Today’s comic by Jen Sorensen is No comparison:
Today is the final day you can register by mail in Wyoming. But you can still register in person until Nov. 8
Colorado: Nov. 8 in person, Oct. 31 on line and by mail; Connecticut: Nov. 8 in person, Nov. 1 on line and by mail; Idaho: Nov. 8 in person; Illinois: Nov. 8 in person; Iowa: Nov. 8 in person, Oct. 29 on line; Maine: Nov. 8 in person; Maryland: Nov. 3 in person; Minnesota: Nov. 8 in person; Montana: Nov. 8 in person; Nebraska: Oct. 28 in person; New Hampshire: Nov. 8 in person, Oct. 29 by mail; North Carolina: Nov. 5 in person; North Dakota: No registration required; Utah: Nov. 1 on line and in person; Vermont: Nov. 2 on line, by mail, and in person; Washington: Oct. 31 in person; Washington, DC: Nov. 8 in person; Wisconsin: Nov. 8 in person.
• Shan Bauer bought a rifle and joined a border militia. And then wrote about it for Mother Jones:
Becoming a militia member began with opening a new Facebook account. I used my real name, but the only personal information I divulged on my profile was that I was married and that I had held jobs as a welder and a prison guard for the Corrections Corporation of America. A "Don't Tread on Me" flag was my avatar. I found and "liked" militia pages: Three Percenter Nation, Patriotic Warriors, Arizona State Militia. Then Facebook generated endless suggestions of other militia pages, and I "liked" those too. To keep my page active, I shared other people's posts: blogs about President Barack Obama trying to declare martial law, and threats of Syrians crossing the border. I posted memes about American flags and police lives mattering. Then I sent dozens of friend requests to people who belonged to militia-related Facebook groups. Some were suspicious of me: "Kinda have a veg profile, so I got to ask why you want to be my friend????" one messaged. Many, however, accepted my friend requests automatically. Within a couple of days, I had more than 100 friends, and virtually any militia member who looked at my page would likely find that we had at least one friend in common.
• Former Pennsylvania AG Kathleen Kane sentenced to 10-23 months in prison: The Democrat, who was elected in 2012, had faced as many as 24 years in prison for committing multiple felonies as part of a politically motivated act of retribution. She resigned after being convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in August. She will also be on probation for eight years after emerging from prison. Her attorney had argued that the loss of her law license and position was punishment enough. But prosecutors said she needed prison time because she had tarnished the AG’s office and ruined an activist’s life. After she was accused of dropping a probe into official bribery, she had leaked to the media confidential grand jury records related to the accuser. She is free on $75,000 bail while she appeals.
• On this date in 2002, Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash: The liberal senator from Minnesota, who had a passionate following, was campaigning for his third term when the private plane he was in went down, killing him, his wife, Sheila, and daughter, Marcia, as well as four others on board. On the 10th anniversary of his death, his friend Al Franken wrote about his legacy here.
• IEA reports that new global installations of renewables overtake coal: The International Energy Agency says that some 500,000 electricity-generating solar panels were installed every day last year and two wind turbines went up every hour in countries such as China. The results: renewable energy sources overtook coal as the world’s largest source of installed power capacity. As a consquence, officials greatly raised their forecasts for how fast renewable energy sources will continue to grow. “We are witnessing a transformation of global power markets led by renewables,” said Fatih Birol, IEA’s executive director.
Birol said part of the reason for that growth came about because of falls in the cost of solar and onshore windpower that were “unthinkable” just five years ago. Average costs for new onshore wind farms fell by an estimated 30 per cent between 2010 and 2015, and costs for big solar panel plants fell by 66 percent. Additional drops in price are expected over the next few years. More than 153 gigawatts of renewable electricity was installed last year alone, mostly wind and solar projects. That is more than the total power capacity in Canada and about 1.4 percent of total installed capacity.
• ABA suppresses its own report that Trump is a ‘libel bully’ for fear it would be sued for libel: It’s another example of how Trump, unsatisfied with giving the coup de grace to "parody" is fast at work killing "surreality." At issue was an article about the report in the ABA journal titled “Donald J. Trump Is a Libel Bully but Also a Libel Loser.” Various prominent ABA members had different opinions about the matter, with some being outraged and others saying the article was not published because of the title and “minor edits.” David J. Bodney, a former chairman of the media-law committee, said, “It is more than a little ironic that a publication dedicated to the exploration of First Amendment issues is subjected to censorship when it seeks to publish an article about threats to free speech.”
• On today’s Kagro in the Morning show, Greg Dworkin slings data & cracks the mystery of the “most accurate” IBD/TIPP poll. Which collapses first: House Gop leadership or the Trump brand? Trump calls disabled vets deplorable! Have I mentioned Trump World & the “alt-right” are sex cults?
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