Politics

kbd512 · 2024-11-08 01:46:37

US 2024 Elections Results Updates

House Elections Results
Republicans secured 211 seats.
Democrats secured 199 seats.

Void · 2024-11-08 07:46:59

So, I am thinking this will make it harder for them to harass the Executive Branch from Congress. I prefer not to have time wasted in that way with the left "Showboating".

Ending Pending

Calliban · 2024-11-08 08:35:18

kbd512 wrote:

US 2024 Elections Results Updates
House Elections Results
Republicans secured 211 seats.
Democrats secured 199 seats.

The republicans need 7 more seats for outright control. Looking at the number of undeclared seats, they are ahead in enough of them that they will probably reach and narrowly surpass 218. That will make it much easier to pass new legislation.
https://www.foxnews.com/elections/2024/ … ults/house

kbd512 · 2024-11-08 11:04:51

President-elect Trump should focus exclusively on:

1. Fixing the American economic issues related to energy extraction and domestic manufacturing
2. Border control and illegal immigration issue allowing violent criminals to enter America and prey upon Americans and other illegals
3. Foreign wars and antagonistic relationships with our adversaries, namely China, Russia, and Iran

As someone who actually voted for President-elect Trump, I listened intently when he promised to do those three things and nothing else, in his victory speech. I expect him to remain faithful to his word, or he no longer has my support. The Republican Party only has the most tenuous of support from me, presuming they work with President-elect Trump to deliver on his promises. If the man I voted for does those things and nothing else, then his presidency will be a breath of fresh air when compared to the petty self-serving behavior of President Biden's administration.

I am completely onboard with America focusing on fixing our own numerous and varied domestic problems, which have strained ordinary Americans to the breaking point. Specifically, I want domestic energy and manufacturing output to increase to increase wages, and to help pay down our absurd level of national debt.

I am completely onboard with America refraining from all forms of military adventurism. I want a strong military with thorough realistic training, appropriate tools, and no attempt to "gold plate" our military equipment or capabilities. I do not want our military used to preemptively attack other nations, even if I vehemently disagree with what they're doing. I do not want our intelligence agencies instigating foreign wars. I do not want our military used to support the foreign economic interests of businesses. America should never go to war because some yahoos in an intelligence agency are having a "war fantasy" or XYZ Corporation stands to make a handsome profit from that war.

I am NOT onboard with any ill-advised attempts at "revenge" against political opponents, as the Democrats have engaged in since President Trump was elected in 2016.

I am NOT onboard with indiscriminately bombing the piss out of Palestinian civilians who have guns pointed at them from both Hamas or Hezbollah or Iranian terrorists and Israeli troops. I DO support Israel's right to exist, right to defend their borders, and right to kill all murdering invaders.

I am NOT onboard with spending endless money on killing Russians. I DO support Ukraine's right to exist, right to defend their borders, and right to kill all murdering invaders. I would like them to focus on driving the Russians out of Ukraine, rather than attacking and invading Russia. President Zelensky has said he wants all territory taken from Ukraine, returned to Ukraine. Great. I agree with that 100%, so I would like him to focus on doing that. Invading Russia is not helping to drive the Russians out of Ukraine. It is weakening Ukraine's ability to fight against Russian troops inside Ukraine, because that's how basic math and logic works.

As allies, if Israel or Ukraine or Taiwan or South Korea need to be defended against foreign aggressors, then we send our own military, our own sons and daughters, to fight on their behalf. We articulate why it's necessary to do so to the American people. We commit ourselves to doing only that which is necessary and justifiable. That is what a true ally would do to support their allies. If our allies no longer wish to have American troops on their soil, or refuse to spend agreed upon money for their own defense, then we leave. We don't dictate policy to them, but we both honor the terms of our agreements, or we're no longer behaving as good allies.

Finally, I want American citizens prioritized over immigrants, especially illegal immigrants. All the foreign criminals allowed to pour into America because the officials from President Biden's administration, specifically Secretary Mayorkas, couldn't be bothered to check IDs at the border, is completely unforgivable. Democrats seem to think any immigration laws they disagree with are mere suggestions, rather than codified law. Congress doesn't make suggestions. Congress makes law. The majority of Americans disagree with the Democrats on this point. We would prefer that our elected officials and their political appointees either enforce our laws or work with Congress to change the laws if they think our existing immigration laws are unfair or unenforceable. Maybe our immigration laws could be better, but since we've never made any serious attempts to improve them, we don't actually know, because we haven't tried.

Terraformer · 2024-11-08 13:45:56

I wonder if an amnesty bill could get through Congress with the proviso that anyone who takes advantage of it will be barred from American citizenship - - if they want a pathway to citizenship, they have to leave the country and reenter legally. Provides amnesty whilst still providing some kind of consequence for illegal immigration.

kbd512 · 2024-11-08 18:35:10

In the two days since President-elect Trump was elected as President, the following events have taken place:

1. Mexico's President has announced that she's going to start turning back the migrant caravans and force them to remain in place and wait their turn to immigrate into America the legal way.

2. Palestine's Hamas has requested an end to the war with Israel.

3. Yemen's Houthis have requested a cease fire.

4. Russia's President has requested a meeting with President-elect Trump to end the war in Ukraine.

5. Steve Madden executives have announced plans to cut manufacturing in China by half in the coming months, and will discuss making their apparel and fashion accessories in America.

6. Democrats in New York and California have announced that they intend to continue the legal warfare against President Trump while the US Department of Justice has been directed to halt all legal actions against the President-elect.

I sure hope all that suffering, death, and destruction to enrich the privileged few was worth it.

RobertDyck · 2024-11-09 00:14:12

That's a one-sided and extreme opinion. Yes, the attack of October 7 was horrible. It doesn't justify genocide. Israel's reaction is disproportionate. Killing civilians in Gaza cannot be justified simply because some stupid extremists did something bad. Yes, very bad.

Never forget the video of a man speaking Russian leading Hamas terrorist through the fence on October 7. I believe that man was Wagner Group. Russia did this deliberately as a distraction from the war in Ukraine. How many people died for a distraction? And Israel further escalated by attacking Lebanon. Don't try to justify it, I won't listen. Israel's reaction has been eztreme!

The Gaza Strip was supposed to be the nation of Palestine a very long time ago. Israel has treated it as Israeli territory and occupied it for a very long time. This just perpetuates animosity.

RobertDyck · 2024-11-09 00:31:48

Russia's President Putin has said many times the only way to end the war is capitulation. Putin not only demanded keeping all the land his army took by force, killing hundreds of thousands, he also demanded Ukraine surrender the remaining portions of the oblasts that Russia partially occupies. Putin is a bully and insane.

We saw with Chechnya what Putin will do. If Russia keeps any portion of Ukraine, Russia will just train more soldiers, build more weapons and ammunition, then attack again. That's not an end. Furthermore if Russia takes Ukraine they'll attack Poland and the Baltic states next. Russia has already said so. The only way to prevent World War 3 is to stop Russia in Ukraine.

Terms of ending the war:
- Russia gets all troops out of Ukraine. 1991 borders
- Russia returns all Ukrainian children they abducted
- Ukraine joins NATO as a full member
- Ukraine joins EU
- Russia will never be allowed navy bases in Crimea ever again
- only AFTER all this will Ukraine withdraw troops from Kursk

Points for negotiation:
- Russia pays for reconstruction in Ukraine
- Russian generals and officials responsible for this war surrender to Ukraine for prosecution
- releasing frozen bank accounts and frozen assets (interest has already been seized)
- lifting sanctions on Russia
- NATO agrees to never place any nuclear weapons in Ukraine (eg missiles with nuclear warheads aimed at Moscow)

kbd512 · 2024-11-10 15:41:43

I think this headline speaks for itself:

CNN Politics - FEMA employee fired after telling relief team to skip houses with Trump signs following Florida hurricane

A Federal Emergency Management Agency employee has been fired after they advised their disaster relief team to avoid homes with signs supporting former President Donald Trump while canvassing in Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, the agency’s administrator said Saturday.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell called the actions of the employee "reprehensible" and said they have been terminated from their role.

These political clowns actually wrote in their official government records, "Trump sign, no entry per leadership. Implement best practices, avoid homes advertising Trump."

FEMA states that this incident in Florida is believed to be an isolated incident, but weaponization of politics aptly explains why FEMA and local officials did not help residents living in Appalachia in the wake of Hurricane Helene, and actively prevented private citizens from other parts of the country from bringing in disaster relief supplies (food, bottled water, and blankets) using personal helicopters and high water pickup trucks, as well as threatening these volunteers with arrest if they continued helping those living there. Thankfully, some of these civilian first responders ignored the government's threats to arrest them and continued bringing in supplies.

I would opine that perhaps "FEMA" ("Federal Emergency Management Agency") should change it's name to "DEMA" ("Democrat Emergency Management Agency") if those working within FEMA only wish to provide disaster relief to Democrats, and that funding "DEMA" be considered optional for all Republicans. Maybe Elon Musk's new Government Efficiency Agency can cut FEMA's funding to only whatever is required to serve Democrats. Assuming Democrats don't attempt to arrest civilians providing disaster relief, Republicans can rely upon private citizens with religious core values (love for your fellow citizens, willingness to serve and to sacrifice for others, and the ability to look past political beliefs) to provide disaster relief whilst Democrats are free to spend money on other Democrats, or not, however they see fit.

This is exactly what I meant when I admonished Democrats to "stop pouring acid on the fabric of society". There can be no trust between government and the citizenry if those in government are using the power of government as a cudgel against their political opponents. Either tell your fellow Democrats to cut this crap out, or expect big changes to government in the near future. If half of the people in government only want government to serve those aligned with their partisan politics, then that is what government will become. At that point, you will no longer have the consent of the governed, for at least half the population. Since all legitimate forms of government are derived from the consent of the governed, we will rapidly cease to have a functioning government.

Terraformer · 2024-11-10 17:07:52

Has California finished counting ballots yet? It's coming up on a week now. Past halfway. Should have been finished days ago. Sunderland's counters would commit seppuko if they were this tardy.

RobertDyck · 2024-11-10 17:08:43

How long after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 before a response from FEMA? The Canadian Navy sent several ships with helicopters, water desalination systems, emergency rations, etc. One ship had a hospital. For a long time the only emergency relief was from the Canadian Navy. Again, how long before FEMA showed up? What is the government paying FEMA for?

kbd512 · 2024-11-12 00:23:45

US 2024 Elections Results Updates

House Elections Results
Republicans secured 218 seats!

For whatever reason, The Associated Press is still behind the power curve in timely reporting of results, but Reuters, The Hill, and a handful of other media agencies are now reporting that the Republican Party has secured 218 seats in the House.

270towin.com - Republicans Retain House Majority - By 270toWin Staff - November 11, 2024, 8:05 PM ET

Monday evening, AZ-06 was called for Republican Juan Ciscomani, who was reelected for a second term. That win gives the GOP 218 seats, ensuring they will retain their majority when the 119th Congress begins in January.
Earlier in the day, CO-08 was called for Republican Gabe Evans, who defeated freshman Democrat Yadira Caraveo.
Eight House races remain uncalled. Seven are in California, one in Alaska.
In California, Tuesday is the final day for ballots to arrive and be counted, assuming they were postmarked by Election Day. The state is very slow at counting (this is not new), so it is unclear when those races will be called.
In Alaska, there probably won't be a race call until the ranked choice tabulation on November 20.

The Republicans appear to have won the Presidency, the Senate, the House, and the popular vote.

Calliban · 2024-11-12 03:47:46

You can track the real time tally here.
https://www.foxnews.com/elections/2024/ … ults/house

At time of writing the Reps have 214. They are ahead in enough remaining seats that they will almost certainly reach and probably surpass 218.

It will be interesting to see what a Trump-Musk partnership will mean for Mars. Especially with the Reps controlling both houses. I wish we had a leader like Trump in the UK.

kbd512 · 2024-11-12 09:15:47

Calliban,

I'm going off of reporting from various left and right foreign and domestic media reports that they're not going to certify election results until the end of this week, but that the Republicans have now gained the votes to secure 219 seats and the Democrats gained or likely will gain the votes required to secure 213 seats. By current vote tally, Republicans have 219 seats and Democrats have 210 seats. The 3 seat discrepancy is expected to go to the Democrat candidates.

If that changes between now and the end of the week, I'll add an update. The remaining races are either too close to call or contested by the candidates because the results are close enough to request recounts. That means there will be a handful of races which require recounts, but 432 of 435 seats appear to be accounted for at the time I wrote my last post. If nothing unusual happens between now and then, the most probable makeup of the House of Congress going into 2025, will include 219 Republicans and 213 Democrats.

"270toWin" reports the results before they're certified. The Associated Press remains the official reporter of election results, but again, they typically only report results after results are certified. Based purely on counted votes and majorities, the 219 Republicans and 213 Democrats appears to be the most probable outcome.

kbd512 · 2024-11-13 15:14:07

US 2024 Elections Results Updates

House Elections Results
Republicans secured 217 seats.
Democrats secured 207 seats.

These are official results reported by The Associated Press.

Total reported results look much better now for the West Coast states, with vote tabulation nearing 90% completed. The popular vote margin currently stands at just over 3.1 million votes in favor of President-elect Trump. The vote breakdown amongst the West Coast states is around 60% in favor of Vice President Harris, 40% in favor of President-elect Trump. Vote allocation appears closer for the two candidates in the Midwest and East Coast states, with Massachusetts, Maryland, and District of Columbia being the only exceptions.

Calliban · 2024-11-14 02:09:09

The end of China's rise and its growing militarisation.
https://youtu.be/zAtUXoewlhI?si=no2KvUWp9SZYb05T

This repeats a lot of what we have already been told by Peter Zeihan. As the Chinese economic system contracts, domestic political oppression is growing. The threat of Chinese military aggression outside of their borders is also ramping up. Chinese naval power is growing fast, along with the size of their nuclear arsenal. The central government has deteriorated into a one man dictatorship. Economic relationships between China and other powers are deteriorating.

There are no precise historical parallels. But modern China in many ways resembles the Third Reich in the early 1930s. A flagging, export dominated economy. A central government based upon a cult of personality around one man. An entire nation with a chip on its shoulder over past humiliations - Versailles for the Germans, Taiwan for the Chinese. And a massive military buildout. History suggests it won't end well.

The incoming US administration is committed to increasing pressure on China by raising tariffs on imported Chinese goods. The problem from a US stand point is that household inflation is already high and this will increase it further. The federal reserve is likely to respond by raising rates, which will make it more difficult for indebted consumers (and government) to service debt. This may be the straw that breaks the camels back and puts the US into recession.

I suspect the Dem side know this. There was a lot less cheating in this election and we havn't seen as much pushback so far as we did following the last Trump election. I suspect that this is because they know a major economic event is imminent and they are happy to let Trump be the man in power when it hits. If the US faces a major recession in the next four years, he is well placed to take the blame for it, though it won't be his fault. The present situation of over indebtedness and growing inflation is a problem that started with the neoliberal economics of Clinton and Blair. Tariffs are a reasonable economic position for America. Chinese exports are going away anyway, globalisation is reversing and taxes designed to accelerate reshoring of manufacturing are sensible given what we know is coming. But when crisis hits, voters will punish whoever happens to be in charge at the time. That is a well established fact.

Last edited by Calliban (2024-11-14 02:45:16)

kbd512 · 2024-11-16 14:26:05

US 2024 Elections Results Updates

House Elections Results
Republicans secured 218 seats.
Democrats secured 212 seats.

These are official results reported by The Associated Press.

There is one more Republican voting district in California which has not been called. None of the House election results from Alaska have been certified now, either, but the Republicans have a 55% to 40% advantage over the Democrats. I'm guessing they're recounting the votes in Alaska, for whatever reason. Either way, the Republicans will have a majority in the House, as-is, and only the number of seats in the majority remains unknown.

The Republican Party has won the Presidency, a majority in the Senate, a majority in the House, the popular vote, and a majority of the US states have elected Republican governors.

I'm not sure how much clearer the message needs to be for our representatives to, you know, represent our interests in government, as opposed to the interests of tiny minority groups within the Democrat Party. It's time to change course by trying something we barely pay lip service to these days- using the power of government to at least attempt to give people a better future. We cannot do that through the politics of group identity and selfishness. It's time to refocus on the basics of running a country properly, which has not happened during the past four years under a President deemed so senile by his own party that he was judged to be incapable of leading or merely running for office. His Vice President was so deeply unpopular with her own party that she did not receive a single nomination vote for President during her bid during the 2020 Presidential election.

The majority of Americans have spoken by casting their votes. They want to take a different course of action.

Do we have the attention of BOTH political parties yet?

Is anyone from the Democrat Party or Republican Party actually listening to us?

The way we became a nation in decline was by allowing the shallow self-interested people running it to pander to special interests.

We want a better economic future to look forward to, not worse. We need jobs for our own people and inflation that doesn't crush the average worker. I don't care if rich people get richer, so long as all the poor and middle class people also get richer. I don't look down my nose at rich or poor people, but I want a better outcome for as many people as we can possibly give opportunities to. Some will win. Some will lose. Equality of outcome is either impossible or insanity. Nothing will ever be 100% equal for everyone everywhere, unless we're all dead set on becoming equally poor and destitute. Communists are always ready and willing to deliver oblivion, if that is what people truly want. They always think they're smarter than the last group, and in due time they're always proven wrong, without exception. Lusting after what your neighbor has is a societal dead end. I want American society to continue on, long after I'm gone.

We're not looking for handouts from the government, merely opportunities. We don't view the government as our saviors or our piggy bank. We wish that other people would stop viewing both the government AND their fellow citizens this way. Rich people cannot give you everything you could possibly want, even if you took every last cent they had. Similarly, rich people need to learn that squeezing every last cent out of the poor is equally asinine. The least well off amongst my fellow Americans hold a higher station in life than the kings and queens of antiquity.

Government is NOT supposed to hand out "free stuff" to some special group of political supporters. The purpose of government is to use force to achieve agreed-upon objectives. It's not "pretty" scalpel which can perform plastic surgery on society to remake society into a beautiful utopia. Government is a blood-stained broadsword covered with dents and nicks in the blade from all the skulls it has cleaved from the bodies of its victims. Government is not something to be propped up on a pedestal. Government is something you use as a final resort, when nothing else gets the job done.

We want the welfare of our own fellow Americans treated with at least as much importance as that of foreigners who merely crossed our borders illegally. There can be no legitimacy through mere declaration or ignoring our existing laws whenever they run afoul of party politics.

We want violent career criminals locked up, not coddled or allowed to run wild in our streets. Nobody here deliberately "voted for that", and most felons cannot vote, so the people who haven't raped, robbed, or murdered their fellow citizens deserve at least as much deference as those who have, and perhaps a lot more.

We want a Department of Defense that either lives up to that name, or is correctly rebranded as a "Department of Offense". There's no "defending" going on when we're actively looking to start new wars. War is supposed to be the final option, not the "go-to" option. Foreign policy involves diplomacy. When are we going to start practicing that again? For those who don't know, diplomacy is the art of telling someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the journey. We need more of that and less murdering each other to take what the other has or in response to some petty grievance.

America is a deeply religious country. Some of our faithful follow the religion of money or science or government itself, others follow the edicts of their "God" (whichever one that happens to be), and the rest I really have no idea about most of the time. America was founded on freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion.

Nobody has all the answers. Anyone who claims to is obviously lying. Sometimes we can fall back on things that we know worked well, but other times not so much. On the go forward, I'm hoping that we start seeking answers to the big questions, together. If there's no debate and no questioning, then there's no learning, either. We cannot get to this "better future", unless we do so together. It's going to be messy and uncertain. At times, it will seem dangerous and scary. Unlike slavery, freedom doesn't come with a list of guarantees, and it absolutely is not free. We have to fight for it, and for each other, or there is no future worth living for us or anyone else. Nobody is coming to save us. We are the cavalry.

Calliban · 2024-11-17 14:47:31

In "Major Policy Shift" Biden Authorizes Ukraine's Use Of US Missiles To Hit Targets Inside Russia
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/major … ide-russia

The dementia-ridden, deep state puppet in the White House just greenlighted World War 3 on his way out to the glue factory.

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