Don't Stop Smiling (Unless You Start Laughing)

Was it only three days ago I noted that elections are won in November, not February? My goodness, there is a lot to smile about and strong hints that the Democratic clown car explosion will exceed expectations.

The good news: Gallup has spent the week strafing the Democrats. Let's see:

Trump has a record job approval rating;

In a bit of a non-coincidence, a record percentage of Americans believe their financial position is better than a year ago. That eclipses the Clinton boom years by a statistically insignificant 59% to 58%, but beating Clintons by a hair is what Trump does. Also in that report, a new record high think next year will be even better. The sun is shining today AND it will come out tomorrow!

Not done yet: Also setting a new record is the percentage of Americans who feel happy or satisified with their lives. And before you ask, yes, Republicans (especially well-off and married ones) are over-represented in the Sunshine Gang, so yes, time for a group chortle. (No Dr. Evil laughs, PLEASE.)

But there is bad news looming... for Democrats. Jonathan Chait, trapped in amber as a reminder of what moderate Democrats think, outlines the impending meltdown of the Democratic primary. His gist - Biden is too weak to win but too strong to die so Bernie is likely to swoop, Trump-like, to the nomination. Which will end disastrously.

Reading it all risks a schadenfreude overdose; this may be a safe amount:

So it is entirely possible that, following South Carolina, Sanders will have won three or all four of the contests. If nobody has emerged as a viable alternative by then, Michael Bloomberg’s campaign will be stepping in. It is extremely hard to estimate the probability of success of a candidate who has skipped the first four races. FiveThirtyEight’s model currently gives Bloomberg less than a one percent chance of winning.

To be sure, if Bloomberg is the last Democrat standing against Sanders, he may well attract substantial support from Democratic elected officials and put up a strong fight. Still, he would face enormous opposition from the left. This is, after all, a billionaire who endorsed George W. Bush in 2004. And while the left has previously whipped itself into an angry frenzy against, successively, O’Rourke, Biden, Harris, and Buttigieg, the rage against Bloomberg would reach a new level.

At that point, the victory scenario would involve a long, bloody struggle all the way to the convention, with the Sanders movement claiming at every step of the way that the party is rigging the race against them, culminating in a convention where his enraged supporters will again try to shout down the proceedings. Unless one of the non-Bloombergs can somehow get off the mat and defeat Sanders, this is probably the best-case scenario for liberals at this point. It seems more probable that Sanders crushes the field and brings his historically unique suite of liabilities to the ticket.

Now obviously Team Sanders already believes the DNC is out to thwart them, again. Left unmentioned by Chait - Bloomberg is basically buying the DNC. He hosts "fundraisers" but won't take people's money - if they want to write a check he points them to the DNC or Swing Left. 

I am just guessing but I don't think that will leave Sanders and his supporters feeling the love.

Well. A week from now (or a tweet from now) this may all be ashes, but today? So far, so good!

Comments

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Jeez, did Airbus infiltrate a bunch of software saboteurs into Boeing?
Sounds like a bunch of out of work "journalists" could write better code.

[MissMarple2]

After seeing Buttigieg's quotes, I think President Trump will destroy him with plain talk.

Sample Mayor Pete quote:

" The consequential moments that we face are moments of great consequence we must face; and when facing those moments we must think of the great consequence behind these faces or we will fail to be great..."

[Narciso]

Ya dont say, jim nj.

I cant imagine anybody of any ethnicity putting up with stella mudd 2.0 for long

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

LOL, MM.
He's even more the juicy fruitier version of the Chocolate Jesus than I thought.
The Mayor strikes me as a Sophomore class president applying the Peter Buttigieg Principle to politics.

[Narciso]

You might think thart, ignatz, but tara mcgowan proves you wromg.

[Another Bob]

“ Starliner's flight software has about one million lines of code, and now the company and NASA will have to go back through and review all of that code to check for errors and verify it. NASA's chief of human spaceflight, Doug Loverro, indicated this may be a lengthy process, as he's not sure whether there were two coding errors in Boeing's software or many hundreds.”

I’m guaranteeing the number is closer to 100 than 2.

[Narciso]

His harvard thesis was on puritanism in quiet americanism, he pulled a kurt vonnegut there.

[Dave (in MA)]

Maybe they can get Shadow Inc. to help.

[Narciso]

The work sheets prove they cant even total up the nimbers correctly.

[rich]

Posted by: MissMarple2 | February 07, 2020 at 10:50 PM

chisel that into granite, and make it 300 ft tall ...

[Narciso]

Sounds like something humphrey appleby might say, nothing at all said with great emphasis.

[Captain Hate]

Sample Mayor Pete quote:

" The consequential moments that we face are moments of great consequence we must face; and when facing those moments we must think of the great consequence behind these faces or we will fail to be great..."

So much for homos being articulate.

[MissMarple2]

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/02/07/joe-biden-kicks-up-the-yelling-at-eighth-democrat-debate/

[clarice]

MM--do you have a link to that Butt word salad? I'd love to use it.

[Another Bob]

“ Sounds like a bunch of out of work "journalists" could write better code.”

The working assumption in life- and safety-critical systems is software - even when not written by out-of-work journalists - will contain errors. The point is to design the system such that you avoid the opportunity for error, be error-evident (therefore actionable), and tolerant of those errors.

That said, the MET error seems pretty inexplicable. The “mapping” error (which I take as timing of thruster firing) seems very amenable to automated testing prior to deployment, so the real problem is likely upstream in the inputs to the thruster software.

[MissMarple2]

Here are a couple of ads Buttigieg put up on Twitter. In writing!

[Manuel Transmission]

Just had an amazing conversation with a gal pal who we've known for about a year, but who has been dating our sidekick for a couple months. She is nominally a widow, but not officially because her husband 'committed suicide' by walking into the Potomac 2-3 yrs ago and no body was recovered. OK, now this is all related to their living and working in DC for decades among the politicos on the GOP side.

Now the punchline. She tells me that her hubby was at the top of all the GOP reelection committees and he happened to be working on a process that would make all the fundraising open and accountable (or there abouts given the noise in the bar), but he died before it was all put into place. When I suggested that his disappearance might have something to do with people not really happy with that idea (ala Arkancide), she blanched suggesting she never considered anything like that. I'm looking forward to our next chat to see if that idea has stuck.

[clarice]

MM, Google links that Butt quote to Rantingly but I cannot find it on that site,

[Captain Hate]

Yelling Biden? LOLGF

[Narciso]

Wait how does she he committed suicide he left a note.

[MissMarple2]

Yup. The consequential moments that we face are moments of great consequence we must face; and when facing those moments we must think of the great consequence behind these faces or we will fail to be great...

:::crowd cheers:::

Stage crew looks around: "Huh, what the?.." https://t.co/WqzFJq8x0M

— TheLastRefuge (@TheLastRefuge2) February 8, 2020

Link goes to video. Now that I have listened to the video, I am not sure the quote is factual. It may be Sundance doing sarcasm. Those 2 ads from Twitter are, though.

[Captain Hate]

RINOcide.

[Narciso]

Wait what?

https://mobile.twitter.com/TCPigott/status/1225984400963391488

[clarice]

Thanks,MM

[Another Bob]

Every one of the dem candidates is a functional idiot.

[Narciso]

Bad code, a bob, and id argue about the functional.

[Captain Hate]

Wait how does she he committed suicide he left a note.

DC Police work. Seth Rich was a robbery gone bad even though nothing was taken from him including cash.

[Theo]

Another Bob —

The sarcastic comment would be that your 11:30 is an insult — to functioning idiots everywhere.

But the truth is, alas, that they are not idiots at all but calculated politicians that hope that enough of the American public is stupid enough to buy what they are selling.

[Narciso]

Well yes. Thats a head scratcher, which wouldnt work on hawaii 5-0 as an episode.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--Seth Rich was a robbery gone bad even though nothing was taken from him including cash.--

Perhaps the thief was interrupted by Hillary.

[Narciso]

Some might argue what happened with frank wisner and desmond fizgerald well there was a body there. The said can be said of mary pinchot meyer.

[Narciso]

Well desmond died of a heart attack, but the meyer case was interesting.

[MissMarple2]

Carlos Osweda has written a thread for President Trump. It contains some zingers for Martha McCallum and Romney, too.

https://twitter.com/COsweda/status/1226002305033498629

[Theo]

Narsico

The Mary Pinchot Meyer case is indeed quite interesting. It would make a great screenplay (or maybe it has). The famous names invoked — JFK, Ben Bradlee, JJ Angleton, Timothy Leary - are incredible for a real life murder.

[Narciso]

Well dan festermam of the baltimore sun, made it an anecdote in one of his novels,

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

I think Buttigieg might be the most annoying politician in a generation.
Like Oscar Wilde he knows the importance of being earnest [and buggering other dudes] but with none of Wilde's self-awareness, self-doubt or honest humility behind the wise cracks.
He spouts endless trivialities couched in We Are the World banality to make it sound not nearly so imbecilic as it actually is.
I thought Barry might be the shallowest thinker with the deepest furrowed brow I'd seen since the turn of the century but Piccolo Pete makes Hussein seem Socratic and Solomonic.
I can't imagine anyone, even perverts, getting excited about voting for the phony little puppy dog. You just know the pipsqueak practices his homey, homely little homilies in the bath with South Bent's first dude. And if that doesn't make you blanche, you just might be a Democrat.

[Narciso]

Its the protagonista look into the secret world, in the double game which riffs on most spy thrillers

[Another Bob]

What makes anyone think a bad small-town mayor would be capable of the presidency?

[MissMarple2]

Dam Scavino posted a video of Carpe Donkum's. If you read the interactions on this video and the replies that follow, you will see that Scavino has picked up his boss's ability to thank voters and involve them. It's really rather inspiring.

https://twitter.com/DanScavino/status/1226002146342121472

[DrJ]

I can't see any of the Democrat candidates standing up to Xi, or taking out the Al Queda leadership (for example). Biden? Sanders? Buttigieg? Others?

Really?

[MissMarple2]

Another Bob,

Remember when the MSM told us that Trump couldn't POSSIBLY be president, because he had never been a governor or a senator?

Why is the mayor of a small, poorly-run city suddenly the best choice? Trump had far more employees in his construction projects, golf courses, and hotels when he ran than Buttigieg did in South Bend, with a far larger budget.

[MissMarple2]

DrJ,

A writer from Breitbart posted on Twitter today that since 1960, when they began to televise debates, the winner of the presidential election has always been an alpha male.

None of these democrats fits that description.

[jim nj]

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/autos/china-set-lose-out-production-1m-vehicles-coronavirus-closes-car-n1130846

China set to lose out on production of 1M vehicles as coronavirus closes car plants
China exports about $70 billion worth of car parts and accessories globally, with roughly 20 percent going to the U.S.

I don't see the lost production being made up later. I see the demand for new cars shifting down to match lower production. Who needs a car when you're afraid to go out your front door?

[Narciso]

Yes i dont see that at least in the short run.

[KevlarKid]

Deplorable D: here's the Balance of Nature sales page-----

https://www.balanceofnature.com/#!/

[DrJ]

MM,

I see no alpha male running for the Dems. Gabbard probably come the closest.

[Narciso]

Heh dr j.

[Narciso]

And ahes not getting any traction.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Piccolo Pete looks like he oughta be bagging groceries at an Alpha Beta.
Does that count?

[MissMarple2]

DrJ,

I see you agree. Ha!

In addition, President Trump has spent his life BUILDING things, while all of the dems have lived off taxpayer money. BIG difference. It's why everyone is amazed at all that the President has accomplished.

[Narciso]

What has happened to that site

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/thefreethinker/2020/02/christian-nutter-wants-to-sue-for-trillions-over-nfl-crotch-shots/?utm_medium=Push&utm_source=WebPush&utm_campaign=Push_NR_TheFreeThinker

[KevlarKid]

i think Jotito Pete is ideally casted as the sham wow cabana boy for Suzanne Summers' "as seen on TV" Buttmaster rig.

Here's your headset Jotito...just like the kind you can wear in a real tank.

[KevlarKid]

BootieFudge is PETER PAN!

[Dave (in MA)]

since 1960, when they began to televise debates, the winner of the presidential election has always been an alpha male.

[Dave (in MA)]

.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

LOL, Dave.
Not only have I never seen Barry kickin arse with those 75 oz bells before, he is keeping absolutely perfect time with Lullaby by Book of Love playing on Youtube.

[Theo]

Dave in MA —

Jerry Ford was a lot more “alpha” than Jimmy Carter.

[KevlarKid]

Jerry was a Wolverine, no?

[Narciso]

Did mccain debate, he seemed rather lackadaisical.

[Theo]

KK —

Yes he was. Go Blue!

[Theo]

McCain did debate and was pretty alpha, ex fighter jock and all. Not a big fellow but scrappy wiry.

[Narciso]

Hmm thats interesting the twitterer who checked the totals of the hawkeye cauci dissapeared

[KevlarKid]

a little borealis to go with this nordic 17 degree funk in St Paul.

Rypdal Bailey Cobham '94

[Dave (in MA)]

Excellent, Kev.

[Dave (in MA)]

,

[KevlarKid]

cool, Dave.

[Manuel Transmission]

Re a suicide note, I believe there was one, but it apparently wasn’t particularly expansive. He may have had health issues, too, but it all seems too strange to not have a Seth Rich factor. And no body recovered. So maybe it is a bit of a Raymond Reddington new life makeover.

[jim nj]

https://pjmedia.com/blog/liveblogevent/drunkblogging-the-new-hampshire-democratic-debate/entry-262839/

[KevlarKid]

put a sockinnit Pelosi.

[KevlarKid]

that drunkblog is a hoot, jimnj. tx

[jim nj]

https://hotair.com/archives/jazz-shaw/2020/02/05/wait-trump-can-impeachment-expunged/

Interesting idea.

[Narciso]

I hadnt even thought of that twist. Mt. But like with les wexners strange and myriad ties who knows.

[jim nj]

KK,

I don't know if he really drinks or if that's just his schtick, but I have noticed that on long nights his posts do become less filtered over time.

When he was drunk-blogging the Iowa Caucus he had to bail when the results didn't come in around the expected time.

[Narciso]

Well you cant review such things soberly.

[Dave (in MA)]

They should get the candidates drunk right before the debates.

[Theo]

ignatz —

Re: Pete, I don’t think he is particularly shallow. I mean very few of our politicians are deep thinkers and he would not be one of the exceptions. Pete strikes me as a bright, glib and ambitious young man and a total bullshit artist. He has chosen the right profession for his talents. I don’t think that he has any core beliefs beyond a desire for self advancement. I of course disagree with him on most if not all of his policy ideas.

I have zero interest in his sex life. He can bugger (or be buggered by) whatever consenting adult he wants; it means absolutely nothing to me. I don’t care what he talks to himself about in the bath either.

I think he is reasonably attractive to a certain kind of Democrat. Fresh faces are always in vogue. The ability to sound profound without saying anything noteworthy is a skill that most politicians wish they were better at. He has positioned himself as a moderate in this field — and compared to Sanders and Warren he is. There are those among the Democrats who secretly want a white male younger than their grandfathers and he fills that role better than R F O’Rourke.

I don’t think that he will win the nomination in 2020, much less be elected president this year. But I would not peg his long term chances at zero.

[Theo]

Dave in Ma —

Coked up would be more fun to watch.

[jim nj]

So I've got some issues to deal with that are causing me some anxiety. Nothing big. I've just avoided dealing with them and they're piling up. It's a vestige of behavior left over from the PTSD. Avoidance.

So now I need to use my Obama phone to work on these issues. Mind you after being in several telemarketing jobs, including stock broker, I hate telephonic communicating. I hate missing all the cues involved in a face-to-face conversation.

So I don't use the phone much. I get 1,000 free minutes per month and at the end of the month I usually have about 930 left. But now I NEED to use the phone and little things about it I didn't like before are piling up.

Calls that won't go through. Calls that drop in mid conversation. Clipped audio on automated phone menus. "Wait, what... to repeat the menu press...wait, what was that?" Asking people to repeat themselves.

I complained to SafeLink months ago and got their India help desk on the line and I'm on the phone that clips audio with an Indian whose English needs serious improvement. I go through the drill where he's working off a computer generated diagnostic script designed to make me feel the futility of my effort. The phone showed minor improvement with the tinkering and I basically surrendered.

Today, after several infuriating attempts to resolve some issues, with the phone sabotaging me at every attempt, I called the SafeLink help desk again.

Got an Indian with excellent English skills and we go through the scripted exchange while I'm missing parts of the conversation and asking him to repeat. My frustration level goes off the charts and he, thankfully decides to go off script.

"You have an old phone designed for a 2G network and it can't keep up with the 4G network in your area."

So I need a new phone. "Are you going to send me a replacement?" Hemming and hawing. "What I have to buy a new phone? You supplied this one." Hemming and hawing, when he breaks with the script again because I'm near ballistic and explains that he can't authorize a replacement without moving all the way through the script and I need another phone to accomplish that.

Well I don't have one, but my girlfriend will be home soon with hers. OK, now we're getting somewhere. He annotates my account so when I call back the next rep to answer will already know what the problem is.

I call back on my phone, give her the number of the second phone, she calls me on that while I dismantle my phone to answer the scripted questions and SURPRISE the computer says I need a new replacement phone and she can arrange that for me. "You should see your replacement phone in 3-5 days."

Damn, I accomplished something today.

[hoyden]

jim nj, a little victory.

[Theo]

Well done Jim.

[jim nj]

I was trying to activate my Schroder pension that CitiGroup now owns. The phone is dropping in and out. They are kind enough to call me back since they captured my phone number.

I answered all the questions correctly until we got to the start and termination years. I didn't anticipate the question. I got the termination date correct, but guessed at the start date as 1994-5. "BZZZ. Wrong. Sorry we can not process your request with that information."

I can actually understand the security involved because I have heard that this is a new scam. Ripping off 401-K and pension benefits.

So I accepted that and tried to figure out the answer after disconnecting. About two hours later I remembered that when I worked at Quotron before moving to Schroder I had a set of trip logs for all of my training assignments while working at Quotron.

Living in NJ while working in NYC I found a tax loophole. You have to pay NYS and NYC income taxes first and get a deduction on your NJ income taxes for those taxes, but if your training assignments took you out of NYC or NYS you didn't owe taxes on the income for those days.

If you kept contemporaneous records you could prove to the NY authorities that they were only entitled to the in-state earnings.

I knew I hadn't thrown them out because it reminds me of all the places I've traveled to and went looking for them. I found them and re-constructed my Schroder start date from them. 1996.

I got 'em now.

[jim nj]

Hoyden,

Yes, a little victory. And I build on them.

Every once in a while the PTSD pops again and I avoid stuff. Because I KNOW it's going to turn into a battle and some times I'm just not up to it.

But when I hit a victory it just powers me forward and reminds me that I can overcome anything.

And with a fully functioning phone coming my way it will help resolve the other issues.

In hindsight, the impeachment process did a number on my anxiety level. I won't forget that.

[jim nj]

A few people mentioned daddy and somebody else mentioned an attempt to legislate the building of beautiful new federal buildings instead of the dreck they build now.

When I was showing him around lower Manhattan we visited several buildings that showed the old-style of government architecture. Inside and outside they are marvels of construction. They invoke awe, especially on the inside. Not so much with the newer buildings.

The old federal buildings had souls and personalities. You could see the craftsmanship and wonder about the skills of the workers who built them. Now it's like they did a nice job of pouring concrete.

[hoyden]

jim nj, wish you best getting 'em now.

I'm going to make more coffee now in advance of TWIP.

[hoyden]

THE WEEK IN PICTURES: MEGA-TRUMPY EDITION

[hoyden]

Blessed are the Meme-makers for they bring smiles.

[hoyden]

Liberated doesn't mean what Democrats think it means.

[hoyden]

Okay, that's enough for now. I can quit anytime.

[jim nj]

nytol

[James D.]

Quiet morning, or typepad issues?

[James D.]

Quiet morning, I guess!

[Another Bob]

The minor-league Baptism Scene yesterday just made me want the real one all the much more.

Probably not a good thing.

[clarice]

JIMINNJ, You are not alone in frustration with iphones and automated and scripted responses.

[Melinda]

Fixin' to cross the border agin', don't tell the others.

[clarice]

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/02/07/election-2020-new-electoral-map-110496

[Manuel Transmission]

Had my own phone session last night. Shipped one of our widgets off to Canuckistan via daddy’s outfit. Got a call during dinner that went to VM and listened later. VM broken up so callback no. busted, but repeated as the clever word salad. Call back and start in with the very clever automated responder. None of its choices are remotely close, so the default decision tree branches make no sense. My standard response after maybe one try at playing with the automaton is yelling ‘OPERATOR’ repeatedly. All the while the incoming and outgoing voices are broken up in typical fashion. That finally overrides the stupid decision tree and I get the typical red dot who barely speakadaenglish. After several tries to convey the 16 digit transaction number, that finally gets me back to the states and someone who can understand why they called me in the first place. Sheesh.

[clarice]

MT, sounds like my usual experiences.

[sbwaters]

My standard response after maybe one try at playing with the automaton is yelling ‘OPERATOR’ repeatedly.

+1.

A prayer to the gods that may be that I use whenever I can.

[Extraneus]

She's reeling from that video.

Facebook and Twitter decline Pelosi request to delete Trump video

The dispute became public Friday when Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, Drew Hammill, posted a link to a criticism of the video Friday afternoon, writing “The latest fake video of Speaker Pelosi is deliberately designed to mislead and lie to the American people, and every day that these platforms refuse to take it down is another reminder that they care more about their shareholders’ interests than the public’s interests.”

Andy Stone, a Facebook spokesman, replied to Hammill on Twitter: “Sorry, are you suggesting the President didn’t make those remarks and the Speaker didn’t rip the speech?”

Hammill fired back: “What planet are you living on? This is deceptively altered. Take it down.”

In the end, both Facebook and Twitter declined to remove the Trump campaign post, citing corporate policies.

So now she's trying to justify the ripping.

Pelosi: ‘January Jobs Report Shows the Rot at the Heart of the Trump Economy’

In a statement reacting to the January employment report, Pelosi said January’s numbers provide proof of “all of President Trump’s mistruths at the State of the Union” when he touted his range of economic successes:

“After all of President Trump’s mistruths at the State of the Union, the January jobs report shows the rot at the heart of the Trump economy. Our workers have lost 12,000 manufacturing jobs, while wages struggle to keep pace with the soaring cost of living. Our farmers are suffering and farm bankruptcies reached an eight-year high last year. Three years in, the Trump economy is creating 42,000 fewer jobs a month on average than the last three years of President Obama.”

Etc.

[President-Elect Jim,SunnyvaleCA]

Of course, some don't accept "operator".
Some insist on "agent" or "representative" or even "associate".

Here's Don.
I liked his item on Rush. Insightful.
https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2020/02/highlights-of-news_8.html