US Politics, March 2024: The house of illuminati will NOT be holding any other event in the foreseeable future.

epistantophus! You live in Clearwater?!

I thought Clearwater was also a Scientology stronghold.

I do! And yes, I believe it is.

I moved here from Boston some 4 years ago.

Never thought I’d say I prefer Boston, which I consider to be one of the more malevolent circles of hell

I wonder how much local politics are influenced by whether or not there is a presidential primary for a given party on the ballot. Clearwater municipal elections (supposedly nonpartisan but yeah right) were dominated by the conservative candidates this year, because the voters in Pinellas county were skewed 75% Republican to 25% Democratic- despite registered voters being much more evenly split. This result can be traced directly to the fact that there was a Republican primary election on the ballot and not a Democratic one.

― epistantophus, Sunday, March 24, 2024

It seems like it was a mistake for Florida not to hold a Democratic primary for president this year, and that it suppressed turnout in down-ballot elections

Totally agree. I’m wondering what the calculation was- the benefits of showing unity and support for the incumbent, saving money, allowing Biden to focus on the general, vs. the negative impacts on down-ballot elections.

Or was it more of a calculation on the GOP side? Allow Haley to continue primary efforts until the best down-ballot opportunities were past.

It was a fucking stupid mistake. I'm still reeling.

the Florida Democratic Party has a losing fetish

the Florida Democratic Party has a losing fetish

@unperson

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/24/nj-first-lady-tammy-murphy-to-end-senate-campaign-to-replace-bob-menendez-00148728

Alfred, if there is ever a Florida FAP, I am 100% down to try a Negroni- though my usual cocktail is Bourbon, neat.

we'll invite Neanderthal too.

Oh absolutely- I’m in!

A good piece about what happened in NJ this weekend.

a detail related to the timning of gallagher's resignation that i didn't know:

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) surprised party leaders and narrowed the House GOP majority to a single vote with his decision to resign from Congress effective April 19. Gallagher had already announced he wasn’t going to run for re-election. His resignation date is one day after the deadline to call a special election, meaning House Republicans will be hamstrung by his departure all the way through the end of this Congress.

The New Jersey article is fascinating. NJ politics is so weird and terrible. And it also reinforces the importance of having really good candidates — it sounds like even with the whole set of circumstances putting pressure on the corrupt system, it still would have prevailed without a strong challenger.

The other thing about Andy Kim is people say they're glad to vote for him. Not "I like my Congressman" or "I'm with X" but "I feel good about this." That doesn't come cheap, and I think Kim knows it.

— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) March 25, 2024

His resignation date is one day after the deadline to call a special election, meaning House Republicans will be hamstrung by his departure all the way through the end of this Congress.

I don't think this is correct if he's resigning 4/19. See:

Wisconsin election law requires a special election to fill a vacancy if it occurs before the first Tuesday in April of an election year.

The first Tuesday in April is the 2nd.

hmm, i'm not sure! the quote i posted above was from here, and it links to this piece...

https://apnews.com/article/mike-gallagher-resigns-house-republicans-majority-73f1991cc954d865d55ca7949d57dd35

...which says "There also won’t be a special election for Gallagher’s seat. His resignation will happen within a window in Wisconsin law that dictates the seat be filled in the general election."

but obviously i have no expertise! makin' coffee is my expertise

Yeah, there won't be a special election, but he's not resigning ONE DAY after the deadline

Seems clear that it's a deliberate fuck you to the House leadership tho, right? He could resign earlier and guarantee an election.

Those guys know how to hate.

More age verification in the news: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/floridas-desantis-signs-law-restricting-social-media-people-under-16-2024-03-25/

We have a similar bill pending in Tennessee, which if I'm reading it right will require every existing user of FB/Insta/X/TikTok/etc. to verify their age within 14 days of taking effect. Unclear exactly how that will happen.

Automatic First Amendment problems, which, you may scoff, but lower courts basically stopped DeSantis' other anti-social media bill a couple years ago (and the most heinous parts of Don't Say Gay).

Yep, I'm hoping for that outcome. Which obviously it seems like these kinds of restrictions should be struck down — but I'm not sanguine about conservative courts' views of the First Amendment. Or at least the parts not about "religious liberty."

Republicans already starting in on these alien cargo ships sent by foreign powers to knock down our bridges

Maria Bartiromo tries to link the Francis Scott Key bridge collapse in Baltimore to "the wide open border" pic.twitter.com/bkMdvFNa3g

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 26, 2024

But Singapore is their favorite place!

Also lol at conservatives not knowing what a "Flag of Convenience" is

it's live network news. it's a constant churn of the art of fake forgetfulness where you just re-learn things from guests every hour. all knowledge resets every so often so viewers just tuning in will be able to follow the plot

To be fair, many of them are genuinely dumb as rocks.

Just for the record, no matter what country a cargo ship is registered to, who owns it or who is the captain, in that situation it would be under the command of a local ship's pilot who operates under the authority of the port where the ship intends to dock.

and that local ship pilot's name? Joe Biden

in that situation it would be under the command of a local ship's pilot

Apparently there were actually two Baltimore pilots on there.. but they had an apparent power failure

For some unknown reason, RFK is here in Oakland to announce his running mate today

Cue the trumpets, I guess

plenty of bunting to make it look like a 1968 event

If only . . .

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday that he had selected wealthy Bay Area attorney and philanthropist Nicole Shanahan as his vice-presidential running mate.

Shanahan, the 38-year-old daughter of a Chinese immigrant who grew up in Oakland, California, and was previously married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin, is a major Kennedy backer. She gave $4 million to a pro-Kennedy super PAC, American Values 2024, to air the retro-style Super Bowl ad that conjured the 1960 campaign of Kennedy’s uncle, former President John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy, an environmental attorney, anti-vaccine advocate and conspiracy theorist, considered a variety of unconventional candidates to serve as his running mate. Among the names in the mix: the rapper “Killer Mike” Render, NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers and TV host Mike Rowe, Kennedy told the San Francisco-based radio station KCBS on Monday morning.

lol

has anyone told Killer Mike

Good to get an attorney sorted from the start though

xp lol my thought exactly

She gave $4 million to a pro-Kennedy super PAC, American Values 2024

so that's all it takes to nab the VP spot

No elites here, no sir

Anyway, I look forward to watching this fall on its face

Better be careful on my afternoon walk, there's Kennedy supporters out on the roads

Mike Tomczak is still alive, if he wanted a QB he could have gone for the Three Mikes.

I am trying to imagine how wealthy I would have to be before I gave $4M to a political candidate.

Mike "Dirty Jobs" Rowe