114 thoughts on “TSN Open Mic for the week of 1/30/2023”

  1. Something unsettling is going on at the Dallas Zoo: a monkey cage was damaged last month, then a clouded leopard got out after her enclosure was damaged (but she was found napping in a tree nearby), an endangered vulture was killed, and now today, two tamarin monkeys were stolen: https://www.insider.com/mystery-dallas-zoo-2-monkeys-missing-after-leopard-dead-vulture-2023-1

    I’m not sure if this is someone doing it to sell them on the black market (my suspicion, if an unfounded one), someone who is anti-zoo and is doing this to harm the zoo’s reputation (though it seems killing animals is a bad way to make that point here), someone who thinks it’s “for the lulz” or some other weird reason.

    Unrelatedly, but: a lemur was discovered in a garage in the town next door to the one my mom lives in in Illinois, and speculation is it was someone’s highly illegal “pet” that either escaped or was released. Happily for the lemur, the local zoo took it into custody and apparently the plan is to introduce it to a lemur troop somewhere.

    (Lemurs would make terrible pets, as do monkeys: perpetual 2-year-old with dexterity and, n the lemur’s case, big scary teeth)Report

    2. The tamarins have been found, apparently safe, and there’s supposedly a “person of interest.” It will be interesting to see how this unravels. I suppose “disgruntled former employee” is most likely though it could also be “random idiot who thought ‘it would be cool to have exotic pets'”

      I dunno. These past few weeks have not been banner weeks for my faith in humanityReport

  2. In the Category of “Cases screaming out for Em Carpenter to dissect:”

    While most of the attention so far is focused on whether the Department of Education exceeded its authority in implementing the program, some court watchers are focused on an equally important procedural issue that is a major part of the case: whether the red states behind the challenge have the legal right, or “standing” to bring the dispute in the first place.

    https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/31/politics/student-loan-supreme-court-standing/index.htmlReport

  4. I’m sure glad we elected more Republicans to deal with crime and inflation:

    Inflation declined for the last six months of 2022 as gas prices returned to pre-Ukraine war levels. (Wages went up in December as prices and consumer spending went down.) Indeed, Republicans care so little about inflation, they passed a bill to roll back funding for the IRS, which would increase the deficit, and another to prevent Biden from taking steps to reduce gas prices (as he did last year).

    Despite being hyped endlessly on right-wing media and featured in innumerable mainstream reports, crime rates fell, according to the nonpartisan Council on Criminal Justice. Its figures show “the number of homicides in 2022 was 4% lower than counts recorded in 2021, representing 242 fewer murders in the 27 cities that publicly report monthly homicide data.” Although the homicide rate was higher than pre-pandemic levels, homicides are nevertheless at “about half the historical nationwide peaks in 1980 and 1991.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/01/30/maga-republicans-attention-inflation-crime/Report

    2. Interestingly, I was listening to the new on a drive into the office and they talked about this very same thing….

      Seems the reports locally reported were “compared” to the prior month, not the same month prior year. Year over year there’s an increase in crime and gun related deaths. Month over month no. That was “celebrated” as a positive trend rather than the BS it actually was. Like one of the hosts said (paraphrase) “Talk to me when it’s month over month for 6 straight months and its less year over year”. Well said.Report

  5. America, 2023:
    Hide your books to avoid felony charges, Fla. schools tell teachers
    The department’s new rule, published and approved Jan. 18, “clarifies that library materials, including classroom libraries, must be approved and selected by a media specialist.” This goes against precedent: Classroom libraries have historically been overseen by no one but teachers, who simply selected and stocked books they believed might be intriguing to students. Often, teachers bought these texts with their own money or by fundraising online.

    All books are forbidden, unless approved by a political minder to make sure they don’t contain forbidden ideas.Report

    1. Mississippi is getting on the band wagon for all libraries:

      An Act To Create A New Section Of Law To Provide That Library Collections, Events, Presentations And Displays Aimed At The Special Needs And Interests Of Children And Young Teenagers Shall Not Be Allowed To Include Materials Containing Certain Information; To Provide That A Citizen Of This State Whose Child Is Affected By A Violation Of This Act May File Suit For Declarative And Injunctive Relief, Including All Reasonable Attorney’s Fees And Costs Incurred By The Party Bringing The Suit In The Circuit Court Which Shall Have Jurisdiction Over The Library Where The Violation Of This Act Occurs; To Provide That The Attorney General’s Office Shall Give The Library The Opportunity To Cure The Violation Before A Suit Is Brought; To Provide That The State Board Of Education And The Mississippi Library Commission, In Consultation With The Attorney General’s Office, Shall Provide Training To The Libraries

      https://legiscan.com/MS/bill/HB1045/2023Report

  6. Uh-oh, looks like they caught some teachers grooming students:

    The couple, alleged to be Logan and Katja Lawrence of Upper Sandusky, go by the online name The Saxton. Reports state the couple is using the Dissident Homeschool channel on Telegram to disseminate the material they’ve allegedly been developing for years.

    The group has nearly 2,500 subscribers and includes items like printouts so students can use Adolf Hitler quotes to practice cursive handwriting and tips to “avoid Jewish media content.”

    https://www.nbc4i.com/news/nazi-homeschool-sparks-call-for-review-of-ohio-homeschooling/

    Man, I bet Chaya Raichik will be all over this.Report

  7. Also America, 2023:

    Florida schools are requiring girls who play sports to fill out health forms with multiple questions about their periods, including the date they last menstruated and the average number of days between each of their periods. State school boards claim it’s just about athletes’ health, but doctors point out that there’s no good reason for this information to be accessible to school administrators—it’s something that just should be between a patient and doctor. Considering the health forms are filled out and stored online, the concern over privacy and reproductive health is giving parents reasonable pause.

    https://jessica.substack.com/p/abortion-every-day-10522#detailsReport

      1. I remember reading a story in National Review in the 70s about the horrors of living in Communist China, where in every village there was a bureaucrat who had a list of every woman and what type of birth control she was using.

        I was too young to detect the undertone of envy in the writing.Report

            1. But then, as Desantis has proven, they don’t really care about capitalism either. The fact is, a lot of conservatives would be happy to live in a Stalinist country as long as they got to be General Secretary.

              Their commitment to capitalism is as thin as their commitment to the Constitution, or democracy or states’ rights. This group of conservatives only cares about acquiring power – everything else is rationalisation.Report

              1. The Dem’s with Clinton in the lead became very business friendly in the 90’s which broke R’s belief in markets and drove many people on the center-left to left to madness in different ways.Report

              2. You’re not describing the conservative movement in America, not even as a parody. What you’re saying doesn’t match this country’s experience at all.Report

              3. He describes the Kochs pretty spot on.
                Maybe you have to work for them to understand.

                I’d rather the Conservative Movement in America be a rando Real Estate Developer from NYC than the Kochs. I’d take Scaife over both of them, to be sure.Report

              4. Meh. Several R’s want to haul companies in front of congress for dropping ads on twitter and for not giving a new contract to newsmax. Overstepping gov authority, infringing on 1st AM and to hell with free markets.Report

              5. Yes, it very much does. Maybe not YOUR exprinece of being a conservative, but if you look at the legislation passed by GOP state legislatures, the Congress and signed into law by GOP Presidents this is very much the outcome they drove toward sine Reagan if not before.Report

              7. The Right just defines capitalism a lot different from other free marketers. They love crony capitalism that allows people in the in-group to earn big books in corrupt bargains.Report

        1. Running a public university – which New College is – without federal grants is not economically feasible without significant tuition hikes. Plus it impacts accreditation – which in turn impacts all sorts of other things. DeSantis has likely been told this – he’s an Ivy League grad after all – Which means continuing down this path is as much about performative destruction as anything else.Report

          1. Feature, not a bug.
            As I’ve said, conservatives themselves have nothing but scorn for “conservative” insitutions.
            When a conservative wants a good education for himself or his kids, its always an Ivy or prestigious liberal school, never Liberty U or Bob Jones or some nonsense like that.

            DeSantis and Rufo know perfectly well that there is no possible way to create a prestigious, well regarded conservative university. So like the old Soviet joke about Ivan’s goat, they would rather destroy it than allow liberals to enjoy it.Report

          3. Running a public university (without the government) requires Chinese Wealth.

            There We Go! Off and to the races!

            Tuition hikes need not apply to “in-state” residents in order to be effective.Report

      1. I want a generally reliable conservative with decent character and a good resume. She checks all three boxes. I’d rather see the GOP coalesce around one candidate early, so I don’t want too many people running, but she seems completely electable and I wouldn’t mind seeing her get the office.

        I don’t know why she’d be seen as only a VP possibility, or even how a “marker” would work.Report

        1. Well Trump will have to pick a running mate once he’s nominated – as will anyone else. When the Biden-Harris ticket announces, Republicans having a similar ticket would be an interesting counterpart.

          And let’s be honest – the vast majority of GOP voters no longer care about decent character and a good resume. A plurality didn’t in 2016. Trump taps something primal that Haley won’t.Report

          1. Without debating the same stuff we always disagree about, I was describing what I look for. I know a presidential nominee has to pick a running mate, but I don’t know why we’d assume Haley can’t be at the top of the ticket. Also, I still don’t get your thinking about a “marker”. For what? I think her running could help Trump, but I doubt that anyone in the Trump camp thinks that way or would dare say that out loud, and I can’t believe that Haley would trust Trump to uphold a deal. I don’t even see how agreeing to be Trump’s running mate would be in her long-term political interests. On top of all that, I think even most oddsmakers are giving DeSantis a stronger shot at the nomination over Trump. So I just don’t see how the story you’re telling would play out that way.Report

            1. DeSantis has to announce run, which he has not done (probably wisely).
              Trump has, and is actively campaigning if somewhat anemically.
              Haley announcing and then campaigning means she’s going to bear the brunt of Trump’s attacks. Which also means IF we make it to the primaries next year with him not convicted of something, she and DeSantis have to turn out enough voters in every state to out vote his base. That didn’t happen in 2016. Its even less likely to happen now. We know this because the “reasonable” Republicans who spoke and voted against him were run out of office in 2022.

              As to her “marker” – she’s relatively young by political standards, and can easily be considered by DeSantis as a running mate of he can pull even with Trump. And having a male-female ticket against a likely Democratic male-female ticket takes a certain amount of wind out of that sail.Report

              1. I don’t understand your scenarios. Can we agree that the more people who would run in a DeSantis – Trump primary, the worse it would be for DeSantis? When you say “marker”, do you mean that she’d earn credit – and if so, do you mean deliberately or not, and either way, from whom?Report

              2. Can we agree that the more people who would run in a DeSantis – Trump primary, the worse it would be for DeSantis?

                Yes – and for anyone else.

                As to marker – Haley clearly has political ambitions – but announcing this early, and being willing to be thusly drubbed also means she may well be open – and thus putting down a marker – for VP depending on who emerges.Report

    1. I’m not sure it’s balls so much as the crisis caused by a decade of terrible government finally boiling over.

      I never like to speculate about the internal politics of other countries but it seems there are ways this could play out that are not great for the unions. Like are taxpayers really going to be on the side of teachers for long if 85% of schools are repeatedly closed or if homes or businesses burn because the fire fighters are on a skeleton staff? Maybe the British have a stronger sense of solidarity than us Americans but I can’t imagine a parallel situation of public sector strikes playing well in the US. Not at all.Report

      1. The British are apparently fine with kids stealing each other’s erasers in order to have food to eat at school. That is not my definition of solidarity.Report

    2. I mean, the reality is, the economy is good here. Obviously, things could be better, but the UK is the screwy economy the online left sometimes treats the current American economy has. Since 2017, 1/3 of the income inequality that was built between 1981 and 2017 has reversed, because of low-end wage growth and such.

      There’s no reason for say, nurses to strike, because if you’re a nurse and upset, you can find a better paying job in 2.6 seconds. Maybe 30 seconds if you don’t want to move far.Report

  12. Instead of bashing DeSantis even more can we give a little love to the Free Speech Warrior brigade ( Conor F, Bari W, the IDW) who are proudly raging against the big gubmint for indoctrinating kids in schools. They are really ripping into this big gov Florida gov guy who is making schools teach only what he wants. It’s not like he is targeting one group that he has gone after in the past.Report

    2. Come on, Conor will write one Tweet and mention it once in an article, and use those screenshots as proof he’s fair ‘n’ balanced when people point to his 95,000 words on kids in colleges being dumb.Report

    2. For the same reason the Military is in charge of OWS — and “anti-ISIS” computerized weaponry was repurposed for use in the coverup.

      Because you didn’t look at orgcharts. The info was publically available.

      Try reading next time.Report

  14. Ilhan Omar off the Foreign Affairs committee, Swalwell and Schiff off Intelligence, Santos steps down from all committees.Report

    1. None of that is a surprise in a power for power’s sake House run by the GOP. Though I do find it interesting that Schiff – the House Russia Expert – is off what with that tiff between Russia and Ukraine.Report

        1. Adam Schiff hasn’t lied. Illiahn Omar was censured by Democrats for her prior Anti-Semitism for which she has fully and publicly apologized. Swalwell was never known to have slept with the Chinese operative in question and has cooperated fully and publicly with the FBI and other investigations.Report

            1. You are correct:

              “Congresswoman Omar’s use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel’s supporters is deeply offensive,” said Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn and other party leaders in a statement. “We condemn these remarks and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologize for these hurtful comments.“

              https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/11/house-democrats-ilhan-omar-antisemitism-1163728

              That story goes on to carry her apology. And she hasn’t done it since.

              Now, where is Kevin McCarthy’s equal condemnation of Paul Gosar for tweeting images of the killing of AOC? And Gosar’s apology? Or the same thing for MTG’s multiple threats against her colleagues?Report

              1. She hasn’t done it since? Well, there was the first one, then the attempted censure that the Democrats removed her name from, then the second time, and the attempted censure that the Democrats turned into a condemnation of anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim sentiment and also removed her name from, and she’s subsequently said that the censure (maybe both) were wrong.

                As for Gosar, it was an anime gif. It was stupid. MTG, from what I remember, yeah that was wrong.Report

              2. Neither Gosar nor GReene were condemned nor censured nor punished by their own parties. While Omar’s comdemnation by Democratic leaders may not have been to your satisfaction its still farther then the GOP was or is willing to go with members who threatened Democrats with t heir conduct.

                These two things are not equivalent and do not deserve equivalent responses.Report

              5. The Gosar thing was stupid and doesn’t count. I don’t recall the Greene thing, but then I haven’t seen the House GOP putting her on magazine covers either. I’ll look this up when I have “both sides do it” refutation time.Report

              6. So let me ask you this – if “White Supremacism has no place in the GOP” as McCarthy and Scalese stated in your citation, and 11 Republicans voted with Democrats to remove them from their committee assignments in part for those reasons, why bother readmitting them? Was McCarthy lying then, or is he lying now?Report

    2. WHAT ABOUT SANTOS

      Anyway, Swalwell’s peccadilloes with an alleged Chinese spy are good enough reason to at least put whether it’s appropriate for him to be on the committee on the table. I’d probably compare to any given Joe Schmoe with a clearance who has been found to be close to a spy. “But it isn’t proven that he did anything *WRONG*!”, true. But, from what I understand, the clearance people have different standards than “what a person intended in his heart” when it comes to this sort of thing.

      Schiff’s… let’s call them “misstatements” are probably sufficient to have a retaliatory boot.

      As for Omar… well, all is forgiven, I guess.

      This strikes me as being an obvious follow-up to booting MTG off of whatever committee she was on.

      “Are you saying”

      Let me stop you right there: I’m not. I *AM* saying that following established rules is, effectively, a non-aggression pact and changing the rules for temporary political advantage is likely to result in the tables being turned at the first opportunity to turn a table.

      If you hand out tats, there are a couple of things that you probably want to prepare for.Report

      1. So Gosar (Whom you didn’t mention) and MTG should have kept their committee assignments despite repeatedly inviting their fans and followers to actively attack the Democratic leadership of congress? And the Republicans who voted with Democrats to remove them were somehow deluded?

        Good to know.Report

        1. Ahem:

          “Are you saying”

          Let me stop you right there: I’m not. I *AM* saying that following established rules is, effectively, a non-aggression pact and changing the rules for temporary political advantage is likely to result in the tables being turned at the first opportunity to turn a table.

          Report

          1. Sorry man, but that’s not good enough. Gosar and MTG were removed in a bipartisan vote over multiple instances of threats to their fellow congressmen and other prominent democrats. That wasn’t “changing the rules for temporary advantage.” That was properly punishing threatening conduct.

            These are not the same thing.Report

          2. Hilarious. You actually stated what you were not saying, then you got accused of it, then when you cited your statement, you were told it wasn’t good enough.Report

            1. Where Jay and I differ is he sees removing Green and Gosar temporarily changing the rules for political gain, which means Democrats should expect the same treatment; I see it as necessary but insufficient punishment for members who openly and without remorse called for their colleagues to be attacked.

              So What he “was not saying” was misdirecting BS trying to create false equivalency.Report

  16. BoJo threatens American Targets if Russia uses nuclear weapons.
    I’m not certain if he’s trying to imply that Russia can’t target worth jack, and trying to hit the Ukraine (or Great Britain) is likely to cause American Targets to get hit…
    He can’t actually be implying that if Russia uses limited nuclear weapons, Great Britain will shoot America, can he?

    I mean, that’s ONE way to create Mutually Assured Destruction, sure, and dandy. Lose the entire world that way.Report

          1. You know, I stepped out for lunch today and overheard a couple of fellows at the diner spinning conspiracy theories at one another. One guy’s was initially plausible on the level of “The C.I.A. got ISIS started,” but then devolved into “…and they were only ever mercenaries we paid to fight us.” The other guy’s were more along the lines of Lizard People Theory (IIRC it was something about the government controlling Navajo Skinwalkers to assassinate various inconvenient people).

            I really, really wanted to bomb into the conversation with Hanlon’s Razor. But telling people who think the government is “House of Cards” when it’s really “Veep” that most of the world is quite adequately explained by “Famous, powerful people are often just as big of fuckups as your less-competent friends” isn’t any fun, and these guys seemed like they were having a good time.

            So I just paid my tab and went back to the office.Report

  17. Why Republicans would want to go harder on an issue that most data shows hurts them at the polls is puzzling, initially. But a new study from PerryUndem, which specializes in crafting nuanced polls that dig into the deeper motivations of American voters, suggests why that might be. Their numbers show that, even as the country has grown more progressive on gender and sexuality, sexist views among Republican voters have only grown more entrenched. In addition, the data makes it clear that the driving force behind anti-abortion policies is a belief that women are not smart or moral enough to be allowed control over their own bodies.

    https://www.salon.com/2023/02/02/the-overturn-of-roe-cost-the-gop-so-why-are-now-doubling-down-on-abortion-bans/Report

    1. This is the second recent Marcotte column you’ve linked to, and as with the last one, the first sus thing I dug into turned out to be false.

      “A majority of anti-abortion respondents also believed men understand the biology of abortion better than women do.”

      That didn’t happen. They asked half the people if men understood, and they asked half the people if women understood. They asked no one if men understand better than women. The PerryUndem report calls it an “experiment” and treats it separately from the other data. This question being asked of smaller groups makes it less statistically meaningful.

      That “experiment” is the basis for Marcotte’s last sentence claim, at least about the perception of smarts. And once that’s gone, there’s not much left of the article but her anger.Report

      1. SO you think she’s wrong, or lying, about things like this:

        Sexist beliefs are highly correlated with and predictive of views toward abortion. False stereotypes of women and women who have abortions are the strongest predictors in our data of views toward abortion – more than party ID, ideology, gender, and religiosity.

        Or these two points:

        Anti-abortion respondents are more likely to think a male partner knows that abortion is “ending a life or a potential life”
        (55%) than the woman having an abortion (38%)
        • A majority of Republicans hold hostile sexist views while at the same time feeling full gender equality has been achieved

        Do you think she’s not justified to be angry about this:

        Perhaps most telling of all, in our view, is the finding that suggests half of the public (49%) thinks “there are many irresponsible women who will decide to have an abortion up until the moment of birth.”

        especially given that abortions past the first tri-mester are exceedingly rare and usually medically necessary?

        Should she be happy about this:

        Hostile sexism has increased among Republican men

        In the polling, 63% of those who want to make abortion illegal in all or nearly all cases also believe white men are the most persecuted segment of society. Should she be celebrating that?

        Even your response to that experiment is telling, since they asked the same question about understanding of what both men and women know regarding abortion, and the men are clearly BELIEVED to know more:

        Half of respondents in our survey were asked: “In
        general, do you think women who have an abortion
        know what they are doing – that the abortion is ending
        a life or a potential life?” Sixty-percent of all
        respondents say “yes,” 22% say “some know, some
        don’t,” 8% say “no,” and 11% are unsure.         38% of antiabortion
        adults say “yes”         v. 71% of adults who support
        legal abortion.

        The other half were asked: “Think about men who have
        a partner who has an abortion. Do you think the men
        know that the abortion is ending a life or a potential
        life?”         Fifty-five percent of all respondents say “yes,”
        including 55% of anti-abortion adults. 37% say “some
        know, some don’t,” 8% say “no,” and 11% are unsure.
        55% of anti-abortion say “yes.”

        Dealing with nuance in data is hard, I’ll grant you. But in these responses there’s plenty for her to be angry about.Report

        1. Do I think she’s wrong or lying? I don’t know, I’ve only looked into two claims in two articles and they were both wrong, so my working assumption is yeah, when she writes an article around a big point, the point isn’t true. How many left-wing authors do you double-check? Does the fact that she missed the nuance in her central claim in this article give you pause?

          As for psychology, I think it’s entirely possible that the man whose child was aborted could be more able to grasp the tragedy than the woman who did it. That makes sense. But the data doesn’t show that, because it wasn’t asked.Report

          1. I think it’s entirely possible that the man whose child was aborted could be more able to grasp the tragedy than the woman who did it. That makes sense.

            Seems like you agree with the poll respondents that women aren’t capable of grasping their decision. And thus that men are “better” then women. Proves her point rather well, don’t you think?Report

            1. No, I don’t agree. That’s why I said something totally different from that. Let’s do the equivalent of an active listening exercise: why don’t you try to paraphrase what I actually said?Report

              1. I don’t have to paraphrase – I have your actual words:

                the first sus thing I dug into turned out to be false.

                “A majority of anti-abortion respondents also believed men understand the biology of abortion better than women do.”

                That didn’t happen. They asked half the people if men understood, and they asked half the people if women understood. They asked no one if men understand better than women. The PerryUndem report calls it an “experiment” and treats it separately from the other data. This question being asked of smaller groups makes it less statistically meaningful.

                Do I think she’s wrong or lying? I don’t know, I’ve only looked into two claims in two articles and they were both wrong, so my working assumption is yeah, when she writes an article around a big point, the point isn’t true.

                I think it’s entirely possible that the man whose child was aborted could be more able to grasp the tragedy than the woman who did it.

                The question asked is highlighted above and asks about biological outcomes – women understanding what’s happening and what they are doing. As she rightly noted, the majority of respondents questioned thusly, who were opposed to legal abortion, said they believed men were more likely to understand the “tragedy” then women. Both male and female respondents said so. You then closed with the notion that you agreed that men were more likely to understand that then women.

                Most people – normies included – will look at a result like that and reach the conclusion that Marcotte does – which you gave support to – that men were better then women because they are more likely to understand the tragedy.

                I can’t help that you don’t like how I see what you said – especially written out. But those are indeed your words, which I believe express your actual sentiments on the matter.Report

              2. The fact that you can quote something but can’t describe it accurately is the problem.

                The fallacy of composition is when one confuses the trait of a member of a group with a trait shared by the whole of the group. It may be true that women in the WNBA are taller than men in the International Jockey Association or whatever. But that wouldn’t make it necessarily true that women are taller than men. Now, look at two of the sentences you highlighted:

                “do you think women who have an abortion
                know what they are doing – that the abortion is ending a life or a potential life”

                “Think about men who have a partner who has an abortion. Do you think the men know that the abortion is ending a life or a potential
                life?”

                The women being described are a subset of all women – a subset not randomly chosen, but a subset chosen based on a particular decision they’ve made. They may display traits that differ from the average, whether due to their thinking before the decision or the impact of the decision. Likewise, the men being described have had a different experience than the average man. You can’t generalize from the subsets to the wholes. And you can’t legitimately accuse me of beliefs based on your generalizations of those subsets to the wholes.Report

              3. Thinking about this, there’s one mistake I made in my previous post that may explain your confusion. I said “They asked half the people if men understood, and they asked half the people if women understood.” Technically, I should have said “They asked half the people if men who had their children aborted understood, and they asked half the people if women who had abortions understood.” The sentence was too clunky, though, so I dropped the descriptive phrases. From the context, though, that should have been clear, because I was describing what they asked.Report

              4. The fact that you can quote something but can’t describe it accurately is the problem.

                If what you wrote isn’t an accurate representation of what you said, I can’t help you. Its not my job to go rooting around for peoples “real meanings.” It’s my job to react to what is written. I do that within the context of our prior interactions, where you are plainly anti-abortion, and view it a sinful choice which must be punished. You are also written from a perspective where the men are, in fact “better” in that they perceive the abortion as having been a tragedy and the women are lessor because they don’t.

                You plainly disagreed with the pollster’s conclusions, and with Marcotte’s subsequent characterizations of them. I do find it ironic that she wasn’t specific enough for you (though in large part she was accurate about what the polling said), and yet you then go on to do the same thing.Report

              5. OK, so you recognize the difference between “men” and “men who’ve had their children aborted”, and between “women” and “women who’ve had abortions”. That’s a good step. It seems like you learned that between paragraphs one and two, though, because right above it you accuse me of thinking that men are better than women.Report

    1. Which goes back to a discussion form several months ago about whether we are in a recession or not and what impact inflation is having on the economy. Unless we are going to start requiring businesses to fire people, the Fed’s rate hikes aren’t cooling anything. And at some point soon they will be part of the problem.Report

      1. The feds rate hikes do seem to be cooling inflation. That they aren’t yet dampening employment is reason to celebrate- not to decry the hikes. If inflation gets tamed but employment holds up that’s a soft landing and a boon to any sitting President.Report

        1. The Fed is on record as saying they intend to raise rates until hiring and wage growth – which generate economic demand – cool. Powell has gone so far as to say the short term pain of increased job losses are good for the long term economy. That being their world view, there is no soft landing to be had.Report

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