Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

When I was faster i was always behind.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Thursday Morning Open Thread: ‘Sharing Is Caring’ Edition

Thursday Morning Open Thread: ‘Sharing Is Caring’ Edition

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  4. 4.

    Baud

    It’s impossible to predict whether we’ll prevail, but I really like how Dems today are standing up to the haters.* You can’t control the future, but you can control whether you respect and believe in yourself.

    * I credit Balloon Juice for starting the trend.

  13. 13.

    Soprano2

    Good morning. I’m getting ready to go to our office safety meeting. We have two, one for the field people and one for the office, because it finally occurred to someone that me learning about how to check if a dump truck has any safety problems isn’t a particularly productive use of my time. Plus, I finally got caught up on my CCTV’s, so today I’m going to clean out my e-mail box (I haven’t gone thru it since last February, pray for me) and then maybe clean my office. I’ve been going all-out to get caught up so everything else has suffered. I’m not sure how I got behind in the first place, but I definitely need to prevent it from happening again!

  14. 14.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud:  We have to prevail.  We just must.

    Agreed re the political climate has changed, in our favor, I think.

    The media is a lagging indicator; they are too indebted to their owners and GOP sources.  And many are brittle (thank you, Kay) and incurious status quo types.  Have never seen them sink so low, and offer up such superficiality.

  15. 15.

    Ohio Mom

    @catclub: He’s counting voting for Trump in the primary, which in his view, was the most important vote.

    He may have a point there, if a candidate doesn’t win the primaries, they aren’t winning anything else.

  16. 16.

    TBone

    OT I am a stubborn mule focusing on how to get annoying, deplorable people to STFU and since sharing is caring, have a heaping helping:

    “You wouldn’t be trying to regulate my uterus IF IT FIRED BULLETS!”

  18. 18.

    Baud

    @Elizabelle:

    We have to prevail.  We just must.

     
    Sure. But the future doesn’t care about that. We know from experience that voters are unreliable. That doesn’t mean they will fail us, but they could. All we can do is believe in ourselves and do the work.

  19. 19.

    Jeffro

    The two trump clips from last night say it all (paraphrasing):

    “I overturned Roe v Wade and I’m proud of it…it was a miracle”

    “Hell yes I took money from China while president…it was for ‘services’ ”

    We’re gonna run that shit 24/7 on a loop all year long, Republicans.  Best of luck!

  24. 24.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Here’s a feel good story to warm the cockles of your heart:

    ‘Soul-warming’: the mystery man who chops wood to keep his neighbors from freezing

    “Winter is here,” declares the woodsman, a broad-shouldered man in a black-and-gray checked wool shirt and navy denim Carhartt overalls as he sharpens his orange chainsaw. Hanging from his neck is a medallion that reads “St Christopher protect us”– a gift from a red-carpet-level comedian who once collaborated with him on a theater project.

    The woodsman, who requested anonymity, is an accomplished director, writer and producer with several popular film and TV credits on his IMDb page. But he now devotes much of his time to supplying his struggling – and sometimes freezing – neighbors with free firewood.

    Think of him as a cross between Paul Bunyan and Banksy. He delivers seasoned hardwoods like birch, oak and his favorite, maple (“burns hot, burns clean”) often to elderly people, the ill, or both. Though he is quick with a quip, his soft voice hardens when discussing America’s insufficient safety net: “Heat in the winter,” he said. “It’s a human right.”
    …………………………
    At the appointed time, (Rosa) Parks and her caregiver stopped by. “She looked diminutive, elderly,” he said, “with a nice sweater set.” She seemed a bit uncomfortable, though, and asked whether the air conditioning was on. He quickly offered to shut it off, which palpably pleased her. Her fragility touched him.

    “This is someone I read about in school and textbooks. But when you see someone like that, and the observation is trite, but she’s a real person and she looks like my grandmother or someone’s grandmother, it just inspired me to think that I can’t do what she did.”

    He chewed on that for a moment. “But anyone can do something, right?”

  25. 25.

    p.a.

    As I’ve pointed out to the tRump zombies, he was a Democrat, and he was a piece of shit then.  He was Reform Party, and he was a piece of shit then.  He was Independent: piece of shit.  Only when he became a Republican piece of shit did he find a constituency  degenerate enough to elect him to any position of authority.  And the position was President!

  26. 26.

    Geminid

    @TBone: I really like how Jaime Raskin chose not to run for Ben Cardin’s Senate seat this year. He would have been the favorite, I think. Raskin knew he could do valuable work in the House and that “moving up” was not as important to him.

  29. 29.

    NotMax

    Repeating from a late night thread.

    Another diesel weasel getting slammed. To the proposed tune of $2,000,000,000.

    The Justice Department, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), California Air Resources Board (CARB) and California Attorney General’s Office today released the details of a proposed settlement with diesel engine maker Cummins Inc. for alleged violations of the Clean Air Act and California law. Beyond agreeing to pay a $1.675 billion civil penalty – the largest ever assessed in a Clean Air Act case – Cummins has agreed to spend more than $325 million to remedy the violations, which included the use of software “defeat devices” that circumvented emissions testing and certification requirements. Source

  32. 32.

    TBone

    @Geminid: I said to someone here yesterday (in the middle of the night, really) that I love the people that do the work.  He’s a true American hero and mensch for the ages.

  34. 34.

    TBone

    @OzarkHillbilly: new theme for today:  everyone can do something, no matter how small.  I have a Howard Zinn quote around here somewhere to share in that regard.  Lemme look…

    TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
    What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
    And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.

    Howard Zinn

  35. 35.

    Kay

    Democrats have outperformed Trump/MAGA in the last three national elections. That’s the trend. I don’t know why political media ignore actual performance these days, seemingly preferring their own insular evaluation of what “Americans” believe, but those are the facts. If MAGA/Trump were as popular as political media believe, MAGA/Trump would win more elections and outperform Democrats.

  36. 36.

    Jeffro

    @gene108: when he called them a cult to their face and added “and you don’t even know how you got here“…

    …I fell over and died, right there.

  37. 37.

    mrmoshpotato

    I’m a lifelong republican, and 3x Trump voter. Jamie Raskin a liberal Dem from Maryland, and in my view he pretty much sums up EXACTLY what’s happened to our party, and it only took him 20 seconds to do so. We’re done as a party if Trump’s the nominee.

    Voted for a racist, fascistic conman three times?  And no one tell him about his party’s history for the past 40+ years.  His head might explode.

  38. 38.

    Jeffro

    I did not know but Moskowitz actually wore a ‘Smurf’ tie yesterday (in response to an earlier insult by Comer) LOLOLOLOLOLOL

  41. 41.

    Kay

    Adam Serwer says media ignore MAGA underperformance – an interesting political story – because “you can’t outvote the Volk” – Republican voters are more American than anyone else so their votes count more.

    I agree with him.

  43. 43.

    Betty Cracker

    What an asset Raskin is! His ability to cut through the bullshit and tell the plain truth rivals Kay’s! 😊

    I hope 3X Trump voter Henlein’s tweet proves prophetic. Because no matter how great Dems are, we’re a two-party system, and this nation will be desperately unhealthy as long as one of those two parties fails in its commitment to democracy and sound governance. We can’t go on like this indefinitely.

  48. 48.

    Bupalos

    @TBone: I’ll give a related suggestion for folks that don’t have woods and aren’t going to be firing up chainsaws for any reason less urgent than Ted Cruz showing up at their door: plan a switch to a heatpump, and earmark your savings to support someone else’s switch!

    If the administration can just put their fucking foot on the accelerator on HEEHRA, it can be half-price or free any day now. Start your research and planning now.

  50. 50.

    Elizabelle

    @Kay:  And he lost the popular vote on that one!  Only the fucking Electoral College put TIFG over the “top.”

  51. 51.

    Baud

    Via reddit, the economy sucks too.

    ‘It is historic’: US poised to see record drop in yearly homicides despite public concern over crime
    The year is expected to end with over 2,000 fewer murders than in 2022

  54. 54.

    Kay

    @Elizabelle:

    The MAGA “movement” – the politicians who are Trump cultists – also have a shitty record of winning elections.

    If you read political punditry and never looked at election results would you know this?

  55. 55.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @NotMax:

    the violations, which included the use of software “defeat devices” that circumvented emissions testing and certification requirements.

    Sounds accidental. Totally unintentional.

    I feel like this isn’t the first time a manufacturer installed a device to cheat on emissions tests. Didn’t VW get busted on that a few years back?

  57. 57.

    Elizabelle

    @Geminid:  Yes.  Although:  I don’t think the statue turned out that well!  That sculptor has done much better work.

    Do think of that.  Even yesterday, out driving.  “There’s the western end of Monument Avenue.  Which has … Arthur Ashe!”

    Arthur Ashe was a superb human being.

  58. 58.

    Elizabelle

    @Kay:  They should replace the political writers with sportswriters.

    People who know how to follow records; are not innumerate.  The “show me” types.

    It would save us from effing Politico colonizing the whole media sphere.  And the FTF NY Times US political desk is standing atop a pedestal of toilet paper.

    I have been wondering for a while:  why should I believe the NY Times on foreign reporting?  I have seen what they put out, domestically …

  62. 62.

    Bupalos

    @Kay: If I were to ever leave the western reserve it would be for Minnesota or Wisconsin. I’m trying to get my daughter to become an anchor baby for me at Carleton or in Madison.

  63. 63.

    Spanky

    @Kay:

    Republican voters are more American than anyone else so their votes count more.

    I agree with him.

    Fortunately, (most) Boards of Election disagree.

  65. 65.

    TBone

    @OzarkHillbilly: I had to give up coffee while I’m on steroids so ??? I’m a little slow on the uptake today.  Pls explain.  OH!  Never mind (Emily Littella voice).  You’re not the redheaded stepchild whose mom dresses him funny!

  68. 68.

    Kay

    Business Insider parent company Axel Springer told Puck News on Wednesday that Bill Ackman was “completely losing it” amid the hedge fund manager’s attempts to pressure the company into disavowing a Business Insider article that revealed his wife’s plagiarism.
    After Ackman helped oust Harvard University President Claudine Gay from her position this month with claims that Gay had engaged in plagiarism, Business Insider revealed that Ackman’s wife Neri Oxman had “plagiarized some passages” in her own dissertation.
    Following a barrage of complaints from Ackman over the report, Axel Springer announced on Sunday that it had decided to review the article, despite, as CNN reported, “acknowledging that the veracity of the outlet’s reporting appeared to be sound.”

    The anti woke ninnies get caught up in these “snake eats own tail” knots all the time because anti woke theory is dumb and poorly thought out, but this is the best one I’ve ever seen.
    Ackerman is now threatening the board members of Business Insider because BI published a (true) story about his celebrity wife. Cancel culture!

  69. 69.

    Elizabelle

    @TBone:  That’s a wonderful quote.

    Living compassionately and with hope, in defiance of the times.  Again, the Ukrainians show the light in the darkness there.

  74. 74.

    Kay

    This will be the next positive trend:

    Last year, cities across the US saw either slight dips or relatively small increases in rent thanks to more new builds and a greater supply of available units, making it harder for landlords to raise prices. According to the Wall Street Journal, that same driver will likely keep rent from jumping too much these next 12 months as well, with many data companies and real estate firms projecting total rent growth to be in the low single digits in 2024. “This is definitely in line with what we’re seeing in Zillow’s data,” McDonald adds. “Our latest rent report shows a trend toward modest rent increases, mostly in the low single digits.”

    That’s for renters. I think property insurance keeps going up for owners though. I don’t think they can hold premiums the same with more severe weather events and property damage.

  76. 76.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    “Politico’s Erica Orden, at the courthouse for the conclusion or Trump’s civil fraud trial, says proceedings were delayed this morning due to a bomb threat at Judge Engoron’s home.” via Southpaw on Blue Sky

  78. 78.

    TBone

    Remembering John Cole’s use for the acronym OJ, I am now thinking of Juliette Lewis in the movie ‘The Other Sister.’ Olive Juice!

  81. 81.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: The national press and their bosses for the most part have been conditioned to believe that Republicans are the serious adults who rein in the worst impulses of Democrats, who are the high-spending irresponsible teenagers who want everything even if we can’t afford it. They’re having a hard time changing that picture, because it’s what they’ve been taught all their lives. You know how there’s studies that even in the face of overwhelming evidence that their beliefs are factually wrong people will double down on their incorrect beliefs and cling to them even tighter? I think that’s part of what we’re seeing with the national press; when they were young they learned that Republicans are the sober, serious adults in the room who make sure things don’t get too out of control, and no matter how much evidence they see that it’s definitely not true anymore because now it’s the Republicans who are the crazy, out-of-control ones, they refuse to give up their beliefs. “It’s gotta be this way, I’ve heard it my whole life so it must be true” is what they think. That’s the best explanation I can think of for why they continue in the face of overwhelming evidence to believe Republicans are the serious ones. Nominating TFG should have broken that, but for some reason it didn’t

    ETA – This, and the fact that they still believe that the white man is the “average, regular” voter and white men overwhelmingly support Republicans no matter how crazy they are.

  82. 82.

    Soprano2

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: We had a tow truck company here where the owner got busted for it. He had a big towing company, now he’s in federal prison and the company is up for sale, all because he got a mechanic (who pled guilty) to alter his tow trucks so that the emission control stuff didn’t work. He said he had to do that, it was the only way he could make money. *rolleyes* If that’s true, they’d better start checking all the tow truck companies!

  83. 83.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: I love it when karma actually happens to one of these people. They think they’re above it, that even if they did make a mistake they excoriate others for it’s OK because of who they are.

  86. 86.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    To go from “I’m for radical transparency! I will bankroll inquiries into all professors because the truth must be revealed!” and then turn on a dime to whining about a newspaper article and demanding reporters be fired is just such perfect anti woke ninny behavior.

  88. 88.

    p.a.

    @Soprano2: Maybe political analysis consensus is like [damn who was it] said about scientific consensus: no one’s opinion changes; change comes one funeral at a time.

  90. 90.

    Trivia Man

    @OzarkHillbilly: kindness and empathy was your mistake.

    I definitely dont agree with everyone here all the time, I don’t  even  agree with ME 100%. But my family will drop a Faux news soundbite in conversation then refuse to engage any further. We dint talk much these days.

    Here at the ‘Juice i often find myself reflecting on my beliefs and actions and hopefully provide an occasional nugget for someone else to reflect upon.

    Next meetup in madison?

  91. 91.

    prostratedragon

    @OzarkHillbilly: Just swinging by to see whether you’d posted this. For all of us librarian fans, the story includes support that the woodsman’s efforts receive from the local librarians, under what they call “other duties as assigned.”

  92. 92.

    TBone

    @Trivia Man: olive juice is a way to shout “I love you!” while you’re in a crowd and only want your loved one to hear you.  Anyone who can read lips will see “I love you.”

  93. 93.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: I will be interested to see if Bill Maher talks about this at all on his first show of the new year. I’m sure he’ll talk about the firing, because he was on his hobby horse about it last year, but will he address Ackerman’s hissy fit about it being revealed that his wife did the exact same thing? These people think they should sit in judgment of others, and shouldn’t be judged at all. Did you ever read “Backlash”? Susan Faludi interviewed several high profile women in the conservative movement, like Phyliss Schlafly. She said they all thought of themselves as “honorary men” because it was the only way they could get around the contradiction of having a high-powered career telling women they didn’t need to have careers or anything outside of the home and children (Did you know Randall Terry’s wife was actually the driving force behind their activism?) They thought they were different and special, that they were able to have high-powered careers because of their specialness but the average woman couldn’t. It was mind-bending.

  94. 94.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Soprano2:

    You know how there’s studies that even in the face of overwhelming evidence that their beliefs are factually wrong people will double down on their incorrect beliefs and cling to them even tighter? I think that’s part of what we’re seeing with the national press; when they were young they learned that Republicans are the sober, serious adults in the room who make sure things don’t get too out of control, and no matter how much evidence they see that it’s definitely not true anymore because now it’s the Republicans who are the crazy, out-of-control ones, they refuse to give up their beliefs. “It’s gotta be this way, I’ve heard it my whole life so it must be true” is what they think.

    I think you’re right, but it’s their fucking job to report the facts as they are, and a fundamental skepticism and re-examining of assumptions is an integral part of that job.

    It’s not my job, but I’m weeks away from turning 70 so few of them have been exposed to this world view any longer than I have, and yet I’ve managed to see that it isn’t true anymore and hasn’t been for some time.  After Newt and Shrub and the Teabaggers and the repeated government shutdowns and debt ceiling crises that they instigated, let alone Donald Fucking Trump, you’d think this would be obvious to anyone whose job involved having to pay attention to the news.

    Perhaps it was hard to see in the 1990s because Clinton wasn’t exactly an adult himself, and in the aughts because the Dems were still afraid of their own shadows and being the Scared Rabbit Party all too often.

    But Obama was always the adult in the room, and ever since the disastrous 2010 midterms, the GQP was always the kid playing with matches.  And from 2017 on, playing with torches.  And from 2020 on, willing to overthrow our entire system of government.  As Josh Marshall says, January 6, 2021 isn’t really over yet.  (And won’t be until they lose this election AND Trump is incarcerated.)

    At this point, the people of the media who can’t get rid of that picture in their heads are doing the equivalent of getting hit over the head over and over again, and somehow being oblivious to it.

    Sorry about the rant, what you’re saying is almost certainly the truth.  But it’s a crime against the First Amendment that it’s so.

  95. 95.

    Soprano2

    @p.a.: This could be right. As the ones my age who grew up watching race riots, wars and protests on TV die out, they’ll be replaced with people who have a completely different viewpoint. Maybe.

  97. 97.

    lowtechcyclist

    @p.a.:

    Maybe political analysis consensus is like [damn who was it] said about scientific consensus: no one’s opinion changes; change comes one funeral at a time.

    That was one nice thing about being in mathematics: either that theorem’s been proven, or it’s still a conjecture.

  98. 98.

    Soprano2

    @lowtechcyclist: You’d think they would have noticed it by now, wouldn’t you? Some of them have, and have changed their reporting somewhat to reflect reality, and yet we still have a significant number of them whitewashing the batshit crazy things many Republicans say now. For example, look at what they say about abortion. How much attention do the words that actually come out of their mouths get as opposed to the rhetoric they babble to reporters? They’ve been saying the same lies about abortion to reporters for 50+ years while saying other things to their supporters, yet the reporters for the most part still dutifully type up the lies they’re telling as if it’s the truth.

  100. 100.

    2liberal

    There is a new floater in my eye, and some intermittent flashing about the edge.  The intertubes say possible  a retina is in the process of detaching.  Heading in to see my eye care providers in a few.  Wish me luck,  please!

  102. 102.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Omnes Omnibus: Hope doesn’t mean naive belief.

    I like Dana Houle’s pinned tweet

    “Hopefulness…is adversarial. It is the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism.” Nick Cave

    Cynicism on the other hand becomes an excuse to do nothing.

  104. 104.

    Tom Levenson

    @Bupalos:  Whoooeee…Minnesota/Wisconsin winters would be a deal breaker for me.

    MA can hit you with a pretty good freezing season, though ever more rarely as the Chinese Hoax persists. But that Arctic cold in the upper Midwest is beyond me.

  106. 106.

    TBone

    @2liberal: that happened to me, and it’s frightening.  It turned out ok though, but getting to the eye doc immediately is paramount.  I hope for the best for outcome for you.

  108. 108.

    Jackie

    A bit of comic relief at Faux and Friends expense: Link to the clip is below if you want to see their dejected faces.

    The hosts of “Fox & Friends” appeared deflated on Thursday after watching yet another day of chaos among House Republicans.

    After witnessing still more public rebellions against Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), despite the fact that he has only been on the job for fewer than three months, co-host Steve Doocy lamented the current state of the House GOP.

    “The Republican side in the House are in such disarray,” he said. “The speaker of the House is hanging onto his job by a thread… it takes just one for a motion to vacate, that’s what happened to Kevin McCarthy.”

    This prompted co-host Ainsley Earhardt to express anguish about what’s happening among House Republicans.

    “Please say they’re not going down that route again,” she said.

    “They might,” said a dejected Brian Kilmeade. “Chip Roy says they might.”

    “They didn’t change that rule, the motion to vacate?” Earhardt asked.

    “They didn’t,” replied Doocy.

    “That’s crazy!” Earhardt explained. “Why would they do that? We’re in a presidential election year!”

    “They just want to make sure they aren’t in the majority next election,” said Kilmeade.

    https://www.rawstory.com/fox-and-friends-2666930470/

    I snort laughed at Kilmeade’s matter of factness. I hope TIFG watched 😁

  114. 114.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Soprano2:

    That’s the best explanation I can think of for why they continue in the face of overwhelming evidence to believe Republicans are the serious ones.

    It’s a topic of frequent discussion here, and I certainly think ‘white men are Americans and everyone else is a special interest’ is part of it.  Still, when someone from inside the system who’s gotten sick of it talks about their experience, what they almost always say is it’s ego.  The national press believe that they are Savvy, the outsider expert observers who truly understand the game.  If you choose one side over the other you are not a disinterested, smartest person in the room type.  So, both sides are equal.  Period.  Both sides are legitimate.  Period.  Believing anything else makes you a chump.  Fill in individual pundit’s preferred explanation for why they’re equal.

    As a side effect, only the game is important, not how it affects real people.  If policy has any value at all, it’s only in how it affects elections.  Since Democrats are all gung-ho about policy and don’t like lying, cheating, and other unscrupulous attempts to win, both parties may be equal, but Democrats are a little less equal.

    It’s surely not that simple, but I have to say, that explanation fits 90% of what we see.

  118. 118.

    schrodingers_cat

    OT I think I told you guys this I scored a whole set of FaberCastell’s Albrecht Durer Watercolor pencils for less than half their retail price on Amazon. Only a couple pencils have been used. They arrive today. I am so excited.

  122. 122.

    TBone

    Meant to reply to Schrodinger’s Cat, oops. Mom sent me into the future with an IRL name that means brave, bold warrior.  She was a remedial reading teacher (Master’s Degree) and taught me to read at age 3 while she studied and worked as a waitress putting herself thru U. of Penn.  Relentless. I was her practice model.

  123. 123.

    Soprano2

    @Omnes Omnibus: Oh yeah those things are great, but what really changed my winter experience for the better was being able to remotely start my car. Also, ask me how happy I am that I have a gas furnace now instead of wood.  Starting on Saturday, the highs are forecast as 21°, 8º, 7°, 11°. On Wednesday, a balmy 34°. Going outside several times a day to stoke up a wood furnace under those temperature conditions is not fun.

  128. 128.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Today in “No shit Sherlock,”

    A total of 44 of the 50 US states worsen inequality by making the wealthy pay a lesser share of their income in taxes than lower income people, a new analysis has found.

    State and local tax regimes are “upside-down”, the new research finds, with weak or non-existent personal income taxes in many states allowing richer Americans to avoid tax. A reliance on sales and excise taxes, considered regressive because they disproportionately impact the poor, has helped fuel this inequality, according to the report.
    ……………………
    Only six states, plus the District of Columbia, have tax systems that reduce inequality rather than worsen it, with the poorest fifth of people paying a tax rate 60% higher, on average, than the top 1% of households.

    The super-wealthy are treated particularly lightly by the tax system, with the top 1% paying less than every other income group across 42 states. In most states, 36 in all, the poorest residents are taxed at a higher rate than any other group.

    The most regressive states in terms of taxation are, in order, Florida, Washington, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Nevada. The least regressive jurisdictions are DC, Minnesota, Vermont, New York and California.

    Find your state here.

    I say we eat the rich. With enough ketchup even they can be choked down.

  131. 131.

    snoey

    @Soprano2: That is different than what Cummins and VW did. They installed software (legally termed devices) that detected that the engine was being tested and altered it’s tuning to run cleaner than it normally did.

    The tow company and others were caught ripping out basic pollution controls and turning trucks into  coal rolling pigs.

  136. 136.

    Soprano2

    @Omnes Omnibus: Sooooooooooooo happy! Every time I come home and the house is warm, I still marvel at it. I’ve lived like a pioneer woman for 34 years! You’ve gotta understand, until last year it was bearable because hubby would build a fire during the day, so the house would mostly stay warm. Last year, though, he sat on the couch all day underneath blankets rather than building a fire, so when I came home around 4:00 the house would be cold, sometimes as low as 50°. Then I’d have to build a fire, and it would take 2-3 hours for the house to warm up. It was an untenable situation, because hubby wasn’t going to build fires anymore and actually he shouldn’t be doing that now. Plus, we’re too old to be going up and down the basement stairs literally thousands of times in a winter. It’s not safe.

  141. 141.

    coin operated

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    Yes…thousands of VW TDI diesels were found to have software designed to defeat emissions tests

    @Soprano2:

    We had a tow truck company here where the owner got busted for it. He had a big towing company, now he’s in federal prison and the company is up for sale, all because he got a mechanic (who pled guilty) to alter his tow trucks so that the emission control stuff didn’t work. He said he had to do that, it was the only way he could make money. *rolleyes* If that’s true, they’d better start checking all the tow truck companies!

    What I didn’t see in the article is if Cummins is required to install software that will defeat aftermarket programmers, which I’m certain that this tow truck mechanic was using. I have a 2004 Ram 3500…there are at least 10 different programmers I can buy that will alter the fuel injection, timing, and emissions profile of my engine by roughly 80HP (about a 20% difference).

    Minor edit to add timing as a programming feature.

  143. 143.

    catclub

    @coin operated: What I didn’t see in the article is if Cummins is required to install software that will defeat aftermarket programmers,

     

    This sounds like a Turing problem:  Defeat programs that have not yet been designed or written.

     

    The onus at that point is properly on the tow truck operator or other person who installs the illegal software.

  145. 145.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Anyway: It started with a cake saver box and sushi trays. Now its a book case and some drawers. A desk and a drafting table. I am rearranging my office to make room for everything

    I am thinking of reviving my blog to share my art exploits and political rants.

  150. 150.

    Spanky

    @lowtechcyclist:

    p.a.: Maybe political analysis consensus is like [damn who was it] said about scientific consensus: no one’s opinion changes; change comes one funeral at a time.

    I thought it was Niels Bohr, but it turns out to have been Max Planck. I’m sure you’ll understand my confusion.

  156. 156.

    3Sice

    I watched Moneyball….

    poblano and those sort of predictive numerologists sell the perception of control.

    Demonstrated results don’t matter, they spread some numbers bull over the feelz and on we go.

    Sports “journalism” is now rife with junk statistics – mostly they’re hawking sports book apps.

  157. 157.

    coin operated

    @catclub:

    This sounds like a Turing problem:  Defeat programs that have not yet been designed or written.

    I deal with custom ASICs in my data center on a daily basis.  If you encrypt the source software and harden the ECMs designed to run it, you come as close to negating this issue as humanly possible.

    The only barrier at this point is money, and the MBA class managing places like Cummins won’t stand for that.

  159. 159.

    narya

    @frosty: Pierce worked at the Boston Phoenix, and Thompson’s big breakout was the book about the Hell’s Angels, but yes, both have done sportswriting. Pierce is one of the people who keeps me sane; his weekly newsletter to subscribers is an even deeper dive into politics and history, and it’s always interesting.

  162. 162.

    narya

    Holy crap–the 5th Circuit (yes, THAT crazy pants 5th Circuit) decided that tasing causes injury, the officer didn’t give the driver time to comply, and a traffic stop was pre textual, i.e., no qualified immunity.

  164. 164.

    narya

    @Baud: Graves, Higgenson, and Ho–HO wrote the opinion

    ETA: I’m a little sad that I know anything about the circuit or the judges.

  167. 167.

    Urza

    @Anyway: More people will be stupid and invest in the NFT precursor that still has absolutely no real world use as a currency due to its highly volatile nature.  It is now purely a vehicle for gambling, I mean investing.  It is however not a bad time to invest as its likely to go up quite a bit with this announcement, just be sure not to stay on the ride to long.

  169. 169.

    narya

    @TBone: One of the best comments (on Bluesky): “same circumstances, but a pregnant woman leaving the state for an abortion.”

  170. 170.

    coin operated

    @snoey: See my reply at #157. Same problem, on steroids…

    Delete is well known in diesel circles…but in almost all cases requires modifying the ECM to deal with the changes made to the engine.

    Cummins (and other manufacturers) could make this extremely difficult to do if they spent a little money on securing the software and ECM. They won’t do it…

  171. 171.

    catclub

    @Anyway: 1. Exchange traded Products = ETP

    Exchange traded Fund = ETF

    I think the difference between them is inconsequential to the average investor.

    2. The have allowed an ETP with Bitcoin inside.

     

    Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency that is NOT considered a security but instead is considered a commodity for regulation purposes.

     

    Putting other cryptocurrencies into an ETF or ETP is still frowned upon.

  172. 172.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Kay: I wonder what other ideas Bill’s wife has stolen? I wonder because Bill sure does seem to be freaking the fuck out. Thanks for calling our attention to your lying, cheating wife’s shitty behavior, Bill! :)

  173. 173.

    catclub

    @coin operated: They won’t do it…

     

    But they will put in the effort to make it impossible for a non-dealer mechanic to work on it.

     

    Right to repair here we come.

  174. 174.

    Elizabelle

    @narya:

    LOL.  Am so conditioned to expect the worst from the ignominous 5th Circuit that I first read your comment as

    “taxing causes injury.”

    Good to see them issue a sane ruling every now and then.

  176. 176.

    coin operated

    @catclub:

    Right to repair = reading the output from the ECM to diagnose a problem. Car makers were not willing to publish the codes the ECM would throw. Complete bullshit, in my opinion.

    That said, I think of these as separate issues. Repair != modify

  178. 178.

    coin operated

    @Jackie: and in doing so, MTG will surpass the number of ballot rounds needed to elect McCarthy by a 3:1 margin.

    What a shitshow….

  180. 180.

    2liberal

    @2liberal:

    There is a new floater in my eye, and some intermittent flashing about the edge.  The intertubes say possible  a retina is in the process of detaching.  Heading in to see my eye care providers in a few.  Wish me luck,  please!

     

    It’s  all good,  false alarm. Not even any lasers.  Just a natural result of turning into a grumpy old guy.

  183. 183.

    Kay

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    It was clear he is a nutcase right from the beginning, so I’m not suprised.

    Billionaires really haven’t benefitted from being so high profile and politically active – we never would have known they’re all crazy people if they had just stayed in their lane. Before we only saw their giant tacky houses and yachts. Now we get to know them. Yuck.

  189. 189.

    Geoduck

    I do cast aspersions on the idea that the “far left” in America has a robust and active media platform. Most people wouldn’t know Amy Goodman or Noam Chomsky if they tripped over them.

  191. 191.

    Scout211

    @2liberal: That happened to me a few years back, after office hours. The after hours nurse told me to go to the ER, which I did. They had to consult with an ophthalmologist, which took a couple of hours.  Finally I was home about midnight and saw the ophthalmologist the next day. He told me a retinal detachment (as opposed to a vitreous detachment) will be like a dark curtain falling on your vision.  That was good to know.

    With the vitrious detachment, expect a few days of many new floaters, like a lot.  Some may even affect your vision a bit.  But that goes away and then you just have the regular amount of floaters.

    I’m glad it turned out for you.

  192. 192.

    Paul in KY

    @Tom Levenson: I work with a guy who contracted for years up in Minneapolis. Boy, did he have some Winter stories! Sometimes snow so high that there were basically tunnels that led into buildings and stuff like that.

  194. 194.

    Geminid

    @coin operated: There is Right to Repair legislation moving through this Congress. One bill relating to agriculture equipment could get attached to the 5-year Farm Bill that will pass before too long. Freshman Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is one of the sponsors.

  195. 195.

    Paul in KY

    @Soprano2: Need to have a battery warmer that you can wrap around the battery and then have an extension cord running to power. Makes all the difference in the world, when your car has to be in 20 degree or below weather for a long period of time.

  196. 196.

    Brachiator

    @lowtechcyclist:

    I think you’re right, but it’s their fucking job to report the facts as they are, and a fundamental skepticism and re-examining of assumptions is an integral part of that job.

    As far as I can tell, most newspaper publishers and their editors are the Establishment and happily represent the Establishment. But they vary greatly in their commitment to fairness. And in the past, the top newspapers at least leaned towards fairness.

    In Los Angeles, for example, the Herald Examiner was owned by plutocrats, the Hearst family, but generally covered the news fairly. The upper class went nuts when Otis Chandler became publisher of the Los Angeles Times and hired editors and reporters who turned the newspaper into a legitimate and even slightly left leaning news enterprise.

    As far as reporters go, even some of the “best” tend more towards cynicism than skepticism. This makes them unreliable. They no longer care about the facts and willingly suck up to the rich and powerful.

  197. 197.

    Paul in KY

    @snoey: To me, The Cummins/VW chicanery is worse, as it took a whole lot of planning & engineering to fix that (plus it being much harder to catch than the barbarians with their rolling coal trucks).

  199. 199.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @prostratedragon:

    For all of us librarian fans, the story includes support that the woodsman’s efforts receive from the local librarians, under what they call “other duties as assigned.”

    I sent the Guardian article to my niece who lives in Woodstock. She works at a bookstore and she works with the librarian in the article, Hollie, to plan events. Hollie is a treasure in her community.

  200. 200.

    rikyrah

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Cynicism on the other hand becomes an excuse to do nothing.

     

    clap clap clap clap

     

    Especially that know-it-all, wrapped up in cynicism…..

    they just ‘ know everything’…….

    our naiveness….to have hope or faith…

  203. 203.

    Paul in KY

    @Geoduck: Yeah. When I read that, I was thinking ‘Pravda’ and ‘Iskra’ haven’t been dispensing the Marxist line for awhile…

  209. 209.

    rikyrah

    @prostratedragon:

    The sort of good news is that Chicago and Illinois are making some progress in creating more shelters. Siting has been an issue.

     

    We need to go gangster on these folks.

    Impound the bus. Arrest the driver.

    Impound the plane. Arrest the pilot.

    Make the charges FELONIES.

    Send them to 26th and California

    ‘ Lose’ their paperwork for a couple of days

    Inform GP of why they’re there.

     

    I don’t know about bus drivers, but, I don’t think pilots can fly with a felony conviction.

  210. 210.

    Bill Arnold

    @schrodingers_cat:

    My cat has figured out how to open door handles. Send help..

    Mine does that (1/2 Maine Coon). He attentively watched me open a door with a lever handle one day (was watching him watching, and deliberately moved slowly), and then started doing it.
    Isn’t strong enough to do exterior doors, though. (Usually, at least.)
    You’ll get used to it.

  213. 213.

    StringOnAStick

    The second phase of the raging storm that hit the Cascades two days ago is at full blow again today. We tried to go skiing but got a report from the friend ahead of us that he could only see two highway poles at a time due to whiteout winds, so we bailed and went home.  The closest ski area has most lifts on wind hold, and they clocked a 100mph gust this morning.  Good day to do other stuff; I don’t mind skiing in a storm, but whiteout winds are dangerous due to zero visibility and frost bite risk.

  215. 215.

    karen marie

    While I am happy people  are able to get “affordable” coverage through the ACA, it seems to me the record numbers are an indication that more and more people are struggling financially.

  216. 216.

    StringOnAStick

    @Bill Arnold: If our fabric chewing cat figures out the lever handles, we’ll have to change all the door knobs because that’s where anything she might nurse/chew is kept out of her reach.  Our towel racks are all placed very high, and experience has taught us about leaving anything out, especially clothes because if they smell like us, she really wants to nurse/chew those.  Fortunately she is the less intelligent of the two, and isn’t likely to figure out the lever handles.  She’s a very sweet and cuddly lady though, so it’s a minor inconvenience in order to have her sweet presence.

  217. 217.

    Geminid

    @rikyrah: The Martha’s Vineyard migrant case is still crawling therough the Bexar County, Texas justice system. Bexar Sheriff Salazar said he sent the DA charges for two people who recruited migrants from San Antonio shelter for the flight to Massachusetts. That was in June, but the District Attorney’s office apparently has not acted yet.

    Sheriff Salazar was interviewed about this by 60 minutes on October 15, and several Texas news sites reported on the interview. The Sheriff was very critical of Governor DeSantis for “messing with people” in Texas.

  218. 218.

    TBone

    Lisa Rubin on MSNBC FTW.  “It’s just what he wants, I resent having to report on this dog and pony show and I hope our viewers do too.” (Paraphrased)

  220. 220.

    Quinerly

    @TBone: glad you added this. I am on my phone. Just can’t type fast enough. The coverage on MSNBC on today’s shit show is very good.

  221. 221.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @TBone:

    I just got out of class in time to hear her say that! Good for her. I’ve been really impressed with her and with Suzanne Craig’s reporting as well.

  223. 223.

    Ken

    @lowtechcyclist: either that theorem’s been proven, or it’s still a conjecture.

    So is “hypothesis” reserved for conjectures that everyone really really wants to be true? Riemann hypothesis, for one….

  224. 224.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Brachiator: I don’t think they lean towards “fairness”, so much as they lean towards “the view from nowhere” to use Jay Rosen’s famous phrasing.  IE- striving so hard for an impossible level of objectivity on all manners that ends up with journalists/newspapers/channels etc. constantly bending over backwards to avoid accusations of liberal bias.  It’s a huge part of how Trump’s bullshit became normalized and still is, even by left-of-center publications.

  226. 226.

    Lyrebird

    @TBone: ​
      Ditto on love for Rep. Raskin, and thank you, this is awesome:

    “You wouldn’t be trying to regulate my uterus IF IT FIRED BULLETS!”

    Goes right up there with the signs I’ve seen,
    “Pussy GRABS BACK!!!”

  227. 227.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Kay:

    Billionaires really haven’t benefitted from being so high profile and politically active – we never would have known they’re all crazy people if they had just stayed in their lane. Before we only saw their giant tacky houses and yachts. Now we get to know them. Yuck.

    Reminds me of this from TNG:

    Data-Graves : [from his eulogy on Graves]  I can safely say, that to know him, was to love him. And to love him, was to know him. Those who knew him, loved him, while those who did not know him, loved him from afar.

    Wesley Crusher : That was a great speech, Data. “To know him is to love him is to know him… ”

    Data-Graves : Verbal composition at its most sophisticated level. Your childlike mind cannot appreciate the time-worn wisdom of my words.

    Wesley Crusher : “Childlike mind”?

    Data-Graves : When you get to be my age, you will understand.

    Wesley Crusher : Your age? Data, chronologically, you’re not much older than I am.

    Data-Graves : Well, you are only as old as you feel. Try to remember that, boy.

  228. 228.

    Scout211

    Ewwwww!  This guy is just disgusting.  CNN live update

    Trump’s comments were similar to what he’s said in public all along during the trial and he did not criticize the judge or his clerk.

    “The facts are the financial statements are perfect, that there are no witnesses against us. The banks got all their money paid back. There were great loans,” Trump said.

    “This was a political witch hunt,” Trump added, claiming that “we should receive damages.”

    “We have a situation where I’m an innocent man I’ve been persecuted by somebody running for office and I think you have to go outside the bounds,” the former president said.

    “What’s happened here sir is a fraud on me,” Trump said. “They want to make sure that I don’t win again and this is partially election interference.”

  229. 229.

    catclub

    @Kay: Exceptions: Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.

    Gates Foundation in the news counters the history of assholishness of Microsoft under Gates.

  232. 232.

    catclub

    @Paul in KY: Need to have a battery warmer that you can wrap around the battery and then have an extension cord running to power.

     

    I had a second floor apartment and no outside outlet to run a cord to my block heater.  Also had to park on the street.  We strung the cord out the second floor window, over tree branches and then down ( over the sidewalk) to the car.  This worked fine until early one morning they were clearing snow from the sidewalks with a skid-steer and it caught the cord. Luckily the cord broke first.

  233. 233.

    TBone

    @Lyrebird: worth a watch:

    https://twitter.com/MichaelRapaport/status/1656042565450252289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1656042565450252289%7Ctwgr%5Eae62155dd0e0c8eb0139b4c31db68ea322dcdb7b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdisqus.com%2Fembed%2Fcomments%2F%3Fbase%3Ddefaultf%3Dwonkettecomt_i%3D2659985382t_u%3Dhttps3A2F2Fwww.wonkette.com2Fthis-post-does-not-have-the-e-jean-carroll-jury-verdict-in-itt_d%3D0A202020200A202020200A2020202020202020This20Post20Does20Not20Have20The20E.20Jean20Carroll20Jury20Verdict20In20It2C20Scratch20That2C20Does20Too0A202020200A202020200At_t%3D0A202020200A202020200A2020202020202020This20Post20Does20Not20Have20The20E.20Jean20Carroll20Jury20Verdict20In20It2C20Scratch20That2C20Does20Too0A202020200A202020200As_o%3Ddefaultversion%3D73cb1b48d567a22ee9e1f31979287652

  234. 234.

    Kelly

    @Soprano2: There were some emissions defeat cases in Oregon this summer. A mechanic was fined $158,000 for installing defeat devices and a exhaust shop was fined $265,000 for manufacturing pipes that fit where the catalytic converter is supposed to go.

  235. 235.

    trollhattan

    @Scout211: “This was a political witch hunt,”

    No, it was a witch witch hunt and you are a witch and I claim my prize. Excuse me while I look for kindling.

  236. 236.

    Brachiator

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    I don’t think they lean towards “fairness”, so much as they lean towards “the view from nowhere” to use Jay Rosen’s famous phrasing.  IE- striving so hard for an impossible level of objectivity on all manners that ends up with journalists/newspapers/channels etc. constantly bending over backwards to avoid accusations of liberal bias.

    Fair points. However, even though I think that the “view from nowhere” is nonsense mentioned in journalism classes, to the extent that it is valid, it represents the reporter’s perspective. Publishers and editors have their own vision of what their organizations represent.

    Previously I mentioned the Los Angeles Times. Before Otis Chandler took over, the paper was profitable and powerful, but considered to be a joke with respect to its journalism. It was a pro Establishment, pro Republican rag until Chandler made it something more. The same was true of the Washington Post when changes were made under Ben Bradlee in 1965.

    Also, the false charges about liberal bias have become a conventional wisdom that can cost you viewers and revenue. But also at play is a kind of journalistic cowardice that I don’t think that anyone can explain.

    Also, compare the journalism in the UK. There, many of the major papers are explicitly right wing, most readers know it, and they subscribe to the rag that will feed them what they want. And of course any news organization controlled by Rupert Murdoch is going to be full of lies.

  239. 239.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @MomSense:

    Jesus Christ, it’s bad:

    The state-owned Post Office maintained Horizon was reliable and accused branch managers of dishonesty. Between 2000 and 2014, around 900 postal workers were wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting, with some convicted and imprisoned and others forced into bankruptcy.

    In total, more than 2,000 people were affected by the scandal. Some killed themselves or attempted suicide. Others said that their marriages fell apart and reported becoming community pariahs.

  245. 245.

    Elizabelle

    @Brachiator:

    also at play is a kind of journalistic cowardice that I don’t think that anyone can explain.

    That is what astounds me.  They are a profession with the First Amendment specifically to protect them.

    Yet, other than Pro Publica and some other outlets, the big papers of record have places they just will not go.  Strange.

  249. 249.

    dr. luba

    @Elizabelle:

    I have been wondering for a while:  why should I believe the NY Times on foreign reporting?  I have seen what they put out, domestically …

    You shouldn’t.  Look up Walter Duranty.

  250. 250.

    Elizabelle

    @dr. luba:  The FTF NY Times’ newish editor, Joe Kahn, is a piece of work.

    It is noticeable they have discontinued reader comments on many politics stories, particularly about Biden (the old).  Reader commenters often take the spin and disinformation in a story to task.

    And:  they screen for comments.  Your pro-Biden comment may not get selected, but to look at what they put up, Times readers are frothing to replace or primary him.

    Not believable.

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