Year: 2018

Election Results

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In Arizona, Democrat Kyrsten Sinema is now ½% up over Republican Martha McSally:

Democratic candidate Kyrsten Sinema opened up a lead Saturday night over Republican rival Martha McSally in the U.S. Senate race in Arizona as officials count mail-in ballots, raising the prospects of Democrats winning a long-held GOP seat.

 Sinema now leads McSally 49.51 percent to 48.15 percent, according to results provided by election officials at 7 p.m. Eastern time Saturday. The two congresswomen were separated by 28,673 ballots cast statewide, with a Green Party candidate lagging far behind. More than 2.1 million votes were cast.

 The contest is to replace retiring Sen. Jeff Flake, one of the more outspoken Republican critics of President Trump.

 Without any evidence, President Trump suggested foul play in the Arizona vote count in a tweet on Friday: “Just out — in Arizona, SIGNATURES DON’T MATCH. Electoral corruption — Call for a new Election? We must protect our Democracy!” the president tweeted.

 In response, Flake tweeted: “There is no evidence of ‘electoral corruption’ in Arizona, Mr. President. Thousands of dedicated Arizonans work in a non-partisan fashion every election cycle to ensure that every vote is counted. We appreciate their service.”

It’s still not certain, Arizona has a large proportion of vote by mail ballots, but it looks promising, though Sinema has recently been very Blue Dog, so she is the definition of winning poorly.

And then there is Florida, where both the Governor’s race and the Senate race (and Ag Commissioner) are heading to a recount.

It’s always Florida, isn’t it?

Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner has formally ordered a machine recount in three statewide races: U.S. Senate, Governor and Agriculture Commissioner.

“I hereby order the canvassing boards responsible for canvassing [the three races] to conduct a machine recount of the votes cast in the race,” reads an order from Detzner sent to elections supervisors in all 67 Florida counties. Separate orders were sent for each race subject to a recount.

The Secretary of State’s office also sent procedures to be followed for the machine recount.

Totals as of 12:30 on Saturday shows Republican Senate candidate Rick Scott leading incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson by 12,562, Republican Gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis beating Democrat Andrew Gillum by 33,684 votes, and Democratic Agriculture Commissioner candidate Nikki Fried ahead of Republican Matt Caldwell by 5,326 votes.

All three races fall within the 0.5 percent margin to trigger a statewide recount.

For now, only a machine recount has been orders and that remains the focus of elections officials.

Once again, I do find it odd that every time we examine elections in the Sunshine State, EVERY error cuts in favor of the Republicans.

Interesting how that works, huh?

I Can Haz Prosecushunz?

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It has been known for some time that the Vampire Squid (Goldman Sachs) was heavily involved in the the Malaysian government’s fabulously corrupt 1MDB sovereign wealth fund.

We now know that Goldman Sachs’ then CEO Lloyd Blankfein was directly involved in the program:

Years before Goldman Sachs Group Inc. arranged bond deals now at the heart of globe-spanning corruption probes, the firm’s then-CEO Lloyd Blankfein personally helped forge ties with Malaysia and its new sovereign wealth fund, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Blankfein was the unidentified high-ranking Goldman Sachs executive referenced in U.S. court documents who attended a 2009 meeting with the former Malaysian prime minister, the people said. The meeting was arranged with the help of men who are now tied to the subsequent plundering of the 1MDB fund, according to U.S. court documents unsealed last week.

………

The high-level gathering laid the groundwork for a relationship that would prove profitable for the investment bank. Since then, the use of $6.5 billion that Goldman raised for 1MDB has sparked investigations across several nations, and entangled the U.S. bank in a high-profile corruption probe

This is not a surprise.

Laundering ill-gotten gains is a major profit center for big finance, but their involvement in 1MDB is downright criminal.

Some serious jail time should be in order.

A Bunch of Mindless Jerks Who’ll Be the First Against the Wall When the Revolution Comes.

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What a surprise. As soon as Ajit Pai and his evil minions™ repealed Net Neutrality, the Telcos started trying to shut down rivals.
In fact, they were doing so well before the repeal, because the FCC didn’t have time to find and fine them.

Capitalism at its finest:

US cellphone networks are all throttling video to some extent, providing lower-quality stream to their customers, and some are purposefully undermining Skype as an alternative to their services.

That’s the upshot of a ten-month study by Northeastern University’s College of Computer and Information Science set up to see what impact, if any, the end of net neutrality rules had had only ordinary users.

On the pure question of whether the FCC’s decision to scrap its own rules has changed cellphone operators’ behavior, the answer is no, they haven’t – they were throttling before and they have continued to do so.

However, the authors note that such throttling was actually banned under the previous rules. So it was likely the case that there was not enough time for the FCC’s enforcement department to clamp down on that behavior before the rules were rescinded.

As to the throttling itself, intriguingly it is not consistent across video providers or operators, suggesting that there may be deals between certain mobile phone networks and certain video streaming companies to let their videos pass through unthrottled.

And if that’s the case, then of course there is a pressure point that cellular networks can use to extract money from video companies – which is exactly what net neutrality advocates are concerned about. But there is no smoking gun as such.

Demand and supply


It could be that the throttling is activated to tackle network congestion: as available bandwidth is consumed by people streaming and downloading stuff over the airwaves, operators may limit speeds to ensure an even level of quality-of-service for everyone in a particular cell, neighborhood, or city.

What is worrying, though, is the fact that some mobile operators are throttling a clear competitor in the form of Skype. Sprint seems to be the worst offender but Boost was also seen to be throttling the voice-and-video streaming service.

FYI, Boost is Sprint, in the US at least, so the rat-f%$#ery is actually from the same company.

Rule one of telecommunications and last-mile connectivity providers are that they contemptible greed-heads who need to be kept on a short leash.

Rule two is see rule one.

Windows Toilet???? Are You Sh%$#ing Me?

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It appears that Bill Gates is determined to create the high tech toilet of the future.

4 Words, Blue Screen of Death.

Do ……… not ……… want:

Bill Gates believes the world needs better toilets.

Specifically, toilets that improve hygiene, don’t have to connect to sewage systems at all and can break down human waste into fertilizer.

So on Tuesday in Beijing, Mr. Gates held the Reinvented Toilet Expo, a chance for companies to showcase their takes on the simple bathroom fixture. Companies showed toilets that could separate urine from other waste for more efficient treatment, that recycled water for hand washing and that sported solar roofs. 

Two points:

  1. Toilets need to be more reliable than you average machine.
  2. Bill Gates only qualification to be an “expert” s that he’s obscenely rich, which something profoundly f%$#ed up about our society.

This Has Fiasco Written All Over It

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Expensive to Acquire, Expensive to Operate

The US Air Force is looking at their next tanker, and the mission creep is insane.

This sounds like it will make the F-35 debacle look like the Skunk Works:

Very little has changed in the configuration and performance of airlifter and air-refueling aircraft since the mid-1950s. Lockheed Martin’s C-5A dramatically expanded payload volume in 1968, and Boeing’s C-17 introduced a strategic airlifter with the ability to make short takeoffs and landings on unprepared runways. Besides those improvements, the U.S. Air Force’s mobility mission has been almost untouched by the survivability requirements that drove radical changes to the design and operation of fighters, bombers and intelligence-gathering aircraft in the last half-century.

As Air Force planners now embark on the early stages of a process to acquire a new class of refuelers and airlifters over the next two decades, there is a clear emphasis on designs that overcome the vulnerability of existing aircraft to detection and interception. That potential shift in the requirements follows a new strategy of air warfare that transforms the role of mobility aircraft from a purely supporting one to an active part in combat operations as forward-based command-and-control nodes and even strike platforms.

And in case you are wondering just how far overboard the USAF is planning to go, have a slice of this guaranteed winner in the next bullsh%$ bingo competition:

It is a transformation that senior Air Force officials are still trying to socialize with the community of cargo and tanker crews. Underscoring the unfolding transition was a key theme of Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein’s address at the Airlift Tanker Association (ATA) annual conference on Oct. 26. “I had the chance to fly the KC-46 a few weeks ago,” Goldfein said before several hundred ATA members. “But what I strapped on was not an aircraft. What I flew was a node in our future network, [with] computing capacity that we can connect at the speed of light to other platforms, sensors and weapons to bring creative solutions to the fight.”

If they are at this level of complete bullsh%$ at this stage of the program, this presages a Death Star sized debacle.

Someone Needs to Review Every Case this Asshole Ever Presided Over

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Judges are to Texas as Man is to Florida.

And it now appears that soon to be former Texas judge Glenn Devlin is the most Florida man judge in all of Texas, whichis remarkable, because he had to beat out the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which has assumed facts not in evidence in order to execute a guy.

Devlin was defeated for reelection, largely because he had a policy of sending an inordinate number of black and brown children to juvie.

In response, the judge is throwing an epic tantrum:

After losing his bench in a Democratic sweep, Harris County Juvenile Court Judge Glenn Devlin released nearly all of the youthful defendants that appeared in front him on Wednesday morning, simply asking the kids whether they planned to kill anyone before letting them go.

“He was releasing everybody,” said public defender Steven Halpert, who watched the string of surprising releases. “Apparently he was saying that’s what the voters wanted.”

In court, prosecutors voiced their concerns about the seemingly indiscriminate release of those accused of everything from low-level misdemeanors to violent crimes.

………

In total, at least seven kids were released, prosecutors said, including four facing aggravated robbery charges.

………


The longtime Republican jurist — whose seat was among 59 swept by Democrats in Tuesday’s election — is one of two juvenile court judges in Harris County whose track records favoring incarceration contributed heavily to doubling the number of kids Harris County sent to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department in recent years, even as those figures fell in the rest of the state.

 Houston Chronicle investigation last month found that Devlin and Judge John Phillips accounted for more than one-fifth of all children sent to the state’s juvenile prisons last year. The two jurists not only sent more teens to juvenile prison, but they also sent them younger and for less-serious offenses than the county’s third juvenile court, where Judge Mike Schneider presides.

………

With the dust still settling from a massive shake-up in the local judiciary, Devlin showed up for Wednesday’s detention hearing docket apparently ready to surprise.

………

Criminal justice advocates, however, were critical of the decision.

“Judge Devlin appears to be abdicating the basic responsibility of any sitting juvenile judge,” said Elizabeth Henneke of the Lone Star Justice Alliance, a group that works to get young people out of the justice system and into treatment programs.

What an immature and petulant asshole.

Righteous Burn

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Harry Leslie Smith was musing on the nature of human folly on the upcoming 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War:

Instead of wearing a poppy for #Remembrance2018 we should wear our shame because as a human race we’ve learned nothing since 1918.

— Harry Leslie Smith (@Harryslaststand) November 6, 2018

It being Twitter, some asshat with the name of Jo Offord took exception, and in a since deleted Tweet, replied, “Harry, brave young men died so that idiots like you would have the freedom to spout your rubbish. Be more respectful.“

The reply won the internet:

Err, this is a picture of me in 1941 in my RAF uniform. So as we used to say in the services, Fuck off, Hitler. #Remembrance2018 pic.twitter.com/1J9yfWyLEC

— Harry Leslie Smith (@Harryslaststand) November 6, 2018

Boom!!!

Totally owned.

It is no surprise that she either deleted, or made private, her Twitter page.

No great loss though; the Google cache indicates that she is a right wing asshole.

Thoughts and Prayers

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Translated into English, “Thoughts and Prayers,” means, “F%$# You I want my A grade from the NRA, you stupid chumps!”

Case in point the response of ammosexual politicians to the mass shooting in Thousand Oaks California:

A former U.S. Marine machine gunner who may have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder burst into a Thousand Oaks bar packed with college students late Wednesday night, tossed a smoke bomb into the crowd and opened fire, authorities said.

Eleven people were killed, in addition to a sheriff’s sergeant responding to the scene who was gunned down by the assailant minutes later.
………

The suspected gunman, Ian David Long, was found dead of a gunshot wound in a back room at the bar. The amount of blood inside the bar made it difficult to tell whether he shot himself or was killed by law enforcement, Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean said.

………

The bar’s patrons also frequent the Stagecoach country music festival in Indio, and some were also survivors of the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas that left 58 dead last year.

Thoughts and prayers.
Thoughts and prayers.
Thoughts and prayers.
Thoughts and prayers.

This is not an Accident, this is a Sistah Soulja Moment

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French President Emmanuel Macron just lauded antisemitic traitor Philippe Pétain, former President of the puppet Vichy Republic.

This was not a slip of the tongue. This was a not particularly subtle appeal to supporters of the racist National Front, because he is concerned that his policy of f%$#ing the average French worker like a drunk sorority girl will lead to a further rise Marine Le Pen which would threaten his hold on power.

It is a chickensh%$ move from a chickensh%$ politician:

Nazi collaborator Philippe Pétain during centenary commemorations marking the end of World War One later this week.

Mr Macron said Marshal Pétain was a “great soldier”, even though he had made “disastrous choices” during WW2.

Pétain was praised for the defence of Verdun in 1916, but he was sentenced to death for high treason after WW2.

Some French politicians and Jewish leaders condemned Mr Macron’s comments.

What is going on here is very clear: Macron is going full pander to bigots, because he’s worried about Le Pen, whose base is profoundly bigoted.

Macron is a contemptible pissant.

Wednesday Afternoon Massacre

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Something tells me that this was not caused by Trump suddenly “discovering” that Session is an unrepentant racist:

Senior Republicans led a chorus of public warnings that the special counsel Robert Mueller must be allowed to continue his Russia investigation after Donald Trump finally fired his attorney general, Jeff Sessions.

As Trump replaced Sessions with a senior aide, Matthew Whitaker, a critic of Mueller’s inquiry, Senator Susan Collins was amongst the first Republicans to warn: “It is imperative that the Administration not impede the Mueller investigation … Special Counsel Mueller must be allowed to complete his work without interference.”

Mitt Romney, who won the race on Tuesday to become a senator for Utah, aimed his first broadside at Trump, tweeting: “It is imperative that the important work of the Justice Department continues, and that the Mueller investigation proceeds to its conclusion unimpeded.”

Yeah, like the Mueller investigation is going to be unimpeded.

If I were Mueller, I’d find a pumpkin in which to stash a memory stick of his work to date.

Please don’t rehabilitate Jeff Sessions because Trump fired him, he remains an evil racist demagogue.

Midterm Recap

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Monty Python has the definitive word on this

I still have pretzels, but no beer tonight.

In terms of the Senate, the Democratic incumbents who lost, Donnelly, McKaskill, and Heitkamp, were profoundly weak tea.

I wish that Manchin was included in that list, because while I understand that the dynamics of the Democratic Party tends to promote narcissistic preeners who are basically useless (the aforementioned Donnelly, McKaskill, and Heitkamp), they should never promote Disloyal Democrats.

Also Bob Menendez, because he’s corrupt as hell and would be in jail but for the Supreme Court making it impossible to prosecute politicians for corruption.

The only bright side in terms of incumbents being turfed out was Dean Heller of Nevada.

On the House side, there is a bright side, Dwems retaking the house, David Brat being defeated in VA, as did Dana Rohrabacher in California, and Pete “The Stupidest Motherf%$#er in Texas” Sessions.

On the not so bright side, you have Duncan Hunter, Jr., who won even though he is under indictment for embezzling campaign funds, and virulent racist Steven King (R-IA) won narrowly.

In governor’s races, the Democrats picked up 7 seats nationwide, but none pleased me more than the loss of Scott Walker.

Florida and Georgia are still technically in play, but I won’t hold my breath

The AFL-CIO put it best on their statement, “Scott Walker was a national disgrace.”

In state houses, about 300 seats were picked up by Dems, erasing about 1/3 of the seats they lost under Obama.

Also, 7 state houses flipped, most notably the New York State Senate, whose Republican Senate was decisively flipped, much to the chagrin of Andrew “Rat Faced Andy” Cuomo, who has tried to ensure Republican control so that he won’t have to veto progressive legislation. (See Democrats, disloyal)

We also had a fair number of initiatives.

Anti-abortion initiatives in West Virginia and Alabama passed, and failed in Oregon.

Three initiates in California were defeated under a deluge of Wall Street money, price controls in response to profiteering by dialysis clinics, and a public bank for Los Angeles were deleted.

Redistricting reform passed everywhere it was on the ballot, Colorado, Michigan, Missouri and Utah, along with a sort-of redistricting reform in Ohio.

Weed also did well, with victories in Michigan, Missouri, Utah, and North Dakota.

Medicaid expansion was on the ballot in 4 states, with it passing in 3 states. ( Idaho, Nebraska, and Utah, and a loss in Montana)

There are also three new Democratic governors who will likely implement the policy.

On criminal justice reform, there were some significant ballot measures passed, most notably restoring voting rights to 1½ million felons in the Florida, which should make a difference in future elections.

Louisiana repealed a Jim Crow law that allowed for 10-2 guilty verdicts for most felonies.

Washington passed changes to standards for police shootings, so prosecutors no longer have to show actual malice.

All in all, last night was not good as I had hoped, but not as bad as I had feared.

My only question now is, “How will Nancy Pelosi f%$# this up?”

Linkage (In celebration of the end of the mid-terms)

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Some appropriate music for the end of the campaign season:

Beer and Pretzel Election Blogging

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Midnight: Kansas Governor’s race has been called, and Kris Kobach, the man who is arguably the worst politician in America (he is patient zero for the plague of voter suppression in America) will not be the next governor of Kansas. Congratulations to Governor-elect Laura Kelly.

Heidi Heitkamp, who has been down by double digits for the entire campaign, lost in North Dakota.

The Democrats have taken control of the house, picking up 28-30 seats, the Republicans have picked up 2-3 Senate seats, and the Democrats have picked up a at least 4 governorships, and I am finishing my 2nd beer, and I am going to sleep now.

Here is hoping that the Democrats subpoena Trump’s tax returns

11:30pm: Despite massive contributions by the head of Nike, the Dems hold onto the Governor’s mansion in Oregon. (F%$# Phil Knight, who thinks that he owns the state)

California polls have closed, so the Senate race, between two Democrats, and an indicted house member should make that interesting.

11:00pm: Gillum has conceded the Governor’s race in Florida, and it looks like the West Virginia anti-abortion amendment has passed.

I’m switching to the Daily Show for coverage.

10:30pm: The New York Times calls it for Ted “The Human Sh%$bag” Cruz for Texas Senate. Crap.

10:30pm: Governors races: Pickups by Dems in Michigan, New Mexico, Governor’s race.

10:00pm: Looks like a Democratic pickup in Colorado. And they are calling the Maryland Governor’s race for Larry “Governor Ratf%$3” Hogan, which is not a surprise, Ben Jealous’s campaign was really not too visible, and the party establishemtn was sitting on their hands.

In Illinois, the Governor’s race has been called for JB Pritzger, which is a step up defeated incumbent Bruce Rauner, but only a little one.

9:30pm: 2 pickups in Pennsylvania.  Court ordered redistricting making a difference here.  Charlie is done, so I get to start adding beer to my pretzels!

9:15pm: Ammendment 4 in Florida, restoring felon enfranchisement, look set to pass.  Should make 2020 VERY different Florida election, because that ads potentially 1½ million voters to their rolls, and these voters are overwhelmingly minority.

In Virginia, there are two incumbent Republican Congressmen, and a Barbara Comstock has lost to Jennifer Wexton.

9:05pm: I just went to the NYT wiggling needle, and saw an ad for F-Cup size brassieres. What the hell?  Manchin looks to be in good position, he is up by 8 points with 1/3 of precincts reporting, which is the one Dem I really want to see lose this evening.  There is also an anti-abortion constitution change on the ballot which is close.

It appears that Joe Donnelly (incumbent) has lost in Indiana, and Bresden in Tennessee, which which basically closes the door on the Democrats picking of the Senate.  My guess is that they will actually lose Senate seats.

8:40pm: Democrats need to pick up seats in the worst way, and, at least in Florida, the union-busting former university president Donna Shalala has picked up a seats for the Democrats. This was really her race to lose, because the district has been blue for a long time, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who is retiring held onto the seat ONLY because she is a FDWS (Friend of Debbie Wasserman “Clusterf%$#” Schultz), who kept her opponents weak.

8:35pm: Had to go out on an unsuccessful run for race lasagna, so I’ve just got to the keyboard.

Charlie is still at the polling place, so no beer yet, though I have had some pretzels (sourdough),

The Joy of Reading a Bad Review

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I have only a passing knowledge of the Amazon TV show Transparent, and even less knowledge of its showrunner, Jill Soloway, still, when I came across this review of her memoir, She Wants It, I realized that I had stumbled on a gem, one one that might make Rex Reed, master of the snarky review gasp in awe.

Also, unlike Reed, Andrea Long Chu actually gets into the weeds of the book, and not how Soloway looks, or dresses, etc., which to my mind puts her a pretty big step above Reed.

She demolishes the recollections of a narcissistic asshole on their own terms:

As a lightweight behind-the-scenes look at a critically acclaimed television series, Jill Soloway’s new memoir She Wants It: Desire, Power, and Toppling the Patriarchy is just south of worth purchasing at the airport. As a book about desire, power, or toppling the patriarchy, it is incompetent, defensive, and astonishingly clueless.

This is a story about someone who responds to criticisms of her TV show by taking “a glamping writers’ retreat” to El Capitan: “We had a shaman come. She did magic incantations as we lay on the floor of a yurt.” It is an unwitting portrait of a rich Los Angeles creative type with a child’s knack for exploiting the sympathies of others, a person whose deep fear of doing the wrong thing was regularly outmatched by an even deeper distaste for doing the right thing. The nicest thing that can be said of this oblivious, self-absorbed, unimportant book is that it proves, once and for all, that trans people are fully, regrettably human.

Those are the first two paragraphs, and it goes on to skewer Peter Thiel (who I should note is literally a vampire who wants to use the blood of the young to extend his lifespan) in only 7 words, along with lambasting former Transparent star Jeffrey Tambour, Louie C.K., and Lena Dunham

Still she conclusively shows, with Soloway’s own words, that they are not as much of a self absorbed asshole as Soloway is.

This is beautiful, and I know two thing for sure:

  1. I never want to be on the bad side of Andrea Long Chu.
  2. If I ever need a speech writer, I want her.

 There are tears of joy pouring down my face.

Too Lame Don’t Read (TLDR)

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The New York Times has an interminable essay on why law enforcement has consistently missed right wing violent terrorism.

They meticulously tiptoe around what is the most obvious answer, that a large proportion of their members actively support right wing racists.

There are 4-5 stories in this report where somehow or other the authorities “mysteriously” screwed up and allowed these folks to walk away after engaging in acts that would ordinarily end up with a 10-20 year sentence.

This happens because they actively support the actions and goals of right wing terrorists, whether as the cop on the beat, or as a prosecutor who offers administrative inefficiency as an alibi.

If these folks were black or brown, they would be in jail or they would be pushing up daisies.

When people of color do something even remotely close to this this, they bomb their house and allow the entire block to burn down, and when a white man murders a church full of black people, they bring him Burger King to eat.

Does anyone else see a pattern?

I Will Be Beer Blogging This Election Night

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Beer and pretzels, actually and I will be updating regularly.

I’ll start on the beer once I pick up Charlie from his election duties, and it will be beer and pretzels, because ……… What part of beer and pretzels don’t you UNDERSTAND?

While I will not be good to drive, I don’t expect to get truly hammered.

I deferred to my daughter on choice of beer, because she’s the only other one in the house who can drink beer (Sharon* is allergic to malt, and Charlie is under age.), which somewhat unfortunately is Natty Boh (National Bohemian).

The beer is actually a good metaphor for the establishment backed Democratic candidates this evening though, it is generic and uninspiring.

I’ll start live blogging around 7 or so, by which time we should start getting returns from the states with early poll closings.

*Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.