• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

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

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

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

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

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

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

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

As long as McCarthy is Speaker, the House will never be in order.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

So many bastards, so little time.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Let’s finish the job.

Mobile Menu

  • Winnable VA House Races
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • War in Ukraine
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • 2021-22 Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: If I Can’t Have My Dream Ticket…

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: If I Can’t Have My Dream Ticket…

by Anne Laurie|  January 15, 20206:16 am| 158 Comments

This post is in: 2020 Elections, A Woman's Place Is In The House, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat

FacebookTweetEmail

Nothing from that Iraq exchange will hurt Joe Biden's standing as the frontrunner. At all.

He not only survived but smartly pivoted to the responsibilities Obama gave him as VP to manage troop drawdowns and emphasized his more dovish take as VP on Afghanistan.#DemDebate

— Ian Sams (@IanSams) January 15, 2020

Wouldn't it be hilarious if after all this sturm and drang, the story of 2020 is Biden sailing into the presidency.

— Malarksist Revolutionary (@agraybee) January 15, 2020

I didn’t want to promote this before hearing what the KHive (Harris fans) had to say, but there is no more ferocious #KamalaStan than Chris Evans:

.@JoeBiden: “I’d consider @KamalaHarris for anything she wants — including Vice President.” https://t.co/mqvcmAxWno

— chris evans (@notcapnamerica) January 14, 2020


Been saying for a while: If I have to ‘settle’ for Liz Warren remaining my senator, a Biden / Harris ticket would be my second choice right now. Each partner lends the other credibility with their respective voter bases, and it gives Harris a running start at the top of the ticket in 2024 / 2028.

But I’ll admit I’d be tickled by a Biden / Klobuchar ticket, too. And after last night, it’s being discussed again:

Klobuchar on impeachment: "this is a decency check on our government."#DemDebate

— Charlotte Alter (@CharlotteAlter) January 15, 2020

Klobuchar does a good job of taking every foreign policy question and pointing out just how God-awful Trump has been at solving the problem.

— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) January 15, 2020

Great line from @amyklobuchar: “the ACA is 10 points more popular than the president of the United States.”

— Matt Bennett (@ThirdWayMattB) January 15, 2020

Amy Klobuchar is on CNN arguing that a woman can be president and I can’t wait for the day, whenever it comes, when people look back and talk about how crazy it is that this was ever a thing that had to be argued.

— Miriam Elder (@MiriamElder) January 15, 2020

Klobuchar definitely asked for extra blue books during her college midterms.

(that isn’t a bad thing. she’s substantive.) pic.twitter.com/LbGkNTc1WW

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) January 15, 2020

BIDEN / KLOBUCHAR 2020: DON’T MAKE HER COME DOWN THERE, REPUBS!

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: «On The Road - ?BillinGlendaleCA - Happy New Year from Southern California. 2 On The Road – ?BillinGlendaleCA – Happy New Year from Southern California.
Next Post: Even Dana Milbank »

Reader Interactions

158Comments

  1. 1.

    rikyrah

    January 15, 2020 at 6:24 am

    Good Morning , Everyone ???

  2. 2.

    Quinerly

    January 15, 2020 at 6:25 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning!

  3. 3.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    January 15, 2020 at 6:31 am

    I turned on Morning Blow to see the coverage of the Parnas/Rudy spying scandal, and Mika was yelling that Bernie would never say something negative about a woman. Click.

    Oh for fuck’s sake, they really are dimwits.

  4. 4.

    Chyron HR

    January 15, 2020 at 6:35 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    “I don’t believe [Clinton] is qualified to be president.” – Sen. Bernard Sanders, April 6, 2016

  5. 5.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    January 15, 2020 at 6:47 am

    The Bros and the Russians are really working Twitter, right now.

    #CNNisTrash, #PrimaryWarren, and #NeverWarren are trending right now.

    They wouldn’t be doing that if he had a good night.

    There were people who said Warren could win over Bernie’s dead-enders because they were so close on policy and this proves the Bernie Rouge was never persuadable.

  6. 6.

    satby

    January 15, 2020 at 6:48 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning ?

  7. 7.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2020 at 6:50 am

    Question, as one who never did anything more than dabble in college, what is a blue book? To this dumb ass carpenter it’s a “book” that gives the price ranges on used vehicles. Something tells me that isn’t real useful in higher education.

  8. 8.

    Kay

    January 15, 2020 at 6:50 am

    Daniel W. Drezner
    @dandrezner
    Klobuchar does a good job of taking every foreign policy question and pointing out just how God-awful Trump has been at solving the problem.

    She is a great Trump opponent and has been at every single debate. I’m hoping we hear more from her in her senate role during the impeachment. Pelosi on the House side and Klobuchar on the Senate side would be great.

  9. 9.

    Baud

    January 15, 2020 at 6:53 am

    @rikyrah: 
    Good morning.

  10. 10.

    Baud

    January 15, 2020 at 6:54 am

    @Chyron HR:

    Do you have a link?

  11. 11.

    Kay

    January 15, 2020 at 6:55 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    I agree with them on CNN. The moderators acted as Bernie Sander’s opponents. “How will he avoid bankrupting the country”?  Jesus Christ. That we only get this phony handwringing over the budget when we’re talking about healthcare and education and not about our obscene levels of “defense” spending is a real question.

  12. 12.

    Jim Parish

    January 15, 2020 at 6:55 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:  It’s a small booklet with blank lined pages, for writing test answers in. They’re handed out at the beginning of a test and handed in at the end.

  13. 13.

    Ohio Mom

    January 15, 2020 at 6:57 am

    OH @7: a Blue Book is what college students write their exam essay answers in.

    The joke is, they have a good number of pages. Most students run out of things to say before pages to write in.

  14. 14.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2020 at 6:58 am

    @Jim Parish: Thanx. Here I was thinking it was a study aide of some type.

    eta @Ohio Mom  thanx to you too.

  15. 15.

    Baud

    January 15, 2020 at 7:00 am

    @Kay:

    They do that with every Dem candidate.  I was actually impressed that CNN didn’t treat Bernie with kid gloves.  Maybe the first time I’ve seen it.

  16. 16.

    Ohio Mom

    January 15, 2020 at 7:01 am

    Kay @ 11: I’m not here as much, I’m having a busy season, so I missed the announcement about your grandchild’s arrival. Glad everyone is healthy and happy, congrats to you on this wonderful milestone!

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2020 at 7:01 am

    @Kay: Not to mention the tax cuts.

  18. 18.

    Baud

    January 15, 2020 at 7:02 am

    I think Biden called out the media last night on something.  He’s the only one who does that. Points for him.

  19. 19.

    Betty Cracker

    January 15, 2020 at 7:03 am

    Wouldn’t it be hilarious if after all this sturm and drang, the story of 2020 is Biden sailing into the presidency.

    Yeah, total side-splitter. (Sorry. Not ready to settle yet.)

  20. 20.

    debbie

    January 15, 2020 at 7:10 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    He showed he could lie as effortlessly as Trump.

  21. 21.

    debbie

    January 15, 2020 at 7:14 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    It was very easy to snag extra blue books to use for future tests, so it wasn’t as reliable a deterrence to cheating as was thought.

  22. 22.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2020 at 7:14 am

    I don’t speak emoji and need a translation: What is it with Wilmer’s wags and their apparent snake fetish?

  23. 23.

    JPL

    January 15, 2020 at 7:15 am

    @Betty Cracker: If you have time, would you put up a post about possible assassinations and the stuff coming out about Ukraine.   You have the talent to explain it.

  24. 24.

    Baud

    January 15, 2020 at 7:15 am

    @Baud:

    Hmm. Can’t find it in the transcript.

  25. 25.

    Chyron HR

    January 15, 2020 at 7:17 am

    @Baud:

    https://www.cnn.com/2016/04/06/politics/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-qualified/index.html

  26. 26.

    Baud

    January 15, 2020 at 7:19 am

    @Chyron HR:

    Appreciate it.

  27. 27.

    The Pale Scot

    January 15, 2020 at 7:20 am

    Mornin’ all,

    Mike the Mad Biologist linked to an interesting story,

     

    The productivity of bullshit jobs

    This is where human capital theory gets it wrong. It attaches income to the properties of individuals. In reality, income has mostly to do with your position in a social network.

    This is something that old GOPpers refuse to admit. I know guys that came back from WW2 or Korea that started their own businesses that were in the same field as their previous employer. The financialization of everything today has stomped that out. That’s why parents commit crimes to get their kid into a college, so as to access the social network. Hard Work is a component, but it’s all about who you’re working with/for

  28. 28.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2020 at 7:21 am

    @Baud: The debates are all running together in your head. Maybe you need a break from politics.

  29. 29.

    Kay

    January 15, 2020 at 7:23 am

    @Ohio Mom:

    Thanks. She’s a doll. So far a “good baby” – not fussy- but I think it’s too early to tell.

  30. 30.

    Betty Cracker

    January 15, 2020 at 7:25 am

    @JPL: Still trying to wrap my head around it. What a bizarre situation!

  31. 31.

    Anne Laurie

    January 15, 2020 at 7:25 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I don’t speak emoji and need a translation: What is it with Wilmer’s wags and their apparent snake fetish?

    If I understand it correctly, the Bernistas are using The Power of Emoji to inform Warren supporters that she is a snake, a vile cobra, who assaulted poor Bernie after he’d so generously taken her to his bosom.  (Shades of Trump’s favorite parable, of course.)

    How twitter-yelling at strangers while high-fiving each other is supposed to convince them — or anyone — to change their minds & support Sanders is… well, to be honest, I suspect they don’t really want new Sanders supporters.

    They’re like the music purists who insist an artist is only worth hearing before they get a record deal.  If Bernie were actually to win the nomination, he’d have to sell out, maaaan… start wheeling & dealing with the plebs… he probably wouldn’t have time for his real fans any more.  Sure, they want him to be ‘a success’, but not if they have to share!

  32. 32.

    Kay

    January 15, 2020 at 7:27 am

    “The ACA is ten points more popular than Donald Trump” – Amy.

    She’s mean in a way that I really warm up to.

  33. 33.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2020 at 7:28 am

    The Department of Housing and Urban Development will allow Puerto Rico to access more than $8 billion in blocked disaster aid funding, ending a monthslong hold by the Trump administration, according to people familiar with the matter.

    Puerto Rico, which suffered devastating losses from Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, has received just $1.5 billion of the roughly $20 billion in congressionally authorized disaster funds that HUD is supposed to administer. The delay in receiving the additional funds had incensed both U.S. lawmakers and commonwealth officials.

    The island will be able to access the latest tranche — $8.2 billion in disaster mitigation money — once a Federal Register notice is published outlining the grant agreement and how the money can be used. HUD blew past the legal deadline to publish the funding notice in September, saying it needed to ensure financial safeguards were put in place in light of recent political unrest on the island.

    “Now that a full financial monitoring team is assembled and active, we can move forward with confidence that these disaster recovery funds will reach those who need them the most,” a HUD official told POLITICO.

    Hmmmm…. Lots of political unrest here too. I guess all one can is, that’s mighty white of them.

  34. 34.

    debbie

    January 15, 2020 at 7:28 am

    @Anne Laurie:

    the Bernistas are using The Power of Emoji to inform Warren supporters that she is a snake, a vile cobra, who assaulted poor Bernie after he’d so generously taken her to his bosom

    While lying with their scripts? Oy.

  35. 35.

    Baud

    January 15, 2020 at 7:28 am

    @Anne Laurie:

    Oh my. How Adam and Eve.

  36. 36.

    debbie

    January 15, 2020 at 7:29 am

    @Kay:

    She’s mean and smart. A fine combination.

  37. 37.

    danielx

    January 15, 2020 at 7:31 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    The debates are all running together in your head.

    He’s not alone in that. On the other hand, the antics of the orange crested shitbird are staring to run together in my head too – a continuous flow of nausea-inducing absurdity and malfeasance.

  38. 38.

    rikyrah

    January 15, 2020 at 7:32 am

    ???

    Okay. I'll be the one to ask it.Did Donald Trump allow…if not order…an out and out "hit" on an U.S. Ambassador??— Malcolm P. Johnson (@admiralmpj) January 15, 2020

  39. 39.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2020 at 7:32 am

    @Anne Laurie: Thanx Anne. And yeah, not about to compromise their “principles,” For them it’s all about proving they are better than everyone else.

  40. 40.

    rikyrah

    January 15, 2020 at 7:33 am

    @JPL:

     

    Very little surprises me with this crowd, and I can’t say that I was surprised…just disgusted

  41. 41.

    Kay

    January 15, 2020 at 7:33 am

    @The Pale Scot:

    The increasing inability to have a small business does worry me. I have a client who washes windows. He has a commercial power washer and two employees and they do windows at retail stores, mostly supermarkets. It’s really hard work and they drive a ton- they go all over NW Ohio and into MI. They’re getting squeezed by a national chain. It won’t be an option in 5 years and it’s a decent living. Swallowed up.

  42. 42.

    rikyrah

    January 15, 2020 at 7:34 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

     

    They have been trying to kill these American Citizens ???

  43. 43.

    Baud

    January 15, 2020 at 7:34 am

    @Anne Laurie:

    If he got the nomination, they would forgive any compromise.  They are the Patriot Farmers of the left.

  44. 44.

    Kay

    January 15, 2020 at 7:36 am

    @debbie:

    There’s something interesting about how women are more effective v Donald Trump than men are- generally. Schiff is an exception. She’s right too- the ACA being ten points more popular than Trump will bug the living shit out of Donald Trump.

  45. 45.

    danielx

    January 15, 2020 at 7:36 am

    @Anne Laurie:

    One more reason Bernie’s supporters remind me of Naderites in 2000 – and I can’t come up with an obscene enough expression to describe my attitude toward those people, then and now.

  46. 46.

    daveNYC

    January 15, 2020 at 7:37 am

    Been saying for a while: If I have to ‘settle’ for Liz Warren remaining my senator, a Biden / Harris ticket would be my second choice right now. Each partner lends the other credibility with their respective voter bases, and it gives Harris a running start at the top of the ticket in 2024 / 2028.

    What base does Harris have?  She was at all of 4% support when she dropped out of the race.

  47. 47.

    rikyrah

    January 15, 2020 at 7:38 am

    Who woulda thunk that a dude who asked Russia to hack Hillary’s emails & the 2016 election and has obstructed justice to evade indictment/impeachment would turn around and try the exact same shit over again with Biden bc it worked the 1st time and he’s still scott free? pic.twitter.com/An4rdSvlyG— Propane Jane™ (@docrocktex26) September 20, 2019

  48. 48.

    Princess

    January 15, 2020 at 7:38 am

    @Anne Laurie: Because it is so progressive to compare a woman to a snake, like that has never been done before in the historyof Judeo-Christianity.

     

    One of my biggest fears of a Bernie presidency is that all his supporters will abandon and excoriate him the moment he makes the kind of compromise he will have to in order to get anything accomplished and it will be Obama ’12 again.

  49. 49.

    Baud

    January 15, 2020 at 7:39 am

    @daveNYC:

    I think the idea is to not have an all white ticket.  No person of color has a broad national base.

  50. 50.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    January 15, 2020 at 7:40 am

    @rikyrah:

    Good morning. ?

  51. 51.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2020 at 7:40 am

    @danielx: Yep, not surprising at all. I haven’t watched the debates at all. I have my favorite (not gonna mewntion any namews) and will hopefully be able to vote that way come primary day, but the truth is come the general election, whoever we nominate gets my vote.

    When it comes to trump, the only way I can keep my sanity is to avert my eyes/ears whenever his visage/voice defiles my screen. Bad enough reading about what he and his acolytes are doing.

  52. 52.

    debbie

    January 15, 2020 at 7:40 am

    @Kay:

    Deep down, they scare him.

  53. 53.

    Anne Laurie

    January 15, 2020 at 7:41 am

    @rikyrah: Well, you know what the MAGats would say about that:  How can Puerto Ricans be American citizens? They’re not even white!

  54. 54.

    Kay

    January 15, 2020 at 7:41 am

    I was sorry to see Biden’s hired Anita Dunn. I just don’t think she’s any good and yet she has been hired by Democrats over and over. She’s not a good salesperson. Stop hiring her.

  55. 55.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2020 at 7:42 am

    @rikyrah: I wouldn’t say “kill”, just let them die so God can sort them out.

  56. 56.

    Kay

    January 15, 2020 at 7:45 am

    @debbie:

    I think it’s a real problem for Bernie. He’s just not very effective against Donald Trump. There’s something oddly deferential about his approach. Nothing he says lands. I think on some level some of the men admire Trump and are therefore intimidated by him. This mental illness doesn’t seem to infect women.

  57. 57.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    January 15, 2020 at 7:46 am

    I’m going to rouse myself to look at Morning Joe at 8:00. They rerun the show opening from 6:00 for about half an hour, so I can see what their hot takes were after the Lev Parnas doc dump last night.

    Hmm, but maybe they’ll be all about the debate. Not so interested in their hot takes on that. ?

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    Oh, well.

  58. 58.

    Baud

    January 15, 2020 at 7:50 am

    @Kay:

    I think Bernie’s canned speeches will fall flat against Trump’s….let’s say, improvisations. But maybe that’s because his speeches are old news to me.

    I don’t know if this will hurt him, but Bernie was asked about job losses under M4A, and I didn’t think he gave much in the way of a reassuring response.

  59. 59.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 15, 2020 at 7:51 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    I turned on Morning Blow 

    You usually hate yourself in the morning like this? :)

  60. 60.

    Matt McIrvin

    January 15, 2020 at 7:53 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: They’re tweeting #WarrenIsASnake with strings on snake emojis on everything Warren says. Apparently a reference to the Taylor Swift/ Katy Perry feud, not that I knew before someone told me.

  61. 61.

    JPL

    January 15, 2020 at 7:54 am

    @Steeplejack (phone): CNN has been covering it.  In fact they are saying Nancy was right to let more infor come out.

  62. 62.

    Baud

    January 15, 2020 at 7:54 am

    @Baud:

    PHILLIP: Sen. Sanders, coming to you now. CNN reached out to Iowa Democratic voters for their most pressing questions. Edward from here in Des Moines writes, “Des Moines is an insurance town. What happens to all the insurance industry — the health insurance industry here if there is Medicare for all? What happens to all the jobs and the livelihoods of the people that live in insurance towns like Des Moines?”

    SANDERS: We build in to our Medicare for all program a transition fund of many, many billions of dollars that will provide for up to five years income and health care and job training for those people.

    But here is the issue. Tom Steyer made the point a moment ago. We are now spending twice as much per person on health care as do the people of any other country. That is insane. In some cases, 10 times more for prescription drugs. Why is that? Why is that? And the answer is: the greed and corruption of the drug companies and the insurance companies.

    And if we want to do what every other major country on Earth does and guarantee people health care is a human right, not a privilege, you know what we have to do? We are finally going to have to stand up to the health care industry…

    STEYER: Can I respond to this?

    SANDERS: … and end hundreds of billions of dollars of waste and profiteering.

  63. 63.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 15, 2020 at 7:55 am

    @Kay: Always money in the banana shack to go bomb brown people.

  64. 64.

    rikyrah

    January 15, 2020 at 7:57 am

    Maybe I’m missing something obvious, but one fascinating question here is just what Parnas’s angle is exactly. Sure he’s trying to stay out of jail. That’s obvious. But how exactly? It’s not clear that giving all this stuff to Congress is going to get him a deal in NY.— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) January 15, 2020

  65. 65.

    rikyrah

    January 15, 2020 at 7:58 am

    @rikyrah:

     

     

     

    2/ Quite the contrary actually. Congress can give immunity for certain testimony. But he hasn’t testified.but even if they were inclined to Congress can’t give general immmunity or what amounts to a congressional pardon. And in any case it’s not clear he made any deal at all.— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) January 15, 2020

  66. 66.

    Baud

    January 15, 2020 at 7:59 am

    @rikyrah:

    Maybe he’s afraid of getting whacked and feels like his more protected now that he’s more well known to the public.

  67. 67.

    rikyrah

    January 15, 2020 at 8:02 am

    Uh huh ??

     

     

    Trump has paid $40bn to Big Agra to hide his bad trade wars. Stolen $10bn from the Pentagon to build his stupid wall. Pushed our deficit to $23 trillion yet no Republican is ever asked about any of it. But get a Dem in front of a camera and folks suddenly are concerned about cost— Daryl Sturgis✊? (@darylsturgis) January 15, 2020

  68. 68.

    satby

    January 15, 2020 at 8:02 am

    @Baud: or Putin is finally sick of Trump and figured a country thrown into the chaos of an attempted removal of him is the next logical step.

  69. 69.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 15, 2020 at 8:05 am

    @Princess: But Bernie will never compromise because he’s so pure!  (Sorry, I dripped sarcasm everywhere!  I’ll get a mop.)

  70. 70.

    Chris Johnson

    January 15, 2020 at 8:05 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: You’re seeing the Russian trolls. As far as winning over the actual Bernie primary voters, those who volunteered for the guy, etc: that’s me. I bailed on the guy. Warren is seeing the same very real problems but is practical and way more effective.

    What you see on Twitter is not voters. It’s propaganda, and a bit of a window into what Russia wants.

  71. 71.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    January 15, 2020 at 8:07 am

    Okay, this is bullshit. Morning Joe started not only with the debate but with the Sanders-Warren “a woman can’t be elected president” thing.

    P.S. When Mika said Bernie didn’t say it, she was quoting Sanders and then asking why the moderator immediately after that asked Warren about his saying it, ignoring what Sanders just said.

  72. 72.

    rikyrah

    January 15, 2020 at 8:07 am

    WARNING: We are being attacked again … right now. The Russian Intelligence hack of Burisma is designed to play out “But Her Emails” disinformation attack all over again but with Trump & Fox News filling in Wikileaks. It will happen soon. https://t.co/QSyfBHvQb6— Malcolm Nance (@MalcolmNance) January 15, 2020

  73. 73.

    Kay

    January 15, 2020 at 8:09 am

    @Baud:

    I think Bernie’s canned speeches will fall flat against Trump’s….let’s say, improvisations

    I think so too and I think it’s ideological. Bernie fans all talk about his boldness but there’s one area where he’s very careful- he hews very carefully to Lefty social norms. Because they believe Trump isn’t the problem they’re barred from really going after him- the cool Lefty thing is to say “it’s structural and Trump is a symptom”. They make fun of Democrats for focusing on Trump- that’s not the sophisticated Left take, that’s the low brow “partisan” take. Bernie is VERY “correct” within that world. The hesitancy I hear is there and I recognize it- they have a kind of “code” they speak in, Lefties, and it’s as rigid as the code on the far Right.

  74. 74.

    JPL

    January 15, 2020 at 8:09 am

    @rikyrah: What we know is trump has no problem dealing with the mob.  Rudy was heavily involved in the plan to get dirt on Biden.   The State Dept. called Yovanovitch  home because of security reasons.  Parnas seems to be providing us with more information because if he’s going down, so are others.

    I just can’t imagine what’s in the classified information the house sent over.

  75. 75.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    January 15, 2020 at 8:10 am

    Scarborough said all the candidates came off badly last night. What a maroon.

  76. 76.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 15, 2020 at 8:13 am

    @Steeplejack (phone): You hate yourself in the morning too, Steep? :)

  77. 77.

    Kay

    January 15, 2020 at 8:14 am

    @Baud:

    And the flip side of that is Pelosi and Amy K. THEY believe Trump is the problem- Pelosi is an institutionalist and Amy is a centrist, so they WOULD believe that. That’s why they’re effective against him. They’re fighting HIM, not “the man” more generally.

    The Bernie supporters here hardly ever talk about Trump, which is fine as far as being Lefties but won’t work so well if Bernie is the nominee and they pull every punch because “Trump’s not the problem, the system is”. That’s a fucking gift to Trump. Trump himself says it. He makes the same argument.

  78. 78.

    Chris Johnson

    January 15, 2020 at 8:14 am

    @Steeplejack (phone): It’s harder to do the whole troll/sabotage thing when people aren’t faceplanting conveniently for you left and right.

    The ‘coverage’ is most enraging when they’re all clearly driven into ‘make shit up’ mode and spouting outright garbage. I think Clinton fans on this blog know ALL about how that feels, and don’t like it one bit. Welp, back into the ring with us all. Let’s win for a second time, with an even larger margin that can’t be cheated away.

  79. 79.

    The Dark Avenger

    January 15, 2020 at 8:16 am

    The stapler-thrower doesn’t have a chance.  She’s a radical moderate, the worst kind of Democratic candidate.

  80. 80.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2020 at 8:16 am

    @rikyrah:
    Pretty simple from where I sit. He thinks trump is toast, and that what he has to add will seal the deal and get him a lesser sentence. He might be wrong but that’s his play.

  81. 81.

    rikyrah

    January 15, 2020 at 8:16 am

    Kim Gardner, the 1st black circuit attorney in St. Louis, has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit that accuses the city, the city's police union and others of a coordinated and racist conspiracy aimed at forcing her out of office, according to a complaint https://t.co/pzk7bfivDf— CNN (@CNN) January 15, 2020

  82. 82.

    germy

    January 15, 2020 at 8:21 am

    Closing statements

    Amy Klobuchar: I've never lost. Don't fuck up my record.

    Tom Steyer: I'm 3 percent in the polls. You need $20?

    Pete Buttigieg: Break from the past. Join me. look at these old motherfuckers.

    — michaelharriot (@michaelharriot) January 15, 2020

  83. 83.

    Baud

    January 15, 2020 at 8:21 am

    @Kay:

    I think the other issue is that the voters that Bernie covets most tend to have at least a sympathetic view of Trump.

  84. 84.

    germy

    January 15, 2020 at 8:24 am

    Bernie: How did our country get here? How did this happen?
    I know this is my fourth decade as one of the most powerful men in the institution that literally makes the laws, but does anyone know how we got here?

    — michaelharriot (@michaelharriot) January 15, 2020

  85. 85.

    EmperorofIceCream

    January 15, 2020 at 8:25 am

    @Kay: This is absolutely correct in my experience working in a lefty organization. The “right (ie left)” word is everything. More important than the actual substance in too many cases. I don’t trust ideologues – they are the flip side of religionists.

  86. 86.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2020 at 8:30 am

    @EmperorofIceCream: Yeats said it long ago, “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”

  87. 87.

    Lapassionara

    January 15, 2020 at 8:31 am

    @rikyrah: I have the same question. I wonder if he thinks he has some kind of “insurance” if all the information is made public.

  88. 88.

    Baud

    January 15, 2020 at 8:32 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    What about people like me who lack both conviction and passionate intensity?

  89. 89.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    January 15, 2020 at 8:36 am

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Small doses. And I built up some level of immunity years ago as a newspaper reporter. Probably could use a booster shot.

  90. 90.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2020 at 8:36 am

    @Baud: They become hillbillies.

  91. 91.

    Baud

    January 15, 2020 at 8:37 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Well at least I have that to look forward to.

  92. 92.

    satby

    January 15, 2020 at 8:39 am

    @EmperorofIceCream: Eric Hoffer on line 1 for you.

  93. 93.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    January 15, 2020 at 8:40 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    You just articulated my current position re D candidates and monster on the other side.

  94. 94.

    Baud

    January 15, 2020 at 8:41 am

    @satby: Fascinating.

  95. 95.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2020 at 8:41 am

    In 2017, Dow Chemical scored a long-sought-after victory: after a push from the US government, China approved the import of the company’s genetically modified herbicide-resistant corn seeds.

    A grateful Dow lobbyist emailed a senior agriculture department official whose support had been critical: “Thank you for your efforts in support of U.S. agriculture.”

    That official, Rebeckah Adcock, was no stranger to Dow. Before joining the Trump administration, Adcock was the chief lobbyist for the herbicide industry’s trade group, of which Dow was a prominent member.

    Adcock had helped her former industry colleagues in a variety of ways. At Dow’s request, for example, she had arranged a meeting between a top company official and the secretary of agriculture, Sonny Perdue, about the seed issue.

    Before the May 2017 meeting, a Dow lobbyist emailed Adcock: “Do you know who will staff the secretary?”

    Adcock wrote back playfully: “Yes and u do too.”

    “Roger”, the lobbyist, Hunt Shipman, replied. Then he joked about the potential conflict of a public servant helping former colleagues: “Maybe you can have a chair on both sides of the table… maybe you can staff them both? :).” It’s unclear if Adcock sat in on the meeting, but her government ethics agreement allowed her to communicate extensively and offer her assistance to the association’s members, including Dow.

    Adcock isn’t the only lobbyist who has made her way to the federal government. Roughly one of every 14 appointments in the Trump administration has been a lobbyist. But previously unreported emails show Adcock repeatedly trading notes with industry players to craft policy.

  96. 96.

    gene108

    January 15, 2020 at 8:41 am

    @Baud:

    are now spending twice as much per person on health care as do the people of any other country. That is insane. In some cases, 10 times more for prescription drugs. Why is that? Why is that? And the answer is: the greed and corruption of the drug companies and the insurance companies.

    And you know what’ll happen to the auto industry, if government mandates we spend 50% less? The entertainment industry? The restaurant industry? And so on…

    Lots of people in those industries will lose their jobs.

    We need a soft landing, with regards to controlling healthcare costs, which probably starts with limiting annual increases, and working from there.

    Also, his answer is just like what I see from his supporters. People who lose jobs in the insurance industry will magically land on their feet….somehow….

  97. 97.

    JPL

    January 15, 2020 at 8:45 am

    This is true

    One thing I would enjoy about a Biden presidency is that no one but no one thinks he’s the messiah. He would just… be president. There are no Biden cultists. There are hardly even any Biden “stans.” That would be healthy.

    https://twitter.com/jtlevy

  98. 98.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2020 at 8:46 am

    @satby:

    As examples, he often refers to Communism, Fascism, National Socialism, Christianity, Protestantism, and Islam.

    But not Catholicism? What’s he got against the Church?

  99. 99.

    satby

    January 15, 2020 at 8:47 am

    @Baud: whoa, you never read that? Used to be required reading when I went to school at the time dinosaurs roamed the earth.

    Hoffer was a grumpy old conservative and the book is pretty dated, but he was trying to explain to a world still recovering from WWII how entire countries could go so insane. It’s one of the books that formed my worldview. The other had orcs.

  100. 100.

    Baud

    January 15, 2020 at 8:48 am

    @gene108:

    The difference in treatment from how coal miner jobs are treated is palpable.

  101. 101.

    Baud

    January 15, 2020 at 8:48 am

    @satby:

    You’d be surprised at how uneducated I am.

  102. 102.

    satby

    January 15, 2020 at 8:49 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: lumped into Christianity

  103. 103.

    Steeplejack

    January 15, 2020 at 8:50 am

    @Baud:

    That’s what a House seat is for.

  104. 104.

    Baud

    January 15, 2020 at 8:53 am

    @Steeplejack:

    To be fair, Republican House members have plenty of convictions.

  105. 105.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2020 at 8:54 am

    @satby: He gave a special shout out to Protestants. I feel slighted, insulted even. I’m sure Archbishop Raymond Burke won’t be pleased.

  106. 106.

    satby

    January 15, 2020 at 8:55 am

    @Baud: Hoffer’s life story is pretty interesting. He was an autodidact.

  107. 107.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2020 at 8:55 am

    @Baud:  Ex republican house members anyway.

  108. 108.

    Immanentize

    January 15, 2020 at 8:56 am

    @Baud: lucky you!  You will not be affected by the spinning gyres.

  109. 109.

    Steeplejack

    January 15, 2020 at 8:56 am

    @Baud:

    Zing!

    – Steep in the DMV

  110. 110.

    Baud

    January 15, 2020 at 8:56 am

    @satby:

    I’ve added it to my reading list.

  111. 111.

    satby

    January 15, 2020 at 8:57 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: in context, it’s fairly obvious he considered the Latin and Eastern rite churches “Christianity”.

  112. 112.

    Steeplejack

    January 15, 2020 at 8:59 am

    @Immanentize:

    Please adjust your gyre. It should only be widening.

  113. 113.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    January 15, 2020 at 8:59 am

    @Baud:

    I see what you did there.

  114. 114.

    satby

    January 15, 2020 at 9:01 am

    @Baud: those jobs are held by manly (white) men doing manly work. Insurance jobs are held by women and sissified guys who disdain getting their hands dirty.

  115. 115.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2020 at 9:02 am

    If a demanding job on a tiny island with no electricity, wifi or hot showers but lots of wind sounds tempting, join the queue.

    An advert for two caretakers to manage accommodation and a cafe on Great Blasket island, off Ireland’s Atlantic coast, has drawn queries from Alaska to South Africa.

    The posts, which run from 1 April to 1 October this year, include free accommodation and food and spectacular views off Ireland’s most westerly point.

    “It’s intense and tough but it’s a very unique position,” Alice Hayes, who placed the advert, told RTE on Tuesday. “It’s back to basics – fires, candles, stoves, wildlife and nature.” The ideal candidates had to get on well so the job would suit two friends or a couple, and they had to be fit, personable and chatty, she said. “No day is ever the same.”

    Damn, that leaves me out. “Fuck you.” is me being both personable and chatty.

  116. 116.

    RAM

    January 15, 2020 at 9:04 am

    I really, REALLY want to see Harris as U.S. Attorney General. We need a true legal shark in that position to bring the hammer down on all the corruption that’s gone on over the past several years. Also, a Joe and Amy ticket would be entirely acceptable. But for now, I’m still supporting Liz for Prez.

  117. 117.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2020 at 9:04 am

    @satby: So he didn’t think Protestants were Christians? Wait until the Evangelicals find out.

  118. 118.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    January 15, 2020 at 9:06 am

    @RAM:

    I believe Obama offered her the AG slot and she turned him down. She may have changed her mind by now I suppose.

  119. 119.

    Immanentize

    January 15, 2020 at 9:06 am

    @Steeplejack: I’ll tell you what, I barely got any sleep last night because of vast images out of Spiritus Mundi.

  120. 120.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2020 at 9:07 am

    @satby:

    those jobs are held by manly (white) men doing manly work

    So that’s why they get dumped on the ash heap of history while everybody frets about homeless sissies polluting our street corners with their hands out?

  121. 121.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    January 15, 2020 at 9:09 am

    Honest to god, I no longer have any sense of what can possibly be true.

     

    JUST IN: The entire Russian government resigns, clearing a way for President Vladimir Putin to enact reforms that would weaken his successor https://t.co/njvsLfhmhe— CNN International (@cnni) January 15, 2020

  122. 122.

    Butter Emails

    January 15, 2020 at 9:09 am

    @gene108:

    Is there another nation out there where everyone gets safer, more reliable, more fuel efficient vehicles for half the price? Because that’s what you’re arguing against. You’re basically saying we can’t have that because the people who do the financing paperwork for the vehicles will be out of jobs.

    I don’t like Bernie, but he indicated that he planned on a transition period with money for job training and presumably as a socialist he’s going to provide social support payments as well.

  123. 123.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 15, 2020 at 9:10 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:  Senator Harris want’s a political future, AG is a dead end job politically. There are many other Democratic prosecutors(say former USA’s) that would to a fine job at AG.

  124. 124.

    satby

    January 15, 2020 at 9:12 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: if you’ve never read it, you might enjoy it. He was an atheist.

    this quote is from The Ordeal of Change ” the resentment of the weak does not spring from any injustice done them but from the sense of their inadequacy and impotence.” In short, the weak “hate not wickedness” but themselves for being weak.

    which pretty much describes any hardcore Trumpist I’ve ever seen.

  125. 125.

    satby

    January 15, 2020 at 9:16 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Evangelicals aren’t Christian, if that term is defined as a “follower of Christ’s teachings”.

  126. 126.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 15, 2020 at 9:16 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Seems like sound advice.

    Crisis Reminder:Never believe initial reports.Wait for confirmation.Especially, do not trust attention-seeking social media dipshits, trolls and related disinformateurs, plus authoritarian regimes (allow for overlap).— John Schindler (@20committee) January 8, 2020

  127. 127.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2020 at 9:19 am

    @satby: It’s now on my “to read” list. This:

    In short, the weak “hate not wickedness” but themselves for being weak.

    Perfectly describes the avg cult45 member.

  128. 128.

    PsiFighter37

    January 15, 2020 at 9:22 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Harris should take the AG job if Biden (or someone else) offers it and then run for CA governor once Newsom is termed out. I don’t see her as being president for a while, if ever. I also don’t think Biden picks her for VP. YMMV, but her organization was a dumpster fire, and she showed pretty bad political instincts to boot.

  129. 129.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2020 at 9:22 am

    @satby: I agree, but don’t say that in an evangelical church, they will burn you at the stake for blasphemy.

  130. 130.

    PsiFighter37

    January 15, 2020 at 9:24 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: It would make sense if this was when Holder stepped down – it would have been a short-term gig (I think Lynch was AG for 1.5 years or so). I highly doubt she got a first look at the job – Holder had a fairly senior position with Obama’s 2008 campaign, and I thought he was always lined up for AG from the get-go.

  131. 131.

    Spanky

    January 15, 2020 at 9:26 am

    @mrmoshpotato: Yeah, except it’s spashed across CNN.com.

    And maybe the other choice presented to the Russian govt involved bathtubs or upper-story windows.

  132. 132.

    satby

    January 15, 2020 at 9:29 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: if provoked, I say it to their faces. Particularly after an anti Catholic slur presents (i.e. the “Roman” church for “Catholic” church. Even though I haven’t been a Catholic in 50 years. Fuck bigots).

  133. 133.

    geg6

    January 15, 2020 at 9:30 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    What you were given to write your test answers in, usually for essay tests.  I loved me a blue book class.

  134. 134.

    Raven Onthill

    January 15, 2020 at 9:31 am

    I think any ticket headed by Biden will give it away to the big banks. Since much profit comes from the fossil fuel industry, it would probably also fail to affect CO₂ emissions in time for the best result.

    Also, this from Josh Marshall: “Not sure we want to talk about ‘reigniting’ the relationship with Japan and South Korea.” – https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1217272709173989376?s=20

    Biden’s foreign policy expertise reveals how awful US foreign policy has been for decades.

    Better than Trump, but, gods.

    BTW, am pretty sure that Sanders said one thing and Warren heard another, not that this will help with the Berniestans, who are more than ever convinced that Warren is eeeevil. Women are held to a far higher standard than men. Sexism rules.

    Right at the moment, my hopes are dim.

    Well, hey, god made the world for corvids, right? Always plenty of food.

  135. 135.

    Spanky

    January 15, 2020 at 9:32 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: My guess is that Putin sees which way the tide will turn and is setting things up so he can go back to being a simple, obscenely wealthy Russian gangster/oligarch. ‘Cuz I’m pretty sure that’s where the power will lie in post-Putin Russia

  136. 136.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 15, 2020 at 9:34 am

    @PsiFighter37: If she wants to eventually run for CA Governor, the Senate is a much better platform, see Wilson, Pete.

  137. 137.

    satby

    January 15, 2020 at 9:34 am

    Ok, last plug for True Believer, which can be a tough slog through some dated terminology but worth it (from my previous link):

    Hillary Clinton, in her 2017 book What Happened, about her loss to Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential race, cited The True Believer as a book she recommended to her staff during the campaign

  138. 138.

    sherparick

    January 15, 2020 at 9:34 am

    @Kay: This is a very astute point.  The twitter left has always enjoyed Trump’s rhetoric and his hostility toward FBI, NSA, & CIA as institutions since they believe the institutions are inherently evil (as opposed to Trump who would like to see them more evil and is only mad because they are loyal to the “Constitution and United States” and not personally to him.)  Also, these people are completely indifferent to actually winning as opposed to showing their “virtue” because viciously trashing the leading woman candidate will mean that her voters will vote for ABB if Warren leaves the race.

  139. 139.

    Spanky

    January 15, 2020 at 9:39 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked members of the government for their work but added that “not everything worked out.” Putin added that in the near future he will meet with each member of the cabinet.

    … Making abupt dismissal of your entire government sound like the epilogue to a Dating Game episode.

  140. 140.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    January 15, 2020 at 9:40 am

    @germy: My fear is Bernie would accomplish exactly nothing as President.   How much actual legislation has he gotten passed in 25+ years in the Senate?  Any question he is asked he pivots to his canned “Income inequality” speech.   Why does anyone think that would change once he was elected President?  We are going to have to fight on multiple fronts and the next President is going to have to be able to work with a lot of disparate people and do some horse trading to get things accomplished.   We need to keep the House and flip the Senate, and we need to clean house in all the major departments of government, we have also lost a good deal of institutional knowledge as department “lifers” decide they just can not work for Trump (or are pushed out for not towing the party line).   Too much of the  judiciary (not just SCOTUS) is now Trump sycophants and they may be sitting on the bench for decades.

     

    Amoungst  other things where I diverge from many Dems, I would  prefer seeing the ACA expanded and improved over throwing everything out and starting over.  Although as badly as Trump and his cronies have managed to damage it I’m not sure that’s possible anymore.

  141. 141.

    sherparick

    January 15, 2020 at 9:41 am

    @Raven Onthill: I expect Bernie said it would be “hard,” “difficult,” or
    “unlikely” for woman to beat Trump in Pennsylvania and upper Midwest swing states and Warren heard (because such statements certainly imply) “a woman can’t beat Trump.”  Also, Bernie is phrasing it as him being accused of saying “a woman can’t be elected President,” which is a very different, more abstract statement then one about the dynamics of the 2020 election against a White Identity Populist Misogynist who is definitely going to attract the Woman hating vote.

  142. 142.

    Betty Cracker

    January 15, 2020 at 9:46 am

    @Kay: Hadn’t considered that angle, but it’s a great point.

  143. 143.

    sherparick

    January 15, 2020 at 9:48 am

    @satby: I agree its a great book.  I never found it a tough “slog” as it is small and Hoffer’s writing is pretty crisp.  Hoffer’s “argument” is not based on cited research, but as he states from the outset, didactic, teaching from his wide reading and personal observations and the exploration of his own interior mind.

  144. 144.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2020 at 9:48 am

    @satby:

    Particularly after an anti Catholic slur presents (i.e. the “Roman” church for “Catholic” church.

    I have a hard time with this one. I tend to agree with most anti Catholic Church slurs.

  145. 145.

    sherparick

    January 15, 2020 at 9:50 am

    @EmbraceYourInnerCrone: Again, even if Mitch McConnell is still ruling the Senate, the fact that Bernie can’t get anything done will be blamed on the rest of the Democratic Party.  It is what these people are.

  146. 146.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 15, 2020 at 9:52 am

    @Raven Onthill:

    BTW, am pretty sure that Sanders said one thing and Warren heard another,

    If you are talking about the 30 years/in 30 years, she did not mishear him, and she is correct.

    I can say “I last smoked a cigarette 10 yrs ago,” or “I haven’t smoked a cigarette in 10 years.” and both are accurate. Wilmer was trying to draw a distinction that wasn’t there.

  147. 147.

    NotMax

    January 15, 2020 at 9:54 am

    @sherparick

    the fact that Bernie can’t get anything done

    will be entirely consistent with his terms in Congress.

  148. 148.

    sherparick

    January 15, 2020 at 9:54 am

    @Kay: Or as it was put in the Life of Brian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WboggjN_G-4

  149. 149.

    rikyrah

    January 15, 2020 at 10:05 am

    @Kay:

     

    I think it’s a real problem for Bernie. He’s just not very effective against Donald Trump.

     

    He doesn’t want to be because he wants to appeal to Dolt45’s voters.

  150. 150.

    Immanentize

    January 15, 2020 at 10:18 am

    @sherparick: Your version of the private conversation doesn’t ring true.  Bernie does not use weaselly helping words.
    I’m Bold! (Not sometimes I’m bold)
    I’m Blunt (not on occasion, when necessary, I’m Blunt)
    I’m beautiful (Ok, not that)

    You are suggesting shadings that Sen. Sanders does not do. Like I said yesterday, so what if he said, in a private meeting, “This time around, a woman just can’t win this thing.”. That sounds like him. And it has some reason behind it.

    I blame him for denying it unequivocally. I trust Warren more than him on what happened. She reported it immediately after, so it made an impression on her, alright. Listen to people when they say they have been hit with aggressions.

  151. 151.

    Immanentize

    January 15, 2020 at 10:19 am

    @sherparick: Man, that is sooooo true.

  152. 152.

    Ruckus

    January 15, 2020 at 10:48 am

    @The Pale Scot:

    That’s because being a small business has changed substantially over the last 50 yrs. If you are in manufacturing the cost of admission has gone up dramatically. It’s not that the machines are dramatically more expensive, it’s that rent is, electricity is, payroll is, the shear number of expensive machines required is, the cost of getting new customers is different and more difficult because the number of small customers is far fewer. And as well the availability of qualified employees hasn’t kept up. That’s just one industry segment. Try retail, try competing against places selling the same product as you like Walmart, where prices are considered lower, even if they are really selling crap and should be lower.

    As a former small business owner, twice, over decades, I’ve seen the changes up close and personal. I’ve watched Walmart come into a smallish town and one by one all the small businesses close down, and then prices slide right back up to what they were in the area prior, but the number of jobs is down, the number of good choices is down, the number of poor is up and the quality of product is shit.

    That’s the big business way, crush everything in it’s path.

  153. 153.

    artem1s

    January 15, 2020 at 11:01 am

    I love the idea of Harris being in anyone’s administration. I love the idea of Senate minority or majority leader even better. I think the last few years have shown us what power that position can have even if the opposition is in the WH. I can’t think of anyone in the Senate better prepared and qualified to pair up with Nancy Smash or whoever she picks as her successor. The Dems historical power has traditionally been seated in the legislative branch. Time to take that back.

  154. 154.

    Another Scott

    January 15, 2020 at 11:24 am

    Bloomberg claims to have a plan to cut carbon pollution 50% by 2030.  Er, that’s 9 years away.  Seems, er, ambitious.

    As part of it, he released a fact sheet for clean buildings (7 page .pdf). Sounds great in some ways, but the timeline is way, way too short (0-carbon new buildings by 2025). And really understates the cost and difficulty in doing what he wants. He seems to think that he can just say it and make it so, or something.

    E.g. Our home was built in 1963. It has newish double-pane windows, a high efficiency gas furnace (that could be converted to a heat pump), a gas water heater (that could be converted to electric). But the house would need wiring upgrades in addition to replacing the appliances. And it will never be as well insulated and tight as a new building. The subdivision is full of hundreds of similar houses. Who knows if the electrical lines, transformers, substations, etc., would need to be upgraded if everyone quickly changed to all electric. What’s the mechanism to pay for all this? What’s to keep a mad rush to electrify all these old houses, power lines, substations, etc., from turning into massive inflation for such things? Where are the technicians going to come from (utilities typically have to borrow people from neighboring areas for repairs after storms)? Etc.

    It’s a big, big project. And this is just a small part of what needs to be done to significantly reduce our carbon emissions. Saying, “I launched a system for $134M in clean energy projects in NYC” is not evidence that you have what it takes to create a massive, nationwide, crash program for the USA on such a short timeline.

    Still, it’s good to have it out there as something to talk about. And it is important that we start feeling much more urgency about the problem, but he (and others) need to flesh this out much more.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  155. 155.

    J R in WV

    January 15, 2020 at 11:39 am

     

    @satby:

    @OzarkHillbilly: Evangelicals aren’t Christian, if that term is defined as a “follower of Christ’s teachings”.

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I agree, but don’t say that in an evangelical church, they will burn you at the stake for blasphemy.

    Thereby proving that they are not followers of Christ, who, so far as I can tell, never advocated burning anyone at the stake.

  156. 156.

    opiejeanne

    January 15, 2020 at 1:24 pm

    @geg6: They weren’t handed out at my Cal State University; we had to buy them at the student store. They were only 15 cents so most of us bought a few at a time, and someone in the class would lend/sell you one if you forgot to bring one.

  157. 157.

    Raven Onthill

    January 15, 2020 at 3:51 pm

    @Another Scott: Very late reply on this:

    Laying out the problem with natural gas in the USA – only one fuel in only one country – brought home the scale of the problem. Hundreds of millions affected. 30 trillion cubic feet of natural gas consumed in 2018. (Or, if you like, 850 billion cubic meters.) 7.5 billion barrels of petroleum. And we are to make a significant dent in this in just ten years? Just dropping fossil fuel subsidies and eliminating hydraulic fracturing (fracking) within the USA would raise the price of natural gas significantly. Before fracking became a routine practice, natural gas cost roughly 2.75 times its current price. Abandoning fracking and subsidies would perhaps raise the price to 5 times its current level. – https://adviceunasked.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-socialist-green-future.html.

    I end up arguing for a wartime economy, and I don’t like it at all. It’s “Blood, sweat, and tears” time for action on the environment, especially climate change.

  158. 158.

    Debbie(Aussie)

    January 15, 2020 at 8:44 pm

    @The Pale Scot:

    It’s who you know, not what you know! Is this a saying in US? Covers this situation perfectly,I think.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

VA Purple House Delegates

Donate

Political Action

Postcard Writing Information

Recent Comments

  • JPL on Ousted (Open Thread) (Oct 3, 2023 @ 7:28pm)
  • Maxim on Ousted (Open Thread) (Oct 3, 2023 @ 7:28pm)
  • Geminid on Ousted (Open Thread) (Oct 3, 2023 @ 7:27pm)
  • Alison Rose on Ousted (Open Thread) (Oct 3, 2023 @ 7:27pm)
  • Maxim on Ousted (Open Thread) (Oct 3, 2023 @ 7:25pm)

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
We All Need A Little Kindness
What Has Biden Done for You Lately?

Balloon Juice Meetups!

All Meetups
Talk of Meetups – Meetup Planning

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
TaMara
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Join the Fight!

Join the Fight Signup Form
All Join the Fight Posts

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Cole & Friends Learn Español

Introductory Post
Cole & Friends Learn Español

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!