All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[shooshoomanjoe]

trump's racism got worse. A hate crime has been committed as a man stabbed a man and his 2 sons on their faces. Link has graphic pictures of the father's stitches and the child's bloodied face.

[Tazirai]

Bidens bros are so toxic.

Yvette Nicole Brown tweeted pics out by noted racists, and thinks it's cool. To think I used to like her.

https://twitter.com/YNB/status/1245100558836535299

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EUd8Wz9U...jpg&name=small

I'll link the image but won't put it in the coding.

According to Warren, Politicians are responsible for their supporters' actions and vitriol. Way to unite during a crisis.

[JCAll]

Not interested in defending Trump, but Desantis had to be shamed into closing beaches

He's just trying to save his own ass by passing the blame on to someone else. Trump is the easy target.
He was perfectly willing to kiss Trump's butt when it was good for reelection. There's no honor among thieves.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Florida’s Republican governor blames Trump for not instituting stay-home order

Talk about a weak ass bitch. The only reason DeSantis kept the beaches open was because numbskulls, especially the out of town variety were spending money in his state, and got to take COVID-19 back home as a souvenir. The forthcoming cat fight between him and Trump should prove most entertaining.

[Mister Mets]

As a few folks have pointed out, Biden is a pretty specific case.

When you are going to have to run a just about perfect game just to be in the running, focusing on trying to grab progressive voters when Biden has a notable enthusiasm gap is essentially a "No Win" situation.

If he can't come close to running the table with the voters he seems to have an enthusiasm gap with, progressive voters will probably wind up being a non-issue.

All that said, I think you would be kidding yourself if you weren't weighing a more "Business As Usual..." Dem who can make Biden's case if he winds up being more of an issue versus a more progressive one.

There are more rifts within the Democratic party than the Sanders wing versus everyone else, so a running mate could help there.

For the purpose of this discussion let’s say it’s a mix of people who are aligned with Sanders (he has a floor of 20% of the party) and/or the Justice Democrat crowd. The mistake people make on it is that people don’t vote on ideology. Warren had support from some progressives but also a lot of Hillary voters who were more likely to jump to Biden.

So let’s call it the the left most 20% who are still out there not supporting Biden and actively pushing against him. That’s a significant demographic within the party that could make or break Dems in a general.

You might not need to do much to get them on board, if anything, but having them more amicable to the campaign in the general is better than fending them off as well.

——-

Abrams any going to give you Georgia. Even with shenanigans against her she still didn’t win it at the top of the ticket in a race where she was the star that was considered part of a wave. There’s not as much crossover with Florida. So possibly NC, but I don’t see it. VP’s don’t traditionally swing hard red states with long histories. Also why make that bet when the easier path is shoring up the Midwest which is more winnable. Go the path of least resistance. It’s liking getting Beto and praying for Texas.

——-

You’re right about it probably not resulting in a running mate. Which again misses the point. Taz and I are both making the argument that it would be a waste of time for Biden to use the VP spot to court progressives because he isn’t going to pick someone inconvenient enough to him to satisfy many of them. That’s why I’m advocating he not to that route.

——-

You’re being selective with how you frame this. The argument was that Bernie is compulsively running. He’s not mathematically out, it’s unlikely, but all doors aren’t closed. He’s also not actively attacking Biden right now. So that alone almost makes his existence in the race not really a big deal. He’s kind of just waiting and seeing and pushing his platform. Your argument would have more teeth if he was in a Tulsi position where he was out of it entirely and disrupting everyone.

And it really doesn’t address the argument I responded to which was that Bernie just compulsively chases the Presidency and refuses to drop out. He entered the race with the ability to raise the most money and extremely high favorables and a great ground campaign, that merited jumping in. He’s still in 4 weeks after Super Tuesday with him not completely being mathematically out and the actual election died down due to a crisis which he is using his campaign and current platform to respond to and isn’t going after Biden directly.

You’re changing the goal posts on this a bit.

It would be more compelling if he didn’t solid metrics to jump in and just did it because, or he was mathematically out and still attacking Biden and damaging his campaign. Right now he’s a long shot who had an unprecedented crisis crop up and is refocusing on that while there is lull

——-

If the progressive wing is defined by the justice Democrats, that's a bit messy since their track record of getting elected sucks. If we're talking about contenders for national office, it is a rather limited group.

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Justice_Democrats

They popped up in 2017. They backed five candidates for Governor, all of whom lost. They backed four candidates for Senate, all of whom lost primaries.

They backed 69 candidates for House, and seven got elected.

The PAC is an offshoot of the Sanders campaign, so there isn't much divergence.

It does seem that the main problem in getting a running mate affiliated with the justice Democrats is that they haven't been able to win statewide elections, and very few prominent officials liked Sanders enough to endorse him. If Biden wanted to pick someone to impress Justice Democrats, he's got very few choices available.

It does appear to be a mistake to conflate progressives with a modern political movement. There's overlap but there could be divergences.

The hope with Abrams would be that she helps with African-American turnout. I do think she's a poor choice, but 2020 could end up being better for Democrats than 2018 (the party generally does better in midterms; 2018 did have high turnout so that advantage may have disappeared.)

With Bernie, how all doors not closed? Does he have any pathway to winning beyond the possibility that something bad happens to Biden, and Bernie claims that he should get the nomination as the runner-up? That seems like something Democrats shouldn't reward as a party.

[Mister Mets]

None of which means he should be forced to support Sanders, or fired from the group for not doing so.

Let's not even get into this -- you got your Chuck D so be happy with that and stop trying to tell me that breaking up PE is a good thing.

Your constant trashing of people who don't support Sanders makes me not even want to enage with you.

It was an April Fools joke/ promotion for a new album.

https://consequenceofsound.net/2020/...y-april-fools/

[Iron Maiden]

Probably a lot of people missed this but here's another case of the Trump administration slipping one in while everyone's attention is focused on the virus. Even the automobile industry is not 100 % on board with this and Ford, BMW and Honda are voluntarily sticking to the goals set by the state of California. With Trump it is probably more important to him to wipe out Obama initiative.


Trump chides "foolish" car executives after easing mileage regulations

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

There are more rifts within the Democratic party than the Sanders wing versus everyone else, so a running mate could help there.

If the progressive wing is defined by the justice Democrats, that's a bit messy since their track record of getting elected sucks. If we're talking about contenders for national office, it is a rather limited group.

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Justice_Democrats

They popped up in 2017. They backed five candidates for Governor, all of whom lost. They backed four candidates for Senate, all of whom lost primaries.

They backed 69 candidates for House, and seven got elected.

The PAC is an offshoot of the Sanders campaign, so there isn't much divergence.

It does seem that the main problem in getting a running mate affiliated with the justice Democrats is that they haven't been able to win statewide elections, and very few prominent officials liked Sanders enough to endorse him. If Biden wanted to pick someone to impress Justice Democrats, he's got very few choices available.

It does appear to be a mistake to conflate progressives with a modern political movement. There's overlap but there could be divergences.

The hope with Abrams would be that she helps with African-American turnout. I do think she's a poor choice, but 2020 could end up being better for Democrats than 2018 (the party generally does better in midterms; 2018 did have high turnout so that advantage may have disappeared.)

With Bernie, how all doors not closed? Does he have any pathway to winning beyond the possibility that something bad happens to Biden, and Bernie claims that he should get the nomination as the runner-up? That seems like something Democrats shouldn't reward as a party.

Again the point is if Biden is going for progressives then he’s doing it to get the 20% of Sanders Democrats to come along with him and unite with the part of the party that is most resistant to him. That’s going to require someone who plays well with that group. I’m saying, he’s not going to do that. So trying to find someone else who he can try to pretend is progressive enough is a waste of time. He should move on from that thought.

Also considering Biden’s strongest block is African American’s, I really don’t see what Abrams brings that is useful there. She can’t deliver her state, your asking her to deliver better results in an area that generally goes red, she doesn’t have pull in Florida which is the most winnable southern state, Biden’s already strong with the demographic she would most likely bring to the table. You’re better off either going very strategic like Whitmer with someone who will basically lock up a much more winnable swing state and give you some type of momentum in the most winnable area Democrats lost last time OR the less likely route of going for a progressive who will mend fences with the group he struggles with the most. He’s probably not going to do the latter. So I’m saying he should just do the former and get it over with.

As far as Sanders, as far as a long shot upset as it it, he’s still not mathematically out. A few weeks ago both Gabbard and Warren were still in when they basically only could win with a contested convention and they’d still be distant thirds at best. Plenty of other candidates stayed in when they were mathematically out. You can frame it however you want, but he’s legitimately not mathematically out and many other candidates over the years stayed in a primary with worse or non existent prospects of winning. So it’s not legitimate to frame an argument that he’s just being stubborn. Especially when right now the race is in a unique situation where the entire primary is basically taking a back seat to a national crisis. Bernie and Biden aren’t actively campaigning against each other and right now Bernie gets to use the platform to push for useful policy that is quite popular and relevent right not (too many people have this binary notion on his utility of being in anyways).

Also not for nothing, while he’s still mathematically in and there’s an unprecedented break in the campaign, why not stay in and see what happens. Biden’s showing a horrible enthusiasm gap now that the race is all but his, he’s been criticized for his activity during this crisis, and many Democrats who aren’t exactly Bernie supporters are still floating the ideas of alternatives like Cuomo because they see weakness in Biden

There’s no downside at this point. If he was attacking Biden and hurting him maybe you make the case that it’s divisive. But he’s let up on Biden. If he was mathematically out, then you can make the case that he can’t win and he’s wasting time, but right now he’s a huge long shot. If the corona situation wasn’t going on you could maybe argue that Bernie’s forcing everyone to go through formalities (which isn’t really big deal) but he’s really just using his candidate status to push for policies that are true shy during this time. With the current situation there’s just more benefit to staying in than potential danger for not jumping out.

And again this is basically changing the goal posts of the argument that he’s compelled to run for President. Historically it doesn’t jive with his 30 years in the federal government. More recently he wasn’t going to run last time until his first choice refused. This time he had a compelling reason to run and he’s still mathematically in which should really be the end of the discussion on why he hasn’t dropped out when there are at least two people that dropped out in the last few weeks that were in a much worse position before they did. So I think I made my point, it was a bad faith framing by someone who habitually dies thR

[Steel Inquisitor]

Again the point is if Biden is going for progressives then he’s doing it to get the 20% of Sanders Democrats to come along with him and unite with the part of the party that is most resistant to him. That’s going to require someone who plays well with that group. I’m saying, he’s not going to do that. So trying to find someone else who he can try to pretend is progressive enough is a waste of time. He should move on from that thought.

Biden's never going to get the most hardened supporters, and Sanders isn't going to help reeling them in. Unlike Sanders Biden has shown he's interested in having a progressive VP, this is what Abrams was for. If he wasn't doing that she wouldn't have been floated around as a first pick. You won't see Sanders doing the same were he the nominee. Can you articulate what you mean by pretending to be progressive?

Also considering Biden’s strongest block is African American’s, I really don’t see what Abrams brings that is useful there. She can’t deliver her state, your asking her to deliver better results in an area that generally goes red, she doesn’t have pull in Florida which is the most winnable southern state, Biden’s already strong with the demographic she would most likely bring to the table. You’re better off either going very strategic like Whitmer with someone who will basically lock up a much more winnable swing state and give you some type of momentum in the most winnable area Democrats lost last time OR the less likely route of going for a progressive who will mend fences with the group he struggles with the most. He’s probably not going to do the latter. So I’m saying he should just do the former and get it over with.

Abrams helps seal confidence with Biden, there's nothing lost with that since they're the backbone of the party. The only reason Abrams lost her state was because her opponent went above and beyond in stealing the election. She had one of the toughest elections in '18 because of this and was incredibly popular in her state.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...ams-brian-kemp

Whitmer is definitely a good choice. But who would that person be? Who stands out that would warrant Biden taking a second look, who can work with him on the campaign trail?

As far as Sanders, as far as a long shot upset as it it, he’s still not mathematically out. A few weeks ago both Gabbard and Warren were still in when they basically only could win with a contested convention and they’d still be distant thirds at best. Plenty of other candidates stayed in when they were mathematically out. You can frame it however you want, but he’s legitimately not mathematically out and many other candidates over the years stayed in a primary with worse or non existent prospects of winning. So it’s not legitimate to frame an argument that he’s just being stubborn. Especially when right now the race is in a unique situation where the entire primary is basically taking a back seat to a national crisis. Bernie and Biden aren’t actively campaigning against each other and right now Bernie gets to use the platform to push for useful policy that is quite popular and relevent right not (too many people have this binary notion on his utility of being in anyways).

This isn't a long-shot situation, it's over. All the candidates did cut their losses when they realised they had no shot, unlike Sanders who's defined by staying in until the last second. He never learnt to how get his campaigns to survive Super Tuesdays, they're his biggest weakness in elections. Except Sanders campaign was over before the virus hit. He is stubborn, where other politicians concede he stays in when he has no reason to. In all my years with elections I've never seen a candidate dedicated to staying in when the race was over. He's incapable of retiring gracefully. Sanders is still in the race so he is actively campaigning - he's making some noises about transitioning his campaign into a charity to assist the crisis but that means he's running a charity not running a presidential campaign, yet he still won't officially retire from the primaries. He can use his platform like other people, he shouldn't be putting people in danger from the virus he's supposed to protecting them from.

Also not for nothing, while he’s still mathematically in and there’s an unprecedented break in the campaign, why not stay in and see what happens. Biden’s showing a horrible enthusiasm gap now that the race is all but his, he’s been criticized for his activity during this crisis, and many Democrats who aren’t exactly Bernie supporters are still floating the ideas of alternatives like Cuomo because they see weakness in Biden

Because it's not worth it, there's too much at stake for the nominee losing. This overlooks Sanders over bad decisions though this race. You seem to looking for reasons to keep the race going rather than admit defeat. It's over, let someone else inherit Sanders mantle for the next election. Let this go.

There’s no downside at this point. If he was attacking Biden and hurting him maybe you make the case that it’s divisive. But he’s let up on Biden. If he was mathematically out, then you can make the case that he can’t win and he’s wasting time, but right now he’s a huge long shot. If the corona situation wasn’t going on you could maybe argue that Bernie’s forcing everyone to go through formalities (which isn’t really big deal) but he’s really just using his candidate status to push for policies that are true shy during this time. With the current situation there’s just more benefit to staying in than potential danger for not jumping out.

The downside is the party wasting resources that should be going to the general and Sanders keeping the party split when we should be uniting. His campaign staff have been attacking Biden, that's what they're paid for - it's why they signal boost the dementia narrative. This from a high profile Sanders surrogate, Shawn King:

https://twitter.com/shaunking/status...76223668797441

It is a big deal, lives are on the line for the Democratic nominee winning. We don't have time for Sanders to drag it out for as long as he wants.

And again this is basically changing the goal posts of the argument that he’s compelled to run for President. Historically it doesn’t jive with his 30 years in the federal government. More recently he wasn’t going to run last time until his first choice refused. This time he had a compelling reason to run and he’s still mathematically in which should really be the end of the discussion on why he hasn’t dropped out when there are at least two people that dropped out in the last few weeks that were in a much worse position before they did. So I think I made my point, it was a bad faith framing by someone who habitually dies thR

This isn't as compelling as you think. It's over.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Probably a lot of people missed this but here's another case of the Trump administration slipping one in while everyone's attention is focused on the virus. Even the automobile industry is not 100 % on board with this and Ford, BMW and Honda are voluntarily sticking to the goals set by the state of California. With Trump it is probably more important to him to wipe out Obama initiative.


Trump chides "foolish" car executives after easing mileage regulations

With Trump, it's EXACTLY about wiping out ANYTHING with Obama's signature on it. Meanwhile, I'm glad car companies are going forward with those goals. As an aside, I think I read somewhere that a positive side effect of all the shutdown is that vehicle pollution has gone down considerably, what with fewer and fewer cars on the roads, streets and highways.

====================

White House Predicts As Many As 240,000 U.S. Deaths From Coronavirus

President Trump is warning Americans to brace for a “rough two-week period.” So much for Dolt45 dismissing COVID-19 as just another flu. I'm sure this must be killing Trump inside because he's finally up against an enemy he can't bully, can't insult, can't intimidate, can't outfox and can't pay off. Meanwhile....

**********

Trump’s Coronavirus Claim Is His Biggest Lie Yet – And It Could Be Working

He bankrupted casinos but sold voters on his business acumen anyway. Now he needs America to forget he downplayed coronavirus for two months. Two words----NOT. HAPPENING!

**********

Trump’s Task Force Still Won’t Call For A National Stay-At-Home Order

Even as health officials predict the U.S. death toll could climb to 240,000, Trump and Pence resisted a national order. I'm guessing Trump is taking cues from Faux News which I've heard recently called for the economy to be reopened.

**********

Wife Sick After Husband Hid Coronavirus Symptoms To Visit Her In Maternity Ward

The New Yorker confessed he had symptoms when his wife started to get sick after giving birth. Strict visitation measures have since been enforced at the hospital. Short and sweet, that ************ should be arrested and jailed for needlessly exposing others to the virus.

**********

Mitch McConnell: Impeachment Push ‘Diverted’ Government’s Attention From Coronavirus

“Everything every day was all about impeachment,” the Senate majority leader said of the January impeachment trial. Talk about laughable, AND pathetic!

**********

‘You Do Not Want This’: Chris Cuomo Describes Worst Part Of His Coronavirus Infection

The CNN host announced his diagnosis hours before going on the air.

[SquirrelMan]

As a few folks have pointed out, Biden is a pretty specific case.

When you are going to have to run a just about perfect game just to be in the running, focusing on trying to grab progressive voters when Biden has a notable enthusiasm gap is essentially a "No Win" situation.

If he can't come close to running the table with the voters he seems to have an enthusiasm gap with, progressive voters will probably wind up being a non-issue.

All that said, I think you would be kidding yourself if you weren't weighing a more "Business As Usual..." Dem who can make Biden's case if he winds up being more of an issue versus a more progressive one.

Still trying to figure out how the guy who crushed Sanders and Gabbard in record turnout primaries with almost no money has an enthusiasm gap.

[Gray Lensman]

Still trying to figure out how the guy who crushed Sanders and Gabbard in record turnout primaries with almost no money has an enthusiasm gap.

To be fair, you or I could probably beat Gabbard right now.

[numberthirty]

Still trying to figure out how the guy who crushed Sanders and Gabbard in record turnout primaries with almost no money has an enthusiasm gap.

I can break that down for you pretty easily...

If you still don't actually have the delegates to clinch the nomination and you are running against someone from outside of your political party?

It's because you have an enthusiasm gap.

[numberthirty]

Additional reading...

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/bide...ry?id=69812092

Biden consolidates support, but trails badly in enthusiasm: Poll

Former Vice President Joe Biden has emerged as Democrats’ top choice for the presidential nomination in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, but with only bare majority support within his party and a massive enthusiasm gap in a November matchup against President Donald Trump.

Indeed, strong enthusiasm for Biden among his supporters – at just 24% – is the lowest on record for a Democratic presidential candidate in 20 years of ABC/Post polls. More than twice as many of Trump’s supporters are highly enthusiastic about supporting him, 53%.

[worstblogever]

It is on this date each year that we profile a whole slew of Democrats, who clearly cannot be as bad as the Republicans, since we find so far fewer of them who seem as insane as their counterparts. Here’s the short list of Democrats we profiled 364 days ago:

• Alvin Greene: Former candidate for U.S. Senate from South Carolina placed on the ballot to sabotage any actual Democrats by South Carolina Republicans (who were allowed to vote in the Democrats’ primary), who was previously arrested for looking at pornography in university libraries, and in interviews, could not for the life of him answer even the simplest of questions without responding that “DeMint started the recession”, or his call to reunite Korea as one nation.
• Anthony Weiner: The New York Congressman who just can’t help but keep sending dick-pics to women around the country, and haplessly trying to deny it’s Weiner’s weiner in the photo.
• Joe Morrisey: A member of the Virginia House of Delegates who was having sex with his 17 year old intern, forwarded nude photos of her to a friend to brag about it (which earmed Joe a charge of distributing child pornography), and in his defense on live television, read a text that had an f-bomb in it, earning him an additional charge of obscenity. The Democrats have kicked him out of the party, but he keeps serving his term out as an independent.
• Bob Filner: A former Congressman from California, Filner had gone back to San Diego to be elected mayor, but his career ended in disgrace after he was accused of a sexually harassing about everything with a XX chromosome in his vicinity in his office.
• David Wu: A former Congressman from Oregon who once accused Bush administration officials of acting like “fake Klingons”, but his resignation came after a bizarre photo emerged of him sitting on a giant day bed wearing a tiger costume.. which was never fully explained.
• Jesse Jackson, Jr. : The son of the civil rights activist, Jesse Jackson Jr. served in the U.S. House of Representatives for Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District until he went to prison on ethics violations and criminal campaign funding violations a couple years ago.
• Mark Clayton: A man who got on the ballot as a Democrat in the Tennessee gubernatorial race in 2012, Clayton warned potential voters that NAFTA would lead to the North American Union and the New World Order, and of FEMA work camps. Clayton was also the vice-president of the vehemently anti-gay organization known as the Public Advocate of the United States,which fights the good fight against gay Boy Scoutmasters because they are molesting children. He also thought California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was some sort of Manchurian Candidate, and that Chinese hackers were somehow sabotaging his campaign website.
• Leland Yee: A now former California State Senator who talked a big talk about gun control, and meanwhile was running a racketeering operation with a Chinese gangster known as “Shrimp Boy”.
• Erick Wright: A nice enough guy who ran for office in Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District but was faced with his own past as a political blogger who would talk issues while sitting on his toilet.
• Dennis Kucinich: A former Congressman and Democratic candidate for President of the United States who has called for the impeachment of Barack Obama, has praised foreign dictators like Hugo Chavez and Bashar al Assad, and during a live presidential debate, began to discuss not just the existence of UFOs, but claimed he’d seen one himself.
• John Burkhalter: John Burkhalter was a Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas in 2016, who had one small problem in his past that would make him an unpalatable candidate on a ballot… he used to be a male stripper. With the stage name the “Metro Express” at a Chippendale’s club. Other than that fun fact from Burkhalter’s past (you have to love his out of context quote about it, “I used to be an athlete”), there were rumors that he mishandled firearms in his business office, waving them around and even pointing them at a pregnant employee haphazardly. Magic Mike, he isn’t.
• Gary Boisclair: Back in the 2012 elections, Randall Terry, the leader of the pro-life group Operation Rescue decided in his zealous fervor to get a good buddy of his, Gary Boisclair, to run as an anti-choice, and anti-Muslim candidate against Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison in the primary for his seat to represent Minnesota’s 5th Congressional Disttrict, in spite of the fact that Boisclair had not even lived in Minnesota for almost a decade. Boisclair, as a “Trojan Horse” for conservatives, didn’t fool anybody in his attacks on Ellison’s faith, airing an attack ad on Youtube that was actually kind of a waste of money, because it violated the Youtube user agreement regarding bigotry. Perhaps it’s best, though, that voters in Minnesota’s 3rd didn’t actually Boisclair into office who once protested the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court by wearing a chicken suit on the steps of the highest court in our land. (Really, he did that.)
• Loretta Sanchez: Loretta Sanchez is the former five term U.S. House Representative for California’s 46th Congressional District, right in the heart of Orange County. She addressed a group of Native Americans in May 2015 by addressing them with a war cry. She then tried explaining her error by explaining how she has difficulties in mixing up Native Americans and Indian Americans, and that wasn’t a culturally insensitive one-off, either. Sanchez went on record a few months later in December 2015 to say that “20% of Muslims are terrorists”. Considering there are a billion Muslims in the world, her math means we’re looking at a force of from 80 to 400 million Muslims ready to wage Jihad across the globe. That stupidity might have had something to do with why she lost the U.S. Senate race to Kamala Harris in 2016.