Being a heterodox free-thinker, students would occasionally ask if I believed in conspiracy theories. A group of people colluding on a secret plan to do something sneaky? Sure, conspiracies happen all the time. Of course they meant “conspiracy theories”, like faking the Moon landing or something along that line.
You shouldn’t read any further because I intend to discuss a conspiracy theory.
I’m not an alcoholic or participant in any 12-step programs, but the Serenity Prayer seems like a broadly useful sentiment.
US News: Biden to serve one term.
Top Democrats are trying to figure out what went wrong in the 2024 presidential election. It’s like watching a junkie explain that their problem is anything but the drugs.
It’s nice to see a presidential election that is wrapped up before the bars close. The 2000 Bush-Gore election, with the hanging chads, was so tedious. Just like the Olympics, it makes a difference where you watch. I like Real Clear Politics because they provide all the current information in a clear manner. Watching a news channel on Youtube or cable or broadcast, is so tedious. I’d rather watch a Jerry Lewis Telethon.
The rest of the time, Real Clear Politics aggregates polls from everywhere else and posts articles from a wide spectrum of sources.
This morning, I’m wondering what’s up with the states that can’t close the books on the election?
Prior to the election, here are the states that RCP considered to be battleground states.
Almost half of these battleground states haven’t been called at 7 am. No other states are still up for grabs. That is strange enough to warrant some attention. Here are the
Michigan has 97% of the ballots in, and a 1.9% spread. What’s the hold up?
Arizona has a 5.7% spread, with 63% of the ballots in. That is one of the lowest percentage of votes counted, of all 50 states.
Nevada has a 5.5% spread, with 89% of the ballots in. Surely they could count enough of the votes to call this one.
Vote for whomever you’d like, but admit that this is funny shit.
It doesn’t matter if Biden meant that Trump was garbage, or Trump’s ideas, campaign staff or supporters. The words of a feeble dotard don’t carry much weight.
I’m impressed that Trump’s staff spotted Biden’s line in the transcript and made it a talking point or meme, long enough to acquire a clean garbage truck and prep it for a campaign event. Trump and his people are having fun and are quick to respond.
It brings to mind a video shot by a diverse group of Trump supporters at the Madison Square Garden event. In the days prior to the event, the Harris campaign was drawing a parallel to the 1939 Nazi rally at the same venue. Playing off of the Harris message, individuals in the group proudly claimed to being the Black Nazi, the Jewish Nazi, the White Nazi and the Asian Nazi.
I get that they were riffing off of the absurd Nazi statements, but it’s not good to see people comfortably call themselves Nazis, even if it was facetious. That is a danger of making false or exaggerated claims about a person or group. If everyone thinks a person is awful, then the person may decide there is no reason not to be awful. The reputation penalty has already been paid.
Survey to identify your ideology.
Vote for whomever you’d like, it’s none of my business. So close to the presidential election, it gets stupid. This year is stupider than usual. Trump gave a big speech at Madison Square Garden, just like the Nazis. Harris gave a big speech at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., just like the KKK. Like I said, stupid.
The I Side With survey is only about policy questions. All of the policy questions, it’s very long, but you don’t have to answer all of them. It seems more nuanced because it asks if how much you like a policy and how much you care about that policy.
At the end, the survey provides the candidates who are most compatible with the survey-takers answers, along with political party and ideology. I’m just “Right-Wing”, which is kind of disappointing. I like to think I’m more sophisticated than that.
Joe Rogan’s episode with Trump was just posted on Youtube. It’s midnight, so I’m not staying up to watch it, but thought I’d check in. I was curious how Rogan presents himself.
Here’s Rogan from last week’s episode.
Here’s Rogan for the Trump episode.
Joe cleaned up. Looks like he waxed his head. Shaved his head, his face, and is wearing his nice shirt.
Rogan is already a big deal, he doesn’t need this episode with Trump, but guests on his show have been suggesting it for several months. Rogan’s guests are people he thinks are interesting or friends of his, but that’s not it this time. My sense is that Rogan is trying to help. Not help Trump, but help the rest of us. Everyone else that writes about Trump or Harris, are either trying to help or hurt the campaign. Rogan isn’t a partisan guy.
Trump and Rogan are interesting because they have a lot in common. They have both been successful in several different fields. Both were involved in combat sports and both had reality TV shows.
The beginning is boring, as they get comfortable.
Talking about his first days as president, Trump says, “I picked a few people that I shouldn’t have picked”.
Rogan: “Neocons?”
Trump: “Yeah, neocons, or bad people”
I like how Rogan is using political lingo, and Trump isn’t.
A few minutes later, Trump says, “I always got more publicity than other people. And it wasn’t like I was trying. I don’t now exactly why, maybe you can tell me.”
Rogan: “Oh yeah, I can definitely tell you. You said a lot of wild shit.”
Trump: “Maybe, maybe.”
They are loosening up, so it’s starting to get good. I may stay up for a while.
Sparky is snoring.
Newsweek: Political realignment
This article in Newsweek is evidence that the elite class are finally starting to figure out why they are wrong all the time. The authors did make a fundamental mistake. Trump caused this political realignment. John McCain, Mitt Romney and other establishment Republicans were comfortable managing the decline of America. My younger brother called them puppet-dickheads.
This last week, during an interview with Republican Vice-Presidential candidate JD Vance, ABC’s Martha Raddatz tried to dispel concerns about Venezuelan gangs infiltrating Aurora, Colorado by stating that only “a handful of apartment complexes” in the city were affected. Listen more closely, and that benign-sounding dismissal is actually more sinister than it seems.
NYT: Manufacturing isn’t coming back.
NYT: Manufacturing isn’t coming back.
Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are vowing to engineer a manufacturing renaissance. Such promises evoke 1950s-era memories of strong communities full of ordinary Americans, many without college degrees, earning attractive pay and benefits for their hard work.
The author believes the US cannot get back to the fully functioning country we had in the 1950’s. That is a widely held opinion, so talking about this article is as good as any other.
Manufacturing bottomed out at around 10 percent of nonfarm workers by 2019. The numbers employed in manufacturing started to recover under President Biden and may continue to rebound.
The author shows her bias. If the bottom was in 2019, then it started to recover after that. Biden took office in 2021, so it wasn’t his policies that turned things around.
While women and immigrants helped offset the slowing growth of the native-born population, it hasn’t been enough: Two-thirds of respondents to a National Association of Manufacturing survey this past spring said that their biggest challenge was attracting and retaining employees.
Attracting and retaining employees is simple. Pay more and improve the working conditions.
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