Open Threads

This day has had a mind of its own, and I have been remiss in not saying how awesome it is that we met the $10,000 challenge by our “bonus” Angel, and we got to $15,000 last night.

Hoping to hear from NC Black Alliance soon about whether they have found us an external match.  Then we’ll get back to it and get them the funds for their expansion into community colleges in Phase II.

In the meantime, well done jackals and BJ peeps!

We are the Little Engine That Could.  (Kick Ass)

Oh, and just because I can…

Totally open thread.

Big Thank YouPost + Comments (115)

Kamala Harris Campaign Event in WisconsinPost + Comments (235)

Harris has basically locked up the nomination.  Not only have enough delegates pledged to vote for her, she’s got the endorsement of pretty much every Democratic office holder of note (both Schumer and Jeffries endorsed today).

I sure didn’t expect this to go as smoothly as it has, and it’s a tribute to Joe Biden’s selfless act, and his orchestration behind the scenes, as well as the work of countless others, that we’ve avoided the god awful contested convention mess that pundits and a few dumb Democrats wanted to saddle us with.  (And Harris of course!)

If you want to feast on the bitter tears of donors who didn’t get their way, head over to LGM, where Cheryl has the details on some asshole donor who doesn’t want Harris, but instead wants some combination of candidates that includes Manchin.

Over at Steve M’s place, he has the details on the ridiculous proposal cooked up by Ezra Klein, who can’t quit this shit:

I think there’s a middle path here that Democrats should consider. None of the top-tier candidates are going to challenge Harris for the nomination. But what about some second- or third-tier candidates? Let a few up-and-comers make their case against Donald Trump. Let’s see some CNN town halls, some multicandidate forums. Nobody is going to go negative on each other here. Give the country a reason to watch a lineup of young Democrats, most of all Harris, make their cases against Trump day after day for the next few weeks.

Think of it not as a contest. Think of it as an exhibition. Maybe the people who’ve endorsed Harris can participate, too. She’s going to need a vice president. So maybe Gretchen Whitmer and Shapiro and Kelly and Beshear should be up there, too…. Maybe a little strategic ambiguity about what these candidate forums and voter town halls are would be good.

The last. fucking. thing. that is needed at this moment is ambiguity, strategic or otherwise.

Finally, here’s an explainer [gift link] on the whole coconut/Brat meme that’s gone viral about Harris.

Think of it Not as Wanking, but Something I Do With My HandPost + Comments (354)

Trump is having buyer’s remorse on the Vance pick:

Trump campaign officials acknowledged that Trump selected the inexperienced Vance, charged with all his techno-authoritarian ideas, to boost support among their own base, not extend a hand to swing voters, according to The Atlantic. Vance was a symbol of the Trump team’s assuredness that they would win in 2024. Come Sunday, that assuredness appears to be shrinking.

“Most striking thing I heard from Trump allies yesterday was the second-guessing of JD Vance—a selection, they acknowledged, that was [born] of cockiness, meant to run up margins with the base in a blowout rather than persuade swing voters in a nail-biter,” Atlantic staff writer Tim Alberta, who had written the piece about the panicking Trump campaign, posted on X (formerly Twitter).

Unlike a Trump golf course, there are no mulligans on your VP pick.  Vance was a shitty pick by an cocky and overconfident campaign, and he’s going to be total poison with women.  This is also worth at least a chuckle:

“And originally JD was probably not for me, but he didn’t know me. And then when we got to know each other, he liked me maybe more than anybody liked me,” Trump said during the pretaped interview, which aired Monday night on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

“And he would stick up for me. And he’d fight for the worker as much as I fight for the worker,” [ed. note: not at all] the president added. “We just had an automatic chemistry.”

JD Vance has the charmless bootlicking personality of the junior manager chosen to tell everyone at the factory that they’re laid off because the company is outsourcing to Bangladesh.  He has the demeanor and bearing of  the county attorney prosecuting women for having abortions, the sheriff pulling over every brown person in the county to check ids, and the store manager hassling clerks who need to leave early to pick up their kids from daycare.  He’s where charm goes to die, buried under a manure pile of pseudo-intellectual, tedious, lousy cultural commentary.

I know VPs aren’t supposed to matter that much, but I think he matters.

Every Time the Sun Comes Up He’s in TroublePost + Comments (222)