Gonna be doing a little traveling, again, this weekend. On (to) Wisconsin for a friend catch-up plus baby shower. Both of the friends I’ll be visiting are Covid-sensitive, so I’ll be packing some tests for everyone’s peace of mind. Whenever I think of Covid, I’ll check current case numbers, which continue to fall and fall. Covid is not done with us, but for now — FOR NOW — the worst is over.
Sometimes, when I’m checking numbers, I’ll think about the early days of Covid, when nobody knew anything, some people were wiping down their groceries with bleach and it was sanitize-sanitize-sanitize. One thing I cannot tolerate in 2023 are people who believe everything we’ve learned since then was widely known in 2020. “The virus only killed old people!” “You couldn’t get it outside!” And so on. I saw a Guardian story about a woman, Naomi Klein, who is often confused with Naomi Wolf, and used that to spark a book about conspiracy lunatics. That reminded me that Wolf came to Michigan two years ago and testified before the Legislature, so I looked up what she said then, and: Whew.
I have no doubt another pandemic will wipe us out, because apparently we learned nothing at all from this last one. Can you tell I’m reading “Station Eleven” now, and loving it? Because I am. It’s wonderful and haunting, and a very different read today than it would have been when it was published in 2014.
Yesterday I went to the Schvitz with a friend. It was hot, hot, mega-hot. Like hell’s-waiting-room hot. I went in and out for a couple of hours, then came home feeling utterly wrung out, which is good, although I needed another couple tankards of water to even gather the strength to make dinner. On the way there, WDET played Shadow Show’s new single and the host speculated it could be this year’s “Detroit song of the summer,” which was very nice.
Speaking of Kate, she went to the Tigers game yesterday and was caught on the fan cam:
I used to date a guy whose father would write a one-page roundup of all the family news, kind of a weekly Christmas letter, using multiple carbons and sending them out to any close relative who lived out of town. He always, always ended it this way:
That is about all the news for this week.
Seems to work here. Happy Wednesday.
JodiP said on May 17, 2023 at 11:52 am
In April to early June 2020, I worked at one of the shelters our county rented to house homeless people to reduce the spread. When I got there, virtually no one was wearing masks but we wiped down every surface.
I was in a lead role, so I laid down the law that WE ARE ALL WEARING MASKS. One of the other hotels didn’t do this, and when staff switched between hotels, they were pleasantly surprised. I would say, we just made it part of our culture. We make it fun, kind, and supportive for the staff and the residents. We just offered a mask to a resident if they didn’t have one. And people did.
One of the hotel employees was a young woman who would walk into the county staff area without one. I was always really nice, asking her to please mask because so many people staying at the hotel were extra vulnerable and could become seriously ill or even die. I ended up having to go to her supervisor because she kept violating the rule. She finally wore a mask, at least when I was around.
I loved my time at the hotel. I am super social and I was desparate to be around people. We had to deal with some tough situations when people broke serious rules and they had to go. That was the worst. But all the staff were really dedicated, and it shifted how we work with unhoused people forever. We work much more aggressively, have more teams out on the streets and work harder at preventing homelessness. But with affordable housing in such short supply and other sturctural barriers, we still have so many encampments.
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Dave said on May 17, 2023 at 12:28 pm
I’m also reading Station Eleven, a book I wasn’t aware of until the other day when it came up in comments here. I found it digitally available from the library. I’m about halfway through. Should I watch the miniseries? I’m finding it hard to keep up with every show I see that I think I would enjoy and my dear wife doesn’t really like the same kind of shows.
We wiped down our groceries in the early days of Covid. The first three weeks of Covid, we never left our home, I went no farther than the sidewalk on the other side of the street. Silly us, we thought it would pass by quickly and we could easily wait out three weeks or even a month. We would both quite willingly wear masks again if it comes to that but I see our former governor has outlawed masks mandates in that state of freedom where Julie is now residing. So easy for me to hate that guy.
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Charlotte said on May 17, 2023 at 1:21 pm
That folks aren’t masking in health care situations is what killed my mother. Went in for a bronchioscopy, which weirdly showed that after 70 years of chain smoking, she didn’t have lung cancer. But she was dead a week later from Covid.
She was in pretty good shape, I spoke to her in the hospital that afternoon, then boom. Decompensated. Died in the space of about 4 hours.
So while I’m pretty much okay with the fact that we’re not really masking in public anymore, and even on airplanes (though I did on this recent trip. People are gross), that everyone’s just like “welp! it’s over!” means we’re okay with killing off the elderly and the immunocompromised. Hello eugenics. (I won’t even start on the cascade of medical errors that killed Himself’s mother this winter). Be careful out there folks. The hospitals are broken, and they just don’t give a damn about older people anymore.
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LAMary said on May 17, 2023 at 1:34 pm
When my son Tom was three years old his uncle in Colorado sent him a cowboy hat, chaps, a vest with a sheriff’s badge. We went to a rodeo here in LA at the old forum and Tom, all blue eyed, blond and adorable in his cowboy get up showed up on the mega cam. It was the biggest “awwwwwww” I’ve ever heard. I remind him of this now and he pretends to not hear me.
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Julie Robinson said on May 17, 2023 at 1:37 pm
Make that freedumb, Dave. And while I despise almost everything about the man, he did push through a bill to remove sales tax on diapers. So there’s one for him.
I’m traveling next week for the first time since we moved, almost two years ago. I’m completely out of practice with packing and I’m kind of in a tizzy about it. I used to keep a bag packed with everything except clothes and meds; now I’m starting from scratch with just my master list.
Hubby and daughter think it’s ridiculous. Three different drops/unguents for my eyes, my special facial products and hair products, now also compression socks. So, I guess that makes me high maintenance? I am what I am.
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Sherri said on May 17, 2023 at 2:13 pm
The Washington legislature came back in special session to replace expiring drug possession penalties, and settled on drug possession and public use being a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. So, not decriminalization. There’s also more money for treatment and harm reduction. After a couple of conversations with legislators the past week, that’s where I expected them to land.
There’s a persistent belief that there needs to be a carrot and stick approach to addicts, that some addicts will not seek treatment without the stick of jail. First off, the consequences of addiction often led to actions which result in jail, separate from any possession charges, like theft, and there’s no evidence that possession charges prevent addicts from progressing to theft and other criminal acts.
Second, I believe that the whole carrot and stick metaphor to addiction treatment is wrong. I think a better way to think of substance abuse is not as a primary disorder, but as the symptom of underlying disorders. Which is why treatment so often fails; a 30 day stint in rehab, or even a 6 month rehab, can do very little to address underlying issues that led to the abuse of substances to begin with.
I had all the resources in the world to get sober, therapy, a supportive husband, supportive friends, and it was at least three years before I began to feel solid in my sobriety. Three years before it didn’t sometimes take everything I had to not pick up a drink, because that felt like it would solve my problem even though I knew it would only make my problem worse. And that was with actively working on the underlying problem that led to me using alcohol as a coping mechanism, and medication to treat the depression I had tried to ignore for years.
I get that people want addicts to get treatment and get sober. I just wish they understood that it’s not that simple; addiction, like so many other things, is really as much a reflection of our society and how little we care about mental health services and the social safety net as it is about the individual. Sure, the addict can go detox, but once out of treatment, they’re back in the same world that they abused substances to cope with. They’ve been given a handful of things to try instead, but it’s not easy to change coping mechanisms quickly and under pressure.
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FDChief said on May 17, 2023 at 2:47 pm
I vaguely recall (as someone who had a medical past) thinking that the initial wipe/wash panic made little or no sense. This thing was (is) an airborne pathogen, so the obvious vector was aerosol droplets. What I was mistaken was that masking would help; my experience was that the mask was to keep YOUR droplets from the unexposed…it didn’t occur to me that you could be infectious before you were symptomatic.
It DID seem to me that trying to get the degree of compliance you’d need you’d have to kill 60% of the American public and replace them with Japanese. The culture of public health simply isn’t here. Christ, it’s damn near impossible to get Americans to stop driving like Death Race 2000, and that’s with an obviously dangerous piece of machinery. Wear uncomfortable protective gear for some Asian flu? Geddouttahere.
And the worst legacy of this pandemic isn’t, I think, the next one but the way it’s dragged out some of the worst choads in American history – the anti-vaccination kooks – and welded them to the movement conservatives (another group in the running for the coveted “worst choad” award…).
So now one of the genuinely transformative discoveries in scientific medicine – vaccination – has become a “political” issue. A freakishly idiotic crank like RFKJr can’t be mocked out of polite society or politics as immediately as he should be…and that’s on the SANE side of the aisle.
So it’s not so much the next SARS that worries me so much as measles, polio, whooping cough, and typhoid.
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Heather said on May 17, 2023 at 2:57 pm
Julie @5, if it makes you feel any better, I travel a lot and I still haven’t figured out how to streamline my cosmetics and shower/hair/face stuff.
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David C said on May 17, 2023 at 3:09 pm
We live in one of the most punitive societies in the world. If punishment worked, most of our problems would be solved. Might be time to try something else.
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Sherri said on May 17, 2023 at 3:20 pm
Oregon did decriminalize drugs, making possession a civil infraction with a fine that could be waived if you sought treatment. I’m not optimistic that it will hold, though; I was just reading a comment from the mayor of Portland complaining about open drug use and how few people were seeking treatment.
That’s my point. Make drugs legal, make them illegal, people are going to use drugs. Carrot, stick, treatment is not a magic wand. What people want is the same thing they want with homelessness- they don’t want to see it. The only solution to either is much the same: a stronger safety net. But there’s no political will for that.
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FDChief said on May 17, 2023 at 6:47 pm
Given that We the People are fine with widespread use of alcohol, perhaps as toxic and in numerous cases addictive a drug as any opiate, I suspect that the real issue is that it’s Those People who are using Those Drugs rather than any real understanding of or desire to treat addiction.
Good people do good things so when they don’t “deserve” compassion and care. Bad people do bad things so they deserve to be punished.
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Julie Robinson said on May 17, 2023 at 9:40 pm
Y’all did see the most recent Randy Rainbow about our favorite Florida governor, right? https://youtu.be/R2M5ZeJSZHM
And just a pitch if you are in a city with a Fringe Fest: go and support the artists, many of whom really are living on the fringe. We’ve gotten to know a few over the years and they are typically living out of their cars, driving from festival to festival, staying at host homes if they’re lucky and paying for lodgings if they aren’t, totally reliant on ticket sales.
They’re always grateful for a meal and laundry facilities, and thrilled for anything more. All to make their art. Yes, there are still people in this money-driven country who exist just to make their art. And they have much to tell us if we are willing to listen.
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Sherri said on May 17, 2023 at 11:40 pm
Well, the reincarnated Klan from early last century was in favor of Prohibition, as another way of attacking the evil immigrants and Catholics. Maybe we’ll see the return of Prohibition. We’re seeing the Comstock Act being resurrected to try and ban abortion drugs through the mail. Who knows what else they’ll go after?
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Dexter Friend said on May 18, 2023 at 2:43 am
“That’s the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” I listened every week, Saturdays at 6:00 PM.
45 year old daughter Vanessa was panicking Wednesday as she is a cancer survivor and has been having sensations like maybe it’s back. She went into Riverside (Columbus) for scans ordered by her oncology surgeon…good results, she is relieved.
Donna Deegan, mayor-elect (D) of J-ville is a three-time breast cancer survivor. She must be tough, and congratulations on the upset win.
I had an easy pleasant drive to Toledo V.A. for blood work and a check-up and meds re-up. I think the old Honda Odyssey may be the best deal I ever made for a vehicle. I have had it for 2 years and only have had maintenance repairs done, no on-setting problems at all.
Toledo crews know how to do road construction. The Anthony Wayne Trail is being done-over but normally 50 mph traffic moves at 40 mph steadily through the work area. That’s unusual; they must have great traffic engineers there.
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Jeff Gill said on May 18, 2023 at 7:53 am
Hat tip Toledo crews; that’s impressive, Dexter. Indy work zones seem designed to cause accidents. The stuff I’ve seen . . .
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alex said on May 18, 2023 at 9:11 am
Dex, that’s been my experience with Honda products and I’ve had several. Trouble-free and repair-free for hundreds of thousands of miles. I keep joking that I wonder when my 2012 will finally be “broken in.”
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Julie Robinson said on May 18, 2023 at 10:40 am
Honda and Toyota both, after a string of bad GM, Chrysler and Ford products. Our 2005 Camry only needed one repair that wasn’t maintenance like tires or oil changes, $400 for the wiper motor. We downstreamed to a family member in 2021 when we moved here. We’ve managed just fine with one car by sharing calendars so we don’t double book appointments.
So this morning we had back to back dermatology appointments. That’s dating life for the retirees, going to doctor appointments together!
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basset said on May 18, 2023 at 11:30 am
Our 05 Camry had 305K on it and was still, as the saying goes, “paid for and runnin’ good” when it was hit from behind and totaled.
Strange event coming up… presenting a scholarship at my old high school’s awards day. Wasn’t exactly happy or well adjusted there, made “no varsity sports” a requirement for applicants just to be petty about it. Got some good ones, though, picked a particularly strong candidate and we’ll see how it goes. Haven’t been back there since graduation night 1973.
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Jenine said on May 18, 2023 at 11:38 am
Love your offspring on the big screen, I recommend a large color print, framed.
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Heather said on May 18, 2023 at 1:06 pm
2008 Honda Fit here with 150K miles. Now that I work from home I don’t drive it much, so I hope it will last a while longer. Things wear out now and then but it hasn’t needed any major work, aside from when someone stole the catalytic converter a few years ago. Still has the original clutch!
If/when it dies, I’ll probably get an ebike instead of a car. I think a car is useful, but I don’t see the point of spending, what is it now, $20K for a used car these days that will mostly sit on the street. I’ll probably just do a combo of car sharing, Lyfts, and rentals for when I need one.
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Julie Robinson said on May 18, 2023 at 3:52 pm
Well well well. Disney has just pulled the plug on a $1 billion project to relocate an entire division from California. (Actually, that was just the cost of putting up the buildings.) Our future daughter-in-law was among the few from here who were hired for the division, so who knows if she’ll have to go to Cali or find something else here. I would be really sad, but it would make her parents in Arizona very happy. Our son’s job is remote but based in LA, so maybe he wouldn’t mind either.
Anyway, Disney made it clear the decision was because of DeSantis. Guess what, Ronny? Disney has bigger guns than you. They pulled out their AR-15’s and your pudding fingers couldn’t compete.
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tajalli said on May 18, 2023 at 4:51 pm
Regarding COVID: Just saw a new book is out, The Pandemic Paradox by Scott Fulford, discussing not only the downside to the economic hit, but also individuals who short term benefited from the pandemic.
Julie, thanks for the latest Randy Rainbow to lighten up the day.
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Sherri said on May 18, 2023 at 5:28 pm
DiFi apparently suffered more complications from shingles than previously disclosed. If you haven’t gotten your shingles vaccination yet, schedule it now! I’ve had shingles on my face, and it is very much not good, and I was in my 30s then.
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Julie Robinson said on May 18, 2023 at 5:43 pm
Sherri, I just came from reading the story about Feinstein and hadn’t known about Ramsay Hunt syndrome; I thought she had a stroke they weren’t disclosing. What she has doesn’t sound much better and it’s so clear she needs to resign. Is this really how she wants to be remembered?
My husband had shingles way back in his 20’s so I witnessed how horrible they are. We each got the single shot when it first came out, then the Shingrix double shots when they were developed later.
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Sherri said on May 18, 2023 at 6:25 pm
Shingles usually occurs on your trunk, which is painful but doesn’t usually cause other problems because the nerves don’t usually impact anything else. On your face, there are so many things for the shingle virus to impact. Shingles can damage your hearing, cause paralysis to part of your face, and damage your eyesight. The last was a big concern with me, because I had shingles on my forehead and down on my eyelid on one side, which cause my eyelid to swell and irritated my eye. The ophthalmologist who examined me told me the thing to watch for was shingles lesions on the tip of my nose, which would indicate that the optic nerve was involved. Shingles on the eyelid is just painful, but doesn’t damage your eyesight.
I can still outline exactly where I had shingles almost 30 years later, because of the nerve damage. It doesn’t feel the same as the rest of my forehead, I still get nerve spasms and nerve itching, and because the shingles also went up into my hairline, I feel it every time I wash my hair. It’s not painful, just different.
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susan said on May 18, 2023 at 9:19 pm
Speaking of shitty cars, my 2015 Subaru Vega (as I call it). Turns out to be total POS. I finally cracked when I took it to the dealer shop two days ago, to have them check out an unsettling noise. I thought maybe it was related to the exploded rear parking brake I had to have replaced from a month ago. That was a tow and a $670 repair. Nope. Turned out this was a bad right front strut, and since they replace them in pairs… ≈$1800. The ƒü¢k?? This car only has 43,900 miles. Oh, and last December they replaced all 20 wheel studs because already six had broken in the last few years, along with two brake calipers. Oh, and last September, the horn stopped working; broken clock spring. Subaru paid for that one, which could have cost (believe it or not) $500-$750 depending on what the problem was. For a ƒü¢kiñ§ horn? Must have been a “shop” recall, not an official Government one for them to pay for that one. And tire sensors replaced three times. Oh, and the MAP sensor replaced after I’d had the car for only six months…. Took three weeks to get that part in 2015. They offered me a car to use during that wait, but I said, no thanks, I’ll just use an actual reliable vehicle, instead: my 1985 Toyota pickup, with 362,000 miles. I still have that truck. I should take that ≈2,000 bucks and put it into fixing up my truck instead of pouring it into the Subaru black hole. That MAP sensor should have a foreboding sign….
My brother designed an 18″ x 12″ magnetic sign for me, that has a huge lemon fruit floating between “Subaru” and “LEMON.” One for the driver’s side, one for the passenger door, and one for the back. Should be here next week.
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Joe Kobiela said on May 18, 2023 at 10:21 pm
Have a 2015 Ford focus with 125,000 on it and a 2017 focus with 107,000 both get 30mph in town and 40 on the highway, they both drive nice are quiet and look sporty never have had any problems. Have been wanting a new Ford Maverick but not buying till I need it. If I can find one.
Pilot Joe
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Mark P said on May 18, 2023 at 10:50 pm
We have a 2017 Subaru Outback with about 31,000 miles with no problems. I ordered a Ford Maverick (small car-based pickup) last September and just got an email from Ford saying it was scheduled for production on June 26. I might get it in July. My current plan is to trade the Subaru. My wife won’t like getting rid of it, but I don’t think she’ll be driving much any more, if any. The Maverick should be enough like a car that she can manage not to get too unhappy.
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Jeff Gill said on May 19, 2023 at 7:41 am
2015 Ford Focus, 170,000 on it and same mileage as Pilot Joe. Hat tip, Basset, for the scholarship encouragement to some young person.
If my ongoing experience with my father-in-law is any index, the idea anyone will convince Dianne Feinstein to resign voluntarily is a foolish hope. Shame her into resigning with leaks & muttered stories from colleagues? Ain’t gonna happen. She will stay until room temperature occurs.
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Deborah said on May 19, 2023 at 11:59 am
Heather, you can totally get by without a car in Chicago. It’s been 6 years or so since we got rid of ours, we have saved so much money and headaches. We rent a car when we need to drive a hundred miles or so out of town occasionally but other than that we mostly walk or take Lyfts/cabs. We don’t take the el much though. Don’t miss the car at all.
We still have the jeep in NM, it’s 11 years old now, but we only use it half the year.
Today I need to get my second shingles shot, and next week we’re getting our latest Covid vax.
It’s hard for me to believe I have less than a week left in Chicago, these 3 months zipped by. Lots to do before I go.
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Scout said on May 19, 2023 at 2:05 pm
susan @26 – what a bummer that your Subaru is a lemon. We have a 2018 Forester that we bought used in 2021 and it is one of the best cars we’ve ever had. Being of the ‘rainbow girl’ persuasion we have several friends with Subarus as well and all are die hard Subie fans, which is what influenced us to buy one when we were looking for an off road adventure vehicle.
I know many of you already follow Heather Cox Richardson. I’m linking to her most recent letter here. The final paragraph is chilling.
“Forcing the nation into default will cause a global economic panic and, asked if they should compromise with the White House, Representative Bob Good (R-VA) said: “Why would we? We have a winning hand.””
A winning hand. Just wow. Who wins besides gazillionaires? Certainly not ordinary Americans.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-18-2023?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
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LAMary said on May 19, 2023 at 2:33 pm
Scout, I’m assuming you don’t mean the teen girl level of the Masons. There are Masons, and the teen boys are DeMolay and there is Eastern Star, the adult female Masonic group and Rainbow Girls, the teen one. I served my time there, guilted into it by my maternal grandmother who said my deceased mother would have wanted me to be a Rainbow Girl. Ugh. I still remember my secret handshake.
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Scout said on May 19, 2023 at 2:52 pm
LAMary – no, I am referring to being gay! My Mom and one of my best friends’ Mom have both individually used the term, and I have adopted it because I think it’s funny. When I was in HS all the kids in that org were in what they called DeMolay, I never heard of a differentiation for the girls. My grandpa was a Mason, maybe even some kind of poo-bah, as I recall. Fred Flintstone always reminded me of him.
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LAMary said on May 19, 2023 at 3:09 pm
Well I’ll end the Rainbow Girl discussion by saying the doors of this chamber are now closed and peace and harmony are in every heart.
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Dorothy said on May 19, 2023 at 3:32 pm
Packing for a trip? Make lists! Do it when it’s a quiet time of day, when you aren’t distracted by other stuff. Your phone is the best place to do it because it’s always with you. Make a copy of it, perhaps, and you have two identical lists. Then as you pack it in the suitcase, take it off the list until everything is packed and your list is now empty. This is how I grocery shop now. It’s so efficient and very helpful.
I read somewhere (Times or WaPo) that yesterday DiFi told reporters that she had not been sick, that she was working while she was away! And she hadn’t missed any votes. This is embarrassing and has to just stop. I’m sure she had an amazing career but it’s fading in light of what she’s doing now.
Nancy I forgot to wish you and Alan happy 30th anniversary in the previous post! So hope it’s a happy one, or was a happy one if it’s already over.
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Julie Robinson said on May 19, 2023 at 5:38 pm
Dorothy, my Excel spreadsheet works great for me. For lists like this I prefer paper. We share a family grocery list on Keep, so any of us can add to it or pick up items when we’re out running errands. That works pretty well although I’m not crazy about shopping from a phone so sometimes I make a paper list.
This morning I woke up with a damn cold. Our trip starts on Tuesday. Am throwing everything I have at it and even got some full-test Sudafed. I hatehatehate getting ear infections on planes.
I rested all afternoon and read stories about horrible people and it wasn’t restful at all.
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David C said on May 19, 2023 at 6:09 pm
We’ve been perfecting our grocery and packing lists for 20 years. We almost never forget anything when we do either. It’s great not having to remember things.
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Dorothy said on May 19, 2023 at 7:10 pm
Oh I love me a good Excel spreadsheet. I used them at work all the time and found them invaluable. My handwriting is not what it used to be what with typing on a device all the time now, hence my keeping lists on my iPhone. Mike and I share our grocery list for the same reason, Julie.
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Deborah said on May 19, 2023 at 9:01 pm
One thing good about having a sort of uniform, it means I don’t have to think much about what I’m going to pack. I try to keep sets of everything in NM and Chicago so I don’t have to haul a bunch of stuff back and forth. This time I’ve mailed myself a couple of boxes of stuff to Santa Fe because we’re going to California first and then I go to NM after that, I didn’t want to pack stuff to take to CA that I don’t need there so mailing seemed like a good idea, this is the first time I’ve done that. I always forget something no matter how many lists I make.
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Dexter Friend said on May 20, 2023 at 3:41 am
Ha, yeah…I was contemplating buying a Forester a few years ago and when I was bantering the idea among friends a couple guys laughed and said they are lesbian cars. And I guess they are, but that isn’t what stopped me from buying one. I just didn’t like the price; as a hoopdee advocate, generally, I spend little on cars others quit on, have them run through my mechanic’s garage, and drive them until they peter out. My latest adventure in motoring, the 2001 F-150, just got a cosmetic uplift, a running board so I can enter the cab easily. I am 6 feet tall but I have short legs. It’s obvious that long-legged men owned this old truck before me. My mechanic fixed it up well; it purrs, it stops, the inside upholstery is immaculate, and the rusty rockers do not bother hoopdee people.
I was a proud parent in 2000 when daughter Vanessa received the Dana Corporation scholarship to Ohio State. It was a $20,000 prize, $5G x 4 years. She graduated Summa Cum Laude. Must have gotten her smarts from Carla Lee.
And shots…at the V.A. I asked about shot #6 for Covid19 protection, and they said they had not heard anything about it, and nobody was coming in for shots anymore. Now 2 nallers here have mentioned shot #6, and it’s confusing.
Shingles shot #2? What? When I got my shingles shot I was told it is a one-and-done for a lifetime. I gotta research this stuff closer.
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David C said on May 20, 2023 at 5:58 am
Get the new shot Dexter. It’s been a few years since I got it, but at the time my doctor told my the old vaccine was about 50% effective and the new one was north of 80%. I watched my mother-in-law suffer with shingles so it was an easy decision for me. The new shot is a bit of a bomb. It’s the first vaccine that caused me to take a day off at work. A day or two of discomfort was worth it for peace of mind.
I don’t know how Republican ghouls are going to spin stories like this, but if they can read this and say “it’s fine” they’re hopeless.
Warning: You’ll be in tears.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/interactive/2023/florida-abortion-law-deborah-dorbert/
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alex said on May 20, 2023 at 11:30 am
Sweet serendipity reading the 2008 thread from this date in NN.C history:
LAMary said on May 21, 2008 at 11:22 am
Rainbow Girls, wow. I was one of those.
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LAMary said on May 20, 2023 at 11:50 am
Alex, that is very weird. I guess I think about my days in the Rainbow Girls once every 15 years.
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Jeff Borden said on May 20, 2023 at 1:18 pm
Re: the coronavirus.
Neil Gorsuch, who doesn’t attract the attention of Old Clarence or Strip Search Sammy but is just as big an asshole, recently wrote in relation to the end of Title 42 that government mandated closures of schools, businesses, churches, etc. –you know, those actions that saved hundreds of thousands of lives– was the greatest intrusion on American freedom in peace time in our history. The six religious fanatics on SCOTUS will never let those kinds of closures occur when the next pandemic hit. And Gorsuch is such a fucking prick, he refused to wear a mask around Sonia Sotomayor, who is diabetic and was more likely to be affected by the virus. She had to participate in court matters from another room.
I wonder where history will place the Roberts Court? I imagine it will be a lot closer to Roger Taney than Warren Burger.
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Sherri said on May 20, 2023 at 3:25 pm
Guess Jim Crow doesn’t count to Gorsuch since it didn’t happen to white men.
I said early on that the resistance to Covid restrictions was rooted in the fact that white people, white men in particular, were being asked to sacrifice for the greater good, and they don’t do that. Especially not once they realized that Covid was hitting the poor and black and brown people disproportionately.
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Sherri said on May 20, 2023 at 6:01 pm
The Onion, everyone.
https://www.theonion.com/surviving-a-mass-shooting-americans-describe-what-it-s-1850438794
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Deborah said on May 20, 2023 at 9:27 pm
I hadn’t read much about the woman accusing Giuliani of all kinds of despicable things, Noell Dunphey, until today. I was surprised to learn she has a degree from Columbia and had a consulting company for 20 years before being hired by him. Interesting, that doesn’t mean she’s being truthful or not but it certainly changes the dynamics of the situation in my mind. Do I think Giuliani is capable of being the absolute bottom of the barrel creep? Yes, I do. Now I need to clear my mind after reading the details of his alleged behavior. Ew.
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Deborah said on May 21, 2023 at 11:12 am
So Martin Amis died from the same thing his good friend Christopher Hitchens died from, esophageal cancer. The only Amis book I read was London Fields and it’s the only book I ever burned. I had an old dog eared copy that I got from a free bin, I read it one winter when I was at the cabin in Abiquiu. It was funny and weird and had sentences that were the best I’d ever read but it wasn’t a book I’d ever read again and since it was so frayed and dirty I threw it in the wood burning stove when I was done. I will remember it forever because I burned it not because it was good.
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Julie Robinson said on May 21, 2023 at 2:15 pm
Completely off-topic, the Fringe show we went to today was a woman portraying Dorothy Parker, she who I mostly knew as author of “men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses”. Anyone want to save me some research time and recommend a good book? It looks like there was a movie back in 1994 starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, so if you’ve seen it, I’d be interested in knowing if it’s worth seeking out.
During church today we wrote to our Congresspeople. If you haven’t done that, or called, recently, let them know what you’re thinking.
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Sherri said on May 21, 2023 at 4:05 pm
I’m trying not to think about Congress, because I just get angry when I do. My representatives in Congress aren’t as progressive as I might wish, but if they were the ones standing in the way, we’d be so much better off than we are now, since I’m represented by three Democratic women, Patty Murray, Maria Caldwell, and Suzan DelBene. Sure, Murray and Caldwell have both been there too long, but at least they’re competent.
I’m frustrated that the one thing the House is supposed to do, manage the purse, they can’t do because instead they choose to play debt ceiling chicken every time a Democrat is in the White House. It’s stupid, anti-democratic, and threatens the entire economic system for the whole world. It’s little kids playing with matches in a fireworks factory level stupid. The Dems could stop it, but are so worried about breaking norms that they refuse to, despite the real harm done every time his happens.
The Dems are sitting in a house that is falling down around them and believing that it’s wrong to do anything about it because that would make the house fall down faster. Meanwhile, the Republicans are gleefully tearing everything down.
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David C said on May 21, 2023 at 4:58 pm
Dorothy Parker was a member of the Algonquin Round Table. I read a book on it called “The Vicious Circle” that was very entertaining.
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Mark P said on May 21, 2023 at 5:28 pm
Norms are for normal times. These are not normal times (see Jan 6). It’s time to start playing hard ball. Biden should tell the fucking Republicans to raise the debt ceiling or he’ll do it for them, and damn the Supreme Court. If I were 40 years younger I would run for the House against Empty Greene, if only to call her an ignorant moron in a debate and as many ads as I could afford.
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alex said on May 21, 2023 at 10:50 pm
Julie, I highly recommend a Dorothy Parker bio that I read in the ’80s or ’90s written by Marion Meade. It got lots of good press at the time and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’d happily mail it to you if the Proprietress can help connect us via e-mail or cell phone.
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beb said on May 22, 2023 at 2:58 am
When it comes to Dorothy Parker there is always the Portable Dorothy Parker, a thick of much of her writing. Why read ABOUT her when you can read her.
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Julie Robinson said on May 22, 2023 at 10:10 am
Thanks, all. Hoopla has half a dozen Parker books, and I found The Vicious Circle on Kindle, where I had a credit that covered the cost. Alex, I appreciate your kind offer, but normal book fonts are too small for my deteriorating eyesight. I’m very grateful for audiobooks and ebooks.
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Jeff Gill said on May 22, 2023 at 10:37 am
LAMary, I was never DeMolay or etc., but one church I served had a family deeply into the whole Masonic deal for everyone (Eastern Star, Rainbow Girls), and I ended up as their pastor at a number of Rainbow Girls induction or installation ceremonies. Sang a couple of solos for them at their request. An . . . interesting organization. Seemed to do no harm, was never quite clear what good they did. But if you liked costumes and ritual, it was a blast.
Definitely remembered that line you threw out there, though.
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basset said on May 22, 2023 at 12:15 pm
Got through the scholarship presentation yesterday.. I usually can handle public speaking, but in this context I was nervous and could have done better. Still got the check handed off, though, and it’ll help a kid from rural Indiana who wants to be an architect.
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JodiP said on May 22, 2023 at 3:08 pm
Hi all, especially Deborah: the Amicus podcast was great on Saturday. Dahlia interviewed E. Jean Carroll and her attorney, Roberta Kaplan. It was really inspiring.
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Jenine said on May 22, 2023 at 3:08 pm
@basset: That is a piece of good news. I hope the student will have a good college experience.
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basset said on May 22, 2023 at 4:47 pm
She’s going to Ball State, shouldn’t be that bad 🙂
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Sherri said on May 22, 2023 at 5:49 pm
I’m going to miss Succession. From last night:
“You’ve only had a democracy for about 50 years-unless you don’t count black people, which is kind of a bad habit.”
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Jeff Borden said on May 22, 2023 at 7:03 pm
Sherri,
I caught that, too, along with the reference to Botswana being our equal in democracy. Those who live outside the confines of our bloody, battered and confounding nation often have some great insights. Sometimes I pray Winston Churchill was correct, though these days I truly wonder: “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing — after they’ve tried everything else.”
It’s so hard to comprehend how our leaders do nothing when even Fox News polls show large majorities of Americans want sensible gun control, access to abortion to most cases, contraceptives…yet we keep losing ground to the loonies. Gotta oust these chuds before we all go down the drain.
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