Althouse: At the Sunrise Cafe...

March 1, 2020

At the Sunrise Cafe...

... you can talk all night.

63 comments:

Beasts of England said...: ‘Congregants at the historic Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma, Alabama, silently protested 2020 presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg as he delivered remarks there Sunday, standing and turning their backs on the former New York City mayor.’

Don’t wait too long to follow Pete out the door, little man...; 3/1/20, 8:28 PM
Ken B said...: Beasts
I will buck the Althouse Trumpkin Hivemind about Bloomberg at that church. I agree it probably hurts his chances, but it took some guts to show up. Bloomberg, like Trump, has guts. What other Democrats have any?
Bloomberg looks like the best the Democrats have. Not the strongest threat to win, but the least objectionable if he does win.
Before anyone howls at that, remember that Inga thinks *exactly the reverse*.; 3/1/20, 8:34 PM
narciso said...: Well if he hadnt refuted his previous policies maybe.; 3/1/20, 8:35 PM
Ken B said...: Narcisco
Oh I agree, he has lost cred by walking back some stuff. But he didn’t walk back every single thing, the way Biden did.
But seriously, if there were a sudden crisis and one of the Democrats had to solve it, which would you pick? I'd pick Bloomberg in a heartbeat over the rest. So to me he's the least objectionable to think of as president.; 3/1/20, 8:38 PM
Ken B said...: Plus think of Inga.; 3/1/20, 8:38 PM
Beasts of England said...: I think he’s very well qualified, Ken B, but their electoral hopes require a strong minority appeal. Bloomberg doesn’t have that connection.; 3/1/20, 8:40 PM
narciso said...: He is, but hes focused on the wrong priorities skydragons sodas guns.; 3/1/20, 8:42 PM
Mark said...: So this AI contestant during an interview says lets go "off the record" and ABC proceeds to show what he then said.; 3/1/20, 8:43 PM
Michael said...: I would still like to have a look at Sanders' Ejection Fraction, a data point oddly missing from the report on his heart condition. EF is on every chart of every heart patient. Every one.; 3/1/20, 8:46 PM
Michael said...: I am guessing it is in the teens; 3/1/20, 8:46 PM
narciso said...: https://mobile.twitter.com/jtLOL/status/1234151325895622657; 3/1/20, 8:46 PM
Mark said...: Damn it.

I asked you guys to remind me to go to Sears. I don't know how much longer they are keeping this store open.; 3/1/20, 8:52 PM
Ann Althouse said...: The temperature at dawn was 31. Later in the day ,it hit 50.; 3/1/20, 8:54 PM
William said...: The murder rate in NYC fell dramatically. In Baltimore, it skyrocketed. Black people want to live in NYC and move out of Baltimore. I'm sure if the ex-mayor of Baltimore were given a furlough from jail and addressed the congregants, she would be warmly greeted and would give a rousing speech. There's a moral to be learned from this, although, God knows, you would be unwise to preach it.; 3/1/20, 8:58 PM
Beasts of England said...: I know we have a few fisherpersons here, but don’t know specifically about bass. One of the finest lakes on the planet (Guntersville) is about 100’ away at the moment, and the Bassmaster Classic returns on Friday. I spent the day volunteering around town for the event (hiding bass and that sorta stuff) and it’ll be broadcast on ESPN3 this coming weekend. Not as exciting as a Bloomberg television ad, but hey...; 3/1/20, 9:02 PM
Mark said...: Folks might be leaving Balmer, but I don't see them wanting to move to New York. Besides, there is a lot of gentrification there with a bunch of progressive white boys moving in.; 3/1/20, 9:03 PM
D 2 said...: Living in urban Canada, there’s a 95% chance people can say something freely (& sometimes crassly) anti Trump in a public forum and feel safe in doing so. Maybe 99%, I haven’t taken enough notes. And there’s about a 0.1% chance of finding a person willing to do the opposite and, say, be critical of Obama. Clinton might be 1-5%. At today’s little gathering - far unrelated to anything needing an American politics hue - some comments made about Trump and the virus and then - weird tangent - how Trumps money corrupted politics. This was said by a man who I have to trust to drive on his side of the road.

Anyway I thought about Bloomberg, said nothing. But on the way home, it did come to mind - and someone correct me if I’m wrong in this - but Bloomberg would be the first really really rich guy to possibly run for the Demos since Roosevelt, or perhaps Kennedy counts. Obama, Gore, Clinton, Dukakis, Mondale, Carter, McGovern, Truman. I don’t know much about Stevenson, and Johnson doesn’t count since he slid in, didn’t really “run” for it. None of these folks were really really rich before politics. They may have gotten rich because of politics.. but they weren’t oligarchs. Hmm Maybe Gore should be labeled as rich too.

Looking at the list, at least of the winners, Truman and Carter come off different than Clinton and Obama in terms of wealth gained after office. So now I’m thinking maybe I have to accept Mr Loud Guys denunciation. Trump - and now Bloomberg - might be running for the High Office cause the sent men weren’t doing the job right anymore. Might as well do it yourself.; 3/1/20, 9:09 PM
narciso said...: Bloomberg is just annoying those ads are nearly as bad as alex in the clockwork orange.; 3/1/20, 9:11 PM
Mark said...: Ben Sisko has a new look for season 4. And a new member of his staff.

Both are a lot more bad ass.; 3/1/20, 9:24 PM
J. Farmer said...: Patients In Hillsborough, Manatee Initially Test Positive For Coronavirus

Oh boy.; 3/1/20, 9:38 PM
Mark said...: Open borders now!; 3/1/20, 9:41 PM
Mark said...: Open borders now?; 3/1/20, 9:42 PM
wild chicken said...: Gee would it kill obama to endorse his ol VP joe?

What as asshole; 3/1/20, 9:47 PM
narciso said...: Choices are becoming slim, most of his staff endorsed buttigeg.; 3/1/20, 9:48 PM
stephen cooper said...: The worst thing to happen to nerds was the rise of internet culture.

There was this movie where the lead actress played the role of a woman who was awkward and unattractive but she really really wanted to be loved. And she was rich, so there was a guy who made her think he loved her and then he dumped her when the money did not come through. I forget the name of the movie, I saw it on TCM last year, and the actress won an Academy Award. I think she is still alive - for the record, in real life she was beautiful, but that is how it is in the movies, they won't give even the parts for homely women to women who are not beautiful unless they have to.

The rise of the internet culture did to nerds what that guy did to that woman in that movie. The sad thing is that all the older nerds cannot sue the companies that won't hire them after they hit 40, because the companies don't even have to give them interviews.

You might think this is a random topic but maybe you have many kids and if you have many kids chances are one of them is on the spectrum. Don't feel bad, that is just how life works.; 3/1/20, 9:51 PM
narciso said...: One traveled to italy, the other didnt.; 3/1/20, 9:55 PM
stephen cooper said...: "Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment, chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie"

Tino Rossi; 3/1/20, 9:57 PM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: The Heiress, with Olivia de Havilland. Monty Clift sure had me fooled!

Yes, Olivia is still alive at 103!; 3/1/20, 10:00 PM
stephen cooper said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/1/20, 10:02 PM
stephen cooper said...: Thanks - that was a great movie.

I usually don't like black and white movies but that one got to me.; 3/1/20, 10:03 PM
Ken B said...: Binks
Yes, she is the last of them. Baby Peggy from the silents is still alive too.; 3/1/20, 10:15 PM
Rory said...: Ken B: Baby Peggy just passed away on February 24, at 101.; 3/1/20, 10:19 PM
Ken B said...: D2
John Kerry was worth over six hundred million.
Hillary was over 100 million.

I agree with your percentages. And yet it is clear Canadians know very few specific facts about Trump.; 3/1/20, 10:19 PM
walter said...: Bloombeg didn't cater in an adequate spread?; 3/1/20, 10:19 PM
Ken B said...: Rory
Thanks for the news. Sorry to hear that.; 3/1/20, 10:20 PM
walter said...: Maybe he should have gone full Willie Wilson, doling out raw cash.; 3/1/20, 10:21 PM
traditionalguy said...: Time to put the Mink Coats into storage again.; 3/1/20, 10:23 PM
walter said...: I mean, Bloomie could seriously "make it rain".; 3/1/20, 10:28 PM
Sebastian said...: "Bloomberg looks like the best the Democrats have"

On the merits, yes. But then, we are dealing with Dems. They are the GOP's secret weapon. Thanks, Dems!; 3/1/20, 10:38 PM
Big Mike said...: From Axios: Scoop: Lab for coronavirus test kits may have been contaminated

The lab where the CDC produced test kits for COVID19 may have been contaminated. They've moved production to a new lab and an independent investigation has been begun.

That's only the latest problem with the CDC.; 3/1/20, 10:39 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Big Mike,

The test was prepared in a panic rush. The techniques are well known, but many of the reagents are specialized for each RNA segment you are trying to detect, which is different for any RNA fragment for which you are trying to build it. Easy to fuck this up when you feel like you don't have the time to do it right.; 3/1/20, 11:03 PM
Mark said...: Open borders? No.; 3/1/20, 11:14 PM
Lucien said...: Suppose Bloomberg had said: “I would like to go up to a mother and tell her that by use of a crystal ball we can tell that her son would have been shot to death because of stop and frisk. With that crystal ball I could tell thousands of black mothers that stop and frisk had saved their children’s lives; and that they should say that to everyone who felt offended that they were thrown up against a wall and frisked. But while I know the policy likely saved thousands of young black men, I can’t say which ones. I have no crystal ball.”; 3/2/20, 12:25 AM
walter said...: https://www.axios.com/cdc-lab-coronavirus-contaminated-6dc9726d-dea3-423f-b5ad-eb7b1e44c2e2.html
i.e. HERE; 3/2/20, 12:26 AM
Nichevo said...: Ken B said...
Beasts
I will buck the Althouse Trumpkin Hivemind about Bloomberg at that church.

NYPost says only about 10 congregants turned their backs on MB. Meh. Broken Windows policing was an unqualified success. "My mayoralty, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saved lives."; 3/2/20, 12:29 AM
rhhardin said...: Radio Japan reports that China's Internet Control Authority launched new rules to create a healthy and refreshing internet space. The government will deal harshly with online rumors that disrupt economic and social order.; 3/2/20, 2:15 AM
JPS said...: Yancey Ward,

"Easy to fuck this up when you feel like you don't have the time to do it right."

So, another example of "Slow is smooth, smooth is fast"?; 3/2/20, 4:08 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: More haste equals slower speed.; 3/2/20, 4:30 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Lucian don't tell people what they ought to consider racist: They know damn well what they have been going through just as Bowie sang about in Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes.

Think how easy it must be for politicians who have a constituency that understands what an 80% friend is versus a 20% enemy. Hopefully the proggies find out this year the hard way that the Bernie Bros don't.; 3/2/20, 4:36 AM
Amadeus 48 said...: It could be that this time will be different, but if the past is any indicator, incumbent presidents win re-election when the economy is good or getting better. Always.

Obama, though his economic performance was miserable, benefited from the fact that things were slowly getting better.

In answer to D 2's question above, Adlai Stevenson II was the grandson of a Demmie vice president of the US, was the scion of the family that owned an important downstate newspaper, was a partner of the law firm that became Sidley & Austin, and had a hobby farm in Libertyville, Illinois. He was the mid-western version of FDR, who was the original modern gentry liberal. Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe were the prototypes. Washington, a Federalist, towered above the others because of his war service, his wealth, and his self-restraint. Washington may have been the richest man in the United States when he became POTUS, although a lot of that wealth came through his wife (like John Kerry).; 3/2/20, 4:58 AM
Amadeus 48 said...: Today, I am going to start buying again.; 3/2/20, 4:59 AM
AllenS said...: The next Democrat to drop out of the race. From the St Paul (MN) Pioneer Press:

Amy Klobuchar; 3/2/20, 5:42 AM
Big Mike said...: @JPS (4:08), i was a government contractor for the last three decades of my career. The adage was “there’s never enough time to do it right, but there’s always enough money to do it over.”

Nothing changes.; 3/2/20, 6:08 AM
Browndog said...: Donald Trump is now the youngest man running for President.; 3/2/20, 6:12 AM
viator said...: In this Coronavirus outbreak "every time you detect a death there is probably about 1,000 undetected cases of Coronavirus in the population." Niel Ferguson, Imperial College London, British epidemiologist; 3/2/20, 6:17 AM
Browndog said...: The CDC is just another politicized bureaucracy:

Employees at the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the mood in their office is somber.

The employees of one of the largest federal agencies in Atlanta said they’re concerned about job safety, funding and new public health policies under Donald Trump’s presidency.

At the General Muir deli across the street from the CDC, a few employees talked to WABE, asking that their names not be used. One microbiologist said her colleagues were crying in the hallways.

“It’s really sad,” she said. “It’s depressing. I’m eating a bagel to try and be happy.”

-NPR
Nov 9, 2016

Better positioned to fight gun violence and global warning than a viral breakout.; 3/2/20, 6:27 AM
Big Mike said...: @Browndog, I thought you had overlooked Bill Weld, who is technically still in the Republican primary. But you’re right — he’s a year older than Trump! Trump is the youngest of the men. If Klobuchar drops out, as predicted upthread, it will be a field entirely of septuagenarians, four of them too old to be Boomers.; 3/2/20, 6:33 AM
Jersey Fled said...: "At the General Muir deli across the street from the CDC, a few employees talked to WABE, asking that their names not be used. One microbiologist said her colleagues were crying in the hallways."

In my experience, Leftys are always willing to talk. In fact, it's hard to get them to shut up.

Then you have the fact that NPR is a sympathetic ear.

Remember when all of the exit polls showed that Kerry won the 2004 election? They traced the error to the fact that most of the pollsters were young female college students. Kerry voters were inclined to talk to them, Bush voters were not.

The idea that educated medical professionals were crying in the hallways sounds bogus to me.

I call bullshit.; 3/2/20, 6:55 AM
Michael K said...: Public health physicians are government employees with government employee politics.

I don;t think I have ever met a MPH type public health person, or an epidemiologist who is a Republican. It's probably genetic.; 3/2/20, 7:00 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Suppose Bloomberg had said: 'I would like to go up to a mother and tell her that by use of a crystal ball we can tell that her son would have been shot to death because of stop and frisk. With that crystal ball I could tell thousands of black mothers that stop and frisk had saved their children’s lives; and that they should say that to everyone who felt offended that they were thrown up against a wall and frisked. But while I know the policy likely saved thousands of young black men, I can’t say which ones. I have no crystal ball.'”

If he had said that, he would have been lying. The vast majority of those stopped and frisked had no weapons and posed no apparent threat to anyone. The policy cannot be shown to have had any significant effect on reducing the crime rate.; 3/2/20, 8:22 AM
Big Mike said...: One trend I saw all the way through the Obama administration was the replacement of competent senior government officials with people less competent but more politically reliable. I am not talking about Schedule C jobs, the ones that are explicitly set aside to be filled by the administration with loyalists. I am talking about jobs all the way down to the lowest management jobs at the GS-11 level. This is how they do it in Chicago, and the hack politician from Chicago must have thought it was the correct thing to do, especially if tame news media would not make too big a fuss over displays of incompetence like the Obamacare rollout.

When I read about CDC staffers weeping and morose, I have to contrast it with crises in the past, where agencies with the spot light on them figuratively rolled up their sleeves to show that, by golly, a crisis like this is why their agency exists and they’re going to show the country how it’s done. But that was before the Great Barack.

Yes, I chose the phrase “politically reliable” deliberately.; 3/2/20, 8:27 AM
Michael K said...: The policy cannot be shown to have had any significant effect on reducing the crime rate.

Epidemiologist Cook assures us that the drop in crime was unrelated to stop and frisk.

What was it ? Abortion ?; 3/2/20, 8:27 AM
Marc in Eugene said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/2/20, 11:01 AM