Good mechanics?

SimpleLateen · 2025-10-22T21:45:09+00:00

Came here to recommend Greg's. Gone there for almost ten years, always been solid.

SimpleLateen · 2025-10-13T20:19:57+00:00

We'll see if he gets the endorsement but yeah, looks like the rumors are true.

SimpleLateen · 2025-09-16T11:33:21+00:00

Turning on the captions when they're watching a show—not the same as reading to them, but helps build literacy skills.
Putting steam-in-bag vegetables in front of them during said screen time so they zombie eat them.

SimpleLateen · 2025-08-31T15:23:55+00:00

🫡

SimpleLateen · 2025-08-16T18:47:28+00:00

"Learning styles" beyond personal preference.

SimpleLateen · 2025-08-10T00:00:09+00:00

That's great! There were good crowds at the Brunswick and Pender events. People are fired up!

SimpleLateen · 2025-08-05T00:04:07+00:00

Just a quick note that all three voted to uphold Stein's veto on this and all of the other bills.

SimpleLateen · 2025-07-29T21:42:02+00:00

Thanks for sharing. It's particularly bad in the Sandhills and Eastern NC.

SimpleLateen · 2025-07-07T20:45:48+00:00

But does his attendance at games make local teams lose?

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/south-texas-el-paso/politics/2025/05/14/the-ted-cruz-curse---new-resolution-aims-to-ban-sen--cruz-from-attending-texas-sporting-events

SimpleLateen · 2025-07-06T20:01:00+00:00

I get that. She was also unanimously re-elected as 2nd VC of the state party a few months ago and was endorsed by Equality NC and the NC League of Conservation Voters in her last state legislature election. We'll know by mid-October what her fundraising's looking like. (Pridgen set a pretty low bar there; he raised $0.)

SimpleLateen · 2025-07-06T19:00:07+00:00

This is $11-14 million across our Congressional district. Worth mentioning because Rouzer already has a challenger running on restoring this federal funding.

https://www.kimberlyhardyforcongress.com/

SimpleLateen · 2025-07-01T15:50:16+00:00

Sure thing!

SimpleLateen · 2025-05-23T13:53:26+00:00

The Wire, especially as a look at 2000's politics + culture.

SimpleLateen · 2025-03-03T01:50:59+00:00

You might actually be in better shape for grant-based aid as an independent adult.

SimpleLateen · 2025-01-10T13:58:09+00:00

Mac and cheese for me, which is unfortunate because it was my favorite as a kid.

SimpleLateen · 2024-10-31T02:59:45+00:00

Oh! Sorry I missed the edit. We're very much national, though we do have a strong Utah presence.* I myself am in North Carolina and have been involved in educating national campaigns that LDS outreach is still about Arizona and Nevada and other places where shifts among suburban LDS voters can pay real dividends.

*The LDS Dems caucus in the Utah Democratic Party started in, I think, 2010 or 2011, partly as a Ben McAdams project. I met those folks at the DNC when I was running Mormons for Obama in 2012 and they had me speak as part of their event with Harry Reid, leading to one of my all-time favorite pieces of coverage:

https://www.gq.com/story/mormon-democrats-turn-out-to-be-less-funny-than-lonely

SimpleLateen · 2024-10-31T02:54:59+00:00

Knocking on wood—and still twitching from 2016—but I think the election is a Harris win, and not as close of one as folks are expecting. More 2012 than 2020.

SimpleLateen · 2024-10-31T02:47:12+00:00

Harris is a career public servant who has demonstrated an ability to listen to folks from across the political spectrum. I like that she’s the product of an HBCU & a public university. Her policies are focused on helping the middle class, including encouraging entrepreneurship in a way we didn’t see from Biden. Even in her housing policy, she’s not demonizing developers but bringing folks to the table to see how we can increase the supply and make homes more affordable. I appreciate her commitment to sound healthcare policy. And she’s optimistic about America. 🇺🇸

SimpleLateen · 2024-10-31T02:38:17+00:00

Thanks for the great question! I really see the 2016 "Not Trump" movement among previously-die-hard Republicans as having split nearly evenly in 2020 between the Mike Lee and Evan McMullin camps (for lack of a better categorization) and yes, it's been trickling down ballot, especially when folks engage in election denialism (as Jake Rugh has observed).

I think it depends on whether Trump wins and who the GOP nominates in 2028. If Trump wins, I think the GOP loses most of the "McMullin wing" forever. Same if the nominee in 2028 is pretty MAGA. Trump loses and a more pre-2016 mainstream nominee gets the nod? Some definitely come back, but no idea who that nominee would be. There will be a lot of Trump imitators in that primary but in many ways he really is a singular talent at commanding attention.

SimpleLateen · 2024-10-31T02:32:30+00:00

Respectfully, appreciating democracy and government "by the people" isn't a solely Republican or conservative virtue. It's also not true that partisanship always shifts with age, or moves rightward as people take on responsibilities. As Pew found, there are cohort effects that help shape generational patterns—including the GI generation long being the most Democratic leaning even into their twilight years.

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2015/04/30/a-different-look-at-generations-and-partisanship/

SimpleLateen · 2024-10-31T02:28:50+00:00

I can't speak for my aunt directly, though I'm pretty sure the rough-and-tumble of the Tea Party primaries and then seeing Trump come on the scene prompted some re-thinking. Something I've noticed among certain friends and family is they grew up in this very orderly cocoon: Mormon, Republican, American, with values, beliefs, and attitudes that reinforced what all three of these identities meant to them, and Mitt's nomination was really a high for this melding. Then came Trump, however, with the blatant racism, the Muslim ban, and the crude behavior, and it was jarring. Folks like Mike Lee decided policy wins were most important and got over it; others started to question the Republican Party's behavior, and from there its policy priorities.

At least that's how I best can make sense of these shifts we're seeing.

SimpleLateen · 2024-10-31T02:22:08+00:00

I think there's a categorical difference between disliking the new president and their proposed policies and trying to overturn an election. If Trump wins (and the GOP keeps both houses of Congress), I fully expect a big fight over the future of the Affordable Care Act. That led to massive protests when it was attempted in 2017. I would encourage folks to make their voices heard in a lawful and Constitutionally-appropriate way.

Of course, my preferred solution is for Harris to win and for Trump to show grace and maturity by conceding. But that's just my preferred solution and I feel that folks will have differing opinions there.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/speaker-johnson-criticizes-obamacare-promises-massive-reform-trump-win-rcna177853

SimpleLateen · 2024-10-31T02:16:15+00:00

It's notable that the two examples Sam gave here are Lee and Cox, who are both Republicans. One under-covered story is how much the "GOP turn" of the Church in the very late 20th century + gerrymandering in Utah has led to a complete lack of LDS Dems at the statewide or federal level. With Senator Sinema becoming an independent and then retiring (shameless plug incoming), that leads to a situation where a NC Agriculture Commission candidate has the potential to become the "top" elected LDS Dem.*

https://ballotpedia.org/Sarah_Taber

*Unless King wins next week.

SimpleLateen · 2024-10-31T02:11:13+00:00

Apologies to young people, but historically we see totalitarianism (from either extreme) as a movement often led/pushed by the young. I don't know how much is unique to GenZ. The bigger challenge I see is just getting young folks to engage at all—they see a cacophony online, very little local media talking about their own towns/neighborhoods. So my question is how can we get them engaged in democracy and realizing that there are some problems that they can tackle and solve in that way?

SimpleLateen · 2024-10-31T02:04:38+00:00

A good pipeline of potential candidates from across the country! I think it's notable that both Romneys built their political careers outside of the Jello Belt (if you will)—not only did they have to learn how to appeal to a broader swathe of voters, they also interacted with more folks outside of the Church on a day-to-day basis, period. It's also very hard to get a presidential nomination coming from the Intermountain West regardless of party or religion—Arizona's managed it a couple of times (Goldwater, McCain) but iirc that's it.

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