DL Open Thread: Thurs., March 5, 2020
Rethugs Make It Harder For College Students To Vote. Without voter suppression, they’d literally have no chance. Voter suppression is built into every strategy they employ.
Steve Bullock To Run For US Senate From Montana? If so, that seat is in play. Like, really in play.
$8.3 Billion For Coronavirus Relief. More than 4 times what Trump requested. As to Trump, he says it’s OK to go to work with coronavirus and you’ll get better. Trump-Biden debates? The mind reels. BTW, $3 billion is to go for development of coronavirus vaccines. Uh, can we make sure that no big pharma company makes a killing on this?
What Happened To Warren? Five Theories. I kinda go mostly with #5. How someone could consistently draw such enthusiastic crowds, and doesn’t have that covered by the media, is beyond me. BTW, can someone please banish James Carville from punditry? He’s part of that steady stream of corporatists that makes MSNBC unwatchable. Ditto for Claire McCaskill. Where are the progressive pundits?
Teen Shot By Police Should Have Been Released Months Ago. Cops are above the law, thanks to the so-called Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill Of Rights. Just check this out:
Yet, Wilmington police did not voluntarily share this information with the justice department — an unnamed source did.
Wilmington Police have repeatedly declined to comment on the matter and have not responded to requests to interview Police Chief Robert Tracy. Instead, the department has cited the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights as a reason why it would not disclose further information.
Fortunately, the AG’s Office is challenging this:
The Department of Justice said in its court filing that it has a “Constitutional obligation to disclose exculpatory and impeachable statements” to the court and added that “those duties trump the statutory confidentiality rights of internal investigations” — a reference to the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights, which would otherwise protect MacColl’s statements.
That so-called bill of rights enables police to break the law with impunity. Let’s hope that some of the new legislators revisit this. In fact, I want to see candidates pledge to do this.
What do you want to talk about?
If you’re wondering how Joe Biden ran up such big numbers on Tuesday, wonder no longer. In Virginia, he was buoyed by large numbers of Republicans voting in the state’s open primary.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/us/politics/super-tuesday-virginia-voter-turnout.html
Picked up some comments of interest from Eschaton on this today
“I don’t want to overestimate their impact but some unspecified portion of that stunningly large turnout was Republican trolls ratfcking our open primary. We will never know the exact numbers”
“I think we’d expect a much larger increase in Trump precincts if there were large scale ratfcking.”
https://www.vpap.org/visuals/visual/turnout-super-tuesday-across-state/
“As NoVa grows and Millenials get older, I think some of those increases are just explained by the demographic changes we’re already aware of.”
“Defining “AA precincts” as those with 95% or greater African American registrants is… pretty restrictive. And that turnout actually declined marginally from 2016. ”
“Here’s why that doesn’t seem to be what’s going on here. If they are ratf’in our guys, why are they voting for Biden? That’s not what Operation Chaos has been trying to do. They wanna support Bernie. Bernie is the guy that Team Goon wants to go up against, by all accounts.”
It’s not ratfucking. It’s a lot of Republicans, as noted an untold number, voting in open primaries. If they were ratfucking, Sanders would have benefited.
I think that what you saw, especially in Virginia and probably Texas as well, is the portion of the Republican electorate still capable of rational thought (I’d set the over-under at 10 percent, but who knows) voting against Bernie. Those gummint workers in Northern Virginia want that sweet tax money to keep flowing. They sure as hell don’t want a revolution that would put them out of work.
“New Castle County officially has a mumps outbreak. Today, the state Division of Public Health confirmed seven cases of mumps across the county: five at William Penn High School, one at George Reed Middle School and one at St. Georges Technical High School. The division is also investigating two probable causes.”
Thanks anti-vaxers!
Vaccinate your kids dummies
Richard Wolffe (the British one, not the Amerian idiot) reminds us that Joe Biden’s “comeback” isn’t unprecedented. It actually mirrors the 2004 nominating contest, in which Democrats pissed themselves over Howard Dean and so charged to victory behind John “He Looks French” Kerry.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/03/joe-biden-resurrection-super-tuesday-2020
For me the worst part of this is knowing how it all plays out.
A Biden – Trump debate should be on pay-per-view, at some point Jill is going to climb on stage and kick Trump’s ass.
MSNBC the worst source of news for anything or anyone progressive, inhabited by Carvilles, Todds, formerly Matthews, and a host of other slime is owned by Comcast. Here’s an interesting link.
https://readsludge.com/2020/01/29/msnbcs-owners-shower-biden-with-campaign-cash/
Don’t forget ‘America’s Mayor’, Fast Eddie Rendell. A Comcast corporate stooge if ever there was one.
The Bolivian journalist who helped spread the false narrative of election irregularities was given an award yesterday by Mike Pompeo.
https://mobile.twitter.com/OVargas52/status/1235326137343102978
They don’t even do it in secret anymore
Warren’s out.
https://mobile.twitter.com/PpollingNumbers/status/1235592955890503680
Warren supporters 2nd choice.
Sanders 40%
Biden 16%
Also, if you have the time, here’s an in-depth conversation between the philosopher & author Robert Wright and editor, writer & notorious Twitter “Bernie Bro™” David Klion.
Online discourse and the Bernie Bro narrative.
https://youtu.be/cyo8fFYMyic
If you’re not careful you’re going to end up like those Japanese holdout soldiers who never surrendered after WWII.
What the fuck are you taking about?