Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I really should read my own blog.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Elections aren’t won by handwringing, cowering, and/or bashing your own candidates.

Giving up is unforgivable. ~Joe Biden

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Fight them, without becoming them!

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

This fight is for everything.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

American History and Black History can not be separated.

Somebody needs to explain to DeSantis that nobody needs to do anything to make him look bad.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Saturday Morning Open Thread: President Biden vs Our Failed Major Media

Saturday Morning Open Thread: President Biden vs Our Failed Major Media

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185Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    By the way, my Corvette’s in a locked garage. Okay? So it’s not like they’re sitting out in the street.” “So the material was in a locked garage?” “Yes. As well as my Corvette.”

    I want this to be real.

  3. 3.

    satby

    Since our failed news media is a favorite hobbyhorse of mine, here’s an excellent unrolled thread about how media miscovers news.

    From the thread: “One of the most overlooked aspects of contemporary news analysis is an examination of how the sheer volume of certain news stories distorts our understanding of what is important.” Good explainer.

  11. 11.

    kalakal

    They’ll have to take my gas burner from my hot, blistered hands!

    It’s a reflex with these jerks. DeSatan is trying to make a big deal out of it here in Florida – “Don’t tread* on our gas stoves!” – and 1,000s of goobers who haven’t got a gas stove and couldn’t get one if they tried (domestic gas supplies are pretty rare in Florida) have found yet another hill to whine on.

    * Florida – Land of Floor Level Cooking.

  12. 12.

    bbleh

    Eh, they’ll have their chew-toy for a while, but I’ll bet it disappears quickly, except in the slimiest parts of the right-wing swamp.  Even CNN has demoted it to a one-line link in their long list of front-page links.

    By contrast, the Trump story is the gift that keeps on giving, cuz there’s SO MANY rocks to look under, and Jack “Obviously Not His Real Name” Smith keeps turning them over

    And inflation is down, and the nutballs in the House are jonesing so bad for attention that they’re about to pop (we can only hope), so other things will distract the easily-distracted public.

  13. 13.

    Amir Khalid

    I found the gas-stove hysteria quite ridiculous. The proposed ban is on the sale of new gas stoves; no one was proposing to confiscate the millions of gas stoves already in home and restaurant kitchens. That was just the lie being spread by the right.

  14. 14.

    WV Blondie

    The false farcical shambolicidiotic – shit, I can’t find the right word – equivalence between Biden’s and TFG’s document-handling finally has proven to be the straw that breaks this camel’s back. Even half (or more) of the MSNBC crew has fallen into the pit.

    So now I guess I’m condemned to watching Food Network and HGTV.

  15. 15.

    Mousebumples

    Attention postcard writers and music lovers! WaterGirl will be doing another music/postcarding thread on Tuesday night at 8pm blog time (7pm central time), though it sounds like the thread is going up 15 minutes early.

    If you need to join Postcards To Voters – text JOIN to 484-275-2229 or email [email protected]. I’m not sure if MazeDancer has addresses available on Postcard Patriots.

    Hope to see some of you there!

  16. 16.

    Princess

    I’m shocked that the same people who were outraged they weren’t invited to Biden’s granddaughter’s wedding are trying to make a scandal about this.

    No normie will care. Thing is though, that goes for Trump’s document theft too, unless there’s more to the story than we know. And yes, that isn’t fair.

  17. 17.

    sab

    I have a gas stove that I like a lot. Years ago I rented an apartment with an electric stove that had a rheostat instead of the five little buttons per burner usual on electric stoves. That rheostat electric stove was nearly as good as a gas stove. I would happily replace my gas stove with that.

  18. 18.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Amir Khalid: Has a federal official called for banning gas stoves? Honest question as I haven’t followed this much.

    It’s not clear to me that a ban has actually been proposed. The little I’ve read is that someone somewhere said that it may well be that we need to consider not using gas stoves in tightly enclosed homes.

  19. 19.

    Brachiator

    The Biden documents thing is setting itself up as another test of whether the press can tell the difference between reporting on a thing and actively creating the thing to report on…

    So far, the press has failed miserably.  I see headlines declaring that Biden has a “problem” with the classified documents, without any reasonable detailing of what the problem might be. There is also the strange attempt to sweep Trump’s real problems under the carpet.

    It’s just tiresome. And so freaking predictable.

  22. 22.

    Chief Oshkosh

    The pretty boy on ABC nightly news (David Somebody) started his segment on the document discovery: “The firestorm surrounding President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents…” blah blah blah. There’s no firestorm, but he’s stoking the damp match.

  25. 25.

    mrmoshpotato

    @bbleh:

    And inflation is down, and the nutballs in the House are jonesing so bad for attention that they’re about to pop 

    Time to start pelting them with basketballs.  That’ll get rid of their jones.

  26. 26.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I always had gas stoves until we moved in here. Presumably they don’t want the old people setting their sleeves, dish towels etc on fire. But the electric one is great–quick to heat up, a dial rather than buttons to select heat. The biggest problem I can see is that the burner stays hot for a while after you turn it off.

  29. 29.

    john (not mccain)

    After schooling his viewers on the best way to catch and spread a preventable but deadly disease, Cucker is now touting smoking cigarettes as the most American of pleasures. Because I’m a patriot, I couldn’t be happier with his efforts to send anti-American thugs into the loving arms of Jesus.

    Be sure to xray your feet to make sure you’re shoes fit, magats.  It’s the American solution!

  31. 31.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Van Gogh the one-eared rescue dog paints his way to a new home

    When a Connecticut animal shelter struggled to find a home for Van Gogh the one-eared rescue dog, they knew just what to do: break out the canvas and paint.

    The seven-year-old, 70lb boxer mix saved from a dog-fighting ring has now been adopted following a highly successful online auction of his “masterpieces”, created by Van Gogh licking peanut butter and liverwurst from a plastic bag and smearing the paint on the canvas below.
    ……………………..
    “For him, [painting] is enrichment and a treat. He enjoys doing it.”

    Gartner said there was little interest in Van Gogh after he arrived last summer from a shelter in North Carolina. A suspected bait dog for a fighting ring, he was found abandoned, injured and bleeding in a drainage pipe, leading to the amputation of his left ear.

    His first in-person “art show” at the shelter was poorly attended, leading Gartner to place his paintings for sale online. Assisted by a viral TikTok video that attracted 300,000 views, Van Gogh’s artwork sold out immediately, and he even picked up some private commissions.

  32. 32.

    Brachiator

    @sab:

    That rheostat electric stove was nearly as good as a gas stove. I would happily replace my gas stove with that.

    A few years back, the Sierra Madre quake knocked out the electricity in my area. I also had some damage to my kitchen, so I didn’t even feel comfortable making a sandwich. A small cafe down the street was able to cook up some meals using their gas stoves.

    California wants to phase out gas water heaters and furnaces. Not too sure about other appliances. Maybe it’s for the best, but along with proposals to move to electric vehicles, the state is putting a lot of eggs into one energy basket.

  35. 35.

    Brachiator

    @oatler:

    The “Biden scandals” are going to be central to the Sunday shows.

    One of the many reasons I skip the Sunday pundit shows.

  36. 36.

    sab

    @Brachiator: I totally agree with you that we are putting all of our energy eggs in one electric basket

    ETA Our whole house back up generator is natural gas ( which our governor DeWine just declared ‘green’.) My brother in California has solar panels on his roof, but they plug into the California electic grid so that when the grid fails he can’t use his power. I like my solution better.

  37. 37.

    kalakal

    @sab:

    instead of the five little buttons per burner usual on electric stoves

    Don’t think I’ve ever seen that, may be a US/UK thing, over there it’s all rheostats. Until I moved here always had stoves that had electric fan ovens, electric grills, and gas hobs. Been using an electric hob for years now as you can’t get gas around here anyway.

    I always preferred  the gas hobs for the control over electric ones but got used to the change and now will happily use either. I’m told the induction ones are nice. I would never want to go back to the old electric coil hobs, what a pain to clean

  38. 38.

    kalakal

    @mrmoshpotato: That shouldn’t be a problem, plenty of other places manage it, I’ve even worked on laying gas lines 400 ft deep in the North Sea. I am amazed by how much of the utility infrastructure is above ground in Florida, good thing we don’t get strong storms otherwise we’d have frequent power outages due to high winds /s

  39. 39.

    mrmoshpotato

    @sab:

    My brother in California has solar panels on his roof, but they plug into the California electic grid so that when the grid fails he can’t use his power. 

    What the?  His solar setup requires the grid to function and not just as a means of selling excess solar generation back to the power company?

  40. 40.

    different-church-lady

    The point being HE VOLUNTARILY GAVE THEM BACK AND JESUS FUCK WHY DO ANY OF US BOTHER…

  41. 41.

    Geminid

    @sab: House batteries will become more prevalent. That’s a partial solution to problems created by power outages.

  43. 43.

    different-church-lady

    As I understand it, the move is to ban gas hookups in new construction.

    Here in the Northeast it used to be much cheaper to heat with gas than electricity. That has probably changed a lot.

    And when you think about it, it’s very disconcerting we pipe in this stuff that can turn our homes into bombs, and we have it everywhere.

    I love having a gas stove, but that’s only because I grew up in a time when electric was truly crappy. I imagine electrics will eventually get even better than they are now.

  46. 46.

    DrDaveChemist

    @mrmoshpotato: It’s pretty standard to have rooftop solar connected directly to the grid, since most of us don’t have enough panels to be self-sufficient and power needs to flow both directions. Way easier (and probably cheaper) than setting up battery storage on site.

  47. 47.

    kalakal

    @mrmoshpotato: I think it’s a safety feature. After a storm the repair crews need to be sure the lines are dead. Solar panels still feeding in  to a supposedly dead line could be very dangerous. It’s brute force answer to the problem

  48. 48.

    Another Scott

    From the title, I thought this was more on the recent Major news…

    🐾 Barking news: our dad @POTUS “Biden won’t speak freely near Secret Service and thinks agents lied about dog bite incident”, according to a new book. We can neither confirm nor deny this, but we know that our brother Major is the bestest boy. Awoooof! #JusticeForMajor pic.twitter.com/mc1GbkcYyG

    — The Oval Pawffice® 🇺🇸 DOTUS Fans (@TheOvalPawffice) December 28, 2022

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  49. 49.

    Barbara

    @Brachiator: ​Yes, it’s nice to have hot water and gas cooking during a power outage, but we also relied on our propane grill during Hurricane Isabel. And California may have separate concerns about gas because of earthquake activity. I remember the gas explosion that decimated an entire SF neighborhood, probably due to negligence, but still.

  51. 51.

    tobie

    Morning all. Since we’re on the topic of home appliances, I ditched my electric coffee maker and have moved to a French press. The coffee tastes better!

  52. 52.

    MomSense

    @different-church-lady:

    Right there with you. It’s so fucking stupid it will probably work  I can’t even count the number of fake scandals that derail real threats to democracy that we’ve had to endure the last fifty years.

  53. 53.

    MomSense

    @tobie:

    French press is my 2nd favorite.  I love my chemex and single pour over.  When I make a big chemex pot on the weekends I put it on the warmer burner (5th) on my electric stove to keep it warm. Ha!

  57. 57.

    sab

    @Barbara: Yes. My stepdaughter’s neighbor just blew up his house last week. He’s okay but his house is now a vacant lot and the neighbor on the other side now needs new siding and a new kitchen.

  58. 58.

    Another Scott

    @WhatsMyNym: Our 60+ year old NoVA neighborhood has gas.  A few years ago it was common to smell leaks at times walking by the storm drains.  The gas company sent crews around to reline the pipes (and disconnect gas lights for people if they wanted (ours was costing $1 a day because it was before the meter)).  They still have to come out and dig up the streets to fix leaking joints, and I still occasionally smell it if the weather and wind is right at some drains…

    Leaks are a huge problem that hasn’t been getting enough attention, and it’s probably going to get worse (for a while at least) as more people move to full electric (since the gas company will have less revenue for repairs and upkeep).

    Transitions are always difficult…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  67. 67.

    MomSense

    @tobie:

    I would put it in a thermos if I didn’t suck it down so fast every morning!  During the week I use a pour over right into my travel mug.

    I do like French press but I haven’t figured out how not to get coffee grounds in the coffee.

  68. 68.

    kalakal

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I prefer the terms ‘economical with the truth’ or ‘terminilogical inexactitudes’*

    No I never do/have, like you I’d be afraid too.

    * Both used by senior British Civil Servants when they’re stuck with covering their political masters’ arses.

    Sir Humphrey was not as fictional as people believe. Watch, laugh, and laugh again

    https://youtu.be/8keZbZL2ero

  69. 69.

    Matt McIrvin

    @john (not mccain): The tobacco lobby is the origin of so many of the efforts to poison American discourse on politics and science. A surprising amount of climate and environmental denialism that you wouldn’t think had anything to do with tobacco comes straight out of there. But, of course, it’s a big agriculture lobby, so things other than health policy affected them–and they also wanted to generally sow distrust of scientific and regulatory authorities, and international bodies similar to the WHO.

  70. 70.

    MomSense

    @sab:

    Nice!  My mom and I are talking Ohio politics this morning.  Every time she sees Gym Jordan she gets so mad and says how embarrassed she is that he’s from Ohio.

    The last of her Akron friends have died so I don’t think she has any plans to visit.

  71. 71.

    different-church-lady

    It matters far more that you grind the beans fresh than the exact brewing method, in my experience.

  72. 72.

    sab

    @MomSense: Also her favorite chocolate shop closed during early Covid.

    LeBron James bought Tangier night club and is turning it into a community center with a little low income mall. The big gold dome is gone!

    I do wonder about what are voters in Jordan’s district thinking. We have Emilia Sykes now and I think she will make Akron proud.

  73. 73.

    Fair Economist

    I hear Republicans yakking about a “double standard”. The double standard is that Biden is being held to a *much* higher standard than Trump. Even after Trump was revealed to have deliberately concealed classified documents, including classified documents even the President isn’t supposed to have, it took months for a special prosecutor to be appointed. With Biden, without the clear evidence of intent and false statements, it took only days.

  75. 75.

    evodevo

    @Brachiator: ​
      Yep…for those of us out in the Boonies, where the electric goes out at the drop of a hat, having a gas cooktop means being able to cook a hot meal while using kerosene lamps for light…for however many hrs/days the lines are down…

  76. 76.

    Fair Economist

    @different-church-lady:

    I love having a gas stove, but that’s only because I grew up in a time when electric was truly crappy. I imagine electrics will eventually get even better than they are now.

    Before induction, I far preferred a gas range to an electric because of how slowly electrics respond. Current glass and ceramic tops make that even worse, although I concede they’re easier to clean. But I always preferred an electric oven because gas ovens give me the willies. One failure of the burner lighter and – kaboom! Plus they’re more efficient since so much of the gas’ heat goes out the vent. Never did get my preferred combo of gas range + electric oven.

    Now I have induction and I’m thoroughly pleased.

  77. 77.

    sab

    @MomSense: Still open, under new management but still pretty much the same. Parking lot still looks like a gravel pit

    ETA Turns out the parking lot was under different owners who wanted to rent it to new owner at an exhorbitant price. So everyone parks via valet.

  78. 78.

    lowtechcyclist

    @satby: ​
     

    Since our failed news media is a favorite hobbyhorse of mine, here’s an excellent unrolled thread about how media miscovers news.

    From the thread: “One of the most overlooked aspects of contemporary news analysis is an examination of how the sheer volume of certain news stories distorts our understanding of what is important.” Good explainer.

    Thanks for the link – that definitely filled a hole in my understanding of how the media misinforms us.

  79. 79.

    Edmund Dantes

    @sab: that makes no sense at all. When did he have them installed?

    All solar panel installations these days have requirements for isolation switches from the grid so you don’t electrocute some poor line worker when the power is out.

    Does he not have batteries? There is something missing from this explanation.

  81. 81.

    Barbara

    @Amir Khalid: ​With the level of hysteria you’d never know it wasn’t imminent. However, this is how industry lobbying works — riling up opposition as far in advance as possible to reduce the likelihood that there will ever be a proposal. Makes me want to ditch my gas cooktop right now. I would also say that it’s a PSA to people whose kids do have asthma, something they can do to help that doesn’t require pharmaceuticals.

  82. 82.

    Barbara

    @tobie: ​I have a Chemex but I just use a microwave when I want to drink more. I’m not terribly fussy anymore. Plus, I’ve never found a really good thermos and they tend to pick up odors after a while.

  83. 83.

    Barbara

    @MomSense: ​May I suggest a Bialetti? You don’t need to use Espresso coffee. Stovetop use, very quick, no grounds, comes in different sizes and super easy to clean. Works every time.

  86. 86.

    The Moar You Know

    What the?  His solar setup requires the grid to function and not just as a means of selling excess solar generation back to the power company?

    @mrmoshpotato: welcome to California.  I love this place and won’t leave, but the overt corruption of our utilities and the state agency managing them (CPUC) is getting really fucking tiresome.  Their decision this month about changing the rates being paid to solar owners means that for those of us who don’t have it yet that there is now no more reason to get it – simply not worth it.

    Unless you want to go completely off grid with a battery bank.  Which is not legal in a lot of states and I suspect will be made illegal here shortly.

  91. 91.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Another Scott: as with the desk issue discussed yesterday, I don’t doubt that Biden may have some questions about the dog bite, but I suspect Tony Ornato et al are a much bigger reason Biden doesn’t trust the Secret Service> Mike Pence didn’t trust the Secret Service on 1/6

    ETA: The connection being: I think both stories come from the new book by Christopher Whipple?

  92. 92.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Amir Khalid: OTTOMH** I’d wonder how much of the health issues are due to the gas itself (effectively methane), how much to the combustion products (mostly CO2 and H2O but maybe some NOx since ambient air is ~79% nitrogen), and how much to the stenchiferous mercaptans put into the gas feed for safety’s sake (CH4 in pristine form being odorous) so that gas leaks can be smelled well before the concentration of flammables approaches explosive.

    ** Off The Top Of My Head. Why, I wonder, is this not a widely-applied acronym?

  94. 94.

    VOR

    @Chief Oshkosh: Has a federal official called for banning gas stoves? Honest question as I haven’t followed this much. It’s not clear to me that a ban has actually been proposed. The little I’ve read is that someone somewhere said that it may well be that we need to consider not using gas stoves in tightly enclosed homes.

    Short answer: No. No US Federal Official has proposed a ban on gas stoves.

    Longer answer: Snopes has an explanation. A Consumer Products Safety Commission Commissioner stated the known fact of concerns about waste products from gas stoves. He said all options, including a possible ban, were on the table. The CPSC put out a statement saying “CPSC has not proposed any regulatory action on gas stoves at this time.”

    Some areas, such as New York City, have passed laws restricting or banning gas appliances in new construction. This is for RESIDENTIAL, I doubt anyone is talking about banning gas stoves in commercial areas like restaurants. I’ve seen safety concerns raised as an issue to ban gas appliances as it is easier in an emergency situation to cut off electrical power than deal with a leaking gas main.

  97. 97.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I can’t remember why I was looking up Mark Meadows on the Wikipedia, but one thing I learned and did not know was that he claimed to have a BA when he had an AA. Mark Meadows is an idiot and a racist (we’re gonna send Obama back to Kenya!, MM, 2012), so I would never vote for him. I don’t know if that kind of lie would put me off a candidate I liked, probably not, maybe give me some pause in a primary, but I think that’s the kind of resume padding a lot of pols indulge in.

    It was reported that Meadows held a Bachelor of Arts from the University of South Florida for many years in his official biography maintained by the Office of the Historian of the U.S. House of Representatives. In actuality, he graduated from the University of South Florida with an Associate of Arts.[14]

  98. 98.

    RSA

    @kalakal: DeSatan is trying to make a big deal out of it here in Florida – “Don’t tread* on our gas stoves!” – and 1,000s of goobers who haven’t got a gas stove and couldn’t get one if they tried (domestic gas supplies are pretty rare in Florida) have found yet another hill to whine on.

    Remember the uproar about lightbulbs, which nobody really gives a shit about, unless someone is trying to take away their “rights”?

  101. 101.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Fair Economist: My scariest recent experience was in a rental house–we arrived to a house that was reeking of gas, and soon figured out that somebody had left one of the stove burners only 97% turned off and it was leaking gas. We might have kept the place from blowing up.

  103. 103.

    Honus

    @Baud: Sen. Marsha Blackburn: A government that thinks it can control what stove you use is a government with too much power.

    Ted Leiu:Now do government-mandated pregnancies.

  105. 105.

    Steeplejack

    @mrmoshpotato:

    I have one favorite lamp that still has an incandescent light bulb, because the harp on the lampshade is too short to accommodate a fancy smart bulb, which I discovered when I bought a fancy smart bulb and went to install it. I could/​should get a new lampshade, but that would require me to make an effort.

    Memo to self: I do need to get a few more bulbs, because I am down to my last one.

  109. 109.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Steeplejack: My comment wasn’t aimed at anyone here.

    My oven lightbulb is incandescent because, haha, melted plastic otherwise. 😁

    I replaced everything else with LEDs when I moved in.

  112. 112.

    Geo Wilcox

    @sab: We have both a gas generator (propane) and a solar panel array with batteries. Our set up is pretty unique and when it was installed e had the big chief from our coop show up to see how it was put together.

    When the power goes out, the generator kicks in and the other stuff is not operational. Once the grid power comes back on, the panels and batteries work.

  116. 116.

    Brachiator

    @Fair Economist:

    I hear Republicans yakking about a “double standard”. The double standard is that Biden is being held to a *much* higher standard than Trump.

    Hell, Trump is not held to any standard at all. The GOP offers nothing more than denials and excuses.

  119. 119.

    Soprano2

    There was a commenter on the “1A” Facebook page who told me yesterday that what TFG did was no big deal because he declassified all those documents he took. I asked him what reality he was living in. I guess this is going to be their answer for why what Biden did is the worst thing ever while what TFG did is not a problem.

  120. 120.

    Starfish

    @satby: Right now, there is very little making thoughtful sense of stories about migrants because it is such a politically polarizing topic.

    Migrants exist to be victimized or to be a giant bugbear.

    There are fewer stories about how many cities are helping migrants, how much that costs, what the churches are doing, and where the people eventually end up.

  123. 123.

    Steeplejack

    A lot of LED bulbs are too “cold” for me. The light from my old incandescent table lamp is warm yellow, definitely under 3,000 Kelvin—probably around 2,700K. It provides nice ambient light in the corner by my desk. I got a smart bulb for it because I thought I could program that down into the warm zone. But it didn’t fit—too tall. Now I also have an LED task light right by the computer. It has four settings, and I leave it on the warmest. The brightest (coldest) setting is like “clean room in the bio lab.” Do not want.

  124. 124.

    Brachiator

    @NotMax:

    The heck with self-driving cars. What this country needs are self-cooking stoves.

    Isn’t that a crock pot or an Insta-pot?

    People on a diet need self,-eating cookies.

  125. 125.

    Steeplejack

    @NotMax:

    That’s just crazy enough to work, although I’m having a bit of a hard time seeing how to deploy it without inspecting the innards of my lamp and shade. But I’ve bookmarked it. Thanks for the tip. I do like the current shade and am not anxious to search for a replacement.

  126. 126.

    mrmoshpotato

    @MomSense: I haven’t watched it yet, but I’ve watched enough of his recipe videos that I was sure this wasn’t going to be the one that sucks.

  129. 129.

    satby

    I’m glad a lot of you found that linked Threadroll interesting. Even people who should know better think crime is rising /retail theft by gangs of shoplifters happens / etc. because of the environment of deliberate misinformation created by news media telling only the stories that interest them or their pay masters. It’s hard to explain otherwise even to non-Fox viewers, because where Fox goes CNN and MSNBC will follow even if they don’t have the same slant on the stories. While other important stories are never told at all.

  130. 130.

    Mike in NC

    My Saturday morning exposure to the media reveals that Biden’s document ‘scandal’ is ten times worse than Trump’s attempted coup to install himself as dictator, and McQuarthy and the Republicans are committed to proving the latter event never even happened.

  131. 131.

    kalakal

    It seems our* City has screwed up big time.

    They’ve just discovered that for the last 6 months the waste recycling program has not actually recycled any waste. They’ve still charged for it. A lot of people are not happy, Mrs kalaklal & I amongst them. In fact we’re fucking furious

    *Don’t actually live in Clearwater, we’re unincorporated, but they take our trash

  132. 132.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @mrmoshpotato: 

    @RSA: Feel free to spend 6x the money on electricity with incandescent bulbs to own the libs, Dump-humpers.

    Some years back an acquaintance (BSEE) told me he kept his incandescents because CFLs flickered with the AC and it gave him a headache. Haven’t been in touch for awhile – I presume he eventually migrated to LEDs which AFAICT do not flicker at 100% power.
    ​

  133. 133.

    WaterGirl

    @kalakal: Furious about the charge and the lack of recycling, I presume?

    Now I am curious.  What reason did they give and how did the information come out.

    I’m sure they reported it out of an abundance of transparency. //

  135. 135.

    Starfish

    @Steeplejack: The LED bulbs have gotten much better, and there are warmer options now. Just about everything in my house is LED and reasonably warm.

    There are various color temperatures and CRI values now, and you can choose the appropriate one.

  136. 136.

    kalakal

    @Starfish: May I present the Rt. Honourable Grant Shapps/Michael Green/Corrinne Stockheath/ Sebastian Fox/ who knows what it is today MP the Secretary of State for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy in His Majesty’s Government. With a splendid history of failed dodgy businesses under assumed names the obvious candidate to oversee the nation’s commerce.

    The section on Business Ventures is illuminating. A taster

    In February 2015, he publicly said: “I don’t have a second job and have never had a second job while being an MP. End of story.”[27]

    However, in March 2015, Shapps admitted to having had a second job while being an MP, and practising business under a pseudonym.[28][29] In his admission, he stated that he had “over-firmly denied” having a second job.

    I do like the ‘over-firmly denied’

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Shapps

  138. 138.

    Scout211

    Today is another wicked weather day here in NorCal. Our power has already gone off 3 times but came back on after about 10 seconds. That has been the prelude to the 3 long outages we have had this week, the most recent one was yesterday. We have a generator, which we have used all three times but we actually don’t have a safe place to run it in the rain. It’s going to be a long day. And I was looking forward to watching the game this afternoon. . .

  139. 139.

    kalakal

    @WaterGirl:

    Furious about the charge and the lack of recycling, I presume?

    More the second. So far nothing that resembles a credible explanation has been given

  140. 140.

    Shalimar

    @Soprano2: Tell him presidents don’t get to keep declassified documents after they leave office either unless they specifically request things from Archives.  That whole argument is so stupid.

  141. 141.

    Barbara

    @Mike in NC: ​Today’s crew of reporters seems to have misunderstood the nature of their job — to discover information, not spend all day exaggerating and amplifying information that someone else brought to light. 90% of articles include no new information, but rather, appear to be an exercise in Rolodex consultation to determine what their contacts think about things. Hard job, that, I’m sure.

  142. 142.

    StringOnAStick

    @different-church-lady: Our pet sitter at our prior home had their house blown up when a utility contractor nicked the gas line in the front yard. It took about 8 hours for enough gas to travel along the pipeline into the basement, where the water heater kicked in and blew up the entire house, killing their 2 dogs on 2 of 4 cats.  Their house was completely replaced by the guilty party, but it meant a year of living elsewhere, half of that in hotels.  They didn’t find the surviving cats for a week.

  143. 143.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @satby: Thanks for posting the thread! I read Alec Karakatsanis’ Twitter feed often and recommend a follow now and then. His main beat is copaganda and equity issues and his posts are very thought provoking.

  144. 144.

    Kay

    @satby:

    retail theft by gangs of shoplifters happens

    The “retail theft by gangs of shoplifters” re: low value items like shampoo and laundry detergent never made any sense. How many are in the gang? They’re stealing from a store shelf? So 10 bottles of shampoo per hit? Even with a markup it’s 100 or 200 dollars and the more gang members the more that meager profit has to be divided. It doesn’t scale.

    I don’t know why they were locking up the laundry detergent and lying about shrinkage rates but it wasn’t shampoo shoplifting gangs.

  146. 146.

    Steeplejack

    @Steeplejack:

    Dug up the Amazon link for my desk lamp, because I thought it had the color temps for the various levels. Sure enough, the low level I use is 2,700K. The bright “bio lab” setting is 6,600K. Also discovered that each of the four light colors can be set to five brightness levels. Didn’t know that! More stuff to fiddle with.

    It’s a good lamp—sturdy, very adjustable and has a USB charging port.

  148. 148.

    Another Scott

    @satby: Thanks for the pointer.  It’s a good summary.

    I’m reminded that there’s been a decent amount of research on memes, what they are, why they’re used, and how they spread and affect people. Social Media + Society – Persuasion through bitter humor:

    One of the central findings of the study is that, in line with previous research (Levinger & Franklin Lytle, 2001; Mols & Jetten, 2014), the far-right groups are using history to legitimize their presence in the present (and their actions in the future). The use of history and references to mythology in the memes resemble Mols and Jetten (2014), finding out how the past is strategically used to justify present claims and to create heroic glory for the nation. In the historical juxtapositions, the present situation is paralleled with past conflicts: according to the groups, the nation is currently at war even though people do not realize it. Only the informed activists are able to see and resist the present threat. Intriguingly, as our study suggests, mythology and symbols in particular are rhetorical devices that illustrate the basic values and essence of these nationalist movements—they provide them with a history and thus legitimize their existence. At the same time, the movements emphasize their ordinariness and appeal to the common sense of the audience (Rapley, 1998; Sakki & Pettersson, 2016). Acting “on behalf of the people” is clear content in the communication of Soldiers of Odin, as they became famous for “street patrols” (Ekman, 2018).

    In general, the rhetoric of the Finnish far-right groups has similarities with other Nordic radical movements: immigration and the welfare state are presented as being mutually exclusive, Islam as submissive and “islamisation” as threatening Western culture. Internal enemy, multiculturalist, “mainstream” politicians, and media are presented as apostates that accuse movements of being racist, but who are actually themselves intolerant. The in-group, the members of the movements, and their followers are in turn presented as martyrs and the real defenders of the nation (e.g., Figure 1: “Were they racists?”) (Sakki & Pettersson, 2016). This kind of rhetoric echoes populist far-right communication based on creating antagonistic divisions between “us” the people and “them” political opponents, mainstream media, and immigrants (e.g., Sakki & Pettersson, 2016), and drawing upon and constructing collective emotions of fear and threat (e.g., Wodak, 2015) and, in this study, particularly humor and moral anger (Billig, 2001).

    The parallels to the US are clear.

    Memes don’t work if they don’t spread. Attention and “engagement” is vital. That means they have to be actively spread.

    Every human action has a cost, and everything a business does affects their bottom line – people have to be paid to do whatever it is they’re doing. So, news media outlets are choosing to spend time and dollars spreading this stuff. We should always think about that when we tune in and read / watch / listen to whatever it is they’re presenting.

    A hobbyhorse of mine is providing attention to GQP stuff and GQP actors strengthens them even if we’re Destroying!! their arguments. “That guy’s getting a lot of attention from people I don’t like, he might be on to something!” – J. Q. Normie. :-/ I don’t know the all-purpose solution, but I suspect Snopes has the best approach. Namely, someone dispassionately deconstructs the claims, and the rest of us can point to them and get on with our lives. ;-) Every bit of attention we spend on the latest GQP false outrage is less time we have for recharging, working on good stuff, feeling better about life, etc. Of course, moderation in all things, even moderation.

    Eyes on the prizes!!

    Thanks again.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  149. 149.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    I’ve been exclusively on electric stoves in my homes about the past 35 years – no problems at all (no supply of gas to my home). When power goes out, I have a Coleman camp stove with small propane bottles that I use on a covered porch, and I always keep several extra bottles around (also have a couple of gas lanterns, candles, and citronella lamps).

    Between that, a charcoal smoker that makes for a decent oven and a charcoal grill, I can make anything.

  150. 150.

    different-church-lady

    @Matt McIrvin: My cat managed to accidentally kick one burner ever so slightly open when leaping up on the forbidden surface. Fortunately I was right there when it happened. But what if I had been gone for the day? I took the knobs off until I needed them after that.

  153. 153.

    zhena gogolia

    I never watch TV, especially the news. I’m hoping that most normal people are not watching news on a Saturday morning and that this will all blow over. It’s not like Afghanistan where they had that exciting clip of the people hanging on the plane that they showed over and over and over and over and over

  154. 154.

    scav

    I only learned this year I could replace the mesh thingy on my French Press.  Should help with the coffee grains issue, with the tighter fit at the edges.

  156. 156.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @zhena gogolia: I was just thinking I wish I had some kind of Normie text chain where I could send out: “Okay guys, gas stoves. Does that mean anything to you?”

    and because they are Normies, they would not text back, “Would you go touch grass?” but they would be thinking whatever that translates to in Normie-Speak

  157. 157.

    SeattleDem

    @VOR: Seattle has a regulation in place to wean commercial structures from natural gas, as well. We have something like 15 years to move away from gas stoves, water heaters, and furnaces before the fines kick in.

  158. 158.

    StringOnAStick

    @WaterGirl: The sad news is that very little of what we send to recycle is actually recycled; there’s no market for it. Aluminium cans, “tin” cans, glass and soda and milk jugs are about it, maybe paper if you are close enough to a paper mill.  Clamshells, even clear ones, are not recycled nor is any other plastic, number labelled or not.  It was a project of the plastics industry from the beginning to convince us to use plastic after we proved resistant, claiming it could all be magically reused helped create acceptance.  The city of Eugene. OR just spent a year educating it residents to stop trying to recycled everything and stick with just what can actually be recycled.

    Plastics are typically complicated molecules that easily break down completely if there are contaminants when they are melted.  This is why the plastics manufacturers prefer/only use pure virgin petroleum as their feedstock, not mixed recycled materials.  Recycling makes us feel better but in even the most effective city recycling program, at least half is going into the landfill, in some cases 90% is (recycling effectiveness depends on being close to a facility that can use the sorted out materials because transportation costs matter).

  161. 161.

    Gvg

    @kalakal: the market for recycling has been drying up for years. It has been pretty widely reported that plastics sometimes cannot be sold off to the places that melt and recycle them because of too much product. Basically as more places start recycling, they divert more of each product to the reuser businesses and it turns out their is a limit to the demand at a profit. Even metal sometimes is over supplied though that usually doesn’t last long. My city started recycling way before it was widespread and now they can’t find markets to take it. Sometimes they have had to dump some of it, sometimes it cost more money than planned and our utilities are higher than most of the state so….there is a proposal to stop recycling. Very unpopular but the cost analysis isn’t out yet. The wages of the garbage pick up is going to be a factor too because all three kinds have had trouble with staffing for several years now even with increased pay. We have garbage, recycling and yard waste so 3 kinds.
    For at least 10 years nationwide, recycling has been full of lies. Cities can’t find a place to take all they collect but know it will make their citizens mad so they lie or at least to talk. Multiple stories. It’s pretty common. I would very much like a patio set of recycled plastic but can’t afford $500 a single chair even if they last for decades. The recycled products don’t seem to be very cheap. That means not as much demand.

  162. 162.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Gvg:

    I would very much like a patio set of recycled plastic but can’t afford $500 a single chair even if they last for decades. The recycled products don’t seem to be very cheap. That means not as much demand.

    Also, and I am the furthest thing from a wonk, I imagine the process of recycling plastic into things like patio furniture is really energy intensive?

  163. 163.

    Wapiti

    @RSA: Yeah, some of my acquaintances were moaning about Obama. I asked where they were when GWB signed the law. And why a bunch of electrical engineers were distraught about more efficient bulbs.

  164. 164.

    MomSense

    @StringOnAStick:

    There is also the issue of textile waste and with so much of our clothing now made from plastic – it’s a major problem.
    Then there is fleece which is fucking evil.  Every time you wash fleece it releases micro particles of plastic.  It’s toxic shit.  I get that manufacturers like Patagonia were trying to do something with all those plastic bottles, but to continue to manufacture that crap when we know how destructive it is makes me furious.

  165. 165.

    Steeplejack

    @Gvg:

    My brother’s stately manse, Sighthound Hall, is in Arlington County (VA), which recently “downgraded” its recycling (taking fewer kinds of stuff). Or maybe it’s just his neighborhood’s recycling contractor. I live in a different county (Fairfax), so I don’t know exactly who does what over there. I just know I was looking where to put some recyclable item when I was over there recently and Bro’ Man said, “They’re not taking that any more.”

  166. 166.

    James E Powell

    I realize I’m posting this to a thread that may be dead, but I’m a left coaster & it’s Saturday.

    Please, can we please stop saying that the media fails or makes mistakes or hasn’t learned? They know exactly what they are doing, they regard things like keeping Al Gore & Hillary Clinton out of the White House as major successes. They would do it all again if they could.

    They are not failing, they are Republicans.

  167. 167.

    StringOnAStick

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I find it depressing too, and yes, I still sort and recycle what I know can be recycled.  I also try to avoid plastic packaging as much as I can.   It’s like we’ve been trained to be performative environmentalists without even knowing it.  It seems like the future is the same as now, just with better and better information control by those that only care about profit, not about keeping the planet habitable.

  169. 169.

    WhatsMyNym

    @kalakal:   We’re not charged for recycling, it should pay for itself by selling what it can and cost savings from not having to pay for dumping.  Though they had  cut back on what they collect because of fewer takers (China).

  170. 170.

    kalakal

    @StringOnAStick:

    @Gvg:

    Yeah, sadly I know this. Papers, metals, and glasses are I think feasible. Plastics not so much, for my sins I used to design such things as vinyl chloride monomer plants and the feedstocks are tricky.

    The only recycled plastic items I’ve come across that were reasonably priced were those where the ‘aesthetics’ were largely irrelevant eg garden trugs.

    For many items I wonder about a shift from ABS to PLA* in applicable cases, nothings going to be a 100% answer but we should let the perfect be the enemy of the good

    *For the acronym haters

    Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene – really common for injection molded products such as all the plastic knick knacks and casings around the house, tool boxes, flight cases & Lego. Petroleum based, lasts forever

    Poly Lactic Acid –  food packaging, clothing, disposable cutlery, cosmetics – basically corn starch, pretty degradable.

  171. 171.

    Burnspbesq

    @WV Blondie:

    So now I guess I’m condemned to watching Food Network and HGTV.

    Thank God I once had the presence of mind to subscribe to ESPN+ and Willow TV. I get all the lacrosse and cricket I can stand.

  172. 172.

    MomSense

    @WhatsMyNym:

    It is incredibly expensive to reuse plastic.  It’s also polluting and destructive.
    The less plastic we use the better.

    If anyone is looking for good alternatives, I highly recommend blueland products.

  173. 173.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @MomSense:

    Then there is fleece which is fucking evil.  Every time you wash fleece it releases micro particles of plastic.  It’s toxic shit.

    God dammit. I had no idea. I love fleece.

  174. 174.

    J R in WV

    @Uncle Cosmo: ​

    how much [danger assigned] to the stenchiferous mercaptans put into the gas feed for safety’s sake

    Interestingly, we live in an old 1900s oil and gas patch, and there is no mercaptan in our gas, but since it’s untreated well head gas there is a strong fuel or oily smell to the gas when not lit.

    So far no local explosions… maybe folks here are more careful about their gas?

  175. 175.

    Burnspbesq

    @Geminid:

    House batteries will become more prevalent

    My install is scheduled for “as soon as the city gets its shit together and issues the permit.” Solar + battery is a necessity in Texas.

  176. 176.

    WhatsMyNym

    @J R in WV:

    So far no local explosions… maybe folks here are more careful about their gas?

    Sorry to say, WV is prone to gas explosions as anywhere. Just gugle.

  177. 177.

    Dopey-o

    @tobie:  Since we’re on the topic of home appliances, I ditched myfollow,a lot of coffee nerds on the interwebs, and there is almost universal agreement that a french press is the best way to brew coffee. You control temperature, strength, etc. a little messy to clean up. coffee maker and have moved to a French press. The coffee tastes better!

    I follow a lotof coffee nerds on the interwebs, and there is almost universal agreement that a french press is the best way to brew coffee. You control temperature, strength, etc. It’s a little messy to clean up.

    If you’re willing to devote a little more time and some obsessive energy, try the Aeropress.

  178. 178.

    Eljai

    @sab: Your brother needs an Energy Storage System (ESS) — a device or group of devices, like batteries.  The solar array charges the batteries, then when the power goes out, you can use the stored energy from the batteries.  I don’t believe the batteries can last as long as a generator, so that may be a consideration for someone in California (when I lived there, I had a couple events where the power was out for a week at a time).  But the upside to ESS is that you don’t need fuel to run it like you do for a generator, plus it’s emission-free.

  179. 179.

    cain

    @Chief Oshkosh: Is it a safety issue? In India, everyone has gas stoves – I don’t think I’ve ever been in a home there isn’t. There is a whole ecosystem for it.

    There has been plenty of accidents involving gas stoves there – but I bet that there are more Americans getting killed by guns than gas stoves around the world.

  180. 180.

    cain

    @Brachiator: These people have made scandals of Biden’s dogs for gods sake. There has to be some kind of scandal for them so there are eyeballs. Thats why they love Republicans, it’s nothing but scandals. Plenty of shit to discuss – they want drama. They’d love a Depression as well.

  181. 181.

    BruceJ

    Whats the over/under on Margie 3Toes or BoomBoom Boebert trying to ‘citizens arrest’ Biden at the SOTU?

  182. 182.

    Chris T.

    @kalakal:

    I think [the house solar panels going offline when the grid is down is] a safety feature. After a storm the repair crews need to be sure the lines are dead. Solar panels still feeding in to a supposedly dead line could be very dangerous. It’s brute force answer to the problem

    More or less, yes, but the “more” part is important here: if you have home backup power of any sort—generator, batteries, solar, whatever—you need a thing called a “transfer switch” so that you can go grid-independent. The transfer switch is, in effect, a big old on/off “connect to the grid” power switch.

    Transfer switches come in different sizes (depending on how big your power feed is) and can be either manual, i.e., you go to wherever the switch is and throw a big lever, or automatic. Automatic switches are a good idea if you depend on a sump pump to keep the basement dry.

    Once you do commit to spending the extra bucks for a transfer switch, then you can configure your solar PV system to work when the power is out, or not. Then you get into more questions.

    In California, they recently changed the rules regarding how many dollars “net metering” gets you. When I had my solar PV system, my net metering, no-transfer-switch, roof solar PV paid for itself in about 6 years, which is about how long I had it before we moved out of CA. The new rules make it worth a lot less than it was, which actually makes some sense because CA now has enough daytime solar generation to knock wholesale electricity prices down. Although for the last couple of weeks prices have been crazy in the west—people should download the CalISO app for their phones and see.

  183. 183.

    Chris T.

    @Eljai:

    Your brother needs an Energy Storage System (ESS) — a device or group of devices, like batteries. The solar array charges the batteries, then when the power goes out, you can use the stored energy from the batteries.

    Right, plus, the solar array keeps the batteries going, to whatever extent.

    Installing these things is considerably more expensive than just the solar panels. When I put in my rooftop panels (Jan 2014) I paid roughly $15k for 6 kW, cutting my PG&E bill from $200-300/mo to $20/mo.

    With batteries and a transfer switch I was looking at a minimum cost of twice that much, so it wasn’t worthwhile.

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