Archive for the ‘politics’ Category

Captain Kidd: Well Captain Barsiliano are you satisfied?

Captain BarsilianoI still put no trust in him.

Spitfire Stevens: Well I do and enough to give him my ship as soon as it’s re-rigged

Captain BarsilianoNo man is taking a ship out of here unless he has a rope around his neck like any known pirate. All right if he wants to sail let him sail on the Scorpion as my navigator, I have need of one and at once. When he comes back with blood on his hands he can hoist his own black flag, but not before.

Against All Flags 1952

One of the things that you learn quickly if you spend any time with Robert Stacy McCain is that this person is smart, and not just folksy country smart but book smart. He is extremely well read and when he decides to go after Marxists and feminists it’s because he had read more Marx than many Marxists and more Feminism than most Feminists, in fact it was his insistence on quoting feminists in their own words that made him one of the first conservative journalists banned from twitter years ago.

Why Elon Musk’s company has not reinstated him and his 80K+ followers as he has many others is still a large pet peeve for me and a matter of some mystery but I digress…

Well Stacy McCain has looked at the numbers from the last president election and notes a real oddity:

On Wednesday, November 6, the day after Election Day, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter was full of Democrats wondering about the “missing” votes — Kamala Harris’s vote totals were remarkably lower than the 81 million that Joe Biden supposedly got in 2020. This provoked all kinds of paranoid conspiracy theory comments among liberals, none of whom seemed to consider the obvious alternative: Maybe Joe really didn’t get 81 million votes. Maybe “ballot harvesting” and other Democrat shenanigans in 2020 really did amount to a stolen election. But only right-wing extremists could think such a thing.

According to the Associated Press, the 2024 numbers are:

Trump — 76,722,404 votes (50%)
Harris — 74,169,608 votes (48.3%)

According to Wikipedia, the 2020 numbers were:

Biden — 81,283,501 (51.3%)
Trump — 74,223,975 (46.8%)

It is not merely that Harris got some 7 million fewer votes than Biden, but rather than the total number of votes cast was lower by about 5 million. Who were those disappearing voters? Why would so many people not even bother to vote this year? Good luck coming up with an explanation for this that doesn’t include the possibiliity [sic] that what Democrats did in 2020 was to manufacture millions of fake votes for Joe Biden

Democrats being Democrats are floating other theories;

And John Sexton at hotair quotes a piece concerning Democrat voters that is significant to Stacy’s argument:

One final point about non-voters. We don’t know how many non-voters might have voted for Harris if they had voted, but Levitz suggests there’s no reason to think those voters who chose not to vote are an especially progressive group.

In truth, Americans who want the Democratic Party to be more uniformly progressive are, by and large, the most reliably Democratic voters in the country. 

Emphasis Mine

Now let’s go back to Stacy McCain’s argument:

Hmmm. Read the whole thing and you will find no attempt to explain why turnout was so much worse in these “heavily Democratic cities,” because this might lead to questions about why these “heavily Democratic cities” had such phenomenally high turnout in 2020. What happened in 2020 that did not happen in 2024? 

And let me remind you all that it was turnout in five heavily Democrat machine controlled counties in five different states that made the difference in 2020 and the real reason why Biden finally had to go:

And you will recall the big question that Kamala’s incompetent campaign raised: Steal or No Steal?

In short we are in a position where while the apparatus is in place in key states to steal and election you have a strong likely hood that it would fail because of

  • Increased vigilance
  • A larger margin to overcome
  • A candidate even less credible then LOL 81 million Joe

All of this puts us back to the same formula I postulated 8 years ago:

If 
(Number of votes you can get away stealing) > (Number of votes you might lose by)

Then

Go For it!

Else

Release your vote totals as is

Endif

You will not I have bolded the key phrase get away because we are at a point where it is not only likely that a steal might fail do to the volume of the vote, but the dissatisfaction of the electorate has, in my opinion, reached a point where officials held their noses and went along with the steal last time because they disliked Trump might decide against playing ball.

Furthermore if the steal DOES fail you will not only get a Trump administration with a Trump AG and a bunch of new Trump lawyers at Justice but you will get a Trump administration that has had an election stolen from them hell bent on getting those who did tried to do it to them again.

Stacy noted some of these reasons why the steal didn’t take place and added a key one of his own:

Why didn’t the same thing happen in 2024? Well, first of all, Republicans raised hell about election integrity and Democrats, realizing that they couldn’t get away with running the same game again, refrained from the most egregious practices that had tainted 2020. Also, however, Zuckerberg stopped pouring out money (or certainly did not spend as much as he did in 2020) for the Democrat ballot-harvesting gangs.

If you’re wondering why Zuckerberg lost his enthusiasm for helping Democrats steal elections, perhaps the date of October 7, 2023, might be viewed as the decisive factor. Why should a Jew spend his money to help elect Democrats, if Democrats are going to support murderous Jew-hating terrorists like Hamas and Hezbollah?

In short the steal wasn’t plausible and wasn’t funded, thieves like to be paid and Kamala spent her billon of celebs, Stacy saw all of this from numbers. I suggest you point to his piece (and maybe to this one) when some smug leftist asks why the GOP didn’t scream “fraud” this time around.

You would think that two weeks after Trump’s election and a full two months before his swearing in the left would have calmed down a bit.

You’d be wrong:

Calls for Morning Joe to be boycotted have come from Jen Rubin and Joe and Mika have been attacked by the left for daring to even speak to Trump

Of course if you don’t have all that many viewers will anyone notice if they leave?

And as Comcast is dumping the whole network will anyone care?


Rob Reiner is being attack on Bluesky for apparently not being loyal enough to the left reich.

Rob bleeping Reiner isn’t left enough for the left anymore.!

Did nobody teach these lefties that Robespierre was eventually killed by the mobs of the state that he led?


Piers Morgan had a boatload of leftists on his show to talk about the Trump win.

There is an interesting exchange between Cenk Uygur & Allan “My method assures me Kamala will win” Lichtman that’s getting a lot of views.

Lichtman is also leaving X doesn’t want to interact with those who disagree anymore I guess

They’re eventually going to run out of their own allies to eat but not yet.


Of course the best sign of the left falling apart are people with something to lose both running away from their agenda.

Disney has reportedly decided to shelve an episode of the children’s cartoon series Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, apparently over its plot concerning a transgender high school athlete.

And keeping their stars in line:

Just when maybe Disney thought they’d gotten a handle on their difficult production and its even more difficult star, Zegler went on a rant last week, wishing harm on Donald Trump supporters. “There is a deep sickness in this country,” she wrote on Instagram. “May Trump supporters and Trump voters and Trump himself never know peace.”

Then she quickly changed her tune again — likely after some stern words from Disney — claiming, “I would like to sincerely apologize for the election post I shared on my Instagram last week.”

“I let my emotions get the best of me,” she continued. “Hatred and anger have caused us to move further away from peace and understanding, and I am sorry I contributed to the negative discourse.”

When there is money at stake things change.


But the really funny thing of the week was this from the view after going after the Matt Gaetz nomination and Gaetz personally having to put out a disclaimer live on TV.

RedState nails it:

What’s so great about this is just how much Hostin clearly didn’t want to read it. Watch her facial expressions, which are not subtle in the slightest, and then listen to her struggle to make it through.

Never has a show host wanted to rip the heart out of their producer more than Hostin in that moment. Just before she starts reading the statement, she has some kind of spasm. From there, you can tell she’s doing everything she can to hold it together. Hostin did not want to offer that correction, but even overpaid elites have to play by the rules of the legal system. Well, at least sometimes.

Remember Trump won’t be President for another two months and no votes are going to take place on any of those guys before then. Everything you’re hearing now is just noise.

I’ve got principles, and if you don’t like them, well, I’ve got others

Groucho Marx

There are all kinds of niche markets in the world. We bloggers are a niche market, comic book people are a niche market, Doctor who fans are a niche market, Candle Pin bowlers are a niche market. Model Train people are a niche market. Baseball simulation gamers are a niche market Pinball is a niche market.

And if there is one thing that is true about a niche market is it’s this. Niche markets can only support so many people or producers. If the number of producers exceeds the market eventually they will disappear, even faster if the market contracts which often happens if there is a brief bubble of popularity.

The woke left is a niche market. It seemed larger because most normal people didn’t want to have to deal with that idiocy and found it easier to go along or ignore them. Because it was a loud niche market with some billionaires who had money to burn behind them, they seemed larger than they were but eventually you reach a point where the billionaires don’t want to fund it and the advertising people figure out there are too few eyeballs to be worth the money they are paying. It’s one think to be accepted at parties but the shareholders still want their return.

That’s why you see the retreat of DEI everywhere. Once people stood up to it people realized just how unpopular it was and it had the potential to cost them money companies ran from it like the plague.

And that brings us to Joe and Mika.

It’s quite possible that they actually believed that Trump was going to lose, and lose by a lot and thus continued to play to the niche market their network in general and their show in particular choose to embrace. Sure they and most of the left calling Donald Trump a Nazi had no problem with him for 60+ years but this was a matter of power for the left so after puffing him up in the primaries as a sacrificial lamb they dropped him like a rock when he became a threat to the niche they served.

And so for eight long year they made their living banging the “Trump is Evil” drum.

Then the bottom fell out of the market, the first sign was the Biden debate, the 2nd sign was the Kamala campaign and election day solidified it.

MSNBC kicked ass on rating on Election night because a lot of conservatives turned on the channel to watch them squirm, now that the election is over there simply is not enough of a niche market to keep them paid. So what do you do when you’re a couple in your Sixties and late fifties and the prospect of your television career is looking bad because your niche audience is going away?

Why you break out of that niche.

Yeah this move is going to upset Olberman and Jen Rubin and the Ladies on the view, but it has the potential to bring in eyeballs that normally might not give them a first look let alone a 2nd.

And there is of course always the potential of Trump calling in which would send rating and exposure through the roof.

Those two things may be enough for advertisers to decide to say put and the alternative of doing nothing is not likely to bring in the bucks. They saw the advertisers return to X they know where the dollars and eyeballs are so they are trying to do what is the primary job of TV personalities, attract eyeballs.

Jen, Keith and Jojo it’s not personal, it’s strictly business.

Oh and all that Trump stuff about being Hitler and a dictator?

By John Ruberry

Nearly two weeks after Kamala Harris wipeout at the hands of Donald Trump, there’s a leadership vacuum in the Democratic Party. 

That’s good news, but let’s not get cocky. The Dems faced the same situation in 1988 after the Michael Dukakis debacle. Four years later, the Republican incumbent, was denied reelection at the hands of Bill Clinton–with an assist from Ross Perot.

As with Hillary Clinton after 2016, the Democrats are through with Harris and her worthless running mate, Tim Walz. Barack Obama is getting blamed, rightfully so, for the disastrous Joe Biden presidency and Harris’ expensive but failed attempt to succeed him.

Two pretenders to the Democrats’ throne of lies are a pair governors, Jared Polis of Colorado and JB Pritzker of Illinois. Sadly, Pritzker is my governor, and I’m going to return, again, to exposing Pritzker’s failures, because the legacy media–even in decline it’s still a force–isn’t doing its job.

As for Polis, I haven’t heard that he has presidential ambitions. Pritzker does.

Pritzker is not popular in rural Illinois.

Oh, about the headline, the governor of Chicago. In 2022, the Chicago Gold Coast billionaire and Hyatt Hotels heir won his second term over Republican Darren Bailey. Outside of three counties with big universities, and St. Clair County–where you’ll find East St. Louis–Pritzker lost every downstate county. Of Illinois’ 102 counties, Pritzker won only 12. The governor’s base is Chicago and its suburbs. Despite amassing huge vote totals there, he only was able to win 54 percent of the total, which will probably, when all of the counting is done, what Harris will end up with in Illinois. Bailey prevailed in some counties with over 80 percent of the vote. In 2016, when running against a failed Republican incumbent, he only did slightly better downstate.

Hillary Clinton and Harris ran poorly in rural areas. That’s a big reason why they lost.

After six years in office, Pritzker remains unpopular outside of the Chicago area. Successful leaders build broad coalitions.

Transgenderism.

While some of his fellow Democrats are easing away from their party’s extreme stance on transgenderism, Prtizker is not.

Last week on X Pritzker posted, “This Transgender Awareness Week, I want you to know that I see you and have your back as governor. Illinois has enshrined protections for gender-affirming care to meet this moment — and because of that, you will have a home here always.”

Illinois law allows biological boys, that is males, to play in girls’ school sports.

Pritzker is weak on crime.

Early on Election Day morning, when most of the media was understandably focusing on the presidential race, during a routine traffic stop Chicago Police Officer Enrique Martinez was allegedly murdered by a thug with a machine gun who belonged in jail but was free on electronic monitoring.

Last year, the SAFE-T Act, which Pritzker signed into law, went into effect. Illinois is now the only state that bans cash bail. Despite spin from the establishment media and academia, the result is disastrous for law-abiding Illinoisans. A daily look at CWB Chicago, Second City Cop, and Lake & McHenry Scanner will explain why. Illinois is a criminal’s catch-and-release haven.

Chicago cops and their families hate Pritzker, and prosecutors hate the SAFE-T Act.

The governor of Chicago is not popular with the Chicago Police officers and their families. Martinez’ funeral is Monday, and the slain cop’s family made it clear that they didn’t want Pritzker, or Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, to attend his funeral service. Earlier this year, Chicago cop Luis Huesca was murdered while off-duty in a carjacking, his family made the same request. Pritzker quickly acquiesced, Johnson–and that’s another story for another time–eventually followed the governor’s lead.

Cops are against the SAFE-T Act. And prior to it taking effect, 100 of 102 of Illinois’ county prosecutors opposed it.

Illinois is a sanctuary state.

On a personal note, my problems with Venezuelan migrants are just annoyances–dealing with panhandlers and people selling bottles of water and candy on street corners. Friend of mine living in Chicago say burglaries are up where they live. The evidence is anecdotal–but the migrant presence in their neighborhoods has a lot of fingers pointing at them.

On a more sinister level, the Tren de Aragua Venezuelan street gang has a presence in Chicago. Because of the SAFE-T Act, most of those migrant gangbangers are set free after they’re arrested.

Meanwhile, Pritzker is Illinois’ self-appointed champion of the Venezuelans and other illegal migrants.

Gerrymandering and depopulation.

As I mentioned earlier, the almost-final tally of the presidential race in Illinois is 54 percent for Harris and 44 for Trump.

What about Illinois’ congressional races?

When I was born, Illinois had 24 congressional districts–because of anemic or no population growth, depending on the decade–now we have only 17.

Since 2014, Illinois has annually lost population.

Pictured above is Illinois’ 15th congressional district. What’s that empty space in the middle? That’s the 13th congressional district, the penis of the Prairie State. The 15th district is represented by Republican Mary Miller, while Democrat Nikki Budzinski is the congresswoman for the 13th. The 15th is heavily Republican, the 13th leans Democratic, and its phallus shape was drawn to include Democratic strongholds such as East St. Louis, Springfield, Decatur, and Champaign. If Illinois had fair maps, the two districts would be split into two similarly shaped rectangular areas and its voters would likely elect two Republicans.

The rest of Illinois is similarly carved up in a biased and partisan manner.

Stay with me on this one.

So, Harris won Illinois with 54 percent. As for Illinois’ congressional delegation, there are 14 Republicans and just three Republicans. Which gives Republicans just 18 percent of the Land of Lincoln’s seats in the US House. Yessir, just 18 percent.

Illinois’ congressional maps are a disgrace to democracy.

What would Abraham Lincoln think?

Pritzker’s Dems enjoy supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly. Why? Well because of gerrymandering, of course. Many General Assembly races had victors who ran unopposed. If there is no chance for victory, why run? Why even vote? Citizens, be damned.

During his first gubernatorial run, Pritzker repeatedly promised to veto any legislative remaps that were partisan.

He lied.

Pritzker is a bully of a politician whose power is enhanced by gerrymandering. He won’t build a coalition because he doesn’t have to.

He might be successful as the de facto leader of the Democratic Party.

But as president?

You’ve been warned about the governor of Chicago.

John Ruberry regularly blogs from another oddly shaped Illinois congressional district, the 9th, at Marathon Pundit.