Buttigieg on concerns about holiday shopping: "The holidays are gonna be a lot better this year than they were last year, b/c a year ago, millions of Americans were sliding into poverty who now have jobs. And a year ago, a lot of us were gathering with loved ones over a screen." pic.twitter.com/iTVLF6UiX7
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 17, 2021
"Because of these men and women, we avoided a catastrophe." Framed by the Capitol, President Joe Biden paid tribute to fallen law enforcement officers and honored those who fought off the Jan. 6 insurrection at that very site. https://t.co/jnejd49PcZ
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 16, 2021
"Voting is an act of faith." In Virginia, voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams urged Black churchgoers to turn out for Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the governor's election next month. McAuliffe faces GOP candidate Glenn Youngkin in a tight race. https://t.co/TqGeITYSDn
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 18, 2021
What’s in Build Back Better
ACA subsidies
Fill Medicaid gap
Medicare dental/vision/hearing
Medicare negotiates drug costs
Elder care $
$250-$300/mo child cash
Universal pre-K
Paid family/medical leave
2-yr free community college
Clean energy money
Tax hikes >$400K + corporations— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) October 16, 2021
Patricia Kayden
Immanentize
@Patricia Kayden:
What’s not popular about that statement?
sab
@Immanentize: “Divisive.
ETA //
debbie
@Immanentize:
I saw KAC lying over the weekend with that fucking smug face of hers that TFG is who got the vaccines to the people and that it was Joe who’s messed that all up.
Of course, there was nothing to substantiate any of what she said, but the fact she even got coverage! ?
debbie
Good god, they’re talking about making Trump Speaker of the House if they take back the majority.
Immanentize
@debbie: who is KAC? Sorry not keeping up with initials since RBG died….
The lie I am seeing more -+ without any proof or data is: More vaccinated people died in 2021 than in 2020. That really can’t be true, or it is yet unknown. But maybe because of Delta? Or is it including all deaths from all causes (like old age for vaccinated folks in nursing homes?)
I just want it to stop .
Baud
@Immanentize:
No one was vaccinated in 2020. So it’s true.
debbie
@Immanentize:
Sorry. Kelly Ann Conway.
debbie
@Immanentize:
Not sure I’ve ever wanted anything as much as I want this.
mrmoshpotato
@Immanentize: My thoughts exactly.
mrmoshpotato
@debbie:
Oh, so Kellyanne Conjob (h/t Keith Olbermann) wasn’t in a coma over the weekend?
Lapassionara
@debbie: could happen, I suppose. Someone else would actually have to do the job, because he would not have the first clue.
sab
@Immanentize: My dad’s nursing home floor had a Covid outbreak a couple of months ago. All breakthroughs. Everyone was vacinated and everyone survived. Nobody went to the hospital. The only one on oxygen was already on it. And these folks are in their late eighties and nineties.
We have had some vaccinated friends die of non-Covid this year. The hospitals being backed up sure hasn’t helped. One friend ( who survived) went into the ER with acute renal failure at 9:30 am and didn’t get a bed until 3 am the next day. At least they didn’t have to send him miles away.
Ksmiami
Biden needs to go on the road promoting his agenda. He can start in WV and AZ first because fuck those guys
Tony Gerace
@sab: I know three people who caught covid after being vaccinated. None had to be hospitalized. All three had cold-like symptoms for about a week, but then felt back to normal. Covid vaccines work.
Geminid
@Lapassionara: I think the “trump as Speaker” plan envisions impeachments of Biden and Harris so trump becomes President again. It’s a wildcat scheme, but I could see it becoming a litmus test in Republican House primaries next year.
bluegirlfromwyo
@Immanentize: Of course more vaccinated people died in 2021 than 2020. There were relatively few people vaccinated in 2020 since the earliest vaccines rolled out around Thanksgiving of that year.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone ???
Betty Cracker
@sab: We’re still amazed our 80-year-old aunt who was already O2 dependent with multiple other comorbidities survived her breakthrough Delta case this summer (contracted at a rehab center after shoulder surgery). I’m convinced we’d have lost her if she hadn’t been fully vaxxed. She’s fine now.
Brantl
Kellyann Conjob won’t stop lying until they cut the tongue out of her dead body, when they can miraculously determine that she’s actually dead, not just looking like it…..
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Tony Gerace: I don’t think I know anyone with a breakthrough case. I hear about them, but I don’t believe I know anyone
mrmoshpotato
@Geminid: Goid luck to them on getting 67 Senators voting to remove both Biden and Harris. But I guess if their heads are that far up other Rethuglicans’ asses…
Betty Cracker
CNN alert says Colin Powell died of COVID. Wow.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
He was never a wingnut. I assume he was vaccinated. Most famous breakthrough fatality.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Immanentize:
You and me both
@debbie:
This is insane
@Geminid:
I see a problem with this strategy; they’ll never get to 67 votes for removal, but I suppose that doesn’t matter to them. Been seeing “Impeach Biden” ads sponsored by local county GOP on digital billboards for months
Baud
@mrmoshpotato:
They don’t care. They just want to impeach them three times because we impeached Trump twice. The GOP exists to produce talking points for their rapid base to repeat to each other.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@rikyrah:
Good morning
Dorothy A. Winsor
It’s Upside-Down World over there in R-Land:
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Baud: I just saw a news release that said he was fully vaccinated. He was 84
rikyrah
@Patricia Kayden:
No lie told
raven
@Baud:
COLIN POWELL DELIVERED his presentation making the case for war with Iraq at the United Nations 15 years ago, on February 5, 2003.
As much criticism as Powell received for this — he’s called it “painful” and something that will “always be a part of my record” — it hasn’t been close to what’s justified. Powell, who was secretary of state under President George W. Bush, was much more than just horribly mistaken: He fabricated “evidence” and ignored repeated warnings that what he was saying was false.
Unfortunately, Congress never investigated Powell’s use of the intelligence he was given, so we don’t know many of the specifics. Even so, what did reach the public record in other ways is extremely damning. While the corporate media has never taken a close look at this record, we can go through Powell’s presentation line by line to demonstrate the chasm between what he knew and what he told the world. As you’ll see, there’s quite a lot to say about it.
sab
@Betty Cracker: I remember how upset you were.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Agreed — Powell was a standard-issue Republican, often catastrophically wrong but not overtly insane and cruel like the Trump variant.
I’m not sure how rare fatal breakthrough cases are but they seem pretty damn rare. I think this is only the second one I’ve heard about (the other was an elderly man who was not famous but got a lot of local coverage in FL because his kids rightly blamed unvaxxed staff at his ALF for exposing him).
germy
@Betty Cracker:
I wonder if he was on a medication that suppressed his immune system.
Baud
@raven:
He definitely ruined his reputation in service of W. But I don’t think he was a crazy. Mostly just weak.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Powell was either really unlucky or he had some underlying condition, I assume.
raven
Powell has never been implicated in any of the wrongdoing involving My Lai. No evidence ties him to the attempted cover-up. But he was part of an institution (and a division) that tried hard to keep the story of My Lai hidden–a point unacknowledged in his autobiography. Moreover, several months before he was interviewed by Sheehan, Powell was ordered to look into allegations made by another former GI that US troops had “without provocation or justification” killed civilians. (These charges did not mention My Lai specifically.) Powell mounted a most cursory examination. He did not ask the accuser for more specific information. He interviewed a few officers and reported to his superiors that there was nothing to the allegations [see “Questions for Powell,” The Nation, January 8/15, 2001]. This exercise is not mentioned in his memoirs.
Powell notes that “My Lai was an appalling example of much that had gone wrong in Vietnam…. The involvement of so many unprepared officers and non-coms led to breakdowns in morale, discipline, and professional judgment–and to horrors like My Lai–as the troops became numb to what appeared to be endless and mindless slaughter.” Yet he is silent on how the military brass (including himself) responded to the horrors.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: I know. It’s just another example of what unserious, government-hating assholes the GOP are.
germy
sab
@Baud: And his social circle of GOPers are probably heavily anti-mask amd occassionally anti-vax.
germy
Open thread?
This photo:
Spanky
@germy: Dude’s going to be shocked at how he can’t get free donuts anymore. Of course, the SOP here will be a gofundme using that signoff to hook the rubes into giving.
NotMax
Apps gone wild: Flame off!.
;)
Baud
@sab:
I don’t know what his social circle was.
mrmoshpotato
Added some context for them.
Geminid
@mrmoshpotato: The “make trump Speaker, then President” scheme is irrational, but trump’s hard core supporters are beyond rational. More rational Republican leaders would like to rein them in. That’s one reason they are backing Youngkin so hard in the Virginia Governor’s race. Republicans want to demonstrate that a rational fascist can win.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy: Goodbye to bad rubbish.
germy
@Spanky:
I was thinking maybe private security.
But the sort of people who hire private security don’t want a bunch of unvaccinated motherfuckers surrounding them.
JPL
Powell believed in democracy and the right to vote which is why he supported democrats later in life.
Besides being over eighty, other health issues might have complicated treatment for the virus.
Anyway
Lost every iota of respect for Powell after his presentation to the UN…
germy
JML
welp, I’m pretty sure Colin Powell will again be used for nefarious purposes. anti-vaxxers will now jump on the fact that Famous American died of COVID after being vaccinated as a reason why “they don’t work” so they have one more fake reason in their quiver of excuses for why they shouldn’t get the shot. His reputation was weaponized by the W cabal so they could get back to the war they wanted in Iraq, and now whatever’s left of it will be weaponized again for the selfish twats out there that keep prolonging this pandemic.
The best way to keep 84-year old people with underlying medical conditions safe from COVID is for all of us to get vaccinated, not just them. As I tried to explain to someone at work who engaged in several rounds of “whataboutism” for why she didn’t get vaxx’d (while refusing to say if she was or not, because she’s trying to hide from social consequences), I’d very much like for people to not get my mother (who is over 80 and has CLL) killed. That’s my new bottom line on this: please don’t risk my mother’s life, get the damn shot. (mom is vaxx’d, got the booster, wears a mask, and has been pretty responsible)
JPL
@Baud: bingo. Over eighty and other health conditions. Surprised that hasn’t been mentioned on TV
lowtechcyclist
@Geminid:
Not that I can read their minds (not that there’s likely to be much reading material in there) but I’m not so sure.
1) If they were to get Trump back into the White House, why would he want to be Speaker as well?
2) (a) Trump as Speaker in 2023 is actually something they could do. (b) Trump as President in 2023 isn’t. If they know (a), they probably know (b).
mrmoshpotato
@Anyway:
Tell me about it.
Soprano2
@Immanentize: No, what you’re seeing is the claim that more people in the U.S. died of Covid in 2021 than died of Covid in 2020, which appears to be true. I think we forget how many people died from Covid in January and February 2021. Vaccines weren’t readily available to most people in most of the U.S. until sometime in May 2021. To me a relevant statistic would be a total year, from March 2020 through February 2021, then deaths after that. Unfortunately, we like to think of things in years, so that’s what we get. Plus, we didn’t have a full year of Covid in 2020, and the truth is that a lot of people who died in March, April and May 2020 probably died from Covid but weren’t counted that way. Oh, and it is true that more total people in 2021 have died from Covid than in 2020. https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/health/2021/10/06/u-s–covid-deaths-in-2021-top-2020-total Most of the deaths since May were totally preventable, I wish all the news stories would point that out in the first or second paragraph, or even in the headline.
sab
Re Sahil Kapur’s tweet on what is in the bill. Now that wasn’t that hard to list, was it, press member?
khead
Can’t wait for Colin’s presentation at the pearly gates.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@germy:
The amount of people giving that asshole attaboys in that first tweet is disgusting
germy
@khead:
Mike Luckovich loves doing his corny “at the pearly gates” editorial cartoons every time someone important dies. Maybe he’ll have the angels saying “Thank you for your service” or something, though.
germy
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
There’s more of us than the attaboys, but they’re noisy and busy as hell.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
Wikipedia says he was fully vaccinated.
germy
Amir Khalid
@Baud:
At 84, he probably had some age-related medical issues which would qualify as co-morbidites.
Betty Cracker
Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) trashed Trump in an Axios interview:
Oooo, that’s gotta have a pair of tiny orange thumbs twitching for a lost Twitter account.
WaterGirl
@debbie: Who is KAC?
edit: answered above.
germy
Manchin says the child tax credit must include a firm work requirement and family income cap in the $60k range.
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Lots of people right here on Balloon Juice have had breakthrough cases. My vaccinated sister and BIL are both sick with Covid right now.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@germy:
I know, that’s the one consolation when it comes to this
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne: He had other health issues, although had been dealing with those issues. (or so I heard)
germy
@WaterGirl:
KellyAnne Conway
mrmoshpotato
@Betty Cracker:
I can think of at least 700,000 more reasons to hate the Kremlin’s orange fascist shitstain. So fitting that Cassidy is just mad about losing power.
germy
Nicole
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
A friend of mine, in her late 40s, just had a breakthrough case about a month ago. She was absolutely panicking because she realized she was sick while she was visiting her very elderly, ill parents. It’s been four weeks, and yesterday she was lamenting that she still recovering and couldn’t run as fast as she usually does. She ran 10 miles yesterday. I think she’s recovering just fine.? And neither of her parents, who are vaccinated, got sick.
Kathleen
@WaterGirl: Sorry to hear that WG. Do they seem to be getting better?
Matt McIrvin
@Betty Cracker: I’ve heard of a few fatal breakthrough cases. The victim was always either old, immunocompromised or both. But it is enough to make me think that, while I’d be lying if I said I was isolating like it was spring 2020, on the other hand “just let it rip, there’s a vaccine now, fuck people if they don’t get it” is not a moral strategy. These people matter.
mrmoshpotato
What BoJo bullshit is this?
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us
@germy: And I bet the second-leading cause of death for police officers is being shot by right wing nut jobs. The non-law enforcement folks they’ve politically affiliated themselves with turn on them violently as soon as they get in between a RWNJ and the crime he’s committing.
mali muso
My grandfather who passed away last month after complications post-COVID was also 84 and vaccinated. I blame his friend/family group (southern, very religious, conservative, etc.) for being a hotbed surrounding him with opportunities to get a break-through case.
NotMax
@WaterGirl
Upcoming chain of vegetarian fast food joints.
Kentucky Almost Chicken.
:)
Matt McIrvin
@Immanentize:
That is surely true, because almost nobody was vaccinated in 2020, so they couldn’t possibly have died while vaccinated. Base rates.
(Or do you mean breakthrough deaths in 2021 exceeded ALL COVID deaths in 2020? That’s got to be bullshit.)
RandomMonster
But he let himself be used by wingnuts, much to his enduring disgrace.
rikyrah
Powell Dead from COVID ???
jonas
If Washington state troopers are paid anything like California highway patrol, he’s kissing a whopping salary and pension goodbye just for refusing a little jab! What a moron. He’ll never, ever have a paycheck like that again.
Elizabelle
@RandomMonster: Colin Powell did indeed let himself be used by Cheney and his cadre of, actually, war-nuts. Powell lied in the runup to the Iraq War. I would bet that most of us realized he was lying as he was making his presentation, too.
Unlike the others in that administration, though, Powell had the ability to feel shame. He regretted his participation.
He also endorsed Obama, which was courageous.
I ask that those who cannot wait to tell us what good liberals they are please remember that as you dance on his grave.
(I am not speaking to you, Random Monster.)
Betty Cracker
@Matt McIrvin: I agree. The difficult thing is that there’s still so much we don’t know, and there probably won’t be clear lines on when to resume normal activities. I was thinking about that this weekend as I went about my weekly errands in town, in a mask, which I hate, and elected not to go to some festivals which I would have loved to attend.
For better or worse, I’m following the CDC guidance. When they said it was okay for vaxxed people to quit wearing masks indoors this summer, I quit wearing masks. In hindsight, that was premature, but I recognize they aren’t infallible. They’re a helluva lot more trustworthy than the lying bastards here in FL who went Team Let ‘Er Rip ages ago, consequences be damned.
Gin & Tonic
@WaterGirl: I’m getting the random page reload thing. Safari on iPhone under latest IOS.
Elizabelle
I think it’s interesting that the WaPost did not have any kind of obituary for Powell, ready to go. Their first article was four paragraphs.
Makes me think that the Powell family kept their privacy.
Betty
@Tony Gerace: In our family, we had several breakthroughs. Only one has had a struggle getting back to normal. Vaccines do work.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
This idea is true across a range of different topics. I hate when people treat all imperfect things as equally worthy of our scorn.
Matt McIrvin
@Betty Cracker: We’ve started going to some public events again. I won’t go unless they’re either outdoors, or have vaccination/clean-test requirements for entry. My attitude is that that’s probably not enough to protect me reliably from getting a breakthrough infection but it probably is enough to keep them from being a large part of the collective problem.
But there’s some disagreement even within my (vaccinated) close family, among whom I’m probably one of the most extremist people about COVID precautions. And then I go online and encounter people who genuinely have not left their homes except for absolute necessity or brief exercise since spring 2020, and I feel like the plague rat. But that’s on me.
sab
@Elizabelle: Those Cheney guys are still around wanting war with China.
sab
@Betty Cracker: My sister dropped by after visiting my dad before her two hour drive back home. She wouldn’t come into the house because we aren’t part of her pod. It was chilly oitside. Big relief because my housekeeping is still in Covid mode (why bother.)
O. Felix Culpa
Via Paul Campos at LGM on Colin Powell:
I could not dig: I dared not rob:
Therefore I lied to please the mob.
Now all my lies are proved untrue
And I must face the men I slew.
What tale shall serve me here among
Mine angry and defrauded young?
Kipling, “A Dead Statesman,” from Epitaphs of the War
dmsilev
@Matt McIrvin: “Almost nobody was vaccinated in 2020” is not nearly strong enough. By the end of 2020, there were only about 20,000 or so fully vaccinated people, those being the participants in the trials who got the actual vaccine rather than the placebo. The public rollout started in December (in very limited quantities), so I’m not even sure anyone among the very earliest of front-line medical workers had gotten a second shot by Jan 1, never mind “2 weeks past the 2nd shot” to reach full efficacy.
I think there were a few deaths among the trial participants, but only a very tiny handful.
Betty
@JPL: I wonder if he received the monoclonal antibodies. They saved a family member who was seriously ill with a breakthrough infection. He had several co-morbidities.
Soprano2
I heard an NPR reporter say something this morning that’s a little bit of a pet peeve with me – I think it was Steve Inskeep. He started an interview saying something like “Here’s XYZ, who like most of us spent much of 2020 sheltering from Covid”, or something similar. No, “most of us” did not spend 2020 in our homes “sheltering from Covid”. Probably most of the people Inskeep knows did this, but that doesn’t mean “most people” did it. In my experience, “most people” did not do this, but instead had to keep going to work in person. Gggrrr……
Soprano2
To me it is totally unnecessary for you to beat yourself up over this. The person who has almost not left their home since March 2020 is a vanishingly small part of the working age population (probably even a small part of the retired population), and most people cannot be expected to live like that indefinitely. You are fully vaccinated – you should live your life in the way that feels safest to you, and not feel that you have anything to apologize for. Covid is here to stay, so IMHO we need to figure out how we’re going to live with it in the long term.
Betty
@Soprano2: Too many people with a platform live in a bubble.
?BillinGlendaleCA
It’s raining here in Glendale.
Betty Cracker
@Matt McIrvin: Agree — we’re all going to have to find our own comfort level. Hubby and I enjoyed a brief interlude of maskless indoor dining and shopping, etc., this summer but are now back to rare outdoor dining with vaxxed friends. We’ve also started anchoring near a wingnut pub upriver to hear live music, which puts a moat between us and the plague rats. :)
There was an art/seafood festival this weekend that I really wanted to attend but decided against it because it’s a wingnut area, so there’s probably a lot of unvaxxed people. There’s another one next month, and I might go to that one since the Delta variant seems to have burned through the state. Just taking it day by day, pretty much.
WaterGirl
@Kathleen: Brother-in-law got it first, pretty bad, but he got the antibody infusion on Thursday and he seems to be going in the right direction. But covid is crazy, and you can be better one day and terrible the next.
My sister started feeling sick on Friday and was undeniably sick yesterday. On her birthday, no less.
They are talking about possibly giving her the antibody infusion, but we don’t know for sure yet.
We will see what this week brings.
Geminid
@Soprano2: I didn’t see those people working at Kroger’s sheltering at home. Inskeep might not have really seen them even if he shopped there.
But, Inskeep did say “most of us.”
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@raven: To be fair to Powell, after the Iraq War they were asking the Iraq generals were the nerve gas was, and each general said the unit behind his had it and were going to gas his unit if it ran and turned out no one had any, it was all just a bluff. So apparently Saddam was a victim of his own bullshit.
On the other hand, nerve and mustard gas are WWI era tech, easily producible in any pesticide factory, and the balance of terror between the major powers has always been “you use nerve gas on our troup, we nuke your cities” so that was really pathetic reason to have a war.
JPL
@WaterGirl: I am so sorry.
sab
@Soprano2: Yep. My stepkids were all essential workers and all got Covid. Mild cases, but still they had to be out there.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: Thanks for the update. Do you mind also posting that in the other thread dedicated to that issue? I’m still trying to document how widespread this is.
Ohio Mom
@germy: An old friend’s BIL, an unvaccinated retired cop, just died of COVID. A right-wing gun nut (owned a shooting range), all-around stereotype. Left a big family behind, including a bunch of grand kids.
I know my friend was never all that fond of him so did not feel the need to “tsk, tsk, so sorry, what a loss!” Instead I let loose with “I’m sick of these people who won’t get vaccinated! I hope your sister and the rest of their family is smarter!”
Friend moved to San Diego two years ago so she won’t be attending any local services and risking catching a breakthrough case. Some things work out.
SiubhanDuinne
@Gin & Tonic:
Me too, same same. It’s really disruptive.
Matt McIrvin
@Soprano2: Part of it is the force of social-media outrage: I’ve seen people elsewhere basically arguing that if you go to a convention, even if fully vaccinated and masked, you are murdering the immunocompromised.
It’s at least worth thinking about. We do have to figure out how to live with this over the long term, but if the answer is “radically curtail all human contact like in Forster’s ‘The Machine Stops’, that is until the Machine stops,” so be it, I guess.
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl: I’ll move my comment there as well.
dnfree
If electoral-vote dot com isn’t among your daily sources, you might consider adding it. Here’s voting legislation news today.
Texas Is Working on an Even Worse Law
The Texas Law (S.B. 8) allowing private citizens to sue anyone who aided or abetted an abortion after 6 weeks is small potatoes compared to what the Texas legislature is working on now. The new bill, S.B. 47, would allow losing (or even winning) candidates, county and state party chairs, and groups supporting or opposing ballot initiatives to force investigations and audits potentially years after an election. Donald Trump has demanded an audit of the Texas results, despite his winning the state by 630,000 votes. Just imagine what would happen in a race like IA-02, which Rep. Marianette Miller-Meeks won by six votes out of nearly 400,000 votes cast.
The bill, which has already passed the Texas state Senate, would allow candidates and party chairs to call for investigations and audits by simply stating that they thought there was an “irregularity.” No specific claims or evidence are required to start the process. The investigations and audits would be funded by the taxpayers. Trump strongly supports the bill, which is why it is being fast-tracked through the legislature.
If the law passes, then when a candidate or party chair “thinks” there is a irregularity, he or she informs the county clerk, who has 20 days to respond. If the plaintiff is not satisfied, the county has to try again. Both investigations are at the county’s expense. If the plaintiff still isn’t satisfied, the case goes to the Texas secretary of state, who is appointed by the governor. The secretary can either rule outright or start an audit (also paid for by the county). Precisely what constitutes an audit is not spelled out in the bill. It would be up to the secretary to decide what to do. Because the counties have to foot the costs, relatively poor Democratic counties along the Mexican border might simply give the plaintiffs what they want (e.g., reversing an election) rather than go broke auditing.
Another thing that is not spelled out is whether a candidate is limited to requesting an audit of his or her own race. Could a winning state senator force an audit of a presidential race? Also an issue is that there is no statute of limitations. Texas law requires election records to be maintained for 22 months. What happens if someone files a request 24 months after an election, after all the ballots and records have been destroyed? One thing the bill is clear about is that it establishes a committee to ensure compliance with the law. Members are appointed by the lieutenant governor and speaker of the state House. They are free to appoint only members of their respective parties. Currently both officials are Republicans.
Sarah Walker, executive director of the nonpartisan group Secure Democracy, said: “It was the single most concerning bill I have seen all this legislative session.” Republican Trey Grayson, a former Kentucky secretary of state and opponent of the bill, said: “You know, this is kind of an off-year, we don’t have a lot of elections, but if there’s close races, people are just gonna approach it differently because what’s going to happen is your supporters are going to expect it.” Getting an election right is very important, but in the past challenges stopped after an election was certified. Not anymore. If the Texas bill passes, it could be the model for other states where Republicans have the trifecta. The “business model” for the Republican Party used to be trying to get more votes than the Democrats. Now it is more about trying to limit who can and cannot vote, and if that doesn’t get it done, then changing the election results after the counting has been completed.
James Slattery, a lawyer working for the Texas Civil Rights Project, is worried that since there is no penalty for demanding an audit in bad faith, many people are going to try and for really bad reasons. Steph Gómez, the associate director of Common Cause Texas, said in an interview that the audits would cause chaos and further distrust in elections.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, is aware of the bill and is holding hearings on the spread of state-level audits. She said their ultimate aim is “to lay the groundwork for new laws that make it harder for Americans to cast their ballots, but easier for dishonest officials to overturn the results of elections they don’t like.” (V)
Josie
@Betty:
This is a major problem in our country. So many decision makers have no clue about life in the trenches. Furthermore, they have no desire to learn about it. I don’t know how you solve this.
Nicole
@Betty Cracker:
Yeah, for sure. And it’ll vary, based on circumstance as well as comfort level. My family went to Iceland for ten days in early October (we booked in June when it looked like things were going to keep getting better) and even when things turned bad, I weighed the risks back and forth and decided as we were traveling on our own in a car and mostly doing outdoor things it would be okay (and it was). A friend had booked a tour group trip there for September but she ended up postponing to July next year. I think she made the right call because none of the many tour buses we saw seemed to be doing much in the way of mask wearing. I wouldn’t do a bus tour anywhere right now. Nor would I feel comfortable traveling to a lot of places here in the US. I’ll say this for IcelandAir; people were very good about wearing masks and as the flight attendants did not play about people trying to get out of raising their seats for landing, I have no doubt they’d have been right on them about masks, too.
Jeffro
@Dorothy A. Winsor: doubling down is all they know how to do
Mandate quarantines for Covid-exposed and Covid-sick kids? We’ll go you one better and mandate even LONGER quarantines for your vaccinated kids.
Require Covid vaccinations at workplaces? We’ll ban those requirements. Hell, we’l ban ALL vaccination requirements – hellllllooooooo, measles, mumps, and rubella!
GQP pols just don’t care. They’ll do the opposite of anything we tell them, full stop. I propose the Dems adopt a pro-oxygen plank in the party platform, stat.
Matt McIrvin
@Elizabelle: Paul Campos is convinced that Powell was probably lying about being vaccinated, because Powell was a liar before. I think he’s reasoning partly on the basis of mistakenly optimistic assumptions about the rarity of fatal breakthrough infections in people over 80 years old.
Jeffro
@mrmoshpotato: they don’t care…the important thing to them is that they do it and do it three (or more) times. (ETA or what Baud and others have said)
All they know how to do is escalate, so it’ll be a new impeachment charge every week with them.
It’s not like they intend to actually *govern *, or anything.
Professor Bigfoot
@germy: Manchin’s a fucking conservative. He just happens to caucus with Democrats.
But he represents a state deeply steeped in white supremacy, and that leads to making sure that aid recipients are “deserving:” don’t want those lazy and shiftless nears collecting off mah hard-earned tax dollars…
Matt McIrvin
@dnfree: electoral-vote.com was one of the first election poll aggregation sites, way before Nate Silver was doing it, and it’s still one of my favorites since his methods are simple and his claims are modest–he in no way claims to be able to predict anything. And he cares about democracy.
OzarkHillbilly
Good. DEMs should contest every gawd damned single election. It’s like 2nd amendment solutions, GOPs think they are immune to them.
Matt McIrvin
…apparently Powell was also immunocompromised as a result of having had multiple myeloma. So he was in particular danger for more than one reason.
geg6
@Betty Cracker:
@Baud:
He was being treated for multiple myeloma, which attacks white blood cells, so he was seriously at risk in every way, vaccinated or not.
Kay
@jonas:
If it’s a state mandate and discretionary for county or local police he’ll be get hired immediately by a local city or county police agency, carry the state public pension with him and the pension will transfer to the new retirement plan so he’ll have 22 + whatever he accrues in the new job. Police just go from police agency to police agency – once you’re in one you’re basically in one or another forever. State troopers can retire young so they often take a whole new police (or probation system) job when they retire from the state force.
They should follow up on his story. A year from now he’ll be a sheriff’s deputy.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
By that logic, we’ve been murdering people before Covid even became a thing.
Another Scott
@geg6: Posted downstairs:
Get vaccinated! Wear your mask!!
Cheers,
Scott.
lowtechcyclist
@Betty Cracker:
Out of a sample of two – and the other one benefited from the rally-’round-the-flag effect after 9/11/2001. (Bush I, Reagan, Nixon, and Eisenhower never had the opportunity to lose the House, because the Dems controlled it the whole time.)
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
@geg6:
Good news in a way.
debbie
@Baud:
Or overly loyal.
Baud
@debbie:
A form of weakness.
Baud
@Another Scott:
Those are amazing stats. It’s really not a debate, and we shouldn’t pretend like it is.
Soprano2
I never did, either. None of my co-workers who clean and maintain the sewer did, either. It drives me crazy when these people act like “everyone” stayed at home during the first part of Covid, because this is so much not true.
SFAW
@dnfree:
I think it would be appropriate that whatever Voting Rights Act gets passed (I hope I hope I hope), a clause be inserted whereby MAGAts who push frivolous/bogus “audits” get charged with Sedition. Because fuck them.
MattF
@Matt McIrvin: Yes. A neighbor of mine died with that pair of diseases. Multiple myeloma is about the worst COVID comorbidity you can have, apart from just being old.
NotMax
@lowtechcyclist
Rs swept to a House majority in the ’52 election which ushered in Ike, Ds regained it in the ’54 elections.
Soprano2
Those people can bite me. Immunocompromised people existed before Covid, and no one except those who were directly around them took any kind of precautions re: any other disease. If you are not actually around immunocompromised people or those who can’t get vaccinated then people who say “If you do ‘x’ you’re a murderer” when ‘x’ is a totally normal activity and you’re fully vaccinated, then they’re full of shit. Unfortunately, there seems to be a contingent of the extremely online community that wants masks, distancing and everything stopping to last forever. (I bet they’d be horrified to know that our symphony actually had a season safely last year!!!) I guess they are anti-social hermits. Most people do not want that! I also wish that more people like Betty Cracker could admit that masks, while still necessary in some situations for some people, can be hot and uncomfortable. I have a co-worker whose rosacea flared up big time because of mask wearing. Wearing a mask is not an unreasonable request, but it’s not that easy or comfortable for some people to wear them either.
smedley the uncertain
@debbie: Third in line for the White House.
M31
84-year-old dies of a respiratory illness? SEE, COVID IS JUST LIKE THE FLU
smedley the uncertain
@Betty Cracker: The news is also reporting he was fully vaxxed.
Comorbidity perhaps?
japa21
@Soprano2: I also hate it when people talk about “lockdown” and how we won’t do that again. This country was never in a real lockdown, not even close to one.
Ohio Mom
@Matt McIrvin: Oh, that explains it. Of course no one who wants to use Colin Powell’s death as an example of the uselessness of vaccines will mention multiple myeloma.
schrodingers_cat
Read about Colin Powell, was not a fan but even I have to admit that he was a better person than today’s standard issue elected Republican. May he RIP.
Sharing one of Schlemezel (sp?) favorites on this occasion.
Allah hi reham
Allah is mercy..
From My name is Khan sung by Rashid Khan (perhaps the greatest living Hindustani Classical vocalist)
Passable translation
(This was written by Hindu Brahmin man, music composed by a trio of a Hindu Brahmin, Muslim and a Catholic composers and sung by a Muslim man, for the movie, My name is Khan. This is the India and the film industry that the BJP wants to destroy.
Credits:
Song: Allah Hi Reham
Movie: My Name is Khan
Singer: Ustad Rashid Khan
Lyricist: Niranjan Iyengar
Music Composer: Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani, Loy Mendonsa)
narya
Friday I went to see a friend’s art opening; a friend and I took the el to do it. (I double-masked, both on the trip and at the event.) On the trip there and back we saw exactly one person, in each direction, who was completely unmasked on the train. On one hand, it made me itchy to be around so! many! people! But also? everyone just wore a damn mask. Even at my runs, which are outside, and the after-beers, which have been largely outside or in taprooms with big, wide-open windows, I’ve been masked and cautious–as have the organizers of the events, the other participants, and the staff at the taprooms. I feel SO fortunate to be living in a place where people just mask up–seriously, just really, really grateful.
japa21
@narya: Yes, the Chicago area does take this seriously, for the most part. There is a woman who comes into the Costco where I work as a demonstrator, however, who wears a mask which says “This mask is as useless as Joe Biden”. I wish I could say something to her but I would lose my job.
hueyplong
@japa21: She’s probably working hard to catch COVID when not acting under mandates, so there’s that.
rikyrah
Tim Requarth (@timrequarth) tweeted at 8:31 AM on Mon, Oct 18, 2021:
Yes, Colin Powell was vaccinated. But he also had blood cancer, which devastates the immune system.
What his tragic death illustrates isn’t the futility of vaccines but the importance of everyone else getting vaccinated to protect society’s most vulnerable.
(https://twitter.com/timrequarth/status/1450092290312179718?t=N73JvHJdzmQG5F7hQT8csQ&s=03)
Matt McIrvin
@Soprano2: The other popular argument is that if you don’t do everything possible to avoid breakthrough infection, you’re potentially contributing to breeding the doomsday variant that will cut through vaccination like tissue paper, because breakthrough infections provide selection pressure toward immune escape. The (premature and false) claims in the summer that vaccinated people might be as effective delta COVID spreaders as vaccinated people contributed to this. And there was a really scary paper based on someone’s computer model of virus evolution that convinced one online friend of mine that he was right to essentially never leave his home.
My impression, though, is that the more people know about viruses and immunology, the less they believe that such a doomsday variant is coming. Beyond some point, the mutations that make COVID variants best at evading vaccine-induced immune defenses also make them less good at reproduction.
Baud
@japa21:
But that means the mask is incredibly useful.
matt
@Betty Cracker: Quebec published breakthrough case data daily. Right now the fully vaccinated enjoy a 25 times lower chance of getting hospitalized. So rare, but hardly unheard of.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin: Might as well be scared of the virus that hasn’t jumped to humans yet.
rikyrah
Someone needs to sue these muthaphuckas.
Kevin Baron (@DefenseBaron) tweeted at 8:01 AM on Mon, Oct 18, 2021:
Fox hosts already using Colin Powell’s death to question governments’ vaccine mandates. Say fully vaccinated deaths mean we need more “truth”… implying and perpetuating a massive conspiracy theory, basically.
(https://twitter.com/DefenseBaron/status/1450084698122858505?t=LHyMuC6krvUucVMwjJby-w&s=03)
JPL
CNN has reported on Powell’s health issues. He had Parkinson’s and has recently been treated for cancer. Covid is what killed him but his system was already compromised.
Betty
@Matt McIrvin: I read it was multiple myeloma. Pretty much non-curable.
JPL
@rikyrah: I heard that Powell tried to convince people to just not watch that station. He felt it was toxic.
japa21
@Baud: I was actually considering saying something to that effect.
rikyrah
Yeah, you got it right
Stephen King (@StephenKing) tweeted at 2:53 PM on Sun, Oct 17, 2021:
Let me see if I’ve got this right. In Texas, you are free–because it’s your own body–to refuse being vaccinated, even though you may infect others, but a woman is not free to decide whether or not to have an abortion, even if she’s been raped.
(https://twitter.com/StephenKing/status/1449825945410486284?t=fAXQf5SADL1MBGlnUslbEg&s=03)
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Some media are working on that.
Quinerly
Late to the thread. Since I am traveling I’m not following the news as much and reading comments.
Any healthy under 65 yos who got the J&J vaccine early (as in beginning of March)? Where are we on getting boosters? I know it has been recommended but I assume not approved yet. I’m in Santa Fe. National Guard with nurses were set up at the Farmer’s Market Sat. I asked about a booster, gave my background. One nurse was already to give me a Pfizer booster (Moderna is my first choice, but will take any if quick, easy) Another nurse weighed in and said no. They called the health dept contact who said no b/c I had had the J&J. Had nothing to do with age or residency. She said “Pfizer is flowing” and there’s waste at the end of these events. Any J&J folks boosterized yet in the Balloon Juice world? I may copy and paste this earlier in tomorrow’s thread. Trying to find out people’s experiences. I’m the only J&J person l know. Thanks for any input.
J R in WV
@Betty Cracker:
Lying war criminal Powell’s first trip into war crimes was attempting to cover up the My Lai atrocities, but he didn’t stop there! He lied to help G W Bush justify his illegal invasion of Iraq also too. More war crimes
Lying war criminal Powell was also fighting multiple myeloma at the time of his death. That disease inhibits the immune system pretty strongly.
rikyrah
@narya:
I feel you on the public transportation thing, but, people are very observant on the CTA and Metra.
smith
@japa21: I agree with the thumbs up on Chicagoans’ response to covid. I never see an unmasked adult indoors anywhere.
During the delta surge, I watched the little state map provided by Covidactnow that shows current infection rates by county, and every day saw the red tide rising up from MO getting higher and higher, turning the more Southern parts of the state mostly deep red. But it receded without ever pushing the Chicago metro area into red. We’re still not where we need to be, but it looks like people here intend to stay the course until we are.
The bottom graph here shows how well the Chicago area has weathered delta compared to the rest of the state. I’m sure you’d see a similar pattern in other states with urban areas that take the pandemic seriously and rural areas that don’t.
germy
hueyplong
If Trump were still in office, FoxNews would be emphasizing that Powell died with COVID, not of COVID, and spend the next segment saying that COVID deaths are drastically overcounted.
J R in WV
@germy:
I dunno… I bet lots of them will get “security” jobs at strip clubs, night clubs and gambling dens, like that jerk who killed George Floyd. I try hard to forget the names of mass murders and famous killers, like Son of Sam, and that dweeb who killed John Lennon.
They want to be famous for all the worst wrong reasons, so they deserve to be forgotten quickly.
Tony Jay
@debbie:
Gee, I can’t foresee any problem that could possibly stem from Republicans placing the instigator of a violent, anti-democratic insurrection 3rd in line for an office he still insists is rightfully his.
I mean, it’s not like his radicalised supporters have ever been advised to turn to “2nd Amendment solutions” when the Constitutionally approved system fails to meet their partisan requirements, is it?
On the bright side, nice of the Toxic Twit to give Congressional Dems a hell of a stick to beat their GQP opponents with next year.
MattF
@Quinerly: I also got the J&J shot. The various advisory committees have all (unanimously, I think) recommended boosters of each type of shot, so the remaining question is whether the final agency recommendation will include ‘mixed’ boosters, i.e., not of the same type as your original shot. There’s not much evidence, but I’m hoping that the final rec will be for a booster of any kind, regardless of the type of the original immunization.
MattF
@Tony Jay: I expect Biden will be impeached, for reasons.
OzarkHillbilly
Yes, just got my 2nd Moderna.
Ksmiami
Thinking that Biden should tell Manchin and Sinema they get nothing and negotiating is over. Then go to press conference and say the best solution is to elect More and better Democrats because the GOP is an insane authoritarianism party. Take the hit now but build the message for 2022. Enough stalling
jeffreyw
I think the cancer Powell had is the same one that Kevin Drum has. He never talks cure but he does have treatments that seem to manage it, albeit with some ill effects. I don’t recall him saying what he does to avoid covid but my memory is suspect these days,
satby
Looks interesting.
Quinerly
@MattF: this is what I thought. So with that said, at this moment in time, none of us who had J&J have had a booster of anything nor can get a booster of anything? No matter age or pre existing health conditions? Is that where it stands? Thanks! May not see any comments until much later. Off on a hike with a restless JoJo Las Orejas. Have a great day!!!
Monala
@Amir Khalid:
Seen on Twitter today: “Powell was being treated for multiple myeloma *which attacks white blood cells involved in the immune response”
Barbara
@geg6: My son has a friend whose grandfather has medical conditions that sound similar to Powell’s — cancer survivor, immuno-compromised, also requires dialysis. He has been vaccinated multiple times with different vaccines, and has never developed immunity to Covid. They were so happy when the vaccines came out, but really, the grandfather’s safety is only possible because everyone else in their family and friend group has gotten vaccinated. They are vigilant about requiring proof of vaccine for anyone entering their house.
germy
Quinerly
@OzarkHillbilly: l’m confused. You had J&J back in March/April and now have had two Moderna? In Missouri? You and I are about the same age. Without being nosey, a pre existing condition of some sort? I got my J&J so early b/c I drove 3.5 hrs damn near to Iowa to National Guard event. It was considered a “waste shot.”
Barbara
@Quinerly: I suspect different states are different, but is the state controlling vaccine administration to the extent you couldn’t just get vaccinated again with a different vaccine? I know that if you told your provider about the prior vaccine they might decline to administer the second series, but would they actually check the state database to make sure you had not been vaccinated? And what if you went to a different state?
sab
@Quinerly: The J&J booster limbo is disturbing. We have a friend who was in the J&J testing. She did it as a civic duty (she’s a retired nurse) so her shot was early, in 2020. And her reward for getting the vax when it really was experimental is to be left hanging when the rest of us olds have or soon will be able to get a booster soon.
Peale
@dnfree: I know they want to throw the elections to the state leges by never finding a conclusive outcome to an election. But where does that stop? If we can’t finish tallying the votes for President, why not apply the same in every election of every official. Just prevent the state legislature from convening, or the mayor or the town council. Because there’s always going to be questions….heck even when there was no democracy there were questions on who took over whenever someone died or needed to be replaced. The point of Democracy was to solve these things without having everyone start slugging it out whenever some noble died childless.
PST
@Soprano2:
By a weird coincidence, it turns out that ivermectin may actually be an effective treatment for rosacea. The citation is to a pre-pandemic paper published on an NIH site, so I presume that it is completely unaffected by politics. It turns out rosacea has been linked to an immune reaction to demodex mites, incredibly tiny critters that colonize most of our faces. (Ick! They love to hide in our eyelash follicles.) That is, of course, completely consistent with the use of ivermectin in humans and other mammals to fight invertebrate parasites.
OzarkHillbilly
@Quinerly: Got the J&J in mid to late March. I have several comorbidities, high blood pressure and COPD, in addition to my general decrepitude.
sab
@Barbara: One of my relatives did that, but I think she had to lie and say she was unvaxxed, which meant her booster was a double dose. Is that wise?
ETA: She needed to have a CDC vax card for the booster. Initial vaxes were in CA, “booster” was in OH, which is keeping track of in-state vaccinations.
Tony Jay
@MattF:
Oh, of course they will. And then when the Senate “fails to do its duty”…
If the Republicans are stupid enough to make Insurrection 2: Election Boogaloo the tent pole of their 2022 campaign… words fail me.
OzarkHillbilly
@Barbara: In Misery they don’t, and my insurer was only too happy to pay for the 2nd round.
OzarkHillbilly
@sab: Didn’t harm memememememe none.
MattF
@Barbara: In my county (Montgomery, MD) it’s thought that people are lying about their vaccination status in order to get an additional dose.
PST
@japa21:
Also, it seems to me that Costco people take masks seriously. My sample size is small, of course, but in the Chicago Costco I use, most people wore masks even during the period when their use was not mandatory for all. I saw many more masks in Costco than in Whole Foods or Mariano’s, for example.
Peale
@germy: Fine. $60,000 indexed to the value of the increase in net worth of Senators reported annually. We’ll find that before long, there will be no cap.
Matt McIrvin
@sab: People shouldn’t lie about this. In the long run, the distortion of public-health data will do more damage than the booster doses help.
artem1s
@Betty Cracker:
he was vaccinated so expect the GQP to use this to spread disinformation to AA communities that they can’t trust the vaccine.
sab
@OzarkHillbilly: That’s anecdotal but reassuring.
Matt McIrvin
@Peale: The endpoint is things like the Wilmington, NC coup of 1898. Just abrogate democracy if it seems like the wrong people are winning.
L85NJGT
That’s nice of Pete not to cancel Christmas.
JPL
@jeffreyw: Powell had Parkinson’s also.
sab
@Matt McIrvin: My husband and my reaction exactly.
SiubhanDuinne
@satby:
Ooh, thanks! That does look like something I’d watch with interest and pleasure!
PST
@rikyrah: Thank you for the citation to General Powell’s condition. I usually respect the decision of families not to go into a decedent’s medical history, but in this case I think that if news stories are going to mention that the cause of death in a vaccinated person was COVID-related, it is misleading not to mention a highly relevant medical condition. I have a good friend who is being treated successfully for multiple myeloma, which at least one of the tweets mentions as the specific blood cancer that Powell had. He is a doctor, and therefore an unusually knowledgeable and sophisticated patient. He was the first person I knew to have received a booster shot, and he says that prior to the booster his antibody count had dropped to essentially nil. It’s the treatment, not the disease itself, that is the problem, if I understand correctly. Dissemination of this information would be helpful in dispelling the fear that Powell’s death means that vaccination doesn’t work, although of course that won’t stop the propaganda machine. His case is more the exception that proves the rule.
artem1s
@JPL:
Powell believed in the right for SOME people to vote. He was part of the crowd that believed in profiling because if you got into trouble it was obviously because you were guilty of something – like being in the wrong part of town. He was definitely a ‘I got mine, fuck you’ Republican. He may have come out for Obama, but he would have never thrown his support to someone like Stacey or Maxine. He was no where when the GQP was swiftboating Kerry or Max Clelland. He was at best, a fair weather friend after W and Cheney made him look like a stooge in front of the whole world. He’s no better than Pence IMO.
WaterGirl
@JPL: Thank you!
@Kathleen: Thanks for asking about my family.
schrodingers_cat
@WaterGirl: How are they doing. Husband kitteh thinks it is safe to go India this December. I am not so sure.
The almost 20 hour journey has me the most worried.
SiubhanDuinne
@Peale:
Laydeeez and jentimums! Putcher hands together for … The Wars … of the ROSES!!
Ksmiami
@OzarkHillbilly: don’t hate me bro, but have you tried the DASH diet? It’s really effective for ppl w high blood pressure. I like your comments and want you around…
JCJ
@schrodingers_cat: Yup. We are looking at traveling to Bangkok in January. All that time sharing air with the other passengers in the flying tube has me concerned.
rikyrah
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I just read this three times.
DA PHUQ
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: Thank you!
PAM Dirac
@PST:
Yes and no. Myeloma is a cancer of plasma cells, the cells the grow out to make antibodies. Most treatments can’t do a very good job of distinguishing the myeloma from the healthy plasma cells, so your antibody production is going to be hit hard. On the other hand, when the myeloma is going full tilt, the cancer cells outcompete the normal plasma cells and your normal antibody production is also hit hard. Killing the cancer cells kills normal plasma cells and encouraging the normal plasma cells to grow encourages the cancer cells to grow. It’s a very delicate balance and the poor survival rate is an indication that the balance can’t be maintained for very long. In any event, to even hint that his death is a failure of vaccines is a flat out lie.
MattF
@rikyrah:
That’s nice…
Ruckus
@mrmoshpotato:
I would imagine that it is tough to see, smell anything good, or use reasoning if one has their head stuffed firmly up the exit orifice, having proven that actual, realistic, logical thought is not possible for that individual, as they have parked their cranial lump in a place not intended for it.
Brant
He wallpapered over Mei Lei, when it happened; wingnutty enough for me.@Baud:
Ksmiami
Ps: remove Manchin from his committees. Not an ounce more assistance from the Democratic Party. He’s made his bed; he can go be a middling sycophant to Mitch. We have real enemies to fight. Might as well be honest about it
Benw
@debbie:
While having that idiot back in public life would be awful, I would like to see the expression on his dull face when Pelosi presents him with a tiny, tiny gavel.
Another Scott
@PST: Recognizing that it’s really hard to prove causation, especially when powerful interests aren’t interested…
Benefits.com:
Cheers,
Scott.
eclare
@satby:
That does look interesting!
narya
@PST: I think it may vary by area of the city, too. The Jewel near me is very very masked, as are the Whole Foods’ that I’ve patronized, but I also know that some neighborhoods are less so.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
They are that stupid. Apparently they have no choice since they have a voter enthusiasm problem and the GOP needs the Dumb Ass Donny fan bois who only show up to vote when he is on the ticket.
schrodingers_cat
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: I agree with the analysis you had posted a while back about how the Republican moves are coming more from a place of weakness than a place of strength.
They are dangerous but neither all powerful nor invincible. And there is no need to pretend that they are.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Benw: Even more hilarious would Trump having to go to Pelosi and the Dems to get anything done. Remember Pelosi basically controlled The House in 2017-2018 because the Republicans couldn’t agree on anything.
Baud
@satby:
Cool.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I agree, but let’s not underestimate the stupid shit they capable of. The most likely result of Trump Speaker of the House is a doomed from the start impeachment attempt on Biden and then two years of debt crises because of Trump having a hissy over being publicly humiliated again and refusing to do anything.
Hopefully the idea of Trump as Speaker will get our people out to polls next year.
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
I would bet that older people with other underlying health issues other than Covid could have a much harder time surviving, and it doesn’t seem that any significant number at any age have an easy time if their case goes past some point. As we see in the elderly with any health issue. How long we live depends on our specific and general health. And people not vaccinated reach that point of no return a lot easier/faster. I also suspect that, as we’ve been told by medical science numerous times over the last 70 yrs, a vaccine will not stop all cases of a disease getting through and doing whatever it does, the higher the vaccine distribution cuts down massively on the spreading rate, but does/can not stop it 100%. It is the limiting of the spreading rate which ends the destruction by the disease.
If you are fully vaccinated and get exposed, it is highly likely that your case will be much less severe but you can still have the disease, can still spread it for the shorter time before your body fights it off, but it is far more likely that you body can and will fight it off, if your body is reasonably strong. Not all 84 yr olds have reasonably strong bodies.
MattF
@Benw: Trump as Speaker is a Bannon fever-dream. Yeah, it’s possible, but —given that Trump is incompetent and indolent and doesn’t want the job— it’s very unlikely.
Brantl
@Elizabelle: That would be a fine sentiment, if he hadn’t known he was lying, AS HE WAS LYING, AND A MILLION IRAQIS HADN’T PAID THE PRICE.
schrodingers_cat
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: There is no underestimating either their malice or stupidity after their complete capitulation to the stable genius with the combover.
PST
@Betty:
True, but treatable for years and years. People have different levels of success, but there are sequential treatments that give people additional leases on life when the previous one becomes ineffective. Kevin Drum, formerly of Mother Jones, has had it since 2013 and is still blogging away cheerfully, occasionally filling readers in on his M-protein levels and the like. Same for a friend of mine, who has fewer years in but is still on his first treatment regimen. However, the various chemo and steroid treatments are immunosuppressive. So Powell may not have been at death’s door or anywhere close due to his multiple myeloma, but it could still have opened the door to an infection that he otherwise would have weathered successfully. I don’t know how Parkinson’s could affect the equation, but it is somewhat difficult to see a connection unless it too requires immunosuppressive treatment.
Brantl
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Cheney ginned that stuff up out of his ass, and Powell knew he was a liar, and repeated it, anyway, it was the cost of his keeping his position, he can rot in hell.
Quinerly
@Barbara: I am in a different state this month and next month. (Live in Missouri, traveled thru Southern CO month of Sept. Now in New Mexico for Oct and Nov. If my plan holds I will be in AZ most of December)
I thought about lying and saying l haven’t been vaccinated at all to get a shot that would be a basically unapproved booster. Still may have to lie. Going to give it a week and see what’s up then.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@schrodingers_cat: Well “Fan bois” says it all. Going by the way they put Trump on Sylvester Stallone’s body, they obsessing over some imaginary Donald Trump too.
The things we go going for us Trump’s fan bois don’t care about politics, so won’t show up and vote for some other politician not named Donald Trump – both Gatz and MTG are supposed to be in big trouble over that issue. So if they GOP can’t retake the house, when Trump does pop on the TV again in 2023, he will be visibly older and not the young 80’s Trump his fan are in love with and will refuse to vote with old fake Donald Trump.
Ruckus
@raven:
Because, as you well know, they did nothing, not before, not during, not after. They were not leaders, they were enthusiasts.
Peale
@PST: So basically he’ll be used as an example of “The vaccines are junk” when he’s really the example “vulnerable people made sick because you couldn’t be bothered to social distance for more than 1 week last year.”
cain
@lowtechcyclist:
You think Trump will give up his Speaker position even if he became President? Think again. He will claim both positions and merge it into one.
rikyrah
@Geminid:
Rational fascist.
You have the correct phrase. You nailed it.
cain
@dnfree:
I wonder if they realize that Republicans can use that against themselves and many will. Especially if there is bad blood between politicians. The first time that happens will be an interesting wake up call.
Ruckus
@jeffreyw:
My radiation oncologist has told me that you are never cured of cancer, no matter which cancer it is.
They may not be able to find any but that does not mean it will not reoccur. And some cancers can only be controlled because to get the cancer to the point of not being able to measure it, the treatment would kill you. I am assuming that he has an idea of what he’s talking about. I take tests every year and discuss them with him, to determine that I have not relapsed.
PST
@Peale: Bingo. Exactly. It is so typical of the GQP and its media arm to use something like this to argue the opposite of the truth.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Brantl:
As I said, it was pretty pathetic reason for a war.
And I know how the debate in the Bush admin went
The Doves “look, nerve gas is not worth a war and we will be stuck in Iraq for decades. It’s just like ’91.”
The NeoCons “Hitler nerve gassed the Jews! So you think Chamberlain was right? Well why don’t we just replace the national flag with a white one since we have gone all surrender monkey.”
And then it’s Bush asking Powel to do the team a solid and speak to Congress “‘Cause you know them Neo Con bois are batshit nuts and no one belives them.”
Adam described all this with The Blob.
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: Fascism is not rational. Fascist pretend to be rational to get elected and then spread their mayhem once in power. Case in point, Narendra Modi. He ran as someone who would taken on the moribund bureaucracy and unleash India’s potential. What he has unleased instead is bigotry and blood lust.
Ruckus
@sab:
A double dose of vaccine? Does not compute. My understanding and talking to the docs/nurses that have given me both Pfizer doses and my “booster” are that they are all the same dosage. A standard Moderna dose is larger than a Pfizer dosage, which has been said to be why the Moderna was thought to be a stronger vaccine in the first place and why the time was longer between doses. J & J is a different type of vaccine than either of the others, more of an older type of vaccine, not an mRNA vaccine. From what I understand it is not quite as effective but it’s effect seems to hang around longer. But without a high enough vaccination rate among the population we will still have spread and to keep the effectiveness of the delivered vaccines high enough, boosters are required. And for those who say that we aren’t doing enough for poorer nations, the US has provided well over a billion shots to poorer countries. Our own population and almost twice as many other humans with shots is nothing to sneeze at.
GoBlueInOak
@dnfree: This is what creeping fascism looks like.
Kathleen
@WaterGirl: Sending mojo to you and your family!
Ruckus
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us:
Selfishness does seem to be a rather strong conservative trait.
PST
@Ruckus: I hate to argue with an oncologist, but I honestly think that there are some solid tumors that are, if you’re lucky, truly cured with excision alone. Colon cancer, for example, has a “short tail.” Disease free survival rates don’t change much after 3 years. I’ve had that one myself, and I’m back on screening every 10 years like everyone else. Bladder cancer, on the other hand, tends to recur, so I get to be reexamined for that annually for life. And breast cancer has an ugly reputation for showing up after a long remission.
Tony Jay
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
On some level I think it’s even more cynical than that.
Selling The Doomed Impeachment of Granpappy Biden as a way to shove whatsizface (McCarthy?) onto the Slob Emperor’s stolen throne won’t stir many MAGA breeches, but that wouldn’t be the case if Desperate Don was elevated to the Speaker’s Chair and only two expedited removals away from owning the Libs as never before.
Can you imagine the level of concentrated crazy that would explode from Wingnuttia if that possibility were dangled in front of them? And then to be snatched away by the refusal of the Senate to give them what they want? They’d lose it beyond all sight of rational shores.
It would be deliberately painting a massive target on the two people standing between Trump and ‘victory’, and there are a LOT of gun-humping ‘patriots’ with mental issues out there.
Kathleen
@WaterGirl: Heart Emoji!
RaflW
@PST: Treatment has improved significantly since 1994-1996 when Multiple Myeloma took my mom. She was highly intolerant of the steroids, unfortunately (first round landed her in a locked ward for 48h, so that was the only round).
She got a couple of remissions and was able to spend quality time with lots of loved ones, dear friends, and to visit a few ‘bucket list’ destinations (boy is that a loaded term when carrying an active cancer diagnosis).
But it was a rough disease. By the time my aunt (related only by marriage, and never lived in the same cities as my mom so ??) had MM, treatment had improved soooo much. Still a painful and harsh cancer. And becoming alarmingly more common.
Ruckus
@PST:
The type of cancer determines their growth rates. Some are slow growing, some are very rapid. The very slow growing ones are seemingly easier to control because of their growth rate, if nothing else. The fast growing and easily disbursable, like blood cancers – they live in a moving environment, spread rapidly and can spread widely. Breast cancer is one of those and is one reason it is so deadly – that’s what killed my sister, it can easily, rapidly and widely metastasize. You have to find it early and get rid of all of it. Mom lived for almost half a century after her discovery and operation and it had nothing to do with her demise. Sis got 6 yrs, not all of them enjoyable.
My cancer was/is a slow growing cancer and normally takes years to metastasize, and yes some tumors can be removed and that will be curative. As I said above Mom’s was, sis with same cancer decades later was not. Mom’s was caught early and she was lucky in that regard. Sis’s was not caught early enough, she had surgery and a couple of horrendous rounds of chemo, it didn’t work. I found out that others with the same cancer as I did had surgery and still had to go through radiation as well. It’s all timing and discovery and those depend on the cancer, your healthcare or lack there of, and blind pig luck.
sab
@Ruckus: Isn’t the recommended Moderna booster 50% of the Moderna #1 and #2 dose, so by sneaking in and getting another Moderna #1 they are getting in effect a booster that is twice the recommended dose for the booster ( shot #3?)
dopey-o
lost a couple of friends to MM, but one has survived it. After spending 6 months in-patient at Stanford Medical’s hospital. Not everyone has that kind of luck and resources. She was in her 50’s, and youth is often an advantage.
Brantl
@Jeffro: Not oxygen, breathing. If you adopt a pro-oxygen stance, they will start trying to take all of the oxygen out of the atmosphere!