MrWonderful

Looking at old pics of him, and damn, he was handsome as hell. RIP.

A major bump here. I have no idea how this has happened, but if he is indeed in the clear, this would be pretty remarkable, so good for him. As you can see and hear in the link, he says he was told yesterday morning that he underwent his last radiation treatment, that the cancer could not be detected, and that his condition was "very manageable" going forward.

I've had Samu on my top 50 list for a few years running now, and didn't have his father and uncle. Oops!

Legendary Golf Hall of Famer Chi Chi Rodriguez has died at the age of 88. I grew up watching him kick ass on the Senior Tour in the 1980's and 1990's with his trademark showmanship and style. Twenty-two Senior Tour wins (including 2 majors) and 8 PGA Tour wins, for 30 wins in all. Not too shabby. RIP.

The Democrats are on quite a roll right now. Though the moderates preferred Shapiro, there would have been some potential issues with him, and Walz was the "safe" choice. He comes across as a jovial, grandfatherly type (even though he's only 60 and even though he's looked much older than his age since his 30's), and he has a folksy, and, yes, maybe a bit of a hokey style. But it's no-nonsense and he goes right to the heart of the issues as he sees them, pulling no punches, and I think that will play will in large swaths of the country and certainly in the Midwest. And he's funny, too. Shapiro is a brilliant orator (almost Obama-like, and he's drawn those comparisons), but perhaps Walz's style will lend itself well to this campaign. It's almost been a 10-point turnaround in the polls since Biden dropped out and now that Harris is the candidate. Not even an assassination attempt could create a long-lasting bump for Trump. His RNC convention speech was a horrific mess and it's gone off the rails for them since then. Of course, there's still time for it to swing back to him if Harris looks terrible in interviews, but I don't expect her to look worse than him if they actually debate. Frankly, I don't see how that's even possible. Some betting markets actually have Harris favored now; I see that she's getting 55 cents on the dollar on PredictIt, for example. Some still have Trump as a very slight favorite, but considering that Trump was -310 just three weeks ago, yeah, this has been quite the turnaround for the Democrats. They've just been galvanized since Biden dropped out.

Former 6-year big leaguer Billy Bean (not to be confused with the former GM Billy Beane), who was in an MLB front office position after his playing days, has died at the age of 60. He notably came out of the closet in 1999. RIP.

Shapiro has become the -160 favorite, the first time in this short window in which someone has better than Even odds. It's been reported that Harris will reveal the pick no later than Monday, and that the first appearance together with the VP pick will be at a rally on Tuesday...in Philadelphia, PA. I mean, this screams Shapiro, doesn't it? The campaign has said not to read too much into that, but come on. It is true that if Harris wins PA, the pathways open up considerably for her for an Electoral College win. A PA win for Trump means that Harris basically has to run the table in the other swing states. If they think that Shapiro guarantees a PA win, I can understand the pick.

If it was, it was literally perfect, nothing was off. Not even a nanosecond. Which makes me think it was her singing live. But you're right, even if it wasn't, like Pavarotti's final performance at the Torino Winter Olympics, it was still inspiring.

She looked and sounded fantastic. What a triumph!

Good! Miserable twat, he is.

Just to add to the talk of Kelly as the possible VP pick, there's another potential issue in which he might be a great messenger: IVF. The Republicans and JD Vance, in particular, have put IVF under assault. Well, Kelly and his wife, Gabby Giffords, revealed publicly that they were trying to have a child through IVF before she was shot. Talking about this almost allows him to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. It would be like double sympathy points.

Those familiar with American football (the NFL) would know about Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy. He will turn 99 (assuming he makes it) on August 3 and would turn 100 next year. I haven't seen or heard much of him this year, but towards the end of last year I saw some articles in which he appeared to be active and doing quite well. I've resisted putting Dick Van Dyke on my list because I've simply thought that he wasn't more likely to die than 50 other names in a given year, but I may reconsider that stance next year because perhaps 100 should be the line of demarcation. Anyway, not to be Captain Obvious, but I think anyone is worth serious consideration once they hit 100, no matter how healthy they appear to be. But who am I kidding, he won't be famous enough to make the site's Top 50. Three other suggestions: Ion Iliescu (former Romanian president is 94 and has been in failing health for years) Georg Koch (just 52, has terminal pan-can; is he famous enough?) Noddy Holder (isn't it just a matter of when the drugs stop working?)

The last 3 are already on my list. Delon will likely make my list last year. And I can't really argue with James Earl Jones, either. All sensible choices.

They both are. He's lucky that he doesn't get booed.

I hope you are right. As far as the VP talk, Whitmer and Newsom already leaked to the press that they have no interest in the job (pretty much as soon as it became clear that the Dems were coalescing around Harris), so we can put that to bed. It's looking like the "short short" list is comprised of Kelly, Cooper, Shapiro, Beshear, and Walz. Kelly has become the +135 favorite in betting markets. While the Democrats need to win Pennsylvania and while Shapiro is the popular governor from that state, he probably doesn't check as many boxes as Kelly does. And both Cooper and Shapiro have a background similar to Harris' as lawyers and former state Attorneys General, so it's quite possible that the campaign will think this is too much overkill. Kelly's background is different, as a former astronaut, Navy captain and pilot, and now a Senator. He's seen as a badass of sorts and as a moderate, and he has done well with Latino voters in Arizona, partly because he's not as liberal as much of the Democratic Party is on issues like control of the border. He's also publicly said he's not in favor of the Green New Deal, and he's advocated for oil drilling as a response to higher gas prices. And as the husband of former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, he's a great messenger on gun control issues as well. He seems like he has the momentum to get the gig, but we'll see what happens.

New Reuters/Ipsos polls out today have Harris up on Trump by 4 points (registered voters) in a 3-way race including RFK Jr., and by 2 points in a head-to-head matchup. Interestingly, it's starting to look like RFK Jr. is actually taking votes away from Trump, not the Democrats, which was the assumption months ago. It doesn't surprise me, since RFK Jr. is a nutcase. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he drops out of the race and endorses Trump. In exchange, maybe Trump will give him Fauci's old job.

Whitmer has already made it clear that she doesn't want the VP slot. Same as Gavin Newsom. Overnight, Kelly's odds have gone up slightly, still the favorite now at +140. Shapiro is next at +300, with Cooper at +375. Then it's Beshear at +1000, with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at +1400.

I think he's quite capable, sure. But he definitely isn't delivering Kentucky to the Democrats, for one thing. As for his appeal in that state, I think the fact that his father was once the Governor is a major factor. (It's why Joe Manchin was able to keep winning elections in West Virginia for decades.) I'm just not sure that he's a better strategic play than the others. Incidentally, Kelly is now the very slight favorite at +200, Shapiro is +225, and Cooper is at +300. Beshear is a little further back at +850.

I agree with you that AZ is not as important as PA, but Kelly probably has the largest name recognition nationally, so that might count for something. Shapiro is the +200 betting favorite, Cooper is +275, Kelly is +350, and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear is +500. (No one else has better odds than +1600, where Buttigieg comes in.) Another thing that could be a plus for Kelly is that AZ has a Democratic governor, so his Senate seat would not be at risk for the Democrats.

Shapiro makes the most sense. The Democrats must win Pennsylvania to have any chance, and Shapiro is extremely popular there (59% approval rating) as Governor. Polling showed Trump well ahead this week in PA (something like 6-7 points), so getting Harris on the ticket plus adding the popular governor just might put it back in play. Cooper isn't enough to put NC in play imo. Mark Kelly would be my next choice. Relatively moderate senator from Arizona, married to former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who of course was shot in the head and survived. He can be a great messenger on gun issues, and I just like him and think he's reasonable. Buttigieg is my favorite candidate but yeah, that wouldn't be a smart decision.

Even I have to admit that I think they were having a pretty effective convention (even if I disagree with most of their shit, a lot of their shit was well-planned and well-executed). But Trump may have ruined some or even a lot of his momentum with that horrible, way-too-long speech last night. The first 10-15 minutes or so, when he was on script and talking about the assassination attempt, were fine. Then for about an hour he was off script and riffing and rambling and basically it was just like one of his rallies where he just talks out of his ass with blatantly false accusations. And it was boring. Now, I don't know if this race is already over, but a lot of political analysts were thinking that if he had delivered a unifying type of speech where he showed a different side, that he could have essentially put this thing to bed. Instead, he may have left an opening because he just showed that he's the same person he's always been. Also, to address something TOC wrote, it's my belief that if they go to Harris, that the House is very much in play. The Senate will go Republican, and Trump is still a solid favorite to win the presidency. But the House is very winnable, and it's possible that Harris over Biden could actually energize the base. That might be enough to flip the House; down-ballot Democrats are outperforming Biden in almost all of the polling. So maybe Harris at the top of the ticket could make a difference in those down-ballot races. And if that happens, well, then going with Harris will have at least salvaged something.

#15 for me. Hopefully he's reunited with Rickles and they are cracking jokes together. RIP.

Not that I'm aware of, but he looked unwell 10 years ago.

Unless something changes, he won't be on my top 50 list next year. There are just too many candidates, in my view, who are much more likely to die. I've resisted adding Dick Van Dyke to my list, for example, because I simply thought he was too active, looked good enough to where I figured he would be OK. If he can get through 2024, though, I think next year he goes on my list. Not because he still doesn't look good, but once you get to 100, I think it's time lol.

I wouldn't exactly say that Simmons looked well even 10 years ago, when he retired from public life, and he was only in his mid-60's then. And while, sure, it could never be a surprise if a 93-year-old didn't make it out of next year, I'm not surprised in the least that Simmons died.