Dave Cole
@dmcole.bsky.social
Retired astronomer turned professional volunteer. PTA and lacrosse dad, local elections guru. Glendale CA.
Then they don’t have representatives in Congress, particularly the House. Terms end! We could have a 230-seat House, and a 80-seat Senate, both under D control. Sure would make impeachment easier!
January 16, 2026 at 8:08 PM
Then they don’t have representatives in Congress, particularly the House. Terms end! We could have a 230-seat House, and a 80-seat Senate, both under D control. Sure would make impeachment easier!
We don’t actually cast them by mail in CA, at least not in LA County. Instead, we drop them off in the ballot boxes that are EVERYWHERE. Nobody trusts the USPS with a ballot!
January 16, 2026 at 12:41 AM
We don’t actually cast them by mail in CA, at least not in LA County. Instead, we drop them off in the ballot boxes that are EVERYWHERE. Nobody trusts the USPS with a ballot!
Newsom MUST announce a special election date in 14 days, to be 126-140 days after the call, primary 9-10 weeks before. Election can be up to 200 days after to line up with a statewide election. The June 7 primary is 182 days away, so expect general then, primary on May 5/April 28.
January 6, 2026 at 7:38 PM
Newsom MUST announce a special election date in 14 days, to be 126-140 days after the call, primary 9-10 weeks before. Election can be up to 200 days after to line up with a statewide election. The June 7 primary is 182 days away, so expect general then, primary on May 5/April 28.
Points not made by the NYT: 1) is not and never was an explosive device; 2) buried by the time the storm was over, and so not findable then, even harder today; 3) radioactive core is metal and completely cased in metal, can’t easily dissolve into water column.
December 14, 2025 at 2:16 AM
Points not made by the NYT: 1) is not and never was an explosive device; 2) buried by the time the storm was over, and so not findable then, even harder today; 3) radioactive core is metal and completely cased in metal, can’t easily dissolve into water column.
It’s warm. By this point, it’s melted its way into the snowpack, and is many feet underground.
December 14, 2025 at 1:50 AM
It’s warm. By this point, it’s melted its way into the snowpack, and is many feet underground.
It’s a radioisotope thermoelectric generator, not a bomb. Just another click-bait headline.
December 14, 2025 at 1:33 AM
It’s a radioisotope thermoelectric generator, not a bomb. Just another click-bait headline.
Yeah, that’s the “Christian” fundraising company that deliberately does no vetting at all, and is thus the darling of all these alt-right causes.
December 9, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Yeah, that’s the “Christian” fundraising company that deliberately does no vetting at all, and is thus the darling of all these alt-right causes.
The key is gonna be how this applies to CA. The stay even notes that it strengthens CA’s case for changing maps—but will SCOTUS just find a different reason to set them aside?
December 5, 2025 at 6:56 PM
The key is gonna be how this applies to CA. The stay even notes that it strengthens CA’s case for changing maps—but will SCOTUS just find a different reason to set them aside?
Top three cities with GOP mayors are Dallas (#9), Fort Worth (#13), and Oklahoma City (#23). Dallas went for Kamala, Ft Worth for Trump, but Allred over Cruz. I think you have to go to OK City to be truly red!
December 5, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Top three cities with GOP mayors are Dallas (#9), Fort Worth (#13), and Oklahoma City (#23). Dallas went for Kamala, Ft Worth for Trump, but Allred over Cruz. I think you have to go to OK City to be truly red!
I think you have to get to Oklahoma City (23rd, 700k people) before you get one that’s truly red.
December 5, 2025 at 6:28 PM
I think you have to get to Oklahoma City (23rd, 700k people) before you get one that’s truly red.
Only city in top 10 with GOP mayor—but they also went for Kamala!
December 5, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Only city in top 10 with GOP mayor—but they also went for Kamala!
And while Fort Worth (well, Tarrant County) went for Trump, they picked Colin Allred over Ted Cruz!
December 5, 2025 at 6:22 PM
And while Fort Worth (well, Tarrant County) went for Trump, they picked Colin Allred over Ted Cruz!
Mussolini and his mistress were indeed hung upside down in a public square so that the crowds could jeer at them. That is, their bodies were hung; they had been killed by partisans a few days before.
November 28, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Mussolini and his mistress were indeed hung upside down in a public square so that the crowds could jeer at them. That is, their bodies were hung; they had been killed by partisans a few days before.
You see, while everything is tied to material conditions, “material” is not a concept you can measure or track with facts and figures. Rather, it’s a slippery subjective term which I may bend and twist as needed to support my preferred conclusion.
November 27, 2025 at 7:11 PM
You see, while everything is tied to material conditions, “material” is not a concept you can measure or track with facts and figures. Rather, it’s a slippery subjective term which I may bend and twist as needed to support my preferred conclusion.
I keep pointing out that Captain Mark Kelly outranks Major Pete Hegseth, since a Navy captain is equivalent in rank to an Army colonel. If called back to duty, it’s Mark who would be doing the inspections, not Pete!
November 25, 2025 at 7:57 PM
I keep pointing out that Captain Mark Kelly outranks Major Pete Hegseth, since a Navy captain is equivalent in rank to an Army colonel. If called back to duty, it’s Mark who would be doing the inspections, not Pete!
VA adopted winner-take-all to increase its EC clout, after which everyone else did it to defend their EC power. It would take an amendment to take that power away from the states and force them to do anything else. I suppose the states could all just agree—but that’d be harder than amendment!
November 22, 2025 at 3:46 AM
VA adopted winner-take-all to increase its EC clout, after which everyone else did it to defend their EC power. It would take an amendment to take that power away from the states and force them to do anything else. I suppose the states could all just agree—but that’d be harder than amendment!
Actually, your joke had some truth in it. TJ didn’t create the EC, but he did invent our current winner-take-all-by-state system. It wasn’t like that until he got VA to assign electors as a slate, which every state then had to adopt lest they lose EC clout.
November 22, 2025 at 3:37 AM
Actually, your joke had some truth in it. TJ didn’t create the EC, but he did invent our current winner-take-all-by-state system. It wasn’t like that until he got VA to assign electors as a slate, which every state then had to adopt lest they lose EC clout.
As you stated in your thread, the real problem with the Senate is the massive variance in population between the states. Requiring states above a certain population to subdivide would better balance the Senate, but also dilute the cultural influence of the big states. None of them want that!
November 22, 2025 at 3:30 AM
As you stated in your thread, the real problem with the Senate is the massive variance in population between the states. Requiring states above a certain population to subdivide would better balance the Senate, but also dilute the cultural influence of the big states. None of them want that!
Now, if it was Lacrosse, they’d be playing! There’s nothing like seeing the players’ breath steaming as they line up, watching them deal with a ball that no longer rolls across the field due to standing puddles of water, or witnessing them body-surf on the turf! While getting soaked in the stands!
November 16, 2025 at 5:27 AM
Now, if it was Lacrosse, they’d be playing! There’s nothing like seeing the players’ breath steaming as they line up, watching them deal with a ball that no longer rolls across the field due to standing puddles of water, or witnessing them body-surf on the turf! While getting soaked in the stands!
In actual English: Man with bat tries to enter Alina Habba’s office, returns later to ransack it.
November 14, 2025 at 1:42 AM
In actual English: Man with bat tries to enter Alina Habba’s office, returns later to ransack it.
If the states were all close to the same size, the Senate wouldn’t be a problem, it’d be like the upper chamber in the various states.
November 7, 2025 at 3:56 AM
If the states were all close to the same size, the Senate wouldn’t be a problem, it’d be like the upper chamber in the various states.
gotta love that it’s a Russian rocket…
November 7, 2025 at 3:29 AM
gotta love that it’s a Russian rocket…
Speaking as an astronomer, I love you using “epicycle” to describe this, but it’s actually giving epicycles a bad name. Introducing them demonstrably improved astrological models, which then better predicted future observations. Which is simply not true of these political models!
November 7, 2025 at 3:23 AM
Speaking as an astronomer, I love you using “epicycle” to describe this, but it’s actually giving epicycles a bad name. Introducing them demonstrably improved astrological models, which then better predicted future observations. Which is simply not true of these political models!
The map was drawn by the legislature before the election. Prop 50 gave permission to both temporarily override the redistricting commission AND institute a particular map.
November 5, 2025 at 7:13 PM
The map was drawn by the legislature before the election. Prop 50 gave permission to both temporarily override the redistricting commission AND institute a particular map.