I was only worried about him winning when I got some political ads something about his brother using his government email for pornography stuff.
This showed up right after I had emailed my family about how that woman was definitely against abortion and I also pointed out how friends of mine had had still births and miscarriages.
Then one of the ads had the gall to say that Dan McCaffrey was because of that , involved in one of the worst judicial scandals ever. First of all only child porn is illegal, secondly what they used (censored mind you) as the horror images would never have scared anyone who ever watched MTV in the 80s and 90s , or ever saw a Playboy magazine.
Kinda funny how, in a roundabout way, the chin-scratching pundits were sorta-kinda-mebbe right when they said that Republicans would never get rid of ππ°π¦ π· ππ’π₯π¦ because it united them, both in voting and fundraising.
Until they did.
And now that has united Democrats (along with independents and the country club Republican set who now see their kind vowing to ban abortions nationwide, meaning they'd have to travel out of the country to get one for their wives/daughters/mistresses/son's girlfriend one) like never before.
Let this be a lesson to Republicans not to fuck with the rights of half of the population.
More and more it becomes clear that local elections are vital. Not only do the decisions that they make actually affect your life, in real ways, but they are training grounds for going on to higher office. We gotta get out and vote for all that unsexy stuff.
Are democrats really pro-abortion? Do people really go, βyay! Iβm gonna go get an abortion, that sounds like fun.β I think people who are are pro-life are generally full of shit but calling yourself pro - abortion, IMHO, is really weird.
Okay, sure, this may have looked good for Democrats, but when the GOP doubles down on no abortion for anyone, and hey, you sluts stop it with your pills and your injections and your ladybits IEDs!, they are for sure going to have a winning strategy for sweeping the nation and getting all of the votes forevers.
Just got a text from the local D's asking if I want to run for office. Told them I'm too old, like Biden, but that it's nice to see some effort on the local side and that this needs to be done everywhere, but particularly in Ohio. The state D's sent a money email, and I told them that when they become visible and loud, they can come talk to me again. The D's in Ohio have been asleep at the switch for too long.
We were not so lucky in Allegheny County, where Zappala the Deserterβ’οΈ beat Dugan for District Attorney in the general election after he lost the primary and proceeded to accept a ton of funds from repubs and straight up ran as an R :(
Democrats taking the courts as seriously as Republicans historically have might fundamentally change this game. Itβs harder to lose when youβre actually playing for real.
The GOP/Christian nationalists have viewed this as war against Democrats/liberals, LGBTQ+, non-white people, and anyone who doesnβt share their world view since the β90s (some would say earlier). Maybe the realization is sinking in amongst us that it is a war, whether we want to accept it as one or not, and we had better start fighting it with the same tenacity and organization as they have been doing.
Two separate quotes from John Lewis:
βMy greatest fear is that one day we may wake up and our democracy is gone.β
βThe vote is precious. It is almost sacred. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democracy.β
Still not a fan of the tacit assumption that money wins elections...It bears mentioning that Joe Crowley outspent AOC 10 to one in NYC....and yet...
Not saying anything SPEICIFICALLY about THIS race, but it seems to me that the amount of money your candidate needs to win is inversely proportional to the quality of the candidate...
From an old campaign school mantra, 3 things make up a successful candidacy: time, money and manpower. And if you are short in any of these, the others need to compensate.
When I was in law school I had a few profs running for state office, at least one of whom was new to running for office, and who asks his buddy in CA who is also running, what do you think you need to win this? He's thinking votes, supporters, canvassing, messaging, policies.
one of the most disappointing things i noticed around court was how often some of the judges and/or their bailiffs were working on getting re-elected (the day after the most recent election). your story is sad but true.
I have no solutions, but this is one of the reasons I think electing judges is a bad idea. Not saying all the voters are stupid, but most have no idea what makes a good judge. Often, it is the opposite of what makes a good politician. We just got rid of one judge (O.K., she resigned or retired or something.) we've been trying to oust for years. She was up before the disciplinary board a couple of times, she was always rated "Not Qualified" by the local bar association, but she was a "people person" and a rather likable person until you got to know her.
Of course, the other alternative of appointing judges is problematic also. It gets to be a "good old boys" network and it becomes "who you know, not what you know". I wish I could come up with a better idea.
I also am not crazy about judges running as Democrats or Republicans or any other party. They should be neutral. And the idea that you can't campaign on the issues is silly. All you end up doing is saying vague banalities, most of which come down to "I'll be tough on crime"
For many years, judicial races in Ohio didn't include party affiliation, the thinking being that the voter should focus on the candidate's legal qualifications, because that was all that was going to matter when they were on the bench.
When the current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court aged out of running again, the legislature passed a bill requiring party affiliation to appear next to the candidates' names for Supreme Court and Appellate Court races. Why? Sharon Kennedy (Republican) was running against Jennifer Brunner (Democrat) for Chief Justice, and the state Republican Party was afraid their stupid voters would see the name Kennedy, assume it was the Democrat, and vote for Brunner.
Electing judges (or top law enforcement positions) seems to me like electing, say, Head of Surgery over at the hospital. These are specialized jobs that need actual skills - unlike legislators, they are not acting as representatives of the population. Their job is to carry out, competently, the laws put in place by the legislature. It's a completely different thing.
I would think that if some thought and good faith were honestly put into it, a system could be devised that would do a reasonably decent job of getting competent people appointed. Now, where to find thought and good faith....
These were all people running as progressive or moderate Dems. The assessment wasn't untrue. Messaging takes money. You want a TV ad or a town hall, you have to pay for it.
When John Glenn retired, the current Lieutenant Governor and the current Secretary of State ran in the primary for the open seat. The good ol' boy network backed the LG and froze the SOS out of the big money. The SOS bought an old school bus on Ebay, outfitted it with wifi et al, and traveled the state doing town halls since the campaign couldn't compete adwise with the LG.
LG outspent SOS a hundred to one, flooding the airwaves with ads. SOS lost the primary by five points.
IMO it has to do more with the size of the district or region...Like the 10 to 1 spending in the primary race between Crowley and AOC repsectively...in smallish areas like that, word of mouth is MUCH more powerful than money...but word of mouth ONLY works if the candidate REALLY 'pops'...And AOC is SO likeable and relatable, she 'makes her own gravy' so to speak...Character and relatability really ARE a kind of legitimate currency...Literally transferrable into literal $$$
OT, Don Jr glossing over what sort of businesses his great grandfather operated in the Yukon
"Trump lawyer: So the history of the Trump Organization, Mr. Trump.
Don Jr.: My great grandfather developed hotels in the Yukon for miners. My grandfather started working on job sites in Queens. He was asked to build a garage. He built a portfolio of apartments"
Oh please let the prosecution bring up those hotels during cross-examination/rebuttals/60 second lightning rounds/whatever it might be. "So your grandpappy ran brothels, was a pimp? Is that correct, Junior?"
It was also where the an early old-timer Chef named Smitty talked to some Mexicans and created the Trump Taco Bowl that the miners loved, although they were saddened that they had no avocados and the cream cheese was made with moose milk.
I thought so too. On the other hand, the Notre Dame versus Poor Sisters comment seemed a little ungracious, but perhaps there's something 'm not understanding.
These results give me several glimmers of hope. I only wish Louisiana Dems understood the importance of voter turnout (for crying out loud, in our big jungle primary last month, the TOTAL turnout was only 23%). So here's some sage advice not just for my Louisiana brethren/sistren, but for all Dems nationwide:
Yeah. I wish we'd make more explicit mention of Republican government doing things to you. "The gummint better not take my Medicare" is missing a very, very important adjective.
I've been waiting for dotards dictatorial statements and general disgusting behavior to make to the top of the news more.
And once the MAGAt party is free of the Also-Fascists, and media turns it's attention to primarily Stupid Stalin, we'll see in the too-early polls if people want to go back to his term. I am betting they want it no more than they wanted it in 2020. Dotard-Exhaustion is a real thing, even to those who don't pay attention much.
I was only worried about him winning when I got some political ads something about his brother using his government email for pornography stuff.
This showed up right after I had emailed my family about how that woman was definitely against abortion and I also pointed out how friends of mine had had still births and miscarriages.
Then one of the ads had the gall to say that Dan McCaffrey was because of that , involved in one of the worst judicial scandals ever. First of all only child porn is illegal, secondly what they used (censored mind you) as the horror images would never have scared anyone who ever watched MTV in the 80s and 90s , or ever saw a Playboy magazine.
Kinda funny how, in a roundabout way, the chin-scratching pundits were sorta-kinda-mebbe right when they said that Republicans would never get rid of ππ°π¦ π· ππ’π₯π¦ because it united them, both in voting and fundraising.
Until they did.
And now that has united Democrats (along with independents and the country club Republican set who now see their kind vowing to ban abortions nationwide, meaning they'd have to travel out of the country to get one for their wives/daughters/mistresses/son's girlfriend one) like never before.
Let this be a lesson to Republicans not to fuck with the rights of half of the population.
A better lesson, 'Don't chase the car if you have no idea what to do when you catch it'
The GQP didn't/doesn't understand that the car is filled with Lionesses with sharp fangs and claws and long memories.......
Exactly. These good ole boys forgot that Republican women get pregnant too.
When ruling- class Republicans make Lesser Republicans spend money without bribing them with something else, they divide their own house.
More and more it becomes clear that local elections are vital. Not only do the decisions that they make actually affect your life, in real ways, but they are training grounds for going on to higher office. We gotta get out and vote for all that unsexy stuff.
Are democrats really pro-abortion? Do people really go, βyay! Iβm gonna go get an abortion, that sounds like fun.β I think people who are are pro-life are generally full of shit but calling yourself pro - abortion, IMHO, is really weird.
Pro-Choice. Democrat here, never had one but I should get to decide that.
Democrats are pro "it's none of your fucking business".
I can go for that.
Okay, sure, this may have looked good for Democrats, but when the GOP doubles down on no abortion for anyone, and hey, you sluts stop it with your pills and your injections and your ladybits IEDs!, they are for sure going to have a winning strategy for sweeping the nation and getting all of the votes forevers.
The Ladybits IED: when it comes to contraception, it's da bomb!
[Sorry, couldn't resist Β―\_(γ)_/Β―...
NO STRUMPETS 2024!
Pennsylvania! We also took back a lot of school boards from the Moms for Fascism.
https://www.wfmz.com/news/election/dems-sweep-seats-in-hotly-contested-school-board-races/article_d9acf038-7df6-11ee-8576-4b39fa732649.html
Just got a text from the local D's asking if I want to run for office. Told them I'm too old, like Biden, but that it's nice to see some effort on the local side and that this needs to be done everywhere, but particularly in Ohio. The state D's sent a money email, and I told them that when they become visible and loud, they can come talk to me again. The D's in Ohio have been asleep at the switch for too long.
We were not so lucky in Allegheny County, where Zappala the Deserterβ’οΈ beat Dugan for District Attorney in the general election after he lost the primary and proceeded to accept a ton of funds from repubs and straight up ran as an R :(
The Election Industrial Complex will eat the republic.
Iβm a suburban Philadelphian and I voted!
Same.
Chirp!
Democrats taking the courts as seriously as Republicans historically have might fundamentally change this game. Itβs harder to lose when youβre actually playing for real.
The GOP/Christian nationalists have viewed this as war against Democrats/liberals, LGBTQ+, non-white people, and anyone who doesnβt share their world view since the β90s (some would say earlier). Maybe the realization is sinking in amongst us that it is a war, whether we want to accept it as one or not, and we had better start fighting it with the same tenacity and organization as they have been doing.
Two separate quotes from John Lewis:
βMy greatest fear is that one day we may wake up and our democracy is gone.β
βThe vote is precious. It is almost sacred. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democracy.β
Still not a fan of the tacit assumption that money wins elections...It bears mentioning that Joe Crowley outspent AOC 10 to one in NYC....and yet...
Not saying anything SPEICIFICALLY about THIS race, but it seems to me that the amount of money your candidate needs to win is inversely proportional to the quality of the candidate...
From an old campaign school mantra, 3 things make up a successful candidacy: time, money and manpower. And if you are short in any of these, the others need to compensate.
When I was in law school I had a few profs running for state office, at least one of whom was new to running for office, and who asks his buddy in CA who is also running, what do you think you need to win this? He's thinking votes, supporters, canvassing, messaging, policies.
His buddy answers, "About nine million dollars."
Hi Kitty!
Hi Gary!
one of the most disappointing things i noticed around court was how often some of the judges and/or their bailiffs were working on getting re-elected (the day after the most recent election). your story is sad but true.
I have no solutions, but this is one of the reasons I think electing judges is a bad idea. Not saying all the voters are stupid, but most have no idea what makes a good judge. Often, it is the opposite of what makes a good politician. We just got rid of one judge (O.K., she resigned or retired or something.) we've been trying to oust for years. She was up before the disciplinary board a couple of times, she was always rated "Not Qualified" by the local bar association, but she was a "people person" and a rather likable person until you got to know her.
Of course, the other alternative of appointing judges is problematic also. It gets to be a "good old boys" network and it becomes "who you know, not what you know". I wish I could come up with a better idea.
I also am not crazy about judges running as Democrats or Republicans or any other party. They should be neutral. And the idea that you can't campaign on the issues is silly. All you end up doing is saying vague banalities, most of which come down to "I'll be tough on crime"
For many years, judicial races in Ohio didn't include party affiliation, the thinking being that the voter should focus on the candidate's legal qualifications, because that was all that was going to matter when they were on the bench.
When the current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court aged out of running again, the legislature passed a bill requiring party affiliation to appear next to the candidates' names for Supreme Court and Appellate Court races. Why? Sharon Kennedy (Republican) was running against Jennifer Brunner (Democrat) for Chief Justice, and the state Republican Party was afraid their stupid voters would see the name Kennedy, assume it was the Democrat, and vote for Brunner.
Electing judges (or top law enforcement positions) seems to me like electing, say, Head of Surgery over at the hospital. These are specialized jobs that need actual skills - unlike legislators, they are not acting as representatives of the population. Their job is to carry out, competently, the laws put in place by the legislature. It's a completely different thing.
The popularity contest probably has a better chance of getting competence on the bench than making it a political plum.
I would think that if some thought and good faith were honestly put into it, a system could be devised that would do a reasonably decent job of getting competent people appointed. Now, where to find thought and good faith....
These were all people running as progressive or moderate Dems. The assessment wasn't untrue. Messaging takes money. You want a TV ad or a town hall, you have to pay for it.
When John Glenn retired, the current Lieutenant Governor and the current Secretary of State ran in the primary for the open seat. The good ol' boy network backed the LG and froze the SOS out of the big money. The SOS bought an old school bus on Ebay, outfitted it with wifi et al, and traveled the state doing town halls since the campaign couldn't compete adwise with the LG.
LG outspent SOS a hundred to one, flooding the airwaves with ads. SOS lost the primary by five points.
IMO it has to do more with the size of the district or region...Like the 10 to 1 spending in the primary race between Crowley and AOC repsectively...in smallish areas like that, word of mouth is MUCH more powerful than money...but word of mouth ONLY works if the candidate REALLY 'pops'...And AOC is SO likeable and relatable, she 'makes her own gravy' so to speak...Character and relatability really ARE a kind of legitimate currency...Literally transferrable into literal $$$
It is, especially when one considers the amount of political time devoted to fundraising.
Removing the profit motive from campaigning would go a long way toward cleaning up the political process in this republic.
OT, Don Jr glossing over what sort of businesses his great grandfather operated in the Yukon
"Trump lawyer: So the history of the Trump Organization, Mr. Trump.
Don Jr.: My great grandfather developed hotels in the Yukon for miners. My grandfather started working on job sites in Queens. He was asked to build a garage. He built a portfolio of apartments"
https://x.com/innercitypress/status/1724089717245808792?s=20
Oh please let the prosecution bring up those hotels during cross-examination/rebuttals/60 second lightning rounds/whatever it might be. "So your grandpappy ran brothels, was a pimp? Is that correct, Junior?"
this information has fuck-all to do with the trial, WTF?
My father inherited money and a talent for cultivating credulous reporters. I consume powdered substances.
---
My grandfather started working on job sites in Queens
Grandpa taught Eric everything he knows about pouring concrete, and Daddy taught Don, Jr. everything he knows about laying pipe.
It was also where the an early old-timer Chef named Smitty talked to some Mexicans and created the Trump Taco Bowl that the miners loved, although they were saddened that they had no avocados and the cream cheese was made with moose milk.
yeah, because famously, what miners in the Yukon needed were luxury hotels.
All he knows about the Gold Rush is what he got from that one screening of "Paint Your Wagon" he was forced to sit through.
And your father pissed it all away, because he's a fucking idiot.
Hotels?
Those were fucking brothels, you vapid simpleton.
So, hotels in which horny miners could get their dicks wet! They're still hotels. Kind of.
Walls, beds, doors. Yep. Trump Tower.
Hotels with benefits?
"Amenities."
The profusely desired perks of membership.
That grift in genetically ingrained in that genetic cesspool.
" βWhen Carolyn Carlucci called me the other night, she said, you know, you got this, this wasnβt close. This was a mandate you got.β
That might be the most gracious concession I've ever heard a republican give...
I thought so too. On the other hand, the Notre Dame versus Poor Sisters comment seemed a little ungracious, but perhaps there's something 'm not understanding.
what amounts to a decent republican is a dying breed
When you encounter one, your first thought is: What are you still DOING there?
These results give me several glimmers of hope. I only wish Louisiana Dems understood the importance of voter turnout (for crying out loud, in our big jungle primary last month, the TOTAL turnout was only 23%). So here's some sage advice not just for my Louisiana brethren/sistren, but for all Dems nationwide:
DON'T get discouraged
DON'T get disgusted
DO get off your ass and VOTE
I've got several months to work on my coworkers. I'll wear them down.
Their hearts are in the right place, they're just not politically informed. It's always just "the government" doing dumb shit.
Yeah. I wish we'd make more explicit mention of Republican government doing things to you. "The gummint better not take my Medicare" is missing a very, very important adjective.
I've been waiting for dotards dictatorial statements and general disgusting behavior to make to the top of the news more.
And once the MAGAt party is free of the Also-Fascists, and media turns it's attention to primarily Stupid Stalin, we'll see in the too-early polls if people want to go back to his term. I am betting they want it no more than they wanted it in 2020. Dotard-Exhaustion is a real thing, even to those who don't pay attention much.
The vermin thing seems to have struck a nerve. The Important Media are noticing.