We snuck out of the office to pick up snacks at the store…and look what we saw! TV ads are still the best way to quickly introduce our campaign to the most voters. Will you help us stay on-air by making a contribution here: https://t.co/ksp7I9r4t3 #TeamSharice #VoteSharice pic.twitter.com/n03VTs9CLi
— Sharice Davids (@sharicedavids) July 26, 2018
The Kansan commentors who responded to my post yesterday — all three of them — were uniformly positive, so I happily chipped in for her campaign.
I’ve asked DougJ to set up one of his patented Balloon Juice widgets for her, but until he can find the time in his busy life, here’s her ActBlue page.
One more Kansas native speaks up:
Only 13 days left until primary election, come on Kansas voters letās make history and get @sharicedavids elected to Congress!! https://t.co/NVzUplTgcN
— Melissa Etheridge (@metheridge) July 26, 2018
geg6
As for my local congressional race, latest polls have Conor Lamb up by double digits against GOP piece of garbage Keith Rothfus. And seeing PA lead the nation in percentage increase in 18-34 voter registration (up by 18%), I am feeling more hopeful than any time since 11/9/16.
trollhattan
I cannot wait for the first high-profile Republican to tell her to “go back to where you came from.” You go, Sharice!
tobie
Thanks, AL and geg6, for weighing in. The primary in my state is over and I’m still sore that I have to vote for a Democratic candidate for governor who I think is not up to the task. Would love to hear from readers in states with primaries still to come. Who are the interesting candidates for the House, the Senate, and the governor’s mansion? How much of an uphill battle do they have? I’ve contributed to Sharice Davids’ and Gretchen Whitmer’s campaigns thus far.
Chyron HR
“Too many people have the odds stacked against them. I know what that’s like, because my primary opponent summoned an evil little gnome to sabotage my campaign.”
geg6
@tobie:
I am not sure how many states still have primaries to come. I wouldn’t think too many at this point. It’s been pretty exciting to see all these diverse candidates (especially among the women) for Dems at all levels. If we do half as well as I hope we will, Congress and several statehouses and governor’s mansions will look very different this time next year.
germy
Donated to Delgado.
While his opponent (Faso) makes personal attacks (“He doesn’t share our values!!”) Delgado responds powerfully:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFUjG7Nq2Xk
Betty Cracker
@tobie: In FL, we’re hoping to put the first Democrat in the governor’s mansion in this century. Polls are kind of all over the place among the Democratic contenders (ETA: primary is 8/28). I’m torn on whom to support in the primary, but however it shakes out, I plan to work my ass off for the Democrat who prevails.
IMO, the governor’s race is more consequential than the senate race, even though the senate race (Nelson vs. Scott) is critical in US politics. The reason I say that: the series of Republican governors we’ve had have disenfranchised so many people in Florida that they’ve directly swung at least two presidential elections.
West of the Cascades
@geg6: actually, quite a few:
Tennessee Aug. 2 (Thursday)
Kansas Aug. 7
Michigan Aug. 7
Missouri Aug. 7
Washington Aug. 7
Hawaii Aug. 11 (Saturday)
Connecticut Aug. 14
Minnesota Aug. 14
Vermont Aug. 14
Wisconsin Aug. 14
Alaska Aug. 21
Wyoming Aug. 21
Arizona Aug. 28
Florida Aug. 28
Massachusetts Sept. 4
Delaware Sept. 6
New Hampshire Sept. 11
Rhode Island Sept. 12 (Wednesday)
New York Sept. 13 (Thursday) **
Louisiana Nov. 6 | Dec. 8*
*Louisiana holds its primary for all parties on the same day the rest of the country holds the general election. If needed, a runoff is held in December.
**New York holds its primary for federal offices on June 26, while the primary for state and local offices is September 13
zhena gogolia
@germy:
I’m on a monthly contribution to him via Swing Left.
zhena gogolia
I can’t believe that CT can’t do any better than Joe Ganim or Ned Lamont. I guess I’ll hold my nose and vote for Lamont.
rikyrah
@germy:
Delgado is a good candidate.
Betty Cracker
@zhena gogolia: Ned Lamont — now that’s a blast from the past!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
So he is running? He’s been filling up my spam box lately and I was wondering if he was running now or building a list. Back in the great anti-Lieberman heyday I used to follow a couple of CT blogs– Colin McEnroe was an enjoyable writer, IIRC– and one constant of CT politics seems to be “unpopular governor”
burnspbesq
I didnāt support her in the primary, but Iām starting to warm up to Katie Porter here in CA-45. Walters is so bad that even a mediocre Dem would be a vast improvement.
rikyrah
Congressmember Bass (@RepKarenBass) Tweeted:
Last week, I spoke to a grandmother (in a cage) who the government had deemed “ineligible” to stay with her grandchild because she was not his mother.
The boy was shipped off to foster care and in 6 months, can be put up for adoption in Texas.
Thatās what āineligibleā means. https://t.co/DkofFDKtNn https://twitter.com/RepKarenBass/status/1022655794251214848?s=17
Barbara
@trollhattan:
To which the response should be either, “You first,” or “You’ll have to move off my land first.”
Immanentize
@geg6: I read yesterday that although a number of states still have primaries ahead of us (Mass. is one of them), all of the deadlines for filing ro be a candidate have passed. so, although we don’t know the final match ups, we do know who the final slates are. (absent late events like retirements, deaths or arrests….)
tobie
@Betty Cracker: My folks live in Florida so I’ll ask them whom they’re leaning toward in the Democratic primary for governor. It’s true: Florida has been ground-zero for voter disenfranchisement and any and every Democratic candidate would be an improvement over the lot you’ve had. Fingers crossed.
rikyrah
Muthaphuckas ? just talked last week
Business Insider (@businessinsider) Tweeted:
Putin has invited Trump to Moscow, saying they need to talk in person https://t.co/z9aR6ynwb4 https://twitter.com/businessinsider/status/1022834248871489537?s=17
Baud
@rikyrah:
“You’re fired!”
tobie
@rikyrah: So Trump and Vlad are no longer hiding that they’re conspiring to hurt the American people. Wow.
Immanentize
@trollhattan: I think this would be a GREAT campaign ad for her:
Or something like that….
Gin & Tonic
@Immanentize: RI primaries are Sep 12, but the filing deadline was a couple of weeks ago. Our junior Senator, Sheldon Whitehouse, is being challenged by 81-year-old (yes) Patricia Fontes. She has no chance, of course, but is an interesting story – she attended a Whitehouse town hall in April, asked him some questions about military spending (she’s a long-time peace activist) and was dissatisfied with his answers. So she decided to challenge him in the Democratic primary.
Immanentize
@rikyrah: I think that means this text sequence:
Vlad: WTF! We agreed on Syria and Ukraine. Yet you do nothing. NOTHING! We need to meet IRL F2F.
Trump: I am the most powerful man in the world, I needed to have some rallys
Vlad: What I heard is that you need pills and that you never rally.
Trump: Wha..?
Vlad: On tape. (shows GIF)
gene108
Don’t know enough about Kansas politics to pick a side in the a Democratic primary. I want the most electable Democrat to win.
I wish Bernie hadn’t stumped for one of the candidates and gotten this primary national attention. There will be unnecessary hurt feelings, no matter who wins.
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic: Man, RI is just weird enough to like that moxy. Meanwhile, I am a big Whitehouse fan. I wish he would be more public as in ‘the face of the party.’ He and Harris are a formidable team.
Baud
@Gin & Tonic: Am I wrong in thinking that Rhode Island depends heavily on military spending?
Roger Moore
@rikyrah:
Thoughts on why they might need another meeting so soon:
1) Trump/Russia revelations are coming so fast they need to work on Trump’s defense sooner than expected.
2) They need to put the finishing touches on Election Interference, 2018 Edition
3) Trump needs a place to stay that doesn’t have an extradition treaty.
OK, 3 is obviously wishful thinking.
Baud
@gene108: He’s stumped for others though. I don’t know why this primary caused such a stir.
zhena gogolia
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I loved Malloy. I wish he were running. Good, strong man.
WaterGirl
@tobie: Are you in Illinois?
zhena gogolia
@Roger Moore:
I keep sending him prospectuses for nice dachas in Serebryanyi Bor. How I wish!
The Ancient Randonneur
@Immanentize:
The infamous Trump Tower meeting was held on 6/9.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: My sense from reading hot takes on Twitter (worth every penny!) is that this primary pits a white male Bernie supporter against a Native American woman, thus generating above average disgust.
Baud
@Betty Cracker: Thanks!
Aren’t there actually other candidates in the primary? Wouldn’t it be funny if one of them ended up winning?
Omnes Omnibus
All politics is local. I am concerned about three races: the WI senate, the WI 1st (Ryan’s), and the WI 7th (my hometown). My Madison Rep. is a certainty for reelection, so no worries there.
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: Some, but not disproportionate. Seems to be about 3.5% of state GDP. But he has to support spending on submarines, that’s for sure.
The Ancient Randonneur
@Betty Cracker:
I suspect it’s because AOC was part of the entourage. She’s drawn a lot of attention since whipping Crowley in the primary.
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker: BS bros are hounding Davids about single payer in her twitter feed. Its like a magic incantation for these doofuses.
zhena gogolia
@schrodingers_cat:
If someone says “single payer” or “free college” now, I just scratch them off my list.
tobie
@schrodingers_cat: I think the best retort is, “Show me a detailed, workable plan.” I really do wonder how single-payer advocates explain how we will move–without a hitch!–the 55% of the population that gets its health insurance through its employer to a single payer system. I also wonder how doctors, hospitals, and clinics will be paid during the transition when soon-to-be-out-of-business-private insurers will have no incentive to do anything. I still remember Obama saying that if we were to design a system from scratch, we would go with single payer, but we’re not starting from scratch and major changes will create chaos for a large portion of the population and a large sector of the economy. I’m still left scratching my head why universal healthcare isn’t the mantra and why we don’t follow the easily implementable German and Swiss health systems.
Gin & Tonic
Wow. Just saw one of the Tad Devine e-mails. His rate is $10k/day.
As I’ve said, I know the prices of real estate on Block Island, but still…
schrodingers_cat
@Gin & Tonic: For what? To let loose Putin’s bots on your opponent?
The Ancient Randonneur
@Gin & Tonic:
I saw that. Now we know why Tad dropped off the radar last year. He’s been cooperating with the Mueller investigation. It will be interesting to find out if he’s trying to keep himself out of jail or he actually cares about the country.
Gin & Tonic
@schrodingers_cat: For his valuable expertise. If his expertise weren’t as valuable, he’d be charging less. I think that’s what Paul Samuelson taught, but Econ was a long time ago.
Aleta
Cornell Law grad; former Dep. Director of CDC led by Oglala Lakota on Pine Ridge Reservation; a vet and a single mother — is the the kind of experience I want to see represented. And I think our government needs many more Native representatives and many more women of color. We don’t need more of the “Identity politics” brought by son-of-a-wealthy-connected-family; son-of-an-oil-business; or got-here-by-donations-and-threats. Those identities are narrow and they keep cloning themselves.
ETA Must add, that I also know children-of-a-wealthy-connected-family; and two daughters-of-an-oil-business who do a lot more good in the world than I do. Not knocking the identity of anyone’s birth. Just my perspective on the negative use of ID politics.
MisterForkbeard
@tobie: That’s where I am with it. As in: “I like single payer and I’d like to move forward with it. But the plans we have don’t work very well. If you can show me a workable plan with details I’m all in, but so far I haven’t seen one.”
Kay
@geg6:
Oh, that is good news. I saw a good (bad) poll for Scott Walker in WI. I want him to lose.
Baud
@tobie:
@MisterForkbeard:
Neoliberals.
Repatriated
@Roger Moore: Dominance move. Putin defers proposed meeting in US, then proposes meeting in Russia.
J R in WV
@gene108:
Bernie Sanders IS NOT A DEMOCRAT!
It is none of his business who we Democrats select to be our candidates!
What about his TAXES???? He’s as bad as Trump hiding his tax returns.
The only thing about my taxes that would surprise anyone is how much we pay!!! Because when we first hired the CPA who does our taxes the first this we said was “Our taxes have to be unassailable!” because wife was a reporter and I was a manager in state government.
Our careers depended upon our complete honesty. SO DOES SANDERS, but he isn’t showing us any honesty. If I ran for Senate, you can rest assured I would show you the tax returns.
We can’t trust Sanders as far as we can throw him.
Just my opinion — supported by all the available evidence.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@tobie:
And the response is always that “campaigns are aspirational and plans at this stage don’t need to be 100% worked out”.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kay: Walker is not on the ballot this year.
Roger Moore
@tobie:
I think there are at least two related things going on:
1) Single payer has become a shibboleth. Leftier-than-thou types use it as a way of seeing who’s with them and who’s against them. The practical difference between different forms of delivering useful care are much less important to them than being able to tell who is sufficiently loyal to their program.
2) An important goal of the single-payer advocates is the destruction of insurance companies. Listen to their rhetoric on the topic; they genuinely see insurance companies as blood sucking leeches who must be destroyed for the good of the country.
Naturally, the belief that insurance companies are parasites is what drives the utility of single payer as a shibboleth. If you support the continued existence of private insurance companies, it can only be because you’re a neoliberal sellout.
From a practical standpoint, I can see why moving to single payer would be extremely desirable politically. On the one hand, it makes people deeply dependent on the government, which makes voting for a political party dedicated to destroying government much less attractive. I don’t think that would actually stop die-hard Republicans from continuing to vote Republican- they’ve already proven themselves willing to believe that the destruction of government would somehow exempt their healthcare- but it might make people who are on the fence turn against the Republicans.
On the other hand, single payer would make it much harder in practical terms to revert to the pre-2010 model. Because Obamacare is built around preserving as much of the old system as possible, it’s relatively straightforward to undo; all the parts of the pre-2010 system are still there waiting to revert to their old roles. With single payer, though, it’s much harder to revert to the old system. Once the insurance companies are destroyed, reverting to private insurance would involve recreating them from scratch, which is obviously a big lift.
L85NJGT
@The Ancient Randonneur:
No, really, small donors…
He, Weaver and Jane clearly didn’t give a crap where the money was coming from. AOCs sudden promotion to voice and face of the movement is, as they say, interesting traffic.
geg6
@Omnes Omnibus:
I thought I heard that he was up for his third term this year. Is this not true? I know it was on MSNBC, but not sure which show.
gene108
@tobie:
From being on DailyKos, when the ACA was being constructed, there seems to be a subset of liberals, who want to end for profit entities. Period.
For profit private health insurers seem to be the first target they think they can take down. And they feel single-payer will let them dismantle for profit health insurance companies and usher in their socialist utopia.
Roger Moore
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
Maybe you don’t need to have everything 100% worked out, but that doesn’t mean 1% worked out is just as good 90%. I want to see some serious plans because I need to know that your aspirations are plausible before I vote for them.
Omnes Omnibus
@geg6: Oops. My bad. Yes, he is on the ballot. Brain fart on my part. I’ve been thinking too much about the federal candidates.
Josie
@J R in WV:
The two political parties could easily solve the tax problem by requiring all candidates to release tax information before being put in contention. If done by the parties, it would probably not be a constitutional issue. That fact that they don’t do it makes me suspicious of how clean they want candidates to be.
Gretchen
@Betty Cracker: There are also a couple of other guys and another woman in the primary. My fear is that we will split the vote among the good candidates and then the Bernie-bro will slip in and lose – theyāll tar him with the socialism brush, and heās just not that good a candidate. He can yell slogans like Medicare for all, but doesnāt explain how that will work. Nothing like having Bernie weigh in to help us lose a winnable race. Iām still torn between Sharice and Tom Nierman. I think Iām going to go with Nierman, just because I think he has a better chance in the general, but Iāll enthusiastically support Sharice if she wins. I just donāt want another 2 years of constituent-avoiding, wall-loving, right to lifer Yoder.
Shell
Roseanne Barr wants to rehabilitate her image and explain how she’s not a racist….so she goes on Sean Hannity!?! Yup, I think that pretty much explains it all, Rosie.
Mnemosyne
@zhena gogolia:
In California, we had to choose between Gavin Newsom and Antonio Villaraigosa, so I feel your pain.
Roger Moore
@Mnemosyne:
We could have had John Chiang, but nobody wanted boring but competent Asian guy. They demanded colorful, ineffective philanderers instead.
J R in WV
I hit up Act Blue for MS Davids, hope it helps!!
But Her Emails!!!
@Mnemosyne:
I remember there being more names on the list to choose from. California Democrats just decided to vote for the philanderers.
Aleta
You’re right, they don’t want it. Not only that, but they are trying to change the norm, the expectation, that the public should know their entanglements, stability and conflicts of interest. May be another piece of the ‘changing role of money in politics’ as the magazines call it.
debit
@J R in WV: Same!
rikyrah
Cohen reportedly willing to say Trump knew about infamous Russia meeting
07/27/18 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen
For those following Donald Trumpās Russia scandal, last nightās reporting came as quite a surprise.
Thereās quite a bit to this, so letās unpack what weāve learned through a Q&A.
Why is this a big deal?
The June 2016 meeting, in which top members of Trumpās team met with Russians in the hopes of obtaining campaign dirt on Hillary Clinton, is one of the key moments in the overall scandal. If the future president knew about the meeting in advance, and then lied about it, it would bolster collusion allegations while raising related questions about why Trump felt compelled to deceive the public.
Indeed, letās not forget that after we first learned about the Trump Tower meeting, Donald Trump Jr. issued a highly misleading statement about the purpose of the meeting, and the president himself reportedly helped draft the statement, possibly implicating him in a cover-up.
rikyrah
@The Ancient Randonneur:
He worked with Manafort…he’s trying to keep his azz out of jail
rikyrah
@West of the Cascades:
that’s whack.
burnspbesq
@Baud:
Because Bernie showed his (and a big chunk of his baseās) true racist, misogynistic colors by gunning for a clearly qualified woman of color, and somehow conned Ocasio-Cortez into going along for the ride, damaging her in the eyes of many.
TenguPhule
Les Moonves, CBS C.E.O., Faces Inquiry Over Misconduct Allegations
Warning, FYNYT link.
TenguPhule
@rikyrah: Trump is already issuing new denials about it. They’re about as believable as his old denials about it, which is to stay not at all.
rikyrah
Hundreds of kids still separated, Trump admin tempts court rebuke
Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigration Rights Project, talks with Rachel Maddow about what happens next as the Trump administration reaches the court-mandated deadline to reunite migrant kids with their families as it still has hundreds of kids separated and alone.
Yutsano
@TenguPhule: His cult members will believe him. But those that aren’t so far gone will start to drift away slowly. Not enough to vote Democrat but possibly enough to not bother voting.
Mary G
Josh Marshall at TPM has an item on his editor’s blog, which I think is paywalled, calling back to that tape recording in June 2016 of Kevin McCarthy saying that Trump and Rohrabacher were the only people Russia paid, and Paul Ryan told him to shut it and keep it in the family, which doesn’t sound like mob talk at all, no.
A source emailed him and I am intrigued:On June 14 2016, the day before the audio tape (which was on June 15), the House Foreign Affairs Committee hosted a hearing on Russia. This is the hearing Amb. McFaul testified at where the Russian government lawyer Natalia Vesilnitskaya attended, sheās front row.
But whatās important here is that the whole reason they held a full committee hearing on Russia (in the midst of the election) was because they needed to stop Rohrabacher from holding a pro-Kremlin subcommittee hearing, for the Europe sub-committee which he chairs.
Remember that Rohrabacher had wanted to show an anti-Magnitsky act movie (the director Andrei Nekrasov is the man with long gray hair over Vesilnitskayaās right shoulder) and essentially use the hearing as a āshow trialā of Bill Browder. According to the Daily Beast, āUltimately, the hearing was canceled when senior Republicans intervened and agreed to allow a hearing on Russia at the full committee level with a Moscow-sympathetic witness, according to multiple congressional aides.ā Thatās why Jack Matlock, someone with pro-Russia views, was there as a GOP witness ā¦ House aides conceded that he did so, in part, to avoid Rohrabacher staging an event that could have embarrassed the Republican Partyāand Congress.ā
We also know that Rohrabacher met with Vesilnitskaya in April 2016 and was given āthe film by the Prosecutor Generalās office in Moscow, which is run by Yuri Chaika.ā
TenguPhule
Via FYNYT.
Big Mouse eating Big Vermin.
Disney really is taking over the world.
Amir Khalid
@Gin & Tonic:
He charges ten grand a day; his clients pay it because of his reputation, but do they actually get their ten grand worth?
L85NJGT
@Roger Moore:
Good summation. Gaming the system to achieve a politicized workforce. It runs afoul of the same problems of the industrial tariff left – we no longer work that way. The vast industrial estates employing thousands are gone to history, as are offices full of clerk-typists. It’s Claude Shannon’s world, and back office functions are profoundly different then they were sixty years ago.
As a practical matter, I never saw much difference in discussions (for example) of capitation issues from public and private payors.
Don’t underestimate the allure of “FREE” – folks will jump through hoops to get a piece of promotional retail garbage. They can’t seem to differentiate between cost and value.
Mary G
@Mary G: Whoops, blockquote failed and even though I am on my PC and have an edit window to open, it tells me I am not authorized to edit.
DemJayhawks
@Gretchen: Iām going with Davids. I think if she wins the primary she will be attacked for who she is rather than what sheāll do in Congress, but I donāt think the district is ready to go all in on hate. I base this hope on Hillary winning this district in 16.
TenguPhule
@Yutsano: Speaking of which, I have bad news from Hawaii on that front.
Fucking Ed Case looks to be taking Hanabusa’s House seat, He’s a Blue Dog Republican lite asshole. And he’s currently polling here over 70%. Sorry folks, we’re not going to be sending our best from my district to the House, it seems. Only a miracle or a really juicy scandal about Case can save us now.
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
I liked Chiang and voted for him. This was despite reading that he came across as not in command of the issues in various discussions with newspaper editorial boards. He did not gain much in the way of endorsements.
OTOH, we have a boring but competent governor in Jerry Brown. But he is Zen Master boring. He knows how to get things done, and how to maneuver through the political thickets of Sacramento. It has been a pleasure watching him during his political career, and how he seems to be able to blend idealism and political maturity.
ETA: There is a kind of glass ceiling with respect to Asian American candidates in California. For the past few years, in terms of statewide office, treasurer, Secretary of State, and Comptroller often are held by Asian Americans. Asian Americans are about 15 percent of California, but this is a very diverse group, so an Asian American candidate has to make significant alliances outside his or her “base.”
ETA ETA: Gavin Newsom has a significant lead in the recent polls over … what’s this name. Generic Republican Nobody. OK. John Cox. In the poll, 45 percent said they back Newsom, vs 28 percent for Cox. A strange 27 percent are undecided, or waiting for the drugs to wear off.
rikyrah
Cohen’s claim Trump OK’d Trump Tower meeting potent despite leak
Chuck Rosenberg, former senior official at the FBI and DOJ, talks with Rachel Maddow about the legal liability posed by Michael Cohen’s claim that Donald Trump knew in advance and approved of a 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer who claimed to have dirt on Hillary Clinton.
Kay
I’ll be thrilled if the youngs become radicals. I’m comfortable with this! I’ll be the stodgy “establishment” and they can be reckless, which is almost their right as youngs. This will work out FINE.
Come on- who’s with me! :)
Fair Economist
@L85NJGT: The wishful thinking of the BernieBro types helped destroy an attempt at single payer in California. To satisfy them, the plan proposed was a super gold-plated plan, and even CA couldn’t figure out how to pay for it. If the plan had been a basic plan with supplental insurance, like Medicare, we could have done it, but it wasn’t acceptable to allow private insurance to exist.
TenguPhule
Trump plans to rescind work permits for spouses of immigrants on H-1B visas
I’m gonna take a wild guess and say both.
rikyrah
Cohen lawyer: Cohen’s Trump Tower meeting news ‘not from us’
Rachel Maddow adds to the breaking news that Michael Cohen is prepared to tell Robert Mueller that Donald Trump was aware of the Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer ahead of time, with a statement from Cohen lawyer Lanny Davis that the Cohen team is not the source of that news. Emily Jane Fox, senior reporter for Vanity Fair, joins to discuss.
TenguPhule
Is Zinke trolling San Francisco with plan to dismantle city’s reservoir?
The proposed course of action seems so stupid that nobody sane would attempt it.
Therefore its plausible. Gods, I miss the Obama Administration where we didn’t have to actually wonder about things like this.
Oklahomo
As a former Kansas who remembers the late 80s/early 90s and all the bullshit that Operation Rescue pulled in Wichita, I hope she wins and all of the assholes like those shitcreeps spontaneously combust.
L85NJGT
@TenguPhule:
Hand the X-Men over to Kevin Feige, and watch the merchandising dollars flow.
Marcopolo
My two cents on local races w/ primaries: First, I am all in favor of having well-contested primaries. I don’t buy the line that it leaves candidates beaten and battered ahead of the general. I think, instead, it forces candidates to hone their message to the voters and to work hard to put together a great campaign. The DCCC or state or local party folks should not try to stack the deck for favored candidates. Second, I like to leave it up to the locals to decide who they want to send into the general. I know who I would vote for in the D CD primary race next door (the district line is about 6 blocks from my house) but I haven’t volunteered for that campaign. Third, if I don’t really see a serious difference between two primary candidates I don’t spend much of my time or energy in that race. I have two Dems running to be my state rep this year–the first time the seat has been open in 8 years. The D will win the general handily. Both of them hold pretty much the same position on all the issues. One is a labor lawyer, the other a lawyer who teaches. One is in his 30’s, the other his 40’s. Both tout their rescue dogs in their campaign lit. Both are married. One is gay, the other is a veteran. That is the only major difference between them. But having spoken to both I can’t say one or the other struck me as an “I have got to elect this guy candidate.” I literally will be flipping a coin as to for whom I will be voting in two weeks. Btw this isn’t complaining. There are a lot of other places in this state that I would not even have a D to vote for.
Good luck to whomever prevails in KS-03. I’ll send them some dough after the primary.
germy
WTF
talking points memo
Brachiator
@TenguPhule:
Why is he polling so well?
rikyrah
Source: Cohen ready to assert Trump knew ahead of Russia meeting
Rachel Maddow reports breaking news from CNN, confirmed by NBC News, that Michael Cohen asserts that Donald Trump knew in advance of the 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer and is willing to say so to Robert Mueller. Hallie Jackson, NBC News chief White House correspondent joins with details.
Baud
@Kay: Depends whether the radicals can work productively within a broad and diverse coalition.
Gin & Tonic
@germy: Sounds like the perfect woman for the Trump spawn.
rikyrah
McCaskill ID’d as first 2018 target of Russian hackers: report
Kevin Poulsen, reporter for the Daily Beast, talks with Rachel Maddow about his reporting that the Claire McCaskill campaign’s 2018 operations have been targeted by Russian hackers using the same technique as was used against Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta in 2016.
Brachiator
@gene108:
Good points. I was talking to some friends about this the other day and reached similar conclusions.
One thing I think I’ve learned from reading the health insurance posts here is that the insurance industry implemented ACA fairly well, and understood its costs and how to make it work. Things are not perfect, and GOP assaults on ACA have done much to weaken it, but it is still in place and doing what it was designed to do.
Purity ponies, OTOH, envision a vat of money into which citizens will scoop for health care without regard to any realities or priorities.
TenguPhule
@Brachiator:
I’m guessing name recognition is partly to blame. He’s been running and running and running for quite awhile. We kept him away from the Senate with Brian Schatz. But as soon as Hanabusa stepped down, there he was again with a fuckton of money in his campaign. Which would be the other problem. Its so expensive to campaign here (relatively speaking) that the candidates able to mount a full force media blitz tend to win.
Also, we do have our share of jerks who fall for the “I’m a bipartisan moderate who will let the wolves lie with the lambs and bring Good Republicans together with Acceptable Democrats to bring a new age of lower taxes and get rid of “those homeless people” who are ruining our paradise.” A lot of people who’d be Republicans in other states have no choice but to stick with the Democratic Party here since the GOP is considered a rare endangered species hovering on the brink of extinction here. So we’re stuck with a lot of unhappy conservatives in the big tent and they don’t care where they’re pissing.
germy
@Gin & Tonic: Was it donald jr.’s dick pic she was showing around? It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
The Ancient Randonneur
@germy:
So the Trump family has its #MeToo moment via Gavin Newton’s former spouse.
L85NJGT
@Brachiator:
I wonder how they would respond to nationalization of the provider side.
TenguPhule
Prepare to be fucking depressed.
Fuck.
/Bring on the accusations of doom and gloom! Now tell me this article is wrong.
Major Major Major Major
@schrodingers_cat:
No ‘like’ about it–it is a magical incantation, or at least a shibboleth.
@zhena gogolia:
Free college in particular bothers me, not because we shouldn’t have it, but because Sanders’s proposal (which is almost always what people mean) gives most of its benefits to the better-off. People don’t engage with this issue at even a basic level of complexity. (Hillary, that monster, suggested targeted financial aid, IMO much more sensible, not to mention affordable.)
geg6
@TenguPhule:
Well, I don’t know much about Florida politics and what it’s like on the ground, but it would seem to me that the idea that these new Puerto Rican mainlanders are more concerned with getting their lives together makes perfect sense. And, again because I have no idea, I would think, however, that there is still time to get them registered and fire them up. I know that FL is one of the states that has been seeing a large uptick in voter registrations among the young. Obviously, a lot of that has been spurred by the Parkland kids. Maybe someone should get them on this?
trollhattan
@germy:
Somebody too awful for Fox. The mind cannot comprehend but then the mind observes she’s on her way into the Trump fold and suddenly understands.
She’ll also totally get an NRA gig. They have a thing for brunettes.
TenguPhule
@geg6: By all accounts the local Florida Democratic party has been trying for months. Unfortunately so are the local Republicans. But the number on the needle still isn’t budging much.
geg6
@Major Major Major Major:
As a 20-year veteran in financial aid (finally as a director now), I could not possibly agree more with this comment. Targeted financial aid is the best way to go. You could even add in some performance-based aid, too. I’d like to see all federal loans, Parent PLUS and Stafford alike, be subsidized loans and completely scrap the unsubsidized loan. I’d like for Pell eligibility to be expanded to an EFC in the five figures. I’d like to see loan forgiveness programs expanded massively. But I see no reason wealthy kids should get a free college education. So I’m all for expanding federal grants well into the middle class, to subsidize all student and parent loans while the student is in school (and during the six-month grace period before repayment kicks in) and expand the loan forgiveness programs. But I’m not a fan of free college for everyone. That only gives another hand up to those who don’t need it.
Brachiator
@Major Major Major Major:
I probably would support “free college” only in return for at least 2 years of government service.
I still remember an old, old episode of Bill Moyer’s Journal, where every guest wailed about the failure of the US to implement “single payer,” but no one ever defined what single payer would consist of or consider any other universal health insurance plan. The program was a total waste of time, but an early insight into the purity pony mindset.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Free college is appearing in small ways that need to spread and grow. I’m thinking about the ability of HS students to get college credit while still in HS, and also about CA’s effort to provide two years of community college tuition free if the student goes directly from HS.
Chyron HR
@Kay:
HA HA HA HOLY SHIT
So if each one of them can kill 2,750 of the neoliberal shills who voted for the wall street whore Clinton, then they’ll purge the country of us and create a socialist paradise? Good luck, kids!
Mike J
@Brachiator:
I for one demand a return of Northern Exposure.
geg6
@Brachiator:
This is what the loan forgiveness programs are about. The current loan forgiveness programs target education and government service. For example, if you, a recent secondary education graduate, commit to a five-year stint in a poor school district (urban or rural, makes no difference), you make 48 loan payments and the rest are forgiven. About 7-10 years ago, it was nurses of all kinds in all places. We could expand that program to many other careers/professions where people are needed.
ETA: I was able to take advantage of loan forgiveness for my MEd. My position at my major research state university is considered government service for the purpose of the loan forgiveness program. I paid four years and was forgiven the rest.
Jay
Booman has a must read up today:
“fast now, with emoluments reaching the charts for the first time yesterday, his former fixer looking to reprise John Deanās role, his former campaign manager about to begin the first of two doomed trials, and the Southern District of New York hauling his finance chief before a grand jury. Heās getting caught in his big lies on an almost daily basis now, with his feigned ignorance of hush payments to ex-girlfriends and foreknowledge of collusion-rich meetings with Kremlin emissaries turning to ash in his mouth.
At least when Nixon went to China he didnāt tell the world that all our differences were due to stupid Americans and that Mao Zedong was far more credible than CIA director Richard Helms and the rest of the Deep State goons working in our intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Tricky Dick was a paranoid thug but half the country wasnāt convinced with good reason that he was a helpless agent of a foreign power.
Deep Throat aside, most of the establishment was reluctant to think the worst of Nixon. At this point, you can almost pick any former high-ranking intelligence officer you want and find them quoted as suspecting Trump of treason. Even Fox News generals are quitting while accusing the president of being āa slave to Putin.ā
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2018/7/27/114142/762
Steeplejack
@TenguPhule:
Thank you for improving your link-fu.
Doug R
@Baud:
The candidate he’s supporting is a white guy who parachuted in who happened to work on Bernie’s campaign. Vs a LGBT indigenous woman who served in the Obama white house.
ruemara
@The Ancient Randonneur: Caring about the country has a day rate of $2k. Any more and care goes out the window.
@TenguPhule: It’s not wrong and it’s not up to us to keep telling people their lives depend on their vote. I’m pretty much at the “here’s your fuckery you earned” stage. You can’t rescue people who can’t help rescue themselves.
@Doug R: He’s also using AOC as a useful idiot to hide behind this perfect example of white male focused liberalism. Which has done yeoman’s work disillusioning me of having a smart savvy WOC start a progressive wave in very blue districts.
Bobby Thomson
@zhena gogolia: both douchebags, but Ganim is also quite dirty.
Brachiator
@geg6:
Thanks very much for filling in the details on how these programs can work. Makes a lot of sense.
Gin & Tonic
@Jay: Does our old friend BiP still comment over there? Wonder how he’s taking this.
Jay
@Gin & Tonic:
Donno, I just read Booman, not the comments. Not part of the community in any way.
This is one of the few commentariats where the moron ratio is extremely low.
All out of fucks to give for morons and trolls.
jonas
@tobie: In NY-22, state Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi is running to unseat the awful Claudia Tenney, who, since riding in on Trump’s coattails in 2016 (by a slim margin), has 1. done ass-all as a Congresswoman, and 2. when she can be assed to do something, it’s always to fall right in line behind Trump and Ryan. This is a solidly purple district — lots of rural areas, with a couple of small cities (Utica, Binghamton, Cortland) — that tends to go back and forth between D and R control. I think Brindisi has a good shot.
Gretchen
Free college leaves out the kids who have already got mortgage-sized student loans. One of my kids owes more than $100,000, and they hiked the interest rates. I know a young MD who owes more than a quarter million. This is before they buy houses or cars or have kids or anything. Daughter is in the 10-year loan forgiveness program, and is making income-based payments. Sheās thinking she shouldnāt marry her boyfriend for 8 more years so she doesnāt have his income considered too.
tobie
@Gretchen: Hillary proposed debt-free college which would cancel college debt once you reach a certain age so you’re not saddled with debt well into your adult years while you yourself are saving for your kids to go to college. The thinking behind the proposal was pretty straightforward: no one would acquire a mountain of debt if they could already afford to go to college. It wouldn’t be worth it for them to get saddled with loan payments for ten years, whereas the truly needy would take out loans and at some point the loans ought to be forgiven. I think she was trying to avoid the transfer of wealth from the middle class to the wealthy that often goes with ‘free college.’ Interestingly this is one of HRC’s policy ideas that’s been adopted by progressive candidates. Both Ben Jealous and AOC have it in their platform.
Gretchen
@tobie: thanks. I didnāt know that and I thought I was up on her policies.