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You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Friday Evening Open Thread: Let’s F**king Go

Friday Evening Open Thread: Let’s F**king Go

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But the GOP doesn’t like her! We Dems can live with that:

… Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez and senior adviser Becca Siegel called Harris a “fearless and effective messenger” and an “essential partner in the ticket’s electoral success and the historic record of accomplishments in the first two years of the Biden-Harris Administration,” in a memo released Friday.

“As we enter the heart of the 2024 cycle, Vice President Harris is positioned once again to be a strong political force and invaluable asset to the Biden-Harris reelection effort,” they added, and laid out Harris’s popularity with key parts of Biden’s electoral coalition, in particular young voters, people of color and women.

The pair also highlight the vice president’s new visibility on the trail, where she has become a vocal advocate on issues the campaign sees as critical for bringing supporters to the polls in 2024, such as voting rights, gun safety, and in particular abortion, on which Harris has been the White House’s most prominent voice.

The pair also highlight the vice president’s new visibility on the trail, where she has become a vocal advocate on issues the campaign sees as critical for bringing supporters to the polls in 2024, such as voting rights, gun safety, and in particular abortion, on which Harris has been the White House’s most prominent voice…

“Picking Kamala as my eventual vice president was one of the best decisions I made as a presidential nominee,” Biden said in a fundraising appeal Friday, crediting her with helping pass gun-safety legislation and energizing voters to hit the polls to protect abortion rights…

Reader Interactions

172Comments

  5. 5.

    Math Guy

    Glad Biden picked her as VP and she accepted: in the early Dem primaries she was my first choice.

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    Maui update:

    Based on the AI analysis conducted by Microsoft’s research team, the study area encompasses a total of 2,810 buildings. Within this context, approximately 1,722 buildings have sustained damage due to the wildfire. The breakdown of damage assessment is as follows:

    1,088 buildings have experienced minimal damage, ranging from 0% to 20%
    110 buildings have sustained damage between 20% and 40%
    169 buildings exhibit moderate damage, varying from 40% to 60%
    238 buildings are significantly affected with damage ranging from 60% to 80%
    1,205 buildings have incurred severe damage, with destruction ranging from 80% to 100%.
    .
    It is important to note the limitations of satellite data in offering a comprehensive view of the damage. The AI-generated maps and assessments serve as preliminary references, and still require on-site verification for accuracy. Source

  8. 8.

    Salty Sam .

    But the GOP doesn’t like her!

    I got three words for the GOP- “Dick Fucking Cheney!”

    Six word, really- “SUCK ON THAT!”

  9. 9.

    BeautifulPlumage

    I’m not up on the “opinion class”, but I am so tired of whiner-babies going off on VP Harris. They obviously are scared of her. She’s hard working, articulate, and ready to assume power (as any VP should be).

  10. 10.

    SiubhanDuinne

    They’re a great team, both campaigning and governing. I have two BIDEN-HARRIS t-shirts from 2020, and I wear them at least a couple of times a week. Proudly.

  12. 12.

    eclare

    @Math Guy:

    Same here!  Then she dropped out, and once SC voted for Joe, I followed its lead.  I was ecstatic when Joe picked her, as were my friends.

  15. 15.

    Dan B

    @NotMax:  The pictures are horrifying.  We were in Lahaina fifteen years ago.  Unimaginable devastation.  Seattle is in Severe Drought so the forests are tinder dry.  Lawns are gold with green dots from dandelions. If we had a fire it could be disastrous.

  16. 16.

    JPL

    @NotMax:  Although I didn’t catch the name, a person on CNN said he saw a fire start on the top of a building when the winds brought down electrical wires.

    Have you heard that, cause before that they talked about brush fires.   That might explain the rapid spread.

  17. 17.

    Salty Sam .

    @BeautifulPlumage: I am so tired of whiner-babies going off on VP Harris. They obviously are scared of her. She’s hard working, articulate, and ready to assume power (as any VP should be).

    I hear you! I was listening to NPR in my car a couple of days ago (my first mistake), and they led into a piece about Harris basically saying that people, even including most Democrats, generally don’t like her.

    I know, I know, Nice Polite Republicans.  Fuck’em!

  19. 19.

    JPL

    @eclare: ha I have to mow this weekend, but I did witness a hawk and a snake before.   The hawk dropped it and was surrounded by crows.   The crows got the prize.   A few weeks ago, my niece was visiting and said there’s a hawk on your roof, and I answered with a shrug.

  22. 22.

    JPL

    @eclare: Finch is 18 pounds and frisky so I’m not worried about him.   My son had an 8 pound maltese and then I would add a scarecrow and shiny objects to the yard.  Nona went to dog heaven several years ago.  We still miss her.

  23. 23.

    eclare

    @JPL:

    Yeah, I would think eighteen pounds would be a deterrent.  Condolences on Nona, they leave little pawprints on our hearts.

  24. 24.

    Jay

    @NotMax:

    55 dead, and they arn’t going into buildings to search, they are waiting for FEMA because they have the gear and the training.

    Hundreds missing, but that just be that most communications are down.

  25. 25.

    NotMax

    Recent events prompted me to seek out an English language libretto for the When These Lawyers Don’t Deliver number from Die Fledermaus, just for funsies (thank you, archive.org).

    A video of the scene (16:30 – 20:44), with slightly different English translation in the subtitles.

  26. 26.

    Sure Lurkalot

    I do hear and read whisperings that Kamala is not “popular”. Don’t get it. I think she’s strong, confident and knowledgeable, capable, compassionate and funny. I’d love to be her friend.

    Neither Joe nor Kamala were at the top of my list, to say they have accomplished more than I ever dreamed possible given the fractured state of our union is a grievous understatement.

  27. 27.

    Scout211

    @NotMax: The Maui fire now is the second deadliest wilfdfire in U.S. history. The Camp Fire in 2018 killed 88. Since they have not counted the people who may have been in buildings, the numbers will likely go up from the 59 deaths right now.  Washington and California have sent search and rescue teams. This is just so shocking.

  28. 28.

    Kirk

    I voted for Warren in the primary. I had no qualms or regrets about voting Biden-Harris in the general, and am happy with the way things have turned out in that regard.

  29. 29.

    JPL

    @NotMax:  It will never return to normal, but how long do you think it will be before tourists can return.   The stories are horrific.

  31. 31.

    M31

    wow, that snake/hawk story

    What it really means is that they built Mexico City in the wrong place, time to move i t

  34. 34.

    Brachiator

    @NotMax:

    It is important to note the limitations of satellite data in offering a comprehensive view of the damage. The AI-generated maps and assessments serve as preliminary references, and still require on-site verification for accuracy.

    Even with limitations, it is amazing to see how innovative technology is being used to help with damage assessment. I wonder whether drones can be used as well.

    That said, I am still staggered at the extent of damage and suffering.

    My sympathies to all who have been affected. Help is coming.

  36. 36.

    laura

    Kamala Harris was always my 1st choice- and I voted Biden in the CA primary because she wasn’t on it. I was over the moon when he offered her the Veep spot. I thinks she’s been stellar in her role, and her votes as President of the Senate have great value. She’s nobody’s fool, suffers no fools gladly and has a happy heart. I’m proud to support her reelection and will do my part in GOTV.

  37. 37.

    Ishiyama

    It is the duty of every right-thinking citizen to support such a well-balanced ticket: Biden/Harris – That’s 6 & 6 for the marquee, as Lenny Bruce might say.

  38. 38.

    Jeffro

    @Baud:I’m starting to think he’s not going to replace her on the ticket.

    When the choices are RFK Jr or Joe Manchin, it’s a close call, but yeah I think he’s sticking with her too.

  39. 39.

    Dan B

    @laura:  Harris does have a happy heart.  She’s going to be in Seattle soon.  It would be a (happy) mob scene if she does any public appearances.

  40. 40.

    Jeffro

    @hg: I read that a couple days ago and didn’t know what to think, except that I would have just died on the spot and been done with it.

  41. 41.

    Scout211

    LATimes  recent polling on VPOTUS shows that her numbers may be slightly lower than other VPs at this point, but not that different. VPs are really not that popular.

    The vice president’s favorability among voters varies greatly depending on their politics and demographics, according to data gathered as part of the most recent YouGov poll.

    The largest difference is partisan, with opinions split down party lines. Generally, Harris does better with women, African American voters and college graduates..

    In this report (lots of charts) she has a 78% approval with Democrats and 72% with Black voters.

  42. 42.

    Geminid

    @laura: I believe that Joe Biden choose Kamala Harris for her abilities, but I read that her selection marked a surge in donations to his campaign. I don’t think that was a coincidence.

    One difference between the 2020 and 2024 races is that in 2020, Joe Biden did not reach fundraising parity until the last 3 months of the campaign. This time will be different, and it might be the Republicans playing catch up next year.

  45. 45.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Sure Lurkalot: I don’t buy it.  Republicans and the She’sACop Progressives, a small fraction of our coalition, have a bug up their ass about her.  They are both very loud and overrepresented in Media and online, but most regular Dems seem to genuinely like/admire her.  She wasn’t my first pick on 2020 (because there were 500 candidates and Bernie had a 4 year headstart, so many good candidates struggled to build momentum, including Biden, at first) but she definitely will be if she is still VP in 2028.

  46. 46.

    Jeffro

    @Kirk: I voted for Warren in the primary. I had no qualms or regrets about voting Biden-Harris in the general, and am happy with the way things have turned out in that regard.

    I was for Warren almost all the way, then voted for Biden in the primary (the writing was on the wall by the time VA’s primary rolled around) and am glad that under the Biden/Harris administration, we essentially have had the policies that – under the Senate margins we’ve had to work with – would have happened with a President Warren.

    Maybe plus a few bonus ones (especially re: unions and manufacturing)

    And aviator shades!!

  49. 49.

    NotMax

    @JPL

    Wouldn’t hazard a guess.

    As of this morning, ingress by highway is open during non-curfew hours (6 a.m. to 10 p.m.) to locals with proof of residence on that side of the island and also to non-residents with proof of hotel reservation (although general access to Lahaina town proper is roped off). Note that the major resorts are further up the coast, in Kaanapali and Napili and AFAIK substantially unscathed, although without power.

    Golf courses, in this case, acted as a buffer (both because of physical area and because they’re regularly kept watered).

  50. 50.

    Jay

    @NotMax:

    Good,

    The Lytton First Nations’s reserves* were burnt out last week, a year after the town of Lytton was burnt out.

    *Other side of the Fraser River canyon.

    It’s starting to look like those places will be abandoned and never rebuilt.

  51. 51.

    JPL

    @eclare: ha The 4 yr old grand imp came to me and said come look at the snake skin.    Yup it was a snake skin.   You know you live in GA when 4 yr olds recognize snake skins.

  52. 52.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @laura: Well said.  I think she’s great.  I voted for Biden in CA Primary but that was mostly because I just wanted to help drive the stake into Bernie, lol.  Kidding…honestly, I would’ve been happy to support pretty much anyone (though Bloomberg would have felt icky) as the Dem nominee.  We had a lot of great candidates to choose from and every damn one of them was infinitely better than Trump.

  57. 57.

    zhena gogolia

    @UncleEbeneezer: I appreciate the common sense that recognizes that even Bloomberg would be infinitely better than Trump. So true. But hard for people to realize sometimes. (I was for Harris from the start.)

  58. 58.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Jeffro: we essentially have had the policies that – under the Senate margins we’ve had to work with – would have happened with a President Warren.

    Yup. That’s how I always felt. All the in-fighting and snake emojis etc., during the Primary were so ridiculous since the POTUS was always gonna get a razor-thin Senate margin, at best. The fact that there was so much insistence on GND and M4A being litmus tests was laughable in a world where we would need Manchinema’s votes to pass anything.

  59. 59.

    JPL

    @eclare: Roswell.   I have almost an acre with most of it wooded so maybe snakes.  Well if I have snake skins, probably snakes.   My son was surprised about the snake skin story, but I assume he heard a story about them.   It was a snake skin.

    ha son  Can you tell what type of snake from the skin… me hahaha

  61. 61.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @zhena gogolia: Bloomberg would’ve been the worst Dem candidate, by far, imo, but he still would’ve been solid on many core issues and he would’ve appointed Dems to courts.  Even Manchin and Sinema are light-years better than Trump (or really ANY Republican).

  65. 65.

    Suzanne

    I love Kamala. I even have a Kamala hat.

    You know I really love someone/something when they’re on my clothing. I am usually into plain clothes.

  68. 68.

    trollhattan

    @NotMax: @Jay:

    I expect things will mimic Paradise going forward, which means the fatality toll will climb and climb more as they search buildings and cars they have not yet inspected. The larger number of missing will impact the projected death count for quite a while. For the Camp Fire the sheriff’s department had at one point a death count well above one hundred, which they whittled down over time to the final number. IIRC it took months.

    Similarly, the scattered population and lack of communications infrastructure destroyed by fire will be a challenge for Maui and the State of Hawaii to overcome.

    Know a guy who abandoned his Paradise home, and then his truck when he got stuck in traffic, hitchhiking to Chico with only his clothes and dead phone. He was missing a few days before contacting the folks looking for him–a story shared by thousands from that day.

    The good news, such as it is, the president is Joe Biden and not Donald Trump. No forest raking lectures are forthcoming.

  69. 69.

    West of the Rockies

    Is Fani Willis still investigating her case?  Any guess when she might drop the indictment on the orange creepazoid?

  72. 72.

    JPL

    @West of the Rockies: Guess is next week.   She really is meticulous and it is going to be a big case.  More than trump, I want to see Giuliani beg for forgiveness.   Jack Smith will take care of trump.

  73. 73.

    eclare

    @JPL:

    Will do!  I moved away in 2004 after living mainly in N Druid Hills and Peachtree Hills.  I’m sure I would not recognize it now.

  75. 75.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @West of the Rockies: Yes.  Predictions are that charges may drop next Tuesday.  She’s warning her staff not to respond to people who are spreading disinfo based on Trump’s attack ads on her.  So I’m guessing she’s pretty certain she will be indicting him.

  76. 76.

    JustRuss

    @NotMax: From what I can tell, all 3 of the houses I lived in when I was in Lahaina are gone.  One was made of cinder blocks, hated that place but the walls are probably still standing.

  78. 78.

    Mike in NC

    When the GOP trotted out the airhead Sarah Palin as VP candidate in 2008, didn’t some bozo at the National Review or other right-wing rag proclaim that it was OK because stupid people also deserved a voice in government (or words to that effect)? Seems like a lifetime ago.

  79. 79.

    schrodingers_cat

    OT: Doing a deep dive into Indian politics and electoral history since independence.  Is this something that would interest BJ peeps. I am trying to figure out how and when the fringe became the fabric.

  80. 80.

    smith

    @JPL: More than trump, I want to see Giuliani beg for forgiveness.

    I keep seeing stories that Fani’s likely to indict a whole raft of co-conspirators, and I can’t wait to see that list. As with Rudy, there might be overlaps with that list and the one in Smith’s J6 indictment. Given that they have no hope of a pardon from TFG in GA, I wonder if indictments there could push some of those to flip.

  83. 83.

    Kelly

    Living alongside the Maui fire wreckage will be a long term, depressing reminder of the disaster for those left behind. I remember the stink of our neighbors burnt homes after the Beachie fire. Our home was Ok but several burned to the ground just across the road. It was almost a year before they were cleaned up.

  84. 84.

    There go two miscreants

    @Mike in NC: Probably, but you may be remembering the comments of Roman Hruska (R senator from Neb) on Nixon’s nomination of Carswell to the Supreme Court (confirmation failed). Carswell was considered mediocre, and Hruska asked in a speech if mediocities shouldn’t have some representation too!

  86. 86.

    lowtechcyclist

    @UncleEbeneezer: ​

    honestly, I would’ve been happy to support pretty much anyone (though Bloomberg would have felt icky) as the Dem nominee. We had a lot of great candidates to choose from and every damn one of them was infinitely better than Trump.

    This.
    @Jeffro: ​
     

    I was for Warren almost all the way, then voted for Biden in the primary (the writing was on the wall by the time VA’s primary rolled around) and am glad that under the Biden/Harris administration, we essentially have had the policies that – under the Senate margins we’ve had to work with – would have happened with a President Warren.

    This too!

    One of the things that’s really won my heart about this Administration is that it hasn’t followed the longtime Democratic script of throwing liberal goals under the bus in an effort to win over centrists.

    Getting back to Harris, she is a fine VP, she’ll be a big asset on the campaign trail over the next 15 months, and with any luck, she’ll be President down the road. And if that happens, she’ll be great. People who talk up replacing her on the ticket are just a bunch of shit-stirrers, and any who are nominally on our side should be told to STFU.

  87. 87.

    smith

    @Mike in NC: I don’t remember that about Palin, but there is this classic, about one of Nixon’s ultimately failed nominations to the Supreme Court:

    Carswell had a reputation for being an intellectual lightweight bordering on incompetence. In perhaps the greatest own-goal backfire, Republican Senator Hruska of Nebraska had this to say in support: “Even if he were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren’t they, and a little chance? …”

  88. 88.

    Ken

    @schrodingers_cat: Ah yes, not that woman, but some other one; but when another comes along it’s not that one either. Funny how that happens.

    For some reason it reminds me of the WKRP where Les Nessman reported that some Central American dictator had pledged his country would have free elections as soon as every citizen learned to play a musical instrument. Not an exact parallel, since at least the dictator named the impossible standards that had to be met to satisfy him.

  92. 92.

    Josie

    I love Kamala. I had a brainstorm the other day when I read a piece that explained Newsom’s new role as attack dog for Biden. What about a Harris/Newsom ticket after Biden retires?
    ETA: I just realized they are both from California. Shucks.

  93. 93.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I am trying to figure out how and when the fringe became the fabric.

    BTW, I really like that turn of phrase! You may count on my appropriating it and using it as my own :-)

  94. 94.

    Reverse tool order

    @Scout211:

    Sadly, not even close to second worst & worst.

    Generally considered the worst wildfire for loss of lives in US was Peshtigo. Wisconsin in Oct 1871, minimum of 1,500 & possibly up to 2,500 dead. Regional records were burned, so no certainty on population. The Great Michigan fire was at same time, far larger but fewer than 250 dead.

    Why neither is well known? See the date of the Great Chicago Fire. See also the Miramichi fire in 1825 and the Great Fire of 1910 for comparison to notable modern fires.

    We are facing tough conditions now, and more frequently. They’re not unprecedented though.

    Recurring themes? Preceding drought, warm temperatures, and strong winds. Fire rate of spread and intensity are very sensitive to changes in those factors, along with a host of others.

  97. 97.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Mike in NC:

    When the GOP trotted out the airhead Sarah Palin as VP candidate in 2008, didn’t some bozo at the National Review or other right-wing rag proclaim that it was OK because stupid people also deserved a voice in government (or words to that effect)? Seems like a lifetime ago.

    Given the veeps the GOP has had in recent years (Mike Dense, Dick Cheney, Dan Quayle) as well as nominees like Palin, they’re the last people who have standing to bitch about the quality of a Dem VP.

  98. 98.

    MomSense

    @Jeffro:

    I don’t think Warren would have gotten much of anything passed in this Congress.  The importance of relationships is undervalued.  Only Biden could have gotten anything through this Senate. Sanders famously has few friends in the Senate, but he counts Biden as a good friend and I think that’s why he was so gracious in defeat this time.

  104. 104.

    Gretchen

    The complaint I find maddening is that she hasn’t accomplished much as VP. What do they think a VP should be accomplishing? I think abortion will be a big issue in the next election and she’s been a vocal advocate for reproductive rights. The Republicans are competing tone the most restrictive

  105. 105.

    Another Scott

    @Ken: There’s a story in The Gulag Archipelago about some Soviet guards telling a bunch of people held prisoner in a closed metal box that they will be released once they get a wet sheet dry.  The people dutifully get to work, wringing out all the water they can, shaking it, carefully making sure that condensation doesn’t get on it, etc., etc.

    Finally, after weeks of effort, they succeed!  The sheet is dry!

    They excitedly call the guards!

    “See, the sheet is dry!  Let us out as you promised!!”

    The guards laugh and laugh, throw a bucket of water on them, and lock the door.

    :-/

    It’s an old story.  People in power don’t give up that power willingly.  You can never trust what they say, only what they do.

    :-(

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  106. 106.

    JWR

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    Predictions are that charges may drop next Tuesday.

    I read that she’s scheduled two days next week to give the GJ members final instructions, or something like that, so unless they’re working Monday and Tuesday, maybe Thursday for charges to be brought?

  110. 110.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    Political media hates Democrats.

    When Clinton was president they attacked Al Gore day and night.

    When Obama was president they mocked Biden day and night.

    And those were white guys who had been in the area forever.

    Naturally when a black woman, new to the scene, rises they set out to tear her down before she even took office.

  114. 114.

    smith

    @JWR: Also, the blocking off of streets around the courthouse is only scheduled to last through Friday, so that’s another indication they expect indictments next week.

  119. 119.

    schrodingers_cat

    When western media writes about India the focus is entirely on Modi. It should be on the RSS instead. He is carrying out the RSS agenda. Modi’s tenure is the first time that the RSS’s political arm has been able to carry out its agenda unfettered because it was the first time they were able to form the government at the center on their own

    Also their agenda is the revival of orthodox Brahminical mores which includes subjugation of women and lower castes.  To fully understand it one needs to it go way beyond the Hindu-Muslim binary

  120. 120.

    wjca

    @BeautifulPlumage: I find the push to dump Harris inexplicable.  Why would Biden even consider it?

    Just to be clear where I’m coming from

    • I’m a lifelong registered Republican (although I have been voting Democratic in Presidential elections since the turn of the century).
    • I’m a conservative.  Not one of the fascist and/or rabid reactionary faux conservatives.  Not as conservative as, for example, Liz Cheney.  But a conservative nonetheless.
    • Harris wasn’t my preference when she ran for AG in California.

    All that said, Biden is head and shoulders (to put it mildly) better than anybody in the current GOP field.  And Harris would be far better than any of them, too.

    On top of which, Harris is also a far better choice for VP than, for example, an empty suit like Gov. Newsom.  In fact, I’m not seeing any obvious alternative who would be a significant electoral plus.  To claim there is would basically require assuming a) people vote based on who the VP candidate is [other than Palin, can’t recall that having an impact], and b) there is a real cohort who would vote for Trump if Harris is on the ticket, but for Biden if she isn’t.   Seriously?  Seriously?!?!?

  121. 121.

    NotMax

    @schrodingers_cat

    Having no need for active noise canceling personally, more than pleased with the performance of these low cost options purchased last year, as regards comfort, audio output and microphone quality.

    Bluetooth: Earbuds (currently listed as unavailable on Amazon, might be able to ferret them out elsewhere)

    Wired: IEMs

  125. 125.

    Matt McIrvin

    @wjca:

    I find the push to dump Harris inexplicable.  Why would Biden even consider it?

    I remember Paul Campos going on about it at LGM a while back. It amounted to the absurd-sounding “Biden is old, so we should dump Kamala Harris.” I think his reasoning was as follows:

    1. Biden is the incumbent so we’re pretty much stuck with him.
    2. But if he dies or is incapacitated before November 2024, then Harris becomes the incumbent and standard-bearer by default.
    3. But Harris’s poll numbers are even worse than Biden’s and she would surely lose the election.
    4. So we should just swap out, not Biden, but Harris for someone with better poll numbers.

    You can see a logic to it, but I think it’s a logic that ignores a lot of things about how the real world works and is generally overthinking it. Swapping out Harris for another VP (or running mate) is not cost-free. It’d be seen as a betrayal by important Democratic constituencies. And then there’s the fact that there is just nothing wrong with Kamala Harris aside from “some people don’t like her”, that the impetus for the whole thing is Biden’s age and supposed infirmity, and it just seems worse the more you think about it.

  127. 127.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Another Scott: Is that what that story about the Long Sheet is from?? I remember reading it excerpted in an old English textbook and being struck by it, but I thought it was an imaginary dystopian tale.

    (Maybe it was somebody else’s plagiarism of Solzhenitsyn’s story as science fiction?)

  128. 128.

    Jackie

    @eclare: Both can be from the same state, but I believe they lose that state’s electoral college counts? That’d be a huge number being it’s CA.

  129. 129.

    Ksmiami

    @Jay: California is bringing the expert remains recovery team. Tragic and I think the real numbers will be shocking

  130. 130.

    lollipopguild

    @schrodingers_cat: Here in the US the fringe of the 60’s and 70’s started becoming the fabric in the GOP back when Clinton was president(Black helicopters!) but Obama winning sent a large chunk of The GOP down the rabbit hole.

  132. 132.

    Matt McIrvin

    @UncleEbeneezer: The snake-emoji stuff was doubly embarrassing because, remember, the complaint was that Warren’s takedown of Mike Bloomberg was not, in fact, an attack on Bloomberg but a knife in the back of Bernie Sanders!

    Because the Sanders camp was relying on a fragile strategy of Sanders winning the nomination with a weak plurality in a perpetually divided field, and felt that Warren had some kind of obligation to keep the field divided so he could do this.

  133. 133.

    rikyrah

    I remember being chilled and then 😢😢😢😢when I heard that she had been chosen.

    Then I remember the obscene amount of money raised after she was chosen

  134. 134.

    eclare

    @Jackie:

    I have no idea about losing electoral college votes.  I’ve just always heard that they can’t be from the same state, but no cite or reason given.

  137. 137.

    Jeffro

    @MomSense: it’s a good point and so I should probably rephrase by saying, I’m glad we got essentially the Warren agenda (which probably wouldn’t have happened, much, under an actual President Warren) under President Biden.

  138. 138.

    Kelly

    @eclare: President and VP must be from different states is in the 12th amendment to the Constitution. The 12th was passed in 1804.

  141. 141.

    Jackie

    @eclare: You made me look. Electoral college numbers ARE effected. If the Presidential election is a blow out win, it may not matter; but if it’s a close race and every electoral vote matters….  Cheney resided in Texas when Shrub was running. Cheney moved his residence to Wy so TX’s electoral votes wouldn’t be nullified.

    This link is pretty good at explaining:

    https://www.history.com/news/can-the-president-and-vice-president-be-from-the-same-state#:~:text=There's%20no%20law%20or%20regulation,II%20of%20the%20U.S.%20Constitution.

  142. 142.

    kindness

    President Uncle Joe’s plan is to serve 2 years and one day into his next term and then turn it all over to Harris.  The haters and the racists little heads will explode.  But that will leave Kamela a head start and able to run and serve terms in 28 & 32.

  144. 144.

    wjca

    If both the Presidential and Vice Presidental candidates of one party are from the same state, and they win that state, that state’s electors can still vote for the Presidential candidate.  They just cannot also vote for the Vice Presidential candidate.  So we could have a scenario where the Presidential election is straightforward, but the VP race is decided by the Senate.  (This assumes that, whoever those same-state electors vote for for VP, it wouldn’t be the opposing party VP candidate.)

  145. 145.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Kelly: ​

    President and VP must be from different states is in the 12th amendment to the Constitution. The 12th was passed in 1804.

    A common but incorrect misconception. The 12th Amendment, in applicable part, reads: “The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves.”

    That doesn’t say that the President and the VP have to be from different states. It just says that if they’re from the same state, the electors from that state won’t be able to vote for both of them, but rather, each elector would have to just vote for one of them. In a close election, this could be awkward if the state is California.​

  147. 147.

    Brachiator

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    Bush and Cheney were from the same state. Cheney’s vacation home was in Wyoming and that’s what they sold, I guess.

    I thought that Cheney officially changed his residency to Wyoming.

    From a 2006 news story.

    Until today, Cheney was a registered voter in Dallas County, Texas and lived in Dallas. Governor Bush lives in Austin. If Bush were to select Cheney, and Cheney had not changed residency, then electoral votes cast by Texans for both men might have been disqualified, constitutional law experts told ABCNEWS.

  148. 148.

    Kayla Rudbek

    blech. I’m feeling very discouraged tonight on the job front as Mr. Rudbek thinks that I can’t do the higher-level law work any more and is encouraging me to apply for lower-level jobs, and I already have one rejection email back from a law firm.

    However, my story-plotting side was working last night and this morning – I have been devouring a sword/sorcery/starship space opera slow-burn romance that came out recently, and instead of committing fanfic, I might as well file serial numbers off and write my own take, setting it in my favorite historical periods of Napoleonic wars (with some American Civil War thrown in) In Space! And blowing up the whole soulmate/fated mates trope while I’m at it.

    Any recommendations on writing programs for Mac/iPad/iPhone before I go upgrade Scrivener for my Mac desktop?

    And still turning around the idea of crafting as a side gig – I was thinking that Barbie doll knit clothes would be fairly quick as they’re smaller, and I do have a pattern book….

  153. 153.

    Glidwrith

    @Gretchen: Harris has broken 31 ties in the Senate, tying the record for the most with VP Calhoun. Pretty substantial in my estimation.

  159. 159.

    Jackie

    @BruceFromOhio: To be fair, we Democrats never liked Repug VPs, either 😉

    For some reason disliking the opposing VP seems SOP. We don’t care if MAGA hates MVP Harris; we hated Pence and considered him TIFG’s lapdog – which he was. His one and only redeeming factor was actually following the Constitution – and we Democrats are grateful for that – yet the MAGAts hate him for that and consider him a traitor.🤷🏼‍♀️

  160. 160.

    Matt McIrvin

    @kindness: I’ve heard people propose this about every second-term Democratic President in my lifetime. Somehow they never say it about the Republicans.

  161. 161.

    Jackie

    @Matt McIrvin: Well, who ever wanted TIFG to die from choking on Big Macs and leave us with Mother May I Pence?🤮

    We wanted both disappeared so we could celebrate President NancySmash!😊🥰

  162. 162.

    Scout211

    Poor, poor Peter. His star defense witness will not be appearing in court for his contempt of Congress trial.  Link

    Former President Donald Trump is not expected to testify on behalf of his former trade adviser Peter Navarro, potentially undercutting a key defense for Navarro in his upcoming criminal trial on contempt of Congress charges for defying the House select committee that investigated the US Capitol attack on January 6, 2021.

    A lawyer for Navarro, Stanley Woodward, said in a court hearing Friday that Navarro’s legal team – which includes several former and current lawyers around the former president – had talks with Trump’s legal team but don’t expect to call Trump as a witness.

    . . .

    The absence of Trump’s testimony could leave Navarro, who has pleaded not guilty, without direct evidence that he was acting at the direction of the former president when he declined to testify and turn over records to Congress. Navarro has claimed Trump told him to assert executive privilege to keep matters related to the former president and top White House advisers confidential, and that Trump passed the message through one of his aides, Liz Harrington.

  163. 163.

    Jackie

    @Scout211:

    🤭😂🤣🎻

    Surely Navarro knows loyalty is a one way street when it comes to TIFG – and Navarro’s on the wrong street!

  165. 165.

    RevRick

    @MomSense: She would gotten less than nothing done, because the GOP governor of Massachusetts would have appointed a GOP Senator to replace her. Mitch McConnell would have been majority leader, and you know he would ensure nothing happened.

  171. 171.

    Ruckus

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I think we know why some don’t like Harris. One picture says it all.

    Not all racist feelings are on the right side of the aisle. They are far stronger there but they exist in some form every where there are humans. There is a sizable segment of the human race that sees someone who doesn’t look like them in some noticeable way as deficient. It’s not that they see them as totally deficient but there is the concept. It’s tribal, even as we aren’t tribal people in most parts of the world. It’s been that way since day one and I doubt that it is going to change dramatically in the lifetime of any one breathing now. Would be nice to see, I’m not holding my breath.

  172. 172.

    Ruckus

    @Kirk:

    I voted for Harris in the primary. Yes I thought that Joe Biden would be good and his health seem pretty damn good to this day so any doubts I had have been cleared. But as someone not all that far behind him age wise, I was very, very ready 2 yrs ago to retire. Joe is a good man and a pretty damn good president and I’m glad he won.  I know people well into their 90s and they still see to do quite well. They slow down a lot faster than one might assume if they haven’t seen the show. Ask me how I know. I also know a lot of people who seemed to be fine and yet haven’t made it near as long as I have. We have a number of commenters here that are up there in the same ballpark as me and I’d bet each of them is in awe of Joe. I will proudly and gladly vote for a Biden/Harris ticket.

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