Looks like we could use an open thread!
This is from a month ago, but it’s too funny not to share.
beep boop https://t.co/swEcefIt6A
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) September 24, 2023
What other funny or mocking takes have you seen related to the ridiculous poll results – hell, let’s widen that from just polls to ridiculous Republicans – that are being pimped everywhere in the mainstream media?
Sometimes I think that mockery of Republicans is the only thing that gets through.
Post your links in the comments, and I’ll add the best ones to the thread.
Ohio Mom
Just finished voting. The woman who signed me in said they’ve been very busy.
Since this is Blue Hamilton county, maybe that’s a good sign for Issue1/abortion rights? We do have a very large German Catholic population though.
dmsilev
I’m …not under 30, and unless I’m expecting a random call (waiting for a contractor, let’s say), I don’t pick up unknown numbers either. If it’s important, they’ll leave a voicemail.
Jackie
The young are not alone. I have my phone set to send unknown calls straight to VM and rarely do those leave messages.
Josie
@Jackie:
Same here.
Betty Cracker
@dmsilev: I’m well past 30, and not only do I NOT pick up unknown numbers, I disabled voicemail by allowing it to fill up 15 years ago and never erasing a message. If it’s important, they’ll text me.
Kristine
Thirded. Twice-30 plus and will not answer calls from unknown numbers.
If they could tap into the older folks who are cell-only and don’t respond to unknown numbers, I wonder how much that would affect the R vs D/conservative vs liberal totals of various age groups.
trollhattan
@Jackie:
But how will you take advantage of this final opportunity to extend your car’s warranty?
smith
I know very few people of any age who pick up on unfamiliar numbers. It makes you wonder what a narrowly-defined group is represented in polls these days
ETA: Probably the same people who commonly fall for phone scams. Says a lot about why Rs tend to be over-represented in “random” polls.
Dangerman
Hell, I don’t pick up known numbers either; well, my Mother. When she was alive. If I get a call from my Mother on the day prior to Halloween, I’ll answer.
The Witches and Warlocks paddle in Morro Bay was grand fun. I’ll let you use the Mighty Google. Critically low on caffeine (MD says I can have a very little, definite treat, although possible trick).
Juju
I’m way not under 30 and I feel the same way. Every now and again, especially during Medicare enrollment season, which I take care of for my mother, I will take a call from what might possibly be the agent I worked with once. It usually turns out to be that recorded voice telling me my car warranty has expired and I need to renew. My car is way beyond having any kind of warranty.
catclub
It used to be ‘They will write a letter.’
Jackie
@trollhattan: Ironically I’ve actually had voice messages from them!😂
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker:
I laughed out loud. Literally.
Are you back from your trip?
catclub
@Jackie:
All these ‘I don’t pickup unknown numbers’ sounds like they are the epilog of the book ‘Bowling Alone’.
Kind of depressing.
Juju
@smith: Elderly landline owners with a bug up their ass about all the hooligan demonrats?
Ken
Those are all scams. It’s the same rules as with the IRS — the legitimate extended warranty offers come in the mail.
jonas
It would be quite easy for polling firms to allow themselves to be identified by caller ID. Why more don’t do it, I don’t know. Maybe they think it will get fewer responses than the random number fishing they do now, but I think a lot of people (myself included) would be more likely to take a couple of minutes to register our opinions if we knew it wasn’t someone trying to sign you up for professional drain monitoring or something.
Betty
My husband who is both older and never answers an unknown phone number counters criticism from those trying to reach him by asking “My phone? You’re telling me what I have to do with my phone?” They seem puzzled by that response.
Marcopolo
So I’ll be honest, 30-40 years ago I used to love answering phone polls. And I often just out & out lied in my responses (if it wasn’t a D leaning one—usually you could tell). It was fun & I didn’t really care until after a few years of doing this I found myself the target of a crap ton of R candidate voter outreach in the lead up to elections. Even then I was still of the mind that it was good (bad) for them to be wasting time & energy trying to get my vote. Now I am def with the rest of y’all & I do not answer my cell if I don’t recognize the number (so yeah, I guess getting a cell phone just about matches up w/ me stopping participating in phone polls). It really is amazing how few folks actually leave a messages. And moving between states (and changing voter registrations) a few times finally cleared up my getting R political outreach.
Jackie
@catclub: I did the same when I had a landline. I HATE phone solicitors. Actually, I hate solicitors in general.
Now git off my lawn!
JPL
What age group actually answers their phone to unknown numbers? Yeah maga’s do at any age I guess.
WaterGirl
@Ken: Check your snark meter. :-) trollhattan totally knows those are scams.
catclub
I often ask how much they are paying me for my time and opinions. When they say zero I turn them down.
They need to find a way to actually pay people, then they might get more pickups.
JPL
Has trump annunced that if he were president the UAW would have gotten a better deal?
thanks a lot Joe!
smith
And it would take about 20 seconds before the scammers started spoofing those IDs.
JoyceH
I just don’t know if polling can be fixed. I did phone banking for Obama and if you got one pickup for twenty calls you were doing good and that was 2008. For half a century people would answer the phone not knowing who was calling, and if it turned out to be a pollster a significant number would actually answer the questions. Those days are gone and not coming back. And I’m not sure how you replace that without getting a self-selected sample, which wouldn’t be accurate.
WaterGirl
No other mockery of polls or Republicans in general? That’s a very sad state of affairs. Do we need to up our game?
Marcopolo
@jonas: I imagine that pollsters, who are trying to come up w/ a representative sample size, think that cueing folks in to a pollster is calling them will lead to significant bias issues. But honestly, our current hyper partisan political environment combined w/ ubiquitous use of cells & attitudes towards polling & pollsters, I amazed they manage to do any meaningful work. I understand campaigns see value in testing messages & trying to figure out how well they are doing. The more general media “horse race” polls can die a quiet death afaic.
Ken
@WaterGirl: I thought I was snarking back, with the warrantee offers in the snail mail…
WaterGirl
@JoyceH: Maybe we just need to de-elevate polls from their position of predictors of results.
It seems to me that polls and poll reporting these days is just a more sophisticated form of push-polling. Except they are not push-polling you about various positions – they are push-polling the results they want to have.
Marcopolo
Also, since this is an open thread, in case anyone isn’t aware, the UAW has now reached agreements w/ all big 3 automakers. GM happened this am. Thanks Joe Biden for supporting unions!
WaterGirl
@Ken: So I need to check my snark meter?
Dangerman
@WaterGirl: I got the Industrial model; Snarknado.
E.
@catclub: Are you kidding me? I have received over 3,000 calls from American Senior Benefits in the last 3 years. No way do I answer.
Jackie
Ironically just received this text:
I’m not expecting any package deliveries from USPS or elsewhere. Reported as junk and deleted.
WaterGirl
@Marcopolo: I am not finding that anywhere. Can you point me to the info about all 3?
SiubhanDuinne
@Jackie:
I do the same, with the same results.
Betty Cracker
@WaterGirl: Nope — still on holiday! We’re decamping just after the cold front reaches us, which is perfect. We won’t have to endure the cold for long, and the dry chill will renew my appreciation for the humid swamp.
JPL
@Jackie: smart move
What Are Authentic Text Messages from The U.S. Postal Service?
The Postal Service does send legitimate text messages to alert customers of delivery steps, but only if customers request such notifications snopes.com has more
Ken
@WaterGirl: You might say that; I couldn’t possibly comment.
Mr. Bemused Senior
Ok, we mock Elon all the time but this begs for more:
Who will be fool enough to give Elon financial information? Same people who answer random cell phone calls.
ETA and send money to Nigerian princes.
mrmoshpotato
@trollhattan: My invisible car is warrantied beyond the end of time, so joke’s on them!
Kelly
Going back to the days of my youth before answering machines I never set up voicemail. If you need to talk to me call me back. No phone tag. Big adjustment handling my Mom’s health care the last couple months is answering unknown callers. All the home healthcare businesses run on employees personal phones.
WaterGirl
Geo Wilcox
@Ohio Mom: Same population here in Franklin County Indiana. They used to vote DEM but after Roe vs. Wade they went GOP in a big way.
smith
@Mr. Bemused Senior: And it’s no wonder they feel battered and bewildered by the 21st century and want to go back to the 1950s when things made sense, and you could safely answer your phone.
Ohio Mom
I know we all hate answering unknown numbers and that young people in particular are incognito to pollsters but polls have their uses and I can’t see what could substitute for them.
As I recall, one way to detect election cheating is a big discrepancy between what the polls predicted and what the final vote tally is.
And campaign planning needs poll numbers to strategize.
I hope smarter people than me find a solution.
Dangerman
Damn, I am so jonesing for a donut to go with my itty bitty cup of coffee (think those tasters cups you see some places). I’m down about 30 pounds; I’m thinking Fall is in the air, how about going full metal and getting a Cinnamon Roll?
Insert Homer Simpson drooling sounds here.
hrprogressive
I have been a reliable blue vote since 2004 when I became of voting age, and I can count the number of times I’ve been polled on one finger.
In almost 20 years.
So, yeah. Polling that only picks up elderly conservatives who can’t wait to ask you if you’ve read the Gospel of Trump isn’t doing our country any favors.
That said, the “youth coalition” that was going to usher in Permanent Democratic Majorities that was promised since the time of Obama has never really materialized in a sustainable manner the way some strategists have projected, and, you know, if ever there was a time to get the youth to vote their asses off…this is it.
E.
@WaterGirl: I wish I could wear that. Like on my body, and activate it will.
Another Scott
Scientific American – Why Polls Were Mostly Wrong: (from 2020)
True? No idea. But it’s another thing to keep in mind.
Cheers,
Scott.
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl: What is “This” about?
Mr. Bemused Senior
@smith:
The Dear Departed Past
mrmoshpotato
I fart in their general direction.
mrmoshpotato
@Dangerman: Pecan roll. And now I want some pastries. Oh, hello, blueberry coffee cake!
Cameron
I get mail from various parties warning me that my auto warrenty is about to expire and it’s time to renew. Pretty easy to spot these as bogus, since I don’t own a car.
Geminid
@WaterGirl: Not mockery of Republicans, just an oldie but a goody from Magdi Jacobs, aka Mangy Jay:
That one’s for the Front Pagers!
Geo Wilcox
I do pick up unknown numbers and say Hello. If there is no answer or some mechanical sounds I block the number. If someone starts talking and I don’t know who they are, I block the number.. I now get very few unknown callers. That’s how you do it.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: I see you found the silver lining for the eventual cold front!
You sound happy, glad you are able to be on this trip.
cain
@Jackie: one time I accidentally picked up – it was a fundraising call from the ACLU. But it was labeled ‘spam’. Sheesh. Why not just identify as “ACLU” in the caller id?
ETA #60!!!!
Jackie
@JPL: Yup. I always track my expected packages and my kiddos give me a heads up when they send anything my way.
My “Wise phone” usually recognizes spam texts and offers the option to report as spam and deletes automatically 😊
Marcopolo
@hrprogressive: First, youth turnout is up in the last several elections. Second, time keeps rolling along so the youth vote demographic is a moving target. A voter who was 18 in 2008 when Obama won his first pres election is now 33. The good news is that the trend (I think it is now up to 40-45) seems to be that folks are more resistant now to becoming more conservative voters as they age.
WaterGirl
@E.: Like a smart, walking, video-on-demand player!
cain
@Mr. Bemused Senior: catturd2 of course! There is a whole group of blue check Elon fanboys who plan on joining the Elon universe.
He ‘s going to bankrupt himself eventually.
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: It’s a rant about the “Dems / We aren’t going to vote for Joe Biden” bullshet.
He has a whiteboard and everything.
Jackie
@WaterGirl: I approve this message – after LMAO!
mrmoshpotato
@Cameron: You have an invisible car too?
Another Scott
@jonas: Years ago I got a polling call from Gallup. They said they were Gallup in the caller ID. I answered and participated – until at the end they were asking all kinds of questions about our family income and similar financial things. I can see why that might be useful (for economic and financial sorting in poll results), but who knows what they do with that data after they collect it? I refused to answer those questions. The questioner was unhappy.
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
Mr. Bemused Senior
More to mock: WaPo gift link
The merch picture is amusing.
WaterGirl
@Geminid: Say what? Front-pagers love to be nit-picked. We live for it. //
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@trollhattan: Haha. I know those are fake.
But I’m a little alarmed at the number of people who have warrants for my arrest if I don’t call them back.
Betty Cracker
@Mr. Bemused Senior: Maybe Musk will inadvertently do us all a solid by rounding up all the Nazis and crypto-grifters on a single “financial” platform, thereby segregating them from normal people.
MattF
Gallup says its current phone poll response rate is 7%. And I’m skeptical about that.
Marcopolo
@mrmoshpotato: just pushback against (based on the person doing the tik tok assuming younger folks of color) people saying “we will not vote for Biden cuz “insert reason which is usually distorted or misleading or otherwise manipulative here) by giving their reason for supporting him. I think the whole idea is a lot of people are susceptible to arguments on social media that claim a large swath of folks as supporters w/out any factual basis. Hey, if this tik tok makes some folks think a little more power to him.
schrodingers_cat
Over 30 and not answering calls from random # on my cellphone.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: Do you have a happy picture to share? It’s shockingly cold here so I have no desire to be outdoors, but I bet we would all be happy to see one of your nature photos.
mrmoshpotato
@Geo Wilcox: Cue up “Basketball Jones,” answer call, let them know you have a basketball jones ooo baby ooo ooo ooo.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Marcopolo: Coincidentally, a local transit strike that might have started today in Philly was averted when SEPTA came to an agreement with the transit union.
Probably not coincidence actually. It’s a good year for unions. Nice to see THAT pendulum (stuck in the wrong direction since Reagan) swing back.
Old Man Shadow
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Last time I got one of those, I used my white privilege and asked a nearby deputy parked next to me about it. He asked for my phone, called them back. They did not stay on the line to talk.
MattF
@Betty Cracker: I just can’t imagine how anyone with a brain would conduct any financial business on a Musk-owned site. Even his fans would think “Umm… maybe not”.
Geminid
@WaterGirl: Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing.
Another Scott
@MattF: That was in 2017.
FTFNYT (from 2022) – paywall:
Google has the important part in their excerpt
0.4%
It would seem very difficult to assure that such a tiny percentage is representative of the body as a whole.
Cheers,
Scott.
brendancalling
I’m subbing in a 7th grade classroom all day, and frankly it feels a lot like what i imagine the Freedom Caucus is like. Screaming at the top of their lungs, half-feral, questionable hygiene, foul language (these kids swear like sailors), and incredibly cruel (because they haven’t developed empathy yet).
At the end of the day, I have two classes of special needs kids, which will be awesome. Probably gonna play Uno or watch a movie with that group.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
We voted a week ago, first day our local ballot dropbox was open.
One sign of something or other: we have several judge “retention” votes, where you are casting a vote yes/no on whether that judge should be kept on the bench. They don’t have parties listed on the ballot, and normally it’s pretty routine for judges to be retained. These races fly pretty much under the radar.
But this year the Democratic party identified the Republican judges (four out of five) and recommended “NO” votes for all of them.
Betty Cracker
@WaterGirl: Here’s a picture taken from a pontoon boat yesterday with the fall leaves.
The group I’m with tend to be far less lazy than I am, so they’re out hiking now while I dog sit and do my laundry.
smith
I’m taking some unearned, borrowed pride in this — my niece in the WH specializes in labor issues and labor outreach and she’s been working hard.
Alce_e _ ardillo
Upstate NY checking in:
My wife and I both voted Saturday, straight Democratic for me, Working Families (Democratic aligned) for her. No burning issues on the ballot, so lines were light.
mrmoshpotato
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
LMAO! You know what you did! ALL of what you did!
Jinchi
@Kristine: There must be a tiny slice of the population that will actively answer every unknown caller in the hopes that they’ll be able to skew the polls in their preferred direction.
john b
People with children
(to be clear, I have kids and usually don’t answer unknown numbers, but I have an out-of-town area code which makes it a LITTLE easier look for local area codes. Most of the spam calls are from my phone’s area code)
mrmoshpotato
@Marcopolo:
@WaterGirl: Thanks. Good video against the children who won’t vote for Biden next year.
Also, STFU SNL with the “Biden is old” crap.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@mrmoshpotato: Colbert tells those jokes from time to time too and it pisses the hell out of me. It’s nonsense and shows a lack of imagination, aside from being dangerous.
mrmoshpotato
@brendancalling:
Sums up both perfectly.
My vote is for Uno.
Eolirin
@WaterGirl: Grooming is a core primate social behavior after all.
mali muso
@john b: Yeah, this. I hate answering my phone, but I do have a kiddo and I always answer local numbers in case it is her school or after-school care. Unfortunately, this means all the spoofed local numbers get me for a hot second before I hang up. blerg.
Dangerman
@mrmoshpotato: Pecan Roll! Fine idea. I was pondering Road Trip to a place called Heaven On Earth (Azalea, OR). Supposedly home of World’s finest cinnamon rolls. I’ve stopped and these things are big enough to feed a Family of about 12. Sure, I could buy and work on it over several days, but that would surely not happen (I’m thinking 4 hours, max). So, no road trip. Good thing. Several hundred miles.
Ruckus
@WaterGirl:
I just got a call from an unknown number.
I look them up because I have an unlisted number so it is almost always someone trying to sell me something I don’t want, need, desire, give even one shit about.
This one was no different, someone trying to sell me something that I don’t want, don’t need and am not going to purchase anything from. It’s why I don’t answer from a number I don’t know. All my friends and family members are in my contacts so an unknown number is, 99% of the time, someone trying to sell me crap. This time was no different.
Also, Monday morning the complex gardeners arrive to make noise and tidy up. They park in the back of the complex where I live so I get all the noise of mowers, edgers, leaf blowers about 10 minutes after they arrive. Awww to have a nice loud alarm to wake up to….. when one is retired and doesn’t actually have to get up. On the plus side, they do very good work……
John S.
@mrmoshpotato:
Maybe it’s time for Lorne Michaels to retire. He’s going to be 79 next month, so clearly that’s well past his expiration date.
Eolirin
@Alce_e _ ardillo: At least here in Dutchess there’s way more attention being paid to the local elections than I ever remember seeing. Actual canvassing and paid ads on both sides.
mrmoshpotato
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Yeah. Stop being lazy bums in the writers’ room.
And look at how he’s turned the country around in 3 years. The senile mastermind!
Jinchi
@Betty Cracker: It’d be funny if Musk’s Twitter ended up as nothing more than a collection of Maga misfits and driving Trump Social into bankruptcy.
Betty Cracker
I saw a brief SNL clip with a Biden imitator climbing a ladder to hang Halloween decorations. Age is the premise — everyone holds their breath when an old dude is on a ladder! But I thought it was kind of funny and reality-based. I do hold my breath when Biden deplanes, rides a bike, etc.
Dangerman
Oh, hell. Heaven on Earth (heavenonearthbakery.com) sells pecan rolls, too. Road trip back under consideration. The home page picture alone has me checking oil, tires, etc
MattF
Here is a pic of the business end of the Falcon Heavy rocket at the Psyche mission launch. Wow.
cain
I suspect the next thing is to be able to hack into your contacts and use those numbers to call you. I’m pretty sure the numbers they are using are numbers that regular people are using and not from a list of “unattached” numbers.
mrmoshpotato
@John S.: I don’t know if you’re being serious or sarcastic.
The rest of Saturday’s cold open was hilarious. I’m just damn sick of all the “Biden is oooollddddd!” crap.
mrmoshpotato
@Betty Cracker: That was the start of Saturday’s opening skit.
WaterGirl
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
I like to see that!
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: Oh my gosh, so beautiful!! Very noble of you to volunteer to stay with the dog!
WaterGirl
@smith: thank your niece for us. she must be thrilled at recent labor wins.
WaterGirl
@Eolirin:
oh, the other kind of nit picking. :-)
given the choice, if anyone wants to make a note, I think most of us wold rather have the (non-existent) fleas picked out of our hair.
WaterGirl
@John S.: I don’t know, that skit on Washington last night was the funniest thing I have seen in a long time.
edit: oops, the last 5 comments are me. apparently talking to myself again!
The Other Steve
I’m in my 50’s and I remember when it used to be a joy to answer the phone. It hardly rang and when it did it was a friend or family member wanting to talk. Or an important phone call.
But I’m with GenZ on not wanting to answer the phone any more.
catclub
It is always fine to talk to the smartest/wisest/most understanding person in the room.
WaterGirl
@catclub: Made me laugh. :-) You are too kind!
JR
@Jackie: Yeah, mine blocks unknowns. It can be inconvenient but the scammers have pretty much ruined telephony.
jonas
Yep. Malls aren’t the essential places to shop anymore and phones — at least in their traditional “telephone” form — aren’t really the way most people, particularly the yoots, communicate anymore.
E.
@JR: And email. I will be bitter about that forever. Text will be the next to fall.
Ruckus
@cain:
I suspect the next thing is to be able to hack into your contacts and use those numbers to call you. I’m pretty sure the numbers they are using are numbers that regular people are using and not from a list of “unattached” numbers.
Fortunately it doesn’t work that way. It is possible that they could hack your phone but it is unlikely, it would cost a fair bit to do this and what would the return be? And if they got caught? And would this make you any more likely to purchase anything whatsoever from them? It wouldn’t make me more likely, it would however give me a chance to practice my swearing, as I am slightly out of practice, after all it’s been decades since I got out of the navy and swearing is now – oh who am I kidding….. I can still swear with the best of them.
BC in Illinois
@Another Scott:
Back in the ’50s, I brought home a form from elementary school, with a lot of questions for my parents to answer. My father answered some of them with “NOYDB.” I asked him what that meant. He told me. I said, “Dad! You can’t do that!”
Turns out, he could.
+ + +
On the topic of cold calls, in 2016, I went to the Hillary Headquarters in St. Louis, where a roomful of people were calling Democrats in Iowa, to help get out the votes. This was not a total cold call, as all the calls were to registered, previously active Democrats. The majority of calls did not go through.
On one call, I asked, “Hello, I’m calling from (blah, blah). May I speak to (insert female name here) ?”
“_______ hasn’t lived here, since we broke up two years ago.”
“Oh. Sorry. Thank you for your time.” [click]
There were other people in the room who could have transitioned to a conversation to the guy on the line. I didn’t/don’t have that skill.
I also suck at going door-to-door.
trollhattan
@mrmoshpotato:
Senile mastermind is a slightly different take on Obama as the feckless tyrant.
Juju
@Another Scott: I am in a Gallup poll group. They sought me out, first by email with information to be interviewed by phone, with specific date and time and caller id information. I decided I to become a member of one of their polling groups. One thing that was made very clear is that financial information, though appreciated is not required. I’m surprised that the Gallup pollster made you feel bad about not giving financial information.
If the Gallup people ever ask you to be in one of their long term polling groups, do it. It’s interesting. I’ve been doing this for almost 10 years now. I often wonder if one ages out of a polling group, so far I haven’t, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I eventually did age out.
smith
I sometimes find myself required to give an email address when I don’t think they have any right to it or need for it. I usually put something like [email protected]. It’s never been challenged.
Another Scott
@mrmoshpotato: SNL has always gone for the cheapest easy joke. Remember Chevy Chase’s Ford impression.
Cheers,
Scott.
Juju
@brendancalling: It sounds more like they are testing you. You need to have the aura of don’t mess with me, I take no shit, about you. Also, never say excuse me when you want to chastise bad behavior. Always say excuse you, then whatever juvenile behavior you are trying to contain.
Juju
@Betty Cracker: I’d be hard pressed to choose between hiking and doing laundry. Dog sitting would be the best part.
Citizen Dave
I am over 60 and will sometimes answer our landline and my cell. Often I’m using my landline for work webex, so it’s a flash over. I do this to reverse sell the human if they sound possibly American: ” If you are an American citizen I urge you to vote every time” [end call] , or whatever message or game I feel like playing. Have only done the above message once to a young lady last week–will work on it further.
dirge
I’m guessing he’s counting on the Philippines and New Zealand to start with?
I suspect the choice of those countries has something to do with financial and/or privacy regulation, or lack thereof.
Marc
For many years we used AT&T (the phone company formerly known as Pacific Bell) for internet and phone service. The landline was bundled in for “free”, we kept our original phone number as our older relatives never got used to the concept of calling our cell numbers. We’d only answer the landline if it was someone we knew, everything else went to voicemail (including a lot of polling calls). A few years ago we switched to another internet/phone provider (Sonic.net) while keeping the same landline number. A funny thing happened, the 20 or 30 spam and polling calls we’d get daily dropped to a few per week and has stayed that way since. The change was so dramatic that we’d periodically check the landline to make sure it was still working, it always was. I’ve reached the conclusion that AT&T must be selling access to the their subscribers landlines.
Jackie
Sarah Huckabee Sanders has lowest approval rating of any Arkansas gov in over twenty years.
(I didn’t read the article; the headline was enough to make me laugh!)
https://www.rawstory.com/sarah-huckabee-sanders-has-lowest-approval-rating-of-any-arkansas-governor-over-last-20-ye/
trollhattan
We got back from a CA road trip taking us through central and parts of SoCal; thus, an opportunity to see the latest editions of “Fuck you, where’s my water?” signs from our agricultural industrial complex, along with the various dead Show Orchards along I-5. That never gets old.
Socialist Newsom is highlighted in several locations, taking away “our dam water”–a confusing meme frequently present. Old foe Pelosi features frequently–OTOH I didn’t see any Diane Feinstein signage, implying they’ve been scrubbing some old favorite foes. “Cranston, where’s our dam water?”
What they don’t wish you to know are 1. federal and state water projects has 100% allocations this year after our record wet winter, very different from the prior three-year historic drought and 2. state water contractors pay the actual cost, explaining why it’s overwhelmingly municipal, while federal contractors are mostly ag and are receiving subsidized water, nickels on the dollar, the actual price paid they try top keep under wraps. People might get pissed if they knew about this particular giveaway.
As to Newsom, given he doesn’t have any say as to federal water allocations, I’m not sure how his socialist ways are interfering with all those almonds. Jerry Brown, however, signed legislation giving the state control of our many groundwater basins which, by mid next decade, will have to be managed in a sustainable way. Meaning: Big Ag will no longer be allowed to overdraft them to keep all those orchards viable over a multiyear drought. Perhaps they’ll go for Fiji water instead.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
gvg
@Ohio Mom: Well, one thing they really need to do is crack down on phone solicitation and fraud. The Do not call list worked for a decade plus but it hasn’t in a long time. Phone calls including foreign ones from fraudsters beyond the reach of our law enforcement are a huge problem and nobody is obeying the do not call law. I don’t want to answer the phone because when I get old and senile it might be someone trying to cheat me out of my money. So, I establish the habit now of not answering.
I don’t know how, but they need to get things under control again so that phones aren’t so bad to answer. Sometimes I’d like to get a call from a doctor or dentist about a cancellation so I could have a better time, or a real call from my car mechanic.
Somehow we need to make it cost more for the million robocalls to sell 5 gadgets a day companies and the foreign scammers that are overseas just so they can’t be arrested for fraud. I presume they do it to other countries too.
JaySinWA
@mrmoshpotato: I seem to remember an SNL skit from back in the day when Reagan was in decline. They had him babbling in front of the public and then snapping out of it as soon as the doors closed to plot the next nefarious scheme.
Would they do the same for Biden today?
gvg
@cain: Awhile back, the brilliant (sarcasm) fraud people had spoofs that used your own phone number. Your phone can’t block itself but most people thought it was fishy and noticed.
coin operated
One of my favorite iPhone features is where unknown calls (as in…not in your contacts list) are silenced and sent straight to voicemail.
I understand this might not work for everyone, but I love it.
trollhattan
@JaySinWA:
“President Reagan, Mastermind” with the incomparable Phil Hartman as the Gipper. It was certainly not intended to enhance the man but rather, to ironically show his obvious decline by contrast.
mrmoshpotato
@JaySinWA:
Probably not, because, you see, Reagan was a fucking bastard.
Soprano2
@trollhattan: I’m 62, but I keep getting calls to buy Medicare supplemental policies. Unfortunately, I’ve had times when I’ve had to answer numbers that show up as unknown because I was having work done on the house. A few times I told those Medicare things that I wasn’t eligible for Medicare; they hang up right away. They keep calling me back from different numbers, so I just don’t answer at all. I don’t bother blocking them, because they never use the same number twice. My phone ID’s most of them as potential spam, anyway.
Jay
So, if y’all don’t pick up calls from an unknown number,……..
how will you know that the call is coming from inside the house?
evodevo
@Jackie: Yep…we don’t email anybody…if you have a package at the PO, there will be a printed notice attached to your regular mail in your box. This scam has been going on for years now…we don’t usually call anyone, either, unless we personally know them. (Mail carrier at small PO, here)
mrmoshpotato
@trollhattan: Never knew about that skit. That was great.
Soprano2
@gvg: I am so, so happy that my husband never answers the phone at home unless it’s someone he knows. He wasn’t amenable to being taken by scams before, but it’s hard to know how he would respond in the future.
catclub
Less dramatic than you might hope.
1. she is a woman.
2. Approval is rare. Biden probably has ‘lowest approval rating for president in economic good times.’ Once you get 90+% disapproval from half the electorate, getting approval above 50% is hard. It used to be different.
catclub
You know, if they went back to tolls on every call, that would fix this problem. Any takers? Better solution is: pay me when I answer the phone.
Kayla Rudbek
@Marc: I swear that AT&T is doing a similar thing to email addresses. My original email provider was bought out by AT&T and I am having to block at least 10 spam emails a day on the att.com account. They appear to have no blocking of spam at all on their end unless you sign up to use their app. I should probably file a complaint with the FCC about it.
brantl
@WaterGirl: one of the problems with the secret ballot is that if you have no credible polling, you don’t know if you’ve been had, or not.
Gravenstone
@Geo Wilcox: “Speak or die!”
/silence
Die it is!
/block
Gravenstone
@gvg: I’ve gotten my own number, once. Also gotten 000-000-0000. Yeah, I’m just dying to answer that one…
Jinchi
I think you might have missed a great oppotunity to get advice from your future self.
David
@Juju: My wife has no car nor does she know how to drive and yet she gets calls to extend her car warranty !