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NEVERENDING ♾️ The NEVERENDING Political Discussion Thread

So everyone has all these plans no doubt coming up for their life. Well, we only have a 50% chance of a total descent into chaos.

Do I go to work Wednesday or become Robert Jordan ?
 
Hawkeye66 said:
So everyone has all these plans no doubt coming up for their life. Well, we only have a 50% chance of a total descent into chaos.

Do I go to work Wednesday or become Robert Jordan ?
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Just my guess, you mean that character in for whom tolls that bell?

....one of my faves, but I liked Farewell to Arms better. The first paragraph is very famous as prose style.
 
fringe said:
Just my guess, you mean that character in for whom tolls that bell?

....one of my faves, but I liked Farewell to Arms better. The first paragraph is very famous as prose style.
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Yes. I am going to examine my place in this country. I am not sure what I will do yet, but if he wins it's all on the table.

I will also be sad to die like Robert Jordan or El Sordo, but....fascism

or Portugal....or join my brother in California.

This isn't a normal election and I absolutely hate the media for treating it as such.
 
It feels like everything posted on Twitter/X is infused with either confirmation bias, recency bias, or just straight-up narcissistic aggrandizement. So easy to just keep scrolling for the memes. Like, why don't other people see that? Why can't they put the brakes on the urge to engage with the dubious content?
 
Suburb Repairman said:
I mean, a little late to the show with that, but 100% agree with Greenfield. I've never understood undecided "probable" voters, especially in the modern era with so much information easily accessible (provided they have the critical thinking to discern facts).

From my experience, people that claim "independent" or "undecided" actually aren't. Undecided voters are a myth, and always have been. They are simply disengaged and not voters, and don't want to admit it. I also think “independent voter” is code for ... “holy hell I just want to avoid a political conversation like the plague.”
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I resemble that remark. I have pretty much always registered as independent, but in AZ I get to pick the primary I want to vote in so I get a lot of advantage there. Otherwise, since there are no more republicans I guess I would be a moderate democrat. Especially when I see today's democrats espousing the lines from yesterday's republicans.
 
I don't know if "undecided" voter is the right term. I do know quite a few people who are struggling to figure out how to vote. Many are lifelong conservatives who have never voted for a godless Democrat, but just can't stomach Trump either.

My extremely conservative Baptist preacher has pushed small rants against politicians feigning Christian beliefs for votes in the last couple of weeks. He's even railed against the rise of nationalism and secular Christianity for the purposes of power and punishing others. I doubt he's voting for Harris, but I can't see him voting Trump either. Not that any vote in this state matters in the slightest.
 
After Kamala appeared on SNL cold open with Maya Rudolph (which was hilarious if you missed it), the FCC filed a complaint on X that the appearance violated the 'equal time' election laws. NBC gave tRump 2 one-minute spaces free on Sunday on the NASCAR & NFL broadcasts.

That is all fine, well and good. Should be done. But why is the FCC filing a complaint on X? How did tRump campaign already have a video ready? I don't know...


www.huffpost.com

NBC Gives Trump 2 Minutes Of Free Air Time After Harris’ Surprise SNL Appearance

A brief message aired during the network’s NASCAR and “Sunday Night Football” coverage.
www.huffpost.com www.huffpost.com






...but the SNL cold opening was funny.
 
bureaucrat#3 said:
I don't know if "undecided" voter is the right term. I do know quite a few people who are struggling to figure out how to vote. Many are lifelong conservatives who have never voted for a godless Democrat, but just can't stomach Trump either.

My extremely conservative Baptist preacher has pushed small rants against politicians feigning Christian beliefs for votes in the last couple of weeks. He's even railed against the rise of nationalism and secular Christianity for the purposes of power and punishing others. I doubt he's voting for Harris, but I can't see him voting Trump either. Not that any vote in this state matters in the slightest.
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I suspect there may be a significant number of ballots cast without a selection for the Presidential race--people that despise Trump, but just can't reconcile what has happened to their party and can't overcome 4-5 decades of having "godless democrats" as the villains of their stories. I get it.
 
A woman on an interview in, I think, Arizona said "I absolutely detest Donald Trump and all the drama that comes with him, but I think his policies are better for me, so that's how I'll vote." Okay, but you do realize to get the policies, you also get the person, right? Right? RIGHT?
 
Gedunker said:
A woman on an interview in, I think, Arizona said "I absolutely detest Donald Trump and all the drama that comes with him, but I think his policies are better for me, so that's how I'll vote." Okay, but you do realize to get the policies, you also get the person, right? Right? RIGHT?
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I guess if you find Northern Ireland like sectarian violence better for you, you have issues anyway
 
bureaucrat#3 said:
I don't know if "undecided" voter is the right term. I do know quite a few people who are struggling to figure out how to vote. Many are lifelong conservatives who have never voted for a godless Democrat, but just can't stomach Trump either.

My extremely conservative Baptist preacher has pushed small rants against politicians feigning Christian beliefs for votes in the last couple of weeks. He's even railed against the rise of nationalism and secular Christianity for the purposes of power and punishing others. I doubt he's voting for Harris, but I can't see him voting Trump either. Not that any vote in this state matters in the slightest.
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I thought Harrison Ford had a pretty good ad out for those "lifelong conservatives".

 
Gedunker said:
A woman on an interview in, I think, Arizona said "I absolutely detest Donald Trump and all the drama that comes with him, but I think his policies are better for me, so that's how I'll vote." Okay, but you do realize to get the policies, you also get the person, right? Right? RIGHT?
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You can't fix stupid.
 
The polling station was way busier than I thought it would be this morning. The only thing on the ballot was presidential and two judges. I've never had to wait in line in the 8 years Ive been here until the 25 minutes this morning. The line was 3:1 female to male.
 
Our ballot is 4 pages. I'm glad I did mail in because I don't want to see what the polling places are like.
 
bureaucrat#3 said:
The polling station was way busier than I thought it would be this morning. The only thing on the ballot was presidential and two judges. I've never had to wait in line in the 8 years Ive been here until the 25 minutes this morning. The line was 3:1 female to male.
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I haven't been yet, but my wife said it was much busier than usual. I'll be bringing my daughter with me. Hopefully this time it turns out better than the last time she came with me to vote in 2016.
 
We have a city council meeting tonight. I think they'll move things along rather quickly & the agenda isn't too big.

I expect our regular whinner will be there for public comments, I have a non-controversial public hearing & a call for a public hearing.

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The Girl said she was staying in tonight and start watching the results coming in. I told her its fruitless because the polls don't close until 7:00. She doesn't need to sit there & watch non-stop. Just turn the tv on at 9:00 or 10:00, but I know her too well. This is the first time she's been able to vote in a presidential election (she turned 18 just 2 months after the last one).
 
btrage said:
My oldest daughter is bartending tonight at her job. I think I may go sit at the bar and watch the results come rolling in.
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Our group at work was going to an Octoberfest event tonight. I am not going, as I'm not inclined to go to a mass gathering on election night (in a city known for being a bit Trumpy). A bar would be a good setup though.
 
No line here. I was #236 for today's turnout at 1 PM. Local roster is a little over 600, don't know how many early ones.

Note: There has always been a big bowl of candy, but today I got the very last one. Local board must have lost its candy budget.

BTW I never give my vote to any unopposed candidate. Leave those boxes blank.
 
DVD said:
Today feels like the whole country is waiting for a STD test result.
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Scream Queens Chanel 3 GIF
 
Hawkeye66 said:
All my kids are young adults now. If I had known where the USA would be in 2024, I would not have had children.
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I am sure a lot of people feel that way but you really have to give yourself credit for bringing those children into the world and providing for them the best way you can as a father. If you think about it, everything in your life up to when they were born had to fall in place for those exact kids to be born. We are talking about hundreds of thousands of decisions - big and small - over your lifetime. If just one little thing had been different, you would have had different kids at different times. It's the Butterfly Effect through and through.

I often think about all the things I should have done, or not have done, in my past. There are hundreds and hundreds of regrets, some small, some life altering, soul destroying events. But mostly I just think about some of the girls I used to like or go out with and wish things had gone just a little bit differently. You know, - "Prior knowledge" - That sort of thing. But I realize that if just one little thing would have been different, my kids would never have been born, and knowing this I could not change a thing (at least before May of 1999, around the time my daughter was conceived). It would be like committing a Retroactive Abortion.

Of course anytime after May of 1999, I would change hundreds of things. Or maybe just one big thing: Fire my Goddamn lawyer in early 2007 who withheld some key documentation in my divorce that would given me a more favorable outcome in the divorce decree: Mainly parenting time. That led to a series of events that completely destroyed my life by March or April of 2008.

All I know is I brought two beautiful kids into this world in (1998 and 2000) and as much as I think about all those girls I met or liked in the 1980s and what could have happened if I knew now what I didn't know then, I would not change a thing before May of 1999.
 
Super Amputee Cat said:
I am sure a lot of people feel that way but you really have to give yourself credit for bringing those children into the world and providing for them the best way you can as a father. If you think about it, everything in your life up to when they were born had to fall in place for those exact kids to be born. We are talking about hundreds of thousands of decisions - big and small - over your lifetime. If just one little thing had been different, you would have had different kids at different times. It's the Butterfly Effect through and through.

I often think about all the things I should have done, or not have done, in my past. There are hundreds and hundreds of regrets, some small, some life altering, soul destroying events. But mostly I just think about some of the girls I used to like or go out with and wish things had gone just a little bit differently. You know, - "Prior knowledge" - That sort of thing. But I realize that if just one little thing would have been different, my kids would never have been born, and knowing this I could not change a thing (at least before May of 1999, around the time my daughter was conceived). It would be like committing a Retroactive Abortion.

Of course anytime after May of 1999, I would change hundreds of things. Or maybe just one big thing: Fire my Goddamn lawyer in 2007 who withheld some key documentation in my divorce that would given me a more favorable outcome in the divorce decree. Mainly parenting time. That led to a series of events that completely destroyed my life by March or April of 2008.

All I know is I brought two beautiful kids into this world in (1998 and 2000) and as much as I think about all those girls I met or liked in the 1980s and what could have happened, I would not change a thing before May of 1999.
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I dont think I deserve credit for being horny and making kids and not thinking about anything beyond that.
 
Planit said:
We have a city council meeting tonight. I think they'll move things along rather quickly & the agenda isn't too big.

I expect our regular whinner will be there for public comments, I have a non-controversial public hearing & a call for a public hearing.

----------------------


The Girl said she was staying in tonight and start watching the results coming in. I told her its fruitless because the polls don't close until 7:00. She doesn't need to sit there & watch non-stop. Just turn the tv on at 9:00 or 10:00, but I know her too well. This is the first time she's been able to vote in a presidential election (she turned 18 just 2 months after the last one).
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Our meeting is tonight as well. We have about 40 items on the agenda. Most are appropriations due to the new budget year. It shouldn't have any real discussion, but I don't know why we don't have a consent agenda to do those all at once.
 
bureaucrat#3 said:
It shouldn't have any real discussion, but I don't know why we don't have a consent agenda to do those all at once.
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The council just started doing a consent agenda about 2 years ago. The newly elected clueless one likes to take things off the agenda for meaningless discussion (& generally at the request of 1 certain citizen).
 
Come late tonight or likely early tomorrow morning, one side will not be happy and will accuse the other of cheating/interference/Russia/China/ballot stuffing/dead voters. But here we are.
 
SlaveToTheGrind said:
Come late tonight or likely early tomorrow morning, one side will not be happy and will accuse the other of cheating/interference/Russia/China/ballot stuffing/dead voters. But here we are.
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No. I am just hating millions and millions of my so called countrymen. No cheating..I question what my place is in this country going forward and what the point of my 25 year career has been exactly. It just elected a fascist.
 
Well, I declare that my family and I are officially moving.


(We took possession of our new (to us) house in our new Town last night and will be occupying it this weekend)


Regarding the election, I am surprised, but I am not. The Democratic Party put someone on the ticket that people didn’t vote for in the primary and didn’t do well in the primary in the 2020 election. I truly believe that if they were to nominate a more centrist candidate, you would see a sweep.

I thought that people would have been sick of Trump and his personality. He is not in it for the right reasons, and while I don’t think he will destroy democracy, I do believe that these next four years are going to be a real test for the Republican Party to see if they can keep him in line.
 
michaelskis said:
Well, I declare that my family and I are officially moving.


(We took possession of our new (to us) house in our new Town last night and will be occupying it this weekend)


Regarding the election, I am surprised, but I am not. The Democratic Party put someone on the ticket that people didn’t vote for in the primary and didn’t do well in the primary in the 2020 election. I truly believe that if they were to nominate a more centrist candidate, you would see a sweep.

I thought that people would have been sick of Trump and his personality. He is not in it for the right reasons, and while I don’t think he will destroy democracy, I do believe that these next four years are going to be a real test for the Republican Party to see if they can keep him in line.
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...back to the days of a new outrage every day, since the "leader" has no grasp of policy, procedure, or appropriate behavior.
 
michaelskis said:
Well, I declare that my family and I are officially moving.


(We took possession of our new (to us) house in our new Town last night and will be occupying it this weekend)


Regarding the election, I am surprised, but I am not. The Democratic Party put someone on the ticket that people didn’t vote for in the primary and didn’t do well in the primary in the 2020 election. I truly believe that if they were to nominate a more centrist candidate, you would see a sweep.

I thought that people would have been sick of Trump and his personality. He is not in it for the right reasons, and while I don’t think he will destroy democracy, I do believe that these next four years are going to be a real test for the Republican Party to see if they can keep him in line.
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Congrats on the new house.

I think you're spot on. She was just a bad candidate and quite frankly, missed a golden opportunity by essentially being MIA the last 4 years. I know most VPs aren't that visible but she was "assigned" certain things and we heard nothing. Given that most people knew that President Biden might not be up to it the party should have done a lot more.

But everybody needs to calm down. The republic is not finished. I am hopeful that somehow the new President will decide to focus on unity and that those closest to him are telling him that. Some of the hyperbole is just insane. Take a deep breath everybody. Finally, think about this: in 3 elections this is the first time he won the popular vote. @michaelskis is exactly correct. It was clearly the wrong candidate and even as detestable a person as he may be, millions of people made the decision to vote for him because they weren't buying what the Democrats were selling so they really need to look at their message and platform.
 
MD Planner said:
Congrats on the new house.

I think you're spot on. She was just a bad candidate and quite frankly, missed a golden opportunity by essentially being MIA the last 4 years. I know most VPs aren't that visible but she was "assigned" certain things and we heard nothing. Given that most people knew that President Biden might not be up to it the party should have done a lot more.

But everybody needs to calm down. The republic is not finished. I am hopeful that somehow the new President will decide to focus on unity and that those closest to him are telling him that. Some of the hyperbole is just insane. Take a deep breath everybody. Finally, think about this: in 3 elections this is the first time he won the popular vote. @michaelskis is exactly correct. It was clearly the wrong candidate and even as detestable a person as he may be, millions of people made the decision to vote for him because they weren't buying what the Democrats were selling so they really need to look at their message and platform.
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He is a fascist authoritarian. The NY Times is reporting that the US is no longer a democracy, but an autocracy.

It's beside the point that Harris wasn't a great candidate. A cinder block would be better than Trump.
 
btrage said:
Trump has more closet supporters than any presidential candidate in history. He will win.
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Told you so.

In a nutshell I'd say it came down to the same center-right voters that gave Biden the 2020 win shifting their support to Trump in 2024, largely due, in my opinion, to the Democrats shifting too far left. The country has always been a majority center-right.

There's a lot of soul searching needed for both parties.
 
GOD FUCKING DAMMIT

I didn't watch any election coverage last night. NO TV. No internet. I just watched Law and Order then went to bed. This is the first time I have not watched any election coverage since 1976.

Well, all I can say is that we are fucked. America is done as a country. It's going to be like Russia in just a few months.

I can only hope that that SOB dies from a massive coronary in the next few months.
 
Planit said:
& then we get Vance. :censored:
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Yeah, and admittedly that will almost be as bad. But at least Trump would be dead.

The only good news, if you can call it that, is that that douchebag will no longer be senator of Ohio but we're fucked anyway because they will just put another Trump sycophant in his place and besides Sherrod Brown lost to Moreno. So as Ohio careens ever more to the right, we are in some truly dark times ahead.

American is done. We are toast, We are fucked.
 
btrage said:
Told you so.

In a nutshell I'd say it came down to the same center-right voters that gave Biden the 2020 win shifting their support to Trump in 2024, largely due, in my opinion, to the Democrats shifting too far left. The country has always been a majority center-right.

There's a lot of soul searching needed for both parties.
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I do not imagine conspiracies but I do think we have an oligarchy ever since corporations got rights as people and money became free speech. Every dollar became a vote.
 
Here is a question...

In 2016, Trump was elected to office with a majority in both the House and Senate. If he was going to "Destroy" the country, don't you think he would have done it the first time around. Sure, he made decisions that we didn't agree with, but what President hasn't done that.

The only thing that I can think of now is that it is time to put the checks and balances to the test to keep him doing what y'all fear.

But the biggest message that I want to express is that we as Planners have the power to make positive change in the communities and regions that we work and live in. Let's just deal with whatever comes from DC, but do the best we can where we can.
 
Hawkeye66 said:
. It just elected a fascist.
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This just reaffirms that what I've been saying for decades. That most people are basically evil in their nature and that they are predisposed to violence, mayhem and are bloodthirsty in their quest for power no matter what the costs. If last night's results don't convince anyone of that, I really don't know what to say.

But even I didn't expect that numbers to be that high.
 
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