Election day is finally here. Thank goodness.
Warrior15
Anywhere there are Titties.
Who else is tired of election commercials ? I basically have turned off local TV stations the past few days.
flagooner tells me that the Republicans are going to increase their hold on both the House and Senate. And that anyone that doesn't think the same thing is a damn Socialist. That's what he said ! Skibum concurred.
Are there any Socialists out there that will disagree ?
flagooner tells me that the Republicans are going to increase their hold on both the House and Senate. And that anyone that doesn't think the same thing is a damn Socialist. That's what he said ! Skibum concurred.
Are there any Socialists out there that will disagree ?
90 comments
FWIW I don't look at this as anything unusual despite the media's attempt to call the situation that way.....happens more times than not during midterms.
Hell with as much as Pelosi and Waters hate Trump, I bet they couldn't pass a bill stating the colors of the flag were red, white, and blue because they would argue over the shade of white on the flag.
At least if the Senate stays Republican, there is no way Trump will get impeached without a LOT of evidence of a felony because the Senate won't sit for the impeachment trial.
But I just can't wait to be able to watch the local news and not have 99% of the ads bitching about someone's opponent in the elections.
True, it's almost a 100% guarantee that the party in the Whitehouse takes a hit during midterms.
I'm so fed up with political commercials I'll just be glad when this day is over.
Half the time I can't tell what anyone is even trying to say except that the other guy/gal is "not one of us" and is one step below a serial killer.
https://youtu.be/fVxUCnHck6g
So blatantly idiotic and racist that Fox News pulled the ad. But it did air on national TV during the football game.
I picture @OSU mesmerized by the ad and nodding his head in agreement.
I can cite examples if you like.
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Maybe you're right @Warrenboy, but you expect more from the presidents campain team.
Can you really find another ad that rises to the same level of pure racist propaganda?
On the reverse side the Republican ads all point to tax increases and marauding hordes invading our nation not seen since the time of the fall of the Roman Empire ( although I have to admit I feel at times and have said so we are a lot like Rome 400 AD and we just don't realize it)
At this point sadly I don't expect much from anyone who is a politician except knowing that I will need to take a shower to get rid of the filth I feel after coming in contact with almost all of them.
What I do state repeatedly is that if you are going to judge then judge both parties equally and keep in mind exactly how and why we got Trump to begin with and who had a hand in it.
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Okay, fair enough.
However I *do* think millions of people will lose their health insurance if the GOP takes both houses. Some of the people on TUSCL will suffer if we go back to the days when insurance companies can deny for pre-existing conditions.
Yes, good morning @Dougster.
Where is the racism? Oh because the people coming by the thousands are brown? Has nothing to do with how hey are coming. Assilum seekers need to come through a point of entry, which with so many people would be overwhelmed and probably backed up for months, though I suspect most would ILLEGIALLY cross the border rather than wait in line. And if they really are seeking assilum, why not ask for it in Mexico? If you're a "good person" and come into this country illegally, your a criminal piece of shit in my book and I have zero compassion for you, go thr fuck home, no matter what country you are from.
So that ad appeals to college educated middle class men like me that thinks people should come into my country thr proper way. Zero racism in my mind unless you are a retard.
Thanks to satellite radio and streaming shows on netflix, hulu and amazon I haven't seen or heard any this year. Other than the yard signs and the occasional banner ad on a few websites this election season has been campaign free for me. I have actually had to go out of my way to find the necessary info on the candidates and issues on my local ballot.
Repeal of Obamacare failed due to one member: John McCain. He's dead. If the GOP takes both houses, they will go after Obamacare repeal, and they will probably succeed. Millions on Medicaide expansion and those that get subsidized insurance will be kicked off. Do you understand English?
BTW, Obamacare is actually RomneyCare which should know since you live in Mass. It's the conservative, market-based solution to covering everyone.
This is 100% my opinion (hell all of this is) but I believe everyone in Washington should be term limited like the president, so we have a constant turn over of people and ideas. I think since the president can get 2 terms (8 years), then a Representative should get 4 terms (8 years) and a Senator should get 2 terms (12 years). That would mean probably a 25+% turnover every election and you wouldn't end up with the Robert Byrd (51 years) and John Dingell (59 years) sitting in their kingdoms (oh I mean offices) doing just about nothing for their constituents.
Well I will get off my soapbox now and get back to work. And before anyone wants to flame me for being a liberal, I am a moderate Republican who thinks Trump is a buffoon and a bully, but that some of his ideas have merit. He just REALLY sucks in getting his message across in an intelligent manner (please Secret Service take away his Twitter account). : )
Iam - well said. At the end of the day watching America fail is just entertainment. If people with kids and grandkids don't care I sure as hell don't. Except for being older, happier and wealthier my life is pretty much the same as it was when I was 25. Once I am gone I will care even less lol.
I have an older, gullible neighbor across the street from me. he says, "[he doesn't know who to vote for this year because they've all been discredited." Where 'discredited' is his word. He means the negative ads, mainly.
I've also had my phone blowing up with texts with random campaign messages all week (trump rally, Ohio issue no. 1, etc)
So I have gotten all of my political views on the TUSCL discussion board. What else does a person need. :)
Are you familiar with the Mark Twain quote: “Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience?” That's how I feel about arguing with someone who insists that Obama was born in Kenya. Or someone who insists that climate change is Chinese hoax. Hard to decide whether you deserve scorn or pity. Maybe it's all those years listening to bickering couples, and all the weed smoking and alcohol, that sent you into cognitive decline.
We're not even arguing politics, just trying to get the facts straight. Obamacare and Romneycare are basically the same fucking bill:
(1) Both let the private insurance market compete for your business
(2) Both have a a mandate to participate and a penalty if you don't.
(3) Both have subsides for the poor
(4) Both don't allow insurance companies to deny for pre-existing conditions
You can't have (4) without (2) and (3). It's not mathematically possible.
It's the same fucking law that keeps the best features of capitalism. Do you understand? Romney himself admitted that Obamacare is based on RomneyCare. Jonathan Gruber (spelling?) was the architect of both.
Over 20M people have gained health insurance since Obamacare started. So millions stand to lose if it is repealed.
The problem---and this is just one shining example of liberal media bias is I don't recall Ryan ever stating he wanted to dump the 23 million. What he wanted to do was segment them into a high risk pool and have each state decide how to provide health care......and ( and this is the big and) provide each of those states to the tune of 100 billion dollars.
From his perspective and economic models Obamacare is not sustainable. Right or wrong in his mind it's going to collapse eventually and the cost to keep running it as is will exceed his plan.
And just as a side note and something I had stated earlier in another conversation this is the first year I haven't been hit with a rate increase in a decade. Is that a plus for Trump or is just I'm lucky? ( I really do not know and others on here when I poised this question before stated they have seen increases this year)
But in this election what you hear is Republicans want to take away Health Care........and none of the details...........
https://www.vox.com/authors/sarah-kliff
She specializes in healthcare policy, and she used to write for Washington Post. She's terrific.
As of now, looks like GOP has Senate wrapped up +2 and Dems have House +35
One of the big libertarian issues.
Question to discuss among yourselves: how long would it take for you to smoke 140 joints?
I'm no political expert as some of these guys claim to be so I shouldn't weigh in here.
But when has that stopped me.
I see libertarians as having traits that represent both conservative and liberal views, but mostly those that claim to be libertarian are dorks that try to relate to a hipster trend.
I take issue with those guys that say stupid things about being for progress, I don't really care about liberal and conservative, the big joke is those folks that say progressives are liberal, it simply is not true, legalizing marijuana is progress, allowing for advances in medicine is progress, being against racism, and promoting woman's rights, LBTQ rights is progress, liberals want free lunch for everybody, that's where I draw my line, I believe you should earn your lunch, I'll earn my own, there is such a thing as reasonable conservatism, and there is a place for differing opinions, making blanket statements never works out right.
BTW most Libertarians are nuts (blanket statement ;)
I've always thought of "progressive" as what libs call themselves because being a "liberal" used to have a bit of a stigma attached to it They were basically rebranding that way.
Those areas are what makes everyone think they are flakes. The Democrats hate them because Libertarians don't believe that the government's job is to coddle all Americans and make every decision for them and that bigger government doesn't know what is best for the average person. Republicans hate them because the far right whack jobs, oh I mean the religious right, despise the idea of abortion and LGTB lifestyles, but Libertarians have no issue with this because it ties back to personal choice by a responsible individual. The Republicans do tolerate the Libertarians some only because they agree on the smaller government ideas.
I am not a Libertarian, but I see their viewpoint and it really isn't too far off from my personal views and opinions.
@Screw wrote: "The Democrats hate them because Libertarians don't believe that the government's job is to coddle all Americans"
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No, that misses the point.
Single biggest financial crisis in decades happened in 2008 when the banking system collapsed and wiped out $16T out of the US economy and caused untold grief. What's incredibly annoying is Libertarians who just can't acknowledge that government regulation is sometimes necessary and that unfettered capitalism can, and does, fail in catastrophic ways. We didn't have enough government regulation to prevent a bogus, private, mortgage securitizaion chain from developing in the first place. When the party ended in 2008, we had to bail out Wall Street at taxpayer expense.
Instead of looking at the facts, hard-core Randoids *always* blame government lending programs and pretend that we should have let the banks fail. It's just annoying as fuck and doesn't hold up to the least bit of scrutiny.
Anyway, despite all the gerrymandering and despite a good economy, Dems took back the House. Senate would have been a route, too, if more GOP seats had been up for re-election. LOL! All the idiotic fear-mongering about a caravan of rapist and murderers didn't influence enough goofy voters.
To me, the noteworthy part of the ad campaign this year was just how negative the ad campaigns were. I'd go out on a limb to say the ads were just about 100% negative, attack ads, or mug slinging. Just fear, fear, fear. Esp the healthcare ads RE: pre-existing conditions. I would rather have heard about their message of what they are doing to help (positive ads).
The thing I see when I read "pre-existing conditions" is "I need someone else to may for my medical care and prescriptions." Because that's what they mean. The gov't doesn't "take away" health insurance. The insurance companies "take away" my health insurance when "I stop paying the premiums".
" What's incredibly annoying is Libertarians who just can't acknowledge that government regulation is sometimes necessary and that unfettered capitalism can, and does, fail in catastrophic ways. We didn't have enough government regulation to prevent a bogus, private, mortgage securitizaion chain from developing in the first place. When the party ended in 2008, we had to bail out Wall Street at taxpayer expense. "
What if the really fucked up thing is that bailing out the banks with cash, would actually be cheaper in the long run that gov't doing it (executive branch & regulations)? As much as I despise bankers, finance types, etc. (=rent seeking assholes) sometimes I wonder. Or wonder what history will ultimately think?
As far as government intervention and regulation anything the government does takes twice as long and cost three times as much money.......and there are decades of examples to draw from.
@Dominic: "The thing I see when I read "pre-existing conditions" is "I need someone else to may for my medical care and prescriptions."
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Can't follow the sentence or what you're trying to say. Let's suppose you're a cancer survivor and you get laid-off through no fault of your own. In the old days, before Obamacare, you would get 18-months of COBRA, and then you were out on your own. With a history of cancer, insurance companies could deny your coverage. People went bankrupt in that situation. The ads about losing protection against pre-existing conditions were *not* scare tactics. The GOP has done everything possible to sabotage Obamacare and there is no replacement.
I'm certain that bailing out the banks with taxpayer money was the cost effective thing to do. That's the point I was trying to make. Letting the banks fail would have been a catastrophe. Sometimes you just can't let the invisible hand of capitalism take it's course and government intervention is the only way out.
@WarrenBoy: "anything the government does takes twice as long and cost three times as much money"
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I've worked on both government and private contracts and basically agree. But that doesn't mean government regulation is never appropriate. The great recession is a spectacular example, and hard-core Libertarians will always fudge around and deny what actually happened.
COBRA must cost a fortune
What happened in 2008 would take longer than I have today to discuss and a board is no place for it.......but any discussion which does not include the complete hypocrisy and mismanagement of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the subsequent cover up and attempted bluster and BS of Barney Frank, Pelosi, and a few other names I will leave out of the comment for now I submit is the real fudge....( I could take a swipe at Frank about fudge but I'll pass on that for now as well)
Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns and a few others got the headlines and in the end three of those companies paid a heavy price ( two of them are gone) but they were given all of the blame when in fact a good deal of it should have been kept right inside the beltway.
Very very true!
SJG
November 6, 2018
A couple of recounts in Florida?
For my next prediction...
Nina will boast about being top earner at her club.
Fruitcup
Overall I prefer a split power structure. I hate to give too much power to one party ever. Trump never had the unlimited power Obama did when he first took office for a handful of reasons but I still prefer the split party situation we have now......it will be interesting if "Gollum" decides to retire and we have another SC Justice slot open up.