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Wednesday Open Thread

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Look, don’t get used to high quality open threads. I am sorry that Darryl has spoiled you. Back to nonsense like me rambling a bit about, holy shit, who came in second place for Lands Commission.

We have a top 2 primary, so the first and second place finishers go on to the general election. This year Lands Commission — the DNC is on and I’m writing about Lands Commission — Jaime Herrera Beutler, the former Republican Congresswoman, and probably Dave Upthegrove, Democratic member of the King County Council, are probably going through. But! Republican Sue Kuehl Pederson is within 51 votes. So there will be a hand recount.

I suspect 51 votes isn’t enough to overturn. Especially since most voters went for someone else. But if it’s this close, a hand recount is reasonable. I hope Republicans can refrain from the misconduct they pull in some contested elections.

But if you voted in this race and you haven’t checked yet, please confirm that your vote was counted.

Finally, if 52 votes change and this flips. Democrats will have had the most votes in the primary, but be unrepresented in the election. No primary system perfect, and it’s easy to find the problem with the one you have, but this seems bad. I suspect Democrats will do more to reign in candidates in the future, maybe back room deals to keep some people off the ballot.

Anyway, please wash your hands right now and get vaccinated or boosted if you’re eligible.

Drinking Liberally — Seattle

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DLBottlePlease join us this evening as the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally gets together for political analysis, discussion, and good cheer over a drink.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us on the back patio. We start at 8:00pm.

Chapters of Living Liberally are all over the place…if you can’t make it to the Seattle chapter, stop by another chapter near you.

Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

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Electile Dysfunction 2024:

Cult of The Felon Von Shitzenpantz:

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

“Not enough open threads!”

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Pennsylvania is one of the most important swing states for presidential elections. Besides having 19 electoral votes, the state is a bellwether for WI and MI. Since 1992, the three states have voted together and, with the single exception of 2016, have given their electors to the Democrat.

With that context in mind, there are two new polls out in PA. The first is from Franklin and Marshall that has Vice President Kamala Harris leading former President and convicted felon Donald Трамп 46% to 43%. The poll’s margin of error is 3.8%, so Harris’ 3% lead is weak evidence that she would win an election held today. The release summarizes reasons for support thusly:

The main reasons that Harris voters are supporting her candidacy include anti-Трампism (18%), women’s rights (17%), character (15%), partisanship (13%), and democracy (13%). The top reasons voters provide for supporting Трамп include economic policy (29%), immigration (20%), and partisanship (19%). More voters believe Vice President Harris has better judgment, is more trustworthy, and is closer to their views on values issues than Mr. Трамп, while more voters believe Mr. Трамп is better able to handle the economy

The second poll is from Quinnipiac and finds Harris leading Трамп 48% to 45%. This poll’s margin of error is 2.4%, which means that we are getting into “real lead” territory. Note that if the polls are combined, the sample of over 2,600 voters is pretty solid evidence that Harris is now leading in PA. The Quinnipiac poll asked voters to characterize the two candidates:

  • Has good leadership skills [yes/no (spread)]: Harris 48%/47% (+1%), Трамп 50%/49% (+1%)
  • Cares about average Americans: Harris 50%/47% (+3%), Трамп 46%/54% (-8%)
  • Kind of personality and temperament it takes to serve effectively as president: Harris 52%/46% (+6%), Трамп 46%/53% (-7%)
  • Honest: Harris 46%/48% (-2%), Трамп 37%/60% (-23%)

The two polls, using different methods, find that Трамп has a serious deficit on issues of character for PA voters.

Meanwhile, in news of the weird, Vance has bizarre ideas about the “purpose” of postmenopausal women. Interestingly, Vance’s take is likely based on a tortured misunderstanding of one theory on the evolution of menopause in women. I look forward to a debate question on whether he espouses contemporary evolutionary theory. You already heard about a couple of unearthed photos of Vance in drag. A new addition to the Трамп/Vance campaign photo album is a high school photo of Vance posing with three female classmates pretending to use urinals in the boys bathroom. Good clean fun. But, you know…a little weird. A new audio recording has Vance claiming Amazon funded Black Lives Matter so rioters would burn down their brick-and-mortar competitors—a totally non-weird conspiracy theory.

Трамп gave a rambly “economic” press conference in which he held up Tic Tacs to exemplify inflation, which brought back to mind the Hollywood Access tape in which he mentioned the need to pop a Tic Tac in preparation for any urge to sexually assault Arianne Zucker. Good times. He also falsely claimed (again) that Governor Tim Walz, “wants tampons in boys’ bathrooms.” No word on how the stock markets reacted to this bizarre “economic news.”

Speaking of bizarre…. Трамп’s staff thinks he may have PTSD because he repeatedly watches himself get shot in the ear. Maybe PTSD…or, maybe it’s just a flare-up of his pre-existing narcissistic personality disorder?

Drinking Liberally — Seattle

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DLBottleThe Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight for drinks and chats. If you’re not busy fleeing to Venezuela or something, please drop by and say “hi.”

We meet tonight and every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us on the back patio. We start at 8:00pm.

Chapters of Living Liberally are all over the place…if you can’t make it to the Seattle chapter, stop by another chapter near you.

“More Open Threads! More Open Threads!”

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Having my morning coffee and cracking open the newspaper….

Hacked!. Let’s see…I am trying to remember how it goes—something like, “Iran, if you are listening….”

Oh…and then there’s this—Swifties are organizing for Kamala:

…Swifties are figuring out voter registration requirements in every state where there’s a swift concert, making QR codes with voter registration and donation links so people can do both at her concerts….”

Yeah…don’t panic, Трампistas. Just give them a healthy dose of your usual insults and denigration.

Speaking of insults and denigration, a couple of headlines from today: “Donald Trump Privately Rants That Kamala Harris Is a ‘B***h’ as His Polls Plunge” and Vibes matter: Трамп can hardly restrain his jealousy over the Harris campaign’s joy. SAD!

A writer puts things into a British perspective in his description of Трамп.

NPR fact-checked Трамп’s emergency news conference from last Thursday. They found “at least 162 misstatements, exaggerations and outright lies in 64 minutes.” And, yes, the article enumerates and factually debunks all 162 statements.

Last week Elon Musk filed an anti-trust lawsuit against a marketing trade body and the advertisers who were “boycotting” Xitter. Apparently, Musk’s strategy has consequences: more advertisers are fleeing the ailing platform. I’m no lawyer, but if “corporations are people, my friends,” aren’t they fully entitled to First Amendment protections of freedom to assemble and freedoms on matters of conscience? Also, Musk did tell advertisers unhappy with Xitter to “not advertise” and instead “go fuck yourselves,” so this is really just performative litigation that is backfiring on Musk. So sad.

Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

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Electile Dysfunction 2024:

Michael Kosta: Barbara McQuade on The Disinformation Problem in America & “attack from within”

The Cult of the Felon Von Shitzenpantz:

Vice News: How US nuclear testing continues to haunt the Marshall Islands

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

Drinking Liberally — Seattle

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DLBottleIt is election night in Washington State. Drop off your ballot off and then swing by the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally for drinks and celebrations.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us on the back patio. We start at 8:00pm.

Chapters of Living Liberally are all over the place…if you can’t make it to the Seattle chapter, stop by another chapter near you.

We want an open thread!

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I suppose I can do some of these Open Thread things while Carl Ballard is on hiatus. Here is stuff from the news for your consideration.

Трамп is one week deep into a national poll losing streak. One poll showed a seven point swing in favor of Harris. The Orange Authoritarian appears to be taking it NOT well—he is glitchy, if not broken, and spewing more nonsense than usual. Meanwhile, the Hospitality Worker’s Union has rejected the only candidate suffering the trifecta of malignant narcissism, sociopathy, and cerebral syphilis by giving Kamala Harris their endorsement. This, despite a bullshit campaign promise from Spanky, himself, of tax-free tips should he be elected again. Also, The Felon Von Shitzenpantz might be suffering from a bad case of emoluments. Meanwhile, Трамп puts his common sense, great temperament, and loyalty on display by first complaining about the international prisoner swap, and then pivoting to publicly praising Putin over the deal.

Finally, a decade-old mystery has been solved. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confesses he left that dead bear cub in Central Park. Some say its the brain worm talking….

Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

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Robert Reich: Is economic growth always good?

Electile Dysfunction 2024:

Lewis Black heats up over the hottest summer in history

The Cult of the Felon Von Shitzenpantz:

Roll Call: Congressional Hits and Misses of the Week

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

Wednesday Open Thread

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I am going on vacation for a few weeks. I have sometimes done open threads from vacation in the past, but this year is even more remote for much of the trip, so probably none from me.

Still, wash your hands right now and get vaccinated or boosted if you’re eligible.

Drinking Liberally — Seattle

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DLBottleThis would be a good time to fill out your ballot and drop it off at a drop box or a mailbox. Then swing by the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally to raise a toast in celebration of life!

We meet tonight and every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us on the back patio. We start at 8:00pm.

Chapters of Living Liberally are all over the place…if you can’t make it to the Seattle chapter, stop by another chapter near you.

Snowball in July!

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It’s been over a week since President Joe Biden withdrew from reelection and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. And what a week it has been! The Harris campaign has snowballed into a formidable challenge to the felonious former guy.

I couldn’t be more pleased. You see, in 2020, during the Democratic primary season, I engaged in debates with my friends at Drinking Liberally about who the Democrats should nominate. My first choice was Joe Biden. I felt he had the best chance of defeating an incumbent old guy. Joe Biden was a highly experienced, stable, thoughtful, elder statesman, who was best equipped to defeat an incompetent, sociopathic, narcissistic, sexist, racist, agent of chaos.

My second choice was Kamala Harris. I thought she had both excellent policy positions and great charisma. I was pretty pleased when the ticket was Biden—Harris.

Now, having Harris at the top of the ticket is like a breath of fresh air. It has an energy not unlike Obama’s 2008 campaign. The response has been overwhelming:

A week since announcing her bid for president, Vice President Kamala Harris has raised more than $200 million dollars, according to her campaign.

…

The Harris campaign said 66% of the donations came from first-time donors. Along with fresh dollars, the campaign has signed up over 170,000 new volunteers since president Biden announced he would step down and endorsed her to be the Democratic nominee last Sunday.

I’ve got a good feeling about this…

The Washington Democratic delegation is totally on board and ready to roll in support of Harris at the Democratic National Convention.

Every four years we hear it: “this is the most important election of our lives.” But sometimes that trite expression is reality! A second Трамп term will be about 2025 times worse than the first Трамп term….

Wanna keep the Harris momentum going? Activate yourself and do something! Donate to the Harris campaign. It’s easy. Even if you can only donate a few buck, your contribution adds to the snowballing movement in the best way—as another small donor. Volunteer for the Harris campaign. Make a plan to vote, and help other’s prepare to vote. Get involved.

Don’t just live history…help make it!

(Note: THIS IS NOT AN OPEN THREAD. If you comment on anything unrelated to this post IT WILL BE DELETED. So go to an open thread with unrelated comments.)

Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

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Bill Maher: Future headlines—Summer 2024

Electile Dysfunction 2024:

Robert Reich: You’ve been lied to about inflation

Jimmy Kimmel: The week in unnecessary censorship

The Cult of the Felon Von Shitzenpantz:

Jonathan Mann: ♫ Everyday Is the Hottest Day ♬

Roll Call: Congressional hits and misses of the week

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

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