Archive for the Voting Category

L’Election (November 14, 2022)

Posted in Elections, Voting, War and Wall Street Party on November 14, 2022 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Abortion concerns counterbalanced inflation fears?”

J          “Climate change counterpoised creeping crime concerns?”

. . .

K          “Very little mention of World War III and its profound long term consequences.”

J          “I saw some blue and yellow.”

. . .

K          “The red tsunami was more of a red rivulet.  The ‘D’ Division of the ‘War and Wall Street Party’ may have held the House of Lords and the ‘R’ Division of the ‘War and Wall Street Party’ may have taken the House of Commons.  At least, Biden will be able to obtain the confirmation of federal court judges for two years.”

J          “I have not looked closely at any numbers on the amount spent in the race, yet the ‘D’ Division seems to have spent a bucket of money.  How much did the FTX donations impact the outcome for the Democrats?”

. . .

Bumper sticker of the week:

Vote for Nobody.  Nobody cares about you.  . . .  But vote.  For Somebody.

Le Election: One First Street (November 2, 2020)

Posted in Elections, Supreme Court, Voting on November 2, 2020 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “One First Street is my number one concern.”

J          “On the third of November, One First Street is foremost on my mind.  The coup d’état at the Supreme Court was completed a fortnight ago, but we need to keep fighting.  What else do we do.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “Suffer Clinton.  The Devil.  We know. (November 7, 2016)” and “Better the crook we know than the crazy man we don’t?  Applying The Conservative Tie Breaker. (June 20, 2016)”.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

“I am endorsing Hillary, and all her lies and all her empty promises.  It’s the second-worst thing that can happen to this country, but she’s way behind in second place.  She’s wrong about absolutely everything, but she’s wrong within normal parameters.”  P.J. O’Rourke

“I am endorsing Joe, and all his lies and all his empty promises.  It’s the second-worst thing . . . .”

“And how many more of these stinking double-downer sideshows will we have to go through before we can get . . . a chance to vote for something, instead of always being faced with that old familiar choice between the lesser of two evils?”  Hunter S. Thompson

I’m (Not Really Totally By Any Means Excited To Be) With Him

When your IQ reaches 50, YOU SHOULD SELL.

From “Occupy” to “Occupation”:  Nine Years Later (September 14, 2020)

Posted in Book Reference, Civil War, Class, Collapse, Occupy Movement, Voting on September 14, 2020 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Occupy showed so much promise.”

J          “That’s why they killed it.”

. . .

K          “What was percolating may start boiling.”

J          “What was festering may start exploding.”

. . .

K          “Occupy challenged one to occupy his or her mind and community and now the Occupation/Siege calls for one to occupy the bowels of the beast.”

J          “September 17 may become as big a holiday as July 14.  Stay tuned, as they say.”

. . .

[See the commentary on the Occupation/Siege at Adbusters.]

[See the e-commentary at “Occupy America (October 10, 2011)”, “Occupy America: The “Bonus March/Chicago Police Riot/Kent State” Of 2011? (October 17, 2011)”, “An “Occupy Primer” (November 14, 2011) and “Civil War II.  Coming To A Country Near You (November 26, 2018)”.]

Bumper sticker of the week:

“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking:  What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family?  Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?  …  The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt!  If … if … We didn’t love freedom enough.  And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation … We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”  Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918 – 1956

Covid-19 PanICdemic/Plague:  The Country Is Moving From The City To The Country (August 17, 2020)

Posted in Climate, Covid / Coronavirus, Population, Society, Voting on August 17, 2020 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “The exodus over the last century from the fertile farm, verdant field to the bright lights, big city is now reversing direction.”

J          “In my neck of the woods out at the cabin, the prices of rural property are sky rocketing as people flee the sky high prices and confined life in skyscrapers.”

. . .

J          “With aerosolization of the Virus, the skies may not yet be safe to fly.  Instead of flying in an aluminum aircraft tube in the jet stream, folks are driving around towing an aluminum Airstream.”

K          “You can camp and stream at all the wi-fi hot spots while avoiding the Covid-19(84) hot spots in a mobile cave.  Driving around in a recreational vehicle or towable camper allows you to cover substantial distances while practicing social distancing.”

. . .

K          “Blue cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles in blue states are bleeding population to the red towns and red states.  This tectonic movement is profound for both the city and the country.”

J          “And the great migration is triggered not by global climate change as everyone surmised but by even more immediate economic and epidemiological threats.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “‘Peak Land’: The Exodus Toward The Equator . . . or the North Pole? (April 4, 2011)” on the population shifts triggered by climate change.  See “Bugging Out To N.Z.:  The Movie (June 26, 2017)” and “Bugging Out To N.Z.:  The Movie, Part 2.  Oh, And Happy Valentine’s Day (February 12, 2018)” on the escape plans of the jet set who will take to the jet stream.  See “Living In The “Peoplocene Age”.  The Inconvenient Truth:  Renewable Energy Is Not Sustainable; The Population Must Be Restrainable.  (December 12, 2016” and “Over Over-Population:  10 Billion Little Miracles (And Counting) (And Costing) (January 26, 2015)” on population challenges.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Two is one; one is none

See the USA

“Le temps du loup”

19th Amendment

The “Great American Race (‘GAR’)” Is Off.  Political Gerrymandering:  Courting The Problem (January 7, 2019)

Posted in Elections, Gerrymandering, Politics, Supreme Court, Voting, War and Wall Street Party on January 7, 2019 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “The Great American Race (‘GAR’) begins in earnest this month.  America consigns two years to select its Great Kahuna whereas Australia only devotes a more reasonable two months.”

J          “And the race is rigged at every turn and twist on the track.  Some candidates such as Bernie in 2016 find that the ‘D’ division of the ‘War and Wall Street Party’ itself operates a rigged preliminary heat.  Many citizens are forced to drive a long distance to get to the betting window and/or are required to stand in a long line.  Some citizens do not even get to bet on a horse at all.  The Great Voting Gauntlet (‘GVG’) dissuades and discourages many citizens.”

K          “The Great American Race (‘GAR’) is also the Great American Crime (‘GAC’).”  

J          “Do the GAR and the GAC add up to the GAG (‘Great American Game’)?”   

. . . 

J          “The Supreme Court agreed last Friday to take up some of the unresolved questions regarding partisan gerrymandering.  The two cases consider rulings involving maps in North Carolina and Maryland drawn by Republicans and Democrats, respectively, so extreme that the lower courts say they violated the rights of voters.”

K          “Perhaps we are off and running.”

J          “Or on and stopping.”

. . .

K          “The way I see it, the courts are the people’s second to the last resort before the people resort to the streets.  If the Court abdicates its duty to address the matter with ballots, the people will at some time address the matter with bullets.  The Executive branch is effete and enervated yet admittedly still too powerful.  The Legislative branch is a product and a by-product of the problem.  The answers are not easy or elegant.  Failure to address the problem and provide a partial answer is a complete failure and capitulation.  The suite or the street, that is the question.”

J          The way I see it, the courts are the people’s second to the last resort before the people resort to the streets.  If the Court abdicates its duty to address the matter with ballots, the people will at some time address the matter with bullets.  The Executive branch is effete and enervated yet admittedly still too powerful.  The Legislative branch is a product and a by-product of the problem.  The answers are not easy or elegant.  Failure to address the problem and provide a partial answer is a complete failure and capitulation.  The suite or the street, that is the question.”

. . .   

K          “The Court of last resort may be the court of second to the last resort.”

J          “Unless the populace just does not care or does not understand.” 

. . .  

[See the e-commentary at “Partisan Gerrymandering:  From Ballots To Bullets?  Oh, And Happy National Voter Registration Day! (September 24, 2018)” and “Five Red Rich Republican ‘Catholic’ Corporatist ‘White’ Boys . . . Versus . . .  Four Blue Comfortable Democratic ‘Jewish’ Individualist White ‘Girls’ . . . And All By-Products Of The S.I.C. (October 2, 2017)”.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Election Day should be a national holiday

The suite or the street, that is the question.

GAR + GAC = GAG

Election 2018:  God Meddled (November 19, 2018)

Posted in Elections, Voting on November 19, 2018 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “God meddled in the election.”

J          “That’s the word from on high.”

. . .

K          “James Madison sent an unrelenting torrent of texts and tweets to God decreeing that only divine intervention would to save the Republic he worked so hard to sire and inspire.”

J          “Something happened on high.  If the people had not taken the House of Commons, the Republicans would have rapes and ravaged the Republic without check or balance.”

. . .

J          “Despite all the political gerrymandering and the active voter suppression, the House of Representatives is beginning to look like one of those ads featuring a Noah’s Ark of humanity tableau.”

K          “Whatever floats our boat is fine with me.”

J          “Me too.  Just keep everything in check and everything in balance.”

. . . 

[A “Blue Wave” may be an exaggeration, yet there were some lapis lazuli lappings at the shore.]

[See the e-commentary at “Russian Interference; Russian Collusion (February 26, 2018)”.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

The Blue Splash

“It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government.  But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?  If men were angels, no government would be necessary.  If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.”  Federalist No. 51, generally attributed to Jimmy Madison of the Publius Brothers 

Vote . . .  Oh, And Happy Election Day! (November 5, 2018)

Posted in Voting on November 5, 2018 by e-commentary.org

. . .

And provide your neighbors with the courage to vote.

. . .

[See the e-commentary on the consequences of large voter turnout in “Sweet Senate Alabama (December 18, 2017)”.]

Bumper sticker of the week:

My vote cancels your vote; unless you don’t vote

Partisan Gerrymandering:  From Ballots To Bullets?  Oh, And Happy National Voter Registration Day! (September 24, 2018) 

Posted in Partisan Gerrymandering, Politics, Supreme Court, Voting on September 24, 2018 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “‘Don’t bother me,’ opined the Chief (Justice) to the Indians.  ‘I closed the doors to the Supreme Court.  If you want to change polity, you must resort to bullets not ballots.  My Supreme Court is in business to help big business, it is not in business to help little people,’ proclaimed the Chief.  ‘The game is gamed.  The franchise is foreclosed.  The ballot box is buttoned up.  Go away.  Go home.’”

J          “He does not get it.  ‘In order for nonviolence to work, your opponent must have a conscience,’ observed Stokely Carmichael.  We have a problem.  And he gets it.”

K          “A (Supreme) Court without a conscience.”

J          “In a Country without a conscience.”

. . .

K          “If Roberts and gang do not want to protect the public against partisan gerrymandering, they should resign and let someone else do the job.”

J          “They like the money.  They like the power.  They like to impose their will.”

. . .

K          “I vote for the ballot.”

J          “I second the vote.”

K          “Now we need to get the Chief to focus on protecting the ballot rather than promoting the bullet as the means to bring about peaceful change.”

J          “He just does not get it.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “Sweet Senate Alabama (December 18, 2017)”.]

Bumper stickers of the week: 

Vote

“Those who make peaceful revolution [resolution] impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”  John F. Kennedy (Ted could have polished/improved/cadenced the statement by saying “peaceful resolution” rather than “peaceful revolution”.)

Sweet Senate Alabama (December 18, 2017)

Posted in Senate, Voting on December 18, 2017 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Moore is less.”

J          “And let’s hope that more of us try to keep up with the Jones.”

. . . 

K          “Doug Jones was drawing to an inside straight.  So much had to line up perfectly and fortuitously to produce a victory in ruby-red Alabama.”

J          “Turnout, it turns out, is the key.” 

K          “Although he remains one of America’s greatest political, economic and social commentators, Professor George Carlin’s contention that a citizen should not vote is fundamentally wrong.  There are times when votes are counted and when votes count.”

. . .

J          “Senator Shelby’s statement that he wrote in the name of another Republican on his general election absentee ballot may be the most moral and one of the most consequential actions in his career.”

K          “There may be some semblance of shame and decency in America.”

. . .

K          “The result will lead to the redoubling of efforts to suppress voting and to gerrymander districts.”

. . .

J          “Turnout.”

. . .

[See the “Doonesbury” artwork created by Garry Trudeau in many of yesterday’s newspapers.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Sweet Senate Alabama 

Roll Tide

Vote

“It’s not the people who vote that count.  It’s the people who count the votes.”  Attributed to Joe Stalin

The E-pocalypse:  My Fellow Americans, Our Long National Nightmare Is Beginning (November 14, 2016)

Posted in Blue States / Red States, Clinton, Democrats, FBI, Journalism, Newspapers, Pogo Plight, Presidency, Press/Media, Radio, Republicans, Trumpi, Voting, War and Wall Street Party on November 14, 2016 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “The national political stage is now showcasing a burlesque reality show with America’s Silvio Berlusconi at center stage.  Donaldo Trumpi.”

J          “If you want to be the laughingstock of the world, you need a fool to make ‘em laugh.”

K          “And to fool them.  Washington has devolved into Rome, so the populace might as well coronate Nero to oversee the cesspool.”         

J          “Circuses and bread . . . and Trump.  P.T. Barnum would be amused.  He only took the peoples’ money and yet gave them a spectacle in return.  The people soon will see that Trump will take their dreams and give them nothing.”

. . .

K          “Post Trumpatic Stress Disorder (PTpSD) is haunting three cohorts this week.  The reflective Bernie supporters who voted for Trump or others in protest are stupefied.  The disconnected voters who did not want Trump in the White House but could not vote for Clinton and were confident she would win are horrified.  And those who simply cannot accept Trump in the White House are terrified.”

J          “We need to adopt a provision from consumer protection statutes to allow voters to reconsider their decisions within seventy-two hours.” 

. . .

K          “I thought the ‘e-pocalypse’ would be an economic apocalypse not an election apocalypse.”

J          “Don’t panic.  That is coming.”

. . .

K          “Trump is the only candidate who Clinton could beat.  Clinton is the only candidate who Trump could beat.  The rules were written so that the voters could not vote for both of them to lose at the same time.  Someone was forced to win.”

J          “In a nation with millions and millions and millions of potential candidates, the number ‘n’ candidate and the number ‘n – 1’ candidate were engaged.  Long before the election, however, the Democrats elected to lose with Clinton rather than to win with Sanders.”

. . .

K          “For the last few months, I could see something bubbling in the background and hovering on the horizon.  The media were trapped in a bubble.  The Clinton campaign was trapped in a bubble.  Neither had an air vent to the real world.  The double bubble was leading to trouble for Clinton.”

J          “An old boy once told me that you should never breathe your own fumes.”

. . .

J          “The decision by the FBI director James Comey to revive the inquiry into Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server was a factor that caused her to lose.  He should be indicted.”

K          “The system is so corrupt that the FBI director can do anything and is above the law.  Only the poor and downtrodden get indicted in America.”

J          “The successful efforts by Republicans in some of the battleground states to purge their voting roles had an impact that needs to be analyzed with care.”

. . .

K          “Madeline Albright’s threat that women who do not vote for Clinton will find a place in Hell did not play well.  Too many citizens are already living a hellish existence.  Telling someone that you have no choice except to capitulate to a candidate rubbed many the wrong way.  Voting the opposite way is the only way to proclaim one’s freedom and independence.”

J          “And worth.  The simple truth is that many uneducated white males were threatened by and unwilling to vote for an educated white female.  I told others to disregard her smug, privileged, arrogant and sanctimonious attitude and vote for someone who is at least somewhat stable.”

K          “Romney’s disdain and dismissal of the ‘47 percent’ in 2012 before a private gathering of old White boys played a decisive role in his defeat.  Why Clinton decided gratuitously to take a page from his play book, disparage the ‘deplorables’ in public and leave voters wondering whether they were worthy of voting for her is stupefying.”

J          “And stupid.  There is no other word for it.  She spent time in Arizona and Georgia seeking to win by a landslide but was unaware of how the tectonic plates had shifted under her.  She never even went to Wisconsin to touch base with the folks.  All she had to do was listen to one legitimate grievance and show some empathy.  Every newspaper in the Badger State would have covered the trip.  Some attention to Michigan and Pennsylvania and perhaps Ohio suggesting a positive message rather than carping about Trump would have served her well.”

K          “If she had truly labored on a salmon slime line in Alaska and learned some life lessons rather than just logging a novel resume entry, she would be POTUS-elect.” 

. . .

J          “Some projected that if Clinton were elected, Whites would flock to and flood gun stores.  With Trump’s election, the flood gates are now open to inflict violence on Blacks and Browns who now need to flock to gun stores.  The threat to them is much more real today.”

K          “The National Rifle Association did more than any other institution to put Trump in the House for Whites.”

J          “And the grand irony in this year of absurd consequences is that the NRA followed the practice of so many voters by voting against its interest.  If Clinton had been elected, gun sales would have exploded.  Gun sales and gun stocks now may go down.”

. . .

J          “His antics earned him a billion dollars’ worth of free media coverage particularly when he was outrageous and offensive and himself.  There is a take home message there for future candidates.”

K          “The candidate who spent more money has won every modern Presidential election.  Except this election.  That fluke likely will never happen again.” 

J          “The new ‘antisocial media’ allowed streams of vile and unfounded invective to pass for political insight and surpassed the effectiveness of Anger Mongering (AM) radio.  Elections may soon be fact-free and issue-barren.”

. . .

J          “Compare the list of endorsements for President published by the top hundred newspapers since the 2000 Presidential election.  They were divided about equally between the two candidates.  Never has a major party Presidential candidate received one and only one endorsement and that from a regional paper.”

K          “The media bubble again.  He also received the nod from the Klan rag.  Not receiving one endorsement from a major newspaper was the most compelling and convincing endorsement for many.”

J          “The hate and fear newspapers present a daily gauntlet of hate and fear to everyone going through the checkout lines at grocery stores.  Repetitive subconscious subliminal messages conveyed on the small bill boards that box in the consumer, even if the rag is not read or even picked up, increased the population’s susceptibility to the messages of hate and fear.  Toss in the trip hammer of hate and fear spewing from the Faux Network at home.  Trump only had to whistle.”

. . .

K          “Trump should read the discussion in “‘Mericanize:  Monetize, Mechanize And Militarize (December 30, 2013)” over at e-commentary.org.  The landscape has not changed since then.  Factories are all automated.  Factories, wherever located, do not employ and will never employ many workers.”

J          “He does not care about ideas.”

. . .

K          “By November 5, the Republican Party was pronounced dead on a few websites and then resurrected three days later.  During the early morning hours of November 9, the Democratic Party was put on life support and left in a coma.”

. . .

K          “The undigested anger is still festering.  None of the underlying problems will be addressed.  The anger will find another outlet.”

. . .

J          “Now what?”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “Boycott Red America (January 3, 2005)” and “‘Mericanize:  Monetize, Mechanize And Militarize (December 30, 2013)”.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

The election apocalypse (hereinafter “E-pocalypse”):  Coming to a Republic near you

Did America just repudiate its sanity, decency, humanity and integrity?

Fake quotes will still ruin the Internet.  Benjamin Franklin

The future is certain and the end is already here.

You can’t always get what you want, but if you try, sometimes, you get what you do not need.