Tag: Voters

A Good Sign?

Pain kept me awake last night and as I was trying to find something to watch on the tube I cam across a Trump ad…..one of his idiot sons is asking for donations….”$5, $10 $25 whatever you can spare”…begging for donations….is the cash running short?

I know the campaigns are weeks away from the official start of the election….but they all need cash…..and a Trump son is begging for dollars.

I recall the days when Trump was an opponent of early voting and mail-in voting because according to him the ripe for fraud.

But was then….this is now….

It appears that Donald the Orange has flip-flopped on his original opposition to early voting….

“You know mail-in voting is largely corrupt,” Donald Trump told a rally last month. But the Republican presidential candidate can’t win without votes, and he’s thought better of that stance. His team has joined with the Republican National Committee to launch a campaign encouraging supporters to cast their ballots by mail for the November election or otherwise participate in early voting, the Hill reports. “You need to make a plan, register, and vote any way possible,” Trump says in a video kicking off the campaign.

The effort is called “Swamp the Vote,” and Trump says he needs a huge turnout to defeat Democrats. “The way to win is to swamp them, if we swamp them with votes they can’t cheat,” he said in a statement. Plans call for providing potential voters with information on how to vote in various ways under their state’s laws. States encouraged voting in ways other than standing in line at a polling place after the pandemic hit. Trump opposed that effort, saying, “I think a lot of people cheat with mail-in voting.” A Washington Post analysis of data from three states at the time found no evidence of widespread fraud.

A Pew poll earlier this year found majority support for early voting and mail-in voting. Democrats supported mail-in options much more than Republicans did, per the Hill. The chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee told the Post that his party needs to get its voters to cast ballots earlier and that he’s pleased by Trump’s change. “President Trump wants to win,” Sen. Steve Daines said. “And this is a winning strategy.”

Quite the turn around…if you recall (hahaha-sorry) the Trump organization sued Nevada back in 2020 over mail-in votes….

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from President Trump’s reelection campaign challenging Nevada’s new vote-by-mail law, saying the campaign failed to show how it could be harmed by the law. The campaign, which has filed lawsuits in several states over voting rules, had asked the judge to block the law, which calls for mail-in ballots to automatically be sent to all active Nevada voters.

And now he has a new found desire for these votes.

Is this a good sign that his campaign is struggling to find enough votes?

What else will he flip-flop on as the election draws near?

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Desertion Continues

It is 2024 and Biden and the Dems thought they had a magic bullet to help bring in young voters….the student loan forgiveness.

I wrote about this just last month….

The Young Are The Problem

And the news just keeps getting worse for Biden and the Dems….

With the 2024 election just over six months away, President Biden is working with two big thorns in his side that threaten to damage his reelection bid: Israel’s continued war against Hamas in Gaza, and the subsequent campus protests that are roiling colleges and universities across the US. Axios notes that the commander in chief is routinely heckled now at his various public appearances over these topics, but there’s one group in particular that may prove especially worrisome for Biden: young voters from his own party, with support plummeting at an “increasing pace of concern,” Elise Joshi of Gen-Z for Change tells the Hill. More:

  • Poll I: It’s not great news for Biden on this front. A Harvard Youth Poll from last month showed that 45% of young adults ages 18 to 29 would vote for Biden, with 37% for Trump. For context, at this point in the 2020 election, Biden led Trump 60% to 30%.
  • Poll II: In a CNN poll released last month, Biden trailed Trump by 11 percentage points among voters under the age of 35; the poll does note that “Biden’s deficit with voters in that group is driven largely by those who did not vote in 2020.” Once that group was removed from the equation, it’s Trump 47%, Biden 46%.
  • Tweet warning: The Washington Post calls attention to a tweet this week from the College Democrats of America, the DNC’s college arm, which read, “College Democrats’ votes are not to be taken for granted by the Democratic Party. We reserve the right to criticize our party when it fails to listen to us.” The Post notes that this points out another challenge for Team Biden: “Even young people who are Democrats often aren’t super strong Democrats.”
  • Still: In a lengthier statement cited by the New York Times, the College Democrats stress that they’re “committed to the reelection of President Biden and Democrats across down-ballot races in every corner of our nation.”
  • James Carville: The Democratic strategist concurs that there are red flags. “It’s horrifying our numbers among younger voters, particularly younger Blacks, younger Latinos … younger people of color. Particularly males,” he said in his podcast last month, per the New York Post. “We’re not shedding them—they’re leaving in … droves.”
  • Young progressives: Biden needs them in his corner, per NPR, which takes a look back at how Biden teamed up with former presidential rival Bernie Sanders four years ago, after Sanders dropped out of the race, to draw in voters from the Sanders camp. The outlet suggests he’ll have to work even harder to do so this time around.
  • Voter chat: PBS talked with four young constituents in the expected swing state of Michigan, with only one of them saying they’d cast a vote for Biden. Check out their conversation here.

Does not look good for Biden according to recent polls….but does the Dems and Biden have another ‘magic bullet’ in their bag of whimsy?

I say they do not….for the young are seeing the Dems as no better than Repubs….both are greedy and very corruptible.

This is a very interesting turn of events….and the Dems are too thick to see the problem.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Young Are The Problem

We have an election coming our way in just a matter of months and I have noticed the interest in it is not very good and seems to be waning daily.

In years past an election was a time for the exchange of ideas and debate….these days it is a time for yawns and head shaking.

I am not thrilled with the choice of candidates but I am old and set in my ways…..but the real problem is the younger voter…..it seems they are turned off by Biden and Trump both….

David Brooks, a shill for special interests, thinks Biden has a problem…..

David Brooks says he still thinks President Biden is the Democrats’ strongest candidate for president, but he’s getting more pessimistic about his chances of beating Donald Trump in November. For starters, Brooks writes at the New York Times, many voters simply prefer Republicans “on key issues like inflation and immigration.” But Biden also has a big problem with young voters, Brooks writes. He cites a recent NBC News poll that found only 64% of voters are highly interested in the election, down from 77% in 2020—and among voters 18 to 34, the figure is just 36%.

That might be partly due to the advanced age of both candidates, Brooks writes, but “part of it is also about Biden’s approach to the Israel-Hamas war,” which has been more strongly criticized by young people than other groups. “I think what we’re seeing at Columbia and on other elite campuses is a precursor to what we’re going to see at the Democratic convention in Chicago,” writes Brooks. He characterizes the clashes between police and leftist protesters at the 1968 Democratic convention as an “early marker of the differences between the more-educated and less-educated classes. They were part of the trend that sent working-class voters to the GOP.”

If there are similar clashes at the August convention, “the chaos will reinforce Trump’s core law-and-order message,” Brooks writes. “It will make Biden look weak and hapless.” Click for his full piece. The NBC poll found that Biden and Trump are “essentially tied” among voters 18 to 34, with Biden at 44% and Trump at 43%. Biden’s problem with younger Americans isn’t just about Gaza, writes Philip Bump at the Washington Post. He notes that YouGov polling of registered voters going back to 2021 shows big swings in support for Biden among younger voters—but Gallup polling of all Americans shows younger people “are consistently less approving of Biden than Americans overall.”

A fearmongering piece….trying to influence people with suppositions.

I can understand why the young have a problem with Biden….for I have a problem with his old ass….but where will the young put their vote that is if they bother to vote?

One tactic was the student loan debacle….trying to get on the good side of young voters.

Will it work?

Will they vote for Trump?

Interesting demographic that could make the difference in this election.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

We Don’t Want No Stinking Dictator

We can say a lot of things about the upcoming election…..for me it is a contest between Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dummer….on one side we have a person that spews hatred and bias and on the other we have a spineless tool that makes promises only to work on them just before an election….so for me this election is a lose-lose scenario.

Beyond my personal opinion a dictatorship looms and many Americans say they do not want such and all the while they are helping create the thing they do not want.

Whether a glass is half full or half empty is a matter of perspective. The same can be said about the half of Americans who oppose the idea of allowing presidents to rule unilaterally—an exercise of monarchical power favored by only a fifth of us. I like to look on the bright side, so I take it as a win that those opposing unrestrained executive power far outnumber those who favor it. Still, it would be better if, in a republic established two and a half centuries ago, more than half the population would commit to the proposition that turning the country into a dictatorship would be bad.

“About half of the public think it would be a bad idea if the next president is able to act on important policy issues without the approval of Congress or the courts,” the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research reports of the results of a survey of 1,282 adults conducted March 21-25. “Only 21% think it would be a good thing, and about 30% think it’s neither good nor bad.”

In the poll, 48 percent overall oppose unilateral presidential rule, including 58 percent of Democrats and 45 percent of Republicans. The 21 percent favoring the idea include 17 percent of Democrats and 26 percent of Republicans. Support for unrestrained executive power rises to 39 percent among Democrats in the case of a Biden win in November, and to 57 percent of Republicans if Trump wins.

Interestingly, the AP-NORC results are nearly identical to those found by the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics in 2021. At the time, pollsters reported “roughly 2 in 10 Trump and Biden voters strongly agree it would be better if a ‘President could take needed actions without being constrained by Congress or courts.'” Among Biden voters, 22 percent strongly agreed with the idea, compared to 19 percent of Trump voters (over 40 percent of both at least “somewhat agreed” with the idea of an unrestrained presidency).

Americans Don’t Want a Dictatorship, but They’re Creating One Anyway

Maybe it is time to take a hard look at your political priorities….the thing that you dislike the most may be the very thing you are helping create.

Just a lowly observation….

Pay Attention!

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

‘Uncommitted’ By Choice

In a twist of the dagger voters are trying to get the attention of candidates….trying to have them mend their idiotic ways.

The new movement is to vote ‘uncommitted’…..

It all began in Michigan…..

If President Biden thought Michigan’s sizable “uncommitted” protest vote in the state’s primary last month was a fluke, he learned otherwise on Super Tuesday. In Minnesota, for example, about 19% of voters checked the “uncommitted” option, largely in protest of Biden’s support of Israel in the Hamas war. The results “again raised uncomfortable questions” for Biden not only regarding the remaining primaries but the general election as well, per Reuters. The results, as laid out by Axios:

  • North Carolina: About 88,000 uncommitted votes, or 12.7%
  • Massachusetts: 55,800, 9.4%
  • Minnesota: 45,900, 18.9%
  • Colorado: 43,400, 8.1%
  • Alabama: 11,200, 6%
  • Tennessee: 10,400, 7.9%
  • Iowa: 480, 3.9%
  • Spreading? In Minnesota’s case, the state has a sizable population of Somali residents, but the large percentage of dissatisfied voters suggests anger over Biden’s support of Israel has “spread beyond Muslim Americans to progressives and younger voters,” per the New York Times. The Hill similarly points to a “wave of urgency among progressive Americans” on the issue.
  • White House responds: “The president believes making your voice heard and participating in our democracy is fundamental to who we are as Americans,” said campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt early Wednesday, per the Times. “He shares the goal for an end to the violence and a just, lasting peace in the Middle East. He’s working tirelessly to that end.”
  • Harris’ speech: Another sign that the White House is taking this seriously is that VP Kamala Harris delivered a strong call for a ceasefire in a speech last week. “I don’t think the vice president would have made such a sweeping statement if Super Tuesday wasn’t happening, and we have been seeing the same thing with President Biden,” Asma Nizami, an organizer of Vote Uncommitted in Minnesota, tells Reuters.

Biden and his gang will say and do anything to try and stave off this movement…..they will lie and misinform, the same as any candidate would do, but it is time to cut through the BS and Americans to make their feelings be known and if this is what it takes then I am all for it.

Me?  I could not vote ‘uncommitted’ for my state you can only have 2 choices, GOP or Dem, and I think both are as worthless as they come.

This is a great idea and we should carry it forward from these primaries.

Put some fear in these slugs….fear of the people which they have bred out of Americans….time to re-awake our political spirit and time to make government truly….’of the people, by the people and for the people’.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Iowa Caucuses–2024

College of Political Knowledge

2024 Election Series

Today will be a day to remember….the bitter biting cold all the way South to Northern Mississippi and the vote in Iowa (that is if people can actually get out of their homes to vote).

With all this adversity what can we expect from the voters in Iowa on such a day?

Today’s the (extremely frigid) day: Iowa caucusgoers will come together at 8pm EST in some 1,500 locations across the state to debate their options and then cast their secret ballots. Aside from the much-discussed weather—the AP reports temps are expected to be the coldest ever recorded on a caucus night—here are the five biggest storylines to watch:

  1. Just how big will Donald Trump’s margin be: Polling suggests Trump has a win in the bag, meaning the real question is whether he manages to hit 50%. If he does, “the notion that Republicans are hungry for an alternative becomes far less believable,” reports NBC News. “He could head to New Hampshire with an imposing air of inevitability.” If he doesn’t, that could give momentum to whoever places second.
  2. And could that margin be record-setting big? The AP reports Bob Dole holds the record for the biggest margin of victory for an Iowa Republican caucus. He finished nearly 13 percentage points ahead of his rivals in 1988, a figure that Trump has predicted he will best Monday night.
  3. Who will take second? The No. 2 position, and whether it goes to Nikki Haley or Ron DeSantis, is in many ways the one to watch. NBC News frames it as a “make-or-break” finish for DeSantis, as he’s polling behind Haley in New Hampshire and South Carolina, two states coming down the pike. And as the BBC puts it, “If one of these two opens some daylight between the other … it could elevate that candidate as the top alternative to Mr. Trump in the contests to come.”
  4. Where will the turnout count land? The record number of Republican caucus participants was set in 2012, when 118,411 of them showed up. Some campaigns had been expecting the caucusgoer count could surge to nearly 200,000 people thanks to the caucuses aligning with a federal holiday. But the weather is proving to be a major wildcard.
  5. Have the rules of the ground game changed? Candidates have long tried to woo caucusgoers by spending plenty of time in the state, “but, like much else in the Trump-era, that old rule may be out the window,” observes ABC News. While DeSantis did as has conventionally been done, visiting each of the state’s 99 counties and hosting 169 events over 61 days, Trump has made only 35 appearances in 21 days. Vivek Ramaswamy, who is polling in the single digits, has held 326 events over 89 days.

I would not be concerned with the Iowa for Iowa has not picked the candidate since 2000 when they went with GW Bush.

Iowa is for political nerds like me…..other than that it is just another day for most of us.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Every Vote Counts

It’s that magical time again!

Time is closing in for the citizens of America to go to the polls and vote for their choice for president.

And now the opinion pieces will begin for those people that vote outside the two party system.

Some may choose not to vote….and there will be those that will ostracize those people that by not voting they are helping elect this slug over this……and if there is no choice that represents their principles then I say do not vote just because some lay-about wants to chide you into doing something you do not want to do.business as usual no matter the party.

Then there are those voters like myself that could possibly vote for a third party we will not vote for one of the two parties that will do nothing for the country….I do not buy into the popular BS that by voting for a third party you will elect this candidate over that.

Either one of those unpopular options is a personal choice and as such everyone needs to just STFU.

You see my vote is just that…MINE and no one has the right to question what I do with it.

For one reason that I vote other than the two majors…..I feel they have f*cked up our democracy…..

The most compelling theory based on historical patterns of democratic decline is that hyper-polarization cracked the foundations of American democracy, creating the conditions under which a party could break democratic norms with impunity, because winning in the short term became more important than maintaining democracy for the long term.

In order for democracy to work, competing parties must accept that they can lose elections, and that it’s okay. But when partisans see their political opposition not just as the opposition, but as a genuine threat to the well-being of the nation, support for democratic norms fades because “winning” becomes everything. Politics, in turn, collapses into an all-out war of “us against them,” a kind of “pernicious polarization” that appears over and over again in democratic collapses, and bears a striking similarity to what’s currently happening in the U.S. 

Why The Two-Party System Is Effing Up U.S. Democracy

It is an older story but it still rings true today.

The theory today is that if there is not a good choice in the two parties then the voter should just hold their noses and vote for the least offensive.

Sorry I do not subscribe to this lunacy.

If one has principles then one should vote for the person that best represents those principles….no matter the party.

To recap…..your vote is your vote please do not piss it away on the ‘hold your nose’ vote.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

It’s Crying Time Again

It is closing in on the presidential election in 2024 and the economy seems to be the most important thing on the voters minds….regardless at the reports on just how fabulous the economy is performing.

The markets may be doing a swell job but that is not the economy that most Americans deal with daily….their economy is dealing with food prices, high and higher rent, healthcare that is out of sight, etc….not what the score is on Wall Street…their is a disconnect and no politician sees it or wants to deal with it.

I read that the Dems are beginning to worry….HA!

Joe Biden’s voters in 2020 were younger, made less money, and were as a group more racially diverse than those who voted for Donald Trump. That happens to be the US segment suffering the most from inflation and high interest rates right now, the New York Times reports. It’s a worrisome development for the president, backed up by a recent poll showing most Democrats in six battleground states who voted for Biden aren’t happy with the state of the economy. The New York Times/Siena College poll found that 62% of those Biden supporters rate the economy as fair or poor.

Although the economy’s condition often is considered critical to the incumbent party’s chances, analysts say the discontent doesn’t mean it’s curtains for Biden’s reelection chances. The president’s economic programs are popular among voters, and social issues such as access to abortion could help him overcome economic concerns. An analyst at the public opinion research firm HIT Strategies pointed out that the midterms last year revolved around abortion instead of the usual issue, the economy. “Republicans lost that because of Roe,” Joshua Doss said, per the Times. “So we’re definitely in uncharted territory.”

And it’s not that voters think Republicans are doing anything to improve the economy. Navigator Research, a progressive-leaning outfit, found that 70% of voters polled in battleground House districts said Republicans were paying more attention to other issues. That went for a majority of GOP voters, as well. Oscar Nuñez, 27, who works at a Las Vegas restaurant, voted for Biden but would prefer another option this time. He said he realizes the choice probably will be Biden and Trump again. Nuñez doesn’t consider the economy the biggest issue; he’s more concerned about immigrants’ rights and foreign policy and prefers Biden’s stances. “That’s why I was picking him over Trump in the first place,” he said.

Really?  They have ignored the plight of the average American to fund lame ass wars but now they are all worried.

Serves them right!

The Dems are worried…as they should be….

Over the weekend, Politico published the latest in a tidal wave of stories about President Biden’s dwindling prospects for re-election. Under the headline “The Polls Keep Getting Worse for Biden,” the article pointed out that Biden is trailing the presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump in a large majority of the latest polling.

The trend is dire, Politico reports. “The president’s standing in head-to-head matchups with Trump is falling: Among the latest surveys this month from 13 separate pollsters, Biden’s position is worse than their previous polls in all but two of them.” He continues to slip in key swing states.

The outlook is now grimmer than ever, but the big divide between Biden’s low popularity and public support for the Democratic Party overall was clear a year ago, despite the hype giving Biden credit for midterm election results in November 2022. Back then, the New York Times reported that one House Democrat offered a more candid assessment: “Biden’s numbers were ‘a huge drag’ on Democratic candidates, who won in spite of the president not thanks to him, the lawmaker said on the condition of anonymity to avoid antagonizing the White House.”

Conformist Democrats Have Been in Denial. Now They’re in a Panic.

The Dems have nothing to run on…..their legacy on the ‘real’ economy sucks….all they have is throwing much needed cash at countries that mean very little to Americans in the grand scheme of things.

There is more whole blocs of voters are disappointed in the Dems and are thinking of looking elsewhere.

The truth be told if Trump wins the 2024 vote it will NOT be the fault of anyone brave enough to vote for a third choice….no it will be the do-nothing Dems that elected Trump.

It is a little late to start worrying for the Dems are defeating themselves.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Weakened Voters Rights Act (Again)?

As long as we are on the upcoming election there has been a court ruling that could be disastrous for the voters of this country.

A divided federal appeals court on Monday ruled that private individuals and groups such as the NAACP do not have the ability to sue under a key section of the federal Voting Rights Act, a decision that voting rights advocates say could further erode protections under the landmark 1965 law. The 2-1 decision by a panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals based in St. Louis found that only the US attorney general can enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires political maps to include districts where minority populations’ preferred candidates can win elections, the AP reports. The majority said other federal laws, including the 1964 Civil Rights Act, make it clear when private groups can sue but said similar wording is not found in the voting law.

“When those details are missing, it is not our place to fill in the gaps, except when ‘text and structure’ require it,” US Circuit Judge David Stras wrote for the majority in an opinion joined by Judge Raymond Gruender. Stras was nominated by former President Donald Trump and Gruender by former President George W. Bush. The decision affirmed a lower judge’s decision to dismiss a case brought by the Arkansas State Conference NAACP and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel after giving US Attorney General Merrick Garland five days to join the lawsuit. Chief Judge Lavenski Smith noted in a dissenting opinion that federal courts across the country and the US Supreme Court have considered numerous cases brought by private plaintiffs under Section 2.

Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, called the ruling a “travesty for democracy.” She had argued the appeal on behalf of the two Arkansas groups. “By failing to reverse the district court’s radical decision, the Eighth Circuit has put the Voting Rights Act in jeopardy, tossing aside critical protections that voters fought and died for,” Lakin said in a statement. It was not immediately clear whether the groups would appeal. Barry Jefferson, political action chair of the Arkansas State Conference of the NAACP, called the ruling “a devastating blow to the civil rights of every American, and the integrity of our nation’s electoral system.” Monday’s ruling applies only to federal courts covered by the 8th Circuit, per the AP.

Chip-chip-chipping away at the right of a person to vote.

This is coming to a polling station near you.

Be afraid….very afraid….

Pay attention or lose everything you hold dear (and that is NOT an exaggeration!)

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Spoiler Alert: RFK,Jr

First I w2ouild like to thank all my friends for the kind words during my battle with the flu…..I am happy to report that I am feeling much better and appear to be on the means.

Saturdays are usually my news dump day but I had little time to repair so that feature is suspended for this week.

2024 is an election year and it looks like there may be several independents running for president….even the great and wonderful Donald will have his challengers as well….and it appears that, at this time, RFK,Jr. could be a spoiler for Trump.

If the results of a new Quinnipiac University poll hold true in the election next year, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be the most successful third-party candidate since 27% of voters chose Teddy Roosevelt in 1912. The poll put Kennedy, who dropped his Democratic primary bid last month to run for president as an independent, at 22% in a hypothetical three-way race with President Biden and former President Trump. Biden had 39% support and Trump had 36%. When progressive activist Cornel West was included, the results were 36% for Biden, 35% for Trump, 19% for Kennedy, and 6% for West. In a hypothetical head-to-head, it was 47% for Biden to 46% for Trump, with others saying they were undecided or wouldn’t vote at all.

A poll last month found that Kennedy could swing a tight race for Biden. The Quinnipiac poll also suggests that Kennedy would take more voters from Trump than Biden, but there are some warning signs for Democrats, Politico reports. He was the most popular candidate among voters ages 18 to 34, with 38% support, compared to 32% for Biden and 27% for Trump. At 33%, Kennedy was also leading among independent voters. “With minority and younger voters seeming intrigued, Kennedy, for now, enjoys the kind of demographic support his charismatic father and uncles generated decades ago,” says Quinnipiac polling analyst Tim Malloy.

There has been much talk about some other candidate would draw Dem votes and give the election to Trump.

Is it possible that RFK could give the election to Biden?

What say you?

Is he a ‘spoiler’?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”