Sunday, January 23, 2022
Centrism Can Only Be Failed
It is true that voters might be reacting to things other than the candidate himself. Maybe some voters are really fucking mad at wokeness, that thing people keep talking about on TV! Quite possible. But it isn't some meteor that showed up the day before election day. Gotta figure out how to win with the electorate you have, not the one you want.
WINTER FUNDRAISING DAY 3
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I regulary get people pitching ad companies to me, but they're invariably like "We can improve your ad revenue 27% with some [coded language which means auto-on video ads, or some other horrors crawling across your screen]!"
This blog is ugly, but still mostly functional unlike most of the rest of the internet.
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We're Never Going To Fix Any Of This
Fanatical devotion to the status quo is, sadly, considered to be the height of seriousness in The Discourse. I'd even be more accepting of this if it was merely, "the status quo, but a bit more convenient," but often it is impossible to stare down even the trivial forces that impose large burdens on the rest of us.
I mean, "we" can't even fix spam calls. There are also the related cycles of, "YOUNG PEOPLE AND PEOPLE OF COLOR WILL SAVE US," followed immediately by, "oh no, not like that."
Back To Work, Serfs
As the omicron variant of the coronavirus drives record staff shortages at nursing homes nationwide, Francis has increasingly found herself alone on her 12-hour overnight shifts at Bridgepoint Healthcare’s skilled nursing facility in Southwest Washington, fighting off panic attacks as she tries to feed, clean and rotate more bed-bound residents than she can handle. Some nights, she retreats to a corner of the facility, where she calls her partner and sobs. Other nights, all she can feel is anger.I know our system is bad, two senators are horrible, and the president doesn't have a magic wand. But I also *know*, because the most ghoulish people in government love to give anonymous quotes to the press explaining how the they are fucking smart and the hippies are wrong about everything, that there is absolutely no interest in even thinking about problems like this in a constructive fashion.“I’ve never, ever felt this disrespected,” Francis said.
Frustration is surging among the low-wage workers who make up the backbone of the nursing home industry, as tens of thousands of their colleagues call out sick with covid-19, inflaming shortages that already were at crisis levels. Hailed as “heroes” during the early months of the pandemic, these workers, most of whom are women and people of color, say they’re facing untenable levels of pressure.
Saturday, January 22, 2022
Don't Get Strung Out By The Way I Look
Curry had a stroke a few years ago, which had long term consequences, though he does spend time on Twitter hurling (joking) abuse at people who suggest that he is dead.
Mild
Some people think skydiving is worth the risk because it sounds awesome, some people don't. Some people think going to work in a meatpacking plant in the middle of a pandemic is worth the risk, BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE ANY FUCKING CHOICE IF THEY WANT TO EAT, and some don't. I don't like to drive, in part because I think it's dangerous (it is!), but I've also arranged my life so I largely don't have to. Rarely driving is not especially costly for me, unlike many people. Do any of us have perfect measures of these costs and benefits? Of course not.
It is a funny thing how economist-types begin with the premise that people are rational decision makers with perfect information, and then love to come up with examples of people who are, to them, behaving stupidly. Sometimes in the same Econ 101 class! There were over 3500 covid deaths in in the US yesterday. No one knows their own personal risk, or the precise benefit of things like mask wearing, so it's hardly crazy that some people are a bit wary and hardly crazy that people think a bit of mask wearing might be the non-asshole thing to do.
Of course it isn't just the risk of death. Getting covid sucks for many even if there are no serious long term consequences! Extra bad if you have no or shitty health insurance and no sick pay! Extra bad if you have kids to take care of!
Winter Fundraising Day 2!
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"The blogs" are gone, but largely so are the communities that were built around them.
Wishing Covid Away
This is why I find the tenor of discussion around Covid-19 restrictions genuinely bewildering. There basically aren’t any. The United States is powering through the Omicron wave with its usual enforced individualism. The hard restrictions on our activities are, for the most part, not mandated or enforced by the state, acting at the behest of liberals who refuse to go back to normal because they are addicted to panic and quarantine; the limits are imposed by the virus that isn’t going away. My kid’s school class went remote for a while because people had Covid-19. He’s back in school now even though his principal has Covid-19. As usual in the United States, the people who won the political argument are now complaining the loudest that they’re dissatisfied with the results, and, apparently, it’s all the fault of the losers.Anyone else remember "we're losing the Iraq war because the hippies aren't clapping loudly enough"? Similar vibes.
Friday, January 21, 2022
Rudy!
NEW YORK — The retired federal judge assigned to review the contents of 18 electronic devices seized from Rudolph W. Giuliani’s home and offices in Manhattan last spring has withheld about half of what former president Donald Trump’s personal lawyer argued should be kept out of the hands of investigators because it was privileged.
Who Are We Fighting
They've been less explicit about telling activists to shut the fuck as the Obama administration was, but they've hardly enabled them.Psaki on voting rights bills failing: "My advice to everyone out there who's frustrated, sad, angry, pissed off, feel those emotions, go to a kickboxing class, have a margarita, do whatever you need to do this weekend, and then wake up on Monday morning, we gotta keep fighting." pic.twitter.com/WkW4dJz0PB
— The Recount (@therecount) January 21, 2022
Might be rude, might turn off "normal" America. Might have some inappropriate signs, or come up with some destructive slogans!
Ah, I know, she means give some money to your favorite blog, Atrios dot blogspot dot com! Thanks for the push, Jen!
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