Italian translator: Trump vs. Biden pic.twitter.com/bpQnSB4uNP
— The Recount (@therecount) October 29, 2021
I knew what the ‘Satchel Paige story’ was gonna be, even before finding the clip:
#BREAKING: President Biden tells Pope Francis a story about famous pitcher Satchel Paige. pic.twitter.com/UwJfCrjhUw
— Joanna Preston (@JoPrestonTV) October 29, 2021
These are two old guys who have risen to positions nobody ever expected from them — and who are now doing good things that have surprised their supporters almost as much as their enemies. I for one am glad they’re enjoying themselves!
Elsewhere: The horror, the horror!…
Wages and salaries jumped in the three-month period ending in September by the most on records that date back twenty years, increasing 1.5%. Many companies have been forced to offer higher pay to fill a near-record number of available jobs. https://t.co/yFhgTz9pjA
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 29, 2021
It's how he repealed the ACA. https://t.co/9GrFwewr7b
— Please mess with Texas (@agraybee) October 28, 2021
So every effort that looks like a failure — like yesterday (!) — is just another demonstration to outline the bounds for a future agreement. Those “failures” are how the lines get drawn and they’re necessary. No one can cave without a painful fight first.
— Tony Fratto (@TonyFratto) October 29, 2021
The BBB/BIF negotiations aren't unusually messy, it's just the first major spending bill of the age of hyper-engagement, the age when people get outraged about who Democrats put in charge of bringing the bagels to the weekly meetings.
— Please mess with Texas (@agraybee) October 30, 2021
ETA: Sorry these latest posts are running late — I’ve been fighting a mild bout of the spindizzies (labyrinthitis) all week, and reading even slower than usual.
Baud
We’re are all Italian translator.
Baud
Feel better, AL. You are my window into the outside world.
Ken
I must be old. I remember when “BREAKING NEWS” was reserved for, oh, major earthquakes, war breaking out, death of a head of state. “One old guy tells another old guy a baseball story” doesn’t really qualify as “#BREAKING”.
Baud
@Ken:
That ship sailed years ago. Breaking news now means anything that’s not investigative reporting.
Ramalama
I loved the Satchel Paige chat between Biden and Populous. I didn’t understand the tweet about the ACA.
Can anyone explain? I made cookies last night. I am afraid if I drink morning Earl Grey (Russian Earl Grey these days because my Trader Joe’s stash is drunk and done), I’ll eat some cookies for breakfast. But clearly I am in need of caffeine. Go ahead, coffee drinkers. Laugh.
Steeplejack (phone)
When Twitter sums up an entire controversy in one devastating tweet:
Benw
Hope you feel better AL!
OzarkHillbilly
No apology necessary, Anne.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Ramalama:
McConnell famously did not get all the votes he needed to overturn the ACA. Mavericky maverick John McCain said no.
Phylllis
The translator lady’s face in the trump clip is clearly communicating ‘someone on my staff is in for a helluva written warning when this is done’.
Ken
@Ramalama: The claim was McConnell gets the votes he needs. The ACA was an example to the contrary; he brought the repeal to a vote and didn’t get it passed.
Subtext is that the Democrats are usually a bit better at making sure they have the votes before bringing it to the floor.
Elizabelle
Hope you are on the mend soonest, Anne Laurie. Get your sleep!
Labyrinthitis, huh? You remain consistently interesting, and educational.
Fact sheet from the UK’s National Health Service. Inner ear infection that affects one’s balance. Should resolve on its own, but takes time. “Labyrinthitis [inflammation of the labyrinth – a maze of fluid-filled channels in the inner ear] is usually caused by a viral infection, such as a cold or flu, so antibiotics will not help. But a GP may prescribe antibiotics if they think your infection is bacterial.”
germy
germy
germy
OzarkHillbilly
@germy: Heh.
NotMax
In the spirit of Halloween, a libation with a name fit for the holiday: Corpse Reviver #2.
;)
debbie
@Phylllis:
What’s “WTF” in Italian?
Hope you’re better soon, AL. Spins really suck.
Gin & Tonic
I’m going to be the pedant this morning and say that people like that woman in the first Tweet are called interpreters and not translators. Translators do written text, interpreters do speech in real time.
Ken
@Gin & Tonic: Though whether you are an English/Italian interpreter or translator, there is still the expectation that one of the two parties will be using English
It does make me ponder whether any of the interpreters said “screw it” and just started chatting with the other head of state. “Yes, he’s still babbling. Our idiom is ‘salad of words’, I believe yours is ‘donkey song’? Oh, and thank you for pretending you’re having a conversation.”
Lacuna Synecdoche
I guess Elizabeth Holmes can’t be all bad …
Immanentize
AL, post when you can and get better soon.
Labyrinthitis? Wasn’t David Bowie in that film?
Lacuna Synecdoche
@Immanentize:
I don’t know. Is that the one written by Jorge Luis Borges?
Dorothy A. Winsor
AL, we appreciate what you post for us. Do it when you can.
@germy: That baby squirrel sounds a little like human babies do when they eat.
OzarkHillbilly
That face.
mrmoshpotato
@germy: Haha, well played, but WTF if that’s true. Definitely harassment.
germy
@mrmoshpotato:
No, he’s joking. He’s doing parodies of all the “FU I quit” texts people have been posting on twitter.
Immanentize
@Lacuna Synecdoche:
No, Jim Henson.
Ken
@Lacuna Synecdoche: Remind me, that’s the family that got their money by founding Amway? In which case, exactly; I really don’t care if she was conned by a company with a slick sales pitch and nothing behind it.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone???
debbie
There’s so much shit going on quietly. ?
germy
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Yes, that sound brought back memories of 30 years ago when our offspring were still infants.
The woman who recorded the squirrel, she’s really into recording squirrels. The producers of the latest dune movie used some of her work to create sound effects for one of their tiny sand creatures.
mrmoshpotato
@Lacuna Synecdoche:
Yup.
Oh, she conned Betsy DeVos out of 100 million bucks? Good for her!
rikyrah
AL ,
Get better soon????
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: and they say Italians use their hands to communicate….
debbie
@Ken:
I’d forgotten about Amway. The universe’s sense of irony just cannot be beat!
rikyrah
@debbie:
Go Governor????
Kay
Leto
@debbie: Che cosa fanculo!?!?! Che cosa = what/what the and fanculo = fuck. Colloquially it’d be che fanculo?!?!
Ramalama
@Steeplejack (phone): Thank you. I thought so.
Kent
@Ramalama: it also takes 41 votes to block something and 60 votes to pass something in the Senate. McConnell mostly just blocks shit. They only actually tried to pass two major pieces of legislation during the Trump era. Tax cuts and ACA repeal and were 1 for 2. They repealed the filibuster for SCOTUS appointees or would have gotten none of those either. So McConnell’s supposed genius is way overrated.
Tony Gerace
@Baud: … and there’s very little investigative reporting for the past four decades or so … It’s almost as though most “news” organizations are useless.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Ramalama
@Ken: I made the tea and ate 2 cookies. I’m on a nod right now. Soon to crash.
Thank you for the brief.
This is the recipe – total pain in the arse, totally amazing cookies – fyi.
germy
Takes guts to con Betsy DeVos out of money, knowing who her brother is.
Immanentize
Does anyone know what the heck is going on with this supposed ISIS threat in Northern Virginia this weekend (Malls targeted! — ed.: Malls? Those things still exist?)
Anyhow, seems like a Q fever dream right before the election?
Leto
@Immanentize: Italians use everything to communicate. It’s a whole body workout. That’s the true “Mediterranean Diet”.
Ohio Mom
Just happy to see you Anne Laurie — when I logged on a little later than usual this morning and your Covid post was nowhere to be seen, I naturally worried about you. I see that my worry wasn’t entirely misplaced, and hope you are feeling better soon.
mrmoshpotato
@debbie:
Yup. There’s so much Rethuglican shut to keep tabs on.
Go Big Gretch!
And thanks again to my fellow Illinoisans who helped give our GOP nightmare the boot.
Oddly, Rauner hasn’t fucked off for Italy yet. (He claimed he would if he lost re-election.)
Lacuna Synecdoche
@Ramalama:
Maybe try some green or white tea? The light colors and flavor are deceptive – the younger the leaf, the more caffeinated it is.
Immanentize
@Kay: I read that and thought — three subpoenas would defeat that ban.
sab
@Kent: I thought it takes 60 votes to move things forward, so they don’t even need to have 40 votes present to stop that, only 11 to prove xthat there are not enough votes to proceed.
Norm Ornstein wants that as a minimum for filibuster reform. If they want to block stuff then all of their people need to be present to vote to block. No going back to the home district for long weekends if they wamt to stall everythimg.
Betty
Sorry to hear about your labyrinthitis. Having gone through bouts of vertigo, I know how debilitating they can be. Hope it clears up soon. I love the Pope, and Joe’s a good guy.
James E Powell
@Ramalama:
Do they still make Jolt Cola?
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: She was speechless in more ways than one.
debbie
@Leto:
Google Translate prefers your first one. I like it, too, especially when I imagine a couple of hand gestures reinforcing the words.
brantl
@Lacuna Synecdoche: I hope someone takes Betsy DeVos for every con there is. Karma should work.
Percysowner
@Ken: We also didn’t have the media breathlessly asking “Will the Pope allow Biden to receive communion” back then. The Pope already said he wouldn’t withhold communion from anyone, but that hasn’t stopped the conservative Catholics here in the USA from demanding Biden be excluded. A nice conversation between Biden and the Pope means the Pope doesn’t think Biden should go to hell and THAT apparently is news in today’s world.
Baud
@Immanentize:
Yeah, my first thought was scare all the white people.
rikyrah
Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) tweeted at 7:08 AM on Sat, Oct 30, 2021:
Horrible. The University of Florida has banned three professors, including @ElectProject, from working on a lawsuit against a Florida state voter suppression bill, on absurdly specious grounds. We need to know if Ron DeSantis was involved in this decision:
https://t.co/1seSNlRrjv
(https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS/status/1454419975230431233?s=02)
germy
So the Lincoln Project arranged a tiki torch prank?
They should really stick to raising millions to create cheaply-made videos, and airing them on Fox.
eclare
@germy: What?
germy
Billionaire Buying Sandwich Unfairly Targeted With 5% Sales Tax
OzarkHillbilly
Exclusive: Derek Chauvin jurors speak out for the first time, recalling ‘traumatic experience’ and that light-bulb moment
I’ve never seen the whole thing, never will. I watched just enough to see the look of utter indifference on Chauvin’s face (and another cop’s face) and that was enough.
Gin & Tonic
The A/C guys are here installing our split minis. Just in time for winter.
germy
@eclare:
sab
@germy: The thing we need to remember about the Lincoln Project is that they were all okay with all this stuff right up until Trump got elected
ETA Actually, a lot of them invented rhis stuff. Brooks Brothers riot, for example.
Kay
@rikyrah:
Two of the three experts were involved in uncovering a GOP redistricting scandal in FL in 2012. I’m sure DeSantis would love to get rid of them.
MomSense
@Gin & Tonic:
It took months to get new heat pumps installed.
One of our kayak friends passed away over the summer. He loved kayaking with my youngest son (both guitarists). Anyway today we are driving over to see his wife. He left his Betsie Bay wood frame to my son. They also were Bernese Mountain Dog breeders so we will get a nice visit with the dogs today, too.
Frankensteinbeck
@Ken:
As I recall, interpreters during the Trump administration went through Hell, because the people they were translating him to would not believe he was actually saying shit that stupid, incoherent, and childish in syntax. A lesser problem was that sometimes Trump would abandon grammar altogether and could not be accurately translated.
Geminid
@germy: The local organizer of the stunt fancies herself a James O’Keefe of the left. There is more on this at the end of the late night thread, comments #57-60.
eclare
@OzarkHillbilly: I’ve seen a few stills. Like you, I have not watched the video, and I never will.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I’ve just learned that a friend has a “chronic, neurological disease.” That’s it. She’s been getting worse for several years and that’s what they can come up with. For treatment, they told her to slow down. To me, it sounds like what my BIL had, like what my first beta reader had, and what my DIL has. IOW, there’s this family of disorders that doctors don’t know much about. Are these things increasingly common?
Gin & Tonic
@MomSense: Sorry to hear about your friend. Those are nice boats, though.
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
At one of the protests I went to they had us all lie down in the street for the full length of time. It was horrible. No one was on my chest. Just lying on the road became painful after a few minutes.
JWR
@Ken:
True, and I have faith in Pelosi and Schumer to drag BBB across the line. Even still, and until it’s really done, the image of Kyrsten Sinema pulling another thumbs down stunt haunts my every waking hour. Dems don’t trust her, and neither do I.
Frankensteinbeck
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
They are not increasingly common. Medical science is increasingly willing to admit a non-diagnosis rather than slap a catch-all label on the problem.
brantl
On a lighter note Elizabeth Warren wrote a children’s book, I just heard it on NPR.
MomSense
@Gin & Tonic:
It’s really nice. On the group paddles the two of them would always end up together just gabbing and having fun.
Ohio Mom
@Dorothy A. Winsor: You could ask Ruckus, he also has a mystery neurological condition. Maybe he has some insights.
debbie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
As someone who chased a diagnosis for years, I think it’s more like doctors are finally acknowledging they can’t diagnose everything.
zhena gogolia
@OzarkHillbilly: Same here.
Anonymous At Work
Filibusters weren’t common in LBJ’s time. They weren’t “holy” and “mythical” “traditions”. They were understood to be tools to prevent civil rights for blacks and protection for Jim Crow laws. That’s it.
If McConnell had come at LBJ, the filibuster would have been gone the next day. If McConnell had held up a Supreme Court spot, “Republican Senate Minority leader’s traditional holiday fasting and self-flagellation” would have been introduced.
But then again, LBJ had the votes of Rockefeller Republicans (i.e. Republican because Lincoln had been one) and could wrangle votes from Southern Democrats (i.e. Democrats because Lincoln had been a Republican).
sab
@Geminid: So was she Lincoln Project at all, or just an idiot organizing a small group of like minded idiots?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Frankensteinbeck: @Ohio Mom: @debbie: I think maybe I take it too much for granted that medical science knows how to diagnose and treat what ails us.
zhena gogolia
@Geminid: Yeah, I don’t like that woman and her tactics.
zhena gogolia
@sab: I think she works with LP.
mrmoshpotato
@Ramalama: Yummo!
topclimber
@Gin & Tonic: Says you.
Geminid
@sab: She was working with the Lincoln Project. Both say this was an ironic attack on Youngkin’s loyalty to trump. But it looks like they said this only after the flimsy ruse was found out.
JWR
@Geminid:
Lauren Windsor. I recently linked to a podcast interview with her, and while I appreciate her politics, she struck me as a bit, i dunno, immature in her tactics? Sort of a “Jane Hamsher of the left”.
I just finished that thread. Here’s the link to your comment, if anyone’s interested.
Baud
The “Republicans are all powerful” meme is designed as an attack on Dems.
Betty Cracker
@rikyrah: If DeSantis wasn’t involved in the decision, I’ll eat my shoe. He and his board of wingnuts have totally cowed the University of Florida admin. As an alum, I’m ashamed of them. Just have to remember to be calm and polite next time a poor student intern calls to beg for money on the university’s behalf. It’s not their fault the university’s leaders have been coopted by a fascist.
Kay
@germy:
My objection to the Lincoln Party is they’re conducting an inter-Party Republican battle from inside the Democratic Party. I don’t care about the heart and soul of the Republican Party and whether they’ve lost their way and I’d prefer their (losing) battle not be conducted within Democratic campaigns. I get that they have nowhere to go, wah, wah, Party Of Reagan. That doesn’t mean I take them.
RandomMonster
I had to look up ‘labyrinthitis’. I suppose it’s the kind of word you learn and don’t forget once you’ve had it. Anyway, be well AL!
Frankensteinbeck
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Good lord, no. Biology is outrageously complicated. Every human body works differently. Problems as subtle as 10% less production of one chemical in a grape-sized area of the body can produce catastrophic results, while being damned near impossible to directly test for. The only way to make any headway on a topic this complicated is to build generation after generation of knowledge on previous discoveries. That adds the problem of the prejudices of previous generations leaving mistakes that later have to be rooted out, along with everything built on that knowledge. Medical diagnosis is hard, and we both know a lot and there are vast amounts left unknown. Licensing requires doctors to constantly take classes and update their knowledge.
And that’s when a doctor is competent and trying to do a good job.
Gin & Tonic
@topclimber: Huh?
Starfish
@OzarkHillbilly: I couldn’t watch it either. I saw some of the stills but never the video. Darnella Frazier, a teenager, stood there and took that video to prove that this man was being killed by the police. She had more bravery than I think I would have had under those circumstances.
James E Powell
@Baud:
And a justification for the press/media to lean their way.
Immanentize
@Baud: and everyone!
I have two pieces of funny (to me) news from my local municipal elections:
1) this has been a flyer campaign mostly (always look for the union Beatle!) So one candidate named “Nuzzo” put out a funny (nutso?) Flyer which was meant to be serious I’m sure:
“Committed to continuous incremental improvements”
2) our revolution endorsed a slate of mostly young lefty candidates. This morning I found a b/w flyer pretending to be from O.R. touting “Our Marxist Agenda” including “raise property taxes,” “defund police,” and the true tell “Critical Race Theory to be taught in Medford Schools.”
Hoo boy
Kent
Strangely the converse argument is no longer ever made, although it should be. During Kennedy’s time there was a lot of question about whether Catholics could serve the US faithfully or whether they would be beholden to Rome. If the US Catholic bishops demand that all Catholics in public service violate their oath of office to the Constitution then we should ask if Catholics should be allowed to serve in public office in the first place. I would argue no. If you are going to violate your oath of office to the Constitution then you are unfit for office and should be removed.
scribbler
@NotMax: Mmmm. My favorite drink!
Starfish
Thank you for all that you do, Anne Laurie.
Ken
Maybe the candidate is a programmer, and is promising to bring agile practices to government?
(Which will mean 95% of the time things will gradually get better. The other five percent, suddenly the sewers will run backwards and all the municipal government employees will only speak Klingon, requiring the city be rolled back to last week’s version.)
Kent
Well yes, it is also too easy to filibuster. You are right about that.
The larger point is that McConnell is far from the legislative genius he is made out to be. All he knows how to do is obstruct. He didn’t manage to pass a single piece of partisan legislation using regular order during his entire time as majority leader. They passed lots of stuff but it was all non-partisan things like defense budgets and such. Their only major partisan legislative accomplishment, Trump’s tax cuts, was passed using reconciliation. And even their attempt to repeal the ACA was attempted using reconciliation and failed due to GOPers jumping ship
The real problem and imbalance in the Senate is that the entire GOP agenda can be passed with 50 votes whereas anything the Dems basically want to do requires 60. Tax cuts, judges, and deregulation all only require 50 votes. But any new legislation requires 60.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I know there are lots of BJ writers. Someone from the Barrington Writers Workshop interviewed several writers, including me, about our experience going to a local author fair. Maybe you’ll find something useful.
mrmoshpotato
Totally unsafe but hilarious
mrmoshpotato
@germy: Five percent sales tax. Haha! Sign me up.
Leto
@debbie: back from dog walkies, and breakfast; yeah, the first one is the literal translation. But live use is the colloquial way. Cosa is implied with it. As always, I remember most of the cursing. I started watching some “basic Italian language” videos via YouTube recently and some of the basics are coming back
Edit: another example would be “mother f’er”. Common phrase among English speakers. In Italian it’d be fanculo tu madre/mama! F your mother! Which is understood to be “mother f’er”. And while you might not understand “fanculo”, you understand tu madre/mama, and quickly put it together. Again, things you learn on the soccer fields :)
sab
@Kent: I agree with your larger comment.
mrmoshpotato
@sab:
Exactly. Ratfucking what they did for a living.
Gimme a liberal who spent decades talking about the POS GOP.
Leto
@Kent: @sab: this was posted here about a week ago. I think it was poster JWR that posted this link, but it’s essentially a historical look from John C Calhoun to Trumpov, and how McConnell took the art of obstruction to obscene new levels. It’s a longer read, but pretty informative.
The Tyranny of the Minority, from Calhoun to Trump
sab
@Leto: Thank you. I missed that.
Leto
@mrmoshpotato: I scream this all the time. I know Nicole Wallace “saw the light”, but she’d spent decades enabling this shit. A lot of the Republican guests she has on her show, they enabled all this shit. They were the ones pushing this agenda right up until the Russian asset took the nomination. Yeah, you’re making some good points atm but YOU are the reason we’re in this fucking mess. And you’re not taking any responsibility for it. (Because of’ingc they’re not going to take responsibility for the monster they created. Right on brand. Always forward, never back.)
mrmoshpotato
@mrmoshpotato: Brain isn’t up yet.
Ratfucking IS what they did for a living.
sab
@Leto: And her guests are continuing with this. One of her authors (possibly her boyfriend) was on with his book trying to repair Rod Rosenstein’s reputation. And she has Ken Vogel on periodically. Same old rolodex, so same people but with a slightly different spin.
Leto
@sab: So this is off topic, but related. When Texas drafted their Roe killing bill, why didn’t it immediately run afoul of this pervious Supreme Court ruling? (From the article)
IANAL and all that, so maybe some of our in-house counsel can explain?
Mike in NC
After the January 6th attack on the Capitol by fascist Republicans and other neo-Confederates, most of the far right-wing pundits who pollute our newspapers (Marc Thiessen, Jonah Goldberg, Cal Thomas, etc.) broke from sucking up to Donald Fucking Trump.
An exception would be Victor Davis Hanson (AKA Victor Davis Handjob, AKA the Fascist from Fresno) a brain dead asshole who coined the term “Islamofascism” to promote a war against Muslims after 9/11. Even today he puked out a column attacking Dr. Fauci and General Milley for not worshipping the Fat Orange Clown. I think it’s because Trump was a MAGAt who hated Mexicans even more than Handjob.
Gin & Tonic
Saw this on Twitter, but need to verify – maybe after my next cup of coffee. If you grind up every living human on the planet, you could make a meatball 1km in diameter. That seems kind of small to me.
Tazj
@Immanentize: I’m not from Virginia and have no idea what threat ISIS poses there, but I’m very suspicious of that story. I’d say I have to agree with what Victoria Brownworth wrote on Twitter which is that it sounds like a GOTV effort by the police.
It’s hard to believe the police anymore when you know that so many are in the tank for Trump and Republicans that they won’t even get vaccinated.
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
Been there, done that. Misplaced the T-shirt.
;)
OzarkHillbilly
I think we are just becoming better at seeing them. My mother had blood clots. I have blood clots. My sister has had one and so has my brother. We’ve all tested negative for Factor 5 (the one known genetic cause) but there has to be another they have yet to find.
Old Dan and Little Ann
I’m glad I looked in dog food bag this morning in garage instead of just reaching in for scooper. There was a tiny field mouse sitting there. Saved myself a heart attack.
mrmoshpotato
@Gin & Tonic:
ETA – Bob’s Burgers was originally going to be a show (still animated) about a family of cannibals who ran a burger joint.
NotMax
@Old Dan and Little Ann
“I’ve discovered the motherlode!”
sab
@Leto: Yeah. Originalism means we can ignore anything the Federalist Society doesn’t like?
I went to law school probably before you were born, and didn’t practice long. Accounting makes more sense and is calmer.
Funny story. Rehnquist was newish on the S Ct when I was in law school. He wrote us a letter. The law school administration was thrilled. They posted it on the bulletin board (locked under glass.)
We students used to visit it and laugh. It was obviously dictated not written. It was a page and a half long, two paragraphs, and only three sentences long. Talk about run-on sentences. Not exactly a paragon of legal writing.
ETA I believe he was on serious painkillers for his bad back at the time. High as a kite, but that didn’t stop him from issuing opinions.
mrmoshpotato
@Old Dan and Little Ann: No waking up the neighborhood with an epic scream? :(
Ken
“I can strongly recommend a course of leeches.”
Matt McIrvin
@Dorothy A. Winsor: A lot of degenerative diseases may have just been diagnosed as vague “getting old” symptoms at one time. “Senility” used to be thought of as just a normal characteristic of age.
OzarkHillbilly
As I understand it, there is no federal law guaranteeing abortion.
zhena gogolia
@mrmoshpotato: See Eating Raoul.
Another Scott
@Leto: IANAL either, but our system depends upon people in it actually doing what the law says. And that includes the lower courts.
The state legislatures have lawyers that can tell them what the law is and what is forbidden. Too many legislators don’t care and write whatever laws they want, knowing that some courts will let them get away with it, and who knows, maybe the RWNJs on the SCOTUS will agree. So, worth a shot!!
To be clear, that’s one of the ways bad laws are changed, too. But when one side weaponizes the process when they have power (knowing it will take years to be resolved in the courts even if they lose) and the other side respects and honors the rules and the norms and the process, then it’s not sustainable.
Here’s hoping that Biden’s SCOTUS reform process, and the Congress, actually make some sensible changes so that 5 RWNJs cannot even further gut our system of government. If we can’t win a Fight for 15!! at the moment, there’s still things that can be done.
JustSecurity (from 2020 after RBG’s death):
I don’t know enough to know if that’s the best approach, but all sensible approaches should be considered. Justices and judges are not legislators and they should not be telling legislators that they’re doing it wrong except in outlier cases. They should be ruling within the confines of the law.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Immanentize
@Leto: I think Shelley v. Kraemer, 1948, is even more on point (unanimous decision):
So making the denial of abortion a private cause of action that was created by the legislature, signed by the governor, and enforceable in state courts is plenty of state action.
germy
@Matt McIrvin:
Same with high blood pressure. Doctors used to tell elderly patients it was a normal part of aging.
mrmoshpotato
@zhena gogolia: No thanks. Not even gonna investigate. :)
OzarkHillbilly
And quite possibly a series of rabies shots.
Matt McIrvin
@Gin & Tonic: Volume is (4pi/3) r^3. For r = 500m, that’s about 5*10^8 cubic meters. For 7.7*10^9 people, that sounds about in the right ballpark.
NotMax
@Matt McIrvin
You can fool some of the people all of the the time and all of the the people some of the time, but you can’t fool time.
//
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: Thanx.
NotMax
@zhena gogolia
Droll, tongue super-glued in cheek film.
;)
Another Scott
@Gin & Tonic: Humans have a mass density of around that of water – 1000 kg/m^3.
Say, 50 kg average mass, so roughly 0.050 m^3 volume
7E9 x 0.050 = 3.5E8 m^3 / 1000^3 = 0.35 km^3.
So, yeah, something smaller than a cubic kilometer (depending on what one assumes for average mass and total population).
(Assuming I’ve done the math correctly…)
Cheers,
Scott.
sab
@Matt McIrvin: My family has a hereditary ataxia that can now be traced back at least a hundred and fiftty years. But my mom’s case was the first that we recognized. Her mom we thought was having a bad reaction to her high blood pressire medicine. Her grandfather was always described as a fall-down Irish drunk, although with what he accomplished starting as a sixteen year old Iirsh laborer and ending up with a farm in Wisconsin and a bunch of college graduated professional sons he couldn’t have been much of a slacker. I think his “drunkeness” was mild drinking with the ataxia.
Tragic that his undiagnosed illness destroyed his reputation with his wife, his children and among his descendants. My mom seemed drunk because she had difficulty speaking and problems with her balance, fifteen years after her last beer
ETA Abraham Lincoln’s family has a similar hereditary ataxia that sounds the same as ours. 1/3 of his descendants get it. He probably had it. Balance issues in your fifties. Much more serious coordinatio issues in sixties and seventies. Pretty much disabled by late seventies.
frosty
I hope you feel better soon, AL. You’re the first thing I read every morning. Thanks so much for all your posts!
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: You are welcome. Of course, no guarantee that the current Supreme Court gives a hoot about such a thing as “well settled precedent” or even that pesky thing, “logic.”
Old Dan and Little Ann
@OzarkHillbilly: Peter Parker didn’t need any shots!
Gin & Tonic
@mrmoshpotato:
Actually, it’s about right. A sphere 1km in diameter is a bit over 525 million cubic meters. You get a bit over 1,000 kg of human flesh per cubic meter. If the median human is 150 lb, then you’ll get about 7.8 billion in that meatball.
Another Scott
@Tazj: There’s nothing about a “mall threat” or similar on the Fairfax County Police twitter feed.
https://twitter.com/fairfaxcountypd
I assume that the press is blowing whatever they said all out of proportion. Cops often are more alert around Halloween (small acts of vandalism, etc.) – it strikes me that things along those lines, maybe with some anonymous “threat” rolled in, maybe what they’re talking about. (Some malls used to have trick or treating around here – don’t know if they still do.)
Dunno. FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
Leto
@Immanentize: yeah, that seems pretty clear too. But as we’ve seen over the past 10-15 years, conservatives on the court are more than ready to throw away established precedent in order to achieve their goals.
@Another Scott: that would seem like a tough sell, tougher than filibuster reform. The amount of power Congress has ceded over the past 60 years, idk if they could do something like this.
Leto
@Gin & Tonic: that’s a spicy meatball!
I’ll see myself out.
Baud
@Gin & Tonic:
“I finally get to use high school algebra in real life.”
Ohio Mom
@Dorothy A. Winsor: One of my adages is, if you have to be sick, pick something lots and lots of other people have, and for which doctors have well-established protocols.
For example, Type II diabetes. Doctors don’t even have to think, they read the lab results and then they just start off with a prescription for Metfomin. When that stops working well, they have other meds to add, and they add them in the same sequence as every other doctor would.
The last thing you want to do is be an “interesting patient.” Save being unique and an original for some other pursuit.
Look at you. You picked a heart attack. Maybe not boring to you but not at all exciting for the doctors. They knew what they were looking at and how to treat it, and you got through it.
Matt
Sure: some folks want to help people, and then Manchin and Sinema want to hurt people. We should obviously treat these two needs as perfectly symmetrical in a no-stakes game.
We’ll get crucified in the midterms, but at least we showed those hippies what-for!
Butter Emails!!!
@Lacuna Synecdoche:
Too bad she didn’t get manage to take them for everything.
Ken
Maybe if you leave out the bread crumbs, onion, and egg binder?
Ramalama
@Lacuna Synecdoche: It’s the cookies I was avoiding. Was, the operative word. I’m pro-caffeine and I vote. Some in-laws laugh at my use of the word caffeine in relation to the word tea.
But I did not know the rule of thumb about the younger the whoosie, the stronger the whatsie. I drink a shite ton of tea but don’t really know a lot about it.
Subsole
@Kent: Mitch McConnell’s supposed genius is sittting in the same (exceedingly small) jar as Paul Ryan’s. And John Boehner’s. And Marco Rubio’s. And Chris Christie’s.
God, remember when ol’ Saint Pualie Boy was the media’s next darling little blue-eyed wonder that was gonna save conservatism from itself?
Baud
@Another Scott:
Ugly bags of mostly water.
Gravenstone
@Gin & Tonic: Well, meat shrinks as it cooks …
Ramalama
@James E Powell: Have you ever tasted Jolt Cola? It’s awful. Like pencil lead.
Maybe it’s still drunk in some parts unknown. An avocado-colored mobile home served as a diner in the next tiny town to ours. Run by the cutest elderly couple who’d been there forever. They sold Raspberry Shasta sodas. We figured they bought out 20 years of the stuff, and … were still selling off their stock in the early 2000s. Maybe there’s a similar Jolt story.
Leto
@Ohio Mom:
Similar advice that my last boss had for base level projects: you didn’t want to be the first base where the project would occur, but you also didn’t want to be the last base. I was an “interesting patient” with my motorcycle accident. Majority of people with my type of injuries don’t survive, but they still knew what to do, and here I am. My general surgeon still continues to research ways to help some of my post accident life. But the few paths forward would have me being “the first in the world” to have the procedure done, and he’s extremely adamant (just like my old boss) that I won’t be the first. Let someone else be the first. Let someone else be the 10th.
Subsole
@germy: Eh. Wayne LaPewPewPew conned a bunch of onanistic gun-nuts out of their cash, and he’s still kicking.
Will never cease to amuse that it was the Feds that punished that little fuckweasel, not the patriotic warriors for free market open carry caucasian Jesus.
The foolks who can’t buy oreos without an AR 15 in a patrol sling and Never. Shut. Up. about fighting the next civil war got their cornbread took by a slick little creep in a suit. Did they rise up in blood and thunder? Nope. Sat there and took it while the feds they talk about shooting cleaned up the mess.
Matt McIrvin
@Another Scott: And if you look at the details of the calculation I did, you’ll notice that (4pi)/3 / (2)^2 is not that far from 1/2, so for a rough approximation, you can think of a sphere of some diameter as taking up about half the volume of the enclosing cube.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Ohio Mom: You are so right. I feel for my DIL and my friend. They don’t really have a diagnosis. They’re just sick.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: It’s good info. I am appreciative of that.
Matt McIrvin
@NotMax: And if you grind up all of the people you get a 1-kilometer meatball.
debbie
@Gin & Tonic:
Wouldn’t all the fat melt off while cooking it? //
JWR
@Matt:
No no no! It’s all the Progressives fault! Case in point, Politico:
Leto
@debbie: depends on the grind, how you prep the meat (how much fat you keep in), how much red wine you use during cooking…
OzarkHillbilly
@Old Dan and Little Ann: He wasn’t bitten by a plague rat. ;-)
True story: My father flew on B-29s during WWII. Because of the threat of night time Japanese bombing runs, the crews slept on the planes. One night the old man woke up and found himself eye ball to eye ball with a rat. The rat promptly bit him on his rather prodigious proboscis.
Had to get the whole series of shots.
Ken
@Matt McIrvin: Here’s a handy reference of useful geometry formulas.
(Be sure to read the mouseover text, it has important instructions for interpreting the diagrams.)
debbie
@Leto:
Slightly off-topic, but is it possible to make meatballs out of ground chicken without them becoming little rocks? I came across a recipe for General Tso’s meatballs which used ground beef. The sauce was great, but I think chicken would be a better choice.
Subsole
@Kent: And even on the tax scam they had to drag the country along kicking, cussing, and gouging.
For god’s sake, their own bill was a fustercluck scribbled in pencil. It actually contradicted itself in places. It was an abject mess they had to go back and rewrite just so it functioned the way they intended it to. Just sloppy, junior-replacement grade work.
And that was them being successful.
Which makes sense. Why train up functioning senators and legislators when you want neither law nor democracy? They want a king. A theocratic lityle tyrant who rules by imperial decree.
The GOP cannot produce functioning representatives because it does not believe in representative government.
Geminid
Magdi Semrau seems to have an academic as well as a practical background in childhood education. As @Mangy Jay, she tweeted about the Build Back Better bill:
Ms. Jay goes on to describe the lesser word exposure lower income kids have entering K-12 education. This has real and broad effects:
Just Chuck
@Baud: A more honest description would be “#BROKEN”
Subsole
@Gin & Tonic: The human body is mostly water. We’d lose a lot of volume in the preparation.
Also? That’d be one bony meatball.
Ken
@debbie: I have had some luck with baking turkey meatballs rather than frying them. Also you may need to add fat.
Subsole
@mrmoshpotato:
Two words:
Long.
Pork.
Barbara
@debbie: Pork dumplings are typically made with ground pork and minced cabbage. Adding shredded carrots could also work to keep the meatballs tender if compatible with other flavors in the dish. I use a combination of carrots and onions for beef meatballs.
Baud
Now that TaMara is back, maybe we can have a “To Serve Man” thread.
jnfr
I too have ear issues that lead to dizzy imbalances, AL, and you have all my sympathy and best wishes.
Subsole
@Gravenstone:
Stupid meat. Shrinks when it’s cold. Shrinks when it’s hot…
@OzarkHillbilly:
“Careful, Willy. They charge when wounded.”
Leto
@debbie: definitely! How are you making them? Are you using the sauce to cook the meatballs? How big are they?
Kay
@JWR:
That article makes me even more confident that they if they had passed the infrastucture bill first, there would be no BBB bill.
The Right wing Democrats do this repeatedly- they characterize the infrastructure bill as Biden’s complete agenda. It isn’t true. It isn’t even true in terms of what they’re representing to the public, outside of insidery Politico articles. Are they supporting Biden’s BBB agenda or not? Who can trust these people when they continue to engage in these slippery tactics? Enough. Show your cards.
Villago Delenda Est
The joint photos of Biden and Francis are much more cordial than the joint photos of TFG and his Slovenian escort.
Villago Delenda Est
@Subsole:
They want a return to feudalism. I mean, crazy-eyes Bachmann said it: “The Renaissance was a mistake.”
Sure Lurkalot
@debbie: I’m making a turkey meatball recipe tonight…baked, then put in a hoisin soy ginger sauce. I’m hoping for the best!
Like Barbara, I put grated carrots and onions in my meatloaf mixture, which is almost always ground turkey based. I’m not sure why I don’t like beef meatloaf.
Villago Delenda Est
@JWR:
Tiger Beat on the Potomac is of Villagers, for Villagers, and is as a result pure Rethuglican bullshit.
debbie
@Leto:
Yes, they cook in the sauce. The recipe didn’t specify the size, but I kept them small, like a comfortable mouthful
debbie
@Sure Lurkalot:
Let me know how that works out and if you add the sauce during or after baking. Would turkey be a better choice than chicken?
Just Chuck
@Villago Delenda Est: I believe she said the Enlightenment, which is about 300 years later, and even more apropos as a metaphor.
Leto
@debbie: this video might help:
Chicken Meatballs in Cream Sauce. I think Barbara and Sure Lurkalot’s suggestion about putting carrot, onion, cabbage in the meatballs is a good way to add more moisture. I typically do it like the woman in the video. Fry both sides, then drop them in the sauce to slow cook.
Another Scott
@Subsole:
Obligatory, They plump when you cook ’em (0:15)
Makes you wonder what they’re made of… ;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
sab
Wow, this thread dehenerated. We started about rule of law. Now we worry how to keep human meatballs moist and edible. Did I miss something.
debbie
@Leto:
Thanks, I’ll take a look.
leeleeFL
Joe Biden and Pope Francis are my reason for smiling as well as ugly crying a bit just now. I knew the Satchel Paige story as well. But the joy of hearing Joe tell it with his animation and belief and Francis getting it so easily! It was great and I am totally there for it!
Have a great weekend all!
EntroPi
@Gin & Tonic: I’m in Providence, and we had the AC guys doing installation a week ago.
15 years ago I thought that just getting air for the bedrooms would be sufficient to get through the worst of the summer days. This summer proved me wrong.
Tdjr
@sab: Lol. I noticed the same thing!
something fabulous
My brother is an interpreter. At that level it is a very small world– so funny to see her have this big internet moment! The point is to be as unobtrusive as possible, so it’s neat to see behind the curtain a bit like this.
dnfree
@Dorothy A. Winsor: we had a friend who at first wasn’t diagnosed, then was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and finally turned out to have MS, over a time period of seven years or more. And apparently Lewy Body can’t be diagnosed until an autopsy.
Subsole
@sab: This is Balloon Juice.
We contain multitudes.
Just like the soylentball.
trollhattan
@Subsole:
I contain artificial preservatives and xanthan gum.
Jim Appleton
@sab:
You missed the part about the chickens. It brought the whole thread together.
WayneL140
Dear Anne,
I don’t know if you will read this–I read BJ in the morning, first thing, then the rest of my day is more enlightened. You are a true national treasure. I read everything, but it is amazing how often I learn something from your posts that get past people who have a lot of experience and are paid a lot of money. I have proposed you be given a Pulitizer for your Covid coverage. If I were a praying person, you would be very high on my list. I have to settle for tonglen and sending you peace and good health. Best wishes, Ms. Laurie, and don’t worry. I’ll always wait for you, like a dog at the back door.
:)