Doubling down is only a good idea when you hold a winning hand

Wow. I really thought the economic conservative/social moderate part of the Indiana GOP was ready to take their party back and rebuild the state’s tarnished reputation. I was wrong.

Picking Holcomb to take Pence’s place on the ballot passes over other contenders who had strong business bona fides but who have avoided the social land mines that Pence repeatedly stepped on.

Democratic candidate Gregg had been running a campaign that could be summed up as “Vote for me. I’m not Mike Pence.” By picking Pence’s heir apparent — a man who has sought three public positions in the span of one year, Gregg now need only modify his campaign to “I’m not Mike Pence, but Eric Holcomb is.”

Below is a list of all of Mr. Holcomb’s successful campaigns for elected office:

Chickens something something Roost

I am disappointed to read that a police officer was denied service by an employee of a local business.

I suspect Mike Pence is disappointed that it didn’t happen in Indiana, and that the cook didn’t assert a religious basis for this act of stupidity.
Just a friendly reminder of how appalling it is when discrimination in any form is turned against people you like.

Police officer in Virginia denied service at Noodles & Company, department says

Vote your conscience or vote for change, but don’t expect both

I welcome diversity in the political area (to the extent a stage of old upper-middle class and/or wealthy white men and women can be called diverse). And so long as we avoid the insanity of a dozen voices shouting at one another à la the early GOP debates, a “big tent” for televised debates seems like a wonderful idea.

But I hope no one mistakes strong showing by alternative candidates as a chance for a pluralist system. I’m not sure that a magical combination of Abraham Lincoln, FDR, JFK, and Ronald Reagan would be able to successfully run as a third-party candidate. The structural impediments to third parties are virtually insurmountable.

That’s not to say change isn’t possible. But in this country’s national politics, the likely way to make change is by dragging one of the two major parties in the direction you’d like to go. For this reason, I think Sanders backers were right to support an unlikely candidate who far outperformed expectations. In both the short and long term, the party will be forced to co-opt the positions that most resonated with voters. This is how political change happens.

But this is also why I’m troubled by Sanders supporters (or Johnson supporters, or Stein supporters) who indicate they won’t vote, or will disperse their votes among candidates from lesser parties. You didn’t drag the Democrats as far as you’d like, but if the party perceives that your progressive votes aren’t available to it, the party will (perfectly rationally) decided that it should pursue voters it might win — such as moderate/conservatives who are upset by Trump.

Feel free to vote your conscience — there’s nothing improper about that. But understand that if you abandon the Democratic party, it’s hard to imagine why you’d be surprised when the Democratic party abandons you, too.

CNN: Invite Gary Johnson and Jill Stein To Your Presidential Forum

Abuse of the class action litigation process? By Low Carb Cory? I refuse to believe it!

Ugh. This guy.

This dude has identified and exploited the fundamental challenge to class action litigation — there is no one directly involved with the litigation that has a fiduciary relationship with the class members. It’s not crazy to expect the court to look out for them, but that’s very different than the role a judge normally plays, and it’s therefore unsurprising that courts aren’t very good at it.

Within a recent 18-month stretch, Groshek applied to 562 jobs, including one at Time Warner Cable. But it doesn’t appear he had any intention of keeping a job long-term. Instead, his aim seems to be to catch companies violating the law during the hiring process, so he can threaten a class-action lawsuit and demand a settlement.

Based on newly filed court records, his plan is working.

Documents show Groshek has used the tactic to extract at least $230,000 in legal settlements from businesses across the country.

Something I hadn’t thought of before, but this guy appears to be proceeding under the FDCPA provision that provides statutory damages (so he doesn’t have to show damages to recover). This seems like an excellent lesson in the Law of Unintended Consequences. Since statutory damages are usually intended to make litigation less onerous for would-be plaintiffs with potentially limited recovery (the same purpose as class action litigation), perhaps plaintiffs should be forced to choose between class action status or statutory damages.

This is a lot of politics, but it’s not JUST politics

Although I’m reluctant to offer a ThinkProgress.com piece as an example of fair-minded journalism (it’s a great source, just one with an avowed viewpoint as reflected in its title), but this article strikes a pretty good balance between providing context about the investigation into HRC’s email while at the State Department and getting into the tall grass.

You may not conclude that there’s not a criminal case here, but at least be armed with the specific facts, law, and history.