Come join us as the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally gets together tonight for some politics, food and drink.
We meet every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. Look for us in the back room of the pub beginning about 8pm.
Can’t make it to Seattle? There are hundreds of chapters of Living Liberally, including dozens in Washington state, a bunch in Oregon and even a few in Idaho.
Democratic party grapples with rising likelihood of Sanders as the nominee
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/24/bernie-sanders-democratic-party-nominee-2020
So far, Democratic moderates this cycle are as popular as JEB! was for the republicans.
I’m old enough to remember when Vietnam Veterans going apeshit and killing people or destroying things was common enough to be used as a punchline in comedy bits. It was ‘going postal’ before ‘going postal’.
War fucks people up.
Unaligned, right-leaning voters want:
– Big cuts to entitlement programs
– Taxpayer funding for private schools
– Restrictions on access to reproductive healthcare
– More cops who aggressively police poor communities
– Longer, more punitive jail sentences for minor drug offenses
– Punitive immigration policies that discourage immigration based on race and ethnicity
– Unrestricted access to high capacity military style firearms for all
– Prayer in public schools
– More sprawl in pursuit of cheaper land facilitated by more highway transportation subsidies
– Less attention to civil rights and equal protection.
They will not be voting for the Democratic Party nominee for President. In most cases they will not be voting for the Democratic candidate for Senate in their state. But in some cases they may vote for the Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives in their CD.
So the calculus is tricky. And it doesn’t get any easier. Getting rid of RapeHero will depend upon enough unaligned, left-leaning voters showing up to vote in November. Re-gaining the Senate does as well. But doing so puts some House races in some districts at risk. And if Democrats are successful that problem gets worse in 2022.
So getting rid of Trump, as important as that is, and as much as it depends upon putting the GOP in stark relief terms that unaligned voters can instantly relate to, is not enough. Democrats have to mobilize and leverage the activism of the base to provide support for House races in swing districts just the way Republicans have been doing it for decades. If Democrats emerge from 2020 victorious but factionalized they will go on to suffer big losses in subsequent mid terms.
SCOTUS to Decide Whether Foster Agencies Can Reject LGBTQ Parents — The case centers on the city of Philadelphia ending its contract with a Catholic agency that rejects prospective LGBTQ parents.
https://www.advocate.com/news/2020/2/24/scotus-decide-whether-foster-agencies-can-reject-lgbtq-parents
I liked this paraphrased internet comment
“I’d love to be a fly on the wall on some orphan’s 18th birthday, as some catholic priest shoves an orphan out the door because they’ve aged out.
“Good luck kid. Just so you know, we had loving families interested in adopting you over the years but because of way we cherry picked the scriptures of a badly translated book. we decided that because they were gay that we would would all burn in the underground eternity-furnace if we permitted it. So we instead denied you a loving family and the lifelong opportunity that provides and mentally fucked you for life and set you up for complete failure instead. Hope and prayers, bye bye! Don’t forget to tithe.””
I don’t see conservative families lining up to take the kids instead. Hypocrites.
How many kids did the racist incel or puddy adopt? They never admitted to any. (granted, if they parented the way they posted here, that would be possibly worse than aging out of foster care )
1,
As with Republicans in 2016, I don’t think it’s so much a question of popularity as it is a question of unity. So-called “moderate” Democrats are badly splintered right now, and most such primary voters seem to be lingering in “tasting” mode. We saw a very similar phenomenon in the 2016 GOP primary.
@2 “I’m old enough to remember when Vietnam Veterans were depicted in fictional movies and TV shows as going apeshit and killing people or destroying things”
ftfy
I, too, remember that; I also remember when nutjobs with easy access to AR-15s shot up schools, churches, outdoor concerts, and wherever else people gathered, except that’s not fiction.
Authorities expected a huge drug problem among returning Vietnam veterans — because so many did drugs in the war zone — but that didn’t happen. The “drug problem” in Vietnam was overrated, and once out of the war zone, the troops didn’t need drugs to cope, and simply stopped using them. The incidence of drug addiction among returned veterans was no higher than the general population.
https://www.history.com/news/drug-use-in-vietnam
In short, the notion of the drug-addled Vietnam vet is a myth created by the media and entertainment industry. (What isn’t a myth is the high incidence of PTSD among these veterans.)
The situation seems to be somewhat different today, because now it’s the military that’s stuffing soldiers full of pills, and more of them are returning to civilian life with drug dependencies.
https://nvf.org/veteran-substance-abuse-statistics/
There’s no arguing with “war fucks people up,” though. It certainly does. In every way imaginable. The costs to individuals, families, and society are incalculable.
“Larry Kudlow says US has contained the coronavirus and the economy is holding up nicely”
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/25/larry-kudlow-says-us-has-contained-the-coronavirus-and-the-economy-is-holding-up-nicely.html
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Larry Kudlow is, and always has been, full of shit. He’s a hot air machine. His boss doesn’t have a plan, doesn’t understand the virus (just yesterday likened it to “flu”), and the CDC — gutted by this administration — is now bracing for a U.S. epidemic. The stock market is more right about the outlook than Kudlow is. Listen to the stock market.
It seems Washington’s Republicans have their panties in a twist because they have to declare a party to vote in the primary. (Who cares? Your ballot is secret anyway.)
But I certainly understand why Republicans don’t want to admit being Republicans. If I were a Republican, I wouldn’t want my neighbors to know, either. Apart from having a Republican in their midst, they wouldn’t appreciate what it does to their property values.
@8. For what it’s worth, at 2:23 PM EST, the Dow is down another 3%, so Kudlow can say what ever he wants, but the people with money in the stock market are voting with their wallets.
@10 Kudlow said the virus is “contained.” Nobody believes him. Least of all the experts at CDC.
“Top U.S. public health officials said Tuesday that Americans should prepare for the spread of the coronavirus in communities across the country. ‘It’s not so much a question of if this will happen any more, but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness,’ Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the head of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said during a media briefing Tuesday. … She added that Americans need to prepare for disruptions to their daily lives, including school closings, working from home and delayed elective medical procedures, as efforts to contain and control the possible spread in the U.S. may accelerate in the coming weeks.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/americans-should-prepare-coronavirus-spread-u-s-cdc-says-n1142556
“’We are asking the American public to work with us to prepare for the expectation that this could be bad,’ a top CDC official told reporters in a conference call ….”
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/25/cdc-outlines-what-closing-schools-businesses-would-look-like-in-us-pandemic.html
Behold the unique confluence of the charter schools movement and hyper-militarized police:
https://youtu.be/e_7_huMD76I
Is this in the deep South? Yes. Of course it is. But the dehumanization of children of color is something that happens in every state, although perhaps not quite to this degree.
Officer Turner, who bragged that the arrest of the six-year-old was a new personal record, processed the minor child on a charge of misdemeanor battery. He also arrested and attempted to charge another six-year-old child at the same charter academy the same day in an unrelated incident, but LE superiors were able to intervene and put a stop to it.
No official or employee at the school was willing or available to sign an affidavit supporting the charge. So the officer signed it himself and named an employee. The named employee denied making any statement supporting the charge. The officer is now fired. While employees of the charter academy expressed concern about the arrest of the sobbing hysterical child, no one was willing to raise any objection.
12 brings up another opportunity to develop perspective on the celebratory hip thrusting of clownsurvatard idiots like bot-farm pussy over the appointment of Fed Soc approved “textualists” to the federal bench.
What legal doctrine protects this police officer and his agency from civil or criminal legal consequence arising from this blatant misuse of the power of arrest? The same legal doctrine that protects a Coffey County Georgia Sheriff’s Deputy from legal consequence for the shooting of an unarmed ten-year-old child lying face down on the floor of her own living room. The same legal doctrine that protects a Texas state investigator from legal consequence for forcibly strip searching and photographing the naked body of a four-year-old child without a warrant, exigent circumstances, or probable cause.
It’s the legal doctrine of qualified immunity. And in short it basically says that a law enforcement officer cannot be held in any way liable for anything they do while acting in their official capacity so long as there exists any uncertainty about the legality of what they do – AND – that any such uncertainty need only exist in the mind of the law enforcement officer alone.
Qualified immunity is a highly interpretive doctrine having absolutely no basis in any prior text. It was created in the midst of the civil rights era by the Warren Court as a minimal standard for testing 4th and 14th amendment claims against brutal police agencies going to war against the communities they were sworn to protect and serve. But it immediately thereafter underwent restrictive modification. Again, none of which was in any way rooted in text or precedent. But all of which was instead motivated entirely by judicial concern for burdens being placed upon law enforcement heavily engaged in “wars” against US communities.
It’s pretty fairly argued that were federal judges, having been remade in the image of Fed Soc “textualists”, convinced of a need to reform such doctrine to more closely conform to original intent, that the legal barrier facing some person of color deliberately gassed by an over zealous, demonstrably racist bicycle cop would be greatly reduced, the legal consequences to that cop greatly increased, and the incentives for that cop’s employer to clean up her act greatly increased. I’d argue that in this day and age, removal of the protections afforded by QI would do more to advance the interests of civil rights than any court packing scheme.
Because constitutional “textualism” is not at all what stupid bot-farm pussies think it is. Remember, a pregnant woman doesn’t need a “constitutional right to privacy” to take two pills if government has no legitimate public interest in regulating what pills your doctor prescribes beyond safety and therapeutic efficacy.
“US health officials say coronavirus will likely cause a global pandemic” — CNBC
But the death rate is low, around 1% – 3%, based on available data, so this probably won’t kill off your stupid species. It’s not the asteroid the rest of Earth’s life forms have been patiently awaiting, and we rabbits have to wait a while longer to take over and put right the coral reefs and everything else you stupid humans fucked up.
@13 “Original intent” was that people of color were subhuman, chattel property, and contented to be in chains performing hard labor without pay. No wonder Republicans like “original intent” so much, preferably unmodified by the Civil War Amendments. Some of them still won’t recognize General Lee’s surrender …
Longtime Disney CEO Bob Iger is out. Abruptly. Without explanation.
“Hot Pockets heiress Michelle Janavs was sentenced to five months in prison on Tuesday for her paying a fixer to get her daughters into the University of Southern California.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hot-pockets-heiress-sentenced-5-months-prison-role-college-admissions-n1142776
Roger Rabbit Commentary: When you’re born to wealth, it’s perfectly natural to think you’re special, and it’s gotta be a real shock to learn rules apply to you, too. She’s probably asking her lawyer, “How did that happen?” After all, being above the law is the whole point and purpose of being rich.*
* Remember the Medina cop who wrote Bill Gates a speeding ticket? He doesn’t work there anymore.
@17
For maybe $100K over four years of high school she could have bought some really incredible tutors and test prep folks. What do you want to bet these kids were far more interested in careers as influencers rather than use their incredible amount of privilege to actually do some work and get into a top school.
And she was cheating to get them into not top 20 USC and Ivy League level tuition for not even the third most prestigious University in California?
Fuckin’ Rich people….smh.
I guess you want to tell me I’m wrong. I guess you don’t want to have to address this as it should be addressed, and pass it off as his lack (perceived) of support of the Black community.
“I just don’t see him spending time trying to convince people to accept his sexuality. Nothing he says is going to matter unless they have a change of heart,” Jenkins said. “What I hear is a man who seems to care about all people, truly is guided by his integrity, his principles in life and his spirituality.”
There’s your response to tonight’s question.
Oh?
Yale University researcher Alison Galvani, author of Lancet study on healthcare financing says Medicare for All as laid out by Bernie Sanders will likely more than pay for itself in the savings of $450B/yr compared to what taxpayers fund the current healthcare system through direct government spending.
“No one ever asks how we will pay for a tax cut…”
20,
bot-farm pussy grieves for the loss of expense account tit jobs for pharma reps. More than ever regrets throwing away the best years of his life for a white coat and twenty years of min wage. At least the was a Range Rover waiting at the end of that long smelly line of homeless taint scabs.
@ 20
Everyone opposed to a tax cut always asks this question>
Who Will Pay for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act? | Tax Policy Centerwww.taxpolicycenter.org › taxvox › who-will-pay-tax-cuts-and-jobs-act
Jan 2, 2018 – The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) will cut taxes by almost $1.5 trillion over the next decade, largely benefiting corporations, pass-through …
Paying for Tax Cuts? – Foundation for Economic Educationfee.org › articles › paying-for-tax-cuts
Sep 3, 2010 – “How will we pay for the tax cut?” I laugh when I hear that question because it’s so obviously illogical. If the government were to cut taxes, say, …
When #WallStreetPete comes in fourth, or maybe fifth, in the South Carolina race, his distance from first won’t be because he’s gay.
A part of his distance from the next higher finisher might be because he’s gay.
Or because he’s an opportunist and isn’t very good at being one.
I wonder if Third-Tier Red knows @ 10 that for every investor with money who sold today, there was an investor with money who bought today.
the Dow is down another 3%, so Kudlow can say what ever he wants, but the people with money in the stock market are voting with their wallets.
Maybe if it were put in pitcher-catcher terms he’d be more likely to understand.
@23 at least you didn’t denounce the fact of the matter.
Local government will, when tens of thousands of meth-addicted unemployed arm fishermen and their common law sister-wives arrive from Red Murika to camp on their streets.
All Republicans except Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) voted for a bill banning abortion after 20 weeks,
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/25/anti-abortion-bills-fail-to-advance-in-senate-vote-117475
Moscow Mitch’s Associate Justice Gang Rape strategy still paying off fifteen months later.
@24 Watching this, I feel like a kid in a candy store. No, I’m not there to put candy back on the shelf. I’m going to stuff my pockets with it.
By the way, doc, I see your zero-dividend trick-pony portfolio is down 10% since last Thursday. Since none of my companies have cut their dividends, my income is still the same and is about to get larger.
Fear and greed are the only emotions on Wall Street. Right now, COVID19 is driving the Fear Express. For those with a time frame grater than a year, this time is great for adding to your portfolio.
@29 Thanks for the advice. You must’ve just read what Warren Buffett has been drilling into everybody for the last, oh, 60 years. Better late than never.
More genuine, I’d say, than a bunch of other fucks on that stage tonight.
I didn’t watch the debate because of another commitment (not DL — I haven’t been there in years), but CNN’s Chris Cillizza ranked Mayor Pete as the night’s big winner. He said,
“The former South Bend, Indiana, mayor was at his absolute best in this debate. … If voters were looking for a Sanders alternative who looked like he could be commander in chief in this debate, Buttigieg made a very good case for himself.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/25/politics/who-won-south-carolina-debate/index.html
Unless, of course, he runs out of money and/or gets creamed on Super Tuesday.
The commander-in-chief thing is my issue with Warren — much as I like her, I just can’t see her in that role. I like her fine in the Senate or Supreme Court (although she’s a little old for SCOTUS).
I love Bloomberg’s ads (“Donald Trump cheats at golf”), but I can’t see myself voting for him. Plus he’d get slaughtered in a debate with Trump. He’s weak.
Biden? Love the guy’s record, but too many stumbles. Klobuchar? Doesn’t have staying power, will be out by March 10.
If Buttigieg doesn’t starve of money, and shows he can pull in black voters, he’s very much in the game and could become the last Sanders alternative left standing. I haven’t ruled out voting for him.
I love Bernie as a person. B-u-u-u-t … I don’t want to lose to Trump.
My worthless son has moved into my basement again.
@33 Charge him rent, so he doesn’t shoot the money into his veins.
30
Where do you think Buffett got his ideas?
@35 Benjamin Graham.
Barr apparently has defied a federal appeals court order in an immigration case with implications for the viability of Marbury v. Madison.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/02/12/a-conservative-judge-draws-a-line-in-the-sand-with-trump-administration-114185
Important point, this judge is Fed Soc approved strict textualist.
When asked to weigh the plain meaning of statute against the interpretive rule making authority of the executive branch, he goes with text and statute and rejects rule making that expands or alters executive authority beyond the text in the statute.
Political conservatives who understand what this means (not the bot-farm pussy) agree that this judicial philosophy restores authority and responsibility for laws to the legislative branch. And they are happy about that in so far as the structure of the Senate combined with the filibuster gives rural state conservative lawmakers disproportionate legislative power.
But only so long as they have the filibuster.
32,
Overall I was disappointed. I thought it was a crap format poorly moderated. What might have been a chance for Democrats, and particularly moderate Democrats, to make their case for bi-partisan unity with respect to policy ideas and legislative goals instead devolved into shouting, pointing, and accusations.
A very important opportunity was lost here for moderate or centrist Democrats. If they are sincere in their ideology then they face a real challenge in terms of making a unified case to the voters and coalescing around policy if not around a single candidate. The kinds of primary voters they are hoping to attract are not yet convinced of their sincerity and authenticity. And that’s why so many of those primary voters are lingering in tasting mode and unwilling to commit. With more and more states offering early voting opportunities that failure to gain commitment is costing these candidates.
The strategy of hoping to emerge from the primaries without having been defined in precise policy terms is a bad one if it leaves too many voters feeling doubts about the candidate’s authenticity. And not for nothing, it is precisely the strategy employed by Hillary Clinton four years ago.