Adrian Fontes is the newly elected Secretary of State in Arizona, and he is one of the people we supported with our Election Protection thermometer. This is an interesting tweet from him, I think.
As more and more proof emerges about how Americans were manipulated, let’s show some grace to those who have strength enough to admit they were wrong.
We need to get past this emergent fascism, and renew our faith in one another as Americans.— Adrian Fontes (@Adrian_Fontes) February 17, 2023
What do you think about what he wrote?
Also, totally open thread.
zhena gogolia
I have no problem with it, as it’s the sort of thing politicians are supposed to say. This is why I’m not a politician.
Glidwrith
And who has admitted they were wrong?
Kent
He isn’t speaking to politicians. He is speaking to voters.
WaterGirl
@Glidwrith:
I wonder if he is trying to create space for people to admit they were wrong.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Glidwrith: yeah, I don’t see a statistically significant number who want to admit they were wrong. I suppose given how tight the margins are it’s worthwhile to give those few a permission structure, as we say nowadays, to distance themselves from the mess, especially in a state like AZ.
Glidwrith
If someone actually admits being wrong, I expect them to say so, no mealy-mouthing, make an effort to learn, then some form of service or reparation for the harm caused.
Wapiti
@WaterGirl: I think that’s it. I think he’s saying: there was a con played here, and a lot of decent people were suckered by the con. We should forgive our neighbors who are probably embarrassed and outraged that they were manipulated.
Yeah, it accounts for 0.5% of Republican voters, but that could be the winning margin in Arizona.
WaterGirl
I do think we need to take our cue from the Latino folks who have been elected.
Speaking of Arizona, copying from the previous thread.
Link to poll.
@Geminid: Interesting that their headline toward the top is this:
Click on the image to embiggen.
bbleh
@Wapiti: @Glidwrith: concur he’s offering a graceful way out, although whether in truth “a lot” of people were actually suckered, vs. doing what they really want and believe, is an open question, and I definitely agree that damn few of them will admit it. A whole lot of the point of being a MAGAhole is belonging, and to admit you were wrong, even to yourself, is to risk being cast out of the Tribe.
phein63
@WaterGirl: Yes, this. Plus, we know how victimization plays with the Fox News demographic, so if we can turn that beat around . . .
Baud
I’m always wrong Where’s my grace?
Baud
You fools! He’s telling the MAGAs to be graceful to US!
Cameron
@bbleh: “Gooble -gobble, one of us!” ( h/t Todd Browning)
bbleh
@Baud: she’s having drinks with your best friend, and they’re laughing about you.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
That’s got a real “This is good news for John McCain” vibe.
Fitting for Arizona.
kalakal
@WaterGirl: I think you’ve got his intention exactly. Also it’s easier for someone to admit they were conned than that they themselves were wrong. After a while they’ll even believe it themselves
trollhattan
As soon as a Trumper decides to admit he/she was wrong then I’ll ponder the forgiveness thing. I learned from Gov Arnold that some supporters admitted being wrong about him, because he was not nearly conservative enough.
WaterGirl
@Baud: That’s another way to look at it!
James E Powell
This is one of those things that still makes me happy when I see or hear it.
Soprano2
In news about Trans hate, MO Republicans are trying to make Florida seem reasonable. They passed a bill out of committee in the house that bans gender-affirming care for anyone under 18 with no exception for those who might be at risk of death. They are truly awful people. I’ve also heard they want to force teachers to tell parents if their child wants to use a different pronoun regardless of the danger to the child. If i were Trans I’d be planning to flee this state ASAP.
Cameron
If a MAGA says they were wrong in Arizona, will anybody hear?
kindness
Is it just me? I haven’t seen any of the fascist friendly portion of the Republican Party saying they were wrong and asking for forgiveness. Seems to me one has to admit one’s errors to be forgiven and only then start trying to rebuild any respect they may want. Respect is earned, not just given.
trnc
https://answersafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/george-burns-and-gracie-allen-e1544395233540.jpg
billcinsd
What does this even mean? I mean it would be great, but to me that requires MAGAts to stop being fascists. That is going to require more than a politician requesting it. or that Dems should accept fascists as a part of the political landscape or that MAGAts should go full fascist and stop this emergent crap
CaseyL
I think it’s a remarkable tweet, in a good way.
He’s not asking GOPers to admit they were wrong – that’s a bridge too far – but only to concede that they may have been conned. A much easier ask.
Whether it will have any effect is another matter. But I agree he has to try.
BenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️
Box, checked, 1 each. If it gets some people onboard, great and my expectations will have been exceeded.
Parfigliano
Naive thinking by the new AZ Sec of State. Nazi’s dont do graceful retreats and NEVER admit they were fooled or wrong.
Make no mistake this “new” faction of the GOP are nazi to their core. Making nice with them and helping clean their shit up isnt the DEMs job.
James E Powell
@zhena gogolia:
Same here. I get a sharp pain at the base of my skull every time President Joe says something nice about Mitch McConnell, but then that’s why he is a successful president while I am a total loser commenting on an almost top 10,000 blog.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I think this is a smart way for a politician, a vote-seeker, to talk, especially a Hispanic Democrat who won statewide in a still fairly conservative state, but I can’t get past my belief that in all of this– trumpism, birtherism, Fox-News watching, in the notion that those followers are victims (edited)– there’s an element of “You can’t cheat an honest man”
Kent
He’s not speaking to MAGAts or politicians.
He is speaking to generic “independent” low information voters who might have been taken by the firehose of Trumpist disinformation that washed over Arizona in the past election.
And it is exactly the right tone. He’s saying “We know it’s not you, you are good people. You were just conned. Welcome back.”
lowtechcyclist
Since this is a totally open thread, Southwest Flight 1488 (really) successfully delivered us to Florida yesterday.
This morning, the Holiday Inn Express we always stay at had “Half & Half Creamer” rather than actual half & half. I was hoping the name was just an acknowledgement that the half & half was intended as coffee creamer, but no. It’s some damned abomination that, despite not being half & half, gets to have those words in its name. After the second sip, I pitched that cup of coffee.
Fortunately, they also had a pitcher of 2% milk, and while that’s a step down from half & half, it’s got milkfat and was a hell of a lot better than that abominable fake half & half.
Omnes Omnibus
@Parfigliano:
How many people associated with this blog were Republicans at one time? If people realize they were wrong and want to switch, I say good. Now, that being said, we aren’t going to throw them the reins and say take over. They fucked up, and they can take a backseat for a while.
Gvg
The tweet made me wonder about local news in Arizona. I feel like something happened there recently and he was addressing his voters. Maybe some trial news or something?
Because I am not aware of any recent news about how we were manipulated. It’s possible that things that we have known for quite awhile are just getting noticed by normies or something and I haven’t recognized it as “news”.
different-church-lady
I have more faith in what he wrote than I do in my fellow citizens.
WaterGirl
@kalakal:
I think you’re right about that. “I wasn’t an idiot; it’s their fault from conning me.”
Whatever helps people come back from the brink…
Geminid
I think Mr. Fontez is taking a non-judgemental view of new allies. A smart, pragmatic position in my view.
I’ve heard good things about Mr. Fontez from Arizona jackals. I started paying attention to him during the midterms, through Rachel Bitecofer’s twitter account. I knew she was working for the Arizona political consulting firm Main Street Strategies, and they assisted Fontez’s campaign. While Bitecofer had a professional interest in spreading the word about him, she seemed genuinely impressed by Fontez.
Evidently the appreciation is mutual. A week after the election, Fontez tweeted:
different-church-lady
@WaterGirl:
Exactly. It gives a person an opportunity to admit a mistake with grace.
But it also preemptively shames those who don’t avail themselves of the opportunity.
WaterGirl
@CaseyL: Check, check, and check on all 3 of your points.
I think it’s aspirational. He’s giving them space, hoping they will move into it – if we give them a way to view themselves not as bad people, or as people who were wrong or stupid, but as people who were victims of a con.
WaterGirl
@Parfigliano:
I agree with that. I don’t see it as making nice with them or cleaning up their shit.
Instead, I am coming to see it as not putting up a barrier the would hold someone back, who otherwise might be inclined to move in our direction if they don’t think they will be judged or attacked.
cmorenc
@Wapiti:
Unfortunately, the psychology of persuading a person to realize and admit they have been conned is more difficult than persuading them *they* made a mistake. People who have been conned have to willingly admit a compound mistake, starting with their own gullibility to being duped by con men/women, in addition to why the substance of their belief was incorrect. Much less difficult to admit to self and others that you were mistaken about some facts than that you have been correctly marked as a pigeon and taken by con men/women.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Gvg: Locally, I think Kari Lake just lost yet another lawsuit. Nationally, the Fox News story lays out pretty clearly that not only were the on-air ‘talent’ lying, they thought the people they were bringing on their shows to lie along with them were nuts. Not a bad moment to reach out to however many reachables there might be.
Hannity of all people, who I always figure for the Fox host who most resembles the audience, called Sydney Powell a “fucking lunatic”. I honestly didn’t think that particular marble-headed stupe would be smart enough to get that.
But I don’t have a lot of faith that the rubes and the marks are willing to admit they were conned.
Geminid
@WaterGirl: Fontez also may have been sending a gentle message to the more judgemental Democrats. As in, give new allies the side eye if you want, just don’t give them the finger!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@lowtechcyclist: You’re lucky it wasn’t “creme.”
WaterGirl
@lowtechcyclist: When I was putting myself through college by working at the grocery store, they sold something called “cheese food”. My feeling is that if you have to add “food” to the name, that’s a really bad sign.
I’m sure that fake half & half was some awful chalky powdered milk concoction. shudder
WaterGirl
@Gvg: Interesting thoughts.
WaterGirl
@Geminid: You are probably right about that.
psst: Fontes
Baud
@Geminid:
There are more judgmental Democrats?
brendancalling
I’m up in Montreal for the weekend, staying at a different hostel than usual. I stay at hostels because they’re cheap, and I travel alone so privacy isn’t a major issue for me, so for a decade I’ve been staying at this gem, Auberge d’Alexandrie. They weren’t booking, and a different one kept declining my card, so I chose one near Concordia. It turned out that Alexandrie went under in 2022, another victim of the pandemic. I have so many wonderful memories associated with the Alexandrie, it would be hard to begin. Lots of late nights, hanging out with strangers from all over the world.
Other than the location, I cannot recommend the place where I am currently staying. When I arrived yesterday, there was a clearly heroin-addled fellow hanging around the entrance hallway, barely able to stand up. After I dropped off my stuff—the room STANK of body odor—and headed out to get some legal Canadian weed, the guy was passed out on the floor. He was in the same position when I got back 20 minutes later.
I went upstairs, and asked for some air freshener spray because the room was so rank. I also asked him if he knew there was someone passed out in his entrance, and he said “Yes, they’re everywhere.” Then he sighed and said “I can’t deal,” and rolled his eyes.
I had some time before meeting up with my kid, so I found some sushi for dinner. After dinner, I walked over to my car (parked a block from the hostel) and saw two cop cars and an ambulance down the street: right in front of the hostel. I have no idea if he was dead or alive—I suspect the former, as I noticed an empty envelope for a defibrillator electrode left behind on the windowsill where the addict had passed out—but I do know one thing. I’m giving this hostel no stars when I review it.
Kirk
My impression is that it’s an avenue for escape. There’s a gradually growing stink of “loser” from the GOP side of things. People don’t like being wedded to the loser but they stay anyway for a lot of reasons.
One of those reasons is not seeing a way to get separate, and lo and behold “I was conned, it ain’t my fault” is offered as a valid line without a sneer and a wink.
As others have noted it may be only a tiny number – half a percent if large. But if some get out, others may find their own ways as they discover they’re not alone; if not willing to join the winners at least able to cut ties with the losers with cover.
narya
I think the timing of his comment is useful, following on the heels of the stuff about how Faux “News” lied repeatedly about every damn thing, and KNEW they were lying. If Dominion wins big, that will also get airplay. Some of that may break through to people who aren’t news junkies. I don’t know about the “conned” angle–people are notoriously unwilling to admit they were conned–but whatever works.
brendancalling
@brendancalling: By “him” I mean the guy at the front desk, not the heroin addicted gentleman.
WaterGirl
@narya: I hadn’t thought about the timing aspect of it, but I bet you are totally right!
West of the Cascades
Lotsa actual Nazis in Germany managed to do this after WWII, although admittedly it took some apocalyptic damage to the country followed by a massive influx of Western cash to grease their reformation.
WaterGirl
@brendancalling: Quite the disappointment for you since the hostel you loved and had history with is now gone, and this is what you ended up at in its place.
End of an era.
West of the Cascades
@Gvg: The Arizona Court of Appeals yesterday soundly rejected the appeal of Kari Lake’s lawsuit that alleged she should be the rightful Governor of Arizona. https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/16/politics/kari-lake-election-appeal/index.html
Seems like good timing for Fontes’s tweet if indeed the tweet followed the release of that opinion. Of course, Lake is appealing to the Arizona Supreme Court (and then probably seeking review by the US Supreme Court if – as is almost certain – she loses before the Arizona high court). But she just keeps showing her ass more and more the higher the case gets, and each new judicial opinion against her gives Democrats the chance to remind her voters they were conned.
ETA narya’s probably closer to the mark on the reason for this tweet (“Fox News lied to you”), but the combination of that and Lake’s appellate loss seems fortuitous.
Bill Arnold
@kalakal:
Also, they usually get viscerally, deeply angry at those who conned them.
Baud
People don’t like to admit they were conned because they don’t like to be made fun of for being stupid. If you tell they they weren’t stupid but were betrayed by people they had trusted, then some might be receptive in making a change.
Besides, does attacking them full stream gain us any votes in a purple state? Do wenthink there are a lot of antifascists who aren’t yet voting for Dems who are gettable?
lowtechcyclist
@WaterGirl:
Indeed! But there’s a level that’s lower than that one. Your grocery store may well carry Potted Meat Food Product.
Yes, food product. Can’t even call itself food.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
Food substitute.
John Revolta
It’s of a piece with Joe differentiating Republicans from “MAGA Republicans”. He knows that there’s no hope for the latter, but if we can peel off some of the mushy middle types, we should try.
narya
@West of the Cascades: @WaterGirl: There’s a lot circulating right now–I have to think that the “they’re coming for SS/Medicare” is problematic in AZ too, for example–and some folks who were inclined to vote R most of the time might be willing to step back. I don’t think the drumbeat is going to stop any time soon, especially if there are indictments, etc.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud: I’m just imagining how my RW cousin, who has gone further down the rabbit-hole since Covid, would what-about the Fox stories. Not curious enough to call her and set fire to what remains of our relationship.
So far as I’ve seen, Fox is just ignoring the story? I guess trying to respond might put Rupert’s money even more at risk?
Geminid
When it comes to people who used to vote Republican and now vote Democratic or are considering it, I care very little about psychology or moral worthiness. I make judgements of character too, but I don’t center them when I look at voter behavior.
Arizona is close to a 50-50 state electorally; I want to see Democrats push that to a 55-45 majority, and reeling in disaffected Republican voters is one of the ways they’ll get there.
Some of these voters will never be more than Independents, but it will be a while anyway before Democrats carry even a close race in Arizona without a majority of these voters. It’s possible that over the years the Democratic Party can save their souls but in meantime, I want their votes.
JoyceH
@WaterGirl:
I don’t think very many people admit publicly (or perhaps even to themselves, but who knows?) that they were wrong or conned. They just… drop it. Whatever It is. Don’t talk about it, don’t think about it, move on and do something else.
Remember Iran-Contra and Ollie-mania? That was quite a craze for a while. There were Oliver North teeshirts! My MOM wanted one! But then, the Olliemaniacs, most of them, got over it. Quietly. The ones that do recant publicly do so flamboyantly – think Michael Cohen. Of course, he got a couple book deals out of it…
But if the rank and file Trump supporters, not the lunatics with the dozen Trump flags on their truck, but the majority of them, just quietly drop it and move on, like Mom did from Ollie North, hey, that’s good enough.
Geminid
@WaterGirl: That’s right, Fontes. Thanks for the correction. Now I see that was right in my doggone notes, too.
I figured you would have corrected the “Fonte” in the post by now, though. Not to be calling the kettle black.
trollhattan
Doing what we do best, chapter 73.
Tate Reeves is on this, folks.
Omnes Omnibus
@JoyceH: Do we want to win or do we want to be seen to be vindicated? That is a question we need to ask ourselves. I want to win. I feel superior to most people anyway, so I don’t need the ego boost here.
JoyceH
@Omnes Omnibus:
EGG-zactly! I remember in school if I happened to catch a glimpse of someone else’s test paper and they had a different answer than me, I just assumed that they were wrong.
Redshift
@lowtechcyclist: The best one i saw on a store shelf was “Grandma’s Old Fashioned Imitation Squeeze Cheese Food Product.”
Mm-mm! Imitation cheese, just like grandma used to make!
Delk
Desantis was AP Student of the Year and praised AP classes.Oops
Matt McIrvin
I recall Dave Niewert (probably one the most clear-eyed people about the rise of modern American fascism, going back to the early 2000s at least) urging leftists on Twitter not to fall into an eliminationism of their own.
It’s always hard to figure out where to draw the line–it can seem like we’re in a soft civil war and being too restrained about fighting back. Even in a real shooting war, though, one of the most effective psychological warfare techniques is to offer kindness (and the prospect of survival) to people who defect from the other side. You can see Zelenskyy doing that in Ukraine. “No quarter” is not his message, it’s more the Russians’.
John Revolta
@JoyceH: I played in a band in Richmond VA c. 2006 and the guy running it STILL had a Great. Big. poster of Ollie on the wall in the studio we used to rehearse in. I think I lasted about a year. Real good band too………. ah well
John Revolta
@Delk: Awkward!
Omnes Omnibus
@Matt McIrvin: That is a fight that happens every ten days or so on the Ukraine threads.
trollhattan
@John Revolta: Guessing the William Calley posters were all sold out.
Omnes Omnibus
@trollhattan: Fuck him.
Citizen Alan
@Baud: I just feel that in most instances, by reassuring these assholes that they were “conned,” we’re really just giving them license to embrace a different set of assholes selling the same con in different packaging. Donald Trump was not a super villain with hypnotic powers. He marketed himself as a vessel for performative, white supremacist, Christianist assholery, and all the Christian white supremacists who only care about “owning the libtards” flocked to him.
Mai Naem mobile
Adrian Fontes is a smart guy and I trust his judgment. That tweet, I am sure, was carefully written and aimed at certain people. Fontes went through a lot being the Maricopa County recorder during the 2020 election. Kari Lake’s an idiot and the guy running for AG was also a young idiot with lots of issues to run against. But the guy running against Fontes, Mark Finchem, was a guy who I really feared winning the seat. The guy comes across as one of those Malheur standoff guys and it wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility that he would win the seat.
WaterGirl
@Bill Arnold:
that works for me!
WaterGirl
@lowtechcyclist:
Wow. I did not know you could get lower than “food”. Product makes me shudder.
@Baud: Food substitute. I’m not sure whether that’s worse than “food product” or not. Still gets a rating of shudder, however.
Omnes Omnibus
@Citizen Alan: In most instances, you may be right. What about the ones where you aren’t? As people have been saying, they could be the tipping point in a lot of elections. Isn’t that worth it?
Matt McIrvin
@Omnes Omnibus: One of the ways I avoid being dragged into endless fights on social media is to remind myself that once most of the participants agree on the merits of the thing being discussed, the additional question of who was or was not right all along is not actually very important. If somebody basically believes the right thing, but has the incorrect impression that I don’t agree… it’s probably not worth arguing about.
WaterGirl
@Geminid:
Yes!
WereBear
I think we do need to offer a path back to reality, as we would with any cult members still trapped.
Much of what I have been reading about cults is how often the people are pulled in for good motives. As with Scientology. Or even the Nxivm cult. Everyone recovering said, “I thought I was signing up for a wonderful thing and getting other people into this wonderful thing.”
But I don’t think this is the case with Fox News viewers, because they weren’t getting anything but awful energy from their addiction to Fox News.
All those who warned about the second shingles shot…yeah.
Geminid
@Citizen Alan: I am curious as to whether you’ve heard much about Mississippi Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley.
Cook Political Report said Thursday that they were shifting the race to “Likely Republican” because “Democrats landed a good recruit.” The recruit is Presley, and I guess the race had been rated more solidly Republican before.
WaterGirl
@Geminid: That was a typo! That’s one name that I do know how to spell, since I saw it so many times with the fundraising thermometer.
Fixed now.
Omnes Omnibus
So on the open thread side of things: My s-i-l is turning 50 next weekend. As part of her present, I got her a 45 of the #1 single from the day she was born (Roberta Flack, Killing Me Softly). She fairly recently dug out her old turntable and vinyl and honestly she and I don’t really have a lot of interests in common other than family, so I thought that this would be something where we shared some common ground. What says the hive mind?
WereBear
@lowtechcyclist: We are far too accepting of fake food for our own good.
scav
My Reverend Aunt certainly bleats about being conned and betrayed by her former idol Trump. And she’s right in there as an early adopter of whatever is fashionable having bounced from Obama to Bernie (volunteering as a delegate) to hard-line Trumpist. That Reverend, moreover, should be interpreted at full weight: she did indeed provide the moral framework for parishes, although I think she switched from Lutheran to Methodist for presumably monetary reasons. So there may be some available demographic for politicians to gently woo. Luckily I don’t have to and now get all my complacent self-justifying bleating second hand.
Omnes Omnibus
@scav: There is more money in Methodism?
Matt McIrvin
@WereBear: Often what people are looking for is a sense of belonging and also a sense of meaning to their lives. What the Fox News cult offers there is the idea that, just by believing and spreading their ideas, you’re on the side of light in an apocalyptic battle of good versus evil. You’re not just trying to keep your head above water in a mean world; you’re a mighty warrior at Armageddon. Evangelical “spiritual warfare” rhetoric is conveying the same thing.
brendancalling
@WaterGirl: For real. I loved that place.
WereBear
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I want them to become toast like Alex Alex Jones.
WaterGirl
@WereBear: About the second shingles shot. In case it helps any, I got mine on Valentine’s Day a year ago, and all I remember is that it kicked my ass, but all the details have faded.
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus: That sounds great. I can’t believe it’s been 50 years.
Geminid
@Omnes Omnibus: I think that’s a great move. She will appreciate the record in its own right, because it’s very good music that was a hit on her birtday. And you recognized her new interest in turntable records also.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: On the WaterGirl Gift Rating Scale, I give that a 15 on a scale of 10.
Well done!
WereBear
@Matt McIrvin: Possibly, but I used to follow a woman on Twitter, who grew up in a white supremacist cult. While she was there to promote her fantasy books, she would also drop certain bits of information.
Such as don’t let a white supremacist tell such they believe in their “facts.”
They lie and lie and lie.
scav
@Omnes Omnibus: Or at least an immediately available captive audience, ummm, parish.
Omnes Omnibus
@zhena gogolia: @Geminid: @WaterGirl: Thanks.
Amir Khalid
@Omnes Omnibus:
It sounds like a thoughtful and well-chosen gift that she will like.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Unrelated, but I have gotten a TON of “shares” on my spout about the Wisconsin election on Tuesday.
Omnes Omnibus
@scav:
Aha.
WereBear
@WaterGirl: Feeling better than this morning, anyway. Thanks 😁
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Excellent.
scav
@Omnes Omnibus: Yes, it’s that demonstrated strong inerrant moral framework being exhibited.
Amir Khalid
Presented without comment, because words fail me.
James E Powell
@WaterGirl:
There was an episode of Fraser where the same observation was made about the word “loaf.”
Baud
@scav:
Good help me, I happened to see a talking head making a good point about how Biden goes against the grain with respect to the idea that the latest fresh outsider is always better than the experienced pol.
Obviously, it depends. Obama was great. But he’s probably more of the exception.
WaterGirl
@WaterGirl: If anyone is looking for an easy way to find Bj peeps on spottable, click on my nym and/or search for “Balloon Juice” or “@BalloonJuice”.
Following / followers will show quite a few BJ pees.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, Youngkin wants to subsidize small modular nuclear reactors in SW Virginia, because of course he does. BlueVirginia.US:
Commentary by Rees Shearer:
Maybe the “too cheap to meter” stuff was about some future fusion plant, which was always around 30 years away, but it’s part of the background noise of nuclear and nuclear has never been cheap (or fully paid-for). I’m a big fan of R&D of all kinds, but small reactors are not there yet, and the waste problem still hasn’t been addressed so adding more nuclear plants without that is insane.
But, hey, it’s power that the lefty granola eaters don’t like so that’s good enough for Youngkin!!
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
Betty
@lowtechcyclist: When that was the choice at work, I switched to black coffee. An abomination for sure.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
You see the same thing with “juice” and “drink.”
kalakal
@Omnes Omnibus: I think it’s an excellent idea. You’re showing her you’re actually considering her as a person by taking the time and effort to get her a gift that is personal to her and reflects her interests rather than a generic ‘nice thing’. Also it’s a lovely piece of music.
WaterGirl
@Amir Khalid:
Wow. My favorite comment – I only read 5 or 10:
WaterGirl
@Baud: I think you have to have at least 5% juice in a “juice drink” or “juice blend”.
Or else it has to sit on a shelf near some juice for a day. :-)
edit: Still, I would rather drink sugar water than eat something called “cheese food”!
Dorothy A. Winsor
Open thread? Then I want to ask a favor. I’m supposed to be creating the social media posts I’ll use when my new book, Glass Girl, releases on May 6. Does anyone have pictures of murano glass objects that they took and are willing to let me use? Or maybe a video of glass being made? I need stuff that’s not copyrighted and that you’re willing to share. If so, can you let me know or send it to me at dawinsor (at) dawinsor (dot) com? I’d be happy to give you credit. And I’m not sure what I’d use.
WaterGirl
Apropos of nothing, just 6 days until the new Cole kitty moves to WV.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl:
Is that an appropriate way to refer to Joelle?
Baud
Back on topic, I think it makes little sense to argue that a soft approach won’t win over hard core Republicans. That’s never the objective because it’s impossible. Hoover got 40% of the vote after three years of the depression. There’s a hard cap on both parties.
Sure Lurkalot
I may find some sympathy with the duped but unfortunately I don’t think it’s a big number. One of the things revealed in the Dominion reporting was that it was all about the Benjamins…that if the Foxheads didn’t report what their audience wanted to hear, the rubes would go somewhere else to get their fix of lies.
At this point, I truly wonder how many like my good friend’s 80 year old mom are left…reflexively voting for team R because that’s what her daddy did. (BTW, she was reached in a way Mr. Fontes hopes for).
Then I think of fucking Liz Cheney covering for the insurrectionists and calling them duped patriots. And the fact that some of them are trying to use being incited by Trump as a defense…and will use this Fox expose the same way.
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Since I had to google murano glass, I’m afraid I can’t be of any help.
Looks pretty, though!
Are we doing an Authors post for your new book? (Authors posts are an option for any authors, not just new books.)
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: hahahahaha
I don’t think Joelle is moving to WV any time soon.
Percysowner
Sad news Former President Jimmy Carter to receive hospice care at home following series of hospital stays He may have had mixed reviews as President, but he is a good man.
MoeLarryAndJesus
Sorry. Well, not really sorry. Two-time Trump voters can all go fuck themselves. And the walking garbage that would vote for him again are less worthy of consideration than rabid skunks are.
Much less worthy.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@WaterGirl: I’d appreciate the chance to do an author’s post. As I said, the book is out May 6, so after that. Whenever it works for you and for the blog.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Smart lady!
Baud
@Percysowner:
Aw man. At least he will have lived past Trump and can have a decent send off.
Jinchi
@WaterGirl: That was my thought.too. He’s creating the space for people to come back to sanity.
It’s on them to take it.
WaterGirl
@Sure Lurkalot:
I don’t think it even has to be a BIG number. Races have turned before on small numbers of votes.
Besides, *extending grace to someone who has been taken in by misinformation seems like something worth doing.
*I wonder how many people here would agree with me on that.
Baud
The other part of the “conned” messaging is that it signals to normies that they should look out for con artists on the right.
WaterGirl
@Percysowner: Well, fuck.
The man has had 9 lives and he has lived every one of them so well. If only he could live forever. :: tears ::
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Good choice. Maybe pair it with something from the year she graduated from high school (1991?) or was in her formative college music years (if any).
Geminid
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Maybe jackal Joey Maloney will have something. He makes glass art. Mr. Maloney lives 5 or 6 time zones ahead of EST, so he might not see this request for a while, though.
@WaterGirl:
WaterGirl
@MoeLarryAndJesus: Who said anything about “Two-time Trump voters ?”
Mai Naem mobile
Just saw on the Twitter machine that President Carter is in hospice care at home. I wonder if his cancer came back. Whatever happens, he’s had an amazingly productive long life.
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Write something up, and send me photos!
You know the drill. :-)
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Geminid: Thanks. If Mr. Maloney is willing, maybe I could figure out some way to post a piece of his art and write a connection to my story, so there’s some synergy.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@WaterGirl: I’ll do that eventually! We’re a ways out now. I don’t have the book cover yet.
Amir Khalid
@WaterGirl:
As I understood John Cole’s post, he and FLOBJ are to be married, but for the time being not cohabiting. Did I get that right?
trollhattan
@Percysowner: Darn :-(
Too late to swap Kissinger for him?
WaterGirl
@Geminid: @Dorothy A. Winsor:
Joey Maloney lives in Israel, unless he has moved recently. I do have his email address from pet calendar correspondence. Send me an email message if you have a message you would like me to pass on to him.
Leslie
@Amir Khalid: Whatever it is, it won’t load for me.
kindness
As to trying to get people on board with our side, I don’t watch Fox News, so I can’t say for myself. I think trying to sway Fox viewers to our side is something we should try. But I suspect that Fox viewers will have no idea about the recent news that Fox Talking heads knew Tump, his people and Fox’s talking heads were lying to their viewers because I’m pretty sure Fox will never report on it. Many Fox viewers live in an empirical bubble and never see another news source. Still, it’s worth a try.
CaseyL
@Percysowner: I just saw that on a breaking news bulletin.
The man has lived a very long, very good life. I’m crying anyway.
He’s an example of what ex-Presidents can and should be. Hell, he’s an example of what everyone can and should be!
Ruckus
@WaterGirl:
I’ve had extreme responses to many medications that my docs would like to prescribe and even extreme responses when they feel they need to increase the dosage. One I take daily I’ve cut back to the maker’s starting dosage even though I have to split one pill and the results the docs are looking for have arrived on a smaller rather than a larger dosage. Some of us really do not always do well under current medical practices of there is a prescription for everything and more is better. Sometimes it really isn’t. And I think that sometimes is often doing a hell of a lot of work.
WaterGirl
@Amir Khalid: Yes, I believe that is correct. From his post:
Dorothy A. Winsor
@WaterGirl: I’ll put something together tomorrow. Thank you for your help
cain
@Percysowner:
He was the greatest Christian president we’ve had. He was a bit too good for that position. But his is the greatest post-presidency legacy that I am aware of. Nobody else can compare to the wealth of service he’s done. He’s worked his entire life for the disenfranchised.
I consider him one of the greatest men of the 20th century – someone who truly practices Christianity as it should be for a person in his position. Bravo.
Amir Khalid
@Leslie:
The Business Basics YouTube channel posted a WSJ headline: “To save money, maybe you should skip breakfast.”
Leslie
@WaterGirl
And Amir Khalid:
Thanks. And oy.
Ruckus
@Amir Khalid:
The WSJ is always about making money. Period. End of concept.
I used to read it because dad had a subscription. I never saw anything in it about how to make money for a reasonable product or service, it was and is always about making the most money for the least possible risk. And don’t get me wrong, as a previous business owner I like more profit and less risk. I would however, prefer to actually provide a product or service worth what people pay me for it, rather than screwing them for an extra 2 to 20% because it makes my bank balance larger and screw them.
Ruckus
@Baud:
In our national political arena it seems that experienced pol often gets far higher admiration than new does. Even when said experienced pol is far, far past their sell by date. Take one CA senator. Please.
laura
I hope that Jimmy Carter’s hospice is gentle, intimate and as comfortable as can be made. I hope his family and friends have the opportunity to share final loving remembrances.
WaterGirl
@Leslie: Oops, I deleted mine after I saw Amir’s better explanation!
Glidwrith
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Away from home at the moment, but I bought one of Joey’s pieces. Volcano depiction as I recall. Maybe tomorrow I could snap a photo and see if you like it?
prostratedragon
@lowtechcyclist: Shit is a food product.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Glidwrith: Oh, thank you!
Joey Maloney
@Geminid: I’m sorry to say I’ve retired from glasswork. Sold all my equipment and stock in the fall. I just wasn’t feeling it and I wanted to concentrate on music.
I kept the kiln, though, the one most expensive item. Maybe someday …
Noskilz
I am going to hope he is simply trying to be very tactful and navigate an environment where a fair chunk of the electorate seems to be out of their damned minds. If he can pick up some votes with that sort of presentation, great. The bit about “let’s show some grace to those who have strength enough to admit they were wrong” seems like a major qualifier, and I doubt there are many on the GOP side with any interest in admitting such a thing.
Joey Maloney
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I’m happy to let you see the pieces I still have hanging around if one is suitable, though I’m not doing any new work.
Watergirl has my email, perhaps she can put us in touch …
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Joey Maloney: I’m sorry to hear you retired, but you’re enjoying the music
I’d love to see your work. Can you send something to me? dawinsor (at) dawinsor (dot) com
Another Scott
OpenThread – Adam’s Ukraine update tonight should be interesting (as always) as there’s yet more news on topics we’ve been discussing:
1) (Ret.) Gen Hodges – Long range missiles could enable liberation of Crimea by the end of summer.
2) UK SecDef Wallace says Ukraine only to get modern fighters after the war ends.
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@Glidwrith: @Dorothy A. Winsor:
Do we know that Joey’s pieces use that kind of glass?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@WaterGirl: For these purposes, it doesn’t matter. I can write some social posts about glass making, showing Joey’s beautiful work, and saying my central character is a glass maker. I can direct people to Joey if they want to buy, assuming he wants to sell.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: I love it.
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: If it doesn’t have to be a special kind of glass, I have a ton of hand-blown glass pieces.
Yutsano
@cain: He’s ending his life on his terms, just like my grandfather did. He’s lived a fantastic life, even if he wasn’t always the best President. He was an amazing human.
zhena gogolia
@Yutsano: He was a fine president. He got the media bullshit treatment. Yes, we should have turned the heat down and worn sweaters.
WereBear
@WaterGirl: So pleased to hear!
SectionH
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I have a piece of Murano. Took a few pics – it’s trickier to photograph than I thought it’d be, lol. It may not be what you have in mind, but I’ll send low res versions this afternoon (just 1:40 here, so evening for you maybe).
Citizen Alan
@Geminid: I like him a lot. Presley is the only Democrat of any prominence in the state government and has been for many, many years. And Tate Reeves is viscerally disliked in most of the state. But at this point, I genuinely think that the majority of mississippians would vote for a Republican over Jesus Christ himself. Jesus, after all, was ultimately a socialist hippie.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@lowtechcyclist: I was recently reflecting on my personal coffee history and for how many years the only option was instant coffee with unidentified white powder (Cremora).
Citizen Alan
@Omnes Omnibus: The number one song for the week in which I was born was “In the year 2525,” which I think explains a lot about the general crappiness of my life.
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Check your email.
Jackie
@laura: I worry Rosalynn won’t survive long after Jimmy passes. Married for 76 years!
zhena gogolia
@Citizen Alan: Wow, that is bad. I’d better check for myself.
Hmm, never heard of song or artist.
karen marie
@Citizen Alan: You got off easy. The number 1 song the week I was born was “Get a Job” by The Silhouettes.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: Both of those titles left me hopeful. UNTIL.
The first one should say “could” and not “can”, because it doesn’t sound like we are willing to send those.
The second, I guess I misread as “will only get modern fighters after the war ends, nothing old.” But it really says that UK won’t get any modern fighters while the war is going on. What the hell?
zhena gogolia
@karen marie: I loved that one!
WereBear
@Ruckus: And this is even worse if you’re not a white man, because for the longest time that’s all they did tests on and used as lab calibrations.
We really need to get the Republicans out of the universities and get some real scientists back in.
WaterGirl
@Jackie: Heartbreaking to even contemplate.
trollhattan
@Omnes Omnibus: A personal and charming gift, says I.
Although I swear the chorus line is “strumming my face with his fingers.” Fight me.
lowtechcyclist
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
How come? It’s not like stores ever stopped selling half n’ half, whole milk, etc.
Suzanne
@zhena gogolia:
Agreed.
I want to mock those people mercilessly and shame them into never leaving the house again. I mean, if you genuinely fell for this shit, you’re so stupid that you shouldn’t be outdoors without a leash. But politicians can’t say that, and he’s trying to provide a well-designed off-ramp. Probably important for “unity” and fellowship and shit. All that stuff I hate.
I should note that I think the world of Adrian FONTES. I have met him a couple of times, including seeing him perform a hilarious song on the guitar at a Dem fundraising event. His office helped me personally with an issue with SuzMom’s voter registration. He’s awesome.
MagdaInBlack
@zhena gogolia: I was inspired to check too. “All I Have to Do Is Dream” Everly Brothers.
Another Scott
@zhena gogolia: The history would have been very different if Operation Eagle Claw had succeeded.
Cheers,
Scott.
Elizabelle
Grateful we have had President and Mrs. Carter. And that he will pass while we have President and Mrs. Biden, who will well commemorate his life, and lead the nation in mourning.
JEC3 survived the worst presidency in history. And it certainly was not his own!
He survived cancer, got several more good years, and is leaving on his own terms. Had a long and fulfilling marriage. A good long life.
trollhattan
@SectionH: Lighting glassware is tricky, and it’s all about the light. IOW don’t beat yourself up if you find it hard to do!
Geminid
@Citizen Alan: Presley certainly has an up hill climb. Governor Beshear Beshear showed in Kentucky that red state voters will sometimes diverge from their usual pattern in a Governor’s race, so maybe Presley has a fighting chance against an unpopular incumbent. Beshears’ race was an off-year contest also.
trollhattan
Heck, I’d say he survived the three worst presidencies in history!
dmsilev
@zhena gogolia: He had a number of serious own-goals, most notably a ‘my way or the highway’ attitude towards Congressional Democrats. That wasted a lot of energy that could have been more productively used. Teddy Kennedy’s primary challenge in 1980 was a really bad idea, but it only came about because a lot of Democrats were deeply unhappy with Carter.
Citizen Alan
@Another Scott: Oh definitely. He would have swept into re election and the human race would be immeasurably better off.
LiminalOwl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: A friend of mine used to work for a glass artist. I can ask whether he has any videos of glass being made or sculpted.
kalakal
@Citizen Alan:
For the US I got “Georgia on my mind”
For the UK “It’s Now or Never”
Citizen Alan
@Geminid: I mean, Tate Reeves cannot even ensure drinkable water in the city where the governor lives, and he got busted in the brett farve scandal for diverting medicaid funds for a volleyball gym. If he can be re elected over a popular, scandal free Democrat who is distantly related to Elvis Presley, then no Democrat is electable in this state.
Elizabelle
@trollhattan: Yep. But I bet he and Rosalyn were really holding on to vote in 2020 to right the ship!
Percysowner
@Omnes Omnibus:
Mine was “I’m Walking Behind You” by Eddie Fisher. I’ve never heard of the song, and only know Eddie Fisher from his later life when he and Debbie Reynolds divorced and he became husband #3 for Elizabeth Taylor. Not exactly a banner song or artist.
LiminalOwl
@WaterGirl: Velveeta and such = “processed cheese food.” Doesn’t that mean it’s what cheese eats to grow big and strong? Not fit for human consumption anyway.
And the coffee “creamer”—the powdered stuff—rarely has even powdered milk in it. At least, the ones whose ingredients I’ve checked have been corn syrup solids and other sugars. No actual dairy included.
Geminid
@WaterGirl: Right now the immediate fighter prospects for Ukraine are Russian made aircraft. Poland says they will send theirs but I think they want F-16s at the same time. There may be other Migs and Sukhois available, but not every nation that has them will be willing to send them to Ukraine.
Dr. Silverman had extensive excerpts on the subject last night, taken from a piece a US pilot wrote about the challenges of training and technical support present in introducing F-16s, especially in the middle of a war with Ukraine’s pilot corps already engaged in vital operations. Contributions in air defense systems and longer range munitions may fill some of the needs more quickly.
CaseyL
We have a lot of neighborhood farmer’s markets here in Seattle, even now in the winter, and I try to shop at them when I can.
Today I went to the one in the U District. There’s a soup booth whose products I’m finding addictive: they make a lentil-kale-sweet-potato stew I could happily eat all week. (And yes, I have tried to find a recipe for something similar.)
I also got eggs there, from a Skagit (County) farmer. And I had a chance to ask about an ongoing story that has upset a lot of Skagit farmers.
Skagit River has three hydroelectric dams, which supply about 20% of Seattle’s electricity. The dams have to be relicensed every so often.
The dams have interfered with salmon runs since forever. The salmon population is greatly reduced. This is a big deal – salmon are a major food source for every critter living in the PNW, human and non. Salmon are also vital for the local Native American tribes, for cultural/spiritual reasons as well as for food.
So the controversy is that Seattle Public Utilities, in wanting to protect salmon runs without giving up the hydroelectric utility, is acquiring a lot of land around the river. I’m not sure if they’re going to build fish ladders there or other salmon-assisting doohickeys, or just hold the land to protect the river from agricultural runoff or what.
But Skagit County farmers are furious about what they see as a land-grab. It’s tough enough to farm, period. Plus the Skagit area is a prime one for housing developments of the extremely expensive kind, since it’s got the natural beauty the rest of Western Washington used to have before everyone and their cousins moved here. (I distinctly remember watching farmland in eastern King County vanish over a mere handful of years, back in the mid-90s, as farms were bought up by the score to be replaced by a multitude of high-end housing subdivisions.)
The problem is, this is an issue where all the opposing sides have right on their side.
Farmers do need land.
Native Americans do need their cultural and spiritual needs respected.
Salmon do need assistance getting upriver.
Seattle does need hydroelectricity.
I don’t know how this is going to be resolved.
Suzanne
FYI, I should note that at McDonald’s, if you notice, they sell “vanilla cones”, not “vanilla ice cream”. Because that shit does not legally qualify as ice cream.
japa21
Had to check what the song was when I was born. “Peg o’ My Heart” by the Harmonicats. Yes, I am old.
James E Powell
@Percysowner:
I just saw that on twitter and felt tears welling up. He wasn’t my first political hero – that was Bobby Kennedy – but he was the first president I voted for, the first one I volunteered for, and the only one I met & shook hands with. He was and continued to be someone who inspired me not to let the dark parts of politics keep me away from participating in our democracy.
zhena gogolia
@MagdaInBlack: That’s a nice one.
Matt McIrvin
@Percysowner: When my sister was, I don’t know, about 7 or 8, she had a friend whose mother had been an Eddie Fisher fan, and they became inexplicably preoccupied with this one obscure song of his on an LP they had, “Dungaree Doll.” Spent ages playing the song over and over and developing an elaborate dance routine set to it.
“Gonna make a chain of paper clips/Chain us together while I kiss your lips…” aargh.
zhena gogolia
@japa21: I’m not saying what mine was. Nobody would have heard of it, but they can look it up and find out how old I am! :)
zhena gogolia
@Matt McIrvin: Oh, Gawd, that does sound awful.
James E Powell
@zhena gogolia:
Not just that, but he was a Democratic president when the New Deal coalition finally broke apart for good after the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s. He was relentlessly attacked no just by the Village – who hated him as much as they hated the Clintons – but by his own party. I never forgave Teddy Kennedy, though I have no doubt that Jimmy Carter did.
StringOnAStick
It’s also possible that he said it so our side would hear the word fascist, especially those who don’t pay much attention to politics. What do we hear from one side of the horseshoe but crap about politicians not rising to the danger of the occasion? If it stirs up a firestorm, then more people will maybe say “whut, there’s a fascism thing going on?” and pay more attention. Eh, I can dream I guess.
Matt McIrvin
@Omnes Omnibus: Sounds kind of cool to me.
I remember some friends of mine got into looking that information up a while back and most of them were born in the late 60s and early 70s when, regardless of what amazing stuff might have been happening in the music scene, the #1 hits were often these horrifying things, like Gary Puckett and the Union Gap singing odes to jailbait. But I looked up mine and it was Simon and Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson.” I think I lucked out.
Chief Oshkosh
@Kent:
I agree completely with you, Kent.
As to Trump supporters changing – the only Trump supporters I know who have in any way altered their opinion of Trump and their politics in general have done so due to the ultimate alteration; they’re dead.
Wapiti
@CaseyL: Regarding Seattle land grabs: Last year I finally got out to Rattlesnake Lake to do some hiking up Rattlesnake Ridge. East of there is the Cedar River watershed, which supplies about 2/3 of Seattle’s water. The city started buying up land almost a hundred years ago, basically letting the various owners log their sections, then buying the land when it was less costly, so now the city owns the entire valley. And they don’t let anyone in there for recreation, to keep the watershed as clean and safe as possible. It’s pretty amazing that a mere city can have some seriously long-range planning.
(Some fraction of the water is committed to keeping the Lake Washington level stable, for salmon and the ship canal operation. A lot of parts. I expect that they might not be horrible landlords in the Skagit.)
karen marie
@zhena gogolia: Unfortunately, my parents took it to heart and effectively threw me out when I turned 18 because “our job is done.”
Suzanne
@Chief Oshkosh: Agree with you both.
He realizes that people will go to extreme psychological lengths to avoid thinking of themselves as dumb. He is trying to create a rhetorical space for grace.
I am really, really not inclined to grant it. AFAIAC, if someone voted for Trump, they told me exactly who they are. And if they actually entertained his stolen-election lies, they’re stupid and delusional, to boot.
Of course, that is why I comment here on this top-10,000 blog, not run for office.
Matt McIrvin
@zhena gogolia: The soundtrack of my life in that era was whatever songs my sister decided to play on her record player until the grooves wore down. Her musical taste was kind of eclectic and often it was better than that.
I remember she was obsessed with Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis’s “You Don’t Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show)” and that song is pretty good, but after a while it sounded like Billy and Marilyn were singing under a waterfall.
prostratedragon
@japa21: Wow, they had hit listings back then? [gum cracks]
I’m not much younger, mind: “Cry,” Johnny Ray and the Four Lads.
Baud
@karen marie:
Sorry you got thrown out, but your presence here proves your parents did a great job!
MagdaInBlack
@Omnes Omnibus: I think its a wonderful gift. Shows you’re paying attention, you noticed her digging out her old turntable.
Steeplejack
@Suzanne:
Almost top 10,000 blog. Let’s not get above our station.
StringOnAStick
@WereBear: Speaking of the awful energy of Fox News, I realized yesterday why the depression I had fallen into last summer was gone. It’s because once Elno took over the bird app, I quite using it except on the links I see here. I was doing hours of doom scrolling and it really messed with my head. Life without tweets and that moron who owns it really is better.
zhena gogolia
@Matt McIrvin: Ear worm!
Has your sister seen Summer of Soul? Lots of good McCoo/Davis footage (both vintage and recent) in that one.
Steeplejack
@prostratedragon:
Same for me!
skerry
@Omnes Omnibus: I think it’s a wonderful, thoughtful gift.
prostratedragon
@Steeplejack: My source said it was No.1 for 11 weeks (starting end Dec ’51), so a pretty big hit. The Harmonicats’ hit topped over twice as long, though.
WaterGirl
@StringOnAStick: That’s a really interesting take,
SiubhanDuinne
I’m late to this thread and haven’t read the comments — and others have probably already mentioned this — but it sounds as though President Carter may be leaving us very soon:
NYTimes gift link
Inevitable and long anticipated, but a sad moment.
Reboot
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I googled ‘images murano glass open use’ and got this:
https://pixabay.com/images/search/murano%20glass/
Apologies for the cut ‘n paste link.
WaterGirl
@karen marie: Yikes! Tough love?
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: I have it recorded on Tivo, and I watch bits of it now and again. Lots of good stuff.
CarolPW
Goodnight Irene, the Weavers. Dislike the song, love the Weavers.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne:
Old Dan and Little Ann
My maga uncle unfriended me on the book of faces years ago because I made fun of the Tea Party too much. He sent me a friend request after reached out to his wife and daughters. I’m his only sister’s only son ffs! Anyhow, he messaged me on this date in 2009. “Fair and balanced. You should give it a try. Teachers are open minded, right.” I can’t stop laughing.
Barbara
@Wapiti: In Virginia, the city of Fredericksburg bought up a lot of riverfront property along the Rappahannock River for the same purpose. There is a lot of riverfront development where it didn’t buy, but an amazing amount is basically not open for development. Of course, people use the river for recreation and navigation.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: I was thinking Jason Carter was the one who recorded Romney’s 47%, but I see from the tweet that was linked in your article that Jason Carter is a senator of some kind, so maybe that wasn’t him.
Anotherlurker
@WereBear: I have the same opinion of the 2nd Shingles shot. Both 1 and 2 royally kicked my ass!
However, pre-vaccine, I experienced a severe case of Shingles. It truly was the sickest I’ve ever been. The pain is unreal, ranging from severe burning to horrible stabbing pain to intense itching to numbness. Sometimes all at once.
I delt with it cycling up and down for a year and a half.
I guess my point is: put up with the asskicking from the vaccine. It is nothing compared to the Hell of sever Shingles.
Barbara
@WaterGirl: I thought the person who recorded Romney’s 47% speech was an employee of the location where the speech was held. Jason Carter strikes me as a pretty common name.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Reboot: Thank you!
zhena gogolia
@Barbara: No, I’m pretty sure it was some relative of Jimmy Carter (as well as an employee).
WaterGirl
@Barbara: I agree about the employee who took the photo, but I thought a grandson of Carter leaked it.
Barbara
@Anotherlurker: I had a mild case of shingles — it felt like a sunburn, with a little poison ivy mixed in — but I did get the vaccine. The person who gave it to me said that some of the discomfort could be avoided if the vaccine is allowed to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes — otherwise it is very viscous and hurts going into your arm quite a bit. I didn’t get any systemic side effects, but even with my mild case, I agree that the disease is far worse.
zhena gogolia
@Barbara:
I’m wrong. But a Carter was involved in disseminating it.
prostratedragon
@CarolPW:
“Now — her name is Irene and it is night. Don’t go any further with it.
“There’s nothing good about it.”
CaseyL
@Wapiti: Wow – I did not know that. Incredibly forward thinking of the city!
I think the problem will be not enough give on the various sides – all worried they’ll give in more than the others, and therefore lose out. One hopes they get the very best negotiators.
(My sympathies are evenly divided, as you can probably tell. We do need more small-scale farmers, particularly those who are doing their best to practice regenerative farming. But we absolutely must protect the salmon, because it’s not like they can pack up and move to a different river.)
Barbara
@WaterGirl: </p I missed that particular connection.
WaterGirl
@Barbara: Link
James, Jason. I was close! :-)
edit: zhena beat me to the quote!
Another Scott
@WaterGirl:
Horse’s mouth – Research assistance: James Carter
Cheers,
Scott.
prostratedragon
@CaseyL: It’s the kind of thing that slips into the background when new acquisitions are not an issue, but I think many of the larger cities have long engaged in this kind of planning. Case in point, New York City.
Mike in NC
Republicans have been demonizing Jimmy Carter since 1980, and every four years they play their favorite tune. When a guy named Obama came along, it was “But he’s a BLACK Jimmy Carter!!!” and they were hoping the magic would work one more time.
Jay
@brendancalling:
there are a bunch of really good hostels, in Montreal, (pretty much any Canadian City), but you do have to do some research these days.
Covid killed off a lot of them, as they didn’t have the bankroll to survive months of being fully closed, then survive more months of reduced occupancy. Some did, having cafe’s or in another case, a bar/pub to keep the cash flow up.
Some of them however, had to rely on the various City and Government programs to provide Covid shelter to the unhoused, to get by, and that had a major impact on staff and conditions, and still does.
StringOnAStick
@CaseyL: Salmon runs are in serious danger, so whatever can help them should be attempted. I expect to see some sagebrush rebellion crazy shit this coming season because the Klamath River dams (OR) are coming down after all the litigation on the part of the tribes, which they won. The standing warm water kills the salmon at critical points in their life cycle, and having a free flowing river means it is colder due to the water coming in via ground water inflows; reservoirs cause increased water temperatures. The dams were built for irrigation relatively recently, and the area is in severe drought and farming there with irrigation is relatively recent, but the Bundy’s were on site last summer as the local wing nuts threatened to open the irrigation valves that had been closed because of drought to protect the very reduced flows in the river. Expect more of the same to worse this summer; I expect this will be a crisis Biden has to decide how to address when the Bundy’s decide to do something big and news worthy.
MazeDancer
Devastated by the news about President Carter.
What a truly great man.
WaterGirl
@MazeDancer: A giant among men.
MomSense
@MazeDancer:
Me too. What a life he has lived. He’s one of the finest humans to ever grace this earth.
Kathleen
@Omnes Omnibus: I think it’s perfect and thoughtful. My daughter turns 50 this year so I may think of a similar type of gift. Thanks for the idea!
WereBear
@StringOnAStick: I’ve found Mastodon a lovely alternate.
HeleninEire
@MazeDancer: 98 years old. And he earned and lived and deserved every one of those days.
WereBear
@Anotherlurker: My motivation exactly. Doctor was… Graphic. He’s a great guy that way🤣
Kathleen
@MagdaInBlack: Mine is Lucky Old Son by Frankie Laine. I think Ray Charles also recorded it in 1963.
piratedan
Speaking to AF’s tweet/statement…..
We’ve spoken before about the divide in the AZ GOP, between stealth MAGA’s like Ducey, who does all the MAGA shit without all of the MAGA posturing and Gallego’s numbers against him are the weakest amongst those listed. The key here are the Independant numbers, Gallego at this point in time has the best set of weakest unfavorables. Now will that remain so once the MAGA red meat machine starts up, unknown, but to cycle back to what Fontes is trying to do, is he’s trying to talk people off the ledge. Now some of them are willingly going to jump anyway, but the attempt to save those who can be saved plays especially well with Independent voters. I fully expect Dem voters to get behind him with no issues, the key these days to to get those squishy people and Fontes is trying to drag as many of those folks that support the extremists a chance to return to a sense of normalcy and participation.
Lets not forget, the DOJ wheels are still grinding and more than one AZ extremist may get caught in the gears, either thru the false electors submission or the J6 involvement or both. Also, anyone who continues to embrace 45 when shoes start to drop (please, I would love a forecast of shoes dropping please), could be in the crapper when it all unfolds.
StringOnAStick
@WereBear: I’m considering mastodon. I’m suddenly really busy so it is all I can do to keep up with this place.
Kathleen
@Geminid: It was the teachers that got Beshear elected because Bevin’s educational policies were hated. He’s very popular. Here’s some info on his ratings:
https://morningconsult.com/2023/01/12/kentucky-beshear-ranks-as-most-popular-democratic-governor/
Chief Oshkosh
@zhena gogolia:
Just about the coolest thing I’ve ever seen on TV.
Jay
@StringOnAStick:
the impoundments also lack current which the salmon fry need to navigate to the estuaries. They also add time to the journey, fry have a fixed time schedule to when they “smolt”. if they havn’t made it to the estuary and smolt in river, they die. The impoundments create as well, favourable conditions for native predators like pikeminnows and introduced invasive species like bass to thrive.
The Skagit River dam removals, if they happen, would help the salmon, steelhead, searun cutthroat, bull trout, dolly varden, eulachon, but would kill the sport fishery of the Upper Skagit river, which is unmatched in the PNW coastal areas from California up to the Panhandle.
Chief Oshkosh
@Old Dan and Little Ann:
That’s one of the many things I just cannot abide about these losers. I mean, goddam, if they have TELL you that they’re “Fair and Balanced,” do you really think they are?
Sure Lurkalot
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I have a beautiful hand blown glass pyramid that I bought in France…not Murano, but maybe suits your book theme. Happy to take and send you photos, easy peasy!
Kathleen
@zhena gogolia: They posted a tweet about their 52 year marriage and I congratulated them and told them how much I enjoyed seeing them in Summer of Soul and their social media manager “liked” my tweet. The Fifth Dimension was an incredible musical group and ruled the AM airways in the late 60’s. Loved them.
Kathleen
@Chief Oshkosh: I thought the back story was amazing, too!
zhena gogolia
@Kathleen: They brought Laura Nyro songs into the mainstream! I adored them.
zhena gogolia
Tom Jones harmonizing with Burt Bacharach, nice:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv7N-Uy_NiQ
trollhattan
@StringOnAStick: It SEEMS like the Klamath dam removal will now move ahead–guess I’ll believe it when the first one comes down but Joe Brandon’s admin supports it.
All but one are owned by Pacific Corp; Link River Dam is USBR; and the six dams were built between 1903 and 1964.
Elwha River project in Washington State removed just two dams and has been a huge success by most accounts. Luckily, no ag interests were involved in that, since most of the river exists in Olympic National Park.
Chief Oshkosh
@Mike in NC: Yep, and ABC News was doing it again tonight. In describing his life, they skipped the part about the Egypt/Isreal peace talks, the Nobel Peace Prize, said he was “an engineer” in the Navy (he was a nuclear propulsion engineer and designer, one of Richover’s chosen, which was a big deal back then), and completely skipped his decades of dedication to protecting voting rights around the world and his decades of dedication to eradicating River Blindness.
I guess all he ever really did was drive a couple of nails to help build lean-to shelters for the undeserving poor.
trollhattan
@Chief Oshkosh: Right up there with “Fuck you, I am TOO a gentleman!”
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Sure Lurkalot: That sounds lovely. Please do. :-)
Kathleen
@zhena gogolia: Yes! Their musical choices were eclectic. I still groove to My Beautiful Balloon and Aquarius.
TooTallTom
Song on my birthdate was “Helpl” by the Beatles, which is probably what my mother was saying, since I was a 10 1/2 lb baby…
kalakal
@zhena gogolia: That was so good to watch. Hard to pick my favourite but I loved seeing The Staple Singers.
Dan B
@CaseyL: Fish ladders for the two lower dams on the Skagit aer possible but for 500’+ Ross dam in a very steep sided canyon it would be nearly impossible. It might be possible along the highway though.
There are great pictures of breathtaking Diablo lake whose waters are turquoise and the 8,000 foot peaks rising from the shore.
karen marie
@Citizen Alan: “Got busted”? From what I saw (and I’m not in Mississippi) Reeves seemed to walk away from that whole thing without any dirt getting on him. The national media appeared to work overtime to make it the Bret Favre scandal, burying that it was in fact a state government scandal directly involving the current Republican governor while he was lieutenant governor under the previous Republican governor.
Steeplejack
@prostratedragon:
I would have thought it would have been two or three weeks tops. But it was a simpler time—pre-Beatles. Pre-rock and roll, now that I think about it.
My birthday was January 26.
Dr. Jakyll and Miss Deride
@Kathleen: Wow– we share a birthday. I just looked that up and realized I’d never heard or even heard of that song, which proved Frankie Laine could go over the top in any genre.
nonrev
We may have been wrong about a stolen election but what about Dems child grooming? What about Antifa on 1/6? What about the DeepState? You see the point? Its not just election denial. Its the entire MAGA/QAnon world. Good luck finding any Rep admitting all that was wrong. I’m sorry I’m not ready yet to accept that they are no longer despicable because they might acknowledge they were fooled by election denialism
Its naïve to think there has been a life changing event among those few (very, very few) who might admit being wrong
StringOnAStick
@trollhattan: Back when I worked in consulting engineering, the first assessment of sediment movement from removal of the dams on the Elwa was done by a close coworker.
Matt McIrvin
@StringOnAStick: I basically stopped using Twitter several months before Musk’s catastrophe. It was doing bad things to me mentally. I think part of the problem was that I had this tendency to follow people with personalities that drew them to like and retweet other people who were these super-dark and snarky hot-take machines. And if their outlook is in some broad sense left-progressive, it’d make me feel guilty about banishing them from my feed: like, am I just doing this because I have bad politics? But the doom-filled omni-cynical hot takes just grind you down eventually.
Matt McIrvin
@zhena gogolia: “Stoned Soul Picnic” is an amazing song–these really kind of freaky, trippy lyrics being presented as just a sweet pop tune as if nothing out of the ordinary were happening.
Gvg
@kindness: Is there some planning or strategy to drip the news over to Fox News viewers that Fox lied to them and is covering it up still? I don’t think fox’s rivals will play it up because it has the implication that the liberals were right, or I’d they do, it will be in a way that is more Fox is RINO. We need to have them seem to find out on their own and tell their friends but we need it to happen a lot, and I suspect it will be more effective if a lot find out at the same time.
Any way we could help that? Normally they ignore truth, because they don’t want to leave the tribe partly, but it might work better if whole groups of friends left together?
Also subchieftans can lead groups away like say pastors or local politicians? I wish we could get more police chiefs to say this stuff is bad but I don’t see an opening for that yet. Stupid but there we are.
J R in WV
@billcinsd:
Perhaps being pro-fascist should make it difficult to keep a job, have relationships with good people, etc.
If it makes one unemployable, it would be less attractive, yes?
For sure, if a prospective contractor shows up with Impeach Biden stickers on his hard-hat, truck or tool box, they won’t be working on this farm !!!
Paul in KY
@Omnes Omnibus: Not me. I came in after the great conversion.