🗳️ The official 2020 Election thread

[Mr. P]

Calmer than you are.

[BarryLaverty]

17 hours ago, TheNameIsDalton said:

 

The Big Lebowski is real....and “you’re out of your element” is a quote from the movie.  

Dammit...been awhile. Loved the movie. My bad...

[BarryLaverty]

5 hours ago, Monte1076 said:

Riiiiiight...because you think you're smarter and more enlightened than they are. Right? You probably deal with more conservatives on a daily basis than you know, and don't even realize it.

In your case, Monte, it's the old story about the two men meeting a bear...you know that one? 

[CarthDawg77]

Inside Buttigieg's failed talks with Black Lives Matter after a police shooting - CNBC https://apple.news/AbIMpynoXR3akXyI83MhZQw

[Monte1076]

18 hours ago, BarryLaverty said:

In your case, Monte, it's the old story about the two men meeting a bear...you know that one? 

Yes. And I've outrun plenty of people who underestimated me. I don't have a college degree, but I'm pretty much a self-taught software engineer. I've read Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and Orwell. I've read books on people's psyche. I've read books on finance and starting a business. I've read books on foreign languages. I like to think of myself as fairly well-rounded and intellectually curious.

[BarryLaverty]

 

12 hours ago, Monte1076 said:

Yes. And I've outrun plenty of people who underestimated me. I don't have a college degree, but I'm pretty much a self-taught software engineer. I've read Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and Orwell. I've read books on people's psyche. I've read books on finance and starting a business. I've read books on foreign languages. I like to think of myself as fairly well-rounded and intellectually curious.

With all that, you might want to put down that chip on your shoulder about being someone acting 'smarter than you', and you could just be confident.

And, lots of Republicans, who deny science, who attack the media, who are disdainful toward public schools, who generally think all colleges are the enemy, don't necessarily embrace learning and being intellectually curious. I mean, look at who they value as a 'leader' in the White House right now. You might want to pick friends more in line with your quest for knowledge. 

[BigLebowski]

1 hour ago, BarryLaverty said:

 

With all that, you might want to put down that chip on your shoulder about being someone acting 'smarter than you', and you could just be confident.

And, lots of Republicans, who deny science, who attack the media, who are disdainful toward public schools, who generally think all colleges are the enemy, don't necessarily embrace learning and being intellectually curious. I mean, look at who they value as a 'leader' in the White House right now. You might want to pick friends more in line with your quest for knowledge. 

you teed this up so don't be mad while i dissect all this...................

Republicans don't deny science.  Republicans want more science done.  Climate analysis hasn't gone on long enough to be 100% sure or accurate and Republicans aren't going to put all of their eggs in one basket and risk destroying the livelihoods of Americans in order to satisfy the insatiable need of the left to control our lives.

Like I stated on another thread.  The media has brought attacks on themselves.  Their bias was very noticeable during the Bush and Øbama years, but they are totally unashamed and actually enjoy people knowing their bias exists since Trump took office.  If they don't want to be attacked, they need to practice honest and objective journalism.

I will agree to a certain extent with you on their disdain for public education.  The Republicans have always been pro-charter and pro-private schools.  Education is one of my more liberal leaning issues.  But when it comes to colleges and universities, liberalism has been allowed to run completely amok on those campuses.  Conservative students have been under attack by not only their liberal counterparts, but by professors who are supposed to foster a place of openness to ALL ideas and thoughts and not just those that align with their liberal agenda.  So don't say that Republicans don't want a free exchange of ideas don't "embrace learning and being intellectually curios" because liberals shut down anyone who really does want to learn and be intellectually curios.

And I can tell you right now, that the only reason that many Republicans, and many Independents, held their nose at the ballot box and pulled the lever for Trump, was because there was no chance in hades that they were going to vote for Captain Pant Suits.  She was the worst candidate ever brought forth by the Democrat party (at least for now) and many Independents did not want her to be their president.  Can you honestly say to yourself that our country, specifically our economy would be better under her than it is right now?  If you can, you are completely lying to yourself.

[TheNameIsDalton]

Blacks don’t like him......

[Monte1076]

8 hours ago, BarryLaverty said:

 

With all that, you might want to put down that chip on your shoulder about being someone acting 'smarter than you', and you could just be confident.

And, lots of Republicans, who deny science, who attack the media, who are disdainful toward public schools, who generally think all colleges are the enemy, don't necessarily embrace learning and being intellectually curious. I mean, look at who they value as a 'leader' in the White House right now. You might want to pick friends more in line with your quest for knowledge. 

you might want to put down that chip on your shoulder about being someone acting 'smarter than you'

I could suggest you do the same.

you might want to put down that chip on your shoulder about being someone acting 'smarter than you'

Why? Do you think that'll make me a liberal or a Democrat somehow?

[DaveTV1]

9 hours ago, BarryLaverty said:

 

With all that, you might want to put down that chip on your shoulder about being someone acting 'smarter than you', and you could just be confident.

And, lots of Republicans, who deny science, who attack the media, who are disdainful toward public schools, who generally think all colleges are the enemy, don't necessarily embrace learning and being intellectually curious. I mean, look at who they value as a 'leader' in the White House right now. You might want to pick friends more in line with your quest for knowledge. 

I deny science that has not been proven, but accepted as fact.  Speculation and theory are not facts or laws.  When the media is spewing half truths, speculation, and opinions instead of just the facts then they deserve to be attacked.  When colleges indoctrinate students instead of teaching them facts and allowing debate then they become the enemy.  The quest for knowledge is to know the truth, not the indoctrination of false teaching that professors are saying are the truth.  How is that made manifest ?  With how their pupils/students expound their nonsense.  

[CarthDawg77]

3 hours ago, DaveTV1 said:

I deny science that has not been proven, but accepted as fact.  Speculation and theory are not facts or laws.  When the media is spewing half truths, speculation, and opinions instead of just the facts then they deserve to be attacked.  When colleges indoctrinate students instead of teaching them facts and allowing debate then they become the enemy.  The quest for knowledge is to know the truth, not the indoctrination of false teaching that professors are saying are the truth.  How is that made manifest ?  With how their pupils/students expound their nonsense.  

Well said, Dave!

[Hagar]

4 hours ago, DaveTV1 said:

I deny science that has not been proven, but accepted as fact.  Speculation and theory are not facts or laws.  When the media is spewing half truths, speculation, and opinions instead of just the facts then they deserve to be attacked.  When colleges indoctrinate students instead of teaching them facts and allowing debate then they become the enemy.  The quest for knowledge is to know the truth, not the indoctrination of false teaching that professors are saying are the truth.  How is that made manifest ?  With how their pupils/students expound their nonsense.  

Great post.  Talk to a friend Tuesday.  His oldest daughter goes to Ohio State.  They had Ben Shapiro there to speak.  When he finished, the audience, including his daughter, were ushered out the back door by admin, for their safety.  Out front was your usual mob of Left Wing Indoctrinated Loons.  So much for free speech.

[BarryLaverty]

So, Ben Shapiro was denied a right to speak? No? Are you saying that protestors shouldn't have been allowed to assemble to protest him being there? Was there any physical action by protestors? Also important,, did they have the right or permission to assemble to protest, based on that campus' security protocol? 

[BigLebowski]

They do have the right to assemble and protest.

The very fact that those kids had to be ushered out the back door is what is appalling.  

[BarryLaverty]

I don’t condone violence in protests, for any reason. 

[BigLebowski]

You may not, but the radical progressives that make up the bulk of the protesters do.

[Hagar]

On 9/20/2019 at 8:15 AM, BarryLaverty said:

So, Ben Shapiro was denied a right to speak? No? Are you saying that protestors shouldn't have been allowed to assemble to protest him being there? Was there any physical action by protestors? Also important,, did they have the right or permission to assemble to protest, based on that campus' security protocol? 

The words, “ushered out the back door for their safety” says it all.

[Hagar]

This simple statement by Buttigieg tells me all I need to know about the Democrats.

Btw, if you click on the responses, they are priceless.

 

[CarthDawg77]

1 hour ago, Hagar said:

This simple statement by Buttigieg tells me all I need to know about the Democrats.

Btw, if you click on the responses, they are priceless.

 

 

[BarryLaverty]

Ask that of the vast majority of the American populace...we can just ignore the backwaters of East Texas and maybe Alabammy when asking them their cipherin’ on thangs. 

[CarthDawg77]

49 minutes ago, BarryLaverty said:

Ask that of the vast majority of the American populace...we can just ignore the backwaters of East Texas and maybe Alabammy when asking them their cipherin’ on thangs. 

“Vast” Barry? That’s a bit of a stretch....

[Hagar]

Just watched a 60 Min segment on the demonstrators in Hong Kong.  While listening to them talking, it occurred to me that they’re fighting just what the Democrats are advocating, their loss of freedom.   I wish I could name all the freedoms the Dems want to take, but surely I’ll forget a lot of them.  And make no mistake, although many they’re taking a piece at a time, their goal is to take them all eventually.  They want our fossil fuel vehicles.  They want our freedom to chose insurance.  They want our guns.  They want to eliminate Christianity.  They’re taking away freedom of speech.  They eventually want to tell us what we can and can’t eat.  They want to eliminate capitalism, and especially the middle class.  Their plans/threats to take money from the rich to pay for all their Socialist goals, is a joke.  The rich will simply leave, as they’re doing in France and England.   It just seems so ironic, they’re fighting for freedom in HK, and we may potentially vote it away here.

[CarthDawg77]

9 minutes ago, Hagar said:

Just watched a 60 Min segment on the demonstrators in Hong Kong.  While listening to them talking, it occurred to me that they’re fighting just what the Democrats are advocating, their loss of freedom.   I wish I could name all the freedoms the Dems want to take, but surely I’ll forget a lot of them.  And make no mistake, although many they’re taking a piece at a time, their goal is to take them all eventually.  They want our fossil fuel vehicles.  They want our freedom to chose insurance.  They want our guns.  They want to eliminate Christianity.  They’re taking away freedom of speech.  They eventually want to tell us what we can and can’t eat.  They want to eliminate capitalism, and especially the middle class.  Their plans/threats to take money from the rich to pay for all their Socialist goals, is a joke.  The rich will simply leave, as they’re doing in France and England.   It just seems so ironic, they’re fighting for freedom in HK, and we may potentially vote it away here.

Round them all up & deport them to Venezuela...

[Monte1076]

I'd be curious to see the analytics they used to predict this. I don't know how accurate it is or isn't.

 

And here's the report for anyone interested:

https://www.moodysanalytics.com/-/media/article/2019/president-election-model.pdf

[BarryLaverty]

What would Washington be like without this horrible excuse for a leader? Maybe, just maybe, we will see. 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/kentuckians-finally-had-enough-mitch-093457835.html

Politics

Kentuckians Have Finally Had About Enough of Mitch McConnell

 Margaret Carlson,The Daily Beast Thu, Oct 31 4:34 AM CDT 

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Photo Illustration by Kristen Hazzard/The Daily Beast/Photo by Win McNamee/Getty

What’s the print version of Donald Trump being booed at the World Series? 

The poll showing that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the president’s most stolid defender, is down to a 18 percent job approval rating in Kentucky. Only 37 percent in the Public Policy Poll said they would vote for him again next year.  

Could that be because of his stone-faced support for whatever steaming mess Trump hurls his way? The Bluegrass State is the canary in the mine for how much Trump can help, or hurt, a candidate as his impeachment looks every more likely. After two weeks of unimpeachable civil servants bearing witness to an impeachable president, clinging to Trump out of fear he will kill you if you don’t do what he says is becoming more politically perilous. 

McConnell’s facing his toughest race since he first won election in 1984 by a few thousand votes after airing a famous ad in which a bloodhound sniffs around for the incumbent Walter Dee Huddleston who is nowhere to be found. 2020 will be McConnell’s first race since the once dignified man was infantilized by Trump and his unceasing demands for abject obedience. The indelible impression of the majority leader is of a sphinx standing before a microphone in the Capitol, flanked by a posse of yes-men quaking in their boots lest they reveal a flicker of disagreement with the White House. Even when it came to the Syrian conflict, they only objected briefly to abandoning our Kurdish allies in favor of helping Russia and letting terrorists go free. After Trump rebuked them, the caucus hastily retreated and learned to be impressed by his novel approach in the region. 

As a guide to McConnell’s calculations, Tuesday’s off-year gubernatorial election is ideal. Republican Gov. Matt Bevin is pure Trump, hating on immigrants, Obamacare, gay marriage, sanctuary cities, abortion facilities (which he’s closed), and taxes being spent on fripperies like Medicaid expansion and education. When teachers called in sick to protest budget cuts, Bevin accused them of exposing children to sexual predators. He assiduously courts evangelicals, inviting them last week to the governor’s mansion in Frankfort for a “spiritual” event to "awaken and motivate a sleeping church."

A good month for Bevin is one in which he places second in the race for the country’s most unpopular governor. Even Republicans don’t like him. As a Tea Party candidate, Bevin primaried McConnell in 2014 on a platform of replacing the income tax with a consumption tax, and exposing kids to chicken pox rather than vaccinating them like he did with his children. He gave McConnell multiple opportunities to point out what a kook he was and how often he struggled with the truth. Bevin’s subsequent victory in the 2015 governor’s race—without McConnell’s support—is partly due to getting out the conservative vote by linking himself to the infamous Kim Davis, the county clerk who went to jail rather than issue gay men marriage licenses. 

Rumor is Bevin was angling for an administration post to save himself from the embarrassment of losing re-election—as if the White House were a shame-free zone. He didn’t get that but he is getting an election eve visit from the president who’s good at riling up the base against any Democrat, in this case Attorney General Andy Beshear. The son of former governor Steve Beshear, he’s as anxious to to localize the race as Bevin is to nationalize it. Beshear’s tackled the opioid crisis, railed against Bevin’s misuse of the state’s plane, and the poor economy. At the last debate, he gave Bevin a chance to apologize to teachers for calling them “thugs” and “ignorant,” and “saying that they caused the sexual assault of a minor simply for coming to the Capitol and standing up for public education.” Bevin refused.The last Mason-Dixon poll has the two even but in-state prognosticators now give Bevin the edge given that the race is no longer about conduct in office but which tribe you belong to.  

McConnell had his own World Series moment in August at Fancy Farm, the 100-year old picnic which attracts 10,000 Kentuckians to eat barbecue and listen to pols in 90-degree heat. It’s a chance for McConnell to get down and doff his tie, kiss babies and toss a Frisbee, which he rejects. In the morning he attends a carefully curated Republican breakfast and returns later in his bullet-proof SUV to make remarks midday on the bipartisan main stage. Last year, kids in Team Mitch T-shirts groped and leered at a cutout of AOC. This year, his speech was interrupted by an organized group of hecklers in Say Nyet to Moscow Mitch T-shirts, a reminder that he refuses to bring election security legislation to the floor for fear of upsetting the president who believes Vladimir Putin on Russian interference in 2016, not American intelligence agencies. McConnell called the group  “a bunch of Democrats running around with Communist flags on their shirts,” proof “they want to take the country” to a socialist hell with Medicare for All and a Green New Deal that would take away your hamburgers. Shortly after reminding the crowd that he’d “saved the Supreme Court for a generation,” he left. 

As his poll numbers have dropped and his re-election bid looms, McConnell has made ever so slight moves to distance himself from Trump, whose whims now extend to the slaughter of our erstwhile allies, like the Kurds and Ukranians. Somewhere inside the old McConnell lives a patriot and institutional loyalist appalled that Trump has deputized a shadow government staffed by rogue operators like Rudy Giuliani and his now indicted pals. To those ends, McConnell recently refused to confirm Trump’s claim that McConnell said his Ukrainian call was “innocent,” or to agree that impeachment is a “lynching.”  He hedges his criticism of impeachment by objecting to the process. 

Even if the Tuesday’s matchup shows that Trump wasn’t able to propel every last Republican to the polls and that Democrats had succeeded in crawling over glass and defeating Bevin, McConnell may not divorce Trump. The longest serving majority leader is married to Elaine Chao, Trump’s transportation secretary, a powerful combination. The consternation in Washington over an investigation revealing that she is much more likely to entertain a constituent of her husband than anyone else was a plus at home. And McConnell already put his eggs in Trump’s basket with an ad buy in which he brazenly asks for money with the promise that “the way that impeachment stops is a Senate majority with me as Majority Leader.” So much for swearing to be an impartial juror, and good luck deep-sixing that ad in the same file where Trump aides tried to hide the transcript of the Ukrainian call.    

McConnell’s become so comfortable doing the wrong thing, it may be too hard for him to switch to the right one, to risk being labeled “human scum” as Trump calls his Republican critics and to endure Trump’s red-faced rage, on the gamble it will help him. Still, if Bevin loses and Trump keeps sinking, he will have to do something. If he’s more frightened by an approval rating in the teens than Trump’s fury,  it will be the right one. 

Read more at The Daily Beast.