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Drinking Liberally — Seattle

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DLBottlePlease join us this evening for a holiday edition of 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.



https://youtu.be/qUGT30gGtiI

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. And the Burien chapter meets on Wednesday.

There are 186 chapters of Living Liberally, including eighteen in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find—or start—a chapter near you.

Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

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Stephen: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power explains the world.

Minute Physics: The physics of car crashes.

The 2016 Krazzzy Klown Kar:

David Hawkings’ Whiteboard: 2016 Calendar.

Phillip Chang comedy: It ain’t easy being Asian-American.

Mental Floss: Misconceptions about holidays.

Farron Cousins and Howard Nations: Koch brothers attempt to infiltrate progressive organizations.

Young Turks: Judge swears in on Koran to “conservative” outrage.

Climate Summit:

Stephen: Walk like a Putin.

Maddow: Anti-Muslim attacks in U.S. more than double.

Thom: Time to cure 21st century America of its original sin and prosecute Bush, Cheney, & Co.

Adam Ruins Everything: The reason we thing vitamin supplements are good for us.

Thom: The Good, The Bad & The Very Very Clinquantly Ugly!

Merry War On Christmas:

Young Turks: Congressman pranked by C-SPAN Caller.

Jimmy Dore: Your fear is being used against you.

Stephen: Creepy advertisements.

White House: West Wing Week.

Sydney Robinson: Baby boomers brought us this Republican creep show.

David Pakman: The disastrous impact of income & wealth inequality.

Non-Shutdown Accomplished:

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

Songify the News: The Fish Awakens:

Congressional hits and misses of the week.

Maddow: New clues about mysterious buyer of Nevada’s largest newspaper.

Adam Ruins Everything: Why orange juice is so unnatural.

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

Donald Trump for President…

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For months now, pundits have been trying to explain Donald Trump.

“He’s not serious,” we heard in the early days of the campaign.

“He’s a Clinton plant,” some right-wing insiders have declared.

Following his “ban Muslims from entering the U.S.” statement, some have claimed Trump is trying to stir up feelings of oppression among one fifth of the world’s population in order to catalyze world-wide Islamic jihad.

The Truth is out there…and Jeb!™ knows the truth. During last night’s G.O.P. debate, he made a startling revelation:

So Donald, you know, is great at the one-liners, but he’s a KAOS candidate, and he’d be a KAOS President.

That explains it! It all makes sense now: totally serious, not a Clinton plant, not a jihad-enabler.

Image of Trump as President of KAOS

President of KAOS

Trump is running for President of KAOS. It all makes sense now.

Donald Trump for President…of KAOS!

Mr. Trump would totally be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency of KAOS.

G.O.P. Debate Open Thread

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The debate should start at 5:30. I’ll be at Drinking Liberally and live-blogging the event (internet bandwidth permitting).

To get this thread started, here is an interesting video that was released today:

Does this provide any insights about one particular G.O.P. candidate’s (1) truthfulness, (2) great memory, (3) campaign substance?

5:10: The kiddie debate is over. Caught the closing statements. Sen. Man-on-dog wins just because he had such an upbeat way of talking about death.

5:25: What the fuck, CNN? “Trump arrives at debate” isn’t fucking news.

5:33: Someone named “Rinse Prius” or something is giving some bullshit talk. He sounds like a used car salesman.

5:36: Is Donald Trump holding up the show? Holy fuck…start without him!

5:43: Rand Paul has morphed into Ron Paul: Unelectable oddball.

5:44: Red ties are in.

5:46: Again?!? Seriously? The national anthem? This debate better involve some sort of physical test of skill!

5:48: Did Paul just say the Constitution is wrong?

5:52: Hey, Chris Christie, those LA father’s are probably thankful they aren’t crossing a bridge in NJ!

5:55: Jeb Bush: “I’ll keep our country safe, secure, and free”…just like my Brother did.

5:58: Carson pauses for a moment of silence. Don’t be fooled…he just REALLY needed to close his eyes.

6:02: Jeb: “Trump would be a Kaos president.” Get Smart!

6:05: Cruz is a one issue candidate tonight: “Obama won’t say ‘radical Islamic Terrorism’, so vote for me.

6:08: Is Christie wearing a “junk” pin on his lapel?

6:20: Christie needs to make an executive decision to straighten his tie.

6:22: Carson bails on a question…and looks really bad doing it. Wow.

6:26: Fiorina throws around “CEO” as if Americans have a positive association with the term.

6:36: Aaaaaaahhhh…a Muslimey looking questioner! Everyone duck under your podiums!!! (podia?)

6:39: Actually, Donald, Bush seems a little more energetic than you do this evening….

7:08: This debate has become exceptionally empty and repetitive.

7:11: “Punch Russia in ‘The Nose'” Nikolai Gogol smiled.

7:12: Earth to Fiorina: The withdrawal from Iraq was Bush’s doing.

7:19: Trump hurt himself with his juvenile “tough guy” insults to Jeb and then talking poll numbers. He should save that crap for campaign events.

7:32: Donald Trump. A totally low energy debater. Low ENERGY. Am I right?

7:37: Kasich says stuff that doesn’t sound extreme. But doesn’t really say anything at all.

7:45: As President, Dr. Carson could do brain surgery on “unstable” Kim Jong Un

7:45: Carson memorized a bunch of military stuff!

7:47: Ummm…Jeb Bush used a private email server while Gubernator of FL.

7:55: At this point Carson seems almost incapable of speaking…

8:03: Jeb bush stumbles his way through his closing comments. He was doing okish until then.

8:04: Rubio: “Now millions of Americans feel left behind”…like most Muslim Americans?

8:05: Carson’s “exceptionalism” closing statement makes him sound like he munched on lead paint chips as a lad.

Wrap-up. Another retched debate. My complaints is that WAAAAYYYYYY too much time was spent on security and terrorism. Fact is…foreign terrorism is a pretty minor threat in the U.S. Domestic terrorism is a much bigger threat, but no real discussion of that. That’s because IT DOESN’T SCARE VOTERS enough. I missed a chunk of the debate, but I didn’t hear anything about climate change, the environment, air polution, the economy, health care, domestic infrastructure, gun safety, white collar & Wall Street crime, higher education, primary education, mass transit & reducing traffic congestion, tax relief for the poor, reducing income inequality, energy independence, credit card fraud, etc., etc. These are issues that affect Americans every single day. And there was nothing.

These guys are in a political campaign bubble, and completely out of touch with the real America. But they got that fear thing going….

Drinking Liberally — Seattle

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DLBottle

It’s always fun when debates happen to fall on a Tuesday. And it’s happened once again—CNN will host a G.O.P. debate tonight. So please join us this evening for a special debate watching edition of 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. Our normal starting time is 8:00pm, but this week we will start at 5:30pm for the debate.

Note: We’ll have sound and video for the debate. But the pub has other customers, so the sound may not be as loud as you want, especially with the background noises of a busy tavern and peripheral conversations. If you are intent on hearing every word, I recommend you bring stuff to stream the audio. The pub has free wifi.




Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings happening this week. Tonight the Tri-Cities, Vancouver, WA, and Shelton chapters also meet. The Lakewood meets on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Tacoma chapter meets. And next Monday, the Aberdeen and Yakima chapters meet.

There are 186 chapters of Living Liberally, including eighteen in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find—or start—a chapter near you.

Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

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Judge not lest ye be judged: the quiz game.

City Hall Drama: Nick Licata battles Kshama Sawant aid Clay Showalter.

Jimmy Dore: Erick Erickson trashes his own mom to defend his racist lie Part I and Part II.

The Koch Brother’s Climate change deniers’ anthem.

Lee Camp: The truth about being a drone pilot.

Mental Floss: 25 facts about the science of music.

Islamophobia: Woman yells at and hits Muslim praying in California park.

The 2016 Clown Convention:

Stephen helps the cause of free speech in Turkey.

Harry Reid blasts Justice Scalia’s racist remark.

KPLU: A preview of the Inslee–Bryant gubernatorial race.

Jimmy Dore: What could Obama possibly say to appease the Republicans?

VSauce: Supertasks.

For the First Responders:

White House: West Wing Week.

Jimmy Dore: Jokes of the Week.

Pap and Farron Cousins: Congress critters own stock in the pharma companies that they (de)regulate.

David Pakman: Could a guaranteed basic income work?

Sam Seder: GOP terrifies people then argues policy should be formed around ‘feelings’.

How I feel right now as a Muslim in America.

The Week in Gunz:

Rent-An-Endorsement : hooks politicians up with celebrities!.

Congressional Hits and Misses of the week.

Jimmy Dore: Dick Cheney predicted the quagmire he later created.

Jay Pharoah and Michelle Obama: Go To College Music Video.

Sens. Al Franken and John McCain do some trash talkin’:

Mental Floss: Does cracking your knuckles cause arthritis?

Friday hot takes.

Seth Meyers does Hillary:

Stephen: How to defeat ISIS.

Pap and Farron Cousins: Texas is trying to redefine “personhood” to keep Blacks and Hispanics from voting

Jimmy Dore chats with John Boehner on life after Congress.

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

Chaos in the G.O.P.

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Throughout the 2012 presidential campaign season, I thought the G.O.P. primary was about as crazy as it could be. I mean, what can be crazier than a field that included Michele “HPV vaccine-retarded” Bachmann, Herman “9-9-9” Cain, Rick “Oops” Perry, Newt “Poor kids as school janitors” Gingrich, Rick “Ewwww” Santorum , and crazy ol’ Ron “Social Security is unconstitutional” Paul?

Boy…did I underestimate Republicans, and their God-given talents to indulge in The Crazy.

Trump in charge
I won’t rehash The Crazy to date—there’s been just too much. This week, though, The Crazy seems to have reached some kind of boiling point after Donald Trump proposed banning Muslims from entering the U.S. Since then, he has doubled down, and even had a spokesperson callously state, on national TV, “So what? They’re Muslim.” This arguably isn’t his craziest, his most racist or even his most outrageously unconstitutional proposal. But it combines elements of crazy, racist, and unconstitutional, and distills them down to a pseudo-policy proposal that is easy to understand. It’s done two things.

First, it has “legitimized” open expression of bigotry and racism for a big chunk of the G.O.P. Trump has “let down” the dog whistle and made it okay for many Republicans to unleash their inner-racist at full volume. Even Sen. Lindsey Graham admits that about 40% of the G.O.P. are racist. Trump’s liberation of closet racists in the G.O.P. has actually helped his poll numbers in some early primary states, and he maintains a sizable lead in the first national poll taken since the policy was announced.

Second, it has created a sense of panic among the G.O.P. establishment over a “nightmare scenario” of Trump or Cruz. Trump would, apparently, end the G.O.P. as we know it. So in the past 24 hours, there have been reports that the G.O.P. leadership is making contingency plans for a brokered convention. This has further fueled speculation that there is a secret plan to nominate Mitt Romney. Ben Carson is so outraged (and has so misunderstood the brokered convention plans), that he is threatening to leave the G.O.P. Crazy.


[I mean, things have gotten so freaking crazy that Sen. Ted Cruz has taken one last swallow, gotten off his knees and boldly (well…in a private meeting) questions Trump’s judgment. Trump, in turn, dares and then double-dares Cruz to take his best shot and orders him back to his knees.]

The Crazy has been working well for Trump (and Cruz and Carson to a lesser extent) in the primary. As a general election strategy, peddling fear and bigotry seems like a sure-losing strategy. It will take boatloads of money to help American’s forget this crazy primary before November. And even that may not be enough.

Drinking Liberally — Seattle

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DLBottleIt’s only Tuesday morning but, man, what a crazy week we’ve had. On Monday, The Donald positioned himself even closer to the Birchers and neo-Nazis. Even Dick Cheney had to dissociate himself from Trump’s outrageous policy proposal. I’m sure there will be more about this throughout the day. Please join us tonight for conversation over drinks 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. Things start up at about 8:00 pm.

https://youtu.be/33p8eeGSlis



Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings happening this week. Tonight the Tri-Cities and Redmond chapters also meet. The Bremerton, Spokane, and Kent chapters meet on Thursday.

There are 186 chapters of Living Liberally, including eighteen in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find—or start—a chapter near you.

Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

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How to save the planet and money this holiday season.

Lee Camp: Labeling people.

Chris Hayes: The G.O.P.’s new War on Women™ to gut Roe v Wade.

Thom: The Good, the Bad & the Very, Very Inconditely Ugly!

White House: West Wing Week.

Larry Wilmore: Don’t mess with Tex books.

The 2016 Cavalcade of Crazy Conservative Clowns:

Trevor Noah: The fight against ISIS.

Congressional hits and misses of the week.

Mental Floss: Misconceptions about eyes.

David Pakman: Bush & Cheney freed ISIS leader because he was “harmless”.

The glory days of the TSA.

Mental Floss: 37 facts about fruit.

Jimmy Dore: CNN to check facts & why that makes Jake Tapper cringe.

This Week in Gun Violence:

Quantum physics made easy.

Red State Update: Unboxing a giant American flag.

Friday political hot takes.

Sam Seder: Star GOP tweenage boy done with conservativism.

Pelosi slams GOP budget proposal

The G.O.P. is full of climate change deniers.

Thom: The Good, the Bad & the Very, Very Claudicantly Ugly!

David Hawkings’ Whiteboard: Omnibus:

Jimmy Dore: Iraq war 2.0 is BACK, baby!

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

Holiday gift ideas

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It’s that time of year.

If you are Donald Trump, all you want for Christmas is another high profile mass shooting. If you do the math, we can expect about 30 or 31 more mass shootings this year. Trump ought to get a couple of high profile ones out of that.

Merry Christmas, Donald!

For the rest of us, here’s an idea for a unique gift that almost everyone on your holiday gift list can use.

Give the ones you love a bullet-proof vest, or other types of body armor.

Sure…if we all did this, everyone would receive a bunch of these things. That’s okay…several vests can be useful. Stash one in the basement, one upstairs. Keep one at work. Stash one in the car…and one in the other car. Use one for stinky stuff, like hiking or running. And maybe keep a few spare around for guests with whom you are sharing an intimate hostile fire situation.

Brilliant, no?

Oh…and if Ben Carson is on you holiday list, pick him up some fresh hummus and a shiny new foreign policy adviser.

Another Lunatic Fringe Right Wing theory shot to hell

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So…this is what Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was thinking about the other day:

When a reporter asked him at an Iowa campaign stop Sunday evening about suspect Robert Lewis Dear saying he was motivated by “no more baby parts,” Cruz countered that he’s also been reported to be a “transgendered [sic] leftist activist.”

Cruz explained, “We know that he was a man registered to vote as a woman.” This discrepancy on Dear’s voter registration was first reported by The Gateway Pundit, a self-described “right-of-center news website,” under the claim that he “identifies as [a] woman.” Conservatives have since run with the claim that Dear is transgender.

Yeah…that makes perfect sense. Because transgendered [sic] women always sport a full, scruffy beard and a mustache. You know, especially if they are “transgendered [sic] leftist activist[s].”

Reality turns out to be a bit more mundane:

Records show Dear traveled 65 miles to a Colorado Springs clerk and recorder’s office to obtain his driver’s license and his voter’s registration card, Parsell said.

Although Dear clearly identified himself as a man, the information was incorrectly logged into a computer, Parsell added.

“Our employee inadvertently clicked on ‘female’ and gave the confirmation to Mr. Dear to review,” he said. “He missed it and signed it.”

Thirteen days later, Dear received the erroneous driver’s license in the mail. Records show he traveled to a Department of Motor Vehicles office in Salida to report the error and request a corrected license, which he received, Parsell said.

To change his voter’s registration card, however, Dear would have had to mail a separate request to his local clerk and recorder’s office.

Crackpots of the week: Ted Cruz and the rest of the right wing “scruffy bearded transgendered woman” theorists.

Holy shit.

Drinking Liberally — Seattle

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DLBottlePlease join us tonight for drinks, conversation, and dinner 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. Things start up at about 8:00 pm.

https://youtu.be/9afcy3Spa8U



Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings happening this week. The Long Beach, Tri-Cities and West Seattle chapters also meet tonight. The Lakewood chapter meets on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Tacoma chapter meets. And next Monday, the Yakima and South Bellevue chapters meet.

There are 185 chapters of Living Liberally, including eighteen in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find—or start—a chapter near you.

Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

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Lee Camp: Hell frozen over? A CEO is jailed!

PBS & NPR: Are pesticides to blame for the massive bee die-off?

The 2016 Clown Auditions:

Minute Physics: Why isn’t it faster to fly West?

Pap: Corporate media wants you to be stupid. Let’s fight back.

Mitch McConnell drinks.

Refugophobia:

Thom with Steven Gaffney: Really! How do you know a politician is lying?

Jimmy Dore: God refuses to apologize for Paris.

California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom (with Bill Maher): Why raise the minimum wage.

Redacted Tonight comedy special with Lee Camp.

Farron Cousins: Corporate media is hungering for a war.

Actual Terrorism That Happened in the U.S. This Week:

Congressional hits and misses: Thanksgiving leftovers edition.

John Oliver: Pennies.

Thom: The Good, the Bad & The Very, Very Gallionicly Ugly!

David Pakman: World hunger is a social construction.

Young Turks: Koch brothers building their own CIA to spy on progressives.

Surviving the survivalist game.

Quagmire Happening:

Jimmy Dore: Not drunk Bill O’Reilly calls about Muslims, responsibility & Muslims:

David Pakman: More Mexicans are leaving U.S. than coming in to the U.S.

White House: West Wing Week.

Maddow: Origin of the “freakin’ Presidential turkey pardon”.

Thom: Why the Kochs really embrace criminal justice reform.

Stop war and start cuddling.

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

HA spoils your Thanksgiving

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Obama pardons Honest and Abe.

Family Fellowship:

Classic: Sarah Palin’s Thanksgiving massacre:

Red State Update: Happy Trumpsgiving.

Trevor’s Thanksgiving Thankstacular Round-Up.

Thanksgiving Stuffing:

Mental Floss: What’s the difference between American and Canadian Thanksgiving?

The Morning After:

Mark Fiore: Learn to draw Republican Turkeys.

Stephen calls the Butterball Turkey Talk Line:

Drinking Liberally — Seattle

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DLBottleThe past week in politics has been absolutely crazy. Conservatives have developed bladder control issues as they cower at the thought of refugees coming into the U.S. Some Washington State lawmakers joined right in on the public display of cowardice. A leading Presidential candidate has been spewing incredibly racist lies, apparently to stoke his base. And that just touches on the week’s wackiness.

Please join us for some sane political conversation over the beverage of your choice at tonight’s 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. Things start up at about 8:00 pm.

https://youtu.be/Mtc5trma1NQ



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 chapter meets. And the Woodinville, Spokane, and Kent chapters meet on Thursday.

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