Harris VP pick is Tim Walz

[pattylt]

Or couch fuckers.......

Same thing….

[Cavebear]

From his maiden speech...

"Donald Trump sees the world a little differently than us", Walz said.

"First of all, he doesn’t know the first thing about service. He doesn’t
have time for it because he’s too busy serving himself".

Then came a dagger. "Violent crime was up under Donald Trump", he
said, before pausing for effect. "That’s not even counting the crimes
he committed".

 —I'm guessing the second quote could be a subtle
   dig at Trump's successful draft dodging history,
   whereas Walz has actually served in the military.

I view the 2nd quite more as an unsubtle dig at Trump's criminal history and a lack of personal responsibility. And something the Harris/Walz campaign will focus on.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Or couch fuckers.......

Oh, come on, now. Have you never had a tough night where you came home from the bar empty-handed, looked at the ice-maker in your freezer, and said, "Okay, one more Bacardi and Coke, I can do this"?

Frosty is goooood ... so my friend told me. Just don't get all googly-moogly with the blender.

[Cavebear]

I never heard of Walz before he was named as Harris's VP. I really expected it would be Gov Shapiro of Pennsylvania. Shapiro could deliver an important State and he seemed like a good match for Harris. And he is only 53, which would have filled the "next generation" strategy.

I've mentioned before that I majored in Government&Politics focussing on modern US political history. My "big paper" compared the Goldwater and McGovern campaigns. And I've followed politics closely my adult life. So experience suggests to me that the VP's State is not really all that important.

Now that I have had a couple of days to learn more about Walz, seen a couple of his campaign speeches, and listened to political analysts discussing his resume, I am actually rather pleased at Harris's choice of him. He seems energetic and assertive. He has a wide variety of experience (high enlisted military honor/rank, teacher, coach, House of Representatives, Governor). He seems to be a natural, but easy-going and somewhat moderate leader. What political actions he passed seem reasonable and "people-friendly". We can use a bit more of that these days.

So, I'm on-board with him.

And it was only a few weeks ago that I had doubts about Harris. I doubted her executive experience. I doubted her international experience. I've gotten over that. She seems to be showing a high level of organizational skill. When Biden withdrew (I love him), she wheeled right into a shortened campaign with energy and skill. And from political analyst discussions, it seems she has more international experience than I realized. OK, she was standing in Biden's shadow, as a VP should.

So, I'm on-board with her too.

And she has Biden, Obama, Pelosi, and other Democrat leaders firmly supporting her. That's not always the case in a generational change of Party leadership. I'm not going to get into a discussion of Harris vs Trump or Walz vs Vance here. That will come later. But for right now, I will say that things are looking better in the US than they were a month ago!

[pattylt]

I’m surprised at how quickly and, apparently, thoroughly the Dems have rallied around Harris/Waltz. Nobody eats their own like Democrats! I’m also delighted and the excitement and positivity surround the Dems now. Like Obama…there’s genuine hope!

[SYZ]

Could this bite Walz in the arse, or is it typical
for all US states?   Is it a super bad number?

The Star Tribune collected the names and stories of everyone who died after a
physical confrontation with law enforcement in Minnesota since January 2000,
and continues to update this database as new incidents occur.

[Cavebear]

I’m surprised at how quickly and, apparently, thoroughly the Dems have rallied around Harris/Waltz.  Nobody eats their own like Democrats!  I’m also delighted and the excitement and positivity surround the Dems now.  Like Obama…there’s genuine hope!

Democrats are often viewed as either nearly Communists, dull policy wonks, or overachieving community activists. But that is mostly because they aren't really good at hardball politics and allow Republicans to define them that way. As they say "Republicans circle the wagons and Democrats form a circular firing squad". Put another way, Democrats will attack each other about a minor policy quibble and the Republicans say "We'll deal with that in Committee".

Drives me crazy sometimes. But then, I was originally a Republican who was taught to play games to win. And Gramma was lethal at cards. Showed me no mercy even when I was pre-teen. I grew up playing board games where (as in Highlander) "There can be only one". Risk, chess, backgammon, etc. No 'Candyland" in my early life.

So imagine the adults of the Gramma family and me as a teenager playing Cinch (aka Setback). It is sort of like "Bridge With Knives".

Sooooo... When an energetic activist Democrat who wants to help regular people survive the day, has carefully-cooperative international political goals, and is also willing to tear into the opposition who are just trying to make their millionaire friends richer... That's my person. And apparently, I'm not alone in that. There is a reason Democrats are excited about Harris/Walz. They have both skill and grit. And Trump just offers an evangelical/millionaire autocracy, LOL!

How could I not be excited by this surprising turn of events?

[Minimalist]

Could this bite Walz in the arse, or is it typical
for all US states?   Is it a super bad number?

The Star Tribune collected the names and stories of everyone who died after a
physical confrontation with law enforcement in Minnesota since January 2000,
and continues to update this database as new incidents occur.

241 since 2000?  That's all?


The Washington Post has a database on police killings.  It starts in 2015 and goes through yesterday.

So, in about 1/3 of the time Arizona has 443 police murders.

Texas has 951.

No wonder the Trumptards think Minnesota is a "commie state!"

[Thumpalumpacus]

Could this bite Walz in the arse, or is it typical
for all US states?   Is it a super bad number?

The Star Tribune collected the names and stories of everyone who died after a
physical confrontation with law enforcement in Minnesota since January 2000,
and continues to update this database as new incidents occur.

I don't think so.

[Minimalist]

Speaking of Walz..... this was in the Washington Post which is pay-walled usually.  You can probably get around that by turning off your java script for this site but for those for whom that is a bit too technical....


https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/...n-teacher/

[color=var(--wpds-colors-gray20)]Tim Walz’s 1993 geography class correctly predicted the next genocide[/color]

Before he was a politician, Tim Walz asked his Nebraska high school students to predict where the next genocide would occur. They correctly predicted Rwanda.

[color=var(--wpds-colors-onBackground)]The world geography project felt like just another assignment to the high school sophomores despite its ambitious scope. Their teacher, Tim Walz, had asked his 1993 Nebraska class to predict where the next genocide would occur in the world.

[color=var(--wpds-colors-onBackground)]The roughly 20 students read history books, scholarly reports and encyclopedias to make their prediction: Rwanda. The division between the Hutu and the Tutsi ethnic groups, two students recalled saying in a presentation, mirrored the conditions that preceded other genocides the class had studied.[/color][/color]


[color=var(--wpds-colors-onBackground)]Even so, some of the students in Alliance, Neb., were surprised to learn in April 1994 that a genocide against the Tutsi had begun in Rwanda.[/color]

[color=var(--wpds-colors-onBackground)]“We didn’t really expect it to happen,” Travis Hofmann, who took Walz’s class when he was a teenager, told The Washington Post on Tuesday.[/color]

[color=var(--wpds-colors-onBackground)]The lessons Walz, then in his late 20s, taught about war, colonialism and totalitarianism led the Alliance High School students to their prediction, Hofmann said. Walz, whom Vice President Kamala Harris selected as her running mate Tuesday, told the New York Times in 2008 that he wanted his students to “make the intellectual leap to figure out the reasons” behind mass murder.[/color]

[color=var(--wpds-colors-onBackground)]“You have to understand what caused genocide to happen,” Walz told the newspaper. “Or it will happen again.”[/color]

taught about war, colonialism and totalitarianism

All those things that the magamorons don't want taught in schools, any more.

I don't know about VP but this fellow would make a great Secretary of Education.

[pattylt]

Quote from Min… I don't know about VP but this fellow would make a great Secretary of Education.

I’d rather he become VP and advise Harris on who would make a great Sec. of Ed. He knows what to look for!

[Minimalist]

I hold the Vice Presidency in roughly the same respect as John Adams.

Of the vice-presidency:
My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.

John Adams

Now, Vance..... he's perfect for VP... as long as he never rises!

[pattylt]

I would agree with you except for the occasions that a president dies or is assassinated. It’s not frequent but, it’s happened and in todays political environs, also more likely.

[Dānu]

For those times, we have Gerald Fords.

[Minimalist]

I remember when Bush the Smarter was nominated and chose Dan Quayle as his VP the joke went...."if someone shoots Bush the Secret Service's job is to shoot Quayle."

Vance reminds me a lot of Quayle.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I would agree with you except for the occasions that a president dies or is assassinated.  It’s not frequent but, it’s happened and in todays political environs, also more likely.

Two of America's great presidents, HST and TR, came to office in those circumstances. On the other hand, Lincoln's murder gave the nation Andrew Johnson.

[SYZ]

I have to laugh at Trump's efforts to belittle Walz's 24-year
military career—considering he himself was a draft dodger.
              

Vance served in the Marine Corps for four years, although he
never saw combat. He served as a combat correspondent in
Iraq for five months during his short military career,

[OakTree500]

[Thumpalumpacus]

Vance's list above appears to be missing at least two decorations -- NDSM, which is awarded to all service-members who serve during time of war, and GWOT, which is awarded to all service-members who served in Iraq or Afghanistan during that conflict. BBC reports that he earned the Navy and Marine Achievement Medal as well.

ETA: after a little digging --

According to this veteran's PAC endorsement of Vance during his Senate campaign:

Cpl Vance military awards include the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, Iraqi Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Letter of Appreciation (5th award), Meritorious Mast Certificate of Appreciation, and various Campaign and Service Medals.

The "[...] and various Campaign and Service medals" seems to be gilding the lily, as it has already listed the three campaign/service medals that Vance's service would seem to merit. But the rest seems a lot more accurate than the meme's listing above.

By way of comparison, in my four years' service, I earned seven awards and ribbons, though the ribbon they gave me for completing basic training was just dumb. Giving awards for meeting expectations makes no sense to me. Anyway, Vance's record is par for the course, I think.

[epronovost]

By way of comparison, in my four years' service, I earned seven awards and ribbons, though the ribbon they gave me for completing basic training was just dumb. Giving awards for meeting expectations makes no sense to me.

How dare you not wear your "adult participation trophy" with pride?

I'm a bit miffed by the fact the army, and not just the US army, gives awards and ribbons at a higher rate than a horse riding class for children or a Mcdojo "karate" school.

[Thumpalumpacus]

By way of comparison, in my four years' service, I earned seven awards and ribbons, though the ribbon they gave me for completing basic training was just dumb. Giving awards for meeting expectations makes no sense to me.

How dare you not wear your "adult participation trophy" with pride?

I'm a bit miffed by the fact the army, and not just the US army, gives awards and ribbons at a higher rate than a horse riding class for children or a Mcdojo "karate" school.

Most of the awards are for legitimately good work, though they're entirely routine. The Good Conduct medal that both Vance and I wore were basically gimmes, though -- you had to go three years without an arrest or Article 15.

The ones I'm truly proud of are Expert Marksman, because I earned it, and USAF Outstanding Unit Award, which my squadron earned as its service supporting bomber ops in Desert Storm was deemed, well, outstanding. Being a part of such a great team was very gratifying.

[Edible crust]

Badges on chests. Ribbons. Cough cough. Our 'king' walks around with those on, the only active service he's seen is between Diana and Camilla's legs.

Edit to add that he's not my king.

[epronovost]

No wonder the Trumptards think Minnesota is a "commie state!"

Minnesota has a lower population than both these States though does it not?

[Dānu]

No wonder the Trumptards think Minnesota is a "commie state!"

Minnesota has a lower population than both these States though does it not?

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1123...opulation/

[Rhythmcs]

A fucking corporal complaining about a csms service record is peak incel.

At the very best JD is complaining about why/how no one ever made him responsible for anyone else's life. Which is just...perfect...for their "your body my choice" campaign. The reich has lost the script.