57 thoughts on “News/Politics 10-26-24”

  1. It doesn’t look good for K. Harris. She is trying to rescue her campaign, but she doesn’t have the tool kit to do it.

    No matter how many votes they are losing by, look for the Dems to draw the election out in any way they can. Then they are going to litigate it to death. They will try to do whatever it takes to stay in power.

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  4. J D Vance spoke downtown across from the State Capitol today. Wish I could have been there. I have been to many events at that location when I worked in state government. I told a friend about it so I hope they got to go. I don’t think it was highly publicized. I heard some of the final questions from reporters and one asked why Nicki Haley had not been on the trail. He was not sure but said she’d endorsed Trump. He said he’d be glad to be on the trail with her. Thought it could be a timing issue.

    I had wanted to listen to his whole statements but a friend called who always considers my listening to her as more important when I say I was about to listen to a politician speak, lol

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  5. I’d say this thing is only getting less predictable as it goes, with only about a week to go now.

    47% to 47% was the latest national figure I saw, not a lot of variation in any of the polls currently.

    So yeah, time to wait to see what “really” will happen, then we can all (echoing Cheryl & Debra) stress out over what comes next. 🙂

    • dj

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  7. From a search:

    “Why is it called a dead heat?

    The Oxford English Dictionary attributes the term to horse racing. Meets formerly had the same horses run several “heats” in a day, with victors being decided by the total number of wins. A heat which had no clear single winner was discounted from these tallies and was therefore “dead”.”

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  8. I have no plans to stress.

    But I did suggest husband pick up another case of chocolate chips before Nov 5, just in case there are shortages. My dad lives on choc chip cookies and ice cream.

    mumsee

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  11. Lol, mumsee. That reminds me of a woman I know. She says she doesn’t cook, but bakes and eats treats all day. She is amazingly spry and thin, to boot. She is very healthy too. She will be ninety soon.

    Don’t try this at home. 😉

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  12. The Real Clear Politics average has it neck and neck.

    But many of the polls theyre forced to aveverage are unevenly weighted, with Dems getting up to plus 10 in their numbers. This is to unfairly give the appearance of a neck and neck race when reality says their numbers don’t add up. Voter registration is irrelevant when you have a weighted poll seeking a specific outcome, in order to push their falsehoods about a close race.

    We shall see soon enough.

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  15. Kevin,

    Yesterday you said…

    “And if it were clearly a battle between good and evil, there wouldn’t be so many good people who don’t see it that way. It’s apparently not that clear.”

    ——

    Let’s look at the obvious which you’re clearly ignoring.

    One side supports transgender surgery for inmates and illegal invaders.

    It also supports the same mutilating surgeries and puberty blockers for children.

    It supports doing this and keeping it from parents.

    It supports any and all perversions.

    It supports Hamas and restrains Israel at every opportunity while giving billions to Hamas and Iran who’s admitted goal is the annihilation of the Jews.

    It funds never ending war between Russia and Ukraine, both equally corrupt countries.

    It also antagonize Russia and helped cause this war by threats of NATO expansion. There was an agreement to end it, this side shot that down.

    This side also raids Socoal Security to fund EV payoffs to campaign donors.

    It has allowed our country to be invaded by 15 million illegals.

    It robs taxpayers to feed, clothe, house, and give Medicare to these same invaders, further degrading our social services funds.

    It supports abortion right up until birth, funds the largest abortion groups in the US, and wants taxpayers to foot the bill for more.

    It employes activist as cabinet members, supports defunding police, violent protests that destroyed US cities, and racial strife. It funds all these things.

    There are numerous other examples. If you aren’t seeing this evil, then you need to open your eyes.

    They don’t hide it, they brag about it, and they are in your face about it all. Wake up and see what’s right in front of you and stop pretending you aren’t seeing the obvious degradation of America.

    And it’s all coming from one side, except the other does have a war mongering military industrial faction who push evil wars and needless deaths.

    The distinction is obvious and clear when we honestly look at it.

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  16. Tychicus,

    What measures or strategy do you see Harris using to stay in power – demand recounts when the numbers don’t call for it? Declare victory before all votes are counted? Phone a governor and demand they find the votes? Field an alternate slate of electors? Hold a rally on Jan 5th and tell her supporters to march on the Capital? Demand the VP not certify the elections? I want to see the last one just for the irony.

    The RCP numbers usually lean to the Republican side while 538 is more Democratic leaning. Take their numbers and go in the middle and we might be right….. or not

    Both the Republicans and Democrats have internal polls that are more accurate than anything you see on RCP or 538. I’m not sure how to interpret Harris’s campaign stop in Texas — numbers so good she could afford to support the down ballot in Texas or numbers so bad she needs to support the party. Meanwhile Trump looks a little more relax than he did in September – have Republican internal polls improved or is his staff lying to him so he is relaxed or is he just senile? At this point, I’m just guessing.

    hrw

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  20. My Bible study leader, Kathy Howard, posted this on Facebook (how does it play into our decisions on voting?):

    “ARE YOU PART OF THE 9 PERCENT?

    According to a recent survey only 9% of American Christians have a true biblical worldview. What about you? Does the Bible shape the way you see the world? Here’s a list of the criteria for a biblical worldview. You believe that:

    • Absolute moral truths exist
    • the Bible defines absolute truth
    • Jesus Christ lived a sinless life
    • God is the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe, and He still rules it today
    • Salvation is a gift from God that cannot be earned
    • Satan is real
    • Christians have a responsibility to share our faith in Christ
    • The Bible is accurate in all of its teachings

    So, what about you? Do you have a biblical worldview? DailyBibleReading #biblicalworldview”

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  21. I’m thinking it is the part about moral truth that may be the sticky point between believers here and how we choose to vote. Maybe we weight one or two moral truths as more important than others in deciding about voting. Just a guess.

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  22. I don’t see either of the main presidential candidates as very moral–or having biblical morals. Ultimately, I am not their judge, but I am speaking in relation in voting terms. In addition, the media can make a big difference in how we view them. Law-fair being used today also makes a difference. The media has always been an issue, though not nationwide in the beginning of the country.

    All that is one of the reasons that the earlier political battles can be more important. Mayoral, township supervisors etc. on up are often easier for us to know (or know people who know).

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  23. Maybe most of us don’t remember that when Bill Clinton was in office and had multiple disasters in how he treated women, Christians were consistently saying he was morally unqualified for office. Yet today when someone says the same thing about a different candidate, the argument turns to “well, the other side stands for some really, really bad things, so you are a bad Christian if you choose not to vote for him.”

    Frankly, AJ, I don’t think your arguments help at all, and this is why: The very strength of your support for Trump has changed you, made you more belligerent and aggressive and often rude. You are in one way like the “hypocritical Christian” who’s trying to witness: Your personal choices are hurting your message. I don’t say this to be mean, but because it’s the elephant in the room. The more you try to insist you are right, without even acknowledging other people have a point, the more you push people into holding more tightly to their convictions. You don’t even have to agree that Trump’s moral character can legitimately be the deciding factor for some people, and you can even decide that he has changed “enough” now to be worth our votes (which is where I personally land), but insisting that the “other side” has no legitimate argument at all isn’t helping your own argument, and it’s alienating you from people who actually are on your own side, but just have a different perspective on one issue.

    I think that Trump is the right candidate for this particular election–but long-term, is he really the kind of leader we want? Is there any legitimacy at all in answering that question with a no, and saying that compromising so badly on accepting certain character flaws may be more harm than it is worth in the long term?

    Admitting that Trump was actually not a “good” candidate in 2016, but showing how he has grown and matured since then might (for example) be a stronger argument than simply doubling down and insisting that anyone who doesn’t vote for him has a bad moral compass and can’t see “the obvious.”

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  26. Cheryl, and some of us have watched and believe Trump has very definitely changed for the worse since 2016; I was more inclined to be supportive (though wary and watchful and not openly supportive) of him then that I ever could be now.

    But that said, good post @10:11 and observations that many of us share. This thread is often painful for a number of us who have watched what this election has done to too many. 😦

    • dj

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  27. Active logs in eyes and pots calling kettles black. Amazing.

    Thankful for my pastor’s good message this morning. It won’t be good no matter who wins the election. Only Jesus saves. That was basically the side mention of the election.

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  33. You know, I’m not sure that handing out tracts is an ideal way to witness, but I think it’s a bit too strong to call it self-righteous.

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  37. I don’t usually read some posts on here but when someone decides to lambast a brother in the Lord for taking a stand he is passionate about I will take the exception. Call names all you want and point the sanctimonious finger but perhaps refrain from doing what you are accusing him of doing…..

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  38. NJ, for years I have chosen not to engage with you. You don’t seem to like me, that is clearly your right, and so I just “leave you alone.” And I will go back to doing so after this post.

    However, on this one you have misread what I have written, perhaps because I communicated it poorly, perhaps because of your bias against me, or perhaps because of some combination.

    I wasn’t lambasting a brother in the Lord, and I definitely wasn’t doing so because he has taken a stand he is passionate about. I was pointing out that for eight or nine years he has been making the same argument in the same way, and becoming more and more shrill in making that argument and less and less willing to listen to those he is yelling at.

    I was trying to point out why (in my opinion) what he is doing isn’t working. None of us thinks that the Democrats are doing morally or spiritually healthy things. Listing off the evils they have done isn’t helping convince anyone, because none of us was planning to vote for them.

    Several years ago I read an essay or a chapter in a book, I don’t remember the source, and the writer was discussing polarization, the tendency of people when confronted with someone arguing with them to dig in even deeper to the position they hold. Yelling “You’re wrong, and this is why” doesn’t win arguments.

    I’m all for passionate argument about things that matter, as long as it is polite. I’m opposed to name calling, for instance, and to assuming others’ motives.

    On this particular topic, I haven’t seen anyone (recently at least) try to make the case for why Donald Trump has what it takes to make a good president. I’ve seen only that the other side is bad, bad, bad, and that choosing not to vote for Donald Trump is choosing to side with evil. That argument isn’t working, and it also is unkind. After seeing that argument for nine years, three presidential cycles, it doesn’t seem to me like overkill to point out that the present argument isn’t working.

    Donna and Kizzie have both explained (repeatedly) that this is a conscience issue for them, that they do not believe that Donald Trump has the moral character to be president. Rather than take that argument seriously, ask questions about it, respect it, engage with it, and try to make the case that Trump does in fact have what it takes to be president, there is doubling down on “the Democrats are bad, and you’re morally culpable for what they do if you don’t vote them out of office.”

    Imagine this: a woman is running for president. She’s a serial adulterer, and when asked about men, she has been recorded as saying her preferred way of dealing with men is just to grab them by the balls. Would any of us tell men just to “get over it,” or would we understand why they might be reluctant to vote for such a woman?

    Understanding where someone is coming from, and engaging their actual arguments, seems like a basic of good argumentation, and it is what I’m asking for. Hopefully that isn’t too much to ask.

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  39. Referring to someone as like a hypocritical Christian is not nice. This same person offered to several of you a deep apology soon after his surgery. That apology was swiftly snatch without so much as a whisper of “and please forgive me for my part in the situation” That would have been a gracious and most appropriate response… which didn’t happen. Yet he is continually “called out” for statements that somehow hurt your feelings….

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  40. Actually, I believe Cheryl has some very clear and well written posts on here with valid points. The exception being the “Imagine this” paragraph. I think many men would not be bothered, some amused, some loudly guffawing, a few scandalized.

    Both parties have histories of adultery, only one side is regularly pointed out. Both parties have lied. One, in my opinion, has discontinued those. But setting that stuff aside, these are the two main candidates. One has a history as President to indicate likely leading over the next four years. The other has a history of vice president and senator to indicate the direction of the next four to eight years. Which do you prefer for our country? Which direction is more God honoring?

    mumsee

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  41. Could be neither? (@4:58, last graph)

    Not trying to provoke, but I will add that Trump is his own worst enemy. He is a (deliberately) reckless speaker leaving folks not to know what he means or doesn’t mean. So it comes down to taking a chance on whether he means something or not. But that’s just the tip of the concerns we’ve had, as you well know.

    And I am not going to go down that rabbit hole with you all again — I did appreciate Cheryl’s posts here and am saddened at what has become of this thread on too many days.

    (NJ, at times I’ve felt as if I’ve responded too rashly and quickly and on those occasions my habit is to apologize quickly, I don’t like grass growing under those missteps. We appreciated AJ’s apologies some time ago and they were quite appropriate.)

    Should Trump win, that result and the way forward will be, as always, in God’s hands and I trust we all will pray for him; and, assuming we will have a peaceful transition of power, I will again be grateful for the form of government we have here.

    Should he lose, I somewhat fear we will be battered with attacks of “you own this” in these parts. So we’ll see how all of that can best be handled by this group of flawed believers (all), based on 1 Corinthians 13 (which was the focus of our sermon today).

    • dj

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  43. Absolutely. I am not a one issue voter. But do think the apparent Republican policies are more in line with my many issues.

    I have encouraged son to look at the candidates, look at their policies, reflect on history, vote his conscience. I do not know if he prays or not. He will probably vote for one down ballot independent at least. That is fine with me. Informed voting, not emotional voting.

    mumsee

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  45. “Should he lose, I somewhat fear we will be battered with attacks of “you own this” in these parts.”

    Or perhaps it’s just your guilty conscience, because deep down, you know they will be correct……

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  50. If we step into His Presence in the next ten minutes, will He be pleased with our vote?

    Which will please Him more? How we treat fellow believers, or how we vote?

    mumsee

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  52. Donna, if you just vote correctly, you will change the electoral vote for California, and thus for the country. Kizzie, you can do the same for Connecticut. What power you ladies have! Me, I just live in a state that was already voting for Trump, and our household’s two votes this week didn’t do much.

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  55. Careful ladies.

    I may begin to think smart ass responses are OK now and that I can stop treating you with kid gloves and say what I really would like too.

    Cheryl,

    You really should stop interjecting yourself. You’re not helping, and you know that. Perhaps that’s why you think some seem to dislike you.

    I’ve been spending a lot of time lately trying to decide if this blog will continue on or not after this year. I grow weary. You’re beginning to make the choice easier.

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  56. AJ, if indeed “I’m not helping,” it isn’t for lack of trying to be helpful. Trying to help people see others’ viewpoints isn’t “interjecting” in some interfering sort of way, but simply trying to encourage better communication.

    Many of us have grown weary here; I’m sorry that you are among them, but I empathize.

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