Sunday, September 06, 2020

Sunday "Garbage In, Garbage Out" Funnies

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Thursday, September 03, 2020

White House Update: Tiz the Law should win

It's nearly Labor Day, the time when talking heads on teevee tell us "everybody starts paying attention"; the debates are scheduled and the mods selected.  It's also Kentucky Derby weekend, but there will be no crowd, no big hats.  Find your irony in the name of the morning line's heavy favorite.

Let's see what the two old demented white dudes are up to.

-- Trump keeps moving his rhetoric; past conspiracy-theory territory now, straight to vote fraud.

(Trump) told voters in North Carolina they should vote twice, once by mail and once in person, even though doing so would be illegal. Trump was asked whether he has confidence in the mail-in voting system before suggesting voters break the law as he cast further confusion over the process ahead of November's election. "Let them send it (their mail-in ballot])in and let them go vote, and if their system’s as good as they say it is, then obviously they won’t be able to vote," he said."So that’s the way it is. And that’s what they should do".


If the GOP base is dumb enough to drink bleach to cure COVID, I'm sure they're dumb enough to follow these instructions.  It's not as if Greg Abbott or Ken Paxton, to use our local examples, would prosecute them for it, after all.  They're much too busy jailing people for not being aware they were ineligible, or collecting seniors' mail ballots at nursing homes and taking them to the post office.

Update: “Bipartisan” Washington Insiders Reveal Their Plan for Chaos if Trump Wins the Election

Top Democrats fear that protests could help Trump win

-- While there are considerable conflicting reports about whether or not Trump (or Joe Biden, for that matter) got a polling bump following their nominating conventions, the race appears to be right back where it started before the RNC and the DNC did their thing.  There have been several excuses for why Texas Democrats and Republicans didn't get prominent face time.


So as it seems the contest will once again turn not on the significant policy statements of either man -- Trump's cannot be believed, and Biden's aren't going to break any new ground -- the only thing remaining will be the performative artistry of the debate spin, and whatever gaffes Biden is certain to make ... because Trump's don't move the needle.

That puts Old Joe in a tight box.



Oh yeah; Putin's Army of Trolls again.


Not unexpected.  I do believe that Nate's Liver -- I mean Nate Silver -- has found his excuse for when the polling is wrong again and Biden loses to Trump: the Electoral College.


Much better than blaming Russian bots.  Or the Green Party's presidential nominee.  But what if someone proposed meaningful systemic changes?


Following Ms. Savage's advice would also make all of this polling that shows the race tightening more legitimate, as it querys likely and/or registered voters scattered across the country.  That would be as opposed to state surveys consolidated into an EC projection ... which is the only legitimate poll you should be considering.  Those show Biden still with a comfortable lead.

Can he still choke?  Like Michael Moore, I expect that he will.  I'll lay that out in a future post.

Update:

Electoral college explained: how Biden faces an uphill battle in the US election

Biden Has What It Takes to Lose

-- Howie Hawkins soldiers on, but the corporate media -- and the polling outfits -- are studiously ignoring him and the Libertarian Jo Jorgensen.


They will likely have to host their own debate, as in years past.

-- And Mark Charles' campaign is creeping up into the public eye.


-- Gonna have to mention Kanye a bit.  His presidential campaign is being described as 'unraveling' in two separate reports, but his vice-presidential campaign seems to be flourishing.

Didn't know he was running for veep? Neither did he.

Update: Just screamingly funny.

A couple days ago, Ballot Access News reported that the American Shopping Party (ASP), which has ballot access in Hawaii, is considering nominating a presidential ticket of businessman Rocky De La Fuente for president and entertainer Kanye West for vice president.  This is the same ticket the American Independent Party (AIP) nominated for the California ballot last month.  However, according to the ASP Facebook page, the party wants actor Jason Momoa to be its presidential nominee.  The only catch is that the party cannot contact him.

There's more but I'm choking on my laughter too hard to post it.

-- If you thought that was weird, the Alaska Green Party nominated Jesse Ventura for president and Cynthia McKinney for VP.  Alaska Greens succeeded in petitioning for 'limited political party' status, meaning they can put forth only a top-ticket pair of candidates.  They promptly blew it, big time (read the comments at the link for some hilarity).

-- Gonna wrap this with some Tweets about the Movement for a Peoples' Party, which held their organizing convention last weekend.


David Collins did an outstanding job live-blogging their virtual convention.  He's enthusiastic about its prospects; more so than me.

Update: The Two Parties Have Failed Us, But The People Can Succeed

If the Greens can't get to 5% this year, it's time for them to fold their tent and throw in with somebody else, be it the PP or the SWP or some combination of united left parties, movements, etc. that can get ballot access and challenge the Democrats -- more strongly than the GP has ever been able to -- from their portside.  They need labor to really get this done, which ought to be easier than it sounds considering how badly working people have been left behind by the Donkeys.  And they need some big money backers.

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Monday, August 31, 2020

The Once-Again Weekly Wrangle


Back after a week's break!  Let's open with a lame joke.


Ha. Ha. Ha. But seriously ...


Our fellow Texans in Beaumont and Port Arthur, mostly spared the worst of Laura, evacuated to Austin but still found a reason to fight about something.


And our neighbors in Orange and Lake Charles probably aren't feeling the joke or the lessening, so if you're feeling charitable ...


There's still 42 days remaining before the start of early voting for the November elections, but Greg Abbott is giving SD-30 a head start on replacing Pat Fallon, who replaced John Ratcliffe in TX4 when he joined the Trump administration as DNI. (You may have heard Ratcliffe's name taken in vain over the weekend.)


Luther is the beauty shop owner who defied Greg Abbott and re-opened her salon while the COVID ban was still in effect, drawing headlines, armed supporters, and a brief stint in the pokey.  Springer is the Texas House representative for HD68, and the establishment choice to thwart Luther's bid to join the anti-Abbott Caucus in the Texas Senate.  The other Republicans -- Carter, Hopper, and Watts -- and Democrat Minter are mentioned in this TexTrib piece.

Expect a runoff, with the D and one of the Rs advancing.  The game to watch is whether Dan Patrick -- or acolytes of his that may want to cause trouble for Abbott -- come out publicly for Luther, work behind the scenes, or stay on the sidelines.  Activity like this signals the intensity of GOP primary scuffling in 2022, which the Govnuh is keen to avoid but won't shy away from.

If Springer wins the primary or the runoff, there'll be yet another special election to fill his Texas House seat at some point, in December or January.

Socratic Gadfly also blogged about Abbott, Fallon, and Springer and had some prognostications on the SD-30 race.

TXElects has analyzed Central Texas and Harris County statehouse races.


Who do the newly homeless plan on voting for? Do you think there will be poll watchers challenging their registrations, who've been keeping an eye on the public eviction records?


We know that they -- and everybody else who gets to vote -- won't be able to vote for many Green candidates, thanks to Texas Democrats.


But it's not like the TXGOP is making sure that everyone who wants to vote can do so.


This must be that "lesser evil" stuff I keep hearing about. Remind me again which is which? Oh yeah; I remember now.


There's cruel, and then there's just plain stupid.


Glenn Melancon at Living Blue in Texas points out that some have wasted their entire summer chasing conservative conspiracy theories. (Not this blogger.)

"Cops Behaving Badly" is still news in Texas.


Perhaps there's going to be some room made for improvement.


Here's some environmental headlines over the past week.


With a couple of educational updates:

Dos Centavos points you to a post by researcher Angela Gutierrez regarding a Latino Decisions survey of Latino parents and the challenges they face as schools reopen.


Should I wrap this Wrangle here? Yes, I should. Let's rock (in remembrance).

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Sunday, August 30, 2020

Sunday "Right to Remain Silent" Funnies


(Ed. note: My, what a relaxing week off.  Regular posting to resume in course.  If you missed anything over the past week, Matthew Dessem at Salon has a nice summary.  I must admit that finding humor in this environment is more than the usual challenge.)


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Sunday, August 23, 2020

Sunday "The Choice" Funnies

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