Partying like the gilded age the night before you condemn 40 million people to hunger is.. a choice.
— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) October 31, 2025 at 10:39 PM
===
one wonders whether there is a single person in the administration who has, for even a moment, considered the optics of appealing these specific rulings
— GHOULLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) October 31, 2025 at 2:50 PM
dem AGs: you're legally required to spend these funds to keep people from starving
white house: no we're not
judges: yes you are
white house: no we're not, let them starve— GHOULLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) October 31, 2025 at 2:52 PM
===
BREAKING: Judges order the federal government to use contingency funds for SNAP food aid payments during the shutdown.
— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) October 31, 2025 at 2:26 PM
===
#SNAP makes Page One in Austin, Cincinnati, Houston, Milwaukee
— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) October 31, 2025 at 7:49 AM
Page One
@washingtonpost.com— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) October 31, 2025 at 7:43 AM
===
This clip should be everywhere Democrats can get it. This is how we need to learn to speak to the press.
— Chatham Harrison dba TRUMP DELENDUS EST (@chathamharrison.bsky.social) October 31, 2025 at 10:27 AM
===
Remember – Sharing is caring!
What’s draining tax dollars isn’t SNAP, it’s corporate welfare and billionaire tax breaks.
FACT: Even people working two jobs still need SNAP.
Where’s the outrage about that?!— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline.com) October 29, 2025 at 9:38 PM
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There is more than enough funding for SNAP. The Trump administration is using food insecurity as a political weapon.
— StrictlyChristo 🇺🇦🌻🚫👑 (@strictlychristo.bsky.social) October 31, 2025 at 12:36 AM
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Speaker Johnson admits Trump & Republicans are forcing millions of kids to go hungry for political leverage. He says funding SNAP would "reduce the pressure" on Democrats. Disgusting.
— Senator Patty Murray (@murray.senate.gov) October 30, 2025 at 3:27 PM
===
I maintain that every one of these people should be forced to live on SNAP for a month.
— Kingfisher & Wombat (@tkingfisher.com) October 30, 2025 at 5:21 PM
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The official Massachusetts state webpage for SNAP benefits now has an alert that says, “President Trump is currently choosing to not issue November SNAP benefits that help you and many families put food on the table.”
#SNAP
www.huffpost.com/entry/snap-w…— RoseMarie (@rosesbloom24.bsky.social) October 31, 2025 at 6:04 PM
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tapper goes full "how much does a banana cost michael? ten dollars?" on dems suing to keep snap going for anotehr month
— ?????? [spooky pun] ???????? (@danmynrd.bsky.social) October 29, 2025 at 11:22 AM
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fyi, the SNAP eliminations are a Project 2025 mandate.
SNAP recipients didn’t lose benefits during prior such shutdowns.
Pay attention.— Jay (@johnathanperk.bsky.social) October 29, 2025 at 9:22 PM
===
The expiration of SNAP benefits isn't going to move a lot of Republicans because they think SNAP shouldn't exist
— Cooper Lund (@cooperlund.online) October 31, 2025 at 11:10 AM
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Let’s all remember the $40 billion for Argentina as Trump shuts down SNAP for Americans.
— Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (@whitehouse.senate.gov) October 30, 2025 at 9:02 PM
===
Damn that’s crazy
— rimidar (@rimidar.bsky.social) October 31, 2025 at 4:19 PM
War for Ukraine Day 1,345: Outgoing!
Baud
God, I hate that I agree with Trump in that last post.
sab
We knew two days ago that one of our friends was on SNAP. Now that cutoff is impending, many more are admitting that they are also on SNAP and afraid of cutoff.
1 in 8 Americans get SNAP benefits, so if you are not really rich and cut off from normal society, then you know someone whose benefits are about to cut off.
satby
@Baud: Yeah, I think we all would agree. But, then he’s lying there too. Because to their faces, he’d disavow a lot of what’s now happening.
sab
I do not remember him campaigning on cutting off SNAP benefits. I figured he would, but I do not remember him saying so.
satby
@sab: Some geriatric health care medical practices help their Medicare Advantage patients get SNAP benefits if they’re eligible, as part of their services. Lots more seniors than anyone probably expects are on it.
Edit: the medical practices might help regular Medicare people who are eligible sign up too, I don’t know because the one I went to for a few months felt so intrusive and Big Brotherish I found a new doctor ASAP.
Baud
Tony Jay
1) When evil people are put in a position to do evil things, good people can’t always stop them. The lesson being, don’t put evil people in a position to do evil things.
2) Evil people doing evil things isn’t surprising, it’s clarifying. The lesson being, pay attention and act accordingly.
3) Looking at that SNAP fact chart I’m reminded of the arguments taking place here between the Changed Labour acolytes who listen to lobby groups and champion welfare cuts and corporate handouts, and the people listening to expert opinion who would rather put more money in people’s pockets and stop funnelling billions into foreign bank accounts.
Anyone still prepared to pretend that Starmer’s crew are anything other than Tories in red ties can go flush their heads down a used toilet. The clarity is blinding
satby
@Baud: A very damning indictment of both men, when you think about it.
Baud
@Tony Jay:
That’s why God invented the “lesser of two evils” propaganda line.
Tony Jay
@Baud:
That line has been deployed over here very strongly by newnewlabourinc. They very clearly derive lower-torso pleasure from the thought of the people they hate being forced to vote for them anyway by the sheer vileness of the alternative.
But if the Caerphilly by-election is anything to judge by, voters are plumping for option three – screw the various evils and tactically vote for the non-evil party best positioned to benefit from a massive swing.
Democracy, eh? It can still surprise you.
Chetan Murthy
@Tony Jay: And Macron used it quite effectively in France too. All while shanking the social safety net and cutting taxes. But at least he’s not a Socialist: he’s a centrist at best, whereas Starmer’s supposed to be Labour, sigh.
satby
Mark Elias‘ newsletter today (italics mine):
Geminid
@Tony Jay: I’m curious: what is your appraisal of the UK’s Green Party?
Princess
The MAL crowd is a very much “did not do the reading in high school” crowd so I’m sure they have no idea how the Great Gatsby ends, or how the 1920s ended for that matter.
Gloria DryGarden
Senator Saud Anwar, apparently from Connecticut, is posting his SNAP challenge: eating on $6.20/ day. His posts starting appearing on my Facebook feed today. Several, meager vegetarian breakfasts and lunches, several days of posts. I sure appreciate anyone who tries to eat on just a SNAP budget, in solidarity, and for awareness.
Tony Jay
@Chetan Murthy:
Once they’d installed their figurehead in the Leader’s chair by running him as ‘a Socialist with a nice suit’, the faction now running Labour into the ground based their entire ‘Change’ policy on rejecting even soft-Left solutions in favour of performative ‘centrism’, which viewed through the UK’s Overton Window looks a lot like hard right economic orthodoxy of the later Thatcherite school. That’s not my opinion, that’s the naked truth of what they said ‘Changed Labour’ was all about.
So no one should have been surprised when they turned out to be this bad. It’s just the logical extension of what they said and did in Opposition. The fact that Polly Toynbee has an epic sad and even Rafael Behr is aghast at how far Right they’ve marched isn’t proof that they hid it well, it just shows how blinkered ‘centre-left’ pundits chose to be about the Blue Labour coup they enthusiastically supported when ‘Get Corbyn’ was their number one priority.
Gloria DryGarden
That $4200/ year, is around $300/ month. Lots of people should try eating on just that, buying groceries on only that amount.
RevRick
Neguse, Morrow, and Stansbury are articulate spokespeople for the Democratic position on the government shutdown. But I suspect that you could take a fairly random selection of Democratic Representatives and candidates who would be able to articulate our position, because Democratic voters value those abilities.
Republicans, on other hand, are full of dim bulbs whose one qualification, as far as GOP voters are concerned, is the ability to express outrage over all sorts of imaginary grievances.
RevRick
@Gloria DryGarden: $6.20 doesn’t even buy a pound of ground beef.
eclare
@Princess:
I had not read the book since high school, so I had to Google the ending, but I remembered it did not end well.
How the 1920’s ended? I don’t need to Google that.
Tony Jay
@Geminid:
They’ve always been ‘worthy, but limited’. Confined to a few trendy enclaves and a handful of local council seats by the twin understandings that ‘a vote for them was a wasted vote’ and the old ethos that all of the bigger parties at least gave lip service to environmental concerns.
What’s happened to them now is that –
1) In Polanski they have a vocal and charismatic leader who understands that a LOT of people who wouldn’t necessarily call themselves ‘Lefty’ or ‘Environmentalists’ nevertheless want to see someone out there saying that, yea, the country is in a bad way, but it’s in a bad way because of Brexit, corporate greed, political cowardice and the media normalisation of Far Right racism. He’s good at it, it’s true, and no one else with a political party is really saying it.
2) They’ve pulled back a bit from the ‘tree hugging’ stuff to frame their appeal around social justice and economic reform. Stepping into the wide open space Hard Labour have left behind and talking about basic centre-left policies in an unapologetic way. That’s powerful stuff these days.
3) Since Starmer openly and undeniably told ‘The Left’ to leave His Labour Party, millions of people have done just that, and rather than grumble about having no voice they’re actively looking for political vehicles that speak for them. The Greens are in the right place at the right time to benefit hugely from that.
I kind of think they’ll enjoy a big surge in votes, but I’m not convinced they can maintain the push to be a national party, with all that entails, especially if the ‘Your Party’ effort comes to something. If YP doesn’t get off the ground or falters, I can see its membership and potential voter pool going hard towards the Greens, but if it does get off the ground, I can see the Greens losing some of their new voters to them and some kind of merger becoming a political necessity before the 2029 election.
If I had to bet, I’d say that a Red-Green coalition of centre-left voters would be the best thing to have in place by 2029 to benefit from the collapse of Changed Labour.
RevRick
@Gloria DryGarden: The higher rates of obesity amongst the poor is directly related to the meager incomes they receive. Of necessity, they need to consume calorie-laden foods with high fat/sugar content and with long shelf lives. Add in the stress of being poor dumping cortisol into their systems and that heightens the need for quick fix foods.
RevRick
@Princess: @eclare: The AI bubble may lead to a quick refresher course.
Deputinize America
I mentioned last night that the shelved beef at my Kroger is now priced by the ounce as opposed to by the pound.
J.
The clip of Rep. Joe Neguse is awesome. That is exactly how Democrats should be responding to the press. And shame on the mainstream and not-so-mainstream media for coddling/sucking up to Trumpers/Republicans and continually trying to blame Democrats for problems Republicans created.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
rikyrah
So, they truly have decided to starve people?
Those vile and disgusting ghouls😠😠😠
rikyrah
@Deputinize America:
Da PHUQ😠😠
rikyrah
@Tony Jay:
On point👏🏾👏🏾
Chris T.
@Baud: And of course there’s a part of Vance in Erika Kirk. A very small part, and not for long at any given time, but…
Glory b
Neguese is an accomplished trial attorney and former state agency director, his skill set isn’t an easy one for each member to replicate.
We shoot ourselves in the foot by demanding that every Dem achieve at that level. There are Dems who are workhorses, who manage to get lots of significant legislation passed, who hold onto seats in purple districts but get dismissed because fiery rhetoric isn’t their thing.
Anyway, arent people supposed to be mad at the idea that legislators are just a bunch of lawyers, that there are no “real people” in these roles?
Besides, Neguese accepts donations from AIPAC, so he’s a demon who should be primaried out of office, along with Jeffries, Schumer, etc, or so I’ve heard.
rikyrah
@sab:
Part of the OPEN BOOK TEST THAT WAS PROJECT 2025😒😒
satby
@Glory b: ❤️👏
He did well. So do lots of others even when a camera isn’t recording then. Our side needs to quit fixating on the perfect Green Lanturn character who will just say all the right things so that the scales fall from the eyes of the masses.
NotMax
Weekend watch.
The Dumb Design of Modern Cars.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Trump to supporters: you knew I was a snake when you took me in
Yeah, can’t argue with that
mappy!
hueyplong
Isn’t the most accurate narrative one that notes Trump disavowed Project 2025, even claimed not to know what it was, and actually “campaigned” on preferring the uneducated?
Princess
@Chris T.: She shuts her eyes and dreams about being First Lady.
Suzanne
@RevRick:
They also usually don’t have regular schedules that allow for meal prep, or the ability to buy in bulk for discounts.
And now, with GLP-1s out there, they don’t have the money for those, either.
Gloria DryGarden
@RevRick: he’s eating lentil soup, a few eggs, or a banana w 1 tablespoon of peanut butter. Or just a small amount of beans and rice. It’s pretty meager looking.
and yes, all the carbs, don’t satisfy hunger, once one is in the cortisol cycle or other imbalances. So one eats more carbs, and craves them. And that keeps weight on, keeps blood sugar imbalanced. It’s difficult. I’m dealing with these things myself.
its nice that you get it.
and then there are the issues of shame for being poorly resourced, for not being able to go out with one’s better-off friends to all the movies and concerts, and the fat shaming from outside and from within. The extra work to find ways to not let money issues stop one. Hope that’s not TMI. It’s different when it’s theoretical, vs, when you know someone who’s living it.
Jeffro
@Baud: Erika, you’re shameless…you’ll make a perfect MAGA First Lady though, that’s for sure!
(barf)
Jeffro
hey in “ain’t that cool!” news, I ran into none other than Jamelle Bouie last night while he was taking his kids trick or treating!
I managed to successfully keep a lid on the political talk and just wished him a happy Halloween =)
Jeffro
yup!
also, don’t put corrupt and malicious morons in a position where they can let equally corrupt and malicious people with a lot of lead time and a plan…almost a Project, one might say…run wild and hurt American citizens
Geminid
Barack Obama hits the campaign trail. From CNN:
Like Colorado Rep. Joe Neguse, Spanberger and Sherrill are two of the many talented members of the Democratic House Class of 2018.
Spanberger’s race isn’t even close, but Sherrill is in a real dogfight. Ciattarelli come up only 4 points short in his 2021 match with Governor Phil Murphy. Republicans cut the 16 percent Democratic margin in the 2020 presidential race to 6 percent last year, and they are highly motivated. Recent polling gives Sherrill a 4-5 point lead, but Quinnipiac’s latest poll showed a tied race.
Professor Bigfoot
@Jeffro: That is definitely cool.
Suzanne
@Jeffro: That’s crazy!
Halloween was C H I L L Y for us, lots of wind. We had tons of trick-or-treaters, and our kids had a great time….. but were also very ready to wrap it up and eat some pizza.
zhena gogolia
Tapper is so disgusting
zhena gogolia
@zhena gogolia: I usually hate autocomplete, but I love that when I typed “Tapper is so . . .” my phone immediately offered “disgusting.” 😂
Geminid
@Gloria DryGarden: My food budget is not so constrained, but I’ve really been enjoying pea soup. I bought two more pounds the other day for $1.69/lb. A pound is good for four to six meals. I add onions, carrots, and sometimes ham.
I also go through plenty of butter at $4.59 a pound at the Stanardsville Great Value. I put butter on toast and on oatmeal; also, in the warm milk I put on dry cereal. Personally, I think butter is healthy food that got a bad rap in the 1960s and 70s.
Anyway
@Glory b: meh. It’s two different worlds- Voters don’t seem to be rewarding Ds for all this painstaking awesome legislation and Rs are not penalized for running in “post-legislative “ mode. Ds are still playing by rules of the previous century. The game has changed and we are scrambling to keep up.
Kathleen
Eric recounts conversation with passenger on his flight who is blaming Republicans for shutdown and points to willingness to bail out Argentina and not hungry Americans to reinforce that Dem message is getting through to the public at large.
lowtechcyclist
@Geminid:
It seems to be the consensus now that butter is healthier than margarine, which is what people replaced butter with.
Tony Jay
@Jeffro:
This is the Way
Ohio Mom
I am in awe of Rep. Joe Neguse. He should have a higher profile.
RandomMonster
And I put on these provocative black leather pants because that’s what the sexiest couches are upholstered in.
lowtechcyclist
@Anyway:
Yeah well, if you’re going to actually help people rather than do legislation as PR gestures, being painstaking with legislation is something you’ve gotta do.
My thought is, we don’t need 220 Dem House members who are topnotch legislative technicians. We also don’t need 220 Dem House members who are topnotch spokespersons. We need some of each – but the party leadership needs to be constructed in such a way that the leaders in the spotlight, that are the people who the media automatically runs to for a sound bite, are the good spokespersons.
Eyeroller
@Princess: When I read that I thought, that is quite a choice for the theme of a party hosted by the POTUS on the eve of cutting off food assistance.
“They were careless pepole, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures, then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”
Geminid
@lowtechcyclist: I think of butter as a flat out healthy food, good for skin, bones and connective tissue, maybe neurons too.
I’m also trying to incorporate more olive oil in my diet but that *is* expensive, partly on account of several years of drought in the Mediterranean region.
I noticed that the olive oil I purchased recently was from Turkiye. They weren’t hit by the drought so badly as were Spain and Italy. I read that Italian companies import a lot of Turkish olive oil in bulk now, and market it as sourced in Italy.
Kathleen
@satby: Perfect! Yes!
Kathleen
@Glory b: May I marry your comment and sit next to you on the couch?
p.a.
Attacks on Patel & Vance’s wife > the Christofascist sorting has begun! I’ll buy myself something nice when they turn on the Cathobigots. Their purity caucus carries lit torches.
RevRick
@Gloria DryGarden: Pre-COVID I used to read stories to first and second-grade children attending the most poverty-stricken school in Allentown. About 90% of the children were on free or reduced price lunches. The classes were almost entirely minorities. And I noticed how hard it was to keep the kids attention. As I was reading, invariably one child would interrupt to ask an off-the-wall question. Or they struggled to comprehend the story I was telling.
I realized that these children lived in super high-stress environments. Homelessness was an ever-present threat. Classrooms would have up to a 125% turnover, meaning the students at the end of the year were not the same ones who began it! And one thing stress does to us all — and especially children— is make it hard to concentrate, hard to manage emotions, and hard to defer momentary pleasures. It’s all now.
The teachers and the principal at that school were all heroes in my book.
Kathleen
@zhena gogolia: I like to think of him as hiding in a Costco Remaindered Bin and popping his head out to beg customers to buy his book.
Chetan Murthy
@zhena gogolia: Ohhhhhhh you have a much better search history than mine! I get “… so controversial”. Sigh.
Geminid
@Kathleen: Evidently, Trump’s announcement that the US would by more Argentinian beef really riled up farm district Republicans. Politico had an artcle on this last week, and I’ve seen the complaints on social media. That and the soybean situation may help Democrats flip two Iowa House seats. This may also put Iowa’s Senate seat in play.
SFAW
@Baud:
“For example, JD’s hmmhmm bends to the left, just like Charlie’s”
ETA: Apologies for not giving a trigger warning.
Kathleen
@Kathleen: This comment was related to another comment about an interview with Eric Swalwell on podcast “Court of History” with Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz. Topic was where we are and who is getting blame. Original comment disappeared.
youtube.com/watch?v=bl4u66_3Xkw
Nukular Biskits
Good mornin’, y’all!
Tired and a little sore from pulling g’baby around in a wagon through the neighborhood last night for trick/treating. Made quite the haul! Now, how do I get rid of all this damned candy?
Scout211
Is anyone else dreading the time change tonight?
Why can’t we just choose one?
SFAW
What’s concerning about the poll cited by the WaPo is that it shows blame shifting toward the Dems. Hoping more Dems respond the way Neguse did. [Respond in a tactical sense, not just when answering BS questions.]
Kathleen
@Ohio Mom: He also got the most legislation passed in the freshman class of 2018 and was rated most effective representative in Democratic caucus. Dems have very deep bench including OH#1 Greg Landsman. Sherrod Brown commented at rally held in Cincy prior to election day 2024 that Greg Landsman is the real star in Congress other reps think they are.
Scout211
100% agree.
Kathleen
@lowtechcyclist: Jasmine Crockett also made that statement. She said everyone in the caucus had their skills and talents that were all different but all Dems contributed.
Matt McIrvin
@Princess: The eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg see all.
(I remember being stunned when I figured out where the industrially wrecked “Ashen Land” in the book was–it’s Flushing Meadows in Queens, later reworked into the 1939/1964 World’s Fair grounds. It’s about a mile from where Donald Trump was born.)
tobie
Neguse is superb: smart, quick on his feet, and persuasive. He impressed me in the first impeachment trial. I’m a sucker for eloquence and he has it in spades.
A deer (buck)has been lying on my lawn and I’m not sure what to do. He’s alive, will even stand up and then lie down again. He must be ill. Hmm…it’s Sat so the state govt is closed. I guess I should call an animal rescue organization for advice.
Kathleen
@Scout211: Media don’t want us to know there are Democrats who are talented and articulate who don’t bash fellow Democrats. They have a business model to promote.
narya
@Glory b: @satby: Exactly. The whole point of the House is to represent a specific group of people (we can argue a whole lot about districts, gerrymandering, increasing the size of the House, etc.)–and given that we are not homogeneous, representatives should represent their districts. Also, everyone has different skillsets! I’m currently working w/ someone who is a workhorse: they will NEVER step up to lead anything, ever, and sometimes that’s a challenge, but they also just get other things done. Diversity is a strength.
p.a.
I don’t know or care if this is real or ai; it’s fantastic.
instagram.com/reel/DQbvbCxDexJ/?igsh=MTRoeXpjODF5MGFpeA==
Kathleen
@Geminid: ERic Swalwell is quite upbeat about Dem’s chances on Tuesday and 2026. Excellent interview on The Court of History podcast which includes Swallwell’s encounter with fellow passenger who cited disgust with Argentina bailout:
youtube.com/watch?v=bl4u66_3Xkw
Chief Oshkosh
@Princess: They may very well know how the Great Gatsby and the Roaring 20s ended, but they think “I’ll become even richer once the fall comes” (as, indeed, many of the rich did). Others of them probably salivate at the potential for labor to become truly, profoundly cheap again (they want life to be upstairs living as presented in pre-WWI Downton Abbey).
Kathleen
@Scout211: I’m a certified geezer so I consider this the best night of the year but I’m extremely boring.
tobie
@lowtechcyclist: In principle I agree. We need lawmakers like Rosa DeLauro who craft fantastic legislation even if she isn’t the best person to make a case for it on TV. Ditto for Pelosi, great leader, not a great speechifyer. But I’m not sure we agree on who the best speakers are. Eloquence is a rare and extraordinary gift.
Honus
@Geminid: I get Lebanese olive oil from the Middle East markets in town. It’s about $40/gallon but a gallon lasts long enough to get over the price shock. And I agree that butter is a good food that got a bad rap, to be replaced by trans fats that were much worse. I read Beard on Bread and adopted his attitude on butter.
Scout211
Do you have a county animal control? Ours (California) is open on Saturdays. A rescue group sounds like a good plan, too.
Geo Wilcox
@Baud: Usha better get a good divorce lawyer on speed dial.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Scout211: I hate the time change. As you say, pick one. I don’t care which.
Chief Oshkosh
@Gloria DryGarden: I thought I read here yesterday that the “$4200/year” isn’t even correct — it’s much lower than that, though I’m not even sure what category that dollar mount refers to.
Can any of you jackals inform the lazy among us?
Nukular Biskits
Adding to the misery here in MS, Governor Tate “Canned Ham” (h/t to BettyC for that one) seeks to further enforce Republican cruelty by requesting a waiver from the Trump Admin to ban certain foods/drinks from SNAP:
MS Today: Gov. Tate Reeves seeks ban on sugary food and drinks paid for with SNAP benefits
Related (from the same article:
These people are fucking monsters.
Matt McIrvin
@Chief Oshkosh: During the period when people were fretting about the impending Biden recession, there were some talk from elites about how we needed a recession to whip some sense into the spoiled labor force who had been coddled by COVID-era accommodations. My wife found an op-ed by the CEO of a call-center company who was positively salivating about it. Lots of “nobody wants to work today” talk, etc.
Kathleen
@narya: I agree. Regarding diversity of constituents, the Beltway Propaganda Lefty PodBro culture who love to bash Dems for not “speaking up more and better” neglect to mention the number of Reps from purple districts/flipped Red seats who are mindful of those Republican/independent votes they need to be reelected when they communicate. But then the PodBro culture has business model they need to promote and protect.
Chief Oshkosh
@rikyrah: “Ghouls” is EXACTLY what I thought when this post came up, showing the photo of the MAL costume dinner.
Nukular Biskits
Normally, I don’t announce any charitable giving on my part as strikes me as being an attention-seeking gimmick.
Having said that, I do plan on starting a monthly contribution to a local organization called “Feeding the Gulf Coast”.
Quite frankly, I don’t know what else to do other than give and, when I can, volunteer, as NONE of my elected officials will even acknowledge this is truly a problem and who the source of the problem is.
tobie
@Scout211: Thanks. After 90 minutes or so the buck got up and moved. I just saw him walk away with another deer. Weird. Maybe Halloween freaked him out and messed up his internal clock. I’m glad he shuffled off somewhere. I was scared the county would say he was incurably ill and needed to be put down on the spot.
Matt McIrvin
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I do think the fall changeover is the easier one–you get to get up an hour later by your internal body clock. The down side is that in my area, sunset starts coming alarmingly early in the afternoon. But if you have to get up early, as many students and working people do, Standard Time is better.
The Senate passed a bill to go to year-round DST years ago but nothing else ever happened with it. Trump made some noises about going to year-round Standard Time shortly before entering office, but of course he doesn’t legally have the power to make this happen. I think the problem is just that while most people want to get rid of the changeover, they’re split down the middle about which time to change to. Interestingly, the split is NOT partisan, which is rare for a contentious issue today.
Nukular Biskits
Mapped: How Much Americans Spend on Groceries in Each State
Omnes Omnibus
Gov. Evers has preemptively declared a state of emergency in Wisconsin because of SNAP.
ExPatExDem
I saw that the brain trauma Senator from Pennsylvania was out apologizing for Dems not rolling over and giving Republicans everything they want.
I fully suspect he’ll be a speaker at the 2028 R convention if we’re still having elections by then.
prostratedragon
@Eyeroller: Thank you. Another entry in the annals of grasping nothing seen or read.
Another Scott
@Nukular Biskits: It’s expensive to be poor (see Mississippi).
☹️
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
TONYG
@Baud: Erika Kirk. High priced sex worker.
Nukular Biskits
@Another Scott:
Yeah, but just think of how we’re really owning the libs down here in MS …
“We’re poor, ignorant … AND DAMNED PROUD TO KEEP IT THAT WAY!”
prostratedragon
ArtButMakeItSports has entries from last night’s baseball game, described here by the parallel game incident:
Ground rule double!
Caught off base!
The second, appropriately for Jays fans, parallels a work by Edvard Munch.
TONYG
For the majority of the MAGA base, the optics of getting rid of SNAP are just fine. They’ve been told by Fox News/OAN/Newsmax/etc. that SNAP recipients are mostly “illegals”, and that even the citizens getting SNAP are fat, lazy welfare queens. They’re happy to see Those People go hungry.
Sheila in nc
@Scout211: “Why can’t we just choose one?”
Because we would all choose something different.
p.a.
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I saw a poll yesterday with abt 70% approval for just that: pick one, any one, and stick with it. I’ll laugh if it happens in a Dem admin with red states going “NO. We like the current system!”🙄😂
And who knows what Indiana & Arizona will do…
As a New Englander, I won’t mind Atlantic Time as a step in our eventual merge with Canada.
Professor Bigfoot
@Nukular Biskits: Through the sewer system, one bite at a time. ;^)
tobie
I haven’t listened to the interview yet but Barney Frank was apparently on Talking Feds making the case for why the Medicare eligibility age should be lowered to 60. A big part of the argument is that with the demise of unions workers no longer have great benefits. These workers would have more economic security and more money to spend on things like housing and food if they didn’t have to devote a huge chunk of their income to health insurance, or, even worse, servicing medical debt. I miss Barney Frank.
Nukular Biskits
@TONYG:
Not just SNAP but ANY fucking food assistance. Remember last year when Republican governors were refusing to sign their states up for summer school nutrition programs as to own the libs?
Here’s my asshole governor’s “justification” (emphasis mine in bold):
MS Today: Mississippi opts out of federal summer food program, Reeves cites opposition to ‘welfare state’ expansion
Mind you that Tate Reeves has had no problems at all showering for-profit/privately-owned corporations with millions in taxpayer-funded incentives just this year alone, touting “Mississippi Momentum!”.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I’m looking at the pic of the Lincoln bathroom and seeing a ton of marble. From experience, I know that marble is slippery as ice when it’s wet, which, in a bathroom, it will be.
Nukular Biskits
@Professor Bigfoot:
LOL!
No can do. I’m already too fat, thanks to Ms. Biskits trying out new recipes.
p.a.
@tobie: There was a Dem plan to lower the age to 55 not long ago.
tobie
@p.a.: i guess 55-60 is when medical expenses really begin to add up.
suzanne
I got a small bonus yesterday, which means that of course something expensive was due to happen. RIGHT ON TIME: Spawn the Elder’s cat got out and came back with a skin issue….. as well as a feral cat friend who apparently won’t leave the windowsill. LMAO. One emergency vet visit later.
Just put some food in the food lockers in our neighborhood, and donated the rest to the food bank. I am enraged.
p.a.
@tobie: There seem to be aging pulses at about 45yrs, 65yrs, 75yrs.
Nukular Biskits
@suzanne:
I hate to sound obtuse but “food lockers in our neighborhood”?
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
@RandomMonster: Enticing the Brohyillbilly better than Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams.
Matt McIrvin
@tobie: the Medicare eligibility age should be lowered to 0, but baby steps.
Professor Bigfoot
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Mrs. B loves clocks.
There is no wall in our home that does not have at least one clock.
Time change is always fun; because I use it as “battery swap” time. I just looked at my AA inventory and… <sigh> off to Costco today.
Fun. Especially the big one in the living room over the couch that’s almost a meter in diameter and 15cm deep—
Fortunately enough 9Vs on hand to sap out all the smoke detectors too.
Nukular Biskits
@Professor Bigfoot:
She stole that from a clock tower.
Professor Bigfoot
They’re neo-Confederates, and there is literally no cruelty they will not stoop to.
None.
Raoul Paste
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Yep. Marble is cold, slippery and not sound absorbing.
Just more bad judgment on the part of you know who.
lowtechcyclist
@Scout211:
What, dread an extra hour of sleep? No comprendo!
My only complaint, back before I retired, was that ‘fall back’ should happen on Sunday night, so that we’d get that extra hour before getting ready for work on Monday morning.
geg6
@Omnes Omnibus:
That’s exactly what Shapiro has done. He’s doing the best he can in a state that currently has no budget passed because of the assholes in the GOP who control the state senate. School districts, even wealthier ones, are struggling because of it.
Nukular Biskits
@Raoul Paste:
You’re assuming that Trump is not a connoisseur of fart jokes.
tobie
@tobie: WaterGirl asked the other day how folks are coping with this moment. Well, thinking about legislation to be written does help me. It’s a respite from the outrage at the horrors this admin is committing and the cover folks like Jake Tapper give them.
Another Scott
@p.a.: +1
MedicareFAQ.com (from November 2023):
Lots of things are possible.
Lots of things make sense.
Making them reality depends on voting the monsters out and figuring out how to get buy-in from enough of those who benefit from the current system.
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
@Nukular Biskits: That needs a table with staples called out.
I know moving from FL to VA my grocery bill dropped. Most precipitous falloff was in produce. No more year-round climate-controlled warehousing to cover in the cost of lettuce.
geg6
@Nukular Biskits:
We have them here too. Usually a church or civic organization or even individuals have some sort of storage set outside in a semi-public area that is stocked with non-perishables for people to dip into if needed. You are encouraged to help keep it stocked if you can afford it. I’ve put canned goods in the one near my home.
Suzanne
@Nukular Biskits:
My neighborhood is not posh, and we have a number of churches and a teen outreach center that have food lockers outside so that anyone can stock them and then people can come and get free non-perishables as needed. We had some extra items, so we took a bag of food to our neighbors next door and then put the reminder in the food lockers.
Hildebrand
Just dropped in to say that Jake Tapper should be punted into the sun.
Nukular Biskits
@Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq):
What’s maddening about that for MS is we’re a largely agricultural state.
But, then, most of the agriculture is focused on soybeans, cotton, lumber, … not stuff you can really chow down on.
rikyrah
@Nukular Biskits:
The man looks like he should be the Manager at the local Piggly Wiggly..not the Governor of a state.😒
Nukular Biskits
@Hildebrand:
We should sell tickets for that. Whoever wins gets the honor.
Cliosfanboy
If we asked the republicans to stop lying for one day, just 24 hours, it’d be the most peaceful, quiet day in human history.
Nukular Biskits
@Suzanne: @geg6:
So, kinda like little free libraries, except for food?
rikyrah
@tobie:
Part of the proposal of the ACA was to lower the Medicare age to 55.
Know who stopped it?
Joe Phucking Lieberman😡😡😡
Cliosfanboy
The manager that everyone hates, that the teenage female employees won’t be alone with in the stockroom, and who wears his clip-on tie far too short so it only reaches halfway across his belly.
tobie
A propos Dems speaking out forcefully against Trump, this excerpt from a speech by Elissa Slotkin at the Brookings Institute yesterday is excellent.
bsky.app/profile/joshtpm.bsky.social
Cliosfanboy
@geg6: The previous president at my university set those up for students (!) many of whom needed the assistance so as not to go hungry.
tobie
@rikyrah: Infuriating!
bluefoot
I hope the Dems also keep harping on the fact that Republicans control all branches of the federal government right now and could get rid of the filibuster and stop the shutdown at any time.
This is all so disgusting. I’m further disgusted by the fact that the billionaires and their companies get tax breaks and don’t pay their rank and file workers enough….which is why those workers use SNAP. That’s a matter of policy – both company policy and government policy that companies can decide not to pay a living wage.
The government is basically robbing the American people at least three times over this: 1) Giving tax breaks to billionaires that we all pay for. 2) Withholding money that has already been earmarked for SNAP that again, we have all paid for. 3) Allowing companies to freeload off the government by not paying their workers enough, “expecting” government to make up the difference so people can survive.
Chief Oshkosh
@tobie: Oh yeah.
That’s also when endogenous damage responses really slow down.
Suzanne
@Nukular Biskits: Yes, essentially. It’s great. Especially valuable for those who can’t access the food bank. A couple of the area churches also do Meals on Wheels in our neighborhood.
One of the businesses on our main commercial street also set up a card table outside and was giving away nonperishables this morning. As valued commenter brendancalling noted about Philly, it seems like the urban areas have enough institutions that are able to respond to this crisis.
Glory b
@satby: Exactly!
Hildebrand
@Nukular Biskits: I’d definitely find more than loose change to buy tickets to get the first kick. I may not get him to the sun, but it would be incredibly satisfying to get full extension with as much force as I can muster.
Nukular Biskits
@rikyrah: @Cliosfanboy:
Took me a few minutes to find it but this pretty much nails it – check out the alt-text for the photo LOL!
Bluesky: Pearl River Flow
Cliosfanboy
@Suzanne: Didn’t Meals on Wheels lose their federal grant money??
Glory b
@Nukular Biskits: Ive seen a couple little free libraries repurposed that way, one shelf with books, one with food.
Omnes Omnibus
@lowtechcyclist: As one of my fraternity brothers used to call it, The Greatest Party Night of the Year!
Nukular Biskits
@Suzanne:
Interesting! Thanks!
oldgold
Today it seems the deal Trump announced with South Korea just days ago, if it ever existed, is unraveling.
When is the media going to learn, as foreign government have, that the art of a Trump deal is the immediate headline, not any substantive and lasting agreement?
Like dew, his deals are gone by noon, but there is a new glistening one every morning to whet the medias appetite.
Eyeroller
@Hildebrand: I am convinced that I read somewhere, maybe here, that Jake admitted to “hating Democrats.” Maybe it’s a false memory. But one of the responses to the BlueSky of that video said that Tapper sure seems happy at the new right-wing CNN so he doesn’t have to pretend to be fair to Democrats anymore.
suzanne
@Cliosfanboy: That’s my understanding, but they’re doing it with private donations, to the best of my knowledge. Our neighborhood social media has been very active about raising donations for them.
p.a.
Restoring/maintaining SNAP is step 1 of course. A social restructuring *sigh* that allows low income people the time and access to food to shop and cook healthy (and not talking super-healthy farmer’s market prices and food snob meals: anything cooked at home is likely to be better than the fast food available in food deserts) is the end-game.
Interestingly in Hispanic neighborhoods in my area there are bodegas and cafeterias selling prepared meals that can be picked up on the way home from work for not much $, lots of stews and maybe too much fried food, but still a step up from chain fast food cash-and-diet-wise. Prepped meal pickup has been a trend in upscale neighborhoods for a while. We’ve reached the stage where soup kitchens should be en vogue, not just for the unemployed, but for the 2 1/2 jobs to try to make ends meet population.
schrodingers_cat
@Matt McIrvin: I hate time changes. But of the two. I like this better for the reasons you stated. Don’t like the long dark evenings though that begin at 3pm.
bluefoot
@Eyeroller: Tapper is a disingenuous, preening jackass.
I don’t know what it will take to get the country back on track and people in some sort of alignment with reality, but Christ, people like Tapper just love driving the car into the ditch like some drunk frat bro.
MagdaInBlack
@Dorothy A. Winsor: It only lacks a stained glass window to look like the interior of a personal mausoleum.
Perhaps he’ll do an “Elvis” in it. God is, after all, a practical joker, when it suits.
Librettist
Well praise to the nerds for Network Time Protocol. One of the few useful things to come out of IoT is the auto-magic time updates. No more devices flashing “12:00”.
geg6
@Cliosfanboy:
Mine has them too. In addition, a career closet with gently used professional clothing for students to have appropriate clothes for presentations, internships and job interviews. When I retired, I donated the vast majority of my work clothes to it.
Librettist
@oldgold:
The corporate media so desperately want this rotten enterprise to not fail… Just like King Ronnie in Reykjavik…
Uh, no.
Professor Bigfoot
@Hildebrand: I agree with the sentiment; I just point out that it takes a lot less delta-V to boot his ass out into the Oort Cloud and the outer darkness. ;^D
p.a.
@bluefoot: It is what it is. Tapper et al are a good source for figuring out Republican talking points and good practice for responding to those same gotchas in debates.
WTFGhost
@Geminid: Yes, pulses (lentils, peas, beans) are the best source of vegetable protein. Eggs are another good protein source, and, to my surprise, there are filtered milks which have a lot of protein in them.
To my surprise, sometimes I can find fish cheaper than meat (but I have to take whatever cheap fish is offered). Having an efficient protein source helps curb hunger, and, the carbs in beans aren’t as hard hitting as those in grains.
Glory b
@Kathleen: Of course!
I can sew and cook too!
I do come with 2 young adult offspring & a football added (I kid!) husband,but we’re a pretty pleasant group.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Tony Jay:
Thanks for that perspective.
I actually know a Green Party activist/candidate in Bristol so get a decent update on how things are going. While she’s definitely more of a classic “tree hugger” Green, she’s been blunt about how social and economic justice tie into their traditional environmental approach.
And she regularly provides how they blast Labour about pretty much everything you summarize here.
WTFGhost
@RandomMonster: So Kirk was a couchfucker too? Did Vance learn it from Kirk? In a sense, it would be irresponsible not to speculate!
@SFAW: Some of the foulest blackest souls try to keep the most prudish mouths.
@TONYG: Well, would you work cheap, when your lovers call you a full cushioned dickie davenport?
(I’m sorry, I totally didn’t hear that while bugging her sex suite.)
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@tobie: Honestly I don’t think the main issue is the messaging- the democrats have plenty of people with plenty of skill handling the press. The problem isn’t the messaging it’s that not enough people hear it. It gets buried by the army of online right wing trolls that coordinate to game social media algorithms to amplify whatever right wingers want to amplify. So yeah people who are highly informed hear what democrats are saying, like once. Even a normie might hear it but then they get a flood of social media right wing slop that drives it out of their heads.
It’s not the message it’s the message isn’t repeated constantly where people will hear it and is instead buried in an instant by an avalanche of right wing distractions. My normie cousin thought Harris focused a lot on trans issues in the last campaign because that’s what the right wing messaging was saying and it completely drowned out her actual messages. He still voted for Harris but really never got a strong sense of what she wanted to do it was mostly a I know Trump is awful vote so anyone but him.
We need countermeasures for that problem but a decade later there still doesn’t seem to be a plan much less actual countermeasures in place. Instead we have consultants telling us to stop talking about trans issues when we’re not actually talking about those issues it’s all right wing messaging saying we are. So we’re already more or less taking their advice but it won’t work because the GOP can drum up a perception out of whole cloth anyway.
Tony Jay
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Theres a LOT to blast. You’ve read my occasional updates, they’re not that long – just – because I love the sound of my own voice.
I’m tempted by the Greens. I know people who’ve joined up because Polanski is saying the right things. If Your Party doesn’t pan out, that’s where I’ll be putting my vote. And you can bet your bottom bitcoin that I won’t be alone.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
We had a “little free food library” at the historic Episcopal church down the street in our formerly redlined neighborhood for years. One of the most popular things to put in there wasn’t actually food but plastic containers that Hill Shire Farm lunch meat comes in. Put a dozen of those in there and they’d be gone before most of the food.
Alas, it’s now gone because the church’s membership is about non-existent coming out of the plague times (and the massive demographic changes in the area) and when it fell into disrepair, they didn’t have anybody to help replace it. Our registered neighborhood org has talked about stepping in but my fellow board members don’t seem interested in helping that way, instead constantly talk about how we can donate to places outside the neighborhood. Go figure.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Tony Jay:
If I were there and could vote, they’d now have my vote.
Unlike the Green
Partygrifters here, they actually act like and appear to be run like, a legit political party.Geminid
Christopher Newport University’s Wason Center just released its final poll of the election season. The sample was 803 likely voters.
Results show Abigail Spanberger ahead of Winsome Sears 50-43% with 6% Undecided; Democratic Lt. Governor candidate Ghazala Hashmi leading John Reid 47-45%; and Democratic Attorney General nominee Jay Jones trailing incumbent Jason Miyares 45-46%.
The vote on a generic House of Delegates ballot showed Democrats up by 8 points.
Spanberger led among women 57-37%; among college educated 58-35%; among Black voters 84-6%; and among Independents 48-42%.
72% of likely voters identified as White, and 19% identified as Black. 9% chose Other.
Virginia has no party registration, but the CNU poll showed that 34% of the likely voters identified as Democrats, 30% identified as Republicans and 34% identified as Independents.
Likely voters were also asked to self-identify by ideology and were given five choices. Results: Very Liberal, 6%; Liberal, 16%; Moderate, 34%; Conservative, 24%; and Very Conservative,10%.
By region, Northern Virginia accounted for 30% of likely voters; Richmond/Central Virginia 21%; Hampton Roads area 22%; Southside, Southwest and West, 27%. I assume the last included the Shenandoah Valley as “West.”
Another Scott
@Tony Jay: Thanks.
Made me look.
I understand the party conference is November 29-30 in Liverpool. Some sites say it will be at ACC Liverpool, but it’s not listed on the schedule.
Horse’s mouth doesn’t list a location.
The clock is ticking, I hope they get the logistics worked out with plenty of time for people who want to attend. Work in the trenches is thankless but can make or break things like this…
Good luck!
Best wishes,
Scott.
Jackie
@TONYG:
I can’t help but wonder how many FAUX viewers are SNAP recipients themselves – but justify their reasons.
Jackie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Too bad it’s a guest bathroom instead of the master bedroom’s bathroom.
Kayla Rudbek
@Geminid: there’s a lot of fraud with respect to olive oil (I remember seeing articles in Chemical and Engineering News about it, and then it also pulls in designation of origin laws as well). I think that organized crime is actually making money off of fake olive oil now…
Kayla Rudbek
@p.a.: I am seriously rooting for Pope Leo’s breakup of Opus Dei and I think that there’s going to be an official schism in the US between Opus Dei and the rest of the Catholic Church
kalakal
@Tony Jay: I’m in complete agreement with you. I think your prediction is highly likely to pan out. The big question is does YP actually get it’s act together. A friend of mine was a Green Counciller in Kirklees, she’s more on the social justice side. In my years in the UK I knew a lot of people who would have voted Green but felt it would be a wasted vote due to First Past the Post
Eyeroller
@kalakal: I know that YP is “Your Party” but my main exposure to British politics was Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister, and all I can think of when I see those initials is the smarmy permanent secretary Frank: “But that’s YP”. Bernard “What does that mean?” Frank “Your Problem.”
NotMax
@Kayla Rudbek
The upshot of which will be Vance declaring himself the head of the Church of America?
//
dnfree
@Scout211: The reason we can’t “just choose one” is that people can’t agree on which is preferable. Depends on where you are located north to south and also within your time zone east to west whether standard or daylight savings time is better. The basic problem is simply that there isn’t enough daylight for four months of the year, or more.
Another Scott
Made me look…
ScienceDirect.com (from May 2019):
(Emphasis added.)
DST is trying to kill us all??
Best wishes,
Scott.
Tony Jay
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
@Another Scott:
@kalakal:
Your Party has got off to a rocky start, but that’s to be expected, it’s an entirely new political party getting MacGyvered together in the full spotlight of a hostile and feral media. No one really knows what they’re doing yet because it’s all new. They haven’t even got a name yet (I’m thinking The Centre-Left Party) because everything – EVERYTHING – is going to be directly voted on at Conference after being workshopped at the Assemblies.
Personally, I think it’s going to take a while to get in its feet and start winning seats. In the meantime, if I think the Green is the better bet to beat Tory/Reform and Hard Labour, they’ve got my vote.
satby
@Nukular Biskits: Actually, though I’m confident Tate is a monster, banning sugary drinks but allowing hot prepared foods like rotisserie chicken is better for people on SNAP. You can make a few meals out of the chicken, sugary drinks are just slow acting poison to your system.
satby
@Sheila in nc: back during the Nixon years, they did move to only one (don’t remember which) and everyone hated it. I don’t mind the time changes and am looking forward to tomorrow’s. I like that it will be one hour less between when I get up and dawn (instead of almost 4). And I love the late summer sunlight of DST. But my biorythms are very daylight based, so I adapt easily.
brianc91764
@Gloria DryGarden: $350, to be exact. But notice the sleight of hand: it’s $4,200/year/HOUSEHOLD, but then he says any AMERICAN receiving that amount. Unless the majority of households receiving those benefits have only one person, the average household has at least two, and probably more. That works out to, as that congressman correctly notes, about $6/day/person.
Kayla Rudbek
@NotMax: yeah, he can join up with the rest of the costume players like SSPX etc who want to dress up like it’s the 1950s and go back to the Tridentine Mass in Latin, etc. Theologically, they’re just another bunch of heretics who don’t want to admit that they’re Protestants…and I say this as a lapsed Catholic who hasn’t been to Mass since my last Notre Dame reunion and who is perfectly on board with ordaining married women or men as priests, but still likes incense, statues, stained glass etc. Blame it on my Austrian ancestors who invented the Baroque style and my autistic/potentially ADHD brain that likes to have interesting stuff to look at inside a church.
Bill Arnold
@RevRick:
As a rule of thumb, the grains and beans (soy) used to feed livestock are the cheapest foods for humans. One needs a way to cook, but an electric pot will do. Potatoes can be cheap too.
Matt McIrvin
@satby: That was year-round DST, and, yes, it was unpopular. As much as I hate the early winter darkness in Massachusetts, I suspect year-round Standard Time would piss off fewer people.
The rationale back then was to save energy. But the whole idea of DST saving energy is predicated on the idea that a significant part of our energy budget is for artificial light, and today, it’s not. The lights we use today are far more efficient and air conditioning is now a far greater consumer of electricity. That changes all the calculations and my impression is that across the whole country, DST is pretty much a wash for energy consumption.
Timill
@Kayla Rudbek: Sounds like a High Church Episcopalian to me..
[Personally, I identify as a High Church atheist, but that’s just me…]