Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

The revolution will be supervised.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

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Saturday Morning Open Thread: Speaking Up for Team Dem

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  2. 2.

    NotMax

    Weekend respite TV recommendation.

    Tremendously enjoyed the short season on MHz Choice of feature-length episodes of the German TV series Allmen, based on Martin Suter’s novels. Elegant, erudite Swiss rogue and his adept, cultured Guatemalan valet/chef/confidante/jack of many trades. Much fun. Great job breaking the fourth wall.

    As there’s only a quartet of episodes in the season (each 90 minutes, more or less), if not a subscriber one should be able to breeze through them during the free seven day trial period.

  5. 5.

    JPL

    @Spanky:  The discussions should be aired on CSPAN so that the American people can see for themselves the difference between the two sides.

  7. 7.

    lowtechcyclist

    The past two years have been, without a doubt, the best time in my adult life (1972-now) to be a Democrat.

    I won’t say I’ve never been more optimistic about America’s future than now, because in so many ways, we’re not out of the woods yet. I was more optimistic fourteen years ago because I thought for sure we’d start getting serious about global warming in the coming months, and of course the notion that American fascists would try to destroy our nation from within, and might even have a meaningful chance of success, hadn’t remotely crossed my mind.

    The legislation passed last year was a good start wrt global warming, but damn, we’re still going to pay a serious price for those lost thirteen years, because major climate change is already underway. I hope that when I leave this mortal coil, probably sometime around mid-century, it’ll look like we’ve turned the corner and have limited the damage. But I won’t say I’m optimistic yet.

    And it’s still going to be a close thing with the fascists. I’m cautiously optimistic there, but the emphasis is on ‘cautiously.’

  11. 11.

    Geminid

    @JPL: Live C-Span coverage would be nice. Instead there will be a battle of press appearances after the conference that will be the lead on network TV and radio news.

    Kevin McCarthy and his team are likely working hard now to craft his lying sound bites. That is not an easy task with such a weak position politically and policy-wise.

  12. 12.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Baud: I think that’s why younger voters are becoming more engaged politically. They see the future the GOP is constructing for them and they’re scared to death. Enlightened self-interest can be a good thing sometimes.

  15. 15.

    Geminid

    @lowtechcyclist: I see the carbon reduction components in legislation passed by the last Congress not so much a good start as accelerators for the clean energy transition that is already under way.

  16. 16.

    TerryTime

    @The Thin Black Duke: The analogy I use with my Gen Z kids is that the hateful old folks are ordering for the table but not staying for the meal. Vote, and bring your friends too, or you’ll be stuck eating what they order.

  17. 17.

    NotMax

    @Geminid

    Kevin McCarthy and his team are likely working hard now to craft his lying sound bites.

    Fox chyron: “McCarthy Miffed at Lack of Crudites”

    //

  18. 18.

    Lapassionara

    @lowtechcyclist: Those 13 years, indeed. Every once and a while someone posts reminders of what some US rivers were like before the Clean Water Act, and the progress made in the years since. We need more of those kind of reminders. See, good things can happen, if we the people take action.

  21. 21.

    Geminid

    @NotMax: Treasury Secretary Yellen will likely serve as a leading administration spokesman on this issue. She might even be the one tapped to deliver the administration’s side after the meeting. A way of putting McCarthy in his place, as an actor inferior to a President who has more on his plate than McCarthy’s crude efforts to hamstring the economy.

    I’m interested in seeing whether Janet Yellen has “got game” as a public advocate. From what I’ve seen,  I think she does.

  23. 23.

    NotMax

    @Geminid

    May be misremembering but seem to have seen in passing she’s currently overseas meeting with African government officials.

  27. 27.

    JMG

    @Geminid: She was Fed chairperson. That means she’s an expert in ambiguous language. It also means she’s an expert in speaking to the financial community rather than the public. That’s fine. This is a fight the President should lead. It seems to me that Yellin’s public voice will be the voice of doom, that is, she’ll enumerate all the bad stuff Treasury would be forced to do to said public in the event of default. The idea would be to give Wall Street a good fright, since it has leverage with Republicans.

  28. 28.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Across the United States Republican politicians are seeking to bring in new laws that crack down on drag shows as part of a broader backlash against LGTBQ+ rights sweeping through rightwing parts of America.

    Legislators in at least eight states have introduced legislation aiming to restrict or censor the shows, according to a new report from a leading freedom of speech group. A total of 14 bills have been introduced across Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.

    Misery, up front and center.

  29. 29.

    Geminid

    @JMG: I do not pre-judge Secretary Yellen in this area, and I would not sell her short.

    And what I’m saying is that she could be the leadoff batter. Joe Biden will still bat cleanup.

     

    @NotMax: Secretary Yellen will be back by the time this meeting takes place. She’ll certainly be a participant, whether or not she serves as lead spokesman on this matter.

  31. 31.

    Bupalos

    @Baud: I think the primary driver of youth demoralization is an increasingly entrenched, rent-seeking, geriatric power structure. Which is reflected almost everywhere in this society.

  32. 32.

    Geminid

    @JMG: Yellen was a Fed Chairman. Now she is Treasury Secretary for a Democratic administration. Her responsibilities are broader and I think she is aware of the political component of her job.

    Yellen strikes me as a very aware person who will want to fight for Joe Biden. I think she knows the stakes, not just for this particular battle but for the wider war againt Republican radicalism, as well as you or I.

    I have not watched Yellen’s performance very much thus far. I think I will be watching going forward, and I will try to watch with an open mind.

  33. 33.

    Baud

    @Bupalos:

    increasingly entrenched, rent-seeking, geriatric power structure. Which is reflected almost everywhere in this society.

     
    There are many ways to respond to that. Demoralization is the one the power structure wants most, so that’s what they push.

  35. 35.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @OzarkHillbilly: Many years ago I was best man for a long time buddy. After accepting this onerous duty, I asked if he wanted a bachelor party (I dislike the standard type and the only one I had thrown before was a float trip and a gravel bar bonfire with wives, sisters, and girlfriends invited) This time T just said, “Nah, I don’t need one.”

    “OK.” Less work for me. All I have to do now is show up and give a speech.

    2 weeks before the appointed date, T comes to me at a gathering. He’d had a few, and he was practically crying,

    “Tom? I changed my mind, I want a bachelor party after all. I know it’s late in the game but I really want one. I’ve never had one before (this was his 3rd time, the charm) and I just really want one. Please Tom, please? You don’t have to get any women or any of that. I just want a party. Puleeeeeeeeze???”

    I’m looking at him, tears running down his face, begging me… Can I possibly say no? No fuckin’ way.

    “OK.” I said thinking to myself, “but your gonna pay for this muthafucker.”

    Than I had an idea, a deliciously evil idea. No women? Right. Worked it out with my roommate to throw the party at his Crawford County property on the Huzzah River for the next Saturday/Sunday. Called all our caver friends to invite them, but there was a caveat: They had to come in drag.

    Then I went shopping. Got me a tight fitting black minidress, fishnet stockings, highheels, a black handbag and a blond wig to top it all off. (All but the wig and stockings I got from Goodwill) then I found this red lacy teddy for T.

    At the appointed hour they finally showed up. I was crossing the dirt drive at that very moment (I was smokin’ hot!) and I struck my sexiest pose. He gets out of the truck and says, “You are the ugliest thing I have ever seen!” I could have gotten my feelings hurt but instead I said, “Just wait until you see what you are wearing.”

    A night of drunken debauchery unlike any other ensued. There were only about 18 of us as most begged off either because it was such short notice or because… Well you know. I suspect for most it was the former. Cavers aren’t particularly shy or retiring. But some guys…

    One such guy did show up but his dress was very conservative and his discomfort was written all over his face. Another guy we all dubbed Princess Di, because of his pearls I think. One showed up naked stating, “I didn’t have a thing to wear!” And on and on. It was great. The most fun any of us had ever had.

    At one point somebody stated, “I just hope a Sheriff’s deputy doesn’t show up.” And we all had a good laugh at the imagined look on his face and the imagined conversation that would ensue.

    These days it wouldn’t be so funny.

    ETA, Oh yeah, lots of pictures were taken. Somehow or other they all disappeared. Except for one set. T’s wife told me after his death that she still has a set. I’m hoping to some day get a set myself.

  36. 36.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Sen Escamilla stated, “If we are going to take away the ability for parents to make decisions with their providers, then all children should be included and not targeted at a specific group of kids.” Republicans often speak about parental choice and the rights for parents to direct the care and education of their children. In cases like these anti-trans bills that ban care for trans youth, though, they suddenly forget about parental choice and instead decide that the government should stand between families and their doctors. Senator Escamilla’s proposed amendment was designed to highlight exactly that.

    Senator Michael Kennedy, the proponent and chief sponsor of the bill, said that he opposed banning breast implants for cisgender kids. He tried to come up with ad hoc justifications, such as the idea that breast implants for cis kids have been done for a long time and so this makes it acceptable. Nevermind that puberty blockers have also been used for decades – Senator Kennedy knows that banning cis kids from getting breast implants would upset the thriving plastic surgery industry in the state. One by one the senators cast their vote. The amendment failed 5-2 with all 5 Republicans voting against the amendment and both Democrats voting for it.

  38. 38.

    Geminid

    I see that former Florida state Senator Annette Taddeo is making a bid for the Florida state Democratic Chair. She might be a good one.

  39. 39.

    tobie

    @Geminid: Yellen may be my favorite member of Biden’s cabinet. She’s part granny, part bulldog, an accomplished economist who frequently moves mountains but doesn’t need to call attention to herself. Sometimes I wish she would. She lobbied for the global corporate minimum tax rate of 15% and got all 130 OECD countries to sign on

    This may have been one of the biggest achievements of the admin in its first two yaers.

  43. 43.

    sab

    @Baud: I tell my step-kids that they have been telling us “Social Security won’t be here for your old age” for my whole life, and here I am almost 70 and it’s still here which is why we are not sleeping on their sofa and instead can help with tuition for the grandkid.

    Social Security was new to my parents which is why they believed and I believed it wouldn’t be here by now. This isn’t a law of Nature though, it is a political choice.

  44. 44.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Elijah McClain: officers to enter pleas to charges in death of Black man put in chokehold

    McClain, a massage therapist, had not been accused of committing any crime and was not carrying any kind of weapon.

    According to the indictment, he was walking home from a grocery store in 2019 after buying iced tea wearing a ski mask, months before the coronavirus pandemic began and made face coverings common.

    The encounter quickly escalated, with McClain initially losing consciousness after a chokehold was applied by police. McClain, whom relatives say wore the mask because anemia made him cold, complained he couldn’t breathe as three officers held him handcuffed on the ground, and he vomited several times.

    He sobbed, pleading: “I’m just different. I’m just different, that’s all. That’s all I was doing. I’m so sorry. I have no gun. I don’t do that stuff. I don’t do any fighting. Why were you attacking me? I don’t do guns. I don’t even kill flies. I don’t eat meat … I am a vegetarian.”

    About time.

  45. 45.

    WaterGirl

    @TerryTime:

    The analogy I use with my Gen Z kids is that the hateful old folks are ordering for the table but not staying for the meal. Vote, and bring your friends too, or you’ll be stuck eating what they order.

    Wow, that’s really good.

  47. 47.

    Geminid

    @Baud: Annette Taddeo was born in Columbia 55 years ago and emigrated to Huntsville, Alabama when she was 17. After graduating from the University of North Alabama with a degree in Commercial Spanish, Taddeo moved to Miami and started a tranlation business.

    Ms. Taddeo was a well regarded Dade County Democratic Chairman in the first years of the last decade, so she has experience in this area.

  48. 48.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Elon Musk testified on Friday as part of a trial over a 2018 tweet in which he claimed to have “funding secured” to take Tesla private, a tweet that shareholders allege cost them millions in trading losses.

    The Tesla CEO appeared in a San Francisco federal courtroom and defended himself by saying that “just because I tweet something does not mean people believe it or will act accordingly”.
    …………..
    Musk, wearing a dark suit over a white button-down shirt, testified for less than 30 minutes before court adjourned until Monday. He spoke softly and in a sometimes bemused manner, a contrast to his occasional combative testimony in past trials.

    That’s because this time they’ve got him by the short hairs.

  49. 49.

    Scout211

    The storms are now over and the clean-up is underway, thanks to the disaster funds. But what about the drought? USA Today has an article up this morning with rain totals and some nice graphics from the state water resources.

    Central California, the Southern California coastlines and the Sierra Nevada regions are 200% ahead of their average precipitation to date, said David Rizzardo, hydrology section manager for the water resources department.

    “Not surprisingly, these are also the areas where we’ve seen the greatest impacts from flooding: levee breaks, mudslides, inundated highways and heavy snow accumulations from the series of atmospheric rivers that began in late December and persisted into mid-January,” Rizzardo said.

    When compared with historic water years, 2022-2023 is off to an impressive start in the same regions.

    The Tulare and San Joaquin basins are tracking their wettest years in history, with almost half of January remaining.

    “The precipitation accumulation in the San Joaquin and Tulare Lake Basin regions are around the same pace as the other two wettest historic years on record (1968-69 and 1982-83),” Rizzardo said.

     

    And a local article about farmers in the Central Valley who were given permission this month to flood their fields to help recharge the groundwater in the area.

    The drought is not over (they remind us), but it is showing improvement.

  50. 50.

    mrmoshpotato

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    The Tesla CEO appeared in a San Francisco federal courtroom and defended himself by saying that “just because I tweet something does not mean people believe it or will act accordingly”. 

    I see that this manchild doesn’t know what a CEO is.

    What?  My words as CEO can affect how people view the company?  Really?

  51. 51.

    Geminid

    @OzarkHillbilly: Maybe Musk switched his designer pharmaceuticals. Or did a couple cannabis gummies before he went in!

    More seriously, I think you are right, Musk knows he messed up and is looking at a hefty civil judgement. He is making an argument, but it’s a weak one.

  53. 53.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Scout211:And a local article about farmers in the Central Valley who were given permission this month to flood their fields to help recharge the groundwater in the area.

    That is good, really good. So much of that water ran off because the ground had been baked hard. This will help, I can’t say how much but every little bit helps.​

  55. 55.

    Geminid

    @OzarkHillbilly: If the water table is low that extra water should be absorbed nicely. Maybe when the ground is firm enough they’ll run disc harrows over those fields to decrease evaporation.

  59. 59.

    OzarkHillbilly

    ‘Assassinated in cold blood’: the man killed protesting Georgia’s ‘Cop City’

    Belkis Terán spoke with her son, Manuel, nearly every day by WhatsApp from her home in Panama City, Panama. She also had names and numbers for some of Manuel’s friends, in case she didn’t hear from the 26-year-old who was protesting “Cop City”, a planned gigantic training facility being built in a wooded area near Atlanta, Georgia.

    So by mid-week, when she hadn’t received a message from Atlanta since Monday, she began to worry. Thursday around noon, a friend of Manuel’s messaged her with condolences. “I’m so sorry,” they wrote. “For what?” she asked.

    What a horrible way to find out your child is dead.

    Go read the whole, it is very disturbing.

  60. 60.

    J R in WV

    @WaterGirl: ​
     

    @TerryTime:

    The analogy I use with my Gen Z kids is that the hateful old folks are ordering for the table but not staying for the meal. Vote, and bring your friends too, or you’ll be stuck eating what they order.

    Wow, that’s really good.

    \

    the hateful old folks are ordering for the table but not staying for the meal. Vote, and bring your friends too, or you’ll be stuck eating what they order the disgusting rare liver they ordered.

    Fixed that for you guys.

  62. 62.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud: ​
     

    @lowtechcyclist:

    I’m counting on dying before anything really bad happens.

    I’ve got a son who could live to see the beginning of the 22nd century. (Which is still a really weird thought for someone like me who was reading SF in the early 1960s.) So I can’t help but see it from the perspective of how it will affect his future.

  65. 65.

    lowtechcyclist

    @tobie: ​
     

    She lobbied for the global corporate minimum tax rate of 15% and got all 130 OECD countries to sign on

    This may have been one of the biggest achievements of the admin in its first two yaers.

    A seriously impressive accomplishment. Major props to Yellen for that.

  66. 66.

    Ohio Mom

    @sab: I have one very specific memory of complaining as a twenty-something that there would be no Social Security for me in my old age to my aunt and her partner, and them sighing tiredly and saying, “There will be Social Security for you.”

    I have no doubt I made that claim more than once but that is the instance I remember forty years (and close to two years of retirement benefits collected) later.

    Recently I found myself sighing tiredly and telling my friend’s twenty-something son, “There will be Social Security for you.” And thus the circle of life continues on.

  70. 70.

    Brit in Chicago

    @Ohio Mom: Old people vote in disproportionately large numbers. Even if current recipients were exempted—even if people currently over 50 were exempted—just the headline “bill plans to eliminate Social Security” would get large numbers of people voting against the party proposing it.  —Yes, Social Security will be here. The formula for calculating annual raises might be modified, but if it’s less favourable to recipiends the change will have to be one that is so technical that the modifiers can claim that it will not be less favourable.

  72. 72.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Via commentor MarkedMan over at OTB comes this jewel:

    Travis Akers@travisakers
    Tom Jones and Jennifer Hudson gave us one of the greatest moments in music television when they impromptu performed “It’s A Man’s World” on UK’s The Voice. Wow. Just, wow.

    Wow indeed. Tom Jones, 82 and still going strong. Jennifer Hudson? Words defy.

  78. 78.

    frosty

    @Ohio Mom: I made a similar statement in the early 80s to Senator Paul Sarbanes when I saw him at the track at Johns Hopkins one morning. Something like “Social Security won’t be there when I’m old enough to get it, we might as well just cut it now.” He assured me that he would fight to protect it and it would still be there.

    And here I am getting pretty good payments once a month.

  81. 81.

    Betty Cracker

    @Geminid: I’ve questioned whether Taddeo is the right woman for the job, partly because one of FDP’s problems (IMO) is that the leadership is too South FL-centric. But maybe her time as a student in Alabama gave her some insights into what FL Dems are up against north of Tampa (and in the interior of the entire state). She is known as a bridge-builder across county party orgs; I remember her showing up to speak at a Hillsborough County (Tampa, etc.) DEC meeting several years back. Oh well. There’s nowhere to go but up, right?

  84. 84.

    Ohio Mom

    @Brit in Chicago: Well, Reagen did cut Social Security, but perhaps the changes were as you say, “so technical that the modifiers can claim that it will not be less favourable.”

    The changes made back in the early 1980s included raising the retirement age; taxing benefits; and eliminating the last four years of the orphan’s benefit (used to be that if your parent died, you would receive benefits through high school graduation, or, if you went to college, through college graduation, now everyone gets it off after high school graduation).

    There may have been other changes, I haven’t made a study of this, the examples I’ve picked up by happenstance.

    Also, Reagen raised the tax rate by which Social Security is funded, and come to think of it, another President changed how Social Security COLAs are calculated, to make them smaller (a quick google does not answer my question about which one).

    So Social Security is not immune to cuts but I think overall, it is here to stay because yes, oldsters vote.

  87. 87.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @OzarkHillbilly: Having been around people who work in the justice system and law enforcement my entire adult life, and having no information about this case other than what’s in the news, I have to say that I come down firmly on the side of the environmentalists here.

    It is the exception when a cop tells the truth, full stop.

  89. 89.

    Lapassionara

    @Ohio Mom: I remember when Reagan raised the Social Security tax rate. Mr LP was self-employed, so we felt that hike. I think the “cap” should be raised, maybe to around $175,000. Not eliminated, but raised. I enjoy reminding people that Reagan raised taxes.

  90. 90.

    Geminid

    @Betty Cracker: Florida politics are a mystery to me, but I think I know enough to say that this will not be a quick turnaround. Whoever gets that job will have to be in it for the long haul.

    I guess I’m just glad someone wants it!

  92. 92.

    citizen dave

    @Baud: now THAT is some shade!

    Spent the last few minutes watching two tunes of Jennifer Hudson and Tom Jones on the British voice.  Why does our American version have to suck so hard?

  98. 98.

    satby

    @Ohio Mom: The financial traders at the CBOT and Merch I tech supported used to say that to me all the time (they were all younger). I told them that was weird they didn’t think the Treasury notes THEY SOLD to investors weren’t secure investments. I had to explain to them that’s what SS monies are held in, backed by the full faith and credit of the government.

    Another reason the Republicans want to privatize SS.

  99. 99.

    Josie

    @Ohio Mom: ​
     He also kept those with other forms of retirement money (Teacher Retirement) from receiving social security payments from our deceased spouse’s account. My husband had paid into social security for more than 40 years, but I got nothing through his account.

  101. 101.

    Geminid

    @satby: Johnny Mathis is 87 and he’s still singing. At least, he and a band played the Paramount Theater in Charlottesville last fall.

  107. 107.

    StringOnAStick

    @Ohio Mom: My late mother worked for the Social Security Administration for over 30 years, and when I said to get as a teen that it wouldn’t be there for me, she said the people would never stand for that.  She also voted hard right R her entire life and thanks to RW media, never knew that cutting SS and Medicare is a big part of the GOP agenda.  My 91 year old dad, who uses tons of Medicare money every week, still votes hard R, though he now admits that tRump is “a creep” but I guarantee that if that idiot gets the nomination in2024, my dad will vote for him because he hates D’s more.

  108. 108.

    Citizen Alan

    @Baud:   Same here.  If I make it to 72,  I am liquidating everything, traveling Europe until the money starts to run out, and then going to Amsterdam to take myself out in some sort of massive Is drug fueled orgy.  I am Absolutely terrified at the thought of making it to my eighties.

  110. 110.

    lowtechcyclist

    @satby: ​
     

    The financial traders at the CBOT and Merch I tech supported used to say that to me all the time (they were all younger). I told them that was weird they didn’t think the Treasury notes THEY SOLD to investors weren’t secure investments. I had to explain to them that’s what SS monies are held in, backed by the full faith and credit of the government.

    Back in the 1990s, in the pre-Internet days when they could get away with crap like that, the propaganda was that the Social Security trust fund had nothing in it but a drawer full of IOUs.

    I suppose technically they weren’t lying, because ‘an IOU’ has a pretty loose definition. But to most people, an IOU is a scrap of paper with something like “IOU $5” written on it, just an acknowledgment of the debt and no more. To characterize U.S. Treasury instruments as ‘IOUs’ was deliberately and blatantly misleading, and of course the object was to make people believe that Social Security was doomed.

    That particular line of attack seemed to go away once the Internet enabled people to look up things like that.

  111. 111.

    tobie

    Dealing with eldercare from afar is exhausting. I’ve spent hours this morning trying to get the nursing home to prescribe something to my father who is bouncing from one panic attack to the next, not sleeping, having stress-induced asthma attacks, etc. Was told by the nurse at the facility that Xanax is hard to get because it’s a narcotic. I’m about to explode from my own stress and my frustration with the nursing staff. On what planet is xanax a narcotic????

  113. 113.

    Geminid

    @StringOnAStick:

    …because he hates Dems more.

    Republicans are on the wrong side of public opinion on so many issues that “negative partisanship” is their best tool now. Sometimes I think it’s their only one left.

  114. 114.

    James E Powell

    I usually agree with President Joe and while I admire his confidence, for me, it would be very hard to top the feeling I had on November 4, 2008.

  115. 115.

    CaseyL

    I really like that Colbert interview with Yellen.  It’s amazing to me how many high-ranking government officials come onto his program.  I’m not amazed at his skill in interviewing them: the man is a master at his art.

    Meanwhile, I’m feeling pretty good about myself.

    Had two errands to run, and have already gotten ’em done (it’s not yet 10:00 AM here on the Left Coast).

    I am also gradually, in baby steps, getting back into fused glass.  I’m going to do a memorial of Jeannie, my cat who died last November (fuck cancer).  She was a blue-grey, like a Russian Blue, and I’m currently doing some test runs on color mixing to try and get that shade.

    OTOH, I did get up at 5:30 today, for no reason, and will probably want/need a nap by mid afternoon.  Ah, well.

  117. 117.

    Citizen Alan

    @OzarkHillbilly:  I have said for many years now that the best thing that ever happened to Jennifer Hudson was going out in the 4th round of American idol.   Her somewhat unjust elimination early in the contest made her Is a household name while freeing her from the owner’s contracts that the winners are subjected to.

  120. 120.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Back in the 1990s, in the pre-Internet days when they could get away with crap like that, the propaganda was that the Social Security trust fund had nothing in it but a drawer full of IOUs.

    That lasted well into the Bush years. Al Franken on his radio show and in debates he did used to off to pay fifty cents on the dollar to anyone who wanted to unload their worthless government IOUs

    @Amir Khalid:

    A very idle question: what is the opposite of embiggen?

    besmallify

  121. 121.

    frosty

    @Citizen Alan: ​ I am Absolutely terrified at the thought of making it to my eighties.

    If you’re healthy when you make it to 72 I expect you’ll be changing your mind.

  125. 125.

    Citizen Alan

    @zhena gogolia:  I will turn 80 in 2049, by which point, too much of this planet will be uninhabitable for an 80 year old guy to make it on his own.  It’s gonna be like thunder do.e for most of this country in the 2050s.

  128. 128.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Citizen Alan: I alternate between optimism (those science-y type people will figure something out) and wondering why exactly I quit smoking (28 years ago last November, but every once in a great while, I’m tempted…)

  129. 129.

    CaseyL

    @frosty:

    I am in my mid-60s.  My Aunt is in her late 70s, my Mom her late 80s, and I have two close friends in their late 70s and early 80s, respectively.  A small sample set, but indicative:  my Aunt has been fiercely athletic her whole life; my Mom and Friend A have definitely not been active since their youth; Friend B has been “normal active,” i.e.,  walker/hiker.

    All of them have seen their quality of life drastically decline in the past year.  All have chronic health issues that developed in the last 5-ish years which are now really affecting their daily lives.  All are now in the stage of life where any medical emergency could be the last one.

    So my impression is that one’s 60s are the last really good decade –  for travel, for adventuring, for being daring. Life starts to really kick your ass once you’re in your 70s. (And, as my Aunt illustrates, being incredibly active is no fountain of youth!)

  133. 133.

    WaterGirl

    @tobie: A friend of mine is dealing with panic attacks right now, and her doctor prescribed something called Adderax.

    It’s apparently in the antihistamine family.  Only a guess on my part, but I am guessing that it must interrupt the feedback loop that fuels the panic when the anxiety starts.

    Can you suggest that as an option?

  134. 134.

    satby

    @lowtechcyclist: they all had internet, this was 2009. What they didn’t have was the intelligence / curiosity to look it up. I dared them to when they expressed skepticism, they did, and I never heard another word out of them about it. People believe what their “trusted sources” tell them about it. They heard worthless IOUs, they believed it until I proved them wrong. Only one skirmish in a very long war; but it’s winnable.

  139. 139.

    frosty

    @CaseyL: ​Everyone is different. We’re traveling in our 70s. Age has slowed us down; no backcountry hiking, in fact it’s more like 1-3 mile walks on smooth trails now. I expect it may slow down in the next 10 years though. You’re right about the 60s, they were pretty carefree. I find myself now wondering what’s going to take me out. And when. But until then, I’ll keep moving.​

  140. 140.

    Kelly

    Mom is 86. Lives next door. Was a backpacker, cross country skier, rode along on countless wilderness rafting trips. After we all finished high school Dad and her moved to Alaska where they lived in a trailer on road construction sites. They’d start at the end of a logging road and build more road. Dad ran dozers and graders. She sometimes ran a roller, sometimes was construction camp cook.

    Her legs started getting week two years ago. Mysterious pain in her legs and feet. Most recently slow to heal sores on her legs and feet. This summer she asked me to mow her yard for the first time since I was a teen. My brother finally persuaded her to see podiatrist. I took her in last week. A young fellow who was a big help to Mrs. Kelly a few years ago. Diagnosed poor circulation. He set up appointments with a wound care clinic and a vascular specialist which I will drive her to next week.
    My brother is also retired and lives 5 miles away so I have lots of help. He said “Buckle up it’s gonna be a ride”.

  141. 141.

    WaterGirl

    @tobie:  This same friend was given xanax when she was going through another patch of anxiety attacks about 7 years ago.  It got so bad then that she even stayed with me for awhile.

    For what it’s worth, she regrets taking the xanax because, as I understand it from her, it can have long-term side effects, even though you stop taking it.

    It’s so frustrating to feel helpless from a distance.  I hope you can give them the nudge they need to figure out a solution.  There has to be a solution, and shrugging and saying “well, we can’t give him xanax is most definitely not a solution.

    Be persistent.

  142. 142.

    Another Scott

    @Citizen Alan: I saw a couple of kids on their bikes when we were on our walk, and thought to myself, “Those kids will probably see 2100…”

    A guy I went to school with didn’t see 20.  Some good friends died in their 50s.  I have no issues to speak of, and I’m in my early 60s.  Other than being stiffer than I’d like, and carrying more pounds than I’d like, I don’t feel like what I imagined a 60+ year old would feel like when I was decades younger.

    Don’t count yourself out, and don’t think that 80 is horrible.  You don’t, and can’t, know until you’re there.

    I saw in the news that the oldest woman recently died at 118…  ;-)

    Hang in there.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  143. 143.

    kalakal

    @Another Scott: I’m with you on this and also in early 60s. Every birthday I cheer my self up by checking which evil figure from history ( or just despicable ) I’ve outlived. So far I’ve outlasted the major Nazis, I’ve got about 10 years to go to outlive Stalin, after that Thatcher.

    I intend to hang on

  149. 149.

    tobie

    @WaterGirl: I think Xanax is okay for a few days but long-term it can lead to dependency and is sometimes associated with mood swings. I have a referral for a geriatric psychiatrist in Tampa, and I’m hoping she can give me the names of a few people closer to where my folks live. Given my father’s many ailments, it’s impossible for me to figure out what would work for him, what’s contraindicated, etc.

    That is very sweet of you to make a place for your friend in your home. Knowing your not alone makes such a difference when you’re suffering from anxiety.

  150. 150.

    eclare

    @tobie:   I took a low dose, slow release Xanax for a few years to get me through a rough patch.  When I finally figured out my job was the cause of my anxiety, I quit the job and Xanax, with no withdrawal symptoms.

    Good luck with your dad, it’s hard.

  151. 151.

    Steeplejack

    @Miss Bianca:

    She had a relatively small body of work and doesn’t get much attention these days. That’s all I’m saying. I’m not denying her talent.

  154. 154.

    El Muneco

    @Steeplejack: I saw an interview with Jones where he pointed out that when the Beatles were gaining popularity in Liverpool (with excursions to Hamburg), he and his mates were performing the exact same kind of stuff in Cardiff. They got signed earlier, had more promotional muscle behind them, and were probably more talented – but if circumstances had been switched, Jones would have a much different reputation now.

  155. 155.

    Steeplejack

    @El Muneco:

    In retrospect, maybe Jones had an Elvis/​Col. Parker kind of situation? Blinkered, tyrannical management. It’s hard to reconcile the (extremely) middle-of-the-road stuff he released back then with the range he has subsequently been shown to have.

  158. 158.

    Ruckus

    @Ohio Mom:

    Those of us who paid into SS for a lot of decades would really, really, really like to see SS continue, if for no other reason (and there are a lot of millions of reasons why it should) than we absolutely need SS to survive. And if many of us have no reasonable ability to survive because rethuglicans manage to cut SS (at this point they can not – but we had SFB as president so who the hell knows what will happen next) I imagine that it will not go or end well for rethuglicans.

    At all.

    In any way, shape or form.

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