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@1829172165272580618 Seems supported. This is relatively easy to push through in comparison to more deep-seated problems in the country and if it lowers smoking rates, good, that's less of a cost on the health service.

Relatively nobody likes smoking, not even smokers. This is far more likely to be popular than not, it (pub gardens) is one component of various outdoor places where smoking could be banned according to this policy and the only one of those that's likely to raise eyebrows. Even then the whole environment is made far nicer by banning smoking. Coupled with the Conservative plan to phase out smoking for good returning in some form, and this should be broadly supported.

Originalists, yes. The conservatives on the Supreme Court, particularly Thomas who is originalist to the point of parody, ask 'What would the Founding Fathers do?' before applying any judicial review, and spend their time twisting the words of the Constitution to suit their preferred biases.

Six months ago I'd have said that yeah, the less reasonable among the Labour left had held those subs hostage, but mainline UK reddits are seeing an uptick in right-wing accounts that thrive on rage bait and we now have a change of government, so I can't admonish the Labour subs too much, particularly as they're now in a position where they should be getting what they wanted. Particularly as things like this are starting to come out: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/202...?srnd=undefined We spend all this time waiting for a government on the side of the worker, and then we get one that melts in the face of any opposition to businesses. Starmer's approval rating also falling to -16%.

No, but the public service pay increase was overdue and enough to bring it in line with where it probably should be - isn't really an indication of stimulating the economy to grow it... as of yet. I am expecting the budget to be very much austerity-driven though. Agree that now is the time to make harsh choices, there's a chance of them having a payoff by the time of the next election.

That's a very revisionist reading of the debate timeline in order to make it charitable to Trump. The initial schedule was one on CNN (who despite their left-leaning bias is still generally seen as a reputable news organisation), one on ABC, and particularly ABC is generally non-partisan, if you see them as favourable to the left that sorta says more about you. Trump's initial strategy was to pull out of the ABC debate on the pretense that they'd agreed to date Biden, not Harris. Then when that was obviously rebuffed, the Trump campaign come back with a previously unfloated date on the nakedly partisan and not even real news, rather 'edutainment', Fox News ahead of the debate date at the balanced venue. Only a fool would have let them change the previously agreed deal like that, and it's reaching of them to try to in the first place. But tbf none of this really matters, Harris will give plenty of interviews between now and November and no one except the terminally online and politically engaged is noticing a slight delay in getting that started. I don't pretend either to know how the debates will go, I could say both what you have about her previously panned debate style and Trump's unpredictability and I could also say that she's clearly gotten better as a speaker since 2020 and she herself is hardly the most predictable debate opponent, certainly different from Trump's previous opponents. As he continues to age into the rambling doofus he is. And hey look, I don't like that the Dem campaign is light on policy either, but a) there will absolutely be policy coming out and b) policy does not get an election campaign, particularly one as big as this going. I wish it wasn't so, but they are right at this stage to be focusing on vibes.

I agree that it's 50/50 but my priors are giving a slight lean and advantage to the Democrats, they have an easier path to 270 even if many of their states will be closer, at this point in time the only state I'm concerned about is PA, and I get the feeling that further campaigning will extend Kamala's polling lead, as that's what has happened so far in her campaign, the more people see of her, the more they like her. Not sure where you're getting dodging interviews and un-authentic campaigning from, it's Trump who's floating the idea that he'll chicken out of the debates and the general mood of comments I've seen have been favourably comparing this campaign's energy and 'positively voting for something' to the last 2 Democratic campaigns, which were awful at doing that.

flareon is basic all hail umbreon

late etc SLTindqhIpQ Liking this and 'Perfume Of The Timeless' decently, I hope this can be better than HUMAN :||: NATURE, which had some really good moments (Pan, Ad Astra), but a lot of getting overblown even for them. Gone back through their whole discography again to get me hyped for this (god Imaginaerum is just an all killer no filler #1 of all time album and Dark Passion Play and Once are nearly as good, probably both in my top 10), less than a month to go now.

? This is exactly what Labour said they would do. It's dumb and it's stupid (particularly the ruling out of increases to taxes in so many areas) and it's treating everything like a household, obsessing over the sources of money rather than its positive effects on society. Like I said before, they won't call it austerity but it'll serve the same purpose. That said, given the state of the public finances and the insistence on staying within this economic framing* they weren't left with many options once they'd straitjacketed themselves into what was left. The worst thing is the tone of this speech. It's self-defeating, to announce that pain will be felt and there's nothing to look forward to. Sure, the other extreme is worse, as we saw with the Sunak insistence that nothing is wrong, but what political strategist decided that misery and hardship was a good backdrop for Starmer to reintroduce himself as PM? and then with their decimation of the left and the centre-right the only other game in town will be Reform once this all goes to shit but I get ahead of myself *I have a solution, it's in a little book called Das Kapital The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money

Possibly a contender for album of the year? Not often you get such hit after hit of pure good synthpop. very much enjoying all of this.

let's go semi 2 I'd not normally vibe with a semi draw like that but I am very much doing so this time

IRyS - Carbonated Love DjNNpw2x2dU idk why it's called carbonated either anyway this is a Eurobeat song, or otherwise, eurodance + pop that includes Italo-disco and racing cars in an anime style. So like as much as she's a cool girl I haven't watched IRyS in years; her songs have always been semi-decent pop, but this is a bit of a swerve from her, and a whole lot of fun I've been enjoying lately.

+30 TheFatRat (feat. Laura Brehm) - Monody +29 Everything Everything - Spring / Sun / Winter / Dread +28 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July +27 CHVRCHES - Clearest Blue +26 Galantis - Runaway (U & I) +25 Grimes - Flesh Without Blood +24 Kygo (feat. Conrad Sewell) - Firestone +23 Walk The Moon - Shut Up And Dance +22 Danny L Harle - Broken Flowers +21 CHVRCHES - Leave a Trace +20 Grimes - Kill V. Maim +19 Kendrick Lamar - King Kunta +18 Disturbed - Sound of Silence +17 Hozier - Take Me To Church +16 Carly Rae Jepsen - Run Away With Me +15 Lost Frequencies - Are You With Me +14 Everything Everything - Distant Past +13 Ariana Grande - One Last Time +12 Sigala (feat. Bryn Christopher) - Sweet Lovin +11 Wolf Alice - Silk +10 Everything Everything - No Reptiles +9 Courtney Barnett - Pedestrian At Best +8 Major Lazer (feat. DJ Snake & MØ) - Lean On +7 Avicii (feat. Simon Aldred) - Waiting For Love +6 Coldplay - Adventure of a Lifetime +5 Kendrick Lamar - The Blacker The Berry +4 Lana Del Rey - High By The Beach +3 Declan McKenna - Brazil +2 Marina and the Diamonds - I'm A Ruin +1 Years & Years - King

All, probably not, I think the realistic split is something like 60R-40D (plus non-voters and peel offs to the useless campaigns the Libertarians and Greens are running at higher rates than the average voter). Which keeps the truism that it was hurting Republicans more than helping them, while sticking with the characterisation of them being mostly registered independent voters who like to see themselves as 'up for grabs' and if he does go, doesn't shift the needle anywhere near as much as the main campaign season will.

I have seen rumours of RFK pulling up his campaign but nothing concrete beyond his running mate's comments that are being run right now. I mean it's entirely possible, particularly as his whole campaign was only ever a ruse to draw votes away from Democrats that's now backfiring as Kennedy's anti-vax nonsense is only appealing to Republicans, but I don't think I had the Kennedy votes as mattering in any of the crucial swing states. Possibly Pennsylvania and Arizona taking a look now, but hey, fun thing about him doing this now and not a month ago like Biden did is that he's certified with ballot access in over half the states and removing him from those is, I believe, not now as simple as his campaign saying 'We quit', particularly as a bunch of fringe parties have 'chosen' him as their nominee (e.g. Natural Law Party in Michigan). I'd put a solid bet on him still being on at least one ballot in November. Also I think polls this early only have him high due to name recognition, he's been getting 5% in PA and 7% in AZ and I don't see that being anywhere near the case in November even if he's still in - his profile is nothing on past third-party candidates, and most of them had an actual 'party' to rally behind.

@1826049166096871821 pretty emblematic of how this DNC so far feels so much more triumphant than both the RNC and past DNCs. Joy, positivity and fun. Certainly not things I'd have accused the Democratic campaigns of 2016 or 2020 of having. AOC's speech (and union leader Shawn Fain tbh, not discounting him, actual real proper leftism at the DNC) yesterday was incredible. @1825712658164887945

@1825628906499776939 all the way from the DNC

confirmed with something a bit more dance and pop than most of my entries, eurodance, you could even say

I love this perky musical chameleon. 'Cult Following', the track that WARGASM produced, sounds like a mix of one of their tracks and a Bring Me The Horizon one and it's awesome, definitely my favourite of the new tracks, meanwhile I've realised 'Go-Getters' just sounds like a very good Ado track, and we take those. 'Tide' is a good midtempo opener (and not to put the point too hard, a bit more Japanese-style RnB if you could call it that), I never liked 'Sneaking' too much when it was originally released, but the remake she's put on this album is at least a little better, with a bit more energy to the rap. Still loving the wavey atmosphere that 'Midnight Mayoi' is bringing, and it's followed by a pop ballad plus talking rap (love when she does that), 'skeletons'. Actually, the entire back half of the album is very contemplative and relaxed, which makes the whole thing feel remarkably cohesive at the end despite the number of genres, which is one criticism I might have levelled at Sinderella and the EPs that they weren't that cohesive (still think UnAlive was cohesive by being mostly pop and bookended by the 'epic-style' tracks of UnAlive and Ouroboros). The one style she actually hasn't done this time is the 'quirky' electro-swing stuff, which as much as I enjoy the fun style of those, probably good for people taking her seriously. Good album to get a measure of her. (#1 iTunes Albums on Japan and USA Alternative, #16 on USA proper, even showing up as #122 United Kingdom woo x)

bring it, so hyped to see them now

That's great to see both Rontvia and myself finishing in the top 10 - I'd have given Casanova 12 if I could too, beautiful discovery. Thanks especially to Trifoski for the 12 and all the other votes, ly xx Called it for Jade, that was a great little song - very much enjoyed a lot of this spinoff really, the others in the top 3 were also highlights. Good concept NocheLuna, thanks for hosting.

The gall of that statement from the EBU. Utter cowardice and complete double standards. Hope AVROTROS takes them to task.

That'll be a change. I'm more naturally interested in athletics as the big ticket Olympics show, but it's always in the second week when fatigue has started to set in a little and I'm not catching as much. Interesting to see how it works the other way around. Timezones for it will probably be awful though.

Eh, I did not expect too much for this but I hope there's a bit of pick-up in the second half, was drawn to its beautiful vaporwave backing alongside the rap x 'The Domeno Effect' was a tune, good one Cow