I don’t think there has been enough talk about the long-term effects of COVID in the framing of why we need distancing/shut down public health measures.

People looking at stats are thinking “Most people survive this. I’m not in a high risk group. Why can’t I just go to work?” We need much more public information about the fact that HEALTHY PEOPLE WHO CONTRACT COVID CAN DEVELOP LIFELONG LUNG AND HEART DAMAGE.

So while our immediate concern is “flattening the curve” to prevent overburdening our health care system, it’s not just about preventing deaths!

Hi again. It’s me. Your friendly neighborhood pragmatist.

Have you noticed that a lot of people are dying from a novel coronavirus, while others either can’t leave their homes, just lost their jobs, or are barely keeping it together in 1000 other ways?

You have noticed? Good. Well, I’d like you to really think about all the anger and fear that you’re feeling right now. The world is pretty fucked up. It makes sense to be angry and fearful!

But what maybe doesn’t make as much sense is who you’re angry at. Maybe right now you’re mad at Joe Biden. Okay.

I’m really done discussing Bernie as a candidate. He has no shot of winning the nomination, and our country faces much more important issues at the moment than his ego. He had years to make his case and he lost ground relative to 2016.

As PROGRESSIVES, can we please move on now? It’s clear that progressive policy ideas are popular.

Bernie Sanders, the candidate, is not.

The longer we allow our goals to be exclusively associated with HIM, rather than with the broad, inclusive, intersectional movement that preceded his 2016 run, the more we risk.

So here is some analysis you won’t hear from political commentators:

a HUGE part of the alignment around Joe Biden is not a young/old split. It’s a convergence in the middle.

Biden’s surprise blowout margins yesterday came from America’s redhead stepchild: Gen X. 1/12 If you dig into the exit polls, you will see that Biden won Gen X in EVERY category, across race and gender. We don’t usually roll this tight in primaries. There’s usually some cleavage, along at least one of those divisions. 2/12

Storytime.

When I was 17, I had a friend who was a typical proto-frat boy, rich kid type. He was a Republican, totally worshipped Ronald Reagan.

I privately thought of him as “Alex Keaton,” because this was the early 90’s, and all my other friends were either Dems or apathetic. When I first met him, he was stiff and a bit stuck up, but basically a sweet guy. We went out a few times, but all we did was argue about tax policy. Even at 17, I knew I couldn’t make it work with a Republican. But we were still friends, and our arguments were fun and friendly.

Here is a simple explanation for the difference between @BernieSanders and @KamalaHarris on reparations.

The Sanders position: Whatever helps society as a whole also helps black people.

The Harris position: Whatever helps black people also helps society as a whole.

1/ Harris’s is the better approach to address systemic inequality.

For example, school desegregation was meant to address systemic racial inequalities in education. We now have decades of evidence that shows that ALL students benefit from classroom diversity. 2/

In the last couple of days, I’ve seen several tweets referencing rumors about Kamala Harris’s sex life prior to her marriage. The implication of this smear campaign is plain: that a distinguished, intelligent, highly educated woman could only have gotten where she is via sex. 1/ At the risk of reinforcing gossip, I want to call out ANYONE on the left who feels the need to comment on Kamala’s - or any female candidate’s - private life. We are facing a critical election, and there’s plenty to talk about besides who someone might have f*cked. /2