Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[iam416]

It's neither as well-written nor as well-reasoned the posts proffered by both Hoss and yours truly, but the NRO's Rich Lowry offers virtually the identical opinion on the Ds: http://www.nationalreview.com/articl...ts-keep-losing

Again, you're better off just reading the stuff on this oasis of political thought, but if you wish to sully yourself on the topic then this isn't a terrible option.

[froot loops]

And I'm not possible they aren't going to find anything, the story is fairly new. You could do.some real low level stuff to effect an election. They'll get more effective as time goes one.

Paper ballots is the answer in France, they were ready for Putin.

[froot loops]

It's neither as well-written nor as well-reasoned the posts proffered by both Hoss and yours truly, but the NRO's Rich Lowry offers virtually the identical opinion on the Ds: http://www.nationalreview.com/articl...ts-keep-losing

Again, you're better off just reading the stuff on this oasis of political thought, but if you wish to sully yourself on the topic then this isn't a terrible option.

It was OK, I think in special House elections your talent pool is fairly limited, I don't think Zell Miller or Roy Barnes were available. But it gets to the point pretty good. One thing I would point out is Pelosi has made rumblings about the local stuff on things like abortion.

[hack]

The NRO telling the left to stop conforming to its own beliefs and to start adopting the right's looks like an effort to declare victory in a culture war. That could very well backfire as the Trump demographic fades away. America is going to be a browner place in the future. Too late to do anything about that. The question is whether it has a chance at moving beyond identity politics or remaining mired in them. We are a very far way away from Iraqi-style politics in which two groups that will never see eye to eye take turns using state power to oppress each other, but significant progress has been made, certainly.

[iam416]

The Russia hacking story is well-baked at the moment:

(1) the Russians targeted the DNC and leaked emails; and

(2) there is no evidence the Russians manipulated vote totals.

People have reached whatever conclusion they're going to reach based on these two items.

The only unsettled item is the "collusion" thing, but whatever evidence we're aware of to date is, at best, massively underwhelming to me and, IMO, to the majority of the electorate. It may be that after doing the exhaustive investigation -- including the one ordered by Obama to "relook" at things (that apparently detected Putin's direct involvement) they still haven't uncovered the the evidence to make the case. I rather doubt it. I also firmly believe if they had the evidence it would have been leaked as shit near fucking everything has been.

Then you look at DJT and ask, ok -- is he playing favorites w/ Russia? Is he treating Russia with suspicious favoritism? And the answer is clear. And for the non-prog electorate, collusion has a quid quo pro to it -- they ain't see it. They ain't seeing the evidence of collusion and they ain't seeing the payoff to it so it's hard for them to jump on board.

At this point in time I think the story is white noise, but that won't stop the 24/7 coverage.

[crashcourse]

Of course not. The great negotiator got played. Again.



2 questions for you. 1) when do you think the SSI program was started? 2) what do you think the monthly SSI benefit is?

not sure when it started--maybe 70's

10 million get it bout a grand a month I think which automatically qualifies them for medicare/foodstamps free housing etc

throw in another 10 million for ssdi whom also qualify for same thing

point is not to jerk the rug out from people who really need it

point is to trim part of that 100million people getting entiltlement because in the very near future the US will face what Illinois is facing. Illinois killed themselves with pensions but the principle is still the same you cant continue to expand entitlements

[Dr. Strangelove]

Boy, the WaPo can't write enough on this. Heh. Keep it in the news, I say. At least this one focuses a bit on the failure of Obama.

Most importantly:



As tired as I am of this story which, at this point, we all seem to know, I'm coming around to the non-stop coverage of it because (a) the Ds see it as the reason they lost -- let them think that; and (b) I think voters are starting to not care b/c they know -- tell them something significant and new.

FWIW, I don't think it's in this story, but was reported this week that hackers were able to alter voter rolls in at least one county (didn't say where). The alterations were caught and corrected, however.

That is worth at least some mild concern.

[iam416]

It was OK, I think in special House elections your talent pool is fairly limited, I don't think Zell Miller or Roy Barnes were available. But it gets to the point pretty good. One thing I would point out is Pelosi has made rumblings about the local stuff on things like abortion.

So Rahm Emanuel is always held up as the great architect of 2006 and that was his driving principle -- quality candidates who know how issues play locally.

I think, however, the D party is considerably different from its 2006 version. As, heh, the magic words go for someone you agree with -- they've "evolved" on certain issues. As was the point made in the Beinhart article I linked yesterday, they can't really go backtrack on immigration at this point. I think Beinhart touched on it (or someone else I read), but they're well on their way to making it impossible for Ds to even talk about assimilation (the University of California system considers the term "melting pot" a microaggression). I watched HRC get asked a question about partial birth abortion in the debates and she couldn't answer it in a way most normal human beings would answer it.

So, I wonder if Rahm's strategery is even possible 2018. I sort of doubt it. I tend to think the Progs have won the D party and now it's entirely about every conceivable form of justice -- well, what they deem to be just. It's a shame. Perhaps their ultimate identity politics strategy will pay off and there's no need to change the playbook. But, if that's the case, then the demographics better get here right fucking quick.

[Dr. Strangelove]

It's also probably true that most Americans shrug about the Russia story. Rather than say that's because it's unimportant, I'd say it's because most Americans are wildly uncaring and indifferent on foreign policy in general. Only rarely does it affect national elections.

[iam416]

It's also probably true that most Americans shrug about the Russia story. Rather than say that's because it's unimportant, I'd say it's because most Americans are wildly uncaring and indifferent on foreign policy in general. Only rarely does it affect national elections.

Could be. The reasons are interesting but not as important as the outcome. If it's white noise it's white noise. I personally think we're in that zone.

I do think you're probably right. They certainly care more about jobs and stock market performance than Russians leaking DNC emails.

[froot loops]

I thought Sean Trende had the best take on GA 6, especially point 3. If you take point 3 to a logical conclusion for a 2018 strategy, it means a broad based strategy of money to about 80 races instead of surgically targeting districts in which Clinton won there is a GOP rep.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2017/06/21/five_takeaways_from_tuesdays_special_elections_134245.html

[hack]

It's a bit bewildering, and it's awfully hard to know. The loudest twitter people seem to have gotten in a spat. But it's a clear test of the system. Either people want it or they want to pay lip service to it.

[froot loops]

The Russia hacking story is well-baked at the moment:

(1) the Russians targeted the DNC and leaked emails; and

(2) there is no evidence the Russians manipulated vote totals.

People have reached whatever conclusion they're going to reach based on these two items.

The only unsettled item is the "collusion" thing, but whatever evidence we're aware of to date is, at best, massively underwhelming to me and, IMO, to the majority of the electorate. It may be that after doing the exhaustive investigation -- including the one ordered by Obama to "relook" at things (that apparently detected Putin's direct involvement) they still haven't uncovered the the evidence to make the case. I rather doubt it. I also firmly believe if they had the evidence it would have been leaked as shit near fucking everything has been.

Then you look at DJT and ask, ok -- is he playing favorites w/ Russia? Is he treating Russia with suspicious favoritism? And the answer is clear. And for the non-prog electorate, collusion has a quid quo pro to it -- they ain't see it. They ain't seeing the evidence of collusion and they ain't seeing the payoff to it so it's hard for them to jump on board.

At this point in time I think the story is white noise, but that won't stop the 24/7 coverage.

Would you think it's possible that the "white noise" has eliminated the possibility of quid pro quo?

[hack]

It might have been white noise, or at least you could have posed it as such, but then Trump fired Comey for doing his job and tweeted that his intent was to obstruct justice.

[Dr. Strangelove]

LOL

[ame]https://twitter.com/ditzkoff/status/878233941626441728[/ame]