Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.

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

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

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

We’re not going back!

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Cole is on a roll !

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

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

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

Republicans don’t trust women.

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

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

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

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

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

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Ah, the different things are different argument.

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Another Weird Week Behind Us

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Another Weird Week Behind Us

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… [W]hile the drama surrounding the former president intensified, his successor has spent the week doing something altogether different: President Joe Biden has been focused on governing. NBC News ran this report nearly 24 hours ago, which generated less attention than Trump’s superseding indictment.

President Joe Biden announced new plans to protect workers and communities from extreme heat Thursday as millions of people in the U.S. broil in record-high temperatures. … Biden said he has directed the Labor Department to increase enforcement of heat-safety violations and inspections in high-risk workplaces, such as construction and agriculture sites.

The same report added that Department of Labor will also “issue a hazard alert to tell employers what they should do to protect workers; help ensure employees are aware of their rights, such as protections against retaliation; and highlight steps the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has to try to ensure worker safety.”

These moves came the day before Biden prepared to sign an executive order that, as an Associated Press report explained, shift decisions on “the prosecution of serious military crimes, including sexual assault, to independent military attorneys, taking that power away from victims’ commanders.”

This comes on heels of Biden taking steps to begin sharing evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine with the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

This was also a week in which the Democratic president:

= took new steps to protect renters and boost housing supply;
= announced new efforts to address methane pollution;
= unveiled new measures designed to increase coverage of mental health care;
= established a new national monument honoring Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley;
= announced new steps to improve access to online services for Americans with disabilities;
= and provided student debt relief to thousands of students who’d been ripped off…

… I’m reminded of the 2020 presidential campaign, when voters were effectively told that a Biden presidency would be a welcome shift from the daily drama and scandals of the Trump White House. Biden would use his experience and temperament to oversee an executive branch focused on problem-solving.

It wouldn’t be glamorous. It wouldn’t generate excitement. But Americans would see a president and his team doing real and worthwhile work that would help make a difference, without the West Wing circus.

This week offered a timely reminder that those election-season vows were correct.

Reader Interactions

145Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    I’ve recently had to do a deep dive into a small part of the Inflation Reduction Act, and even I didn’t appreciate how much it advanced the ball in making things better for people, even though many of the benefits won’t be felt for some years.

  4. 4.

    Mike E

    Nobody here seems to be watching the world cup match between France and Brasil, pity. Beautiful game!

  7. 7.

    NotMax

    Make of it what you will. Nugget plucked from within an article I won’t bother to link because the snippet is ancillary to its content.

    Pornhub was the 12th most visited website in the world in June, according to web traffic data tracker SimilarWeb, ahead of Amazon, TikTok, and LinkedIn.

  9. 9.

    Steeplejack

    Anybody have recommendations for probiotics? My gut biome, if that’s a real thing, has been nuked by 10 days of clindamycin.

    One seemingly knowledgeable friend recommended Florastor.

  12. 12.

    p.a

    First world whinge:

    My new credit card is black, with the chip and the holograph on opposite ends of the front side and the black strip on black plastic on the back. Given my 64 yr old eyes, I never know WTF I’m sending through the machine without double-checking now.

    And if I ask for different graphics on a card, dollars to donuts they’ll change account#, exp date, or security code and all my auto pays will be forked.🤔😂

  16. 16.

    Princess

    Biden is the best president of my lifetime. Bar none.

    Re: probiotics. My feeling is the best approach is to eat a wide array of good-bacteria-laden foods. So yogurt, yes, but also the kind of sauerkraut you find in the fridge (Bubbie’s is a good brand) , kimchi, real kosher dills, cheese, dry salami, etc. And eat pre-biotics so they have something to live on:bananas, oats, etc. That way you get a huge range of strains and I find food sources more effective than pills.

  21. 21.

    Steppanhammer

    @Steeplejack:

    My doctor recommended I up my intake, and as I’m not a big fan of most of those foods I’ve landed on kombucha. It’s possibly not as effective as the other options, but boy are there some yummy flavors available! Nice replacement for soda with a meal, too. It’s definitely helped regulate things for me.

  23. 23.

    Kay

    In a poll of 675 likely Ohio voters released by Ohio Northern University, the state is closely divided on Issue 1.
    The ballot measure would raise the threshold to amend the Ohio Constitution from a simple majority to 60 percent. It will be the only measure on the ballot on Aug. 8.
    Ohio Northern pollsters found potential voters to be split 42-41 in supporting and opposing the measure. Democrats and Republicans are almost equally split with 56 percent of Democrats opposed and 53 percent of Republicans in support.
    “The move is widely considered to have occurred in order to make enshrining abortion access in the Ohio Constitution more difficult,” Pollsters said in a Friday news release.
    Independent voters showed little preference for or against the measure.
    “Issue 1 is the only item on the August statewide ballot and while it is aimed at increasing the thresholds to amend the Ohio Constitution, it is clear that it is mainly about making a constitutional amendment to enshrine abortion access in the Ohio Constitution more difficult,” Robert Alexander, Founding Director of Ohio Northern University’s Institute for Civics and Public Policy and Professor of Political Science said. “We find a closely divided electorate, with partisanship explaining much of the divide.”
    The poll also examined opinions on the topic of abortion.
    “A large majority of Ohio likely voters do think abortion should be legal (60 percent) and 54 percent say they would support a constitutional amendment to protect reproductive autonomy,” poll runners said.
    A statewide constitutional amendment relating to abortion was approved to go before voters in the November statewide ballot.
    “The amendment will likely have a very good chance of passing if it requires a simple majority, but could struggle to meet a 60 percent threshold,” Alexander said.

    It’s kind of a junk poll but still I think it’s good for us. This is a Republican ballot initiative, not a Democratic one and only 56% of Republicans polled support it.

  24. 24.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: The GOP doesn’t even want their own voters to have a say in govt beyond electing their betters who will be happy to tell them what to do.

  25. 25.

    AM in NC

    @Steeplejack:  Also, drink kefir on the regular. A small glass a day will help re-colonize right quick. Or at least it does for me.  I find the plain too sour and the flavored ones too sweet, so I buy one of each and mix them for a small glass each day.

  26. 26.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I was HOPING there would be more recognition of that from “Independents” but as usual they’re not interested and hence poorly informed.

    I don’t think we need them anyway. This is a base election- a special.

  27. 27.

    Steeplejack

    Thanks to all for the reminders on gut-helpful foods.

    On Sunday the 16th I tore a patch of skin on my right calf and had to go to the Kaiser urgent-care clinic. Bled like crazy. Doc folded the skin back over and, because it was too thin for stitches, put Steri-Strips and a bandage over it. Hence the clindamycin and also instructions to keep my leg elevated a good bit to avoid swelling. Good times.

    Everything looked okay at the follow-up appointment last Monday. They changed the Steri-Strips, and now, yay, I can get them wet in the shower. Next appointment on Tuesday. The “area” doesn’t look like it’s healing very quickly, and it’s still pretty sore, but that may be because it’s a flat tear rather than a traditional cut.

    Also got pneumonia and COVID shots while I was in for the follow-up. Shingrix on Tuesday.

  28. 28.

    Ramalama

    @Steeplejack: I used to take PB8 on a regular basis after taking a ton of migraine meds that punched me in the gut. Worked. And then I did something very woooo that for me got rid of the need for those meds and subsequent PB8. It’s been a while but looks like PB8 is still on the market. Yogurt, frozen or otherwise, didn’t do jack for me.

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: I was HOPING there would be more recognition of that from “Independents” but as usual they’re not interested and hence poorly informed.

    Yep, as per usual.

  31. 31.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Fad diets, midday sun and … coffee on the sofa: 12 doctors on the everyday dangers they avoid

    Heh. Long story short, there may be one or 2 kernels of wisdom here, but these doctors seem to have come to the collective solution of, “Lock your doors, close your windows don’t ever do anything that might turn bad, don’t eat anything because you might choke on it, don’t drink the water and especially not the milk….”

    I’m exaggerating of course, but if you put each of these doctors fears (because they’ve seen what can happen) into a single package it would not be far off from what I said above. They all would have had heart attacks if they saw how I raised the boys.

  32. 32.

    Wanderer

    President Biden is a remarkable leader.  Despite fierce and often unhinged static from the opposition he has managed to enact legislation that makes substantive improvements.  I am very impressed.

  34. 34.

    mrmoshpotato

    I’ve recently learned that a good way to change the narrative about yourself is to silently have a stroke in front of everyone.

    This would be cruel if Mitch McConnell wasn’t such a (still) walking skidmark.

  35. 35.

    BruceFromOhio

    Nice to see someone else giving a little nod to Media Matters. Kat Abu is far braver than I, and would love to see her interviewed on Jen Psaki’s show.

  36. 36.

    WereBear

    @p.a: Ironically, I’m ditching all my credit card subscriptions, because other forms let me at the payment directly.

    The Visa company won’t cancel them, even if I report fraudulent activity. It’s up to the company, and their website won’t work and no one is answering the phones.

  38. 38.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    A little more craziness to throw on the pile: In trials involving classified documents, there has to be a procedure worked out for handling the documents while protecting national security.

    Jack Smith offered to share the classified evidence in full with TFG and his lawyers, so long as it’s done in a SCIF and in accordance with the law.

    TFG’s counter offer is that he should be able to take all the classified material… wait for it… back to Mar-a-Lago.

  39. 39.

    Wanderer

    @Kay:  The kids are alright.  Mine are a little scattered and don’t follow politics closely but “tow the line” when it counts so it’s good.  BTW many is the day I have learned from your comments here and I want to thank you for that.

  42. 42.

    Mike S. (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)

    @Steeplejack:  It’s expensive, but very effective. I have used several times recently for my wife and I after antibiotic treatments and intestinal disturbances.

    100% Spore-based so it surrvies the transit of the stomach’s acidity.

    Just Thrive Probiotic.

  44. 44.

    catclub

    @p.a: And if I ask for different graphics on a card, dollars to donuts they’ll change account#

     

    mark it yourself with nail polish.

  46. 46.

    Kay

    @Wanderer:

    Thanks. My daughter is on the political normie end of the scale of interest, but she votes, and she votes for Democrats, so that’s good. Her husband was a non voter when they married and now he also votes for Democrats, although he’s not a liberal I don’t think. But they’re in NY so they can’t help my special election in OH :)

  56. 56.

    Ken

    @catclub: In a sane world, with sane lawyers and client, there would be a joint proffer on the classified documents. And then NO One would need to look at them again.

    Oh, you mean the documents. For one brief glorious moment I thought you meant sending Trump and his co-conspirators to prison for a long, long time.

  57. 57.

    Mousebumples

    @Kay: My daughter is on the political normie end of the scale of interest, but she votes, and she votes for Democrats, so that’s good. Her husband was a non voter when they married and now he also votes for Democrats, although he’s not a liberal I don’t think.

    My husband was a Vote For Big Elections guy when we met. I remember bringing him with me to vote in a Spring Election for Superintendent. “We don’t have kids, why am I voting?”… My response was that our taxes paid the salary and we should exercise our right to vote.

    He’s solid Dem, which is good – and not a given for White men in suburban Wisconsin. We met shortly after TFGs election, and I probably would have ended things/not started things if he’d been Pro-Trump.

  59. 59.

    MomSense

    If I had a cis female daughter who played sports in one of the schools where the coaches and athletic directors want to know when the student athletes are menstruating I would be worrying that there is a sexual predator in that athletic program.

  60. 60.

    OzarkHillbilly

    This is just horrific: ‘Serious failings’ contributed to baby’s death in 12-hour lone prison birth

    At 8.07pm on the night of the birth, Cleary used the intercom in her cell to urgently request a nurse or an ambulance. The call was answered by the prison officer Mark Johnson, who did not call for medical help. He is under disciplinary investigation and suspended from prisoner-facing duties. When she called for help a second time, the call was disconnected in the prison communications room.

    A staff member doing a night patrol did not notice anything untoward in the cell, although the following morning it was found covered in blood.

    In a devastating witness statement read to the court, Cleary described going into labour alone as “the worst and most terrifying and degrading experience of my life”.

    She said: “I didn’t know when I was due to give birth. I was in really serious pain. I went to the buzzer and asked for a nurse or an ambulance twice.” Cleary passed out and when she woke up she had given birth.

    “The cord was still attached. The placenta was on the floor. I bit the cord and tied it and put the placenta in the bin. I sat there holding her.”

    Cleary’s cell was unlocked at 8.15am and at 9.03am paramedics confirmed that baby Aisha had died.

    This was in the UK so it’s not our prison industrial complex to blame.

    In her statement, Cleary questioned whether she had been failed so badly because she was a young, black woman. “I wondered at that time if I was being treated differently from [other women in prison] because of my race, because I was young, or because of my past,” she said.

    Sure sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

  61. 61.

    Nukular Biskits

    Good mornin’, y’all!

    OT, but went to see “Oppenheimer” last night. Well, I watched all but the last 15 minutes or so … the entire neighborhood around the theater lost power.  They said we could get a refund but I didn’t want to stand in line with 300 other people.

    Anyway, excellent movie.  My only regret is that I could have seen it in IMAX format. Unfortunately, the nearest IMAX theater is over in Slidell, about 60 miles away.

  63. 63.

    Old Man Shadow

    And I feel like the media truly hates the quiet competency and wants the daily circus.

  64. 64.

    BR

    I hope when the Fall demands for primary debates between Biden and RFKJ that Biden’s staff don’t go gentle on his *open* fascist dog whistling like from yesterday. Completely disqualifying in a way that can dismiss him as a candidate even in big media’s eyes.

  65. 65.

    Mousebumples

    @MomSense: If I had a cis female daughter who played sports in one of the schools where the coaches and athletic directors want to know when the student athletes are menstruating I would be worrying that there is a sexual predator in that athletic program.

    My 3-almost-4 year old is starting 4K in the fall, and while I don’t think there are organized 4K sports, it’s something I’m aware of and on the lookout for. I am not athletic at all, but I enjoyed sports in school. I was hoping my daughter could enjoy that as well, without all the right wing crap.

  66. 66.

    MomSense

    @MomSense:

    This genital inspection period tracking trans sports scare is really fucking pissing me off.  They are pretending they are somehow defending women.  How about some fucking equal pay for equal work?  Hey I’d like women to finally be recognized as equal in our constitution.  Maternal mortality rates are too damned high.  I don’t think bodily autonomy is too much to ask for. Also too the cost of supplies for menstruation every goddamned month is burdensome.  How about we subsidize that for women?
    The fucking patriarchy is so full of shit.

  68. 68.

    Yarrow

    @Steeplejack:  Your gut biome is a real thing, as is your skin biome and other parts of you.

    Second the recommendation for having yogurt but also look into kefir, sauerkraut, kim chee, and other fermented foods. When choosing yogurt, think about trying several brands as they all have slightly different probiotic strains.

    For probiotic pills, Florastor is fine. You can get Align at almost every store including Costco. At a higher price point, I’ve had good luck with Renew Life and Garden of Life, which also offers more targeted probiotics (men, women, mood, etc.).

    If you’ve not taken probiotics before start slow as they can cause bloating and other issues that make you feel not so great.

    And I saw the peach tree has a name. That is awesome!

  71. 71.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @MomSense: ​ This genital inspection period tracking trans sports scare is really fucking pissing me off.

    Any pervert who decides they need to inspect the genitals of any of my granddaughters will not be very happy with the result.

  73. 73.

    Mousebumples

    @MomSense: Young me never imagined that we would keep going backwards as a society.

    Yup. Also didn’t think of the term Progressive meaning “to move forward” vs the GOP that would be called Regressive.

    I’m not subjecting my daughter to being a third class citizen. I’m not giving up, but open to moving in a few years if things aren’t improving…

  74. 74.

    RevRick

    @Kay: The term “Independent” is a huge misnomer. It’s really just a mixture of Democrats and Republicans, who, for God knows what reason, don’t want to openly identify as such.
    The only true Independents turn out to be very, very confused people.

  75. 75.

    Kristine

    @Steeplejack: I suffered a flat tear on one of my fingers after an incident with a broken window. Hand, so a lot of blood. It was a fraught day so I didn’t even think of urgent care–the flap was still attached so I just secured it in place with a bandage and some antibiotic cream. It took a while to heal and I have a scar, but no complications resulted.

  76. 76.

    MomSense

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    And they would have it coming.

    ETA a friend of mine who had a daughter once said something really funny about parenting boys vs girls.  He said you only have to worry about three penises.  I have to worry about all of them.

  77. 77.

    gene108

    @Ramalama:

    Yogurt, frozen or otherwise, didn’t do jack for me.

    I think a lot of the store bought yogurts get pasteurized or something to sterilize the product after the fermentation process is finished, which gets rid of beneficial effects of fermenting bacteria.

  78. 78.

    RevRick

    There’s a post over at the Great Orange Satan about Saguaro cacti dying in Arizona, which includes a tweet video showing melting car taillights (!) and eggs being fried on the pavement.

  80. 80.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    Right? How dare she make fun of me. All I said was “Joe Biden is a great President, on the merits” dropped into a conversation about the hostas she’s planting.

  81. 81.

    BR

    @RevRick:

    In Sicily the under-road power cables melted last week and led to both power and water outages. Something tells me we have yet to discover how badly prepared our infrastructure is for the extreme weather to come.

  82. 82.

    artem1s

    @Kay: The amendment will likely have a very good chance of passing if it requires a simple majority, but could struggle to meet a 60 percent threshold

    this whole article is full of misinformation. The November Constitutional abortion measure won’t be effected one way or another by the Issue One vote. They’ve collected the signatures and they’ve been verified and it will be on the ballot in November. The measure is subject to the old passage thresholds – a 50% majority will pass it no matter what happens on August 8. Issue One passage will only effect whether future measures get on the ballot and will be subject to the 60% threshold.

  83. 83.

    Steeplejack

    @Kristine:

    My tear was a pretty big patch, maybe 1½ by 2 inches. Bro’ Man (retired doctor), who was home for a few days in between trips, took one look and said, “Urgent care.”

  85. 85.

    Steeplejack

    Thanks again to all for the additional probiotics/​dietary suggestions. Somewhat irritating to type long comments on my phone, and I can sit at the computer only for short times before the leg starts to throb.

  86. 86.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @OzarkHillbilly: ​

    I was puzzled at the “coffee on the sofa” part of the headline. I drink coffee on the sofa all the time, what’s supposed to be wrong with that? So, like all good clickbait, it got me to click through where I found the full quote:

    I wouldn’t drink a cup of hot coffee sitting on the sofa cross-legged. If you get burns in your nether regions, they are difficult to treat.

    Early in our dating life I had to drive 5 hours to see my girlfriend-now-wife. I was in my early 20s. This was often late at night and I would be very tired. So on one occasion I pulled off the road to get a piping hot coffee. Then got back on the road with the coffee held between my thighs (I think this was probably before cup holders were standard) as I tried to open up the sipping tab on the lid. While driving 60 mph.

    It did not go well.

    I don’t even completely remember the action of bringing the car to a stop on the shoulder while semi-standing up to avoid the boiling hot puddle on the car seat.

    It did however wake me up. Mission accomplished.

  87. 87.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I can see clearly now the rain is gone
    I can see all obstacles in my way
    Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
    It’s gonna be a bright (bright)
    Bright (bright) Joe Biden day.

  90. 90.

    gene108

    @MomSense:

    I find it “interesting” that all the focus is on trans girls in girls HS sports, and no mention of trans boys.

    There’s a whole bunch of masculine insecurity issues tied up to the direction the anti-transgender movement has taken, with so much emphasis on trans girls/women versus trans boys/men.

  91. 91.

    Ken

    @artem1s: Yeah, but this is Ohio. They already went to the court with an “oopsie” after passing a law forbidding these summer elections, and the court said “sure, ignore that law”. You think they won’t go argue that the 60% threshold applies to the November amendment, or that the court will disagree?

  92. 92.

    Steeplejack

    @gene108:

    When I lived in Atlanta there was a dairy (Mathis?) that still sold raw milk products, and their kefir was excellent.

  93. 93.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: ​ Then got back on the road with the coffee held between my thighs (I think this was probably before cup holders were standard) as I tried to open up the sipping tab on the lid. While driving 60 mph.

    It did not go well.

    I don’t even completely remember the action of bringing the car to a stop on the shoulder whileThen got back on the road with the coffee held between my thighs (I think this was probably before cup holders were standard) as I tried to open up the sipping tab on the lid. While driving 60 mph.

    It did not go well.

    I don’t even completely remember the action of bringing the car to a stop on the shoulder while semi-standing up to avoid the boiling hot puddle on the car seat

    Boy, does that bring back memories, especially the, “semi-standing up to avoid the boiling hot puddle on the car seat”.

  95. 95.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @gene108: ​ The whole anti-transgender movement is about masculine insecurity. In fact, everything the GOP does is basically about masculine insecurity .

  98. 98.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @OzarkHillbilly: ​Don’t know what went wrong there with the copy paste but when I looked at the comment in the edit window I just said “WTF? How do I fix that???”

  101. 101.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @gene108: They are definitely a pleasure to have, tho I have to admit that mine holds all kinds of stuff. Only every now and again does a cup go into it and when I do I have to remove the change/sunflower seeds/chewing gum/ whatever is currently using that space.

  102. 102.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud:

    Am I the only one here who have never scalded their crotch m 

    I haven’t.  But then, I don’t drive.

  104. 104.

    Ken

    @Baud: Am I the only one here who have never scalded their crotch m

    I’m guessing when we next hear from Baud, he’ll explain how he was texting the above while driving, and cut off when he spilled hot coffee in his lap. Because karma does things like that.

    I am wondering what word “m” would have been.

  107. 107.

    Yarrow

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:  Scalding coffee on the crotch while in the car is what led to the famous McDonald’s coffee is too hot lawsuit.

    I actually met one of the lawyers who worked on that case. He was a friend of an acquaintance and we were all at some kind of gathering. Someone made a joke about the McDonald’s coffee case and he just went off explaining it to us and defending the poor woman who had been made the butt of jokes for ages. It made a lot of sense hearing the actual case instead of just the late night comedians’ jokes.

  108. 108.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Steeplejack: There is a company based in Morton Grove, IL that makes a line of yogurt, kefir, and cultured milk products that I love. I always keep some around. Comes in quart bottles, perfect for drinking straight out of…yes I live alone.

    Don’t know if they distribute out there, but..

    https://lifewaykefir.com/

  109. 109.

    gene108

    @Baud:

    Never scalded my crotch. Keeping coffee between my legs was distracting, especially when the cup was full or near full. A distracted tired driver isn’t a good combination. Thankfully there’s very little traffic at 2:00 am.

  112. 112.

    gene108

    @Yarrow:

    There was a huge coordinated right wing effort to disparage the severity of her injuries. I never bought into this, because I was a teenager who recently started drinking coffee and thought “spilling coffee shouldn’t send me to the ER”.

  113. 113.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Yarrow: I remember that case very clearly, but I don’t remember whether it was before or after my own incident.

    However, I do remember thinking that while it hurt and took me by surprise (to put it mildly), it didn’t actually cause any injury. I accepted that the lady’s injuries were as described, but thought she might have had unusually sensitive skin.

    I also remember having online arguments about liking my coffee at 180 degrees, about how dangerous 180 degrees was, and doing the experiment of sticking my fingers momentarily in 180-degree water. Yes, children, pointless arguments on the internet predate the “world wide web” by decades, centuries even. Probably predate written language.

  116. 116.

    Yarrow

    @OzarkHillbilly:  She really did. I honestly didn’t know anything about the case except from late night comedian jokes and similar. It sounds really dumb when you just hear “McDonald’s coffee is too hot.” But hearing him explain the particulars of the case was a real education for me. It was awful for her and I’m glad she was compensated.

    He was so animated about it. I would guess he’d heard the same dumb jokes for so long and felt very strongly about defending his client. And rightly so. He really set us straight. Following that, I actually explained it to people who were still making the dumb jokes, so I guess he did some good.

    @Baud: It could. But would it? Hard to say.

  118. 118.

    Sure Lurkalot

    OT, never had a shitty twitty account but did follow some. So I experienced getting the sign up message for the last few weeks when I clicked on someone’s handle but now, the account I’m following opens, but the tweets are old and out of order. Seems purposeful. Anyone else experiencing this?

  119. 119.

    marklar

    @Baud: “Am I the only one here who have never scalded their crotch?”

    Would chopping up some ghost peppers and then ‘adjusting oneself before washing one’s hands’ count? (Jerry Lee Lewis had a hit song about the result)

  120. 120.

    laura

    @MagdaInBlack: I have the plain and the mango in the fridge at all times- unless I can find Clover brand from Sonoma county. Great for smoothies, diluted with juice, over cereal, chugged straight from the bottle. Spouse calls it my sour gut juice.

  126. 126.

    TS

    @rikyrah:

    This why the MSM resents the competency of 46 and his Administration.

    They also resent the lack of bad news. Biden has been the first President in my memory  that has simply got on with doing his job. The continuous reporting of the problems of his son – is all to add drama to an administration that is competent and effective.

    They are still looking for Biden’s Katrina.

     

  127. 127.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Yarrow: I’m not sure when it started but for instance, I just clicked on emptywheel and the 1st 4 tweets are May 2022, June 2022, Jan 2021 and Sep 2017. As I said, this jumble seems purposeful and sincerely stupid.

  129. 129.

    Jinchi

    @RevRick: Independents are real. They just aren’t a monolith and it isn’t a party. The reason individuals will vote consistently for one party or the other is that the parties themselves have become so polarized (and they’re the only real options on the ballot).

  130. 130.

    Old School

    @Nukular Biskits:

    OT, but went to see “Oppenheimer” last night. Well, I watched all but the last 15 minutes or so … the entire neighborhood around the theater lost power.

    That stinks.  Then you missed the twist at the end.

    Spoiler: He was dead the whole time.

  131. 131.

    Yarrow

    @Sure Lurkalot:  After the whole “rate limit” thing, Twitter stopped allowing lurkers to look at Twitter. At some point they changed it so people could see just the top of accounts but no tweets. So I’m curious when they started letting people see actual tweets/timelines. Like I said, I haven’t looked at Twitter since I’ve been using Nitter.

    FYI, last week Nitter was having the same issue. Under the Tweet timeline it showed old tweets, like from two years ago. But if you clicked Tweets & Replies you got current tweets. I just tried that on Twitter but got nothing under the Replies column. Just said “Retry.”

  132. 132.

    Jinchi

    Just learned that the new superintendent of Houston schools has fired all the librarians and turned the libraries into student detention centers.

    Houston’s schools were recently taken over by that state, so I assume this is Governor Abbot’s way of one-upping Ron DeSantis’s book banning binge.

  134. 134.

    Geminid

    @Jinchi: I think the Republicans definitely have become polarized, and are now clearly a “Right” party.

    Democrats, not so much. It’s still a coalition of moderates and liberals, a Center-Left” party. That’s one reason its candidates are attracting Independent voters, and Republicans are losing them.

  135. 135.

    Yarrow

    @Jinchi: GAH. I hate the way people are talking about this issue. So much misinformation.

    It’s not “all the librarians.” It’s librarians in 28 schools. There are 274 schools in HISD. It’s not “Houston schools.” It’s HISD. It’s one school district in Houston. There are other school districts in Houston proper and especially in the suburbs, which is still commonly referred to as Houston.

    I am in no way condoning this decision. It’s bad and the whole thing is a power grab by Abbott and his cronies. It’s going to hurt the kids who need the libraries most. But at least get the story straight if you’re going to tell it.

  136. 136.

    RaflW

    The heat rule seems like a direct confrontation of Abbot and Texas R’s, who just cancelled water and cooling break requirements at the city ordinance level. Shouldn’t the press be reporting on this emerging dust-up? I’m exhausted by our failed media experiment.

  137. 137.

    cain

    @Steeplejack: You could do yogurt, kombucha, there are a lot of probiotic sodas out there.

    If you got stomach issues, tea made from roasted cumin is an age old recipe we Indians use all the time.

  138. 138.

    cain

    @MomSense: That might be an interesting tactic – especially with the right trying to be all “protect women” – start leaning hard on them about equal pay, medical – all of it. Keep pushing them non-stop about it – every time they open their mouth about protecting women start bringing up all these other things that women need.

    It will muddle their entire thing – because they don’t want to deal with the larger systemic injustice.

    They think trans like the fetus have no protector so they can project whatever they like unto them.

  140. 140.

    Ramalama

    @gene108: raw milk was the thing that got rid of the migraines for me permanently. I hesitate to mention it because I was so desperate that I went to a certain Doctor of Osteopathy’s site – well before he went off even further than the deep end – and read about the benefits.

    Found a farm near the New England Patriots stadium, drank it with trepidation, found it to be like drinking egg nog without the sweetener (just rich and luscious), and wa-la gone. I sometimes use PB8 or some other probiotic which oddly helps with asthma on different occasions. Kimchi is something I thought about trying. But can’t commit.

  142. 142.

    RevRick

    @Jinchi: In Presidential democracies only two parties are ever viable, because Presidential elections are win/lose affairs, and the winning coalition of 50%+1 has to be assembled before the election. Only in Parliamentary democracies is there the luxury of assembling the coalition after the election.

  143. 143.

    Citizen Alan

    @MomSense: Young me was a teenager through the reagan years. There was never a time in my life when I didn’t realize that progress and modernity would have to struggle constantly against the retrograde Republican death cult.

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