People are poking fun at Mayor Pete for complaining about the Des Moines Register/Selzer poll – apparently one of his supporters was called and the polltaker left Pete’s name off of the survey. The Register ended up pulling the poll.
Though it is almost comically on brand for Pete to ask to talk to the manager, I’m fine with it. CNN was planning an hour long show (!) to unveil the poll, which has been billed as the “gold standard” for Iowa. Nothing but good can come anytime a ridiculous horserace ritual like that one gets torpedoed, as far as I’m concerned.
Asking poll questions is about as bad a job as there is — as the old joke goes, the bad pay makes up for the terrible hours. I’ve been polled a number of times and I often have to (politely) ask them to repeat questions as they rush through them, mispronounce common names, and generally have trouble reading the questions. I’m sure any of you who have been polled are not shocked that “Buttigieg” was left off of the long list of candidates once or more.
In other media news, I don’t think anyone posted about the Politico story that the DNC was scheming to re-instate superdelegates and do other things to ensure that Bernie wasn’t elected. As Josh Marshall pointed out on Twitter, 6 of the 447 DNC members were sources for that story. Fuck all of them, individually and separately, but it was only 6. This was simple shit stirring on their part, facilitated by Politico. I’ll outsource a full critique of that idiocy to Steve M.
I regularly drive by a restaurant that advertises “all you can eat sushi”. I do like sushi, but I will never eat there, for the obvious reason that, with sushi, cheap and good don’t belong in the same sentence. I don’t read Politico for similar reasons, perhaps minus the possibility of diarrhea. What Politico will accept as the basis of a story is of the same quality as the tuna in an all you can eat sushi diner – that is, anything that will amp up drama and get them clicks. If a story from Politico pops up in my Twitter feed, I make sure that other media outlets I trust have done some original reporting on it.
Cheryl Rofer
Blake Hounshell was such a thoughtful and wise blogger. He’s thrown it all away.
Sab
That’s an interesting take, that they left it off for unpronounceableness. I bet you are right.
ThresherK
Going on to my FB (for other things). Predicting my BerBro acquaintances will trumpet this Politico shit-stirring like it’s the Sermon on the Mount.
chris
Huh, Michael Moore is on MSNBC right now pushing the DNC nonsense. Christ, what an asshole.
donnah
At the end of Obama’s last term, I was all, “Please don’t let this end!” and now I’m all, “Please, will this never end?”
The constant flow of disinformation is exhausting.
rikyrah
@chris:
Uh huh
Uh huh ?
WaterGirl
@chris: They had Michael Moore on Jon Lovett’s podcast last night and I almost turned it off when they announced him. I didn’t. He did say all the right stuff about unity, at least. Lovett totally pushed that last night.
debbie
I’m glad they pulled the poll. Last thing this party needs is another controversy.
OzarkHillbilly
Wow. A person who doesn’t hang up on poll takers. I always thought they were like the Loch Ness monster or the Abominable Snowman.
WaterGirl
I haven’t read any of the specific reporting on this, but I doubt they would have pulled that poll if Buttigieg had been left off of one single call. I am wondering whether Buttigieg underperformed on that poll, which would give them reason for concern, or if perhaps not a single person that caller had called had selected Buttigieg.
Either way, it’s a total embarrassment for what is considered the gold standard of Iowa polls.
I’m kind of glad it didn’t come out. Polls have too much influence, particularly this one. I wonder if her standing has been tarnished for all time.
WaterGirl
@donnah: Toward the end of Obama’s last term, I cringed every time I heard someone say “I can’t wait for this election to be over”. My reason for cringing was that we didn’t know what the outcome was going to be in 2016.
It’s the same for me this time. What we have is god awful, but if the dumpster wins again, the damage will be far, far worse, and last far longer, possibly forever.
What a terrible time.
ThresherK
Media note: Fred (Supertrain) Silverman died this week.
He did a bunch of other, better shows.
pat
I read somewhere that someone had increased font size on the computer and some of the names were not visible. Who knows.
It is sunny and will get up to at least 47 degrees here. I’m off to look for bald eagles and trumpeter swans. And get away from the madness for a while.
MattF
‘Don’t answer polls’ is a consequence of my ‘don’t answer the (landline) phone’ policy. And, as a certified old fart, I resent people making money from information about my opinions. I’m fine with giving my opinions away, I’m not fine with my opinions being a part of someone’s business plan.
Probably Not an Asshole mistermix
@OzarkHillbilly: We are having a lot of upheaval in the NYS Senate and Assembly as the districts slowly turn blue, so I was polled a few times in the last couple of years. I wanted to hear what they were asking to try to guess who was polling and see what messages they were testing. It’s kind of interesting if you’re a political junkie.
Probably Not an Asshole mistermix
@chris: In Hell, the televisions play Michael Moore being interviewed by Bill Maher.
WaterGirl
@Probably Not an Asshole mistermix: The same interview, played over and over, or a new interview each time?
Probably Not an Asshole mistermix
@WaterGirl: Same one, over and over. The ads are all Jill Stein for President, btw.
ThresherK
@WaterGirl: How can one tell?
Baud
jk
Mayor Pete did absolutely nothing wrong here. On the other hand, the Iowa Caucuses are pure bullshit. There’s no intelligent reason whatsoever why this damn state should get the right to vote first in the nation every 4 years. It’s time to end this goddamn motherfucking Iowa / New Hampshire duopoly once and for all.
OzarkHillbilly
@Probably Not an Asshole mistermix: To the best of my knowledge I have never gotten a call from a poll taker. I have a habit of hanging up whenever I get clued in that the individual on the other end wants something from me, sometimes with a hearty “Fuck You.” if they interrupted my nap. That might have something to do with it.
I did try to take one once. Somebody called asking for my wife. She was right in the middle of something and she couldn’t break away from it so I asked if I could take a message. When they told me what they were doing I got curious and offered to take it for them.
“No sir, it has to be the lady of the house.”
Oh well. My streak continues.
chris
@Probably Not an Asshole mistermix: Gah! Hating the artist while liking some of the art is hard! But then I liked Louis Ferdinand Celine’s cat, Bebert.
OzarkHillbilly
@Probably Not an Asshole mistermix: So you’ve been there? I’m kinda curious about the place I will call home for all of eternity.
germy
Trump’s Ugly Media Obsessions: ‘Fat’ Meghan McCain, ‘Bitch’ Katy Tur & More
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-ugly-media-obsessions-are-fat-meghan-mccain-bitch-katy-tur-joe-and-mikas-love-nest
Immanentize
@WaterGirl: I know this is unfair to ambush you like this, but my really deep pool of site patience is wearing off with the drop downs covering the navigation tools followed now by the inevital full page ad when I use the back and forward buttons.
It seems like such a waste that so much time and effort was put into site design and functionality to ruin it in this way. How does it work at BJ international? Does John C. just decide that more money is needed and that the ad people should just do whatever it takes to increase the flow of sweet cash? Because I am sure some micro penny is earned on every time that drop-down appears or the full ad is displayed. Wouldn’t it just be more efficient and less aggravating to pass the damn hat?
Probably Not an Asshole mistermix
@OzarkHillbilly: Yes, imagine an outdoor Trump rally in Phoenix in the Summer. On the plus side, though, it’s a dry heat.
rikyrah
Immanentize
It also looks like the “you already said that” function has been turned off or disrupted by the pop-up.
Anya
In this case I am so glad Buttigieg asked for the manager because we were spared CNN’s bs horserace bonanza.
I don’t actually get why people are so focused on those polls. To me they show a very close raise with means there will not be a clear winner because the top three will probably end up with the same number of delegates.
MattF
@germy: But, seriously, how does Trump’s habitual name-calling get taken seriously? I suppose it’s a signature trait, adding ‘school-yard bully’ to asshole, liar, and career criminal. Just depressing.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: Everything is overcooked and the portions are small.
Immanentize
@MattF: He is branding his opponents. Some of them are memorable and therefore effective (negative) advertising. If I say Pocahontas. We know who and what that now refers to. It is just that others were not willing to take this step. Now many take it, look at McSally.
ETA, I sure hope Sinema is going to go all in for her opponent (who I hope will be Kelly)
debbie
@germy:
So very presidential. But proof that Donald Trump is the American Catastrophe he spoke of in his Inaugural speech.
jeffreyw
@MattF: I have a landline, but the ringer is off. I use a cell as my home phone. The landline we keep because of dropped calls on the cell, although coverage is way better now than it was before. Also, the LL has bad static.
Another Scott
@MattF: A few years ago I got a call from Gallup and decided to answer the questions. I was annoyed by the framing and choices in some of the social-issues types of questions, but Ok.
But they really pissed me off at the end. Asked for all kinds of “demographic” information: age, highest level of education, number of children, family income, etc., etc. I can see the value in some of that information, but it’s incredibly intrusive. And who knows what they do with it afterwards, how long they hold on to it, etc., etc. So I refused to answer the most intrusive ones. The questioner wasn’t happy, but I felt no obligation to give it away for free especially after giving them ~ 20 minutes of my time for free. Them’s the breaks.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
MattF
@Immanentize: Yes. And, ads have become more intrusive, generally. The theory, I guess, is that any reaction to an advertiser, including extreme annoyance, is better than just keeping them outside your field-of-view.
Probably Not an Asshole mistermix
@Immanentize: I’m sure WG will jump in here, but what browser and operating system are you using? I just tried and iPhone, iPad and Android phone and the site seemed to render OK to me. I had to move a bit to get out from under the ads but it worked.
Major Major Major Major
My understanding is that Pete’s campaign was notified by a supporter who was polled, and they passed along their (totally legitimate) concerns to the pollster. The pollster’s investigation found that the poll-taker in question had zoomed in on their computer screen, which meant that the last candidate on the (randomized) list was always excluded.
They decided to yank the poll. I don’t blame them. But Pete is taking the heat for their botched methodology, which is stupid.
A poll that’s going to be spun as this important needs to be either completely solid or released after the fact. Actually, as Cheryl tweeted last night, maybe there shouldn’t be any polls at all released the week before the caucuses.
MattF
@Probably Not an Asshole mistermix: I’m getting all of the same things, including the occasional full-page ad intruding during normal browsing point-and-click.
delk
My landline has been ringing nonstop. I don’t answer them. I remember my late mother in her early days of Alzheimer’s chatting happily with any and all callers. I’m sure she answered every poll she got.
Immanentize
@Probably Not an Asshole mistermix: I’ve already shared that with WG. I do not want to “move a bit” to get out from under ads every time I refresh. Or is that just a “suck it up, Bub” reply. Not very commenter/consumer minded, I would say.
Pass the damn hat.
Villago Delenda Est
Politico is a good example of what my nym is about.
Wipe them out. All of them.
Immanentize
@Major Major Major Major: I think the fact that the Register pulled the poll enhances their value. It was a very adroit move.
Cheryl Rofer
@Immanentize: I mostly work from my desktop with an adblocker. The last few days when I’ve checked Balloon Juice from my phone, the tangle of ads is horrifying. BIG ads at the top of the page, followed by a part of the post, then another BIG ad, followed by ads about every third comment. Not good.
Major Major Major Major
re: Politico, I skimmed through a story this morning about how Sanders was planning to trumpet the results of the first round of caucus voting, before the whole 15%-realignment song and dance, as a big victory. I got mad! That’s releasing results before the polls have closed, essentially. Big no-no.
Then down on like paragraph nine they said nobody had actually seen any evidence Sanders was planning on doing this. So now I’m mad at Politico, or rather, even more mad than I was just before.
What a dumb story.
WaterGirl
@ThresherK: Excellent point!
Until this past week, when I watched part of Bill Maher so I could see Nancy Pelosi, and listening to Moore last night because I wanted to hear Jon Lovett’s Iowa podcast, I hadn’t watched or listened to either Moore or Maher in year.
Should I be embarrassed to say that at one point in time, I liked both of those people?
Which raises the question: did they change, or did I change?
germy
Villago Delenda Est
@jeffreyw: That bad static on the LL may be squirrels eating at the local outside plant. It costs precious money to maintain those lines, money that should be going to greedhead telcom CEOs, not maintaining the level of service.
debbie
@Probably Not an Asshole mistermix:
It’s happening to me (covering the entire screen) on my iPad Mini. I sent WG a screenshot last night.
germy
OzarkHillbilly
@Probably Not an Asshole mistermix: So, Misery without the humidity? After all the years I’ve spent here, that will be a walk in the park.
Major Major Major Major
@Cheryl Rofer: I didn’t have an adblocker on my phone at all until BJ started running Taboola ads that filled up several screens all over the place. Every so often nowadays I catch a glimpse of the homepage without one and it seems unusable, like what happened to TPM.
retiredeng
@OzarkHillbilly: Well, cold calls in general, if I answer at all it’s with “Yeah??” and when I hear the little robot blip I hang up. If it’s (maybe) a real live voice I hang up mid sentence. I believe that poll results are from all the lonely folks that welcome calls from strangers. Not a good sample in that case.
Another Scott
@Immanentize: +1
Bad ads destroy a web site. It’s not up to the readers to adjust their habits and work around it. Readers will move on to another site instead. It’s a serious problem and JC and the code wranglers need to have a No Tolerance policy for bad/annoying/intrusive ads.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Villago Delenda Est
@germy: An IMAX is missing its auditorium. Because Donald is all about projection, all the time.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: I need to go on a diet anyway.
WaterGirl
@Immanentize:
No apologies! We can’t fix what we don’t know about, and I use an ad blocker, which means that I can’t even discover them for myself.
debbie
@germy:
If that’s not a parody account, I’m surprised at how much attention is being paid. More than many Americans, I’d bet.
Immanentize
@WaterGirl:
Both. You grew, they doubled down on their once productive now destructive, schtick
germy
@Another Scott: Isn’t there a “Report This Ad” feature?
germy
@debbie: It’s a parody account.
Villago Delenda Est
@ThresherK: No one outside of immediate family will mourn when any of the current crop of media execs die. They’re all mercenary scum.
General Sarnoff. HE was a righteous media exec. Les Moonves, not so much by a parsec.
Immanentize
@germy: “Report this ad” is not for ad formatting, but for specific ad content. If you ever used it, you quickly realize they are getting more info from you than they are giving to you.
MattF
@germy: Useless. They ask ‘Why do you hate this ad?’ It’s always about data collection, even negative data.
Rdb
I’ll just never understand the hate Pete gets on here. It’s a very likely possibility that he wins or comes in close tomorrow, and I would really hope y’all pay better attention to what he actually has to say.
OzarkHillbilly
Both, or in this case, all 3..
Another Scott
@germy: I think so, but I use UBlock Origin on all my browsers so I don’t see them. So there’s nothing for me to report. I send Balloon-Juice Intergalactic Industries cash money instead. But lots and lots of readers and posters don’t have that option. If they leave, then this place becomes less valuable to me, also too.
My understanding that the code wranglers are also in charge (and get a cut from) the ads. That’s fine. It’s their responsibility, and in their interest, to get it right.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Immanentize
@Rdb: I”don’t hate him. Don’t use that word regarding me.” — Nancy Pelosi
I do think he is completely unqualified and in over his head and that his position shifts from liberal to moderate to heartland values shows an utter lack of center or true values. He is a product of his past and competition and win at all costs seems to be his core ideology. That is a very unattractive package for me. That is not hate, that is political assessment.
jeffreyw
@Cheryl Rofer: I run adblockers on the desktop and use an adblocking browser on my phones and tablets. If I feel a twinge of guilt I will chip in. I have subscriptions and monthly paypal checkoffs for blogs I frequent. Life is short, fuck the admongers.
Probably Not an Asshole mistermix
@Immanentize:
I did try again and saw an ad that covered the whole screen on an iPad. When I hit the X it went away. So it seems intermittent.
I get that you’re frustrated, but I took some time to test, asked you a reasonable question, and pointed out what I did as a work-around. I was not telling you to suck it up. Do you have any inkling of the hundreds, probably thousands of hours that WG and others have spent on the site? Do you realize that nobody here is paid, that John gives away most of the revenue on the site?
JPL
@germy: trump talked about someone’s weight.. Did they remove all the full length mirrors in the White House?
WaterGirl
@Immanentize:
For what it’s worth, I totally agree!
That’s not it. John gives the ad people parameters for ads (e.g. no autoplay video, no flashing anything, ads between comments are okay, but no banner ads at the top).
Then, as far as I can tell, those parameters are a) either not followed by the ad people or b) an ad goes wrong and behaves in a way that was not intended.
The first I heard about the ad issue – where the thread title and white navigation bar are covered – was Friday. I asked for screen captures, determined that it was happening on phones and tablets, Apple and android. On Friday, I sent John a message outlining the problem and explaining why it was a big deal.
Yesterday I learned about the ads that cover the ENTIRE FUCKING SCREEN. Now that’s one ballsy ad! I asked people for screen captures and received one, so I sent another message to Cole yesterday about those ads, including the screen capture.
Cole wrote back to me this morning and said the google auto ads appear to be fucking up on different platforms, so I would say this one falls under “B” the ad goes wronging behaves in a way that was not intended.
So I’m sure Cole has either already contacted the ad guy or he will be doing so today.
OzarkHillbilly
@jeffreyw: Our LL comes and goes quality wise. Right now we can’t call our neighbor and she can’t call us on it because of feedback. We’d do better with a couple tin cans and a string.
Sab
@WaterGirl: I didn’t notice the little gray arrows. Are they new? They gelp a lot. Before there was no way to get rid of the ad.
What is particularly offputting about the ad I am seeing is it is for a product that I like, that I don’t need since I just bought a lot, but the ad is really putting me off the brand: “Quitting messing up this website I love. I just bought your product and now I never will again.” Seems like ineffective advertisibg.
WaterGirl
@Probably Not an Asshole mistermix: Apple and android, phones and tablets have reported the navigation bar coverup and the thread title being covered.
Ascap_scab
@ThresherK:
If I remember right, Supertrain was The Love Boat on rails.
Ohio Mom
I often find telephone polls mildly amusing. There was one the other day about the county commissioner race, specifically the Democratic primary.
it started out blandly enough but soon morphed into a push poll for the more conservative of the thee candidates, Connie Pillich. I’d never seen the vicious side of Pillich before (she’s been active in Ohio politics for years), that was interesting.
On another note, the ads on my screen are behaving (knock on wood) but I continue to be frustrated by the non-fuctioning back arrow. It’s hard to converse at any length without it.
Immanentize
@WaterGirl: Thank you!
jeffreyw
@Villago Delenda Est: I get broadband over my legacy twisted pair copper and it has been iffy, I called support when it looked like my modem was randomly crashing. They traced the problem to a mouse nest in the curbside box up the road a piece. My downloads speeds went from barely adequate to woo hoo!
Amir Khalid
@Cheryl Rofer:
Same here. I almost never go to BJ from my phone.
rikyrah
@Rdb:
There’s a reason why he is polling at 0-2% with Black voters. Why don’t you ask yourself why.??
O. Felix Culpa
@Cheryl Rofer: It recently became horrible on my phone too. Plus, when I click to read the comments, I get directed to a “sign up for instragram” ad. The site is becoming almost unreadable on my phone: Android/Chrome.
Immanentize
@Probably Not an Asshole mistermix:
WaterGirl
@Immanentize:
As I pointed out in my first message to Cole, it’s not like you can do that once, or once on every thread, and then you’re good.
Every time you refresh a page, and every time you comment (which automatically refreshes the page) the damn thing comes back and you have to do whatever it is again. And again, and again.
We wanted to use our developers for the ads so that even the ad person would have a vested interest in making it all work properly, so the ads don’t fuck up the (I think) lovely new site.
But the ad people the developers work with couldn’t tolerate our language, so that went out the window. Unless the appeal went through and I am not aware of it. I will check in with John about that.
rikyrah
@WaterGirl:
I like the New site design. Overall, it’s been a pleasant experience?
The only thing is the ads, but then, they annoyed me on the previous design, so it’s just something we have to live with if we wanna come to BJ?
Immanentize
@Amir Khalid: I almost always only use my phone for the site. I try to keep my desktop for committed work. Doesn’t always happen that way. ?
Another Scott
@Ohio Mom:
+1
I know WG knows, and there have been other issues that needed attention, but it really is frustrating because it’s such basic functionality…
Has there been any though for the next major version of B-J that the code base finally drop WordPress and move on to something else? Something actually designed for, you know, conversations?
Hey, an anonymous guy on the internet getting stuff for free can dream, can’t he? >:-p
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: I know John has read my emails about this, because he wrote to me about the ads at 1am last night.
I am the last person who will defend the ads because they make me crazy, so I use an ad blocker. John will be addressing this with the ad guy. If nothing happens then, by all means let’s get mad, but lets at least give John 45 minutes (figuratively) to get this taken care of now that he is aware of it.
rikyrah
@Amir Khalid:
I use my phone until I get to work. I don’t have issues on my phone so far(fingers crossed)
Kay
That is bad for Biden. It’s the most concerning thing about his candidacy- he goes down, not up. Don’t all point to other candidates who have gone down, either. Agreed. It’s bad for their candidacies too.
As far as I can tell the 3 who are rising are Bernie, Amy K. and Yang. They should be rising, not falling. It’s just not good if you start with +/-50 and drop half of that. There is no way to spin that as good, although Biden is trying.
Probably Not an Asshole mistermix
@WaterGirl:
I’m sitting here banging away and trying to replicate. All I’ve seen that is horrible is a one time a pop over on my iPad.
Newest version of IOS on my wife’s iPhone 11 and on my current gen iPad, newest Chrome on Android (Pixel 2XL), and if there’s any hiding happening, it happens when the ad with the up arrow ( ^) shows. Maybe get rid of those?
I guess I’m more tolerant of ads than the average person, today I learned. I think the site has too many but it’s consistent with most sites on the Internet.
Immanentize
@WaterGirl:
Fuck ’em
Villago Delenda Est
@jeffreyw: I’m somewhat shocked that they looked in that sort of detail for the problem. Out here in CenturyLink land, back in the Qwest days, they removed all the local engineers (who were intimately familiar with the lay of the wires around any given central office) off to a cubicle farm in Denver and the quality of the land lines suffered. Once again, MBAs get involved, and things turn to shit.
Probably Not an Asshole mistermix
@Immanentize:
I tend to give back what I’ve been given.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott:
I alluded to this in an early reply to someone, but it was the ad people the developers work with who took issue with our language. So I’m not sure our developers are in the loop for ads any longer. I will find out from Cole.
Baud
@Kay: Is that Iowa or national?
Immanentize
@Kay: I have said before that Sanders has a basement and a ceiling. I think what you are pointing out is that Biden has a ceiling too, and it was pretty much when he entered. He gets a high % of “never that candidate” in polling, as does Sanders. That is one reason I’m holding out hope for Warren. Pretty much everyone says she is an acceptable second (except Sanders’ people)
Immanentize
@Probably Not an Asshole mistermix:
Then you are a deeply flawed selfish being.
WaterGirl
@Ohio Mom:
I know. The back arrow is important to me, too. I make note of the comment number and that workaround works for me, in the short run.
I did not pursue the “back arrow” or any other remaining issue while we were dealing with the Flipboard issue that was crashing the site.
I talked to the developers last week about it being time to resolve the remaining site issues. So the back arrow issue has not been abandoned, if that helps.
Kay
South Carolina:
So Biden’s exactly one county chair ahead? In SC? I mean, it’s fine but it’s hardly a blowout. They’re essentially even.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: There were 3 basic absolute requirements going in: WordPress. No threaded comments. No LIKE buttons. So I’ll be surprised if ditching WP will ever be in the cards.
edit: sorry, there were 4. no third-party anything that required a login, such as Disqus.
MattF
@Kay: Shows that Biden isn’t the first choice of a majority of Dems, but we knew that. My suspicion is that the obvious advice, ‘raise your profile’, is meeting resistance.
Villago Delenda Est
@Kay: They’re not reporting for you, Kay. They’re reporting for the casual observer, not someone who will hold their feet to the fire for accurate reporting.
WaterGirl
@Probably Not an Asshole mistermix:
Can you send me a screen capture that includes the arrows you are talking about? Those arrows arebwithin the ads themselves, right?
Eolirin
@Kay: Well they were asked to name four people? I’m more surprised that both Biden and Sanders didn’t get all 35 to name them? They’re the front runners in the polling.
Villago Delenda Est
@WaterGirl: Word Press sucks, but so does every other commenting system out there. Disqus hasn’t let me post images for months now over at Wonkette; keeps telling me that I must be logged in to post images. BUT I AM LOGGED IN, ASSHOLES!
Starfish
@Another Scott: There are not many active blogs left to move on to though. I am down to about four, and I read a lot of blogs.
rikyrah
He took the golf cart.
He’s just sitting there, reading the paper???
Amir Khalid
@WaterGirl:
I still don’t understand that. They’re not being compelled to read our indelicate language. They can easily track what ads go on this site without ever coming here or catching sight of a single “goshdarn”, “heck”, or “fudge”.
Kay
@Immanentize:
He has to affirmatively draw voters to his corner. That’s what we’re testing in a primary- his ability to do that.
MattF
@Amir Khalid: It’s the people here who are problematic, not the language.
sdhays
@WaterGirl: I was one of those people. I didn’t believe that Dump would win (and minus James Comey, I think I was right), and I was soooooooo ready to be done with him. Obviously, the joke was on me and our long national nightmare was only beginning.
Villago Delenda Est
Speaking of media disasters, the Vichy Times sent me an email overnight saying that “The truth needs your support”, pitching for me to subscribe online. I really should respond with “Have you fired Baquet, Haberhack, Baker, and the other Clinton hating, Donald loving asswipes yet?”
Eolirin
Well, either they have a brand they’re trying to manage that they don’t feel an association with this site will benefit or they’re a company that runs itself out of some sense of “morals” and they don’t want to be part of helping to monetize content they disagree with. I can respect that even if I think it’s ridiculous.
Villago Delenda Est
@Amir Khalid: They should all be darned to heck, the broomstick up the posterior snowflakes.
Starfish
@Rdb: Pete is running for President on very thin credentials, and the only way he is getting away with this is that he is a man.
Michael Bennet pointed out that the city Mayor Pete ran was a quarter of the size of the school district that Bennet ran. Mayor Pete knows 9 languages but not very well. He was a Rhodes Scholar and so was Cory Booker. He has been surrounded by a lot of wealthy people, and it shows because he cannot really talk to anyone else without putting his foot in his mouth. A lot of candidates have a lot of trouble with this when they visit The South because they have this “I have to condescend to the yokels” attitude about that that Southerners can see because they are not stupid.
When he decided that he was going to be a centrist candidate, any appeal to the youth that he might have had withered and died.
WaterGirl
@Amir Khalid: I am not an ad person, and I wasn’t privy to the conversations.
I can guess, though, that product “A” does not want to be associated with things that are sweary, vulgar or icky or x-rated, and I imagine that all of those are thrown together under one heading.
Just like a 17-year-old who had sex with his 16-year-old girlfriend is on the sex offender list along with rapists.
edit: damn you autocorrect for changing sweary too sweaty.
schrodingers_cat
@Villago Delenda Est: Do it and let us know if Pravda-on-the-Hudson responds.
Kay
@Eolirin:
Right, it’s a weird “county chair” poll but Biden isn’t gaining in SC, he’s declining. Bernie is going up. It isn’t just how they poll at a moment in time. They’re campaigning. It’s the trend. The point is the candidates and their campaigns affect this process in a positive manner – draw- adding. That’s the thing.
Just Chuck
@MattF: It’s pretty much the reason I run an adblocker with zero guilt. I kick over a few bucks now and then to JC via PayPal. Probably about time to do it again.
schrodingers_cat
@Starfish: When did 7 languages become 9? Did he pick up two more on the campaign trail?
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: D’Oh, I remember that now. Thanks for the correction.
(It’s really neither here nor there – the details. As long as readers who don’t/can’t use ad blockers are happy, I’ll be ecstatic.)
Thanks again.
Cheers,
Scott.
ThresherK
@Villago Delenda Est: As an olde-tyme radio amateur, Sarnoff’s legacy is tarnished (to me and millions of others) by the way he treated, personally and professionally, Edwin Howard Armstrong.
Armstrong invented: The first tube receiver that pulled AM radio out of diapers, the second tube receiver (which is still being used today), and FM. Literally the entirety of FM is Armstrong’s baby, and that was done in the mid-30s.
There’s a long story involving these two men, and Lee DeForest, covered in Empire of the Air, which I heartily recommend.
MattF
@Amir Khalid: Note also that Senator Professor Warren is apparently venturing into Stronger Language. Which would be pretty amusing if it continues.
Kathleen
@Probably Not an Asshole mistermix: That’s hilarious. Although Maher did a great job on the Pelosi interview.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
FYI, I’ve seen banner ads at the top whenever I come here on my iPad.
Kay
I’m really interested to see the results of the caucus. That I have been DENIED this poll only makes me more interested! :)
People are no fun anymore. Someone daring and devil may care should leak it. It’s a poll! It’s not classified. Yet.
Probably Not an Asshole mistermix
Here are Google’s content guidelines.
I assume whoever did the review of the site for ads was cognizant of this, since Google is the 10 ton gorilla of ads. I doubt any appeal to Google will be successful.
Kathleen
@ThresherK: Ha! I wish Dante were still alive. His expanded and revised Inferno would be as thick as War & Peace.
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: Thanks for this, too.
It’ll be interesting to see what B-J 2035 looks like… ;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
germy
@ThresherK: I remember reading about that over at WFMU, but I’d forgotten about it.
Betty Cracker
Not a Mike Bloomberg fan, but I like his national press secretary:
Context: Trump sent a series of embarrassingly childish tweets about Bloomberg.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@rikyrah:
Looks like he’s reading Very Stable Genius. This woman came out against the first amendment and she’s proud of it, she’s gonna send this to trump and Fredo. If this guy has a gofundme to pay for his signs, I’m in.
debbie
@germy:
It’s so believable it’s not effective as parody, but good to know anyway.
Baud
@Another Scott: Probably a lot of complaining about Bernie 2036 interspersed with random site complaints.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Ugh. I don’t want to like Bloomberg.
Kay
The problem for Biden in Iowa is he has this great argument and it’s this- I can draw AA voters AND white working and middle class voters. None of the other candidates have that- it’s the basis of his candidacy. I completely buy that that’s valuable. Hard to put those two groups together and you need them (somewhat) together in OH, MI and PA. That’s what was so amazing about Obama.
That would include those voters in Iowa.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I recently had Amazon refuse to post a review I wrote because I quoted a line from the book: “Who cares about all that shit?” When I took out “shit” and resubmitted, they posted it. Sites can get very prim.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker: I just saw that too…OUCH!
this is exactly how Dems should dismiss, and dis, trumpov
Eolirin
@Kay: I agree with that competely.
I’m just saying that that “poll” is even more meaningless because it tells us even less than it appears to, even accounting for the closeness in the results. Biden, Sanders and Warren are pretty far ahead of the rest of the pack; hearing that the front runners are in fact the front runners is very surprising!//
I don’t understand what the point of the damn thing was in the first place. We get zero information from it. Why did anyone think it was worth asking?
The only interesting thing about it doesn’t even get talked about, which is whether there’s overlap between the 2 chairs that didn’t say Biden and the 3 chairs that didn’t say Sanders and who else was on those specific chair’s lists. Because not having Biden or Sanders on the list is actually interesting. Which candidates are showing up there instead?
The media take is even more infuriating the more you look at it.
debbie
@rikyrah:
OMG, she says grabbing pussy is not sexual predation??? ??
Major Major Major Major
@Kay: what’s the point of surveying county chairs?
Starfish
@schrodingers_cat: Is it seven? Clearly, I don’t pay attention, or the news people are reporting some number of languages less than ten?
“He’s been granted six languages, seven languages, and eight languages.” (This quote is from The Atlantic.)
Another Scott
@debbie: DPRK News is another Popehat avatar.
Cheers,
Scott.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
I too think “the NYC Battle of the Rich Candidates” is good for our candidates, who may avoid NYTimes coverage completely. Thank God.
Those two giant egos can duke it out while we win the presidency with someone else.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Rdb:
Where are you seeing “hate”? I’m not impressed, and when you look at his support in Iowa vs everywhere else, especially among African-American voters, it’s hard to see how he’s anything but a booster for Sanders.
Probably Not an Asshole mistermix
@WaterGirl: Screenshot sent. It is a floating ad that stays in place as you scroll, so it covers some content as you scroll down. I’ve only seen it on mobile, but it was on all mobile platforms I tested: iPhone, iPad and Android.
guachi
There is one candidate who can lose to Trump and that’s Sanders. In fact, if Sanders is nominated I’ll go so far as to say he WILL lose.
jeffreyw
@Villago Delenda Est: Well, my ISP is going to file for bankruptcy, so that is that. The tech that showed was new to me but he was local. And he came pretty fast, set an appt for a week away but he got here sooner than that. Luckily, I was in a trial period for Visible, a Verizon owned LTE provider so I had internet throughout.
Omnes Omnibus
@rikyrah: Hey, sitting and reading while protesting Trump? Great multitasking.
Amir Khalid
@MattF:
More power to her!
Kathleen
@Immanentize: All of the snacks and burgers are “plant based”, and all of the cupcakes are infused with ginseng and lavender.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud:
Ha! that’s how I feel. I admire his stand on guns and especially the environment, I’m thrilled he’s given so much money to Stacey Abrams and House candidates, but… I can’t get past his actual tenure as mayor, everything from stop-and-frisk to (basically) buying himself a third term (do I have that right, New Yorkers?) to endorsing GWB in ’04 to his support for the Iraq War.
As others have said, if Elizabeth Warren really offended him so much for talking about a wealth tax, why didn’t he just back Klobuchar or Biden?
MattF
@Kathleen: Sigh. My local farmer’s market had a booth where someone was selling a lot of lavender-infused foodstuffs. It’s kinda obvious to me that’s a bad idea.
debbie
@Kathleen:
A co-worker is a crazy good baker. I have to tell you lavender macarons and green tea macarons are both very, very tasty.
Eolirin
@Major Major Major Major: Right? And not even asking them to rank their choices?
germy
@guachi: After what happened in 2016, I don’t feel comfortable predicting who can or can’t win the White House.
Anya
@Betty Cracker: Perfect. That’ll leave a mark. Only thing missing is the weird way he stands which probably means he wears shoes lift and something to bind his stomach.
Amir Khalid
@Probably Not an Asshole mistermix:
i suppose an ad for Fucking Hell beer would probably not pass muster.
jeffreyw
@Probably Not an Asshole mistermix: Is John buying ads to promote Balloon Juice? Because that is what that policy covers, no?
Citizen Alan
@Rdb: I do! That’s why I’m as alarmed by the thought of a Log Cabin Republican winning the nomination as I am about a Socialist doing so.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I don’t know. He’s now sitting on about 10% in the polls, which I assume comes mostly from Biden or Klobuchar.
Kay
@Major Major Major Major:
Well, because they’re important. Not as important as they once were, but they are absolutely in touch with the most active “Party” people. IMO it’s particularly important in terms of AA voters because national media completely ignore that AA’s have a leadership role in local Democratic parties. They have institutional power within conventional Party circles. They aren’t just “voters”. They’re Democratic officials. To not understand this is to not understand the Democratic Party, and they don’t understand it. They don’t see them as a Party power in their own right, and they are.
Here’s an example. The NYTimes interviewed a white Ohio county chair about Youngstown. Youngstown has a black mayor. It isn’t just about “black voters” within a white political power context. It’s about their institutional political power within the Democratic Party. That exists.
Obama knew this. He tapped into not just “black voters” but a black political power structure within the Party. Mayors. So in SC that political structure would be county chairs. Not passive. People who run things.
chris
@rikyrah: Haha! Thanks. The Villages were discussed here yesterday, good to see they’re not a total loss.
Also, pussy grabbin’ IS NOT sexual predation? On which planet?
Chip Daniels
@Betty Cracker:
I’m not a fan of Bloomberg either, but I appreciate his ads which target Trump.
Even if he isn’t the nominee, the message gets out there.
Gin & Tonic
I was once called for a poll/survey by a state agency. The guy reading the questions had a voice like a late-night jazz DJ. I was sad when he got to the last question, but at least the survey was long. I could have listened to that voice for hours.
Anya
@guachi: I am afraid he will be another Jeremy Corbyn and he’ll campaign like Jeremy Corbyn.
Another Scott
@Rdb: Hate is a very strong word.
I’ve said many times that ex-Mayor Pete rubs me the wrong way. He is obviously very smart, but his comments in the debates (the only place I’ve heard him) end up sounding (to my ears) as excessively calculating. He says a lot about how this or that is a problem with current politics, but not much at all about what he’s going to do about it. Or how his grand proposals are really different or better than standard Democratic policies going back decades. Or how his waffling on things like M4A over the last 18 months is based on anything substantive rather than raw political posturing.
What is he willing to fight for?
He won as Mayor by getting something like 8,000 votes. Total.
He ran for DNC Chair in 2017 and lost.
Why does he think he should be President now? What’s his hurry? A certain amount of hubris is necessary to be a politician, but ex-Mayor Pete seems to have far, far too much. It doesn’t seem to be a serious campaign – it seems to be resume padding. Where’s the substance that shows his criticisms of other candidates have merit? Where are his scars from working to move politics forward that compare with the other candidates?
AA voters don’t have the luxury of throwing their votes away. They regard him as a lightweight (even before considering what happened when he was Mayor). Women know that a woman would never be given the time of day as a Presidential candidate if they had his resume.
I think that’s why a lot of people brush him off. It’s why I do.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
JPL
@Baud: You don’t have to but that Tarini Parti is pretty good.
debbie
@Anya:
He definitely wears lifts. His butt sticks out like a woman wearing 6-inch stilettos.
If you are of strong stomach, google photos of him from the 1980s. He’s not towering over anyone, and last I heard, you shrink rather than grow taller as you age.
Anya
@Kay: But isn’t the size of the county also important? Do we know the breakdown of those counties? If Biden sweeps the bigger counties then he wins South Carolina, no?
I agree with you though about Biden’s worrying numbers. They’re going in the wrong direction.
Kay
@Major Major Major Major:
Funnily enough BLOOMBERG gets it. He gets it because that’s how his foundation works. AA mayors are his allies on gun violence so he approaches them, not governors. They have their own political power.
J R in WV
@Immanentize:
Ad blockers are free and reduce your band width consumption considerably. I kick in to the kitty whenever funding is mentioned, and I never see an ad when using my laptop. I do see a few when I use my tablet, but I rarely use the tablet for Balloon Juice as commenting is a bitch using the virtual keyboard Android provides.
The Internet with no ads is a great thing… like the way Tim Berners-Lee intended it to be!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@guachi: I avoid Michael Moore on TV like I avoid trump, but Joy Reid played a clip of him screaming about the DNC and Bloomberg. I don’t really disagree, but do people really think Michael Moore being a surrogate for the Dems is good for us?
Omnes Omnibus
@Probably Not an Asshole mistermix: That seems to cover ads that say fuck, not blogs that say fuck. Do companies really not want to sell products to people who say fuck? Seems dumb.
Cacti
@debbie: Trump claims to be 6’3″. Gavin Newsom is actually 6’3″. Do a quick google of Trump and Newsom images to see them standing together and see just how badly he’s lying.
Major Major Major Major
@Citizen Alan:
Well, good news, that isn’t going to happen since there’s no log cabin republican running ???? for fuck’s sake
Kathleen
@MattF: My neighborhood coffee shop offers some great pastries, but I tried a piece of coffee cake infused with chai and I couldn’t finish it. I’m quite old fashioned about pastries. Load them up with flour, butter, and sugar as the Good Lord intended. Maybe it’s a “Heartland” (Trademark) thing with me. My mother was raised in a farm town in Nebraska.
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
That Bloomberg isn’t a Democrat? If so, that’s pretty rich coming from someone who supports who he supports.
Kay
@Anya:
I’m not opposed to Biden but he has to do more than “win” SC, doesn’t he? I assume he’ll win. I think he has to really crush it. He doesn’t if he gets a respectable showing in Iowa and NH, but he’s so frantically lowering expectations in those states it’s a little worrying.
To be the favorite of white working class and AA’s is a great thing! It’s hard to do. But he has to do it or he’s much more like the other candidates.
Cacti
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Michael Moore isn’t a surrogate for Dems. He supports Bernie.
Major Major Major Major
@Kay: ok, that’s great, but I still don’t see how surveying SC Dem county chairs is supposed to tell us something more meaningful than a poll of actual voters.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Amir Khalid
@Omnes Omnibus:
I suspect the prude is on staff at the ad provider, and implementing a personal policy rather than a company policy. Or maybe twisting company policy to suit a personal anti-cussing agenda.
debbie
@Cacti:
I think he saves the lifts for when he’s wearing his suits.
Kathleen
@debbie: I don’t doubt that and I do wonder if the baked goods I’ve had just didn’t have the right proportions, though as I told MattF there’s a part of me that believes the Good Lord did not intend to have pastries infused with anything but good old fashioned heartland butter, flour and sugar etc.
chris
@debbie: Shitgibbon should borrow a Bump-it from Sarah Palin. He’d be 6’4″ easily.
Kay
@debbie:
I welcome ex Republicans but even I’m having trouble with that clip of Bloomberg endorsing Bush and thanking him for the Iraq War. That’s, um, QUITE the conversion. John Kerry was a moderate. Bloomberg chose the very far Right Bush.
debbie
@Cacti:
Heh, I see Obama says he’s 6’1″ — googling shows images of them together and being basically the same height. When shown sitting side by side Trump’s taller, but that’s just his lard ass.
frosty
@WaterGirl: I am doing the workaround of hitting the comment date *every time* I go look for a previous comment. It works reliably to return with the back arrow no matter how far back in the chain I go. A pain, an extra step, but it works and it’s easier to remember than a comment number.
Amir Khalid
@Cacti:
Possibly because Barack Obama is known to be 6’1″. (He does sometimes claim 6’2″.)
Kathleen
@Kay: You bring up an excellent point. I believe it is one reason why the media hate the Democratic party. It’s reflects their racism. I also believe it’s one reason why “The Left” wants to destroy the Democratic Party. They want it to be white centered “class” struggle. Women and African Americans are collateral damage, not power brokers. Reflects their racist and misogynistic strain as well.
debbie
@Kay:
I have to say NYC conservative isn’t Heartland conservative. I think so much has happened since Iraq that I will give someone the benefit of the doubt until they show me otherwise.
If anything, I object to Bloomberg’s sense of superiority. We need to keep people like that out of politics.
J R in WV
@Ohio Mom:
Yes, this. It seemed to be mostly fixed for a week or so, but then went to hell in a hand-basket just the other day. If you click on the date-timestamp each stop, that sometimes helps notify the system of where you are at each stop. Sometimes. Forget who recommended that now, very sharp suggestion so thanks whoever!!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
there is a part of me that would love to see Bloomberg go head-to-head with trump: “Even if you were as rich as you sometimes pretend to be, I could by and sell you five times and still have more money than you pretend to have”
Has Bloomberg released, or talked about releasing, tax and business records?
Kay
@debbie:
Yeah, no offense but I think “NYC conservatives” turned out to be a particularly vehement and malicious flavor of conservative. As it turns out. I give you Trump, Guiliani and Barr.
I think I prefer the southern variety, if I have to choose. Just as racist and regressive, less adored by media.
Anya
@Kay: I agree. And I wasn’t saying you’re opposed to him winning. I would prefer if Bernie and Joe’s primary support went to Warren and Klobuchar respectfully but my fellow democrats have made different choices. I think they’ll both be weak national election candidates. Bernie has not faced a single tough election and the dems have treated him with kid gloves (including 2016) so he’s not ready for what to come. And don’t think he’ll use the party apparatus to help him elected, I think he’ll try to take over and as a result create so much strive and his campaign will focus on fighting the “corporate democrats” rather than actually winning. As for Biden, the way he handles the Hunter Biden stuff leaves me cold. He’s either defensive or flippant about it. I think the grieve over his son has affected him so much and he looks really warn out and so frail. I honestly don’t know why he’s doing this to himself.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Bloomberg does have a nice unflappable quality about him.
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
He says he’ll release them in March, but after Trump I’ll wait and see. I don’t know if Bloomberg is a liar yet.
A Streeter
@WaterGirl: @WaterGirl:
Gotta say I really appreciate the (almost complete) lack of autoplay and flashing stuff. Other sites I go to have them and they’re annoying. Also, the ads between comments actually are okay, at least for me.
Another Scott
Fascinating…
(via nycsouthpaw)
Cheers,
Scott.
wmd
Good all you can eat sushi does exist. I’ve had it in Santa Cruz CA ($25) and more than once in Reno NV (lunch time $20).
In general it sounds dangerous. The Reno one I went to on a recommendation, Santa Cruz it wasn’t advertised, happened by accident.
Major Major Major Major
@Kay: I’d be willing to bet he releases them if he’s a serious contender after Super Tuesday, but not otherwise.
OT, off to San Francisco for me…
Villago Delenda Est
@Amir Khalid: Some White evangelicals have expressed discomfort with Donald’s word choices, but that’s not enough to break the deal, similar to Donald’s highly questionable fidelity to marriage vows. If a Dem used the same words as Donald, you would be deafened by White evangelicals mewling about it.
O. Felix Culpa
Argh. Just picked up my phone to check on BJ, hit Comments, and got a full-screen ad, which wouldn’t go away when I hit the X. Had to hit back arrow and then select Comments again. Grrr.
Android/Chrome
West of the Rockies
@jk:
It’s a bit like the Lions playing every damn Thanksgiving. Ain’t nobody demanding to see the Lions.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Anya:
I’m leaning toward Team Biden, probably about to tip over, but it’s not just about Hunter. There’s a thin-skinned arrogance to him that bothers me. In the wake of Harris bringing up bussing and Biden’s (bewildering, frustrating, WTF) insistence on using old Dixiecrats as evidence of his ability to work with people, Cory Booker (who, full disclosure, I have never liked) suggested, not unreasonably IMO, that Biden should apologize for some of his past rhetoric on bussing and segregation, and Biden’s reply was “Cory should apologize to me!” WTF?
OTOH, he does have enough political instincts to not adopt unpopular positions we think should be popular
Anya
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: same. I think Bloomberg would wipe the floor of Trump and he won’t face the same media scrutiny and kvetching that every democrat gets.
Kay
@Anya:
I decided the only real measure I have is winning primaries. I stuck to that with Obama, I stuck to it with Clinton and I will stick to it with Bernie. There is no better measure. My approach has been if they win primaries they are “the most electable”, because I don’t have anything else and they got elected. I thought Bernies counterfactual was bullshit and I will think Biden’s is too, if it comes to that. Howard Dean actually started the “I woulda won” nonsense. It doesn’t mean anything to me. He didn’t win because he didn’t win the primary- that’s the election precedent.
Villago Delenda Est
@Another Scott: The bright blue marble survived a poor path choice at one point in the race.
Anya
Totally agree with this. I think this is what damaged Harris’ candidacy. She came off inauthentic because she jumped on the bandwagon of some stands that were not really her authentic space. To some extend, Warren does this too.
Ruckus
@Immanentize:
Exactly.
There is a reason that people say he’s not ready and that smallish town mayor is not enough seasoning for the job.
I realize of course that he’s over the minimum age for running but there is a reason there was a minimum age in the first place. On that note it seems to me that a maximum age would not be out of line either, except where do you put that, it seems more arbitrary than a minimum age.
Anya
@O. Felix Culpa: Get an Adblock
J R in WV
@Probably Not an Asshole mistermix:
But the “Promotions” — the ads — won’t even contain “obscene or profane language” !!
All of our profanity is deep into the actual content and nowhere near the ads, ever!
Ruckus
@Probably Not an Asshole mistermix:
Wow. From you?
I realize what you are saying and it’s true but that sounded like an ad exec trying to justify his 7 figure salary.
MattF
@Another Scott: Try googling ‘falling dominos’. Not as goal-directed as racing marbles, but more… more… more something…
guachi
@germy: It’s the internet. I have no qualms making predictions like I know when I’m talking about. I embrace the lack of accountability I’ll suffer if I’m wrong.
germy
Why did strikers have much better-looking signs back in the day?
https://www.shorpy.com/node/25349
(Sign or no sign, the woman in the photo is a hero.)
Amir Khalid
@Villago Delenda Est:
In other words, “It’s okay if you’re …”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I see dumb damn Jodi Ernst was on the Jake Tapper program today. Did he ask her about her giddy prediction that the impeachment hearings would be bad for Joe Biden in Iowa?
Ken
All-you-can-eat sushi, maybe. The restaurant near here that sets out the “$1 Sushi” sign every Tuesday evening, never – I figure they must be cleaning out the fridge.
jeffreyw
cookie me
adblock browser beta works great for me
I’ve used brave browser I don’t quite like the nag that they put on the top
I’m on my Samsung Galaxy 9 using the adblock browser beta right now and am ad free no problems with nav or anything
J R in WV
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
That’s pretty hypocritical, since Amazon publishes a wide variety of pr0n fiction, at the same time you were quoting from their book in your review they declined to accept. No surprise, tho!
When I started reading eBooks it was via Google’s service, but the Google Books service doesn’t have many of the authors I searched for, much more limited list of books available compared to the Kindle store. Then I learned that Amazon was willing to give me credit from our credit card account, which was many, many free books, end of contest.
Ruckus
@Villago Delenda Est:
You do understand that MBA stands for Must Be Asshole, don’t you?
WaterGirl
@O. Felix Culpa: Yep. Others are seeing that, too, starting yesterday. I made John aware of it, and I’m sure he’s on it.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Probably Not an Asshole mistermix:
The code wranglers who did the site rebuild, and who also “curate” the ads and their interaction with the site, got paid (a lot) and continue to get paid every month.
“Don’t complain, because it’s free!” is a bad argument on several levels.
O. Felix Culpa
@Anya: Any recommendations for the phone? I have an adblocker on my laptop, but didn’t like the one I tried on the phone so I deleted that app.
MattF
Bloomberg appears to be hiring capable people.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@J R in WV:
Yeah, Amazon is evil but hard to resist. My publisher wants people to buy The Wind Reader from their site because they make more money that way, but they can’t offer free shipping. It’s hard to ask people to suck that up.
O. Felix Culpa
@WaterGirl: Thank you!
Jinchi
I use firefox in private mode and block third party cookies and I’ve been blissfully unaware of any problems on this site.
Ironically, I have no problem with reading ads on websites. They just tend to be so badly implemented that they bog down my computer if I let them run.
Barbara
@Immanentize: I switched to Firefox and the ads disappeared for now.
Regarding the post, Politico’s reputation should be left for dead after it failed to rein in John Solomon. I won’t read it anymore.
Barbara
@Jinchi: Ditto for me. I don’t actually mind ads unless they are disruptive.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@Barbara:
I thought that was The Hill.
Amir Khalid
There don’t seem to be any other followers of the beautiful game around. So I’ll just note that the EPL’s Sunday programme has been pretty dull football-wise. Burnley-Arsenal ended goalless. Spurs-Man City looks like heading that way too; the only incidents of note have been an on-pitch brawl over a foul and a missed penalty.
Ruckus
@Amir Khalid:
Some people want to decide what we can and can not say. They have always been with us and always will. They think that language is the true test of humanity, while it’s really just a way to communicate better than grunting. I know that you know this and that words can have consequences but they are still just words. I guess that I resent when people tell me I can’t use certain words, I gave up 4 yrs of my life, unable to say whatever I wanted during that time so that people in this country could say whatever they wanted.
debbie
@Another Scott:
Kudos to whoever created that track.
rikyrah
@Kathleen:
???????
I know that ‘s right????
Steeplejack (phone)
@WaterGirl:
Noted.
Amir Khalid
@Amir Khalid:
I typed too soon. City have had a defender sent off and conceded a goal, scored by Spurs winger Steven Bergwijn in his first game for tthe club. If Spurs hold their 1-0 lead, Liverpool extend their lead over city to 22 points.
ETA: Son Heung Min makes it Spurs 2-0 Man City. Fingers crossed.
Anya
@Amir Khalid: I follow the game. I don’t watch Liverpool games live because I am always afraid that I’ll jinx my team. But they’re one of the few things ( + personal and family) that give me comfort and joy. Their winning has been a good mood booster. I haven’t watched any matches this weekend because I displaced due to renovations.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Another Scott, @WaterGirl:
For what it’s worth, I don’t believe the navigation/back button issue is intrinsic to WordPress. It used to work back in the distant before time (before the Tommy rebuild). So it can be done, I think.
Ruckus
@Anya:
Are Biden’s numbers going down or is it that others are getting more noticed and going up? IOW is the field leveling out rather than the one well known politician losing?
I’d say leveling out, people just came off of Biden being VP for a rather well liked president, a known, we’ve now had 3 yrs of trump being trump and pretty much a fish that’s been dead for 3 yrs has greater appeal.
Anya
@O. Felix Culpa: I’ve used AdBlock and R.O.B.E.R.T by Windscribe. I like both.
Amir Khalid
@Anya:
Now that Liverpool are only six wins away from the EPL title, it is indeed a happy thing for you and me and actual Scouser Tony Jay.
Steeplejack (phone)
@WaterGirl:
Just sent you (Android phone) screen caps (via text message) of the top ad hanging and retracted.
Ruckus
@J R in WV:
The profanity is often about the ads though.
Omnes Omnibus
@Amir Khalid: France v England in Six Nations play in a bit.
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack (phone): The back button worked PERFECTLY during testing, and started having issues on rollout.
That’s because we weren’t able to have cache turned on during testing, and it was turned on for rollout.
So the back button is definitely impacted by cache, which we need, which makes it trickier.
Brachiator
@MattF:
I immediately abandon any web site where ads are too intrusive. Currently I do not have any problems on the desktop, but on commutes I read the site from my Android phone. I recently got a new phone and am fine tuning my browsers to deal with ads. The Brave Browser works well controlling ads, but Chrome tends to allow intrusive ads. Here I probably need to make adjustments.
I don’t mind non-intrusive ads at all. The thing is, I never click on an ad. I don’t want my reading interrupted and don’t want the hassle of jumping through hoops to return to where I left off. But if something advertised looks interesting (rarely, but it happens), I will search for the product later.
Is anyone using the new Microsoft Edge Browser?
WaterGirl
@Ruckus: I just heard on a podcast last night that somewhere in the neighborhood of 50% of Iowa people are undecided, and a very large % said their decision was still fluid and definitely might change.
(I don’t recall the exact figures.)
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack (phone): thank you!
A picture is worth a thousand words.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@WaterGirl: Joy Reid and her panel said the same thing> Maria Theresa Kumar ran a phone bank targeting young POCs in Iowa over the last couple days, and said that was her overwhelming takeaway.
I’m wondering if SPW’s everybody’s second choice momentum could make her the upset winner.
And using Safari on a Mac, I’m not seeing much of a difference with ads.
Hoodie
@Anya: You’re probably right about this. Setting aside what you think about him personally, Bloomberg might be the strongest potential candidate against Trump because he deprives him of much of his main appeal, running on white people’s perception of what constitutes a strong economy and their fear of losing it. That’s the one thing that could make people pull the lever for Trump — fear of an economic downturn if a progressive candidate wins. The thing that is problematic is that there is a kernel of truth in this perception because of what Soros refers to the reflexive nature of economic behavior. A lot of the decisionmakers in finance and elsewhere are affected by this distorted perception of risk and act in ways that can be detrimental.
There recently was a post on LGM talking about the whole “economic anxiety” myth, with one of the more interesting points being that racial attitudes engender feelings of economic anxiety, rather than the other way around. In other words, many people indicate less economic anxiety when Trump is in office, even though economic conditions are roughly the same, if not a bit worse, than when Obama was in office, particularly toward the end of his presidency. This probably comes at least in part because people tend to look at the economy as a zero sum game. With a black man in office, white people are at least subliminally afraid that they will lose what they have to “those people.” Moreover, there is a fear that “those people” will screw up the economy. When the white dude is in office, however, they don’t worry as much that we’re larding up debt and cutting the social safety net so we’ll be exposed when the business cycle inevitably turns.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Hoodie:
Tom Cole, IIRC one of the Republicans who was said to have a good personal relationship with Obama, was interviewed a year or so ago and said that whatever else you could say about trump, the stock market was doing great, and he didn’t see anything like that under Obama. In one of Jon Favreau’s (incredibly depressing) focus groups, I think among Obama to non-voting/third party voters, said pretty much the same thing.
evodevo
@OzarkHillbilly: to paraphrase Mark Twain, all the interesting people will be there….Given what annoying a-holes most fundies are, I’m HOPING to be there…
Steeplejack (phone)
@Hoodie:
Excellent points.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: You caught me! I am Joy Reid. :-)
Iowa will certainly be interesting, and not just the delegate count from the second vote. I want to see first round and second round results.
Out of Iowa, I could care less what the delegate count is. IIRC, the “real actual” delegate count is often not the same as what is announced on caucus night anyway.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Brachiator:
Yes, I’ve switched from Chrome to Edge(Chromium) on my desktop(Win10) and android phone(though I don’t used the browser on my phone much).
Ghost of Joe Lieblings Dog
Uncle Cosmo
@rikyrah: Thank you so much for linking that article. I have been Martin O’Malley’s friend for well over 30 years & it was so gratifying to read an article that doesn’t mock him as some sort of snarky joke from 2016. He was a solidly progressive two-term Governor of MD & deserves better than that.
I wonder what would have happened if he’d declined to challenge HRC in 2016 & spent the time building bridges & solidifying his connections within & without the Party. Have a look at his political CV – does it not read like the sort of younger, more vigorous, left-of-center alternative to Uncle Joe some Jackals have been pining for? If only, if only…
WaterGirl
Just to close the loop on the ad conversations, John has turned off the offending ads. We believe so, anyway. If there are still big issues like we were seeing this weekend, please let me know. Thanks.