Mar 09 2020

Pondering the Pundits

Pondering the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news media and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Pondering the Pundits”.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

Charles M. Blow: You Can’t Gaslight a Virus

President Trump’s usual political tricks won’t work now.

In the Donald Trump era, Democrats and Republicans generally live with two completely different concepts of reality. Their views of Trump, his competence and character, could hardly be more different. [..]

But, there were a couple of areas of general agreement among Democrats and Republicans, one of which was that overwhelming majorities of both groups viewed Trump as self-centered.

That self-centered sensibility has been on full display since the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Trump sees this budding pandemic through the lens of how it will affect him and his re-election prospects. The fact that the people infected and those fearful of becoming so are real people who desperately need the steady hand of a steady leader is lost on him.

Instead of being the president that the country needs in a time of crisis, he has chosen to employ his worn political strategy: lying. Rather than addressing the issue straightforwardly, he has told lie after lie, and in some cases contradicted the scientists trying to manage this issue.

Jill Filipovic: Watching ‘Hillary’ in the Wake of Elizabeth Warren’s Exit

A new documentary about Hillary Clinton conjures up déjà vu.

At the very end of “Hillary,” an intimate and revealing four-part Hulu documentary series that tracks Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, Mandy Grunwald, the campaign’s communications adviser, sums up Mrs. Clinton’s career: “As long as she has been in public life there have been these ups and downs. ‘Be our champion, go away.’ ‘Be our path-breaker, go away.’”

Mrs. Clinton may be the woman at whom Americans have most regularly hurled these whiplash-inducing demands, but she is far from the only one who was told she had to mold herself into what the public (or a boss, or a partner, or a parent) said they wanted, only to wind up rejected and scorned for her efforts. In the wake of Senator Elizabeth Warren’s exit from the presidential race — the last of several smart, qualified Democratic women with any reasonable chance of clinching the 2020 nomination — “Hillary” feels both raw and resonant. It’s an unusually authentic portrayal of someone so often accused of being inauthentic.

And yet before she even says it onscreen, the tenor of Ms. Grunwald’s comment reverberates through the series, indicting all of us and suggesting we may have learned all the wrong lessons from 2016.

Tom Steyer: What I Learned While Running for President

The establishment has failed many hard-working people. If we don’t call it out, nothing will change.

I love meeting Americans. Before I ran for president, I had the opportunity to meet people across the country while fighting climate change, registering young people and working to impeach President Donald Trump. I loved hearing their stories and learning about their lives. Some — a lot — of their stories were harrowing. Many felt disconnected and left behind by the political establishment and elites in New York and Washington.

Most people I met felt that the government was broken and that their vote didn’t count because of a corporate stranglehold on our democracy. I learned something from every encounter and I valued every interaction. [..]

Meeting Americans has reinforced my sense of deep governmental failure. Whether it’s the warp-speed gentrification of Charleston, the homeless problem in Los Angeles or water pollution in Denmark, S.C., Americans deserve so much better from their government. We can afford it. We know better. And it’s the right thing to do.

And people ache for a democracy they can believe in. During my campaign, I tried to call out the intertwined elites in the media, the Beltway and corporate America, all of whom are thriving at the expense of the American people. They don’t want to change a single thing. Corporate America has truly bought our democracy, and people across this country are suffering every day because of it.

Let me be clear: I understand that I have benefited from being part of this world. But this campaign has reinforced my passion for spending all my time and money to change the political neglect that has brought this nation to a very low place.

Max Boot: Trump can’t handle a crisis he didn’t create

Until now, pretty much every crisis that President Trump has confronted has been one that he himself created.

The “caravans” of Central American refugees — the subject of hysteria before the 2018 midterm elections — were a threat only in Trump’s own mind. The North American Free Trade Agreement wasn’t “the worst trade deal ever made” and didn’t need to be renegotiated. Iran wasn’t violating the nuclear accord and the United States didn’t need to pull out of the deal. North Korea’s nuclear program is a threat, but Pyongyang wasn’t about to start a war with the United States. The trade deficit with China wasn’t a problem according to most economists, and China’s abusive trade practices did next to nothing to hurt the U.S. economy. [..]

The one exception — the one crisis largely out of Trump’s control — was Hurricane Maria, which ravaged Puerto Rico in September 2017. The administration’s response was horribly botched. Aid was delayed and power was out for months, causing some 3,000 deaths. Trump’s response was to deny the deaths, attack the mayor of San Juan, accuse Puerto Ricans of being lazy and toss paper towels at hurricane survivors as if they were seals getting fish from a trainer. It was pathetic and shameful but did not cost Trump politically because Puerto Rico is far from the mainland.

The novel coronavirus is the first major crisis that Trump confronts that he did not create and whose impact he cannot escape with his usual bluster and bravado. Which is not to say he’s not trying. His performance at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta on Friday was vintage Trump — which is to say that it was incoherent, delusional and frightening.

Guy T. Saperstein: If Jeff Bezos really wants to fight the climate crisis, he should just pay his taxes

Wildfires are ravaging California and Australia – and local fire departments are alarmingly underfunded and underprepared

n the wake of the devastating Australian bushfires, Jeff Bezos announced last month that he will donate $10bn to fight the climate crisis. As a resident of California and the former president of the Sierra Club Foundation, I welcome any contribution toward the struggle against our changing climate. That said, my home state, like all communities with Amazon facilities, would be far better off if Bezos simply paid his taxes.

If Amazon’s properties in California were taxed at their current value, the added tax could help bolster our underfunded firefighters and fix our crumbling fire access roads. Contributing vast sums to the global effort is wonderful, but climate change is a local issue too. Our communities need to be well-funded if we’re going to face this threat head-on.

Mar 09 2020

Let’s Talk About Kids

I find that if you marinate them in Mother’s Milk for at least 24 hours some of the gaminess is reduced.

What? Sure you have to toss it out or feed it to your hogs.

Mar 09 2020

Robin of Locksley

Frankly the versions of his origin that hew more closely to a plebeian birth among dispossessed Saxons in a nowhere village close by a poacher’s paradise ring more authentically with the times than later assertions of nobility, but the core story goes that Robin, already an experienced Archer and Swordsman on both Foot and Horse, as well as a Mercenary because that’s your job, like being a Linebacker, journeyed to Jerusalem where he fought heroically alongside Tom Brady, stealing signs and plays and filling Footballs with Helium until he was captured by overwhelming force or something ego massaging like that.

Anyway because he was basically nobody he wasn’t expensive to ransom (more charitably, escaped) and made his way back to an England groaning under the Tyrant Yoke of King John, so evil his moniker has never been used by the Monarchy again even though I could name you several more deserving of the title “Genocidal Maniac” than he including 17 or 20 Edwards.

Objectively he did a good job for the House of Plantagenet. Took over the minutia of day to day when his “Heroic” and Bone Stupid Brother Richard went off vacationing with bloodshed. Might have paid more attention to his Norman possessions but he was busy scraping up money for Bail.

For his Brother.

I don’t think he noticed Robin Hood’s Rebellion and I don’t think the Sheriff did either, but don’t get the impression I wish to discourage you.

Unless you like the way things are it’s the only thing that ever works.

Mar 09 2020

Things you need to know about Vikings.

We’re not all assholes. I mean I am but I attribute it more to my Anglo/Scots-German heritage than my fierce Viking ancestors who mostly made butter and cheese.

Not that them ain’t fightin’ words, ask any Texan

I love the UK and would like to stay (please). But you need a few lessons on being Danish
by Sofie Hagen, The Guardian
Sat 7 Mar 2020

I’m from Denmark, but have lived in the UK for almost eight years. I’d love to stay. Fingers crossed. I call both countries home, but still find myself caught between the two because while there are Briticisms I have embraced, there are other things I can’t. For as long as there is an ocean between us, or two hours on a low-budget aeroplane, there will always be some fundamental differences between our two kingdoms. Here are my five biggest.

You don’t get to the point

The Danes are direct. If you want to send a professional email to someone, asking for some files, regardless of how little you know them, your email will read: “Hey, send the files.” That’s it. It took me a while to learn the British way of making every request sound as if you are asking a person for their first-born’s hand in marriage. “Dearest Cliff, I hope you are well. I do apologise for getting in touch on this godless Tuesday, but I hope you might consider even the slightest possibility of perhaps finding the time…” And so on. My emails now take 20 times longer to write. Often, I forget the pleasantries and simply send a Danish-style four-word message. Then I am filled with British shame. For this reason, I have considered adding an email signature that reads: “I’m not rude, I’m Danish.”

You are filthy as hell, but only secretly

Put on any Danish film and you will see genitals. I am not talking about porn (which Denmark was the first country in the world to legalise, in 1967). I’m talking regular prime-time television and mainstream movies. In the opening scene of Nattevagten, a 1994 thriller, we see Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s flaccid penis swinging back and forth as he gets out of bed. In the incredibly funny sitcom Ditte & Louise (2015-2016), a scene where Ditte is having wild sex up against a desk cuts with another in which Louise is masturbating furiously while drinking wine. Again, prime time. School sex education was fairly straightforward. Then again, everything in Danish schools seems more straightforward. We have mostly mixed-sex schools; we do not wear uniforms; and we call our teachers by their first names. Being taught about penises by our teacher, Tina, was great. I imagine being taught about penises by Miss Hansen when you are a creepy suit-wearing child is a lot scarier.

I worked in a sex shop in Denmark when I was 16, which sold porn. It was my job to pack the parcels and send them out. I can reveal that the most hardcore porn was ordered by people in the UK. You’re all filthy as hell, so start standing by it, OK?

You do not need a hygge blanket

While I’m here, I’d like to blow the whistle on hygge. You must have heard the word a million times, because I’ve seen it a million times in bookshops all over the UK: How To Hygge The Danish Way, Have A Hygge, and other horrible misuses of my language. Hygge is a common word in Denmark. Instead of “Take care!” we might say “Hygge!” Instead of “This is nice!”, we might say “This is hyggeligt”. Instead of “Ah, OK” we might say “Hyggeligt.” It covers almost anything, and means cosy or chill. It’s not a Danish activity.

You guys hygge all the time. You go to the pub, you watch TV, you drink tea to an almost psychopathic degree. The difference is, in Denmark there aren’t £35 books on how to hygge. You cannot (and need not) buy a £50 hygge-blanket. We don’t have hygge-candles because hygge doesn’t have a smell. If Danes are more relaxed than Brits, it’s to do with our excellent infrastructure, our social security safety net, the fact that we are paid a salary to attend university and have 52 weeks of parental leave – all because we happily pay about 50% in taxes. Socialism is the real hygge. You heard it here first.

You do Christmas once a week

I miss Danish food on a daily basis. But I have discovered the British Sunday roast. In Denmark, we eat Christmas food once a year, but you people have cleverly decided to do it once a week. And don’t think I don’t know about those special high-end restaurants next to the motorway that do a roast buffet every single day. Yes, I’ve eaten three in one week. No, I am not ashamed – I am British now.

Our queen is better than your queen

I’ve bingewatched The Crown, and I like your queen. She seems nice. She does that cool thing where she wears a provocative brooch if she wants to send a hidden signal. But have you met the Danish queen? Margrethe II of Denmark, 79, is regularly seen chain-smoking and shoving food into her mouth in public. Every New Year’s Eve, she addresses the nation on live TV. Last year, she had a cold and we got to see the queen take a crumpled tissue from her drawer and blow her nose. Did I mention that our queen is also an artist? Her illustrations, sent to JRR Tolkien under a pseudonym in the 1970s, were used in Danish and English editions of The Lord of the Rings. When she was young, she went to the US and met Elvis, Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin. Afterwards the press asked her what she thought and she said, ‘Not impressed.’ She works part-time as a costume designer for the Danish Royal Ballet. What did your queen do? C’mon. Step it up.

One last thing, before my settled status is forcibly taken from me for blowing the whistle on hygge: you can’t pronounce it, no matter how hard you try. You can’t pronounce my name, either. I’m talking specifically to the British man who corrected my pronunciation of it. Don’t do that. Also, I love living here. Please let me stay.

Mar 09 2020

The Breakfast Club (Roller Coaster)

Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungover we’ve been bailed out we’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:00am (ET) (or whenever we get around to it) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.

This Day in History

urnalist Edward R. Murrow takes on Senator Joe McCarthy’s anti communist campaign; Commedian George Burns dies in 1996.

Breakfast Tunes

Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac

No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices.

Edward R. Murrow

Continue reading

Mar 09 2020

John of Patmos

Like most Classical authors we know little of him and suspect what we do, yet he is wildly popular among certain people who claim to be “Christians” and the creator (if it is a singular creation and not mere zeitgeist) of an enduring meme of Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death all of which we have in abundance.

Now you may correctly surmise that I’m not advocating mass penitence and mortification (which is distinctly counter-indicated if you believe in the “Germ Theory of Disease” at all) but there’s no denying things are in a bad state and getting more so by the minute which puts a damper on my mood and my cheerful and uplifting communications.

The 2 things you need to know right away is that there is no sign of intelligent life in the Government which really doesn’t care if you live or die (as long as you do it quickly and save money) but which cares a good deal about the perception the Economy is humming along based on Market Indexes that don’t actually measure it.

All of which are set to tank by as much as 6 – 10%.

In a single day.

Glad my money is in Banana Futures which look better by the minute as oncoming scarcity (driven by GMO Monocropping and Global Warming) drives up the price. Oil on the other hand just had it’s production quotas collapse and in the face of decreased demand (you know, that Coronavirus thing) is going to dump from Texas Intermediate at $32 (look for that valuation today) to mid $20s if it can hold it.

Great if you want a driving vacation (headed to P.E.I. this year for the Mussels) not so good if you’ve got Billions on the line for expanding expensive Fracking you don’t need and can’t sell except at a loss.

I mean forget about Tar Sands. Better way to lose money than a Presidential Campaign.

So it’s all good and the history trends to truth and justice because they don’t change, you just have to wait long enough. I try to have a positive view and I’m in it for the long term.

It will take me until at least November to claim my free housing, don’t want to end up in Medicine Hat.

Mar 08 2020

International Women’s Day 2020

Today is International Women’s Day with thei year’s theme of “Each for Equal.” The campaign isn’t just one day but runs all year providing a unified direction to guide and galvanize continuous collective action.

An equal world is an enabled world.

Individually, we’re all responsible for our own thoughts and actions – all day, every day.

We can actively choose to challenge stereotypes, fight bias, broaden perceptions, improve situations and celebrate women’s achievements.

Collectively, each one of us can help create a gender equal world.

Equality is not a women’s issue, it’s a business issue.

Gender equality is essential for economies and communities to thrive.

A gender equal world can be healthier, wealthier and more harmonious – so what’s not great about that?

The race is on for the gender equal boardroom, a gender equal government, gender equal media coverage, gender equal workplaces, gender equal sports coverage, more gender equality in health and wealth. [[..]

International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women – while also marking a call to action for accelerating gender equality.

On March 8 in 1911, International Women’s Day is launched in Copenhagen, Denmark, by Clara Zetkin, leader of the Women’s Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany.

International Women’s Day (IWD), originally called International Working Women’s Day is marked on the 8th of March every year. It is a major day of global celebration of women. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women’s economic, political and social achievements.

Started as a Socialist political event, the holiday blended in the culture of many countries, primarily Eastern Europe, Russia, and the former Soviet bloc. In many regions, the day lost its political flavour, and became simply an occasion for men to express their love for women in a way somewhat similar to a mixture of Mother’s Day and St Valentine’s Day. In other regions, however, the original political and human rights theme designated by the United Nations runs strong, and political and social awareness of the struggles of women worldwide are brought out and examined in a hopeful manner.

The first IWD was observed on 19 March 1911 in Germany following a declaration by the Socialist Party of America. The idea of having an international women’s day was first put forward at the turn of the 20th century amid rapid world industrialization and economic expansion that led to protests over working conditions.

In 1910, Second International held the first international women’s conference in Copenhagen (in the labour-movement building located at Jagtvej 69, which until recently housed Ungdomshuset). An ‘International Women’s Day’ was established. It was suggested by the important German Socialist Clara Zetkin, although no date was specified. The following year, 1911, IWD was marked by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, on March 19. In the West, International Women’s Day was first observed as a popular event after 1977 when the united Nations General Assembly invited member states to proclaim March 8 as the UN Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace.

Following the October Revolution, the Bolshevik Alexandra Kollontai persuaded Lenin to make it an official holiday in the Soviet Union, and it was established, but was a working day until 1965. On May 8, 1965 by the decree of the USSR Presidium of the Supreme Soviet International Women’s Day was declared a non working day in the USSR “in commemoration of the outstanding merits of Soviet women in communistic construction, in the defense of their Fatherland during the Great Patriotic War, in their heroism and selflessness at the front and in the rear, and also marking the great contribution of women to strengthening friendship between peoples, and the struggle for peace. But still, women’s day must be celebrated as are other holidays.”

So we can’t be complacent. Now, more than ever, there’s a strong call-to-action to press forward and progress gender parity. A strong call to #PressforProgress. A strong call to motivate and unite friends, colleagues and whole communities to think, act and be gender inclusive.

International Women’s Day is not country, group or organisation specific. The day belongs to all groups collectively everywhere. So together, let’s all be tenacious in accelerating gender parity.

Mar 08 2020

The Breakfast Club (Oranges)

Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungover we’ve been bailed out we’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:30am (ET) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.

AP’s Today in History for March 8th

The first American combat troops arrive in South Vietnam; The Russian Revolution begins; U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry makes his second landing in Japan; Baseball hall-of-famer Joe DiMaggio dies.

Breakfast Tune Faith Nolan @ Occupy Toronto Oct 25 2011

Something to think about, Breakfast News & Blogs below

 

Trump Beats Biden
ARUN GUPTA, JACOBIN

…

The party establishment united behind the candidate who has failed at running for president for thirty-two years.

In weeks or months, Democratic voters will have buyer’s remorse that the bumbling, incoherent, and scandal-ridden Biden is their presumptive nominee. Donald Trump will lacerate Biden with a thousand cuts and insults from the left and right. “Sleepy Joe” will be mocked ruthlessly for not being able to identify his sister from his wife, what office he is running for, what his website is.

Friend to segregationist senators, opponent of busing, and endorser of mass incarceration, Biden can’t attack Trump on race or criminal justice reform. Tormenter of Anita Hill and groper of women, Biden will be neutralized on sexism. Advocate of the Iraq War, Biden will flail against Trump, the ender of foreign wars. Defender of banks and drug companies, Biden is the swamp creature of Trump’s dreams.

On the flip side, Biden has little to offer. He’s a retread of Hillary Clinton’s “No, you can’t” campaign that lost to a Trump no one imagined could win. Biden’s platform is Mr No: No Medicare for All. No Green New Deal. No meaningful immigration reform. No student-debt cancellation. Biden has no vision, good or bad, that might ignite a mass upsurge the way Obama did in 2008, Reagan did in 1980, or even Trump did in 2016.

We’ve seen this movie before. It’s a reboot of Michael Dukakis’s 1988 campaign, when Democratic Party elites and the corporate media frantically rallied behind the Massachusetts governor to stop the insurgent New Deal–style campaign of Jesse Jackson. Dukakis ran an infamously incompetent campaign punctured by Lee Atwater’s racist Willie Horton ads.

His ineptitude and lack of appeal are soberingly similar to Biden’s, who looks to be the latest candidate to mobilize the party behind them in the primary only to be defeated in the general election. That includes Walter Mondale in 1984, Bob Dole in 1996, Al Gore in 2000, John Kerry in 2004, John McCain in 2008, Mitt Romney in 2012, and Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Every single one was a party insider burdened with decades of crippling compromises and hardened public perceptions. They staved off challengers and insurgents on the road to the convention, but every single one failed because they were captives of their party that had no grander vision to offer.

If Bernie is the nominee, it will be hard to predict how the general campaign will go, and that is a positive sign. Uncertainty helps Bernie because it keeps Trump off-balance. His arsenal would have little effect if Bernie’s message catches fire with the huge pool of nonvoters who are young, low income, and people of color. They far outnumber the rare white swing voter whom the media love because it justifies their self-serving appeal to do-nothing centrism.

With Biden as the nominee, it’s predictable how the general election will unfold. Trump will mock him as senile for his word-salad ramblings. Trump will pummel Biden as a pro-abortion, anti-gun socialist. Biden will run away from the issues because his vision doesn’t extend beyond pro-corporate compromise.

With every statement — “I’m not a socialist. I’m not anti-gun. I’m not against fossil fuels. I’m not anti-police” — Biden will deflate the enthusiasm of one more group he needs behind him. More concerned about pleasing pundits and CEOs, Biden will smother the burning passion of the Sanders coalition he desperately needs.

Biden will criticize Trump for bigotry on immigration but only offer weak Obama tea of protecting DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and vague pathways to citizenship. He will praise hard-working Americans who deserve a fair shot while offering nothing bold to inspire them. On health care, it will be more Barack Obama — protect the Affordable Care Act and empty promises on drug pricing while killing the dream of health care as a fundamental right.

On every policy, Biden promises a third Obama term that Get Out liberals fantasize about and that Trump already killed four years ago. All the while, Trump will order FBI and DOJ investigations into his and Hunter’s dealings. Dirty tricks will be endless. Shady cash handouts to black voters by Trump allies is a small taste of what is to come.

There is little to suggest that Midwest workers will flock to Biden, who can’t win without swinging the industrial heartland to his side. Many unions will likely be split, as in 2016, between union officials and people of color who line up behind the Democratic nominee and many white workers seduced by Trump’s strongman appeal and protectionist rhetoric.

The liberal desperation began on Super Tuesday, browbeating Sanders supporters about the Supreme Court: We need a Democrat to protect the high bench from a far-right majority that will last a generation. That’s a sign they have already lost. It’s similar to the “Don’t vote Sanders because of the effect on House and Senate races” statements Buttigieg and Klobuchar made days before dropping out. These arguments are an admission they are not inspiring voters to back them. Instead, they try to convince voters with a mix of fear and rational calculations about second-order effects.

Biden doesn’t look like he can win this election.

If he’s the nominee, he will count on Bloomberg’s dollars to put him over the top. That is dicey now, as the CEO of stop-and-frisk just came up empty in the primary after spending half a billion dollars. There is the possibility of a black swan event, namely a coronavirus pandemic that puts the economy and Wall Street on life support, killing Trump’s best argument for reelection.

This is what Biden’s best chance to win appears to be eight months out: hoping a racist billionaire and a virus beat a billionaire who’s a viral racist.

I, for one, would rather place my hopes on a Bernie Sanders comeback.

 

 

Something to think about over coffee prozac

 
Biden Defends Past Inappropriate Touching Of Women As Symptom Of Stuttering Hands
The Onion
  Continue reading

Mar 08 2020

Pondering the Pundits: Sunday Preview Edition

Pondering the Pundits: Sunday Preview Edition” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

On Sunday mornings we present a preview of the guests on the morning talk shows so you can choose which ones to watch or some do something more worth your time on a Sunday morning.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

The Sunday Talking Heads:

This Week with George Stephanopolis: The guests on Sunday’s “This Week” are: 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT); Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson; Thomas P. Bossert, former Trump Homeland Security Advisor; and Dr. Jennifer Ashton MD, ABC News Chief Medical Correspondent.

The roundtable guests are: Former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ); former Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago); MaryAlice Parks, ABC News deputy political director; and Alexi McCammond, Axios.

Face the Nation: Host Margaret Brennan’s guests are: Dr. Jerome Adams, US Surgeon General; Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA); Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Ct); and former Trump FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb.

Her panel guests are: Dan Balz, Washington Post; Joel Payne, CBS News political contributor; Leslie Sanchez, Republican strategist; and Amy Walter, Cook Political Report.

Meet the Press with Chuck Todd: The guests on this week’s “MTP” are: 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT); Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease; and Gov. Larry Hogan (R-MD).

The panel guests are: Matt Bai, Washington Post columnist; Al Cárdenas, conservative commentator; Helene Cooper, New York Times correspondent; and Hallie Jackson, MSNBC News.

State of the Union with Jake Tapper: Mr. Tapper’s guests are: 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT); and Dr. Jerome Adams, US Surgeon General.

His panel guests are: Linda Chavez, conservative commentator; Bakari Sellers, Democratic strategist; David Urban, conservative commentator; and Alexandra Rojas, executive director of Justice Democrats.

Mar 07 2020

Health and Fitness News: Best Defense Against Covid-19

Virologist and epidemiologist Joseph Fair spoke with NBC Nightly News host Lester Holt about the best defense against the new coronavirus as they commute, at work, and in their daily lives. Among his tips: disinfect your workspace, don’t directly touch objects like elevator buttons, and wash your hands.

Getting kids to wash their hands can be a problem for parents and teachers. Germ spread from hands, to surfaces, to food and to other people just like glitter. The best way to get children, especially, the little ones, is to make a games of it and singing songs as they wash.

The Hot Potato Soap is for 2 to 10 year olds, particularly in a group, a good toll for teachers.

Glitter Germs. In this activity from the Columbus Public Health website, sprinkle a little glitter on your child’s hands. Then have them wash with just water. Repeat the experiment, washing with soap and water the second time. Have your child observe which method removes more glitter. You can also put glitter on your hand and touch your child’s shoulder, hands and hair. Show them how the glitter (like germs) can spread by touch.

Watch this short video with your child from the Jim Henson Company about germs.

Singing a short song that easy to remember. Getting them to wash for 20 seconds is easy.

Good song for adult, too.

A word of caution, too much of a good thing can be bad for your child’s over all health.

While it’s important to teach our kids about basic hygiene, some kids are prone to going overboard. In general, parents should have a relaxed, matter-of-fact attitude towards germs and cleanliness. While washing your hands after using the bathroom should be sacrosanct, keeping your hands completely clean at all times is not only unreasonable, it also may be unhealthy.

“The reason we’re seeing more food allergies in children, according to one theory, is that we’re doing too good for a job with hygiene,” says (Dr. Danelle Fisher, M.D.). So if your child drops a raisin on the floor and wants to eat it, it probably isn’t worth the battle. Just think of it as building up his immune system.

(Dr. Dina Kulik, M.D.) believes that the way you introduce germs for kids can affect whether they become overzealous about hygiene. “I try not to instill fear, as this can lead to over-washing,” she says. “If kids think of them as cute little things, like a cartoon, they can understand we need to stay clear of them, but not be fearful.” In addition, if your child seems to be obsessing a bit over hygiene, make sure you’re modeling normal germ control and not going overboard yourself.

Mar 07 2020

The Breakfast Club (Selma)

Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungover we’ve been bailed out we’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:00am (ET) (or whenever we get around to it) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.

This Day in History

Civil rights marchers attacked in Selma, Alabama; Nazi Germany’s dictator Adolf Hitler sends troops into the demilitarized Rhineland; Movie director Stanley Kubrick dies.

Breakfast Tunes

Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac

It’s not just Barack Obama, but I doubt Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton would have made it to the White House without Selma.

John Lewis

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Mar 06 2020

Nobody Loves You!

I can’t really believe we need to chat about this again but should we meet in public, face to face, I’m under no particular obligation to treat you politely.

Shocking, I know.

I don’t have to be nice, or respect your point of view and life experience. In fact my legal limitations are not to touch you physically (that would be Battery) or threaten you (good luck with my lawyers, I mean that, and informing you I intend to defend myself is not technically a threat).

If that’s how it is in Meatspace why expect an Internet Utopia? Because you’re a special and important snowflake?

Spare me your fee-fees and I’ll spare you mine.

Sometimes speech is about persuasion, convincing someone that they are overlooking important information that leads to a different conclusion. I can do that, I just demonstrated.

But other times it’s about laying down a marker and making the opposing point of view look as stupid as it actually is. I’m not responsible for the fact your ideas are bad, based on falsehoods and lies, and espousing them in public makes you look a heartless bastard because of course it does!

You are a heartless bastard and identifying you as such is exactly the same as pointing to a tree and saying “That’s a tree.” Now just because a dog pisses on it doesn’t make it a tree but the fact it doesn’t run away is an indicator.

So don’t be puttin’ (or Putin) on airs about how it’s “insulting” and “beneath your dignity” to talk to a peon like me and how you’re deserving of “respect”.

Nothing but contempt until you prove differently.

Now in truth on my sites I’m pretty militant about most forms of troll behavior, especially doxxing and stalking and you can expect not just a quick ban but legal action to make sure you get the point.

But I’m pretty prickly and don’t run an oasis of civility in a desert of calumny and contempt. I view those seeking such as better suited to Fora on Crochet where there is but the one needle and it is blunt.

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