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#2626 2024-07-14 11:23:28

kbd512
Administrator
Registered: 2015-01-02
Posts: 7,857

Re: Politics

The assassin who attempted to murder President Trump, and succeeded in murdering one of his supporters, was identified by the FBI as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a local 20 year old.  Thomas Crooks was a registered Republican, according to his voter ID, who also donated some of what little money he made, working in a nearby nursing home kitchen, to "ActBlue", a Democrat political action organization.  I'm going to go way out on a limb and state that he was a Democrat pretending to be a Republican.  We've seen enough Democrats state that they registered as Republicans, on television, in order to cast votes in Republican elections, to know the various subversive tactics of the radical left quite well.  Whenever subversion fails, the left inevitably resorts to using violence.  Crooks' mother was a registered Democrat voter and his father was a registered Libertarian.  The AR-15 type rifle Thomas Crooks used was apparently owned by his father.  Thomas Crooks fired 4 or 5 shots before a Secret Service sniper returned fire and shot him in the head.  Bomb making materials were also found in Thomas Crooks' vehicle and home (he still lived with his parents), which complicated the attempt to secure and process the crime scene.

The man Thomas Crooks murdered was identified as Corey Comperatore, a former chief firefighter, who used his body as a shield to protect his family members, who were at the rally with him.

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#2627 2024-07-14 13:08:09

RobertDyck
Moderator
From: Winnipeg, Canada
Registered: 2002-08-20
Posts: 7,934
Website

Re: Politics

Thomas Matthew Crooks released a video saying "it's not me". Note: the shooter was shot by Secret Service. The shooter is no longer alive so can't produce a video.

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#2628 2024-07-14 14:18:05

kbd512
Administrator
Registered: 2015-01-02
Posts: 7,857

Re: Politics

RobertDyck,

Unfortunately, whatever you watched, especially if it was posted to InstaGram, was later determined to be a fraudulent post / claim.  I'm pretty sure the FBI can positively ID someone using their DNA and dental records.  They have the body of the man they shot, that body had a loaded rifle and empty brass next to it, and multiple passersby or rally goers tried to report suspicious activity on the rooftop to the local authorities.

I'm quite certain there will be any number of people claiming responsibility, gas-lighting by someone inside or outside mass media, and similar nonsense that later turns out to be garden variety attention-seeking behavior.

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#2629 2024-07-14 14:53:27

RobertDyck
Moderator
From: Winnipeg, Canada
Registered: 2002-08-20
Posts: 7,934
Website

Re: Politics

I'm sure the body in the morgue is the shooter. The question is who was he? I haven't provided a DNA sample to any police agency. And have never been arrested so they don't have my finger prints. Oh, wait. My application for security clearance included finger prints. Military records DNA for everyone (I think) but civilians don't.

Can we step away from the extreme political polarization?

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#2630 2024-07-14 16:55:06

kbd512
Administrator
Registered: 2015-01-02
Posts: 7,857

Re: Politics

RobertDyck,

If the Police know where you live, because you have a government-issued photo ID, and they have access to your home and personal belongings, as the FBI no doubt does during a Presidential assassination investigation, then they will compare the DNA from the body in their morgue, match it to his personal belongings taken from where he lived, and if there's no other DNA present at the crime scene, then a reasonable person would conclude that they've positively identified the shooter.  They will also have access to medical and dental records, records from the person's place of employment (a nursing home), people who knew him who could identify his body, such as his mother and father, and then they will "know" with a fairly high degree of certainty, who they shot.

Not carrying your driver's license with you doesn't mean the government can't rapidly identify who you are.  If any vehicle registered to him was also found near the crime scene, then that only adds evidence to the pile.

They know that the rifle he used belonged to his father.  They know that because the FFL holder who sold the rifle has a copy of the firearm serial number, driver's license, social security number, address, and other personally identifiable information.  They presumably have his finger prints because he worked in a nursing home and, generally speaking, working in health care, even as a cook or orderly, involves finger printing, if not other biometric identification as well.  If they find finger prints on ammunition or bomb making materials in his home, then once again, they only have more evidence.

Presumably, the people who he worked with will also "know" that he's the shooter when he doesn't show up for work on Monday.

Speaking of troubled young men, they tracked down Ted Kaczynski and that guy was about as off-grid as you can get.

Crooks probably has a cell phone, too.

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#2631 2024-07-14 17:08:51

kbd512
Administrator
Registered: 2015-01-02
Posts: 7,857

Re: Politics

Can we step away from the extreme political polarization?

This is a question for the radical left to answer.  When someone has an argument they have no good counter for, they resort to calling their political opponents racists / bigots / xenophobes / "literal Hitler" / etc.  There are also extreme right wing people who incite people on the right as well, but the actual numbers are tiny and very few people imbibing in what they're selling.

Police should enforce no rape / robbery / murder = "racism"
Immigrants should follow a legal process for becoming a citizen = "xenophobia"
Biological men should use the men's bathroom, even if they identify as an attack helicopter = "bigotry"
You love your own country and don't think it needs to completely change to satisfy fringe elements of society = "literal Hitler"

Extreme Left Wing - Total authoritarianism
Extreme Right Wing - Total anarchy

That is actual left vs right.

Anyone who is "extreme right wing" thinks we shouldn't have a federal / centralized government, so their ability to use government to take from others is essentially nonexistent.

Anyone who is "extreme left wing" thinks the federal / centralized government should dictate every aspect of life, from cradle-to-grave.

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#2632 2024-07-14 18:09:52

Calliban
Member
From: Northern England, UK
Registered: 2019-08-18
Posts: 3,794

Re: Politics

I'm glad President Trump is OK.  Unfortunately, the man sitting behind him wasn't so lucky.

From the other side of the pond, I am less exposed to American media than most people here.  But it is hard to miss the sort of rhetoric being put out against Trump by his political opponents.  It is toxic and plainly incites violence.  They incited this crime and should be held to account for it.  But I doubt they will be.  Trump is a centrist.  If he were the kind of dictator his enemies pretend him to be, they wouldn't feel emboldened to say the sort of nonsense that they are putting out.  They would fear for their lives.  The fact that that clearly is not the case tells you all that you need to know about the politicos that claim to be 'protecting democracy'.  They are immoral cads, who think nothing of lying, cheating and killing, so long as it gets them what they want.


"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."

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#2633 2024-07-21 14:01:37

RobertDyck
Moderator
From: Winnipeg, Canada
Registered: 2002-08-20
Posts: 7,934
Website

Re: Politics

Joe Biden has COVID, recovering at his home in Delaware. He stepped aside, endorses Kamala Harris.

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#2634 2024-07-21 14:05:08

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 29,433

Re: Politics

Yes, seeing the articles now coming up including those saying that he should stop being president as well. That would give a few months for those that need to make up their minds on Pamela Harris as president.

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#2635 2024-07-21 14:48:11

RobertDyck
Moderator
From: Winnipeg, Canada
Registered: 2002-08-20
Posts: 7,934
Website

Re: Politics

Kamala Harris. She needs to learn how to give clear straight answers, not word salad. Biden's team should be preparing her starting now. If Biden recovers (if) then Kamala will need some guidance and hand-holding. Biden will need someone to give him senior's care. They need eachother. Let him finish his term with dignity. Election is the first Tuesday of November, so Nov 5. That's just 3 1/2 months. Inauguration is January. That's not long. Besides, Harris will have to assume the duties of president most of the time anyway.

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#2636 2024-07-30 08:55:06

Calliban
Member
From: Northern England, UK
Registered: 2019-08-18
Posts: 3,794

Re: Politics

This law is exactly why countries need a written constitution with inviolable rights.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss-REy_uQSU

Without it, governments can abuse individuals with impunity.


"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."

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#2637 2024-07-30 09:14:00

kbd512
Administrator
Registered: 2015-01-02
Posts: 7,857

Re: Politics

"The burden can only be a burden if the burden can be unburdened and when it’s unburdened the past burden is the burden of the past but the future burden cannot be part of the burden to be unburdened. This is all so clear and I know my fellow democrats will see this so clearly." - Kamala Harris

Democrat politicians are looting America while they destroy it economically.  When you point out what's so painfully obvious, they gas-light everyone by projecting their inexcusable behavior onto others.  People who vote for Democrats should ask the people they voted for why they're doing this to their own people, right after asking themselves why they've enabled Democrat politicians doing this by voting for them.

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#2638 2024-07-30 10:22:36

Calliban
Member
From: Northern England, UK
Registered: 2019-08-18
Posts: 3,794

Re: Politics

"The burden can only be a burden if the burden can be unburdened and when it’s unburdened the past burden is the burden of the past but the future burden cannot be part of the burden to be unburdened. This is all so clear and I know my fellow democrats will see this so clearly." - Kamala Harris

What the hell does that mean?  Did she actually say that?


"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."

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#2639 2024-07-30 15:37:29

kbd512
Administrator
Registered: 2015-01-02
Posts: 7,857

Re: Politics

Calliban,

Can you begin to understand why I keep pointing out how ridiculous our so-called Democrat politicians are?

Your guess about what Kamala Harris actually meant by that is as good as mine.

I feel like Kamala Harris may also have brain damage or some sort of cognitive disorder.  Joe Biden had brain damage from a stroke, a painfully obvious advanced case of dementia, and old age working against him.  I don't know what's going on with Kamala Harris, but something cognitive-related is wrong with her as well.  To be frank, she might be bipolar or a manic depressive.  Some people will ignore all of that and vote for her anyway.  Those people should be aware that they have no clue about what they're actually voting for, because she can't tell you what she means.

The reason I think that is it fits the pattern we've seen over the past 10 years or so:
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton - psychopath (lying for no reason- as if she's about to be "discovered", intense focus on the reaction of others to her)
President Joe Biden - dementia or Parkinsons (my maternal grandfather had this before he died), known brain damage from a severe stroke (essentially, something which comes with advanced age)
Vice President Kamala Harris - bipolar or manic depressive? (wild mood swings according to staffers)
Senator John Fetterman - known brain damage from a stroke, brief psychotic break (he actually seems better now)
Senator Dianne Feinstein - dementia
Senator Pelosi - dementia or alcoholism (routinely slurs her speech; her husband is a known alcoholic)
Senator Mitch McConnell - dementia or brain damage from a stroke

I would love to have video of Harris from 10+ years ago to see if she exhibited the same behavior back then.  I briefly remember her from decades past when she was on TV- something to do with legislation in California.  If she behaves like a different person now, then something is wrong.  She'll never admit to it, in much the same way that Joe Biden still doesn't think he has any cognitive problems, but that doesn't change plainly observable reality.

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#2640 2024-07-30 16:05:46

kbd512
Administrator
Registered: 2015-01-02
Posts: 7,857

Re: Politics

Listen to this one:

'Plucking words at random' makes more sense than 'anything' Kamala Harris says

If you can figure out what she was talking about, please let us know.

'Say what now?': Kamala Harris’ gaffe had Monica Crowley wondering if it was a 'deep fake'

Apparently, the US is now a "strong ally" of North Korea, or something like that.  The way she said it made no sense, though.  The rest of what she said to our troops stationed at the DMZ made even less sense.

Kamala Harris' Verbal Struggles, Drops F-Bomb in Failed Attempt to Seem Relatable, with Dan Bongino

There are a near-limitless number of speeches and interviews containing bizarre nonsense that means nothing and individual sentences that are non-sequiturs.

If someone is actually telling her to say this stuff, which is what I sincerely hope the perfectly valid explanation is, they need to be kept far far away from her.  If that's not the answer, then something is wrong with her.  I know what it looks like to me, from having interacted with bipolar and manic depressive types who sound the way she sounds.  She needs to undergo a cognitive and psychiatric exam by qualified professionals- to receive the scrutiny / due diligence that Joe Biden never did.  We can't afford to have another 4 years of someone who is not mentally fit to hold office, such that people who were never elected are making all the decisions.  The past 4 years of that have been a total disaster.

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#2641 2024-07-31 09:11:26

Calliban
Member
From: Northern England, UK
Registered: 2019-08-18
Posts: 3,794

Re: Politics

I can't wait for the presidential debates.  The last one was entertaining.  If the quote above is typical dialogue from Kamala Harris, the next one will be even better.  It isn't meant to be a comedy show.  It is tragic that it has beome one.

Last edited by Calliban (2024-07-31 09:19:37)


"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."

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#2642 2024-08-01 09:28:28

kbd512
Administrator
Registered: 2015-01-02
Posts: 7,857

Re: Politics

I can only wish that this was all a bad dream, but in reality both President Biden and Vice President Harris are grossly incompetent to even speak about US policy.  President Biden is suffering from severe dementia or Parkinsons.  Vice President Harris has some other form of cognitive issue due to unknown causes, which explains both her behavior, that nobody around here exhibits, as well as her inability to clearly articulate a thought about what she intends to do.

Vice President Harris will start talking about one issue and then go off on a tangent about something completely unrelated, or talk in circles and say nothing coherent.  She can start with a point about policy or why it's necessary for our soldiers to be somewhere, then finish that conversation, after stopping mid-sentence, with a speech about the James Webb Space Telescope, as she did in South Korea.  Changing topics or responding to someone is one thing, but stopping mid-sentence while you're talking, in order to talk about something entirely unrelated to your first point, is not something normal people do on a routine basis.  She does that while speaking to reporters, interviewers, soldiers, and anyone else who happens to be there.  Her abusive behavior towards her staff and mood swings seems to indicate that she's bipolar or a manic depressive.  I've spoken with people who had both issues, and sometimes they did stuff like that.  I have no idea what causes either disorder.  It could be almost anything.  Menopause doesn't cause you to behave the way she does, either, apart from the mood swings.  I've witnessed women go through it, and a few had a really hard time, but their ability to tell you what they wanted didn't change.  She needs to get diagnosed and get medication if she's going to continue to serve in government.

We have drugs that can fix a lot of that, but only if you take them on schedule.  My younger brother, for the longest time, simply did not believe he was having grand mal seizures, until finally one day his best friend, who he trusts, told him that he was either going to take his pills, or he wasn't going to live with him anymore, because he didn't want to be there when he died.

I may not have agreed with President Obama's policies on much of anything, but at no point in time did I believe he or his staff were incompetent to run the show over here.  Both President Biden and his key staff are pervasively incompetent or criminally negligent in an unambiguous way.  When questioned about what they're doing, they give no answers that pass muster.  All of them need to go.  The Democrats have people who are highly competent to run policy from the Obama administration, who are not suffering from mental health or aging issues.  They need to pick an actual candidate at their convention.

What I think of them or whether or not I agree with their policies is not the issue here.  People who are incompetent or criminally negligent cannot be entrusted with US policy.  Our entire Executive Branch is predicated on those entrusted with the duties of their offices, faithfully executing the law.  Our system wasn't set up to safeguard against that.  It requires competent and moral people to continue to exist.

The Democrats should have invoked the 25th Amendment the moment they suspected President Biden was incompetent to execute the duties of his office.  He's responsible for authorizing military action, including the use of nuclear weapons.  If he can't do that, then somebody who was actually elected needs to replace him.  There have been numerous very public and very blatant indications of his severe cognition decline.  If Vice President Harris also proved incompetent, as she no doubt is (possibly fixable with an accurate diagnosis and medication), then they should've ousted her so Speaker Pelosi or McCarthy could complete the 2020 term.  There were plenty of opportunities to fix their problem.  President of the Senate Murray, or Secretary of State Blinken would also be acceptable alternatives, from the viewpoint of the American people, if nobody else wanted the job.  Secretary of Defense or lesser cabinet positions would generally be viewed as unacceptable.  In the case of SECDEF, because they're worried about him starting a war, in other cases because they generally lack the experience to lead.

Democrats think someone who is clearly not ready will magically "rise to the occasion", if only they "jazz them up" in the media, but that's not how leadership and training works, except in Hollyweird movies.  In combat, you default back to the lowest level of training that you've actually mastered.  Combat is exactly akin to leadership.  If you don't know how when you start, then you're going to become the valedictorian of the school of hard knocks, assuming you have the capacity to learn from your mistakes.  All the Democrats after Kennedy seldom demonstrated the capacity to accept when they're wrong or that something is not working the way they think it should, and then reevaluate and implement a different course of action.  We see this all the time.  When something doesn't work out, they double-down on whatever they were doing that didn't work.  It's a sign of weak leadership abilities.  If they have the right ideas, then they'll do whatever it takes to make them work, unlike Republicans who mill about or do nothing when their strategy or decision is wrong.  Bill Clinton had certain policies that worked brilliantly, others not so much.  However, when policies didn't work, he kept right on after it.

Presidents Kennedy and Trump were / are both agents of change, largely despised by their fellow political hacks in their time, thus all the media-manufactured animosity towards both men, yet highly effective leaders nonetheless.  Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Bush Jr, and Obama were all either too feckless or too enamored with their own ideas to reconsider much of anything, so they got our country in more trouble than they should have.  President Clinton had the potential to be an agent for change, but a lot of what he changed ultimately proved to be destructive to America.  This current administration is lost in space, and has no accomplishments of note, unless we count economic and social fabric destruction as an accomplishment.  I don't recall any stand-out moments of President Ford's administration.  President Carter was a genuinely good man / father / soldier who couldn't lead our country out of a wet paper bag.  President Reagan was effective in turning the economy around, a gifted speaker with a good sense of humor and endless optimism, but not really an agent of change.  The good ship America was merely steered away from the rocks under his watch.  President Bush Sr may have known all there was to know about foreign policy, but he had the personality of a fence post.  He was a loyal soldier for his country, but couldn't effectively lead, much like President Carter.

Both Presidents Kennedy and Trump have magnetic (polarizing) personalities, larger than life, a little brash, daring greatly, and they both genuinely care about their own people.  Men such as these only arrive once per generation.

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#2643 2024-08-01 09:53:52

kbd512
Administrator
Registered: 2015-01-02
Posts: 7,857

Re: Politics

Bombshell: 10% Of Voters NOT CITIZENS In 2020 Election! Says Rasmussen Reports

10% of the respondents to a Rasmussen Poll are apparently so dumb that they voluntarily reported committing a federal crime to the pollsters, when asked.  Democrats said they "fortified" our 2020 Presidential election.  Maybe this was what they were talking about.  That's why they were so adamant about using mail-in voting and not requiring any government-issued identification proving citizenship status.  That tends to cut down on voter fraud, which Democrats appear to be dependent upon to win national elections.  Perhaps there were not enough actual American citizens voting the way they were told to.

For the 2024 Presidential election, the Democrat Party has anointed someone who didn't acquire a single elector's vote during the 2020 Presidential election campaign.  I guess actual democracy is getting in the way of "saving democracy" from the voters, so the Democrat Party took matters into their own hands.

All hail Queen Harris!

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#2644 2024-08-01 12:25:14

Calliban
Member
From: Northern England, UK
Registered: 2019-08-18
Posts: 3,794

Re: Politics

Nigel Farage discusses the Trump assassination attempt, the disaster of the Biden presidency and the Ukraine war.
https://youtu.be/qasifr58rfw?si=V33xB6fPQeoD_bHw

American prestige was severely damaged by the chaotic Afganistan withdrawal.  In Farage's opinion, the Ukraine war might have been avoided if Trump had remained president.  A million lives could have been saved and the economic wellbeing of the entire world would be in a much better place.


"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."

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#2645 2024-08-01 13:25:18

kbd512
Administrator
Registered: 2015-01-02
Posts: 7,857

Re: Politics

Calliban,

Unfortunately, warring with our adversaries, assassinating political rivals, and generally acting like clowns appears to be far more important than keeping the peace, keeping the economy humming along, enforcing the borders to prevent attacks and chaos, etc.  All the basic stuff that keeps any nation going is something our leftists are no longer interested in, which only hurts everyone, including them.  It must be exhausting to have their level of hysteria over total nonsense, so maybe that's why they've no energy left to take care of the basics.  Things i never questioned before cannot be taken for granted any longer.

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#2646 2024-08-01 15:30:34

GW Johnson
Member
From: McGregor, Texas USA
Registered: 2011-12-04
Posts: 5,801
Website

Re: Politics

The notion persists of a stolen 2020 election,  despite 60+ court cases and all the other evidence since,  saying ABSOLUTELY NOT!

I suggest that y'all quit taking internet BS from your favorite echo chambers at face value.  About 99% of what I find "out there" proves to be utter BS. Mostly for profit,  I might add.  PLEASE go do some real,  actual fact-checking before y'all spout any more of this CRAP!  We have too much of it already!

Despite what you apparently believe,  much of the mainstream media actually can be trusted to some extent,  because of journalistic standards.  The most notable exception is Fox "News",  whose founder said long ago it was NOT news,  it was right-wing entertainment!  Nothing has changed since,  except the virulence of the lies,  which has increased. I have tracked it!

You should note that (1) I am a political independent who despises both the far right and the far left (and DESERVEDLY so!!!),  and (2) I have not participated in this particular thread in a very long time,  precisely because it is so fully consumed in far-right BS! 

And I probably will avoid it for a very long time to come!  Because I always get flamed for pointing out the real truths.  And THAT ought to tell y'all something worthwhile! 

GW

Last edited by GW Johnson (2024-08-01 15:36:25)


GW Johnson
McGregor,  Texas

"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew,  especially one dead from a bad management decision"

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#2647 2024-08-01 19:24:46

RobertDyck
Moderator
From: Winnipeg, Canada
Registered: 2002-08-20
Posts: 7,934
Website

Re: Politics

GW Johnson: I haven't read the posts above yours. I stopped reading this thread a while ago. To be fair, Democrats claimed the 2016 election was stolen. It "must" have been Russians hacking voting machines. But likewise, it wasn't. There have been a lot of election problems. In year 2000, an amazing number of dead people voted, dead for decades. The same year, one county in another state set all voting machines to test mode, so all ballots a were thrown out. The county traditionally voted Democrat. In 2004 one county in another state has more votes for the winning candidate than the number of registered voters. In 2020, Canada Border Security stopped a car trying to cross the border with ballot boxes. The boxes were still sealed so ballots were not counted. Canada held him and called US officials to recover their ballots and arrest him.

With all this, expect citizens will never accept election results. The US needs to prosecute. Canada has a Commissioner of Elections who investigates election offences. He has staff and authority similar to attorney general, but restricted to election issues. No gun, no authority to arrest, but can ask a judge for an arrest warrant, and can ask police to enforce that warrant. I recommend the US create a similar office. It doesn't require a constitutional amendment, just a law. Canada has one for federal elections, each province has their own for provincial elections. You need to start giving offenders serious jail time to stop the crap. Only then will voters trust elections.

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#2648 2024-08-02 02:08:01

kbd512
Administrator
Registered: 2015-01-02
Posts: 7,857

Re: Politics

GW,

Election 2024: Would You Cheat to Win? 28% Say ‘Yes’

More than one-in-four voters say they’d be willing to engage in illegal voting activity if it would help their preferred candidate win the 2024 presidential election.

A new national telephone and online survey by Rasmussen Reports and The Heartland Institute finds that 28% of Likely U.S. voters would engage in at least one kind of illegal voting practice if that was “the only way to stop” an opposing candidate from winning, while 72% say they would not cheat. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Heartland Institute Poll Shows Nearly Three in 10 Voters Would Vote Illegally in 2024 Presidential Election

...

Although self-identified Democrat voters are slightly more likely to engage in illegal voting to ensure that Biden would win, the number of self-identified Republican voters who would also engage in illegal voting to guarantee a Trump victory is also quite concerning. Interestingly, independent voters are much less likely to vote illegally than either Democrats or Republicans.

Clearly, this is a major problem and does not bode well for the future of election integrity in the United States. With approximately 200 days before the 2024 election, time is of the essence to safeguard the veracity of this pivotal presidential election. As such, states should do everything in their power to ensure that illegal voting is minimized as much as possible. Fortunately, The Heartland Institute has prepared a set of policy solutions that states could undertake that would surely reduce the amount of illegal voting in the future.
...
“A few months ago, we found in a separate poll commissioned by The Heartland Institute and conducted by Rasmussen Reports that approximately 28 percent of mail-in voters admitted to casting at least one form of an illegal ballot. A follow-up policy report written by my colleagues and I found that these illegal ballots almost certainly tilted the 2020 election in favor of Joe Biden.

“Now, a new Heartland/Rasmussen poll has found that voters intend to cheat in 2024 on an even greater scale than in 2020. Overall, 28 percent of all respondents stated that they would resort to at least one form of election fraud if it helped propel their preferred candidate in office. Doing the math, that means that—if voter turnout remains similar to 2020—nearly 45 million ballots may be fraudulently cast if they are not prevented.

“The results of this poll will hopefully galvanize state policymakers to craft legislation designed to ensure election integrity by vastly restricting mail-in voting. In turn, that legislation must be enforced to the greatest possible extent by states’ executive branches. Failure to implement such solutions will allow our elections to become even more tainted by election fraud. Without secure elections, we will collectively lose faith in our electoral system, and our republic will die with a whimper.”

That looks like a pretty damning indictment of all of us from where I'm sitting, but I was hoping it might help some other people, such as yourself, come to terms with ugly reality.  Incidentally, this is why ignoring festering problems, or pretending that they simply don't exist, is such an egregiously bad idea.

The election fraud in 2020 was on display for everyone to see, but some of us were busy pretending it didn't happen, so now that problem will only get worse.  If there's ample opportunity, a fair degree of anonymity, and little in the way of consequences because nobody is actually watching to keep everyone honest, then at that point, what difference does it make?  We'll answer that question with another question.  Do you want people to believe in the legitimacy of government?  If so, then it means everything.

Throwing the political equivalent of a "bag of cash" on the ground, walking away, and then relying upon the honor system, meaning everyone in the general public only removes a single dollar bill from the bag, is clearly too much of a temptation for a significant number of people, regardless of where on the political spectrum they may fall.

Admitting that a problem exists is always the first step towards solving it.

We have a problem.  You want to pretend it's not real, but that won't make the problem go away.  It's still there.

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#2649 2024-08-04 19:28:28

Calliban
Member
From: Northern England, UK
Registered: 2019-08-18
Posts: 3,794

Re: Politics

There were numerous irregularities in the 2020 US general election that were bound to feed suspicion.  Boxes of votes from red leaning districts being dumped without counting.  Dead people appearing on the electoral roll.  Republicans being excluded from counts and unable to witness whatever was going on.  In some cases, there were entire boxes containing hundreds of votes without a single republican vote being counted.  That is statistically unlikely.

What really made the 2020 election vulnerable to manipulation was postal voting.  Blue states were especially enthusiastic about pushing this form of voting.  Unlike the ballot box, postal votes are vulnerable to manipulation.  To put it politely, a lot of the Democrat voter base is what we Brits would call rif raf.  The Dems could probably have won every election since WW2 if they could only get their voters to turn up to the ballot box en masse.  With postal votes, a sufficiently large activist base can carry out ballot harvesting operations.  That means knocking on people's doors and filling out the vote form for them.  I don't know if that is strictly illegal in the US, but it does defeat the point of voting.

All of these things happened at some level.  But they were the actions of hundreds of thousands of individuals.  We will probably never know a tenth of the full scale of wrong doing.  If the authorities are reticent to investigate corruption, it is unlikely that political actors can do so on their own.  Solid proof would be uncovering lines of communication between Democrat leadership and people on the ground, telling them to do these things.  You are unlikely to find it.  And without it, you cannot prove that the Democrat leadedship systematically corrupted the vote.  But blue states made it easy for vote rigging to take place.  The optics do not look good.  It should be a concern to everyone.  But in a politically polarised environment, people end up being obsessed with winning and don't care how it is done.

Last edited by Calliban (2024-08-04 19:32:03)


"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."

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#2650 2024-08-07 13:50:16

kbd512
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Registered: 2015-01-02
Posts: 7,857

Re: Politics

Dark Age Theorist - The First Turning and the End of Woke

1st Turning "The High"
Child: Prophet
Young Adult: Artist
Midlife: Hero
Elder: Nomad

2nd Turning "The Awakening"
Child: Nomad
Young Adult: Profit
Midlife: Artist
Elder: Hero

3rd Turning "The Unraveling"
Child: Hero
Young Adult: Nomad
Midlife: Prophet
Elder: Artist

4th Turning "The Crisis"
Child: Artist
Young Adult: Hero
Midlife: Nomad
Elder: Prophet

This seems to be the way of things, at least in modern times.

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