11/9 TGIF Happy Hour and Open Thread Weekend – The Progressive Wing

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Home→Candidates 2018→Andrew Gillum→11/9 TGIF Happy Hour and Open Thread Weekend

To borrow from someone I like very much at TOP, we have some things to cheer about this week. The jeers we’ve mentioning today already, but I’m certain we have a few more to add.

I don’t drink alcohol-infused beverages these days, but I will offer a cocktail that I used to drink occasionally in college: a 39th Street whiskey sour.

Ingredients include whiskey, OJ, splash of lemon juice, and a little bit of confectionery sugar. Shaken not stirred. Served with a bit of shaved ice.

This is for toasting Bill Nelson, Andrew Gillum, Stacey Abrams, and Kyrsten Sinema defending their states’ voters’ rights. Not just their supporters, but everyone’s, in ensuring all votes are recorded accurately. I confess I didn’t expect Bill Nelson to fight back. He deserves some kudos for not folding. They are the sunshine gang.

Feel free to continue posting news, tweets, videos (including music videos) for our happy hour! See you in the comments!

I’ll start this with some parrot head music. #bringithome

Related

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Tip jar for the usual bartenders….

Fascinating @CNN #Texas exit poll: those who moved to Texas favored Cruz over O’Rourke by 57-42 – https://t.co/RvFkMujXic This finding agrees w/ a @TexasTribune poll showing California expats in Texas were 2:1 conservative – https://t.co/OC5JVsg67s @TPPF pic.twitter.com/XAqgs4QFae

— Chuck DeVore (@ChuckDeVore) November 8, 2018

“I don’t really give space to people who are attacking me based on my identities." –@IlhanMN https://t.co/myOKWknwjG

— Teen Vogue (@TeenVogue) November 9, 2018

I always liked the Miami Sound Machine.

Me, too. Their big hit is a classic.

I’m not good at logging in here. This is the song I posted on my site to honor the good news:

Welcome, David and thanks!

‘She’s made us proud’: Ilhan Omar’s journey from Kenyan refugee camp to US Congress

Fadumo Kuusow remembers a thin and shy girl who lived next door. Her memory is hazy as the girl left more than 20 years ago.

Last week Kuusow organised a small celebration with friends in Ifo camp, one of a vast complex of refugee settlements on dry, scrubby plains around the remote Kenyan town of Dadaab. Eight thousand miles away that thin, shy girl – now 37 – had just become the member elect of the US House of Representatives for Minnesota’s fifth district.

Ilhan Omar, a Democrat, will assume office in January, sharing the historic distinction with Rashida Tlaib of being the first Muslim women elected to the US Congress.

“The women here talked about her. I remember in the hot weather afternoon, Ilhan and I used to play jumping rope near our homes. My family lived in a tent and Ilhan’s family lived in a makeshift structure made of sticks and cloth,” she said when reached by telephone by the Guardian.

…

Omar Sheikh Ahmed, 48, a cousin of Omar’s father, said the politician was “our star”.

“Her voice in Congress represents the minorities and refugees are minorities. She knows that we in Dadaab have no good schools. We are facing a food ration shortage. We do not have freedom of movement. Our future is shattered.”

In honor of this win I’ll play some of my favorite songs from another Somali refugee: K’Naan

The Colorado Democratic Party had called my race a win due to mathematical probability. I'm a very grateful for so many people for their support, kind words, and thoughts during these tense few days! #ElectionResults2018 #copolitics @runforsomething @VictoryFund @EmergeColorado pic.twitter.com/LZBkhsfk47

— Brianna Titone – COHD27 #GOTV (@BriannaForHD27) November 9, 2018

Good GA band…

Down loaded on my preferred music list 🙂

I can’t post tunes on here-cyber challenged. The best Allman Bros tune is “Dreams.” I never was a big REM fan, but that is just a matter of taste.

This is the video of the concert that was pressed to vinyl in which I first heard the Allman Bros.

“Eat a Peach” was my favorite LP by the Allman Brothers, followed by live at the Filmore East.

Those were the days….

Ocasio-Cortez rips Fox News for cracking ‘jokes’ about her finances: It shows what they really think of working-class people

Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tore into Fox News hosts on Friday for “gleefully” cracking jokes about her finances, saying that the hosts’ comments revealed what their thoughts about working-class people.

Ocasio-Cortez revealed on Thursday that she will need to wait for her congressional salary to kick in before she can afford to rent an apartment in D.C.

A Fox News panel laughed on Friday as they discussed the incoming freshman lawmaker’s finances.

Thank you all for the overwhelming outpour of support! As I mentioned, we’ve been preparing and will be fine.

However, it’s been very revealing to see how gleefully Fox News hosts crack jokes about working-class people.

It reveals what they actually think about us. https://t.co/T4J9EIkoJt

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) November 9, 2018

She also tweeted that Fox News hasn’t learned to pronounce her last name correctly– even though they’ve had a year to learn. 🙂

Dear Congresswomen: you have a room, a shower, and a plate on my family table for as long as you may be in need of one. https://t.co/ZxW5H3sIoI

— José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) November 9, 2018

h/t TOP

Muslim Congresswoman-Elect Ilhan Omar Began Victory Speech With Islamic Blessing

HuffPost Carol Kuruvilla,HuffPost Wed, Nov 7 6:26 PM

Ilhan Omar, one of the first two Muslim women elected to U.S. Congress, began her acceptance speech Tuesday night in Minnesota with a universal Islamic greeting.

“As-salaam aleikum,” the Democrat said to a crowded room of supporters during a victory party in Minneapolis, using an Islamic phrase that means “Peace be upon you.” “Wa aleikum salaam,” the crowd immediately replied, which means “and upon you be peace.”After the exchange, which echoes the way millions of American Muslims greet each other every day, Omar offered her gratitude to God.

“Alhamdulillah,” Omar said three times, a phrase that translates to “all praise to God.”\ Hearing that, her supporters erupted in cheers.

I’ll bet the talking heads at Faux news and their followers heads collectively exploded upon hearing this

This tune was the #1 in Down Under in 1987, sung by the front man of The Little River Band, John Farnham. At the time, it was fashionable to be the ancestor of Englishmen and others who were shipped off to Australia for a debtors prison, and also, the Aborigines were creating a civil rights movement.

For Beto…

Also the description of my sons bedroom when they were teens and college dorm room 🙂

Always laughed at the fact that they peed on the cement block. Great album, too.

My favorite Who LP followed by “Tommy.”

Holy cow – a sitting member of Congress had his vote suppressed by Rick Scott's administration in Florida. This needs to be known far and wide…
And he only knew because he looked it up; I wonder how many others were suppressed and don't even know it. I'm betting huge numbers https://t.co/5ccapY9BR2

— Thom Hartmann (@Thom_Hartmann) November 9, 2018

Wow.

TheLeftistheCenter

This could really be the spark that gets the ball rolling in fixing some of this bull, at the end of the day almost all americans are for fair voting, not going to get many people against that.

One race is already being recounted by hand. Gillum’s race will be a machine recount. That’s the latest right now.

TheLeftistheCenter

I mean the whole voting system, now is a good time, before 2020 to address all these issues with machines, voter suppression and sketchy counting techniques.

Sinema up a full percent now, according to the NYT:

Kyrsten Sinema
Democrat
991,189 49.3%

Martha McSally
Republican
970,986 48.3

Angela Green
Green
46,796 2.3

What’s ironic is that Green had withdrawn from the race and endorsed Sinema. Wonder what effect it had?

Late voters are the best voters!

https://www.modbee.com/news/politics-government/election/article221434615.html#storylink=cpy

Josh Harder on Friday zoomed ahead of incumbent Jeff Denham in the hotly contested race for a House seat in the 10th District, reversing incomplete results announced earlier in Tuesday’s midterm election.

Having counted 63,631 more late-arriving mail-in ballots that could not be tallied Tuesday in Stanislaus County, and another 1,460 from south San Joaquin County, Harder, a Democrat, now has 51 percent of votes counted.

Harder’s vote total stood at 89,763 to Denham’s 86,401.

Benny, you are BAD! T and R!!

Florida law enforcement agency says it is not investigating county election officials

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) has not launched an investigation into election officials in Broward and Palm Beach counties because it has not found credible allegations of voter fraud, a spokesperson for the agency said Friday.

The announcement contrasts from Thursday night, when the agency said that it planned to investigate officials in Broward and Palm Beach counties after Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R), who is running to oust Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), called for a probe into elections fraud there.

“Right now, we’re working with the Department of State and we will investigate if there are any credible allegations of fraud or criminal activity,” FDLE spokesperson Gretl Plessinger told The Hill, adding that no such allegations have surfaced yet.

Sick Rott should understand you just cant call the feds to investigate fraud w/o some type of proof. You just cant accuse someone of it and have the fed jumping right into it at his word. Is Sick Rott gonna step away from the recount due to conflict of interest? Ha yea right!!!

He figures he’s bought this race just like the one in 2010. Wrong.

The problem with most of the opposition to Trump is that they're not interested in waking up, they're interested in removing an annoying wrinkle in their bedsheets so that they can go back to sleep.

— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) November 9, 2018

LOL. Trump is hardly an annoying wrinkle

True.

And i think she’s saying that if Trump and his truly horrific comprades were to disappear tomorrow, many would sigh and return to their neolib dreams. Not that well said, tho. 😉

More like a boil on the ass of a maggot. He’s turned the office of president into a total embarrassment for America. The R’s no matter what don’t count as Trumpcorp has already said he could shoot someone on 5th avenue and the lemmings still would be loyal. very sad

More like a boil on the ass of a maggot.
———————————-
Well said. 🙂

My favorite GA band

And here’s where they started
Boys in Bikinis
Girls in Surfboards

Always loved the B52s cept they gave Yoko Ono some sort of credit with ‘Rock Lobster’. She has always been a bad greedy joke. No musical talent period.

I saw them live, and they were loud and terrific. ‘Rock Lobster’ and a few more early tunes are new wave disco classics.

Gallup polled U.S. voters on 12 top issues facing the country. Guess which issue was the only to NOT rank for the majority as "as extremely or very important to their vote"? Hint: it's been the top focus of our political & media class for 2 years: ?https://t.co/dSzLNoHjQI pic.twitter.com/6eMRTNvm6Y

— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) November 7, 2018

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

This is cool..

WCK has reactivated #ChefsForCalifornia to respond to two major wildfires devastating the Golden State. Below, a disaster impact assessment of the #CampFire and #WoolseyFire. We’re currently establishing operations in the Chico area and Ventura County – stay tuned for updates. pic.twitter.com/AtkmNYitgt

— WorldCentralKitchen (@WCKitchen) November 9, 2018

Elon Musk also weighed in, asking what his company could do, and Chef Jose said they needed meals to be delivered.

Oh geez. More fires. Good for WCK and Musk.

Iowa, figures. Steve King and Matt Whitaker, what a pair.
Who is Matt Whitaker? Ex-Hawkeyes tight end and federal prosecutor becomes acting attorney general https://t.co/mT8n6ULydx via @DMRegister

— evetsetteluoh (@evetschoul) November 10, 2018

Matthew Whitaker’s Appointment Threatens the Rule of Law
Trump’s new acting attorney general is an outspoken critic of the Russia investigation

And there’s more. Whitaker argued that a Mueller investigation into the president’s finances would be a “red line.” He referred to Mueller’s team as a “lynch mob” and decried the raid on former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s house as intimidation. He is a close political ally of Sam Clovis, the former national co-chairman of the Trump campaign who has spent 19 hours testifying or interviewing with the Mueller team. He has spoken in support of the meeting Donald Trump Jr. took with a bevy of Russians to learn negative information about Hillary Clinton during the presidential campaign.

Iowa has and is changing from bluish swing to red. Economics and education play a big part, says the NYT..

There is little to suggest a future for the party here in this once reliable Democratic stronghold, at least in races on the national level. President Trump easily carried this county in the 2016 election, and Iowa as a whole; the only counties Hillary Clinton won were in metropolitan areas or university towns.

Iowa’s dramatic change has been both abrupt and a long time in coming. In 2008, the state propelled Mr. Obama to the White House. A year later, it was the first in the Midwest to legalize same-sex marriage. But last November, Mr. Trump won Iowa by a larger margin than he won Texas. And now Republicans control the governor’s office, the Legislature, both Senate seats and three of four in the House.

Tom Vilsack, a Democrat who served two terms as governor before becoming agriculture secretary in the Obama administration, said in an interview that his party had failed to grasp the way voters in small towns and rural areas felt that their way of life had been threatened.

“It’s a much deeper set of reasons and longer-occurring set of circumstances,” Mr. Vilsack said. “It’s interesting to look at a single election cycle, but it’s much more profound than that.”

He quickly checked off the reasons. The agricultural economy has become more efficient and needs fewer farmers. Globalization set off a decline in domestic manufacturing. Small towns shriveled. Schools consolidated. Hospitals closed. Resentment festered.

“Over all, people saw economic opportunity leave,” he said. “Then they saw their kids and grandkids leave. They are seeing everything that they are about leave. It’s a tough emotional thing over time.

Well 3 out of its 4 House representatives are now Dem and Scholten gave King a scare so I would hardly call Iowa red.

These 14 Democrats Are at Core of What Bernie Sanders Calls the ‘Most Progressive Freshman Class’ in Modern US History
“The political establishment notwithstanding, the future belongs to progressives.”

As Ocasio-Cortez declared Tuesday night in her victory speech in New York, “When we advocate and champion the causes of our neighbors and our economic dignity, and come with innovative and ambitious plans for our future, there is no state beyond our grasp, and no community beyond victory. We just need to keep at it.”

If this was already posted, tip o the hat. I love the Ocasio-Cortez quote.

Crazy that Trump is talking more about Broward County now than when 17 people were shot and killed here.

— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) November 10, 2018

That’s no surprise. The orange stupe forgets that there are over 50 counties in FL, and their votes are being recounted.

41 Latinos in Congress, 2 races still undecided

WASHINGTON — The number of Latinos serving in Congress will rise to at least 41 in the new year, and that figure most likely will increase when three undecided races are called.

Thirty-three out of 44 Latino Democratic candidates won election in Tuesday’s contests, while six out of 15 Latino Republican candidates claimed victory.

Francisco Pedraza, a political scientist at University of California, Riverside, thinks a small increase in the number of Latinos in Congress is very important because it happened despite redistricting that followed Republican victories in the 2010 election.

“In 2014 and in 2016 elections it was not that obvious,” Pedraza told The Associated Press. “Today we see the importance of all the changes brought after the 2010 election.”

The 57 million Latinos who live in the United States are the nation’s largest ethnic or racial minority and constitute 18 percent of the total population. However, their political impact is substantially diluted due to their low electoral turnout.

House Committee Leadership is About to Get a Lot Less White

ALL BUT TWO of the 21 House committees are currently chaired by white, male members of Congress. The two exceptions are committees chaired by white women.

That’s all about to change.

With Democrats having seized control of the House of Representatives, a historic number of women and people of color are poised to take the helm of at least eight powerful committees when the 116th Congress takes shape. Some of these chair positions would be held for the first time by a woman or a person of color.

New York Rep. Nita Lowey on the Appropriations committee, Virginia’s Bobby Scott on Education and Workforce, California’s Maxine Waters on Financial Services, Mississippi’s Bennie Thompson on Homeland Security, Arizona’s Raúl Grijalva on Natural Resources, Maryland’s Elijah Cummings on Oversight and Government Reform, Texas’s Eddie Bernice Johnson on Science, Space, and Technology, and New York’s Nydia Velázquez on Small Business all hold the position of ranking member on their respective committees.

Possible significance with lobbyist influence?

Also contested is the coveted leadership position as chair of the Democratic Caucus. Reps. Barbara Lee of California and Hakeem Jeffries of New York are in the running to replace Rep. Joe Crowley of New York, who earlier this year lost his re-election bid to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“That’s gonna be a really competitive race,” lobbyist Mike Williams told The Intercept.

Williams is a partner with United by Interest, a lobbying firm started earlier this year to leverage the growing size and influence of groups like the Congressional Black and Hispanic Caucuses, in the service of corporate clients, both of which are being bolstered by the record number of women and people of color entering Congress. UBI recently signed with the American Petroleum Institute, the lobby for Big Oil.

As for who else he thinks might pitch a run to lead the Democratic Caucus, “That is the $64,000 question,” Williams said. “I think everybody’s holding their cards close to the vest because they want to figure out what’s up for grabs, and what deals are gonna get cut.”

Those dynamics are becoming increasingly complicated as the caucuses are set to pull more weight in the next session. Those competing influences will play a role in how House Speaker Nancy Pelosi positions herself in the fight, Williams said. Pelosi is confident in her path to the speakership despite a significant number of the freshman class who have said they won’t support her.

“Maybe she wants to throw her weight in behind somebody else at a different caucus’s behest,” Williams told The Intercept. “All of those things are in play right now.”

Williams, for his part, is joining other lobbyists seeking to make the most of the growing potential in both caucuses. While Williams plans to lobby the CBC for the American Petroleum Institute, another firm, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, is forging a connection to the caucus in partnership with former Missouri state Rep. Don Calloway and his firm, Pine Street Strategies. The firm represents the Environmental Defense Fund, but also a slew of corporate clients, including the National Bankers Association, a lobbying group for minority and women-owned business.

K Street firms have long employed lobbyists they call “CBC specialists,” whose mission is to find CBC members willing to sign onto legislation, or letters to regulatory agencies, and give progressive cover to a corporate agenda. Many of the members of the incoming class of freshmen, however, have vowed not to take corporate PAC money and made cleaning up Washington central parts of their campaigns. What comes of the collision between those twin dynamics will determine what the next House is able to produce legislatively.

This harkens back to a conversation here about Gretchen Whitmer having a key donor on her transition team and what Bernie would think about it.

Trumpcorp wont realize the impact until all those new faces show up for the SOTU in Jan.

They willl need our money, thoughts and prayers. :0)

Lobby = bribe. Hopefully, that will began to disappear.

As of this morning, my campaign is ahead by 7,328 votes. After careful consideration of the data provided by the fantastic team at the Orange County Registrar, my staff and I are now confident that we have won the Congressional race in California's 48th district.
1/4

— Harley Rouda (@HarleyRouda) November 10, 2018

He’s the guy that beat 30 year incumbent GOP Dana Rorhabacher.

yes.

Good riddance to real BAD rubbish!

Why Are Conservatives More Susceptible to Believing Lies?
An interplay between how all humans think and how conservatives tend to act might actually explain a lot about our current moment

Apparently, more educated conservatives are more likely to dig in with believing than those with less education. And this is just a bit of a fairly packed article.

These limits to “objective” reasoning apply to everyone, of course—left and right. Why is it that conservatives have taken the lead in falling off the deep edge?

The answer, I think, lies in the interaction between reasoning processes and personality. It’s each person’s particular motivations and particular psychological makeup that affects how they search for information, what information they pay attention to, how they assess the accuracy and meaning of the information, what information they retain, and what conclusions they draw. But conservatives and liberals typically differ in their particular psychological makeups. And if you add up all of these particular differences, you get two groups that are systematically motivated to believe different things.

Psychologists have repeatedly reported that self-described conservatives tend to place a higher value than those to their left on deference to tradition and authority. They are more likely to value stability, conformity, and order, and have more difficulty tolerating novelty and ambiguity and uncertainty. They are more sensitive than liberals to information suggesting the possibility of danger than to information suggesting benefits. And they are more moralistic and more likely to repress unconscious drives towards unconventional sexuality.

Fairness and kindness place lower on the list of moral priorities for conservatives than for liberals. Conservatives show a stronger preference for higher status groups, are more accepting of inequality and injustice, and are less empathic (at least towards those outside their immediate family).

I think this part of the conversation is likely…

Conservatives show a stronger preference for higher status groups, are more accepting of inequality and injustice

They are more Darwinian in their tone.

Yes. One pastor said that Republicans believe everyone is inherently bad and Democrats believe everyone is inherently good.

Amazon and PayPal cut ties with Proud Boys https://t.co/I0Ln13MgZ7 pic.twitter.com/7qJhMdwycU

— The Hill (@thehill) November 10, 2018

Thousands of Greyhounds May Need Homes as Florida Bans Racing

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Animal activists have been trying for years to put an end to greyhound racing in Florida, one of the country’s most popular spots to watch dogs chase mechanical rabbits round and round a track. In their view, the greyhounds were mistreated, subjected to harsh living conditions, then retired with broken bones.

On Tuesday, voters overwhelmingly backed a measure that set greyhound lovers scrambling in a new direction: finding new homes for thousands of dogs with no clear future.

Amendment 13, which proposed banning racing by the end of 2020 and hardened the battle lines between greyhound track owners and animal advocates, passed with 69 percent of the vote.

The industry has long been criticized as abusive to the dogs. Track owners and trainers pushed back, saying the dogs were well cared for and would not race if they were unhealthy or neglected.

I didn’t pay attention to all of the FL ballot initiatives. I’m glad this one passed.

Greyhound rescue groups have been here for a long time. The animals will have very little trouble finding new homes. They are very intelligent, short haired and great pets.

Democrat Andrew Gillum withdrew his concession to Republican former Rep. Ron DeSantis in the Florida governor’s race, hours after the secretary of state announced a recount of their race and two others.

“I could be wrong, but I believe we are about to bear witness to a scorched-earth retreat the likes of which haven’t been seen since the Boer War. I strongly suspect Donald Trump is going to try to burn everything, and everyone, to save himself from the awful grace of consequences. He can’t stop all of it, but between now and the first week of January, he’s going to try with all his might.

Sessions was only the beginning. Anyone who was hoping for a bit of quiet time after the midterms has not, frankly, been paying enough attention. Worse, what is happening now will seem tame by the new year. It definitely gets weirder from here.”

At Long Last, Donald Trump Knows True Fear

This guy is the human personification of unbridled corporate ambition and greed — he went from helping GOPers gut Obama’s Wall St reforms, to helping real estate interests split the vote and block @ZephyrTeachout from becoming AG, to now running for DCCC chair. https://t.co/ARJlInBaoL

— David Sirota (@davidsirota) November 11, 2018

Fabulous, we have two staunch capitalists running for Speaker and Chair of DCCC. Yet many of the new freshmen are not capitalists.

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