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NEVERENDING ♾️ The NEVERENDING Political Discussion Thread

MD Planner said:
No you were right. Technically. Which is the best kind of right. He was born in South Dakota but most people associate him with Minnesota since that what he represented.
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Reaction GIF by MOODMAN
 
The former Mankato geography teacher, now a vice presidential candidate, identifies as a “GIS nerd” and proclaimed November 15, 2023 as Geographic Information Systems day, writing that an understanding of maps and data “helps community leaders and government officials make data-driven decisions” governing important policy issues like education, public safety and the environment.

“All the things that you have to worry about, that keep you up at night, let me add one to that: A geographically illiterate member of the United States Congress is a very scary proposition.”

www.yahoo.com

Former geography teacher Tim Walz is really into maps

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz really, really likes maps. The former Mankato geography teacher, now a vice presidential candidate, identifies as a “GIS nerd” and proclaimed November 15, 2023 as Geographic Information Systems day, writing that an understanding of maps and data “helps community leaders...
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com

www.dailynews.com

Gov. Walz tells Redlands-based Esri he’s driven by data

Minnesota’s governor and Kamala Harris’s running mate gave a keynote address at Esri’s summer conference in San Diego.
www.dailynews.com www.dailynews.com
 
Watched the movie Civil War last night. First, it is not what I expected it to be. Second, it felt a little like foreshadowing a Trump 3rd term.
 
What are your thoughts on the Harris Economic Policies.

One thing that I really applaud her for is the push to increase the amount of housing to help reduce the demand.

I have heard concerns with the funding assistance for first time buyers might result in increased costs for starter housing.
 
michaelskis said:
to help reduce the demand
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Similarly, a push to increase construction of new housing in an effort to help address the housing shortage. (Or, on the other hand, maybe you did mean to say to reduce demand? Sorry, I am not trying to get all semantics on you, but it isn't clear to me how increasing supply reduces demand in a nationwide market with extreme pent up demand at the level it is now, and as a consequence, all I see is nothing but huge spikes in housing prices for the foreseeable future, thereby negatively affecting housing affordability which further softens demand and absorption rates of new units, yet, a continuing downward trend in interest rates would be cause for optimism.)
 
Wannaplan? said:
Similarly, a push to increase construction of new housing in an effort to help address the housing shortage. (Or, on the other hand, maybe you did mean to say to reduce demand? Sorry, I am not trying to get all semantics on you, but it isn't clear to me how increasing supply reduces demand in a nationwide market with extreme pent up demand at the level it is now, and as a consequence, all I see is nothing but huge spikes in housing prices for the foreseeable future, thereby negatively affecting housing affordability which further softens demand and absorption rates of new units, yet, a continuing downward trend in interest rates would be cause for optimism.)
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Sorry, I should have been more descriptive. From what the reporter was saying on ABC news, she wants to create tax breaks for developers who construct high-quality starter homes in an effort to increase supply. With the increased supply, to meet current demand, it will lower demand across the board. Lower demand results in lower prices at multiple price points.

The other element that I hope is included that I haven’t heard her talk about is rental housing. In many metro area, rental companies are buying entire houses phases of neighborhoods because the rental demand is also high. This further reduces the supply causing a further ripple effect that causes increased home prices.

I think that when interest rates do go down, you will see a spike in buying from people who are on the bubble of being able to afford particular homes, but it level back out quickly.
 
My wife was saying she was surprised Bill was 70 something. My daughter was like What? I thought he was like 90. Wasn't he president a long time ago (daughter is 15). I reminder her we used to elect younger presidents because age was a consideration.
 
I am not a fan of Kamala or Trump, so looking at it through a neutral lens, I thought Kamala did a really good job with her speech last night. I thought Trump would win a matchup with Biden no problem, but now I think he should be worrying.
 
Planit said:
Do you think RFKJr's tRump endorsement offers the campaign more legitimacy & sanity?
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I've been meaning to keep an eye on the one house in our neighborhood with a RFK sign to see what they do. I don't know if they were supporting out of protest for all of the old people running, are classic conspiracy kooks, or what. I know one of them is a pretty talented artist, and I tend to assume artists are inclusive-minded. So I'm wondering if the sign:

a) stays because they forgot they put it up, or they're making a weird point about preferring worm-eaten brains
b) disappears with nothing replacing it
c) gets replaced with a Trump sign
d) gets replaced with a Harris sign
 
Things in Memphis are interesting. A month ago, Memphis city council decided to put a referendum on the fall ballot to require people who carry weapons to be licensed to do so, to prohibit the sale of AR-15s, and to require weapons to be locked in containers when traveling or staying in the City of Memphis.

Here is the catch, from what I have been told, the State Law won’t allow any of those to happen. So the state told Memphis that they will lose sales tax dollars if they move forward with the referendum, so the County election board stated that they would not include it on the ballot. Now the City of Memphis is suing the County Election Board.

While all this is happening, a Memphis Judge released a person without bond who is being charged with murder over the shooting at a local business that started as an argument over a parking space. Apparently he does not believe in bonds.

Memphis crime is out of control and the Police are doing everything they can, but the system there does not seem to hold anyone accountable and the society just appears to promote more crime.

Personally, I would support the state changing the law to require a permit to conceal carry and have a training requirement with it. But the law change should be done the right way, and the way Memphis is going about it isn’t the right way.
 
jumbach said:
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I could not access the article since I don't have a subscription but from the headline and the first paragraph that are visible, my impression is this: This is like healthcare. Maybe some legislation can be passed to nudge things along but it will likely be contentious and require a lot of political capital. I think the more likely outcome is to use the presidency as a bully pulpit to nudge the issue in the desired direction without federal legislation. I also think any federal legislation won't be direct, but will be in the form of incentives to cities who encourage building of affordable housing and/or other methods to make housing (new and existing) more affordable to end consumers.
 
Doohickie said:
I could not access the article since I don't have a subscription but from the headline and the first paragraph that are visible, my impression is this: This is like healthcare. Maybe some legislation can be passed to nudge things along but it will likely be contentious and require a lot of political capital. I think the more likely outcome is to use the presidency as a bully pulpit to nudge the issue in the desired direction without federal legislation. I also think any federal legislation won't be direct, but will be in the form of incentives to cities who encourage building of affordable housing and/or other methods to make housing (new and existing) more affordable to end consumers.
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Wondering if it would be fair use (academic/professional) to cut and paste it here. I think it may be.
 
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