I traditionally have a thread heading to the election, here we go.

Get out the popcorn for this one.

Quote

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to formally announce next week he is running for president in 2024, NBC News reported Thursday, citing two sources familiar with the matter.

The governor's official entry into the Republican primary field will put him head-to-head with former President Donald Trump, the party's current frontrunner for the nomination. Trump has already spent months treating DeSantis as his primary campaign rival, thrashing him with torrents of criticism over his gubernatorial record, his political skills and his personality.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/18/desantis-plans-to-officially-announce-presidential-run-next-week.html

Tweety said:

I listened to an analysis by a leftie on Instagram Reels.  I think her podcast and Instagram is "Under the Desk News" or something like that.  She says that Niki Haley was the Ambassador to the UN, has the most foreign policy experience of all the candidates on that stage, that she is smart about foreign policy and was adamant that we continue to support Ukraine.   Ramaswamy and DeSantis said Europe should pull their own weight and they wouldn't give them anymore help.  

Europe is home to hundreds of United States military bases and stations and as the winner of World War II and with a 700 to 800 billion dollar budget military budget, this is not how we set up Europe.  It's not how we set up NATO.  Nothing wrong with asking Europe to do more for their own defense, but I have to agree with Niki Haley on this, we don't turn our back on our friends and allies in Europe like that.

A figure I've heard was our support for Ukraine is less than 3% of the Pentagon's budget.  One side effect might be because we are at peace we can "test out" our technology, get rid of some stockpiles, and even stimulate our military industrial complex by buying more American-made weaponry.

I'm against war and the military industrial complex but this is too important.  Like it or not we set ourselves up as the lone military superpower and protector of our friends and allies, particularly in Europe, Japan and Korea.  

"We need to help people here at home first" they say. Biden's infrastructure and other bills try to do just that but Republicans object.   I think we can do both, help our own people and Ukraine.  Stop cutting taxes and programs that help people to pay for it.  Cut the big fat military budget and find a way to help Ukraine.  Tax revenues for 2022 are reported to be 4.9 trillion dollars we can do this.

https://www.euronews.com/2023/07/28/how-much-has-the-eu-given-to-ukraine-compared-to-the-us

If you've read this rant, I thank you.  

 

It didn't really read like a rant. 

The right wing extremism in the USA is a desired thing for Putin. Putin will do what he can to convince American republican voters to elect someone like Ramaswamy or Trump or the other folks who would give Putin what he wants.  He feels some confidence in that ability after Trump. 

 

https://imgflip.com/I/70x864  

Trump family values.  As far as the UFO question, I'm surprised no one played the Twilight Zone theme while he answered the question.  I'm curious and I can't find the answer:  WHERE did they scrape up that live audience?

 

Gee my local newspaper opinion staff also found Nicki Halley best at the debate.  Found their commentary interesting. "America ready for a woman President":

Philadelphia Inquirer Opinion 8/23/23

Who won the first GOP debate? Our Opinion staff weighs in.

Quote

In this special feature, Inquirer Opinion writers rank the candidates on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 means the candidate performed so poorly that they shouldn't even be on anyone's ballot for student body president; 10 is a decisive win. Pennsylvania will be a key swing state in the 2024 presidential election. Here's what our columnists, editorial writers, and contributors thought about the debate.

Tweety said:

I listened to an analysis by a leftie on Instagram Reels.  I think her podcast and Instagram is "Under the Desk News" or something like that.  She says that Niki Haley was the Ambassador to the UN, has the most foreign policy experience of all the candidates on that stage, that she is smart about foreign policy and was adamant that we continue to support Ukraine.   Ramaswamy and DeSantis said Europe should pull their own weight and they wouldn't give them anymore help.  

Europe is home to hundreds of United States military bases and stations and as the winner of World War II and with a 700 to 800 billion dollar budget military budget, this is not how we set up Europe.  It's not how we set up NATO.  Nothing wrong with asking Europe to do more for their own defense, but I have to agree with Niki Haley on this, we don't turn our back on our friends and allies in Europe like that.

A figure I've heard was our support for Ukraine is less than 3% of the Pentagon's budget.  One side effect might be because we are at peace we can "test out" our technology, get rid of some stockpiles, and even stimulate our military industrial complex by buying more American-made weaponry.

I'm against war and the military industrial complex but this is too important.  Like it or not we set ourselves up as the lone military superpower and protector of our friends and allies, particularly in Europe, Japan and Korea.  

"We need to help people here at home first" they say. Biden's infrastructure and other bills try to do just that but Republicans object.   I think we can do both, help our own people and Ukraine.  Stop cutting taxes and programs that help people to pay for it.  Cut the big fat military budget and find a way to help Ukraine.  Tax revenues for 2022 are reported to be 4.9 trillion dollars we can do this.

https://www.euronews.com/2023/07/28/how-much-has-the-eu-given-to-ukraine-compared-to-the-us

If you've read this rant, I thank you.  

 

Regardless that Nicki Haley didn't make a fool of herself during the debate, she showed who she really is when she raised to hand along with the other five.  She jumped the shark straight to crazy when she did that.  Too bad because she could actually speak in sentences.

subee said:

Regardless that Nicki Haley didn't make a fool of herself during the debate, she showed who she really is when she raised to hand along with the other five.  She jumped the shark straight to crazy when she did that.  Too bad because she could actually speak in sentences.

Compared to the others on the stage she has the most foreign policy experience.  One issue.

She jumped on the crazy train long before that when she said "wokeness is a virus more dangerous than any pandemic".  She would be a terrible president.  

Tweety said:

Compared to the others on the stage she has the most foreign policy experience.  One issue.

She jumped on the crazy train long before that when she said "wokeness is a virus more dangerous than any pandemic".  She would be a terrible president.  

Unfortunately,  "would be a terrible president" applied to most of the people who were in that stage.  Maybe not Hutchinson, although I don't agree with his politics, he is likely a competent executive. 

NRSKarenRN said:

Never in my 50 years of voting has a former President continue to say FOR THREE YEARS the vote was rigged, HE WON the reelection vote, and not acknowledge THEY LOST 60 court rulings that election WAS NOT RIGGED in 2020.   Add in that major Republican cable networks/websites/streaming services continue to endorse + promulgate his views and spin that Biden is a terrible President daily in their broadcasts ---- so no wonder Biden has difficulty getting higher approval numbers.

Updated 3:29 PM EST Jan. 7, 2021:

Biden: Pop. vote: 81,281,888;   Elector count: 306

Trump: Pop. vote: 74,223,251:  Elector count: 232

https://www.usatoday.com/elections/results/2020-11-03/presidential/

 

2020 Election Litigation: The Courts Held

Many nurses are unaware that there is a current $250,000 reward offered by FBI for Yevgeniy Prigozhin for his interference by Russians in 2016 elections.  Trump later called on Russia to find Hillary's emails....

This Prigozhin poster is making the rounds again today on Twitter/internet. With all the turmoil in Russia now, will be interesting if Prigozhin survives or gets turned over to FBI  and if Putin remains in power with Russians again interfering in U.S. 2024 elections.

The FBI can bank that money now.

One thing that Vivek Ramaswamy said during the debate was to raise the voting age to 25.  Apparently he is a relatively popular candidate.  Obviously way behind Trump but in 3rd place I believe.  (He also said climate change was a hoax but that's another post)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2023/05/12/vivek-ramaswamy-voting-age-25/

On interesting thing about this is that voting block had the highest percentage voting Democrat.  They are the group most in favor of abortion.

Places like Texas are making it more difficult for students to vote on college compasses and elsewhere around the country what is perceived as a war on young voters is going on.  

I read a post on X from some politician calling for the voting age to be raised because Gen Z is too immature.  The not-so-funny response was "Republicans think a 10 year old is mature enough to be a mother, but an 18 year too immature to vote".

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/24/us/voting-college-suppression.html

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/06/1154172568/gen-zs-political-power-new-data-gives-insight-into-americas-youngest-voters

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/06/gen-z-millennials-vote-republican/674328/

Tweety said:

One thing that Vivek Ramaswamy said during the debate was to raise the voting age to 25.  Apparently he is a relatively popular candidate.  Obviously way behind Trump but in 3rd place I believe.  (He also said climate change was a hoax but that's another post)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2023/05/12/vivek-ramaswamy-voting-age-25/

On interesting thing about this is that voting block had the highest percentage voting Democrat.  They are the group most in favor of abortion.

Places like Texas are making it more difficult for students to vote on college compasses and elsewhere around the country what is perceived as a war on young voters is going on.  

I read a post on X from some politician calling for the voting age to be raised because Gen Z is too immature.  The not-so-funny response was "Republicans think a 10 year old is mature enough to be a mother, but an 18 year too immature to vote".

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/24/us/voting-college-suppression.html

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/06/1154172568/gen-zs-political-power-new-data-gives-insight-into-americas-youngest-voters

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/06/gen-z-millennials-vote-republican/674328/

 

There's a real theme of limiting voting rights that persists in conservative politics. It goes back decades and is an actual strategy.   Most of us wish that they would evolve their ideas to appeal to a higher percentage of voters rather than trying to limit voting by people who don't agree with their policy and political rhetoric.  

We've spoken about the attempts to disenfranchise college student voters on this platform before. As I recall, the conservative voices here at the time defended those actions or minimized the effect.  

If someone can't vote until they are 25, then perhaps they shouldn't have to pay income tax. No taxation without representation, amirite? Same with students, those who can't travel to obtain government ID, disabled people who can't make it to the polls, or overseas military. Ramaswamy wants same day, paper ballots? That's going to eliminate a lot of citizens. 

 

Kudos to Pence fur using more forceful language.  I wonder if Pence knows the difference between populism and fascism. 

toomuchbaloney said:

 

Kudos to Pence fur using more forceful language.  I wonder if Pence knows the difference between populism and fascism. 

I can give him props for evolving and speaking up.   I do wish, and I remember saying at the time, I wish that he would have been more outspoken against Trump at the time.  I remember suggesting he tell Trump where to go and even resign and disassociate himself from Trump and posture himself for a Presidential run in 2020.   But also I suppose, given the threats on his life, he did have much to fear.  

He, like the rest of him, stated that he would still support Trump should he get the nomination even if convicted.  For some reason reporters like asking this question.  To me it's a no brainer that they all would get behind Trump to defeat Biden.  

I love how when talking about Democrats he used the buzzword "performative outage".  Yawn.

My main problem with Pence is his promotion of his "moral values" as part to the traditional conservative package.  He showed what this means when he was a politician in Indiana especially with the "Religious Freedom Restoration Act" there.  He was anti-gay marriage and comes across as so homophobic there's a myth on social media that he's a closeted gay man (because there have been a few anti-gay Republicans that have been gay).  

Anyway, Populism is an interesting concept and it's very interesting that of all people Trump is the leader of it on the right and took it to the mainstream.   Occupy Wallstreet and the rise against the 1% seems to have fizzled out on the left.