Bernie Sanders Defends Pro-Castro Comments

Plus: Congress set to reauthorize PATRIOT Act provisions, Steyer surges in South Carolina, and more...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.) was the big winner in Nevada this weekend. "Sanders hasn't locked up the race yet, but he's now in a position to do so," as Peter Suderman writes. "Democrats look very much like they're about to nominate a self-described democratic socialist for president."

Fresh off the Nevada win, Sanders went on 60 Minutes Sunday and defended his 1980s comments about Fidel Castro providing education and health care to the Cuban people. Sanders told the show that he is "very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba," but added that "it's unfair to simply say everything is bad. When Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing?"

Cooper pointed out that that this didn't apply for the political dissidents Castro imprisoned. On Twitter, Sen. Ted Cruz (R–Texas) put it a bit more vividly:

It really makes a difference when those you murder at the firing squad can read & write. https://t.co/4DKbSKpI6t

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 24, 2020

Sanders also stirred up some drama over the weekend with comments about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Sanders tweeted that he would not attend AIPAC's annual conference because of the organization's connection to "leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights." 

"As president, I will support the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians and do everything possible to bring peace and security to the region," Sanders said.

AIPAC responded:

Senator Sanders has never attended our conference and that is evident from his outrageous comment.

Full statement: https://t.co/XDcNKhYXSq pic.twitter.com/aJGJiv2wv8

— AIPAC (@AIPAC) February 24, 2020

The next Democratic primary takes place in South Carolina on Saturday, February 29. A recent poll of South Carolina voters found former Vice President Joe Biden with just a slight lead over Sanders among likely Democratic voters (28 percent versus 23 percent).

"Support for the former vice president has fallen by double-digits as Sanders and businessman Tom Steyer have made gains," notes CBS. Steyer was the top choice of 18 percent of South Carolina Democrats polled.

Former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson has endorsed Sanders.

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FREE MINDS

To decode for everyone, Democratic leaders want to reauthorize expiring unconstitutional provisions of the Patriot Act, part of FISA. Republicans will happily join them. I'll vote no. Trump will sign it into law.

This, despite all the whining about privacy violations and abuses. https://t.co/kFTsZCAmVJ

— Justin Amash (@justinamash) February 22, 2020

---

FREE MARKETS

Sanders pushes child-care-for-all. On 60 Minutes, the senator said that as president, he would push for free child care from infancy to age four.

"I get a little bit tired of hearing my opponents saying—'Gee, how you going to pay for a program that impacts and helps children or working-class families or middle-class families? How you going to pay for that?'" Sanders said. "And yet, where are people saying, 'How are you going to pay for over $750 billion on military spending?'"

Sanders is right about the military spending, and he is admirably committed to condemning America's endless imperial adventurism abroad. Yet during the same interview, Sanders was still willing to play world police with America's military if he becomes president.

Asked what he would do "if China took military action against Taiwan," Sanders said: "That's something—yeah. I mean I think we have got to make it clear to countries around the world that we will not sit by and allow invasions to take place…"

---

QUICK HITS

• The Supreme Court will consider whether oil pipelines can be built on "lands in the National Park System."
• Americans are generally satisfied with their personal lives:

Since 1979 Gallup has asked people, "In general, how satisfied are you with the way things are going in your personal life at this time?" This year, 90% of people answered "satisfied," the highest ever in the poll's history. Makes it a peculiar time for a political revolution. pic.twitter.com/Q4317141ob

— John Arnold (@JohnArnoldFndtn) February 23, 2020

• Coronavirus is ripping through Chinese jails now.
• Is the window of opportunity over for stopping the coronavirus from becoming a worldwide pandemic?

The @WHO and @drtedros have emphasized again and again that there is a "window of opportunity" to contain #COVID19. On Friday, Tedros said he believed that window of opportunity was still there, but narrowing. Personally, I think the last days have shown that time is up.

— Kai Kupferschmidt (@kakape) February 22, 2020

• Against tech alarmism.
• "We owe our current good fortune…to the collapse of one of the world's greatest empires and the failure of every attempt since to revive it," writes Stephen Davies in a review of Escape From Rome.
• Michael Bloomberg's bad debate showing last week appears to be coming back to bite him in the polls:

https://twitter.com/natemcdermott/status/1230940377865183233?s=19

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.) was the big winner in Nevada this weekend.

Always bet on red.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

"He had a massive literacy program."

Murdering farmers and then subjecting people to mass misery.

That about makes it even.

Go fuck yourself Bernie. You and your degenerate, illiberal horde of sowers of discord.

Fuck. You.

[Jerryskids]

But Castro didn't have as good a full-employment program as Hitler, did he? Chalk one up for the Fuhrer.

[A leftist]

Oh jesus, your little god emperor Trump sucks authoritarian dick every chance he gets and it doesn't bother one bit.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Oh. Look a left-wing ignoramus who doesn't even know how to tu quoque.

/tickles little illiterate progressive in the tummy. Then punches it.

[A leftist]

Go home Canadian, you're drunk and lost.

[Rufus The Monocled]

I'm already home.

And I don't drink to get drunk. I drink to be civilized.

[loveconstitution1789]

To be fair, Lefties were sucking Hillary's cock for so long, they assume everyone wants to suck the cock of a politician.

[Sevo]

Right, that was Trump who told Putin 'he'd have more freedom to work together after the election'.
Stuff it up your butt, so your head has company.

[JesseAz]

Bet he even has Mao Christmas Ornaments.

https://www.wnd.com/2009/12/119800/

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

And a Mickey Mao watch.

[loveconstitution1789]

On 60 Minutes, Bernie says it’s ‘unfair to say everything is bad’ about Cuban revolution

I don't think Welch has a Bernie Boner like he had a Beto Boner.

[Rufus The Monocled]

The one and only time I went to Cuba (one of our buddies in school was from Cuba - he would play hockey with us and was just about as bad as you'd think but he was a sick sniper for some reason. Anyway, he never had a kind word for Casto. Same with our Cuban friend from Miami (a doctor) here. His family were one of those whose land was stolen from that piece of shit Fidel), I escaped the god awful resort crawling with pink Westerners and managed to get my hands on a moped and went into the towns.

I found it incredible Cubans weren't allowed to walk on the beaches alongside us and this bothered me. So I want on my own 'Motorcycle Diary'.

Along the way the chain on the moped got unhinged and before I could settle in and figure out the problem a guy came out of nowhere to fix it with a smile. All I saw was profound sadness behind the veneer of happiness - or as cunts like Bernie claim happiness because they're literate.

Lemme tell you about the value of literacy. If the literacy comes in the form of indoctrination then it's not literacy at all. One chap I befriended at the Hotel who was handing pampered jerk offs like me towels was an engineer who studied in Russia. He was making something like a dollar a day and always had to look over his shoulder to speak to me.

But it's ok because fuckhead morons like Bernie - and his sad ass bunch of ignorant cultist cunts - think his reading comprehension trumps all else.

Oh. About the medicine and health. Let's get one thing straight. The PEOPLE of Cuba are awesome. I would trust a doctor there. But the system I would not. I went to go pick up some aspirin and noticed their pharmacy was just about empty.

But it's ok. Because Breadline Bernie; Grandpa Gulag and his braindead Bernie Bros feel Fidel 'did some things right'.

Reminds me of how some say, 'Mao did some good things' and that the 'Trains ran on time under Mussolini.'

Any person that utters this in public with a hint of self-reflection should go fuck off and die.

People. Keep your guns.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Also. When I came back my BIL expressed surprise that I went. This was the mid-90s. I went because someone was in a jam and couldn't go so I bought her ticket and went with a bunch of friends we had in common. His point was I was feeding Fidel's dictatorship. I realized he was right when I was there and vowed never to go back.

His take is there are plenty of other places to go visit with 'fucken beaches'. Havana is cool and all but it's decrepit.

But people in the West have this obscene and obnoxious romantic view of this image. They think it's 'quaint' and 'rustic'. No it's not. The degradation is by design not through natural forces. If it was, then I could see the nostalgic romanticism.

But this shit about how pristine it is goes to show how retarded people can be. I asked one girl who went on and on and on about the 'beautiful people of Cuba' and how 'awesome it was' (conflating the two) if she would LIVE there.

It was our first and last date.

[BigT]

My parents visited Cuba in the 80's I think. They took a Russian ship from New Orleans. Being intensely anti-communist they were both a bit surprised there was anything worth seeing, mostly classic cars (haha!). However they could tell they were given special treatment and essentially no average Cubans interacted with them. Just as I did when I returned from East Berlin in 1984, they got down and kissed the ground when they were back in the USA.

[LynchPin1477]

As others have correctly pointed out, 100% literacy isn't worth much if you aren't free to choose *what* to read because of the communist censors.

But I hope Sanders continues to double down on this stuff and that it keeps away from any more power than he already has.

[Robert]

Literacy's a piece of shit that children commonly teach themselves or otherwise learn at home before they start school. Those who wait to learn it when they start school would've learned it within a year or two at that age whether schooled or not. Know why people in some places didn't or don't know how to read? Because there was nothing TO read or fucking worthwhile reading! Or because they're too busy scraping up road dust to eat to have time for reading, and being able to read wouldn't do them any good anyway. Or too damaged to be able to even see out either eye!

I haven't heard it in years now, but people used to go on and on about literacy programs and what great accomplishments there were by the Peace Corps or whoever in teaching people to read. Like that's really something.

[BigT]

I have to disagree. Right here in Cleveland there are numerous illiterate adults. My wife spent several years volunteering in the 'Seeds of Literacy' program to teach some adults to read. Many of these people had some limited literacy, as you might get by just being observant, and most had menial jobs or none. My guess is that most of these people skipped school quite a bit and had no support for education at home. Although teaching made her feel good, when someone vandalized our van she no longer felt safe and quit.

[Bluwater]

ALWAYS question the premise before you even argue the conclusion. And then see if the argument can be made elsewhere where it is less desirable.

Castro's figures on literacy are just as questionable as his figures on human rights and every other thing that government has claimed. So is Sander's recitation of those claims. But that's just the beginning. North Korea can also claim 100% employment. None of what either does mitigates the human loss, assassinations, and poverty.

Sanders was being stupid to extol the virtues of a country where there are zero freedoms, who control their borders 100% opposite to how he wants to control ours, and where the average household incomes vary from $15-30 month [but hey, at least you can go see a doctor, even if there's not so much as an aspirin available.]

[Fist of Etiquette]

When Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program.

They don't usually let the drones read, but the propaganda was just too good not to share.

[Ra's al Gore]

Yea, lets take a communist government's literacy stats at face value.

[KiwiLib]

Always amusing how the Communists take credit for "literacy" in the state that already had the highest literacy rates in Latin America and the most teachers per head of population and the most children attending schools per head. For "health" in the state that already had the most doctors per 100,000 people in Latin America. For "workers rights" in the state that already had the strongest unions in Latin America. And so forth.

[loveconstitution1789]

Marianne Williamson endorses Bernie Sanders after his Nevada win

Her father, and maternal grandparents, were Russian Jewish immigrants. Her grandfather changed his surname from Vishnevetsky to Williamson after seeing "Alan Williamson Ltd" on a train.

See the Russian connection to Bernie?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Senator Sanders has never attended our conference and that is evident from his outrageous comment.

You know who else...

[Adans smith]

Walt Disney?

[Eddy]

Henry Ford?

[SIV]

Father Charles Coughlin?

[loveconstitution1789]

David Duke?

[SIV]

Henry Ford?

[SIV]

Charles Lindbergh?

[loveconstitution1789]

Louis Farrakahn?

[Anomalous]

Mel Gibson?

[Robert]

STEVE SMITH?

[BigT]

Barry Soreto?

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Supreme Court will consider whether oil pipelines can be built on "lands in the National Park System."

The deed holders are gonna be so pissed.

[loveconstitution1789]

♪♪This land is your land, this land is my land
From the California to the New York island
From the Redwood Forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me
As I went walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
And saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me

[BrianL.]

From George Carlin:

O beautiful for smoggy skies,
Insecticided grain,
For strip mined mountain majesties
Above the asphalt plain!
America! America! Man shed his waste on thee,
And hides the pines with billboard signs
From sea to oily sea!

[loveconstitution1789]

Border Patrol agents will now need a warrant for immigration checks on buses, Greyhound says

Motel 6 cannot be reached for comment.

[crickets1789]

Condolences. I know you don't like it when your jackboots encounter obstacles to harassing brown people.

[loveconstitution1789]

Poor new sock troll. He was not created by his coders when I said that I am against all warrantless searches.

Bus and train searches.
DUI and drivers license checkpoints.
Cops threatening drivers stopped for traffic infraction to search.

[BigT]

It's all projection with these Donkeys.

[loveconstitution1789]

Justice Sonia Sotomayor: Supreme Court 'putting a thumb on the scale' for Trump

Lefty judges like Sotomayer have their thumbs on the scale against the Constitution, so it will all even out.

[JesseAz]

Just remember it was the end of our constitution when trump said judges could act politically.

[A leftist]

Sotomayor criticized a troubling pattern of the conservative justices ruling in favor of the Trump administration without looking at these cases in an objective manner.

[Sevo]

Yes, if she is capable of seeing them that way, she should look at them in an objective manner.

[JesseAz]

No she didn't. She criticized a pattern of them blocking national injunctions from activist judges which she disagreed with. It has nothing to do with the merits as the arguments hadn't happened yet. Her view was the national injunctions are minimally invasive to government policy.

If you're going to try to quote her at least understand what she fucking said.

She was acting politically and throwing a tantrum.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

The Wise Latina isn't doing anything other than advocating for her own ethnic in-group preferences. Remember, though, as the left and especially white liberals like to tell us, when white people do this, it's bad.

[buybuydandavis]

"Justice Sonia Sotomayor: Supreme Court ‘putting a thumb on the scale’ for Trump"

Leftists Always Project.
Leftists "put a thumb on the scale" as a matter of dogma. Social Justice means "Our Pals Win".

[Fist of Etiquette]

This year, 90% of people answered "satisfied," the highest ever in the poll's history.

"The outrage I see online has allowed me to show how superior I am to everyone on a daily basis."

[loveconstitution1789]

Inside the fight over FBI surveillance powers

Over the past year, President Trump has told senior administration officials, including Attorney General Bill Barr, that he wants a major overhaul of national security surveillance powers and the secret court that approves them.

Behind the scenes: In one such discussion last year about the need to reauthorize government authorities to surveil U.S. citizens, Trump went so far as to say he'd rather get rid of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) altogether.

Barr had argued it was necessary, for national security reasons, to reauthorize the current surveillance laws without any changes.
Trump responded, "I trust you, Bill, but if it was up to me, we'd get rid of the whole thing," per a source familiar with the conversation. Trump was especially exercised about the process that the FBI used to wiretap his former campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page.

Why it matters: Key measures in FISA — including the business records provision, Section 215 — are set to expire on March 15.

Hmmm... did anyone else know that these provisions were going to expire? I didn't. If we only had news outlets that cared about getting news to Americans rather than Propaganda outlets spewing Lefty Narratives.

[ElvisIsReal]

To be fair, the writers just found out today when Amash tweeted about it.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Coronavirus is ripping through Chinese jails now.

The part of their population they have the most control over.

[Adans smith]

So, most of China.

[Bluwater]

Also their least desired to keep alive. "He died from the virus" sounds a lot better than "died from malnutrition" or "was shot during an escape", or "we have no record of anyone by that name".

[buybuydandavis]

Coronavirus is Xi's solution to China's demography problems. And his pesky detractors.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Is the window of opportunity over for stopping the coronavirus from becoming a worldwide pandemic?

If journalists have anything to say about it, yes.

[loveconstitution1789]

Eric Holder tells journalist Paul Sperry to 'shut the hell up' about prosecutor in Andrew McCabe probe

Former Attorney General Eric Holder lashed out at journalist and author Paul Sperry on Twitter Wednesday, telling Sperry that he should "shut the hell up" about federal prosecutor Molly Gaston's donations to former President Barack Obama.

On Tuesday, Sperry had tweeted that Gaston, an assistant U.S. Attorney in Washington D.C., had signed off on a letter informing the attorney for former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe that the government would not pursue charges against McCabe.

Yeah, no corruption going on at the DOJ and FBI.

[loveconstitution1789]

Philip Haney, DHS whistleblower during Obama era, found dead, police say

Just find out Hillary's alibi.

[A leftist]

His words infuriated many of us because we knew his administration had been engaged in a bureaucratic effort to destroy the raw material — the actual intelligence we had collected for years, and erase those dots. The dots constitute the intelligence needed to keep Americans safe, and the Trump administration was ordering they be wiped away."

[TrickyVic (old school)]

""and the Trump administration was ordering they be wiped away.”""

Are you making that up? Please cite the article that says the Trump admin ordered it.

From the link.

the actual intelligence we had collected for years, and erase those dots. The dots constitute the intelligence needed to keep Americans safe, and the Obama administration was ordering they be wiped away."

From a linked article inside the article 1789's posted.

"Following the attempted attack, President Obama threw the intelligence community under the bus for its failure to “connect the dots.” He said, “this was not a failure to collect intelligence, it was a failure to integrate and understand the intelligence that we already had.”"

https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/homeland-security/268282-dhs-ordered-me-to-scrub-records-of-muslims-with-terror

[JesseAz]

Holy shit you're fucking stupid. His first book came out 2 years ago. It was about the Obama administration actions. He was working on a new book that would further expose the IC.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

I'm not sure if it's stupid that is in play. If he can't source his claim that Trump made the order, then he purposefully changed Obama's name to Trump just for that post.

That is outright lying.

[BigT]

We knew that with his handle: 'a lying, worthless, scum-of-the-earth, bigoted leftist'

[TrickyVic (old school)]

Stupid might be thinking we would just fall for it and not check it out.

[Longtobefree]

Hillary never needs an alibi - - - - - - - - - -

[Fist of Etiquette]

Bloomberg's net favorability fell by 30 (!) points amongst moderate Democrats.

The checks haven't cleared yet.

[Robert]

But it increased by 2% among conservative Democratic voters! What do you think's going on there? Conservatives in the Democratic Party thinking anyone other Democrats attack must be good?

[loveconstitution1789]

Lawyers for US government deliver opening arguments as extradition case begins

[loveconstitution1789]

Ilhan Omar DID marry her brother and said she would 'do what she had to do to get him "papers" to keep him in U.S.', reveals Somali community leader

Let's see if unreason screams about Ilhan Omar getting deported.

[Anomalous]

Was the marriage consummated?

[loveconstitution1789]

ew!

[soldiermedic76]

Pornhub wants to know.

[BigT]

Film as 11.

[crickets1789]

unreason needs to get right on all the topics you are obsessed about!

[R Mac]

What a tiresome, boring troll you are.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"I get a little bit tired of hearing my opponents saying—'Gee, how you going to pay for a program that impacts and helps children or working-class families or middle-class families? How you going to pay for that?'" Sanders said. "And yet, where are people saying, 'How are you going to pay for over $750 billion on military spending?'"

He does know that the 3rd Amendment means he can't deploy troops to by nannies/indoctrinators?

[Ra's al Gore]

His projects will cost a hell of a lot more than $750 bil. If you can afford to eat out at a nice restaurant every now and then, why can't you afford a lear jet?

[LynchPin1477]

And yet, where are people saying, ‘How are you going to pay for over $750 billion on military spending?'

Literally right here!

[Fist of Etiquette]

The people that count.

[loveconstitution1789]

Donald and Melania Trump cap off first day in India with visit to Taj Mahal, where they held hands in front of world's most famous monument to love

Shikha hardest hit.

[BigT]

Prince Charles hardest hit.

[buybuydandavis]

No article from Shikha since 2-11.

No article from anyone at Reason about Trump visiting India, the most populous democracy in the world.

[JesseAz]

Even CNN is saying the NYT report on russia and trump is full of shit. Glad Reason didn't link to it friday.

https://pjmedia.com/trending/incredible-top-intel-official-overstated-russian-interference-in-2020-election-to-help-trump/

[JesseAz]

Democrat conspiracy theorists believe the only point of Bloomberg is to get a brokered convention so they can nominate hillary.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/ex-bill-clinton-adviser-bloomberg-and-hillary-cooking-up-scheme-for-her-to-become-democratic-nominee

[TrickyVic (old school)]

It would be so funny if it was true.

[loveconstitution1789]

That some Democrats still think adding Hillary will somehow make their chances against Trump is hilarious.

These Lefties really have zero idea why they will continue to lose.

[loveconstitution1789]

*make their chances better against Trump...

[Robert]

But then she'll have to stiff that college in England she took the job with.

Of course, she's still thinking that election was bogus, it couldn't happen twice. Rematch!

[Bluwater]

Progressives are becoming the party of the chronically aggrieved, permanently pissed off, parroted bullshit talking points, and conspiracy theories that hold them together as a group. No matter what happens, it's always someone trying to undermine them and steal what is rightfully theirs. They will stay the underdog, even if they win the day.

I literally heard one of the more intelligent ones say that if Bernie is elected, Wall Street and the banks will purposely collapse the market just to show that electing Bernie was a bad idea. Apparently everyone except the enlightened hate Bernie enough to commit suicide out of spite.

[loveconstitution1789]

Mike Pence’s 2024 Presidential Campaign Has Already Begun

He might win too. The Democrat Party will not be a political force in national politics after Trump win reelection in 2020.

[OpenBordersLiberal-tarian]

LOL

Remember how I called the 2018 election correctly and you were way off? The same thing will happen in November.

[loveconstitution1789]

Any more of these Blue Waves and the GOP will control 90 seats in the US Senate.

[bignose]

See, there's being a Trump supporter, which is defensible, and then there's being a partisan dumbass, which isn't. The Democrats will still be a national political force regardless of what happens in 2020, and I say that as someone who has never voted for a Democrat in my life.

[loveconstitution1789]

So you're a partisan dumbass? Well, that makes sense since you Lefties sure don't see the writing on the wall.

I know it's scary for you Lefties but like the National Socialists cornered in Berlin, you are surrounded on all sides.

[bignose]

No, the partisan dumbasses are the ones predicting that Trump's second term will mean the end of the Democratic Party. They were also the ones predicting that Obama's second term meant the end of the Republican Party.

As I said, there are perfectly valid arguments for supporting Trump (typically Lefty-speak, I know). But you'd have to be extremely naïve to think that Democrats will be snuffed out as a national political force within the next year or the next decade. Like, truly, embarrassingly stupid.

And yet, here you are.

[loveconstitution1789]

The Democrat Party was falling apart during Trump's first election you just didnt see it. Election 2018 helped some more to set back the Party of slavery. Election 2020 and then 2022 will be more nails in the coffin for the Democrat Party.

I am sure the Party of slavery will be around. It will just not have a national political presence anymore. Its the Party of slavery, just Socialist slavers now.

[loveconstitution1789]

Anyone who said the GOP was ending because of Obama is a moron. Obama is a Socialist, so it made sense that he helped continue the downfall of the Democrat Party.

You really got to stop listening to Lefty Propagandists.

[bignose]

"Election 2018 helped some more to set back the Party of slavery."

Really? The election where Democrats took back the House and had a net gain of a handful of governorships was a setback?

"Anyone who said the GOP was ending because of Obama is a moron."

That's my point, you exceptionally dim person.

[loveconstitution1789]

HAHAH. You are dumb aren't you? The GOP is NOT the Democrat Party and the conditions are very different.

You mean Election 2018 where the GOP lost 42 House seats and the Democrats only gained 41 seats?

Election 2018 where 36 House Republican retired?
Election 2018 where 89 House races were decided under a 10% margin?

Election 2018 where the GOP picked up 2 US Senate seats?
2019 Special Election where Republicans won 3 out of 3?

Maybe Census 2020 where Blue states are losing House seats and giving them to Red states?

[bignose]

The GOP is NOT the Democrat Party and the conditions are very different.
Different enough to lead to the virtual extinction of the Democrats from national politics? Nope.

You mean Election 2018 where the GOP lost 42 House seats and the Democrats only gained 41 seats?
Yes, the election where the Democrats got a net gain of 41 seats, thus flipping one of the two houses of Congress away from the GOP. You pointed to that as being a setback for the Democrats, which sounds dumb, because it is.

But the main point is that while parties may come and go, the Democrats will still be a major political force this time next year, and the year after that, and likely for the remainder of this decade if not longer. And I'm not even saying that's a good thing! I'm just saying that your predictions of their imminent demise are retarded. That's all.

[I, Woodchipper]

Pence? Please. He has the personality of a dishrag and is a fundie to boot. He has no chance in 2024. None.

[loveconstitution1789]

Vice President Pence's speech at Colorado Springs campaign rally
•Feb 20, 2020

Pence is no fighter like Trump but he sounds like most politicians do.

[VenerableLurker]

Pence has almost as much appeal as stale Wonder Bread, but without the latter's scintillating personality. He'll lose in 2024 to Andrew Cuomo, and we'll be stuck with that asshole's version of Democratic Authoritarianism for four years.

Don't think Cuomo's got his eye on 2024? He's already read the tea leaves for Trump's 2020 win, and started laying pavement for the long road to 2024 at least a year ago.

[Serial Microaggressor]

Kanye West has a better shot at 2024.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

That would be funny if Kanye was Trumps VP pick for 2020.

[BigT]

Pence would lose 45+ states. He would get steam-rolled by any of the Donkeys. He's milquetoast, and those Donkeys are hangry.

[JesseAz]

Trump's statements on FISA says he wants to end the secretive court. Pressured into signing by Barr and IC officials.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-said-hed-like-to-abolish-fisa-report

[BigT]

Suddenly Trump is bowing to Barr?? Why doesn't he tell Barr to mind his own business?

[JesseAz]

Now that bernie is a millionaire he believes millionaires pay their fair share.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-cooper-presses-sanders-for-being-millionaire-socialist-his-response-clashes-with-past-statements

[loveconstitution1789]

Judge denies Roger Stone's motion to disqualify her

Few judges actually grant these motions. Judges either self-recuse themselves or fight removal of cases they are hearing.

[OpenBordersLiberal-tarian]

"Americans are generally satisfied with their personal lives"

I'm not convinced that's accurate. I mean, Drumpf has ruined the economy and turned this country into a combination of Nazi Germany and The Handmaid's Tale. How can anyone feel personal satisfaction in such alarming conditions?

[Jerryskids]

Americans say they are generally satisfied with their personal lives. They're too afraid to contradict the Trumpenfuhrer on how great things are for fear of being sent to the concentration camps.

Or, it's as I mentioned some time back, taking surveys on the biggest problems facing this country and then following up on that with a question with how those particular problems are affecting you personally shows that people mostly believe the media on what problems are crises even when their own personal experience tells them it's not. How big is the problem of teen vaping? How many teens do you know personally who died from vaping? Well, I don't know any myself, but they gotta be dying somewhere because it's not like the media is just going to make up some fake news bullshit to alarm and frighten us just to sell advertising are they?

[Fats of Fury]

All those "We're hiring" signs are actually coded messages for "Help us Bernie".

[loveconstitution1789]

Jussie Smollett expected back in court in Chicago to face new charges

Smollett is getting the White man attention now.

[Fats of Fury]

He's played his gay card and his black card. He can try to play the anti-semitism card and if that doesn't work he'll have to start wearing a dress.

[loveconstitution1789]

If he only had a real "Get Out of Jail" card.

[Fats of Fury]

He had, but it's been trumped.

[loveconstitution1789]

+10000

Trump Twitter!!!!! (While shouting "KHAN"!)

[loveconstitution1789]

Chinese Military Turns to U.S. University to Conduct Covert Research

No no no. I have been assured that the Chinese are simply wonderful trading partners who only want the best for their people and America.

[Ryan (formally HTT)]

I sure hope we keep following our libertarian principles and trade as freely as possible with people who enslave dissidents, create bioweapons, steal our IP, and take all the wealth generated from said trade to bolster their ability to enslave, create bioweapons, and steal our IP.

Any day now they'll start paying those slaves because of the improvements to their economy. It certainly won't go to the communist leaders and their families. Keep trading with communists and everything will be just fine. Just keep buying cheap plastic shit and it'll all be good.

What a wonderful utopia.

[loveconstitution1789]

Daredevil 'Mad' Mike Hughes Killed In Crash Of Homemade Rocket

Ironic that 'Mad' Mike flattened himself trying to prove the Earth is flat.

[Brian]

He died for science.

[OtisAH]

He died denying science.

[loveconstitution1789]

He died *because* of science.

[Colossal Douchebag]

His science died.

[loveconstitution1789]

He's NOT Mike the science guy.

[BigT]

He's transitioned from science to seance.

[Gray_Jay]

The video is some of the most Wile E. Coyote shit ever. Complete with small dust cloud rising up from the crash. The rocket really needed a large ACME on the side. A steam-powered rocket. Steam. And at that, he only rose about 300 feet up.

Really metal way to go out though.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

Dear Mike,

You concern for the shape of your world should not be your first concern.

Signed
Gravity.

[MyPersonalOpinion]

In was Zen. In order to truly explore the flatness, he had to become the flatness.

[loveconstitution1789]

Israel hit with Palestinian rocket barrage after Gaza border confrontation with militants

[Sevo]

"Europe pushes for its own tech giants"
[...]
"...Last week, the European Union outlined an attempt to restore what officials called “technological sovereignty,” seeking tougher regulation of the world’s biggest tech companies, new rules for artificial intelligence, and more public spending for the European tech sector...."
https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Europe-pushes-for-its-own-tech-giants-15078063.php?cmpid=gsa-sfgate-result

I don't think the EU understands how innovation happens; pretty sure tougher regulations aren't the path.

[Ra's al Gore]

Fidel Castro was many things: a revolutionary, a communist, a garrulous orator. Amid the fawning encomia released upon his long-overdue death at the age of 90, it should never be forgotten that he was also an oppressor, torturer, and murderer of gay people.

“We would never come to believe that a homosexual could embody the conditions and requirements of conduct that would enable us to consider him a true revolutionary, a true communist militant,” Castro told an interviewer in 1965. “A deviation of that nature clashes with the concept we have of what a militant communist should be.”

In the eyes of Castro and his revolutionary comrade Che Guevara—who frequently referred to gay men as maricones, “faggots”—homosexuality was inherently counterrevolutionary, a bourgeois decadence. To a traditional Latin American machismo that viewed gayness pejoratively, they married an ideological fixation treating it as politically

[BigT]

In the 50's and 60's the attitude towards homosexuals was not too different from Castro's. The real difference is that he had the force to follow through on what many were thinking. Remember, that was before Stonewall.

[loveconstitution1789]

Richard Grenell now highest-ranking openly gay official in US government history

Lets find out how racist, xenophobic, and homophobic Trump is in....3....2....1...

[loveconstitution1789]

Chris Matthews faces calls for resignation after comparing Sanders victory to Nazi invasion

You know who else wanted to call out Nazis for being Socialists?

[Quo Usque Tandem]

Dietrich Bonhoeffer?

[loveconstitution1789]

Rep. Mo Brooks (Ala.)

[loveconstitution1789]

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas)

[loveconstitution1789]

Adolf Hitler

It is a good summary of the basic lines of Nazi propaganda just before Hitler’s takeover in 1933. The booklet included five cartoons by Mjölnir, Goebbels’ cartoonist, three of which I include here. Mjölnir also produced some of the most familiar Nazi posters.

[KiwiLib]

Anyone who watched them immediately nationalise the six largest banks and four of the biggest steel companies (except for Krupp who were doners), set price controls on the economy, expropiate property from the wreckers and kulacks and open their own gulags?

[OpenBordersLiberal-tarian]

More bad economic news.

Reason.com's benefactor Charles Koch has already lost over $2 billion this year.

All Mr. Koch wants is to increase his net worth far beyond its current unacceptable level of $59,900,000,000. To accomplish this, he needs two things: (a) no tariffs, and (b) the ability to hire highly skilled doctors and engineers crossing the US / Mexico border. Neither will happen as long as Drumpf is President.

#DrumpfRecession
#OpenTheBordersToHelpCharlesKoch

[Butler T. Reynolds]

DRINK!
"Open borders? That's a Koch brothers proposal." --Bernie Sanders
https://youtu.be/vf-k6qOfXz0?t=24

[loveconstitution1789]

City Flags Jewish Circumcision Ritual Following New Herpes Cases

I can see the Yelp notations now "Herpes Free Mohel Available"!

[Idle Hands]

The problem with being literate in Cuba is you can read every approved book on the island in a week so it's kind of pointless.

[John]

John Derbyshire called it perfectly when he said "wherever there is a boot on a face in the world, there is a western liberal there to explain how the face has free healthcare and education".

Even that is a lie. The reality of education in communist nations is that the teachers don't teach anything. If you want your kid to get an education, you have to pay the teachers extra to tutor your kid after school hours.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

If Biden comes out so much as 1% over Sanders, due to block voting habits of African Americans, it will be spun as though Sanders never happened and the "No Malarkey" bus is back on track.

If that doesn't happen, and Sanders continues to lead his way through Super Tuesday, the DNC is going to have to come up with a way to deal with him or it will be another Mcgovern '72. Preceded by his delegates doing celebratory ring dances at the Convention.

[John]

I don't know how they will deal with him. The Democratic Party has happily excused and enabled the far left for decades. They took their votes and support, appointed them to key government positions, let them take over academia, while pretending to the public not to really support the same ideas figuring the far left would suck it up and support them anyway because they had nowhere else to go.

Well, the far left has had enough of that. They have decided that it is time for the establishment to suck it up and support their guy. If Sanders wins the most votes, I don't see how the establishment can stop him. And the truth is the far left is right. The establishment will vote for Sanders. Center left figures like Megan McArdle have already said they would.

I still think Sanders will lose and also have a negative effect on other Democrats down ticket. But, I don't think he will do as badly as people think. Ultimately, the typical Democrat or center leftist is too conditioned to tolerate far leftist thinking to be that bothered by voting for him.

[Ra's al Gore]

The Dem establishment wanted to play good cop to the far left's bad cop. They didn't realize they'd be eaten first, to get them out of the way of the far left's control of the Democratic party. Take over the party and use the party to take over the country.

[John]

No they didn't. And they are not worried about the far left taking over the country. They wouldn't mind that at all. Their problem is that they understand the far left is more likely to destroy the Democratic Party the way Corban has destroyed the British Labor Party than they are to take over the country.

The UK is a much more leftist nation than the US. And when Corbyn took over Labor it resulted in Labor suffering its worst defeat ever in the next election. Given how much further to the right the US is, it is hard to see how Bernie taking over the Democratic Party is going to end well for them. Yes, they have the media to shill and cover up for Sanders, but Labor had the same support from the media in the UK and it still didn't save them.

[Ra's al Gore]

The Dem establishment are worried about the far left taking over the country only in the sense it leaves them out of power. They don't oppose socialism; they just want to be in charge.

[LynchPin1477]

The Democratic Party has happily excused and enabled the far left for decades.

Even moderate candidates like Butigieg, when they criticize Sanders, don't criticize him for being wrong. They criticize him for being too far left to win in November. They either don't have or won't deploy the intellectual and moral arguments against his positions.

[Longtobefree]

Just to correct the record; Butigieg is not a moderate.

[LynchPin1477]

Well, it's all relative

[loveconstitution1789]

Yup, like Communist and Socialist.

[John]

They are intellectually bankrupt. If you start criticizing Sanders' positions, you end up supporting Trump's positions. Sanders is nuts and his ideas idiotic fantasies. But, he does have ideas. The establishment doesn't even have that. You tell me what someone like Buttigieg or Biden stand for other than their own power. What did Hillary stand for? Nothing as far as I could tell.

Third way leftism is dead. It doesn't work and everyone knows it. So, you either reject it and embrace what Trump is selling, which is really just old fashioned center right economic policy combined with some economic nationalism or you go full commie. There are no other alternatives short of going full radical right/libertarian.

Sanders is winning because the center left has no intellectual ability to stop him. The same thing happened to the neocon right in 2016. Like the center left, the neocon left is dead. It failed and everyone knows it. The only way the R establishment could have stopped Trump was to repudiate the neocon right and embrace some of his ideas in order to co-opt his supporters. They couldn't do that and thus had nothing to offer and no way to stop him.

[LynchPin1477]

I definitely think there are intellectually and morally viable alternatives to Sanders and Trump, and the parts of the left and right they represent. But I agree there aren't really any politically viable alternatives right now, or at least no politically viable individuals that can champion those alternative ideas. And that's really depressing for me.

[John]

There are alternatives but they come from the right. What is the alternative to Sanders and Trump other than doctrinaire Libertarianism? I can't see any to be honest.

The fact is the left intellectually should have died with the fall of the eastern block. It has lived on mostly by just pretending communism didn't fail. Well you can only pretend so long.

When you get down to it, the two parties in this country ought to be along the lines of Trump versus some kind of internationalist version of Ron Paul, because those are the only two viable intellectual visions left. Nothing left of Trump should have survived the end of communism.

[loveconstitution1789]

Trump co-opted many of the moderate Democrat talking points that they never actually did anything about.

Trump also co-opted some Libertarian talking points.

If the GOP continues to spend like a ship of drunken sailors, then Libertarians can step into the void left by the Democrat Party. Fiscal Conservatism and Social liberties.

[loveconstitution1789]

Exactly John. The Democrat Party was a tent of Commies, Socialists, Anarchists, Progressives, Southern Democrats, Black Americans, illegal immigrants, blue color workers, Unions, legacy Democrats, Propagandists, Elitists, and Neocons.

Blue collar workers and Black Americans are fleeing.
Illegal Immigrants are too vulnerable to deportation to be politically active.
Unions are being ignored by young people.
Legacy Democrats are dropping like flies.
More and more of Americans ignore the Propagandists.
More and more Americans marginalize the Elitists.
More and more Americans marginalize the Neocons.

The Democrat Party is fragmenting into factions and this is why they are not competitive in national politics anymore. Good for America too.

[Fats of Fury]

You should put "moderate candidates" in quotes.

[A leftist]

Who? What? 1972. Grandpa, it's time for your nap.

[John]

It is okay that you don't know anything. It is not okay, however, for you to take pride in being ignorant. If you want to know what he is talking about, just ask. But, the fact that you don't understand what he means is not something to be proud of. Ignorance of any kind is a very bad thing. You need to stop taking pride in it and try and learn something.

[A leftist]

Oh, I understand exactly. You're old and stuck in the past.

[John]

Understanding the past is not being stuck there. Again, stop taking pride in being ignorant. It is always good to know something. Get over your fear that knowing something might cause you to question your superstitions.

[Sevo]

Hey, the 6th grade has been the best years of his life so far! Don't harsh his mellow!

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

What does that make you leftists who keep insisting that Trump = Hitler? You do know that World War 2 was concluded long before 1972, right?

[Fats of Fury]

Talk about being stuck in the past . It's Groundhog Day for socialists. Leftism is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

[Sevo]

It's like 1989 really didn't happen, but it's 1918 all over again!

[Colossal Douchebag]

Boring and an asshole is no way to go through life, son.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

2004 called, it wants its talking points back.

[BigT]

Those who don't know history are bound to repeat it.

At least McGovern won Massholeachusetts. Bernie might not.

[eyeroller]

Sanders told the show that he is "very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba," but added that "it's unfair to simply say everything is bad.

Sure, it's unfair to say "everything is bad" about anything in the world, but I'm not sure this will play well in Florida.

[LynchPin1477]

Would he say the same thing about billionaires?

[Brian]

Ok, Democrats. The best way to defeat Bernie is to shrink the playing field down to one normie alternative.

So who will be the sacrificial lambs?

[Sevo]

Bloomie's got his check book out and warmed up!

[creech]

Klobuchar should withdraw and that would probably cement her v.p. status.
Gabbard is still in why? Same with Steyer.
Buttedgy should realize he's most viable in 2024 after Trump's final term. He should spend the next four years doing something constructive that builds his resume.
Warren is also finished; go back to hectoring the Senate.
That leaves Sleepy Joe and Little Mike. Mike should offer to hire entire Biden family for $10 million per year and Joe could go off to ride trains and relax at Rehobeth Beach for whatever time he has left.

[loveconstitution1789]

Tulsi is the eye candy.

[BigT]

Aye

[DRM]

Only Sanders and Buttigieg have managed to place in the top three in all three states so far, only Sanders and Buttigieg have won delegates in all three states so far, and in terms of delegates won, the current ranking is Sanders 35, Buttigieg 24, Biden 10, Warren 8, Klobuchar 7.

So Pete is the leading non-Sanders candidate by far, and thus the logical choice for consolidation among the candidates (with maybe an asterisk for Bloomberg, who skipped contesting those states entirely).

That no one is willing to admit this is exactly why the consolidation ain't gonna happen.

[Gray_Jay]

Are minorities going to vote for a gay white male? I don't think they will, and using Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada as examples doesn't prove the point. Let's see what South Carolina thinks about it. These polls from SC:

https://www.270towin.com/2020-democratic-nomination/south-carolina-primary

...don't make a strong case for it. He looks like he'll get about 10% of the vote, about the same as Warren, and less than (LOL) Steyer.

The thing is, polls probably overstate Buttigieg's popularity among minorities. Easy to see someone telling a pollster, "Yeah, I'll vote for him. I'm progressive, and it's the right thing to do for America in 2020." Then turn around and do something else in the booth.

[DRM]

Yes, pointing to future contests and invoking "the minority vote" is exactly the method people use to ignore the empirically-established fact that Buttigieg is the leading non-Sanders candidate, and thus why Democrats will not consolidate behind the leading non-Sanders in favor of whatever non-Sanders they personally prefer. Thank you for the explicit demonstration.

[Gray_Jay]

If blacks and Hispanics won't vote for him, he can't win. Hispanics will at least, judging by the exit polling I saw out of Nevada, vote for Sanders.

He is the 'empirically-established leading non-Sanders candidate' because Bloomberg cleverly didn't enter the race early enough, nor kiss enough babies in Iowa, to have any showing. Wait til Super Tuesday.

Also because, and this may be a shock to you, there aren't a whole lot of minorities in Iowa (2017 ACS: White non-Hispanic, ~90%, Hispanic 5.6%, AA 3.4%) or New Hampshire (White, non-Hispanic 92.3%, Hispanic 2.8%, AA 1.1%)

No shit Buttigieg did well.

Nevada, (51.3% White, non-Hispanic, 27.8% Hispanic, 8.6% AA) And Mayor Blankslate couldn't break 15%.

They're not consolidating behind him because they don't personally prefer him. They're not consolidating behind him because his sexual preference, and therefore his very existence, pisses off a sizable proportion of their coalition, and because he doesn't have enough of an intrinsic power base to overcome that. Or the endless money raining from the guy that Bloomberg commands.

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

Haha. Are you implying that our “betters” and “replacements” will not support the gay guy nearly as well as the deplorables in the 92% white flyover state of Iowa?

Shocking! This can’t be!

[LynchPin1477]

Sanders tweeted that he would not attend AIPAC's annual conference because of the organization's connection to "leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights."

If only they would start a literacy program...

[John]

I bet Sanders gets close to the same number of Jewish votes in the general election as Obama did. As vile as Sanders' positions are, they are smart politics. They won't cost him any significant support among Jews and will motivate and gain him support among Muslims and the far left.

[loveconstitution1789]

I see rumblings among Jewish centric media.

For some reason Jewish folks don't believe the Democrat Propaganda wing as much anymore about how scary Republican are.

Trump moved the US Embassy into Jerusalem.

[loveconstitution1789]

Trump moved the US Embassy to Israel into Jerusalem is more to the point.

[Rich]

Former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson has endorsed Sanders.

Well, *that* clinches it for Bernie.

[jcambro]

Cuba: A regime that teaches people to read and write, but then imprisons or even executes those who read and write the wrong things.

This, says Bernie Sanders, ain’t all bad? Poets, writers and dissidents in Cuban prisons are unavailable for comment.

I can be counted among the many Never Trumpers who have been appalled at our President's creepy and cozy relationships with the likes of Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin. But in point of fact, over the course of my life, I have watched "mainstream liberals" like Jesse Jackson, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Jimmy Carter and Bernie Sanders make nice with communist dictatorships and insurgents. We aren't talking Noam Chomsky here - We're talking mainstream democrats. It's sick.

And this doesn't even touch on the issue of the countless American "liberals" who have shown their sympathies for the IRA, the PLO, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and even Al Qaeda.

Any tyrant or radical who takes on the US can find a dupe among America's army of left-wing nuts, who hide openly in "the mainstream."

[Ken Shultz]

I'm not in a position to go look for li is at th he moment, but somebody might want to do a search on Trump's rumblings about reforming FISA courts and the laws that govern them President Trump was personally aggrieved by those courts, and there's nothing like being subjected to an injustice if you want a president to understand why the process needs to be changed. I certainly wouldn't want to be the guy who serves at the president's pleasure and argues that everything the FISA court did was perfectly appropriate and nothing needed to be changed.

[LynchPin1477]

The Virginia primary is a little over a week and I've already decided that I'll vote for whoever has the best chance of beating Sanders. Currently that's Bloomberg (blech), but I'll hold my nose because I don't want Sanders anywhere near the presidency.

[John]

I don't want Sanders near the Presidency either. But, if you had to choose, I can't help but wonder if maybe Bloomberg would be more dangerous. Sanders really is mentally unstable. He would be a complete disaster as President. I can't see Sanders getting anything through Congress or any of his screwy ideas surviving judicial review if he tried to do them on his own. Sanders would do a lot of damage but he would likely also be a complete failure as a President with zero legislative achievements.

Bloomberg is a malignant dwarf but he isn't nuts. Bloomberg might actually get a few things done and do damage that couldn't be very easily undone. And Sanders might do a little good by accident if for no other reason than he would finally show the big money socialists in silicon valley exactly what kind of fire they are playing with. Bloomberg in contrast would be a straight up corporate fascist President. He would be a nightmare on every level.

[LynchPin1477]

Maybe. But the Democrats already control the House and I'm not so confident that they couldn't eventually retake the Senate that I'm comfortable with Sanders in the White House.

As it stands there is no one with a viable shot of winning the presidency that I see myself voting for.

[John]

I am not comfortable with either. It is just that Bloomberg scares me a lot more. Bloomberg is in with the deep state and China and the tech industry. Bloomberg is every bit as authoritarian as Sanders. The difference is Bloomberg has the political smarts and connections to make his authoritarian dreams come true. Sanders is nuts and would pardon a bunch of people and go after the deep state. Bloomberg would be their guy. Bloomberg in charge of DOJ, the IC and the FBI should scare the hell out of you.

[loveconstitution1789]

Bloomberg could pull off a long shot if some incident took Trump.

Bloomberg fooled people before that he was a Republican. Maybe the banning soda and other authoritarian stuff made that impossible now but who knows.

[Gray_Jay]

"Bloomberg in charge of DOJ, the IC and the FBI should scare the hell out of you."

Yep. Imagine a President who wasn't lazy (there goes Obama), and wanted to work iron fist in velvet glove with Big Tech (there goes Trump), to bring about something like China's social credit score bullshit to the US?

The tech exists to create social credit profiles on every American, and use those to 'nudge' behavior towards some selected ideal. Institute mandatory cashless transactions, and have your electronic wallet tied to these credit profiles, and you can rapidly become an unperson: unable to purchase goods or services, use mass transit, be ostracized from employment or even social interaction.

All of these tools are lying around, waiting for the first despot with the motivation, energy, and sheer sociopathic determination, to pick them up. Think Bloomberg won't be a guy who says that 'power corrupts, and absolute power is really neat?'

[Ken Shultz]

My concern about Sanders is that he becomes to the next socialist what Goldwater was for Reagan.

Once Goldwater opened the Overton window for Reagan, the Democrats could never really get it shut again.

I'd hate for Sanders to play John the Baptist to AOC or some as yet unknown socialist abomination.

[LynchPin1477]

That's also a good point. Better to stop this socialist wave earlier than later. I just wish there was something that was more appealing to me to stop it with.

[John]

Reagan only won the Presidency because the ideas that were being followed in the 1970s failed. Or in other words, leftism failed. Had there not been stagflation and had the sort of human rights based foreign policy that Carter followed not resulted in disaster, Reagan never wins office.

So to compare Goldwater to Sanders, you have to also compare Goldwater's opponents to Sanders' opponents. And that is where the analogy breaks down. I don't see Trump's ideas or even a typical Republican's ideas failing the way the ruling establishment did in the 1970s. The only danger of that happening is the Republicans letting the neocons get back in control and letting them start a bunch of unpopular wars.

[Ken Shultz]

The other big difference between Trump and Reagan, on the one hand, and Sanders, on the other, is that Trump and Reagan both created their coalitions by appealing to Democrat voters who were disaffected by what the Democrats were doing.

I don't believe Sanders has any support with registered Republicans.

Anyway, the way the economy was handled in the 70s may have made Reagan more appealing to centrists than he would be otherwise, but one of the things Goldwater did was make isolationism unacceptable in the Republican party--because he thought the threat of communism made that necessary.

Goldwater's appeal wasn't to heathen. His impact was that he was able to spread the gospel to the choir. Once the choir started singing from Goldwater's hymnal, their acceptance of Reagan's ideas was practically a given.

I don't want to see that happen with Sanders and socialism. If the Democratic party starts singing from the socialist hymnal, we may be working hard to defeat President AoC or another socialist abomination in the not too distant future. Sanders needs to lose spectacularly. I don't just want America to reject socialism for the next four years.

[John]

Goldwater was an anti-communist and rejected isolationism as a result. Trump as much as anything is the Republican party finally coming to terms with the implications of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The claims that Trump is some kind of outlier President who destroying the norms of the Republic are the exact opposite of the truth. Trump is a return to normalcy and a restoration of the outlook that dominated American government until the Cold War.

[Ken Shultz]

Sanders is a self-described democratic socialist, and if he wins the nomination, the rest of the Democratic party may coalesce around him and his ideas--just like what happened with Goldwater. That's why Bloomberg winning is vastly superior to Sanders winning. The goal isn't to stop a socialist from becoming president for the next four years. The goal is to stop socialism in its tracks so that no socialist ever becomes president.

P.S.

"I am often asked by people inside Arizona, and outside of Arizona, about Barry," says Republican John McCain, Goldwater's successor in the Senate, in a tone that suggests he's apologizing for a crazy uncle in the attic. "I always say that Barry Goldwater has the right to say whatever he wants to. He has made his contribution – which transformed the Republican Party from an Eastern elitist organization to the breeding ground for the election of Ronald Reagan."

----Washington Post, July 28, 1994

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/daily/may98/goldwater072894.htm

[John]

You assume that Bloomberg isn't a socialist. He is. I would argue that Bloomberg is in fact worse than Sanders. Bloomberg is a straight up corporatism fascist. Bloomberg is this strange hybrid of the internationalism of the old Comintern combined with the corporatism and authoritarianism of old fascist states like Franco's Spain or Argentina under Peron or modern day China.

That should scare the hell out of you a lot more than Bernie's kookie socialism, most of which would never see the light of day. Nothing Bernie says will ever happen. Most of what Bloomberg wants easily could happen. That makes him much more dangerous. If anything we should all be rushing to vote for Sanders to keep the left from coalescing around the authoritarianism of Bloomberg.

[Gray_Jay]

Neither of these guys are the real problem. Neither Bernie nor Bloomberg can do anything on their own. They're impotent without a large block of Americans pulling for them, electing other representatives who want to put Socialist ideas into practice.

Both candidates are symptoms of a very sick American populace. That a good chunk of Americans are eager to vote in Socialism should scare all of us.

Both of these guys can lose, and lose like McGovern, and it still won't change the fact that a large portion of America---a portion that will increase if the talking heads at Reason get their way---wants these guys. I don't know how you fix that.

[Colossal Douchebag]

Bloomberg is far worse.

Bernie is a philosophical authoritarian; Bloomberg is an accomplished practical one.

Bernie would be a danger to others if he were sufficiently competent to accomplish anything.

Bloomberg is a very real, very competent statist.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Bernie's supporters are a bigger danger than he is, especially the anarcho-commies in Antifa.

[Gray_Jay]

"The claims that Trump is some kind of outlier President who destroying the norms of the Republic are the exact opposite of the truth. Trump is a return to normalcy and a restoration of the outlook that dominated American government until the Cold War."

OK. Let's take that as given. If he's a return to normalcy and a restoration of this old American governance, it should be easy to find other government leaders and members who share his views. And who might take up his mantle in 2024.

Name some. I don't see any in the Republican Party, other than maybe Cruz or Paul. I don't see Paul, in the vanishing chance he got elected President, going along with retaliatory tariffs. Cruz isn't getting elected to anything beyond the Senate, and he might not win another term there. So who in the Republican Party, or even any party, is going to pick up where Trump left off?

I don't disagree that he is a return to normalcy, but I'm saying Trump is definitely an outlier.

[John]

he is a return to normalcy a huge chunk of the public wants. There is no doubt a huge disconnect between the public's desire for that and the political class's willingness to do that. The political class loved the cold war. It gave them powers they had never had and an excuse for internationalism that had never sold before. It refuses to give it up. And that is a big reason why a reality show star got elected President.

Who knows who will win that struggle. The public seems to have won this round by electing Trump. Long term, it could go either way. But my money is on the public. Things move slowly in a Republic but they do eventually move.

[Robert]

It wasn't Goldwater who did that, it was Howard Jarvis and televangelists.

[I, Woodchipper]

But think of the justices that Bernie would nominate for the court. Absolute disaster. And by and large he would get them all through.

The judge appointments (not just at Supreme Court level) have quietly been the big victory of the Trump presidency that will have positive ramifications for years to come.

Bernie would be a nightmare in this regard.

[John]

He would be. But it is hard to see how Bloomberg or any of the others would be any better.

[Idle Hands]

I find Bloomberg so repellent. Bloomberg is just easilly the worst time of person and one who has no business being anywhere near the federal register. He's a competent, has an agenda and wants to enforce his vision of what culture should look like and be. The worst kind of moral busybody. Also he's antigun in a way Sanders is not. Trump for all his enforcing his vision of enforcing what culture should be is banning soda and telling poors what they should be doing.

[John]

I find Bloomberg worse than Sanders. As bad as Sanders is, he does at least hate the establishment and there would be some justice served by a Sanders' Presidency. Bloomberg in contrast is the establishment. I can't see a single upside to his being President. Even his support for capitalism is just support for the worst sort of crony capitalist oligarchy authoritarian state. Bloomberg would work hand and glove with the tech giants and the IC and DOJ to create as close to a Chinese like police state as possible. The only thing that would hold him back would be the courts.

[Mickey Rat]

ENB is apparently disappointed that Sanders will not suggest that he would refrain from protecting Taiwan from mainland China aggression if he were president. Given that the perception of US intervention may be part of what stays the Beijing regime's hand from undertaking such an invasion. It suggests that ENB is happy to expose a relatively free society to conquest by an authoritarian to totalitarian one if she gets her noninterventionist foreign policy ideological purity.

[I, Woodchipper]

nominate a self-described democratic socialist

What's the difference between a democratic socialist and just a plain old socialist?

Answer: nothing.

[Mickey Rat]

Socialism is a system where your rights are subject to the needs of the collective.

Democratic Socialism is where the socialists try to legitimize their control over determining what the collective needs by by elections.

[loveconstitution1789]

+10000

[sarcasmic]

True socialism is when the government owns the means of production. Democratic socialism is free shit for everyone.

[Ryan (formally HTT)]

"Democratic socialism is free shit for everyone"

Except people who work.

[Nardz]

No, that's social democracy.
Democratic socialism is socialism with elections.
At least we'll be able to vote for new Facebook CEOs though

[sarcasmic]

Self-described democratic socialists seem to tout free shit while backing off on seizing the means of production. Free childcare, free health care, free college, free housing, free everything!

[BigT]

There's a word for that. Hmmmmm....invented in the 20's, and quite popular until 1945. Most recently disguised as Obamacare.

[I, Woodchipper]

To decode for everyone, Democratic leaders want to reauthorize expiring unconstitutional provisions of the Patriot Act, part of FISA. Republicans will happily join them. I'll vote no. Trump will sign it into law.

Amash is correct.

[crickets1789]

Gosh, lc1789 and friends, you haven't said one word in defense of Trump in response to Amash's claims that "Trump will sign it into law."

Too local, I guess.

Most libertarian President, ever, right lc1789?

[crickets1789]

Oh, lc1789 did find time to gripe about the Democrats, Hillary, Bernie, and Jussie, though. He's just a bit too busy to say a word about Trump supporting the PATRIOT ACT.

[loveconstitution1789]

Poor sock troll.

I was waiting for unreason to cover the issue with a non-Libertarian slant.

[BigT]

Indeed, this will be terrible. But that doesn't make Trump anything less than the most libertarian president since Coolidge.

[Ken Shultz]

Oh, and, by the way, the DJIA is down 860 points on coronavirus concerns.

[Ken Shultz]

As a recap from over the weekend, both Italy and South Korea are imposing quarantines.

I hope this burns out, and I hope it does so quickly. The world economy is already taking a hit from this--all those companies that use China as a critical part of their supply chain can't sell things that aren't being manufactured, and all those things the rest of the world sells China, even raw materials, aren't being used by idled factories and aren't being bought by consumers who are hiding in their apartments.

Somebody please find a vaccine quickly.

[Ryan (formally HTT)]

If only we had a way to insulate our economy from the frivolous ways China operates. Maybe we could incentivize them to stop with the slavery, creation of bioweapons, and stealing of our intellectual property.

I guess our thoughts and prayers will have to do, because principles.

[Ken Shultz]

There are legitimate reasons to diversify away from China, with political risks being one of them. Dictatorships always seem stable--right up until the moment they aren't stable anymore. If and when China goes the way of Syria, you don't want to have to depend on them to manufacture your iPhone if you're Apple or any other company that depends on them as part of your supply chain.

Because Apple, Ford, Tesla, and every other company should weigh those risks against the advantages of manufacturing in China doesn't mean you or President Trump should make those choices about risks and rewards on behalf of those companies or their shareholders.

There's a system of thought where politicians and voters make these choices on behalf of industry, and Bernie Sanders is championing it. Donald Trump isn't even presumptuous enough to think that he can make those choices for those companies about risk and reward better than each of those companies can for themselves.

[Jerryskids]

What? In the first place, it's not these corporations making the decision as to whether or not to invest in China, it's the management of these corporations and they're notorious short-term thinkers because it's not their money they're dealing with. To the extent that they care if somewhere on down the road China goes the way of Syria, well, it's in their best interest to make sure it doesn't. Before they haul ass out of China they'll do everything they can, or at least everything they can that they can make a buck off of, to help the Chinese government keep a lid on the peasants - it's good for business that way. It's not like the NBA or Disney and their craven kowtowing to the Commies was some sort of aberrant behavior, none of them are going to bite the hand that feeds them. As long as they can keep the money train rolling until their stock options vest, a lot of these suits in the boardroom don't give a shit what happens after that.

And that last bizarre bit about Trump not being presumptuous enough to try to control corporate investing in China - you've heard about the tariffs, haven't you? About bringing manufacturing jobs back to the US? You know what that's about, right?

[Ryan (formally HTT)]

" Donald Trump isn’t even presumptuous enough to think that he can make those choices for those companies about risk and reward better than each of those companies can for themselves."

Maybe he could impose some tariffs or something to diversify

[Gray_Jay]

There was a nasty piece of speculation---not even in a pre-print, so totally off the reservation, but still---that the reason for the much higher death rate in Iran might be due to hybridization with the coronavirus that causes MERS. Said MERS coronavirus is thought to reside in camels, like Covid-19 is thought to reside in bats, until it didn't. And killed ~35 percent of those infected.

Or the mullahs could have simply practiced the cautery method of disease prevention...

[Gray_Jay]

"Oh, and, by the way, the DJIA is down 860 points on coronavirus concerns."

About a K now. When does the structural fuse kick in? A 5% loss in a trading session?

I expected the bug to go batshit in South Korea and Japan, albeit much less than in the Yangtze Valley. Air pollution is much less, and I think both Koreans and Japanese smoke slightly less than Chinese.

The Italian one is really surprising. Up to 300+ cases and 5 fatalities, AIUI. From something like 20 cases a few days ago.

[Gray_Jay]

I don't know if it's going to stay in those 10 towns either, given the Archbishop of Milan and Patriarch of Venice have suspended all Masses for the time being. Including most funerals. https://twitter.com/RorateCaeli/status/1231655454977208320

[Colossal Douchebag]

Oh and, by the way, what the press isn't saying is that the number of *active* cases worldwide has actually been declining for the last five days or so.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-cases/#active-cases

[BigT]

Way to cherry pick the data. All the other charts tell a different, and more troubling story. The total number of cases continues to go up exponentially, and the number outside of China has exploded in just the past few days. Just whose word are we taking for 'active' cases? Seems like Chinese propaganda to me.

[I, Woodchipper]

Bloomberg's net favorability fell by 30 (!) points amongst moderate Democrats.

I knew that as soon as the people who don't read about politics constantly learned about who Bloomberg really is it would be lights out for him. He has no chance.

On the one hand, he's a nanny-state authoritarian, which plays well with democrats. On the other hand he's an actual, bona-fide racist with more than just Tweets to prove it. I don't think that will play well with the woke crowd, nor with the, you know, actual black people who make up a lot of the Democratic membership.

[Ken Shultz]

Kamala Harris probably has a bruise on her foot from kicking herself for dropping out of the race too early.

I don't want her and can't stand her, but she would absolutely be the most appealing to candidate at this point in the race.

[Gray_Jay]

If no one gets 1,991 on the first ballot, she has just as much of a chance as the next gal of getting picked.

That the Democrats haven't purged their candidate lists, and thereby help the survivors get the 15% of voters they need, in order to pick up delegates in a state, is just unbelievably incompetent. It's not that most of the Democratic party wants Bernie; it's that he's the only candidate in this pool who reliably can get over 15 percent, and therefore is the only candidate who can reliably get delegates.

Creech upthread broke it down I thought really well about how this should go for the Democrats if they want to beat Bernie: basically, everybody drops out except Il Douche (Mayor Blankslate gets told to keep his powder dry for 2024, Biden just gets bought by Douche, everyone else is told to drop out.)

I don't think even that will work, but it might prevent Bernie from winning on the first ballot.

[Ken Shultz]

Hopefully, Bernie Sanders loses Texas.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/tx/texas_democratic_primary-6875.html

After Super Tuesday, even Bloomberg will be thinking about dropping out if he doesn't win something big against both Biden and Sanders.

[Gray_Jay]

Maybe, maybe not. Here's 270 to Win's (less tracking data bullshit at their site vs RCP's) summation of latest Texas polling: https://www.270towin.com/2020-democratic-nomination/texas-primary

Other than the one poll from UT Tyler, Biden and Sanders are pretty even. Warren is stronger than expected, and Bloomberg is coming on strong, with a large GOTV presence. I ran across one of his supporter's tour buses yesterday while I was shopping. They were holding an impromptu registration/candidate information drive in the shopping center's parking lot. I guess he's coming to Houston to speak Thursday.

Bernie was here yesterday, and the stories about his rallies are sounding similar to the stories about Trump's in 2016. Waiting in line for hours, decent sized crowds, etc...

People like free shit. Bernie wants to give it to them.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Here's hoping the old Stalinist wins the Democratic nomination.

[loveconstitution1789]

I am voting for Bernie Sanders in the Georgia Primary, to make sure he wins the Democrat nomination and they get their ass kicked sideways by my election 2020 vote for Trump and the GOP.

[NoVaNick]

I’m voting for Bernie in Virginia next Tuesday because I do not want Bloomturd to get anywhere near the Oval Office-he would be a disaster for anyone who enjoys freedom or civil liberties.

[Fats of Fury]

Daniel Ortega is a big Sandernista and gave Bernie a shout out.

[NoVaNick]

Sandinista is my favorite Clash album

[Colossal Douchebag]

Yeah Bernie! Go full retard on their asses!

[NoVaNick]

It’s very disturbing that more than 50% of voters still have a favorable opinion of Bloomturd. That makes him more popular than most of the other dem candidates.

[Longtobefree]

it's unfair to simply say everything is bad.

Unless, of course, you are talking about Trump - - - - - - - - - -

[phillhamian]

...from infancy to age four.

What an asshole.

Who thinks compulsory attendance laws would be far behind?

[NoVaNick]

That would mean they would have to find enough workers willing to change diapers and potty train all those kids. Of course, in the socialist utopia Bernie promises, you will be lucky to have any job.

[phillhamian]

That's pretty optimistic to suppose that any diapers would get changed at all. But I'm sure someone's union rep would be there to make sure all the negligent government workers could keep their jobs in spite of allowing the babies in their care to wallow in piss and shit.

[I, Woodchipper]

almost immediately. It's not like the compulsory elementary school attendance laws bother any one..

[Bob Roehr]

It's like saying, "When Hitler first came in he built the autobahns. Is that a bad thing?' Would people accept that statement and the person who said it?

[JeffreyToo]

Bernie is the fodder than is socialism. Rather find ways to put BOTH parents to work so the State can raise the children and contaminated their minds via public school and such - how about we make it EASIER to make ends meet so a family only need ONE wage earner. At least 1 parent around with the children is preferable to that of indoctrination by those who would seek to abuse us.

[YolandaJRobinson]

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