Well, this is not good:
BRUSSELS — The European Union is set to advise member states that they should reintroduce travel restrictions for visitors from the United States, three E.U. officials said on Sunday, as coronavirus infections and hospitalizations have surged in the U.S. in recent weeks.
Starting Monday, the officials said, the United States will be removed from a “safe list” of countries whose residents can travel to the 27-nation bloc without additional restrictions, such as quarantine and testing requirements. The suggested restrictions, made by the European Council, will not be mandatory for member countries, and it will remain up to those countries to decide whether or not to impose them.
Not mandatory. So there’s a chance that…France, say, might decide to allow only vaccinated Americans in. So the lights aren’t out on our trip yet. But they’re growing dim.
Feeling smug about only booking places with generous cancellation policies. But very blue about missing beaujolais nouveau season in France. All fingers crossed.
I’m not here to whine, because holy shit New Orleans:
A slow-moving Hurricane Ida has left all of Orleans Parish customers without power due to “catastrophic transmission damage,” according to Entergy New Orleans.
The intense storm had caused all eight transmission lines into the New Orleans area to go down, spokesman Brandon Scardigli said in an emailed statement. That created a load imbalance that knocked all power generation in the region offline, Scardigli said.
A million people without power in not just one city, but an entire region. This is gonna get ugly. I’m not a big fan of nostalgia, but I’m recalling the aftermath of Katrina, and not just what happened, but how ugly and discordant the national discussion around it was: Sure it’s terrible what’s happening there, but they had the chance to leave and they didn’t, so? :::shrug::: But we’ve grown so much and learned so much since then, right? I’m sure it’ll be much better this time.
A steamy, oppressively hot weekend that ended with a banger of a thunderstorm. Alan was off fishing all weekend, and said his experience was the same, only a little cooler. He had to shelter from a huge one under some trees (yeah, I know) and actually bail his drift boat, because it was coming in so fast. We’ve had at least half a dozen, maybe 10, of these storms this summer. The most recent one before this was…Friday, I believe. A short one that cooled things off by maybe a degree or two until the sun came out and heated all that rainfall into steam. A friend and I stopped at a free techno show for a bit; the artist, an EDM musician, if turntables count as instruments, was launching his own weed brand and announced a pop-up show at the last minute. He threw free samples to the crowd and I marveled at our changing world.
However, I also marveled at the lack of masks, the close quarters (although still outside) and the flying sweat droplets. So we didn’t stay long. I’m booking a test on Wednesday, anyway.
The last storm broke the back of the heat, at least. Cooler today, then mid to high 70s the rest of the week. Ahh.
While we welcome Monday, let’s keep a good thought for Louisiana — the good parts, anyway.
Mark P said on August 30, 2021 at 8:43 am
It will be interesting and perhaps instructive to see what kind of damage is left and what the response will be. We went to NO about three years after Katrina, and some areas looked like the storm had been a week earlier. It was like the way third world nations respond to massive destruction.
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Indiana Jack said on August 30, 2021 at 9:12 am
We’re in the same boat. Had hoped to make a long-delayed trip to Rome in mid-September. Now waiting to see if Italy will follow the EU recommendations and put the US on the unsafe list. Our flight connects through Heathrow, so we were heartened when the UK quarantine requirements were lifted. But then the EU recommendations came out. Trip was originally scheduled for April 2020. We’re looking for a sensible Plan B at the moment. Fingers crossed.
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JodiP said on August 30, 2021 at 9:14 am
We’re also following travel restrictions closely as we have a trip to Ireland planned. My test came back negative that I took last week, so I was relieved.
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David C said on August 30, 2021 at 9:23 am
I haven’t watched the news so I don’t know if they’re playing the New Orleans is a Mad Max hell hole card like the did during Katrina. It was complete bullshit then but it worked so I can’t imagine they’re not doing it again. Our nephew and his partner live in NOLA. They lost part of the roof to their house but they’re safe with my sister-in-law in Michigan.
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Deborah said on August 30, 2021 at 10:15 am
Geez that’s too bad, all you folks hoping to go abroad, how infuriating it must be for you that so many folks in this country not getting vaccinated or wearing masks are ruining your plans. Really a shame, and for no good reason whatsoever.
I’m not as worried about flying back to Chicago as I was flying from Chicago to NM. I mean Midway was a zoo even though everyone was wearing masks there was little to no social distancing at all. NM is 68% vaccinated which is pretty good considering and the Albuquerque airport is never crowded. My husband is still flying back Saturday during Labor Day weekend so there may be a few more tourists returning home but I’m now flying back 2 weeks later so ABQ will be dead. I must say I’m not the least bit sorry to be missing more hot sticky weather in Chicago, but I have to spend today changing some appointments I made expecting to be back on the 4th.
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Julie Robinson said on August 30, 2021 at 10:19 am
We heard from our niece that she is okay. They moved a couple hours west to Lafayette for his residency, otherwise would still be in NOLA. Who knows if they can still pull off an October 15 wedding.
I’m so sorry for everyone having to cancel trips, or cancel trips again. It’s hard not to feel angry at idiot anti-vaxxers like Caleb Wallace of Texas. Caleb was leading anti-masking and anti-vaxxing rallies until he got sick. He self treated with vitamin C and ivermectin, what a cliche. Caleb died Saturday.
So what, who cares, but he leaves behind three kids and a pregnant wife who already has a Go Fund Me up. No doubt she will be getting social security for the kids for the next 18 years, all on the taxpayer dime.
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Suzanne said on August 30, 2021 at 10:37 am
Our son is flying in for a family wedding in a few days and it’s making me quite nervous. Everyone at the wedding will be vaccinated but it’s in another state so we have to travel and that’s making me increasingly anxious. The groom had hoped to have family members from Europe attend but that’s off.
I am reading The Great Influenza by John Barry and it’s full of incompetent or uncaring bureaucrats who refused to act to mitigate the pandemic and people, including medical people, promoting quack cures. We’ve learned very little in 100 years.
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Bitter Scribe said on August 30, 2021 at 10:42 am
Starting today, Illinois has a mask mandate back in place. Everyone in all indoor spaces must mask up, vaccinated or not.
Well, I enjoyed a whole two weeks of being able to work out indoors. I tried doing the treadmill with a mask on the other day, just to see if I could do it. (I was one of the few people in the gym, other than staff, to have a mask on.)
I lasted four minutes. Just could not stand that flap of paper heaving in against my mouth with every deep breath. And this isn’t a question of being out of shape. Once I took the mask off, I cruised through the rest of my normal 30 minutes with no problem at all.
So now I’m back to running in the extreme heat, rain, etc. And as I do so, I will curse with every unmasked breath the pack of idiots who are making me do this by refusing to get vaccinated. I’m almost getting to a Scrooge-like attitude towards them: Let them hurry up and die, and decrease the idiot population.
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nancy said on August 30, 2021 at 12:09 pm
Relief (for me, anyway:)
The European Council, which comprises the leaders of the bloc’s 27 countries, removed the United States from a “safe list” of countries whose residents can travel without requirements such as quarantine and testing.
The change is not mandatory. Each E.U. member state imposes its own travel rules and can decide whether to follow the guidelines or not, so it was not immediately clear which countries, if any, would reintroduce restrictions or when they might begin.
If enforced, the new restrictions would only apply to unvaccinated travelers — the European Council already recommends that all visitors who have been fully inoculated with an E.U.-approved vaccine be allowed to travel.
As I told Alan, let the goobers go to Vegas, that’s fine with me.
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Jeff Borden said on August 30, 2021 at 12:28 pm
Great story in today’s NYT on the health crisis in Mississippi and the role played by right-wing politics. Even as hurricane sweeps in the Magnolia State, it’s hospitals are broken. The biggest one in Jackson is treating patients in parking garages. There’s a huge shortage of nurses and technicians as it turns out Mississippi is dead last in the ratio of physicians to population. The state legislature never okayed Medicare expansion or Blacky von Blackenstein’s health care plan, so many lack any access to doctors. But all is not lost! The QOP governor says they aren’t really sweating it because they’re good with God and our lives on earth are “just a blip.”
Good plan.
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Sherri said on August 30, 2021 at 12:34 pm
Bitter, you might try looking into the UnderArmour masks for the gym. Pricier than a disposable surgical mask, for sure, but structured so that it doesn’t get sucked into your mouth with heavy breathing. I’ve used an UA mask in the gym and when I competed in a powerlifting meet back in April, and my main issue is I get hot.
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LAMary said on August 30, 2021 at 12:51 pm
Son the roadie worked the G n’R concert in Vegas last weekend. No report on goober attendance yet but they figured they’d sell 750k in t shirts there. He’s getting tested daily and is always masked, armed with many bottles of hand sanitizer from his employer, supplemented by his mom.
I wonder what Branston is like these days, speaking of goober magnet sites. Lots of “just a blip” believers I suspect.
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Sherri said on August 30, 2021 at 12:53 pm
I live in an area where mask-wearing indoors never really stopped, only dropped to about 50% indoors when the mask mandates went away, and when the mask mandates came back, everybody masked up again. Yet even here, a small contingent showed up at our school board meeting this week and refused to wear masks. As a result, the school board recessed the meeting, cleared the room, and moved to a smaller room with just board and staff, and took public comment remotely.
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Deborah said on August 30, 2021 at 1:53 pm
“just a blip”, wow, aren’t these the same people who go apeshit over abortion?
LB has a mask that has an inner bracket that holds the mask from getting sucked in, it has disposable filters that fit between the inner bracket and the outer layer which is perforated (with tiny holes) silicone. The bracket and the outer silicon layer can be tossed in the dishwasher. It wasn’t cheap, maybe $30 or so, very affordable though when you think of cost per wear.
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Dorothy said on August 30, 2021 at 2:20 pm
Last night when my son and his family were leaving, we were in the front yard. I could see my young neighbor across the street on the porch while her almost five-years-old twin girls were playing. The neighbor, K, had a mask on. I yelled “Why do you have a mask on outside?!” And as soon as I said it, I realized the reason she was probably wearing it. Yep – she has Covid. Then I asked if she were vaccinated and she said no. I know she’s a huge Trump supporter. I stepped on my tongue to keep from chastising her. But I know she went through IVF to have those twins. You’d think she’d want to err on the side of caution to protect their young little lives. But no – she’s now exposing them to the chance to get sick themselves. She said her doctor said “Are you going to quarantine from your girls?” and she replied “Are you going to come and take care of them?!” If her husband was any help at all she wouldn’t have needed to say that to her doctor. Of course I don’t want her to get very sick or for her girls to get sick. But you better believe I’m thinking what a stupid ass she is for not getting vaccinated.
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basset said on August 30, 2021 at 3:14 pm
Thanks for the weather warning in the last thread, JeffTMMO, but we weren’t there – just got in last night from a trip to the Minnesota State Fair, where mask wearers were maybe a third of the crowd at best.
Only saw one Trump t-shirt the whole day, though, and we bought a shirt with a John Lewis quote on it at the Democratic Farmer Labor Party stand, good to see them there and well represented.
Probably the best fair we’ve ever been to, walked around for ten hours and didn’t see all of it.
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Sherri said on August 30, 2021 at 3:21 pm
Having gone through a couple of rounds of IVF myself, the amount of cognitive dissonance it takes to do that heavily medicalized process involving lots of drugs and injections and egg retrieval, then not to take a simple vaccine is truly mind-blowing.
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Dorothy said on August 30, 2021 at 3:26 pm
Sherri I’m a little bit familiar with the process because my daughter-in-law had egg retrievals done last summer. She was hyper-stimulated after that (the hormones!) so they froze five embryos. She lost the first one in November. I’m thrilled to report that she is currently 10 weeks and 3 days with the next one and so far everything is looking extremely good. She’s a ‘geriatric pregnancy’ though, since she’s 38, so she gets lots of extra testing and ultrasounds so it’s a lot. She had our granddaughter via IUI in 2017. Her current pregnancy is still not widely known – when they’re ready to announce it they will. Within the next three weeks, I expect.
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nancy said on August 30, 2021 at 3:45 pm
I was intrigued by the masks the Olympic athletes wore in Tokyo. Of course, they were a one-off made by Nike, designed for athletic performance and aren’t available to the public, although they might be eventually – for $60 a pop. Ouch.
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JodiP said on August 30, 2021 at 3:55 pm
I know this isn’t an original thought, but the people resisting vaccines are sure willing to let a lot of other medical interventions take place, some of which I think might carry more risk than the vaccine, and are definitely more invasive. Being intubated is no joke. Sherri, you are so right on.
Bassett, fairs aren’t my thing, but even I know we have the best! I am glad you enjoyed yourselves!
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Suzanne said on August 30, 2021 at 4:14 pm
Shockingly, one our very conservative local school board members had a thoughtful post on Facebook IN FAVOR of mask wearing in school! I was shocked. He said he has read up, consulted with medical experts, etc. and said masking really does help slow the spread of the virus.
Naturally, there were pro and con comments on the post, one from a local pastor’s wife claiming she had other evidence that masks were bad. The school board member politely asked for her sources.
Maybe their is hope!
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basset said on August 30, 2021 at 4:56 pm
JodiP, fairs definitely are our thing… been to several different states’ fairs, Minnesota is for sure the largest (by daily attendance, Texas has more for the whole fair but theirs runs longer).
And there’s always fair food, this year including the “dilly dog,” a hot dog on a stick stuffed inside a dill pickle, battered, and deep fried. Sent a picture to about a dozen friends, reaction is about evenly split between “that’s disgusting” and “that looks really good.”
We had one, liked it but once was probably enough and we passed on the all-you-can-drink-for-$2 milk to wash it down, anything that greasy requires beer. The grilled pork chops and roasted corn were more our speed, anyway.
Tried to go to our former favorite, the Indiana state fair, while passing through the area a few weeks ago but for some reason the whole thing is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
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David C said on August 30, 2021 at 5:02 pm
Our school board meeting to vote on a mask mandate was scheduled for last week. It’s a forgone conclusion that it will pass. But outside agitators came and interrupted it. It’s rescheduled for tonight and will be virtual. I don’t know why they all aren’t doing it that way. These loons are getting violent. Like this fascist SOB. https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1432166542683279362
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Sherri said on August 30, 2021 at 5:59 pm
Good luck to your daughter-in-law, Dorothy! I had my daughter via IUI (7 rounds!) and decided that one child was good after a couple of rounds of failed IVF. Or rather, that I was done with the interventions; I never went back on birth control to prevent a low probability pregnancy.
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AnnieH said on August 30, 2021 at 6:00 pm
My son and daughter-in-law moved from Chicago to NOLA in June. (Don’t ask me why, but I think it has to do with cocktail culture or some such nonsense). At any rate, they packed the dog and both cats in the car Saturday morning and drove 8 hours to Dallas, where they are now safely ensconced in the presidential suite of the very pet-friendly Kimpton Hotel. They just extended their stay through Friday. Nice to have the money to do that. But even money can’t make up for the fact that when I called when they were on the road they reported that they were only an hour away from Dallas but they were stuck in awful traffic because of an accident and the dog had just vomited for the third time.
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Little Bird said on August 30, 2021 at 6:03 pm
My mask definitely gets a few double-takes. And I’m often telling people to head to Amazon to purchase their own. I do wish it came in some more color options though. But it stays out of my mouth and entirely away from my mouth. I can speak much more clearly with it as opposed to fabric or paper masks.
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David C said on August 30, 2021 at 8:14 pm
When an anti-vaxxer name drops the Constitution or the Founding Fathers. Have them read this.
https://twitter.com/michaelharriot/status/1432060194276659203
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Indiana Jack said on August 30, 2021 at 9:45 pm
Hard to believe, but our long delayed Rome trip will actually happen in September. Our big complication has been that we have a flight connection at Heathrow. It wasn’t until the other day that Italy lifted a 5-day quarantine requirement for those arriving from the UK. And then there was the EU stuff. Lots of hurdles ahead, including testing before we leave the US and before we leave Italy to come home. But after a delay of nearly 18 months, we can deal with those. Hope the Derringers have a great time in France.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 30, 2021 at 10:09 pm
1903: this makes me feel both better and worse at the same time.
https://twitter.com/DrewBMcIntyre/status/1432505690120142849/photo/1
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susan said on August 30, 2021 at 10:45 pm
France—and Iceland, Greece, the Bahamas, and St. Maarten—are Level 4 on the CDC’s list: Do not travel. “For destinations marked as Level 4 or unknown, the agency says Americans should avoid traveling there altogether.” Additionally, “The State Department has put France and the Bahamas, for instance, in the same Level 4 (“Do Not Travel”) category as places that are not travel destinations, such as Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Also, “‘Travelers need to be aware that they can spread disease at their destination among people who may not have the same access to vaccinations and quality medical care,’ the CDC’s Shockey said.”
I wouldn’t travel to the American southeast or Utah or Iowa or Missouri or….or….especially Florida and Mississippi, either.
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A. Riley said on August 31, 2021 at 3:32 am
So I was following the hurricane via twitter, the comments on Lawyers, Guns & Money, and the comments on a weather blog — it was like listening to a very busy party line.
Anyway, the power going out was a big topic. We’ve all seen high-power lines stretching from one giant tower to another giant tower all across the landscape, right? That’s what the power company that serves New Orleans has, a series of towers to support these eight lines that carry electricity from the nuclear power plant a few miles away on this side of the river to the city on that side of the river. And this one particular tower right by the riverbank, the last one on this side of the river, came down on the muddy ground, and the wires are *in the river.*
The weather-blog commenters were all amazed — how could that possibly happen? Those things are a lattice, the wind goes right through. But then someone said that the wires, swinging and whipping in that terrible wind, would have put a huge strain on the tower, and if the frequencies of the swinging wires were just right, that could have been enough to twist the tower right off its concrete base. (Physics class was a long time ago. Someone else can explain it better than I can.) Remember the old film of that suspension bridge across the Tacoma Narrows that twisted itself to death in the wind? Lke that.
There’s an early-morning aerial shot — looks professional — of the tower lying on the ground and the wires in the water. And that’s what the power company has to contend with.
What a mess.
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Mark P said on August 31, 2021 at 8:56 am
Up here in northwest Georgia we’re way far from where the storm made landfall, but it has been raining pretty steadily since Monday afternoon. Not really hard — just under two inches — but still, that’s a big storm.
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Dexter Friend said on September 1, 2021 at 3:09 am
Madison Cawthorn , the 26 year old Congressman from NC is a real piece of shit. He said , in a televised address, that “we’re working on it” when asked if his bloc is going in for more incursions into D.C. His caveat is the election was stolen, and if “this continues…” he threatened and promised more actions against the government. Why do Americans stand for this shit? This “The Big Lie” is real. Republicans by the thousands STILL believe it. And this is why I never have voted for any national or statewide Republican and never will. I did vote for a kind Republican man for county treasurer in my first election I was old enough to vote in. Nevermore.
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Suzanne said on September 1, 2021 at 6:59 am
“Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, last week called for respect for the conscience rights of those who object to COVID-19 vaccines, saying that people “could reasonably choose” to reject the experimental, abortion-tainted jabs to give “prophetic witness” against abortion.”
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/abp-naumann-rejects-covid-19-vaccine-mandates-backs-prophetic-witness-against-abortion-tainted-jabs/
I can tell you this thinking is not at all unusual among conservative leaning Christians. I have talked to a number people who will not get their children vaccinated against measles & won’t take the COVID vaccine because of their belief that these vaccines are manufactured using fetal cells. They will happily & willingly expose you, me, and children to deadly disease because they are pro-life, never mind that those fetal cells may have been used 40 years ago. These are the same people generally who hate discussions of race because slavery is in the past.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on September 1, 2021 at 7:59 am
For the record, the tissue in debate comes from 1964 & 1970 at the latest, and developments deriving from those cell lines; the Catholic moral theology around whether it is acceptable to make use of vaccines derived from those fifty-plus year old events is detailed at the link you can click here but it boils down to this: an observant Catholic can use them to prevent illness and harm, while still being interested and engaged in ongoing work to find ways to create vaccines that do not depend on such material in the future. Our local bishop has told people, parishes, and groups that they should get vaccinated without hesitation.
YBMV! (Your bishop may vary…)
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Suzanne said on September 1, 2021 at 8:51 am
Jeff, I know the pope as said it’s ok to get vaccinated as well as many Bishops. Evangelicals and the conservative wings of other denominations, though, are touting this fetal cell connection as a valid reason to avoid vaccines of many kinds. They don’t give a crap what the Pope says. Do they check any and every med they take to make sure it doesn’t have any connection to fetal cells? Very doubtful. Because they really don’t care that much about life, just appearing to do so.
Believing you have the moral high ground is a hell of a drug.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on September 1, 2021 at 9:17 am
Suzanne, I agree with all you say. My strategy, such as it is, focuses on peeling off every 5% I can, because when you scrape past the polemical surface, you end up with an odd assortment of motivations and rationalizations. I also harbor a strong suspicion, based on years of being the guy in charge of running blood drives at my seminary, that a bigger cohort of vaccine resisters are just plain afraid of needles to the point of sheer panic, but won’t admit that. (And I do think media needs to STOP SHOWING CLOSE-UPS of injections; heck, I’m a 15 gallon blood donor & I still don’t look when they put the needle in.)
Michael Barbaro on NYT’s “The Daily” had a half hour a few weeks back that was all interviews with unvaccinated folk, and I thought it was a useful glimpse “under the hood” of their non-thinking rationales. It’s at: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/06/podcasts/the-daily/delta-variant-coronavirus-vaccine.html
The reporting behind the 25 minutes of audio is at: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/31/us/virus-unvaccinated-americans.html
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ROGirl said on September 1, 2021 at 10:44 am
The guy who exposed me to covid is back at work and we talked yesterday, I let him know how I felt. I asked him if he was an anti vaxxer and he said no. I asked him if he was worried about exposing his son, but he doesn’t see him that often. Then he said he lives with his mother and he has to wear a mask around her. She is vaccinated and I said he should do it to protect her. I don’t think anything I say will work.
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Jeff Borden said on September 1, 2021 at 12:36 pm
While the draconian attempts to limit voting in Texass are getting a lot of deserving notice, take a look at what the completely fair and unbiased Supreme Court did with the new Texass abortion law, which forbids any procedure after six weeks and which also prohibits use of the abortion pill after seven weeks. The court refused to hear an appeal to the law. There is NO exception for rape and incest, of course. And anyone from any state can finger an abortion provider or recipient with an anonymous tip. If the tip if proven, the fink gets a $10,000 prize. Those who must defend themselves from these kinds of charges will not be reimbursed for legal fees or anything else even if the charge is not proven.
This is what happens when the fucking Electoral College overrules the popular vote and chooses our president. There are six hardcore rightwing judges on this court chosen by presidents who lost the popular vote. And thanks to Moscow Mitch McConnell, we have Neil Gorsuch and Justice Handmaiden holding seats they don’t deserve.
The war on American women continues. Wait until these fuckweasels win back the House or Senate or both next year. Katy, bar the door.
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Julie Robinson said on September 1, 2021 at 1:21 pm
It’s even worse, Jeff. Prospective patients have to undergo ultrasounds on two consecutive days, and if there’s anything indicating a heartbeat, the procedure can’t be done. Surrounding states don’t have many good options either, so it can be assumed that women without means will be resorting to all the old and awful self-methods.
BTW, I had an ultrasound for a different reason and the damn thing hurt. I felt violated. Let’s let all the men voting for them experience one up the rear and see how they feel.
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Jeff Borden said on September 1, 2021 at 1:27 pm
Julie,
Gloria Steinem said decades ago that if men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.
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LAMary said on September 1, 2021 at 1:38 pm
A former co-worker who had many disposable qualities really really wants to move to Texas. She’s the one with two sons who according to her have never masturbated. I’m sure this hideous abortion law and the voter suppression efforts make her even more anxious to get there. She wanted to move years ago but thought that the Katrina refugees had destroyed Houston because they were poor. Not because they’re black.
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Heather said on September 1, 2021 at 2:08 pm
I’m so mad about Texas, I don’t even know what to do. Six weeks is way before most women know they’re pregnant, especially since they start counting from the day of your last period. Also this basically creates a vigilante state, putting the burden on civilians for enforcement. Anyone suspected of assisting an abortion can be sued–not just the women themselves and the clinic staff, but family members, the Uber driver who took you to the clinic, etc. This is a great incentive for terrible people to target the vulnerable. As many have pointed out, a guy can get a woman pregnant, report her for an abortion, and collect the winnings. I hope Susan Collins is happy!
Oh and you’re also allowed to carry a gun without a permit there now. Great.
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Jeff Borden said on September 1, 2021 at 2:12 pm
I’ve never understood why so many folks want to live in Texass. It may supplant Florida as the most wacko state.
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LAMary said on September 1, 2021 at 3:34 pm
Up there on my comment my tablet with insistent autocorrect changed dislikeable to disposable.
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Deborah said on September 1, 2021 at 4:24 pm
Unfortunately after I graduated from college I ended up living in Texas for 7 years, 1 year in Houton and 6 in Dallas. I absolutely hated every minute of it. It’s gotten much,much worse but it was bad back then too.
We got back from Abiquiu this morning and I’m exhausted. We had 2 sets of company yesterday, 1 set for breakfast and a different set for dinner all in one day. Everything you do out there is a job and a half because no running water or electricity makes everything harder. Preparing and cleaning up 2 separate times, never again 2 in 1 day.
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Heather said on September 1, 2021 at 5:22 pm
I kind of like the phrase “disposable qualities.”
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LAMary said on September 1, 2021 at 5:28 pm
I do too, Heather. Kinda lets you work our what I meant in your own way. In fact that woman only used disposable stuff. Paper plates, plastic forks, never cooked so lots of take out boxes. She used to but red solo cups in bulk.
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Beobachter said on September 1, 2021 at 6:55 pm
Just saw the following 3 hours old article on “process for obtaining France’s digital health pass keeps changing”. It details how some US travelers dealt successfully with the fluid situation while visiting Paris:
https://thepointsguy.com/news/how-americans-can-apply-for-french-digital-health-pass
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Dexter Friend said on September 1, 2021 at 7:15 pm
I became blog friends with a guy from Sacramento who also was in recovery and loved baseball. We did not discuss politics, then he began to reveal himself as a crazed Trumpite gun nut, all in, 100%. He even sold his beautiful suburban home to leave “communist” California and move to San Antonio, where he fires his arsenal of long guns, automatics, and pistols to his heart’s content.
I simply dropped him as a friend after telling him we were just totally opposites politically. No sense trying to convert him. He’s as old as I am and set in his ways.
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Colleen said on September 1, 2021 at 8:51 pm
Texas is quite troubling. Nothing like putting an actual bounty on women’s heads. Sure, it’s all about your body, your choice, when it come to vaccines and masks, but when it comes to uteri, everyone gets a vote, apparently. I am so glad my baby ship has sailed…..
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Suzanne said on September 1, 2021 at 9:09 pm
Several years ago, I had a discussion with an acquaintance who is very, very pro-life. I mentioned that laws written to block abortion needed to be written very carefully or women who miscarry would be scrutinized and possibly have legal action taken against them for having done something to cause the miscarriage or be accused of having an abortion and investigated. She assured me that this would never happen.
And yet, here we are.
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Suzanne said on September 1, 2021 at 9:10 pm
Several years ago, I had a discussion with an acquaintance who is very, very pro-life. I mentioned that laws written to block abortion needed to be written very carefully or women who miscarry would be scrutinized and possibly have legal action taken against them for having done something to cause the miscarriage or be accused of having an abortion and investigated. She assured me that this would never happen.
And yet, here we are. Most pro-lifers I know are hopelessly naive.
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Heather said on September 1, 2021 at 10:35 pm
Also, a lot of women who miscarry require a D&C to remove all of the tissue and prevent infection–a procedure that may very well open providers and others up to liability. Great job, Texas.
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Sherri said on September 2, 2021 at 12:11 am
Texas, where your rapist can sue you for aborting his fetus, but at least you don’t have to wear a mask or get a permit to carry a handgun.
Good thing we were all spared the evils of improper email storage.
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Dexter Friend said on September 2, 2021 at 3:12 am
I harp on this at times; the only time I was likely clinically depressed was my 3 month stay in San Antonio. Texas did not agree with me. I just hated it as did Deborah, as she explained above in this thread. In the mornings it was pleasantly cool then the goddam furnace kicked in. The heat was most unpleasant. And then, a stoke of luck; my next stop was central coastal California. If I could have landed a job there when I was discharged, I never would have returned to Indiana to live.
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Deborah said on September 2, 2021 at 4:58 am
The part about the Texas abortion law that is the most troubling to me is the way they’ve chosen to enforce it, by vigilante, coupled with the new lax gun laws. That combination is terrifying to me.
The reason I found Texas to be so unpleasant during the time I lived there in the 70s was the attitude of the Texans who lived around me. There was a lot of racism and misogyny and a particular chauvinism about how they thought it was so special to be a Texan born and bred. I had lived in other states previously and had never experienced before people feeling superior and special about whatever state they lived in. It was tribal in Texas from my perspective, not unlike the Trump phenomenon today. As a result of my having lived in that environment I have a holdover prejudice against Texans, which I realize is not fair. I find myself exhibiting a disdain for the many Texans who visit NM. The ones who’ve moved here that I know personally I don’t feel that way about though.
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Suzanne said on September 2, 2021 at 6:16 am
I just read that in Texas, 666 new laws just went into effect. That number should make evangelicals take notice…
Mark of the Beast and all that.
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Deborah said on September 2, 2021 at 9:18 am
I hope there are progressive organizations cooking up plans for protests and boycotts about Texas. Of course they’ll scream cancel culture, but if anything needs canceling it’s the extremist right wing views in TX.
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Deborah said on September 2, 2021 at 9:32 am
Also, it’s time to expand the Supreme Court.
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Jenine said on September 2, 2021 at 10:07 am
I went to college in San Antonio in the long ago 80s. I loved living in Texas when I did, Austin was almost as dusty and scrubby as SA before the tech boom hit it. Agreed that there are strong historic white supremacist trends there. But I’m not going to write it off.
Time to enact the Women’s Health Protection Act.
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susan said on September 2, 2021 at 10:11 am
Yesterday, I got an email from the ACLU, in which it included:
Seems to me that we have to stop reacting to the decades-long abortion fight; and start acting and en-acting.
Enough of this $h!†
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Deborah said on September 2, 2021 at 10:50 am
Jenine, I will admit Austin and San Antonio are fine, the hill country around Austin is beautiful, especially in spring when the wild flowers bloom. Houston has become a lot more progressive recently, but the rabid conservatives seem to still hold sway, and the humid climate in Houston is abysmal, damp and cold in the winter and steamy hot the rest of the year.
The large cities aren’t as extremely over the top as the rural areas, or at least that’s what I’ve read. I haven’t spent time in Texas for decades, except to drive through on some of our road trips back and forth between Chicago and NM. Of course I’ve stereotyped the whole state as being awful. I wish it would be possible to boycott the state financially without harming the decent people.
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LAMary said on September 2, 2021 at 11:53 am
I judge Texas by its current governor. They elected a guy who does stupid mean things of all sorts. No masks, no vaccines, making it harder for poor, black and brown people to vote, fucked up energy grid and now this law. Texans chose this guy and they seem to support him. It’s not just left or right politics, it’s mean nasty shit.
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Deborah said on September 2, 2021 at 12:35 pm
I had to look it up on Google, who was gov of TX when:
Democrat Governor Dolph Briscoe Jan 1973 to 1979
Republican Governor Bill Clements, Jan 1979- 1983
Democrat Ann Richards, Jan 1991 – 1995
Republican George W. Bush, one term
Republican Rick Perry, Dec 2000 – Jan 2015
Republican Greg Abbott, Current since 2015
I lived in TX most of the time Briscoe was gov and I don’t remember anything about him.
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LAMary said on September 2, 2021 at 1:58 pm
Rick “Good Hair” Perry according to Molly Ivins.
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Deborah said on September 5, 2021 at 8:08 pm
LB and I went to Lowe’s today for on sale pavers for a yard project we’re going to be doing this week. I went to get the parked Jeep to drive over to where the pavers could be loaded into the back. Meanwhile LB saw a guy walk out of the store with an expensive DeWalt tool, unpaid for. The alarms went off and the checkout guy told her that happens every day. Yikes.
Lovely day in Santa Fe, high of 83° but it felt much cooler. I sat out on a patio at the condo reading a short story collection by Richard Ford that I found at the free bin at the little park down the lane. That’s what I really like about SF, I don’t get to sit outside much in Chicago.
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