(h/t commentor Omnes Omnibus)
I’d actually forgotten Jeb had endorsed Ted “Lucifer in the Flesh” Cruz. Guess that’s why ThanksGeorge decided to wander back into the field of fire, via CNN:
A reflective Jeb Bush said he had no regrets Thursday about his failed presidential bid, saying in his first interview since leaving the race that Donald Trump could still lose the nomination fight.
“There’s a possibility that he won’t get 50% on the first ballot,” Bush told CNN’s Jamie Gangel, giving his first television interview exclusively to CNN after dropping out of the presidential race in February. “And if he doesn’t do that, there are a whole lot of people who don’t believe he’s the proper guy.”
Bush, who has endorsed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for president but been largely invisible as a surrogate, wouldn’t say whether he would support Trump as the nominee in November, though he added there’s no way he would vote for Hillary Clinton. When asked repeatedly how he would vote if Trump became the nominee, Bush responded, “I’m hopeful he won’t be.”
The former governor said only two people could win the nomination, seeming to not recognize the argument made by Ohio Gov. John Kasich that he could emerge as the nominee.
Bush said he observed Trump’s foreign policy speech Wednesday with bewilderment, saying, “I don’t think he is a serious person.”…
It’s Insert Your Own Jokes Here time!
Apart from recycling, what’s on the agenda as we wrap up another long week?
.
NotMax
Right 2 Rise Again.
(numeral due to FYWP)
OzarkHillbilly
I am shocked, shocked I tell you, at the behavior of some people:
OzarkHillbilly
@OzarkHillbilly: Oooopps, forgot the link: Journalist who profiled Melania Trump hit with barrage of antisemitic abuse
Mustang Bobby
I’d actually forgotten that he’d run in the primaries, Ah, those were the days.
Baud
The Ohio contingent here can breathe a sigh of relief.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
So I’m leaving Wednesday to go do this, plus some extra time in Florence and a few days in Rome.
And our flights are business class.
So I got that going for me, which is nice.
Baud
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: That’ll be a blast.
Amir Khalid
@Baud:
Kasich’s chance of winning the nomination seems negligible. I’d have trouble recognising it too.
SectionH
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Go energetic dude!
Cinque Terre are still in my mind…
Why aren’t you in Delta One? SDF is surely DLand?
Baud
@Amir Khalid:
He is alternative to Trump and Cruz who polls well in the GE, and his party still rejects him out of hand. How embarassing.
rikyrah
Good Morning ?, Everyone ?
Baud
@Amir Khalid: BTW, you seem to be less active here lately. All good? Busy getting the place ready for us if Trump wins?
rikyrah
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class:
Sounds like a fantastic trip ?
satby
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Enjoy!
@rikyrah: Good morning!
grascarp
At this point in the Primary elections we should acknowledge that Jebya has spent the most money to date even though he took a hike recently. That and his support for Cruz is evidence his judgement is in the red zone..
..
Mustang Bobby
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Wow, great trip. I spent a couple of weeks at a rented villa in the town of Castelfranco di Sopra outside of Florence in January 1986. It was amazing. Take lots of pictures for us.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@OzarkHillbilly: The thing is Ioffe is one of the saps in the press who said Trump’s supporters aren’t bigots they’re just upset with the establishment. And worse, she said that Sanders and Trump are the same (ie extremists). Sanders is not Trump, he’s not inciting hate and violence. But they feel they have to say “both sides!” out of sympathy for the right.
Dopey out of touch Broder-ian press corp have to figure things out the hard way. Sad.
OzarkHillbilly
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Ahhh, go fug yourself. ;-)
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class:
I hear if you hang out in front of the Pope’s drive way at 4 AM you might be able to say, “buenos días, Papa”.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@SectionH:
It is, but I just spent my last SkyMiles buying tickets for a dive trip to Bonaire for us in the fall (that I made the final payment for dives and accommodations on yesterday). We still have a metric fuckton of AA rewards to use, and transatlantic seemed an appropriate use for a business class upgrade.
OzarkHillbilly
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
With a 2×4 across the back of the head.
Cat48
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
VP Biden will meet the pope on the overseas trip he is on. They are supposed to discuss cancer cures, etc. Think he gets to go instde though : )
Iowa Old Lady
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: That sounds wonderful!
I’m driving to Naperville for a writers conference. Fun but not as good as Italy.
amk
@OzarkHillbilly:
gee julia, you and your ‘journalists’ ilk built that monster.
BillinGlendaleCA
Watching Morning Joe, Mark Halperin seems to think Trump can make Hillary have to defend CA. I can’t stop laughing…cough, cough…
ETA: Even Joe of the Morning thought Mark had been sniffing glue.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: That’s way beyond whatever effects glue would have on the brain.
If California is ever in play in this election, start buying your tickets to Malaysia.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@BillinGlendaleCA: Obviously, this is great news for McCain!
BillinGlendaleCA
OT: I saw a video that gave me an interesting idea. Take a historical photo, re-shoot it at the same location now and then merge the two with elements of the old and current.
Amir Khalid
@Baud: @Baud:
That, and I’ve been a bit under the weather lately, which given my not-so-great health in recent years affects me more than it used to.
dedc79
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: this reads a little too much like “clearly she needed to be taught a lesson.”
SectionH
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: I’m fairly sure you’ll like D 1. But DL doesn’t have a “business class” upgrade. Not for many years. They’re evilly trying to recreate a better than steerage class now, and fuck them for that.
You’ll love DL’s front cabin TATL. Srsly, Have a great time.
Baud
@Amir Khalid: That stinks. Feel better. We need you this election season.
Cat48
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I used to watch Joe & the Joebots but they have all flipped out over Trump. I don’t know why??
BillinGlendaleCA
@Cat48: I usually only watch the first half hour at most, otherwise I’d probably start chugging my mouthwash.
SectionH
@Amir Khalid: We love and need you!!
bystander
@BillinGlendaleCA: It was a great follow up to Halperin’s analysis of The Trump Doctrine yesterday as “Jacksonian”. If you like scifi, that is.
MomSense
@Amir Khalid:
I’m sorry to hear you haven’t been feeling well. Please take care of yourself. We are very selfish and needy onthis blog. We won’t survive this election season without you.
I hope your pinky has healed.
MomSense
@bystander:
Did he think Jacksonian was a good thing?
Betty Cracker
@Amir Khalid: Feel better soon, friend. Your sanity and clear-eyed insights are greatly missed.
satby
@Amir Khalid: Amir, take care of yourself! Hoping you’re feeling better soon. We miss you when you aren’t around.{{Hug}}
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@SectionH:
I’m pretty unpicky, and have never sought perks on SkyMiles with DL beyond free tickets and an occasional foray into lounges on longer layovers – and most my travel via DL is Key West, Mexico and the Caribbean, so those are fairly short.
Transatlantic, though, can make a diff.
Mustang Bobby
@Amir Khalid: Get well soon, please.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@dedc79: oh brother.
it’s a cautionary tale.
corrupt media apologists who cover for the wingnuts, peddling offensive and patently false “both sides” claims and insist the gop doesn’t promote racism enabled the construction of this Frankenstein monster and his eco-system. now, when the monster they thought they could control has turned against them, they act shocked and cry foul. Well, they should have thought of that a long time ago. YMMV
SFAW
@Amir Khalid:
I hope you feel well very soon. When you’re on hiatus, this place ain’t the same. (And not in a good way.)
OzarkHillbilly
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class:
A BIG diff, (says the guy who’s only ever flown tA coach).
gogol's wife
@amk:
She’s not the kind of journalist you’re thinking about. She’s been a fearless investigating journalist on Russian affairs.
So Putin’s going to conquer us by virtue of yahoos electing Trump? Makes me sick.
gogol's wife
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Really? I’ve never seen her say that. I guess I stand corrected.
SFAW
@MomSense:
Are you trying to tell us it wasn’t? What’s wrong with a little genocide-as-a-byproduct-of-expansion? [Note: I’m sure the Jackson scholars here will tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about. Probably more true than usual.]
debbie
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I saw this video last night and can’t get it out of my mind.
dedc79
@gogol’s wife: I haven’t either. And even if she has/had, I just cannot get on board with “she had it coming because she wrote both-sides-do-it columns”
bystander
@MomSense: Any personal name made adjectival connotes a deeply considered set of values, except Hitlerian. That’s still not working. But we’re go on Jacksonian.
Just scanned the GQ article on Melania Trump but didn’t read it all because BORING. The writer lost me when she brushed over Michelle Obama’s contributions as First Lady to exalt the paragon Jackie O. Sorry, I’m an Obot, and no disrespect to Jackie, but Michelle has done so much for so many more people, especially children. Anyhow, I’m thinking about sending the writer antiSemitic threatening invective.
BillinGlendaleCA
@debbie: The Daily Show covered it pretty well.
Colbert had Chris Wallace on the other day and Wallace asked if Colbert had ever been to the WHCD. Colbert said, “Eh, yeah” and Chris asked how his routine was received, Steven said “I liked it”.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@gogol’s wife: I haven’t read her pieces on russia, but I remember her infamously saying on msnbc that while putin and the kremlin control the state media they don’t control the content.
Punchy
So wont vote for Trump but wont vote for Hills? Is that a tacit Jill Stein endorsement?
AxelFoley
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
I bet she ain’t saying that shit now.
rikyrah
@Amir Khalid:
Get rest and feel better ?
nutella
Interesting take on the Democratic primary from Al Giordano:
Sanders’ statement
Reaction to it
Edited to fix links
debbie
@BillinGlendaleCA:
It was Colbert’s show where I saw the video. He said it was like Disney had given the wicked stepmother her very own song.
gogol's wife
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Maybe in my early-morning funk I’m mixing her up with Masha Gessen. My bad.
SectionH
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: ‘s Fine.
I used to fly trans-con every other week, or sort of (sub-trans). DL used to treat its medallions very well.
Nothing like avoiding Louisville around Derby time. (I do have this 6000 sq ft house in Lex to be rid of.)
I’m so not joking either. It’s worth less than my condo in SD. But it is incredibly mid-century gorgeous.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@gogol’s wife: Oh, I just remembered. Chris Hayes had her on after the Putin invaded ukraine and she blamed obama saying this wouldn’t have happened if obama had bombed syria. Hayes was in shock and explained to no avail that shock and awe bombing iraq and afghanistan didn’t dissuade putin from invading abkhazia and south ossetia.
Baud
I may move to Malaysia just to get away from these people.
These people are nuts.
BillinGlendaleCA
@debbie: You’re correct, I sit corrected.
Betty Cracker
@bystander: I don’t think the writer meant to exalt Jackie Kennedy or dismiss Michelle Obama. Here’s the passage in question:
Sounds like she’s implicitly criticizing the constraints Americans — or at least Middle America or men — demand of first ladies. I don’t think she was suggesting tolerance of philandering or relegation to the role of picking out China patterns is actually a good thing.
BillinGlendaleCA
@nutella: Rachel had Jane Sanders on last night and she was pushing for open primaries.
ETA: Having been a Democrat for nearly 40 years, I really resent having someone from outside the party coming in and telling us how we need to run the party.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: It’s a good debate to have. But it should be part of a comprehensive review of the entire process.
Betty Cracker
@debbie: My husband described that to me, and I thought he was joking!
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Possibly so, but it’s sort of like someone coming into your house and telling you how you should run your family.
ETA: I’m strongly against open or semi-open primaries. We have the jungle primaries here in CA and they suck donkey balls.
amk
@Baud:
that’s a good thing, no?
debbie
@BillinGlendaleCA:
A rare moment of good memory on my part. I was hoping he’d bring up Boehner’s remarks (which I’m still cracking up about), but Carly’s tuneful stylings were decent consolation.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
The thing about independents is, yes, they favored Obama and Sanders in the last two cycles, but is it because independents are on average more progressive than Democrats? That seems unlikely to me. So what happens if the exciting, upstart candidate next time around is more to the right than the Democratic front runner? Is that considered outside the realm of possibility now?
Baud
@amk:
It’s about what I would have guessed. They’re still idiots.
#I’mWithHerButCruzIsMySecondChoice
:-\
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: The only thing about open primaries is that, if the GOP does it, we also have to. We can’t force independents into the GOP camp.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: The GOP primary in CA is a closed primary, the Democrat primary here is semi-open.
I think open primaries allow for too much of a chance for ratfucking.
OzarkHillbilly
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Same here.
@Baud:
But it’s a debate for Democrats to have. It is our party after all, isn’t it?
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Yes. The only issue is what’s in our best interest as a party.
Cat48
@BillinGlendaleCA: well, Jane was also on cnn & fox. She wantd the Fbi to finish b4 primaries end, thinks Hillary must run on Bernies platform, & that if blacks knew them they would vote for them
It was all discussed last night on twitter, not happy people! Sigh
tarragon
Too Much Joy was my favorite band from my college days. I still have all their albums on my phone.
Cermet
@Amir Khalid: Agreed; take care. My getting-old advice that always appears to go unheeded is take Vitamin D! It helps in many ways. Even in sunny climate’s it is still required.
NorthLeft12
I was on a Detroit Lions sports site last night engaging in the usual fan chat preceding the NFL draft. In the middle of all this, a comment came in thanking the troops for their sacrifices in maintaining the freedom of the US. A large number of the commenters then chimed in with “likes” and their own supportive comments.
Is that normal in the US? Or is it more because it was an NFL related site which perhaps has a higher number of males commenting? Just asking.
It just put me off a bit. I was half expecting to be asked why I did not like or support this person’s comment.
I am just not used to that on other sites, in Canada and the US, that I have been on.
Baud
@Cat48:
I’d like that too.
Silly idea. Some accommodation is OK, however.
Who’s fault is that?
ETA: Lack of exposure is also why I’m not the frontrunner. But I was handicapped by all the site redesign issues.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: I had a mini rant the other day on this subject after reading about Bernie whining about closed primaries. Now Jane is at it. My rant still applies: @OzarkHillbilly:
FlipYrWhig
@Baud:
For instance, what if Trump had decided to run as a Democrat?
FlipYrWhig
@tarragon: “That’s A Lie”
BillinGlendaleCA
@NorthLeft12: I’ve noticed that on non-political sites that conservatives really want to to tell you their political beliefs. On another site that is NOT focused on politics, I made the comment “If I want to talk about the subject of this forum, I talk about it here; if I want to talk about politics, I will and do go to a political blog”.
OzarkHillbilly
@Cermet: I have to take vitamin D supplements even tho I spend at least 50% of every day outside.
Betty Cracker
@NorthLeft12: It does seem to be kind of a thing in sports environments since 9/11; other examples include some MLB teams’ decision to jettison “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” in favor of “God Bless America” for the 7th inning stretch. It smacks of creeping jingoism to me, and I don’t like it. Sports should be nonpartisan, but ever since the Republican Party made the conscious decision to co-opt our national tragedy for political gain, there’s no escaping it.
OzarkHillbilly
@NorthLeft12: A certain subset of Americans like to wrap themselves in the flag at every opportunity.
bystander
@Betty Cracker: I think she short changes what Michelle O has done and recites the party line about Jackie O.
Like re-decorating the White House?
I think “endlessly glamorous” is posited as a great quality, so I’m having a tough time figuring out what “endlessly tolerant” is, if not a show of inner fortitude, steely determination and womanly discretion.
Baud
@FlipYrWhig:
He’d get more criticism from the media?
Chyron HR
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Do these people understand that even if they change the rules into ones that would have been more favorable to Sanders, the changes won’t be retroactively applied to the 2016 primary results?
tarragon
@FlipYrWhig: No man it’s true. LL Cool Jay himself taught me how to rip CDs just for these disks.
Also, too.
Cat48
@Baud:
Well, if Hillary cant run, I will Vote Baud!
Aimai
@grascarp: it was t his own money.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Well, he’d get more criticism from FOX at least.
Ken
@Cat48:
I see a couple of possibilities.
1) Orders from on high.
2) Anonymous death threats from Trump supporters.
Garrick
I love when “reflective” is used as an adjective. I picture a shiny-chrome Jeb Bush and it amuses me.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Betty Cracker:
I don’t like political rah-rah and jingoism infecting every discussion either, but that and sports are a little different, I think.
Sports is a huge business run by very wealthy people. Look at the pushback against “Concussion” even before it was finished, the white-washing of the accusations of steroids in pro tennis, match fixing in international football, FIFA, IOC, etc., etc. I hardly watch any pro sports anymore – it’s either people getting damaged for life (boxing, ultimate fighting, US football), or it’s incompetent officiating and arbitrary rule enforcement (US football), or it’s battles of billionaires to buy a one-off championship (baseball, football), or its battles over who will give a billionaire $500M or more of public money for a stadium that will be used < 2 dozen times a year (US football), or, it's 4 hours of commercials packed into what should be a 2 hour game (baseball), or …
The rah-rah stuff is designed to shut-down critical thinking and discussion to preserve the political power of the GOP and the TeaBaggers. (Similar things happen in other countries, too – look at the atheist and LGBTI murders in Pakistan.) There are powerful/rich interests behind those efforts, too, but its a bit different.
Some people have too much time on their hands and like nothing better than to try to impose their opinions as group-think on others. I'm not sure what can be done about it, other than the forum host vigorously enforcing site rules. It's unfortunate, but that's the way it is.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who isn't scared by clowns, but doesn't recall really enjoying them much either.)
Ken
From Nate Silver, an anagram:
TED CRUZ + CARLY FIORINA = LUCIFER RAN, TRY ZODIAC
MattF
@Cermet: Google says that the evidence for benefits from Vitamin D supplements is equivocal, as is the evidence for many other vitamins/supplements. Everyone’s physiology is different, so there’s no telling whether any particular addition to your pill diet will be beneficial– and that ignores the whole question of what’s actually in the bottle. As for me, I used to take various things, but no longer.
Mandarama
@debbie: Aaaack! I am now bleeding from both my eyes and my ears. That was so, so creepy.
Betty Cracker
@bystander: Could mean that first ladies are traditionally expected to give up their own identities and meekly put up with an all-powerful male’s bullshit because that’s their proper role. In that case, implying that the third Mrs. Trump would be a throwback isn’t exactly a compliment.
My take was that the writer wasn’t criticizing H. Clinton or M. Obama — both intelligent, educated women with substantial pre-presidency careers — but rather pointing out the absurd expectations of the president’s spouse, and she’s not wrong about that. One happy benefit if HRC gets elected is that it will force a rethinking of that role. If Trump gets elected (dog forbid!), not so much…
Cermet
@OzarkHillbilly:Strange as that sounds to many, in one study, athletes training for the Olympics in the New Orleans area in the summer had their Vit D levels measured (they were not taking sups; who thought they needed to?) and their general Vit D levels were below the minimum target level of 18 -20 ng/dl! That woke me up; maybe the study was flawed but considering the average measured level for people in the is near/under this level it should be a concern.
Punchy
@Betty Cracker: Huzzah! I’ve been ranting about this to the legally-attached house and bed partner for years! God Bless America is a great song, but has no reason to be included into a baseball game. Perhaps an international one, but not the common, everyday MLB game. Drives me fu#king crazy.
Just One More Canuck
@BillinGlendaleCA: Why do people think that they should have a say in who leads the party if they aren’t a member of that party? The people who are registered for the party should have every right to pick who they want as leader without interference from outsiders.
MattF
@Just One More Canuck: I’d support something like a national primary– but the present system– complicated, undemocratic and messy as it is– seems to do an adequate job.
ETA: That said, I can understand why party-oriented Republicans in 2016 may disagree.
Cermet
@MattF: Wow -google says? Many medical studies say otherwise and these are getting more and more numerous and even the FDA has raised its previous target level after a review of the numerous studies. Further the study that one poster here claimed countered what I say turned out to support Vit D in that they saw across the board improvement in reduced inflammation – a critical factor in cancer and tissue damage, by the way. Many studies have shown it reduces cancer risks (and the study someone cited that counter this claim wasn’t very convincing at all because it used a very narrow population/age group.) The fact that it helps white blood cells fight current infections has been proven.
AS for comparing this advice to previous silly advice about “E”, “C” and many other supps, that is just straw-man argument that isn’t relevant. Yes, for example, Vit E isn’t a wonder drug (nor useful to take since it can even cause harm) but does that mean antibiotics are bad? Same exact logic.
First, Vit D isn’t a vitamin but an essential hormone that nature has required most all cells in our bodies to respond too; also, evolution has made it essential for our bodies to function and hence we MUST be able to make our own (if enough sunlight, of course) – note this isn’t true of so many other vitamins – there are reasons for that; one it is very hard to get any significant amount in our diets; two, it is essential for many body processes in the cells. It is essential for the production of many critical immune functions – these are absolute facts. So, unless evolution isn’t right, and I seriously doubt that people that now wear cloths, live mostly in doors can hope to get the levels of Vit D nature required when we live naked in the tropics …
smith
@bystander:
You know who else was endlessly tolerant of her husband’s philandering? She’s also shown inner fortitude, steely determination and womanly discretion…
hedgehog mobile
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Sweet.
dedc79
Rasmussen out with a poll reminding people why they need not pay attention to Rasmussen polls:
Paul in KY
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Hop you have a wonderful time! Make sure to visit town where Mussolini was executed.
Chris
As opposed to the guy who said that even knowing everything we know now, he’d totally have invaded Iraq.
rikyrah
Jeb…no one cares what you think..
LOL
hedgehog mobile
Headed to Kansas City after work for a World Science Fiction Convention staff meeting. Figured it would be good to meet the folks I’ll be working with IRL. And I get to try the new light rail line to the airport. Oh and BBQ.
Chris
@Mustang Bobby:
BRINKS TRUCKS FULL OF CASH!
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS BABY!
DO YOU REMEMBER THE RUBBLE!
Did I forget anything?
MattF
@Cermet: Well, on your strawman argument about antibiotics– my PCP generally refuses to prescribe them unless he’s convinced you’ve got a bacterial infection. So they’re not an unqualified good thing.
And the pertinent questionn about supplementary vitamins is– If you are already eating an adequate diet, do you need to take additional vitamins? The evolutionary argument would suggest the answer is ‘No’.
hedgehog mobile
@Amir Khalid: You are missed! I love reading your comments.
OzarkHillbilly
@Just One More Canuck:
Because it is unfair that Bernie who has never been a Dem doesn’t get to hijack the Dem party for his own personal uses.
japa21
@Amir Khalid: I’ll second everyone else’s best wishes to you. You provide a lot to this place.
Secondly, as I mentioned Monday, this is my last day as a full-time working stiff. It felt odd driving in this morning knowing this is the last time I need to make this commute. Will probably be checking out around mid-day. Then a long road trip with the spouse, so I probably won’t be around much during that time.
Although we won’t be totally off the grid, we will avoid most of the insanity of the political scene for a while. Hopefully when we reimmerse ourselves back into the real world things won’t be any worse than they are right now.
Paul in KY
@SectionH: I will be there in infield! Every year since 98, save 1. 5 prior to that. As long as weather is OK, a good time had by all! Not near as wild as it was back in 70s – 80s – 90s.
Thinking Nyquist at this point. Also Brody’s Cause. If muddy, gotta put a bet on Exaggerator.
Punchy
@hedgehog mobile: Light rail to the airport? Say what? I live in the KC metro area and have no idea what you’re talking about. There is light rail in downtown KC, but not to the airport, that I’m aware of.
But yeah, the BBQ is pretty good.
rikyrah
@BillinGlendaleCA:
The same California with the large Latino population and the largest Asian population in the United States.
The same California which hasn’t been GOP since Prop 187
THAT California?
BWA HA HA H AH HA HA H AHA
Paul in KY
@Ken: Another view: They are all rich Republicans & they see Trump as best chance to win & they want the Repubs to win, so they have to up Trump.
dedc79
@Punchy: Don’t know if it still exists or has been knocked down and replaced, but some one of those KC airport terminals I flew out of a few years back has to qualify for a top 10 list of most depressing-looking buildings on the planet.
It looked like a cross between soviet architecture and an outdated Epcot view of what the future would look like.
MattF
@rikyrah: It’s probably time to review the various predictions that were made in 2012 about Romney beating Obama.
Jeffro
here’s a GREAT article that you can forward on to left- and right-leaning friends alike, folks:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/05/why-luck-matters-more-than-you-might-think/476394/
Who knows, it might get just a LITTLE reflection going amongst our brethren in the 1%…(I said ‘might’)
Happy Friday everyone!
Paul in KY
@Amir Khalid: You need to take care of yourself, Amir. Don’t worry at all about posting here or there. Just rest up & get yourself into better health.
sherparick
@OzarkHillbilly: I see our friends on the right have moved on to that next logical step of Trumpism, dispensing the need of future elections and making The Donald, Donald I, Emperor of the United States. But of course these guys venerate the Constitution.
Driftglass, Crooks and Liars, Digby, and Daily Kos all have posted George Takei’s message to his fellow Sandersistas (which I hope some day H.A. Goodman will get the memorandum), to remember who the real enemy is, and it is not Hillary Clinton. See the nuts in the House and Senate and what these nuts do when the get complete control of a state (Kansas, Louisiana, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, Florida, etc. etc.
http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2016/04/george-takei-asks-for-kindness-and.html
OzarkHillbilly
@MattF:
The evolutionary argument says that those with bodies that do not efficiently take up the proper amounts of nutrients, vitamins and minerals from their diet…. Die.
Just saying that not all bodies are created equal.
rikyrah
@BillinGlendaleCA:
yep.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
Whoops.
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
Sorry.
Cheers,
Scott.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@OzarkHillbilly
That’s the thing. How nice for Sanders to have “joined” a party he’s intentionally – so might say pointedly – avoided membership in, until he decides to take a recreational run for President. Independents can and do run for that office, but Sanders elected to try on a party coat (D). Perhaps believing it might be more useful.
That does. not. allow him, Jane Sanders, or ant Sanders surrogates a prerogative to provide advice about how Democrats run the party and elections. The one to which actual Democrats belong, and work hard to elect candidates from, as opposed to Democrats of Convenience Bernie and Jane Sanders.
It’s rude as well as an example of how not-actual-democrats the Sanders are. They can fuck right off and take their nasty Berniebros with them. Any genuine Democrats who support Sanders will likely support the Democratic nominee. I’ve seen nothing to suggest that Sanders would encourage any of his supporters to do so; he’s too busy telling us we’re Democratting wrong.
MattF
@OzarkHillbilly: A fair point. But the same argument cuts both ways… How do you know if it’s doing any good?
hedgehog mobile
@Punchy: Sorry wasn’t clear-I’m flying out of Denver. I blame not having coffee yet.
Just One More Canuck
@MattF: I guess I don’t understand why open primaries are supposed to be better than closed. Up here in Canada, the NDP (our left wing party) will be picking a new leader soon and though I agree with some of their policies I’m not a member of the party so I don’t get a say. Same with the Conservatives – they’ll be replacing Harper, but they have every right to pick whatever furball they decide to hack up without my input
MattF
@Just One More Canuck: I’d say, broadly, that more democracy is better than less. That said, there’s also an argument for making the process of getting nominated difficult– the voters get a view of whether a candidate can manage the complexities.
smith
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): On the other hand, he could have set out to do a Nader and run third party, in which case we might have been facing 2000 again, but with an even more horrifying candidate on the other side. His and Jane’s squawking about unfair Dem primaries is a minor annoyance in comparison (and, really, we should do something about those caucuses).
Jeffro
@Just One More Canuck:
Because they’ve helped Sanders? lol
Seriously, you’re right though. Where else in anyone’s life would people accept a non-member’s input to be as valid as their own?
An open primary may as well be a general election.
MomSense
@Betty Cracker:
Michelle isn’t just planting vegetables. Setting aside the use of the garden as a teaching tool about nutrition and the environment, she has successfully managed to completely change the standards for the school lunch program to require that federal funds pay for healthy foods instead of just the horrible dreck that meant big contracts for the giant agro-businesses who mass produced that unhealthy crap. If she were only planting vegetables Republicans wouldn’t keep trying to get those contracts back for their contributors with their tearjerker stories about little johnny wishing he could have tater tots and french bread pizzas again.
sherparick
@rikyrah: Halperin became famous in 2008 for stating that with each news event of the day “this is good news for John McCain.” He repeated the formula in 2012, substituting “Mit Romney” for “John McCain.” Now he will be saying it for “The Donald,” although when I see his face, he looks like a man with a bad constipation problem when he says it.
MomSense
@japa21:
Congratulations on your retirement!
OzarkHillbilly
@MattF: My doc says so. She’s the one who told me to take it, and checks my blood levels every time I see her. I also take Magnesium and it helps to alleviate the charlie horses I have been plagued with all my life. I still get them but not quite as severe or often. I also used to take potassium but she recommended I not (due to dangers of too much) so I stopped.
The other supplement I take at her recommendation is Melatonin for sleep. I wake up 6 or 7 times a night due to various pains and the melatonin helps me to fall back to sleep. I can always tell when I have forgotten to take my evening meds: I wake up at 11 or midnight and my brain kicks into gear. Nothing I can do at that point but get up.
Punchy
@dedc79: Still exists. Still as esoteric and/or archaic as you remember; and this was after a “renovation”. Then again, when one thinks of “Missouri”, the word “architecture” doesn’t come to mind. Racism, bigotry, and Yakov Sminoff do, but certainly not modern airports.
Seriously, you enter the airport, and fully expect to see TWA and Pan Am personnel helping people get up the tarmac steps to a Boeing 707.
OzarkHillbilly
@MomSense: Speaking of school lunches….
House Republicans Want To Cut Free School Lunch Programs
sherparick
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Well, we may have been “Democratting” wrong (spell check hates these invented words). Or at least giving to much weight to the economically conservative/socially liberal wing of the party that has been dominate since the 1972 election. Where I disagree with t the Sandersistas and and the “Tom Franks/Corey Robin Left” is the failure to recognize that imperfect as it is, the post 1932 Democratic Party coalition, as modified by the the 1964, 1968, 1972, and 2008 elections, is the only electoral vehicle through which about all the progressive, liberal, and/or socialist legislation has been enacted and preserved since 1932. And in a continental size nation of 320 million divided into 50 states with an undemocratic equal representation for those states in the Senate, you do what you have to do get anything done. And with assholes like this, it is hard to get anything done, as Bernie would soon find out if he became President. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article74531307.html
PurpleGirl
@Betty Cracker: How old is Ioffe? I remember the Kennedy era — at the time the public did not know about JFK’s philandering. There may have been remours but it wasn’t confirmed, at least not in the Clinton way. And Jacqueline Kennedy was very constrained in what her issues were. (Remember when she moved into the White House she had two small children and was expecting a third. The baby died shortly after birth and that cast a pale on how she felt.) She made redecorating the White House historically accurate her main interest. The White House had been been rebuilt but the decorating had been more contemporary and modern. (My sister was then working for a top tier furniture manufacturer that was hired to recreate some historical pieces that real antiques couldn’t be located.) Mrs. Kennedy’s TV show of a tour of the White House was a remarkable show.
rikyrah
@MomSense:
Absolutely true. I have an old high school friend who has an extensive garden and totally loves FLOTUS, and gets quite deep when discussing the issue with food in the schools. She’s been on ground zero with her kids school, and the fight it took to get a completely healthy menu in there. She thinks FLOTUS rocks.
On FB, she’s always passing on articles from farming, gardening, and how deep the $$$$ are involved.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
i wish I could cut and paste this whole letter from the DOD to Trey Howdy, but for reasons beyond my limited internets expertise, I can’t. Short version: in response to a “recent crescendo” of requests from the Behngazi! Committee, your tax dollars have been spent in recent weeks tracking down, among others, a guy who said something on Facebook, and another guy who said something on talk radio, as well as pilots who will contradict the senior officers who have been saying that there wasn’t time to send aircraft to Benghazi! in time to stop the attack.
Gin & Tonic
@PurpleGirl: She’s 34. She was born in Moscow and emigrated in 1990.
bl
@Cermet: This NIH link does not entirely agree with you. In fact, it suggests that increased D intake could lead to an increased risk for certain cancers. (Note: first try at link with latest comment setup.)
Note: the medical community has gotten many things wrong over the years: butter vs margarine, hormone replacement therapy, etc. The problem is that the effects of substances on the body is hugely complex, and the research often fails (because it is very difficult to conduct large enough studies to tease out all potential effects) to take into account how the manipulation of one substance/process/etc. could be affected by something they failed to measure.
The fact that vitamin D reduces inflammation does not mean that it also doesn’t increase some other problem they failed to see. Only long term, large studies can really confirm the usefulness of supplements and possible effects. It is true extra Vitamin D is probably good for some people, but it is also equally true that extra Vitamin D is probably bad for others. I don’t believe the research has yet to figure out who benefits, who doesn’t, and all the risk factors.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Amir Khalid: I’ve missed you. As noted, we need you calm and rational analysis of this nonsense.
rikyrah
@japa21:
Congratulations on the retirement!
hedgehog mobile
@Punchy: Good to know….:)
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
Because, that is who they are.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: also, DOD personnel are being asked to speculate, on the record, about hypotheticals proposed by committee investigators. IANAL, but this shit would not fly on The Good Wife, not even on Boston Legal.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Amir Khalid:
@Paul in KY:
Indeed, I neglected to offer best wishes for a speedy recovery. Get as well as you can as fast as you can, which will no doubt require rest. (IANAMD) I second the notion that it’s much more important that you have better health than that you talk us down.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
I came upon an interesting nugget of info about Jane Sanders. After all is said and done, it may be her that ends up being indicted. She’s pissed a lot of people off, and pissing off aggrieved parishioners is really not a smart play. The next to last paragraph of this request for a federal investigation is the hypocrisy in a nutshell. I also think it explains her increasingly desperate tone about Hillary. It’s always projection.
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah: That’s just how they roll. Here in Misery the state GOP has a bill in the Senate that would cut $418 million in funding to public schools (SB 586). Their thinking is that school districts can just raise the missing funds thru increases of local taxes (mostly real estate taxes).
Yeah. Sure. Wonder how much they can raise from folks who live in N. St Louis or New Madrid Co? Stone Co or Jackson Co? (for the record 2 are of the above are very Dem, 2 are very GOP, but all 4 are very poor.)
Emma
@MattF: It depends. I must take Vitamin D because my body seems to be lousy at making/retaining it. Both my primary and my oncologist insist on it, especially while taking first Femara and then Tamoxifen.
Paul in KY
@japa21: Way to go!!! Enjoy every minute of your impending fun & lack of stress!
Betty Cracker
@PurpleGirl: I don’t know. My takeaway from the article was that the author wasn’t criticizing any of the first ladies per se but rather the expectations people have of the role.
MomSense
@rikyrah:
Your friend is absolutely right. They are also connecting CSAs and local farmers with schools so the kids get fresh vegetables. My son’s elementary school started a composting and gardening program. They are learning about pollinators. FLOTUS does rock. I also love that we are finally seeing some movement downward in the rates of childhood obesity, which of course the meme was that FLOTUS shouldn’t bother because nothing can be done.
I’m so glad the Obama’s don’t listen to all the BS.
Paul in KY
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): That is what he does: talk us down :-)
J R in WV
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class:
Congrats, that trip will be really nice. Friends have invited us to go with them next May on a very similar trip, so you’ll have to fill everyone in when you get back.
Poopyman
@OzarkHillbilly:
Having just endured another waker-upper around 2 AM this morning, I’m thinking I should maybe add this to the list – or maybe a good multivitamin which includes it. That’d allow me to cut back the C&D supplements a bit.
OzarkHillbilly
@Poopyman: I have been tested 7 ways till Sunday and they can’t find anything amiss. The magnesium helps but sometimes I am just plain and simply in agony. I am on blood thinners now and they seem to have gotten worse, far worse. When I get a really bad one, I now end up with deep muscle bruising.
hovercraft
Remember back in 2008 there was a memo leaked from the Obama campaign with their predictions/goals of what their delegate counts would be for each state. At the end of the primaries they were pretty spot on with I think only a couple of missed calls. So while the villagers were hyperventilating over each result the campaign kept saying we got this. The same is true this cycle you can predict the outcome of each primary based on demographics, with Michigan being the exception. Jane Sanders needs to get a hold of her husband and they both need to take a deep breath. It’s tough to lose, I know. But they need to understand that their “momentum” was demographics, not some wave of new support. She needs to stop talking up the possibility of another wave of momentum carrying them to the nomination. Part of being a responsible campaign is being straight with your supporters, tell them you will stick it out to give them a chance to be heard, but don’t give them false hope. Because math. So no “epic comeback”.
As for open primaries does anyone remember “operation chaos”, it didn’t work but there’s always a first time.
Jeffro
Brooks’ latest requires so much parsing, I almost don’t know where to begin…check THIS out:
“How much pain there is in this country” – oh, you mean with record unemployment, and with 20 million more people having health insurance?
And then he switches cleverly to “75 percent of Trump voters…” – oh, you mean old white folks whose party’s been out of power for eight years?
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@MattF:
Ah, but there’s the rub – what is an “adequate diet”? If you’re not getting enough Vit D from your diet, is it an “adequate diet”?
I think you two are actually pretty close to being on the same page – just with different emphasis.
My doc is a very big fan of Vit D, but is also a fan of other supplements. I think too much supplement stuff is woo since there’s little actual science behind it, but we know Vit D is important. Starting to take a supplement daily did raise my number into high-end of the “normal range”. Does it matter? Dunno. But there’s probably a reason why the normal range is the way it is.
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
J R in WV
@Cermet:
Our Family Practice Dr is also Geriatrics board certified, he realized early on in his practice that his patients were going to get old (!) and went for it. Teaching hospital where he attends, across the street from his office building.
He tests everyone for Vit. D levels and recommends needed dose to get you where you should be. Our physical therapist also recommends D supplements. I have to stay out of the sun as much as I can because several of my meds sensitize you to UV – you can get burns really easily.
And staying out of the sun cuts your natural Vit. D levels
Jeffro
(Following up on #168)…I mean, it’s incredible how he just. can’t. bring himself. to vote for the Democrat in the race.
He calls for a society that’s “communitarian”…a need to “rebuild the sense that we’re all in this together”(!)…calling for national infrastructure projects…and STILL CAN’T DO THE ONE THING THAT WOULD 100% PROMOTE THESE THINGS (i.e., vote Democratic Party)
Some people…
Stella
@Cermet: I had terrific joint pain while taking vitamin D. Horrible stuff. I didn’t really need it either as my level was low-normal in March which is it’s seasonal low.
Betty Cracker
@Jeffro: True, and I’m glad HRC makes a point of saying that Obama has done a great job and doesn’t get enough credit. That said, there is real insecurity out there, and it’s not all bitter old Republican white folks. Middle class families are living paycheck to paycheck. Students are graduating with crushing debt. People whose working class parents have a comfortable retirement believe they’ll be compelled to work until they drop. It would be a losing strategy to ignore that.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Poopyman: I started taking magnesium as well (in the MgO form) as I was getting some cramping that maybe possibly was related to the low dose of statins I’m on. It does seem to help.
You may not find a multivitamin that has 100% of the RDA – I take MgO in addition to a multivitamin. You obviously don’t want to take too much because of its well known side effects.
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who knows that our bodies are amazingly complex and there’s still far too much that we don’t understand about them.)
.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker: Betty I hear you – no one said to ignore those issues, though. HRC’s doing a great job of pointing out the work that remains to be done (as do most Dems, frankly).
Miss Bianca
OMG…that song is hilarious. In a really frightening way. Kind of like the Republican meltdown.
Aaarrgh…the special frustration that comes to the procrastinator. Filling out the final steps in my online jerrrb application, and I can’t get the last button to validate, evidently because my browser is outdated. So, no problem if I can get into work before 4 pm and do it there, but hey…eight inches of spring snow! Stuck Jeep! All kinds of joy. Will try Firefox and see if that works. Clowns…
J R in WV
@MattF: Cermet didn’t say people should take antibiotics on weekends for fun. So that’s your strawman, not his.
Plus as Cermet said, we get most of our “natural” supply of Vit. D from sunshine – if you wear clothes and stay indoors, you won’t get a normal/natural amount of Vit. D. I can’t get my Vitamin D from sunshine as I’m sensitized to UV and avoid it. I wear hats and cover up to work outside, even if it’s hot out.
You sound uninformed about this stuff. Ask you doctor.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@OzarkHillbilly: :-(
My mom had trouble with her potassium levels for years – to the point that she would occasionally pass out. Potassium (and sodium, but most Americans get more than enough sodium) are vital transmitters in nerve junctions – they’re extremely important. You mention you were on a potassium supplement but stopped. Are you sure that something hasn’t changed there? Keep an eye on it, especially since you’re on blood-thinners, even if they can’t find anything wrong yet.
Good luck.
Cheers,
Scott.
J R in WV
@Miss Bianca:
Uhm maybe update your browser?
Good luck, job hunting is really hard, I know you’ll do your best.
Miss Bianca
@J R in WV: 10 year old mac laptop. Unfortunately, I’ve done all the updating I can do. : (
However, looks like I may be able to get into work after all so…yay? ish?
J R in WV
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
My grandma was in her 90s and entered an assisted living center. Soon after she became confused and uncertain, which was totally unlike her normally. The Doc found that her sodium levels were too low, because the assisted living center had low-sodium salt replacements on the tables. Grandma was famous in the family for oversalting things as she cooked – obviously she was automatically using the salt she needed, regardless of hos it tasted to everyone else.
So they put a salt shaker on Grandma’s table, and she was all normal the rest of her life. We’re all different.
J R in WV
@Miss Bianca:
I’m sorry, I should have realized you were having more problems that just not updating a piece of software. Duh!
les
@dedc79:
Still there. One’s closed, city’s trying to find money to knock ’em down and go single terminal. If all you ever had to do is leave your house, walk in and board a plane, they were swell. Anything more complicated, fuggedaboudit.
Neutron Flux
@Punchy: I agree. No way it goes to the airport.
FlipYrWhig
@Jeffro: I really dislike the “what the country needs is more people who think like me” strain of punditry. Instead of longing for narcissistic consummation of your lifelong love affair with yourself, you could, like, maybe, organize? Persuade? Work?
Matt McIrvin
@J R in WV: I recall hearing something about people becoming Vitamin D deficient because they were being very scrupulous about skin cancer. (The government recommendation for dietary intake apparently assumes that you’re wearing sunscreen and covering up so that you won’t get any from sun exposure.)
Bess
@OzarkHillbilly:
Ex-Tennessee hillbilly here. Lifelong problem with cramps. Literally almost drowned twice (and I know what the “L” word means.)
My problem was dehydration. Clearly and without doubt. If you aren’t water drinker then start consuming in adequate amounts and see how that works out for you. I fill up three 20 oz bottles and put in the fridge the night before. Drink them each day. If I slack off my cramps return.
Applejinx
@sherparick: Well, here’s the thing.
Think of it in terms of monopolistic behavior, something we normally see as bad. In theory, people can make up whatever parties they like. But in the system we’ve got, that’s at best useless and at worst (Nader!) appallingly harmful.
So, effectively, now and for the foreseeable future, there is no party other than the Democratic party. It is like a general election, and on the other side there is no party but the Republicans. Everybody knows this. Our system demands it structurally.
So it’s a bit disingenuous to encourage people to go off and make their own party, when that is the worst possible thing you can do both for yourselves and those you agree mostly with. And we all know that too.
So, in the event where control of the Democratic party gets held too tightly by Third Wayers and apparatchiks, you’re up a creek: there’s absolutely no option. Hence the clamor for open primaries, especially where getting on the ballot requires the support of a party actively discouraging grassroots activist types in the belief that’ll NEVER work. These are defensive measures that hobble the party’s ability to react to a changing electorate, and again there is only one party and nowhere else to go.
I guess you could say ‘keep primaries totally closed, just don’t obstruct liberal/progressive people from entering and doing stuff within that party’ to which I say ‘okay, so fire Debbie Wasserman Schultz’. There’s a practical reason people say they want open primaries.
I’m not saying we’ll get them, I’m saying this is why people are demanding something that’s so offensive to so many of you. It’s easy to say ‘go make your own party’ when you’re controlling the only party that matters.
Miss Bianca
@J R in WV: S’all good. When/if I get me this new job, goddess willing, I might be able to afford a new laptop! ; )
satby
@Cermet: I’m with you, I take it every day.
satby
@japa21: Congratulations on your retirement! Enjoy your free time.
OGLiberal
@tarragon: I think this is the first time I’m seen TMJ mentioned/included in any of the blogs I read. One of my favorite bands – never had more fun at a show than seeing TMJ…and I saw them 5-6 times. at least. They did a reunion show a few years back here in NYC but I only learned out about it after the fact.
Paul in KY
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Have my mom taking a daily potassium pill.
Luthe
@bystander: I know this thread is dead and this comment is ancient, but oh boy did I laugh when I got the joke.
Also, I would love to see Mark vs. The Donald. Mark would take Trump to the cleaners before he even knew what hit him.
Ruckus
@OzarkHillbilly:
Are you saying that some of us are less equal than others in how well our systems work?
Because I resemble that remark!
Ruckus
@MattF:
A better question might be, is it doing any harm and if not might it be doing good?
You know suspenders and belt. 2 condoms. Etc.
Gelfling545
@BillinGlendaleCA: I too am a in the seeming minority of being against open primaries. Think of any organization that has a structure and a membership. Imagine walking into a meeting and saying no, you don’t want to be a member, you just want to use the structure and the membership to achieve your goal own ends and, by the way, decide who should be the head of this group you won’t join.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Gelfling545: Re closed or open primaries…
A complication in having closed primaries is that (IIRC, as is the case in New York) state laws about changing party registration can be (seemingly) overly strict. How many people bother to change their registration in their lifetime anyway? Since there are effectively only two parties in the US, overly restrictive rules about choosing the candidates can be seen as anti-democratic.
Another example – in Virginia, the GOP often has state conventions rather than primaries these days to choose the candidates for state office. This means that a small group of reactionaries have an easy time in taking over the party and giving voters candidates like EW Jackson and Ken Cuccinelli. If there were a primary (without overly restrictive participation rules), then EW and Ken wouldn’t have had a chance.
I’m a fan of parties being able to choose their own candidates and their own rules. But, it’s a bit more complicated than that in real life when a duopoly runs politics. Maybe uniform state registration rules, requirements to have primaries (instead of caucuses or conventions), and other things would make some sense and address these problems (but some of them might be unconstitutional (free association, etc.)). So, I dunno.
My 2¢
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
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