HorsesAss.Org

Job 9:23
When a good person dies a sudden death, God sits back and laughs.

Discuss.

Stephen with the WERD: Debt Offensive.

Funny or Die: Hey New Hampshire, let’s vote! with Ben Affleck.

Young Turks: Sheriff Joe Arpaio charged with criminal contempt.

Epic Rap Battle: Hillary v. Drumpf.

Sam Seder” Sen. Mark Kirk blurts out racist comment about opponent Tammy Duckworth during debate

Samantha Bee: UN Tour.

WaPo: Eleven women who broke barriers in Washington D.C..

Mental Floss: 25 life hacks for Halloween.

The 2016 Sexual Offender Clown Show:

• Stephen: TV pitches for Drumpf.
• Seth Meyers: A closer look at Drumpf’s closing argument
• Mark Fiore: A Drumpf named Sue.
• Drumpf Symphony
• Young Turks: Drumpf ex-wife says Donald is a cry baby.
• Maddow: Fred and Donald, “You know I don’t rent to the N******!”
• Olbermann: Would a Drumpf win or a foreign invasion be worse?
• Adam Ruins Everything: Other Donald Drumpfs throughout history:

• Kimmel: Drunk Donald Drumpf — Take ‘Em Off?
• Stephen: The ghost of Abraham Lincoln responds to Drumpf’s Gettysburg Address.
• Trevor Noah: Donald Drumpf, libel bully
• Seth Meyers: Drumpf’s Obamacare fail
• Olbermann: Why Donald Drumpf is obsessed with dictators.
• Stephen: Drumpf’s star is attacked.
• Kimmel: Drumpf’s star is vandalized.
• Funny or Die: Baby Drumpf!
• Thom: Drumpf sending “citizen journalists” to intimidate voters at the polls
• Olbermann: A message to women supporting Drumpf.
• Ana Gasteyer performs “Drumpfy Kind of Christmas”
• Kimmel: Drumpf-TV’s first scripted series.
• PsychoSuperMom: Sue me!
• Stephen: Joe Biden unloads on the potential groper-in-chief.
• James Corden: Donald stinks, and Eric Drumpf steals
• Trevor Noah: Taking Drumpf behind the gym.
• Muslims for Drumpf.
• Kimmel: Drunk Donald Drumpf–Hillary’s invitation
• Seth Meyers: Drumpf and the crack-up of the GOP
• Susie SampsonMake America Great Again:

• Jake and Amir: Donald Drumpf.
• Olbermann: The normalization of violence at Drumpf rallies.
• Stephen: Don’t let your flag near Drumpf.
• Maddow: RNC in legal troubles over Drumpf’s calls for poll watchers.
• Young Turks: Drumpf is a libel bully, loser.
• Kimmel: Obama laughs at Drumpf.

Challenging, frustrating, fantastic: Life as a woman in the White House.

Roll Call: Election forecast with 2 weeks to go.

President Obama on VOTING.

Key of Awesome: (Hamilton Parody) Hillary Rodham Clinton!:

Clinton Makes History:

• Obama on trusting Hillary Clinton.
• Stephen: Is Hillary really a Cubs fan?
• Seth Meyers: Hillary Clinton’s Facebook birthday messages
• Kimmel: Drumpf supporters wish Hillary happy birthday.

Kimmel: 500 weeks of Unnecessary Censorship.

Young Turks: Is FBI’s James Comey trying to manipulate the election?

John Oliver: Opioids.

Samantha Bee: First: Do No Harm. Second: Do No Pussy Stuff.:

How Hollywood views the women of Washington D.C.

Hillary Makes History:

• Seth Meyers: Late Night Presidential Debate
• Lessons in grace with Michelle Obama.
• Samantha Bee: The Good, The Bad, The Nasty (Part 1)
• Samantha Bee: The Good, The Bad, The Nasty (Part 2)
• Samantha Bee: The Good, The Bad, The Nasty (Part 3)
• Olbermann: This election is too important to not vote for Hillary.
• David Pakman: Early voting is in Hillary’s favor.

Funny or Die: Hey America, let’s vote! with Judd Apatow.

Honest political ads: You’re fucked.

Farron Cousins: Ted Cruz proves that Republicans are whiny toddlers.

Trevor Noah: ObamaCare.

Newt “Cheating On My Wives For America” Gingrich:

• Sam Seder: Gingrich’s total meltdown on Megyn Kelly.
• Young Turks: Newt goes nuts during Megyn Kelly interview.
• Farron Cousins: FAUX’s Megyn Kelly hammers pervert Newt Gingrich

Adam Conover joins Stephen to ruin things.

White House: West Wing Week.

2,000 Seattle teachers unite in solidarity with #BlackLivesMatter.

Obama and Kimmel: Waking up.

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

I’ve never really understood why our increasingly Democratic state still has a Republican Sec of State. And has had one for ever. But at least with most of the previous ones, they never seemed to have their hand on the scale. Sure, sometimes they’d propose bad ideas like only counting ballots received by election day.

Now though, it seems every day there’s some new fuckery from Wyman’s office.

Clinton	Trump
> 99.9% probability of winning	< 0.01% probability of winning
Mean of 333 electoral votes	Mean of 205 electoral votes

About 40 new polls have been released since my previous analysis a week ago. Sec. Hillary Clinton was winning with near certainty and up 338 electoral votes to Donald Trump’s 200 electoral votes.

Today, after 100,000 simulated elections, Clinton wins 99,925 times and Trump wins 75 times. Clinton received (on average) 333 to Trump’s 205 electoral votes. In an election held now, Clinton would have a greater than 99.9% probability of winning and Trump would have a less than 0.01% probability of winning.

A few states have shown some interesting changes since last week.

• Arizona: Trump’s long non-winning streak is broken with a new Trump+1% poll that reduces Clinton’s chances of winning the state from 79% to 74%.

  

• Florida: Most recent polls have had Clinton up by a small margin, but this week we get a large Remington poll that has the state tied and a Bloomberg poll that has Trump up +2%. As a result, Clinton drops from a 93% chance of winning the state last week to an 85% chance of winning the state this week.

  

• Iowa: Trump has led in most polls, but one recent poll has Clinton up by +0.6%. Trump’s chances have dropped from 79% to 71%.

  

• Louisiana: Two new polls have Trump up by double digits, moving him from 94% to 100% chance of winning the state.
• North Carolina: Clinton has led in all recent polls, until a large Remington poll put Trump up by +3%. Clinton’s chances driop from 88% to 80%.

  

• Ohio: The most recent polls have Trump up by small margins. This has shifted Ohio from a 65% probabilitiy of a Trump win to a 89% probability.

  

• South Dakota: Last week we only had an old poll that had Trump up by double digits, giving Trump a certain win. A new Maxon-Dixon poll has Trump up by +7%, but the small size of the poll means that Trump’s chances are pegged at 89% new.
• Texas: We have only 2 current polls and Trump has tiny margins (+3% and +4%). Trump’s chances have dropped from 96% to 86% as a result.

The long term trends in this race can be seen from a series of elections simulated every seven days using polls from 27 Oct 2015 to 27 Oct 2016, and including polls from the preceding 21 days (FAQ).

An animated sequence of maps and electoral vote distributions can be seen here

Here is the distribution of electoral votes [FAQ] from the simulations:
[Read more…]

I’m pretty much under the assumption that the NBA wants to punish Seattle for not caving to all of some random OKC millionaire’s demands. So I’m not sure Chris Hansen’s proposal to pay for all of a new stadium (video auto-loads) will do much to bring back the Sonics. And I this all still requires vacating Occidental, that was the sticking point for the City Council last time. Still, the city not being on the hook for any of the stadium sounds pretty good to me.

We’re in the final weeks of the 2016 General Elections and the ballots have dropped win Washington state. Isn’t this a good time for a drink? The Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight. Please join us for an evening of politics over a pint.

We meet every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us in the small room at the back of the tavern beginning about 8pm.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other 188 chapters of Living Liberally, including twenty in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find, or go out and start, a chapter near you.

I’ve largely neglected local and statewide races this election season. No particular reason, although I haven’t felt that the Republican candidates in the Senate and Gubernatorial races have run particularly strong campaigns.

I guess it isn’t too late though. And today’s Elway poll piqued my interest in the Gubernatorial race. The race matches up Gov. Jay Inslee (D) against challenger Bill Bryant (R).

The poll, conducted from 20 Oct. to 22 Oct on 502 likely voters has a margin of error of 4.5%. Of the 502 respondents, 452 are either for Inslee or Bryant. Inslee received 256 “votes” (51.0%) and Bryant received 196 “votes” (39.0%), with Other or Undecided at 50 “votes” (10.0%). When we normalize the results to just Inslee and Bryant “votes,” Inslee gets 56.6% and Bryant gets 43.4%

I did a Monte Carlo simulation of 1,000,000 simulated elections. The final tally gave Inslee 975,893 wins and Bryant 22,276 wins. In other words, if an election was held now, we would expect Inslee to win with a 97.8% probability, and Bryant with a 2.2% probability.

The probability distribution of electoral vote outcomes pretty much tells the story:

The previous poll, by Strategies 360 taken from 29 Sep to 3 Oct, gave similar results. The poll surveyed 500 individuals (4.4% MOE) and found Inslee at 50% to Bryant’s 40%, with 10% undecided.

With two weeks to go and ballots already being returned, it seems like Inslee is quite likely to serve a second term.

You probably should have your ballot by now if you’re living in Washington. Here are the locations to drop them off in King County. Otherwise, have them postmarked by the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

Damn, there’s a lot on my ballot. I hesitate to even call it downballot, since there are so many initiatives, charter amendments, and whatnot before President. And there are far too many non-partisan positions or people from the same party on my ballot. If it’s all too confusing, The Stranger, Seattlish, and Washington NARAL help sort through the confusion with their endorsements, voter guides, etc.

Genesis 6:1-4
And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

Discuss.

Stephen helps Obama polish his résumé.

John Oliver: Third Parties.

Captain Khan:

Alternatino: An interview with Mussolini.

Colbert: Julian Assange cannot leak any more emails.

Minute Physics: How entropy powers the earth.

The 2016 Alt-Right Sexual Predator Show:

• Trevor: Donald Drumpf’s rigged election talk
• The apprentice speaks.
• Fareed Zakaria interviews Bill Maher On Drumpf and his Teabagger deplorables.
• Minorities for Drumpf: I Hope He Loses.
• Kimmel: Drunk Donald Drumpf on sitting alone
• Olbermann: You’re lying to yourself if you think Drumpf is the answer.
• Randy Rainbow interviews Melinia Drumpf.:

• PsychoSuperMom: How the boys talk.
• Donald Trump: Blue Falcon
• Stephen: Dead voters have chosen their candidate.
• Keith Olbermann: These insane excuses from Drumpf’s surrogates are deplorable
• Trevor: Between the scenes–The evolution of Pussygate
• Young Turks: Roger Ailes bails on Drumpf campaign.
• Kimmel: “Not the Donald Drumpf that I know.”
• Bill Maher: Fallout from pussygate
• Stephen: Melania Drumpf blames everyone but Donald for his locker room talk
• Obama to Drumpf: Stop your fucking whining!
• Drumpf’s new Washington Monument.
• Olbermann: The secret trick to decoding everything Donald Drumpf says
• Stephen: Jorge Ramos wants you to know what makes Drumpf so dangerous
• Red State Update: These Rednecks Hate Drumpf
• Young Turks: The launch of DrumpfTV
• Thom: The danger of Drumpf’s “election rigging” talk
• Donald Drumpf’s first 100 days.
• Newzoids: Donald Drumpf wrestling
• Stephen: Drumpf admits he’ll probably whine more if he loses

Mental Floss: 26 facts about the science of family.

A Woman’s Guide to the White House.

Kimmel’s week in unnecessary censorship.

Colbert: Pretty much everybody was on Hillary Clinton’s list of potential VPs.

Bill Maher: A bone to pick with undecided voters.

This is Your Debate on Drugs:

• Bad Lip Reading: Presidential Slam Poetry:

• James Corden: Debate drug testing.
• Did Hillary debate on steroids?
• Colbert: Nate Silver explains just how bad Drumpfs night was.
• Daily Show: Donald Drumpf hints at a not-so-peaceful transfer of power
• Hillary drops the mic
• Olbermann: Donald Drumpf must withdraw. Here’s why.
• Weird Al autotunes the dabate: Bad Hombres, Nasty Women:

• James Cordon: The last debate….
• Kimmel: Drumpf’s interruptions.
• Red State Update reviews the 3rd Presidential Debate.
• David Pakman: Trump beats Clinton in 3rd debate—37 to 4 lies
• Hillary Clinton on the Supreme Court.
• Jonathan Mann: Nasty Woman vs. Bad Hombre
• Stephen reacts to the 3rd Presidential debate.
• The Daily Show: The final debate:

• Kimmel kids out-of-focus group.

White House: West Wing Week.

On October surprises.

Stephen considers fleeing America.

Undecided voters.

Ohio for President.

Kimmel: A message from Canada to America.

Trevor: Clinton’s leaked emails.

Robert Reich: How Democrats take back the Senate.

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

I’ve been trying to articulate this, because it’s really not how debates are supposed to work. And in normal times, maybe a bar this low wouldn’t apply. But in all 3 of the debates, I’ve been very impressed with Hillary Clinton saying things I disagree with:

After the first debate, a lot of liberals complained about her position on NAFTA. Fair, enough, I thought she was wrong on the policy. But I also appreciated her defense of trade more generally and of what future trade policies should look like. You can, and should, argue the policy but she clearly knew what she was talking about, and I hope we can hold her to that in future trade negotiations.

In the second and third debates, Syria policy came up. In the second debate, there was discussion of arming the rebels. Those rebels are probably better people than the current regime, but honestly it’s not our place to arm them. There’s also considerable possibility of blowback and of those weapons ending up in the wrong hands (and that could include the hands we gave them to, 20 years on). That said, Trump was complaining about the policy and he said “She doesn’t even know who the rebels are” and after a lot of Trump nonsense, including a back and forth with one of the moderators, Clinton casually explained who she would arm and why, when I think most people would have just let it go.

In the third debate they discussed a no fly zone. From my perspective, this is a bad use of American military. It’s an act of war, and I think it makes things worse. But I also appreciated her discussion of what the goals of an no fly zone would be and the diplomacy would look like to put it in place.

This is running pretty long for an open thread, so I’ll stop it here: I don’t think I’ll ever have a candidate who I agree with on all the issues, but when I watch Hillary Clinton speak, I’m at least glad that it’s her, smart, competent, prepared, even when I disagree.

Clinton	Trump
> 99.9% probability of winning	< 0.01% probability of winning
Mean of 338 electoral votes	Mean of 200 electoral votes

The analysis on Monday showed Sec. Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump with a greater than 99.9% probability of winning an election held now, and with a mean electoral vote of 338 for Clinton to 200 for Trump.

We’ve gotten about 49 new polls since then. A Monte Carlo analysis with 100,000 simulated elections has Clinton winning all 100,000 times. In an election held now, Clinton would have a greater than 99.9% probability of winning and Trump would have a less than 0.01% probability of winning. Clinton received (on average) 338 to Trump’s 200 electoral votes.

In other words, even with plenty of new polls, the race has stabalized.

The long term trends in this race can be seen from a series of elections simulated every seven days using polls from 20 Oct 2015 to 20 Oct 2016, and including polls from the preceding 21 days (FAQ).

An animated sequence of maps and electoral vote distributions can be seen here

Here is the distribution of electoral votes [FAQ] from the simulations:
[Read more…]

Okay…here we go. Debate three has the potential to be insane. Please discuss.

[5:45] We have CNN on at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern. The banner says “BREAKING: Debate to start momentarily”. “Breaking”??? I don’t think so.

6:05: Play ball!

6:08: “My opponent said bad things about me and millions of people.” What the fuck is Trump babbling about. The question is about the Supreme Court!

6:10: Oooohhhh…he is talking about a Justice (bad audio here). Still…totally off-track to bring this up. Make him look petty as fuck.

We’re at the point in the campaign where Alec Baldwin looks more like Trump than Trump

— Taegan Goddard (@politicalwire) October 20, 2016

Right now Justice Scalia is in Heaven telling the Virgin Mary what she can & can't do with her own body. #Debatenight #SXM121

— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) October 20, 2016

“dozens of toddlers injure themselves, even kill people with guns.” – HRC, standing next to angry giant toddler.

— Karoli (@Karoli) October 20, 2016

6:19: Except for Trumps little tangent about Ginsburg, this is a pretty ordinary debate. Oops…Trump’s turn.

If Trump knew doctors other than Dr. Bongwater, he'd know "ripping a baby from the womb" in the 9th month is called CHILDBIRTH. #debatenight

— shauna (@goldengateblond) October 20, 2016

6:22: We have The Sniff.

6:24: Please, Hillary, no anecdotes.

6:25: Hillary is starting to troll Trump. Waiting for a Trump Sniff…er…meltdown.

6:27: Trump Tower built with undocumented workers–Clinton trolls again. Trump keeps it under control.

6:30: Wallace gets pissed at Clinton and he abandons his impartial role and points out her with bank speaker fees. Pathetic!

6:32: Donald is starting to go CRAZY with the SNIFFS! He’s rattled! Point Clinton!

6:33: Trump goes NUTZ!!!

6:35: Trump claims Clinton has been outsmarted worse than anyone ever. Of course…she beating him….

6:36: Clinton trolls over nuclear codes…Sniffles to follow.

6:37: Chris Wallace should ask candidates about their views instead of stating their views…

"I never made out with Putin." "Nobody ever said you did, Mr. Trump." "Because I didn't. And I don't even want to!"

— Seth Mnookin (@sethmnookin) October 20, 2016

6:40: Why does Trump deny knowing his “stablemate”, Putin?

Hillary mentioned that Trump used illegal workers to build Trump Tower. It's true, as @NickKristof wrote https://t.co/9kAb4cCpAI #debate

— NYT Opinion (@nytopinion) October 20, 2016

6:42: True fact: In 2008, Clinton stated in a debate against Obama, that she would renegotiate NAFTA.

HRC: Let me translate that if I can; DJT: You can't. I agree w/ DJT – that was incomprehensible. But if anyone can, it's HRC #Debate

— Michael Maddux (@michaeljmaddux) October 20, 2016

"Mr. Trump, how's your day?"
TRUMP: I don't know Putin! I've never met Putin! HE'S NOT MY BEST FRIEND!
"…"
"[sobbing] YOU'RE the puppet!"

— Adam Conover (@adamconover) October 20, 2016

6:47: Trump, “I pass factories”. Yep…Big Asshole!

6:49: Clinton trolls Trump again with shipping jobs to Mexico. He sniffs.

Uh, no, those sexual assault allegations have not been debunked. Saying "wrong!" is not debunking. #debate

— Boo-is Frightsman (@LouisPeitzman) October 20, 2016

6:57: “Nobody has more respect for women than I do.” The pub breaks out laughing.

6:58 Trump claims Clinton lied “hundreds of times to the FBI”. *SNIFF* I think that means he is lying.

HILLARY DESTROYING MAN-BABY TRUMP. Trump taking the bait every time. #debate #debatenight

— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) October 20, 2016

7:05: Clinton brings out the big guns, “…hasn’t released his tax returns.”

7:06: “Built with Chinese steel.” Ouch!

7:07: Concession question: Trump, “I’ll look it at the time” Totally disqualifying.

7:09: Trump: Clinton is guilty of a crime. Umm…no she isn’t. We have a constitutionally defined process for making this determination.

7:10: Trump (on no Emmy): “I should-a gotten it!” #whiner #wanker #notserious

Clinton hitting hard on list of things Trump has said are rigged: FBI, Iowa caucuses, Emmys. Trump: "Shoulda gotten it."

— Emily Flitter (@FlitterOnFraud) October 20, 2016

This IS a reality show. Will Trump concede the election? "I will keep you in suspense."

— James Oliphant (@jamesoliphant) October 20, 2016

"Well, that is horrifying," says Hillary, when Trump refuses to agree to a peaceful transition of power if he loses. #Debates2016

— Ashley Parker (@AshleyRParker) October 20, 2016

7:14: Fortunately, concession is a mere courtesy. It is totally unnecessary, although it sends a terrible message to the people.

7:17: Clinton points out Trump supported Iraq. He barks “wrong” twice in the exact same place he did last debate!!!

7:18: Clinton trolls Trump until he just blows up! Starts babbling.

7:19: Okay…now Trump is debating Chris Wallace. Cool.

"Let's turn to Aleppo."

Somewhere in New Mexico, Gary Johnson scowls and crushes an empty kombucha bottle. #debate

— daveweigel (@daveweigel) October 20, 2016

7:20: 🎼 ♫ If you’ve ever seen Aleppo clap your hands. ♪

Quite the difference in how Wallace addresses them. To HRC: some tough policy qs. To DJT: a summer-school teacher with a kid high on glue.

— Ana Marie Cox (@anamariecox) October 20, 2016

7:26: I wonder if Trump thinks GDP stands for “Good Damn P***Y”

7:27: “…and the unicorns will, once again, roam the great plains.”

Trump needed a big win tonight in this debate, instead, he looked like a little boy. Congratulations Madam President! #DebateNight #Debate

— Left Out Loud (@LeftOutLoud) October 20, 2016

7:31 :Trump has no clue about the issues facing Social Security.

7:32: Trump says he is happy that health insurance premiums are going up. #gofuckyourself

Things Donald Trump has called rigged. Also, in related news, I know you are but what am I. #growupDonald #debatenight pic.twitter.com/NhYd0AgmIh

— Bros4Hillary (@Bros4Hillary) October 20, 2016

7:37: Trump: “All she has done is talk to THE African Americans” #ThatsHowRacistsTalk

Conclusion: all anyone is going to talk about is Donald’s refusal to commit to concession. But the fact is, this is the least important thing about this debate. Concession is a tradition, but has no legal or constitutional meaning. It is just a convention and courtesy. The only person who will suffer from a lack of concession will be Mr. Trump.

I hope the media and social media gets past this and talks about important things.

"No one respects women more than I do" Later says 'Such a nasty woman' #DebateNight pic.twitter.com/c9bU3G7o6o

— FashionweekNYC (@FashionweekNYC) October 20, 2016

It’s not the biggest thing in the world, but yes, paving projects should also complete streets. It’s a time to do it, and holy catfish, Roosevelt looks nice.

[Read more…]

The Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight. Please join us for an evening of conversation and political debate over drinks. We start at 8:00pm.

And then come back on Wednesday night for another episode of Crazy Guy pretends to be a Presidential Candidate. That’s right, we’ll be getting together to watch the third Presidential Debate. It starts at 6:00pm.

We meet every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us in the small room at the back of the tavern.

For Wednesday’s debate, please note that the audio of the debate may not be perfect. We expect that almost every TV in the joint will be on the debate, but there will be cheers and jeers and all the other sounds of a working pub. If you really must hear every word, consider bringing a radio and headphones.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other Living Liberally meetings happening over the next week. There are 185 chapters, including twenty in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find, or go out and start, a chapter near you.