Daily review 05/02/2020

14 comments on “Daily review 05/02/2020 ”

• Comments are now closed

1. Dennis Frank 1

   5 February 2020 at 5:57 pm

   More Americans bewailing democracy by carefully not acknowledging that it is the problem: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/02/iowa-results-democratic-party-app.html?via=features

   "The centrist brief against the Sanders movement is that it is unserious, too idealistic, addicted to simple slogan-as-policy proposals like “free college” or “Medicare for All” rather than honestly engaging with the difficult business of effectively governing and administering the nation. Yet the responsible professionals and meritocrats, the ones who’ve been entrusted with the political machinery for generations, can’t even figure out how to count votes! It’s the most basic task of politics, and they biffed it! On live TV! Instead, the aggrieved revolutionaries ended up using the same talking points as Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio."

   "For a movement dedicated to mobilizing masses of disengaged voters, it’s essential to identify the real crisis of faith in the machinery of American democracy. The country is now 20 years into a disastrous techno-political spiral, in which the 2000 presidential election disaster led not to a recommitment to proven, verifiable voting methods like marked paper ballots, but to an endless and foolish quest for salvation through better computerization. The result is that each new election occurs as a one-take, high-stakes beta test, involving an ever-changing kludged-together patchwork of variously obsolescing and/or untried technologies, largely operated by confused senior citizen volunteers".

   Yay democracy, the almighty klutz machine of our era! Another Slate columnist has this take: "The Iowa app fiasco could stand as a parable of our jerry-built political system—the worst-case scenario of what happens when the inflated value of rural outliers meets the half-baked infatuation with high technology."

   "It is as yet unknown how the Iowa Democratic Party—an independent fiefdom that functions quite separately from the national committee and quite full of its outsize importance—hired the company called Shadow to create the app for reporting the caucus tallies from the state’s remote precincts Monday night. But a survey of a half-dozen heavyweights in the cybersecurity field suggests the firm is not a known quantity."

   "Jake Williams, a former NSA analyst now working as principal consultant for the private firm Rendition Infosec, said in an email that a LinkedIn search on Shadow shows no one “with development experience on critical infrastructure.”"

   https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/02/iowa-caucus-app-shadow-debacle-end-computerized-elections.html?via=features
2. Dennis Frank 2

   5 February 2020 at 7:12 pm

   Impeachment is still an effective political process. The main effect so far is to lift Trump to his highest approval rating in a Gallup Poll since taking office, apparently:

   "The Gallup survey finds that 50% of Americans disapprove of Trump's performance as president; his approval rating increase can be attributed to improved standing among Republicans and independents. Since early January, Trump has risen from 88% to a 94% approval rating among Republicans, as well as from 37% to 42% among independents. Among Democrats, he drops to seven percent from last month's 10 percent." https://www.salon.com/2020/02/04/donald-trumps-approval-rating-hits-record-high-in-new-poll/

   "Sixty-three percent of Americans approve of how Trump has managed the economy, compared to 57% from a survey in November. Gallup's Economic Confidence Index sits at +40, its highest recorded reading since +44 in October 2000. National satisfaction is at 41 percent, the highest since 2005. Fifty-three percent of Americans approve of Trump's decision to kill Iranian military official Qassem Soleimani, while 45% disapprove."

   So, all in all, another victory for democracy. "The survey finds that 52% of Americans want Trump to be acquitted, while 46% support convicting and removing him from office. The previous president to be impeached, Bill Clinton, saw his numbers rise as the scandal dragged out while Americans supported his stewardship of the economy" – so history seems to be repeating itself…
3. Dennis Frank 3

   5 February 2020 at 7:28 pm

   "Progressives raised alarm this weekend after Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez released his picks for the 2020 Democratic National Convention committees." "The list of nominees, Sunrise Movement political director Evan Weber said Sunday, looks like "a who's-who of people explicitly opposed to the progressive agenda.""

   "Former Congressman Barney Frank" (a renegade member of my tribe) "has been nominated to co-chair of the Rules Committee. Frank, as Gosztola pointed out, has argued against the Green New Deal and sits on the board of directors of Signature Bank in New York, which a New York Times report showed "was a go-to lender for President Donald Trump's family, as well as Jared Kushner's family." Frank also penned a 2015 Politico op-ed entitled "Why Progressives Shouldn't Support Bernie."" https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/01/26/whos-who-people-against-progressive-agenda-dncs-perez-under-fire-convention

   "Political analyst Lauren Martinchek, in a Sunday post on Medium, also highlighted concerns with Perez's list. She wrote:

   Even more controversial and dangerous than Barney Frank is John Podesta, also on the Rules Committee, who said in the infamous leaked DNC emails that they needed to make sure Bernie is "ground to a pulp," and asked "where would you stick the knife in?" If this process was even remotely designed to be fair, this man would not be allowed anywhere near this convention.

   Another incredibly questionable choice is Alex Padilla, Vice-chair of the Platform Committee. Padilla gained notoriety for refusing to count 2 million votes in the 2016 California primary, a move that undeniably favored Clinton and handed a massive disadvantage to the Sanders campaign. He was sued for this.

   Win Without War executive director Stephen Miles and Sanders foreign policy advisor Matt Duss suggested the list shows that the DNC is out of touch with its base."

   Maybe so, but really it's just the machine operating as usual. Establishment always defends against the invasion of barbarians by using the right people in the right positions.
4. James 4

   5 February 2020 at 7:46 pm

   Looking at the picture – some of us don’t agree with the politics of jacinda.

   what if a white male threw a dildo at her – hitting her in the face. Just because they don’t like her politics – nothing to do with sex, race or age.

   how different do you think people would react?
   • Blazer 4.1

     5 February 2020 at 8:06 pm

     ludicrous hypothesis that can be multiplied ad infinitum.

     What happened ,happened…and is the only thing Joyce will be remembered for.
   • Bg 4.2

     5 February 2020 at 8:11 pm

     Simple…it's ok when the left do it.
   • McFlock 4.3

     5 February 2020 at 9:12 pm

     what if a white male threw a dildo at her – hitting her in the face. Just because they don’t like her politics – nothing to do with sex, race or age.

     Well, first of all he'd probably want to come up with a comprehensive refutation of Freud and Jung in order to demonstrate that the dildo was an object chosen without meaning. Throwing a dildo at a bloke most likely means he's a dick or a dickhead in a plausibly non-sexualised sense. Throwing a dildo at a woman has a whole lot of other baggage, because that is the culture we live in.
   • Sacha 4.4

     5 February 2020 at 9:22 pm

     They might be concerned.
   • Fireblade 4.5

     5 February 2020 at 9:30 pm

     Steven Joyce's finest moment on 7 Days.
   • roblogic 4.6

     6 February 2020 at 3:31 am

     Helen Clark was subjected to loud protests, chaos, and was jostled the same year that Brash was pelted with mud (2004). The official response was mild, not sure if anyone was charged at all.

     Unprovoked violence and interruptions mar what should be a day of celebration. We should not tolerate physical abuse of our MPs (or anyone). Remember the UK Labour MP who was stabbed to death in broad daylight.

     I am glad we seem to have moved on from those sort of shenanigans.
5. Fireblade 5

   5 February 2020 at 8:27 pm

   Go Nancy, Go Nancy, Go Nancy.

   Rip that shit up!
   • mary_a 5.1

     6 February 2020 at 1:42 pm

     @ Fireblade (5) … and that little ripper Nancy didn't have to say a word. Well done Nancy.
6. Exkiwiforces 6

   5 February 2020 at 8:54 pm

   Not sure if anyone has seen to lovely put down of Britches by old Winnie at Waitangi, what a classic.

   Yep, just shows that britches is a couple of jugs short of a mini tanker considering Winnie & Jonesy are both Northland Maori and on Winnie’s turf oh dear how sad never mind still about 8mths to go. Might come home to campaign to keep Britches & the “No Mates Party” out of office.

   https://twitter.com/MorganGodfery/status/1224541910447951872?s=20
7. A 7

   6 February 2020 at 9:03 pm

   With the sun getting hotter we need darker legal tints, especially on the windscreen where no tint is currently allowed except for the band of anti-glare at the top.

   All this pointless frying can be reduced or eliminated.

• Comments are now closed

• Log in
• Donate
• Contribute post

• Articles RSS