vxbush 8/22/2024 6:00:01 AM

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Q: Who is Polymarket, and why should I believe their polls any more than the others that we know overly sample Democrats? Matt Margolis of PJMedia noted that Harris did have a 7 point lead in PolyMarket's survey, but it has since dropped to a 5 point deficit.

Turns out Polymarket is a prediction market, and elections aren't the only thing they follow. But I'm not seeing anything on their website on how they are predicting anything. Some of their election charts don't make any sense to me, either. 

vxbush 8/22/2024 6:19:33 AM

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Human Trafficking in Texas Airbnbs

Hotels and motels are now being monitored for such activity, so they simply moved to BnBs. 

vxbush 8/22/2024 6:22:28 AM

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Harley Davidson Backtracks on DEI Policies After Backlash

HD has stopped it. Disney got rid of the Acolyte show after just one season. Is DEI finally D(e)IE-ing? 

vxbush 8/22/2024 6:26:36 AM

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Occasional Reader 8/22/2024 8:39:37 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 4:

Price controls... that alone should be disqualifying.

25% tax on unrealized capital gains... that alone should be disqualifying.

Both are economy-wrecking ideas, Venezuela-level bad ideas.

But as an example of where the Democrat "thought" process is: in a conversation with a Dem neighbor the other day, I focused on the price controls proposal, and how shockingly awful it was.  "But... it could help you and me!" he replied.  Now, to make it clear, neither one of us is in the position to scrounge for money for groceries.  But he could not see past the promise of Uncle Sugar giving him something.  I said, "you might think that will help you; and it might seem that.. until the store shelves go empty, which is invariably what price controls lead to."  He just shook his head and reiterated that "Trump is a crazy bastard".  

vxbush 8/22/2024 8:48:04 AM

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In #5 Occasional Reader said: But as an example of where the Democrat "thought" process is: in a conversation with a Dem neighbor the other day, I focused on the price controls proposal, and how shockingly awful it was.  "But... it could help you and me!" he replied.  Now, to make it clear, neither one of us is in the position to scrounge for money for groceries.  But he could not see past the promise of Uncle Sugar giving him something.  I said, "you might think that will help you; and it might seem that.. until the store shelves go empty, which is invariably what price controls lead to."  He just shook his head and reiterated that "Trump is a crazy bastard".  

Every time I have a discussion with someone who supports such initiatives, all they can do is see it as a propositional good, no matter how often I demonstrate that this has failed in every country where it has been tried. They always seem to think it'll be better this time, somehow, because "their" people are doing it. 

I've heard this said over and over, but it never really struck home how rigid and limited their thinking is until I experienced it firsthand. 

vxbush 8/22/2024 9:02:38 AM

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Axios is reporting potential players in the Harris cabinet. I'm just going to list the names they indicated might get the job. Apologies for the funky formatting--using the remove format button didn't work. 

• White House chief of staff:  Eric Holder, Lorraine Voles, or Jen O'Malley Dillon.

• Secretary of State: Sen. Chris Coons, Bill Burns, or National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

• Treasury: Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo , Wally Adeyemo, now deputy Treasury secretary, or Blair Effron, an investment banking partner.

• Defense:  Michèle Flournoy, undersecretary of Defense for policy under President Obama

• Attorney General: Former Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama.

• Commerce: Ray McGuire, president of the investment bank Lazard, or Charles Phillips (a tech executive on the Defense Innovation Board).

• U.S. ambassador to the UN: Pete Buttigieg.

• U.S. trade representative: Tom Nides — U.S. ambassador to Israel under Biden.

• White House counsel (or Justice): Tony West is a top Harris campaign adviser who's chief legal officer at Uber, a former U.S. associate attorney general, and is married to Harris' sister, Maya; or Brian Nelson, a close California ally who just left the Treasury to join her campaign.

• National security adviser: Phil Gordon, Harris' national security adviser in the V.P.'s office, or Tom Donilon, who was Obama's national security adviser, or Rahm Emanuel, now U.S. ambassador to Japan.

• White House press secretary: Brian Fallon, the Harris campaign's senior adviser for communications, or Ian Sams, who has done well in podium outings as White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, worked on Harris' 2019 presidential campaign. 

• Communications director: Lily Adams, assistant Treasury secretary for public affairs, was communications director in Harris' Senate office and on her 2019 campaign.

vxbush 8/22/2024 9:24:53 AM

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Freudian slip, or something else? 

"We got 70 days to act right... After 70 days, we can go back to acting crazy.”

buzzsawmonkey 8/22/2024 11:04:00 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 7:

Why would the Obama-backing cabal not use the same compliant-idiot tools it used during the original Obama administration?  Recycling, you know.

vxbush 8/22/2024 12:21:00 PM

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In #9 buzzsawmonkey said: Why would the Obama-backing cabal not use the same compliant-idiot tools it used during the original Obama administration?

I'm guessing, but I think everyone in the orbit of the Democrat party wants their chance to be in the "big seats". So they have to take turns.