Re: 2024 USA Election: Wishin' and Hopin'
"The recently convicted felon told supporters at his campaign event that in bigger cities, "almost all run by Democrats," Americans can't even "walk across the street to get a loaf of bread. You get shot. You get mugged. You get raped. You get whatever it may be.""
Trump bails on interview when challenged on Michigan 'crime wave' stats: local newspaper (msn.com)
Weird, eh? As for the facts, which state is the most dangerous to live in? From Forbes:
- Property crimes have increased in recent years, while the rate of violent crimes has decreased.
- While murders surged during COVID-19, there was a 6.1% year-over-year decline in murders and non-negligent manslaughter in 2022.
- More than 75% of murders in 2020 were committed with a firearm
- New Mexico, the most dangerous state, has more than six times the rate of violent crime per 1,000 people than New Hampshire, the least dangerous state.
- Southern states account for two of the five most dangerous U.S. states.
- States in New England account for four of the five safest U.S. states."
- States With The Worst Crime Rates – Forbes Advisor
Re: 2024 USA Election: Wishin' and Hopin'
Money, money money. The staggering sums being raised for both the Harris and Trump campaigns begs the question: where does it come from, where does it go?
I have no idea how transparent the Harris campaign is, but with Trump the only connection to transparency is the letter 'T'.
Trump is a master at moving money around, but surely the law must at some point intervene? How about now? For example -
"While campaigns have wide discretion in deciding how to spend their funds, the Federal Election Campaign Act (“FECA”) and Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) regulations do place certain restrictions on the use of campaign funds. In general, campaign funds may be used only for campaign-related expenses, and campaign funds may not be used for the personal use of a candidate or federal officeholder."
Permissible Use of Campaign Funds | Steptoe
Now read on, about 'Red Curve Solutions' and much else
"Following his 2020 election loss, Trump received more than $250 million in donations from supporters to fuel an “election defense fund.” He divided that money between two campaign entities: his 2020 presidential campaign committee, which he subsequently converted into a freestanding PAC called Make America Great Again (MAGA) PAC, and a second entity called Save America PAC, which is a so-called “leadership PAC” (a type of PAC that a federal candidate can establish for the ostensible purpose of supporting other candidates).Beginning in early 2021, Trump began spending funds from these two PACs on his myriad legal proceedings — including personal matters."
Trump’s Use of Campaign Funds to Pay Legal Bills | Brennan Center for Justice
Somebody call the cops!
Trump’s businesses are raking in millions of dollars from Republican political campaigns – including his own | CNN Politics
Trump’s Committees Appear to be Concealing Legal Expense Payments | Campaign Legal Center
Re: 2024 USA Election: Wishin' and Hopin'
The FEC in America is toothless, they can’t do anything to discipline law breakers (Federal Election Commission). Running for office is a great racket, you can take in virtually unlimited sums of cash, and there is a lot of leeway for how it’s spent (for example, paying yourself and friends large salaries, food and travel costs, reimbursing yourself high rental fees for office space, etc).
Re: 2024 USA Election: Wishin' and Hopin'
Stalin, again: 'It's not the votes that count, but who counts the votes'...
"A Christian political operative has teamed up with charismatic preachers to enroll election skeptics as poll workers across the country, using a Donald Trump-aligned swing state tour to enlist support in the effort.Joshua Standifer, who leads the group called Lion of Judah, describes the effort as a “Trojan horse” strategy to get Christians in “key positions of influence in government like Election Workers”, which will help them identify alleged voter fraud and serve as “the first step on the path to victory this Fall”, according to his website.
...“Just imagine: it’s election night. Chaos is happening. The polls are closing – they go and volunteers are getting kicked out,” said Standifer. “But what if we had Christians across America, in swing states like Wisconsin, that were actually the ones counting the votes?”". (My emphasis in bold).
Christian group recruits ‘Trojan horse’ election skeptics as US poll workers | US elections 2024 | The Guardian
Re: 2024 USA Election: Wishin' and Hopin'
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ben
Not a fan of either party
This right here! :iagree:
Re: 2024 USA Election: Wishin' and Hopin'
How to steal an election using the law, or an interpretation of the law. And if you break it, or bend it, dare someone to do something about it.
Texas' Right-Wing Leaders Are Going To ‘Scary’ Lengths To Intimidate Political Rivals (yahoo.com)
Re: 2024 USA Election: Wishin' and Hopin'
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Stavros
That is some scary ass shit.
Re: 2024 USA Election: Wishin' and Hopin'
Ahead of tonight's 'debate' or rather, Q&A with two candidates for President- I expect some or all of these issues to be raised with the candidates.
Will Sharks and Hannibal Lecter be mentioned? Here are some guides-
Donald Trump and Sharks: An Annotated Timeline – Southern Fried Science
Trump's Hannibal Lecter Love Affair: A Complete Timeline (rollingstone.com)
Kamala Harris will no doubt refer to her career as a Prosecutor in California, as discussed here-
Kamala Harris’ Record on Criminal Justice: What to Know | The Marshall Project
Why Harris is talking about her history as a prosecutor : NPR
What 9 cases from Kamala Harris’ past say about her record as a California prosecutor | LAist
Inflation -the record is here
Annual inflation rate U.S. 2023 | Statista
Current US Inflation Rates: 2000-2024 (usinflationcalculator.com)
Economic Growth 1961-2023
GDP growth (annual %) - United States | Data (worldbank.org)
Abortion
Majority in U.S. Disapprove of Supreme Court Abortion Decision Overturning Roe v. Wade | Pew Research Center
interesting article here-
Pregnancy Is Riskier Than Abortion | OpenMind Magazine
Immigration, legal and illegal
Key findings about U.S. immigrants | Pew Research Center
Map the Impact of Immigration: U.S. Economic Data & Numbers [MAP] - New American Economy (americanimmigrationcouncil.org)
(above link is interactive, State by State)
PolitiFact | Trump’s ridiculous claim that “millions” of immigrants came illegally from jails, mental facilities
Afghanistan
The 'Doha Accord' of February 2020, signed by President Trump and the Taliban (but not the Afghan Govt)
"The agreement stipulated fighting restrictions for both the US and the Taliban, and provided for the withdrawal of all NATO forces from Afghanistan in return for the Taliban's counter-terrorism commitments. The US agreed to an initial reduction of its force level from 13,000 to 8,600 within 135 days (i.e. by July 2020), followed by a full withdrawal within 14 months (i.e. by 1 May 2021) if the Taliban kept its commitments. The United States also committed to closing five military bases within 135 days, and expressed its intent to end economic sanctions on the Taliban by August 27, 2020. The agreement was welcomed by Pakistan, China, Russia and India,[4][7][8] and unanimously endorsed by the UN Security Council.[9]".
United States–Taliban deal - Wikipedia
Re: 2024 USA Election: Wishin' and Hopin'
A few takeaways
-Policy - yes neither candidate was strong on policy detail, but too much detail and the point is lost as the mind wanders: in this kind of debate, with time restrictions, policy needs to be an effective soundbite, and Harris won because she was able to distil some of her policies re housing, small business start-up options in a clear way, where all Trump could off was some vague platitude about doing even better than last time.
-I linked issues above, and needless to say Trump talked verifiable rubbish about the rate of inflation and immigration.
- Harris does have the problem that the Democrats have been in the White House since 2021, and there are questions about why they have not done the things Harris says she wants to do, it is a weakness I think, but I don't know the Trump campaign will take control of this in further debates.
- But surely Americans by now are tired of hearing whining on and on about the 2020 election when contrary to what he claimed, neither he nor his supporters in three years have offered a shred of evidence to prove he won it.
-Trump was asked to sum up his campaign and offered nothing, choosing to attack Harris, big fail.
Score: Harris 1, Trump 0
Last thought:
America, keep your dogs safe, your cats closer. You never know what your neighbour wants for lunch...
Re: 2024 USA Election: Wishin' and Hopin'
Not raised
-Education
Not debated properly
-Gun control
Policies Harris could have introduced
-a National ban on child marriage (she could also have asked Trump when he first informed law enforcement that Jeffrey Epstein was having sex with underage girls)
-guarantees of internet freedom, given that Project 2025 wants all pornography banned
No serious discussion of the relationship between the Federal Govt and the States, after all, if policies are going to be 'returned' to the States what is the point of an executive, rather than just a ceremonial Presidency, or Congress? And if policy, for example, on Abortion, is 'returned' to the State, how, if at all, can the Federal Govt get it back?
