There’s a lot of drama going on in the US of A.
We’re watching the Democratic establishment spit the irritant called Bernie Sanders out. C’est la vie. The Democratic establishment represents Democratic voters and they don’t need an insurgent with no respect for the machine that brought them to the dance. His viability ended with that dumbshit tweet. You don’t goddamn bite the hand so blithely. Biden didn’t have to lift a finger to bring Buttigieg, Booker, Bloomberg, O’Rourke, Klobuchar, and even Kamala Harris-the candidate who drew first blood on Biden in the debates-over to his side all because Bernie believes in his own hype.
Sanders supporters are agape and agog and angry at the wholesale updraft to the Biden campaign. They simply don’t understand American politics. One day, when they do, it will be a good day. I mean, they could have gone for Liz Warren, an actual Democrat with exciting and new policy ideas in a similar vein as Sanders, but unfortunately Bernie has nurtured something of a cult of personality as an auslander and many will throw their vote away to spite the process that did not nominate their anointed candidate. It is worth noting that no other candidate’s following does this withholding of a vote bullshit. I find it grossly privileged to do so. If you have been on this rock a few revolutions, you ask for a lot-that’s all well and good-but after you have fought, you settle for a little. Even Saul Alinsky understood this. It’s just poor tactics to bury your bullets. It doesn’t do anyone any good.
So: let’s talk COVID-19. We’ll ignore Donald Trump, because he’s golfing while this virus flies across the countryside, and when he’s not doing that, he’s trying to manage the crisis by lying about it not being a big deal. No one is listening. People are a little panicky right now, if the grocery store shelves are any indication. There’s rationing of Clorox wipes, Purell hand sanitizer, and Lysol disinfectant spray. I bought a can of wipes and some spray for the hell of it. People are genuinely scared that this COVID is coming for them. And who can blame them, stuck in an information vacuum?
Since even the fucking CDC seems tainted by Trump’s insistence on handling every crisis by the seat of his pants so he can get much needed adulation, I have had to resort to alternate information on who has COVID and where. I’m happy to say I found a great site for raw data like that. Johns Hopkins is compiling a visually striking case and fatality list. I go to see the location of the virus and I like to take an average of the estimated US population to the number of infected people…see what kind of odds I’m facing. I know that the incidences are much higher but you go with the numbers you know. I did it last night and we have one case in every 600,000 heads. This morning, the odds changed to 583,000 to 1, just to give you an idea of the velocity of this baby. President Asshole may not think this virus is big shit because we’ve only had 566 cases and 22 deaths so far here but the fact is we don’t know a damn thing about this virus from a biological perspective but we know a few things empirically: it’s exponentially contagious as all get out and it kills the vulnerable and we have no vaccine.
While we’re on the subject of coronavirus, let’s talk about the stock market tanking. Currently, the market is in a 5,000 point slump from the loss of consumers and producers due to the virus. It’s either a great time to buy, or a horrendous time to leave your 401k exposed to further volatility. This might be the big recession everyone’s been heralding; we shall see when things like earnings come out. The world’s central banks have emptied out the toolbox to fill the gap left by the virus’ arrival to at least keep the stock market bubble stationary. It did not work. It’s clear that there’s a fundamental rupture somewhere and the good times might be gone.
Something’s gone horribly wrong in the greatest country in the world. Perhaps all that is going on is that we are realizing we are just another country in the world. One thing is certain: we are not going any place special with the fucked up “leadership” we have right now.
Kamala Harris believes Joe Biden is racist, then endorses him. Beto O’Rourke thinks Joe Biden is a return to the past, then endorses him. Pete Buttigieg took offense that Joe Biden made a poor decision voting to got to war with Iraq, then endorses him. Maybe, those of with an affinity for Bernie Sanders appreciate a consistent message versus the class solidarity provided by the Democrats holding office when it suits their agenda and not the American people. You know I’m not a Bernie or bust dude, I gladly voted for a flawed Clinton over Trump AND that I will gladly vote again for the eventual nominee. That said, I think you are oversimplifying a Bernie supporters position and easily dismissing a lack of integrity for that how the system works nonsense. We don’t want to the system to work this way. That’s the point for a lot of us Bernie backers.
You know the primaries are bloodsport, and fealty goes to the last man standing. You saw it in the GOP primary as well in ’16. It’s a peculiarity of party machines. My point was mainly that Bernie wants to work inside the Democratic system while denigrating it at the same time, and that’s going to be a nonstarter for any group like a political party. I’m not saying it’s right or even good-in fact it’s rather insane; but it is what it is for now. Liz Warren would be the nominee right now if some people could understand that she could go where Bernie could not. He’s like Moses; he sees the promised land but cannot go in. I think an opportunity with Warren was missed.
Good you hear from you comrade; say hi more often. It’s lonely in retirement.
Many of these new endorsements for Biden come from “lying dog-faced pony soldiers” and “horse’s asses” anyway. We will be much better off with Biden than Trump he says through gritted teeth.
I can hardly believe we are here myself (a Warrenite), but there just wasn’t enough support to keep some very desirable candidates in the race. We will see them again, Joe’s already said he’s one and done and that he’s a bridge. So here we are, stuck with Unca Joe and his weirdness for four. Gritting our teeth, like you say. But we know Joe, he’s not a bad dude at heart, something you cannot say about this freakshow we’re trying to get rid of. Once Democrats seize power, and I think we’re going to get the whole enchilada this time, the entire civil service will be fumigated like they’re doing to the streets in China and that alone will help turn things around when we return some experts with integrity to their rightful place in the government.