Or, hear me out, Laura.
God hates Trump. https://t.co/SqTrEu2bht— Marmel (@Marmel) January 12, 2024
Caucus-time temperatures on Monday are forecast to be as low as -17F (-27C), which would be the coldest ever for the event https://t.co/KBTFV4mUYz via @bpolitics @gregorykorte
— Megan Howard (@megan_e_howard) January 12, 2024
Politico has a long Sunday-magazine piece on “How the Pros Think the Iowa Caucuses Will Shake Out”. (Spoiler: TFG will be the winner, but his organization has been nervous enough about the final totals that they’ve been putting a lot of effort & money in, over the last several weeks.) Comment from a local reporter concerning the weather:
… Pfannenstiel: I think we have to look at enthusiasm numbers, too. Donald Trump has the most enthusiastic, most locked in supporters, according to Des Moines Register polling, compared to Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley. The people who want to caucus for Donald Trump really want to caucus for Donald Trump. And there’s less excitement for DeSantis and for Haley, and Iowans have thick skin but this is a really serious weather situation. The temperatures are going to be in dangerous territory for people to spend a lot of time outside. So if you’re looking at how well run are some of these precinct locations, are there long lines to get in? Are people going to show up to a place where the parking lots are not plowed? Part of this comes down to management of caucus night and how well the county parties in the precinct locations are able to prepare for the weather and to make sure that people can get in because there are a lot of barriers to participation to showing up and any additional thing could turn people away…
This is going to be the greatest mass die-off of Republicans since covid. https://t.co/fSq9YLxxmC
— Cathedral ?? Engineer ???? ? Official (@owenrumney) January 12, 2024
I attended the 1988 caucuses. I don't remember people complaining about the weather or perceiving that the cold kept people away.
Monday is going to be really bad and will certainly depress turnout. Especially since we've gotten a lot of snow this week that will be on the ground.— Bleeding Heartland (@LauraRBelin) January 12, 2024
The absurdity that is the Iowa caucuses apparently is going to be redoubled this time around because Iowa is going to turn into Hoth world.https://t.co/4FLFjch4Bn
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) January 9, 2024
As of last Tuesday, from the Iowa Capital Dispatch:
Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said Monday he expects a “robust” turnout at the 2024 Iowa Caucuses, despite the first blast of winter bearing down on the state a week before the event.
However, Kaufmann said the weather could get in the way of breaking the 2016 record of 186,000 caucus participants. “Weather could prevent a record-breaking turnout …” but Iowa could still have a “great turnout,” he said…
Caucusgoers must be registered as Republicans to participate but they can register to vote at their caucus and Democrats and independents can change their registration on caucus night in order to qualify. The Iowa Democratic Party will also hold caucuses on Jan. 15, but presidential preference will be registered only by mail-in ballot.
Usually, both parties hold their caucuses on the same night. That changed this year when the Democratic National Committee stripped Iowa of its first-in-the-nation status.
Kaufmann threatened Democrats with prosecution if they attempt to vote in both the Republican and Democratic caucuses. He noted that Iowa now has a Republican attorney general, Brenna Bird.
“It is against the law, and she will prosecute, I believe,” if someone participates in the GOP caucus and also mails in a Democratic ballot, he said. “… If a Democrat attempts to do that, and participate in both, that’s against the law, and we’re going to be monitoring that very, very carefully.”…
Translation: Whatever bad things happen — up to & including caucus-goers having traffic accidents — will be blamed on the perfidious Democrat Party. Won’t *that* be a suprise!
Now DeSantis cancelling events. The start to the 2024 election is unfolding in an appropriate degree of chaos. pic.twitter.com/GffyTFzcOH
— Alexander Panetta (@Alex_Panetta) January 12, 2024
As of right now, Trump is still scheduled to hold one rally in Indianola, Iowa, on Sunday. The other three rallies in Sioux City, Atlantic and Cherokee have all been canceled and Trump will instead participate in a few tele-rallies.
— Kate Sullivan (@KateSullivanDC) January 13, 2024
Why national reporters have been less than sympathetic to the demise of Iowa’s hallowed caucus system:
An Iowa moment I’ll never forget: someone stole / grabbed my coat at Cruz’s 2016 victory party in the middle of a blizzard. Cherry on top? My rental car was missing an ice scraper. A credit card made a poor substitute in the freezing temps #neveragain
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) January 11, 2024
Late Night Open Thread
Baud
I feel sorry for the cows.
Betty Cracker
Alexandra Petri is there! (And on Bluesky!)
Elizabelle
Weather will still not be as cold as their cold, dark hearts.
Good morning, jackals. It’s coffee o’clock.
NotMax
And now for something completely different.
Weekend long watch. Mmrowrr.
Splitting Image
Gad, it’s horrible to think of Republican voters trudging through the frozen darkness to vote for Donald Trump while everyone else in Iowa stays home and keeps as warm as they can.
Baud
Somewhat ironic that the caucus is on MLK day.
Mousebumples
I remember caucusing in 2004 for John Edwards. (ugh, yes, I know) The year of the Dean Scream.
I caucused in a building on campus. I don’t remember it being super cold, but I was also at the stage of my life where I’d walk to class in the snow in flip flops.
Caucusing was an experience. But hardly democratically available to all.
NotMax
@Splitting Image
Happier thy fortunes! like a rolling stone,
Thy giddy dulness still shall lumber on,
Safe in its heaviness, shall never stray,
But lick up ev’ry blockhead in the way.
– Alexander Pope
.
.
Betty Cracker
Maybe caucusing in a blizzard will underscore anew how impractical, anti-democratic and just plain silly the entire model is, but it probably won’t change a thing. Iowans seem pretty dug-in on the issue.
NotMax
@Baud
Sumthin’ to do after braving the department store holiday white sales.
//
Betty Cracker
I’m remembering now how Casey DeSantis tried to lure “mamas and grandmamas” from the South to (illegally!) participate in the Iowa caucuses. If anyone was dumb enough to heed that cattle call, they’re regretting it now!
LiminalOwl
@Baud: I expect little overlap of participants in the events.
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
Iowa stubborn.
;)
Evap
@Mousebumples: if it makes you feel any better, I was a big John Edwards fan in 2004. I attended an Edwards rally in Atlanta and I was surprised by his lack of energy and enthusiasm. I guess he already knew it was over.
OzarkHillbilly
@Splitting Image: Huh, I would call that their *just deserts.*
** I think I did that right. If not, I’m sure the pedants will be happy to tell me how I did it all wrong
NotMax
Attended a caucus in Minnesota in support of Mo Udall’s candidacy back when.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
A bit nippier than Florida.
Princess
Every single time there is an Iowa caucus I feel like there is some freak weather event. I remember the Obama team (or was it Hillary?) stocking up on snow shovels.
Opting out of the Iowa caucuses going forward was another great Biden decision. This is going to be a mess.
There go two miscreants
Not being up on all the many conspiracy theories, I had to look up what HAARP was. LOL. I note that the Wikipedia article on HAARP has already been updated to include Laura Looney’s rantings as one of the nutball theories.
Baud
@There go two miscreants:
The odd thing about this conspiracy theory is that it assumes Republicans opposed to Trump are more enthusiastic than Trump supporters.
Elizabelle
@Mousebumples: I was a John Edwards to Barack Obama voter in 2008 too. That was a pathway among many of my friends, IRL and virtual.
@Princess: I remember gossip surfacing in 2008 that Hillary Clinton’s campaign was considering skipping Iowa. Big commotion, and she stated of course she would compete there.
Now I think that was a smart idea, and that someone stuck on Iowa leaked the news.
Proud that the Dems kicked Iowa and New Hampshire out of starting place.
Caucuses are antidemocratic, for limiting participation.
Nelle
They pulled the snowplows off the roads last night in my suburban town (Urbandale). Winds are howling. We had 10 inches on Tuesday, then another 10 (I think. It is all blowing around too much to be sure) yesterday. My son brought his son over for us to watch and got stuck so worked from here. Luckily, he brought along their dog, so they just stayed here last night. (His wife and daughters went north to MN for an event before the blizzard. MN is having milder weather.)
I wish this blizzard would put a nail in the caucuses. Not democratic at all. Plus, if I watch the local news (which I do because the Register went downhill so fast that we dropped it), the political ads have been thick and heavy since last June. My mute button is almost worn out. I hope no one comes, after the millions spent. Yay, weather!
Dorothy A. Winsor
2008 was colder. Temperature around 0, wind chill -20. I remember we had to park far away from the middle school where our precinct was caucusing because so many people came that night. If people stay away on Monday, it’s not just the cold.
Steeplejack
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’m sure you don’t like it when somebody half-asses their carpentry, even if “it’s just a shed in the backyard.” A well-built structure looks better and lasts longer.
The same holds true for grammar and usage. Clarity and meaning are lost when people are sloppy.
lowtechcyclist
@Elizabelle:
Hell yeah. They’re very unrepresentative of the Democratic coalition. Yet they had always been the states that culled the field. That makes sense for Republicans to use those states in that way, but not for us.
I still think we need a small state amenable to retail politics as one of our early states. I think the Dems should consider Delaware for 2028. Its demographics look a lot like the Democratic Party. I understand why Biden has good feelings towards SC, but I think it’s silly to have one of our early states be one that a Dem hasn’t a prayer of winning in November.
I’ve got my own abundant reasons for positive feelings towards SC (met and married my wife there, earned my doctorate there) but c’mon, man.
Which makes Iowa doubly bad. And it’s also drifted from being a swing state to being solidly red, so that’s three big reasons to wave goodbye to Iowa.
Betty Cracker
Man bites dog stories — two Republican pols speak the truth! First up from The Hill:
Sununu is wrong about much but not that!
Even more surprisingly, here’s a truth-nugget from Lyin’ Ron DeSantis (via J. Chait):
The governor didn’t express similar misgivings when Murdoch was trying to make DeSantis happen, but he’s not wrong here.
Yarrow
OMG the media is so desperate for a horse race that they’ve decided that 50% of the Republican caucus votes in Iowa is the threshold TFG “must win” to be considered the clear front runner. Kristen Welker opined it on the Today Show this morning, so it must be the media talking point.
Why 50%? Who knows? She just declared it as a fact. “50% is the number to watch!” No discussion of why.
They are so desperate for a horse race.
Elizabelle
@Yarrow: Bunch of jackasses wishing for horses.
Kay
Rolling Stone has an excellent article up about the SCOTUS, health/life of the mother and denying women medical care:
Really glad the Biden Administration brought this case. There would have been little or no public awareness of this without the lawsuit and women really, really need to know which states deny medical care to women.
Baud
@Yarrow: A little weird, in that I would be surprised if he didn’t clear 50% easily. I kind of think it would be a bombshell if he didn’t.
Geminid
@There go two miscreants: Last February, after Turkiye’s devastating eathquake, I saw speculation that the U.S. had engineered it through HAARP technology. People said the earthquake was a “horsehead on the bed” warning to President Erdogan to obey the American line. Suspicions were focused on the destroyer USS Nitze as the culprit since it had just made a port call at Istanbul.
Baud
@Geminid: Greenwald?
Yarrow
@Baud: If he gets 20% it would be news. If he gets 49% would that be a major deal? I don’t know. Should be the job of the media to explain rather than declare.
Mostly it was just the confidence and authority with which she declared 50% the important number that was particularly annoying. She didn’t offer any support as to why that number is so important. We’re just supposed to believe her.
mrmoshpotato
I see Laura Loony is still a dumbass. Way to be consistent, girl!
Baud
@Yarrow: I don’t like her style at all. I think it also depends on how the others do. If Trump is at 50%, but Haley is at 40%, that’s different than if Trump is at 50% but everyone else is below 20%.*
* I’m not even sure who’s still in this except Haley and DeSantis.
Suzanne
It’s gonna be cold in Iowa in January. I’m shocked to hear this news.
mrmoshpotato
It’s also good to see this nearly-year-long shitshow has started too. We really need British-style election laws in this country.
OzarkHillbilly
@Steeplejack: You just can’t help your “holier than thou” self, can you?
eta: When it comes to carpentry, the only carpentry I obsess over is my own. I really don’t care what another person builds. If it works for them, who am I to criticize?
RevRick
@Dorothy A. Winsor: It’s not just the cold. COVID, flu and RSV are all surging. And an estimated 1 out of 22 are infected with COVID right now! On top of that, GOP voters are apt to believe all sorts of stupid things about vaccines and take the attitude that getting vaccinated is for wusses.
I am one again reminded of Umberto Eco’s observation in his essay on fascism, that every cult of the heroic is a death cult.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@mrmoshpotato: That girl is waist deep in the Big Crazy.
mrmoshpotato
@Suzanne: Let me tell you about the gambling in Casablanca. :)
gene108
@lowtechcyclist:
Northern Delaware is in the Philadelphia media market. I’m not sure how far south it stretches. I think parts of southern Delaware are in the Baltimore media market.
There are a bunch of geographically small northeastern states, but most seem to be within an expensive big city media market like Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston.
They become cost prohibitive for many candidates.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
Geminid
@Baud: I don’t think anyone as prominent ss Greenwald got involved. Russians may have propagated the rumor, though. There are longstanding theories about HAARP that trace the technology back to Nikola Tesla. Ken Follet’s novel Hammer of God concerns a similar project.
RevRick
@gene108: Connecticut is both demographically ideal and, except for Fairfield County, not dominated by NYC or Boston. It is basically Hartford and New Haven.
marklar
@Betty Cracker: Meredith Wilson knew decades ago!
[MAN 5]
And we’re so by God stubborn
We could stand touchin’ noses
For a week at a time
And never see eye-to-eye
[TOWNSPEOPLE]
But what the heck, you’re welcome
Join us at the picnic
[MAN 4]
You can eat your fill
[MAN 3]
Of all the food you bring yourself
[TOWNSPEOPLE]
You really ought to give Iowa a try
[MAN 6]
Provided you are contrary
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
mrmoshpotato
@Betty Cracker:
The national treasure is ready to witness the hilarious (read depressing) shitshow in person. Good on her!
Elizabelle
@RevRick:
Had not heard of that (thank you!), and will read the original essay. (FYI: “Eternal Fascism: Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt”)
Wiki has a great entry on it, though.
Wiki: Ur-Fascism
gene108
@mrmoshpotato:
Wouldn’t work here.
Neither the Democratic or Republican parties have the same degree of control over who can stand for a seat that British parties, or any political party in a parliamentary, has.
Basically, do away with primaries and have the party pick who stands for each seat in the general election.
mrmoshpotato
@Betty Cracker: LOL! Come to Iowa in January to break federal election laws they said. It’ll be fine they said.
rikyrah
Wound up on College Dance Team TikTok, and saw this performance by the University of Minnesota
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZT8beWfpy/
Yarrow
@lowtechcyclist: I think it should be Georgia. It’s not a super small state but not that big. It’s moving from a red state to a swing state, maybe blue. Two Dem Senators and a R Gov. Key AA demographic is strong and organized there. Also it’s in the south so less likely to have terrible weather in January.
gene108
@RevRick:
Southeastern CT, in the NYC market, seems to have a disproportionate number of billionaires or even just hundred-millionaires compared to most of the country.
It might have an effect on an early CT primary, when Democrats start talking about wealth taxes and taxing Wall Street.
lowtechcyclist
@gene108:
As I was saying, the point of having an early small state is to make retail campaigning possible.
In a small state like Delaware (which has even fewer people than NH), it’s not cost-prohibitive for a candidate to go around and meet a lot of voters.
mrmoshpotato
@There go two miscreants: Is that AARP’s evil twin – the H is for Horrible?
Elizabelle
OMG, the post-Gingrich GOP embodies ALL of these. From the wiki entry on Ur-Fascism (after Eco’s essay — and I have edited the points down. There are 14; the automatic numbering is askew after 9, due to my edits):
Geminid
I think the criticism that South Carolina’s demographics are not representative of other states is overdrawn. It is said to be too rural and in fact the the cities themselves are relatively small. But a majority of South Carolina residents live in the greater metropolitan areas of Charleston, Greenville-Spartanburg, Columbia, and suburban counties adjacent to Charlotte and Augusta, Georgia. It’s not that different than North Carolina in this respect.
mrmoshpotato
@Steeplejack: Let the Great Grammer War of 2024 be gin!
lowtechcyclist
@Yarrow:
Eighth most populous state.
Elizabelle
@gene108: Don’t be such an Eeyore. We could absolutely condense the schedule, and — with a better or expanded Supreme Court — get money and all the negative advertising, meant to drive down participation, out.
Just because it will be hard and take a lot of time does not mean it’s a nonstarter idea.
We also have a campaign-industrial complex in the US, and media which benefits from the political advertising and the years of opportunity for speculation and disinformation.
jimmiraybob
“Looks like weather manipulation to me.”
And it is written that with a wave of his mighty sword Jesus del Mar a Lago brought the wrath of the Arctic winds upon his enemies heads. And all was good.
Elizabelle
I have a comment in moderation. It was a wiki entry, and had too many links embedded within.
Eco’s 14 points on fascism, and the GOP embodies every single one. The Democrats do not.
Geminid
@lowtechcyclist: I think Delaware is too small to be suitable for the Party’s first primary.
Ed. And why place a premium on retail campaigning? National campaigns are not won by retail campaigning.
mrmoshpotato
@rikyrah: Ahoy! Ready for three frigid days?
mrmoshpotato
@gene108: Sorry, clarifying – we need British limits on how long they go and how much money can be spent on election season.
Year-long shitshow? Oh hell no!
Suzanne
@Geminid: Agree. Retail campaigning is, quite frankly, for old retired people.
Highway Rob
@rikyrah: I may once have been that young — maybe, I’m not sure — but I never had that degree of control over my body and the laws of physics. Amazing.
And my ankles hurt just watching it.
Elizabelle
Breaking news from the Los Angeles Times:
Independence-leaning party’s nominee wins Taiwan election, auguring more tension with China
Taiwan’s ruling party clinched a third presidential term in Saturday’s election, in a historic win that portends the continuation of a tense cross-strait standoff between Beijing and the self-governed island.
With 40.1% of the vote, current Vice President Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party defeated two candidates who favored closer ties with Beijing, indicating that for the majority of voters, antipathy toward China outweighed growing discontent over the economy and other domestic issues.
Frankensteinbeck
@Baud:
If Trump doesn’t beat 50%, he has a serious enthusiasm problem going into the general election.
Princess
I think it should be Illinois. Big, diverse in every sense, and the ads would spin off excitement in neighbouring purple and red states.
Georgia is good too.
satby
I’m just delighted to live in a time when the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire have become somewhat irrelevant.
Don’t know how IL is doing, but it’s still snowing here in Michiana. About 4-5 inches on top of the snow melted by sleet, then rain, then frozen into a sheet of ice. Glad I don’t have to go anywhere.
TBone
Loomer is such a haarpie. Yes I spelled that wrong on purpose.
Tony G
The only logical reason for these idiotic caucuses is to suppress turnout. I don’t know why people put up with it.
TBone
@NotMax: she was my shero when I was a tot. I was too young to get a lot of the jokes, but I knew a badass when I saw one.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@mrmoshpotato: That sounds attractive. But one difference between our elections and the UK’s is that we know where ours will be, and they don’t necessarily know. That means people plan.
prostratedragon
@Baud: Well, I guess “ironic” is the word I was looking for.
lowtechcyclist
@Geminid:
No, having lived there for five years, it’s very different from NC. The cities themselves are very small; Columbia’s population is less than 140K. And as one who has had a professional knowledge of MSAs, they can (and in the case of SC, look like they very much do) include counties that have a little bit of urban/suburban and a lot of rural; counting their populatons and saying, “this is all urban/suburban” is hardly the case. South Carolina just doesn’t have any Charlotte or Raleigh-Durham; hell, it doesn’t really have a Winston-Salem or Greensboro.
I’m very fond of South Carolina, but it is what it is, and it ain’t what it ain’t.
TBone
@splitting image @notmax
I love a man who knows the classics. Ozark: ISWYTD
NorthLeft
I am surprised that Iowa does not use this opportunity to show the rest of the US and the world how to ensure that actual voters are truly committed to exercising their right to vote.
They should caucus outside in a designated cow pasture or soybean field.
Betty Cracker
@Geminid: As I’m sure you’re aware, the idea is that small-market states where retail campaigning is an option offer an avenue for insurgent candidates like Carter and Obama to break through in a way they might not be able to if they had to compete in an expensive media market. But you make a good point about that notion being outdated.
If we’re to toss out the retail standard, what qualities do we need in early states? I think it makes sense to choose states that reflect the party’s diversity, critical populations (urban, suburban, rural), etc.
I think SC is a better choice than IA but DE, NV, GA, etc., would have been better than SC. Fortunately, it probably won’t matter this year since we have an incumbent. I can imagine scenarios where it could cause strife though. SC is small-c conservative and capital-C churchy in ways most Democratic strongholds are not.
Marmot
No one mentioned this?
I mean, it is to haw haw haw!
kalakal
Nature is simply lowering the temperature to match Iowa MAGAs IQs.
Tony G
@TBone: I’m surprised the Loomer hasn’t sought the GOP nomination for president yet. Maybe in 2028.
prostratedragon
@NotMax: Now imagine Jesse L. Martin as Prof. Hill.
TBone
@Yarrow: that Welker woman almost makes me embarrassed for my sex.
Baud
@Marmot:
They always back down.
TBone
@Kay: thank you.
Other MJS
Follow the money.
TBone
@RevRick: excellent observation!
dmsilev
Can’t Trump just deploy his Magic Sharpie of Hurricane Repositioning to sweep away the cold weather and the snow?
Not really understanding the problem here.
Geminid
@lowtechcyclist: The metropolitan statistical areas of South Carolina may include a lot of rural land but most of the people in them still live in suburbs. That is true in North Carolina as well.
Ed. One factor that might account for the smaller size of South Carolina’s cities relative to the metropolitan areas around them would be more restrictive annexation laws. I have not checked, but I suspect South Carolina’s are more restrictive than North Carolina’s.
kalakal
Can’t think why DeSantis is cancelling events. He’s prepared for snow, what with his boots and all
Yarrow
@lowtechcyclist: I meant not that big geographically. It wouldn’t be too hard for candidates to get around the state.
lowtechcyclist
@Geminid:
Because it should be both/and, not either/or. In the election campaign, there will still be more than a few moments when candidates interact with people who haven’t been pre-vetted to the max, and a candidate that’s been able to handle one state where retail campaigning is the predominant mode will make sure he’s not the sort of candidate that will fall on his or her face in those moments.
Winning one state isn’t winning the nomination, and the winning candidate will still have to do well via ads, speeches to large audiences, and TV interviews. But you want to test a candidate in both sets of skills, and not just the latter.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Some free advice to Igor Bobic. Too late for him but maybe timely for anyone else who tries to scrape the ice off a cold car, with a credit card or an ice scraper or anything else.
Turn on the engine and put the defrosters on full blast. The car doesn’t need to get warm. When it gets to 32 F, the ice will start to melt. Now you can use your scaper. Or your credit card if you swing that way. Half the time I just use my arm, it’s loose enough to do that.
kalakal
Would it be wrong to think of TFG and his entourage trapped in a snow drift and a Donner party reenactment?
Elizabelle
Was picking South Carolina a favor to Rep. Jim Clyburn?
You all have made some great cases for other states. I would love if the schedule rotated each election season.
And drop the nonrepresentative states as soon as possible.
Yarrow
@mrmoshpotato:
You should hear the Brits whine about how long the election has been going on when it’s been three months. LOL. That being said, there’s the actual election and there’s the pre-election maneuvering. And the “when will the PM call the election” speculation. The election is happening well before it’s called.
Elizabelle
@kalakal: They’re inedible. Fatal levels of toxicity.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Serious question about the Loomer post, a question that I’ve been pondering for years: What does the Venn diagram for “Republican” and “mental illness” look like?
M31
well, a pile of shit is going to win the GOP primary, that’s for sure
TBone
This one time at band camp we were all sitting on the front porch disturbing the neighbors. One came over shouting (and waving his fist), “YOU PEOPLE ARE UNBELIEVABLE!” A friend stood up and took a bow, shouting “THANK YOU!” Here’s to all of us.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sfCLt0kTd5E
Elizabelle
@kalakal: Last week’s Dean Phillips embarrassment (the one where he was soloing at his truck filled with coffee and donuts) did not escape this week’s GOP hopefuls.
Juju
@OzarkHillbilly: I could make a joke about you lending him your pliers so he can pull that bug out of his ass, but I don’t think I will because that wouldn’t be nice.
Marmot
@kalakal: Naw, he’d need his big furry Uggs for this time around!
Elizabelle
@RevRick: Wouldn’t it be interesting (I mean “helpful”) if the GOP caucus-goers reduced their numbers for the general?
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Elizabelle:
Same here. I have a campaign mug from back then that still sits on my desk as a reminder.
It’s funny, I know a former White House reporter (still on the political beat only at Sirius/XM now) and she had him read perfectly before the rest of us did.
She never lets me forget that.
Betty Cracker
@Elizabelle: I think it was definitely a nod to Clyburn, and the fact that the DNC chairman is a South Carolinian too was probably also a factor. I like the idea of rotating states every four years, and I think that’s baked into the current plan? Not sure about that. States that have permanent “first” status get too big for their britches.
TBone
@Marmot: hee! I noticed.
TBone
@Tony G: she’s angling for it, but can she survive that long with such a chronic strain of stupidity?
TBone
@kalakal: l.o.l.
Trivia Man
@Kay: A large hospital chain in a state without these draconian laws has a golden opportunity. Go to idaho for a career fair. Advertise heavily – are you concerned you might be arrested for giving proper care? Come work for us! Generous relocation packages to help you move!
TBone
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I have a meme for that somewhere but haven’t played around enough to figure out how to link it here yet. I’m always too busy reading and laughing here!
lowtechcyclist
@Juju: Don’t crush that dwarf…
kalakal
@Yarrow: One great thing about British elections is that TV time is really restricted.
Parties get one ad per channel, up to just under 5 minutes long in Autumn, winter, and spring. No ads during an election.
It’s bliss. when a PPB ( ad – Party Political Broadcast ) comes on everyone switches channels
Geminid
@Elizabelle: The selection of South Carolina was definitely seen as a favor to Rep. Clyburn, and that may account for some of the resistance to the choice. Clyburn is thought to be more moderate than some liberals think their party ought to be, and this scepticism in turn gets projected onto the state’s majority-Black Democratic voters.
lowtechcyclist
@Geminid:
And while I haven’t done a detailed study or anything, ISTM that suburbs of smaller cities turn red faster than the suburbs of big metro areas as you leave the downtown area. Fairfax County suburbs may be blue, but I doubt the same is true of Lexington County.
Omnes Omnibus
@kalakal: His boots aren’t insulated. It’s a whole different thing up here.*
*OTOH it would give him a chance to buy new boots to put lifts in.
Yarrow
@kalakal: Yes, it’s very different from the permanent election situation in the US.
E.
@OzarkHillbilly: To be fair, I once stopped reading a blog when it attracted a commenter . . . Who used ellipses. . . for every form of punctuation. . . there is, including. . . some that there aren’t. I couldn’t take it anymore.
Elizabelle
@kalakal: WRT deeply curtailed political advertising: I wish we did that. And is it France that does not allow any political advertising once citizens are actually voting?
Also wish that we had Canada’s sensible broadcast standards, which keeps liars like Fox News off the airwaves.
But in the US: Money is speech! Money, money, money.
zhena gogolia
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Sometimes it’s so frozen you can’t get in the car.
TBone
@Elizabelle: fuck Citizens United. It’s a title where both words fry my bacon too.
Juju
@Geminid: NC, when there are statewide elections, is about as close to 50/50 Dem/Rep as you can get. The dem/rep divide is not as bad as I thought it would be, when I checked, but it’s not close.
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: I’m gonna chime in and say that I would bet that not one person read Ozark’s comment and didn’t understand his point perfectly.
Juju
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: My thought was anyone who would marry a woman like Elizabeth Edwards couldn’t be that bad.
Gin & Tonic
Interesting story out of St. Petersburg (the cold one.) A warehouse of the company Wildberries, an Amazon clone, has been completely destroyed by fire. It was about a million square feet, if reports are accurate.
Several reports that the fire was set by employees protesting company policy to supply conscripts for military duty.
H.E.Wolf
True; and Black church-going women are a Democratic voting bloc that is consistently very faithful at the ballot box. It’s good policy to recognize a bedrock constituency in tangible ways, such as giving South Carolina an early place in the presidential primary season.
I also appreciate the Democrats’ proposal to schedule other states with representative demographic mixes early in the primaries. E Pluribus Unum! :)
Elizabelle
@Geminid: Indeed. Although: those Black voters saved our bacon in 2020!
Trivia Man
@Elizabelle: i like the rotating idea a lot
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotating_Regional_Primary_System
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: All that being said, Just Desserts would be a good name for a cake and pie bakery.
Geminid
@lowtechcyclist: I’m not sure there are any suburbs to speak of around Lexington. A better example might be Albemarle County,* which has voted Democratic in Presidential elections since 2004.
But suburbs across the country seem to be becoming more similar politically. I thought that was shown in the 2018 midterms, when Democrats flipped suburban seats in every region of the country. Suburbs in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan behaved like suburbs in Virginia, Texas and Georgia.
* When I was speculating on a possible difference between South and North Carolina I thought of Virginia’s relatively city-friendly annexation laws. The only reason Charlottesville has not gobbled up the more densly populated areas on Rt. 29 North is a revenue sharing agreement signed in the 1970s. Otherwise, Charlottesville’s population would be much greater than it is.
When I looked at South Carolina’s population distribution a couple weeks ago I was struck by how small the cities’ populations were compared to the metropolitan areas. It made me think their annexations laws must be more restrictive than Virginia’s but I have not checked this out.
Omnes Omnibus
@Marmot: Sorels, ffs.
Bill Arnold
@There go two miscreants:
Amy Butler outlines some interesting polar vortex dynamics. It is a chaotic system, that that humans do not know how to deterministically affect, yet. (With much better mid-term models and a denser sensor network, and better “effectors”, perhaps.)
Cooking up a stratospheric polar vortex disruption (climate.gov polar vortex blog, AMY BUTLER, JANUARY 8, 2024)
An excerpt:
Also: Midwest blizzard to usher in polar vortex cold snap (Axios, Andrew Freedman, Jan 11, 2024)
Meanwhile, here in southern (mid-Hudson) NY it was 57F when I checked at 9:00 AM.
Elizabelle
@Trivia Man: Democrats are more amenable to fairness, and to change/making incremental improvements. So I think it will happen.
I wonder what date Florida will get? The following December? (Sorry, Betty and Adam and kalakal and Sunshine State jackals.)
Gin & Tonic
@WaterGirl: A sort-of-local (to me) business. Probably not unique.
Thing is, “just deserts” – as written by OH – is correct usage.
danielx
I sort of knew Laura Loomer was a crazy, but does somebody actually pay her for disseminating such drivel?
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: More practical for the cold than morels.
Juju
@Omnes Omnibus: Google that and add bakery and there are probably dozens of them, if not hundreds. There is one in Duck NC, which I have been to, and it’s pretty darn good.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic:
Morals? In the GOP?
Omnes Omnibus
@Juju: Just trying to lighten the mood.
Geminid
@Juju: Governor Cooper won reelection in 2020 by over 200,000 votes. His election in 2016 was one of the few bright spots that year, but his winning margin was only 11,000 votes (I think).
Joe Biden lost North Carolina by around 80,000 votes, while in 2016 Hilary Clinton lost by about twice that. The Biden campaign has been putting resources into North Carolina for some months now. This is a change from 2020, when his campaign did not have much money to put anywhere until Labor Day.
TBone
@Elizabelle: I am paying attention. I’ve been “barking” about this for years and was formerly a strict pacifist. I struggle to retain those ideals in the face of this onslaught.
JML
I totally get the frustration with caucuses, and they are exclusionary and unrepresentative. But they’re not actually undemocratic, and in some ways they’re kind of awesomely democratic because it’s an opportunity for real participation in electoral process and a way to shape party positions and issues in ways that most people are completely excluded from. So I have a love-hate relationship with caucuses, which I have participated in for many many years, but are mostly dying. I tend to think that is the correct result, because they’re not representative and the exclusionary issue is hard to get around. But I will miss some of the good things about them, where you get to meet your fellow democrats in your precinct and have a conversation about issues and candidates, and the delegations at other conventions and how it can engage people in the necessary organizing work of politics.
Primaries are a better option in today’s world, but caucuses aren’t inherently evil and there was something kind of great about the retail and grassroots aspects of them.
Juju
@Omnes Omnibus: Was the use of darn a bit too harsh for you? If it is, I’ll stop with the potty mouth.
lowtechcyclist
@Geminid:
Sorry if I confused you, I was referring to Lexington County, much of which is suburban to Columbia, SC.
Omnes Omnibus
@Juju: No fucking way.
TBone
@Gin & Tonic: that warms the cockles of my evil heart.
danielx
@Gin & Tonic:
And their pastry menu looks pretty damn good. If it wasn’t 19 degrees and snowing I’d be heading to Rise’n Roll right now. But alas, I’m attempting to avoid going outside at all.
citizen dave
I think each political party should run their primaries as they see fit with no state/local government assistance (or they get paid to bring out the voting machines, pay poll workers, etc.). The general has become a weeks-long window to vote in many places, but the primaries still have the one day. We can bank, invest, pay medical bills, order coffee subscriptions online, but can’t figure out how to conduct voting online?
Like Satby–and I hadn’t thought it it until your comment–it’s a good time to have lived to see Iowa and New Hampshire become irrelevant. Hope it stays that way on the Dem side next time.
Down here in the Indy area, a good dusting of snow so far (I don’t think we’re getting significant amounts), and in the 20s, windy. Our 11 year old male black cat begged off going outside, and he basically goes out every morning, part of the day, and evening.
Suzanne
@danielx:
OMG yes. Like, I want to be wealthy. I can make shit up. I am here!
I really need to figure out how to monetize my sparkling personality and complete lack of ethics. Maybe I can be Baud’s Chief of Staff.
Juju
@Geminid: Those were all close elections. I’m still hurting over Cheri Beasley.
jackmac
Who is this Laura Loomer person? I got her confused with the other right wing crackpot Lara Logan (the onetime respectable journalist who got lost in right wing fever swamps).
TBone
@danielx: that’s a great name.
Villago Delenda Est
FUCK THE IOWA CAUCUSES!
TBone
@Suzanne: l.o. fuckin’ L.
Layer8Problem
@NotMax: She and Diana Rigg were kinda huge in my pre-adolescence. “Women can do that, with the attitude and dangerousness? Go figure.”
Uncle Cosmo
@Elizabelle: Oh for dogsake–
How innumerate does one need to be to think 40.1% is a majority?? It would be more honest to report that “Nearly 60% of voters voted for candidates favoring closer ties with Beijing,” but I guess that would take the scary out of the story…
ETA: It might well be that the “growing discontent” contributed to the vote against the ruling party along with a desire for closer ties to Beijing, but if so the story ought to say so. But “urinalists” don’t do nuance.
Juju
@Omnes Omnibus: Oh my goodness! Full blown inside the car language.
lowtechcyclist
@Geminid:
Suburbs of which cities in those states behaved like suburbs of which cities in those other states? My point is that the size of the city seems to matter.
Lexington County, SC went for Trump by 64-34 in 2020.
Delk
Silly Loomer, the gays control the weather.
mrmoshpotato
@satby:
Hope you’re stocked with food because that sounds like a mess.
satby
@danielx: mmm, Rise’n Roll. For a time the Mishawaka store was at the farmers market, mostly to let people know that there was a store closer than Elkhart. Once enough customers knew, they left. Damn they’re good.
lowtechcyclist
@Layer8Problem:
The Avengers. Emma Peel. Oh yeah.
Another Scott
@Elizabelle: @Betty Cracker:
I think that moving SC up was for several reasons: 1) to reward Clyburn, 2) to punish Iowa and New Hampshire for being so insular and non-representative and clubby (and in Iowa’s case, incompetent in the 2020 cycle), and probably most importantly 3) to help Kamala and the future of the party going forward.
Having quasi-republican states pick the national Democratic frontrunner has had its day. (Yeah, SC isn’t a blue state yet, but it isn’t 94% (or whatever) white.)
It was a great decision.
Cheers,
Scott.
Miss Bianca
No one’s made a “cold day in Hell” joke yet about the Iowa caucuses? I mean, I would, but I ain’t quite clever enough – it’s still early-ish in the morning over here…
satby
@mrmoshpotato: I sure am! Great opportunity to clean out the freezer, because I’m not going anywhere for a while.
But talk of Rise’n Roll now means I have to bake something sweet. Darn 😆
schrodingers_cat
Internet socialists are now simping for the Houthis. We are living in the stupidest timeline.
mrmoshpotato
@Yarrow:
What the sheep’s ass, Batman!
Juju
@Geminid: I forgot to note that SC was better than I thought in regards to the political divide, or autocorrect messed with things. NC is very close to 50/50 D/R, SC is not. I shouldn’t bother to proofread when I’m sleep deprived, because it doesn’t seem to matter. Or stupid autocorrect. Whatever.
mrmoshpotato
@kalakal: Do they burn Dump’s orange blubber for heat?
rikyrah
@mrmoshpotato:
Getting ready😢
Geminid
@lowtechcyclist: Aha! I guess Lexington County, South Carolina is more red than Northern Virginia suburbs. One difference might be a more static economy around Columbia. Growth in the Virginia’s three big metropolitan areas has brought in more college educated and first- and second-generation immigrants. These groups tend to vote Democratic. That wasn’t the case 50 years ago for the college educated cohort.
One aspect of Virginia’s suburbs is that even though they are majority Democratic they are not especially liberal. One example of this was the 2017 primary for Governor. Tom Perriello was considered more liberal than Ralph Northam, but Northam won Fairfax County by a 3 to 2 margin.
I like to joke that ideologically, Virginia Democrats run the gamut from Mark Warner to Tim Kaine, but it’s not really a joke. The party coalition is one of urban Black people and suburban white people, with a lot of Black, Hispanic and Asian people in the suburbs as well. Collectively, we tend to be moderate, or at least our Representatives and Senators are. Maybe it’s our moderate weather.
Villago Delenda Est
@Uncle Cosmo: “Communications Major” innumerate.
Baud
@Uncle Cosmo:
No one should be elected with only 40% of the vote. Bad system.
mrmoshpotato
@kalakal:
@Omnes Omnibus: Do they even make insulated pole dancing boots?
Mike in NC
Fat Bastard is the most virulent racist asshole to ever wander into American politics. He was head of the anti-Obama birther movement, said Kamala Harris wasn’t a real American, and now is playing his favorite race card against Nikki Haley. So predictable.
RevRick
@Another Scott: It rewarded Clyburn and black women.
mrmoshpotato
@satby:
I got two banana nut muffins (I blame Mr. B S.) and two turnovers when I was shopping yesterday. Mmmmm
ETA – also got frozen puff pastry and a can of cherry pie filling if I wanna go nuts.
ETA2 – but I already had the pastry and filling for a while.
RevRick
@Elizabelle: Thank you for expanding on my original allusion to Eco.
TBone
@Delk: I thought it was Teh Joos with their Space Lasers
Geminid
@lowtechcyclist: Sure, South Carolina is more Republican than neighboring states. But I am talking about South Carolina’s Democratic primary electorate. What I’m saying is that Democrats there are not that different from those in Georgia and North Carolina.
karen marie
@Betty Cracker: DeSantis’s refusal to attack Trump for his criminal, irresponsible behavior has been a theme of the coverage of Bootsy’s campaign.
Sounds like DeSantis is looking for someone to blame for his predictable loss. All the humiliation will be for naught.
Can we start a pool for when Casey files for divorce and strikes out on her own?
TBone
@schrodingers_cat: JFC facepalm
Mike in NC
The only time an employer sent me on a business trip was to Iowa in January of 1996 (?). I landed in Des Moines and rented a car. The first place I stopped at was playing Rush Limbaugh cranked up to a deafening level. Longest week of my life.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud:
You should be elected with 4% of the vote. Baud system.
TBone
@Mike in NC: Yes but that doesn’t diminish the quality of his argument./s
Baud
@mrmoshpotato:
I’m honored you believe I can get 4% of the vote.
Baudmemtum!
RevRick
@gene108: They vote Republican, and I think upper middle class Democrats in Fairfield County are savvy enough to understand Democratic tax policies and have already booked that into their calculations.
TBone
@Mike in NC: I once worked for an attorney who played Rush Limpballs on the radio during our work day. I left the legal field for a while and got my real estate license.
zhena gogolia
@gene108: Do you mean southwestern CT?
RevRick
@Geminid: The problem with Southern states is that they tend to underrepresent Hispanics. Which is why I suggested Connecticut.
RevRick
@zhena gogolia: Yes he did. I grew up there and am very aware of the landscape.
RevRick
@mrmoshpotato: That’s a problem for all democratic systems.
TBone
OK this is weird. The thank you letter tucked inside my Beau Biden Foundation cookbook is addressed to a Mr. Hernandez in San Juan, PR. I’m making Gooey Butter Bars.
Trivia Man
@WaterGirl: i assumed it was a subtle spin… they deserve to wander in n the desert snd do jot deserve dessert
Delk
My Iowa caucus story: Same sex marriage was legal in Iowa before Illinois so in January 2012 we crossed the border. After we got our license we went to our hotel and Santorum’s bus was parked in the lot. We prowled the hotel looking for him to wave our license at him and make out like teenagers but we never found the frothy mixture.
TBone
@Trivia Man: perzackly
mrmoshpotato
@TBone: Well, thank you Mr. Hernandez in San Juan, PR that you’re making Gooey Butter Bars.
Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog
Never Back Down Except Sometimes If It’s Cold Out Events
TBone
@mrmoshpotato: 😆☺️
danielx
@satby:
The cinnamon caramel doughnuts are to die for.
XeckyGilchrist
(wingnut) So much for global warming! Haw haw (/wingnut)
TBone
@Delk: I love a man who knows the classics.
kalakal
@mrmoshpotato: What with Ron ‘n’ Don I think there may be a niche market for electrically heated lifts
Geminid
@RevRick: Nevada weighs in soon after South Carolina. That makes up for South Carolina’s deficient Hispanic representation, I think.
oldgold
@Suzanne: “It’s gonna be cold in Iowa in January. I’m shocked to hear this news.”
True, but the weather forecast for the night of the caucus is way beyond an average cold January night in Iowa.
The 10 inches of snow we received Friday was dry and fluffy. The high winds are moving this snow here, there and everywhere. Causing white out conditions and drifted in roadways. The temperatures are below zero. Right now the wind chill is minus 44 degrees. These conditions are going to persist through the caucus.
I will be damned surprised if the turnout for the caucus is 50% of what might be normally expected. My guess is this hurts Trump and helps DeSantis.
lowtechcyclist
@Geminid:
Yeah, but smaller cities tend to have more static economies. There are a lot more Columbia-sized cities than there are businesses looking for a town that size to place a major factory or regional HQ in. This isn’t something that sets Columbia apart from other towns its size.
TBone
Wikipedia says “The ambiguous use of San Juan Bautista and Puerto Rico for both the city and the island in time led to a reversal in practical use by most inhabitants: by 1746 the name for the city (Puerto Rico) had become that of the entire island, leading to the city being identified as Puerto Rico de Puerto Rico on maps of the era.”
MomSense
We are having another bad storm here today. High wind and heavy rain. We have already experienced so much destruction since the week before Christmas. I think every county is now considered under a state of civil emergency. The storm before Christmas was worse for people and businesses along our many rivers. The storm last week absolutely destroyed some coastal towns. On the drive to my eye appointment I was detoured off of route 1 because it flooded in a low lying section near the river. This is going to be a bad storm for river communities.
It seems like some people are opening their eyes, looking out their windows and saying maybe this isn’t a hoax. Too fucking little too fucking late.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: It frequently happens in India because there are plethora of parties. BJP’s vote share in the last election was 38% and even with their allies it was about 45%.
Elizabelle
@RevRick: Thank YOU for introducing me to the late Mr. Eco’s essay. Still have to read it in full, but how perceptive he was. Growing up in the shadow of Mussolini will do that for a good person.
rikyrah
@Highway Rob:
I was just stunned. I saw the portion with the young man first…about a half dozen times and then went in search of the entire performance
kindness
Caucuses…..Damn. Who in their right mind prefers to spend hours hanging around a large gymnasium just so their vote would count, verses marking a ballot, submitting it, and getting on with one’s life?
rikyrah
@satby:
Depends upon where you are. Glad the first round of shoveling was done yesterday. Only have a couple of inches to do today. And, it just stopped snowing. So, the city salt trucks have a good 5-6hour window before the temperatures seriously drop.
Geminid
South Carolina was perceived to have an outsized influence in the 2020 primaries because it was a crucial victory for Joe Biden. I think this was because of the peculiar dynamics of that year, though.
And I don’t think South Carolina Democrats voted the way they did because they are relatively conservative. I think it was because they were very pragmatic; they knew how tough beating Trump would be and believed that Joe Biden was the only one of the candidates who could pull it off. I think they were right.
satby
@oldgold: People who haven’t lived where it gets that cold seldom understand how life threatening it can be to slide off the road and just get stuck.
Phylllis
@lowtechcyclist: Lexington County is fast becoming nothing but suburbs. It used to be mostly rural, with a lot of farms and not a lot of industrial development. Now it’s one of the fastest growing counties in the state with a lot of growing pains. The area where we are and built six years ago was predominantly rural, but we knew the growth was coming our way, because there are only a couple of other areas in the county for it to go.
And the place is rabidly Republican–it’s Joe Wilson’s district, after all.
Elizabelle
@Gin & Tonic:
re Saint Petersburg (Russia) warehouse fire: yes, it is a thing. A big bright thing, probably visible from space! And definitely noticed by passing airliners.
AP: https://apnews.com/article/russia-st-petersburg-warehouse-fire-2ebc797315605079d18514267f9930b0
AP reporting “preliminary data” suggesting faulty electrical wiring.
Reuters account in full:
The Ministry of Emergency Situations. Monty Pythonesque.
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
Unreal, isn’t it?
Miss Bianca
@MomSense: Poor Maine. :(
smith
@Elizabelle: I have always thought that Eco should be known as much for his essays as for his novels. His essay collection, “Travels in Hyper Reality,” is one of the most perceptive views on contemporary culture I know of, and in my opinion, acutely anticipated the weird timeline we live in now, in which a huge chunk of our citizenry thinks we’re living in a reality show.
kalakal
@Baud: IIRC there’s only ever been one British govt elected with over 50% of the vote and that was something like 50.5%.
Combination of third parties and first past the post. For years I lived in Leeds NW which split roughly 35/33/32 Tory/Lab/Lib so we had a Tory MP until Blair’s landslide. Had Lab or Lib ever since and the Tories are toast there
satby
@rikyrah: We don’t get salt. Well, sometimes on a few main roads only. That would require this red state to give a shit about its citizens. And though S.Bend is blue, the county is not.
Betty Cracker
@Geminid: I’m no expert, but I think there’s a big difference between GA, NC and SC. It’s not just about how the states vote in presidential elections. The lack of urban population centers, research universities, economic dynamism, etc., affects the political makeup of the electorate. Clyburn probably reps the most liberal district that can be cobbled together in SC. The spectrum is wider in GA and it looks like the same is increasingly true of NC.
Uncle Cosmo
Because it allows candidates without huge warchests to make their case to the electorate. Which, if they catch fire, can catalyze greater resources. Or should Democrats confine themselves to bazillionaire self-funders and sellouts?
Quite frankly, I believe you’re wrong. “Retail campaigning” addresses one of the cornerstones of Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy: Show up in order to demonstrate that we Democrats are their neighbors and coworkers and don;t have cloven hooves and tails.
I was involved in a whole passle of “retail campaigns” in my youth, most staffed primarily with people my age. We had no money to speak of – raising enough for the campaigns was the hardest part – but we won more of them than we had any right to. That’s my experience, YMMV.
Elizabelle
@smith: Thank you. I will have to read up on him. Previously, only heard of “The Name of the Rose” and maybe another book.
We should send a copy of his 14 Points essay to Kristin Fucking Welker, and all our journamentalists. Recognize anything here?? Hello? [Crickets]
Another Scott
@TBone: I’d contact them let them know that the thank-yous got mixed up.
I’m reminded of one of my first jobs, working in the mail room for a place that ran rewards programs for salesmen at car dealerships. I remember seeing one really, really irate letter from some manager at a dealer practically screaming “STOP SENDING ME THIS CRAP!!” all over the outside of the envelope. I stopped what I was doing, took it to my manager, and he looked at it and said he would take care of it.
Finding an off-ramp in any system is a good thing, and I’m sure Mr. Hernandez would appreciate it too. ;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
Snarki, child of Loki
My ideal prez primary system, which is mine, allows all states to set their own primary date, BUT there can be consequences.
(since the # of delegates is roughly proportional to electoral votes, I’ll just use electoral votes as an example)
Primaries start T=Jan 15. Any primaries before that get ZERO delegates.
Primaries give delegates that is the smaller of their electoral vote count and the maximum based on primary date. Push earlier? Lose delegates.
Starting T: 3 delegates
T+2weeks: 6 delegates
T+4weeks: 12 delegates
…each fortnight later, doubles the “time based maximum”. So DE, WY, etc. can go early with no penalty, CA, NY, IL etc. need to go late.
This system allows campaigns to start small, and keeps it a “contest” throughout the primaries.
So, of course, it will never happen this way.
Geminid
@kindness: Former Representative Tom Davis* summed up the Caucus vs. Primary dynamic:
That’s one reason Virginia Republicans have favored caucuses in recent years, usually to their detriment.
* Davis retired in 2008, and was the last Republican to represent Virginia’s Fairfax County. The way things are going, he might be the last Republican to represent the county this century.
bjacques
@Elizabelle: Yeah, faulty electric wiring in the section of the warehouse where they store the bavovnas (bavovnae?).
Trivia Man
@Gin & Tonic: TIL
Miriam Webster has the scoop and its an interesting etymology
cain
@Nelle: in Portland it’s howling winds and stinging whirling snow. Crazy weather. Been here almost 30 years and never seen it before.
Apparently it’s the coldest it has ever been in decades.
Scout211
Sorry if this has already been posted and discussed but 233 comments? Yikes.
Politico link, but still. Biden campaign is hiring veteran comedy show researchers to their research team. It sounds strange but I think this is a very good move.
wjca
Far more people get information off the Internet these days than from “media” — even among us Baby Boomers. Which costs even less than retail campaigning. Time to ditch nostalgia and join the 21st century.
Trivia Man
@Delk: Thank you for helping normalize gay marriage. I worked with a couple in Wisconsin who would immediately take advantage if every incremental advance.
Register a “partnership”? First in line. Minnesota legalized marriage? Go there and do it. Wisconsin legalizes marriage? Get married again.
There needs to be an advance guard to set a good example.
I am grateful to san savage fir his work is n frothy mixture. I am personally convinced it helped kill that senate run and thus deflated any presidential hopes. Bonus: you know it KILLED him inside. Rick was a perfect example of “the only moral abortion is my abortion”. He would absolutely criminalized “gay” in any way possible.
Brachiator
I hate this kind of pseudo-journalism. While I am interested to see how the Iowa caucuses turn out, I don’t care about any pundit opinion about Iowa. Neither journalism nor polling are prophecy.
And is “creating a narrative” taught in journalism school, or is this just some lazy conventional wisdom that has emerged over time? Reporters and pundits have come to believe that they don’t just report on events, they have to read tea leaves and explain to the ignorati what it all means.
This is somewhat interesting background information. But again, reporters don’t really care about voter opinion. As soon as the caucus meetings are done, the reporters will get out as fast as they can, without doing follow-up interviews with the voters.
TBone
@Another Scott: after doing my own research on the full name of Mr. Hernandez, I have decided that the Foundation has paid me a great compliment. For reasons too long to explain here without doxxing Mr. H.
Elizabelle
@Scout211: That is brilliant. Hire people who know how to inform about serious issues, in an amusing fashion. Helps the message stick.
Thinking out of the box.
TBone
@Scout211: brilliant! Pulled a Zelensky.
Baud
@Scout211:
Oh, I wonder if the Trump campaign will hire Dennis Miller in response.
RevRick
@Betty Cracker: Why did Georgia go blue before North Carolina? North Carolina has a much larger rural white population. It is 33% rural, while Georgia is only 26% rural.
TBone
@Baud: still giggling.
Geminid
@Uncle Cosmo: Well, obviously Democrats should not confine themselves to bazilionaires and self-funding sellouts. I don’t see how that question is relevant to staging the Party’s first primary in Delaware, or Iowa and New Hampshire either, though,
Jimmy Carter is the often-used example of a candidate whose retail skills in Iowa were credited with his victory that year. But they just made it possible to win the nomination. The political dynamics that year favored the Democratic candidate, and Birch Bay, Walter Mondale, Scoop Jackson, Morris Udall or Terry Sanford might also have beaten President Ford.
They might have had to do it with a different combination of states, though. Carter won all the states of the old Confederacy with the exception of Virginia. Sanford might have won these, but the others probably would have needed to pick up some of the states Carter lost, like Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Oregon, Washington and the biggest one, California. They might have because politics were more fluid then, I think.
The 2020 map was very different than that of 1976. Joe Biden won 11 states Carter did not: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, New Mexico, California, Oregon and Washington; and he lost 11 states Carter won: West Virginia, Ohio, Iowa, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri.
wjca
No! No! No!
Chief of staff isn’t worth much until and unless he wins. The best grift is Campaign Manager.
MomSense
@Baud:
holy spit take baud man!
dnfree
@marklar: My dad’s family was from Iowa, and they were all stubborn. (Anecdata.). But they weren’t formerly either nuts or mean.
Geminid
@Betty Cracker:
@Betty Cracker: Probably the biggest way the Democrats in South Carolina differ from those in Georgia and North Carolina: they skew older because a lot of the younger ones have moved to Georgia and North Carolina.
But I am arguing that the differences in voting behavior are still not that great, not that South Carolina is the best state in which to stage the first primary. Georgia and North Carolina would clearly be better except for their size.
But South Carolina is still not such a bad state, and it’s definitely better than Iowa or New Hampshire.
Scout211
@Elizabelle:@TBone:
Yes, brilliant. Can you imagine the video archives that these folk have of Trump over the past many decades?
I often am in awe of the political comedy and parody shows, with their videos pulled out of some obscure vault somewhere that perfectly fit the host’s points.
Sister Golden Bear
From their lips to the Flying Spaghetti Monster’s orchiaetta.
Ruckus
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Seems far deeper than waist deep…..
Hoppie
@Elizabelle: Probably a deadish thread, but what that indicates is that almost 60% of the voting population favors less confrontation with China. Stupid LA Times.
Another Scott
@Geminid:
[ spit!! ]
He was my rep for a while. He loved to play the moderate reasonable centrist while being all aboard the Terri Schiavo hearings.
And giving his wife something like $1M from his campaign war chest to try to help her win her state Senate race…
Grr…,
Scott.
wjca
What it provides is someone experienced at ferreting out funny/dumb things politicians have done and said. Or, since this is a seriously target-rich environment with TIFG, finding the ones easiest to make fun of.
Miss Bianca
@Elizabelle: I think it’s genius, too!
Elizabelle
@Baud: That’s the best part. Absolute dearth of actual talent on the other side.
I love when old, old Joe Biden greenlights such a fresh idea.
TBone
@Trivia Man: I love vacationing on Mt. Desert Island.
Geminid
@Another Scott: Tom Davis was at least an improvement over Stanford Parris. I realize that doesn’t mean much, though.
Sister Golden Bear
@kalakal:
A sandwich is a sandwich, but a Manwich is a meal.
And yes, there actually is a I-80 exit sign at Donner Lake, which indicates there’s food available.
TBone
@MomSense: *chef’s kiss* catwoman
TBone
@Sister Golden Bear: I like your twisted snark there, comrade. I have a meme of Stalin saying “Dark humor is like food. Not everyone gets it.”
Sister Golden Bear
@Omnes Omnibus:
Ask and ye shall receive.
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
I’d like to know why retail campaigning is for old farts, seeing as how I am one, and have been voting for 53 yrs now.
I’d bet that retail campaigning is actually for many people of all ages, because they likely don’t follow politics as closely as folks like those on this blog.
CaseyL
There are a ton of reasons British style elections wouldn’t work well in the US, starting with the fact that their government is structured as a parliamentary system and ours is not, and also the US is about 40 times bigger geographically and about 5 times bigger in population.
I am freshly back from spending a week in Florida doing family stuff. I would normally have a lot to say about Florida, most of which would be obvious. But one thing really struck me: I know Florida is flat. Not just “flat as a pancake” – some parts are actually below sea level, so… “flatter than a pancake”? “Flat as a pancake with some concave bits”?
I live in Seattle, an area with So Much Geography: Mountains! Hills! Streets with enormous inclines! Lakes surrounded by hills! There are places in Seattle where you can see the Olympic Mountains to the west one way and the Cascade Mountains to the east the other way at the same time.
So Florida, with its endless flatness in all directions felt… weird. Just really weird. I finally nailed down what it felt like: artificial. I felt like I was indoors – an enormously vast indoors, true, with sky and clouds and rain and beaches and ocean, but still… it didn’t feel like a “real” outside to me.
I got home last night, just in time for a deep freeze the likes of which we haven’t had since the 1990s. No snow in the area, thank goodness, but OMG So Cold. Fortunately, I’m still tired from the return flights home, and have a head cold to boot (flying with a congested head is a lot of fun, if you’re a masochist) so I’m perfectly happy to stay indoors for a couple days.
trollhattan
Distracted driving is
drunk drivingA-OK. Carry on.I’d suggest looking at that vehicle code for possible revision, but that’s commie talk.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Clever!
Sister Golden Bear
@Snarki, child of Loki:
For decades, CA had a June primary, which effectively meant we had no say in the primary process, since the nomination was always locked up by then. Not exactly democratic…
Yes, we do have an outsized presence — and campaigning here is hella expensive — but given we’ve got more than a tenth of U.S. population (and the world’s fifth largest GDP), we should be able to have a say in things.
Sister Golden Bear
@bjacques: Careless smoking.
piratedan
I still like the idea of retail politics myself. Gives one a sense that your voice can be heard, that someone actually exists in the meatspace of reality. My biggest fear is the opportunity for others to initiate violence on a candidate (regardless of who they are).
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: I do love that!
TBone
@trollhattan: there are not enough curse words in my repertoire for that.
mrmoshpotato
@kindness:
PREACH! Looking forward to getting my Illinois primary (and general) ballot in the mail.
evodevo
@zhena gogolia: Yep…that’s where we in KY were today…several hours of rain yesterday, and 18 this AM. Couldn’t get the doors open to start it…OR get the hood up to hook up the battery charger.
dirge
Speaking of evergreen essays by authors better known for their novels, Orwell on Politics and the English Language.
Everyone should read this, but language pedants may derive special satisfaction. Your cause serves a higher purpose.
trollhattan
@TBone: Same, slow burn that’s not going away.
Been there, driven that road, and there’s no excuse for not keeping an eye out because it’s the main drag of a rural town, busy with cars and pedestrians and the occasional deer. Mow down a passel of toddlers? Unforgivable and regardless of criminal charges, driver and business are having the holy hell sued out of them. In ‘Murka hurting the wallet is how we roll.
Marcopolo
Just coming to this thread so haven’t read thru the comments. The other cool 😎 thing about the caucus this Monday is it would be a great way to spread Covid & all the other respiratory viruses 🦠 out there to lots of older R voters!
There was a time in my yute when I thought caucuses and direct participatory democracy was the bomb 💣 (in 88 I caucused for Jessie Jackson in MO), but age & experience have cured me of that!
Brachiator
@trollhattan:
This is extremely sad, but I understand it might not have been distracted driving. What if the driver had looked over at a side view mirror or up into the rear view mirror before looking ahead? These actions are part of the normal actions of driving a car.
Looking down at a GPS device is also becoming a typical aspect of driving a car. I also see that in new cars, and particularly EVs, new screens are being added and screens, dials and displays are being moved around. Many are no longer directly in front of the driver or even immediately to their right.
But I also take your point that maybe someone needs to take a look at the vehicle code. But this may be only part of a larger problem.
ETA. Isn’t there collision and pedestrian warning equipment available for some vehicles? Maybe this should be a universal standard.
Elizabelle
@dirge: Thank you. Spied my (unread) copy of 1984 this morning and thought, 2024, 40 years on; it might be time to actually crack that one.
Uncle Cosmo
@Hoppie: Apparently the “grayed minds” ;^D of JHU
alumniparolees think in similarchannelsgutters: Cf. #159 supra.TBone
@dirge: thank you LOVE IT
TBone
@trollhattan: we just had a big work dump truck mow down a little old lady like me on our main drag here in ruralsmalltownberg. No charges. Texting and driving or dashboard screens or handheld phone use in the car makes me want to break out a paintball gun and SPLAT their car with indelible ink. My hubby’s brother used to throw large metal garbage in front of speeders back in the day.
Kelly
@cain: A little warmer here in the western Cascade foothills. Upper 20’s. The geography of the MacKensie, North and South Santiam canyons seems to shelter us from the worst of the Gorge east wind. One power flicker so far. Mrs Kelly is cooking supper now just in case the power fails. Fingers crossed.
lowtechcyclist
@wjca:
Yeah, seeing people in meatspace is SO 20th century, as Beyoncé and Taylor Swift can surely confirm. Time to leave it behind.
Brachiator
@Yarrow:
Yep, right now there’s a lot of speculation that Prime Minister Sunak might call for a May election, even though he has hinted at calling for an autumn general election. And just recently a Tory minister let slip that he believed that the general election will be November 14.
And at some point around the time a general election is called, Parliament is suspended, although I am unclear about exactly how this works. I barely understand our own system here in the US.
MomSense
@RevRick:
North Carolina was going blue, voted for Obama in 2008. Then in 2010 in a census year progressive purity ponies decided not to show up and vote and forfeited the state races to Republicans. They promptly killed / curtailed one stop early vote, enacted major voter suppression, and a few other fucking things to get us where we are today.
It’s a GD tragedy.
Elizabelle
I wonder if this is the tweet Gin & Tonic was referring to, re the massive fire at Wildberries warehouse in St. Petersburg. Because “electrical wiring” just seems insufficient as an explanation.
Its author is Founder/Managing Director of the European Resilience center in Berlin, which seems credible.
Sergej Sumlenny, LL.M
@sumlenny
TBone
@lowtechcyclist: that is high quality 😆
TBone
@Elizabelle: that requires some serious fragging.
lowtechcyclist
@Sister Golden Bear:
https://xkcd.com/30/
Soprano2
@Baud: I heard on a new podcast about polling that Crooked Media is doing that TFG only getting 50% shows weakness because he’s running like an incumbent would. An incumbent who got 50% would be in trouble. I still think he’s going to win the nomination but it could show that he’s actually a weak candidate.
Trivia Man
@Marcopolo: In utah i caucusesd fir Dukakis but my precinct was one Of about 2 statewide that went for Jesse. College precinct
lowtechcyclist
@TBone:
Thanks!
Nelle
@Brachiator:My daughter has a Master’s in Journalism. I saw signs of it being taught there, as in “get someone to say…” for this piece.
Elizabelle
Tom Shales, longtime former WaPost TV critic, has died at 79. I really liked him; he was clever and often funny.
Aged 79. Complications of covid and renal failure. Took a buyout from the Post in 2006; had been making $400K/year before that. (Wow.)
WaPost link (gift link).
Brachiator
@Elizabelle:
Very sad. I really enjoyed reading his work.
TBone
Speaking of weather, it is so windy today that hubby just exclaimed, “You could fart out here and the neighbor will smell it first!” Proudly raises our level of discourse every day.
Hoppie
@Uncle Cosmo: Indeed, I thought that after going back to catch up and saw you already had it covered. Veritas vos liberabit amico mio.
Brachiator
@Geminid:
The primary should not be a national campaign. Candidates should be allowed to make a case for themselves. Give the public an opportunity to see them in a number of venues.
Jim Appleton
@Kelly: I’m just east of Hood River, five degrees, light snow, at the head of your east wind gusting here to about 10mph and forecast up to 80mph at Corbett.
JML
@Elizabelle: Loved Shales oral histories of SNL and ESPN. very interesting stuff, highly entertaining.
Uncle Cosmo
@Hoppie: At The Hop, it’s more like Veritas vos peterabit (the truth will wear you down). And always has been.
Elizabelle
@JML: @Brachiator:
In the WaPost story, they mention he was no fan of Kathie Lee Gifford.
If he never wrote anything else, I would like him for that alone.
Elizabelle
@Uncle Cosmo: One B short of a beloved childhood character.
Geminid
@Brachiator: The first primary should not be a national campaign because it can’t be one. I was saying that skill at retail campaigning does not translate into strength in a national campaign, so it was not a good reason to pick Delaware to lead off the primary season. It’s too small, and would place too high a premium on retail campaigning. A state the size of New Mexico, Nevada or South Carolina is better, I think.
I think skill at retail campaigning can be quite valuable at the state level, at least in a state the size of Virginia, which has about 8.5 million residents. That’s one of the reasons Glenn Youngkin beat Terry McAuliffe; he was a really assiduous and effective retail campaigner.
Yutsano
So…
T-bogg by neglect?
As far as the Iowa caucuses are concerned, I’m going counterfactual. I think the cult of Dolt45 is going to turn out but Haley and DeSantis factions don’t thus guaranteeing a bigly win for TIFG. But we’ll see on Monday!
Incidentally, still in hospital. I just had a surgery yesterday that should help both drain stuff out and removed necrotic tissue. So a couple more days then I can get bounced.
TBone
@Elizabelle: Beatrix love. Noted land-truster.
Rose Weiss
@Elizabelle: Me too! I didn’t have time attend any events, but I totally supported Edwards – I usually consider myself a good judge of character so when he turned out to be such a sleeze, it was a huge disappointment. Then for a while I was torn between Obama and Clinton.
Martin
So, per my mom (just called her, thanks for the reminder) there will be some real challenges to doing the caucus, and she’s on the fence about going (she was a GOP delegate at one point, so she’s a VERY reliable voter).
The issue in her area (suburbs west of Des Moines) is that the first snow storm dropped a lot of wet snow, and the subsequent one dropped a lot of dry snow. The low temperatures means all the early stuff froze so the streets are icy and in a lot of cases not even cleared, and the wind is blowing all the dry snow around so streets get that extra slippery layer thrown on top repeatedly. She’s not even sure how she would get to her caucus location because so many roads are closed because the county is unable to clear them (and yes, she would totally see the inability to clear roads a Chicago Democrat unable to run government problem, but doesn’t here because reasons).
I think they can overcome those obstacles and the bigger problem is that she’s a little afraid of the caucus. She’s going to be a Haley voter here, but has been expressing more concerns about the feral Trumpers that live west of her – which is where the caucus location is. I don’t think she’s excited about interacting with those people at a low-turnout event when everyone is already stressed.
My instinct is that Trump will underperform polling (Iowa polling is always hot garbage – the caucus does what it’s going to do) but I don’t know given the conditions what’ll happen.
rikyrah
@satby:
I can’t even…..get real snow and no salt!???
Nope😠
Our new Mayor had a splashy press conference yesterday as the storm was settling in…
One things Chicago Mayors understand…we take snow removal and street cleaning during a storm seriously. No Chicago Mayor is going to be removed because they didn’t handle the snow….lesson learned from Mike Bilandic.
The one line of the budget that nobody will argue about is the line for salt removal. Whatever overtime is paid for Streets and Sanitation…. That’s just $$$$ that has to be spent
Elizabelle
@Yutsano: I hope you are feeling a whole lot better.
Layer8Problem
@Elizabelle: I think this was literally a thing in Tsarist Russia. If you were a landowner with serfs, you got tithed some of those serfs for the army if the army had needs at a particular time. They were yours, but of course you owed the Tsar because reasons of tsardom, now they were his for a period with the associated shooting and bayoneting. Hey, they’re only serfs.
Martin
Except that never happens. The last half of the states at best get 2 candidates. The early states get to narrow the field without any input from anyone else. They get to meet the candidates multiple times while later states never do.
Did you not take any lesson whatsoever for why Democrats pulled the whitest states from the first to go?
DeSantis out there promising that the Dept of Agriculture will be fully owned by the state of Iowa. They’re not even the largest ag state. They only own the Dept of Ag because of their early status. California is the most diverse state in the country in terms of economy and people, and nobody wants us to go first because we’d roll up 1/6th of the delegates on day one, and we’d weed out the bottom half of the field before anyone else got a shot at it.
Up until now you had to get the personal approval of both Iowa white people *and* New Hampshire white people in order to stay in the race.
Mustang Bobby
My late husband’s last name was Pfannenstiel. No relation… I think.
WaterGirl
@Yutsano: Sorry to hear you needed surgery and that you’re still in teh hospital. But yay (!) for them figuring out what’s what and figuring out how to fix it.
Hang in there!
Miss Bianca
@rikyrah: Was that Bilandic? Was that how Jane Byrne got elected?
The Lodger
@Another Scott: I can’t hear the name Tom Davis without thinking of Al Franken’s old partner on SNL.
Elizabelle
@rikyrah: Years and years ago, DC Mayor Marion Barry attended a Bullets (then; Wizards now) basketball game after a snow storm. Am told the crowd was shouting at him “Plow our streets.” (The Capital Center, in Largo, MD)
He left his fourth term as mayor in 1999.
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano:
Yikes! Hopefully, they got everything and you’ll soon be playing the violin and running hurdles like you used to.
Elizabelle
@Miss Bianca: Yep. Chicago magazine, from 2011. (Mind you, I had never heard of any of this before rikyrah mentioned his name.)
Snowpocalypse Then: How the Blizzard of 1979 Cost the Election for Michael Bilandic
A perfect storm of weather, clout, and PR doomed the incumbent mayor in his primary battle against Jane Byrne.
NotMax
@Martin
Old Russian proverb.
It’s a long walk to the church and the roads are icy; it’s a longer walk to the tavern but I’ll be careful.
;)
Bill Arnold
@Brachiator:
I suggest expectations of severe punishment for killing or injuring pedestrians in crosswalks.
Elizabelle
@Layer8Problem: And the practice continues, under the radar, anyway.
Fascinating.
Eolirin
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Don’t go there. These aren’t typically signs of mental illness. These are cultural problems with a healthy heaping of conman manipulation.
Brachiator
@Martin:
Kinda makes you wonder how Obama could have succeeded.
In 2020, Warren was the clear favorite of many Balloon Juice jackals. It was good to see her early on. Mayor Pete and Bernie Sanders did well in the early primaries before Biden rang up a huge win in South Carolina. Warren, it turned out, didn’t have much of a chance.
But the voters got a look at a range of candidates.
I understand the various arguments here, and maybe it might be useful to mix up what states have early and late primaries.
I haven’t been unhappy with the eventual Democratic Party nominee the last few elections.
I don’t care what the Republicans do, as long as there is unhappiness, rancor and confusion.
Uncle Cosmo
Whereas I can’t hear that name without thinking of a sportscaster well known in the Baltimore area for over 50 years now. Context isn’t everything but it’s damn close.
Jeffro
@trollhattan: it’s just insanity.
I think it was Jamelle Bouie of the NYT (opining in his newsletter or something) that if you wanted to get away with a murder in this country, you’d just do it with your car.
lowtechcyclist
@Elizabelle:
“Mayor-for-Life Barry” as the CityPaper called him.
RaflW
The only negative I can see about the caucus weather tomorrow is that it will make Republican climate-change denial just that extra little bit insufferable.
Meanwhile the winds in Summit Co, CO were utterly bonkers today. 118 mph at the top of Peak 8 at Breckenridge. They only managed to operate about 1/7th of their lifts do to extreme winds (which can blow loaded chairlifts into lift towers or other dangerous or deadly outcomes). Keystone barely opened, like 5 hours late and with just 3 or 4 of 20 lifts.
MLK Saturday is one of the busiest days of the whole winter. Likely a ton of lost revenue. And until like a week ago the snow just had not come to this part of CO. But climate change is fake because for this one coming Monday, Iowa will be really cold. Dammit.
RaflW
The only negative I can see about the caucus weather tomorrow is that it will make Republican climate-change denial just that extra little bit insufferable.
Meanwhile the winds in Summit Co, CO were utterly bonkers today. 118 mph at the top of Peak 8 at Breckenridge. They only managed to operate about 1/7th of their lifts due to extreme winds (which can blow rising chairs into lift towers or other dangerous or deadly outcomes). Keystone barely opened, like 5 hours late and with just 3 or 4 out of 20 lifts.
MLK Saturday is one of the busiest days of the whole winter. Likely a ton of lost revenue. And until like a week ago the snow just had not come to this part of CO. But climate change is ‘fake’ because for this one coming Monday, Iowa will be really cold. Dammit.
Elizabelle
@lowtechcyclist: Oh yeah.
I remember Marion Barry when he was considered a more credible person. Didn’t he get shot during the Hanafi Muslim siege of a city building?
Anyway, reading his bio, it’s a tragedy that he went off the rails, because he really had a lot going for him, despite growing up under Jim Crow.
There’s a story where he and other Black paperboys were not allowed to take a trip they earned to New Orleans, because it was a segregated city at the time. Marion held out until the organizers offered a trip to St. Louis.
He was an Eagle Scout, and earned a Master’s degree in organic chemistry. Was accepted into a doctoral program.
Really an interesting man, who became a bit of a parody down the line.
Snarki, child of Loki
Back to the OT!
“Iowa Caucus Weather”:
Snowy with little chance for Meatball.
Is my humor childishly Snarky? Why yes, it is. It’s right in the name.
Martin
Automatic braking was proposed as a new requirement on new vehicles last year. It has not been approved as a new rule, and it’ll be at least 3 years before it’s required after that.
But I think this is mostly related to my comment a few days back that we’re exceeding the cognitive load of drivers, which is contributed to by the size and speed of vehicles, higher speed limits, wider roads, and so on.
The problem is that I think the only real solution is to lower speeds, narrow roads, and shift investment into vehicle protections – the kind of physical barriers between oncoming traffic that we have on freeways here in SoCal, pedestrian overpasses, protected bike lanes (like, concrete, not flexible bollards) such that drivers can reliably put those things out of mind. And I don’t know how to get citizens to demand these things unless there’s some consequence – such as increasing penalties for even negligent harm so that people say ‘hey, I don’t know if I can reliably not fuck up and run over a pedestrian with a 50MPH speed limit, can we lower it to 25?’.
The other factor that might show up is that auto insurers are pulling out of markets because the speed and mass of vehicles, even with all of the modern safety equipment, results in very expensive payouts. Some of that is how poorly some vehicle designs are for repair. Rear-ender damages the battery pack, that’s a big bill because the packs aren’t modular. Got some autonomous sensors back there, that can also be a big bill, and so on.
I don’t like the idea of punishing drivers simply because they can’t survive without driving to work, and we’ve made driving essentially impossible to do safely, but I’ve been fighting my city for a few years now to address safety, and it’s pretty clear that the backlash from voters for lowering a speed limit, or banning right-on-red (probably the single most effective thing to reduce pedestrian deaths) is the problem – so somehow that pain needs to fall on drivers to get them to change their viewpoint.
Martin
@Brachiator: I think if South Carolina had been first, Obama would have lost. My black friends at the time all said that Obama as a candidate was a luxury only white liberals could afford, because losing the general wouldn’t really impact them that much.
And because caucuses are low turnout events of the most dedicated, that really helped Obama. He probably would have lost a primary there.
brantl
@Steeplejack: Oh, pull that stick out. Lord, love a duck.
Ksmiami
@kalakal: Trump a la orange?
brantl
@kalakal: The temperature is going negative, you know…..
Neal
@Baud: @Steeplejack:
This times 1000. Clarity is beauty to me.
As an aside, I know it is an extremely unpopular view here to opine that profanity has had a most deleterious effect on our communicative capabilities, but as an Old Guy, I can’t help but think that it has.
In the years I have left I will ever more cherish those whose prose and narration are limpid and meaningful. I cannot claim to be in that august group, but I greatly admire them.
brantl
@kalakal: NOBODY should have to eat THAT shit!