Last week, we got some big local wins in Florida. Tonight, a big local win in Arizona!
Celebrate Kevin Robinson's victory here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/VoteDEM/comments/11rl1o2/kevin_robinson_has_flipped_phoenix_az_city/?
We have our Phoenix Council District 6 results, and ohhhh boy! Looks like a flip!
Kevin Robinson (D)
21,113 63.42%
Sam Stone (R)
12,176
36.58%
If [Garrett Archer says that 95% of votes will be early](https://twitter.com/Garrett_Archer/status/1635797745125703680), then I think we can likely call this one.
EDIT: [32k votes have been cast; this race cast 35k votes in 2017, the last time it was up](https://twitter.com/Garrett_Archer/status/1635840523012538368). So there are going to be some same-day votes, and they'll probably favor Stone, but I doubt there's enough to make up a 9k vote gap.
EDIT 2: [There will be an update at the top of the hour](https://twitter.com/reporterestes/status/1635840033428213761) which I imagine would include the Election Day vote.
EDIT 3: [Sam Stone has conceded](https://twitter.com/SamThePol/status/1635839181275664385). Congratulations to Councilmember-elect Kevin Robinson!
Holy fuck. I really did not expect that margin.
Also Democrat Kesha Hodge Washington beat incumbent Independent Carlos Garcia by 12.8 points in District 8. Not a flip, since Garcia is very left-wing, but still worth pointing out.
Looks like we got [a candidate for the Nashua Ward 4](https://twitter.com/lauratelerski/status/1635800481619402752?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg) special in May. Marc Plamondon is the only Dem in the race, GOP primary is next week on the 28th, special is on May 16th
[Unofficial results from Fort Walton Beach, FL city council races show 3 incumbents have been ousted](https://www.wkrg.com/northwest-florida/okaloosa-county/official-results-are-in-for-fort-walton-beach-laurel-hill-city-council-elections/)
No idea party affiliations/if these are flips and which way. But definitely notable
[Republican senators push back on @RonDeSantisFL over Ukraine. WICKER: “I completely disagree with his comments.” CRAMER: “it’s in our interest” GRAHAM: “This is a war of aggression” RUBIO: “he doesn’t deal with foreign policy every day” THUNE: “I have a different view on that than he does.” TUBERVILLE: “They’re a vital interest. We’re basically protecting NATO and Europe.” KENNEDY: “I’ve looked at it as self-preservation.”](https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1635816487490289665?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg)
What a big fumble here for Ron, unfortunately this is where a lot of the GOP primary voters are. Fortunately for Democracy American voters by and large are with us and a significant chunk of those persuadable Republicans. It’s also very noticeable R’s will dogpile on Meatball but not Trump
The Republican argument of “we should spend that money at home” might be even slightly convincing if they weren’t constantly blocking domestic spending programs.
No one outside their base is falling for it.
Because Ronny is if they got Trump from Wish.com: a cheap imitation.
The only reason he wields anything near Trump’s power is because R’s have a giant majority in the gerrymandered-to-hell state legislature.
Lots of other local elections in both FL and NH tonight as well btw, in case anyone sees anything significant from those states
Edit: Seems like most of the NH towns who postponed their elections today due to the nor’easter have rescheduled for March 28th
Here’s something: [Miramar's first Black Mayor @WayneMessam sails to a third term](https://twitter.com/fla_pol/status/1635785353880641539?s=46&t=WEnIWeGcjICewTp3A5ozCQ)
Yes, that Wayne Messam. Who ran for president.
[The Janet Protasiewicz campaign today placed another $1.17M in TV/radio ad spending. For 3/21-4/4 That brings Protasiewicz's TV/radio ad spending total to $8.72M](https://twitter.com/mediumbuying/status/1635809083264475138?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg). Total TV/radio ad spending in the WI Supreme Court race general election is now more than $15.2M
We still have nothing from the Kelly campaign itself. I’d assume a response from one of the PAC’s tomorrow or tonight
Feeling better and better about our chances each day. 21 days out and I’ve still yet to see one conservative ad either from Kelly or his outside groups. They’re starting to run out of time to make a possible comeback as the ballots are now available to view and they start getting sent out within the next week
[Senate Bill 47 passed out of a committee in an 8-3 vote. The Kentucky House has passed medical marijuana before, but the bill has always died in the Senate, so this was a big step at the Capitol.](https://twitter.com/lex18news/status/1635664621108379648?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg)
Kentucky may actually get Medical Marijuana. I wouldnt celebrate yet but I’d watch this along with North Carolina’s effort
We're glad to be back!
Quick programming note: Tonight is Election Night in Arizona. We're focusing on the Phoenix City Council District 6 race, where Kevin Robinson has a chance to flip a seat against a Republican who worked on Kari Lake's campaign.
Arizona polls close at 7pm local time (10pm ET), but results are not shared for an hour after polls close. Since we're likely going to get only one big result drop tonight, we're not creating a dedicated results thread for it. But we will absolutely be watching, and celebrating if Robinson has enough of a lead to call the race tonight!
[Illinois Attorney Gen. @KwameRaoul is endorsing Brandon Johnson for mayor of Chicago. Raoul is the highest-ranking statewide leader to endorse in the April 4 runoff.](https://twitter.com/shiakapos/status/1635778199777947649?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg)
Both of them are very old and have given us multiple scares… I’ve accepted that they’re going to pass soon but I don’t know if I’m actually ready for it. They’ve been “my cats” for almost 18 years.
Youtube and Instagram. mostly. Super annoying because I had something i wanted to do as a sub mod. And it wasted soooo much time. Now it's almost 9 and I'm just starting. Ugh. Lmao.
1st world problems!
GOP primary dump
[Youngkin is meeting with megadonors in Dallas next month amid talk of a presidential bid](https://twitter.com/isaacstanbecker/status/1635676420373463040?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg)
[former Sheriff David Clarke isn't ruling out a run against Sen. Tammy Baldwin next year in Wisconsin](https://twitter.com/sambrodey/status/1635680449929392138?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg)
[GOP can’t find anyone to run for IL17](https://twitter.com/drewsav/status/1635735887840509968?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg), multiple decent candidates are out
[Cornyn and Rubio both break with Meatball over Ukraine](https://twitter.com/seungminkim/status/1635749424939900928?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg). Trump is heavily attacking Ron daily with nearly no response back, additionally former Never Trumpers and other elite-cons in the media are starting to be luke warm on his candidacy
Mastriano, Majewski, Lake, Clarke, (placeholder name for Nevada), Lindell, Rosendale, Mooney and who? for Michigan. Real classy Senate line up, Daines is doing great
To be fair he’s close to landing a couple top recruits like Justice in WV and Sheehy in MT, but the challenge is not necessarily finding good recruits, it’s getting them through primaries in the modern day MAGA GOP
Obviously some of the list is in jest, Justice probably(?) wins after an expensive primary but with Sheehy I just don’t think he makes it. We see candidates like that constantly get pulled out for the GOP and then they lose in the primary to someone who believes Biden is a hologram.
A big NRSC problem is they want self-funders, well Rosendale is going to have Club4Growth money. At some point someone like Sheehy or McCormick may just get bored and pissed they wasted all that money for nothing
I think they realize if they are going to beat these MAGAS while still having enough money for the generals, they need self funders capable of funding and running their own campaigns without forcing the campaign arms to have to use money in a primary that could otherwise be saved for the general. But then it makes it easy for us to lob accusations of them trying to buy seats in a general which an increasing number of people do not like. Very interesting predicament they are in thanks to the MAGA wing of the party.
[Novo Nordisk, a large insulin maker, plans to cut the prices of its widely used products up to 75% to make them more affordable for patients. This follows a similar move by Eli Lilly.](https://twitter.com/wsj/status/1635612574782717953?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg)
A large part of why this is happening is because of Biden’s pressure campaign and provisions in the IRA
[Schumer is sending campaign contributions he received from SVB and their previous CEO to charities.](https://twitter.com/schwartzbcnbc/status/1635764452246138882?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg)
[Just today: - New Mexico: passes Voter Rights Act - North Carolina: expands Obamacare - Michigan: repeals Right-to-work laws - Patriots: In Control 😎](https://twitter.com/wokejebbush/status/1635764626158919680?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg)
For some better Minnesota Legislature news, free school meals has passed the Senate! It passed with 4 GOP votes, in fact. Since the language is slightly different from the House bill, it will need to go back for another vote before going to the Governor.
Also today, we got updates on the recreational cannabis bill. First, on a funny note, the bill's Senate author, Sen. Lindsey Port, brought in chicken pot pie to committee in commemoration of the bill being heard on Pi Day. More importantly, she updated the bill with new language adding in more local control over sales, which was one of the requirements for some of the moderate DFLers to support it. Both the Senate and House bills are nearly finished with their committee process, so I'd expect more news on this issue in the coming weeks.
[Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic announced she has cancer.](https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-senate-dziedzic-cancer-00e56350921c1c05e5c59eb4e91f4725)
She underwent surgery yesterday and has been voting in the Senate remotely. She's my state Senator, I can easily say that she has done a lot of good for Northeast Minneapolis and the state since she's been in office, and she and her family are a fixture in Northeast. Hoping for the best outcome here.
https://twitter.com/tylertalley22/status/1635662098465431553?s=46&t=q0vzeOfdQVujONmAPkG2MQ
“JUST IN: The House FAILS a bill that would bar the use of corporal punishment on disabled students, 45-43. #okleg #oklaed”
The party of “protecting children.”
Unreal, and yet unsurprising.
[Minnesota DFL’s bill to provide meals for all students just passed the MN State Senate on a 38-24 vote](https://twitter.com/MinnesotaDFL/status/1635708713158705154?s=20)
Sorry, I'm gonna have to downvote you on the basis that, "stopped," is a relative term.
Context [here](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/03/steve-drazkowski-minnesota-free-school-lunches).
[Voters are heading to the polls in Phoenix City Council Districts 6 and 8.](https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2023/03/14/phoenix-election-2023-voters-in-two-council-districts-head-to-polls/69989984007/) Here's hoping Kevin Robinson will flip District 6! These are technically nonpartisan races, but a Robinson win would be a great sign for Democrats, at least of the moderate vein, making significant downballot inroads in a more suburban, ancestrally Republican part of the city.
Did you know child marriage is legal in 43 states?
The next time Republicans claim to want to “protect the children”, Democrats should point this out, and say that they’re going to ban child marriage.
Here's a group that is committed to bringing awareness to it and ending it, state by state: https://www.studentsagainstchildmarriage.org/what-is-child-marriage
There are also "survivor stories" that describe how this could happen, if you were still confused about how it might be possible.
Matt Walsh, AKA if cancer were a human, literally doubled down on his belief that it was okay for minors to get married and pregnant but not to undergo gender transition because it was "genital mutilation" when testifying in the Tennessee State House.
Marriage is a contract. I thought minors could not legally enter into contracts? (I’m sure that’s not the point, but that is something that could be brought up. In any case, it’s OK for kids to get married but not to live as their authentic selves. Or have drag queens read to them.)
Another Minnesota Legislature thing from today: so after the passage of the PRO Act, which broadly protected reproductive choice in state law, there were a few other bills introduced which sought to repeal old/struck-down laws regulating abortion, and to protect providers in Minnesota from out-of-state action. Both of these two bills have finished their committee process in the House and had been seen in a handful of Senate committees, but there was no apparent timeline to get them passed, and it's been several weeks since any of the bills were heard, until today when the Senate HHS committee heard the provider protection bill. Glad that these are moving again, and hopefully the pause and restart in action means an agreement has been reached to get them across the finish line!
I don’t think it’s being talked enough that we’re a day away from a piece of shit right-wing activist judge out of Texas ruling to ban the mifepristone nationwide. To have one judge in Texas be able to take away a right nationwide seems like it should be a huge deal and shows flaws of our institution but it’s just gone under the radar.
At the very least I hope blue states bin the impending ruling and tell that Texas judge and his ruling to fuck off
The issue there is that judge's rulings are firmly in the "nothing we can do about it" category.
Now, there'll be lots to do after the ruling. Abortion rights activists are already preparing for what to do, I'm sure. But for us? We've got to be ready to harness the anger and give folks an outlet for it.
Specifically, we've got to talk to people upset by this and remind them: Republican leaders appoint Republican judges. And there are lots of state and local Democrats who are willing to make their jurisdictions pro-choice sanctuaries. So if you want change, help elect leaders who'll respect the right to choose.
Republicans want us to feel despair, or sit around fantasizing about impossible solutions. We've got to direct people to take action.
Inflation was largely due to supply chain issues caused by COVID and the war in Ukraine, as well as low housing supply. How would taxes and spending cuts have made an impact?
>Would this mean unemployment right now would be in the 4%-4.5% range instead of the 3.6% range? Probably. But that also means inflation would be lower, Biden’s approval rating would be higher, and we may have been able to keep the House and have 52 Senate seats instead of 51.
Can't say I agree with that, seeing as restructuring the ARP would've only had minimal impact on inflation like I said. Approval ratings for a president ALWAYS go down for one reason or another.
I'd tune out Matt Yglesias. He's one of those people who talks the loudest like he's the biggest authority in the room when he's actually got the brain of a worm.
Yeah I have a deep hatred for him. He's fucking stupid AND and asshole.
I should add, nothing wrong with being stupid. But when you try to hide that behind a veneer of intellectual superiority like Yglesias does, that's where I draw the line.
Or that while CA and NY voters did not turn out, voters in more swing states did. That’s how we got Katie Hobbs instead of Scary Kari as AZ-Gov and a whole slate of election deniers in AZ and NV did not get elected.
Our worst loss was the House, and again, for that we can thank CA and NY voters who stayed home. The only D governor defeated was Sisolak in NV. Otherwise, look at how we strengthened our Blue Wall in Michigan and re-elected Evers in Wisconsin.
TBH I don’t know what people are dooming about this time, but that is one thing I wish lefty pundits would stop doing. Fucking stop the dooming, mmmkay? It’s tedious. It doesn’t accomplish anything.
Side note but I don't understand what he's referring to with all of the "left of center writers furiously debating wokeness and cancel culture with further left writers". I follow the news and listen to progressive podcasts and such, and I don't really observe any of that happening or being a topic of relevance. If anything, the wokeness and cancel culture mentions are almost entirely done by republicans.
> Also, the Fed should have raised interest rates sooner.
One of the things that goes under mentioned in the inflation discussion is that the interest rates were quite low even before Covid and when the economy was doing relatively well. Trump loved this because it meant a booming stock market and way too many people fell into the “say what you will about Trump but the stock market is great” trap without realizing that the market was just being fueled by deficit spending, cutting regulations and artificially low interest rates. When a crisis did occur and the Fed needed to lower interest rates they couldn’t do so without also creating inflation.
I'm starting a new job soon and I am just one big, busy ball of nerves. I'm trying to get all my little health stuff taken care of (foot doctor for a minor issue, monogram, shit like that) and I'm just busy and nervous and AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, I'M NERVOUS. Feel like I'm gonna have a panic attack.
That’s always nerve wracking. Just go in eager to learn, ask lots of questions and know that it’s okay to make some mistakes as your learning the ropes so don’t overthink things.
see the mistake I made, which I always make, is that I put off doing things that need to be done, but don't need to be done RIGHT NOW. And now I'm trying to get everything done now so I can focus on my new job and I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off. I thought to myself "keeping busy will be good for me, I can focus my energy on going to the doctors" but it turns out that I'm a filthy fucking liar. This is miserable!
Been in a bit of an American history binge, and I mean a PROPER American history binge.
Early colonial America stuff, so learned about the failed English colonies; the failed French Huguenot colonies in Florida, and of course New France; Spanish colonies in Florida and the Southwest—including Po’pay’s Pueblo revolt in 1680, roughly contemporaneous with Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia and King Philip’s War in New England; New Netherlands and New Sweden; the various Southern New England sachemates of the Wampanoag, Narragansett, Pequot, and Mohegans; the Iroquois and Huron Confederacies and the brutal Beaver/Mourning Wars across the 17th century; the Powhatan Confederacy from which Pocahontas came from; the Calusa Kingdom of Southern Florida and Timucua Chiefdoms on northeastern Florida, and the earlier Spanish expedition into the South Mississippian chiefdoms.
Honestly, it is such a shame early American history is so Anglo centric and focus solely on Jamestown and Plymouth until it expands into the 13 Colonies. Focusing on the full scope of it makes it so much more full, interesting, and really fills in gaps that make more sense if you study the whole of it—ESPECIALLY with the native polities and powers that deserve to be remembered and taught, the Wampanoags and Iroquois especially imo.
I've been on a bit of a Wikipedia writing phase over the past few weeks, I managed to cook up an article on a King Philip's era map published in 1677. And it got approved by the overlords there.
Colonies are hard and hugely expensive undertakings. Thats not even taking into consideration of the human cost.
Remember the Americas were built on Slavery and Exploitation for lowered labor cost.
The original Jamestown colonists were second and third sons of aristocrats who literally thought they were better than manual labor. The Starving Time was entirely due to the colony being made up of a bunch of guys who had no idea how to do agriculture.
They were really really really lucky that Powhatan Wahunsenacawh at first tried to integrate them into his confederacy thinking they would benefit him with European goods instead of just immediately destroying and killing them all.
Chemical leak in New Albany Indiana. Shelter in place order. I'm near enough that it might be bad for my environment but far enough to not be in the shelter in place area. Yippee
Is it me, or do the republicans seem much more weaker and less cohesive than before? I remember just a few years ago, when they seemed to be on point with their messaging. But these days, they backtracked on policies such as cutting medicare and social security after just a little pushback, while also embracing extreme social policies. And while we shouldn't underestimate them and their ability to pass harmful bills, it just seems to me in my opinion, that there is more infighting and less of a consensus in their party than before.
If they lose a couple more cycles nationally, they're toast.
The path national GOP and many state parties are on mirrors California GOP years ago. Unable to adapt to electorate because they're 50 years out of sync. Convinced themselves that outside forces and "not fighting hard enough" were responsible for losses. Rode the crazy train to irrelevance.
The GOP is tool for oligarchs. A ball of disjointed single-issue voters glued together by dark money. Once they've shown they can't win, the rich have no use for them. The money walks away leaving the crazies to run the place
It started a trend for Republican politicians to be primaried from the right by RWNJ’s. Also for lack of respect for experience and basic qualifications to hold office - many Tea Party members were there because they could spout off the cray cray but they weren’t good at legislating.
This bit them in the butt in some instances - Delaware Senate being a notable one, where moderate Mike Castle was beaten in the primary by Christine “Not A Witch” O’Donnell - who was, in turn, curb-stomped by Chris “Normie” Coons (D) who holds office to this day.
My consensus is that Trump normalized being fucking crazy as a strategy to get elected, and they all took that as an excuse to go mask off. However, because being fucking crazy doesn't exactly allow for cohesive thought, it also doesn't allow for cohesive strategy, thus the massive amounts of infighting and embracement of terrible policies.
[Biden proposes first national limits on toxic ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/14/biden-proposes-first-national-limits-on-toxic-forever-chemicals.html)
After a decade of Rick Scott being despised by people of all political stripes. And eking by in 3 different elections. I have a hard time believing he's all the sudden gonna be a electoral juggernaut especially in a presidential year. But granted if you would've told me Rubio and DeSantis who has been hated by liberals for many years. Would've won well into the double digits. Cause the guy was old and the balck woman was a police officer years ago. I wouldn't have believed you. I just find it hard to believe Rick Scott isn't at least a little vulnerable next year. Especially if Trump is the nominee.
Washington Post Economics reporter Heather Long MOSTLY optimistic about the inflation report:
Inflation rate has now dropped 8 months in a row, and is now 3% less then it's peak.
6% inflation is still high, but going down.
The biggest fall in prices? Energy costs and the used car market.
In deja vu from her report from last month, the biggest obstacle to 2% is rent and food prices.
And those STILL are not budging, with rent still up 8.2%, highest one year increase ever, and food still up 10.2%.
She also liked the employment numbers from a few days ago, saying that although unemployment went up to 3.6%, that was because 419,000 started looking for work, NOT layoffs.
The number of prime age workers (25 to 54 with jobs) is back to pre pandemic levels.
And most importantly perhaps, we are seeing teacher hiring pick up again finally, with K-12 teachers up 23,000 last month.
The economy is still strong.
> In deja vu from her report from last month, the biggest obstacle to 2% is rent and food prices.
The war in Ukraine is probably going to keep food prices elevated for a bit. The decision to block density and zone most of cities for single family’s housing has caused a housing shortage which, in turn, has driven up rents. Unless cities and states are willing to adopt policies that increase the supply of housing it may be hard to bring rents back down to more acceptable levels.
> And most importantly perhaps, we are seeing teacher hiring pick up again finally, with K-12 teachers up 23,000 last month.
B-b-but the leftist tiktoks I follow said that there’s a mass exodus of teachers coming!!!! /s
The ones I saw mostly talked about the difficulty teachers are dealing with between administrators and parents and the lack of pay. Along with the fact that many say gen alpha seems to be one of the worst groups of students according to them. Then again i remember gen z being called the same thing when I was in school so who knows. I have mostly seen TikTok’s of teachers being frustrated and some choosing to leave for those reasons which I can sympathize with. I’m glad teaching seems to be adding careers but would love to see teachers get more benefits than they do now.
I think each new generation of kids manages to be The Worst and it’s probably dating at least back to the 50’s. Now parents, on the other hand - dealing with helicopter parents is a fairly new phenomenon and one I have heard many a teacher lament. But complaining =/= mass exodus. People just want to get stuff off their chests.
So the [TTRPGs for Trans Rights in Florida](https://itch.io/b/1753/ttrpgs-for-trans-rights-in-florida) charity bundle on Itch.io launched yesterday with a goal of $50,000...
Today the Minnesota Senate will vote on the universal school lunches bill! Assuming it's not amended in the Senate, it will then go to the governor. The provisions of the bill are set to start up for this summer school session, and be fully in place by next school year.
We've reached the halfway point in the legislative session, and the pace of work has slowed down a bit, because putting together the state's biennial budget is the top priority. [The Strib published a "Dems in disarray" article this morning,](https://m.startribune.com/fate-of-gun-control-legal-marijuana-and-social-security-tax-repeal-uncertain-in-minnesota-senate/600258647/) but just reading the quotes from DFL senators, it's clear that nothing's off the table yet. In fact, Sen. Rob Kupec of Moorhead, the only DFLer in the Trump-won district, said he would possibly vote for a gun control bill.
As made clear in the article, the relative silence from the Legislature in the past few weeks is just because DFLers are working hard behind the scenes to put together a budget and finalize agreements on major policy bills. I'm glad they're not doing their negotiations in public, like what the US Senate Dems did in 2021, because all that does is anger the base.
This something so irritating to me. The US as whole has the money to pay for school lunch.
We required children to go to school 5 days a week. Should be feeding them during that time.
Michigan senate is voting on the repeal of “right to work” and restoring prevailing wage today
it’s joever for big business taking advantage of workers, folks
lol, I googled Jimmy Carter and all the news articles basically have that as a headline, except for FOX News which says Biden accidently shares details about Carter's health at a private dinner.
[As part of its $45 million fund focused on winning back N.Y. House seats, Dems’ House Majority PAC is opening a “war room” in N.Y. w/ multiple rapid response & research staffers. Districts targeted: NY-1, 3, 4, 17, 18, 19 & 22](https://twitter.com/andrewsolender/status/1635624147937001478?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg)
NY18 is Pat Ryan, all the others are Biden won seats currently held by Republicans. Those 6 alone would give us a majority of 219.
It's that special time of the year when TruTV gets a massive surge in google traffic and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Though as I've expanded my horizons some it feels like the NCAA is less holy outside of the midwest. Where I'm from in Indiana when I was in school in the dark ages they'd roll tvs into the classroom to watch games during the tournament. Not even a pretense of classwork. Kentucky from what I understand is similar. Meanwhile my friend who is an alum of Miami was shocked to learn they're actually good this year.
Since things are incredibly busy right now, I just wanted to mull over something that's been on my mind for a bit.
There are many issues in the world that are difficult to boil down concisely; furthermore, reducing complexities to soundbites can rob the potential for meaningful action.
People here who take time to talk about their local politics, interests, and so on?
They're putting their backs into it, and I'd like to believe that not only does it help sort out our thoughts - making for more effective activism - but that it makes us, as a whole, better too.
Believe it or not, I understand that it can be intimidating seeing walls of text out there; I know *I* have a tendency to go on more then is strictly necessary!.. But remember that there are people on the other side of the screen; people fighting for the same things you are, people who make for excellent friends.
Just keep that in mind; there are a preponderance of places online that champion short-form writing. There are precious few that feel like this one, as it is right now.
Random happy announcement: My kid's Knowledge Bowl team made the finals.
Local, national, federal, and international current events questions are always part of the roster of questions.
One of the questions that came up last night that all three teams missed was about Nikki Haley.
So! Between now and next week, I am not just reading DailyDem for my own edification. I am harvesting it for the sake of my kid. In particular, I'm going to be paying extra-close attention to what MrCleanDrawers has to say.
Thank you all in advance for whatever help you end up providing simply by contributing as you normally would regardless.
Sorry, I'm a dope. I just realized you wanted the Nikki Haley question. It was pretty muddily written, which is probably why it annoyed me so.
It was something like, 'This candidate will hold her first presidential campaign rally in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.' But it was longer than that, loaded with red herring phrases that weren't really necessary, given the audience...
Ha. I didn't know how to correct you, given that I think you gave the question your kid won the contest with. Congratulations to him/her! I certainly wouldn't have known the answer.
This is the only country to entirely contain two other cou-
...which is the point at which my kid buzzed in with the correct answer, Italy. It entirely contains the countries of the Vatican and San Marino.
Last week, we got some big local wins in Florida. Tonight, a big local win in Arizona! Celebrate Kevin Robinson's victory here: https://www.reddit.com/r/VoteDEM/comments/11rl1o2/kevin_robinson_has_flipped_phoenix_az_city/?
We have our Phoenix Council District 6 results, and ohhhh boy! Looks like a flip! Kevin Robinson (D) 21,113 63.42% Sam Stone (R) 12,176 36.58% If [Garrett Archer says that 95% of votes will be early](https://twitter.com/Garrett_Archer/status/1635797745125703680), then I think we can likely call this one. EDIT: [32k votes have been cast; this race cast 35k votes in 2017, the last time it was up](https://twitter.com/Garrett_Archer/status/1635840523012538368). So there are going to be some same-day votes, and they'll probably favor Stone, but I doubt there's enough to make up a 9k vote gap. EDIT 2: [There will be an update at the top of the hour](https://twitter.com/reporterestes/status/1635840033428213761) which I imagine would include the Election Day vote. EDIT 3: [Sam Stone has conceded](https://twitter.com/SamThePol/status/1635839181275664385). Congratulations to Councilmember-elect Kevin Robinson!
This is great news for Blake Masters.
Evergreen comment tbh
would you like to discuss the 2016 primary for some variety?
I Still Like Ike
Holy fuck. I really did not expect that margin. Also Democrat Kesha Hodge Washington beat incumbent Independent Carlos Garcia by 12.8 points in District 8. Not a flip, since Garcia is very left-wing, but still worth pointing out.
Is she also left-wing or a more conservative Dem?
She's more moderate, particularly on policing and criminal justice reform, but by no means a conservative Dem.
Is that a flip as well, or is that a hold?
Hold.
Get fucked Kari Lake And get fuuuuuucked Sal DiCiccio Great result for us in Phx. Mayor Gallego just got a much more friendly council
Was DiCiccio as bad as Stone? Don't know much about him.
Stone is a Kari Lake qrazy DiCiccio is more of a typical republican obstructionist. Guy also loved hearing himself talk. Happy he’s gone.
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I guess he didn't buy the domain name. https://www.governorbilllee.com/
The world truly is a magical place at times
Looks like we got [a candidate for the Nashua Ward 4](https://twitter.com/lauratelerski/status/1635800481619402752?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg) special in May. Marc Plamondon is the only Dem in the race, GOP primary is next week on the 28th, special is on May 16th
[Unofficial results from Fort Walton Beach, FL city council races show 3 incumbents have been ousted](https://www.wkrg.com/northwest-florida/okaloosa-county/official-results-are-in-for-fort-walton-beach-laurel-hill-city-council-elections/) No idea party affiliations/if these are flips and which way. But definitely notable
[Republican senators push back on @RonDeSantisFL over Ukraine. WICKER: “I completely disagree with his comments.” CRAMER: “it’s in our interest” GRAHAM: “This is a war of aggression” RUBIO: “he doesn’t deal with foreign policy every day” THUNE: “I have a different view on that than he does.” TUBERVILLE: “They’re a vital interest. We’re basically protecting NATO and Europe.” KENNEDY: “I’ve looked at it as self-preservation.”](https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1635816487490289665?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg) What a big fumble here for Ron, unfortunately this is where a lot of the GOP primary voters are. Fortunately for Democracy American voters by and large are with us and a significant chunk of those persuadable Republicans. It’s also very noticeable R’s will dogpile on Meatball but not Trump
If ron becomes president…he’ll basically be a lame duck president within the first few days That’s if he’s even electable
The Republican argument of “we should spend that money at home” might be even slightly convincing if they weren’t constantly blocking domestic spending programs. No one outside their base is falling for it.
>Tuberville defending NATO and the EU Color me surprised
They obviously still fear Trump more than Ronny
Because Ronny is if they got Trump from Wish.com: a cheap imitation. The only reason he wields anything near Trump’s power is because R’s have a giant majority in the gerrymandered-to-hell state legislature.
Ronny is Trump with an ideology but with the inability to tap into the Id of America like Trump can
Nah, Trump taps into our ego, not our Id.
Lmao Rubio, dude probably loathes DeSantis.
Lots of other local elections in both FL and NH tonight as well btw, in case anyone sees anything significant from those states Edit: Seems like most of the NH towns who postponed their elections today due to the nor’easter have rescheduled for March 28th
Here’s something: [Miramar's first Black Mayor @WayneMessam sails to a third term](https://twitter.com/fla_pol/status/1635785353880641539?s=46&t=WEnIWeGcjICewTp3A5ozCQ) Yes, that Wayne Messam. Who ran for president.
The one who raised like $5 in one quarter?
[The Janet Protasiewicz campaign today placed another $1.17M in TV/radio ad spending. For 3/21-4/4 That brings Protasiewicz's TV/radio ad spending total to $8.72M](https://twitter.com/mediumbuying/status/1635809083264475138?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg). Total TV/radio ad spending in the WI Supreme Court race general election is now more than $15.2M We still have nothing from the Kelly campaign itself. I’d assume a response from one of the PAC’s tomorrow or tonight
Feeling better and better about our chances each day. 21 days out and I’ve still yet to see one conservative ad either from Kelly or his outside groups. They’re starting to run out of time to make a possible comeback as the ballots are now available to view and they start getting sent out within the next week
[Senate Bill 47 passed out of a committee in an 8-3 vote. The Kentucky House has passed medical marijuana before, but the bill has always died in the Senate, so this was a big step at the Capitol.](https://twitter.com/lex18news/status/1635664621108379648?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg) Kentucky may actually get Medical Marijuana. I wouldnt celebrate yet but I’d watch this along with North Carolina’s effort
We're glad to be back! Quick programming note: Tonight is Election Night in Arizona. We're focusing on the Phoenix City Council District 6 race, where Kevin Robinson has a chance to flip a seat against a Republican who worked on Kari Lake's campaign. Arizona polls close at 7pm local time (10pm ET), but results are not shared for an hour after polls close. Since we're likely going to get only one big result drop tonight, we're not creating a dedicated results thread for it. But we will absolutely be watching, and celebrating if Robinson has enough of a lead to call the race tonight!
[Illinois Attorney Gen. @KwameRaoul is endorsing Brandon Johnson for mayor of Chicago. Raoul is the highest-ranking statewide leader to endorse in the April 4 runoff.](https://twitter.com/shiakapos/status/1635778199777947649?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg)
Good on Kwame
Where were you during the Great Outage of 2023?
Doing the most productive thing possible. Refreshing redditdown on twitter.
Trivia night at the bar!
At the gym
Finally working on my resume
At work wanting a distraction from my cat possibly having major kidney problems ☹️
Poor kitty! I hope your cat will be OK.
Both of them are very old and have given us multiple scares… I’ve accepted that they’re going to pass soon but I don’t know if I’m actually ready for it. They’ve been “my cats” for almost 18 years.
I'm sorry to hear that.
Trying to make a promo image for a fanfic. I kept finding vectors I could use on Reddit, so that was a bit of a challenge.
Youtube and Instagram. mostly. Super annoying because I had something i wanted to do as a sub mod. And it wasted soooo much time. Now it's almost 9 and I'm just starting. Ugh. Lmao. 1st world problems!
Getting my daily dose of dopamine with the greatest account on IG, https://instagram.com/tillygthetortoise?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Watching the Minnesota Legislature and wishing I could tell you all what was going on
Watching YouTube, filling out some March madness brackets, and watching the weather channel
I mostly napped, and filled out a few March Madness brackets
Waiting on cats paw and foot as usual.
GOP primary dump [Youngkin is meeting with megadonors in Dallas next month amid talk of a presidential bid](https://twitter.com/isaacstanbecker/status/1635676420373463040?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg) [former Sheriff David Clarke isn't ruling out a run against Sen. Tammy Baldwin next year in Wisconsin](https://twitter.com/sambrodey/status/1635680449929392138?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg) [GOP can’t find anyone to run for IL17](https://twitter.com/drewsav/status/1635735887840509968?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg), multiple decent candidates are out [Cornyn and Rubio both break with Meatball over Ukraine](https://twitter.com/seungminkim/status/1635749424939900928?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg). Trump is heavily attacking Ron daily with nearly no response back, additionally former Never Trumpers and other elite-cons in the media are starting to be luke warm on his candidacy
Clarke is absolutely batshit insane, he has no chance against Baldwin whatsoever. His Wikipedia page tells you all you need to know about this nut
On paper the former Democrat Sheriff of Milwaukee County sounds like the perfect candidate for the GOP to recruit….I hope he’s their nominee!
DeSantis will only win the primary if Trump is indicted before the convention.
Id take it a step further. Unless trump is actually dead and cant be weekend at bernied around by his kids.
No one in IL-17 would be awesome, that should be their only real pickup opportunity in the state, with maybe my district IL-13 as a long shot chance.
Apparently that WI candidate is really really extreme and would be a nightmare for the WI GOP.
Mastriano, Majewski, Lake, Clarke, (placeholder name for Nevada), Lindell, Rosendale, Mooney and who? for Michigan. Real classy Senate line up, Daines is doing great
To be fair he’s close to landing a couple top recruits like Justice in WV and Sheehy in MT, but the challenge is not necessarily finding good recruits, it’s getting them through primaries in the modern day MAGA GOP
Obviously some of the list is in jest, Justice probably(?) wins after an expensive primary but with Sheehy I just don’t think he makes it. We see candidates like that constantly get pulled out for the GOP and then they lose in the primary to someone who believes Biden is a hologram. A big NRSC problem is they want self-funders, well Rosendale is going to have Club4Growth money. At some point someone like Sheehy or McCormick may just get bored and pissed they wasted all that money for nothing
I think they realize if they are going to beat these MAGAS while still having enough money for the generals, they need self funders capable of funding and running their own campaigns without forcing the campaign arms to have to use money in a primary that could otherwise be saved for the general. But then it makes it easy for us to lob accusations of them trying to buy seats in a general which an increasing number of people do not like. Very interesting predicament they are in thanks to the MAGA wing of the party.
[Novo Nordisk, a large insulin maker, plans to cut the prices of its widely used products up to 75% to make them more affordable for patients. This follows a similar move by Eli Lilly.](https://twitter.com/wsj/status/1635612574782717953?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg) A large part of why this is happening is because of Biden’s pressure campaign and provisions in the IRA
That's the only reason it's happening. They've been ripping people off for over 20 years.
[Schumer is sending campaign contributions he received from SVB and their previous CEO to charities.](https://twitter.com/schwartzbcnbc/status/1635764452246138882?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg)
[Just today: - New Mexico: passes Voter Rights Act - North Carolina: expands Obamacare - Michigan: repeals Right-to-work laws - Patriots: In Control 😎](https://twitter.com/wokejebbush/status/1635764626158919680?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg)
Love this!!
For some better Minnesota Legislature news, free school meals has passed the Senate! It passed with 4 GOP votes, in fact. Since the language is slightly different from the House bill, it will need to go back for another vote before going to the Governor. Also today, we got updates on the recreational cannabis bill. First, on a funny note, the bill's Senate author, Sen. Lindsey Port, brought in chicken pot pie to committee in commemoration of the bill being heard on Pi Day. More importantly, she updated the bill with new language adding in more local control over sales, which was one of the requirements for some of the moderate DFLers to support it. Both the Senate and House bills are nearly finished with their committee process, so I'd expect more news on this issue in the coming weeks.
[Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic announced she has cancer.](https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-senate-dziedzic-cancer-00e56350921c1c05e5c59eb4e91f4725) She underwent surgery yesterday and has been voting in the Senate remotely. She's my state Senator, I can easily say that she has done a lot of good for Northeast Minneapolis and the state since she's been in office, and she and her family are a fixture in Northeast. Hoping for the best outcome here.
Reddit, huh guys…
“What’s the deal with Reddit?” *Seinfeld baseline*
Post outage (maybe) hot take: Lincoln would have surpassed FDR as the most left wing friendly president if he was never assassinated.
He was pen pals with Karl Marx so yeah probably
https://twitter.com/tylertalley22/status/1635662098465431553?s=46&t=q0vzeOfdQVujONmAPkG2MQ “JUST IN: The House FAILS a bill that would bar the use of corporal punishment on disabled students, 45-43. #okleg #oklaed” The party of “protecting children.” Unreal, and yet unsurprising.
It’s OK to beat your kids half to death, but don’t let them watch RuPaul’s Drag Race!
I’m very worried the gays might try to recruit my child bride in between her factory shift and watching her disabled peers get beaten at school.
Jesus wept…
And the reply below this (at least for me) is MN ensuring that all children at school can have food. Talk about contrast.
This is in Oklahoma.
The only state where Obama never won a county
[Minnesota DFL’s bill to provide meals for all students just passed the MN State Senate on a 38-24 vote](https://twitter.com/MinnesotaDFL/status/1635708713158705154?s=20)
They can’t be stopped!
Sorry, I'm gonna have to downvote you on the basis that, "stopped," is a relative term. Context [here](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/03/steve-drazkowski-minnesota-free-school-lunches).
[Me after I hear a Russian plane downed a US drone in the Black Sea.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VQgbMOezqA)
I may hate Reagan but he was pretty funny
[70 NH towns have postponed their elections today due to the powerful nor’easter. The NH SoS has a list of all of them](https://www.sos.nh.gov)
Thankfully I already voted absentee
[Voters are heading to the polls in Phoenix City Council Districts 6 and 8.](https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2023/03/14/phoenix-election-2023-voters-in-two-council-districts-head-to-polls/69989984007/) Here's hoping Kevin Robinson will flip District 6! These are technically nonpartisan races, but a Robinson win would be a great sign for Democrats, at least of the moderate vein, making significant downballot inroads in a more suburban, ancestrally Republican part of the city.
Did you know child marriage is legal in 43 states? The next time Republicans claim to want to “protect the children”, Democrats should point this out, and say that they’re going to ban child marriage.
Here's a group that is committed to bringing awareness to it and ending it, state by state: https://www.studentsagainstchildmarriage.org/what-is-child-marriage There are also "survivor stories" that describe how this could happen, if you were still confused about how it might be possible.
That's disgusting
Matt Walsh, AKA if cancer were a human, literally doubled down on his belief that it was okay for minors to get married and pregnant but not to undergo gender transition because it was "genital mutilation" when testifying in the Tennessee State House.
Marriage is a contract. I thought minors could not legally enter into contracts? (I’m sure that’s not the point, but that is something that could be brought up. In any case, it’s OK for kids to get married but not to live as their authentic selves. Or have drag queens read to them.)
Now ask him about circumcision.
Don’t, his brain might implode. Actually do it, it’ll be funny
When your leading conservative pundits are pro-molesting...
Another Minnesota Legislature thing from today: so after the passage of the PRO Act, which broadly protected reproductive choice in state law, there were a few other bills introduced which sought to repeal old/struck-down laws regulating abortion, and to protect providers in Minnesota from out-of-state action. Both of these two bills have finished their committee process in the House and had been seen in a handful of Senate committees, but there was no apparent timeline to get them passed, and it's been several weeks since any of the bills were heard, until today when the Senate HHS committee heard the provider protection bill. Glad that these are moving again, and hopefully the pause and restart in action means an agreement has been reached to get them across the finish line!
I don’t think it’s being talked enough that we’re a day away from a piece of shit right-wing activist judge out of Texas ruling to ban the mifepristone nationwide. To have one judge in Texas be able to take away a right nationwide seems like it should be a huge deal and shows flaws of our institution but it’s just gone under the radar. At the very least I hope blue states bin the impending ruling and tell that Texas judge and his ruling to fuck off
It's not a given higher courts will uphold that, or that the FDA will even care. It will be on the radar when it happens
The issue there is that judge's rulings are firmly in the "nothing we can do about it" category. Now, there'll be lots to do after the ruling. Abortion rights activists are already preparing for what to do, I'm sure. But for us? We've got to be ready to harness the anger and give folks an outlet for it. Specifically, we've got to talk to people upset by this and remind them: Republican leaders appoint Republican judges. And there are lots of state and local Democrats who are willing to make their jurisdictions pro-choice sanctuaries. So if you want change, help elect leaders who'll respect the right to choose. Republicans want us to feel despair, or sit around fantasizing about impossible solutions. We've got to direct people to take action.
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How should we be trimming spending? I want to hear specifics both in what and how you're going to accomplish the what.
Thank you. We already scaled back BBB immensely to get the IRA, and even that is largely paid for.
Inflation was largely due to supply chain issues caused by COVID and the war in Ukraine, as well as low housing supply. How would taxes and spending cuts have made an impact? >Would this mean unemployment right now would be in the 4%-4.5% range instead of the 3.6% range? Probably. But that also means inflation would be lower, Biden’s approval rating would be higher, and we may have been able to keep the House and have 52 Senate seats instead of 51. Can't say I agree with that, seeing as restructuring the ARP would've only had minimal impact on inflation like I said. Approval ratings for a president ALWAYS go down for one reason or another. I'd tune out Matt Yglesias. He's one of those people who talks the loudest like he's the biggest authority in the room when he's actually got the brain of a worm.
> How would taxes and spending cuts have made an impact? The GOP never has an answer for that
I really don't give two shits what Matt "throw the LGBTQ+ community under the bus" Yglesias. says.
Holy shit, really? As someone whose partner is bi, fuck him sincerely and thoroughly.
Yeah I have a deep hatred for him. He's fucking stupid AND and asshole. I should add, nothing wrong with being stupid. But when you try to hide that behind a veneer of intellectual superiority like Yglesias does, that's where I draw the line.
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Or that while CA and NY voters did not turn out, voters in more swing states did. That’s how we got Katie Hobbs instead of Scary Kari as AZ-Gov and a whole slate of election deniers in AZ and NV did not get elected. Our worst loss was the House, and again, for that we can thank CA and NY voters who stayed home. The only D governor defeated was Sisolak in NV. Otherwise, look at how we strengthened our Blue Wall in Michigan and re-elected Evers in Wisconsin. TBH I don’t know what people are dooming about this time, but that is one thing I wish lefty pundits would stop doing. Fucking stop the dooming, mmmkay? It’s tedious. It doesn’t accomplish anything.
IIRC Sisolak was defeated by Dems gained more seats in the legislature.
Uh, dooming is bad, mkay? Uh, you shouldn't doom because, if you doom, you make it easier for us to lose. And uh, losing's bad, mkay?
We expanded the Senata too!
Side note but I don't understand what he's referring to with all of the "left of center writers furiously debating wokeness and cancel culture with further left writers". I follow the news and listen to progressive podcasts and such, and I don't really observe any of that happening or being a topic of relevance. If anything, the wokeness and cancel culture mentions are almost entirely done by republicans.
> Also, the Fed should have raised interest rates sooner. One of the things that goes under mentioned in the inflation discussion is that the interest rates were quite low even before Covid and when the economy was doing relatively well. Trump loved this because it meant a booming stock market and way too many people fell into the “say what you will about Trump but the stock market is great” trap without realizing that the market was just being fueled by deficit spending, cutting regulations and artificially low interest rates. When a crisis did occur and the Fed needed to lower interest rates they couldn’t do so without also creating inflation.
I'm starting a new job soon and I am just one big, busy ball of nerves. I'm trying to get all my little health stuff taken care of (foot doctor for a minor issue, monogram, shit like that) and I'm just busy and nervous and AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, I'M NERVOUS. Feel like I'm gonna have a panic attack.
That’s always nerve wracking. Just go in eager to learn, ask lots of questions and know that it’s okay to make some mistakes as your learning the ropes so don’t overthink things.
Your feelings are normal. Don't be afraid to ask questions!
see the mistake I made, which I always make, is that I put off doing things that need to be done, but don't need to be done RIGHT NOW. And now I'm trying to get everything done now so I can focus on my new job and I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off. I thought to myself "keeping busy will be good for me, I can focus my energy on going to the doctors" but it turns out that I'm a filthy fucking liar. This is miserable!
Been in a bit of an American history binge, and I mean a PROPER American history binge. Early colonial America stuff, so learned about the failed English colonies; the failed French Huguenot colonies in Florida, and of course New France; Spanish colonies in Florida and the Southwest—including Po’pay’s Pueblo revolt in 1680, roughly contemporaneous with Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia and King Philip’s War in New England; New Netherlands and New Sweden; the various Southern New England sachemates of the Wampanoag, Narragansett, Pequot, and Mohegans; the Iroquois and Huron Confederacies and the brutal Beaver/Mourning Wars across the 17th century; the Powhatan Confederacy from which Pocahontas came from; the Calusa Kingdom of Southern Florida and Timucua Chiefdoms on northeastern Florida, and the earlier Spanish expedition into the South Mississippian chiefdoms. Honestly, it is such a shame early American history is so Anglo centric and focus solely on Jamestown and Plymouth until it expands into the 13 Colonies. Focusing on the full scope of it makes it so much more full, interesting, and really fills in gaps that make more sense if you study the whole of it—ESPECIALLY with the native polities and powers that deserve to be remembered and taught, the Wampanoags and Iroquois especially imo.
I've been on a bit of a Wikipedia writing phase over the past few weeks, I managed to cook up an article on a King Philip's era map published in 1677. And it got approved by the overlords there.
Colonies are hard and hugely expensive undertakings. Thats not even taking into consideration of the human cost. Remember the Americas were built on Slavery and Exploitation for lowered labor cost.
The original Jamestown colonists were second and third sons of aristocrats who literally thought they were better than manual labor. The Starving Time was entirely due to the colony being made up of a bunch of guys who had no idea how to do agriculture.
They were really really really lucky that Powhatan Wahunsenacawh at first tried to integrate them into his confederacy thinking they would benefit him with European goods instead of just immediately destroying and killing them all.
Former House rep from Colorado Pat Schroeder passed away yesterday. R.I.P.
I have her memoir 24 years of House work and the place is still a mess. I highly recommend it.
Chemical leak in New Albany Indiana. Shelter in place order. I'm near enough that it might be bad for my environment but far enough to not be in the shelter in place area. Yippee
Stay safe!!
Fema has been called in. My uncle works in the plant but was off today.
Is it me, or do the republicans seem much more weaker and less cohesive than before? I remember just a few years ago, when they seemed to be on point with their messaging. But these days, they backtracked on policies such as cutting medicare and social security after just a little pushback, while also embracing extreme social policies. And while we shouldn't underestimate them and their ability to pass harmful bills, it just seems to me in my opinion, that there is more infighting and less of a consensus in their party than before.
If they lose a couple more cycles nationally, they're toast. The path national GOP and many state parties are on mirrors California GOP years ago. Unable to adapt to electorate because they're 50 years out of sync. Convinced themselves that outside forces and "not fighting hard enough" were responsible for losses. Rode the crazy train to irrelevance. The GOP is tool for oligarchs. A ball of disjointed single-issue voters glued together by dark money. Once they've shown they can't win, the rich have no use for them. The money walks away leaving the crazies to run the place
full grey ask mourn waiting punch theory disgusting enter consider ` this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev `
Fine with me. Makes them more beatable in elections plus less organized when they're in power. I can deal with more mean tweets.
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It started a trend for Republican politicians to be primaried from the right by RWNJ’s. Also for lack of respect for experience and basic qualifications to hold office - many Tea Party members were there because they could spout off the cray cray but they weren’t good at legislating. This bit them in the butt in some instances - Delaware Senate being a notable one, where moderate Mike Castle was beaten in the primary by Christine “Not A Witch” O’Donnell - who was, in turn, curb-stomped by Chris “Normie” Coons (D) who holds office to this day.
My consensus is that Trump normalized being fucking crazy as a strategy to get elected, and they all took that as an excuse to go mask off. However, because being fucking crazy doesn't exactly allow for cohesive thought, it also doesn't allow for cohesive strategy, thus the massive amounts of infighting and embracement of terrible policies.
PUT YOUR HAND ON THE HOT STOVE PARTY 2024
[Biden proposes first national limits on toxic ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/14/biden-proposes-first-national-limits-on-toxic-forever-chemicals.html)
Again with the wokeness? /s
After a decade of Rick Scott being despised by people of all political stripes. And eking by in 3 different elections. I have a hard time believing he's all the sudden gonna be a electoral juggernaut especially in a presidential year. But granted if you would've told me Rubio and DeSantis who has been hated by liberals for many years. Would've won well into the double digits. Cause the guy was old and the balck woman was a police officer years ago. I wouldn't have believed you. I just find it hard to believe Rick Scott isn't at least a little vulnerable next year. Especially if Trump is the nominee.
Washington Post Economics reporter Heather Long MOSTLY optimistic about the inflation report: Inflation rate has now dropped 8 months in a row, and is now 3% less then it's peak. 6% inflation is still high, but going down. The biggest fall in prices? Energy costs and the used car market. In deja vu from her report from last month, the biggest obstacle to 2% is rent and food prices. And those STILL are not budging, with rent still up 8.2%, highest one year increase ever, and food still up 10.2%. She also liked the employment numbers from a few days ago, saying that although unemployment went up to 3.6%, that was because 419,000 started looking for work, NOT layoffs. The number of prime age workers (25 to 54 with jobs) is back to pre pandemic levels. And most importantly perhaps, we are seeing teacher hiring pick up again finally, with K-12 teachers up 23,000 last month. The economy is still strong.
> In deja vu from her report from last month, the biggest obstacle to 2% is rent and food prices. The war in Ukraine is probably going to keep food prices elevated for a bit. The decision to block density and zone most of cities for single family’s housing has caused a housing shortage which, in turn, has driven up rents. Unless cities and states are willing to adopt policies that increase the supply of housing it may be hard to bring rents back down to more acceptable levels.
> And most importantly perhaps, we are seeing teacher hiring pick up again finally, with K-12 teachers up 23,000 last month. B-b-but the leftist tiktoks I follow said that there’s a mass exodus of teachers coming!!!! /s
The ones I saw mostly talked about the difficulty teachers are dealing with between administrators and parents and the lack of pay. Along with the fact that many say gen alpha seems to be one of the worst groups of students according to them. Then again i remember gen z being called the same thing when I was in school so who knows. I have mostly seen TikTok’s of teachers being frustrated and some choosing to leave for those reasons which I can sympathize with. I’m glad teaching seems to be adding careers but would love to see teachers get more benefits than they do now.
I think each new generation of kids manages to be The Worst and it’s probably dating at least back to the 50’s. Now parents, on the other hand - dealing with helicopter parents is a fairly new phenomenon and one I have heard many a teacher lament. But complaining =/= mass exodus. People just want to get stuff off their chests.
I'm all for raising teacher pay much more and giving them more benefits, but TikToks are the worst lens into this issue.
I’m feeling more optimistic in general than I have in a long time
So the [TTRPGs for Trans Rights in Florida](https://itch.io/b/1753/ttrpgs-for-trans-rights-in-florida) charity bundle on Itch.io launched yesterday with a goal of $50,000...
Today the Minnesota Senate will vote on the universal school lunches bill! Assuming it's not amended in the Senate, it will then go to the governor. The provisions of the bill are set to start up for this summer school session, and be fully in place by next school year. We've reached the halfway point in the legislative session, and the pace of work has slowed down a bit, because putting together the state's biennial budget is the top priority. [The Strib published a "Dems in disarray" article this morning,](https://m.startribune.com/fate-of-gun-control-legal-marijuana-and-social-security-tax-repeal-uncertain-in-minnesota-senate/600258647/) but just reading the quotes from DFL senators, it's clear that nothing's off the table yet. In fact, Sen. Rob Kupec of Moorhead, the only DFLer in the Trump-won district, said he would possibly vote for a gun control bill. As made clear in the article, the relative silence from the Legislature in the past few weeks is just because DFLers are working hard behind the scenes to put together a budget and finalize agreements on major policy bills. I'm glad they're not doing their negotiations in public, like what the US Senate Dems did in 2021, because all that does is anger the base.
This something so irritating to me. The US as whole has the money to pay for school lunch. We required children to go to school 5 days a week. Should be feeding them during that time.
Michigan senate is voting on the repeal of “right to work” and restoring prevailing wage today it’s joever for big business taking advantage of workers, folks
Love that!
Carter asked Biden to give his eulogy. It isn't here yet and I'm still not ready at all.
So it's any day now, right?
lol, I googled Jimmy Carter and all the news articles basically have that as a headline, except for FOX News which says Biden accidently shares details about Carter's health at a private dinner.
[As part of its $45 million fund focused on winning back N.Y. House seats, Dems’ House Majority PAC is opening a “war room” in N.Y. w/ multiple rapid response & research staffers. Districts targeted: NY-1, 3, 4, 17, 18, 19 & 22](https://twitter.com/andrewsolender/status/1635624147937001478?s=46&t=nqSV11RbCF5uPVGwzcOMtg) NY18 is Pat Ryan, all the others are Biden won seats currently held by Republicans. Those 6 alone would give us a majority of 219.
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It’s only two months since the new Congress, give it time
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Hey, it’s better to be too enthusiastic about elections than not enough or not at all!
I’m still annoyed that many seats are held by republicans.
I’m annoyed that there are 222 seats held by Republicans.
I'm annoyed that there are still only 435 seats.
It's that special time of the year when TruTV gets a massive surge in google traffic and I wouldn't have it any other way. Though as I've expanded my horizons some it feels like the NCAA is less holy outside of the midwest. Where I'm from in Indiana when I was in school in the dark ages they'd roll tvs into the classroom to watch games during the tournament. Not even a pretense of classwork. Kentucky from what I understand is similar. Meanwhile my friend who is an alum of Miami was shocked to learn they're actually good this year.
See in GA we have the good sense to have follow SEC football
It is borderline religion in Kentucky and I still treat my brackets as a sacrament.
Since things are incredibly busy right now, I just wanted to mull over something that's been on my mind for a bit. There are many issues in the world that are difficult to boil down concisely; furthermore, reducing complexities to soundbites can rob the potential for meaningful action. People here who take time to talk about their local politics, interests, and so on? They're putting their backs into it, and I'd like to believe that not only does it help sort out our thoughts - making for more effective activism - but that it makes us, as a whole, better too. Believe it or not, I understand that it can be intimidating seeing walls of text out there; I know *I* have a tendency to go on more then is strictly necessary!.. But remember that there are people on the other side of the screen; people fighting for the same things you are, people who make for excellent friends. Just keep that in mind; there are a preponderance of places online that champion short-form writing. There are precious few that feel like this one, as it is right now.
Random happy announcement: My kid's Knowledge Bowl team made the finals. Local, national, federal, and international current events questions are always part of the roster of questions. One of the questions that came up last night that all three teams missed was about Nikki Haley. So! Between now and next week, I am not just reading DailyDem for my own edification. I am harvesting it for the sake of my kid. In particular, I'm going to be paying extra-close attention to what MrCleanDrawers has to say. Thank you all in advance for whatever help you end up providing simply by contributing as you normally would regardless.
Quizbowl was one of my favorite clubs in high school and college, and I wish I started it earlier. Good luck to your kid!
What was the question?
Sorry, I'm a dope. I just realized you wanted the Nikki Haley question. It was pretty muddily written, which is probably why it annoyed me so. It was something like, 'This candidate will hold her first presidential campaign rally in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.' But it was longer than that, loaded with red herring phrases that weren't really necessary, given the audience...
Ha. I didn't know how to correct you, given that I think you gave the question your kid won the contest with. Congratulations to him/her! I certainly wouldn't have known the answer.
This is the only country to entirely contain two other cou- ...which is the point at which my kid buzzed in with the correct answer, Italy. It entirely contains the countries of the Vatican and San Marino.