If Biden gets the nomination, that is unambiguously good news for the prospect of flipping Florida and its 29 tasty electoral votes in November. Trump calls himself a Florida man now, but like 99% of the louts who’ve made the state infamous with their bizarre antics, he’s a transplant, not a native, so he’ll get no favorite son treatment around here.
One advantage Trump does have in the state is a Republican governor and GOP-appointed secretary of state. Just ask George W. Bush what a big fat plum that is! But it’s looking like that edge may not be all it’s cracked up to be this year. Via Politico:
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The close relationship between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump is souring, and the bad blood is threatening to spill into the president’s reelection effort in the nation’s biggest swing state…
Since his election, DeSantis has prioritized the nitty-gritty of state policy fights over using his platform as a popular governor to defend Trump in the battleground state that could make or break the president’s reelection.
DeSantis is no verbal knife fighter, something Trump expects from those in his inner circle, and the onetime Fox News stalwart has ceased appearing on the cable channel. And with Election Day just eight months away, his pick to lead the Republican Party of Florida resigned on Tuesday after failing to deliver crucial get-out-the-vote infrastructure.
The “onetime Fox News stalwart” characterization understates what a completely shameless Trump toady DeSantis was just a couple of years back. He bum-rushed the Fox greenroom like Uncle Tater homing in on the Golden Corral buffet to attract Trump’s attention. That mission accomplished, DeSantis then parlayed Trump’s approval into a nomination, using the strength of his devotion to toss less pure rivals as if he were Dr. Jill and Symone Sanders dispatching anti-dairy protesters at a Biden rally.
As you may recall, during the primary, DeSantis ran an ad that depicted him teaching his toddler to “build the wall” with blocks and reading his children a bedtime story featuring “Mr. Trump” telling people “you’re fired.” It was nauseating. But this is a swing state, and after DeSantis won the Republican primary, he detrumpified his persona with astonishing speed. That has continued since he took office, at least when he’s away from large concentrations of wingnuts like The Villages. It’s almost as if he was just USING Trump.
Anyhoo, if Florida Republicans are in disarray, that’s good news, and if DeSantis just shit-canned his GOTV chief, that’s even better. Open thread!
The White House Coronavirus Task Force
Jerry
Serious question: what are Bernie’s prospects in Florida given his past favorable statements about Castro?
Baud
That is good news, Betty. It’s so unusual for a Republican official to become less extreme with age and experience and power. Do you think the governor thinks Trumpism is not a good-long term bet, or is that just my wishful thinking?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
So the dude that nearly created a coronavirus vaccine back in 2016 before all the research money dried up says we’re reactive, not proactive as a society, and that pharma can’t be trusted to do this right.
After the Great Plague of 2020 decimates the olds, and we declare 2021 Year Zero, I’m hoping that we shoot chemical/mechanical/tech IP protection into the sun. It restricts us as a species.
trollhattan
If Florida is truly in play then Biden is the kind of friendly, vanilla kinda Dem to bring ‘er home.
I feel dirty typing that.
Trump’s “move” there (I don’t believe he’ll live there during summer, so is still a snowbird of orange-hued snow) was pretty blatant in terms of him feeling as though it guarantees winning Florida. His prime failure here is the belief that to know him is to lurve him. It’s a chronic shortcoming that JUST MAYBE leads to his undoing.
Chief Oshkosh
The Villages.
The few people I knew who went to live there morphed into worthless, angry zombies. Weird.
dmsilev
I wonder how Wingnut Retiree Central is reacting to the stock market right now.
hitchhiker
My dear, I would read your grocery lists. Thanks for that laugh!
Also, here’s to discombobulated Republicans in every state and territory. They’ve earned every drop of fear-sweat.
MattF
Fascinating. It’s almost as if DeSantis understands that Trump losing Florida’s electoral votes would make winning the presidential election arithmetically impossible. Do you think Trump understands that?
dmsilev
By the way, according to the Post Bloomberg and his bank account aren’t going away. He’s shifting his campaign staff over to a new SuperPAC and they’re already working to piss off Trump:
Cacti
@Jerry: Latest Florida polling had Bernie polling only 12 percent in Florida to Biden’s 61 percent. But it also included Bloomberg and Warren, so it’s possible Biden’s margin may have gotten even larger.
Apologies for link to NY Post
different-church-lady
@hitchhiker: Indeed, we have a worthy sucessor to Molly Ivins right under our nose.
PenAndKey
Didn’t he move to Florida fairly suddenly while in the middle of multiple New York state level investigations against him? I always felt like his move was less election motivated and more an ignorant attempt at jurisdictional invalidation.
different-church-lady
@MattF:
Depends: is it printed at the bottom of a bowl of ice cream?
bbleh
It’s almost as if he was just USING Trump.
“no honor among thieves.”
trollhattan
@dmsilev:
Despite the annoyance of being carpet-bombed by them, some of Bloomberg’s ads are REALLY good so if he’s keeping the band together, they can now go after Trump 24/7.
There’s another positive–every ad buy is one that Trump can’t have. Opportunity cost and all. It’s a good strategy when you have more money than gawd.
Gin & Tonic
@dmsilev: It’s almost as if Mike Bloomberg has some deep-seated antipathy towards Trump.
prufrock
@Cacti: I’m a Florida Warren stan who has yet to submit his ballot.
I’m voting for Joe. Fuck Bernie.
PsiFighter37
I read the actual article – while it seems like there is some incompetence on the GOP’s part (no surprise), it’s hard to say this amounts to anything of consequence. Politico journalists is an oxymoron.
trollhattan
@prufrock:
If it makes you feel any better, had Warren dropped out before the CA ballot I would have made that same choice.
I know it doesn’t actually make it feel better, but tons of folks are in the same boat and the choice seems premade.
zhena gogolia
@dmsilev:
Love it!
Betty Cracker
@PsiFighter37: The gossipy sniping among Trump and DeSantis flunkies is inconsequential, but you don’t think the resignation of the guy charged with coordinating the reelection effort and building the GOTV machine eight months prior to the election is consequential? If so, I disagree.
zhena gogolia
@prufrock:
Thank you!
ETA: Signed, Kamala stan now for Joe
prufrock
@trollhattan: I’m just bummed that I didn’t even have the chance to fruitlessly vote for her.
It would be nice if we lived in a time stream where all of the primaries were conducted on the same day, and the ballots featured ranked choice voting.
guachi
@Jerry: Awful before his comments. Awful after his comments.
A poll released today had Biden at 60%, Sanders at 20, and 20% for the remainder. About 25% polled had already voted and 50% had voted for Biden.
SiubhanDuinne
@dmsilev: I’m having a moment here, and need help. The woman in the red gown who bursts into hysterical laughter — who is she, and what movie is that from? I know I should know.
hueyplong
@dmsilev: If I see that video I might have an “accident.”
prufrock
@SiubhanDuinne: That’s Julia Roberts! Pretty Woman.
Betty Cracker
@prufrock: I think I’ll skip the primary this year. Biden doesn’t need my help since he’ll win in a landslide, and it’s just too damned depressing, or at least it feels like it today. :(
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
No down ballot races?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@dmsilev:
The colored guy ruined it.
prufrock
@Betty Cracker: I vote even when I think the point is moot (or painful) because I need to stay in the habit.
Humdog
@PenAndKey: My husband says Shitstain moved to Florida so he can pick Ivanka from NY as running mate after Pence is blamed for virus troubles.
Aleta
Thanks BC for the thought ray of light.
@prufrock: Quite fucking right. I’m so angry at him I shock myself. And this heartbreak is even stronger.
Orange Is The New White
@Gin & Tonic: Kinda looking that way. FWIW I think he may have more than one.
I think Bloomberg is pissed because Trump – by claiming to be a member of his tribe, i.e. billionaires – makes the wealthy look like the small, shitty, cheating, amoral sacks of crap that every day of the Trump admin reveals them to be.
I also think he’s pissed just about Trump claiming to be a billionaire when he knows he’s really not.
I think also that there’s an outside possibility that Bloomberg is Jewish, and, well, the Trump administration has done nothing but place American Jews in a far more dangerous place than they have been previously
Hell, he may just have a sense of decency.
LeftCoastYankee
Florida. Paradise?
I do not think that word means what you think it means.
?
(apologies to Inigo Montoya)
guachi
Trump said today that it’s going to be all Ukraine all the time.
Betty Cracker
@NotMax: Nope, not this year, at least in my county.
hitchhiker
@prufrock:
Yes, in the scene where Gere is taking her to the opera and he opens a jewelry box with a necklace inside. She pokes a finger in and he slams the lid down. I read that this was just Gere fucking with Julia, but the director liked her genuine surprised laugh so they kept it in.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: I suggest you vote for Biden in the primary anyway, since we have no idea of all the ways the Rs (Russians and Republicans) plan on trying to cheat.
We may need every vote to counteract that.
Barbara
@Cacti: A margin of that scale is kind of incredible. To be honest, even though I live in Virginia I was stunned at the outcome in Virginia. We are also one of the few states where turnout among all age groups was up, though less so with younger voters.
germy
Baud
@Betty Cracker: That’s unusual. No primary for Dem congresscritter? Is your district even being contested (really red, right?)
SiubhanDuinne
@prufrock: DUUHHH! Of course! Thank you.
SFAW
I’ll believe DeSantis will flip on the Liar-in-Chief when I see it. How many stories have we heard about Rethugs standing up to Shitgibbon, only to have them roll-over-and-play-dead later? Lamar Alexander was only the latest, but I’d bet a beer or 12 that he won’t be the last — not even close.
That said: if it becomes exceedingly clear that the Traitor-in-Chief is going down like the Titanic, the I can see DeSantis doing a cut-and-run. [And, as far as I’m concerned, “exceedingly clear” means a lot more than just some polling or Nate Silver/Sam Wang estimates.] I hope I get to see Shitgibbon lose by 10 million votes and 100-plus EV.
I also hope I get to see Biden pick Warren as his VP, and then he resigns his Presidency on 1/25/21.
[But then again, I also hope the Wilpons get the Mets taken away from them by the MLB powers-that-be.]
SiubhanDuinne
@hitchhiker: I remember the scene, but don’t think I ever heard that backstory. Cute!
JPL
@WaterGirl: I had not planned on early voting, but think I’ll go tomorrow and vote for Joe.
Orange Is The New White
@guachi: Dems have been hollering for almost four years now about Russia and nobody gives a shit. Bring on “all Ukraine, all the time”. That won’t work either. Allegations of mysterious Slavic interference in elections is simply not effective with the American electorate who have been burned out by seventy years of commie-baiting that repeatedly turns out to be utter horseshit.
Oh, it’ll work for his hordes of flying monkeys, but it’s not like a single one of them would vote for a Democratic candidate under any circumstances.
Mary G
The article also implies they are fighting over money and control. A fundraiser took in $3,5 million and Desantis kept it all. Not letting Twitler wet his beak is one of the seven deadly sins.
There’s also an article in the Miami Herald about Florida refusing to obey administration guidelines on coronavirus tests. Maybe the governor read the writing on the wall and decided that the ship is going down in November and he needs all the lifeboats for himself.
zhena gogolia
@Orange Is The New White:
You believe that Russian interference in the 2016 election is “utter horseshit”?
joel hanes
@germy:
[Weinstein in jail]
Great. Roger Stone next.
Then Wilbur Ross, Steve Mnuchin, William Barr, and Mick Mulvaney.
Then Trump.
Then Jared and WJT Jr.
Then Pam Bondi.
Then McConnell and Graham.
I can dream, can’t I?
mrmoshpotato
Shouldn’t this post be titled Trouble in Pleasure? :)
zhena gogolia
bemused
Any relationship with trump sours sooner or later.
SFAW
All you Bernie haters, LISSEN UP!
St. Ralph the Pure has apparently tweeted:
As one wag put it: another endorsement for Biden.
Fuck Nader, that anti-American asshole. Thanks for Bush [ETA: and thanks for trying for 4 more years of Shitgibbon], you clueless mofo!
Cacti
@Barbara:
I figured his soft spot for LatAm strongmen dictators would cost him there, but even I was taken aback by the margin.
Better now than November.
Johnny Gentle (famous crooner)
@Jerry: I think it definitely hurts. Whether it’s a minor setback or a significant one is open to debate.
Younger Cubans and those born in the U.S. instead of Cuba are more Democratic, but overall, the Cuban population in South Florida is still mostly republican. An article reported it as 54% republican, 19% Democrat, 26% no party.
Even if younger voters are less responsive to pro-Castro comments (which seems questionable), they are still a smaller number. Alienating even some of them would be damaging, while motivating an even larger number of older Cubans to vote against our nominee would be even worse.
Should anyone think that Castro isn’t that big a hot-button anymore, I’ll point out that it wasn’t that long ago–2012–when the Marlins’ manager was suspended and nearly fired because of outrage over some pro-Castro comments.
On a side note, Sanders could negatively affect at least one House seat. Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell edged out Carlos Carbelo to take the most closely contested seat down there. If she’s forced to explain or run from Sanders’ comments while her opponent goes to town on them, that surely won’t help.
...now I try to be amused
I’ve long wondered if any of these sycophants would get more out of Trump than Trump got out of them.
SFAW
@joel hanes:
My only quibble is that I’d put Shill Barr before Ross, Mnuchin, and Mulvaney. But outside of that, I’m with you, kiddo.
SiubhanDuinne
@JPL: I’m doing the same.
SiubhanDuinne
@SFAW: He’s still alive?
Another Scott
@Betty Cracker: Nothing succeeds like excess.
More D’s voting in every election means that more R’s will be scared.
Always vote. :-)
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@JPL: At this point, there’s only one democrat running, so i say vote early
vote often!J R in WV
@Chief Oshkosh:
My RWNJ brother recently moved to a Sun City retirement complex in TX with some 9,500 homes, 3 golf courses (he doesn’t play, he shoots long guns and pistols) and several gyms.
He may be an angry zombie already. He tells me he is already hooking up with the local Law Enforcement folk as a volunteer, which appears to be his main hobby now that his kids are grown up past the Boy Scout cult.
I hear those developments have sky-high STD rates… hmmm.
opiejeanne
@prufrock: Good on you.
For some unknown reason you were pied, and I just had a hard time getting you un-pied. It looked yummy, but I have no idea how that happened.
And thank you.
Martin
@zhena gogolia: I saw his data guy on some program after Bloomberg dropped out and was pretty impressed. Very matter of fact. ‘Yeah, we saw the shift on Sunday, grew on Monday, expected it to grow Tuesday. We knew if the poll was 12 hours old it was probably already wrong – things were moving that fast.’
No effort to spin the results. It was what it was. Said he’s focused on November now. Claims he has better polls than anyone, and I suspect he’s right.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Congressional district primaries are in August.
opiejeanne
Ok, Humdog and Barbara are showing up as pied people, and I know I didn’t pie either of them.
I should report this to Watergirl.
germy
@J R in WV:
Sounds like he’s really aching to shoot somebody.
Yutsano
@Martin:
Good. Let’s get some of those polls focused on the Senate races. With Bullock throwing his hat in the ring in Montana we might get an unexpected pick-up there. Now if we could only get the House seat…
ETA: But I’m being a greedy fuck. I want the open seats in Kansas and Tennessee and Georgia too. Hell I want them all.
opiejeanne
@JPL: We just dropped off our ballots. We were waiting to see the fallout from Tuesday, and today it was clear.
Oh, Kamala, I wish I could have voted for you.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@SFAW: The unfortunate presence of Michael Moore had me wondering about Ralph. He’s been quiet for a while, and I assumed I would have heard if he slipped the surly bonds. I guess he still has all the faculties he ever had.
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne: Take advantage of a day without rain.
clay
It’s true. My wife works for a community college, and she’s been very impressed with DeSantis’ commitment to the community college system. He’s even come to her school to award grants that she helped write. Made a big public show of it and everything.
zhena gogolia
@opiejeanne:
If they reply to somebody you’ve pied, they’re pied too.
opiejeanne
@Mary G: Washington state is conducting their own tests, and processing them at UW, and expect to be testing up to 1000/day with faster turn-around.
Florida is sending some of their tests to the UW lab for processing.
JPL
@opiejeanne: Kamala will be the next VP. How do i know, you ask? She didn’t jump on the Joe bandwagon so can’t be accused of quid pro quo as the pres likes to say.
Unfortunately, my hunches are seldom right, but there is always a first time.
KrackenJack
@Betty Cracker:
It’s a good principal to vote for your preferred candidate no matter how far ahead or behind they are. Pragmatically, Biden’s margin of victory will play into the narrative.
Despite waffling up to last minute, I couldn’t bring myself to vote strategically on Super Tuesday. However I don’t regret my vote for Warren.
zhena gogolia
@Martin:
Thanks for your advice last night. We cancelled the trip and are feeling much better. It wasn’t a FUN trip, more of a duty and not an urgent one, so I think it was the right call.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@JPL: it’s my dream, but I’m told she doesn’t unify the party
zhena gogolia
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I really don’t know what he’ll do, but I think he’ll make a good decision. I’m not expecting a Joe-Lieberman-level disappointment.
Yutsano
@zhena gogolia: This is the one thing I can guaran-damn-tee you Barack is consulting him on. And I’m certain Barack has a few good ideas.
opiejeanne
@zhena gogolia: I know. I tried to un-pie everyone I could, but it’s hard because only the ones I actually did pie are showing up in the filter. And sometimes the ones I didn’t pie don’t show up at all on the general list.
There’s ghost pie-ing going on here, I tell you.
Martin
@zhena gogolia: I’m glad you feel better about your decision. That’s what matters.
The theory here is that a trip deferred today gets us more quickly to a state where we can take trips freely.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Broken clock is right. There’s something really wrong with him: the way he trashes Black voters, while pining away for White voters who eat at roadside diners.
lamh36
@guachi:
Would love If this happens, GOOD! If not the nominiee directly, you can bet Bloomberg and othe PACs will, AS THEY SHOULD!!!!
I know ForeverFLOTUS said “when hey go low we go high”…BUT…this is war. FUQ going low. Drags this mofos down!
kindness
I went from Kamela to Elizabeth and now to Uncle Joe. You gotta vote in the primary Betty. Your voice needs to be heard.
One would think I’d have gone to Bernie. I prefer his notions. I just have yet to see any evidence that Bernie can bring competing groups together to form a cohesive object (like a law or a policy). Because Bernie doesn’t see the need to do that. Bernie is going to be Bernie and we have a ton of rebuilding after 4 years of Trump. We can’t have 4 years of nothing getting accomplished. At least Uncle Joe will start to get us there. That’s my take at least.
Frankensteinbeck
@guachi:
Sun pony, please, let this be true. That attack already flopped. Nobody cares. This isn’t HIllary that’s a woman seeking power and has 30 years of media character assassination built up. This is Fun Uncle Joe. Reactions to Ukraine are already set, and they range from “What the Hell are you on about, boy?” to “Oh, right, Trump admitted to commiting a crime by asking a foreign power to meddle in our elections” to “Trump can’t possibly be insane enough to believe that, can he?” Beating the Ukraine drum would be one of Trump’s greatest and most in-character displays of shooting himself in the dick ever.
JPL
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: You think? Until recently his immigration track record wasn’t that great also.
opiejeanne
@zhena gogolia: I missed this.
We are waiting to see if our plane tickets to Paris will be refunded without penalty. Right now our airline has started dropping the penalty for changing the date of flights, but not that far out. By early April we should know.
We bought trip insurance, and if we get sick before the trip we will not go and we will make a claim for a full refund.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
opiejeanne
@JPL: That is my hope.
JPL
FYI Melania is on twitter bragging about her tennis courts at the White House.
JPL
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Bless his heart.
WaterGirl
@opiejeanne: Are you sure he was pied?
FYI, if you pie me, for instance, I will be pied, but Omnes would also show as pie for any comment where he replied to me.
WaterGirl
@opiejeanne: Did they by some chance reply to someone you DO have pied?
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: I’m so glad to hear that! I think you made an excellent decision.
Miss Bianca
@zhena gogolia:
Oh, I am so hoping Bloomie really is prepared to put his money where his mouth is when it comes to getting out the vote in the swngiest swing states.
West of the Rockies
@prufrock:
Oh, but wouldn’t a Harris v. Ivanka debate be hilarious?!
zhena gogolia
@Martin:
Yes. We’re hoping to do the same activity on another occasion.
JustRuss
@kindness: I’m about the same. Like Bernie’s ideas, don’t have a lot of faith in his ability to play with others. I trust Biden will keep the lights on and get the holes patched, that’s something.
zhena gogolia
@lamh36:
Right! So encouraging!
zhena gogolia
@lamh36:
My fave Jim Himes is quoted in that story. I love him.
zhena gogolia
@opiejeanne:
Ours was just an Amtrak trip but it was stressing me out anyway.
opiejeanne
@Martin: Please share your wisdom with me, because I am not sure what to do yet and I will listen to advice. The plane leaves SEATAC on April 27, stops in Iceland for an hour, then continues to Paris. Coming back from Amsterdam, leaving on May 19th, 2 day stopover in Iceland, back to Seattle on the 22nd. There’s a weekend trip to Geneva planned, and reservations to stay at a hotel, an ancient building, on Mont St Michel. The hotel reservations we have now, some can be cancelled without penalty. There’s a rental car that can be cancelled, and train tickets from Paris to Amsterdam that we can afford to eat, along with some of the hotel arrangements. Eating the plane tickets will be a hard thing to swallow, and if offered I’ll try to rebook for next spring.
We are no longer spring chickens. Dave turned 73 today, Monday I will be 70, and our physical ability to travel like this will be ending in a few years, so we’d like to not have wasted the money.
We have trip insurance, and will put in a claim if one or both of us gets sick before then.
Mr. Mack
I guess I don’t understand the pie thing. I just scroll. I remember some very nasty trolls here but I never had a problem scrolling on by. Plus, it was fun watching them their collective asses handed to them.
trollhattan
@germy:
It’s a decent doppelganger for George Zimmerman.
zhena gogolia
@JustRuss:
My husband was for Sanders early on in 2016 because of his “message.” But when we looked into him a little bit and talked to people from Vermont, he quickly came over to the Hillary side.
zhena gogolia
@Mr. Mack:
I’m like you, but I did use the pie filter a couple of times now that there’s a cat cake, and it’s fun. But I don’t usually do it.
opiejeanne
@WaterGirl: Yes, I understand this. These people weren’t talking to anyone who is pied, they weren’t answering anyone who is pied, and one pied comment was a stand-alone.
lamh36
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: says who?
alot of female Warren supporters overlap with Kamala Harris supporters.
White males are a hard sell anyway. They are likely to lean Sanders more.
Besides which, Biden owe his resurrection to African American voters, so I’d say short list is Harris, Abrams, Warren, AmyK Buttigeig.
In that order, of likely African American support (I include Buttigieg because I think African American voters would vote for Pete as long as he NOT top of the ticket, experience matter to those voters)
trollhattan
Bailey has decided if the campaign’s over, then he can go back to being a dog.
Miss Bianca
@trollhattan:
Aww, so funny! At least, it’s funny when it’s someone *else* prying open a Naughty Food Hound’s mouth, not me!
opiejeanne
@Mr. Mack: I use it to remind myself not to feed the trolls. Sometimes, if a bunch of people answer them, I will toggle the pie switch off so I can read. It’s impulse control, and yes, I am a child.
thalarctosMaritimus
opiejeanne: prufock probably responded to someone else you had pied.
Pies are transitive.
L85NJGT
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Numbers done gone the wrong way. Maybe they can squeak out a win in MI and keep a narrative going for another week, and ego is on the line because he won there in 2016.
They should have heeded the Minnesota results sooner and camped out in Michigan, but I’m sure they blame Klouchbar instead, and have internalized Moore’s idiocy about what is “representative of America”.
Ocotillo
I have been an EW supporter and voted for her here in Texas. Nonetheless, Wednesday just felt good. I really went into a funk the evening we realized Trump had won and Wednesday was the best I have felt in quite a while.
Biden seems to have lost a step and I worry about that and he has been wrong on issues in the past but at the end of the day, he is just a good guy. Goofy maybe, but his heart is pretty much in the right place and I hope Dr. Jill is prodding him to assemble a great team should he oust the Orange Ogre in Nov.
With the right people around him, I think we can count on him to be a good president and begin the long slog of putting things back together after the vandal hordes have ransacked our government.
(edited to fix typo)
opiejeanne
@thalarctosMaritimus: I know this, and no, he was either not responding to anyone at all, or to anyone I had pied.
TS (the original)
@SFAW:
No man would ever do that, regardless of the benefit to his country. They are born to rule.
WaterGirl
@Mr. Mack: For me, the pie filter is most useful when BJ peeps get sucked into the back and forth with someone who, shall we say, doesn’t have the best interests of BJ or jackals at heart.
If there’s pie flying everywhere, I just bail.
Elizabelle
@thalarctosMaritimus:
That is just a way cool sentence.
JPL
@trollhattan: lol I saw that and they were correct in trying to remove the food. Sometimes burritos have ingredients that might be harmful.
zhena gogolia
@opiejeanne:
This is what Martin said last night about my trip planned for this coming Tuesday, New Haven-Philadelphia:
WaterGirl
@opiejeanne: There’s one more bit of fine print with the pie filter that’s hard to explain, and it has to do with parent and child comments.
If you tell me the nym and comment # where someone was pied unexpectedly, I can see what’s going on.
Elizabelle
@WaterGirl: We can always peek under the crust with the “toggle” switch.
But when the thread starts looking like a patisserie — out of there. We have had some positively caloric threads.
WaterGirl
@opiejeanne: I am about to send you an email message.
TS (the original)
@JPL:
Is there a young tennis coach involved?
Aleta
@opiejeanne: Saw news stories today that some major US airlines are cancelling fees for flight change or cancellation. Exactly what they allow differs by airline, and the dates the ticket was bought matter (but I’m not sure how far back the allowed purchase date goes). Some of it seemed designed to encourage people to buy new tickets right now w/o fear. But you could call yr airline to ask if yr cancellation fee has changed. And maybe keep calling them every week or so to ask again.
Orange Is The New White
@zhena gogolia: Not what I said. I’ll repeat:
The American electorate does not and will not believe allegations of Russian/Ukrainian/any other Slavic ethnic group interfering in US elections because Americans have been demagogued to death on the subject for literally 70 years, and those allegations were all lies.
Now that we have a likely case of real Russian interference, nobody outside of politics/process junkies and computer security jerks (that’s me) will believe it. And they shouldn’t. If you have been hearing your leaders crying wolf for seventy fucking years, when the wolf comes, you won’t believe it until it’s eating your intestines. And possibly not even then.
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: Yeah, some of those threads are enough to send me reaching for real, actual pie. Or chocolate!
chopper
@Frankensteinbeck:
“okay, boss, here’s the idea. you know that ukraine thing that got you impeached and then like 60% of the country’s population felt you shoulda been shitcanned over it? stragety is, we’re just gonna bring that shit up every. single. day. can’t lose!”
Martin
@lamh36: I think it’s Harris or Abrams. Abrams might even put Georgia in play.
A Ghost To Most
Paradise is obviously in the eye of the beholder.
JaySinWA
@Elizabelle: A fancy way of saying pie rolls down hill.
Betty Cracker
About skipping the primary: this’ll probably get me pied and/or yelled at by everyone, but if I planned to vote strategically in the Florida primary, I’d probably vote for Sanders. I dislike Sanders, but I’m not wild about Biden either, and Sanders’ policies align more closely with mine.
If it were a close race, I’d feel an obligation to not only participate but factor in things like “electability,” the presidential candidate’s possible effect on down-ticket races nationwide, etc., and agonize about the choice. But this isn’t going to be a close primary election. Sanders is going to get squashed like a bug in Florida: that was a given last week, and even more so now.
So, I can use my primary vote to signal that there are people in Florida who support a progressive agenda, or I can add to the pile-on of the last-standing progressive, who also happens to be an arrogant crank. TBH, option A seems like the more constructive choice. Staying home seems even better since I really don’t want to vote for either of them unless I have to (i.e., in the general).
Cameron
DeSantis may be on the outs with Trump, but he’s still 100% wingnut. Every single judge he has pushed for is a member of the Federalist Society (at least, that’s what I read in the Tampa Bay Times). Between that and the state legislature pushing boondoggle toll roads to nowhere and other money-crony follies, there’s a whole lot to clean up down here even if the swinish oaf is ejected in the fall.
dr. luba
@kindness: Agreed. I spoiled my MI absentee ballot today and got a new one, voted for Joe. Not my first (or second, or third) choice, but I’m with the rest of sane America. I want normalcy, not another screeching demagogue.
Aardvark Cheeselog
@mrmoshpotato: “Schadenfreude in Paradies?”
zhena gogolia
@Orange Is The New White:
I think I have a different opinion of the USSR than you do.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Betty Cracker: he’s not a progressive, he’s a populist. Aside from his checkered voting record, a progressive wouldn’t rail against what he derisively calls “identity politics”. And he’s a populist who is consistently insensitive towards POC.
lamh36
@Betty Cracker:
Eh…
No yelling from me. Your reasoning isn’t really that suprising so no need to be pied
satby
@dr. luba:
Word.
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker:
Vote for the person you think would be the best President. Think about it carefully. I don’t think voting is about “signalling.”
Sure Lurkalot
I am booked to fly to Burbank next Friday for my niece’s wedding. I’m a relatively healthy 65 year old but I don’t really want to go. I talked with my brother (bride’s father) and told him I’m looking at the situation day by day. He’s older than me and said that one of his friends who was planning on attending is not going on the advice of his doctor. I will likely make my decision by Wednesday when I would have to cancel my hotel reservation without penalty. Ugh.
JaySinWA
@Betty Cracker: I am having trouble following your logic. Biden is not a done deal. Keeping Bernie from viability would be my goal, and if a signal or protest vote is what you want, surely there are other progressives who are out, Warren or whoever, still on the ballet that will make that statement without adding more risk to a Bernie convention burning.
A Ghost To Most
@Betty Cracker: Whatever works. This consolidation probably saved the party and the election.
satby
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: And as a result, at this point a vote for Sanders is interpreted as just a cultist voting. He’s pretty much repelled everyone else.
zhena gogolia
I really envy the people who get to vote in primaries while it still matters. I’ve never had that pleasure.
lamh36
@zhena gogolia: me either…I live in Louisiana never a Super Tuesday state that I recall
JPL
@TS (the original): Enquirering minds want to know… hmm
zhena gogolia
@lamh36:
If you had the chance, you probably would never skip it. Hell, I never skip it even though it’s over by then.
Lacuna Synecdoche
Betty Cracker @ Top:
Sadly, that probably works somewhat to Trump’s benefit, to a minor extent. Specifically, to the extent that the states that know Trump best – NY, NJ, CT – tend to hate his fucking guts.
In his home state, and the other states that know him well, Trump’s ‘favorite son’ treatment is more like ‘disowned son’. That may be why he and Stephen Miller get along so well.
Gin & Tonic
@chopper: Actually, Ukraine has its own problems right now, and doesn’t give two shits about the US of A. The entire Cabinet resigned yesterday, a new government is being formed.
It’s too complicated to explain right now.
trollhattan
@TS (the original):
“But, I’m the pool boy.”
“Dot’s okay, you carry a stick eeder vay.”
zhena gogolia
The photo in this tweet is priceless
J R in WV
@opiejeanne:
The only people on the filter list will be those you have added to that list. But in a thread, when other commenters, say me, reply to a pied individual, then that comment from, say me, will show up as pied. But you can always toggle that comment out of the pie factory.
The only users that show in the “general list” as you name it will users who have commented in the current thread — the thought there probably being that you won’t want to pie someone who isn’t in the current thread. I would imagine the list of everyone who ever commented would be hugely too long to deal with every time you refresh a thread.
hope this helps!!
pamelabrown53
@SiubhanDuinne:
Pretty Woman? Love that Roy Orbison song.
Aleta
good lyrics: “The Day Democracy Died” Sung by The Founding Fathers
catchy: ANY DEM WILL DO! – Randy Rainbow
Yutsano
@Gin & Tonic: Does this mean Zelenskyy is ungestuppt?
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker: Vote for Elizabeth. She is very likely still on the ballot. (In Virginia, we had Castro and Williamson and about 11 names.)
Progressive values and you don’t have to vote for the old crank.
But up to you. It’s throwing your vote away if you vote EWarren, or stay home.
Write in Badger.
jeffreyw
@Betty Cracker: You know what signal you would be sending with a Bernie vote but the vote counters do not. It’s just another vote for Bernie.
trollhattan
@zhena gogolia:
It was weird to matter for a change. Even if the vote had a half-life of (checks watch) two days.
I hope CA retains our Superduper Tuesday status going forward. June primary was just stupid.
Chyron HR
@Betty Cracker:
Did supporting Sanders to “send a progressive message to the party” work out the way you thought it would in 2016?
Yutsano
@trollhattan: If y’all could just get a little less expensive that would help ‘mmmkay?
Martin
@opiejeanne: Ms Martin has trip in July to the Netherlands so, we’re looking at the same situation just 2 months later.
I suspect SEATAC will be closed to travel in a matter of weeks. We clearly have an outbreak in Kings county. The county has advised everyone in the county work from home and individuals over 60 not leave the house. That would pretty much set the decision for me right there. I’m guessing closing SEATAC to passenger travel is at least on their response list. Not sure how far down it is. I don’t see how they can’t do a ‘work from home’ guidance and not start to close down the schools and travel. And we have no way of knowing if things can return more or less to normal by late April.
I think the EU may ban travel *from* the US within a month. Not that the US necessarily has so many cases relative to China, but it’s apparent that we are currently in a fair bit of denial at the federal level and largely paralyzed from the local to the federal levels. If I saw screening of passengers, and sanitation of planes (trains, etc.) between flights, I’d feel a lot better. Shutting down of public spaces. Wider testing. But right now, you don’t know what you’re jumping into. That stuff will be better by April, but we also don’t know how many more cases will pop up by then.
We just know so little. If you can wait a week, I’d wait a week. Things in Washington are developing quickly – they actually developed their own test. The county seems to not be in denial. I think in a week the picture may look a lot clearer both locally and nationally. Mentally, I’d be cancelling the trip and looking for excuses not to cancel it a week from now, rather than the other way around. My wifes trip is a group trip, so it sort of needs to be a group decision. I think 90% chance hers is cancelled. I don’t think the school who is hosting the trip will want the liability.
Elizabelle
@trollhattan: June is way too late for California. Agreed.
But March 17 or so would be great, IMHO. Just too big a state, to have Texas and Cali on the same early Super Tuesday. Have them a week or two following.
It nerved me out this year.
trollhattan
@Yutsano:
I have the Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce on speed dial in case that helps. :-)
lamh36
Anyway…let me go to class before I say something I can’t take back…?
see y’all on the flip side BJ
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
OT, but with the cornavirus thread dead below, I wanted to ask a question to jackaltariat:
For an emergency food supply, I’m having trouble estimating how much food I might need. My parents aren’t taking this as seriously as I’d like. My mother actually thought things like a few Nutter Butters, a [big silver] bag of goldfish crackers, two cans of Pringles was kosher to put into a kit! To be fair to her, she did buy a bag of egg noodles, 10 cans of soup, a 16 pack of fruit cups, two small bags of pasta noodles, 3 slim cans of tuna, and like 4 bags of Knorr’s Pasta Sides.
I’d buy enough if I wasn’t broke. At best, I’d estimate we have a week of food in the whole house and like 3 or 4 days of food in the joke of an emergency food kit we have.
I need a two-week supply (in case of quarantine) for 3 people. I’ve tried looking online and the manuals from FEMA with calorie counts confuse the hell out of me
Mr. Mack
Since I made the decision to not vote for Wilmer, even in the general, I got nuthin to say about other’s decisions.
dmsilev
Now virus precautions are getting real. Email I just got from JetBlue:
(emphasis added). Oh, the humanity.
To be fair, there’s not much they really can do unless they and other airlines want to start screening passengers for fevers etc., and that’s really more on the government to do.
Gin & Tonic
@Yutsano: Zelensky is consolidating his power.
opiejeanne
@WaterGirl: Prufrock and Humdog, and
Oh shit, they were both talking to an obnoxious troll that I do have pied.
Then Barbara at #40. She’s talking to PenandKey, who I don’t remember putting in the pie filter.
This is probably my mistake entirely, not noticing that the first pied person was talking to a troll I really did pie.
dr. luba
@L85NJGT: And that’s why I voted for Joe, the minute EW told me she’d dropped out (mass email this morning).
dmsilev
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): My suggestion would be to buy shelf-stable or freezable stuff that you’d eat anyway. Pasta, rice, dried beans. Canned or frozen vegetables. Fruit preserves. Figure ballpark 2000 calories per person per day.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@dmsilev:
Do I go off the calorie counts on the nutrition labels? 2000 cal/person/day would work out to be 84,000 calories for two weeks. That would be a lot of food! And money.
My mother’s already made it clear she won’t be spending any more money on the “kit”. I’m broke or else I’d buy a lot. I’m afraid by the time she has her “oh shit” moment, a lot of other people will too.
She had the nerve the other day to call me “obsessed” with this virus because I reamed her out about taking my 85 y/o grandmother out for lunch at a restaurant. After I spent the last two fucking weeks talking about the need to isolate her as much as possible. And community spread in the US has been confirmed. I don’t know what it’s going to take to get through to her. She’s concerned, but not in a way that would lead her to take immediate steps and precautions; like taking the time to look up info to build a proper emergency food supply. It’s like it’s happening in some far away land and it won’t ever affect her or us
Elizabelle
FTF NY Times: BREAKING NEWS
A federal judge called Attorney General William Barr’s account of the Mueller report “misleading,” ordering a review of the censored portions.
Thursday, March 5, 2020 6:05 PM EST
Judge Reggie B. Walton said Mr. Barr could not be trusted and cited “inconsistencies” between his statements about the report when it was secret and its actual contents that turned out to be more damaging to President Trump.
sdhays
@Betty Cracker: Option A is what I chose in 2016, and I regret it. I’m at the point where I can’t see Bernie’s “policies” behind his toxic persona. I think voting for Warren even though she’s out is a better choice if you can’t bring yourself to vote for Biden.
trollhattan
@Elizabelle:
Finally, a judge calls Barr a liar out loud. Progress!
HalfAssedHomesteader
@dmsilev: I’m glad Bloomberg’s willing to do this. But let’s not imagine he’s doing it for free. Whoever gets the nom (and dog willing, the office) will be expected to pay it back. Or else. (He’ll still have a crapton of money available post-election).
Elizabelle
I love Judge Reggie Walton. He’s made some other really good calls too.
I hope our federal judiciary can survive the influx of Trump flunkies and Federalist Society yahoos.
trollhattan
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
They’ll be close enough.
Always amuses me when they add the per-portion calories and define a portion as “seven chips” and the like.
As if, people.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
sdhays
@HalfAssedHomesteader: He’ll be back supporting Pat Toomey’s reelection and whatever Republican runs against Elizabeth Warren. But he was going to do that anyway.
JaySinWA
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Emergency prep is very individual. For food, you need things you will actually eat, and consider having enough water to prep it. While water is unlikely an issue in this emergency, you have no guarantee that another will crop up while this is going on. Earthquake, volcano, hurricane, tornado, and floods don’t take a pass because of a pandemic.
In my estimation, ready to eat canned goods are a strong part of the food prep, and are relatively cheap. Find stuff you would be willing to eat anyway. (ETA don’t forget the can opener if you are getting cans, but there is a lot of shelf stable boxed stuff now.) Frozen stuff is fine as long as you have electricity (or snow banks). Dehydrated stuff requires water and is expensive. It can be lightweight if you need to hike out of somewhere, but you still have to get water. Emergency water filtration (like LifeStraw) is something to have in a general emergency kit
ETA the thing about canned goods and other shelf stable or frozen regular food, is that you don’t have to describe it as prepping. Fly under the parents radar.
jeffreyw
@HalfAssedHomesteader:
I don’t see that as a problem. There are things he could do in a new administration that would suit his considerable talents.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@opiejeanne: Happy b-day to Dave, he’s good people.
trollhattan
@Elizabelle:
Federalist judges and permanent federal (i.e., yours and my) land giveaways will be the longest lasting, most damaging Trump legacies.
Martin
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): We keep 2 weeks as part of our normal earthquake kit, and it’s nothing special. We have a few emergency rations (2 meals per person worth) which are more if we need to bug out, but it’s cans of soup, beans, canned vegetables. Mostly stuff we normally eat so that once a year we move them into the pantry and then replace the stuff in the kit.
This isn’t a disaster situation where services are cut off and you have no heat or water. The taps will work, the gas/electric will work. Load up a bit of food you normally like with a longish shelf life. We’re putting an extra costco lasagna in the freezer. I think we added a few bags of hot cheetos to make sure the daughter doesn’t go insane. Keep an extra jar of peanut butter and some crackers.
Pro-tip: from previous emergencies the vegan section at the mass-market grocery store will still be fully stocked even when the rest of the store is picked clean. Most people would rather die than eat it, but it’s usually good stuff.
Elizabelle
@trollhattan: My fantasy is that the incoming Democratic administration does a stringent review of 2016 vote counts, particularly in the 4 swing states. And finds incontrovertible evidence of substantial cheating that changed the vote totals.
Thus, illegally elected president (albeit the EC certified him). And toss all the horrible judges and the two USSC justices out on their radically conservative asses.
Sigh. It is a fantasy.
opiejeanne
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Watch for an answer from me later, probably in tonight’s COVID-19 update. I’ll let you know what we have put into our pantry. I think we can last about 3 weeks and a few days, right now. There’s a lot of stuff in the freezer and in the garage refrigerator’s freezer, there’s lots of canned soup, dry bouillon, boxes of pasta, extra flour, and sugar. In the freezer we added some ground beef, hot dogs, and chicken breasts. We bought three of the 8-packs of tuna at Costco, for tuna salad I use two cans because they’re kind of small
More info later.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
ROLF
Martin
@HalfAssedHomesteader: Can’t pay him back. Besides, he lost more in the market this week than he’s going to spend. He just wants shit to work again so he can get back to making money.
zhena gogolia
For some reason trying to stock up on food makes me more panicky. We have maybe a week’s worth.
WaterGirl
@opiejeanne: At #40, she is not talking to PenandKey, but to Cacti.
patrick II
@Yutsano:
Barack was a big supporter of Tim Kaine, and even though he’s my VA senator and a good man, I didn’t think he added anything to the 2016 campaign for Hillary.
trollhattan
@Elizabelle:
Agreed. If it’s to be President Biden, I don’t want any namby-pamby “It’s time for healing” statements from him. I want the hammer, such as didn’t happen to the banksters after the Bush Crash.
They’re gonna hate you no matter what. Let them hate you from the clink.
Elizabelle
@trollhattan: Yup. I want justice, hard enough to make them think twice about ever perverting a government administration like that.
Betty Cracker
@sdhays: Good point. My assumption is Biden will trounce Sanders and take all the delegates, so my sitting it out or voting won’t matter. But it’s a tough day to be thinking about it. I’ll give it more thought later.
Uncle Cosmo
@A Ghost To Most: When I saw “paradise,” my first thought was, Crap, does Trumpolini still own casinos?
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Only you know how much the three of you would want to eat.
Since you’re not really planning for a natural disaster, you’ll still have power and running water. Think about what you normally eat in a week, convert any fresh ingredients to shelf-stable stuff, and stock that. Note that you can freeze bread.
I would want a minimum of one can each of soup and veggies per person per day plus chicken salad fixings and enough bread for two sandwiches per person per day plus some sort of breakfast. A couple of jars of peanut butter to change it up.
If you’re feeling ambitious, look into Once-A-Month-Cooking. Since you might be caring for one or more sick people, consider freezing recipes ahead for quick prep later. If you go with a chicken set, you can skip a lot of the prep by using rotisserie chickens.
burnspbesq
@trollhattan:
Given Trump’s history of bankruptcies, it’s hard to believe that Florida’s unlimited homestead exemption wasn’t the primary reason for him to move there.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@West of the Rockies:
Thanks for that laugh!
Fair Economist
@opiejeanne: Seattle to Paris to Amsterdam? That’s practically a coronavirus world tour. (Not many cases in the NL yet but they botched their management and will have them soon.) Try to reschedule for late summer. Maybe we will get a break by then.
Calouste
@Betty Cracker: So the same stupid fucking assumption people made in the general in 2016. We know how that worked out. Vote, goddammit!
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@opiejeanne:
Thanks. I look forward to it
@Martin:
That makes sense. I figured canned goods, pastas, etc are the way to go. I just don’t know how much would be enough, you know?
@JaySinWA:
Thanks.
A little too late for that I’m afraid lol. I feel like Casandra
Annie
@Orange Is The New White:
There’s also the fact that while Trump inherited his money, Bloomberg actually did run a successful business to get his.
And Bloomberg did say before he was a candidate, that if he was not the nominee he would still work and donate money to defeat Trump.
Uncle Cosmo
Tim Kaine wasn’t picked to “add anything to the campaign” but to be a solid VPOTUS for POTUS HRC. At the time of the Convention, everyone thought Madame Secretary would squash the incipient Agolf Twitler like a stinkbug.
O/t: If the GOP had a brain it would wait for Uncle Joe to pick a running mate like Kamala Harris (who FTR I think would make a great President) & then campaign against her – with ads on the order of,
Suzy
@trollhattan: THere’s the law of diminishing results. And even backlash. I hope Bloomberg’s team really thinks about PACING the negative ads. If not, by November people will have tuned out.
mrmoshpotato
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
Supermarket rotisserie chickens are damn expensive. Much cheaper to buy whole fresh chickens and oven roast them yourself, but it does take time.
Chris Johnson
@Betty Cracker: Yeah, it’s a tough day. Don’t let folks rattle you. From what I’m seeing, Sanders is pretty done: but the thing is, it’s a primary. If there isn’t anyone left that you actually like there is no reason you should have to pick one.
I would’ve been really torn if I wasn’t voting on Super Tuesday. My vote did not get Elizabeth even one delegate, and that stings. But it’s a vote in Vermont that Bernie did not get… and Biden wasn’t going to get it, either. No regrets.
It’s a primary. Do as you will, even if that’s writing in Warren (which I think would have been my final answer if I’d been in your situation).
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@mrmoshpotato: We clearly shop in different stores. I pay less than $2/lb for rotisserie chickens. But the time savings, especially for Goku right now, would be worth another dollar or two per lb.
Jay
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Dried beans, chickpeas, lentils or field peas, ( $1.50 lb) with brown rice as a base. ( $1.16 lb)
Dried mixed vegetables , ($1.20 lb) ( bulk) dried onions and garlic, ( bulk) ($1.75 lb)
Jars of salsa, ($3.44), cans of tomato paste, sauce or chunks ( $0.97) to amp it up a notch.
cut the cooking time with a pressure cooker.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker: Betty, I know there’s no shortage of advice on this thread for you about if/how to vote in the primary…=)
…but if you can stand one more, consider voting AND writing a letter to the editor of your local paper about why you were still motivated to vote (and perhaps even who you voted for).
A vote ALWAYS matters…but in these circumstances, rather than just get buried in Biden’s, Warren’s, or Sander’s vote tallies, let folks see what went into it. Get them thinking. Maybe even inspire a few folks to register for the general. ;)
chopper
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Jeffro
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Here’s an easy way to do it: you want a good supply of high-calorie canned goods, 3 cans per person per day.
Think Chunky soups, Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee, Progresso Soups, chili, canned beans, that sort of thing.
So in your case you need 3 people x 3 cans/day x 14 days = 126 cans.
Just as important are their/your prescriptions, Advil, and TP ;)
Kent
Costco rotisserie chickens are usually cheaper than raw whole chickens from the grocery store. Usually $5 for a 3-4 lb roast chicken.
chopper
@chopper:
also, there’s nothing wrong with making some go-ahead meals and tucking them in the freezer. if you’re actually on lockdown you’re not always going to feel like preparing stuff. the power isn’t going to be shut off, or at least if it is then the situation has gotten so out of hand that letting a pan of lasagna go to waste is gonna be the least of your worries.
chopper
@Uncle Cosmo:
i totally expect the gop to be that shameless, considering their president is a morbidly obese 73 year old who won’t even walk 50 feet from the car to the goddamn helicopter.
Jeffro
@Elizabelle: Fingers crossed that the Dems figure out a way to remove/impeach/pack or at LEAST make some political hay about the ones that were confirmed without ever having tried a case, or had an ‘unsatisfactory’ bar rating, or both.
I guess that will be day 73 of the Truth and Not Reconciliation Committee’s hearings…sigh…
evodevo
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Ramen, rice, beans, pasta, off label canned veggies. All filling and easy to keep without a freezer. You can go out to the grocery once a week and get odds and ends to have with them. And, yes, no one touches the vegan/gluten-free stuff, so head to that section for corn muffin mix, oatmeal, etc. And bread keeps a lot longer time in the fridge if you have room for it. I live in the country in Ky and the electric goes out regularly in stormy/snowy weather.
Jeffro
@chopper: agree about the power and water. I asked my 70-year-old mom to not stock a gazillion cases of bottled water, but yes please do get those prescriptions stocked up and have at least 42 cans of high-calorie food on hand per person (3 cans x 14 days)
Jeffro
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): You’re not Cassandra! You’re using common sense.
One thing I have told myself and others: if this blows over by summer, well, we can start in on the ‘stash’ and we can also donate several dozen cans to the local food bank in plenty of time for it to do good. Most soups’ sell-by dates are in the late 2021 range at this point anyway, so absolutely no harm in stocking up now and then if they’re not needed, donate them this coming holiday season or something.
Jeffro
@patrick II: one of my senators too, and I don’t think he added anything either. VA has been safely blue for a decade, so it’s not like he ‘swung’ the state. Plus he is so milquetoast – wonderful guy, but brings nothing new to the ticket and no out-of-the-ordinary energy or anything – that it was a big zero as far as that was concerned.
Poor Tim. I still remember how flabbergasted he was by Pence’s out-and-out lying in their debate. Dems better be prepared, because that is the new GOP SOP for the foreseeable future.
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@Betty Cracker: I understand what you are saying, and I respect it. Still, even thought I was going to vote Warren, I’m going to vote Biden in June (New Mexico Primary). I was so sure that Hillary was going to win in 2016, and look what happened. I just really can’t take political things for granted much anymore.
Jeffro
@zhena gogolia: It does do that (make one a little panicky).
I just did the math (3 cans/person for as long as you think you might be isolated) and then stocked up slowly, adding just a couple dozen cans to the cart each time I stopped at the store. It adds up quick, it brings a nice peace of mind, and if it ends up not being needed, great: we’ll just donate it to the food bank in a few months.
Most of it, anyway. ;)
WhatsMyNym
@evodevo:
I have to eat a GF diet. Watch out for extra sugar, which can be used heavily in many GF products.
Brachiator
@Martin:
This is funny, but probably true.
I live in Southern California and am lazy. I figure there will still be plenty of food trucks.
Also, there’s an In and Out Burgers near me. I’m betting they will make it through anything.
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Yeah, I’ve noticed that too. I once compared the uncooked vs cooked chickens and the cooked were cheaper. It makes (made) no sense to me.
[Pre-edit update]
After a quick google search, here is why. It is cheaper for the store to cook the chicken when it is a few days away from it’s expiration date (which is pretty conservative, health-wise) than to throw away the chicken. So basically if you want to cook a chicken your way, go raw, otherwise pick up one that has been cooked for you
[Real edit] If it’s cheaper of course….
chopper
@Jeffro:
also: at least half of your food stash should be based on the worst chef in the house. like if you’re the only person in the house who knows how to cook and then you get sick and are down for the count for like 2 weeks while the family is in quarantine and your spouse/sibling/kid who can’t cook to save their life opens up the cabinet and has no idea what to do.
Brachiator
Since folks are talking about stocking up on food…
From the Cleveland Clinic Website
What Expiration Dates Mean
Federal law does not require food dating in most cases, but 20 states do have laws about dates. In many cases, manufacturers add dates voluntarily.
In general, perishable foods such as meat, poultry, eggs and dairy get dates. But those dates aren’t always about spoilage. Some dates simply inform retailers when products are at their best for freshness, taste and texture.
The label types vary:
How Long Will It Last
Use the following rules of thumb for foods in your fridge or pantry.
Also, remember that if you freeze something, it will last indefinitely, even if not at peak freshness, taste or texture.
Above all else, let common sense — and your senses —be your guide. If something smells rotten, curdles or turns a suspicious color, toss it in the trash.
Ivan X
@Mr. Mack: the thing about trolls is that they activate some compulsive part of the brain in some more than others, which is why they exist, and pie presents an alternative to engagement. Not everyone can breeze by (I can, but once in a while I have to talk myself off the ledge).
Ivan X
@patrick II: I seriously can’t think of any instance where a VP adds to a campaign. They can only detract, e.g. Palin. Even Quayle wasn’t bad enough to keep HW from being elected when Bentsen torched him in the debate. Nobody ever gives a shit about the veep unless they’re obviously 100% completely unpalatable as President, yet everyone always talks about how the right VP will carry this or that state. Never happens as far as I can tell. Did Biden, for example, actually add anything to Obama’s campaign? Not that I can see.
NotMax
@Ivan X
Would JFK have carried Texas without LBJ on the ticket? Unlikely.
Would Obama have won North Carolina and Indiana without Biden on the ticket? Sketchier call but a greater than zero chance of no.
Barry
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: “I guess he still has all the faculties he ever had.”
I would also guess that he’s no more connected to reality than in 2000. Probably less so, since he’s got to avoid admitting to himself that he was responsible for 20 years of evil unleashed up on the Earth.
Uncle Cosmo
Donate?? I guess, if you’re a freakin’ food snob. Otherwise just eat ’em & rotate your stock. Sammich + 1/2 can of Regresso soup is my customary lunch.
(FTR “best by” dates are dictated by corporate ambo-chasers to be hyper-conservative so they don’t have to defend lawsuits. I’ve had cans or jars in my larder well over a year past “expiration” that were perfectly edible & even tasty – for everyone but food snobs anyway. Tomato-based items might be iffy due to the acid content, but even then if the can’s not bulging it’s probably OK.)
Uncle Cosmo
Dirty little almost-secret: If one removes the fat from anything edible it tends to taste terrible. To retain some semblance of taste, most corporate “fat-free” products add sugar, which is arguably less healthy for the average human bean than the fat it replaces. Check those wonderful “Nutrition Facts” labels (before Cheeto Benito’s FDA gets around to trashing that requirement anyway).
pattonbt
@Betty Cracker: I think it’s simple….all the candidates will be on the ballot. Vote for who you like. You may not end up voting for the winner but you will be feel better. I voted for warren in Colorado knowing she didn’t stand a chance (but obviously before the dust of Super Tuesday had settled into a 2 person race). If polls hold Biden is going to win Florida handily. If you can’t vote for him in the primary, it’s no big deal. So make yourself as happy as you can. You know you will vote blue when it is absolutely critical in November.