Open Thread–3/8/2020

Posted by TomCat at 8:38 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 082020

It’s a busy tired day here in the CatBox. I sproinged ahead and may recover this month. WWWendy will be here shortly. Have a great day!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:45 (average 7:10). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoons:

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Say what you want about him but the guy sure does know how to hire an advertising team!

I hated his candidacy, but surely like his desire to flush criminal Fuhrer Trump*. RESIST!!

From YouTube (SNL Channel): The Ingraham Angle Coronavirus Cold Open

Kate McKinnon is amazing. She does a more accurate Ingraham than the real bimbo on the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise! The real Don, Jr. probably has the hots for the real Ingraham. His taste is as bad as his father. As bad as Matthews, is, I don’t think he’ll ever descend to Faux Noise. Kudos to Liz for her wonderful sense of humor! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Jumpin’ Jack Flash　－　The Rolling Stones

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Super Tuesday or Pooper Tuesday

Posted by TomCat 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!

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

New
Hampshire

Nevada

South
Carolina

Alabama

American
Samoa

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Maine

Massachusetts

Minnesota

North
Carolina

Oklahoma

Tennessee

Texas

Vermont

Virginia

Utah

Totals

392

467

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!!

The SC Debate

Posted by TomCat 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.

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.

We 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!!

The State of the Race–2/24

Posted by TomCat 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.

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

Superdelegates

–

(771)

Total
Delegates

(2,382 Needed after 1st
Ballot)

–

4750

–

Pledged
Delegates

(1,991 Needed on 1st
Ballot)

–

3979

Iowa

February
3

41
(8)

Caucus

Semi-open

New Hampshire

February
11

24
(9)

Primary

Semi-closed

Nevada

February
22

36
(12)

Caucus

Closed

Here are latest SC Poll Results

Biden

Sanders

Steyer

Buttigieg

Warren

Klobuchar

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!!

Open thread–2/23/2020

Posted by TomCat at 8:42 am Open Thread, Politics

Feb 232020

It’s a very busy day, here in the CatBox. WWWendy worked late at her night job, so she’ll be a bit late today. We have a ton of stuff to do. Happy Sunday.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:24 (average 5:27). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Sen. Bernie Sanders Is The Projected Winner Of The Nevada Democratic Caucus

Kudos to Bernie, and sad condolences to Liz! I’ll post the delegates total, when Nevada is done counting. RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Anderson Cooper on Rod Blagojevich claim: Just nuts

Blago comparing himself to Nelson Mandela is like comparing a steaming pile of shit to a Rose. Blago is calling himself a ‘Trumpocrat’. He’s no kind of …crat. The way he talks and acts, he’s an dishonorary Republican, like that other famous Illinois political criminal: Chicago’s Mayor Richard Daley. RESIST!!

Also from YouTube (CNN Channel): Warren insults Bloomberg after Nevada caucuses

While her candidacy is in deep doo doo, we owe Liz a major debt of gratitude for exposing Bloomberg to America. Her insults are far less than he deserves. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Mamas And The Papas – California Dreamin’. Audio Gold Song ful HD.mp4

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–2/21/2020

Posted by TomCat at 9:53 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 212020

It’s a yucky day here at the CatBox. My stomach has heartburn has been screaming all morning. I have to stay up, because Providence Home Medical Equipment is swapping-out a six pack of the portable O₂ tanks I use, when I’m out and about. TGIF to all!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:57 (average 5:49). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Republicans alternate between blaming Obama, Hillary, Nancy and Bernie.

Short Takes:

Froom YouTube (Washington Post Channel): Resurfaced video shows Bloomberg referring to transgender people as ‘some guy wearing a dress’

We knew Bloomberg [R-NY] was racist and misogynist. Add homophobic to his unsuitable list. RESIST!!

From Washington Post: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) mounted a new defense Wednesday for the toxicity emanating from pockets of his presidential campaign’s supporters, implying it was possible Russian actors were again manipulating social media to incite Democratic divisions.

Sanders’s language was indirect, offered on the debate stage here as his opponents faulted him for the behavior of his most strident fans. It drew criticism from experts in disinformation, who said they had no direct evidence the Kremlin had masqueraded as Sanders voters to interfere in the 2020 race much as Russian trolls had done four years earlier.

“All of us remember 2016, and what we remember is efforts by Russians and others to try to interfere in our elections and divide us up,” said the senator from Vermont. “I’m not saying that’s happening, but it would not shock me.”

I tend to doubt that, because I remember the toxicity of many ‘Bernie Bros’ toward me in 2016, because, as a Bernie supporter, I committed to voting for Hillary, after Bernie asked his supporters to do so. ‘Bernie Bros’ were a factor in my switch to Liz Warren this year. I understand that some of the hate-mavens, threatening Democrats who disagree, are employees on Bernie’s paid staff. If so, he needs to identify and fire them immediately. That said, I would not put such skullduggery past Putin [R-RU] and his Puppet Pervert Trump* either. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): Bloomberg Flounders, Warren Rebounds, and Bernie Brings the Heat

Of course the Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right. Liz and Bernie were head and shoulders above the rest. And he’s right that the debate should have focused more on the evil Reich on the Right, the Republican Reich, and their criminal Fuhrer Trump*. I particularly liked how Robert used FDR as an example of democratic socialism. If Bloomberg [R-NY] wins the nomination in a brokered convention, it will destroy the Democratic Party and probably, the USA with it. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival (HQ – 5.1 Studio )

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Nevada Debate: Big Win for Warren

Posted by TomCat at 8:53 am Politics

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.

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!!

Open Thread–2/14/2020

Posted by TomCat at 8:51 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 142020

Last night I had an emergency attack of midnight Republicosis. It was so severe that I didn’t make it to the throne. Cleaning the mess took over two hours. Needless to say, I’m very tired. TGIF!!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:02 (average 4:55). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Warren On Bloomberg & The Practice Of Banks ‘Redlining’ Minority Communities

Bloomberg is blaming the victims of Bankster financing scams against minorities and investors. The Banksters were the criminals. “Redlining” is the practice of drawing red lines around minority (usually black) neighborhoods and denying all applications for real estate loans there. Bloomberg expressed strong support for this racist practice. RESIST!!

From The Borowitz Report: Attorney General William Barr was rushed to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Thursday afternoon after the remote-control implant in his brain briefly failed, the White House has confirmed.

White House aides first noticed signs of the implant’s malfunction during an interview Barr gave to ABC News, after which the Attorney General was immediately strapped to a gurney and transported to Walter Reed.

A team of surgeons was able to identify the problem with Barr’s implant after an examination revealed a “low-power issue,” a Walter Reed spokesperson said.

After the surgeons replaced the tiny battery in Barr’s implant, the Attorney General appeared to be recovering well and was able to speak to reporters at his bedside.

Dang Andy, he better get that battery checked regularly! Otherwise, he might puke, when he’s supposed to Barrf! RESIST!!

Also from YouTube (MSNBC Channel): A Quid Pro Quo In Plain Sight?

Did Hakeem Jeffries call it right, or what? I fully agree with the suggestion that, when Trump* and Cuomo meet, Cuomo should wear a wire. How else can he defend against Republican Altered Transcript Syndrome. As for Trump*? Impeach the son of a bitch! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Lesley Gore – You Don’t Own Me (HD)

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!