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I guess the other was Utah. Harris’s percentage of the vote was higher than Biden’s. Trump’s share of the vote was also higher. The Libertarian Party vote collapsed. So it’s really only Washington State where Trump’s vote share didn’t grown.

He didn't say that actually. What he said was more abstract and figural, rather than literal:

The senator from South Carolina has read many books of chivalry, and believes himself a chivalrous knight with sentiments of honor and courage. Of course he has chosen a mistress to whom he has made his vows, and who, though ugly to others, is always lovely to him; though polluted in the sight of the world, is chaste in his sight—I mean the harlot, Slavery. For her, his tongue is always profuse in words. Let her be impeached in character, or any proposition made to shut her out from the extension of her wantonness, and no extravagance of manner or hardihood of assertion is then too great for this senator. The frenzy of Don Quixote, in behalf of his wench, Dulcinea del Toboso, is all surpassed.

Sumner didn't say that Butler actually was having sexual relations with his slaves. Worse, though was that Sumner mocked Butler's disability.

[He] touches nothing which he does not disfigure with error, sometimes of principle, sometimes of fact. He cannot open his mouth, but out there flies a blunder.

This was after Butler had had a stroke and couldn't speak well.

Butler made the same sort of assertions that you believe Sumner did and he escaped a beating:

According to Manisha Sinha, Sumner had been ridiculed and insulted by both Douglas and Butler for his opposition to the Fugitive Slave Law and the Kansas-Nebraska Act, with Butler crudely race-baiting Sumner by making sexual allusions to black women, like many slaveholders who accused abolitionists of promoting interracial marriage.

If Sumner had actually accused Butler of having sexual relations with his slaves, he might not have been wrong. That was certainly the case for Butler's successor, James Hammond. More details, if you dare, are here.

As senators warned at the time, Sumner did go too far, but just where the line wasn't exactly clear at the time, I doubt he deserved getting beaten to the point where he was incapacitated for over a year.

So what were the two states that went the other way? It looks like Washington State was one. What was the other?

It looks like the West Coast came through for Jill Stein and she topped RFK in votes, but after withdrawing from the race, he did get more votes than the Libertarian, and many more than Cornel West or any other minor candidate.

I hope Lurie is smarter and more decent than his Manhattan congressman cousin, but there’s no guarantee of that.

Still, they were quite an awesome force.

It certainly didn’t win her any votes.

His system might have found the winner if somebody else had graded the contenders on the various “keys” to the presidency. Lichtman thought the economy was good and Biden had no major foreign policy failures — both not true. He assumed that Biden’s policy victories were more important than they were and that they were beneficial to the country — which they weren’t. Also, he had a “key” for primary challenges to the president, but no key for the president outright being replaced with only 5 months to the election. Any system needs to take into account unexpected circumstances, and Lichtman didn’t do that.

[Insert “Goofus and Gallant” meme here]

He wouldn’t have been. He’s too unorthodox and too uncontrollable. His own relatives didn’t want him to run.

Curiously, though, the last time I checked, RFK Jr. who pulled out of the race was doing better than any other minor party or independent candidate. If he were still in the race, it could have thrown a monkey wrench into the results.

The votes from the interior are coming by Pony Express and 20 Mule Team.

Do we really need a new government department?

A new Department of Government Efficiency would be a great example of government inefficiency.

Sure, talk to Ron Paul, but you need younger people who are still active to be in charge of things.

Four years of Biden’s gerontocracy should have taught us that.

It’s Halloween, when young women dress up as a sexy this or a sexy that.

Elon will get put on a board to investigate government waste and mismanagement. As usually happens, the board will submit its recommendations — and then nothing will happen.

Are LA and Chicago really that walkable?

More walkable than Philadelphia?

Listen to him.

He made the Kessel run in under 12 parsecs.

I didn’t realize coffee was so important to Haiti. I thought of it as a sugar island. Most of Haiti’s coffee went to Europe, so I wonder if many Americans were aware of Haitian coffee.

A large part of Haiti’s problem was that the revolution chased the people who had some competence and ability out of the island. A more peaceful transition, if possible, might have been preferable.

One note: to pay off France, Haiti had to borrow money at high interest rates, so that debt to the bank wasn’t fully paid off until well after 1883.

Mexicans have no problem calling people “gordo,” “flaco,” “chino” etc. They aren’t easily offended, but as they become more Americanized they will start taking offense at things.

What’s driving get out the vote efforts in 2024?

Probably the gazillions of dollars Kamala Harris has collected.

Nobody pays attention to the Obamas now except the cat ladies.

Beyonce’s shows probably demand a lot of production. She’s not just going to sing. She’s going to dance. There’s going to be backup singers, a band or orchestra, costumes, a light show. She’s not going to make a fool of herself like Springsteen, and the Democrats weren’t going to pay for a real show.