Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.

Can we lighten up on the doomsday scenarios?

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Let there be snark.

FFS people, this was a good thing. take the win.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

When the time comes to make an endorsement, the pain of NYT editors will be palpable as they reluctantly whisper “Biden.”

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

…and a burning sense of injustice to juice the soul.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

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

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2020 / Thursday Morning Open Thread: One Day At A Time

Thursday Morning Open Thread: One Day At A Time

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Possibly helpful information:


Bless these kids for helping! It seems to be a nationwide database; I tried INSTOK.com‘s search function with a couple items & my MA zip code, and it returned believable information for stores in my area. (Including the predictable absolutely-non-related items at Walgreens, since in my experience the Walgreens customer database has issues — if it hadn’t offered something random I’d have wondered why not.)

From the I’ll Believe It When I See It Files…


Good for Biden he’s making the challenge, even if the gutless wonder squatting in the WH will never accept.

Reader Interactions

207Comments

  3. 3.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud: “I was luxurious and tremendous at the call, and didn’t keep going ‘uhhhhhh sleeppy Joe, totally loser!’ like the manchild shitpile that I am! Isn’t that right Daddy Vladdy?!”

  4. 4.

    mrmoshpotato

    Should I sign this petition for Wilmer to be the nominee of a party he doesn’t belong to?  Hmmmm…….decisions, decisions.

    USA Today’s ass-kicking tally is still +303 delegates.

  6. 6.

    OzarkHillbilly

    America’s mask problem is solved! Florida man who raised funds for border wall hawks millions of face masks

    About a month ago, Kolfage formed a business called America First Medical, which offers on its website and in social media pitches to broker large-volume sales of high-grade masks known as N95s. He said he charges about $4 each – several times the pre-pandemic prices but a few dollars less than some hospitals, nursing homes and first responders are now paying.

    Though he hasn’t yet found buyers, Kolfage says he has found masks all over the world, including stockpiles hidden away in warehouses in Japan and eastern Europe. If a deal goes through, he will collect a commission between 1% and 3%, depending on the size of the order, he said.

    He said he was performing a public service. “We’re the ones out there kissing the frogs and doing all the work that these hospitals and others can’t do,” Kolfage, 38, told Reuters. “We’re the ones making these connections. If the hospital wants to pay the money, that’s up to them.”

    Yeah, something’s rotten in Denmark and it ain’t the fish.

  13. 13.

    Chyron HR

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Should I sign this petition for Wilmer to be the nominee of a party he doesn’t belong to?

    Nina Turner: Dammit, David, your petition didn’t work and your Super Bernie World romhack didn’t work. What now?
    David Sirota: Well, if anyone else has a better idea for how to win an election, I’m all ears!
    (awkward silence)
    Ayanna Pressley: Have… have you tried getting more votes?
    David Sirota: GET THE FUCK OUT OF OUR REVOLUTION!

  16. 16.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    I got lost on Twitter last night and tripped over a few ? ? ? demanding that OH Gov. DeWine be recalled and ODH Director Dr. Amy Acton be fired. They all seemed to be sports fans, so I’m guessing they’re pissed that their sports have been suspended. Poor, pitiful ❄️❄️❄️. //

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: The RWNJ have been all over him for over a week (I think it’s been at least a week since I read that article) (I think) so yeah, safe to assume that his out shining of Lord God Emperor trump will result in death threats from Cult45.

  24. 24.

    Bruce K

    OK, so my New York primary absentee ballot arrived in my office on Monday, and got picked up by one of the skeleton crew still manning the desks in case of emergencies. I made a trip out there (taking all precautions), got back, and noticed that separately from selecting my preferred nominee, I could select up to eight delegates from a long list.

    I know Biden’s the last realistic choice left standing, and I absolutely believe that the re-election of Trump is the worst-case scenario for America (although I got into an argument with someone on Twitter who said the only reasonable vote was not to vote for either, and I’m still trying to scrub the stupid out of my brain). But the ballot also includes delegates pledged to Elizabeth Warren.

    Would selecting four delegates for Biden and four for Warren be insane? I know Warren’s campaign is suspended, but I figure that the more leverage she has, the better it’d be for the country. Is that way off base of me?

  25. 25.

    Anonymous At Work

    Wish there was a product tracker for what I need…took me almost a week to find a store as it was stocking Ham Hocks.  Bought enough to make 10 pounds of beans and last me a month.

  33. 33.

    germy

    May 10, 2018

    When the next pandemic occurs (and make no mistake, it will) and the federal government is unable to respond in a coordinated and effective fashion to protect the lives of US citizens and others, this decision by John Bolton and Donald Trump will be why. https://t.co/iMSzopSRaI— Stephen Schwartz (@AtomicAnalyst) May 10, 2018

  34. 34.

    satby

    @Baud: we need a plan to deprogram a lot of the cult members and deplatform the propaganda they consume. I’m not sure “free speech” should excuse the kinds of false and violence-inciting media they spread. And I got a first hand look at examples yesterday, when I went to someone I’ve known for 60 years FB wall to wish them a Happy Birthday. I was so appalled by the stuff posted I just left without commenting. The hate campaigns are ramping up to protect the moron in chief.

  35. 35.

    debbie

    @Bruce K:

    As a die-hard Warren supporter (yes, I’m still sad; fuck anyone who’s dismissive of this), I think it would be wrong. We have to be realistic about our chances against these horrible, horrible forces in November.

    She knows we still love her.

  38. 38.

    tom

    A friend whose wife owns a small business that has been severely impacted by the coronavirus is applying for the small business loans promised by Mnuchin. The only bank that responded so far wants her to have minimum balance of $100K with them. Hell, if she has $100K available to sit around in a bank account she wouldn’t need a small business loan.

  39. 39.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud: But then how do we remind them daily of the gallons of blood on their hands?

    Dump didn’t make himself the White House squatter.

  40. 40.

    Mai naem mobile

    @Bruce K: so you get to pick Biden or Warren as the nominee but also pick the delegates? If I am understanding that right I wish I had had that option here in AZ. Kind of like ranked voting. I would obviously do Biden for the candidate but maybe do 6/2 Biden/ Warren

  43. 43.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: I don’t think that will have any impact. Rural areas are filled with ostracized RWNJs.

     

    eta for accuracy

  45. 45.

    satby

    @Baud: I unfollowed him years ago and his own children won’t talk politics with him. When he tries to troll anything I post I usually just delete his comments. I don’t unfriend him or my other right wing followers because I know he reads the factual content I post, otherwise they have no exposure at all to the reality based world. But the shit they believe is increasingly hostile and unhinged, and widely disseminated in right wing circles. I don’t know how we’ll thread the needle between “free speech” and “malicious disinformation” but somehow we need to.

  46. 46.

    Mai naem mobile

    Does anybody else think Trumpov and his inner circle have already had the antibody tests done?   I find it hard to believe that none of them have tested positive for COVID19 for all the time they spend travelling worldwide  and especially in NY and California. The Germans have already done their population  and theres the lab in Colorado that opened very recently that does the anti body tests.

  48. 48.

    satby

    @Baud: and it’s not about converting RWNJ, it’s about removing as much as possible their ability to influence and convert others. We’re growing our own Xtian jihadists.

  51. 51.

    Baud

    @satby: It’s not really possible to prevent them from influencing others.  The most you can do, I think, is to persuade social media companies to tighten their hate speech standards.

     

    @Immanentize: What did she do?

  52. 52.

    rikyrah

    This lying muthaphucka ???

    He is only doing this because rural Georgia is being ravaged by COVID-19

    In a bizarre turn of events, information the rest of the nation had in January didn’t reach Georgia Governor Brian Kemp until April: “Individuals could have been infecting people before they ever felt bad, but we didn’t know that until the last 24 hours.” https://t.co/v1nGdzTy5y— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) April 2, 2020

  54. 54.

    germy

    "'I have all this data about ICU capacity. I’m doing my own projections, and I’ve gotten a lot smarter about this. New York doesn’t need all the ventilators,' Kushner said, according to a person present." https://t.co/cHOyhPzcNH— Michelle Goldberg (@michelleinbklyn) April 1, 2020

    Thank God, finally a failed scion of a failed, rotten family of criminal real estate speculators instead of that team of crisis managers and epidemiologists we shitcanned a few years ago. https://t.co/T9xdUiwtjN— The Left (@norbiznesss) April 2, 2020

  57. 57.

    Zinsky

    Trump is a gutless coward when it comes to face-to-face confrontations.  He prefers to snipe from afar and let underlings handle unpleasant human interactions.   Look at the way he handled the firings of Tillerson or McMaster as a template for his behavior.   This is consistent with Trump’s highly narcissistic and adolescent view of the world with him as the superhuman macho stud and everyone else as his pawn or sycophant.   I’m sure any interaction with Biden will be very limited, highly stilted and embarassingly lean on substance.

    I am also sure that Trump is really only interested in two things right now: (1) How and when to get rid of Anthony Fauci – Trump always seeks revenge on those who bruise his oh-so-delicate ego. (2). How, if and when he can sexually assault Dr. Deborah Birx.   It’s all the creepy geriatric predator thinks about.  Watch his eyes in the press conferences….

  59. 59.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @tom:

    Leaving anything recovery-wise in the hands of the banks and the credit reporting companies will strangle any attempt to help small businesses. The only people to benefit will be large entities which have arranged straw ownership of smaller units.

    I fully expect to receive zero assistance. If someone simply lined up loan underwriters and credit rating algorithm creators against a wall for their deserved machinegunning, the world would be a better place.

  60. 60.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: Stood up to Trump, got him to insult Michigan and women, and it seems her polling firm  is also Biden’s.  And I read Biden has said she is in his short list, although I haven’t seen a direct quote from Joe like that.  She is 48, a self-descibed pragmatic liberal and is really popular in Michigan.

    ETA fixed funny autocorrect

  61. 61.

    WereBear

    @satby:

    it’s not about converting RWNJ, it’s about removing as much as possible their ability to influence and convert others. We’re growing our own Xtian jihadists.

     
    Yes. We have to marginalize their influence and then wait for the dead-enders to die out.

  66. 66.

    Baud

    @johnnybuck:

    It’s tough. You have to take care of yourself and your safety first.  But many people aren’t in that position.  I just feel like too many people are trying to educate or save the RWNJs rather than stand up to them.

  71. 71.

    satby

    @germy: at some point it just needs to be acknowledged that it isn’t disorganization or incompetence, it’s a deliberate attempt at genocide against Trump’s “enemies”.

  72. 72.

    Baud

    @satby:

    But prevent them from indoctrinating others.

    That’s my point.  One way to do that is to make clear to others that people of that ilk are not welcome among decent people.

  73. 73.

    Baud

    @germy: I think dead enders are fewer. They are just more concentrated and organized within the Republican Party and in red states.

  74. 74.

    johnnybuck

    @Baud: I just feel like too many people are trying to educate or save the RWNJs rather than stand up to them.

    That is truly a “lost Cause”

  75. 75.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: I am not sure it will be her — Joe is doing great in MI on his own.  The Clyburn interview was interesting — he basically put the kibash on Abrams as being too inexperienced.  He floated Susan Rice?  That would make wingnut heads explode.  I am perhaps more serious about the VP being a woman rather than any other demographic aspect.  But there is a needle to be threaded!

  78. 78.

    rikyrah

    ????

    Breaking. A record 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, the latest brutal reminder of the toll the coronavirus pandemic is taking on the U.S. economy.— Craig Melvin (@craigmelvin) April 2, 2020

    </script

  79. 79.

    OzarkHillbilly

    I am just going to point out that it is impossible to ostracize 40+% of a population. Good luck with that plan. And if you think Billy Jean or Jethro are going to see the light as you demonize Ma and Pa? Good luck with that plan too.

    Bye now.

  82. 82.

    tom

    @tom: Just heard from my friend that the $100K requirement was a typo (!?!?) on the bank’s website. So things are looking better for her.

  83. 83.

    Baud

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    40+% of a population

    That’s the number of people who are committed Republicans.  That’s not the number of people who engage in violent hate speech.

  86. 86.

    satby

    @Baud: @OzarkHillbilly: Yeah, I’m a bit with Ozark here, though my estimate would be around 30% (+or – crazification factor) of the country. There’s entire communities feeding on this stuff and self perpetuating, and part of the con is that the rest of us are deluded and that they don’t need anyone outside their circle. How we batter them down to the usual fringe 10% or so will be the next task after the election because 30% of a population primed with sedition is too high to govern well.

    Edit: and it is giving cover to the active attempt of this petty tyrant to kill off people in blue states.

  89. 89.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @rikyrah:

     

    Breaking. A record 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, the latest brutal reminder of the toll Trump’s mishandling of the response to the coronavirus pandemic is taking on the U.S. economy.

    Edited for accuracy.

  90. 90.

    Betty Cracker

    @satby: You’re right that the petty tyrant is trying to orchestrate catastrophe for blue states. But he and his followers are so inept that the worst of the consequences may fall on the red states, which stupidly bought Trump’s “hoax” framing, eschewed sensible measures to mitigate the danger, etc.

    I long ago quit waiting for a crisis of ANY magnitude to wake those deluded fuckers up. Iraq War? Nope. Great Recession? Nope. Sandy Hook? Nope. Vegas massacre? Nope. Trump sucking Putin’s dick on live TV in Helsinki? Nope. Incontrovertible evidence that Trump shook down a vulnerable ally to cheat in an election? Nope.

    Now we’ll see if a bungled pandemic response that will kill hundreds of thousands of Americans, devastate the economy and cause millions of unemployed MAGAts to have to wipe their asses with coffee filters will play out for Trump politically. I like our chances in 2020 but won’t hazard a guess about the 27%+.

  94. 94.

    JPL

    Just returned from Trader Joe’s which is taking all kinds of precautions.   They are limiting the amount of people in the store at any one time and have plenty of hand sanitizer.    Although there were not a lot of shoppers, most had on masks or scarfs.

  97. 97.

    MomSense

    I just want to say how grateful I am for our local schools.  We are in a statewide stay at home order, but picking up essentials at schools is allowed.  All our schools have organized Wednesday pick up days.  They are handing out boxes of food, clean clothing, school supplies and lessons (not all students have internet access) for the students who need them.  They worked with the students directly to find out what they need.  They are communicating directly with the students to make sure they are ok.

  98. 98.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Immanentize:

    I hope he doesn’t choose Whitmer. Given his age, whoever he chooses needs to be ready to step into the presidency, and I don’t think she is yet.

    OTOH, it would be a thumb in Trump’s eye, so there is that.

  100. 100.

    rikyrah

    @Betty Cracker:

    I have tried to put into words, but only feel pure, unadulterated RAGE when I think about the response to COVID-19, across the board from the GOP. I mean, a pulsating rage that I can feel is raising my blood pressure. I can’t put into words how angry I feel.

  102. 102.

    JPL

    @rikyrah: I guess some are still open in GA.   The governor’s stay at home doesn’t start until Friday though so we’ll see what they do.

  103. 103.

    rikyrah

    @JPL:

    I haven’t been to the grocery store since the initial stay at home order. I think that I might have to breakdown and go to Whole Paycheck, cause I think their stores and clientele might be taking it seriously and put in measures to do the social distancing .

  104. 104.

    Captain C

    @germy: At this point, I think even Trump knows he can’t ever go back to New York City. Though he may get hauled there involuntarily after his term is up.

  105. 105.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @satby: I think I mentioned that my building has imposed a new level of lockdown, defining “stay home” as “stay in your own unit” rather then “stay in the building.” They had to do it because some of my elderly, R neighbors weren’t taking this seriously enough.

    Ya know though, if they wanted folks to take it seriously, they should have turned Fox news off in the public areas months ago.

  107. 107.

    artem1s

    Good for Biden he’s making the challenge, even if the gutless wonder squatting in the WH will never accept.

    Is he sending a message about building a transition team?  that’s some grade A trolling. Go Joe!

  109. 109.

    Barbara

    @rikyrah: Yes.  This is what I feel.  The anger is so strong that I have to avoid activities that bring it to the surface.

  110. 110.

    Amir Khalid

    @artem1s:

    As the presumptive Democratic nominee, Biden definitely should have started planning his transition team at this point. I imagine he already has some people shortlisted.

  112. 112.

    satby

    @rikyrah: @Dorothy A. Winsor: I went to my local smaller grocery store yesterday. Most people tried to abide by reasonable social distancing, but several still didn’t. I start my symptom watch over again every time I go out, so now I’m waiting until the 14th again. Fortunately, I won’t need anything again for that two weeks.  But I see kids outside playing with kids from other families, and one entire family was at the store. Until someone they know gets seriously ill or dies those folks just won’t get with the program.

  113. 113.

    germy

    On Tuesday afternoon, California Highway Patrol officer Dillon Eckerfield was rumbling down Harbor Avenue on his police motorcycle, in San Pedro, Calif., when he witnessed a strange sight: a freight train flying off the end of the tracks.

    It didn’t even try to slow down. He watched it smash through the concrete and steel barriers at the track’s dead end, near the Port of Los Angeles. It crashed through a chain-link fence, careened through a parking lot and another gravel lot — barely missing three occupied vehicles — and then finally, after taking out another fence, came to a halt.

    Roughly 800 feet ahead was the USNS Mercy, the Navy medical ship providing relief to hospitals overburdened with coronavirus patients — where police now believe the train’s engineer was intentionally headed.

    Eckerfield pulled a U-turn, speeding in the direction of the spectacular train wreck, according to an FBI affidavit describing the incident. As he approached, he could see a man in a bright yellow fluorescent vest jump down from the train’s cab and start running. He was easy to follow. Eckerfield sped into the West Basin Container Terminal, an enormous ship cargo yard, and found the man in the yellow vest walking toward him. Eckerfield drew his weapon and ordered the man onto the ground.

    Right away, as Eckerfield placed him under arrest, the suspect spilled out his story.

    “You only get this chance once. The whole world is watching,” the suspect, later identified as Eduardo Moreno, told Eckerfield. “I had to. People don’t know what’s going on here. Now they will.”
    Prosecutors say Moreno was “suspicious of the USNS Mercy,” believing officials were lying about its true purpose. He believed “it had an alternate purpose related to covid-19 or a government takeover,” they said.

    (WaPo

    (I don’t have a subscription but I was able to read it)

  114. 114.

    Shalimar

    @Bruce K: It’s your choice, and i don’t think half for Warren is a bad one.  That said, I voted for Warren 2 weeks before the Florida primary for the same reason.  If I had waited until election day, I would have voted for Biden because it worries me that Sanders could stay in this longer with lower virus-related turnout and I do not want that.

  116. 116.

    Emma from FL

    Guys totally off topic. My 13 year old schnoodle woke us up with heavy vomiting. There was undigested food in the vomit, so it was obvious he had not digested his dinner well (he tends to eat too fast). Then he drank some water and proceeded to throw up again, but it was just foamy water. Now he just laid down on the coolest part of the TV room tile and just seems to be sleeping it off. Internet dog related sites say keep him off food for 24 hours and monitor. Does that sound right to you? Any other advice?

  118. 118.

    germy

    @Emma from FL:  Does your vet offer any tele-medicine or phone advice?

    Whenever I try to google info for my cat’s health, I always see conflicting claims.  It’s difficult to navigate through the for-profit product sellers and general cranks.  Sometimes a trusted vet’s advice is best.

  119. 119.

    artem1s

    @Amir Khalid:

    As the presumptive Democratic nominee, Biden definitely should have started planning his transition team at this point. I imagine he already has some people shortlisted.

    Oh, absolutely.  It’s what a responsible, experienced, competent candidate should be doing. Dolt however, has no experience, isn’t competent and has absolved himself of all responsibility.  He’s going to read it as a presumptive insult for sure and respond accordingly.  Once again proving that he isn’t capable of capitalizing on his enemies handing him a golden opportunity to look magnanimous and presidential.  He’ll blow it for sure.

  120. 120.

    hueyplong

    Back during the Iraq mess, there was a notion that the country would be much more quick to turn on a failed administration if the lion’s share of the body count were made up of Americans instead of Iraqis.

    Well, here we are.  And there are over 200 news cycles/possible daily briefings from now until the election.  The Trump/Fox-generated narratives will have to get uglier and uglier to exonerate him, and he requires daily exoneration.

  123. 123.

    JMG

    Went to Stop n’ Shop this morning for another two weeks of supplies. Store not crowded, everyone practicing pretty good social distancing (it’s hard when people are going different directions in the same aisle, but we moved as far apart as we could). Say about half the people had on masks or scarves, a dramatic increase from my previous visit. Only one problem. Usually they keep the store very chilly. This morning they didn’t, maybe because of the old people’s shopping hour. So it was warm, and everyone had their winter coats on because it was like 38 outside. Perfect storm to create anxiety about an onset of fever.

  124. 124.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Our building management just came by and handed out donuts. They’re aware the inmates are getting restless and it’s true that donuts cure a lot of ills!

  128. 128.

    Gin & Tonic

    @rikyrah: Thing is, her disdain of Bloomberg was spot-on. While he was in, he was spending easily $100 million a week on advertising, and promised he’d continue the anti-Trump blitz regardless of outcome.

    Then he got his ass handed to him in the primaries, wrote a pocket-change $18 million check to the DNC, fired all his staff and went home, never to be seen again.

    Kay was 100% right from day one.

  129. 129.

    artem1s

    @Bruce K:

    Would selecting four delegates for Biden and four for Warren be insane? I know Warren’s campaign is suspended, but I figure that the more leverage she has, the better it’d be for the country. Is that way off base of me?

    In a normal election I’d say this was the right thing to do. But you have to recognize that Wilmer is going to try to claim all Warren’s (and Pete’s, etc.) delegates as his.  Until he drops out and pledged to support Biden, assume he is still scheming to claim a plurality at the convention.  Even if it’s a plurality of someone else’s votes. Be cautious.

  131. 131.

    TS (the original)

    @Zinsky:

    Trump is a gutless coward when it comes to face-to-face confrontations.

    That he refuses to meet/talk with the Speaker of the house of representatives (because she tells him home truths) is the No 1 example of the above.

  137. 137.

    Betty Cracker

    @Elizabelle: Same, but my understanding is she got fed up with a persistent bias around here that will probably never dissipate. If people gotta walk away for their own peace of mind, I can respect that decision. But I do hope she reconsiders eventually. She’s one of the most incisive commenters we have, IMO.

  138. 138.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Gin & Tonic: Sure, she was correct about Bloomberg.  So were other people.  Where Kay was off was in writing off Biden following Iowa and thinking that the only logical source of opposition to Bloomberg was Sanders.

  139. 139.

    Aleta

    @rikyrah:

    “My dad was a giant of a musician and teacher, but an even greater father. He poured everything he had into making us the best of what we could be. And to quote my friend and Harvard Law professor David Wilkins, who just sent me the following text, ‘We can all marvel at the sheer audacity of a man who believed he could teach his black boys to be excellent in a world that denied that very possibility, and then watch them go on to redefine what excellence means for all time,’” Branford Marsalis said in the statement.

    Marsalis counted Ed Blackwell, Cannonball Adderley, Nat Adderley and Al Hirt among some of his mentors in the ’50s and ’60s. He taught at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts in the ’70s, where some of his students included Terence Blanchard, Harry Connick Jr., Donald Harrison, Marlon Jordan, Kent Jordan and Nicholas Payton.

    Branford Marsalis as quoted in Variety.   Acc.  to Variety, Mr. Ellis Marsalis had “complications due to coronavirus.”

  140. 140.

    Josie

    @Baud:

    An all white ticket would be a slap in the face of Clyburn and black women everywhere.  Clyburn specifically said the vp nominee should be a black woman.

  141. 141.

    Elizabelle

    @Robert Sneddon:   Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State.  Trump has burned our alliances; HRC can do a year or two clean up and then bring in a younger SoState.

    Elizabeth Warren for Economy-Rebuilding Czar, but do it right this time.

    Ron Klain to reopen the Office of Pandemic and Bioweapons Assessment and Response.

    Who for Climate Change Czar??

    Also someone to break up the big media companies and read the riot act on public airwaves should benefit the public.  Bring back the Fairness Doctrine.  Look at what works in Canada.

    Rightwing media as presently constituted cannot coexist with a functioning democracy and should not be tolerated nor be able to hide behind the First Amendment, in the most egregious cases.  Fox should get sued out of existence for shouting “There is no fire!” in a crowded theatre.

    Last, I don’t think Biden should announce a VP until convention time.

    Let the VP choice be the shark in the water that Trump/GOP knows is there, but cannot see (and thus cannot get an early start on trashing).

  142. 142.

    germy

    @Elizabelle:

    Elizabeth Warren for Economy-Rebuilding Czar, but do it right this time.

    Biden said in an interview that Warren was most valuable in the Senate, where she could continue doing what she’s been doing.

    I linked to it a few weeks ago, but I don’t remember now where I saw it.

    Let the VP choice be the shark in the water that Trump/GOP knows is there, but cannot see (and thus cannot get an early start on trashing).

    I agree.

  144. 144.

    Elizabelle

    @germy:   That was probably before we had the pandemic economic meltdown.

    I’m good with her in the Senate, but she has done so much work on what families and the middle/working class need from our economy, and how the predators thrive.

    Why should she have no more power than John Barasso or Ben Sasse?  I find that kind of condescending when people say it.  (Not speaking to you, per se.)

    We are going to have so much rebuilding ahead.

  145. 145.

    germy

    @Aleta:

    Mr. Ellis Marsalis had “complications due to coronavirus.”

    Here’s a new thing I’m seeing from conservatives:  People like him shouldn’t be counted, because they had other health issues.  Apparently, they only want 100% completely healthy (and young?) people to be counted.

    So if you’re a cancer survivor, or have unrelated respiratory issues, and you die from the virus, you shouldn’t be counted, “because you would have died anyway.”

    This opinion is spreading faster than the virus.  I don’t know if it’s a deliberate talking point or what.

  146. 146.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Elizabelle: I think Biden should bring in a young and vigorous cabinet of up and coming Democrats.  People who were sub-Cabinet level stars in their departments under Obama.  Top academics.  As a team player and Party guy, Biden can actually preside over a changing of the guard in the Democratic leadership.

  147. 147.

    charluckles

    @Emma from FL:

    When ready to start food back up you can consider some plain white rice with boiled chicken or plain canned pumpkin.  If you have that available it can be a little easier on their stomachs.

  148. 148.

    Elizabelle

    @germy:  Figures.  They are such liars and act in bad faith.  Deflect anything.

    If a cancer patient — or even someone being transported in an air ambulance — dies in a crash, do we count it as an aviation fatality or “underlying causes — was in bad straits anyway?”

    COVID took Mr. Marsalis.   Who still lived a good, long life.

  150. 150.

    Elizabelle

    @Omnes Omnibus:  Agreed on elevating the younger bench, but — if she wants to serve — I think Hillary should get something.  She was elected President and had it stolen out from underneath her (fucking Electoral College, and that margin might have been cheating/malfeasance).

    Adam Schiff for Justice Department??

  151. 151.

    germy

    @Elizabelle:

    He’ll sure be busy

    After Pearl Harbor and 9/11, we looked at what went wrong to learn from our mistakes.

    Once we've recovered, we need a nonpartisan commission to review our response and how we can better prepare for the next pandemic.

    I’m working on a bill to do that.https://t.co/uqO3BwVldN

    — Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) April 1, 2020

  153. 153.

    hueyplong

    @germy: Donna Barstow is a piece of work, but a reliable indicator of the most offensive trial balloons being offered by the right wing at any given point in time.

  155. 155.

    Betty Cracker

    @Omnes Omnibus: That’s not how I read her comments (though admittedly I may have missed some). At the time it did look like Biden was fading and Sanders had a better shot at running the table, but I don’t think she was necessarily rooting for that outcome or thought there were no other alternatives.

    What I heard her saying is that people were applying completely different standards to evaluate Bloomberg and Sanders, and she was right about that. It was ridiculous, and if Sanders had become the nominee — which did not seem unlikely then — the double standard could have been a real problem.

    Also, as a mom with kids who support Sanders, she was probably sick of hearing people trash Sanders supporters in general. I can assure you she’s not the only person who feels that way. It kind of personalizes the situation, and not in a good way.

  156. 156.

    Barbara

    @germy: Just loathsome.  I think anyone who studies death rates would tell you that when it’s all said and done, the CV related deaths will not all be “additional” deaths, and many are probably what we might call accelerated deaths — by weeks or months — that would have been delayed absent CV.  But my guess is that Ms. Mercador would have liked her additional one or two years, even six months, if that is what she would have had absent CV.  Otherwise, Barstow might as well be saying that no CV death counts because everyone is going to die some day anyway.

    P.S. NYT studied patterns in NYC and the hardest hit borough is Queens.  It’s not just density of population, it’s density of people living in individual dwellings like apartments.  Even if you stay inside, you are not distancing as much as you should, because you can’t.

  158. 158.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Betty Cracker: As someone pointed out the last time this discussion came up, we probably shouldn’t be putting words in Kay’s mouth.  In this thread, I was just trying to point out that there were other people who saw Bloomberg as a problem but advocated voting for any of the four Democrats still running as an alternative.  FWIW had it come down to it I would have voted for Sanders over Bloomberg; I just wasn’t prepared to go there while an actual Democrat was still standing.

  159. 159.

    Miss Bianca

    @Betty Cracker:

    Now we’ll see if a bungled pandemic response that will kill hundreds of thousands of Americans, devastate the economy and cause millions of unemployed MAGAts to have to wipe their asses with coffee filters will play out for Trump politically. I like our chances in 2020 but won’t hazard a guess about the 27%+.

    Well, to quote an old detective story I read back in the day, “How I’d hate to be sitting on a red-hot stove till *that* happened”.

    But thank you, Betty, for the laffs, as always. You are a treasure.

  160. 160.

    Immanentize

    @germy: My absolute favorite part of the nutjob train wrecker:

    Phillip Sanfield, spokesman for the Port of Los Angeles, said the locomotive never came close to the Mercy.
    “It would have had to have gone several hundred yards through a parking lot and cross a water channel to reach the ship,” Sanfield said. “ The tracks are nowhere near the Mercy.”

    Right there is a gene pool that needs to be drained.

  161. 161.

    Elizabelle

    Nancy Pelosi to hold her weekly press conference at 10:45.  C-Span to have audio only.

    Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to speak at 11:00 am.

    Not sure when Cuomo O’Clock is today, yet.

  162. 162.

    Immanentize

    @Shalimar: I hate to get on Sanders, but Wisconsin, which has a Dem. Governor who has been trying his darndest to get everyone ready to vote absentee, is not calling off their primary next week.

    But Sanders wants him to and is stirring up trouble complaining about “how can you have a primary in the middle of this health crisis?”

    You know what, Bernie?  Do the right thing!  Drop out and back Biden and there would be no need for any further primaries.  He makes me so mad!

  164. 164.

    Miss Bianca

    @Gin & Tonic: Bloomberg sucks, ’tis true. How much he sucks becomes more evident every day. However, that still wasn’t going to be enough for me to embrace “Bernie’s the front-runner, so stop criticizing him!” – which seemed to me to be Kay’s position at the time.

    Now I just wish she’d come back and kick my ass for being even momentarily Bloomie-curious.

  165. 165.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Immanentize: There is also the argument that democracy has to work in tough times too.  Cancelling elections because of x is a sign that one doesn’t really believe in the process.  WI is encouraging early voting and VBM, but we can run an election in the middle of a crisis.

  166. 166.

    mad citizen

    @germy: Yeah, there were some smokers in the world trade buildings on 9/11 who might have died from smoking eventually, so did the terrorists really kill them?  The ones who jumped, didn’t they really commit suicide–it wasn’t the terrorists.

    I hate RWNJs.

    Re: trump’s campaign selling point, I caught a minute of yesterday’s shitshow, and he was saying “We had the greatest economy in the country’s history, yada yada yada, and then this happened”.  So I guess the sell will be–well we accomplished all this great shit, so reelect me.

  167. 167.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Immanentize: I’m reminded of that foolish thing done at some ski resorts late in the spring, where there is a pond (of liquid water) at the base and people ski down trying to go fast enough to get across the pond without sinking. The train guy obviously just wasn’t going fast enough

    ETA: Makes me lament the premature end of this year’s ski season. Yeah, I know, people are dying and 6.6 million are unemployed, yadda, yadda, but I didn’t get enough skiing in this year.

  168. 168.

    Barbara

    @Immanentize: He hasn’t internalized the fact that his best chance was to win early.  The longer it drags out, the longer the odds become that he would be the nominee.

  169. 169.

    MomSense

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I loathe Bloomberg but I would have voted for him over Sanders if it had come to that. In a competition between those two assholes, I’m choosing the one who can win a general election.  Sanders cannot win a general election.

  170. 170.

    Immanentize

    @Omnes Omnibus: I agree!  Have we ever cancelled elections?  Mot even during the civil War, or WWII…

    I keep mentioning this, but there is already an extensive, well designed, federal vote by mail system in the U.S. which we roll out every 2 years — for service members.  It would need to scale, but all the rules are already in place.

  173. 173.

    Miss Bianca

    @Barbara: It also seems to me that he hasn’t internalized the notion that the longer this drags out, and the more he gets his ass handed to him in upcoming primaries, the more it should become apparent that America just isn’t that into him, and never was.

     

    @MomSense: Yeah, me too.

  175. 175.

    Geminid

    @Omnes Omnibus: I would also like to see some newer faces in a Biden cabinet, like Congresswoman Deb Haaland(NM) at Interior, but I also wouldn’t mind seeing Obama Energy Secretary Ernest Munoz return to help lead on climate change policy. And I think Eric Holder’s experience would make him a good choice for Attorney General.

  176. 176.

    Baud

    This seems like a good opportunity to once again extend our appreciation to the primary voters of South Carolina.

  177. 177.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Miss Bianca: maybe Perez should talk Bernie into having a conference call with the purple state Senate candidates who have endorsed Biden. They can explain to him why they prefer Uncle Joe, he can explain to them how he doesn’t need your damn Senate to make a Revolution!

    Then makes the tapes public.

  180. 180.

    Calouste

    @Omnes Omnibus: Recently someone here posted a tweet from the Democratic Socialists of America where they demanded that Wilmer be elected President. Which showed that the Democratic in their name is more related to say the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea rather than any European Social Democrats.

  182. 182.

    Immanentize

    @Geminid: Eric Holder.

    Never gonna happen.  I am a big fan, but Mr. Fast and Furious 1) probably couldn’t be confirmed and 2) wouldn’t want the job again anyhow.

  185. 185.

    Miss Bianca

    @Immanentize:

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I think it was Adam who first bruited the notion here that if Sanders had only stayed out of the race this time, and instead used his unlikely “elder statesman” status to waft incense over one of the other candidates running – Warren, for example – several things might have happened: Biden, the current bugbear of the BernieBros, might never have entered the race, we would likely be looking at a younger Presidential candidate (altho’ Bloomberg might still have entered, and without a Biden to counterbalance, yikes!), and then Sanders could be nursing his post-heart-attack status at his dacha on Lake Champlain, feeding on peeled grapes and the tears of ‘neoliberals’, and the rest of the White Wing Left could still be, faintly credibly, nursing the fantasy that America was actually, secretly, yearning to be Socialist.

    Instead, well…here we are.

  187. 187.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Miss Bianca: I don’t think anything was going to keep Biden out of the race, for reasons tied up in the old saw about presidential ambitions and embalming fluid, and his grieving for his son, who was supposed to be the White Horse of Clan Biden (Beau, 2020 would’ve cured Joe’s own ambitions). That’s something about him that troubles me, but OTOH, as I’ve said repeatedly, and only MHO, Biden was the only top-line Dem candidate who didn’t wildly misread the results of 2016 and 2018

  188. 188.

    Miss Bianca

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’ve made my peace with Biden as our candidate, and am more than happy to have him at the helm, God willing and the crick don’t rise and the GOP doesn’t manage to screw us out of yet another Presidential election victory.

  189. 189.

    Geminid

    @Immanentize: I believe Holder could be confirmed. I always thought Fast and Furious was a great big deal to a small noisy bunch of people amplified by Fox News et al.  We have real chances to flip 12 Senate seats- ME, NC, SC, GA(2), IA, KY, KS, TX, CO, MT, and AZ. We likely won’t run the table, but there will probably be a Democratic Senate majority and that’s all it takes.

  190. 190.

    chopper

    @germy:

    hey, cut jared a break. he created his own model and everything! he just has to wait for the glue to dry and he can show it off.

  191. 191.

    joel hanes

    @rikyrah:

    Branding can be deceptive.  Safeway is a union shop, and so their employees have paid sick leave.   Whole Foods employees do not.   Just saying.

    Wear a mask.  Take a pencil with an eraser to use the touchpad.

    If you bring re-useable bags, you’ll have to bag your own stuff.

    Wash your hands, and then your face as soon as you get home, and then again after you’ve put the food away.  Personally, I’d take a shower and change clothes.   Then go disinfect the doorknobs you touched on the way into the house.

  192. 192.

    Barbara

    @germy:

    I’ve gotten a lot smarter about this.

    Translated:  “I would now get 40% of the exam questions right, whereas, last week, I would have gotten only 20%.  The fact that’s still a failing grade shouldn’t mean anything.”

  193. 193.

    L85NJGT

    The inevitability of the revolution is an indulgence of youth. It’s also an attractive fiction for those residing in rural areas that are no longer at the demographic core of the Democratic party. The later is posited as a institutional choice (foisted upon the hard workin’ volk by crooked neo-liberal shills), as opposed to an inevitable result of Nixon’s southern strategy, and broader American demographic shifts.

  195. 195.

    joel hanes

    @Gin & Tonic:

    [Bloomberg] got his ass handed to him

    I suspect that his feelings were hurt when Warren knifed him in the “debate”,  apparently to general approval, and that hurt badly enough that he reneged on his promises to his campaign workers, to the Democratic Party, and to the nation in retaliation.

  198. 198.

    joel hanes

    @Geminid:

    Congresswoman Deb Haaland(NM) at Interior

    Republican heads would explode (much as my own head did about Watt, Gorsuch, Zinke, and now Bernhardt)

  199. 199.

    J R in WV

    @germy:

    So if you’re a cancer survivor, or have unrelated respiratory issues, and you die from the virus, you shouldn’t be counted, “because you would have died anyway.”

    This opinion is spreading faster than the virus. I don’t know if it’s a deliberate talking point or what.

    A despicable effort to minimize Trump’s terrible numbers by lying about the number of fatalities. These people not only want to live in a bubble of falsehoods, they want to impose those lies on everyone else.

    Despicable, or did I say that already?

    RWNJs are everywhere, with any luck their stupidity and falsehoods will make them much more vulnerable to the Trump Plague than liberals.

  201. 201.

    Aleta

    @Omnes Omnibus:   Kay’s  words:

    86.  Kay February 16, 2020 at 1:15 pm

    I would have backed Biden. I would have backed Amy K. I would have trouble backing Mayor Pete …  but if you jerks had chosen him I would have gone along. But there has to be a limit. This is the limit.  Bloomberg isn’t “decent”. He gleefully brags about throwing people against walls. … He’s also not “honest”. He opposed the ACA. He supported stop and frisk. He now lies about both things. …

    …

    91.  Omnes Omnibus  February 16, 2020 at 1:22 pm

    @Kay: It is kind of fun watching you talk yourself into supporting Sanders right in front of our eyes.

    …

    110.  Kay  February 16, 2020 at 1:52 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:
   And I’m not “talking myself into supporting Sanders”. I have supported Warren for months and continue to do so. Here’s the thing though- she’s not breaking 15. Bernie Sanders is, right now, a stronger candidate than Elizabeth Warren and looking at polling he is a stronger candidate in diverse states. So the opposite of the rap on him. Joe Biden hasn’t won any of these states either, so if you’re looking for the candidate with the most support in diverse states it’s Bernie and Biden, one and two, or two and one.
Since the Biden belief  was based solely on polling the Bernie belief should be too. I would think. Since it’s not I have to look for bias.

    .

  202. 202.

    Geminid

     

    @joel hanes: Yeah, there will be a lot of exploding Republican heads when the next cabinet is chosen. I like Congresswoman Haaland because of her experience as Laguna Pueblo Council chairwoman and New Mexico Democratic Party Chairwoman. A very impressive Congressional freshman. She is 59 years old, earned a law degree from U. New Mexico in her mid forties. Having a Native American heading the Department of the Interior, home of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, would be a real change.

  203. 203.

    EthylEster

    @germy:  Speaking of wacko fans of Trump, there is a NYT thread on yesterday’s article titled “Malaria Drug Helps Virus Patients Improve, in Small Study” that is full of people claiming that that drug works but the science folks who are urging caution until more studies are complete are just Trump haters. Many seem CERTAIN that this drug will change everything and I fear that the next charge will be that docs are murderers if they don’t prescribe this to everyone. Objection based on science is rejected by these folks. Of course, there are also people who think the drug isn’t being prescribed because there is no money to be made on this generic by Big Pharma.

    The stupid, it burns.

  204. 204.

    EthylEster

    @Aleta: Wow. I have always respected and enjoyed Kay’s comments. I  didn’t realize something happened recently that has caused her to be absent. I hope she returns because she added value to this site.

  205. 205.

    Spanky

    @Gin & Tonic:Yeah, I know, people are dying and 6.6 million are unemployed, yadda, yadda, but I didn’t get enough skiing in this year.

    Now is not an especially good time to have to go to the hospital, man.

  206. 206.

    MoCA Ace

    I am surrounded by RWNJ’s and a small but meaningful percentage of them are going radio silent… I have had several tell me they are done voting because Trump is no better than the dems.  As infuriating as that is, it is progress!

    The other half (80% more likely) are all in on defending the orange shitstain.

  207. 207.

    joel hanes

    @Geminid:

    I’ve been contributing very modest sums to Haaland and Sharice Davids since they first announced.    I like them both.   Haaland is very impressive.

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