32 thoughts on “News/Politics 11-4-24

  1. I am curious, if anyone knows? What is the current relationship of Steve Bannon and Trump? In a search all I found was that Bannon supports Trump through podcasts, but I found nothing about if Trump considers him a friend. I am curious because a friend is friends with someone who supposedly knows Bannon.

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  2. The comments in the article that Kathaleena posted touch on and I think are very helpful in addressing some of the voting issues (for us as Christians) that have taken place here on these political threads.

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  3. I’m not sure if any of these stories have been shared on here, but if any of us have seen them elsewhere. . .

    Joint ODNI, FBI, and CISA Statement on Russian Election Influence Efforts

    Today, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released the following statement: 

    “The IC assesses that Russian influence actors manufactured a recent video that falsely depicted individuals claiming to be from Haiti and voting illegally in multiple counties in Georgia. This judgment is based on information available to the IC and prior activities of other Russian influence actors, including videos and other disinformation activities. The Georgia Secretary of State has already refuted the video’s claims as false. 

    Russian influence actors also manufactured a video falsely accusing an individual associated with the Democratic presidential ticket of taking a bribe from a U.S. entertainer. [This is referring to a rumor about Harris and Sean “Diddy” Combs.]

    This Russian activity is part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and stoke divisions among Americans, as detailed in prior ODNI election updates. In the lead up to election day and in the weeks and months after, the IC expects Russia to create and release additional media content that seeks to undermine trust in the integrity of the election and divide Americans.”  ~

    That was the whole thing, and here is the link to it:

    https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/news/joint-odni-fbi-and-cisa-statement-russian-election-influence-efforts

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  4. Tychicus — on the left side of the internet I’m seeing similar predictions but the other way around — Harris at around 310-20. Personally I see a far tighter race.

    The only prediction I will make is Harris will win the popular vote by about 1.5% or about 1 to 1.5 million. Not sure you can call this an election prediction but the outcome will not be universally accepted …

    The most electoral votes I think she is capable of is 276 and her most likely winning number is exactly 270 (you can thank Omaha) and her lowest number being 226 (highly unlikely). Her highest and also unlikely is 320.

    Trump’s numbers are more difficult to predict. The highest I can see is 312 (highly unlikely but still possible). For him to win, he needs at least one rust belt. Penn is the most likely and that would give him 281 (287 if he gets Nevada) Michigan or Wisconsin would give him lower numbers but still a win. The lowest for him would be 219 (very unlikely)

    RCP has Trump winning at 287 (Penn and Nevada) to 259. 538 has it at 268 to 251 for Trump with Penn’s 19 votes not counted.

    On the other hand, North Carolina and Georgia are as tight as the Rust Belt so it’s a coin toss. The high levels of early voting and female voting in these states usually indicate a Democratic advantage historically speaking.

    Not sure if I will actually watch — the view from up north occasionally resembles rubber necking past a freeway accident. I may stay up to watch Pennsylvania’s results and then call it.

    hrw

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  5. This is the best message I have heard about the election. It starts around 1:24 into the YouTube. It talks about Christians being salt and not sugar. It also speaks about nationalism, that,Christians should never fall into that. Tried to post link but did not work. Will try again on next comment.

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  6. I’m sure WORLD had space limitations for Mohler but I found the article very superficial. He just touched on abortion and LGBQT – no mention of what views a conservative Christian has on economics, health care, foreign policy etc.

    Curious are people basing their vote on those narrow grounds?

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  7. Interesting Kizzie and if the results are as close as it appears, there will be more Russian disinformation. Decades of American intervention in foreign elections has now come home —

    My take for the last week — Harris is either an amazing actress or her internal polling is showing something we can’t see, because she comes across as supremely confident. I think the Democrats see the early voting and the female vote as coming through for them.

    I’m not sure what the Trump campaign was doing. They seem to occupy a different universe than I do. Why drive a garbage truck? “take out the garbage” – what does that mean? Sure wear the hi-viz when cosplaying as a garbage man but at a speech? Is the campaign team just placating an old somewhat senile man or was this a serious campaign? Perhaps it works for some people, I just don’t see it. I see a man bordering on senility cospalying. Are they so confident they can let him have fun? Or does it matter to the team if he wins or loses? I don’t think his campaign team cares if he wins only that they get paid — they are all grifters grifting the old grifter himself.

    And then there’s his speech which wanders aimlessly – he calls it the “weave”. I swear he throws Hannibal Lecter at this point just to troll the Democrats. Do his supporters care what he says? I genuinely don’t understand his appeal – but then again I’m sure far left I think Harris is too conservative.

    If he wins, how soon until Vance and his friends invoke the 25th Ammendment.

    hrw

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  8. Via Tangle today:

    ~ The truth is, once again, that all the early voting, polls, and late shifts can only tell us so much. Based on information I had two weeks ago, I predicted that Trump would win the election but lose Pennsylvania. For me, predictions are a good way to test my hypotheses, and if I’m being totally honest (which I always promise to be) I think if I were making my prediction today, with the benefit of the information we’ve gotten in the last two weeks, I’d probably pick Harris. But I’m also not feeling so moved as to abandon my initial call. I just think Trump has more paths to the presidency, and so I’m hanging tight for the final 48 hours.

    My expectation is a very tight race in all the battlegrounds, but one that could easily end up in an Electoral College blowout if there is a polling error in one direction. We’ll see. In the end, as is true in every presidential election, the only result that matters is the actual vote. ~

    • dj

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  9. Tangle cont’d:

    ~ … If Selzer is capturing some genuine break with the polling average (re the weekend’s Iowa poll), it obviously begs the question: What happened? One answer is that Republicans in Iowa passed a statewide, six-week abortion ban, despite it being a relatively pro-choice state. Another is what the New York Times poll also picked up on, which is lat-breaking independents going toward Harris. We also have a lot of data that Harris is outperforming Trump among women and voters older than 65, offsetting any potential erosion in black or Latino support. That, too, is consistent with the crosstabs in Selzer’s poll.

    Or, perhaps, it is what Nate Cohn — the chief pollster at The New York Times — said this week: Pollsters have been so concerned about underestimating Trump again that a lot of them have been spiking or under-weighting polls that look really good for Democrats. We have some statistical evidence for that, too. Nate Silver recently explained how it is a statistical improbability that so many polls are showing a coin-flip race, which is evidence of “herding” — pollsters all publishing neck-and-neck races to avoid being wrong.

    Or, maybe, it’s the exact opposite. Cohn wrote that some evidence indicates Trump’s support could once again be undercounted. … ~

    • dj

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  10. dj — There does seem to be a bit of late surge to Harris but not sure if it will be enough. Trump does have more ways to win so …… who knows

    BUT…..

    Musk made some comments about economic problems Trump’s plans may initially cause. Which of course won’t affect the billionaire class that supports Trump.

    Puerto Rico comments along with weird campaign choices from MSG to a garbage truck on a tarmac. They could have played it safe and just had the usual rallies. Are they desperate? Is the team sabotaging the campaign? After all they made their money. Is Trump actually directing this campaign and they let him do this? What are their internal polls telling them?

    His speeches are finally raising questions of age and senility

    then there is abortion;

    There is a very good reason Republicans are avoiding the topic – it hurts their chances. It hurt them in 2022 and it will hurt them in 2024.

    Last week a young lady in Texas died from an infection after a miscarriage. Doctors waited until the fetal heartbeat stopped and then treated her but by then an infection had set in. Pro choice and Democrats contend that if doctors had intervened earlier she would’ve lived. I’m not a doctor so I’m not going to guess either way but that’s the point – doctors should decide not the legislature. This incident, and others, are being used to motivate women to the polls.

    I generally respect the differences in opinion in this issue. Poland had a right wing populist government outlaw abortion but at least they were consistent in their pro-life policies – they have one of the best maternal health records along with paediatric care. In both cases, they out perform Canada let alone the US. If a gov’t wants to involve themselves in women’s health care, at least do like the Poles.

    (In both Poland and in parts of the US, the actual abortion rate hasn’t changed. Polish women visit “an aunt” in Berlin or Stockholm and in the US preliminary data shows women are using the abortion pill and travel to circumvent rules. Like Prohibition you can’t legislate it away)

    hrw

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  11. HRW – From what I understand, Trump’s garbage truck outing was supposed to be a humorous response to Biden referring to (or not really referring to, depending on who you believe) Trump’s supporters as garbage.

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  12. I wasn’t sure if it was an attempt to support the comedian comments or refer to Biden’s comments.Strange to ride a garbage truck and take out garbage when your supporters or advisers were called garbage. Not sure that’s supportive. Trump said he was taking out the garbage – what or who did that refer to? Puerto Rico garbage, his supporters, his advisers or literally the garbage at the tarmac? It was weird.

    And then he almost fell trying to get into the truck – the stunt could have backfired badly and I don’t think it really had an impact beyond the faithful.

    I listen to Biden’s comments – he seemed to stutter into calling the advisers or the advice garbage. Not sure why people would take Biden’s comments seriously after the Republicans spent four years calling him senile.

    He was probably better off holding a rally instead. Then again, his rally sizes have shrunk as the campaign went on. People seem tired and bored — not too similar to the last season of a show that has seen its best episodes already played. You still watch but its just not the same.

    hrw

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  13. Meanwhile, the interference is coming from within the house!

    Brendan Carr is the Commissioner of the FCC.

    https://x.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/1852887210330341693?t=8XQ1PnBunLAgkIoY1798QA&s=19

    “This is a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule.

    The purpose of the rule is to avoid exactly this type of biased and partisan conduct – a licensed broadcaster using the public airwaves to exert its influence for one candidate on the eve of an election.

    Unless the broadcaster offered Equal Time to other qualifying campaigns.”

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  14. Yeah, the “rubber necking” comment HRW’s @12:33 was pretty funny.

    I’ve pulled the day shift tomorrow, comes down to getting updates from the registrar throughout the day and hoping/praying for no added drama.

    As our editor told (reminded) us in the countywide staff meeting this morning: “Elections are like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer – it only stops when it’s over.”

    • dj

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  15. Probably not, and that’s why many of us are deeply concerned about another less-than-peaceful transfer of power. 😦 That’s why I think a clear win by one or the other would be best for the country’s psyche, maybe we’ll be in a better state of mind in 4 years to do better. Right now, I’m not sure we can deal very well with another “by a whisker” win and the uproar it would undoubtedly bring.

    • dj

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  16. ~ … if the Lord tarries, the sun will still rise on November 6. By God’s grace, we’ll still have plenty to laugh about, look forward to, and enjoy together. Even if suffering comes, God will surprise all people with kindnesses we don’t deserve. And in his sovereignty, God will use the victorious candidate to accomplish his divine purposes.

    No matter what happens tomorrow, focus on the good you see around you. And praise God for it. And before you blast the other side on social media, or condemn the motives of other voters, examine your heart and recognize that the good in you is also a gift of God’s grace. ~

    https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/election-day-realistic-hopeful/

    • dj

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  17. “and that’s why many of us are deeply concerned about another less-than-peaceful transfer of power. 😦”

    Just stop it with the pearl clutching. The only violence on Jan 6 was fed orchestrated. Rs don’t riot when they don’t get their way, Ds do.

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