US Politics: The Copper, Silver, and Peach hangover

[Fez]

Probably the final margin will be too large for anything to happen, but interesting that this is already a story

The 11-d chess explanation would be its a bluff to get the HFC to fall in line. But 11-d chess is almost never actually happening.

[The Anti-Targ]

3 hours ago, Fez said:

McCarthy must be getting desperate already...

If Democrats had gotten to 218 exactly, liberals would soon enough be cursing the name of Cuellar like they do Manchin (e.g., he is pro-life, the only such House Democrat left, so no Roe law with him as the deciding vote). But he's a longtime party man. 

And Republicans just spent millions trying to beat him, so I imagine he's not feeling particularly friendly anyway.

The question is pro-life in personal outlook, or as a public policy position? I think Biden has said that consistent with his Catholic faith he is personally pro-life, but consistent with the constitution he is not going to try to establish his religion by taking a theological public policy position, and thus he would sign a codification of Roe v Wade into law if Congress passed such a law. Theoretically every member of all 3 branches of govt should compartmentalise in such a manner. But the Christian nationalists are intent on throwing the establishment clause out the window.

[DMC]

The final Maricopa drop seals it for Hobbs.  Still up by 20 thousand votes or 0.8%.  Beating Lake - who probably represented everything that's horrible about Trump more than any other candidate this cycle - is really the cherry on top.

ETA:  NBC called the race right as I posted.

Edited November 15, 2022 by DMC

[ThinkerX]

I dunno. If this article is correct, the D's might be able to oust a certain Colorado representative. If this works, maybe the D's can hold the House? R's in the comments are adamant - the ballots in question MUST get tossed immediately.

Lauren Boebert in Danger as Thousands of Votes for Opponent Could be Fixed (msn.com)

But the incumbent congresswoman's narrow lead could once again be overturned if thousands of likely rejected votes in favor of her challenger were to be fixed, as a recount looms over the Colorado race.

Boebert was widely projected to win the midterms, with polling website FiveThirtyEight giving her a 97 in 100 chance of victory in the days ahead of the vote.

As of November 14 and with nearly all of the ballots being counted, Boebert is leading with 50.1 percent of the vote (162,040 votes) against Frisch's 49.8 percent (160,918 votes).

A recount could be called if the final margin between Boebert and Frisch is less than or equal to 0.5 percent of the leading candidate's vote total. At the moment, the gap between the two candidates is 0.38 percent.

[Tywin et al.]

After holding the Senate the single best thing about this cycle is that idiot lost. Her campaign was truly reprehensible. 

[Fez]

Excellent news on the Hobbs win; not something I expected coming into last Tuesday. A really important win too for 2024.

Unfortunately a lot of bad news on other vote dumps tonight. The Orange County districts in CA are getting away from Democrats, possibly even Katie Porter's, which has been assumed (though not projected yet) to be a Democratic hold. Her lead was cut in half tonight and there's a lot more votes left. Also, it looks like Republicans will end up holding on to the PA state house after all by one seat; though it depends on a recount of a seat where they're up by 12 votes.

[Mindwalker]

Albuquerque police chief admits he waited until after election to correct bogus crime wave claims

When Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina took on the role of acting chief two years ago, his appointment was clouded in controversy. Over the course of his career, Medina was responsible for the shooting death of a teenager, involved in yet another shooting that led to a multi-million dollar settlement, and was one of the decision-makers who did little during a protest that turned violent in 2020 (...)

The day after election day, Medina took to Twitter to “clear up the claims about Albuquerque’s crime stats.”

“Over five years, overall, property and violent crime are down,” Medina tweeted. It was seemingly the first time the police chief bucked conservative talking points claiming violent crime was on the rise. (...)

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/14/2136122/-Albuquerque-Police-chief-tweet-shows-exactly-why-agency-should-be-defunded-with-post-election-tweet

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Liz Cheney throwing some shade:

 

[The Anti-Targ]

Liz Cheney's personal politics might be completely anathema to people who are anywhere close to the centre and all points left. But if she contributed in any way to keeping Big Lie Trumpists out of office in 2022 her legacy will include doing a great service to what passes for democracy at this time in history. Whether that balances out all her negatives for those who's views greatly differ from hers is another matter. To those of a right-wing persuasion she aught to be an absolute hero, not sure how many of the right-wing persuasion see her that way. Seems likely a large proportion want to drop her into the not conservative enough trashcan.

[DMC]

5 minutes ago, The Anti-Targ said:

Liz Cheney's personal politics might be completely anathema to people who are anywhere close to the centre and all points left. But if she contributed in any way to keeping Big Lie Trumpists out of office in 2022 her legacy will include doing a great service to what passes for democracy at this time in history. Whether that balances out all her negatives

It doesn't.  At all.  This is a woman that threw her own sister under the bus to try to win an election.  An election she dropped out of well before even the primary, btw.

[Wilbur]

Quite a number of Republicans crossed the line to vote for Hobbs in Arizona, particularly in Maricopa County, although it was closer than I imagined.

Kari Lake being a Trumpist blow-hard, a political neophyte who hadn't paid her dues, and an obvious hypocrite doomed her from the start.

[DMC]

1 minute ago, Wilbur said:

Quite a number of Republicans crossed the line to vote for Hobbs in Arizona, particularly in Maricopa County, although it was closer than I imagined.

I mean, I guess, but this would mean a whole lot more if both Kelly and SoS-elect Adrian Fontas didn't get about 33 thousand more votes than Hobbs.  Lake's TV stardom and subsequent name ID clearly enabled her to outrun similar crazies like Masters and Finchem.  Which isn't the most encouraging takeaway -- and also why she most resembles Trump.

[The Anti-Targ]

28 minutes ago, DMC said:

It doesn't.  At all.  This is a woman that threw her own sister under the bus to try to win an election.  An election she dropped out of well before even the primary, btw.

That's more about her character than her politics it seems. But it as they are both aspects of her as a person, which are on display in public political life I guess it should be part of a politician's legacy. Since we would definitely consider objectionable personal behaviour / machinations of any politician in the accounting of their public legacy.

[Wilbur]

12 minutes ago, DMC said:

I mean, I guess, but this would mean a whole lot more if both Kelly and SoS-elect Adrian Fontas didn't get about 33 thousand more votes than Hobbs.  Lake's TV stardom and subsequent name ID clearly enabled her to outrun similar crazies like Masters and Finchem.  Which isn't the most encouraging takeaway -- and also why she most resembles Trump.

You are right.

Unfortunately, a lot of American voters use name recognition or celebrity status as a driver for their votes.

As one of my coaches used to say, half the people are stupider than average.

[DMC]

18 minutes ago, The Anti-Targ said:

But it as they are both aspects of her as a person, which are on display in public political life I guess it should be part of a politician's legacy.

Other than taking on Trump, her political "legacy" is thoroughly horrid as well.  Particularly considering it otherwise was an unabashed and comprehensive attempt to continue her father's.

[ThinkerX]

Far-right loons pushing the 'US is a republic, not a democracy' meme really, really hard in the comments of many an article out there. 

[Fragile Bird]

11 hours ago, DMC said:

Yeah this worry is generally widespread - I've seen the media refer to it as the "triple pandemic," which is a great way to scare people.

Not to scare you, DMC, but here in Canada it was announced today we’ve just crossed the numbers threshold into a flu epidemic. There’s an average that, if exceeded, makes it an epidemic. And triple the number of children than usual are coming down with RSV, overwhelming the children’s hospitals and forcing the hospitals to admit them in adult emergency/critical care spaces. Just waiting to see the Covid numbers rise now.

[DMC]

3 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

Just waiting to see the Covid numbers rise now.

Was just talking to my department chair today about what we'll do with courses in the spring semester (meaning January) if we have to alter/shorten/whatever courses.  So, yeah, sufficiently scared.

[Varysblackfyre321]

34 minutes ago, ThinkerX said:

Far-right loons pushing the 'US is a republic, not a democracy' meme really, really hard in the comments of many an article out there. 

They just want an autocracy.

[The Anti-Targ]

You can have freedom without democracy, you just have to be on the winning side when democracy falls, for the rest of you...well you'll mostly be dead so that's a kind of freedom too.

Also, if you have ovaries don't be caught being fertile, and if you're not fertile don't be caught. That's the one "unrealistic" thing about Handmaids Tale, that infertile females would have any kind of status in that society.

 

Edited November 15, 2022 by The Anti-Targ