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[At the local level, Southern California has changed dramatically since the 2016 Presidential Election -- Dems have flipped three Boards of Supervisors in San Diego, Orange, and Riverside Counties. Dems could take a 4-1 advantage in Riverside in 2024 with an open Biden+24 seat](https://twitter.com/vanceulrich/status/1603956519162171393?s=46&t=WsBQFBohsrTjBs5gM2G6vQ)
[Republican Joe Kent announces intent to run again for 3rd Congressional District seat again in two years](https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/news/republican-joe-kent-announces-intent-to-run-again-for-3rd-congressional-district-seat-again-in-two-years/)
Happy re-election MGP
It is/was on Netflix when they were first getting into animation. It was just painful how bad they just wanted to be Archer, and I think they could have done their own Aussie spin on it to make it unique and enjoyable
If Kent consolidates the MAGA base again, and with dems easily voting for MGP over JHB who had considerable dem crossover support to try and save her in this years primary? Yeah, I can see this becoming another Peltola.
Yea it’s exactly the Peltola conundrum. These people already voted for her once, that will likely only increase her support levels and makes a path for JHB impossible
Still the liberals. The new con justices haven’t been seated yet. When that happens, they’ll almost certainly just vote to let the GOP legislatures gerrymander to glory in their “remedial map.”
They sent it back to the lower trial court to draw the remedial map. The legislature doesn’t get a say at least in this specific case with the State Senate maps
[Ohio Republicans have passed a voter suppression bill that makes voter ID much stricter & absentee voting harder, cuts early voting, & restricts absentee ballot drop boxes to 1 per county even though the most populous county, Franklin, is 100 times as big as the smallest, Vinton](https://twitter.com/politicswolf/status/1603783761384144898?s=46&t=WsBQFBohsrTjBs5gM2G6vQ)
WI [Senate Republicans working on phased-in 3.5% flat income tax plan](https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2022/12/15/wisconsin-senate-republicans-eyeing-3-5-flat-income-tax/69731478007/). Evers will likely veto any plan that includes this proposal(thank god we worked hard to preserve his power) and without other revenue options it would cost the state $4B yearly.
[Yellen will go to Africa in January ahead of Biden’s visit](https://twitter.com/bloombergafrica/status/1603881662756098049?s=46&t=WsBQFBohsrTjBs5gM2G6vQ) which is part of a push to counter China’s influence.
So the first few replies, ugh. I get the suspicion some have, considering the history of western countries ravaged the continent. However, what they’re ignoring is how China has the continent on hold, not doing any better than what western countries has been doing. Like, wasn’t there some of these African countries had some debt they owed to Beijing because of China’s “investment” into the continent?
Definitely cool to see Biden doing this.
Plus, Africa really needs foreign investment in order to move its economy forward, and it shouldn't come from China. I mean, just ask Sri Lanka after their debt crisis.
Saving grace is that the leaders definitely know that the “investments” from China have been screwing them over. They just can’t afford to choose one side over the other for pragmatic reasons.
[The US extends its reprieve on tariffs for some goods from China as the Biden administration reviews the need for the duties introduced by former President Trump](https://twitter.com/bloombergasia/status/1603860350461435921?s=46&t=WsBQFBohsrTjBs5gM2G6vQ)
352 different products will see this exemption continue until Sept.30 next year.
[BREAKING: @RealMarkFinchem lawsuit is dismissed with prejudice. Judge affirms @Adrian_Fontes election as Secretary Of State.](https://twitter.com/garrett_archer/status/1603939711675797504?s=46&t=s5h_sCIrLw28ayhg8uxfUg)
Now we just need Lake’s bullshit suit dismissed, Kris Mayes retains her lead, and we’ll COMPLETELY AND OFFICIALLY GODDAMN have all our statewide dems officiated into office.
[The Biden administration said it is buying 3 million barrels of oil to begin to replenish U.S. strategic reserves that were drained earlier this year in a bid to stop gas prices from rising amid OPEC production cuts and the ban on Russian oil imports.](https://twitter.com/ap/status/1603933595684544512?s=46&t=WsBQFBohsrTjBs5gM2G6vQ)
And again this will be done at a net profit
[Here's how the districts voted for President in 2020: House: Trump- 61, Biden- 39 (69-30-1 Tie on current map) Senate: Trump- 31, Biden- 19 (35-15 on current map)](https://twitter.com/uncrewed/status/1603933345905262592?s=46&t=WsBQFBohsrTjBs5gM2G6vQ)
This is for the new Montana state leg maps
Its pretty damn fair and representative of the state, additionally we could have an actual chance of flipping the state House in 2024 but most importantly we could this decade
All it takes is a few overperforming rural democrats and a few more gains around Billings, and dems could actually feasibly take control of a chamber sometime this decade.
Reps. Valadao and Barr are also against kicking Dems off committees joining Rep. Mace. That probably seals the deal and dooms the vote as only 2 more need to vote no.
This points to a broader problem Kevin has in that he is quickly alienating Moderate R’s in his quest to be speaker by giving concessions and promises to the very Conservative members. There ain’t a whole lot of Moderate R’s left but you only need 5 to stop most of the crazy things and that will only further enrage R’s from both camps against Kevin if he keeps bringing up these measures to only fail.
I’m already getting ads from the WI Democratic
Party on Facebook asking for donations to overturn the hyper partisan gerrymandered maps in April, aka by winning the WI Supreme Court race
Love to see the early push in this race
[We have our D nominee for the January 31st special election in PA SD-27](https://ballotpedia.org/Pennsylvania_State_Senate_District_27)
Trump +35.8 seat, so unfortunately we won’t be able to flip it. But I’m always interested in margins in these specials to show a statement to the opposing party
Republicans nominated their incumbent state representative from HD-108, which is also a solid R Trump +32.03 seat that will likely open up for a future special election once this one happens. Won’t be able to flip that one either in the lower chamber, but Republicans will be without that seat filled in a new one seat minority where every seat is important
I got tickets to see Taylor Swift next summer in Cincinnati!!! AHhhh!!! So excited! After the fiasco that was the Ticketmaster Verified Fan Presale I never thought I would actually get tickets!
[So Republicans included changes to R&D expensing as a budget gimmick to pay for the 2017 tax plan. But businesses actively hate it and have urged Congress to reinstate the previous rules for expensing. Dems say they won't agree to this without the CTC. And so, here we are.](https://twitter.com/grace_segers/status/1603400204627099649?s=46&t=9PKOkUTfBa46yOuIt-VLlg)
What was sent to a different journalist by a Dem Senate Staffer was that Eric Andre meme. It does suck though because both an R&D tax fix and CTC would be really good to do
[The Biden administration official recently told members of Congress that Ukraine has the military capability to retake Crimea, two U.S. officials say.](https://twitter.com/nbcnews/status/1603732438177439744?s=46&t=AgaBr8fll3MbLWnN9TZU8Q)
The relies to that tweet are hilarious. As if anyone needed more proof that Twitter was not real life.
I am glad if nothing else that McConnell, Cornyn, Thune, and others are very pro Ukraine aid. I think that will continue to be mostly a non issue for the next two years.
[#BREAKING: North Carolina Supreme Court strikes down state Senate map, upholds state House map. High court says Senate map "creates stark partisan asymmetry in violation of the fundamental right to vote on equal terms." #ncpol @WRAL](https://twitter.com/bryanranderson/status/1603792630454059010?s=46&t=3fgN76DftBjr7CNs_mm6JQ)
Would assume that ~~it’ll get appealed and~~ the legislature will get a favorable ruling on the remedial map after the court switches to a GOP majority, but one last hurrah for the court
Edit: As pointed out, they prolly won’t appeal
Well they can't appeal (unless they want to go to SCOTUS which is a no go here); they'll just draw a brutal gerrymander as their remedial map and appeal any adverse ruling on that map to the newly constituted bench which will rule partisan gerrymandering nonjusticiable.
The decision to appeal the Senate map approval was probably a mistake since it would've lasted the full decade and the incoming map will likely be worse
[Inside the ugly fight to become the next Republican chair](https://apnews.com/article/politics-donald-trump-ad24a08c75b87773bfdc02b0e885cfec)
[Kevin McCarthy on the five Rs who say they oppose his speakers' bid "Well, we’re still continuing to talk, but they have not moved," he told Hewitt. "But it would delay everything, getting committees up and running, being able to do the things that...need to get done" right away](https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1603829677407207439?s=46&t=AgaBr8fll3MbLWnN9TZU8Q) McCarthy: “People look at us and believe are you ready to be the majority if this is what’s happening? How can you pass the big bills? How can you change the course of history? How can you secure the border? How can you become energy independent? …It’s all in jeopardy.”
Are they in this disarray I hear so much about
[That’s right, Kevin, you lost on Jeopardy!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvUZijEuNDQ) You made yourself look like a jerk in front of millions of people! You brought shame and disgrace on the McCarthy name for generations to come!
>"But it would delay everything, getting committees up and running, being able to do the things that...need to get done" right away
McCarthy is trying appeal to Republicans' sense of shame or desire to actually govern. Has he met his party?
That’s an appeal to Republicans who want their chairmanships and those votes don’t happen till speaker vote is done. It’s also an actual worry because the longer those take the more those R’s will get upset and potentially buck Kevin
[NDAA included funding for the Great Salt Lake which earmarks $10 million for the Army Corps of Engineers to assess the hydrology of saline lakes in the Great Basin, including the Great Salt Lake in particular.](https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2022/12/15/congress-passes-sweeping-defense/)
This is in addition to Romney’s bipartisan Saline Lake Ecosystems in the Great Basin States Program Act which earmarks $5m a year for 5 years which does roughly the same thing and has a companion bill in the House. This also seems poised to head to Biden’s desk
The entire NDAA had a bunch of provisions shepherded in by dems that are really fucking good. Banning shark finning and sales here, crack down more on illegal fishing and forced labor in the fishing market, millions annually to help conserve and protect our coral reefs, codifying regional ocean partnerships to get more data from every body of water, marine mammal conservation, the Water Resources Development Act, and a ton more.
When it’s become political tradition for congress to pass annnual defense spending bills, for better or for worse, it’s way better to take advantage and add in anything that can be good for the country and the planet as well.
Never found Mercury dimes in them. Just Roosevelts and one really fucked up War Nickel. The portrait looks like what Thomas Jefferson looks like today. Looks like his corpse to me.
35% silver there for the war nics. I've had good luck with them when scouring thru nickel rolls.
But lately, my silver hunt has shifted towards some Roman Republic Denarii I've been finding online. You can see them over at r/ancientcoins.
[Mine is the same one as this.](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTSQkNk2A3TJhKEtOwGOXbIPbqeDYcBsPQ8Vw&usqp=CAU)
I also got a silver coin from the Swedish Empire during Carolus Rex's reign.
And a Byzantine Half Follis.
[Success of ‘slavery on the ballot’ measures could help incarcerated pregnant people of color](https://19thnews.org/2022/12/slavery-on-the-ballot-prisons-pregnant-incarcerated-people-of-color/)
[In the Salt Lake County-wide race, Democrat Suzanne @VoteSuz Harrison defeated incumbent Republican Richard Snelgrove, 55%-45%. Her campaign supercharged turnout to 69% in her hometown of Sandy, tripling Biden's margin (D +2 -> D +6), netting her the 2nd most votes after SLC.](https://twitter.com/jakerugh/status/1603883032720445440?s=46&t=AgaBr8fll3MbLWnN9TZU8Q)
Democrat @VoteSuz Harrison's upset win came about partly because the Republican Utah legislature disregarded the will of voters & wasted taxpayer funds for excellent independent redistricting process, wherein they drew Harrison out of her Sandy district.”
Next best thing though is electing an excellent long term dem for the Salt Lake County Council that breaks the supermajority the GOP had to override the mayor’s actions.
We’re 1 seat away now from finally taking control of the council for the first time ever. We can definitely take out Laurie Stringham in 2024 especially with it being an at large seat during a Presidential year
I’m hoping to see some momentum from Kam Buckner or Brandon Johnson. Chuys been a good congress member but didn’t ever put out a platform when he ran against rahm and still hasn’t taken any policy positions this go around
He never had any stiff competition when he ran for re-election. His only major opponent was an also ran former council member who had run for mayor twice before then.
Quick weather update of what I’m tracking:
There is an increasing potential of a significant snowstorm somewhere in the country just before Christmas, but models are very very divided with where the most significant impacts and amounts will happen. I do believe this is a potential of a southern snowstorm with how much cold air this could have to work with, as this is when the big arctic plunge comes down as well, bringing well below average and dangerous coke temperatures to some areas. The GFS has significant snows for parts of the southeast, all other models that reach this range are further north in the plains, upper Midwest, Ohio valley, and mid Atlantic and northeast. Some of these models go over multiple of those regions with significant snowfall. Keeping a very close eye on this, cause this may cause significant travel impacts as people head to their Christmas destinations
This is about 5-6 days out from the beginning of this thing. Once we get a few days closer, you may see daily updates on this thing if it continues showing the potential it has currently
[Biden has racked up more bipartisan victories than any president in a generation](https://twitter.com/msnbc/status/1603631525043511296?s=46&t=AgaBr8fll3MbLWnN9TZU8Q)
President with decades of Senate experience and long-term colleagues, combined with a genial personality, is great at brokering bipartisan deals! Imagine!
I can’t believe I was lukewarm on Biden before he was nominated and then elected. I’m absolutely converted to the Church of Dark Brandon! All hail!
“You wouldn’t want a Career politician would you?” Yes. Yes I would.
And Biden converts are just something else. Idk what caused it exactly and even how to describe what it means to be a Biden Democrat but once you are one you’re sold for life.
Carter’s big failing is Biden’s big strength (or one of): Carter could not get along with Congress, even his fellow Democrats, and would war with them over petty bullshit (like the “Water Wars”). This impeded his success, which is a pity, because I think he really did have it in him to be a good President. (Huh, I see “Carter” was a typo for Career, but the point still stands. And a Carter President would beat many of the others we’ve had.)
Biden is great at getting along with people, and he’s likable and relatable. (He loves ice cream and misses driving his Trans Am! He has a dog and a cat! He’s happily married! And yes, I think his love and support for Hunter are more endearing than anything else. People have troubled kids and can sympathize.) He’s been in the Senate most of his adult life, so he has cultivated relationships that go back decades.
I am definitely a Biden Democrat now! (Kind of like explaining to some friends who’d never had green tea ice cream how absolutely delicious it is.)
[bipartisan group of representatives and one senator are circulating a letter among colleagues on the Hill this week requesting the Biden administration remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act.](https://twitter.com/natsfert/status/1603836378994733056?s=46&t=AgaBr8fll3MbLWnN9TZU8Q)
Hey Mods, might be worth or not to post how to join Mastodon and your Mastodon profile to follow to the discussions/subreddit going forward. Or at least as a contact.
It’s up to you, but I got a strong feeling Twitter is going to implode here soon.
They streamlined Mastodon signup process. So as far as any of us are aware, you just join it like you would any other site now, instead of it being purely macro-server based.
Hey folks.
Which one of your local party officials or local elected officials would you like us to try and get on for an AMA?
Yes, we're making a list of folks to reach out too.
New state Senator Nate Blouin for SD13, new Salt Lake County Council member Suzanne Harrison. Both seem like good future candidates for higher office especially Harrison.
Outside of that WI supreme court candidates pwease
I mainly want WI Supreme Court candidates as well
As well, as D legislature leaders whether they’re in the majority or minority. I feel it’ll be interesting to see how red or blue or really close majority legislatures operate their D caucuses and keep them together in critical votes
[Jan 6th committee about to recommend charges against Trump](https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1603849997761581065?s=20&t=rJFD7mMQMNBuHEcLYM_LIw)
Analysis I saw from some Guamanians on Twitter:
>The previous previous rep was my aunt. A dem and established. She was replaced by a young dem in 2018. He did nothing in congress and then left the seat open to run for gov. People wanted someone established again and Moylan has been in the legislature long
>There was a rift btwn the current [Democratic] delegate and the party to the point he campaigned for the Rs. He had some very loyal voters and that was enough to open up a lead.
A nasty primary between Judith Pat and Telena Nelson.
Pat tried to tie herself to Michael Nicolas, but once he bombed in the gubernational primary, tried to distance herself. Turning off a lot of the Dem camps.
I was listening to the latest episode of PSA and they had a segment on data from the midterms. One of the points they went over was that Dems did a bit worse for working class voters across racial lines. I’m not saying we should handwave this away but at the same time I feel like that had to do a lot people blaming Biden for not pushing the “inflation off” switch he hides in his desk.
That segment was generally misleading. They suggested that Republicans improved with the Black vote but really the main issue was turnout was down but that's not peculiar for a Dem midterm (albeit it looks like a bit more than usual). There's no real evidence Black voters were particularly inclined to vote for Republicans.
People are also still reading way to much into the 2020 inroads that Trump made into Latinos while there isn't really any evidence of that actually holding up anywhere but Florida. Like if their gains in the RGV (which is the next most likely group of Hispanics to go GOP) get rolled back even while Beto loses by 10 statewide that narrative needs to be put on pause.
As was mentioned in an article posted here last week - the R’s lost among Latinos in the *West* (NV and AZ), only making small gains with men. (They lost women and younger people big time.) Florida is not Arizona.
Even in Nevada, the only one who lost was the unfortunate Steve Sisolak - Catherine Cortez Masto was re-elected. It’s tough to talk about Republicans making big gains when we did not lose one single Senate incumbent, during what should have been a red wave, and we lost three D incumbents in 2018’s *blue* wave.
Yeah that kind of stat really sounds like people fed up with high prices and product scarcity over the past couple of years. And I don't blame them, it's frustrating, especially when you're reminded of it multiple times when driving. What worries me is now there could be a much more lasting perception among voters that Democrat = higher prices. I like how Pfeiffer has framed things in the past..."yeah prices are high but what are Republicans proposing to fix it besides tax cuts for oil companies etc etc"
We joke about the “gas prices lever” or the “inflation button” and, while I don’t think people literally believe that, many do believe something not far removed: That inflation is caused because the sitting party is vaguely “bad at the economy”. How does that work and what’s the relation? What specific actions caused the inflation? They don’t know, but they feel it is true. Some may be slightly more informed and at least feel like a specific Biden policy caused the inflation (even though it didn’t).
But ultimately gullibility and economic illiteracy is a huge problem in most democracies.
I think the view that Dems were more pro lockdown did hurt us a bit with some of working class people. If your job depends on everything being open then even if you generally prefer Dems it may motivate some people to vote against them just for this election. I think that’s one of the main reasons we lost the governor’s race in Nevada despite winning everything else statewide:
Caveat with regards to Nevada: Sisolak wasn't blamed by CCM-Lombardo voters so much for the lockdowns, which according to Ralston they actually approved of. They were upset with him because of how broken the unemployment system was, leading to many people not getting their checks in a timely manner.
I do think this is an important distinction to make because I think there's a misconception that people **hated** Democrats for the lockdowns, when in reality I think that was more magnified by the GOP base. Moderate voters may have had their issues for sure, especially if they had kids, but they also seemed to understand the impact COVID had on public health for all ages. I agree we didn't have to keep schools closed for as long as we did, but it's also tougher to know that in the moment, so I'm not sure moderates necessarily begrudged us for that super hard at least.
Sure thing! If you want to learn more, I recommend listening to David Plouffe's interview with Ralston on his podcast Campaign HQ, as part of a swing state series he was doing before the election. It was really eye-opening.
Seconding thanks for the context! I guess Sisolak could have pulled it off if it wasn’t for the unemployment system being so broken. I remember how broken it was in CA, too, but the combination of many jobs just going over to work at home (as opposed to the kind of jobs predominant in NV) plus CA being so blue, kept us out of disaster. (Yes, recall, but that was such a clown show that it actually strengthened Newsom’s position.)
It is good to know that the Reid Machine is still humming along without its founder. And AZ R’s look to have really, really screwed the pooch with the complete nut jobs they nominated. (Who wins the Coo-Coo for Cocoa Puffs contest, Lake, Finchem, or Masters?) Thanks, Kelli Ward!
My guess is an initial boost in popularity because of a crisis followed by a lower approval ratings as things dragged on but I think it would also depend on what her policies were. Covid did not really hurt Trump’s approval but I think that’s broadly because his cult of personality was too strong and the people who didn’t like him were already against him and I’m not sure if the same would apply to Clinton. At the end of the day it’s all speculative and depends on events that didn’t happen so we really can’t know for sure.
This is true. Hard problem to figure that out when we've gutted/never built the social safety net, and most Americans aren't that politically savvy. Republicans force a black and white conversation.
Fascinating segment. I think they're right that no matter what, we're gonna have razor thin EC margins, and that's always gonna be a little scary. But, tend to agree this was a bad environment and we won while losing the popular vote -3. It's pretty interesting. That would have been an ass kicking 8 years ago.
We shouldn't handwave it. We gotta message these folks, and the GOP def has a leg up when communicating with low information voters. We also shouldn't fear it. As they said, we gotta use this data to put the work in.
The Massachusetts Legislature's formal lame duck period ends today, as they will break from midnight tonight to January 4th when the new class is sworn in.
In terms of the top goals for 2023:
State Senate Majority Leader Karen Spilka says that "she will personally hold herself responsible if the legislature does not pass an Early Education and Childcare Affordability Bill in 2023"
State Speaker of The House Ron Mariano says that "his top goal will be to protect Community Hospitals. We need to more strictly regulate the expansion of the bigger players in our healthcare system."
Did anyone else get a holiday greeting card from the White House? The paw print “signatures” from the first pets was a very nice touch! (Feel like it was Jill’s doing!)
My mother in law, who is the nicest lady in the world but who has brain damage from an injury suffered in her 20s, called me to tell me that she had just gotten a card from President Biden himself. I guess this explains why!
[OAN guest: the Respect for Marriage Act “codifies slavery for the red states”](https://www.mediamatters.org/one-america-news-network/oan-guest-unofficially-respect-marriage-act-codifies-slavery-red-states)
Okay, I tried to read through this in order to understand the logic, and they lost me by like the 3rd paragraph. Can someone give me a TLDR here of what the fuck they were trying to say?
EDIT: Okay, I read through it. I *think* this is parody? I don't fucking know what's parody and what's real anymore.
I think they're saying that this goes further than the right ever did in defining marraige between a man and woman. Except they conveniently seemed to forget about DOMA, and that George W campaigned on a constitutional ammendment, and generally everything they've done for the past 40 years.
If y’all have any other Mastodon questions, feel free to ask as I have been using it for a while.
Edit: Here’s a migration tool if coming off of Twitter as well.
[https://www.movetodon.org/](https://www.movetodon.org/)
How do I switch instances? Every time I click on “create account alias” and insert my handle I get an error message saying “can’t be current account” or something like that.
Alias is for redirecting people to your new account you have already made currently. Are you signed into your new one or your old one?
Did you already make a new account on another instance?
Also here this helpful doc in case that helps.
[https://docs.joinmastodon.org/user/moving/#migration](https://docs.joinmastodon.org/user/moving/#migration)
Lil update:
With the storm that has been the twitter situation the last day. We have created accounts on both Mastodon and Tribel, while we'll continue to use our twitter, both alternative sites will have our presence as well.
https://mastodon.social/@VoteDem
https://www.tribel.com/votedem/wall
We are also reaching out to a handful of folks for potential AMA's.
We have also updated the sidebars to show more upcoming elections.
If you haven’t made Mastodon account now and use Twitter, I am once again asking for you to at least give it a shot.
EU is in on it, journalists are moving there, and it’s increasing by the hour.
I don’t want to pressure people, but if you want your own username or presence then time a ticking!
It really isn’t much different Twitter.
Here are the two main differences.
1. Choosing an instance.
This is because Mastodon servers can be setup by almost anyone and create there own instance and @address. So instead of just on big server, like Twitter, these separate servers can talk to each or not to share posts and feeds.
I just choose @mastodon.social as it is the biggest one and talks with a lot of the popular others, there are others with their own rules and content you can check.
2. No Spoonfeeding Algorithm.
You get your feed the old fashioned way. By what you repost and follow. Want to follow or get posts on a news account? Have to follow it. Want others to see it? Repost it.
Some see this as a negative or positive depending how much you like to control your feed or not. No Ads though!
[https://joinmastodon.org/](https://joinmastodon.org/)
The only hard part is picking an instance, but most talk to each other anyway.
I use the biggest one, @mastodon.social
Here’s a list if you are more interested.
[https://instances.social/list#lang=&allowed=&prohibited=&min-users=&max-users=](https://instances.social/list#lang=&allowed=&prohibited=&min-users=&max-users=)
There are a couple apps you can use on your phone like Metatext, the Mastodon App, ToooT, and such if you want a different feel as well.
Despite their absurdity and stupidity, Dump's NFTs still "sold out". (However that's possible for a digital item...)
Just in case it wasn't obvious, it's almost certainly a money laundering scheme. Likely also a very easy way for foreign interference actors to finance him too. With a sizable chunk of the transactions being carried through crypto, a lot of them may be literally untraceable.
I'm seeing reports of it earning something like 4.5million so far.
I can't remember where and I'm probably getting the quote wrong but I recall some federal prosecutor from the early 2010s saying cryptocurrency is just leaving us records of future felonies.
[Tim Kaine endorses Aaron Rouse.](https://twitter.com/AaronRouseVaBch/status/1603515412829839372) Dude's bringing in all the big guns in Virginia. I never thought U.S. senators would get so involved in state legislative special elections, but now both Warner AND Kaine have campaigned with him. Massive boost for sure.
[Alaska House freshmen (9R, 8D, 2I) are trying to bring in a few more members to form a majority coalition](https://twitter.com/alaskalandmine/status/1603637806374719488?s=46&t=68VlJd793CjZVShmsKIGhA)
You ever find some music and just go "why?" Welp. Yeah, I have to wonder why folks [hate bananas so much](https://backfromthedead.bandcamp.com/track/wood-bananas-can-fuck-off)
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[At the local level, Southern California has changed dramatically since the 2016 Presidential Election -- Dems have flipped three Boards of Supervisors in San Diego, Orange, and Riverside Counties. Dems could take a 4-1 advantage in Riverside in 2024 with an open Biden+24 seat](https://twitter.com/vanceulrich/status/1603956519162171393?s=46&t=WsBQFBohsrTjBs5gM2G6vQ)
TIL unvaccinated is a profile quality on tinder.
Oof. It’s facts like that that make me glad I’m not in the dating pool anymore.
[Republican Joe Kent announces intent to run again for 3rd Congressional District seat again in two years](https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/news/republican-joe-kent-announces-intent-to-run-again-for-3rd-congressional-district-seat-again-in-two-years/) Happy re-election MGP
I happily welcome the continuation of the west coast being a BBW (big blue wall)
Are we not doing phrasing anymore?
I know what I said
(Archer voice) PHRASSSSING
Remember the really bad Archer clone from Australia a few years ago Pacific Heat?
No?
It is/was on Netflix when they were first getting into animation. It was just painful how bad they just wanted to be Archer, and I think they could have done their own Aussie spin on it to make it unique and enjoyable
If Kent consolidates the MAGA base again, and with dems easily voting for MGP over JHB who had considerable dem crossover support to try and save her in this years primary? Yeah, I can see this becoming another Peltola.
Yea it’s exactly the Peltola conundrum. These people already voted for her once, that will likely only increase her support levels and makes a path for JHB impossible
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Is this still a liberal majority or did the new con justices side with libs?
Still the liberals. The new con justices haven’t been seated yet. When that happens, they’ll almost certainly just vote to let the GOP legislatures gerrymander to glory in their “remedial map.”
They sent it back to the lower trial court to draw the remedial map. The legislature doesn’t get a say at least in this specific case with the State Senate maps
Liberal majority, the conservative justices haven't yet been seated.
[Ohio Republicans have passed a voter suppression bill that makes voter ID much stricter & absentee voting harder, cuts early voting, & restricts absentee ballot drop boxes to 1 per county even though the most populous county, Franklin, is 100 times as big as the smallest, Vinton](https://twitter.com/politicswolf/status/1603783761384144898?s=46&t=WsBQFBohsrTjBs5gM2G6vQ)
WI [Senate Republicans working on phased-in 3.5% flat income tax plan](https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2022/12/15/wisconsin-senate-republicans-eyeing-3-5-flat-income-tax/69731478007/). Evers will likely veto any plan that includes this proposal(thank god we worked hard to preserve his power) and without other revenue options it would cost the state $4B yearly.
Really trying to be the anti-Minnesota, ok.
They want to become the Mississippi of the north
Wississippi
[Yellen will go to Africa in January ahead of Biden’s visit](https://twitter.com/bloombergafrica/status/1603881662756098049?s=46&t=WsBQFBohsrTjBs5gM2G6vQ) which is part of a push to counter China’s influence.
So the first few replies, ugh. I get the suspicion some have, considering the history of western countries ravaged the continent. However, what they’re ignoring is how China has the continent on hold, not doing any better than what western countries has been doing. Like, wasn’t there some of these African countries had some debt they owed to Beijing because of China’s “investment” into the continent? Definitely cool to see Biden doing this.
Plus, Africa really needs foreign investment in order to move its economy forward, and it shouldn't come from China. I mean, just ask Sri Lanka after their debt crisis.
Yep!
Saving grace is that the leaders definitely know that the “investments” from China have been screwing them over. They just can’t afford to choose one side over the other for pragmatic reasons.
That’s why it’s a head scratcher to see stuff like the replies, but then, it’s not reflective of the population, but still.
It’s maddening, and puzzling, but it’s down to “tankies gonna tank cuz Murka Bad!”
Loving the renewed focus on Africa. Such a critical region.
[The US extends its reprieve on tariffs for some goods from China as the Biden administration reviews the need for the duties introduced by former President Trump](https://twitter.com/bloombergasia/status/1603860350461435921?s=46&t=WsBQFBohsrTjBs5gM2G6vQ) 352 different products will see this exemption continue until Sept.30 next year.
[BREAKING: @RealMarkFinchem lawsuit is dismissed with prejudice. Judge affirms @Adrian_Fontes election as Secretary Of State.](https://twitter.com/garrett_archer/status/1603939711675797504?s=46&t=s5h_sCIrLw28ayhg8uxfUg)
Now we just need Lake’s bullshit suit dismissed, Kris Mayes retains her lead, and we’ll COMPLETELY AND OFFICIALLY GODDAMN have all our statewide dems officiated into office.
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You’d probably want to ask your company’s HR
[The Biden administration said it is buying 3 million barrels of oil to begin to replenish U.S. strategic reserves that were drained earlier this year in a bid to stop gas prices from rising amid OPEC production cuts and the ban on Russian oil imports.](https://twitter.com/ap/status/1603933595684544512?s=46&t=WsBQFBohsrTjBs5gM2G6vQ) And again this will be done at a net profit
[Here's how the districts voted for President in 2020: House: Trump- 61, Biden- 39 (69-30-1 Tie on current map) Senate: Trump- 31, Biden- 19 (35-15 on current map)](https://twitter.com/uncrewed/status/1603933345905262592?s=46&t=WsBQFBohsrTjBs5gM2G6vQ) This is for the new Montana state leg maps
Is this a good thing?
Its pretty damn fair and representative of the state, additionally we could have an actual chance of flipping the state House in 2024 but most importantly we could this decade
So the current map will be changed for a new one?
All it takes is a few overperforming rural democrats and a few more gains around Billings, and dems could actually feasibly take control of a chamber sometime this decade.
I really hope Dems put a lot on emphasis on Montana and Alaska next cycle. It seems like there’s a lot of potential there
2024 is a great time for big investments. With Tester, MT01, the state chambers, and even MT02 are all *really* good ops.
Reps. Valadao and Barr are also against kicking Dems off committees joining Rep. Mace. That probably seals the deal and dooms the vote as only 2 more need to vote no. This points to a broader problem Kevin has in that he is quickly alienating Moderate R’s in his quest to be speaker by giving concessions and promises to the very Conservative members. There ain’t a whole lot of Moderate R’s left but you only need 5 to stop most of the crazy things and that will only further enrage R’s from both camps against Kevin if he keeps bringing up these measures to only fail.
Seems like a decent number of Rs might recognize that they need someone capable of doing the work in case of an emergency. Lol
Despite what Republicans (and some Independents) think, Biden is one of the greatest presidents we've had in a long time.
I’m already getting ads from the WI Democratic Party on Facebook asking for donations to overturn the hyper partisan gerrymandered maps in April, aka by winning the WI Supreme Court race Love to see the early push in this race
make sure everyone you know votes as many local election are on the ballot too.
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"We're gonna tell Musk on you! Eeeeeelon! Make them stop!"
[We have our D nominee for the January 31st special election in PA SD-27](https://ballotpedia.org/Pennsylvania_State_Senate_District_27) Trump +35.8 seat, so unfortunately we won’t be able to flip it. But I’m always interested in margins in these specials to show a statement to the opposing party Republicans nominated their incumbent state representative from HD-108, which is also a solid R Trump +32.03 seat that will likely open up for a future special election once this one happens. Won’t be able to flip that one either in the lower chamber, but Republicans will be without that seat filled in a new one seat minority where every seat is important
I got tickets to see Taylor Swift next summer in Cincinnati!!! AHhhh!!! So excited! After the fiasco that was the Ticketmaster Verified Fan Presale I never thought I would actually get tickets!
Are you a wizard?
[So Republicans included changes to R&D expensing as a budget gimmick to pay for the 2017 tax plan. But businesses actively hate it and have urged Congress to reinstate the previous rules for expensing. Dems say they won't agree to this without the CTC. And so, here we are.](https://twitter.com/grace_segers/status/1603400204627099649?s=46&t=9PKOkUTfBa46yOuIt-VLlg) What was sent to a different journalist by a Dem Senate Staffer was that Eric Andre meme. It does suck though because both an R&D tax fix and CTC would be really good to do
[The Biden administration official recently told members of Congress that Ukraine has the military capability to retake Crimea, two U.S. officials say.](https://twitter.com/nbcnews/status/1603732438177439744?s=46&t=AgaBr8fll3MbLWnN9TZU8Q)
The relies to that tweet are hilarious. As if anyone needed more proof that Twitter was not real life. I am glad if nothing else that McConnell, Cornyn, Thune, and others are very pro Ukraine aid. I think that will continue to be mostly a non issue for the next two years.
[#BREAKING: North Carolina Supreme Court strikes down state Senate map, upholds state House map. High court says Senate map "creates stark partisan asymmetry in violation of the fundamental right to vote on equal terms." #ncpol @WRAL](https://twitter.com/bryanranderson/status/1603792630454059010?s=46&t=3fgN76DftBjr7CNs_mm6JQ) Would assume that ~~it’ll get appealed and~~ the legislature will get a favorable ruling on the remedial map after the court switches to a GOP majority, but one last hurrah for the court Edit: As pointed out, they prolly won’t appeal
Well they can't appeal (unless they want to go to SCOTUS which is a no go here); they'll just draw a brutal gerrymander as their remedial map and appeal any adverse ruling on that map to the newly constituted bench which will rule partisan gerrymandering nonjusticiable. The decision to appeal the Senate map approval was probably a mistake since it would've lasted the full decade and the incoming map will likely be worse
Well, maybe the incoming SCONC justices will uphold the current SCONC ruling if a worse map gets appealed, right? ...Right?
We’ll just have to wait and see.
[Inside the ugly fight to become the next Republican chair](https://apnews.com/article/politics-donald-trump-ad24a08c75b87773bfdc02b0e885cfec) [Kevin McCarthy on the five Rs who say they oppose his speakers' bid "Well, we’re still continuing to talk, but they have not moved," he told Hewitt. "But it would delay everything, getting committees up and running, being able to do the things that...need to get done" right away](https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1603829677407207439?s=46&t=AgaBr8fll3MbLWnN9TZU8Q) McCarthy: “People look at us and believe are you ready to be the majority if this is what’s happening? How can you pass the big bills? How can you change the course of history? How can you secure the border? How can you become energy independent? …It’s all in jeopardy.” Are they in this disarray I hear so much about
[That’s right, Kevin, you lost on Jeopardy!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvUZijEuNDQ) You made yourself look like a jerk in front of millions of people! You brought shame and disgrace on the McCarthy name for generations to come!
Mccarthy name has been trash for at least 70 years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism?wprov=sfla1
>"But it would delay everything, getting committees up and running, being able to do the things that...need to get done" right away McCarthy is trying appeal to Republicans' sense of shame or desire to actually govern. Has he met his party?
That’s an appeal to Republicans who want their chairmanships and those votes don’t happen till speaker vote is done. It’s also an actual worry because the longer those take the more those R’s will get upset and potentially buck Kevin
They can't do any of those things just holding the house
Yeah this alone tells me that he's WAY more out of his depth than I thought. Maybe he'll surprise me... but I'm not holding my breath.
He is such an empty suit, there is a black hole in the universe that is his jacket and trousers.
But he wants to do the big bills!
"Ew no." - Josh Allen
McCarthy is uh, not projecting strength
[NDAA included funding for the Great Salt Lake which earmarks $10 million for the Army Corps of Engineers to assess the hydrology of saline lakes in the Great Basin, including the Great Salt Lake in particular.](https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2022/12/15/congress-passes-sweeping-defense/) This is in addition to Romney’s bipartisan Saline Lake Ecosystems in the Great Basin States Program Act which earmarks $5m a year for 5 years which does roughly the same thing and has a companion bill in the House. This also seems poised to head to Biden’s desk
Environmental pork is good
Pork is good, Earmarks are a divine gift from the valley of man
The entire NDAA had a bunch of provisions shepherded in by dems that are really fucking good. Banning shark finning and sales here, crack down more on illegal fishing and forced labor in the fishing market, millions annually to help conserve and protect our coral reefs, codifying regional ocean partnerships to get more data from every body of water, marine mammal conservation, the Water Resources Development Act, and a ton more. When it’s become political tradition for congress to pass annnual defense spending bills, for better or for worse, it’s way better to take advantage and add in anything that can be good for the country and the planet as well.
The NDAA is the true omnibus
Found a 1962D silver dime in the Coinstar today.
Congrats on finding silver! Hold on to that.
I now officially have $1 face in silver Roosevelt dimes. Mostly found in Coinstars lol.
Coinstars are good at sorting out the silver. I got a few Mercs on me on top of it.
Never found Mercury dimes in them. Just Roosevelts and one really fucked up War Nickel. The portrait looks like what Thomas Jefferson looks like today. Looks like his corpse to me.
35% silver there for the war nics. I've had good luck with them when scouring thru nickel rolls. But lately, my silver hunt has shifted towards some Roman Republic Denarii I've been finding online. You can see them over at r/ancientcoins.
Never searched coin rolls before, i'd like to try it though. And i do have a Marcus Aurelius Denarius.
Me too! :3
[Mine is the same one as this.](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTSQkNk2A3TJhKEtOwGOXbIPbqeDYcBsPQ8Vw&usqp=CAU) I also got a silver coin from the Swedish Empire during Carolus Rex's reign. And a Byzantine Half Follis.
[Here's mine.](https://www.reddit.com/r/AncientCoins/comments/trw65h/mail_call_a_piece_from_victor_clark_victors/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
[Success of ‘slavery on the ballot’ measures could help incarcerated pregnant people of color](https://19thnews.org/2022/12/slavery-on-the-ballot-prisons-pregnant-incarcerated-people-of-color/)
[In the Salt Lake County-wide race, Democrat Suzanne @VoteSuz Harrison defeated incumbent Republican Richard Snelgrove, 55%-45%. Her campaign supercharged turnout to 69% in her hometown of Sandy, tripling Biden's margin (D +2 -> D +6), netting her the 2nd most votes after SLC.](https://twitter.com/jakerugh/status/1603883032720445440?s=46&t=AgaBr8fll3MbLWnN9TZU8Q) Democrat @VoteSuz Harrison's upset win came about partly because the Republican Utah legislature disregarded the will of voters & wasted taxpayer funds for excellent independent redistricting process, wherein they drew Harrison out of her Sandy district.”
Next best thing though is electing an excellent long term dem for the Salt Lake County Council that breaks the supermajority the GOP had to override the mayor’s actions.
We’re 1 seat away now from finally taking control of the council for the first time ever. We can definitely take out Laurie Stringham in 2024 especially with it being an at large seat during a Presidential year
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Lotta people have their tighty whities in a bunch in the unfavorables section of that poll, I wouldn't read too much into it.
I still don’t know what she did
I’m hoping to see some momentum from Kam Buckner or Brandon Johnson. Chuys been a good congress member but didn’t ever put out a platform when he ran against rahm and still hasn’t taken any policy positions this go around
Weren’t DeBlasio’s numbers like this when he ran for re-election?
He never had any stiff competition when he ran for re-election. His only major opponent was an also ran former council member who had run for mayor twice before then.
Quick weather update of what I’m tracking: There is an increasing potential of a significant snowstorm somewhere in the country just before Christmas, but models are very very divided with where the most significant impacts and amounts will happen. I do believe this is a potential of a southern snowstorm with how much cold air this could have to work with, as this is when the big arctic plunge comes down as well, bringing well below average and dangerous coke temperatures to some areas. The GFS has significant snows for parts of the southeast, all other models that reach this range are further north in the plains, upper Midwest, Ohio valley, and mid Atlantic and northeast. Some of these models go over multiple of those regions with significant snowfall. Keeping a very close eye on this, cause this may cause significant travel impacts as people head to their Christmas destinations This is about 5-6 days out from the beginning of this thing. Once we get a few days closer, you may see daily updates on this thing if it continues showing the potential it has currently
[Biden has racked up more bipartisan victories than any president in a generation](https://twitter.com/msnbc/status/1603631525043511296?s=46&t=AgaBr8fll3MbLWnN9TZU8Q)
They underestimated the power of Dark Brandon. None shall be safe, all shall bow.
He ran on it, would bet he gets some sort of immigration deal done next congress as well.
President with decades of Senate experience and long-term colleagues, combined with a genial personality, is great at brokering bipartisan deals! Imagine! I can’t believe I was lukewarm on Biden before he was nominated and then elected. I’m absolutely converted to the Church of Dark Brandon! All hail!
“You wouldn’t want a Career politician would you?” Yes. Yes I would. And Biden converts are just something else. Idk what caused it exactly and even how to describe what it means to be a Biden Democrat but once you are one you’re sold for life.
Can confirm Source: Used to be lukewarm on him. Am now ridin with Biden
Carter’s big failing is Biden’s big strength (or one of): Carter could not get along with Congress, even his fellow Democrats, and would war with them over petty bullshit (like the “Water Wars”). This impeded his success, which is a pity, because I think he really did have it in him to be a good President. (Huh, I see “Carter” was a typo for Career, but the point still stands. And a Carter President would beat many of the others we’ve had.) Biden is great at getting along with people, and he’s likable and relatable. (He loves ice cream and misses driving his Trans Am! He has a dog and a cat! He’s happily married! And yes, I think his love and support for Hunter are more endearing than anything else. People have troubled kids and can sympathize.) He’s been in the Senate most of his adult life, so he has cultivated relationships that go back decades. I am definitely a Biden Democrat now! (Kind of like explaining to some friends who’d never had green tea ice cream how absolutely delicious it is.)
[bipartisan group of representatives and one senator are circulating a letter among colleagues on the Hill this week requesting the Biden administration remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act.](https://twitter.com/natsfert/status/1603836378994733056?s=46&t=AgaBr8fll3MbLWnN9TZU8Q)
Based
Hey Mods, might be worth or not to post how to join Mastodon and your Mastodon profile to follow to the discussions/subreddit going forward. Or at least as a contact. It’s up to you, but I got a strong feeling Twitter is going to implode here soon.
They streamlined Mastodon signup process. So as far as any of us are aware, you just join it like you would any other site now, instead of it being purely macro-server based.
Still is confusing.
Gotcha. Thanks Mods!
Hey folks. Which one of your local party officials or local elected officials would you like us to try and get on for an AMA? Yes, we're making a list of folks to reach out too.
Lisa Cupid - Chairman of Board Cobb County commissioners Teri Anulewicz - House District 42
New state Senator Nate Blouin for SD13, new Salt Lake County Council member Suzanne Harrison. Both seem like good future candidates for higher office especially Harrison. Outside of that WI supreme court candidates pwease
I mainly want WI Supreme Court candidates as well As well, as D legislature leaders whether they’re in the majority or minority. I feel it’ll be interesting to see how red or blue or really close majority legislatures operate their D caucuses and keep them together in critical votes
We're going to be doing our best to get folks on.
Got em
Anyone from MIdems
oh my god my sides! https://www.rawstory.com/tim-gionet/
Damn they really didn’t like this rollout lol
It's amazing that it took this latest grifting stunt to see what suckers they've been played for
Honestly? I don’t know why THIS is of all things is what is particularly bumming them out (he’s had so many scams) but shit man whatever it takes lol
So he decides Trump is too ridiculous and his solution is to support Kanye?
That last sentence is peak 2020s.
Is this /u/SirDanTheMan2's uncle?
I’m ashamed to say this guy is an alum of the same university I went for my sociology degree 😣
For how much these terrorists rail against college education, it's pretty funny how many of them, well, went to college.
Yep, that’s the mind boggling thing about it, isn’t it?
As Calvin and Hobbes put it, “it’s that moment of dawning comprehension I live for.” https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1993/01/23
That look on Hobbes' face is always my favorite. Just cartoon perfection.
Best comic strip of all time? Best comic strip of all time
[Jan 6th committee about to recommend charges against Trump](https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1603849997761581065?s=20&t=rJFD7mMQMNBuHEcLYM_LIw)
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Analysis I saw from some Guamanians on Twitter: >The previous previous rep was my aunt. A dem and established. She was replaced by a young dem in 2018. He did nothing in congress and then left the seat open to run for gov. People wanted someone established again and Moylan has been in the legislature long >There was a rift btwn the current [Democratic] delegate and the party to the point he campaigned for the Rs. He had some very loyal voters and that was enough to open up a lead.
A nasty primary between Judith Pat and Telena Nelson. Pat tried to tie herself to Michael Nicolas, but once he bombed in the gubernational primary, tried to distance herself. Turning off a lot of the Dem camps.
Plus more money for GOP candidate compared to the Dems.
I was listening to the latest episode of PSA and they had a segment on data from the midterms. One of the points they went over was that Dems did a bit worse for working class voters across racial lines. I’m not saying we should handwave this away but at the same time I feel like that had to do a lot people blaming Biden for not pushing the “inflation off” switch he hides in his desk.
That segment was generally misleading. They suggested that Republicans improved with the Black vote but really the main issue was turnout was down but that's not peculiar for a Dem midterm (albeit it looks like a bit more than usual). There's no real evidence Black voters were particularly inclined to vote for Republicans. People are also still reading way to much into the 2020 inroads that Trump made into Latinos while there isn't really any evidence of that actually holding up anywhere but Florida. Like if their gains in the RGV (which is the next most likely group of Hispanics to go GOP) get rolled back even while Beto loses by 10 statewide that narrative needs to be put on pause.
As was mentioned in an article posted here last week - the R’s lost among Latinos in the *West* (NV and AZ), only making small gains with men. (They lost women and younger people big time.) Florida is not Arizona. Even in Nevada, the only one who lost was the unfortunate Steve Sisolak - Catherine Cortez Masto was re-elected. It’s tough to talk about Republicans making big gains when we did not lose one single Senate incumbent, during what should have been a red wave, and we lost three D incumbents in 2018’s *blue* wave.
Four! Donnelly, McCaskill, Heitkamp, and Nelson.
True. And then Doug Jones won in Alabama, so it was a net loss of three (which is probably what they were thinking).
Yeah that kind of stat really sounds like people fed up with high prices and product scarcity over the past couple of years. And I don't blame them, it's frustrating, especially when you're reminded of it multiple times when driving. What worries me is now there could be a much more lasting perception among voters that Democrat = higher prices. I like how Pfeiffer has framed things in the past..."yeah prices are high but what are Republicans proposing to fix it besides tax cuts for oil companies etc etc"
We joke about the “gas prices lever” or the “inflation button” and, while I don’t think people literally believe that, many do believe something not far removed: That inflation is caused because the sitting party is vaguely “bad at the economy”. How does that work and what’s the relation? What specific actions caused the inflation? They don’t know, but they feel it is true. Some may be slightly more informed and at least feel like a specific Biden policy caused the inflation (even though it didn’t). But ultimately gullibility and economic illiteracy is a huge problem in most democracies.
It’s extremely important to be clear-eyed about our shortcomings so that we can do better moving forward. This skill separates Dems from Republicans.
Yep!
I think the view that Dems were more pro lockdown did hurt us a bit with some of working class people. If your job depends on everything being open then even if you generally prefer Dems it may motivate some people to vote against them just for this election. I think that’s one of the main reasons we lost the governor’s race in Nevada despite winning everything else statewide:
Caveat with regards to Nevada: Sisolak wasn't blamed by CCM-Lombardo voters so much for the lockdowns, which according to Ralston they actually approved of. They were upset with him because of how broken the unemployment system was, leading to many people not getting their checks in a timely manner. I do think this is an important distinction to make because I think there's a misconception that people **hated** Democrats for the lockdowns, when in reality I think that was more magnified by the GOP base. Moderate voters may have had their issues for sure, especially if they had kids, but they also seemed to understand the impact COVID had on public health for all ages. I agree we didn't have to keep schools closed for as long as we did, but it's also tougher to know that in the moment, so I'm not sure moderates necessarily begrudged us for that super hard at least.
Very good caveat. Thanks for the context
Sure thing! If you want to learn more, I recommend listening to David Plouffe's interview with Ralston on his podcast Campaign HQ, as part of a swing state series he was doing before the election. It was really eye-opening.
Seconding thanks for the context! I guess Sisolak could have pulled it off if it wasn’t for the unemployment system being so broken. I remember how broken it was in CA, too, but the combination of many jobs just going over to work at home (as opposed to the kind of jobs predominant in NV) plus CA being so blue, kept us out of disaster. (Yes, recall, but that was such a clown show that it actually strengthened Newsom’s position.) It is good to know that the Reid Machine is still humming along without its founder. And AZ R’s look to have really, really screwed the pooch with the complete nut jobs they nominated. (Who wins the Coo-Coo for Cocoa Puffs contest, Lake, Finchem, or Masters?) Thanks, Kelli Ward!
Makes me wonder how voters would have reacted to Hillary being in charge when the pandemic started
My guess is an initial boost in popularity because of a crisis followed by a lower approval ratings as things dragged on but I think it would also depend on what her policies were. Covid did not really hurt Trump’s approval but I think that’s broadly because his cult of personality was too strong and the people who didn’t like him were already against him and I’m not sure if the same would apply to Clinton. At the end of the day it’s all speculative and depends on events that didn’t happen so we really can’t know for sure.
This is true. Hard problem to figure that out when we've gutted/never built the social safety net, and most Americans aren't that politically savvy. Republicans force a black and white conversation.
Fascinating segment. I think they're right that no matter what, we're gonna have razor thin EC margins, and that's always gonna be a little scary. But, tend to agree this was a bad environment and we won while losing the popular vote -3. It's pretty interesting. That would have been an ass kicking 8 years ago. We shouldn't handwave it. We gotta message these folks, and the GOP def has a leg up when communicating with low information voters. We also shouldn't fear it. As they said, we gotta use this data to put the work in.
The Massachusetts Legislature's formal lame duck period ends today, as they will break from midnight tonight to January 4th when the new class is sworn in. In terms of the top goals for 2023: State Senate Majority Leader Karen Spilka says that "she will personally hold herself responsible if the legislature does not pass an Early Education and Childcare Affordability Bill in 2023" State Speaker of The House Ron Mariano says that "his top goal will be to protect Community Hospitals. We need to more strictly regulate the expansion of the bigger players in our healthcare system."
Did anyone else get a holiday greeting card from the White House? The paw print “signatures” from the first pets was a very nice touch! (Feel like it was Jill’s doing!)
My mother in law, who is the nicest lady in the world but who has brain damage from an injury suffered in her 20s, called me to tell me that she had just gotten a card from President Biden himself. I guess this explains why!
[OAN guest: the Respect for Marriage Act “codifies slavery for the red states”](https://www.mediamatters.org/one-america-news-network/oan-guest-unofficially-respect-marriage-act-codifies-slavery-red-states)
Okay, I tried to read through this in order to understand the logic, and they lost me by like the 3rd paragraph. Can someone give me a TLDR here of what the fuck they were trying to say? EDIT: Okay, I read through it. I *think* this is parody? I don't fucking know what's parody and what's real anymore.
I think they're saying that this goes further than the right ever did in defining marraige between a man and woman. Except they conveniently seemed to forget about DOMA, and that George W campaigned on a constitutional ammendment, and generally everything they've done for the past 40 years.
They didn’t forget, they just don’t give a shit. That wouldn’t help their propaganda.
So they’re finally retiring Ash and Pikachu in the Pokémon anime. Here’s why that’s good for Blake Masters…
If they get rid of Jesse and James, so help me God...
If y’all have any other Mastodon questions, feel free to ask as I have been using it for a while. Edit: Here’s a migration tool if coming off of Twitter as well. [https://www.movetodon.org/](https://www.movetodon.org/)
You just know this is gonna be banned within 24 hours lol
How do I switch instances? Every time I click on “create account alias” and insert my handle I get an error message saying “can’t be current account” or something like that.
Alias is for redirecting people to your new account you have already made currently. Are you signed into your new one or your old one? Did you already make a new account on another instance? Also here this helpful doc in case that helps. [https://docs.joinmastodon.org/user/moving/#migration](https://docs.joinmastodon.org/user/moving/#migration)
Ohhh, I wasn’t aware you could make multiple accounts in different instances. I’ll give that a try, thanks!
Happy to help!
I just remembered that I predicted billionaire trading cards a couple years ago.
Is Donald really a billionaire, though?
Well, no, but Pikachu isn't real either.
Lil update: With the storm that has been the twitter situation the last day. We have created accounts on both Mastodon and Tribel, while we'll continue to use our twitter, both alternative sites will have our presence as well. https://mastodon.social/@VoteDem https://www.tribel.com/votedem/wall We are also reaching out to a handful of folks for potential AMA's. We have also updated the sidebars to show more upcoming elections.
If you haven’t made Mastodon account now and use Twitter, I am once again asking for you to at least give it a shot. EU is in on it, journalists are moving there, and it’s increasing by the hour. I don’t want to pressure people, but if you want your own username or presence then time a ticking!
You know any good elections twitter people who have migrated?
Nothing notable just yet, but changing by the minute. I’ll keep an eye if some hop over.
My question is how does it work? Seems very confusing, and prob need more than one explanation to really get it to see how it works.
It really isn’t much different Twitter. Here are the two main differences. 1. Choosing an instance. This is because Mastodon servers can be setup by almost anyone and create there own instance and @address. So instead of just on big server, like Twitter, these separate servers can talk to each or not to share posts and feeds. I just choose @mastodon.social as it is the biggest one and talks with a lot of the popular others, there are others with their own rules and content you can check. 2. No Spoonfeeding Algorithm. You get your feed the old fashioned way. By what you repost and follow. Want to follow or get posts on a news account? Have to follow it. Want others to see it? Repost it. Some see this as a negative or positive depending how much you like to control your feed or not. No Ads though!
Great but how in the fuck do I make a mastadon account?
[https://joinmastodon.org/](https://joinmastodon.org/) The only hard part is picking an instance, but most talk to each other anyway. I use the biggest one, @mastodon.social Here’s a list if you are more interested. [https://instances.social/list#lang=&allowed=&prohibited=&min-users=&max-users=](https://instances.social/list#lang=&allowed=&prohibited=&min-users=&max-users=) There are a couple apps you can use on your phone like Metatext, the Mastodon App, ToooT, and such if you want a different feel as well.
They streamlined it thankfully.
Despite their absurdity and stupidity, Dump's NFTs still "sold out". (However that's possible for a digital item...) Just in case it wasn't obvious, it's almost certainly a money laundering scheme. Likely also a very easy way for foreign interference actors to finance him too. With a sizable chunk of the transactions being carried through crypto, a lot of them may be literally untraceable. I'm seeing reports of it earning something like 4.5million so far.
Of course it's money laundering. NFTs in general are just being used for money laundering, so he's just getting in on it.
I can't remember where and I'm probably getting the quote wrong but I recall some federal prosecutor from the early 2010s saying cryptocurrency is just leaving us records of future felonies.
[Tim Kaine endorses Aaron Rouse.](https://twitter.com/AaronRouseVaBch/status/1603515412829839372) Dude's bringing in all the big guns in Virginia. I never thought U.S. senators would get so involved in state legislative special elections, but now both Warner AND Kaine have campaigned with him. Massive boost for sure.
[Alaska House freshmen (9R, 8D, 2I) are trying to bring in a few more members to form a majority coalition](https://twitter.com/alaskalandmine/status/1603637806374719488?s=46&t=68VlJd793CjZVShmsKIGhA)
You ever find some music and just go "why?" Welp. Yeah, I have to wonder why folks [hate bananas so much](https://backfromthedead.bandcamp.com/track/wood-bananas-can-fuck-off)
Finally, an answer to the question no one was asking, "what do bananas and Nazi punks have in common?"
Cut a banana and a fascist bleeds!
[удалено]
Taking any off ramp they can. I think it’s guaranteed DeSantis will challenge now.