Local/State Elections

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Mori Chu
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Local/State Elections

Post by Mori Chu »

I just thought I'd make a thread to talk about various elections happening in various cities and states. For example, the Virginia governor's race is in progress, with in-person voting happening this Tuesday. Virginia is a purplish state that has gone blue the past few elections. The Democrat, Terry McAuliffe, was leading in most polls until recently when his numbers have dropped. WaPo has him neck-and-neck with the Republican candidate, Glenn Youngkin, while Fox News has a poll with Youngkin at +8.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va ... race-poll/
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/youngk ... nia-voters

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Re: Local/State Elections

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Well, Youngkin (R) won the VA Governor's election. Dems in bad shape. Sure looks like the GOP is poised to retake the House and/or Senate in 2022. Biden and the Dems better hurry up this year and pass whatever agenda they want to pass, because they probably won't be in power again for a while.

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Re: Local/State Elections

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Dems seem to have won the Governor's race in NJ, though that was widely expected and the race was arguably closer than it "should" have been.

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Re: Local/State Elections

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Mori Chu wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:58 am
Well, Youngkin (R) won the VA Governor's election. Dems in bad shape. Sure looks like the GOP is poised to retake the House and/or Senate in 2022. Biden and the Dems better hurry up this year and pass whatever agenda they want to pass, because they probably won't be in power again for a while.
2022 and likely 2024 are going to be terrible years for the Democrats. They had the chance to save the US and mucked it up through sheer incompetence. The kind of infighting I'm seeing reminds me of the last years of the Weimar Republic.

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Re: Local/State Elections

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virtual9mm wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 10:53 am
Mori Chu wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:58 am
Well, Youngkin (R) won the VA Governor's election. Dems in bad shape. Sure looks like the GOP is poised to retake the House and/or Senate in 2022. Biden and the Dems better hurry up this year and pass whatever agenda they want to pass, because they probably won't be in power again for a while.
2022 and likely 2024 are going to be terrible years for the Democrats. They had the chance to save the US and mucked it up through sheer incompetence. The kind of infighting I'm seeing reminds me of the last years of the Weimar Republic.
It is going to have far more impact than the next few years, and it will greatly impact anyone that makes less than 150k/year, or relies on any prescription drugs, or ends up having a medical event, or isn't white and wants to vote, or thinks corporations shouldn't be buying legislation, or isn't straight, or ...

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Re: Local/State Elections

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The Biden administration didn’t start out so great. A new Covid variant ruined his Covid recovery. The Afghanistan withdrawal didn’t go great. All these worker shortages have mucked up our recovery. Biden’s vaccine mandate has been met with a lot of resistance. Republicans have capitalized on this and have made him into a helpless Alzheimer’s patient pooping his pants.

On the positive side. The stock market continues to ride the wave. I think Covid is slowing down thanks to vaccines. The worker shortage around the planet will be resolved before too long. Biden has been restoring relations with our allies as much as possible. We are out of Afghanistan now and no longer at war. The near future looks brighter.

My cynical side says Manchin and Sinema have acted like Republicans to the point I almost wonder if they were bought off. If those two were on board things would be a lot different. They don’t even seem like they know what they are against.

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Re: Local/State Elections

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Nodack wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 11:37 am
The Biden administration didn’t start out so great.
That is like saying that the 2017-18 Suns season didn't start out so great. You are being awfully kind or woefully optimistic.
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Re: Local/State Elections

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Nodack wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 11:37 am
The Biden administration didn’t start out so great. A new Covid variant ruined his Covid recovery. The Afghanistan withdrawal didn’t go great. All these worker shortages have mucked up our recovery. Biden’s vaccine mandate has been met with a lot of resistance. Republicans have capitalized on this and have made him into a helpless Alzheimer’s patient pooping his pants.

On the positive side. The stock market continues to ride the wave. I think Covid is slowing down thanks to vaccines. The worker shortage around the planet will be resolved before too long. Biden has been restoring relations with our allies as much as possible. We are out of Afghanistan now and no longer at war. The near future looks brighter.

My cynical side says Manchin and Sinema have acted like Republicans to the point I almost wonder if they were bought off. If those two were on board things would be a lot different. They don’t even seem like they know what they are against.
It is widely documented that they both have been bought off. For example, Manchin and his family make millions off of a coal business. And his sister was the CEO that raised the price of Epi Pens like 4000% and made millions in a CEO bonus as a result. Sinema continues to have 50k/plate fund raisers and received more money from the pharma industry than any one else in Congress ahead of her deciding to be against the majority of the bill around controlling prescription drug prices.

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Re: Local/State Elections

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It's hard to keep a functioning democracy when one of the two major political parties has become seditious and authoritarian. I am starting to think that the USA is doomed. I don't know if I could convince my wife to move out of the country, nor sure that we could find good jobs elsewhere or where we'd even go, but I think the time to get out is now before things get really bad.

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Re: Local/State Elections

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Mori Chu wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:58 am
Well, Youngkin (R) won the VA Governor's election. Dems in bad shape. Sure looks like the GOP is poised to retake the House and/or Senate in 2022. Biden and the Dems better hurry up this year and pass whatever agenda they want to pass, because they probably won't be in power again for a while.
Don't forget that the Rep candidates won the Lieutenant Governor and AG, along with eliminating a Dem controlled congress in Virginia too.
"When we all think alike, nobody is thinking" - Walter Lippmann
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them." ~ Frederick Douglass

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Re: Local/State Elections

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Honestly, this might be the best story of the night, imo. The Establishment must HATE this.

NEW JERSEY
Truck Driver Leads NJ Senate President After Spending $153 on Campaign
A victory by Republican Edward Durr, a South Jersey commercial trucker, over long-serving Senate President Stephen Sweeney would throw leadership of the New Jersey Legislature into uncertainty

By Rudy Chinchilla and Brian X. McCrone • Published November 3, 2021 • Updated 1 hour ago
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/lo ... n/3030225/

New Jersey’s longest-running state senate president seems set to lose his seat his seat to a truck driver who spent only $153 on Dunkin and paper fliers over the course of his campaign.

Democratic Senate President Steve Sweeney trailed Republican challenger Edward Durr, a commercial truck driver, by more than 2,000 votes as of Wednesday afternoon, with more than 99% of precincts reporting. The Associated Press has not yet called a winner.

Spoiler: show/hide
"When we all think alike, nobody is thinking" - Walter Lippmann
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them." ~ Frederick Douglass

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Re: Local/State Elections

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Mori Chu wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 1:23 pm
It's hard to keep a functioning democracy when one of the two major political parties has become seditious and authoritarian. I am starting to think that the USA is doomed. I don't know if I could convince my wife to move out of the country, nor sure that we could find good jobs elsewhere or where we'd even go, but I think the time to get out is now before things get really bad.
This is my reasoning for staying here in HK even despite the very real problems we have. At least our physical safety isn't in question as long as we don't say anything too political in too public of a way. And we don't ever really worry about random violence, knock on wood.

IIRC you are in CS, right? Getting a job overseas with your resume shouldn't be hard, feel free to PM me.

You have until 2024, though, still a couple of years.

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Re: Local/State Elections

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In2ition wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 12:48 pm
Nodack wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 11:37 am
The Biden administration didn’t start out so great.
That is like saying that the 2017-18 Suns season didn't start out so great. You are being awfully kind or woefully optimistic.
Or not a Republican. Biden was going to be labelled the worst President ever by Republicans no matter what he did or didn’t do. Of course everything is amplified as far as they can take it in their circles. I see what I see.

Issues?

Afghanistan- Trump bragged about starting the withdrawal from Afghanistan and especially bragged about no one being able to stop it. He negotiated the withdrawal with the Taliban. He didn’t withdraw before leaving office. He left the actual withdrawal to Biden. Now he says Biden surrendered to the Taliban. Biden did withdraw. Biden asked his Generals how long the Afghanistan army would be able to hold out against the Taliban and they told him their best guess was two years. The Afghanistan army was gone in two weeks because they deserted their posts. Biden gets the blame but, I don’t hold that against him even though I know Republicans did. They blamed him for leaving the hardware behind. He left the Afghanistan army locked and loaded and they deserted their posts and the Taliban took that hardware. Are they suggesting Biden should have dismantled the Afghanistan army that we spent years training and equipping for the sole purpose of defending themselves against the Taliban? That argument really pisses me off. Biden extended the withdrawal date a couple of days to get as many out as possible and it became the biggest air lift in US history. The situation on the ground at the airport because too dangerous to stick around with the suicide bombings taking off. Several flights did take off long after we pulled out of Kabul. Many more people could have gotten out earlier but from what I read and saw the Trump administration was blocking Visas for Afghans who helped Americans as interpreters etc. Apparently Trump didn’t want those terrorists in America. Could Biden have handled the withdrawal better? Maybe. Was he grossly incompetent as Republicans labeled the withdrawal? That depends on if you are a Republican or not. I give him a C. I’m sure every Republican gave him an F-.

Republicans are saying the resurgence of a Covid variant Delta was Bidens fault. I don’t see that reasoning. From what I have read, the longer this thing goes on, the better the odds of more variants. People refusing to take precautions and refusing to get vaccinated are helping to prolong this thing. Biden forcing people to get vaccinated gets a thumbs up by me. Because Republicans keep peddling their BS conspiracy theories about bioluminescent chips in the vaccine tracking us etc. people are scared to get the vaccine. They are not helping to stop this thing and instead are prolonging it and blaming Biden.
I give him an A+ for making the shot mandatory. I’m sure Republicans give him an F-. Some say it’s illegal to force a vaccine on the public. Every child that goes to school for the past many decades have been required to get several shots in order to be allowed in school. The Polio shot was mandated to all Americans. Every US soldier gets mandatory shots long before Covid.

The supply chain problems.

Do you really blame Biden for that? Is not the entire world suffering the same problems with that right now? That is causing inflation and all kinds of problems like me not having my car for two months now. Should I write a letter to Biden blaming him because LG hasn’t been making batteries since Covid? They just started up in October.

He can’t get his signature plan passed because all of the Republicans are going to vote against everything of course and the slim majority the Dems had has been thwarted by two Dems who appear to be on the take. That’s not Biden’s fault. Maybe he should bribe them better than the other side.

What are the other grossly incompetent things you speak of inf? I give Biden a C. You give him an F- I’m sure. We will have to agree to disagree. I think Biden has been dealt a pretty crappy hand and has played it ok. He may be a little senile but he isn’t totally evil like Trump is. I am pretty sure America is on the brink of not being America anymore and I fear the US is done if Trump gets re-elected. He almost succeeded in his coup attempt. Republicans have shored up those loopholes that stopped him and are ready for round two.

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Re: Local/State Elections

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The thing about Biden's presidency is, he has an apparent majority in the House and the Senate, so in theory he and the Dems should be able to get a bunch of things done. But in practice, two of the Dem senators are actually quite conservative and won't go along with most of the legislation the other Dems want to pass. So it's the worst of both worlds: the expectation that they should make strides and the disappointment when they don't.

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Re: Local/State Elections

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The truck driver who spent $150 or whatever and won a NJ state senate seat did an interview where he admitted that he has no idea how to do the job he's been elected to do. Well, okay.


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Re: Local/State Elections

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Mori Chu wrote:
Thu Nov 04, 2021 1:18 pm
The truck driver who spent $150 or whatever and won a NJ state senate seat did an interview where he admitted that he has no idea how to do the job he's been elected to do. Well, okay.
Is anyone actually surprised? I was talking to a coworker about this just yesterday, and we commented that you know he's not going to have any idea how to do the job. It's only wishful thinking that you hope he's not taken advantage of, but it seems almost inevitable that he will just become a tool to someone.
Last edited by In2ition on Thu Nov 04, 2021 2:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Local/State Elections

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In2ition wrote:
Thu Nov 04, 2021 1:29 pm
Mori Chu wrote:
Thu Nov 04, 2021 1:18 pm
The truck driver who spent $150 or whatever and won a NJ state senate seat did an interview where he admitted that he has no idea how to do the job he's been elected to do. Well, okay.
Is any actually surprised? I was talking to a coworker about this just yesterday, and we commented that you know he's not going to have any idea how to do the job. It's only wishful thinking that you hope he's not taken advantage of, but it seems almost inevitable that he will just become a tool to someone.
Yep. But I'm sure he'll get a lot out of it as well just as Sinema has improved her net worth significantly since being in office. He's driven his last truck, I'm sure.
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Re: Local/State Elections

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Superbone wrote:
Thu Nov 04, 2021 1:45 pm
In2ition wrote:
Thu Nov 04, 2021 1:29 pm
Mori Chu wrote:
Thu Nov 04, 2021 1:18 pm
The truck driver who spent $150 or whatever and won a NJ state senate seat did an interview where he admitted that he has no idea how to do the job he's been elected to do. Well, okay.
Is any actually surprised? I was talking to a coworker about this just yesterday, and we commented that you know he's not going to have any idea how to do the job. It's only wishful thinking that you hope he's not taken advantage of, but it seems almost inevitable that he will just become a tool to someone.
Yep. But I'm sure he'll get a lot out of it as well just as Sinema has improved her net worth significantly since being in office. He's driven his last truck, I'm sure.
You hope and expect that he's doing this for noble reasons and didn't get into it to make money. Idk if that's the case, but he sure didn't spend a lot of money to beat out the incumbent that's been there for 20 yrs. Ideally, all the reps in government are doing things for the betterment of their fellow citizens and are honorable. You would even hope that his inexperience isn't a signal for naivety, and that he does end up doing a good job. Going to have to keep an eye on Mr. Durr.
"When we all think alike, nobody is thinking" - Walter Lippmann
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them." ~ Frederick Douglass

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Re: Local/State Elections

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The good thing is that it is a state senate seat, so not a lot of lobbyists for that. It isn't like Sinema where they will literally pay 6-7 figures to help change/kill legislation. But it will be really hard.

And I realize lawyers screw up all the time, but how do you write laws that can withstand legal scrutiny and hold up over time if you have no experience at that? You really do need some type of legal education to do this job. Otherwise your bills are full of holes, or you just pay others to do this legislating for you.

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Re: Local/State Elections

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Of course there is always magically "12,000 ballots recently found". It never fails to happen. That damn Republican truck driver was hiding those ballots on his huge budget. Thank God for some patriotic Dems for "discovering" these missing 12,000 ballots.
"When we all think alike, nobody is thinking" - Walter Lippmann
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them." ~ Frederick Douglass

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