Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

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

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Come on, man.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

You cannot shame the shameless.

You are here: Home / Jan 6: Hearings / Thursday Morning Open Thread: President Biden, Unstoppable

Thursday Morning Open Thread: President Biden, Unstoppable

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The Great Merge crufted the blog’s search function, so I can’t share the cached stories of Chief Mulvaney’s early Trump-era efforts to master the phone system & the light switches. But I’m sure there will be exciting new tales of derring-don’t emerging from today’s testimony…

… Mulvaney, who joined CBS News as a contributor earlier this year, had already left the Trump White House by Jan. 6, 2021. Mulvaney was ousted by Trump from his chief of staff role in March 2020, and Mulvaney resigned from his subsequent post as the special envoy to Northern Ireland following the Capitol riot.

Mulvaney told CBS News that he believes Cassidy Hutchinson and other top former Trump officials who have testified about him before the panel…

After the Capitol attack, Mulvaney told CNBC he couldn’t “stay here, not after yesterday.”

“You can’t look at that yesterday and say I want to be a part of that in any way shape or form,” he told CNBC at the time…

Missed an anniversary yesterday:

Don’t mention the War…

Aaaand another social-media triumph for our own DougJ:
Thursday Morning Open Thread: President Biden, Unstoppable

Reader Interactions

180Comments

  1. 1.

    Patricia Kayden

    Matthew Yglesias’ reaction to the pitch bot is hilarious. He’s so clueless.

  5. 5.

    Baud

    I’m sure MattY will from now on only talk about the big problems in politics and not trivial shit.

    (Is he one of the big cancel culture pundits?)

  7. 7.

    Mai Naem mobile

    Whenever I see Matt Yglesias’ nym on Twitter I always read it as Matty Glesias which somehow makes him comes across as whiny little toddler.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    @WereBear:

    I didn’t watch the video, but I’d imagine Biden is classy enough to attribute the difference to vaccines.

    But he knew what he was doing.

  9. 9.

    p.a.

    Matt’s a fine example of “if a man’s livelihood depends on his not understanding something, he won’t.”  (paraphrased)

  10. 10.

    oldster

    @Baud:

    No, Yglesias is definitely *not* on the Bari Weiss cancel culture train.

    And isn’t his response…correct?

    What is “the big problem in American politics”? Not just *a* big problem, but *the* big problem? Maybe you think it’s systemic racism. Or the Republican adoption of fascism. Or anti-majoritarian features of the Constitution.

    But do you really think that *the* big problem with American politics is that the NYT is too conservative?

    Let’s grant — as Yglesias does grant in this tweet — that the NYT is too conservative.

    Still, is that lamentable fact a bigger problem than the Christian Right? The domination of capital? The Handmaiden’s Tale patriarchalists?

    We all love to rag on Yglesias, and he encourages it by trolling. But sometimes the counter-trolling makes people overlook that he is saying something uncontroversial and true.

  11. 11.

    Baud

    @oldster:

    Yglesias is definitely *not* on the Bari Weiss cancel culture train.

     
    Thanks, I get my pundits confused.

    But sometimes the counter-trolling makes people overlook that he is saying something low-key true.

    Seems like.counter-trolling is even less of a big problem than MattY and all the other things. But he still responded to it.

  12. 12.

    WereBear

    @oldster:

    But do you really think that *the* big problem with American politics is that the NYT is too conservative?

     
    It’s a symptom of the bigger problem. The nation’s “paper of record” which has outsized influence in the corridors of power has NOT been a supporter of democracy — or, when it comes to their political coverage, outright propping up weak tea — I think the kind of cover they give to bad-faith players contributes greatly to the mess journalism is in.

    And by extension, such a thought diminishes what should be one of our strengths.

    So no. He tends to sprinkle truth onto crap to make it more palatable. For which I tend to low-key loathe him.

    It’s Right Wing apologetics at this point. I think that’s part of the problem!

  13. 13.

    geg6

    Matty Y is cruisin’ for a Pitchbot bruisin’.  He doesn’t have the tools to take on DougJ.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    It just occurred to me that cancel culture was like five white panics ago.  Man, time moves fast these days.

  16. 16.

    MagdaInBlack

    @WereBear: I have not yet had enough coffee to pull together what I was thinking, but you pretty much nailed it. I thank you for doing so.

  17. 17.

    matt

    @oldster: Dumb. That framing ‘this isn’t the #1 biggest issue in the world’ is Pundit’s Three Card Monte to try to change the subject when you’re right and they’re sad.

    Matt is trying to say the NYT isn’t too conservative – actually, it’s just right and they should hire him.

  19. 19.

    hueyplong

    So we’re in agreement that M Yglesias is merely an enabler, like the NYT, and is therefore properly and equally butthurt by the pitchbot, which itself may be the country’s most unfailingly accurate depiction of enabling.

  20. 20.

    Wapiti

    @oldster: Riffing off Werebear: the big problem in America is that the powers that be – those with control of media, for example – aren’t invested in the democracy. And more often than not, spend resources to undercut it.

  21. 21.

    Ohio Mom

    I remember reading MattY when blogging was new. Sometimes he brought up things I hadn’t thought about but when he talked about something I did know about, I was always appalled. Which made me doubt his views on the things I hadn’t yet thought about.

    More knowledgeable commentators would try to correct him and he’d never have any of that. He is a stubborn  one.

    Still, I don’t wish him ill, I just hope his wife has a good job and they aren’t squandering his nest egg because I am always amazed he still has a job.

  22. 22.

    satby

    @Ohio Mom: yeah, back in the days when Matt and Ezra Klein were the bright young wunderkinds of blogging and their wrongheaded takes were attributed to their youth. Seems eons ago, and now we know that it was character, not youth.

  23. 23.

    WereBear

    @Ohio Mom: because I am always amazed he still has a job

    For most of us, this is indeed a major grievance with Right Wing World. I can’t think of any human endeavor that doesn’t call for a least competence, but these might-as-well-be-a-trust-fund media and political jobs, where mediocre white men can do well with zero qualifications or performance, is the very essence of how we got mired in this mess.

    Any good ol’ boy network is corrupt and incompetent. That’s why they form in the first place.

  24. 24.

    satby

    OT: I want to thank G&T, and Adam for facilitating communication, while I got some reality checks on Ukrainians seeking sponsorship here. I’ve offered to sponsor a couple currently in Poland for humanitarian parole in the US.

    I’m already freaking myself out, but that’s a normal reaction for me 😜

  25. 25.

    Geminid

    @WereBear: An astute Twitterer pointed out that Yglesias missed the point entirely. The Pitchbot isn’t saying that the Times is too conservative. He’s lampooning the “bothsides” framing the Times does to the detriment of truth.

  26. 26.

    p.a.

    Baud

    JULY 28, 2022 AT 6:45 AM

    It just occurred to me that cancel culture was like five white panics ago.  Man, time moves fast these days.

    Outrage junkies, but always moving on to the next new designer drug.  Can’t even be consistent!

    ETA:ugh, quotebox, how that work?

  27. 27.

    Wapiti

    @Geminid: The pitchbot also frequently lampoons the assignment of pundits to opine on subjects totally outside their expertise.

  30. 30.

    Betty Cracker

    Yglesias was on the cancel culture bandwagon to some extent — he signed the Harper’s letter that stirred up so much controversy among journalists, and when he quit Vox, he cited a statement by a trans co-worker that she felt less “safe” at Vox because he’d signed the letter as one factor in his decision to leave. That said, Yglesias isn’t even close to a Sullivan or Weiss-class cancel culture figure.

    Among the things I find irritating about the issue is that the cancel culture complainers aren’t 100% wrong; cultural mores are evolving rapidly, and it makes sense (to me, at least) to extend people some grace as they adjust, as long as they’re not trying to be hurtful assholes.

    Cancel culture isn’t even among the top 100 problems we have as a society, but because it affects a particular class of mostly middle-aged, mostly white and mostly male professionals with enormous megaphones, it’s treated as if it’s the most pernicious scourge to ever engulf the republic, and that directly enables actual fascists who are doing censorship for real.

  32. 32.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker:

    Among the things I find irritating about the issue is that the cancel culture complainers aren’t 100% wrong; cultural mores are evolving rapidly, and it makes sense (to me, at least) to extend people some grace as they adjust, as long as they’re not trying to be hurtful assholes.

    Cancel culture isn’t even among the top 100 problems we have as a society, but because it affects a particular class of mostly middle-aged, mostly white and mostly male professionals with enormous megaphones, it’s treated as if it’s the most pernicious scourge to ever engulf the republic, and that directly enables actual fascists who are doing censorship for real.

     

    QFT.

  33. 33.

    RandomMonster

    DougJ’s Pitchbot is for me the funniest thing on Twitter. Glad he skewered Yglesias, who’s made a career of getting things wrong.

  34. 34.

    Kay

    For all the attention paid to the politics of the far right in the Trump era, the biggest shift in American politics is happening somewhere else entirely.

    Yglesias was and is absolutely in on the cancel culture panic – flogged it endlessly – it’s why he left Vox and started a substack. Someone should ask him if the biggest threat facing the country is still the Oberlin student council or Yale law students with bad manners. DougJ is at least funny. The cancel culture scolds are just whiny, entitled bores who think they get to dictate “culture” and define “liberal”.

  35. 35.

    WereBear

    @Geminid: One of the benefits of Twitter is how many knowledgeable citizens come along and puncture the hot air balloon.

    One can even control the situation so only one’s list can interact, if we want a sensible conversation.

  36. 36.

    satby

    @Betty Cracker: I’m so old I can remember when “cancel culture” was just social enforcement of norms of civility. Which tbf  have evolved rapidly and can be hard to keep up with. And have broadened, which is what the complainers are angry about. Edit: to be clear, I agree with you, I just hate the silly name.

  37. 37.

    SFAW

    @oldster: ​

    But do you really think that *the* big problem with American politics is that the NYT is too conservative?

    That wasn’t really DougJ’s point, but let’s (for the moment) pretend that it was. But:
    The FTFTFNYT spent so much column ink on “but her e-mailz!!!!” and similar “yeah, maybe Trump’s a dangerous liar, but Hitlary’s ‘foundation’ once accepted money from Soros!!!” (so to speak)-like stories, that it (I believe) materially affected the outcome in 2016. More than Comey’s last-minute bullshit? Maybe, maybe not — but the answer SHOULD BE “No, they did their utmost to prevent a dictator-wannabe — with Russian help — from getting elected.” That the answer is nowhere close to my “should be” hypothetical answer is a big problem.​

  40. 40.

    NorthLeft

    @oldster: As others have pointed out to you ( and to Matt Y), the problem is the deliberate distribution of right wing propaganda and poo-pooing of the danger to democracy of these “mainstream” right wing orgs (like the Republicans) that is the issue.

    The NYT being so large and a supposed leader, bears more responsibility for this than most media organizations.

  42. 42.

    Uncle Cosmo

    Scheduled for cataract surgery this afternoon at Wilmer. I plumped for the superdeluxe multifocal lenses; doc sez I should never need glasses again for most standard activities. Second eye scheduled in 2 weeks. (No word on when he’s fixing my third eye.)

    It’s going to be strange not to wake up in a blur & reach for the specs on my nightstand for the first time in (checks watch) 65 years…after 2 weeks of strangeness trying to navigate with one good eye and one bad-enough-to-get-me-out-of-the-draft eye.

    Wish me luck.

  44. 44.

    RandomMonster

    @satby:

    @Ohio Mom: yeah, back in the days when Matt and Ezra Klein were the bright young wunderkinds of blogging and their wrongheaded takes were attributed to their youth. Seems eons ago, and now we know that it was character, not youth

    This. I read his early blog, and remember saying things to him like, “You need to get on the right side of this whole Iraq invasion.”

  48. 48.

    satby

    @Uncle Cosmo: It’s life-changing for those who have had it. Good luck!

    Feeling slightly jealous, I’m years away from it and the other eye thing I have normally is fixed along with cataract surgery.

  49. 49.

    Jinchi

    @oldster: ​
      But do you really think that *the* big problem with American politics is that the NYT is too conservative?

    You realize that you’re responding to Matt’s strawman argument that Pitchbot thinks the NYT is “the big problem” and not the actual one, that the NYT is a self-important institution deserving of parody.

    Matt’s reaction (to a joke that ribbed him personally) simply underscores the point.

  52. 52.

    Baud

    @rikyrah:

    The only thing you “lose” if marginalized people gain equality is the power to oppress them.

     
    I think it’s easy to underestimate how valuable that is to some people.

  53. 53.

    SFAW

    @Uncle Cosmo: ​
     
    First of all: Good luck!
    My wife underwent cataract surgeries (both eyes, about three weeks apart) at the beginning of the year. She/we did not pay the extra $5K for the multi-focals. I don’t know if she regrets not doing so. But she does have about 417 pairs of “cheater”/reading glasses strewn around the house. [There were more; she’s lost something like 113 pair.] But she no longer has to go through her nightly clean-the-contacts ritual, she can drive without glasses, and in general her life has improved. [The only downside is that when she doesn’t want to look at me ugly mug, she can’t just take out her lenses to “improve” things.]

    So you should be OK.
    Again: Good luck!

  55. 55.

    Anyway

    @SFAW:

    The FTFTFNYT spent so much column ink on “but her e-mailz!!!!” and similar “yeah, maybe Trump’s a dangerous liar, but Hitlary’s ‘foundation’ once accepted money from Soros!!! (so to speak)”-like stories, that it (I believe) materially affected the outcome in 2016. More than Comey’s last-minute

    It’s not that the FTFNYT’s political reporting is “too-conservative” (what does conservative even mean these days?) it’s that they are reflexively anti-Establishment Dems. That means giving multiple headlines and credibility to “Clinton Cash” grifters and the like.

  57. 57.

    WereBear

    @Betty Cracker:

    Among the things I find irritating about the issue is that the cancel culture complainers aren’t 100% wrong; cultural mores are evolving rapidly, and it makes sense (to me, at least) to extend people some grace as they adjust, as long as they’re not trying to be hurtful assholes.

     
    I agree, and I’ve had to apologize and say, “I will go do some reading” when I’ve used a wrong term or need an attitude correction.

    So I know that anyone can dodge cancellation by being an open-minded, decent human being. And therein lies… something :)

  58. 58.

    SFAW

    @Anyway:

    it’s that they are reflexively anti-Establishment Dems.

    Sort-of, but I think it’s more that they were anti-Clinton. Pinch Sulzberger (who took over as publisher in 1992) was that way and Pinche (his son) also is.​
     
    ETA: At least as regarded 2016. I don’t disagree with your point vis-a-vis the rest of the time. But their 2016 behavior kinda fucked the country.

  59. 59.

    lowtechcyclist

    @matt:

    That framing ‘this isn’t the #1 biggest issue in the world’ is Pundit’s Three Card Monte to try to change the subject when you’re right and they’re sad.

    This.  Is the NYT’s bothsidesism the #1 problem of our politics? Of course not. But it’s definitely a big problem that needs addressing.

    Their bothsidesing gives cover to all the bad shit going on on the right side of the political spectrum, and keeps them from telling it like it is about the GOP and the conservative movement generally.  And the rest of the media world may not entirely follow their lead, but they don’t tend to move very far away from where the FTFNYT is either.  So it’s a pretty major obstacle in the way of taking on the #1 through #whatever problems we have.

    And fuck Matt Yglesias.

  60. 60.

    SFAW

    @Tony Jay:

    I warn you, I feel a rant coming on.

    Well, gorramit, hurry up! I ain’t got all morning to wait by the ‘phone tube for it!

  61. 61.

    Baud

    @SFAW:

    They definitely hate the Clintons, but I don’t remember them treating Obama fairly.  I haven’t heard as much when it comes to Biden, but that may because I’m not paying attention anymore.

  62. 62.

    Jinchi

    @Jinchi: @oldster: ​ And just a reminder, This was an actual pitch made in the NYT, 6 months before Trump tried to stage his coup.

    Tom Cotton: Send In the Troops

    The nation must restore order. The military stands ready.

    In which a sitting Senator called for an overwhelming show of force by the US military against people protesting the death of George Floyd.

  64. 64.

    SFAW

    @Baud: ​
     
    Maybe, but their treatment of Obama didn’t materially affect the 2008 and 2012 results. [I added an ETA to clarify my alleged “point.” Damn, I used to be able to write well.]

  69. 69.

    Soprano2

    @Betty Cracker: I agree, especially trans issues. I have to say that it doesn’t help that there is a perception that if someone makes a mistake about this stuff online there are hundreds of people just waiting to pounce on them and tell them what a terrible person they are. This is a problem for people who are trying to do the right thing but are confused about what the right thing actually is.

  70. 70.

    Geminid

    @WereBear: Twitterer Ragnarok Lobster (@elclecticbrotha) serves as a good example of redemption. Eleven years ago, when he was new to the medium, Mr. Lobster tweeted a horrible comment about a girl with Down’s Syndrome selling Girl Scout cookies at the police station he worked at. And I mean horrible. He straightened up afterwards and now his remarks on politics are retweeted by a lot of respectable people. They know about the horrible tweet, but they judge him by his conduct afterwards.

  72. 72.

    evodevo

    @Uncle Cosmo:   Let us know how it goes…I’m thinking about doing this in the fall, and am interested in anyone’s  accounts of the procedure and results…

    I, too, see only blur upon arising lol – been REALLY nearsighted since the age of 13…

  74. 74.

    Geminid

    @satby: The article makes it sound like Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin are an Aikido tag team, flipping the Republican Sumo wrestlers.

    Sure hope that Reconciation package makes it through. I think it will, but I will be more or less anxious until it hits Joe Biden’s desk.

  78. 78.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    I hate Twitter mobs so I agree to a certain extent. I think they could have just kept it on a human level – stop being such assholes to each other- instead of turning it into a huge intellectual challenge but they’re incapable of that. It has so to be some Universal Truth because they are Great Thinkers and the official gatekeepers of culture.

    There are victims of this panic. Public schools and the people who work in them, for one example. Ordinary people who don’t get columns in the Atlantic or the NYTimes.

    Anyway- they defeated the scourge of cancel culture. They’re firmly back in control.

  79. 79.

    satby

    @evodevo: it’s now a very routine surgery, and the implants return nearly normal vision. The options on implants can be a bit confusing but it’s a lot like contact lenses:

    1. you can get single (distance) vision ones and use reading glasses

    2.  you can opt for monovision, where each eye has a different correction, one near, one distance.

    3. Or you can get multifocal implants, essentially progressive bifocals in your eyes.

    It’s amazing what they can do now.

  81. 81.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @satby: I’m just going to get the single focus lenses in September. I had lasik surgery about 20 years ago, and (as you probably know) that means I’m more likely to still need glasses no matter which lens I choose. But my vision is increasingly cloudy, and I need to get rid of that

  83. 83.

    Betty Cracker

    @Soprano2: I agree, and that sort of reaction tends to harden preconceived notions rather than allowing room for growth. I understand the anger and fear behind that response, but it rarely ends well.

    @Kay: Gatekeepers is exactly right, and I’ve never seen a single one of them acknowledge their role in enabling right-wing fascists like Rufo and DeSantis. Outside the gate, people aren’t in danger of getting admonished by HR; their lives and livelihoods are being destroyed by people with actual power.

  84. 84.

    HinTN

    @Uncle Cosmo: LUCK! You’re far more ready for the brave new world than I was 10 years ago. I’m nearsighted and they asked me if I wanted the eye corrected. Hell NO, I wanted it just like it is. No piles of reading glasses scattered about the hacienda. Just grab the book and read.

    Anesthesia is essentially what Cole had for the other end.

  85. 85.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: The “cancel culture panic” mostly seems to be fear on the part of white men that they are losing their status as the absolute authority on everything.

  86. 86.

    SFAW

    @Baud: ​ They may have hated Gore — which might be argued was an extension of Clinton-hatred — but there were tons of “both parties are the same” numbskulls in 2000, even without the FTFTFNYT chiming in. And W was not as nuts or as scary as TFG was in 2016.​

  87. 87.

    Tony Jay

    @SFAW:

    @Amir Khalid:

    I say, what the deuce are these fellows chuntering on about? Is that a pidgin dialect? TAKE. ME. TO. YOUR. LEADER.

    To be honest, I prefer to communicate through the medium of rhythmic gymnastics.

  88. 88.

    satby

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I will probably opt for that too. I’m used to my glasses and bombed out of contacts partially because I missed them (and mainly because even toric contacts couldn’t provide sharp focus for me). But by the time I qualify, I may just be grateful to get anything 😆

  89. 89.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: As with his description of Trump’s reaction to the 1/6 insurrection as cowardice rather than complicity, there’s the phrasing that is most neutrally accurate, and then there’s the phrasing that best accomplishes the political job of pantsing his opponent.

  92. 92.

    Another Scott

    @satby: Yup.  It’s Broderism (“He came in here and he trashed the place, and it’s not his place.”) by a younger generation of pundits and political operatives.  It’s Carlin’s mantra (“There’s a big club, and you ain’t in it…”).  It’s punching down on those who want things done differently in the public sphere.  It’s saying: The people in power now get to say whatever they want to advance their agenda, and if you don’t like it well you’re UnAmerican because you are taking away their First Amendment Rights via your protests and boycotts and arguing for your position.  It’s nonsense and it’s not new.

    But, as usual, “cancel culture” can mean other things (kinda the way “fake news” is a real thing and also a bogus criticism of real news that the RWNJs don’t like).

    PewResearch (from May 2021):

    Overall, 58% of U.S. adults say in general, calling out others on social media is more likely to hold people accountable, while 38% say it is more likely to punish people who don’t deserve it. But views differ sharply by party. Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to say that, in general, calling people out on social media for posting offensive content holds them accountable (75% vs. 39%). Conversely, 56% of Republicans – but just 22% of Democrats – believe this type of action generally punishes people who don’t deserve it.

    Within each party, there are some modest differences by education level in these views. Specifically, Republicans who have a high school diploma or less education (43%) are slightly more likely than Republicans with some college (36%) or at least a bachelor’s degree (37%) to say calling people out for potentially offensive posts is holding people accountable for their actions. The reverse is true among Democrats: Those with a bachelor’s degree or more education are somewhat more likely than those with a high school diploma or less education to say calling out others is a form of accountability (78% vs. 70%).

    Among Democrats, roughly three-quarters of those under 50 (73%) as well as those ages 50 and older (76%) say calling out others on social media is more likely to hold people accountable for their actions. At the same time, majorities of both younger and older Republicans say this action is more likely to punish people who didn’t deserve it (58% and 55%, respectively).

    Where you stand depends on where you sit, and we sit in different tribes. Pundits take advantage of these differences to generate clicks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  93. 93.

    SFAW

    @Tony Jay: ​
     

    To be honest, I prefer to communicate through the medium of rhythmic gymnastics.

    You told me that you prefer I respond to you here using ASL!!! WTF???

  95. 95.

    HinTN

    @SFAW:

    But their 2016 behavior kinda fucked the country.

    And in order not to own it they continue their odious behavior.

    ETA: Fuckem

  96. 96.

    different-church-lady

    The conceit is not that the NYT is too conservative. The conceit is that the NYTs is predictably ridiculous.

  97. 97.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Betty Cracker:

    cultural mores are evolving rapidly, and it makes sense (to me, at least) to extend people some grace as they adjust, as long as they’re not trying to be hurtful assholes.

    Thanks for this reminder. I think of my parents trying to do better, and remember occasions when I’ve struggled to do better myself. A little kindness goes a long way

  98. 98.

    Betty Cracker

    Question for y’all because I’m trying to avoid falling for a scam: We are selling a car on Autotrader. Someone says they want to buy it and that they’ll send a cashier’s check. They want my name, address and phone number to send the check and said that they won’t send someone to pick up the car until we verify that the check has cleared.

    I know scammers use fake cashier’s checks to get people to send money or goods, after which the seller’s bank discovers the check is fraudulent. I also know sometimes a check will appear to clear, then be found out to be a fraud, but theoretically, cashier’s check recipients can contact the institution that issued the check to verify it.

    Should I just ghost this person or could it be legit? Obviously we wouldn’t give anyone the title or keys until we investigated the authenticity of the check and verified it with our bank. But I also don’t want to waste my time or provide my contact info to a scammer, and this seems vaguely fishy. WWYD?

  100. 100.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Betty Cracker: The thing about progressive “cancel culture” is that I agree that it’s real and toxic, but it’s a problem mostly in circumscribed hothouse environments full of angry young people trying to morally one-up each other, like left-wing Twitter. It is completely not a problem for the kind of people who make an income complaining about it, because the groups that have a lot of progressive dogpilers are not their audience–these people’s mortal enemies, mostly, are their audience. If anything, the right-wing equivalent (which is also very real) is the danger for them.

    The cycle where liberals or leftists complain a bit about the toxic fanatics in their midst, then right-wingers see an opportunity and blow this up into a general cultural moral panic, is one I’ve seen going on for about 35 years now. The first cycle I remember was when it was called “political correctness” back in the late 1980s and early 90s.

  101. 101.

    SFAW

    @HinTN:

    Until they get a new publisher who’s got his/her head screwed on right (or at least not a RWMF-enabler), they’ll continue their ways.

  102. 102.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk
    I’m a woman’s man, no time to talk
    Music loud and women warm, I’ve been kicked around
    Since I was born
    And now it’s alright, it’s okay
    And you may look the other way
    We can try to understand
    The New York Times’ effect on man

    And we’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive
    Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive (oh)
    Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive (oh)

  103. 103.

    Soprano2

    @Baud: I think the NY Times wants a kind of liberal TFG, someone who has the right positions on social issues but is also “tough on crime” and a “manly man”. Or something, I don’t know what they want because it seems that they have disliked every Democratic nominee for president since 1992, except maybe John Kerry and Joe Biden.

  104. 104.

    satby

    @Betty Cracker: I would give them my name and a P.O. Box # opened solely for this transaction, verify the authenticity of the check when it comes before you deposit it, and wait till it clears before handing over the car and title. But I’m also not anonymous on the net.

  106. 106.

    Josie

    @Uncle Cosmo: Your world is about to change.​

    ETA: I had it done years ago and still sometimes reach up to adjust the non existent glasses. Some habits are hard to break.​

  107. 107.

    SFAW

    @Betty Cracker: ​
     
    If you have a (bricks-and-mortar) bank, explain your concern/predicament to one of the managers, and maybe they can tell you how long a “cashier’s check” takes to clear, and what protections you have.

  108. 108.

    different-church-lady

    @Another Scott:

    Overall, 58% of U.S. adults say in general, calling out others on social media is more likely to hold people accountable, while 38% say it is more likely to punish people who don’t deserve it.

    Overall it’s very likely to do a whole shitload of both.

  109. 109.

    Ksmiami

    @Wapiti: CNN’s major story yesterday -with everything going on from war, famine, pestilence and devastating climate change was about Hunter Biden’s budget problems. Seriously- the MSM should be mocked and then torched

  110. 110.

    Wanderer

    The “media” has a lot to answer for. Their treatment of the failed prior president made that candidacy look legitimate.  If the media had treated that candidacy like the failed social climber he was known to be it would have been mentioned once as a one liner dig and be done. After all you’ve never heard of President Vermin Supreme have you?

  111. 111.

    Matt McIrvin

    @different-church-lady: I don’t even know how I’d answer that question. Social media is uniquely badly constructed to cause any minor outrage to snowball into harassment. But whether it mostly punishes the deserving or the undeserving is a total crapshoot.

  112. 112.

    Soprano2

    Well, I see the press got the second quarter of contraction they’ve been jonesing for. Now they’ll be able to say the word “recession” thousands of times a day instead of the hundreds they’ve been doing it for the past few months (only a slight exaggeration). I swear, they’re trying to talk the America economy into a recession for some reason.

  113. 113.

    different-church-lady

    The problem is human nature: it is impossible to come up with a rule to prevent people from being assholes that some asshole won’t twist to their own advantage.

  115. 115.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    OT: But yesterday, I hit 1000 followers on twitter. I’ve been on twitter since 2009. Turns out that in 13 years you accumulate people who want to read you. Who knew?

    Also,  today is my building’s quarterly Town Hall. Do I have the fortitude to go to that and listen to people bitch about how the chips in the cafe aren’t fresh enough?

  117. 117.

    Another Scott

    @Baud: I’d phrase my perception of FTFNYT’s political coverage (and slant) as – Things are by default better when the GQP is in charge.  Our advertisers  are companies run by GQPers, our important readers at other important news institutions are GQPers, our subscribers who want to move up the economic ladder are (or want to be) upwardly mobile GQPers (DougJ rightly skewers FTFNYTs fluff real-estate stories, also too).  Change is bad and most Americans are Conservative and we want to keep things that way, because we’re at the top of the heap and the only place for us to move is down if we’re not careful.

    But we’re not insane cranks, so we have to cover the bad stuff that the GQP is doing too.  We just can’t let our coverage of their bad stuff get in the way of the over-arching goal of keeping the GQP on top.

    That’s why things like the horrors of outlawing abortion care is downplayed – it’s an obvious evil and Democrats are right and fighting the GQP on it can help them win elections, and we can’t have that…

    They’ve been this way with national Democrats since Carter (at least – and there are obvious earlier examples with their coverage Hitler’s rise – I don’t remember their coverage of McGovern and HHH and so forth) – it’s systemic with them.

    Grrr…,
    Scott.

  118. 118.

    Tony Jay

    @SFAW:

    That was during a meth high, FFS! Don’t listen to me when I’m on a meth-high!

    ………

    ……..

    Do you have any meth?

  120. 120.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @WereBear:

    I’ve had to apologize and say, “I will go do some reading” when I’ve used a wrong term or need an attitude correction.

    This. I have unintentionally stumbled into incorrect usage regarding, for example, disability terms, which have changed multiple times over the years. The polite response is to say, oops, thank you for the update, I’ll use [new-to-me-term-X] going forward. End of story.

  122. 122.

    Wapiti

    @satby:2.  you can opt for monovision, where each eye has a different correction, one near, one distance.

    After a detached retina, the cataract in that eye accelerated and I got the lens replaced. My retina doctor recommended I get a better prescription than my other eye. It’s not 20/20; maybe 20/70, but I can safely move around without glasses.

    BUT. There’s a few situations that are tricky. When using side mirrors on a car, how close a trailing car appears to be depends on which eye has a sight line through the mirror. Judging ‘level’ by eye is harder. Things like that.

  123. 123.

    Immanentize

    @Baud:

    It just occurred to me that cancel culture was like five white panics ago. Man, time moves fast these days.

    I was reading some Twit exchange the other day and some (unknown to me) conservative dude from NYC was getting his ass kicked by facts. So, then he pulled out his big retor — “you can’t say that people don’t have a serious complaint in their communities considering all the CRT in schools.”

    I was gobsmackled. It was so old sounding. “Gee our old LaSalle ran great!”

  124. 124.

    Another Scott

    @Betty Cracker: It’s good to be careful.  I wasn’t aware of this type of scam.  I don’t think they’re asking for anything untoward of you.

    FBI.gov:

    Tips on how to avoid cashier’s check scams

    * Know the people sending you the check
    Be cautious about accepting checks, even a cashier’s check, from someone you don’t know. If the check is a scam, it may be difficult to pursue a remedy.

    * Verify that the check written is genuine
    Call or visit the branch of the financial institution on which the check is drawn on. The financial institution should be able to help you determine whether or not the check issued is genuine. Don’t trust the phone number for the financial institution listed on the check, it might be fraudulent. Do your research and find the real phone number of the institution.

    * Verify that the check has cleared
    Call your financial institution and verify that the check has cleared and the money is in your account.

    * Save all documents
    Save all documents associated with a cashier’s check. This paperwork may be helpful if something goes awry.

    The second and third one are probably most important. If you call the real issuing bank and they say its legit and you verify that the check has cleared, then I don’t see how it would be a problem to let the title go.

    Good luck!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  125. 125.

    Gin & Tonic

    My grandson came for a visit, so should be a busy day here.

    Well, he brought his mother, too, since he can’t drive himself, being 5.

  126. 126.

    VOR

    @Baud:I plumped for the superdeluxe multifocal lenses; doc sez I should never need glasses again for most standard activities.

    I had this done about 10 years ago and also got the multi-focal lenses. I still use reading glasses even though I don’t technically need them.

    First, it takes time to change from near to far. Standard eyes do it very quickly, it takes me some seconds to switch. Second, My eyes get tired when changing between near and far stuff. For example, watching a presentation while trying to take notes. I developed a style of wearing reading glasses down on the end of my nose so I could use them to view the notes and my eyes on the display. Basically, bifocals.

    You are going to want to wear something to protect your eyes post-surgery. I went to my local home improvement store and bought some clear safety goggles. You can also get versions with tinting for outdoor use. I then forced myself to wear them to stop myself from touching my eyes.

    I was out for the first eye, no memory at all, just like a colonoscopy. Just count backwards and then you are done. For the second eye I was wide awake. No thank you, I do not want to be there when someone is operating on my eye.

  127. 127.

    Betty Cracker

    @Another Scott: I unfollowed him and lots of other Democrats who spend most of their time shitting on other factions of Democrats — reflexive lefty-haters and center-left-haters both. I also don’t follow people who spend most of their time brawling directly with wingnuts on Twitter. My timeline is less tedious and enraging now.

  129. 129.

    Immanentize

    @Betty Cracker: You could ask them to Paypal the $$$. Everyone pretty much has a PayPal account and PayPal ends up being a very useful partial-anonymous intermediary. People do buy cars sight unseen, but there are also check scams. Did they ask details via email? Did they ask to call you?

    Someone tried to pull something similar on me in Craigslist for a wrought iron table and chairs set I was selling. It was the first contact, offered to send a cashier’s check and that they would send someone to pick it up. I ignored it.

  130. 130.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I knew I’d be doing this this year, so when my drivers license came up for renewal last fall I had the photo taken sans specs. One look at the new one & I blurted out, Jeebus H. Cripes, I look like Zombie Joe Biden! I guess I can forget about finding female companionship in my sunset years…

  132. 132.

    Another Scott

    @Betty Cracker: Good points.  I only glanced at him maybe once a week or so when I was looking at Twitter daily – I couldn’t take it daily (but thought it was useful to see his perspective once in a while because it wasn’t all punching at The Squad).

    I almost never look at Twitter now – life’s too short, and longer-form reading is much better.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  133. 133.

    The Golux

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    I had mine done in March; the improvement was astounding.  Having one good eye and one bad for two weeks was illuminating.  The most surprising thing was the improvement in color perception.  I went for good distance vision in both eyes (I had been nearsighted since age twelve), though it means I need readers for close work, where previously I could manage with my right eye when no readers were handy.

  134. 134.

    Citizen Alan

    @oldster:

    Donald Trump became president because journalism failed. The entire journalistic profession failed America systematically and at every level.. And The New York Times led the way. Even today, they desperately search for anything, anything that can undermine Biden and the other democrats and help republicans back into power.

  135. 135.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @satby: Also, remember how Conservatives spent decades trying to “cancel” companies, artists, public employees etc., that they didn’t like/agree with?  It was simply free speech and the market deciding.  It’s only when Liberals try to use the same approach in the favor of greater tolerance, that it becomes a problem worthy of countless Op-Eds.  I’m pretty sure that historically, nobody boycotts and complains and demands people get fired etc., more than Cis/Het White Christians in America.  In 2022 they are STILL trying to get people fired simply for being LGBTQ, but if we demand that a publication stop letting a Nazi write an Op-Ed, then it’s a problem.

  136. 136.

    Betty Cracker

    @Immanentize: Good point — the only thing they asked was whether we were the first owner and why we were selling it. They didn’t ask for any other details at all, which I find suspicious. The ad describes the car and has photos of it, so maybe they figure they have all they need. But if I were buying a car, I’d have more questions than that, so it seems suspicious.

  137. 137.

    Immanentize

    @SFAW: What MattY is missing is that even though DougJ calls his account, “NYTimes Pitchbot” what he is doing (especially in his “by ————” tweets) is mocking pundits, not papers. He does the latter too, but in this case he didn’t aim at the NYTimes, he was aiming at a foolish thing MattY said before. As he does with GlennG, Maureen Dowd, Nate Silver, etc.

    BTW, I think in Maureen Dowd’s case, if anything Doug’s humor has revived her column’s purchase.

  139. 139.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker:

    Last I heard, the used car market was still hot.  So they may be just trying to get you to close the deal.  Like people who waive inspection in when the housing market is hot.

  141. 141.

    Kirk Spencer

    @Betty Cracker: I found this site from the state of Washington’s Department of Financial Institutions. The recommendations:

    1. Don’t take checks from someone you don’t know. if you must;
    2. Contact the institution the check was drawn on. Go to a branch if possible, and if you’re going to use phone do your own research to find the number – the one on the check may be false.
    3. Verify the check has cleared with your bank before you proceed.
    4. Keep all related documents associated with the transaction to allow appropriate follow up.

     

    eta: and I see Another Scott has already posted these since I started researching.

  142. 142.

    CaseyL

    @Uncle Cosmo: Good luck!

    I had my eyes lasered back in 1999, or thereabouts, and went from incredibly astigmatic and myopic to nearly perfect vision.  It was a revelation.  I didn’t wake up needing my glasses to find my glasses!  I could see from the moment my eyes opened!

    I hope you get a similar epiphany.  And do keep us updated on the fancy new adjustable lenses – I’m curious how they can adjust something that is already in your eye.

  143. 143.

    Another Scott

    @Baud: +1

    Used car prices are still insane, but have fallen a little from the peak in March.

    AutoWeek (from about a week ago):

    Thanks to data compiled by CoPilot, we can see just how much consumers are paying for used cars as of last month. By tracking virtually every dealership in the US, the data shows the average transaction price of a used car has risen to $33,341, a $172 fall from the used market’s peak at $33,513 in March. Looking back at pre-pandemic and early 2020 data, that’s $10,046 above projected normal prices for used cars.

    I’ve been glancing at what I might replace my 2004 VW TDI with if I can’t get the ignition switch fixed reasonably easily. 2014-2015 TDIs with low-ish mileage are being listed at $16-$20k. It’s insane, but better than spending 5-10% over list for something new that gets 40+ mpg.

    Supposedly things aren’t expected to get substantially better in the car market until 2024 or so… :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  144. 144.

    NotMax

    @Baud

    Used car market has been absolutely bananas but it turns out (soo-prize, soo-prize) the outrageous offers and pricing were unsustainable and the market has only recently begun to come down from the exopshere.

  145. 145.

    Immanentize

    @Betty Cracker:  Some after market car companies act this way — maybe CarMax? You describe your car in many details online, then they make you an offer, then they pay you when you drop off the car to them. Even without a close inspection. But that is a huge volume business. Other such companies pay you only after inspection in case you are hiding an accident or otherwise.

    So, the more I think, the more I think “scam.”

  146. 146.

    Geminid

    @Betty Cracker: I like Mr. Lobster’s retweets and I’ve found a lot of interesting voices that way. Mangy Jay, Wonderking82, Agraybee, Xeni Jardin and Buffalo Meg are just a few.

    Wonderking82 has a very different perspective than mine. He’s in his 30s (I think), a gay Black man who grew up in the Bronx, earned a degree in sociology at Hampton University, and is now back in the Bronx teaching school. He writes about his work and politics, and he’s a big, big Beyonce fan.

  147. 147.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @VOR: I was out for the first eye, no memory at all, just like a colonoscopy. Just count backwards and then you are done. For the second eye I was wide awake. No thank you, I do not want to be there when someone is operating on my eye.

    Twilight anesthetic today. With (one devoutly hopes!) adequate local numbing for the eye in play. I’m not entirely pleased, but the surgeon didn’t give me a choice. This is Wilmer Eye Institute after all, and they know best for everything … //

    I have a pair of wraparound sunglasses and a set of clear safety glasses for indoors (which I need to find ASAP!). My biggest concern is how soon (and how safely) I can drive – I live barely within walking distance of a supermarket, and miles from anything else I’d like to get to.

  149. 149.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Immanentize:

    We sold our Prius C to CarMax a few years ago. Got a fair price for it with a super easy process, and no personal security issues. Plus we knew their check would be good.

    I plan to do the same when we sell our pickup next month (moving to the city, so won’t need the hauling capacity anymore). We probably could get a bit more in the private market, but to me the risk and hassle aren’t worth it.

  151. 151.

    CaseyL

    @Uncle Cosmo: I was fully awake for LASIK, and don’t remember feeling any pain – or anything, really – though they may have numbed my eyeballs.  I do remember that lasering my cornea smelt like burning hair.  I was too fascinated to be scared… but was also wrapped in a space blanket, just in case, to make sure I didn’t squirm.

  153. 153.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Uncle Cosmo:

     Jeebus H. Cripes, I look like Zombie Joe Biden! I guess I can forget about finding female companionship in my sunset years…

    OTOH, a lot more women than men make it to their sunset years.  So if you’re already there, there’s that working for you.  As long as your heart’s not set on a hot fortysomething divorcee.

  154. 154.

    NotMax

    PSA. They’re called cupholders for a reason, people.

    Red Deer emergency workers want you to stop shoving your phone into cupholders

    Cupholder pushes phone’s side buttons, triggering an automatic 911 call

  157. 157.

    Betty Cracker

    @Geminid: I followed Lobster for quite a while — I agree with him more often than not, but I found the relentless lefty bashing tedious. Same with lefties who bash center-left people non-stop; I unfollow them too when my irritation level reaches a certain threshold.

    Both seem convinced the REAL enemy is their putative allies. It’s not just a Twitter dynamic; it’s a problem for the party IRL too, I think. Not sure what to do about it, but I have no obligation to be a participant in that on Twitter, so I opted out.

  158. 158.

    SFAW

    @Immanentize: ​So, then he pulled out his big retor — “you can’t say that people don’t have a serious complaint in their communities considering all the CRT in schools.”

    TPM linked to a tweet by Byron Clark, who wrote that he’s set up his browser to replace “political correctness” with “treating people with respect.” It’s pretty amazing. I hope more people bring that up. [Yeah, I know it should have been obvious to me, but what he did really drives the point home.]​​

  159. 159.

    Miss Bianca

    @Betty Cracker:

    Cancel culture isn’t even among the top 100 problems we have as a society, but because it affects a particular class of mostly middle-aged, mostly white and mostly male professionals with enormous megaphones, it’s treated as if it’s the most pernicious scourge to ever engulf the republic, and that directly enables actual fascists who are doing censorship for real.

    QFT, Betty, and I just had to see that again because it’s about the most succinct summing-up of the whole “cancel culture” panic as ever I’ve seen.

  160. 160.

    catclub

    Don’t mention the War…

    Excuse me, It is referred to as the ‘recent unpleasantness’

  161. 161.

    Chief Oshkosh

     

    @oldster: I agree with Adam’s take on this. Because the NYTimes is taken as the media-of-record for “the left,” it sets the bounds of “normal” discussion/viewpoint. Anything to the left of the Times is radical or extremist. The reality is that the Times is quite conservative. Thus, our range of “acceptable” political discourse is from “actually conservative” on the left to “totally fucked in the head, and worse” on the right.

    It may not be THE problem in our lives (what is?), but is is A BIG problem.

  162. 162.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    it’s hard for me to credit that Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer teamed up to sucker-punch Mitch and Dancing McConnells of his caucus, but damn me if they all aren’t determined to make the Dems look cagier, craftier and more ruthless than I can believe they are.

    Alternative comment/caption: Knock-Off Mr Haney has a sad

    John Cooper @thejcoop ·

    “They sucked Republican votes up like a Hoover Deluxe and then got their votes [on CHIPS] and then bam, announced this new tax increase…We look like a bunch of – well, I’m not going to say what we look like.”

    @SenJohnKennedy on @Sen_JoeManchin/Schumer’s BBB double-cross:

    (“double-cross”. John Cooper is a Hertiage Foundation flack)

  163. 163.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Betty Cracker: Cancel culture doesn’t even significantly affect them (except in the trivial sense where anyone who gets well-deserved criticism for being an asshole, with little or no professional repercussion, is “cancel culture”). The people it most affects are less-privileged creators inside of progressive spaces who run afoul of some intramural dispute, often one that is so arcane that it’s difficult to describe outside the community. And the solution is to just tell people to think twice and take a deep breath before dogpiling.

  164. 164.

    Miss Bianca

    @Betty Cracker: I bought a car on AutoTrader and I arranged payment through PayPal (sitting at the seller’s computer, no less!). But that was after I had gone up and seen/driven the car for myself. Is this party coming to see the car first?

    I dunno, it sounds a wee bit wonky to me. But then, I can’t even remember the last time I dealt with a cashier’s check, maybe that’s still a thing?

  170. 170.

    dww44

    @SFAW: ​  I think I’ve got further evidence that the NYT is actually moving visibly rightwards. I receive several daily newsletters linking to other articles in the paper. Today the one from the Opinion newsletter, by Adrian J. Rivera, highlights the following:
    1: Focus group of 7 Trump voters and 6 Biden voters. One item from that focus group was Voters from both sides saw those on the other as violent, pointing to Jan. 6 and Charlottesville, Va., as evidence of violence on the right, at the protests of and quasi-assassination attempt on Brett Kavanaugh as evidence of violence on the left

    .2. Then there was this top Editors’ Pick: Guest Essay These Republican Governors Are Delivering Results, and Many Voters Like Them for It“Some G.O.P. governors have high public profiles, others fly below the radar — and many are excelling.” By Liz Mair

    3. The next link was to this guest essay titled” “Is Nancy Pelosi’s Trip to Taiwan Too Dangerous?” The guest authors. say “yes it is until the U.S. clarifies it’s Taiwan policy.”

    4. Next comes this link”: “Can the Democrats avoid a Midterm Wipeout?”

    5.Next is this straddle the fence position: “Is the U S Economy Growing or not?”

    6. Finally we got to an actual liberal, Charles Blow whose piece is about whether MAGA supporters care about cops.
    A lot in this comment, but this morning’s newsletter made me so angry that I also vented to the opinion editors.​​​

  171. 171.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Geminid: I think the Lobster and the Bee et al, what I think of as Skeptical Twitter, is a useful corrective to an on-line/tiwtter/podcast Left that is, even now, too susceptible to falling into an echo chamber that dangerously (to us) distorts political reality. I perhaps not surprisingly find their bare-knuckled style entertaining, but I can also appreciate the gentler tone taken by erstwhile Nader (she was IIRC in high school)/Bernie supporter Magdi Semrau

  172. 172.

    Geminid

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Semrau is very dispassionate and I think that makes her arguments stronger. So does her base of social science knowledge. She also does not involve herself in intra-party squabbles very often.

  173. 173.

    smedley the uncertain

    @evodevo: After almost 60 years of corrective lenses it was ‘a miracle’.  Could not afford multi optic lenses so went with distance only.  At the time I was sailing and distance vision was critical.  Besides, cheaters are cheap.  Procedure was painless and done in hospital out patient. Dr. did prescribe computer glasses for me a bifocal for reading and computer work.  Screen is an arms length away. $60  at Walmart… have lasted for the last 7 or so years… no change.

    Good luck.

  175. 175.

    satby

    @Wapiti: yes, with monovision, some people adapt better than others; they instinctively use the better eye for whatever task. I will most likely not be one of those people.

  176. 176.

    satby

    @CaseyL: dead thread, but your brain just picks up the clearest image through the applicable part of the lens, the lenses don’t adjust. Everything you look at actually projects upside down on your eye, your brain processes the image as right side up.

  177. 177.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Matthew Yglesias’ reaction to the pitch bot is hilarious. He’s so clueless. 

    I was about to say the same.  Crowning achievement for DougJ.

  178. 178.

    J R in WV

    @Soprano2: ​

    I swear, they’re [ the MSM] trying to talk the America economy into a recession for some reason. so that Fascist Theocrats can win the upcoming election!!!

    Fixed that for you! They’re desperate for the Democratic party to lose congress ASAP because most of the owners of the MSM, and especially the ownership of the NY Times, is compelled to boost fascists whenever they get a chance, since 1922.

  179. 179.

    J R in WV

    @Uncle Cosmo: ​
     

    My Wife had cataract work done recently, last fall, and got both eyes set up for distance vision. She used “readers” briefly (and unhappily), and then got bifocals where the main part of the lens was clear glass, just the close up parts were for her hew close-up prescription.

    She wears the glasses all the time and seems very happy with them.

  180. 180.

    J R in WV

    @Miss Bianca: ​
     

    Way back in the mid-90s my folks decided to sell their condo in Florida, and we and my brother took most of the furniture. Mayflower moved the stuff to WV for Wife and me, and wanted a Casher’s Check [ astounding large to me! ] before off loading the furniture at out house. I stopped at the bank for the required document on my way to meet the truck — there were two actually, you can’t get a traditional big tractor-trailer up to the farm.

    So I turned the check over the Mayflower long-distance driver, got a receipt of course. A week or two later Mayflower called, evidently their driver had resigned, left their truck at a truck stop, took that check and some others with him. So Sad!! I told them I had a receipt, they needed to find Francois and ask him for the check. They went away.

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