.
And boy, do I hate it! https://t.co/mfZCxOuEit
— Console cowboy in cyber space (@Coolranch4lyfe) March 12, 2020
Mitch McConnell made a deal with the devil for judges and tax cuts. He assured the world that Trump would be fine, that a manifestly incompetent executive was manageable because he would be able to contain Trump’s worst failings. This is as much his legacy as it is Trump’s.
— Adam Jentleson ?? (@AJentleson) March 12, 2020
NEW: Elections officials scramble for options as coronavirus worries mount by @eliseviebeck https://t.co/hTAsOBUEOO
— Matea Gold (@mateagold) March 11, 2020
Every state that hasn't adopted universal voting by mail should do so immediately to ensure the coronavirus doesn't disrupt election operations. This map shows which states use VBM & which ones require an excuse to vote absentee https://t.co/ANgtjjczS8 https://t.co/jHQiXmYXe7 pic.twitter.com/F4FVTsHnZV
— Stephen Wolf (@PoliticsWolf) March 11, 2020
So happy we aren't about to have any socialism. https://t.co/UAKvvewSCX
— Slava Malamud (@SlavaMalamud) March 11, 2020
I have no faith in this president, who has endangered so many of us, but boy do I believe in my fellow Americans. We will dig deep and take care of one another. We will answer the call.
— Connie Schultz (@ConnieSchultz) March 12, 2020
Foreign Policy editor in Beijing:
an idiot dynast sits on the throne. plague ravages the cities. a once-globalized world falters. the scribbling literati bemoan the status given to merchants
Canadians, judging by late Ming history, now is absolutely the time to send your mounted cavalry over the border
— James Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) March 12, 2020
Chetan Murthy
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/487110-tests-indicate-coronavirus-can-survive-in-the-air
Joey Maloney
Is it callous of me to note that many of those states which do not allow vote-by-mail on demand are part of the GOP electoral firewall?
Jeffery
I applied the other day for a mail in ballot in Pennsylvania on line at 10 o’clock in the morning. Received a confirmation for approval by 2 o’clock in the afternoon. I will never go to a polling station again.
The site is here for PA readers.
https://www.votespa.com/Voting-in-PA/Pages/Mail-and-Absentee-Ballot.aspx
Comrade Scrutinizer
I’ve had Cavafy’s The God Abandons Antony playing in my head from time to time since 2016. It’s back:
Chetan Murthy
@Joey Maloney: I was not aware that “callous” was a synonym for “devastatingly accurate”.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@Joey Maloney: Its a feature.
JPL
@Chetan Murthy: Well aren’t you just filled with good news.
Baud
@Chetan Murthy:
It also leaps tall buildings in a single bound.
Calouste
@Joey Maloney: It is a lot easier to close a number of polling stations than to set a bunch of mail boxes on fire.
Chetan Murthy
@JPL: My mom is 75; if I’m infected, I gotta stay away from her. So it’s good to know what that means. Also if I”m not infected, it puts a radius on how close I’ll get to others. Gotta do my part, yo.
Baud
Sales for Body Condoms by Baud! are going to go through the roof!
Comrade Scrutinizer
@Joey Maloney: It’s not even callous to wish that the MAGAts get hit harder by this disease than others, although I’m apparently supposed to add that I “wouldn’t wish bad things on anyone.” That would be a lie, though.
Shalimar
Stock futures are down another 4.5%. Trump does not appear to have soothed anyone.
Chetan Murthy
@Comrade Scrutinizer:
S’ok, yo. I hear it’s perfectly OK to lie in the service of your faith: an evangelical assured of that, ha! Also, “hate the sin, love the sinner”, riiiiiight?
Comrade Scrutinizer
@Baud: Just gonna make myself a body suit from construction trash bags once I find them in barrel cover size.
Baud
Biden is supposed to speak today about this. It’ll be interesting to see the comparison and the reaction to it.
OzarkHillbilly
Let me guess, you live in a blue state and have never met a Republican, have you Connie?
OzarkHillbilly
@Comrade Scrutinizer: Here ya go.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@Chetan Murthy:
Yep. The auto de fe was for their own good after all. Also, tasty barbecue for those with a taste for long pork.
Chetan Murthy
@OzarkHillbilly: She lives in Ohio (wife of Sen. Sherrod Brown) [so, not a blue state]. She’s 62. She’s a brave woman and a patriot.
Anya
In light of Trump’s speech destroying the world economy and creating a state of panic instead of offering solutions (he couldn’t even tell people to refrain from shaking hands), I wish the Dem debate doesn’t turn into metaphorical murder/suicide but I am not holding my breath. Here’s Bernie’s very competent communication director
OzarkHillbilly
@Chetan Murthy:
And yet she thinks an IGMFY Republican is gonna help other people? Even as all the rich run off to hide in their own personal disaster bunkers to wait out the pandemic?
Boy, that is either really naive, or… really naive.
Chetan Murthy
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’m guessing she only half-believes it. But OTOH, what good is it to be realistic? Part of what being a leader is about (and she is a leader — well-known journalist as well as Brown’s wife) is setting the right example for others.
Honus
I don’t know about that map. I’ve been registered to vote in Virginia for forty years. Unless it changed in the last couple of years, I’ve needed an excuse to vote absentee every time I’ve done it.
eclare
@Baud: Any idea what time Biden is supposed to speak?
eclare
@Anya: I am not going to watch, it would send my already high anxiety through the stratosphere.
eclare
@eclare: From the Hill, Biden will speak at 1 pm EDT.
TS (the original)
@Joey Maloney:
From the map it is painfully obvious which states use voter suppression to ensure their GOP majority
germy
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
germy
Chyron HR
@germy:
What part of “God-Emperor Trump” does BCBS not understand?
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
debbie
@Joey Maloney:
Ohio’s Governor is GOP, but he’s been making all kinds of plans for voting, like increasing early voting hours, mail-in, absentee, etc.
prostratedragon
Come on, Mitch, sing along!
“Life can’t always be a song.”
debbie
@Chetan Murthy:
She’s also a journalist. I’m sure she’s very familiar with many GOPers.
Baud
@Anya:
I wonder if the moderators will treat Bernie as a real candidate or will just focus on Biden.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
You get that from this: “I have no faith in this president”?
Anya
@germy: remember when the ‘liberal media’ told us Megyn Kelly is a serious person who has integrity? I am just glad she’s admitting that Trump’s lies have detrimental effects on the nation. I seem to recall her arguing, just recently, that Trump’s lies are harmless boasting while Obama’s “If you like your plan you can keep it” was a more consequential and serious lie. Fuck that asshole.
Anya
@eclare: same here. I just can’t stomach any of this. It’s unnecessary.
MJS
@Baud: “Mr. Sanders, as has been widely reported, Mr. Biden has dementia. How do you think that will impact the race going forward?”
“I’m glad you asked that question.”…
germy
@OzarkHillbilly:
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: No, from this:
47% of whom voted for trump and 42% or more of whom have every intention of voting for him again.
Shalimar
@Baud: I hope they treat Bernie like a candidate. As toxic as Bernie and his followers are, I agree with him on most actual issues. I want to see how Biden responds to all of these supposed gotchas Bernie is going to toss at him. I’m not worried about him doing badly. Biden has been debating for 5 decades. He will be fine. I just genuinely want to know where we will be as a party after the convention.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy: Yep.
Baud
@MJS:
I’ll violate campaign contribution limits to donate to Biden if he has another “you’re full of shit” moment with Bernie.
Anya
@Baud: They’ll probably just focus on Biden but even if they manage to challenge Bernie and ask for specifics, no matter the question, Bernie will launch into his baseline rhetoric so they won’t be able to lay a glove on him. It drives me nuts but it’s kinda effective.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Ah, got it. Maybe she was channeling her inner Tom Joad?
Baud
@Shalimar:
This debate will not give you that information.
Baud
@Anya:
It’s effective because no one ever pushes back.
Anya
@OzarkHillbilly: the only American voters to be trusted are the ones who voted for Hillary. Everyone else is responsible for this mess.
Baud
@Anya: Come sit by me.
Shalimar
@Baud: No. But maybe we will get hints of how responsive to different groups within the party Biden will be.
Anya
@Baud: Exactly. When the annoying Chris Matthews pushed back and grilled him, we got the “take a look out the window” answer
debbie
@Baud:
I think if Biden can keep his shit together, he can show Bernie to be the shouty, inflexible old man he really is. I think that would be a service to the country.
Chetan Murthy
@Anya: Jesus what a putz. Don’t matter how many millions you got, Bernie, if they don’t fuckin’ VOTE.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie:
Hope springs eternal, but I am a bone deep pessimist.
Baud
@debbie: Agrees. Bernie’s high likeability rating always bothered me.
@Chetan Murthy: TBF. That was in 2016.
eclare
@Chetan Murthy: Also all those millions need to live in KY.
WereBear
It’s not callous to observe that Trump fans make a fetish of almost licking each other to show their contempt for this Democratic hoax. That their local governments will be the last to attempt any kind of measures to control it.
That their labor pool is the most vulnerable to coming to work while they are sick.
That their healthcare sucks the most.
It’s simply an observation.
johnnybuck
I just hope it’s the last debate of the primary. There is nothing left to be said that we haven’t heard already. The only suspense left is whether or not Bernie goes scorched earth on Biden and I don’t even think that would make that much difference. This is the last hurrah of the Sanders campaign before the merciless beatings to come.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Well, she’s not, by any stretch. But would you have been OK with her tweet if she had included a “Blech” in it?
Baud
@johnnybuck: It’s almost certainly the last debate. The March 17 primaries will be brutal to Bernie. No point engaging with him if he hasn’t dropped out after that.
Barry
@Anya: “I wish the Dem debate doesn’t turn into metaphorical murder/suicide but I am not holding my breath.”
At this point Biden has it in the bag. He knows it, Bernie knows it. He can play it safe and let Bernie sputter.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@Anya: Rose Twitter live in a very small, very loud bubble. I can appreciate some of their positions, but their understanding of politics is limited to “be loud and call people names”. Warren had similar positions, but was hella better at process. The problem is that people aren’t interested in progressive programs right now, they just want the Evil Bastards out of power. Screaming at clouds just won’t cut it.
MJS
@johnnybuck: In my fantasy world, Bernie opens the debate by taking a minute to lay out his vision for this country, then another minute to endorse Biden. Then Biden and he have 2 hours to make every question an opportunity to bash Trump. The “contest” is to see who can pummel Trump the most.
Again, in my fantasy world.
SFAW
@johnnybuck:
Screw that. I want the Democrat Establishment to stop ignoring Tulsi, and give her a seat at the table (or whatever). And then, because of her resounding victory in American Samoa, the forces she has mobilized will demand to be heard at the Democrat Convention, and so forth.
Is it too late for Doctor Jill Iosifovna Stein to be part of the debate? Because she brings a lot.
SFAW
@MJS:
Any extra room in that world? ‘Cause I’d like to live there, at least for a little bit.
johnnybuck
@MJS: It’s a nice fantasy.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: @OzarkHillbilly:
SFAW
@Barry:
So you’re saying the whole Democrat primary was a “bag job” by the Democrat Party Establishment? Just as I thought.
Chyron HR
@SFAW:
Bernie had no chance against the Democratic Establishment colluding to rig the vote against him by voting against him.
SFAW
@Chyron HR:
No collusion! NO COLLUSION!!
johnnybuck
I wonder if the two campaigns are talking to each other about the inevitable and what comes next? That is the fantasy world I live in.
Steeplejack (phone)
Steep reporting from Dulles (IAD), where I got to my gate a little while ago for departure at 9:00. The airport seems “normal,” and security check was fast. But I fly so infrequently that I’m not a good judge.
Lots of TSA people wearing gloves, but not masks. Some fliers wearing (surgical type) masks, but not as many as I expected. Again, what’s “normal”?
I’m not seeing anyone taking extraordinary precautions or doing anything weird. There was one couple who were slathering sanitizer on their hands after the TSA check. I noticed them mainly because they were slathering so much I heard it.
Chetan Murthy
@johnnybuck:
In *my* fantasy world, Bernie acts like a reliable and trustworthy partner to the Democratic Party and Caucus. Also, I have a pony.
danielx
@Baud:
I knew there was a silver lining in this whole deal somewhere. Also too, Netflix and food delivery companies look like safe investments at the moment.
johnnybuck
@Chetan Murthy: don’t be modest, that’s a Unicorn.
NotMax
@Joey Maloney
Couple of pages you might take the time to peruse before making such a blanket statement:
1) https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/all-mail-elections.aspx
2) https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/absentee-and-early-voting.aspx
Baud
@Chetan Murthy:
Since we’re playing that game, in *my* fantasy world, he apologizes to Hillary Clinton on Sunday.
NotMax
@Steeplejack
In my limited (as in one round trip annually) airport experience gloved TSA personnel are nothing new.
NotMax
@danielx
Institutional-type bed and mattress manufacturers.
OzarkHillbilly
FTFNYT, meanwhile, from a real world leader:
Another Scott
@Honus: One of the many, many new laws just passed in Virginia was no-excuses absentee voting. I haven’t seen the details, but Virginia is in the modern group now.
Thankfully.
Cheers,
Scott.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Honus:
Yes, Virginia is a “you need an excuse” state.
NotMax
@Baud
Zebra print, tiger print, leopard print, even cowhide print but NO jackal print.
I haz a disappoint.
:)
Another Scott
@Baud: I assume anything over the limit will be transferred to the DNC or other appropriate Democratic organization. That’s the way HRC set up her “joint fundraising committee”. It would be criminal for Uncle Joe not to have something like that up and running, yesterday.
Cheers,
Scott.
danielx
@NotMax:
I’m sure the issue will be rectified quickly.
OzarkHillbilly
@johnnybuck: A rainbow farting, gold shitting unicorn.
danielx
Note:
Last evening daughter unit and spousal unit were discussing attendance at Saturday bowling league and ‘banquet’ to follow, which I thought was not a good idea.
This morning I told spousal unit (only) not just no, but oh hell no. You aren’t going and daughter unit can bitch all she wants.
Ken
I suppose studying and training are OK, if you’re not able to pick it up by osmosis from your uncle at MIT.
Another Scott
@Steeplejack (phone): I think public TSA people have almost always worn blue nitrile gloves. So that’s normal. I’ve almost never seen people in the US wearing masks – that’s part of what made my trip to Nara, Japan so memorable last May (maybe 1% wearing masks in public?).
Safe travels.
Wash your hands, keep your distance, and don’t touch your face!
Cheers,
Scott.
danielx
New Trump descriptive: the Orange Bubo.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Another Scott:
Oops, my bad. That’s good news. It wasn’t in effect for this primary, was it?
Another Scott
@Steeplejack (phone): Not any more.
WHSV:
Elections have consequences! :-)
Cheers,
Scott.
Anya
@MJS: My fantasy world is simpler. What I want from Bernie is that he refrain from saying anything related to eluding that democratic establishment colluded to cheat him out of a win and that he doesn’t come out and bloody Biden. What I want from Biden is even simpler, just show you can defeat Trump and turn every question into contrast with Trump. He should also simply apologize to the Iraq war vote.
Baud
@Anya: No, once you start apologizing for one thing, they will just bring up the next thing you have to apologize for.
Kathleen
@Chetan Murthy: Also Pulitzer Prize winning journalist.
Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)
@Jeffery: My wife and I did the same thing two days ago. Now that PA has no excuse vote by mail (why do they even bother asking the questions on the form about travel or illness?)
I agree with you that even though our polling place is only a mile from our house at a semi-rural fire station with lots of parking and having never had to wait for more than 10 minutes or so to vote. It’s likely we may never go vote in person again either.
Kathleen
@Baud: They’ll focus on media darling Sanders.
burnspbesq
Futures trading suggests that the Dow will be down 1,100 points at the open.
If you’re short the market, Trumps’s speech had the desired effect. Otherwise, not so much.
burnspbesq
@MJS:
Do I need a visa to visit your fantasy world?
burnspbesq
Off I go to the oncologist to get the results of my latest follow-up scan. Four years out, I’d like to finally hear the “R” word officially. But I’ll settle for “no need to come back in six months.”
Shalimar
@burnspbesq: Futures are yo-yoing 150 points every few seconds. Today is going to be either wild up and down swings, or a free fall.
mrmoshpotato
@johnnybuck:
This brings joy to my heart. (I’m well on record in these parts about my hate of St. Bernie and his pie-in-the-sky bullshit.) Let’s beat the hell out of him with the Sunshine State and then run the fucking table.
Elizabelle
@burnspbesq: Hope it’s good news. The R word would be fine.
Highway Rob
@burnspbesq:
Post oval drop?
James E Powell
@OzarkHillbilly:
She knows the score. She’s just trying to promote the old can-do optimistic attitude. I mean, she’s wrong, of course. But I get why she says things like that.
mrmoshpotato
@burnspbesq: Good luck! :)
Yutsano
@OzarkHillbilly:
I prefer a space unicorn.
pluky
@Comrade Scrutinizer: And “Waiting for the Barbarians”!
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51294/waiting-for-the-barbarians
KSinMA
@Comrade Scrutinizer: Gosh, that’s beautiful.
schrodingers_cat
Jackals, should I go to the women’s club meeting this evening?
WereBear
@schrodingers_cat: NO. SATSQ
burnspbesq
CT scan results were appallingly normal. Labs in six months, scan in a year. I’ll take that eight days a week.
Thanks to everyone in the cheering section.
Baud
@burnspbesq: Win!
Fair Economist
@burnspbesq: (((Cheers)))
James E Powell
@burnspbesq:
That’s awesome.
noname
@schrodingers_cat: Please don’t go.
J R in WV
@Honus:
So hey, do you think “I don’t want to infect the poll workers by being too close to them!” would work out as an excuse??
KSinMA
@burnspbesq: That’s great!
Domestic short hair tabby
@burnspbesq: that’s great news!
opiejeanne
@burnspbesq: Yay!
J R in WV
@burnspbesq:
Wow, some really good news for a pretty spring day.
Congratulations! And many happy returns from WV!!
As soon as I finish this pastrami on seeded sourdough sammich, I’m going to make another provisions run. a hundred pounds of cat food, 200 pounds of dog food, all the people food I can stuff into the suv. For the first time I wish I had gone for the bigger suv for more cargo space.
Wish me luck. Going to attempt to purchase some prescriptions too, in spite of insurance rules.
NotMax
@burnspbesq
Fine news indeed.
tam1MI
@mrmoshpotato: It really wasn’t necessary for me to vote for Biden in Michigan on Tuesday, I just did it to run up the score against Sanders.
As I put my ballot in the scanner I said under my breath, “This one’s for you, Hillary.”