I mean it's truly an amazing line to be going with.
— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) May 13, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Breaking: leaked audio proves Sean Duffy knows flying right now isn’t safe.
— Keith Edwards (@keithedwards.bsky.social) May 12, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Maybe they'll transplant white South African air traffic controllers
links.message.bloomberg.com/s/c/PYOxJ5pA…— realworldrj.bsky.social (@realworldrj.bsky.social) May 13, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Sean Duffy will be out later to insist that Joe Biden set the work schedule before he left office.
— Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) May 13, 2025 at 7:30 AM
As Newark Liberty International Airport struggled with technological disruptions and staffing shortages, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned on Sunday that more U.S. airports could face similar disruptions this summer.
— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) May 11, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Surely, Sean Duffy can’t still be running around blaming Biden and Buttigieg again today. Let’s check …
— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) May 12, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Trump once again being the biggest climate change president ever because he manages to completely destroy air traffic. ??
— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) May 13, 2025 at 10:20 AM
On The Road – frosty – 2024 National Park Road Trip – Canada (1/3) Banff
Suzanne
I flew out for a work trip on Monday, and flights into Newark were canceled. Some of my colleagues who live in the greater NYC area have been changing their flights because they’re scared.
Confidence is fairly difficult to build, but easy to destroy. Like every other functional institution.
Everything that fucker touches dies.
Baud
It’s their M.O. because the broader culture wants to blame Democrats for things.
sab
Solomon the cat just wandered up from the basement.
Dawn here. He wants to get in bed with me, but I am already in bed with a pitbull. He trusts her a bit but not that much. So under the bed for him.
His sister, watching atop from a nearby cat tree, is disgusted with his cowardice (aka common sense in other contexts).
sab
Boom! Cat just got tossed out of bathroom before husband’s shower
ETA Not Solomon or his sister. I think Sadie, the cat who is annoyingly in everything.
New Deal democrat
In the absence of the weekly front page updates, here is the latest about the COVID and measles situations.
There was good news and bad news about the COVID situation.
The good news is that both wastewater particles and deaths continued their spring decline.
As of last Friday, particles were down to 1.80 per mL, the lowest since last November, vs. 1.13 at their all time lows. Meanwhile deaths declined to 337 as of April 12, the last week of final totals. They also declined preliminarily to 133 as of May 3, suggesting the final total will be about 275.
The 52 week total also made another all time low, down -200 to 36,000.
Variant LP.8.1 has continued to increase to 70% of all cases, but given the continuing decline in deaths, it is not very virulent.
Now, the bad news. Per Lindsay Beyerstein:
https://bsky.app/profile/beyerstein.bsky.social/post/3lotqnalcis2a
“FDA Commissioner Marty Makary is sending signals that FDA will likely not authorize a COVID-19 booster vaccine this year for children, and perhaps not for the general population as a whole, saying he ‘cannot, in good faith’ recommend booster vaccination for children.”
This is one of the primary things I have been concerned about with the nation’s health governance in the hands of anti-vaxx kooks.
Meanwhile, the measles outbreak that is centered on Texas continues to spread at the rate of about 50 cases per week. This is the latest from the CDC:
“As of May 8, 2025, a total of 1,001 confirmed* measles cases were reported by 31 jurisdictions: Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, New York State, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.
“There have been 14 outbreaks (defined as 3 or more related cases) reported in 2025, and 93% of confirmed cases (928 of 1,001) are outbreak-associated. For comparison, 16 outbreaks were reported during 2024 and 69% of cases (198 of 285) were outbreak-associated.”
And here is the latest report from the Texas Department of State Health Services, which is tracking the outbreak of measles primarily in West Texas:
“At this time, 709 cases have been confirmed since late January. This is an increase of 7 since the May 6 update.Ninety-two of the patients have been hospitalized. This number is the total number of people hospitalized over the course of the outbreak. It is not the current number of people in the hospital.”
There have been no further deaths reported in the last two weeks beyond the three already known.
There was a similar item of the bad news about COVID, with regard to the measles outbreak. Via Jamelle Bouie:
https://bsky.app/profile/jamellebouie.net/post/3lowtadkejs2q
“RFK Jr talking about the need for doctors to know how to treat measles for those who are unvaccinated. ‘Only very sick kids should die from measles.’ “No. They shouldn’t. That was the point of the vaccine. We eradicated the virus so children didn’t die.”
prostratedragon
An overview from the January issue of Airport Technology:
“What did President Biden ever do for US airports? “
Et cetera.
Princess
You can easily persuade people that up is down and red is blue, but (whatever was going on behind the scenes) planes took off and landed when Biden was president and now, post doge and lots of firings, they often don’t. Everything Trump touches dies.
Speaking of which, it seems like Israel is learning the truth of that axiom. They were fools to think he wouldn’t sell them out, half to the Saudis and half to the evangelicals.
sab
@New Deal democrat: Thank you. You have been a trouper through all of this Covid also.
Suzanne
@prostratedragon: I used to work on airport terminal design projects. (Including some y’all have flown through.) One thing I frequently muse on is how unwelcoming some of our airports are relative to those in the rest of the world.
And terminals are now essentially shopping malls with planes that park outside. So meh.
Baud
@Suzanne:
The shopping mall aspect is international, in my experience.
montanareddog
@Suzanne:
@Princess:
I think I am going forward with Suzanne’s formulation – ETFTD from now on – pithier!
Suzanne
@Baud: Absolutely. Have you ever flown through Heathrow Terminal 5? It’s a very fancy shopping mall but you get security groping you first.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
I work for USDOT and Duffy had a town hall about a week and a half ago for employees and proved he knows as little about high speed rail and transit systems as he does about aviation. Dude is out of his depth (which was obvious from the jump if you listened carefully to his morning after the DC plane crash statement). He’s juuuust smart enough to know it but not smart enough to get fully up to speed and fix it. So passing the buck is his only option. I mean he’s a paragon of competence by the standards of this administration but anything north of the gates of hell clears that bar.
So my guess is things won’t get better he’ll just yell louder and more frequently that it’s Biden’s fault no matter how many months or years pass.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Maybe we should steal a page from the Germans or Aussies and rename the party something that doesn’t reflect its actual policies to American ears, like the Conservative Christian Liberal Dance Party. 🤔
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Oh, BJ should have a rebranding thread where everyone can post their best ideas.
lowtechcyclist
And a blast from the past – two months ago, that is:
USA Today, March 14:
They Call Me Noni
@New Deal democrat: saying he ‘cannot, in good faith’ recommend booster vaccination for children.”
These decisions are supposed to be based on science, not faith.
Betty Cracker
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: I feel for you and all the other fed employees who didn’t vote for this catastrophe. It sucks bad enough to be a citizen and have these morons wrecking and mismanaging services we depend on. It must be infinitely worse to be directly subject to their incompetence in your workplace too!
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Yes! Then we’ll have a poll to pick the winner, who gets a butter donkey as a prize. I’ve never made a butter donkey, but I’m confident I could do it!
Baud
@They Call Me Noni:
Fake science has “science” right there in its name.
New Deal democrat
@sab: Thanks for the compliment.
I am a confessed nerd who likes number crunching, and it has been one of the important ways I have kept my sanity during these T—-p End Times.
EarthWindFire
So Biden and Buttigieg renamed a lot of stuff and yet planes stayed in the air and airports didn’t go chaotic. Maybe it’s “drop woke, go broke”. Target and other caving companies, take note. Edit: oh, yeah, Target’s sales are down. I’m starting to like this theory.
sab
Took an early morning shower and slathered myself with a satby citrus skin cream. I think I smell great. Cats are hovering so apparently they agree. Dog too.
Husband is what the *uck is that smell?
I think he thinks I should smell like bacon.
satby
Good morning (afternoon here) from Dublin!
One of the two reasons I chose SAS to fly out of O’Hare was that within an hour I was safely in Canadian airspace and under that air traffic control. The other was that their planes are mostly Airbus, not Boeing. Once I’m safely home next weekend, not planning on flying again. Duffy et al will end up killing people. And I don’t think they care at all.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Betty Cracker: It’s pretty awful. We’ll supposedly learn whether or not we’re being RIFed by the end of the month. So that’s something to look forward to.
Harkening back to the news of the weird thread yesterday, why do these tech bro schemes for the dystopian city of the future seem to start with some government entity (US Navy, NPS) prepping and handing over the chunk of land?
Why can’t they organize a collective bid to buy out private landholders somewhere? I mean, if you can’t even coordinate that how do you expect to be able to manage the building and running of a city? We’re all supposed to coddle their wackadoo fantasy because their perpetually adolescent minds say it’ll totally work and be glorious just you wait.
Another Scott
@satby: Enjoy your travels!
Best wishes,
Scott.
satby
@sab: 😂😂 thanks sab!
And thanks to you too Scott!
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@EarthWindFire: I still shop at Target because what’s the alternative? Walmart? Amazon? Maybe Target isn’t perfect but they’re not toadying up like Jeff “beta” Bezos.
Baud
@satby:
Do you sell bacon scented soap? It sounds like there’s a demand.
satby
@Baud: Funny you should ask. I’ve had requests, and once made a tiny batch as a joke for my deeply bacon obsessed DiL. Maple bacon; and I don’t think she ever used it even once. So thinking the demand really isn’t there.
sab, tell your hubby no chance 😉
Heading to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, everyone have a great day. Most people here are deeply sympathetic to average never-Trumper Yanks, but they think his voters are gobshites.
sab
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: When I go to Target I see their customers, their employees, and their merchandise and think “Really? I should boycott this?” They need to can their CEO so that the rest of us can move on.
Bunter
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: Assuming there’s one nearby, Costco is the alternative.
sab
@satby: That’s okay. I don’t want to smell like bacon.
ETA I can smell like bacon just cooking breakfast.
JML
@satby: I honestly think they would let people die as long as they thought they could blame it on Biden. It’s not like they actually care about their jobs or the American people.
lowtechcyclist
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Hell, there must be a third-world nation that’s in such precarious financial shape that they’d be willing to sell a few square miles of their territory to these bozos, including handing over sovereignty over it to them which would be key from the techbros’ POV, for a quick $50B. Then they’d be free without restriction to create their libertarian paradise.
BritinChicago
@Princess: “Speaking of which, it seems like Israel is learning the truth of that axiom. They were fools to think he wouldn’t sell them out, half to the Saudis and half to the evangelicals.”
Well the Saudis do have an awful lot of money, and the Evangelicals a lot of votes….
Betty
@Suzanne: The shopping mall part is very bad news for us older folks as it makes getting to your gate a long journey. I find it infuriating.
Unkown known
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Y’all are idiots. Duffy has nailed the role of admin lead in the modern era. Just look at how telegenically manly and in control he looks!
/snark
satby
Before I drop off, Krugthulu’s latest:
I’d like to see them do focus groups with ordinary voters, describing these plans. My prediction, based on what we’ve seen in the past, is that many voters will simply refuse to believe the policy descriptions, insisting that elected officials can’t possibly be that vicious.
But they can be and are.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Bunter: Costco is several miles away through DC area traffic. Doable occasionally but there are multiple Targets much closer plus Target makes it relatively easy to buy online…not sure Costco does that.
Unkown known
@Betty Cracker:
I stand in awe of people who have that art gene.
Now make a butter donkey that is standing up, and my awe would elevate past standing into full-on levitation :)
Baud
@satby:
Going back to Comment #2 again, I don’t think that’s true. Many people* don’t want to believe us when we tell them how bad Republicans are because they really want Republicans to save them.
What I’d like to see is a control group where people are told that Dems want to do awful things, to see how many voters believe that
* mostly white people, in case Prof. Bigfoot is lurking.
Nukular Biskits
Good mornin’, y’all. Unplanned day off – Gotta take two of Ms. Biskits sisters to the Amtrak station in Picayune this morning. I was originally told they were leaving yesterday at 6 pm but somehow that got changed into today at 10 am.
As for the topic of flying, I’ve already made my decision to not fly anywhere for any reason for the next four plus years. The clowns in charge now have made it pretty obvious they’re only making matters worse, intentionally or otherwise (both?) and have no plans on being adults and accepting responsibility.
And, yes, I know the stats; i.e., that, even now, it’s safer to fly (?) to the West Coast than to drive my motorcycle to 37 miles to work but …
Trivia Man
The amended Dwight rule: Before i do anything i ask myself, “would trump do this thing?” And if the answer is Yes then i do not do that thing.
Nukular Biskits
@Suzanne: @Baud:
Concur with you both.
To me, being trapped in an airport on a long layover is no different than being underway on a cruise ship – plenty of opportunity for them to try to sell you something.
Makes me wonder if there’s a conspiracy afoot WRT airline skeds …
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
Maybe that WAS BettyC’s best idea.
Suzanne
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: The thing that blows my mind about Target dropping DEI is that they absolutely misread their value-add and thus their customer base. Target’s thing has always been that they were a bit cooler than Walmart, Costco, etc. Their price point is a half-click higher and their customer base reflects that: they’re more urban than Walmart’s customers and apparently have a higher household income. Those people are liberals! Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Matt McIrvin
@EarthWindFire: Like I just said over on Mastodon, “go woke go broke” has never explained box-office numbers unless they’re carefully cherry-picked, and it also applies to other things.
Sure, movies and shows with progressive messages sometimes fail, and movies with a lunkhead bro audience sometimes succeed. And then you get these huge hits like “Black Panther” or “Barbie” that wear the woke-ness on their sleeves (albeit tackling it with some complexity). You just can’t replicate that success completely mechanically.
Librettist
The Newark shitshow was in fact cooked up under McKinsey Pete’s tenure.
NATCA has been pretty clear in their desire to move approach control back to New York and the need to sort out the technical and staffing issues, but Duffy seems to be intent on riding it on in.
Just don’t be on the two planes that collide over New Jersey.
Librettist
@Matt McIrvin:
Sebastian Stan is in one the biggest box office numbers of the year and he played Trump in a movie that pilloried the fool.
Manyakitty
@satby: good morning!
Manyakitty
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: Costco definitely does online shopping, FYI.
Suzanne
@Matt McIrvin: “Go woke go broke” doesn’t explain a lot. Democrats probably make a bit more money, on average. IMO, most mid-tier consumer messaging and popular media has been coded toward liberal tastes for a long time (racial and gender diversity, depictions of attractive people in expensive urban apartments, etc). Maybe with the exception of pickup trucks and Budweiser, LOL.
According to the exit poll data, Harris won those in families making under $30K a year, and those making $100K or more. FFOTUS won the $30K — $100K range. So, like….. the woke people have the money.
Another Scott
One for the oldsters. Everything old is new again, amirite??
Best wishes,
Scott.
Soprano2
@sab: I have a cat like that, he’s not quite a year old and wants to know about everything we’re doing!
lowtechcyclist
@Betty:
This is something about airport design that really pisses me off. There’s a lot of room, mobility-wise, between (a) having no trouble traversing the vast distances that most airports expect you to walk, and (b) being wheelchair-bound. My wife’s in that gray zone, and it’s a real problem.
And the problems start right when you get there. At BWI, we park our car in the nearest garage, but there’s no alternative but to walk from the garage to the baggage check-in area. At Tampa, when you drop off your rental car, you’ve got to walk through a good portion of the garage, and then you’re at one end of a vast rental-car concourse, with the baggage drop-off and the train to the main terminal at the other end. And there is no moving walkway to help you get from one end to the other. There are sometimes wheelchairs available – at the far end from where you came in.
I’ll shut up now, but there’s plenty more where that came from.
Grrrr. Argh.
schrodingers_cat
I am going to India later this summer and was seriously considering traveling from Newark instead of Boston. Because there is a direct flight to Mumbai from Newark. Now IDK.
But according to Jake Tapper and journo bros the biggest scandal is Joe Biden wearing supportive shoes
Heh when I twisted my ankle last December for a couple of months the only shoes I could wear were sneakers and hikers because they accomodated my ankle brace. Good thing I am not in politics. Otherwise it would have been an epic scandal and I am not 80.
SFAW
Every day, reading the shit these mofos say and do, I find it hard not to think how it would be if there were a latter-day [sic] Kevin Uxbridge to deal with the Rethuglican Husnock.
SFAW
@schrodingers_cat:
I thought it was that President Biden was OLDOLDOLD. Shows how out of touch I am.
moonbat
@Manyakitty: Costco is quickly becoming my replacement for both Target and Amazon.
schrodingers_cat
@SFAW: Wearing supportive shoes was “proof” of his being a doddering old man. Didn’t several BJers diagnoze him of everything from Alzheimers to Parkinsons. They were positive. God is great because Joe was practically skipping in the Vatican unlike the lumbering colossus that is our current presidential abomination.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
Comment # 2.
Another Scott
@Suzanne: I continue to think that Target is walking the talk. Maybe they messed up their messaging with respect to 47, and they certainly seem to have some PR issues about it (and maybe need some changes there), but I don’t see that they’ve actually changed policies.
My local Target is amazingly diverse in employees and shoppers.
Our Corporate Strategy:
Human Capital Management:
Etc.
FWIW.
Best wishes,
Scott.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: It gets an assist from our left flank. Who spend more time attacking us than the ruling party. And if we bring it up over here we are quickly tone policed about how we must not talk about the role of racial prejudice, xenophobia and other bigotries but talk about messaging etc.
Matt McIrvin
@lowtechcyclist:
Oh hell yes. (Speaking as a man with a metal knee, who had a lot of trouble with this before and immediately after he got it.)
Soprano2
@Baud: Before the election, I heard an interview with a woman who does focus groups. She said they had to water the Project 2025 stuff way down from what it actually said, because when they tried to measure people’s reaction to what it actually said, they pretty much all said a variation of “that can’t be serious, no one would do that”. So I absolutely believe that people won’t believe it. I think that’s one of the Democrat’s problems, people still don’t believe Republicans want to do bad things even as they’re doing them!
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
Matt McIrvin
@Another Scott: Still boycotting them, because I want companies to be TERRIFIED about this.
rikyrah
A Black man as Mayor-elect of OMAHA, NEBRASKA??😳😳😳
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: Is Omaha in crisis? Or is it the national crisis? That’s the only time people vote for the non-standard issue candidate
Yay! I am going to celebrate it!!
Matt McIrvin
@schrodingers_cat: CBP seems to be running amok at Logan right now, perhaps in part because our Democratic governor is weirdly sympathetic to Trumpy nativism. But the worst time I ever had in a customs/immigration line was at Newark.
Baud
@rikyrah:
And a Dem, not one of those black right wing Republicans like that black Nazi in NC.
Omaha says Omahaha to Republicans.
Baud
@Soprano2:
Right. It’s why the focus on messaging is misplaced. It doesn’t matter what we say if people won’t believe it.
schrodingers_cat
@Matt McIrvin: Really? I have always sailed through customs at Logan for the last 30 plus years. FWIW I have had comparitively worse experiences at Heathrow and Sahar (Mumbai’s airport)
They didn’t even stamp an end date on MIL’s passport when she was here for a visit last October.
moonbat
@Matt McIrvin: Ditto. Target bent the knee immediately and Bezos destroyed one of the best newspapers in the nation. They aren’t getting any more of my money. Period.
And there’s a growing consensus that dropping DEI is bad business anyway. Besides Costco treats their workers decently.
Another Scott
@lowtechcyclist: The things that bother me most about airports, other than the long distances to walk, are:
On #2, have you ever been at an airport and tried to call some automated system to get some help? Yeah, it hears an announcement and runs off to the edge of the universe thinking that’s your response. And there’s usually no way back without starting over.
It’s like the old jokes of Alexa telling Siri what to do…
I’m sure “AI” and LLMs will save us from that, any day now…!!
Grr…
[ /first-world-problems ]
Best wishes,
Scott.
Matt McIrvin
@schrodingers_cat: Omaha is a blue city, its district’s electoral vote went to Biden in 2020 and to Harris in 2024, and it’s about 12% Black (Amber Ruffin is from there!) So it’s not quite as mind-boggling as it might seem.
Soprano2
@Baud: Especially when they’re currently doing a lot of it, and people still won’t believe it! I’m not sure what you do about that until a lot of people get hurt. It’s in the same category as the people who thought FFOTUS’s administration would only go after the “bad” immigrants, not the “good, hard-working” ones in their family.
CaseyL
@Another Scott:
“Human capital” is the latest dehumanizing buzzword from HR World to describe employees, and I loathe it to the point where I ignore whatever else they say. I don’t know how widespread the neologism is – I’ve seen it used once even here at the University, and I pushed back on the term – but it’s really, really awful.
In other news, I have to fly in the next few days to Florida to see/help an elderly aunt who fell and is not recovering well at all. (She has other support, so this will be a visit on my part, not a relocation.)
Put my loathing for Florida together with anxiety about flying when the FAA is falling apart, and this will be a nightmare journey. Not looking forward to it at all.
suzanne
@Another Scott: Target got rid of some of the smaller Black-owned brands that they were carrying. At least at my store.
Matt McIrvin
@schrodingers_cat: Me too, but they’ve been disappearing a lot of non-citizens.
narya
Okay, for you Costco folks: I really don’t need anything in bulk–it’s just me (and sometimes my friend), and I have veggies from the farm share, fish from the fish share, meat that he hunts (and gets), and most dairy from the farm share, too. I was using Target for things like toiletries (because their brand selection was a bit better than the grocery store), and I have to use Whole Foods for the specific toothpaste I like (I’ve never found it anywhere else, and I have looked). Neither local Costco is particularly convenient to me, but I’d join if I thought I’d find stuff I actually need. I’ve rummaged online, but still don’t have a sense of what I’d actually want to buy there. So: you Costco shoppers, what do you buy there?
Trivia Man
@Matt McIrvin: i was only a casual target shopper, now i am an Intentional non-shopper. When the demand for private companies to drip DEI cane out, what they should have said was NOTHING. Instead they appeared to apologize for ever having a DEI program and dropped it. While apparently still managing with diversity and inclusion as a guiding principle.
Baud
@Soprano2:
Correct. It’s why I don’t get too worked up about many Dems holding back. IMHO, if we enter the picture when people aren’t ready to hear us, they’re just going to shoot the messenger and dig in rather than join us in the fight. YMMV.
Chris T.
@CaseyL: “Human capital” has been in use for decades as I recall…
Matt McIrvin
@Soprano2: The thing that particularly strikes me is that this obviously isn’t some uniquely American pathology, because there are so many recent immigrants who support doing terrible things to slightly more recent immigrants, who they imagine are somehow different from themselves.
narya
@CaseyL: I’m sitting here thinking about what Marx (Karl, not Groucho) would say about “human capital” . . .
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
Where in a period where a lot of people want to feel elite and special by punching down.
Matt McIrvin
@narya: He might have remarked upon the human capital owned by Dixie cotton barons.
narya
@rikyrah: OMG, I just saw one of the ads. A picture of a woman peering under a bathroom stall with the caption “Jean is focused on potties” and a pic of a man with the caption “John is focused on fixing potholes.” I assume the two faces in the ad were the candidates. LOVE it.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: We have a love hate relationship with immigration and immigrants.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Another Scott: Doesn’t surprise me, the whole Right wing DEI panic is from White bois who want an excuse for their parents why they don’t have a job.
zhena gogolia
Yesterday I contributed to a GoFundMe for the brother of a former student. They are immigrants who both served in the U.S. military. The former student has lost his job with USAID thanks to Fuckhead Musk, and now his brother’s been detained by ICE at his green card interview with no explanation, no contact with the family for the first few days. I HATE THESE PEOPLE. And even more I hate the people who voted for them or who couldn’t be bothered to vote WHEN IT WAS PERFECTLY CLEAR WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN.
ETA: This after I had to teach on hybrid Zoom the last half of the semester (a language course, not ideal) because one of my students had to flee the country since she had the audacity to exercise free speech rights to protest Gaza.
ETA: Just to say, if you think it isn’t affecting you, just wait, it’s going to.
Paul in KY
@schrodingers_cat: Good luck! Hope flights are uneventful.
Melancholy Jaques
@Baud:
Agreed, but why? The widespread loathing for Democrats in the political media goes back to the Reagan Era. To paraphrase Detective Jimmy McNulty, what the fuck did we do?
Paul in KY
@schrodingers_cat: He just got old. What happens to everyone if they live long enough.
lowtechcyclist
@Another Scott:
Can’t say I’ve noticed airport acoustics being any worse than any other large space. And most of the announcements I notice are useful or necessary info like gate changes, or last call to get your ass aboard Flight 1488 before the gate closes.
Apparently not, if something like that had happened to me, I’d remember it for a looooong time.
Soprano2
@Trivia Man: What that tells me is that those companies never really cared about those programs, they were just performative.
NotMax
@narya
More than 90% of my grocery shopping (including liquor and snacks) done at Costco. Their pharmacy, eyeglass and hearing aid departments also top notch.
Matt McIrvin
@moonbat: The media line now is that Trump’s numbers are rebounding–they stabilized just a little because he backed off just a little on tariffs, and there was a herd of pro-Trump pollsters releasing numbers at the same time to accentuate it. So I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s another right wing Vibe Shift bandwagon every dope jumps on.
lowtechcyclist
@CaseyL:
At least the word ‘human’ is still in there. My last few years at the Census Bureau, people were referred to just as ‘resources.’
Soprano2
We gave women and minorities real power, and a lot of them can’t stand that. It alienated the people who they believe are the “real” American voters who are the only people the press actually believe count – white working-class people – and they can’t forgive Democrats for that. ETA – we were OK as long as white men were still at the forefront, and women and minorities had either behind the scenes roles or token roles. Once they saw those people had actually power in the Democratic Party, I think the decline began.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@narya: We both got our hearing aids at Costco. Also gas.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
It was like this from the get go:
“Plymouth Plantation was God’s gift to the world, until that cursed ship The Fortune arrived with its’ cargo of Demon Spawn, lay abouts, and wanton she-hussies come to take our jobs, and fill our street with vice!” A Pilgrim, Plymouth Colony, 1621
And by 1693 they were setting each other on fire.
CaseyL
@Chris T.:
Really? I never encountered the term until recently. Maybe a year ago? But I’ve been employed in the public sector for the past 11 years, so maybe it just took that long for it to trickle into our little patch of paradise.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: I’m not sure the party as an organization can do anything to address the credibility gap except be ready when voters turn to Dems as the only alternative after the latest Repub catastrophe. The question in my mind is whether that pattern persists until Repub fascists destroy democracy for good or if there’s something Dems in power can do to break the pattern.
Manyakitty
@moonbat: it needs to become more of mine. Somehow, I am at least 30 minutes away from several Costco locations. Wish they’d build at least one closer to me.
moonbat
@Matt McIrvin: Yeah, but the global supply chain can’t be turned on and off like a faucet. There’s going to be a preview of the pain Trump’s tariffs will unleash soon. And if there’s anything the last election taught us is that the American consumer will not stand for being inconvenienced at ALL.
lowtechcyclist
@Soprano2:
And real power in the workplace as well, which by definition had to be the work of the Democrats who had been for civil rights, women’s rights, affirmative action, etc. all along. There are a lot of men out there who are pissed that women make more money than they do. Hence “email jobs.” They can’t deal with being out-competed by women, Blacks, and other minorities.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Yeah, I don’t have any solutions to that problem that doesn’t entail people burning their own hands on the Republican stove and deciding they don’t like the smell.
narya
@NotMax: @Dorothy A. Winsor: Thanks!
Matt McIrvin
@Betty Cracker: The other question I have is whether the “destroy democracy for good” part has already happened. Suppose they turn to Democrats and it turns out voting just doesn’t work any more. How many are likely revolutionaries? I suspect not that many until things get even worse (like, “famine” or “Air Force bombs your city” worse).
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: Orange 1.0 affected me adversely I truly didn’t want a sequel. George Clooney can go fuck himself and take Jake Tapper with him.
trnc
@prostratedragon:
Wouldn’t it be nice for newsies to know this before they bring Duffy on when they know he’ll blame Biden and Pete?
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: This is mostly a white people problem. From my experience if they listen at all it will only be to other white people.
And on an institutional scale we need to find a way to get the news out. Try the same tactics that the US used against Soviet propaganda in the Cold War.
H.E.Wolf
Electoral-Vote.com had some good details on the Omaha, NE, mayoral vote: everything we jackals pointed out, and more!
https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2025/Items/May14-5.html
moonbat
@Manyakitty: Costco does deliver. And while I am a relative newcomer to their ways, the stuff I have bought from them so far (laptop and SSD memory) topped amazon in price and equaled them in quality. We’ll see about the day-to-day household stuff I used to buy from Target. But I’m mad enough to try to make it work.
I have been heartened to hear that Target’s stock is feeling the crunch of the boycott. Down 30 percent the last I checked. If money is all these f***ers care about, I say make it hurt.
Chris T.
@CaseyL: I think it was more in the realm of economics than HR (I always avoided HR as much as possible!).
H.E.Wolf
Electoral-Vote.com’s blog post today also included some very good news out of Alabama. The quotes from the judicial decision are a pleasure to read.
https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2025/Items/May14-6.html
They Call Me Noni
@Baud: And, let’s say it all together now…
YOU CAN’T FIX STUPID!!
schrodingers_cat
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Indeed. Every immigrant wave has gone through this. And then turned nativist themselves.
Like TNC used to often say, suffering doesn’t make you noble.
Belafon
@Another Scott: Walmart’s workforce is also really diverse.
moonbat
@Belafon: And underpaid.
Barbara
When you study the concept of regulatory capture, air safety and airline regulation should be front and center. The fact that airlines and other “stakeholders” (God, I hate that word) get to undermine the safety of an aspect of life that unquestionably affects ordinary people is disgusting, but there is almost no one who flies more frequently than members of Congress, making its neglect of civilian air safety and efficiency utterly inexplicable. The situation has been precarious for quite a while, which makes Trump’s dunderheaded and malevolent regulation busting especially dangerous for air travelers.
Omnes Omnibus
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: It was 1692, and no one was burned. Hanged, a bunch of people were hanged. Oh, and the Mayflower folks had nothing to do with it.
Jackie
@Another Scott: Oh my…. haven’t heard those sounds in ages! LOL!
Matt McIrvin
@lowtechcyclist:
Where does that go, Spokane?
Betty Cracker
@Matt McIrvin: I have similar misgivings, but our decentralized voting model gives me hope on that score, along with the incompetence of the cultists trying to subvert it. I think it’s probable we’ll get another shot.
schrodingers_cat
@Omnes Omnibus: I am always interested in early American history. And there are gaps in my knowledge because I didn’t really study it in school here like everyone else. Any reading suggestions for colonial history of what became the US. I have gone through the US AP history syllabus FWIW. So I know the broad outline.
Soprano2
@schrodingers_cat: From what I heard, a significant thing driving the immigrants who supported FFOTUS was the fact that people who newly came here seeking asylum were getting help from the government, while their mother/father/aunt/uncle/cousin who has been here without legal status for years couldn’t get any help from the government. Somehow, these people thought FFOTUS wouldn’t go after their “hard-working” relatives, only these new people that they resented.
Matt McIrvin
@Omnes Omnibus: It was those Massachusetts Bay Colony Puritans!
(The craziness spread further than Salem, though. The judge who walked out of the proceedings was from my town, Haverhill, as were some of the accused.)
Matt McIrvin
@Betty Cracker: I figure *my* state will carry out reasonably free and fair elections, but there are a bunch of states with Republican legislatures and purplish populations that were in the “managed democracy” camp even before Trump, and pushing back against that is hard.
I have less faith that the 2028 Presidential election, and in particular the electoral count, will happen in any Constitutional manner–if Trump is even considered a viable candidate in spite of being term-limited out, we’re in even bigger trouble than most of us imagine.
Baud
@Soprano2:
Crab bucket politics always bites us in the ass.
schrodingers_cat
@Soprano2: We also get tarred by the sometimes nutty rhetoric that comes out DSA types. People who have actually lived under a Communist dictatorship balk at voting for Ds
Also most naturalized citizens (regardless of their origin) are majority D voting demographic. Rs won’t win if they didn’t win so resoundingly among white people
That said there are pathological people and pick-mes in every demographic
The media focuses on Trump voting minorities but never on the white majorities that Republicans always get. Because it is easier to point fingers than it is to introspect.
NotMax
@Matt McIrvin
Cogito ergot sum.
:)
Betty Cracker
@schrodingers_cat: As a white person who has talked to other white people about politics for decades, I can assure you THEY DO NOT LISTEN TO US EITHER. Not the Republicans, anyway. A conversion like Cole’s is rarer than hen’s teeth.
Realistically, I think the best we can do is get enough low-info swing voters on board to take power again and then put everything behind reforming the system. It’s a tall order, but it’s either that or continue spiraling down.
lowtechcyclist
@Matt McIrvin: Southwest from BWI to Sarasota, actually.
Couldn’t believe they used that number.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
I don’t think 1488 is as well know as 666 or 13.
Betty Cracker
@Matt McIrvin: You could be right. I am by no means certain either.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodingers_cat: If it’s the witch trials that interest you, you could do a lot worse than this.
arrieve
I have three trips scheduled this summer–unfortunately I’m committed, otherwise I would just cancel them all. I live in Manhattan and always use Newark. Apart from safety issues (I know, I know, “apart from safety issues” is just a stupid statement but such are the times we live in) this is a huge inconvenience. I hate JFK, and it takes twice as long to get there, and since Newark is the United hub, I can’t use my miles. Travel is one of the great joys of my life, and I have never wanted to just stay home so much.
Geminid
“Young man, there’s no need to feel down.
Young man, pick your self off the ground…”
From Niv Calderon:
Trump met with the 44 year-old al-Sharaa this morning in Riyadh, before flying on to Qatar. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was there, and Turkish President R.T. Erdogan chimed in via tele-link.
Ed. Trump said he would “order” the “cessation” of U.S. sanctions on Syria at yesterday’s Saudi-U.S. Economic Forum. The audience gave him a standing ovation, and celebrations followed in many Syrian cities.
Manyakitty
@schrodingers_cat: FWIW, most of us who grew up here didn’t learn the whole story, either. Hard to fill in gaps you never knew existed.
George
@Baud:
One of the last supervisors I had before leaving the civil service at the end of last year was a full-on psychopath. I figure he managed to get his job via manipulation–the agency I worked for is notorious for having upper management that is malignantly narcissistic and he knew how to play that game.
Once in his job, he started changing processes and programs that had worked well for years because, he claimed, they didn’t work well at all. He replaced those processes and programs with his own stuff. When things collapsed, as we all knew they would, he blamed the previous director and accused long-time staff members of insubordination.
The FFOTUS administration is doing the exact same thing. Breaking stuff because they don’t know how anything works, and then blaming someone else.
Manyakitty
@Betty Cracker: true enough. People who voted for the menace all three times are lost. No point in wasting any more time on them.
Barbara
@arrieve: Newark is the red-headed stepchild of the New York metropolitan airports. It has the lowest priority in managing back-ups and congestion. That was the price of getting LGA and JFK and New York politicians to withdraw their opposition to the expansion of NWR. I always hate flying through there, or at least for domestic flights. If your flight is scheduled to take off anytime between 3 and 6 pm you can count on a delay of at least 45 minutes sitting on the runway.
Jackie
@narya: I do all paper products (I have storage space,) vitamins, pharmaceuticals, Kirkland coffee – 3lb cans for roughly same price as much smaller containers at regular grocery stores, frozen salmon filets, butter, canned goods, eye glasses, gas, and, of course the 4.99 4lb rotisserie chicken lol
NotMax
@arrieve
The Airtrain from/to JFK infinitely more accessible and convenient then navigating to/from La Guardia.(even though there’s a free bus at LGA which will take you to Woodside to pick up subway or LIRR).
Jackie
@H.E.Wolf: Oooh! That IS GOOD news!!! FINALLY!
Sandia Blanca
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
@narya: I started shopping online at Costco in the early days of the pandemic, and I still order from them every few weeks. Don’t shop there in person any more except to use my annual rebate check. In addition to the obvious bulk items (paper goods, laundry and dishwasher detergents, gluten-free pancake mix, coffee, nuts), I order organic EVOO, Canadian maple syrup, and other pantry staples. You can also order same-day delivery for some items.
New Deal democrat
@schrodingers_cat:
A book about the very earliest colonial America I have no hesitation recommending to anyone is “A Brave and Cunning Prince,” by James Horn, about Chief Opechancanough, the Powhatan who almost succeeded in wiping out the Jamestown settlement:
https://www.amazon.com/Brave-Cunning-Prince-Opechancanough-America/dp/0465038905
The book makes a convincing case that he is the same person known as Paquiquineo by the Spanish forty years earlier, a teenager taken to Spain, who met Emperor Charles V and was christened Don Luis de Velasco, and subsequently was taken by them to Mexico, where he witnessed the fate of the Aztecs. He accompanied Spanish Jesuits who were sent to the Chesapeake Bay Area to convert the Indians, but – ahem – met an untimely demise instead.
From the jacket blurb:
“In the mid-sixteenth century, Spanish explorers in the Chesapeake Bay kidnapped an Indian child and took him back to Spain and subsequently to Mexico. The boy converted to Catholicism and after nearly a decade was able to return to his land with a group of Jesuits to establish a mission. Shortly after arriving, he organized a war party that killed them.”
Bill Arnold
@zhena gogolia:
As Ken White says, paraphrased, moderate is “abolish ICE”. Radical is a wall and a ditch.
Citizen Alan
@JML: The single most despicable and repulsive thing about republicans is that they simply do not care about any loss of human life unless they can somehow blame the deaths on democrats.
Captain C
@trnc:
That would take actual work, and knowledge, and effort.
arrieve
@NotMax: I live a couple of blocks from the Port Authority, so getting the bus to JFK isn’t difficult, even with luggage. But it takes forever to get there.
suzanne
@narya: I buy a lot of Costco items. Shampoo, conditioner, vitamins, coffee, most pantry staples. We get a lot of our meat there, and they have good take-and-bake meals. Almost all appliances and electronics. Paper goods.
Citizen Alan
@Matt McIrvin: IMO, the single best thing that marvel/disney+ has produced for tv has been Agatha All Along, a series with an all female cast, except for one openly gay teenaged boy. All the characters are witches, in the religious sense as well as having cool magical powers. One of the characters was implied to have been an abortion provider in the past. And the emotional heart of the whole series is the conflict between 2 characters who had formerly been in a lesbian relationship that ended in a very bad breakup.
On paper, it screams wokeness, and yet it was absolutely amazing and hugely popular.
Bill Arnold
@Bill Arnold:
Here’s the popehat bsky post:
Ol_Froth
I worked for over a decade at Pittsburgh International. Its been called the flight deck since at least the early 1990’s.
suzanne
@Betty Cracker:
There seems to be this idea that we are somehow able to convert our family members or friends. I don’t know why this myth persists.
One thing that went viral last week was a screen shot of now-Pope Leo trying to convince one of his family members that some Trumpy lie wasn’t true. And the screen shot shows that he posted a Snopes link. And his family member still argued with him! Legit the Pope can’t get through to the MAGA!
Geminid
@Geminid: Axios published a story by Barack Ravid about the Trump/al-Sharaa meeting titled, “Trump meets Syrian President al-Sharaa, ex-jihadist who toppled Assad”:
https://www.axios.com/2025/05/14/trump-meets-syria-president-sharaa
Trump to reporters:
Sharaa’s “Very strong past” includes ten years with a $5 million U.S. bounty for his capture.
Trump informed reporters he told al-Sharaa during the 33-minute meeting that, “he has a tremendous opportunity to do something historic for his country.”
Gretchen
@schrodingers_cat: I found that the wheelchair scandal in the Tapper book was not that Biden secretly used a wheelchair, but that his doctor said that if he had a bad fall he might need to use one. Anyone who has a bad fall might need a wheelchair, but for some reason this was a unique indication of poor health for Biden.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Fellow DOT employee here, retired since end of 23.
I’m so sorry to hear your travails and the uncertainty going forward. Duffy is a putz. Hell, Elaine Chao, the poster child for GOP apparatchik is head and shoulders above him. And of course Pete blows everybody out of the water.
Good luck going forward and keep us updated.
rikyrah
@sab:
your house happenings are making me :)
Matt McIrvin
@suzanne:
Because obviously nothing else will work, and people want to retain some hope.
Matt McIrvin
@Citizen Alan: My wife watched that– didn’t like it just because the protagonist was so horrifyingly evil (intentionally so), which made for difficult viewing.
rikyrah
@zhena gogolia:
It’s hard for me to get past this also. And, I know it’s not healthy for me. But the rage that is right beneath the surface for me these days.
Soprano2
@Manyakitty: The book that opened my eyes to how much we weren’t taught was “Lies My Teacher Told Me” by James Lewellen (not sure about sp of last name). That’s the first time I knew anything about the Tulsa race massacre, or how prevalent these things were across the U.S. at that time.
H.E.Wolf
@Jackie:
I agree! I immediately thought of our valued brother jackal, Ben Cisco, and beloved honorary jackal Cisco Mom.
H.E.Wolf
@schrodingers_cat:
Don’t know if these are of interest, but here are a handful of write-ups from the US History professor (“Z”) who blogs at Electoral-Vote.com.
(I regret I can’t find his list of recommended US History books – it includes both scholarly and more mainstream works.)
https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2020/Pres/Maps/Apr03.html#item-7
suzanne
@Matt McIrvin: Persuasion is really difficult thing to do, which is why I have a great deal of respect for the people who are good at it. Most of us have a lot to learn and could dramatically improve our skills, but even then, the odds are long.
IME, the people who care enough about politics to have an opinion absolutely talk about it with their people. If they don’t, it’s for one of three reasons:
1) Have talked about it in the past, it was incredibly divisive, and everybody shuts up for Grandma’s sake. And after Grandma passes, the relationship is broken.
2) People agree to shut up in order to remain present for nieces and nephews, or grandkids, etc. In this case, the person is often LGBTQ+, or atheist, and their silence is the price they pay, often at great personal pain.
3) They make efforts at discussion, it’s unpleasant and fruitless, and they erect a boundary.
They Call Me Noni
@Betty Cracker: Exactly!! This 100% all day and twice on Sundays! We can pick off a few here and there which might be enough but most of the R’s were raised to be exactly who they are. They do not know people who don’t have their same opinions and they make no effort to expose themselves to any facts that might inform them otherwise. It’s like vampires exposed to sunlight (yes, I watched Sinners on Saturday!).
And I hope I live long enough to see a concerted and serious effort to do away with the Electoral College.
suzanne
@They Call Me Noni: Family estrangements have increased in recent years. Plus, there’s probably a lot of white people who don’t have any MAGA family or friends. We’ve sorted ourselves out a great deal….. geographically, religiously, educationally, culturally.
I talked about politics with my colleagues last night, but I don’t recommend that, LOL.
Soprano2
@suzanne: They’ll tell you that Snopes is part of the liberal media. They won’t believe a thing on it.
Soprano2
@suzanne: Because that way they can blame us for how those people vote. If only we were better at converting them, it wouldn’t happen.
suzanne
@Soprano2: Oh, I know. But the point is…. even the freaking Pope is trying to get through their heads and is unsuccessful. Most of us have had that bashed-our-heads-into-the-wall experience. The idea that we don’t try to be persuasive is…. usually inaccurate!
lou
@narya: It’s worth it for eyeglasses alone. I paid $200 for frames and blended bifocal lenses. If your prescription changes within six months — say, because you need cataract surgery — they replace the lenses for free.
Considering how many things run on batteries now, it’s a good place to buy batteries for cheap and in bulk.
Then there’s the outdoor accoutrements.
I have yet to buy food there. I have bought bulk cans of St. Croix because I go through them pretty quickly.
And good for bulk wine when you’re holding a party.
I only go two to four times a year, tops.
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
@Baud: @sab: There should be the smell of bacon somewhere near you. Not quite the same thing.
Unless you ARE bacon, of course.
Paul in KY
@Omnes Omnibus: They may have pressed a couple.
gene108
One thing hit me with this thread, Democratic politicians rarely trash Republicans for problems they inherit.
I get that President Obama had his constraints on displaying anger, but other Democrats were not relentlessly blaming Republicans for the Great Recession, the way Duffy is blaming Biden for problems that might be linked to Musk’s firing a bunch of FAA employees.
I think one reason Gov. Walz’s “weird” comment about Republicans resonated is because it was a Democrat insulting Republicans for once.
One problem Democrats face that Republicans do not in insulting and trashing the other party is the right-wing propaganda machine. They got a good chunk of folks, including the MSM, to agree 9/11 was partly President Clinton’s fault, because Bush, Jr. was only in office for 8 months.
They got people to blame New Orlean’s mayor for the mess in the city, after Katrina, because he didn’t use school buses to evacuate people.
I think despite the media disadvantage Democrats trashing Republicans would be helpful.
lowtechcyclist
@lou:
If your gizmos run on AA or AAA, get rechargeables. I don’t know why they aren’t more of a thing. It just seems crazy to use a battery for a short while then toss it, with all that goes into a battery, when there are good rechargeables out there.
I use Panasonic Eneloops. I’ve only had a few go bad in the 15-20 years I’ve been using them.
Paul in KY
@gene108: Pres. Obama maybe should have done some (very true) bashing. IMO, it was sorta a conceit of his: that he was going to be ‘bipartisan’ and etc. etc.
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
@narya: Frozen stuff (feozen fish and veggies are at good prices), dry goods, dairy, cleaning supplies, the occasional loaf of bread and sometimes fresh fruit. Eyeglasses, tires, and some specialty items including travel and even insurance, come at attractive rates.
Generally produce is 50-75% the price of the mainstream grocers, and dry goods are similarly cheaper especially if you are willing to buy quantity. Sale prices (there’s a whole code for those at https://www.foodandwine.com/costco-price-tag-meaning-8718486) can be amazing. And package sizing, while sometimes commercial- or restaurant- sized, often has benefits (canned tuna in somewhat bigger cans than grocery equivalents, for example).
The locations that have gas, while it’s all petrol (no diesel that I have found) offers pricing for petrol that beats just about everyone. I gave up my Shell Fuel Rewards membership because even their 30c/gal discount is worthless when Costco sells quality fuel for $1/gal less.
I find that Costco is often best for shoppers looking for name brands, which are significantly discounted, or for Costco’s own store brand, which is decent quality, frequently-rebranded name brand (Ocean Spray cranberry juice gets the Kirkland label to go half price), and attractively priced as well.
If, like me, you shop store brands where you can, Costco has deals but is hardly the one-stop retailer. But it’s definitely part of the periodic grocery run, and it offers a lot of good deals especially if you know how and when to shop there.
I also support Costco because they offer fair wages and they support their LGBTQ staff and communities.
Royko
@Baud:
I believe that control group is called Fox New viewers, and statistically, 100% of them believe any crazy nonsense about Democrats.
Matt McIrvin
@suzanne: I talk about politics with my non-MAGA family, and it’s not just an agreement festival, because my opinions on a lot of subjects are wayyyy more liberal than even the American Democratic mainstream.
The media are always working on people. I know Democrats who are against birthright citizenship because they heard a story about rich jerks doing birth tourism, Democrats who are for concealed carry everywhere because what if a mass shooting happens, *lots* of Democrats who think it’s just to keep felons from voting, etc. These are people who would never vote for Trump. I’m not sure I was even able to convince them of anything, let alone Trump supporters.
ironcity
@Suzanne: Re comment #9 the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) dollars for aviation went for a whole bunch of different things from airports grants, landing/lighting/other equipment replace and control towers and ATC facilities. There are something over 500 ATC towers in the US. About half, the smaller/ lower activity ones, are staffed by contractors. The rest by FAA employees. A medium activity ATC tower cab (the part at the top with windows) is 500-600 square feet and the tower shaft it sits on costs about $100K per foot to build. When a ATC tower is planned for an airport there is a bunch of engineering done to put it in the right place to see everything but as short as possible because height costs $100K per foot. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law money funded replacement of at least 20 ATC towers in the eastern third of the U.S. and similar numbers in the remaining 2/3. The normal appropriations process would have taken decades to get anything close to that and the ATC towers being replaced were mainly the ones in most need either because of their condition, not being able to see the whole airport from the cab, or increases in traffic. Material condition of ATC facilities is a big deal and they are continually assessed like other commercial properties but it can be difficult to get money to fix the roof, the A/C, the doors when shiny new ATC towers are needed and you get a lot better ribbon cuttings and photo ops for politicians there.
Betty
@lou: How long does it take to get glasses at Costco once you have your prescription?
Manyakitty
@Soprano2: exactly. So much ugliness just erased, as well as major contributions by people who weren’t white men.
narya
@lou: @Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq): Thank you! I WANT to support them for the reasons you identify, but I need to buy so few things (I don’t have a car, I don’t have prescriptions, I don’t yet use hearing aids, I have other sources for most food) that I just don’t know if it’s worth it. There are a few things I’ve decided to get from the manufacturer–specifically, flour from King Arthur–and, as noted in my comment, I have sources for so much already. I’ll see if I can talk my friend into getting his gas there.
Quiltingfool
@H.E.Wolf: I can’t thank you enough for mentioning Electoral Vote.com! I read it every day. The writing is superb, historical references on-point and who doesn’t love occasional pictures of the staff dachshunds!
Seriously, everyone here should mosey on over to that site if you haven’t done so already. Well worth your time.
suzanne
@Matt McIrvin: So I talk about politics with my family, who are all non-MAGA, and I have a similar experience. I think it’s good, I remember telling SuzMom back in the 90s that I could see no logical reason that gay people shouldn’t get married and her mind was blown at the time. Five years later, that position became more mainstream, and she happily hopped on that train. Similar experience with the Iraq invasion.
But I don’t want to talk to MAGA people. I try to sniff out and avoid. I used to work with a guy who would say “I’d rather rub shit in my hair”, and, well….. yeah.
lou
@Betty:
One to 2 weeks, depending on how complicated the prescription. They told me 10 days for my last one, but it came in a week.
Betty Cracker
@suzanne: I didn’t hear about Pope Leo’s inability to get through to a MAGA knucklehead family member — hilarious and not surprising! Do you remember what the issue was?
Your list of reasons why liberals avoid discussing politics with MAGA family members at #172 tracks with my experience too.
My dad and I have a pretty good relationship now, but we butted heads over politics for many years and were estranged for a while because of it. We avoid discussing it now, and if a political topic bubbles up, we usually share an uncomfortable laugh and quickly agree not to go there.
Nothing I could say will ever change his mind. This applies to probably more than half of my family. I hate their politics, and I’ve made that clear, but they’re still my family.
I envy people (including my husband) who don’t have to deal with that in their families because it really sucks!
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
Take the train.
Not anywhere near as fast as a 777, but…….
I used to travel 8-9 months a year when I worked in professional sports. Maybe 2 weekends out of that when I didn’t have to travel. The airline staff recognized me because I flew so much. At one of the largest US airports. At some airports the rental car people knew me on sight. At one the clerk told me I was in the top 5% of renters.
A lot of people fly real regularly. The point of my comment is that I fully agree with you about confidence and it’s building/destroying. Especially when it’s something people have to do and which they do not always enjoy. I’ve known a few that hated flying, Had nice 4-5 hr flights sitting next to them on occasion. Good times.
Ruckus
@New Deal democrat:
For all of RFK’s education (I’m assuming he got a fair bit of it) he really does not seem to learn or actually understand anything. Is it pompous arrogance? Is it an IQ level of an idiot fly? Is it head up ass syndrome? Is it all three?
They Call Me Noni
@suzanne: I retired seven years ago but even when I was working politics rarely came up. I was still working in 2016 and made a few passing comments about the idiot in office but that was about it. You’re right, political talk at work could be off putting.
George
@Ruckus:
It’s narcissistic personality disorder, probably comorbid with other such disorders.
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
@suzanne: it does happen, but it takes detox, and the converted have to have some willingness to listen. My folks were old-school Maine Republicans: fiscal conservative, social moderate, environment friendly. Still voted party line all the way through 2000. Mum’s wakeup came when I asked her: “You spend all this money donating to Nature Conservancy and WWF and so on, bur you keep voting GOP. Don’t you see that you are donating to causes so they can go fight the people you’re electing?” Believe it or not it worked.
It’s rare, and I would hardly recommend it as a strategy, but persuading the Reichwing can be successful. And the problem is that for every one of us that succeeds there are a thousand that fail, so it’s hard to justify the effort.
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
@narya: It’s worth the carpool attempt just to browse and see what is there. My typical haul: 2 milk jugs, one cheese (rotating Jarlsberg/parm/romano/brie) I Italian loaf, 1 pkg of nibbles (mozzarella sticks/spanikopita/crab cakes), 1 pkg staple (chicken/fish), 1 household item (dishwasher pellets / mouthwash / detergent / paper goods / something-else) 2 pkgs fresh berries (raspberries and blackberries each $4/12 oz). Usually in and out about $100 if I am careful. And that is maybe twice a month.
suzanne
@Ruckus: I fly a minimum of once a month, and I don’t like it. But it’s the job.
@Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq): It is fantastic if you are able to be convincing! Because it is really hard, and I think it requires a lot of persistence and patience and strategy. There just seems to be this belief that I see expressed that white liberals don’t talk about politics with their family and friends. That is, IME, incredibly far from true, and that matters….. because we should care about what actually works and do those things!
Miss Bianca
@Soprano2: And what I feared happening for me personally is coming to pass: a hardening of my heart against people like this. I find myself thinking, “You’re suffering because you’re a shit-stupid idiot who can’t figure out the difference between legal and illegal immigration and who besides is willing to listen to lies from people who hate *both* legal and illegal immigration?
“Good. The problem is not that you’re currently suffering. The problem is that you’re not suffering *enough.”
Miss Bianca
@suzanne:
I thought the Pope was supposed to be infallible…?/
priscianus jr
@Princess: I think what’s happening is that they are scaring young people away from government careers. I thought they had fired a lot of air traffic controllers but apparently they didn’t. The FAA terminated a lot of probationary employees on Feb. 14, but reinstated 132 of them on March 20 and gave them their back pay. This was in response to a MD court decision that the terminations were unlawful because no individual assessments were done. Among these probationary employees were some in positions “supporting air traffic control” which I take to mean potential future air traffic controllers, which obviously requires a lot of testing and training. So even though technically they didn’t fire any controllers, they probably scared the hell out of anyone considering going into that difficult field, despite the fact, or at at least claim, that they are now “implementing initiatives to speed up the hiring process and increase the pipeline of qualified candidates. The FAA has a supercharged hiring initiative, which includes streamlining the hiring process and offering incentives like increased starting pay for Academy trainees.”
priscianus jr
@Miss Bianca: Infallible in spiritual matters. I suppose telling the truth is a spiritual matter, but the problem is that even if he is infallible, his MAGA relatives are just the opposite.
Barry
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: “Harkening back to the news of the weird thread yesterday, why do these tech bro schemes for the dystopian city of the future seem to start with some government entity (US Navy, NPS) prepping and handing over the chunk of land?”
Because they all got rich from subsidies?
Because that is what libertarianism is?