Topped off the fluids, time to pull the crank start on the “they’re fucking weird” machine.
— Clean Observer (@hammbear2024.bsky.social) January 12, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Title’s from an old Walt Kelly trope. But danged if the last few months haven’t felt like every one included at least half a dozen officially unlucky days!
The Harris and Trump campaigns both found that the best testing Trump ad wasn't any transgender spot but rather a video of Harris saying "Bidenomics is working" www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol…
— Nick Field (@nickfield.bsky.social) January 11, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Glass half full:
we talk a lot about how bad the information environment is and how much people hated inflation and republicans still barely won and are now on track to do a lot of unpopular shit most people didn’t think they voted for
many of them are not going to like it very much— Micah (@rincewind.run) January 12, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Glass into which Repubs are currently… spitting:
Two Republican senators have said they expect the new Republican-led Congress to ask for a laundry list of requirements to be met before allocating desperately needed disaster aid to authorities in wildfire-ravaged Los Angeles.
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast.bsky.social) January 12, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Millions of Hindu devotees, mystics, and holy men and women from all across India flocked to Prayagraj to kickstart the Maha Kumbh festival, which is being touted as the world’s largest religious gathering. https://t.co/nil8oB4NZ9
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 13, 2025
Not saying I’d ever go do this, but I understand the desire to break the cycle…
Millions of Hindu devotees, mystics and holy men and women from all across India flocked to the northern city of Prayagraj on Monday to kickstart the Maha Kumbh festival, which is being touted as the world’s largest religious gathering.
Over about the next six weeks, Hindu pilgrims will gather at the confluence of three sacred rivers — the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati — where they will take part in elaborate rituals, hoping to begin a journey to achieve Hindu philosophy’s ultimate goal: the release from the cycle of rebirth…
Hindus venerate rivers, and none more so than the Ganges and the Yamuna. The faithful believe that a dip in their waters will cleanse them of their past sins and end their process of reincarnation, particularly on auspicious days. The most propitious of these days occur in cycles of 12 years during a festival called the Maha Kumbh Mela, or pitcher festival.
The festival is a series of ritual baths by Hindu sadhus, or holy men, and other pilgrims at the confluence of three sacred rivers that dates to at least medieval times. Hindus believe that the mythical Saraswati river once flowed from the Himalayas through Prayagraj, meeting there with the Ganges and the Yamuna.
Bathing takes place every day, but on the most auspicious dates, naked, ash-smeared monks charge toward the holy rivers at dawn. Many pilgrims stay for the entire festival, observing austerity, giving alms and bathing at sunrise every day…
The Kumbh rotates among these four pilgrimage sites about every three years on a date prescribed by astrology. This year’s festival is the biggest and grandest of them all. A smaller version of the festival, called Ardh Kumbh, or Half Kumbh, was organized in 2019, when 240 million visitors were recorded, with about 50 million taking a ritual bath on the busiest day.
At least 400 million people — more than the population of the United States — are expected in Prayagraj over the next 45 days, according to officials. That is around 200 times the 2 million pilgrims that arrived in the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj pilgrimage last year…
(Apart from everything else, since 2019, India has lost a literally uncountable number of people to the global pandemic.)
On The Road – Albatrossity – Great Basin NP and Utah
Baud
People want Reaganism and trickle down economics. At least over any alternative we have to offer.
Kay
Eric Lipton NYT @ericlipton.nytimes.com·
17h
The NYTimes demands that you promote their product, for free. Because it’s democracy.
This actually sounds a little panicky.
Baud
@Kay:
It does. I posted that downstairs. Really something.
Kay
I want you to imagine for a moment what media would do if Democrats in Congress had conditioned disaster aid in Florida on a “laundry list” of ideological and political demands. I mean, come on. It’s two sets of rules.
Baud
As almost everyone here recognized would happen, the media is now talking about how great the economy is and praying to Trump not to ruin it.
Our marginal voters are the biggest marks in the country. At least the MAGA base get their hate validated.
Kay
@Baud:
It’s always about their stupid careers. Who knew the only way to reach them was to stop promoting them? I lol’ed at “giant wave” of stories. Too fucking LATE, assholes. As usual, a day late and a dollar short. All those movies about these people frantically meeting deadlines and in real life they are always at least a year behind.
MagdaInBlack
@Kay: And a big FU Eric to this:
“Eric Lipton NYT
@ericlipton.nytimes.com
“And please don’t tell me “This would have been great before the election.” We did write these stories before the election. Dozens of them. Like this and so many others..”
Baud
@MagdaInBlack:
OMG. How pathetic and defensive. They have to be losing a butt load of subscribers.
I don’t dare to dream that liberals are finally waking up.
Kay
@Baud:
I basically tell my youngest over and over “winter is coming”
He has had a humming economy his entire working life. They’re about to have bigger problems than 2% inflation. Can’t buy groceries without a job. I personally think the first thing that will crater is high end housing.
Princess
There are times when I think undiagnosed long covid in unvaccinated people is causing sufficient cognitive decline that too many people are just too stupid to live.
MagdaInBlack
Also too, as its an open thread: I get my first SS “check” Feb 20th. Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo- hoooo!
That is all, carry on =-)
Baud
@Kay:
“Burn it all down!”
“Wait, not like that!”
Baud
@MagdaInBlack:
Money is good.
Princess
@Baud: I stopped funding NPR when I realized I knew less after listening to them than before because I was actively being misinformed by them. Maybe are feeling that about the NYT.
Kay
@MagdaInBlack:
Thanks so much. I’m DELIGHTED they’re worried about sales.
We need reliable, nonpartisan news but the Judith Miller/Ken Vogel propaganda aint it. Maybe something good will rise from the ashes.
Baud
@Princess:
The NYT should ask Trump voters in a diner for suggestions on how to improve.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@MagdaInBlack: Congratulations!
MagdaInBlack
@Dorothy A. Winsor: It’s really stunning how many years we worked for this, isn’t it?
(and now those asshats want to mess with it)
Princess
@Baud: ooo good idea! I’m going to suggest that to Lipton.
Kay
@Princess:
I still donate because their abortion coverage is better than any of the other big outlets.
eclare
@MagdaInBlack:
Congratulations!
sab
The company my stepson is working for is closing his location in Ohio. They wanted to transfer some of their better workers back east, including stepson. Nobody accepted the offer. Higher pay didn’t offset the higher cost of living.
He just found out that another company down the street wants to hire all of them. They are desperate for experienced blue collar workers in our Ohio city.
I hope Trump’s crew don’t blow up our economy.
sab
@Princess: I have found that if I stay away from their rush hour programs (Morning Edition and All Things Considered) that NPR is often quite good. I agree with you on the rush hour shows.
Ramalama
@Kay:
GOP: “Laundry list” = bueno
GOP thoughts about the Democrats: “laundry list” = “Litmus test” = no bueno
Jeffery
@sab:
The GQP is very dependable to tank the economy and start wars.
lowtechcyclist
@MagdaInBlack:
Sweet!
Kay
I’ve been thinking about ending birthright citizenship. What do they replace it with? Would you need both your parents birth certificates in addition to your own, or would one parents be enough?
CliosFanBoy
@MagdaInBlack:
cool! I get mine Feb 26th. I wonder how much I’ll be able to collect before the repubs totally hose the system.
suzanne
Lakshya Jain first crossed into my awareness a couple of weeks ago, with his long thread that went viral about procedure and process. He’s interesting.
gene108
Part of me really wants Democrats to copy Republicans on withholding disaster relief from Republican states, when those states are ravaged by natural disasters.
Republicans have been pulling this bullshit about withholding aid from Democratic states ever since hurricane Sandy, in 2012.
I live in NJ, and I’m still pissed off they wanted my state to fuck off and die.
Baud
@gene108:
Won’t happen. Dem rank and file would abhor the spillover effect on innocent people in those areas.
Of course, those same rank and file will probably also complain about how Dems aren’t tough.
What can you do?
Soprano2
@Kay: Hewas getting absolutely dragged in the comments I read. Now that they got TCFG they feel safe to actually be critical. Way too little, way too late.
Phylllis
@MagdaInBlack: I can attest that it’s a great feeling when that first one hits the bank. And the 2nd, 3rd, etc.
lowtechcyclist
Congressional Dems could have pulled a stunt like that last fall with hurricane relief aid to FL, GA, NC, TN, etc. But didn’t because we don’t do that sort of shit. It would be immoral and horrible to do such a thing.
But that’s the GOP for you. Immoral and horrible.
Can’t say I’m surprised, though. There had been no hostage on the horizon for them to take to get their way on a whole bunch of stuff, and then this dropped right into their laps. Woohoo, instant hostage!
This is who they are.
Kay
@gene108:
It sort of doesn’t matter. Social media is packed with claims that Biden isn’t helping California, just like it was packed with claims that Biden didn’t help North Carolina. Democrats can approve aid, or not. Republicans and media will simply say they didn’t. We’re in complete fantasy land now.
People turned down aid in North Carolina because Republicans and media spread a rumor that accepting aid meant the federal government took title to your property.
Soprano2
@Kay: Oh, absolutely, they’ll act like it’s OK instead of being outraged that help is being withheld from people who desperately need it, because they’re on board with how R’s do things now.
Kay
@Soprano2:
Are they actually critical though? Every time I look at my husband’s subscription there’s this air of celebratory triumph, like they were when they lied us into invading Iraq. I know they need sales and their celebrity reporters want people to watch them on cable and buy their dumb books, but is this claim of rigorous news coverage true?
Its amusing to me how major media reporters just make these unsupported assertions constantly. The New York Times says The New York Times is great? No shit.
Spanish Moss
@Kay: Good question. If you are born here, but not entitled to U.S. citizenship, where would your citizenship lie? The country of one of your parents? The U.S. does not control the citizenship laws of other countries, you might not meet that criteria either. We could create a new class of stateless people. There are a lot of practical problems with alternatives.
Dorothy A. Winsor
So I’m beginning to believe tiktok really will go away. I got on there because my editor said I had to, but I’ve come to enjoy talking about books and writing there. And I put work in. I’ve posted nearly every day for about 10 months and get about 1000 views per video. Boo on losing that.
I guess the legislators who enacted the ban have info I don’t, but I can’t help reacting to them as if they were the boy who cried wolf. They go into panic mode about things regularly. I still remember it with D&D. I signed my son up to play it at day camp, and the camp called me to make sure I knew what it was.
gene108
@Kay:
I don’t think they care. The cruelty is the point. Babies born here with no legal citizenship status in any country would make a lot of Republican voters happy, because immigrants will suffer.
I don’t know what tortured logic the SCOTUS will use to revoke birthright citizenship as it currently stands. The bottleneck to revoking birthright citizenship changed is, in my opinion, finding a reason to sue over babies being born.
I think there will be a case to revoke it if the Laken Riley Anti-Immigration bill passes. Giving state AG’s the power to contest federal immigration policy opens the door to lawsuits challenging the fact birthright citizenship contributes to the “invasion” of immigrants in their states and this causes harm.
Sue in Texas, get the partisan hack judges there to agree with the AG’s, and watch it go through the courts all the way to SCOTUS.
gene108
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I think TikTok should be banned on government devices. Don’t take chances with government data being breached by China.
Otherwise they seem as malicious as any other social media company.
Another Scott
@Kay: +1
(repost) Sulzberger interview (from February 2024):
(Emphasis added.)
Yeah, too bad your judgment sucks.
[ groucho-roll-eyes.gif ]
Last I looked, a year or so ago, they weren’t anywhere close to 15M subscriptions (something like 10M?). I expect that either they’ll find a way to goose the numbers to make Wall Street happy, or they’ll announce big layoffs for more “efficiency” – you know, the usual.
Too bad, so sad.
Grr…
Best wishes,
Scott.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@gene108: That’s more or less what I think. I can’t see why tiktok should be on anyone’s work computer, which is what government computers are.
Phylllis
I worked at a B. Dalton when D&D was at its height of popularity. Had 2-3 busybodies moms come in regularly to 1. fuss about us carrying it and 2. routinely hide the stuff in remarkably creative ways. I got to where I would just eyeroll them whenever they darkened the door.
Soprano2
@Kay: Why do you think that?
Soprano2
@Kay: They would have to create a whole new area of the law.
Soprano2
@Kay: I think they believe they are, that’s the whole premise of Lipton’s thread. It doesn’t matter, the time not to sanewash TCFG was before the election. They’ll never acknowledge that they actively tried to help him win the election. What happened to all the stories about bad, bad inflation? Nothing has changed from two months ago, yet suddenly those stories are mostly gone.
Trivia Man
@Phylllis: I am curious about the hiding places. I think one of my friends routinely moved bibles and book of mormons into the fantasy section. Not all of them, just a couple to make his point.
catclub
@Jeffery: Yes.
thereformedbroker.com/2016/12/13/every-unified-republican-government-ever-has-led-to-a-financial-cra…
Baud
@Soprano2:
Economists have also suddenly stopped predicting the imminent recession.
catclub
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Even moreso if you are special forces being deployed to surprising places.
catclub
@Baud: Almost every year the stock market goes up, but at the start of the year the predictions are for it to go down.
This year predictions are wildly optimistic. We shall see.
NotMax
@MagdaInBlack
Yay! Welcome to the (semi) leisure class.
;)
Spanky
For some sweeter news, Alexandra Petri’s latest piece is titled Hello, Baby, and it’s exactly what you think it is.
Kay
@Soprano2:
I think high end housing is weirdly overbuilt. Its already dropping in Ohio and Michigan, by substantial amounts (50k or better). Obviously going from 650k to 600k isn’t going to make headlines, but they’re dropping prices because it’s not moving. Young people can’t afford it and older people don’t want it.
Princess
@Another Scott: I’d be fine with a NYT that was relentlessly critical of both sides. I loathe rah rah Dems “journalism.” But a hundred articles on Biden is old on one weekend ain’t that. A huge expose of Trump’s corrupt business dealings 14 months in the making, one story in the NYT in February 2017 then never spoken of again ain’t that. Don’t make me laugh.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
I thought that happened a year ago. I remember the Fed chair reluctantly admitting (last January, IIRC) that the economy was actually pretty good and there was no reason to expect a recession.
Jeffro
We could start a whole website devoted to that very thing: taking any & every little bit of Republican insanity and “flipping it” (making it so that Dems were the malicious perpetrators). So you’d have, say, an incoming Democratic president openly looking to re-buy a bribe-taking facility prior to his term, and then see what folks’ reaction would be.
Maybe it would wake folks up to the desperate need for some #SameStandards
Scout211
A follow-up to MM’s post yesterday. Some good news.
This is good.
NotMax
@Spanky
A cautionary treatise on leopards?
(Think the Kate Hepburn flick.)
:)
Jeffro
It’s possible that at least some of them realized a) no one needs ‘the media’ in MAGAland…the true believers just need to hear from the Orange Airhorn a few times a day on social media…or b) when a good economy goes to shit, it hurts everyone but the 1%. Who they most definitely are not.
catclub
I predict a lifetime. Those are not going away.
Jeffro
I think they’ll just replace it with a chart of skin tones, is my guess.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, in the continuing saga of campaign hard at the end vs permanent campaign approaches, BrennanCenter.org (from December 19):
Look at the first graph of on-line ad spending. Democrats were substantially outspending the GQP until June 1, 2024. There were then some noisy spikes where the GQP was ahead, but they took a big lead around mid-September and never looked back.
Citizens United and the PAC / SuperPAC system is still benefitting the other guys much, much more than Democratic candidates.
Just another piece of the puzzle.
More at the link.
Best wishes,
Scott.
catclub
Yeah, right. Thanks for the morning amusement.
matt
People who want another Civil War are going to love this new Republican ‘add demands to disaster aid’ strategy.
Kay
@gene108:
I think Laken Riley will be terrible. I think its an excuse to round people up. I’ll have to read it to see what this “allegation of criminal activity” idea means but giving police still more power just isn’t smart. It’s bizarre. They invented a new category of criminals below misdemeanor? Is this to get around the fact that undocumented status is administrative and not criminal?
Lawyers in Ohio say beware of any law named after a person who was murdered. They’re always knee jerk, politicized garbage that misfires in some way.
Spanky
@lowtechcyclist: Morningstar.com today:
eclare
@gene108:
That’s my take on it. Tiktok is worse than Zuck, Elon? Nope.
I’ll miss it.
TBone
The playbook for implementation of fascist government is simple, and the fascists are determined to succeed this time. The marriage of corporate and governmental power is already well underway. Corporations are people.
brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/how-big-business-bailed-out-nazis
TBone
@TBone: Mike Lindell of My Pillow and Patrick Byrne of Overstock have been replaced by their overlords, Musk,Thiel, et al.
lowtechcyclist
@Spanky:
I find that quite believable. Someone here quoted their financial expert as saying something along the lines of “Trump will break something, I’m just not sure what yet” so a shift to more conservative investing would be appropriate.
We’re not going to have a recession until people stop spending, and with full employment, it takes a lot to get people to close their wallets. But if they’re scared enough of what Trump & Co. might do that they figure they’d better hang onto their ready cash, that might happen. And then employment wouldn’t be so full anymore either.
Time to move some money from the S&P index fund over to the bond fund.
Kay
@Jeffro:
It’s really pretty complicated, looking at other countries. So far it seems one parent is the rule but from there- all kinds of complications. Denmark has “the rule of 22” and “the princess rule”, for example. Also they only exempt adoptees until age 12 for some reason ???
People might want to think about this. Birthright is beautiful in its simplicity.
Starfish (she/her)
@Kay: Some of that started here last year. Lot of inventory above $2,000,000; but when you don’t have the influx of folks from California, Chicago, and Texas, it is not selling.
Some places are having their prices cut by $150,000 to put them just under $2,000,000.
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: How could you prove your parents were both born the right way? You’d need a pedigree going further back. Can’t have the wrong sorts voting.
Kristine
@MagdaInBlack: I get my first check in April. I need to look at the date so I can circle it on the calendar.
TBone
@Matt McIrvin: North Carolina has an answer for that.
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-12-2025
Starfish (she/her)
Some weather watcher on Facebook told people to GTFO before the Eaton Fire.
Anyway
Bwahaha! I know someone born in saudi Arabia who had his parents Pakistani citizenship at birth and until he was naturalized and got US citizenship.
What will happen to all the pregnancy tourists (or whatever they are called)?
Starfish (she/her)
Jennifer Rubin has now quit the Washington Post and has a substack.
Baud
@Starfish (she/her): Whoa.
Jeffro
I see Jennifer Rubin has left the Post and will be working on a new pro-democracy outlet (called, unfortunately, The Contrarian)
Rubin: “Things are going from bad to worse at the Post”. YUP
Baud
@Jeffro:
Agree, poor choice of name. But pleased to see that Jen Rubin is shrill.
But I suppose people will still say we’re overreacting to the state of the media.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
dm
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Try talking about the Uighurs and see how many views your TikTok video gets
rikyrah
Funniest shyt on Social Media right now?
TikTok users deciding that, instead of going to the META platforms, as Zuck assumed once he got TikTok run out of town…
they would rather join Red Note, the Chinese version of TikTok 😂😂😂
It’s the #1download…
between that, and the videos from the “Chinese Spies” saying their goodbyes to the TikTok users it is just 😂😂😂
Jeffro
@Kay: I just Googled that and whew what a mess (but hey it’s their country)
I’m sure someone has already run the numbers on where the US would be with minimal immigration (hint: up a creek without a paddle), so it would be nice to see those reported on more often.
rikyrah
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Did you think about joining Red Note?
I signed up yesterday.
Do you have a YouTube channel?
rikyrah
@Kay:
Birthright citizenship will be replaced with BirthWHITE citizenship…
Which is all this was about anyway
Kristine
@Kay: Lipton was added to a “MAGA trash” blocklist on Bluesky, which I subscribed to. I don’t see any reason to remove him from that list.
Melancholy Jaques
@Baud:
I’m increasingly convinced that a very large percentage of the people do not vote for any policies at all. They vote tribe or they vote for what I’m calling political entertainment.
With respect to the latter, I guess I’m trying to understand why non-college voters think they are voting against elites when they put billionaires into power and reject – with furious anger – the first president to walk a picket line.
Anyway
@rikyrah:
Ha! they’re ok with non-white workers. Just don’t want them voting…
Omnes Omnibus
@Kristine: I got put on a Block Furry Posts list on BlueSky. I am not sure how much faith I put in most lists.
chrisanthemama
@Kay: Once again, IOKIYAR. And there are many Republicans in CA who would be impacted by withholding of federal funds for disaster relief. Those Republican Senators’ states will have their time in the barrel at some point. Or maybe they didn’t get the memo about the *United* States? And not that the firefighters are paying any attention to those two jackwads, but imagine how demoralizing to their efforts to hear D.C. politicians bagging on CA while the disaster is ongoing?
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
suzanne
@Melancholy Jaques:
This is absolutely true.
And to expand upon this…. they are more activated against people they don’t like. And the electeds have less to do with it than we think. “The Democrats” is made up of all the people they hate in their personal lives and all the people they see on TV who they hate.
Betty Cracker
@Jeffro: “Orange Airhorn” is a perfect description — thank you!
It resonates because I remember thinking when he got banned from Twitter in 2021 that it was as if an airhorn that had been blowing in our faces for four years suddenly fell silent.
Well, it’s back. No outside force is going to shut it up — quite the opposite! — so I’m over here covering my ears as best I can. ;-)
Belafon
@lowtechcyclist: Biden should have made aid for the fire in the Texas panhandle last year contingent on Abbott and Paxton resigning.
Kay
@Jeffro:
Newt Gingrich is warning Trump that “Americans” won’t put up with rounding up women and children. I think it’s bullshit. The GOP base would love nothing better than that. Democrats are the only group who would object to rounding up children.
Gingrich is speaking for money, because money knows the US tanks without immigrants, and quickly.
I think we’ll see lots of wealthy MAGAs urging restraint on deportations.
Starfish (she/her)
@rikyrah: I am told that ByteDance has another product called Lemon8 that the cool kids are joining.
TBone
Sometimes, the old ways are best…
crooksandliars.com/2025/01/ukraine-using-winchester-drones-hunt
JMG
@chrisanthemama: There were more votes cast for Trump in California than in any state besides Texas and Florida. I know Pacific Palisades was a well-off place, so I assume a significant percentage of the newly homeless there are Republicans. Or maybe were.
Leto
@Jeffro: so we’re going back to the Las castas classification system? Cool.
Kay
eclare
@Starfish (she/her):
I saw that. Impressive. I also saw an interview with a climatologist who moved from one of the canyons to NC two years ago. He said with the temps and winds increasing, wildfires were inevitable.
eclare
@Starfish (she/her):
Wow! Thanks.
Jackie
@Starfish (she/her): Good for her! I just joined her free substack email.
Leto
@JMG: saw an article where people renting houses in the area, unaffected by fire, have doubled the listing price “because they can.”
“When you see a man drowning, make sure you kick him in the balls as well as holding his head below the water while you demand his weight in gold before you agree to help him.”
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Princess:
News reporting should be meant to inform, not enrage. Totebagger Radio forgot that a loooooong time ago. And yeah, they’ve gotten no money and no listening from me in a simililary looooooong time.
NPR fulfills one roll anymore: reporting that’s meant to reassure certain racial and economic demographics that everything is going to be alright.
artim1s said this late last year about that media outlet that sums it up nicely:
Leto
@Starfish (she/her): @Jeffro: you also have Angry Black Lady, among others, denouncing Substack as being “Nazi finders/sympathizers.” She gave a list of places where they don’t fund them, but at this point I don’t know how many times you’re expected to move before you finally realize that every place of scale has problems. How many times do you expect people to decamp and setup at a new place?
“Follow me here! Wait, no here! Now here! Last time, I promise, here! Well, maybe one more time…”
jonas
@Baud: People don’t know what they want because the vast majority of voters have no idea how anything works, least of all economics and finance. So they just flail around in the dark punishing whatever party they think is to blame at the time for whatever current situation they don’t understand.
Belafon
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: It’s a shame that listeners don’t feel the obligation to help separate NPR from their corporate sponsors given how much people complain about the corruption of corporate money. Someone has to pay the bills.
jonas
“…to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.”
Harrison Wesley
@Baud: My response to anyone trying to sell me on trickle down economics is that I don’t think it’s rain that’s running down my back.
Phylllis
@Trivia Man: Mainly mixed in and behind the remainder books. Which was pretty clever–teens aren’t that likely to be perusing coffee table books. But just like the assholes who change their mind in the grocery store & leave packages of dripping raw chicken on the cereal shelf, all they were doing is making more work for us.
catclub
If anything qualifies us for ‘American Exceptionalism’ it is this. Also recognizing we are ( and should continue to be) a nation of adventurous immigrants.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Belafon:
This started decades ago now. None of us who talk about how terrible Totebagger Radio has become is basing that on the half-assed opinion of one line editor or even somebody high up on the editorial chain on one of their main shows in the morning or afternoon.
We’re talking about a perpetual, systematic, and consistent descent into increasing levels of mediocrity, wanking, and asshatery over the course of years.
It started with their coverage of the Gore campaign. Then it became really noticeable during the Dubya years, specifically with Iraq. Great example was their refusal to use the word “torture” that actually was connected to something Rubin said and was just another installment in NPR’s substantial drop in quality, particularly on the heels of their continued insistence of not calling “torture” by its real name, torture. Even more egregious was their Ombudsman’s defense of their “policy,”.
So why give at all? It’s totally clear, and has been for a while, that the sweet corporate cash and the conventional-wisdom broth the NPR reporters all pickle their brains in have long since outweighed any puny little donations from people like you and me.
NPR currently exists to give Repub/libertarian spin a respectable sheen, quietly pushing the Overton window from the center so that whole areas of public concern are no longer up for discussion in this country. The amount of economic crap they push that’s origins are with billionaires like Theil is awful so again, why give?
There are a lot of independent community radio stations readily available on the web that carry news from Pacifica and other non-centrist sources, and any of them would gladly accept your ears and your donations. KGNU up the road in Boulder is one, but there are many more out there.
Miss Bianca
@Kay: Gingrich, the author of the Contract on America that poured gasoline on the Republican ‘burn it all down’ BS firestorm?
Preaching “restraint” on deportation? Man, talk about a dude that’s got more nerve than sense.
If I could perform a retroactive abortion and obliterate anyone from recent American history, it would be a toss-up between Gingrich and Ronald Reagan.
Harrison Wesley
@Kay: They don’t want citizens. They want indentured servants.
Soprano2
@Baud: You mean the one they’ve been predicting since 2021? LOL
catclub
Or at least restraint on deportations of the immigrants _they_ have hired.
Soprano2
@Kay: It seems they don’t build for demand, they build the houses the builders make the most money from. When I had a job going door to door to talk to people about their sewer problems, we always wondered who was buying all these big houses they were building. Often it was people who moved from somewhere that housing prices were a lot higher than they are here, so they could buy a house much bigger than they actually needed. People used to do that when the proceeds from a house sale were taxable if you didn’t roll it over into another house.
Anyway
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Nice Polite Republicans (trite but true)
TBone
@Harrison Wesley: 🎯
Starfish (she/her)
@Leto: A lot of people setting up these platforms have libertarian, rugged individualism brain worms. And if you are not sufficiently wealthy, your rugged individualism brain worms will get you killed OR will get someone else killed.
Substack had straight up actual Nazi newsletters that they allow on their platform.
I read a few Substacks, but I am never paying people through Substack.
Soprano2
Because when they say “elite” they aren’t talking about money, but about education. They actually admire people who have lots of money and think things would be better with them in charge rather than experts in their various fields. Or really, I guess, when they say “elite” they mean “liberal”. It has nothing to do with money or social status.
Citizen Alan
@Kay: now that it’s too late, the NYT wants to bring us accountability stories about the trump administration. Fucking bastards.
The NYT should be burned to the ground, and the valuable Times Square real estate where it stood repurposed into something that would be more beneficial to the american people.
Like a gigantic toilet.
Soprano2
@Anyway: For some reason they seem to want what they have in places like France and Germany, where third generation people who aren’t of German or French ethnicity but were born in those countries aren’t citizens. They aren’t citizens of anywhere, which seems to be one reason they are so restive. I don’t know why anyone thinks that would be better than what we have now.
Kristine
@Omnes Omnibus: So did I. I think the person who built the list just searched bios for names of animals and swept up anyone with “jackal.”
I’ve been warned before that block lists can be pretty indiscriminate. I’m still not inclined to follow anyone from the NYT.
Professor Bigfoot
@Princess: I wish I could believe that.
But time and again Americans* have proven themselves clever, resourceful, competent and capable in so many ways in so many areas… that I can’t believe it’s JUST rank stupidity.
Harrison Wesley
I admire the NYT epiphany on hard-hitting investigative journalism, and I’ll definitely reward them for it. Starting four years from now.
Harrison Wesley
@TBone: They’ll never put out the LA fires that way!
Oh. Guess I should have read your link.
Citizen Alan
The cultists are already blaming everything on newsome.
bluefoot
@MagdaInBlack: “Dozens of them” Sure, Jan. how many “Biden is old”, TCFG sane-washing, or, say, Hilary email server articles, op-eds or mentions in othre articles were there? JFC.
WaterGirl
@MagdaInBlack: That’s huge! Big congratulations! Things are definitely looking up for you, compared to – was that two years ago?
satby
@Omnes Omnibus: I wonder why the three people who blocked me did it, none of the nyms were familiar and I never interacted with any of them. Maybe that’s why, pretty funny 😂
Dorothy A. Winsor
@rikyrah: I never heard of Red Note. I have a YouTube channel, FB page, Instagram account, Blue Sky, etc. But I’d have to start over building an audience
tam1MI
It’s so cute that they are NOW all about holding Trump accountable when they steadfastly refused to the same when it actually mattered l.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker: Betty I think in the back of my mind, I first heard ‘airhorn’ associated with trumpov from you, which was perfect. So thank YOU
Jeffro
@Kay: big biz in this country is definitely getting rattled as we approach the inauguration..
I have some news for them: they haven’t seen anything yet. Between tariffs (which are “magic money”) and deportations (which will magically Make America White Again) I wish them all the best in convincing Emperor Tang that he’s wrong.
Jeffro
@eclare: I saw a print version of that scientist’s comments.
Go long on Great Lakes-area real estate, peeps!
Another Scott
@Kay: @chrisanthemama:
This stuff about conditioning aid by the GQP is mostly performative. It lets them get some time in the news, lets them do the “fiscally conservative” song and dance, and maybe they’ll get something in return for their vote.
E.g. FTFNYT (from June 1997):
More at the link.
Yes, its despicable, but it’s what the GQP does.
Grr…
Best wishes,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m shocked, shocked that that is happening.
:-/
Best wishes,
Scott.
Ruckus
@Princess:
Nah. There’s always been a segment of too many people too ignorant to live.
And yet they do.
It’s not covid. It’s not stupidity – although that has always been and will always be a part of humanity,
It’s greed. Which of course will also always be with humanity. Some things have changed in our society (as they always do….) and one of those is extremely high tax rates for the uber wealthy becoming less extreme. They would of course still be uber wealthy, just not as uber. Or wealthy. So they get to be even more uber wealthy. And their supporters (who wish they were anywhere near uber) will support them because they are the one thing that so many think is the most important thing in life – uber wealth. Money talks, of course all it knows how to say is worship money. Because of course it’s more fun to be uber than to be worth doodly squat. People with money have been worshiped as smart since money was invented. And needed to exist, as in a modern society. And money can be a good thing, because we can’t all be farmers and go to town on our horses to buy the nothing that use to be available. But that takes money. So the vast majority work and retire on what we pay in over decades, to savings and to Social Security. And the uber still are. And likely always will be and will be with us. To worship and wish we were them. It can be a nice life, being uber in money. But that builds upon that one concept that is rarely/never good – greed. And being measured in that concept that being wealthy is considered far, far better than belonging to that huge category – normal. But of course money is nice but having far more than any necessity is, well just not necessary. And defines the word greed.
But then this is humanity.
Anyway
@Another Scott: please provide something from this century
Ruckus
@Kay:
Pompous arrogance about your bank account(s) contents has always been within humanity, as long as the concept of currency has been around to buy stuff with it. And let’s face it, there are far too many of us to live in the country and hunt for food with muskets. And to have humans divided into groups based upon their bank account levels or lack thereof. Humanity is and always will be a changing concept. Right now many measure humanity by the numbers in those bank accounts.
How do we change that? With more money? With less? In this country we did it with rising tax rates. And there was still a monied class – and everyone else. But we got rid of the extreme tax rates, because isn’t life about MONEY?
And it’s gotten worse.
Ruckus
@Leto:
“When you see a man drowning, make sure you kick him in the balls as well as holding his head below the water while you demand his weight in gold before you agree to help him.”
Awww the unspoken mantra of the supremely wealthy. Isn’t it nice that some know what life is all about. Them and what they can hold over everyone else.
satby
@Anyway: could Scott’s point be that the GOP has been doing this for decades?
Chris Johnson
@Omnes Omnibus: You probably spoke to me or Archteryx. Jackals ain’t just jackals, y’know ;)
Ruckus
@Soprano2:
Money is their measure of everything.
Everything has a cost and it can be measured in money.
OK it really can’t but that is the concept that a lot of humans live within. And showing off how much of it they have is a huge part of many human lives. This country was founded by people that left where they were to find a “better” life. One where they could earn or find a place, because where they were from didn’t allow them that. The “royal” family was in charge. And were replaced by wars. A rather costly way to run humanity. But humanity likes money, and not just in amounts enough to eat and have shelter but in amounts to hold over other’s heads as a sign of superiority. Not all of humanity but a large enough proportion. And yes it is nicer to have some than to not. But that word some is doing a lot of work.
taumaturgo
@Kay: Remember that over 40 Democrats joined MAGA to pass the Laken Riley (guilty until proven innocent) Law. I hope Latinos will remember that with friends like this, who needs enemies.
tam1MI
That lin s up with my own observation, especially when watching stuff like YouTube. Every Republican ad was being met with a Democratic ad until around September. Then suddenly there wasn’t a Dem ad to be seen and Republican ads were running completely fine unopposed. It was one of the reasons I was getting a sinking feeling we were going to lose.
TerryC
@Princess: Early signs of CO2 poisoning.
tam1MI
@Kay:
I think Laken Riley will be terrible. I think its an excuse to round people up. I’ll have to read it to see what this “allegation of criminal activity” idea means but giving police still more power just isn’t smart. It’s bizarre. They invented a new category of criminals below misdemeanor? Is this to get around the fact that undocumented status is administrative and not criminal?
Lawyers in Ohio say beware of any law named after a person who was murdered. They’re always knee jerk, politicized garbage that misfires in some way.
I don’t think you will get any disagreement on this opinion here, Kay. I am as disgusted as I can be at the elected Dems who are voting for this piece of shit bill. So much for ” fighting for us”.
Ruckus
@Kay:
This actually sounds a little panicky.
It sounds that way because it is.
People who worship money do so because they can’t see anything else, and because it’s a big crowd. But it does have an appeal to many because it’s nicer to have more than enough than to not. It opens up options. To have not enough or just to clear the bar means that you HAVE to think about it, because modern life requires money. It doesn’t require MONEY, you know, far more than enough for food and shelter. Modern society is far different than what existed less than 125 years ago. Where and how can you live off the land any longer?
Ksmiami
@matt: I don’t want a civil war, I think blue states , Mexico and Canada form an Americas union. Red states can fuck off and die.
Ksmiami
@chrisanthemama: California should stop paying into the federal system. Everyone in the state I mean.
hrprogressive
I said, multiple times, that Biden/Harris running around on camera claiming “The Economy is Great!” was a terrible thing to be saying out loud when tens of millions of Americans were, in fact, nor seeing any of the alleged benefits of said Economy, and that voters were going to, and did, punish them at the polls for it.
Seems like both the Trump and Harris campaigns agree with me.
Damn, that vindication feels good.
Manyakitty
@sab: City of Fairlawn is hiring, too. He might want to check there.
Elizabelle
It feels like every day will be Friday the 13th for the foreseeable future, once we have passed January 19th. Alas.
Geminid
@Elizabelle: Except for the day you finally get to see the pandas at the National Zoo. When will the public get to see them?
Elizabelle
@Geminid: Pandas make their debut on January 24. Welcome, panda overlords.
And, Richmond Metro Zoo has welcomed an adorable baby pygmy hippo in December. She is beyond cute. Welcome Poppy! (Daughter of Iris.)
RMZoo is a kind of expensive ticket, but those animals have got to eat. And, you can feed the giraffes personally — it’s quite upclose and exciting. They are very gentle.
FWIW, RMZoo is at least 20-30 minutes outside of city limits. It’s most of the way to Amelia Courthouse. Sort of heading in the direction of the metropolis of Farmville.
Ruckus
@Kay:
The NYT is panicked.
They have been losing importance, like most newspapers. We used to take them for, well news. TV news was on for 30 minutes a day, and 8 minutes of that was commercials. But now we have 24 hr a day news on TV and radio, news on our phones, the internet. And other than starting your fireplace what really is a newspaper good for in the current day news almost overload? Classifieds? Sports? It’s a dying art. Many small town newspapers are gone. The one I delivered decades ago is gone, many, most of the ones that were THE local news 50-60 yrs ago are gone. It’s a dying art. And one can get far more news far faster than when newspapers – and/or maybe radio were it. The horse and buggy went the way of the Model T, newspapers are going the way of the internet.
Is it better or worse this way or the waste of trees that so much of a newspaper was? As an old I’m going with today is better. It often isn’t great but then neither was it 3/4 of a century ago. It’s life, it moves on. It gets worse, and/or it improves. As someone born in the first half of the last century, I say it’s better.
Ruckus
@MagdaInBlack:
I like mine. Auto deposit. All I have to do is spend it……..
Elizabelle
NBC Washington with “pro tips” on visiting the Zoo’s beloved new pandas.
Had not realized all zoo visitors need a free pass now. OK.
Geminid
@Elizabelle: Amelia County is a odd location for a zoo. I wonder how that happened.
Jager
Our old friend’s action plan…
1. Get a PO Box
2. Longer term rental search – include insurance on it so they pay directly for rental. Find a nice place that you like, don’t settle. You should be able to get a “Like Property” so insurance should cover a nice place for you to live while you work through all this. You might be living here for 2 years, so choose wisely.
3. Find a place to buy some sturdy boots and gloves. Get some shovels.
4. Start working on the personal property list (this is not fun at all, be prepared to cry we sure did). Write down the moment you remember – keep list on phone or pad of paper with you at all times.
5. Save receipts. Loss of use insurance will cover incidentals too – hairbrush, phone chargers, etc.
6. As you buy things, tell the store owner your situation. Most stores will give you some level of discount as their way of helping you.
7. Let people do things for you. Do you have a friend that you can send to the store to buy you some basic clothes or comfort foods? Let them do it – they want to help and you don’t need to spend time doing these errands. (The ‘fun’ of shopping is gone…it quickly becomes a chore because you don’t want a new shirt, you want the one that you always liked to wear but now it’s gone and you are sad/mad.)
The Big List:
1. Register at the shelters, with Red Cross and any other agency there, california FEMA, etc. a. Most of the aid coming in will use these lists as a point of contact and will help to ensure that you don’t get left out of anything. b. This will be especially important should FEMA be activated, which in my opinion is very likely with the amount of devastation experienced.
2. Call Homeowners/Rental insurance to trigger “Loss of Use” . This typically will allow you to be in a “Like” property for x number of years and sometimes has a dollar limit attached and sometimes not, this is dependent on your policy. a. This coverage should also give you some immediate access to funds for essentials, clothes, toothbrushes, food, etc. b. This will also get the ball rolling for the insurance claim on your home and rebuilding/personal property Dollars.
3. Get a PO Box and forward all mail to the Box. . Use this PO Box as the mailing address on all forms you begin to fill out.
4. Start Searching for a Long term rental. . Coordinate with your insurance company so that payments can be made directly from them using your “Loss of Use” money. a. Plan on renting 1-2 years, but do not necessarily sign a lease for a full two years as circumstances can change.
5. Itemized List of belongings – (This is very hard but very necessary for your claim) . I would organize by room and list everything that was there with a replacement cost. (you will cry a lot doing this and that is ok)
a. Replacement Cost should be what it would cost to replace not on sale from pottery barn, it should not be the price you paid for it with that 50% off coupon.
b. Make sure you list everything, even if it is above and beyond your policy limit. This is very important because everything above and beyond the policy limit is considered a Loss and can be claimed as such on your taxes – See #9
6. Call all of your utilities and either freeze or cancel service. Electric, Gas, TV, Land Line phone a. Newspaper delivery, either cancel or update to PO Box.
7. Call the rest of your insurance points as needed. Car insurance a. Any specialty insurance for unique items
8. Permits – An unfortunate necessity. Debris Removal – as things wind down it will be necessary to remove the debris, this requires a permit usually. (This should be covered by your insurance, we had to force the issue but ask repeatedly.)
a. Erosion Control – If you are on any kind of hill or have sloped property you will need to put some sort of erosion control measures in place, again this will need some sort of permit.
b. Temporary Power Pole/Trailer on site Permit – Getting this earlier on can prove helpful in both the rebuilding process.
9. Taxes . You will be able to claim the monetary loss of the value of all your items minus what you receive from your insurance company. I’m unfamiliar with the exact laws, but I believe that we were able to carry our losses back 2-5 years and received most of the money that we had paid in taxes back in a nice large check.
10. Network with others. You will learn so much from others as you go through the rebuilding process. We all have our strengths so share yours and use others. The amount of time that you will spend on the rebuild, insurance, recovery process is staggering so you need to use all your resources.
JD
It took them 4 years and 4 months to rebuild. Every bullshit and scam artist was “trying to help them out”….
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