Thought for the Day

[filghy2]

Meanwhile in the right-wing media echo chamber, it's all the fault of the mainstream media and Trump is the real victim. https://www.politico.com/story/2018/...b-scare-940825

It's significant that whenever a Muslim kills or tries to kill others it's readily described as an act of terrorism, but whenever a right-wing extremist does the same he's just a deranged individual. There's a real reluctance to call political terrorism for what it is. https://www.vox.com/2018/10/28/18032...yn-kelly-fired

[broncofan]

It's significant that whenever a Muslim kills or tries to kill others it's readily described as an act of terrorism, but whenever a right-wing extremist does the same he's just a deranged individual. There's a real reluctance to call political terrorism for what it is. https://www.vox.com/2018/10/28/18032...yn-kelly-fired

The media has to figure out what it seeks to gain by using the term. If it is just a term to describe whether someone is part of an organized effort to use violence to further a political message, then white supremacists qualify. If it's enough to say someone is part of Al Qaeda because they are "radicalized" by reading online material and getting logistical support then it is enough to say this person received the same from neo-nazis and is a domestic terrorist. Any responsible law enforcement agency would use every legal means to monitor the groups in which this man moved.

[dns4809]

Trump tweets says this
“The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly,” he tweeted. “Fake News Must End!”
But should say this
“The Fox News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly,” he tweeted. “Fox News Must End!”

[broncofan]

Nbc just projected that the Democrats have taken the house. Nate Silver's model still has them only at an 88% chance of winning but it's been oscillating all over the place. The Republicans ran some of the most despicable people for Congress I've ever seen and were pretty vocal about trying to discourage segments of our population from voting.

In the short-term winning the House means subpoena power for the House investigation and that the Republicans will not be able to take health care away from people for at least two more years. More to come...

[filghy2]

I'm wary of early calls after the 2000 election, but it looks like the outcome will be as expected. I feel more relieved than elated. It's disappointing that there hasn't been a more decisive rejection of Trump.

Why are there such long queues at US elections? In Australia I've never had to wait more than a few minutes to vote.

[filghy2]

I see NYT is predicting an 8% popular vote margin to the Democrats. In a normal democracy that would be a landslide victory and a decisive rejection of Trump.

[broncofan]

I'm wary of early calls after the 2000 election, but it looks like the outcome will be as expected. I feel more relieved than elated. It's disappointing that there hasn't been a more decisive rejection of Trump.

Why are there such long queues at US elections? In Australia I've never had to wait more than a few minutes to vote.

My polling place was in an urban area and I didn't have a long wait but some polling places reported extremely long waits. Republicans have an incentive to make the process tougher as we know. Trump even tweeted that law enforcement would be watching for illegal voters which was a transparent attempt at intimidation.

It is disappointing that it's not a bigger blue wave like we expected but honestly I'm happy with the win in the House.

I'm curious if anyone knows about the repeal of the felon disenfranchisement law in Florida. It sounds like it's not only a just thing but also something that could have a big impact in future elections.

As for the 8% margin, I saw a chart earlier in the night that compared it to other large swing years. In a country that's pretty evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, that is a statement. But still, as you indicate, one would expect more given what we're dealing with here.

[buttslinger]

She's baa-a-a-ack!!

A few heartaches, but Americans who haven't lost their mind now have enough to define the next two years and maybe, maybe set up a real defining moment in 2020. I can dream, can't I?

It's a damn shame about the Senate, I admit I was hoping for a miracle.


Will Trump start firing people tomorrow? DE-FENCE! DE-FENCE!
this next two years is gonna be thick, man. I worked on my Movie Library this week so as not to jinx the election, it was relaxing.....

[filghy2]

It's looking like Trump in the next two years is going to be even more unhinged than he was in the last two.
- With an increased Senate majority and fewer moderate Republicans in Congress he has less need to worry about keeping them on side.
- He seems to have convinced himself that his mid-term strategy of ramping up anti-immigrant rhetoric worked.
- His normal response to feeling threatened is to go on the attack and double down on playing to his support base.

It's true that some past presidents have come back from even worse mid-term setbacks to win a second term (eg Clinton, Obama), but it seems less likely Trump can repeat that.
- In those cases the president came into office after a recession and was helped by an improving economy. With unemployment now at 3.7%, there is more chance that the economy will get worse over the next two years rather than improve.
- The Trump/Republican strategy relies on appealing to a fairly narrow support base, notably older and less-educated whites. Even with electoral manipulation this does not look like a winning long-term strategy. Doubling down on appealing to this base is likely to alienate further the people who moved away from the Republicans in the mid-terms, particularly suburbanites.

Of course many things can happen in two years, and it is possible that developments could play into Trump's hands by stoking peoples' fears. Democrats will also need to play it smart by focusing on the most important things and not continually responding to Trump's baiting.

[Stavros]

Why does the President of the United States never miss an opportunity to insult and abuse Americans, particuarly veterans with years of service to their country?

Because he is a despicable Traitor.
In 2016 the US was attacked by the Russian Federation which targeted the American running for the Presidency as the Democrat Party's nominee -Hillary Rodham Clinton. When the Republican candidate and his team discovered the Russians were attacking the USA they had a legal and a moral obligation to defend the USA from external attack but publicly joined the attack on the USA even begging the Russians to help them attack America. He is a Traitor and is going to gaol.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...40462848098304
https://twitter.com/brianstelter/sta...418437/photo/1
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.5c57c9684d9e

And when California is ravaged by forest fires, people dead, their homes destroyed why is the natural reaction of one Head of State -the President of the USA- zero empathy, abuse, and threats to cut Federal funding in the State concerned, when the natural reaction of the Head of State in the UK was to consider the victims and first responders?

There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 10, 2018

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/11/p...ets/index.html

Prince Philip and I offer our deepest sympathies to the people of California, who continue to suffer from the devastating fires across the state.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of the victims, and to all those who have lost their homes and livelihoods. I pay tribute to the courage and dedication of the US emergency services and the volunteers that have provided support.

- Elizabeth R