Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

Bark louder, little dog.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

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

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

The words do not have to be perfect.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

I was promised a recession.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

The revolution will be supervised.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

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

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Infrastructure week. at last.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Late Night Open Thread: The Vital Questions for 2020

Late Night Open Thread: The Vital Questions for 2020

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The NYTimes has an intensive ‘interactive’ video-piece — “18 Questions.
21 Democrats.” — interspersing worthy-if-anodyne questions (Would your focus be improving the Affordable Care Act or replacing it with single payer?… Do you think illegal immigration is a major problem in the United States?) with ones like “What is your comfort food on the campaign trail?”

I personally recommend skipping straight to NYMag‘s quasi-mocking “10 Takeaways From the Times’ Interview With 21 Democratic Candidates”, but I’m a cynic:

The Democratic Party’s first primary debate is still six days away. But if you can’t wait to watch Team Blue’s 2020 contenders — along with a random assortment of back-bench congressmen and rich people who got bored enough to run for president — give largely similar answers to a single set of questions, the New York Times has you covered. The paper just released a video series in which all 21 of the Democrats’ non–Joe Biden candidates answer the same 18 questions…

In any case, I misdoubt Senator Booker is doing himself any favors with the average American voter by advocating for veganism, but the man leans in…

Reader Interactions

51Comments

  1. 1.

    NotMax

    Buttigieg: Beef jerky

    Oy vey. Talk about yer ready-made late night talk show monologue material.

  5. 5.

    mrmoshpotato

    Sarcastic topic title! Me likey.

    I really look forward to 17 more months of hard-hitting, issues-based, policy-focused articles like this from the excellent New York Times!

    FTFNYT!

  7. 7.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Not a single one of them mentions chocolate.

    I am so disappoint, I might just vote for Trump. Just to show them.

    #chocolatepurity

  14. 14.

    mrmoshpotato

    @NotMax:

    At least no one said, “There’s nothing as satisfying as a good Ho-Ho.”

    You’d have to be a Ding Dong to say that.

  24. 24.

    Brachiator

    @mrmoshpotato:

    what if they were organic, grass-fed, free-range Twinkies?

    Are these made from all-natural ingredients and contain no preservatives?

    I think by law, real Twinkies must be 90 percent preservatives.

  26. 26.

    NotMax

    As we’re on to the topic of eating, while there are almost too many wonderful food scenes from Tampopo to mention, this is one I’ve always been partial to, as it is done entirely without a syllable of dialogue.

  27. 27.

    NotMax

    @Brachiator

    I believe the plan was to use them as a reverse canary in a coal mine for Yucca Mountain. If the Twinkies are stale, the stuff in the barrels has decayed to the point of non-lethality.

    ;)

  30. 30.

    FelonyGovt

    Cage free Twinkies.

    Glad to see that the NY Times has the hard-hitting journalism of Parade Magazine.

  31. 31.

    Brachiator

    @NotMax:

    Twinkies, like diamonds, are forever.

    …Twinkies do have an sell-by window, and it’s only about 25 days. After about a month Twinkies start to get hard and brittle

    Steve Ettlinger, author of the book “Twinkie, Deconstructed,” says Twinkies get hard, but that doesn’t mean you can’t eat them.

    “I’ve got some that are 8 years old. They are hard but they are not spoiled,” he said. 

    So Twinkies could last 30 years, but they just might not be that fun to eat. And one thing different about Twinkies is they don’t rot. 

    https://www.scpr.org/programs/take-two/2012/11/16/29310/how-long-is-the-shelf-life-of-a-twinkie/

  35. 35.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    OK, some genuinely vital questions: with the threat of ICE raids and mass deportation, how can I volunteer to help shelter/hide people who might be targets? Mr. Colette and I talked about this; we live in one of the cities Trump intends to focus on, have some extra room in our house, and are willing to take folks in and help with daily transport, legal aid, etc. as well. We’re rich and lucky – relatively speaking – and the sight of concentration camps in our own country has us burning with rage. BURNING. I’ve already given money to RAICES but that’s not enough. Those ICE fuckers are Nazis, and we’re ready to be the Dutch.

    What kinds of legal risks will we face? What other practical considerations are there?

    I did do some obvious things like searching “undocumented immigrants housing shelter help san francisco” and various other likely terms, but the results were surprisingly unhelpful – most are for people looking for help rather than offering it. I guess online guides to breaking the (stupid, evil, immoral) law are more focused on those who want to build bombs, join ISIS, etc. than those who want to punch Nazis and hide vulnerable victims of racism.

    I’m probably going to ask this question in one or more additional threads in the next day or so. I’d love to see another front-page “how to help” post focused on direct action, not just donations, important as those are.

  36. 36.

    Redshift

    @Brachiator: A friend found a Twinkie in his trunk that had been there an indeterminate number of years. He unwrapped it and it was indeed rock hard, but the filling seemed to be unchanged. We suspect it’s a petroleum product.

  37. 37.

    NotMax

    Idly poking around the web, looking at recipes. A bit more involved than would usually bother with for just li’l ol’ me but damn, it looks good (except for the cilantro garnish).

  39. 39.

    prostratedragon

    @NotMax: It jerks you back into yourself. After an hour of looking at delicious food you want that rice omelet — or at least some scrambled eggs — like nobody’s business, and you know where you can get some. Brilliant.

    Recently when I fixed spaghetti/meat sauce I described the etiquette scene to my mother, between slurps. She caught on right away.

  40. 40.

    dmsilev

    @Brachiator:

    Twinkies, like diamonds, are forever.

    Diamonds aren’t forever. They’re a metastable state of carbon and over a long enough timespan will decay to graphite. Also, as I have seen first-hand in my work environment, sufficient abuse will break one fairly easily. We’ve had diamonds chip, crack, break in half, and once had one explode into powder. That was fun…

    Yes, deBeers lied to us all.

  42. 42.

    tobie

    @Comrade Colette Collaboratrice: I asked someone the same question, and they recommended this organization for helping trans asylum seekers:

    http://www.santafedreamersproject.org/sponsor-a-trans-asylum-seeker

    While we are currently prioritizing sponsors in the Bay Area, Sacramento, LA, Seattle, Portland, Denver, Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Boston, and New York, we encourage people from all over the US to reach out. We have at least 30 women awaiting placement.

  44. 44.

    Ruckus

    @dmsilev:
    That diamond powder is useful stuff for some occupations and can be made into many useful things. Combined with tungsten carbide powder it can be shaped with electricity and can then be used to cut intricate shapes into that graphite that it will decay into longer than most every thing else. That of course is not it’s only use, it can also be used it to lap extremely fine surfaces to extreme fine tolerances, and as a grinding compound for use on tungsten carbide.

  46. 46.

    Chris Johnson

    @Major Major Major Major: Whiskey and kicking ass? (or maybe, whiskey and throwing things?)

    Though she is not my favorite, I’d love to see her comfort-fooding by drinking whiskey and throwing things at Mitch McConnell. That would comfort me and her both :)

  50. 50.

    J R in WV

    @Comrade Colette Collaboratrice:

    Find a minister who’s church is actually Christian instead of “Christian” and who is working to help immigrants. Suggest Episcopal, they seem to range between helpful and activist. Meet in person.

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