#vote harris if she's the nom

[ginnyrules27]

Ya'll.

Joe Biden has dropped out of the race. It most likely will be Kamala Harris as the nominee since he has endorsed her however there is still the chance of an open primary.

If Kamala is the nominee, I don't want to hear anything about her being a former DA or anything else. Those calling for Biden to drop out got what they wanted. The choice is now no longer between two 'olds'. The choice is now between Trump and whoever the Democrats choose for the nominee. And whoever that nominee is, the Democrats have to be behind them 100%.

Friendly reminder: The Democrats weren't behind Carter 100% in the 1980 election, which was one of the many reasons we got Reagan. And Reagan didn't come with the looming threat of Project 2025 and Plan 47 (or whatever it calls itself).

Side note: I don't fault Biden for stepping down. The man is 81 years old and is recovering from COVID. He even said in 2020 that he would be a transitional candidate.

Remember what is at stake in November. Remember that no matter what Trump claims about not knowing anything about Project 2025, he has met with members of the Heritage Foundation who are the ones behind 2025. Remember that Trump's team wants you not to vote (considering he and the RNC are suing Michigan gov Gretchen Whitmer for signing veterans up to vote when they go to visit the VA in Michigan.)

Hold your nose and vote Blue in November (or if you can vote earlier than that).

[vbartilucci]

The republicans are already attacking Kamala Harris pre-emptively on the chance that she'll just step up to take the nom.

If they go with someone else, there will be people upset that they didn't choose to do so. I think there's people in the party leadership that are convinced that the reason (or at least one reason) Hilary didn't win is cause she was a woman, and as such, are gun-shy to try it again, especially at this late date.

ANY change they make will somehow be played as weakness by the Republicans.

To summarize, there's no perfect checkmate move here. I simply don't think there's any magical candidate that can rise from the crop and turn the election.

Vote the party and not the candidate. If Biden has any issues, he can step down after the election. We need democrats controlling the White House and the Congress. They they can make the changes to the Supreme Court to make it more centered.

[hyenabeanz]

Can you dumb motherfuckers stop trying even now to SHAME people into voting how you want and instead talk about the good your candidate will do instead?

Fuck.

Democrats, liberals, and "leftists" can't read the room or strategize their way out of a wet paper bag.

Even now, with Biden out and Harris as a prospective new nom, I'm already seeing "yeah our guy sucks but <insert fear tactics here>"

That is not how you get people to the polls for your candidate.

That's why Trump is a threat. He is saying "this is what I'm gonna do." His followers and campaigners are going "this is what he's gonna do." THAT is what the average voter cares about. Is what he says he's gonna do lies or terrifying fascism? Yes. But when people are scared, insecure, full of despair or frustrated, they want hopeful things to cling on to, promises of change and action, what their candidate is gonna do for them, not "they suck but they suck less." And while wildly misplaced and sick, an action plan is what Trump promises, and his followers spplaud. So this shame shit isn't going to move them.

And as for those who are educated enough to see Trump as the horrific mess he is and will never vote for him, but not satisfied with the other option, shame STILL doesn't work. Because despair kills motivation. And "we suck slightly less" is just despair fuel. Why bother if everyone sucks? And no, a litany of horrors isn't motivation. We live in a litany of horrors, that ain't special. Again: Despair = hopelessness and helplessness = why bother?

Some of you may be too young to remember, but for those who aren't: Think of the Obama campaign. He wasn't some amazingly progressive angel with all the best policies (some were horrible.) But he was a hell of a speaker who promised hope. fucking learn from history. That promise, that fire for hope, got so many young people to the polls. It energized. And he won in a comparative landslide.

So Ok, you got rid of the guy who elitist donors and insufferable people on the Internet said they wouldn't vote for. K. Fresh start. Kamala ain't no Obama in terms of gifted speaker, but those of you talking about her NEED to treat this like the new opportunity it is, and start talking up the reason to be hopeful for Kamala Harris.

Here's a starter for you, for one of the big ones:

Harris has already been vocally more critical of Israel than Biden was, and did so much sooner. Has she said Free Palestine, abolish Israel? No. Of course not. No one in this election is going to. It's not gonna happen. So your options here is someone who has said they want to give Israel enough aid to turn Gaza to glass, or someone who at the very least acknowledged back in March that Israel's conduct is unacceptable. She doesn't have the personal connections to Israel that make her have a soft spot for people ordering war crimes.

I've already spent too long this evening writing this considering I mostly use Tumblr for fun stuff vs. my other social media, but that's how irritating some of y'all are being. I'd love to see and challenge others to reblog and tack on more of the reasons to vote FOR the presumptive nom here, vs. voting against the toupee'd terror.

[nullconvention]

It sounds like Biden will be forced out of the race and, if he is, Harris will almost certainly take the hotseat. I wouldn't be surprised if Clinton were the Veep, and that combo would definitely fire up a panicking base. Regardless of the VP nom, the Republicans tapped JD Vance, who has some of the worst possible politics a man can have. If you asked me what would get me to vote for Trump, the answer is nothing, but if my hand were 100% forced, it would be that JD Vance was running against him.

So the Democrats are once again handed a golden ticket, and it really only is to determined whether they'll take that lifeline or flounder. An absolutely incoherent Biden stands at solid shot at taking out Trump as it is, but if I were the leadership, I'd be too uneasy to let it stand. Biden and Trump are both so bad that people make actually have forgotten just how awful Harris is and if she stays on script people will likely keep forgetting (genuinely or willfully) until at least Trump loses. So that's what I would bet on if anyone asked - which nobody did.

[mariacallous]

And if they did replace Biden and gave the nom to Kamala would all the people now saying “anyone but Biden!!! We’ll vote blue if they get rid of Biden!!!” Actually step out and do it or would they revive the “Copala” meme and make a bunch of “ACAB” jokes (never mind that she’s not the only former prosecutor to ever run for any public office, or that they invertedly demonized Hilary for her actions as a court-appointed DEFENSE attorney…) and a billion other inaccurate falsehoods about her that are pithy and meme-able and easy to throw out in lieu of actual political discussion? Is the obsession with purity and perfection ever going to end? (Though, I think with all of Bernie’s former supporters now backtracking and turning against him, I’m not so sure)

I have no faith that Kamala Harris would be treated decently by anyone.

[womanexile]

Do you think Taylor will go to the vmas since she is nominated in a lot of categories and she's on break anyway? It's a shame Harry's only got 1 nom so prob rule out him bothering to go.

She might. TN was pushing for people to vote the other day. She might be wanting to announce something (maybe for 1989 tv). If she’s there I think we can expect something big. I don’t see HS going at all sadly.

[twopoppies]

You do realize, though, what this means for us. This stunt isn’t going away anytime soon. I was afraid it was gonna go through awards season. I mean, unless you truly can purchase a nomination, there’s no way she’ll be nominated, but I think we’re stuck with her at least until nominations come out.

If they continue to clown around during the award season then I'm sure no one will vote for them. The way they pissed people off with the stunt and put them off from watching the film, the same way they will continue to piss everyone off and make them not want to vote for them. So if they don't want their awards then they can clown around as much as they want. But they better not throw tantrums after when they don't win.

They’re not going to get nominated. I haven’t seen DWD on any predictions list, even for cinematography or costumes etc, which are the only possible categories they even remotely deserve a nom for.

But I agree. She’s completely delusional and whatever the reason this is continuing, it literally isn’t helping anyone. Least of all, Harry.

[septembersghost]

I don't understand why people are saying Taylor hates Harry now and is mad about his Grammy noms and would never vote for him for anything and stuff

i haven't seen this, but that's...silly and childish to me, and based on nothing beyond wholesale making up narratives about these people? obviously we all infer meaning and emotion based on the music/quotes/things we know, and i don't think that's hard (or even wrong) to do, but i try my best to ground that in the reality and context clues we're given. there's been absolutely nothing to speculate about in regards to this, i can't imagine a universe where taylor begrudges harry his grammy nominations for what is one of the biggest albums of the year? especially when he's done nothing publicly except show great professional respect for her talent. what?

if this is based on question, i also think it's extrapolating way too much about her intent there. saying, hey, we had something special, and somehow we kept messing it up, and it got hard, and you left, but do you ever wonder what might be different? is not even particularly harsh. question is confused/frustrated/bittersweet, but it's not anything tonally like the scathing and pained songs capturing past events that are elsewhere on the album. "you painted all my nights a color i have searched for since" is one of the warmest (non-joe related) reflections she makes. compare that to: you were the actual devil and left me traumatized for life (would've could've should've); you treated the precious thing we had like it was cheap and disposable, and it broke me for a while, and had a permanent impact (maroon - i wake with your memory over me, that's a real fucking legacy to leave); you made me feel trapped, worthless, and completely dead inside (bejeweled, high infidelity). question is downright nostalgic by comparison!

also question echoes the entirety of 1989 and nothing there in regards to harry was nearly as shattered or dark as things on speak now and red. question has elements of ootw and style and this love and ayhtdws and iwyw and ikp...it's like that record perfectly distilled in many ways, anxious and wondering. i don't feel there's harbored resentment or ruin there, just the what-if questions.

[alwaysxyou]

Always interested in your full posts on pr, marketing and english literature (lol). Please, allow your education to class up our dashes a bit!

so i don't work on either of these movies so this could be totally wrong, but i think the biggest thing that's causing frustration is that it seems like mp is being ignored and not given the campaign that dwd got. but in my opinion, that's not the right way to look at it because the campaigns seem to be very clearly designed for different goals.

dwd the goal is consumer and sales. butts in seats, get people to go to the theater and buy a ticket. no immediate streaming option, and all press was focused on trying to build buzz around the movie premiering so people would buy tickets (which based on what we know about the narcissist's deal where the more the movie makes the more money she makes, that makes sense to me). this is done through big public events with talent, shown in all major theaters, large marketing spend, pr stunts to keep it in tabloids.... get people to buy a ticket to see the movie. box office is SUPER important in this case.

my policeman the goal is awards. the box office return for premiere is not the big goal here - it's to get awards buzz and nominations. and it's doing this through positioning itself as an arthouse movie. arthouse movies and indie movies and those types of movies draw huge crowds of voters. the industry that votes for guild awards, the academy members, etc - they see the blockbusters and mainstream. but they focus on the arthouse releases. that's why you're not seeing it being released widely in your amc and regal theaters. they are being very selective about which theaters it goes to, to help build the reputation (plus they need to show it in certain amounts of theaters in NY and LA to be eligible for awards) and then it's going to be on streaming for the general public. that's why it's in so many film festivals - those are voters and the people who influence the awards races. word of mouth spreads that the movie is very well done, and the people who vote start to listen.

and that's why except for certain things, it looks like the campaign has barely happened. cause it hasn't. i was just talking to someone yesterday about certain movies that are currently listed at the top of the oscars prediction lists, and laughing cause you never want to be at the top in october. no one has seen enough yet and it's so likely things will fall as critics and awards people see more. hell as it shows with mp a ton of the movies aren't released yet - they're still in prescreening stages. you want to be on the top in january and february.

and when you have hugely in demand talent - and by that i mean literally with busy schedules demand - you use them in the way that's most effective, knowing your time is limited. that's why harry carved out time in his tour for TIFF. that's so important for him to go in person. i imagine we'll see more things like that start to pop up throughout the fall and winter months.

on that note - we'll probably also see events with other cast and no harry. that's a very good and very strategic thing! the more you can separate the notion of "this is a movie only for harry fans" the better it will do from an awards standpoint. (as opposed to dwd which needed the harry fan support for box office, making sure it was on hshq newsletters, etc) so when you add harry back into events, the people who are important to the race are taking the film seriously and are looking forward to hearing harry talk about the film as one of the main actors, and not hearing Harry StylesTM talk about it. i do think that the entire cast will have to put in the work if they want it to breakthrough and get noms, so im looking forward to seeing what they use them for coming up.

you're also seeing quite a bit of a break in between dwd and mp promo. i think that was a pointed adjustment after the dwd circus blew up even more than expected due to the shia matters. i think they had probably been planning to piggy back (talk shows tied to dwd but he gets to talk about mp, promo in the middle, etc. the timing was planned too close to be accidental) but there has definitely been a separation now. thank god. it's to help keep the seriousness around my policeman and not make it just a footnote in the dwd drama.

[newagesispage]

                                                                                  APRIL  2023

THE RIB PAGE

Trump has been indicted!! A Manhattan Grand Jury could bring possible charges of falsifying business records. Conspiracy and financial fraud.** Pence was ordered to testify in the Dominion case.

*****

Denver donated 35 bison to Native American tribes. More of that!

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Killers of the Flower Moon will premiere at the 76th year of Cannes. Tantoo Cardinal is in the cast and that is all I need to know!!

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Nick Cage will star in Sympathy for the Devil

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Maggie Mull, creator of Maggie has just signed to Disney. She has also been a writer for Dad’s, Family Guy, Life in Pieces and Not Dead Yet.

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The Night Agent was picked up for a second season. ** Harry Wild is getting ready to come back for its second as well with Jane Seymour and Rohan Nedd.

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And into March, I still heard people talking about Biden and his wife eating the same meal in a restaurant. Do these people have absolutely nothing to do? Why is this a story?

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Idaho is bringing back the firing squad.

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The Monkees episodes are coming back to a new generation on Axs tv.

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Andy Kaufman will be added to the wrestling hall of fame.

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Adam Sandler was given the Mark Twain prize this year.

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Poker Face is getting a second season!!! And Emmy noms please for Tim Meadows and Ellen Barkin! That was a great episode!!

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Will Ferrell stopped for a bite at the Rail house in Pekin, Il. while working on a project.

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A principal in Florida resigned after some parents were angry about their children seeing the statue of David.** John Leguizamo made a great comment about Jesus being nearly naked on the cross. Is that acceptable?  

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George Santos is being investigated by the ethics committee. He also made a deal in a fraud case in Brazil. He will pay damages to an elderly man he stole from that his Mother was caring for.

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“News destroyed us.” - Rupert Murdoch

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Days alert: Good-bye Jack and Jen. It is sad but there was not much story there anyway. Come back when you can figure out a way to get the paper back.** Did ya see Stefan yell out, “Bababooey?”** It really feels like old times with Bo and Hope and the gang. I am so glad to see Andrew and Paul back together!!!!!** They mentioned Seth Meyers on the show which isn’t a stretch since he is on NBC but he is the current best late night host.** I think that they should have brought the current Dr. Rolf on as Rolf’s son. **  

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Oh no.. Yamiche Alcindor has moved on from Washington Week. I will miss her soo much. I will see her on NBC and will read her book , but she was a GREAT host.

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Why does Colbert hate Mounds bars?

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I was thrilled to see Pete Holmes walk onto Night Court. He is the perfect personality to pair up with the new Judge Stone. His quip about being confused with John Ritter made perfect sense. And good to see Joanna Kerns directing!!** And speaking of directing, I was thrilled to see Osgood Perkins directing a Twilight Zone and with Colleen Camp!!!! Hooray!!!!!

*****

Some quotes about Trump that I heard this week: He is “as smart as a box of hair.” **”the savant part of Trump.”** Talking to Trump is like, “talking to a spoon.”** He is a serial business failure.** “History will hold him accountable.”- Mike Pence** He wants to invade Mexico??

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There was a big story of a clam that was given the name, Abraclam Lincoln because it was born about the same time as Lincoln. It was later found that they were way off on the age so it was a non story!

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Elon Musk is said to be buying a town in Texas.

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The Trump administration changed banking regulation liquidity requirements which helped to cause the failure of Silicon Valley bank and Signature bank. Many Dems voted for it too but not Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders.

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The Oscars came and went without much fuss this year. Jimmy Kimmell did a great job and the winners did not go on as long as usual. There was respect, something lacking everywhere as of late. It was a kinder, gentler Oscars.   I was thrilled that Brendan Fraser won. The man deserved it for Gods and Monsters but this will do!! I was also so thrilled for Jamie Lee Curtis, Ke Huy Quan, Sarah Polley and Michelle Yeow. Who were all winners. ** I thought the most beautifully dressed were Sarah Paulson, Lady Gaga, Gabrielle Union, Angela Bassett, Julia Louis Dreyfus, Seth Rogan, Lenny Kravitz, Ava DuVernay, Eva Longoria, Mindy Kaling, Kate Hudson, Janelle Monae and Jessica Chastain. Michael J. Fox received the Humanitarian award. I also like the Oscars because I hear of films I hadn’t realized I wanted to see. Now, I can’t wait to see The Boy, the Mole. The fox and the horse and I am also up for Navalny.**All quiet on the Western Front and Everything, everywhere, all at once were the big winners. To see James Hong there was also a huge treat and I smiled when I heard a shout out to the Carpenters.** At an after party, people wondered why Justin Beiber was curled up in a blanket?.

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Peacock is bringing us The Monk Movie: Monk’s Last Case!!!!!!!!! It sounds like the whole cast will be there!!!!!

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YouTube has brought Trump back but as of yet, he isn’t using any of the sites that banned them. He is pushing his “Truth” site.

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Can Micky Dolenz host SNL or how about Carl Weathers again??? I miss the old days when there were all different kinds of hosts. Lorne has become too predictable.

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Scientists are studying Beethoven’s hair to learn more about his death.

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David Sedaris made a comment that reading his books to people is the laziest form of show biz and that is all he ever wanted. I have never heard it put better. I wholeheartedly agree!!

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Give to The Drag Defense Fund!!

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I loved that female show down on Your Honor. The show is filled with top notch acting!!

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The Netflix film, I See You, was not bad but is it me or is Helen Hunt looking more and more like Eric Stoltz?

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Drew Barrymore talked with Melanie Lynskey and husband Jason Ritter about Drew and Jason’s struggle with alcohol. They both felt a fear of getting too close to someone. And let’s hope Melanie Lynskey gets some award love for Yellowjackets because she is awesome in that.

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So now some parents are bitching about Dolly Parton in school because a teacher wanted to use the song Rainbowland. I thought we could all agree on Dolly but add Miley and singing about inclusion and they bitch.

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Wes Anderson’s newest, Asteroid City, will go nationwide on June 23. The film stars his usual cast along with Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Margot Robbie and Steve Carell.

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Is there some dirty dealings going on in the Mclean Co. Illinois DCFS? There have been a lot of rumblings.

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Trump holds his first big campaign rally in Waco? That sounds about right. The only other Republican candidates so far for Pres are Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswami. Will there be more before April is over?

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R.I.P. Wayne Shorter, Peter Kelley, Tom Sizemore, Tom Whitlock, Gary Rossington, Robert Blake, Kristen Bjorklund, Topol. Jim Gordon, Lance Reddick, Joe Pepitone, John Jakes, Andy Rothman, Lynn Seymour, all the school shooting victims, Tornado victims, Darcelle, Fuzzy Haskins, Nicholas Webber, Leo D. Sullivan, Blackhawk casualties,  

[cocochannel00]

The Azoff Family: A Case Study on one of the Music Industry’s Most Connected Families

(ft. a breakdown of the Grammy voting process and problems)

This is very long so I will try and split it up into categories for everyone (sorry I got carried away- I spent like 2 hours writing this) but enjoy!

*Disclaimer: I want to preface while the majority of this is based in research, some parts may be speculation. I don’t know the family personally so I can’t tell you what goes on behind closed doors but I can tell you how parts of the entertainment/music industry work. I’ve had 5 internships in the industry (one in marketing at one of the big record labels) and the rest of my work is publicity (what I enjoy) and events and a former advisor used to run in the same circles as Irving Azoff (and he spilled some tea last year) I’m not out here to diminish the hard work of any artists or their teams, I’m simply here to showcase parts of the industry that aren’t always shown.*

Please also see: Story Time: How Fan Pages Directly Impact Columbia Records Decisions and Harry Styles Image

IRVING AZOFF: NEVER STOP THE GRIND

Let’s begin with the great business man himself Mr. Irving Azoff Irving Azoff is the literal posture child for connections and power in the music industry (he was also inducted into the 2020 rock and roll hall of fame class which is like a huge fucking deal for a manager to be inducted so you know he's the real deal)

In conclusion, I love Irving Azoff and his drive.

Irving Azoff: Early Years Run Down:

He came up middle class (dad was a pharmacist, mom a bookkeeper) in Danville, Illinois

He dropped out of college to run a small Midwestern concert-booking empire and managed local acts in the era

Opportunity came knocking and he got the chance to manage the Eagles and the rest is history

He's one of the best negotiators and has negotiated business on behalf of stars like Stevie Nicks, the Eagles, and Jimmy Buffet

Azoff has been an incredible manager and his drive to always advocate for his clients while basically not giving two sh*ts about what people think of him has gotten him the incredible reputation he has today.

All of Irving Azoff’s Major Job Positions:

Former President MCA (major label)

Former CEO of Ticketmaster and executive chairman of Live Nation Entertainment, the behemoth formed from Ticketmaster’s merger with Live Nation.

In 2013 he and Cablevision Systems Corp. CEO and New York Knicks owner James Dolan formed a partnership, Azoff MSG Entertainment (Currently still CEO)

----> Azoff also ran the Forum in Inglewood under Azoff MSG Entertainment after MSG purchased it in 2012 (it was sold in 2020 to the owner of the Clippers) — why do you think Harry played the forum for the Fine Line show? Azoff connection

Azoff MSG Entertainment encompasses all of the other companies including Full Stop Management, Global Music Rights (performance-rights org), and the Oak View Group (arena developing company)

He also is the co-founder and manager of the lobbying group Music Artists Coalition, a group that helps lobby for artists-rights issues such as royalty rates, copyright issue and healthcare insurance (see he's not all bad)

Essentially what I'm getting at is this man knows anybody who's anybody. He's the man you want on your team to help promote your music, plan your tour, and get you on that Grammy nom list.

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JEFFREY AZOFF: THE CHILD OF NEPOTISM

So for those of you that don't know, Jeffery Azoff is Harry's current manager and the son of Irving Azoff (the third of four kids). He's currently a partner at Full Stop Management, the company owned by Irving and the one artists such as Harry, Haim, the Eagles, Kings of Leon, and Meghan Trainer are signed to.

Jeffrey graduated from the University of Colorado's Leeds School of Business and started working fresh out of college at his father's old Management company (Frontline Management) working under Maroon 5's manager Jordan Feldstein (the only way you get that kind of internship/job as a 21 year old fresh out of college is if your family or family friends gives it to you). He worked here for 5 years.

Direct Quote from Irving Azoff to Jeffrey (really tells you a lot): "Listen carefully, because I’m going to say this one time. You have a phone and you have my last name. If you can’t figure it out, you’re not my son."

After working for his father, Jeffrey moved on to the talent agency CAA (Creative Artist Agency) where he worked for roughly 3 and half years before joining his dad in forming Full Stop Management in 2016.

While he was at CAA, Irving moved over clients like Christina Aguilera and the Eagles to the talent agency to help with tour booking instead of doing it internally through LiveNation (he was CEO).

Even though I'm sure Jeff has had to work somewhat hard to get to where he is (or at least to mess up his dad's work as he doesn't seem like the type to take laziness well), the door into the industry and every job was basically handed to him on a silver platter.

Not to mention if you watch episodes of keeping up with the  kardashians (like myself) you can actually see Jeff hanging out with kendall and the rest of the fam at their Palm Springs house (you know you're a nepotism kid if you have an in with the Kardashian crew). Invite me next time Jeffrey!!!

Think of the Azoff's as the mafia family of the music industry, you don't mess with the mafia

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THE GRAMMY AWARDS: STUDENT COUNCIL ELECTIONS ON STEROIDS

Ok so here's where we’re going to get into a bit more of the speculation/grey area. I don't need to tell you that award shows are corrupt (See the Golden Globes Emily in Paris scandal) and the Grammys are not an exception. Think of the Grammys as one big student council/government elections where despite the fact the teachers tell you six times to vote for the best candidate, you're still going to vote for your friends even if they aren't the best.

A simplified break-down of Grammy voting:

1) Recording Academy voting members (artists, producers, musicians- anyone involved first hand with the creation of music; All voting members must have been producers, performers or engineers on six or more tracks of a commercially released album (or 12 or more digital tracks) and record labels will submit nominations in various categories to the grammys (songs need to be released commercially between October 1 of the previous year and September 30th of this year). You can also become a voting member by either winning a grammy or being endorsed by a current voting member (hint hint)

2) Once received, the recording academy with have the academy of trustees and its reviewers organize them and approve any changes to the 30 categories/fields (aka they can add new categories or remove old ones; so no best ukulele album of the year -- this is where things get funky)

There's speculation that during this stage when these special groups of 8-10 people are organizing genres, there's an "unwritten rule" that you need to be careful what album you green light (especially for famous artists) if you don't want them to win) (Rob Kenner said this- he used to be on one of these committees). Famous people tend to get more votes from clueless or lay Academy members that don't know the specialized categories or don't care enough to listen to songs that aren't radio trending.

3) After the nominations occur, Voting members begin their first voting. Members can vote for the four general categories of record of the year, album of the year, song of the year and best new artist and a maximum of 15 categories, all within their areas of expertise. Now the interesting thing is that while these are the guidelines there is literally nothing stopping them from voting in whatever categories they want (i.g. a rapper voting in the opera category despite not listening to opera). Theses ballots are all tallied and the top 20 entries are determined in each category (funky moment #2)

In 12 of the 84 categories those top 20 go to the ballot and it's done; for the rest it’s not like that. 59 categories including the big four go to a "nomination review committees" (identities are protected so they can't get lobbied... sure) who take a look at the top 20 and narrow it down to 7 or 8. (these are the special committees the Weekend talked about when he was snubbed). They're supposed to choose the nominees "based solely on the artistic and technical merits of the eligible recordings" which lets be real if that was the case Watermelon Sugar (along with most of the others in the category) I don't think would have been nomimated as they are very generic pop (none of them are special... sorry to the WM lovers out there).

This committee is basically held to THE HONOR CODE SYSTEM... I mean tell me when the last time the honor code system worked in literally any scenario (literally wtf). Don't take my word for it though the former CEO of the Academy Deborah Dugan (a queen) filed a complaint against the Recording Academy basically claiming that the nomination review process was rigged (she was fired after 5 months on the job).

Quote from Deborah Dugan "Members of the board [of trustees] and the secret committees chose artists with whom they have personal or business relationships... It is not unusual for artists who have relationships with Board members and who ranked at the bottom of the initial 20-artist list to end up receiving nominations."

These review committees can also exploit there power by adding up to two nominees that don't appear on the top 20 list to the final voting ballot (except in the 4 big categories - which watermelon sugar that one wasn't nominated for)

They also have craft committees for like non performance stuff (like album notes, engineering and arranging) that don't even get voted on by the academy voting members

4) After all of that fucked up mess, the grammy's decided is ok, the ballots go back to the voting members for the final vote. Deloitte (an accounting firm) then counts all of them, seals them in envelopes, and delivers them to the Grammy award show.

** The Grammy's just announced this year they're removing the "secret committees" so let's see how things shift in the next couple of years**

So obviously I'm not saying this to discredit Harry's nomination or his win as Fine Line was in the US top 20 albums for the majority of 2020, however, we must acknowledge privilege. Harry has a big name to him and a huge following, and while all of that shouldn't be taken into account, it does. He also has the Azoffs, a very well connected family with friends in lots of places that would be able to put in a good word here and there to get support behind Harry. Harry won best pop solo performance for Watermelon Sugar in a category with Doja Cat, Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, and Dua Lipa. Look at the names there, the songs (ya'll can try and remember them cause I'm too lazy to write it out) and tell me that those top names with all of the music produced didn't get there through some connections.

Do with all this information what you will and if you are interested in learning more about the entertainment industry on your own Endeavor (owners of WME, a big talent agency like CAA) is hosting a free online program called the Excellence Program to help guide the future generation of industry executives. The program is a-synchronous and starts on July 12th. Highly recommend giving it a go if you're interested!!!

Alright ya'll that's it. Feel free to message me with your thoughts!

Extra Sources if you'd like to read:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkdndn/how-grammys-voting-actually-works-and-where-the-alleged-corruption-lies

https://www.grammy.com/grammys/awards/voting-process

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2020-11-05/irving-azoff-eagles-manager

https://celebrityaccess.com/caarchive/jeffrey-azoff-exits-caa-to-launch-new-management-company/

https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/features/grammy-awards-secret-committees-945532/

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/grammy-awards-eliminate-secret-committees-voting-changes-1163887/

[1ddotdhq]

❌Wed 25 Nov ‘20🎫

Harry and Louis are having another competition, clearly! This time, they’re competing for which one keeps us updaters busier - Louis won today, by the way. The tickets for his livestream went up today as promised, and, like clockwork, the Veeps website went down. Sighhhh come on, guys! We WARNED you about this - PLEASE don’t have this happen on the day of! But fear not, Louis was around and tweeting the whole time, assuring fans that it would work, and everyone could get a ticket. (It took the Intern about six hours, but I finally got mine! Discourse got it in two hours, so that’s the time discrepancy on ticket purchase time). Louis expressed his surprise that site was having issues (literally howwww??? It’s been TEN YEARS!), and said, “you’re all legends! Here we goooooo” , and told fans that we “deserve it!” - it being a chance to watch him perform lmao I stan a confident king! He also promised “one or two” surprises during the concert, said of a piece of fan art “boom! That’s fucking amazing” (it really was, congrats to the artist for a phenomenal piece), confirmed that he loved all his fans, saying yes that one and also that one to various countries for a while before presumably realizing that could continue all day if he didn't draw a line, and promised a bucket hat in his next merch drop. AND! Speaking of merch! You can get a shirt with the cool backlit stage pic they used for his new socials and the veeps background that says CREW on the back and comes with a 'crew' lanyard, or a black mask (!!!) with xx smiley face! All proceeds go to his chosen charities, so go get the merch while it LASTS!

 And now for Harry’s valiant entry to today’s competition: He won best international artist at the ARIAS!!! It’s a fan voted award, and, in a rare move, he made a thank you video to the fans for voting: “...thank you to the fans who voted for me, and for the support that you’ve given me offset the last couple of years and also the years before that. So thank you so much. I hope you’re staying safe.” You too, man! Especially with how BUSY he is going to be in the next month! And now for the “people around Harry talk about him” portion of the update: Anne reminded us that Harry used to be a (Star) baker in her Grammy congrats tweet,  Molly Hawkins posted some pictures yesterday celebrating the Grammy nomination, including one behind the scenes picture in which she had fully blacked a person out. Fans were quick to wonder why she had done that and who it could have been (Louis. People were wondering if it was Louis. There were paps and fans with cameras all over that filming but I mean sure anything is possible!) And Stevie Nicks came back to, uh, suggest a Sunflower Vol 6 music video that depicts a love story between *double checks* a flower and a bee. I wish I was making that up, but there you go - hey, at least H already has the tattoos for both parts of that story! She also goes on to say that she’s happy he decided to become a rock star and eschew the pop roots that were forced upon him in One Direction (and that he's apparently being forced to continue to celebrate and honor and enjoy in his free time mhmm), and that she has the perfect role for him in a miniseries based on Rhiannon (“a magician who doesn’t want to be king”). And in that same vein,Greg Berlanti's hot footie player husband, has signed with CAA,who is producing the upcoming My Policeman. The article says that it is “starring Harry Styles and Lily James”. The last we had heard about this, they were in negotiations... is this an update or simply careless phrasing? Seems a done deal either way, so let's have that exciting announcement! Or not, we do have a lot of other excitement to keep us busy right now.

Niall is being funny on twitter again, making fun of Trump with an “I WON THE GRAMMYS” tweet which landed really well with me and so I'm excited to report it! He also says that he wasn’t snubbed by the Grammys, “I’ll make the music and it’s ok if they decide it’s not Grammy worthy this year, I’ll try my best and hopefully it happens next time or another year.” It was a show of grace, sense, and maturity, love to see it. Also, his merch is 25% off today, and it’s all super high quality, so now’s your chance to get some at, well, cheapER prices anyway. And Liam’s thirst traps are BACK: Liam posted a shirtless selfie with necklaces around his neck and a few tattoos on display, and uh, a really YOUNG looking Maya making a silly face in the background. I don’t say this a lot, but sometimes I am reminded of how she is not even twenty years old, and it is...disconcerting. The picture is captioned “Work starts in 8 hours” and I HOPE that means work on his Christmas concert, which will go really well, if Naughty List is any indication: the song has been number 1 on the Top Triller US Charts for two weeks!

(update from Discourse: there was an error in early versions of yesterday's post, apologies to anyone who saw that one-- Harry is not the first member of 1D to receive a Grammy nod, that was technically Zayn, who hit so many of those milestones first, but Harry got the first solo noms and is well positioned to become the first winner amongst them, get in Harry! )

[haylorinthewoods]

I can see the Grammys snubbing Taylor...I read an article where it said she might not get a nom for AOTY because the committe will vote for her and she will win and they cant have a woman joining Frank Sinatra and all those men in that category of having 3 albums win AOTY. We will see tho...I dont think you have to worry about Harry lol...he most likely will do good.

It’s really hard to predict, I mean, I think Harry has a really really good chance at being nominated for a few different categories.  Of course I’d love for him to get an AOTY nom, but he could also snag Pop Vocal and/or Pop Solo performance.  But also.................I’M NERVOUS???  He literally gets snubbed for everything, I swear.  I personally think Taylor has a better chance at getting nominated with Folklore but who KNOWS.

[therockerfromspace]

What the hell is going on with the Grammys - a massive master post.

 Buckle up; this is a mess.

So as we all know, Grammy nominations came out on Tuesday. And... whew there’s a lot to unpack. So this master post is (hopefully) going to explain all the different strands of this. 

A disclaimer before we start: this is in no way bashing the artists who have been nominated. I am sure they all work immensely hard and although they submit themselves, most of them have 0 say in the nominations process. For the love of God - we’re not going after any individual artist. 

(also, just for clarity and conciseness: this post is going to focus on the “Big 4″ in terms of nominations - Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of The Year and Album of the Year). 

So - Best New Artist. As a category I’m happy with all the nominees - the criteria is weird as hell though (basically you can just keep submitting yourself up to 3 times? and it doesn’t matter how far into your career you are? ok I guess). I’d love for Phoebe Bridgers or Megan Thee Stallion to take it personally, but I’m happy with all the nominees. It’d be nice to see Blackpink get an acknowledgement but they could end up getting nominated next year because of eligibility dates. So yeah, no major issues with Best New Artist. 

Just to clarify before we move on - Wikipedia has better definition of the difference between SOTY and ROTY so I’m just going to paste it here:

Record of the Year is awarded for a single or for one track from an album. This award goes to the performing artist, the producer, recording engineer and/or mixer for that song. In this sense, "record" means a particular recorded song, not its composition or an album of songs.

Song of the Year is also awarded for a single or individual track, but the recipient of this award is the songwriter who actually wrote the lyrics and/or melodies to the song. "Song" in this context means the song as composed, not its recording

ROTY: Record of the year ... it’s very safe. Rockstar, Say So, Everything I Wanted, Don’t Start Now, Circles and Savage were all expected. The Black Pumas song is an outlier but normally there’s a couple of smaller songs on the nominees list so not a complete surprise. Black Parade is also a bit of a turnup - it’s a great song and obviously had some momentum this summer but wasn’t huge . I was surprised not to see The Weeknd in this category (more on that later); would have nice to see BTS on the list but again, not shocking. 

SOTY: A mix? I guess? Most of it is overlap from ROTY - but there’s a few different songs in the way of Cardigan, I Can’t Breathe and If The World Was Ending. Personally, I’m really happy that Cardigan and I Can’t Breathe are in there - my personal favorite would be I Can’t Breathe Winning. “If The World Was Ending” ... was there I guess? So congratulations. 

AOTY: Oh boy. AOTY is a mix. So the less surprising inclusions: Folklore and Future Nostalgia. I do genuinely believe it’s a tossup between those two now as to who wins AOTY - I’m going to give the edge to Taylor right now because she’s won it before for Fearless and 1989 but I’m not sure the Recording Academy would give it to her 1 in 4 years ish consistently. Then again, Taylor is a Grammys darling and 2nd highest Metacritic score of the nominations, so it wouldn’t shock me. I’m shocked HAIM are nominated in the best possible way (it’s my personal AOTY), but the rest ... I’m stunned by. Djesse Vol 3 is also great but I don’t think it has a shot; Chilombo was good but not brilliant, Black Pumas got in with a deluxe version (yes it’s a good album, but it’s going to be close to 2 years old by the time the Grammys roll round), I’m not a massive fan of Hollywood’s Bleeding but Post Malone’s commercial impact can’t be denied. Coldplay is the one I find most bizarre - it wasn’t a particularly good album nor did it stick around commercially. So yeah - it would nice for HAIM to take it (I think they have a shot of pulling a “Golden Hour” and taking it home) but I’d be shocked if it didn’t go to Taylor.

So. Yes, there were some snubs - I thought Harry Styles would get a SOTY nomination, I was also expecting BTS to sneak into a couple of categories; Phoebe deserved an AOTY nomination and Rina Sawayama deserved some recognition. However. 

WHERE THE FUCK IS THE WEEKND?

The Weeknd not getting a single nomination. How? No matter which way you look at it, Blinding Lights, should be up for ROTY or at least in the Pop categories. OK, so After Hours isn’t going to be one of the all time great albums, but you can’t look at that list and think “hmm, yes; they’re all objectively better than After Hours.” Because they’re not. That’s a fact. The Weeknd has spoken out against the Grammys in the past (which I’ll come to in a minute), but the truth of the matter is is that the Grammys are institutionally biased. Let’s roll back to 2015. In 2016, the nominees for AOTY were 1989, Beauty Behind The Madness, Sound & Color, To Pimp a Butterfly and Traveler. Thinking about this in terms of critical success, the Grammy should have gone to Kendrick for “To Pimp A Butterfly”. It went to 1989. Ok, so 1989 is a great album! and commercially, was the biggest selling album that year. So from, that (and the following year, where 25 won over Lemonade) we could deduce that the Grammy focuses on the album that’s made the most commercial impact. HOWEVER: if we carry this logic into 2021, none of the nominees make any sense. Surely if they did, then only Folklore and Future Nostalgia would be on their. No matter how you look at it, After Hours straddled the line of being inescapable for a year and of getting great reviews. It should have been nominated for AOTY and that’s the bottom line of it. 

So why wasn’t it?

Probably The Weeknd criticizing the Grammys previously didn’t help. But according to that bastion of news, TMZ, he was given the choice between performing at the Grammys or at Superbowl. The Weeknd negotiated, and agreed to do both. He was announced to be performing at the Superbowl on 12th November (link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-54921206) . Grammy noms come out on the 24th, TMZ reports he was given the choice between Superbowl and Grammys about 8 hours after the nominations (https://www.tmz.com/2020/11/24/the-weeknd-ultimatum-grammys-super-bowl-performance-snub/) . Then, The Weeknd tweets this maybe an hour later (https://twitter.com/theweeknd/status/1331394452447870977). To add insult to injury, he went from being in “negotiations to perform” to no nominations. Now that’s a kick in the teeth.

A day later, the president of the Grammys, Harvey Mason Jr. does an interview with Variety (https://variety.com/2020/music/news/grammy-harvey-mason-weeknd-snub-show-1234839208/). Gives a load of non-answers as expected. But he does talk about the Grammy committee. 

We don’t know much about how the Grammy voting process works. If you’re a member, you listen to the songs in the categories and then vote. BUT THEN. The top 20 songs/albums go to the committee. There’s 20 people on the committee - some with direct links to labels and artists. So they could hypothetically pick songs ranked 15-20 and nominate then. Which is why I think The Weeknd was majorly snubbed. I think The Weeknd got into the top 20 in all the categories he was nominated in and the committee overruled. That’s my theory anyway. The Grammys have been problematic for years - but since I’ve been following then from 2015ish - they’ve been accused racism (lack of BAME winners), sexism (remember the “well women should make better music” comments in 2018 https://variety.com/2018/music/news/grammys-so-male-women-recording-academy-president-neil-portnow-1202679902/) and then the mysterious ousting of Deborah Dugan at the start of last year (https://www.vox.com/2020/1/26/21082057/2020-grammys-sexual-harassment-corruption-recording-academy-deborah-dugan-rigged-nominations). 

When Deborah Dugan was fired, she alleged sexual misconduct and voter corruption in the academy. (If I can find a copy of the original PDF I will, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jan/22/suspended-grammys-chief-deborah-dugan-alleges-sexual-misconduct-in-recording-academy). But honestly the article speaks for itself. The grammys are corrupt, and not a true measure of artistic integrity. 

So, as much as I find them fascinating - let’s not give them any more weight then they deserve. If your fave has a nomination, great! If not, it doesn’t make them any less of an artist. 2020 has been a fabulous year for music, so let’s concentrate on that. 

It’s impossible to cover every aspect of the Grammys in one tumblr post, and well done if you’ve made it to the end. If anyone has any questions, I’ll try and answer them to the best I can. 

Thank you so much for reading! And Happy Thanksgiving, remember to donate to Native people today if you can - here’s a link to some places to donate https://twitter.com/MsKellyMHayes/status/1332000439378784261 !

[keefkeeth]

I speak as a man from a quiet, boring desert town with only surface-level knowledge. I try not to look too far into things too often on account of preserving what remains of my mental health. Call me selfish or uninformed, I don’t care. It’s gotten to the point where I have to say SOMETHING, otherwise it’s just gonna boil over.

I exist due to my ancestors escaping tyranny. My mother’s were Molokans (basically slavic-amish on steroids) from Soviet-Georgia. My father’s were polish jews. Both sides came to America about a year before WW2. They were smart, knew what they were doing, got out, and got lucky.

I’ve seen a lot of stuff online lately about “letting it all burn,” or talk of a revolution, or fleeing to Canada or wherever. All of that is bullshit. Not because I don’t support it, but because none of that is viable.

Letting it all burn? When I hear that, I hear “I’m fine with millions of people (mostly the disable, disenfranchised, and vulnerable) suffering and dying so long as it’s in service of proving MY viewpoint.” What does that accomplish? If all the people who would benefit from the new system are dead, why bother? Furthermore, are you willing to burn with it?

Revolution? Really? The USA is too big and too scattered to make that happen on a meaningful scale. We’re the 4th-largest country on the planet by land area. That doesn’t allow for millions of people to travel all at once to DC to go to town. Also, how many of the people proposing to violently take down 45 have easy access to ample weapons to make good on that proposal? Can you share? Can you travel? Can you defend? Most of the gun nuts are quite content with what’s happening, and will be more than happy to shoot those who disagree with them in the street. They already have.

Run? How many people who talk about fleeing have the money to do so? Desirable skills? Connections? Do you know the language of where you’d run to? What about your families? Your possessions? Are you really willing to leave behind your entire life up to this point? All the established comforts of home? If so, is it physically possible? What happens when you get to the border? What’s your plan?

I used to belong to that third group, but then my dad’s parents died, and were buried here. My blood is in the sand, and I won’t abandon it, for better or worse.

The only option now is to take our lumps and vote.

I am NOT saying Biden and Harris are good choices. Not by a long shot.

Biden was for segregation. There was that whole “poor kids can be as smart as white kids” bullshit. In my opinion the only reason he was able to run at all was because he was Obama’s VP.

Harris wanted to put kids who didn’t go to school in jail. She was also a cop (ACAB). She also threw Biden’s sex-assault accusers aside to accept his VP nomination, which is a whole other level of scummy.

I wanted Bernie to get the nom, both times.

Biden and Harris are not good choices by any stretch of the imagination, but now they’re our only viable choices.

Also, they’re not Trump.

I’m not an expert in anything, let along politics, but I’m pretty sure B&H wouldn’t:

Steal tax dollars to build a racist border wall that’s already been shown to not work.

Suggest delaying the election.

Suggest getting a “do-over” of the first four years.

Suggest being president for life.

Allow 6 million Americans to be infected by Covid, let 180,000+ of them die, and claim it’s all a hoax.

Actively encourage stochastic terrorism.

Sympathize with and legitimize neo-nazis.

Pull us out of the Paris Climate Accords.

Collude with the Russians on what seems like a daily basis.

Eliminate the USPS, an institution literally older than the country it serves.

Hold a photo op with a baby who’d just been orphaned as a result of the El Paso shooting.

Make department officials swear loyalty to them in exchange for appointments.

Nobody thought it would get this bad when the results came in in 2016. Look where we are now. Where will we be in another 4? If 45 “wins” a second term, i expect there’ll be a concentration-camp ticket with my name on it before I turn 30.

The only way this doesn’t happen, the only way we can get to fixing shit, is if that fake-haired shitstain is voted out of office and put in chains.

And that means voting Dem, at least for now. Maybe once that’s done, we can get rid of first-past-the-post and start changing this for good.

I’m out of juice. It’s 1AM. I have work at 8. I’ll probably delete this in 48 hours.

Check your registration. Vote by mail as early as you can, or take your ballot to an elections office.

[antoine-roquentin]

i don’t think kamala harris dropped out because of money troubles. her campaign took in $35 million over the course of the campaign, fourth most in the field, and still had $10 million left after last quarter’s filings. rather, it was that she wasn’t taking in the money necessary to deal with the california primary. traditionally, that primary would just go to whoever had already won the nom, and was expected to be a tiebreaker if things weren’t over by then, because of its late june 10 date. now that the primary is on super tuesday though, it’s become a huge prize for any candidate, enough that someone could probably lose all of the first few states but still be healthy by taking california, or at least have a shot at affecting a nomination contested at the convention. the only problem is, california is so big that it’s tough to campaign in. its media markets charge a hefty premium on ads, which means that if you’re not already known and liked in the state, then your best bet is to have  an army of enthusiastic volunteers. the first seems to have failed for harris. she didn’t exactly do great numbers in her general election win, pulling 1.2 million fewer voters than clinton in a race that didn’t have enthusiastic turnout, and likely  benefited  from republican voters who had no republicans on the ballot thanks to the jungle primary and could only vote for the more conservative (moreso in appearance rather than substance) dem. the second is unlikely in one of the most left wing states in the union. harris’ last chance, in the face of her terrible polling numbers, was to get enough dark money to swamp the state in ads. problem is, the two big dark money donors for the dems, tom steyer and mike bloomberg, just entered the race on the pretense of mostly ignoring the first few states and swamping super tuesday states with ads. sanders in particular is expecting a big win from california to help him with his delegate numbers, but steyer and bloomberg probably have that state in mind when they worry about his potential success. so harris, the tool of those dark money donors, has been ditched for unreliability and is forced to drop out.