Good News, and Hopefully some Comfort to Bernie Fans

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Wednesday March 16, 2016 · 10:46 AM PDT

2016/03/16 · 10:46

I know you had a bad night, but it looks like you got more delegates from Missouri.

Either way, whether Clinton takes this as predicted, or Bernie mounts the unlikely-but-possible comeback you may still hope for. Congrats on how far you took a grassroots, little-known (outside of circles like ours) Senator.

I hope you bring some of that passion to the democratic nominee in the general, come what may. In the mean time I hope you continue to advocate for Bernie, without attacking Hillary. I hope my fellow Hillary-Supporters do the same.

In a Terry Pratchett book, The Fifth Elephant, the Low King of the Dwarves (at the time) said

"we are all floating in the same boat. We may certainly try to push one another over the side, but only a maniac like Dee^* would make a hole in the bottom."

^&The antagonist was a character named Dee, but just pretend it stands for Donald.

I leave you with this:

People may have rejected democratic socialism in this election cycle, but they aren't talking about it like it is an insane notion like they were last year. Bernie’s campaign has taken it from “gay marriage in the early 90s” to” gay marriage in the early 2010s.”

Win, Lose, or Trump (I.E. REALLY lose), be proud of that. The path from ridicule and fear to support and acceptance takes time, but the destination can be reached.

"Low Information Voters," Kos, Context, and Cowardice.

whereistony

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Monday March 14, 2016 · 11:21 AM PDT

2016/03/14 · 11:21

I am going to try to keep this short, and to keep a lid on the disgust I feel for some of the diaries I have seen today.

What Kos said:

The party's activists are busting their butts for Obama, while Clinton's campaign is counting on low-information Democratic voters selecting Clinton based on little more than name ID.

He indicated people who voted based on nothing but name recognition were “low information voters." This doesn't bother me because he is describing people who voted based on little information.

See how that is ok.

It is not ok to say people are low information voters based, who they are, where they lived, and the level of access to the internet.

The internet is a great tool to get information, but not having internet does not mean you are uninformed. Nor does having internet somehow indicate you are more informed. There is a lot of false misleading and nonsensical information on the internet.

To indicate Clinton relies on states with more “low-information” voters, based on internet access, implies

Internet access automatically means you are more informed.
People without access vote in numbers proportional to the general population.
Those voters will vote in the Democratic Race
Those voters choose Clinton.

If you don’t see how it is different to say people who vote based on name recognition are low information voters and people who live in the South are low information voters because they have slightly less internet than those is the Midwest, then you are honestly to “low information” for a community like this.

If you think you can post ignorant nonsense and then cower behind something Kos posted, in an entirely different context; then might I suggest the Internet is full of informative place where you can go and self-fornicate.

The Math On Why It Is Over for Bernie If Things Don't Change By March 15th.

whereistony

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Friday March 04, 2016 · 12:54 PM PST

2016/03/04 · 12:54

There was some grumbling about Kos’s excellent diary about how unless Bernie turns it around by March 15, then Hillary is the presumptive nominee and Daily Kos would transition into general election mode.

Kos is right, Bernie needs to gain ground before then.

Here is why it is fair.

Hillary is expected to expand her lead by then, but let us assume she does not and it stays 59.4% Clinton to 40.6% Sanders.

That would mean after March 15 Clinton would have 1185 pledged delegates to Bernie’s 809. To get the majority of pledged delegates, Bernie would need 1217 of the remaining 1926, or 63% of the remaining delegates.

Other than his home state, Bernie’s best contest was New Hampshire, where he took 60.4% of the vote. But it is unlikely that Bernie will duplicate New Hampshire in even one of the remaining contests^* let alone in all of them. But let’s assume he duplicates that everywhere that is left after March 15, he would still then fall 53 delegates short.

He would actually need to INCREASE his share to 46% in order to win after March 15 with an average of New Hampshire in the remaining contests

I am a Hillary supporter, but I am not spiking the ball or bashing Senator Sanders, who I respect greatly. Senator Sanders should be proud of the campaign he ran and the issues it brought to focus. Maybe he can turn it around.

I’m just trying to put the number into perspective.

^*_{New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Indiana, Guam, West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Washington DC.}

A Question About Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

whereistony

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Wednesday February 24, 2016 · 12:32 PM PST

2016/02/24 · 12:32

This is not a criticism of Senator Sanders, just a question about a matter that is not all that important beyond a personal curiosity.

On May 24, 2001 Jim Jeffords announced he was leaving the Republican Party. It was a big deal at the time. He went from R-VT, to I-VT on records the very next time he voted.

Bernie has announced he is a Democrat, but is still listed as I-VT.

Granted it makes little difference, but I was curious if anyone knew the process of changing it.

Is it member request?

Is there any procedure or document?

Is it some sort of Party snub?

Is it just my crazy manifesting again?

Just curious, I am by no means suggesting that Bernie is not really a Democrat or less worthy of a candidate based on this. Vermont has no official party registration as far as I know.

It could be as simple as the fact that the Jeffords switch had immediate consequence and the Sanders Switch, as far as Senate procedures go, did not.

Nate Silver Indicates Sanders Is Doing Better Than Expected, But Not On Pace To Win.

whereistony

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Wednesday February 17, 2016 · 2:25 PM PST

2016/02/17 · 14:25

Nate Silver put out a great article and graphic on what Bernie Sanders needs in each state to secure nomination. The right hand column is what he needs, and the left is what is (or was) expected based on Clinton’s 12 point national lead.

As you can see, while beating expectations, he fell short in both Iowa, where he lost by less than a percentage point, and in New Hampshire where he won by over 20 points. He needed to win by 6 and 29 points respectively to keep to the path outlined. He will need to make up ground in later states.

Not impossible, but not easy by any means.

Also Mr. Silver includes the following caveat:

Don’t get too attached to these: The state-by-state estimates are pretty rough. But they’re calibrated in such a way² so as to provide a reasonable benchmark of what a 50-50 race would look like. Maybe Michigan is less favorable to Sanders than this estimate holds, for example. That’s fine, but it means he’ll need to make up ground in another state.

Worst night in Iowa? Carly Fiorina no-showed her own Caucus party.

whereistony

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Wednesday February 03, 2016 · 12:19 PM PST

2016/02/03 · 12:19

To be fair, she had her reasons:

Carly is ditching her party and heading straight to airport (to avoid storm) - per Fox.

— toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) February 2, 2016

I mean sure no one else needed to avoid this storm, maybe because the lamestream media failed to warn people about it, or because there was no storm. Of course we all know Carly sees videos that no one else can find.

As for Carly she needed to head right for New Hampshire, busy busy:

Boarding our plane. See you soon, New Hampshire. Check our schedule here: https://t.co/GovUMyvQJU

— Carly Fiorina (@CarlyFiorina) February 2, 2016

I mean sure her first event was today (two days later), but you know preparation. Some candidates are unprepared and can run into embarrassment.

Ok. Lets all just take a breath and kill "Coingate" right now.

whereistony

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Tuesday February 02, 2016 · 1:10 PM PST

2016/02/02 · 13:10

A coin toss did not determine Iowa.

First the tosses pick county delegates, not state delegates county delegates are not nearly as valuable.

In addition:

The state party doesn’t track all of the coin flips, but following anecdotal reports of Clinton’s improbable luck on Monday night, Lau disclosed that it was Sanders who fared better in the games of chance that were reported through the party’s official mobile app. The Vermont senator won six of those seven coin flips--a fact that underlines how incomplete the available data remains, and the likelihood that a full accounting of all the coin flips on Monday night would yield a more even result than initial reports suggested.

www.theatlantic.com/…

The coin tosses are not that important.
We don’t know how many there were, but it appears likely to be more than a dozen.
We don’t know who benefitted more.
Coin tosses are a longstanding part of the Iowa Caucus, and no more ridiculous than anything else related to the process.

So there is no real evidence of a conspiracy and/or unusual lucky streak at play.

Hillary Clinton Snags American Federation of Government Employees (National) endorsement

whereistony

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Thursday December 10, 2015 · 7:38 AM PST

2015/12/10 · 07:38

Why

The 2016 presidential election is fast approaching, and no one will be impacted more by our nation's decision than government employees. The next president will be our boss for four years and hold enormous sway over our jobs, our pay, and our retirement, and we must do everything we can to support the candidate who supports us.

AFGE needs to make sure that whoever occupies the White House values our work and our agencies' mission to serve the public. We need someone with the spine to stand strong against the anti-government ideologues that want to shut down the government and eliminate your jobs.

That's why AFGE is proud to endorse Hillary Clinton for President of the United States.

How:

How We Decided to Endorse

We did not come to our endorsement decision lightly. Before we decided which candidate deserved AFGE's support, we reached out to all announced presidential candidates - Republican and Democratic - with a questionnaire to gauge their positions on federal employees. We conducted a scientific survey of our members' candidate/issue preferences, and Clinton’s support exceeded that of the next closest candidate’s by nearly a 2-1 margin. We monitored presidential debates, and held our historic presidential forum with the two candidates who promptly responded to our questionnaires.

Pretty big endorsement, as government employees have a great stake in the outcome, and this encourages activity.

https://www.afge.org/?Page=Endorsement

Stop Playing the Race/Xenophobia/Islamophobia Card Against Conservatives. It's Totally Not That! ;-)

whereistony

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Tuesday November 17, 2015 · 8:30 AM PST

2015/11/17 · 08:30

Some posters indicated that my snark was a little too undetectable. I am sure that is my fault for not being more obvious.  Please know that this is satirical, thus the #Sarcasm Tag. The point is that these conservative beliefs, if true would invalidate one another.

Look, I know it is easy to accuse certain conservatives of racism, Islamophobia, xenophobia, or other forms of bigotry, but that is not fair you see. You just are not thinking it through. Take these three simple fact-based beliefs, which are free of any narrow-minded fear or intolerance.

I. The Border

Look, it is nothing to do with bigotry, but immigration is a giant concern, despite record lows, because our borders are so unsecure it is easy to just walk right into the country. That is a huge security risk. I know resources are limited because we overtax our billionaires and corporate citizens, but obviously, the best way to deal with this threat is to go after people already here, who are trying to work instead of targeting those resources at more dangerous undocumented immigrants.

II. Syrian Refugee Crisis

Again, no bigotry at all, but we cannot help refugees be because rather than simply walk across the aforementioned border, it is obvious that terrorists will choose to take the slower and less certain, but more entertaining path and:

Hide amongst millions and millions of Syrian refugees who are fleeing ISIL and hate these terrorist sleeper for destroying their lives.
Manage to get through multiple interviews by the he Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) which only refers those refugees it finds to be most vulnerable and in need.
Get referred to the US.
Go through another year-and-a-half-to-two-years of background checks, interviews, biometric scans by the FBI, DHS, and the Department of Defense
Hope that some fellow terrorist also make it through.
Arrive, with their fellow lucky terrorists in the US among the most scrutinized group of immigrants in our history
With these colleagues, either organize and mount an attack from a monitored settlement or choose to leave, secure in the knowledge that they are not being watched closely by US intelligence, I am sure they are not going to wonder why a small group of refugee strangers suddenly left together.

III. Racism

Anyway, #BlackLivesMatter is offensive. Seriously, why do you keep seeing bigotry? It is obvious that rather than address racial disparity in our justice system, we should try to be inclusive. We should really say #AllLivesMatter (Other than the refugees we should leave to die, because, hey, some lives matter more am-I-right? You know who I’m talking about… Lives like us)

See, you feel silly for wasting time talking about bigotry when it was so obvious that bigotry is just something that non-whites or non-Christians blame because of their own failures and inadequacies, which as you know, most of them have.

whereistony

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Thursday October 15, 2015 · 2:45 PM PDT

2015/10/15 · 14:45

The Baltimore Sun reports that "Baltimore police say they can't confirm or debunk Dr. Ben Carson's Popeye's robbery story."

Sure it is odd to make up a story about a robbery in which you acted the opposite of heroically. But, the most telling thing:

He said the robbery occurred between 1980 and 1983, and that Carson doesn't believe police were called or took a report.
"There's no question that it happened," Williams said. "Obviously, if there’s no police report it would be shocking if they could find one. With all the problems going on in Baltimore, I don't know why anyone would waste their time on this."

Ahh, so a fast food restaurant decided not report an armed robbery. That totally makes sense.

Also:

"Guy comes in, put the gun in my ribs, and I just said, 'I believe that you want the guy behind the counter,'" Carson said on Sirius XM Radio. "I redirected him. ... The resolution was, [the gunman] said, 'Oh, sorry,' and then he went to the appropriate person behind the register who gave him the money, and he left the store running before the police got there."

So the police were not called, and there is no report. But obviously they got there because...

Well, everyone has to eat.

Is a Pastry a Gun? Close enough for the NRA

whereistony

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Thursday May 30, 2013 · 1:36 PM PDT

2013/05/30 · 13:36

A 7-year-old student in Anne Arundel County, Maryland was suspended for
chewing a pastry into the shape of a firearm. Without knowing all the facts, it seems like an overreaction. No matter how you chew a pastry, it is not a gun.

Or is it?

The pro-gun crowd appears to be making the same mistake and honored the boy at a fundraiser.

Nicholaus R. Kipke, NRA member and Minority Leader in the Maryland House of Delegates presented the rather confused child with a lifetime NRA membership, a 550 Dollar Value, and an autographed photo of himself with David Keene, which I assume is priceless.

Josh Welch, now 8, said he did not know what the NRA was or what it meant to have a membership but he did know his parents weren’t members.

"Everyone keeps asking me why I did it," Josh said. "I don't know why I did it. ... I wish people would stop asking me about it. It'll probably go on for 45 years or something."

Well buck up Josh, now you can learn important things the NRA teaches children, like how to build a shooting range in your house.

Why is the NRA involved? Do they believe a pastry is a 2nd Amendment issue? Would they have defended the kid if he brought a real gun to school? What about a Watergun? How about a pastry shaped like a sword?

It is hard to tell where wingnuts draw the line.

Lets put a stop to the "Benghazi Scandal" and give them what they want

whereistony

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday May 16, 2013 · 12:29 PM PDT

2013/05/16 · 12:29

Let's juse cave into the rightwing nutjobs and tell Ben Ghazi to produce his birth cerificate.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/...

Force this Ben Ghazi guy to release his long form birth certificate.

It is our hope that by releasing his long form birth certificate, Ben Ghazi will put to rest the inane, never-ending and repetitive questions from the House Committee On Oversight & Government Reform.

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