And They're Off! The Democratic Candidates for 2020

[Madiel]

In other words, I am very clearly not an intellectual.  Thank you.

Your whole premise has been that it's possible to be an intellectual and ignorant/stupid at the same time. So YOU don't get out of it by displaying ignorance or stupidity.

[Todd]

Your whole premise has been that it's possible to be an intellectual and ignorant/stupid at the same time. So YOU don't get out of it by displaying ignorance or stupidity.

Clearly, we have different definitions of what the word "intellectual" even means.  I can state that I've met real deal intellectuals (eg, college professors, practicing attorneys, published writers) who possess copious knowledge in specific areas and are complete dumbshits in other areas, sometimes most other areas.  It happens all the time, actually.  Wait, look at that, I'm relying on anecdotal evidence, thus demonstrating, in absolute intellectual terms, that I am not an intellectual.  Case closed.  Bold type doesn't alter that.

[Madiel]

I'm done responding to your trolling.

[Todd]

Gosh, and I was waiting for you to point out where I claimed I was an average American or that buying CDs from Japan was something average people do.  Maybe the next bona fide intellectual will be able to point to documentary evidence to support those incredibly potent intellectual fusillades of yours.

[SimonNZ]

Has anyone read the book on dealing with climate change that Michael Bloomberg wrote with the Sierra Club's Carl Pope?

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32816557-climate-of-hope


also:

Mike Bloomberg is running for president. These are the causes he supports and industries they will affect


and:

Michael Bloomberg launches campaign for president

[...]"Bloomberg routinely made his tax returns public when he was mayor. A spokesperson said he would make his returns public now that he is seeking the presidency.

The former mayor, who is worth an estimated $54.1 billion, plans to forgo competing in early voting states and instead focus his resources on Super Tuesday, when 15 states head to the polls March 3. His aides believe the strategy will help him lay claim to delegate-rich territory that has been somewhat overlooked as the top-tier candidates focus their energies in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

They say their polling also showed Trump dominating in six swing states where they believe Bloomberg can perform well: Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

[...]Where Bloomberg's record on public health initiatives, guns and climate change is in step with much of the Democratic Party, he will have to overcome some well-known weaknesses to win the nomination.

For starters, he is an unabashed defender of Wall Street who let public housing conditions and homelessness deteriorate during his tenure. His advisers are quick to point out he is self made, having begun Bloomberg LP after getting laid off from an investment bank job when he was 39. But his public posture has shaped a narrative that he is out of touch with people of ordinary means.

He once advised New Yorkers snowed in during a blizzard in 2010 to take in a Broadway show. He fired a $27,000-a-year aide whom he caught playing solitaire on his computer during work hours, saying it was "not appropriate behavior."

And in order to exceed New York City's two-term limit for mayors, he successfully pushed for a change in the law to give himself the option of running for a third term, only to revert the policy back to two terms for his successors. The change ran counter to voters, who in previous ballot questions had supported a ceiling of two consecutive terms for mayors. Though Bloomberg outspent his opponent 14 to 1 in the subsequent election in 2009, he won by fewer than 5 points.

[...]Supporters hail him as a strong manager who helped New York City recover from the Sept. 11 terror attacks and shepherded it through a recession, all while driving crime down and school test scores up. He spearheaded sweeping redevelopment projects that helped secure the city's reputation as a premier destination but did less to provide adequate affordable housing for its poorest residents.

"He was anything but politically correct, which was refreshing," said Kathy Wylde, who leads the pro-business Partnership for New York City. "It was refreshing for the business community and certainly created an economic momentum that has carried us through the last decade."

As he prepared to launch his campaign in recent weeks, Bloomberg sought to counter some of his biggest vulnerabilities.

When a story surfaced about comments he'd made over the years denigrating women, Bloomberg's long-time spokesman was contrite. "Mike has come to see that some of what he has said is disrespectful and wrong. He believes his words have not always aligned with his values and the way he has led his life," Stu Loeser told the New York Times.

Last Sunday, Bloomberg took the rare step of admitting fault and apologizing for his police department's controversial use of a tactic known as "stop and frisk," which a federal judge determined in 2013 violated the constitutional rights of racial minorities. The former mayor had vehemently defended the policy after he left office, arguing it was necessary to achieve the dramatic drop in crime that happened on his watch. He even once argued that statistically white people were stopped too frequently.

Some black clergy and politicians forgave him, and his change of heart earned him the endorsement of Columbia, S.C. Mayor Stephen Benjamin.

Others were circumspect.

Rev. Al Sharpton said he was pleased to hear the admission but added, "It will take more than one speech for people to forgive and forget a policy that so negatively impacted entire communities."

The headstrong former mayor who had doubled down on the NYPD's use of the policy for years got up before hundreds of black parishioners in a church in Brooklyn and said that after much reflection he realized he "got something really wrong."

This all amounts to an unlikely path for someone who prides himself on being apolitical.

Wearing a purple tie to indicate his nonpartisan bearing, Bloomberg began his searing indictment of Trump at the Democratic National Convention in 2016 by announcing he was "not here as a member of any party."

He was a Democrat until realizing he had a better shot at winning the mayoralty as a Republican. He switched registration and, with the crucial post-Sept. 11 endorsement from then-mayor Rudy Giuliani, he won the race in November 2001. Shortly after taking office, he sought to abolish partisan municipal elections.

He then dropped his party affiliation during his first flirtation with a White House bid in 2007. And though he never went through with running the following year, he remained unaffiliated with a party until he became a Democrat last year."[...]

[Florestan]

I've always rambled or as a friend commented recently when I told her I thought I was experiencing early signs of dementia " How would they know? You've always been demented"

This can actually be deduced from your signature line.

The human race is insane, dissily Mordentroge belongs to the human race, ergo he is insane.

[dissily Mordentroge]

This can actually be deduced from your signature line.

The human race is insane, dissily Mordentroge belongs to the human race, ergo he is insane.

As I believe I've hinted at previously, the power of your deductive faculties is astonishing.

[Florestan]

As I believe I've hinted at previously, the power of your deductive faculties is astonishing.

Thanks but it's really nothing else than basic logic.

[JBS]

Bloomberg is an ideal candidate to get conservatives who don't like Trump to vote for Trump nevertheless, because of his advocacy for gun control.  And restricting sodas while he was mayor....

[milk]

The only thing he'll end up doing is taking votes away from Biden.

He's got Judge Judy's vote, but not Judge Wapner.

[71 dB]

The only thing he'll end up doing is taking votes away from Biden.

Pretty much and and that's why the progressives welcome him to the race, even if billionaires joining elections with their money is crazy. 

[drogulus]

     The NYTimes had an article on the influence of the economist Mariana Mazzucato. I found a better article here:

     I Have Seen the Next Big Thing, and it is Mariana Mazzucato

Mazzucato's central message is that standard accounts of the economic role of the state are incomplete. These accounts focus on the provision of public goods and the state's role in compensating for negative externalities and other market failures. But Mazzucato believes economists and the public need a better understanding of the role of states in driving economic innovation. She argues that government spending has been most effective when that spending is directed towards large missions, and that missions such as putting a man on the moon or tackling climate change require strong government intervention. Mazzucato builds on her account of mission-oriented investment to explain how to develop public-private partnerships that are symbiotic rather than parasitic.

     It sounds like "build to grow". That's where I came in. We know what direction to build towards because we know where the biggest problem is. The left and right agree, the left by advocating for a solution and the right by advocating that this is exactly where we need to run out of dollars. It's climate change and new energy investment that shouldn't be done. Bulls-eye!

     The author of the article raise another point:

My only reservation on this last point is that I think Mazzucato slightly over-emphasizes the need for rewards to go to states in the form of tax revenues. I would propose that the focus should be on rewards going to the publics which are the democratic foundation of these states. Governments do not necessarily need to recoup rewards in the form of tax revenues, so long as fiscal mechanisms of some kind exist for the provision of public services and the broad distribution of the rewards of state investment throughout the economy.

     The currency monopolist doesn't do howyougonnas for net provision of currency, so the only point in faking it is the politics of bad economics the public imbibes from the libraservatives that dominate public discussion.

[Todd]

Why Baby Yoda should scare Michael Bloomberg and Deval Patrick

[SimonNZ]

Kamala Harris aide says in resignation letter: 'I have never seen an organization treat its staff so poorly'

"An aide to Sen. Kamala Harris blasted the treatment of staff on the California Democrat's presidential campaign in a resignation letter this month.

"This is my third presidential campaign and I have never seen an organization treat its staff so poorly," wrote state operations director Kelly Mehlenbacher in the Nov. 11 letter, which was obtained by The New York Times.

"While I still believe that Senator Harris is the strongest candidate to win in the General Election in 2020, I no longer have confidence in our campaign or its leadership," she added.

She wrote that "the treatment of our staff over the last two weeks was the final straw in this very difficult decision."

"It is not acceptable to me that we encouraged people to move from Washington, DC to Baltimore only to lay them off with no notice, with no plan for the campaign, and without thoughtful consideration of the personal consequences to them or the consequences that their absence would have on the remaining staff," Mehlenbacher said it her letter. "It is unacceptable that we would lay off anyone that we hired only weeks earlier. It is unacceptable that with less than 90 days until Iowa we still do not have a real plan to win."

"Our campaign For the People is made up of diverse talent which is being squandered by indecision and a 'lack of leaders who will lead,'" she continued. "[...]

[milk]

You're saying you're not really a dick, you just play one on the internet?

No, I think you'd have no inclination to be an online dick if you weren't already a dick in the offline world.

A crack in the armor? Seems like someone believes he's really nice guy? Perhaps this should be encouraged - holiday season and all.

[drogulus]

'Intellectuals' covers a multitude of sins one of which is imagining there's ever been much agreement as to what constitutes being one. Given my encounters with members of Mensa I suggest their particular definition is no more than self serving delusion.

     Mensa is an association of people with high IQs. Some of them are no doubt intellectuals, that is something they do with their aptitude. People with less than genius IQs are sometimes intellectuals. I think of it like a combination of speed and patience. IQ is speed, so being an intellectual with an average IQ requires more patience than most people have.

[drogulus]

     The Case for Bernie

     A theo-conservative thinks Bernie would be OK, and I think his reason is interesting. Douhat hates the culture wars, mostly the losing part I think, but he does see that Sanders isn't much of a threat in that respect. What impresses me, though, is how unimportant he thinks the supposedly earthshaking howyougonnas are. He may be only accidentally right, but it's possible he's aware that the rich are never going to be taxed into poverty by paying more on their gains than they are presently.

[Todd]

'I Need Help': Cory Booker Pleads for Campaign Donations, Reiterates Message of Love and Unity.

Turns out Spartacus is a pussy.

[71 dB]

'I Need Help': Cory Booker Pleads for Campaign Donations, Reiterates Message of Love and Unity.

Turns out Spartacus is a pussy.

Maybe Cory Booker should look at the polls, call it a day and drop out? Money, love and "unity" won't help him at this point.

[71 dB]

Kamala Harris dropping out soon?