Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Republicans in disarray!

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

People are weird.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

I really should read my own blog.

The lights are all blinking red.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

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

One way or another, he’s a liar.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Our messy unity will be our strength.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Monday Morning Open Thread: The Work Goes On

Monday Morning Open Thread: The Work Goes On

by | 243 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

Really, though, it’s not a bad article:

… [I}n all 50 states, there are elections down-ballot, ranging from must-win state house and senate elections to district attorneys, school board, county clerks, tax collector, judges, justices of the peace, and library boards (to name just a few of the many other positions that might be on your ballot.) And too often, folks who do show up at the polls fail to cast their votes for positions outside the top two or three, in part because they feel they don’t know enough to make a choice.

Go knock doors for those state and local candidates. Your energy will yield dividends, because the voter contact you do will make a difference for the entire ticket: young people and communities of color especially, who often feel dismissed or ignored by national candidates, can be more directly energized by local issues and candidates. And at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter which Democratic campaign gets someone to the polls as long as they get there.

Even if the candidate you support loses, the campaign itself strengthens party infrastructure for the next cycle. If the candidate wins, even better: A Democrat is now in office who can govern, deliver on their promises, and help prevent the GOP from causing further harm…

While it might be tempting to take a principled stand and not vote, the facts are what they are: The general election will be between Trump and the eventual Democratic nominee. You don’t get to go off-menu. The people who will be most harmed by your failure to vote against Trump are people who are already seriously hurting — that is a responsibility to take seriously, especially if you live in one of the battleground states where the margin could be dangerously close…

There’s very few have earned the right to stay home if they can’t get exactly what they want with their vote. Yesterday:


(Every Democratic presidential candidate but one made a point of showing up, and that includes Pete Buttigieg. Y’all can probably guess who couldn’t make the effort.)

And in Charlottesville, Virginia, per the Washington Post:

… For the first time since World War II, Charlottesville won’t honor the Founding Father’s birthday this spring. Instead, on Tuesday, the city will celebrate the demise of the institution with which Jefferson increasingly has become associated: slavery.

Liberation and Freedom Day, as the new holiday is known, will commemorate when Union troops arrived here on March 3, 1865, and freed the enslaved people who made up a majority of Charlottesville’s residents.

“This marks a wholesale shift in our understanding of the community’s history,” said Jalane Schmidt, a professor at the University of Virginia who helped organize the events, which, despite the name, stretch all week. “To take Thomas Jefferson’s birthday off the calendar and add this is a big deal.”

The switch is the latest sign of a city struggling to come to grips with its past. The reckoning began with the legal fight over Charlottesville’s Confederate monuments, which inspired white supremacists to stage the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally. But the debate has moved far beyond it — to the consternation of some longtime residents…

The event could mark a turning point for the town, which is part hip university tech hub and part Old South. For some, including many African American residents, the question is how far a city built by slaves, filled with Confederate statues and host to white supremacist rallies, is now ready to go to make things right.

“White Charlotteseville wants to claim the label of progressive and moving forward and awake,” said Don Gathers, a local deacon and activist, “but it’s still very much sleepwalking through what’s going on.”…

Reader Interactions

243Comments

  7. 7.

    Geminid

    John Lewis is a hero. A lot of modern day social justice warriors would benefit greatly by studying the real deal.

  10. 10.

    JPL

    We’re going to miss John Lewis when he is gone.   What an amazing man of outstanding character.

  12. 12.

    Immanentize

    I was asked to repost this from yesterday when I had a chance:
    … I just checked on some math thing that has been itching the back of my mind.  I can quite certainly report, with overwhelming certitude, that there is no evidence of a Sanders revolution.  There is not one state yet where he earned a larger percentage of the vote in 2020 versus 2016.  He has a ceiling and it is, seemingly state by state, his 2016 ceiling:

    State — 2016 % / 2020 % (going backwards)
    SC. — 26.2 / 19.9
    Nevada — 47.3 / 46.8
    N.H. — 60.1 / 25.7 (ouch)
    Iowa — 49.6 / 26.5

    Nevada is his closest so far. The crowded field is helping him by splitting the “nope, not-Sanders” votes. Sanders gets votes from no one new compared to the votes he had four years ago. That is pretty a scary result for a front runner.

  13. 13.

    Lapassionara

    Good morning. I heard that Wilmer was the only presidential candidate not at Selma yesterday. Bad optics, in my view.

  16. 16.

    satby

    @Immanentize: the one bringing new voters in was Pete, and Biden will also pull a lot of disaffected Republican and Independent voters in. Sanders’ nasty little troll army makes him seem more popular than he is.

  21. 21.

    Lapassionara

    @Immanentize: IDK. One tweet suggested that his fans do not really know anything about Selma and what it stood for. If so, another failure of our education system.

  23. 23.

    Betty Cracker

    Get ready for narrative backlash after Super Tuesday if Sanders comes up with a shit-ton of delegates. As predicted, Biden’s big win in SC resulted in the “come back” narrative. If Sanders gets the haul he’s expected to get on Tuesday, we’ll be back to “Bernie is unstoppable” takes.

    FWIW, I don’t think either of those themes is meaningful, but it is a self-fulfilling prophesy to some extent, though early voting has scrambled that a bit. Another thing to analyze in the off-season.

  24. 24.

    Chyron HR

    If you thought the Berniebro gloating over Buttigeig suspending his campaign was intense, just wait until John Lewis passes away.

  25. 25.

    Immanentize

    @eclare: Saddest part of this campaign so far is that Sanders managed to cause Chuck D to sever his relationship with Flavor Flav over the former’s performance at a Sanders rally which the latter objected to.

  26. 26.

    JMG

    @Betty Cracker: The narratives will struggle because California, where Sanders will get his biggest haul, won’t have final results for days and the exact number of the haul therefore won’t be either. Not that a lack of facts stops pundits, but it’ll be hard on them.

  27. 27.

    ByRookorbyCrook

    I would have advised rest for the Bird Whisperer of Burlington, but John Lewis came out to rally the Democratic base while fighting pancreatic effing cancer on the bridge where he shed blood for all of our rights. It is too easy for BS detractors to point out the optics of Sanders being rebuffed by the AA vote in SC and sitting out the Selma anniversary. I am honestly surprised he was not there. He seems to be in the background of every important Democratic event photo. Never the forefront, just in the crowd behind to make the appearance.

  29. 29.

    terraformer

    Trump will use coronavirus to “postpone” (i.e., cancel) the November election.

    Since they now seem to have the okay to do anything “as long as they believe it is in the best interest of America”, why not? Maybe all the bungling and ineptitude w.r.t. the virus, muzzling NIH & CDC, etc. is a foundation to simply not have elections? You think they wouldn’t do it?

  30. 30.

    Immanentize

    In other candidate news — I saw that Klobuchar cancelled a hometown rally because protesters took the stage before the event and couldn’t be convinced to leave.  Bad look for someone who wants to go toe to toe with the world’s worst leaders.  Anyhoo. I just think it signals that she is really no longer in the fight.  But!!!

    She outlasted Pete!  Plus one to her, I suspect.

  31. 31.

    Chyron HR

    @JMG:

    That’s perfect for Bernie, since any delay means that the evil money-grubbing corporatists are scheming to steal his delegates again.

  33. 33.

    Immanentize

    @eclare: I love Public enemy, and Chuck D and Flav, even in all their sexist glory (thinking Channel Zero); but Flav is right on this one.

  34. 34.

    debbie

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    We need to get the country back to where it was before the Current Abomination and then talk about a revolution (as in, ending inequality, racism, etc.).

  35. 35.

    Steeplejack

    I plan to vote for Elizabeth Warren tomorrow in Virginia. South Carolina reaffirmed the fact that conditions in this campaign can turn on a dime. I think that sometimes we get caught up in trying to game out “who can win” vs. who most represents what we want. At this point I can’t know absolutely who can beat Trump, but I do know who most represents what I want.

    I think there is a chance that after the election, with the benefit of hindsight and a little historical perspective, it could become clear that Trump’s support was so fragile—an enormous Potemkin village—that anyone could have beaten him. We don’t see the possibility now because the reign of the mad king is so awful. But if it turns out that way—big if, I admit—I don’t want to be saying, “Well, if I had known that, I wouldn’t have voted for so-and-so in the primary.”

    #BrokenGlass in November, of course.

  38. 38.

    Kraux Pas

    Every Democratic presidential candidate but one made a point of showing up, and that includes Pete Buttigieg. Y’all can probably guess who couldn’t make the effort.

    I went the first time. Hasn’t been the same since it became commercialized…

  39. 39.

    Jinchi

    @Steeplejack: We don’t see the possibility now because the reign of the mad king is so awful.

    I think you’re right about Trump being a weak candidate, and polling has supported the conclusion that any of the Democrats could beat him.

  42. 42.

    satby

    @Immanentize: as far as I’m concerned it shows that Pete is more of a team player. And yes, I know she’s supposedly staying in to try to hold down Bernie’s win in MN, but the third place guy gracefully steps aside while the fifth place, no delegate campaigner stays in? Glad she’s done. Bernie has been consistently underperforming his poll results, hope that continues tomorrow.

  43. 43.

    Immanentize

    @eclare: The clock thing is so much Flav’s mark, they coulda seen that dispute commin’ from Palin’s porch.

  44. 44.

    Soprano2

    I heard David Greene on NPR interviewing Karen Finney, a Clinton campaign spokesperson, about what might happen on Super Tuesday.  He spread the Sanders lie that the DNC was financially supporting Clinton’s campaign!  Finney corrected him, but he was resistant, saying something like “I don’t want to re-litigate the 2016 election” after she corrected him twice on misstatements!  Gee thanks NPR!

  48. 48.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @satby:

    Bernie has been consistently underperforming his poll results, hope that continues tomorrow.

    Seconded.

  49. 49.

    Immanentize

    @debbie: probably not.  BLM protesting her prosecution on the thinnest evidence of a young black teen sentenced to life — Myon Burrell.

  50. 50.

    Amir Khalid

    @terraformer:

    As far as I know, there is no one Constitutionally authorised to invoke force majeure to cancel or postpone a presidential election. Could der Scheißgibbon pull such a power out of his ass and do it? That would seem like a total failure of the system.

  54. 54.

    Betty Cracker

    @Steeplejack: Yep. Sanders and Biden are both awful candidates in different ways. It may come down to a choice between them, but I’m not about to add my vote to that outcome if I don’t have to.

  56. 56.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Amir Khalid:

    I remember people saying W would cancel the 2008 elections, and someone on BJ said that when 300 million people expect something to happen, it tends to happen. I found that comfortingly sensible then and repeat it to myself even now. So thanks, whoever said it!

  58. 58.

    satby

    @Immanentize: maybe, though. The supposed BLM people who disrupted the gathering here in South Bend of black Pete supporters were actually Bernie people, including the white guy who grabbed the microphone out of the hand of the black woman presiding.  Bernie’s people have been ratfucking other candidate appearances for a long time.

  59. 59.

    eclare

    @satby: I read the AP report about her behavior in the Myon Burrell case, it was abhorrent.  Teenager accused of killing a girl, being held, not indicted.  His mother died, and Amy refused to let him go to her funeral.

    Along with prosecuting on very tenuous evidence.

  60. 60.

    Immanentize

    @satby:. Buttigieg was very gracious indeed.  Makes me wish for that past to return when politicians did not burn down villages to save their time-share.

    I hadn’t heard that theory about Klobuchar staying in until after tomorrow for Minnesota purposes.  That makes sense and if I were the Biden team, I would have asked her to do so as well.  That could well be a form of team play.  She is not showing over 15% anywhere else, is she?

  61. 61.

    Geminid

    I will vote for Warren tomorrow in the VA primary. That said, for me Biden’s win in South Carolina was the first good news in this screwed up primary season.

  64. 64.

    Immanentize

    @eclare: The evidence was the most tenuous type — jail house snitch testimony.  This, forced/false confessions, and mis-identifications are the three pillars of wrongful conviction.

  67. 67.

    Princess

    I’m going to vote for Warren as long as she is still in when it is my time to vote.

    All those B candidates are too old, and it shows. (Biden’s confusion, Bernie refusing to admit he’s wrong about anything so doubling down on how awesome Castro and China are). I don’t really like or dislike any of them more than the other, but I don’t think any one of them would be an effective president (though better than Trump of course).

  68. 68.

    satby

    Ok, I surrendered and did a site feedback on these stupid top and border ads. Loading them and the constant refreshing is making it to hard to deal with. And I can’t find an ad blocker for Kindle.

  69. 69.

    Immanentize

    @satby: We were able to banish them once, but they returned.  And I am getting bottom of site ads too.  And one day, I had ads all around the edge of the site (cute little paw prints that I would have killed with death if I knew how). Those seem to be gone.  Also, intermittently, I get a full page ads when I use the site button for forward or back between posts…

  70. 70.

    schrodingers_cat

    We will soon find out how representative Balloon Juice is of the Democratic primary electorate since EW has won both the BJ frontpager and the BJ commenter primary.

  71. 71.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @satby: That is my experience on my (android) phone. I switched from chrome to firefox, which was slightly better, but not much. I never had such a horrible BJ experience on my phone before the site update. That said, I love how it works on my laptop, using an adblocker.

  77. 77.

    Patricia Kayden

    Charlottesville is a wonderful town so it’s good to see them tackling and moving beyond their Confederate past. Take all the Confederate statues down already.

  79. 79.

    Josie

    @schrodingers_cat:

    She hasn’t necessarily won the commenter primary.  There are a lot of us out here who are quietly making our own plans on how we will vote, regardless of the more outspoken people.

  80. 80.

    Immanentize

    @schrodingers_cat: I don’t think people supporting Warren really give a shit if Balloon Juice is Representative of the primary electorate.  I am fairly confident that we each have thought A LOT about each of the candidates and have decided as well informed voters who we personally believe, among those still in the race, will be the best person to lead the country.  At least that is how I came to my decision and a blogsite popularity preference had — exactly — nothing to do with my choice.

  81. 81.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @schrodingers_cat: Hah! My political preferences are rarely representative, which is ok. I unabashedly like EW. I think she’s smart, capable, and gets things done. She’s made some missteps in her campaign (who hasn’t?), but I think her failure to gain traction can mostly be attributed to our country’s deep-seated misogyny along with PTSD from 2016. I’m Team Biden if he wins. Will vote for BS if I must.

  91. 91.

    Steeplejack

    @satby:

    Thank you! I try to report everything I see to WaterGirl, and I’m glad other people are on the case.

  97. 97.

    germy

    Weird thing on here is fantasizing about who Trump would prefer to run against. You spent 4 years correctly calling this guy a dumb asshole why is his political analysis guiding your voting decisions now

    — Your Dad (@InternetHippo) February 28, 2020

  99. 99.

    topclimber

    @schrodingers_cat: I blame Cole. How come every Democrat in America does not patronize this blog? Spend some money on search engines, man. Let’s see some marketing.

  100. 100.

    p.a.

    Pete’s and Tom’s voters (well Pete’s voters and Tom’s voter) most likely to gravitate to Joe?

    Joe’s too old, I’m afraid he may replicate Obama’s 1st admin attempts to coopt some Rethugs, but I’m pretty sure he’ll fill his admin with good people on civil rights and environmental perspectives at least (his war votes still a concern).   So sad Warren hasn’t gained traction, and if she can’t win her home state… ?

  102. 102.

    JPL

    What is happening?   There is lots of love on this blog this morning.   No one sent me the magic pills.

  104. 104.

    schrodingers_cat

    @p.a.: She might, BS always underperforms compared to  his polls. They are running neck and neck and there are many undecideds.

    And that’s true about most states. BS is not inevitable, despite what Rose Twitter and BS bros in the media like to tell us.

  106. 106.

    Marcopolo

    Thanks for posting the Amanda Litman piece. I’ve been trying to amplify her excellent point for a couple months now after I first read it on her twitter feed.

    Thanks once again for everyone here who is doing campaign work, donating to campaigns, registering/supporting the registering of voters etc.. We are all in this boat together.

  109. 109.

    James E Powell

    @Amir Khalid:

    Could der Scheißgibbon pull such a power out of his ass and do it? That would seem like a total failure of the system.

    I don’t think that he could, but if he did his approval would plummet to 40%. Susan Collins would express concern then join every other Republican in supporting Trump. The press/media would debate whether Democrats were overreacting.

  110. 110.

    germy

    Thread from a woman with a good job and good insurance:

    Maybe the worst part of my so-far textbook pregnancy has been navigating healthcare. I currently have $700+ in outstanding bills due to inaccurate billing, erroneous tests and general bureaucracy. A thread:
    — Shannon Wink (@shannonawink) February 24, 2020

  112. 112.

    Marcopolo

    @Betty Cracker:All these comeback narratives ignore the fact that voting is so much more front loaded in 2020. CA didn’t vote until June in 2016. There is literally no time for the Biden campaign to take the $10+ million he has raised over the past several days and use it to buff up his campaign organization (you know, like hiring folks & opening offices) so it is pretty much going to be dumped into running additional ads.

    I’m not a Sanders supporter but in that regards his campaign is best positioned. It has been bringing in huge amounts of money ($25M in Jan & $46M in Feb) and has been putting that into his ground game all along. We will definitely see if there is a low ceiling for the percentage of voters he can attract and what that might be over the next month but I’m thinking he will win a plurality (though maybe not over 50%) of the delegates on Tuesday. He will do fairly well in CA & TX and he does seem to be the candidate who is garnering the most Latino support.

    All that being said, I will be voting for Warren either tomorrow or Wed at an early voting location in St Louis. And supporting whomever the nominee is in Nov.

  113. 113.

    Barbara

    My husband and I voted early on Saturday.  Busy polling place in Arlington, VA, but not overwhelmingly so.  We plan to be out of town tomorrow — still no “no excuses” early voting in VA.  I really hoped the legislature would change that, at least for the general election, but not this year.

    I can only take so much of the horse race analysis, I have found.  If you are looking for an interesting read that puts our history in perspective, I just finished The Club by Leo Damrosch.  What an incredible writer.  It focuses on Samuel Johnson and James Boswell, and the “club” of luminaries that Johnson created (Burke, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Oliver Goldsmith, Edward Gibbon, Adam Smith, and others) in around 1760.  I would call it a political/social history of England at the same time the U.S. was forming its independent identity.  It also focuses on several women who were important in Johnson’s life, like Fanny Burney.

  115. 115.

    schrodingers_cat

    @debbie: Just because I have disagreed with Warren’s strategy to win the nomination doesn’t mean that I think those who support her are my enemies.

    Comparing me to Nixon on the other hand is the height of civil discourse.

  118. 118.

    debbie

    @schrodingers_cat:

    No, it’s your long-held grudges. Just a couple of weeks ago, you pointed out for the millionth time how you knew better than “others” at BJ that the military wouldn’t control Trump.

  120. 120.

    germy

     In clips from his radio show as mayor, Mike Bloomberg repeatedly called for making cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. He repeatedly called social security a Ponzi scheme. https://t.co/JZBarIDcs0
    — andrew kaczynski? (@KFILE) February 26, 2020

    “Republican Talking Points 2020” (fits on a bumper sticker)

  121. 121.

    japa21

    Early voting starts in Illinois today.  I will be voting for Biden when I vote.  Can’t vote on the 17th as I am an election judge.

     

    If you live in Cook County, you will notice a change in the process when you vote.  We have had both paper and touch screen voting for several years.  That continues but a big change is that now, when you do the touch screen, when you are done a paper ballot will print out and that gets put in the scanner along with the regular paper ballots.

    I have a couple issues with it but it is now a complete paper trail which is good.

  124. 124.

    schrodingers_cat

    @debbie: I can see how that can be irritating.  Anyone could have seen it really. I don’t claim any special powers.

    I don’t see stuff with rose tinted glasses. Its a curse really because I can’t convince my parents how terrible BJP really is since they are refusing to see what is clear as daylight.

    Again I hold no grudges otherwise I wouldn’t be posting here or responding to you.

  126. 126.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @japa21: Madame and I used the touch screens to vote here in LA, it was nice not to have to remember to bring reading glasses, it prints out a paper ballot that you approve and then deposits it in the ballot box at the machine.

  129. 129.

    TS (the original)

    @Amir Khalid:

    OT – Many thanks for your comment yesterday on the politics  related to the appointment of the new Malaysian PM. You explained it so much better than any of the media people in my part of the world.

  130. 130.

    Josie

    @snoey:

    This is an important point.  I suspect that Putin does not want Biden to win because he believes Biden has the experience and connections to stabilize our democracy better than anyone else.

  131. 131.

    NotMax

    @BillinGlendaleCA

    Just a guess that touch screen machines don’t play well with being spritzed or smeared, probably repeatedly, with hand sanitizer from viralphobes who are otherwise afraid to touch them.

  136. 136.

    Immanentize

    I am no Covid19 sooner at all.  But some interesting news — one of Iranian leader’s closest advisors has the disease.  The pope cancelled a mass because of it yesterday (and reportedly coughed).

    1. Won’t it be interesting to see how much chaos the microbe causes?  For good or ill, and I lean in my mind toward the latter.
  138. 138.

    Brachiator

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I don’t see stuff with rose tinted glasses. Its a curse really because I can’t convince my parents how terrible BJP really is since they are refusing to see what is clear as daylight.

    A very interesting observation. I see something perhaps very similar with respect to conservatives I know who used to be more or less moderate, who refuse to acknowledge that Trump is bad for the country.

    Do you know why your parents or other people who behave similarly are like this? Do they approve of the BJP? Do they think that other things they have done are good for the country, and accept the bad parts as a necessary evil or minor consequence?

  140. 140.

    hueyplong

    Already early-voted for Warren here in NC, but am in the camp of people who are heaving sighs of relief that Biden instead of Bloomberg might be the “compromise” candidate to stop Bernie.

    Would love for tomorrow night’s election coverage to center on whether Bernie remains viable.

  142. 142.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The British economy would be at most 0.16% larger by the middle of the next decade under a comprehensive trade deal with the US, the government has admitted, laying bare the limited benefits from striking an agreement with Donald Trump.

    In a document published by Liz Truss’s Department for International Trade designed to kick-start post-Brexit trade talks with the Trump White House, the government said the British economy stood to benefit from an “ambitious and comprehensive” trade deal worth a fraction of GDP, equivalent to £3.4bn after 15 years.

    Prompting warnings from economists that the benefits would be far outstripped by the losses from crashing out of the EU, the official analysis also showed that a more limited trade deal with the US would deliver benefits to the UK economy worth just 0.07% by the middle of the 2030s, or about £1.4bn.

    The government had previously estimated the economy would be as much as 7.6% smaller should Britain leave the EU without a deal, and about 4.9% smaller under Boris Johnson’s preferred Canada-style agreement.

    Dr Peter Holmes, an academic at the UK Trade Policy Observatory at Sussex University, said: “The numbers are very small. It just goes to show how tiny the gains are from an free trade agreement with the US compared to losing our present arrangements with the EU.”

    Cutting off one’s British nose to spite their European face.

  144. 144.

    Marcopolo

    @schrodingers_cat:I always view the comments folks post here as saying a lot more about themselves than anything else. This is a pretty good example.

    I have been voting in D presidential primaries for about 10 election cycles now. I have never, repeat never, had the person I supported in the primary wind up becoming the nominee. Which, ya know, is just fine. I have always gone on to vote for whomever the nominee is in the general.

    It’s a primary for god’s sake. I don’t gauge the success or failure of who I decide to support in the primary based on who the final winner is because I am choosing the person who I think best represents my beliefs. I am not trying to game out who the eventual winner will be and then throwing my support behind that person because I already know I will support whoever wins.

    I still don’t think we know exactly how this yea’s primary plays out. If someone had told me a year ago that this is where things would be in March 2020 I don’t think I would have believed them.

    Anyways, Sanders is presumably the current front runner. It seems likely he wins the most delegates on Super Tuesday but not a knockout blow amount. There is a fair chance we get to the convention with no one having a clear majority. Biden has an uphill path atm to reach a majority but aside from him no one else has much of a path at all.

    The bottom line is, however, I don’t really worry whether my vote for Warren this week aligns me with a majority of other D voters or not. I will be joining them in November to vote for whoever the nominee is.

    And to all me fellow BJers, whoever you are voting for in the coming days/weeks (or have already voted for) thanks for playing an active role in the process.

  145. 145.

    Immanentize

    @O. Felix Culpa: Thank you.  I just don’t want to be trapped on the ship with a bunch of ports o’ call closed to us.  That sounds bad to me.  But the Immp is OK with it.  I am making him take Camus for the trip.  :-)

  146. 146.

    O. Felix Culpa

    I periodically check in on the facebook posts of a few BernieBros known to me. The triumphalism has shifted to we must all start phoning now now now to get out the vote for Super Tuesday. They sound a little nervous and I hope their anxiety proves justified come tomorrow evening.

  148. 148.

    tam1MI

    [quote]There’s very few have earned the right to stay home if they can’t get exactly what they want with their vote.[/quote]

    Women who have voted all their political lives for sub-optimal men to be President of the United States and then, the [i]one time i fucking history[/i] we ask our fellow party members to do the same for an eminently qualified woman, the leftards threw the election to Donald Trump.  That’s who has earned that right.

  150. 150.

    Brachiator

    @germy:

    In clips from his radio show as mayor, Mike Bloomberg repeatedly called for making cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. He repeatedly called social security a Ponzi scheme

    I wonder whether Bloomberg will offer a weak “apology” for this?

  152. 152.

    Marcopolo

    @Immanentize:Um, that close advisor to Khameni has died from COVID-19. Wonder how that Iranian deputy health minister–you know the one that gave the press conference saying everything was under control while being visibly symptomatic (sweating & coughing)–is doing.

  153. 153.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @satby: Yeah. Nasty people will be nasty. I saw that facebook won’t address homophobic hate speech. Not a novel observation, but there is something deeply wrong with Zuckerberg and co.

  154. 154.

    germy

    There is something weird in the fact that there's a longterm cease-fire deal in America's longest-ever war for the first time this weekend, and 60 Minutes viewers are watching a friendly interview with a war criminal who was pardoned by Donald Trump and now has an apparel line
    — Adam Weinstein (@AdamWeinstein) March 2, 2020

  160. 160.

    Immanentize

    @Marcopolo: Dead, huh?  I wonder what the conspiracy crackpots are saying over in the Middle East.

    I am starting to consider whether I should take my Mom out of the nursing home she is in when I return to have her live with me for a month or something here.  Fewer virus vectors in my home.

  162. 162.

    germy

    Fun fact about the Spanish flu: it's called that, not because Spain had way more cases than other countries, but because they didn't censor their media from reporting on its existence, giving the false impression that the pandemic was worse in Spain

    — Eve Forster ❄️??‍?? (@EveForster) March 2, 2020

  163. 163.

    Immanentize

    @JPL: But which of us, the Immp or me, will be the narrator and which Quequeg?  We will have internet, or so they say….

  164. 164.

    eclare

    @Immanentize: I took a cruise a few years ago, dreading the days at sea.  I was pleasantly surprised at how relaxing it was to sit up on the top deck with a book and blue sea in the background.

  167. 167.

    Brachiator

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I assume those ads work or no one would be paying for them, but good lord, who looks at them and says, yeah, I’ll buy that?

    I don’t watch a lot of regular TV, so I don’t see many tv ad spots at all. And I listen to a lot of podcasts, so I miss most radio ads.

    However, I do listen to news radio. The CBS station here in Los Angeles ran a Tom Steyer spot just after they reported on his dropping out of the presidential race.

    Talk about money down a rat hole.

  168. 168.

    Immanentize

    @JPL:

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    And to balance things out, Blindness by Saramago and for non-fiction, the Stanford Prison Project.

    Me?  I plan on taking the four volumes (translated) of My Struggle by Knausgaard.

    PS to All — anyone heard from G&T?

  170. 170.

    Marcopolo

    @Immanentize:I live with my 87 year old mom. I suggested last night she give some thought to not have the cleaning folks come by for the next month or two. We’ll definitely be letting them know if any of them are feeling the least bit ill they should not come. Neither she nor I spend lots of time in large groups of people (and if we take measures over the next month or two she will probably just stay home while I limit myself to necessary shopping trips) but we have no control over who they are in contact with

    Here’s a link to an article about what is happening in Iran.

    An adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has died from the new coronavirus, as other top officials in the country are confirmed to be infected, according to multiple reports on Monday.

  171. 171.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @germy: I was kinda proud of myself for that turn of phrase. Have I mentioned lately how humble I am? I am very humble.

  174. 174.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: I have been told you are at least the most humble person in the Holler.  And probably in MO as well.  If not the country.  Told by you, I recall….

  175. 175.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Marcopolo:

    I suggested last night she give some thought to not have the cleaning folks come by for the next month or two

    Why do you hate donald trump so much? Think about the stock market!

  177. 177.

    Chris Johnson

    @Immanentize: This. I came to Warren because I always did like her, and Sanders increasingly became dead to me. I would feel that way if all the commentariat hated her. Instead, only some of the commentariat hates her, and for reasons I can’t endorse (constantly wanting her to tear Sanders apart on ideological grounds, when those are the only thing the old coot has going for him).

    I find it heartwarming that ANY of the commentariat feels the way I do. Sure didn’t used to be the case when I was fool enough to put my faith in Bernie Sanders.

    It’s possible that, just as I had to get over myself and give up some of my pet fixations, you and/or others will end up needing to do likewise. But I did my bit, for now.

  178. 178.

    Brachiator

    @tam1MI:

    RE: There’s very few have earned the right to stay home if they can’t get exactly what they want with their vote.

    Women who have voted all their political lives for sub-optimal men to be President of the United States and then, the [i]one time i fucking history[/i] we ask our fellow party members to do the same for an eminently qualified woman, the leftards threw the election to Donald Trump.  That’s who has earned that right.

    Earned the right to stay home?

    WTF?

  179. 179.

    Barbara

    @Marcopolo: I don’t even remember who I voted for in most primaries.  I know I voted for Obama in 2008, and Kerry in 2004.  Before that, I don’t remember if I voted for Clinton in 1992.  I definitely voted for Dukakis in 1988.

    I do factor ultimate ability to win the GE in my decision of who to vote for in the primary.  If I want to send a message, I will find a much more direct way to do it than primary voting.

  180. 180.

    Immanentize

    @Chris Johnson: Oh, I am all in with the vote for whoever gets nominated at the Democratic convention,  Even if Nina Turner is the VP choice.  I consider THAT true commitment to the ultimate cause.

  183. 183.

    Barbara

    @Immanentize: If you have not already read it, I would suggest “One of Us” by Asne Seierstad as a possible alternative to Knausgaard (if you love him, more power to you, but OMG, I find the self-referential writing hard to take after a while).  The power of this book is hard to describe, but it comes not from documenting the black hole that is the life and thought of Anders Brevik, but from juxtaposing that nothingness against the beauty and generosity of some of his victims.

  184. 184.

    OzarkHillbilly

    <blockquote><a href=”https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/02/oklahoma-college-recruiter-fired-students-line-up-skin-color”>A college recruiter was fired after high school students in Oklahoma City said he lined them up according to the color of their skin and then by the texture of their hair.</a>

    Harding Charter Preparatory high school student Korey Todd told KFOR-TV that during the 24 February assembly, the recruiter from Oklahoma Christian University “barely talked about the school itself”.

    “He was like, ‘All right, let’s play a little game,’” Todd said. “Then he said: ‘OK everyone, now line up from darkest to lightest skin complexion.’”

    The 11th graders were then told to shuffle again.

    Student Rio Brown said: “He told us to line up nappiest hair in the back and straightest hair in the front.”</blockquote>

    No doubt he thinks of himself as good and very devout Christian just following the words of Jesus.

  185. 185.

    Immanentize

    @Barbara: I have a copy of “One of US” but I haven’t been able to read it because it feels too much like a busman’s holiday for me.  My wife was the big Knausgaard fan in the house.  But we both like Proust.

  187. 187.

    Barbara

    @Brachiator: I could say that I earned the right to stop caring after one of my kids for the umpteenth time has “missing” homework, but I don’t think about life in those terms. So long as I care about the outcome, I will remain fully involved even if the returns are more diminished than I hoped.   And in the political sphere, if I need encouragement, I think about the African American citizens who never stopped trying to attack the legal doctrines underpinning the rights of other Americans to discriminate against them.

  190. 190.

    germy

    @OzarkHillbilly:  I have vague memories of my childhood religious training.  The textbook illustrations of Jesus were blond hair and blue eyes, while Judas was more… swarthy.

  191. 191.

    debbie

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I have endured Donald Trump since 1978. I don’t disagree with you about anything that I can think of. That “keeping an account” was a bit discomforting, though.

  192. 192.

    zhena gogolia

    I just devoured Tessa Hadley’s Late in the Day. I don’t really identify with the demographic of her writing, but I just find her narrative style irresistible.

  193. 193.

    Brachiator

    @Steeplejack:

    I plan to vote for Elizabeth Warren tomorrow in Virginia. South Carolina reaffirmed the fact that conditions in this campaign can turn on a dime. I think that sometimes we get caught up in trying to game out “who can win” vs. who most represents what we want. At this point I can’t know absolutely who can beat Trump, but I do know who most represents what I want.

    Yep. Totally makes sense.

    I am voting for Warren in the California primary.

  194. 194.

    guachi

    I think you have to factor electability into your primary vote or you end up with results like Our Revolution (Sanders’ PAC) where they went 0-22 in Republican held districts in 2018 and won no Republican held seats in other races.

  196. 196.

    debbie

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Ha! We also have that two-step process, but because I was feeling a bit paranoid, I asked for a paper ballot. As soon as I sat down to fill in the little circles, I regretted my decision. On the other hand, it was a Democratic-only ballot, so I couldn’t go wrong. Lesson learned!

  197. 197.

    Marcopolo

    @Barbara:Here’s my sordid history: ’84 Mondale was the heir apparent; ’88 I caucused for Jessie Jackson; ’92 I supported Tsongass; ’96 Clinton re-elect; ’00 Gore heir apparent; ’04 Dean (I was in IA caucus weekend working for him); ’08 Edwards (WTF was I thinking…two Americas something something); ’12 Obama re-elect; ’16 I had no favorite (did not work or contribute for/to anyone) but voted for Clinton on primary election day.

    So no, no primary candidate I’ve ever been enthusiastic about has ever wound up being the nominee. I told all my friends when I decided to support Warren that it was probably the kiss of death.

  198. 198.

    debbie

    @Immanentize:

    Anything but “The Plague”!

     

    “Stupidity has a knack of getting its way, as we would see if we were not always so wrapped up in ourselves.” (Or something similar.)

  199. 199.

    Barbara

    @guachi: This is where I repost the tale of my co-worker the year after I graduated from law school, in which we discussed what issues would be important for the 1988 election.  She told me that divestment from South Africa would be a major issue.  When I told her that I had just moved from North Carolina and I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be, she laughed and told me that she thought that Cambridge, MA (where she had been a force for anti-apartheid activity) was more representative of the country than North Carolina.  Never underestimate the power of wishful thinking devoid of a broad spectrum of real world context.

  200. 200.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Princess:

    Bernie refusing to admit he’s wrong about anything so doubling down on how awesome Castro and China are)

    given all the keening in BernieWorld about how the media (and everyone else) are out to get him (and them), I’m astounded at how little attention his flip-flop on releasing his medical records is. As with trump’s taxes, if the documents reflected well on him, he’d release them

  201. 201.

    Immanentize

    @debbie:

    My favorite for this moment in so many ways:

    Nonetheless, he knew that the tale he had to tell could not be one of a final victory. It could be only the record of what had had to be done, and what assuredly would have to be done again in the never ending fight against terror and its relentless onslaughts, despite their personal afflictions, by all who, while unable to be saints but refusing to bow down to pestilences, strive their utmost to be healers.

  202. 202.

    Brachiator

    @Barbara:

    And in the political sphere, if I need encouragement, I think about the African American citizens who never stopped trying to attack the legal doctrines underpinning the rights of other Americans to discriminate against them.

    And of course there were the legal doctrines used to discriminate against women, and to deny them the right to vote.

  203. 203.

    guachi

    For me:

    ’92 (first election): Clinton after seeing him in a South Dakota debate answer a question about Native Americans intelligently. SD was fourth that year and I was impressed that someone from Arkansas knew anything about Native American issues.

    ’96 Clinton

    ’00 No preference. I’d have been happy with either.

    ’04 No preference but leaned Kerry. I was a MT voter 1992-2000 and a CA voter after that. Both states held their primaries on the last primary day in June so I had a long time to care.

    ’08 Obama all the way, especially after seeing him in MD in early February before the primary.

    ’12 Clinton

    ’16 Harris and then Warren. But  really anyone but Sanders. I’ve donated to Warren, Klobuchar, and yesterday to Biden.

  206. 206.

    Betty Cracker

    @guachi: Fair enough, but don’t forget to factor in Biden getting trounced by people like Michael Dukakis, etc., in previous contests. He’s been running for president since 1988, and he won his first primary this weekend. That doesn’t scream “electoral juggernaut” to me, and this “electability” thing maybe isn’t so cut and dried as people suppose.

  207. 207.

    Nelle

    • Very late to breakfast.  A Bernie fan called Buttigieg “a little sneak” for withdrawing before Super Tuesday.  This used to be a reasonable person.  I’m appalled.
  209. 209.

    schrodingers_cat

    @debbie: I think you misunderstand me perhaps it was a bad choice of words . I am trying to analyze the electorate. BJers are data pts representing highly engaged left to left of center part of the electorate.

    I am trying to figure out how representative a sample this is of the the Democratic electorate.

  210. 210.

    burnspbesq

    @Immanentize:

    Was he campaigning elsewhere?  Or resting; which I would advise.

    IIRC, he was campaigning in MA, attempting to fatally shiv Sen. Warren.

  211. 211.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    In other news, Jack Welch has expired.

    Jack Welch
    Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do anything..can’t debate so change numbers
    5:35 AM – Oct 5, 2012

    They say you should only say good things about the dead. Jack Welch is dead….

    I remember in the second Bush term–IIRC after Katrina but before the market crash and as Iraq was going to hell– he went on the Tweety show and said something to the effect of “President Bush has done everything right, how did everything go so wrong?”. He looked like Grandpa Simpson’s more confused older brother. He would’ve been in his early 70s.

  213. 213.

    James E Powell

    @Immanentize:

    I have no idea what’s awaiting me, or what will happen when this all ends. For the moment I know this: there are sick people and they need curing. Camus, The Plague

    A quote for our times.

  214. 214.

    Johnnybuck

    @guachi: Jackson ’84-’88, Clinton ’92, Gore 2000, Clinton ’08, ’16.

    You know what I never did though? Took my ball and go home if my preferred candidate didn’t win the nomination. As tempted as I might be if Sanders secures the nomination, I won’t this time either.

  216. 216.

    Brachiator

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I am trying to figure out how representative a sample this is of the the Democratic electorate.

    Probably not very representative at all, considering demographics and other indices.

  219. 219.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    NYMag:
    Famous last words

    Trump asked about safety of attending campaign rallies amid virus spread: “I think it’s very safe.”

    —@ZekeJMiller

  221. 221.

    burnspbesq

    Apparently today is Texas Independence Day. I find the rationale for celebrating this to be somewhat obscure.

    one more Warren voter.

  222. 222.

    Fair Economist

    @Immanentize: There have been several deaths in the Iranian leadership. One MP, an advisor to Khamenei (dunno if the same one) and a retired ambassador to the Vatican.

  224. 224.

    Betty Cracker

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’m trying not to fall into the trap of thinking “finally, THIS utter foolishness, incompetence and malice will wake people the fuck up!” But I’ll admit I don’t see how Trump comes out of this rolling clusterfuck unscathed, despite many stupid media outlets’ best efforts to normalize his behavior. He’s screaming on Twitter again about his hurt feelings as the virus spreads. It’s deranged.

  225. 225.

    Fair Economist

    I voted for Warren because a) she’d be the best President and b) in a contested convention she’s the only one I trust to have my interests at heart – seeking serious leftist solutions to chronic problems, but aware of political limitations. If the choice ends up between Bernie and Biden I trust her to make it.

  230. 230.

    Mandalay

    @Chyron HR:

    If you thought the Berniebro gloating over Buttigeig suspending his campaign was intense, just wait until John Lewis passes away.

    In general I think anyone should be able to post whatever they want on BJ, but you are a really vile piece of work. Must suck to be you.

  234. 234.

    debbie

    @Fair Economist:

    There’s a Twitter thread for that!

    1. I’m going to keep trying to get people to understand epidemics. Again, COVID-19 might not be vast death here. Or it might. The time to limit its spread is now. So, to explain epidemics, let’s discuss the 1918 Liberty Parade…— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) March 2, 2020

    (Twenty-plus more tweets follow; I won’t paste it all in.)

  235. 235.

    Chyron HR

    @Mandalay:

    The hit dog hollers loudest.

    ETA: In case some folks weren’t politically aware in 2016, let me remind you that Bernie had his bros SEND DEATH THREATS to Lewis after Lewis had the temerity to suggest that Bernie was not, in fact, one of the leaders of the civil rights movement in the 60s.

  236. 236.

    Geminid

    The Israeli polls close soon. According to The Times of Israel, voting is on pace thus far to be the highest since 1999. Arab participation is very high, probably because Trump’s “peace” plan would redraw the Israeli border to place a couple hundred thousand Arab Israelis in Palestinian territory. Preelection polling indicates a result similar to the two elections of last year.

  237. 237.

    burnspbesq

    @Mandalay:

    it will happen, and you know perfectly well it will happen.

    if you want to be an apologist for that kind of behavior, knock yourself out.

  238. 238.

    Ruckus

    @ByRookorbyCrook:

    Well he is a self professed non democrat.

    He has two twitter accounts, one listed as him being an independent and one a democrat.

    He is listed as an independent in the senate.

    I believe he has said he would run for the senate again as an independent.

    IOW he is not a democrat.

  239. 239.

    Subsole

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Is it a fox news/facebook sort of thing? I knew folks who just marinated in that ssss..tuff all week, week after week. It made them smaller, fearful. Meaner too.

    Worst part was you could break through the garbage, then they would go back, get their propaganda fix, and you were back to square zero.

    I frankly wonder if some of ’em got the shakes…like smoking, or some other addiction.

  242. 242.

    J R in WV

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    Nasty people will be nasty. I saw that facebook won’t address homophobic hate speech. Not a novel observation, but there is something deeply wrong with Zuckerberg and co.

    Zuckerberg is damaged merchandise, and the additional billions of dollars has just made it worse. No spirit there at all, IGMFU is all he’s got inside!

  243. 243.

    cokane

    @guachi: if you do that, i don’t see any empirical evidence that supports a Warren nomination. She consistently polls worse, way worse in matchups than either Biden or Sanders against Trump.

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