Let’s just wait for a real president when Joe Biden takes office and ignore the buffoon in office until then. Trump dodged the tough decision as states stepped in to shutter the economy for public health, but now he wants to play the hero for reopening business.
Meanwhile, our governors have got this…
The Guardian: US governors announce multi-state pacts to begin easing coronavirus orders.
Andrew Cuomo : “I don’t agree with the president’s legal analysis. The president doesn’t have total authority. We have a Constitution. We don’t have a king.”
Liberal justice Jill Karofsky has DEFEATED the conservative incumbent in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election. The race was marred by GOP leaders forcing Milwaukee-area voters to vote in-person at only 5 polling places (instead of 180) amid a pandemic.
Craig – along with the victory was the margin, at least six points. The pattern is of 2018 is continuing. I would not be surprised to see a few more r’s retiring for personal reasons in the next few months.
Not sure what my polysci and con law profs were talking about when they discussed separation of powers and checks and balances since we now know that SFB has decreed that his power is absolute and the white angel of death confirmed that his power is plenary (a fancy word He probably read in some speech notes written by a lawyer). This is dangerous territory we are entering.
It’s a bit dense and very lengthy, but the Brennan Center has published a comprehensive list of presidential powers in a declared emergency. I’ve gotten through a little of it. So far I’m not sure what SFB might mean when he says the president has the powers the president has, but yes, that’s exactly what powers he has. Oh, by the way, light is light.
The only thing absolute about Trump, is his danger to AMERICAN democracy. Still hoping he and his entire, mangy pack go golfing in a lightning storm.
I’m also hoping that as it becomes clear to folks who have not been indoctrinated by Faux Noise (preferred channel of racist lemmings), that some of those who don’t like Trump but have supported him, will start jumping ship. The thing Trump requires is absolute loyalty. Any Republicans in office need to turn on him and save themselves.
Amy McGrath and Jaime Harrison—heroes-in-waiting.
OK, historians. Was the Civil War a declared emergency? (I certainly don’t want to compare the behaviors of Abe & Damned-Dumb-Donny.) Has there ever been a declared, national emergency when the prez tried to do something and was held back? Would there have been a way for that prez to override?
Maybe no conventions?
Sturg – How do I get adhesive off of cheap, untreated wood without ruining it? I found a ladybug house kit among my undone crafts. There is a label on the roof and it’s not coming off. I’m thinking I’ll just have keep scraping. Acetone will ruin it, right?
Craig, BB
Interesting thing about Wisconsin, the voter suppression was successful, over all Democratic voters were down 8% but they still got their asses handed to them why? Just like in 2018 the white educated suburbs switched to the Democrats. Forget the blue-collar voter, the working class is increasingly white collar support staff. Mrs Jack’s team was an excellent example of the new America. Medical, legal, engineering, architecture, banking, finance have all changed from small one person/ small group of partners in an office to the industrial model where everybody is just part of a nation wide system working on their small piece of the puzzle.
I think that is the biggest failing of the modern left is that they fail to realize the change.
Jack
BTW, that applies to the restaurant industry too. The mom and pop, chef owned restaurants are a thing of the past. Not only the mega chains, but even “local” restaurants are owned by large investment companies.
Jack
Try “Goof Off”……it’s strong, don’t inhale. If there is no finish on the wood try lacquer thinner. If there is finish, try paint thinner.
Maybe try it out on a piece which doesn’t show
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/14/politics/obama-endorses-biden/index.html
OK, Obama finally endorsed Joe, now that he’s the presumptive nominee.
Sturg – Thanks. Guess I will do part of this project and leave the roof until I can get some. That reminds me, I worked with a guy who’s dad was an inventor. He had a product called Un-Do Remover. His dad also invented a little game called Twister. Folks who invent lots of different stuff are fascinating to me. Just saw a piece on TV about the invention of a way to clean/reuse respirator masks with a hydrogen peroxide mist. Invented by a physician worried about lack of masks and her engineer hubby. Great news for docs. However, they also said 60 machines costs $400 million. Huh? Really? Price gouging?
And always remember if there is a stain after you remove the tag you can paint it.
Let your creative, cooped up, climbing the walls, self go wild with imagination and paint. You can mix your own colors ya know, just use all that paint you bought for different projects and add a little of this one or a bit of that one. The mind boggles at all the fun you can have.
And don’t worry about your landlord, he isn’t giving you back your deposit anyway, also, he is going to paint those walls no matter what you do.
Back in the day ( something about good dope and lots of time) I had a house mate who got creative with a wall in the house. Made a huge paper-mache cloud in one corner of the wall and this beautiful pastoral scene below it with paper-mache 3D landscaping. It was quite the winter project.
And no doubt a fun task for a landlord to remove and repair. But we were young….
Jack
Reading through what was posted last night this bright and sunny morning was pretty good.
I also read (Wapo) that trump had a meltdown at his presser yesterday. Maybe I should watch some of it from time to time… good for a laugh!… except… yeah… it’s scary too.
I’m presently reading an oldie but goodie… “Don’t Stop the Carnival” by Herman Wouk. It’s about a guy from NYC that buys a hotel in the Caribbean and all the nonsense that ensues. It was written in 1965…. probably couldn’t be written today for PC reasons.
Forget about the Constitution and the “Rule of Law.”
The Constitution is just a piece of paper and the rule of law in dependent on voluntary compliance. Democracy in the USA has never been in as much danger as it is today. We could be marching towards a dictatorship. There may not be any elections in November, or if there are, they could be “fixed” to favor the Republicans.
The conventional wisdom is that Trump is getting weaker. I suspect that the opposite may be true.
What Trump has in his favor is the fanatical support of every nearly Republican politician in the USA, a majority in the U.S. Senate, a majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, a majority of the state governors and state legislators, and nearly 50% of the voters (those who will still be allowed to vote.)
You should also realize that the vast majority of the officers in the U.S. military are social and political conservatives who harbor a thinly concealed contempt for “liberals,” and they would love to see the U.S. move towards a more authoritarian system of government, one that operates like the culture of the military. People who have never been in the military (which is true of most educated middle-class liberals) like to think that a “coup” is impossible in the USA. They think that events portrayed in the movie “Seven days in May,” couldn’t happen here. They are wrong.
For far too long, the corporate news media, and the conservative “establishment” wing of the Democratic party have failed to challenge Trump’s increasingly dangerous usurpation of authority. They have underestimated him and the ruthless fanaticism of his followers, thinking that “eventually he will lose support, so let’s just pretend he is not acting like a dictator.”
The establishment Democrats reluctance to impeach Trump is a good example of this. Nancy Pelosi spent so much time and energy telling everyone who would listen why Trump should not be impeached, that when she finally conceded that it had to be done, she found that she had undermined the case with her previous statements. Having ignored so many flagrant abuses of power in the past, it was hard to argue that the most recent abuses were somehow different. Proceeding on narrow legal grounds, and featuring weak and indecisive rhetoric by the Democrats, the impeachment was a shambles that worked in Trump’s favor, strengthening his support and revealing the cowardice and weakness of the establishment Dems.
Opposition politicians and liberal intellectuals in Germany always underestimated Hitler, thinking that he was just an annoyance, a “silly little man man with preposterous ideas and a foolish uniform.”
I detect the same wishful thinking among people in the news media and in the right wing of the Democratic party. They have convinced themselves that “we don’t have to worry because good old Joe Biden will be the next President and things will quickly return to business as usual.”
But maybe not.
That reminds me of something else. After he left my company, he went to work for a textile company. His wife said every time he came back from a trip to China, he was sick. I’m sure we have immunity to stuff that folks from other parts of the world don’t, as well.
Sturge, I thought that was half the fun of doing these craft project was inhaling the fumes from glue, paint remover ect. Kill a few more brain cells ya know.
I remember one time we framed up a house that had one wall, including the gable that was all windows.
We wanted to see what the wall looked like after it was trimmed out with oak. We went in just as the trim crew had put on the last coat of lacquer. Lot of fumes in the air, chatted a bit with the crew, no masks. Then we walked out higher than all get out. Those boys couldn’t have had many brain cells let.
Jack
BiD
I pretty good immunity to the local stuff but I don’t travel. When I do it seems I always pick up a cold.
I think it is from people like Mrs Jack, who when she caught a cold just went to the store and bought meds to power through it. Then she would come home and we would deal with her pneumonia. It happened twice and with both companies she became a legend. Interesting thing, and good thing is neither time did she bring it home to me.
Jack
Jack – I won’t be painting the walls, but I did have the kitchen painted when I moved in (Sherwin-Williams “Aloe”) because I would’ve been miserable with all white and beige walls. I always see folks who have created sorts gallery walls with lots of art, but I prefer a decent amount of bare space on the walls, or I’ll get claustrophobic. I have two small pics gifted to me, a big one that I painted, and, my grandparents’ pic called, “Will Of A Nation.” It’s a print by JK Haines. There a blurb in the back about not jumping into war without cause; somebody gave them out prior to WWII. The post office broke the glass and splintered the frame (and I was never able to collect in the insurance, despite the gaping hole in the side of the box), but I had the old, olive green frame repaired well as possible and then had a new, gold frame put around that, so you can see the old frame inside of it.
I would like to get an old, lace runner from the Chicago World’s Fair framed, but nobody seems to know how to do it and not ruin it.
Heddy – I hope Bruno and Cindy get to hear those. Beautiful!
Ahhh, chalk fixative. The art teacher always sent us outside to use that stuff. I didn’t realize kids wanted to get high off it, but I do remember it smelled good.
Evidence from the 2008, 2012, and 2018 elections indicate that the military is no longer a republican auxiliary. To me, the navy seems particularly unhappy with the racist russophile rapist. I’d call the Armed Services purple these days.
Heddy
Good stuff, thanks for sharing
Jack
…wrap some duct tape around your finger and lift the adhesive residue off of the surface with quick tapping motions.
Vinegar dissolves adhesive sometimes, too (typically when one would prefer it didn’t, from my experience).
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/business/coronavirus-n95-mask-decontaminating-reuse.amp.html
Cleaning N95 masks with a hydrogen peroxide mist. The FDA fast-tracked it and got it approved in 2 weeks.
Glue!
Bid
When I worked at juvie detention, we always had to be careful. I was amazed at the number of things that kids would take to get high. The art teacher brought in a bunch of colored sharpies and they all disappeared. We found them under the mattress of one boy he took them to his room and broke them open to inhale the fumes.
Jack
The military may be and have been somewhat conservative but that element is and has been rapidly losing ground faced with the current situation in the presidency.
I think the problem is the definition of conservative has changed under the current admin. Rather than the military changed. So yeah, that is why the old words polished up for a new crises don’t seem to be working for either the right or the left. It really is a new world and those that adjust to it win.
BTW, for all the talk of millennials being progressive, my nieces and nephews, in attitude are very “pay your bills” “follow the rules” conservative with a small “c”. They don’t seem to be like the boomers and aren’t big risk takers. More like the post war “safe” generation.
Jack
Disney family singalong on Thursday night/ABC. All sorts of nice distractions.
heddy… thanks for those videos!
Jack … I too have noticed that my nieces and nephew are very much like you describe. My nephew… who is an officer in the National Guard… voted for trump in 2016, but has said he won’t vote for him this November.
We are cleaning. It’s come that.
AB (all bullshit) Stoddard told me on my tv that the primaries proved Biden’s more conservative policies won the day. How does she work for a site that’s focused on polling.
The fact is more Democrats prefer Bernie’s policies but were brainwashed into thinking he couldn’t win
She has always been bad but now she is totally making it up.
Not my families’ next generation. No Trump voters in any generation. One niece is a doctor and a nephew works on a statewide program to switch his state from fossil fuels to better environmental choices. Another a photographer and another is the director of a organ donor program. Never Trumpers
Joe could pick Hillary.
A Hillary-Pence (or Haley) debate could be interesting.
I think he will refuse debates if just because he would so hate debate prep.
He won’t be winning any new voters—all he can do is hold his base, and if he debates he runs the risk of being noticeably out-classed. He won’t debate.
Unless he’s really really stupid enough to think he’d be great at it.
“Why should I let Sleepy Joe be a part of my great ratings?”
Missing PatD today. You OK?
yep, okay. just a little stunned from finishing state & federal income taxes and taking them to post office (suitably masked and gloved of course). this was the latest I’ve been in years getting them done. was not about to give into the postponement to 7/15 for fear I would relapse to my old procrastination/last minute cramming self of youthful carefree days.
thanks for asking
Can’t wait for today’s briefing.
Lardbutt should be completely off the rails
Being in that white house has to be kinda like being in the Worst Band in the World and having to go on with the tour.
It’s not fair to the Eagles to compare them to trump.
just for you Bink….
nooooooooooo
“The race was marred by GOP leaders forcing Milwaukee-area voters to vote in-person at only 5 polling places (instead of 180) amid a pandemic.” How PATHEITIC was that?? SO glad the liberal judge won!! And it was the next day that Bernie bowed out, fortunately!
Jack, were you the fuzz?
I checked my work e-mail for the last time. Tomorrow’s my last day and none too soon. I was a teacher and the pandemic has caused an enormous amount of pandamonium in the way of chaos & confusion for teachers. Besides trying to teach online, there’re all kinds of forms and documents for parents to fill out and sign. I wasn’t a content classroom teacher. That’d be easy. We were itinerant which mean we drove from school to school to see students. All those schools, all those teachers, all those parents! It’s a lot if you go there in person. Trying to do it virtually is insane and stressful.
I love they way government folks keep saying, what’ll happen to kids when the adults go back to work? It implies just how we often felt about it. We were ‘free, tax dollars’ baby sitters for those parents. Anyhow, my work was done with education, and it’s time for me to ease on down the road. No regrets and no sorrow.
Bink, you’re such a whippersnapper…
Tiptoe, congratulations – I envy you.
Well….I gotta do it
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h1WJqKWqUHQ
lol, “peaceful easy feelin’” is such a shitty song, lol, i feel exactly like the Dude
Whoa, the dance playlist i made for this forum has 120 views, i’m youtube-famous😎
Tiptoe
Welcome to retirement. I have always enjoyed it but during the pandemic. I am loving it
Good to know you didn’t disappear Pat, you scared me sweetie
I’m watching Trump’s press conference.
I wonder if Fauci will resign now that Trump is placing ALL OF THE BLAME the Covid-19 crisis on the World Health Organization and cutting its U.S funding.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jOrhjgt-_Qc
“This train don’t pull no liars.” -Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Nash, me too. I had to go out and pick up groceries and no more than 20% of the people in Walmart and Kroger were wearing masks. Anywhat, I was listening to SFB on Sirius as he launched into the biggest lie fest yet. Kudos to Chuckie for cutting away quickly and fact checking his opening lies.
There is one thing that he’s backtracking on – he’s acknowledging federalism (as long as he agrees with their decisions).
TT – Congratulations and thank you for your service. I keep hearing folks on TV who are homeschooling say that teachers need huge raises for doing what they do. They can’t open up the businesses unless they can open up schools or whatever folks do with kids during the summer. Some universities are saying maybe only online until 2021.
Why do CNN and MSNBC give Trump this daily forum to spread his lies? It doesn’t matter if they “fact check” everything later. The damage is done.
Trump gets an hour or two of daily airtime (preempting the local and network evening news shows) to tell everyone what a GREAT job he is doing, and what does Biden get? An occasional interview when no one is watching.
The mainstream news media are now doing to Biden what they did to Sanders. They are ignoring him. By covering Trump’s daily dog and pony show, the news media are helping Trump politically.
Trump knows how to manipulate the mainstream news media. He gets their coverage because all they care about is ratings and watching Trump destroy the country is very good for business. Biden is boring so that means low ratings, less profit, and no coverage.
Thank you, TT, for pursuing your career to its logical end. I am sure that over future years/decades you will remember the faces and eccentricities of the students that made your career so rewarding.
My Grandmother graduated college in 1901 and went straight into teaching–in a one-room school. Upon her arrival every morning, the older boys would unsaddle her horse, take care of its needs, then reverse the process in the afternoon. She was competent in Greek, Latin, German and French (as well as English).
My daughter, Sue, now 58, sees the light at the end of the tunnel. We’ll see…
Farmers are throwing out all that food while people are in long food lines. If there were a farm here, which there’s not unfortunately, I’d go and help. I have the time, need the exercise, and would more than 76feet from anyone in a field.
Nash, you’re right of course. Better to do delayed coverage in a point, counterpoint format. Make Biden the counterpoint host.
Cuomo’s press conferences are more fun to watch than Biden’s interviews from his basement. Cuomo is a more dynamic speaker and he does a better job of nailing Trump for all his lies and mistakes.
Too bad Cuomo isn’t the Democratic party nominee. He’s an establishment conservative, so I don’t like his politics very much, but he’d be a better candidate than Biden, especially in debates with Trump.
Never interfere with your opponent as he shoots himself in the foot.
Some farmers should dress up like wiccas and sacrifice a beast to propitiate the great god trump, to save them from his plague. Of course, they could just pretend to sacrifice to please the cameras and folks w/Ms Dallas’ concern for animals simultaneously.
It’d be a very cool prank to play on the ultra-Christianoids who believe in trump.
A Biden/Cuomo ticket??
Also : promote hugging and literally breaking bread & drinking grape juice from the same goblet, in trump fellowship and ‘in trump’s holy name’.
Make them cringe.
Pogo: I heard a long discussion on CNN earlier today about whether they should let Trump speak at his press conferences uninterrupted in real time, or whether they should just tape them, and then show short clips with analysis later in the evening.
Even though most of the political experts CNN talked to agreed it was a bad idea to just let Trump speak, that’s exactly what CNN did tonight.
Over on MSNBC, Chuck Todd briefly cut in to discuss the WHO with an expert, after letting Trump talk for 45 minutes, but then Todd cut back to live coverage after only a few minutes.
The consensus among the political commentators that I have read is that Trump is using these daily press conferences as defacto campaign rallies. The news media know they are falling into a trap by giving him all this free airtime, but they just can’t stop doing it, because it’s “the best show in town.”
Recent wonderful You Tube discovery. Sir Patrick Stewart with a Sonnet A Day
tiptoe21: Biden has to pick a woman. If he doesn’t it would be a disaster.
This is an excellent idea.
”
Medical Workers Wear Pics Of Themselves Smiling To Comfort COVID-19 Patients”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/medical-workers-pics-smiling-covid-19-patients_l_5e8f725bc5b6b371812da523?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANz5f43IdTTNUn4L9LtN40uYiM-CKkTkodAKCgzU4T53PxXqP7JFAM80Yd77hPU9NIPdjaGqPo2DlGDyhtH1k-2y5NclSfkZy4wDhBK68JYzL6w5KuqiO4pLxkDsGvutRSBraXDtAWBcBv4dMH4oL8_XiXqbfhlyhPAxrCmX0A_H
Nash, with respect to coverage of SFB’s daily lie fest, I would love to see little to no coverage of it. With respect to your earlier post about Cuomo, great pol but tough shit. Cuomo didn’t run. Oh, and I think Biden choosing a woman as VP is a foregone conclusion.
Oh, and KC, policy, bullshit. Bernie had the same, make that a superior, chance to make his case. He didn’t. Votes win primaries. Period. Biden’s the goddamn nominee. He’ll win CA so go ahead and wring your hands, rend you clothing or whatever but Bernie lost in spite of or because of his policy positions. It doesn’t matter in the end. He lost, Biden won, get the fuck over it and move on to criticizing SFB and removing this fucking stain from our country.
BTW, WTF is Trump thinking (that’s rhetorical BTW) cutting off funding to the WHO during a global pandemic? Jesus Christ.
xrep – Along those lines, maybe throwing a virgin into the nearest volcano…
Pogo, the dictator’s crazy!
i do appreciate Nash’s more deft and tactful compositions aimed at undermining Biden. Well done, Sir💪❤️🇺🇸
EXCITING BREAKING NEWS: Obama endorsed Biden.
At this point in the primary process Obama would have endorsed a ham sandwich if it had an insurmountable lead in the delegate count.
BREAKING: Highlands Ranch High School Afterschool Socialist Club will not endorse Joe Biden for president.
NEW THREAD