So Kaitlin Bennett, aka Kent State Gun Girl, went to my alma mater Monday. It was Presidents Day, so she came to campus with her crew from …:::checking:::… “Liberty Hangout,” a subsection of …:::checking:::… ah yes, InfoWars, to do one of her fun videos. You know, just fun stuff! Presidential trivia! Fun!
Soon she was surrounded by a hostile mob and driven off campus, along with her security, rolling away in a big pickup truck with a TRUMKIN license plate.
Reading the WashPost rewrite of the student-newspaper story rather steamed me. It referred to Bennett, a young woman so nakedly ambitious that she launched her “career” by posing with an assault rifle in her cap and gown, as a “conservative gun rights activist.” She is in fact what the kids would call a fameball, a rolling thirst-trap train wreck trying so hard to get a gig in some Fox-type carnival that the dollar signs actually show in her eyes. She begs on her videos for Patreon supporters while she tries to push people into video confrontations that will get the wraparound-sunglasses crowd to throw her a few bucks.
She’s working the grift hard, that she’s just another humble merchant in the Marketplace of Ideas and not a third-rate provocateur on the order of Milo’s second assistant or maybe Ann Coulter’s luggage-carrier. But this stunt got a fair amount of publicity, and yet again, the fake-news MSM has treated a terrible person with more respect than they deserve.
Go, Bobcats. We know bullshit when we see it.
Speaking of people undeserving of respect, I see we’re upending the rule of law yet again. Besides the news about Blago and Milken, et al, there was also this woman, Judith Negron of Hialeah, Fla.:
Negron, now 48 years old, was sent to prison for aiding in a $200 million fraud case in what was then the country’s biggest mental health billing racket.
Negron was the only defendant in the case to refuse a plea deal and go to trial. She was convicted by a jury in August 2011 on 24 counts of conspiracy, fraud, paying kickbacks and money laundering in collaboration with the owners of a Miami-based company.
The scheme centered around American Therapeutic Corp., a seven-clinic chain that billed Medicare for group mental-health sessions that were either unnecessary or not provided to patients. The group’s patients, meanwhile, could not feed themselves or control their own bodily waste, according to prosecutors’ filings. Many lacked the mental capacity to respond to counseling and simply stared at walls or watched TV instead, raising questions about whether they were eligible for treatment.
Such a good woman shouldn’t be behind bars, don’t you think? She should have been on a chain gang.
The week feels 10 days long and it’s still only Tuesday. Grr. And so our republic continues to delaminate.
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Mark P said on February 18, 2020 at 9:57 pm
As I have commented before, it’s like living in an alternate universe, like the ones where the Nazis won, or Donald Trump was elected.
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alex said on February 18, 2020 at 10:05 pm
Well I stepped up to the plate in this delaminating world and accepted the position of grounds committee chair of our HOA in a bid to keep the board from raising dues to hire a lawn service. So my job will be coordinating volunteers to mow public areas and coming up with new plantings for the entrances (a job I’ve been secretly coveting for years after seeing some of the risible choices made by my predecessors).
They want to plant redbud trees in the park and were talking about buying them. I told them they grow like weeds in my yard and I’m amazed they don’t have any. I’ll be delivering a wagonload of saplings that are right now invading my flowerbeds.
Daydreaming now of dianthus and yarrow and ever-flowering perennials that tolerate neglect.
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Brian stouder said on February 18, 2020 at 10:05 pm
These are trying times, indeed. But we’ll get our inning. For example, I’m not enamored w/Bernie, and the Bloomberg boomlet makes me say ‘bah!’; but if our only alternative to the incumbent cranky old white guy president ends up being our own cranky old white guy, then (and only then) – I’m in!
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Deborah said on February 18, 2020 at 10:23 pm
Holy cow, good post Nancy.
LB and I watched JoJo Rabbit tonight, it was good, I had no idea what it was about before I watched it. Tomorrow night we’re watching Parasite if we can get it on OnDemand.
I’m freaking out about everything I have to do before I leave for Chicago. But mainly I’m concerned about getting the shuttle to ABQ at 5:45 am on Thursday. If I can’t get a Lyft at that hour to the shuttle I will have to walk in the dark which is kind of terrifying to me. Not so much for humans messing with me but skunks. Lyft and Uber are not all that reliable in this small city. I have a back up plan to drive my car to a lot near the shuttle pick up and then having a neighbor drive my car back to the condo garage, but it’s a manual transmission and he’s not that familiar with it so… I’m feeling the anxiety right now. There was a 50% chance of snow here about now, but that’s changed so maybe not.
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jcburns said on February 18, 2020 at 10:49 pm
A fameball indeed. Precisely right, Nancy.
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Joe Kobiela said on February 19, 2020 at 6:10 am
Deborah,
On your Lyft app you can schedule a Lyft for a pickup at a specific time.
Pilot Joe
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 19, 2020 at 7:31 am
Alex, I tip my hat to you; Saturday I did not accept renomination and ended 14 years as an HOA trustee, 10 as president. Hoping the new group doesn’t immediately start monkeying with intrusive ideas and new restrictions, but I just couldn’t do it anymore. It is so important, though, to have at least a few who aren’t desperate to tell their neighbors what to do and how to live. Because there’s always a hatful who love to be that person.
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alex said on February 19, 2020 at 7:56 am
Our longtime president is stepping down in a few months and few are eager to fill his shoes, but I suspect he was there in the first place to protect his own interests as a slob and in general this has been a pretty hands-off HOA. I’d like to keep it that way myself. It’s pretty live-and-let-live around here and the control freaks have never lasted long on the board.
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nancy said on February 19, 2020 at 8:05 am
Alex, this all puts me in mind of Hank Stuever’s fabulous essay on Richard Hatch, the winner of the first season of “Survivor.” He called him an evil queen. If you don’t have a WP subscription, here’s the relevant passage:
How many neighborhood associations have voted Bob–a nice older bachelor who lives down the street and has such a pretty yard and bakes tasty brownies–into the chapter presidency, only to find themselves living in a totalitarian state that forbids driveway basketball hoops? The gated community is now ruled by Bob, who has morphed into the Evil Queen! (She wants to turn the Dalmatian puppies into a coat!)
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Jenine said on February 19, 2020 at 9:31 am
Raising a glass to committee chair Alex! So many of us are plant ignorant and happy to be led by someone who has a clue. I hope your aesthetic schemes all come to fruition.
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Dorothy said on February 19, 2020 at 9:45 am
Two years ago, May 2018, my daughter-in-law had a knock at her front door from someone in their HOA. Apparently someone who lived behind her house complained to the HOA that the mold on their vinyl siding was unsightly and was demanding it be cleaned. It was not a seriously bad case of mold, and her brother-in-law came that weekend and cleaned it for her. But Meg was livid. Her husband (my son) was deployed, she had a 14 month old to care for all alone, she was teaching high school full time and she was trying to visit her dad as much as possible because he was fighting pancreatic cancer. (he lost that fight three months later) Of course the HOA didn’t know all of that but you’d think they’d ask if they might help somehow. Can you tell I’m not a fan of HOAs?
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Jeff Borden said on February 19, 2020 at 9:45 am
It’s rare that our Orange King unites any group, but his commutation of Blago’s prison sentence did it: the bastard is hated by both Illinois Democrats and Republicans. I read a blurb somewhere that Prince Jared suggested Don the Con free Rod from his prison cell to woo Democratic voters in deep blue Illinois. Nice try, junior.
Now, we’re braced for a Blago blitz starting with an 11 a.m. press conference in front of his bungalow in Ravenswood Manor. Blago is very much in the tRumpian mold. He has never admitted to a thing and has never expressed a morsel of remorse. Now, he and his Lady MacBeth, who has shamelessly blasted Barack Obama and the feds for prosecuting her beloved hubby, will be on the interview trail. Blago has declared himself “a tRumpocrat,” so perhaps his P.R. journey will begin on Faux News.
Oh, it will be a spectacle.
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susan said on February 19, 2020 at 10:23 am
Gosh, the librarians here (and everywhere) should emulate Seattle Public Library. Here is a class they are offering on Feb. 20: Fake News Survival Guide: Resources & Tips For Staying Informed. Check out some of the other classes and events they hold. Librarians unite!
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alex said on February 19, 2020 at 11:07 am
My evil queenliness will stop at the flowerbeds. I have no interest in banning basketball hoops or mildewed siding, although there is one house with a film of rusty iron deposits all over one side of it because the owners water their yard with well water and don’t care enough to position their sprinklers properly. It annoys me. But I won’t criticize the crafty homemaker who made shutters out of shitty lattice from the garden center and painted her house fire engine red. Or the folks with a giant plastic wishing well in their front yard that looks like it belongs in a kiddie play lot. There’s a wide range of aesthetic sensibilities on display and the good more than make up for the bad and I’m not going to make it any of my business. Even if I get roped into being president, which I hope never happens.
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Sherri said on February 19, 2020 at 12:06 pm
Who doesn’t vote?
https://the100million.org/
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Deborah said on February 19, 2020 at 12:29 pm
Pilot Joe, not all areas support scheduling rides on Lyft. I don’t know why, but Santa Fe does not.
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basset said on February 19, 2020 at 1:18 pm
Well put, MarkP@1. Thought we would have had a Reichstag fire by now.
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Jason T. said on February 19, 2020 at 2:53 pm
I can’t verify this account. It was posted on Facebook in a group I belong to. I was able to trace the person who posted it and confirmed she is from Ohio.
So … with those two large grains of salt:
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Jeff Borden said on February 19, 2020 at 3:01 pm
I am just tired of the gun loonies. Last weekend, 11 children were shot in Chicago. . .some as innocent bystanders between gang members and others when they were playing with loaded hand guns they’d found. The ammosexuals are always pointing at our violent city as “having the toughest gun laws in the nation,” which is preposterous since the damned things are Constitutionally protected. Our problem is too many damned guns in the hands of too damned many stupid people.
If the Kent State gun girl really wants to make a scene, let her walk around Englewood, Auburn-Gresham or Austin with her big ol’ gun and see what kind of reception she gets instead of trying to pick fights with college kids at OU. These people. . .
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Sherri said on February 19, 2020 at 3:21 pm
But this is bigger than Warren and the Democratic primary. This is about how we as leftists navigate the inherent contradictions of electoral politics. Let me be clear: I don’t trust politicians, and I’m preparing myself for when it is time for more agitational action. I’m not naive enough to believe that anyone who sits at the head of the United States government will serve as the chief medium for the liberation of Black people and all oppressed people impacted by centuries of imperialism enacted by this country. Despite these contradictions, I’m choosing to continue collective organizing, constantly reflecting on how I’m showing up and where we, the political left, are missing opportunities to transform politics in this country.
Many prominent left and progressive groups have endorsed Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders in this cycle. But if an organization gives its endorsement without clear commitments and mechanisms for accountability then it has missed an opportunity to build long-term power beyond election day. It is never a matter of if a political candidate will mess up, it’s always about when. How are we preparing our movements for those moments?
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/black-womxn-for-warren-holding-candidates-accountable
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Sherri said on February 19, 2020 at 6:08 pm
We’ve had two sunny days in a row, after 80 days of mostly clouds.
https://komonews.com/weather/scotts-weather-blog/after-80-straight-days-of-clouds-seattle-finally-has-first-sunny-day-of-the-decade
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David C. said on February 19, 2020 at 6:27 pm
I was president of the HOA at our old house. It was a very laissez faire HOA. So laissez faire that they voted to cut their dues down to what snow plowing cost. That worked fine until the pie crust road washed out in a storm and they were responsible to fix it. It worked out fine for us too because we moved away a year before it happened.
My cast came off this afternoon. What a special pleasure it is to scratch and slather with lotion itches you’ve been unable to for four weeks. Two weeks in a soft splint and I’m done.
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Linda said on February 19, 2020 at 7:44 pm
Re: pardoning the Medicare grifter. The main rule is, rich white people do not believe that any crime they might commit— or have already committed—is a real crime. Prison is for dark, poor people who break in and steal TVs.
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Suzanne said on February 19, 2020 at 8:09 pm
Exactly right, Linda.
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Suzanne said on February 19, 2020 at 10:59 pm
Good grief on this debate. I am not hearing much on how anyone plans to beat Trump, but a lot on why they don’t like each other.
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alex said on February 19, 2020 at 11:51 pm
My hat’s off to Mayor Pete for the best line of the night. He said he found it hard to swallow the assertion that the Democratic contest will come down to the two candidates who aren’t even Democrats.
When Klobuchar was asked how we could get rid of sexism on the internet, she said “by nominating a woman.” My brother and I were watching together and our jaws dropped at the same time. No way she really believes that.
I thought it was unfair of the Telemundo moderator needle Klobuchar for brain-farting the name of Mexico’s president and for Mayor Pete to make hay of it, although it looks like it was payback for some of the unfair shade she has been throwing his way. Kudos to Warren for defending Klobuchar and demerits for Pete.
I thought Biden looked and sounded as feeble as usual. He’s struggling mightily with word finding so just throws out a pat line that as Veep he’s already passed healthcare, beaten the NRA, addressed climate change, beaten Mitch McConnell, blah blah blah. When it was time to make his final argument for himself, he was drowned out by protesters.
Klobuchar had some good moments but she has a sort of deer-in-the-headlights presence that makes me cringe a bit.
Bernie’s a fucking gasbag, but trained most of his fire on Bloomberg, who made a cheap shot about communism that didn’t go over well. Warren went after him too with a vengeance. They all gave him grief about nondisclosure agreements and not releasing his tax returns yet and stop-and-frisk. He kept his cool. Though ceaselessly attacked for his wealth, he pointed out how much he has done with his money with regard to climate change and gun control and so on. Despite all the flack, he held his own.
Warren sounded a bit hoarse, probably from lots of public speaking lately, but she took some strong jabs at all of her opponents on several occasions. She’s obviously been prepping to be tough and studying their records. We’ll see if that serves her better than her last few performances.
I’m zonked and ready to crash and think about other things. It was quite an energetic debate.
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jcburns said on February 20, 2020 at 12:14 am
Sherri, we have this crackpot theory that wherever we travel, we bring the good weather. And we’re in Seattle this week.
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Sherri said on February 20, 2020 at 12:25 am
Well, then, thanks, JC!
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basset said on February 20, 2020 at 8:30 am
Didn’t watch the debate, participated in another IU win though. Local alums and some from Purdue prepared & served dinner to residents at the cancer association’s lodging for patients & their families… mostly cooperative but there was a dessert competition and the diners liked ours better by a vote of 18-7. 3-layer brownies with ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate sauce.
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Deborah said on February 20, 2020 at 9:37 am
Goodbye NM. I was able to get a Lyft to the shuttle pick up at 5 am, but because I was so nervous I’d oversleep, I’ve been awake since midnight. I hate these travel days.
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Jenine said on February 20, 2020 at 10:11 am
@David C: Congrats on getting the cast off! And your HOA experience reminds me that lots of things boil down to timing. Yours was excellent.
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Bitter Scribe said on February 20, 2020 at 10:25 am
Can we all agree that anyone who posts pictures of themselves waving guns around on social media is a total douchebag?
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Jakash said on February 20, 2020 at 12:32 pm
Eric Zorn of the Tribune has a fine column rebutting Blagojevich’s self-serving and preposterous (“political prisoner?”) press conference, not that anybody here needs to be reminded that Blago is a con-man and crook, rather than some kind of unfairly-accused martyr.
“His claim that he did ‘nothing wrong’ and had simply been engaged in ‘the routine practice of attempting to raise campaign funds,’ to quote his 2018 Wall Street Journal op-ed, is belied by a mountain of evidence, a near unanimous finding by the Illinois General Assembly that removed him from office, a jury verdict and the rulings of appellate judges.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/eric-zorn/ct-column-blagojevich-political-prisoner-claim-zorn-20200220-dpyocenaljeu7avwveoiatx2si-story.html
Blago having his moment in the sun is a good opportunity to once again point out how “checks and balances” are supposed to work. Before he was convicted of the crimes that sent him to prison, but when evidence of his crookedness had already become clear, he was impeached. Illinois’ “full House voted 114–1 to impeach the governor.” At the conclusion of the ensuing trial in the Senate, “Rod Blagojevich was convicted and removed from office by a unanimous vote of 59–0.” (Wikipedia quotes.)
One fears for the fate of the Republic when only one of the Republican members of the so-called “world’s greatest deliberative body,” the U. S. Senate, could even come close to performing their role in Trump’s impeachment with a shred of the bipartisan objectivity mustered by their much less distinguished counterparts in Springfield, Illinois.
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alex said on February 20, 2020 at 12:52 pm
And Stone gets off with half a sentence:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/roger-stone-sentence-due-thursday-in-federal-court/2020/02/19/2e01bfc8-4c38-11ea-9b5c-eac5b16dafaa_story.html
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Jeff Borden said on February 20, 2020 at 1:47 pm
Blago is very much like tRump. Both have enormous self regard. Both believe themselves persecuted. Both traffic in grandiose bullshit. (Blago served time in a “Club Fed” prison, but he described it as more Devil’s Island in his press conference.) Both are animated by jealousy of Barack Obama, who quickly eclipsed Blago, a presidential contender in his own mind. Both are unworthy of support.
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Jakash said on February 20, 2020 at 2:18 pm
If Al Capone said this, sure. If Tony Soprano said it, sure. This quote is from the President of the United States.
“‘I will never testify against Trump.’ This statement was recently made by Roger Stone, essentially stating that he will not be forced by a rogue and out of control prosecutor to make up lies and stories about ‘President Trump.’ Nice to know that some people still have ‘guts!'”
Yet another actual witch has been assigned prison time, though not enough, as the “witch hunt” proceeds. The president hates the Justice Department, largely because it’s been so effective, yet admires and buddies up to Putin. And Republican legislators are fine with this. You know, the “law and order” folks.
In other news, I wasn’t watching, but Elizabeth Warren seems to have a pretty good idea of how to stand up to Bloomberg. I’d certainly love to see her eviscerate Trump in the same manner. More highlights of her from last night’s “roast.”
https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1230399673237676035
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St Bitch said on February 20, 2020 at 2:41 pm
She stayed…She played…She slayed!
Regardless of the ultimate outcome, Warren’s (Presidential) presence in the arena for that smackdown last night was intensely vital in exposing the reptilian scales lurking beneath the Bloomberg billion-dollar fabrication of a white-knight-swooping-in-to-save-us-from-Trump myth. She really has had an epic Joan of Arc moment.
I didn’t even know how much I’ve needed her to persist. Bowing down in gratitude.
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Mark P said on February 20, 2020 at 3:25 pm
Yes, Warren kicked Bloomberg’s ass, and then stomped it and went outside for 20 minutes to play street hockey with it. I think she could handle Trump quite easily. For the little bit of the “debate” we watched, Bloomberg seemed unable to muster a real defense. That makes me think he couldn’t handle Trump in a “debate.”
My wife was disgusted at the candidates’ attacks on each other, but I pointed out that the “debate” format and this “debate” in particular were designed to provoke exactly that. The point of the entire “debate” was to generate all heat and no light.
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Sherri said on February 20, 2020 at 3:39 pm
Last week, everything was all, we need someone who can handle Trump!!! Then a woman shows how it’s done, and it’s all, oh dear, all those nasty attacks, why don’t they talk about policy?!?
Warren has talked endlessly about policy, and in response, the media disappeared her.
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Deborah said on February 20, 2020 at 3:47 pm
I’m back in frigid Chicago, but at least it’s sunny! 12 degree wind chill by the lake. I’m having a drink before I go out in it to do grocery shopping, not much in the refrigerator right now, it has been a rough travel day, I’ll spare you the details.
First thing I did when we landed was look up what Stone’s sentence is. And yay for Sen Warren! I didn’t watch the debate last night, I went to bed early because of the travel ordeal today. LB and I did watch Parasite yesterday afternoon, and wow is that a fantastic story. If you haven’t seen it, do it.
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Deborah said on February 20, 2020 at 4:06 pm
Catching up, this Grennell guy seems like another typical incompetent douche. We’ll see how long he lasts.
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Sherri said on February 20, 2020 at 4:14 pm
Hey, St. B, this tweet fits with your comment:
https://twitter.com/anamariecox/status/1230552894685970433
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Mark P. said on February 20, 2020 at 5:20 pm
I blame the US news media in part for Trump’s win. They treat presidential elections like they do the rest of the news. They need a quick sound bite and some way to simplify and capsulize the story, usually by ignoring all the important, more complex parts.
And yes, Sherri, everything Warren does is filtered through a sexist lens by the news media. People would be talking about what a strong candidate she would make if she were a male.
But, as I said, all of those nasty attacks were exactly what the “debate” moderators wanted and encouraged. Contemptible schmucks.
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St Bitch said on February 20, 2020 at 5:29 pm
Hah!
Sherri…longtime fan of OG Wonkette, Anna Marie Cox, here.
I’m realizing that we’ve heard warrior Warren promise repeatedly that she is going to fight.
Last night she actually unsheathed her Valyrian-sharp edges and stuck em ‘with the pointy end’!
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Jakash said on February 20, 2020 at 5:52 pm
St. Bitch,
I’m hesitant to ask you about this, and I hope it’s not obnoxious of me to do so, but I’m pretty curious. You say this nice stuff about Warren, but on Feb. 4, when you told us about your Iowa caucus experience you wrote: “I’m totally YangGang, but had to re-align, so I read the room and went to Bernie. My first choice was who inspires me, 2nd choice is who’s got the mojo.”
How is Warren supposed to get any mojo if even somebody who likes her like you doesn’t back her when they have the chance?
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St Bitch said on February 20, 2020 at 9:59 pm
Hi Jakash,
You’re not being obnoxious at all. I welcome the invitation to spar.
You probably didn’t see my late night post at the end of the previous thread. I’ll reprise the pertinent portion here, although it makes me seem even more cognitively dissonant:
“Whoa! Lotta hatred for Bernie around here. I’ve been calling him the F__k-It candidate, and when it came down to it, I went ahead and hit that ole F__k-It Valve at our caucus.
But before that, I rented some wheels and drove a hundred miles to see Elizabeth Warren light up an auditorium at Grinnell College. We selfied…I kissed her cheek and told her she’s wonderful. She is! Then I had a great chat with one of her organizers, who hooked me up with the local campaign hq. So I volunteered to phone bank, and came to adore all those out-of-state millennials running around for a year in Iowa with their hearts on their sleeves for Warren. Now their idealistic, hopeful hearts are getting broken. Me, I think my heart would get broken over and over if I have to watch her become Trump’s favorite punching bag.
Yet I refused to commit to Elizabeth, then ditched her for a candidate with less than a rat’s chance of surviving. Yang, however, just lit me up. Still does. Stimulates and inspires me. It was fun and luxurious to be roused with enthusiasm for one of the dogs in the hunt. And therapeutic.”
Let me backtrack a bit to 2016, when everyone in my core tribe of radicals from California was Bernie Ride-or-Die; except the significant other of one of my best friends, and me – apostate Hillary supporters.
Fast forward to last fall, and the many hours I spent happily phone banking for the Warren posse…an exercise in futility, btw, as almost nobody was clueless enough to answer their phone, especially with all the campaigns swarming the state. However, when a random Democrat answered, willing to engage, it was as easy to throwdown a genuine heartfelt pitch for Elizabeth, as it was to ask (scripted) questions to feed the database as well as satisfy my curiosity.
Still…much as I resonated with Warren, I became somewhat jaded when I heard the same talking points she put forth at Grinnell, reiterated on the debate stage several times, and in all of her interviews; some of which I found unconvincing.
Then Yang came along, re-framing all the issues in a fresh way; impressing me with new information every time he spoke.
As for Bernie, I’ve become rather fond of him since Trump came to power. Even though he advocates for the working class, while I fall more naturally into Warren’s educated middle class wheelhouse; I have strong attachments to an even more marginalized community of immigrant Jamaicans…and can relate to the extent I’m able to step outside my own inborn (entitled) bubble.
I tend to see Bernie as an Old Testament prophet, preaching fire & brimstone. I also trust him…to respect the rule of law; to protect the constitution; to not become corrupt with power; to champion the downtrodden; to strive to alleviate climate change; to continue to growl and claw for a version of justice I was raised to cherish. (I don’t quite get the venom spewing his way, even here.)
I have the same trust in Elizabeth Warren, enhanced by her more nuanced persona and nimble-witted intellect.
Yet when it came to realignment in my diverse precinct (in this liberal pocket of Iowa on the Mississippi River), Warren’s caucus wasn’t initially viable, while Bernie’s was overwhelmingly robust.
“Hitting the f__k-it valve” was coined by a Viet Nam vet friend of mine to explain why he eventually went AWOL. Years later he died from the after effects of exposure to Agent Orange.
We’ll all drive ourselves crazy trying to figure out how to exert agency in getting rid of the Trump Reich without resorting to Banana Republic violence. That’s when the f__k-it valve comes into play.
Bernie Sanders pioneered the small-donor-fueled campaign in the face of Citizens United, with Elizabeth following his lead. Bernie’s base is mos def hardcore. He’s paid his dues… and it looks like his time has come to ride the wave, notwithstanding the high-risk stigma clinging to his candidacy. But don’t all the other candidacies suffer from similar risk-aversions?
In spite of her excellent ground game, Warren’s campaign had become anemic by the time I made my choice. Maybe the perverse nature of the dying Iowa caucus sucked the blood out of her like a ravenous vampire. Who knows? I’d be delighted if her campaign catches wildfire!
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Jakash said on February 21, 2020 at 12:15 am
Thanks for that thoughtful reply, St. Bitch. You’re much more involved in all this than I am — I deliberately have paid little attention until the actual caucusing and voting began, because I feel like I don’t really need to consider who to vote for until the Illinois primary on March 17.
FWIW, I *had* read your post at the end of the other thread, as nn.c is the only “social media” that I actively participate in. (Does this even count as social media? Probably not.)
Since I’m not up on the day-to-day horse race, I was not fully aware of the extent to which “Warren’s campaign had become anemic by the time I made my choice.”
Both that observation and your appreciation for Bernie’s “version of justice I was raised to cherish” give me a better understanding of what prompted your switch to backing him. Gotta say, though, that I trust Ms. Warren “to respect the rule of law,” etc. that you list in that paragraph, as you also acknowledge in your next sentence.
Alas, I don’t agree that there’s a “Lotta hatred for Bernie around here.” Or much “venom,” for that matter. Many of us are skeptical about him, true. I, personally, am not wild about the fact that he’s only a “Democrat” because he knows he’d get nowhere as an “Independent” presidential candidate. Or that he’s a 78-year-old white guy. Or that he’ll be much easier for the Republican-fake news-industrial complex to vilify than even Hillary was. But I’ll vote for him if it comes down to it. Not yet, though.
Anyway, thanks again for taking my comment at face value. I really didn’t think that I was inviting you to spar; I just wondered what you were thinking. 🙂
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