Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)

[unclevlad]

1 hour ago, Ternaugh said:

There's a bunch of campaign mail on the floor underneath my mail slot, all with the message, "Kamala Harris: Dangerously Liberal". I'm kind of reading it like Chester Cheetah telling me that Cheetos are "Dangerously Cheesy".

 

Trash day's tomorrow, but I wish they weren't high gloss cards or I'd recycle them.

 

Fingers crossed...*so far* the mail hasn't had much.  That'll pick up, I'm sure.  I suppose I should keep it, at least for a while...my feeling is 

a)  much more comes from Republicans 

b)  the Republican material is usually more negative

 

but that may be selective memory.  

Nah.  Not THAT interested.  Still no way in **** that I'll vote for any Republican, for any office, at any level, until they throw out the Trumpists.

[csyphrett]

Foxx, TIllis, Budd, and Burr are/were my reps. At least Burr is gone. Tillis said he is retiring at the end of this term. Foxx is eighty I think and might die in office. Budd took over for Burr and has stayed out of trouble I guess. I don't remember anything big with his name on it.

 

McHenry, the temp speaker, retired and was from another part of the state. I don't remember where off hand

CES

   

[Ternaugh]

2 hours ago, unclevlad said:

 

Fingers crossed...*so far* the mail hasn't had much.  That'll pick up, I'm sure.  I suppose I should keep it, at least for a while...my feeling is 

a)  much more comes from Republicans 

b)  the Republican material is usually more negative

 

but that may be selective memory.  

Nah.  Not THAT interested.  Still no way in **** that I'll vote for any Republican, for any office, at any level, until they throw out the Trumpists.

 

I was a registered Republican until Trump came on the scene, when I changed to independent (I hadn't voted for a Republican candidate for President since 1988, so probably no big loss). After Mom passed away, I also forwarded her mail to my address. For a while, I was getting some mailers addressed to her, some addressed to me, and some addressed to the Family. That's mostly faded to mailers and emails using a very old party list, which seems to get regenerated no matter how much I unsubscribe. The emails are usually caught in my spam filter for that account, but every once in a while, I'll get a disturbing one that thinks that I'd agree with removing some "other" group's rights, usually in the name of upholding "traditional values". They always reminded me of a Peter Gabriel lyric (from the song, "Not One of Us"):

 

There's safety in numbers when you learn to divide
How can we be in if there is no outside?

 

 

[unclevlad]

So much for the crossed fingers.  Well, ok. it's one piece.  <sigh>  

 

The part I cropped out was just address info.  But man...fearmongering at its finest....  I have to ask myself if they picked the image and its presentation *because* of the last name....

 

 

 

 

[Old Man]

Sometimes I wish I could vote in a battleground state, but then I am reminded of the political ads.

[Cygnia]

We got a similar ad going around slamming Sherrod Brown here in Ohio...

[wcw43921]

"I Thought You Were All Dead"

[unclevlad]

So the Heinrich attack mail came in...just got it from the mailbox.

 

It's worse than the USPS (black and white) photo suggested, as they colorized half his face in red, and the cheeks in pink.  

Their 'argument'...600 lives lost to Fetanyl a year...because Heinrich refuses to seize the border.

 

Yeah, same old song and dance.  

[Ternaugh]

LED billboard on the way home: "TRUMP: Champion of Equal Rights"

 

I used a colorful metaphor when I saw it.

[BoloOfEarth]

18 minutes ago, Ternaugh said:

LED billboard on the way home: "TRUMP: Champion of Equal Rights"

 

I used a colorful metaphor when I saw it.

 

Huh.  They spelled "Evil" wrong.

[unclevlad]

3 hours ago, Ternaugh said:

LED billboard on the way home: "TRUMP: Champion of Equal Rights"

 

I used a colorful metaphor when I saw it.

 

Kudos for not losing your lunch.

 

 

[DShomshak]

Today, Explained follows the trail from a meme of a crucified Minion to the post-Trump future of the Republican Party. Yeah, this one is loopy. But if we've learned anything about American politics in the last 8 years, it's not, "Is what you imagine crazy?" It's, "Is what you imagine crazy enough?"

 

https://tunein.com/podcasts/News--Politics-Podcasts/Today-Explained-p1094789/?topicId=414616030

 

Dean Shomshak

Edited August 29 by DShomshak

[Hermit]

On 8/27/2024 at 7:50 PM, Cygnia said:

Trump's people set up a campaign photo op in the Arlington National Cemetery, where it's against the law. When someone informed them of this, they attacked that person verbally and physically and now Trump's people are saying that person is mentally ill.

 

Given Trump's continued open disdain for fallen or wounded soldiers, it boggles my mind that he still gets so much support from Armed Forces members and their family. I can only assume Fox News and others do their level best to never mention this stuff so their audiences rarely hear of it and by the time they do, it's Trump's version of the story.

[Old Man]

1 hour ago, Hermit said:

 

Given Trump's continued open disdain for fallen or wounded soldiers, it boggles my mind that he still gets so much support from Armed Forces members and their family. I can only assume Fox News and others do their level best to never mention this stuff so their audiences rarely hear of it and by the time they do, it's Trump's version of the story.

 

This is exactly it.  The Fox headline on this story is "Trump 'respectfully' honored fallen troops at Arlington National Cemetery amid altercation report: veteran".  Frankly I'm amazed they're covering it at all.

[unclevlad]

3 minutes ago, Old Man said:

 

This is exactly it.  The Fox headline on this story is "Trump 'respectfully' honored fallen troops at Arlington National Cemetery amid altercation report: veteran".  Frankly I'm amazed they're covering it at all.

 

Why shouldn't they?  Get Trump on air.  Fox News is a de facto part of the Trump PR/campaign departments.

[Cygnia]

[Old Man]

15 minutes ago, Cygnia said:

 

Yeah this story started out as a report of an 'argument' or 'altercation'.  It's way more serious than that, they called the MPs.  The only reason the staffer isn't pressing charges is because she's afraid of violence from the MAGAs.  Stochastic terrorism works!

[Cygnia]

Annoyed/concerned that the employee isn't pressing charges -- I wonder if there's some internal pressure there?

[unclevlad]

8 minutes ago, Cygnia said:

Annoyed/concerned that the employee isn't pressing charges -- I wonder if there's some internal pressure there?

 

I'd be a little surprised if there were.  As noted, the Army doesn't come out with a statement like that very often at all.  The people who operate and maintain the faciltiy...it's *Arlington* fer crissakes, it's probably the most revered ground in the country...are not gonna put up with this, IMO.  

[Old Man]

2 hours ago, Cygnia said:

Annoyed/concerned that the employee isn't pressing charges -- I wonder if there's some internal pressure there?

 

No way.  Military types do skew conservative but you do not use the graves of the fallen for a political photo op.  I didn't serve but members of my family have, and it's hard to think of a more offensive act that's still somewhat realistic.  I think that's why this story is hanging around after the corporate media barely reported it at first.

Edited August 29 by Old Man

[unclevlad]

18 minutes ago, Old Man said:

 

No way.  Military types do skew conservative but you do not use the graves of the fallen for a political photo op.  I didn't serve but members of my family have, and it's hard to think of a more offensive act that's still somewhat realistic.  I think that's why this story is hanging around after the corporate media barely reported it at first.

 

Which ties back to Hermit's point...how is Trump maintaining support from the military?

There was a time when I was working at a Navy test facility.  This was a dry-land posting, but tradition was important.  There were numerous occasions where they held ceremonies...like when someone left to take a new post, they got a certificate, with whoever was there on hand.  

[Old Man]

1 hour ago, unclevlad said:

 

Which ties back to Hermit's point...how is Trump maintaining support from the military?

 

Because all they're getting is Fox's misleading coverage (if any).

[Hermit]

6 minutes ago, Old Man said:

 

Because all they're getting is Fox's misleading coverage (if any).

 

That DOES seem to be the biggest part of it. Heck, I remember when Fox backed down a bit because they got scared of legal fall out for their trashing Dominion voting machines and more.  Trump's cult didn't go 'oh, Fox made a mistake' and they certainly didn't go "Fox has been lying!" . The Cult moved to Newsmax and OneAmerica which were still going strong with the Conspiracy theories and Kool -Aid being handed around. Fox lost viewers because the viewers went elsewhere to hear what they WANTED to hear, and what they wanted to hear was hate and lies.  at least that's my observation.

[unclevlad]

57 minutes ago, Hermit said:

 

That DOES seem to be the biggest part of it. Heck, I remember when Fox backed down a bit because they got scared of legal fall out for their trashing Dominion voting machines and more.  Trump's cult didn't go 'oh, Fox made a mistake' and they certainly didn't go "Fox has been lying!" . The Cult moved to Newsmax and OneAmerica which were still going strong with the Conspiracy theories and Kool -Aid being handed around. Fox lost viewers because the viewers went elsewhere to hear what they WANTED to hear, and what they wanted to hear was hate and lies.  at least that's my observation.

 

And the Dominion story was incredibly stupid...they're attacking an entity that can retaliate, they're pushing provably false claims rather than scurrilous rumors, and they're clearly committing defamation.  I said at the time, Fox might not change their general tenor that much because the Dominion reporting was completely avoidable.  And, perhaps, that there hasn't really been anything equivalent...right now they can just toss out the hypothetical 'problems' and push for 'closer oversight' and hand-counting all ballots.  

Fox News lost audience for a while, but I'm not sure that's still the case.  Checking...found this:

https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/here-are-the-cable-news-ratings-for-january-2024/

 

NewsMax is wayyy down the list, and Fox News dominates.

 

Some other stories do suggest that the most hardcore viewers are watching NewsMax or OAN, and not Fox...others watch both.  

I agree with the major point, tho...they ignore everything outside the Fox/NM/OAN orbit, and of course, everyone in that orbit is going to assert Trump and the campaign never does anything wrong...and heck, they're *always* the victims.

 

 

[Old Man]

6 hours ago, Hermit said:

 

That DOES seem to be the biggest part of it. Heck, I remember when Fox backed down a bit because they got scared of legal fall out for their trashing Dominion voting machines and more.

 

"Legal fallout" = Three quarters of a billion dollars.

 

But they're still at it.