Rooting around the Inner Tubes, it seems that the general consensus of observers about the first Democratic Primary Debate is about like mine: Warren and Booker did best, Castro and De Blasio had their moments but it won't do them much good, Beto underperformed by quite a bit, and the others were as unremarkable as expected.
Tomorrow night we have Joe Biden, Michael Bennet, Pete Buttigieg, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, John Hickenlooper, Bernie Sanders, Eric Swalwell, Marianne Williamson, and Andrew Yang. Biden, Harris and Sanders will, I presume, be the likely leaders, and Butigieg may do less well than expected.
Cory Booker is damned near a wholly owned subsidiary of Big Pharma. He may be able to speak well, but he is hollow inside. I don't like him, I don't want to vote for him. He helped wipe out Bernie's bill to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription prices. I have not forgotten that because in *the same period* our prescription costs TRIPLED.
US generates more electricity from renewables than coal for first time ever [Click] “In April, renewables provided 23% compared to coal’s 20%. ‘The fate of coal has been sealed. The market has spoken. The trend is irreversible now, the decline of coal is unstoppable despite Donald Trump’s rhetoric.’”
The decline of coal has more to do with availability of cheap fracked natural gas than with renewables. But the continuing growth of renewables emphasizes that this decline is not a temporary effect of one factor.
Quite so. I continue to wonder when carbon neutral liquid fuels will attract attention in the public press; maybe when significant industrial scale plants are operating. Those seem like a good bridge technology, and they utilize much of the existing infrastructure and technology. After that, electrolytic hydrogen. From an (well, my) engineering point of view, batteries simply don't seem satisfactory for public transport in the long haul.
The thing they *refuse* to acknowledge is that freedom of religion means YOU have the freedom to practice your religion. It does NOT mean you have the right to force others to live according to *your religious beliefs*. Perfect illustration: Orthodox Jews are forbidden to eat pork but they don't forbid EVERYONE from eating it.
Food for thought: Slate on Bernie’s and Warren’s college debt forgiveness plans [Click] I am once again struck by the large amounts of graduate student debt. In my day it was rare as far as I know. Professors got tenure for publications and graduate students did most of the research for those publications. If the graduate students didn’t get enough support in the form of teaching and research assistantships, the research didn’t get done and the professors didn’t get tenure. So the professors saw to it that the graduate students had adequate (not luxurious) support. But that was in the sciences, not in anything like law or business school. (Really, what kind of basic research can be done in those fields? They seem much more like a continuation of undergraduate education.) Banks always pushed loans on medical students, but there are ways to avoid that.
I agree, Bill. I have the stream on pause at the moment, but here are a couple of observations.
Bernie, Biden and Harris all had good openings, all hit DT right out of the gate. Biden shows his familiarity with the format.
Quite a while later Harris REALLY RIPPED BIDEN A NEW ONE on busing.
The moderators need cones of silence to lower over each candidate--some don't need it, but some sure do. I thought Get Smart was an NBC program--shouldn't they have some cones of silence in the warehouse?
Williamson, Hickenlooper, Bennet, Swallwell, and Yang are all minor candidates and it looks to me like they will stay that way.
Gillibrand is a terrible buttinsky, who shows no respect for the moderators or other candidates. Seems to largely be a single-issue candidate. She talks a lot about getting big money out of politics, but as memory serves me she was quick to cozy up to Wall Street fat cats.
I think Pete did an adequate job; he didn't do himself any harm. He surely expected and had thought about the officer involved shooting in South Bend. He got it out of the way and could proceed to other things.
Harris was better than I expected; she had her body language under control this time.
So, who do I think got out of these two debates in good condition? Warren, Booker, Bernie, Biden, Harris and Pete. I expect Pete and Joe will fade before Super Tuesday. I think it was Jim Clyburn who expressed surprise that Harris and Booker were not more popular in South Carolina, but they have time to fix that. I was thinking of voting at the earliest time so that I could say I had voted before the caucuses in Iowa, if only a few hours earlier. Now I am beginning to think I might wait until after South Carolina reports.
Rooting around the Inner Tubes, it seems that the general consensus of observers about the first Democratic Primary Debate is about like mine: Warren and Booker did best, Castro and De Blasio had their moments but it won't do them much good, Beto underperformed by quite a bit, and the others were as unremarkable as expected.
ReplyDeleteTomorrow night we have Joe Biden, Michael Bennet, Pete Buttigieg, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, John Hickenlooper, Bernie Sanders, Eric Swalwell, Marianne Williamson, and Andrew Yang. Biden, Harris and Sanders will, I presume, be the likely leaders, and Butigieg may do less well than expected.
Reflecting on Cory Booker this morning, I must say that he is a true orator; I like that.
ReplyDeleteCory Booker is damned near a wholly owned subsidiary of Big Pharma. He may be able to speak well, but he is hollow inside. I don't like him, I don't want to vote for him. He helped wipe out Bernie's bill to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription prices. I have not forgotten that because in *the same period* our prescription costs TRIPLED.
DeleteHere is Vox’s analysis of Bokker & Big Pharma. [Click] The most interesting idea is the nationalization of politics due to the death of local newspapers.
DeleteWhat If Teachers Didn’t Focus So Much on Individual Achievement? [Click]
ReplyDeleteSCOTUS blocks citizenship question from census, [Click] claims it is inappropriate for it to take on gerrymandering. [Click]
Streaming TV is about to get very expensive – here's why [Click]
US generates more electricity from renewables than coal for first time ever [Click] “In April, renewables provided 23% compared to coal’s 20%. ‘The fate of coal has been sealed. The market has spoken. The trend is irreversible now, the decline of coal is unstoppable despite Donald Trump’s rhetoric.’”
Guy Verhofstadt: Boris Johnson’s talk of ‘global Britain’ is about to look even more ridiculous [Click]
The decline of coal has more to do with availability of cheap fracked natural gas than with renewables. But the continuing growth of renewables emphasizes that this decline is not a temporary effect of one factor.
DeleteQuite so. I continue to wonder when carbon neutral liquid fuels will attract attention in the public press; maybe when significant industrial scale plants are operating. Those seem like a good bridge technology, and they utilize much of the existing infrastructure and technology. After that, electrolytic hydrogen. From an (well, my) engineering point of view, batteries simply don't seem satisfactory for public transport in the long haul.
Delete‘Religious Liberty’ – Not Just for Gay Cakes Anymore [Click] This is bad.
ReplyDeleteThe thing they *refuse* to acknowledge is that freedom of religion means YOU have the freedom to practice your religion. It does NOT mean you have the right to force others to live according to *your religious beliefs*. Perfect illustration: Orthodox Jews are forbidden to eat pork but they don't forbid EVERYONE from eating it.
DeleteIt's rather like the way of thinking that brought about the Civil War: "Let's compromise; you do everything our way."
DeleteExactly the way Republicans govern today.
DeleteInside Joe Biden’s Haunted Legacy in Iraq [Click]
ReplyDeleteDang. Currently having a well developed optical migraine. No pain, but it makes reading very difficult.
ReplyDeleteOuch (figuratively). My wife has those occasionally. She was initially diagnosed with a detached retina before they figured out what was going on.
DeleteFood for thought: Slate on Bernie’s and Warren’s college debt forgiveness plans [Click] I am once again struck by the large amounts of graduate student debt. In my day it was rare as far as I know. Professors got tenure for publications and graduate students did most of the research for those publications. If the graduate students didn’t get enough support in the form of teaching and research assistantships, the research didn’t get done and the professors didn’t get tenure. So the professors saw to it that the graduate students had adequate (not luxurious) support. But that was in the sciences, not in anything like law or business school. (Really, what kind of basic research can be done in those fields? They seem much more like a continuation of undergraduate education.) Banks always pushed loans on medical students, but there are ways to avoid that.
ReplyDeleteAlabama: pregnant woman shot in stomach is charged in fetus's death [Click] “Marshae Jones was charged with manslaughter, while the woman accused of shooting her walks free, report says.” Excuse me; is this “conservative?”
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like _everybody_ supports, if not full Medicare for All, at least a public option.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Bill. I have the stream on pause at the moment, but here are a couple of observations.
ReplyDeleteBernie, Biden and Harris all had good openings, all hit DT right out of the gate. Biden shows his familiarity with the format.
Quite a while later Harris REALLY RIPPED BIDEN A NEW ONE on busing.
The moderators need cones of silence to lower over each candidate--some don't need it, but some sure do. I thought Get Smart was an NBC program--shouldn't they have some cones of silence in the warehouse?
Back to watching.
My mistake--the cones of silence would be in the CBS warehouse.
DeleteWilliamson, Hickenlooper, Bennet, Swallwell, and Yang are all minor candidates and it looks to me like they will stay that way.
ReplyDeleteGillibrand is a terrible buttinsky, who shows no respect for the moderators or other candidates. Seems to largely be a single-issue candidate. She talks a lot about getting big money out of politics, but as memory serves me she was quick to cozy up to Wall Street fat cats.
I think Pete did an adequate job; he didn't do himself any harm. He surely expected and had thought about the officer involved shooting in South Bend. He got it out of the way and could proceed to other things.
Harris was better than I expected; she had her body language under control this time.
So, who do I think got out of these two debates in good condition?
Warren, Booker, Bernie, Biden, Harris and Pete.
I expect Pete and Joe will fade before Super Tuesday.
I think it was Jim Clyburn who expressed surprise that Harris and Booker were not more popular in South Carolina, but they have time to fix that.
I was thinking of voting at the earliest time so that I could say I had voted before the caucuses in Iowa, if only a few hours earlier. Now I am beginning to think I might wait until after South Carolina reports.
Thanks for the remark about Gillibrand being a buttinsky. As a listener, I couldn't attribute all the overtalking voices to a specific person.
Delete