By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Bird Song of the Day
Nubian Nightjar, Al Sadd Lake, Jizan, Saudi Arabia.
Politics
“So many of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in fact a rational management of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles
Capitol Seizure
2024
Time for the Countdown Clock!
* * * “Donald Trump Received $5.75 Million In Royalties For A Book That Largely Features Photos In The Public Domain” [Forbes] • That makes him smart…
* * * “DeSantis cuts a third of his presidential campaign staff as he mounts urgent reset” [Associated Press]. ” Republican presidential contender Ron DeSantis is cutting far more campaign staff than previously thought as he works to reset his stumbling campaign amid unexpected financial trouble. DeSantis, long considered former President Donald Trump’s chief rival in the GOP’s 2024 primary contest, has cut a third of his campaign staff — or 38 people, according to campaign aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal campaign strategy.” • Stumbling.
“Ron DeSantis uninjured in car wreck on way to Chattanooga campaign event” [The Tennessean]. “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s four-vehicle motorcade was in a wreck as he traveled to one of three presidential campaign events scheduled for the day but wasn’t injured…. ‘The motorcade came up on slow traffic and the lead vehicle had to brake quickly, which caused a rear-end collision involving the other vehicles,’ the statement said. ‘All the vehicles involved were government vehicles accompanying Governor DeSantis and his team to his scheduled event.'” • Whoopsie.
* * * “Hunter Biden plea: ‘Sweetheart’ deal collapses in court as judge throws ‘curveball'” [Washington Examiner]. “U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika acknowledged during the hearing that the concerns she raised over the terms of the deal were a ‘curveball’ after she had been expected to accept the arrangement. ‘I am concerned you are taking provisions out of the plea agreement,’ Noreika said. When she questioned if the investigation into Hunter Biden was still ongoing, the prosecution said ‘yes,’ clarifying recent questions about whether the plea deal would mark the conclusion of the yearslong inquiry into the younger Biden’s business dealings. ‘Then why are we doing this piecemeal?’ Noreika asked. The attorneys for the Justice Department then remarked they weren’t at liberty to divulge additional details about the investigation. At the prospect of Hunter Biden seeing future prosecution, his attorney, Chris Clark, concluded, ‘As far as I’m concerned, the plea agreement is null and void.'” • Seems to me the judge’s question is a good one.
“Hunter Biden’s counsel faces possible sanctions after accusations of lying in criminal tax case” [FOX]. “The judge presiding over the Hunter Biden criminal case threatened Biden’s legal team with sanctions over allegations about lying to the clerk’s office. Hunter Biden’s counsel is accused of avoiding proper court procedure to allegedly get information about IRS whistleblowers removed from the docket. Delaware Judge Maryellen Noreika gave Biden’s legal team until 9 p.m. on Tuesday to explain their side. Specifically, a lawyer from Hunter’s legal team is accused of misrepresenting who she was when asking to remove amicus materials from the docket. She allegedly called to ask the clerk to seal the information instead of making a formal request to the court.”
“Grassley faces criticism over release of FBI document” [The Hill]. “According to the [FD-1023] form released by Grassley and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), the FBI’s informant — known as a CHS, or confidential human source — met in 2016 with Mykola Zlochevsky, the CEO of Ukrainian energy company Burisma, who claimed that he made a pair of $5 million payments to the Bidens. He did not specify who was on the receiving end of those alleged bribes. The form relays information on the conversation to an FBI agent but does not assess the veracity of the tip. The informant also claimed that Zlochevsky has 17 audiotapes, including two with then-Vice President Biden and the remaining 15 with Hunter Biden, though a number of Republicans have questioned whether they even exist. There has not been any evidence linking President Biden to the payments or Hunter Biden’s foreign work, and the White House has strongly denied any improper action.” • No worse than the Steele Report, surely? (Probably better, since the FD-1023 form wasn’t used to decieve the FISA “court.”
* * * “Inside McCarthy’s sudden warming to a Biden impeachment inquiry” [CNN]. “Speaker Kevin McCarthy in recent weeks has heard similar advice from both a senior House Republican and an influential conservative lawyer: prioritize the impeachment of President Joe Biden over a member of his Cabinet. Part of the thinking, according to multiple sources familiar with the internal discussions, is that if House Republicans are going to expend precious resources on the politically tricky task of an impeachment, they might as well go after their highest target as opposed to the attorney general or secretary of homeland security… Speaking to CNN on Tuesday, McCarthy signaled that Republicans have yet to verify the most salacious allegations against Biden, namely that as vice president he engaged in a bribery scheme with a foreign national in order to benefit his son Hunter Biden’s career, an allegation the White House furiously denies. But he said that launching an impeachment inquiry would unleash the full power of the House to turn over critical information, mirroring an argument advanced by House Democrats when they impeached then-President Donald Trump in 2019. ‘How do you get to the bottom of the truth? The only way Congress can do that is go to an impeachment inquiry,’ McCarthy said Tuesday, stopping short of formally moving to open such a probe…. As another senior GOP source put it: “When you’re going deer hunting, you don’t shoot geese in the sky.'”
“Note cards and shorter stairs: How Biden’s campaign is addressing his age” [NBC]. “Biden’s answer to voters who question whether he’s up to the rigors of a second term is simple: ‘Watch me.’ The trouble is, voters are watching, and what they’re seeing is hardening impressions that it’s time for him to step aside, polling shows. Apart from being the most taxing job on the world stage, the presidency is also the most public, and signs of advancing age are tough to miss…. ‘Physically, he’s quite frail and he falls off his bicycle, or whatever,’ said a former Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity to talk more freely. ‘He doesn’t have the stamina levels of an Obama or a younger president. People worry about his physical frailty and running from age 82 to 86’ — the age Biden would be at the end of a second term. ‘That is really old by European standards. Really, really old. We don’t have anyone that age.” • Lots of interesting detail, like Biden using a shorter staircase to enter Air Force One.
“Biden’s Biting Campaign Ad Proves He’s Still Got It” [CNN]. Headline from RealClearPolitics. “During a speech at the Turning Point Action Conference, [Marjorie Taylor Greene] tried to attack Biden by likening him to Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson. Seeking to depict Biden as a big-government liberal, she said, ‘Joe Biden had the largest public investment in social infrastructure and environmental programs, that is actually finishing what FDR started, that LBJ expanded on, and Joe Biden is attempting to complete.’ Biden’s team pounced on the speech, releasing a campaign ad that used her words to his advantage. The ad features images of Biden at work, with a voiceover of Greene’s comments as well as a snippet from another speech in which she explained the administration’s investments by saying, ‘Programs to address education, medical care, urban problems, rural poverty, transportation, Medicare, Medicaid labor unions, and he still is working on it,’ Greene said. Biden was happy to own those accomplishments, sharing the ad on Twitter in a post where he quipped, ‘I approve this message.’ By comparing Biden to two popular presidents with monumental legacies, highlighting how much he is doing to help the country and pointing to specific programs such as Medicare and Medicaid that command enormous public support, Greene’s speech helped Biden frame his actions within a longer tradition – something even he himself has struggled to do at times.”
“Biden’s dog, Commander, has been biting Secret Service agents” [National Public Radio]. “President Biden’s dog Commander has found himself in the doghouse after a series of incidents where he bit Secret Service officers on duty at the White House. The German shepherd bit several Secret Service agents a total of 10 times during the four-month period between October 2022 and January 2023, records show. One incident resulted in an agent getting sent to the hospital for treatment…. ‘If the dog’s got a muzzle on him and he’s on a leash, he’s safer,’ [Bob Brandau, a canine behavior expert based in Florida] said. ‘This dog could lash out at any time… it’s not a question of will this dog bite again, it’s who’s he going to bite next? And how seriously are those injuries going to become?'” • Rather like Biden himself, no? As a cat person, I wouldn’t know: Do dogs reflect the personalities of their owners?
* * * “Gov. Newsom’s School Board Showdown” [RealClearPolitics]. “A school board in southwest Riverside County, a sprawling suburb of tract homes, horse ranches, and touristy vineyards, rejected a new state-produced elementary social studies textbook. The Temecula Valley Unified School District school board’s conservative majority argued that parents did not have enough involvement in approving the textbook, pointing specifically to the supplemental curriculum that included a biography of gay rights leader Harvey Milk, the former San Francisco supervisor and gay rights trailblazer who was assassinated in 1978. The conservatives, led by the board president, Joseph Komrosky, took issue with Milk’s well-documented relationship with a 16-year-old boy when he was in his 30s, with some school board members labeling Milk a ‘pedophile.’ Newsom and state education officials dismissed the concern as ‘offensive’ and ‘ignorant’ without addressing the substance of the conservatives’ complaint. ‘This isn’t Texas or Florida,’ Newsom tweeted in early June. ‘In the Golden State, our kids have the freedom to learn. Congrats Mr. Komrosky you have our attention. Stay tuned.’ The governor and other top state education officials argue that rejecting the new curriculum would force the district to use textbooks published in 2006 that don’t comply with a 2011 state law requiring schools to teach students about the historical contributions of gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans and other minority groups.”
* * * NH: A local reader throws this over the transom:
Americans for Prosperity…
Democrats en Déshabillé
Patient readers, it seems that people are actually reading the back-dated post! But I have not updated it, and there are many updates. So I will have to do that. –lambert
I have moved my standing remarks on the Democrat Party (“the Democrat Party is a rotting corpse that can’t bury itself”) to a separate, back-dated post, to which I will periodically add material, summarizing the addition here in a “live” Water Cooler. (Hopefully, some Bourdieu.) It turns out that defining the Democrat Party is, in fact, a hard problem. I do think the paragraph that follows is on point all the way back to 2016, if not before:
The Democrat Party is the political expression of the class power of PMC, their base (lucidly explained by Thomas Frank in Listen, Liberal!). It follows that the Democrat Party is as “unreformable” as the PMC is unreformable; if the Democrat Party did not exist, the PMC would have to invent it. If the Democrat Party fails to govern, that’s because the PMC lacks the capability to govern. (“PMC” modulo “class expatriates,” of course.) Second, all the working parts of the Party reinforce each other. Leave aside characterizing the relationships between elements of the Party (ka-ching, but not entirely) those elements comprise a network — a Flex Net? An iron octagon? — of funders, vendors, apparatchiks, electeds, NGOs, and miscellaneous mercenaries, with assets in the press and the intelligence community.
Note, of course, that the class power of the PMC both expresses and is limited by other classes; oligarchs and American gentry (see ‘industrial model’ of Ferguson, Jorgensen, and Jie) and the working class spring to mind. Suck up, kick down.
* * *
Realignment and Legitimacy
”Most Americans favor restrictions on false information, violent content online” [Pew Research]. But the party split:
This from the party of RussiaGate (false), Ukraine war propaganda (false, granted by definition), and all the Covid disinformation behind Biden’s policy of mass infection without mitigation, and there was a lot. One can argue that “the Republicans are just as bad,” but I don’t think so, measured by the absolute scale and effects of the falsehoods. This is what Democrats did when they seized the “commanding heights” of the political economy.
#COVID19
“I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison
Resources, United States (National): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; includes many counties; Wastewater Scan, includes drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, but national data). “Infection Control, Emergency Management, Safety, and General Thoughts” (especially on hospitalization by city).
Lambert here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To update any entry, do feel free to contact me at the address given with the plants. Please put “COVID” in the subject line. Thank you!
Resources, United States (Local): AK (dashboard); AL (dashboard); AR (dashboard); AZ (dashboard); CA (dashboard; Marin, dashboard; Stanford, wastewater; Oakland, wastewater); CO (dashboard; wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); FL (wastewater); GA (wastewater); HI (dashboard); IA (wastewater reports); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d’Alene; dashboard, Spokane County); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); KS (dashboard; wastewater, Lawrence); KY (dashboard, Louisville); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MN (dashboard); MO (wastewater); MS (dashboard); MT (dashboard); NC (dashboard); ND (dashboard; wastewater); NE (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NJ (dashboard); NM (dashboard); NV (dashboard; wastewater, Southern NV); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); OK (dashboard); OR (dashboard); PA (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); SD (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); UT (wastewater); VA (dashboard); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).
Resources, Canada (National): Wastewater (Government of Canada).
Resources, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).
Hat tips to helpful readers: anon (2), Art_DogCT, B24S, CanCyn, ChiGal, Chuck L, Festoonic, FM, FreeMarketApologist (4), Gumbo, hop2it, JB, JEHR, JF, JL Joe, John, JM (10), JustAnotherVolunteer, JW, KatieBird, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, square coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Utah, Bob White (3).
Stay safe out there!
Maskstravaganza
“Descriptive norms caused increases in mask wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic” [Nature]. “Human sociality is governed by two types of social norms: injunctive norms, which prescribe what people ought to do, and descriptive norms, which reflect what people actually do. The process by which these norms emerge and their causal influences on cooperative behavior over time are not well understood. Here, we study these questions through social norms influencing mask wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Leveraging 2 years of data from the United States (18 time points; n = 915), we tracked mask wearing and perceived injunctive and descriptive mask wearing norms as the pandemic unfolded. Longitudinal trends suggested that norms and behavior were tightly coupled, changing quickly in response to public health recommendations. In addition, longitudinal modeling revealed that descriptive norms caused future increases in mask wearing across multiple waves of data collection. These cross-lagged causal effects of descriptive norms were large, even after controlling for non-social beliefs and demographic variables. Injunctive norms, by contrast, had less frequent and generally weaker causal effects on future mask wearing. During uncertain times, cooperative behavior is more strongly driven by what others are actually doing, rather than what others think ought to be done.” • Which is why the feckless behavior of our governing class, the PMC was so lethal. And still is.
“Something Awful”
Lambert here: I’m getting the feeling that the “Something Awful” might be a sawtooth pattern — variant after variant — that averages out to a permanently high plateau. Lots of exceptionally nasty sequelae, most likely deriving from immune dysregulation (says this layperson). To which we might add brain damage, including personality changes therefrom.
* * *
Elite Maleficence
Droplet goon and WHO advisor John Conly denies aerosol transmission:
Conly speaking on
“What do we know about
SARS-CoV-2 modes of transmission?” in the #ICPIC2023 ” Lessons learned from COVID” workshop
– the big question will be what has he learnt?? 🤷🏻♂️Hopefully over 3yrs into a global AIRBORNE infectious disease pandemic the Conly and the… https://t.co/GdRi5x2ynZ pic.twitter.com/Wtdt3klisL
— John Johnston (@JOHNJOHNSTONED) July 25, 2023
Stunning commitment to the bit.
Case Data
NOT UPDATED From BioBot wastewater data, July 24:
Lambert here: As before, a distinct upward trend. Not seeing the upward slope of doubling behavior, but we are now — just scan the chart backward — at a level above every previous valley.
Regional data:
Interestingly, the upswing begins before July 4, which neither accelerates nor retards it.
Regional variant data:
Whatever the cause of the uptick in the Northeast, it’s not EG.5 (the orange pie slice), which seems evenly distributed.
• CDC:
A little late. NC readers [lambert preens] have known this for some weeks now.
• Florida:
Hey Florida— are you aware we have almost
10,000 new cases of Covid with a
17.4% positivity ?
And 26 deaths? pic.twitter.com/TXcnUkETr8
— CathyNotToday2 (@Cathy2NotToday) July 25, 2023
• Ohio:
COVID-19 positivity rate & +PCRs have been steadily ⏫️ over the past month in our NE Ohio clinical labs. Last week we hit 10% for the 1st time since April with >400 + tests. Our positivity rate has been an accurate predictor the entire pandemic so we're definitely in a surge. pic.twitter.com/Sgs7cvLEJP
— David Christopher 🏥🥼🧪🔬🦠 (@MLS_Dave) July 26, 2023
• “U.S. sees biggest rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations since December” [CBS]. “Weekly COVID-19 hospitalizations have risen by more than 10% across the country, according to new data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, marking the largest percent increase in this key indicator of the virus since December.” • Hospital admissions are a lagging indicator, so you know the surge is rolling; speed unknown, absent case tracking, which of course we don’t do, because that might save lives.
Variants
NOT UPDATED From CDC, July 22:
Lambert here: EG.5 still on the leaderboard, but getting crowded out (?) by all those XBB’s.
From CDC, July 8:
Lambert here: Not sure what to make of this. I’m used to seeing a new variant take down the previously dominant variant. Here it looks like we have a “tag team,” all working together to cut XBB.1.5 down to size. I sure hope the volunteers doing Pangolin, on which this chart depends, don’t all move on the green fields and pastures new (or have their access to facilities cut by administrators of ill intent).
CDC: “As of May 11, genomic surveillance data will be reported biweekly, based on the availability of positive test specimens.” “Biweeekly: 1. occurring every two weeks. 2. occurring twice a week; semiweekly.” Looks like CDC has chosen sense #1. In essence, they’re telling us variants are nothing to worry about. Time will tell.
Covid Emergency Room Visits
From CDC NCIRD Surveillance, July 22:
Lambert here: Increase is now quite distinct.
NOTE “Charts and data provided by CDC, updates Wednesday by 8am. For the past year, using a rolling 52-week period.” So not the entire pandemic, FFS (the implicit message here being that Covid is “just like the flu,” which is why the seasonal “rolling 52-week period” is appropriate for bothMR SUBLIMINAL I hate these people so much. Notice also that this chart shows, at least for its time period, that Covid is not seasonal, even though CDC is trying to get us to believe that it is, presumably so they can piggyback on the existing institutional apparatus for injections.
Positivity
NOT UPDATED From Walgreens, July 24:
3.5%. Vertical, though the absolute numbers are still very small relative to June 2022, say. Interestingly, these do not correlate with the regional figures for wastewater. (It would be interesting to survey this population generally; these are people who, despite a tsunami of official propaganda and enormous peer pressure, went and got tested anyhow.)
NOT UPDATED From CDC, June 26:
Lambert here: This is the CDC’s “Traveler-Based Genomic Surveillance” data. They say “maps,” but I don’t see one….
Deaths
NOT UPDATED Iowa COVID-19 Tracker, July 19:
Lambert here: The WHO data is worthless, so I replaced it with the Iowa Covid Data Tracker. Their method: “These data have been sourced, via the API from the CDC: https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Conditions-Contributing-to-COVID-19-Deaths-by-Stat/hk9y-quqm. This visualization updates on Wednesday evenings. Data are provisional and are adjusted weekly by the CDC.” I can’t seem to get a pop-up that shows a total of the three causes (top right). Readers?,,
Total: 1,169,682 – 1,169,629 = 53 (53 * 365 = 19,345 deaths per year, today’s YouGenicist™ number for “living with” Covid (quite a bit higher than the minimizers would like, though they can talk themselves into anything. If the YouGenicist™ metric keeps chugging along like this, I may just have to decide this is what the powers-that-be consider “mission accomplished” for this particular tranche of death and disease).
Excess Deaths
The Economist, July 26:
=
Lambert here: This is now being updated daily. Odd. Based on a machine-learning model. (The CDC has an excess estimate too, but since it ran forever with a massive typo in the Legend, I figured nobody was really looking at it, so I got rid it. )
Stats Watch
There are no official statistics of interest today.
Manufacturing: “Boeing has now lost $1.1 billion on Starliner, with no crew flight in sight” [Ars Technica]. “A difficult summer for the Starliner program continued this week, with Boeing reporting additional losses on the vehicle’s development and NASA saying it’s too early to discuss potential launch dates for the crewed spacecraft. Throughout this spring, NASA and Boeing had been working toward a July launch date of the spacecraft, which will carry two astronauts for the first time. However, just weeks before this launch was due to occur, Boeing announced on June 1 that there were two serious issues with Starliner. One of these involved the “soft links” in the lines that connect the Starliner capsule to its parachutes, and the second problem came with hundreds of feet of P-213 glass cloth tape inside the spacecraft found to be flammable.” • Whoops. “Found”? How? Somebody held a cigarette lighter near it?
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 80 Extreme Greed (previous close: 81 Extreme Greed) [CNN]. One week ago: 81 (Extreme Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jul 26 at 1:58 PM ET.
Our Famously Free Press
“Inside the Battle for CNN: Jeff Zucker, David Zaslav, Chris Licht and 18 Months of Crazy Backstabbing” [CNN]. • I read the whole thing and there’s nothing to quote. This is how we perform the important social function of capital allocation in this country.
News of the Wired
“How too much daydreaming affected me” [Sungho Yahng]. “My daydreams are ever-present companions. They interrupt my train of thought, often causing me to pause and backtrack to recollect my previous thoughts (jotting them down helps). And while maintaining a daydream journal is a popular strategy to manage this, it hasn’t dwindled my daydreaming frequency. In fact, it seems to fuel it by rendering the imagined more tangible (although jotting down thoughts does help me move past recurring ideas and save intriguing ones for later). Even simple tasks, which involve a few steps (like taking medicine or changing clothes), can turn into a time-consuming endeavor due to the interruptions caused by daydreaming. For instance, after taking medicine once with water, I often get ensnared by my daydreams, and in that trance-like state, I might consume more medicine, only to get lost again in another daydream. The whole process of taking the medicine thus keeps extending as I am repeatedly trapped in my imagined narratives. Similarly, changing clothes can take more than an hour. Sometimes, I don’t manage to complete the task at all. ”
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Upcoming air travel in view. First since the pandemic. Gulp.
Anyone have suggestions on mask models above N95 grade, or portable air purifiers?
I’m not opposed to full face breather types, à la Lord Vader.
I haven’t flown in over three years, so I do not know what the airlines allow these days.
However, there were people complaining somewhere (sorry, I do not remember where I read it), that the flight crew did not allow portable air purifiers on the flight. Anyone can post anything on the Internet, so take it for what it’s worth.
No-one objected to my AirTamer. I was especially glad to have it functioning when I had to take off my mask in order to go through security.
I have come to the conclusion that since very few others mask on planes these days, it is no longer my responsibility to protect them from any possible infection I might carry. So I have increased my protection while accepting the exhaust valve risk to others with these:
3M-8233-N100 in stock at many Home Depots
I took a trip to Hawaii from Utah last week. I purchased a mini carbon air purifier from home Depot for $20 to bring with me, but ended up not doing so. I blasted the air above me the whole time and I wore a standard n95s for most of the flight, taking it off for a few water breaks. Slept in it on the red eye home. So far no symptoms other than being allergic to my dry home state. (I have taken a COVID test and got a negative. I get allergies every time I leave and come back.) My relatives are not into masks anymore, have had COVID, and didn’t wear one and are fine, too. But I haven’t had COVID so I’m trying to be extra cautious.
IMO these are still the best balance between comfort, cost, good fit, and convenience:
https://envomask.com/
The replaceable filter elements are only a buck or two, it’s easy to talk through them, and they conveniently hang around your neck when you are not wearing them. Available with various accessories.
I’m not flying anywhere, but I’m toying with using this mask in public–
https://www.gvs.com/en/catalog/elipse-integra-p3-respirator?q=elipse%20integra
I’ve been trialing it while lawn mowing and its pretty comfortable. I like the eye protection. It has an exhalation valve, but “you know what” them–they don’t mask, why should I be uncomfortable? Plus I think the seal stays better with an exhalation valve, since less outward pressure from my breathing.
GVS makes some masks with and without exhalation valves, until now I’ve been using the GVS Elipse P100 without exhalation valve, chosen over many others I bought and tried because it has the best face seal for my face. It comes in two sizes.
I also gargle with betadine and swab nose with Povidone-iodine 1.5% when I go scary places (which a plane would be)
Off the topic of masks, prepare to be shocked in general at the crapification of the flying experience. Expect $20 sandwiches, nobody from the airlines to help if you need to cancel/rebook, rude passengers, and in general the worst of disaster capitalism.
We’re frog stew.
I have been using this OTC nasal spray, said to prevent infection for six hours.
https://covixyl.com/
I just flew to China and back. I’d just recommend that you find a good fitting (no gaps!) N95 and keep it on for as much of the flight as possible. I used a 3M Aura.
I also had some travel sized mouthwash with me and Enovid spray. Maybe you could use those pre- and post-flight? The airplane bathroom did not seem safe.
I obviously had to take the mask off to eat and drink. I did kind of learn how to unmask, take a swig of water, then remask without taking a breath in.
When waiting for the plane, try to sit as far apart from others as possible.
If you’re religious, prayer might help :). There is some luck involved in all of this I believe. Luckily, no one was hacking away near me on the plane although I did have my eye on all intermittent coughers.
BTW in my experience, China is the last place a person who fears coughs/spitting/nose blowing wants to be. Just in restaurants or subways or wherever, many Chinese will just cough right in your face–not even a thought of covering it up. I thought I was going to die (even masked tightly), but I didn’t. One nice thing about Chinese restaurants, though, is that most have tall ceilings (for wedding banquets?), so the ventilation in them seems decent.
I just flew from CA to New England and back; I returned six days ago and so far so good (no symptoms, and weekly negative test as required by my volunteer position since I’m not vaccinated). These are the things I used:
Xlear (generous amount)
N95
AirTamer
claritin (two a day, 12 hours apart)
ivermectin (one blob before heading off)
methylene blue (5 drops in the morning, 5 drops at night)(ask your doctor; not safe to take along with certain meds)
I took off my mask around a few close relatives (I didn’t want to but I felt obliged). I did not eat out. I took off my mask on the plane and in the airport, briefly, to eat.
Good luck. There are still a lot of people catching this for the first time, per reddit/covid/positive.
Acacia, sorry I’m late to this but the press of work yesterday meant not seeing this until today.
I, too, am facing prospects of a commercial flight followed by a return a week or ten days later, so a twofer risk wise. Anyway, on Amazon I found this which looks like it may be reasonable. They have various versions, the one I’m most interested in is the $54 version. Search on their site for this: GVS-SPR457-Elipse-Respirator-Medium
They have one with an eye shield someone below referenced. My cousin travels quarterly for her MS which requires commercial air travel and she uses a face shield to protect her eyes. I wear glasses and may be fooling myself vice their effectiveness,
Finally, the nasal spray (Covixyl) has joined my vehicle’s center console stash. Two shots up each nostril before getting out of the car (stings slightly). This followed by horking with saline/povidone iodine mix per usual following every possible exposure.
Overkill? Dunno. Anyway, good luck and let us know what you did and whether it worked to keep you from catching this dreaded disease.
I flew to Okinawa back at the end of May and returned about two weeks before the latest outbreak started.
I guess it’s just luck of the draw, but I had no issues whatsoever during the multiple flights, except for an interminable wait at Japanese immigration in Haneda. No lost bags, nobody giving me [family blog] about wearing an elastomeric respirator for the entire flight. Absolutely everyone I dealt with was friendly, competent, and efficient.
Go figure.
I use the Aurora AM99, available on Amazon for $50. It’s a portable HEPA filter in a little white box, and fittings to blow air into any mask. You have to poke a hole into the mask and it comes with grommets.
I’ve been rocking this thing for at least 2 years, and love it. It lasts 8 hours on the lowest setting, charges off mini USB.
Good luck! And I’ll check out Covixyl.com as well
“Do dogs reflect the personality of their owners?” not really, but they usually do reflect the personality of their breed plus early socialization plus the extent their current needs are being met. Shepherds are very intelligent energetic “working” dogs, which need both proper socialization and training at an early age (it’s a lot of work), and, well, lots of dog things to do throughout their lives. Absent that they are very likely to develop all sorts of behavioral/mental health issues. He’d be better off with a Maltese.
*all dogs need proper socialization and training at an early age, but Shepherds are among the least likely to be able to slide by without it
Idk, this dog seems about right for its owner….didn’t Biden bite some little kid a couple days ago?
Mr. Sniffy must have found himself a Russian plant.
At some point you just knew it was going to happen.
Maybe Biden really is a true dog aficionado but, I’m guessing this dog is more for show than anything. Tough guy needs a tough dog image. I’m sure there is a designated handler to see that he gets plenty of exercise and companionship. Unless nobody wants to go near him. I’m sure Joe isn’t taking him out for a jog around the west lawn.
This is very true. Whoever thought a German Shepherd was a good fit for the White House was delusional. That poor dog has not only not been well trained, he was put into one of the least likely places where good training could have been possible. Hustle and bustle is not conducive to building a bond with a dog like that. What he really needed was something bred to sit in your lap, but it would have been ridiculous to have a Yorkie and name it “Commander.” We named ours “Wiggie” for a reason.
We have had lots of dogs over the years, whatever strays showed up on the porch including a German Shepherd, and a lapdog is exactly what they needed for that environment. Once again Biden went for an image and then got bitten in the butt (so to speak) for it.
I posted Commander’s working GSD lineage earlier in links
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/07/links-7-26-2023.html#comment-3912835
Wow! That is really a worst case scenario. He was bred to be bitey, and then they put him into an environment where he could get bitey without immediate correction by an authority figure to which he could comfortably be subordinate.
He needs to be rehomed post haste.
Come on! A German Shepherd is perfect for THIS White House.
You couldn’t very well have German Shepherds being mans’ best friend in the UK during WW1, so they renamed them Alsatians.
…maybe something similar will do the trick for Joey?
Generally I think there’s more behavior variation within the breeds than between them. Otoh GSDs, Belgian malinois and husky, when they have the physique, behavior and personality that’s typically desired for a working dog, are likely to become neurotic and difficult to handle if they don’t get enough work. When these dogs end up as pets in a household that should really have a cat, they usually go loopy. Imagine you put a dog that’s been bred to do work like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCjz7ZHPPIA (which involves a vast amount of training, which itself is demanding on the dog) into a home that should really have lazy couch-potato.
Quick PSA: Don’t hesitate to use a muzzle on a dog that has bitten in anger. The modern muzzles don’t limit the dog much but they do make it pretty safe. If you carefully condition the dog to it initially and use it regularly then it’s really not much of an impact on the dog’s quality of life. The reason it’s so important is that on the second bite the legal implications may be severe, depending on your jurisdiction. For FDOTUS there appear to be more leniency.
Concur+ …..
A. working dogs have to be trained and sorted daily from a very young age. Even then its imperative from birth to be handled by humans, able to touch every part of their body without eliciting a response.
B. After being checked out by a Vet for anything that might be a problem down the road. In this case hip dysplasia is the big one, but would think the dog would have come from some top breeder and not some back yard mob. As such its important to note the dogs lineage for both health and behavioral factors.
C. Having bought this dog the Bidens would then be on the hook for anything else e.g. was it trained by proper dog trainers or just what the Bidens felt like doing. How well did they attend to it from a pup and considering their hectic lives how much time with it.
D. People being bitten by this dog needs a lot of unpacking, per se a dog is not bad just because it has bitten some one, lots of things need to be sorted out before making out a dog is just biting people randomly. On that note Chihuahuas are one of the worst breeds for biting people, just lose it and go nuts and then have a melt down afterwards, even with loving owners.
Anyway I am a happy co dependent with two working dogs of which one has been portrayed in the NC links photos twice now. A pure breed straight back long coat 50+ kg German Shepherd that has gotten all the things I noted above, ancestral forebears of the all the later breeds. All the vets that see him are quite taken with him as he is a magnificent [there words] example of a canine. Yet so gentle and loving for his size. I can not walk him without eyeballs and long stops to talk about him with randoms during it. Its nuts. Can do about 40 klm hr in a sprint and jump 6′ from a standing start walks and runs like a lion lol, freaks others out a bit some times.
Yet the one you need to be more aware of is the 20 kg show dog looking Belgian Malinois cross Oz Kelpie, wicked smart and lives to train, past high level trainers just love her. Can be a bit toothy in hand play, but is always very careful about it. Yet she is of her breed and will march anyone out the gate if they just walk in and then sit down, not to mention she will never leave the the property if gates are open.
Basically Ralph would be fine in the WH and everyone would be smitten, but, Rue would be in control of her territory at all times and would not bite, just signal in a strong way you should remove yourself from her AO.
Dogs do look to their owners for cues about how to behave, though, and they get really good at reading the body language and intonation of their owners. If Biden loses his temper with subordinates the dog would certainly pick up on that.
It’s also not rare for herding dogs to attempt to “herd” people and other dogs, often by nipping – you have to put some effort into educating them not to do that.
I linked earlier, but the whole series is now available for free: Read Orlando Sentinel’s ‘Toxic Secret’ water contamination series for free here (4 parts)
This is so pernicious it’s a must read if you’re in O-town or the surrounding areas, really Orlando North/Lake Marry/Sanford/ect. This stuff is dangerous.
Thanks for the link, Jason. Never have I been so glad to be on a well. However, being within two miles of KSFB, now I fret my groundwater is contaminated. Watched the video and now have more questions. Inquired of the health department and now I await a response. Thanks again!
Re: dogs and their owners.
Things go up and down the leash.
‘…show me a man’s dog and I’ll show you the man’s character.’
PS biting dogs can be said to have no respect for their human and extend that to all people; the biter thinks it’s the boss, absent leadership by example and patience
I don’t think biting is about respect. It’s a means to an end.
‘…show me a man’s dog and I’ll show you the man’s character.’
I have read an old variation of that which says to show me the man’s wife and children to see what he really is like.
R.I.P. Sinead O’Connor (Shuhada Sadaqat)
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/singer-sinead-oconnor-dies-aged-56-irish-times-2023-07-26/
Damn. She was fierce. Troubled but honest.
And young enough I am curious about cause of death.
She’s had heart problems for years now but was getting healthy. A sad day for Ireland and Irish women. It seems like everyone knew her but that’s Ireland. God bless her.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=113&v=3HwWDOQoCBM&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2F&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE&feature=emb_title
wow. thanks for that link.
Shit.
That’s sad. Such a beautiful voice and such a passionate protester. She will be missed.
One of my favourites:
Black Boys on Mopeds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n14lwdpYkAA
I’ve cried at the deaths of exactly three celebrities in my life:
Joey Ramone
Johnny Cash
Sinead O’connor
Infection control ain’t no prestige gig. We can only hope someone attending the prestigious ICPIC conference is brave enough to notice the inverse relationship between infection control and the degree of prestige (prestigiosity?) enjoyed by the highly promoted thought leaders of this former discipline.
.
“Biden’s Biting Campaign Ad Proves He’s Still Got It” [CNN].
Followed by:
“Biden’s dog, Commander, has been biting Secret Service agents” [National Public Radio].
I see what you did there…
‘Gov. Newsom’s School Board Showdown’
The peasants that pay property taxes for local schools are rebelling:
California school superintendent kicked out, ‘verbally attacked’ at school board meeting
https://www.ktvu.com/news/california-school-superintendent-kicked-out-verbally-attacked-at-school-board-meeting
Newsom’s legislature, many out of the same San Francisco Family’s cesspool, voted down a bill to make child trafficking a felony. That’s all you need to know.
Voted down a bill to make child trafficking a felony? With that film “Sound of Freedom” out there, that was really bad timing on their part. But agreed on what you said. ‘That’s all you need to know.’
It’s already a felony. The bill would add it to crimes eligible for sentencing enhancements under the state’s “three strikes” law. I did some superficial browsing. I think there was a general position taken by Dems – probably not a unique instance – supposedly against over-sentencing. I also found a references to a concern that the bill didn’t provide protections against trafficking victims getting charged. The first link has some details about how this happens, which is awful in itself. I don’t live in California, or know anything further to judge whether it was a valid issue in this case.
In any case, according to the second link, Dems in the Assembly voted to send the bill back to the committee where it had failed, and it passed on the second vote.
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/california-politicians-spiral-sex-traffic-bill-18199541.php
https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2023/07/california-legislature-child-trafficking-bill/
California’s three strikes laws are a dumpster file and then you can add laws related to sexual offenders. Back in the 80s and 90s, there were several cases where murderers and child rapists, and at least one person was both, were getting sentences were too light. So, voters approved a proposition, and I believe the legislature as well, to toughing up the sentencing and make a three strikes law. Three felonies and life it is.
Ah, but strong-arming a slice of pizza and a coke or stealing a bike from an open garage, are, or were, felonies. The examples are from memory. Then add the laws that wobblies for sentencing where the prosecutor could charge the same the exact same crime as either a misdemeanor or a felony. Then there were people committed crimes when teenagers that were charged as felonies and decades later getting sentenced under three strikes. This no exceptions law were putting petty thieves into prison for life. As the angry father of one the victims said, they treating my daughter the same as a stereo, which meant that rape and murder got the same punishment as stealing that stereo.
After roughly a decade, the courts, the legislature, and voters all stepped in and modified the laws. Many, if not most, of the people sentenced under the law were released.
On the charging of victims, that is a thing by police and prosecutors and it includes minors. There have been prosecutors, at least in other states, who charged rape victims for sex crimes after the pimps or traffickers were arrested. Hell, prosecutor have charged teens with having child porn after sending a naked picture of themselves and sending it to the boy/girlfriend. Technically, the prosecutors are correct, and this means that the state legislature is doing its job by tightening the proposed law.
From the article in the Chronicle:
Being nuanced is often too hard , or too unprofitable, for some people to practice.
“Biden’s Biting Campaign Ad Proves He’s Still Got It”
Please. At best, it shows that there are people on staff who can take advantage of the chance for an easy layup.
In the world of things that actually have a significant impact on elections, this is utterly trivial.
I might add that if MTG is delusional enough to accept Biden as the legitimate heir to the Roosevelt mantle she’s much further gone than I thought.
But… the NY Times and the Washington Post said he was the next FDR… so it must be true!
It’s so depressing to think Biden might, by default, get another term. and there’s no one to really challenge him seriously, other than Cornel West (and we know he can’t win as a green). It’s tempting to consider RFK Jr but no, I can’t vote for him in the long run. Never mind his take on childhood vaccines (it’s a bit more nuanced than reported but still… and I am decidedly against the mRNA’s jabbed into so many w/o informed consent), it’s his arrogant and seriously undisciplined take on Israel that I most oppose.
Max Blumenthal is discounted by many for his take on covid (anti-mask, etc.) but he has shown a lot of courage in his reporting on Israel’s inhumane treatment of Palestinians and on today’s Gray Zone he and Aaron Mate really take apart RFK’s bizarre pro-Israel pronouncements. It begins around the 1:10 time stamp (the first hour is excellent on Biden’s Ukraine catastrophe): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6Dr3XBgQj0
So, I spent the afternoon with a bunch of fairly senior JPMChase muckety-mucks at their Wilmington campus who for reasons they didn’t bother to share were dismissive of Biden actually making it as far as the campaign next year.
All the ugliness surfacing around Newsom and RFK may well be a shadow primary for the Democrats.
After all, why shouldn’t the PMC just pick the candidate?
they didn’t bother to share
They have ageing parents they want to institutionalize who are at a similar capacity to biden?
You could vote for West anyway, secure in knowing that if Biden actually does get another term, and inevitably blows a gasket and goes off the rails, like a flaming dragster rolling end-over-end down the strip (a.k.a. the “El Foldo”), you can tell all your lib friends “don’t look at me… I voted for West ;)”
I will definitely vote for West and will not, under any circumstance vote for Biden. He’ll have to win without me. There’s the rub…
That’s the trouble with ultra-conservatives like Marjorie Taylor Greene. They get so wrapped up in their conservative world and its beliefs, that they assume nearly everybody else thinks just like them. I see this constantly in YouTube videos this theme. Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson are popular because of what they did for ordinary people but ideologues cannot see that because of their belief systems and are more likley to think that Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover were great Presidents instead. Ultra-conservatives like Marjorie Taylor Greene are just as likely to say something stupid like don’t vote for Joe Biden as he is just another John F. Kennedy.
Yes… the important point is that MTG and conservatives are so hostile to the New Deal and the Great Society legacies that dragged rich USA elites screaming and kicking away from their regressive social Darwinism. The real issue for me is why those USA elites are so determined to claw back that hideous social Darwinism — or even why they think so highly of it.
The conservatives’ and (anti)Republicans’ love of social Darwinism, and the American people’s instinctive rejection of it, is perhaps the most important thing propping up Biden and the Democrats at this point.
Social Darwinism and the belief of an American Meritocracy with the support of eugenical policies are always part of American thought. It has been in some way for at least four centuries with the details of the situation, the practices and then explanations for them always changing, but ever present. I think it strengthens and erupts in difficult economic times especially when the elites are trying to justify and maintain the often corrupt status quo.
It is important to see that these perniciousness is in the entire spectrum from the American far left to far right although I fine the far left less inclined then everyone else. This might be because the far left is more interested in economic reform and is less interested in what they see as excuses, while everyone else wants to keep the current economic system at least partially intact; they need justifications as to why there are so many people are suffering under the current system. The people involved in the ideological fights are usually well educated and prosperous, meaning that whatever the social aspects are, they want the economic system to remain.
This explains why on economics, the two parties are on the right. I would hesitate to say conservative because they do not want to conserve anything except their wealth, status, and power, even if the whole country burns.
I think American history is too easily misinterpreted and misunderstood by assuming that one particular philosophy of government ruled. Rather, I think much of American history was a battle between two different philosophies of government. And that battle is going on today as well.
So I think “Social Darwinism and the belief of an American Meritocracy with the support of eugenical policies are always part of American thought” has to be qualified. While there has always been some faction or group of factions that promoted social Darwinism, meritocracy, racism, and eugenics,” there also always been a faction fighting against them.
I think Michael J.,Thompson deos an excellent job in his book, The Politics of Inequality: A Political History of the Idea of Economic Inequality in America (New York, NY, Columbia University Press, 2007) explaining how and by whom the specific philosophy of social Darwinism was foisted on USA. In Chapter 4 “Embracing Inequality: The Reorientation of American Democracy” Thompson writes
And, of course, there are many excellent histories of how neoliberalism was imposed on the world. I especially highly recommend Philip Mirowski’s and Dieter Plehwe’s 2009 book The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making of the Neoliberal Thought Collective.
”Most Americans favor restrictions on false information, violent content online” [Pew Research]. But the party split:
TL:DR Team D are certain that they are the ones who get to decide what is “false” or “violent”. If a Trump were to suggest that the (false) russiagate conspiracy theory be suppressed, then there would be a MSM wailing and gnashing of teeth and rending of business garments such as never before has been heard, yea, cries of lamentation, a wailing of “Muh First Amendment Freedom Of Muh Press” were heard in Ramah, for their conspiracy theory was unauthorized.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Nice poll, but seems pretty simple to me.
Authorities have expressed that the animatronic Mitch McConnell that froze up today @ a press conference, was an early generation model and that happens sometimes-teething problems.
LoL. Separate from their politics I do feel for Mitch and Biden and anybody getting old and trying to hold it together. Eventuallty you can’t. There but for the grace of God go we. The hard part is recognizing God’s grace requires us to go through this.
I don’t. They both chose to continue to go through this in public. They are no longer capable of doing the job. They should resign.. Don’t run when you sense this beginning to happen. They NEED to be deeply embarrassed and humiliated on a daily basis until they retire or are forced to retire. And I include Feinstein in this. And a few others.
I don’t want a pilot to be flying like this, a doctor to be practicing or a teacher teaching. But you are right if you live to be old enough you are going to have to navigate how that changes things. Private citizens not endangering others should be given privacy and be allowed the dignity to have their body and their mind fail in private.
Our aging political leaders do not meet either of those criteria.
My oh my. That piece about the flammable tape in the Starliner reminded me of the three Apollo astronauts who burned to death when a test of the early Apollo capsule went catastrophic.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1
See: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/55-years-ago-the-apollo-1-fire-and-its-aftermath
Long but interesting once you get past the propaganda at the beginning.
Same here. That was the first thought that came into my mind – about the Apollo 1 fire – and is the one thing that would be lesson number one about building space vehicles. Don’t build in flammables. Idjuts!
Harry Chapin fans won’t want to miss an NC comments-quality video parody of Cat’s in the Cradle posted to Twitter (possibly anonymously or simply unattributed):
Hunter’s in the Basement with a Silver Spoon
Ouch!
One of our NC songwriters should do this one: 30,000 Pounds of Bananas. After all, Scranton Joe deserves it.
I loved that song as a kid.
Hunter Biden — It’s Good to Be the President’s Son (By Kyle Dunnigan)
https://youtu.be/WfRsFRt-l8Y
The walls closed in, just not the way it was imagined or perhaps his legal team had been planning. For once, I just have to suppose, someone in the judiciary stopped for a quick minute and thought about this super pleasant deal. Dear Hunter.
(Almost) Daily Derailment(s):
Amtrak in the lede for second-day in a row.
Amtrak train derails outside of Havre Montana Monday
BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – Amtrak Train 8/28 was delayed for about three and a half hours after one of the railcars derailed, Amtrak said in a statement.
https://www.kfyrtv.com/2023/07/26/amtrak-train-derails-outside-havre-montana-monday/
Train derailment at Upstate factory
A train derailment was reported at an Upstate plant, Tuesday afternoon. The derailment happened in Spartanburg County on the property of the Toray carbon fiber plant on Moore-Duncan Highway.
Two of the train’s cars overturned but emergency personnel says there was no sign of any sort of chemical spill. The Poplar Springs Fire Department responded to the scene.
https://www.audacy.com/989word/news/local/train-derailment-at-upstate-factory-tuesday
[I think I missed this one:]
Spill Contained After Train Cars Derailed
SUPERIOR, Wis.–Several BNSF train cars derailed in Superior spilling “some” amount of chemicals early afternoon on Monday.
https://www.fox21online.com/2023/07/24/spill-contained-after-train-cars-derailed/
Merely an anecdote on the above Toray plant, I live nearby and recent years there had been news that the plant was closing for varied reasons then reopened and now they are planning an expansion for added capacity. It can be hard to keep up !
Closing mid 2020
https://upstatebusinessjournal.com/manufacturing/toray-plant-suspends-operations-spartanburg-county/
Open for business yet again
https://www.wyff4.com/article/carbon-fiber-plant-expansion-new-jobs-bicycles/44631618
Adding this:
As of 2015, the United States ranks first globally in the number of annual reported train derailments, with over 1000 incidents per year.
https://blog.gitnux.com/train-derailment-statistics/
Other tidbits in this report:
•There were 1,226 derailments in 2010 in the United States, whereas there were 1,027 derailments in 2019, representing a significant decrease in incidents.
•78% of all train derailments in the U.S. occur on freight trains.
•Approximately 58% of train derailments are caused by track defects.
•In Canada between 2007 and 2017, there were an average of 63 main track derailments annually.
•In 2018, the European Union reported 216 significant accidents caused by train derailment.
And much more!
Those statistics means my model train set is highly accurate, at least in number of derailments.
as a gay person this pisses me off greatly. should milk be taught about? absolutely, he was an important historical figure. should we gloss over – or in this case, even worse, outright deny! – the fact that he was a pedo? absolutely not. what a slap in the face to gay people. every time a “well meaning” politician tries to protect one of our worst examples, they make the world more dangerous for the rest of us. in this political climate were already falsely seen as pedos. ridiculous.
Tonight I said these words to my dad
“I know you never even tried to get me off the hook, i’m sad”
Come on (come on)
Come on (come on)
Come on (come on)
Come on (come on)
Please, please me, whoa-yeah, like I need a plea bargain from you
You don’t need me to show the way, dad
Why do I always have to say, my bad
Come on (come on)
Come on (come on)
Come on (come on)
Come on (come on)
Please, please me, whoa-yeah, like I need a plea bargain from you
I don’t want to sound complaining
But you know there’s always 10% in it for my part (for my part)
I do all the pleading for you it’s so hard to reason
With you, whoa-yeah, why do you make me blue?
Last night, I said these words to my dad
“I know I never even need to go to jail, i’m glad”
You don’t need me to show the way, dad
Why do I always have to say, my bad
Come on (come on)
Come on (come on)
Come on (come on)
Come on (come on)
Please, please me, whoa-yeah, like I need a plea bargain from you
Please, please me, whoa-yeah, like I need a plea bargain from you
Please, please me, whoa-yeah, like I need a plea bargain from you
Please Please Me, by the Beatles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czw8eqepir8
Lack of agency. (See Lambert? You’ve trained me well).
If the car in front of you brakes suddenly and you rear-end it, you were following too close. Do they teach the 2 second rule in US driving classes?