Friday Open Thread [9.26.14]

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This is a massive polling dump that includes polls that go back to last week, polls that I have not previously posted. I have grouped all the states alphabetically, and then separated the offices of Senator and Governor. Where there are multiple polls in a particular state and office, the older polls are listed first, and newer polls are listed last. This past polling week has some good news from Arkansas, very bad news from Alaska, bad news from Colorado, and good news from Iowa and North Carolina. These Senate races are going to go down to the wire, and turnout will be the key. If our voters turnout, Dems will win all of them. If not, the GOP will win. Right now, as you will see, I have the GOP picking up 6 new Senate seats while successfully defending Kentucky and Georgia, BUT the GOP will lose Kansas. And Iowa remains too close to call. So that leaves us with 50 GOP seats, 48 Democratic seats, 1 toss up Iowa seat, and a kingmaker in Kansas. The Independent Greg Orman has said that he will caucus with whomever wins the majority. But what if that decision is up to him? If Iowa goes to the Dems, then it will be 50-49. If Orman goes with the Dems, it is 50-50 with Biden (D) the tiebreaking vote, giving the Dems the majority. If Orman goes with the GOP, it will be 51-49 GOP. Personally, I think the Dems will still win in Colorado despite this last week of bad polls there, and I think they will win in Iowa, leaving us with a 51-49 Dem Senate.
‘Bulo Presents Charlie Hunter/Scott Amendola w/the Dinkendo Family Band Tonight!

‘Bulo Presents Charlie Hunter/Scott Amendola w/the Dinkendo Family Band Tonight!

Shameless plug, and I'm totally not ashamed. I'm presenting a superb concert tonight at the Arden Gild Hall. If you show up, first drink's on me. Charlie Hunter is an amazing instrumentalist and plays a hybrid guitar/bass that has seven strings. Yes he plays both the bass and guitar parts at the same time!  He and drummer Scott Amendola have extraordinary telepathy with each other that can only happen after years of playing together.  They have been called the 'jazz scene's funkiest duo' for good reason. Come inside for more information....
The Bombing of ISIL in Syria Has Begun

The Bombing of ISIL in Syria Has Begun

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Yesterday, the bombing of ISIL targets in Syria started in earnest.. Even though there is stated coalition to take on this task, right now it seems that the US is doing the heavy lifting. No surprise, I imagine. I'm interested in this question posed by Andrew Sullivan: Does The GOP Really Give A Shit About The Debt?:
I mean: where are the fiscal conservatives now? The ISIS campaign is utterly amorphous and open-ended at this point – exactly the kind of potentially crippling government program Republicans usually want to slash. It could last more than three years (and that’s what they’re saying at then outset); the cost is estimated by some to be around $15 billion a year, but no one really knows. The last phase of the same war cost, when all was said and done, something close to $1.5 trillion – and our current travails prove that this was one government program that clearly failed to achieve its core original objectives, and vastly exceeded its original projected costs.
Desmond Tutu calls for anti-apartheid tactics in climate fight: International boycotts of climate killers

Desmond Tutu calls for anti-apartheid tactics in climate fight: International boycotts of climate killers

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This isn't getting much play in the media (naturally).
Desmond Tutu, the Nobel peace prize winner and activist, has called for an international campaign to boycott mining companies, oil corporations and other businesses involved in the trade of fossil fuels. Writing exclusively in the Observer prior to this week's UN climate summit in New York, Tutu says the same approach that was taken by the 1980s anti-apartheid campaign, of which he was a leader, should now be adopted in the battle to halt global warming. "The most devastating effects of climate change – deadly storms, heat waves, droughts, rising food prices and the advent of climate refugees – are being visited on the world's poor," he states. "Those who have no involvement in creating the problem are the most affected, while those with the capacity to arrest the slide dither. Africans, who emit far less carbon than the people of any other continent, will pay the steepest price. It is a deep injustice."
The Kids Are All Right

The Kids Are All Right

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Hundreds of students in a Colorado school district walked out of class to protest another conservative effort to rewrite history and control the information we get:
Hundreds of students walked out of classrooms around suburban Denver on Tuesday in protest over a conservative-led school board proposal to focus history education on topics that promote citizenship, patriotism and respect for authority, in a show of civil disobedience that the new standards would aim to downplay.
Got that? The conservatives in this school district want to replace an education in American History with "patriotic" indoctrination.