US Politics, August 2024 -- "Unburdened By a Has-Been"

aw hell yeah, when Fetterman first came on the national scene there was a cry for more Carhartt dems but this is even better, Mossy Oak™ dems

this is genuinely really cool - on the class he taught in 1993 https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/education/23education.html

“The Holocaust is taught too often purely as a historical event, an anomaly, a moment in time,” Mr. Walz said in a recent interview, recalling his approach. “Students understood what had happened and that it was terrible and that the people who did this were monsters.

“The problem is,” he continued, “that relieves us of responsibility. Obviously, the mastermind was sociopathic, but on the scale for it to happen, there had to be a lot of people in the country who chose to go down that path. You have to make the intellectual leap to figure out the reasons why.”

So Mr. Walz took his students — Brandon Bell, the wrestler; Beth Taylor, the cheerleader; Lanae Merwin, the quiet girl always reading some book about Queen Elizabeth; and all the other children of mechanics, secretaries and a town dentist — and assigned them to study the conditions associated with mass murder. What factors, he asked them to determine, had been present when Germans slaughtered Jews, Turks murdered Armenians, the Khmer Rouge ravaged their Cambodian countrymen?

“It was different and unusual, certainly not a project you’d be expecting,” Mr. Hofmann, now 31, of Phoenix, remembered recently of the class. “The biggest part was just the freedom to explore things. No matter how abnormal or far-fetched an idea might sound, you can form an opinion. Instead of just going in and having a teacher say, ‘Here’s information, learn it, know it, you’ll be tested on it,’ it was, ‘Here’s an idea, run with it.’ ”

For nine weeks through the winter and early spring that school year, through the howling blizzards and the planting of the first alfalfa on the plains, the class pored over data about economics, natural resources and ethnic composition. They read about civil war, colonialism and totalitarian ideology. They worked with reference books and scholarly reports, long before conducting research took place instantly online.

Most, like Mr. Hofmann, had spent their entire lives in and near Alliance. A few had traveled to Washington, D.C., with the school marching band. A few had driven four hours to Denver to buy the new Nirvana CD. Mostly, though, the outside world was a place they built, under Mr. Walz’s tutelage, in their own brains.

When the students finished with the past, Mr. Walz gave a final exam of sorts. He listed about a dozen current nations — Yugoslavia, Congo, some former Soviet republics among them — and asked the class as a whole to decide which was at the greatest risk of sliding into genocide.

Their answer was: Rwanda. The evidence was the ethnic divide between Hutus and Tutsis, the favoritism toward Tutsis shown by the Belgian colonial regime, and the previous outbreaks of tribal violence. Mr. Walz awarded high marks.

aw hell yeah, when Fetterman first came on the national scene there was a cry for more Carhartt dems but this is even better, Mossy Oak™ dems

If not for his desire to become Cargo Shorts Sinema post-TBI he would have been on the VP shortlist. (and immediately rejected when the research team find the story of holding a Black jogger at gunpoint is in the first two pages of the Google search)

pretty sure bernie sanders is the bernie sanders of congress, seems like their hearts just arent in it this time

McCarthy: I served with Tim. He is known for being the Bernie Sanders of Congress pic.twitter.com/jkqLAEeVO5

— Acyn (@Acyn) August 6, 2024

Trump campaign is attacking Walz for Minnesota allowing people with felony convictions to vote, which uh …

lol yeah

the driver's licenses for undocumented people will come up for sure.. but I remember Gerry Brown here in CA just saw it as a necessary practicality, i.e. they're gonna be driving anyway, let's get them licensed, registered, insured

the Republicans are going to paint even the most conservative Dem as a frothing at the mouth Antifa pedophile terrorist so night as well do whatever you want

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:yxavlmxjv2j2nwvjesmq5ogl/bafkreihq6u6omvasphwwuwe4yyitd46fbahu7z32w47pxjkxkfcq5xt7y4@jpeg

grim

I have no idea who the 'undecided' are in this country, but the Harris/Walz ticket is already giving off the 'cool kids' fun vibe, that actually know what TikTok is... whilst the Trump ticket is looking more & more moribund, like 'okay grandpa, I'll bring your diet coke into the TV room, just be patient' kinda vibe

xp rolling out the most relevant celebs they can find

Even Matt Walsh was basically going "We are getting killed on the celeb front," which was also a fine admission of his own lack of rizz.

I am hearing reports that Shapiro put off Kamala during the interview process by using his time to talk about his experience growing up without a father and working as a community organizer in Chicago

— ettingermentum (@ettingermentum) August 6, 2024

I have no idea who the 'undecided' are in this country,

They're the people who know there's a Presidential election and probably know Harris and Trump are the candidates but have certainly never heard of JD Vance or Tim Walz -- not because they are stupid or ignorant but because like a lot of people they just don't find politics particularly relevant. Do a voter registration drive and you'll see, there are lots of people like this, people who don't vote and who see voting as something like exercising or going to church, "a lot of people do it and see virtue there, I can believe there's some benefit but it's not immediate or easy to see and it's just not a habit I'm in," it's normal!

I sorta dislike that ettingermomentum account but I gotta hand it to him, that's a zinger

xp And his mama cries
'Cause if there's one thing that she don't need
It is another hungry mouth to feed

I'm inclined to believe the reporting that Walz over Shapiro had very little to do with any policy difference between them and more with Walz's comfort at being #2 compared with Shapiro's obvious interest in being the star of the show.

no doubt a lot of different factors went into it but gotta think that shapiro supporting the same very unpopular genocide that hurt biden with the people whos votes youd like to get was at least considered

which has also been reported as having happened fwiw

i mean i wouldve picked walz just purely based on him having the juice but not everyone has a good feel for the game

One of my best friends runs a cat Cafe in downtown Orlando.

The Harris campaign (not a local Dem group, the actual Harris national campaign) contacted him to host an event there, a Childless Cat Lady fundraiser on 8/17.

They are really running with this in the best ways. I think he's beyond excited.

(Obv she's not APPEARING there but still)

Shapiro's obvious interest in being the star of the show

That seemed very evident earlier. He had the crowd going wild, but I'm glad she went with Walz (today was the first time I've heard him speak). He was very relatable; I think three months of Shapiro's "y'all"s would have worn me down.

Harris right after "If he's willing to get off of the couch."

https://i.postimg.cc/TwbGPVg2/couch.jpg

I think three months of Shapiro's "y'all"s would have worn me down.

Ha, that jumped out at me too!

Nate Cohn, who should die:

A few days ago, Donald J. Trump said vice-presidential nominees have “virtually no impact” electorally.

By selecting Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, as her running mate on Tuesday, Kamala Harris put Mr. Trump one step closer to being proved right.

these guys never interact with any normal human beings that aren't in the service industry

https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8046b486-bae7-4a86-897a-1ec81e71d569_1280x720.jpeg

aipac took out cori bush

Damn

Love how many times I've heard Friday Night Lights mentioned tonight; I can easily imagine Walz growling, "Now get the hell out of my office."

Pelosi's having two pints of $20 ice cream tonight

custom delivered from Thing & Thing

(h/t map)

Just finished watching Shapiro's stump from the VP ticket. Dude played ball in the best possible way. If anything, getting the snub and doing this just gives him the time to shore up his resume for a future run.

Watching Walz's speech, my first thought was he was the coach I wanted when I was flailing, antisocial teen trying out for a sport I had no use being in.

double the staff writer's pay that got the couch line in.

It occurs to me that I haven't seen the Democratic Party this united...ever (aside from obama's second run, I guess)?

pelosi must have the best pr in the world every time something happens she orchestrated behind the scenes, you never hear much about her in front of the scenes work tho

School friend I’ve known since I was 7 is doing a special victory lap because it turns out her eldest (Gustavus class of ‘21) is Walz’ deputy press secretary.

https://www.stereogum.com/2275060/bob-mould-celebrates-harris-walz-ticket-with-new-song-in-progress/news/

From Beto:

We became friends in Congress, going on early morning runs (in the dead of DC winter, I’m bundled in layers and he’s wearing a t-shirt and shorts), talking Minnesota music, the Replacements (Tim!), Prince, Dylan, Husker Du, and sharing stories about our families and hometowns.

i’m a fan of most of this shit and i didnt expect it to go so cringe so fast

What about it is making you cringe?

don’t stop thinkin about tomorrow

Ahhh

Should Walz confess that Stevie Nicks' Rock a Little is his favorite album by anyone, I'd propose making him emperor for life.

in honor of Steve Albini I think he should have Big Black's Songs About Fucking as his favorite album.

Songs About Fucking Couches