Take your good omens where you find them, I say…
First right whales of season gorge on critical food off Massachusetts, giving hope for a strong year https://t.co/0UxrBzsd6C
— The Associated Press (@AP) November 26, 2024
President Biden took part in his final turkey pardon Monday, sparing Minnesota's own Peach and Blossom from becoming someone's holiday dinner in an annual White House tradition. pic.twitter.com/9IWkQBWglA
— The Associated Press (@AP) November 25, 2024
President Joe Biden kicked off his final holiday season at the White House on Monday by issuing the traditional reprieve to two turkeys who will bypass the Thanksgiving table to live out their days in southern Minnesota. https://t.co/GBz0GsuKPQ
— The Associated Press (@AP) November 25, 2024
President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, on Monday opened their final holiday season at the White House with the annual turkey pardons and Christmas tree arrival before they hosted “friendsgiving” in New York City for U.S. Coast Guard members and their families.
“Simply put, we owe you. We owe your families,” Biden said at U.S. Coast Guard Sector New York on Staten Island. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
The meal was part of the first lady’s Joining Forces initiative to support military families. “With all my heart, thank you for your service and your sacrifice,” she said before the president spoke.
Both then tied dark aprons with the presidential seal around their dress clothes and joined the chow line, where they served a side dish of roasted Brussels sprouts. Celebrity chef Robert Irvine helped with the menu of turkey, ham, side dishes and desserts…
BREAKING: Millions of Americans with obesity would be eligible to have costly weight-loss drugs like Wegovy or Ozempic covered by Medicare or Medicaid under a new Biden rule https://t.co/LqrD8P4ZFJ
— The Associated Press (@AP) November 26, 2024
GLP-1 receptor agonists, to use the formal term, are being tested for all sorts of exciting health effects. But even if they were just ‘antabuse, but for food’, there’s reason to believe that giving more obese Americans access to them could in the long run actually save money as well as lives. And yet, it kinda feels like tweaking the incoming maladministration to announce this right now…
Millions of Americans with obesity would be eligible to have popular weight-loss drugs like Wegovy or Ozempic covered by Medicare or Medicaid under a new rule the Biden administration proposed Tuesday morning.
The costly proposal from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sets the stage for a potential showdown between the powerful pharmaceutical industry and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an outspoken opponent of the weight-loss drugs who, as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the agency, could try to block the measure…
A bipartisan coalition of congressional members have lobbied for the drugs to be covered by Medicare, saying it could save the government from spending billions of dollars on treating chronic ailments that stem from obesity. While it’s unclear where Trump himself stands on coverage of the weight-loss drugs, his allies and Cabinet picks who have vowed to cut government spending could balk at the upfront price tag.
Under the proposal, only those who are considered obese — someone who has a body mass index of 30 or higher — would qualify for coverage. Some people may already get coverage of the drugs through Medicare or Medicaid, if they have diabetes or are at risk for stroke or heart disease.
Becerra estimated that an additional 3.5 million people on Medicare and 4 million on Medicaid could qualify for coverage of the drugs. But research suggests far more people might qualify, with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimating roughly 28 million people on Medicaid are considered obese.
Medicare has been barred from offering the drugs under a decades-old law that prohibits the government-backed insurance program from covering weight-loss products. The rule proposed by the Biden administration, however, would recognize obesity as a disease that can be treated with the help of the drugs…
Kennedy, who as Trump’s nominee for HHS secretary is subject to Senate confirmation, has railed against the drugs’ popularity. In speeches and on social media, he’s said the U.S. should not cover the drugs through Medicaid or Medicare. Instead, he supports a broad expansion of coverage for healthier foods and gym memberships.
“For half the price of Ozempic, we could purchase regeneratively raised, organic food for every American, three meals a day and a gym membership, for every obese American,” Kennedy said to a group of federal lawmakers during a roundtable earlier this year.
Or, as one BlueSky commentor japed, Heroin and brainworms — that’s the only *safe* way to lose weight.
(According to the NYTimes [gift link], Bobby Jr can’t actually do much… assuming Biden’s suggestion is approved, and that Trump actually appoints RFK Jr.)
On The Road – David_C – Buffalo, NY: The Queen City
Baud
I need to start eating more so the moochers don’t get all the benefits.
MagdaInBlack
“C’mon, brainworm, we don’t even want to provide school lunches, you think we’re gonna provide 3 healthy, organically raised meals a day AND a gym membership? Stop thinking, you’re really bad at it.
p.s. what does combining ketamine and coke do, cause I think Don jr has taken Elmo under his wing.
Suzanne
You know what just sticks in my craw about this…. false choices. Have the better food and the gym membership and pharmaceutical support, as well, for those who need it.
I will note that it doesn’t appear that Americans are clamoring for more regeneratively raised organic food and they’re not skipping meals. I love the gym membership idea, but if you’re not giving people time to use it, as well, then you’re unserious.
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud: Just put rocks in your pockets and stoop a little when you visit the federal weighing team to have your BMI assessed.
Tinare
I have struggled with my weight since I was a teenager. I have fatty liver and tested as pre-diabetic this summer. Started on Wegovy. Am down 30 pounds. I had trouble losing because I would be so very, very hungry when dieting and become obsessed with food. The Wegovy helps with the hunger, quiets “the food noise.” It is literally a lifesaver. I’ve only lost a third of what I need to lose, but I am able to exercise more easily and eat a reasonable amount without feeling weak and hungry. I am thankful for modern medicine. Hope Joe can get this done. It can really help people.
MagdaInBlack
It is 23 degrees in my nw corner of Chicagoland, and I see I need to replace the battery in my remote start fob. GD it.
Shalimar
@Baud: Raises the question: if you qualify because your BMI is 32, what happens when you lose enough weight to lower it to 28?
Suzanne
I should also note that WFH has seriously affected my exercise capabilities for the better. I love the midday workout, especially in the colder/darker months. The time not spent commuting is put to much higher uses.
When our corporate overlords are trying to push us back to the office, remember that it’s your health and free time they’re willing to sacrifice.
Geo Wilcox
@MagdaInBlack: It’s not pretty, I’ll say that. Plus ketamine shreds your bladder to the point where you cannot hold your piss and you have to wear diapers.
Elizabelle
@Tinare: That’s wonderful. Good luck to you.
MagdaInBlack
@Geo Wilcox: I googled, there’s a designer drug cocktail of it, called “Calvin Klein” (ck)
Tinare
@Elizabelle: Thank you!
Chief Oshkosh
@Tinare: That is great to hear. Thanks for sharing such personal information. I think many people benefit when they find out they’re not the only person with these challenges and I think that encouraging news like yours will also encourage them to make a plan and move forward with it.
Suzanne
@Tinare: That’s awesome. Good luck with the next 60!
Princess
Trump himself uses one of those drugs, so you’d like him to be sympathetic but he’d probably prefer to hoard all the benefits for himself.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Baud:
Nominated!
Tinare
@Chief Oshkosh: Thanks. As an overweight person it gets frustrating when people say things like “just eat less” or “better”. Food addiction is a real thing and it’s not like you just can quit the source of your addiction.
cmorenc
It’s not lack of availability of organic foods and gym memberships that is holding the obese demographic back from potential for healthier lifestyle. It’s their inability to suppress a chronic severe case of the munchies and the abundant availability of potato chips along the most central and prominent aisles of grocery stores.
prostratedragon
“Intro,” Caitlin Edwards, violin
Elizabelle
This Thanksgiving, I think we should write thank you letters to Joe Biden, Jill Biden, MVP Harris, anyone from the administration who has made a difference in our lives.
It is beyond cruel that Joe Biden (or Kamala) did not get the second term. Biggest self-own of my lifetime by this country’s morons and greedsters.
satby
@Elizabelle: good idea.
p.a.
What’s the over/under on how long bigmouth Nature Boy RFK Jr lasts in the upcoming “give the corporations what they want- when they want it” maladministration?
Of course, if tRump is true to his word (my main typing finger just fell off) about deportations, we’ll all be raising our own free-range chickens when the food processing/distribution systems collapse.
TS
@Suzanne:
I found the issue with gym membership was getting there. Since I have lived within an easy walk of a gym (relatively small, but enough for me) I get there at least 5 times a week. Being retired gives the time factor.
RepubAnon
The Trump plan to fight obesity is to trigger massive price increases via tariffs and scarcity. If we can’t afford food, we’ll lose weight!
Or, we’ll fail to pay rent and become homeless. Without a fixed address, we can’t register to vote….
sab
@Elizabelle: I agree, good idea.
Central Planning
@Suzanne:
Exactly. Who has time to go to the gym if you’re working 80 hours a week to make ends meet?
Dorothy A. Winsor
My DIL just started on Ozempic. Her A1C was elevated, so of course diabetes is a concern. The tech who just did my echo cardiogram told me that if you take the drug just for weight loss, then you stop when you hit your target. But if you take it to reduce your A1C, then you go on a maintenance dose. She also said that the drug affects the same part of your brain that addiction shows up in. It treats you as if you are literally addicted to food.
Obviously this is third hand knowledge. Treat sceptically!
Argiope
@p.a.:Make America Garden Again, as someone put it.
TBone
I suspect that the lawsuits for tardive dyskinesia of the intestines will someday be of epic proportion.
rikyrah
@Tinare:
Glad you were able to get it.
rikyrah
I have struggled with my weight all my life. I was rejected by my insurance company. I just looked at my doctor and went WTF.
I really am pissed about it 😡
Argiope
@Dorothy A. Winsor: A good friend has been using it for weight loss and says her lifetime fingernail biting habit is gone, too. Something about this drug class works for compulsions, so I’m sure it’s being studied for OCD and substance dependence.
Central Planning
My doctor said I needed more fiber in my diet and suggested Metamucil as a supplement to more veggies (since I’m not a veggie fan). The Costco version is the same thing at a fraction of the price, and I’ve been much less hungry.
I’ve lost 16 pounds since the end of June and expect to gain maybe 5 of it back on Thursday :)
Van Buren
@TS: After COVID, the gym 200 yards from my house started closing so early I could no longer go on weekdays. Yet another reason why I want to retire.
BretH
@Suzanne: I worked from home for 17 years or so. Started when I moved to Vermont and my software company asked if I would still work for them. Later on when we moved to Virginia I was fortunate enough to 1) have a tennis court literally next door and 2) have a tennis buddy who lives just across the railroad tracks from me and 3) is an artist and animator who can choose his own schedule.
Many were the times hitting with him at lunchtime when I would think of the others in the office trying to decide what crappy cafe food they would have that day.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
Raven
My GP told me not to lose too much weight because I might need it to fight off Covid!
Rose Judson
@Suzanne: I’ve been working remotely since December 2008, and it makes such a difference in my ability to get exercise in. Even on days when I’m at my desk for more than 10 hours, I can squeeze in a half-hour run or kettlebell workout.
The trade-off is that the snack cupboard is always there, beckoning.
JML
The gym membership discount comes up every time we do negotiations on the health care package with the state. Members always want it included, the insurers hate it and don’t want it in there. And the data suggests that it’s simply not utilized. So people like the idea of it, have goals of using it, but most of them don’t actually manage to get there. Are we just secretly subsidizing Big Corporate Gym?!?
TBone
@JML: I’m not. Exercise is free.
Another Scott
I remember back in the Olden Days when things like Ayds were advertised on TV constantly. Back when Hollywood heart-throbs weighed about 120 pounds.
Recognizing that weighing a lot does not automatically make one unhealthy, Americans have gotten much bigger and much heavier in the last 50 years or so. Too many people have bodies that gain and maintain weight (for whatever reason) and it damages their health. It’s long past time that treating BMI as a shaming metric for health care be done away with and science is used for guiding our response.
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Geminid
Three House races are still up in the air. AP has yet to call IA01, CA45 and CA 13. Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks’s ~ ~800 vote leasd is holding up through a recount and AP will almost certainly call the race for the Iowa Congresswoman soon.
In California’s 45th CD, Democrat Derek Tran leads Republican Rep. Michelle Steel by 482 votes with 99% counted. The vote count has trended in Tran’s favorover the past week.
If Miller-Meeks and Tran win, that will bring the House totals up to 220R, 214D.
In the 13th CD next to Fresno, Republican John Duarte clings to a 207 vote lead over Adam Gray. If Duarte can hang on the total will be 221 R, 214 D. Except that if Matt Gaetz doesn’t take his Florida seat, Republicans will start out with 220 members.
In that case, Mike Johnson will be only able to afford losing two of his colleagues when they vote for Speaker. It’s a good thing he’s a man of faith!
Kay
So many people have been helped. I love modern medicine and am glad they came up with this. They say it shows progress for drug addiction too, which is amazing and wonderful.
RFK Jr is a dumb, degenerate rich kid who sexually harassed his children’s babysitters, drove his wife to suicide and has never invented or contributed anything to anyone.
Baud
@Elizabelle:
100%.
For reasons I won’t get into, my disgust with people hit an all time high last night. I’m not sure how much more tolerance for it all I have left.
Raven
@JML: Same as my theory of why Vets don’t wear their VA hearing aids. They don’t make a profound difference for most and they are free so the hell with it.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Another approach is encouraging an “exercise culture” in the workplace. When I was an intel officer at the Pentagon, such a culture was encouraged. We’d get in at the butt crack of dawn, read our overnight traffic, prepare a written piece on whatever for the daily product and while that was sitting with our boss (the editor), we’d take off to the gym, usually around 8am. Over those years, I’d play basketball, do some weight lifting or more frequently, do a blistering 3-mile run to the Washington Monument and back.
We weren’t tracked for time away from the desk. You got back, spent the rest of the day doing research, writing, screaming at CIA analysts over the phone (my favorite pastime).
When I left that, my office in Central Misery and those I supported all encouraged people to walk during breaks or lunch, etc. It might not have been as encouraged as it was back at the Pentagon but it was accepted and the time spent on it wasn’t micro-tracked.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Elizabelle
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Wellbutrin is a bit like that. Used for smoking cessation (and a mild antidepressant). Can also reduce impulse for drinking alcohol. (Mild effect, but definitely present.)
Good to hear about the Ozempic class of drugs.
Tinare
@rikyrah: Ugh. I am lucky that my insurance covers it, I have been able to afford it. I don’t understand because fixes the problem in advance will save money in the long run. I have a family history of serious heart issues, so if the reports of positive effects beyond the weight loss on heart health are valid, I could be saving my insurance multiple heart bypasses and other drug costs down the road as well as liver and diabetic drugs. It’s so short sighted to not cover them.
AM in NC
I heard the sweetest story on the radio about that turkey farmer and his son – he was hoping his very shy son would be able to shine during his big moment at the podium. Each year, the head of the Turkey Farmers of America (or whatever the trade group is) provides the two turkeys for pardon. As the office changes hands every year, every breeder is a novice when it comes to selecting Presidential Pardon Turkeys.
The weeks-long process this guy and his son went through to select and prepare the turkeys for their big moment was something. As was this farmer’s clear love and care for his son.
Suzanne
@Central Planning: I have an office/WFH hybrid job right now, and I work about 45 hours a week. For the first decade of my career, it was much, much more than that. (Early-career striving, etc.) But, like, I have kids, and chores, and a million things competing for my time. As does everyone. Being able to not waste time commuting, being able to work out and shower (in my own house) mid-day…. absolute game-changers.
The idea that people can just miraculously conjure time out of their days is so willfully idiotic. Everyone I know is fucken busy. Reduce pressures on people!
Baud
@Kay:
I’m pretty sure he contributed some unnecessary untimely deaths to some folks.
wenchacha
@Baud: That is the way to think in the 21st century!
Soprano2
This is so, so stupid. If people wanted this and it worked they would already be doing it! I have reservations about these drugs, but I also know that they help people lose weight when nothing else does.
TBone
@Another Scott: hear, hear!
Geminid
@Baud: 😥
Soprano2
@Tinare: I’m convinced sugar is an addictive substance for some people. The hardest thing for me in maintaining my weight loss is to limit sugary foods.
Suzanne
@Rose Judson: For me, the office is where snacking is too easy. On my in-office days, I usually pack my lunch. But there’s a lot of bringing-in-donuts culture in the offices I’ve worked in. Bagels, pastries, etc. Stuff that I don’t usually keep around at home, because I know I’ll eat it! It’s difficult for me to resist that stuff when it’s literally in my line of sight all day. When I’m at home, I don’t even think about it.
Soprano2
@cmorenc: And how cheap that food is relative to food that’s healthier. It’s expensive to eat well.
Baud
Via Bluesky
Elizabelle
@Baud: Oh no. You are kind not to share, I guess, and I hope it was not anything here. Wishing you peace and calm (although stupidity makes a better foil for your humor).
The Red Pen
I was literally addicted to food. It’s called “binge eating disorder.” I finally got treatment for it. I look back on what I used to eat and what I eat now and it’s shocking how much I used to eat. My metabolism kept up with it for a while, but then I got older.
Binge Eating Disorder leads to obesity, which can lead to diabetes and I got both. I’ve been on a GLP-1 agonist called Trulicity for quite some time. The new surge in usage has lead to shortages, so I actually had to change dose to be able to fill my prescription.
There’s some research that suggests that GLP-1 agonists make a huge difference for people trying to lose weight. Evolution engineered our bodies to try to stay fat because that fat is like an “emergency fund.” It looks like GLP-1 agonists might reset that level so that your body doesn’t fight the weight loss. I think this will help a lot of people get healthier.
Tinare
@Soprano2: Yes! I’ve noticed in the past on traditional diets that when I cut out sugar I craved it less over time, but as soon as I ate some, I was like Scarface with the table of blow from that point on.
CliosFanBoy
I hope this sticks.
Kay
@Soprano2:
It’s literally nonsense. We could not, in fact, pay for food for every American with half the cost of Ozempic. RFK Jr, in addition to being a scumbag, is innumerate. He says ridiculous things like this all the time. He’s dumb – a stupid person.
Soprano2
@Raven: I constantly monitor John’s weight because of this kind of thing. He used to weigh between 150-160 lbs, now he’s around 130. He couldn’t lose much without it being a problem.
TBone
@Soprano2: when I was still in the “fighting” stages of Lyme, a doctor suggested we starve the little bastards out of me and so I gave up all sugar and carbs. The weight fell off of me (and I was already petite) but the little
corksuckerscorkscrews merely went into hibernation and laughed later upon reawakening.Kayla Rudbek
@cmorenc: and anyone who’s had recent ancestry that went through a famine has a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, so you can eat right and exercise and still have trouble with weight and blood sugar (I personally blame the English and the Great Famine for increasing my risk, my Irish grandma had diabetes and so do I; the Great Depression probably didn’t help either) https://www.brown.edu/news/2016-12-12/famine
Unto the third and fourth generation, indeed.
Another Scott
@TS: In my case, it’s not getting there that’s the barrier (I’ve got a bunch of exercise stuff in the basement), it’ getting past the first 20 minutes. It seems to take at least 20 minutes of exercise for me to get past the “OMG, I hate this, it’s killing me, I can’t breathe, I must stop now or I will DIE!!” feeling and get to the endorphins starting to move and and get to the “Hey, I’m actually feeling alive again”, phase. Once I get past that first 20 minutes, I can usually go 30-60 total without too much trouble. It’s a battle that I too-often avoid though.
Gotta change that. ;-)
[eta:] I try to remember that Jack LaLanne said that he absolutely hated getting up at 3-4AM and absolutely hated exercising for how ever many hours it was every day. But he liked the result, so he did it.
Best wishes,
Scott.
TBone
@Baud: that’s a sick burn in light of our loss of bodily autonomy.
The Thin Black Duke
@Baud: I have no tolerance for assholes, but my precious circle of friends and family keeps me sane. I won’t try to save people who refuse to be saved.
Elizabelle
@Kay: And: food requires a kitchen, and the time and skills to cook it, to store it. Exercise at a gym requires getting there, and the time to do so.
That asshat will be telling cancer patients to try harder to wish away their illness, any day now. Positive thinking!
The Thin Black Duke
@Elizabelle: Thing is, Wellbutrin can trigger seizures. Ask me how I know.
Soprano2
@Kay: I’m sure RFK Jr. is one of those people who never had trouble maintaining the weight he wants. People like that think it’s as easy as just not eating. (Bill Maher is another one who has a fat phobia.) The reasons people gain weight and keep it on are complex. I’m glad we have modern medicine to help people. My only reservation is that in 5 years they find out these drugs have some kind of bad effect they didn’t know about.
Kayla Rudbek
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I’m on the sister drug and I have lost over 30 pounds with that and altered diet. I’ve also noticed a drop in my spending as well (I think there’s some evidence that it reduces compulsive spending and gambling)
Baud
If RFK could actually succeed in improving the quality of food in the US, that would be a win. But he can’t. What he’ll do is what the right always does — falsely blame other people for the failure.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Soprano2:
Yup, the proverbial “Sweet Tooth” affect of sugar (and other things like chocolate) is very real.
One thing that doesn’t get discussed enough is the amount of sugar in processed food of all kinds. It’s shocking and another contributor to the health issues we’re discussing this morning.
TBone
@Kayla Rudbek: waves hand! My aging genes: “Aye, lassie, we’ll keep you plump for aeons in preparation for the next time of famine! Dinnae ye worry!”
randy khan
@Suzanne:
Exactly. Sure, it would be great if people ate the way that RFK, Jr. wants and exercised, but they don’t, and not giving them a way to deal with the potential harms of obesity that they will use is harmful, not helpful.
TBone
@The Thin Black Duke: I tried it once.
Once.
There was no ability to ambulate because the ground under me went into earthquake mode.
Kay
@Elizabelle:
I loathe health woo woo. It’s all bullshit. Notice he and Joe Rogan never talk about the completely unregulated “wellness” industry where people spend billions out of pocket for “supplements”. For some reason that’s not big business. The one and only reason we know who RFK Jr is is because of his family. He’s a classic low quality nepo baby hire.
Suzanne
@Soprano2: I am skeptical of the idea that it’s cheaper to eat prepared food, at least much of the time. I think this is one of those highly variable things. I mean, if you are comparing the heirloom organic chicken to a premade bean burrito, yeah. But I’m kind of shocked by how expensive fast food is, how expensive chips are, etc.
I think that those things, though, are fast and easy. And that makes all the difference when you have lots of time pressures on your day. I can eat healthful foods for pretty cheap…. but I was taught how to do that. In school (I took home economics) and at home. I know how to make rice and beans and lentils and oatmeal and pasta and eat for days. And I have figured out how to do it in advance so I don’t have to resort to McDonald’s when I am squeezed for time.
But those were things that people taught me, I didn’t figure it out. I think we’ve lost a lot of that folk knowledge. Again…. because most people are so pressured.
Soprano2
@Suzanne: When Covid hit we started having to schedule our Jazzercise classes because attendance was limited. They’ve continued that now with an app. It helps me because I’ve committed to the class so I’m likely to show up for it even if I’d rather skip it. I’ve found that if I don’t schedule exercise it doesn’t happen. Now I’m so used to it that when I don’t get it for a few days I get antsy.
Kay
@Baud:
Or lie that he actually succeeded because we won’t collect or keep accurate info anymore. He’s a liar, like all of them.
YY_Sima Qian
Some data on the campaign messages that were impactful w/ swing voters in swing states (full chart through the link):
Nowhere on the list is campaigning w/ Liz Cheney to win the handful of Never Trump Republicans (who can be anywhere from neocons to actual libertarians). There are other polling that suggests such moves were a net negative down the stretch (again, polling data through the link):
Another Scott
@Soprano2: The National Museum of African American History and Culture in DC makes a point of covering how much the sugar trade drove slavery. It wasn’t just cotton, or just cotton and tobacco. Sugar was a huge driver.
C_12H_22O_11 has a lot to answer for!!
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Soprano2
@Tinare: What I’ve found helps me is small doses. We usually have something as dessert at the end of the day after a meal. I like the individual ice cream treats, because I can have one and that’s enough. When I have cookies I put a certain number on a plate for us and then put the cookies away. I’ve been able to teach myself that more isn’t better, it’s just more. It’s the first few bites that taste the best, after that it’s not as satisfying. I don’t stick to that all the time, but I do most of the time and it’s helped me manage it.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Soprano2:
Endorphins! Gotta love em.
I’ve observed this in the ultramarathon community for years. It’s a reason why, when somebody starts doing it for something other than a check-the-box-bucket-list reason, they get addicted (our little niche athletic endeavor actually attracts a fair number of ex-addicts). The result is they start running insane numbers of ultras in a given year.
It’s great that you’re getting that antsyness. It means ur doing it right. :)
Elizabelle
@The Thin Black Duke: Alas.
AM in NC
@TBone: Hope this isn’t too personal, but did you do IV antibiotics to get the little fuckers? My former brother-in-law suffered from long-term untreated Lyme disease, and he did 6 months of IV antibiotics that finally started turning things around. Didn’t completely cure him, but made his life livable again.
His life was just gone before that, and it was almost impossible to find a doctor who believed chronic Lyme (and the attendant various spirochetes) was an actual thing. And certainly insurance companies weren’t going to pay for treatment of a non-existent (HA!) problem.
Tick-borne diseases can be horrible chronic problems, and the medical community is just now taking this seriously. Vet schools were so much more advanced in this area – wish human doctors would have used their research much earlier!
Soprano2
@Kay: Remember how they all claimed that Michelle Obama’s healthy lunches just got thrown away because kids didn’t want to eat them? Now they’re supporting a guy who thinks we should take the same approach to the way everyone eats! It makes my head want to explode sometimes.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Another Scott:
Related to this, during the American Revolution, particularly in the lead up to the Yorktown Campaign, French and British interests in North America were focused on the West Indies, that’s where their commercial interests were greatest and far outweighed the 13 colonies.
It’s one reason why the Americans had a helluva time getting French naval power north.
Read any good book about the Yorktown Campaign and you learn really quickly that the British were far more willing to give up the 13 Colonies than *any* place they controlled in the West Indies. Sugar bitches!
Kay
@YY_Sima Qian:
I thought appealing to Never Trumpers was worth a shot but I hope Dems move away from it. It doesn’t move the needle and the professional Never Trumpers are grifters. Monday morning political quarterbacking is easy though – I think the obvious explanation is probably the most likely. Americans want a daddy to take care of them. Trump promised them high wages and full employment and low prices and no taxes and cheap real estate wherever you choose to live. They won’t get it, but media will tell them they did and they’ll believe it.
Soprano2
@Another Scott: My secret is that I’ve found exercise that I actually enjoy. If I had to walk on the treadmill or elliptical three or four days a week I would have quit long ago.
Gvg
@rikyrah: try again later, possibly emphasizing a different part of the medical impact. My insurance company rejected my prescription for ozempic a year and a half ago (not really surprising me) and the price without was 1200 which is more than my mortgage and not affordable. I was just over into obese and prediabetic with a fatty liver but I think the doc but weight loss as the purpose. Anyway, we kept trying other things for a year and we’re not making much more progress. I had had some early progress.and at least was no longer gaining a bit each year. So she wanted to try prescribing it again to see if insurance would cover, then go to an independent compounding lab if it didn’t which still seemed pricy but maybe I could afford. I was sceptical but went along. I really think she may have not put the weight loss as primary reason or even just prescribed it and with the test results on my file, it went thru. $25 a month is very different from 1200. Also the supply chain problems seem fixed. I have lost 15 and am no longer obese. She kept me at the 2nd dose level since I responded so fast so my losses slowed from the initial quick 10 but I am still losing at a reasonable rate. This is in 8 months after 3 years of trying with not much progress. It does suppress appetite. I just am not hungry. It’s more like when I was young and didn’t have the munchies all the time.
Chris Johnson
@Geo Wilcox: These MOTUs are a pretty fucked-up spectacle, aren’t they?
I wonder what traditional conservatives make of them. I wonder what otherwise creepy people like Mike Johnson make of them. There’s a kind of horrible person who’d keep private slaves, but will recoil at the kind of monstrosity Elon makes of himself. Some of these guys are goddamn zombies, public spectacles.
Baud
@Kay:
Never Trumpism is basically moot now anyway. I don’t know what so many people are acting like that alliance ever had any deeper roots.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Soprano2:
I’m so glad you mentioned that. There’s this tendency for people to force themselves into some form of exercise because they’re told that’s what works best or whatever.
Once you find something you like (or good at), it doesn’t become exercise. My wife doesn’t run but she loves to cycle. Me? Not so much. If my only option were cycling, you’re right, I’d have a helluva time doing it. Same with her regarding running.
The problem is finding the exercise you like.
Chris Johnson
@Dorothy A. Winsor: That absolutely tracks. Makes sense. That’s how obesity works: food addiction. We as humans can fall into those self-reinforcing patterns and it’s really a caution.
Chief Oshkosh
@p.a.: There are entire “industries” devoted to (1) private ownership of prisons and (2) management of “guest” workers, both that just barely skirt the edges of being legal. These “industries” may be on the verge of getting some mighty big gubmint contracts…
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Soprano2: The social aspect of a class also makes me more likely to go compared to exercising alone at home.
Kay
@YY_Sima Qian:
Young white men literally say they are “unhappy” and expect a political solution to that problem. I’m not wasting my time with that level of self pitying nonsense. Their “unhappiness” has no relation to their own actions and is wholly the fault of external factors? Bullshit. They’re spoiled, coddled people who take no responsibility for their own lives.
Chief Oshkosh
@Argiope: I wonder if I took one of these drugs whether I’d stop doom scrolling?…
Nah.
Suzanne
@Soprano2:
LOL. Yes.
I am competitive enough in my professional life, and spend enough time in my home life talking to people….. that I basically use exercise to zone the fuck out and enjoy me time. I like to run, or do my Peloton bike, by myself. Listen to music or podcasts and not be fucken interrupted every ten seconds. I like to do yoga, in dim light, sweat balls, and not interact with anybody until afterward.
I get that other people love the social interaction of sports, but for me, the more zen quality is part of the appeal.
Chief Oshkosh
@Another Scott:
Long ago, in another lifetime it seems, I had occasion to chat with Paul Newman. He was in his late 70s and amazingly fit. However, what I still cannot get over to this day is how tiny the guy was. He was like a perfectly-proportioned miniature human being.
Soprano2
@Suzanne: I do agree with this. One of the problems is that the cheaper way to buy things like chicken is in bulk because the per pound price is cheaper, but the total price is expensive. I buy the family packs and then freeze the individual pieces so I can thaw what I want later. I was thinking more about how things like fresh fruits and veggies are more expensive.
Soprano2
@Kay: You can thank Orrin Hatch for the fact that it’s pretty much unregulated. I take some supplements, but most of them are because my doctor said they would help me.
YY_Sima Qian
@Kay: I don’t think taking a sustained strong stance against price gouging is pandering to young white men.
Kay
@YY_Sima Qian:
I was renting in Toledo Ohio for Bill Clinton’s 2nd term – a good economy (like Bidens). I was poor as a fucking church mouse alone with a 4 year old renting a falling down house across from the Ford plant. Yet, somehow I managed to recognize that my situation was not the result of Bill Clinton’s actions and I was actually pretty happy. Yup. Shit job, 20 year old car, garbage house in a bad neighborhood, but happy. Hence, my 4 year old was also happy because he wasn’t surrounded by people who told him happiness is determined by how much stupid shit you can buy.
Im tired of the whining and blaming – blaming Black people, blaming immigrants, blaming trans people.
I’ll make you a bet. Whiny young white men who voted for Trump will still be unhappy in two years. They’re their problem.
Gin & Tonic
You may have heard about Calin Georgescu, a virulently fascist pro-russian politician in Romania, who just won the first round of Presidential voting there, likely with significant russian assistance on TikTok and other internet “media.”
Well, a prominent American politician who is his good friend is reportedly going to visit there before the second round of polling. That friend’s name is RFK Jr.
TBone
@AM in NC: my insurance (employer-provided) would not cover IV, only oral ABX. I took Doryx for quite a while, as well as many other ABX combos, including Rifampin and other antifungals. The little corksuckers persist in bleb form.
I’m sorry that any human has to see this kind of suffering in a loved one. I think that’s why many people simply choose to deny its existence. Thank you for your thoughts!
Soprano2
I’d love to hear you debate Richard Reeves, the guy who wrote a book about the travails of young men. I’ve heard him interviewed, and no one ever asks him what I think are obvious questions. He talks about how school isn’t structured for the way young boys learn. OK, when I was in school we were expected to sit still at our desks and listen to the teacher. If we didn’t we got in trouble. According to him that’s bad for boys, yet when I was young boys succeeded more than they do now. What changed? Why was school in the 1950’s great for boys, but it’s bad now? Why aren’t young girls affected by all of these supposed problems? I think they don’t want to admit that many of these young white men don’t like to compete with women and minorities; they want certain things reserved for them first because they think they’re deserving of that. They don’t like that young women have many more choices now, so they don’t have to choose these guys if they don’t want to. I have a hard time feeling sorry for people who won’t even do the minimum in order to help themselves.
p.a.
@Gin & Tonic: It only took the south 12 years to win the civil war, 1865-1877, using
politicsracism.The fascists are taking longer, but getting there.
Soprano2
That’s a sucker bet. They’ve been told they should be unhappy because they aren’t all MOTU anymore.
raven
@Another Scott: We ran into him in Musso and Frank one day. He was really nice!
TBone
Our huge, new, local community gym that’s affiliated with Evangelical health system here almost got the huge membership fees out of us. They advertised that there would be a heated, Olympic size swimming pool built. My favorite weightless exercise is swimming.
The pool has never been built.
p.a.
Lots are smart enough to realize they can’t compete, so the system that keeps them on top must be maintained/rebuilt.
Soprano2
@p.a.: Yep, they don’t really believe in the idea that the best qualified person always wins out. In my experience that’s mostly bullshit anyway. The person the boss likes the most usually wins out.
Gvg
@Kay: Probably not exactly. It’s probably the people around them. The environment. Could start with parents. Since it doesn’t seem to be impacting their sisters, it’s probably sort of complex. I do remember some years ago seeing a survey that parents had switched from the past and now preferred girl babies to boys. I was pleased that sexism seemed to have been overcome (sorry) but sort of appalled that everyone dressed and gave girls such very pink clothes and stuff. Now pink is my favorite color, but I like some variety and it is not actually flattering to every complexion. It’s also overwhelming if everything is pink. So this was a certain type of girl.
I also had 2 nephews and foster boys. Their clothing selection was much less cute and limited. This was about 10 years ago I think. This is judging by commercial catalogs but that can be a measure of our society. And Disney set out to acquire Marvel because it realized it didn’t have many movies appealing to boys for the past few decades…(they had some Cars).
YY_Sima Qian
@Kay: So, what are you suggesting going forward?
YY_Sima Qian
@Gin & Tonic: Reactionaries all over the Western world take inspiration from the reactionaries in the US, who in turn take inspiration in how the reactionaries in CEE seized power, especially Hungary. They are all apologists for Putin, are decidedly xenophobic, anti-liberalism, anti-internationalism, & anti-modernity.
Kay
The Israeli Rights final “fuck you, sucker” to Biden is going to be announcing “peace” after they complete the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, just in time for Trumps inauguration. Sadly, Biden and his team deserve it. They were suckers.
Kay
@YY_Sima Qian:
I don’t know, but the last 30 years of telling voters what they want to hear has not worked well for liberals. We’re not as slick or adept liars as Donald Trump. Harris could have told them she’d solve all their problems like Trump did but that’s actually a lie, so I suggest we not run toward lying.
Kay
@Soprano2:
There are plenty of opportunities for young white men. They have to stick at a job longer than 3 weeks and do some minor work to prepare – high school algebra- but they can make 50k w/out college if they just show up reliably sober. They’re not interested. They want to be influencers and bitcoin millionaires with a beautiful subservient wife.
NotMax
FYI/. Black Friday streaming deals for customers in the U.S.
Subscribe directly with the service:
Sling: 50% off ($20) for one month.
Paramount Plus: $2.99 per month for the first two moths (enter code BLACKFRIDAY at sign-up.
Peacock: $2 per month for six months or $20 for an annual subscription.
Max: $2.99 per month for six months for the ad-supported subscription.
Hulu: $0 (yes, free) for 30 days.
Starz: $9 for three months.
MhZ Choice:One time payment of $47.99 for annual subscription (40% off regular price). Use code MEMDAY24 at sign-up.
.
If you’re a Prime member, add-on channels via Prime video:
Britbox: $2.25 per month for two months.
PBS Masterpiece $1.75 per month for two months
Acorn:$2 per month for two months.
MGM+: $1.75 per month for two months.
AMC+: $2.50 per month for two months.
Hallmark Plus: $2 per month for two months
Paramount Pus: $2/99 per month for two months.
Starz: $2’75 per month for two months.
BET+: $2.75 per month for two months.
Cinemax: $2’50 per month for two months.
ViX: $2.25 per month for two months.
Crunchroll: $2 per month for two months
PBS KIds: $1.25 per month for two months.
.
If you have a Roku device, deals via the Roku channel
Acorn: 99 cents per months for 2 months.
Briotbox: $3.99 per month for 2 months.
Hallmark: $1.99 per month for two months.
Lifetime Movie Club: $1.99 per month for two months.
Cinemax: 99 cents per month for two months.
Starz: 99 cents per month for two months.
AMC+: 99 cents per month for two months.
MGM+z: 99 cents per month for two months.
BET+: 99 cents per month for two months.
Max: $2’99 per month for two months.
Paramount+: $2’99 per month for two months.
Apple TV+: 3 month free trial.
Apple Music: 3 month free trial.
The Great Courses Signature Collection: 99 cents per month for two months.
.
Gvg
@rikyrah: my doctor and I can’t ask the insurance company why they approved it this time but denied it before, because they might take it away. I speculate that it might be that the doctor this time didn’t list weight loss as the reason. Everyone now knows weight impact health in all kinds of ways, but it still has special rules and stigmatismisms as if it’s “only” for vanity. I had some other health test results before the first try and a family history of diabetes, strokes and heart disease that made me really want to get that weight down. Add in that I was having arthritis issues myself and was tired all the time. My main doctor was concerned with a fatty liver and high cholesterol.
The second possible factor is the supply chain. Maybe they were less strict this year because of those problems being worked out.
Anyway, I suggest that you discuss with your doctor how the prescription is presented. I don’t know how they fill them out, but it you have test results about health things, that support the need for weight loss, then try the prescription again right after that?
Barbara
@Suzanne: In the world of Medicare Advantage, “gym membership” appeals to lower risk, healthier members. This is so obvious that CMS does not permit plans to offer gym membership as a supplemental benefit unless they also have “alternatives” for those who cannot or will not use gym memberships.
Kay
Fully half the drivers in our traffic practice – truck drivers – are Eastern Europeans or Indians.
Am I supposed to believe young white men can’t get a CDL? Why can’t they? Christ, Obama PAID them for trade school! They STILL wouldn’t do it. They’re too good for ordinary work.
p.a.
@Kay: I worked w young guys (strong union, so they were protected) of multiple skin tones who thought it was an imposition to be there at 7am for a job starting at… 7am. We worked in a large footprint, not one location, so management oversight was minimal, but if a boss was there at 7, the guys would get pissed that the boss would give them shit! Then madder when “he keeps showing up on my jobs!” They were my jobs too, so these tools were upping my oversight too! SMFH. Lots were single guys, not even the “family issue” excuse.
Other MJS
He should have pardoned TFCFG for ONE of his 34 convictions while he was at it.
Barbara
@Raven: Perhaps if you are grossly overweight it could help your heart, but losing weight can be counterproductive once you get to a certain age, maybe 70. You don’t have the same kind of reserves that you did when younger. My mother lost a lot of weight in the lead up to her joint replacement surgery and she never recovered her appetite or her vitality.
raven
@Barbara: I think that’s what my GP was saying and that was before I was diagnosed with MS. My BMI is 27.
Kathleen
@Elizabelle: I love that idea.
NotMax
Typo corrections of #125.
$2/99 = $2.99
MGM+z = MGM+
.
p.a.
@Barbara:
@raven:
Yes. Even young, healthy people with 10% or less bodyfat, if they do get a longterm/chronic illness, don’t have the reserves to recover as well as those a bit less “buff.”
Layer8Problem
@Geminid: Geminid, are you still on the thread?
Gin & Tonic
@Barbara: Americans don’t want healthy, they want pretend healthy, like a “salad” with fried chicken and ranch dressing – 1500 calories for lunch.
Soprano2
@Kay: Oh I know, one of my nephews makes an extremely good living working as a welder at Prime trucking. It’s hard, dirty work, though.
Geminid
@Layer8Problem: Good morning.
Trivia Man
@TS: At one job they had a small gym in the building. free weights and machines, treadmills, even a racquetball court.
Best of all, lockers and a laundry. Work out, use their towels, clothes in a mesh bag, and clean clothes tomorrow. A luxury i used almost every day.
Soprano2
@Kay: One of the big perks of getting hired on here as a maintenance worker is that you have to get your CDL, and the city pays for it. You get lots of on the job practice too. It’s a great deal for these people.
Soprano2
@Gin & Tonic: Oh yeah, I’ve noticed that almost always a salad that starts out as pretty low calorie can quickly become a calorie bomb. Dried fruit and pecans taste good, but they add a lot of calories. My favorite eat out salad is Panera’s Poppyseed with Chicken salad, I get it as a Pick Two with soup. Unfortunately they only have it in the summer.
Layer8Problem
@Geminid: Hiya. Just to answer your query from one of last night’s threads.
Nope, I don’t know a thing, and he’s off my more politically engaged partner’s radar too.
Looking around for any humor value in the 2025 NYC mayoral contest, two undeclared names jumped out: Andrew Cuomo seems to think he’s tanned, rested, and ready but hasn’t officially put any hat in the ring yet, and former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn expressed an interest as well, but she wrecked herself ages ago backing Bloomberg’s desire for a third term in spite of term limits.
Geminid
@Soprano2: My landlord rented out the bottom half of his house in Charlottesville to a Syrian refugee family. After a couple years they moved to a house they bought in Ruckersville, 20 miles north of Charlottesville. The father trained as a welder and found a job with good pay.
When the Syrians left my landlord rented to some of our indigenous “white working class. They stopped paying rent after a few months and trashed the place. It took Bill months to have them evicted.
Bill said, never again! Once he got the place cleaned up he rented it to another family referred to him by the local International Rescue Committee chapter.
Geminid
@Layer8Problem:
I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of Michael Blake. That’s a big town, and Blake left his Assemblyman job in 2020 to run for Congress . It was for the seat left open when Rep. Serrano retired. Blake came in second to another young politician, Richie Torres.
I’m kind of sorry Kathy Garcia won’t run again. The former Sanitation Commissioner ran a close second to Adams in 2021. Garcia would have made a good Mayor, I think. Adams sure didn’t.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@randy khan: I’ll add that the rural (especially Midwestern) folks are just going to LOVE being lectured to about their American, processed food diets. Please proceed, RFK!
Another Scott
@p.a.: Hehe.
I’m not at all a morning person.
One of my early jobs in the late ’80s was working in a mail room for a company that ran rewards programs for other companies like car dealerships.
They had an intercom alarm that went off at 7:00:00. If one wasn’t there and ready to work when the alarm went off, one got in lots of trouble… (Of course, that also meant that nobody lifted a sheet of paper until the alarm went off.)
It’s a culture thing. If people understand the rules and the rules mean something to the people in charge, then people will adjust. Or won’t stick around long.
It’s just the way the world works.
So, yeah, it’s annoying as hell sometimes, but it’s part of the job.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Trivia Man
@Central Planning: Do they have a sugar free version?
Trivia Man
@BretH: At one job we had a lunchtime basketball game. Office building had an outdoor court, about 10 months of the year we played almost daily. Even after i got laid off i made it a couple times a week.
Couldn’t use the shower but helped mental state if mind while job hunting.
narya
@Soprano2: The best exercise is the one you actually do. I’ve learned what works for me (mostly do it in the morning, first thing; solitary is much better for me (running, walking, Fitness+ strength or core classes, probably some rowing in the winter))–but I know plenty of other folks who would hate every single part of my list.
W/r/t “oh, boys just don’t succeed in this learning environment,” is it possible that toxic masculinity is showing up here, too? Is it that boys are still told to “compete,” and in school, that means competing with girls, where they might lose? Better to not compete at all than risk “losing to a girl.”
Layer8Problem
@Geminid: We’re in agreement on Garcia. She had my vote.
UncleEbeneezer
@JML: Not to mention, some people just don’t like going to the gym because of all the bullshit attitude, ogling, judgement, unwanted attention etc. from other gym members. I know this is one reason a lot of women don’t enjoy the gym. IE- Dudes won’t leave them alone. Then imagine how it must be for Transgender People who just want to go workout.
Trivia Man
@Chief Oshkosh: That was my impression of Jon Bon Jovi. I briefly shared a stage with him at a political event and had a brief chat. Nice guy, passionate about politics, and hips as wide as my hand span. (It seemed)
Trivia Man
@Soprano2: Exactly. The up front cost and storage space are insurmountable for many.
Omnes Omnibus
@UncleEbeneezer: Gym culture can be pretty toxic. There are always the weird bros who seem to be there all the time. I go to work out and then leave. Oh, yeah, and “hey, lady the elliptical, get off your fucking phone. I don’t want to hear your half of a conversation about real estate deals, you rude fuck.”
Quiltingfool
Heh. You just described my relationship with candy.
UncleEbeneezer
@Tinare: This is exactly what my wife said. The calming of the food noise is what really makes it work for her. That’s always been a big issue she’s struggled with. Unfortunately she had to go off it for awhile due to supply issues and now she is still waiting for the dose level she needs to restart. But she’s managed to maintain some of the eating habits like cauliflower rice and whole wheat bread and is generally taking in very little carbs, so more or less staying on the same diet even without the Wegovy.
Trivia Man
@Quiltingfool: My biggest loss with the new diabetes diet is my favorite holiday. Discount Easter Candy Week! 50-90% off!!!
Sadly, never again. Discount Halloween candy week also was a struggle for me.
UncleEbeneezer
@Elizabelle: I honestly don’t know who got done worse: Hillary, Biden or Kamala. All three are exemplary people who did everything they were supposed to do and all we did was punish them (and ourselves) for it.
Quiltingfool
@Kay: I hate the health woo-woo, especially around weight loss.
I play a word game (hey, I like to spell!) and if you need a hint, you watch an ad. So there’s one ad that plays frequently, it features Kelly Clarkson pushing a product called Keto Gummies. It claims you can lose 50 pounds in 2 weeks or a month or some bullshit time frame.
This is beyond ridiculous, but I’ll guarantee there are people who, in desperation, will pony up the money and never recognize how impossible it is.
Omnes Omnibus
@UncleEbeneezer:
Hillary stayed with Bill and was too prepared, Biden let himself get old, and Kamala couldn’t decide what race she was. How could you say they did everything right?
p.a.
Lots of folks lose the distinction between being hungry and being empty. Topping off when one is empty: the last meal has just gotten processed- is disastrous. Even when one feels hungry, if you wait 20 mins, the feeling may pass, and you can get in better touch with your actual needs and better plan your intake. And drink water.
gene108
@Tinare:
That’s GREAT!!!
Indycat32
@Quiltingfool: i checked and that ad is completely fake done with AI. Kelly Clarkson is not pushing that stuff.
Elizabelle
@UncleEbeneezer: Yes. It is a tragedy.
Suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus:
Um yes.
The YMCA was much better for me than private gyms in the not-getting-hit-on department.
Juju
@Suzanne: Most Medicare Advantage policies already cover gym memberships. According to my sister, you have to look closely at the Medicare supplemental policies because some cover a gym membership and some do not. I don’t know anything about Medicaid.
Geminid
@Layer8Problem: I guess it won’t be long before a lot of people have heard of Michael Blake, in and put of New York. New York’s Democratic Mayoral primary will be one of the big political stories next Spring. Another will be the Governor’s primary across the Hudson in New Jersey.
Then it will be Virginia’s turn. Both Abigail Spanberger, the Democrat and Winsom Sears, the Republican candidate for Governor are more or less unopposed in the primary. The general election will draw a lot of attention from national media.
Fun Michael Blake facts: he’s 41 years old and his parents immigrated to the Bronx from Jamaica. They named their son after Jamaican politician Michael Manley.
Quiltingfool
@Kay: My husband now works for the County Road Department. It was a pay cut, but he’s getting too old to do the punishing physical work he’s done all his life; county work is much easier on him.
Anyway, the county got a grant that paid for a 4 week truck driving school for employees to get a CDL. My husband was selected, did the 4 week school, got his regular pay, and now has a CDL. If he wanted, he could work in the private sector, driving gravel trucks or whatever, making more money. He isn’t obligated to stay with the county.
The young guys he works with have zero clue how valuable that skill is for their future job prospects. Actually, he is appalled at how lazy, whiny and unmotivated the 20 -30 year old guys are. These youngs actually whine in front of the older guys. They have zero shame.
Quiltingfool
@Indycat32: I wondered about the Kelly Clarkson bit. The other folks on the ad aren’t familiar to me, but they must be “famous” somewhere.
Kay
Trump promised gas under 2 dollars a gallon, 2% interest rates, inflation would “vanish”, he would repeal O care and replace it with something better, and food prices at 2016 levels. Oh, and “world peace”
Democrats could have promised all that, but it would have been a pack of lies. Let me know when Americans grow the fuck up and return to reality. They’re not getting any of these things.
Kay
No sooner did they announce they were close to a peace deal in Lebanon did Israel resume bombing the shit out of Lebanon.
By my count, this is the ELEVENTH time Israel has done this. How many times is Bidens team going to fall for it?
UncleEbeneezer
@Omnes Omnibus: True. Guess I’ll just have to vote for Joe Rogan (Independent), in 2028.
UncleEbeneezer
@Suzanne: One of my fave Black podcasters used to work at the YMCA and often had to admonish the men who would stand in front of the door/window, ogling the women in the Zumba class.
Juju
@Kay: RFKjr has no real accomplishments other than being born a Kennedy.
Shana
Speaking as someone who was taking Mounjaro for 6 months before aging in to Medicare, and lost 35 pounds in the process, I would love to have prescription access. I’m currently on a compounded semaglutide since Ozempic is in nationwide shortage but would prefer the premeasured pens
Geminid
@Kay: This wasn’t some kind of trick. The Israelis and Hezbollah will keep on pounding each other right up until the ceasefire, and no one who’s been paying attention expected otherwise.
Jeffro
Mrs. Fro and I sent President Biden a card last month, thanking him for his lifetime of service to our country (and the last four years in particular).
Stuff like that feels SO good…highly recommended!
Jeffro
I have to agree. Never Trumpers are either now Democrats or they aren’t, and if they aren’t, well…they’re not my concern. There are a LOT of Dems and Dem-leaners whose concerns ought to be the focus going forward. NTs are always welcome to join us.
NotMax
@Suzanne
An after dinner pastime for high school boys on a Depression-era radio show was going to the YMCA “to watch the fat men play handball.”
;)
Jeffro
Some are, some aren’t. I can’t believe how cheap a good ol’ banana or apple is!
I’m also shocked at the mark-up on prepared fruits and vegetables. I’m not talking ‘cooked’…I mean just ‘cut-up’. Grocery stores like Wegmans make an absolute killing on it and convenience stores like Wawa make twice that (double murder?)
It’s unreal. A little planning before grocery shopping and then just a little time chopping and boom, the grocery bill is cut in half. =)
Geminid
@Jeffro: I like how Jalapeño peppers have become relatively cheap. They keep well too. Those and onions are now my two staple vegetables.
Jeffro
hey whoa whoa WHOA now
(j/k)
I will be spending several days with Fro Jr this coming Thanksgiving (yay) and I do plan on asking him more about his cohort re: crypto, online sports betting, social media, etc. Not really data but hopefully several anecdotes?
(then again, he hangs with some pretty A-type college kids…)
JoyceH
@Suzanne: I’ve been a member of my Y for years and I love it. You do get the insanely fit young things doing box jumps (and I’m thinking “hon, your knees will curse your name in a few decades”) but also the people doing rehab and the overweight etc. But I think RFK jr needs to get out to those rural red states and see how accessible a gym is for most of the residents. Not to mention the fact that I’ve noticed year after year how crowded the Y is after New Years (resolutions!), but the numbers drop off in just a few weeks.
I’ve been resisting the weight loss drugs, and a few years ago lost 50 pounds on Weight Watchers, but WW stopped working and I gained most of it back. My supplemental will cover the weight loss drugs and I’m going to give it a try. (I’m just back from my Italian tour and my biggest disappointment was how much less fit I am than I thought I was!)
Jeffro
ya think? =)
The thought of those two on the same debate stage actually makes me chuckle. I know we have to take everyone seriously in this blessed alternate timeline but Winsome is really going to put that to the test.
Kay
@Geminid:
Peace will miraculously break out when Trump takes office, because Israel will have completed ethnically cleansing Gaza and Israel is a far Right country that meddles in US politics and hopes to promote Donald Trump.
Netanyau is more popular than ever, and the country has gone even further Right. They don’t even deny ethnic cleansing anymore – it’s the official policy of the country. I’m old enough to remember when I received stern lectures here that Israel wasn’t bombing hospitals. They were bombing hospitals, along with deliberately murdering aid workers and journalists, and shooting children in the head.
I don’t want to hear any more about what savvy people think about Israel or how “everyone knew”. They got every fact wrong. The protestors were right and Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden were wrong. Two weeks ago the Biden Adminsitration supposedly set their 50th “line in the sand” on Israel deliberately starving Palestianians. Do you know how many aid trucks Israel has allowed in since then? Eleven. They tell Joe Biden to fuck off daily and he says “please may I have some more”. It’s ridiculous and embarrassing. Oh, and also? It’s a series of war crimes and the Biden Administration is absolutely complicit in it. Hence their rush to protect Netanyahu from any accountability. They’re exposed too.
How long do you think this fantasy that they aren’t ethnically cleansing Gaza can go on? There are facts and reality. It will be an easily observable truth.
Kay
@Geminid:
I expected the Biden Administration to treat Palestinians like human beings. I don’t think this is a high bar, particularly for a President who I’m told over and over is a “good man” and a humanitarian.
He was at 30% approval! He was going to lose anyway! STILL he couldn’t refuse Netanyahu anything. He’s now LOST the Presidency and he still won’t demand Israel stop starving Palestinians. Whatever his fucking problem is with Palestinians – how he seems to think they are subhuman – at the very least I expect him to comply with US law. We’re supposed to cut off arms to countries who commit war crimes. That’s US law.
Shana
@rikyrah: I’m getting mine through Weight Watchers Clinic. Might be worth checking. I’m paying a little over $200 a month for the compounded version of Ozempic
Shana
@Kayla Rudbek: I have noticed that too. The only real spending I do now is buying smaller sizes of clothes since the ones in my closet are mostly too big. Since I’m still in process (aiming for a further 15 lbs) I’m not buying much and/or making them – recently a pair of jeans for the first time
Shana
@Gvg: my understanding is that it doesn’t suppress appetite but slows digestion so you feel full longer and earlier during a meal so you don’t eat as much
WaterGirl
@NotMax: Are those all with ads, or are some ad-free?
Fair Economist
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Freaking everywhere! They add sugar to pasta sauce! To soup! To fruit juice! (already loaded with sugar so LET’S ADD MORE!) I have to read the label of everything I buy.
Fair Economist
@Kay: My son, who has some psychological issues from abuse (from before we adopted him) and from marijuana abuse, missed a good warehouse job for a transportation company because he said he wasn’t willing to learn to drive a truck.
Sigh.
Gloria DryGarden
@Suzanne: i need to bring an arsenal of healthy foods to work, so I can eat something real, if I get hungry.
I do think sugar has been found to be addictive. Also, it’s highly carcinogenic, so I’ve read. It’s quite linked.
i list sugar on the addictive substances line on every medical form. And no, I’ve never had anyone jump on that. Only when the numbers go prediabetic, or my weight.. I’m trying to tell them, hey, it’s addictive, it’s a problem, it’s really hard to give it up, I’m not being cutesy here.
Central Planning
@Gloria DryGarden: Sugar is not carcinogenic. It can cause weight gain/obesity which are cancer risk factors, but sugar doesn’t CAUSE cancer.
NotMax
@WaterGirl
Some with ads, some without.
Chris T.
@Tinare:
Until the ACA came about, only Medicare and Medicaid were optimized for “long run”; private health insurance was tweaked to save money over a 3 to 5 year time horizon, or so. I didn’t understand this until the “Richard Mayhew” postings here, but the theory boils down to “it’s only our problem for a few more years, then it’s someone else’s pocketbooks that are affected.”
Chris T.
@Soprano2:
As you should. They can have really nasty side effects (not common, but when one side effect is “oops you’re going to die, sorry about that” it should be concerning!).
Yes.
The simple “calories in minus calories out” model (from basic chemistry/physics) works, but it’s way too simple, because “calories eaten” is not “calories in” and “calories burned via exercise” is not calories out. Calories in affect calories out and calories out affect calories in, in absurdly complex feeedback loops that make no sense at all. This is why “one size fits all” actually fits almost none.