(11-06-2024, 01:47 PM)IdeomotorPrisoner Wrote: Next headline: GOP retains control of house.

2024 Election: Final Analysis.

Voting breakdown:

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2024/pol...s-2024-dg/

Headlined by this:



Also worth noting she underperformed both Democrat predecessors with overall women voters. Her massive gains in college educated white women were offset by married and Latina voters.

End result, define "landslide" and "red tsunami."

Trump: 312 - 226 + popular vote (blue wall destroyed)
Senate: up to 5 flipped seats
House: likely retained

GOP have everything they need now. So I'm really happy that all the Project 2025 fear is said to be vastly overstated by left leaning media to scare people away from voting GOP.

The abortion initiative votes were especially telling. 7/10 passed, and 8/10 received a majority. This shows an adaptation the states rights as preference. Abortion was 4th and 5th of the importance list. Like the Latinos, pro-choice voters saw the threat of a GOP administration as something to fear as false.

It's a very independent-minded outcome that overwhelmingly favored republican candidates this time. But very free and fair. Not my decision, but...

I think all that fear a coming 4th Reich should try to adopt a clean slate approach for his 2nd term and give him the benefit of the doubt for at least as long as McConnell gave Biden one. (So... Early February 2021)

Great write up! Thank you!

In all honesty, what did anyone expect, when she pandered to emotion — over logic?

A 6 million vote lead — shows how deranged this country is. On this level of creating mental illness, by 2028 — you'll have your majority.

(11-06-2024, 08:36 PM)KKLoco Wrote: Interesting. Seems like your family has a lot of gender identity issues. Where do you think that stemmed from?

I am of the opinion that two people out of a group of 120 plus (currently living, lots of 4 generational families and some large ones) is not a "lot of gender identity issues" -- but your mileage might vary.

While your family might have kept records, there aren't any in our family and of course on Ancestry there's no real documents that say "this person is gay" ...unless they're Oscar Wilde or some such.  So  I don't know how many of our ancestors had gay/lesbian siblings (since it's not a recent phenomenon... in fact, there's a well-known (presumably) gay couple from the time of the building of the Giza pyramids (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khnumhotep...iankhkhnum) and at least one of the Pharaohs was reportedly having an affair with the general of his army.

...and then there's the whole Spartans thing.

And Romans, of course.  And the Celts.  And Native American tribes (I'm 1/128th Native American) So, looking at the family tree as far back as I can trace it (German, Scottish, Scandinavian, English)... undoubtedly several, though how many of the thousands of ancestors were homosexual or bisexual is impossible to say.  But given that there's a heavy proportion of Celtic ancestors (German, Scottish, English, Irish) in our ancestry,  there's undoubtedly more than one.

(11-06-2024, 10:19 AM)Byrd Wrote: Well, folks, your Token Liberal here is indeed very depressed over the results.  You'd have felt as I do if the election went the way I hoped for.

Voters globally are growing discontent with the awful election choices before them. (New Zealand couldn't do any better than Prime Minster Christopher Luxon. He doesn't know the price of groceries).


I have many friends and family members who are at risk here (gay, trans, Black, Latinx, the entire Furry community, SF fans, Renfaire folk, SCAdians, etc) and I worry for all of them. 

That is understandable in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's general direction. However, African Americans and Latinx voters didn't flock to Harris and congressional Democrats. American voters across many demographics perceived Trump as better for controlling living costs. Of course, that doesn't square with Trump's anti-free trade stance.


I am very concerned that we may lose Social Security and Obamacare; with hubby's Parkinson's and Diabetes (and a whole list of other problems) and daughter and grandchildren with medical problems, things could get grim.  One friend (widow) with multiple disabilities will likely lose her home and at least one other is at risk of suicide (another woman (age 77) whose medical expenses run into the thousands of dollars each month.)

My thoughts go out to those people, yet from what I understand, social security was going broke before Trump's political rise.

I'll be looking into how to protect our finances... that's going to be critical. 

Like Hillary Clinton, Harris was a terrible candidate. It is glaring that Harris failed to wipe out Trump on the issue of consumers paying for tariffs.

Byrd, I see that you are very worried about losing Social security.

Don’t worry, in fact, Trump will most likely save it.

Think of it this way: in my neighborhood, there are mostly Muslim, now Haitians (a lot of them), very few whites, the Mexicans never stay (they always move onto better). The only people I see working are/were are the Mexicans and a couple others, very few!

I speak to a lot of people daily, some have been very honest with me. This is what I have learned:

The amount of people coming to this country and eventually getting SSDI/SSI is staggering. Think about that! They are getting Americans money that was payed into SSI and never/barely paid into it. They get housing, so they can live off crumbs and are happy to do so. That is going to deplete SSI/SSDI. Also, I see a shtload of drug addicts who get it. Not only did they barely,if ever, pay into it, they wreak havoc on society.

I applied for SSDI over 7 years ago, due to several surgeries I had to have (torn meniscus being one), I was denied. While there I personally saw several non English speaking families getting catered to. It is not fair. This is what is going to take away your SSI. I’ve worked for over 35 years, and paid into it, and couldn’t get help. Thank God, I was able to get a job right away again, and let me tell you. Every time I saw some hoochie in line at a store buying false eyelashes and fake nails, then whip out their ebt cards for candy I wanted to throw up. Same jerks I might add that barked at their kids and won’t get them anything. Some have scabs on their faces from apparent crack/meth use.

That’s what’s going to bankrupt SSI/SSDI.

I really hope President Trump looks at these issues, and he’s smart so I know he will.

(11-07-2024, 07:35 AM)KTemplar Wrote: Byrd, I see that you are very worried about losing Social security.

Don’t worry, in fact, Trump will most likely save it.

Think of it this way: in my neighborhood, there are mostly Muslim, now Haitians (a lot of them), very few whites, the Mexicans never stay (they always move onto better). The only people I see working are/were are the Mexicans and a couple others, very few!

I speak to a lot of people daily, some have been very honest with me. This is what I have learned:

The amount of people coming to this country and eventually getting SSDI/SSI is staggering. Think about that! They are getting Americans money that was payed into SSI and never/barely paid into it. They get housing, so they can live off crumbs and are happy to do so. That is going to deplete SSI/SSDI. Also, I see a shtload of drug addicts who get it. Not only did they barely,if ever, pay into it, they wreak havoc on society.

I applied for SSDI over 7 years ago, due to several surgeries I had to have (torn meniscus being one), I was denied. While there I personally saw several non English speaking families getting catered to. It is not fair. This is what is going to take away your SSI. I’ve worked for over 35 years, and paid into it, and couldn’t get help. Thank God, I was able to get a job right away again, and let me tell you. Every time I saw some hoochie in line at a store buying false eyelashes and fake nails, then whip out their ebt cards for candy I wanted to throw up. Same jerks I might add that barked at their kids and won’t get them anything. Some have scabs on their faces from apparent crack/meth use.

That’s what’s going to bankrupt SSI/SSDI.

I really hope President Trump looks at these issues, and he’s smart so I know he will.

That wasn't me who was worried about Social Security... that's not my issue right now.  I was a government employee and I worked with Housing and Welfare departments (as a computer geek) so I know about benefits and how hard they are to get.  Friends who are disabled have struggled for decades trying (and failing) to get help.

In fact, when the food stamp program first started we were desperately poor (I picked up aluminum cans to sell so we could have macaroni for dinner) and we had a severely handicapped son -- and we were too poor to afford food stamps (in the first round, you had to buy the food stamps.  Never occurred to anyone that after rent and utilities and gas to get to work that you might not be able to buy food stamps.)

So, yes, I know that.  Our neighborhood is racially and religiously mixed, and unlike yours, we all help each other when there's a crisis.  

As a member of AARP, I've been supporting their fight for Social Security for quite some time since they've got the money for lobbyists and so forth.  If you qualify for AARP, you might want to sign up for the newsletter and support some of their efforts.

What the disabled need is more social workers and the social workers need better support and the program needs more funding.  I have a *huge* rant about that one... when I was getting my PhD (6 years ago), a dear friend had her mobility scooter catch on fire (yeah... yikes!) and it took a YEAR to get through the system here in Texas to get a replacement one although she's so disabled that she NEVER walked and she works as a telephone support agent.  I finished the degree about three days before she got her new scooter (and the new one failed last month... but they're dirt poor.)

Long term Covid has left a number of people disabled who might not have had problems if the pandemic hadn't hit.  With the smaller government that Trump and his allies want, finding help is going to be even more nightmarish, and any government agency workers out there are going to be even more overwhelmed with work.

So...not so much social security, as finding help for those who need it desperately.  Churches can't keep up with the demand (food banks are struggling.)  

We could fix a lot of the dollar problems if there were tax structures like we had back in the sixties and seventies (but not the society that we had then) with the wealthy contributing more and some of the large corporations being held accountable.  PARTICULARLY the corporations.  Did you know that T-Mobile, DISH Network, Netflix, General Motors, AT&T, Bank of America, Citigroup, FedEx, Molson Coors, Nike all made nice profits and managed to pay less than 5 percent tax while paying pittance wages to workers in other countries to do their work?

(this article talks about the profits of 342 companies making trillions of dollars and paying almost no tax)
https://itep.org/corporate-tax-avoidance...le%20year.

Anyway, that's something for the legislature to get after.  Me, I'm going to get with some local grannies to sulk over a fancy-schmancy coffee and see what we can do to help our friends and families and which of our local Congresscritters and politicians we're going to support and which need to be poked to do something active to help grandmothers and grandfathers like ourselves.  We can do something locally, I'm sure.  Even if it is just for our own neighborhoods.

(11-06-2024, 04:02 PM)Maxmars Wrote: I have been spared any 'citizen' drama over this... something tells me that many a life-long Democrat has inner reservations about the last four years... and the magical appointment of Harris as their 'chief representative.'

Nevertheless, I think they are waiting to learn if all they have been warned about will really come to pass under the new administration... 'internment camps,' 'political prosecutions,' 'the drafting of their kids into forever wars,' and a sex-crazed president who hates blacks and women.

Don't worry, Democrats aren't stupid... that characteristic is entrenched in the leadership... telling people what they want them to believe, and pretending it's so because "they" said it.  These are the same people who told the Democrats that Harris was "their" choice.

Reservations?  No, not really.  I haven't heard that from any in my circles.  There was a great deal of sadness that everyone hopped on Joe's lapses and ignored Trump's lapses and misstatements and fabrications.  We like Joe, and we don't think he's any more senile than Trump is.

Some of what you mentioned are indeed things that we're worried about ("internment camps", "forever wars", and yeah when you've got politicians saying that women shouldn't be able to vote (this guy. ick! Thank the ghods he lost!)and only people who have kids should vote, THAT concerns the heck out of us.  And we worry that politicians like Harris, Hillary, Joe, etc might get thrown into prison.

We'll see what happens.  Those of us who lived through the fifties, sixties, and seventies have some advice and strategy ... but mostly the ones I know are waiting to see what happens and trying to not overreact.  Sadly, there are people I'm concerned for who have talked suicide and I'm thinking I should get mutual friends to reach out to them and suggest other positive things they can do rather than (as the phrase goes) "unaliving themselves."

Earlier I used the metaphor of government as a natural disaster, but now its sounding like an abusive spouse. Groups of friends getting together, sharing stories and fears of what they might do next. Assuring each other that someone still cares. Remembering when it used to be about love, not control. Wondering what they can do to make them treat them better again. Feeling like its their fault, or someone's fault, other than the abuser.

I'm really understanding the "go no contact" and "cabin in the hills" folk right now.

(11-07-2024, 10:29 AM)UltraBudgie Wrote: Earlier I used the metaphor of government as a natural disaster, but now its sounding like an abusive spouse. Groups of friends getting together, sharing stories and fears of what they might do next. Assuring each other that someone still cares. Remembering when it used to be about love, not control. Wondering what they can do to make them treat them better again. Feeling like its their fault, or someone's fault, other than the abuser.

I'm really understanding the "go no contact" and "cabin in the hills" folk right now.

Again, a delightful and insightful analogy.

But walking away never solves anything, my birdie friend, no matter how awful it looks.  We're here together... the sane ones who know that a difference of opinion can be negotiated and that a difference in beliefs that cause negotiations is healthy and good for society.

It'll be okay.  Things look great (or terrible) but we will all muddle through this one step at a time. 

You've got this. 

I've got this.

Take a break if you need it but remember to come back and speak (or cheep) up.

Oil prices come down when Trump opens drilling stops regulations to kill oil.

oil prices come down then transportation and fertilizer comes down.

furtilizer and transportation comes down food prices come down.

Transportation cost come down all goods come down.


Those on fixed social security very affected by high prices so it eases pressures on them.

then Trump eliminates taxes on social security they get an extra 20 percent raise by not having to pay taxes.

Trump is good for those on social security.  Media lying to you.

Byrd, don’t get me wrong. I have some good neighbors, and a few are Muslim who we each offered help if needed, Covid was one of those times. I work a lot, and during my free time, I’m either cooking, cleaning at church or volunteering at my friends non-profit org for domestic violence/childrens organization.

I also worry about the elderly. I am against Fraud of the system period, and quite frankly, there is too much of it going on!

BTW, Biden placed extra Tarriffs on China in May of this year according to www.cfr.org.
To the tune of 18 billion. This was to get a strategic advantage on EVs.

We need more good jobs here! We need to bring back mfg. Jobs bring the taxes that pay for SSI. Not corporations. They will just close or move their businesses overseas, or find tax loopholes. It will not change!
I also worked for Nike for a short time before a big layoff years ago, so I know about big corporations quite well!

Have faith my friend!