Finally got an opportunity to watch Amy Klobuchar’s campaign launch speech yesterday. I thought it was a pretty good speech overall, and if she wanted to convey grit and toughness by talking for 25 minutes in a howling blizzard, mission accomplished. I was shivering all the way down here in Florida:
One thing that struck me about the speech was Klobuchar’s focus on Big Tech. The Post noticed that too:
Klobuchar’s decision to make privacy and Internet connectivity a central focus of her campaign could elevate tech policy issues during the Democratic primary. By touting these issues during her first major speech as a 2020 contender, Klobuchar is making a big bet that privacy and other digital concerns are increasingly important to American voters.
It’s especially striking since tech policy is not generally an issue that drives voters’ feet to the polls. In a survey about voter priorities ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, Gallup listed health care, the economy and immigration as the top concerns among voters. Technology wasn’t even included in the 12 issues on the list. Yet if Klobuchar shows Democratic voters — especially key demographics like millennials — are paying attention, other politicians may start to prioritize issues like privacy and net neutrality in campaigns.
I also saw a GMA clip from yesterday of Klobuchar talking to George Stephanopoulos, and she elaborated a bit on her approach to Big Tech when asked what she specifically brings to the 2020 race:
“I don’t think anyone is talking enough about the challenges of our day, like digital disruption and the changes it’s making to the workforce and the need for privacy laws. No one’s willing to take on the tech companies, and I am.”
Klobuchar was on Maddow last night, and she talked about the Russians using technology to fuck with our elections in refreshingly clear terms. She, Mark Warner and John McCain sponsored the sorely needed Honest Ads Act to bring online political advertising regulation in line with print, TV and radio ads.
Maddow asked about the reports from disgruntled employees. I thought Klobuchar handled that pretty well. She owned up that she could be “too tough” and push people “too hard” sometimes but also pointed out that there are people who’ve been with her for many years, including those who went on to work for President Obama and then returned to staff her office after his terms were up.
Maddow also asked about how Klobuchar is handling what Maddow characterized as the unusual circumstance of a run of negative press, and Klobuchar pointed out that she’d dealt with that before as a DA and senator and said she’s plenty tough enough to weather a presidential run. From what I’ve seen so far, I believe her.
I haven’t ruled out supporting any declared candidates for the Democratic nomination — except Gabbard, who is a kook and thankfully going nowhere. I don’t know who’s gonna catch fire in the primary or who has what it takes to win the general.
But I’m glad Elizabeth Warren is in the race elevating economic issues, and I’m happy Klobuchar is bringing workforce dislocation, online manipulation, data and privacy issues to the fore. I think people care about the issue more than the polling suggests. If they don’t, they damn well should.
Open thread!
Emma
I’m in the same place. I will listen to anyone at this point. BUT, as I’ve said before, I am paying special attention to the choices AA women make. If they coalesce around a candidate, I’m there.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I think there is a place in the primary for AK’s brand of moderation, I worry about slogans turning into litmus tests, but I feel like Klobuchar needs something bigger that can get people excited. I worry a lot about the problems presented by Big Tech, but I don’t know if it hits people in the guts the way (I think) a candidate needs to do in this round. I think a good “fiscally responsible” public option version of M4A would do it, but nobody’s offering millions for my political advice (even though I’m at least as good Steve Schmidt).
I think the Supreme Court (and larger judiciary) alone should be enough to get people crawling across broken glass, but I’ve been thinking that for almost twenty years, and it doesn’t seem to catch fire, even post-Kavanagh, post-Hobby Lobby, post- Citizens United. I don’t get it.
randy khan
I feel like privacy is an underrated issue (as is the related set of concerns around the impact of hacking private information that we give companies when we buy things from them). It used to be something only a small number of tech people cared about, but a lot more people are focused on it now.
Any Dem is going to be better on this than any Republican, but there definitely will be differences in emphasis and approach. And with really only one of the big tech companies actively lobbying to protect privacy,* it’s going to be interesting to see how they react.
*Apple, of course, because its business model is built around maintaining customer privacy. Some of its interest in the issue is because it would benefit competitively from stronger privacy regimes, but it also seems to be a deeply-held belief within the company, which is interesting and unusual.
joel hanes
That’s not a howling blizzard.
That’s a nice, calm, vertical snowfall, a perfectly delightful kind of weather.
Very quiet, very peaceful.
Used to go out after dinner and shovel the driveway when that happened at night, just for the fun of being out in it.
And good skiers live for days like that, with self-renewing fresh snow.
Blizzards have wind, and bad visibility.
In a howling blizzard, the snow moves horizontally, and is augmented with loose snow picked up off the surface, and visibility becomes something under ten feet.
piratedan
to be honest, the bullshit going on with Facebook and all of the social media trolling that has been unleashed by foreign powers is going to resonate with more than a few folks. Even if its only another lever to be used against the GOP and their corrupt associations with the Russians, its going to ring true and hit home because for the simple fact that people were manipulated, social media was weaponized and those in the tech industry simply took the silver and didn’t even consider any other type of behavior.
Kay
Oh, everyone knows you folded, asshole. This whole song and dance about the 2nd shutdown is to allow him to pretend he didn’t.
Gin & Tonic
@joel hanes: Betty lives in Florida.Three flakes in succession are a blizzard for her.
Jeffro
I hope all of the Dem candidates keep bringing it daily: every issue they have a well-thought-out policy for, every failing of this gang of looters. Cover the whole country repeatedly. Cover social media in every way possible. Flood the zone. Make the GOP’s lack of any solutions whatsoever the overarching story for 2020. Oh yeah and also take some shots at that loser squatting in the WH once in a while, too. ;)
Kay
I love that Klobuchar is secretly “unlikable” – very clever there, Amy.
We have a lot of good candidates and it will be interesting.
cope
Because I am cranky and retired and have a lot of time on my hands, one of my latest topics of study has been the threats of social media and, by extension, digital technology in general. There is an informative article in the January “Harper’s Magazine” called “Machine Politics” by Fred Turner that has really given me pause as we olds say. There are numerous other articles and books on the subjects and Klobuchar is really on to something here.
I am hunkering down for the next election cycle in preparation of an endless flow of distracting garbage to be thrown out about the Democratic candidates. I will try to keep my wits about me by concentrating on substantive issues like this one. I’m glad to see the topic brought up.
Jeffro
@Kay: He’s adding things like what? Do we have to make up brand-new ambassadorships that he can sell to his Mar-a-Lago club members?
Yarrow
I’m glad she’s elevating this subject. Related:
Horseshoe theory, deza, active measures, compromised politicians, media figures, etc. They’re good at it.
different-church-lady
Big tech needs to be hit with a big stick, no doubt. But I’ve a feeling taking away the intellectual meth supply from social media addicts or fettering their ability to order groceries by talking into a hockey puck is gonna go down about the same as taking away their 48 ounce Big Gulps and incandescent light bulb. Proles gonna prole.
Betty Cracker
@Jeffro: If he follows his poison-pill pattern from last year, he’ll try to restrict LEGAL immigration to blond underwear models from the Nordic countries. But Kay is right; he lost, and this noise is just him pretending he didn’t.
zhena gogolia
@joel hanes:
Yes, I thought it was pretty funny to call that a blizzard.
Today we’re having snow followed by ice. I wish it were the weather in the video.
japa21
A DA!!! OMG she’s anti progressive ideals. She’s toast.
As to the high tech issues, I think that can be a winner and will set her apart from the other candidates. It may not be on people’s minds the way other things are, but if she pushes it, it can be.
zhena gogolia
@joel hanes: @zhena gogolia:
That being said, if I were her I’d be wearing a hat or a Russian kerchief.
Fair Economist
She picked a good issue to stand out on. It really is a big problem and being ignored, and she can go left of the other candidates to make up for generally being on the right.
Anyone want to put on a tinfoil hat and say Big Tech was being the Wurlitzer going off on her alleged staff issues? Not saying it’s not an issue, but somebody has been pushing it ridiculously hard the last couple of days.
Hildebrand
I think Klobuchar will also run on being an adult and actually being able to get things accomplished. That may not seem all that eye-catching, but in a time of incompetence and general knavery, being able to govern effectively will be a huge draw.
different-church-lady
@Yarrow:
Stalin gave them an 80 year head start.
eclare
@Emma: Same here, AA women are great judges of character.
Kay
@Jeffro:
Blah, blah, blah. That’s all he is.
He has a worse deal now than when he started negotiating. He literally would have done better if he didn’t show up at all.
schrodingers_cat
@joel hanes: I was going to point that out. Thanks.
Cheryl Rofer
I’m glad to see the variety in Democratic presidential candidates and the issues they are raising.
Yarrow
I’m glad to see the candidates staking out different issues as their priority issues, at least at this point. All these issues are important and when we have smart, talented people, who are getting attention because they’re running for president, talking about them that’s very good for all of us. They can highlight important issues and get them a lot more attention than they might have received otherwise.
citizen scientist
Maybe OT, but does anyone in western PA have any thoughts on the special election in state Senate district 37 coming up in April? Was thinking about donating to Pam Iovino’s campaign.
Betty Cracker
So, I had a technician here at my swampy backwoods abode to check on some intermittent connectivity issues. I confined the dogs to the front porch so they wouldn’t lick the poor guy to death. Anyhoo, he just left (turns out there was a loose connection outside), and now Badger is running around the house sniffing the ground like a blood hound! Not just where the technician was — everywhere! Silly puppy!
trollhattan
@joel hanes:
I really don’t think explaining varying types of snowstorms to a Floridian is a great use of time. It’s like a Floridian describing the twelve kinds of “hot” to somebody from Anchorage. :-P
We are entering an embarrassment of riches WRT the many women candidates and it’s damn refreshing. I believe 2020 will finally see election of our first woman president and they will have Hillary to thank for doing the heavy lifting–two runs, first time winning the silver medal then winning the primary and eventually having the election basically stolen away. The woman kicked down so many barriers I can’t count them all and all the while, endured the most heinous personal and political attacks I’ve ever witnessed.
Now, to see how this all plays out while Donny continues his campaign of ruining the country. Typical–leaving a giant mess for the woman to clean up.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: I’m detecting a pattern there — just like he’d be richer if he’d left his inheritance in an index fund. Someone should do a “It’s a Wonderful Life” remake featuring Trump. Maybe call it “It’s a Terrible Life.” Show how much better the world would be if Trump never existed.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: Or a silk scarf.
@different-church-lady: Indeed! Tinker Tailor outlined a similar plot by the Russkies to tame the American President. Putin is following an old blueprint.
Elizabelle
@cope: Link to your suggested article. Fred Turner, Harper’s Magazine: Machine Politics.
NOTE: paywall. Looks like you get one free (monthly?) article with Harper’s. This one looks clickworthy.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Yarrow:
Yeah, and you don’t have a conscience at all, Suckmeoff. You honestly think Russia is going to turn into some great power at the end of all this? That there won’t be blowback or long-term consequences? You’re a fool. I’m not even alluding to anything the US gov might do in retaliation in the future; I’m talking about the consequences of climate change. 40% of all insect species are dying right now. In the next 100 years, there may not be insects anymore. In that scenario, leaving aside warming temps and extreme weather, ecosystem collapse could result. It could begin happening sooner, within the next few decades. Will it all be worth it then, you fucking piece of shit?
schrodingers_cat
@trollhattan: Betty of the Crackers used to live in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts, so she knows.
artem1s
If she can translate it to a return to protecting all our public trusts, then even better. This is a topic that resonates with younger voters, so I get why she is putting it front and center. But keeping our energy infrastructure, public lands, and other utilities under public watch and control will have just as much of an impact on their lives as net neutrality and internet access. Raygun and W removed most of the protection of our utilities and it had huge ramifications on everything from who we decide to wage war with in the middle east, whether or not we invest in mass transit, how we react to climate change, and how we build houses and zone communities. Corporate take over of any infrastructure or public trust (privatizing) should be a major concern to voters. I hope this doesn’t just become a dog whistle to psuedo libertarians, Randoids, Kucinichheads, and Bernie Bros who are only interested in demolishing the Fed and setting up cryptocurrencies on the dark web.
germy
Jonathan for president.
This Is Jonathan, The 187-Year-Old Tortoise Photographed In 1886 And Today
http://justsomething.co/this-is-jonathan-the-187-year-old-tortoise-photographed-in-1886-and-today/
Kay
That’s the official midwestern white lady hairstyle, BTW. We all have it. It’s mandated. You can go 2 inches shorter or longer but don’t get crazy.
Women running is going to be a lot of fun. Thank GOD we have some other people to look at besides that big loudmouth.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
I’m not sure how he did it. The low quality hires had this whole public discussion about how they were “resetting” which is supposed to mean you start at a higher number than the number offered prior, which they did! I don’t know what happened after that, but I do know you’re not supposed to end lower than the number prior to “reset”.
It was just very bad. If he were any other President it would have been portrayed as this huge failure but ya know, the mark is lower for him.
DaF
This is what I like about a larger Democratic primary – good ideas will be incorporated into the party platform. (love him or hate him Bernie he did help move the platform to the left). Privacy is a huge deal and should be addressed. If Kloboucher makes any progress in the primary, this stands a good shot of getting a planck. Contrast with the GOP clown car of 2016 which became reductionist. There wasn’t one JEB!, Ted, or Kasich idea that … hmmm … maybe I should leave the sentence there. “There really wasn’t one JEB!, Ted, or Kasich idea” that we haven’t heard a million times before…
Point is, we are not like them. We sill build a platform from a sometimes contentious primary that will be stronger than if we had no competition at all.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: The bowl bob is not flattering. Break free, you have nothing to lose but a hideous hairstyle. BTW I think Kamala Devi (Goddess Kamala)’s hair is awesome.
germy
@artem1s:
Thread:
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@germy:
Woah. It’s crazy to think that that tortoise has lived through so much of recent human history.
Kent
I think privacy is going to be a tough issue because it is so ephemeral to most people’s lives compared to things like healthcare, the environment, cost of education, jobs and wages, etc. We are all vaguely bothered by the lack thereof, but aside from the activist types, most people don’t really spend much time really obsessing about internet privacy.
We have how many other Senators running or contemplating running now? Warren, Harris, Brown, Sanders, Gillibrand, and Booker? I’m not sure where Klobuchar is going to gain traction. I’m not seeing much in the way of a distinguished resume outside of the Senate of the same sort that both Harris and Warren have (and even Booker). What was she before entering the Senate? A corporate lawyer? I’m not even sure.
germy
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: And he doesn’t give a shit about any of it.
Kay
@schrodingers_cat:
Hers is good! She manages the swoop so it doesn’t fall in her eyes. Tricky! Especially out in the weather. Maybe it’s crazy glued.
I’m fine with her. My teasing is out of sympathy, not malice :)
Al Z.
@schrodingers_cat: You know if you do a google search on “bowl bob” you get a strange mix of Bob Evans breakfast bowls, haircuts, Bob Dylan and Bob Costas.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: I am not fond of it.@Al Z.: I just made it up, Amy K’s hair looks like a cross between a bob and a bowl cut.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Kay:
I’ve thought that the large numbers of people running/considering is a really good sign, if for no other reason than that they think Trump is very vulnerable and weak.
Ruckus
@Yarrow:
Also, having each major candidate go after a different segment of the issues does a couple of things. Separates them, shows they are going after the job, not each other. Opens the conversation much wider. Brings actual issues to the republicans. Sets the stage for a VP slot by showing that they aren’t cut throat but part of the solution.
It’s a far better strategy than just talking at each other.
cain
my employer is all about this – https://puri.sm/ – privacy and security is a big thing, all your phones are all listening devices even if htey don’t have microphones.
Yarrow
@germy: He has his own Wikipedia page. He’s on the St. Helena 5 pence coin.
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
Don’t think you need a movie for that. Just look around. Everything one needs to see is right in front of the world.
Kay
I love how they all sound like thugs now. “VERY interesting”
They’re terrified that people might find something real out about the President. The truth is people won’t be surprised at all, no matter what the deep dark secret is in those returns. Number one on my guess list is he wildly exaggerated how much money he made. It’ll be like “59,641.23” buried in 500 pages of bullshit.
joel hanes
@trollhattan:
If I were to write a front-page article about Florida that said “crocodile” when it meant alligator, I would hope someone would correct me.
Major Major Major Major
Privacy is important, no doubt, but most people only understand it in a vague way, and heavily discount the affect it has on them personally. Moreover, as we’ve seen since California passed the CCPA, when offered the opportunity to correct their consumer profile data vs. opt out of collection, the vast majority of users choose to correct the data. (Most users, of course, are simply unaware that this is an option.) Don’t ask me why.
I’m glad she’s highlighting it, but it remains to be seen whether it actually matters to most people, when it comes down to choosing who to vote for.
ETA: Good Pew overview on the complicated and conflicting opinions people have on the issue: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/27/americans-complicated-feelings-about-social-media-in-an-era-of-privacy-concerns/
Martin
Privacy/security is a good issue to run on – tricky though. Easy to get into trouble, but AK is smart, so I think she’ll do great. If I had to guess what the critical issue will be its climate change. It may not be the top of voters priorities, but it’s the thing that will get the young people to the polls. Yes, privacy is a bad problem – but it’s not going to kill us. Failing to deal with climate change will. That will be the one to watch, I think.
Yarrow
@Kent: Depends how it’s sold. If it’s about safety and security of our country it’ll be an easier sell for people. If it’s just on an individual level many people will think, “that won’t happen to me” and move on. It’s how it’s defined and discussed that will determine how important it’s made.
Also, as more info from the Mueller investigation comes out the calculus could change on that. Facebook has reason to be nervous.
trollhattan
@Al Z.:
What, no Bob Denver?
Kay
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
I think so too but you can’t say it because people are superstitious and it’s a “jinx” :)
I agree though. They think he’s vulnerable and maybe they’re right. They’re (mostly) currently serving pols so they have an idea of their own states, if not the whole country. It’s tough to imagine they’re all deluded and he’s secretly invulnerable and popular.
NotMax
@germy
Takes good care of himself, apparently. He doesn’t look a day over 160.
;)
Capri
I am preparing myself for the “likability, niceness” standard to be raised front and center with all the women running. It’s form of the “who would you want to have a beer with” crap. I will vote for any D and with few exceptions like them all. What I find most impressive about Klobuchar is that she appears to be an excellent politician. Something that’s pissed on in the primaries, but is actually the prerequisite for getting anything done. Case in point – as soon as a negative story comes out she gets in front of it by going on the most sympathetic media outlet she can find (Rachel has been a huge fan for years) and attacking it head on. It came off a lot like the question in job interviews when you are asked to identify a fault. She concedes that maybe she tries too hard and cares too much.
trollhattan
@joel hanes:
To be fair, Florida has both. To my knowledge there is no sportsball team called the Crocs, though.
jacy
Since this is an open thread, the ex has caved on custody! He’s being an utter asshole about it, but that was expected. The important thing is Nick gets to go to his fantastic high school without a court fight!
Martin
@jacy: Congrats. That must be a tremendous relief. Good job.
zhena gogolia
@jacy:
That’s great news.
schrodingers_cat
@germy: Looks better than senatortoise.
Major Major Major Major
@jacy: Awesome!! Glad to hear it!
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Major Major Major Major:
Isn’t the EU privacy law similar to the California law? I wonder if Europeans are any different.
zhena gogolia
Rosa De Lauro finally responded to my letter that consisted basically of “ITMFA,” and said she isn’t ready for it. Investigations are ongoing.
NotMax
@jacy
the ex has caved on custody!
Awesome. You’re the Nancy Pelosi of domestic relations.
Major Major Major Major
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Do you remember all those GDPR emails you got letting you know that privacy policies have changed? And surely you’ve noticed that suddenly damn near every website makes you click a button to opt-in to accept cookies?
Has that stopped you from using any websites?
tarragon
@jacy: Awesome!
CarolDuhart2
@jacy: Congrats, jacy!
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@jacy:
Good news for Nick!
Barbara
@jacy: In this case, churlish behavior is probably a small price to pay for you and your son getting what you both want. Great news!
The Moar You Know
Interesting. A weak start, but a start, towards working on my number one issue that so far no other candidate has even addressed.
Will be keeping an eye on her.
bjacques
I’m liking Amy’s promise to negotiate volume discounts on medicines. As in most countries, the government is the biggest buyer of drugs, and I remember that Big Pharma held the ACA hostage over volume discounts. That couldn’t last forever, especially with PharmaBro Martin Shkreli being the public face of jacked up prices on Epi-Pens, insulin and AIDS drugs. That sleazy deal can’t hold forever, and Trump’s damage to the ACA will put extra focus on it.
I hope the other serious candidates pick up that idea too.
And I’d like Amy’s focus on tech industry abuses extend to precarious jobs where your boss is an algorithm, because that hits a lot of millennials too, and the odd retiree unfortunate enough to be slaving away in an Amazon warehouse.
germy
@NotMax:
According to his wikipedia page, he’s got two girlfriends.
Major Major Major Major
@bjacques: There is a small bit of truth to the argument that American consumers wildly overpaying for drugs funds necessary pharmaceutical research. The solution, of course, is for the government to do the research.
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
Perhaps I lead a sheltered existence but dunno about that last. Haven’t yet encountered anyplace which does that aside from sites which did so prior to the EU passage.
Routinely delete ALL cookies, including LSO cookies, on a regular, frequent basis.
Major Major Major Major
@NotMax: It
probablyalmost certainly requires javascript for you to see the popup.jacy
@NotMax:
I need to borrow the Nancy Smash gavel for about 15 minutes……..
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Major Major Major Major:
No? I just thought that the EU law gave you more control over your privacy
Major Major Major Major
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: @NotMax: Here is a gallery of example cookie notifications. https://www.wpromote.com/blog/gdpr-cookie-consent-examples-user-consent
ETA: It gives you control over your privacy insofar as you can more easily choose not to receive marketing emails, or choose not to click the “accept & continue” cookie notification, and instead just not use the website. The CCPA (California law) gives you much more granular control. (There’s obviously more to GDPR but that’s what most users have actually observed.)
chopper
@Kay:
it’s got enough for a ‘barrier’ that if trump says no and shuts it down he looks like a child (mah nishtanah). it’s got so little for said barrier that it’s really hard to sell it as a win, which is all trump really cares about.
if he can’t effectively spin it as him winning and the dems losing, he’s walking away. and that depends on what the shits on F&F and schmucks on the ingraham/limbaugh axis have to say, and so far they aint happy.
looks like it’s gonna shut down, or he’s going to pull the ’emergency’ lever.
Martin
@Capri:
I think because so many women are running, they’ll knock that shit down fast.
Here’s the gauntlet that I think will be thrown down by one of the candidates – per the Paris Accord, we need to cut emissions 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. The next president could be in office until early 2029. If this is going to be done, it need to be done under the next president. California has internally set that target for the state. We hit the 2020 target of dropping below the 1990 levels 4 years early. Hitting the 2030 target is going to be really difficult, but we may make it. So which candidate is going to commit to this mission in the way that Trump committed to the wall?
NotMax
@germy
I’m just a gigolo and ev’rywhere I go
People know the bar I’m playing
Pay for every dance selling each romance
:)
TriassicSands
Betty —
She might not have appeared to be so tough if she’d had gators snapping at her ankles!
trollhattan
@jacy:
Did not realize there was a checkout program. Must contact local central library.
And congrats on putting a battle behind you.
Kent
@Yarrow:
I don’t think privacy is a bad issue. I think it is just kind of “meh” for most people and I’m not sure it is really going to help AK stand out. It’s not like Warren or Harris are going to be anti-privacy. All of us have a hierarcy of issues that we care about. Even though we may all mostly agree on what the issues are, we have our own internal hierarchy of importance or weight. I think for most people, privacy isn’t going to get into the top 5. For example, for me:
1 Climate and the environment
2. Education (I’m a public school teacher)
3. Justice (which reaches a lot of directions from environmental justice to education and BLM)
4. Health care.
after that there are a whole lot of other issues that I support but don’t really personally engage in (reproductive rights, death penalty, net neutrality, infrastructure, immigration, etc.) Internet privacy would be somewhere down there.
I just don’t see how one gains traction as the flagship candidate for internet privacy. Jay Insley, governor of WA is contemplating a mostly single issue campaign on climate change. That at least seems a little more existential and important, and I suspect he will have an equally hard time gaining traction.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Major Major Major Major:
So wait. Can I still use a website, not click on the Accept and Continue, and not get cookies?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
OT, in other news…
I hope that Mayhew character comes back around to weigh in on this, or if anyone who’s seen a good write up of the bill, but I think this is great news and if I were an unexciting centrist running as an unexciting centrist I would make this bill part of my stump speech (and yes I am both over fifty, and a cowardly neo-liberal incrementalist, so I think this is the way to move toward UHC)
Also, I don’t know much about Brian Higgins and I’m glad he’s on the side of the angels, but I can’t stop chuckling at these backbenchers who think they scored by demanding Nancy Pelosi keep pushing for things she’s been pushing for since pretty much forever
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Martin:
It’s going to be especially difficult given the increasing popularity of SUVs and trucks. They’re even beginning to catch on in the rest of the world.
cain
Is it just me or every time I see Kobuchar, I keep thinking Frau Bluchar?? :-)
WaterGirl
@jacy: Oh, jacy! So happy for you. Absolutely outstanding news! What a relief that must be.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@cain: god dammit, I wish Cole would put in a sound effects button. In the meantime….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs5j8uUR2nc
I would totally vote for Frau Blucher, she’d get shit done
Major Major Major Major
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: depends on the website. Just like how some really do make you turn off your adblocker instead of just whining about it.
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
As you know, 99% of my web surfing is done with javascript turned off.
Gmail has always required cookies, understandably so, but thankfully has yet to require javascript. As a matter of course I delete the Google cookies immediately after exiting my e-mail account(s) there.
zhena gogolia
@cain:
I was trying to figure out what her name means, it’s definitely Slavic and my only association was klobuk is like a monk’s cowl or something, and the -ar suffix means somebody engaged in that occupation — just looked it up, and it’s Serbian/Slovenian/Croatian for a hatmaker — in those languages klobuk is a hat.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Major Major Major Major:
Thanks! BTW, do you have a Tumblr?
trollhattan
@cain:
Have she and Joni Ernst ever been photographed side by side?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@NotMax:
Wouldn’t want anyone to discover you’re secretly a shipper
; )
@Kay:
Yup.
Major Major Major Major
@NotMax:
Which is why I left a comment custom-tailored to you!
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Not the sort of Tumblr I imagine you would enjoy, no.
NotMax
For me there’s always been something insincere and contrived at the core of Klobuchar. Never been able to get it in sharp focus, it’s more like glimpsing a distant streetlight in the fog. Yet it’s a constant and persistent impression.
PST
@Kent:
She was the DA in her state’s largest county. I think it’s helpful. It means she was managing an organization, not just legislating. It also helps insulate against the kind of attacks on “toughness” that liberal women, alas, are especially likely to be hit with — perhaps not from sophisticated talking heads on the TV but from folks talking politics among themselves.
NotMax
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Nearly as questionable a practice as being a Zima drinker.
;)
StringOnAStick
@bjacques: The medicines thing is huge; drug prices have taken off again after staying relatively stable, apparently because tRump hammered on that in his campaign and then promptly dropped it, and the companies have realized he’s a senile paper tiger as long as you don’t pop your head up high enough so he sees you (on FOX mostly).
A lot of insurance plans have gone to having a Pharmacy Benefit Manager that is your mail order pharmacy, but the purpose is to cut costs. Why, they try so hard to cut costs that they twice lost all the information needed for me to get a knee goo injection even after telling the doctor’s goo injection coordinator each time that they had everything they needed, no problem, we’ll call soon. It only worked on the third try once I screamed at them and the case manager from the insurance company got involved in a 3 way call. I’m sure the first two misfires were just to keep the cost off last year’s P&L statement because that’s how we do health care in the US of A.
Gin & Tonic
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Make gas $8/gal, like it is in Scandinavia, and people will move to sensible cars right quick-like.
opiejeanne
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Why? So have a lot of us here.
You did say recent.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
anyone know why the Wilmerites are all worked up about Chelsea Clinton today?
they’re as looney about the Clintons as the MAGAts hooting “lock her up”
Kenneth Kohl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Higgins is “my” rep, NY-26. Right after election, he was waffling on support of Pelosi. I sent him email suggesting that he back her. He replied that he, in fact would support Pelosi for Speaker. Doubt that my email brought him around, but his reply and explanation were a nice touch. He’s very supportive of programs that would benefit, or at least not harm, western NY. Pretty good guy.
In contrast, directly to my East is NY-27, abode of Chris Collins (R-Asshole)
Mandalay
@Kent:
This. As an issue it is similar to Russian meddling: people don’t like it, and feel that they ought to be concerned, but as a winning issue it’s going nowhere. Certainly nowhere compared to issues that more directly affect voters such as health care, the price of gas, education for their kids and the state of their 401k.
Not only that, but it’s not going to make Klobuchar stand out from Warren, who already owns “the system is rigged!“.
NotMax
@Jim, Foolish Literalist
Because Caroline Kennedy is too old?
:)
trollhattan
El Chapo guilty on all ten counts.
Let the tunneling commence. Wait, do we know which slam he’s headed to?
trollhattan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Weird. Like they do. Considering Republicans were trying to gin Chelsea up as a future opponent named Clinton and therefore, ENEMY, one supposes True Wilmerites think similarly.
Weird.
Major Major Major Major
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Chelsea tweeted about the recent AIPAC flap, which reminded everybody she exists, so the usual suspects (right and left) were outraged.
Kent
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Chelsea Clinton is WAY too smart to take that kind of bait. If she ever gets into politics it will be because someone cleared out a safe seat for her. But honestly I doubt she would. Why would you in her position put yourself out there for that kind of punishment? She is wealthy and set for life and can spend the rest of her life moving in elite circles and doing whatever personal projects she wants.
goblue72
Digital privacy as an issue is going to resonate more with those who are not digital natives than those who are – Boomers and older Gen X. Issues that are going to resonate with Millennials (and eventually Zoomers as they get to voting age) are what we used to call lunch bucket issues – affordable healthcare, student loan debt, cost of housing, wages & job opportunity, etc. And cost of childcare as Millenials are starting to hit peak household formation age. The younger generation/s have been economically screwed…and they know it. For every Millennial in a Boomer’s head that is a stocking cap wearing white hipster working at a tech company, there are two non-hipsters, not entirely white service industry workers in dead end jobs.
PLUS, climate change, which is going to increasingly become a litmus test for Dem voters of that generation – which is biggest global policy issue of that generation faces as the one most likely to actually have a material impact on their lives over the next 40 years, as opposed to Russian scare-mongering nostalgia by the “I remember duck and cover” set.
Economic precarity has hit the Millenial generation hardest, plus younger half of Gen X. Boomers (and Silents) face the least amount of economic precarity – and thus issues like immigration and Internet boogeymen resonate more.
Klobuchar is not going to be the nominee. You can get roughly the exact same mainstream liberal / centrist-curious set of policies, but in a younger, more diverse, more dynamic version in Kamala. (Same reason Booker ain’t gonna be the nominee. Practically no difference between him in Kamala on policy stances, but the dude version. And in 2020, if you have two of the same candidate in the Dem primaries, the female version is getting the nod. And generally speaking, a woman is going to be the Dem nominee. That much is already written.)
This is a fight between Warren and Harris. With Warren needing to convince yellow dog style Dems & older voters of color to support her. And Harris needing to convince younger voters & more lefty voters that she’s not a Clintonite clone.
All of the above is also why any ink spilt on a Joe Biden candidacy is a complete waste of time.
goblue72
@Kent: Chelsea pissed off the left recently for going after Ilhan Omar, who had the temerity to criticize AIPAC – which is the thing one must not do in DC. And Omar had the additional temerity to apologize for any perceived anti-Semitism in her tweet, but not back down from her criticism of AIPAC.
The Establishment is having angina that the left wing is starting to get a microphone, which includes the left pointing out the rank hypocrisy of the U.S. uncritical support for an apartheid state.
NotMax
@goblue72
Oh FSM, this trope again?
Yup. There is not a single case of a Boomer in a dead end job.
Stuff your habitual generation bashing where the Sun don’t shine.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Ah, Dwight’s wearing his radical costume for this round of cosplay trolling. I’ll say this for him, in all his ideological shapeshifting, at least he keeps the same nym.
At least keep it brief, will ya, Dwight?
Mandalay
@goblue72:
I’m sure you are right. Younger people understand and mostly accept that google, facebook et al are constantly sniffing their trial. Since they’ve grown up with that situation, and it’s all they know, they can’t really feel outraged about it. At least that’s my limited anecdotal experience.
Put another way, if Klobuchar makes a big deal about issues such as net neutrality and internet privacy in her campaign, I don’t see that winning over younger voters.
Major Major Major Major
EDIT eh nm
ruemara
@goblue72:
Like black people don’t exist.
Chris T.
@Betty Cracker: SNL did that already. They had a skit shown in black & white, with Keenan (?) as Clarence and of course Baldwin as Trump…
Chris Johnson
@cain: **whinny!**
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@goblue72:
….Yeah, because having your political system influenced by a hostile foreign fascist state isn’t an existential crisis. I’m 23 years old and I’m concerned about Putin’s Russia as well as the global rise of authoritarianism. How do you explain me?
The Lodger
@jacy: Fantastic news! Not the end of ALL your worries, but it must be a load off your mind.
Kent
@goblue72:
Agreed. Booker will also not be the nominee. He is Mr. Charter Schools in New Jersey and has been deeply wedded to Betsy DeVos for a decade. This will absolutely alienate every public school teacher in America who are often the shock troops for political primary campaigns. I would vote for him over Trump. But as a teacher myself, he is the last candidate I’d support in the primary.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Major Major Major Major:
Meaning?
opiejeanne
@jacy: Congratulations! I was hoping this would happen, but i’m sorry about the expense of getting to this point.
Major Major Major Major
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: y’know, sexy men.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Major Major Major Major:
i am a sexy man. What’s the problem?
// That can’t be everything on your tumblr
Haroldo
@jacy:
Such good, good news.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@Major Major Major Major: You say that like it’s a bad thing!
Major Major Major Major
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: Just maybe not something Goku would enjoy looking at a lot of!
cmorenc
@trollhattan:
Chyron HR
@goblue72:
And what, exactly, does that have to do with AOC?
Note: Shitting your pants and screaming “BIRD LAND ON BERNIE PODIUM HE AM MESSIAH” is not a response. Try again.
satby
@schrodingers_cat: we don’t all have it. My hair is pushing two feet long, at which point I get it all cut off to donate and start again. I wear mine up most of the time now.
Kent
@goblue72:
So you basic 20-second tempest in a teapot nonsense.
mapaghimagsik
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The horses say neigh.
tobie
@Kent:
She was District Attorney of Hennepin County, which is the largest county in Minnesota and includes the Twin Cities. I’ve made token donations to Harris’ and Klobuchar’s campaigns, which is about all I can afford at the moment. I’m also not willing to commit more till I know what the candidates have to say about a host of issues from digital privacy to quality education to guaranteed healthcare to a living wage to combatting climate change to the corporate tax code–just to name a few issues. And, although it’s not usually a campaign issue, I’d like to hear the candidates’ positions on a host of foreign policy issues given that Trump has alienated just about every ally we have. At this point I’m grateful to every Dem (minus Gabbard and Sanders) running for office because the campaign will be brutal and after Trump’s shitshow the job will be thankless.
Mandalay
Judd Legum successfully went after advertisers supporting Fucker Carlson’s racist show recently.
Now he’s going after those who sell the National Enquirer:
opiejeanne
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Tesla makes an electric SUV, or at least they did. If they can do it so can other companies working on EVs.
Stuart Frasier
@opiejeanne:
There are at least four other electric SUVs out now (or shortly). The Jaguar iPace, the Audi, E-Tron, the Kia Nero EV, and the Hyundai Kona EV. The Kia and Hyundai are both (relatively) reasonably priced.
NotMax
@Mandalay
Semi-interesting that Hannaford is not included, as it is owned by the same company as is Food Lion. Incidentally, both Albertsons and Safeway are owned by the same company.
Gelfling 545
@Kay: Haven’t Dem candidates,with one glaring exception, generally released their tax returns publicly? Subpoenaing publicly available info seems a bit silly.
opiejeanne
@Mandalay: Our store is now owned by Albertson’s but still operating under its original name, and they dropped the National Enquirer during the 2016 campaign. I suspect it was at the behest of angry shoppers seeing the constant lies and smears against Hillary at the checkout stand.
NotMax
@Stuart Fraser
Also the Mercdes-Benz EQC and the Rivian R1S. IIRC Volvo has announced an all-electric SUV for the 2020 model year.
Fair Economist
@PST: Klobuchar’s “big league” experience is about the same as Booker and Gillibrand and longer than Harris. It’s just all been in the Senate – which seems fine to me.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: T has inadvertently put a spotlight on the behavior of Rs, showing even the inattentive average voter how the MSM’s both-sides-do-it is a sham.
Gelfling 545
@Barbara: A woman I knew had a stupid ex who would write “paid under duress” on the child support checks. This was in the day when paper checks were returned to you so she started writing “deposited with delight” under her endorsement. He gave up. If they weren’t churlish, they probably wouldn’t be exes.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Oh, lord, he’s reading the Intercept to create the background for this character. Could be a long troll cycle.
opiejeanne
@Stuart Frasier: Thank you. I had forgotten about the Kia and the Hyundai EVs. I’d be interested in the Kia, out of the four choices of SUVs if I buy another SUV. I have a paid-off Subaru now and it will be hard to give up because of the financial end of things and because of how it behaves in snow and ice. We keep our cars forever.
I’ve been toying with getting a small EV just to run around town, and saving the Subaru for longer trips and when the roads are covered in snow and ice. We aren’t going anywhere for a couple of days, though. Too much snow to fool around with right now, and no snowplows. I sank in above my boot tops a little while ago. Maybe 18 inches deep.
Sab
@Kay: Yep.Every woman in my office over fifty has that haircut except the one with naturally curly hair. Two of us got adventurous with bangs. Only the kids have long hair.
Doug R
@Betty Cracker:
https://globalnews.ca/video/4767197/snl-visits-alternate-universe-where-trump-wasnt-elected-president
Gelfling 545
@Kenneth Kohl: I also emailed him on the subject. Told him it made me question his judgment.
satby
@jacy: I hoped that’s what the FB post meant! Yay!
Stuart Frasier
@NotMax:
And the Bollinger B1. There will be tons of SUV EV options in the coming years. However, I prefer small cars. We plan to replace our Mini hatchback with the upcoming Mini EV.
NotMax
@Doug R
Along the lines of the Blackadder reverse Christmas Carol episode.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I don’t want to polllute the happy dog thread above with mention of The Beast. As ever, I’ll believe it when I see the proof, but I’m happy if this stuff is finally trickling out
Steve in the ATL
@Gin & Tonic:
Which is outrageous. As the Bible clearly states, Jesus drove a Suburban.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Steve in the ATL: I seem to recall Ross Perot’s platform included a 50 cent per gallon tax (ed, in ’92), up until some reporter told ol’ Ross his platform said that.
lurker dean
@jacy: congrats!!
NotMax
@Steve in the ATL
Only because, in a pinch, one can squeeze in 12 passengers.
:)
The Lodger
@Steve in the ATL: No, no no. He drove a Honda. Acts 2:1, “they were all in one Accord.”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@NotMax: He never should have made Judas ride in the way-back
NotMax
@Jim, Foolish Literalist
Well, it was well before the time when someone could call out “Shotgun!”
;)
Captain C
@Betty Cracker: Among other things, we might still have a spring football league filled with fun and innovative football.
jacy
I want to thank everybody for the congrats. This is the final stage in nearly five years of agony. The hardest thing I ever did was not have my kids full time. And this means everything for Nick’s future. This it literally one of those forks in a kid’s life where everything will be different. He would have been crushed being sent to that awful school (think that Catholic school in Kentucky and you’ve got it), and now he can go to an award-winning, progressive school filled with kids like him, where he can dress how he wants and wear his hair long and study music. And he gets to live at home with his brother and his cat and his turtle, too. I can’t tell you the weight this lifts off me.
CapnMubbers
@jacy: Jacy, I’m so glad! I’ve been holding my (virtual) breath on the custody fight, knowing you’re struggling on other fronts also. Hooray for the fantastic high school!
WaterGirl
@Mandalay: You forgot to include every grocery store on the face of the earth. Or at least the US.
Somehow, I don’t think this one is going to work. I’m supposed to threaten to boycott every grocery store in town because they sell that rag?
Paula
Right now I like Elizabeth Warren most, followed by Kamala Harris, with Klobuchar third. What I like re: Warren is the holistic nature of her platform. She has 5 major planks – umbrellas – under which various actions need to be taken, many of which are in the platforms of other campaigns, but Warren organizes them better. Her 5 major planks are:
1. Ending corruption in Washington – she addresses the rules/laws/loopholes that have enabled the .1% people/corporations to control our government, and the loopholes and incentives that cause politicians to favor the wealthy/corporations over the 99%.
2. Rebuilding the mIddle class. First you have to defang the forces in plank 1 who are keeping wages low and destroying economic security, then you need to fund the economy to create new good jobs, and support unions to empower workers. The Green New Deal and Medicare for All fall under here.
3. Strengthen our democracy: outlaw voter suppression, gerrymandering, overturn Citizen’s United, end lobbying and pacs and secret donors to campaigns, etc. Here also is election security, foreign interference in elections, etc. We have to be able to vote out bad guys.
4. Equal justice under the law: criminal justice reform, end to private prisons, end to militarized police, enforcing judicial ethics including to members of the Supreme Court, end to discriminatory practices.
5. Foreign policy for all: here’s where she deals with Trade Deals that favor the top, bloated defense spending, taking care of veterans, dealing with international cybersecurity, etc.
The tie that binds them all is that right now the system works for the benefit of the few at the top at the expense of the rest – her goal is to break that stranglehold so that our political representatives start working in the people’s interests.
Kamala Harris’ main thrust is JUSTICE which flows naturally from her background in law enforcement, but also includes social justice. She’s tackling the ….isms and emphasizes the need for our society to recognize how injustice permeates our system and root it out. In her case I think justice is a theme – but she otherwise follows the standard laundry list approach of presenting her platform: here’s problem A. and what I’ll do about it, here’s problem B. and what I’ll do about it, etc.
I think she and Warren are complementary. Warren says our system is rigged to favor the few which hurts the many and Harris focuses in on how the most vulnerable are victimized within the rigged system and how that permeates outward, hurting the country as a whole.
Amy Klobuchar, to me, lacks Warren’s vision and Harris’s focus – she struck me as a solid, traditional politician offering a laundry list of problems/solutions, all of which have merit. She’s smart and tough. If she has a theme it’s “we have to work together” which doesn’t particularly attract me right now. I don’t want to work with Republicans, I want to run as many as possible out of office so that they don’t have the numbers to obstruct. Yes, they’ll still be there and yes we have to deal with them but I want that to be low on the list of priorities.
To summarize: Warren wants to tackle the disease, Klobuchar (and most others) want to mitigate symptoms, and Harris is in-between.
Martin
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
So are bans on the sale of gasoline and diesel engines. They’ll figure it out.
SiubhanDuinne
@germy:
Yeah, fine, and I don’t mean to be ageist, but he’d be about 193 by the end of his first term. I find that … concerning.
Martin
@WaterGirl: The 3 stores we shop at don’t sell it – Costco, Trader Joes, Sprouts. Pretty sure Whole Foods/Amazon doesn’t sell it either. Not everyone has a ton of selection of stores, but most people do.
WaterGirl
@Martin: We have no Costco, no Trader Joes, no Whole Foods, no Sprouts. We just have standard old-fashioned grocery stores, and the enquirer has been in every one of them that I have ever been to, and this is a college town.
SiubhanDuinne
@CapnMubbers:
Would you be kind enough to email me at a convenient opportunity?
[email protected]
Thanks!
Dan B
@germy: And many trains around Chicago were electric. You could power them on green energy and the infrastucture build out would provide construction jobs across many rural areas.
Yuval Noah Harari makes a good case that the left doesn’t have a compelling vision for the US or the world in 2050. Seems plausible.
Dan B
@Stuart Frasier: Yes! And larger vehicles can manage larger batteries. UPS and Fed Ex have plans for converting their fleets to electric because of the benefits to maintenance and the efficiency of regenerative braking. The huge drop in battery prices will seal the deal for private vehicles and small fleets.
Dan B
@opiejeanne: Our young boy tiger has been amusing in the snow. There was the ‘shake each foot off after touching snow dance’ and today was the postholing down to his tummy follies. We only got 14 inches accumulation. The kitty litter rescued our Leaf from being stuck on the street in front of our house. Then a neighbor’s friend got stuck in front of our drive….
lizzie
@joel hanes: Exactly—we had really nice weather on Sunday. A beautiful snowfall of big fluffy flakes and 20something degrees. By comparison, it was 16 below when I woke up on Saturday morning. It was almost 40 degrees warmer than that the next day! Perfect winter weather.