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Ummm…better late then never! Join us in a couple of hours for and evening of politics under the influence at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally.

We meet tonight and 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. We start at 8:00pm.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings happening this week. Tonight the Tri-Cities chapter also meets. On Wednesday, the Burien and the North Spokane chapters meet. Finally, the Kent chapter meets on Thursday.

There are 179 chapters of Living Liberally, including nineteen in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find, or go out and start, a chapter near you.

What in the fuck is the 1515 campaign even thinking? Honestly, if your fake reason for supporting this initiative is to keep creeps out of the women’s restroom, why the fuck would you send creeps into the women’s restroom? I mean, I assume everyone on that campaign is at least a bit of a creep, but still.

Matthew 10:34-35
Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

Discuss.

Stephen: Newly discovered presidential love letters.

Samantha Bee: The many faces (and crotches) of Libertarians.

Kimmel: The week in unnecessary censorship.

The 2016 GOP Narcissist Clown Show:

• Sam Seder: Kasich tragically torn about voting for Drumpf, whom he repeatedly compared to Hitler
• Drumpf accuses U.S. combat veterans of stealing money in Iraq.
• Obama stands up to Drumpf’s bigotry.
• Kevin Drum: Let’s play “What the Hell Did *That* Mean” with today’s guest, Donald Drumpf
• James Corden: Donald Drumpf’s campaign gets all shucky-ducky
• Drumpf’s business disasters.
• Jimmy Dore: GOP Convention expected to break Whiteness records
• Michael Brooks: Donald Drumpf dry humps hugs an American flag.
• David Pakman: Drumpf has a breakdown and hugs U.S. flag at rally.
• Stephen is worried about Drumpf’s manservent, Chris Christie.
• Kimmel: Drumpf calls for Bernie
• Release the measurements!
• Seth Meyers: A closer look at Drumpf’s response to the Orlando shooting.
• Bill Maher wishes Donald Drumpf a happy 70th birthday
• Young Turks: FBI Director schools Drumpf on Muslims.
• James Corden wishes Donald Drumpf a happy 70th
• David Pakman: First the Mittster, now Eddy Munster Paul Ryan sounds reasonable.
• Stephen: What did the Late Show get Drumpf for his 70th birthday?
• Young Turks: Drumpf claims soldiers stole money in Iraq
• Seth Meyers makes Donald Drumpf a generous offer.
• Kimmel: Fighting Drumpf lawsuits
• Sam Seder: Drumpf has a sad for the Mittster.
• Stephen explains Drumpf’s response to Orlando:

• Drumpf: A father’s love for his daughter
• Young Turks: Thin-skinned Drumpf suspends WaPo’s press credentials to his events.
• Hillary rips Drumpf on his wacko anti-Muslim rants

Stephen: D.C. statehood.

Red State Update: Drumpf is racist; Bernie won’t drop out.

How the Cold War launched the Space Race.

John Oliver: Retirement plan.

Gun Politics:

• Conan O’Brien pleads for gun control
• Roy Zimmerman: “To the Victims of This Tragedy We Send Our Thoughts and Prayers”

• Jimmy Dore: Drumpf and McCain blame Obama for shooting
• Sam Seder: The NRA enables terrorists to buy guns
• Mark Fiore: Thoughts and Prayers
• Farron Cousins: Sorry Republicans…God isn’t listening to your “thoughts and prayers”
• Young Turks: Filibuster for gun control.
• Seth Meyers: A closer looks at the second amendment and gun control.
• PsychoSuperMom: “No More Prayers (Except The Prayer To Act)”
• Young Turks: Hey politicians, keep your fucking prayers…give us some action!
• Sen. Franken joins the filibuster.
• Sam Seder: McCain blames Obama for Orlando shooting.
• The Nightly Show: No guns for no-fly listers?
• Slate: Gun control is not a partisan issue!
• Maddow: GOP and NRA make guns available for terrorist watchlist?!?
• How are suspected terrorists able to buy guns?
• Stephen: Despair is a victory for hate.
• Samantha Bee: Again? Again:

• Sen. Chris Murphy begins his filibuster over gun control
• Farron Cousins: Time to have an adult conversation about gun control.

White House: West Wing Week.

Samantha Bee: Dope-ass Libertarian on the mic.

How Jon Stewart got involved with Wounded Warriors.

VSauce: How the earth moves.

Jimmy Dore: Media treats White killers different than non-White killers.

Stephen: Political news of the day.

AC360LGBTQ:

• Anderson Cooper pushes Pam Bondi on LGBTQ issues.
• Young Turks: AC gets tough with FL AG
• Jimmy Dore: See a State Attorney General squirm
• Larry Wilmore: Anderson Cooper versus Florida Attorney General.
• Chris Hayes and Dan Savage: Drumpf is the enemy of LGBT community
• Young Turks: Republicans court LGBTQ voters, “We’ll protect you from Muslims!”
• Jimmy Dore: GOPer Tweets Sympathy for Orlando and immediately blocks bill to protect LGBTQ

Stephen: The primaries are over…

POTUS in the wild.

Mental Floss: 21 homes with remarkable features.

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

I find the GOP brand’s fall in Washington State fascinating. From Dino Rossi running as Prefers GOP Party because it polls better to Susan Hutchinson’s insistence that she wasn’t really a Republican until she decided to chair the Republican Party in the state to independents who would be Republicans if they had to chose winning in Thurston County. It feels like it’s more about branding than any change in policy.

I want to thank you both for participating in Chris Murphy’s filibuster. It’s far past time that the country took up reasonable gun reforms. I don’t know what could get passed through this Congress even in the wake of yet another horror. But thank you for trying.

Sincerely,

Carl Ballard

(if you want to contact them you can here for Murray and here for Cantwell)

I don’t know how to cover the shitstain who thought it would be a good idea to attack a North Seattle mosque. Do you just praise the people who caught him? Do you even give him any attention? I won’t name him, just like I won’t name the Orlando shooter.

I guess back to one I’ve said before: Nobody murder anyone. For any reason.

Join us this evening for some politics under the influence at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally. Tonight is the final presidential primary in D.C.

We meet tonight and 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. We start at 8:00pm.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings happening over the next week. Tonight, the Federal Way, Tri-Cities and Redmond chapters also meet. The Lakewood chapter meets on Wednesday. On Thursday the Tacoma, Bremerton, and Spokane chapters meet. Finally, on Monday, the Aberdeen and Yakima chapters meet.

There are 179 chapters of Living Liberally, including nineteen in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find, or go out and start, a chapter near you.

I don’t know what to say. Orlando should still be in the news, it shouldn’t fade so quickly to become just another in the litany. There are people who are writing more thoughtful, more interesting stuff. I could talk about the candle light vigil: I went, but I didn’t go as a blogger, so I didn’t take notes. I went because it felt immoral to be anywhere else. The speeches were great, especially Ed Murray and the queer Muslim woman (whose name I didn’t get).

A few months ago when Civic Skunkworks new podcasts came out, one of the things that struck me most was in the gun episode hearing President Obama list major gun incidents (starting at 11:32 at the link above). Lists like that are such an integral part of how we define a society. At the time, it made me think of the list of ships in the Iliad. But you can also think of the list of who begat whom in the Bible. Or the 10 Commandments. You can think of the bill of rights. You can think of your new year’s resolutions that you’ll often list publicly if you want a more modern one.

These lists tell us about a society. The mass shooting list is one that defines American in the last few decades. It’s one that even if we can’t get our heads around how large it is, even if we don’t know all of them, we know plenty of the particulars. Even as we grow numb to some of it, we can remember where we were when we heard about many of the shootings on the list.

Today we can add Orlando to the list of mass shootings. Another goddamn mass shooting. It goes with Cafe Racer, and Newtown, and Aurora, and Columbine, and Fort Hood, and whatever comes next.

Deuteronomy 28:22
The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.

Discuss.

White House: West Wing Week.

If cell phone ads were honest.

Things you learn when you sleep next to someone.

Samantha Bee: Gary Johnson is also running.

Five times the NRA and friends were accidentally hilarious.

How America’s Democrats will finally come together this election.

The Republican National Clown show:

• Stephen catches up on the news.
• Drumpf business disasters.
• David Pakman: Drumpf “University” scandal looking more like corruption.
• Young Turks: Drumpf uses racial slurs in attaching Sen. Warren.
• Sam Seder: The Bachmann principle (and how it applies to Drumpf).
• Obama shuts down haters with ultimate Donald Drumpf burn.
• Sam Seder: Trump adviser, “A woman judge may be too biased for Drumpf case
• A racist statement:

• David Pakman; Drumpf fails to get 80% while UNOPPOSED!
• Besides getting rid of minorities, how would you Make America Great Again?
• Stephen: Turns out Donald Drumpf has used a Teleprompter all along.
• Grace and Drumpf.
• Jimmy Dore: Paul Ryan’s endorsement battle…does he approve of daughter-banging?
• Farron Cousins: Republicans “hate” Drumpf but will still vote for him because they are idiots
• Young Turks: Drumpf supporters really need their own dating site.
• Sam Seder: Drumpf is going to “take care of our African American people”
• Things Drumpf has said in 60 seconds.
• David Pakman: Multiple Republicans announce they WON’T support Donald Drumpf
• Sen. Franken rips Drumpf without mentioning his name.
• Biden: Drumpf’s attacks on Judge are racist.
• Sam Seder: Paul Ryan, “Trump is racist…but I’m with racist.”

Liberal Viewer: GOP Senate Foreign Relations Chair forgets Mexico is foreign nation?.

Why are U.S. Presidential elections so long?

Mental Floss: What is brain freeze?

Samantha Bee: Gary Johnson’s poll dilemma.

Sen. Franken makes case for Obama’s Supreme Court nominee (with history lesson).

Why teacher diversity matters:

Mark Fiore: Grrl Power.

Clinton Makes History by Winning the Nomination:

• Seth Meyers: A Closer Look at Clinton clinching the nomination.
• Stephen: Hillary Clinton’s achievement is historic; Bernie soldiers on.
• Seth Meyers: Hillary supporters go public.
• Sam Seder: Obama endorses Hillary Clinton for President.
• The choice is clear.
• David Pakman: Hillary captures it.
• Stephen with Hungry For Power Games: Tribute Bernie Sanders has finally…wait.
• Sam Seder: Hillary clinches it!
• Seth Meyers: The “leave him alone” guy sticks up for Bernie Sanders.
• The choice is ours.

Samantha Bee: The bed we’ve made.

Owning a gun is like owning a chimpanzee:

Jimmy Fallon and Barack Obama slow jam the news.

Mental Floss: 22 Ridiculous dxercise trends.

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

I want to say a quick word to the lefties who supported Bernie Sanders, but aren’t sure if you can vote for Clinton. I hope you can for policy reasons. She’s pretty great. I said what I like about her here, and I’m sure you’ve heard plenty from other sources in the last few days. Cool. I really hope you can change your mind for the general.

But, even if you can’t, I hope you’ll find some other office to support liberals. This country isn’t going to have top down change, and while who gets to be president is super important, so is who gets to figure out road funding, and public transit, and whatever cemetery district does, and education, and on and on. Sanders got his start in elected politics Burlington, a place I’ve literally looked up and couldn’t find on a map of Vermont, maybe not on a map of Burlington. Surely, there’s someone out there who might be the next Sanders, and the more liberals who get elected, the more the next one will have a chance.

Here in Washington, all the statewide executive offices, half of the state Senate and all of the state House are up for reelection as well as all the US House and Patty Murray’s Senate race. There are also initiatives on gun safety and minimum wage because our legislature hasn’t acted. And there’s a campaign against the trans hate initiative. Any of those campaigns would love to have committed volunteers or a small donation. I wrote here about some of my favorites, and there are a few other suggestions people liked in the comments. I’ll try to remember to do an Act Blue page over the weekend if anyone is interested in making a local donation.

I remember volunteering for a down ticket executive race a few election cycles ago, and they were soooooooo happy to have someone make calls or write letters like once a week. I hope you’ll eventually come around on Hillary Clinton, but even if you don’t, there’s still plenty of work that so many great candidates would be glad to have.

I hope we’re learning a lot from Cascadia Rising. Also, it’s probably a good reminder to stock your emergency preparedness kit.

Join us this evening for an election-watching party at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally. Tonight California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota have presidential primaries. And North Dakota has Democratic caucuses. It will be entertaining.

We meet tonight and 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. We start at 8:00pm, but consider showing up earlier for the vote tallies.

And something else…Negin Farsad is coming to Seattle on June 12th promoting her book:

HOW TO MAKE WHITE PEOPLE LAUGH
A memoir-meets-social-justice-comedy-manifesto
By Negin Farsad
Book Trailer
Purchase link

SEATTLE EVENT
Reading & Standup at University Book Store
4326 University Way NE
June 12th at 4 PM
FB Event

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings this week. Tonight, the Tri-Cities and West Seattle chapters meet. On Thursday, the Kent chapter meets.

There are 179 chapters of Living Liberally, including nineteen in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find, or go out and start, a chapter near you.