Saturday, January 11, 2020

Winter Field


37 comments:

  1. Bernie on The Late Show last night [Click] Well, night before last for you all back east; out here it is still Friday for another two hours.

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    1. We watched it Thursday night!
      He did GREAT!!!!

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    2. Yes, pretty darn good! I keep wondering about who would be be the best running mate for him. I think it can't be a nonentity because of his age; one would first look in the ranks of current or recent senators and governors, but might look farther. Geographical balance isn't as big an issue as it used to be. A woman, a non-caucasian, or both ought to bring in new and infrequent voters. And someone with compatible political views would be a necessity. There can't be many people who check all those boxes. A good and stable cabinet would go a long ways in compensating for administrative experience. Maybe an early announcement of major cabinet officers would be helpful on the campaign trail. All very premature speculation, but I can't help it.

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    3. I remember my Political Science 1 instructor saying that as a practical matter there are no more than half a dozen people in the United States who are capable of becoming President. That seem to still be the case after all these years.

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    4. I still like Abrams for VP. She's young enough, non Caucasian, female and exciting. What she lacks in experience IMO she makes up for in smarts. After a term or maybe two (if his health permits) as Bernie's veep, she'd be ready to serve on her own account.

      I think laying out the cabinet is a swell idear, not premature at all. He needs to show that he is serious and organized, also that he is, has the cant phrase has it, ready to go on Day One. This isn't a popularity contest. Bernie needs to demonstrate in as much detail as possible exactly how he plans to address day-to-day problems faced by the man on the street. Trump's all hot air and bullying. Bernie can't differentiate himself from Trump any better than by being practical and specific. How is he going to improve life for long haul truckers, coal miners, widows on Food Stamps, inner city youth whose housing and schools are crumbling around them and who can't find work, so gangs seem like the only choice?

      Maybe he can even own this bullshit name of Crazy Bernie. It's been done before. Turn the bully's taunt against him.

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    5. I sure like Abrams too. She has experience in the Georgia legislature, so knows how such institutions work. A good cabinet courtesy of Bernie and she should be ready to go if need be. And her background in voter rights and recruitment would be a big positive in this campaign.

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    6. Bernie can't announce his cabinet since they would need Senate confirmation, and it's all too easy for the Republicans to vow that so and so will never be confirmed.

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    7. But if Democrats gain control of the Senate, what Republicans say doesn't matter.

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    8. Well, Bernie can't name cabinet choices in advance of the election because the Republicans are still in charge of the Senate and we won't know if the Senate gets flipped until the election. But he can, of course, name them after he's elected.

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    1. Oh my goodness! That's wonderful news!

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    2. I gather that circumstances [i.e. Brexit] combined with pressure from voters, the Irish Taoiseach, and the UK Minister for Ireland combined forced the issue. The parties were given a figleaf in the form of a "suggested" agreement. A "suggestion" of the sort one cannot refuse...

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  3. Biden Holds Wide Lead Among Black Democrats
    January 11, 2020 By Taegan Goddard

    A Washington Post-Ipsos poll finds Joe Biden is far and away the favored Democratic presidential candidate for black Americans with 48%, boosted by his personal popularity, his service in the Obama administration and perceptions that he is best equipped to defeat President Trump. Bernie Sanders occupies second place at 20 percent, while Elizabeth Warren runs third at 9 percent. Pete Buttigieg is at just 2 percent among black Democratic voters nationally.

    I figure that puts Bernie in the running; public perceptions of “electability” often change dramatically after Iowa and New Hampshire. I hope the voters in those states who are dithering simply vote for whom they like, rather than trying to guess who is “most electable.” Remember that at this stage Obama wasn’t “electable,” and had low support among Black voters.

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  4. Trump Refuses to Pull Troops from Iraq [Click] This might not be a great initial negotiating position given that it rejects the basis of their invitation. Iraqi politics might well reward an administration that ejects the US negotiators from the country if that is their position.

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  5. ”Unparalleled privilege:” Why white “evangelicals” see Trump as their savior [Click] I dare say that calling such sectarians “conservative” rather than “radical” is not accurate. And I gather that what they deride as “political correctness is actually democracy.

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    1. But that's how they take over, normalizing extremism. And it doesn't take long. Some forty years ago, the Moral Majority and the 700 Club were derided as kooky religious radicals. And they were rational moderates compared to today's lunatic fringe, which is accepted as mainstream conservatism. I don't know how it happened, or if at this stage it can be reversed. But people who revere Trump, no matter what they may think about it themselves, are neither Christian nor Conservative.

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    2. Heaven knows I cannot speak authoritatively, Cat, but that's my estimate as well. As a matter of fact, I asked God about it this morning and She agreed. [very slight grin]

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  6. I see that one of the Puerto Rico Earthquakes [Click] reached intensity VII. Odd that I haven’t heard anything about a US Government response of any kind. Odd. Sure.

    Intensity VI: Felt by all, many frightened. Some heavy furniture moved; a few instances of fallen plaster. Damage slight.

    Intensity VII: Damage negligible in buildings of good design and construction; slight to moderate in well-built ordinary structures; considerable damage in poorly built or badly designed structures; some chimneys broken.

    Intensity VIII: Damage slight in specially designed structures; considerable damage in ordinary substantial buildings with partial collapse. Damage great in poorly built structures. Fall of chimneys, factory stacks, columns, monuments, walls. Heavy furniture overturned.

    The intensity scale goes up to XII.

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    1. The US government declared a state of emergency after the first Puerto Rico earthquake. Follow-up actions haven't been publicized in sites I follow.

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    2. Thanks, Bill. I wouldn't want to be unfair, but I hadn't noticed that.

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    3. Alan where are you seeing magnitude 7? I’m seeing 6.4 at USGS.

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    4. Not magnitude 7, but Intensity VII. Magnitude is a measure of the energy released. If it is deeper in the earth (among other things), the movement at the surface (the intensity) will be less. There are other systems (the Japanese system, for instance), but the US and a lot of other countries use the Modified Mercalli intensity scale [Click]

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    5. But has the US Gov't declared PR a disaster area yet? That's what's needed.

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  7. NYT opinion columnist: Of Course Bernie Can Win; To say Sanders is unelectable is indefensible.. [Click] I’m not sure I completely agree with the analogy, but all analogies are imperfect. The conclusion certainly works for me. BTW, the link to the full column works for me—evidently the opinion columns at the NYT are not behind a paywall.

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    1. A couple of ideas from the column:

      “To energize African-American support, he could choose Eric Holder or Stacey Abrams as his running mate.” Eric Holder? There’s an idea. (Reviewing him on Wokipedia, I am not sure it is a good idea, but it is the sort of thing that would appeal to the evident right-wing proclivities of the author.

      “The easiest move in American politics is to show yourself to be less scary than your caricature. Ronald Reagan’s devastating ‘There you go again’ line against Jimmy Carter can be a Sanders quip, too.”

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  8. Re the last thread, as far as Iran looking better than the U.S.: Sadly, that's not hard these days.

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  9. The National Nurse Act has 218 cosponsors as of this morning!!!

    Teri Mils sure deserves a Howardly!!!

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    1. If you can believe it, that might not be the last required broomstick. 218 cosponsors guarantees the bill will pass when it comes to the floor. But first it has to have a hearing in committee. And the chair of said committee is sitting on it. The only way he can be forced to let it out of committee is for it to have 270 cosponsors. So ... onward. I could just scream.

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    2. If it can't be now, I almost hope it's not until next year. That way Bernie can sign it into law instead of DT.

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  10. NYT: Bloomberg Is Open to Spending $1 Billion [Click]

    “While I certainly would disagree with Bernie on an awful lot of things, if it’s Donald Trump vs. Bernie, I would support Bernie.”
    — Michael Bloomberg, quoted by CBS News.

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  11. Report Pokes More Holes In Dubious Claim Soleimani Was Plotting ‘Imminent’ Attack [Click] “The Trump administration's justifications for killing the top Iranian general keep changing. The facts don't.”

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    1. "The trouble with telling lies is that you can't remember how you told them before."

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  12. Giant, Mysterious Blobs Are Lurking at the Edge of Earth’s Core [Click] Not news completely, but it seems we are learning more about them, and as we learn more, the more interesting they become.

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