Here's William Shatner giving acting advice to the next prime minister of Canada https://t.co/jdlM0fmHvh
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) October 20, 2015
Don’t know whether soon-to-be Prime Minister Justin Trudeau actually took Shatner’s acting tips to heart (/snark), but as an OG Trekkie, this clip amused me greatly.
***********
Apart from congratulating our neighbours, what’s on the agenda for the day?
raven
The last night in the old bedroom!!!!
Mustang Bobby
Wow, Canada. Good going.
Zinsky
Here’s to a tidal wave of liberal politicians assuming positions of power throughout the world! Go Bernie!
Amir Khalid
I imagine Canada’s new PM exclaiming: “Spock!”
NorthLeft12
@Zinsky: Nice thought, but the big L Liberal Party up here is not a progressive liberal party. They are known in Canada as being opportunistic and willing to chuck their principles at the drop of a hat to hang on or to gain power. I have been fooled by them more than a couple of times.
Having said that, I voted for them and am willing to give them a chance under new leadership to shake off old ways. They were the best choice and chance to defeat the Conservatives, and get this country back onto it’s historic track.
Should be an interesting four years or so.
danielx
Another 70 degree day! And a shit ton of work, both on the house and on an Excel spreadsheet design gig.
BillinGlendaleCA
It may get down below 60 tonight.
Joe seems puzzled that Hilbot did a southern accent, didn’t she live in Arkansas for 20 years.
mai naem mobile
The Canadian voter turnout was 71%. I think you could get a similar outcome here if we could get that kind of turnout. Pretty sure the House would flip.
raven
@BillinGlendaleCA: 37 here, I’ll have to wrap the little one in a blanky for our hike!
Rob
I just watched a two-minute clip of highlights of Harper’s concession speech. He said that while this wasn’t the result he expected, “the people are never wrong”. I thought that was nice, classy even, especially as I read that he is autocratic and secretive.
Rob
@mai naem mobile #8:
I’d really love to see a 71% turnout in the USA. It cracks me up when people in some parliamentary democracies are bemoaning low turnouts when only 70 or 65% of voters show up.
OzarkHillbilly
@NorthLeft12: Here’s hoping the new boss isn’t the same as the old boss.
NotMax
OG?
Often Grumpy?
Ornery Gorn?
Omniscient Grokker?
OzarkHillbilly
A really incompetent racist has been trying (and trying and trying and trying…) to burn down black churches in north STL. #6 on Sunday.
Amir Khalid
@NotMax:
In this context, Old Growth.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone :)
PsiFighter37
No thread on the new Star Wars trailer? I watched it at a dive bar after a work dinner, and everyone shut up for those 2 minutes to watch the trailer…kind of incredible that SW still carries that much weight with folks, even though Lucas tried his best to destroy the fandom with the prequels…
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
The burgeoning prevalence of obscure or indeterminate acronyms is becoming a total PITA.
NotMax
@PsiFighter37
Bunch of fiery explosions. Whoop-de-frackin’-do.
/curmudgeon
OzarkHillbilly
What a fvcking clown:
The chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi on Sunday accidentally leaked what he had characterized as classified information in a testy back-and-forth with the panel’s ranking Democrat, Politico reported.
Baud
@raven:
Wife finally kicking you out, eh?
NotMax
The laudable rationality of the Third Circuit Court.
Jeffro
I am really not looking forward to an entire week or more of hearing about this from right-wingers near and far…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/10/20/s-f-middle-school-delays-election-results-because-winners-not-diverse-enough/
…primarily because, just this once, they’ll be right. This is pretty ridiculous. Sigh…cue the SF and Nancy Pelosi jokes, wingers…
bystander
@NotMax: Anything that gets Moanin’ Joe’s rapt attention must be bad. My mild interest was totally squelched by Joe’s orgasm this morning. The first SW was great. All the others were childish dreck aimed at selling muppet toys. IMHO. You never know, tho, since JJAbrams is pretty talented.
Looks like people fleeced by Madoff are getting funds back.
Punchy
@NotMax: huh? Whats the context of that ruling?
NotMax
@bystander
Abrams has never met a cliche he wasn’t willing, even eager, to exploit to infinity and beyond, as it were. Originality and exposition are not in his playbook, especially not when repetition and SFX excess are available.
@Punchy
Pretty clearly laid out at the link.
OzarkHillbilly
@Punchy: In the time to type that you could have followed the link and read the first sentence and had your answer.
Patrick
@OzarkHillbilly:
Shouldn’t the GOP now call for hearings and set up an investigative Committee into the chairman and the fact that he leaked classified information?
NotMax
Several items which caught the eye.
1) Compounding the error.
2) 49 years later, still an unresolved danger.
3) For Amir.
Keith G
@NorthLeft12:
What type of skill set does Justin Trudeau bring to the leadership of a G8 state?
@Jeffro: Jeeesas. I spent a couple of decades in public Ed. (in Texas, btw) and I was very fortunate to work with many administrators who were quite well stocked with common sense and had the ability to see around corners. Thus, when I come across stories such as this, I am astounded how one could not foresee how regrettably stupid their decision is.
Really, really stupid.
Luckily for her, middle school students will forget about this within a few days, though parents will not. In high school, the reverse would be the case.
OzarkHillbilly
@Patrick: Why? Didn’t bother them when the Bush Admin was doing it.
OzarkHillbilly
You’ve Got Fail: high school students hack CIA director’s AOL account
Federal investigators are examining claims that high school students hacked CIA director John Brennan’s personal email account and published identifying information for more than 20 alleged CIA personnel.
Head? Meet desk. I await the equal outrage and smear campaign from the GOP.
raven
@Baud: Hell, I end up on the couch 6 nights of 7. As soon as I get up for a second @ 3 0r 4 the Bohdi swipes my spot. The king bed should be interesting, half the idea of the addition was to have a room big enough for it so the pups could fit!
debbie
@BillinGlendaleCA:
This reminds me of when Dana Rohrabacher criticized Bill Clinton for dying his hair gray, back in his first term, in order to look more serious.
raven
@NotMax: Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety Paperback – August 26, 2014
by Eric Schlosser (Author)
This is really good.
Another Holocene Human
@NorthLeft12: On election day NPR played a clip from the Con guy stumping and it was a bunch of Frank Luntz approved words strung together.
The Canadian Conservative Party of today aspires to be the GOP. Kick them to the curb!
Another Holocene Human
@Rob:
Hey now, the American right worked hard to disenfranchise and demoralize that many people.
(And the Democratic party in South Texas. Both sides, etc, etc)
OzarkHillbilly
@raven:
You too, huh? Between the Woofmeister and Miss Kitty, rolling over is an adventure in our house.
Another Holocene Human
@OzarkHillbilly: Why don’t they call the feds in? Isn’t that a hate crime? They didn’t find the DC arsonist until the feds started investigating b/c they had the training and the resources. They can’t find this clown because nobody’s willing to spend the fucking money to do a serious investigation.
People calling the tipline is cheap for law enforcement.
Another Holocene Human
@OzarkHillbilly: Taking attention away from Eliot Cummings’ elegant and so deserved verbal bitchslap of Gowdy this weekend. That was delicious.
“Trey” is an aristocratic (but not always) Southern name meaning “The Third”. Aren’t three generations of Gowdy’s enough?
Another Holocene Human
@NotMax: Wow. Boom. I hope that stands because I doubt this SCOTUS would write something like that.
Matt McIrvin
@PsiFighter37: When the movies became available for streaming several months ago, we watched through the original trilogy… and my daughter became obsessed with all things Star Wars. I was wondering if she’d see them as cheesy old movies Mom and Dad like, but no.
Though these weren’t the original releases, they were the most recently messed-with versions (with changes even relative to the 1990s Special Editions). Still, the stuff she was responding to most enthusiastically was all there in the originals. She liked the Ewoks, so I had to play her the original ending of Return of the Jedi off YouTube so she could hear the Yub Nub song.
She’s 9 now, about the same age I was in the summer of 1977.
Patricia Kayden
@OzarkHillbilly: Dang. Thought arson attacks against Black churches had stopped.
@Patrick: Republicans could care less about releasing classified information. Remember Valerie Plame? Whatever they are “investigating” is strictly a vain attempt to embarrass a political foe. Wonder when they’ll figure out that this whole charade is backfiring on them.
Matt McIrvin
@Jeffro: My first instinct when I hear a “political correctness gone mad” story like that is to assume it’s a lie, or somehow maliciously spun, because that’s nearly always the case. I’m half expecting to hear that the “diversity” she was worried about was actually lack of Republicans. The story is awfully weird, in any event.
Another Holocene Human
@Jeffro: Two things:
This is what happens when you have super powerful principals. The right wanted this. Now they’re mad at what the Super Saiyan principal does. In reality, principals should not have those sorts of powers.
This principal is a fool. As the article pointed out, the elected reflected the real world. As it did at the school I went to. And if that’s the case, you have to do what’s done in the real world–have a “candidate school”. Look into the reasons for lack of participation. Maybe reorganize student government with some non voting representatives from plurality demographics so they don’t go unrepresented. Another tactic would be to elect home room representatives and then elect a council out of their ranks.
Or … maybe just sit back and let the kids figure shit out on their own (with a little guidance) because this is supposed to be teaching them something.
JPL
OT.. A little humor in the morning http://www.ajc.com/gallery/news/opinion/best-luckovich-october-2015/gCXKp/
Another Holocene Human
@NotMax: I guess the premise is that Abrams really loves Star Wars and will actually care more about these movies than the Trek movies, which had enough competence to get people to watch but at the end of the day were horrifically sloppy and overtaken by suck. The second movie literally goes from some actually clever storytelling techniques at the beginning (when Cumberbatch is introduced) to complete incoherence and 2nd-grade level preachiness by the end. (“The military is bad. This movie is dedicated to our military heroes.” WTFBBQ?!?)
One choice that makes me wonder–another thing I wonder is how much time Abrams really invested into STID–is that given that the movie is basically a tortured 9/11 metaphor, he has Osama Bin Ladin (Cumberbatch) return to San Francisco where he had blown up Starfleet’s military command (like the Pentagon) and the public just stands around as he crashes a ship into yet another building, hops out, and runs away. They just idle on passively.
Now I remember what happened after 9/11. People were on fucking edge. People were tackling anybody who winked funny on an airplane. People called the cops–or enacted mob violence–on anybody being furrin in public. This guy has just crashed into a building in the same city where a terrorist fucking blew up a building. Now they don’t now he’s the same terrorist but this is post 9/11 jumpiness. THEY ARE GOING TO JUMP HIS ASS. But it gets better. So, Spock shows up, IN UNIFORM, and starts chasing Cumberbatch. The crowd continues to mill around as if they’ve been taking Soma all day. This is ridiculous. They would have started chasing Cumberbatch.
Basically, all of the people in that scene are behaving like Non-Player Characters or worse. It is really, really strange.
One of the weaknesses of Lucas’ prequels were all the melee and battle scenes with hundreds of robots that we didn’t care about.
Uh-oh.
Patricia Kayden
@Jeffro: Instead of trying to squash the election results, the Principal should have encouraged students of varying racial/ethnic groups to run as candidates. Overruling students’ votes is not a good look.
Another Holocene Human
@NotMax: Hippies need to quit it with the palm wax candles and the magic palm oil cooking regime.
But check the labels, it’s back in industrial food in a big way.
Is coconut oil any better environmentally, do you know?
Another Holocene Human
@Matt McIrvin: Yes, it is weird. Usually in an election more than one person would be tabulating election results and the executive (in this case, principal) would not be one of the tabulators.
Way to teach kids about democracy. Why didn’t the kids themselves tabulate the election?
Elizabelle
Good morning.
The NY Times has professed to be amazed, amazed we tell you about the Trudeau rout of Harper, but anyone with Canadian friends on Facebook (or Twitter) could see it coming.
They called it an “upset”, but is it truly that if the polling was indicating a Harper loss for some time now?
OzarkHillbilly
@Another Holocene Human: Not for the rainforests they chop down, or the orangutans they displace, or the air, or the….
OzarkHillbilly
@Elizabelle: Well, I’m sure it was upsetting to Harper.
Peale
@Another Holocene Human: I wonder why the school stopped having elections six years ago? Maybe the council got too powerful? Or maybe unruly parents back then made it a hassle?
Whatever. Look, madam principal. The student council lasts a year and has no power. It is more of a social club for putting on a dance or two, raising some money and teaching kids how to work under Roberts rules. But it ends every year. It’s not like there’s a set of billionaires with kookie ideas trying to buy it…or maybe there is…
rikyrah
I still don’t think he’ll win, but I want him to stick around for as long as possible in the GOP field.
…………………..
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 10/19/15
Donald Trump solidifies Republican primary lead in latest polls
Rachel Maddow looks back at how frequently the lead in the 2012 Republican primary changed hands, but notes that the 2016 race is following a different course and Donald Trump’s lead has been so consistent that political observers are beginning to believe.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/watch/trump-solidifies-lead-in-latest-polls-547611715727
Face
Open threads are fun. Anyone see the trailer for Star Wars last nite during…..football?
Amir Khalid
@NotMax:
Oy. The official prediction now is that The Haze will last well into the new year — March according to the headline over Utusan Malaysia‘s front page lead, January according to Berita Harian‘s.
Gin & Tonic
@raven: Our king is plenty spacious enough for two people, two cats and a dog, so you may be in luck.
Punchy
Filed under “Things I Had No Idea One Could Do”, Jackass Supreme Phill “2-L’s, yo” Kline is SUING the KS Supreme Court. Seriously, you can sue a Supreme Court? Who hears such a lawsuit?
ETA: It gets better. He’s been disbarred, so his gig now is teaching Law at….wait for it….Liberty University. Linky here
Punchy
@NotMax: Except your link didn’t show up on my phone. Which is why I asked.
Amir Khalid
@Another Holocene Human:
If Big Ag takes to growing coconut palms on big plantations like it does now with oil palms, no. Obviously.
ruemara
I got 2 more days before the camera rolls, I feel fat, still wrapping up storyboards and firing actors. And I can’t get more than 5 hours sleep lately. I think madness is on the agenda.
currants
@NotMax: I went for overgrown….
Another Holocene Human
Charles Johnson (the evil one) is spewing racist crazy on his blog about the latest Star Wars movie. Hilarious nut-picking here:
http://gotnwes.wheatdogg.com/?p=1311
I would quote Rage Furby’s real words but there’s no hide or spoiler tag on this blog so you’ll just have to follow the link.
Elizabelle
@ruemara: Wishing you well. Exciting and creative; keep us posted. If I was able to be in California this month (but alas, no) gave some thought to volunteering.
rikyrah
lest I remind you…he’s called ‘ the Smart One’.
…………………
Jeb Bush: Bill Clinton Made ‘Mistake’ In Approach To Osama Bin Laden
By CAITLIN MACNEAL
Published OCTOBER 20, 2015, 7:17 AM EDT
After repeatedly defending his brother, President George W. Bush, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) took an opportunity on Monday night to criticize how former President Bill Clinton addressed Osama bin Laden and the threat posed by al Qaeda.
On Fox News Monday night, Sean Hannity played an audio clip for Bush in which Clinton discussed that the U.S. could not take bin Laden when he was released by the Sudanese government in 1996 because bin Laden had not committed a crime against America, although he had made his intentions known.
Hannity said that the Sudanese “offered Bin Laden on a silver platter.” As the Washington Post noted, the commission formed to investigate the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks could not confirm that the Sudanese offered bin Laden to the U.S. government.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jeb-bush-bill-clinton-osama-bin-laden
OzarkHillbilly
@Punchy: It’s here:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/10/third-circuit-city-new-york-being-muslim-not-reasonable-suspicion-surveillance
Third Circuit to the City of New York: Being Muslim is not Reasonable Suspicion for Surveillance
Being Muslim can’t be the basis for law enforcement surveillance. That was the message from the Third Circuit on Tuesday when it told the plaintiffs in Hassan v. The City of New York that their lawsuit could go forward. The plaintiffs are suing over the New York Police Department’s suspicionless mass surveillance operation revealed by the Associated Press in 2011.
Another Holocene Human
@ruemara: I recommend vitamin C every day, and have Zinc handy too if the cold does come. (Zinc will reduce the runny nose. Don’t use nasal sprays as they can cause you to lose your sense of smell. Cheap generic pills from the vitamin aisle work just fine and quickly.)
Another Holocene Human
@Amir Khalid: You’d think there’d be an opening in the Americas for some sort of FSV certified, organic palm plantation. Throw fair trade in there too. Right? I mean, we have a market for it in cocoa in the Americas, we have a market for it in coffee. Take for example that organic shade grown Jamaican coffee. Ridiculously expensive. There is a sector of consumers willing to pay the premium.
WereBear
FYI:
today is the Birth of Bahá’í
Not a follower, but so in agreement.
Matt McIrvin
@Another Holocene Human: I remember one student-council election in high school in which they actually brought in a couple of the old electromechanical voting machines where you flip levers to vote. I think it’s the only time I’ve ever used one.
rikyrah
Latest polls cause GOP establishment to think the unthinkable
10/20/15 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen
For three months, we’ve all heard all kinds of assumptions about Donald Trump’s Republican presidential campaign. He’d peaked. His act had worn thin. His lead was simply unsustainable.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW, 10/19/15, 10:43 PM ET
Donald Trump solidifies Republican primary lead in latest polls
And yet, the latest polling continues to speak for itself. Consider the results of the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey, released last night.
1. Donald Trump: 25% (up four points from September)
2. Ben Carson: 22% (up two points)
3. Marco Rubio: 13% (up two points)
4. Ted Cruz: 9% (up four points)
5. Jeb Bush: 8% (up one point)
6. Carly Fiorina: 7% (down four points)
The remaining candidates are at 3% or lower, including Chris Christie, who has seen his support steadily drop in recent months, falling to just 1% in this poll. Trump’s 25% showing, meanwhile, represents the strongest support any GOP candidate has in any NBC/WSJ poll this year.
A new CNN poll offers similar results:
1. Donald Trump: 27% (up three points from September)
2. Ben Carson: 22% (up eight points)
3. Jeb Bush: 8% (down one point)
3. Marco Rubio: 8% (down three points)
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/latest-polls-cause-gop-establishment-think-the-unthinkable
Matt McIrvin
@Matt McIrvin:
Though this is exactly how she reacted to original-cast Star Trek (both the 1960s TV series and the bits of the movies she’s seen). She was interested enough in Star Trek: The Next Generation to watch a few episodes back-to-back once, but there wasn’t the love she has for Star Wars.
rikyrah
tee hee hee
BWA HA HA HA HA HA
……………..
The Establishment Thinks the Unthinkable: Trump Could Win the Nomination
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/425750/gop-establishment-thinks-trump-could-win
Matt McIrvin
@rikyrah: Trump seems to be holding steady, still a little below his high of the summer, but Carson is rapidly gaining. For now, at least, he’s the not-Trump candidate. Not any of the establishment guys. Rubio is gaining, modestly, but his average is still down in the single digits with the rest of the pack.
At the moment I might actually bet on Ben Carson getting the nomination.
debbie
@rikyrah:
Ah, for the good old days of true democracy, when we could imprison people for thought crimes.
OzarkHillbilly
Rep. Bubba Carpenter, R-Burnsville, just pulled the veil back on what many of us have been saying about a particular point being made by those opposed to Initiative 42.
In a speech to the Tishomingo County Midway Republican Rally, Carpenter outlined his opposition to Initiative 42. He initially used the same language as most opponents, that a Hinds County judge would be deciding the fate of public education funding. Mind you, the language being voted on does not mention Hinds County at all. And while any legal challenge to the Legislature would take place in Hinds County, it’s funny how opponents have been quick to point out everything that’s not in the amendment language but this one fact.
Many assume the “Hinds County judge” language is used as a means of saying “black judge,” though opponents have been adamant that such a claim is ridiculous, even feigning insult when the question is asked.
Enter Bubba Carpenter.
“If 42 passes in its form, a judge in Hinds County, Mississippi, predominantly black — it’s going to be a black judge — they’re going to tell us where the state education money goes,” Carpenter said.
There it is, folks. Let’s all thank Bubba Carpenter for saying what he means and illustrating to the world the filthy rhetoric that still passes for political discourse by some here.
Amir Khalid
@Another Holocene Human:
I suppose there is such a market, and not just among American consumers. You could be the one to seize this opportunity, and make your fortune! Remember me when you’re counting your billions.
benw
@Face: Yep. I’ve been trying to keep my expectations down through the first teasers. Mostly because I thought Abrams took the “Trek heart” out of the reboots and made a couple serviceable if incoherent (because time travel) action movies featuring the names of some of my favorite characters. He could easily do that with Star Wars if he misses exactly what made the originals so great. I’ve done a pretty good job not getting too worked up about the reboots, but man, old Han and Chewie are really trying to PULL ME BACK IN.
p.s. the prequels never happened.
Mandalay
@rikyrah: From the article you quote:
NBC poll:
CNN poll:
That pretty much says all we need to know about the importance and accuracy of these polls.
WaterGirl
@benw:
Neither did the last 20 minutes of LOST.
amk
@Mandalay:
apparently, these polls seem to be good enough for the pathetic msm to decide on who makes cut to the big boyz table.
Jeffro
@Matt McIrvin:
There’s a quote from a community member in the article: “Her good intentions got in the way of her common sense.”
Jeffro
@Another Holocene Human: I think one big takeaway from this is, a good discussion about diversity could have happened before the election (ideally) or before candidates were even chosen (super-ideally) but the principal was way out of line using her power like this, after the election had already been held.
As a former principal, I can’t believe she didn’t save it for discussion early the following year, and encourage parents & teachers to motivate student leaders of all backgrounds to run.
Jeffro
@Matt McIrvin: We brought one in to my last school, so that the kids could vote on a real machine while deciding on the school mascot and colors (it was a new school). They loved it and so did the folks from the Dept of Elections (and why not, right? a day spent with school kids instead of cranky adult voters who gotta get back to work?)
Another Holocene Human
@Matt McIrvin: They’re fun but it turns out they fail silently so hundreds of voters don’t know they unwittingly voted for “Irvin” while they were trying to vote for “Mary Roach” or “Herbert Clarence Dinwiddie, III”.
And now all their votes are spoiled.
debbie
Conservatives are such fickle creatures. After loving him dearly for months and months as the brains of the GOP, Glenn Beck is now dismissing the idea of Paul Ryan as House Speaker. At the same time, moderates are threatening to grab their toys and leave the sandbox if Ryan isn’t elected:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/moderates-gop-retirement-paul-ryan
It’d be bad for the country if the Teabaggers got more seats, but this is awfully fun to watch.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mandalay:
Tells me that Marco was previously at 11% in both models.
Bobby Thomson
@Mandalay: your point is not obvious. Both polls have Rubio around 11%. He’s in the second tier with Cruz, Bush, and Fiorina. It is known.
Between the two of them, Rubio and Bush don’t have enough support to win, and Bush gets less popular with increased exposure. It is known.
Unclear why the Republicans continue to indulge those not in the top 6, to say nothing of the JV, but then, O’Malley keeps getting invited to debates, too.
trollhattan
@bystander:
Are there any Madoff funds to refund? I thought it was a straight-up Ponzi scheme where he spent it as fast as it came in? How much can one auction off gold toilets and ermine sinks for?
Amir Khalid
@debbie:
I doubt that more Teabaggers in the House would make things any worse. The car’s already in the ditch. It’s not going anywhere.
redshirt
@WaterGirl:
I liked the Prequels AND the ending of Lost. So many concussions….
Iowa Old Lady
I got a phone call from the Sanders people yesterday, and was very impressed by how they lived up to the standard he’s set on not going negative. They asked if I had plans for the caucus, and I said I was supporting Clinton. Then they asked if I’d consider Sanders for my second choice which of course I would. That was it. Thanks and goodbye.
Gin & Tonic
@trollhattan: The trustee clawed back a lot.
trollhattan
@Another Holocene Human:
Cursory look shows coconut oil having a modest environmental impact compared to palm oil. A randomly selected quote:
bemused
@debbie:
Peter King is now a moderate? Oy.
If true that some Republicans are seriously considering retiring because the Crazy Caucus is impossible to work with, what does that say about the future of the party? Can the GOP climb out of the cesspool they have created? I’m not seeing any lifelines for them, not in the foreseeable future anyway.
Mandalay
@SiubhanDuinne:
It also tells you that Rubio’s support has increased by ~18% in the NBC poll, and decreased by ~27% in the CNN poll compared to the previous polls.
Which poll is correct? Or are they both just meaningless surveys produced to create bogus news and generate mouse clicks?
Matt McIrvin
@Another Holocene Human: That’s my impression too: for all the problems with touchscreen voting machines, those lever gadgets were actually worse.
For that matter, I’ve only used an electronic voting machine (not counting ballot scanners) in one election: in 1988, Virginia actually had a presidential primary instead of a caucus, and I was at home for some reason when it happened (spring break?), and I remember voting with some kind of machine with a membrane keyboard and red LEDs that lit up.
I also once used Votamatic-style butterfly ballots in a 1990s city election in Cambridge, Mass. I remember them being a little tricky and confusing to use, and it bothered me when people attributed the trouble in Palm Beach to stupid voters.
Mandalay
Why he didn’t do this months ago is beyond me….
Bobby Thomson
@Mandalay: the changes are so small in both cases they amount to noise. It’s not like a measuring tube.
sukabi
@amk: not really, they give cover for who the orb decide who will be in the debates. See first two r debates where they picked the polls to get a certain somebody in.
Another Holocene Human
@Mandalay: Do the terms “error bar” and “confidence interval” mean nothing to you? You’re literally arguing out of both ignorant sides of your mouth in this thread. Knock it off, already.
Another Holocene Human
Big Blue used to sell voting machines, and presumably lobby unwary governments into buying their crappy equipment, before Diebold, the ATM people, swooped in. (They’ve now spun off and rebranded and shit.)
There’s an easy solution for the Diebold problem: create a paper trail. Which they stubbornly refuse to do. Some jurisdictions won’t even allow a paper recount of Scantron results. Easy for a hacker with insider access to just change a few numbers….
trollhattan
@Mandalay:
We need the “Unskewed” dood to mansplain it all.
Sunday’s “On the Media” featured a lengthy interview with Gallup’s head of polling discussing their backing away from this particular type of polling and the relative value of the more common polls such as you cite. Caveat emptor seems to be the order of the day.
Brachiator
@Face:
Disney owns ESPN and wanted to use Monday Night Football to show the trailer to a non SF geek crowd. They probably got their money’s worth here.
I checked a sports site to see when half time was happening and then watched the trailers online.
Apparently they also showed the trailer multiple times to a live audience at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood. And one of the local TV stations here (owned by Disney) showed the full trailer at the end of the 11 pm news cast, after of course devoting a couple of stories to the trailer and the movie.
And then Fandango reported that its site crashed as people tried to buy advance tickets. A couple of co-workers got in and are all set for opening night weekend.
Peale
@Brachiator: Obligatory comment about how if only people were as interested in getting tickets to the mathletic competition or trying to sneak into the chess club, we’d be much better off as a society.
Matt McIrvin
@Another Holocene Human: Apart from providing an alternative for people with disabilities that prevent them from marking a ballot, I see no good reason paper ballots can’t be used everywhere. The scanned ones are less confusing and trouble-prone than most touchscreen voting machines, and allow electronic tabulation and manual recounting if necessary.
But disallowing a paper recount defeats much of the purpose of them.
Mandalay
@Another Holocene Human:
Yes they do, and you only have to look at the small print to realize that those polls are meaningless nonsense being presented as news
And WTF is this?…
Since you completely missed the point of my post I don’t think you’re in much position to be delivering lectures and hurling gratuitous abuse, you pompous jackass.
Peale
@Mandalay: I think a more interesting survey design would be to call people randomly until they found 2 people who unequivocally wanted Lindsay Graham to be President. The survey might never close.
Brachiator
@Peale:
After I saw the trailer, I talked to my nephew (on college break) about anthropology, whether “The Martian” dealt realistically with the health implications of surviving on a low gravity planet, and Star Wars. OMG Star Wars!
In this little corner of the universe, I think that society is doing fine. I think it is similarly the case with the general nerd love for Star Wars.
Relax.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@ruemara:
Well, they say you have to be a sociopath or crazy to be a film director, so …
;-)
Do what you can — if you can’t sleep, journal or do yoga or meditate. Remember that no film is worth you or anyone else getting sick or injured.
Just One More Canuck
@Elizabelle: the fact that the Liberals won was not surprising, but the fact that they won a majority was something that wasn’t realistically thought of until the last couple of days of the campaign – the polls up until last weekend were indicating a much closer race
rikyrah
@PsiFighter37:
I’ve watched it about a half-dozen times..and get goosebumps each time.
Chris
@Matt McIrvin:
I think my mom and dad probably regret showing me Star Wars at the age of 11 (they weren’t Star Wars nerds, just liked good movies and thought it was the kind I’d like), because that’s exactly how I reacted… and I’m still not over it. The ridiculously expansive novelverse helps to keep me addicted.
And the first time I saw Star Wars, it was on an old VHS from the local collection that had probably been there since the 1970s when the movie was originally released… so, even though the special editions had already been out for years, I still got to experience it in the original format. Han Shot First, indeed.
(What I’ve never done, though? See any of the original movies in a theater. I was actually kind of looking forward to the 3D rereleases for precisely that reason. I can’t help but feel that things like the battle of Endor should be experienced on the big screen at least once in one’s life).
Chris
@Another Holocene Human:
@benw:
Like I said when the topic came up a couple weeks ago… Abrams’ niche seems to be reviving old franchises (Mission: Impossible, Star Trek, now Star Wars) or old genres (Cloverfield, Super 8) that are either dormant or not what they used to be. By and large, none of those revivals have been really bad, but none have been really good either.
Chris
@Another Holocene Human:
Did people flip out when Billy Dee Williams was cast in the eighties, or Samuel L. Jackson in the 2000s?