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Captain_Maclaine
Sep 30, 2001

Every moment that I'm alive, I pray for death!

yronic heroism posted:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/31/us/biden-space-force-alabama-colorado.html

Biden cancels Trump order to locate Space Force in Alabama. No real proof but speculation it’s payback against Tuberville. I think it’s more likely that Colorado has, y’know, Colorado Springs as the Air Force place already established.

There's also the warning shot the Pentagon put out to Texas last month (I think it was) where they stated for readiness reasons they'd move troops from states with restrictive abortion/LGBT+ laws if they had to, which included undertones of "if you gently caress with us on this we'll close bases and leave your towns to rot."

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Bar Ran Dun
Jan 22, 2006




zoux posted:

Another thing that pops out is that these folks are mind-bogglingly stupid

They’ve been failed by our systems. It’s doesn’t matter that the reasons for those failures are rational or even directly caused by the GOP. Not understanding that is privilege.

zoux
Apr 28, 2006

Captain_Maclaine posted:

There's also the warning shot the Pentagon put out to Texas last month (I think it was) where they stated for readiness reasons they'd move troops from states with restrictive abortion/LGBT+ laws if they had to, which included undertones of "if you gently caress with us on this we'll close bases and leave your towns to rot."

I mean, I don't think they can credibly claim to shut down Ft. Cavasos nee Hood and most of the other major installations are in big blue cities like San Antonio or El Paso

Edgar Allen Ho
Apr 3, 2017

by sebmojo

zoux posted:

I mean, I don't think they can credibly claim to shut down Ft. Cavasos nee Hood and most of the other major installations are in big blue cities like San Antonio or El Paso

To those not familiar with Texas, loving with blue cities is the favourite pastime of state republicans

zoux
Apr 28, 2006

https://twitter.com/nielslesniewski/status/1686412597023723522

Currently the Senate President Pro Tem is acting governor, it is time for New York state to seize East Rutherford

yronic heroism
Oct 31, 2008

zoux posted:

I mean, I don't think they can credibly claim to shut down Ft. Cavasos nee Hood and most of the other major installations are in big blue cities like San Antonio or El Paso

Presumably it’s a question of staffing levels, which could still have an economic effect, rather than actual closures in the short term.

zoux
Apr 28, 2006

yronic heroism posted:

Presumably it’s a question of staffing levels, which could still have an economic effect, rather than actual closures in the short term.

The national and state level dems that rep those areas are the biggest troop bootlicks you ever saw so it doesn't make sense politically. Oh, you're hurting urban democratic constituencies? Well I guess we should do more transgender bans then.

brugroffil
Nov 30, 2015


Nash posted:

Here in the wilderness of rural Illinois the big issues that drive GOP voters are

1. Guns
2. Abortion
3. Racism

I live in a pretty poor rural area. The kids at my school get free lunch because of the high poverty rate in the district. When talking about government aid they say that “city people” are just mooching off hard working Americans. I point out the high rate of government assistance even within the school “oh, but people around here deserve it”

idk why Pritzker hasn't signed it yet, but Illinois passed a "free school lunch for everyone" bill earlier this year. Unless he actually vetoed it for some reason, it'll go into effect on 8/14.
https://www.wifr.com/2023/07/27/free-school-lunch-bill-awaiting-governor-pritzker-approval/

Xand_Man
Mar 2, 2004

If what you say is true
Wutang might be dangerous


Since we're talking about voter safaris, there was one (WaPo, Vox?) where they interviewed elderly rural Christian women who rambled on about in heaven there would be no pain and you'd have new appliances in your kitchen. The whole piece screamed "conservative evangelicals are a death cult and Trump is their messiah" without actually saying it. Any idea which article this was?

lobster shirt
Jun 14, 2021

well,it is pretty heavenly to have all new kitchen appliances. maybe they're onto something.

Kalli
Jun 2, 2001



In the name of the father, the son, and the Bosch Whisper Quiet

haveblue
Aug 15, 2005



Toilet Rascal

zoux posted:

https://twitter.com/nielslesniewski/status/1686412597023723522

Currently the Senate President Pro Tem is acting governor, it is time for New York state to seize East Rutherford

Throw Staten Island over the fence and run away

Tayter Swift
Nov 18, 2002

Pillbug
Praise Jesus, for He hath turned water into chilled filtered water from the fridge

zoux
Apr 28, 2006

I've been a pretty solid decrim advocate my whole political life so it's very disheartening to see how much of a disaster Portland's measure 110 has been

quote:

For the past two and a half years, Oregon has been trying an unusual experiment to stem soaring rates of addiction and overdose deaths. People caught with small amounts of illicit drugs for “personal use,” including fentanyl and methamphetamine, are fined just $100 — a sanction that can be waived if they participate in a drug screening and health assessment. The aim is to reserve prosecutions for large-scale dealers and address addiction primarily as a public health emergency.

When the proposal, known as Measure 110, was approved by nearly 60 percent of Oregon voters in November 2020, the pandemic had already emptied downtown Portland of workers and tourists. But its street population was growing, especially after the anti-police protests that had spread around the country that summer. Within months of the measure taking effect in February 2021, open-air drug use, long in the shadows, burst into full view, with people sitting in circles in parks or leaning against street signs, smoking fentanyl crushed on tinfoil.

Since then, Oregon’s overdose rates have only grown. Now, tents of unhoused people line many sidewalks in Portland. Monthslong waiting lists for treatment continue to lengthen. Some politicians and community groups are calling for Measure 110 to be replaced with tough fentanyl possession laws. Others are pleading to give it more time and resources.

....

“Portland is a homeless drug addict’s slice of paradise,” said Noah Nethers, who was living with his girlfriend in a bright orange tent on the sidewalk against a fence of a church, where they shoot and smoke both fentanyl and meth.

He ticked off the advantages: He can do drugs wherever he wants and the cops no longer harass him. There are more dealers, scouting for fresh customers moving to paradise. That means drugs are plentiful and cheap.

Downsides: Tent living is no paradise, he said, especially when folks in nearby tents, high on meth, hit him with baseball bats.

The problem here isn't that decrim is a bad idea, it's that they did the easy part (changing a couple of laws) and didn't do the hard part (funding residential inpatient treatment capacity among many other services)

quote:

Cielo offers outpatient therapy and sober housing. That is great for people who have already begun managing their addictions, but Ms. Salazar, who survived addictions to meth, OxyContin and fentanyl, keeps hearing from those in acute crisis who need a bed in a residential program right away.

She gets pleas from people leaving hospital detox, who have not yet gone through inpatient rehab. Oregon’s Medicaid patients can wait months for a treatment bed, she and others said.

“You just can’t skip a step and expect people to be successful,” she said. “We have a really low success rate that way.”

...

Funding for Measure 110’s promise of increased services comes from Oregon’s marijuana tax revenues. After a slow start, more than $265 million has flowed to programs that try to make drug use safer by providing clean needles and test strips, offer culturally specific peer support and provide shelter for people newly in recovery. But residential treatment for addiction has yet to be substantially expanded.

Yet critics of 110 say that few drug users who received $100 fines sought rehab.

Ms. Salazar rejects that claim. “The story out there is, ‘Measure 110 doesn’t work because people don’t want treatment.’ That is simply not true,” she said.

“I’m a strong advocate for harm reduction,” she continued. “The model used to be ‘all treatment, no harm reduction’. But now there’s a push to ‘all harm reduction, no additional residential treatment’— with no happy medium,” said Ms. Salazar, who is on the board of Oregon Recovers, which lobbies for improved treatment and support.

“I talked to a woman the other day who’s living in her car, and she was sobbing and crying and so desperate for treatment. I’m trying to give her some hope and I say, ‘Just keep trying and you’re going to make it,’ but I know that’s a lie. She’s not pregnant, so she doesn’t meet the benchmark for an immediate bed. And I’m going to tell her she has to call every single day for four months and then maybe she’ll get a bed?”

This is basically turning voters away from the ideas behind 110 and moving them into hardline recriminalizations, as well as a loss of empathy and compassion for those suffering addiction in the abstract. This is why you cannot half rear end this poo poo, you cannot implement systems that are interdependent on each other piecemeal, you have to put them in place in total, with enough funding to carry them for some years. Without the residential treatment programs in place - for placement, for treatment, for re-entry into society, etc. - these programs cannot work. Every other city in America is going to look at Portland and say "well, we aren't decriminalizing here" and it gives the RWM and endless supply of horror B-roll to show Real America what a needle infested hellhole progressive cities are. And it's not like it has improved the problem despite the optics, overdoses and addiction rates are higher than ever, and it's very likely that Portland recriminalizes at some point, and the transition back to that is going to be a disaster. I'm not advocating for anything here, we don't have the political will in this country to spend the kind of money we need to spend to treat drug addiction as a health care issue, I'm just sad that this is going to be the face of "sensible drug policies" for the foreseeable future.

I'd also be interested in the perspective from anyone who lives there, I understand the NYT Safari Voice often overlooks critical details so if you think any of this is over stated please point it out.

Xand_Man
Mar 2, 2004

If what you say is true
Wutang might be dangerous


That's what made it stand out - equating your eternal reward with getting shiny new stuff was so both :wtf: and quintessentially :patriot:

Leon Trotsky 2012
Aug 27, 2009

YOU CAN TRUST ME!*


*Israeli Government-affiliated poster
The Obama-era rules that launched a huge pushback and led to hoarding of incandescent bulbs (and was briefly on track to be cancelled during the Trump administration, but was put back on track in 2021 by Biden) have finally taken effect nearly 10 years after they were originally proposed.

As of today, incandescent light bulbs are effectively banned from commercial sale in the United States (there are exemptions that still allow you to sell specific types of incandescent bulbs for the inside of ovens or bug zappers).

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1686453306942439426

quote:

It’s the end of an era. In America, the incandescent light is no more (with a few exceptions).

Under new energy efficiency rules that took effect Tuesday, shoppers in the United States will no longer be able to purchase most incandescent bulbs, marking the demise of a technology patented by Thomas Edison in the late 1800s.

Taking their place are LED lights, which — love them or hate them — have already transformed America’s energy landscape.

They’ve driven down electricity demand in American homes, saving people money. And by using less power, LEDs have also helped lower the nation’s emissions of greenhouse gases, which warm the planet and are a major cause of climate change. (LED stands for light emitting diodes.)

The new efficiency standard announced by the Biden administration requires light bulbs to meet a minimum standard of producing 45 lumens per watt. (A lumen is a measurement of brightness, and incandescents typically produce far less than that per watt.) An accompanying rule change applies the new standards to a wider universe of light bulbs.

Neither rule is an explicit ban on incandescents. And a few specialized kinds of incandescent bulbs — like those that go inside ovens, and bug lights — are exempt. But most if not all other incandescents will struggle to meet the new efficiency standards, and the same goes for a more recent generation of halogen lights.

“Energy-efficient lighting is the big energy story that nobody is talking about,” said Lucas Davis, an energy economist at the Haas School of Business, part of the University of California, Berkeley. “Going from an incandescent to an LED is like replacing a car that gets 25 miles per gallon with another one that gets 130 m.p.g.,” he said.

With the new rules in place, the Department of Energy expects Americans to collectively save nearly $3 billion a year on their utility bills. In the past, a knock on LEDs was that they were more expensive to buy, but prices for LED bulbs have fallen rapidly to near parity with incandescents.

The cost savings could come as a boost particularly to lower-income households, which spend a larger proportion of their income on utilities. Research has shown that retailers in poorer neighborhoods had also been among the slowest to phase out energy-guzzling bulbs.

Over the next three decades, the rules will also cut carbon dioxide emissions by 222 million metric tons the Energy Department said, which it compared to the emissions from 28 million homes in one year.

LEDs have other advantages. Consumers can expect less running to the store for new bulbs or teetering on foot ladders to replace them: LED light bulbs last 25 to 50 times longer than their incandescent counterparts.

The new regulations may go over with little fanfare. Over the past year, most retailers have taken inefficient bulbs off their shelves in anticipation of the rule, said Andrew deLaski, executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, which advocates for appliance efficiency rules.

“I don’t think most people even noticed,” he said.

The shift from traditional incandescent bulbs to LED lights brings to a close a political debate that once was a Republican rallying point, much like the Trump-era “Make Dishwashers Great Again” partisan fight, and the more recent political sparring over gas stoves.

Congress established the first national light bulb efficiency standards in 2007, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush. Starting in 2012, the law required new bulbs to use 28 percent less power than existing incandescent lights, kicking off the beginning of the end for older designs.

“The government has no business telling an individual what kind of light bulb to buy,” Representative Michele Bachmann, a Republican from Minnesota, said in 2012, introducing the “Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act” to repeal the federal requirement.

Those attempts failed. But the Trump administration temporarily stalled a second phase of the 2007 lighting efficiency rules, which were scheduled to go into effect in 2020.

In blocking those rules — one of more than 100 environment-related rules rolled back during the Trump presidency — Mr. Trump appeared to heed the concerns of manufacturers, whose trade group argued that a ban would disrupt retail. The National Electrical Manufacturers Association also argued that people were already making the switch. The association didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Europe is a step ahead, having phased out incandescent lights in 2012. In 2021, the European Union said it would also ban all fluorescent lighting next month.

Environmental groups and experts have long pushed for a phaseout of fluorescent lights, which are less efficient than LED lights and also contain mercury, a toxic metal.

In the United States, compact fluorescent lights — the bulbs made up of a swirl of fluorescent tubing — meet the new efficiency rules. Few are still sold, however, and separate efficiency standards proposed but not yet enacted by the Biden administration could soon effectively ban those, too.

Jesus III
May 23, 2007
Eat my rear end, incandescent bulbs. You never realize how many lightbulbs you used to change until all your bulbs are LED

DeadlyMuffin
Jul 3, 2007

RIP lava lamps

Leon Trotsky 2012
Aug 27, 2009

YOU CAN TRUST ME!*


*Israeli Government-affiliated poster
As the article notes, compact fluorescent bulbs are also on their way to being effectively banned.

However, despite an initial surge in popularity as a replacement to incandescent bulbs in 2012, they have already largely been weeded out by the free market and very few are currently sold due to the rise of LEDs providing cheaper and better lighting.

RIP weird hospital and doctor's office lighting.

Are Easybake Ovens still a thing? RIP to those too.

Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 20:28 on Aug 1, 2023

Tiny Timbs
Sep 6, 2008

RIP lights that came with hazmat disposal instructions that nobody ever followed

ninjahedgehog
Feb 17, 2011

It's time to kick the tires and light the fires, Big Bird.


Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

Are Easybake Ovens still a thing? RIP to those too.

Those have used a real heating element since the 2010s, I think

dwarf74
Sep 2, 2012



Buglord
We bought our house in that brief window when CFLs became affordable but before LEDs became affordable.

Still got some CFLs kicking around, too.

It's amazing how much home lighting has changed in like 15 years. I do not miss changing incandescent bulbs.

Xand_Man
Mar 2, 2004

If what you say is true
Wutang might be dangerous


Lava lamps would probably count as an appliance bulb

Tiny Timbs
Sep 6, 2008

Sticking 250W heat lamp bulbs in all my fixtures to own the libs

Leon Trotsky 2012
Aug 27, 2009

YOU CAN TRUST ME!*


*Israeli Government-affiliated poster

dwarf74 posted:

We bought our house in that brief window when CFLs became affordable but before LEDs became affordable.

Still got some CFLs kicking around, too.

It's amazing how much home lighting has changed in like 15 years. I do not miss changing incandescent bulbs.

It really is a huge change. I remember changing lightbulbs every 6 months or so and colored light bulbs being very pricey.

Now, you can have a lightbulb that lasts 17 years and has the option to change colors remotely for $2.

The Slack Lagoon
Jun 17, 2008



I have one led bulb that I've had for literally 10 years. I have brought it with me to 6 different apartments

Papercut
Aug 24, 2005
LEDs have also completely changed the game for houseplants and grow lights. Indoor grow lights used to be these like 2'x2'x1' boxes with a huge external power supply that dumped heat everywhere. Now people set up plant shelves with LED strips that are basically the size of a post card. It's amazing.

VikingofRock
Aug 24, 2008




The one downside of LEDs is that the lovely cheap blue ones are way worse for light pollution, since the wavelengths that they emit get bounced around more in the atmosphere and are more disruptive to both humans and wildlife. Hopefully they crack down on those next.

OddObserver
Apr 3, 2009
I should get bulb recommendations from y'all, since led lamps haven't lasted anywhere near that long for me (though some of that is me being a moron and not getting ones good for enclosed fixtures).

Randalor
Sep 4, 2011



Don't give me this poppycock about LEDs lasting for years! I had to change a new LED bulb just the other day! I accidentally dropped it when I was replacing an incandescent bulb.

Papercut
Aug 24, 2005

OddObserver posted:

I should get bulb recommendations from y'all, since led lamps haven't lasted anywhere near that long for me (though some of that is me being a moron and not getting ones good for enclosed fixtures).

This is usually an issue of buying lovely cheap off-brand ones. The reputable mfrs (Eaton, GE, Legrand, etc) are usually rated for far more hours and switch cycles.

Killer robot
Sep 6, 2010

I was having the most wonderful dream. I think you were in it!
Pillbug

Papercut posted:

This is usually an issue of buying lovely cheap off-brand ones. The reputable mfrs (Eaton, GE, Legrand, etc) are usually rated for far more hours and switch cycles.

Yeah, years back I bought a big pack of cheap no-name LED bulbs on Amazon and they had consistently short lives. Since then I've been more careful.

Epiphyte
Apr 7, 2006


Papercut posted:

LEDs have also completely changed the game for houseplants and grow lights. Indoor grow lights used to be these like 2'x2'x1' boxes with a huge external power supply that dumped heat everywhere. Now people set up plant shelves with LED strips that are basically the size of a post card. It's amazing.
Imagine the dril budget tweet but replace candles with houseplants

I am barely exaggerating here, my house has become a jungle since covid

Thorn Wishes Talon
Oct 18, 2014

by Fluffdaddy

Tragicomic posted:

NY Times today: Biden Shores Up Democratic Support, but Faces Tight Race Against Trump https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/01/us/politics/biden-trump-poll.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

It shows 31% of people in the goons cohort (30-44) want to renominate Biden.

So, uh, who else is there?

I've been pretty happy with him the whole time so I guess I'm in the minority

https://twitter.com/davidmfaris/status/1686443407999123484

Name Change
Oct 9, 2005


How many elections will it be before the media and public give up completely on polling, I wonder

Failed Imagineer
Sep 22, 2018

Name Change posted:

How many elections will it be before the media and public give up completely on polling, I wonder

Never gonna happen.

Or at least, it's a lot more likely that the US will give up on free elections long before they give up on bullshitted psephology

AlternateNu
May 5, 2005

ドーナツダメ!

zoux posted:

AL Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who may actually be the stupidest person in the Senate, has a blanket hold on all congressionally-approved military promotions,

Well now guess what isn't going to Alabama? And Potato Town is livid

Holy poo poo. I'm stealing this loving joke. Perfection. :discourse:

zoux
Apr 28, 2006


This poll is worthless because we know that they aren't predictive this far out. This is a transparent attempt to horse race this and also don't forget that the media loves Trump and wants him to win. NYT did the same thing last year with the midterms, spinning polling about Dems leading in four battleground states (all of whom eventually won) into "This is bad news for the Democrats!" Nate Cohn actually wrote an article about how the polls showing Ds ahead were likely wrong!








AlternateNu posted:

Holy poo poo. I'm stealing this loving joke. Perfection. :discourse:

Oh I stole it too, feel free

zoux fucked around with this message at 21:34 on Aug 1, 2023

Name Change
Oct 9, 2005


Polling is like 20-30 years behind on methodology since nobody answers phone calls from unknown numbers, if they use the actual phone on their phone at all.

I would also suggest people ITT use alternatives to default Twitter display that allow others to actually read multitweets, as long as people are going to keep up with making and reading those stupid usability atrocities on that atrocious website.

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Name Change
Oct 9, 2005


zoux posted:

Talking more about politicians actively hurting their own constituencies for no reason.

AL Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who may actually be the stupidest person in the Senate, has a blanket hold on all congressionally-approved military promotions, (as i posted about yesterday). The Trump administration had planned to locate Space Command in Huntsville, Alabama, which would be a huge boost to the local economy and conditions. If you doubt how important these bases and posts are to communities, just look at what happens during rounds of BRAC, they are the fattest, greasiest pork you can get for your people back home.

Well now guess what isn't going to Alabama? And Potato Town is livid
https://twitter.com/SenTuberville/status/1686365122405494784

The Pentagon is saying it's because of "readiness" but it's patently obvious this is payback for his promotions stunt. If you can't take the punishment don't play the game Tommy!

Republicans are accusing Biden of patronage/kickback politics when the original decision to move the Space Base to Alabama was exactly that.

Military readiness is also this hilarious, nebulous substance that, like pi, is never completed

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