Charles Booker

Ballots are still being counted almost everywhere. Kentucky has already announced that there will be no final vote count until June 30-- which is when the state's two biggest counties, Jefferson (Louisville) and Fayette (Lexington) plan to release their results.

He's young, he's probably gay and probably a murderer and definitely a fascist... but he's youngReid Wilson isn't exactly who I look to for good electoral news for progressives, but his post at The Hill yesterday, Wins by young progressives start reshaping establishment, was almost suspiciously, if not downright prematurely, optimistic.

Schumer picked a slate of miserable status quo Democratic Senate candidates for 2020. Not one of them stands for any change except the superficial change of replacing a corporate Republican with a corporate Democrat. If there's an anti-red wave, some of them will win. They define why there is no blue wave. There's nothing to vote for-- just a series of less-of-two evils races:

Yesterday, The Nation published a piece by Jeet Heer, Mitch McConnell Is Even Worse Than Trump, which notes that both are now basically AWOL is the pandemic crisis. While Trump spends his days "stirring up culture-war controversies with the media and Democrats as a way to move the discussion beyond the pandemic and the economic crisis. A distraction strategy makes sense because Trump has effectively given up on crafting any serious policy response to the pandemic.

Some states-- most of them blue-- pay far more into the federal government than they get out. Kentucky-- like many more economically backward red states-- get much more than they pay in. The 6 states that pay the most per capita for the least return are Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Colorado and Nebraska.

Pro-Life Republicans by Chip ProserThe idiot didn't mean any harm when he wished his Twitter followers a "Happy Good Friday" or when he told a TV audience later in the day to have a "great" Good Friday.

Pramila Jayapal-- still moving the country forwardYesterday, the Congressional Progressive Caucus let Pelosi know what they expect to be included in the next federal COVID-19 relief package. Although Pelosi was once a co-founder and active member of the caucus-- and although it's the biggest of the Democratic groupings in Congress-- Pelosi pays far more attention to what the Blue Dogs and New Dems want than what th

That was a Tweet from Señor Trumpanzee yesterday. It would be paranoid to say he opposes vote by mail because the GOP has put so much effort into being able to rig electronic voting machines. But paranoia doesn't always mean you're wrong, does it? I asked some of the progressive candidates we've been talking with how they felt about Trump's attempts to vilify and block vote by mail proposals.

If Bernie wins in November, a hostile McConnell-led Senate will be pretty deadly for all his plans. And with the Democrats very likely to lose their accidental Alabama seat, they have to win five seats for a majority. Or, one seat-- Kentucky's-- to knock out McConnell. Schumer's DSCC has picked Amy McGrath, a bland moderate who doesn't stand for much and who couldn't win a House seat in 2018 that is significantly more open to Democrats than the state as a whole is. McGrath has little to offer beyond McConnell-hatred. Democrats have been trying that for decades-- unsuccessfully.

Everybody keep your powder dryThat Bolton book release over the weekend sure did turn the impeachment trial on its head! Susan Collins' campaign sent out an emergency e-mail yesterday: "Susan has and continues to be a voice of reason that we can ALWAYS count on. But right now, she needs to know if she can count on us.