Open Thread – 5 November, 2020

Joe-Biden-Mika

pl

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39 Responses to Open Thread – 5 November, 2020

  1. srw says:

    A fast look at the election.
    One factor that determined the outcome of the election was approval of how the president was doing his job. Trump had never broken the 50 percent threshold for job approval during his time in the White House, according to Gallup.
    As election day dawned, Trump’s average approval rating did not appear to bode well for the president. A smaller percentage of Americans approved of Trump than did Jimmy Carter, who famously lost re-election to Ronald Reagan in 1980.
    Why he and his supporters thought he would win reelection is beyond me. They must have figured he would again selectively pick up enough electoral votes from those “deplorable” states while losing the popular vote big time.
    What ever is said, the American people set a record going back to 1907 on voter participation. Trump voters and Biden voters both came out, and the final outcome I predict will be 306 electoral votes for Biden and more than 3 million for the popular vote.
    Another comment; Americans really must not have liked Trump as while he was losing, the Republican Senators up for reelection did quite well. The American electorate have spoken.

  2. Ed Lindgren says:

    President Trump deserves a lot of credit of not throwing in the towel in the last month of this campaign in the face of very unfavorable (and wildly inaccurate) polling numbers.
    He aggressively hit the campaign trail and kept his base fired up (and brought in a fair number of fence-sitters as well).
    Trump’s effort enabled the Republicans to hold the Senate (probably) and to increase their numbers in the House.
    This will act as a brake on Democratic ambitions for the next two years. No packing of the Court or statehood for DC or PR!
    As for Mr. Biden, this old, sick man is a tragic figure.
    He was manipulated and used by his party (and his wife), and is destined (should he win) for a very short and unhappy tenure as president. Most of his upcoming misery will be inflicted on him by his own party’s ‘Progressive’ Sanders/Warren wing.

  3. Has anyone else seen this or corroborating evidence? This seemed extremely problematic to me
    (Postal workers backdating ballots to be postmarked on Nov 3rd on the 4th)
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/michigan-usps-whistleblower-claims-late-ballots-backdated

  4. Leith says:

    Just picked up a copy of J. E. Smith’s book ‘Liberation of Paris’. It tells the story of how Wehrmacht General der Infanterie Dietrich von Choltitz saved Paris from Hitler’s insane order to burn the city to the ground with help from Ike and DeGaulle. Looks to be a good read. Although French historians discount von Choltitz’s role and give the credit to the resistance.
    So far Smith seems to split the difference. She is a good historian. She also wrote the bio on General Lucius Dupignon Clay of Berlin Airlift fame. But also calls out his role as a key player in the mobilization of American industry in the leadup to and during WW2. Plus his Corps of Engineers work during the great depression building dams and hundreds of airports.
    https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Liberation-of-Paris/Jean-Edward-Smith/9781501164934
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_von_Choltitz
    https://www.thelocal.fr/20140825/nazi-general-didnt-save-paris-expert
    https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lucius-d-clay-jean-edward-smith/1118635148

  5. Deap says:

    The soul of America does not live in a basement in Delaware. The soul of America does not celebrate degenerate, influence-peddling spawn, named Hunter Biden.
    Who is more powerful – Jeff Bezos who runs his global operations with impunity. Or POTUS, who is must run interference 24/7 against the corrupt deep state?
    The aborted Blue Wave midwifed Rosemary’s Baby.

  6. james says:

    any bets on the election outcome?? my thinking is trump is going to demand to remain in power…

  7. BillWade says:

    Saw the last episode of “Queen’s Gambit” last night, great show but now what?

  8. ked says:

    has Trump started planning his 2024 campaign?

  9. Leith says:

    DuBignon. no p in Dubignon. Autocorrect? or old age dyslexia?

  10. turcopolier says:

    Ed Lindgren
    I am particularly grief stricken for him when I see him radiating his impression of Christlike messianic holiness. His wife must be really something. Poor bugger.

  11. vig says:

    Personally I would like to see responses to Phil Weiss’ (selective?) take on the Israeli perception of the US election dilemma in times of Covid:
    https://mondoweiss.net/2020/11/israeli-government-believes-trump-has-set-new-normal-for-us-acceptance-of-israel-expansion-even-if-biden-wins/

  12. semiconscious says:

    BillWade
    i’ll be re-watching ‘the hustler’ & ‘the color of money’, 2 movies based on other novels by walter tevis, the author of ‘the queen’s gambit’…
    Col. Lang
    very big thank you for the recommendation – truly stunning production in every way…

  13. Eliot says:

    James,
    For Trump to win, he had to win a dozen battles, in several states, for Biden, he simply needs to let his allies finish counting.
    Trump certainly has the fire, Romney would have rolled over and died by now, but a Trump win is improbable.
    I do assume some level of organized election fraud is going on. But I also believe the Biden team will get away with it.
    – Eliot

  14. Jose says:

    It’s official, outside Florida & Texas, the U.S. is a banana republic!!!

  15. Fred says:

    srw,
    “Trump had never broken the 50 percent … according to Gallup.” According to others he did just that months ago.
    ” the American people set a record going back to 1907 on voter participation. ”
    A record 5 standard deviation improvement in WI for a guy who couldn’t get 200 people to a rally. Congrats on getting more votes that Obama in 2008! You left out the 11 women newly elected to Congress – all Republicans. You also left out all the ongoing fraud, the changed voting processes (changed immediately before the election) and the unconstitutional re-writing of legislation by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

  16. srw says:

    Asking:
    Do the Secret Service have to protect Trump if he’s in jail?

  17. Bill H says:

    srw
    The same polls that gave Trump a sub-50% approval rating also said Biden would win by 16% and more, and that Democrats would gain powerful control of the Senate.

  18. james says:

    @ pat… i am curious why you called your website Sic Semper Tyrannis? apparently it has a few different meanings according to a friend i spoke with.. thanks..

  19. J says:

    Do you think it might be all the botox Biden has in his face, that would account for his addled brain behavior?

  20. srw says:

    an appropriate song for post election?
    https://youtu.be/wGGW4IezbC4

  21. turcopolier says:

    james
    “Sic Semper Tyrannis,” (thus always to tyrants) is the motto of the state that was Virginia. My wife chose the name. Yes, Booth cried out with that as he limped off the stage in Ford’s theater. That does not bother me at all. Lincoln worship is not one of my faults. He was a ruthless nationalist career politician. He and Biden are equally undeserving of their image as “nice guys. ” … until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” 2nd inaugural address. He, personally signed off on individual death warrants for thousands of civilians in Missouri, people who were accused of disloyalty and supporting the enemy.

  22. BillWade says:

    semiconscious, thanks, will check out both. Did you watch “Ratched” on netflix? Weird but good.

  23. @ turcopolier
    Allegedly said by Lucius Junius Brutus as he led the effort to get rid of the last Roman king and found the republic. No doubt how it got to the USA given that all the Founding Feathers were very knowledgeable about Roman history. (And also, reading the Federalist Papers, knowledgeable about the Corsican Republic. Still, amid the endless Bonapartalia, a bust to Paoli in Ajaccio).

  24. Fred says:

    srw,
    which do you fear most, a live political opponent or a dead martyr?

  25. ked says:

    appears Biden’s size & margin of popular vote will be large enough to claim a mandate… based upon Trump’s criteria for doing same. I wonder about the extent he will issue EOs to work-around McConnell’s Senate. Will his admin go beyond “traditional norms” (as Trump did, a la IGs, etc) in selecting staff of Exec Branch Depts & Agencies? some GOP Senators were saved via Trump’s coattails… in the next off-yr elections will similar GOP Senators be at risk?
    Biden (& all that his election portends) has a shot at saving the Dem Party. that task will be harder than beating Trump. the GOP is hopeless & ready to dissolve. a rational center-right party has a real chance now. whomever gets there first & fields quality non-ideological candidates may have a good long run.

  26. james says:

    thanks pat… i remain largely ignorant of american history…

  27. Deap says:

    Botox addled Pelosi and Harris as well – J. you might be on to something. GOP women are naturally hot; Dems always are in need of “some work”.

  28. AK says:

    ked,
    I always find it hilarious when liberals point to the popular vote difference, which can be entirely accounted for this year by the popular vote difference in one state (Commie-fornia), as somehow evidence of an electoral mandate. Yes, Biden has a mandate in the most insane state in the Union. Congrats.
    This is very typical of you lot. Americans outside of your particular circles are not flesh and blood people, but some sort of miasmatic fodder to ridicule when its necessary to feed your sense of self-superiority when you get up in the morning. I have family in Los Angeles who have viewed the rest of the country in exactly this fashion my whole life. They’ll never understand their own country, make no effort to do so, and will thus be driven just a little crazier with each passing electoral cycle. I pity them.

  29. “He, personally signed off on individual death warrants for thousands of civilians in Missouri, people who were accused of disloyalty and supporting the enemy.”
    Lincoln was a Tyrant. Defined as a sovereign or other ruler who uses power oppressively or unjustly, any person in a position of authority who exercises power oppressively or despotically.
    “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” 2nd inaugural address
    Yes, he got his head blown off at the pinnacle of his pyrrhic victory. Justice.

  30. Johnb says:

    Just heard a short clip from Pres Trump at the White House that I interpreted as a concession, in Trump speak, that Biden has the numbers. Court actions may now become a delaying tactic more so than a deciding factor. If so, whither now, Obama 3 ?

  31. Fred says:

    Johnb,
    You’re welcome to your opinion. I reccomend improving your gaslighting though as the statistical anomolies keep gettng greater along with the physical evidence of illegal votes – such as those from people long dead – keeps piling up. Then there is the systematic suppression of news on twitter of all such reports. Nothing to see here, move along, …..

  32. ked says:

    AK,
    I find it hilarious when people project their ideology on to me. Tell me more about my circles. I too have family in CA (30+ yrs). I’ve lived there on extensive project mgmt. in civil engineering. My son just returned to the South after making a ton of $ in Irvine. I guess that makes me an expert too. please, share w/ us the official, precise definition for a pol claiming a mandate for political purposes, & how only one party has ever done so.

  33. Leith says:

    JohnB –
    Trump will never ever give a concession speech. The only way you will know that he has conceded is when he issues pardons for his arrested or convicted associates.
    This Trump tweet from December 2016 says it all:
    https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/812450976670121985

  34. Johnb says:

    Fred, apart from the gaslighting crack I agree with your general points., the discrepancy between the number of votes for Biden v the Democratic Senate candidates in the deciding States is an even bigger canary in the coal mine. Is it going to make the end result any different ? I found it quite astonishing that all the main media covering the Presidents press conference simply cut him off at the knees. I can’t think of a more significant sign that the power of the Presidency has been lost to President Trump. It also shouts aloud as to the information world we have moved into.

  35. Monk says:

    For EEngineer
    While you are working your way through Drachinifel’s YouTube channel I can highly recommend the two episodes he has posted covering The Battle of Tsushima.
    Part 1 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Mdi_Fh9_Ag
    Part 2 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXpj6nK5ylo
    Very enjoyable, just watch out for torpedo boats.

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