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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

We still have time to mess this up!

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Everybody saw this coming.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

A Senator Walker would be an insult to the state and the nation.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

People are complicated. Love is not.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Infrastructure week. at last.

A Senator Walker would also be an insult to reason, rationality, and decency.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Friday Morning Open Thread: Rile Up the Revanchists

Friday Morning Open Thread: Rile Up the Revanchists

by Anne Laurie|  April 22, 20165:10 am| 166 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Open Threads, Popular Culture, Post-racial America, Women's Rights Are Human Rights

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"Andrew Jackson!" chant briefly breaks out among Trump supporters across from BLM protesters

— Emma Roller (@emmaroller) April 22, 2016

If Trump represents America's last gasp of Jacksonianism I'd be totally cool with that. https://t.co/DQJFfNQjyG

— Daniel Drezner (@dandrezner) April 22, 2016

It goes without saying that I'll only accept my reparations check as a stack of Tubmans.

— Jamelle Bouie (@jbouie) April 20, 2016

Eugene Robinson, at the Washington Post, pokes the snake…

Conservatives should be delighted that Harriet Tubman’s likeness will grace the $20 bill. She was a Republican, after all, and a pious Christian. And she routinely exercised her Second Amendment right to carry a gun, which she was ready to use against anyone who stood in her way — or any fugitive slave having second thoughts. On her long road to freedom, there was no turning back…

Critics who polluted social media with invective after Lew’s announcement seemed to look past Tubman’s deeds and focus on her identity. Yes, she was a black woman. If anyone can’t deal with that fact, and doesn’t want to use the new bills when they finally come out, feel free to send them to me…

Alyssa Rosenberg, the Post‘s popcult critic, also reports:

… You have to go back to 1978 to find a full-length treatment of Tubman’s life, when Cicely Tyson and Jean Foster played Tubman at different points in her life in the two-part (and unfortunately treacly) NBC miniseries “A Woman Called Moses.” Alfre Woodard played Tubman twice in the 1990s, once in a larger project about the Underground Railroad, and a second time in a children’s show. CCH Pounder portrayed Tubman in the satire show “Histeria!”…

A number of small independent movies have taken stabs at Tubman. But the biggest potential take on the Underground Railroad conductor and Union spy comes from a potentially unexpected quarter: Last year, “Entourage” creator Doug Ellin teamed up with Viola Davis and “John Adams” writer Kirk Ellis to adapt Kate Clifford Larson’s Tubman biography “Bound for the Promised Land” for HBO Films.

When I reached Ellin yesterday, he told me that Ellis was at work on the script and that he hoped they would be able to shoot the movie during one of Davis’s hiatuses from “How to Get Away With Murder.” Ellin fell in love with Larson’s book when he read it and was taken aback at how little the people he talked to seemed to know about Tubman, who he believes should be an internationally recognized figure…

**********
Apart from admiring strong women who take no guff, what’s on the agenda as we wrap up the week?

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Previous Post: « Late Night Open Thread: Trust Your Intuition
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Reader Interactions

166Comments

  1. 1.

    magurakurin

    April 22, 2016 at 5:44 am

    Sigh.

    Mr. Sanders told an audience in Reading, Pa., that Mrs. Clinton is benefiting from super PACs raising millions of dollars from Wall Street firms and “special interests.” In a mocking tone, he took aim at her for delivering paid speeches to Wall Street at $225,000 a pop in some cases.

    And he called on her to release the speech transcripts, sarcastically saying that she should be eager to let the public read texts so eloquent that they commanded such high fees.

    “Now, I kind of think if you’re going to get $225,000 for a speech, it must be a brilliant, insightful, world-shattering speech, don’t you think?” Mr. Sanders said. “It must be a speech that would probably solve all of the crises facing our planet and then some. And it was probably written in Shakespearean prose.

    what’s the point of this? Sadness.

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 22, 2016 at 5:51 am

    I had to laugh when I heard about this on NPR yesterday: Foreign Office warns LGBT tourists of North Carolina and Mississippi travel

    And speaking of strong women who take no guff, a toast to my mother MamaME, who was always in front of every fight, and a toast to my sister Peggy, of whom her boyfriend said, “She was a force of nature, like a tornado or a hurricane.”

  3. 3.

    rikyrah

    April 22, 2016 at 5:58 am

    Good Morning ?, Everyone ?.

  4. 4.

    rikyrah

    April 22, 2016 at 6:00 am

    Tubman’s life was made for a movie treatment.

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 22, 2016 at 6:01 am

    @magurakurin: Bernie is just jealous. Hell, I’m jealous.

  6. 6.

    magurakurin

    April 22, 2016 at 6:05 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I get that his supporters think this is a valiant final fight to the end, but the primary at this point looks like this to me:

    you never got me down, Ray.

    what’s the point? It’s becoming senseless.

  7. 7.

    amk

    April 22, 2016 at 6:05 am

    @magurakurin:

    what’s the point of this?

    Another ass whopping needed in PA?

    what the hell is C.R.E.A.M.?

  8. 8.

    Anne Laurie

    April 22, 2016 at 6:12 am

    @amk: C(ash) R(ules) E(verything) A(round) M(e).

    From the Wu-Tang Clan song.

  9. 9.

    amk

    April 22, 2016 at 6:14 am

    You built this, gop.

    Delegates face death threats from Trump supporters.

  10. 10.

    Chris

    April 22, 2016 at 6:14 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Last year Fox News claimed London was living under Sharia Law. This is the least they could do in return.

  11. 11.

    amk

    April 22, 2016 at 6:16 am

    @Anne Laurie: Ha. Thanks.

  12. 12.

    Baud

    April 22, 2016 at 6:17 am

    @magurakurin:

    That’s his standard stump speech. If he wanted to change it up a bit, he could say $225,000 is a lot of Tubmans. The fact that he didn’t bother suggests he’s just going through the motions right now.

  13. 13.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 22, 2016 at 6:17 am

    @magurakurin: As best I can tell, he has a bit of a martyr complex as the only true…. something.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    April 22, 2016 at 6:18 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’m also fond of tough ladies because of my mom.

  15. 15.

    satby

    April 22, 2016 at 6:20 am

    @magurakurin: Just more evidence of what a few of us have said all along: Sanders is an opportunist and won’t play nice when the time comes for him to support the Democratic party nominee, who will not be him.
    Everyone keeps saying they believe he’ll do the right thing and work to unify the party. I’ve learned to pay attention to actions, not promises. His actions show he’s a dick.

  16. 16.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    April 22, 2016 at 6:21 am

    @magurakurin: One of his idiots, Devine or Comicbook Guy, said the reason he does personal populist attacks against the rich (with Hillary as the stand-in) is because it generates energy for his campaign (ie cash and volunteers).

    It’s chum.

    It’s the left wing version of Trump. Would Trump be doing as well if he bored people with policy – no. He lures in supporters by chumming the waters with populist attacks on mexcians and muslims.

    But let him flail. I looked at coverage the last 2 days and major outlets, even those who strongly support him, have dialed their coverage down to little to nothing.

  17. 17.

    satby

    April 22, 2016 at 6:23 am

    And God morning everyone, I just realized the girls are seriously oversleeping! Have a good day, back in an hour.

  18. 18.

    Aimai

    April 22, 2016 at 6:23 am

    @rikyrah: i remember the alfre woodward movie! I dont care if it was treacly. And i adore CCH Pounder. I’d watch her on anything.

  19. 19.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 22, 2016 at 6:26 am

    @amk: The Friends of Abe are disbanding.

    The Friends of Abe has acted as a clandestine club for Hollywood conservatives for more than a decade, hosting secret events where they could vent rightwing views and hear speeches from visiting Tea Party luminaries.

    But on Thursday the organisation – which counts Jon Voight, Jerry Bruckheimer and Kelsey Grammer among its 1,500 members – made an abrupt announcement: it was dissolving.

    “Effective immediately, we are going to begin to wind down the 501 c3 organization, bring the Sustaining Membership dues to an end, and do away with the costly infrastructure and the abespal.com website,” the executive director, Jeremy Boreing, told members in an email, a copy of which the Guardian has seen.

    “Today, because we have been successful in creating a community that extends far beyond our events, people just don’t feel as much of a need to show up for every speaker or bar night, and fewer people pay the dues that help us maintain that large infrastructure.”

    Translation: Trump and Cruz are tearing us apart.

  20. 20.

    Joel

    April 22, 2016 at 6:45 am

    The Underground Railroad, Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and John Brown — that’s one hell of a rich and intertwined story. Would make for interesting film (or television) if done right.

  21. 21.

    Joel

    April 22, 2016 at 6:47 am

    @amk: Cash Rules Everything Around Me.

  22. 22.

    gene108

    April 22, 2016 at 6:48 am

    @amk:

    Chickens coming home to roost.

    How many times have the GOP and their media hacks done a “just putting the guys address out there, ‘wink-wink nudge-nudge’ for fun” to people or organizations they do not like, with a few incidents turning violent?

    They bred this culture and it has turned on them.

  23. 23.

    Baud

    April 22, 2016 at 6:49 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: The Friends of Baud! are just getting started.

  24. 24.

    Immanentize

    April 22, 2016 at 6:51 am

    @Baud: sign me up! (As long as there are no dues).

  25. 25.

    Cermet

    April 22, 2016 at 6:56 am

    Since Jackson was not a “founding father” in any sense of the word, why is that constantly used in referring to him on the bill?

  26. 26.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 22, 2016 at 6:56 am

    @Baud: Only you could think you have friends. ;-)

  27. 27.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    April 22, 2016 at 7:00 am

    @magurakurin:
    From OUTSIDE magazine 08/20000

    If California tips Green enough, Bush could win the state and the whole damn election. Which, Nader confided to Outside in June, wouldn’t be so bad. When asked if someone put a gun to his head and told him to vote for either Gore or Bush, which he would choose, Nader answered without hesitation: “Bush.” Not that he actually thinks the man he calls “Bush Inc.” deserves to be elected: “He’ll do whatever industry wants done.” [But] The rumpled crusader clearly prefers to sink his righteous teeth into Al Gore, … [and] concludes with the sotto voce realpolitik of a ward heeler: “If you want the parties to diverge from one another, have Bush win.”

  28. 28.

    qwerty42

    April 22, 2016 at 7:03 am

    @Immanentize: … (As long as there are no dues).
    Will any dues be payable in Ameros?

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 22, 2016 at 7:11 am

    @Schlemazel (parmesan rancor): Millions of Iraqis want to have a word with Ralph.

  30. 30.

    Baud

    April 22, 2016 at 7:11 am

    @Schlemazel (parmesan rancor):

    What could go wrong?

  31. 31.

    Thoroughly Pizzled

    April 22, 2016 at 7:14 am

    Now, I kind of think if you’re going to get $250,000 for being a Senator, you must be a brilliant, insightful, world-shattering Senator, don’t you think?

  32. 32.

    Schlemazel Khan

    April 22, 2016 at 7:25 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Millions of Americans would also like to have a few four-letter words with the pompous ass

    @Baud:
    This time it will work for sure!
    (I can never say that anymore without mentally adding “and no one will have to get nailed to anything”)
    Too many people with a total lack of any memories more than 48 hours old.

    also – my chromebook seems intent on forcing me to remain paremsan rancor. I have to check before posting

  33. 33.

    Baud

    April 22, 2016 at 7:26 am

    @Schlemazel Khan:

    Schlemazel Khan

    I love that.

  34. 34.

    bystander

    April 22, 2016 at 7:30 am

    @amk:

    Delegates face death threats from Trump supporters.

    Call me a callous opportunist but I see this as win-win.

  35. 35.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    April 22, 2016 at 7:31 am

    @Schlemazel (parmesan rancor):

    “If you want the parties to diverge from one another, have Bush win.”

    Well, he was kinda right about that. But the party “divergence” wasn’t due to the Democrats lunging leftward, and being more friendly to causes that Ralph claims to support, but instead was due to the GOP acting as 50%+1 (or 5 on the SCOTUS) is the same as an overwhelming mandate to do whatever they have had on their wish-list for the last 50+ years.

    You know, Ralph, I wish I weighed closer to what I did 25 years ago, but losing my right leg wouldn’t be the way I would want to do it…

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (What is it with so many of these cranky old lefties who can’t see that every major policy change has major undesired consequences that need to be considered?)

  36. 36.

    Ben Cisco

    April 22, 2016 at 7:32 am

    @Cermet: Because they’re stupid, natch.

  37. 37.

    Schlemazel Khan

    April 22, 2016 at 7:33 am

    @Baud:
    Thank you for suggesting it! I find it funny on several levels.

  38. 38.

    Hal

    April 22, 2016 at 7:34 am

    Katrina Van Den Heuvel was on Chris Hayes last night waxing poetic about Sanders being the future of the Democratic party. He’s not a democrat and proud of it, and why is the future of the party dependent on some old white guy? I’ll say the same for Clinton. The Democratic party really needs to start investing more in young up and comers because after this election, who’s next?

  39. 39.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 22, 2016 at 7:34 am

    @Baud: KHAN!!!!

  40. 40.

    Baud

    April 22, 2016 at 7:35 am

    @Schlemazel Khan: I suggested it? I don’t remember doing that. Gotta link?

  41. 41.

    Baud

    April 22, 2016 at 7:40 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    To the last, I will grapple with thee… from Hell’s heart, I stab at thee! For hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee!

  42. 42.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 22, 2016 at 7:41 am

    @Hal:

    after this election, who’s next?

    Somebody will show up. Somebody always does.

  43. 43.

    Schlemazel Khan

    April 22, 2016 at 7:42 am

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
    You are so right about that except I feel like the Dems have been pulled right also. As a lefty I feel the pain but the missing piece in all this wishful thinking is that there is very little a President, or even the whole government, can do inside the US without having some pretty soild backing from the voters.
    I love this:

    You know, Ralph, I wish I weighed closer to what I did 25 years ago, but losing my right leg wouldn’t be the way I would want to do it…

    and am going to use it in the future when someone suggests a stupid way to get something they want! thanks

  44. 44.

    Loviatar

    April 22, 2016 at 7:45 am

    My favorite Prince song is Darling Nikki.

    I first heard it as a teenager on the rooftop gym at Brooklyn Tech. Girl I used to fool around with comes over to me and says you have to hear this song, its nasty. Now its the 80s, I’m young and living in NY, so for me its all about Hip Hop and RAP. I knew of Prince, but I didn’t know about Prince. The song was naaaaasty, I liked it, played it every chance I got, turned my friends onto it and everything, but at the end of the day it was just another good song. Then I went to see the movie, went to this theater in Coney Island where the owner cared more about the dollars than your age. Damm I loved the song afterwards.

    He destroyed Apollonia’s character with that song, he hit her harder with those lyrics than he ever did with his hands. All of a sudden the song made sense on a different level, it wasn’t just a nasty song, it was a hate ballad. The part where he says “come back Nikki” wasn’t him asking her to return to him, it was him asking her to stay so he could destroy her further. And the great part about it was only a few people knew what he was doing, to most everyone it was just a song, but for those in the know it was just pure hate and spite.

    Darling Nikki changed how I listened to music; now its, what is the artist intention with his story, then everything else follows.

    So long Prince.

  45. 45.

    Schlemazel Khan

    April 22, 2016 at 7:46 am

    @Baud:
    geeze, it was like Tuesday in a thread, I don’t remember which one wish I knew a way to search my old comments

    I was mentioning how I lack charisma & sympathizing with HRC & we discussed my willingness to subdue the rebellious portions of the nation, ala Sherman

  46. 46.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 22, 2016 at 7:51 am

    @Schlemazel Khan: I was there for that so it had to have been a Morning open thread.

  47. 47.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    April 22, 2016 at 7:58 am

    @Joel:

    Sounds like a project made for Tarantino.

  48. 48.

    Kay

    April 22, 2016 at 8:02 am

    @Hal:

    I would suggest there’s a basic misunderstanding about what they’re saying. They’re not saying “Bernie Sanders” is the future of the Democratic Party. They’re just looking at his numbers with young people. In fact, I think the reason they’re so convinced is BECAUSE no one thinks it’s “about” Bernie Sanders. If he were a younger or more politically adept candidate they would be LESS convinced younger voters are looking for bolder policy. Then it WOULD be about Sanders. The fact that the 74 year old Senator who has been around forever draws those huge crowds and small donors makes the idea that it’s policy/platform appeal (not the candidate) more convincing.

    Of course they’re paying attention to it. Young people are the upcoming group of voters.

    Chait thinks Clinton should simplify and expand her “free college” proposal. They think it’s policy, not the candidate.

  49. 49.

    Schlemazel Khan

    April 22, 2016 at 8:02 am

    @Schlemazel Khan:

    I found that thread, it was Wed morning open thread but the Khan thing was not there so it must have been later that day I guess (either that or I didn’t search well enough. Anyone know a good way to search for something like that?

    Gotta run so it will have to wait & perhaps remain a mystery

  50. 50.

    Keith G

    April 22, 2016 at 8:04 am

    I’ve been pondering whether or not it’s such a high honor to have one’s face depicted on a $20 bill. Is it an honor to be the flash of a face on a bill which is quickly being tucked into a pole dancer’s g-string? Or to be the image on paper quickly check for between two participants in a front seat of a car illicit exchange.

    Maybe a new term will forever enter our lexicon, “Getting a Tubman”.

  51. 51.

    Ben Cisco

    April 22, 2016 at 8:06 am

    @Baud: Nice.

  52. 52.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 22, 2016 at 8:15 am

    @Keith G: Speaking only for myself, being tucked into a pole dancer’s g-string wouldn’t bother me at all. In fact, I think I’d rather enjoy it.

  53. 53.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    April 22, 2016 at 8:23 am

    *chuckle*

    Kentucky and Indiana’s primary day approacheth (Kentucky did caucus for the GOP presidential). The GOP ads I’ve seen this cycle have some challengers who are clearly delineating an intraparty civil war by calling themselves “outsider conservatives” and talking up “fighting Obama”. The Club for Growth Indiana ads are simply about stopping Trump by voting Cruz because the math says he’s got the only possibility available.

  54. 54.

    Baud

    April 22, 2016 at 8:28 am

    @Schlemazel Khan: No worries. I just didn’t want to steal someone else’s excellent idea.

  55. 55.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 22, 2016 at 8:30 am

    Heh.

    Timothy Caulfield has a bone to pick with Gwyneth Paltrow. Now, if Gwyneth were in charge of selecting the bone in question, she would likely choose an organic bone from an exotic bird — well-traveled, intellectually curious — that was gluten-free, scrubbed clean of all toxins, marinaded in lemon with some cayenne pepper, kept far from any chemicals or unnatural ingredients. Because Gwyneth (we are all on a first name basis with Gwyneth) believes in cleanses, annual detoxes, and vague ideas of what is good and bad for our bodies and ourselves.

    Why don’t you stop beating around the bush and tell us how you really feel?

    But Caulfield is the Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy. He is professor at the University of Alberta School of Public Health, where, for over 20 years, he has been the research director of the Health Law Institute. And he wants the world to know something about Gwyneth and all her Goop-y guidance: It is, to use a technical term, bullshit.

    Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?

  56. 56.

    Technocrat

    April 22, 2016 at 8:46 am

    @Schlemazel Khan:

    I suggested it. I’m tickled that you really did it.

  57. 57.

    WaterGirl

    April 22, 2016 at 8:48 am

    @satby: I really thought Bernie would do the right thing when he finally acknowledges that Hillary has won the nomination.

    But I watched Susan Sarandon on The Nightly Show this week and now I’m not confident at all. I watched her to give her a chance in case some of the apparently awful things she has been saying were taken out of context. The answer: no, they most certainly were not.

    It was a truly embarrassing performance – she was like that sweet little girl you have loved since birth who, seemingly in the span of a single moment, turns into an eye-rolling snippy sarcastic kid. It was truly an embarrassment and I hope that she looks back on this with shame at some point in the future.

    She didn’t get her pony, so it’s perfectly fine with Trump getting elected. It makes me so angry.

  58. 58.

    rikyrah

    April 22, 2016 at 8:48 am

    Luvvie has done a post:

    Prince is Gone and I Don’t Understand
    Awesomely Luvvie — April 21, 2016 17 44

    The world can definitely implode in 120 minutes. Today, I got on a flight to head to Atlanta and all was well. When I landed and turned on my phone, the world flipped inside out as I heard that Prince Rogers Nelson had gone on to glory.

    I literally said “Nah. That can’t be true.” I said it over and over again with more conviction because surely that is just lies and fallacies and NAWL. It took me a full 45 minutes after hearing about it to be able to type “Prince died.”

    That makes no sense and I can’t believe I just typed it.

    At times like this, writers are expected to put some words on paper to measure up and verbalize the feeling of loss for those who have no words themselves. I tried when Michael Jackson died in 2009. I gave my best go when Whitney Houston died in 2012.

    But I am currently fresh outta adequate words for this. So consider this my weak attempt, in the middle of shell shock.

  59. 59.

    Kay

    April 22, 2016 at 8:52 am

    I love the Uber exec’s argument here. Uber drivers are part-timers and (luckily!) have actual full-time employers who contribute to the safety net system, so that means we don’t have to!

    Uber has become an important part of many drivers’ lives, whether they drive all week or for a couple of hours to help pay the bills.

    I’m so glad we still have boring, old “traditional” employers who feel they have to offer actual jobs to provide a safety net to the groovy innovators at the exec level who refuse to pay for it. I’m happy to contribute to this guy’s bonus! Yes, sir!

  60. 60.

    WaterGirl

    April 22, 2016 at 9:01 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Hey now! I’m the one who registered the fan club 501(c) group for baud.

  61. 61.

    MomSense

    April 22, 2016 at 9:03 am

    @Hal:

    It’s a Reagan thing with Sanders. I already watched my generation get all starry eyed by a father figure who told them their anger was legitimate and then channeled it into pie in the sky (pay no taxes to evil government and magically more money will do all the things you like), exclusionary, vague proposals, that when questioned were answered with “there you go again” but no answers.
    He’s our lefty father figure who is promising free stuff that Wall Street will pay for and if you wonder how this will work you are obviously corrupt. You will never get an answer on any of it.
    It’s cathartic to have your anger acknowledged. I’m angry too and share many of the same frustrations. I don’t want vague answers, however because I have seen that movie before and I hated it.
    I guess we like disheveled, cranky, and well meaning father figures. It’s an improvement over Reagan but it’s still an outdated model of political change and one that always ends up causing damage.

  62. 62.

    WaterGirl

    April 22, 2016 at 9:04 am

    @Baud: Me, too, but I miss the parmesan rancor.

  63. 63.

    Technocrat

    April 22, 2016 at 9:07 am

    @Kay:

    Uber’s management is cartoonishly evil. Yet they’re thriving. And not because of regulatory capture, but in spite of it.

    When people talk about “the system”, I think they tend to think of old rich guys paying off senators. Top-down corruption. But Uber is a reminder that bad outcomes are often exacerbated, if not driven, by consumers themselves. Facebook is going to be a nightmare in 10-15 years, once they’ve mastered the art of monetizing 2 billion people’s worldview. Amazon is already the Walmart of the Internet.

  64. 64.

    Elizabelle

    April 22, 2016 at 9:10 am

    Good morning all.

    Still a bit in shock over yesterday. 24-30 hours ago Prince was still with us, in an instant he and all that talent are gone.

    And Happy Earth Day to us all.

  65. 65.

    NotMax

    April 22, 2016 at 9:11 am

    Out of Britain:

    Dog owners are on average eight per cent happier than other people, according to new research.

    The research also revealed dogs are the nation’s favourite pets with 61 per cent of adults saying a dog would be their top choice of pet ahead of cats (23 per cent), fish (four per cent), horses (three per cent) and birds (two per cent).

  66. 66.

    Baud

    April 22, 2016 at 9:11 am

    @WaterGirl:

    Keep that on the down low. I don’t want people throwing dollar bills at me in protest.

  67. 67.

    WaterGirl

    April 22, 2016 at 9:12 am

    @efgoldman:

    He has already filed for re-election to the senate – as an independent.
    To hell with him.

    Yep. When I heard that a few days ago, that was it. There’s just no benefit of the doubt to be had anymore. For Bernie to do that in the middle of his fight for the democratic nomination is a big middle finger to every democrat. He showed his true colors quite clearly.

  68. 68.

    Baud

    April 22, 2016 at 9:12 am

    @Elizabelle:

    Hey, EB. I didn’t realize it was Earth Day. I didn’t get her anything.

  69. 69.

    Loviatar

    April 22, 2016 at 9:13 am

    @rikyrah:

    In a word or 2—it’s u I wanna do/ No, not cha body, yo mind you fool.

    h/t Vox

  70. 70.

    WaterGirl

    April 22, 2016 at 9:14 am

    @Baud: If they throw Tubmans, I am picking them up! (in 14 years when they are finally issued, which is totally ridiculous!)

  71. 71.

    Baud

    April 22, 2016 at 9:14 am

    @WaterGirl: Has that been confirmed? I read some explanation in daily Kos a while ago that the filing was misinterpreted. It was a Daily Kos diary, so I took it with a grain of salt, but I haven’t looked into the issue.

  72. 72.

    Kay

    April 22, 2016 at 9:20 am

    @Technocrat:

    I just think it’s amusing that it’s promoted as a “new model of work”. Companies who are able to exist because they use part time people who rely on their real jobs for the benefits of being an “employee” are not new at all.

    When I was small and would do something selfish or thoughtless and claim “one time” or “just me because I’m special” status my father would say “what if everyone did that?” 40 years later I still don’t have a comeback.

  73. 73.

    NotMax

    April 22, 2016 at 9:21 am

    @Baud

    Not Earth, but hands down the best name (IMHO) for a nature goddess is Chaxiraxi.

    Name has always made me think of being perfect for a stereotypical female speakeasy owner from the Roaring 20s. “Flappers flock to Chaxiraxi’s Place.”

  74. 74.

    Gin & Tonic

    April 22, 2016 at 9:24 am

    @WaterGirl: I hear that about him a lot, but is it actually true? It seems that filing for an election to be held 2 1/2 years away is a bit early, and may in fact not be possible. I don’t think I can file to run in the 2018 election here in RI, for instance, not yet.

  75. 75.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 22, 2016 at 9:33 am

    @Elizabelle:

    And Happy Earth Day to us all.

    And then I see things like this, and despair.

    ETA the caption: Teresita Gapayao wades through garbage using a makeshift styrofoam raft on the Estero de Vitas river

  76. 76.

    Chris

    April 22, 2016 at 9:33 am

    “Andrew Jackson!” chant briefly breaks out among Trump supporters across from BLM protesters

    “Democrats were the white supremacist party, didn’t you know what? Now watch us defend to the death the right of one of those Democratic white supremacists to stay on our money.”
    – the Republican Party

  77. 77.

    Paul in KY

    April 22, 2016 at 9:34 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: A toast to your great women relatives!!

  78. 78.

    Paul in KY

    April 22, 2016 at 9:37 am

    @Baud: Count me in…as long as there are no costly dues.

  79. 79.

    Paul in KY

    April 22, 2016 at 9:38 am

    @Schlemazel (parmesan rancor): I would love to slowly strangle Ralph fuckin Nader!

  80. 80.

    Mike in NC

    April 22, 2016 at 9:38 am

    Packing for badly needed vacation, and tomorrow we are off to spend a week in a cabin at Lake Tahoe.

  81. 81.

    FlipYrWhig

    April 22, 2016 at 9:38 am

    @Kay:

    The fact that the 74 year old Senator who has been around forever draws those huge crowds and small donors makes the idea that it’s policy/platform appeal (not the candidate) more convincing.

    I agree that the candidate himself is most likely secondary as a source of appeal, but I don’t think the primary source is policy at all. Not even slightly. I think it’s rage and a thirst for revenge. People like that he’s good and mad about How Things Are. And the prickly personality and crappy suits and annoying voice make him seem like he really means it, whereas, say, John Edwards’s syrupy self-presentation made him seem like he might not really mean it.

    IOW I feel like it’s the 40-somethings and up who see Bernie as the long-delayed bearer of the gospel of true liberalism, with plans for this and that, but the 20-somethings and down see him as the guy who has the guts to tell it like it is, no matter who it upsets–especially the financial sector, which they deal with via student loan payments and good-job resentment. The most similar case I can think of from recent years is Keith Olbermann.

  82. 82.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 22, 2016 at 9:38 am

    @Paul in KY: No dues, just Tubmans for the stripper’s g-strings.

  83. 83.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 22, 2016 at 9:40 am

    @WaterGirl: It really doesn’t bother me, it is exactly what I expect him to do. Bernie has always been an Independent, it’s just that right now he is an Independent running for the Dem nom.

  84. 84.

    Paul in KY

    April 22, 2016 at 9:40 am

    @Loviatar: I think Little Red Corvette was/is his greatest song. Darling Nikki is also a badass song.

  85. 85.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    April 22, 2016 at 9:41 am

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:

    I always notice that old white lefties of the male gender don’t care or imagine the unintended consequences because they’re largely unaffected. If they do happen to suffer from them, it’s too easy to misidentify and/or scapegoat cause and effect. The student radical movements of the 60s broke down along gender and race lines, because women and blacks were tired of putting up with men’s shit then. One of the revelatory parts of the The Vanguard of the Revolution about the Black Panthers was how they switched up the gendered roles too – women got weapons training and men cooked the meals for the community’s breakfast program. That right there is some revolutionary shit.

  86. 86.

    Paul in KY

    April 22, 2016 at 9:41 am

    @Keith G: Jeezus, Keith, you must be wealthy. The ones I tuck in usually have the Father of Our Country on them ;-)

  87. 87.

    Miss Bianca

    April 22, 2016 at 9:45 am

    @qwerty42: Quatloos.

  88. 88.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 22, 2016 at 9:45 am

    @Paul in KY: Right, 20’s are for lap dances, at least that’s what I’ve heard.

  89. 89.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    April 22, 2016 at 9:46 am

    @satby:

    For those who think Sanders will do the right thing when the time comes, I ask – on what evidence? Name one time when he was a team player. I have zero faith in the guy, and actually hope that Obama takes him out to the woodshed in public.

  90. 90.

    Aimai

    April 22, 2016 at 9:47 am

    @FlipYrWhig: and alan grayson.

  91. 91.

    Yutsano

    April 22, 2016 at 9:47 am

    Shlomeh Pesach y’all!

    First Friday after filing season. Then training for 2 weeks then 2 small vacations in a row. In a fairly decent mood for being up so damn early.

  92. 92.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 22, 2016 at 9:47 am

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne:

    Name one time when he was a team player.

    He voted for Harry Reid as Majority Leader.

  93. 93.

    Miss Bianca

    April 22, 2016 at 9:48 am

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: Well, excepting that notorious quote from someone about women’s position in the revolution being “prone”, (too lazy to look it up) yeah. My sister was friends with some BPs in Detroit back in Tha Day and they always struck my baby self as righteous dudes, so I am hoping that that attitude was the exception, rather than the rule.

  94. 94.

    Immanentize

    April 22, 2016 at 9:49 am

    @Paul in KY: I love Darling Nikki. I was poking around the intertubes yesterday looking for Prince material and man was that guy serious about protecting his I.P. That led me to think of Morris Day and Time and “The Bird” Couldn’t find a solid video of that performance from Purple Rain either…. But it led me to a short article with which I agree completely — Time crushed The Revolution in the final song contest… As the author put it:

    Now, if Prince had come on to “Baby I’m a Star” or even “I Would Die 4 U,” The Revolution would have put up a good fight. But no, they save those for the encore, and decide to battle with “Purple Rain,” a song that would have had everybody heading straight for the bathroom after flapping their arms around like loons to The Time.

    And there is a nice viddy clip of the “Chili Sauce” slide…. I could watch that all day (but work intrudes!)

    http://the-toast.net/2015/08/07/morris-day-and-the-time-should-have-won-in-purple-rain/

  95. 95.

    Joel

    April 22, 2016 at 9:49 am

    @Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Lord knows he’s tried. But I actually think he’d fuck it up.

  96. 96.

    Paul in KY

    April 22, 2016 at 9:50 am

    @Kay: Wonder how much the lawyers who wrote this drivel got paid?

  97. 97.

    pluky

    April 22, 2016 at 9:50 am

    @rikyrah: and played by Viola Davis, be still my heart!

  98. 98.

    Miss Bianca

    April 22, 2016 at 9:52 am

    @MomSense: I {heart} this comment.

  99. 99.

    Paul in KY

    April 22, 2016 at 9:52 am

    @Mike in NC: Hope y’all have a great time, Mike!

  100. 100.

    Shell

    April 22, 2016 at 9:52 am

    @magurakurin: He’s starting to acquire a Rubio-like robotiveness on the campaign trail.

  101. 101.

    WaterGirl

    April 22, 2016 at 9:53 am

    @Baud: I read it in three places, but I don’t recall which 3 places. 14 years is pretty ridiculous, but weighing that against Daily KOS being right? Not sure which way I would come down on that.

    Shorter: I haven’t really researched it either.

  102. 102.

    Loviatar

    April 22, 2016 at 9:57 am

    @Paul in KY:

    For me its Darling Nikki, because of the intent behind the lyrics. Purple Rain while a nice movie was not the best acted movie, but that scene where Prince sings Darling Nikki at Apollonia and Morris Day was brutal and so real. We all know about Love Ballads, but that was first time I realized there could be a Hate Ballad.

  103. 103.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 22, 2016 at 9:58 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: IIRC, he has always caucused with the DEMs.

  104. 104.

    D58826

    April 22, 2016 at 9:59 am

    Some words of wisdom to the Bernie fans on making a long term impact and the thought that the world does not end if he isn’t the nominee

    However, as Zach Carter points out, Sanders’ support has nevertheless proven robust enough to add a considerable dose of creatine to the liberal scene. And there’s fertile political turf to be taken in any number of venues that lack the sexiness of a presidential campaign — county boards, state legislatures and the like. Committed Sanders supporters need to have designs on these seats, win them, and add something beyond pure passion to their portfolio: demonstrable records of responsible governing.
    Not every revolution has to begin at the Oval Office. And when you succeed at these lower levels in politics, then you get to be the elites. Fancy that.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-future_us_57193c19e4b0d0042da8ac97

  105. 105.

    WaterGirl

    April 22, 2016 at 10:00 am

    @Gin & Tonic: I don’t know the actual guidelines. A quick google tells me that reddit says he has filed as an independent; daily kos has an article that debunks it. If you do the research to come up with the ultimate answer, let us know what that is.

  106. 106.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 22, 2016 at 10:00 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: That is correct.

  107. 107.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 22, 2016 at 10:01 am

    @D58826: Revolutions usually DON’T start in the Oval Office.

  108. 108.

    D58826

    April 22, 2016 at 10:02 am

    @Kay:

    Chait thinks Clinton should simplify and expand her “free college” proposal.

    And Jonathan alter thinks she should just steal Bernie’s since it is a better plan and easier to explain in the campaign. Maybe a Bernie plank at the convention?

  109. 109.

    Bobby Thomson

    April 22, 2016 at 10:02 am

    @Kay: no, lots of people literally are saying that Bernie Sanders – a 74-year-old man who may not even see 2020 – is the future of the Democratic Party.

    And it’s not the policy, it’s the demagogue giving the speeches.

  110. 110.

    Paul in KY

    April 22, 2016 at 10:02 am

    @Immanentize: Thank you for the link! IMO, Purple Rain is a ballad & I prefer ‘uptempo’ songs in general. It is a great song, though.

  111. 111.

    rikyrah

    April 22, 2016 at 10:03 am

    huh?

    Michael Jordan and Derek Jeter taught Tiger Woods how to talk to girls

    ESPN on Thursday published a massive profile of Tiger Woods that, in the off-chance you haven’t read it already, you absolutely should.

    Author Wright Thompson offers an alternate theory about Tiger’s so-called downfall: That Tiger’s car crash on on Thanksgiving in 2009 and ensuing revelations of his sex scandal wasn’t the start of his downfall, as most people commonly believe. Rather, it was the result of a downward spiral that Tiger had been experiencing following his father’s death in 2006. It’s a fascinating and revealing glimpse of what makes Tiger Woods, well, Tiger Woods.

    There are so many interesting moments in the piece, but one of the more notable ones involved Michael Jordan and Derek Jeter teaching Tiger Woods how to flirt with women following the death of his father:

  112. 112.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 22, 2016 at 10:03 am

    @WaterGirl: Two years out would be a long time to file. That was my first thought when I heard that he had.

  113. 113.

    Paul in KY

    April 22, 2016 at 10:03 am

    @Loviatar: Well stated.

  114. 114.

    Patricia Kayden

    April 22, 2016 at 10:04 am

    @magurakurin: Trying to hold onto my initial belief that Senator Sanders is a good guy with his heart in the right place but he’s really pushing it wth these anti-Clinton screeds. There is nohing wrong wth Secretary Clinton raising funds for herself and down ticket Democrats. If she earned millions when she was not holding a political office, I don’t understand why Senator Sanders sees that as a negative. Perhaps it shows that she’s money hungry, but so what?

    Sanders is taking his eyes off the ball, which is beating the other Party in November. This is not all about him (or Clinton).

  115. 115.

    Paul in KY

    April 22, 2016 at 10:06 am

    @rikyrah: Really, really hard to talk to girls when you’re a multi-millionaire athlete. I mean, they just ignore you & never act like they give a shit what you’re saying. Poor fellows…

  116. 116.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    April 22, 2016 at 10:07 am

    @Kay: I heard a rebroadcast yesterday of a Reveal story on temp agency hiring practices. It was compelling and infuriating.

    The bottom line is that lots of companies use temp agencies for staffing, and with a wink-wink nudge-nudge demand only “country boys” or “hockey players” or Hispanics (who they assume they can browbeat with threats to call ICE) to fill positions. They seem to think that they can bypass fair hiring rules and laws by not writing things down.

    It’s things like this that make me very skeptical of Uber and the like. Laws and rules are being bypassed to drive up profits, reduce worker protections, and shift more of the pie to the MotU’s who think that the rules don’t apply to them because they’re somehow special. It’s dangerous and we need to put a stop to it.

    But too many people think that destroying unions or taxi companies has no price – and it’s cheaper! – except when they get hit with “surge pricing” or their kid can’t find a full-time job. Or that somehow paying a realistic price to live in a civilized society is Tyrrany™.

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  117. 117.

    D58826

    April 22, 2016 at 10:07 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Right. The Reagan revolution had 10-15 years of behind the scenes work in which conservative activists built the right wing media/think tank structure. The Lewis Powell memo was just one of the organizing documents. Obviously they had an advantage of having a lot of deep pocketed billionaires to fund the effort. When the organizing met the right candidate and the right political environment all the pieces were in place for the Reagan revolution. Don’t have to agree with the outcome but it was a well thought out and executed plan. And the Kochs, et. al. are still following it,

    The thing is if Bernie screws the pooch this November or his supporters sit out the dull work of building a grass roots organization then nothing will change. Bernie will just become a trivial pursuit question.

  118. 118.

    rikyrah

    April 22, 2016 at 10:12 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 4/21/16
    Peerless in his era, Prince legacy musical, cultural, political
    Gail Mitchell, senior editor at Billboard Magazine, talks with Rachel Maddow about the musical, cultural, and political significance of Prince on the night of his passing at the age of 57.
    Duration: 22:23

  119. 119.

    D58826

    April 22, 2016 at 10:14 am

    @rikyrah: I’m not a golf fan but it was an excellent article. Kinda of sad. The ‘bird in a gilded cage’ kind of thing. I know the cynics will say they would like to suffer like Tiger but he is still human. As Shylock said ‘if I’m cut don’t i bleed’

  120. 120.

    geg6

    April 22, 2016 at 10:15 am

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne:

    I always notice that old white lefties of the male gender don’t care or imagine the unintended consequences because they’re largely unaffected. If they do happen to suffer from them, it’s too easy to misidentify and/or scapegoat cause and effect. The student radical movements of the 60s broke down along gender and race lines, because women and blacks were tired of putting up with men’s shit then.

    Oh, I so agree with this! Almost all of the biggest butthurt FB messages over the last week have all come from middle-aged white men. About how we just don’t get the greatness of Bernie, about how Hillary is an evil corporate whore lickspittle who is just itching to bomb the Middle East into bits to satisfy her bloodthirsty ego, who is too ambitious and no one wants to vote for someone who is so icky as to be ambitious, who has no accomplishments but is responsible for every bad policy that came out of her husband’s administration, who is an enabler of rape and sexual harassment, and who might be okay on women’s issues but not on anything really important.

    I’m so fucking sick of these assholes, I can’t even begin to tell you.

  121. 121.

    PsiFighter37

    April 22, 2016 at 10:17 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Kamala Harris, assuming she can win the GE (she may very well end up running against another Democrat given CA’s top-2 system).

  122. 122.

    Gin & Tonic

    April 22, 2016 at 10:17 am

    @WaterGirl: Yeah, thanks, but I think I have to fold the laundry. Or do the dishes. Or put away the dishes. Or wash the kitchen floor. Or something, surely, more thrilling than that.

  123. 123.

    rikyrah

    April 22, 2016 at 10:21 am

    Hmmm….

    Friday, April 22, 2016

    TRUMP CAMPAIGN DUPES MAINSTREAM MEDIA, WITH AN ASSIST FROM THE #NEVERTRUMPERS

    See the bait. See the mainstream media rising to the bait.

    Associated Press:

    Donald Trump’s chief lieutenants told skeptical Republican leaders Thursday that the GOP front-runner has been “projecting an image” so far in the 2016 primary season and “the part that he’s been playing is now evolving” in a way that will improve his standing among general election voters.

    The message, delivered behind closed doors in a private briefing, is part of the campaign’s intensifying effort to convince party leaders Trump will moderate his tone in the coming months to help deliver big electoral gains this fall….

    New York Times:

    Donald J. Trump’s newly installed campaign chief sought to assure members of the Republican National Committee on Thursday night that Mr. Trump recognized the need to reshape his persona and that his campaign would begin working with the political establishment that he has scorned to great effect.

    ……………..

    There’s some skepticism in these reports, but the message is that everything will be fine and dandy and just be politics as usual if Trump is the nominee, so the press doesn’t haven’t to do hand-wringing coverage about the hijacking of the Republican Party by a dangerous barbarian. (Even after all these months of Trump, much of the press still hasn’t been able to bring itself to say that the rot is within the GOP and conservative movement, but never mind.)

    The #NeverTrump movement, oddly, is playing right along with this, telling fellow conservatives who’ve fallen for Trump that Trump has never really been the guy they’ve cheered on for months. Erick Erickson:

    … this is an admission against interest that Trump has been lying to the American people and his supporters.

  124. 124.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    April 22, 2016 at 10:21 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: The Independent Candidate form for 2016 says:

    No sooner than MONDAY, April 25, 2016 – 17 V.S.A. §§ 2402(d), 2356 and no later than 5:00 p.m. on
    THURSDAY, August 4, 2016 – 17 V.S.A. §§ 2402(d), 2356

    It’s hard to imagine that it’s different for a Senate run in 2018.

    If Bernie did do some sort of filing for 2018, this doesn’t seem to be it.

    Either someone garbled something, or they’re wrong, or it’s ratfvcking, or all of the above.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  125. 125.

    Paul in KY

    April 22, 2016 at 10:23 am

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Have a good friend who was working at a local winery (coughLovers Leapcough), full time & was in an overtime paying position. The winery started screwing her out of the overtime pay, would have the management walking around at special events & schmoozing & maybe pouring a few drinks & then they would want a cut of her tips. She complained about the overtime thing & they just smiled & basically said ‘take us to court’.

    She quit & got a better job (thank God), but was so mad & stressed over the situation. She needed all that paycheck! they also were Repub assholes & gave her shit for voting for Pres. Obama in 2012. I don’t patronize them anymore.

  126. 126.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 22, 2016 at 10:26 am

    @PsiFighter37: From what I’ve read, I really like her.

  127. 127.

    Paul in KY

    April 22, 2016 at 10:27 am

    @rikyrah: They (Repub poohbahs) don’t really give a shit about his neofacism. It’s the positions he takes that are outside right wing Repub orthodoxy (comments on the NC bill being an example) & that he doesn’t use any of their consultants, think tank drones, etc. that has them trying to shiv him.

  128. 128.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    April 22, 2016 at 10:32 am

    @geg6:

    I don’t know why since I would never consider myself naive, but the racism and sexism around the Sanders campaign has surprised me, culminating in Bernie or Bust, of course. I really never want to hear the word “progressive” again, because it triggers a pale white whining sound in my ears. I also came across this thoughtful analysis by Sherrod Brown’s wife Connie Schultz, and realized that the obstacle to real progress is, was, and always will be, white privilege of the male variety.

  129. 129.

    Poopyman

    April 22, 2016 at 10:32 am

    @Baud: Here’s the FEC page on Sander’s Senate Reelection filing.

    Not that anyone’s still on this post.

  130. 130.

    Kay

    April 22, 2016 at 10:34 am

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:

    The bottom line is that lots of companies use temp agencies for staffing, and with a wink-wink nudge-nudge demand only “country boys” or “hockey players” or Hispanics (who they assume they can browbeat with threats to call ICE) to fill positions. They seem to think that they can bypass fair hiring rules and laws by not writing things down.

    There’s some market pressure here now so they can’t get away with as much as they used to- they’re taking them temp to perm more quickly because they know employees have some options. Of course, the next downturn they’ll go right back to treating them like garbage. There seems to be a basic misunderstanding of what working class people need to survive. They need LESS risk, not more. Risk is a luxury they don’t have. There’s a real disconnect, IMO, between policymakers and “normal people” the 70% who are economically insecure. They’re not risk averse because they’re stodgy traditionalists who can’t wrap their heads around “innovation”. They’re risk averse because they have no cushion. If they lose they drop off a cliff.

  131. 131.

    burnspbesq

    April 22, 2016 at 10:41 am

    @Hal:

    after this election, who’s next?

    You may or may not like this answer.

    Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, and if we wins the primary on Tuesday (and I’ve seen polling showing him with a double-digit lead all of a sudden), Chris Van Hollen.

  132. 132.

    Princess

    April 22, 2016 at 10:44 am

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Here is the form I saw. It seems pretty clearly to be a filing for an independent senate run in 2018 for Bernie, filed last October. Perhaps it was tampered with, I don’t know. The dailykos article refers to some other online page that I have not explored.

    http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/344/201510160200258344/201510160200258344.pdf

  133. 133.

    D58826

    April 22, 2016 at 10:49 am

    @geg6: But she does all of that in a very loud voice. Surely that counts for something!!!!! (snark alert)

  134. 134.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    April 22, 2016 at 10:49 am

    @Poopyman: That just looks like a boilerplate filing for campaign fundraising. If you look at the individual donations, the oldest one there is from late 2014. I don’t think that it means anything as far as getting on the ballot in 2018.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  135. 135.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    April 22, 2016 at 10:53 am

    @Princess: See above. It looks like a fundraising filing for re-election. I don’t think it means much as far as getting on the ballot in 2018. I could be wrong. ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  136. 136.

    FlipYrWhig

    April 22, 2016 at 10:56 am

    @D58826:

    And when you succeed at these lower levels in politics, then you get to be the elites.

    But if your whole shtick is that the elites suck, getting to be the elites is a problem too. Being the elites means having responsibility. Being the elites means trying to translate ideals into actions. Being the elites means taking half-loaves and squirming when you cast your vote for something that isn’t quite what you wanted. To his credit, when he’s not running for president, Bernie Sanders basically knows this. I’m not sure Bernie Sanders’s followers really get it, though. They want to make the political system bend to their will by the sheer gravity of their virtue, which they think no one has ever tried before.

  137. 137.

    magurakurin

    April 22, 2016 at 11:02 am

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:

    Weaver said this the other day

    Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver announced that not only will Bernie Sanders stay in the Democratic Party for life, but he will also support Hillary Clinton if she is the Democratic nominee.

    Mark Halperin asked Weaver, “If Sen. Sanders is not the nominee, will he stay in the Democratic Party forever now?”

    Weaver answered, “Well, he is a Democrat. He’s said he’s a Democrat, and he’s going to be supporting the Democratic nominee, whoever that is.”

    Halperin followed up, “But he’s a member of the Democratic Party now for life?”

    Weaver said, “Yes, he is. Yes, he is.”

    Bernie Sanders is going to keep campaigning for a Democratic nomination that he is still trying to win, but the long-term ramifications of the announcement by Jeff Weaver are huge. By keeping his Democratic affiliation, Sen. Sanders may see an even bigger promotion in the Senate if he fails to win the Democratic nomination. Sanders had been caucusing with the Democrats, but there are benefits to being a member of the party.

    The second big part of the interview was Weaver’s statement that Sanders plans to support the Democratic nominee. That means that if Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee, Bernie Sanders will be supporting her in the fall. Sanders was widely expected to support Clinton because his campaign has never given any indication that he wouldn’t support her if she won the nomination.

    So, that is fairly hopeful that things might come around in the end.
    link

  138. 138.

    gwangung

    April 22, 2016 at 11:05 am

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne:

    I also came across this thoughtful analysis by Sherrod Brown’s wife Connie Schultz, and realized that the obstacle to real progress is, was, and always will be, white privilege of the male variety.

    I remember Propane Jane mentioning this a few months back, going more in depth.

    And I do recall some dismissing her as being…”shrill.”

  139. 139.

    Technocrat

    April 22, 2016 at 11:06 am

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:

    But too many people think that destroying unions or taxi companies has no price – and it’s cheaper! – except when they get hit with “surge pricing” or their kid can’t find a full-time job

    I think you could make an argument that taxi companies, in their current incarnation, are as or more exploitative than Uber.

    I don’t know about other cities, but being a taxi driver in Pittsburgh is a crappy job. Cab drivers aren’t employees, they lease the cab for 12-24 hours. 5 years ago it was 150 bucks to lease a cab for 12 hours, and 250+ to keep it for 24 hours. You’re also responsible for your own gas.

    The risk is all on the cab driver, which is why cab service is so shitty. Cab drivers need long reliable trips to make money, and typically that means Airport to Town. Of course once you get a bunch of cabs waiting at the airport, there are too many for the available passengers, and none in town. Cabbies compete for insufficient rides, and potential riders wait hours for cabs. The cab system is broken and has always been broken, which is part of the reason why Uber and Lyft have taken off.

    For all the bad things Uber as a company does, their driver model imposes much less risk on drivers.

  140. 140.

    Princess

    April 22, 2016 at 11:07 am

    That’s good news. Honestly, I have no doubt he’ll endorse Hillary in the end. Unlike his surrogates, he did NOT support Nader in 2000. The question is, what else he does. Will he wander off muttering to the wilds of VT? Or will he keep his supporters together as a group and use his clout to push for his agenda? I hope the latter, but he doesn’t have much experience working with a group.

  141. 141.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    April 22, 2016 at 11:30 am

    @gwangung:

    I would like to have a real honest discussion of intersectionality on this blog about the roles race and gender play in income inequality. Propane Jane’s insistence, and persuasively to my way of thinking, is that racism is at the root of income inequality. Income inequality did not create racism or sexism, and ameliorating it can’t fix it. I just simply don’t buy what Sanders is selling because to him those issues are distractions, as an old white guy would think, and why his message hasn’t been accepted by people of color. His young white male supporters eat all his shit up with a spoon and swarm to his defense like a hive of angry bees. That’s a tell.

  142. 142.

    Miss Bianca

    April 22, 2016 at 11:39 am

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: I did, fwiw, see a lot of young people of color showing up to be Bernie supporters at the state delegation – a lot more than I was expecting (not that there weren’t plenty for Hillary – and a lot of openly gay young women wanting to be national delegates for HRC) . Not sure how that fits into the picture – anecdata, perhaps. But older folks, while very quiet as the Bernie-maniacs were yelling and screaming, were pretty much all in the HRC camp.

  143. 143.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    April 22, 2016 at 11:57 am

    @Miss Bianca:

    Sanders has done a remarkable job in driving wedges through the Obama coalition, separating young from old, north v. south, males from females, white v. non-white. I know there are exceptions to the rule, but there is no good ultimately that can come from that if the root cause of the disaffection that fuels Sanders’ base is treated as a symptom and not a cause.

  144. 144.

    TriassicSands

    April 22, 2016 at 12:02 pm

    Republicans should welcome the addition of Tubman’s likeness to the $20 bill?

    She was a Republican. Check.
    She was a devout Christian. Check, but with a caution — people who actually practice Christian values are not welcome in the GOP, only those who claim to be Christian — the louder the better. I doubt Tubman shouted about her Christianity, but maybe…
    She carried a gun. Check.
    She was a woman. Uh oh. Trouble. And she’s replacing a white slave-owning male. Double trouble.
    She was not white. Screeeeeeeeeech! Never mind. It’s time for a major protest concerning her selection.

  145. 145.

    Miss Bianca

    April 22, 2016 at 12:04 pm

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: Just noting my observation. Again, fwiw. I think you and I are pretty much on the same page about Senator Sanders.. I only hope that a President Clinton will prove that incremental progress, while not as sexy-talky as “revo9lution!”, is a worthy and inspiring path forward.

  146. 146.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    April 22, 2016 at 12:09 pm

    @Technocrat:

    I think you could make an argument that taxi companies, in their current incarnation, are as or more exploitative than Uber.

    I’m not silly enough to argue that taxi companies don’t have issues. You make good points.

    But I don’t think that Uber is the solution to some of the problems you outline, and Uber has it’s own issues on top of those. For example, taxi commissions are supposed to oversee the companies to make sure that they don’t do things like refuse to come to certain neighborhoods or refuse to pick up certain types of people on the street. Uber fights such rules. I’m very skeptical that the solution to complex public-service problems (poor taxi service, poorly performing public schools, problems with city water and sewer systems, etc.) is to let some upstart come in and essentially bypass many important rules. Innovation is well and good, but the rules were put in place for a reason. We throw out those rules at our peril.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  147. 147.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    April 22, 2016 at 12:11 pm

    @Miss Bianca:

    The part that seems to be lost on Sanders “revolution” of young entitled white males, is that the true revolutionary act is to have the first black president succeeded by the first woman president – both liberal Democrats. You know, the only people who have actually succeeded in implementing policies that benefit everyone. I guess it takes the perspective of a woman or person of color (or both) that comes with age to appreciate the irony of watching yet another generation of young white males demanding that their privileges be prioritized and calling it a revolution.

  148. 148.

    Applejinx

    April 22, 2016 at 12:20 pm

    @magurakurin: Don’t worry, it’s just politics. It’s establishing a progressive power block that can ally with Clinton and deliver an overwhelming, narrative-changing, Democratic victory.

    To my mind, the only reason to get upset about establishing a permanent openly-progressive faction that is literally half the party (note to fellow bernouts: NOT ‘the party’, the other half is legitimately Clinton to the bone) is if you expect to sell ’em out and ignore their issues.

    Nobody is suggesting that, least of all Hillary. We might not be able to get her to become a Gandhi peacenik turn the other cheek-er, but on so many issues there is no difference.

    Therefore there is no problem with Bernie staying in, amassing the progressive half’s delegates, and accumulating the progressive half’s money which he will throw behind the mathematically certain Dem nominee in ways that support the progressive half’s agenda.

    This is nothing but politics and doesn’t have to threaten the election of Hillary at all. She of all people would understand this, she keeps track of stuff too and didn’t just ‘turn all her people and money over to Obama’ in 2008. She kept detailed track of who supported her and how things were handled, and as someone who’s giving money and support to the progressive side and will continue to do so IN the expectation that it will end up supporting the whole party in the general election, I expect him to stay in, and to handle himself as a representative of a major, major Democratic Party faction.

    Hell, if this alliance works out well enough maybe he’ll end up running as a Dem for the Senate.

  149. 149.

    Ruckus

    April 22, 2016 at 12:22 pm

    @Miss Bianca:
    A possibility is that some people may be thinking that any progress is good, that incremental change takes too long, and a revolution is past it’s time. And that any revolution that helps in some way may lead to progress on other fronts.
    Another possibility, I wonder if, while not anywhere near what it is necessary that at least some (small) percentage of blacks are having a slightly more “normal” (whatever the hell that is) life these days. Not everyone lives in the ghetto. And yes I see blacks well over represented in the homeless people I see everyday in my walks about town.
    That said, do not assume that I meant that racism is dead or that we don’t have a very, very long way to go to have anything like equality in this country, I’m just saying, we have made some progress. Along with those homeless I see people of color living in nice places and driving far, far newer, nicer cars than I do, and that has changed in my life, in this town. It is possible that some blacks see at least a part of their lives as being financially restricted, rather than those restrictions being all about race. And that does not in any way excuse the racist way this country still is, we still have a very long way to go to be close to good.

    This is of course all conjecture on my part but they are possible explanations.

  150. 150.

    D58826

    April 22, 2016 at 12:31 pm

    I’ve said this before but has any one given a real close look at what would happen if Bernie broke up the big banks. Forgot the law suits that would probably outlast a two term Potus Bernie, just the practical implications. Which banks? The top 5 or 10? Do you do them all at once or one at a time and how do you chose the sequence? The impact on all of the customers and counter parties of the selected banks? The turmoil and uncertainty that would rock the financial services industry which makes up about 1/3rd of the GDP?

    And in his spare time he would do single payer and re-organize the health care sector which makes up 17% of the GDP.

    That would be revolutionary

  151. 151.

    Applejinx

    April 22, 2016 at 12:35 pm

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: Really? That is awesome. More like that plz.

  152. 152.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    April 22, 2016 at 12:38 pm

    @Ruckus:

    One of the things that gnaws at me about the “fix economic inequality first” argument is that it either overtly states or implies that white people who are not under so much financial stress will be more willing to accept racial and gender equality in all other aspects of our civil society – as if there has to be some level of white buy-in to make white anxiety over loss of status in order to address all the other ways that women and PoC lose out. Who and what will let us know when we’re there? How on earth is it OK to ask the marginalized to just hang on until white people cure themselves of racism? It’s absurd, and infuriating, and just plain old privileged bullshit.

  153. 153.

    Applejinx

    April 22, 2016 at 12:45 pm

    @Bobby Thomson:

    no, lots of people literally are saying that Bernie Sanders – a 74-year-old man who may not even see 2020 – is the future of the Democratic Party.

    Then they are dumb. It’s about the same issues he’s been hammering on this entire time, and it’s pretty much literally half the Democrats.

    So he wouldn’t implement this platform the best? So what? Right now it looks like he’s not going to be the one doing the implementing. Meanwhile, Joe Biden has come out strongly in favor of the same progressive broad strokes, and he too isn’t full of implementation details.

    Elections come down to the money. Bernie is very slightly in the lead as far as total money raised, but that’s not going to be enough against Clinton’s connectedness and alliances within the Democratic party. Which is fair. So is Bernie’s giant small-donor lead in fundraising, which is all on the strength of the platform. If you make an alliance and run Clinton with essentially Bernie’s platform, and sum up both halves of the Democratic Party, we obliterate Trump.

    What’s not to like about that?

  154. 154.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    April 22, 2016 at 12:54 pm

    @D58826:

    You do realize that those are the questions that he couldn’t begin to answer in that awful NYDN interview, and if he were to be the nominee, the only questions that he would be asked over and over – “so, what’s the plan, Bernie?”. Notice that those are the low hanging fruit questions that Clinton hasn’t pushed him on either, or his tax plan – the one that assumes a 5% multi-year growth rate in the economy which is fairy dust and beyond – as a way to raise all the money for his pie in the sky proposals. Nothing of his adds up and he knows it, and he’s gotten a total pass on it, except from the NYDN, which thankfully seems to have sunk him. You don’t think Trump would hammer him mercilessly about his plan to take all of your money to give our country away to “those people” ? He’d lose 48 states and maybe 49.

  155. 155.

    D58826

    April 22, 2016 at 12:57 pm

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: yep

  156. 156.

    Elie

    April 22, 2016 at 1:24 pm

    @rikyrah:

    Good morning! (I love how you do that)

  157. 157.

    Elie

    April 22, 2016 at 1:34 pm

    @Hal:

    The Democratic party really needs to start investing more in young up and comers because after this election, who’s next?

    This This This

  158. 158.

    Schlemazel Khan

    April 22, 2016 at 1:42 pm

    @Technocrat:
    Sorry I miss attributed. Thanks, Your reward is that I will let you torch the Texas town of your choice when my pacification drive starts!

  159. 159.

    Elie

    April 22, 2016 at 1:52 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    But its got to be more than just “telling it like it is” and venting rage/anger. Doing something about it is where things get tricky and very important. Upending the whole applecart and rebuilding from scratch would only happen if we are hit by a meteor and virtually destroyed. Short of that we are talking some kind of redirection and re-shaping of our economy and our values away from individualism and materialism. Do you see that happening? Nope, not in any all at once kind of way except for the massive extinction scenario. It is WE who have to change and then we can have different leaders. Not the other way around. All of the major social changes advocated by our leaders such as black civil rights, gay rights, any kind of women’s rights, freedom from child labor, happened in our hearts first and then our leaders reflect what is in us. So the question becomes, what do WE do to become the citizens that will reflect the values we say that we want? How do we bring along our humanity and help each other through rough times? How do we lower the suicide rate for young girls 11 – 14 that has gone up three times what it was? Or suicide in general, increasing across all age groups, incomes and races? What is going on with US??

    Fundamentally, I believe our rampant individualism has to be tempered and that may be the source of our rage and deep depression as well as our selfishness and materialism. I think we need more WE in everything…..

  160. 160.

    Sad_Dem

    April 22, 2016 at 1:53 pm

    @magurakurin: That is indeed sad. Almost every word we have from Shakespeare is in iambic pentameter, not prose.

  161. 161.

    Sad_Dem

    April 22, 2016 at 1:56 pm

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:

    Uber and the like

    Uber just won big in court–in return for a settlement–some coin tossed at drivers in California (and Massachusetts, iirc), Uber gets to continue to deny drivers employee status and the legal rights that status brings.

  162. 162.

    Elie

    April 22, 2016 at 2:00 pm

    So many myths, so little time: That Bernie raised all this money. Well he has outspent Hilllary almost everywhere including New York in a piece I read yesterday on Kos. Honestly, he can talk a mean game about money, but the guy believes in spending.

    And all this “small donor” hoo ha (not from the Kos info) makes it sound like these are all working class Americans when a large proportion are foreign donations that he has done very little accounting for. What “foreigners” would be interested in supporting Bernie? Beats me but my cynicism speculates that foreign unspecified donations would be a great way to influence the vote of a portion of the electorate and would launder away the identify of those interests. There are plenty of conservatives interested in disrupting the Democrats and what a slick way to do it and leave no fingerprints!

  163. 163.

    Elie

    April 22, 2016 at 2:03 pm

    @D58826:

    It might just be simpler to have a meteor hit us. That is about the only way it happens in a short time frame rather than “bending” that old arc of justice stuff that Obama always talks about.

  164. 164.

    Ruckus

    April 22, 2016 at 2:05 pm

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne:
    This!!!

  165. 165.

    Elie

    April 22, 2016 at 2:09 pm

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne:

    This is Bernie’s legacy — and someone needs to throw THAT in his face if he keeps up his dick behavior. He truly has separated us and he needs to go home and think about it. Think about his legacy at 74 — to run a national campaign that in every way refutes liberal values of tolerance and solidarity.

  166. 166.

    Ruckus

    April 22, 2016 at 3:07 pm

    @Elie:

    to run a national campaign that in every way refutes liberal values of tolerance and solidarity.

    Let’s be honest here Sanders thinks his way builds those values. He’s wrong but he’s not trying to be in opposition to those ideals. That’s why he was accepted by most at first listen, his ideas are important. His methods and his one track solution are the issues.

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