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Open Thread February 29 2024 “The Republican Party is dying as Trump and his supporters take it over . . .”

Angry Bear | February 29, 2024 10:34 am

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February 28, 2024, Letters from an American, Prof. Heather Cox Richardson

Past Open Thread February 21 2024 Is Late Economic Reporting the Cause of Bad Perceptions as New Deal democrat says? Angry Bear.

23 Comments

Fred C. Dobbs says:

February 29, 2024 at 3:10 pm

Putin warns that sending Western troops to Ukraine risks a global nuclear war

AP via Boston Globe – this morning

Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed Thursday to fulfill Moscow’s goals in Ukraine and sternly warned the West against deeper involvement in the fighting, saying that such a move is fraught with the risk of a global nuclear conflict.

Putin’s blunt warning came in a state-of-the-nation address ahead of next month’s election he’s all but certain to win, underlining his readiness to raise the stakes in the tug-of-war with the West to protect the Russian gains in Ukraine.

In an apparent reference to French President Emmanuel Macron’s statement earlier this week that the future deployment of Western ground troops to Ukraine should not be “ruled out”, Putin warned that it would lead to “tragic” consequences for the countries who decide to do that.

Putin noted that while accusing Russia of plans to attack NATO allies in Europe, Western allies were “selecting targets for striking our territory” and “talking about the possibility of sending a NATO contingent to Ukraine.”

“We remember the fate of those who sent their troop contingents to the territory of our country,” the Russian leader said in an apparent allusion to the failed invasions by Napoleon and Hitler. “Now the consequences for the potential invaders will be far more tragic.” …
- coberly says:
  
  March 2, 2024 at 1:28 pm
  
  Dobbs
  
  the trick here is that Putin claims Ukraine is “our territory.”
  
  so far he hasn’t blown up the world when Ukraine strikes inside of Russia.
Fred C. Dobbs says:

February 29, 2024 at 6:27 pm

House Passes Stopgap Bill to Head Off Shutdown, With Key Issues Unresolved

NY Times – today, 3 pm

The House on Thursday passed its latest short-term stopgap spending patch to head off a partial government shutdown at the end of the week, moving over the objections of right-wing Republicans to give Congress more time to resolve funding disputes that have persisted for months.

The measure, initially floated by Speaker Mike Johnson, would extend funding for half of the government for one week, through March 8, and the rest for three weeks, until March 22. The Senate was expected to pass it as early as Thursday evening, clearing it for President Biden and averting a lapse in federal funding for several agencies that otherwise would begin at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday.

It passed by a vote of 320 to 99, with Democrats providing the bulk of the votes and Republicans roughly split. Ninety-seven Republicans and two Democrats opposed the measure.

Congressional leaders cleared the way for the legislation on Wednesday when they said they had come to an agreement on six of the 12 annual spending bills, and planned to finalize the details, debate the package and clear it to be signed into law by March 8. If they fail to do so, they will face another partial shutdown next week. …
Jim Han says:

March 1, 2024 at 2:28 pm

The Republican Party is very alive and well from my viewpoint. In fact, at the federal level, I think they are poised to have control of all three branches of the government come next January.

A recent redistricting case in North Carolina may provide them another three or four House seats, probably enough to hold on control. The Senate looks very promising for Republicans. They need to win two new seats. West Virginia is a lock. They will probably also win Montana, and possible pick ups in Ohio, Arizona, even Maryland now in play.

Trump is leading, especially in the few swing states. The Supreme Court has now put their thumb on the scale by taking the immunity case. I now think that the election interference and classified materials case may end up delayed past the election. And Fani Willis has been a disaster for the Georgia state case, the only one where Trump cannot pardon himself or halt the case itself.

Now with Mitch McConnell leaving his leadership post, I believe that the R’s will eliminate the Senate filibuster on day one in 2025.

That’s just the federal side. State wise, R’s have total control in over half. They aren’t going anywhere.
- Fred C. Dobbs says:
  
  March 1, 2024 at 5:16 pm
  
  Registered Voters by Party 2024 (worldpopulationreview.com)
  
  … The number of registered voters for the Republican Party is approximately 38.8 million. (That’s 28.5%)
  
  … Democratic voters have historically held an edge over Republican voters, and recent data shows that this data is still holding true. The number of Democratic voters is reported to be around 49 million. The Dems also carried the lion’s share of registered voters in States that asked voters to declare affiliation, with 36 percent of voters declaring Democratic affiliation.
  
  What might be most surprising about those figures is that the second-largest reporting party affiliation was the Independents, not the Republicans. (That’s 35%, about 48 million.) …
  
  (If the GOP puts Trump back in office, it will most likely be despite a popular vote win by Biden.)
Fred C. Dobbs says:

March 1, 2024 at 4:26 pm

Biden Says US Will Airdrop Aid Into Gaza

NY Times – just in

President Biden said on Friday that the United States would begin airdropping humanitarian relief supplies into Gaza, speaking a day after a melee surrounding an aid convoy in Gaza City that left scores of Palestinians dead.

“Innocent people got caught in a terrible war unable to feed their families and you saw the response when they tried to get aid in,” Mr. Biden said before meeting with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy. “And we need to do more and the United States will do more.” …
- Fred C. Dobbs says:
  
  March 1, 2024 at 4:29 pm
  
  Questions still surround the convoy disaster as clamor grows for a cease-fire.
  
  Witnesses Describe Seeing People Shot as Israeli Soldiers Fired Toward Crowds Surging Around Aid Convoy
  
  Condemnations of the aid convoy killings continue to pour in.
  - Fred C. Dobbs says:
    
    March 1, 2024 at 4:43 pm
    
    Mr. Biden said the United States would work with Jordan, which has been at the forefront of airdrop efforts to Gaza, as well as other allies to deliver aid by air and that aid could also be delivered through a maritime corridor.
    
    “Aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough now,” Mr. Biden said. “Innocent lives are on the line and children’s lives are on the line.”
    
    Many questions remain unanswered about the killings around the aid convoy on Thursday, for which the Israeli military and Gazan officials offered divergent accounts.
    
    Gazan health officials say that more than 100 Palestinians were killed and more than 700 injured on Thursday when Israeli forces opened fire on crowds gathered near an aid convoy in Gaza City. Witnesses said they saw people shot as they ran toward the aid trucks.
    
    The Israeli military said a massive crowd rushed the convoy, and that Israeli forces fired on a mob that “moved in a manner which endangered them.” The Israeli military said most of the deaths had been caused by trampling and that people had also been run over by the aid trucks.
Fred C. Dobbs says:

March 2, 2024 at 7:05 am

Might ChatGPT Transform Healthcare?

Healthcare Innovations – Sept 2023

Perhaps no other phenomenon in U.S. healthcare has been the subject of a greater amount of hype, expectation, and confusion, all mixed up together, than has the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI). When it comes to the famous “Gartner hype cycle,” the development of AI for clinical and clinical-operational uses in patient care organizations might at this moment be anywhere between the “Peak of Inflated Expectations,” the “Trough of Disillusionment,” or the “Slope of Enlightenment,” depending on one’s perceptions. Further complicating perceptions has been the emergence in the past several months of ChatGPT, a large language model developed by OpenAI launched late last year. That launch has intensified the complexity of a scenario in which needs, expectations, early advances, and yes, of course, many stalls and outright failures, are adding up to the current landscape, one that couldn’t possibly be more layered and complicated.

Yet amid all the hype, the expectations, and the confusion, some organizations are making real headway. One example? Michael Hasselberg, R.N., Ph.D., the chief digital health officer at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y., has been leading a highly promising effort to streamline messaging intended for clinicians and other staffers in the health system. Speaking to the origin of the initiative, Hasselberg explains that, “The problem has been MyChart messages [generated inside the patient-facing communications platform inside the Epic Systems Corporation electronic health record system] coming into our clinicians’ in-baskets. We have not had a good system to triage those messages, going to a staff member, nurse, or provider. We’ve pretty much been sending all those patient-generated messages to providers [physicians], and that’s caused chaos.” …
Fred C. Dobbs says:

March 2, 2024 at 8:26 am

The NY Times today continues its series on how lots of voters are anxious about voting for Joe Biden …

Voters Doubt Biden’s Leadership and Favor Trump, Times/Siena Poll Finds

The share of voters who strongly disapprove of President Biden’s performance reached 47 percent, higher than in Times/Siena polls at any point in his presidency.

Mr. Biden’s 43 percent support lags behind Donald Trump’s 48 percent in the national survey of registered voters.

Then adds an op-ed from Maureen Dowd who has a fantasy about Biden’s upcoming state-of-the-union speech where the president gives a stirring oration about his accomplishments & stuff and then says …

… I’m honored that millions of people across this country want me to continue to lead them. But I tell you tonight: I will not be a candidate for president this fall.

I don’t want a debate over my age to be an impediment to America’s progress. It’s eclipsing the things that we should be focused on. …

(As if? Remember, this is only Maureen Dowd’s fantasy. Most amusing, eh?)

So, maybe Gavin Newsom had better get to work, time before the Dem convention & Election Day being very short.
- Fred C. Dobbs says:
  
  March 2, 2024 at 8:30 am
  
  I continue to support Joe Biden’s relection campaign, and I fully expect to vote for him & Kamala Harris in November. If I didn’t enjoy my Times subscription as much as I do, this would be a pretty good reason to cancel it.
  - Jackd says:
    
    March 2, 2024 at 11:08 am
    
    Te Time has been hammering Biden on the age issue for quite a while now. They are shameless about drumming up controversy to sell papers.
    - Joel Eissenberg says:
      
      March 2, 2024 at 11:15 am
      
      @Jack,
      
      The NYT is a disgrace. From a paywalled WaPo article:
      
      “The union representing New York Times employees accused the company Friday of targeting employees with Middle Eastern or North African backgrounds in a weeks-long investigation into leaks from its newsroom regarding the paper’s coverage of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel.
      
      “In a letter obtained by The Washington Post, NewsGuild of New York president Susan DeCarava said managers picked out particular employees — “targeted for their national origin, ethnicity and race” — who had raised concerns about the paper’s reporting for “particularly hostile questioning.””
      - Jackd says:
        
        March 2, 2024 at 3:06 pm
        
        Their columnists have been pretty even handed about Israel’s behavior in reacting to the Hamas attack. I’ve mostly been struck by their constant harping on Biden’s age. It’s an issue, of course, but hardly the only issue, nor the most important issue.
      - Joel Eissenberg says:
        
        March 2, 2024 at 3:29 pm
        
        @Jack,
        
        “Their columnists have been pretty even handed about Israel’s behavior in reacting to the Hamas attack.”
        
        This appears to be a new and unfamiliar use of the phrase “even handed.”
        
        “On January 28, The Intercept revealed that “The New York Times pulled a high-profile episode of its podcast ‘The Daily’ about sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas on October 7 amid a furious internal debate about the strength of the paper’s original reporting on the subject.” This was the story that sent Times editors into their bunkers.
        
        “A lengthy follow-up report on Wednesday was even more devastating. The new report painted Anat Schwartz as an incompetent propagandist. Schwartz had liked a tweet calling on Israel to turn Gaza “into a slaughterhouse.” The tweet described Palestinians as “human animals.” The Intercept also quoted from a radio interview Schwartz gave in Israel where she admitted that when it came to evaluating evidence of sexual violence, “I have no qualifications.”
        
        “Schwartz relied heavily on Zaka, described by The Intercept as “a private ultra-Orthodox rescue organization that has been documented to have mishandled evidence and spread multiple false stories about the events of October 7, including debunked allegations of Hamas operatives beheading babies and cutting the fetus from a pregnant woman’s body. Its workers are not trained forensic scientists or crime scene experts.” Another major source, Shari Mendes, has repeatedly made demonstrably false claims.”
        
        https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/new-york-times-intercept-hamas-rape/
    - coberly says:
      
      March 2, 2024 at 1:37 pm
      
      I don’t think they are just “selling papers.” They represent the interests of the ruling class.
- coberly says:
  
  March 2, 2024 at 1:41 pm
  
  the polls only measure the success of propaganda. i don’t know if Dowd just believes what she hears, or if she would like Biden to quit because she is against his policies.
  
  Biden would be a better president than Trump if he was dead and stuffed, with his advisors making decision about runnig the country.
  
  The Moslems and Progressives are killing themselves if they vote against Biden.
- Fred C. Dobbs says:
  
  March 3, 2024 at 10:23 am
  
  Move over Gavin Newsome…
  
  How Democrats Can Win Anywhere and Everywhere
  
  NY Times – this morning
  
  … Today, (PA guv’nah Josh) Shapiro enjoys approval ratings markedly higher than other Pennsylvania Democrats’ and President Biden’s. He belongs to an intriguing breed of enterprising Democratic governors who’ve had success where it’s by no means guaranteed, assembled a diverse coalition of supporters and are models of a winning approach for Democrats everywhere. Just look at the fact that when Shapiro was elected in 2022, it was with a much higher percentage of votes than Biden received from Pennsylvanians two years earlier. Shapiro won with support among rural voters that significantly exceeded other Democrats’ and with the backing of 14 percent of Donald Trump’s voters, according to a CNN exit poll that November.
  
  Biden’s fate this November, Democratic control of Congress and the party’s future beyond 2024 could turn, in part, on heeding Shapiro’s and like-minded Democratic leaders’ lessons about reclaiming the sorts of voters the party has lost. …
- Fred C. Dobbs says:
  
  March 3, 2024 at 6:51 pm
  
  (If the GOP puts Trump back in office, it will most likely be despite a popular vote win by Biden.)
  
  The recent polling showing Trump defeating Biden in a handful of swing states that Dems won in 2020, if they hold up in November, will produce an electoral college win for Trump, but will probably leave Biden with a popular vote victory – which won’t matter.
  
  Now, this is not unlike what happened in 2020, except that polls in some of those swing states back then strongly favored Hillary Clinton.
  
  It will take a strong Dem turn-out in those states, with no one not-voting-for-Biden- t0-send-a-message to keep Trump from being re-elected.
  - Joel Eissenberg says:
    
    March 3, 2024 at 7:24 pm
    
    @Fred,
    
    “Now, this is not unlike what happened in 2020, except that polls in some of those swing states back then strongly favored Hillary Clinton.”
    
    Hillary wasn’t on the ballot in 2020. Back then, the polls in some of those swing states favored Joe Biden. Those polls turned out to be predictive. He won both the popular vote and the EC in 2020.
  - Fred C. Dobbs says:
    
    March 3, 2024 at 10:52 pm
    
    err, “Now, this is not unlike what happened in 2016, except that polls in some of those swing states back then strongly favored Hillary Clinton.”
Jackd says:

March 2, 2024 at 11:08 am

That should be “The Times”.
coberly says:

March 2, 2024 at 1:36 pm

it doesn’t matter if the republican party is dying. the evil virus has already been planted and Trumpism will emerge triumphant. They will call themselves Republican, just as the evil that re-emerged after the Civil War called itself Republican, running on the popularity of Lincoln and Grant while completely ignoring what Lincoln…and Grant…tried to accomplish.