2024 Presidential Election Thread - Let's keep the party going.

[royiv 9789]

1 minute ago, quigley said:

Harris is correctly pointing out that Trumps tariffs are indirect taxes which will impact poor people more.

The campaign needs to figure out a way to really dumb down the talking points on tariffs. The average idiot has no grasp on how tariffs work. They just think “China bad, stick it to ‘em with tariffs” and magically none of the costs get passed along to consumers.

[elfenix 34749]

17 hours ago, TexEx15 said:

Honestly what is there left to see? This shouldn’t be close.

"There's just nothing to be done about this hellscape we've inflicted upon the rest of the population except keep making it more hellacious"

--conservatives

[Underdog 29186]

['stache 22133]

3 minutes ago, royiv said:

The campaign needs to figure out a way to really dumb down the talking points on tariffs. The average idiot has no grasp on how tariffs work. They just think “China bad, stick it to ‘em with tariffs” and magically none of the costs get passed along to consumers.

Just tell people to look at tags in their stuff and find out that half their shit is made in china.

[Snake Diggity 4714]

In a “great” America, Trump is not on the ballot.

In a “sane again” America, Harris wins 350+ EV.

In a “recovering” America, Harris wins 319+ EV.

In a “surviving” America, Harris wins 270+ EV.

In a “failing” America, Trump wins 270+ EV.

In a “failed” America, Trump wins 300+ EV.

 

It really sucks that our country is stuck somewhere between surviving and failing.

[The Hot Dog Buffet 1314]

6 minutes ago, royiv said:

The campaign needs to figure out a way to really dumb down the talking points on tariffs. The average idiot has no grasp on how tariffs work. They just think “China bad, stick it to ‘em with tariffs” and magically none of the costs get passed along to consumers.

They should frame them as a proposal to increase prices, because that's what they are. I think it would be awesome if China wants to manufacture vehicles in Mexico and put them on US car lots for $12,000. That actually helps people who are currently struggling with higher prices. Trump has openly stated that he would use tariffs to make those vehicles cost $36,000.

[Sbbruin 22143]

9 minutes ago, royiv said:

The campaign needs to figure out a way to really dumb down the talking points on tariffs. The average idiot has no grasp on how tariffs work. They just think “China bad, stick it to ‘em with tariffs” and magically none of the costs get passed along to consumers.

It baffles me that it can't be simplified for our idiocracy.

[Js1 87182]

33 minutes ago, quigley said:

Do it. No downside.

The Rs want to talk about election integrity. Expose the corrupt officials.

This is what democracy looks like.

High on their own supply.

Yep. RCP, Nate Silver and unskewing CNN polls after they unskewed Fox polls a while Back 

[Gatorubet 30716]

26 minutes ago, royiv said:

The campaign needs to figure out a way to really dumb down the talking points on tariffs. The average idiot has no grasp on how tariffs work. They just think “China bad, stick it to ‘em with tariffs” and magically none of the costs get passed along to consumers.

I think it’s easier to explain that the last time Trump fucked with tariffs we had to spend billions to bail out the farmers he screwed. 

[Gatorubet 30716]

24 minutes ago, Underdog said:

how awesome that she didn’t get shot a bunch of times. 

[Francisco 2.0 32590]

Semi-related.   TL;DR.  State of Michigan has a contest to select a new "I voted" election sticker.  

https://arstechnica.com/culture/2024/09/internet-picks-werewolf-clawing-off-its-own-shirt-as-new-michigan-i-voted-sticker/

 

Quote

You can't just ask the Internet to vote on something and assume you'll get a "normal" result.

The town of Fort Wayne, Indiana, learned this the hard way in 2011, when an online vote to name a new government center in town went with "Harry Baals." Though Mr. Baals was in fact a respected former mayor of the town back in the 1930s, contemporary officials weren't convinced that his name was chosen out of merely historical interest.

 

Quote

Or there was the time in 2015 when the British Columbia Ferry Service asked Internet users to name its newest ships and perhaps win a $500 prize. Contest entries included:

Spirit of The WalletSucker
The Floating Crapsickle
Royal Docksitter
The Coastal Corruption
HMS Cantafford
Queen of the Damned

 

Quote

Or again—and perhaps most famously—there was the UK government's gloriously naive decision in 2016 to let the Internet pick a new name for a £200 million polar research vessel. And 124,109 members of the general public chose... Boaty McBoatface. (This was later overridden by the government, which named the ship the RRS Sir David Attenborough instead, but one of the boat's remotely operated underwater vehicles was named Boaty McBoatface as a consolation prize.)

Even the not-quite-bleeding-edge-of-tech New York Times recognized in its headline on the story that this is "What You Get When You Let the Internet Decide."

 

Spoiler

So, despite many years of cautionary tales, the state of Michigan this year launched a contest to design some new "I Voted" sticker designs. (NB: For our non-American readers, these stickers are often given out when you vote in elections so that you can shame any nonvoting friends, family, and colleagues with your civic virtue.)

The state commissioned designs from local school kids, no doubt anticipating that said designs would feature things like heartwarming drawings of the Michigan mitten. And they let the Internet weigh in on the results.

More than 57,000 people did so—and that's why voters across the state, once they cast a ballot in this year's presidential election, might be handed a round sticker featuring a werewolf ripping its own shirt to shreds as it throws its head back and howls like a maniac in front of an American flag. And it is glorious.

Why not?
This piece of inspired artwork came from the mind and pen of 12-year-old Jane Hynous of Grosse Pointe Farms. Though the contest selected nine winners, Hynous' design beat every other entry by a wide margin. (See all winners here.)

The New York Times called Hynous to talk about the sticker and received this terrific quote:

"I didn't want to do something that usually you think of when you think of Michigan," she said. "I was like, 'Why not make a wolf pulling his shirt off?'"

Why not, indeed? Clearly, the Internet has delivered on this one.

Michigan plans to print a million stickers, which will feature all nine winning designs, and local election clerks will need to order specific designs from the state. (They can also order the original, boring American flag "I Voted" stickers. But why would they?)

So if you live in Michigan, and if this November you want your shirt adorned with an insane werewolf celebrating the vote you just cast, now is the time to let your local clerk know.

Still, despite these great designs, I can't help but feel that an opportunity was lost. No "Votey McVoteface"? Perhaps in 2028.

 

 

 

 

 

And here's the NYT article:

 

Spoiler

Plenty of the submissions in a statewide contest to design Michigan’s next “I Voted” sticker featured cherry blossoms or American flags fluttering in the wind.

Only one entry, however, depicted a werewolf clawing its shirt to tatters and howling at an unseen moon. A smattering of stars and stripes poke out from behind its brawny torso.

“I Voted,” reads a string of red, white and blue block letters floating above the creature’s open maw.

The illustration, which was created by Jane Hynous, a 12-year-old from Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., was revealed on Wednesday as one of nine winning designs that the Michigan Department of State will offer local clerks to distribute to voters in the November election.

The werewolf sticker received more than 20,000 votes in the public contest, beating every other entry by a margin of nearly 2,000 votes, said Cheri Hardmon, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of State. The design gained traction on social media among those who found it fitting for an intense, and at times bewildering, moment in national politics.

“If there is ever a year to have an unhinged werewolf ripping its shirt off as the “I Voted” sticker … it’s 2024,” Derek Dobies, the chief of staff of the Michigan A.F.L.-C.I.O., wrote on X.

Jane, who is in seventh grade, seemed unfazed by her victory when reached by phone after school on Wednesday. She drew the demiclad werewolf in about an hour using a pencil case’s worth of felt-tip pens.

“It kind of just came to me,” she said.

She had not initially been enthusiastic when her social studies teacher told students about the contest. But inspiration struck when another teacher put on a movie during class. She said she nailed the design, which was based partially on a meme of a howling wolf, on her first try.

“I didn’t want to do something that usually you think of when you think of Michigan,” she said. “I was like, ‘Why not make a wolf pulling his shirt off?’”

Amy Hynous, Jane’s mother, added, “It’s a strong symbol, and Jane’s very passionate about art.”

Jane submitted her design in a category for elementary and middle school students, but it received more votes than any entry in the categories for older students and adults. Other winning stickers featured a rainbow trout, a buck wearing sunglasses and a cat in an Uncle Sam hat. One employed some Midwest slang, with the text “Ope, I Voted” over a colorful background.

Michigan’s secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson, said she was “overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and creativity from the people of our great state” in a news release announcing the winners.

The contest was suggested this spring by Michigan’s Collegiate Student Advisory Task Force, a group of 34 students who work with the Department of State to encourage civic engagement among young people.

Zena Aljilehawi, 23, the task force’s chair, said the group was inspired in part by the 2022 contest in Ulster County, N.Y., that yielded a viral urchinlike illustration by Hudson Rowan, 14. In a similar contest this year in Kentucky, a grinning humanoid lizard became a social media favorite, only to lose to a more traditional drawing of a horse.

“The margin, while close, is outside the recanvass threshold and Lizard Man has graciously conceded,” Kentucky’s secretary of state, Michael Adams, wrote on social media.

More than 480 designs were submitted to Michigan’s contest, which opened in May. The task force narrowed the pool to 25 options per age group that were put up to a public vote. The werewolf sticker stood out early in the process, Ms. Aljilehawi said.

“When we saw it, we were like, ‘We have a feeling this is going to be a hit,’” she said.

Several members of the task force thought the creature was the Michigan Dogman, a human-canine hybrid who figures in local legends, Ms. Aljilehawi added. That interpretation is not shared by Jane, the artist, who sees the muscular werewolf as a representation of the strength that each American can exercise by voting.

“It was just a random werewolf; it didn’t have anything to do with Michigan,” Jane said.

The Michigan Department of State ordered a total of one million stickers in the various winning designs, which will be free for the clerks at the city, township and county levels, Ms. Hardmon said. Clerks can also offer more standard “I Voted” stickers.

Christina Younes would much prefer the sticker designed by her 14-year-old daughter, Gabby Warner, which reads “I Voted yay” in simple red text. The letter E is scrawled backward, Gabby said, as a nod to her younger sisters who are still learning how to write.

Ms. Younes has heard that her precinct clerk in Rockford, Mich., has already ordered the winning stickers. Although she was “really surprised” her design was selected, Gabby said she looked forward to accompanying her mother to the polls in November.

“We can’t wait to see someone wearing it on Election Day,” she said.

 

Edited September 6 by Francisco 2.0

[jimmyjazz 47197]

So maybe Dems should petition to have RFK removed from all the ballots his campaign hasn't cherry-picked?

[UTCzech III 2935]

NSIAP

 

[Dutchrudder 11243]

48 minutes ago, royiv said:

The campaign needs to figure out a way to really dumb down the talking points on tariffs. The average idiot has no grasp on how tariffs work. They just think “China bad, stick it to ‘em with tariffs” and magically none of the costs get passed along to consumers.

Taxes on people with unrealized brains?

[Derka 6403]

 

[Huckleberry 34647]

1 hour ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Just get rid of electoral college and this shit wouldn't matter.

Nope, this gambit would pay off in a popular vote scenario as well. Stay on the ballot in populous blue states to siphon votes from Harris and get off the ballot on solid red states. The specific states to sue to come off the ballot would be different but the strategy would still work. This is a separate issue that should be addressed. 

@Js1's campaign to compress the election calendar is a great idea. 

[Js1 87182]

[DixonHur 11959]

2 hours ago, royiv said:

Fuck him. He’s business partners with monsters. I’m sure he could have found another buyer to be partners with that doesn’t have Trump’s stench.

Reall?  Is this where we are now?  You're not allowed to sell your business to people you don't agree with politically?

How's that gonna work with the stock market?

[quigley 1565]

1 hour ago, royiv said:

The campaign needs to figure out a way to really dumb down the talking points on tariffs. The average idiot has no grasp on how tariffs work. They just think “China bad, stick it to ‘em with tariffs” and magically none of the costs get passed along to consumers.

What have we learned from Trump?   SAY IT OVER -- AND OVER -- AND OVER and it will be true.

repeat after me:

"THE TARIFFS ARE TRUMP'S TAXES ON ALL OF US. But he's also going to give tax cuts to his rich billionaire friends TAX CUTS."

Bizzaro Robin Hood

(Bizzaro reference will resonate with GenX males, don't ask me how I know)

[chainsaw 10291]

1 minute ago, DixonHur said:

sell your business

Being co-owner of a franchise where you're very hands-on is kind of like getting in bed with the people, though

[quigley 1565]

23 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

Nope, this gambit would pay off in a popular vote scenario as well. Stay on the ballot in populous blue states to siphon votes from Harris and get off the ballot on solid red states. The specific states to sue to come off the ballot would be different but the strategy would still work. This is a separate issue that should be addressed. 

@Js1's campaign to compress the election calendar is a great idea. 

 

17 minutes ago, Js1 said:

I agree with the sentiment but you're going to have legit First Amendment issues trying to enforce this.

Hard things that are still easier: ditching the electoral college, making DC a state, getting rid of gerrymandering.

[Huckleberry 34647]

In a sane world with current technology and AI we could eliminate gerrymandering tomorrow. But we don't live in a sane world. 

[WhatTheBuck 28929]

Tuned in late to Deadline White House on MSNBC. In addition to Liz Cheney endorsing Colin Allred they’re reporting that she says her dad is voting for Kamala Harris too.

Okay, Dubya, you’re up. 

[quigley 1565]

5 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

In a sane world with current technology and AI we could eliminate gerrymandering tomorrow. But we don't live in a sane world. 

Paradoxically, advances in technology have made gerrymandering far more effective.

[royiv 9789]

14 minutes ago, DixonHur said:

Reall?  Is this where we are now?  You're not allowed to sell your business to people you don't agree with politically?

How's that gonna work with the stock market?

1. He’s partners with these fuckfaces. He didn’t outright sell the team. He made a decision to let these people be his boss. He’s totally cool letting these shitheads be the majority owner of a franchise that he brought back to life. 

2. This isn’t the stock market. It’s a private enterprise. 

[Leeroy Jenkins 2484]

5 hours ago, Gil Bang said:

I don't know about the rest of the country, but out here nurses and firefighters make a shitload of money.  They don't belong in the same mention as teachers.

It isn't that way all over.  There are many paid fire departments that start in the high 40's across the country.  

Edited September 6 by Leeroy Jenkins

[atomheartbevo 90646]

4 hours ago, SquishMitten said:

Gotdamnit that makes my blood boil. The worst part about it, well, not the worst part ... the worst part is him saying we just have to accept it as a part of life ... but the second worst part is that he's so close to saying what a majority of the country would be in favor of re: gun control.

The worst part is that he's saying this, usually behind bulletproof glass, surrounded by Secret Service agents who are willing to risk their life to protect his, and surrounded by people who have been carefully screened for weapons.

[atomheartbevo 90646]

7 hours ago, DigglerontheHoof said:

I'm Missouri on this:  fucking show me.  

He's suing Bexar County this week:

https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2024/09/04/texas-ag-sues-bexar-county-over-plans-to-mail-voter-registration-forms/

And now Travis County:

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/travis-county/paxton-sues-travis-county-over-approved-agenda-item-regarding-voter-registration/

They are scared shitless that a slight bump in voter registration and turnout will put Texas in play, or at the least put down-ballot races in play.

[The Hot Dog Buffet 1314]

29 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

The worst part is that he's saying this, usually behind bulletproof glass, surrounded by Secret Service agents who are willing to risk their life to protect his, and surrounded by people who have been carefully screened for weapons.

And even with all of that (minus the bullet-proof glass) some kid was able to walk right into range of Donald Trump with an AR 15 and get a free shot at him.

[Pancho 46308]

 

[Js1 87182]

Walz doing a Dallas fundraiser on the night of the debate next week. So much interest, it’s likely to be moved from someone’s house to a private event space 

[Macanudo 13324]

4 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Walz doing a Dallas fundraiser on the night of the debate next week. So much interest, it’s likely to be moved from someone’s house to a private event space 

How about the Cotton Bowl.  

[OU Sucks 9390]

SIAP, but everyone needs to be reminded how awkward J.D. Vance is when he pretends to be human:

 

Edited September 6 by OU Sucks

[SimonBolivar 11064]

8 minutes ago, Pancho said:

 

Way too prepared to be President of the US.

[honolulu horn 6227]

5 hours ago, SquishMitten said:

Make it impossible for "psychos" to get guns! Have far stricter requirements for who can get a gun. Make sure people that develop mental illnesses have their guns taken away until they are mentally stable again. Invest in mental health to prevent people from going down that path, and help them get out of it when they do.

Essentially this, which will all get behind:

Why should we have to harden schools? The problem isn't with the schools, it's with the shooters and the ease with which they can access massively lethal weapons. 

[tx ind 7057]

13 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

Way too prepared to be President of the US.

If that's how she prepares and operates on a daily basis she's gonna fuck dotard up next week.

[Macanudo 13324]

20 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

Way too prepared to be President of the US.

I know.  What kind of President pays attention at a briefing and, uh, really knows stuff?

[Gil Bang 26239]

1 hour ago, Leeroy Jenkins said:

It isn't that way all over.  There are many paid fire departments that start in the high 40's across the country.  

Fair enough.  
 

I've sold homes to a half-dozen firefighters, including one that works in Las Vegas and commutes to San Diego County.  I'm not kidding.  His wife and kids hated the heat, so now he drives up, works six days in a row, comes home for 10 days or so, rinse and repeat. 

These guys have one thing in common...they max out on overtime.  there's a "code" among these guys.  You MUST take every available sick day, because when you're out sick, somebody is collecting time-and-a-half to cover your shift.  Most of these guys make nearly as much in OT as they make in base salary.  It's a fucking racket. 

[Gil Bang 26239]

1 hour ago, Leeroy Jenkins said:

It isn't that way all over.  There are many paid fire departments that start in the high 40's across the country.  

And then there's the unpaid

 

[Js1 87182]

 

[atomheartbevo 90646]

16 minutes ago, tx ind said:

If that's how she prepares and operates on a daily basis she's gonna fuck dotard up next week.

And he’s really been rambling off-topic in recent weeks.

[jimmyjazz 47197]

I don't understand the backlash over Vance's "just whatever makes sense" comment.  I mean, that is EXACTLY what I said to my wife back when we were dating and she asked how I might like to spice up our love life.

[atomheartbevo 90646]

1 minute ago, jimmyjazz said:

I don't understand the backlash over Vance's "just whatever makes sense" comment.  I mean, that is EXACTLY what I said to my wife back when we were dating and she asked how I might like to spice up our love life.

When you entered your human girlfriend, did you have any inputs that the humans call “ feelings”?

[Js1 87182]

43 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

Way too prepared to be President of the US.

I imagine working for Biden is like, shooting the shit, laugh at crazy uncle Joe’s story about corn pop over ice cream, etc. BS your way through some report or chart by making him laugh or distracting him, but it’s fine, he has competent advisors who will read my report 

Kamala? Oh shit, now we gotta WORK. And be prepared. And say it to her face 

Edited September 6 by Js1

[Pancho 46308]

 

[Longhorn_Fan68 34106]

the fix is in!

[atomheartbevo 90646]

 

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/06/politics/dick-cheney-kamala-harris-president/index.html

Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Friday that he will vote for Democrat Kamala Harris over fellow Republican Donald Trump in the November election, warning that the former president “can never be trusted with power again.”

“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” Cheney said in a statement. “He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again.”

“As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris,” he concluded.

Cheney’s daughter, former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, first revealed earlier in the day that her father would be voting for the Democratic ticket during remarks at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, Texas. The former Republican congresswoman said Wednesday that she would be voting for Harris, citing “the danger that Donald Trump poses.”

—-

Dick Cheney’s support for Harris represents a stunning move for the staunch conservative who was vice president to George W. Bush and a longtime congressman from Wyoming who held several leadership roles in the House Republican Caucus.

The former vice president was critical of his party and Trump in the wake of the January 6 attack. In campaign ads for his daughter’s 2022 reelection effort, he called Trump a “threat to our republic” and a “coward.”

“He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him,” Dick Cheney said of the former president in the ad.

His daughter’s outspokenness against Trump and the former president’s efforts to ov

[Pancho 46308]

[G650 14437]

Dick Cheney voting for a Democrat is not something I ever thought I would see in my life.

[Brisketexan 106897]

25 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I don't understand the backlash over Vance's "just whatever makes sense" comment.  I mean, that is EXACTLY what I said to my wife back when we were dating and she asked how I might like to spice up our love life.

And....that's why you still sit a bit funny.