Election Takeaways

Well, the Dems took back the House. I should feel happier. Mostly I feel a sense of relief, but There are a few things stuck in my craw.

First, I am just so upset about the Georgia governor's race. I mean, there's still technically an outside chance of a run-off, but basically Stacey Adams has lost. And it would be heart-breaking enough had she lost fair and square, but to lose banana-republic style to an opponent who engaged in the most blatant voter-suppression since the Jim Crow era is just devastating.
Kemp cheated. We know he cheated. He knows he cheated. Everyone knows he cheated and no one is going to do anything about it. And it wasn't subtle. Having voting machines stop working because someone "forgot" that electric machines need power cords, then taking nearly 2 hours to get the cords and bring them to the precinct is fucking shameless. Purging thousands of likely Democratic voters from the rolls has become pretty standard operating procedure for Republicans, but it's still shocking that they get away with it time and again. Having too few voting machines in majority-black precincts is also not surprising, but still infuriating. And with all this chicanery against her, for Abrams to be within a hair's breadth of winning anyway. . . it's just hard to take.

Secondly, although Democrats had some significant wins, some of the more loathsome Republicans remain employed by the taxpayers.
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Somehow, the voters saw fit to re-up with vermin like Steve King,

Marsha Blackburn

and Ted Cruz







On the other hand, some truly vile people lost their races.

Like Kansas' Kris Kohbach.

Maine's Paul LePage

and Kentucky's Kim Davis.




via GIPHY


Oh, and Scott Walker has been cancelled.



via GIPHY


Criminals had a pretty good day at the polls as the Republicans re-elected Greg Gianforte, Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins, whie the Democrats decided to give Bob Menendez another term.

Oh, and the Colorado baker who refused to bake a gay wedding cake? He now has a gay governor.



via GIPHY


Women had good showing. The first two Native American women elected to Congress won last night, Deb Haaland  and Sharice Davids 

And there are for the first time ever, two Muslim women in Congress, Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar and Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib,




And one other high note. Most of the candidates endorsed by Cheeto Mussolinin lost. Not all, not enough, but most. And that's a positive.

@MissMayn has the breakdown:

Trump has endorsed 11 Republicans running for Governor, 31 House candidates and 13 Senate candidates and I've screenshot every one of them and will let him know every one that loses.

— Ally Maynard (@missmayn) November 7, 2018

The suspense is killing me!

It's election night and the suspense is killing me. And I assume it isn't doing any of you any favors either. So, to help pass the time until we find out if there's going to be a check on President Cartman or not, here are some highlights from last weekend's Chomp and Stomp - The world's biggest - and best - bluegrass festival and chili cookoff.


Let's start with a nice little combo called Control Burn [sic] with a song that I believe is called "Setlist Blues."



here are the Plate Scrapers from Maryland





My phone's battery died halfway through this Beatles cover, but the half song I got was pretty good.



Here is Slim Chance & the Convicts with and without Jeff Mosier sitting in on electric banjo:






And this is Jeff Mosier with the Jeff Mosier Band:



This is a young lady from Nashville who goes by the name Aubryn. Her songs weren't my cup of tea, but she's very talented, and hopefully at least some of you will like her.



And we finish off with Atlanta bluegrass stalwarts Smokey's Farmland Band

Please vote Tuesday 11/6

If you have not already done so,
     Please vote tomorrow.
          Please please please vote tomorrow.






Please. Please vote.



Pleeeeeeeease vote.





Please.

Anyone see this headline?

Why did I have to see this headline on Twitter? Posted from BoingBoing?
Why was this not on the front page of my morning paper?

Economists reverse claims that $15 Seattle minimum wage hurt workers, admit it was largely beneficial

Yes. I do. Of course.

Earlier this year, a group of business school researchers from the University of Washington and NYU, as well as Amazon, published an influential paper . . .

Wait. Why does Amazon get to publish academic papers?

Yeah, okay.

Earlier this year, a group of business school researchers from the University of Washington and NYU, as well as Amazon, published an influential paper claiming that the rising Seattle minimum wage had decreased take-home pay for workers by 6% due to cuts to work hours -- the paper was trumpeted by right-wing ideologues as examples of how "liberal policies" hurt the workers they are meant to help.

Yes, because "liberal policies" force employers to be cheap shitty bastards who will do anything to avoid paying their employees one dime more than the absolute minimum they can get away with. Oh, wait! That happens in every city, not just Seattle! It's almost as if those right wing pundits just make shit up and no one calls them on it!

But a new paper by the same authors (Sci-Hub mirror) shows that the rising minimum wage generated major increases for the workers who had the most hours, whose hours were only cut a little, but still came out ahead thanks to the wage increase;

Well, I expect that any minute now we will see the news networks flooded with right-wing commentators explaining how they got this so wrong.

Okay, Okay, but surely the news programs will now have to have left-leaning economists on since they were right all along, right?

Okay, but the numbers don't lie. The charts, the graphs. . .

Seattle remains the West Coast leader
for employment growth,
fueling multifamily market strength

September 25, 2018

I mean, they can't just ignore the undeniable facts, right?

Flashback Friday -- Jonathan Richman

It's getting too hard to make dumbass jokes about current events anyomre these days. But we can still appreciate good music.

So this Flashback Friday we present the great Jonathan Richman,

It's hard to explain the brilliance of Jonathon Richman. His lyrics don't feel like song lyrics, they have a sort of prosaic, conversational feel to them, but with a sneaky wittiness, if that makes sense. Sometimes they feel like they're meandering off the rails and then, out of nowhere comes a clever rhyme and things are back on track.

Some of his songs might make you laugh.




Some might bring a tear to your eye.




Sure, he writes regular love songs.




But he can also write a great song about everyday, ordinary things. Like missing his favorite corner store.




Or his admiration for Harpo Marx's musical ability



Or his love of hot nights.



Or his favorite painters







Or dancing






Or anything, really.















I don't have any stories about Jonathon Richman. I saw him once in an old union hall in Eugene, OR and I think in San Francisco at the Paradise Lounge. Great shows. I hear he's going to tour again. Catch him if you can!