All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[BeastieRunner]

Anyone else seeing shortages at grocery stores? I haven't seen it here in Southern Nevada. Is it localized to certain areas only?

No ramen, bread, chips, milk, creamer, canned veggies in most of our grocery stores.

[babyblob]

Plenty of shortages in SoCal. Weirdly, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to what's missing. But yeah, looks a bit like the old Soviet Union grocery stores, with nothing but bare shelves. It's nowhere near that bad yet, just random aisles bare, with other random items gone from the stores with just blank space, but it might get worse. Hopefully not though. But prices for basically everything are way, way up.

That was at the grocery store. But I also went to IKEA recently, and tried to buy several things. I say tried, because while the displays were there, they basically had nothing in stock. And all my energy bills are way, way up. I'm getting more than a bit tired of this, I must say.

My energy bill was 57 percent higher this month. But there was less then a 12 percent increase in usage. I get a usage efficiency report from my supplier every month. I am very unhappy about it. There has been a lot of tightening of the belts around the house in the last 6 weeks.

Like I said the shortages at least at my store have been hit or miss but from the talk of the workers it is going to get worse. I dont know.

The energy Bills and the rising grocery stores are hurting a lot of people and that is the biggest issue for many people right now. I know there is talk of infrastructure bill that just passed and trying to pass the Voting rights Bill but this is the issue I hear more and more people talking about rising costs. Because that is what is hurting people every day.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Anyone else seeing shortages at grocery stores? I haven't seen it here in Southern Nevada. Is it localized to certain areas only?

I’ve seen some shortages in stores here in Philly, nothing drastic like scores of empty shelves, but it is noticeable.

[Tami]

Anyone else seeing shortages at grocery stores? I haven't seen it here in Southern Nevada. Is it localized to certain areas only?

It's spotty. Shelves are mostly filled, but occasionally there are empty areas. Nothing major.

[AnakinFlair]

Anyone else seeing shortages at grocery stores? I haven't seen it here in Southern Nevada. Is it localized to certain areas only?

I've noticed that certain things haven't been in stock, like Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches or the chicken strips I preferred, along with a few other things. Though to be honest I wasn't sure if that was due to shortages, or do to the fact that they are remodeling and shrinking the grocery store I go to. But I have noticed the price hikes.

[JB]

Anyone else seeing shortages at grocery stores? I haven't seen it here in Southern Nevada. Is it localized to certain areas only?

I'm seeing a lot of substitutes for things that are normally in stock. Like certain brands have been out of stock for a while so there's a lot of new products but not of the same quality. Prices are very high in my area as well.

[JB]

Former Acting Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Pleads Guilty to Scheme to Defraud the U.S. Government
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/forme...scheme-defraud

A former Acting Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General (DHS-OIG) pleaded guilty today to federal charges stemming from the theft of proprietary software and sensitive databases from the U.S. government.

According to court documents, Charles K. Edwards, 61, of Sandy Spring, Maryland, executed a scheme to steal confidential and proprietary software from the government. Edwards worked for DHS-OIG from February 2008 until December 2013, including as Acting Inspector General. Prior to DHS-OIG, he worked at the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (USPS-OIG). At both agencies, Edwards had access to software systems, including one used for case management and other systems holding sensitive personal identifying information of employees.

After leaving DHS-OIG, Edwards founded Delta Business Solutions Inc., located in Maryland. From at least 2015 until 2017, he stole software from DHS-OIG, along with sensitive government databases containing personal identifying information of DHS and USPS employees, so that his company could develop a commercially-owned version of a case management system to be offered for sale to government agencies.

[Tami]

Katko will not seek reelection, citing personal perspective shifts

ALBANY, N.Y. — Republican Rep. John Katko, a four-term congressman from Central New York who backed former President Donald Trump’s impeachment a year ago, will not seek reelection.

Katko announced in a statement Friday that he will not run for another term representing the state’s 24th Congressional District, which has been competitive for some time. The district’s boundaries this year are unclear as the state Legislature works to finalize new lines in the coming weeks.

Katko, 59, attributed the choice to personal priority shifts, and said his parents and those of his wife, Robin, all died within the past three years.

“To say that those gut-wrenching times provided life-changing perspective for me is putting it mildly,” he said. “I am thrilled to begin this next and best chapter of my life alongside Robin and our family,” he added.

Katko has walked an increasingly narrow line for the better part of the past decade, consistently touting bipartisanship in the district that has swung both left and right, regardless of its presidential vote.

[Kirby101]

Tami, you forgot to write this in really big letters and tell us how this shows Republicans are cowards who are running away.
Or is that only Democrats who leave Congress.

[Malvolio]

The only consistent shortage around here is canned cat food. I can pick up bags of dry cat food any time, but the shelves are almost bare when it comes to the canned variety. And our cats are particular, or finicky, you might say, when it comes to their taste in canned cat food.

[CaptainEurope]

Here in Germany, I hear about the IKEA problems as well because affordable wood is a concern. That also affects the construction industry.
Aside from that, there is a plant based supplement with passiflora and valerian that my mom takes because it helps with her tinnitus, but it's out of stock everywhere online and in stores, even though the manufacturer still has it up on the web site. But that is the only real empty shelf section I have seen when it was not a Christmas display being cleared out.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, as well as 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”posted profiles of Ed Orcutt, a former forester who is currently still serving in the Washington State House of Representatives, serving District 20. Orcutt became a bit of a laughing stock a few years back when he proposed a tax upon bicyclists for creating more damage to the atmosphere than automobiles, because all the physical action required to pedal a bike causes increased respiration, and thus, in his mind, greater CO2 output, which damages that atmosphere. Scientists explained to him it doesn’t quite work like that, and bike enthusiasts online made mincemeat out of his proposed legislation (beware the “Big Bike” Lobby, apparently).

We also recognized Orcutt for his opposition to public works projects, even after the Skagit River Bridge collapsed in 2012, for trying to use the argument that “11 of the 12 sections of the bridge are still standing”, which kind of indicates he might be dumb enough to not understand bridges need to GO ALL THE WAY ACROSS. To round things out, Orcutt is also decidedly socially conservative, having voted against minimum wage increases (during the greatest period of income equality in the United States in almost a century), against police body cameras being made mandatory (during the greatest period of police violence in our country in decades), voting for abortion restrictions without exceptions for rape, incest, or risk to the life of the mother, trying to not only prevent gay marriage and even gay adoption, while voting against a statewide ban on gay conversion therapy multiple times over the past few years. Orcutt has also been voting against automatic voter registration, and even voted against a ban on bump stocks for firearms. He is legitimately that regressive of a conservative.

In 2018, dismay as Orcutt has voted against Washington state’s Native American Voting Rights Act, which only two Republicans in the state legislature voted against. One of the other two? Oh, just domestic terrorist Matt Shea. And as Washington state Democrats have been trying to see to reforming policies regarding how police can interact with the public, Orcutt has opposed even the simplest of measures, including that juveniles need to have an attorney present for cops to be able to interrogate them.

Ed Orcutt faced a Democrat in an election for his rural seat since 2008, but still won re-election to a tenth term in office with 73% of the vote. Orcutt is still only 57, even after being in office for 19 years with no term limits to stop him from continually winning office and reminding us just how stupid modern Republicans are.

[CaptainEurope]

Here in Germany, I hear about the IKEA problems as well because affordable wood is a concern. That also affects the construction industry.
Aside from that, there is a plant based supplement with passiflora and valerian that my mom takes because it helps with her tinnitus, but it's out of stock everywhere online and in stores, even though the manufacturer still has it up on the web site. But that is the only real empty shelf section I have seen when it was not a Christmas display being cleared out.

Oh, and on my commute to work, sometimes trains are canceled because of too many train operators in quarantine or on sick leave.

[Gray Lensman]

Anyone else seeing shortages at grocery stores? I haven't seen it here in Southern Nevada. Is it localized to certain areas only?

I'm pretty close to you, being in Mesquite. The big thing here is that you can't buy a Zero version of any Pepsi product in any store in town. Even basic diet Pepsi is a rare find. This might have to do more with the rollout of the horrible apple and raspberry lemonade flavors though.

In St George (southwestern Utah) there are occasionally some shortages in soft papers but those are very short term.

Basically, most of what I am seeing at grocery stores seems to be shipping holdups rather than production ones - outside of the spike in beef prices which is partially due to climate change. A larger portion of the cattle in the South have died from excess temps than on previous years.

[achilles]

I'm seeing a lot of substitutes for things that are normally in stock. Like certain brands have been out of stock for a while so there's a lot of new products but not of the same quality. Prices are very high in my area as well.

That's how I shop, substitutes. Which means when I want chicken and the local stores don't have any, well, it's pork. But I live in CA, so pork is now out of sight for common use, so it's a lot of veg, rice, and the like. At least I haven't seen the paper towel and toilet paper shortages, or the bleach and hand soap stuff of a year ago plus change. I'm glad that's gone. But yeah, it's get creative time in finding substitutes for the stuff you can't get.