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Sen. Feinstein dies at age 90


Gil Bang

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My grandmother was always very sharp, but around age 90 she started saying things like.... that. "Where do I live? Oh, Houston. Have I always lived there?". Of course, my grandmother wasn't a US senator and had been retired for about 30 years by that point. 

 

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The wheelchair photo last week was sad and cause for sympathy. I recall her in her prime.

She taxes that sympathy in this pathetic effort of acting only in her immediate self-interest. She should be replaced on all of her committees. Let her know this will surely happen if she does not resign. If she will resign, promise a great send-off with a medal of freedom and the naming of a cloak room for her.

One brief chance at saving face then act in the best interests of the republic.

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She reminds of that scene in “parenthood” with Steve Martin and his wife. 
 

Wife “for her age, your grandmother had a lot of life wisdom to share.  You should listen to her more!”

steve (looks out curtain) “if she’s so wise, why is she sitting in the neighbor’s car?”

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3 hours ago, RomaVicta said:

The wheelchair photo last week was sad and cause for sympathy. I recall her in her prime.

She taxes that sympathy in this pathetic effort of acting only in her immediate self-interest. She should be replaced on all of her committees. Let her know this will surely happen if she does not resign. If she will resign, promise a great send-off with a medal of freedom and the naming of a cloak room for her.

One brief chance at saving face then act in the best interests of the republic.

Does she even know what her self interest is?  Doesn't sound like it.

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On 5/1/2023 at 7:23 PM, Sawbonz said:

I’ve taken care of many over the years who have done themselves and others serious harm up to and including death. Risk of causing MVA goes up significantly above age 75, and the severity of the wrecks goes up as well. I have no doubt it is a nonlinear increase the older you go above 75, but none of the studies I’ve seen break it down further, though with the aging of the population I’m sure they will eventually. 

Man, I'm only 53 but I am perfectly good with the government providing me a driver when I get even older.  I have heard some countries give folks nannies for the first year of child birth, so I guess I missed out on that.    Also, I will most likely hit the driver in the shins with my cane and yell "Faster, I'm running out of time!" a few times, so I hope that's OK.  Just don't make me take the bus like a damn peasant. 

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Man, I'm only 53 but I am perfectly good with the government providing me a driver when I get even older.  I have heard some countries give folks nannies for the first year of child birth, so I guess I missed out on that.    Also, I will most likely hit the driver in the shins with my cane and yell "Faster, I'm running out of time!" a few times, so I hope that's OK.  Just don't make me take the bus like a damn peasant. 

Re: the nanny bit - Japan has daycare centers staffed by retirees. Olds love the socialization and getting to spend time with the kids, and it keeps both elder care and childcare costs/burdens manageable.

Now, of course, this is in the interest of maintaining the only working culture in the developed world as psychotic as America’s, but I’ve always thought that was a really good idea.
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58 minutes ago, gmr548 said:


Re: the nanny bit - Japan has daycare centers staffed by retirees. Olds love the socialization and getting to spend time with the kids, and it keeps both elder care and childcare costs/burdens manageable.

Now, of course, this is in the interest of maintaining the only working culture in the developed world as psychotic as America’s, but I’ve always thought that was a really good idea.

It is less psychotic because they have a social safety net much more robust than ours

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3 hours ago, ChuckNorrisActionJeans said:

How long would it take between an announcement of resignation and the time when a Newsome-appointed warm body could have their ass in there actively voting/working? Just wondering if some bullshit interim delay factors into this at all.

like shit through a goose.

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4 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

like shit through a goose.

This makes zero sense to me, but I'm laughing because it sounds like something an extremely powerful, senile 89-year old would say to a reporter when asked, "What is your plan for pushing through President Biden's judicial appointments.?" 

"Well, we're gonna get it done like we did last year against the Ottoman Empire...we're gonna punch it through like shit through a goose.  Then we'll all go out to the box social for lemonade and an all-white baseball game."

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If Schiff doesn't have the support of a relatively popular governor, he most likely won't win. Or at least he needs Newsome to stay out of the fray.

Has Newsome commented on the possibility of appointing someone? He could find someone that is committed to not running. Find another older CA politician who is willing to enjoy a 18 month stint as a senator. But if he wants Barbara Lee to win it, perhaps he would appoint her as well.

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okay, so putting aside the silly memes from upthread...we literally have a "Weekend at Bernie's" situation being played out in real time in the 1-vote majority U.S. Senate with Schiff and a Pelosi playing the parts of the incomparable Jonathan Silverman and Andrew McCarthy?  

Yeah that tracks for this fucking timeline.  

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Also if you are older and you have not gotten the NEWER shingles vaccine, you are a moron.  My Dad is now 92, about 2 years ago he had a car pull right in front of hime going about 45 mph. Destroyed his 4 month old Subaru, but the more modern safety features likely saved his life.  He had 2 broken ribs on one side and 4 broken ribs on the other and a cracked sternum.  He said that the recovery from that was actually easier than when he had shingles.  He was lucky and the nastiness stayed away from his face and eyes.  But ran down along the back of his leg and he battled the shit for months, and it incapacitated him.  He would be feeling pretty good one minute and then lose all strength in his leg without warning and practically collapse.

If it were me I might indeed just toss in the towel and resign.  But as I point out above, even a completely senile Feinstein is on par mentally to Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville.

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3 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

If Schiff doesn't have the support of a relatively popular governor, he most likely won't win. Or at least he needs Newsome to stay out of the fray.

Has Newsome commented on the possibility of appointing someone? He could find someone that is committed to not running. Find another older CA politician who is willing to enjoy a 18 month stint as a senator. But if he wants Barbara Lee to win it, perhaps he would appoint her as well.

Newsom has said he would appoint a black woman to the empty seat.

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2 hours ago, horn4life said:

Also if you are older and you have not gotten the NEWER shingles vaccine, you are a moron.

quoted for truth

i had a notification to get mine, ignored it, got shingles... i fucked around and found out.

and it appears i had a relatively MILD case

don't be me

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31 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

I was 28.  It’s fucking sucked, and mine was relatively minor. 

I was 37. Mine was also minor and just on my legs, but it was very painful. Getting my vaccine as soon as I turn 50. I think that's the minimum age it's approved?

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29 minutes ago, Cap33 said:

I was 37. Mine was also minor and just on my legs, but it was very painful. Getting my vaccine as soon as I turn 50. I think that's the minimum age it's approved?

Yeah I think there are two now, but both are early to mid 50’s to get?   

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Absolutely infuriating.

https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2023-05-24/as-staff-shield-feinstein-from-the-press-a-picture-really-is-worth-a-thousand-words-essential-california

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Since her recent return, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and her staff have used every trick in the book to stay out of sight and at a distance from the press.

In committee meetings, her public remarks have been limited and she is always surrounded by staff. They also often form a human barrier between her and the press corps, with one staffer pushing her wheelchair while others shout at photographers to move out of the way.

One member of this protective bubble is Nancy Corinne Prowda, Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s eldest daughter, who was first observed by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Shira Stein. Since Feinstein returned to Washington, I’ve found myself regularly watching as Prowda runs interference and shields the senator from reporters, sometimes placing herself between them.

This drive to protect the senator isn’t entirely new. Rolling Stone reported that in recent years, Feinstein’s office has implemented a system to prevent the senator from ever walking around the Capitol on her own.

It didn’t always work.

Once, in 2021, I came across Feinstein leaving a hearing alone. I briefly chatted with her, asking her how she was doing.

“You again,” she said to me with a smile.

She stopped in the hallway and looked in each direction. She walked down the hall, paused, turned around and went in the opposite direction. A staffer soon ran out of the committee room and down the hall after the senator.

 

Quote

Her staff’s efforts to protect the former San Francisco mayor from scrutiny have intensified since her return, and ratcheted up further after my colleague Benjamin Oreskes caught up with Feinstein on her way back from a vote. During that conversation, she appeared to not recall she’d been absent from Congress for months due to her illness.

These days, the senator is escorted on paths to and from the Senate chamber, where cameras aren’t allowed. Politico reported that her office requested that the Capitol Hill security apparatus keep the press as far from her as possible.

For two days in a row last week, the Senate sergeant-at-arms office has said her arrival at the Capitol “is closed press,” shutting doors and using the Capitol police to chase journalists out of hallways and public spaces. This unprecedented act of restricting press freedom only raises more questions.

I photographed the senator as a staff member tried to hide her wheelchair behind a pillar at a low-profile exit last week. A Capitol Police officer shouted at me to move back — despite already being 30 feet away from the senator. Feinstein waved as she was escorted to a waiting vehicle.

Aide interacts with Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

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It’s infuriating but also incredibly sad and tragic.

Senator Feinstein was a pioneer and legend. She should’ve retired with honor and fanfare that celebrated her amazing legacy.

Now she won’t be remembered for any of that and will be dismissed and vilified when she leaves.

And her staff should be charged with impersonating a government official.

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I don't know about "vilified", but certainly to your point-dismissed, and quite misremembered.  

The more this plays out, the more I wonder what the fuck her senior staff is thinking.  Did they cut a deal with another prominent Democrat, another donor, perhaps a GOP operator?  Because their careers are fucking done.  They'll be lucky to be baristas by the end of her term.  They must have made some other backup arrangement to continue this damaging charade.  There's no other reason they would do this to their futures, to the legacy of Sen. Feinstein, to their party, to their country.  They have some other off-ramp, but the junior staffers, Feinstein's legacy, and the Judiciary Committee are all fucked as a result of it.  I hope it was worth it.  LBJ or Clinton's operators would have taken 'em out back and beaten the living shit out of them and shoved a paper application for Sears down their throats.  

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