GA Run-Off Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Tuesday, January 5, 2021
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150 comments
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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The Deep State strikes again.
………………………..
They live among us.
@OzarkHillbilly:
They do indeed. There is a video circulating featuring a Dr Christine Northrup tying together 5g, nanites, altered DNA, genetic patents, microchips, etc. about the COVID vaccine. Starts off citing her “credentials”.
You can find it if you really want to.
The trouble is that anybody refuting it just gets accused of being a tool of the “elites”. It’s really difficult to penetrate the thinking of cults.
Speaking of COVID, I think everyone sees how COVID is currently out of control.
Here in San Antonio, the four bases of Joint Base-San Antonio raised the health threat level to HPCON (Health Protection Condition) Charlie basically closing most activities.
Hospital admissions have risen steadily along with ICU and Ventilator use. Test positivity rate has risen to 23.2%
Fortunately, knowledge of treatment has improved so while death rates are rising, it is not as bad as it could be.
About 36,000 people have been vaccinated in Bexar County with 1 dose. There are about 144K healthcare workers in the first tier alone. 441K vaccinated statewide (about 50% of doses available)
Still got a least 6 months of hunkering down.
Statement of Congressman Jamie Raskin and Sarah Bloom Raskin on the Remarkable Life of Tommy Raskin
RIP Tommy.
(read at your own peril)
The racist gun nut who was arrested in DC yesterday was the leader of a cult of degenerate racists… and was carrying high capacity magazines. What were they for? It’s pretty disturbing.
If’ns you’re in the DC area:
They are extraordinary. I hope to see one someday.
Question: Is everything suddenly working like it’s supposed to for anyone else today? Because I gotta say, it’s really nice not having to jump through hilight/delete hoops to make a comment and having the edit function show up on each comment without renewing the page.
I don’t know if you did anything James or if I just hit on the proper curse words, but I hope I’m not dreaming.
ETA: and if I am dreaming, I hope I don’t wake up.
The full statement of Congressman Jamie Raskin and his wife, Sarah Bloom Raskin, about the death of their son by suicide. Heartbreaking read, he seems like an amazing young man.
@Jen: It’s a gut punch.
@OzarkHillbilly: Last night on FB I saw a dim-bulb remark, “I guess it’s okay to burn the flag but you can’t burn a liberal sign. Welcome to America.”
@Teve: I have never met a person with less respect for private property than a certain brand of conservative, a type I am surrounded by. They literally think there should be no constraints on their behavior.
@OzarkHillbilly: somebody joked about the Painted Bunting, “it looks like it was designed by a committee of 10 year old girls—and I mean that in a good way.”
NYT reminds us that again, tonight, we’re going to see rural unpopulated conservative counties report early and Atlanta reporting much later.
@OzarkHillbilly: Indeed. I must have been typing my comment when you posted yours–the whole thing is just heartbreaking.
The fact that Trump’s rally pushing Perdue and Loeffler in the GA runoff was in Dalton, GA (already ruby-red country), not in the Atlanta suburbs (where GOP turnout is critical) was mentioned in POLITICO as evidence that he’s more interested in keeping potential voters in line for 2024 than in winning those two Senate seats.
So someone here in town is planning a Stop the Steal rally tomorrow from 12-4pm. They even took the time to advertise it in the local one-page newsletter. My guess is it will be 6 people and a dog. I’ll try to swing by after work to confirm.
@Jen: @OzarkHillbilly:
The Tommy Raskin Memorial Fund for People and Animals has been established in his honor, with an initial contribution of $50,ooo.
@Paine: get pics!
At his Georgia rally last night, Trump informed the crowd that “Everyone loved my phone call,” meaning the one during which he tried to bully Raffensperger into fabricating votes for him.
The phone call, as far as I can tell, was universally condemned except by followers of Lucianne.com, The Gateway Pundit, and a few other semi-literate crackpot blogs.
I’m not surprised.
@CSK: And Newsmax. As far as they’re concerned the whole phone call is proof positive of fraud.
Of course, they probably fit into that “crackpot” category. 😉
The difference between an honorable person and a Trumpie has been boiled down to this…..an honorable person is shocked by what Trump says in the phone call, a Trumpie is shocked and disgusted that someone would have the temerity to record him lying and leak it.
@OzarkHillbilly: Crossing my fingers and knocking on wood lest I jinx us, but I’ve had an edit button appear on every post (without any finagling or refreshing) for a couple days, ever since I got the warning that my comment was in moderation! It’s wonderful!
@OzarkHillbilly :
There’s more to this than just him being a conspiracy theorist. Note how they keep emphasizing his divorce and how he’s become more unstable to the point she put out restraining order against him. He’s been bring a gun to work and is suddenly into prepper nonsense- signs that a male under stress is about to snap. Divorce is not a good time for mental health and if you’re already on shaky ground, it’s when you are likely to lash out. There’s a pretty good chance that if his conspiracy theorist BS hadn’t kicked up he would have attacked/ killed his family or coworkers and been our next mass shooter.
This is why red flag laws exist; it’s the accumulation of seemingly unrelated trouble signs that end up being the checklist of a potential mass killer. No one has the full view of someone’s life so you may not know the fact that he’s suddenly carrying a gun to work is related to the fact he’s freaking his wife out so much she got the law involved unless there’s a way to cross check. That he decided to do a hands off version of his killing by letting people get a deadly disease instead of catching a bullet doesn’t change the fact his angst ended up in mass assault against innocent people. Damn near always it starts with violence against women or loved ones. I promise you this guy has been tampering with stuff before or refusing to fill prescriptions due to “personal beliefs” – it was OK with society when it was just hurting women but now it’s escalated to indiscriminate harm everyone’s freaking out. You don’t suddenly just decide to screw with meds out of nowhere and I wouldn’t be surprised if more incident turn up of him having messed with things. Society needs to start taking mental heath more seriously and not just gloss over signs like we have with the Nashville bomber and this guy.
I’m pretty certain the satire part is only in the presentation of these little factoids as “Breaking News,” not that they themselves are satire.
@Teve:
And yet, they also have gone ahead and will be running the “by the minute” election tally counters. So, with all due respect, it would be great if they actually started to practice what they preach.
@Jax:
As a Trumpkin said yesterday, Trump was just giving Raffensperger a fair chance to right the wrong that had been done Trump.
Nicola Sturgeon on the possibility of any impending visits from high-profile Americans: https://twitter.com/BBCScotlandNews/status/1346451564240769024
Related to my previous post: this is why a lot of conservatives are against mental health evaluations for things like background checks since they manifest quite a few flags. Now, people will naturally have some symptoms of a disorder as criteria is a list of potential symptoms for diagnosis. Headaches and nausea can be a sign of a brain tumor or drinking too much the night before – just because you have one or two doesn’t mean you have a tumor but it is more likely you do if you happen to have them. Conservative thought tends to resemble symptoms of mental illness then most on the GOP side are comfortable admitting so they shut down efforts to prevent things like this from happening.
Someone willing to insert their personal beliefs into their workplace and denying someone medical care based on them? Could mean you’re anti-birth control, anti- female or anti-vax – either way, the foundational logical premise is still there. You’re OK with messing with a stranger’s medical health because you think something abstract is true. Personal beliefs should never have been allowed in the workplace because now bringing this man to justice is more difficult. The harm his mental illness has caused now has legitimate legal cover because society was OK with a lesser expression of the same premise…. but hey, it mostly affected only
slutswomen so conservatives were just fine with it!Something to think about. TBH, it doesn’t really bother me when somebody else answers their phone, it does however piss me off when people call me when I am in the middle of something. Probably why my phone is off 99% of the time. (leave a f’n message. I’ll get back to you eventually. Maybe.)
@Scott:
Yesterday we had to get my mom to the hospital, because she had trouble breathing. COVID was ruled out by a PCR test shortly after admission, but it’s still not clear what’s wrong with her.
Here’s the thing. The paramedics who came with the ambulance, warned us the hospital nearby wasn’t just not taking any COVID patients, but no patients at all with breathing issues. (presumably because many such turn out to be COVID). We lucked out that my niece’s boyfriend’s father is a doctor at that hospital, so he could admit her.
So it’s that bad.
But it gets worse. This hospital places no limits on visitors (others limit one visitor per patient at a time). They do require everyone at the hospital to wear masks, but you still see like si people crowded into a room visiting a patient, none of them masked (or with the masks protecting their neck).
I take a minuscule measure of comfort in that during the 1918 flu pandemic, there were maskholes and other idiots like we have today. This means humanity maybe hasn’t grown stupider since then.
BREAKING – HUGE!!!
Grassley has announced he will preside over the certification of the EC votes, AS PENCE WILL NOT BE IN ATTENDANCE!!!
Is there anything that says cowardice quite like being a Republican?!?!?!?
Edit…The VP’s office is contradicting this…so stay tuned.
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: So Grassley drew the short straw, eh?
Bill Kristol, last night:
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: @OzarkHillbilly:
Grassley’s office says that he “has no plans to object to the Electoral College vote.”
Trump will be very unhappy with him.
The GA runoffs are going to be interesting to watch with so many early voters. My voting location this morning in my mostly red county was completely empty. I didn’t see another voter until headed back out the door. When it makes non-President primary voting seem busy in comparison, it’s as dead as can be.
Now Grassley’s walking it back.
@Daryl and his brother Darryl:
This has since been straightened out…turns out Grassley is a senile old fuq.
Will Trump University credits transfer to PragerU?
@Kathy:
I’m very sorry to learn this. I hope your mother recovers speedily from whatever her ailment is.
Jennifer Rubin: A Really Bad Day for the Sedition Caucus
Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert says she plans to carry her Glock into Congress. The D.C. police say otherwise.
Lauren Boebert = Lorena Bobbitt?????
@Teve:
Not bad.
Then trump can name himself VP. Then he resign the presidency, and ascend to the presidency. and that means he gets four years, right? That’s how long a term lasts!
As to credit transfers, I’m sure credits can be transferred from one phone university to another if you pay enough for the privilege.
@CSK:
Thanks. The doctors aren’t worried yet. I take that as a good sign.
@Kathy: I’m sorry to hear that and I hope she’s better very soon.
On the refusal to admit people with breathing problems–in California, that’s being driven by a lack of oxygen availability. As one medical person put it, hospitals simply weren’t designed to have oxygen supplementation available for 100% of the ICU beds.
This situation is horrifying and getting worse, not better.
I’m currently reading “The Economist’s Hour,” a book on recent economic history. I just got past a half chapter on airline deregulation in the late 70s.
It’s amazing how both proponents and opponents of the measure got it right, but also how little they disagreed about the consequences.
But the really important point is this: Many people think airlines are subject to no regulations at all, since they were deregulated during the Carter Administration.
This is not true. Airlines are under oversight from the FAA and the NTSB and the EPA, and other agencies, and are about as regulated as all other non-tech industries. The thing is that since the 1930s, largely at the behest of airlines, the government also regulated where airlines could fly and how much they could charge.
This limited the scope of air travel, and kept prices high. One aim of regulation was to maintain the airlines profitable. These price and route regulations also applied to foreign carriers that flew to the US.
But airlines flying within a state only were not subject to price and route controls, because that didn’t involve interstate travel. Of course, there few such airlines. The bets known were Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) which flew within California, and Southwest, which flew inside Texas at the time. They were pioneers of low cost flying.
It’s true that flying was far more expensive back then. I remember a little from that era, and it’s also true that flying was far more pleasant. For one thing, planes were seldom full, there was plenty of leg room, meals were complimentary, as were bags, etc. But then changes took time. As recently as the mid 2010s, bag fees were not the industry norm as they are today.
@Kathy:
Here’s to your mom’s recovery.
@CSK: nah. Lorena bobbitt cut off her husband’s penis, while lauren boebert’s husband shows his to minors.
@Kathy: I’d be interested in seeing a comparison between ticket prices versus amenities before deregulation, and ticket prices and amenities in first class today.
Equal parts amusing and horrifying. Trump apparently gave out the wrong number for the Michigan House Speaker for his minions to harass. The 28-year old who has the number tried to set the record straight, and when that didn’t work started to respond by posting memes and pie recipes.
Trump shared the wrong number for a Michigan lawmaker. A 28-year-old has gotten thousands of angry calls.
“Hostile and confused” is basically 95% of Republicans at this point, so good luck with that…
@Thomm:
Lauren Boebert has an arrest record as well. She may add to it if she shows up in D.C. with her Glock.
@OzarkHillbilly:
No constraints on their behavior, but YOUR behavior, that’s a whole nother thing!
@CSK: oh yeah. Know this as a co resident. She rode her restaurant opening up on mother’s day during our lockdown to a congressional seat; didn’t even have her hs diploma until after the campaign was underway. No way she can get a dc carry permit with her record.
@Flat Earth Luddite:
In that case, would she leave it in her office? And how would she get it there initially?
She claims to need it for protection at all times, since she’s only five feet tall and 100 pounds.
Unfortunately, all anyone in Georgia can do is vote and hope for the best. All any of us outside of Georgia can do is hope for the best.
I fear that at least one of these Republicans will get in. I hope I’m wrong, as that will send the economy over a cliff.
@Kathy:
I am sorry to hear that your mother is ill. I hope she recovers swiftly.
@Jen:
I saw a headline yesterday that SAG and AFTRA want TV & film production to shut down in California. Their logic is that, although sets aren’t having problems with COVID-19, if someone were to have an accident on set, they may not be able to receive treatment because the hospitals are overwhelmed.
I agree with the unions.
@CSK:
What part of ILLEGAL doesn’t she understand?
All,
I wanted to put this into the Tuesday Forum, but it looks like the Georgia runoff will have to do.
In yesterday’s daily forum, there was a comment about trump going to Scotland in Jan 19th. My comment had to do with the fact that Scotland may not want to admit him, as an undesirable.
While I posted it tongue-in-cheek, reality and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon seems to have chosen to agree with me:
Shorter First Minister Sturgeon: GTFO ! 🙂
I wonder who will finally give him sanctuary as he chooses to flee to avoid prosecution?
@Nightcrawler:
I’m guessing Boebert will say that her 2nd Amendment rights override D.C. law.
@CSK: Unless Rep Boebert has a DC concealed carry permit her posted video is evidence of breaking DC law. Maybe she can share a local lawyer with the the Proud Boys guy.
On the Proud Boys guy I saw a RW comment that now it’s OK to burn a flag, but not a church banner. It’s OK to burn YOUR church banner. I thought conservatives were supposed to be big on property rights.
@Liberal Capitalist:
We did discuss this a bit. I suggested Brazil. Maybe he’ll end up in Moscow. I’m not sure he’d be exactly welcome there, but Putin might take him in to annoy Biden. And of course it would make Trump a bigger laughingstock than ever, which would be a bonus for Putin, since he’s already made a fool of Trump.
@Kathy: IIRC, Trans Texas was also in state. They were known as Tree Top. There was an old cockpit voice recording of a copilot on a foggy approach saying, ‘Hey, the chart shows a big hill around here some”
Trump has bypassed Kurt Erskine, the first assistant to Byung Pak, the Atlanta federal prosecutor who resigned the other day, with Bobby Christine, a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.
According to the experts on Twitter, today is December 36th, and the new year starts on Jan 20th. 😛
There’s a rumor–and it’s only a rumor–that Rush Limbaugh will be replaced by…Donald Trump.
@OzarkHillbilly:
So, what you’re saying is… he’s available?
@Teve:
Here’s hoping there’s a democratic solution to 30-50 feral GOP.
@CSK: When I was in high school I worked for a little radio station. B94.3. I was on the air a few times a week. It’s a hard job requiring an unusual skill set and the ability to juggle and time multiple streams of information. I was mediocre on a good day. Rush Limbaugh is very, very good. There is no way Trump could do that.
David Foster Wallace wrote an essay about a second-string Limbaugh. Host
@Teve:
“Will Trump University credits transfer to PragerU?”
Im sure they will, after a large transfer fee of course. Running non profit institutions is not a cheap endeavor, especially any that are in any way involving professor Trump.
@Gustopher: 1:14 pm and the internet has been won. 😀
@CSK:
Doing three hours of talk radio per day is actually really hard work. Donald Trump doesn’t have the discipline, intelligence, knowledge, curiosity, nor work ethic do do three hours of radio per day. Additionally, he’s incapable of having an actual conversation that doesn’t focus on him.
No way.
@EddieInCA: I could see him saying the same thing, over and over, for three hours every day, as he fades into irrelevance.
It’s just talking. He loves to talk. It would be like one of his rallies, but daily and with expanded lies.
@Teve:
No, I can’t imagine Trump doing it, either. It’s far, far too much work. And it’s possible his appeal is dwindling. Someone has noted that the crowd at last night’s rally seemed at times to get bored and inattentive.
This is the money quote.
Seriously, I think Trump would guess that Limbaugh just talks for three hours, but it’s (as noted) more work than that. Limbaugh actually reads, highlights things, references stuff, etc. Give Trump a show and it’s going to be constant talk about himself.
I think that he should absolutely do this. His audience would dwindle FAST. In fact, if Hawley and Cruz and anyone else considering a 2024 run should be all over encouraging Trump to do this.
@Gustopher:
He might possibly be able to manage it once week. Once a day? Five days a week? Impossible.
@Liberal Capitalist:
My guess has been Philippines – decent weather, corrupt authoritarian government, golf courses, and he owns property there. OTOH, having looked a bit more at the Filipino strategic situation – short version, they’re trying to balance China and the US – it’s hard to see how hosting Trump helps with that.
So maybe what he needs is a place with no strategic need for US favor that also doesn’t mind mildly irritating China. Somewhere in South America? Either that or a country that would take him as a favor to us, just to get him out of the way?
I am telling you, Michael Reynolds, Iran owes us one for taking the Shah.
Thanks to everyone for their well wishes. Things appear to be going well.
@Liberal Capitalist: I admit I giggled when I saw that on BBC earlier today.
They really do not like him. I keep forgetting to pick up some Glenfiddich, a whisky that he’s banned from selling at his properties. 🙂
@Jen:
He banned every brand of whisky produced by William Grant & Sons from being sold at any of his properties worldwide, all because Grant’s gave Michael Forbes, the man who refused to sell Trump his land for Trump’s Turnberry golf club, their Top Scot award.
I love it.
@Michael Reynolds:
Why doesn’t he ask Jared’s bff Mohammed bin Salman for a refuge?
@Michael Reynolds: Trump is a living version of the famous New Yorker cover, with the addition of Florida tacked on to the left somewhere. He’s a NYC boy, he’s always been a NYC boy, and he’s not about to live anywhere except select sites along the US East Coast. He doesn’t believe anyone is going to charge him with a crime. He believes he can buy his way out of any civil difficulties. Javanka wouldn’t be buying a $30M lot on a private guarded island in Miami if they thought Daddy was going to run.
@Jen:
If this be so, then before the audience dwindles it will explode, as eager cultists seek to mentally jerk off for three hours every day.
This would be great, as Trump can see his ratings dissolve and be aggravated by that, all the while claiming his initial numbers are the real numbers and he’s got the biggest audience ever in the history of history!
@CSK: I knew the reason for the ban was the Top Scot award, but did not realize he’d banned ALL of those under the William Grant & Sons company banner, I thought it was a Glenfiddich award. That would include one that I routinely purchase, The Balvenie.
@Tece:
So would I.
What I do know is that today’s first and business class customers wouldn’t even spit on a 70s first class seat.
Back then they were wide, comfy seats with a lot of recline. Today you get a lie-flat bed with no more than one other person next to you, and direct aisle access at all seats.
The chasm between coach and business/first* is wider than ever.
*Many airlines have elevated the seat and amenities in business class so high, they’re getting rid of first class: Many have one premium class only, not specifically called first or business. Like Delta One, United’s Polaris, Aeromexico’s Clase Premier, etc.
@Jen:
I suppose the takeaway here is that, should you find yourself in the unfortunate circumstance of having to order a drink at a Trump club, bar, or restaurant, stick to martinis and Manhattans.
Balvenie is wonderful.
@Michael Cain: Until money changes hands, I wouldn’t assume a Trump is doing anything.
Let’s return the favor by sending Trump to them…surely that would even the score…
@Kathy: 5-10 years ago, when I regularly flew to Asia on United Business First (yes, that’s a thing), it was nothing short of amazing. My own little cubby with storage, a comfortable seat, acres of leg room, a fairly large screen (back when we used to watch on the airline’s screen), tons of movies and TV shows, all the liquor and food I could want, and that wonderful, wonderful lie flat bed. I would get on, eat dinner, have a drink, watch a movie and then get 8 solid hours of glorious sleep.
But I wouldn’t trade my current cattle-car status and flying a half dozen domestic trips a year for that luxury, simply because it also meant hundreds of hours in the air a year, dozens and dozens of flight legs, endless and constant jet lag and constant plan changes.
@Kathy:
And interesting linguistic tidbit: In China on the high-speed trains, the progression is Economy –> First Class –> Business Class. “Business” class is the highest.
@Kathy: I’m glad. Sending good wishes
@MarkedMan:
I read a lot about United’s Business First a couple of years ago, when the Polaris seat was being previewed and then rolled out. It’s telling of the expectations of frequent flier bloggers that they regarded United’s old product as not only inferior, but vastly inferior.
What actual business and luxury travelers thought, I’ve no idea.
I probably would never dish out the money for a premium flying experience, because bad as coach is and great as business class is, they both last only a few hours and then are gone. Some experiences might be worth paying lots of money for, even if they last less than a few hours, but simply traveling from A to B isn’t, as far as I’m concerned, one of them. Others may have different standards.
And, yes, I’m aware for some the outrageous prices for premium flight are pocket change, or an hour’s work, or fully tax deductible, or paid for by an employer.
@Kathy:
I know I’ve mentioned it before but will reiterate it here again: make a habit of checking the Premium Economy and Business Class prices before you buy your tickets. Every so often, a plane needs to fill the seats left and for a small bump up in price you can significantly improve your experience. We’ve paid as little as $50 more over coach prices for business-class tickets, including only $200 more (round-trip) for both of us to upgrade to business for a flight from Boston to LHR and back. We also lucked out and got first-class tickets for a short haul that were oddly priced *lower* than coach (probably a typo, but they honored it).
I have no idea if these kinds of deals will exist when we start to travel again, but whenever we’d hit these bargains it was thrilling. 🙂
@Kathy:
From what I understand, if you ever have the opportunity to fly first-class on Etihad take it!
Hell… their economy was amazing. They really understand service–and that was the cheapest flight from Shanghai to Manchester UK (with a short layover in Abu Dhabi).
@Jen:
I think you have mentioned this before. It is good advice, so let me repeat it:
That said, airline pricing is complicated.
On most routes, last-minute tickets are far more expensive, as they tend to be snapped up by people flying on business, who absolutely, positively, have to be there at that time. This is less prevalent in tourism routes, but it does happen as well, especially in high demand seasons, like summer and Christmas.
But it does happen. I’ve seen it once or twice in domestic trips, while checking flights for the boss or some other manager. It’s never happened on my own business travel, alas.
For my personal travel, I usually scan prices at airline sites and online travel agencies, checking even combos of flight+hotel vs booking separately, often checking the hotel sites as well. As far as Mexico is concerned, there is one legacy airline left, Aeromexico, with coach and a premium class, and three (soon to be officially two) low-cost airlines which are all coach.
I consider also convenience vs price. I prefer to arrive in Vegas at mid afternoon at the latest, and to leave as late as possible.
Last night Trump introduced Kelly Loeffler as “Karen, a very fine woman.”
@CSK:
OMG! She’s been using the wrong name all these years and never even noticed!
@CSK:
Yup Kelly’s a Karen.
@CSK: She can take that complaint to the manager, I guess.
I’m simultaneously not surprised and yet am completely horrified by what is currently going on in Pennsylvania…Republicans there are refusing to seat a Democratic State Senator who won (and the vote has been certified).
@Mu Yixiao:
@MarkedMan:
@Jen:
there’s one thing I haven’t mentioned: for many people who pay for premium class, the objective is to sleep for most of the journey. So in effect they pay way higher prices to not experience the majority of the flight.
Granted, the rest of the flight tends to be very pleasant, and sleeping on a flat bed with proper pillows and blankets is far easier to accomplish than when sitting up in coach.
But still.
@Kathy: @Sleeping Dog: @Jen:
The great irony here is that Trump is so oblivious (among his multitudinous other failings) that I doubt he understands the current connotations of the name “Karen.”
@Kathy: The entire experience is better–the food and drink, of course, but also the comfort (I’m short but the husband enjoys the additional leg room). You also get your bags off first (they are tagged differently), and you’re better rested at the destination.
In fact, that factors heavily into how hard we try for biz class: the time that we fly. We’ve found that Boston to UK/Europe, if we fly out first thing in the morning, is preferable and coach class is fine. That’s because it’s just like a really long day. We’re at the airport by around 5 a.m. for a 7 a.m. flight, then we land in London or Edinburgh in early evening–we eat dinner, go to bed, and then wake up on local time the next morning.
When we fly over in the evening, you end up foregoing two nights’ worth of sleep and it’s awful, we feel the effects for a few days. So, those are the ones that we do try and get business class for, because even a few hours of sleep helps. So yes, sleeping through the experience is part of the benefit… 😀
@CSK: Surprised she hasn’t attempted to get her name legally changed yet just to avoid having to contradict her orange fuhrer.
@Paine:
Indeed. She is in fact so wonderful that Trump doesn’t even know her name.
@Jen: Business class in international travel is an interesting thing. I (my company) has paid $11K more for a NJ-Shanghai Business class direct flight than an economy seat in the same plane would have cost. (That’s $11,000 US dollars. Not a mistake.) But I also traveled around Asia or Asia-to-Europe with my family and it was not unheard of to upgrade to business for $100 a pop. Even $75. Once, $50. Why was the differential so high on the NJ-Shanghai flight? It was a direct flight, and so a huge number of business travelers who all qualified for business whether it was “more than 5 hours” or “more than 8 hours” or any other flight length qualifier, resulting in empty seats in Economy and a waiting list for Business and the only reason I got on was that I was a high level United Frequent Flyer. (Whoa, I can’t remember the name of the frequent flier class I was in. It’s not listed on the website. How soon we forget…*)
Why were those other business upgrades so cheap? Because they ran on routes where there were few business people and most passengers were looking for the cheapest flight and so never even considered booking business which meant Economy was full and Business had empty seats. In fact, a friend claimed he once booked a last minute flight on one of those routes where Economy cost more than Business.
*This is going to bother me. World Perks? World… something. Technically I could board before just about anyone, but didn’t because I’m not that much of an asshole. And I was in no rush. Have arrived to find someone waiting on the jetway to direct me to the next flight because the transfer was tight on time.
@MarkedMan:
Shot in the dark: Global Services?
That was or is the ultra-secret top of the top status with United.
@Kathy:
Have you heard of SkyScanner? If your dates aren’t fixed, it’s a great tool for finding the cheapest flights.
For those who haven’t heard of it: It allows you to pick the month that you’re flying, and your destination (including “anywhere”), then shows you two calendars–outbound and return. Only the outbound has prices–until you select a departure date. Then it shows you the return prices for each day. Play around a bit and you can find that leaving a day early or staying a day longer can save you a few hundred dollars.
When I was doing “visa runs”, it was invaluable. I could pick “October” and “anywhere” and get flights all around SE Asia for about $50. Then hop over to Expedia to book the flight and add in a cheap hotel (“guest house”, actually, which is not as posh as it sounds; it’s a tiny room with a bed a glass box that contains your toilet, sink, and shower. This is one I stayed at. 😀 )
EDIT: Shared my photos of one I stayed at.
@CSK:
Sorry, took a break after loosing my snark button. She’s gonna carry because free(dumb)™ . And because there’s no way anyone is gonna wrestle a Glock out of the hands of a 100# 5′ humanoid. Nope, not gonna happen, she’s gonna wave the gun and the perp will run. Uh, sure.
Of course, if I were in charge of DCPD (thank gosh I’m not), I’d assign an officer to be there, and stop her based on her declarations. “Ohhi, are you carrying? Ok, please assume the position. Duck when we put you in the car.” Cite, book, release. Rinse and repeat. When she runs out of guns, offer her a ride to work to “stay safe.” See, I told you all you should be glad I’m not in a position of authority. Bwa ha hahahahahahah!
And in response to your earlier comment, they don’t want to burn their church banner/flag, they want to burn YOURS! Because free(dumb)™
Fuck all you people who can afford the experience of trans oceanic flights in First/Business class.
@OzarkHillbilly: Right? I got excited when Delta offered a nonstop, regular flight from Salt Lake to Madison, where my boyfriend lives. 😉
@CSK:
@Jen:
I suspect they are not that bothered.
William Grant-Gordon and family are among the hundred richest families in the UK.
They could buy and sell Trump out of the petty expenses fund.
@Jax:
{waves from up I-90/94}
@Kathy:
Best wishes for your mother.
@Mu Yixiao: I actually think his farm is closer to your location than Madison….Reedsburg is technically his closest town to the farm. I like it out there. 🙂
@Jax: I’ve never flown across the Pacific (thank dawg) but my first trip across the Atlantic taught me the wisdom of an aisle seat. The ability to stretch one’s legs is a gift from gawd.
My “worst” flight was from STL to Albuquerque. Way too smooth, my stomach didn’t know what was what. The commuter ALB to Carlsbad NM flight that followed however, was just what the doctor ordered. Rough as a cob but my stomach finally knew which way was up and which way was down. I swear to dawg, half the passengers had their heads in a bag and the other half were clutching rosaries, but I was happy as a clam.
@OzarkHillbilly: I’ve had “last leg” flights like that as well….Denver to Rock Springs is always a doozy. There was one flight coming into Jackson Hole, it was snowing so hard we went off the end of the runway. AND they lost my luggage! I was stuck in Wyoming in December in “Arizona hippie” attire….birkenstocks, shorts, and a short-sleeved tiedye!! After hours, of course, I couldn’t even buy an over-priced hoodie with Jackson Hole on it. 😉
@JohnSF:
That truly warms my heart.
@CSK: Same.
@JohnSF: That’s really nice to hear.
All I have open right now is Highland Park and Fettercairn, but next purchase will be one of the Grant-Gordon brands. Slainte!
Get a load of this shit. Meat packing is considered a 1b risk for Covid. Those workers are supposed to get the vaccine right after nurses and long-term care staffers etc. The Republican governor of Nebraska says meat packers will get the vaccine starting later this month…
EXCEPT! the 14% of meat packing employees who are undocumented. They don’t qualify, he says. Tough titty, no vaccine for you! Everybody knows if undocumented people get the virus they can only spread it to other undocumented people. Can’t hurt Real Murikans!
@Teve: I’m super excited for when the Real Murikans can only spread it to other Real Murikans. Boy, what a relief that will be!
Our county is working on 1b lists right now. Anyone over 75, nursing center staff at the senior home….apparently only 3 staff would take the vaccine.
Man, this pandemic is gonna take FOREVER at that rate. 🙁
@OzarkHillbilly: The real problem may well be that to 90% of us our phone IS more important than people are. Value is what other people show to YOU, not the other way around.
PredictIt numbers have swung massively Dem in Georgia in the last few hours. Like 3-1. Not that I trust that much. But it’s better than the opposite.
@CSK: No, Lorena Bobbitt would be demanding the right to carry an oyster shucking knife with her–and she’s closer to my age, Lauren Boebert would be about my daughter’s (if I had any kids).d
ETA:
Ted Cruz has principles? Didn’t know that. WA!
@Teve: I’m glad that Warnock is so far ahead of Plantation Barbie, but I’m still super confused about why Ossoff and Perdue are so close. Ossoff debated an empty podium this round, how can they POSSIBLY think Perdue is an option?!
@EddieInCA: Clearly, you haven’t listened to Rush Limbaugh recently. I haven’t listened in a couple of years, but the last time I did, it was 3 hours of Rush talking about what Rush wanted to say/hear from others.
Trump won’t be able to do it, but not because he’s too self centered.
@Jax: 74 million Americans voted for Trump.
@Kathy: The outrageous price (coupled with the lack of outrageous money on my side of the deal) are certainly problematical, but the biggest obstacle to flying first class would simply be that I can’t sleep without a CPAP machine. I spent 6 or so years flying between Seattle and Seoul twice a year and never sleeping for longer that 4 or 5 minutes at a stretch for close to 24 hours each way.
Fall asleep, start to choke, wake up again for another 3 or 4 hours, rinse, repeat. Easier to simply go to sleep once I land and arrive at my hotel.
@Jax: She’s a girl, duh.
@Mu Yixiao: Yeah. I stayed in a room like that in Fukuoka for a visa run once. It was fine, my eyes were closed most of the time I was in the room anyway. 🙂
My next run was to Osaka–a home of the capsule hotels–but I wasn’t able to get a room in one because it was the start of a school term. That run took 3 days between application and receiving the visa–even with expedited service from the consulate because I came at 9 am on my filing day.
Both GOP candidates have taken slight leads, but over at PredictIt, the odds of Democrats taking Georgia have gone up up up for hours. They must be using county by county spreadsheets to handicap this thing.
I guess ATL comes in big and late
@Teve: I’m staying up much later than usual in order to have a celebration should Mitch no longer be Majority leader of the Senate. 😉 I’m not religious, but I’m praying to allllllllllll of the Gods to make that happen.
@Jax: Party hat on. Vishnu says to pass the hors d’oeuvres.
@Teve:
I refuse to speculate on the grounds that it might disappoint me.
I’ve been super healthy lately. I haven’t had a cigarette or a drink since November, and I’ve been to the gym about 10 times in the last two weeks, but if Mitch McConnell loses the Senate I am going to get blasted tomorrow night.
@Teve: We’re gonna need to get drunk just to listen to Ted Cruz and his Orks.
I’m not usually a fan of Crown Royal, but the Salted Caramel with the Apple, some ginger ale, a splash of lemon and a dash of maraschino cherry juice tastes like Conservative Tears. I particularly enjoyed the cherries on the sword, it felt very Game of Thrones. 😉
We need to send flowers to Stacey Abrams.
It is starting to be called by multiple outlets that at least 1 Democrat has won, so far NYT and Business Insider are willing to declare at least 1 win for Democrats. Wow, Trump is just fudging over the GOP and the GOP is too dumb to realize that they have entered a trap by refusing to jettison Trump after it became very clear he lost the election.
This means McConnell will have to constantly keep his folks in control when it comes to votes even if the Dems do not win both elections in GA, making his time as Senate leader anything but a cakewalk. With the loss in GA and Eric Trump’s threats McConnell must be feeling pretty stressed out today. I almost feel for the guy, but the GOP had multiple opportunities (impeachment, the election for President) to distance themselves from Trump and stand up to his supporters but they just let Trump walk on them like a doormat…chickens are starting to come home to roost for the GOP and it not happen at a better time.
Biden will have leverage because if he can get as little as one GOP member of the Senate to consider voting on the Dem side of the fence it makes McConnell have to scramble to keep everyone in line. Any thing that makes the GOP have to work harder to try to screw over Americans is A okay in my book.
Nate Cohn (10m ago)
Ossoff and Warnock both have a greater than 95 percent chance to win, according to our estimates. The remaining vote is overwhelmingly Democratic.
@Tim: Cue my “Conservative Tears” drink, let’s just stay drunk til tomorrow and watch Trump’s Tweetstorm of sore loserness.
I think I’ve said this a few times before…..
Fuck Trump, and alllllllllllllllll of the goats he rode in on.
@Jax:
Hey hey hey, I ain’t f’n no goats. According to grandma, I may have relatives on that side of the barn. Besides, Trump didn’t ride no goats…those were orcs & trolls.
@Jax: Most of all, Minority Leader Moscow Mitch. Happy days are here again, the skies above are blue again…
HA! Good you survived that!
@Kathy: Ding! Ding! Ding! That was it.
@MarkedMan:
Confession: I googled “United frequent flier status tiers.”
@Jax:
I’m actually about half-way between the two (near Lake Wisconsin)