The census is coming down to the last 10 days, and the cases are getting harder. The way it works is: Most people respond to the form that went out in the spring. The ones who don’t get a home visit from someone like me, who, if they don’t answer the door, leaves behind a notice with a code where they can go online or call a toll-free number and do it there.
And if they still don’t respond, they become “proxy eligible,” i.e., we enumerators are obliged to knock on their neighbors’ doors, asking nosy questions about who lives next door, etc.
You can imagine how well this goes over in Detroit, especially when the questions are posed by a Karen like me.
Almost everything I had today was a proxy-eligible case. Rarely they’re easy; mostly they’re not. But the job is taking me onto some blocks where you can really see how fragile a neighborhood really is. Blight is a metastasizing cancer. I once shadowed a neighborhood manager in Detroit for a day, and he theorized that if you don’t get there early — if you don’t tear stuff down when there are maybe two rotten teeth in a row of houses — you risk being too late. Two bad houses can be cleared, and it’s a block with a couple of vacant lots, which in a still-stable neighborhood will be mowed and cared for and maybe turned into garden plots by the people who live adjacent. But if all the houses go bad, quickly, all you’re left with are those little-house-on-the prairie blocks.
Which can be very pleasant, I hasten to add. The people who stick it out often find themselves quite content, listening to pheasants and watching other natural scenes out their windows. The other day I was pulling out of a condo complex near Lafayette Park and a red fox trotted right across my path. I know they can become quite comfortable in urban environments, like their coyote cousins, but it is still startling to see.
Anyway, today I had one of those blocks. A weird one, too — one whole side of the street was 90 percent boarded, the other was maintaining. One address was easy, a godsend even, as it was being restored and the owner was there. The other was partially boarded, but not entirely. No answer to the knock, of course. A neighbor, a proxy, said he “saw people going in and out,” but only sometimes, and probably they were squatters. I stared at the app on the phone. I figured something out, but not sure what it was.
On the other hand, there were delights, the best being a 12-year-old boy, alone in the house, one year too young to be officially interviewed, who stunned me by saying, “Oh yeah, the census. We only got until the end of the month, right?” I asked how he knew that.
“I read everything,” he said. “I play video games and I read.”
“So what did you learn today?” I asked.
“The Chinese are test-driving a flying car,” he answered, instantly. You don’t say.
Ten more days of this.
I’m grateful to be busy. Friday night’s news, combined with one slice too many of pepperoni pizza, had me staring at the ceiling until past 2 a.m. If eyeballs could shoot death rays, I’d have burned a hole in the roof. I stopped reading about it by Saturday morning; I just can’t stand it anymore.
And now the week yawns before us. God, let it be not-too-terrible. I can’t take another like this one.
beb said on September 20, 2020 at 10:08 pm
The boy was right, the Chinese did demonstrate a “flying car.” It was a quad-copter large enough to lift a man (a small man I’m sure) inside a frame to protect him from the down draft. Helicopters also qualify as a flying car and I think we all know how impractical those are for daily use.
I think the theme for the upcoming week should be “Paint it Black.”
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Dexter Friend said on September 21, 2020 at 3:37 am
A coyote attacked a woman in the Marin Headlands 3 days ago, on the beach…she walked to her car and drove for help.
Update: Lori is holding steady, feeling somewhat better, must have oxygen or her level drops quickly. She now is able to eat a little food. Of course she will be there until all is well, or possibly be sent home to quarantine for two weeks or whatever the protocol is in her case. She is taking the Covid 19 death of her co-worker and confidant very hard. I swear, I think I’ll be masking up the rest of my days.
And in case you missed it…the Lions were destroyed by Green Bay, as if we didn’t know that was going to happen. 42-21. *sigh*
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Dorothy said on September 21, 2020 at 7:00 am
This site is my calming visit, my steady, sensible information site. I’m trying to remind myself that there are so many more important things in life than politics and concentrate on them. My youngest sister finally got to hold her grandson this weekend, the day before he turned two months old. (They live 6 miles apart but her daughter-in-law has been hyper cautious.) My son’s new house finally got the foundation started and concrete poured. My granddaughter fell asleep in the car on Saturday after a day visiting her mom’s side of the family, a bag of M&Ms still held in her hand and the picture of it was very sweet. My daughter was the night news editor at the Post on Friday when the news about RBG broke and she handled it extremely well. We visited dear friends on their back porch on Saturday morning and got caught up with each other after so many fraught months. So it’s these things I am focusing on. Today I am grateful for Nancy keeping this page going and going, and the stability it brings to all of us who hang out here.
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Alan Stamm said on September 21, 2020 at 7:35 am
Oh yes, I’d eagerly read a Census-Taker’s Diary type of news site column with anecdotes, observations and musings. JS ;-}
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Suzanne said on September 21, 2020 at 8:11 am
“… my calming visit, my steady, sensible information site.”
Yes, I agree Dorothy. Especially as I live in solid Trump country. Here I can express my views and here, I learn a lot.
Trying to keep on keeping on. I share this from Diana Butler Bass. It helped me put things in perspective.
“Ruth Bader Ginsburg was one of us. An extraordinary example of work well done, of standing in the gap between injustice and justice, and of dedication to the whole human family. Not a savior but a co-worker, a sister standing in a long line of courage. The temptation is to look for a king – or queen – when what we really need is the beloved community, each one doing his or her or their part in turn. Doing good work. Sometimes we are on the winning side; often we find ourselves in the dissent.”
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Icarus said on September 21, 2020 at 10:50 am
Dexter, as good as news as can be expected. Hope the news continues to trend up.
also know how you feel. After the Lions gifted my Bears a win in Week#1, I was certain they’d give the Packers a run for their money. Bears won another game they should have won. A legit team would have put the Giants away without a nailbiting ending. I have no faith in them producing enough points to beat Atlanta next week.
In addition to adding SCOTUS, isn’t it about time we upped the number of House Representatives? It hasn’t changed since the Taft administration (when the size of the House was set at 435) and while i’m not one to ordinarily advocate for more politicians on the payroll, it might have a more realistic chance of fixing the Electoral College than the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
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Jakash said on September 21, 2020 at 12:00 pm
I find it ironic, though infuriating, that the revered, slave-holding founding fathers were so concerned about insuring that the nation was not tyrannized by an out-of-control majority that they established a system whereby the nation is instead currently tyrannized by an intemperate, reactionary minority.
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Jakash said on September 21, 2020 at 12:13 pm
One pleasant thing in the midst of this year of continual bad news: Schitt’s Creek won 7 Emmys last night — every major award in the comedy category, the most ever for a sitcom in a single season. So that was cool. The Covid edition of the awards show itself was rather weird.
Somehow we missed any indication that the show was coming up. I was reading the paper last night at 8:30 and saw references to it, by which point SC had already completed its sweep, so we had to go to YouTube to watch the parade of Creeksters accepting their awards. Remarkable, really, for what started out as a pretty random little show.
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Charlotte said on September 21, 2020 at 12:21 pm
I canvassed for Steve Bullock (and Mike Cooney) this weekend and boy oh boy was it depressing. We’re door knocking “undecideds” — people who voted D maybe once in the past couple of elections. I was out in a neighborhood on the north side, apartment buildings (some of our only), an HRDC set of apartments, and a well-maintained but crowded trailer park. It was pretty okay until the HRDC/trailer park section — lots of camo/MAGA/big Trump flags. Voting for the guy (Steve Daines) who wants to take back the Medicaid expansion that Steve Bullock got them as governor. “Because of Christian values!” they told me. It’s also hunting season, so it was pretty fucking intimidating and a couple of places I just checked off the list. Nope. Not knocking on the door of the trailer with the huge Trump flag.
Then I get back and the college kid who runs our local D office is guilt-tripping an older volunteer who was also frightened and intimidated by the section they sent him to. We’ve had months of these assholes driving around town in jacked-up trucks with huge Trump and confederate flags on the back. I wound up yelling at the volunteer to stop bullying people and storming out.
So. That went well.
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jcburns said on September 21, 2020 at 12:23 pm
This really does seem like a perfect retirement career job, Nancy…getting someone to pay you to go into random neighborhoods, knock on doors, ask a handful of questions, and come away with a little miniature story to tell.
I suppose the only part is to figure out the “someone to pay you” part.
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Jeff Borden said on September 21, 2020 at 12:34 pm
Charlotte and others living in or near tRumpyland. . .
This column by Chicago Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg is one of the best I’ve seen in explaining the hold a third-rate reality TV performer and serial bankrupter has on his fans: He’s their drug. This is more compelling than my theory, which is that his fans love him because he hates the same people they hate.
Just in case the S-T has a paywall, I’m including the link to Steinberg’s blog, where the column appears. Enjoy.
http://www.everygoddamnday.com/
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Sherri said on September 21, 2020 at 12:35 pm
Yes, Icarus, expand the House, which was only fixed at 435 after a political battle which saw no reapportionment happen after the 1920 census revealed that more Americans were living in cities.
It would make gerrymandering harder, be more representative, and be in line with other mature democracies. If you look at other mature democracies, there’s roughly a cube root effect: the legislatures are a cube root of the population size. If you applied that to the US, subtract out 100 senators, that gives you around 590.
Also, restore the staff that Gingrich cut in his Contract with America. Congress deals with complex issues, and when the staff was cut, that meant that lobbyists started writing legislation because there wasn’t staff to do it. It also meant that only people whose parents could support them could afford to work for Congress members.
And most importantly, restore and expand the Office of Technology Assessment.
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Sherri said on September 21, 2020 at 12:57 pm
The lack of any guidance from the federal government has led to a real mish-mash of school policies around Covid, from states requiring in-person instruction regardless of case numbers to much more cautious policies. Here, I think we’ll begin to see elementary kids move to in-person instruction within the next month or so, but high schoolers may spend the entire year remote.
https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/why-washington-states-guidelines-to-open-schools-are-more-cautious-than-others/
The good news is, things are getting better here, slowly. The worst of it is in in Eastern Washington, and King County’s numbers have finally begun steadily dropping week to week, though we’re still a long ways from where we were when we began to open up more.
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LAMary said on September 21, 2020 at 1:51 pm
The mention of Gingrich and his effing contract with America made me audibly groan. I’m alone in a home office and still I groaned out loud. The dog thinks something’s wrong. Gingrich was/is a toxic ingredient in the politics of the last thirty years.
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Charlotte said on September 21, 2020 at 4:32 pm
Jeff @11 — yup. That’s why I’m done canvassing. I’ll try raising some money, but it really was not safe out there. Hate to be afraid of my neighbors, but I am, and have been for a bit. Not immediate neighbors on my street, but there are places like this in the west where gentrification has really done a number on a small town, and while one doesn’t want to be paranoid, I can see now how violence like Bosnia broke out.
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Julie Robinson said on September 21, 2020 at 4:52 pm
Wonder if Newt is over at the Holy See, with Callista the Ambassador.
So maybe Nance needs to set up a Patreon kind of thing. I participate in one of those elsewhere and I’d kick in a few bucks.
We had such a wonderful weekend with our son and his girlfriend and I’ve continued a mostly news blackout today. We’re at that perfect zenith of weather with sun and mild temperatures, and it’s hard to feel too upset about anything. There will be plenty of days ahead for that.
Didn’t watch the Emmys because we can catch the good stuff on youtube. Probably haven’t seen most of the shows anyway, the exception being Schitt’s Creek. We’re waiting on the last season to come to Netflix.
Dexter, here’s hoping Lori continue to improve.
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David C said on September 21, 2020 at 5:02 pm
I was reading somewhere, it might have been Rachel Bitecofer, that canvassing isn’t very effective anyway.
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alex said on September 21, 2020 at 5:11 pm
Newt’s probably banging one of his non-English-speaking cleaning ladies while Callista’s off doing her thing in Rome. Or maybe he even has designs on wife number four, a slightly younger and prettier gold-digger, about whom Callista will learn when a process server shows up with some divorce papers.
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Jeff Borden said on September 21, 2020 at 5:20 pm
Alex,
If Gingrich is true to form, he’ll wait until Calista has cancer before leaving her. He’s an absolute piece of shit.
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LAMary said on September 21, 2020 at 5:54 pm
https://tinyurl.com/yysjghz5
Something to make you feel good for just a little while.
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Brian stouder said on September 21, 2020 at 5:56 pm
The series of census-related posts strike me as a gold mine for a ‘Telling Tales’ compendium. From the well-read kiddo to the frumpy Trumpers, and the array of different neighborhoods in a great American city – and in these dreaded ‘interesting time’s in American history….I’ll buy that book!
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Jim said on September 21, 2020 at 6:12 pm
CNN is showing me large numbers of shoulder-to-shoulder unmasked Trumpers at a soon to be rally in Dayton. Assholes.
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LAMary said on September 21, 2020 at 6:31 pm
Here I’m posting cheerful stuff and suddenly I read about Gingrich banging someone. Totally harshed my mellow.
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Dexter Friend said on September 21, 2020 at 7:54 pm
nance could give John Carlisle a run for his money.
Just Facetimed Lori. She said she answered because she had a little bit of strength built up from eating 4 grapes, which is all she has had so far. She told her mom she was eating so Mom wouldn’t worry. She feels weak and just bad.
Looks like I have to drive back to Commercial Point this weekend. Some medical supplies sent here, which Carla Lee said she didn’t need…well, now she will need them soon. Oh well…I like seeing the family anyway. My step granddaughter has a 4 year old daughter who is funny and such a joy to be around. Sarah (the step gdd) moved in with Vanessa (my daughter) to go to school and finish her degree. She was living in Las Vegas.
This RBG death and the repuggs’ reversal of their Garland plan,(held the court to 8 justices for 14 months) just makes me sick. Graham said put it on record he commits to stopping any rush to appointment, then backs down from it. Weasel! Ted Cruz is the biggest asswipe, completely reversing his stance on Garland.
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Jeff Borden said on September 21, 2020 at 8:17 pm
Peace, strength and love to you, Dexter. You may be the most straight up, stand up guy I’ve met in a long time. You accept what life throws with you and you deal with it, when so many people blame the stars, the gods, the fates, the neighbors, etc. I am not religious, but I so hope your daughter fully recovers.
I wonder if Democrats have learned a thing since 2010. Fuck tRump. Fuck his cult. Fuck the GOP Senate. Double fuck Moscow Mitch and Leningrad Lindsey. A cabal of compromised pimps and traitors are running the government. Use a flame-thrower, not a fly swatter.
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Dexter Friend said on September 22, 2020 at 1:58 am
Appreciate it Jeff B. You mention stars…as a kid I lived in the dark Indiana countryside, with wonderful views of constellations. The only thing in the sky I cared about was the moon in all its phases and The Big Dipper. Even now while dog-walking, I look to the north to give a nod to The Big Dipper and reflect to my childhood; the stars are still there. I could not imagine humans walking on the moon, back there in 1956. The next year we were staring at Sputnik. We really could see it up there. 12 years later, man on the moon.
Amazingly, Lori just posted her docs told her the plan is to send her home to recover on Wednesday. She’s still very ill, but this is the way it is done these times. Also on Wednesday, youngest daughter Vanessa is having more surgery; this time it’s cancer-preventing ovarian removal. She currently is cancer free but is keeping after all aspects of preventative measures. Carla Lee is still having visiting nurses coming , running IVs of antibiotics , still.
I got a look on the teevee of Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, where the Raiders beat the Saints in a massive upset. Brand new $1.6B palace, pales in comparison with that remarkable complex in Los Angeles which cost $6B. That is a stadium with a superstructure atop, a separate thing. One side of the stadium is open to the ocean breezes, said Al Michaels . So it’s called a domed stadium but the dome is like a giant awning…it’s amazing.
Well, karma did not see fit to bend my luck; my lottery tickets were duds and the black licorice jelly bean jar is empty.
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Deborah said on September 22, 2020 at 8:28 am
Yesterday I looked up the equinox on google and all I got were car ads. I was trying to find out the date so I had to enter “beginning of fall” or something like that to find out it’s today. And in a little over a month we’ll be giving up daylight savings time again. I hate the time of year when the light gets shorter and shorter. Much as I loved visiting Scandinavia in the summer, I could never live there in the winter.
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basset said on September 22, 2020 at 8:56 am
We booked a summer trip to Sweden just before the virus hit, got a refund on the nature tour but we’re still fighting with Priceline over the plane tickets. Maybe next year.
I like the fall and the shorter days, early sunsets in the woods and feeling winter coming on.
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Dorothy said on September 22, 2020 at 9:00 am
Deborah you have about a half hour of summer left! On the news this morning they said it would be Fall at 9:23 (or something like that) this morning.
This year just keeps getting worse and worse. I lost the last family member from my parents’ generation in May when my Aunt Jackie died (stroke, not Covid); my daughter’s partner’s mother died in July; a good friend has a renal aneurysm and is having surgery in October to repair it but it’s going to entail removing his kidney, doing the repair and then putting his kidney back in – he’s a nervous wreck about it; and last night I heard that the man who built our house in Mount Vernon has stage 4 lung cancer and he just entered hospice. He survived a leg amputation (vein blockage) in 2009, throat cancer, colostomy – and now this. The most recent diagnosis was just a few weeks ago. Is it any wonder I feel like I’m one step away from doom every frigging day? Politics is only half of it!
I’m going to go lock myself in my sewing room for a few hours and see what I can come up with.
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Mark P said on September 22, 2020 at 9:02 am
Our Republican senator, Kelly Loeffler’s new ad says she is more conservative than Attila the Hun. Yes, that’s her ad, not her opponent’s. Attila is going to eliminate the liberal “scribes.” Our “governor” has also talked about how she will fight the liberal media. Now, remember, this is Georgia. I wish I could ask these dumbshits to point out a single media outlet in Georgia that is even close to liberal.
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Mark P said on September 22, 2020 at 9:11 am
Here is a rational take on the ad:
https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=48544
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Deborah said on September 22, 2020 at 9:30 am
Don’t get me wrong, I love fall, cooler temps, the warm colors of trees etc etc, it’s my favorite season. I just wish the daylight stayed longer.
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LAMary said on September 22, 2020 at 10:33 am
Kelly Loeffler is a real gem. She was one of the people who made some changes to her stock portfolio after being briefed on coronavirus and before that knowledge became public. She also is part owner of the Atlanta WNBA team and she opposed the players taking a knee for BLM or making any sort of statement or gesture in support of BLM. Many of the players are Black.
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Julie Robinson said on September 22, 2020 at 10:37 am
The shorter days are already affecting me, and it looks like we’ll be here through another winter after all. We’ve been having trouble finding a contractor for our addition in Orlando. Apparently the slowdown hasn’t affected them yet.
Some don’t even show up for appointments, some decline to bid, most have had ridiculously high prices. Then there’s the ones who only want to build it their way, no matter what we actually want.
So we’re on our way to IKEA in Indy to look at kitchen cabinets, as well as a flooring store. The one contractor wants us to buy from his preferred manufacturer, with no online info except pictures of the cabinet fronts. When I asked for specs, his answer was to stop by their store. Of course it’s in Orlando and when I said I couldn’t get there I heard radio silence. So obviously he makes extra money on these cabinets and I’m going to have to fight for what I want. This is the best one we’ve found, too.
We also have several people in our life facing health challenges but I can’t talk about them right now because they are choosing to keep them private. There’s plenty to worry about though.
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Julie Robinson said on September 22, 2020 at 10:42 am
Romney just folded. Now there’s something to worry about.
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Icarus said on September 22, 2020 at 11:17 am
regarding the days getting shorter and DST, I don’t know how useful this will be but I donated a few spare dollars to this cause
https://www.change.org/p/congress-permanent-daylight-saving-time-end-the-time-change
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Suzanne said on September 22, 2020 at 11:18 am
Romney folded. Like we all knew he would. They all will. Republican morality is different than what most of us think as morality.
To think I considered voting for Romney. Whew! So glad I didn’t.
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Icarus said on September 22, 2020 at 11:22 am
Julie Robinson @ 34: this is one of the many reasons I dislike working with contractors, handyman, carpenters, etc. The 2nd reason is most don’t take credit cards…they claim it’s the fees they have to pay but in reality it’s because if they screw up or don’t come back after getting 90% of the moneys, I can revoke the payment.
In other news, while Autumn is my favorite holiday, today also marks the 6th birthday of my twin (boy and girl) children. One of the good features of Facebook is the Memories (on this day) that shows all the birthday pictures from the last 6 years.
their birthday present was bringing home two kittens from a shelter.
next up, Nightingale’s birthday and our wedding anniversary…busy week.
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Connie said on September 22, 2020 at 12:07 pm
Our wedding anniversary is coming up as well. We were just talking about spending some of Tom’s nice but not huge inheritance on a weekend away.
So my census enumerator story comes in three distinct phases. The first was several weeks in my own neighborhood including several lovely days around the lake. Lots of nice people, lots of closed cases.
Then three plus weeks at the apartment complexes in Wixom, ending up at the largest unit for fifteen working days straight. There are 47 buildings, each with three or more entrance. Each entrance has twelve apartments on three floors. I finally told my supervisor I wanted him to come and climb floors with me for five hours. Very few people answering doors, very few closed cases.
Then, unexpectedly and with no advance notice: phone calls to Detroit. Each address has five phone numbers, most of which are out of service, left a few scripted voice mails, talked to a few people who had never been in Detroit, including two different guysin San Antonio. Found a landlord and closed one case.
My supervisor tells me I am transferred to Detroit and will hear from a new supervisor. I haven’t yet, but someone is approving my daily time sheets.
In other news my sister in law had a major stroke with a brain clot that involved surgery. She is now in rehab ar Mary Free Bed in Grand Rapids. And is in pretty good shape. My brother works for Adobe, they gave him four weeks to accompany her. I had to remind my brother about the time our family swore to never go to Mary Free Bed because they tore down grandma’s favorite restaurant.
And my weird census experience with no detail. Trump cheers and rants over an audio doorbell.
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Sherri said on September 22, 2020 at 12:08 pm
Romney’s statement is the weasely worst. “I’m relying on precedent, and precedent says you don’t vote if the Senate and President are different parties but you do vote if they are.”
I hate high-minded pretense. But I think Romney showed us who he was in 2012, when there was nothing he wouldn’t do to pander. Remember self-deportation? Remember his trashing the ACA, even though it was functionally identical to his major accomplishment as MA gov? There are no Republicans with principles beyond obtaining and maintaining power.
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Deborah said on September 22, 2020 at 12:58 pm
So this has been hanging heavy over me the last couple of months: I had a diagnostic mammogram and sonogram this morning and yay (!) everything is fine. I figured it was going to go the way the rest of 2020 has been going, but I lucked out.
Tomorrow is our 20th wedding anniversary. And my 70th birthday is in a little over 2 weeks.
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Scout said on September 22, 2020 at 1:01 pm
I’m not surprised Romney turned out to be a weaselly partisan fuck after all, but I am definitely feeling the weight of sadness that the American empire is falling, ironically under the guise of making it ‘great again’. Only a blue tsunami can right the ship. Just winning the presidency will not be enough, we need the Senate or we truly will be done. McConnell is not going to be voted out, so we MUST neuter his power. Trump, Barr and McConnell are 3/4ths of the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse. Trump’s extremist SCOTUS nominee may signify the 4th.
I’m sure most of you have already seen some version of this; it’s totally my mood today.
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Peter said on September 22, 2020 at 1:53 pm
First off, Dexter, best wishes that all goes well for you, your mate, and your daughter.
I can’t add much to the Supreme Court discussion other than to say that back when America Was Great, people would have waited until after the funeral to start arguing over the right of succession, but Fearless Leader, his feckless Senate buddies, and Deparment of Fox Propoganda are no better than a bunch of red assed baboons constantly flinging their poo, so what do I expect.
But here’s how naive I really am – I do think that the GOP is shooting itself in the foot on this one. A lot of people voted for Trump because of the Supreme Court, once they get their wish, how many of them will figure that they got what they want and part ways? Sure, there’s the cultists, but getting the Supreme Court would be the chance for them to make a break and say that “see, now we’re even…” And how about those senators in a close race – no matter what they do or say, they’re going to piss off valuable voters.
Everett McKinley Dirksen said that, when given a choice, he wanted to be on the losing side of a close vote, because winners never remember who voted for it, and losers will never forget.
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Colleen said on September 22, 2020 at 1:55 pm
I just gave some money to the ACLU. Seems like they will be very busy for the foreseeable future….
Democrats really need to play hardball. Use every legal tool they have, quit trying to work across the aisle and play the way the Republican party plays…dirty.
We will be celebrating our 18th anniversary this weekend. We have decided on dinner out at The Melting Pot. Since their seating is very private, we will automatically be social distancing.
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ROGirl said on September 22, 2020 at 2:30 pm
I have an in-person job interview tomorrow. Had 2 phone interviews last Friday. I heard back on one of them. It was with a recruiter who messaged me on linkedin. She sent my resume to the hiring company, I had a phone interview with them this morning. Now they want me to come in tomorrow. I will have to work onsite.
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Sherri said on September 22, 2020 at 3:53 pm
This sounds about right.
https://twitter.com/Kate_DowlingNZ/status/1308493289557901312
For many years, the GOP sold fear. Now they’ve decided to cut out the middleman, and go directly to selling hate.
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Julie Robinson said on September 22, 2020 at 4:10 pm
Icarus, I hate contractors too. We are pretty dedicated DIYers, but most of this project is outside our scope. We already said we’ll be completing a couple parts ourselves. We both fell in love with the IKEA cabinets and all the lovely organizing possibilities. So that’s for sure now.
Connie, here’s hoping for good healing for your sister-in-law. With all this census work, are you not at the library anymore? ‘Cos ACPL is open again.
ROGirl, crossing my fingers for a good interview for you!
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Sherri said on September 22, 2020 at 4:33 pm
Now Romney also says that his liberal friends have gotten very used to the idea of a liberal court over the decades.
The court has been at best center-right for over 30 years.
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David C said on September 22, 2020 at 6:24 pm
If Rmoney thinks this court is liberal, God help us.
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LAMary said on September 22, 2020 at 6:55 pm
The scotus is considered liberal because Roberts voted with the libs a couple times. Good luck ROGirl. I had one place interested in me that had a bad reputation; a hospital; and they wanted me on site. That company in general has a bad rep, very high turnover. I took a pass. Someone I know accepted. In a month they were looking again. She quit.
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Sherri said on September 22, 2020 at 6:56 pm
Just as true today as it was four years ago when she wrote it, and just as relevant.
Do not think that you woke up today in a different world. You woke up in the same white supremacist patriarchy that you’ve been waking up to your entire life. Know that this is why our country is the way it is. This is why our black men are in prison. This is why we have a gender wage gap. This is why our Indigenous American brothers and sisters are currently being pepper sprayed and attacked by dogs for trying to protect our environment. This is why our women are being raped at a rate of one in five. This is why white households have 12 times the wealth of black households and 10 times the wealth of Hispanic households. Because we live in a country that is so scared of change that it would elect Donald Trump for president. And we’ve always lived in that country.
So now it’s in the open. Now there is no denying that we live in a White Supremacist Patriarchy that the majority of white people in just about every demographic in America voted for. Now we know that the problem isn’t personal preference, it is not the economy, it is not lack of education. Now we know that there is no middle ground. Now we know that it is our very liberation that is the threat. So we can’t give up. We must fight, we must continue the progress that has made the majority of white America so scared, and we must fight for that progress harder than ever before. Because there is only freedom or oppression; now is a time for each of us to decide which of the two we will define ourselves by.
https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2016/11/09/24680638/good-morning-america-welcome-to-your-white-supremacy
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Dorothy Michalski said on September 22, 2020 at 8:44 pm
This seems particularly relevant this week – the RBG passing and the subsequent dire news about the Senate is making me over-the-top anxious. I’m going to try to follow this advice:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/pandemic-psychological-first-aid-anxiety/2020/09/21/7c68d746-fc23-11ea-9ceb-061d646d9c67_story.html
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alex said on September 22, 2020 at 9:16 pm
Who cares what Mitt Romney thinks? He got busted telling a bunch of robber baron campaign donors that the middle class are a bunch of “takers.” He’s every bit as fatuous as Donald Trump and they hate each other only because Romney has a shred more respectability in the upper echelons of white society while Trump has the lowest of the low jumping through hoops at the snap of his short fingers, and each envies the other’s monopoly.
At this point, I think it’s absurd of the mainstream media to keep on pretending that El Trumpo has any chance of overcoming his deficits, but if it drives turnout against his pathetic ass, it’s okay by me.
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