“But I don’t want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."
"How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
View all posts by patd
55 thoughts on “To Infinity, NYC, NJ, VA and Beyond!”
from the Daily Kos link above: There ARE Other Elections Besides VA, NJ, and NYC! Here Are the Ones Under the Radar
bilboteach, author
by bilboteach Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)
One can be forgiven for thinking the only elections this year that matter are in New Jersey, Virginia, and NYC. The East Coast centric NYT and WaPo have almost exclusively covered these races at the expense of other important ones. I’m no exception having covered NJ and VA heavily and leaving these races with scant coverage for last.
Well, today I will spend a little time covering these other elections and explain their importance. I don’t want to bog you down with the thousands of local races going on so I have limited it to statewide races in four states. California has Proposition 50, Georgia has races for the Public Service Commission, Maine has an anti-voting referendum, and Pennsylvania has some judicial retention elections.
While I have you… here is a chance to start making a difference in taking back the House of Representatives next year by donating to the 30 or so key races!
[…lists here several action and fundraiing orgs…]
Let’s explore all of these below the fold.
California: Proposition 50
This election was the brainchild of Gov. Gavin Newsom. Desperate for a way to counteract the mid-decade gerrymander of Texas, the California Democrats gambled on passing a new map that changes the district lines to gain 4 seats and imperil a 5th GOP seat. Every vulnerable incumbent was also shored up.
I was skeptical this would pass at first. We have too many good government “this is BAD!” types in our coalition and the push has been for independent commissions for years. Yet the YES side has successfully turned this sleepy race on the West Coast into a referendum on the Trump regime. All of the caveats seemingly have placated the good government types that could’ve derailed this Proposition entirely.
The GOP has all but given up on trying to fight it on the airwaves. Democrats are still spending millions but the Republicans have spent less than $100k in recent weeks. Now, the only question remaining is whether the referendum will do better than MVP Harris did in 2024 or not.
We need to still run through the finish line and not let up on the gas.
Georgia: Public Service Commission
These offices are responsible for regulating public utilities in the state of Georgia. It is this kind of more local office that makes the impact on citizens and the sort of races where we build a bench in a swing state. The Peach State elects these people statewide despite each person representing a different slice of the state.
There was a very complicated lawsuit that significantly delayed these elections for years. Now, they are finally occurring. This is under the cloud of high voter suppression and racially polarized voting.
As a result, voters across the state will vote for two PSC commissioners this November. While all five seats are currently held by Republicans, Democrats could make some inroads if they can oust the two GOP incumbents who are running to stay on the panel.
Connie di Cicco, political director of Georgia Conservation Voters, the group that brought the unsuccessful lawsuit against the at-large structure, is hopeful that the general PSC elections this fall will attract more attention than usual from voters since they’re the only statewide races on the ballot.
“This election represents… an excellent opportunity for voters to have direct impact on their [electricity] bills,” she said of Georgia’s first PSC elections in five years. “When you have two PSC seats out of five come up for election, … that is real and actual hope for change. It’s more tangible than we have seen in a long, long time.”
Because of the delays, the winners will serve only a ONE YEAR term and face the music again in 2026. We have candidates facing off against each of the two incumbents.
In November, Echols faces Democrat Alicia Johnson, a community development advocate and health care administrator, who didn’t reply to Bolts’ interview request. The winner will serve a five-year term ending in 2030.
Fitz Johnson faces Democrat Peter Hubbard, a clean energy advocate who has worked in solar energy development. HB 1312 provided that the winner of this race would serve just a one-year term, before facing voters again in 2026 for a full term.
Hubbard says he entered the race even knowing he’d only serve a one-year term due to the new election rules.
These elections should be seen as a trial run for the elections of a Democratic governor and Senator Jon Ossoff next year. If we keep it close or even win it will show that 2024 was an aberration and Georgia is a state we need to count on to have a shot at winning the White House and Senate. If the gap is significantly in the favor of the GOP despite the Trump regime being unpopular, that would bode poorly on our chances next year.
Maine: Question 1
This ballot proposition has totally gone under the radar. It has been pushed by the fascists to “secure Maine elections” by forcing voters to show an ID and restricting mail-in ballots when nearly half the state voted that way in 2024. Trump has repeatedly called for the elimination or drastic curtailment of mail-in voting.
To help older folks and those with disabilities vote, Maine last year established a specific accommodation to allow anyone over 65 or with a disability to make a one-time request to receive a mail ballot without needing to ask again for all future elections. This policy, which the state calls “ongoing” absentee voting, would also be repealed by Question 1.
“We’re not even a voting rights advocacy organization, but we’ve had to become one,” Jess Maurer, executive director of the Maine Council on Aging, told Bolts.
Maurer is also concerned about other provisions of Question 1 that’d require all voters, including those voting by mail, to present a state-issued ID before casting a ballot. Maine does not currently require voters to show ID when voting.
National studies show that elderly voters and voters with disabilities are more likely than others to not have a state ID, in part because they may no longer keep an up-to-date driver’s license. Maurer says research shows Mainers very often stop driving altogether by the time they turn 80, and that a third of people in Maine over 65 have a disability.
The problem? Voter ID propositions are broadly popular with the masses and only one has ever been rejected by the voters nationwide (Arizona, 2022). At stake is the outcome of the Maine elections in 2026 including a critical seat for the Senate that we must win. Not to mention Maine’s 2nd district which may be a must win as well! Voter ID laws hurt our coalition more than it hurts the fascists. The proponents of this measure are counting on low turnout in order to sneak this one by.
Pennsylvania: Judicial Retention Elections
What used to be treated as routine is no longer the case. Only one judge nationwide has failed a recent judicial retention election (a moderate judge in Oklahoma). Yet there was a push to recall judges in Arizona last year (failed miserably) and a robust effort to recall judges this year in Pennsylvania.
Still, the stakes next month are high: Three Democratic justices—Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht—are up for retention, meaning voters will decide, in a simple yes-or-no vote, whether or not to keep them on the bench. Republicans are mounting an unusual effort to oust them and deprive Democrats of the court majority they’ve enjoyed for the last decade.
Whether that effort succeeds depends on the right’s ability to shake up a firm status quo—only one state judge has ever lost a retention election in Pennsylvania—by motivating people like those walking the fair in Ephrata. Bolts interviewed more than a dozen voters there, mostly Republicans. Only two of them were even vaguely aware of these supreme court elections, and neither knew the justices’ names or party affiliations. Several said they weren’t planning to vote at all in this off-year election.
“People have no idea,” Way said. “Even informed voters—they just don’t know.”
In a sense, the GOP’s mission is straightforward: If voters remove Donohue, Dougherty, and Wecht, the current 5-2 Democratic majority would fall to a 2-2 tie. Republicans would then have a shot at winning an outright majority in the 2027 cycle, in time for the 2028 presidential election.
The court has been sharply divided on issues of voter access, partisan gerrymandering, and other key rulings in recent years. If these 3 judges were to be recalled Pandora’s box could be opened and many of these reforms that keep us competitive in the state could be overturned. Pennsylvania is a state where we need a lot to go right in order to win. These judicial retention elections are an important part of setting the stage for 2026 and beyond.
If you need a guide to even more local and statewide elections, the publication Bolts has you covered. It gets into mayoral, prosecutorial, and other local races that I did not touch. Of particular note are the special elections in Washington state as indicated in this embed.
also helpful from that story (and sorry about the length of it) they suggest this one on bluesky:
Marc Elias has another guide similar to the one Bolts and I have created.
Democracy Docket
@democracydocket.com
🗳️Our democracy’s future hangs in the balance this fall, and these key elections could shape the outcome. Can you make an impact in your state? Learn more about the races you need to watch this November. https://bit.ly/4nzGB7J
bit.ly
Key Contests This November That Will Shape the Future of Democracy
Read more here.
Voting and elections are key elements of democracy. Leonard Cohen‘s 1992 song “Democracy” delves into the complexities of the democratic process.
The song suggests that democracy is a continuous process. This is an ongoing examination of fundamental principles such as equality, freedom, and opportunities.
The lyrics suggest that democracy will arrive not through laws or governments but through “a hole in the air.” This metaphor could indicate that democracy comes from the collective will and actions of the people and is not imposed from above.
In Grok we don’t trust: academics assess Elon Musk’s AI-powered encyclopedia
From publishing falsehoods to pushing far-right ideology, Grokipedia gives chatroom comments equal status to research
The eminent British historian Sir Richard Evans produced three expert witness reports for the libel trial involving the Holocaust denier David Irving, studied for a doctorate under the supervision of Theodore Zeldin, succeeded David Cannadine as Regius professor of history at Cambridge (a post endowed by Henry VIII) and supervised theses on Bismarck’s social policy.
That was some of what you could learn from Grokipedia, the AI-powered encyclopedia launched last week by the world’s richest person, Elon Musk. The problem was, as Prof Evans discovered when he logged on to check his own entry, all these facts were false.
It was part of a choppy start for humanity’s latest attempt to corral the sum of human knowledge or, as Musk put it, create a compendium of “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” – all revealed through the magic of his Grok artificial intelligence model.
When the multibillionaire switched on Grokipedia on Tuesday, he said it was “better than Wikipedia”, or “Wokepedia” as his supporters call it, reflecting a view that the dominant online encyclopedia often reflects leftwing talking points. One post on X caught the triumphant mood among Musk’s fans: “Elon just killed Wikipedia. Good riddance.”
But users found Grokipedia lifted large chunks from the website it intended to usurp, contained numerous factual errors and seemed to promote Musk’s favoured rightwing talking points. In between posts on X promoting his creation, Musk this week declared “civil war in Britain is inevitable”, called for the English “to ally with the hard men” such as the far-right agitator Tommy Robinson, and said only the far-right AfD party could “save Germany”.
Musk was so enamoured of his AI-encyclopedia he said he planned to one day etch the “comprehensive collection of all knowledge” into a stable oxide and “place copies … in orbit, the moon and Mars to preserve it for the future”.
Evans, however, was discovering that Musk’s use of AI to weigh and check facts was suffering a more earth-bound problem. “Chatroom contributions are given equal status with serious academic work,” Evans, an expert on the Third Reich, told the Guardian, after being invited to test out Grokipedia. “AI just hoovers up everything.”
[continues]
Dem candidates in the marquee races for VA, NJ governor seem to be doing well. For the midterms I’s looking for an enthusiasm gap. Are Dems fired up? Has MAGA lost interest?
Another election day question: Are non-white voters done flirting with this racist?
The Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races are gold mines for turnout data because both states keep meticulous precinct-level returns and run aggressive early-voting operations with demographic tags. When analysts get their hands on those, they’ll be able to compare Black, Latino, and Asian precinct performance to 2021 and 2023.
Norah O’Donnell not mentioning Epstein was a gift last night.
Big O whispers that the Andrew Formerly known as Prince may soon be forced by the King of England to publicly come clean about EVRRYTHING related to Epstein.
That would be the least he could do, eh?
Chuckie is royally pissed, wot ye?
Good Morning
I have seen this before, along with the other charts defining generations. The only thing I will note today is the closer born to WWII, the more we experienced life from the 1930’s and 1940’s. But with some television. When visiting my maternal grandparents it was closer to the 1930’s, mostly no television. When visiting my paternal grandparents it was 1940’s with a television and three channels.
Meals were prepared in their kitchens with the appliances from just before the war. The recipes went back decades or even centuries. In Iowa I was part of the hunt for fish and rabbits (no season, no limit), I raised chickens in coups that had been in place since the 1930’s, at least twenty plus years.
It was around 1956 that change was happening. Grocery stores expanded, new schools, television was leaving vaudeville, and we saw the new designs in cars that were exciting. Suburbs blossoming and lots of Boomers everywhere. Kitchen world would not change for another ten years, in my world.
Expect Republicans to pretend tomorrow didn’t happen.
The chat the other Day with Professor Ricchiuti reminded me of my visit to Scotland about 20 years ago when I photographed Adam Smith’s resting place and the blog article I wrote afterwards.
Adam Smith
The picture here is the resting place of Adam Smith.
The people who worship what they think is the doctrine of Adam Smith and the “invisible hand” have probably never read his works. This god of Capitalism believed that it could not survive without a code of ethics that was fair to the employee simply because all wealth derived from labor. Whether it was your own or your employees, that labor was to be rewarded in proportion to the wealth produced. Thus, slavery was not an economical structure because the cost was greater than the benefit.
All people operate from a position of self-interest. Even the good deeds we do are because we are rewarded by our self-image of ourselves as decent people. By racing to the lowest common denominator towards slave labor, modern corporations see short term gains in profits but have higher costs in social services or in the worst cases higher disease and mortality as populations increase and labor becomes cheaper and cheaper. While higher salaries as a reward for education and accomplishment produce lower birthrates and greater long-term profits.
This isn’t Communism or Socialism that reward everyone no matter what they produce. So, when Conservatives accuse Liberals of Socialism, they are totally out of line with the Capitalism they profess to support. Then there is that whole biblical injunction (for those who lean in that direction) thing about the Laborer being worthy of his hire. This wisdom has been out there for centuries.
No one does something for nothing. There is no free lunch. The greatest achievements come from everyone being satisfied with their production to reward ratio. That’s why Jefferson put the whole “pursuit of happiness” bit in the Constitution. You don’t get rewarded for sitting on your rear, but if a society creates a climate of reward for effort, you have success for everyone.
BB, I’m in the last boomer group – by 8 days. I don’t remember my grandparents having TVs. My paternal grandfather had an early 50s Plymouth in the late fifties, early 60s. My maternal grandmother had more recent cars – none older than 5-8 years old (My uncle, who was a car guy lived directly behind her and he and my other uncle made sure she had reliable transportation.
👻 Tariffs: they sound tough… until you realize *you’re* the one paying them.
Before the Supreme Court argues on Wednesday over whether Trump’s tariffs are even legal (we’ll be live chatting), revisit our Halloween sit-down with Tulane’s Peter Ricchiuti — where the economics get spooky fast.
New recipe for you or to take along to any pot luck
COCONUT SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE
2 pounds sweet potatoes, cooked, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks (about 4 cups)
2 apples, peeled, thinly sliced
2/3 C. maple flavored pancake and waffle syrup
1/4 C. ( 1/2 stick) butter or margarine, melted
1/2 t. salt
2/3 C. sweetened flaked coconut
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place sweet potatoes in greased 13×9-inch baking dish; top with apples. Mix syrup, butter and salt; pour over apples. Sprinkle with coconut; cover. Bake 30 minutes. Uncover. Bake 20 to 30 minutes or until apples are tender and coconut is lightly browned. Makes 8 servings.
Note: Casserole can be prepared in advance and reheated, adding additional syrup, if necessary.
Friday’s full show here.
Cranking up our Mystery Science Theater format for Wednesday’s Supreme Court Oral Arguments on whether Trump’s tariffs are legal. Get your spitballs ready.
When my grandfather finally got a color TV he thought Fred Sanford got a new truck because it was suddenly red.
BB – Even though I’m barely in the most recent boomer category, I was raised by my grandparents with no modern conveniences.
Can Letitia James sue Adolf for saying she’s a terrible, “dishonest” person? Just heard that clip from 60 Minutes in The View.
Getting back into the blogging field has me visiting old articles from 20 years ago. It is depressing to see the necessity for dredging up my high school French.
“plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose,”
Virtually all of the political pontifications apply today by simply changing the names of guilty parties.
Pogeaux
I’m in the very earliest boomer group (or last silent depending on who sets the parameters.) My uncle was the ultimate early adapter, and I remember when we got the little round screen that required a magnifying overlay to watch.
I think the thing we forget with Trump’s tariffs is the cost that aren’t directly related to tax itself.
Most stuff we buy, we can do without or quickly find cheaper substitutes, So as the price rise; do we need those designer labels, do we need a new iPhone?
As a result the seller of “widgets” may suddenly find his product priced out of the market. For the seller of those “widgets” it is a behind the scenes scramble, all of which cost money and eat into profits. He has no choice it is either eat the cost of moving production or go out of business. That is just some of the hidden sand in the gearbox.
Jack
he’s either lying…. stupid…. or both.
I vote for both!
Jamie, Oui, rien ne change.
BTW, your sweet potato casserole, with the exception of a couple of eggs and some cinnamon and nutmeg, plus a pecan topping (pecan halves, brown sugar and butter), is a southern staple that I cook for the big 3 meals of the year. My MIL loves it – a guilty pleasure. I think I gain a pound just thinking about it.
Voting tomorrow decides more than who wins — it shows who *showed up*.
Stat Dude breaks down why non-white turnout could flip the math again.
today’s meme…
meme #2…
HA!
Craig,
I wonder if you could run an idea past the good professor. How about a wealth tax based purely on stock trades. I don’t have clue about the amounts that might be generated, but something like a penny per share every time one is traded with all the proceeds earmarked as payment on the national debt.
Modern markets frequently see high volumes, often driven by program trading, options expirations, or major news events. In general, average daily volumes across all U.S. exchanges consistently reach billions of shares.
The early-vote math looks like a DEMOCRATIC BLOWOUT — for now.
Virginia: 3-to-1 mail ballots for likely Dems.
New Jersey: 63-22 in mail-ins.
Tomorrow decides if it sticks.
America’s off-year, off-Broadway election — but the stakes are real. From Virginia to New Jersey and the scattered bellwethers in between, we’re watching turnout, mail ballots, and the messages voters are actually sending in 2025.
Injustice: How Politics and Fear Vanquished America’s Justice Department Hardcover – November 4, 2025
by Carol Leonnig (Author), Aaron C. Davis (Author)
#1 New Release
in United States Judicial Branch
See all formats and editions
Savings Pre-order Price Guarantee. Terms
From Pulitzer Prize–winning Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Aaron C. Davis, a shocking investigation of unparalleled depth into the subversion of the Justice Department over the last decade, culminating in President Donald Trump upending this cornerstone of democracy and threatening America’s rule of law as we have long known it
Throughout his first administration, Trump did more than any other president to politicize the nation’s top law enforcement agency, pressuring appointees to shield him, to target his enemies, and even to help him cling to power after his 2020 election defeat. The department, pressed into a defensive crouch, has never fully recovered.
Injustice exposes not only the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the department at every turn but also how delays in investigating Trump’s effort to overturn the will of voters under Attorney General Merrick Garland helped prevent the country from holding Trump accountable and enabled his return to power. With never-before-told accounts, Carol Leonnig and Aaron C. Davis take readers inside as prosecutors convulsed over Trump’s disdain for the rule of law, and FBI agents, the department’s storied investigators, at times retreated in fear. They take you to the rooms where Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team set off on an all-but-impossible race to investigate Trump for absconding with classified documents and waging an assault on democracy—and inside his prosecution’s heroic and fateful choices that ultimately backfired.
With a plethora of sources deeply embedded in the ranks of three presidencies, Leonnig and Davis reveal the daily war secretly waged for the soul of the department, how it has been shredded by propaganda and partisanship, and how—if the United States hopes to live on with its same form of government—Trump’s war with the Justice Department will mark a turning point from which it will be hard to recover. Injustice is the jaw-dropping account of partisans and enablers undoing democracy, heroes still battling to preserve a nation governed by laws, and a call to action for those who believe in liberty and justice for all.
Duh. Wake up America
So D,OA is doing telerallies in VA, NJ & NYC tonight. Literally calling it in. Dumbass
I said I’d take a week break, but…
What is the value or purpose of that poll? Who does it inform and to make what decisions? it’s just garbage data and filler journalism. We already know half of Americans are fascist.
That’s not directed at you. It’s directed at ABC News and Washington Post.
Are they going take a poll to gauge if and to what degree Americans excuse blatant criminality in office?
spoiler alert, 50% don’t give a fuck
“I want you to call 1000 people and ask Republicans if they support the Republican and Democrats if they don’t”
facepalm emoji
It’s also deliberately divisive by our corporate media to keep constantly fucking reminding us we’re divided, thanks newsmedia, i don’t understand why nobody watches your bullshit anymore. Oh wait yes I do.
🚨 🛰️ BREAKING NEWS:
Half of You All Hate the Other Half of You All, details at 11
hey Trump doesn’t have a lot of vulnerabilities, but one of them is the need for validation from institutions esteemed by his generation like mainstream Big 3 corporate media, and the Nobel committee, and similar nonsense
I don’t know how to exploit that, but it’d be nice if somebody was trying to figure it out
The dream of the 60s is dead
We need a new dream or it’s going to be all nightmare
if you’re older and you still care about liberal values, you’re a living Saint
Electoral results confirm your rarity
🫡
Anon, I’m clinging to the notion that Trump’s losing his grip his half of the country. They didn’t vote to make the wealth divide even bigger.
This ought end Cuomo’s chances for sure..
by the time he loses his grip on them, their ability to do anything about it will be gone
His policies certainly could collapse the economy before midterms for sure
and so it begins. if they lose, it’s fraud
Habba is threatening to prosecute people in NJ for voter fraud in tomorrow’s election if she thinks they cheated.
I discovered something very nice today….there are many Ross Thomas novels on you tube .
What a miracle.
(Miracle because I can’t read books any more and there are a number of his I’ve yet to read—so yippee-kye-yay)
I just happened to think that maybe there is such a thing and by golly, there they were.
We are pleased with ourselves.
#small victories
Released from Jury Jail❗️
They’ve finally seen enough of me. ⚖️
Orange Adolf trying to split the vote with Sliwa, because he knows it’s the only way Cuomo has a chance. I hope Mamdani wins by a landslide. (Adolf’s post was really for the rest of the country; New Yorkers aren’t buying it…except for a few dozen billionaires who are actually trying to buy the election.)
Folks really need a lesson on labels, too. Mamdani is a Democratic Socialist…like the white folks in the Nordic countries that MAGAts would feel comfortable around if they walked into the room.
Imagine using tax dollars on the people instead of on cronies who no longer even bother to bid for jobs at all, let alone bid low.
Imagine taxes going directly to medical care instead of to predatory insurance companies.
MAGAts are stupid, loud, and sometimes violent. It’s their stupidity that gives them the arrogance to be loud. It’s their arrogance that pushes them toward violence.
The prince formerly known as Andrew should spill the tea on tRUMPstein.
not everything is terrible and not all technology is bad. It would be nice if we had responsible stewardship into this next era instead of a criminal free-for-all but hey
Small victories are the important ones, good job Sturge, I mean, mystery person
His principles have been tested for over a thousand years, and never once have they been successful. I would much rather see a Democrat, who has had a Record of Success, WIN, than a Communist with no experience and a Record of COMPLETE AND TOTAL FAILURE. He was nothing as an Assemblyman, ranked at the bottom of the class -dipshit
every accusation is a confession
today I learned Trump’s historical purview goes back 1000 years
Gee who else liked to talk about time in thousand year increments hmmmmm
he must’ve been reading that book that he likes on his nightstand last night
Marco Rubio has the emptiest dead eyes, he’s terrifying
(oops that was in response to Mr. C’s removed link that featured Marco Rubio’s dead, empty eyes)
modern new-wave-revival indie jazz-punk beatles cover:
NEW: Alina Habba, a former Trump attorney and the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, vows to hunt for voter fraud in Tuesday’s gubernatorial election in the Garden State. The announcement comes as several county polling sites received bomb threats today.
from the Daily Kos link above:
There ARE Other Elections Besides VA, NJ, and NYC! Here Are the Ones Under the Radar
bilboteach, author
by bilboteach Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)
also helpful from that story (and sorry about the length of it) they suggest this one on bluesky:
Marc Elias has another guide similar to the one Bolts and I have created.
Democracy Docket
@democracydocket.com
🗳️Our democracy’s future hangs in the balance this fall, and these key elections could shape the outcome. Can you make an impact in your state? Learn more about the races you need to watch this November.
https://bit.ly/4nzGB7J
bit.ly
Key Contests This November That Will Shape the Future of Democracy
Read more here.
some background music for today’s thread: take your pick at
https://hellomusictheory.com/learn/songs-about-voting/
from a list of 25 best voting songs one of which is the following ranked at 7th with this commentary
in other news, beware the jabber-GROK, my friends… “The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun the frumious Bandersnatch!”
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/nov/03/grokipedia-academics-assess-elon-musk-ai-powered-encyclopedia
Dem candidates in the marquee races for VA, NJ governor seem to be doing well. For the midterms I’s looking for an enthusiasm gap. Are Dems fired up? Has MAGA lost interest?
Another election day question: Are non-white voters done flirting with this racist?
The Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races are gold mines for turnout data because both states keep meticulous precinct-level returns and run aggressive early-voting operations with demographic tags. When analysts get their hands on those, they’ll be able to compare Black, Latino, and Asian precinct performance to 2021 and 2023.
Norah O’Donnell not mentioning Epstein was a gift last night.
Big O whispers that the Andrew Formerly known as Prince may soon be forced by the King of England to publicly come clean about EVRRYTHING related to Epstein.
That would be the least he could do, eh?
Chuckie is royally pissed, wot ye?
Good Morning
I have seen this before, along with the other charts defining generations. The only thing I will note today is the closer born to WWII, the more we experienced life from the 1930’s and 1940’s. But with some television. When visiting my maternal grandparents it was closer to the 1930’s, mostly no television. When visiting my paternal grandparents it was 1940’s with a television and three channels.
Meals were prepared in their kitchens with the appliances from just before the war. The recipes went back decades or even centuries. In Iowa I was part of the hunt for fish and rabbits (no season, no limit), I raised chickens in coups that had been in place since the 1930’s, at least twenty plus years.
It was around 1956 that change was happening. Grocery stores expanded, new schools, television was leaving vaudeville, and we saw the new designs in cars that were exciting. Suburbs blossoming and lots of Boomers everywhere. Kitchen world would not change for another ten years, in my world.
Expect Republicans to pretend tomorrow didn’t happen.
The chat the other Day with Professor Ricchiuti reminded me of my visit to Scotland about 20 years ago when I photographed Adam Smith’s resting place and the blog article I wrote afterwards.
Adam Smith
The picture here is the resting place of Adam Smith.
The people who worship what they think is the doctrine of Adam Smith and the “invisible hand” have probably never read his works. This god of Capitalism believed that it could not survive without a code of ethics that was fair to the employee simply because all wealth derived from labor. Whether it was your own or your employees, that labor was to be rewarded in proportion to the wealth produced. Thus, slavery was not an economical structure because the cost was greater than the benefit.
All people operate from a position of self-interest. Even the good deeds we do are because we are rewarded by our self-image of ourselves as decent people. By racing to the lowest common denominator towards slave labor, modern corporations see short term gains in profits but have higher costs in social services or in the worst cases higher disease and mortality as populations increase and labor becomes cheaper and cheaper. While higher salaries as a reward for education and accomplishment produce lower birthrates and greater long-term profits.
This isn’t Communism or Socialism that reward everyone no matter what they produce. So, when Conservatives accuse Liberals of Socialism, they are totally out of line with the Capitalism they profess to support. Then there is that whole biblical injunction (for those who lean in that direction) thing about the Laborer being worthy of his hire. This wisdom has been out there for centuries.
No one does something for nothing. There is no free lunch. The greatest achievements come from everyone being satisfied with their production to reward ratio. That’s why Jefferson put the whole “pursuit of happiness” bit in the Constitution. You don’t get rewarded for sitting on your rear, but if a society creates a climate of reward for effort, you have success for everyone.
BB, I’m in the last boomer group – by 8 days. I don’t remember my grandparents having TVs. My paternal grandfather had an early 50s Plymouth in the late fifties, early 60s. My maternal grandmother had more recent cars – none older than 5-8 years old (My uncle, who was a car guy lived directly behind her and he and my other uncle made sure she had reliable transportation.
👻 Tariffs: they sound tough… until you realize *you’re* the one paying them.
Before the Supreme Court argues on Wednesday over whether Trump’s tariffs are even legal (we’ll be live chatting), revisit our Halloween sit-down with Tulane’s Peter Ricchiuti — where the economics get spooky fast.
📺 Tariff Tantrums playlist
Craig,
New recipe for you or to take along to any pot luck
COCONUT SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE
2 pounds sweet potatoes, cooked, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks (about 4 cups)
2 apples, peeled, thinly sliced
2/3 C. maple flavored pancake and waffle syrup
1/4 C. ( 1/2 stick) butter or margarine, melted
1/2 t. salt
2/3 C. sweetened flaked coconut
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place sweet potatoes in greased 13×9-inch baking dish; top with apples. Mix syrup, butter and salt; pour over apples. Sprinkle with coconut; cover. Bake 30 minutes. Uncover. Bake 20 to 30 minutes or until apples are tender and coconut is lightly browned. Makes 8 servings.
Note: Casserole can be prepared in advance and reheated, adding additional syrup, if necessary.
Friday’s full show here.
Cranking up our Mystery Science Theater format for Wednesday’s Supreme Court Oral Arguments on whether Trump’s tariffs are legal. Get your spitballs ready.
When my grandfather finally got a color TV he thought Fred Sanford got a new truck because it was suddenly red.
BB – Even though I’m barely in the most recent boomer category, I was raised by my grandparents with no modern conveniences.
Can Letitia James sue Adolf for saying she’s a terrible, “dishonest” person? Just heard that clip from 60 Minutes in The View.
Getting back into the blogging field has me visiting old articles from 20 years ago. It is depressing to see the necessity for dredging up my high school French.
“plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose,”
Virtually all of the political pontifications apply today by simply changing the names of guilty parties.
Pogeaux
I’m in the very earliest boomer group (or last silent depending on who sets the parameters.) My uncle was the ultimate early adapter, and I remember when we got the little round screen that required a magnifying overlay to watch.
I think the thing we forget with Trump’s tariffs is the cost that aren’t directly related to tax itself.
Most stuff we buy, we can do without or quickly find cheaper substitutes, So as the price rise; do we need those designer labels, do we need a new iPhone?
As a result the seller of “widgets” may suddenly find his product priced out of the market. For the seller of those “widgets” it is a behind the scenes scramble, all of which cost money and eat into profits. He has no choice it is either eat the cost of moving production or go out of business. That is just some of the hidden sand in the gearbox.
Jack
he’s either lying…. stupid…. or both.
I vote for both!
Jamie, Oui, rien ne change.
BTW, your sweet potato casserole, with the exception of a couple of eggs and some cinnamon and nutmeg, plus a pecan topping (pecan halves, brown sugar and butter), is a southern staple that I cook for the big 3 meals of the year. My MIL loves it – a guilty pleasure. I think I gain a pound just thinking about it.
Hmmm, that Image Address thing didn’t work….
Let’s try this.
https://www.google.com/imgres?q=Philco%20tv%201955&imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fd3au0sjxgpdyfv.cloudfront.net%2Fa-79874601-5x7yls5n7px53b61.jpeg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Festatesales.org%2Fonline-auctions%2F1955-philco-black-white-console-79874601&docid=fo6WinkwKi-6GM&tbnid=-eMf9h7QAwT6wM&vet=12ahUKEwiAmtDJudaQAxWCLVkFHcotMw4QM3oECBsQAA..i&w=900&h=1200&hcb=2&ved=2ahUKEwiAmtDJudaQAxWCLVkFHcotMw4QM3oECBsQAA
That’s close to what I recall as our first TV.
I’m with Renee on that one.
Voting tomorrow decides more than who wins — it shows who *showed up*.
Stat Dude breaks down why non-white turnout could flip the math again.
today’s meme…
meme #2…
HA!
Craig,
I wonder if you could run an idea past the good professor. How about a wealth tax based purely on stock trades. I don’t have clue about the amounts that might be generated, but something like a penny per share every time one is traded with all the proceeds earmarked as payment on the national debt.
Modern markets frequently see high volumes, often driven by program trading, options expirations, or major news events. In general, average daily volumes across all U.S. exchanges consistently reach billions of shares.
The early-vote math looks like a DEMOCRATIC BLOWOUT — for now.
Virginia: 3-to-1 mail ballots for likely Dems.
New Jersey: 63-22 in mail-ins.
Tomorrow decides if it sticks.
Watch the short and more →
🚨NEXT CHAT: Election Day 2025: Democracy Fights Back | Live 10am ET Tuesday Nov. 4
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Throughout his first administration, Trump did more than any other president to politicize the nation’s top law enforcement agency, pressuring appointees to shield him, to target his enemies, and even to help him cling to power after his 2020 election defeat. The department, pressed into a defensive crouch, has never fully recovered.
Injustice exposes not only the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the department at every turn but also how delays in investigating Trump’s effort to overturn the will of voters under Attorney General Merrick Garland helped prevent the country from holding Trump accountable and enabled his return to power. With never-before-told accounts, Carol Leonnig and Aaron C. Davis take readers inside as prosecutors convulsed over Trump’s disdain for the rule of law, and FBI agents, the department’s storied investigators, at times retreated in fear. They take you to the rooms where Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team set off on an all-but-impossible race to investigate Trump for absconding with classified documents and waging an assault on democracy—and inside his prosecution’s heroic and fateful choices that ultimately backfired.
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Duh. Wake up America
So D,OA is doing telerallies in VA, NJ & NYC tonight. Literally calling it in. Dumbass
I said I’d take a week break, but…
What is the value or purpose of that poll? Who does it inform and to make what decisions? it’s just garbage data and filler journalism. We already know half of Americans are fascist.
That’s not directed at you. It’s directed at ABC News and Washington Post.
Are they going take a poll to gauge if and to what degree Americans excuse blatant criminality in office?
spoiler alert, 50% don’t give a fuck
“I want you to call 1000 people and ask Republicans if they support the Republican and Democrats if they don’t”
facepalm emoji
It’s also deliberately divisive by our corporate media to keep constantly fucking reminding us we’re divided, thanks newsmedia, i don’t understand why nobody watches your bullshit anymore. Oh wait yes I do.
🚨 🛰️ BREAKING NEWS:
Half of You All Hate the Other Half of You All, details at 11
hey Trump doesn’t have a lot of vulnerabilities, but one of them is the need for validation from institutions esteemed by his generation like mainstream Big 3 corporate media, and the Nobel committee, and similar nonsense
I don’t know how to exploit that, but it’d be nice if somebody was trying to figure it out
The dream of the 60s is dead
We need a new dream or it’s going to be all nightmare
if you’re older and you still care about liberal values, you’re a living Saint
Electoral results confirm your rarity
🫡
Anon, I’m clinging to the notion that Trump’s losing his grip his half of the country. They didn’t vote to make the wealth divide even bigger.
This ought end Cuomo’s chances for sure..
by the time he loses his grip on them, their ability to do anything about it will be gone
His policies certainly could collapse the economy before midterms for sure
and so it begins. if they lose, it’s fraud
I discovered something very nice today….there are many Ross Thomas novels on you tube .
What a miracle.
(Miracle because I can’t read books any more and there are a number of his I’ve yet to read—so yippee-kye-yay)
I just happened to think that maybe there is such a thing and by golly, there they were.
We are pleased with ourselves.
#small victories
Released from Jury Jail❗️
They’ve finally seen enough of me. ⚖️
Orange Adolf trying to split the vote with Sliwa, because he knows it’s the only way Cuomo has a chance. I hope Mamdani wins by a landslide. (Adolf’s post was really for the rest of the country; New Yorkers aren’t buying it…except for a few dozen billionaires who are actually trying to buy the election.)
Folks really need a lesson on labels, too. Mamdani is a Democratic Socialist…like the white folks in the Nordic countries that MAGAts would feel comfortable around if they walked into the room.
Imagine using tax dollars on the people instead of on cronies who no longer even bother to bid for jobs at all, let alone bid low.
Imagine taxes going directly to medical care instead of to predatory insurance companies.
MAGAts are stupid, loud, and sometimes violent. It’s their stupidity that gives them the arrogance to be loud. It’s their arrogance that pushes them toward violence.
The prince formerly known as Andrew should spill the tea on tRUMPstein.
not everything is terrible and not all technology is bad. It would be nice if we had responsible stewardship into this next era instead of a criminal free-for-all but hey
Small victories are the important ones, good job Sturge, I mean, mystery person
every accusation is a confession
today I learned Trump’s historical purview goes back 1000 years
Gee who else liked to talk about time in thousand year increments hmmmmm
he must’ve been reading that book that he likes on his nightstand last night
Marco Rubio has the emptiest dead eyes, he’s terrifying
(oops that was in response to Mr. C’s removed link that featured Marco Rubio’s dead, empty eyes)
modern new-wave-revival indie jazz-punk beatles cover:
ok i was never here 🤫
lol nice job Snooper 🫡
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