Third-party and independent candidate roundup

I eventually decded to pull these items from the most recent presidential roundup, as it was getting long. It posted yesterday; here it is. Also yesterday, a roundup of major international recent elections news.

Interestingly, a couple of items center on New York State. Cue Huey Lewis:

First, though?

Chase Oliver is the Libertarian presidential nominee. Not a Mises Mouse, but otherwise, on many issues, full of the Olde Tyme Libertarian gospel. Climate change is the biggest. The free market caused the climate crisis; it's bullshit claiming it will get us out. Gunz would be second. Supporting educational vouchers would be third. 

The batshits of Twitter, whether Mises Mice, or non-LP alt-rightists. started hating on him immediately anyway. And, then there's his own party chairwoman. See below.

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Second?

#MAGAts like to talk about election fraud. As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. moves in that direction, more and more, in many ways, will he talk about the moral version of election fraud, on residency, he seems to be committing himself? Showing the fear that full-on MAGAts have of Brainworm Bobby stealing votes from Donald Duck Trump, the Guardian piece notes that the New York Post reported on it first.

Meanwhile, even after being gaslit by him on abortion, Bob Jr.'s Veep, Nicole Shanahan, gave $8 million of her bucks to the campaign.

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That said, Oliver has, or had, another problem: LP Chair Angela McArdle. As of last week, McAwful, she of the idea of bringing Donald Trump and RFK Jr. to the Libertarian convention, had yet to endorse Oliver as party prez nominee, and in fact was still fellating Trump.

And, since writing that paragraph above June 2, it's gotten worse. McAwful officially has Trump Delightment Syndrome, per Third Party Watch, which reports she will officially, so it seems, fellate Trump in red states, but, poutingly I presume, endorse Oliver in blue states. A 37-minute video of her ramblings for the strong at heart.

TPW also reports that the Montana LP has officially rejected him as a candidate. Will he sue? McAwful will surely do nothing, contra the Green Party, which in 2021 decertified the Alaska GP for pulling that stunt with Jesse the Body in 2020. So, Chase, it's you or nobody.

As for the Montana LP claiming "it's looking out for itself"? The Alaska GP made vague nods that way, too. Know what? Whether true or not, it still turns a national party into Articles of Confederation US instead of Constitution US. And, GP National, unlike McAwful's likely inaction a year from now, decertified Alaska's GP at its 2021 convention.

Sidebar: One IPR commenter is a birther, tho not a MAGAts member, and I can't tell if they're a Mises Mouse or not. I told him on one post I wasn't engaging with him there any more on the birtherism. Said nutter, "Nuña," has gotten worse since then, being a No True Scotsman on L/libertarianism, then claiming (no, really) that neoliberalism is "far-left."

Update: Colorado LP has joined Montana. Let the Libertarian crack-up begin.

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And continuing on that thread?

"Libertarians for Kennedy" is looking at getting Brainworm Bobby and Cucker Shanahan to run on certain state LP ballot lines. Organizers of this effort say that Oliver would have to cooperate, but put that in such a way that they expect it to be guaranteed. More on the batshit lunacy here, which, given that McAwful refuses to endorse Oliver, has more than 0, even if not a lot more than 0, chance of success.

It has less than zero to the degree that McAwful will back Trump as much as possible. State LPs like Montana will probably look at a Mises Mouse Libertarian first and Trump second. Maybe the other way around. Brainworm Bobby will be a distant third.

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And, just when I think Brainworm Bobby's campaign can't get worse, it does! Turns out that old Movement for a People's Party grifter Nick Brana is Bob Jr's campaign ballot access director, per an IPR piece about Bob and the Natural Law Party.

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Now, New York.

Dear Jill Stein: Answer me this. How could you fall short on New York ballot access signatures when a LaRouchie independent candidate for US Senate crushed it with ease, with the same numbers required? (Yes, Sare also ran in 2022, but she's an independent, not a third-party candidate, and you ran in 2016 and 2012.)

Actually, maybe Libertarian nominee Oliver should answer first. According to Independent Political Report, which says RFK Jr. will be the only non-duopoly candidate on the NY ballot, Oliver was WAY behind Stein. 

Actually, that's been answered in comments at Independent Political Report. LP national apparently refused to pay the freight for signature gathering, apparently pouting, even before the convention, that they couldn't get a Mises Mouse the nomination. See below.

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Related to other Brainworm Bobby stuff? Shanahan loves her some Tucker Carlson, er Cucker Tarlson.

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Meanwhile, for the Ye Olde Time Libertarians who have tired of the Oliver-McAwful drama, and who had tired of the Mises Mice long earlier, the YOTLs are officially founding a "Liberty Party."

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Finally, though not tightly tied to the 2024 elections, via IPR, this year's Freedom Fest promises to be a lollapalooza of nuttery.

• Ev Psych fundamentalists like Steve Pinker (also full of shit on other things) and Matt Ridley (ditto).
• Rob Schneider, not funny in movies and not intelligent as a would-be pundit;
• Javier Milei, who will Make Argentina Garbage Again;
• Michael Schellenberger, fake enviro and climate change denialist;
• Pseudoskeptic Michael Shermer;
• Antivaxxer deluxe Del Bigtree;
• A bunch of other A-list grifters;
• Wayne Allen Root, Libertarian edgelord-grifter, and junior Trump wannabe;
• Multiple Skousens;
• Junior grifters that also appear to include at least one transhumanist and definitely include at least one other antivaxxer;
• A guy who self-presumes to be so well known that he's "Joe from Texas."

Gee, who could not fall in love with an event that once again proves that when "FreeDumb" is part of the name, the Dumb is usually along for the ride. (Oh, and on most the names above, either here or on Twitter, I have the receipts.)

Yeah, Jill Stein is there, but, per the above? She at least plays footsie with antivaxxerism. Anyway, she's not a featured speaker; she's on the B-team.

Also, the event is tawdry in some ways. You can't spell Jacob Sullum's name correctly? There's a couple of others, too.

And, there's a number of investment advice gurus. How much you wanna bet they're all peddling crypto?

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This July 19 roundup has info on LP National vs Colorado state, St. Bernard of Sanders sheepdogging and more.

This Aug. 9 roundup had info on some of Brainworm Bobby's, aka Wasted Space's, ballot access lies and more.

This Aug. 30 roundup had a Socialist Workers Party cult nutter trying to perform entryism on me in comments.

D-Day for international politics

President Macron of France doesn't have to worry about inviting Russians to D-Day. He's a strong-presidency president with time left on his term. That said, any continued talk about getting French troops involved in the Russia-Ukraine War might be a different story!

And, with that, let's jump into a brief roundup of non-US elections.

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In India, Narendra Modi appears to have won a third term, but, with India in a parliamentary system, he'll have to do that as part of a coalition, as the BJP fell short of an outright majority. It wound up about 35 seats, or 7 percentage points, short of a Lok Sabha majority. Dalits and lower-caste Hindus turned against him; the result was bad enough he lost the key state of Uttar Pradesh.

That second link has other takeaways, the biggie being that Thomas Piketty and other economists note that income inequality in Modi's India is worse than in the British Raj! Second-biggest being that Dalits worried that a Modi landslide would mean amending the constitution to eliminating affirmative action for them, and Muslims worrying that the constitution would be amended to eliminate references to India as a secular state.

For me, the question is, will this trim his Hindutva sails, or will it drive him to become even more of what he already is? 

Second question? Has America's own Hindutva-fascist Tulsi Gabbard thrown herself off a bridge in despair?

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With Mexico's election just conducted, a retrospective on AMLO from The Nation. The Texas Observer reprints a piece by a consortium of Hispanic journalists that doesn't dive that deep. It's a shame, but not a surprise. 

There's plenty else to dissect about both AMLO and successor Claudia Sheinbaum. One is that — and this gets to the issue of HOW the Observer missed the mark — they're not always what NorteAmericano leftists have cracked them up as being. For example, per this piece, neither is a good environmentalist. And, while neither is an American neoliberal, overall, neither is as leftist as the above cracking up. Or, another way, the actual President Lopez Obrador is not that close to the previous 2006 presidential candidate Lopez Obrador.

Unless you're the National Endowment for Democracy, which decided to salute Sheinbaum's election by doing a hack job hit piece on AMLO.

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Written last week, before all votes were counted, this Counterpunch piece sums up the clusterfuck of the South African elections. The ANC losing its majority, but still able to govern with coalition partners will likely further destabilize that country. Unfortunately, two of the most likely partners to coalition with are run by blatant ethnopopulists with their own problems.

As for the actual counting? The ANC barely hit 40 percent nationwise, down from 57 percent. The MK Party, run by one of those ethnopopulists, former president and former ANC head Jacob Zuma, soared to 15 percent. ANC leadership insisted Cyril Ramphosa will remain president, as if there's much of a choice inside the ANC or from the partners. But, that may be just whistling in the dark. Per the first link, Zuma thinks Ramphosa is behind his previous corruption conviction and ongoing woes, and says MK will not coalition with the ANC if Ramphosa is still in power.

That said, per that "barely hit" link? Yes, it's good that the ANC has lost its absolute majority. It might be forced to look at itself.

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In all three countries, with two of them members of the "BRICS" acronym group, the income inequality growth will be a lead anchor on their economic short-term futures. China's also dealing with that, but a population on the decline will produce some pressures and alleviate others. It's hard to imagine Modi, with the world's largest population and a hate for Dalits as well as Muslims, really adjusting much.

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Update, June 9: The AfD was CRUSHING IT in Germany in EU-wide elections for the European Parliament, with Chancellor Sgt. Scholz and his Social Democrats being the chief crushees.

Presidential update, June 6

Yes, it is D-Day, and France's President Macron pissed off other NATO members last month by inviting Russian representatives, though not President Putin, the the 80th anniversary.

As I said on Twitter then to US Nat-Sec Nutsacks™ and their fellow travelers bitching about it? Arguably the US used the old USSR to fight a proxy war in World War II, launching the Normandy invasion only when it was relatively safe. So shut up, mongers of the current proxy war.

Now, to US presidents, and to the US in general, not yet a failed state, but yes, a failing one. (Hold on to both those thoughts, though.)

This was getting long enough, though, that I have extracted third-party and independent candidate information into a separate post.

Ditto on major international elections news.

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A late May Quinnipiac poll (registered voters, not restricted to "likelys") shows Genocide Joe with a narrow edge over Donald Duck Trump, an edge that grows if Brainworm Bobby (and other non-duopoly candidates) are in the mix. 

Bigger takeaways, as I told Winger at Ballot Access News? These:

1. Biden needs to play up the hell out of abortion and hope that Kacsmaryk makes another dumb-ass ruling to help him out.

2. Biden needs to hope Bibi actually pretends to listen to him, as Biden pretends to be tough on Bibi.

3. Biden needs to hope Trump is convicted.

4. Yeah, I know US potential voters (poll is of registereds, not likelys) are idiots, and this proves it. Stein is third-party, but she's also a 3-time retread and 70 percent say they still don't know enough about her?

5. Per Walt Whitman, the mind of the average voter contains multitudes, and boy are they stupid.

Yep, snarking away. 

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That poll, of course, is before Orange (Jumpsuit?)  Cheetoh was convicted. Will that small minority of Republicans who have said that a Trump conviction would be a game-changer stand by their words, or will it turn out to be nothing but poseuring for polls?

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One more poll, also taken before Trump's verdict but likely to be unchanged by it. Among those under the age of 30, support for Genocide Joe is below 25 percent. Brainworm Bobby is now in double figures. Even more, the idea of undervoting (c'mon, kids, look past Brainworm Bobby to the non-Stein left) is surging.

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Remember how Mike Dukakis said a fish rots from the head down? How true that is of the Biden Administration and Gaza.

Here's #GenocideJoe himself, in official White House statement, lying about the ICC arrest warrants. And, via the Intercept, arguably he's being bribed to lie about that, to let the IDF continue to commit human rights violations and more.

That's followed by Secretary of State Tony Blinken lying about Palestinian statehood's consequences. Note that Blinken did NOT say "Hamas" or "Gaza." He said "Palestine." Of course, Israel's already strangled the "two-state solution" anyway.

Of course, Blinken's OK with hooking up with Zelensky on UkiNazi turf. Azov Batallion ain't Palestinians.

Meanwhile, last week, GenocideJoe said that Israel's butchery in Rafah had NOT crossed his red line. Breaking: Biden lies like a cheap suit. And, John Kirby, his NSC spox, is rotting just below the head. What an obsequious toady. 

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And, at the same time last week, Genocide Joe might have moved into Dementia Joe territory when he gave Ukraine's president, the Zaftig Zelensky, permission to use US weapons inside Russian territory. This is arguably more important than the Trump verdict, BlueAnon. Very arguably.

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Biden's also anonymously spying on pro-Palestinian college kids.

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#GenocideJoe is now also #CensorshipJoe. Klippenstein has those details, too.

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Per Brian Beutler, Biden is a Dum Fuq on Middle Eastern geopolitics. Maybe it's the Irish Alzheimer's including stubbornness along with grudge-holding?

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Ed Kilgore is a neoliberal squish, but in the "chess game" world, his "disaster scenarios" piece for Biden and Trump is worth half a read. 

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Speaking of? Biden and BlueAnons thinking Trump's conviction will give #GenocideJoe a bump should look at polling in Israel. Karim Khan's announcement of the ICC arrest warrant for Bibi Netanyahu seems to have given him a bump, not top opponent Benny Ganz. Beyond that, it's going to be partially offset, or more, by Hunter Biden's trial.

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Half of all self-proclaimed independents think Trump should drop out; that includes two-thirds of "double haters" of both him and Biden. As for voting? About one in ten Republicans say they'll be less likely to vote for him. Of those self-proclaimed independents? Of them, 16 percent more likely, 26 percent less likely, and there you have the clearest indication ever that about half of "independents" are really Rethuglicans or Democraps in drag to some fair degree.

Phelan's choice

It's not Sophie's choice, but it is interesting, the future for current Texas Speaker of the House Dade "Dade" Phelan.

A majority of incoming Texas House Republicans want the practice of committee chairs for Dems to end. It's presumed that if Phelan agrees, Dems won't support him for Speaker again. It's also presumed, in that Trib piece, that Phelan would agree. Neither logically stands up. Even without getting committee chairs, Dems could still see the alternative as far nuttier, and break 100 percent for Phelan. Or Phelan, a political creature, and knowing that the 46 Rethugs so far are only a tiny majority of the GOP caucus, could tell them to go get stupid and go to business as usual. This ties with Phelan winning his runoff and meaning that GOP factionalism still exists. Weirder yet, both Trib pieces are by the same author.

Elsewhere, the same Trib author, Jacob Scherer, who's not a rookie, notes that Shelby Slawson has joined Tom Oliverson in officially running against Phelan. The old horse-racing theme of "when the favorites split" would seem to apply. So would a certain lack of horse sense from Scherer.

Besides, per the Monthly, crossover Dem voters presumably helped Phelan win the runoff.

Two other takeaways. First, I remember when $10 million being blown to run for a US Senate seat was obscene. $10 million for a state House seat? I also remember when Texas Rethugs lambasted Dems for taking so much out-of-state money. Well, with that Phelan runoff and beyond, we're shockingly in the land of the hypocrisy alert. Shock me that, at the top, it's über-Zionist nutbar and now, part of new Dallas Mavericks ownership, Miriam Adelson.

Texas Progressives talk runoffs and more

Kenny Boy is abusing Texas' consumer protection laws to investigate GoFundMe if it has the "wrong" fundraisers, along with many other such shenanigans. And, of course, his office refused to talk about it to ProPublica.

Speaking of ProPublica, in a look at the Michigan GOP, it shows this isn't even Trump's party any more. Trump-tapped candidates will lose primaries or non-primary elections for party offices and other things if they're not nutters enough.

Washington State has a law barring convicted felons from running for office. Trump's appeal, per details of the law at that link, surely won't be adjudicated until after November. He had about zero chance of winning there anyway, but it still frees up Biden resources for elsewhere and could be a downballot lead anchor for Republicans. (The political reality of Trump's conviction in general, contra Kuff's proposed intro, for this week's Roundup, will be discussed tomorrow.)

Off the Kuff reacted to the Democratic primary runoffs and the possible election redo from 2022.

Yes, Israel is committing genocide; ergo, the US is abetting genocide. BlueAnons like Kuff surely wish this would just go away. It won't.

Speaking of, at UT, Jewish students are dividing more sharply between Zionist and anti-Zionist. Bet Kuff has nothing about that, either.

Did anybody expect anything other than the actual ruling on abortion by the Texas Supreme Court? That said, I don't know what "broader challenge" would capture Justice Brett Busby's fancy.

Mike Morath goes shilling for fundagelical Christians trying to take over state school curricula. First, Mike, stop lying. Second, Mike, this won't make the likes of Wilks and Dunn any more favorable.

The Texas Secretary of State's office admits that legislation last year lessens ballot secrecy, but some election conspiracy wingnuts want it that way.

SocraticGadfly offers his latest round of thoughts on the possibility of the Presidential race going to the House.

Neil at the Houston Democracy Project said we should not normalize misery & we must demand our elected officials address the root causes of misery. 

The Eyewall considers possible scenarios in which this year's hurricane season won't suck so much. 

The Texas Signal presents a brief history of Pride in Texas.  

Equality Texas celebrates the HD146 runoff results. Progress Texas compiled a list of Pride events for you. 

 Law Dork reminds us that Justice Sam Alito thinks we're all chumps.

New pseudo-environmentalist head fake from Ken Salazar?

Last week, I saw a piece by Center for Biological Diversity citing Ken Salazar, our ambassador to Mexico, calling for a block of Mexican avocados being imported to the US, and I had multiple thoughts about the comment, and about the commenter.

We'll start with my thoughts about the comments, then frame them within my thoughts about the commenter.

Ken Salazar, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, recently stated that avocados produced on plantations created by illegal deforestation shouldn't have a place in the U.S. market. It's time to turn those words into action.

The United States has made numerous international pledges to halt deforestation including commodity-driven deforestation. But it continues to allow the importation and promotion of Mexican avocados from deforested lands.

The concern is loss of monarch butterfly lands in Mexico, which is legit. From earlier in the piece:

The area of land used for avocado production is predicted to grow 70% by 2050. Nearly 2,400 acres of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve have already been destroyed. Sadly this year's monarch population count was the second lowest ever recorded. If their winter home disappears, so will the butterflies.

But, Ken Salazar?

I thought: is this THAT Ken Salazar? The "Kenny Boy" along with Ken Lay of Enron and Ken Paxton of today? The man who I said was Dear Leader's worst Cabinet member outside of Tim Geithner? The man who told lies on behalf of BP and the Deepwater Horizon blowout? Repeatedly? Whom Obama kept around?

The man whom Gang Green kowtowed to over wolf ESA delistings? The man whom the aforementioned CBD was part of the kowtowing to?

The man who was in cahoots with Susan Combs on fake protections for the dunes sagebrush lizard?

The man who Hillary Clinton said in 2016 would lead her presidential transition team if she were elected?

First, by the person, yes, it's the same.

Second, by the persona, I expect it's the same, and don't trust this.

My first thought was that Salazar's statement was a fig leaf for trade protectionism for US-grown avocados.

Friend Chris Nagano offered another thought on Twitter.

This is a substitute for ESA listing for the monarch in the US. Do this, and say, "we've done all we can," Chris said.

(Spider milkweed, author photo at left, is among types liked by monarchs, and other butterflies.)

After all, in 2020, Fish and Wildlife said, in essence, "hey, they need help but they're going to have to sit at the back of the bus." They haven't updated that, but they have boasted since then about, "look at them visit milkweed at a fish hatchery!"

Option 2a would include "voluntary conservation habitats," of course. Like FWS fish hatcheries!

There's also the issue of just how sustainable avocados are as a crop. So, from the CBD link, this:

Since most avocados come from legal, longstanding avocado farms, banning imports associated with deforestation won't hurt the livelihoods of law-abiding avocado producers or keep people in the United States from eating avocado toast and guacamole.

Maybe we need to be eating less guac and avocado toast?

Seriously, the idea that we can continue current US avocado consumption when deforestation in Mexico has been fueling an import surge for a decade and leading to monocropping, whether or not from technically legal farms? (Per the first link, many of the farms are technically legal, but no more than that.) That's laughable, CBD.

Also laughable is that the top link is tied to a fundraising ask. Gotta get those millennials to donate while they eat their avocado toast. CBD coming close to Gang Green territory?

Part of the problem is avocado having become viewed as a "superfood," too. All good environmental agencies should be preaching against that nonsense.

Climate scientists in despair

As we should all be, per this Guardian piece.

And, the piece was written before the latest sweltering in Mexico. 

This:

“I think 3C is being hopeful and conservative. 1.5C is already bad, but I don’t think there is any way we are going to stick to that. There is not any clear sign from any government that we are actually going to stay under 1.5C.”

Is your entree nutgraf.

It's true. Much of the second half of the piece talks about how 1.5C is a political game. Only about 25 percent of surveyed scientists think the world will hold there. I'm on record as saying that I think James Hansen is right and there's a good chance we hit 4C by the end of this century.

What I find most interesting, is one biggie, with two subparts.

Not a single United States scientist is cited, and definitely not the Climate Change Obamiacs like Michael Mann and Katharine Hayhoe. That's because they're part of the socio-political hackery on this issue.

Otherwise, those who think we can hold the line below 2.5C, even? They seem to expect too much from what I call salvific technologism or what Yevgeny Morozov calls solutionism.

More EVs? Will be partially offset by more data centers.

Replacements for concrete will be slow and very partial.

Most of the developed world cutting its meat eating by 70 percent rather than holding out hope for vaccinating cows against belching and farting so much (and with what currently unknown side effects?) is not likely.

This:

“The good news is the worst-case scenario is avoidable,” said Michael Meredith, at the British Antarctic Survey. “We still have it in our hands to build a future that is much more benign climatically than the one we are currently on track for.” But he also expects “our societies will be forced to change and the suffering and damage to lives and livelihoods will be severe”.

Is at least halfway realistic. But, would a Mann or Hayhoe even say it right now?

And, don't look, but as we see that cleaner marine diesel may be a contributor to warmer ocean waters, the push for geoengineering will likely increase.

COVID: The truth is still in a triangulated third side on St. Anthony of Fauci and Blue Anon vs wingnuts

Dr. Brad Wenstrup is probably less wingnut than many GOP Housecritters. But, at the same time, he's ex-military, ie, Nat-Sec Nutsacks™ material. Dr. Raul Ruiz is is certainly among idealists among House Democrats.

That said, the truth on COVID, and on Anthony Fauci, is in between.

Fauci has lied before, contra many Democrats who still do a blank-check defense.

His original one over mask efficaciousness was perhaps a Platonic noble lie, but at the same time, for setting the stage for the level of tribalism and COVID denialism we're at today, was arguably the worst of his lies. That was followed by a somewhat less Platonic one over herd immunity and vaccine percentages. And, his leaked emails revealed further lies and his reveling over being BlueAnon's St. Anthony of Fauci, as well as showing his decades-long skill at bureaucracy and political infighting. Much more on those emails here.

Shortly after that, on his emails, he started getting more publicly butt-hurt.

Meanwhile, he (and Collins) lied by minority-accepted-only definition on supporting or not supporting gain of function research, which ties directly to Peter Daszak and his EcoHealth Alliance.

And, the lab-leak remains plausible on COVID. That said, contra Republicans, these lab leaks have happened in the US, too, often associated with Peter Daszak and his EcoHealth Alliance.

So, today's latest grilling of Fauci will likely have turned out to once again be Kabuki theater as much as anything. Until EcoHealth gets federal sanctions (which Dems and Team Biden won't support) Daszak won't run a better ship in either the US or China. A lawyered-up Fauci will continue to give buttoned-down answers.

And, the tribalism? Gaslighting Peter Hotez. Cheap-points-scoring American Humanist Association.

There's tribalism on the other side, too. Wenstrup is not running for re-election, so probably not him personally, but the Rand Pauls of the world, yes. See above about how Fauci indirectly fueled some of this.

As for the possibility of a lab leak? Fauci's lies by definition had him also stating that we should continue to fund the then-stonewalling and still-stonewalling Wuhan Institute of Virology. Try defending that one, Ruiz. (Hotez has also gotten gain of function funding.)

As for the possibility of a lab leak? I still support what ProPublica wrote two years ago, and its defense of that. The indefatigable (on COVID ONLY!; he's getting a takedown here next week) Jamie Metzl pushes this even more, along with a blistering call-out of Daszak.

As for more nefarious possibilities? I originally rejected a weaponization idea. I have since let that door open a crack, but still lean against it.

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Testimony takeaways: The biggest, per CNN, is that Fauci threw Daszak under the bus and supports suspending funding for EcoHealth.

Disagree with MLB including Negro Leagues stats as MLB

Yes, I know Baseball Reference was doing it two full years ago, and I know that MLB players of today are celebrating Rob Manfred's action to make it official. That still doesn't make it right or smart. Or accurate. Or anything more than cheap marketing.

I mean, this IS the guy who gave us "ghost runners" at second base for regular season extra inning games, and before that had his famous "hunk of metal" comment. (The MLB World Series trophy, in reality, IS BETTER LOOKING than either the Lombardi or O'Brien trophies. The Stanley Cup is sui generis.) The pitch clock? MLB always had one for bases empty; nobody enforced it for decades.

One commenter on Reddit's r/MLB last week (not the post below, but that gets into it more) summed it up for me and, I think, many others.

First, the stats are bigly incomplete. (B-Ref admitted that 2 years ago, but did it anyway.)

Second, it's a whitewashing of baseball history.

On the first, B-Ref should have continued to list Negro League stats as they were, with WAR comparisons and other sabermetrics within the Negro Leagues. That's part of the problem with B-Ref. It claims the Negro League stats are "major league," but any sabermetrics it does have, AFAIK, are purely intra-Negro Leagues.

Related? As MLB admitted, park dimensions varied widely in the Negro Leagues, even versus MLB oddities of that era like Ebbets Field and the Polo Grounds.

The COVID-shortened season was still played in regular MLB ballparks, and should not have been an influence in the decision.

As for B-Ref? It could, at a minimum, do like its Basketball Reference cousin does with NBA and ABA stats, on career and season totals, give me three columns: MLB-only, Negro Leagues-only, and combined. But it won't.

Beyond the whitewashing, it comes off as another marketing stunt from Mr. Hunk of Metal. And, I don't care if even the often illuminating John Thorn backs this. It's wrong. And, it doesn't undo past wrong.

Plus, it assumes that all Negro Leaguers were MLB caliber.

They weren't.

So, I agree with a number of Reddit commenters in this r/mlb thread. It IS apples to oranges, especially on sabermetrics. And, yes, it does seem like a cheap marketing play by Commissioner Hunk of Metal. And, another reason to continue to have less and less interest in the history of baseball. So, no to both Major League Baseball and to Baseball Reference: Josh Gibson ain't the all-time batting leader.

Now, why B-Ref went down this road, other than MLB first discussing this idea after the COVID season, I don't know. It didn't have to. It's not owned by MLB. But, it did.