Democrats trying to unseat each other III

[lpetrich]

“It is unfortunate that after years of grumbling to the press on the paramount importance of protecting incumbents, Democratic leadership has seemingly turned its back on ours — allowing outside groups like AIPAC to target them with multimillion-dollar primary challenges,” Rojas said.

JD has yet to endorse any candidates, though at this time two years ago, it already endorsed four candidates. AR: “We are still in active candidate recruitment for this cycle.”

Justice Democrats used the nonprofit entity, Organize for Justice, to fund its lean Capitol Hill lobbying operation, a 10-week Movement School for training left-wing campaign professionals and a podcast, “Bloc Party.”

JD used some OfJ funds to support its campaign arm, JD PAC, to help fund Summer Lee's primary campaign.

The distribution of Justice Democrats’ layoffs in July confirms that the group is pivoting away from its foray into legislative activity and organizing, and doubling down on its original mission of winning elections. Seven out of the nine staff members whom the group laid off were paid by Organize for Justice.

AR seemed nonplussed by this retreat: “As we build and plan for the future, expanding our footprint on the Hill is a crucial goal we are always working towards.”

“A real problem with our ecosystem right now is that there’s no central hub for people to coordinate on long-term strategy, policy, advocacy and elections, like a left-wing Heritage Foundation,” said Karthik Ganapathy, a former Bernie Sanders campaign operative who co-founded the progressive consulting firm Left Flank. “The reason for that is because there’s way less money on the insurgent left than on the insurgent right, in general, and especially right now.”

 

[Derec]

As if those are mutually exclusive.

School budgets are finite. Any dollar you spend on non-education expenses like meals or DEI officers and other political commissars is a dollar you do not spend on good teachers and educational resources.
And there are some horrible teachers out there. I sometimes tutor as a side hustle. Right before the pandemic, I tutored this girl who had a horrible teacher for AP Physics. I also had a music teacher who worked in a different county whom I helped in a statistics course for her continuing education. Anyway, that teacher physics had such a bad rep that this other teacher knew about her and what a horrible teacher she was. And yet, she was not let go.
US students are falling behind compared to students in other developed countries. We need more good teachers, and in general a focus on education, instead of focusing on ancillary matters like adding more and more free meals. Or inject political positions into the curriculum.

Primarily???

Slight hyperbole. But as far as increases in funding, education tends to fall behind these other priorities.

There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in Fox News.

Equally I could say there are more things than are dreamt of at Nation or Mother Jones.
I do not even watch Fox News. Sometimes I will read their online news stories, but mostly because there are some topics the likes of CNN and NY Times choose not to cover.

The move, which will cost $171.5 million in the next fiscal year, would make permanent a pandemic-related policy that provided free school meals for students in the past three years.

That's exactly what I mean. That money would be better spent improving actual education. Feeding your kids should be parents' responsibility. Only in exceptional cases where parents cannot fulfill that obligation should the state come in.

US is pretty low down the list. And that was 5 years ago, before the pandemic that really fucked up our schools. I already related the story of a local college that had to dumb down its curriculum because the kids these days cannot hack the full normal e.g. Chemistry curriculum so whole topics like redox/electrochemistry were cut out.

Free breakfasts and "reparations math" (and other attempts to politicize education) will not help any here.

 

[Derec]

Layoffs At Justice Democrats Raise Worries For Progressives | HuffPost Latest News

I sincerely hope all this heralds the end of the Fauxgressive Era of US politics.

 

[Derec]

Extravagance that would make Kyrsten Sinema proud.

I was also reminded of Mayor Pete's wine cave fundraiser.
I wonder though what the carbon footprint of driving to a wine tasting in Napa is, and what "Sunrise Movement" thinks of that?
Probably nothing. They had no problem with AOC (while she was still "Barmaid Sandy") driving an old Subaru over 2000 miles to ND prairie to protest against an oil pipeline.

 

[Derec]

A dark-money group affiliated with Democratic Party leaders provided critical funding for Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) to ward off a close challenge from Kina Collins, who was backed by Justice Democrats.

Interesting how groups funding mainstream Democrats are described as "dark-money" by MSNBC while groups like JD are not given such sinister-sounding descriptors.

 

[Derec]

No on it: Bowman, Bush, Carson, Lee (PA), Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Pressley, Ramirez, Tlaib

Aka the Hamas Caucus.

 

[lpetrich]

The article then got into electing more Democrats vs. primarying inadequate incumbent Democrats. Over 2021-2022, the Democrats' borderline margin in the Senate enabled Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to get away with a lot of obstructionism. At present, the Democrats don't even have the House.

Still other progressive insiders maintain that wealthy donors are often inherently less radical due to their material interests and social worlds. They might also be less willing to embrace third-rail issues like U.S.-Israel policy, where the gap between the Democratic establishment and the grassroots left is generally widest.

“It’s much harder to question American empire than it is to question American inequality,” the second progressive House aide said.

This reminds me of when AOC's campaigners sent donations to several swing-seat Democrats. None of them wanted those donations, and none of them wanted to be associated with her. AOC had the right idea, to keep Democrats in office, but those were Democrats who decided that her contributions were bribes that they were unwilling to take.

 

[lpetrich]

On the other side, "Some progressives believe that Justice Democrats should not even be trying to solicit donations from rich people, however."

Like Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks. “We’re not a group that should be relying on big donors,” he told HuffPost. “We’re supposed to be a group that raises money from the grassroots.”

Also, "Other left-wing media personalities with significant audiences, including Briahna Joy Gray, Kyle Kulinski and Freddie de Boer, have made similar critiques."

The senior House progressive aide conceded that Justice Democrats-aligned incumbents lacked cohesiveness and did not have regular group meetings with Justice Democrats ― though how much of that was due to the operation’s limited funding is unclear.

AR: “We are in close contact with every JD office, especially around larger moments for our movement, and I know that all of the members keep in close touch with each other on most if not all legislative matters.”

The progressive donor close to Justice Democrats agrees that grassroots donors feel discouraged but chalks the situation up to a marketing problem. Biden would not have passed the climate-focused Inflation Reduction Act had Ocasio-Cortez and others not turned the idea of a Green New Deal into a national rallying cry, the donor said.

“I don’t think it’s the fault of JD’s that there wasn’t a flashy moment that made that clear to people,” the donor said.

 

[lpetrich]

As if those are mutually exclusive.

School budgets are finite. ...

But zero-sumism is an economics fallacy, right?

Being well-nourished is good for being educated.

And there are some horrible teachers out there. ...

Without any hint as to how one would train and recruit good teachers.

US students are falling behind compared to students in other developed countries. We need more good teachers, and in general a focus on education, instead of focusing on ancillary matters like adding more and more free meals.
[/quote]
Or school sports teams. Being well-fed is good for being educated. Having a sports team isn't.

Or inject political positions into the curriculum.

Including your political positions, Derec?

I do not even watch Fox News.

For whatever reason.

The move, which will cost $171.5 million in the next fiscal year, would make permanent a pandemic-related policy that provided free school meals for students in the past three years.

That's exactly what I mean. That money would be better spent improving actual education.

In what way?

Feeding your kids should be parents' responsibility.

The way that it's everybody's responsibility to protect themselves? Meaning that government military and police forces should be abolished because they enable people to become lazy and irresponsible about protecting themselves.

Only in exceptional cases where parents cannot fulfill that obligation should the state come in.

Resulting in a lot of bureaucracy that is best done without, bureaucracy for administering means testing. If means testing is so great, then let us means test military and police protection, right?

(Derec attached a list of PISA 2018 scores)

US is pretty low down the list. ...

One of the high scorers: Why Are Finland's Schools Successful? | Innovation| Smithsonian Magazine and School meals in Finland | Finnish National Agency for Education -- all free for students.

 

[lpetrich]

Benefits of School Lunch - Food Research & Action Center
Claims:

School Lunch Participation:

• Reduces Food Insecurity (me: free and reduced-price meals reduce food insecurity)
• Improves Dietary Intake (me: more fruits and vegetables than what many parents give them)
• Positively Impacts Health and Obesity Rates (me: especially if free and reduced-price)
• Meeting Children’s Nutritional Needs Leads to a Better Learning Environment
  • Behavioral, emotional, and mental health, and academic problems are more prevalent among children and adolescents struggling with hunger.
  • Children and adolescents experiencing hunger have lower math scores and poorer grades.
  • Children experiencing hunger are more likely to be hyperactive, absent, and tardy, in addition to having behavioral and attention problems more often than other children.
  • Teens experiencing hunger are more likely to have been suspended from school and have difficulty getting along with other children.
  • Children with hunger are more likely to have repeated a grade, received special education services, or received mental health counseling, than low-income children who do not experience hunger.

...
Research Brief Shows That School Breakfast and Lunch Programs Continue to Have Multiple Positive Effects on Students’ Health, Learning, and Well-Being.

 

[lpetrich]

The latest: Michigan makes free meals for public school students official - WDET 101.9 FM

From two months ago: How 1 woman is helping settle school lunch debt, advocating for universal free lunch - Good Morning America

Millions of dollars in unpaid school lunch debt have been mounting in districts across the country, and one Virginia mom is on a mission to settle the bill in her local community.

Adelle Settle feels a student's ability to pay for their meal at the school cafeteria should never get in the way of their success.

"Food is so crucial and such a critical part of all of our lives," Settle told "Good Morning America."

From a year ago: California becomes 1st state to offer free meals at school for kids - Good Morning America

That two-months-old map with updates for MI, VT

• Permanent: CA, CO, ME, MI, MN, NM, VT
• Temporary: CT, MA, NV
• Working to pass: AZ, DC, IL, LA, MD, MO, MT, NC, ND, NE, NJ, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, VA, WA, WI

 

[bilby]

As if those are mutually exclusive.

School budgets are finite. Any dollar you spend on non-education expenses like meals or DEI officers and other political commissars is a dollar you do not spend on good teachers and educational resources.
And there are some horrible teachers out there. I sometimes tutor as a side hustle. Right before the pandemic, I tutored this girl who had a horrible teacher for AP Physics. I also had a music teacher who worked in a different county whom I helped in a statistics course for her continuing education. Anyway, that teacher physics had such a bad rep that this other teacher knew about her and what a horrible teacher she was. And yet, she was not let go.
US students are falling behind compared to students in other developed countries. We need more good teachers, and in general a focus on education, instead of focusing on ancillary matters like adding more and more free meals. Or inject political positions into the curriculum.

Primarily???

Slight hyperbole. But as far as increases in funding, education tends to fall behind these other priorities.

There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in Fox News.

Equally I could say there are more things than are dreamt of at Nation or Mother Jones.
I do not even watch Fox News. Sometimes I will read their online news stories, but mostly because there are some topics the likes of CNN and NY Times choose not to cover.

The move, which will cost $171.5 million in the next fiscal year, would make permanent a pandemic-related policy that provided free school meals for students in the past three years.

That's exactly what I mean. That money would be better spent improving actual education. Feeding your kids should be parents' responsibility. Only in exceptional cases where parents cannot fulfill that obligation should the state come in.
View attachment 43933
US is pretty low down the list. And that was 5 years ago, before the pandemic that really fucked up our schools. I already related the story of a local college that had to dumb down its curriculum because the kids these days cannot hack the full normal e.g. Chemistry curriculum so whole topics like redox/electrochemistry were cut out.

Free breakfasts and "reparations math" (and other attempts to politicize education) will not help any here.

Well, the nation that tops your educational rankings certainly agrees with you that kids shouldn't get free school lunches.

Oh, wait.

No they don't.

 

[lpetrich]

Do Justice Democrats Deserve to Fail? AOC To Blame? (w/ Daniel Marans) - YouTube
Briahna Joy Gray, host of podcast Bad Faith, interviewed Daniel Marans, author of the recent HuffPost about Justice Democrats laying off some people.

Interesting interview, and DM went into more detail, like how the JD's' candidates were originally supposed to be some confrontational bloc like the Tea Party or the Freedom Caucus. But the JD Congresspeople have been much less confrontational, and part of that may be differences in personality.

BJG was a Bernie Sanders campaigner in 2016 and she got started in journalism in 2018, as AOC was starting her political career. The culmination of that phase was her interview with AOC in early 2019 at the South by Southwest event: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez | SXSW 2019 - YouTube

She says that she cringes when she thinks back to that, how she gushed like a schoolgirl over AOC.

DM mentioned AIPAC and how it crushed Nina Turner and Andy Levin, and almost crushed Summer Lee. He also noted that Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democrats' new leader, seems fond of AIPAC, even describing Israel as NYC's 6th borough. That's like some place being the US's 51th state or Australia's 7th state. The two asked why progressives in Congress continue to grovel before a House leadership that shows such contempt for them.

Toward the end they mentioned all our tax dollars going to prop up Israel and Ukraine -- why does Israel get to have universal healthcare while the US doesn't?  Healthcare in Israel - "Healthcare in Israel is universal and participation in a medical insurance plan is compulsory. All Israeli residents are entitled to basic health care as a fundamental right." - the German system, which I like to call Bismarckcare.

They also mentioned progressives seeming to ignore left online media, though noting exceptions like Ro Khanna. Like Glenn Greenwald and Jimmy Dore having interviews with AOC in her first campaign. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Talks to Glenn Greenwald About the Democratic Party and 2018 Midterms - YouTube and Progressive Alexandria Ocasio Cortez Is Primarying Corporate Democrat In New York - YouTube

Though three months ago, Outdoing Herself, AOC Calls for Federal Ban on Tucker/Fox | SYSTEM UPDATE - YouTube -- Green Greenwald on AOC's "Authoritarian Escalation" - AOC proposing a gov't crackdown on Fox News personalities' inciting violence. GG claimed that Tucker Carlson has never incited violence.

Also, AOC Is A Big Victim & Won’t Stop Talking About It - YouTube - Jimmy Dore on AOC refusing to support his proposal to "Force the Vote" in 2021, to make Nancy Pelosi agree on a vote on Medicare for All in exchange for supporting her. He then goes on to mock AOC for complaining about the threats of violence that she has received, and for her traveling in an armored car.

 

[lpetrich]

Most Important 2024 House Candidate Who National Progressive Movement is Ignoring: Maebe A Girl – Blue America -- candidate in CA-30

When Blue America endorsed AOC against Joe “the next speaker” Crowley, everyone accused us of being crazy and wasting our contributors’ money. When she won, people were gobsmacked. But sometimes the good guys win. Not all the time; sometimes.

This morning I spoke with Maebe A Girl, the only outstanding and potentially history-making candidate running in L.A. this cycle. “Having come in 2nd place out of 9 candidates in 2022,” she told me, “our campaign is confident that we can win the open CA-30 House seat in the 2024 General Election. Our platform of economic equity, human rights, and environmental justice is widely appealing to this progressive district. While other candidates have raised more corporate dollars, our progressive, people-powered support can take us all the way to Washington.”

...
Last cycle, two Democrats faced off after they both won the 9-person primary, Adam Schiff and Maebe A Girl. In the general, Schiff who spent $18,036,600 took 71.1% to Maebe’s 28.9%, after she spent $31,579.

Adam Schiff, Katie Porter, and Barbara Lee have all departed the House to run for Senate

 

[lpetrich]

Over in Rhode Island,
After denials, Don Carlson acknowledges he broached romantic relationship with student | WPRI.com

After trying to kill the story for a week and then publicly denying its accuracy, Democrat Don Carlson acknowledged Friday he broached a romantic relationship with a student while serving as a college professor and expressed regret over his actions.

Carlson still has most campaign cash among RI Dems running for Congress | WPRI.com

Campaign-finance reports due to the Federal Election Commission by the end of the day Thursday showed most of the major candidates had less than $200,000 left in the bank for the final sprint.

The exception was Jamestown lawyer Don Carlson, who was still the best-funded candidate in the race as of Aug. 16 after loaning his campaign $600,000 earlier this year.

Carlson’s report showed he had $266,000 left in his campaign account as of Aug. 16, even though he’d received just $56,000 in donations over the previous six weeks — significantly less than his rivals. He loaned no additional money to his campaign during the reporting period.

After Carlson, the candidate with the most cash in the bank was former state Rep. Aaron Regunberg, who is now the widely acknowledged frontrunner in the primary. Regunberg had $191,000 left as of Aug. 16 after raising $159,000 over the previous six weeks.

Amo’s internal poll shows him second to Regunberg as Matos falls behind | WPRI.com

The poll of 451 voters conducted for Amo’s campaign found Regunberg at 28%, Amo at 19%, Matos tied with Sandra Cano at 11% each, and Don Carlson at 8%, with 15% still undecided.

The primary election is Sept. 5, a week and a half away, as I write this.

Howie Klein of Politics Blog | DownWithTyranny!:

Howie Klein on X: "Entitled, conservative multi-millionaire Don Carlson has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own to try to buy the open Rhode Island congressional seat. He also hit on one of his students when he was a professor... because entitled is entitled. (link)" / X
then
Howie Klein on X: "The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund has not withdrawn its endorsement of Carlson since it's a an identity politics outfit and NOT looking for the candidate who would do the most for the LGBTQ+ community" / X

 

[lpetrich]

Howie Klein on X: "You forgot @Maebe_A_Girl in CA-30, an extremely important candidate who should be enthusiastically supported. If you need an introduction, let me know" / X
Leftists 4 Office on X: "We know have just over 6 months until the first 2024 Congressional Primaries and less than 80 days (!) until the #RI01 special election.
Here's a list of some of the amazing Congressional candidates that we believe y'all should follow. (pic link)" / X

A sight for sore eyes.

A certain Hill Harper is running for US Senate in Michigan, challenging likely D frontrunner Elissa Slotkin for this seat, opened up by the retirement of Debbie Stabenow.

Several others are trying again, like Angelica Dueñas, Kina Collins, and Jason Call.

Jamie McLeod-Skinner is also trying again in OR-05, against the one who defeated her in the previous general election there, Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer. She advanced to that election after defeating long-time incumbent Kurt Schrader D-BigPharma in the D primary.

 

[Derec]

Most Important 2024 House Candidate Who National Progressive Movement is Ignoring: Maebe A Girl – Blue America -- candidate in CA-30

"Maebe" people would take xir more seriously if xe wasn't going by such a hokey moniker.
And besides being a perennial candidate, what does she do? Does she have a career? What are her qualifications? Education? What do we even know about this person?

When Blue America endorsed AOC against Joe “the next speaker” Crowley, everyone accused us of being crazy and wasting our contributors’ money.

Hate to say this, but "Maebe" is not like AOC. At all.

This morning I spoke with Maebe A Girl, the only outstanding and potentially history-making candidate running in L.A. this cycle. “Having come in 2nd place out of 9 candidates in 2022,”

With 12% of the vote.

she told me, “our campaign is confident that we can win the open CA-30 House seat in the 2024 General Election. Our platform of economic equity, human rights, and environmental justice is widely appealing to this progressive district.

What is "economic equity"? "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs"?
But yes, CA-30 is an extremely lopsided district. But the 2024 race will be crowded. Have there been any polls yet?

 

[Derec]

A certain Hill Harper is running for US Senate in Michigan, challenging likely D frontrunner Elissa Slotkin for this seat, opened up by the retirement of Debbie Stabenow.

The actor?

 

[bilby]

And besides being a perennial candidate, what does she do? Does she have a career? What are her qualifications? Education? What do we even know about this person?

Well, if by "we" you mean "people who are not prepared to look past the fact that they are a drag queen", absolute nothing.

Same as any candidate, really; If you don't care to find out, you're never gonna know.

Wikipedia has answers to all of your questions, in a brief and easy to read format. Your ignorance is therefore either wilful, or performative, and therefore says a lot more about you than about them.

 

[bilby]

A certain Hill Harper is running for US Senate in Michigan, challenging likely D frontrunner Elissa Slotkin for this seat, opened up by the retirement of Debbie Stabenow.

The actor?

I know, right? Who ever heard of an actor becoming a successful politician?

It would never have happened back when good old Ronnie Reagan was President.

Oh, wait.

Shit.