Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s not hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Not all heroes wear capes.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Republicans would impeach Biden if he bit into a whole Kit Kat rather than breaking the sections apart.

This really is a full service blog.

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

It’s the corruption, stupid.

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

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

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

It’s a doggy dog world.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / 2024 Primaries / Thursday Morning Open Thread: We’re Winning, Step By Step

Thursday Morning Open Thread: We’re Winning, Step By Step

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Also, President Joe would love doing this!
Thursday Morning Open Thread 16

If you listen, you can probably hear the MAGAts (and their Very Serious Media enablers) wailing…

And a well-deserved victory lap:
Thursday Morning Open Thread 17

Reader Interactions

111Comments

  1. 1.

    Soprano2

    I agree with b-boy – the Biden administration should do big splashy events like that to get the eyes of the press. Perhaps it should go on the road, and be done repeatedly so the press might finally actually cover it.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    Damn. You go, Schatz!

    Is he responding to a professional reporter? They should be fired if they’re going to be snarky. I’m tired of it.

  3. 3.

    Soprano2

    @Baud: Yes, she is a correspondent for CNBC. He’s right, the press has a hard time telling people the truth about who is responsible for this mess.

  4. 4.

    Betty

    @Baud: Good on him for calling out the constant reference to “Congress” by the MSM when all the dysfunction is being caused by Republicans. It is unprofessional and dishonest.

  6. 6.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Although it’s now 20 years old, this book by a former IRS employee is a great (and depressing) read and shows just how bad the Bushies were (with a compliant Congress) in further gutting the IRS over the years:

    https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/196519

    Oh, and in sad news, Mojo Nixon died.  He was a brilliant lyricist and social commentator with an obvious great sense of humor.  I never got to see him live, particularly back in the 80s when his live shows were something.

  10. 10.

    Kay

    More than 70% of Minnesota voters — including majorities across every ideological and demographic category — say they approve of the Legislature’s decision last year to provide free school meals to all students, regardless of income.
    Parents (85%), voters under age 34 (85%) and liberals (90%) were especially likely to support the policy. Conservatives (57%) and senior citizens (54%) were least likely to approve of the change.
    The data come from the latest KSTP/SurveyUSA poll of Minnesota voters. The findings come on the heels of reports that the free school meals are proving more costly than lawmakers anticipated, due in large part to greater-than-expected demand for the program.
    While Republican lawmakers have criticized the program as a giveaway to rich families, Gov. Tim Walz has remained a proud defender of it, telling MPR News in December that it’s “an investment I will defend all day.”

    The “giveaway to rich families” trope has been used against every universal public program since the beginning of time, including public schools themselves. Good for Walz for not falling for it.

  12. 12.

    Kay

    The man seen tackled by members of the vigilante group Guardian Angels in a viral Fox News clip is not a “migrant” and is from New York City, a New York Police Department spokesperson told the Associated Press.
    The information arrives after former GOP New York City mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, the group’s founder, pointed out the man as “one of the migrant guys” before members brought him to the ground during a live TV interview in Times Square with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Tuesday.
    Sliwa claimed that the man had been shoplifting before the Guardian Angels gave him “a little pain compliance,” adding that the man’s mother “back in Venezuela felt the vibrations.”
    But the man, according to an NYPD spokesperson, is from the Bronx and police didn’t have evidence to support the claim that he had been shoplifting.
    “Officers were informed that the male had repeatedly attempted to interfere with and disrupt a live television interview,” the spokesperson told NBC News, noting that the man was detained by bystanders and issued a summons.

    NYC police issued a summons not to the Guardian Angels, who assaulted this man on television as a publicity stunt for Sean Hannitty’s show for the crime of speaking Spanish, but to the man – his crime was interrupting Sean Hannity’s show.
    I hope he goes to the police station and asks why they aren’t arresting the people they have (on video) assaulting him. I’m for law and order. They need to arrest these criminals.

  13. 13.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Baud: Yes, Emily Wilkins is a DC “correspondent” for CNBC. I don’t know if she’s of the stenographer/meangirl ilk or not. I don’t do sXitter, so I don’t know what the follow-up commentary has been on that sXeet, but here’s hoping she gets buried in helpful hints and suggestions

    ETA: Soprano (and maybe others) beat me to it.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I’m for law and order.

     
    I actually do consider myself a law and order person. But that extends to police, rich people, and Republicans, so it’s not what’s recognized as law and order by most people.

    But I really detest crime. If conservativism is about keeping minorities and poor people down, crime is one of the most conservative things out there.

    Unfortunately, I think even libs have a complicated view on crime fighting.

  16. 16.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Soprano2:

    Yes, she is a correspondent for CNBC. He’s right, the press has a hard time telling people the truth about who is responsible for this mess.

    Since I clicked through to find out who she was, I broke my Xitter silence to respond to her:

    The problem isn’t Congress, it’s the GOP.

    Maybe reporters aren’t allowed to say that. But it’s a real impediment to democracy when reporters can’t report the facts that are right in front of them every day.

    Do Your Job.

    I’m sure that will have exactly zero effect on her reporting, but it still needed to be said.

  17. 17.

    Baud

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    I think it cheapens journalism as a profession for professional reporters to be cynical and snarky, and that includes any that do so to criticize Republicans. They need to stop trying to be one of the people. They should act like paid professional journalists.

  19. 19.

    trnc

    If I were a republican donor, I might try to find out which floral arrangement is owned by a party bigwig.

  20. 20.

    eclare

    I found out what the early voting period here is.  I always go to the same place, now I just decide when.

    Official primary voting day is Super Tuesday, but I always go early.

  21. 21.

    Kay

    FOX 2 (WJBK) – Michigan’s new safe storage gun law, signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in April 2023, will go into effect on Feb. 13.
    According to the safe storage bill, all Michigan gun owners with children in the home must securely lock away their firearms – with a cable lock or in a gun safe.

    I have some mixed views on the Michigan case where the mother was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for her action (and inaction) regarding a school shooter – I think the jury got it right but only because Michigan has a statutory “duty to protect” re: children, but I am 100% in favor of this safe storage law. It seems like a public safety no brainer. You can’t leave you weapons cache any old place you drop it- you have to lock it up.

  22. 22.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Kay: I hope he sues their socks off

    ETA: Did Fox learn nothing from the Dominion lawsuit? Apparently, the question to be answered is the same one in the E. Jean Carroll case: How much will it take to make them stop?

  23. 23.

    rikyrah

    @Baud:

    Not complicated for me

    I just think 90% of policing problems for Black people would be lessened

     

    If we were treated by the police like the average White man

  25. 25.

    Kay

    Should a child manage to access a firearm, the gun’s owner might be subject to a misdemeanor charge, which could entail penalties of up to $500 and a maximum of 93 days in jail. However, if the child inflicts harm upon themselves or others using the firearm, the owner can face a felony charge, fines of up to $10,000, and a prison sentence up to 15 years – particularly if the incident results in a fatality.

    This will (finally, finally) get their attention. Good on Whitmer and the Democrats in the legislature.

  28. 28.

    jonas

    @Kay:  “giveaway to rich families”

    Are they suggesting that rich people are disproportionally benefitting from …*checks notes*… free school lunches? Also, since when are Republicans opposed to using public resources to benefit rich people? It’s why their party exists.

    I suspect what they may be objecting to is that if *everyone* gets free lunch rather than just the poor kids, it’s harder for the needy kids to stick out and feel the obligatory shame and humiliation that they should for choosing to be born to poor parents.

  29. 29.

    Lapassionara

    Now that Marianne Williamson has dropped out of the presidential race, will she stop sending me those daily emails?

  30. 30.

    Baud

    @rikyrah:

    You could say that about a lot of things. Racism skews so many public policy areas. It’s a big reason why it’s so hard to have  debates on the merits of issues.

  31. 31.

    H.E.Wolf

    Step by step isn’t glamorous, but it gets things done.

    All those corny old sayings: hand to the plough, shoulder to the wheel, keep rowing to shore… are about going step by step and reaching the goal.

    Balloon Juice is full of people who are doing the work, often unheralded. It’s a great pleasure to be pitching in alongside of you.

  32. 32.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Kay:

    The “giveaway to rich families” trope has been used against every universal public program since the beginning of time, including public schools themselves. Good for Walz for not falling for it.

    And as we know, means-testing programs just makes it harder for those who qualify to receive the benefits, since they have to figure out how to jump through all the hoops that means-testing creates.

    I think it’s too much of a challenge to try to educate the general public on that point, but with any program that’s delivered through the public schools, a simple rebuttal is that most of the rich parents are sending their kids to expensive private schools, and won’t get a dime.

  34. 34.

    Kay

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Dominion and Smartmatic can fund and sustain civil litigation though. It’s expensive. The American that multi millionaire Fox News celebrities attacked for speaking Spanish probably cannot. Fox News personalities are really wealthy people – they hobnob exclusively with other wealthy people- they know which people they can shit on and which people they have to obey. The real kick in the gut is the insanely overfunded NYC police working for Sean Hannitty. Disgusting.

    This is a real fearof mine. If we get authoritarian anti majoritarian government it isn’t going to be the professional and well trained US military who turn on the citizens in service of people like Sean Hannitty- it will be police.

  36. 36.

    Baud

    @jonas:

    No. They’re objecting to feeding poor kids.

    The giveaway to rich people line is to make a liberal policy seem un-liberal.

    Republicans and their voters and allies have long tried to portray Dems as elitist, and if they can say that Dems have anything to rich people, they will.

  37. 37.

    lowtechcyclist

    @rikyrah:

    I just think 90% of policing problems for Black people would be lessened

    If we were treated by the police like the average White man

    Hell yeah. Just considering the tip of the iceberg, we’ve heard of far too many times in the past couple of decades when the cops have shot an unarmed person.  I can’t remember a single time when the victim has been white.

  38. 38.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Question for the lawyers: When does a lawsuit qualify as frivolous? Would Trump’s countersuits and demands for mistrials, etc, ever qualify?

    If I were the Supreme Court, I’ d be tired of Trump tying up my time.

  41. 41.

    eclare

    @eclare:

    Yay!  Comment went through.

    “It’s not Congress, it’s Republicans.  Don’t try to make a cute joke, do your job.”

  44. 44.

    Geminid

    @Kay: After Virginia Democrats won control of the General Assembly in the 2019 election, they passed 6 gun safety laws which Governor Northam then signed. One of them made leaving unsecured firearms in a home where children are present a criminal offense, similar to this Michigan law.

    After Republicans won back the lower house in the 2021 Youngkin wavelet, they voted to repeal 5 of these laws, but they knew better than to repeal the safe storage law. Louise Lucas’s “Brick Wall” in the Senate would have blocked them anyway.

    Ed. Now I see the Michigan law goes further than Virginia’s, with added criminal liability if the unsecured gun causes death.

  47. 47.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Lapassionara:

    Now that Marianne Williamson has dropped out of the presidential race, will she stop sending me those daily emails?

    No, because she’s just “suspended” her campaign, rather than formally dropping out.  By suspending rather than dropping out, she’s still entitled to fundraise for her (theoretically still ongoing) campaign.  So don’t expect the emails to stop.

  49. 49.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I’ve said this before but I was on a school committee and I think MN will end up saving money on administrative costs – the systems to collect the lunch money, having to go after parents for arrearages, etc. It was ludicrous. We were using school employees to chase people for $3.10 and the “peanut butter sandwich” the kids who can’t pay got is not less expensive than just feeding them what everyone else gets off the steam table. Making a special “humiliation sandwich” probably costs more than just giving them chili out of the giant pot or whatever.The admin costs are at the local level and the free lunch money is state level but MN is a very well run state- they can figure out how to show net savings (if my theory turns out to be true).

  51. 51.

    BlueGuitarist

    @H.E.Wolf:
    Thomas Paine, The Crisis:
    “up and help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel….smile in trouble…gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection”

  52. 52.

    eclare

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I would love to know how much he has cost our justice system at all levels, state, federal, civil, criminal, since he was officially declared the loser in November 2020.

  53. 53.

    Eolirin

    @Kay: It’s always enforced by the cops, yeah. We have the entire history of Jim Crow to show us what that looks like.

  54. 54.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    We waste so much money in this country trying to prevent some theoretically undeserving person from taking advantage of the system. There’s no rationality to the policy decisions. It’s all reactionary.

  55. 55.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud:

    I don’t know, but I suspect it does happen, but is less likely to make the news.

    I would expect it to make the news because white people can generally get their story heard without there having to be a big protest or anything.

  56. 56.

    trnc

    @jonas: Also, since when are Republicans opposed to using public resources to benefit rich people? It’s why their party exists.

    It’s only OK if it only benefits rich republicans, not if it also benefits “those” people.

  59. 59.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Kay:

    This is a real fearof mine. If we get authoritarian anti majoritarian government it isn’t going to be the professional and well trained US military who turn on the citizens in service of people like Sean Hannitty- it will be police.

    I think you’re absolutely right about that.

  60. 60.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    State gun laws are one way to go after it. Connecticut revamped their whole gun safety scheme after Sandy Hook and it has worked – all kinds of gun deaths and injuries have dropped. If you’re buying a 15 year old a gun because you love guns as a hobby or fashion accessory or tribal indentifier you’ll have to actually spend time with the 15 year and supervise shooting.

  62. 62.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud:

    Not if they’re poor. And inter-racial conflicts are more interesting to the media than general police brutality stories.

    Maybe. But seriously, I’d be surprised if you can turn up one such story from the past decade.  And you’d think it would at least make the local news.  (Local TV news these days, probably, given the deaths of so many local newspapers.)

    ETA: Also you’d expect someone on the right saving stories like this to bring up the next time an unarmed black person gets murdered by the cops: “see, it happens to whites too, why don’t you protest when they get killed?”

  64. 64.

    Jeffro

    LOVE Bouie’s idea about the IRS check!

    I know it is one of my personal favorite things (making the rich pay their fair share) but I have to wonder if it wouldn’t be a huge cross-cutting campaign issue, too.  Something like 80%+ of Americans want the rich to pay more taxes ‘just because’ – you don’t even have to give them a reason!  LOL

  65. 65.

    H.E.Wolf

    @BlueGuitarist: ​Thomas Paine, The Crisis:“up and help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel….smile in trouble…gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection”

     Love it! Thanks. Now I know what I’ll be reading next.

    Ralph Waldo Emerson: “I grasp the hands of those next me, and take my place in the ring to suffer and to work… that so shall the dumb abyss be vocal with speech.”​

     ETA: On hold at the library. Someone else must have read your comment too. :)​

  67. 67.

    Jeffro

    @rikyrah:

    They are addicted to BOTH SIDES…THE BULLSHYT CONGRESS whine…The answer is REPUBLICANS

    REPUBLICANS 😡😡

    110%

    I correct folks on this (online, in-person, doesn’t matter) every chance I get.

  68. 68.

    Eolirin

     

    @lowtechcyclist: I’m not sure if the stats count armed vs unarmed, but the overwhelming majority of officer involved shootings are, as you’d expect, of white people. Black people are disproportionately the victim of law enforcement violence, but whites get killed the most by the absolute numbers.

    That being said, the only reporting of unarmed white people getting shot by cops that I can call to mind involve people with autism or mental health issues. Where they weren’t able to, due to their issues, comply with the cops immediately when ordered to do things. It otherwise doesn’t really get talked about.

  69. 69.

    Kay

    @lowtechcyclist:

    My county is 95% white and everyone in the court system knows police go after poor white people with a ferocity they don’t use for better off people. Poor white people certainly know it. It’s just part of their lives.

    They also don’t get the same police protection as middle class and well off whites when they’re victimized. They report a stolen bike, an assault, a DV, they get a slow or no response based on their address or police knowing them.

    The thing works both ways – it’s not just that police brutalize certain communities, it’s that they also refuse to protect people in those communities. That’s why people in those communites have such a low opinion of police – there’s no upside. They’re heavily policed as far as enforcement but police don’t protect them.

  70. 70.

    Jeffro

    @eclare: I would love to know how much he has cost our justice system at all levels, state, federal, civil, criminal, since he was officially declared the loser in November 2020

    As long as they throw in the costs of all of the J6 prosecutions, trials, etc too.

    Hell, as a separate line item on our country’s “trump tab”, add in the cost to our country from all the additional Covid deaths from his negligence.

  71. 71.

    Citizen Dave

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Very sad news about Mojo Nixon passing away.  I wasn’t a fan of his music back in the day-and TBH remember thinking the act was just stupid.  But in recent years he became my favorite DJ on the XM Outlaw channel.  The guy knew everyone, and had great stories, as well as the playlists.  He exhibited great exuberance for life.  I think he lived over in Cincinnati. I even tried to email him a couple months ago with advice on dealing with plantar fasciitis, but it didn’t arrive.  RIP Mojo.

    I need to watch the Mojo doc on Prime.

  72. 72.

    Kay

    @lowtechcyclist:

    The second part – protection- is what the police reformers on the Left got wrong, IMO.

    Everyone wants police protection, for their property, for their family, for themselves. Everyone should get it – they’re paying for it. But everyone doesn’t get it. All black people and poor white people only get law enforcement applied to them, it’s never applied to protect them or their property. Police have not held up their end of the bargain in those communities like they do in my neighborhood. They might arrest me, sure, but they’ll also investigate and arrest if someone robs me. I get a benefit.

  73. 73.

    Ken

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: When does a lawsuit qualify as frivolous? Would Trump’s countersuits and demands for mistrials, etc, ever qualify?

    How could any discussion of the powers of the One Chosen God-Emperor be considered frivolous?

  76. 76.

    wjca

    @lowtechcyclist: we’ve heard of far too many times in the past couple of decades when the cops have shot an unarmed person.  I can’t remember a single time when the victim has been white.

    We’ve actually had a couple here (Danville, CA).  (Those were the only two fatal police shootings we’ve ever had, and both were by the same officer.  He’s now serving time for one of them.)  The victims were “transients”, but they weren’t black (or Asian). EDT See photo at the end of this.

  77. 77.

    Ken

    For today’s Supreme Court hearing on the Colorado ballot issue, I don’t suppose Trump is represented by Habba again? I’d love to see how her “Three of you owe us for putting you on the court” argument goes over.

  78. 78.

    Kay

    I’m doing remote physical therapy – I have had a lot of success with physical therapy for neck and back problems over the years and I have new neck and back problems because I have pre osteoperosis.

    Anyway- the system uses sensors to tell you if you’re doing the movement correctly but you also get a live PT to meet with over Zoom to talk about your problems. NOT just general complaining – your back problems ONLY. My PT is southern – she has an accent. It’s offered free with my health insurance.

    I’m 8 weeks into it and it’s working. I also love gadgets so I might just like that part, too :)

  79. 79.

    BlueGuitarist

    @H.E.Wolf:

    I think all Paine’s writing is available online.

    Paine would also agree with Kay and Baud re universal programs without means testing – in Agrarian Justice (1796) Paine invented Social Security and also proposed that each young person receive a significant stipend at age 21 – universal programs funded out of estate taxes.

  80. 80.

    wjca

    OT

    In the Wednesday Night thread, @JWR: reported from Huntington Beach:

    the city’s director of community and library services, Ashley Wysocki, told librarians earlier this year to follow the Wikipedia definition of sexual content. The Wikipedia page describes sexual content as including “explicit, implicit sexual behavior such as flirting, or include sexual language and euphemisms.”

    Flirting??? Really?  Let’s see, there goes much of Shakespeare.  Probably half of the poetry, including almost any pop songs from the last century or so.  And on and on.  (Of course, the Bible goes for explicit sexual content.)

    What kind of sick universe are these people (and I include whoever wrote that Wikipedia entry) living in?

  81. 81.

    Soprano2

    @rikyrah: I think their bosses have told them to make sure they are “balanced”, because that used to be the standard. They cannot change with the changing circumstances.

  82. 82.

    H.E.Wolf

    @BlueGuitarist: ​
     I’m going to be a Paine fan, in that case! He’s been on my mind as a “to read” this past week, because he was mentioned in Ron Chernow’s Hamilton biography, and your quote moved him to the front of the queue.

    (I’m checking Mr Paine out of the library in ebook format and will be reading him in a browser, so online-ish. I like the formatting options I get with that setup.)

  83. 83.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: The “giveaway to rich families” trope has been used against every universal public program since the beginning of time, including public schools themselves.

    Conservatives can’t wait to give the public school money to wealthy people who are sending their children to private and religious schools, though. I guess “that’s different” *rolleyes*….

  84. 84.

    Suzanne

    @Baud:

    Unfortunately, I think even libs have a complicated view on crime fighting. 

    I see violent crime as significantly patriarchal.

  86. 86.

    JML

    @Kay: the biggest “giveaway to rich families” in education has always been vouchers to subsidize private school education. free school lunch is just good public policy: fewer hungry kids, better education outcomes, less bookkeeping, and no more yuckling struggling families for payment or to sign forms saying they can’t afford to pay.

    The people who oppose stuff like this have been trained to a culture of selfishness, where if they don’t get a personal benefit from a public policy then it shouldn’t happen. If we have souls, theirs are the ones in peril.

  87. 87.

    Kay

    National Democrats are having a meeting with Biden Administration. I expect Israel/Hamas war will be a hot topic. I am (slowly!) moving to Michigan so I read quite a few MI pols and may I suggest that national Democrats learn from them on how to address BOTH Israeli losses AND Palestinian losses with equal sympathy and compassion? It’s not that difficult. Gretchen Whitmer manages it and so does Elissa Slotkin. Until they do that I would suggest Biden not speak on it anymore- it really sounds like he has actual animus towards Palestinians. I don’t know why his administration is tone deaf on this, why the huge fucking blind spot one could spot from space, but they need to fix it, quick. Call Elissa Slotkin and have her give a tutorial on how to speak to Arab American Democrats like we are all decent human beings. Drop the overly distanced diplomatic boilerplate and talk like normal people talk about a tragedy. Or risk losing, their choice. Admit an error and fix it.

  88. 88.

    Betty

    @lowtechcyclist: There was one in PA. A female cop who hit the guy with a stun gun then shot him because she says she thought he was going for his gun when be tried to pull out the hooks. She was exonerated.

  89. 89.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @lowtechcyclist: And as we know, means-testing programs just makes it harder for those who qualify to receive the benefits, since they have to figure out how to jump through all the hoops that means-testing creates.

    And it pisses off the people just slightly too flush for the benefit, who get tossed in with the “rich parents [who] are sending their kids to expensive private schools” as the target of the Far Wrong shrieking, “The eebil gubmint is stealing your tax money to pay for other kids’ lunches!!” when what they really mean is “lunches for the kids of those Others” – the same Others to whom the “eebil gubmint” is giving all the money they’re stealing from you…

  90. 90.

    Betty

    @Kay: Yes. The reticence to deplore what Israel has done to Gaza and its people is giving Biden a black eye, especially with young people.

  91. 91.

    Soprano2

    @Baud: They need to report what’s happening. Unfortunately for them, too often what’s happening is due to GOP dysfunction, but since they can’t equally blame both sides they have a  hard time saying that.

  92. 92.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: I think a case like this will do at least as much to make people store their firearms better than a specific law. How many parents want to find themselves in court because of their child gaining access to a firearm and killing a bunch of people?

  94. 94.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    This is a real fearof mine. If we get authoritarian anti majoritarian government it isn’t going to be the professional and well trained US military who turn on the citizens in service of people like Sean Hannitty- it will be police.

     

    Lot of truth here.

  95. 95.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    Ok, I’m fascinated by this, Kay. Tell me more. How does it work? Do they have to come to your house at all?

     

    I might be able to get this for my sister.

  96. 96.

    Soprano2

    @Baud: Studies and actual experience have shown numerous times that it’s cheaper and more efficient to just give poor people money and let them decide how to spend it rather than having all these different programs they have to apply for, but citizens are extremely resistant to doing that because they’re so worried that poor people will spend a few government dollars on cigarettes, alcohol or drugs. They’d rather pay more and punish poor people than be efficient. That tells you a lot about the psychological makeup of people.

  97. 97.

    Soprano2

    Tried to add this but I ran out of time – today on FB I saw a meme that had one shopper with an overflowing cart and one with a small basket labeled “no job” and “job”. People honestly believe that those who get food stamps can fill their cart with food weekly. I think you can’t underestimate the resentment people who are on the edge feel toward those who get any government benefits at all. I’m also seeing “Make it harder to get welfare than to get VA benefits”. I think they don’t realize it’s already hard to get welfare benefits. I guess they think you just sign up and the government hands you thousands of dollars every month.

  98. 98.

    Mike in NC

    In the last episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, Larry David is shown scowling just like that infamous mugshot of Fat Bastard.

  100. 100.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    This is the company. 

    It’s “free” with my health insurance, so I’m payng for it :)

    There’s no physical exam but I reported at the initial Zoom meeting with the PT that I go to the Spine Center at the Cleveland Clinc for osteoporosis infusions and that I had cervical spine problems 10 years and was cured by PT. They write up a PT program for you.

    The only glitch is the tablet they use – I think they should use a secure website rather than a low quality tablet. You have to fiddle with the tablet to make it work properly. I know people have privacy concerns o healthcare but if youre using any of the My Chart medical record apps your whole health history is already online.

    I do about 20 minutes 4 times a week and what feels like a band of pain across my upper back is just gone.

    Look at your health insurance and see if you’re covered. My youngest is doing it too – he broke his ankle hiking last year and it’s still weak. It never really healed properly, or he favors it and so the muscles are weak.

  101. 101.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Steeplejack: ​Looks like Project Gutenberg has all the Thomas Paine you want.

     True! And I sometimes use Project Gutenberg, but I have a fondness for my local library’s ebook user interface. If I were NotMax, I’d say it was less of a paine. :)

  102. 102.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: Lucky you, I’ve had physical therapy several times for back pain because my insurance requires it before I can get the treatment that really works. I have a narrowing of the space between L4 and L5 and now between L5 and the bottom one, I can’t remember what it’s called. Now there’s a treatment where they can drill a hole through your vertebra and sear the nerve that’s causing the pain, and I can’t have it (at least not yet) because I have osteopenia that’s close to osteoporosis, and the doc is afraid it would shatter my vertebra. I’ve been doing the reclast treatment for my bones. I will get another bone scan next year, and if she likes how that looks I might be able to get some real relief for my pain. It’s ironic, I’ve had this problem since I was 27 and it’s only in the past couple of years that they have a procedure that could finally help me, and I can’t have it. I have a co-worker who did it, and he said it had a huge benefit for him.

  103. 103.

    Captain C

    Dead thread, but with Marianne Williamson’s withdrawal I still expect Dean Phillips to finish 3rd in the upcoming primaries, after Biden and Deez Nutz.

  106. 106.

    moonbat

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Oh I’m so sorry to hear this. I got to see Mojo Nixon in Midtown Memphis back in the day and got to interview him for a pirate radio station I dropped in on occasionally. He was super sharp and hilarious in person as well as in his music.

  108. 108.

    gvg

    @lowtechcyclist: Don’t kid yourself. It has happened, though less often. There are selfish reasons to fear an unaccountable trained to be too paranoid police force. They can kill you and get away with it. I recall a few instances, including just being careless and accidently shooting someone white in their own yard, in daylight.

  110. 110.

    Yutsano

    This thread be dead but I’ll answer it here and also try to answer later.

    I have a narrowing of the space between L4 and L5 and now between L5 and the bottom one, I can’t remember what it’s called.

    S1. I know this because my L4-L5-S1 discs are degenerated.

  111. 111.

    Rjv

    The IRS should mail every citizen a letter about the free tax filing website and include a note about how much it’s saving  ordinary citizens, and how much it’s regained from cheats thanks to Biden’s law.

    the republicans would do this.

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