Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

No one could have predicted…

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

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

This blog will pay for itself.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

You are here: Home / Politics / America / Primary Elections Open Thread Part II: The Primarying!

Reader Interactions

214Comments

  4. 4.

    dmsilev

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Via the NYT liveblog:

    Andrew Yang: “The math says Joe is our prohibitive nominee; we need to bring the party together.”

    You have to admit, he stays on-brand.

  5. 5.

    japa21

    Most interesting thing left for tonight, other than Washington, is whether or not Bernie will even win a delegate in MS. Hovering right around 15%.

  7. 7.

    Elizabelle

    I wonder if the coronavirus is helping Biden a lot too.

    Clearly calls for a coordinated government response, and better to go with a seasoned Executive Branch veteran.  Dog only knows how Bernie would handle it, or who he would staff in critical positions.

  9. 9.

    Sure Lurkalot

    I hope Biden plays up the notion that he is a bridge to the next generation of leaders.  One big contrast between him and Bernie, Biden can be a mentor, Bernie can’t.

  13. 13.

    Marcopolo

    So I just read there is reporting that because Nancy Smash has hurt his fee fees so badly & repeatedly that Trump refuses to be in a room w/ her to negotiate the federal COVID-19 relief package. Apparently it will come down to Mnuchin to do the deal.

    My guess is that might actually be for the best. Guess we’ll see.

  16. 16.

    Morzer

    @Marcopolo:

    there is reporting that because Nancy Smash has hurt his fee fees so badly & repeatedly that Trump refuses to be in a room w/ her to negotiate the federal COVID-19 relief package

     

    Orange is the new yellow.

  17. 17.

    PsiFighter37

    @japa21: I’d be cool with Wilmer winning zero in MS.

    I think if Biden sweeps, someone will tell Bernie that he should save some face and not fight it out further. He is losing to a candidate who is less imposing, less well-organized, and less well-funded than Hillary was – and it’s clear that Wilmer never actually had any broad support; people just didn’t like Hillary for one reason or another. Keep it up, and if I was Chuck Schumer, I would make sure he was banished to committees of minor relevance for the rest of his career / life.

  18. 18.

    The Dangerman

    The Country’s in the very best of hands

    Trump and Pence resigned? WOOHOO!

    I want to see MAGAt heads explode with a President Pelosi. She could manage this virus shit (Trump and Pence have been some sick variety of Performance Art, kinda like Tiny Tim … hey, Tiny Donald kinda fits the hands thing).

  27. 27.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Morzer: His grandfather was an abject coward, which is how we got stuck with these multi-generational criminals. Apparently it runs in the family.

  28. 28.

    PsiFighter37

    @Adam L Silverman: Given her showing in the primaries, I’m not even sure Gabbard will register any kind of meaningful votes if she takes over receiving the checks from Russia, care of the Green Party. She is uniquely uncharismatic – based on TV appearances and news articles – that I don’t think she will convince anyone to vote for her.

  34. 34.

    japa21

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Good Shepherd?  Good hospital and the mammogram will be in the outpatient area.  I was at St. Alexius where the first to Illinois patients were treated with no ill-effect.

    However, to ease your mind see if you can get it done elsewhere.

  35. 35.

    Anya

    Who are the 6% to 12% of primary voters who say they won’t vote for the nominee in November? What is wrong with these people?

  38. 38.

    CaseyL

    Well, if this is end of Bernie, color me overjoyed.  It will be nice to focus on the main goal: winning in November, by a sufficiently huge margin the Trump consiglieres can’t overcome with their tricks.

    So UW Medicine put out an update saying, briefly, that even people in higher risk categories, if they’re asymptomatic themselves and don’t know anyone who’s gotten COVID-19 can “work their regular schedules.”  But the update doesn’t say whether to work that regular schedule from home or not.

    I’ve been working my regular schedule – but working from home this week, and enjoying it, and would like to continue doing so.  But I’ve emailed my boss and asked him what he thinks it means.  If I need to go into the office, I will (the Health Sciences wing is practically deserted in any case) but… nervously.

  39. 39.

    dmsilev

    @Anya: Republican “operation chaos” ratfuckers? Bernie-or-busters?

    (Measuring the overlap between those two sets is left as an exercise for the reader)

  41. 41.

    Quantumman

    Bernie is really winning because if you multiply the number of votes he is getting by the area of the states combined and raised to the inverse of the fine structure constant power he is crushing Biden!!!

  42. 42.

    The Dangerman

    @PsiFighter37:

    I’m not even sure Gabbard will register any kind of meaningful votes if she takes over receiving the checks from Russia, care of the Green Party.

    I’m copying Adam’s work here but this election is all “Make it stop” and begging the clowns to get off the stage (BS, too) and back in that tiny little car.

    Green Party won’t be playing spoiler this time around.

  43. 43.

    Mary G

    For everyone who is finally noticing that Bernie was boosted by anti-Hillary votes, please note that Biden is being boosted by anti-Bernie votes.— Kaitlin Byrd: Apocalypse Diarist (@GothamGirlBlue) March 11, 2020

  44. 44.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Anya: You know those Japanese soldiers in the jungle on remote islands after the end of WW II? Same thing here except they’re the dirtbag left and/or supporters of Senator Sanders.

  46. 46.

    Mary G

    So the whole night appears to be about CNN and MSNBC sucking up to the toxic Bernie voters who spent the past few years shitting on 70% of the party. ?— Ragnarok Lobster (@eclecticbrotha) March 11, 2020

  49. 49.

    Lapassionara

    Thanks to Adam for posting a song from a musical written during that time of peace and prosperity known as the Eisenhower administration and illustrating how some people just cannot take yes for an answer.

  50. 50.

    Adam L Silverman

    @The Dangerman: The Green Party nominee is on RT all the time and has made it clear that even if Senator Sanders is the Democratic nominee that he will run to oppose both Sanders and the President.

  54. 54.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Matt: Which doesn’t include the activity of voting. Winning elections is the game. That’s it. Marching, chanting, demonstrating – all of it is important. But if it doesn’t translate into votes and through those votes into winning election all of that activism is pointless.

  56. 56.

    Kent

    @PsiFighter37:@Dorothy A. Winsor: Someone’s desperate to remain relevant, or the Russian paychecks stopped coming to Mr. Math.

    Yang is not wealthy despite the impression he gives that he is some sort of tech millionaire.  He’s probably hoping for some sort of Cabinet position, like Secretary of Commerce or something.  Which is a very tech-oriented agency and in his wheelhouse.

  57. 57.

    randy khan

    @Major Major Major Major:

    hoarding toilet paper (which I personally have not observed nor do I know anybody who’s done it) is not worse than an epidemic that kills millions of people! It’s just silly!

    And yet people definitely are doing it.  We were in Costco over the weekend and all of the regular TP was gone – all that was left was just a little of the more expensive Charmin.  And the shelves above that usually are full of TP were empty.  It’s strange.

  60. 60.

    Mary G

    ONLY THE BEST PEOPLE!

    EXCLUSIVE: An episode where HHS officials lost email access during coronavirus planning has led to SEEMA VERMA being stripped of control of her agency’s emails and appealing to the White House to intervene. https://t.co/NSlsAI5krQ— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) March 11, 2020

  62. 62.

    Kent

    @Mary G:NPR has Sanders surrogate Marianne Williamson on. It is not going very well.— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) March 11, 2020

    I heard the interview.  She was utterly incoherent.  And worse than the worst Bernie-bro.

  67. 67.

    lamh36

    Welp…Andrew Yang, live on CNN, just said “I believe Joe Biden will be the Democratic nominee and I’ve promised to support the nominee so tonight I endorse Joe Biden… we need to start coming together as a party starting tonight.”

  68. 68.

    The Dangerman

    Just bringing a reply up for Martin in a non kinda dead thread, nope, Cal Poly remains Quarter. CP kinda marches to their own tune on things.

  70. 70.

    TS (the original)

    @Marcopolo:

    So I just read there is reporting that because Nancy Smash has hurt his fee fees so badly & repeatedly that Trump refuses to be in a room w/ her

    This is the President of the United States – previous holders of the position have met with anyone, anywhere, to resolve domestic & international issues.

    The imbecile does not want to hear the truth of his ridiculous ideas in relation to COVID. Spkr Pelosi tells it like it is. Trump only listens to sycophants.

  71. 71.

    Kent

    @randy khan: My Costco here in Vancouver gets a truck load of TP every morning and every day it is gone by noon.  I talked to the guy stacking it and he said it is just fucking crazy.  The aren’t ramping up production or anything (It is Costco house brand) because they know it is temporary.  So it just keeps running out.

    I got me two packages just in case so I now have 70 rolls stashed in my house.  I guess I’m part of the problem too.

  73. 73.

    dm

    I’m kind-of disappointed to see that the Bloomberg dead-enders are trouncing the Warren dead-enders everywhere.

    But I’m consoled by the fact that no-longer-running Warren is getting 2x the votes of still-in-the-race Tulsi Gabbard.

  76. 76.

    PsiFighter37

    @Kent: Probably a good indication of how tight a ship is being run there if someone on Wilmer’s team ever thought it was a good idea to use her as a surrogate. I think his team is literally made up of people who spend all day on Twitter and take high numbers of retweets as an indication of which way the political winds blow.

  77. 77.

    sdhays

    @Matt: I think Stacy Abrams, an (unfairly) failed gubernatorial candidate in a red state, has built more organizations and local pushes in the last few years than Sanders has in his 30 years in politics.

  78. 78.

    Mary G

    @Mary G: Politico story just batshit:

     

    As health department officials worked quickly to negotiate an emergency funding package to fight the spreading coronavirus outbreak on Feb. 23, they came to a frustrating realization: Their email system had crashed.

    The outage in the Health and Human Services secretary’s office stretched on much of the day, with some messages delayed up to 11 hours, creating frustration and slowing the Trump administration’s coronavirus response.

    The HHS officials soon discovered the culprit: An email test conducted by the team at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a branch of the health department that hadn’t briefed HHS leaders or alerted the department’s chief information officer before sending thousands of messages through their shared system. Although it was a Sunday, top officials were negotiating with the White House over a soon-to-be-announced coronavirus funding plan and tackling other urgent decisions — which were interrupted by the email outage.

    The previously unreported episode was the latest in a series of information technology snafus caused by the department’s Medicare branch dating back more than a year. This time, HHS decided to remove the agency’s control over its own email operations and launch an audit of its entire information technology infrastructure.

    The episode has exacerbated tensions inside a department that’s already been split by intense fights between HHS Secretary Alex Azar and CMS chief Seema Verma while it strains to coordinate the government’s response to the viral outbreak.

    “It’s the same problem, the same behavior, but at the exact wrong time,” said one official, arguing that CMS and Verma’s failure to coordinate with HHS has been a persistent management problem.

    Seema is a menace and needs to go.

  82. 82.

    japa21

    Special election for a NH house seat held today. Dem won, flipping it from red to blue. Trump won the district by 10 points. The ripples from the last wave are still there and getting ready for something super duper come November if we are still alive.

  85. 85.

    Trollhattan

    Father of my kid’s friend is in quarantine because he works across the hall from the hospital room where our county’s first Corona death occurred.

    Whoops.

    They never told staff who was housed there but they figured it out from all the hazmat gear being worn.

    So one fewer doctor to help out the next two weeks. And his family cannot see him either.

  86. 86.

    dmsilev

    NYT blog:

    Reid Epstein, in Burlington, Vt.Just now

    Bernie Sanders will not speak tonight, his campaign said.

  87. 87.

    Kattails

    @Mnemosyne: I work in a liquor store, and the jokes today were that the hand sanitizer is running out and next it will be the vodka. Have to remind them that it needs to be at least 60% alcohol and that would be Everclear. They can always make tinctures or limoncello with the leftovers.

    OT, can someone tell me what it is with Blanton’s? Is the stuff drinkable or is it just the hype around the jockey and numbers and some other esoteric stuff, for like $60 a pop? And them playing hard to get? It baffles me every time we get a small shipment.

  89. 89.

    jk

    Biden wasn’t my 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 25th choice.  Given the fact that he’s basically clinched the nomination tonight, he should take a crash course from Greta Thunberg to learn how to speak proper English so that he won’t sound like a clueless horse’s ass when he debates Trump in the fall.

  90. 90.

    Elizabelle

    @zhena gogolia:   For us, now, November 9, 2016 is a different kind of Day of Infamy.  Easy to remember as 11/9.  Never again.

    (Not to make light of all the lives lost at Pearl Harbor and after.  But we did not experience a fullscale attack on our own government, from within, either.)

  92. 92.

    zhena gogolia

    @Miss Bianca:

    There has been advice from official sources to prepare to be stuck in your home for an extended period. I assume people are buying the TP for that reason.

    FWIW, we haven’t seen this phenomenon in our local Stop & Shop. The only bare shelves are Purell, Clorox, and Pepcid.

  93. 93.

    dmsilev

    @Miss Bianca: If you have to go to meet your maker, at least it will be with a clean ass and well-hydrated.

    (at least around here, bottled water is also a hot commodity.)

  95. 95.

    japa21

    I was just thinking. Just a couple weeks ago I was getting resigned to a Sanders nomination. Then Clyburn came out and saved us all.  I hope he is remembered in the history books.

  97. 97.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Kent: Went grocery shopping today. In the TP aisle the shelves were full of the single rolls, the 4-packs, the 8’s and the 12’s.

    The 20s were completely cleaned out. There was a guy restocking them.

    I went in for a 4-pack, decided to grab a 20. So I’m part of the problem too.

  99. 99.

    A Ghost to Most

    Wife got a text from her boss at CO School of Mines that UCLA Is considering going online. Apparently this got the attention of the powers that be.

  100. 100.

    Mary G

    It’s just a cavalcade of incompetence:

    EXCLUSIVE: For weeks, thousands of flu samples sat in Seattle as researchers sought to test and flag them for coronavirus. The C.D.C. wouldn’t allow it.When testing did happen, it was too late. The virus was upon us.https://t.co/mlEjBJl96Q w/ @sherifink— Mike Baker (@ByMikeBaker) March 11, 2020

    ETA: It’s a FTFNYT link, so I haven’t read it.

  104. 104.

    JaySinWA

    @Miss Bianca: I wonder if it is a herd thing. They heard others in the herd were doing it. The Friday before last I was at Costco in the evening and they were out of TP, Kleenex, Clorox and wipes. The few excursions I have had to other stores have paper product (tp tissues and paper towels) shelves with large vacant areas. OTOH a local drugstore was out of alcohol based hand cleaners but hat TP stacked along a wall up front.

    Odd behavior in the TP department. Maybe anticipating runny noses and stocking up on facial tissue substitutes when the Kleenex ran out?

  106. 106.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Sanders has created organizations and local pushes that have created a new wave of Democratic activism.

    How many “Justice Democrats” candidates have won elections?

  107. 107.

    Miss Bianca

    @jk: Man, you and Sanders both sure seem like you love the taste of sour grapes. Every time you mention Biden I picture you with your mouth all puckered up like a rooster’s asshole.

    Sucks to be you tonight, huh?

  108. 108.

    dmsilev

    @A Ghost to Most: Not considering, has done.

    USC, UCLA to cancel most in-person classes for weeks to protect against coronavirus

    USC and UCLA announced Tuesday that they will cancel most in-person classes for weeks and move instruction online, joining the rising number of colleges and universities to limit classes, campus gatherings and travel to fight the global spread of the novel coronavirus.

    The Westwood campus of 44,300 students will continue remote instruction until early April and then reassess, UCLA announced Tuesday. No campus member has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, and three students who self-quarantined tested negative. But officials said they wanted to take proactive measures to protect public health and safety.

  113. 113.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @jk: I think “you’re full of shit”, the line he used in confronting the ammosexual in that tweet that’s going around, would work nicely in a debate with Trump. Articulate, succinct, and to the point.

  114. 114.

    Miss Bianca

    @zhena gogolia: Ah, that would explain it, then.

    We get 20-packs in our household, but those packs tend to last us 3-4 months. So I guess we’re still good for at least another month or so!

  116. 116.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mary G: Azar and Verma hate each other. She, like the Surgeon General, are Pence staffers he brought from Indiana. Azar isn’t and was advised to fire her upon becoming HHS secretary. He declined to see if he could build a working relationship with her. That didn’t work.

  117. 117.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    “There’s no sugarcoating it. … Tonight’s a tough night electorally,” says Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a top Sanders surrogate, in an Instagram live chat

  120. 120.

    Ken

    @dmsilev: Bernie Sanders will not speak tonight, his campaign said.

    See, that’s one way Bernie is better than Trump.

    Edit: Come to think of it, two ways. If Trump refused to speak it would certainly be because he was sulking. I’m pretty sure Senator Sanders isn’t sulking.  Pretty sure.

  121. 121.

    Another Scott

    @jk: As I said months ago, I remain convinced that there won’t be any debates with Trump.  He’ll (try to) have his Nuremberg rallies instead.

    He’s a coward.  Remember, he was afraid of Megyn Kelly.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  122. 122.

    frosty

    @Mnemosyne: OMG if I have to self-quarantine for 14 days I’ll need (checks math) 7 times as much TP as I need when there’s 3 inches of snow in the forecast!!!!!

  123. 123.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Adam L Silverman:

    She, like the Surgeon General, are Pence staffers he brought from Indiana.

    Ah, that explains the SG saying that The Beast is healthier than he is: Lying for Jeebus is a virtue

  125. 125.

    Mnemosyne

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I don’t think it’s going to work this year. Spoilers only work when things are going well and voters are complacent. Ain’t nobody complacent right now.

  126. 126.

    joel hanes

    @Mnemosyne:

    Why the hell are people hoarding toilet paper, FFS?

    Two answers:

    1.) Because they have figured out that if they are sick, but not critically sick, or if the virus is widespread in their community, they may need to self-isolate for a month.   No going to the store.    So a month’s worth of toilet paper is not so irrational.

    2.)  Because Americans try to make themselves feel safer by purchasing products.

  127. 127.

    Jeffro

    @Marcopolo:

     

    @Ken:

    “Sharks” and “Jets” were getting a little stale, be honest.

    In this timeline, a musical set between warring online groups of Bernie Bros and Yang Gang-ers sounds appropriate and also incredibly horrible.

  128. 128.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    @Kent: why are people hoarding toilet paper?  what does it have to do with corona (I understand the run on disinfectant).

  130. 130.

    Miss Bianca

    @Mary G: Never-Trumper says what, now?

    Seriously, I too am psyched and relieved, but I really feel like telling these Republicans who want to weigh in on Democratic choices to sit all the way back down and shut the fuck up. Or as we say around here in the land of Focus on the Family, “Focus on your *own* damn family!”

  131. 131.

    Jeffro

    @Mary G: Um, what?  That’s her argument?

    Wouldn’t Bernie therefore be being boosted by…(gasp) anti-Biden votes?

    Not that there are a whole lot of those this election cycle, I’m just sayin’… ;)

  134. 134.

    zhena gogolia

    I'm voting for Joe Biden because when he was getting crushed in the first three states he didn't make a single conspiracy theory out of it or blame any shadowy establishment. He just moved on to winning South Carolina.— Malarkey Delenda Est (@agraybee) March 10, 2020

  135. 135.

    Martin

    @Mnemosyne: My neighbor has the same attitude. She spent 3 hours yesterday trying to find toilet paper because she was out.

    People are hoarding toilet paper because people are hoarding toilet paper. I know it doesn’t make any sense, but it will when you run out of toilet paper.

  137. 137.

    Mnemosyne

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Panicking during an emergency just makes things worse.

    I don’t know if you’ve ever read “Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance” by Lois McMaster Bujold, but there’s a point in the book where the characters are trapped and waiting for a rescue they know is coming and one of them almost sets herself on fire accidentally. The eponymous character bellows, “Will everyone please SIT DOWN and WAIT SENSIBLY!?”

    That’s how I’m feeling right now. Take sensible precautions and stay calm, people!

  138. 138.

    Miss Bianca

    @Ken:

    I’m pretty sure Senator Sanders isn’t sulking.

    Oh, no, I’m sure that just like mighty Achilles, he’s merely *brooding* in his tent, waiting, just waiting, for the moment of crisis to re-emerge.

    See, Adam isn’t the only one who gets to fling around the classical allusions tonight!

  139. 139.

    Brachiator

    @dm:

    I’m kind-of disappointed to see that the Bloomberg dead-enders are trouncing the Warren dead-enders everywhere.

    Yes, this is very unfortunate.

    I am surprised that anyone voted for Bloomberg. I hope he at least throws some money Biden’s way. Even if Bernie would not approve.

  142. 142.

    Jeffro

    @japa21:I was just thinking. Just a couple weeks ago I was getting resigned to a Sanders nomination. Then Clyburn came out and saved us all.  I hope he is remembered in the history books.

    “Clyburn!” t-shirts would be appropriate right about now – you listening, DNC?

  143. 143.

    Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]

    @Mnemosyne:  One of my favorite authors.  I felt that her Memory/Komarr/A Civil Campaign were the best of that series, though Vorpatril’s alliance was a surprising joy.

  145. 145.

    Kattails

    @jk: Are you aware that the man has a lifelong stutter, which is a physical impediment and in no way indicative of any mental shortcomings? Or do you just like to go with Turnip’s clueless horse’s ass version of mocking people with disabilities? The stutter has been mentioned on here a number of times with a link to an excellent article in the Atlantic about it, which I can’t take the  time to find for you right now

    just refreshed to see that Adam beat me to it. Oh well, seconded.

  146. 146.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: It’s also how a 41 year old doctor from nowhere that no one had ever heard of except as an enabler of Pence’s creating an HIV epidemic suddenly becomes Surgeon General of the US

  147. 147.

    Mnemosyne

    Also, too, I can’t remember if I shared this Twitter thread here, but it’s how I’m feeling about why people have coalesced around Biden. If you were trapped on a mountaintop with a snowstorm approaching, do you follow the guy who has a general idea of how to drive the janky old snowcat down the slope or the guy who keeps telling you how great it will be when a shiny new snowcat shows up any day now?

    https://mobile.twitter.com/CZEdwards/status/1235701963683016704

  148. 148.

    TS (the original)

    per MSNBC – Sanders is not expected to speak tonight. Who’d have thought

     

    Edit: I stopped typing to watch the drive by voters in Washington & many others mentioned this above

  149. 149.

    jk

    @Miss Bianca:

    Unless you’ve been in a coma for the past 6 months, you would have observed that Biden was consistently the most inarticulate and incoherent candidate in the Democratic field.

    His statement that Republicans will experience an epiphany once Trump leaves office was the single dumbest statement made by any Democratic presidential candidate during this primary season.

    I will vote for Biden over Trump, but he’s a dummy who doesn’t know how to keep his foot out of his mouth.  He has less charisma than a glass of warm milk and listening to him deliver a speech is less inspiring than watching paint dry or grass grow.

    Given Biden’s advanced age, the appropriate thing for him to do would be to step down after his first year in office.  He looks and sounds horrible and it’s open question if he can last 4 years in office or retain his mental faculties for 4 years.

  152. 152.

    Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]

    @Miss Bianca: As far as classical allusions,  a long-time friend said that Plato’s description of a “Tyrant” described Trump perfectly.  several months later I did a quick search on it.  Over two thousand years later, the description is terrifying accurate.

  153. 153.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mnemosyne: If it gives the disaffected among the Bernie Bros and the dirtbag left a place to exercise their electoral purity, then it will work. And that’s the point.

  155. 155.

    Elizabelle

    And Pearl Jam has cancelled their North American tour dates for March and April, to be rescheduled later.

    And they took a nice swipe at Trump/Pence while doing so.  Contrast their concern for their fans and communities with Trump’s lack thereof.  From their letter:

    As residents of the city of Seattle, we’ve been hit hard and have witnessed firsthand how quickly these disastrous situations can escalate. Our kids’ schools have closed along with universities and businesses. It’s been brutal and it’s gonna get worse before it gets better. 

    So we are being told that being part of large gatherings is high on the list of things to avoid as this global health crisis is now beginning to affect all of our lives.

    Unfortunately, communing in large groups is a huge part of what we do as a band and the tour we’ve been busy planning for months is now in jeopardy…

    We have and will always keep the safety and well-being of our supporters as top priority. 
    So it is with deep frustration and regret that we are forced to make this most unfortunate of announcements…

    …  It certainly hasn’t helped that there’s been no clear messages from our government regarding people’s safety and our ability to go to work. Having no examples of our national health department’s ability to get ahead of this, we have no reason to believe that it will be under control in the coming weeks ahead. 

    Again, here in Seattle what we are witnessing we would not wish for anyone. What we do wish for the rest of the country is that they can avoid the harsh negative effects of this and retain their sense of community and take care of one another. Just as we look forward to our next concerts and the ability to gather together and play loud songs as energized as ever.

    We are so sorry…
    And deeply upset…

    If anyone out there feels the same based on this news, we share that emotion with you.

    More empathy than you will ever get out of Trump and his goddamned maladministration.

  157. 157.

    Mnemosyne

    @Anya:

    Those are the Republican ratfuckers we keep hearing about. Their attempt at swinging the primary was a total washout. ?

  158. 158.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    Bernie will not speak tonight, instead he will stick to the usual scream, shouting, and for the hearing impaired, finger wagging.

  159. 159.

    Anya

    @jk: Biden would just laugh at Trump and call him a lunatic and say malarkey a lot. This will drive Trump insane because he doesn’t like people laughing at him.

  161. 161.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @jk: dumb ol’ Joe was the only top-line Dem primary candidate who didn’t woefully mis-read the results of ’16 and ’18 (unless you count Klobuchar as top-line)

  162. 162.

    tam1MI

    @jk:His statement that Republicans will experience an epiphany once Trump leaves office was the single dumbest statement made by any Democratic presidential candidate during this primary season.

    No, Bernie’s “Hitler may be the world’s greatest mass murderer, but he made the trains run on time!”-type comment about Fidel Castro was the single dumbest statement made by any Democratic presidential candidate during this primary season.  Followed by *anything* that came out of Marianne Williamson or Tulsi Gabbard’s mouth.

  163. 163.

    Immanentize

    @Mnemosyne:

    do you follow the guy who has a general idea of how to drive the janky old snowcat

    OOO ooo! I’ve seen The Shining! I know the answer to this one. Maybe….

  164. 164.

    Mnemosyne

    @Matt:

    Sanders has created organizations and local pushes that have created a new wave of Democratic activism.

    He appears to have forgotten to tell them that voting is part of activism. Clobbering Symone Sanders in the head with their iPads when she tries to reason with them is not sufficient to get their candidate elected.

  165. 165.

    dm

    @Mary G: Gosh, the tweets that follow that one are… disorienting and delightful.

    Bill Kristol writes:

    Congress:

    1. No bailouts for industries.

    2. Targeted help for hospitals and the health care sector.

    3. General relief directly to workers and families. The owners of capital have had a good decade and can weather a downturn; it’s labor that deserves a strengthened safety net.

    That #3 is particularly choice.

  166. 166.

    Miss Bianca

    @jk: You know what, I honestly have to wonder about *your* mental capacity after reading this garbage. Get the fuck out of here with this ageist, able-ist bullshit of yours. All you ever sound is one same note, and even with that one note you manage to be out of tune and out of time.

     

    And I’m out of fucking patience with it, personally.

  167. 167.

    Marcopolo

    Why is everyone ghosting Dems Abroad? They also held (edited: their vote ended tonight) their vote tonight. I bet it’s a conspiracy & they went big for Bernie?

  168. 168.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Joe thanking Bernie and his supporters and congratulating them on their energy, as if the campaign is over…

  170. 170.

    Adam L Silverman

    @dm: His dad had been a Trotskyite before he flipped and founded neo-Conservatism. So back to his roots.

  171. 171.

    J R in WV

    @Mnemosyne:

    Why the hell are people hoarding toilet paper, FFS? It’s not a freaking hurricane.

    The runny squirts is one of the symptoms of the current plague. You ever have diarrhea without toilet paper? Don’t~!!!~

  172. 172.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    Ya think? ?

    I’ve been lurking on Black Twitter for the last few weeks. Those folks are really fun. If you didn’t see the tweet where some white teenager asked Denise Oliver-Velez if she’d ever read the works of Malcolm X, let me know and I’ll track it down and post it here. It’s a hoot.

  174. 174.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio

    @Mnemosyne: Maybe it’s a reflex at this point. I will say, toilet paper does seem to be the one thing people will leave the house for—they can manage a meal of some kind from Poptarts and dill pickles, but nothing will replace toilet paper for long.

  177. 177.

    Mnemosyne

    @PsiFighter37:

    I think his team is literally made up of people who spend all day on Twitter and take high numbers of retweets as an indication of which way the political winds blow.

    They found out the hard way that Twitter is not real life. I think I saw a series of screenshots the other day showing that Sirota was so obsessed with searching his own name and arguing with people that he missed the news about Bloomberg suspending his campaign by about 2 hours.

  178. 178.

    Kent

    Biden’s speech tonight about as good as I have seen him this campaign season.  Speaking very much like the presumptive nominee, as he should.  Make the rest of the campaign about Trump and the Country, not Bernie.

  179. 179.

    Jeffro

    Um I see that trumpov just endorsed some MAGA former Auburn coach over his former AG, Jeff Sessions.

    GOP, I hope you are paying attention…we’ve only been trying to tell you for five years now…

  180. 180.

    Fair Economist

    @dm: I’m agreeing with Bill Kristol on policy? That explains Trump’s election. Obviously I’ve gone crazy and this is all a hallucination.

  181. 181.

    Amir Khalid

    @Martin:

    I know it doesn’t make any sense, but it will when you run out of toilet paper.

    Gee, I thought that’s what The New York Times was for.

    (Fun fact: in my newspaper days, “toilet paper” was the in-house nickname for the competition’s rag.

  182. 182.

    Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]

    @jk:

    His statement that Republicans will experience an epiphany once Trump leaves office was the single dumbest statement made by any Democratic presidential candidate during this primary season. 

    Naw, almost all of the hard core republicans will never have a “road to Damascus moment”, I am still respectful that Cole, or anyone really, has that level of moral fortitude to make that large a change and adjust met on their views of what has happened, and how much damage they have have gleefully done in the past. I imagine it’s incredibly hard to face that honestly and must feel like dying on the inside.

    Embarrassed Republicans will lie to your face when asked about their support of Trump: “I decided not to vote for him”, or deflect the question: “How about those sports?”, but few will say the three hardest words to say in politics: “I was wrong”.

  183. 183.

    lamh36

    Biden sure looks sharp to me.

    There goes another drop.

    And I already see Tapper et al trying to make some shit out of it…but Biden sounded pretty darn sharp to me

    Bernie Sanders NOT speaking tonight

    As someone pointed out…in Biden’s speech he was talking bout Bernie’s campaign in the past tense and reaching out to Bernie’s voters.  He was talking like Bernie had already dropped out…but the campaign is still going as far as we know

    Anyone think there’s already been some calls to the Biden camp?

  184. 184.

    dm

    @Mnemosyne: please do.  Denise Oliver-Velez’s support for Biden was, after listening to Jim Clyburn’s endorsement of him, one of the things that reconciled me to Biden as an alternative to Sanders (I’m closer to Sanders on policies, but…)

    Has this one been around here yet?  I thought it was very powerful:

    https://twitter.com/lloki08/status/1236493650189680641

    “Let me explain something to you about Joe Biden and why some of the shit that he’s done in his past doesn’t matter. This old rich white man played second fiddle to a black man. Not just any black man, but a younger black man, a smart black man. Not just for a day. Not 1, not 2 but eight years. He took his cues from this black man who had more power than him and was virtually unknown when he took the presidency, and Joe Biden had been around forever. He was willing and proud to be his wing man. Not once did he try to undermine him, this black man. Instead Joe walked in lockstep with him, he respected him, he loved and trusted him. He was lead by him and he learned from him. And Joe did not have a problem with it. You tell me what 40+ year “establishment” white politician has ever done that. Joe Biden is cut from a different cloth. And black folks understand that and for good reason. He has shown it. This is what showing up and being an ally looks like. When black people say they know Joe, this is how we know.”
    – Laurie Goff”

  185. 185.

    Marcopolo

    Yay, Warren in third in the N. Dakota mail in vote. Looks like that may also be the result in WA.

    It did look like Sanders might win the overall N. Dakota vote. He had 40% of the mail in to 27% for Biden.

  186. 186.

    Ken

    @Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]: I am expecting an awful lot of Republican politicians to suddenly forget Trump ever existed; probably more thoroughly than they’ve forgotten George W. Bush.

    Of course we’ll still have the photos, and the CPAC invitee lists, and the Senate vote at the impeachment trial to help jog their memories – and (I would hope) voters’ memories when needed.

  187. 187.

    Mnemosyne

    @Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]:

    Agreed. I was never a huge fan of military sci-fi, so it made me happy that she swerved to mystery/social comedy instead.

    For the same reason,  enjoying “Picard,” which does a similar genre switch within the Star Trek universe.

  190. 190.

    Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]

    @frosty:  I definitely respect that, her journey in Barrayar was scouring.  These days I’d like to do some “Winterfair shopping” myself on a certain head of state, but  It’s looking like he’s racing towards doom right now  (crosses fingers).

  191. 191.

    Kattails

    @Another Scott: I did go back & catch yours and Adams notes about Kay late in the last thread, thanks to both. That’s sad, but I’d felt the banned individual was pretty toxic. Anyway, hope you stick around, you always pop up with kind and helpful stuff.

  192. 192.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ken: That’s going to be hard because even if he loses, he won’t go away. He’ll mount a scorched earth Twitter, rallies, and Fox and Friends campaign around how unfairly he was treated and is being treated and how terribly his successor is doing. Even he is ultimately indicted somewhere, he’ll try to do the whole thing throughout the trial. And, at least, Jr. will do the same thing.

  195. 195.

    Mnemosyne

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Sad but true. It seems obvious now that most of the candidates were chasing phantom “progressives” that Bernie swore were out there, but who never actually showed up at the polls when it mattered.

  197. 197.

    dm

    @Adam L Silverman: You know how people keep complaining about Trump directing the Justice Department to investigate this or that political opponent?  I’m sure the Republicans will howl about “hypocrisy” (and authoritarianism) when the law starts picking over the evidence the Trump people leave unshredded.

    Maybe it will be up to State DAs in New York to do the heavy lifting.

  198. 198.

    Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]

    @Mnemosyne: Another thing that I found amazing about her series was her views on Sci-fi reproductive technologies.  They were incredibly though out, straightforward, and very humane (mostly, the quaddies and cetagandians were incredibly brave explorations).

  199. 199.

    Mnemosyne

    @Fair Economist:

    I may be speaking out of turn here since I’m not a member of the tribe, but Rubin and Kristol in particular seem to have seen the anti-Semites surrounding Trump and been smart enough to nope outta there on the assumption that they would be up next. That train is never late, as Chris Rock wisely said.

  200. 200.

    J R in WV

    @jk:

    hi:

    Just wanted to say, Fuck You very much with the proverbial Rusty Chain Saw, or any other Aged Agricultural Implement — for that expression of your bitter hatred ~!!~

     

    Good by, pie monster!

  201. 201.

    Mnemosyne

    @Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]:

    I was re-reading “A Civil Campaign” and realized that she wrote the character of Donna/Dono Vorryuter back in 2000, when having a transgender character was much more fraught than it is now (and it’s still pretty fraught).

  202. 202.

    Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]

    @Miss Bianca:  Her turn for aphorisms is amazing. and there is one that I have held especially close for a long time, it’s really been a moral touchstone for me for a long time:

    Some prices are just too high, no matter how much you may want the prize. The one thing you can’t trade for your heart’s desire is your heart.

    We have a lot of work ahead of us, but I think this has value in the hard months ahead.

  203. 203.

    JAFD

    I don’t own a car, live within walking distance of drugstore, couple of smaller supermarkets.  But every couple of months I rent auto, hit big supermarkets, stock up on heavy stuf (jam, spaghetti sauce, canned soups) and bulky items (cereal, paper towels, TP).  So when I have unloaded, looks as if I’m hoarding.

    Now my mother, may she rest in peace, survived the Great Depression and WWII rationing.  Cleaning out her kitchen, found inter alia, five jars of maraschino cherries and enough aluminium foil to build a P-40…

  204. 204.

    J R in WV

    @Amir Khalid:

    (Fun fact: in my newspaper days, “toilet paper” was the in-house nickname for the competition’s rag.

    As a guy who grew up in a newspaper plant owned (mostly) by my grand-dad, that’s pretty sweet. The company had an AM paper (Republican) and a PM paper (Democratic) and the competition was fierce, but since everyone worked for the same family, there wasn’t that harsh a nickname, so far as i knew.

    Was a wonderful place to grow up, mostly. Except for the hate from politicians who got revealed in the morning paper!

    ETA: Amir, you are quite a guy. I only understand one language, so you have me beat by 3 or 4. Thanks for participating in this odd but interesting enterprise ~!!~

  206. 206.

    dm

    I know jk is getting dragged, but overcome-stutter or not, a lot of Biden’s talk was pretty meandering while he was in the electoral wilderness, and it’s really tightened up since South Carolina.

    I heard that Jim Clyburn sat down with Joe and talked with him about fine-tuning his rhetoric, to not meander into the weeds of (several) policies at once, but to be more focused, direct, and concrete, and I think that advice had an effect that’s been obvious in the past few days.

    I can’t find any details (an interview with MSNBC in which he talks about “less policy and more feelings”, but that’s not what I remember hearing).

  207. 207.

    tomtofa

    @Kattails:

    OT, can someone tell me what it is with Blanton’s? Is the stuff drinkable or is it just the hype around the jockey and numbers and some other esoteric stuff, for like $60 a pop? And them playing hard to get? It baffles me every time we get a small shipment.

    Blanton’s, around for a long time, is the first (maybe) single barrel bourbon, and has lived on that for a long time. There are many others now, of course, costing less or more – Booker’s, Four Roses Single, Stagg, Jr, etc., etc., but a lot of people still think Blanton’s is pretty good. The really good Blanton’s, Blanton’s Gold, will finally be available in the US later this year. You can expect that one to really fly off the shelves.

    So, is Blanton’s the bourbon equivalent of Biden? Who can say . . .

  208. 208.

    Martin

    @Adam L Silverman: Ms Martin buys the stuff online in a case of 48. 2 weeks ago she just ordered an extra just in case, so we’ve got a mountain of the stuff.  Well, a larger than usual mountain.

  209. 209.

    Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]

    @dm: So I’ve been trying to be nice,  and I’ve seen you around the past couple of days *and NOT in a GOOD way*

    I’d suggest you look at my oblique and gentle criticism of jk and notice that jk is the rot20 of dm with the last digit getting 7 extra ticks, as an AMAZINGLY coincidental coincidence. just like you showing up over the past couple of days defending Bernie.

    might be a coincidence, but you two seem to be, shall I say “joined at the hip?”

  210. 210.

    phdesmond

    @JAFD:

     

    Now my mother, may she rest in peace, survived the Great Depression and WWII rationing.  Cleaning out her kitchen, found inter alia, five jars of maraschino cherries and enough aluminium foil to build a P-40…

     

    that was just precious.  thank you.

  212. 212.

    dm

    @Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]: (“rot20 plus klicks”? Is the “Q” in your nym short for QAnon?)

    If you think I’ve only been around for a few days, your memory is short. It is true that I mostly lurk, and it is true that I view the Bernie hatred here on a par with (and echoed by) the Warren hatred among the Bernie-Bros, but I only started frequenting places where I’ve come across Bernie-Bros in full roar recently, and I’ve found it kind of shocking, so maybe some of the hatred is understandable.

    If you’ve interpreted what I’ve written as pro-Bernie and anti-Biden, perhaps you should read more carefully.

    But even if you were right, so what? Don’t make the mistake that the Bernie-Bots make of chasing away the impure potential ally.

  213. 213.

    SFAW

    @Miss Bianca:

    Oh, no, I’m sure that just like mighty Achilles, he’s merely *brooding* in his tent, waiting, just waiting, for the moment of crisis to re-emerge.

    Well, in fairness, at least Achilleus brought something to the party, and he was screwed over by a non-orange Agamemnon. [And in fairness to Agamemnon, at least he was a king, and not a moron businessman who bankrupted businesses. Uhh, sorry — where was I?]

    Would it be stretching the Spoonerism palindrome metaphor too far to be talking about Sanders hectoring the “Demonrat establishment”?

  214. 214.

    SFAW

    @jk:

    His statement that Republicans will experience an epiphany once Trump leaves office was the single dumbest statement made by any Democratic presidential candidate during this primary season.

    I think someone else has noted this here, but George W. Bush became a non-person within the Rethug Politburo, starting around May, 2009. Plenty of them had an “epiphany,” and responded accordingly. Why would the current crop do anything less? They’re at least as intellectually and morally bankrupt as the Bush-disappear-ers. In other words: your assessment of that statement is, shall we say, lacking in thoughtful analysis.

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