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You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / Picking Our Battles Open Thread: All Respect for the Democratic Shadow Cabinet

Picking Our Battles Open Thread: All Respect for the Democratic Shadow Cabinet

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Harry Reid’s former deputy chief of staff (and, to be fair, Warren booster), Adam Jentleson:

… The news will get worse with every passing day, and the relief from the Phase Three legislation will not come fast enough, building enormous pressure for more action. In the best case scenario, the Senate relents and passes the Democratic bill, or a version close to it. Worst-case scenario, McConnell brings it up for a vote to kill it, but even then, Democrats will have set the starting line. At a time of unprecedented crisis, it is politically and morally untenable to argue against relief for Americans, or that it’s too generous. The mover wins—all the upside lies in acting quickly to deliver generous relief. Democrats have the high ground and they should use it decisively, because lives depend on it.

Here’s how Democrats should decide what goes in the bill: Get the biggest box you can find. Then take every policy that will help working people and our democratic institutions survive this crisis. Put them in the box, address it to Trump and McConnell, and drop it off for curbside, no-contact pickup.

To survive this, we need to structurally reorient key aspects of our economy. The massive job loss is wiping out the employer-based model for health care, which America is the only developed country in the world to maintain. At a minimum, we need to reduce costs, reopen Affordable Care Act enrollment and create a pop-up public option that can be implemented immediately. Senator Warren’s transition health care plan, which creates a public option, lowers prescription drug prices, strengthens Medicare and Medicaid and attacks corruption in the health care industry, is a good place to start. We need to put as much cash in people’s hands as possible to prevent Americans from starving and to spur consumer demand; direct cash payments have reliably proven to be highly effective as economic stimulus. We also need massive debt forgiveness. And we need a plan to put people to work on infrastructure projects—including green jobs, which are enormously popular—when health conditions allow, in a government initiative modeled after FDR’s Works Progress Administration. It will take a long time to dig out of this crisis, and a program like this will put people to work while bringing our crumbling infrastructure into the 21st century. And since a democracy can’t function without voting, we need remote voting and enhanced federal resources for states to carry out secure elections…

Corruption is already breaking our government, but when big sums of federal funds start flowing, it can get exponentially worse. The money needs to reach the people, not be diverted to corporate stockpiles or shareholders. The $425 billion corporate bailout leveraged in Phase Three should be tightly restricted in Phase Four. And at a minimum, Phase Four should establish an anti-corruption commission with subpoena power, regular public meetings, and frequent public reports.

The American people will be furious about the fallout from this global health crisis and they have every right to be. It did not have to be this bad. A global pandemic is not Trump’s fault, but a piss-poor federal response resulting in more fatalities and more economic carnage is entirely his responsibility—and that of congressional Republicans who abetted him every step of the way. Democrats need to drive this home because the message and the policy go hand in hand: the more effective Democrats are at holding Republicans accountable, the more leverage they will have to deliver the relief people desperately need…

At the end of the day, Democrats are not the deciders: any bill has to pass a Senate controlled by Republicans and be signed into law by President Trump. But the utter failure of Trump and congressional Republicans gives Democrats enormous leverage. And Americans are counting on them to use it.

Repub counterargument, such as it is:

Reader Interactions

160Comments

  1. 1.

    Elizabelle

    Good to hear.

    I want Nuremburg Trials, after the fact, for why Trump and his administration so poorly served us in a pandemic. Yes, we know the sociopath just does not care. But that is not a defense.

    Thinking this is an inflection point, and we have just seen the importance of an effective and non-corrupt government, and what happens when it is absent.

  3. 3.

    Ramalama

    I’d love for a meme like “It’s the corruption, stupid” to take off. But I don’t know how to work those. Plus, it’s using the Clinton motto on the economy as its touchstone, so probably not a good idea while Clinton derangement syndrome also has no cure.

    Meanwhile I only have a dog in the family, no kids. So I don’t think about the nitty gritty when it comes to talking to kids about quarantine, but this post made me sit up a little taller. It’s really good.

  4. 4.

    SFAW

    “Democrats … scheming.” Indeed. Waiting for those motherfuckers to start with the Dolchstosslegende shit. Are the Dems also going to be characterized as “shrewd” and “cunning.”

  5. 5.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    And, please, can we give the Dems more than two years to fix everything this time?

    You should go on the road with that stand-up routine.

  7. 7.

    catclub

    The mover wins—all the upside lies in acting quickly to deliver generous relief. Democrats have the high ground and they should use it decisively, because lives depend on it.

     

    I am sufficiently partisan that I remember Hoover was president for three years after the crash – and then Democrats held the presidency for 20 straight years after that, and a House majority for 60 years.

    Obama held power for 8 years and Democrats held the House for 2 after the 2008 GOP fuckup.

    So doing things that are good for the US population in the short term, and not ending up salting the GOP fields for 20 years, but instead keeping them alive as ‘partners’ may not be optimal.

  8. 8.

    scav

    @SFAW: Where’s my thesaurus? I am sooooo beyond scheming.  (Whetting springs to mind, given a bit of a zig-zag).

  9. 9.

    catclub

    @Elizabelle: I want Nuremburg Trials, after the fact, for why Trump and his administration so poorly served us in a pandemic.

     

    You will get Anthony Fauci as the only one who gets convicted.  Enjoy.

  10. 10.

    SFAW

    @Elizabelle:

    for why Trump and his administration so poorly served us in a pandemic.

    I was listening to NPR’s “On Point” on the way home from work last night. One of the guests/panelists (I think her name is Elizabeth Rosenthal? A reporter for Kaiser Health News? Not sure about either) talked about how “the country” botched the response, and “the country” didn’t act quickly enough, and “the country” etc etc. Because it was a rebroadcast from Friday AM, I did not call to say, in effect “In ain’t the whole country, idiot, it’s just the Rethugs and the maladministration — not necessarily in that order.”

    I hope the Nuremberg-like trials include Murdoch and his spawn, as well as most of the Rethuglican Partei.

  12. 12.

    SFAW

    @scav:

    In case it wasn’t obvious, I was using adjectives typically applied to Jews. [Apologies if this elicits a “no shit, Sherlock” response. I have sometimes been (not unjustifiably) accused of being too damn abstruse or obscure.]

  13. 13.

    SFAW

    @catclub:

    You will get Anthony Fauci as the only one who gets convicted.

    It’s really annoying that I can’t laugh at that as being too far-fetched.

  14. 14.

    Mai naem mobile

    @MattF: McConnell is busy nominating another unqualified federal judge except this time it’s for the D.C. Appeals Court. He’s so concerned about the COVID19 crisis that he is spending time on putting in more judges. I will never forgive the Berners and the Jill Stein voters who just spited Hilz.

  15. 15.

    WereBear

    I am sufficiently partisan that I remember Hoover was president for three years after the crash – and then Democrats held the presidency for 20 straight years after that, and a House majority for 60 years.

    @catclub: Yes, but not enough people suffered and died. The 2008 crash was devastating, but kept off-screen.

    Now, like the Great Depression, that won’t be possible.

  16. 16.

    BR

    We all need to call our congressmembers and tell them no bill should pass the house from here on out without:

    1. Universal vote by mail mandate to the states, plus funding for them to implement it

    2. Emergency funding for the US post office, which as Adam has informed us is about to go under

  19. 19.

    SFAW

    @BR:

    Emergency funding for the US post office, which as Adam has informed us is about to go under

    You libtards, always with the welfare for people that don’t deserve it.

    The obvious solution is to have the Trump Organization — among the most successfullest businesses EVAH — start the Trump Post Orifice Office, which will do for mail delivery what it did for higher education, fine wine, high-end beef, and high-class resorts. Plus, the added benefit of having all those new, bee-yoo-tee-full Post Offices covered in gold leaf or fake gold plating, thus showing how classy they are.

  20. 20.

    oldster

    Now that the Moron has made a political issue out of a common-sense public health measure, you know damned well that MAGAts won’t wear masks.

    So we need a name for people whose selfishness and ignorance endanger others by not wearing masks. Something catchier than “Republicans.”

    Like “spreaders”? “Toxins”?

  22. 22.

    gene108

    @BR:

    Having post offices is mandated by the Constitution.

    I await for Republicans to shred this part of the Constitution

  24. 24.

    germy

    A new machine designed to churn out millions of masks at high speed during a pandemic was green-lit by the Obama administration. In 2018 the Trump administration received a detailed plan on the initiative. It went nowhere. https://t.co/yeACuFq17z
    — Dan Zak (@MrDanZak) April 4, 2020

  26. 26.

    germy

    Adam Schiff responds the ICIG firing: He’s settling scores. We are in the middle of a pandemic and what is this President doing as thousands of people are dying? He is retaliating against people who are on his enemies list and doing it in the dead of night pic.twitter.com/vSHpYxNA6j

    — Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) April 4, 2020

  28. 28.

    SFAW

    @germy:

    He sure “learned his lesson.” Unfortunately, it’s not the “lesson” Suzie Collins pretended it was.

    Thanks, Suzie!

  32. 32.

    Cameron

    @gene108: I don’t think there’s a post office mandate.  The Constitution just gives Congress the authority to establish one.

  34. 34.

    mrmoshpotato

    I just realized Gaetz’s face is infinitely punchable.  Look at it long enough, and you’ll see it too.

  37. 37.

    Geminid

    @Mai naem mobile: I also think about the ~4.5 million voters who picked Gary Johnson. Some probably figured Clinton was a shoo-in and thought they had a free protest vote. I think this year will be different, though. I don’t believe people will take anything for granted, and a lot of folks who are not Democrats will still want a hand in driving the stake into Trump’s black heart.

  38. 38.

    SFAW

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Look at it long enough, and you’ll see it too.

    For me, “long enough” was approximately 30 nanoseconds. Which, frankly, is FAR too many clock cycles.

  43. 43.

    chris

    I guess I’m banned again. Fun.

    FYWP

    ETA: Or not. It ate my previous comment which was about worldometers.info and its new Tests/1M pop column. Let’s see what happens.

  44. 44.

    SFAW

    Also regarding the “scheming” thing: once again, projection is EVERYTHING with those traitors.

  46. 46.

    germy

    Watching her pained expression as she slinks away is funny but she is as guilty as the worst of them and no sad-faced sidestep is going to change that. Until she testifies against them at their trials, I won't be impressed. https://t.co/VRY9Ghspws
    — eRobin (@eRobin) April 4, 2020

  50. 50.

    SFAW

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Would punting him into the Sun put a creepy smile on his fascist, turtle face?

    Not even Steve O’Neal could punt him that far. But I think it would be good fun to see him try.

    Hey, Steve, I hear the crotch is the best point of contact for optimal distance. Either that, or the head.

  56. 56.

    Cameron

    @mrmoshpotato: I understand Gaetz’s unhappiness.  Louie Gohmert is already the Stupidest Person in the House, and – just like in Highlander – there can be only one.

  57. 57.

    trollhattan

    Have Republicans begun testing “creating more living space” as a positive Coronavirus outcome?

  60. 60.

    TS (the original)

    Cumuo says  “the stockpile is for the nation” – wonder if he has passed that on to Kushner?

    (And he says there are about 10,000 ventilators therein)

  64. 64.

    SFAW

    @trollhattan:

    Have Republicans begun testing “creating more living space” as a positive Coronavirus outcome?

    Do the Blue states have to be contiguous to get renamed Sudetenland? [Although most of them already are contiguous, I guess.]

  66. 66.

    trollhattan

    @Cameron:

    A good thing that Pence and Gehmert were not in the House at the same time. It would have formed a Singularity of Stupid that swallowed us all.

  67. 67.

    Geminid

    Amy McGrath can’t kick McConnell into the sun, but she has real chance to kick him into retirement. McConnell is not especially popular in Kentucky. Nor is Cornyn in Texas. MJ Hegar will be formidable candidate in the Texas Senate race. She has a compelling life story, and radiates a cheerful toughness. The insider/outsider dynamic has worked against insiders the last few cycles, and could put McGrath and Hegar in the Senate this year. Along with some or all of 10 other Democratic Senate candidates.

  68. 68.

    L85NJGT

    I feel terrible for red state EMAs that have to rely on the Trump Org for equipment.

    “WTF! – the label said “masks”, but it’s a bunch of Jason Halloween masks.”

  71. 71.

    Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)

    @SFAW: It is projection, but that is too intellectual and elitist a term to get through to people. I prefer the term “self-accusation” or maybe “unintended self-accusation”.

  72. 72.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Being of a non violent persuasion

    There are about a gazillion 10-pennies that might disagree. Or they would, if you hadn’t pounded their heads with your 24-oz Estwing.

  75. 75.

    Matt McIrvin

    The question is not so much whether people will want to vote against Trump, as whether they’ll want to do it badly enough to congregate at urban polling places where the danger of crowding has been massively magnified by most of them being shut down ostensibly because of the pandemic (if they can’t vote by mail). This is happening in the Wisconsin primary and I think this will still be a significant concern in November.

  77. 77.

    Ksmiami

    @Elizabelle: I know I sound like a broken record but I want trials, hangings, jail, financial ruin and defoxification camps.The GOP should never be allowed to govern again.

  85. 85.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @SFAW:  Some months ago I texted a friend about something Senate Democrats were doing & Otto Korrekt insisted on turning “Schumer” into schemer. I honestly did Nazi that coming…

  87. 87.

    Jackie

    @oldster: Just keep it simple and to the point: Trumpers. The “good” thing about it – instead of wondering who’s who – we’ll know a Trumper when we see them.

  88. 88.

    trollhattan

    @MattF:

    My Rovian strategy takeaway is Attack their strengths. I have a hard time applying that to Trump, but could maybe finagle something like “President Donald Trump has successfully convinced tens of millions that water is not, in fact, wet. Don’t become a dry water convert! Don’t be hypnotized like all those dry water converts. Stop listening to President Trump, don’t even look at him.”

    Needs some work.

  90. 90.

    Brachiator

    To survive this, we need to structurally reorient key aspects of our economy. The massive job loss is wiping out the employer-based model for health care, which America is the only developed country in the world to maintain. At a minimum, we need to reduce costs, reopen Affordable Care Act enrollment and create a pop-up public option that can be implemented immediately. …

    And we need a plan to put people to work on infrastructure projects—including green jobs, which are enormously popular—when health conditions allow, in a government initiative modeled after FDR’s Works Progress Administration.

    Fuck FDR.

    We don’t need to resurrect the husk of old dead New Deal Plans. We need to emulate the FDR administration’s innovative creativity to deal with new problems.

    The Republicans have nothing, but I also don’t need the same old Democratic Party agenda wrapped up in a new “post pandemic” ribbon.

    On the way to work this morning, I heard someone say that we will need a massive investment in public transportation when this is over.  What, pack people onto trains and buses again, when we don’t know whether there will be future outbreaks of the virus?

    And I strongly favor universal health care, but I don’t know that Medicare for all or a public option, as defined in the past, is the answer. Nor do I know that infrastructure projects, as envisioned before the pandemic, are all that important in a post pandemic world.

    We need to think more about how we deliver medical and social care: hospitals, access to doctors and other health care providers, nursing homes, as part of any revamping of the health care system.

    I think that employment will come roaring back after we get through the worst of this. This will make the need for government re-employment schemes unnecessary in most places.  But entire industries may be dead or transformed. Do you want to go to movie theaters anymore, or would you be happy with an almost total on-demand viewing model? If so, all those people previously employed in this part of the entertainment industry will not have those jobs again.

    Maybe we will need to invest more in remote learning as part of the educational system. Maybe this could be part of the proposals to provide “free college for all.”

    The Republicans don’t think at all; but the Democrats are thinking too small.

  91. 91.

    Eunicecycle

    @trollhattan: if I had any criticism of the Hillary campaign, it was that she went more after his manifest unfitness from the moral point of view instead of attacking the view that he was a successful businessman. He was NOT a successful businessman, and some commercials along the lines of the ones Obama used against Mitt might have worked better. We are way beyond that now, of course, as his managerial “style” will kill a lot of people.

  93. 93.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @Brachiator: 

    On the other hand, we could use some FDR too. Significant investments in “the usual” Democratic priorities seem more and more justified in this new normal.

    Health care investments (not just MFA or expanded ACA, but investments in infrastructure, community health centers, and the like… not to mention establishing good federal stockpiles with fair rules for distribution, and investing in just-in-time manufacturing capabilities and capacity for N95 masks and other items with a short shelf life)

    Financial protection – i.e. debt protection/ forgiveness

    Education investments

    Child care investments

    Transforming the energy economy

    I could go on. The country needs the modern Democratic agenda more than ever, now.

    I agree that we need to have smart, forward-thinking people working the details and implementing the programs. That’s (one of the reasons) why we need a new Administration so badly…

  94. 94.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @Baud:

    I need a positive message to inspire me to vote for Biden.

    LOL – I needed a good laugh today :)

  95. 95.

    Brachiator

    @Eunicecycle:

    if I had any criticism of the Hillary campaign, it was that she went more after his manifest unfitness from the moral point of view instead of attacking the view that he was a successful businessman. He was NOT a successful businessman

    This would always have been tough, simply because the Shitgibbon had spent so many years inventing the myth of Donald Trump, and the NY press had spent too many years ignoring Trump’s failures and problems, and helping him push his billionaire playboy image.

    “Of course, Trump is a successful businessman.  We seen him on the teevee.”

    But of course, the maddening thing is that Clinton largely succeeded with a majority of voters…

  96. 96.

    SFAW

    @Ksmiami:

    shes doa she just doesn’t realize it yet

    I truly hope end up being correct, but I get really tired of hearing that shit. I heard it when Voldemort was at 31 percent in FL, a year before he was re-elected. I heard it about the Murderer-in-Chief before he “won.” [Well, more accurately, I heard about how Hillary had it in the bag.] I’ve heard it/them, i.e., the wrong predictions of that nature,  more times than I can count.

  98. 98.

    trollhattan

    @Eunicecycle:

    I agree, and thought Michelle Wolf did a fantastic job saying just that in her WHCD gig. Her running gag throughout was “How broke is Donald Trump?” which undercuts his very foundation for being Donald Trump. He’s not even a house built on sand, he’s a house built on Jello.

  99. 99.

    Mai naem mobile

    I know it’s not necessarily an accurate barometer but I did used to see quite a few Trump signs driving around. I have not seen a single one for at least 2 weeks. Ofcourse the caveat is that traffic is way down in Phx. It’s like you’re driving on Christmas or Thanksgiving. As a bonus I’ve seen a couple of Biden signs.

    Also, I deal with a guy through work who’ve I’ve had polite political conversations with.  He isn’t a Trumper but was also kind of disinterested in politics. He’s in his mid 30s oroginally from the Buffalo area and has family still living there. His dad called him from Buffalo looking for a mask because there are none available there. Let’s just say it woke him up.  Politics is way more personal to him now.

  100. 100.

    Geminid

    @Brachiator: Clean power, a smart grid, and energy conservation can be potent generators of jobs and economic activity. Economist Robert Pollin at U. Mass. estimates that a judicious energy transformation would produce three jobs for every lost fossil fuel job. The technologies are at hand, and just need to be scaled up. Elizabeth Warren’s green energy plan is a good template for doing this efficiently. Pollin figured that reaching the IPCC goal of net neutral CO2 by 2050 would require U.S. public and private investment averaging $300 billion a year, more in the first years, less in the latter. The next Congress can efficiently invest much more in the first years. And Pollin emphasizes that  over 40% of the reduction in green house gases can be achieved through energy efficiency and conservation, investments which pay for themselves over time.

  101. 101.

    A Ghost to Most

    Trumpville 1:

    “Though it’s just a four-minute drive across the lagoon from Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s private club, and ten minutes from the Palm Beach outposts of Chanel and Louis Vuitton, Howley’s diner has become an emblem of America’s stark new economic reality,” wrote Shawn Donnan and Reade Pickert. “With more than 10 million people across the nation suddenly unemployed, bread lines are forming in the shadows of privileged enclaves like this one in Florida.”

    The report continued: “For the past two weeks, the kitchen staff at Howley’s has been cooking up free meals — the other day it was smoked barbecue chicken with rice and beans, and salad — for thousands of laid off workers from Palm Beach’s shuttered restaurants and resorts. The rows of brown-bag lunches and dinners are an early warning that the country’s income gap is about to be wrenched wider as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, and the deep recession it has brought with it.”

  102. 102.

    Steeplejack

    @germy:

    “PM Modi has appealed to India’s 130 crore citizens . . .”

    Huh. I didn’t know that crore means “10 million” in the Indian numbering system.

  103. 103.

    Brachiator

    @SFAW:

    I was listening to NPR’s “On Point” on the way home from work last night. One of the guests/panelists (I think her name is Elizabeth Rosenthal? A reporter for Kaiser Health News? Not sure about either) talked about how “the country” botched the response, and “the country” didn’t act quickly enough, and “the country” etc etc. Because it was a rebroadcast from Friday AM, I did not call to say, in effect “In ain’t the whole country, idiot, it’s just the Rethugs and the maladministration — not necessarily in that order.”

    I usually download the podcast of this show, but didn’t listen to this episode. Maybe I will go back and speed through it.

    And then maybe send them an email or a letter, even though it may not matter.  But this kind of nonsense is infuriating.

    We know where the problem is. It is not “the country.” And it is ridiculous for anyone to pretend otherwise.

  104. 104.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Cameron: Yes, but in pretty much the same way as it gives power to the federal government to provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States. In other words, it’s pretty basic to the Constitution as an instruction set for government and governance.

  105. 105.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Cameron: What gobsmacks me is that Mikey Dense was widely considered the SMOTHOR (Stupidest Member Of The House Of Representatives) during his tenure there (2001-13) – but four of those 6 terms overlapped Louie Gohmert (2005 – present but unaccounted for).

    How in the name of the FSM can you be the SMOTHOR in a congress that has a Louie Gohmert in it unless you have the IQ of pond scum????

    8^O

  106. 106.

    trollhattan

    @Geminid:

    I can scarcely imagine the calming longterm effect on the economy to no longer be subject to the whims of fossil fuel price and supply swings. If only we didn’t have an entire political party and large industry dedicated on preventing that future, for basically ever.

  107. 107.

    Betty Cracker

    @Mai naem mobile: Anecdata: I’m in a super-Trumpy county, but I’ve noticed a drop in Trump swag sightings over the last week or so. The asshole across the swamp who named his WiFi network “TrumpIsYourPresident” a year or so back changed it to something else stupid but non-political this week. (I still look forward to naming mine “BidenIsYourPresident” next January.)

  108. 108.

    Baud

    @Kelly:

    Oregon locked down soon enough and is shipping 140 ventilators to NY. We’re all in this together.

    It’s almost as as if we’re “Stronger Together.”

  109. 109.

    Geminid

    @trollhattan: We can easily move to clean electrical generation quickly, with just a residual 10% natural gas fueled capacity in the short, maybe medium term. Solar and wind have in the last few years finally reached cost parity with gas. Transport and industrial CO2 emissions will be tougher but are doable. I am a fat fingered digital dinosaur so I won’t try to link, but I would urge anyone interested in this area to look up last March’s interview of Robert Pollin in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. They’re the folks with the  doomsday clock on the cover.

  111. 111.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @RedDirtGirl: Here’s a no-sew mask made out of a T-shirt with pocket.

    That’s the good news. Here’s the bad:

    • The video is 14 minutes long but since it’s sped up fairly often, it probably takes >30 minutes to make.
    • You’ll need a glue gun and a fistful of pipe cleaners – If you don’t have them, you’re SOL
    • The chatter of the maker/designer (someone called “Raphaela Laurean”) is super-annoying.

    My recommendation: Don’t bother.

    Here’s another no-sew mask by Jenny Chan of Origami Tree. Doesn’t take as long to make, no glue gun or pipe cleaners required – but not washable & unlikely to hold up for more than a couple of wearings. (Whaddaya expect from an origami maven??) My rec: Again, don’t bother.

    And finally here’s one that claims to be no more than a “dust mask,” but it takes an old T-shirt, scissors, and about 5 minutes’ work, and can be washed. My kind of DIY. (Wouldn’t you know a non-crafting guy came up with it?) (ETA: And wouldn’t you know this was the one RDG linked to in her post? What goes around [the face] comes around [the noggin]….:^D)

  112. 112.

    trollhattan

    @Geminid:

    I’m in the habit of watching the CAISO electricity supply graphs and am smitten with how frequently more than 50% of the state’s supply is from renewables. Solar dominates but some days wind is significant as well. 40 million people, not bad.

    Our utility built a fast startup natural gas peaking plant that can handle both sudden and predicted production gaps. Compared to a coal plant it’s enormously more efficient because IIUC it takes days to cycle a coal plant off and on.

    ETA we’re far ahead of other states in our electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Conversion of our fleet to electricity can’t happen too soon, because the improvement to air quality will be phenomenal.

  114. 114.

    Geminid

    @trollhattan: Cali is showing the way on clean energy transition. Michelle Luhan-Griffin won the New Mexico governorship in 2018 on a clean energy platform and put clean power legislation through last year. It was long past due; New Mexico has plentiful sun and wind, but a lot of their electricity comes from the huge 4 Corners coal plant. That will be shut down and the workers trained for clean energy jobs. I drove through Texas to New Mexico last spring. There were a lot of windmills in west  Texas, very few in New Mexico. I camped at Santa Rosa Lake State Park. The tent sites were at the top of a ridge. A beautiful spot, but it seemed like the wind might blow my tent into the lake.

  116. 116.

    Brachiator

    @Geminid:

    but I would urge anyone interested in this area to look up last March’s interview of Robert Pollin in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

    Thanks for the reference. I will check this out.

  117. 117.

    Martin

    @trollhattan: This is a real opportunity for the state and feds to move this forward a lot. Building out renewables is relatively expensive in terms of labor – so it creates a lot of jobs. They are mainly construction and installation jobs so they aren’t permanent, but there’s so much to do that it could be a decade long stimulus program.

  118. 118.

    Ramalama

    @Sab: Agree. Mine has been super mopey since he hasn’t been able to play with any of his friends. I pass by the house of his best friend, a giant Bernese, who also mopes in his yard. As soon as I start to feel my heart bend a bit I automatically remind myself that his owner is a cancer survivor, who is caring for his elderly mother – a woman with Alzheimer’s – at home. No one will be humping another one’s face in the near future… Montreal has just cancelled a bunch of summer festivals, including the Jazz Fest, and the Festival Just for Laughs.

  119. 119.

    lafcolleen

    Just sent an email to Sen. Collins:

     

    So Senator Collins, can you please explain what lesson Donald Trump learned as the result of the impeachment? Your touching faith in Trump seems to be unwarranted. . The lesson that he seemed to have learned is that he is only the president of red states. what have you said to him about his obligation to help all states? Why aren’t you standing up for states when the fed swoop in and take medical items desperately needed in hospitals? I’m sure you are “concerned”.

     

    let’s see if I get a response.

  120. 120.

    MoCA Ace

    @SFAW: start the Trump Post Orifice Office, which will do for mail delivery what it did for higher education, fine wine, high-end beef, and high-class resorts.

    I read that as “high-class escorts” earlier and didn’t think anything of it.

  121. 121.

    NotMax

    @Ramalama

    ComicCon in San Diego in late July is STILL neither canceled nor postponed. Which is unconscionable at this date, considering how insanely packed it is in regular times (and how much income vendors who normally flock there from all over the country will be denied as a result of paltry attendance if it is held in July this year).

  122. 122.

    JPL

    @NotMax: One of my sons runs in the Peachtree in Atlanta on the 4th.   He’s not this year because when he checked you couldn’t get the entrance fee back.  I can’t imagine that they won’t change that though.

  124. 124.

    trollhattan

    @NotMax:

    Doesn’t matter. The governor’s not letting it or anything else like that go forward. Heck, even Burning Man is in limbo (and they have a no-refunds policy).

    How about an N95 costume furry convention?

  126. 126.

    Feathers

    An instructional video on how to turn a yarmulke into a face mask: <iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/1Ipw-x8E7pk” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture” allowfullscreen></iframe>

    Also a note: Strips of t-shirt material work nicely as straps. You don’t have to ruin a whole t-shirt. Knit jersey does not fray, you can cut the hem and an inch or two off the bottom of a t-shirt and then cut the straps from that piece. The t-shirt will be perfectly washable and wearable and if you wear it tucked in, no one will know the difference.

  128. 128.

    SFAW

    @MoCA Ace:

    I read that as “high-class escorts” earlier and didn’t think anything of it.

    Well, Melania’s about as high-class as Mar-A-Loco, so that’s understandable.

  130. 130.

    Feathers

    Sigh, apparently I didn’t embed the video properly, or is that not supported? Is there a page on how to correctly post which is cleverly hiding itself from me?

  131. 131.

    Another Scott

    @Feathers: Only front-pagers can post graphics, videos, etc., in comments.  The rest of us can embed Tweets, but the graphics, etc., gets stripped automatically.

    All of us can post URLs.

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  132. 132.

    Calouste

    Apparently the shitgibbon is again talking up the malaria drug. Someone should investigate the ownership of the companies that make it.

  133. 133.

    SFAW

    OT, but: because youse jackals are wise in all sorts of things, I need your help determining whether the e-mail I received is legit.

    It’s from “Bank of America.” Here’s the text:

    “To protect our customers at Bank of America, we provide you with the most modern international protection systems to protect your personal and banking information in full.

    This is because we have included many electronic frauds on banks and their users over the Internet.

    Please update your bank account details so that we can identify you and facilitate modern protection systems.”

    It then helpfully provides a button for me to click; the button says: “Verify your idintity.”

     

    Except for the grammatical issue in the second paragraph (they used “included” instead of “perpetrated”), I don’t see a problem. [If Steve in the Socially Distant ATL were still active here, I would literally ask for his grammer input, but there you are. (Steve is OK, right? I thought I read a few weeks ago that he was just taking a break.)]

  135. 135.

    japa21

    @SFAW: I assume you actually have an account with them. Go to their regular web-site where you conduct your business with them and confirm everything is copacetic. DO NOT click that button.

  136. 136.

    Kelly

    @SFAW: Do not click the link. Go to the banks website. If the request is legit there will be a link to follow there.

  137. 137.

    Origuy

    @NotMax: Hot August Nights in Reno has not been canceled yet either. It’s a ten-day event mostly about classic cars. It draws a half million people to the Reno Tahoe area.

    My orienteering club was hosting a big two week festival in July that included the North American Championships. We decided this week to put it off until 2021. We had 765 signups, last I checked. We planned for over 1000. If it’s safe to hold it next summer, I think there will be a lot of pent-up demand.

  138. 138.

    SFAW

    @NotMax: @japa21:

    Sorry. I thought I had made it obvious that I knew it was a fake. [My comment about how “perpetrated” should have been used instead of “included” was one tip-off, and I DO know how to spel “identity” and “grammar” correctly.]

    Either way, thanks for the help. I’ll work on my stand-up routine. Or, in this case, my seated routine, I guess.

  141. 141.

    SFAW

    Fellow jackals:

    My apologies for not making it clear that I knew it was fake. I thought you kids would appreciate their clumsiness. I truly appreciate you “guys” (of any sex/gender) watching out for me. And, next time, I’ll try to include something to make it clear/obvious that I’m kidding (or whatever).

  142. 142.

    A Ghost to Most

    @Feathers: I found our stash of beloved but worn out t-shirts, and am now recycling a Jackson Hole shirt to put the art on the front of the mask. I am also using a piece of 1284 tc mesh between the cotton and the face, to allow moisture to be away from the face.

  143. 143.

    japa21

    @SFAW: It’s just that we all worry about each other, our virtual family.  With all the tension going on we could all miss things, such as seeing the obvious in your original comment.

  144. 144.

    debbie

    Not sure I can say I picked my battle this morning when I rage-unfriended one of my brothers. He had just posted one of those long copy-and-paste jobs. It started out with “Just Think About It” and went on to say China had invented the virus and inflicted it on America and that China had the antidote but wouldn’t share it. And that was just the first paragraph. I read no further.

    It hadn’t been up for more than a few minutes, but there were already shares and likes. I was so angry, my head hurt. I commented how it was a monstrous post and I would expect no less from him. Hit enter, hit “Unfriend,” then rage-clean my apartment.

    He voted for Trump but had since seemed to become disenchanted. I guess the pull of racism was too much for him to resist. He’s always had that about him.

    I still don’t know what I’m doing in my goddamn family.

  145. 145.

    SFAW

    @japa21:

    But not how to spell “spell”.

    As I said a few comments ago, I’ll try to make my “jokes” a little more obvious in the future

  147. 147.

    SFAW

    @japa21:

    It’s just that we all worry about each other, our virtual family.  With all the tension going on we could all miss things, such as seeing the obvious in your original comment.

    Yes, I realized that, belatedly. It’s one of the things I appreciate about this place. And now am contrite that I got you guys all spun up over an attempted joke.

  148. 148.

    Another Scott

    @SFAW: I knew you were kidding from the start, if that helps.  :-)

    However, given what happened to John Podesta and the way written instructions get garbled, well…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  151. 151.

    artem1s

    @catclub:

    Democrats held the presidency for 20 straight years after that, and a House majority for 60 years.

    this recent blip of the Democratic party being out of control is going exactly as LBJ predicted.  We’ve been paying the price for realizing the promise of equal rights for all.  Time for the pendulum to swing back.  The long arc of justice is about to hit the GOP where the sun don’t shine.

  152. 152.

    SFAW

    @Another Scott:

    However, given what happened to John Podesta and the way written instructions get garbled, well…

    That article is, in it’s own way, a “both sides” cop-out. It referred to Delavan’s fuck-up as a “typo,” because he “left out to letters, an ‘i’ and ‘l’ ” Sorry, but writing that the phishing was “a legitimate” mail, instead of “an illegitimate” e-mail, is only a “typo” if you’re a moron. [Delavan was not some schmoe off the street, he was an aide to the President’s Chief of Staff, he fucking well better be smart enough to know the difference between those two qualifying phrases.] And it wasn’t “two missing letters,” it was three — the “n” omitted from “an illegitimate.”

    Not yelling at you, Scott. Yelling at the lack of journalistic standards. FSM spare me from sub-literate “journalists.”

  154. 154.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @debbie: I’m still not talking to my Dad after he called this whole thing a farce, 2 weeks ago.  I doubt I will talk to him until this whole thing has passed.  I’m so disappointed/disgusted with his irresponsible attitude.  I kinda hope he loses a bunch of his drinking buddies (who I’m sure are all Republicans).  He’s in South Carolina so it’s definitely a possibility.

  157. 157.

    Martin

    This is fine.

    USPS warns it might have to shutter by June as $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package provides no funding

    Revenues have collapsed as business are shutting down reducing the amount of mail. Their costs have increased out of need for PPE.

    The GOP may finally have achieved one of their aims here.

  158. 158.

    Another Scott

    ICYMI, Tracking poll from Navigator Research (a progressive polling outfit):

    […]

    The “Trump Bump” Was Small – and Has Faded

    Trump’s overall approval now stands at 45%, just two points above his average approval rating in Navigator’s tracking pre-coronavirus.

    This pales in comparison to approval gains seen for other leaders, such as NY Governor Andrew Cuomo (+27 approval gain in a recent Siena poll) and WI Governor Tony Evers (+14 according to the Marquette Law Poll).

    Leaders in Italy, the UK, and elsewhere around the world have also seen much larger bumps than Trump.

    […]

    Eyes on the prizes.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  160. 160.

    Martin

    Data time:

    Italy: +681. A little bit down, but not enough to establish a trend. This is day 16 in the range. But Italy is reporting a drop in ICU cases, so their fatalities should be dropping around now. I mean, everything is going in the right direction in Italy. It’s just a matter of timing and degree. Spain is reporting lower fatalities, but I’m not sure it’s a meaningful number. I’ll be adding a Spain model. If it is meaningful, it’ll mean they could turn fatalities lower in a way that neither Italy or China could. Understanding why could be useful.

    US: +1320. I swear to God, if you are looking for a dataset to perfectly illustrate exponential behavior in a social context, you couldn’t find anything clearer than US fatalities. We are just bang-on. Slope of the log of the data fits R2=0.995. This is where I question the IHME model showing a peak +2600 fatalities on 4/16. We’re on track to hit that by Tues or Wed unless NY stalls out completely, and I don’t see why that would happen this early. So, I don’t think iHME has a bad model overall, but I think they are more determined to fit to a gaussian function than they are to connecting that function to known triggers. Anyway, as delightful as this data trend is to a statistician, this is someone dying every minute, and that’s horrific.

    NY: +630. So NY is nearly half the nation’s daily fatalities. Their trend continues to settle slightly. Their 7 day trend continues to diverge from their overall trend, but it’s slow and it started from a very high initial trend, but where the model was predicting simply impossible numbers, now it’s predicting bad but at least plausible ones. They should still see +thousands numbers. Send help to NY. And NJ is right on their tail.

    CA: +24. Again, easing like NY is. A small, slow divergence from trend. The upshot here is that as we race toward our lockdown payoff, the easing looks like it will keep CA below +100/day. I think I can say that Santa Clara has completely stalled out on fatalities. Same for other bay area counties. They shouldn’t have any appreciable growth in daily fatalities from here out. It may be weeks before they drop, but this should also indicate that their hospital pressure will soon ease and fall off. Curve flattened! LA is seeing similar easing to the state, but again, mild. LA may get to +40 or so, but they should be able to carry that with surge capacity. ICU cases are still climbing in my county but hospitalizations are not. They’re discharging non-ICU cases as fast as new non-ICU cases are coming in, but ICU cases keep piling up because they spend so long there. So to the extent that they can convert ICU beds and have a few thousand respirators, they should be fine – and surrounding counties should be able to pitch in. Good work CA.

    FL: +25, FWIW. Their data is all over the place. But their model (uniquely) keeps trending upward. In fact, their 7 day trendline is now steeper than NYs 7 day. Maybe it’s hitting the retirement communities and wasn’t there before? Anyway, if fatalities don’t turn until 21 days after lockdown, they’re looking at something in the +3000 range. Hopefully FL took voluntary measures before the state action and can avoid that.

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