Donkey Feed, August 19, 2018

By Michael Bryan

Strap on your feedbag and kick the traces, it’s time for your Donkey Feed.

First, a cool tool: Google has created a database of all the political candidate ads that run on its platform. This is potentially a great tool for researchers, informed citizens, and bloggers like me, turning up recent gems like this ad depicting Kelli Ward as soft on abortion, of all things! And this one claiming she’s soft on terrorism and national defense. Such fun!

Next, some graphical goodness: The odds that control of the House will flip to Democrats. Happy days! But take it with a grain of salt, 538 also gave similar odds to Clinton’s election to the Presidency…

Next, a bad-ass book I think you might like: Hans Rosling, the demographer, physician, co-founder of Medecins Sans Frontiers, and TEDTalk super-stud, has written a book making the case that the world is becoming a better, healthier, and wealthier place, despite your intuitions.

Next, viddy this my droogs: one of the Fox News valkyries thought it would be fun to poke some fun at socialist Denmark. Well, she drew a response from a Danish politician, and it’s a beautiful takedown:

Finally, my standard fundraising pitch for a bit of your filthy lucre:





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Now, just click on the “Continue Reading” and enjoy the rest of the Feed…

Arizona:

  • Martha McSally completely snubs Sen. John McCain while touting her support of the defense authorization bill bearing his name. Meghan McCain is PISSED about it, too, calling McSally’s behavior “disgraceful”.  AZCentral.
  • All three of the Democrats for Corporation Commission debate (forward the video to 11:30 time mark); as do three of the five Republicans (forward the video to 13:50 time mark); meanwhile Tom Steyer alleges foul play by APS trying to keep the alternative energy ballot initiative off the ballot.
  • Bock, Bock, Bock: Kirsten Sinema and Martha McSally both refuse to debate their primary opponents: But unless McSally gets Trump’s endorsement, she may have to – now, if she can just keep him out of Arizona…: AZCentral.
  • A profile fo the three Democratic candidates for State House Legislative District 3: Tucson Weekly.
  • A profile of the four Democratic candidates for State House Legislative District 10: Tucson Weekly.
  • A profile of Kirsten Sinema’s emergence as a force in Arizona’s Democratic politics: AZCentral.
  • Invest in Ed Initiative will stay on the ballot as the judge turns down opponents’ argument about it being misleading; of course, an appeal is imminent: AZCentral.
  • In an obvious grab for headlines that appeal to racists and immigrant-haters, GOP AZ Secretary of State candidate Steve Gaynor wants to stop printing ballots in Spanish, likely violating the equal protection provisions of both the Arizona and U.S. Constitutions; but so what, right? By the time the courts strike it down, he’ll be a hero to the right, and that’s all that matters any more to people like Steve (i.e. racist demagogues): AZCentral.
  • Over a dozen dead migrant’s remains have been found on AZ’s Barry Goldwater Bombing Range, there could be hundreds more: Democracy Now!
  • Arizona’s teens aren’t just staging “die-ins” to shame pro-gun politicians, they are registering to vote: The Guardian.
  • David Stringer (he of the terrible toup, or unsubtle dye job), running for State House in LD1, is doubling down on the racist claims that has even Doug Ducey asking for his resignation: New Times.

National:

  • What’s new in the NDAA named for Sen. John McCain? A whole lot it turns out…: Lawfare.
  • Reuters reports that more than 30% of Congressional candidates’ websites are vulnerable to cyber-attack; welcome Russians! Come mess with our mid-term elections (BoingBoing)!: Reuters.
  • Here are the 25 districts most likely to be the battlegrounds on which control of the House will be decided: FiveThirtyEight.
  • Trump is trying to obstruct justice in a new way; threatening to pull the security clearances of some of his biggest critics from the intelligence establishment – but it’s backfiring as John Brennan fires back, others stand firm with him, even daring Trump to revoke their clearances, and Trump just looks like a petty tyrant: Informed Comment.
  • The Senate passed a unanimous consent resolution stating that it is the sense of the Senate that the free press is not an “enemy of the people” but the bulwark of a free people to hold their government accountable, implicitly rebuking Trump: TPM.
  • North Carolina’s GOP stepped up their attacks on majoritarian democracy, threatening to impeach the entire state Supreme Court if they ruled against the GOP on some misleading ballot initiatives: Daily Kos.
  • Multimillionaire venture capitalist Nick Hanauer says Democrats must reclaim the economic policy middle ground in this country – by moving radically to the left: Politico.

World:

  • Portugal runs the experiment proving conclusively that neo-liberal austerity does not work to bring a debt-burdened nation back to full productivity, counter-cyclical Keynesian spending does: Truth Dig.