US Presidential Election 2024

[Freedom Farter]

13 hours ago, Granny Danger said:

Looks like the Polish President is going to do a campaign event with Trump.

Various political leaders have met with him since his nomination but doing an event with him seems quite different and very questionable.

Andrzej Duda is the President you're referencing and his party have long been aligned with Trump. However, the Prime Minister has more power in Poland than the President does. PM Donald Tusk is hostile to Trump.

Edited yesterday at 05:02 by Freedom Farter

[TxRover]

The U.S. is a Representative Democracy, at best...but more accurately a Democratic Republic.

The Electoral College was a sop to the more rural states, just like the Senate. With every State assured of at least 3 electoral votes (one Representative and two Senators equaling three votes), we get a travesty like the average California Elector "representing" 722,778 people while the average Wyoming Elector "represents" 194,686 people.

Also remember that Senators were designated in the Constitution to be selected by the Legislatures of the States they represented. In 1913, the Seventeenth Amendment changed that process to a vote of the people, but before that passed, 29 States had already removed the Legislature from the process.

It is theoretically possible to win the election for President with as few as 11 States and any two Congressional Districts in either Maine or Nebraska (these two States award 2 Electoral Votes to the popular vote winner Statewide, and 1 EV to the popular vote winner in each Congressional District [5 of them total])  . Alternately, add any one of the other States. It is also possible to win with the 39 smallest States, as long as you sweep Maine and Nebraska's Congressional Districts. The 11 States would be 190 million residents, plus another 1.4 million in the two Maine districts (which would also assure Main's other 2 votes, but...)...or a total of 191.4 million of 333 million residents. The 39 smallest States would be 143 million residents.

Given the average of 49% of resident population are registered voters, and given the recent around 60% turnout in Presidential elections, we could posit that it's possible for a candidate winning with just the 39 smallest States (and NO VOTES in the 11 biggest States) to have as few as 143,000,000 x 0.49 (registered voters) = 70,070,000 x 0.60 (turnout) = 42,042,000 x 0.50 (half the vote) = 21,021,000 + 39 (50%+1 in 39 states to win) = 21,021,039 votes or less. Their opponent could easily have over 70-80 million votes, and lose to someone with just 21 million votes.

[Wee-Bey]

They should just Balkanize America tbh.

[bigmarv]

MAGA Bloke in NC who has spent months telling the world how they should live a good honest straight christian life is in a bit of bother apparently 

 

 

[Granny Danger]

39 minutes ago, bigmarv said:

MAGA Bloke in NC who has spent months telling the world how they should live a good honest straight christian life is in a bit of bother apparently 

 

 

The scandals have been following him around for some time.

I really hope this is not some form of subconscious racism on my part but I’m always gutted when a person in the USA from a heavily persecuted minority is both a Trump supporter and a wrong ‘un.

I always want prominent black politicians to be fighting for and lifting up their communities rather than putting them down and disappointing them.

I suppose in a country of 300+ million that’s just naivety on my part.

 

[Wee-Bey]

Yes, that's a bit of a weird sentiment.

[MazzyStar]

26 minutes ago, Cheese said:

Yes, that's a bit of a weird sentiment.

It’s just standard Granny Danger. 

[Freedom Farter]

1 hour ago, Granny Danger said:

The scandals have been following him around for some time.

I really hope this is not some form of subconscious racism on my part but I’m always gutted when a person in the USA from a heavily persecuted minority is both a Trump supporter and a wrong ‘un.

I always want prominent black politicians to be fighting for and lifting up their communities rather than putting them down and disappointing them.

I suppose in a country of 300+ million that’s just naivety on my part.

 

Any radical Black figure who leads a movement outside the system - MLK, Malcolm X, Fred Hampton. etc. - just gets murdered by the state. 

For what happens when Black figures try to get somewhere within in the system, Jesse Jackson's two runs for Democratic candidate provide a case study. The Democratic Party betrayed its name by not rewarding him with a number of delegates proportional to the vote share he earned. In the 1984 Dem primary, a guy called Mondale was backed by the party establishment because he not Jackson was the sensible choice who could win the actual election. Mondale lost to Reagan in a landslide. Jackson had tried to get his policies onto Mondale's platforms such as reducing military spending but the party voted them all down.

Jackson ran again in 1988 and pushed the eventual candidate (Dukkakis) close. Dukkakis refused to pick Jackson as his running mate following the primary despite polling showing that ticket would've been popular enough to beat Bush Sr. Another example of the Democratic Party choosing to lose to the Republicans rather than risk winning and becoming a vehicle for social change. The Democrats responded to the popularity of Jackson with Southern Black voters by presenting Bill Clinton for the next election. The "first Black president" Democratic Party-aligned media called him. His policies were highly destructive for Black people.

Something about Jackson's runs is he was constantly called antisemitic throughout them. Any Black figure who even slightly leans left gets accused of that by the liberal establishment. When Sanders, the first pro-Black candidate since Jackson, ran in 2016, he was Jewish, so they had to instead switch to calling him sexist. He was a threat to white liberal "wine moms" clutching their Hillary Clinton autobiographies. Hillary, the sensible choice, went on to lose to Trump.

When the system makes it so difficult for "Black politicians to be fighting for and lifting up their communities" that makes it more likely folk will choose paths of lesser resistance instead. Either Dem Party establishment or Republican Party.

[Granny Danger]

10 minutes ago, Freedom Farter said:

Any radical Black figure who leads a movement outside the system - MLK, Malcolm X, Fred Hampton. etc. - just gets murdered by the state. 

For what happens when Black figures try to get somewhere within in the system, Jesse Jackson's two runs for Democratic candidate provide a case study. The Democratic Party betrayed its name by not rewarding him with a number of delegates proportional to the vote share he earned. In the 1984 Dem primary, a guy called Mondale was backed by the party establishment because he not Jackson was the sensible choice who could win the actual election. Mondale lost to Reagan in a landslide. Jackson had tried to get his policies onto Mondale's platforms such as reducing military spending but the party voted them all down.

Jackson ran again in 1988 and pushed the eventual candidate (Dukkakis) close. Dukkakis refused to pick Jackson as his running mate following the primary despite polling showing that ticket would've been popular enough to beat Bush Sr. Another example of the Democratic Party choosing to lose to the Republicans rather than risk winning and becoming a vehicle for social change. The Democrats responded to the popularity of Jackson with Southern Black voters by presenting Bill Clinton for the next election. The "first Black president" Democratic Party-aligned media called him. His policies were highly destructive for Black people.

Something about Jackson's runs is he was constantly called antisemitic throughout them. Any Black figure who even slightly leans left gets accused of that by the liberal establishment. When Sanders, the first pro-Black candidate since Jackson, ran in 2016, he was Jewish, so they had to instead switch to calling him sexist. He was a threat to white liberal "wine moms" clutching their Hillary Clinton autobiographies. Hillary, the sensible choice, went on to lose to Trump.

When the system makes it so difficult for "Black politicians to be fighting for and lifting up their communities" that makes it more likely folk will choose paths of lesser resistance instead. Either Dem Party establishment or Republican Party.

Honestly don’t think that has anything to do with my point, or excuses Robinson.

[Freedom Farter]

21 minutes ago, Granny Danger said:

Honestly don’t think that has anything to do with my point, or excuses Robinson.

Multiple things are always going on at once.

Of course Robinson is a scumbag and nothing excuses him.

[carpetmonster]

3 hours ago, bigmarv said:

MAGA Bloke in NC who has spent months telling the world how they should live a good honest straight christian life is in a bit of bother apparently 

Described himself as a Nazi, wants to bring black slavery, has a trans porn fetish, slurs Dr. King. Pretty standard GOP stuff; nothingburger. 
 

 

[Granny Danger]

20 minutes ago, carpetmonster said:

Described himself as a Nazi, wants to bring black slavery, has a trans porn fetish, slurs Dr. King. Pretty standard GOP stuff; nothingburger. 
 

 

RINO!!!

[Florentine_Pogen]

 

[Freedom Farter]

BBC exposition on "Cryptobros".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyl171lyewo

The US election is only mentioned in the opening sentence but the crypto lobby is donating huge sums to the campaigns of both candidates. Trump is the more obvious fit for them, though, and will no doubt be the preferred winner for most Cryptobros. Trump would give them all the deregulation they're looking for, allowing them to attempt some of their dystopian plans. Not mentioned is that Balaji's former company, Andreessen Horowitz, is a major Trump donor.

Edited 8 hours ago by Freedom Farter

[Granny Danger]

52 minutes ago, Freedom Farter said:

BBC exposition on "Cryptobros".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyl171lyewo

The US election is only mentioned in the opening sentence but the crypto lobby is donating huge sums to the campaigns of both candidates. Trump is the more obvious fit for them, though, and will no doubt be the preferred winner for most Cryptobros. Trump would give them all the deregulation they're looking for, allowing them to attempt some of their dystopian plans. Not mentioned is that Balaji's former company, Andreessen Horowitz, is a major Trump donor.

I had just come on to post this.

This is new world order type stuff.  Given how embedded capitalism is I always thought it was safe in its present form but this seeks to replace it by an even more extreme version that goes beyond any form of capitalism we could have imagined.

There are still those who do not see this election as pivotal but Project 2025, and stuff like this, shows that US democracy is under an existential threat.

I found this particularly interesting:

Culdesac and Cabin look more like online communities that have established territorial bases. Próspera is different. Located on an island off the coast of Honduras, it describes itself as a “private city” catering to entrepreneurs. It promotes longevity science – offering unregulated experimental gene therapies to slow the ageing process.

I have posted before that I believe Elon Musk’s fairly recent blatant support for meritocracy/technocracy is motivated by his fear of dying.  That might sound ridiculous but I think he’s desperate to find a way to circumvent the natural life cycle whether that be through downloading thoughts/memories on to chips for cranial transplant and/or through supporting extreme measures of anti aging.  To achieve this he needs access to unregulated experimentation exactly as described here.

The world’s first projected trillionaire and other uber wealthy individuals like Vance’s sugar daddy, in the mix with Cryptobros who can bypass conventional currency systems and Christian nationalists who would reduce the role of women to breeders and who would seek to eradicate anyone whose sexual or gender preference didn’t conform to the male/female/family stereotype offers the probability of a dystopian future that a few years ago was nothing more than a frightening fiction.

The worrying thing is even if Harris prevails in November I do not see this going away, merely being delayed by another election cycle.  The one thing that might help is convention Republicans reasserting control of their party in the wake of Trump’s defeat but I’m not convinced that will happen and I’m sure the Cryptobros will be playing their role in avoiding it.

 

[bigmarv]

Me likey:

 

 

[Zetterlund]

5 hours ago, Freedom Farter said:

BBC exposition on "Cryptobros".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyl171lyewo

The US election is only mentioned in the opening sentence but the crypto lobby is donating huge sums to the campaigns of both candidates. Trump is the more obvious fit for them, though, and will no doubt be the preferred winner for most Cryptobros. Trump would give them all the deregulation they're looking for, allowing them to attempt some of their dystopian plans. Not mentioned is that Balaji's former company, Andreessen Horowitz, is a major Trump donor.

 

4 hours ago, Granny Danger said:

I had just come on to post this.

This is new world order type stuff.  Given how embedded capitalism is I always thought it was safe in its present form but this seeks to replace it by an even more extreme version that goes beyond any form of capitalism we could have imagined.

There are still those who do not see this election as pivotal but Project 2025, and stuff like this, shows that US democracy is under an existential threat.

I found this particularly interesting:

Culdesac and Cabin look more like online communities that have established territorial bases. Próspera is different. Located on an island off the coast of Honduras, it describes itself as a “private city” catering to entrepreneurs. It promotes longevity science – offering unregulated experimental gene therapies to slow the ageing process.

I have posted before that I believe Elon Musk’s fairly recent blatant support for meritocracy/technocracy is motivated by his fear of dying.  That might sound ridiculous but I think he’s desperate to find a way to circumvent the natural life cycle whether that be through downloading thoughts/memories on to chips for cranial transplant and/or through supporting extreme measures of anti aging.  To achieve this he needs access to unregulated experimentation exactly as described here.

The world’s first projected trillionaire and other uber wealthy individuals like Vance’s sugar daddy, in the mix with Cryptobros who can bypass conventional currency systems and Christian nationalists who would reduce the role of women to breeders and who would seek to eradicate anyone whose sexual or gender preference didn’t conform to the male/female/family stereotype offers the probability of a dystopian future that a few years ago was nothing more than a frightening fiction.

The worrying thing is even if Harris prevails in November I do not see this going away, merely being delayed by another election cycle.  The one thing that might help is convention Republicans reasserting control of their party in the wake of Trump’s defeat but I’m not convinced that will happen and I’m sure the Cryptobros will be playing their role in avoiding it.

 

The worst thing which has come from the crypto revolution in the last decade or so is the God complex it has created in these Cryptobro types,