Tag: 2020 Elections

Biden Stuff

Soon the doors to polling stations will be thrown open and some of us will head in to cast our cherished vote…..I think most voters know all they need to know about Donald the Orange….but what do they know about his opponent, Joe Biden other than he was VP under Obama?

Is that enough?

What is his stand on foreign policy or taxes or trade or criminal justice on and on…..?

This is my attempt to help those few people that are struggling with their vote…..hopefully this will help them in some small way….

These are previous posts on IST about the Biden agenda….

https://lobotero.com/2020/10/13/biden-harris-financial-policies/

https://lobotero.com/2020/06/18/biden-and-criminal-justice/

https://lobotero.com/2020/05/27/biden-on-trade/

Since trade was a big issue in 2016 and Trump probably won because of his stands….let’s look at Biden’s…..

Trade policy, however, plays no big role in Biden’s campaign and economic plan. So what can we expect in US trade policy under a President Biden? On the one hand, it can be assumed that he would reverse some of Trump’s shifts in trade policy. First, even if Biden would not just rejoin the TPP as it was signed, he promised to renegotiate the deal to improve labor and environmental standards and counter-balance China. Second, it is likely that a Biden administration would drop imposed tariffs against allies such as the European Union (EU). To what extent a Biden administration would push forward a trade deal with the EU is hard to predict. While Biden highlights in his campaign that he plans to ‘lead the democratic world’, trade policy is no priority for him.

Opinion – Bidenomics: US Trade Policy under a Biden Presidency

Let’s move on…..

https://lobotero.com/2020/05/26/biden-and-taxes/

https://lobotero.com/2020/04/23/bidens-foreign-policy/

The Center For American Progress has offered up a plan for Biden in National Security…..https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/security/reports/2020/10/19/491715/first-100-days-toward-sustainable-values-based-national-security-approach/

If Biden wins will he step up and do what is needed for the country and our issues?  Or will he just be a repeat of the Obama years and the wars…

Joe Biden might be elected president next week. What would that mean for U.S. foreign policy? President Donald Trump’s failings are many and obvious. Unfortunately, Biden’s assumptions and plans, though different, are equally flawed.

Almost certainly there would be more pervasive intervention, ceaseless meddling, self-serving demands, economic sanctions, deadly drones, intermittent bombing, continuing occupation, and endless war. More lives and wealth wasted. More foreign societies ruined. More world problems created and seeds of future crises planted. Rather like the last two decades.

President Joe Biden Plans a World of Endless Intervention and Probably War

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Iran Did It!

Just a mere year ago the term was “Russia Did It”….and now to reinforce the lame attacks on Iran they are in the same boat as Russia with their meddling in our elections.

Sorry but the timing of this accusation smells like bovine fecal matter….and coming from the DNI, Ratcliffe makes it smell that much louder.

But this is what I am going on about…..

Iran and Russia have obtained voter registration information that can be used to undermine confidence in the U.S. election system, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe announced at a press conference Wednesday evening.

Why it matters: The revelation comes roughly two weeks before Election Day. Ratcliffe said Iran has sent threatening emails to Democratic voters this week in states across the U.S. and spread videos claiming that people can vote more than once.

https://www.axios.com/fbi-russia-iran-voter-registration-information-f9ba3ba8-bf0b-4694-bcab-35493aba27a5.html

As usual the media does its part to prop up a lie or the disinformation…….

Why do I say this?

“This really left me shaking my head,” a former senior official with the National Security Agency said of the press conference. The intelligence community “has a ton of information” on foreign interference in elections. “The example they gave was pretty silly … ridiculous.” The Iranian operation, besides being clumsy, wasn’t even a big deal: Voter registration records are public documents, readily available; it takes no master hacker to obtain them.

Why then did Ratcliffe hold this hastily called and absurdly overdramatized press conference? His purpose seems to have been blatantly partisan: to help Trump win the election by saying that Iran, which is commonly viewed as a hostile actor, wants him to lose.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/10/iran-election-interference-russia-proud-boys.html

Why indeed?

Could it be to instill some fear in the voter and in doing so collect some more votes?

Ratcliffe has been carrying water for this president a long time…..he is a prime example of the term “sycophant”.

To be fair I would like to give Iran’s response to Ratcliffe’s accusation…..

The Iranian government is rejecting as “absurd” and “dangerous” U.S. intelligence officials’ allegations Wednesday evening that Tehran was behind a torrent of threatening emails recently sent to registered Democratic voters and designed to appear as if they were sent by the Proud Boys, a violent pro-Trump group.

Alireza Miryousefi, a spokesperson for Iran’s mission to the United Nations, said in a statement that the accusations—leveled by U.S. Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and FBI Director Christopher Wray during an unusual Wednesday night press conference—are “nothing more than another scenario to undermine voter confidence in the security of the U.S. election.”

“Unlike the U.S., Iran does not interfere in other countries’ elections. The world has been witnessing the U.S.’s own desperate public attempts to question the outcome of its own elections at the highest level,” Miryousefi added, apparently referring to U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated attempts to preemptively sow doubt about the election’s legitimacy. “Iran has no interest in interfering in the U.S. election and no preference for the outcome. The U.S. must end its malign and dangerous accusations against Iran.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/10/22/iran-denies-malign-and-dangerous-us-allegations-election-interference-critics-note

The Iranian spokesman does have a point….the US has been known to interfere with other country’s election processes….

What do I think?

It is a bit too suspicious that this revelation has been made just days before the vote….and this administration has proven to be anything but reliable and honest.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Debate Take Aways

First let me apologize this should have been part of the previous post….but it was late when the babbling stopped and I needed to nap.

These are what the pundits saw as the major take aways from the battling candidates last night.

President Trump and Joe Biden shared a debate stage for the second and final time Thursday night—and it was a far more restrained affair than their first meeting, helped by the introduction of a mute button and widely praised moderating from NBC’s Kristen Welker. With far fewer interruptions and a lot less crosstalk, the candidates made their opposing cases on issues including the pandemic, health care, and corruption. Analysts say that while both candidates landed some clear hits, the debate didn’t deliver the game-changing moment Trump needed. Some takeaways:

  • Sharp contrasts. While the tone of the Nashville debate “was more sedate, the conflict in matters of substance and vision could not have been more dramatic,” Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin write at the New York Times. The contrast was most evident in the candidate’s remarks on the pandemic they write, with Trump “promising, in defiance of evidence, that the disease was ‘going away,'” while Biden “called for much more aggressive federal action for the ‘dark winter’ ahead.”
  • A changed tone from Trump. Trump cleared a low bar by improving his tone. The president was on his “best behavior” Thursday night and while his strategy seemed to be allowing Biden lots of speaking time in the hope the Democrat would slip up, “that didn’t really happen,” Niall Stanage and Jonathan Easley write at the Hill. “While there were moments where Biden appeared shaky, there were also instances in which he met the moment, such as with his emotional response to the Trump administration’s policy of separating parents from their children at the border,” they write. “But overall, the president’s calmer demeanor likely helped him to a degree.”
  • Not a disaster for Biden. The former vice president also cleared a low bar by not making any gaffes likely to jeopardize his lead in the polls, according to Mark Barabak and Melanie Mason at the Los Angeles Times. The Democrat “didn’t suffer a brain freeze or open his mouth and spray buckshot into his feet. Indeed, he more than acquitted himself,” they write. “Crisp speaking, cogent argument, and linear presentation have never been the former vice president’s strong suit,” they note, but despite “garble and a verbal stumble now and then,” there was “nothing remotely close to a death blow to Biden’s candidacy.”
  • “Facts took a hit.” The AP‘s fact-checking of the debate notes that the “facts took a hit right out of the gate”, when Trump “misrepresented the reality of the pandemic in myriad and familiar ways,” while “Biden, at times, was selective on the coronavirus and other matters, at one point stating that no one under Obamacare lost private health coverage. Millions did.”
  • Medicare-for-all among the losers. In a list of debate winners and losers at Vox, Medicare-for-all ranks among the losers. Biden rejected Trump’s claim that he was pushing for “socialized medicine,” telling the Republican that he had beaten numerous rivals who supported a single-payer system. “The reason why I had such a fight with 20 candidates for the nomination was I support private insurance,” Biden said. “Not one single person with private insurance would lose their insurance under my plan, nor did they under ObamaCare.”
  • “Better for the country.” This was the kind of debate people were hoping for the first time around, with “a clear contrast on policies and almost no incomprehensible crosstalk,” writes Jim Geraghty at National Review. “Compared to the first debate, this was Lincoln and Douglas. Okay, maybe more like Statler and Waldorf,” he writes. “But it was much better for everyone: better for Trump, better for Biden, and better for the country.” He says it’s “unfortunate for the Trump campaign” that there will not be a third debate.

Just a little refresher on the evening……

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2020 Presidential Debate #3

Mercifully this is the final debate before the vote.

This was a different debate than normal…it had to be altered because Donald the Orange does not understand what a debate is all about….and he was a titty baby.

The debate makes perfect fodder for an SNL skit….but in all fairness Trump was a bit calmer and seemed to be more focused than the first debate….still lied his ass off…..but as I expected there was some theatrics and …..Before the debate even began, Trump seemed to set the tone in the form of a special guest: He invited Tony Bobulinski, a former business partner of Hunter Biden. 

Plus Trump is trying out a new slur for Biden in the closing days of this election….. President Trump again pressed his case during Thursday night’s debate that Joe and Hunter Biden acted unethically in regard to Hunter’s business dealings. At one point, he referred to the elder Biden as “the big man” and suggested that he has orchestrated global deals that were enriching him personally. “I don’t make money from China. You do,” he said of Biden, per the Independent. “I don’t make money from Ukraine. You do. They even made a statement that they have to give 10% to the big man.” Biden, he suggested, was that “big man.” 

And then the first subject…..

Trump praised his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, insisting that “we’re rounding the corner” and that that a vaccine is just weeks away. Biden, for his part, said anyone who has mismanaged things as badly as Trump doesn’t deserve to be president. Both covered familiar ground on the topic over a series of questions, and one exchange largely summed things up. “We’re learning to live with it,” said Trump, per CBS News. Biden responded, “People are learning to die with it.”

And now for the rest of the story….

The second presidential debate was a marked changed from the first one, with few interruptions as the candidates covered a range of topics, including COVID and corruption. Late in the forum, President Trump sought to score points on energy by asking Joe Biden if he would shut down the oil industry. “I would transition from the oil industry, yes,” responded Biden, saying the industry “pollutes” and should eventually be replaced with greener alternatives. “That’s a big statement,” said Trump, asking voters in Texas and Pennsylvania to remember it. Other moments:

  • BidenCare: Joe Biden promised to beef up ObamaCare, or the Affordable Care Act, if he’s elected. “What I’m going to do is pass ObamaCare with a public option, become BidenCare,” he said, per Politico.

Image

(still looks like the industry will control the benefits)

  • Racism: Trump again compared himself to Abraham Lincoln in terms of how much he has done to help Black Americans, and he pronounced himself “the least racist person in this room.” Biden responded, “Abraham Lincoln over here is the most racist president we’ve ever had.”
  • Track record: “Joe, I ran because of you,” said Trump. “I ran because of Barack Obama. Because you did a poor job. If I thought you did a good job, I would have never run,” he said. “You keep talking about all these things you’re going to do. But you were there just a short time ago and you guys did nothing.”
  • Family separations: Biden said the separation of families at the border violates “every notion of who we are as a nation.”
  • Minimum wage: Biden backed a $15 minimum wage for the US, saying, “No one should work one job, two jobs below poverty.” Trump said it could hurt businesses and should be a state decision, per USA Today.

I admit that this debate was far more watchable than the first…at least for me…but the best optics of the night was from Biden and his facial expressions during his “silent” time…..

Mercifully this will be the last 2020 debate there has been too much theatrics surrounding them…..

I think most Americans already know who they will vote for so this bit of drama was as useless as teats on a boar.

I hope you enjoyed this service….

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Debate–What To Expect Tonight

Just hours away from the silliness we call the presidential debates…..I will be watching just because I am a sucker of political theatrics…..if you are gonna watch and not wait for my analysis then this is what you can expect.

After a chaotic first debate and a second one that was replaced by dueling town halls, President Trump and Joe Biden will meet for a final debate in Nashville Thursday night. Under a rule change, each candidate’s mic will be muted for the first two minutes their rival speaks on each subject, meaning that there will probably be fewer interruptions than in the Cleveland clash—although since Trump’s main line of attack is expected to involve Biden’s son Hunter, analysts are not expecting it to be an entirely calm and sedate discussion. Biden is expected to focus on the economy and the pandemic. More:

  • The moderator. The Los Angeles Times describes NBC White House correspondent Kristen Welker as a “political junkie who got her dream job.” The Harvard-educated Welker has been assigned to the White House since 2011. She is the second Black woman to moderate a presidential debate. The first was former ABC anchor Carole Simpson, who moderated the second debate between George HW Bush, Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot in 1992.

  • After a chaotic first debate and a second one that was replaced by dueling town halls, President Trump and Joe Biden will meet for a final debate in Nashville Thursday night. Under a rule change, each candidate’s mic will be muted for the first two minutes their rival speaks on each subject, meaning that there will probably be fewer interruptions than in the Cleveland clash—although since Trump’s main line of attack is expected to involve Biden’s son Hunter, analysts are not expecting it to be an entirely calm and sedate discussion. Biden is expected to focus on the economy and the pandemic. More:

The moderator. The Los Angeles Times describes NBC White House correspondent Kristen Welker as a “political junkie who got her dream job.” The Harvard-educated Welker has been assigned to the White House since 2011. She is the second Black woman to moderate a presidential debate. The first was former ABC anchor Carole Simpson, who moderated the second debate between George HW Bush, Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot in 1992.

  • Biden’s dilemma over attacks on son. Politico reports that with Trump expected to attack Biden over Hunter’s business dealings, Democrats are divided over how the candidate should respond. Some say Biden should do more to highlight the conflicts of interest in Trump’s family, while others argue that he should just switch focus to the pandemic. “Do we really want to have a debate about politicians’ children when people are really struggling to no end? Throw a quick combo and get out,” suggests Democratic strategist James Carville.
  • Coronavirus precautions. An official from the Commission on Presidential Debates tells the Tennessean that both candidates will be tested for COVID-19 before the debate. Peter Eyre says the audience of around 200 people, including the candidates’ guests, will be required to wear masks and maintain social distancing. He says there will be “enforcement of the mask rule,” which did not happen in Cleveland, where Trump’s relatives removed their masks when the debate began.
  • How to watch. The debate begins at 9pm ET and will be carried on networks including ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, PBS, NBC, MSNBC, Noticias Telemundo, and C-SPAN, per the AP. The networks will also offer ways to watch the debate online through YouTube and other sites.

Or you can save yourself the agony of watching the two old farts go after each other…..and just wait for my analysis tomorrow.

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“lego ergo scribo”

 

Pre-3rd And Final 2020 Presidential Debate

Tomorrow night we shall experience the last presidential debate before the general election…..and some things will be a bit different than in the past.

President Trump won’t be able to interrupt Joe Biden this time around—at least, not for the first two minutes of each of the six debate segments Thursday night. The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates has changed its rules so that each candidate will get those two minutes of uninterrupted time for an opening statement, during which the other candidate’s mic will be muted, the Hill reports. For the rest of each 15-minute segment, “which by design is intended to be dedicated to open discussion,” the commission says, both mics will be on. The commission notes both campaigns had previously agreed to, and have recently reaffirmed, a commitment to giving each candidate two minutes of uninterrupted time to speak, and this rule change only serves to enforce that already-existing rule.

Even so, the Trump campaign has made clear it’s not happy with the change. “Regardless of last minute rule changes from the biased commission in their latest attempt to provide advantage to their favored candidate,” Trump will still participate in the debate, the campaign said in a statement after the rule change was announced Monday. Axios notes Trump had previously suggested he may not participate were mics to be cut off. Earlier Monday, the campaign had also complained about the range of topics announced for the debate, claiming that the commission had previously promised foreign policy would be the central focus (a claim the Biden campaign says is false). “The Commission’s pro-Biden antics have turned the entire debate season into a fiasco and it is little wonder why the public has lost faith in its objectivity,” campaign manager Bill Stepien said about that.

Will the final debate be the same fiasco the first was…..or will it take place at all?  Will it be theatrics or a real presentation of issues?

My analysis will be the day after the debate…..I suffer so you do not have to…..

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“lego ergo scribo”

Don’t Count Trump Out Yet!

I know that most people do not want to think about the outside chance of Trump winning this election….but there are a few signs that could put him in the winner’s circle.

But the stats I see tell me the election is a virtual tie nationwide…..don’t celebrate just yet.

There seems to be a rise in GOP voter registration…..that could be a boon to the Trump campaign…..

The polls continue to show Joe Biden with a steady lead nationally and in most battleground states, and the AP notes that President Trump himself has been publicly speculating about losing in November. Biden’s campaign, meanwhile, is busy warning Democrats about over-confidence. The race is a “lot closer” than people think, campaign chief Jen O’Malley Dillon wrote last week. A look at why that might be:

  • Registering voters: The No. 1 source of concern for Democrats is that Republican registration is up in crucial states, reports Politico. Yes, Democrats appear to have a clear edge in record-setting early voting, but will that be enough to overcome an expected large turnout of Trump voters on Election Day?
  • 3 key states: GOP registration gains in Pennsylvania, Florida, and North Carolina, paired with hopes of the heavy turnout mentioned above, are boosting Republican spirits, reports the New York Times. “The tremendous voter registration gain by the Republicans is the secret weapon that will make the difference for the Republicans in 2020,” Dee Stewart, a GOP political consultant in North Carolina, tells the newspaper.
  • Pollsters’ blind spot? An analysis by JPMorgan Chase finds that the GOP has picked up 200,000 voters in Pennsylvania since 2016, when Trump won there by less than 50,000 votes, per Fox News. The analysis finds similar progress in Florida, North Carolina, and New Mexico. All of which has Guy Benson wondering at Town Hall, “Are Pollsters Missing a Key Factor That Could Benefit Trump?”
  • Other factors: Uncertainty of polling in swing states, the disqualification of mail-in ballots, and young voters failing to return their mail-in ballots also make Politico’s list of “hidden” reasons why Democrats are nervous. “I predict in the coming weeks the Democratic narrative will change from euphoria over the apparent large leads in early voting to concern that a disproportionately large number of younger voters have yet to return their mail ballots,” writes Michael McDonald in an analysis at the US Elections Project.
  • Not done? If Trump does indeed lose, that’s the end of his presidential aspirations, right? Maybe not. Steve Bannon tells the Australian that he thinks Trump would run again. “I’ll make this prediction right now: If for any reason the election is stolen from, or in some sort of way Joe Biden is declared the winner, Trump will announce he’s going to run for re-election in 2024,” he said. “You’re not going to see the end of Donald Trump.”

There is only one way to defeat Trump and his minions……

VOTE!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Another “Titty Baby” Episode

AS the election creeps closer the mental stability of Donald the Orange seem to be slipping….he rants and he pouts and he lies and gravels…..and none more prevalent than the most recent interview with NBC…..

President Trump was interviewed for 60 Minutes Tuesday, for a segment airing this coming Sunday, and after multiple outlets reported the POTUS had abruptly cut the sit-down short, Trump offered his take on things. “I am pleased to inform you that, for the sake of accuracy in reporting, I am considering posting my interview with Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes, PRIOR TO AIRTIME! This will be done so that everybody can get a glimpse of what a FAKE and BIASED interview is all about,” he tweeted. “Everyone should compare this terrible Electoral Intrusion with the recent interviews of Sleepy Joe Biden!” He also referenced the incident at a rally Tuesday night, promising the crowd they would “get a kick” out of “what we do” to the show. Per CNN, after halting the interview 45 minutes in, Trump also refused to participate in a joint “walk and talk” that had been planned with Mike Pence. Pence instead taped his interview solo.

Trump also tweeted video of a maskless Stahl. “Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes not wearing a mask in the White House after her interview with me. Much more to come,” he wrote. A CBS News official tells the Hill that the White House agreed to tape the interview “for archival purposes only”; it’s not clear exactly what that means. The official also says Stahl wore a mask up until the time of the sit-down, and that the image tweeted by Trump was from immediately after the interview, before she had returned to her personal belongings to retrieve her mask. Another says all of the CBS staff had been tested for COVID. It’s not clear what exactly transpired to cause the drama, nor how Trump might manage to leak the interview early. Sources tell Fox News Stahl was “extremely hostile,” and a source who was in the room tells Politico Trump was “pissed.” Per the site, Trump “was frustrated with the line of questioning and how the interview was being conducted.”

This does not help with what few undecided voters that are left and looking….

This also illustrates why you should make damn sure that you elect a president that has the mental capability over a 6 year old.

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“lego ergo scribo”

15 Days To Go

In about 2 weeks we will finally know who had the better campaign…….which Old Fart caught the people’s attention the best?

You know all that support that Trump supposedly has among white men?

There is good news/bad news…..

Good news is the Trump is losing support with whites…..bad news is he, Trump, is gaining with blacks and Hispanics.

Yes Dear you read all that correctly…..losing support with whites….gaining with Hispanics and blacks…..

There’s a well-known truth in politics: No one group swings an election.

But that doesn’t mean that the demographic trends bubbling beneath the surface can’t have an outsized effect. Take 2016. President Trump won in large part because he carried white voters without a college degree by a bigger margin than any recent GOP presidential nominee, though there had been signs that this group was shifting rightward for a while.

Likewise in 2018, a strong showing by Democrats in suburban districts and among white voters with a four-year college degree helped the party retake the House, a shift we first saw in 2016 when Trump likely became the first Republican to lose this group in 60 years.1 And this is just scratching the surface. In the past few years, we’ve also seen hints that more women voters are identifying as Democrats and that some nonwhite voters might be getting more Republican-leaning.

Trump Is Losing Ground With White Voters But Gaining Among Black And Hispanic Americans

Look at the stats closely.

With two weeks to go there are a few things you can do to remain sane…..that is if you want to be sane.

fivethrityeight.com has a method…..

1. Keep the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in mind.

2. Don’t assume the race is in the bag for Biden.

3. But also don’t buy the narrative that “polling is broken.”

4. Don’t get too obsessed with comparisons to 2016.

5. Don’t pay much attention to individual polls; wait for polling averages to move.

6. Beware talk of “October surprises.” They’re usually overhyped.

7. Don’t read too much into the campaigns’ behavior.

8. Don’t get carried away with early voting data.

8 Tips To Stay Sane In The Final 15 Days Of The Campaign

Just hang in there the insanity is nearing its conclusion.

We can soon have a new set of issues to bitch about.

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VOTE!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”