Day: February 4, 2020

Neoconservatives like Pete Buttigieg

benfell

There was an earlier, extra issue today.

Iowa

So I understand when a lot of people think I’m being an asshole about online service providers. They forget that I was, once upon a time, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far way, a programmer. I saw the code that other programmers produced. They forget that I’ve seen other programmers’ arrogance. And they forget that programmers have yet to give me even one reason to remotely suspect that they’ve improved in even the slightest way since.

A lot of folks will suspect malice here. And it may yet turn out that they’re right. But in the absence of further evidence, I’m assuming the usual incompetence and arrogance. Just like I saw in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Richard Nixon’s posthumous impostor has a point. Because they should have been supervising the work the contractor did. They should have insisted on testing in their presence.

But here’s the thing with neoliberals. Just as they outsource work to other countries, they get out of the habit of checking the work, even when it’s done domestically. The contractor is supposed to be solely responsible.

That argument might work in a court of law. But a lot of people have a lot of unanswered questions. The explanations offered so far are insufficient.

What needs to happen:
– UN election monitors called in
– Independent investigation
– Mass resignations at DNC
– #TomPerezResign
– Recent Perez appointments revoked
– #MayorCheat Pete Buttigieg must drop out#Iowa #DNCRigging #Election2020 #IACaucus #BernieWon pic.twitter.com/NA5RRVoXEZ

— Polly Tickal (@PollyTickal) February 4, 2020

Polly Tickal is right.

And so is Peter Daou.

But more profoundly,

This is, of course, the authoritarian populist reaction. But it isn’t helping to advance Medicare For All, which would suit neoliberals just fine.

Results are starting to trickle out. As I was about to publish:
FireShot Capture 058 - Election Results - U.S. ELECTIONS - elections.ap.org
Fig. 1. Screenshot of the Iowa caucus results by Associated Press, as of 7:31 pm.

I saw that the National Review was trumpeting Pete Buttigieg in the lead at one point. I haven’t seen that in the time I’ve been looking. But now we see where neoconservative hopes lie.

Extra: Neoliberal election fun

benfell

I’m publishing early today. There could be more tonight.

Brexit

So remember how Boris Johnson wasn’t going to relax the standards that protect Britons? Sure you do. It was only yesterday.[1]

Damn, that didn’t take long.[2]

Francis Elliott, “Boris Johnson dismisses fears about US food standards as ‘mumbo jumbo,’” Times, February 4, 2020, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/boris-johnson-dismisses-fears-about-us-food-standards-as-mumbo-jumbo-jhbbnrd2h

Iowa

I gathered these tweets at around 5 am (Eastern). At that point, Bernie Sanders was in the lead:

At around 8:00 am, results were still the same:
FireShot Capture 057 - Election Results - U.S. ELECTIONS - elections.ap.org
Fig. 1. Screenshot of Associated Press election results, as of 8:12 am, Eastern time. Note that these results have not been updated since shortly after midnight.

So more from Twitter, from my feed, as of shortly after 8:00 am:

Things didn’t go smoothly in the Iowa caucuses as the Democratic Party cited ‘inconsistencies’ for delaying results.[3] It’s to be expected that some will say, especially after 2016, that Bernie Sanders winning would be ‘inconsistent’ with Party dogma.[4] But of course, proper answers won’t be forthcoming.

Natasha Korecki, David Siders, and Alex Thompson, “‘It’s a total meltdown’: Confusion seizes Iowa as officials struggle to report results,” Politico, February 4, 2020, https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/03/iowa-caucus-2020-election-110600

John McCormick and Ken Thomas, “Democratic Caucus Results in Iowa Thrown Into State of Confusion,” Wall Street Journal, February 4, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/iowa-caucuses-to-kick-off-democratic-nominating-contest-11580731200

  1. [1]Daniel Capurro to Front Bench list, “‘We like rules, just not your ones,’” February 3, 2020, http://m.email3.telegraph.co.uk/nl/jsp/m.jsp?c=%40ZjegS%2FZfBFiLTRy45i23NUyEmWQyDeGxTFK%2F9Gq0nfk%3D&WT.mc_id=e_DM1191159&WT.tsrc=email&etype=Edi_FrB_New&utmsource=email&utm_medium=Edi_FrB_New20200203&utm_campaign=DM1191159; Christopher Hope, “Boris Johnson team ‘infuriated’ as EU reneges on free trade deal,” Telegraph, February 1, 2020, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/02/01/boris-johnson-infuriated-eu-reneges-free-trade-deal/↩
  2. [2]Francis Elliott, “Boris Johnson dismisses fears about US food standards as ‘mumbo jumbo,’” Times, February 4, 2020, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/boris-johnson-dismisses-fears-about-us-food-standards-as-mumbo-jumbo-jhbbnrd2h↩
  3. [3]Natasha Korecki, David Siders, and Alex Thompson, “‘It’s a total meltdown’: Confusion seizes Iowa as officials struggle to report results,” Politico, February 4, 2020, https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/03/iowa-caucus-2020-election-110600; John McCormick and Ken Thomas, “Democratic Caucus Results in Iowa Thrown Into State of Confusion,” Wall Street Journal, February 4, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/iowa-caucuses-to-kick-off-democratic-nominating-contest-11580731200↩
  4. [4]Donna Brazile, “Inside Hillary Clinton’s Secret Takeover of the DNC,” Politico, November 2, 2017, https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/02/clinton-brazile-hacks-2016-215774; Justine Coleman, “Obama privately said he would speak up to stop Sanders: report,” Hill, November 26, 2019, https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/472090-obama-privately-said-he-would-speak-up-to-stop-sanders-report; Ryan Lizza, “Waiting for Obama,” Politico, November 26, 2019, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2019/11/26/barack-obama-2020-democrats-candidates-biden-073025; Alex Shephard, “The Impotence of ‘Stop Sanders’ Democrats,” New Republic, April 18, 2019, https://newrepublic.com/article/153605/impotence-stop-sanders-democrats↩