BS: American Presidential race 2024

Subject: RE: BS: American Presidential race 2024
From: The Sandman
Date: 30 Oct 24 - 04:53 AM

Texas is 1 33 on, to go to republicans,

Subject: RE: BS: American Presidential race 2024
From: gillymor
Date: 30 Oct 24 - 08:21 AM

Shocking!

Subject: RE: BS: American Presidential race 2024
From: The Sandman
Date: 30 Oct 24 - 01:32 PM

good luck, Stilly hope it goes well for you

Subject: RE: BS: American Presidential race 2024
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Oct 24 - 03:00 PM

Here's something Kamala can add to her to-do list: Putting in Inspectors General in the Supreme Court and the Judiciary. This interesting interview is with former Inspector General Glenn A. Fine.

Those of you old enough to remember Watergate may remember that there were a lot of changes made to strengthen government agencies, and one was to put Inspectors General in each of the agencies. (Trump was dismantling that in his one-and-only-term, including firing Mr. Fine from his job as the acting-Inspector General in the Department of Defense. Four other IGs were also removed by Trump in his last year.) From the interview:

Glenn A. Fine [00:31:08] So inspectors general are supposed to be nonpartisan. They’re selected for their nonpartisan qualifications. That’s why typically when administrations change, the inspector general remains at large. Agencies are nominated by the president, confirmed by the Senate. But when the administration changed, it’s the IG who remains. Even though they’ve been appointed by the president. That is why, for example, I remained under President Clinton’s administration, President Bush’s administration, President Obama’s administration and the Justice Department. And also, when I was in defense in President Obama’s administration for President Trump’s administration. But that is a norm. It’s not by statute. The president does have the right to remove an inspector general. Up until President Trump, that had not happened to any significant extent. President Trump did remove five inspectors general. I was one of them in the last year of his administration, which sent a chill down among other inspectors general as well. So I make recommendations to help improve, protect and extend the role of inspectors general in the book, including giving them a term of office. If the FBI director has a term of office ten years, if the head of the Government Accountability Office has a term of office 15 years. I think inspectors general also ought to have a term of office. So I think it’s important to support inspectors general to give them adequate resources. But also, by the way, to make sure that we have a good answer to the question of who’s watching the watchdog. Inspectors general also need oversight as well. And I make recommendations about that in the book as well.

Subject: RE: BS: American Presidential race 2024
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Oct 24 - 03:40 PM

And here's a new group that should scare the bejesus out everyone: From the New York Times (I think I shared this as a gift so it should open) The Group at the Center of Trump’s Planning for a Second Term Is One You Haven’t Heard of
America First Policy Institute didn’t even exist four years ago. But it is poised to be more influential than Project 2025.

Late this summer, a prominent right-wing think tank invited conservatives from around the country to learn how to work in a second Donald J. Trump administration.

In a series of training sessions in Washington, former Trump officials shared strategies with attendees for combating leftist civil servants in the federal government and dealing with the mainstream media. Participants were sent home with a thick binder of materials for further study. One section’s title: “Tales From the Swamp: How Federal Bureaucrats Resisted President Trump.”

The classes could easily have been the work of Project 2025, the conservative policy blueprint and personnel project that was created by loyalists to Mr. Trump and that has been turned into a political cudgel by Democrats seeking to link its most radical prescriptions to the former president.

But the meetings had nothing to do with that enterprise or its principal backer, the Heritage Foundation. Instead, they were the work of the America First Policy Institute, a right-wing think tank that has, with little fanfare or scrutiny, installed itself as the Trump campaign’s primary partner in making concrete plans to wield power again.

Founded by three wealthy Texans in late 2020, the group, known as A.F.P.I., has quickly inserted itself into nearly every corner of Mr. Trump’s political machine, and is closer than any other outside player in his planning for a second term.

Mr. Trump chose one of its leaders, Linda McMahon, a former member of Mr. Trump’s cabinet and a longtime friend, as co-chair of his official transition team. Brooke Rollins, who also worked in the Trump administration and is currently the nonprofit’s chief executive, has been discussed as a candidate to be Mr. Trump’s chief of staff. The institute’s ranks are stocked with other former Trump administration officials who have spent the past several years planning for a return, and in recent weeks several have quietly moved over to work full time for the campaign’s transition team.

They've looked at how government worked in spite of Trump. And this group is learning from what it sees as the (conservative) Heritage Foundations "mistakes":

The Agenda
The institute’s policy book, titled “The America First Agenda,” is slimmer than the much-debated plans espoused in Project 2025’s 900-page “Mandate for Leadership.” Absent are attention-grabbing proposals such as banning pornography, prohibiting the mailing of abortion pills or ending the Justice Department’s status as an independent agency.

But its vision is no less Trumpist: It calls for halting federal funding for Planned Parenthood and for mandatory ultrasounds before abortions, including those carried out with medication. It seeks to make concealed weapons permits reciprocal in all 50 states, increase petroleum production, remove the United States from the Paris Agreement, impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients and establish legally only two genders.

It also goes significantly further than Project 2025 in one key area, calling for the elimination of nearly all civil service protections for federal workers by making them at-will employees — a strategy supporters believe will allow Mr. Trump and his aides to root out career staff members who they believe stood in his way in his first administration.

“Agencies should be free to remove employees for any nondiscriminatory reason, with no external appeals,” the institute’s policy book states.

Subject: RE: BS: American Presidential race 2024
From: Thompson
Date: 31 Oct 24 - 04:35 AM

I can't understand why Harris hasn't been focusing on the economy all along - but then… rich folks, never missed a meal…
Rather than rushing to say "me too" when Trump says he'll make tips tax-free, she should (sez I in my humble simplicity) have said "We'll make the humiliating necessity of grovelling for tips a thing of the past - we'll make waiting on tables properly paid so no one has need of tips".
And if she has a real focus on the economy, she could talk about the cost of running a car - and paying the enormous proportion of your wages that this costs. (That US government link shows the average cost per 15,000 miles as around $12,500.)
She could talk about how much Americans pay for health care (again, nearly $12,000 per year on average). She could talk about how badly Americans are served by this, with average life expectancy dropping in the US - a lot of this recent dramatic drop to be blamed on the Trump administration's disastrous response to the Covid pandemic and the drugs crisis.
She could talk about rising food prices - and how this is hitting poorer people disproportionally, because processed foods are rising in price far faster than good food cooked from scratch at home (cooking-from-scratch is easier for people who don't have to hold down two or three jobs to keep their household).
She could talk about wages for new jobs declining, and how the American culture of secrecy about salaries is partly to blame for this - in most countries, your salary is not a secret, and this makes it easier to see when you need a raise or a different job.
Just a start…

Subject: RE: BS: American Presidential race 2024
From: Donuel
Date: 31 Oct 24 - 10:02 AM

The economy is in tip-top shape. Even Faux News admits the new president will inherit an extraordinary economy. Trump doesn't have a global financial collapse like Hitler. Trump can selectively punish any disloyal or Trump-critical corporation by using tariffs forcing them to raise prices while rewarding loyal companies with a waiver.
You may already see some organizations and companies run for cover like Bezos, Jamie Diamon, Soros...

To jump ahead a year into the future I see an octogenarian Trump plead out rather than bleed out in prison.

Subject: RE: BS: American Presidential race 2024
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Oct 24 - 10:06 AM

Again, as has probably been pointed out before, this is an extremely compressed campaign for Harris, without the luxury of a long windup to the main event. And to state the obvious, while she has talked a great deal about the economy and food prices and women's health and adequate housing for those people who need that information, mostly what we see here is the need that we all understand that Trump would change our way of life and destroy our system of government. The top priority is for people to understand how Trump will mangle the lives of anyone who isn't in the 1%.

Subject: RE: BS: American Presidential race 2024
From: Donuel
Date: 31 Oct 24 - 10:20 AM

You have to be obvious. Many people do not even see the subtext.
Finally, Democrats are using emotion over policy geekiness.
The Trump Hitler connection is late to be mainstreamed but at least even cowards admit it now.
Harris is short of given time to campaign but no matter,
sometimes time can shortchange you but sometimes it can also hide the pimples.

Subject: RE: BS: American Presidential race 2024
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 31 Oct 24 - 12:55 PM

I see that your time away has not made you any less cryptic, Don. :-(

Subject: RE: BS: American Presidential race 2024
From: Donuel
Date: 31 Oct 24 - 01:32 PM

Today Trump campaigned from a garbage truck. He needed two tries to get to his passenger seat and grumbled something about Joe.

Donald still really wants to run against Joe since Kamala represents youth, democracy and women, all things he is not and never will be.

Trump is about bigotry, fear, division, and tyranny, all breaded and fried in hate seed oil. His recipe sometimes substitutes rape seed oil.

Subject: RE: BS: American Presidential race 2024
From: Donuel
Date: 31 Oct 24 - 01:49 PM

Regarding polls, it is obvious to me Trump supporters contacted by phone are excited and willing to spew their opinion.

For those who are progressive or simply support our constitution, will not want to be bothered or risk ending up on an enemies list.

Ergo polls are skewed to the right with error.

Subject: RE: BS: American Presidential race 2024
From: Helen
Date: 31 Oct 24 - 01:54 PM

Welcome back, Donuel.

You said, "Kamala represents youth, democracy and women, all things he is not and never will be" but you forgot to add joy to your list.

Subject: RE: BS: American Presidential race 2024
From: Donuel
Date: 31 Oct 24 - 02:27 PM

Joy is an election tactic just like Trump uses hate as a tactic.

All joy and no depression is a fiction I have never seen except in sitcoms. I seriously doubt Kamala is always that happy.

We have treatment for people who are    'more than happy' .

Subject: RE: BS: American Presidential race 2024
From: Helen
Date: 31 Oct 24 - 03:19 PM

Oh come on, Donuel. Her lovely smile is an antidote to Trump's doom and gloom and hate. It makes a nice change. LOL

Subject: RE: BS: American Presidential race 2024
From: Helen
Date: 31 Oct 24 - 11:18 PM

In Australia, our previous Prime Minister and his deputy have been key candidates for the Doom-&-Gloom Naysayers Society. Unfortunately, the deputy of that party is now the leader of the opposition and he spends all his time in Parliament being sour, negative and insulting and making no useful contributions to the parliamentary debate, in my opinion, and in many instances blocking some proposals which could have helped our country and our people. He seems to think that as he is the leader of the opposition he has to *oppose* everything proposed by the party in power.

I suspect that BoJo in the UK was just as bad and useless, and I know Trump belongs to that society as well.

As an antidote to the current attitudes of some politicians and people in power I would much rather see a smiling face, and hear positive statements and propositions, projecting positive future outcomes rather than dwelling on the negative all the time.