Mr.TaterSalad

That was a dud of a first half.

INTERCEPTION!!! Nice start to a meaningless preseason game. This guarantees a Super Bowl!

The A's GM is Billy Beane and this gentleman who sadly passed away is Billy Bean. This Billy Bean apparently worked in the MLB front offices as an executive.

Am I wrong to think Harris should go on Fox News and do a debate? When Mayor Pete and Bernie when on Fox and did townhalls I thought they both did great. Both really took it too the Fox News BS talking points and propaganda. I also think it is a great way to expose yourself to this group of voters and allow them to hear something other than the right wing drivel they are fed on the daily by Fox News.

Thank god he wasn't an offensive coordinator. Could you imagine if he had in his playbook to run the ball on second and long.

I've been listening to Canadian country music singer Corb Lund lately. I posted a couple of my favorites from Corb below. Including one where he drops a Stompin' Tom Connors.

I'm editing my post because I thought it was the A's GM Billy Beane that passed away and it is apparently a different person than whom I thought it was. In any case, RIP to Billy Bean and it's always sad to see someone pass on from cancer.

First off, I like the Walz pick a lot. I think it helps shore up the base with progressive voters and gets them reengaged into this election. There will always be a segment of the left that will find qualms with any Democrat not named Bernie, AOC, Rashida, etc. Given Tim Walz list of people-focused, progressive accomplishments as Governor of Minnesota (free lunch program, gun safety reforms, public education spending, child tax credits, etc.) I think it's enough to excite the progressive/left base of the party to get out and vote for Kamala. The other big thing I like about Walz is his appeal to men, specifically white working class men. While we will never win a majority or anything close to even with white working class men, Walz does give us a chance at holding onto to some of the ones Biden won back. He can the Hank and Peggy Hills of the world that might not vote for Trump but aren't exactly excited to hold their nose and vote Democrat. He also overperforms, to an extent, with working class voters in rural America. I still don't think many of those voters will vote for a black women named Kamala, but picking Walz certainly doesn't hurt. Walz has that authentic, folksy, everyman kind of persona. He has a record of service in the military, he was a HS football coach, he's a dad. As a friend said to me this morning, he seems like the kind of guy that actually likes going to the state fair and eating a corn dog, riding the rides, and being there. Not a guy whose only doing it for the photo opp. He also neutralizes JD Vance's military service record because he has served himself. I don't know if there is one, singular, big knock on Tim Walz. Certainly nothing that compares to what Trump has done. I think their knock on Walz will be more of the same they've already been attacking Kamala on. Too far to the left, too radical, a marxist, bad on the border, responsible for high inflation, etc.

Looks like it's Walz

JD Vance yelling at his kid is a weak argument if true. It fits into the category of Trump is an asshole and that's not proven to be a politically successful argument for Democrats. Voters, swing voters in particular, already know Trump is an asshole but don't seem all that bothered by the cursing, name calling, and jerk behavior. Hillary's campaign focused a lot on the Trump is a mean jerk narrative and it didn't seem to work with swing voters nor motivating the base. The better arguments against Trump and Vance I believe is that they are phony working class populists who are out of touch and only care about themselves. People who are too radical and too extreme to be in the White House. Agents of chaos and calamity. Those are better arguments to be making than Vance was a jerk to his kid imo.

AThe Levi news is really encouraging considering I was on the train of thought thinking that he wouldn't even make the team out of camp. Could just be empty compliments from a team mate trying to encourage him, but those words are high praise and sound like more than empty you can do it encouragement.

Decker has thus far continued to play at a high level and hasn't shown signs of slowing down. I would imagine there is a team option for the third year too or that the money is more front loaded in this deal. I'm happy with it though given Decker's play hasn't really declined much as he's aged into his 30's.

That sucks for Badgley. Always feel bad for a guy when he gets a significant injury like this.

Has any candidate ever fizzled out more on a national stage than DeSantis?

Trump has to absolutely regret picking Ohio State grad JP Mandel now right?

Listening to Harris' stump speech in Wisconsin and contrasting her fire and vigor to Joe Biden is night and day. She's making a great case against Trump and MAGA in a way Biden just wasn't. It might not mean anything in the end and she might just lose this election. But she's sure articulating and prosecuting a strong case against Trump.

Pennsylvania's Lieutenant Governor is a black, Democratic guy named Austin Davis. It seems like he would be next in line to replace Shapiro as the Governor of PA.

What parallels, if any, exist between the pleasantly surprising French election results and ours? Could the polling be wrong here too and underestimating Democrat support, while overestimating Republican support? Wishful thinking on my part?

Let's go Kamala!

Why can't we see Trump's medical evaluation from the assassination attempt?

I would think the way to handle all this is for Biden to voluntarily announce he is not running and announce he's supporting Harris for President. He can make a statement on social media over the weekend/next week. Once Biden is rested and recouped from Covid he holds a formal press conference, with Harris there with him, and announces his endorsement of Kamala Harris for President and that he's turning his campaign team/funds/apparatus over to Kamala.

I think Harris just acts as the defacto likely nominee and starts campaigning as such. Given that she can likely takeover the campaign donations that Biden has already amassed she can begin to run ads (TV, radio, digital, print) and make her case for why her over anyone else and why her over Trump.

I do have a hard time believing average voters watched much of this speech, let alone almost all two hours of it. I do worry though that the soft spoken beginning of his speech may allow people to forget the nasty, vile, dishonest, narcissistic Trump they've come to disdain.