Pew Research Center - Issues and the 2024 election

Well, we don't really have Front Page Follies anymore, so I thought I'd share this old Frank Sinatra ditty updated for modern political fund raising.

In the wee small hours of the morning
While the whole wide world is fast asleep
You lie awake and think about the texts
And never, ever think of counting tweets
When a desperate campaign is calling
We can win if only you give
In the wee small hours of the morning
That's the time you hate these most of all

Trump beats Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris. Trump loses to Joe Biden. Hmmm....

In regards to the popular vote,

Trump currently has 49.9% of the counted votes compared to Harris’ 48.2%.

The case is that “Trump’s mandate isn’t all that,” argued Enten.

Maybe.

The Senate, as set up by the U.S. Constitution, holds an important role in confirming — or rejecting — high-level officials like Cabinet positions, judges and ambassadors. It’s part of the government’s checks and balances that ensures the president does not get to unilaterally rule. However, there is a clause in the Constitution that allows presidents to fill out their administrations while the Senate is in recess.

What are recess appointments and how could Trump use them to fill his Cabinet?

He is also likely to share Trump's opposition to global cooperation on fighting climate change. Wright has called climate change activists alarmist and has likened efforts by Democrats to combat global warming to Soviet-style communism.

Trump picks oil industry CEO Chris Wright as Energy Secretary

ELON MUSK AND VIVEK RAMASWAMY, heads of Department of Government Efficiency

"...create an entrepreneurial approach"

Interesting

Who are Trump’s cabinet picks so far and who is in the running?

“If Republicans end up winning the House, in addition to the Senate and White House, having a GOP sweep, I think the odds are less than 5% they get extended,” said Meekins, who was a senior HHS official in Trump’s first term. Even Democratic control of the House likely won’t save the subsidies, he added.

“If Republicans control the House, the Senate and the presidency, then we might see a repeat of 2017,” she said.

Millions at risk of losing health insurance after Trump's victory

Could I be more surprised? No. Harris even lost the popular vote. She did worse than Clinton and Biden. We'll have to wait for the demographic data. Republicans won the Senate and may retain control of the House. Hold onto your hats, we're in for a bumpy ride.

I need some ice cream or something.

Will we get enough results today to say President elect Harris? I hope so.

More than 2.2 million Tennesseans cast ballots during early voting over the past two weeks as turnout nearly reached 46%, nearly 3% fewer than the 2020 presidential election total.

Then, they provide a quote from Doug Kufner, Tennessee Secretary of State's office, proclaiming early voting is a new record. Huh?

Is it a new record or not?

The reporting is a little confusing, to me. For the 2024 numbers they give a break down of early voters and mail-in voters. They do not give those numbers for the 2020 election.

The report also shows that early voting numbers are down in the most Democratic Counties (Davidson, Shelby, and Knox). Hamilton County early voting numbers are up over 13%.

What's the deal. Are people moving out? Do voters want to be there on election day?

From today's Knoxville News Sentinel at 8:45am, in a profile of the U.S. Senate race in Tennessee:

"Johnson, 62, is a current member of the U.S. House of Representatives and has been representing part of Knoxville in the House since 2012."

I tried it but apparently she did it!

CROSSROADS

I was born into Depression-like poverty in a coal-mining town in Eastern Kentucky during the Presidency of John F. Kennedy. My family was the best. My parents grew up during the Great-Depression and, like all of that generation, their lives were molded by it. My brothers and sisters were the most loving, decent, hard-working people I ever met in my life. In that life, like many Americans, I’ve experienced despair, hardship, and unspeakable grief. Those things are part of life. As Jefferson said, “the art of life is the art of avoiding pain” and “he is the best pilot who steers clearest of the rocks and shoals with which it is beset.” Fortunately, success and happiness also ventured into my life. Like many Americans, family, an ethic of hard work, and perseverance have always been the foundations of anything good that ever came my way. Make no mistake, I’ve got a lot to be thankful for.

We all reach a point in our lives when we know that the days behind us out-number the days ahead. I’m years past that day, closer, in fact, to shuffling off this mortal coil. Once we get to that place, some of us become increasingly mindful of the future fates of those we care about. A few months ago, I became a great-grandfather. Although I have no memory of either of my great-grandfathers, I hope I’ll be around long enough to give my great-grandson something at least to remember me by. Ever since his birth, I’ve found myself ruminating about the world through which he’ll make his way, and I’m pretty disgusted at it.

Two major newspapers, the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post, recently were forced by their owners not to publish already-drafted endorsements of Kamala Harris for president. If you were to put this news to some of my students, at least some would respond: Wait, there still are newspapers? They segregate news and opinion? They endorse?

News has changed so much in the past few decades, so the question is not the effect of newspaper endorsements. They never were that influential; most research suggested something less than a percentage point difference, mostly in bottom-of-the-ballot races or propositions. They can be more influential when a surprise endorsement (eg. conservative paper endorses liberal candidate) pops up in heavy rotation television and social media ads.

The notable worry is what these yanked endorsements tell us about the fading vitality and independence of news organizations.

YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU WILL ATONE!
...
There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today.
...
We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business.
...
And I have chosen you, Mr. Beale, to preach this evangel.

Jensen: Because you're on television, dummy. Sixty million people watch you every night of the week, Monday through Friday.

Prescient? Be afraid, be very afraid.

In Blount County, TN, there are only women on the election ballot for the Democratic Party.

I noticed that in Knox County, TN, out of 11 offices on the election ballot, all but 2 are women, although 1 has no Democratic nominee.

Let's everyone get out the vote. It could be your most important action this year, or even in your lifetime.

"We're a dumping ground. We're like a -- we're like a garbage can for the world. That's what, that's what's happened to us. We're like a garbage can," Trump said at a rally in Tempe, Arizona, on Thursday.
...
"First time I've ever said 'garbage can,'" Trump said. "But you know what? It's a very accurate description."

In the final moments of her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Vice President Kamala Harris said it was time “to fight for this country we love, to fight for the ideals we cherish, and to uphold the awesome responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege on Earth.” She then paused and said, “the privilege and pride of being an American.”

Good grief! How can Harris not get elected?

Dana Milbank visits storm damaged Western North Carolina.

It’s encouraging that, here in storm-ravaged North Carolina, people can separate reality from the things Trump is saying.

Can the rest of the nation? We’ll find out in 11 days. On Election Day, we’ll see whether, after nine years of Trump’s daily assaults on reality, the truth still has any relevance.

An open letter condemning Trump — that had been signed by 233 professionals as of early Friday ― will also run as a print ad in The New York Times, the PAC said in a statement sent to HuffPost.

The signatories “have an ethical duty to warn the public that Donald Trump is an existential threat to democracy,” they write. “His symptoms of severe, untreatable personality disorder—malignant narcissism—makes him deceitful, destructive, deluded, and dangerous. He is grossly unfit for leadership.”

But, as I said before, "Many Americans know exactly who Trump is, and they like it."

U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty was on CNN lying about Trump.

Lindsey Graham loses it when asked about Mark Milley calling Trump a "fascist".

MAGA thinks E. Coli outbreak at McDonald’s is a CDC plot to harm Trump.

It gets worse every day.

The lies need to stop or the MAGAs need to be deported.