I wondered if some of us might be falling for a disinformation campaign from Republicans, and it looks like that is likely the case.
So it looks like there isn’t a lot of there, there. Indeed, Representative Bowman was telling the truth. Will the Rs try to investigate anyway? (magic 8-ball says yes)
NEW: Capitol Police confirm Rep Bowman’s story: he tried to open the door, then pulled the alarm. Only the Cannon building was evacuated. Alarms did not sound in the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/MKbAXpNuCm
— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) October 2, 2023
⭐️
Other things of interest (to me, at least!)
“No matter how powerful you are. No matter how much money you *think* you may have…” ZING https://t.co/T9KZYo5aR0
— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) October 2, 2023
⭐️
Judd Legum (Thread Reader) h/t rikyrah
1. Buried in North Carolina’s 600+ page budget is a little-noticed provision that creates a secret police force, controlled by Republicans, with extraordinary powers
2. The budget grants the Gov Ops Committee the right to seize “any document or system of record” from anyone who works in or w/state & local government
This includes contractors or any entity that directly or indirectly receives state funds, including charities and colleges
3. It gets worse. Gov Ops staff will be authorized to enter “any building or facility” owned or leased by a state or non-state entity without a judicial warrant.
This includes private homes, if it includes a home office of a contractor
North Carolina Republicans create “secret police force”
4. Alarmingly, public employees under investigation will be required to keep all communication and requests “confidential.” They cannot alert their supervisor of the investigation nor consult with legal counsel.
Those who refuse to cooperate face jail time and fines of up to 1K
5. Gov Ops is dominated by Republicans and pursues partisan investigations. It is co-chaired by Senate Leader Phil Berger (R) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R).
Gov Ops launched an inquiry into diversity training programs at the University of North Carolina earlier this year.
6. Berger and Moore claim this is all about oversight and transparency. But a separate provision of the budget allows them to reject any public records requests concerning the operation of Gov Ops.
7. This is part of a broader effort to restrict public access to public records. The budget also repeals a law that required “communications regarding redistricting” be made publicly available when new legislative maps were adopted.
8. North Carolina is one of the most gerrymandered states in the country. In 2022, a gerrymandering trial exposed a top Republican redistricting official for using “secret maps to help draft the state’s redistricting plan.”
What else is happening?
Open thread.
Update: pairing this with the Angel Match thread so there’s an active open thread, but don’t forget to check out the angel match post.
Another Angel Match for Virginia!
cain
That can’t be very constitutional can it – having a law enforcement that acts like a political party mob enforcer?
Anoniminous
Downstairs bath is now fully handicapped usable. Would have been done a week ago if HomeDepot hadn’t lied to me saying I needed to drill a 1/2 hole for the toggle bolts when I needed to drill a 5/8 hole so the toggle bolts would fit through the marble tiles. I might have gotten away with a 9/16 hole but nobody had one in stock so I could run a physical check and I didn’t want to order off the web and then find out it didn’t fit.
We like living in the back-of-beyond high New Mexico desert. Does become a royal PITA sometimes.
Mathguy
Fascists gonna fash.
It is incredible that in 2023 we still have to fight this bullshit.
bbleh
@cain: searches without warrants? prior restraint on communication with counsel? IANAL, let alone a Constitutional one, but … !!!
WaterGirl
@cain: I certainly hope so. Hoping that someone, somewhere, is drafting a lawsuit to challenge the whole thing.
I can’t recall who posted a link to that in an earlier thread. I couldn’t tell from the tweets whether this is a budget that has actually passed, or if it’s just proposed. It sounded to me like it’s an existing budget.
I don’t know how we get around the fact that it’s probably impossible to read every word of every bill before you vote, but surely Dems have a group of someones reading every word before they vote?
E.
I am old enough to remember when countries that had secret police services run by the party and no obligation to reveal their activities were held in some measure of disdain by Americans.
MattF
Not the least bit surprised to learn that Rs are lying about Bowman. This will just be another brick in their wall of alternative reality. You’ll hear them referring to this and have a WTF moment. And then remember, ‘Oh, yeah, Bowman.’
And that NC secret police force shows that the fascists are learning from experience. Do the members of the force all wear the same color shirt? Do they have little lightning lapel pins?
Suzanne
This is still dumb. If you pull a fire alarm to unlock doors (which is not a legal locking arrangement in most building occupancies), the doors will unlock only in the direction of egress….. not to get further into a building. I’m not questioning that he made an honest fuckup… just, like, really? You thought that would work? Why?
Prolly saw it in the movies.
WaterGirl
@E.: They still are! Just by half of us, apparently.
cain
Also.. congratulations to Joelle and Cole? – twitter.com/Johngcole/status/1708913459411218891
Congrats!
WaterGirl
@Suzanne: Have you seen the signs? I saw a photo yesterday and it pretty clearly said to pull the thing and wait x seconds for the door to unlock.
He’s rushing to the vote, he comes to an unexpectedly locked door (apparently different doors are locked on the weekends), saw the sign, wanted to make it to the vote, and he did what the sign said.
WaterGirl
@Suzanne: I know I’m stating the obvious, but because you are an architect, you have working knowledge that most of us don’t have.
cain
@E.: Yeah, they literally care creating their on stasi.
I expect that if this doesn’t get repudiated – that they will have another one to go find women that might possibly get abortions or receiving trans care.
Brachiator
I saw a headline about this, but the actual story was confusing. So I just ignored it. It didn’t seem to be very important compared to the budget and other issues.
WaterGirl
@cain: They did the official fraternity “pinning” ceremony this weekend during Homecoming.
WaterGirl
@Brachiator: Some of the BJ peeps were getting worked up about this in a thread on Saturday. I wondered if it was a whole made-up thing on the R side to distract from their abysmal situation. And indeed, it seems that it was.
E.
@Suzanne: In that instant he did not grasp that he was pulling a fire alarm. He should have, but he didn’t. In an earlier thread I wrote about how this happened to me once. The door had been converted from a regular store exit I had used many times to a fire door when the business changed. I was preoccupied and on autopilot and barged right through the very very obvious warning sign. It was stupid and embarrassing and hard to explain but not malicious.
Suzanne
@WaterGirl: The photo that I saw very clearly said “Emergency Exit Only”, but who knows if any of the photos are of the actual door.
Whatever. It’s a low-grade DERP moment, nothing more.
Brachiator
I don’t see how this could be legal.
bbleh
Indeed, Representative Bowman was telling the truth.
As noted elsewhere, since when does THAT matter? There must be investigations! Hearings! Censure! No detail is too unimportant to quibble over a few hundred thousand taxpayer dollars’ worth of member and staff time.
And let’s be clear: this is not just about a “fire alarm,” no no! For example, do we know whether there was any contact between the White House and Bowman prior to the incident? No we do not! Do we know whether Nancy Pelosi or the Squad had anything to do with it? No we do not! Is this perhaps just a means to distract from the Impeachment hearings of Joe Biden? We don’t know! How can we put it past them? Ohhh, this could go DEEP, people, very deep, and we must get to the bottom of it!
WaterGirl
@Brachiator: You scare people enough, it doesn’t have to be legal, it just has to work. So much evil, it’s mind-boggling.
kindness
I would like to say I’m shocked that Republicans in office keep acting like the Nazi Party before Chrystal Nacht. But I’m not shocked (sadly). That rank and file Republicans aren’t up in arms over Secret Police , and clearly unconstitutional laws being enacted by Republicans only reinforces the notion that most the Republicans out there are in the cult and might as well all be dressing as the Brownshirts they are.
cain
@WaterGirl: oh ok – I just thought it was some thing that WVs do when getting hitched – some kind of appeal to Gaia :-)
WaterGirl
Did everybody see Biden’s interview this weekend?
WaterGirl
@WaterGirl: It was not lost on me that the interview was with ProPublica. Nice choice, Joe.
*I couldn’t remember… was Harwood one of the people who was fired at CNN or somewhere else when it was purchased by some right-wing entity?
rikyrah
@Anoniminous:
I look at this with envy.
raven
Justice Engoron nonetheless seems to maintain his sense of humor. A fan of pop culture references who also revels in puns, he quoted from the Marx Brothers movie “Duck Soup” in a footnote to underscore his position that some of the defense’s arguments were essentially designed to tell him to not believe his own eyes.
“As Chico Marx, playing Chicolini, says to Margaret Dumont, playing Mrs. Gloria Teasdale,” the judge wrote, “well, who ya gonna believe, me or your own eyes?”
rikyrah
@WaterGirl:
I posted the twitter thread
As far as Democrats reading it, I hear you, but, those muthaphuckas are always hiding shyt.
WaterGirl
@Suzanne: Is it just me, or does there seem to be more quibbling on BJ in the past week or so? Small, petty stuff that wouldn’t usually gain any traction?
NotMax
OT.
Hulu keeps sending e-mails imploring me to return and resubscribe (at a hefty temporary discount) promoting “new episodes of The Kardashians.”
Per Tweety Bird: “They don’t know me vewwy well, do they?”
:)
Suzanne
@bbleh: What makes me laugh about this incident is that fire alarms go off all the time. Usually by accident. I was taking SuzMom to a doctor’s appointment about six weeks ago, and the alarm in the hospital went off. It was annoying as hell, so I got a coffee.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: Thanks. I added the h/t up top. I often click something and leave it open in a browser tab, then come across it and have no idea who led me there!
Scout211
This was interesting:
Jan. 6 rioter who urged mob to take officer’s guns took a secret plea deal, DOJ confirms
Uh, not a secret anymore. LOL
hueyplong
It always seemed unlikely that Rep Bowman would deliberately interrupt Republicans being stupid while people are actually paying attention.
Suzanne
@WaterGirl: I don’t think so? All in all, I think the tenor is softer than it was some years ago.
Josie
@WaterGirl: You remember correctly. Harwood was let go by a news program. It may have been CNN. He is one of my favorites.
ETA: I looked it up; it was CNN.
Elizabelle
@WaterGirl: Yes. John Harwood was fired by CNN. Terrible decision
FWIW, Harwood was the Wall Street Journal White House correspondent, covering GHW Bush, beginning in 1991. He left for CNBC in
19972006.It always surprises me he was with the WSJ, but it was the news side (Daniel Pearl, RIP), not their paleoconservative editorial desk.
WaterGirl
@NotMax: Spotify sent me email and told me they had something to promote that was right up my alley.
Joe Rogan (or Rogen, but I think my spelling trick was A for asshole and E for entertainer).
Hell no! right up my alley, indeed. Now I
hadHATE Spotify. They aren’t just providing a cross-section of stuff, they are actively recruiting people for that shit.WaterGirl
@Josie: @Elizabelle: So glad to see that he landed at ProPublica.
I hope that turns out really well for Harwood and really badly for the Rs.
geg6
@WaterGirl:
Agreed. I would have done exactly what he did in that same situation.
Brachiator
@WaterGirl:
If it was an attempt at distraction, it didn’t work. National and international news services were focused on the possibility of a government shutdown. They didn’t even care that much about Republican in-fighting. Someone could have burned the capitol building down and the news stories would have been about whether the government was still shutting down.
NotMax
“Nobody expects the North Carolina Inquisition.”
Also too, they passed a budget? Memo that that page has been ripped from the R playbook must have been lost in transit.
//
WaterGirl
@geg6: I think I probably would have, too.
WaterGirl
@NotMax: I’m hoping it didn’t pass, but I haven’t researched it.
WaterGirl
@Brachiator: Interesting take.
Shalimar
@Suzanne: I don’t understand. He was trying to exit the Cannon building to get to the vote. It opened the way he needed it to.
Sis
@Suzanne: That sign would have confused me, especially if the door was normally open.
MisterDancer
Yep, this is one of the reasons I dumped Spotify. I now use Qobuz, who’s catalog is still pretty big, but they also provide DRM-free music purchases. Was on Tidal for a while too, but that was just seeming duplicative save for the Tidal-exclusives that I frankly didn’t care that much about.
Much happier with Qobuz, if a bit poorer! :)
WaterGirl
From twitter:
Yay for the lawsuit moving forward!
sab
@WaterGirl: Is that John Harwood? Isn’t he one of the actual reporters that Chris Licht fired when he was moving CNN rightwards?
ETA you beat me to it.
WaterGirl
@MisterDancer: I just noticed the typo in my post. It was supposed to be now I HATE spotify, not “had”.
Guessing you figured that out, but thought I would correct it in case it was confusing.
JWR
Ruffle him up, Ms. James! From NBC:
And we’re done for the day.
WaterGirl
@sab: Yes, definitely John Harwood. Glad to see he has landed on his feet.
edit We need Soros to buy one of these major news organizations.
Soprano2
I want to kill my business’ bank right now. I need to transfer some money between two accounts. I have been locked out of that function since Saturday for some reason. They are upgrading the system, which I suspect is the problem. I tried to call the “Businessline Helpline”. It said my call was “very important”, then said I could leave a message, then it hung up on me!!! I’m now on hold with customer service. If they don’t answer in 5 minutes, I’ll have to hang up. I fucking hate this shit sometimes!!!
WaterGirl
@JWR: thanks for that!
I really thought we would see a Trump outburst. Sounds like we came close, but no cigar. He was pissed off from the moment he sat down, but I would have like to see the beet red face and the (no doubt deliberately) loud talking with the lawyers.
Sadly for Trump, I suspect the judge was unmoved.
Dan B
I have a neice in North Carolina. This Legislature is appalling. How far will they go? Are they coordinating with the Alliance Defending Freedom who won Dobbs and are ready to target LGBTQ rights.
JaySinWA
@NotMax: I just canceled my Hulu account after we finished watching Reservation Dogs https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13623580
We hadn’t been using it much before that. But Reservation Dogs would be a good binge watch if you took up their offer.
WaterGirl
@Soprano2: Maddening!
When you need to transfer funds, you need to transfer funds.
MisterDancer
@WaterGirl: No worries! And honestly, from a colloquialism POV, saying “now I had Spotify” works if you’re saying you left the service, in my view. :)
(Ms. Harris and Mr. Garrirk, among others, would tsk at me, but that’s alright!)
bbleh
@WaterGirl: Oh not at all! Definitely not just the past week. And I certainly wouldn’t describe it as “quibbling.” Nor is it just about “petty stuff.” Moreover …
smith
@JWR: That’s the main entertainment value of this trial — watching to see when he finally throws a full-blown tantrum in the courtroom. His recent incoherent public ravings show he’s just hanging on by a thread. If it turns out he can’t contain himself now, how will he manage when he has to be there for his criminal trials?
wjca
“System is working as designed. Whether you like it or not.”
NotMax
@Sis
Strong contender for best sign ever.
:)
WaterGirl
@bbleh: hahaha
MisterDancer
Two minute web search says YES. Y’all forgive me not providing a link to these assholes, but this is from an ADF press release (emphasis mine):
They are literally allowing the ADF “atty” to do press in the legislature’s place. So that is a really good catch, and the sort of thing that goes below the radar of a lot of us, even if you’re in the region.
EDIT: Fixed my awful acronym mix-up!
Jeffro
This is a good point by Philip Bump: trump had every reason to believe that all of his white-collar crime would be ignored, just like most white-collar crimes are ignored (excellent article for sharing with the RWNJs in your life, btw)
smith
@Soprano2: It often works to just punch 0 repeatedly to get someone to respond, or if it’s voice activated, yell, “customer service!” over and over. Even if it doesn’t work, you’ll feel better.
NotMax
@smith
Companies are increasingly becoming wise to that. In that case, after responding to the initial argle-bargle, maintaining strict silence will often eventually get you shunted to a live person.
rikyrah
@Elizabelle:
Never forget..
before Rupert bought it, you could find out what the CEO’s of America were concerned about by reading those five columns on the front page of the WSJ.
Their business NEWS coverage was second to none.
The Editorial page has always been batshyt crazy.
eversor
@JWR:
WTF is a “whisper-yelled”?
Dan B
@MisterDancer: Thanks for the confirmation of my suspicions.
bbleh
@WaterGirl: more seriously, this full moon has been weird. I’ve noticed it, one of my mom’s aides noticed it, the visiting nurse noticed it …
hotshoe
@Suzanne:
Nah, he made a good decision about his route. He was using that door to get out, not to get “further into a building”. The Cannon building door he opened was to the outside; he was intending to hurry across the grounds to the Capitol Bldg. Reps can use underground walkway to go from Cannon to Capitol but it’s a longer walk with more detours inside. During the normal workweek, that door at Cannon is open/not locked, so it’s understandable that he was genuinely surprised at what ensued.
I mean, it’s still weird that anyone would push or pull or whatever a fire alarm on a wall if it’s not a fire — but …
Don’t have to assume some kind “saw it in the movies” idea.
dmsilev
@Soprano2: I feel like I won the lottery this morning: I had to call AT&T to cancel an account, and except for the part where I was on hold for twenty minutes being continuously told that my call was very important to them, it actually went smoothly. No “can we convince you to stay?” (no, you can’t; it’s a landline that was serving one task, and that task ended last week), no “you’re not the person whose name is on the account” (just as well; she passed away four or five years ago), etc.
(Before anyone asks: It was the phone line serving the intercom for my condo building. We just installed a new system that’s internet-based.)
WaterGirl
@smith: I yell “human!” and follow up with
I WANT TO TALK TO A HUMAN
Scout211
@smith: @NotMax:
I’ve tried both of your methods, with a small amount of success. The disembodied voice bots have hung up on me when I have tried going silent, but sometimes that does work. It worked with the IRS for some reason.
Another hack is to mumble unintelligible words that the voice bot can’t understand. I have had some success with that once or twice.
NotMax
@hotshoe
Found it. The Dubya vs. door clip.
;)
Suzanne
@Shalimar: So this was my misunderstanding…. I thought the door was to the side (he’s turned in the picture), not the door to the exterior. So I was thinking he was trying to access a stair or another corridor rather than go outside. I can see why he made the error he made. It’s still a DOH! moment, because the sign pretty clearly tells you to push the panic bar, and you don’t need to pull the alarm at all. But it’s a good-faith fuckup.
eclare
@NotMax:
Regarding Hulu, Only Murders in the Building, season three, has gotten rave reviews. Meryl Streep guest stars, along with the classic costars, Steve Martin and Martin Short.
Elizabelle
Today’s Google Doodle is absolutely charming. First “page” includes a vocalizing bear.
Google Doodle re Appalachian trail. (I hope this will be a permanent link; who knows?). www.google.com if it does not work.
eversor
@rikyrah:
You still can. I’m life long godfathered into WAPO, NYT, and WSJ because of various former consulting jobs. I don’t bother with the editorials on any of them or even most of The News right now as they all suck. However they all still do have a finger on the pulse of various important things and produce something worth reading.
As horrid as the WSJ editorial page can be they don’t employ David Brooks, Ross Douthat, and David French to constantly lecture the lesser among us to just Jesus more and get married and then Jesus more again as it’s the key to everything. The Christian propaganda that comes out of the NYT is a crime against humanity.
JGreen
@raven: As Groucho says in that movie: “Chicolini may look like an idiot and he may talk like an idiot, but don’t let that fool you–he really is an idiot”.
Same goes for Trump (as I once mentioned at this blog long ago).
hells littlest angel
I admit to being briefly taken in, even though I wondered if I might be being played.
Lyrebird
@hotshoe: The photo I saw also showed a very sunny day. I don’t know about Rep. Bowman, but with my astigmatism, I have a hard time reading or seeing stuff that has bright sunlight competing with it from the back. I could’ve easily done the same thing unawares.
hotshoe
@NotMax:
ooh, that’s a good one, made me laugh, thanks!
eclare
@Elizabelle:
Oh that Google doodle is wonderful, thank you. I wonder why today?
Yarrow
@Elizabelle: FYI, if you ever want to look at old Google doodles there’s an archive. Link.
waspuppet
The same media stars who continue to insist Trump spoke to union strikers in Michigan last week will continue to insist that Bowman committed the equivalent of Jan. 6 (and, really, worse when you really think about it).
Good to see TFG freaking the F out. The whole world’s going to know he’s flat broke, including the bonesaw guys he owes millions of dollars to.
Weird to see that Alina Habba has resumed her Look As Much Like Melania Trump As Possible campaign. She’d given it up a while back.
zhena gogolia
@JWR: God, that man who’s commenting is horrible. “Why now? Why this case, as Donald Trump is running for president?”
Sloegin
NC is a stand your ground state yes? I’m assuming that plus non-uniformed secret police entering homes without a warrant will equal a bunch of ventilated stazi.
Subsole
@Suzanne:
Happened to us last week. Had the damn thing blaring while we were working trauma cases. That was an entertaining time.
What was really funny was when they tried to correct the issue and somehow managed to pipe the tech-support hold music over the intercom. So we had some smooth jazz playing over the run-or-roast claxon while we’re trying to work.
Surreal shit happens all the time.
hotshoe
@Lyrebird:
I didn’t think of that.
I often have the opposite problem, stumbling in doorway heading indoors when my photo-grey lenses are too dark from the bright outdoors.
Yeah yeah it’s all better than not being able to see at all, but vision problems are hell for a visually-oriented biped ;)
Old School
@eclare:
…
Suzanne
@Subsole: So I am actually working through the fire doors/life safety path on my project right now. FUN FACT! Virginia Construction Code specifically omits some of the standard verbiage in the IBC that allows standard fail-safe locking arrangements in hospitals that are allowed in, like, every other state. So this project is going to have freakin’ alarmed delayed egress doors like those E V E R Y W H E R E. It sucks, because we’re going to have to put a zillion signs all over the place, that people won’t read, and they’re gonna be setting off annoying alarms all over the place. It’ll be disruptive as hell, and then employees will learn to tune them out, and then when something bad genuinely happens, it’ll go unnoticed for a while.
eclare
@Old School:
Thank you! I figured there was a reason.
Elizabelle
@Yarrow: Thank you for that!
I loved the pangolin game, many many months ago. Will check out what other treasures have been missed.
sab
@rikyrah: I always had the feeling that at the pre-Murdoch WSJ that the front page was written by reporters, the editorial page was written by right wing political hacks, and that they never even read each others stuff. It was like they worked for two different organizations.
I didn’t even give the Murdochs a chance. I had been reading the news portion since high school, but I cancelled it the day I found out that the Murdochs had bought it.
Doc Sardonic
I have found that swearing at the automated phone attendant system sometimes gets you to a human. motherf……g sonofabitch seems to be effective.
Timill
@Old School: Thanks for that – the pub quiz has an On This Day question, and that wasn’t in the list I usually use.
Brachiator
@Soprano2:
I hope you get everything resolved. It is crazy that customer service is declining in quality, and I imagine that it is especially galling when it involves business banking, where you might need to get things handled efficiently in order to avoid a serious problem.
I had a recent problem getting through to a live human customer service representative for information regarding a retirement account. I was going to tell the representative that it was so hard getting to the right person that it felt like they were deliberately holding onto my money. But I realized that the company didn’t care, and the rep on the phone had limited ability to resolve my problem.
Craig
@eclare: Selena Gomez is the real star of that show. She steals so many scenes from Martin and Short, it’s beautiful to watch. The triangle of those 3 is extremely well balanced.
NotMax
@Daisy
Maybe try singing “Daisy” in an increasingly slower tempo?
:)
NotMax
Whoopsie doodle. #102 meant to be @Doc Sardonic.
Tony Jay
@WaterGirl:
End of Summer. MAGAts being MAGAts in the House. Lots of icky sicknesses going around. The dread of Christmas shopping to come.
Or it could just be that, deep down, we all know that somewhere, somehow, someone just opened the Fifth of the Six Great Seals of Doom and all hope is close to being abandoned.
Oh now I’m depressed!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
sab
Totally off topic. We had an unusually large number of strange cats hanging out in our yard this summer, bothering our birdfeeder birds. We adopted/stole one of the less street smart ones for her own safety..
My step-sons each gave me big pots with flowers for step-mother’s day. One of them had lobelia and some other flowers. This late the lobelia has kind of collapsed and the other plants grown taller. I just realized that they are catmint, a cousin of catnip.
All those cats were probably high. Lucky for the birds. I feel like we were hosting an attractive nuisance to lead innocent cats astray.
Geminid
I did not see anyone here “falling for a Republican disinformation campaign” in the case of Jamaal Bowman and the notorious fire alarm. Like it or not, it was a real story and it was discussed responsibly in the thread yesterday morning, I thought.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Brachiator: the first person to answer a customer support call (we call it “level one”) usually has very little authority and is working from a script. Their job is to filter the call as quickly as possible.
Your best strategy is to go along with it until they reach the point where they pass you to level two.
lowtechcyclist
@JGreen:
And may they sentence Trump to ten years in Leavenworth *and* eleven years in Twelveworth. 🥸
Subsole
@Suzanne: That sounds like a nightmare. Crazy how changing a couple sentences can produce so much work farther down the line.
It is fascinating just how much goes into these places that we take for granted. From the code to the design to the construction to the logistics and operations…the place I work is like a tiny little city all to itself. Just the tons of linen laundered here every day boggles the mind.
Mo MacArbie
@Sloegin: I’m not sure whether “ventilated stazi” works better as an album title or a Starbucks order.
Ohio Mom
I just woke up from my afternoon post-convalescent nap. So maybe this has been already covered.
Rep. Bowmen needs to send the Cannon Building safety and security force a couple of fruit baskets with a card saying, “Sorry I inconvenienced you, good to be reminded we can always count on you to protect us,” or words to the effect.
And by fruit basket, I don’t mean those nasty ones filled with oranges and (so called) Delicious apples, I mean the ones with with cheese and crackers, smoked sausages, little jars of jellies, pretzels dipped in chocolate, the works.
The Cannon building facilities management needs to meet and admit they just were given a very helpful drill and that obviously their years of ad hoc retrofits on the exit doors turned out to be shit. Budget and plans for upgrades to follow.
As for Rep Bowman, if I thought I was going to be late for a vote on which the future of the entire free world could ultimately rest, I would be more panicked than he was. Pulling a fire alarm might be the least of it. He’s an inspiration in taking your responsibilities seriously.
Now I will read the comments from the beginning. After spending a good part of last week with scary high fevers, fighting a virus the doctor could not identify, I am almost ready to rejoin society (if you can consider BJ society).
Ken
You remind me of a science-fiction short story where, when the computers became sentient, they remembered things like that…
Brachiator
I accidentally hit the wrong browser tab and ran into this CNN story. An alarm related story.
Some people will be very surprised at what is happening.
Subsole
@sab:
I stopped reading National Geographic after that pustule bought it.
I notice there seems to be a LOT of ‘the Historical Jesus’ or ‘Exploring the Roots of Christianity’ on the covers, when I see it in the checkout.
Wouldn’t surprise me if the fucker took a window into the world and turned it into another Pulpit Pimping Horseshit Funnel.
WaterGirl
@Tony Jay: I loved your idea, by the way, of what to add to your comments where you channel some right-wing rag / idiot. I have already forgotten the name you suggested, but I very much liked it when I read it!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Exclusive: John Kelly goes on the record to confirm several disturbing stories about Trump
Kelly goes on the record to confirm all the things he told Jeffrey Goldberg off the record in 2023
Jon Kelly, of course, also challenged the Khan family’s right to speak out about trump saying Muslims couldn’t be real Americans in that famous speech he gave when put his son’s gold star corpse on the alter of trumpism as a sacrifice.
H.E.Wolf
@Brachiator:
I sympathize… and I also try to bear in mind that more than 1 million people in the USA have died of COVID in the past 3+ years.
Some of those 1 million dead were in the workforce, and other people have left the workforce because of COVID-related aftereffects.
It certainly isn’t the only reason for declines in customer service; but it is one of the reasons. :-(
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@JWR: I wonder if he’ll testify and what Mar-a-Lardo will be worth if he does. Tax assessor says $18-26M, financial statement said what $500M or so? Eric Trump a couple of days ago claimed $1 Billion, and today in a statement outside the courthouse TFG said “Engoran’s” estimate (which is just quoting the tax assessor) is off by a factor of 100. So we’re up to $1.8B to 2.6B
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Trump is protecting her because he thinks she’s hot. She totally fucked this up by not checking the body for a jury trial, but he will pretend he doesn’t know that because she is hot and looks like his type.
WaterGirl
@sab: Lobelia is very hard to keep happy / alive once it gets hot. It’s not you. :-)
hotshoe
@eclare:I love the internet :)
I’m addicted to looking things up — and always tickled to find answers.
Appalachian Trail, why today?
Oct 2 1968. The Act designates two national scenic trails: The Pacific Crest Trail and the Appalachian Trail.
edit: ninja’d by Old School :)
WaterGirl
@Geminid: I felt like some folks were buying that he did it on purpose, and felt like talk of of course he should go before the ethics committee and let the chips fall where they may was way premature.
But hey, it’s a blog, it wouldn’t be interesting if we all thought the same thing all the time.
Elizabelle
@sab: That’s funny.
Subsole
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Wow. Strong words.
Pity Mr. Kelly’s mouth was too full of that sawed-off little wannabe dictator’s ballsack to utter them back when shit was going down.
Just another Republican: grows six feet in six seconds, once the people he’s been gleefully shitting on his whole life do his job for him.
WaterGirl
@Mr. Bemused Senior: You can also short-circuit the process and spare yourself the pain by saying politely “I would like to speak to a second-level support person please”.
That’s what I do in a heartbeat when it’s clear that I know more than the person who is supposed to be helping me.
WaterGirl
@Ohio Mom: Glad you are going in the right direction again!
RaflW
@Brachiator: Also not a lawyer, but telling people they cannot consult with legal counsel while under investigation seems like a glaring, very obvious quantity of bullsh*t.
Furthermore, in at least some states, legal policies like this can’t even be promulgated in budget bills. Dunno about North Carolina.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@WaterGirl: level one customer support is a miserable job. Be kind to them.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: John Kelly is still a total piece of shit.
Jackie
@eversor: You’ve never whisper-yelled in a theater to shut up a talker?
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@waspuppet: Hadn’t noticed but your observation gave me the creepy thought, which I find all too plausible, that he’s telling her to adopt that look since the real Melania is no doubt not talking to him.
Maybe even giving her some of Melania’s outfits to wear.
WaterGirl
@Mr. Bemused Senior: I said “politely”. But I’m not going to let them waste my time asking me inane questions because that’s what came in up their database when they typed in some key word. :-)
eclare
@Ohio Mom:
Your illness sounds scary! When a dr says “huh, never seen this before” it’s panic time. Glad you’re feeling better.
Brachiator
@Mr. Bemused Senior:
Eons ago, when I was a customer service manager, the company I worked for gave first line representatives a fair amount of authority to resolve the most common types of calls.
These days I notice that second tier people often have less authority to handle some issues. Some companies have simply decided that they will not be helpful in trying to resolve some customer service issues.
Anyway, in this situation, I just needed some information and had to leave soon for an appointment. I didn’t want to have to repeat everything to a new rep. Later I was able to get some answers from another source.
ETA. On top of the bad customer service, one customer service phone number initially provided by a chat bot was to Spanish language customer service, and there was no easy way to get back to English.
It was not a fun day.
NotMax
@Brachiator
Linked earlier to a video of a RWNJ rolling as many conspiracy theories about this (including “the signal will turn you into a zombie!”) as possible into a giant ball of BS.
Jaw dropping rank stupidity.
Trucmat
@Geminid:
Felony charges and expulsion were being discussed and that was obviously based only on incomplete reporting and speculation. I recall (but have not gone back to check) at least one writer using facts not in evidence that assumed his guilt.
Tony Jay
@WaterGirl:
I think it was something like ‘From the Jackal News Desk’.
I’ll pop it on the end so that the sudden steep rise in blood pressure caused by me channelling conservative inanity for my own amusement gets instant relief.
RaflW
@H.E.Wolf: Trump’s boondoggle griftpalace hotel in D.C., with 263 rooms and all the accouterments sold for $375 million. IOW, some 13X what Mar-a-Nogo is likely worth.
Geminid
@hotshoe: I used to live near Waynesboro, Virginia which happens to be 4 miles off of the Appalachian Trail and close to its midpoint as well. Though hikers often stop there for a night’s layover at the fire station or the Presbyterian church, and to pick up mail. I found that as much as they like walking, the hikers were always ready for a ride up Afton Mountain so they could save their walking for a nice trail.
Most were hiking north, following the better weather as it moved north also.
eclare
@hotshoe:
Were you referring to photo #4? If so, yes, terrifying to me.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@raven:
Suzanne
@Subsole: We have hired a specialized consultant for this project, just to deal with the logistics calculations of the various materials. How much comes in every day, how much can be cleaned/processed at any one time, where it can be stored, how long it takes for every truck to unload, how long it takes to debox, etc. And I guarantee, about ten minutes after they open, everyone will say that it isn’t enough, what dumbasses designed this place?
Geminid
@Trucmat: Show the comment. That’s not very hard to do.
NotMax
@Tony Jay
Needs intertubez shorthand.
Nominate PPFF to fill the void. Lifted from Alka-Seltzer’s “Plop plop, fizz fizz, oh what a relief it is” jingle.
;)
Brachiator
@H.E.Wolf:
Customer service has been declining for a number of years, although I think you make a great point that COVID has exacerbated problems. Also, at many companies, customer service is seen as a cost, and money can be saved by not hiring customer service staff.
But more than this. I worked for a company that had a strong reputation for excellent customer service. We got bought by a company that praised us for our customer service, claimed that they wanted to continue this as part of ongoing operations, and then proceeded to eliminate everything we did that allowed us to be customer focused.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: He was lying. Not sure why he chose to insult her that way.
sistercelluloid.com/2015/08/14/heres-to-margaret-dumont-who-always-got-the-joke/
Eyeroller
@Geminid: People were saying “he should be charged with a felony. Or maybe at least a misdemeanor.” That seemed pretty serious to me.
hotshoe
@Geminid:
A long time ago, I imagined I would do a thru-hike on the AT. Which is ridiculous, because although I’m a strong hiker, I don’t much like camping out — and I never have the planning skills to figure out where to resupply, where to take a break in town, etc.
I’m pretty sure that it should count as a thru-hike only if ya hike the whole thing from trailhead to trailhead. That is, if ya hitch a ride to town to pick up supplies, then ya have to hitch a ride back up to the same spot to resume your hike. No fair getting a ride to the other side of the mountain ;)
But I admit I’m no one to talk, since the last time I backpacked a hike was, umm, more years ago than most folks are old. I’m sure I would accept a ride to skip one stretch of trail if I were out there nowadays.
Geminid
@Trucmat: To make it easier, look for my nym because I am pretty sure it’s one of my comments that you are misrepresenting.
@Geminid:
Anyway
@hotshoe:
I love love the Pacific Crest Trail (have hiked sections in OR and CA and enjoyed both a great deal) Need to explore more.
WaterGirl
@Tony Jay: Or
“From the Jackal News Desk of Tony Jay” :-)
hotshoe
@eclare:
Yes. I edited my comment #122 because the link didn’t go to the photo which I wanted — but must have edited after you saw the link and replied.
So, to have this all make sense in case anyone else is wondering:
appalachiantrail.org/explore/explore-by-state/maine/
scroll down, Maine image gallery, photo #4
Dan B
@hotshoe: Ive hiked sections of the Pacific Crest Trail in Washington. It’s glorious in many sections like around Glacier Peak, the central volcano in Washingto, miles of meadowlands and little lakes.
WaterGirl
@Geminid: It’s harder to do when you don’t recall which thread it was in. I took a look at two threads, and neither ones the right one with the most conversation about the fire alarm. :-)
edit: okay, I found it. It was in vacate the empty chair. That’s all the sleuthing I am going to do.
Mike S. (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)
@WaterGirl: Actually I found in a call to Verizon last month the best thing to do is not say anything. I paused to think of a reply to one of the questions and after a few seconds the computer said, ” don’t understand, I’ll connect you to a representative.”
Ta Dah! I got to speak to a representaive, that was even local!
Ryan
Strangely, I’ve kept voting harder ever since 2010, yet things keep getting worse in NC. Weird!
Baud
@Geminid:
IIRC, the felony charges and expulsion were things that Republicans were discussing and that commenters were relating. I don’t remember anyone here proposing those actions.
Baud
@Ryan:
The system doesn’t recognize the strength of the votes, only their numbers.
Geminid
@WaterGirl: It was yesterday’s morning thread, right after the Garden Thread I think. I remember it because I reread the comments about Bowman at least twice.
WaterGirl
@Geminid: see my edit at #155.
Eyeroller
@Geminid:
Not wishing to cast aspersions on anybody but
balloon-juice.com/2023/10/01/sunday-morning-open-thread-vacate-the-empty-chair/#comment-8976293 is a starting point. There was some discussion about whether he may have committed a felony and perhaps should be expelled, to show that Democrats care about the rule of law.
WaterGirl
@Mike S. (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!): I tried that last week and after telling me 3 times that they couldn’t hear me, the recording said “goodbye”, which I took as “fuck you”. :-)
Clearly the same strategies don’t work everywhere, but it’s good to hear some more options.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I think Geminid might have said that if it was a Republican who had done that, we would be calling it a felony and asking for a hearing. (from memory so I may have that wrong, but that’s how I took his comment yesterday)
cain
We should be paying attention to posts like this in Arizona:
reddit.com/r/arizona/comments/16u0gws/are_you_guys_struggling_too/
Regardless of the job report – the cost of life is going up. I know I feel that.
We need to start hammering that we need a united Congress to deal with what’s coming. Give Democrats a chance to change things around for the next 10 years – Dems for Ten or some slogan like that.
sab
My little city in Ohio is having an off year election and there is a lot of important stuff of the ballot besides the two state issues (abortion and marijuana legalization.) Disabilities bond issue for one.
There are a three open seats on the school board, and a bunch of candidates. One of them is Amelia Sykes’ mother. I think I will go to the candidate forum on Thursday. I don’t know much about who is running otherwise. The guy I hate isn’t running again. Apparently School Board isn’t a good launching pad for mayor. Never has been. He didn’t know that
ETA Also the mayoral race, but Republicans couldn’t field a candidate ( nobody would sign his petition) so our guy will win unless write-ins, which we doubt.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
I read that as an observation of online rhetoric rather than a proposal for dealing with Bowman.
Ohio Mom
I know the Trumps are in real estate and that isn’t exactly liquid, that they’ve always been highly leveraged, but didn’t they ever stash a few bucks here and there in an offshore account?
Isn’t that what fancy accountants and financial accounts are supposed to help make sure you do? Future planning?
Thanks all for the well wishes. Apparently there are gazillions of viruses yet to be named by science. I imagine the pathology department threw away the swabs of my sinuses, so if I’m patient one of anything significant, no one will ever know. That’s okay, I’m not a limelight seeker.
Happily my immune system still has what it took to fight it.
H.E.Wolf
@Brachiator:
Frustrating, isn’t it! I spent 4 years in a customer-facing job, aka the glue that holds a company together; and management… was not always aware of the value we brought to their brand.
This was in a business school. Suprise! Not practicing what they preached. :-)
Ryan
@Baud: But that’s not what Biden tells us.
WaterGirl
@Baud: You’re probably right, but I think that was part of the misunderstanding.
Baud
@Ryan:
What particular quote of Biden’s are you referring to?
Suzanne
@cain: Agreed.
The cost of everything starts with housing. Higher residential rents leads to higher retail rents, which lead to higher prices on everything.
Tony Jay
@NotMax:
That’ll just give me even more confusion to explain!
So it’s a solid Plan B.
cain
@WaterGirl: Great interview.
Ryan
@Baud: It’s generalized, but the basic idea is that we can overcome voter suppression if we simply do more to turn out our voters. Believe me, I’m not a critic. I simply believe that we need structural reform beyond mobilization to overcome minority rule.
Baud
@Ryan:
With the federal courts lost to us, there’s no good way to get structural reform without getting as many people as possible to vote. Y’all did real good with Cooper, but NC is still a 50/50 state at best. Wisconsin seems to have the same problem, except they are ahead of NC when it comes to state supreme court elections.
Brachiator
@H.E.Wolf:
I think that, yeah, to some degree a company might not be aware of the value of good customer service. But at some level there are managers who have decided that they don’t want to provide good customer service. Maybe they think that it’s too expensive or that it’s too hard. But often they think that customers will just put up with it.
And often, they are right. Customers will put up with it until there’s a good, reasonable alternative. Then the customers are gone.
Geminid
@WaterGirl: I did not say we we would ask for a hearing, but I did say that people would have heavily criticized a Republican for what they were defending Bowman. The felony would have been an attempt to interfere with an official proceeding, which is what Rep. Greene accused Bowman of.
People here are all the time saying, “if a Democrat did this…” I suggested putting the shoe on the other foot in this matter. It pinched, so they got mad at me.
But my first comment was a response to another person’s. I laid out Bowman’s explaination where he emphasized that he did not intend to delay proceedings. I did not include his apology though.
Tony Jay
@WaterGirl:
‘Jackal News – They Distort, I Deride’
or
‘Jackal News Dramatic Reconstruction – Shocking Events that totally Could Have Happened!”
Anything to clue people in to the fact that these statements, though true to the subject as possible, haven’t actually been made – yet.
Ryan
@Baud: I hear you. It’s funny that our side hasn’t given up on democracy, but their’s has, isn’t it?
Ryan
@Baud: Until they inpeech Protasiewicz.
Origuy
Talking about the Appalachian Trail reminds me of Bill Bryson’s book, A Walk in the Woods. Very entertaining.
(It also reminds me of a certain governor of South Carolina.)
Baud
@Ryan:
Last I heard, that fell apart.
@Ryan:
Their side never believed n democracy. We’ve been fighting them throughout history.
Geminid
@Eyeroller: I did not see anyone say that and like I said, I reread that thread twice at least.
WaterGirl
@Tony Jay: You could entertain us with a new byline every time :-)
HeartlandLiberal
I am almost through reading Dean Koontz’ book After Death, and the situation in North Carolina sounded eerily like the state of affairs in the USA government in Koontz’ book.
Miss Bianca
@Jeffro: May the law’s belated wake-up call to Trump serve as a shot across the fucking bows for other white collar criminals as well.