In your honest opinion, who do you think has the best chance of becoming POTUS?

[Beguile's Mistress]

Something I found that is adorable and very interesting.

http://www.upworthy.com/6-conversations-i-was-forced-to-have-with-my-kids-about-the-election-because-of-trump?c=upw1&u=bad0a891ccda45631086e929e4798480e11eca50

[Oniya]

The logical thing would be for the hardcore Trump supporters to join up with the Tea Party, and break out of the GOP to run their own.

But don't you know?  No one votes for third parties, because third parties never win. 

[gaggedLouise]

But don't you know?  No one votes for third parties, because third parties never win. 

That's precisely why they need to go with such a party.   

[Beguile's Mistress]

While their basic goals might be the same I doubt they could coexist as a single entity.  Though the outcome could probably provide as much comic entertainment as Trump has.

[Orval Wintermute]

That he is not Donald Trump is, in my opinion, the very reason McMullin wouldn't make it, even if this unlikely situation were to happen.

Just assume for a minute that somehow the election ends up in the House on January 6th and that McMullin is on the ballot. Hillary is still going to up to neck in e-mails, Trump's court cases for fraud and child rape are unlikely to be concluded. The 'none of the above' option starts looking pretty good to conservatives.

[Beguile's Mistress]

Except that when you get down to the nitty-gritty there is no confidence that any of them can do the job.  None of them have the experience or the ability to handle things on an international level and they have no power base that would make them anything more than a figure head.

[Missy]

Something I found that is adorable and very interesting.

http://www.upworthy.com/6-conversations-i-was-forced-to-have-with-my-kids-about-the-election-because-of-trump?c=upw1&u=bad0a891ccda45631086e929e4798480e11eca50

Obviously, the smart choice here is to just turn off the news until 2017, but where's the fun in that? Either way, my kids just learned a great lesson in doing their own research. And I learned that they don't steal or set things on fire. Maybe I am actually OK at this parenting thing?

[
heheheh

[Oniya]

We've had a confirmed arrest for attempted voter fraud.  In Iowa.

Plot twist...

[Orval Wintermute]

Well Kellyanne Conway did say she thought anyone who voted early should be allowed to vote again after the Comey non-revelation.

[Beguile's Mistress]

Why ambitious men are celebrated and ambitious women are criticized

[Cassandra LeMay]

We've had a confirmed arrest for attempted voter fraud.  In Iowa.

Plot twist...

Oh my golly gosh! That smoking gun brings the confirmed counts of in-person voter fraud in the last ten or twelve years to what... 32 instead of 31!

Well, at least that means in-person voter fraud is actually a thing - unlike some other Republican talking points, like.... ohh... say... "partial birth" abortion. 

Honestly, right now I don't give a damn if Vladimir Putin becomes the next president of the United States of Absurdistan. I just want this darn thing to be over and done with. *headdesks*

[ReijiTabibito]

Why ambitious men are celebrated and ambitious women are criticized

Kyle Kulinski, who is the main way I get my news and news commentary these days, commented on the Ohio speech in a video clip just a couple of days ago - the one where Obama intimated that if you're not voting for Hillary Clinton on a gut feeling, it might be sexism.  I've got a few things to say about this.

A: nobody should need a gut feeling in order to decide who to vote for this election.  Both candidates have gotten the full-on glare of the spotlight - Trump through the usual media outlets (see below), and Clinton through things like the Podesta e-mails, Wikileaks revelations, and other alt-media events.

B: I'm not voting for HRC, I'm voting for Jill Stein (altered, see below).  Does that make me sexist now?

C: Win, lose, or draw, I've gotten what I wanted out of this election - the exposure of our 'esteemed' government functionaries as a bunch of political vultures who don't care about the interests of the American people, just a bunch of eternal office-seekers (and hey, if you don't get re-elected, you can always find a job with lobbyists!); as well as the exposure of mainstream media as hopelessly corrupt, in bed with the political establishment (they all have a side, I just want to see them all burn and replaced with actual news agencies instead of remaining as Talkingheadsylvania) - the latter was backed up by a poll from Suffolk University/USA Today that showed 75% of all Americans believe the mainstream media is biased in favor of Clinton, compared to only 7% for Trump.  And that number holds up across the aisle - 74% of people who said they would be voting for Hillary said that the media was clearly in favor of her.

Are the next four years going to suck whoever becomes President?  Yeah, almost certainly.  But we needed a political realignment, we needed a wake-up call to how bad things have gotten, and we're on our way on the first, and the second has certainly happened.  I don't mean to mix political events, but Nigel Farage of the UKIP pointed out in an interview that no matter how the election goes, the people are not simply going to go away - their protest over the failure of government to respond to their needs only gets resolved when those needs are addressed, and done so adequately.  Now, Farage was talking about the Trump camp, but with a few exceptions, I think you could assign that statement to a lot of other supporter groups.  Bernie supporters, or someone who is voting for someone rather than voting against someone, or someone who is voting to break the corrupt power base in DC.  Government's gotten its wake-up call, and it's to their own peril that they ignore it for 'business as usual.'


As for me?  I know exactly how to vote next Tuesday!

Giant Meteor 2016!

God, Let It All Please End!

[Oniya]

I think my favorite bumper sticker this year has been

REFRIGERATOR 2016!
Because America needs to chill the f*** out!

Saw it walking home from a school event with little Oni, and we both laughed our butts off.

[Beguile's Mistress]

Since Stein has little to no chance of winning and is not qualified to lead this country if she did it's easy to see why she's ignored.  In actuality, any third party candidate could only be a figurehead since they don't have the necessary experience, qualifications or power base to be leader of any sort.  It pretty much amounts to asking a sixth grade student to lead the high school student government. 

Almost every negative comment I've heard about Secretary Clinton comes based on questionable sources, hearsay, lies from others and innuendo.  I'll go with the person who actually has worked hard for this country and cares more about the job than looking pretty, sounding sweet and sucking up to the people who can't stand her.

[Beguile's Mistress]

I think my favorite bumper sticker this year has been

REFRIGERATOR 2016!
Because America needs to chill the f*** out!

Saw it walking home from a school event with little Oni, and we both laughed our butts off.

Love it!

[TheGlyphstone]

I had been briefly interested in Stein until she started catering to the lunatic fringes in a desperate effort to accumulate votes. Green party environmentalism is one thing, sucking up to 9/11 Truthers and anti-vaccination movements with vague statements of implied agreement/support killed that interest with a hammer.

[Cassandra LeMay]

A: nobody should need a gut feeling in order to decide who to vote for this election.  Both candidates have gotten the full-on glare of the spotlight - Trump through the usual media outlets (see below), and Clinton through things like the Podesta e-mails, Wikileaks revelations, and other alt-media events.

Yes, only that Clinton has also been looked at through the lense of the "usual media outlets" for about twenty damn years!

The way you paint it makes it look like Trump has been the focus of a national media campaign and Clinton hasn't, and that is ... You know, there are a lot of things I could call this, but I won't. It's not that I couldn't, but it would be bad if I called it what you know I want to call it, so I won't call it that. Unless I have to call it that to get some more media attention. In short, I call the Trump defense for not saying what you know I am actually saying.

Clinton may not be the best apple in the world, but at least you can get a few good bites out of a bad apple if you cut away the bad parts. But Trump is a moldy lemon spray painted to look like a glossy orange.  Take a bite of both and tell me what tastes better.

[CuriousEyes]

Since Stein has little to no chance of winning and is not qualified to lead this country if she did it's easy to see why she's ignored.  In actuality, any third party candidate could only be a figurehead since they don't have the necessary experience, qualifications or power base to be leader of any sort.  It pretty much amounts to asking a sixth grade student to lead the high school student government. 

While I find a lot of his worldview as it relates to economic matters, the environment, and the social safety net as deeply flawed, Gary Johnson does have a long and legitimate political background. He won't (and in my mind the same as Trump - shouldn't) win, but he is a credible candidate by most standards.


Safe space? Im getting a bit nervous, albeit it's the same kind of feeling I have about boarding a plane where I keep reminding myself it is an irrational fear.

I hope.

[Beguile's Mistress]

You play the odds just getting out of bed in the morning.  Life can throw curve balls at you on a whim.  But when you have the chance to push things into a positive column for yourself to do that.  Secretary Clinton has been around for thirty years fighting the good fight and all the odds that have been stacked against her.  She pushed and nagged and hollered and finagled to get some good stuff for this country and the people who live in it.  Children and families are better off because of her, our veterans are getting a fair shake for a change, our schools have better chances of turning out good graduates and women who need services just to stay healthy are getting them.  She wants to help college students and do more to give the people in the country what they need.  I can't see where any of the other candidates actually care a jot about anyone but themselves.

[Cassandra LeMay]

While I find a lot of his worldview as it relates to economic matters, the environment, and the social safety net as deeply flawed, Gary Johnson does have a long and legitimate political background. He won't (and in my mind the same as Trump - shouldn't) win, but he is a credible candidate by most standards.

So you find a lot of his views deeply flawed, yet you think he is a credible candidate? Could you perhaps explain to me what "most standards" means, because I am having a wee bit of trouble squaring that circle.

I know I am beginning to sound a little caustic, the longer this election drags on, given that I think the choice should be fairly obvious  and not much of an issue, but I am really not sure how you define "credible candidate" in this context.

[CuriousEyes]

So you find a lot of his views deeply flawed, yet you think he is a credible candidate? Could you perhaps explain to me what "most standards" means, because I am having a wee bit of trouble squaring that circle.

I know I am beginning to sound a little caustic, the longer this election drags on, given that I think the choice should be fairly obvious  and not much of an issue, but I am really not sure how you define "credible candidate" in this context.

As opposed to being a reality tv personality with a heavily pockmarked business record, he's a two-term governor (confession - I'm not too familiar with his record) - IE he has some semblance of a history in politics and executive experience in government. You can make the same blanket argument for most of the previous Republican field.

I don't agree with his policies so I wouldn't vote for him, but he's more credible in that he's done this before.

[Beguile's Mistress]

So it isn't the same a promoting the mail room clerk to senior management but still he has not power base, no foothold in any part of congress and being governor doesn't provide as much experience as it might imply.  There is absolutely nothing that qualifies any of the others to deal with international politics.  The closest any of them come to world economics is Trump sending his manufacturing to any other country but ours.

The other party candidates may not be as sleazy, greasy, despicable and deplorable as Trump but I still can work up and feeling of confidence in them.

[TheGlyphstone]

So it isn't the same a promoting the mail room clerk to senior management but still he has not power base, no foothold in any part of congress and being governor doesn't provide as much experience as it might imply.  There is absolutely nothing that qualifies any of the others to deal with international politics.  The closest any of them come to world economics is Trump sending his manufacturing to any other country but ours.

The other party candidates may not be as sleazy, greasy, despicable and deplorable as Trump but I still can work up and feeling of confidence in them.

It's hardly unprecedented though. Out of all our previous presidents, 13 of them were governors before winning the presidency, FDR and Reagan among them, plus another 5 who served both as governor and as a senator. 11 others were in the Senate alone - the career path of governor-to-president/senator-to-president is a well-greased one in American politics.

[Beguile's Mistress]

Both FDR and Reagan came to the Oval Office with name recognition and a power base as well as proven credentials in the careers and offices they held previously.  The same could be said of many of the other presidents as well.

Say Trump's name and people groan.  Say the names of the others and most people say, "Who?"  They've all proven themselves to be not up to the bar for what is needed to run this country. 

I interview a lot of people for jobs, not only here where I work but in the initial screening process for some of our clients.  None of them would get a second interview in my process.

[Oniya]

Amusing thing - Little Oni's school did mock elections.  Hillary won by a landslide, but - Jill Stein did better than Donald.