Mar 062020
 

It’s a tired day here in the CatBox.  It has been so muggy that I have slept poorly.  The powdered pills in apple sauce is working well, as long as I add a Splenda packet.  Thank God it’s Friday!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:10 (average 4:54).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: As former Vice President Joe Biden won state after state on Tuesday night, the accusations flew: The Establishment stole the election from Sen. Bernie Sanders. Former rival and current campaign surrogate Marianne Williamson called it “a coup,” in a now-deleted tweet. Another prominent Sanders booster said the “party brass” “wants to foist Biden on the party.” This disrespect for voters needs to stop.

It’s pretty clear that large chunks of the Democratic establishment, however you define it, didn’t want to see Bernie win. But whatever those chunks of that establishment did to block him wasn’t done in some back room conspiracy. It was done out in the open by the most basic, routine of means: in the wake of a big win in South Carolina that suggested Biden was the strongest non-Bernie candidate, two of his competitors dropped out and endorsed him. Some other prominent people endorsed him. And then the voters in 14 states had their say, and it wasn’t good for Sanders—and the fact that that’s all it took to give Biden a surge of this magnitude is something that all of us who were supporting other candidates have to reckon with, seriously.

The real engine for Biden’s comeback was built from voters. That started with the overwhelmingly black voters of South Carolina—people too many Sanders supporters have been eager to dismiss and denigrate, now as in 2016, but certainly not billionaires buying an election or shadowy operatives rigging, well, anything—but it didn’t stop there. While Sanders had built admirable strength among Latino voters and younger voters, he didn’t expand his support enough.

I have to agree with this author with one caveat. What drove voters on Super Tuesday to what they considered a “safe” choice is fear of a Trump second term far too intense to take a chance the more beneficial, but more radical policies of Bernie and Liz. Furthermore, Bernie has done little to broaden his base beyond the coalition that he lost with in 2016, so even though I support him, now that  Liz has withdrawn, I do not consider him the likely nominee.  RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: A resident of Washington, D.C., has been identified as the source of the community spread of coronavirus misinformation throughout the United States.

Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday that the man had ignored the advice of public-health experts and spewed a toxic strain of ignorance, potentially infecting millions.

The man, believed to be a fact-resistant organism, travelled last week to South Carolina, where he came in contact with thousands of people who, as a result of community spread, now believe that coronavirus is a hoax.

The epidemic of cluelessness expanded last night, when the man called in to a Fox News television program to encourage people with coronavirus to go to work rather than stay at home, as scientists have urged.

Andy is reporting straight news again. Would anyone like to guess the identity of this idiot?  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Shirelles Will you still love me tomorrow (Top Quality + Lyrics)

Ah… the memories!  RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

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Super Tuesday or Pooper Tuesday

 Posted by at 10:31 am  Politics
Mar 042020
 

Well, I trust you have already surmised that I am are not Happy with the Super Tuesday primary results.  I have come to the same conclusion about most of you.  I blame Jim Clyburn, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and Beto O’Rourke for the size of Biden’s win.  I also blame young Americans who sat out the primaries en masse.  I guess they had something better to do, like playing on social media.  Shame!

0304Delegates

Well, it’ll still be days or weeks before we have the full vote total in California, and it’s still too close to call in Maine, but with Texas now in the win column for Biden, this evening’s top-line takeaway is even clearer: Biden mounted a comeback and won Super Tuesday.

In total, Biden won nine of the 15 primary contests at stake tonight, pulling off a number of upset victories, including a win in Minnesota (we’d projected Sanders would win there), a win in Massachusetts (Sanders again), and a win in Texas (that was more of a toss-up going into tonight), but basically Biden cleaned up across the board. He performed well in states where he wasn’t even really competing, and he proved he’s more than a regional candidate.

Sanders, on the other hand, did not have a great evening. He won just three states outright (Colorado, Utah and Vermont) and underperformed expectations. So far, he does seem on track to win delegate-rich California, though we won’t know the exact margin for a while yet.

Once all the Super Tuesday results are fully counted, 38 percent of delegates will have been awarded in the primary race, but this nomination fight is far from over, and there’s a real question about where it will go from here…

Inserted from <fivethirtyeight.com>

Map source: Real Clear Politics

Here’s the count:









Democratic Pledged
Delegate Count

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sanders

Buttigieg*

Biden

Warren

Klobichar*

BloomBarf*

Iowa

12

14

6

8

1

0

New
Hampshire

9

9

0

0

6

0

Nevada

24

3

9

0

0

0

South
Carolina

15

0

39

0

0

0

Alabama

7

 

40

0

 

1

American
Samoa

0

 

0

0

 

5

Arkansas

8

 

16

0

 

4

California

72

 

21

7

 

8

Colorado

20

 

9

1

 

9

Maine

8

 

8

2

 

0

Massachusetts

26

 

34

10

 

0

Minnesota

26

 

38

17

 

0

North
Carolina

26

 

56

2

 

1

Oklahoma

13

 

21

0

 

3

Tennessee

15

 

28

1

 

7

Texas

60

 

70

1

 

4

Vermont

11

 

5

0

 

0

Virginia

31

 

66

2

 

0

Utah

9

 

1

0

 

2

Totals


392


26


467


51


7


44


Spreadsheet data source: Real Clear Politics

The Big Winner was Joe, but the Biggest loser wasn’t Bernie.  It was Billionaire Bloombarf, who spent all those $millions for nothing.  When California delegates are fully allocated, it will pull Bernie closer, but I would be surprised if Joe does not lead when done.

Liz Warren’s results were also very disappointing.  At this point, I see no viable way for her to win the nomination.  I think it’s time for her to drop out, as much as I hate to say it.  The biggest irony here, is that either Liz or Bernie would do far more for the Black Community than Joe would.

Nevertheless, whoever wins the Democratic nomination, even if it’s Joe, is MY candidate.

I’ll post another sheet when all the delegates from Pooper Tuesday states are allocated.

RESIST!!

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Mar 012020
 

It’s a busy day, here in the CatBox.  WWWendy will be here in about half an hour, so I may need to finish this after my de-stinking.  I kept breakfast down this morning, but to do it, I had to spread it out over 90 minutes and take tiny bites.  I cut my metformin in quarters.  Republicosis set in at bedtime and kept me up half the night.  ARGH!  Have a great day.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:02 (average 4:42).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From YouTube (SNL Channel): Coronavirus Cold Open – SNL

Once in a while, reality tops satire. Despite a thoroughly valiant attempt, by the SNL actors, the real life Republicans were far more absurd than the actors were. But the pseudo-Dems were quite funny!  RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Biden wins big in South Carolina but Bernie Sanders still leads delegate count

There’s not much else to say. Uncle Joe kicked ass. I credit the Clyburn endorsement for the breadth of his win. However, Super Tuesday will far more telling. On the plus side, Steyer suspended his campaign. May Bloomberg [R-NY] follow him quickly.  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Troggs – Wild Thing

That’s another I played in a band. Ah… the memories.  RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

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The SC Debate

 Posted by at 9:47 am  Politics
Feb 262020
 

The performance that I liked best in the SC debate was that of Elizabeth Warren, but I’m sure my own bias enters into that.  I think that Bernie, Joe and Liz did well.  Amy and Pete barely held their own, at best.  Bloomberg was weak, and Steyer did not belong on the stage at all.  Other losers were the boo birds that the Biden campaign planted in the audience to scream BOO every time Bernie opened his mouth.

0226democraticdebate

Seven Democratic presidential candidates took the stage Tuesday night in Charleston, S.C., for a fiery debate days before the state’s primary on Saturday.

The showdown in the Palmetto State also marked the final debate before Democrats battle in the biggest day on the primary calendar — Super Tuesday — next week.

Who won and lost in the latest debate?

WINNERS

Former Vice President Joe Biden

Biden kept his hopes alive with one of his strongest debate performances.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)

Warren is the most consistent debater left in the race.

She went after former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg once again in this debate. She did not eviscerate him as thoroughly as she did last week in Las Vegas, but she again raised questions about his treatment of women in the workplace….

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

Sanders won on Tuesday by not obviously losing.

He came under the kind of sustained attack that any front-runner faces…

Inserted from <The Hill>

The biggest loser in the debate was CBS News.  Here’s an excerpt from an email from Marcos Moulitsas of Daily Kos.

0226markosWe went from perhaps the best debate ever, last week, to one of the worst ever, Tuesday night. What a disaster, from the questions, to the moderation, to the way they shoehorned one last commercial break at the end, without nothing but a “goodbye!” on the other side, Taking ad money from both Mike Bloomberg and Tom Steyer for commercials was an added insult.

It was insulting that in a DEMOCRATIC debate, moderators spent valuable time asking about North Korea, China, Syria, and other issues that fail to inform the vote of a single Democratic primary voter. As a result, climate change, choice, unions, and other key progressive priorities were ignored.

This was the worst moderation and production of any debate this season.

South Carolina debate wrap: Rivals take aim at Sanders

I disagree that Liz’ statement that she would be a better President was an attack.  She was saying something good about herself, not something bad about Bernie. Everyone else on the stage attacked Bernie. Bernie’s honest statement that, over his long career, he has made some bad votes was honest. Kudos. He defused all the attacks well.

Elizabeth Warren: People Want to Hear From the Women Who Worked for Mayor Bloomberg


Mike “Kill It” Bloomberg [R-NY] had to buy that woman’s silence with an out of court settlement. The establishment media attacked Liz for attacking Bloomberg. They said she should have gone after Bernie, because Bloomberg isn’t even on the SC ballot. I disagree. That debate may have in SC, but it was also the debate for Super Tuesday, where Bloomberg hopes to excel and replace Biden as the establishment alternative to Bernie.

I look forward to Saturday and Tuesday with fingers crossed

RESIST!!

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The State of the Race–2/24

 Posted by at 11:28 am  Politics
Feb 242020
 

We in a brief pause, before The SC Debate tomorrow, the SC Primary Saturday, and Super Tuesday a week from tomorrow.  So here is a look at the state of the race as of now.

0224Bernie

Energized by his landslide victory in the Nevada caucuses, Senator Bernie Sanders turned his focus to President Trump on Sunday while his campaign made plans to try to win the coming South Carolina primary and amass an insurmountable delegate lead on Super Tuesday next week.

Mr. Sanders plans to be up on the air with commercials in every South Carolina media market this week, and his staff is scrambling to add new rallies to his schedule as they take aim at their next big target: overtaking the front-runner in Saturday’s primary there, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., to all but extinguish his candidacy.

But attacks on Mr. Sanders began mounting on Sunday, with Mr. Biden criticizing him as disloyal to former President Barack Obama — a charged message with the predominantly black electorate in South Carolina — and others describing the Vermont senator as a long shot against Mr. Trump. Mr. Sanders, in turn, used a rally in the Super Tuesday state of Texas to highlight some favorable polling numbers against the president — and attempt to reassure Democrats about his electability if he wins the nomination…  [emphasis added]

Inserted from <NY Times>

I haven’t given up on Liz, but Joe’s attacks on Bernie are as disingenuous as are criminal Trump’s* attacks on Joe.  Bernie criticized Obama, but so did I.  Neither of us was disloyal to him at any time.  In addition, whether ANY Democrat beats Trump* is up to us.  It will happen, if and only if we make it happen!

Here is the latest delegate count.



State

Date

Delegates*

Sanders

Buttigieg

Biden

Warren

Klobuchar

Steyer

Yang

Gabbard

Primaries/

Caucuses

Open/

Closed

Pledged
Delegates

3979

35

24

10

8

7

0

0

0

 

 

Superdelegates

(771)

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

 

 

Total
Delegates

(2,382 Needed after 1st
Ballot)

4750

35

24

10

8

7

0

0

0

Pledged
Delegates

(1,991 Needed on 1st
Ballot)

3979

35

24

10

8

7

0

0

0

 

 

Iowa

February
3

41
(8)

12

13

6

8

1

0

0

0

Caucus

Semi-open

New Hampshire

February
11

24
(9)

9

9

0

0

6

0

0

0

Primary

Semi-closed

Nevada

February
22

36
(12)

14

2

4

0

0

0

0

0

Caucus

Closed

Here are latest SC Poll Results



Biden

24.5

Sanders

21.5

Steyer

16.5

Buttigieg

10.8

Warren

9.5

Klobuchar

6.5

Biden +3.0

 

 


Bernie Sanders has the best chance of any candidate, at this point.  I think that when Super Tuesday is in the books, we’ll all have a much better idea.

RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!



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Feb 202020
 

The Nevada debate was far more interesting than any of the earlier ones.  In my opinion, my two favorites finished first and second.  I was most pleased to see Elizabeth Warren so dominant that NBC couldn’t okie-doke her the way ABC did in New Hampshire.  I was also pleased to see Mike Bloomberg [R-NY]  learn that having to buy his place on the debate stage showed that he never deserved his place there.

0220Debate

The top six contenders for the Democratic nomination gathered Wednesday night for (what feels like) the 7,000th primary debate of the 2020 cycle. But the latest episode of the politics-themed reality show that we’ve all come to know and dread was markedly livelier than its predecessors. And it isn’t hard to see why. Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, and Joe Biden all came to Las Vegas desperate to improve their campaigns’ flagging fortunes with a big gamble or two. Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, is dispositionally incapable of allowing his newfound front-runner status to soften the edges of pugilistic populism. And Michael Bloomberg couldn’t help but bring out his co-partisans’ inner Robespierres.

So, who won the rumble in Nevada? Here’s a definitive ranking of the candidates’ nights from best to worst (as measured by the subjective impressions of an exceptionally unrepresentative white man in New York City):

1) Elizabeth Warren

The Massachusetts senator’s campaign is probably beyond saving. Warren entered Wednesday night’s debate polling in fourth place nationally, some 15.5 points behind the front-running Bernie Sanders. Current surveys suggest she is poised to win no more than a negligible number of delegates in the Nevada caucuses, none in South Carolina, and, per FiveThirtyEight’s model, just 8 percent of 1,357 pledged delegates up for grab on Super Tuesday.

But if there was anything Warren could do to revive her candidacy in Nevada on Wednesday night, she did it many times over. In recent weeks, the senator has tried to smooth out the rougher edges of her populist persona, in a bid to cast herself as the “unity” candidate (and/or to mitigate any potential gendered double-standard the electorate might apply toward female candidates who code as aggressive). But pugnacity is just another word for nothing left to lose. And with her campaign on the ropes, Warren reprised the role that had made her name: merciless inquisitor of the superrich and powerful.

Within minutes of the debate’s opening, Warren stopped the show, threw the nearest billionaire up against a wall, frisked him — and revealed that beneath the would-be emperor’s gilded façade lay little more than an empty suit…

Inserted from <NY Mag>

Please click through for the rest of the article. After Warren, the authors list, in order of finish, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar , and Mike Bloomberg. I agree, except that I would put Pete in third and Joe in fourth.

If you want to watch the entire debate: Watch The Full NBC News/MSNBC Democratic Debate In Las Vegas

For a debate summary…

Watch Highlights Of The Democratic Debate In 5 Minutes


Kudos to Liz for coming to Amy’s aid in the face of Pete’s unfair attack.  Here are two about Liz alone.

Fat broads” and “horse-faced lesbians Warren rips Bloomberg


Elizabeth Warren Targets Mike Bloomberg For His Company’s Non-Disclosure Agreements


Woooo Hoooo! Did Liz tear that misogynist Republican a new asshole or what?

RESIST!!

 

 

 

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A Win for Bernie!

 Posted by at 9:05 am  Politics
Feb 122020
 

After much publicity, and far more hype than their delegate count warrants, the New Hampshire primary, is now in the history books, and it’s a win for Bernie.  If that surprises anyone, please contact me about the bridge I have for sale.  It connects Manhattan to Brooklyn.

0212Bernie

Senator Bernie Sanders narrowly won the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, consolidating support on the left and fending off a late charge by two moderate rivals to claim his second strong showing in two weeks and establish himself as a formidable contender for the Democratic nomination.

Mr. Sanders had about 26 percent of the vote with 90 percent of the ballots counted, while former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., was a close second. Mr. Buttigieg split the centrist vote with Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who surged in New Hampshire to finish in third.

Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Mr. Sanders’s progressive rival, finished a distant fourth in her neighboring state, and in a stinging blow to his candidacy, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. finished fifth.

The results raised immediate questions about how much longer Mr. Biden and Ms. Warren, onetime front-runners, could afford to continue their campaigns. Both had already cut back their advertising because of financial strain… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <NY Times>

Bernie Sanders declares victory in New Hampshire


Here are the results, updated this morning.

0212NH

And here is the delegate count to date.  I must say, that I’m disappointed Liz didn’t do better than she did.  At least she beat Biden.

Here is the delegate count to date.

0212DemDelegates

Kudos to Bernie, I’m not quite ready to give up on Liz yet, but since she didn’t win, I’m glad he did. If Liz drops out, I’ll be an instant Bernie supporter.

The Republican Reich also had a NH primary.  Republican voters defecated on America,

RESIST!!

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Jan 132020
 

It’s a hectic day, here in the CatBox.  I tried to refill seven prescriptions at Walgreens (now Alliance) Mail Order Pharmacy and, after trying at the website for three days, called them.  I learned that they are no longer the preferred mail order pharmacy.  I went to the Providence website and learned that Costco Mail Order Pharmacy is now the one.  It took me over three hours to set up my account there, enter all my prescription, call my doctor, and arrange for her to fax them over to Costco.  Then Walgreen’s sent me an email that they were processing my order.  I called them back.  It turns out they assumed I wanted to pay for those prescriptions myself.  I told that poor CS gal that they should changer their name again from Alliance to Ulysses.  “Why?” she asked.  I replied, so customers can call them Useless for short!!”   ARGH!!!  Needless to say, all that cut into my research time Big Time, so this is my only article today.  Oh God, it’s Monday!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:06 (average 6:36). To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From YouTube (NBC News Channel): Defense Sec. Esper Says He ‘Didn’t See’ Intelligence Showing Threat To U.S. Embassies

 

The threat was so immediate and immanent that impeached War Criminal Trump* and the Republican Reich ordered this murder seven months agoRESIST!!

From YouTube (FiveThirtyEight Channel): If Joe Biden wins Iowa, ‘he’s off to the races’: Nate Silver

 

I’ve always respected Nate Silver, but let’s work like hell to make sure that Liz or Bernie wins Iowa for America’s sake!  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Heart – “Barracuda”

 

Ah… the memories!  RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

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