Egg prices continue to climb amid the bird flu outbreak https://t.co/eEbLNM1mYF
— Christy Green (@lachristygreen) January 11, 2025
My personal hobbyhorse… “Egg prices continue to climb amid the bird flu outbreak” [gift link]:
Photos of bare grocery refrigerator cases and tales of egg prices gone wild have been rampant on social media this winter.
The scenes aren’t manufactured drama. The U.S. Department of Agriculture noted last week that some grocery stores have been limiting the number of cartons customers can buy and hanging signs announcing shortages where cartons of eggs would normally be stacked.
The bird flu outbreak behind the shortages began affecting U.S. chickens in 2022, and prices are still rising. Adding to consumers’ woes, experts say that prices now could rise in Michigan and Colorado as the states join others requiring all eggs to come from chickens raised without cages. Here’s how much — and why — you might be shelling out more than ever.
How much are eggs?
Prices differ widely, of course, depending on geographic area and individual retailers. But nationwide, the consumer price index puts the cost at $3.65 for a dozen regular large white eggs in November (the latest available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics)…Why are they so expensive?
Experts say it’s a classic case of supply and demand. According to the USDA, nearly 40 million commercial egg-laying hens across the country were lost last year to the H5N1 strain of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) and fires. The losses were especially high in December, the agency noted, which coincided with the usual peak holiday demand for eggs, leading to “record-high wholesale and retail prices.”And on the demand side, it’s not just the rise in holiday sales: The volume of eggs sold at retail has been up year over year for 21 consecutive months, according to the American Egg Board, which attributes Americans’ appetite to a number of factors, including the emphasis many people are placing on protein in their diets…
Will they get cheaper?
Don’t expect a price drop anytime soon, experts say. The latest projections from the USDA suggest that egg prices are expected to climb even higher in 2025, given the continued bird flu threat. USDA economist Megan Sweitzer said the agency is predicting another price increase this year, of 11.4, assuming the avian flu remains a problem. “We’re still seeing egg-laying flocks being affected by the avian influenza,” she said in a radio interview posted last month on the USDA’s website…
The Supreme Court will review Obamacare's no-cost coverage for some preventive care services including cancer screenings, heart statins and HIV drugs https://t.co/iCfzKt0HyV
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) January 10, 2025
ICYMI
After conservative Texas employers challenged the mandate, the Supreme Court will review Obamacare’s no-cost coverage of preventive medicine measures.
So iikely we can forget free vaccines, mammograms, blood tests & statins. Not just birth control.
Pro life my ass.
— Janice Hough (@leftcoastbabe) January 11, 2025
The DOW going down if Trump was elected was entirely foreseeable if you're not a moron and you understand that risk is the true killer. Unfortunately, morons are not prohibited from participating in the stock market or being CEOs. https://t.co/ZcZ8P7BcV8
— Not a Good Jewish Girl 🇮🇱✡️ (@estherzelda0514) January 10, 2025
Explanation here is simple. Who hated Donald Trump? Normie Libs and only Normie Libs.
Who hates Joe Biden? Republicans, Leftists, "apolitical" podcast bros, anyone with a journalism degree, the entire mainstream media, billionaires, anyone who thinks they SHOULD be a billionaire https://t.co/85WaRdPGvw
— Bobby FakeName, Esq. (@BobFakeNameEsq) January 10, 2025
IRS announces January 27 as the start of the 2025 tax season https://t.co/jY7cVGYX1W
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 11, 2025
Best laugh I’ve had all week (warning: mildly NSFW)…
Deceased 🤣💀 pic.twitter.com/yXyrsaZxXE
— Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) January 10, 2025
Runner-up:
??????
(We don’t know who made this… but ??)— The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) January 8, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Baud
Egg prices were just the latest excuse in a long line of excuses.
Not that everyone here doesn’t already know that.
Kay
God, the media/billionaire effort to sell “happy days are here again” after January 20th is going to be legendary because material conditions are actually deteriorating.
Twitter and META are going to have to throttle a lot of negative content.
NotMax
Weekend long watch.
Eat, drink and concoct.
Kay
I’m sorry about the preventive care services. I think that would have really paid off long term cost wise. They’re all so bad with money.
different-church-lady
Ooops.
Kay
Our genius billionaires would apparently rather pay for late stage cancer treatment over screenings. Because they’re so super smart.
eclare
@Kay:
There was a reason that I got a colonoscopy last October. Luckily everything was fine and by the time I need another I’ll be on Medicare.
Baud
@Kay:
I’m pretty sure they’re working on how not to pay for those also.
Baud
If the majority wants a better life again, we’ll be here. Until then, I’m not going to sweat it.
different-church-lady
@Baud:
"Cancer is a hoax."Baud
@different-church-lady:
caused by DEILapassionara
Honestly, I don’t understand why Biden’s approval is so low. The latest jobs figures are robust, and the economic news has been mostly positive during the past months. I don’t find the explanation above convincing.
I saw somewhere that Trump’s most recent approval rating was over 50%, but that was over a month ago. Inexplicable, to me.
Nukular Biskits
Mornin’, y’all.
@Baud: Indeed, but I wonder sometimes does it even matter. Not to sound defeatist but it seems any excuse, regardless of how weak or absurd, will serve. How do you counter that? Facts with context are an anathema to a large part of the American electorate.
Nukular Biskits
@NotMax: Looks good.
Baud
@Nukular Biskits:
I have ideas, but I learned a long time ago that my ideas are not popular, so I keep them to myself.
Nukular Biskits
@Kay:
I don’t see where they have any plans (or intentions) to do that either.
ETA: What Baud said.
sab
I have been on Medicare not Obamacare for a couple of years now and I already had to pay for my statins. Not much but they aren’t free.
Not complaining. I remember too well when I couldn’t get health insurance at all. First when I had just turned eighteen and became an unmarried adult woman. The second time was was when I was a 50 year old who had an unknown to me pre-existing condition. They collected premiums from me for a few years then dropped me when I actually submitted a claim. The claim was for preventive care.
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
Did it involve Clockwork Orange style methods?
Salty Sam
Fixed
zhena gogolia
@Baud: I would like to hear your ideas.
Jackie
https://www.rawstory.com/right-wing-2670795129/
Let’s see if the FFOTUS has sign language interpreters at his inauguration – not that I’ll know…
sab
Obamacare insurance would be a lot cheaper if it didn’t cover anything. //
p.a.
Anecdote =/= data, but the wingnut family members I used to be in contact with literally had an anti Dem time machine app implanted in their brains by Fox, hate radio etc:
if something good (what they considered good) happened in a Dem admin, it was cause by a previous Rethug admin. any bad, immediately caused by the current Dem admin.
Inverse when Repubs in power, of course.
The business cycle has changed a bit as far as timing, but recessions will still happen. The Dems should start practicing now: trump recession tRump Recession TRUMP RECESSION
New Deal democrat
I really, really want to caution people against the kind of simplistic reading of financial market moves such as is contained in the embedded comment in this post. Especially when it concerns a one day move like the decline in stock prices yesterday.
Since mid-September, since it became obvious that the Fed was going to cut its interest rates, there has been something called a “bear steepening” in the bond market. This is when interest rates become much lower in short term bonds vs. interest rates in long term bonds, but mainly because long term interest rates have gone *up.* And long term interest rates going up is very much not good, because it means things like mortgages and car loan interest rates go higher.
In both my reading and in my exchanges with others, it is apparent that there are two primary reasons for this:
1. The market thinks the Fed will have to halt soon, or even reverse higher, because inflation will stay significantly higher then the Fed’s target, and may even accelerate.
2. The market thinks the incoming Administration is going to engage in reckless fiscal policies, amounting to money-printing.
Yesterday was all about #1. The very good jobs print caused a near-consensus that the Fed is going to pause any further short term interest rate cuts for at least a couple of months. And a strong consumer economy probably means higher long term interest rates.
Now, do I think that T—-p is likely to create big problems in the economy? Yes. Primarily because the competent people he had around him in Term #1 are all gone, and have been replaced by bootlickers. So stupid things like money printing to reward or compensate his base from the bad consequences of his policies (e.g., retaliation by other countries for US tariff increases) will likely have bad consequences for the economy, like the aforementioned increases in interest rates for loans and mortgages. But the idiot is a bionic wrecking ball, so we can’t be sure exactly what the chaos will bring. And it is important to avoid simplistic notions.
TBone
@Salty Sam: they don’t want to cover cancer before, during, or after. Video at link below.
Reposting this outrageous situation. Breast cancer surgery interrupted by phone call from UHC insurance company looking to deny inpatient care.
https://crooksandliars.com/2025/01/uhc-pulls-surgeon-out-or-question-cancer
This new “authorization” process will spread like wildfire unless I miss my guess.
TBone
My reading suggested they’re only going after the woke/DEI preventive screenings and meds so far, like AIDS drugs and mammograms.
https://apnews.com/article/affordable-care-act-preventative-care-supreme-court-3225f11fbb02f83dd29335d2c34885bb
NotMax
Discovered that yes, there can be such a thing as a supermarket that’s just too damn big.
Made a stop yesterday to check out the recently opened Filipino -centric chain Seafood City which opened here recently in a former Lowe’s location.
37,000 square feet, including a sit down inside food court.
wenchacha
@Jackie: Absolutely disgusting people. I saw this yesterday. Here in Rochester, NY, is the National Technical Institute of the Deaf, NTID, part of RIT.
Hey, while we are slamming Americans with disabilities, let’s stop making curb cuts. Gov. Abbott can carry a ramp with his wheelchair.
Nukular Biskits
@TBone:
I wouldn’t be surprised. I distinctly remember “principled conservative” guys railing about how they shouldn’t be forced by Obamacare to pay for insurance coverage for things they’d never need, such as mammograms and birth control.
Idiots simply refused to accept the concept of shared risk … or at least any that might benefit someone other than themselves.
Kay
@wenchacha:
It is absolutely possible they will go after the ADA.
Nukular Biskits
@NotMax:
37,000 sq ft of seafood?
TBone
@Nukular Biskits: they only care if it affects them personally, as we all know all too well.
Leopards, faces…
Starfish (she/her)
@Lapassionara: Even though I was not enough of a masochist to watch all of Zuckerberg’s 3-hour interview with Joe Rogan, I did catch half a minute of it.
And in that half a minute, Zuckerberg was not being stupid! He said that the pandemic caused a lot of people to lose faith in all the institutions so a lot of elections around the world have been backlash against the people in charge of the institutions, like the current standing heads of state.
TBone
@Starfish (she/her): hot or not?
(Disclosure: I watched more than half a minute.)
Anne Laurie
@NotMax: Our local H-Mart is like that. Idea seems to be… lots of shoppers come in for a *huge* haul once a week, or once a month; if refreshments are available, it gives them more reason to visit. Not to everyone’s taste, obviously, but someone who *likes* browsing stuff they can’t get elsewhere, brings the family / friends (late at night, lots of minivans disgorging a half-dozen Chinese speakers), have a snack as a treat after hauling those 50lb sacks of rice and/or lentils.
I mean, Costco has its famous hot dogs…
sab
@TBone: No. Almost every old White guy I know takes statins.
They are going after everything preventive. Incels are young men, and young men don’t think they even need routine healthcare because they are so healthy.
Nukular Biskits
@sab:
Yeah. All they need are vitamins and sunlight on their testicles.
NotMax
@Nukular Biskits
Seafood, meats, produce, the whole shebang. At least 100 varieties/brands of instant ramen. on one very long aisle,
kalakal
@p.a.:
I prefer THE TRUMP SLUMP
Tim C
@Nukular Biskits: Not wrong, but I think reality will hit people pretty hard soon. What’s going to piss me off to thermonuclear levels is the rewriting of reality once the crash begins. The Media will blame Democrats. Either for something the Republicans are doing or simply because “If only Democrats had run a better campaign, we wouldn’t have to deal with the Republican policies we supported!”
TBone
@sab: fair enough. It’s now in the hands of the Supremacists. KFF report mentioned, along with the 5th Circuit reason why – the Task Force on Preventive Medicine is “unelected”:
sab
@Anne Laurie: In our Market District (Giant Eagles high end stores) I have seen couples wheeling their baby in the shopping cart while sipping their beers. There is a Starbucks, a bar, a liquor store and a deli all in the giant store.
Kay
TikTok sends you a “congratulations” when you get a lot of responses to a comment. My comments are all trolling on MAGA content so its like an atta boy for enraging MAGAs.
Nukular Biskits
@Tim C:
Agreed.
That nonsense boils down to “WhY dId YoU mAke Me vOtE aGaInSt My BeSt InTeReStS???????”
As if those who didn’t vote for Harris and other Democratic candidates have no agency at all.
ETA: Edited.
catclub
yeah, right. In 50 posts a day.
Starfish (she/her)
We really did not need what Bobby Fake Name, Esq. had to say. You can throw him right back.
NotMax
@Nukular Biskits
Merit their own Wikipedia page.
;)
Starfish (she/her)
@Baud: It’s more your fashion sense that is not popular. If you dressed better, we would consider your ideas even if they are very silly. Have you considered buying an extra long tie or a wig?
Wait. I am trying to get you to dress like a clown, aren’t I?
Another Scott
A good self-reminder not to be one of those reply guys this year. And to make it second-nature.
Hang in there, everyone.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Nukular Biskits
@NotMax:
Cool!
Back at home (I’m on business travel right now), I’m grieving the demise of Winn Dixie … but I understand Aldi is taking over some of the Winn Dixie locations.
Nukular Biskits
@Starfish (she/her):
Maybe he should slip on a pair of pants when presenting his ideas.
Pantsless people are generally not taken seriously.
TBone
DOGE update:
https://bsky.app/profile/brianbeutler.bsky.social/post/3lff6mw45uc2m
I dunno what to say…still forming opinion.
Glory b
@Tim C: You don’t read mistermix?
eclare
@NotMax:
There is no way I could shop there. When I lived in ATL I went to the huge warehouse that is the woefully undernamed DeKalb Farmer’s Market once. Never again.
catclub
@New Deal democrat:
I disagree with this interpretation. It means the prospects seen for future growth and economic activity are good. The yield curve inverts when future prospects look bad.
ETA: similarly, falling gas prices usually mean falling demand and therefore falling economic activity – recession – a bad thing.
DougL
@Baud: Am with you on trying to learn not to share my opinions. I convince no one and make people angry. Basically trying to just be an observer and an anonymous crank on Bluesky now. What else can one do as the world (ie the people in it) goes crazy around you.
Starfish (she/her)
@Another Scott: Alice has been posting some fun mastodon content this week!
Starfish (she/her)
@TBone: This feels like when they had some stupid people from outside come and evaluate Twitter. The people that they brought in from SpaceX just had no familiarity with the technology that Twitter was built on, and some Elon brought in some bro who was running his mouth on Twitter. And that dude accomplished nothing because he also did not know the Twitter tech stack.
One thing Elon did admit to this week is that you can’t cut $2 trillion dollars in discretionary spending when there is slightly less than $2 trillion in discretionary spending. To get cuts that deep, you are going to have to cut, medicare, social security, and the defense department.
Gin & Tonic
And they can be creative, too. The other day I was idly browsing some Instagram “reels” and had one where the actor in the scene said something about Zen koans, and the captioning said “Zen Cohens.” I thought, those are not Zen, they are Talmudic koans.
TBone
@DougL: I have a little list
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OSWxykA1WHOi0vTPLAJDaCeVhR3uSfh7PhlCj4t4yT0/mobilebasic
From:
https://organizingmythoughts.org/wading-into-2025-how-to-begin/
gene108
From the CNN article:
* The reasoning Cannon used to dismiss the documents case.
The moral objections of Christian fascists is more important to support than public health measures.
TBone
@Starfish (she/her): those are already on the chopping block or the griftmas list. Medicare Advantage is one example.
Percysowner
@Kay: As I understand it, since people can/are forced to change insurance companies, the companies see no real benefit to preventative treatment. After all, there is a chance that the big bills will fall on some other company and who cares about THEM. Also, the big bills could fall on Medicare, which even better in the eyes of the insurance people. I’m on Medicare, traditional plan and I’m expecting that to go away pretty soon. OTOH, I am old enough that I am aging out of preventative procedures i.e. no Pap smears, colonoscopies stop at a certain age, had a bilateral mastectomy, so no mammograms, so I’m slightly ahead of the game. Of course, Trump could push RFK Jr. though and he could decide that an over 70 cancer survivor is much better served by getting COVID than risking late stage (non-existent) autism.
Interesting times indeed.
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
Changed their name from Zenbaum?
:)
eclare
@Gin & Tonic:
Who can forget Patsy Baloney?
Starfish (she/her)
If a 9-year old comes to you wanting a Trump tattoo, the proper response is “scram kid.”
NotMax
End of an era?
Read somewhere in passing the powers that decide on Girl Scout cookies are axing S’mores.
Phylllis
@Gin & Tonic: Ah yes, just like the beloved ‘break check’ seen often of closed captioning of dash cam videos.
TBone
@gene108: that’s why I characterized the focus as being on “woke DEI” care/meds.
TBone
@NotMax: there’s an article in today’s Inky about Girl Scout cookies.
Betty Cracker
Corporations didn’t implement DEI policies and pledge millions to social justice orgs because they give a shit about making progress on those issues. They did it to curry favor because lots of their customers were horrified by the George Floyd murder, which brought fleeting attention to police misconduct and persistent inequality.
Now they’re reacting to the utterly predictable backlash. I know y’all know that. Just reminding myself not to read too much into this stuff. It’s all PR.
TBone
@Betty Cracker: Someone published a list of the ten corporations who kept their promise not to donate to rethugs, contrasting them with all who caved/bent the knee.
Wish I’d saved it.Found it!
https://popular.info/p/10-corporations-that-kept-their-promises
Ruviana
@Nukular Biskits: Risk spreading is communism!
jimmiraybob
Is anybody looking into what to do with the indigenous peoples of Canada and Greenland when we take over? They are savages, some would say vermin, that use the woke DEI metric system and will have to be trained in proper American arithmetic. Obviously, also too, they will all have to be retrained in TrumpAmerican patriotic education. Reeducation camps or reservations? Obviously the recalcitrant will have to be banished to ice flows? Perhaps it’s time to start contacting our esteemed elected officials for answers. 1776!
Starfish (she/her)
@Betty Cracker: They did it to maintain a high status technical work force.
What this is saying now is that your large technical companies are probably going to struggle to get large projects done because they are devaluing the type of communicators that can reach across a company and get that type of thing done.
TBone
@Ruviana: 🎯 socialize the losses,
reinvesthoard the profits is now smaht bidness.gene108
A few days ago mistermix posted an article from the political director of the AFL-CIO.
Around the middle of the article is a graph, going back to 1989, showing if people thought the country is in the right or wrong track. Since around 2004, the polling data shows respondents feel the country is in the wrong track. 70% thought it was on the wrong track during the financial crisis, while 73% feel it’s on the wrong track in 2024.
I think Republicans and right-wing media significantly contribute to this. Their statements are almost always about some imaginary threat to the well being of Americans. It’s relentless. There’s nothing positive about how this Republican program will help people. Republican policy has been almost exclusively about hurting people, whether it’s stripping away healthcare benefits to anti-trans legislation to immigration to anything else.
It’s an angry negatively charged mindset where there’s always an enemy oppressing (white) Americans that permeates the thinking of so many people now that no matter how much things improve, they will reject it.
Given the media landscape, I don’t see how it can change. What’s the point of job growth, low unemployment, wage gains, etc., if so many people are negatively charged no matter how good things are?
Trump could crash the economy and it just serve as validation to his supporters that the country’s going in the wrong direction, like they’ve felt for decades now.
NotMax
@jimmiraybob
Deportation to Venezuela.
//
New Deal democrat
@catclub:
We have data going back over 60 years on US Treasury’s, and over 100 years on corporate bonds. Here’s a graph for easier comprehension:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.png?g=1CPwa
In all cases except three (1927, the 1938 fiscal-driven recession, and the 2020 pandemic) longer term interest rates increased before the recession. It is a well-known enough phenomenon that it has been included in some forecasting models for decades. And there is no doubt that higher mortgage rates adversely affect the very important housing sector (with housing permits being a well-known leading indicator as well). It is even true that the yield curve un-inverted just before the 1990, 2001, and 2008 recessions.
Make of that what you will.
As to gas prices, it’s pretty clear that when they decline due to supply rather than demand issues, it is an unqualified boon for consumers (see, e.g., 1986 and June 2022-present).
Ruviana
@TBone: yup
Nukular Biskits
@Ruviana:
In conservative parlance, ANYTHING that might benefit anyone, anywhere at any time other than the conservative touting “bootstraps” glibertarianism is communism/socialism/woke/argleblargle.
NotMax
@Nukular Biskits
Pulling themselves up by their Manolo Blahnik straps.
//
MomSense
@eclare:
Unfortunately I don’t think most people realize that much of the Affordable Care Act was the first part of the name Patient Protections. Many services were added to regular Medicare including mammography, bone density scans and prostate screening, etc. it also ended some of the most destructive practices like rescission and lifetime caps. The big thing that the progressive critics missed is the Medical Loss Ratio and accompanying regulations regarding what is classified as medical services.
Obviously there are many more beneficial provisions in the PPACA but the people who want ObamaCare repealed really don’t understand how much that law does for them.
Ok the other thing I want to say is that we sound like assholes constantly harping on egg prices as shorthand for all of the other reasons people voted for Trump.
If you don’t know that wages haven’t kept up with prices and how housing and transportation costs affect ordinary people, and worse if you don’t care, then i encourage you to take a step back and consider why you are a liberal.
Liberals want to make people’s lives better. Liberals want to restore the middle class and make it easier for ordinary folks to get ahead. Let’s try not to emulate the lack of empathy that Republicans have so gleefully adopted.
If you have decided to just be bitter and to give up trying to win again and do the good things that are only possible with winning that’s your right. I want grandbabies and I want a world that sustains them so I’m not going to indulge in that defeatist and uncaring bullshit.
Jeffro
@Lapassionara: Biden’s approval is low because a) liberals answer that question honestly when polled, and b) some of them are not happy with him.
trump’s is never that low because MAGAts lie, in lockstep, even if they have some minor issue with trump, like, oh, insurrection…felony convictions…defamation judgements. That sort of thing
Professor Bigfoot
@Baud: “Welp. Hope you get everything you voted for.”
Meanwhile we’ll be over here taking care of our own.
Nukular Biskits
@NotMax:
Had to look that one up. Never took you for a fashionista! LOL
sab
@TBone: Thanks for finding that list.
Nukular Biskits
Somewhat related to the topic:
Bloomberg: Zuckerberg Says Most Companies Need More “Masculine Energy”
It’s free … but you gotta register if you’re not a paying subscriber.
frosty
I guess DOGE is going to have to close its doors then, right?
Geminid
@Kay: I find myself encouraged by the “likes” I get on Twitter. I think my high point was New Year’s Day. Axios reporter Barak Ravid gave me a “like” for proposing that he, Joyce Karem and Ragip Soylu start a TV network that would explain Middle East matters to Americans.
It was just New Years banter, a response to Ravid and Karem exchanging greetings. I went on to say they were doing good work and I’d be plenty happy if they kept their day jobs.
Later, Iranian weaponry analyst Patarames “Iiked” a comment thanking him for an answer to a question about whether the Houthis were capable of launching a certain ballistic missile without assistance from Iranian “factory reps.” Patarames said they could.
I saw something interesting on Patarames’ account a couple years ago. He broke off from his usual technical discussions to repost vaccine agitator Stew Peters’ tweet, “What the hell is going on in East Palestine?….”
Then Patarames went back to describing the efficacy of Iranian low-band radar versus stealthy Israeli F-35s. That Stew Peters post about the East Palestine chemical spill really got around.
Nukular Biskits
@frosty:
I’d really like to know who’s paying those DOGE employee (?) salaries.
If it’s the taxpayers, I’m gonna be pissed.
TBone
@Nukular Biskits: Elno. The deep pockets guy who now runs
the worldhis mouth.DougL
@TBone: Thank you for this. I’m not quite ready to reengage substantively but am trying to figure out what that might look like when (afraid to say I’m truly feeling for the first time an “if” here) I am. These are thoughtful.
TBone
@sab: ya know which one surprised me the most? Clorox! After the horse paste, UV light, and inject bleach incidents, I thought they’d be cashing in on a bleach craze hahaha.
(OK autocorrect, what is a “horelse?” JFC.)
eclare
@TBone:
Glad to see that I made the correct decision picking Lyft over Uber.
TBone
@DougL: I’m so glad to hear that. No hurries! Without any hope, we are doomed. I love the article that came from too:
TBone
@eclare: yay! I’m really considering going to Farmer’s Insurance!
Must engage in due diligence first.
Kay
@Percysowner:
The crunchy MAHAs have gone quiet on TikTok. They’re basically just ditzy, not-too-bright liberals so I wonder if it’s starting to dawn on them that they have joined a far Right movement that is run by billionaires.
catclub
Why not both?
catclub
the other horcrux
zhena gogolia
@NotMax: To be honest, they weren’t very good and didn’t taste like smores.
p.a.
Open thread so: will be needing a car soon, current buggy 202k miles & front end work needed- tracks well, new struts, but prolly tierods, control arms bushings next but anyhoo-
once donated a car, can’t remember who to, but checked out Cars for Kids on a few “rate this charity” websites, and it’s an Orthodox Jewish organization. Most proceeds go to NY NJ area. Other Jewish groups not real happy with them because they fund proselytizing other branches of Judaism, and goyim into Orthodoxy.
Also found out Habitat for Humanity accepts car donations.
FYI- when I donated (TY 2010) you could deduct the donation if you itemized, but you could not e-file when claiming a vehicle donation. IDKW. May have changed since then.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
In my twisted mind, I want to nominate that.
Kosh III
I went to a Buc-ees to see what all the fuss was about. Too big, too expensive.
Tim C
@MomSense: Thank you for the reminder. It’s too easy to go into rage and despair and hate. I’ve done that too much myself. We are headed into dark times, I should do what I can to make things better.
Nukular Biskits
@Kosh III:
To me, the fuss about Buc-ees reminds me of the fuss about Walmart in the late 70s, early 80s.
The rubes are easily impressed.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
DougL
@TBone: Risking the wrath of Cole, but 🥰 for that last quote.
Miss Bianca
@TBone: Who’s paying for these fucking “employees”? US citizens?
catclub
@Miss Bianca: SpaceX shareholders.
Shakti
@Nukular Biskits:
Masculine energy, feminine energy, neuter energy
I am an advanced woo practitioner [I’m not specifying, ] and they sound ridiculous, even I’m guessing what kind of code they’re using.
On that, it strikes me as deeply “un masculine” to whine so fucking much and to need other people to be smaller, but that seems to be a going style? Among conservatives, incels, and those fellow travelers?
Harrison Wesley
@Jackie: I believe Trump will have gesture vocalizers to interpret for viewers at home. “Accordion hands.”. “Jerking off two invisible giraffes.” Etc.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Nukular Biskits:
One difference is branded merch.
We have one in CO and we stopped in there on the way back from a day trip to Estes Park a couple of weeks back to do exactly what Kosh did, see what the fuss was all about.
The candy section actually was pretty impressive but what struck me most what all the Buc-ees branded shit for sale. And plenty of rubes walking out with gobs of it. Wal-mart wasn’t that way back in the day (iirc).
Oh, the bathrooms are very, very nice.
Their Tesla Sooopercharger is open to the non-Tesla vehicles that are currently able to access the network (Bolt owner here so wanted to see that).
I saw *three* Wankpanzers there, two charging, one parked. That told me all I needed to know about the place.
eclare
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
One is opening or has opened somewhat close to me in AR. I read about it and thought nah, no need to visit.
Steve LaBonne
@Kay: Citizen, we notice you’ve stopped cheering. We’re going to need to bring you in for questioning.
Harrison Wesley
@Nukular Biskits: Wasn’t that a John Denver song? “Sunshine on my scrotum makes me happy” or some shit.
Shakti
Update: My friend didn’t get a mandatory evacuation for the Sunset fire (like the block next to hers did) but she and her husband went to San Diego to avoid the horrible smoke because her allergies, and long covid issues were super aggravated.
Found out a friend/acquaintance has been going through it via the grapevine (her mother talking to my mother). All this year. Both of them kept it completely off social media and they’ve only told a couple of people. Her husband is fighting brain cancer and non-hodgkin’s lymphoma and has been going through rounds of very aggro chemo and is in and out of the hospital; her father had two stents.
I’ve known them since childhood.
jimmiraybob
@catclub:
I’ve come to wonder if there is someone in some room somewhere, let’s call them right wing lunatics, perhaps the Stephen Miller & Elon Musk contingent, contemplating Canadians and Greenlanders as a great source of dirt-cheap labor after the takeover.
p.a.
Not so much regular markets, but the BJs, Sams, COSTCO mega pack stores, what interests me is people buying 48 packs of toilet paper when the average family has 1.377345 children (#notallfamilies). Guess when you own an 8,000sq foot house (#notallhouses) you have to fill the space. From my time working with the public in a medium sized Northeast city (quite a while ago now), the folks who could most benefit from this bulk buying would have to use the packs as furniture in order to fit it in their tenement apartments.
Geminid
@Nukular Biskits: Since you’re in the shipbuilding business, I thought you might be interested in this Middle East Eye article by Ragip Soylu:
They are also building six Reis class submarines based on a German design.
Right now Turkiye’s navy relies on 1980s American-built Oliver Perry class frigates and 80s and 90 German frigates. Their new helicopter/drone carrier Andalou is the navy’s flagship for now and they’re building four more. The 60,000 ton carrier that was just started will field manned and unmanned fighter jets as well as drones.
The jets and the various weapons systems will be domestically produced as well.
Captain C
@Tim C:
It’s always someone else’s fault that they refuse to do the right thing.
NeenerNeener
@Harrison Wesley: Does Obamacare cover scrotal melanoma?
Harrison Wesley
@NotMax: In favor of S’less.
Professor Bigfoot
@p.a.: Maybe… but *I* never ran out of toilet paper— actually never even noticed the shortage other than it being on the news. ;)
kindness
Joe Biden’s approval #s must have only been counted in outskirts Ohio diners. I do not believe he was ever as unpopular as those polling numbers showed.
Harrison Wesley
@TBone: Not sure, but I’m a horelse’s ass according to folks who know me.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: Go for it!
jonas
Of course now we can expect Fox News to suddenly pivot from hysterically blaming the president for any inflation to doing deep dives into complex economic and environmental factors that are actually raising prices for things like eggs. They’re going to be *very* concerned about this new bird flu thing all of a sudden.
different-church-lady
@Lapassionara: All of the GOP thinks he sucks, and half the Democrats do too.
different-church-lady
@jonas: Nonsense. They’ll continue to blame the president. It will just be the old president instead of Trump.
different-church-lady
@kindness:
MAGA TO POLLSTER: “Biden sucks!”
DEM TO POLLSTER: “Fuck off, pollster.”
TBone
@Harrison Wesley: I saw that as autocorrect being vaguely threatening to me hahaha I like yours much better!
BTW “I like” was just changed to “unlike” which was also just changed to “inline.” I’m gonna hafta go into settings now…
different-church-lady
@Tim C: ONE YEAR FROM NOW: “The economy is a smoking crater, but these recently unemployed machinists in this Ohio diner refuse to believe it.”
TBone
@TBone: turning off autocorrect was of limited effect. Sigh.
Miss Bianca
@jonas: It’s already started. “Ohhh, don’t expect the price of eggs to drop any time soon because *ackshually* did you know there’s this thing called avian flu that’s killed 127 million laying hens across the country.” Gee, do you think that might have anything to do with the price of eggs?)
(Why yes, I *did* do an egg article for my paper because Colorado’s cage-free-egg law, passed in 2020, finally went into full effect as of January 1, 2025.)
@different-church-lady: Hey! I feel seen.
different-church-lady
@Miss Bianca: Bird illness in 2023 was all the fault of Joe Biden. Bird illness after January 20, 2025 is just a thing that happens.
Matt
Dear “Normie Libs”:
You got the candidate you wanted in 2016.
You got the candidate you wanted in 2020.
You got exactly the campaign you wanted in 2024.
The result of all of that was two terms for Trump. This isn’t about mythical “leftists” who didn’t clap hard enough for Genocide Joe, it’s about the utter failure of your bullshit centrism.
Citizen Alan
@Matt: Go to hell and burn there. Joe Biden was the most liberal president of my lifetime and the most liberal president.Any of us will see our remaining time on this earth. And there was never a single moment where the lefties even pretended to have his back. Not what he was supporting unions. Not when he was pulling us out of afghanistan. Not when he was tearing down a trickle down economics. Never.
“Genocide Joe.” People like you are why I want to spit on bernie sanders. I want to spit right in as sanctimonious fucking face.
VFX Lurker
@Citizen Alan: I pied Matt, and nothing of value was lost.
Gloria DryGarden
@TBone: awesome. Thank you