Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)

[DShomshak]

On 11/5/2022 at 5:32 PM, Logan.1179 said:

A lunar eclipse will bring a blood red moon on Election Day

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Another article I read says the November full moon is traditionally called the "Beaver Moon." I am not sure I care to speculate on the occult uses of a Blood Beave Moon (or Beaver Blood Moon?)

 

Dean Shomshak

[Pariah]

Lady P and I have completed our ballots. I'll drop them off on my way to school tomorrow; our city hall has a ballot box and it's on the way.

 

As election day approaches, remember this bit of wisdom:

 

Political promises are like babies — fun to make, but hard to deliver!

 

Vote wisely, my friends.

[Lord Liaden]

I only hope that bit of wisdom applies to the GOP. Because we know what they promised.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

[wcw43921]

From 2020--For Honor And Democracy!

[Lord Liaden]

Just checked in on the midterm results so far. This is going to take at least a couple of days to sort out, probably longer. So many races that are nail-bitingly close, which clearly means that many will be contested. But the depth of the schism in American society has never been more clearly delineated.

 

So sorry you have to go through this, neighbors.

[unclevlad]

Locally, I'm happy to see that Lujan-Grisham won.  The Republican, Mark Ronchetti, ran for Senate in 2020.  I thought he was a brainless clown back then...the fact that his 'qualifications' appear to consist of being a local TV meteorologist might possibly be a teeeeny tiny factor there...and I still do.  That one shouldn't go to a recount;  it's about 52%-46% for Grisham.

 

The local House seat is not called at this point, and may well have to go to a recount.  The Pub incumbent, Yvette Herrell, is on the wrong side right now.  Good, there;  my opinion of her can't be stated here.  The nasty aspect is, I rather suspect she'll cry fraud if the final numbers go against her.

[Hermit]

2 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

Just checked in on the midterm results so far. This is going to take at least a couple of days to sort out, probably longer. So many races that are nail-bitingly close, which clearly means that many will be contested. But the depth of the schism in American society has never been more clearly delineated.

 

So sorry you have to go through this, neighbors.

 

Despite the fact Tennessee is a lost cause, I am actually surprised that nation wide the Dems are doing this well. Too soon to be sure, but this was clearly not the crushing "red wave" the GQP was hoping for. The Dems are losing ground but not as much as I expected.

 

I just hope the Democratic party doesn't do what it often does and interpret this  as approval for 'business as usual' or 'look how loved we are'.

[Lord Liaden]

Well said. Their voter support was an anti-GOP vote as much as anything else. Or rather, anti-Trumpism, because even though Trump wasn't on the ballot, thanks to all the Republican candidates parroting him, he was on every ballot.

 

It was pointed out to me that the youth turnout was exceptionally high for this bi-election. That almost certainly juiced the Democratic vote this time. That's reason for optimism in 2024, because more of them will be of voting age, and since the Republican base demographic is older, more of them will be dead.

[Ternaugh]

Our three ballot measures are currently looking like they will pass, but there's still a large chunk of votes to be counted in Clark County (Las Vegas and surrounding communities).

 

Question 1 concerned adding equal rights protections to the Nevada Constitution. It had been targeted for its language supporting LGBTQ rights by a large ad campaign claiming that it was unfair to women to support transgender rights. 

 

Question 2 concerned raising the state minimum wage. The language was kind of strange, so I'm not sure if it will help or hurt.

 

Question 3 concerned open primaries and ranked choice voting. I'm registered Independent, so this would give me a chance to participate in the primaries again for House, Senate, and Presidential races in 2024.

 

The rest of the state skews very red, and many of the major races are currently with Republican candidates leading. At this time, it looks likely that Republican Joe Lombardo will replace Steve Sisolak as governor.

 

There's about 22,500 votes separating the two candidates for Senate, with Adam Laxalt currently in the lead. He's an election denier/MAGA supporter, so I'm really hoping that the uncounted votes in Clark can swing that back to Catherine Cortez Masto. We probably won't know for some time, though, as that race will probably have to wait for all of the mail-in ballots to be received and counted.

[Cygnia]

Ohio wants to be the next Gilead

[Hermit]

38 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said:

Well said. Their voter support was an anti-GOP vote as much as anything else. Or rather, anti-Trumpism, because even though Trump wasn't on the ballot, thanks to all the Republican candidates parroting him, he was on every ballot.

 

It was pointed out to me that the youth turnout was exceptionally high for this bi-election. That almost certainly juiced the Democratic vote this time. That's reason for optimism in 2024, because more of them will be of voting age, and since the Republican base demographic is older, more of them will be dead.

 

I have a god niece who is in her early 30s now. She's never voted. This time she did. I am hoping this trend is legit and continues. Of course she voted in this state, so she may feel like she's spitting into the wind, but enough young women all over the nation push against Trump and his ilk, maybe 2024 will have a chance as you say.

 

 

24 minutes ago, Cygnia said:

Ohio wants to be the next Gilead

 

Ugh. I had always thought Ohio, despite it's lack of what I would call Mountains (Yes, Mountain Snobbery is a thing and I am aware folks living near the rockies laugh at the Applachians height) might be a great place to move to . When it got more and more red, it looked appealing as I know good folk there. They're still good. But some days it feels like finding a place where the Q brainwashing hasn't taken root is getting harder in harder.

 

I'm very sorry, Cygnia. I know what it's like to watch your state seem to turn evil on you right under your eyes.

[Pariah]

Sadly, we're stuck with Mike Lee (who promised he'd only serve two terms when he first ran twelve years ago) for another term as our senior Senator. He was soundly outvoted in left-leaning salt Lake county (who favored unaffiliated Evan McMullin) but won handily pretty much everywhere else. Disappointing. The Q is strong with this one.

 

Our four gerrymandered Congressional districts all reelected their Republican incumbents by handy margins as well. They aren't all delusional disciples of the former President, but one of them (in the district we lived in until June) is a carpetbagging election-denying former professional football player and Fox News talking head who (IMHO) has no business running for dog catcher, never mind Congress. But he's not my Congressman any more. We moved about 7 miles within Salt Lake county, and we're in a different Congressional district. 🙄

 

The election-denying demagogue who was running for county commissioner (so that the could be in charge of the elections) was soundly defeated, so there's that. 

[Cancer]

2 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

It was pointed out to me that the youth turnout was exceptionally high for this bi-election. That almost certainly juiced the Democratic vote this time. That's reason for optimism in 2024, because more of them will be of voting age, and since the Republican base demographic is older, more of them will be dead.

 

I am not so sure of that.  I happen to live and work in a startlingly liberal area, but go across the Cascades and it ... flips polarity, all along the age pyramid.  I will need to see comprehensive analysis after the shouting is over.  (But that's me: I am a scientist down to the core, and numbers are what I do.)  If the MAGA rhetoric and tactics has started to alienate the 18-to-25 age bloc in ways that shows up in the ballot counts that would delight me, but I am far too wary of wishful thinking to believe it at this point.

[Dr. MID-Nite]

I live in Michigan which was one of the few bright spots for non reactionaries. Dems took control of both state legislatures and all the progressive proposals passed. Whitmer was retained as governor.

[DShomshak]

My morning newspaper's front-page story on the election was blessedly free of preliminary results that don't actually mean anything, as WA elections cannot fairly be called until all the mail-in ballots arrive. (Blessedly because if something is not known, don't pretend it is.) But it said voting was generally trouble-free across the country, with no major incidents of voter intimidation. The polling places that ran short of ballots were restocked in time, ballots were collected despite glitchy voting machines in an Arizona precinct, a woman taking pictures of voters at a drop box was promptly stopped, etc. I was expecting armed attacks by Proud Boys, so I am pleased.

 

Dean Shomshak

[Hermit]

I will say that the poll workers in my neck of the woods were wonderful. And I did not see a single moron with a gun in his arms, and wearing cameo trying to 'poll watch'

 

 

[Lord Liaden]

Is it possible the convictions of Jan. 6 rioters have made the MAGAts more afraid of being so aggressive?

 

But man, the huge number of "victories" by one or two percentage points... I wrote earlier that I thought it would take a couple of days to settle the results, but now I believe a couple of weeks will be the minimum. I'm having hanging-chad flashbacks.

[Hermit]

Just now, Lord Liaden said:

Is it possible the convictions of Jan. 6 rioters have made the MAGAts more afraid of being so aggressive?

 

But man, the huge number of "victories" by one or two percentage points... I wrote earlier that I thought it would take a couple of days to settle the results, but now I believe a couple of weeks will be the minimum. I'm having hanging-chad flashbacks.

 

Oh yeah, it aint' over yet. Trust me. Every Democratic win by a few points will be declared to be 'rigged' while Republican wins by the same amount are totally legit... even if they happened in the same state. As for the Jan 6 crew, I think a lot of them are more cautious as they're seeing that people like them are considered expendable by Trump and the higherups ; not that they'd admit it that way. But if Trump starts talking pardons as part of his re election, expect a re emboldening.

[Tom]

6 hours ago, Hermit said:

 

7 hours ago, Cygnia said:

Ohio wants to be the next Gilead

 

Ugh. I had always thought Ohio, despite it's lack of what I would call Mountains (Yes, Mountain Snobbery is a thing and I am aware folks living near the rockies laugh at the Applachians height) might be a great place to move to . When it got more and more red, it looked appealing as I know good folk there. They're still good. But some days it feels like finding a place where the Q brainwashing hasn't taken root is getting harder in harder.

 

I'm very sorry, Cygnia. I know what it's like to watch your state seem to turn evil on you right under your eyes.

At least Kaptur beat Majewski…

[DShomshak]

7 hours ago, Cancer said:

 

I am not so sure of that.  I happen to live and work in a startlingly liberal area, but go across the Cascades and it ... flips polarity, all along the age pyramid.  I will need to see comprehensive analysis after the shouting is over.  (But that's me: I am a scientist down to the core, and numbers are what I do.)  If the MAGA rhetoric and tactics has started to alienate the 18-to-25 age bloc in ways that shows up in the ballot counts that would delight me, but I am far too wary of wishful thinking to believe it at this point.

This All Things Considered story claims the Gen Z and Millennial voters strongly favor Democrats, and their rate of p[articipation is growing. As a radio story, however, it doesn't provide charts or graphs to provide numbers. (Though the guest claims that voters over age 65 lean Republican by 12%). I provide it for what it's worth.

 

https://www.npr.org/2022/11/09/1135619172/how-young-voters-became-the-wall-for-the-red-wave

 

Dean Shomshak

[Lord Liaden]

8 hours ago, Cancer said:

 

I am not so sure of that.  I happen to live and work in a startlingly liberal area, but go across the Cascades and it ... flips polarity, all along the age pyramid.  I will need to see comprehensive analysis after the shouting is over.  (But that's me: I am a scientist down to the core, and numbers are what I do.)  If the MAGA rhetoric and tactics has started to alienate the 18-to-25 age bloc in ways that shows up in the ballot counts that would delight me, but I am far too wary of wishful thinking to believe it at this point.

 

Just curious... to your knowledge, is that polarity flip all along the age pyramid backed by numbers, or is that your personal impression from contact with them?

[Cancer]

3 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

Just curious... to your knowledge, is that polarity flip all along the age pyramid backed by numbers, or is that your personal impression from contact with them?

 

Personal impression, since I go over there occasionally to visit relatives; but that's all.

[Starlord]

[Pariah]

1 hour ago, Starlord said: