Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

I really should read my own blog.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

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

75% of people clapping liked the show!

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

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

When we show up, we win.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

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

When I was faster i was always behind.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

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Rather Late Night Open Thread

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Looks like we could use a fresh thread.

If you haven’t seen me around much lately it’s because the primary has turned everybody’s brains into disgruntled oatmeal. (This is not directed at anybody in particular.) Fortunately it’ll be all over but the shouting after Florida.

I’ve also been trying to get my coronavirus panicking out of the way so I’m actually useful when I need to be. I seem to be one day ahead of the rest of the shoppers. Amazing that you can’t even buy rubbing alcohol on Amazon any more. Maybe I got the last two pints.

At any rate, yesterday I fled our disease-ridden shithole of a country for Mexico City, though alas I return Monday. I’m going to check out the temples in Teotihuacan tomorrow. That should be fun.

Open thread, clearly.

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Election Year Open Thread: Another Note Before the Florida Primary

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Maybe it’s ideological commitment, or maybe it’s just a stubborn inability to see beyond his own point of view. The Cuban government was treating Bernie Sanders very nicely — why should anyone else have complaints?

From the local Miami Herald:

… “I don’t know what’s so wrong about this country,” Sanders said during a one-hour meeting with the prisoner and two other members of Congress visiting Havana, Gross told the Miami Herald.

“I thought it was a pretty insensitive thing for him to say,” Gross said. “Couldn’t he see, with his own eyes, what was going on around the country that he’s been traveling through? And I was a hostage to the government of the country that he didn’t see anything wrong with.”

Gross said he didn’t reply to the senator. Although there were no guards present, Gross suspects Cuban authorities were recording the conversation…

Sanders’ campaign did not respond Wednesday to Gross’ comments, published first by NPR Wednesday less than two weeks before the March 17 Florida Democratic primary…

Sanders’ comment on Cuba in 2014 came almost at the end of an hour of an “engaging conversation,” said Gross. Sanders was part of a congressional delegation that visited Cuba in February 2014. He met with Gross along with Sens. Heidi Heitkamp and Jon Tester.

Sanders was not “really involved” in most of the talk, Gross said.

Gross does not remember the details of the discussion other than that the subject of U.S. policy towards Cuba came up. Being imprisoned with little food available, he said what he remembered the most was that Heitkamp and Tester brought him two bags of cookies and a “giant” package of M&Ms with peanuts.

“I appreciated the visit,” Gross said. “Each one of them wanted to see me free. I had no contact with any of them before that time or after.”…

At the time he was imprisoned in Cuba, Gross was working as a subcontractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development in a project to expand internet access for the Jewish community on the island. He was not the only one sneaking in internet technology banned by the Cuban authorities. Radio and TV Martí, two US government stations broadcasting to Cuba, also introduced satellite communication equipment into the country.

But Gross, a U.S. citizen, was the only one arrested in 2009 and charged with espionage. He was sentenced to 15 years. He was finally released on Dec. 17, 2014, in a prisoner exchange in which the Barack Obama government returned three Cuban spies to the island…

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The Choice Between Biden and Bernie

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So now that Warren is out, I really do not envy those of you who have to make a choice in the next couple of weeks. Like, I really don’t. Now that Warren is out of the race and I really don’t have anyone I am willing to crawl over broken glass, I guess I am just going to sit back and do no damage to either candidate, since the whole thing will most likely be decided before I vote on 12 May. By then all the big states will have voted, and the nominee will be settled but for the Bernie folks screaming about super delegates if he is not winning.

Personally, for me, it’s a super tough choice between the two. First off, before I go into this, I am not going to put up with a bunch of shit about where I am on this. I’ll listen to persuasive arguments, but I am not going to put up with the kind of abusive crap that fans of a certain candidate like to dish out. Again, this is just my opinion.

Sanders:

Pro’s:

1.) I think one of the things that every Presidential candidate should have is a reason for running. An aspirational message, a plan to change things for the better, etc. I think Bernie has that in spades. Our society is deeply broken and skewed way far to the right, with wealth and income inequality at all time highs and getting worse, housing is unaffordable, we’re in the midst of a climate crisis, and we have not even gone into healthcare. And on and on. There is no doubt in my mind that Bernie’s ideas, if implemented, on many of these issues would advance the ball on all of these issues in the correct direction and outright fix some of them.

2.) Authenticity and Consistency. He’s been saying the same fucking thing for the last 40 years. What more can I say.

3.) Inspires great loyalty among followers.

Con’s:

1.) Age and temperament: He’s old as dirt, just had a heart attack, refuses to be upfront about his health, and he ain’t getting any younger and being President is a young person’s job.

2.) The flip side of his authenticity and consistency is an ideological rigidity that is loathe to compromise. None of his plans are going to get through by force of sheer will. He will need to work well with others, and I have seen little to no evidence that he can or even wants to (and this is certainly the case with many of his most extreme followers). He also, like Trump, in some regards, seems to just swallow up every conspiracy thrown out there. Sometimes people just disagree with you, Bernie.

3.) Electability: I keep seeing people point to polling showing him beating Trump, and yes, I know I am just going from the gut here, but I simply do not buy it. I live in WV, and I watched Bernie ride a wave of Hillary hatred driven by four decades of Republican villification to win the primary there. This led to people claiming he would win in the general. This is nonsense. I fear the same all over every part of the country that is purple. I just do not see the evidence that he will win. I see the polling, but I do not believe it. I also fear what impact he will have on down ballot races. He’s always AWOL for people like Cisneros, who just lost a race to Cuellar. Add to that he has never really been tested on the national stage. The Republicans are going to throw everything at him and it is going to be ugly.

4.) Judgment: This is something he shares with Clinton- Sanders consistently surrounds himself with absolute garbage human beings. His campaign hires speak for themselves- you can go to twitter and experience them lying, distorting, and shitposting for yourselves.

***

Biden:

Pro’s:

1.) Known quantity: Safe. Will not rock the boat. Will bring a calming presence to the office and will oversee what I think is the #1 priority for any incoming Democrat: denazification of the entire federal government starting with Justice, State, the military, Homeland Security, down to even the fucking EPA and the CDC. Will be able to staff quickly with competent, established people.

2.) Coalition Builder: It’s foolish to assume the Republicans will work with anyone given the past 20 years of behavior, but if the Senate does flip, Biden will be far more likely to work with even moderates within the party than would Bernie.

3.) Popular with the base of the party. Will have Barack Obama on the trail with him.

4.) Doesn’t think incrementalism is a dirty word. I know it’s currently popular to think we can wave a wand and get shit done, but that is not how the country works. Currently everyone wants medicare for all. Why? Because the medicare that we started out with was not what we have now- it took six decades of adding to it and fighting for it to get it where it is now. That’s incrementalism and it fucking works.

Con’s:

1.) Age: Also old as dirt and showing his age. Currently being smeared as losing it because of his stutter, but is in reality showing his age more than he was in 2008 and 2012, which makes sense because he is twelve years older now.

2.) Long track record: And on a shit ton of it, it is bad. From the bankruptcy bill to subservience to credit card companies and finance to the Iraq War to always being willing to be the “serious guy” on the deficit and go after entitlements, there is a helluva lot of ugly in there.

3.) Reason for running: Where as Warren and Bernie and others had pages after pages of policy proposals, Joe Biden’s entire case for President is basically standing on the stage next to Trump, pointing at him, and saying “Really? You gonna choose this motherfucker again or Uncle Joe?”

This is a work in progress, but where I am now. I will edit and add to it over the next days and weeks.

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Cat Blogging: A Happy Ending for Shakespeare

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Cat Blogging: "A Happy Ending for Shakespeare" 1

Happy news, for a respite. Update from Deb S:

Just wanted the jackalariat to know what finally happened. It was an all-day drive back home after the vet kindly squeezed us in first thing Thursday morning. They treated him more aggressively and gave me more medications, and him a tranquilizer, and off we went.

He tolerated the drive pretty well and I locked him in the bathroom away from my three cats as soon as I got home. Friday was a day for tears and decompressing. My male cat REALLY was not happy to have Shakespeare in the house and sat outside the bathroom door hissing and growling, while poor Shakespeare cried and cried for attention.

At 7:30 Saturday morning I posted to a local swap-and-sell group on FB, and three hours later he was in his new home right down the road from me and close enough to visit. Turns out a couple in my town that rescues senior pets had lost their 17 year old cat a few days earlier, and they had room in their home and their hearts for a new cat. I am so relieved to have him happy in a new home! Thanks to everyone who tried to re-home him from NYC, I never would have believed I’d find a new place for him so quickly here. Here’s a picture of him happily ruling his new roost.

So, sometimes FaceBook is a force for good. Thanks for the update, Deb, and best wishes to you both!

Cat Blogging: "A Happy Ending for Shakespeare"

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Bailey Eats a Burrito

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We can use an open thread, so here’s a video clip of very good boy Bailey swiping and eating someone’s burrito at Warren campaign headquarters earlier today.

Current defense attorney, former Federal prosecutor, burrito aficionado, and Michael Avenatti bête noire Ken White has taken the case!

https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1235667099046907908

Also, everyone, for the love of someone’s, anyone’s, and/or no one’s (for the atheists) Deity or Deities (for the polytheists), please use horizontal mode for pictures and videos!!!!

Whose a good boy, with very bad gas? Bailey is!!!!

Open thread!

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Trouble in Paradise

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If Biden gets the nomination, that is unambiguously good news for the prospect of flipping Florida and its 29 tasty electoral votes in November. Trump calls himself a Florida man now, but like 99% of the louts who’ve made the state infamous with their bizarre antics, he’s a transplant, not a native, so he’ll get no favorite son treatment around here.

One advantage Trump does have in the state is a Republican governor and GOP-appointed secretary of state. Just ask George W. Bush what a big fat plum that is! But it’s looking like that edge may not be all it’s cracked up to be this year. Via Politico:

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The close relationship between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump is souring, and the bad blood is threatening to spill into the president’s reelection effort in the nation’s biggest swing state…

Since his election, DeSantis has prioritized the nitty-gritty of state policy fights over using his platform as a popular governor to defend Trump in the battleground state that could make or break the president’s reelection.

DeSantis is no verbal knife fighter, something Trump expects from those in his inner circle, and the onetime Fox News stalwart has ceased appearing on the cable channel. And with Election Day just eight months away, his pick to lead the Republican Party of Florida resigned on Tuesday after failing to deliver crucial get-out-the-vote infrastructure.

The “onetime Fox News stalwart” characterization understates what a completely shameless Trump toady DeSantis was just a couple of years back. He bum-rushed the Fox greenroom like Uncle Tater homing in on the Golden Corral buffet to attract Trump’s attention. That mission accomplished, DeSantis then parlayed Trump’s approval into a nomination, using the strength of his devotion to toss less pure rivals as if he were Dr. Jill and Symone Sanders dispatching anti-dairy protesters at a Biden rally.

As you may recall, during the primary, DeSantis ran an ad that depicted him teaching his toddler to “build the wall” with blocks and reading his children a bedtime story featuring “Mr. Trump” telling people “you’re fired.” It was nauseating. But this is a swing state, and after DeSantis won the Republican primary, he detrumpified his persona with astonishing speed. That has continued since he took office, at least when he’s away from large concentrations of wingnuts like The Villages. It’s almost as if he was just USING Trump.

Anyhoo, if Florida Republicans are in disarray, that’s good news, and if DeSantis just shit-canned his GOTV chief, that’s even better. Open thread!

 

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The White House Coronavirus Task Force

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Here are some early thoughts about what the Pence Task Force should do, coming out of my experience in project management.

Determine who is in charge. In Donald Trump’s typical desire to weaken subordinates and watch them fight, he has appointed three people as being in charge of the task force. No work will get done unless they agree who is to be the responsible decision-maker. Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of Pharmaceutical Profit Alex Azar, or Ambassador Deborah Birx, MD. Once a leader is determined, all members of the task force must turn back Trump’s meddling on this issue.

As a part of setting up a responsibility structure, leaders must be chosen for subgroups as noted in the following topics.

Communications. Shut Trump down unless he learns something and can control his fear and inclination to improvise. Even then, his best play would be to act as a listener in his roundtable discussions and allow the experts to speak. Get a name for the task force: “Coronavirus Task Force” would do. Refer to it that way. Expert briefings every day, with no restrictions on video and recording. The topic of the briefing should vary from day to day, emphasizing recent developments. Lists of actions individuals can take should be posted on the internet and made available to local newspapers and governments. Hotlines should be set up. Communications should be accurate and should tell people what to expect.

Detection, treatment, and vaccine. Set up a National Academy of Sciences panel to investigate what went wrong with CDC’s development and distribution of detection kits. More urgently, decide on one kit and a recommended protocol for deciding who is to be tested. (This may have been done already, but they claimed it was done almost a week ago, and now it is being claimed again.) Make testing free to those being tested. Get the lab work on treatment and a vaccine out of the public eye. Report no claims until they are verified. Form a panel of experts to evaluate claims and recommend ways forward.

Community planning. State and local resources must be included in planning. The Public Health Service has a large role to play, although its funding has been greatly reduced under the Trump administration. Funding should be restored. Recommended standards must be developed for closing down events that involve large numbers of people or schools and for limiting movement of people within states or localities.

Maintaining essential services. Develop plans for maintaining garbage collection and availability of water and sewage services if large numbers of employees are absent because of illness. Hospitals need similar plans. Payment for medical services may need to be changed from emphasis on individuals. Grocery stores must continue to provide fresh food; plans must be made for people to access them.

Supply chains. There are three scales on which supply chains must be considered: international, within countries, and locally. Internationally, China supplies many pharmaceuticals and much medical equipment. Their shutdowns are affecting availability. International shipping is a vulnerable point, as airlines shut down flights. Essential chains (food, drugs, supplies to keep water, natural gas, sewage processing running) within the US must be identified and reinforced. Within communities, it may be necessary to set up food deliveries and monitoring of the most vulnerable in their homes.

Congress must be involved as well. Each subgroup must have a legislative liaison to the appropriate Congressional committees.

That’s a start. People who know more than I do about the specifics can fill in what I haven’t included. Would be good to hear from Pence and the task force that they are addressing these issues.

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