Not much to report here other than that I have officially decided to see an allergist after fighting it for years. I have been congested and feeling like shit for over a week and it is time to do something about it. Terrified I am going to discover I am allergic to cats or trees or fruit. I can live without everything else.
Some mildly good news:
The Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is seeking permission from a bankruptcy court to liquidate his personal assets and deliver the proceeds to the Sandy Hook families who are owed more than $1.4 billion in damages for his lies about the 2012 school shooting.
Mr. Jones also filed a separate bankruptcy for his company, Free Speech Systems, and in a hearing next Friday a judge is to rule whether the company will also be liquidated, an outcome favored by a majority of the families. That would shutter Infowars, effective the day of the ruling. It would also place assets from Infowars’ studios and potentially Mr. Jones’s popular social media accounts in control of the families.
Silencing Mr. Jones, who for years has broadcast lies ranging from denying the Sandy Hook shooting to denying the results of the 2020 election, would be a definitive win for the families.
Fuck that guy.
In other good news, apparently a good jobs report today, although CNN is really making life tough for DougJ aka NYT Pitchbot:
I’m rewatching White Collar, and it is fucking criminal how good looking Matt Bomer is. I hate him for that. Makes me think they were on to something with Harrison Bergeron.
smith
More good news very few people are talking about:![]()
Villago Delenda Est
Alvin Bragg epically trolls That Felon Guy (link to Raw Story).
WaterGirl
I am also rewatching White Collar. And yes, Matt Bomer is definitely the best eye candy.
I have been trying to think about whether I could handle the serial killer show he starred in, just because I want to watch another show with him in it. I don’t do creepy and scary well, so I have never watched it. But damn.
Keith P.
The judge should sentence Alex Jones to be a butler for one of the Sandy Hook families.
Jackie
@smith: I saw that! Hopefully it gets more media attention.
VFX Lurker
F–k Alex Jones. Wishing the Sandy Hook families some measure of peace and what justice they can get.
Matt Bomer — I love him so much as Larry Trainor and the voice of Negative Man in Doom Patrol. Great actor playing a great character in a great show.
Jackie
John, once your allergies are typed, once a month allergy shots will hopefully ease your misery AND let you continue loving what you love. I bet it’s the willow tree😏
Since your sinuses seem to flare up seasonally, I’m guessing pollen related.
HumboldtBlue
Once Salad was gone for good, I learned I AM allergic to cats. I am currently looking at adopting a dog.
MagdaInBlack
@smith: I saw a blip about that somewhere yesterday, then nothing more. Thank you for the tip.
Viva BrisVegas
I assume this means that Jones has moved all his moveable assets out of reach of the courts and that the Sandy Hook families can have what’s left.
WaterGirl
@Viva BrisVegas:
My first thought exactly! I’m sur ehe his everything he could and is leaving them the scraps. What a terrible human being Alex Jones is.
smith
@Viva BrisVegas: Yeah, I had that reaction as well. Just stonewall until it’s all safely tucked away in the Cayman Islands. See also: Rudy Giuliani.
Mr. Bemused Senior
Careful there, John. I don’t like to think about the handicaps that would be needed to make us equal to, say, Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Steeplejack
Re Alex Jones, I can’t help but wonder whether he’s ready to “settle” now because he’s had time to hide a big part of his assets or offload them to relatives or dummy corporations. I hope his finances have been closely monitored since the original judgment, but I don’t have much confidence in that.
oklahomo
@Mr. Bemused Senior: MTG would be a natural for the job of Diana Moon Glampers.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl: He has a small role in Maestro, if you’re interested.
Salty Sam
Salty Spouse has had serious allergies this year, and we’ve noted a steady increase over the last few. She’s looking into seeing an allergist soon.
I remember hearing Al Gore warn that allergies and contagious diseases would increase as climate change worsens. But hey, he’s fat, so what does HE know?
smith
Just to put that jobs report in perspective:
https://nitter.poast.org/BillPascrell/status/1799071391666598132#m
MagdaInBlack
@smith: Holy crap, the replies to that are…..all maga lunatics.
Baud
@smith:
Carter was really high. I thought the economy shrank a lot during his term, which is what for Reagan in.
Jackie
@MagdaInBlack: Chris Hayes covered it extensively last night. MSNBC.
KrackenJack
@HumboldtBlue:
Wasn’t until I left home at 18 that I realized that I was allergic to our half-dozen cats.
MagdaInBlack
@Jackie: Thank you. Friday night is news catch up night for me 🙂
Baud
@smith:
Interesting, but my God Chris Hayes is annoying.
Baud
@Baud:
For = got.
Ohio Mom
Kudos for making the appointment with the allergist, Cole.
You might want to get an opinion from an ENT as well. You would think doctors would be able to take a global look at a patient but a lot of times, they only think in terms of their speciality. Ask me how I know.
delphinium
@WaterGirl: Never saw White Collar during its initial run so am also watching it now.
And yes Matt Bomer is good looking, but Tim DeKay is definitely more my type.
ETA: typo
kalakal
Good move with the allergist Cole.
The allergy shot treatment gave me my life back. I’ve gone from flat lining in 35 minutes with anaphylactic cardio vascular collapse to having the same reaction as any ‘normal’ person if I were to be stung by a wasp.
I hope they identify what it is and you too get your life back
Kayla Rudbek
WaterGirl, if you’re around, I got your email and Betty Cracker’s shawlette will be mailed out as soon as I get the wool wash packets from Amazon.
And baseball games move far too quickly with the pitch clock; I went to the Nationals game last night and it was finished in under 3 hours. Now I have something else to gripe about to my godson.
Jackie
@Baud:
Sometimes, yes, but overall I usually enjoy him. He, in some ways, can be Rachel-lite.
Suzanne
Dude, I got allergy tested, and I found out I was allergic to, like, everything (including dogs and cats). And so I did immunotherapy and take allergy meds, and generally try to be a clean person, and I get far fewer sinus infections than I used to. Moving away from AZ did help a lot.
Lyrebird
YES YES YES
Rooting for you JC!
narya
@Baud: MMV—-he’s one of the few hosts I can watch. That’s an amazing piece though.
stinger
@Suzanne: Fifty years ago people moved to Arizona to escape allergy-inducing vegetation. And promptly began planting lawns.
Ohio Mom
@smith: That is interesting and heartening. I hope the effect on OPEC and energy prices continues for as long as possible.
But even if this story received more attention, I doubt it would help Biden’s chances any. The average normie would probably grumble , “So what, gas is still too expensive.”
Sigh.
Anne Laurie
Hoping for your sake it’s pollen-related, Cole, but here’s some good(ish) news: Those of us who are only *mildly* allergic to cat and/or dog dander usually get ‘accustomed’ to our own four-pawed housemates. I had no trouble sharing a bedroom with our dogs, but learned to take the *serious* anti-histamines before going to a training class or show where my immune system would meet ‘strange’ animals.
Ihop
Yes yes yes, a legal order to have that fuckbag change his permanent name to “Alex fuck me I’ve always been wrong’ Jones would also be appropriate.
Suzanne
@stinger: Yes, it was thought that hot, dry air was good for breathing issues. It wasn’t true for lots of reasons, imported plants being only one. The dust there is a bastard…. turns snot to rocks.
I used to go to an ENT there who is super-cool. He told me, “White people aren’t genetically adapted to live in this climate. I prescribe….. San Luis Obispo.”
Jackie
@stinger: It’s funny; where we live can cause allergies. So we move to the opposite climate and that solves it. For awhile. Then as we adapt to the new environment… HELLO NEW ALLERGIES!
bcwbcw
With Jones they need a financial master to control all his bank accounts, assets and spending and to unwind the illegal transfers of assets to family members and friends. There is no way that he himself should manage that liquidation. There is such a master controlling the assets of the Trump organization to prevent assets from disappearing.
RaflW
@WaterGirl: This from Nov 2023 makes it sound like even this offer to liquidate will be a stalling tactic of sorts. And he’s been blowing through the money since the judgement.
Of course he’s a total scumbag. I just wish he’d have to do actual jail time (I know, it’s a civil judgement).
Juju
@Jackie: He says like too much. It’s too teenagery to me.
Jackie
@Anne Laurie: Exactly so! Once I’m acclimated to my cats, I’m fine. Go to someone else’s home with kitties…🤧🤧🤧 I have to pre-dose with allergy meds, but still can’t pet them then get my hands near my eyes. Unless I wash first. Like that happens!
Bunter
When White Collar was filming season 1, I was walking my bloodhound in Central Park by Bethesda Fountain. They were filming the episode with the models and as Wimsey (the bloodhound), Elizabeth (best friend) and I were walking up from the fountain, an insanely handsome man threw himself at Wimsey and declared that he loved bloodhounds. Matt Bomer was lovely and anyone who doesn’t have an issue with hound drool is aces in my book. Not sure Costumes would be happy but <shrug>. He was even better looking in real life than on screen.
Gvg
@stinger: more like 150 years ago. The “news” about Arizona being just as bad for allergies as anywhere else because of the similar plantings was known when I was a kid and wasn’t new news then.
Doctors were advising people with allergies to move there around the Civil War, although they didn’t call it allergies.
Jackie
@Juju: Like I said, sometimes Hayes = Rachel Maddow lite. But other times he’s great. Like with Rachel, sometimes fast-forwarding the first 10 mins is beneficial.
Mike S
I found out I’m allergic to cats when my wife moved in with 2 of them. I was old enough to know that a me or the cats ultimatum would have me being single again so I started taking alegra d. That was 25 years and 3 new cats ago.
Suzanne
@Mike S: So when the ENT nurse told me that my allergy test results indicated that I was reacting to both dogs and cats, I obviously looked really freaked out, and she said, “Don’t worry. People would rather replace the doctor than replace the pets.”
I have the same response as others….. fine with my own pets, mostly okay with others as long as they’re outside and I wash my hands.
Nukular Biskits
John, have you considered the possibility that there may be something in the house itself causing your problems?
The reason I asked is I recently had a “life-changing event” about 18 months ago and moved from the house where I had lived (and repaired/remodeled/etc) for almost 33 years. For years I have suffered from near constant sinus issues, allergies, “colds”, etc.
I can’t recall a single time I’ve been sick since short of my January trip to San Diego when all my coworkers were passing around the crud.
I’ve come to the conclusion that I was allergic to something in the old house.
Dastronomer
The alley shots aren’t that onerous, and affordable if you have decent insurance (definitely try to stay in network!). I have severe allergies to cats, dogs, dust mites, and a smattering of grasses and trees. After 1.5 years of shots, I rarely am affected.
It’s. Worth. It.
Get the appointment, do the scratch test. You doof.
Percysowner
Maybe you have tried all this, but if you are allergic to your pets you can do things like get HEPA air purifiers. Also, clean all of your vents, they store a lot of ick and spew it back every time your HVAC is on. Once you find out what you are allergic to there are shots, and pills and sprays that can help you get through the whole thing.
Jackie
@Nukular Biskits:
Molds? Mildew? Dry rot? Old carpet?
Melancholy Jaques
@Baud:
Carter’s problem wasn’t unemployment as much as it was inflation, goosed by the Iranian revolution and resulting oil shock, then the interest rates raised to the skies.
wombat probability cloud
Willow pollen? WE TOLD YOU IT WAS TOO CLOSE TO THE HOUSE!
Odie Hugh Manatee
I hate allergies but I’m lucky that it’s usually only during peak pollen season and not that intense. Good luck on getting relief, John. I hope it’s not any of the good stuff you love!
Got the power supply for my Dark Brandon 2024 yard sign wired up so just waiting for the red LEDs to arrive! I’m repurposing an old Critter Ridder (motion sensing sprinkler) so it powers Joe’s eyes up for 8 seconds when someone walks by.
I might need to get a trail camera to record people passing by.
Sanjeevs
Current CNN chyron is something about a ‘Vibecession ‘.
Funny I never heard this word before the Biden boom
Nukular Biskits
@Jackie:
Good question.
I remodeled that whole damned house twice while living in it, with the last remodel replacing all the carpet with either “luxury vinyl planking” or tile.
New over the years, two entirely new HVACs. Repainted both the walls and ceilings at least twice.
So … damfino.
satby
@Anne Laurie: Agree! I’m allergic to all animals with hair or fur, so 9 cats is inconvenient at times. But, once I was put on Montelukast (Singulair), the improvement in my life was almost immediate. Especially helpful in summer and fall too, because I’m also allergic to pollen, mold, dust…
Citizen Alan
@Jackie: The only time in my life I’ve ever been allergy free was the 9 months I was in Queens. I wish I could have stayed there forever.
Redshift
I’ve had allergies since I was a kid, and got allergy shots then so they’re not too bad except for my allergy to feathers. (We have to do a feather check every time we check into a hotel room, because if any of the pillows or comforter are feather, I’ll be snoring like a freight train and neither I nor the Ms. will get any rest.) The other one is my allergy to guinea pigs, which I developed in middle age. It’s a fun one — my other allergies cause congestion; guinea pigs make my throat close up!
Anyway, pollen allergies have definitely gotten worse over the years, and I know part of it is climate change (longer pollen season, more rain, etc.) It used to be (after allergy shots), that I’d take claritin for a while in the spring and take claritin and sudafed during ragweed season (because claritin wasn’t enough.) Now I’m on 24-hour claritin all year round except for random brief breaks. So that could be part of what’s affecting you, though allergies can also start or stop as you age.
Good luck, and hopefully treatment will be successful. I hope allergists have gotten better over the years; when I was a kid they insisted we should get rid of all our pets and stuffed animals and I can’t remember what else. If they tell you that, just ignore them. If you’re allergic to cats or dogs, as long as it doesn’t make you stop breathing, you can probably medicate and live with it.
MinuteMan
@Keith P.:
The judge should sentence Alex Jones to be a butler for one of the Sandy Hook families.
Maybe one of the families has a need for a gargoyle?
Eric S.
@Odie Hugh Manatee: You DEFINITELY need a trail cam.
Redshift
@satby:
I used to get a break in the winter, but now I’m allergic to leaf mold, so it hits me anytime there are dead leaves on the ground and they get wet.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Eric S.:
Yeah, I’m looking at them now. I’m sure some bricks will be shit in my little conservative town and it should be recorded for posterity/evidence.
satby
@Redshift: I’m basically allergic to most things people can be allergic to, except food (thank FSM!). I never got allergy shots since I come from the generation that didn’t seek medical care unless a bloody bone was protruding from some limb. When I was finally dxed with asthma and put on Singulair (no generic back then) it was such a revelation! “This was how non-allergenic people feel almost all the time?” Miraculous, if it works for you.
HumboldtBlue
Nukular Biskits
One of the things I found helped was to have one of these:
Filtrete Air Purifiers
Redshift
@satby: Yeah, I’m lucky not to have food allergies either, though I am allergic to wool. (I can wear tight-weave things like suits, but wool sweaters and winter stuff give me a rash.) Ms. Redshift has the misfortune to have several obscure food allergies (in addition to the common one to shrimp.) She’s allergic to bananas and mustard, which is in all sorts of things. Basically if an ingredients list says “spices,” it probably includes mustard.
Jackie
@Citizen Alan: Eventually, your allergies would have succumbed to Queens. We move, leave old allergens behind, then eventually new allergies take hold.
The cycle of allergies.
MomSense
My mom is home from the hospital and we are also watching white collar.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@Citizen Alan: as a life-long New Yorker, I must say this is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone say that about Queens.
Geminid
@Chacal Charles Calthrop: If you’d been a lifelong Mississippian you might well say that about Queens yourself.
HumboldtBlue
@MomSense:
Good news.
Timill
And then there were six…
It is reported that Bill Anders has died in a plane crash
This leaves Buzz Aldrin, Charlie Duke, Fred Haise, Jim Lovell, Harrison Schmitt and David Scott.
Ohio Mom
@Chacal Charles Calthrop: Yeah, I lived in Queens for the second half of my childhood and as boroughs go, Queens did not seem to engender the sort of affection or loyalty that other boroughs did. Though to be sure, it has become a much more interesting place in the decades since.
Rose Weiss
@zhena gogolia: Yes, and I was so disappointed that his role was so small! Every since I watched White Collar (twice) I’ve kept an eye out for him in new roles. Good actor, and OMG drop dead gorgeous. I find him even more appealing because turns out he’s a gay family man, married with 2 children.
Kelly
Piloting his own light airplane over the San Juan Islands on a beautiful sunny day. At 90 years old. Living well to the end.
Jackie
Watching Lawrence O’Donnell on DVR tonight. It’s a special “Day of the Verdict” with predominantly Andrew Weismann hosting, with a bit Rachel, Lawrence actually a guest speaker on his own show lol! and other commentators.
The gist of the show is composed of chatting (gossiping) with all of the MSNBC’s commentators who sat in the courtroom at various days/times during the trial.
It’s actually fun watching, as they sound like US!
Did you hear? Did you get the same impression? OMG Stormy actually went “there!?!” And standing in line to the restroom chitchat. They’re so gossipy snide in a jackals way! Def worth the watch and entertainment 👍🏻
Ruckus
@Ohio Mom:
So much of medicine has changed in the last 75 yrs that I believe that specialization is really the only answer. That’s not to say that a doctor does not need to be able to see outside their specialty, it’s just that that different ailments often take radically different methods of treatment, and the amount of knowledge required to be effective within a specialty is far more than what most doctors had to know, within the lifetimes of many living today.
Nancy
@Jackie: I agree.
Shots have made a huge difference in my life. My most recent allergy test showed no reactions to the many allergens that used to trouble me. No sinus infections. I can pet cats and spend time outside.
Absolutely worth the hassle of regular visits to the allergy clinic.
eclare
@HumboldtBlue:
OMG yes!
eclare
@Nukular Biskits:
Wow. That is fascinating
eclare
I don’t have allergies, but this is the season that I can’t go outside. Mosquitos love me. There have been studies done, maybe I have too much CO2, maybe it’s something else, the end result is the same. I went to an outdoor thing a few days ago and a mosquito landed on me within minutes.
So I take Benadryl, a lot. I have tried all of the sprays, including 95% DEET from sportsman stores, nothing works. I get bit, I take one or two Benadryl, the next day I’m fine. I’m used to it, doesn’t make me sleepy.
But what a PITA. It’s summer and I can’t wear sandals. They really love my feet.
wjca
I suspect they would really prefer to have him as far out of their lives as possible.
Anne Laurie
@eclare: Old folk remedy I’ve had friends swear by: Brewer’s yeast. You have to take it for a month in advance of exposure (which is why I’ve never given it a personal trial), but it apparently changes your body odor subtly, and you no longer smell ‘correct’ to mosquitos honing in.
eclare
@Anne Laurie:
How do you take it?
NotMax
@<a href=""https://balloon-juice.com/2024/06/07/friday-night-open-thread-122/#comment-9216433"?eclare
It comes in tablet form, like aspirin.
Never heard of it for allergies, however for those who suffer after imbibing of alcohol freely, take two along with a glass of water before retiring. Voila, erases all or nearly all symptoms of hangover the next day.
NotMax
sigh. Stupid finger. Fix.
@eclare
It comes in tablet form, like aspirin.
Never heard of it for allergies, however for those who suffer after imbibing of alcohol freely, take two along with a glass of water before retiring. Voila, erases all or nearly all symptoms of hangover the next day.
Betty
Did any of you see the clip of Alex sobbing his heart out because they are taking away his Infowars? I thought real men didn’t cry. It’s pretty funny.
Tony G
@RaflW: I don’t know nothin’ about nothin’ about law — but why couldn’t the court just started sending law enforcement officers to seize this asshole’s assets months ago. Seize EVERYTHING: homes, cars, furniture, even clothing. Just leave him with a few tee shirts and sweat pants. Why couldn’t they have done that?
Tony G
@Jackie: Long, long ago (when I was a teenager in the seventies) I got a series of allergy shots, and it helped a lot. For what that’s worth …
Miss Bianca
@Bunter: your nym is Bunter and you have a Bloodhound/Overlord named Wimsey? Oh, be still my heart! :)
BellaPea
I was so allergic to cats when I was a kid, I had to go to the hospital on two occasions when petting one brought on an asthma attack. I’ve been on allergy shots for over 20 years, and have had three cats during that period–two together and now one. Allergy shots work, period.
Ruckus
@Betty:
I thought real men didn’t cry.
Is he a real man?
He’s crying over his own bullshit, about not actually being able to spread it as far and as wide as he desires. And he acts like a 3 yr old boy doing it.