2:00PM Water Cooler 3/5/2019

Subscribe to Post Comments

178 comments

1. Enquiring Mind March 5, 2019 at 2:14 pm

   Re American Airlines helicopter story: I bet the tumbrels don’t even have WiFi!
   1. Synoia March 5, 2019 at 4:36 pm

      True. The signal keeps getting cut-off.
2. Adam1 March 5, 2019 at 2:18 pm

   Luxottica… sunglasses are one of the few luxuries I splurge on. I was a loyal Ray Bans consumer for years and when I needed to buy a new pair after Luxottica bought the brand all I found was crap, but not priced any lower. I then went to Maui Jims, but they too are now owned by Luxottica. It is extremely hard to find anything not made by Luxottica now. My current non-Luxottica glasses are Gators and they are extremely well made.
   1. Kurt Sperry March 5, 2019 at 3:45 pm

      I’ve gotten sunglasses that would have cost hundreds new for 20 or 25 dollars in more or less pristine used condition on ebay. The selection is exponentially better than even the best new retail options, encompassing not just recent stock but nearly everything from the last two or three decades. This, if you don’t need prescription lenses. I prefer glass lenses, so used will probably be more likely to be unscratched.
   2. Katy March 5, 2019 at 4:23 pm

      Warby Parker is where I buy my glasses now. The frames are no different than you’d find at the mall. $125 total (including high-index lenses because I’m blind as a bat). Customer service is great. And they’re not owned by anybody else.
   3. froggy March 5, 2019 at 4:43 pm

      The material costs of a pair of glasses can be as little as $1 using mass produced lenses. https://www.onedollarglasses.org/
   4. WobblyTelomeres March 5, 2019 at 5:35 pm

      FWIW, I wear Randolph Engineering sunglasses – https://www.randolphusa.com/ – as they offer straight earpieces that fit into helmets (I rode motorcycles for 46 years). Great customer service, too, if you ever need a repair (metal frames) or a “tune up”.

      Indications are that they are not Luxottica-owned. Supposedly, owned by same family since founding in Massachusetts.
      1. turtle March 5, 2019 at 7:55 pm

         Nice find, thanks! Made in the US, lifetime warranty, a bit less than some major brands.
      2. eg March 6, 2019 at 9:12 am

         +1 — P3 devotee here
   5. Phacops March 5, 2019 at 6:47 pm

      You’d have to pry me away from my AO sunglasses. High quality vintage styles, and, what I especially like are that they offer polarized glass lenses. Being on the water and in rugged conditions, glass lenses are far less fragile than plastic.

      What I’ve noticed is the crappy Chinese acetate frames in the market. The low-quality acetate produced there will deform and lose shape over time compared with Italian acetate. Useful only for disposable glasses. But, y’know, America wants cheap, not quality.
      1. katiebird March 5, 2019 at 7:04 pm

         Cheap. That’s a laugh. I have been held hostage by my vision since I was a kid. And paying $350+ for glasses even with insurance is a slap in the face.

         Then you sneer because out of the blue I can find glasses at an affordable (probably still overpriced) price and can get sunglasses for the first time ever.
         1. katiebird March 5, 2019 at 8:39 pm

            That’s an over reaction. I’m sorry.
3. nippersmom March 5, 2019 at 2:25 pm

   “A retiring Marine reflects on 18 years of war: What have we achieved?”

   This was very good. Thank you.
   1. ex-Marine but nowhere near 21 years March 6, 2019 at 3:25 am

      Yes and no. On the one hand, it is well-written, which is a treat in and of itself nowadays. And if he really did have his ‘the scales fell from my eyes’ moment, then fair play to him — even if Smedley Butler did it so much better. On the other hand, what took him so long? Moreover, he is / was a life-ing motherfamilyblogger, which means you can’t trust a word he says. And consider the tone of this essay. I say, remember his name: you _will_ be seeing this guy in politics, most likely sooner rather than later.
   2. WheresOurTeddy March 6, 2019 at 11:37 am

      The next veteran of Afghanistan and/or Iraq I meet who thinks it was worthwhile to go either of those places will be the first.

      And I’m from rural America and knew people who signed up on 9/12. For years I’ve thought the change in America would either look like 1776 or 1789 but is it possible it’s more of a 1991 situation with regions just deciding “yeah we don’t have any reason to be connected to them
4. Summer March 5, 2019 at 2:33 pm

   Re: “The same way Africans once sold their own into bondage and overseers lashed capital prisoners, these modern day “House Negros” are doing the bidding of the system by keeping their people oppressed while they live lavishly. I’m of course talking about Obama, Kamala, Booker and the army of black corporate courtiers who are unleashed upon the “African-American” community.”

   It is a narrative that brings to mind the Bledsoe character in Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man” or even Tarantino’s “Django Unchained,” where the real revelation was not the Django character but the Samuel L. Jackson character…the slave that managed the slaves. The system would not have worked without the characters like the one Samuel L. played.
   1. Bugs Bunny March 5, 2019 at 4:54 pm

      They left out Eric Holder. Needs to be first on the list.
   2. clarky90 March 5, 2019 at 5:20 pm

      Kapo (concentration camp)

      The system of prisoner guards….was commonly called “prisoner self-government” (Häftlings-Selbstverwaltung) in SS parlance. (“self government”, a euphemism that, in fact, means the complete opposite of the grim truth. Like “our” Democracy?)

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapo_(concentration_camp)

      “Concentration camps were controlled by the SS, but day-to-day organization was supplemented by the system of functionary prisoners, (who)… made it possible for the camps to function with fewer SS personnel. The prisoner functionaries sometimes numbered as high as 10% of the inmates. The Nazis were able to keep the number of paid staff who had direct contact with the prisoners very low in comparison to normal prisons today.”
      1. Summer March 5, 2019 at 9:47 pm

         “The prisoner functionaries sometimes numbered as high as 10% of the inmates. ”

         Turns the meaning of “talented tenth” on its head.
5. Michael March 5, 2019 at 2:39 pm

   Sacramento Bee editorial in the aftermath of last night’s protest and the police response:

   https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article227124549.html

   “Shoving journalists to the ground. Detaining members of the clergy and the press – hands cuffed behind their backs – without cause. Arresting citizens for exercising their right to peaceful protest.

   We expect such things in authoritarian countries, but not here in our hometown. Not in Sacramento.

   This was the scene of violation perpetrated by the Sacramento Police Department against citizens, clergy members and journalists during a protest march on Monday night. We watched on live feeds as 85 people were detained during the march through one of Sacramento’s wealthiest neighborhoods. Last year’s protests resulted in only five arrests.

   Of course, last year’s protests didn’t march through East Sacramento. On Monday police pursued a very different strategy…”
   1. Kurt Sperry March 5, 2019 at 3:33 pm

      Imagine the treatment in the press if the reporters and clergy being handcuffed and detained had been in Venezuela rather than in one-party State, California. Hard to pin this on Putin.
   2. Carey March 5, 2019 at 3:50 pm

      The conditioning continues. I don’t mean to be glib, but that’s what it is, along with
      now being overt.

      What a country
   3. Oso March 5, 2019 at 5:30 pm

      @ Michael thank you for bringing up Sac and the Stephon Clark protests. DA shamefully investigated (and vilified) the victim while letting the police skate. rolling protest continue, i believe 3 to 6pm will be at Sac PD. for those so inclined (allies pls help) social media live commentary with hashtags #wealreadyknew and #solidaritywithsac deeply appreciated by on the ground activists.
6. katiebird March 5, 2019 at 2:45 pm

   We’ve been getting glasses through Zenni Optical. Even with my elaborate prescription, frames and lenses and postage costs just $120 …. They are not designer frames but people frequently stop to tell me that they love my glasses (which has never happened before)

   It was scary the first time but since I’ve never had any trouble, I like it now. Also I can afgord sunglasses which I have never had till now!

   The only trick is to get an optitician to give you your pupillary distance.
   1. Kevin March 5, 2019 at 3:43 pm

      Warby Parker is the latest fad around here. My wife bought a pair and the lenses were not good at all. They scratched very easily. This would explain why Warby commercials are all about the frames, nary a mention of the lenses.
      1. katiebird March 5, 2019 at 3:53 pm

         I thought Warby Parker was pretty expensive compared to Zenni so I didn’t give them a chance…. This latest pair of Zenni is two years old and no scratches at all (I’m pretty careful though and only use their cleaning cloths) also the frames haven’t faded or discolored.

         I’m probably getting cataract surgery next month though (if I can be convinced it is safe) so I’ll be getting new glasses after that.
         1. Mo's Bike Shop March 5, 2019 at 8:04 pm

            My mother had Lasik treatment with her cataract surgery, can be an option to consider. I’m not pushing the treatment, I have enough insight about myself to figure that wearing eye protection all the time is good idea. Especially not sure I’d do surgery twice if my vision changed further.
7. jefemt March 5, 2019 at 2:47 pm

   Veteran Marine: I don’t get why Sanders and Gabbard are the only ones who can legitimately get after and claim the empty-hearted veterans?

   Buttegieg? Inslee? Hickenlooper? Gillibrand? What gives this terrain exclusively to Sanders and Gabbard?

   The important message to me is that there are many who are starting to question questionable institutions, accepted narratives, that are starting to crack the hard shell of American Exceptionalism. Perpetual war. Occupation for oil and other resources. Regime Change ™. Anthropogenic climate change. No system of universal access to medical care, social justice. Racism. Gun violence.
   Hell of a long list that the entire clown car can trot out with confidence. Not sure why only a few can access or carry the mantle with legitimacy.

   Oh, we are exceptional all right … we need a lot more ‘we’, and a lot less they and the other.
   1. Anon March 5, 2019 at 4:23 pm

      I can’t speak to the others, but it’s probably Sanders since he has a very strong anti-interventionist streak and Gabbard because actually serving beats love of the troops, which, similar to Sanders, she sees the futility of war.
8. clarky90 March 5, 2019 at 2:50 pm

   Re; “The jackpot”

   Scenario (#1) An “ethical” (politically motivated) vegan living in the Chicago or the Seattle area. How do you feed yourself eating ONLY food grown and processed in a 300 mile radius? (ie, no bananas, coffee, or Brazil nuts…) The goal is a tiny, sustainable, carbon footprint and pertains to the present economic moment.

   Scenario (#2) A “For Good-health’s sake”, vegan living in the Chicago or the Seattle area. The carbon footprint is not important. How do you feed yourself in the wake A Lambertian Jackpot Episode? (Monetary collapse, or electric grid collapse, or pandemic collapse, or Nuclear war collapse………)

   Chicago and Seattle are both in the North, with winters and with growing, and fallow seasons. Winter and early spring are traditionally famine times. “The Jackpot” would reduce available transportation to pre-industrial tech, like walking, for months or years.
   1. Oregoncharles March 5, 2019 at 4:14 pm

      How? You stock up on beans, rice, and a few other staples, keep them in a closet or similar. Also fuel and some way to cook. Water could be the worst problem – we’re on a well, but require electricity to pump it. Should probably have a generator. Solar, if possible, is a safety measure of sorts.

      All of that is hard on apartment dwellers.
      1. Carey March 5, 2019 at 5:01 pm

         A little practice in fasting is not a bad idea, either. Not that difficult for most people, I think, and likely will come in handy later.
      2. clarky90 March 5, 2019 at 7:00 pm

         You would want some vegetable oils as well. Coconut and palm oil are the stable vegetable oils (high saturated fat, resist oxidation), but they are grown in the tropics, so off the menu. You may want to store nuts, in their shell, for fat. Walnuts, pecans, almonds, chestnut, pine nuts, hazelnuts….
   2. Inode_buddha March 5, 2019 at 6:21 pm

      Somehow my ancestors did just fine despite the Michigan winters, with only 2 horses and 50 acres, and no electric or running water.
      1. clarky90 March 5, 2019 at 6:40 pm

         Hi IB. Your ancestors were, almost certainly, not vegans. Probably omnivores?

         “Vegans, by definition, do not exploit animals. Most vegans consider our using animals, solely for our own benefit, to be exploitation. Horse riding can lead to injury for the horse, either directly when out being ridden or, in the long term, from having a heavy weight on their backs.”
   3. Wukchumni March 5, 2019 at 7:19 pm

      About 5 years ago I was having lunch with my mom and her once a fortnight Guatemalan maid Angie, who had developed a friendship with us, a wonderful lady we called ‘the queen of clean’ in a reverent way. She could blitz through a house in 2:30, wasting only around 58 seconds in not tidying up or cleaning something in that span, leaving your place spotless.

      My mom mentioned that a river runs through it here where we live, and Angie told us of the 1976 earthquake in Guatemala that was shallow and as a result broke pipes en masse, resulting in great difficulty of getting water in the cities, and those that had it made were the lucky few that had a creek or river nearby in the country. Everybody else suffered greatly, she related.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Guatemala_earthquake
   4. drumlin woodchuckles March 6, 2019 at 1:29 am

      Scenario #1: If you can grow some food, do that for freshness and quality. For bought food, just find out from your local co-op or organic food store or local Quakers who has knowledge of what foods are grown within your 300 mile radius. Once you know that, you can buy and eat whatever you like as long as you know it came from within the radius. If you live in a real house in a real suburb, you might be able to build a root cellar which will allow you to store as much cool-is-cold-enough roots, tubers, winter squashes, heads of cabbage, etc. to live on till next Farmers Market season begins. Also you could buy pounds of different beans and seeds and learn how to sprout them and eat the sprouts for fresh greens all through winter.

      Scenario #2: You’d better be already living in a suburban doomstead or a rural doomstead. If you live in a Big Gray Sterile City, and the food grid gets disrupted, you won’t survive for long.

      As long as you don’t live IN Chicago or Seattle, winter and early spring don’t have to be famine times. Buy and store and eat-on-rotation ( first in first eaten) various beans, grains and seeds. Both cooked and sprouted. Grow or buy and store a winter’s worth and an early spring’s worth of root-cellar-storable roots, tubers, bulbs, cabbages, winter squashes, apples, etc. for winter into early spring. Do that . . . no famine.
      And if civilization is continuing on as before, you can buy doses of these things all through winter and early spring from local radius food-storage bussiness people who are re-selling doses of these to stores for retail sale to you.

      Oh . . . and if you have any local Mormons, they might give you advice.
9. FreeMarketApologist March 5, 2019 at 2:52 pm

   Re: “…Harris donated the $6,000 Trump had contributed to a non-profit that advocates for civil and human rights for Central Americans. But that donation wasn’t made until 2015,… ”

   Money is fungible, so I rather doubt that the exact $6k that Trump sent was the $6k that was sent on to the non-profit. More likely, it was spent at the time on various campaign expenses, then when there were plenty other contributions in the pot, it was convenient to ‘donate’ it (to an organization no doubt run by voters who would appreciate the payment), with minimal financial effect on the campaign.

   I think the correct thing to do is return the contribution to the sender, marked ‘unwanted’ – I don’t buy the “we take the devil’s money to do the Lord’s work” line of reasoning. If it wasn’t kosher (to mix the religious metaphors) in 2015, shouldn’t it have been equally so in 2011?
   1. Mo's Bike Shop March 5, 2019 at 9:00 pm

      Ethics by press release. Obviously one can’t vet every $6,000 dollar check to your campaign before it is cashed, or you’d never be electable.
10. Summer March 5, 2019 at 2:52 pm

    Re: “How a Sanders 2020 Endorsement Will Hurt DSA” [Medium].

    Until this party decides what they are going to do and whatever they decide to do, they should keep organizing from the ground up.

    I live in Cali. In all primaries but the Presidential election primaries, people can vote across party lines.
    Except the Presidential election. I’m not going to register as a Democrat just to vote for Sanders or anyone else in this election. But I am registered as undeclared. “An NPP voter may request the ballot of one of the political parties, if any, that authorizes NPP voters to vote in the presidential primary election.”
    This is the dreaded provisional ballot. I’ll do that, but Cali has a problem counting provisional ballots.

    So after this brokered convention, I’d hope there are more alternatives built as a “place to go.”
    Everyone is in a trick bag as long as “there is nowhere else to go.”
    1. edmondo March 5, 2019 at 5:49 pm

       Same here in Arizona. As a No Party Preference voter registrant, I can vote for every office in the primary election except for president. There is zero chance I would ever register as a Democrat again (or a Republican either) so I will miss out on the 2020 festivities.
    2. Jeff W March 5, 2019 at 5:49 pm

       “An NPP voter may request the ballot of one of the political parties, if any, that authorizes NPP voters to vote in the presidential primary election.”
       This is the dreaded provisional ballot.

       No, it isn’t. If you’re a No Party Preference [NPP] voter in California and you request such a ballot, you get the same ballot that those registered with that party get. There’s nothing “provisional” about it.

       If you are an NPP voter who votes by mail, gets an NPP ballot (without presidential candidates) in the mail, and then goes to a polling place to exchange it for one that has presidential candidates, you’ll get a regular ballot, too, but, if you don’t have the NPP ballot with you to hand in, you’ll get a provisional ballot, according to these Tips for No Party Preference Voters fron the California Secretary of State.
       1. jrs March 5, 2019 at 6:04 pm

          I believe you are right.
       2. Carey March 5, 2019 at 6:06 pm

          I’m a California NPP voter (SLO county), went for mail-in in 2016, and had a hell of a time getting a ballot and any assurance that it was counted, let alone accurately, both in the Primary and the General elections.

          On the CA 2016 Primary:
          https://hooktube.com/watch?v=D5ugmNoanx8
          1. Jeff W March 5, 2019 at 8:50 pm

             “…and had a hell of a time getting a ballot…”

             In 2016, as an NPP mail-in voter, I requested—and got, as a matter of course—a Democratic primary voter’s ballot, exactly how the procedure is supposed to work. That was in San Mateo County. (I didn’t ask for any assurances that my vote would be counted.)

             The procedure basically assumes that the mail-in voter will respond to a postcard from his or her county elections office asking if the voter would like to receive a ballot with presidential candidates. (If the voter doesn’t do that, he or she can still get a ballot with presidential candidates, but then we’re in a somewhat different ballpark—it’s not really clear to me what, other than the ballot exchange/provisional ballot procedures at the polling place, that voter is able to do.)

             If an NPP voter is wary of the mail-in procedure, he or she can choose not to get a mail-in ballot, appear in person at a polling place (some of which are open days or weeks before the day of the election) and request a ballot for a party in which NPP voters are allowed to vote (which, in the 2016 election, included the Democratic, but not the Reublican, party).

             Other than the procedure being set out by statute, it seems to me like it would make more sense for the NPP ballots to include all the candidates that voter could vote for (since he or she could request the particular ballot and vote for that candidate) and let that person vote however he or she wants—why would the NPP voter be presumed to want to vote for no candidate as opposed to voting for any candidate he or she can vote for?—but maybe that’s perceved as giving the NPP voter an “advantage” over the party-affiliated voters.
       3. Summer March 5, 2019 at 9:24 pm

          That makes me curious. I want to hand in the NPP mail ballot and see what they hand me before I ask.
11. Lee March 5, 2019 at 2:53 pm

    Besides growing sympathy for the Palestinians, progressives are echoing the ACLU and other groups who say any law prohibiting [BDS] boycotts won’t ultimately survive a Supreme Court test.

    Bibi will explain to a joint session of Congress why the the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is antisemitic except insofar as it protects AIPAC activities.
    1. Gary Gray March 5, 2019 at 3:28 pm

       Well, considering “Judaism” wasn’t conceived until around 1200, maybe removing the clause as the “oldest” of the “Triad” would scare them into being reasonable?

       Oh, don’t get me wrong, Islam didn’t come into total focus until the 19th century and yes, Christianity is the oldest of the Triad. But even its modern form doesn’t come into being until around 1000.
       1. Oregoncharles March 5, 2019 at 4:22 pm

          That sounds interesting. Do you have a good source on those dates and just what happened then? Christianity is the only one I’m at all familiar with, but I don’t recognize that date – the Middle Ages?
          1. NotTimothyGeithner March 5, 2019 at 5:08 pm

             I don’t like the 19th century date and suspect he’s adding the renewed Zionist movement of the 19th century to Judaism, but.

             -the current Judaism that you and I are familiar with has two major dates; I don’t remember the century (I’m thinking the 14th) but there was a Rabbinical Congress in Eastern Europe (I think Prague; I’m just drawing a blank on the city. I’ve been to the successor Synagogue as a tourist) where there was an amount of standardization.
             -the other aspect is the diaspora after the Jewish Revolt where the Pharisees who weren’t fond of the Temple going aspects were also dispersed to Jewish communities around the Roman world. What you get is a religion connected to a geostatic site morphing into a different kind of religion.
             -Christianity (See Gibbons). Its still the Imperial Religion.
             -Islam. Who do you mean? Like Judaism, its not the imperial religion. An attempt by the top Mufti in Istanbul (I forget the century, but probably around the 16th) to style himself as a Black Pope or new Patriarch was met with a rebuke by the Emperor that he only recognized one Pope and that he lived in Rome.
             -Occasionally, there are Islamic Congresses, but like Judaism, it lacks the cohesive nature of the Imperial structure. Most Islamic sects will accept updates to Halal, believing humane and clean butchery of animals is the intent of the laws, so technology can improve the process and still remain Kosher (Ha!).
             -In a sense, Jesus of Nazareth is reputed to have made reference to “the Jews”, but in a sense, he means the locals. Samaritans for example practice a religion very similar to Judaism, but the site of their Temple and God’s lounge area is not in Judea. Talk about blood traitors!
             -Judaism and Islam are much more similar than they are to Christianity.
             -Even with Islam, contemporary Christians identified Islam with Arian Christianity which was stamped out by the various Councils of Bishops. Mohammed is reputed to have had a Christian monk who lived outside the Empire as a mentor. Obviously, we don’t have multiple newspapers, so what was Mohammed’s deal? Not everyone was Muslim in the Muslim areas. The Millet system came out of his original community in Medina, and especially with Islam, its very concerned with the day to day operations of a community.
             -My personal opinion is Western history of religions is fubar and stuck in an Old and New Testament structure where Christianity descends from Judaism and Islam is Ishmael or some weird cousin where they don’t worship Jesus but aren’t Jewish.

             I think, especially with religion, everything you learned is likely wrong because its based on an 18th century British aristocrats decision on how to present it, but don’t get involved in a discussion over how many angels dance on the heads of pins because there are no newspapers to provide accuracy of dates.
          2. NotTimothyGeithner March 5, 2019 at 5:15 pm

             I have a comment which I’m sure will get stuck in the filter for reasons, but this is a point which shouldn’t be left out: Editing!

             -Christianity has a story telling problem. How do you one up Jesus? You can’t.
             -Judaism can be a developing religion. They don’t have this problem.
             -Islam has a similar story telling problem as Christianity but was very concerned with temporal organization, so there was room for development.

             The religions we understand today aren’t necessarily going to be the religions of yesteryear. Don’t forget the Pope has only been “infallible” since unification of Italy and he was given a title to reflect the loss of the Papal States. The current Pope said the mission of evangelization was over more or less.
             1. Mo's Bike Shop March 5, 2019 at 10:00 pm

                There is such a divide between elite definitions of religions and the actual day to day practices of the laity. How much of the Bible says, ‘you’re doing it right’?

                I was raised a Catholic in rural New England, I can’t distinguish what I grew up with from Unitarians. Our priest turned us on to how Jewish vs Samaritan had a ‘no true Scotsman’ thing going on as a prelude to talking about ‘The Good Samaritan’.

                I’ve been thinking about how I don’t really have a problem with the religion someone practices. But, if you’re ‘orthodox’, I’ll probably head for the punchbowl.
       2. Synoia March 5, 2019 at 4:40 pm

          Oh, don’t get me wrong, Islam didn’t come into total focus until the 19th century

          Tell that to the Crusaders.

          Or the occupants of Constantinople.
       3. Massinissa March 5, 2019 at 7:29 pm

          “Oh, don’t get me wrong, Islam didn’t come into total focus until the 19th century ”

          WHAT?!!!
       4. The Rev Kev March 5, 2019 at 7:58 pm

          Moar history pleeze! On a more interesting note, I read that three of the world’s greatest religions – Christianity, Judaism & Islam – each originated only about a hundred miles from each other though I have not checked that statement. Must be something about living in the middle of the desert that accounts for that. Paul Atreides might have something to add about this subject.
          1. Todde March 5, 2019 at 10:48 pm

             Or maybe living in the middle of a cluster if trade routes helped contribute to the formation and spread of these religions 7
             1. The Rev Kev March 5, 2019 at 11:00 pm

                Good grief. You are quite right. Being at the nexus of east-west and north-south trade routes does help.
       5. drumlin woodchuckles March 6, 2019 at 1:36 am

          But all the basic components of “Judaism” were already in place, were they not? Torah, Talmud, etc.? Wasn’t the only thing missing . . . the word “Judaism” itself?

          I remember reading once that an Early Enlightenment German Jewish thinker inVENTed the word “Judaism” because the Jews had no word for “Judaism” and this German Jewish thinker thought the Jews’ religion was regarded as backwards and lacking a systematic philosophy. If he could give it a “name” worthy of being a “philosophy” in the emerging German sense . . . . a word ending with “-ismus” which is German for “‘ism”, he could “classy up” the Jews and the religion. So he invented the word “Judaism”. At least that’s what I read somewhere.
          1. LifelongLib March 6, 2019 at 3:30 am

             I read somewhere that in ancient times religions were ethnic/tribal based, so people didn’t think of their religious activities as something separate from the other things they did as members of a certain ethnicity/tribe. But Christianity became multi-ethnic so supposedly for the first time people started thinking of religion as a separate thing. This then led to the idea of “Judaism” and other “religions”, even though earlier practitioners hadn’t defined their activities in that way.
             1. drumlin woodchuckles March 6, 2019 at 4:52 am

                Well . . . the Tribes of Israel were indeed referred to AS the “Tribes of Israel”, back in the Good Old Days. And one of those Tribes WAS the Tribe of Judah. So all the basics of the belief system could have existed dating to at least some hundreds of years BC without the existence of the word-concept “religion” or “TribeOfJudahIsm”.

                Wasn’t it around 500-or-so BC that Hosea and Ezra the Scribe systematized and canonified the Scriptures and the Books into the form which carried forward into the Judaism of today? If so, then the structure of the “religion” of “Judaism” would be 1,200 or so years older than the word ” Judaism”.
12. voteforno6 March 5, 2019 at 2:59 pm

    Re: Spinal Tap

    My favorite scene might be the Stonehenge number, just because I’ve seen it play out in real life on more than one occasion.
    1. roxy March 5, 2019 at 3:57 pm

       Favorite scene-when Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) keeps setting off the airport metal detector and has to extract a tin foil wrapped cucumber from his pants.
       1. lyman alpha blob March 5, 2019 at 8:06 pm

          For me it’s either that one or “What’s wrong with being sexy?”

          And I may be one of the few people who actually saw the movie for the first time in the theater – it grossed a whopping $4 million or so. We were on an 8th or 9th grade French class trip to Montreal and we had a free afternoon to do whatever we wanted, so a few friends and I went to check out the matinee, not really knowing what it was about. IIRC, the four of us outnumbered the rest of the crowd in the theater.

          I can’t even imagine that being allowed today – letting a bunch of small town kids loose on their own in a big city unsupervised for hours. We had a blast – I also picked up the Cramps “Bad Music for Bad People” album that afternoon which was unlike any music I’d ever heard before. They sure didn’t play that stuff on the radio in rural VT. Ah, the salad days…
    2. Geo March 5, 2019 at 6:32 pm

       Agreed. That scene is brilliant both for its delivery and it’s realism. Same with the cocoon scene and the endless hallway scene.

       Hard to pick a favorite. The whole movie (and many deleted scenes) are satirical perfection.
    3. ewmayer March 5, 2019 at 6:38 pm

       Too many great scenes to pick *a* favorite, better just to chuckle over the various ones that spring to mind … A very young Paul Shaffer as hapless local promoter Artie Fufkin, bending over and imploring the bandmembers to ‘please kick my ass’ after a record-store-promo screwup. Or – I’ll defer to IMDB here:
       
       [Nigel is playing a soft piece on the piano]

       Marty DiBergi: It’s very pretty.

       Nigel Tufnel: Yeah, I’ve been fooling around with it for a few months.

       Marty DiBergi: It’s a bit of a departure from what you normally play.

       Nigel Tufnel: It’s part of a trilogy, a musical trilogy I’m working on in D minor which is the saddest of all keys, I find. People weep instantly when they hear it, and I don’t know why.

       Marty DiBergi: It’s very nice.

       Nigel Tufnel: You know, just simple lines intertwining, you know, very much like – I’m really influenced by Mozart and Bach, and it’s sort of in between those, really. It’s like a Mach piece, really. It’s sort of…

       Marty DiBergi: What do you call this?

       Nigel Tufnel: Well, this piece is called “Lick My Love Pump”.
       
       And I actually saw Tap live in concert! It was during their followup-album Break Like the Wind tour a few years after the movie came out. I still have my ticket stub tucked into my memorablilia album – says Friday, June 19th, but no year listed – but whatever year the BLTW album came out – at the Pine Knob outdoor amphitheater in SE Michigan. Even though it was just a few days before the summer solstice, a freakish cold front from Canada had swept through the upper Midwest earlier that day, so at concert time it was in the 50s and foggy – in other words, perfect Stonehenge weather. Highlights:

       o Cher made a surprise guest appearance – in form of a giant projection of a headshot of her, with a pair of anminated lips mouthing the words to a song;

       o The giant horned glowing-eye skull hanging over the stage at every Tap concert had been given an upgrade – at the end of Big Bottom the Skull rotated 180 degrees, on the backside was a giant pair of foam bittcheeks with smoke blowing from the nether orifice;

       o The Stonehenge prop was nowhere to be seen during the show, but shortly after the band started in on the same-named song, a frazzled-looking express-mail-uniformed guy ran onstage, handed Derek Smalls an overnight-mailer and had him sign a receipt form, then ran offstage. Derek rips open the envelope, pulls out a 3″-high plastic Stonehenge prop, is briefly unsure what to do with it, then jams the legs of the mini-prop around the neck of his mic and resumes playing his bass. Good times.

       On the way out of the venue we stopped to buy T-shirts, black, with a design which was a riff on the misogynistic-album-cover scene in the film: the T-shirts had a scantily clad model wearing a graduation-cap on the front beneath the Spinal Tap logo, the model is down on all fours, and there is a dog’s forepaw holding a leash attached to a collar around her neck. On the back: “Bitch School: Enroll Now”, and 2 phone numbers beneath that: 1-900-GIV-2-TAP and 1-900-TEL-2-TAP.
    4. Wukchumni March 5, 2019 at 6:40 pm

       It being the best mockumentary ever, it’s difficult to play favorites, but when Nigel Tufnel plays that beautiful piece of classical music we learn is named Lick My Love Pump, was my moment.

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hmw7X8BfKY
    5. richard March 5, 2019 at 8:01 pm

       “Stonehenge! Where the banshees wail, and they do it well!”
       Okay, I am probably misremembering the lyrics. I’m bad at this game.
13. Jeff W March 5, 2019 at 3:01 pm

    Or will liberals find a way to incorporate the views of their more moderate party members as they try to find a candidate who can oust President Donald Trump in 2020?”

    Only if they want to satisfy Beltway pundits like Chris Cilizza—and lose, I think. (And I’m not so sure I’d call the AOC/Sanders wing of the party “liberals,” anyway.)
    1. Carey March 5, 2019 at 3:34 pm

       Pretty sure “losing” is the Plan, since Dem elites and donors don’t lose at all, in that
       scenario. Then they can “fight Trump!” for four more years.

       Anything to stop Sanders/Gabbard.
       1. Oregoncharles March 5, 2019 at 4:26 pm

          Yes, that’s the pattern. They take turns, two full terms at a time.

          It was interesting, how they engineered that last time. 2020 will be a challenge, too.

          But it appears there’s enough slop (you might call it) in our electoral system that they can make it come out any way they want.
          1. Long John March 6, 2019 at 2:53 am

             Actually, ‘two full terms at a time’ is not a pattern at all; more likely it’s just a recent blip. In the bigger scheme of things, it’s relatively unusual. Of the 44 (*) presidents before Trump, only 11 had two full terms. (* I am of the school which holds that Grover Cleveland, being one man, should only be counted once. However, we seem to have lost that argument. Nevertheless, even doing Cleveland properly, it would still only be 12/43.) And the three consecutive two full terms of Clinton-Bush-Obama was only the second time in US history that that happened, after Jefferson-Madison-Monroe.
    2. Kurtismayfield March 5, 2019 at 5:44 pm

       Remember, leftists always have to think of “including” the liberals. The problem is the liberals will always tack right after the left gives them what they need.
    3. Milton March 5, 2019 at 6:33 pm

       I’ll keep saying it – liberals are the moderate wing (conservative even). For God’s sake when are journalists going to get it straight that the 30, or so, year period in the U.S. when the liberal moniker was foisted on left-wing Democrats is no more. The traditional definition now applies: liberals and libertarian are the same.
14. h2odragon March 5, 2019 at 3:12 pm

    I have to speak up as a happy Zenni customer too. Went all in on the options on my daughter’s new glasses and they were still only $35; bought two pairs for myself for as much combined and they’re as good as anything I’ve ever had from a store. My wife’s “insurance assisted” storebought glasses work out to cost $250/yr and she gets to replace them every 18 months.

    The fact is there’s no need for glasses to be non-disposable anymore, for most people. That business is going to dissolve because all it knows how to do is collect rent anymore, and yet it doesn’t have enough cash to buy regulations to enforce its continued existence. I hope.
    1. carycat March 5, 2019 at 4:14 pm

       count me as a happy Zenni customer also. especially when my child broke 2 pairs within a few months and the 2 replacements still cost less than what my employer health plan provided the year before. and the frames met the approval of the fashion police at school. measuring pupillary distance isn’t hard, you just need somebody you don’t mind holding a ruler with mm markings across the bridge of your nose and inline with your eyes to read the distance between the centers of your pupils as you stare straight ahead. i think Zenni even includes a little ruler (Albeit a little late).
    2. notabanker March 5, 2019 at 4:43 pm

       Big fan of Zenni. I have three pairs. The only downside is you can’t try them on and I have one pair that I really don’t like and rarely wear. If I would have been able to try them on ahead of time, I wouldn’t have chosen the frame. I have a very expensive pair of Oakley prescription sunglasses that I wear quite a bit and imo were worth it. They cost me more than the three pairs of zenni’s combined.

       For non-sunglasses I wear wire frames. I hated spending $200 on them. For $35 ea, I can get two pair, they last a ton longer, I’m not always searching for my only pair of glasses and I’m still saving a ton. I’ve already had the two pair I wear a year longer than my old expensive ones. Highly recommend zenni.
15. Tomonthebeach March 5, 2019 at 3:15 pm

    “Harris, Booker and Gillibrand — along with Joe Biden, John Kerry and Terry McAuliffe — all share a common bond of receiving Trump family donations.”

    If you drank the poison kook-aid, you have colluded with the enemy, and you are unfit to run. Simple politics.

    One might speculate that HRC walking off the state might have been motivated by the donor class complaining that they were confused as to who the “right” candidate is.
    1. jrs March 5, 2019 at 6:11 pm

       that’s the problem with running against Trump as an ideology. He doesn’t have one. He was supposedly a Dem, now he listens only to the Federalist society. You can’t run against that incoherent jumble as an ideology (you can run against the present Trump administration’s bad policies of which there are plenty).

       Now one may ask what Trump got in return for the donations, but Trumps are always in it for themselves in a very narrow sense.
    2. MyLessThanPrimeBeef March 5, 2019 at 6:14 pm

       It’s sort of like the induction problem in logic.

       Those who have not received Trump family donations may or may not receive in the future. There is no way of knowing.
16. dcblogger March 5, 2019 at 3:21 pm

    Yesterday afternoon there was non-stop talk about House Resolution condemning Antisemitism and pointed at Omar, now that talk has evaporated. Omar Twitter following is growing 100K a day, and Eliot Engel, the Democratic Rep who started it all has a primary challenger who was previously unknown, but now has links all over reddit. This is NOT going the way AIPAC anticipated.
    1. NotTimothyGeithner March 5, 2019 at 3:55 pm

       Not that I’m trying to overlook AIPAC in this, but I have a feeling the Democrats didn’t need much prodding and simply were looking for a chance to stomp on the left. Being out of touch and fairly stupid, they aren’t necessarily capable of assessing the situation beyond goldilocks politics and bipartisan feel goodery. Omar and AOC present direct challenges to the cries of fraudulent identity politics.
       1. Carey March 5, 2019 at 4:07 pm

          I think that’s a good point, esp your last sentence.

          Business models
       2. Phenix March 5, 2019 at 5:19 pm

          AOC collapsed when challenged on Israel and has found a Jewish ancestor. Her comments on Omar were tepid at best until it became acceptable on twitter to show her support and even now its maybe lukewarm. She is not defending Omar just stating that its unfair to attack her if they are not going to attack everyone. Bernie on the other hand has had Omar’s back from the start. I am not on board with this AOC is the messiah movement or leader of the left.
          1. Carey March 5, 2019 at 6:12 pm

             AOC is an interesting person. I’m going to see how it goes. The uber-photogenic, blanket MSM coverage make me wary.
             1. Milton March 5, 2019 at 6:45 pm

                AOC, pulling the Democratic party to the left leftward, towards the center. One day we may have real discussions about what role government can have in our lives.
          2. Geo March 5, 2019 at 6:39 pm

             I don’t think anyone with any sense is claiming AOC is a messiah and to say so is the same dismissive framing used by anti-Bernie efforts to brand supporters as mindless sheep.

             You may not be a fan but name one other Democrat who has done as much in the past decade to advance progressive ideas as she has in the past six months alone?

             Is she capabke of living up to the ideal we each have inside our minds? No. Is she moving the narrative goal posts back to the left a bit? Yes. What more could any of us ask of a Democrat right now?
             1. Phenix March 5, 2019 at 7:09 pm

                Are you serious with this? His name is Bernie Sanders and all the people who came with him. Her campaign was based on the Sanders’ campaign. Her fundraising model was based on his model but she may have added a little HRC in there as well. We’ll find out if her Silicon Valley friend tried to disrupt campaign finance.

                Omar may have just broken AIPAC. Jayapal may break apart the insurance industry. Hell Michael Moore’s movie have probably reached more people. We will add in Nina Turner because I love her. She may not have a GND but her speeches are amazing.

                AOC did not emerge out of nowhere. The path was laid out for her. AOC has managed to get a resolution past. It is a resolution. She did not pass a law. She has also had some good moments on youtube. I do not expect purity from her. I do however expect her to have basic arguments down against the Israel occupation. I expect her to be able to argue for the progressive causes she championed as an activist. Instead she has backed down. I still remember hearing private public partnership and those tweets about Omar are cringe worthy.

                She is not a messiah but name one person who does more for the poor and downtrodden of America.
                1. Geo March 5, 2019 at 8:47 pm

                   I asked if you knew of another Democrat. Sanders is an independent. The others you mentioned you had to preface with “may have” so, again, name one Democrat that has done as much as AOC?

                   She ain’t perfect but for a Democrat she’s doing fine enough. Curious why you have such a grudge against her. Seems you’re the one looking for a messiah instead of accepting that all elected leaders are fallible.
          3. MyLessThanPrimeBeef March 5, 2019 at 6:46 pm

             There is a practical side to Ocasio-Cortez.

             She pushed back the other day that she had to fly while want to reduce or eliminate most of that.

             “I also fly and use A/C.”

             Here, she is indirectly defending Trump against the charge that he hired foreign workers while wanting to change the system.

             “Your flags were made overseas.”

             With real world experience, as we age and go through life, it becomes harder to maintain position purity.
             1. drumlin woodchuckles March 6, 2019 at 2:22 am

                Position okayness is good enough for me, as long as the positions are okay positions.

                As an American Okayness Ordinarian, I have to say that okay is okay with me.
    2. Summer March 5, 2019 at 4:30 pm

       And even if a lot of people don’t know the ins and outs of the Palestinian situation, you can’t discount some just wanting elected representatives to represent the constituents in this country first and foremost.
    3. Mark Gisleson March 5, 2019 at 4:42 pm

       She will not be censored? I’m glad to hear that.

       I had a brief fantasy about the charges being brought in Congress. In my fantasy, Omar responds by saying, “I will admit all charges and accept your punishment. Furthermore, I offer you my life in exchange for extending the same courtesies to the people of Gaza.” She then kneels in the well and offers her neck to Nancy Pelosi who just happens to have an ax with her.
       1. Duck1 March 5, 2019 at 8:51 pm

          Those darn fasces, right on the wall too ( House of Representatives).
17. DonCoyote March 5, 2019 at 3:33 pm

    #DemClownCar2020

    Andrew Yang should lead that list as Yang is shorter than Harris, and he has announced.

    Deval Patrick and Michael Avenetti have also announced they won’t run.

    And Richard Ojeda already announced, resigned his current seat, and dropped out of the race. But is still accepting donations to retire his campaign debt.
    1. John k March 5, 2019 at 5:43 pm

       Now Bloomberg out.
       He had been waiting for Biden, maybe Biden tipped him.
18. Jack White March 5, 2019 at 3:41 pm

    re: 100000 deaths. Thomas J Moore, in his book Deadly Medicine, estimated that 60000 had died early from flecainide alone.
19. Oregoncharles March 5, 2019 at 3:54 pm

    “It’s been 2 years since we started DSA Eugene.
    It took 1.5 years to get a bank account.
    It took 1 year to get incorporated.
    It took 6 months to become a chapter.
    We get zero help from national.”

    ?
    I live 40 miles from Eugene, so this caught my attention. And I was just in a phone meeting including 2 people from Eugene – one an active DSA member. (Quite a few Greens are – there’s no contradiction.) I’ll just say it’s a lot easier than that to set up a Pacific Green Party chapter, and the state party will help (chapters are a state, not national responsibility – but I don’t think there’s a state-level DSA). The hard part is setting up a bank account – but 1.5 years?

    The hard part is maintaining a chapter – people have to actually show up occasionally.
    1. turtle March 5, 2019 at 4:29 pm

       So, when I went to my first DSA meeting a few weeks ago, I discovered something interesting that I had not previously known. In most cases, none of your national dues go to your local chapter. I say in most cases because later someone added some explanations and qualifiers that if you choose to pay for your national membership monthly some unspecified amount might go to your designated local chapter. Needless to say I don’t have many details.

       I say this just to point out that it’s not a major surprise that a local chapter (even an official one, like the one I attended) would have taken that long to open a bank account. They most likely didn’t (and still don’t) have much money to speak of, since there is essentially zero regular income. Apparently the money for actually running the local chapter and supporting its actions comes out of the members’ pockets, whatever they can contribute. Most bank accounts cost money too. Some chapters institute local dues to resolve this situation, and I heard that this topic will (maybe? don’t remember how certain it was) be addressed at the next DSA convention.

       I suppose that selling T-Shirts, buttons, etc for whatever someone can afford, even nothing, brings in some money too. Couldn’t they sell socialist newspapers or something? Seriously though, I’m not sure what else they do to fund the local organization. This stuff is really mostly still very new and in a fast growth phase.
20. Oregoncharles March 5, 2019 at 4:05 pm

    ” This is precisely what ‘slaves’ were, they were hostages of capitalism which turned human beings into assets and liabilities on the balance sheets of wicked traders”
    This is untrue on its face: slavery far, far precedes capitalism. Heck, the NW Coast natives kept slaves. They were hunter-gatherers, albeit stationary. It does apply, in a way, to the slave TRADE – because it was a trade. But that, too, far precedes anything we should call capitalism.

    Capitalism is a problem, but it isn’t a universal villain and it’s a relatively recent invention (the Renaissance, at the earliest).
    1. turtle March 5, 2019 at 4:41 pm

       I get it that “capitalism” as a proper concept and object of analysis and criticism may be relatively recent, but isn’t it just another name for a modern expression of something that has been around for much longer? Namely, the concept of the “haves” and “have-nots”. In other words, some people accumulating more wealth than others and then using that wealth to wield power over others?

       If we look at it that way, can’t “capitalism” be said to have been around since at least the time when humans settled down and started agricultural societies?
       1. jrs March 5, 2019 at 6:27 pm

          Is a concept that broad really of any use to understanding anything? I get wanting a more egalitarian society, just does using the term “capitalism” that way, when it’s already a really confused term at this point (and I don’t say that as a defender of capitalism) add anything? Hierarchy or something might be a more accurate term if we’re going back to the start of agriculture etc..
          1. Mo's Bike Shop March 5, 2019 at 10:59 pm

             Well I’ll chime in that I think we haven’t really resolved the private capital problem since the Bronze Age Collapse. It’s a problem. A problem with ten to fifteen year cycles where we occasionally realize that it’s probably a big problem.
       2. Harold March 6, 2019 at 1:54 am

          No, I don’t think so. Capitalism: “An economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.”

          I think state control of trade was more the rule. Of course it depends what you mean by private.
    2. barefoot charley March 5, 2019 at 4:49 pm

       I think it’s fair to cavil that Renaissance *industrialization* of slave capitalism is what made it what we know it as. Immemorial slave raids aren’t comparable to soldiers building coastal forts to ship 4 million abductees from hundreds of miles away more thousands of miles away, where society will invent doctrines of blood purity that never entered the minds of immemorial slave raiders. Slaves had very commonly integrated into captor societies, where their offspring weren’t enslaved. All that changed when, for a North American example, slave property became the principle wealth of all the 13 colonies. They were worth 3/5th more representation for white people because where slaves lived was where the big money was. Slaves were money, and money was power. That was the deal that compromised the Constitution.
    3. Grebo March 5, 2019 at 11:23 pm

       It has occurred to me that it was the invention of Capitalism that made the abolition of slavery possible. It turned out that wage slaves were more profitable than chattel slaves.
       1. Harold March 6, 2019 at 1:58 am

          It’s true. Wage labor is rather recent, I think.
21. hemeantwell March 5, 2019 at 4:08 pm

    At least delay the decision until the National Convention in August — still more than a year away from election day. That just seems like a no-brainer

    My first inclination was to wait, but it’s not a no-brainer. The argument in favor of an early endorsement is that it will give DSA more impact in the Sanders campaign — e.g. DSA locals can serve as Sanders organizing nodes — and also bring DSA into contact with Sanders supporters earlier. Further, I think it is highly unlikely that Sanders will be replaced by a candidate who is more acceptable to the socialist left, nor is it likely that Sanders will take positions sufficiently different from those he’s already taken to warrant a repudiation. It is possible, I guess, that we might see developments on some front between now and then that Sanders would take a horrible position on, but that seems unlikely.

    The stronger arguments are to not endorse him at all, since he’s not a socialist and you don’t want to be devoting yet limited organizational strength to a campaign so well entwined with the Dems. However, chapters will be free to work out their level of commitment, so I don’t think an endorsement will be oxygen-depriving for other projects. That said, the objections have merit.
    1. Carla March 6, 2019 at 12:05 am

       You say Sanders is “not a socialist” but I thought I heard him say he’s a card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America and saw him hold up the card. Was I hallucinating? Maybe I just dreamt it.

       Now, of course, lots of people say the Democratic Socialists of America are not REAL socialists, and DSA itself insists it’s not a political party, but that’s another matter…
       1. hemeantwell March 6, 2019 at 9:52 am

          Please don’t make this out to be a lefty version of IDpol. Within DSA Sanders is regarded as strong on redistribution but very reluctant to endorse measures, beyond unionization, that would empower workers vis-a-vis employers, e.g. wielding serious power on a workplace council. He also does not push policies that would nationalize production, though he is in favor of a kind of using state funds to support industrial development. For these reasons Sanders is thought of as a credible FDR-era social democrat.

          Some members feel that defining socialism a’ Sanders misses an opportunity to get people to think thoroughly about political and social options. Dan La Botz, who wrote the National Political Committee position against endorsement, is a good example. Others believe that the time-honored notion of “critical support” is applicable. I’m inclined to the latter position. But a campaign against the “billionaire class” can turn into another version of an alignment between what I’ll loosely call “popular forces” and “progressive” sections of capital that would repeat the politics of the late 30s, when, as Thomas Ferguson has described, less labor-intensive capital was willing to support New Deal measures against more labor-reliant capital. If that starts to gel — and I think some version of that, framed more in Green New Deal terms is pretty likely — then an ideological horizon will tend to gel along with it. At the moment that sounds pretty good to me, but I can accept why some members are leery.
22. whoamolly March 5, 2019 at 4:16 pm

    Re: 2020 dem candidates

    Betcha HRC runs again.
    1. Carey March 5, 2019 at 4:23 pm

       I don’t think she’ll run, in the sense of campaigning.
       But, yeah.

       We’ve failed her twice…
    2. Acacia March 5, 2019 at 5:39 pm

       HRC says she’s not running:

       http://westchester.news12.com/story/40067049/im-not-running-hillary-clinton-rules-out-2020-bid-for-first-time-on-camera-in-exclusive-interview-with-news-12

       Also, is this the same “Hillary Clinton” in the C-SPAN video linked above? Sure looks like somebody else.
       1. Pat March 5, 2019 at 6:15 pm

          As someone who remembers Clinton denying she was going to run in her Senate campaign, I won’t believe she isn’t running a stealth campaign to be named the nominee by acclimation at the convention until there is another nominee.
          But she would be rested and ready after sitting out the primary…
          1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef March 5, 2019 at 6:50 pm

             I tend to play it safe.

             The conservative* thing to do in this case is to not under-estimate your or our opponent.

             *so, sometimes, I can be conservative. You (plural) can too…in some cases.
    3. drumlin woodchuckles March 6, 2019 at 1:44 am

       Maybe she’ll just meddle in the election. Like Putin, ha ha ha.
       1. pretzelattack March 6, 2019 at 2:37 am

          omg more buff bernie images.
          1. drumlin woodchuckles March 6, 2019 at 4:53 am

             The buffer the better.

             Buff Bernie! Boss of the Beach!
23. freedomny March 5, 2019 at 4:16 pm

    This is interesting – Bloomberg decides not to run for President and is getting on board the climate change train….

    https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-03-05/our-highest-office-my-deepest-obligation?fbclid=IwAR2o9U8wELV2Cg3IDEVoaq9-J33IHggDpIrUps1BRmRujUn_-yPt00vEKIM
    1. Carey March 5, 2019 at 4:28 pm

       Mmm, what’s the angle?
       1. Synoia March 5, 2019 at 4:42 pm

          He owns thousands of build-able acres upstate, 150 ft above sea level.
       2. FreeMarketApologist March 5, 2019 at 5:00 pm

          As a media-owner and retired elected official he’ll garner more eyeballs and attention as somebody who can endorse another candidate. And that will be a lot less expensive than running. He’ll also avoid scrutiny of the Bloomberg business, and his personal charitable activities (which are probably more honestly run than many candidates’ organizations).
    2. Harold March 6, 2019 at 1:39 am

       I am glad to hear it. This will be better for his legacy.
       1. Harold March 6, 2019 at 2:20 am

          Looking at the article, he claims he knows how to fix education and end gun violence because and he did it in NYC. I’m not sure his methods are what anyone would like to emulate, to put it mildly, when I remember stop and frisk and charter schools. Oh, dear.
          1. Pat March 6, 2019 at 8:38 am

             Pretty sure most residents of NYC would have no problem disputing both of those statements, especially education. Trump level unwarranted self congratulation, could rival the claim that Clinton was the most qualified person to run for President ever.
24. Grant March 5, 2019 at 4:28 pm

    “Will they be driven out as insufficiently loyal to the cause — as tea party (and Trump) Republicans have done to their own centrist wing over the last decade? Or will liberals find a way to incorporate the views of their more moderate party members as they try to find a candidate who can oust President Donald Trump in 2020?”

    What a stupid and predictable framing. It isn’t really about ideology with many people. The question is, are our problems structural in nature, are things fine at their root, or not? Can we solve our big problems while keeping the system in place and tinkering around the edges? On that, it is clear that our problems are structural and that we require root changes. The healthcare system is not fine at its root, in need of only tinkering. It is fundamentally flawed. We cannot keep the economy and our society in place as is, with no structural changes, and avoid or at least mitigate the environmental crisis. What is called globalization is not okay at its root. It is undemocratic, it ties the hands of government in regards to protecting the environment, regulating finance, it undermines our democracy, in leads to inequitable outcomes and it was created by interests that benefit from the particular way it was designed. So, the “moderates” will be treated according to whether or not they can argue that the system is fine at its root (good luck), and whether or not they have actual solutions to our problems. I don’t think many people care about ideology as much as they want actual solutions and actual alternatives, since the system as is clearly isn’t working. What the “moderates” and conservatives can’t do is come up with actual solutions and they cannot come up with institutions and policies that people want. They are only still part of our political discourse because interests that benefit from their policies pay them to be in the middle of it, they own the damn media and because our system is corrupt to the core. The left does a good job of describing why our problems require structural changes, the left proposes actual solutions as a result and their ideas and policies are more popular. It isn’t for ideological reasons though. Many Republicans support single payer. Ideology cannot explain that.

    I am also tired of the polls on people identifying themselves as “moderate” or whatever. What does that word even mean? Polls on issues show that the left’s ideas are popular. Getting back the Republicans and single payer; given that a decent portion of Republicans do support single payer, I would be willing to bet that most of them identified either as conservative or moderate. So, what would you do to make sense of what would appeal to them? Certainly not calling yourself a word then pushing for inferior policies. If the public agrees with the left, if polls show strong majorities favor something like single payer, THAT becomes the centrist position.
    1. Summer March 5, 2019 at 4:37 pm

       “I am also tired of the polls on people identifying themselves as “moderate” or whatever. What does that word even mean?”

       95% of the time it means “I’m comfortable, don’t rock the boat.”
       1. jrs March 5, 2019 at 6:22 pm

          moderation in all things except politics!
    2. Carey March 5, 2019 at 4:54 pm

       1) I appreciate your posts, and learn from most all of them

       2) it’s clueless-by-design Cillizza, obfuscating for the Few

       “it’s so confusing; whatever *will* we do???”

       No it’s not
       1. Grant March 5, 2019 at 7:10 pm

          +1. Well said and true.
    3. Daryl March 5, 2019 at 10:51 pm

       My first thought upon reading that was that — these people do not need to be driven out because they are not “local to the cause.” They need to be driven out because they are consistently unethical and cannot be trusted to implement any policy correctly, even the things they say they are in favor of.
25. Chris Cosmos March 5, 2019 at 4:52 pm

    Three great candidates were left off the list, of course, by whatever clone made the list. First may be the guy who might actually be the best President and that’s Andrew Wang–he has the experience and unlike most of the candidates listed has some ideas and data to prove his, particularly on UBI which I think needs to be discussed to open the Overton window a bit more. Also missing is the candidate all the media want to bury most and are doing their very best to do so for obvious reasons (she’s smart, attractive, well-spoken, a veteran who has seen war close up) and that is Tulsi Gabbard who seems to experience the attack of the savage war-mongering women wherever she goes, for example, on “The View” who accept pro-war government propaganda no matter how absurd. Finally, there is Marianne Williamson who features deeper spiritual and philosophical issues as well as reparations (though I disagree with her there, it is an issue that should be discussed).

    These alternative candidates all offer an expansion of the what is permissible to be discussed and contribute greatly what could well be a national conversation during the debates. Most of the other candidates other than Sanders and Warren just want more business as usual and want to go back to the corruption featured in the Obama administration.
    1. Carey March 5, 2019 at 4:58 pm

       Sent Gabbard a few bucks this morning to help keep her on the radar (thanks for the mailing address, Cal2).
       1. dcrane March 6, 2019 at 5:39 am

          Me too. I hope she can hang in there.
    2. False Solace March 5, 2019 at 8:09 pm

       Bernie was out there in Brooklyn openly arguing for a Job Guarantee. That’s my candidate. I don’t agree with UBI except for people unable to work. (Caregivers have a job and they should be compensated.) If Yang supported the JG I would give him a look but as far as I know, he doesn’t. I have donated to Tulsi.

       UBI has been discussed on NC before. From what I’ve seen most people who support it tend to be techno-utopians who ignore the history and think self-driving cars are just around the corner. I’m not holding my breath. We need more candidates who support the JG. As Bernie said there’s a lot of work in this country that needs to be done. We don’t have people to waste.
       1. Chris Cosmos March 6, 2019 at 12:13 am

          A high proportion of “work” is bullshit work, as Graeber has informed us and I can attest to from experience.
26. Rojo March 5, 2019 at 5:24 pm

    Is it bad the socialists date each other? Certainly you want to keep predators out, but looking for love among a group of like-minded people doesn’t strike me as horrible.

    Shouldn’t socialists be social?

    I think this is just more of a growing Puritanism (along with Veganism).
    1. Carey March 5, 2019 at 5:47 pm

       Your reasoning makes sense to me. As for your last sentence, maybe the movements
       are not organic.

       seventeen intelligence™
       1. Unna March 5, 2019 at 10:46 pm

          Wasn’t it Donna Brazile who said this about the Clinton campaign:

          “During one visit, she writes, she thought of a question former Democratic congressman Tony Coelho used to ask her about campaigns: “Are the kids having sex? Are they having fun? If not, let’s create something to get that going, or otherwise we’re not going to win. I didn’t sense much fun or [having sex] in Brooklyn,” she deadpans.

          https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/brazile-i-considered-replacing-clinton-with-biden-as-2016-democratic-nominee/2017/11/04/f0b75418-bf4c-11e7-97d9-bdab5a0ab381_story.html?utm_term=.10739938ce73

          So, do all these young “socialists” wear a scarlet sash and belong to the Junior Anti-Sex League? If so, one can draw conclusions about them.
    2. Mo's Bike Shop March 5, 2019 at 11:21 pm

       I smiled at the idea of disentangling sex and politics. But operationally yeah, so many people are clueless about gaslighting. Clear lines are the best defense.
27. ewmayer March 5, 2019 at 5:39 pm

    “Why Misinformation Is About Who You Trust, Not What You Think” [New York Magazine]. … • 100,000 deaths seems like rather a lot.

    See, Lambert, you’re thinking about it the wrong way – it’s not “100,000 deaths”, it’s “100,000 patients with arrhythmias permanently cured.” It’s all a matter of perspective!
    1. Summer March 5, 2019 at 6:24 pm

       I know, right? It’s the best science that money can buy.
       Is Lambert anti-science?
    2. John Wright March 6, 2019 at 9:54 am

       One of the researchers, O’Connor asserts:

       ” If you look at Facebook in the lead up to the 2016 election, the Russian Internet Research Agency created animal-lovers groups, Black Lives Matter groups, gun-rights groups, and anti-immigrant groups. They could build trust with people who would naturally be part of these groups. And once they grounded that trust, they could influence them by getting them not to vote or by driving polarization, causing more extreme rhetoric. ”

       Perhaps this statement is grounded in some truth.

       But there is no measure of the significance of this possibly true statement in a measure of HOW MANY VOTES were changed/influenced and in what way.

       Or that other, never highlighted, groups may have done similar actions on Facebook to influence voters differently.

       O’Connor may be illustrating that even a supposed “expert” in detecting misinformation may be susceptible to accepting and promoting misinformation.
28. WobblyTelomeres March 5, 2019 at 5:46 pm

    “NR must take [Sherrod] Brown a lot more seriously than, well, I do.”

    Interesting. I was in a (mostly senior) discussion group yesterday where all the Fox and Friends Fans were seriously discussing Brown as the only threat to Trump in 2020, largely because of his rust belt bona fides and his beating his Republican opponent by a significant margin “in a red state”. The echo chamber denizens have their opponent picked out, it seems.

    I was spent from arguing with a self-declared monetarist about MMT. I thought they were gone, but apparently not. Zombie economists?
    1. Carey March 5, 2019 at 5:58 pm

       [Even] looking at pure power relations, I can’t see Brown going anywhere at all.
       Wonder what his function is.
       1. WobblyTelomeres March 5, 2019 at 7:03 pm

          Kaine redux?
          1. NotTimothyGeithner March 5, 2019 at 7:21 pm

             Brown is believe it or not one of the best Senators, not that this is a high bar. Kaine was a co-chair of the Lieberman 2004 campaign.

             Part of me things Brown is stuck in the 90’s despite having good values. Kaine is an advocate of public private partnerships, ran the DNC in 2009 and 2010, and is an all around crummy guy even if he is very polite.
             1. WobblyTelomeres March 5, 2019 at 9:36 pm

                Brown as Kaine 2 meaning he will be Hillary’s running mate when she reluctantly gets drafted after Bernie gets robbed again. The thinking being Brown will win the trust belt for her.

                Dark thoughts, but Carey asked.
                1. NotTimothyGeithner March 5, 2019 at 10:31 pm

                   Brown would be an improvement on HRC. Kaine joined a long list of running mates whose best attribute is demonstrating the top of the ticket could really be worse.
                   1. WobblyTelomeres March 6, 2019 at 12:15 am

                      I agree with both statements.
                2. Carey March 6, 2019 at 11:54 am

                   Yikes, very plausible.

                   “like it, proles!”
29. John k March 5, 2019 at 5:55 pm

    The clown bus… have to say I’m surprised Biden doing so well in the polls.
    Who will still be on it when primaries begin?
    Biden, sanders, Harris, warren, booker? Beto?
    Who will be on it After S.C.? (Probably when donors write checks.)
    Biden, sanders, plus S.C. winner?
    1. Carey March 5, 2019 at 6:20 pm

       Who do you see as Biden’s durable constituency?
       1. John k March 5, 2019 at 6:52 pm

          Status quo Clintonites plus those nostalgic for Obama that aren’t more attracted by Harris or booker.
          I’m surprised sanders isn’t polling above 25%, unless they’re once again missing young uns on cell phones.

          On the plus side, four years brings in around 16 million new voters while removing around 10 million older ones. Maybe significant if you forecast another close race between old guard and a progressive, since the swing is about 10% of 260 million electorate.
          1. Wukchumni March 5, 2019 at 7:00 pm

             State Provides Quality Rabble
          2. Carey March 5, 2019 at 7:04 pm

             WRT polls- pollsters have constituencies, too.

             Will the mcVotes be accurately counted, and will there again be states without exit polling, as with California and others in 2016?
             1. richard March 5, 2019 at 9:54 pm

                I don’t get how we know anything is above board without exit polling
                like most of this world
                I don’t get how it’s even legal
                to not have exit polls
          3. drumlin woodchuckles March 6, 2019 at 1:49 am

             Only if the new voters vote. And that would require someone who inspires them to come out and vote for that someone.

             Unless we can give them someone they could hate so much that they would come out to vote aGAINST that person. A Nominee Biden could be that hate object . . . especially if his role in student debt slavery for the young people were baldly revealed to all those young people.
    2. urblintz March 5, 2019 at 8:37 pm

       I thought “doing well in the polls” had lost all meaning after HRC… just sayin’…
30. Pat March 5, 2019 at 6:21 pm

    While it doesn’t account for the absurdly high numbers, nobody should forget that a great deal of support for Israel by Republicans is fueled by the Religious right’s desire for Armageddon. Something that has been linked to Israel for at least my lifetime.

    I have never understood the appeal.
    1. Acacia March 5, 2019 at 6:30 pm

       The appeal of Armageddon… isn’t it like the appeal of an ultimate moral high ground (i.e., you were right, you will be saved, while all those other a**holes fry), and by desiring it you’re already kind of half way there?
       1. urblintz March 5, 2019 at 8:40 pm

          if Armageddon means all those awful believers vanish into their heaven then I’m all for it…

          might be the answer to a sustainable planet!
          1. drumlin woodchuckles March 6, 2019 at 1:50 am

             Armageddon means a great big nuclear war.
    2. Geo March 5, 2019 at 6:52 pm

       The appeal of Armageddon? It’s that there’s no fun being chosen unless others know they have been excluded. It’s all ego driven. Revenge fantasy turned up to eleven.
    3. Wukchumni March 5, 2019 at 7:21 pm

       Wouldn’t it be disappointing to those hellbent on a dieaspora to learn that this good Earth was in fact heaven?
    4. The Rev Kev March 5, 2019 at 7:47 pm

       Maybe all those idiots are counting on not being one of those Left Behind-

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrXe8YDbzYs
31. Wukchumni March 5, 2019 at 6:45 pm

    Interesting article in regards to Peter Thiel getting NZ citizenship…

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/indepth/national/how-peter-thiel-got-new-zealand-citizenship/
32. anon y'mouse March 5, 2019 at 7:12 pm

    rumor & speculation alert!!

    i have a room mate who recently went to apply for a line of credit. this person has had no difficulty in obtaining various consumer lines of credit in the past, including car, credit and other. they were turned down because there is suddenly a 90 past due student loan being listed for nonpayment, which dropped their credit below the number deemed acceptable by the bank.

    this person never received notification of this debt in writing, and it did not seem to have been on their credit 6 months ago when they last checked themselves.

    after handwringing, and examinations of the past, this person does remember a student loan being taken out. and they have not heard anything about it for all of these years. and it is a government backed (or even government provided) loan. they signed into the fedloans page for loan managment (after creating the profile which would prove that they are indeed who they claim) and saw it there.

    now, this comes along at the same time that many articles are in the news over the federal management of student loans being a total fiasco, and how many people are now behind in their payments. coincidence?

    someone is clearing up their paperwork, and rediscovered a loan even my friend had forgotten he’d made.

    just a warning. this crap is coming back to haunt you(us all), and because of the student loan issue, it will never go away until you pay it off. even if you weren’t aware it was still an issue (this person obviously had never been dunned to pay, so had forgotten about it entirely in the 10+yr interim). this person plans to do that ASAP (the loan is a relatively small amount), but it is holding up other areas of their life and may come to bite if they NEED to do something like rent an apartment or anything else very soon.
    1. Carey March 5, 2019 at 7:36 pm

       I hear you. Have a daughter in grad school. “Sign here, please…”

       #sohosed
    2. Acacia March 6, 2019 at 2:37 am

       Something similar happened to a friend.

       He had student loans. The banks holding the loans sent paperwork constantly. Every week a letter. He tried to “go green” but they wouldn’t do it. So, the letters ended up in a pile. He would open them from time to time, and check the status of his account: payment deferred until after graduation.

       He graduated, launched into the job market, took a breath, and then opened the latest letter, only to discover the bank was telling him that his loan kicked into repayment and it was overdue. He phones them immediately, and is informed that the loan has already defaulted. “Err, but the letter this week said it was less than ninety days overdue,” he queried. “Oh… sorry…,” the loan officer replies, “seems there was an error with the system … *really* sorry about that, but anyway your loan has defaulted.” To correct this and rescue his credit rating, he had to pay $5000+ to “rehabilitate” the loan. His conclusion: the bank was scamming borrowers with this “system error”, leading them to believe their payment was overdue but not too overdue. After all, how could the borrower protest that they were square with the lender?
33. Joe Walsh March 5, 2019 at 7:20 pm

    How is it possible that O’Rourke manages to keep getting called by an alleged nickname far more so than any other politician? That’s quite a PR coup. Klobuchar keeps trying to go by just “Amy” but it’s not sticking and even Bernie gets called Sanders a lot more often.

    Basically, how could someone get people to call him Joecito with a straight face, at least when it’s politically convenient? Asking for a friend…
    1. Carey March 5, 2019 at 7:33 pm

       Friends in high places, as with Harris/ Booker/ Biden et al?
       He’s O’Rourke to me.

       heh
    2. ewmayer March 5, 2019 at 11:03 pm

       Prediction: Trump is gonna use his evil genius at devising derogatory-but-memorable nicknames and start calling silver spoon Robert Francis O’Rourke “Beto male”.
34. Wukchumni March 5, 2019 at 7:40 pm

    I declare a lessatorium on mentioning HRC henceforth, as she’s spayed it forward.
35. allan March 5, 2019 at 8:16 pm

    Nuclear nonproliferation with Trumpian characteristics:

    North Korea rebuilding long-range rocket site, photos show [NBC]

    North Korea is pursuing the “rapid rebuilding” of the long-range rocket site at Sohae Launch Facility, according to new commercial imagery and an analysis from the researchers at Beyond Parallel.

    Sohae Satellite Launching Station, North Korea’s only operational space launch facility, has been used in the past for satellite launches. These launches use similar technology to what is used for intercontinental ballistic missiles. …

    Asked for comment, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said, “We don’t comment on intelligence.” …

    Oddly, or not, the “intelligence” is publicly available commercial satellite imagery.
36. HopeLB March 5, 2019 at 9:31 pm

    Beautiful Lambert,
    What was the name of that Tree book that you recently commented upon? I’m a tree nut, and haven’t been able to unearth it from reviewing the comments.
    Thank You for Generously Sharing your Hilarious and Singular Expertise with us!
    Hope
    1. len March 6, 2019 at 5:24 am

       The book is: The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben. I am reading it now and my walks in our forests on Vancouver Island in British Columbia are much enriched with the new insights. Thought provoking book and makes me a bit sad.
37. Literate March 6, 2019 at 1:50 am

    Lambert: “I rarely watch video, preferring transcripts…”

    Thank you for that. I expressed a similar opinion on another website in regard to podcasts and I was slapped right down. I may be old and in the way but I can still read a hell of a lot faster than people talk and it strikes me as the height of egotism that someone would expect me to take the time to listen to them when there already aren’t enough hours in the day. OK, I’ll grant that there might be situations — extended driving, for example — when listening can actually be a sort of ‘force multiplier’ but, in general, if you want me to pay attention to your message, write it down!
    1. Yves Smith March 6, 2019 at 2:24 am

       I share Lambert’s preferences. And aside from saving time, another reason for preferring transcripts is it is often much clearer than when watching a presentation or discussion to see how a speaker has been evasive or shifted grounds.

Comments are closed.