Those in Glass Houses

by 5:48 pm. It has 57 Comments.

I love this:

Rabid animals are, of course, no laughing matter. The rabies virus can infect the central nervous system, resulting in disease and death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But that happens after a host of increasingly scary symptoms: partial paralysis, agitation, hallucinations, hydrophobia. A British man and two children died in Morocco after they were bitten by a rabid cat.

So it was not surprising that when people in the city of Milton, W.Va., saw raccoons behaving weirdly, they involved the local police.

Officers staked out the area where the suspect animals were hanging out, looking for any signs of the masked perpetrators.

But when they caught two of them, they realized they were dealing with a different kind of issue.

The raccoons weren’t rabid. They were drunk.

The raccoons, apparently, had been feasting on crab apples that had fermented on the tree, causing the small animals to walk around “staggering and disoriented,” police said.

But here is my absolute favorite part of the story:

The apprehended animals were held in custody and allowed to sober up in what can only be deemed a raccoon drunk tank.

Get some, raccoons.

Also, I’m sober, but I’ll be damned if that isn’t a good looking raccoon.





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Speaking of “let us savor….”

by 4:33 pm. It has 124 Comments.

Tom MacArthur, Republican Congressman of the New Jersey 3rd, has lost his reelection bid:

The AP called the race today, which came as a surprise to MacArthur. Per TPM:

The Associated Press may have called his tight race for his Democratic opponent, but Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-NJ) isn’t quite ready to concede.

MacArthur seemed surprised when TPM asked him about the Wednesday AP call as he walked to the House shortly before 3 p.m. ET.

“I hadn’t even seen the AP call,” he told TPM when asked about the news. “I have no reaction because I haven’t seen it.”

Thanks, Angry Dad in Scrubs.


Schadenfreude Open Thread: Don’t Go Away Mad…

by 1:57 pm. It has 209 Comments.

“Trump, stung by midterms and nervous about Mueller, retreats from traditional presidential duties” —

For weeks this fall, an ebullient President Trump traveled relentlessly to hold raise-the-rafters campaign rallies — sometimes three a day — in states where his presence was likely to help Republicans on the ballot.

But his mood apparently has changed as he has taken measure of the electoral backlash that voters delivered Nov. 6. With the certainty that the incoming Democratic House majority will go after his tax returns and investigate his actions, and the likelihood of additional indictments by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, Trump has retreated into a cocoon of bitterness and resentment, according to multiple administration sources.

Behind the scenes, they say, the president has lashed out at several aides, from junior press assistants to senior officials. “He’s furious,” said one administration official. “Most staffers are trying to avoid him.”

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, painted a picture of a brooding president “trying to decide who to blame” for Republicans’ election losses, even as he publicly and implausibly continues to claim victory…

As Peggy Noonan once said: Let us savor. From the Washington Post, “Five days of fury: Inside Trump’s Paris temper, election woes and staff upheaval”:

… During his 43-hour stay in Paris, Trump brooded over the Florida recounts and sulked over key races being called for Democrats in the midterm elections that he had claimed as a “big victory.” He erupted at his staff over media coverage of his decision to skip a ceremony honoring the military sacrifice of World War I.

The president also was angry and resentful over French President Emmanuel Macron’s public rebuke of rising nationalism, which Trump considered a personal attack. And that was after his difficult meeting with Macron, where officials said little progress was made as Trump again brought up his frustrations over trade and Iran…

First lady Melania Trump shared her husband’s irritation and impatience with some of the staff. On Tuesday, amid reports that the president had decided to oust deputy national security adviser Mira R. Ricardel over tensions between her and other administration officials, the first lady’s office issued an extraordinary statement to reporters calling for her firing…

Melania Trump said in an October interview with ABC News that the president had people working for him whom she did not trust and that she has let her husband know. “Some people, they don’t work there anymore,” the first lady said…

First Lady Hillary Clinton channeled Eleanor Roosevelt; First Lady Melania Trump channels Edith Wilson.

…“Trump needs adulation, so heading into the midterms, holding these rallies, he was cheered and it became narcissistic fuel to his engine,” Brinkley said. “After the midterm, it’s the sober dawn of the morning.”…

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The only ones without help

by 9:05 am. It has 36 Comments.

Bloomberg recently ran a great story on a family that is facing hard times affording health insurance because they don’t qualify for ACA subsidies and they don’t get coverage through work. The key take-away for me is that this population is one of the few insured groups that receives very little direct assistance.

David and Maribel Maldonado seem the very definition of making it in America….David’s annual salary reached about $113,000 by the time the children were in their teens. It was more than enough to live in a pretty suburban house outside Dallas, take family vacations, go to restaurants and splurge at the nearby mall. And to afford health insurance.

Then, in 2012, Maribel discovered she had breast cancer. “Your world comes crumbling down,” David says…
Health insurance offered through the company would soon be discontinued. It had simply become too expensive for the small company to provide it.

For David, the responsible head of a thriving middle-class family, having health insurance was non-negotiable. But the coverage he found to replace the company plan cost $1,375-a-month, up from the $260 a month he had been paying.

By the end of the story, a family of four has one person insured.

This family gets no explicit help. People who make between 100% and 400% Federal Poverty Level (FPL) are eligible for premium assistance subsidies. People who are insured through work have their insurance paid with pre-tax dollars. More importantly, those payments are mostly invisible so people only react to the employee contribution coming out of their paycheck. The elderly have their healthcare from Medicare while the poor or the disabled have Medicaid. People who buy on the individual market and who make more than 400% FPL get nothing. They are some of the few people who pay full freight.

The ACA has helped this family. In an underwritten system, the mother is uninsurable at any rate that looks vaguely affordable for an upper middle class family. It has not helped enough.

Solutions that allow for healthy people to pay lower premiums by splitting the risk pool might help cover the son with affordable coverage. The daughter and the father have medical history that could lead to uprates or rejections. Splitting the risk pool will significantly increase the premiums for the mother as she can only be covered through guaranteed issue policies. As healthy people leave, the ACA risk pool is more morbid and expensive on a per-capita basis. The family would absorb a dollar for dollar increase in premiums.

Medicaid buy-in proposals could be useful as Medicaid tends to pay doctors and hospitals significantly less than commercial plans. These lower provider payments lead to lower premiums but the trade-off tends to be narrower networks and less convienent access. The other solution that is plausible is a national cap on the percentage of family income that can be assumed to be reasonable and affordable to pay for a benchmark Silver plan. A cap of 10% would allow the family to buy Silver coverage for $11,300 a year which is still significant and presumably painful but far less painful than spending almost a fifth of their pre-tax income to pay for the entire family.

A cap and a split market are not neccessarily opposing policies. I argued last year that these policies could work in conjunction with each other:

Removing the cap on ACA subsidies so every family can access the ACA Silver plan for no more than 10 percent of its family income would provide immediate relief for Senator Cassidy’s constituents and others in similar situations. At the same time, the proliferation of underwritten plans will offer less expensive options for families without health challenges.

Patients and families will be able to choose the plans that will work for them. The ACA market will mostly cover the working poor who receive high subsidies and low deductibles, as well as the very sick who need to have comprehensive benefits and broad provider networks.

The underwritten market, which Republicans support and are seeking to expand, will consist of healthier individuals whose premiums no longer subsidize the care of the chronically ill in the individual market.

This type of solution is plausible if both parties want a healthcare ceasefire over the next couple of years.


On the Road and In Your Backyard

by 5:00 am. It has 10 Comments.

Good Morning All,

On The Road and In Your Backyard is a weekday feature spotlighting reader submissions. From the exotic to the familiar, please share your part of the world, whether you’re traveling or just in your locality. Share some photos and a narrative, let us see through your pictures and words. We’re so lucky each and every day to see and appreciate the world around us!

Submissions from commenters are welcome at tools.balloon-juice.com

Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!

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Wednesday Morning: What I wouldn’t give for a large sock with horse manure in it. …

by 4:55 am. It has 192 Comments.


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You Say You Want A Revolution: Meet Ruth Buffalo

by 1:09 am. It has 23 Comments.

This was just too sweet:

One of the most striking results of the night, though, came far from the reservations: in a normally Republican district in the Fargo area, where Ruth Buffalo became the first Native American Democratic woman elected to the North Dakota Legislature. She did it by unseating State Representative Randy Boehning, the primary sponsor of the very voter ID law Native Americans had feared would disenfranchise them.

When you try and suppress the vote:

…galvanized by anger over the state’s voter ID law and aided by the intensive efforts of tribal leaders and advocacy groups, they turned out for last week’s election in numbers unprecedented even for a presidential election, much less a midterm.

In Sioux County, where the Standing Rock Indian Reservation is, turnout was up 105 percent from the last midterm elections in 2014 and 17 percent from the 2016 presidential election, according to data from the North Dakota secretary of state’s office. In Rolette County, home to the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, it was up 62 percent from 2014 and 33 percent from 2016. In Benson County, home to the Spirit Lake Nation, it was up 52 percent from 2014 and 10 percent from 2016.

To read the full interview with her, click here (warning NYT). She is well qualified.





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Stayed in Mississippi a day too long

by 9:59 pm. It has 90 Comments.

Just when I think I’m out…

During a campaign stop in Tupelo, Mississippi, on Nov. 2, (Republican Senate candidate) Hyde-Smith said, “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row,” referring to a man next to her who was identified as a local rancher.

[….]

“Obviously I’d like to ask the senator about the public hanging comment,” one reporter asked.

“We put out a statement yesterday and we stand by the statement,” Hyde-Smith responded.

This race is getting interesting. You know what to do — give to Democrat Mike Espy. He’s a great candidate.

Goal Thermometer

Maze Dancer has postcards too.





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Ingrid Bergman Will Play Part Of Hypotenuse

by 7:26 pm. It has 92 Comments.

I’ve got a bunch of sad and/or angry posts waiting to be written, but I’ve got enough melancholy and rage to fill a Liberty Ship* and I just want to take a break from my inner madness for a bit.  So back to the American Grotesque tomorrow, and for now, here’s something purely fun.

In order not to do a bit of academic admin that fell to my plate today, I browsed over to an interesting interview with Valeria Pettorino, a cosmologist who works on problems raised by the mysterious status of dark matter and dark energy.

As the introduction to the Quanta conversation explains, back in 2004, Pettorino was doing her doctoral research, and found time, and perhaps the mental need, to pursue another pleasure as well:

As a side project, she translated the opening lines of Dante’s Divine Comedy into a geometry problem.

“I felt there was mathematics already within Dante’s writing,” Pettorino said recently.

Here’s an English version of the original Pettorino set out to rewrite:

Midway along the journey of our life
I woke to find myself in a dark wood,
for I had wandered off from the straight path.

And here’s Pettorino’s take:

Given a line segment AB of size equal to our life path, consider its midpoint M. If D is a man called Dante, D shall be coincident with M.
The segment AB shall be contained in a dark field DF.
Assuming that a circumference C exists, circumscribed to the dark field DF, verify that the straight line r is external to such circumference.

Proof positive that there is poetry in mathematics, but that, perhaps, not all poems map to the math.

Oh — and if you want to know what the post title has to do with all this, have a listen.

Any literary exuberances y’all want to share in what is otherwise an open thread?

*Go visit. And marvel at its three cylinder, triple expansion marine engine — still operational!

Image: William Blake, The Ancient of Days, frontspiece to Europe a Prophecy, 1794





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Open Thread: Oh, Yay, Another Crappy Repub Reboot!

by 7:06 pm. It has 74 Comments.

I got my daily aerobics rolling my eyes over Ocasio-Cortez’s Big Sit-In Protest this morning, too. But in her defense, she’s a twenty-something whose last job was bartending, not a sixty-something “billionaire executive” with access to the nuclear football.

And when the Oval Office Occupant is an incurious moron, the worst members of the Greedy Old Perverts party start to get ambitious…

… If she succeeds, Cheney will be the only woman in House Republican leadership — and follow in the footsteps of her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, who won the same post more than 30 years ago.

She is seeking the position of GOP conference chair, which would put her at the forefront of the House GOP’s communications strategy when Democrats take over the chamber in January. House Republicans are looking for a more forceful approach to communications…

The Republican leadership elections are set for Wednesday. The conference chair is the third-ranking position and comes with several duties, including organizing regular weekly meetings and developing the GOP’s message to voters.

Cheney is running unopposed after the current chair of the conference, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, declined to continue in the post.

Cheney’s father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, won the conference chair position more than 30 years ago after four terms as Wyoming’s congressman. By landing the position after just one term, Liz Cheney would leave little doubt that she’s a rising political star in her own right…

Since winning office by a wide margin in 2016, Cheney has served on the Armed Services and Natural Resources Committees. More remarkably for a freshman member of Congress, she landed a seat on the Rules Committee, which sets the terms for floor debate on legislation.

“That kind of is an indication that she has a constituency within the Republican conference — that she would be considered knowledgeable on issues, someone who is going to help advance the party’s leadership agenda,” said University of Wyoming political science professor Jim King.

The Republican conference chairmanship will be especially important now that Republicans look to rebrand themselves after losing the House majority, or at least improve their messaging to voters.

Deregulation, such as rolling back parts of the Dodd-Frank banking reform law, and federal income tax cuts are important accomplishments that Republicans can sell to voters, Cheney said…

THE LOOTING WILL CONTINUE UNTIL VOTER MORALE IMPROVES!!!

If there needed to be yet another reason to give Nancy Pelosi back her gavel, then watching Darth Cheney, Mk II circling would be an excellent one.


Evil Genius Open Thread

by 7:06 pm. It has 43 Comments.

I need to share this with you all and not just teh twitterz.

I just did one of the most evil genius things I have ever done. I was trying to make an omelet, and Thurston and Rosie were both in the kitchen and made me almost fall like four times. Instead of yelling, at the same time I took two pinches of shredded cheese, and sprinkled it on the backs of both dogs where they could not reach it.

This caused Thurston to rush over to try to get the cheese off Rosie’s back, which Rosie responded to as aggression, and then she noticed the cheese on Thurston’s back and went for it. They are both still in the back yard chasing each other.

Lily, meanwhile, pranced delicately into the kitchen and at the cheese on the floor, and I was able to cook and eat my omelet in peace.

How do we do this to the Republicans in 2020?


The Market is a Motherfucker- Apple Edition

by 3:55 pm. It has 243 Comments.

I went to the orchard this afternoon, and along the way thought about this article I read a few days ago:

Bite into a Honeycrisp apple and you understand why consumers are willing to pay so much for a piece of fruit: the crunch.

That’s no accident. In the pre-Honeycrisp era, apples had just two textures: “soft and mealy (that nobody liked), and then we had the good apples, the hard, crisp and dense,” said David Bedford, one of the original breeders of the Honeycrisp.

Unlike the vast majority of modern commercial produce, the Honeycrisp apple wasn’t bred to grow, store or ship well. It was bred for taste: crisp, with balanced sweetness and acidity. Though it succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest dreams, along the way it became a nightmare for some producers, forcing small Northeastern growers to compete with their massive, climatically advantaged counterparts on the West Coast.

If you read more than the excerpt, you will learn that the Honeycrisp, while a good apple and apparently in super high demand, is a total kick in the dick for growers. While I was picking out what I wanted, I asked the guy about them, telling him I had read an article about them. He asked “the one online?” and I responded yes, and his eyes narrowed, face reddened, and he got the same look I get whenever someone brings up Trump or the 2016 primaries- “That article didn’t do it justice.”

He then went on an extended but polite rant about them- they only fruit every other year, they get sunburnt, they grow too big and break branches on young trees, they are susceptible to sunburn and basically anything that can plague any other apple tree, and even storing them is a colossal pain in the ass. You pick them, store them outside for two days, then move them inside for a couple days, then you can refrigerate them, and even then they can start to decay. So the next time you bite into a delicious honeycrisp, just remember that apple growers think you are an asshole.

I browsed around the place for a bit- I just love it. It’s a little garage like building on the outskirts of the orchard, with large 3 foot tall 4-5′ wide bins just filled with all different types of apples, and as soon as you walk into the place the aroma of apples and ciders just takes over. It’s a no fuss operation. Just one guy, a folding table with some bags and a tin for the cash, and the big bins for apples and a couple refrigerators for the cider.

I picked up a couple different varieties- including some small fuji’s for mom (she likes tiny apples, and the galas were done for the season) and a gallon of cider for Harry up the street at the general store. For myself (and I will share a few with dad), I got a bag of Ruby Frosts and a bag of Nittanys. The Ruby Frost is a deep burgundy colored apple, of medium size with good crispness, a nice sweet tart first bite, and then a semi-sweet finish with a solid flavor of what I can only describe as the essence of apple. They are a new variety from New York (although I don’t know how long my guy has been growing them), and I think they are very pretty:

I also picked up a five lb bag of Nittanys. They are also a very pretty apple- a bright red with patches of yellow and orange through out, almost sun kissed, that closely resemble the apple version of a properly mixed tequila sunrise. They are crisp and juicy, with a nice tart taste.

And then, of course, I got a bag of honeycrisps, because we all know I am an asshole and there’s just no hiding it.


Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez – What a Team!

by 3:04 pm. It has 178 Comments.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez led a protest on global warming outside Nancy Pelosi’s office this morning.

The “adults” I’m seeing on Twitter are stroking their beards (yes, they’re all men) and telling Ocasio-Cortez to show a little respect.

But what if Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez planned this together?

What if Pelosi has plenty of material for a Green New Deal?

Control of the House only means that Democrats won’t be able to get a lot of legislation passed. What they can do is generate enthusiasm for their program and show that the Republicans have no agenda to benefit ordinary people.

Global warming is the biggest issue for young people I talk to. It’s their world we’re wrecking. The hardest problem in dealing with it is getting people’s attention and convincing them something can be done about it.

Start the action right away. Show young voters that their concerns are important and their votes counted. Let the Republicans think (like the “adults”) that there’s a split between Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez to give them false confidence. Get publicity – conflict will do that.

I don’t see any downsides here. Even if Pelosi was blind-sided by the demonstration, she’s smart enough to make use of an opportunity.


None of us need this shit, actually…

by 1:43 pm. It has 176 Comments.

There are several reports alleging that Trump is about to shit-can chief baby-cager Kirstjen Nielsen and possibly her mentor John Kelly too. Nielsen’s ass is in the hot seat because it turns out that even monstrous treatment of desperate people won’t stop them from trying to escape the intolerable conditions in their home countries.

Someone has to take the fall for the failure of Hair Furor’s genius scheme to torture poor and brown people away from our borders, and Nielsen it is. Here’s hoping she spends the next 40 years regretting the decision to hitch her star to the orange shit-wagon.

ABC News says the latest dispute with Kelly arose over a dust-up with the Third Lady:

“There have been instances where the East Wing staff were not treated as equals to the male-dominated decision makers in Chief Kelly’s office,” one White House official said. “Promotions were denied then finally granted after months of requests,” the official said.

Melania Trump raised concerns with her husband earlier this year, amid the height of the controversy over his alleged affair with porn actress Stormy Daniels, that Kelly had repeatedly denied her requests to promote some of her aides, two White House officials told NBC News.

The requests languished for months as Kelly insisted there weren’t enough available positions for the first lady’s aides to have senior titles, these people said. During this same period however, West Wing officials working for Kelly received promotions, the White House officials said.

Having learned of the dispute, the president was furious and told Kelly to give the first lady, who has a smaller East Wing staff than her recent predecessors, what she wanted, these people said. “I don’t need this shit,” Trump told Kelly, according to one person familiar with the conversation.

Sounds like the Third Lady has a well-honed instinct for when to shake the orange fart cloud down. She can’t possibly be surprised that inhabitants of the Ladies Wing aren’t treated as equals by Trump’s henchmen; she struck a bargain with, if not THE devil, one of the lesser imps and demons, so excuse me if I don’t feel compelled to join her in sisterly outrage at the rank sexism she and her employees endure on the daily.

It’s galling that anyone willing to work for these thoroughly awful people would get a dime in taxpayer money, let alone sit around a luxurious public office and squabble incessantly about “senior titles” while doing nothing, but that’s show biz.

Anyhoo, that’s all I have to say about that. Open thread!


Calendar Update

by 11:01 am. It has 65 Comments.

The interest in calendars has been lukewarm, so I need you to email balloonjuicecalendar@gmail.com if you desire a calendar. If you have already emailed, don’t send another. Mentioning you want one in the comments DOES NOT WORK, as I am only using the tally from emails.

Additionally, I am going to hold a site fundraiser. I have received bids for a complete rebuild that will be several thousand dollars, but we just need a complete rebuild. Alain has done an amazing job patching things together, but the best course of action is starting from the ground up. When should we hold the fundraiser?