.
Nervous Repub ‘legislators’ begin to recalculate their odds, realizing that not everyone has a multi-millionaire wife and a warm relationship with Russia’s oligarchs to fall back on…
??Senate GOP support for moving the next coronavirus relief bill as soon as next month is growing after Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned lawmakers this week that the economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic could last for years.https://t.co/6jFf7ClHvR
— Sylvan Lane (@SylvanLane) May 20, 2020
Especially since their Dear Leader is maybe not looking so great, these days…
Let’s check in on Donald Trump’s chances of getting reelected! https://t.co/Zipnlqbkmb
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) May 19, 2020
Inbox: Trump Campaign Announces Launch of 'Truth Over Facts' Investigative Website
So I guess the war on facts has a name now. pic.twitter.com/GQBMx7Q1O5
— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) May 18, 2020
….is the title of my book about the trump era https://t.co/YpmfyAKuJo
— Jordan Acker ???? (@JordanAckerMI) May 20, 2020
Trump is moving into the Late Elvis stage of presidency. Everyone around him trying to make as much money as they can fast and doctor giving him whatever he orders up.
— stuart stevens (@stuartpstevens) May 18, 2020
***********
In other news, credit where due: Bernie Sanders, seeking peace with Joe Biden, asks his own delegates to turn down the volume.
debbie
I really, really hope Ford doesn’t cave when Trump visits the plant today.
Baud
Four years too late.
Baud
@debbie:
I can’t imagine they won’t cave if Trump insists. A big company denying the president entry would be something.
debbie
@Baud:
Sigh. Maybe as a compromise they can set up some machinery outside with buttons he can poke at uncomprehendingly.
TS (the original)
@Baud:
Yet the small company who locked up their workers for 28 days to avoid the virus, asked trump not to come. Why doesn’t Ford try that option?
Baud
@TS (the original):
Ford needs the Federal government more.
OzarkHillbilly
Delivering while black.
WereBear
I am laughing like a super-villain. It’s all fun and games until someone loses a grandparent.
Jerzy Russian
Truth over facts, and the word “experts” in quotes? This here is proof that the person we knew as George Orwell was/is one of those dudes from the movie Highlander. He just pretended to grow old, faked his death, and now is a part of the Trump campaign.
Baud
Baud
MSNBC likes dog-bites-man headlines.
hells littlest angel
I’ve often thought that Trump will eventually release an album of soft rock popular favorites. What the hell has he got to lose?
Baud
JPL
@debbie: They already caved. Nice wish though
Kathleen
Between AL’s snark and the thread so far I’ve done nothing but cackle. Thanks AL and the morning crew.
NotMax
Words to live by.
:)
Baud
@NotMax:
Would make a good national motto.
OzarkHillbilly
Heh:
satby
@Baud: right?! Sanders will never get credit from me for anything.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: It honestly surprises me that Warren wants the job that much, but Biden was an active VP himself, so maybe he’s made it clear his VP would have a seat at the table in a meaningful way. From the article you linked:
I’d be thrilled to pieces if Biden chose Warren. Don’t think it’ll happen, but I’m glad she’s collaborating on policy. In an economic policy sense, she’s perfect for this moment.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone 😄😄😄
satby
Microsoft “upgraded” the operating system on my laptop, which I use only for my shop, and now I’m completely locked out of it. If I was a very good girl and answered all of their questions correctly I may be the recipient in 24 hours of a password reset email.
I was pretty sure the last time I went through this a couple years ago I set it to fuckMicros0ft, but that didn’t work.
This, plus the worldwide supply chain shortages delaying stuff (like jars) I use in my store are making this day not start auspiciously.
WereBear
@Betty Cracker: I like Warren for the Supreme Inspector General role, but then again, Harris is good for that, too.
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
😠😠😠😠
Baud
@Betty Cracker: The Veep search has brought to my attention a lot of women who went under the radar. He really can’t make a bad choice.
@rikyrah: Good morning.
rikyrah
@satby: . sorry satby 🥺😟😟
satby
@rikyrah: ‘morning! I’ll find out about the masks today at least.
Mary G
Polls must look really, really bad to Republicans . Nancy SMASH will squeeze Moscow Mitch’s tiny balls until he screams. I feel more hopeful about the post office than I have in a while.
Geminid
In his briefing yesterday Va. Governor Ralph Northam announced that 421,000 Virginians are now covered by the Medicaid expansion allowed by the Affordable Care Act. Some call the ACA “half a loaf,” but it has delivered a lot.
Gin & Tonic
My first attempt at making yogurt in the Instant Pot was a total failure. I followed the consensus instructions exactly, and this morning all I had was milk. Has anyone done this successfully?
germy
@hells littlest angel:
He might win a Grammy in the “spoken word” category, if he decides to read his tweets out loud.
MJS
@Betty Cracker: I honestly believe that there is so much interest in being VP because given his age and some of the things he’s said, it would not be surprising to see Joe decline to seek a second term if he wins this year. Whoever is VP is going to have a leg up on anyone else interested in the 2024 nomination.
WereBear
@satby: Why I don’t go near Microsoft.
OzarkHillbilly
Heehee:
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@Betty Cracker: Part of me would also be thrilled if Warren was VP, but there is currently a Republican governor in Massachusetts, and that state does not have a provision forcing the governor to choose a replacement senator of the same party. This would make flipping the Senate harder.
Plus she kicks ass in the senate. she can do plenty of good there.
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: Binders full?
germy
Snarki, child of Loki
Trump should really try wearing sequins on his suits, and shades also, too. The hip-gyrations? DO NOT WANT.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy: Why do loons hate America?
Betty Cracker
@Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]: I read somewhere (WaPo’s Weigel, I think) that since the MA Dems just picked up two more seats, the legislature now has the power to change that law and stipulate that the gov must pick a replacement from the outgoing officeholder’s party.
Another way around the obstacle that I’ve floated here before: as far as I know, there’s no rule preventing Warren from resigning her senate seat effective 1/20/2021 if she’s picked for VP, allowing MA to select a replacement during the November election. Don’t know if she’d be willing to risk that, but…
Anyhoo, all that said, there are plenty of arguments against Warren, including her age, but none are insurmountable, IMO. I’d be shocked if Biden chose her, and I realize it would cause a lot of controversy in the party, but that’s true of any good pick.
different-church-lady
@Geminid: That “half a loaf” cut my hospital bill down to less than the same number of nights in an AirBnB. So maybe the folks who say that have never seen bread.
mali muso
@Gin & Tonic: Hmm, I’ve done it successfully on several occasions. Scald the milk in the IP using the yogurt setting, take out the pot and stick it in an ice bath, get the temperature down to the required one (not remembering it now, 110 or less?), add some yogurt, mix well, close it back up in the IP and press the next button. Maybe the scalded milk was too hot when you put the starter in and it killed it?
different-church-lady
@OzarkHillbilly: Because it tries to eat their young.
O. Felix Culpa
Good morning! Speaking of potential VP picks, here’s Jenn Rubin yesterday: Gosh, what could be behind the right’s hatred of Stacey Abrams?
While Ms. Rubin might not turn into a full-throated progressive – or even a Democrat – I don’t think she’s ever going fully back to where she came from.
different-church-lady
@Gin & Tonic: Never gets old, does it?
MattF
Dahlia Lithwick explains again, in detail, how journalists have failed to cope with Trump’s personal pathologies. It’s worth reading.
rikyrah
I will be going back into the office soon.
Anyone else who wears glasses got any tips for me about how to not get foggy glasses while wearing a mask?
I have homemade cloth masks for the most part
MattF
@O. Felix Culpa: Makes me suspect that Rubin has been unhappy about Republican racism for a long while and has, at last, decided to say something about it.
Thor Heyerdahl
@rikyrah: I heard that this works but have not tried it myself – clean the glasses with shaving cream and they won’t fog.
O. Felix Culpa
@rikyrah: If there’s a metal piece (wire, straightened paper clip, pipe cleaner) in the top of your mask, press it well down around your nose. It prevents the warmer exhaled air from going up the top of the mask and fogging your glasses. But don’t press too tight so that it’s uncomfortable and makes you want to fiddle with the mask all the time. Voice of experience. Good luck!
rikyrah
@MattF:
They were desperate to normalize him. To be honest,they still are, after all this time. The curve for Unqualified White Men is REAL.
They would have NEVER
EVER EVER
Done this for Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton 😠😠😠
kindness
Good for Bernie. I wonder if he had done this in 2016 if we would be talking about re-electing Hillary?
O. Felix Culpa
@rikyrah: Agreed. We know that they wouldn’t have done it for the scary black man or the witchy white woman…because they didn’t.
rikyrah
martha
@rikyrah: I have the same problem—foggy glasses! it helps if you can add a piece of something bendable to the top of the mask, so you can bend it to fit closer to your nose. I used craft wire in one mask, and a copper strip in another. I inserted them into a piece of bias tape (you could use any fabric) and hand sewed them to the mask. Both definitely helped.
Kay
@rikyrah:
The expanded eligibility UI in Ohio allows for reduced hours/income. So if you were working, say, 32 you can apply if your hours are reduced to 10.5 hours and get a proportional share of unemployment plus the 600 dollar bump. I think (and am hoping) this shakes up the traditional idea of UI -changes it from an “on/off” switch to partial wage replacement/wage subsidy/a way to get stimulus money to the people who spend it.
OzarkHillbilly
@different-church-lady: There is an analogy in there.
Gin & Tonic
@mali muso: I checked and the scalded milk was down to about 105. Set the next timer for 12 hours, went to bed.
Used about a tablespoon of good plain yogurt per quart of milk.
Jeffro
What? No way! Unskew those polls!!
LOLOL
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@rikyrah: a 4 inch long pipe cleaner sewn or taped (duck tape/masking tape) to the top edge may help. This allow a “pinch” point over your nose. Taping might work better for washable masks, if you have enough pipe cleaners.
different-church-lady
@kindness: If He knew how to make friends we’d be talking about reelecting Bernie.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker: Warren or Harris, 98% chance ;)
I think it’s funny that despite all my TCNJ dad’s and bro’s predictions (“Bloomberg’s gonna buy the nomination! Bernie’s going to form a 3rd party! It’s got to be Klobuchar! Brokered convention argle bargle!!”) that we have
But then again, like I said, they’re TCNJs: they don’t look at data, they just go with their gut!
It’s magical thinking all the way down! (And boy do I mean all the way down come November =)
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic: I have some tips on this — because I helped my bro in law sort this in his instant pot. Two methods — after bringing milk to boil, let it cool to room temp., Add your yogurt starter and refrigerate overnight and drain off excess water in morning before starting the cooking. But that is crazy fussy
So, second method, which I learned from my own olde yogurt machine is, when adding starter to the room-temp pasturized (heated) milk, add 4 Tablespoons (more or less depending on desired yogurt thickness) of carnation instant (powdred) milk. Stir untill it is fully dissolved, then start yogurting!
Kay
Put them in a shared work plan, employers! Everybody wins! :)
I have come to think it’s a mindset, the rigidity. It’s employers who see their interests as completely unaligned with the interests of their employees, which is now and always was nonsense.
TupeloPhoney
@rikyrah: You have two choices:
1) some type of metal nose bridge in the mask to create a close fit to the sides of your nose (assuming you aren’t going to tape it like surgeons do); and/or
2) no-fog paste for ski goggles can help some.
In my experience the standby swimming/scuba trick of saliva rubbed around and then rinsed off (or scuba mask commercial no-fog/dilute baby shampoo solution) isn’t as effective for dry applications, but it’s better than nothing in a pinch.
Bruce K
@rikyrah: I’ve tried a trick I read about – folding up a paper tissue on the upper edge of the mask by the nose. It doesn’t fully solve the problem, but it delays it – I figure that the tissue absorbs a good chunk of the moisture from your exhalations until it gets saturated.
Krope, the Formerly Dope
He did do this in 2016. They didn’t heed him.
Immanentize
@germy: Do you remember in the way back there were records of supposed journalists asking questions of political peeps and their answers were song snippets?*. You could do the opposite with Trump — pose a question in sing and have Trump’s actual words answer.
*I may still have a 45 of one of these in the basement — I think it was “convention ’72? All I remember was that anytime a question was put to Kissinger, the answer was “Gotta Fina woman, gotta find a woman!” From Troglodytes by the Jimmy Castor Bunch TROGLODYTES
Ok. Found the comedy recording by The Delegates
Kathleen
@satby: Ah! My people!
prostratedragon
@MattF:
Or like that comedian said, he’s a horse in a hospital. You do not need to know how he got there, what policies he thinks he’s executing there, or any such. You just need to get him the fuck out of there. You have no other job until that’s done.
rikyrah
Joe should have ended it with:
” And, did we ever find out why Ron WAS IN RUSSIA ON JULY FOURTH?”😒
You gotta take it to these clowns😠😠
rikyrah
Thanks for the mask tips🤗
Betty
@Baud: Klobuchar is a bad choice as is Napolitano.
Shalimar
@Betty Cracker: Does Warren want the job that much? That is the spin the journalists are putting on it, but this cooperation is also what she would do if she will have the lead role shepherding legislation through the Senate.
Fair Economist
@Betty Cracker: Biden’s VP has something like a 1 in 4 chance of becoming President next term through Biden’s death or incapacity. That’s a heck of an incentive for anybody but especially for someone with big plans for the bureaucracy like Warren.
Kay
The late Justice Scalia’s son is the US Secretary of Labor and he hasn’t just done an incompetent job on keeping workers safe in the pandemic- he hasn’t done any work at all.
They’re AWOL. He performs no work at all.
The low quality Trump hires who are loudly incompetent and corrupt get a lot of attention, but the complete LACK of work from people like Scalia probably plays a larger role in how the federal government doesn’t function anymore.
The Trump Administration is demanding these people go back to work but none of them will lift a fucking finger to even enforce existing workplace protections. Lazy, entitled, over-promoted and useless.
artem1s
I’m kind of hoping Joe goes with a woman of color as his Veep. Unfortunately for Warren, Joe needs someone who can bring the south or a major rust belt or swing state with them. But the best thing about this debate is discovering there is such a deep pool of female candidates who are more than qualified to not only help the ticket, but also do the job well. Ceiling cracked indeed. Hillary should be proud.
Nicole
@OzarkHillbilly:
Talk about a phrase that works on several levels.
Immanentize
@rikyrah: Hi! You know what would work perfectly, although it would look a bit odd? — those nose plugs for the pool that could then be bent over the cloth at the bridge of your nose (rather than closing your nostrils).
Betty
@Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]: That issue is being addressed as the legislature can enact a requirement that someone from the same party be appointed, and the Dems just won a supermajority.
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic: You certainly can use more yogurt. I use a 1/2 cup per half gallon.
Gin & Tonic
@rikyrah: That Hunter Biden shit seems to have fizzled out totally. Does anyone outside the fever swamp even know that a fringe Ukrainian MP released leaked recordings (yesterday? day before?) of Biden talking with then-President Poroshenko? It’s a big yawn.
artem1s
@Shalimar:
That is the spin the journalists are putting on it, but this cooperation is also what she would do if she will have the lead role shepherding legislation through the Senate.
Bingo. The MSM can’t imagine someone might have motivations outside being a power hungry, attention seeking whore. I honestly don’t see Warren wanting to be Veep. A Senate seat can be kept for life. I don’t see her trading a sure thing where she can continue her work no matter what happens in November, for four years as someone’s back up quarterback and chief benchwarmer.
Brachiator
Trump and McConnell are being stupidly bullheaded in ignoring Powell’s warning. Trump thinks he can ignore the virus and can ramp up the economy and everything will be OK. McConnell is ignoring the clear need for real stimulus. He refuses to consider a continued bump to unemployment benefits.
Even economists are struggling to comprehend the effect of deliberately shutting down the economy.
Well, duh. With the lockdown and most businesses closed, it was much more difficult to go anywhere and spend money on big ticket items.
BTW, the data also indicates that higher income households that received checks didn’t spend the money at all, but increased their savings. For some of them, the checks were just free money.
Meanwhile, a Congressional Budget Office report suggests that GDP could decline by as much as 38 percent in the second quarter, and 26 million people might remain unemployed.
A bold government plan would be to get more money into people’s hands, and to really help small businesses, to try to boost the economy.
Unfortunately, Trump and McConnell ain’t smart or bold.
Gin & Tonic
@Immanentize: Thanks, will try more tonight.
On the other hand, my crème fraîche worked like a charm.
Immanentize
@artem1s: I prefer Harris — have from the start. But Joe can bring the South on his own. Dincha notice that in the primary? To say that he can’t without a black VP is, well, classic tokenism. The minority voting populace, in most cases, know what’s at stake whether the VP is from Neptune or Uranus.
Frankensteinbeck
Coronavirus relief packages help everyone by directly helping the weak. This is contrary to the entire Republican ethos. It is a galling, unnatural, offensive thing for Republican congressmen to contemplate. McConnell himself certainly hates the idea and wants to watch the vermin hoi polloi suffer.
…but the economic meltdown is murdering their reelection chances, and they know it. The pressure just keeps rising.
Ladyraxterinok
@Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]:
Would like to see dems take Senate and Warren replace Mitch.
germy
Brachiator
@Fair Economist:
Warren is too old. Hell, Biden is too old, but that boat left the dock a long time ago. There is just no point in a president and VP both over 70.
And even though Biden could promise to include Warren in major policy decisions, it is also possible that Biden’s cabinet and staff will need to get deeply involved in economic recovery efforts, and naturally demote input from the VP and her staff.
Warren might be more effective in the Senate, especially if the Democrats can regain a majority. And the Democrats in Congress are in desperate need of intelligent and nimble people who can craft tax legislation.
Subsole
@different-church-lady:
For some of them I think the issue is they have never not seen bread…
Immanentize
OK, friends. I gotta go apply my infotainment skills to preparing my Zoom class tonight.
BTW — I went to a Zoom meeting of the regional PFAC members (Patient/Family Advisory Councils) from all the hospitals along the Eastern part of Mass. last night. It was a sobering presentation of treatment (respirators and meds, mostly) triage should the system get overwhelmed. There is an assesment tool, a flow chart, a protocol and a doctor/patient discussion template. Many big brained people worked very hard on this and it is as good as it gets, I suppose. But what it means is that some would be told — “no more treatment for you.” A grim reminder of the real potential backend of opening up too quickly.
OzarkHillbilly
@Nicole: Doesn’t it?
Immanentize
@Ladyraxterinok: I would too. Which might also be why Biden and Warren are working hand in glove.
Subsole
@Kay: This sounds right. It’s all part of a mindset that sees employees as an expense to be ruthlessly minimized rather than a resource to be judiciously…um, managed. Like, y’know, by a manager.
germy
planetjanet
@Jeffro: Sorry to be obtuse, but what is a TCNJ? Think I know the NJ, but TC has me bewildered.
Kathleen
@Kay: I’m pretty sure I got compensatory unemployment payments when I had less than 40 hours when I worked for census in 2010.
Dorothy A. Winsor
We grocery shopped early this morning. Everyone was masked. There was a sneeze guard at the checkout. Then we came home, showered, and had our coffee just as the Donut Fairy dropped goodies off at our front door. I’m ready for the day.
Brachiator
@Gin & Tonic:
Trump and the GOP believe that they can chip away at Biden’s reputation for honesty and integrity with this. It’s not working with most people and won’t work in the future.
Ironically, the press will keep this crap alive, even if they acknowledge that there is nothing to it.
But Trump and the GOP also hope to keep their base from defecting to the Democratic Party side with this stuff. They are counting on the swing states to vote for Trump and will use everything they can to pander to this group.
Geminid
@Ladyraxterinok: I count 12 flippable Senate seats: Arizona, Maine, Colorado, and North Carolina in one tier; then Montana, Iowa, and Texas; Georgia (two seats), Kansas, South Carolina and Kentucky. I think Barbara Bollier (Kansas), M.J. Hegar(Texas), and Raphael Warnock (Georgia) may be especially strong candidates. And Steve Bullock won the Montana Governor race twice when Romney and Trump headed the ticket. There seem to be a fair amount of “swing” voters in Montana. Senator John Tester has won three 3 times. Senator John Tester has won won the times since 2006.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@satby:
How maddening. It’s all beyond your control and yet you’re the one dealing with it.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ladyraxterinok: @Immanentize: Why do people think that Warren would necessarily be good at the cat herding skills that are needed by the Senate Majority Leader? Being the chair of a committee is usually where the power to enact policy lies. Remember, McConnell is mainly powerful in his ability to say no; he really has no positive policy agenda.
Another Scott
@OzarkHillbilly: Money has value.
I think it’s more like, “… the way wearing just a thong in public makes you Tarzan.”
(sorry)
Cheers,
Scott.
The Pale Scot
Stewart, Colbert, Bee and Oliver really need to get the band back together.
Weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, whatever
WaterGirl
@Baud: I love Warren, but I think a white woman would be a bad choice, and I think someone over 65 is a bad choice. Which I think makes Warren a bad choice.
Another Scott
@Baud: Curse you, you made me click on a Politico link!!1 ;-)
If one reads her detailed “how to pay for M4A” plan (from November), she made it clear that M4A was the ultimate goal and that it wouldn’t happen instantly or quickly.
It doesn’t sound like she’s “pivoting” at all to me.
As I suspected, Politico is fishing for clicks by twisting reality.
YMMV.
Cheers,
Scott.
SFAW
@Ladyraxterinok:
I’d think she’d prefer stay in MA, not to move to KY. And I certainly wouldn’t want to lose her as my senior Senator.
On a more serious note: my sense of Majority Leader is that it’s not unlike the job Speaker Pelosi does: shepherding cats, not formulating grand policies. Assuming that’s the case, I’d prefer Warren as being the one the Majority Leader (or President Biden or the VP) turns to for spearheading various projects/initiatives. Although I’m sure she’d do a fine job as an administrator (for lack of a better word), I think she’s better suited to coming up with plans to fix what’s wrong (or could be improved).
Uncle Cosmo
@rikyrah: A homemade cloth mask probably does not have a good seal around your nose (i.e., between the nostrils & cheeks) & may be leaking exhaled air upward, causing your glasses to steam up. Two things I can think of to try:
Someone here suggested that you wash your glasses before putting on the mask & leave a little soap film on them. Haven’t tried that one.
Good luck!
Another Scott
@satby: I hope it gets resolved quickly. I’ve had updates break things too. :-(
If you don’t get any satisfaction from MS’s support, there are ways to “roll-back” the update and that should get you back to where you were.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12415/windows-10-recovery-options
Be careful, and good luck!!
Cheers,
Scott.
SFAW
@planetjanet:
Add me to the list. The best I can come up with is Trump Csucking Nut Job
danielx
Went to Meijer this morning, reasonably well stocked. Everybody wearing masks except for a very few customers, including the asshole standing behind me in line. Granted it was old folks hour, but everyone was being pretty good and pretty polite about distancing.
I have read several articles recently about “what do we do if Trump refuses to leave office?” recently, which I believe is misphrased – replace “if” with “when” and it will come closer to the mark. I may have commented on this before, but it bears repeating – Donald Trump will never voluntarily leave office, because he is incapable of admitting defeat. In his mind, Donald Trump cannot and does not lose at anything, ever, because he is Donald Trump and therefore by definition cannot and does not lose – ever, at anything. It does not matter how large his opponent’s margin of victory is in either the electoral college or the popular vote. Donald Trump does not lose, and if he appears to lose it can only be the result of fraud perpetrated by the usual nefarious forces. Which his supporters will go along with, because they believe in Trump the way they believe in the sweet baby Jeebus – more so, for a lot of them. If he tells them to go into the streets with rifles, a lot of them will take it as a religious commandment. So i truly hope people are devoting thought to how this will be handled. As much as I would enjoy watching the Secret Service unceremoniously dump his fat ass out on Pennsylvania Avenue, it’s not likely to happen that way. Although from what I’ve heard of the way he and his treat Secret Service agents (like servants), they would probably enjoy it as much as me, if not more so.
kindness
@Krope, the Formerly Dope: Uhhhh, no. I seem to recall some ‘issues’ at the convention that didn’t look good for the Democratic Party and helped solidify the Democrats In Disarray meme in the media. I don’t hate Bernie but he stuck a shiv deep into Hillary’s back out in the open for all to see in 2016. Just look at what his minions did then and if you look at the comments in the WaPo piece, some of them are trying to do again.
WaterGirl
@Ladyraxterinok: I keep seeing comments like this. Why do people think that Chuck Schumer wouldn’t fight like hell to keep his leadership role in the Senate? And fight dirty to do it.
Serious question.
Krope, the Formerly Dope
@kindness: Like I said, his supporters didn’t heed his call to calm down. But he definitely called for them to do so.
Omnes Omnibus
@planetjanet: @SFAW: I’ve asked before as well. Trump Cultist, maybe?
danielx
@Krope, the Formerly Dope:
Cue the howls of “Bernie sells out!” in 3…2…1…
joel hanes
Bernie Sanders … asks his own delegates
Too little, and about 49 months too late.
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@SFAW: From the larger context of the post I’m guessing “True Centrist”
Omnes Omnibus
@danielx: A president’s term of office has a definite ending point. If (and I hope when) he is defeated, the new president will be sworn in on Inauguration Day.
Gin & Tonic
@The Pale Scot: Fuck Jon Stewart.
Krope, the Formerly Dope
Close. Trump Cultist Nutjob
Krope, the Formerly Dope
In my experience, they respond pretty well to being treated like actual human beings with feelings and even the most resistant can be persuaded to consider voting for a nominee they don’t necessarily like.
Another Scott
@artem1s: +1. Rachel Bitecofer makes this point as well – Obama showed that the way to get huge turnout is to get Democrats fired up. Donnie is doing a lot of that already, but the AA community rescued Joe in SC (and subsequently) and I think he knows that an AA running mate would 1) be historic, b) be energizing for the young and disaffected, iii) help in battleground and near-battleground states and races.
I don’t know if it will be Kamala, but she has to be the favorite at the moment.
I think Politico is fishing for clicks. Warren wants her policies strongly considered and enacted if possible – that’s what matters to her. She has a good place to help that happen by working with Biden’s team and working in the Senate.
We’ll see.
Cheers,
Scott.
Brachiator
@danielx:
I’m just hoping that Trump will be soundly defeated. A landslide would be good. But just defeated. Then he can act up all he wants. Pull out a sharpie and draw his “victory” on a map.
Ultimately, if he is defeated in November, he is gone, no matter how much he tries to hold on.
danielx
@Omnes Omnibus:
As required by law and the Constitution, yes. If we were dealing with a normal personality, yes. I would be reassured if I had ever perceived a shred of evidence regarding his respect for law, the Constitution, or his oath of office. I haven’t.
SFAW
@Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]:
From Jeffro’s previous comments re: his NJ family members, I’m thinking Omnes [ETA: and Krope] is closer. [NB: If your comment was intended as as snark/humor, I apologize for not picking up on it.
Omnes Omnibus
I am not sure that rescued is the right word. He and his campaign said that they were effectively ceding Iowa and New Hampshire and banking on SC. I would say that the AA community came through for Biden in SC and subsequently. It looks to me like he had a plan and he stuck to it. He didn’t try to win the day or the week in the media, and he didn’t panic. Sort of like the Obama campaign in 2008.
SFAW
@danielx:
I think the Constitution does not care if the outgoing President has a hissy fit; the Inauguration will occur as prescribed, barring a coup by the Murderer-in-Chief. It seems highly unlikely that the armed forces would allow him to stage a coup. [Traitor Turtle would be OK with a coup, of course, but he doesn’t control the armed forces.]
Omnes Omnibus
@danielx: Once a new president is sworn in, his orders will have the same legal effect as yours or mine. None.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@danielx: The new congress will be sworn in on Jan 2 or 3. Assuming the Ds retain the House and especially if they also take the Senate, that would complicate any plans to ignore the presidential part of the November election.
Frankensteinbeck
@danielx:
Whether he respects the law is irrelevant. If he refuses to acknowledge the election and refuses to leave, he will be carried kicking and screaming out of the White House by the Secret Service, who do not work for him. They work for the Presidency, as defined by the system. The system will say Trump is no longer president.
If it comes down to a question of enforcement, who in the enforcement arm will take his side? The military won’t. The Secret Service won’t. The DC police won’t. No one likes Trump.
I am confident Trump has floated and will float the idea again among his advisers of ignoring the election, and like they did with arresting Obama and Hillary, he will be told that they literally, physically cannot do that.
Brachiator
@joel hanes:
This is fine. Sanders seems to realize the importance of defeating Trump, even if some of his supporters do not.
We can’t undo the past, but we can work to ensure a better future.
RobertDSC-Work
@planetjanet:
Trump Cult Nut Job.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@germy: Yes, yes they are and their philosophy of life seems to come down to ” I wanna, I wanna, I wanna and I don’t wanna, you can’t tell me what to do, waaaaaaaaaaa!” They refuse to understand that a working society relies on rules and standards many of them based on the public good(not individual FREEDUM), of course these days their Dear Leader gets away with only following the rules he wants and only applying the law and punishments to the people he wants to punish so of course he is their hero and role model…
Another Scott
@Omnes Omnibus: +1. The Majority Leader job is not a technocrat’s position. It’s someone who has the people skills to get legislation passed via whatever means necessary (plum assignments, fundraising, threats to support their opponents in primaries, whatever). Warren may be good at that, but not necessarily.
(It’s like superstar baseball players are rarely good team managers. It’s a different skill-set.)
Cheers,
Scott.
L85NJGT
Biden ran the table on Oregon delegates, and that’s a likely to continue going forward. So if there was a strategy of collecting delegates for leverage (or convention shit stirring), that snake is eating its own tail.
Interesting that 10% voted for Warren. She has a passionate base, but my guess is they skew to likely voters. If another candidate polls better among marginal voters (particularly in marginal states & districts), then I think that will be a significant factor in VP choice.
As I type this, the race is about pushing down ballot results, rather than squeezing out a POTUS and Senate win. Maybe that changes over the next five months, but that’s where we sit today.
danielx
@Brachiator:
@Omnes Omnibus:
I hope you’re right. I’ve been wrong before – in 2008 I was half convinced that Cheney would con Bush into coming up with some pretext for cancelling the inauguration because “our mission is too important to be interrupted by anything as inconsequential as a close election” or some such. Didn’t happen. But then neither Bush nor Cheney, as insane as their policies appeared, were afflicted with personality disorders to the same degree as Trump. (Okay, so Cheney was and is a megalomaniac.)
So again, I hope you’re right and the transition occurs with as little drama as possible. Though even if he does concede I could see Trump refusing to appear at the inauguration ceremony, among other things. If he does lose, count on one of his insufferable offspring trying for the nomination in 2024.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: I agree with what you wrote, but I think it would be more than historic, energizing and help in battleground states.
I see it more as a sign of respect. Acknowledgement, finally, that they are the most loyal and consistent base of the Democratic party and that it’s more than time to let a black woman lead.
Another Scott
@danielx: 1) When he’s no longer president, he has no power to resist leaving. 2) Donnie said he ‘brilliantly’ used bankruptcy laws. He’ll find a way to say that he’s the bestest and accomplished everything he wanted and leave. “Just say it and they’ll believe it – they just do.”
There are more important things to worry about, IMHO.
Cheers,
Scott.
Emma from FL
@danielx: Then the new President can remove him by force. He loses the election, he goes. One way or another.
Ruckus
@Baud:
In this case it might actually help their car sales…….
Dorothy A. Winsor
The stupid, it burns.
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: +1. We’re on the same page.
Cheers,
Scott.
The Moar You Know
@Brachiator: Any so-called “economist” who’s surprised that Americans would be spending their money on these things and not a new car or furniture is an ivory-tower asswipe who shouldn’t be allowed to ever to opine publicly about anything at all.
The state of economics in pre-pandemic America was this: most people – at least 70% – were a few hundred bucks away from being homeless and completely fucked.
NOW IT’S WAY WORSE.
Any “economist” who doesn’t start with that as the premise is selling you a bunch of bullshit.
Geminid
@WaterGirl: Schumer might just tell the Democratic Senate Caucus, “pick someone else if you think they can do better.” And they might just pick him again. The caucus must have seen something in Schumer because they jumped him over Dick Durban when Harry Reid retired.
trnc
@Jerzy Russian: Judging by the current experiment, Orwell/Beckett collaborations are the worst.
Betty Cracker
Election prediction models, like polls, are meaningless at this stage of the game, but here’s one I like (via CNN):
This is the sort of historical rebuke Trump deserves.
It doesn’t say why they left Florida off that list. Maybe because of the state-level 2018 results and penchant for cheating? My feeling is FL has more of a chance of flipping than OH, MO or NC. For one thing, it’s really tough for a tourism-based economy to come back from a pandemic or thrive in a Great Depression II, so conditions here will likely be even worse than other states.
Anyhoo, I know it doesn’t mean anything, but it’s heartening to think of Trump getting kicked to the curb with extreme prejudice. No one has ever deserved it more.
Betty Cracker
@The Moar You Know: Agreed. That’s basic Maslow’s hierarchy shit.
Another Scott
@The Moar You Know: I haven’t clicked the link, but I wonder if that “economist” notes that a big part of the Recovery Act was “cash for clunkers” – a program specifically designed to encourage auto sales….
Cheers,
Scott.
trnc
Well, if the loon represents DT and the eagle represents America, …
satby
@Another Scott: Thanks Scott!
Ruckus
@hells littlest angel:
So he’s going to steal other peoples songs and create the worst recording ever done, even worse than the two 7 yr old neighborhood kids who recorded their farts?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@hells littlest angel: I always though someone should put a beat to one of Trump’s grandpa with his pants on the floor briefing rambles and release it as the Sound Tract for the Corona Virus.
schrodingers_cat
Orange Morona is going to take the United States out of the Open Skies Treaty. He wants to kill us all.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
That’s not completely bad since that means there is pent up demand when it reopens. Assuming everyone just doesn’t decide “hey, I was just spending money like an idiot on shit I didn’t need”
Brachiator
@The Moar You Know:
Unfortunately, you have to go with the economists you have, not the economists you wish you had.
Too many economists were stuck in conventional thinking about the lockdown, looking at it the same way they looked at recessions. They also falsely viewed the checks sent to people as “stimulus” rather than maintenance.
But the best of them have been coming around, and are looking at the economy in new ways.
We are really going to need creative thinking to succeed in the post pandemic economy. And here, for example, economists and business reporters who talk about “getting back to normal” are as dumb as the economists who thought that people would be out buying cars with their stimulus checks.
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: A lot of people ardently want trials as a deterrent to actions like those the current administration has committed. I myself want to see a strong Attorney General and good U.S. Attorneys. A lot of Obama’s U.S. Attorneys, like Preet Bharara and Joyce Vance, can be brought back. And I want to see grand juries that focus on Trump’s money laundering and tax fraud. And then let the chips fall where they may. I suspect though that the smart perpetrators will slide by, and it will be the dumb ones who get prosecuted. Plenty of dumb ones, though. And the politicians who enabled Trump won’t be touched. But politicians care about winning and losing. Historic losses across the board is something they will understand, and can be powerful deterrent, in addition to delivering better government.
germy
Ruckus
@satby:
A while back Netflix used a MicroShit video program to play video. It sucked, as you may well imagine and would stop working, which meant you had to delete it and reinstall it. Then, in one of the many times in which it would do this in the middle of a program you were watching, it wouldn’t let me delete it. I called Netflix, told to call MicroShit. They wanted money to tell me how to delete their program from my computer so I could reload the program that Netflix had paid them for. I told them I could fix it better. I’d take my computer, that needed a MS operating system, out to the street and let a fucking semi run it over, and go to Apple and purchase a computer that didn’t have fucking MS products on it. That was 8 yrs ago and my computing life has gotten so much better not having fucking MicroShit involved in it. Apple isn’t perfect, nothing is, but it is far better than having MS involved in any way. MicoShit is the trump of computing.
Brachiator
@Betty Cracker:
As you note, prediction models at this stage are not especially useful, and predictions about the popular vote are doubly meaningless. Some Trump political strategists have conceded another popular vote defeat, and instead are focusing on swing states, voter suppression and another electoral college victory.
Trump is also betting big on ramping up the economy and getting a boost from China bashing and his America First nonsense.
However, these predictions are great news for the Democrats, who can certainly build on this.
germy
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
I love those. I once watched this whole presentation from a “body language expert” to predict a governor’s race. It wasn’t clear, but I think the premise was they already know, deep down, that they will lose and this is reflected in their body language. Complete crackpot. I watched the whole thing :)
Betty Cracker
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
We sort of had that realization. Our consumption of everything (except alcohol!) dropped sharply over the last two months since we’re worried about how the fallout might eventually affect our income, even though it hasn’t yet (knock wood).
We used to eat out and go to pubs fairly regularly. We haven’t for two months, and we don’t intend to resume any time soon either because the people around here are idiots and it won’t be safe.
I think it’s possible the last couple of months will change the way people think about spending and work in fundamental ways. Maybe in the long run, that will be a good thing.
Brachiator
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
RE: BTW, the data also indicates that higher income households that received checks didn’t spend the money at all, but increased their savings. For some of them, the checks were just free money.
Yes! I’m glad you caught that. There is a significant amount of pent up demand that could help boost the economy.
I’ve said before that I think that the recovery will be strong, even if highly asymmetrical. Some industries may be gone forever, or deeply hurt, but I still think that there will be a significant rebound.
Even the people who spent money on food and other essentials still have retained some of the stimulus money for future purchases.
And even though their actions are unwise from a health perspective, the fact that as the economy has re-opened people have spent money going to bars and on entertainment suggests that they are optimistic about the future of the economy, and consumer confidence is always an important indicator.
BTW: I wonder how many people, leery about using public transportation in a post-pandemic world, might buy a new or used car with their stimulus money.
MattF
@Brachiator: Also, exciting his base. Haven’t heard much lately about Evangelicals, except for an op-ed claiming that they aren’t concerned about the pandemic, because Paradise.
Betty Cracker
@germy: Here’s one of the replies, which I reprint here just so we can marvel at its hyper-obtuseness:
Speech. Less.
MattF
@Betty Cracker: It’s notable, though, that Gabbard has pretty much vanished. Cutbacks in Moscow?
J R in WV
@JPL:
My take is they should have two guys with those disinfectant shooters stand right behind Trump, showering everyone with whatever disinfectant those gadgets hose airline cabins with.
The best part would be watching his makeup drool off onto his “suit” as it dissolves.
Ruckus
@rikyrah:
Needs to be some method of making the mask conform to your nose. I use a pipe cleaner sewn in the upper outer layer of my masks, which have a layer of filter paper between two layers of cloth as the mask. The N95 masks I use at work have a piece of metal and foam over the nose to do this. I find the pipe cleaner actually more comfortable.
Betty Cracker
@MattF: I was genuinely surprised when she endorsed Biden.
catclub
I think in the standard way of UI, any ex-employee of a company who applies for UI is counted against said company, and the amount of UI insurance they are assessed. I bet this memory is deeply embedded:
“Find a way to NOT let deadbeat ex-employees cost me money”
The Moar You Know
@Ruckus: I would disagree vehemently. They both suck. I have to admin a mixed environment where users run both. When (not if) the MS stuff breaks it can usually be fixed. When (not if, but far more rarely) the Apple stuff breaks – almost always as a result of the user doing something incredibly stupid – you tell the user “so sorry” and reformat their fucking computer. Because that’s usually your only option. There are few repair tools out there for Apple’s OS.
My personal beef with Cupertino: Apple’s decade-plus propaganda program of insisting that their computers couldn’t get viruses and couldn’t be hacked has been incredibly effective – it’s resulted in a user base that has no idea of what security is and think that they can just do whatever they want and click on whatever they want with zero consequences.
Turns out security is a difficult concept to teach to people who have been told they’ll never need it. And I will still get Mac users who tell me there is no such thing as a virus for Apple.
Betty Cracker
@Uncle Cosmo: Foggy glasses are an annoyance to me too, and I haven’t tried the soap film thing either. When snorkeling or diving, we always spat in our masks and smeared that around to keep the fog away, and it worked okay, but I ain’t spitting on my glasses.
Brachiator
@MattF:
Evangelicals may get fired up if Trump gets more of his wildly unqualified picks confirmed as federal court judges. This will be bigly raised at Trump rallies.
Also, although the evangelicals loved Sarah Palin, I expect them to object vociferously if Biden picks a woman as his VP running mate, because they believe that women should be subordinate, etc. blah, blah, blah.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@WaterGirl: before we get into who the next Majority Leader (please god) should be, we should have a detailed discussion of what that job is and why Warren would be better than Schumer. Then move on to why we think Senators like Chris Coons, Tom Carper, Joe Manchin, Michael Bennet, Kyrsten Sinema, Jon Tester, Bob Casey, Bob Menedez and (again in the please god! category) John Hickenlooper, Barbara Bollier, Doug Jones, Cal Cunningham, Mark Kelly and Jaime Harrison are more likely to back Warren over Schumer.
I’ve never been a huge Schumer fan, but since Covid blew up, he seems pissed and at least in media appearances, more determined.
Mandalay
This is a beautiful idea, and also a political win on several levels:
Trump’s screwed if he goes along with this, and he’s screwed if he doesn’t. Oh well.
Emma from FL
@Betty Cracker: Christ on a Harley. Really? Non-entity Gabbard?
J R in WV
@Gin & Tonic:
How “good” the plain yogurt was isn’t relevant, if it didn’t contain the various cultured bacilli used to culture that plain yogurt you weren’t seeding a culture into the warm milk. The cultured bacteria is what counts.
Brachiator
@The Moar You Know:
Also, hackers went after Windows machines because there were more of them out there. But as Windows security got better, Apple devices began to look more enticing.
Yep. But I continue to be amazed at how stubbornly stupid people can be. I work with a lot of tax professionals, and our tech people do the heavy work and help with anti-virus efforts.
But when I talk to these folk, I try to tell them that should have a second PC or laptop that they use for gaming (or visiting adult sites), or that they let their children use. They should have a dedicated machine for tax and business purposes.
But when the techies scan customer machines, they typically find a bunch of them infected with all kinds of malware. It is just appalling.
Ruckus
From a standpoint of operational propriety – IOW the best way to make things work, to write laws to recover and protect us from this sort of crap happening again, we need to have smart people with vision about who, what, why, where and how. EW is one of those people and while she may have ideas about where she would like to be, using her skills seems to me to be best right where she is, the senate. Yes there may be a way to protect that seat from changing parties but if she stays there we then have a great person with vision and an amazing work ethic where we really need it. The elected members of the federal government, 537 people, run or ruin our lives, run our ruin our country, work together or do nothing positive. I don’t expect anything but shit out of the conservative side of the aisle and so far they’ve proven me correct. I’d like to see our side bigger and far better so we can get some reasonable lawmaking/law changing done. EW, I think, would be a great person to stay where she is and help make this a far better place. And I think her strengths would make that job easier for our side to accomplish.
Kay
@Mandalay:
I wonder if the spiking areas will get any attention or help now that President Trump has decreed the crisis has passed.
The Moar You Know
@Betty Cracker: I won’t go out for food at all. Not pickup or delivery. And it’s not because of the other patrons, although that will be an issue when that reopens here. It’s simply this; I’ve worked in a restaurant on several occasions in my life. Restaurant workers are dirt poor. Restaurant owners are CoC psychos. So you have dirt poor people who can’t leave a job but have no sick time.
No fucking way. I hate cooking, but by God nobody is cooking for for me and mine but me until we have that goddamn vaccine, or society decides to make restaurant work safe. Which will never happen in America, so vaccine it will be.
trnc
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
IIRC, those higher income individuals will be paying it back at tax time next year, assuming their income remains high because they’ve been able to keep working, but maybe that didn’t make it into the final bill.
J R in WV
@SFAW:
TheoCratic Nut Job, aimed at the more “religious” RWNJs out there, who claim to speak to Jesus on a daily basis, who tells them to hate on DemocRats.
I had a cousin I once loved like a brother who turned TCNJ after a massive head injury. We couldn’t be around him after that, even his sons rejected him, he died alone for the most part. Younger than I, smoked cigs, I guess Jesus didn’t tell him that was a deadly dangerous habit.
Brachiator
@trnc:
RE: BTW, the data also indicates that higher income households that received checks didn’t spend the money at all, but increased their savings. For some of them, the checks were just free money.
People who received stimulus checks will not have to repay anything, even if their 2020 Adjusted Gross Income is higher than the qualifying thresholds. It’s free money.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: I just put up a post about that.
laura
@rikyrah: wash your glasses in dish soap and air dry. Or shave cream. There’s also a automobile window cleaner called rain-X that is awesome in repelling water or fog buildup. Good luck!👍😉
Betty Cracker
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’m not generally in favor of primarying Dems who mostly vote the right way, but fuck Bob Menedez — that crooked piece of shit needs to go.
The Moar You Know
@Mandalay: Brilliant.
I live about a quarter-mile from a hotel. I finally noticed that the manager/operator of said hotel got tired of putting the flag down at half-mast for all our various shootings, catastrophes, etc, only to have to put it back up for a day or two and then having to do it again, so at some point in the last two years they said “fuck it” and have just left it at half-mast.
I agree with the sentiment. Fuck it. Leave that flag at half-mast. It kind of says it all about where we are as a nation.
Betty Cracker
@The Moar You Know: I hear you. We’re lucky in that we both genuinely enjoy cooking. But I do miss this place down the road that has a wonderful shrimp boil. I’ve made a passable imitation, but it’s not as good. :(
Kristine
@planetjanet: There’s this from the Urban Dictionary, but I’m not sure if it’s correct.
James E Powell
@MattF:
@rikyrah:
Yes, they still are. And I expect that once the campaign goes into high gear after Labor Day, they will go back to promoting & protecting him. “Economic anxiety” or some other press/media code for racism will be all over the news. The NYT will start running articles about how Trump is now a changed man, ready to be the president he promised to be. I will struggle to control my rage.
Lithwick is not a fool or a tool, but she definitely goes too soft on the press/media. I don’t see them as limited by systems and norms. As rikyrah points out, they would never do this for Obama or Clinton.
This something they only do for white male Republicans.
laura
@rikyrah: wash your glasses in dish soap and air dry. Or shave cream. There’s also a automobile window cleaner called rain-X that is awesome in repelling water or fog buildup. Good luck!👍😉
@Brachiator: right now, bike sales along with helmets and gloves are through the roof.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@James E Powell: I’ve been seeing a lot of view-from-nowhere stuff from Peter Baker (not surprising) and his lot, but also from Ari Melber, which may not surprise some, but I caught his show a couple of times this week after a couple of months, and I’d forgotten how irritating he can be, from his labored attempts at hipness and humor to his equally strenuous, “to be fair, all Secretraries of State host formal dinners….” Pompeo is such an obvious damn grifter (besides being an embarrassing racist and Xianist buffoon as SoS) and his wife is all the stuff of the GOP’s most fevered Hillary Clinton nightmares, I can’t believe how soft the coverage has been.
SteverinoCT
@rikyrah:
I use the wire from Chinese take-out boxes, because they are fairly heavy-gauge, and use them to make a nose-bridge. About 3″ of wire with a little loop on the ends so you don’t stab yourself. Slide it in the hem and tack it into place through the loops, and then you can bend it to make a snug fit. Voila! no exhaling beneath the eyes, so no fogging of the glasses. And they don’t slide down your nose. I do this with both my home-made masks, and the ones I just bought online.
ETA …or what everyone else said.
Brachiator
@James E Powell:
The press has been reluctant to ask scholars and historians straight out if Trump is unqualified.
And scholars and historians have been afraid to answer the question.
I think this is more than given a white male Republican a pass.
I think that many of them have been cowed and are afraid of a huge public backlash, and that the oligarchs might make it hard for them to continue their careers.
Ruckus
@The Moar You Know:
There are stupid people who believe anything that supposedly raises them above the whatever, makes them special.
I’ve had far fewer and less catastrophic issues with Apple than with any product that has anything to do with MS, like no catastrophic events – ever. I’ve had personal computers since the 70s and Apple has always served me better, far better. And no I’m not one of those who believes any computer is safe from viruses, any more than all humans are from live viruses. I’ve also run Unix boxes and their off shoots, one of which is Apple. So yes, I like Apple better because for me it has worked far, far better. YMMV.
Michael Cain
@Shalimar:
Better to be the VP if your boss gives you a relatively free hand on being the administration’s shepherd for Congress than to be a relatively junior senator (currently #64 overall, #33 in the Dems if I count correctly) who won’t get the chair of a major committee or an important position in leadership because of the emphasis placed on seniority.
tam1MI
@Emma from FL: the Republicans won’t attack Harris on her time as a prosecutor, what they will go after her – especially in the swing states – is her support of busing.
trnc
IMHO, that sucks. I’m not a deficit hawk and I would really like to see more spending by the feds on food programs, welfare, unemployment benefits, etc, but I don’t currently need this stimulus because I’m still able to work so I hate to see it get tacked onto the already enormous deficit created by the orange man-baby and his flunkies. We should first be clawing back the ridiculous 2018 tax cut to pay for some of this, too.
James E Powell
@Michael Cain:
I think VP is a big step down from senator, especially from senator who is chair of a committee that matters.
Because of Biden’s age – and for no other reason – many people want to see him pick an heir presumptive if not heir apparent. But the VP to president path has only worked once in a century or so, other than by the death or resignation of the president. (I’m excluding Nixon because it was not direct.)
My #1 interest is a VP that will increase the chances of a Biden victory and, we hope, a big Biden victory that sweeps us into control of the senate & house.
WaterGirl
@The Moar You Know: That’s how I feel, too, Underpaid workers, undervalued, no sick pay, most likely to have to use public transit to get to work. There’s no way anyone working in a restaurant kitchen could wash their hands as often as I do when I’m cooking.
Someone delivering cookies or baked goods or meals to my door? Sorry, not gonna eat them. If that means I am being too cautious, I can live with that.
trnc
Can’t go too wrong with “better safe than sorry,” but Covid is a respiratory disease that is passed along by breathing it or rubbing your eyes, but not by ingesting it, right? AFAIK, we can get it through improperly handled packaging, but not from the food itself. Yes, sick leave policy really needs an overhaul (or maybe to exist), but in terms of our own protection from food take-out, it’s the line cook with a stomach flu that we need to worry about more, not one with a respiratory ailment.
Correct me if I’m wrong. This is not intended to be a policy discussion – just my understanding about how Covid is transmitted.
WaterGirl
@trnc: How many people handle the food and/or packaging once it’s cooked? As they are packing it up? How healthy are those people and how good is their hygiene? I don’t have to wonder about any of that when I am eating dinner.
I let my non-perishable deliveries sit outside for at least a day.
edit: I went for my flu shot in mid-March, when we knew what was coming and I was already self-isolating because of that, except my doctor said I should go get the flu shot while I could. The pharmacist who was giving my shot sneezed or coughed while holding my paperwork in his hand. Right on the paperwork I had to sign. He didn’t wash his hands, didn’t use sanitizer, nothing. The pharmacist! I don’t make any assumptions about other people’s hygiene.
evodevo
@Betty Cracker: If she can be safely replaced by a Dem in the Senate, then OK…however, I’d rather see her as TreasSec, and/or Kamala Harris as AG lol
evodevo
@Betty Cracker: Yes. I deliver mail and can pretty well predict how people are doing by their package volume and the types of mail they get. When the Bush Depression hit in 2008-09, a LOT of the “shopping addicts” who worked for Toyota suddenly faced being furloughed and curtailed a large amount of their purchases – it was really noticeable. And they didn’t pick it back up, either, when the economy started to come back….they had gotten a big smack upside the head, and most learned from it. That was 10 years ago, and the ones I personally know have been very prudent ever since…
trnc
Just to make sure I understand, were you already avoiding restaurants and take-out food before Covid? All of the things you mentioned are obviously reasonable concerns, but they’ve always been true and they will be true long after there’s a Covid vaccine.
If we’re strictly talking about changing dining behavior based on Covid, it isn’t transmitted through food consumption. I just heard that again 3 minutes ago on CNN on one of their Q&A sessions with health professionals. If you move the food to your own containers and wash your hands, you should be in less danger from take-out food than from going into the grocery store.
However, good on you for being happy enough making your own meals, since that’s likely healthier in general than take-out.
Procopius
@Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]: I’m with you. Senator Professor Warren does more good in the Senate. I like her policies, although she doesn’t seem to have succeeded getting any of them into the first couple of
lootingfinancial aid packages. I don’t know if Massachusets law requires it, but when Sen. Ted Kennedy passed away the governor held a special election. Really, I want her to stay in the Senate.No One You Know
@Brachiator: One check is not much of a stimulus for households that are not so fortunate, either. That money’s been spent already for a lot of people. The wealth divide isn’t affected at all. It’s just delayed a month over so.