Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, it is really early. And yeah, the polls don’t mean much now. Blah, blah, blah.

Ya know, the score in a basketball game doesn’t mean much after the first 5 minutes either, and yet there is that score in the corner of the screen. So if you don’t want to see the score, go away…now.

What’s the score, you ask, in the gubernatorial race between Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA-01) and Attorney General McKenna (R-WA) race? Five minutes into the game, Inslee is up slightly. The score is based on a SurveyUSA poll of 515 registered Washington voters taken from 24 Jun to 26 Jun.

Out of the 515, Inslee got 242 “votes” (47%) and McKenna got 227 (44%) “votes”. If we look only at those who picked Inslee or McKenna, Inslee has a 51.6% to 48.4% advantage.

As I’ve done for years, the polling results are analyzed by Monte Carlo simulations of 1,000,000 elections of 515 voters who each have a 47% chance of voting for Inslee and a 44% chance of voting for McKenna. The point is to get an estimate of the probability that each candidate would win the election, if the election was held today.

The final tally gives Inslee 687,927 wins to McKenna’s 300,837 wins. This suggests that, in an election held now, Inslee would have a 69.6% chance to McKenna’s 30.4% chance of winning, simply based on the evidence from this one poll. Here’s the picture of all outcomes from the simulated elections:

This is the second poll from Survey USA in this race. The early May poll had McKenna leading Inslee by +7 (48% to 41%) before either had declared their candidacy. If the election had been held back then, McKenna would have won with a 90% probability. Some difference a month and a half makes!

Via KING5:

Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed is announcing this morning that he will not seek re-election when his term ends in 2012.

That makes three open statewide races (Governor, SOS, and AG) in a year for which turn-out will be high on account of the the presidential race. Conventional wisdom would give a boost to the Democratic candidates because of the higher turnout.

Will conventional wisdom hold for 2012? Or will a “throw the bums (i.e. Democrats) out” mentality shake things up in favor of Republicans? Unlikely. First off, the SOS and AG positions are currently held by Republicans. For the gubernatorial race Chris Grygiel argues that Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA-01) doesn’t look like the insider:

Voters nationally – and to a certain extent locally – have expressed a strong “throw the bums out” mentality. They seem to be willing to give newcomers a chance. So how can Inslee, a longtime incumbent, beat the “bum” rap? He’ll be new to voters outside of the two Congressional Districts where he’s held office. Again, conventional wisdom says McKenna has the edge because he’s won statewide office twice – Inslee never has. But another way of looking at that is voters haven’t had a chance to get sick of Inslee yet.

And, of course, McKenna is an Olympia insider….

Finally, State Senator Jim Kastama (D-Puyallup) has announced on his blog that he is running for SOS:

Today, Kastama confirmed he would seek the office of Washington State Secretary of State. Kastama will make a formal public announcement at the Puyallup City Hall 25th district legislative reception on July 5th at 6:00 pm.

Fun stuff!

We’ve known this day would come for years. Congressman Jay Inslee (D-WA-01) is now running for governor.

As a constituent of Rep. Inslee, I am pleased by the announcement. Jay is progressive. He has a strong record on the environment. He sees an important role of technological leadership in the economy of the future. Basically, he is strong on many of the issues that are important to me.

And he is one of the few politicians around who can beat Rob McKenna. That’s particularly to me, as I have watched this state embark upon a journey toward Alabamization—a journey that would be furthered with a Gov. McKenna. Don’t believe me? Look at what is happening in every state with a newly elected Republican Governor….

I am not claiming that Inslee will win, just that he can. It’s going to be a battle.

In 2004, Dino Rossi almost won the Governor’s mansion because the voters never really got to know him. Rossi was a known quantity by 2008, and the voters rejected him (and one more time after that).

In 2012 the problem will be that people think they know McKenna. McKenna has skillfully spun himself as a moderate while capitalizing on his AG position to pass himself off as a populist. But there is evidence to suggest McKenna is far more conservative than people’s perception of him. The one slip-up in this regard was McKenna’s surprising decision to join the lawsuit against the Affordable Health Care Act. What other surprises does Rob McKenna have for us?

Inslee, with his rich legislative record, is a known quantity, but not well known by Washingtonians. I suspect that the more people get to know Inslee, the better they will like him. For McKenna, the more people get to know him…the less they will like him. So let the learning begin!

Thom: Is Obama illegally spying on journalists?

Same Sex Marriage:

• Olbermann: Special comment on same sex marriage.
• Maddow: NY same-sex marriage bill passes.
• Young Turks: Obama’s position.
• Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks on same sex marriage.

Washington’s aerospace advantage.

Thom: The new money party.

Music video: Drones don’t get no parade.

Jon Goes Controversial:

• Newsy: Jon accuses FAUX News of selective deletion.
• Young Turks: Jon at war with Herman.

Olbermann and Markos: Inside the Republican cult.

Thom: Climate Change vs. Professional Wrestling.

Former U.S. Attorney John McKay backs effort to legalize pot:

Newsy: Gruesome cigarette labels.

The G.O.P. Funny Farm

• Lawrence O’Donnell: Huntsman the stuntman.
• Young Turks: Herman Cain’s idea is to put oil companies in charge of environmental regulations.
• Olbermann defines Randidate.
• Lawrence O’Donnell: Paul’s bullshit.
• Ann Telnaes: Newt and Callista.
• Cenk: Newt is Con Job of the Day.
• Olbermann defines Newtleywed.
• Maddow: Newt fund-raises for the family jewels.
• Sam Seder: Newt’s new campaign slogan, “I did it my way”:
• Ann Telnaes: Michelle Bachmann is running.
• Sam Seder with Matt Taibbi: God is Bachmann’s campaign manager.
• Olbermann: Fun facts about Michelle Bachmann.
• Rick Santorum oozes his way to Worst Person in the World.
• Ed with some Santorum psychotalk.
• Young Turks: Rick Perry’s joke fails.
• Young Turks: Follow Rick on “Tweeter”.

Thom: Did you know that fracking creates rainbows?

Ann Telnaes: G.O.P. debt reduction.

Pap: How capitalism has failed.

Afghanistan:

• Obama: Afghanistan
• Biden: Keeping the promise.

Thom with some more Good, Bad and Very, Very Ugly.

Maddow: Republicans strike another blow to the economy.

McCain’s Firestorm:Music video: Drones don’t get no parade.

Newsy: McCain’s comments stir up firestorm.

Justice Thomas’ Troubles:

• Young Turks: Is Justice Thomas corrupt?
• Olbermann and Turley: Justice Clarence Thomas’s problems.
• Maddow on Thomas.

Cenk: Republicans refuse to negotiate on budget.

Maddow: Nebraska nuclear power problem.

Georgia’s Matt Ramsey rots his way to Worst Person in the World.

Olbermann: The politics of pledge.

Palin Around With Crazy!

• Sam Seder: Sarah bails on tour bus.
• Young Turks: Sarah quits her tour.
• Ed: The Sarah Palin IQUITaROD
• Makeup Tips : Sarah Palin presidential look:
• Palin (silver) and Gingrich (bronze) almost take Worst Person in the World.

Ed: Republicans are deliberately sabotaging the economy.

Maddow: Kansas abortion clinic denied license under new law (via The Political Carnival).

Thom: The People versus Gov. Snyder (R-MI).

White House: West Wing Week.

War Powers Act or Acting?

• Ann Telnaes: Another Obama impersonator.
• Mark Fiore: Declaration of thingamajig.
• Ann Telnaes: Obama bypasses Congress…

Michelle Obama on meeting Nelson Mandela.

Ed: The Republican ruthless attack on jobless Wisconsin workers.

Thom with The Good, The Bad, and The Very, Very Ugly.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

I’m trying to get my head wrapped around this one. Obama claims that providing financing and logistic support to NATO, without a committment of armed forces, does not amount to making war on Libya and therefore is not covered by the War Powers Act of 1973.

Most Republicans (and some Democrats) think otherwise. They would call it war, and hence, claim that Obama is, as of Sunday, in violation of the War Powers Act.

Today there was a House vote to authorize limited military involvement in Libya. It failed 123 (yes) to 295 (no).

Washington’s delegation split along partisan lines with Democrats Dicks, Smith, McDermott, Inslee, and Larsen voting yes and Republicans Herrera Beutler, Reichert, Hastings and McMorris Rodgers voting no.

Huh…I distinctly remember George W. Bush suggesting that John Kerry’s criticisms against Bush’s handling of the Iraq war was giving aid and comfort to the enemy and endangering the troops.

So…if Obama is right in his interpretation of the War Powers Act, then the Republicans have engaged in little more than toothless political theater by defeating an unnecessary “authorization” today.

But if the Republicans are right in their belief that Obama is waging war in Libya in violation of the War Powers Act, then doesn’t their vote against authorizing the action mean, by their own standards, that they are giving aid and comfort to the enemy?

Yo Reps. Herrera Beutler, Reichert, Hastings and McMorris Rodgers did y’all just give Gaddafi a big ol’ group hug? And why are you willfully endangering the troops?

This week the FDA produced a series of visual warnings designed to help smokers face long-term consequences of their habit. Here are a few of the juicer warning images that will be mashed up with the cigarette brand and logo:

Gruesome reality can be a good teacher.

That got me to thinking…perhaps we need something like that for politics. In particular, we need a similar scheme to re-acquaint voters of the real-world consequences of voting Republican. I think the FEC could institute this on the federal level anyway, but states would have to do it for statewide and local elections. The idea is that every time a G.O.P. logo is plastered on a TV screen, web site, or piece of paper, a corresponding “health” warning would tag along.

Here are a few ideas I’ve put together….

This conference should be of interest to anyone contributing (or wanting to contribute) to progressive politics in our region:

The NWroots Conference is the annual gathering of the region’s netroots community and liberal minded political activists – hosted by the NWroots Fellowship with support from the Northwest Progressive Institute. It is an unbeatable opportunity for local writers, readers, activists, elected leaders, and progressive candidates to meet in person and learn from each other – with panels, a candidates’ social, keynote addresses, and workshops.

Feature speakers include Congressman Jay Inslee, Congressman Jim McDermott, Former Canadian Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh, WSLC President Jeff Johnson, and 4th Congressional District candidate Jay Clough.

Special performance by the Total Experience Gospel Choir.

What: NWroots Conference
Where: Swannies Comedy Undergound, 109 S. Washington Street, Seattle, 98104
When: Saturday, July 9th
Why: Teach, learn, organize, strategize, socialize, network, have fun.

What are you waiting for? Register today!

Rob Sargent
NWroots
(425) 941-3134

Here are some more details about the program:

Jill Richardson is flying in from San Diego to present two sessions on agriculture and public policy. Jill is an author, political activist,
founder of Lavidalocavore.org, and expert on food systems and sustainable farming. Her book, Recipe for America, explains our messed up food system in an understandable way, and offers specific policy recommendation to make it better. In her first session, Jill will talk about the focus of her book and lead a discussion about agriculture policy. In a second session, she will address the worldwide influence of Monsanto on agriculture, followed by a group discussion. Jill was just featured at Netroots Nation in Minneapolis.

In addition to Jill’s sessions, we will have small group presentations/discussions on health care, labor, the media, electronic voting, immigration, the mortgage crisis, and a documentary on Afghanistan followed by a group discussion.

To stir things up, we’ve added Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich to the program. Kucinich will join 4th Congressional District Candidate Jay Clough, Congressman Jim McDermott, and former Canadian Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh at the afternoon general session. The opening session will be kicked off by Congressman Jay Inslee, followed by University of Washington graduate and “dreamer” Alonso Chehade. Chehade faces possible deportation if the Dream Act fails to pass. Alonso will later lead a session where the group will discuss immigration policy. Labor leader Jeff Johnson will close out the morning session. He will also facilitate a smaller group discussion on the role of labor in politics and the new political strategy. Mr. Johnson is President of the Washington State Labor Council.

In addition to the general session and smaller, breakout sessions, there will be a candidates social, a special musical performance by the Total Experience Gospel Choir, and an after-party at the Central Saloon.

(This is an open thread.)

Please join us tonight for a special Drinking Liberally with Living Liberally co-founder Justin Krebs.

Justin is on his “538 Ways to Live, Work and Play Like a Liberal” book tour. The book is about the little ideas for embracing your progressive values in everyday life, as well as the big ideas of what it means to be a “liberal” in America today.

Bring your copy of the book (or the Weekly Standard cover, for that matter) for Justin to sign. Copies of the book will be available at the event.

We meet at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00 pm, but feel free to earlier for dinner.

Not in Seattle? There is a good chance you live near one of the 229 other chapters of Drinking Liberally.

No…not me. Don’t be silly.

It’s Sarah Palin.

She has, apparently, quit halfway through her “One Nation” bus tour:

Though Palin and her staff never announced a timeline for the remaining legs of her trip, aides had drafted preliminary itineraries that would have taken her through the Midwest and Southeast at some point this month. But those travel blueprints are now in limbo, RCP has learned, as Palin and her family have reverted to the friendly confines of summertime Alaska, where the skies are currently alight for over 19 hours a day and the Bristol Bay salmon fishing season is nearing its peak.

The early stages of her tour resulted in two huge stories. First, her upstaging Mitt Romney—rude showmanship even by a Republican standard of nastiness. And second, her babbling, twisted rendition of Paul Revere’s midnight ride.

Ouch! She did more damage than good to herself during the early part of the tour because, you know, the “lamestream” media is so mean her and out to get her. And once again Sarah response is a triumph of narcissism over political sensibility. She takes her ball and goes home.

“I quit!”

There will be no Drinking Liberally Seattle this evening. Tomorrow (Wednesday) we have a special Drinking Liberally with Living Liberally co-founder Justin Krebs.

Justin is on his “538 Ways to Live, Work and Play Like a Liberal” book tour. The book is about the little ideas for embracing your progressive values in everyday life, as well as the big ideas of what it means to be a “liberal” in America today.

Justin has toured the book to over 65 cities in 35 states and happily won the mockery of the conservative Weekly Standard which featured him in a cover story in July.

Bring your copy of the book (or the Weekly Standard cover, for that matter) for Justin to sign. Copies of the book will be available at the event.

We meet at our usual spot, the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00 pm.

Drinking Liberally Seattle meets weekly on Tuesday nights except for this week because of Justin’s visit.

Sammamish High School graduate, and Washington state gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna is looking like a case study of the failure of our schools to teach basic, real world, mathematical skills. (Have at it Cliff Mass!)

The short version: Rob McKenna attempts to do an analysis of Washington state budgets…and ends up soiling himself.

Rob McKenna was pushing some awfully fishy numbers during his campaign kick-off (via Goldy):

Here is some red meat from McKenna’s “triumphant” speech:

I went back and I crunched the numbers for the state budget to figure out where the spending’s been going—what’s been driving it. I looked at one 10-year period: 1998 to 2008. And what I discovered is that, in that 10 year period, every single year the state increased the amount it spent per employee by 5 percent, every year for 10 years.
[…]

In that same 10-year period, the state increased the amount it spent on state worker benefits by 9 percent a year every single year for 10 years.

Goldy calls bullshit:

The fact is that by every rational measure, state government has been shrinking over the past few decades, in per-capita spending, per-capita taxes, per-capita state workers, and most importantly, as a percentage of the economy, with state general fund revenues falling from 6.9 percent of personal income in 1995 all the way down to 4.7 percent today. McKenna may sound smart and informed and trustworthy and all that, but he’s just not being honest with voters.

He digs even deeper into the bullshit here. But, you know, Goldy is just a filthy blogger journalist for a vile, extreme leftist blog newspaper, so what does he know?

Now the AP is on the case. And they can dig a little deeper because, unlike Goldy who is blacklisted by the McKenna campaign, the AP can ask follow-up questions of McKenna.

Their conclusion?

Problem is, a couple of McKenna’s key numbers were wrong, exaggerating the speed of government growth.

McKenna, who currently serves as attorney general, described his statistics in slightly different ways during both an interview with The Associated Press and his campaign speech. After The AP repeatedly questioned the validity of the statistics, his campaign provided details on how he reached his totals. Those written calculations indicated that he was using faulty math.

The crux of the problem is that McKenna doesn’t understand the basic mathematics of compounding growth. On his claim that the state annually “increased the amount it spent per employee by 5 percent “:

McKenna reached his incorrect numbers after seeing a 48 percent growth over the decade. His supporting documents indicate that he took that number and divided by 10 years to reach his conclusion about 5 percent annual growth.

But annual growth can’t be calculated so easily. Because each year’s increase compounds on top of the last, a 5 percent annual growth for 10 years would end up being 63 percent growth for the decade — not 48 percent.

The correct number is 3.6 percent per year, which is pretty much the same as the 3.5 percent average for all of Washington state over the same period.

As to McKenna’s claim that the state annually increased benefits by “9 percent a year…for 10 years”? Nuh-uh. Same error:

To reach his 9 percent number, McKenna relied on the same questionable math he used to calculate the salary figures. The state’s overall spending for worker benefits actually rose an average of 7.1 percent annually during that time.

Average benefit increases per employee were even less, growing by about 5.4 percent each year, with rising health care costs driving up expenses just like in the private sector.

What the AP missed, and what Goldy points out, is that the benefits calculation is the largest component of the “amount [the state] spent per employee” increase McKenna raised first. But it comes off as in addition to the first (erroneously calculated) number.

McKenna’s speech is dishonest in other ways, as both Goldy and the AP points out. He implies a 13 percent per year increase in number of state employees, when the 13 percent actually refers to the increase over a decade. Oopsies!

Dishonesty is bad in a politician even though we have acquired a certain immunity that seem to allow politicians like McKenna to get away with fabrication and distortion.

My beef is with McKenna’s inability to work with the most elementary of budget mathematics. The AP has flat-out busted McKenna for his failure to understand the mathematics of growth—the same math one uses for understanding investment interest, population growth, budget projections, mortgage costs, etc.

Governors don’t really have to understand the Fundamental Theorem of Integral Calculus or the Pythagorean theorem.

But, holy shit, incompetence with the elementary mathematics of budget growth? That makes a Rob McKenna in the Governor’s seat nothing short of a fiscal calamity waiting to happen for Washington state.

Young Turks: Schwarzenegger mistress tells all to Hello Magazine.

Glenn Beck blames Ed Schultz:

Newsy: Federal Judge upholds gay Judges Prop-8 ruling.

Rat and Cenk: Republicans are fiscally responsible? How about the missing 6.6 Billion dollars?

Republican teabaggingfest Debate:

• Jon: Second Republican debate is a success (via OneGoodMove).
• Young Turks: Who lost?
• Ed and Pap: Republicans dig their own grave with pathetic candidates.
• Newsy: Who came out on top?
• Ed: Who won? Part I
• Ed: Who won? Part II
• Lawrence O’Donnell: GOP Candidates stance on the economy is pure baloney.

Cenk: Teabagger Summer Camp for Kids.

Stephen: GOP would win Presidency if not for those meddling kids (via TalkingPointsMemo).

Newsy: Wisconsin Republicans further gains in their War on Workers.

Bill Maher with some New Rules.

Young Turks: TX Gov. Rick Perry claims he is a ‘Prophet’.

President Mittens:

• Mittens tells unemployed Floridians that he is unemployed.
• Maddow: Mitt’s own voter fraud, Part I
• Maddow: Mitt’s own voter fraud, Part II
• Kinda creepy. Mittens jokes that a waitress grabbed his ass (via TalkingPointsMemo):
• Stephen: The Business End (via OneGoodMove).

Newsy: NY on the verge of allowing gay marriage.

Cenk: Newt’s 3rd wife is behind his staff quitting.

Thom: The good, the bad, and the very very ugly.

Sam Seder: Catherine Harris calls in on behalf of her friend Michelle Bachmann.

More at the Weiner Roast:

• Mark Fiore: Suzie Newsykins on why Rep. Weiner made the world a better place.
• SCTV: A scandal worse than Anthony Weiner’s:
• Young Turks: Larry Flynt offers Anthony Weiner a job
• Olbermann: Does Boehner have his own sex scandal popping up? (Via Crooks and Liars.)
• Newsy: Weiner’s pension plan comes under fire
• Cenk and Rachael: Resignation.
• Newsy: Move over Rambama…the Weiner Dolls are here!
• Young Turks: Is Weiner a secret Muslim???

Sam Seder: Who are Santorum’s gay friends?

White House: West Wing Week.

Young Turks: Wingnut talk show host says to kill Blacks.

Ed and Pap: Sissy conservatives are afraid of EVERYTHING.

Texas Legislator: “Too many Hispanics in the Legislature (via Crooks and Liars).

Michelle Bachmann’s unrivaled extremism.

Cenk: Paul Ryan’s budget benefits his family.

Most Offensive Ad Ever:

• Most offensive ad ever? New Republican ad is like “Willie Horton on steroids” (via TalkingPointsMemo).
• Ed: Most ‘racist, sexist’ ad ever (via Crooks and Liars).
• Newsy: Attack ad called racist and sexist.
• Chris Hayes: Disgusting ad

Lawrence O’Donnell speaks with Lt. Dan Choi & Adam Green.

Sam Seder: Herman Cain suggests war is just like delivering pizza.

Young Turks: Did Bush have CIA try to destroy Juan Cole?

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

A power substation in Redmond, WA, about 2 miles from my house, experienced an explosion and fire today.

I’ve been watching the King5 live feed.

Thick black smoke is bellowing from the site—probably a mixture of burning insulation and transformer oil. In the bad old days, transformer oil contained PCBs. Nasty stuff. But I don’t think this substation is old enough to have the rally nasty stuff on-site.

It is probably unwise to use water to fight fires at electrical substations, so they brought in a foam truck, supposedly from Seatac.

They’ve dumped a third load of foam on the fire, and it is still going strong.

Oh…the humanity!

Update: A fourth application of foam applied from multiple angles seems to be doing the trick.

Update: MyNorthwest, “Puget Sound Energy tells KIRO Radio there are about 9,000 scattered outages in the area.”

Anthony Weiner just resigned, and as you can imagine I am disappointed:

I can think of one circumstance under which Rep. Weiner should resign: he makes a pact with Sen. Vitter and they both fall on their swords (figuratively) and go away.

Yes…I’m disappointed…primarily because Sen. Vitter is still a Senator.

Seriously…Weiner inappropriately flirted electronically. Vitter broke the law when he hired a prostitute, and broke his marriage vows when he fucked her. And he broke his mother’s heart when he wore diapers for foreplay.

And I’m disappointed because…well, we have lost our distraction. Weinergate was fun, with its rich raw material for double entendres. It’s hard to resist. It brought out the 14-year old in all of us. (Okay…maybe not all of us, but a lot of us.)

The scandal even emboldened those normally sexually repressed and anal retentive tweeters, bloggers, and media talking heads, who were suddenly given license to unleash upon their audience jokes and banter of a prurient nature that rivaled the most salacious tweets from Rep. Weiner.

Except that it was okay for them to do that because…well, it’s in the news, and his name is Weiner. And everyone else is doing it.

So now, I suppose, we will have to go back to talking about serious issues, like clawing our way out of this stubborn recession brought to us by eight disastrous years of George W. Bush. We’ll have to grapple with an enormous debt caused almost entirely by the Bush tax cuts and Bush’s reckless failure to fund his Most Excellent Military Adventures. And we now have to start asking whether Republican obstructionism in fixing the economic mess they created puts them in league with al Qaeda.

See why Weinergate was such a nice distraction?

So let’s go at it one more time…for old time sake. Let’s get some major Weiner distraction going in the comment thread….

The Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally meets tonight, and there are a few topics likely to be raised over a pint: The Washington state gubernatorial race, Ron Sims’ return to Seattle (running for Gov?), the tunnel-ish vote, last night’s Republican debate, today’s Wisconsin Supreme Court decision, and today’s Prop. 8 ruling in California.

So please join us tonight for drinks, conversation, and even dinner at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00 pm, but a few folks show up around 7:00 pm for dinner.

Can’t make it? Drinking Liberally—Tacoma meets on Thursday, June 16th, 7:00pm at the Hub Restaurant.

Special Event:

Next week, our meeting will be moved from Tuesday to Wednesday (June 22) for a special Drinking Liberally with Living Liberally co-founder Justin Krebs.

Justin is on his “538 Ways to Live, Work and Play Like a Liberal” book tour.

Bring your copy of the book for Justin to sign. Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event. We’ll meet at the usual spot.