US US Politics 2024

[Brian W]

 

[Lou]

^ I know. they are such a-holes.

 

[Andy_T]

Had this on my FB feed yesterday.



The word he is looking for is “Repugnican”.

 

[Andy_T]

And they are not completely wrong about the Weather Control Machines….

 

[Lou]

A Quick Summary of all the Republican Spread Misinformation Regarding the Recent Storms

• EXRAD, doppler radar and HAARP were used to control path of Hurricane Helene​

• Biden administration spent FEMA hurricane relief money on ‘illegals’​

• FEMA loans money to disaster victims and takes their land if it’s not paid back​

• Americans affected by Hurricane Helene receive ‘only $750’ in aid​

• Trump only pledged 3% of Hurricane Helene fundraiser proceeds to victims​

• Image shows Trump wading through flood waters after Hurricane Helene​

• Biden said he's not giving any more aid to Hurricane Helene victims​

• Biden and Harris blocked rescue efforts to North Carolina so they could tour hurricane damage​

• Hurricane Milton reached ‘Category 6’ strength​

 

[Lou]

Had this on my FB feed yesterday.

The word he is looking for is “Repugnican”.

Good idea but Repugnican might be a different brand of evil. Or too general.
Could we just name it Donald J. Trump?

 

[Chryssie]

I am getting really stressed out about the election. It seems like the crazier Trump gets, the more the polls show him pulling ahead. I just don't understand it. I just saw Vance on TV and he makes me so angry!

 

[silva]

I watched them too, but have stopped questioning. Those who support them won't change because they're saying what they want to hear. They don't care about truth, or statistics, or the insane incomprehensible rants that trump spews. I wish the moderators would stop treating them as people who can be questioned and instead question why it is allowed. When you have a party that can complain about being fact checked and have their followers boo the media--???
Why isn't the last (that I know) rump rant being published verbatim and have them held to explain? Every one of them, from Vance and Mike J...

And then all of a sudden, you hear that they’re leaving Milwaukee or they’re leaving wherever they may be located. It’s very sad to see it. And it’s so simple. I mean, you know, this isn’t like Elon with his rocket ships that land within 12 inches on the moon where they wanted to land. Or he gets the engines back. That was the first I realized. I said, “Who the hell did that?” I saw engines about three, four years ago. These things were coming. Cylinders, no wings, no nothing. And they’re coming down very slowly, landing on a raft in the middle of the ocean someplace with a circle. Boom.
Reminded me of the Biden circles that he used to have, right? He’d have eight circles and he couldn’t fill ’em up. But then I heard he beat us with the popular vote. I don’t know. I don’t know. Couldn’t fill up the eight circles. I always loved those circles. They were so beautiful. They were so beautiful to look at. In fact, the person that did them, that was the best thing about his, the level of that circle was great. But they couldn’t get people, so they used to have the press stand in those circles because they couldn’t get the people. Then I heard we lost. Oh, we lost. No, we’re never gonna let that happen again. But we’ve been abused by other countries. We’ve been abused by our own politicians, really, more than other countries.

 

[Lou]

I just got this book out of the library. Can't remember where I heard about it.

Amazon.com

Here is a quote.

“the three pillars of southern economic philosophy—abuse labor, fellate corporate interests (especially foreign ones), and **** the environment—I”
― Chuck Thompson, Better Off Without 'Em: A Northern Manifesto for Southern Secession

and one more from GoodReads.

“Country jakes are always whining about the sanctity of states' rights and individual freedoms. Yet when a couple of queers want to get married in Massachusetts, half the South goes apeshit with homemade posters and fire-breathing sermons. And when a few million concerned residents of states thousands of miles away decide they want to stop destroying their landscape in the name of corporate mammon and consumer stupidity, the South sends out its greasy merchants of avarice to cajole, bribe, hector, lie, intimidate, and "lobby" until the seed of their plantation mentality is protected and their gluttonous mouths are once again filled with the jizz of the master caste before whom they kneel like Bourbon Street whores on Navy payday.”
― Chuck Thompson, Better Off Without 'Em: A Northern Manifesto for Southern Secession

I'll let you know when I'm done.

 

[Andy_T]

Unfortunately, that would be rather bad for vulnerable people in the South…

 

[Second Summer]

According to RealClearPolitics, Trump is ahead in the polling for every battleground state except Wisconsin, and Harris' national lead has shrunk to only 1.5%. The RCP betting odds also favour Trump now by 56.5%.

I don't know what to tell you, from my perspective Biden has seemed like a weak president, both domestically and internationally. Harris seems to be just promising a continuation of Biden's politics, so why should voters be excited about her? I know Biden wasn't dealt the best cards, but try to imagine Trump in his place. Do you think Trump would let a House or Senate majority against him get in the way of getting his policies enforced? He'd be writing executive orders left and right. He'd be doing shady deals with foreign leaders. And yes, he'd be making wild statements that his advisers would have to try and walk back later etc - providing great circus for a jaded electorate.

The Dems just seem to lack the will-power and creativity to govern and use the power they have.

Edit: I should also add: The fact US voters don't immediately recognise Trump and his ilk as unsuitable material for a governing party, or at the very least, plain weird, points to serious, fundamental problems with the national psyche. (Not that this is entirely unique: The UK elected Boris Johnson a few years ago, although I'd argue Trump is somewhat worse than Johnson.)

 

[Brian W]

 

[Lou]

The Dems just seem to lack the will-power and creativity to govern and use the power they have.

I don't blame the dems. I blame the public.
To this day I can't believe that half of all likely voters are stupid enough to vote for trump. Well, Mark Twain explained it over a hundred years ago: imagine the average American. Now realize that half of all Americans are stupider than that.

The UK elected Boris Johnson a few years ago, although I'd argue Trump is somewhat worse than Johnson.)

Johnson was elected mostly cause Britons feared immigrants. Sounds familiar.

 

[Second Summer]

I don't blame the dems. I blame the public.
To this day I can't believe that half of all likely voters are stupid enough to vote for trump. Well, Mark Twain explained it over a hundred years ago: imagine the average American. Now realize that half of all Americans are stupider than that.

It's tempting to blame the voters because indeed they are incredibly stupid, but those are the voters you have to work with when you're a US politician - that's literally your job. Also, I would argue that when talking about large groups of people rather than individuals, the responsibility for the group's attitudes, behaviour, understanding of the world around them (or lack thereof) falls on the people who decide the societal conditions, such as education levels, wealth distribution, opportunities, rather than the individuals themselves within the group. And who decides the societal conditions? Politicians would certainly be one important group.

 

[Lou]

And who decides the societal conditions? Politicians would certainly be one important group.

It's sort of a feed back loop or maybe some kind of spiral.
to just use one of your conditions, for simplicity and brevity, but they all are good examples, lets use education.
I started school in the 60s during the post-sputnik education boom. And got a pretty good education. Went back to college in the 80s in California, post prop 13 decline. Saw first hand how the quality of education is tied to money invested in schools. And then how the companies in the tech boom had to go out of state or out of the country to find qualified employees.
Anyway, some people think the Republicans are short changing education because they don't want a well educated population. I am almost ready to adopt that conspiracy theory. but it seems more like serendiity for the republicans. and then there is the loop. Stupid Americans elect Republicans, Republicans cut funding to education. population gets stupider and elects more republicans.

 

[Jamie in Chile]

It's funny how climate deniers thought that you can't influence the climate by putting billions of tonnes of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere and the same people then think that you can create hurricanes with a couple of planes spraying something in the air.

Please everyone in a swing state go and knock on some doors or do something. If you don't live in a swing state please donate or convince 1 friend to vote. It's really, really close again according to the polls.

 

[KLS52]

I'm curious to see who wins the popular vote. The electoral college has to go. I keep reading up on it, trying to make sense of it but I only end up getting mad.

 

[Second Summer]

If Harris loses, then for the next presidential election, the Dems (or whichever party is the plausible opposition) should run someone like Jon Stewart who has media experience. We just need to accept US politics is now a circus and the people want to be entertained.

 

[beancounter]

Unfortunately, a lot of swing voters, while they may not be conservative per se, are traditional. So, many of them can't envision a women as president.

Also, a culture of "machismo" pushes many older men to favor Trump.

And unfortunately the "woke" movement has made the Democrats unpalatable for many young men who feel left behind, undervalued and disregarded.

And finally, there is a perception that the Democrats only care about blue collar/non-college educated workers during an election.

The DNC lives in a bubble and has a poor track record of picking candidates (Remember, they picked Hillary over Sanders, which ultimately lead to Trump)

 

[Tom L.]

I'm curious to see who wins the popular vote. The electoral college has to go. I keep reading up on it, trying to make sense of it but I only end up getting mad.

I first learned about the Electoral College in high school- it was in American History (in the late 1960s). It dawned on me that someone could have the popular vote majority and still lose the election; at the time I didn't realize that this had already happened!

As to the rationale for it: recently I heard some radio commentators say that if it weren't for the E.C., a few large cities (I think they mentioned New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and a couple others- but my memory ain't perfect) would determine who won the presidency. I didn't understand that argument... maybe I mis-heard it?... I think some have said the E.C. prevents a few large-population states like New York, Texas, and California from running roughshod over smaller states- but doesn't the Senate already take care of that? A small state has as many senators as a large one.

Color me baffled.