Oh, okay! Um, I don't have a substack. But! I have a blog, and it's essentially a mirror of my patreon, which I use to fund my part of the 20$ we're all passing around forever. It's almost all writing about music, and almost all free: there's one subscription level (1$) and the locked stuff is HIGH GRADE weirdness for lifers. Like my cult classic underground sleeper hit original screenplay, VAMPIRE LESBIAN BMX QUEENS FROM NEPTUNE. Anyway, marxlotbog.wordpress.com or patreon.com/marxalot gets you essentially the same stuff. I think my tumblr may even a) still exist b) be reposting from the wordpress site (if so, it's marxalittle.tumblr.com). If you like music, you're gonna LOVE this!
Damn you guys, spent like ALL of Thanksgiving weekend trying to login here, using (it turns out) the wrong email address. Dayyum, no wonder!
Anyway, I am posting on Substack under my real name, though it appears I can continue to snark over here as Otis Fuentes, my nom de Wonkette. 'Trix already gave me a mention but I will repeat it here:
Mr. B. just told me that the local Trader Joe's is decertifying their nascent union after a year and a half.
I checked the source and it is MassLive, the online presence of the Springfield Republican (that's the name of the newspaper). It is generally a decent news source, but it does tend to have a non-crazy conservative take.
Anyway, as contract negotiations are ongoing, two out of 86 employees are trying to get enough signatures to decertify. According to reporting, 30% (29 signatures) would trigger a vote; 50% (43 signatures) would mean automatic decertification. The original vote to unionize, in 2022, passed 45-31.
According to reporting, two people are on board so far.
Now, it is entirely possible that there has been enough turnover since 2022 that sentiments among store employees have changed, and there may well be negotiation fatigue going on, I don't know. But this reporting seems like an effort in support of union busting to me.
Mr. B. is very, very smart, but he has never been a union member, and he resents what my union took out of me physically and emotionally when I was leader (maybe wouldn't have taken out so much if I'd had support at home, but whatever).
If he can be misled not just by a headline but by an entire article...well, you know.
I teach about misinformation and disinformation, and I'm a proud union member, but even in my own home, highly educated and very intelligent people are receiving, essentially, lies or half-truths as truth.
I corrected his impression of the article and his response was, "whatever." It's not an issue that he cares about so it doesn't matter to him.
He reliably votes Democrat and works at the polls.
I simply do not know how to express my frustration.
Yeah. We need more and better unions in this country, and thank you for fighting the good fight. I'm a dues paying member of a (toothless?) federal union, but I have a dread of joining the leaders. My mother and sister were both stewards of some sort. Union Strong
The crowd is there for the game, not for trump. There is a video of his arrival, and he was booed. It's possible that he was cheered later on, but it's dishonest to report only on the cheers, without mentioning that he was booed.
ISTR that Pabs visited a frat house where he was cheered. While he was sitting in his chariot, his staff was organizing a rent-a-team of supporters to cheer him.
"WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In an announcement that many in Washington felt was overdue, Representative George Santos said that he was resigning from Congress to spend more time with his imaginary family.
“As much as I’ve loved this job, it’s taken me away from my kids,” he said. “And to them I say: Blake, Kaylee, Agnes, Skip, Molly, Charlie, Leeann, and Rex, Daddy’s coming home.”
The Crew was nowhere to be found so I ordered dinner from Teh Popeye Organization. Then, The Crew appeared. They were not happy but Simba ate some chicken. On the other hand, Li'l Feller was rather displeased. I will probably get my butt clawed while I sleep.
LF isn't that picky but he was not in the mood for chicken. He wanted steak again. (We had steak & eggs this morning.) So, Li'l Feller has a beef with me, I daresay.
I bet it was a no-brainer inviting Melania Trump to Rosalynn Carter's funeral. Everyone knew she wouldn't be dragging the old ball and chain along with her.
Any lawyers still with us, or all you all watching the movie?
I just had an idea. It might be a bad idea, or it might not. My bond conditions state
Defendant’s Motion To Set Bond is GRANTED, and bond is set at: $100,000.00, CORPORATE SURETY ONLY, with special bond conditions as follows:
1) House Arrest with GPS monitoring wherein
a) Defendant is allowed to travel to/from Defendant’s attorney’s office,
b) Defendant is allowed to travel to/from doctor and medical treatment appointments,
c) Defendant is allowed to travel to/from court dates, and
d) Defendant is allowed to travel to/from grocery store
2) Defendant is ordered to surrender her passport to the Surety; and
3) Defendant is ordered to appear at all court dates.
Now, “Defendant is allowed to travel to/from court dates” does not have any limits set on how I travel there and back, nor does it have any time limits on how long I am allowed to travel to get to court dates. It’s very open-ended. Suppose I lived in Kansas City, or still lived in Louisiana, and had to fly to St. Louis for every court date – then I’d have to stay in a motel overnight. An overnight stay in a hotel would be understood as part of “travel to/from court dates” in such situations.
I have asked my attorney to call my very nice bondsman/GPS agency (same man) and discuss this with him tomorrow morning. If my very nice bondsman agrees that the bond conditions do not expressly prohibit me from staying in a motel in St. Louis the night before 9 am hearings which I am REQUIRED TO ATTEND, then I can go to Monday's hearing.
But I would love to have a second opinion about this legal wording if anyone with experience in this field gets a chance to read this.
I would say that because it is hazardous for you to drive after dark the court would allow you to stay in a motel after the court hearing so that you're not driving after dark. If you can't see at night, you would be violating state law prohibiting impaired driving and the court cannot order you to break the law. I think that you have a valid argument concerning this issue.
Impaired driving accounts for 21% of the traffic fatalities in Missouri. While the dangers of drunk driving are relatively well known, impaired driving is not limited to alcohol use. It also consists of drugs, including prescription medications, and physical impairments such as drowsy driving, poor vision, or reduced cognitive capabilities.
I have to take I-70 for 120 miles to St. Louis, and it has become very congested. It covers rolling hills and has lots of curves. I remember the days when there were very few cars and trucks on it, but now it's nothing but truck convoys and people speeding at 90mph, with quite a few accidents. It's become so congested with trucks that the state is going to spend billions to widen it all the way from St. Louis to Kansas City in the near future. By "near future" I mean some time in the next 10 years, except it will take 15 years because it always takes longer and ends up costing at least 50% more than they said it would.
And I read that at least 20% of Missouri drivers have no vehicle insurance, even though it is required by law. There is no system in place to enforce the law.
Oh, okay! Um, I don't have a substack. But! I have a blog, and it's essentially a mirror of my patreon, which I use to fund my part of the 20$ we're all passing around forever. It's almost all writing about music, and almost all free: there's one subscription level (1$) and the locked stuff is HIGH GRADE weirdness for lifers. Like my cult classic underground sleeper hit original screenplay, VAMPIRE LESBIAN BMX QUEENS FROM NEPTUNE. Anyway, marxlotbog.wordpress.com or patreon.com/marxalot gets you essentially the same stuff. I think my tumblr may even a) still exist b) be reposting from the wordpress site (if so, it's marxalittle.tumblr.com). If you like music, you're gonna LOVE this!
Damn you guys, spent like ALL of Thanksgiving weekend trying to login here, using (it turns out) the wrong email address. Dayyum, no wonder!
Anyway, I am posting on Substack under my real name, though it appears I can continue to snark over here as Otis Fuentes, my nom de Wonkette. 'Trix already gave me a mention but I will repeat it here:
chrisxcarroll.substack.com
is the place to be for tales of that time I hung out with the rockstars 'lo those many decades ago. So come on over and read! Woot, etc.
Lyz Lenz’s substack is very good - Men Yell at Me. Also Heather Cox Richardson’s Letter from an American.
Love this, and bookmarking - thanks v. kindly!
Yay! New places to learn things!
{Post moved to movie thread. D'oh!}
Much love.
Mr. B. just told me that the local Trader Joe's is decertifying their nascent union after a year and a half.
I checked the source and it is MassLive, the online presence of the Springfield Republican (that's the name of the newspaper). It is generally a decent news source, but it does tend to have a non-crazy conservative take.
Anyway, as contract negotiations are ongoing, two out of 86 employees are trying to get enough signatures to decertify. According to reporting, 30% (29 signatures) would trigger a vote; 50% (43 signatures) would mean automatic decertification. The original vote to unionize, in 2022, passed 45-31.
According to reporting, two people are on board so far.
This is the article: https://www.masslive.com/business/2023/11/group-of-trader-joes-workers-in-hadley-pushes-to-decertify-new-union.html
Now, it is entirely possible that there has been enough turnover since 2022 that sentiments among store employees have changed, and there may well be negotiation fatigue going on, I don't know. But this reporting seems like an effort in support of union busting to me.
Mr. B. is very, very smart, but he has never been a union member, and he resents what my union took out of me physically and emotionally when I was leader (maybe wouldn't have taken out so much if I'd had support at home, but whatever).
If he can be misled not just by a headline but by an entire article...well, you know.
I teach about misinformation and disinformation, and I'm a proud union member, but even in my own home, highly educated and very intelligent people are receiving, essentially, lies or half-truths as truth.
I corrected his impression of the article and his response was, "whatever." It's not an issue that he cares about so it doesn't matter to him.
He reliably votes Democrat and works at the polls.
I simply do not know how to express my frustration.
Yeah. We need more and better unions in this country, and thank you for fighting the good fight. I'm a dues paying member of a (toothless?) federal union, but I have a dread of joining the leaders. My mother and sister were both stewards of some sort. Union Strong
Thanks for fighting the good fight.
The movie is over if you would like to join us there for OT.
Thanks :)
sleeping kat on lap is chasing mice in her dreams.
The twitching is very amusing.
as are the occasional chirps.
Pabs getting the shit booed out of him causes me great joy.
I was hoping he'd get boo'd severely, thanks for the update.
What happened?
Trump crashed the Clemson-SC "Palmetto Bowl" in Columbia SC.
He showed up.
Do we need Sean Spicer to tell us about the crowd size?
The crowd is there for the game, not for trump. There is a video of his arrival, and he was booed. It's possible that he was cheered later on, but it's dishonest to report only on the cheers, without mentioning that he was booed.
no
fuck no
How’s it getting reported? Just guess: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/25/trump-draws-cheers-in-haleys-backyard-at-clemson-south-carolina-football-game-00128599
more spin than a room full of gyroscopes.
More spin than the Crab Nebula's supernova remnant.
I'm stealing that. :)
"...entered through a veritable tunnel of Trump supporters..." is not the video I saw
Sad reporting.
ISTR that Pabs visited a frat house where he was cheered. While he was sitting in his chariot, his staff was organizing a rent-a-team of supporters to cheer him.
Wow. Iowa State/Kansas State is a real old-time football game .
Michael Bishop isn’t walking through that door
"George Santos to Spend More Time with Imaginary Family
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/george-santos-to-spend-more-time-with-imaginary-family
"WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In an announcement that many in Washington felt was overdue, Representative George Santos said that he was resigning from Congress to spend more time with his imaginary family.
“As much as I’ve loved this job, it’s taken me away from my kids,” he said. “And to them I say: Blake, Kaylee, Agnes, Skip, Molly, Charlie, Leeann, and Rex, Daddy’s coming home.”
He forgot Randy, Jermaine, Marlon and Tito
And cousin Oliver
The Crew was nowhere to be found so I ordered dinner from Teh Popeye Organization. Then, The Crew appeared. They were not happy but Simba ate some chicken. On the other hand, Li'l Feller was rather displeased. I will probably get my butt clawed while I sleep.
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fmedia_upload%2Fcomment%2F77416dc9-8184-46a8-bd20-119d744aedf6%2F1dbba453-5aab-472f-9b12-4e1f132ecc1f.jpeg
LF prefers the Colonel?
LF isn't that picky but he was not in the mood for chicken. He wanted steak again. (We had steak & eggs this morning.) So, Li'l Feller has a beef with me, I daresay.
Thank God he didn't want ham.
You wouldn't like if he wanted to pork you!
Ripper will only eat chicken and seafood.
Bet he and Simba would enjoy my pan fried Cod
Especially with chips and a touch of vinegar.
Not picky at all .. for a kat.
I bet it was a no-brainer inviting Melania Trump to Rosalynn Carter's funeral. Everyone knew she wouldn't be dragging the old ball and chain along with her.
I know it HAD TO be done, but *barf*
Rosalynn Carter was everything that the Slovenian floozy was not.
Any lawyers still with us, or all you all watching the movie?
I just had an idea. It might be a bad idea, or it might not. My bond conditions state
Defendant’s Motion To Set Bond is GRANTED, and bond is set at: $100,000.00, CORPORATE SURETY ONLY, with special bond conditions as follows:
1) House Arrest with GPS monitoring wherein
a) Defendant is allowed to travel to/from Defendant’s attorney’s office,
b) Defendant is allowed to travel to/from doctor and medical treatment appointments,
c) Defendant is allowed to travel to/from court dates, and
d) Defendant is allowed to travel to/from grocery store
2) Defendant is ordered to surrender her passport to the Surety; and
3) Defendant is ordered to appear at all court dates.
Now, “Defendant is allowed to travel to/from court dates” does not have any limits set on how I travel there and back, nor does it have any time limits on how long I am allowed to travel to get to court dates. It’s very open-ended. Suppose I lived in Kansas City, or still lived in Louisiana, and had to fly to St. Louis for every court date – then I’d have to stay in a motel overnight. An overnight stay in a hotel would be understood as part of “travel to/from court dates” in such situations.
I have asked my attorney to call my very nice bondsman/GPS agency (same man) and discuss this with him tomorrow morning. If my very nice bondsman agrees that the bond conditions do not expressly prohibit me from staying in a motel in St. Louis the night before 9 am hearings which I am REQUIRED TO ATTEND, then I can go to Monday's hearing.
But I would love to have a second opinion about this legal wording if anyone with experience in this field gets a chance to read this.
I would say that because it is hazardous for you to drive after dark the court would allow you to stay in a motel after the court hearing so that you're not driving after dark. If you can't see at night, you would be violating state law prohibiting impaired driving and the court cannot order you to break the law. I think that you have a valid argument concerning this issue.
Thank you. That's a very good point, and I will mention it to my lawyer.
Impaired driving accounts for 21% of the traffic fatalities in Missouri. While the dangers of drunk driving are relatively well known, impaired driving is not limited to alcohol use. It also consists of drugs, including prescription medications, and physical impairments such as drowsy driving, poor vision, or reduced cognitive capabilities.
I have to take I-70 for 120 miles to St. Louis, and it has become very congested. It covers rolling hills and has lots of curves. I remember the days when there were very few cars and trucks on it, but now it's nothing but truck convoys and people speeding at 90mph, with quite a few accidents. It's become so congested with trucks that the state is going to spend billions to widen it all the way from St. Louis to Kansas City in the near future. By "near future" I mean some time in the next 10 years, except it will take 15 years because it always takes longer and ends up costing at least 50% more than they said it would.
And I read that at least 20% of Missouri drivers have no vehicle insurance, even though it is required by law. There is no system in place to enforce the law.
Does your driver's license indicate any restrictions? I'm no lawyer but that would seem pertinent.
No, I have no restrictions on my driver's license. When my cataracts get worse I will have cataract surgery, and will still have no restrictions.
Best of luck, I've been there. It's not a justice system.
It's just a system.
It's a dehumanizing, cruel and corrupt system.