What's the betting Trump's doctors are giving him a sugar pill and telling him it's hydroxychloroquine?
Probably specially embossed sugar pills? And the GOP still keep their heads down about his irresponsible craziness.
So HE's ok, being protected from his own ignorance and stupidity by people who know better but he's advising other people he's taking it to protect him and a number will accept that and not be protected but take risks on the presumption of their protection.
It would, if accurate, be of a piece with the many other ways in which people close to Trump trying to mitigate his worst impulses end up contributing to the damage on the broader scale.
What's the betting Trump's doctors are giving him a sugar pill and telling him it's hydroxychloroquine?
Probably specially embossed sugar pills? And the GOP still keep their heads down about his irresponsible craziness.
So HE's ok, being protected from his own ignorance and stupidity by people who know better but he's advising other people he's taking it to protect him and a number will accept that and not be protected but take risks on the presumption of their protection.
It would, if accurate, be of a piece with the many other ways in which people close to Trump trying to mitigate his worst impulses end up contributing to the damage on the broader scale.
Remember T's random thoughts about taking disinfectant orally to kill the virus? Time Magazine reported disinfectant poisoning went up 125% in April. Likewise, just by saying he is taking hydroxychloroquine, there will be an increase in its abuse this month.
Meanwhile
Talking Points Memo is reporting T will not hold a ceremony for the unveiling of President Obama's official portrait in the White House. That's okay, Obama did not want to sit through such a ceremony in T's White House. They will probably have to wait until Biden gets into the office.
Barnabas62Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host, Epiphanies Host
So HE's ok, being protected from his own ignorance and stupidity by people who know better but he's advising other people he's taking it to protect him and a number will accept that and not be protected but take risks on the presumption of their protection.
Pretty much. 90% of GOP voters think the sun shines out of his ass so the GOP elected representatives stay on the bandwagon.
And if a rank and file GOP member or two dies as a result of listening to him, some prat in the alt-right will be ready with an exonerating conspiracy theory.
T is going wild today. Several states have decided to switch their voting to mail ballots.
Idaho is one of the recent states. It is currently conducting primary voting. It is reporting the turn-out has been significantly higher, approaching what they would expect for a presidential primary election.
T is not happy with this because he fears the more people that use mail ballots will mean his chances of being re-elected will go down.
He is now threatening to withhold federal aid to states under the Voter Fraud Act which was designed to discourage fraudulent voting.
The deal of it is, vote by mail is a proven technology. Our military has voted this way ever since the Civil War. Several states, notably Oregon and Washington, have done this for about 20 some years now with practically no problems.
T is not happy with this because he fears the more people that use mail ballots will mean his chances of being re-elected will go down.
He is now threatening to withhold federal aid to states under the Voter Fraud Act which was designed to discourage fraudulent voting.
I guess the question is "why wouldn't he?" He was already impeached for using the powers of his office to attempt electoral fraud and it was demonstrated that no one with the power to stop him was willing to do so. Those whose memories stretch all the way back to those remote days of . . . [ checks notes ] . . . last December may remember this exact scenario being discussed at the impeachment hearings in the House Judiciary Committee. Here's Pamela Karlan with a prescient explanation:
But that distortion is magnified if a sitting President abuses the powers of his office actually to invite foreign intervention. To see why, imagine living in a part of Louisiana or Texas that’s prone to devastating hurricanes and flooding. What would you think if you lived there, and your governor asked for a meeting with the president to discuss getting disaster aid that Congress has provided for. What would you think if that President said, “‘I would like you to do us a favor.’ I’ll meet with you and I'll send the disaster relief once you brand my opponent a criminal.”? Wouldn’t you know in your gut that such a president had abused his office, that he betrayed the national interest, and that he was trying to corrupt the electoral process?
So again, a president using the powers of his office to skew an election in which he is running was greenlit as okay by every Republican in the U.S. Senate other than Mitt Romney.
It looks like the site is no longer active. IIRC, I heard Ms. Harris had moved on to another venue or project. But it's still a good way to understand what miscreants have done behind the scenes.
It looks like the site is no longer active. IIRC, I heard Ms. Harris had moved on to another venue or project. But it's still a good way to understand what miscreants have done behind the scenes.
And might do again.
I was just able to download the whole book. Diebold is owned by a very conservative person. Many of the electronic voting machines were produced by Diebold.
Now, T is threatening to withhold federal funds to Nevada who also has decided to go the vote by mail system too.
I had mentioned Idaho going that way. I find it interesting T is not threatening Idaho the way he has threatened Michigan or Nevada. I wonder why. Is it because Idaho is in the solid red category whereas Nevada and Michigan could be swing states? Is it because Idaho's has only four electoral votes? Nevada has six. Michigan has sixteen.
In other news
Here is an interesting article on T's religious roots that may explain T's approach to the coronavirus. However, I think Norman Vincent Peale only fed into T's underlying narcissism.
T is not happy with this because he fears the more people that use mail ballots will mean his chances of being re-elected will go down.
He is now threatening to withhold federal aid to states under the Voter Fraud Act which was designed to discourage fraudulent voting.
I guess the question is "why wouldn't he?" He was already impeached for using the powers of his office to attempt electoral fraud and it was demonstrated that no one with the power to stop him was willing to do so. Those whose memories stretch all the way back to those remote days of . . . [ checks notes ] . . . last December may remember this exact scenario being discussed at the impeachment hearings in the House Judiciary Committee. Here's Pamela Karlan with a prescient explanation:
But that distortion is magnified if a sitting President abuses the powers of his office actually to invite foreign intervention. To see why, imagine living in a part of Louisiana or Texas that’s prone to devastating hurricanes and flooding. What would you think if you lived there, and your governor asked for a meeting with the president to discuss getting disaster aid that Congress has provided for. What would you think if that President said, “‘I would like you to do us a favor.’ I’ll meet with you and I'll send the disaster relief once you brand my opponent a criminal.”? Wouldn’t you know in your gut that such a president had abused his office, that he betrayed the national interest, and that he was trying to corrupt the electoral process?
So again, a president using the powers of his office to skew an election in which he is running was greenlit as okay by every Republican in the U.S. Senate other than Mitt Romney.
I am tempted to re-post this ad infinitum, but I reckon most people here get it.
Here is an interesting article on T's religious roots that may explain T's approach to the coronavirus. However, I think Norman Vincent Peale only fed into T's underlying narcissism.
It may well be that Trump is an aficionado of this positive thinking stuff, but his saying 'the virus will just go away' isn't something I have an issue with. For Trump and me and others with no firm grasp on medicine, it will just go away. There will be a vaccine and like Polio, Measles, and numerous other viruses and diseases, for us in the first world, it will indeed just go away. It will just go away because we won't be thinking about it, and it won't be in the news. So from Trump's standpoint, and mine for that matter, Covid will 'just go away'.
I am much more concerned about Trump's other positive thinking strategies, like repeatedly lying about his enemies and undermining congressional and executive mechanisms for oversight of Government, and threatening people.
Trump never used to exist for me. He was just a butt of other people's jokes. I am very much hoping that for me, he will sooner or later just go away.
Anybody who runs for office--hell, anybody who takes any job with responsibility for the welfare of other human beings--has a downright fucking DUTY to get past the childhood "it'll go away sooner or later" mindset. That indulgence is only open to people who can't hurt others by their actions or inaction.
(Which, incidentally, is why virtually no adult American can indulge that dream about Trump. As voters, we have to MAKE him go away--and that requires planning.)
I disagree that its a childhood attitude, but agree that a politician can't operate on that basis. What a politician says and how they operate are two different things of course. Trump is speaking to his audience, not us.
I'm not the classiest guy in the world, but the vulgarity of the gesture (Matt 6 v2) and the woman with eye-lashes like draught-excluders, really made me smile.
(Actually, I don't want to think about bowing Trump's trumpet, in the streets, synagogue or anywhere else).
Because I posted in this thread way back in 2018, and some people might be reading through it now and wondering, YES I have changed my position on Trump since my earlier comments.
At this point I would vote for a dead tree stump if it were the only other candidate on the ballot in November.
Just wanted to get that out there, for the official record. (I'm still doing the long, meditative hikes, though. )
And now, folks, because I really, really do not want to get sucked into a long discussion which will almost certainly not change anyone's mind (trust me, these things rarely do), and because out here on the West Coast there's a big storm heading our way this afternoon, I'm going to walk out of this thread, out the front door, and into the fine, brisk pre-spring weather, for a long, meditative hike. Hope you all enjoy your day as well!
Because I posted in this thread way back in 2018, and some people might be reading through it now and wondering, YES I have changed my position on Trump since my earlier comments.
At this point I would vote for a dead tree stump if it were the only other candidate on the ballot in November.
Just wanted to get that out there, for the official record. (I'm still doing the long, meditative hikes, though. )
And now, folks, because I really, really do not want to get sucked into a long discussion which will almost certainly not change anyone's mind (trust me, these things rarely do), and because out here on the West Coast there's a big storm heading our way this afternoon, I'm going to walk out of this thread, out the front door, and into the fine, brisk pre-spring weather, for a long, meditative hike. Hope you all enjoy your day as well!
Now, if we can get 79,999 other voters to change their minds in the swing states...
Actually I think @windsofchange probably is quite typical of the kind of person who might change their mind, assuming her avatar photo is the lady herself. AFAICT white women are constituency where Trump is losing ground.
Actually I think @windsofchange probably is quite typical of the kind of person who might change their mind, assuming her avatar photo is the lady herself. AFAICT white women are constituency where Trump is losing ground.
Yeah, that is me in my avatar, trying to look prayerful and serious, while secretly wondering when the next "Three Stooges" marathon starts ...
Hmmmmm. An interesting conflict brewing. As you may have read, Twitter tagged a "fact check" to one (or was it two) of Trump's tweets concerning mail-in ballots. Which, of course, enraged him because he hates people pointing out his blatant lies. So Trump responded in character:
Claiming "Republicans feel that Social Media Platforms totally silence conservatives voices," Trump tweeted, "We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen."
That is not the interesting bit. That is typical Trump behavior. No, the interesting bit is that, a couple hours later, Secretary of State Pompeo tweeted:
"The U.S. stands against, and will not tolerate, government-imposed Internet shutdowns and other forms of censorship during or after this pandemic," Pompeo tweeted Wednesday.
My, my, my. Might want to make a fresh batch of popcorn.
On top of that, 45 has come out saying that police should not be held accountable for killing yet another unarmed black man who was handcuffed and not resisting arrest.
And he has mocked Biden for wearing a mask while laying a wreath at a war memorial in Delaware. Something about getting out of his basement. To which Biden has said, considering the polls right now, he is doing pretty well. If the election were held today, Biden would get 283 electoral votes with the Republicans getting 126. There are several states that are toss-ups, but even they are moving from deep red to pink.
I'm afraid I'm rather clueless as to the US electoral system, but does the 283-126 figure mean that, if an election were held today, Mr Biden would win by a massive majority?
I'm afraid I'm rather clueless as to the US electoral system, but does the 283-126 figure mean that, if an election were held today, Mr Biden would win by a massive majority?
I think the winning post is 270, so it indicates a win even if all the states that are close go Republican.
I'm afraid I'm rather clueless as to the US electoral system, but does the 283-126 figure mean that, if an election were held today, Mr Biden would win by a massive majority?
The election of the American president (and vice president) is a Constitutional Frankenstein's monster of a system that was cobbled together because the Framers couldn't agree on a better system. If the U.S. Constitution were written twenty, or possibly even ten, years later a different system would almost certainly have been adopted.
Basically each state gets one electoral vote for each member of Congress (House and Senate) that it has. Since all states have two Senators and at least one member of the House of Representatives that means the minimum number of electoral votes per state is three. Under the Twenty-Third Amendment the District of Columbia also gets a number of electoral votes equal to the number they'd get if they were a state. That brings the total number of electoral votes to 538. (435 members of the House + 100 Senators + 3 electors from DC)
Most states assign their electoral votes on a winner-take-all basis, meaning that the plurality vote-getter in the state gets all their electoral votes, regardless of how close the margin is. (Maine and Nebraska are exceptions to this and subdivide their electoral votes by Congressional District.) The upshot of this is that it's possible to win by very narrow margins in just enough states to get to 270 electoral votes (the winning number) and lose overwhelmingly elsewhere, which would give you the situation of the candidate who won the presidency losing the popular vote. This has happened in two of the last five presidential elections.
The current system awards more electoral votes to sparsely-populated rural states than would be justified strictly based on their population. Because of this there's estimated to be about a three point pro-Republican bias in the electoral college. In other words, as long as a Republican loses the national popular vote by no more than three percentage points he still has a decent shot at winning the presidency anyway, depending on the state-by-state breakdown.
As far as a Biden-Trump matchup goes, current polling has Biden leading Trump by a margin of about eight percentage points, so that's outside the three point edge Republicans typically have in the electoral college. For context, the 2008 (Obama over McCain), 1996 (Clinton over Dole and Perot), and 1988 (Bush, Sr. over Dukakis) elections all had about an eight point margin in the popular vote. That said, Biden's current margin will probably narrow as election day gets closer.
As far as a Biden-Trump matchup goes, current polling has Biden leading Trump by a margin of about eight percentage points, so that's outside the three point edge Republicans typically have in the electoral college. For context, the 2008 (Obama over McCain), 1996 (Clinton over Dole and Perot), and 1988 (Bush, Sr. over Dukakis) elections all had about an eight point margin in the popular vote. That said, Biden's current margin will probably narrow as election day gets closer.
Not necessarily, Biden's spread has increased over the last three months. 45 keeps putting his foot in his mouth, making all sorts of threats, trying to intimidate people. His handling of the Coronavirus is pathetic. He hopes to turn the economy around on a dime, but it probably will get worse before it gets better,
There was an email server, I forget the name, back in the day which was forced by the FBI or some other fascist organization to give up all the data on its users. Rather than let that happen, it shut down overnight and destroyed all its data. Twitter could do that.
There was an email server, I forget the name, back in the day which was forced by the FBI or some other fascist organization to give up all the data on its users. Rather than let that happen, it shut down overnight and destroyed all its data. Twitter could do that.
There was an email server, I forget the name, back in the day which was forced by the FBI or some other fascist organization to give up all the data on its users. Rather than let that happen, it shut down overnight and destroyed all its data. Twitter could do that.
No offense to Italy (especially given what a mess my country is!), but somehow I don't think they need outsourced tutoring in right-wing political meddling.
No offense to Italy (especially given what a mess my country is!), but somehow I don't think they need outsourced tutoring in right-wing political meddling.
And don't miss the next-to-last paragraph.
Having read the link I was struck by the advert it contained for, "One in box to juggle them all in". Was it meant to make me think of the One Ring?
Barnabas62Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host, Epiphanies Host
The Trump diversionary tactics are in full swing. "Let's get the news cycle off the 100 thousand and the constant replaying of my dismissive comments. Let's start wars on face masks and Twitter. Let's insult Biden again And let's ramp up Obamagate." And on the day of the 100 thousand deaths, Eric Trump tweets "Great day for the DOW". Both shameful and shameless
Don't think it's going to work. Cracks are appearing amongst the faithful.
Twitter should have deleted the Troll-in-Chief's account ages ago. If they can't do that then maybe they deserve to be shut down. Even the Ship makes trolls walk the plank.
Comments
It would, if accurate, be of a piece with the many other ways in which people close to Trump trying to mitigate his worst impulses end up contributing to the damage on the broader scale.
Remember T's random thoughts about taking disinfectant orally to kill the virus? Time Magazine reported disinfectant poisoning went up 125% in April. Likewise, just by saying he is taking hydroxychloroquine, there will be an increase in its abuse this month.
Meanwhile
Talking Points Memo is reporting T will not hold a ceremony for the unveiling of President Obama's official portrait in the White House. That's okay, Obama did not want to sit through such a ceremony in T's White House. They will probably have to wait until Biden gets into the office.
And if a rank and file GOP member or two dies as a result of listening to him, some prat in the alt-right will be ready with an exonerating conspiracy theory.
The bubble will burst some day ....
3 Nov. 2020
Idaho is one of the recent states. It is currently conducting primary voting. It is reporting the turn-out has been significantly higher, approaching what they would expect for a presidential primary election.
T is not happy with this because he fears the more people that use mail ballots will mean his chances of being re-elected will go down.
He is now threatening to withhold federal aid to states under the Voter Fraud Act which was designed to discourage fraudulent voting.
The deal of it is, vote by mail is a proven technology. Our military has voted this way ever since the Civil War. Several states, notably Oregon and Washington, have done this for about 20 some years now with practically no problems.
Even T himself votes by mail.
I guess the question is "why wouldn't he?" He was already impeached for using the powers of his office to attempt electoral fraud and it was demonstrated that no one with the power to stop him was willing to do so. Those whose memories stretch all the way back to those remote days of . . . [ checks notes ] . . . last December may remember this exact scenario being discussed at the impeachment hearings in the House Judiciary Committee. Here's Pamela Karlan with a prescient explanation:
So again, a president using the powers of his office to skew an election in which he is running was greenlit as okay by every Republican in the U.S. Senate other than Mitt Romney.
In the wake of the 2000 US election and Bush v. Gore, a woman looked into the problems, creating both the site and the book "Black Box Voting". The site's book page and the About section (lower on the page) is the easiest way to learn about it. And you can download the first edition of the book free.
It looks like the site is no longer active. IIRC, I heard Ms. Harris had moved on to another venue or project. But it's still a good way to understand what miscreants have done behind the scenes.
And might do again.
I was just able to download the whole book. Diebold is owned by a very conservative person. Many of the electronic voting machines were produced by Diebold.
Now, T is threatening to withhold federal funds to Nevada who also has decided to go the vote by mail system too.
I had mentioned Idaho going that way. I find it interesting T is not threatening Idaho the way he has threatened Michigan or Nevada. I wonder why. Is it because Idaho is in the solid red category whereas Nevada and Michigan could be swing states? Is it because Idaho's has only four electoral votes? Nevada has six. Michigan has sixteen.
In other news
Here is an interesting article on T's religious roots that may explain T's approach to the coronavirus. However, I think Norman Vincent Peale only fed into T's underlying narcissism.
I am tempted to re-post this ad infinitum, but I reckon most people here get it.
It may well be that Trump is an aficionado of this positive thinking stuff, but his saying 'the virus will just go away' isn't something I have an issue with. For Trump and me and others with no firm grasp on medicine, it will just go away. There will be a vaccine and like Polio, Measles, and numerous other viruses and diseases, for us in the first world, it will indeed just go away. It will just go away because we won't be thinking about it, and it won't be in the news. So from Trump's standpoint, and mine for that matter, Covid will 'just go away'.
I am much more concerned about Trump's other positive thinking strategies, like repeatedly lying about his enemies and undermining congressional and executive mechanisms for oversight of Government, and threatening people.
Trump never used to exist for me. He was just a butt of other people's jokes. I am very much hoping that for me, he will sooner or later just go away.
(Which, incidentally, is why virtually no adult American can indulge that dream about Trump. As voters, we have to MAKE him go away--and that requires planning.)
I'm not the classiest guy in the world, but the vulgarity of the gesture (Matt 6 v2) and the woman with eye-lashes like draught-excluders, really made me smile.
(Actually, I don't want to think about bowing Trump's trumpet, in the streets, synagogue or anywhere else).
Bad me...
At this point I would vote for a dead tree stump if it were the only other candidate on the ballot in November.
Just wanted to get that out there, for the official record. (I'm still doing the long, meditative hikes, though.
Now, if we can get 79,999 other voters to change their minds in the swing states...
Welcome back, @windsofchange.
Yeah, that is me in my avatar, trying to look prayerful and serious, while secretly wondering when the next "Three Stooges" marathon starts ...
And he has mocked Biden for wearing a mask while laying a wreath at a war memorial in Delaware. Something about getting out of his basement. To which Biden has said, considering the polls right now, he is doing pretty well. If the election were held today, Biden would get 283 electoral votes with the Republicans getting 126. There are several states that are toss-ups, but even they are moving from deep red to pink.
I think the winning post is 270, so it indicates a win even if all the states that are close go Republican.
The election of the American president (and vice president) is a Constitutional Frankenstein's monster of a system that was cobbled together because the Framers couldn't agree on a better system. If the U.S. Constitution were written twenty, or possibly even ten, years later a different system would almost certainly have been adopted.
Basically each state gets one electoral vote for each member of Congress (House and Senate) that it has. Since all states have two Senators and at least one member of the House of Representatives that means the minimum number of electoral votes per state is three. Under the Twenty-Third Amendment the District of Columbia also gets a number of electoral votes equal to the number they'd get if they were a state. That brings the total number of electoral votes to 538. (435 members of the House + 100 Senators + 3 electors from DC)
Most states assign their electoral votes on a winner-take-all basis, meaning that the plurality vote-getter in the state gets all their electoral votes, regardless of how close the margin is. (Maine and Nebraska are exceptions to this and subdivide their electoral votes by Congressional District.) The upshot of this is that it's possible to win by very narrow margins in just enough states to get to 270 electoral votes (the winning number) and lose overwhelmingly elsewhere, which would give you the situation of the candidate who won the presidency losing the popular vote. This has happened in two of the last five presidential elections.
The current system awards more electoral votes to sparsely-populated rural states than would be justified strictly based on their population. Because of this there's estimated to be about a three point pro-Republican bias in the electoral college. In other words, as long as a Republican loses the national popular vote by no more than three percentage points he still has a decent shot at winning the presidency anyway, depending on the state-by-state breakdown.
Not necessarily, Biden's spread has increased over the last three months. 45 keeps putting his foot in his mouth, making all sorts of threats, trying to intimidate people. His handling of the Coronavirus is pathetic. He hopes to turn the economy around on a dime, but it probably will get worse before it gets better,
Series of videos, worth more than a lot of other viewing.
Has he ever taken the possible fallout of his actions into account in his decision-making?
Lavabit?
He'll blame Obama or the Clintons or the press or...
That must be it.
It would at least constitute one outstanding achievement in his presidency.
Remember Steve Bannon, erstwhile advisor to T? You're not going to believe it.
"Steve Bannon wins case to set up Italy political academy" (Reuters, via Yahoo).
No offense to Italy (especially given what a mess my country is!), but somehow I don't think they need outsourced tutoring in right-wing political meddling.
And don't miss the next-to-last paragraph.
Having read the link I was struck by the advert it contained for, "One in box to juggle them all in". Was it meant to make me think of the One Ring?
Don't think it's going to work. Cracks are appearing amongst the faithful.
Hilarious!
Doesn't show that ad for me, but probably.