it was a highlight of yesterday’s hearing.

  182. 182.

    Geminid

    July 13, 2022 at 10:27 am

    @schrodingers_cat: A lot of people equate tough talk with actual toughness. That’s a large component of many “messaging” controversies, I think.

  183. 183.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 13, 2022 at 10:27 am

    @AliceBlue:

    A video clip from yesterday’s Jan. 6 hearings, where Sidney Powell took a product placement-like swig of Diet Dr Pepper.

    ETA: zg types faster. :)

  184. 184.

    narya

    July 13, 2022 at 10:27 am

    @Scout211: This makes my damn day, tbh. and I don’t even live in CA.

  185. 185.

    germy shoemangler

    July 13, 2022 at 10:28 am

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    Powell was funny when she described Trump’s lawyer breaking a land speed record.

    She’s a lunatic with a sense of humor apparently.

  186. 186.

    eclare

    July 13, 2022 at 10:28 am

    @Another Scott:   Just like that .gif of Obama from the 2008 Democratic convention:  everyone chill the fuck out, I got this.

  187. 187.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 13, 2022 at 10:29 am

    @germy shoemangler: Cat vision is interestingly different from human vision. In some ways it’s worse than ours. It is not very acute–they’re not getting a very high-resolution image; it’s fuzzy by our standards–and their color vision is reduced, a bit like a human with red-green color blindness.

    But they are exquisitely able to detect the faintest flicker of motion, and they can see far better than we can in very low light.

  188. 188.

    Ken

    July 13, 2022 at 10:30 am

    @Matt McIrvin: I’ve heard that cosmic rays can be seen by humans, if they hit the retina. Or maybe it was if they hit your head and the secondary radiation hits your retina?

  189. 189.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 10:30 am

    @Matt McIrvin: Can confirm. Was cat.

  190. 190.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 13, 2022 at 10:30 am

    Inflation surges 9.1% in June, most since November 1981

    U.S. consumer prices in June accelerated at the fastest annual pace since November 1981.

    The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index (CPI) reflected a year-over-year increase of 9.1% last month, up from the prior 40-year high of 8.6% in May. Economists were expecting June’s reading to show an 8.8% increase, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

    […]

    “Overall, this report confirms that the Fed will need to hike by 75bp again at the end-July meeting,” Capital Economics Senior U.S. Economist Michael Pearce said.

    […]

    In Washington, the White House on Tuesday warned in a call with reporters that June’s inflation numbers were likely to be “highly elevated” but downplayed the weight of last month’s figure, pointing to gas prices that have since retreated from their highs.

    Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, echoed that defense of June’s CPI reading in an interview with Yahoo Finance Live on Wednesday. Deese underscored the downward trend in gasoline prices, but did not offer specific details when asked how volatility in energy markets may show up in future readings if prices swing back up.

    “The Administration tried to get out in front of the bad economic news, and tell us the inflation report was going to be ugly this month, but it was even worse than markets imagined in their wildest dreams,” FWDBONDS Chief Economist Christopher Rupkey said in emailed commentary

    What I’m wondering is why the Fed’s rate hikes haven’t seemed to show any effects yet?

  191. 191.

    NotMax

    July 13, 2022 at 10:31 am

    ‘@O. Felix Culpa
    A Marco Rubio moment.

    ;)

  192. 192.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 13, 2022 at 10:31 am

    Squirrel! Inflation!

  193. 193.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 10:31 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): That’s too bad.

  194. 194.

    Steeplejack

    July 13, 2022 at 10:32 am

    @rikyrah:

    Republicans are currently going on Fox to try to intimidate Merrick Garland, threatening to investigate and impeach him if they take power.

    They’re doing that instead of this:

    Another damning, highly incriminating day for Donald Trump before the January 6 Committee and the silence from Republican congressional leaders is deafening, including from @RepStefanik @EliseStefanik, who was supposed to lead an aggressive rapid response effort.

    — Ted Boutrous (@BoutrousTed) July 13, 2022

  195. 195.

    Immanentize

    July 13, 2022 at 10:32 am

    @snoey: That I believe! Have you ever read Storming Heaven? It is a fabulous book about the arc of hallucinogenic research/experimentation/adoption (up to the 90s).

  196. 196.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 13, 2022 at 10:33 am

    @germy shoemangler:

    Yes, with emphasis on looney. :)

    @NotMax:

    But with more caffeine!

  197. 197.

    Immanentize

    July 13, 2022 at 10:33 am

    @Geminid: This is a very good insight.

  198. 198.

    zhena gogolia

    July 13, 2022 at 10:34 am

    @germy shoemangler: I loved that. The almost split-screen effect of her looniness with her Dr Pepper and his dapper, lawyerly disdain was very funny (if it weren’t so tragic).

    I didn’t realize yesterday that “Overstock guy” was the one who was involved with Maria Butina.

  199. 199.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 10:34 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    What I’m wondering is why the Fed’s rate hikes haven’t seemed to show any effects yet?

    The Fed hiked rates in mid-June and this report covers June.  Rate hikes can’t have instantaneous effect.

  200. 200.

    Nelle

    July 13, 2022 at 10:34 am

    @zhena gogolia: I was told “Don’t try to manipulate me” by a Bernie supporter when I brought up the Supreme Court.  She was so utterly dismissive that it took my breath away.  And condescending too.  Last time I ever talked to her, though I have to stifle the impulse to walk up to her door and say, “And how do you like them apples now?”

  201. 201.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 13, 2022 at 10:35 am

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    9.1% is a pretty big deal, I would think. High inflation is already hampering the economy globally and a lot of people are being hurt. This is absolutely going to affect the midterms unless the situation improves soon. I had hoped that things would have been cooling off by now. Hopefully oil prices will continue to drift downward further, as fuel costs are huge part of the increase

  202. 202.

    WaterGirl

    July 13, 2022 at 10:35 am

    @Old Dan and Little Ann: If your pup has arthritis issues, adequan can work wonders.  Back when Bailey took it, there was a series of 2 shots a week for 4 weeks.  Right about shot #5 we could see a big difference and by shot #8 the difference was remarkable.

    After some period of time – maybe several months or a year, I can’t remember – he needed a couple of booster shots and then was good again.

    Maybe something to ask you vet about?

  203. 203.

    Nelle

    July 13, 2022 at 10:36 am

    @SFAW: Well, the word “bigot” appropriately covers the territory.

  204. 204.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 13, 2022 at 10:37 am

    @Baud:

    It is.

    @Baud:

    Yeah, makes sense

  205. 205.

    germy shoemangler

    July 13, 2022 at 10:38 am

    @Steeplejack:

     

    Live view of the @RepStefanik response: pic.twitter.com/TCEFhOJhXl

    — Vin Kohl (@VinKohl) July 13, 2022

  206. 206.

    AliceBlue

    July 13, 2022 at 10:39 am

    Thanks Zena and O. Felix–I missed the hearing yesterday.

  207. 207.

    schrodingers_cat

    July 13, 2022 at 10:40 am

    @Geminid: Many wanted a T like figure but from our side. And are disappointed that Biden doesn’t shit post on Twitter.

  208. 208.

    WaterGirl

    July 13, 2022 at 10:40 am

    @germy shoemangler: I thought the “land-speed record” comment sounded pretty bitter.

  209. 209.

    TS

    July 13, 2022 at 10:40 am

    @Starfish:

    I watched it and posted I want those minutes of my life back.

    Thus said, 98% of my comments never get a response – it doesn’t mean that someone hasn’t read them or checked a link.

  210. 210.

    Steeplejack

    July 13, 2022 at 10:41 am

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    It has to be Hutchinson he tried to call because he keeps on ranting about her.

    Liz Cheney said it was someone who had not appeared yet.

  211. 211.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 13, 2022 at 10:41 am

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    Everybody knows damn well that “phobia” in this context doesn’t refer only to fear.  Nobody is confused by this.  Anyone pretending to be is just pulling the oldest bad faith, bullshit move in the book.

    I think, though, that part of the reason they harp on that is that they really are afraid and they’re upset at the implication that this is so (because a manly man is not afraid of anything, etc.)

  212. 212.

    narya

    July 13, 2022 at 10:42 am

    @UncleEbeneezer: Yes, thank you, that is where I was going. I saw this when I worked at the substance abuse treatment agency, too, many years ago: lots of ex-cons there. There has to be a path. Not everyone will take it, and it will not be an easy one. I even think that there should be a path–in prison–for folks whose past behavior doesn’t warrant them ever getting out. Everyone should have the opportunity to do good, even when they have done very bad things. The good doesn’t “erase” the bad, but expecting/allowing only bad things means that’s all you’ll ever get.

  213. 213.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 13, 2022 at 10:42 am

    Here’s an comment by YY_Sima Qian from a few days ago that went under the radar that I think is very important to keep in mind going forward:

    I think both the GDP growth & the wage growth numbers are nominal figures. Accounting for inflation, US GDP growth was negative in Q1 & is estimated to be < 2% for Q2, & just over 2% for the year. Furthermore, there are more economic uncertainties going forward, as global inflationary pressure does not appear to be transitory (something both the Fed & the Biden Administration have realized a couple of months ago), & economies of both developing & developed countries are already in rough shape (which is negatively affecting the US, & will continue to). There may or may not be a recession at the end of this year or early next, but real GDP growth looks to be anemic.

    I am all for touting the D’s accomplishment, & there are plenty to tout (unfortunately Sinemanchin really capped them), but we also need to live in reality. No happy talk about nominal GDP or wage growth (especially the former) will convince people whose spending power are being eaten away by inflation (despite the nominal wage growth). Should the US & world economies encounter further difficulties in Q3/Q4, premature celebration now will leave eggs on faces, & give the Rs an easy line of attack.

    Now, the unemployment rate, that should be touted. (Yes, administration policies rarely have short term impact on macroeconomics, & labor participation rate is still below per-pandemic levels, but taking credit for macro growth is a time honored political tradition & fair game for electioneering.)

  214. 214.

    eclare

    July 13, 2022 at 10:42 am

    @germy shoemangler:   Perfect!

  215. 215.

    germy shoemangler

    July 13, 2022 at 10:43 am

    Trump is an excitable boy.

    Why was it necessary to have people to calm the president? Tell me again how women are too emotional to be president.

    — Rachel Vindman (@natsechobbyist) July 12, 2022

  216. 216.

    germy shoemangler

    July 13, 2022 at 10:44 am

    @Steeplejack:

    Surely not Bannon.  Bannon would have taken his call and featured it on his TV show (or whatever it is)

  217. 217.

    cain

    July 13, 2022 at 10:45 am

    I prefer a new moon on Monday than a supermoon on Wednesday

  218. 218.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 10:46 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    The economy is what it is.  Either have a plan of attack for dealing with it or don’t.  Staring at bad numbers all day isn’t very productive.

  219. 219.

    TS

    July 13, 2022 at 10:48 am

    @Ken:

    Somewhere, someone is having a lightbulb moment, and realizing that profits will increase if they never bother renting the venue, or doing anything else to organize the rally.

    Well, they never used to pay for the venue – but maybe some places are now getting smarter and want the money up front, so cancelling the event is the better option.

  220. 220.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 13, 2022 at 10:48 am

    @Baud:

    Is that a response to YY_Sima Qian’s comment or mine?

  221. 221.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 13, 2022 at 10:49 am

    a propos of nothing, did y’all see the sea lion attacks in SoCal the other day?

    Mike Sington @MikeSington

    Sea lions fed up, chase beach goers off their turf in La Jolla, California.

  222. 222.

    Scout211

    July 13, 2022 at 10:49 am

    @Scout211: @narya:

    Text added to include the fact that the bill was signed in September of 2020. So it’s in effect now.

    narya, I’m glad I brightened you day. ☀️

  223. 223.

    Steeplejack

    July 13, 2022 at 10:50 am

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Might explain not conquering the international market.

  224. 224.

    Baud

    July 13, 2022 at 10:52 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    It’s a general response to concerns over things we can’t control in the near term.

  225. 225.

    geg6

    July 13, 2022 at 10:54 am

    @zhena gogolia: ​
     
    This. I have no patience for these assholes and their daring to lecture me about any fucking thing.

  226. 226.

    satby

    July 13, 2022 at 10:54 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): both. No one is playing the distraction game today.

    And for 50% of the electorate, why do you think spending essentially 9% more on some things would be more important than bodily autonomy?  Never mind, don’t answer.

  227. 227.

    frosty

    July 13, 2022 at 10:55 am

    @Another Scott: Our brains make a model of reality, but that model does not capture the richness of actual reality.

    This is something I remember from Aldous Huxley’s book The Doors of Perception.

  228. 228.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 13, 2022 at 10:55 am

    @zhena gogolia: “Gonadal politics” / “I don’t vote with my vagina”.

  229. 229.

    Immanentize

    July 13, 2022 at 10:55 am

    The same folk screaming that PJB should be fighting harder with the GOP aren’t even talking to the White conservatives in their own family. https://t.co/X4x46Znn0f— Propane Jane™ (@docrocktex26) December 19, 2021

  230. 230.

    Geminid

    July 13, 2022 at 10:56 am

    @TS: When I post a comment and no one responds, I just tell myself that my comment was so good there was nothing more to say!

  231. 231.

    satby

    July 13, 2022 at 10:57 am

    @Matt McIrvin: right? So fucking insulting and dismissive, and now all up in their feels about how they’re not taken seriously. Fuckem.

  232. 232.

    narya

    July 13, 2022 at 10:58 am

    @Scout211: Yeah, I started off with another bullshit-bingo work meeting, and it’s my birthday (it’s thread-end, so i feel safe noting that :-)), so I did, in fact, need a little brightener.

  233. 233.

    Another Scott

    July 13, 2022 at 10:59 am

    @Matt McIrvin: But, but, e = mc^2 so it’s all the same!

    ;-)

    Touche’

    One of my work-study projects in college was using a photomultiplier tube to characterize some new Japanese scintillator glass that was considered for use at Fermilab for some experiment on CP symmetry violation.  We used some radioactive button source to generate particles which generated photons in the glass and measured the response as a function of distance from the PMT.

    “You’ve got to subtract the pedestal!!”

    (Turns out there was a lot of striation in the glass, so it probably wasn’t usable, but I never heard the final outcome.)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  234. 234.

    TS

    July 13, 2022 at 11:00 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    What I’m wondering is why the Fed’s rate hikes haven’t seemed to show any effects yet?

    If it’s like my part of the world – every business I buy anything from raised it prices by 5-40% when the base rate increased by 0.5%

    If anyone is going to suffer from inflation – it won’t be the businesses selling the food that I buy or the services that I use.

  235. 235.

    satby

    July 13, 2022 at 11:00 am

    @narya: not late enough!! Happy Birthday !!!

  236. 236.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 13, 2022 at 11:01 am

    @Another Scott: If anyone starts in about Plato and the cave….

  237. 237.

    Jinchi

    July 13, 2022 at 11:02 am

    @Betty Cracker: ​
     My theory is Beshear or someone in his office leaked this info to stop the Meredith nomination, and it worked.

    Agreed. Biden pretty clearly had a deal with McConnell on this. It hasn’t gone through because people found out and there was blowback. This isn’t a hit job by the media or the “online left”. The people objecting are elected Democratic politicians, including the Governor of Kentucky, along with Federal Representatives and Senators.

  238. 238.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 13, 2022 at 11:02 am

    @satby: a recurring theme of old-fart, pragmatic, long-view twitter (one of whom I would be if I had an account) used to be “people who think politics began in 2008/2016…”

    I’m not one to stir up shit so I won’t add in “when the little birdie landed on Bernie’s podium”

  239. 239.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 13, 2022 at 11:02 am

    @satby: @Immanentize: Applause!

    @narya: Happy natal day!

  240. 240.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 13, 2022 at 11:03 am

    @satby:

    I never said I thought it was more important. Where did I ever say that?! And I’m not playing some “distraction game” either. We can all chew bubble gum and walk at the same time, can’t we? Inflation is important because of the economic implications and unfortunately a lot of people we need to vote for us to win the states and districts we need to control Congress (independents) are more receptive to the economy. I don’t like this reality, but it is what it is.

  241. 241.

    Another Scott

    July 13, 2022 at 11:04 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: “There’s nothing new under the sun.”

    Except for all the new stuff.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  242. 242.

    UncleEbeneezer

    July 13, 2022 at 11:05 am

    @Matt McIrvin: Oh absolutely.  My point is that if we change our language to find better words these people will keep pulling the same bullshit.

  243. 243.

    TS

    July 13, 2022 at 11:05 am

    @Geminid:

    had to reply – I’ll remember this one.

  244. 244.

    satby

    July 13, 2022 at 11:06 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    I’ll let John handle this one:

    John Pavlovitz @johnpavlovitz  1h

    The thing that really bothers me about the 9.1 % rise in inflation—is that a former president and his entire party plotted to overturn an election, overthrow our government, and install a vile, traitorous ignoramus.

    EDIT: Finis

  245. 245.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 13, 2022 at 11:06 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Pshaw, who doesn’t like a good allegory?

  246. 246.

    Barbara

    July 13, 2022 at 11:06 am

    @Starfish: She is, and good for her, but I do think we face what I call the “long tail” problem on issues like this.  Hawley tries to box the professor in on who can get pregnant and kind of sneers that it’s only a women’s rights issue (or something like that), which she deflects — after all, I am a woman, and I can’t get pregnant, at least not any longer — so Hawley is inaccurate even as to women, whereas he is denying the reality that people who self-identify as other than women might also be affected by laws affecting reproduction, including but not limited to pregnancy.  The gay couple who can no longer use fertility services to start a family, for instance, or even pursue adoption.

    Does it matter that we frame it this way or that?  I don’t know, but I do know that going straight to the issue of transgendered people in discussions like this as Hawley does is a way to bog down the discussion and deflect from the cataclysmic impact on  people who are inevitably affected by Dobbs — which is pre-menopausal people with active biologically female reproductive capacity, and the vast majority of these are biological women who are engaged in sexual relationships with men.  In my view, Hawley successfully got his smoke screen even though the professor stood her ground.  I am not minimizing the importance of anyone else’s rights, but this is such a clear strategy it is stupid for us not to have a way of not getting caught up in it all the time in any discussion involving abortion and reproductive rights.

  247. 247.

    SFAW

    July 13, 2022 at 11:06 am

    @Nelle: ​
     
    I agree. I was just hoping there would be some suffix (so to speak) which could be attached as necessary. Sorta like how “-gate” became ubiquitous after 1972. [Although not always applied appropriately, I guess.]

  248. 248.

    Geminid

    July 13, 2022 at 11:06 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): So, are you hearing much from the Ryan and Whaley campaigns? Or about them?

  249. 249.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 13, 2022 at 11:09 am

    @satby:

    I agree! I really do. In the grand scheme of things, that’s all important

  250. 250.

    schrodingers_cat

    July 13, 2022 at 11:10 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Inflation after COVID is a global phenomena. Eurozone inflation is also close to 9%.

  251. 251.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 13, 2022 at 11:11 am

    @Geminid:

    I hear and see plenty from Ryan. Not so much from Whaley. Ryan talks about the importance of tackling high inflation, getting jobs back from China, etc. He’s trying to position himself as a maverick

  252. 252.

    sab

    July 13, 2022 at 11:11 am

    @Geminid: That is often the case.

  253. 253.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 13, 2022 at 11:12 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): The rate hikes are not large (yet), and also they’re not really being exposed to consumers in the form of ways they can hedge against inflation by saving money rather than by spending it. That was one of the problems back in the 70s. But all that takes more time than maybe we have.

    One of the purposes of the rate hikes is to cool down the economy, and that might have the effect of fighting inflation by causing a recession–out of the frying pan into the fire.

  254. 254.

    Soprano2

    July 13, 2022 at 11:15 am

    @schrodingers_cat: Many more moderate Dems, especially men, kept saying we shouldn’t talk about abortion and “women’s issues” because people (white men) didn’t care about them, but instead cared about “economic issues”. They could never admit that “women’s issues” and “economic issues” were the same thing!

  255. 255.

    schrodingers_cat

    July 13, 2022 at 11:17 am

    @Soprano2: Which moderate Dems? Bernie is not a dem and not a moderate. Our leadership As far as I can remember (since at least Bill Clinton era) has always been pro-choice.

  256. 256.

    Scout211

    July 13, 2022 at 11:18 am

    @narya: Happy Birthday!

    May the rest of your day be full of good things.  

  257. 257.

    Immanentize

    July 13, 2022 at 11:18 am

    @narya: Another successful trip around our friend, the sun !

  258. 258.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 13, 2022 at 11:19 am

    @schrodingers_cat:

    While that’s true, I don’t think that caveat is going to matter to voters this November

  259. 259.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 13, 2022 at 11:19 am

    @Barbara: The reasonable way to respond to that is to get mad–“oh, blow it out your ass, you know you’re trying to change the subject and get your bigoted friends riled up.” But I don’t suppose it’s always the politically savvy way. Men have way more latitude to get mad and yell.

  260. 260.

    schrodingers_cat

    July 13, 2022 at 11:22 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): The point I was trying to make was that controlling inflation is not entirely in Biden’s hands.

  261. 261.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 13, 2022 at 11:23 am

    @Matt McIrvin:

    and also they’re not really being exposed to consumers in the form of ways they can hedge against inflation by saving money rather than by spending it.

    Could you explain this?

  262. 262.

    HinTN

    July 13, 2022 at 11:25 am

    @Another Scott:

    Our brains make a model of reality, but that model does not capture the richness of actual reality.

    Bingo!

  263. 263.

    Jinchi

    July 13, 2022 at 11:26 am

    @Barbara: ​  In my view, Hawley successfully got his smoke screen even though the professor stood her ground.

    Hawley got his smokescreen because, as the Senator asking the questions, he controls what gets asked and can cut off any answers that he doesn’t like. This isn’t a balanced interaction. I’m sure the smokescreen will look brilliant to fans of Fox news.
    But Bridges did an excellent job making her points, despite being in a disadvantaged position, and that’s the message that got reported outside of the rightwing media universe.​

  264. 264.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 13, 2022 at 11:28 am

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I know and I’m aware of that

  265. 265.

    stinger

    July 13, 2022 at 11:31 am

    @TS: I read your comments!

  266. 266.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 13, 2022 at 11:31 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Consider the serenity prayer.

  267. 267.

    stinger

    July 13, 2022 at 11:35 am

    @Geminid:

  268. 268.

    Elizabelle

    July 13, 2022 at 11:35 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:   Agreed, agreed, agreed.  Enough.

  269. 269.

    schrodingers_cat

    July 13, 2022 at 11:37 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Then stop fretting.

  270. 270.

    misterpuff

    July 13, 2022 at 11:41 am

    @O. Felix Culpa: I know that the point of this and other posts is to lament uninformed pushback by professional Dems (and those that cosplay them on Twitter) but early on (40 years ago) I came to realize that politicians often raise a trial balloon to see the response (and the sharp ones do it to elicit the opposite response).

    Our role as The Base is to respond heartily to oppose these “ideas”. If we do, and the politician changes course all is well. If we do, and they continue on that path, well, they have revealed themselves.

    I know its cynical but that is how the game is played. We are the wind that causes the tack.

  271. 271.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 13, 2022 at 11:42 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): So usually we think of higher prices as discouraging spending. People can’t afford things if they’re too expensive, so they stop buying things and that is the limit on prices just spiraling upward forever under increased demand and increased costs of production.

    But suppose inflation gets really bad and people start expecting high inflation. Then they have a motivation to buy things they can’t afford because they’ll become even more unaffordable later. Their money is going to become worthless if they don’t spend it now! Saving it won’t do any good because any interest they earn just gets effectively eaten up by inflation.

    That means people keep spending themselves into the ground and prices keep going up and up under hot consumer demand. And they demand wage increases because the cost of living went up, which makes things still more expensive to produce. That’s an inflationary spiral.

    If interest rates go up, it makes it harder to get and service business loans. That tends to cool down the economy, at a cost in pain. But if people still have no good way to save money, it won’t reduce consumer demand as much as you’d expect.

    One problem in the 70s was that interest rates got jacked up really high but bank interest on consumer savings accounts wasn’t high, so people had no good way to save. At first, there were actually laws forbidding this! Eventually as a result of regulatory changes, things like money-market accounts that paid good interest appeared. You could get savings and CD interest rates that were incredibly high in the early 80s. And that helped cool down inflation, because it became less ruinous to save money instead of spending it.

  272. 272.

    Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog

    July 13, 2022 at 11:43 am

    Test – pls delete.  Thanks.

  273. 273.

    livewyre

    July 13, 2022 at 11:44 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): If distraction isn’t your goal, which I could buy, then what’s your actual motivation for changing the topic? Speaking as someone who has trouble with it, be careful of savvy-chasing and cornering a topic for momentary gratification. The world is bigger than that.

  274. 274.

    SiubhanDuinne

    July 13, 2022 at 11:44 am

    @narya:

    Happy birthday!

  275. 275.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 13, 2022 at 12:07 pm

    interesting speculation from a playwright who knows as much about politics as anyone here

    Richard M. Nixon @dick_nixon 24m

    I have long thought Eastman and Giuliani are in legal trouble but I increasingly think Meadows is too. Trump’s people think so.
    As for who the big witness is next week, I think Patrick Byrne makes the most sense. There’s an outside chance at Pence, but I’d be surprised.

    I’ll bet all my quatloos it’s not Pence. I think even if Mother has smacked any delusions about a political future out of his head, and I don’t think either one is that bright, he knows any future he has with wingnut welfare is tied to trump, and I don’t think Pence is a rich man. And if he did testify, he’d insist on some ceremony, I suspect. But Byrne might be in some legal jeopardy, and I gather he left Overstock under an ethical/legal cloud (right? Thought I heard that on MSNBC yesterday) and I can well imagine he doesn’t want anymore scrutiny or legal bills than he already has.

  276. 276.

    dnfree

    July 13, 2022 at 12:15 pm

    @germy shoemangler: playing the tambourine!

  277. 277.

    SFAW

    July 13, 2022 at 12:15 pm

    @UncleEbeneezer: ​
     

    My point is that if we change our language to find better words these people will keep pulling the same bullshit.

    They’ll pull the same bullshit no matter what. But if we persistently call it out for what it is, with concomitant phrasing (other than the ambiguous “-phobia”), it will eventually have the desired effect.
    The forced-birthers latched onto the “pro life” bullshit, and successfully obscured their anti-independent-women agenda. But that didn’t happen overnight. For the most part, the “forced-birthers” phrasing has not reached the same level of recognition, but it can. Same thing with an unambiguous “trans hatred” phrase

  278. 278.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 13, 2022 at 12:15 pm

    @livewyre:

    I suppose, I feel like it’s often ignored here. And it frustrates me that I’m often dismissed, at least it feels like it to me, when I bring up my concerns about it. I ended up being right to worry about it and the political implications of high inflation

    And I wasn’t trying to change the topic. It was an open thread and I thought it was fine to bring up other things

  279. 279.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 13, 2022 at 12:16 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Thanks for the explanation

  280. 280.

    Barbara

    July 13, 2022 at 12:20 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: “Senator Hawley, ‘pregnant people’ include any people with some or all of their female reproductive capability intact, most of whom identify as women but some of whom do not.  They are all grievously affected by Dobbs.  And, by the way, it is my practice to refer to all people as people in all cases in order to underscore that women are people whether they are pregnant or not, as much as men, which you among others seem to forget when it comes to legislating their lives.”

  281. 281.

    livewyre

    July 13, 2022 at 12:20 pm

    @misterpuff: A distinction occurs to me – the one I’m usually on about, in fact. We can be that wind as long as the pushback is centered on actions rather than essence. The latter is what the smears might take advantage of.

    I think we sap momentum (whether for pushing back or other needed actions) if we start to focus on the moral essence of the doer – is he about to betray us? Was he always? Is this the turn? Then we’re stuck waiting for Godot’s other shoe to drop. Instead, I think we can keep the pressure up as long as we understand that mistakes can be made and actions taken that sometimes don’t work (trial-ballooned or not), and push back on those rather than losing trust and tuning out.

  282. 282.

    WaterGirl

    July 13, 2022 at 12:23 pm

    @Baud: What makes you think the goal there is to be productive?

  283. 283.

    livewyre

    July 13, 2022 at 12:24 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): There’s a give and take to topic-changing, even in open threads. Demanding gravity and attention is different from inviting others along.

    We have to trust that others will give our words their chance in turn if we want to be taken seriously. That’s where I think the objections and seeming dismissal come from.

  284. 284.

    SFAW

    July 13, 2022 at 12:25 pm

    @WaterGirl: ​
     

    What makes you think the goal there is to be productive?

    Well, for one, we see the tremendous amount of work YOU do, in order to keep this place going for Whats-his-name. So we draw that conclusion.

  285. 285.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 13, 2022 at 12:28 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    What’s that supposed to mean?

  286. 286.

    Geminid

    July 13, 2022 at 12:30 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: It’s true that Pence is not a wealthy man. He must rely on the wider conservative world for income, institutions like the Heritage Foundation which I believe employs him now.

    I don’t think Pence has any particular material reason not to tear Trump down. But Pence has Presidential ambitions that would incentivise him against being very forthcoming to the Commitee. I don’t think he’d lie, just give guarded answers and equivocal conclusions.

    I don’t think Pence has a chance to win the Republican nomination in 2024, but he does. As Abraham Lincoln commented, once the worm of Presidential ambition starts to gnaw, it gnaws deep.

  287. 287.

    Steeplejack

    July 13, 2022 at 12:32 pm

    @Baud:

    And inflation and gas prices don’t appear to be the whole story. Ford’s gas-guzzling pickup trucks are on long back-order. Some of that is reportedly due to chip shortages, but people are still lining up to buy them. And apparently have the “spending power” to do so.

  288. 288.

    WaterGirl

    July 13, 2022 at 12:36 pm

    @Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog: Did you use Steeplejack’s trick for the (looks like) apostrophe?

    Are you sure you want it deleted?  Because if it’s your first comment with that nym and you like that nym… but I delete it, then you will have to have another first comment approved.

  289. 289.

    Steeplejack

    July 13, 2022 at 12:38 pm

    @narya:

    Happy birthday!

  290. 290.

    WaterGirl

    July 13, 2022 at 12:38 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owS7Cn2iKcY

  291. 291.

    WaterGirl

    July 13, 2022 at 12:40 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Goku, you and I have had this conversation at least 10 times.  I am not having it again.

  292. 292.

    Cmorenc

    July 13, 2022 at 12:41 pm

    @Evap:

    Dr Pepper was my favorite as a kid, too!  As to the contemporary 2022 version of Dr Pepper vs the 1960 version, I suspect at some point the “peppery” spicy taste got dumbed down to a milder formulation, probably to do with MBA /marketing types deciding to go with a lower common denominator in conjunction with growing it into a national and international rather than regional market. Perhaps my taste buds have been dulled over the intervening 60 years, but I recall it having a distinctly much tangier taste when i was 10 years old vs now.

    Another southern regional soft drink, Cheerwine, has a tangy taste much closer to the original Dr Pepper flavor, except that CW also has a cherry flavoring ingredient.

  293. 293.

    SFAW

    July 13, 2022 at 12:55 pm

    @WaterGirl: ​

    @SFAW: ​
     
    By the way: although it was intended as a semi-joke, I really and truly am amazed at how much you do on, and for, this site.

  294. 294.

    Steeplejack

    July 13, 2022 at 12:58 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    He has used that nym with the apostrophe before.

  295. 295.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 13, 2022 at 1:19 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    I understand and I don’t expect a response but I do feel I need to say this now that I’ve had some time to think. I think Baud and you are right that what I’m doing isn’t productive at all; I am fretting over things I can’t control and I’m sure it’s getting very annoying for everyone

  296. 296.

    Paul in KY

    July 13, 2022 at 1:39 pm

    @Raven: He was at a Descendents show.

  297. 297.

    Soprano2

    July 13, 2022 at 1:46 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: I’m talking about people like James Carville. The people who thought there was some kind of “deal” to be made with anti-abortion people that would get them to quit trying to overturn Roe. The ones who thought talking about abortion was “icky” and would turn off independents. The ones who thought all Dems should talk about was the economy.

  298. 298.

    StringOnAStick

    July 13, 2022 at 2:27 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): It seems to me that what makes this inflationary period a bit unique is that it is due to the world economy stalling out in the early days of Covid, which created pent-up demand at all levels of the economy (world, national,. local).  Now all the normal growth and demand that would have occurred when the national/world economy was essentially shut down has snapped back and it being felt in a compressed time frame; hence: inflation.  Probably the closest analogy is the post WWII era, which also saw significant inflation in the US.  Close, but not perfect.

    Americans suffer from an insular world view, and aren’t being told by their media that inflation is an issue throughout the world.  Hopefully the declines in oil prices (go look at a current oil futures graph, you’ll feel better) will continue to be seen in oil prices as well since that has been a big inflation driver.  As for the older members of BJ not being quite so hair on fire about this, we lived through stagflation and huge interest rates in the 1970′-80’s.  This is all brand new to you, but we’ve seen it before and people still lived their lives.  We can worry about the impact of inflation on the midterms, but worrying doesn’t impact those results, taking action does.  You’d feel better if you were taking action in some manner I suspect.  Nothing is quite as scary as being frozen into inaction.

  299. 299.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 13, 2022 at 3:33 pm

    @StringOnAStick:

    This is all brand new to you, but we’ve seen it before and people still lived their lives

    …and voted a bunch of fanatical movement conservatives into office, with huge walloping landslide margins, and they fucked everything up to the present day.

  300. 300.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 13, 2022 at 3:36 pm

    @Steeplejack: While I recognize the hit that high gas prices make to vulnerable people who can’t avoid paying them to do their jobs and live their lives, I have zero sympathy for anyone who drops a huge amount of money on a brand-new gas-guzzling behemoth of a vehicle and then complains about how Biden jacked up gasoline prices.

  301. 301.

    StringOnAStick

    July 13, 2022 at 5:08 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: Time to roll over and give up then, no reason to continue.

  302. 302.

    WaterGirl

    July 13, 2022 at 9:20 pm

    @SFAW: Late getting back to the thread, but thank you for that!

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