Leferd

Yeah, that's all great and everything, except for the part where only like 17-18 million people (I can't remember how many votes she got exactly, but it's somewhere around here) actually voted for Hillary in the primaries, out of about 220 million voting-eligible adults in the U.S. (or of an estimated, based on previous elections, 135 million or so people who will actually even be motivated enough to vote this election). In other words, yes, a majority (and I mean this in the most literal sense, as it's not even a supermajority) of the people who voted in the primaries for Hillary might be excited about her (...and we cannot even accurately access how excited people are about Hillary, particularly with all the revelations that were happening towards the end of the primaries as well as after...), but that's ignoring the fact that those core voters are only a fraction of the total amount of people expected to vote for her in the presidential election. Now, the biggest flaw in this argument is that these figures mostly hold true for previous primaries and candidates, too. But, well, when the combined unfavorability ratings of the two nominees are literally historical, I think it's perhaps worth considering the possibility that most people, in general, are even less excited about the prospect of voting for either candidate, and will be "voting against" their least liked candidate even more this election than in previous. That's fair. It'll be hard to gauge with limited data...but at the very least, Democratic voters (as the base of her support) do actually like her. They'll probably come out with a poll asking this very question. In other news, Johnson is getting a town hall with CNN. I'll likely watch. http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/01/politics/libertarian-town-hall-gary-johnson-william-weld/index.html

No, that's not false, I was being literal. I've got a bunch of American friends who in conversation with me over the last month have all said something along the lines of "I don't like Hilary, she's the lesser evil so I'll be voting for her because I don't want Trump as President. It's not a false argument when that's their perception and reason why they happen to be voting the way they will. The reason they think that is open to argument, but not that they said that to me. Except that you made the argument that Clinton may win the election because she is seen as the lesser of two evils when the numbers indicate instead that a clear and very strong majority of those actually voting for her view her as being favorable. Your American friends voting for Clinton in November may have those feelings, but they are in the minority when it comes to the reasons for voting with her.

This is of course, the man running Trump's campaign... This is after all, a man who was also behind despots in Africa and the Philippines. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/01/us/paul-manafort-ukraine-donald-trump.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

This is false. That's narrative we're getting from the Trump campaign, which is disingenuous. Take the Democratic Primary. Clinton received 55% of the votes --with a 12% margin of victory over Sanders. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/was-the-democratic-primary-a-close-call-or-a-landslide/ She won because a clear majority of Democrats clearly prefer her to Bernie Sanders --and not because she's the "lesser evil." And of course, there's this: The Pew survey indicates that 90% of Sanders voters will vote for Clinton and 88% of those who went back and forth on Sanders and Clinton will vote be voting for Clinton. It could be the case that many of these voters are doing it out of fear for Trump, but If voters are casting out of fear, we'd be seeing much lower percentages. Let's assume that Democrats are going to vote Clinton and using data from the above chart--as of June 12, 75% of all democrats have a favorable view of Clinton. When taken in the aggregate, a majority of all voters clearly have unfavorable views of Clinton...but among those that are going to be voting for Clinton anyway, a strong majority actually like Hillary Clinton. She's not the demonic boogie monster that voters will only reluctantly vote for.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/gun-deaths/ FiveThirtyEight's interactive gun violence database.

After the Republican National Convention, RCP's polling averages has Trump ahead by 1.2pts: Trump 40.0; Clinton 38.8; Johnson 7.3; Stein 3.0. The numbers will drastically change after the post DNC bounce is factored in the next polling rounds. Now's the best time ever for Irish gamblers who want to bet on Clinton to put money down. She's getting 1-to-2 odds to Trump's 13-to-8 at Paddypower.

This is just sad. Increasingly happening in schools all over the country. https://www.splcenter.org/20160413/trump-effect-impact-presidential-campaign-our-nations-schools#.V5zIfX0kOsA.twitter

It used to be fairly regular. Atleast when Gaider, Woo, and Priestly worked there. But then...anonymous people in the internets are jerks.

Haven't been there in a long time, and not semi-regularly since their original iteration. Context? What's been going on over there?

http://blog.bioware.com/2016/07/29/concerning-our-forums/ BioBoards going down? But, but ROMANCE!?!

It ain't fear-mongering when it's the truth. Barack Obama It's fear-mongering when your pants are on fire. Donald Trump

Amare's decline these last few years made me concerned for my own knees. Good for him getting paid and deciding to stick a fork in it.

https://theringer.com/jason-mercier-world-series-of-poker-three-bracelets-309f6886491a#.d48wwkv95 I don't want Vanessa Selbst to be forced to sell her house, but then again...I really wanted Jason Mercier to win this 180-to-1 bet.

Terrific speeches and Hillary testimonials the last few days by FLOTUS, Bernie, Bill, Biden, Kaine, and POTUS. Positivity and inclusiveness vs the doom and fear-mongering seen at the RNC. We'll see if that'll carry over to the nominal non-participants in VA, NC, PN, IA, NV, CO, OH, and FL and get them out to vote in November. I'm already pot-committed on Clinton Island so I have to be optimistic.

W Wait, what? POTUS isn't allowed to endorse or campaign for precious Senate seats when one candidate received a whopping 22% more votes than the other? Is this like them unwritten baseball rules?

Kamala Harris is the better candidate and more likely to win. PS Though her father is Jamaican, Her mother is Indian. Hence the name, Kamala.

Lols @ Chris Sale and UniformGate. https://theringer.com/chris-sale-chicago-white-sox-uniform-meltdown-bda0e9f7106c#.i3pco7j40

Well, the Irish books are currently giving Clinton 2/5 odds to Trump's 2/1 and the betting markets have at Clinton 70% to Trump's 29%. FiveThirtyEight has Clinton favored 60% to 40%. The gap is closing, as it should be.

*cough* http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/85931-us-election-2016/?p=1801005

Yep. That's the point I think. Also, the VP really shouldn't be the primary attack dog because they have to be Presidential. Let Warren and Sanders do that. Clinton feels protected from the left and already gave in to a progressive platform. Minds are mostly already made up as to candidate preference anyway. It's a case now of mobilizing voters in the battleground states. Kaine isn't the sexy pick, but he's a rock solid and likeable guy with very good credentials --Jesuit missionary, Mayor, Lt. Governor, Governor, and US Senator.

It was supposed to be He-Man (as the daughter was supposed to be obsessed with He-Man and She-Ra, so she'd have been wearing a She-Ra tiara, I think) but director Chris Columbus didn't know who He-Man and She-Ra were. Hmm. That we could make more sense. Seemed a little off that a 9(?) year old girl would be obsessed with a secondary -in popularity - Avenger. Still, the movie holds up quite well after all these years.

Adventures in Babysitting. Can't believe Thor was played by the Kingpin --who actually looked like Thor!

I didn't realize this until recently, but Ichiro has surpassed Will Clark and Barry Bonds as my favorite ballplayer. A nice profile. http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/17105389/miami-marlins-ichiro-suzuki-approaches-3000th-major-league-hit

My fandom always gets in the way. It's sports.

Testosterone and alcohol. Mutual taunting. Draymond slaps the MSU football player in the face. Cops were across the street and witnessed it. Tough guy football player pressed charges. Draymond even told the cops that he wanted to apologize to the "victim" immediately after the incident. Not like we have a Manziel, Ray Rice, or Ray MacDonald situation here.