I am feeling a little better today, but not much, so I’m staying down, and this is today’s only article.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:28 (average 5:02). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From The New Yorker: Making good on one of his key campaign promises, President Obama signed an executive order on Tuesday relocating the United States Congress to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
The President seemed to relish signing the order, calling the relocation a “win-win for America,” and indicating that Congress could be moved to its new headquarters “immediately.”
“We don’t envision doing any renovations to the facility down there,” he said. “It is ready to house Congress right now.”
Andy! What a spectacular idea!!
From The New Yorker: Aides to the G.O.P. front-runner, Donald Trump, expressed concern on Friday that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s endorsement of their candidate might overshadow equally impressive words of praise that Trump received yesterday from the former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.
The scheduling of Christie’s endorsement just one day after the K.K.K. luminary’s boost was “obviously far from ideal,” the Trump aide Harland Dorrinson said.
Andy, it’s a valid concern. Duke may make Trump a Hooded Hairball, but Hateful Hairball together with PIGnocchio, are Bully Brosexuals.
From NY Times: Drawing overwhelming support from the African-American voters who deserted her here eight years ago, Hillary Clinton won her first resounding victory of the 2016 campaign in South Carolina on Saturday, delivering a blow to Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont as their fight turns to the 11 states where Democrats vote on Tuesday.
After supporting Barack Obama in 2008, black voters, who will be the dominant force in the coming Southern primaries, turned out in droves for Mrs. Clinton here. They chose her over Mr. Sanders by more than six to one, while white voters narrowly favored her as well, according to exit polls.
The rout was both politically and psychologically meaningful for Mrs. Clinton and her allies, who have been waiting for a moment that validated her candidacy with the level of unqualified intensity that South Carolina delivered. The huge margin of victory — she won nearly 74 percent of the vote — will extend her lead over Mr. Sanders in delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination. But the results also helped her extinguish any doubts about her ability to win big with Democrats and about her broad appeal among minority voters, who will be decisive in many delegate-rich primaries in March.
Sadly, this is what I expected. Here’s the delegate count,
|
State |
Date |
Delegates |
Clinton |
Sanders |
Delegate Allocation |
Open/ Closed |
|
(2,382 Needed to Win) |
– |
4763 |
543 |
85 |
– |
– |
|
Delegates Won |
– |
4051 |
90 |
65 |
|
|
|
Superdelegates |
– |
(712) |
453 |
20 |
|
|
|
Iowa |
February 1 |
44 (8) |
23 |
21 |
Caucus |
Semi-open |
|
New Hampshire |
February 9 |
24 (8) |
9 |
15 |
Primary |
Semi-closed |
|
Nevada |
February 20 |
35 (8) |
19 |
15 |
Caucus |
Closed |
|
South Carolina |
February 27 |
53 (6) |
39 |
14 |
Primary |
Open |
If Hillary sweeps the South in March, it’s over, but we need to keep Bernie in it to hold her feet to the fire.
Cartoon:
14 Responses to “Open Thread–2/28/2016”
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Obama beat her last time at least partially because he was less of a corporate shill and less of a war hawk. Her margins of victory were higher in low population counties and/or where a military installation focused on combat dominates the community. I think major media ignoring Bernie was a significant factor in these results.
AB doubly tells is like it is!
Third day of antibiotics and steroids is often when major improvement found.
NYer: Novel idea! LOL, Andy!
NYer2: Isn't this just awful, ick!
NYT: What a bummer. Go Bernie, GO!!!
Glad to read you're feeling a little better…I'm out the door, have a commitment to go to. Take care, and Thanks, Tom.
Don't give up hope yet. From what I understand, those superdelegates aren't really her's to count yet. They can sway with the popular opinion if popular opinion goes strongly enough to Bernie. She's just using them now to make Bernie's run seem hopeless.
Bernie had 2 rallies here in Texas yesterday. One near Austin (over 10,100 people showed) and one in Prairie View (over 7,000 people showed) and then all I heard on national news was that he had a rally in I think it was Minnesota.
My husband and I have already early voted here in Texas. Unfortunately I've heard that Democratic turnout has been down. Friday was the last day for early voting so I just really, really hope they show up on Tuesday.
I'm glad that you are feeling better. I've been sending good thoughts and prayers your way. I'm also very pleased that you have successfully accomplished public transportation. That should increase your options and make you even more mobile. Take care and get well!
4:25 Well, I'd think that would be highly visible. Do they need pollination?
New Yorker – Of course this is a hoot. But – one of the things that led to the extreme partisanship we have today was a change in House rules instituted by Newt Gingrich and followed by the Senate. Prior to that, Cpngressfolk were required to keep a home in DC (or close) and their families lived in DC much of the time, met each other, and socialized, including across party lines. You can't really call a guy a monster if your wife is his wife's best friend – or call a woman a bimbo when her children are your children's best friends. So there was, there had to be, more civility. And the truth is, positions that start as phony, can become authentic if maintained long enough (unless of course one is a sociopath, and althoug is sometimes seems so, not everyone in Congress is a true sociopath). Forcing them to live in Gitmo while in session might put them in close enought quarters to restore SOME civility, though of course not the earlier quality.
New Yorker II – I don't know that there's much to choose between Trump and Christie. I do feel that whatever we are doing to try to convince Republicans and other Trump supporters he is a joke are not working. I'm not sure what would work but we'd better come up with it.
NYTimes – h/t to Lona – Not trying to be patronizing or privileged, but just speaking to something that struck a chord in my own psyche – Hillary is promising to continue Barack's policies. If I were black, I would be incredibly proud of the Obama legacy, and probably even more hurt and angry than I am at the way Republicans dis him, lie about him, belittle him, try to diminish him (although that's hard for me to imagine). I would want someone to follow him who would protect his legacy and reputation. Bernie has criticized some Obama policies. Some of those criticized policies he has criticized because they don't go far enough, but some, like war policies, he just doesn't like. I might be willing to put up with someone who had not as good policies for me provided they didn't make my hero look bad. I am not inside anyone's skin but my own, so I can't be sure, but I can speculate.
Cartoon – No, it wasn't. How sad that it is now.
Oops – sorry – that h/t should be to JL. Memory going.
no problem…and Tulsi Gabbard just resigned as Assistant Chair of the DNC and endorsed Bernie!
Really! I thought she was a hawk! Am I confusing her with someone else?
2:44 I went bananas!
3:51 I slipped on an old banana.
Puzzle — 2:44 I went bananas!
The New Yorker — There's that ditch! As I said back on the 24th, "Is Andy onto something or what?"
The New Yorker — "Duke may make Trump a Hooded Hairball, but Hateful Hairball together with PIGnocchio, are Bully Brosexuals." Well said! Amen!
NY Times — I agree with Pat! "What a bummer. Go Bernie, GO!!!" Get out the Democratic vote!
Cartoon — As has been oft said, "The current Republican Party is not the party of Lincoln!" After all his rhetoric, and now getting the endorsement of David Duke, Mr KKK himself, Trump should be forced to attire himself in a white dress and pointy white hat!
Glad you're feeling a bit better! Keep at the rest, meds and fluids!
Well, Oklahoma's primary comes up this Tuesday, along with 10 more. Bernie needs to win all of those to keep in the running. Hard task for him. But I will still vote for him!!! Come November, it will be whoever is BLUE on that ballot!!! I don't care if it is Bernie or Hillary. If other people don't understand that that is the BEST VOTE we can make, then they are the idiots that will VOTE for HumptyTrump !!! And that will be disastrous!!
If you have a brain at all, VOTE BLUE when it comes to NOVEMBER's election!!! No need in slitting our own throats with a VOTE for HumptyTrump!!! Think about it!!!
Glad you are feeling better, but stay down until you are good! We all want you healthy.
The New Yorker: I wish they would spend some time at Gitmo, maybe then they would not be so eager to keep it open. Glad Trump got his endorsements, don't know how much influence Christie has, but the KKK and David Duke should make all real Americans know they don't want to vote for him.
NY Times: We all knew that Bernie was going to have a rough time. This is only one state. Super Tuesday may make it for him, and, as you said, he is at least keeping Hillary's feet to the fire on progressive issues.
Glad to hear you're feeling a bit better, TomCat, but I'm also glad to hear you're laying low because you've not fully recovered yet. Do take with that pneumonia.
The New Yorker 1: Oh Andy, you should have whispered this idea into Obama's ear right after the 2014 elections, Republicans took the House and governing by executive order became the only way to get anything done. It would have saved America a lot of hardship.
The New Yorker 2: Andy may be on to something here, this timing may no be as coincidental as it seems to be. First the high praise of the former KKK leader Duke to placate the extreme right fringe and to "soften" that Christie's endorsement a day later to make all others and who have terrible Political medium term memories forget, i.e. they do not store and thus forget after a day when something else happens that holds their interest. That's Trumps trick: he tells new lies every day so that the hundreds of others, some of them diametrically opposed to the new ones, a quickly forgotten.
NY Times: I hope black voters see the difference between Obama policies and what he tried to accomplish in the past 8 years in terms of economic changes will not be the same as what corporate Hillary promises to continue, it is much closer to what Bernie promises them. If anything it is Obama's take on war, and which Bernie criticized, hawkish Hillary will focus upon in his legacy. We'll have to wait and see if the black voters will vote in their best interest or out of loyalty to the Clintons.
Gitmo and congress go good together, epecially for the GOP fools who are imprisoned by McConnell.
Joanne, it is amazing to me, how much corrosive impact dirtbags like Gingrich and Reagan have left as their political legacy. McConnell has built on this, with Boehner's help, and kept the red caucus from even being able to have so much as lunch with the blue folks! Hell, they ought to be required to play softball, go bowling, or something, on mixed teams…learn to score high on "works and plays well with others," like we wish our kindergartners would!
Andy nails it all!
Christie: "My Big Fat Governor," is naught but POS!
David Dukes comntinued presence on this side of the grass is soft proof that there is no God.
I still love Bernie, but I can almost hear the GOPigs preparing to unfurl their "Pinko, Leftist, Commie!" banners for the sheeple to bow down to!