30 million plus absentee ballots are out .. and election “day” has begun

The 2016 election “day” has begun!

It is 46 days before Tuesday, November 8th and 25 million or more absentee ballots are in the mail for delivery to voters.

Why today? The Military and Overseas Voting Empowerment Act, passed in 2010, mandated a 45 day transit time for overseas ballots.

In response, most states have also moved the time when they send domestic absentee ballots to correspond to the 45 day timeline. The (unintended) consequence is that 30 million or more ballots hit the mails, on their way to voters, today and tomorrow.


http://earlyvoting.net/commentary/30-million-plus-absentee-ballots-are-out-and-election-day-has-begun/

Prediction for Monday's debate

Trump will lie his ass off, Lester Holt will let it slide and Hillary will be so gobsmacked by what she sees that she'll be declared the loser.

Hillary: Release the video

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is calling on the city of Charlotte to publicly release police video from Tuesday’s fatal shooting of Keith Lamont Scott.

In a Twitter post Friday, Clinton wrote: “Charlotte should release police video of the Keith Lamont Scott shooting without delay. We must ensure justice & work to bridge divides.”

The tweet is signed with an “H,” meaning that it comes from her personally.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s North Carolina campaign spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.

Clinton’s tweet follows an earlier release from Attorney General Roy Cooper, the Democratic candidate for governor.

“We must continue in the pursuit of the truth while also continuing the important work of bringing our communities and law enforcement together to build trust and safety for all. One step toward meeting both goals is for the videos in this case to be released to the public,” Cooper said in a statement released by his campaign. “Transparency between the community and our law enforcement breaks down barriers and brings progress.”

The statements follow a press conference Friday in which Charlotte city officials continued to refuse to release the video. But Police Chief Kerr Putney said, “It’s a matter of when.”


http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article103670822.html#storylink=cpy

California early voting begins on October 10.

Hillary may be a lock for our 55 electoral votes, but we still have a fully loaded ballot. We have an open senate race a ton of state ballot measures and a competitive Dem vs. Dem State Senate race here in San Francisco. Some highlights include:

Prop. 56 - Increase the tobacco tax
Prop. 57 - Criminal and juvenile justice reforms.
Prop. 58 - Allow bilingual education in public schools.
Prop. 60 - Require the use of condoms in pornographic films
Prop. 62 - Repeal the death penalty
Prop. 64 - Legalize marijuana
Prop. 67 - Prohibition on plastic single-use carryout bags


https://ballotpedia.org/California_2016_ballot_propositions

Ghost Rider!!!!! (VIDEO)

Bride's dying dog sees his person down the aisle

CNN)Charlie was Kelly O'Connell's "best fur friend."

"We had tons of adventures together," she told CNN.

So when she learned her canine companion of 15 years was dying of a brain tumor, she was devastated.

"I adopted him as a puppy," she said, "I was 19 years old."

As much as she wanted him to be with her forever, she didn't want to extend his life in suffering.

"It had been four months of watching him deteriorate," she said.

To have Charlie at her wedding in September to now-husband James Garvin was important to her. In the five years since she had met Garvin, Charlie had fit right in with Garvin and his sons.
He (Gavin) grew to love him just as much as I did," she said, "He (Charlie) was a symbol of the coming together of the family," she said.

Charlie was active and playful during the hours before the wedding.

"He was playing with kids before," photographer Jen Dziuvenis told CNN, "but the excitement and elevation was too much for him."

The Colorado wedding took place at 9,000 feet, and Charlie became tired.

So when it came time for Charlie to walk down the aisle, Katie Lloyd, the bride's sister and maid of honor, stepped in.




http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/20/health/dog-marriage-trnd/index.html?sr=twCNN092116dog-marriage-trnd0122AMStoryPhoto&linkId=29017722

Are millennials voting third party old enough to remember George W. Bush?

If they came of age under Barack Obama, do they remember what George W. Bush put the country through after another third-party candidate flipped Florida and New Hampshire away from Al Gore? Yes, they have every right to vote for whomever is on the ballot, but not all of our impulses yield positive results. I hope, at some point, they understand the potential consequences.

I can't believe Politico's turnaround this year.

Politico started off years ago as a Republican mouthpiece. Now, it in one of the more truly balanced political sites that hasn't been afraid to take Trump to the woodshed over his more outrageous lies. I hope people notice the course correction and direct traffic its way.

Joe Scarborough, Donald Trump look to repair relations

The three also discussed the possibility of conducting an interview for "Morning Joe," though nothing was decided or finalized, one of the sources said. Scarborough did not respond to a request for comment.

The meeting, which NBC and the Trump campaign both declined to comment on, comes after a summer of barbs and insults. Trump has repeatedly slammed Scarborough and Brzezinski on Twitter and even spread a rumor that the two were romantically involved. Meanwhile, Scarborough and Brzezinski have been increasingly outspoken in their criticisms of Trump. Just three weeks ago, Scarborough released a song and music video he made in which he mocked Trump as "a soft and flaccid man" with "tiny little hands" and referred to him as "Amnesty Don," a nickname he'd given Trump earlier.

he need for any rapprochement is surprising, given how close Scarborough and Trump used to be.

Throughout the Republican primaries, Scarborough was one of Trump's biggest media boosters. He praised and defended him on the show, offered campaign and debate advice in private, and even refused to rule out the idea of one day being Trump's running mate.


http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/19/media/donald-trump-joe-scarborough-mika-brzezinski-peace-talks/index.html

SF Chinatown Power Broker Rose Pak Dead At 68

Breaking news Sunday afternoon is that longtime Chinatown community leader and City Hall power player Rose Pak has died. The Examiner has word via Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who was at Pak's home this morning.

As many may have heard, Pak returned to San Francisco in May after about six months in China where she had reportedly been seeking treatment for a kidney problem. And a little over a year ago she told a reporter she was suffering from kidney failure.

Wielding the power of the Chinese-American vote in San Francisco and able to get out the vote for issues and candidates important to her neighborhood, Pak has long had a potent voice in City Hall. She's credited with helping to re-elect Peskin last year, who had previously been a termed-out supervisor in District 3, but returned to run again after a hiatus of several years.

Pak is also credited with aiding the successful mayoral campaigns of Art Agnos and Willie Brown, and helping get Mayor Ed Lee into office, first as the Board of Supervisors-appointed replacement for Gavin Newsom, when he took office as Lieutenant Governor in 2011.

Upon her return to the city in May she was met with a hero's welcome at SFO, with a contingent of multiple supervisors, the mayor, former mayor Willie Brown, and many others.


http://sfist.com/2016/09/18/chinatown_power_broker_rose_pak_dea.php