Flashing now on my phone.

Here is the latest proof of “Pokémon Go’s” cultural reach: Two San Francisco politicians battled each other Saturday to see who could catch the most creatures that don’t really exist.

The contest involved Jane Kim and Scott Wiener, two supervisors now running for the state Senate seat that represents San Francisco. And if the face-off was all in fun, the way it was conducted offered a glimpse of the two candidates’ campaign styles — as well as the extent to which the smartphone craze has permeated the local landscape.

“You don’t realize how many people are playing until you’re part of it,” Weiner said as he waited for the results to be tallied from the two-hour quest. “I’d be near groups of people staring at their phones, sneak a peek and then realize it’s ‘Pokémon.’”

Kim challenged Wiener to the contest not long after the “Pokémon Go” app, created by local firm Niantic, became a frothy sensation in a summer dominated by more ominous news. Wiener had rebuffed other challenges from the Kim campaign, such as a pledge to avoid “defamatory attacks,” but agreed to this one promptly.

Saturday, as the supervisors waited to begin their competition at the 24th Street BART Station in the Mission, they spun their own versions of past challenges. Wiener dismissed them as “political grandstanding,” while Kim called her initiatives “serious challenges.”



http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/State-Senate-battle-between-Kim-Wiener-moves-to-8788228.php

At the end of the interview Meyer is unable to continue to focus on attacking the Democrats for the handful of Bernie supporters who booed some of the speakers, and instead goes after Trump for his disrespect for the military.

Dakota is clearly as dumb as a box of rocks, but he is at least smart enough to recognize what a terrible candidate Trump is for the Republicans, and what a terrible president he would be for the country.

That puts him at least a few IQ points ahead of his mother-in-law.




http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2016/07/dakota-meyer-on-fox-news-this-morning.html

Donald Trump lamented Friday that Hillary Clinton did not congratulate him during her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.

During a rally in Colorado Springs, Trump said he tuned in to Clinton's speech "out of curiosity" to see if Clinton would mention his name and was disappointed she didn't congratulate him for winning the GOP nomination.

"I was curious to see whether she'd do a class act and not mention my name," Trump said. "Or mention it with respect, like, say, 'I'd like to congratulate my Republican opponent for having done something that nobody has ever done in the history of politics in this nation.'"

Trump went on to say that he has been the more civil one in campaigning against Clinton because he does not join in on chants of "lock her up" when people yell them at his rallies, but that his kindness has run out.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-wished-clinton-congratulations

It might be harder to swallow than dry, unbuttered $4 toast, but all those tech elites sucking the soul out of San Francisco are such a coveted workforce that banks and lenders are willing to give them big perks when it comes to homeownership.

Folks in the tech industry whose income looks good on paper but not necessarily in liquidity are nevertheless the kind of workers whom Social Finance and San Francisco Federal Credit Union want to do business with. So much so, Bloomberg reports, that the latter is offering these people zero-down mortgages on homes selling for up to $2 million in San Francisco and San Mateo counties. First Republic Bank has even gone so far as to open branches inside the headquarters of Facebook and Twitter, while Social Finance — or the annoying shorthand SoFi — is allowed to court new hires at Google and other tech giants.

This is certainly going to piss off a lot of people, especially those who were priced out of San Francisco in recent years or who spend half their income on rent or mortgage payments. However, it really should come as no surprise that financial institutions want their customers to be wealthy (which lowers risk) and that tech has created a lot of new wealth in the Bay Area.

But a lot of that wealth is tied up in company shares, which means many people simply don’t have the $100,000 to $200,000 necessary for a down payment in a city where the median home price is more than $1 million, by far the highest in the country.


http://www.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2016/07/27/new-reason-to-despise-tech-money-mortgage-perks

Entrepreneur Mark Cuban introduced Hillary Clinton at a rally in his hometown of Pittsburgh Saturday, just one day after endorsing her for president.

"I'm ready to vote for a true leader. I'm ready to vote for the American Dream," said the "Shark Tank" star and investor. "I'm ready to tell the world that I'm here to endorse Hillary Clinton."

"I want each and every one of you to know ... in Hillary Clinton's America, the American Dream is alive and well. And there's no place that knows that better than Pittsburgh because we are an American Dream city."

Cuban has been vocal in the 2016 presidential election, mostly slamming Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for his controversial remarks and policy positions after originally applauding his campaign early on.


http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/289890-mark-cuban-joins-clinton-in-pittsburgh

Former Ohio Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland said he still has strong union support even after two major unions in his state backed his Senate race opponent.

The Ohio Fraternal Order of Police and the Ohio Conference of Teamsters this week both backed Strickland's Republican rival, incumbent Sen. Rob Portman.

The two unions that just endorsed Portman had previously backed Strickland in both his successful run for governor in 2006 and his unsuccessful bid for re-election four years later.

But Strickland announced the backing of the Ohio Association of Professional Firefighters this week as well, and his campaign has said he also has the support of labor organizations like the AFL-CIO, AFSCME and the United Auto Workers.


https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/strickland-pushes-back-on-unions-backing-portman

With a divisive campaign message that has alienated many women and Hispanics, Mr. Trump appears to have pushed several traditional swing states out of his own reach. According to strategists on both sides of the race, polling indicates that Mrs. Clinton has a solid upper hand in Colorado and Virginia, the home state of Senator Tim Kaine, her running mate. Both states voted twice for George W. Bush, who assiduously courted Hispanic voters and suburban moderates.


http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/31/us/politics/donald-trump-presidential-race.html?_r=1

Former GOP nominee Mitt Romney, who has been a frequent critic of Donald Trump, said there is a real chance Trump could win, calling Hillary Clinton an "awful candidate," BuzzFeed News reported Friday.

In an interview on the Radio Free GOP podcast recorded earlier this month, but surfaced by BuzzFeed News on Friday, Romney said that it's "very possible" Trump wins if Clinton has an "implosion."

“To be honest, it’s very possible in my view that Trump wins,” Romney said. “I wouldn’t think it’d be by a landslide, but I think he could win. I think he could lose, I think he could lose by a landslide. But, I don’t know which it’s going to be and a lot of that depends on what happens to Hillary Clinton. Is there a meltdown moment, or some implosion of some kind?”

The former GOP nominee went on to say that he finds Clinton inauthentic, and that she is attempting act like her husband, former President Bill Clinton, in order to gain votes, calling her an "awful candidate."


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/romney-trump-could-win

Enlisted personnel typically vote in line with the general public while the officer corps has been overwhelmingly Republican. Do you think 2016 will be no different, or could they move to Hillary out of fear of a batshit Commander-in-Chief?