HorsesAss.Org

Almost a week has passed since the general election. One of the more interesting set of races was in Virginia, in which the Governor and Lieutenant Governor positions were won by Democrats, and the Attorney General race was narrowly in favor of the Republican Mark Obenshain over Democrat Mark Herring. Since last Tuesday, precincts across the state have been correcting their counts. As of this morning, Obenshain was up by a mere 17 votes out of some 2.2 million votes tallied.

Over the past few days, discrepancies, including a missing tally from an entire machine, have come to light in the Democratic stronghold of Richmond. A couple of hours ago, a hearing was held by the Richmond electoral board to clarify those discrepant or suspicious results in eight precincts. The rather dramatic review of those eight precincts netted Herring a total of 132 votes, giving the Democrat a lead of 115 votes.

The Republicans immediately demanded a review of ten more precincts. The request was granted, and those are being examined as I write this post. But, the first five precincts examined so far have resulted in exactly zero changes—they keep their election day tallies. I note that the Richmond electoral board is composed of two Republicans and one Democrat, so it will be hard for Republicans to concoct rational conspiracy theories around the hearings (as if “rational” has ever been a criterion!).

Of course we are still a long way from having this resolved. The loser will almost certainly request a recount, although N in Seattle tells me that the Virginia recounts rules are far more restrictive than what we are used to here in Washington. And then there will be the inevitable lawsuit a la the first Gregoire–Rossi race in Washington or the Franken–Coleman race in Minnesota.

The other likely set of changes to the vote count will come from about 500 outstanding provisional ballots. Most outstanding provisionals will come from blue-leaning areas—the great majority from Fairfax County, and a handful from Roanoke city. These will be adjudicated through tomorrow afternoon, when the final tallies must be certified. It is always dicey projecting provisional ballots, but we should expect Herring to pick up at least a thin majority of the provisional votes that are accepted. (BTW: there was a flap over the weekend about “rule changes” in who could represent provisional voters. The flap turns out to be pretty much bogus.)

So it looks damn likely that Democrats will have swept the three statewide races in Virginia. Given that the current Virginia Attorney General and failed gubernatorial candidate, Ken Cuccinelli, was openly boasting about being the first AG to sue the federal government over ObamaCare, his gubernatorial loss combined with the loss of the Republican in the AG slot would be a stunning symbolic victory!
[Read more…]

– Happy Veterans Day.

– Reading Patty Murray’s Washington Post editorial on the need to close loopholes in the Federal tax code is yet another reminder of how intransigent the GOP really are.

– Here’s hoping Larry Phillips and Dow Constantine live up to their threats of going it alone.

– At 95, Graham is frail and in ill health. His image and his legacy have been usurped as political tools used by his son Franklin Graham, who seems desperate to be a political player and kingmaker. Not content with living off the interest of his father’s legacy, Franklin has been burning through the capital.

– You know how gun nuts are always telling us that their having all the guns is protecting all the freedoms? I’m pretty sure they meant this sort of thing.

– Dudes Are Such Whiny Baby Liars About Girls With Short Hair

Last week’s contest was won by milwhcky. It was New Orleans.

This week’s contest is a random location from the Google Maps 45 degree views, good luck!

Proverbs 30:15
The leech has two daughters.
‘Give! Give!’ they cry.

Discuss.

Chris Cillizza: The country’s most vulnerable governor.

Sam Seder with Aasif Mandvi Behind the Daily Show “Racist Republican” segment:

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

White House: West Wing Week.

LEAVE AQUA BUDDHA ALOOOOOOONNNNE!!!!!:

• Sam Seder: The real reason Libertarian hero Rand Paul is a serial plagiarist
• Maddow: Rand Paul’s meltdown (via Slog).
• Sam Seder: Breitbart hires plagiarist
• Red State Update: Episode 51, “Rand Paul’s panties”
• Jon: Rand Theft Caught-o
• Sam Seder: Ron Paul adds to Rand’s horrible week

Pap: Chris Christie is the face of the Republican train wreck.

Stephen has some words for employers who are less than LGBT friendly.

On to 2014!

Please don’t not have sex (via Slog).

Read the tweets you politician deleted.

The Tragedy of Affordable (but Somewhat Inconveniently Acquired) Health Care Insurance for Everyone:

• Obama speaks on the Affordable Care Act
• Country music stars make funnies about ObamaCare (via TalkingPointsMemo).
• Are insurance companies lying to their customers?
• Young Turks: Obama apologizes for insurance policy changes/terminations.
• Jon has some words for ObamaCare opponents
• Thom politically corrects FAUX News idiot over the difference between cancelled insurance versus losing coverage.
• Ann Telnaes: To keep or not to keep your health-care plan.
• Interactive map: The GOPs 5 Million person Medicaid gap (via TalkingPointsMemo).
• Virginians made their ObamaCare choice!
• Young Turks: Five million people will be uninsured under ObamaCare because of obstinate GOP Governors.

The biggest prison profiteer of them all.

Absurdity Today: JP Morgan and other abominations.

Mental Floss: 26 bizarre college courses.

Sam Seder and Adele Stan: How the Koch brothers are funding the Republican War on Women™.

Thom: More Good, Bad, and Very, Very Ugly.

ONN: The Onion Week in Review.

The Spy Who Listened to Me:

• Ann Telnaes: Paying for surveillance.
• Mark Fiore: Lil’ NSA Spy Kit.
• CIA pays AT&T $10 Million per year for records access.

Ed with Lizz Winstead on why Ken Cuccinelli lost…”Women like sex but he doesn’t”.

Bill Maher with some New Rules (via Crooks and Liars).

Melissa Harris-Perry: Sunday shows fail to cover devastating cuts to SNAP program.

Sam Seder: Shrub does a keynote for Jews for Jesus.

Politician runs for Congress in FOUR DIFFERENT STATES simultaneously!

Chris Christie’s victory speech in campaign buttons.

Jon: 2016? TOO SOON!!!!

Yes…We Really Are Stooping To Local Politics…Canadian Local Politcs!:

• Young Turks: New Rob Ford video.
• Sam Seder: Rob Ford smokes crack.
• Kimmel: How to tell if you mayor is smoking crack.
• Stephen pulls a Ford.
• Kimmel interviews Mayor Rob Ford.

The Obamas surprise some White House visitors:

Thom: You might be a Republican if….

Young Turks: CBS apologizes for Benghazi report.

Absurdity Today: Stuff in the news.

Laura Flanders with Melissa Harris Perry: The Pregnant Woman Who Ended up in Jail.

Maddow: Shrub’s new friends.

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

I cannot express how annoyed I am at the fact that it looks like the legislature is going to punt on transit in the special session.* I mean, Boeing — like everyone else — needs decent transportation around the state. And King County should be able to fund Metro, goddammit.

Senate Majority Leader Rodney Tom, a Democrat from Medina who leads the predominantly Republican Majority Coalition Caucus, also said that the transportation package was never tied to the overall aerospace package.

There was some discussion of this in the Open Thread yesterday. I don’t even with this guy. I mean for him to act flat footed on the thing that everyone expected there to be a session on is just, gah. I don’t even have words for it, just incoherence. Either he didn’t do his homework, or he’s pretending to keep the caucus together.

And who knows? Things are fluid, and the GOP districts need infrastructure as much as the rest of the state so maybe we actually will get a transit package. I wouldn’t hold my breath, but stranger things have happened.

That said, at a certain point, King County should really just figure out a way to go it alone on Metro if the state can’t get it together. There always seems to be a next horizon to find. Oh, we’ll push for it in the session. Then they didn’t pass something. Oh we can just wait for the special session. If, as it’s looking like there’s nothing, I’m sure we’ll hear to just wait until the regular session come January. Etc. Etc. But we need to not have cuts.

[Read more…]

Since I mostly exit at the rear these days, I’ve had less of a chance to say “thank you” to the bus drivers. But when you exit from the front, it’s still a nice ritual. I’m sure it’s mostly rote for the people who say it, but it is a nice reminder that they conveyed us to work, or to go shopping, or to have some fun, and that we are thankful for that. They tend to do a good job of it.

There are so many jobs in the city that make it work that are thankless. It’s nice that there’s one that literally isn’t.

In the state Senate race that N in Seattle wrote about before the election, the Republican won. So, congrats to Jan Angel. I’d have preferred if she lost, but sometimes the person I want to win doesn’t. You know who’s really happy about that result though? Rodney Tom (Trib link).

“When everybody thinks they’re that 25th vote, well, they’ve got leverage,” Tom said. “It just makes it a lot more difficult.”

Seriously. He said that. Rodney. Tom. Said. That!

You know what? I’m really sad for Rodney Tom, everybody. How could he have predicted that in a caucus there might be people who are willing to blow the whole thing up? How could he have known that whiny entitled assholes might destroy a caucus to get what they want?

Just think of how a few years ago when Lisa Brown was trying to figure out a budget, if she’d realized, like Rodney Tom said:

“When everybody thinks they’re that 25th vote, well, they’ve got leverage,” Tom said. “It just makes it a lot more difficult.”

Just think when Ed Murray was trying to keep the majority that the Democrats had won at the polls if he’d had advice like:

“When everybody thinks they’re that 25th vote, well, they’ve got leverage,” Tom said. “It just makes it a lot more difficult.”

Honestly, Rodney Tom complaining about the possibility of defections in a caucus is so not self aware that nematodes read that and roll their eyes.

So now that Seattle is going to have a mixed districts and at large City Council, I wonder how it’s going to shake out. I linked this morning to a piece in this morning’s Open Thread on some of the possible political ramifications of that vote. But I’m also curious about what this might mean for how the city is governed. Are there going to be committees that are chaired by at large or, specific districts?

Just looking at the list of committees, it seems like the Central Waterfront, Seawall, and Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Program, the South Lake Union, the SR 520 Project, the Town Hall, and the Yesler Terrace committees would be chaired by people who represented those specific geographic areas. You could also argue that there are some that might be downtown heavy like Public Safety, Civil Rights, and Technology and some that are less so like Parks and Neighborhoods, although obviously there is crime and are parks in all of the districts. There also might be some things that make more sense to be chaired by an at large person: Transportation, City Light Strategic Plan, or the Budget committee.

Also, I wonder how constituent services will work. Presumably most people will go to, or be directed to, their individual council member like happens in Congress or the legislature now. But will the at large members have constituent services related to their committees or just if people aren’t interested in going to the person who represents their district?

– I’m pretty amazed that the requirement in the health care law that men and women pay the same is the hill the GOP have decided to fight on.

– Congrats to Whatcom County on electing anti-coal export terminal candidates (Seattle Times link).

– I think the fallout from the district elections will be interesting. Erica C. Barnett teases out some of the political implications.

– I liked reading about Jeff Merkley’s role in ENDA.

– I think I knew the date that the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapsed, but 1940, on this date seems ludicrously recent in my mind.

– Flying is safe.

I’m pretty disappointed with the result of I-522. I’m not sure anyone has called anything yet, but after today’s 4:30 ballot drop, it’s still no at 54.33%. And yes, it still proves –as if further proof were needed — that rather depressingly, big money can buy elections in this state, at least initiatives. Still while the $22 million spent to get a victory can be thought of as dispiriting: breaking records of spending made a big difference in the end. Suck!

Still, I think there may be a small bit of hope in a staggeringly large number. First, given that only a tiny tiny ity bitty fraction was from in state, that’s money flowing in here. More important though is that they had to spend that much money. Sure, they won, but it might put some big money interests off in the future if they think they might have to spend that much on a campaign.

It may be a hollow victory in the face of an actual loss, but it’s better than nothing.

Boo.

Flanked by Boeing and union leaders, Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday announced a tentative deal to win assembly of the Boeing 777X in Washington state.

The deal hinges on a legislative special session to pass $8 billion in tax incentives for Boeing through 2040. Other elements of the plan are a long-stalled $10 billion, 10-year transportation package, fast permitting for manufacturers, and education for aerospace workers.

“The bottom line is that this is what Boeing and the Machinists need to compete in the global marketplace and build this airplane in our state, and for us to secure our economic future,” Inslee said, adding that he hopes the package will be passed in the next week.

Look, I know that politicians know that if they don’t offer these sorts of deals, and Boeing up and moves production elsewhere, they’ll get some blame. And they should do some things to make sure Boeing does stay. But man are these sweetheart deals annoying. And as Goldy points out, Boeing is a profitable company.

Hopefully, as long as they’re using the special session to give Boeing everything it wants, the legislature can find time to pass a decent transit package.

It’s election night. Please be sure to VOTE, and then join us for some electoral punditry and political prognostication over a pint at tonight’s Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday evening at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Our normal starting time is 8:00pm.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings over the next week. Tonight the Tri-Cities chapter also meets. The Lakewood chapter meets this Wednesday. For Thursday, the Spokane and Tacoma chapters meet. And on Friday, the Centralia chapter meets.

With 211 chapters of Living Liberally, including eighteen in Washington state, four in Oregon, and three more in Idaho, chances are excellent there’s a chapter meeting near you.

– Vote if you haven’t already. The Washington State Democrats want to make sure you do. Remember Seattle, if you don’t vote, the slightly worse candidate might be mayor.

– You don’t say, coal trains cause coal dust? Actually, in all seriousness, these sorts of studies are important, and even if the answer seems obvious, it’s important to have data.

– Construction starts in a few weeks on the seawall.

– Oh look Rachel Maddow mentioned the I-522 campaign:

$550 of the $22m raised against WA proposal to label GMO food comes from in-state. Not $550k, but $550: http://t.co/nJNuRFtlKu

— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) November 4, 2013

– So how is it that the US government was caught flat-footed about foreclosuregate? How is it that the UK government was caught off guard by the London Whale and Libor Rate-Rigging scandal? How is it that ANY of the financial shenanigans of the past decade took place and yet there have been few, if any, prosecutions?

– The Parks Legacy Citizens Advisory Committee (PLCAC), appointed to consider Seattle Parks and Recreation’s future funding options, has released a first draft of 37 newly prioritized investment initiatives (funding recommendations) that are being considered for a possible ballot measure in August 2014.

– I’m not sure why zombies are so popular right now, but they can draw in cartography nerds.

I like Linda Thomas. I think she’s one of the smartest people doing radio, and I’ve linked positively to her on numerous occasions. But I think there’s a hook she has used in some of her pieces.

You might drive by public art and not realize you paid for it. The Ballard bridge, for example, has eight sculptures attached that represent fish nets, propellers and other aspects of the neighborhood’s history.

And

He walks with a limp along North 105th Street in Seattle at the intersection with Aurora Avenue. He asks motorists stopped at the traffic light, “Could you help me please?” His sign says he’s “severely disabled.” I’ve seen him talk on a cell phone. He often wears Seahawks clothing. That’s all I know about the man who carries a cardboard sign at the same spot every day.

You know, if you’re in a city, one of the nice things is that you can get places outside of your car. I mean maybe not 99 North, but for much of the city, you can walk past people and art. You can get a lot out of Seattle on a bike or on foot, that one of our smartest newspeople thinks it’s natural to miss. I hope for those of us who take advantage of it, being able to get around in non-car ways lets us appreciate the artistic, and natural beauty, as well as seeing more of the people around us.

And I will add that, obviously, I’m not telling anyone how to get from point A to point B in this town. If you want to drive, God bless. And as an able-bodied guy, it often is, or can be perceived to be, safer for me to be on the street than for other people. Still, being on ground level out of a car is a valuable part of city life.