2020 Presidential Election

[Kätzchen]

Originally Posted by C0LLETTE

Thanks Katzchen! Look at all the stuff I just learned.

"Jingoes
The British war party during the Russo-Turkish struggle of 1877-8, when there was grave likelihood of this country interfering. The term became popular through the refrain in G. H. Macdermott’s famous song: “We don’t want to fight, but, by Jingo, if we do, We’ve got the ships, we’ve got the men, we’ve got the money too.” For a time the Jingo Party was in the ascendant."

"by Jingo"...euphemism for "by Jesus"

Oh, well I am not familiar with the information you have found (see my answer below your most recent post).

Originally Posted by C0LLETTE

Strange thing about "The Far Left" is that they don't realize how much they have in common with "The Far Right".

My rep comment to you, C0LLETTE, was in response to your post above:

Jingoism, true story (Kätzchen)

Jingoism is a term I learned about in an upper-Ed class of Sociology: The Sociology of Religions.

In that class I learned that excessive, chauvinistic oppressive views, which bring or cause harm to others, and finds its roots in irrational nationalistic views is called ....Jingoism (n) or Jingoistic (v).

In your post, you intimated that Far Right views and Far Left views find a lot in common with each other. I think your assessment of that is accurate and I added my thoughts that both sides are a form of Jingoism and often at times jingoistic. That is what I meant by using the term Jingoism/Jingoistic.

The drive-in President-Elect and Vice President Elect address is almost ready for on air broadcast, so I think it's time for me to go now.

Hooray, for Biden and Harris and all the people who cast their vote and made their voice heard!! Thanks to all!!! XO

[BullDog]

VP Elect Kamala Harris walking out to speak dressed in suffragette white. How thrilling. I'm so happy.

[Pacificblu]

Originally Posted by Martina

You can always find reasons for complex phenomena, but the fact is the centrists over and over and over foregrounded the argument that Biden would bring along down ballot Democrats. Whatever bullshit you want to spew, the fact is that he did not.

We faced an uphill battle to get us up off of our knees before our democracy was lost. To say that you didn’t get everything you want is your prerogative, but most of us are happy to be leaving 4 years of Hell.

Now is the time to get out and support candidates who will make the changes you want to see in the world.

[Orema]

Trump Dumps 3 Agency Leaders In Wake Of Election


Lisa Gordon-Hagerty of the National Nuclear Security Administration discusses global nuclear threats in Albuquerque, N.M., in 2019. She was removed from her post in an abrupt round of departures at three agencies. Susan Montoya Bryan/AP

The Trump administration abruptly dumped the leaders of three agencies that oversee the nuclear weapons stockpile, electricity and natural gas regulation, and overseas aid during the past two days, drawing a rebuke from a prominent Republican senator for one of the decisions.

The sudden departures included:

• Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, the first woman to oversee the agency in charge of the nuclear stockpile. She was required to resign on Friday.
• Bonnie Glick, deputy administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. She was replaced by acting Administrator John Barsa, who had run out of time for his more senior role under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
• Neil Chatterjee, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and a former aide to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. He was replaced as chairman, though he will remain at FERC, an independent agency, as a commissioner.

The firings were overshadowed by the prolonged drama of the presidential election.

The White House declined comment on the firings and declined to say whether there would be more in the wake of the election.

Sen. Jim Inhofe, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, issued a statement criticizing Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, who he said "effectively demanded" the resignation of Gordon-Hagerty. (The National Nuclear Security Administration is a semi-autonomous agency that is part of the Energy Department.)

Inhofe called Gordon-Hagerty "an exemplary public servant and remarkable leader" and said Brouillette's decision "during this time of uncertainty demonstrates he doesn't know what he's doing in national security matters and shows a complete lack of respect for the semi-autonomous nature of NNSA."

https://www.npr.org/sections/live-up...m_term=nprnews

[Kätzchen]

Biden Plans Immediate Flurry of Executive Orders to Reverse T---p Policies

by Matt Viser, Seung Min Kim and Annie Linskey
(November 7th, 2020. The Washington Post)


President-elect Joe Biden is planning to quickly sign a series of executive orders after being sworn into office on Jan. 20, immediately forecasting that the country’s politics have shifted and that his presidency will be guided by radically different priorities.

He will rejoin the Paris climate accords, according to those close to his campaign and commitments he has made in recent months, and he will reverse President Trump’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization. He will repeal the ban on almost all travel from some Muslim-majority countries, and he will reinstate the program allowing “dreamers,” who were brought to the United States illegally as children, to remain in the country, according to people familiar with his plans.

Biden’s top advisers have spent months quietly working on how best to implement his agenda, with hundreds of transition officials preparing to get to work inside various federal agencies. They have assembled a book filled with his campaign commitments to help guide their early decisions.

Biden is planning to set up a coronavirus task force on Monday, in recognition that the global pandemic will be the primary issue that he must confront. The task force, which could begin meeting within days, will be co-chaired by former surgeon general Vivek H. Murthy and David Kessler, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner.

There has also been a recognition of those around him that he may have to lean more on executive actions than he had once hoped. He can reorient various federal agencies and regulations, and he can adopt a different posture on the world stage.

But pushing major legislation through Congress could prove to be a challenge.

Although the Democrats will hold a narrowed majority in the House, the final makeup of the Senate is not yet clear. That will be decided on Jan. 5, with two runoff elections in Georgia. Democrats would need to win both races to effectively have control of the Senate — with Vice President Kamala D. Harris serving as the tie-breaking vote — while Republicans would retain a narrow advantage by winning at least one.

“The policy team, the transition policy teams, are focusing now very much on executive power,” said a Biden ally who has been in touch with his team who, like others interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. “I expect that to be freely used in a Biden administration at this point, if the Senate becomes a roadblock.”

A Republican-held Senate — or even one with a narrow Democratic majority — probably will affect Biden’s Cabinet picks given the Senate’s power to confirm nominees.

One option being discussed is appointing Cabinet members in an acting capacity, a tactic that Trump also used.

“Just by virtue of the calendar and how many positions are filled, that’s always a possibility,” the person said. “Because the Senate moves so slowly now, so much more slowly than it used to.”

On Saturday afternoon, about two hours after networks called Biden the winner of the election, the president-elect had a brief call with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who called to congratulate Biden on a “tremendous victory,” according to two Democratic officials.

Schumer called while en route to a celebration in Brooklyn, holding his flip phone out the window so that Biden could hear the cheering crowd.

If Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) stays as majority leader, he would be trying to manage a conference torn between two factions with different interests, but neither necessarily eager to help Biden — one with senators running for reelection in swing states in 2022, and another with those seeking the national spotlight as they vie for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

“In the old days, the mandate meant that the other side would be more amenable, or feeling they had an impetus to work,” said Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.). “I’m not sure that applies any longer.”

A closely divided Congress could hamper Biden’s efforts to do sweeping legislative actions on immigration changes. He has also said he would send a bill to Congress repealing liability protections for gun manufacturers, and close background-check loopholes. He has pledged to repeal the Republican-passed tax cuts from 2017, an effort that could be stymied if Republicans hold the Senate majority.

Without congressional cooperation, however, Biden has said that he plans to immediately reverse Trump’s rollback of 100 public health and environmental rules that the Obama administration had in place.

He would also institute new ethics guidelines at the White House, and he has pledged to sign an executive order the first day in office saying that no member of his administration could influence any Justice Department investigations.

Biden has long pledged to rejoin the Paris climate accords by executive order, but he has also said that he would attempt to persuade other nations to adopt higher standards in an attempt to curb the impacts of climate change.

Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.), a longtime Biden ally who holds the seat Biden had for 36 years, offered a broad overview of Biden’s initial agenda: “Get us out of this pandemic that’s been made far worse by Trump’s bungled mishandling of it, rebuild our economy in a way that’s more sustainable and more inclusive, and deal with division and inequality.”

Biden has long pledged to rejoin the Paris climate accords by executive order, but he has also said that he would attempt to persuade other nations to adopt higher standards in an attempt to curb the impacts of climate change.

Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.), a longtime Biden ally who holds the seat Biden had for 36 years, offered a broad overview of Biden’s initial agenda: “Get us out of this pandemic that’s been made far worse by Trump’s bungled mishandling of it, rebuild our economy in a way that’s more sustainable and more inclusive, and deal with division and inequality.”

Biden also wants to quickly appoint a supply commander to oversee production and distribution of testing — and, when ready, vaccines — as well as materials such as masks and gowns.

The coronavirus — and Biden’s response to it — could also significantly impact the traditional spectacle that surrounds the transfer of power. Inaugural balls could be altered. And while Biden has previously said he wouldn’t envision wearing a mask while being sworn in, he has said they could try to limit the traditional throngs that fill the steps of the U.S. Capitol.

(Special Note: This is an exceptionally well written news article, which is very long but filled with vital information. Click on the WaPo title to go directly to the original article for further reading).

[Vincent]

I have never ever seen this before in my life

In Brisbane Aust there was fire works when it was announced Biden/Harris beat trump.
the tweet was posted by our ex PM Kevin Rudd,
for fact check

also in parts of OZ church bells were ringin.WTF we are Athiests,30% of us any way,LOL

[Martina]

Originally Posted by Pacificblu

We faced an uphill battle to get us up off of our knees before our democracy was lost. To say that you didn’t get everything you want is your prerogative, but most of us are happy to be leaving 4 years of Hell.

Now is the time to get out and support candidates who will make the changes you want to see in the world.

Who says I'm not? It's a separate point. Centrists used the argument that only Biden could bring along down ballot Dems over and over against progressives just as they are now trying to blame BLM and Bernie supporters for the fact that there was not a blue wave. Hell, they initially tried to blame urban Blacks for not coming out in large enough numbers before they regained their senses. White voters voted for Trump in about the same percentages that they did in 2016. Without Black and Latino voters, Biden would not be President Elect as he acknowledged in his speech. AOC and others are pushing back against this vile rhetoric. Don't tell me or any other progressive to get on the god damned bandwagon again.

[BullDog]

People of color indeed fueled Biden's victory. I noted that earlier as did many others. Some younger people of color are progressives but overall these voters are more on the moderate side.

All of the white people who voted for Trump are the ones who suck - not Biden or those who support him. I don't get the logic or all the bitterness trying to blame Biden and bash Democrats. Anyone more left than Biden would have definitely lost considering how many people voted for Trump. Biden had many strengths against Trump that other candidates didn't have.

Almost all the Senate races voted along party lines - blue state, red state. Coming on with some huge attack on Biden and "centrists" (I don't know anyone who calls themselves that) is ridiculous. I think having progressives in the mix and incorporating their ideas into our overall agenda is good, but if we don't keep in mind where the overall country is at, we will lose big time. The country is at best in the middle. Personally, I think it's somewhat right of center.

I sometimes mix it up with Trump supporters. I know I shouldn't but I do. Everything out of their mouths is about us being socialists and communists and Antifa and that we are destroying the cities. That and the wackadoodle conspiracy theories about Joe and Hunter Biden. So unfortunately being seen as too extreme is indeed very prevalent. I don't think it's just the hardcore Trump supporters who are susceptible to thinking this way.

I don't get why putting up far-left solutions would make any lick of sense whatsoever since most Democrats don't agree with them let alone anyone else. Like if Saint Bernie was the nominee we would have swept the senate. We definitely would not have and Sanders would have lost to Trump in a landslide. No worries I'm not going to ask someone with an attitude like this to jump on the bandwagon. You keep threatening to vote third party, so go ahead.

[BullDog]

Something I forgot to say in my previous post. It’s pretty obvious but many of the very same people of color voters who propelled Biden’s victory over Trump also propelled him to victory in the primary over more progressive candidates like Sanders and Warren. They knew we absolutely had to win this election.

I think it’s great to have progressives in the mix. I don’t always agree with her but people like AOC have a bright future. In states and districts where they can win seats then awesome. The general election is an entirely different story.

[Martina]

AOC would laugh at your "bright future" condescending tokenism. She can't be coopted. She is thinking seriously of leaving politics because centrist Dems resist every effort to help working people. This election was energized by progressives, many of whom were BIPOC. I myself phone banked extensively through a progressive union and gave money. It wasn't just our votes. And now progressives are being blamed for there not having been a blue wave. Please God, we will never face a fascist threat like Trump again. But if Biden forgets his promises, there will be no help from the left again. Try to do without our organizations, money and votes. Trump got 71 million votes. Good luck without us because it looks like that's what's going to happen.

[BullDog]

It isn't condescending tokenism but WTF ever Martina. Progressives can't get anything done without us either. There are way more of us than you. Progressives did contribute to the victory and so did many other people too. Yes, there were disappointments but the work goes on.

Once again, why are you blaming Democrats for legislation not getting passed? The House has passed tons of bills and they are sitting in McConnell's graveyard. Why don't you fight the real enemy?

Such bullshit for you to come in here and blame and be so nasty and divisive when we just scored a great victory. Eff off.

[Kätzchen]

Originally Posted by BullDog

It isn't condescending tokenism but WTF ever Martina. Progressives can't get anything done without us either. There are way more of us than you. Progressives did contribute to the victory and so did many other people too. Yes, there were disappointments but the work goes on.

Once again, why are you blaming Democrats for legislation not getting passed? The House has passed tons of bills and they are sitting in McConnell's graveyard. Why don't you fight the real enemy?

Such bullshit for you to come in here and blame and be so nasty and divisive when we just scored a great victory. Eff off.

***Coalition Building***

(Biden's stategy, which works the best).

[Medusa]

Y'all.


I've received several reports of folks being rude and shitty to each other in here. Stop it.

I really, REALLY want folks to be able to have these discussions because we have SO MUCH to untangle and talk about as a queer community and as human beings with this latest election.

PLEASE DO have these discussions with each other but DO NOT be hateful or tell each other to "fuck off" or call someone "condescending" under the guise of what someone else might think.
Just be adults.

You all are making some fantastic points in here but we are never going to hear each other if we are too busy cyber-slapping each other.

Carry on.

[Kätzchen]

I read, somewhere today, that former President Bush reached out to Joe Biden and congratulated him on the historic win. I thought that was so nice of him and as a former Republican president, it made me see his statemanship in a different, positive light. I think it speaks well of former President Bush.

I also noticed that Georgia flipped a House seat, so that is wonderful. Last count I saw for the House stands at 222. So the Democrats definitely have majority control of the House.

I sure do hope that Georgia wins the two seats in the Senate. So very close, the Senate race.

[Gemme]

[BullDog]

According to NBC exit polls:

White voters: 41% Biden, 58% Trump (67% of elecorate)
Black voters: 87% Biden, 12% Trump (13% of electorate)
Hispanic/Latino Voters: 65% Biden, 32% Trump (13% of electorate)
Asian voters: 61% Biden, 34% Trump (4% of elecorate)
Other voters: 55% Biden, 41% Trump (4% of electorate)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/202...ons/exit-polls

[Martina]

11.08.2020

Before the Dust Has Settled, Corporate Democrats Are Already Attacking AOC and the Left by David Sirota


We’re all exhausted, and understandably so. It’s been an unspeakably horrific year. The election psychologically drained everyone, and we all just want a break. But here’s the thing: money never sleeps, and money is already hard at work trying to make sure nothing fundamentally changes in politics — and if nothing fundamentally changes in Washington, then everything is going to change for the worse in the real world.

Since the election was called for Joe Biden, there has been a multitiered effort to blame disappointing election results on progressives, even as exit polls and voting results show that progressive organizing rescued Democrats from the jaws of a presidential defeat. While the country was celebrating the defeat of Trump, here’s what the voices of Big Money have been doing since the election:

Democratic leaders are insisting that the party must abandon modestly progressive health care positions in order to boost the party’s chances in Georgia, even though polling says exactly the opposite.

Republican John Kasich — who was given a DNC speaking slot by Team Biden and who nonetheless failed to help Democrats win his home state of Ohio — went on CNN to bash progressives, insisting that Biden’s top priority should be appeasing Trump voters.

Ian Bremmer — a Morning Joe character who is a reliable barometer of elite thought — echoed Kasich, suggesting that the first thing Democrats should do is reach out and appease Trump supporters.

Joe Scarborough himself asserted that the election proves Democrats must run away from the left, even though their entire strategy was running away from the left, and that strategy resulted in disappointing down-ballot losses.

Politico published a list of alleged front-runners for Biden cabinet slots, filled mostly with corporate-friendly Democrats and Republicans.
The American Petroleum Institute and the US Chamber of Commerce are publicly offering to work with the Biden administration, pledging a desire to “support bipartisan policies” and “break through the gridlock.”

As GOP operatives at the Lincoln Project explore turning their operation into a media empire, they are turning their attacks on US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the party’s few stars with a large national following.

Democratic leaders and the House Blue Dog Coalition — the corporate wing of the party — have spent the week attacking progressives, blaming them for a handful of moderate freshman lawmakers’ losses — even as data show that Democrats in swing districts lost vote share as they moved further and further to the right.

Before the election, I told you that no matter the election outcome, the Left would be blamed or shamed. That doesn’t make me Nostradamus — it was an obvious truth, even if it was taboo to dare speak.

Just as Republicans always spin every economic policy as a reason to cut rich people’s taxes, corporate Democrats and their allies have a left-bashing propaganda machine powered by a finely tuned algorithm designed to silence progressive leaders — whether it’s AOC, Bernie Sanders, or anyone else — and to turn every election result into a rationale to protect billionaires, corporate power, and the status quo.

The election, though, was the opposite of a demand for stasis — indeed, Democrats almost lost because they once again let Trump portray himself as the candidate of economic change, and they only got away with that because COVID-19 and organizing defeated Trump’s reelection bid. If they run back the same campaign in a COVID-19–free environment, there’s a good chance they would lose in a landslide. Here’s what I told NPR’s All Things Considered yesterday:

The focus on trying to moderate a message in order to attract so-called Biden Republicans. That was a failure. The data shows that the better strategy is to try to pull out your own voters and voters who haven’t been voting. And I do think the Democrats did a decent job of that. But the amount of money — and we’re talking about tens of millions of dollars that went into focusing on trying to appeal to a mythical Republican swing voter — the data shows that that was not a good strategy . . .

An inanimate object should have been able to win a landslide against Donald Trump in the middle of a pandemic and economic crisis . . . The other thing that comes out in the polling data is that the Democrats paid a price for not having a very strong economic message. I mean, I do think the Biden campaign was shrewd in some of what it did, focusing on the pandemic and the like. But without having a strong economic message repeated over and over and over again, you saw an exit poll that showed Donald Trump won 82 percent of voters who said that the economy was their top issue.

That is a huge problem. It was a huge problem in the election. I’m certainly glad that Joe Biden won. But moving forward, if the Democrats do not have a strong populist, progressive economic message heading into 2022 and 2024, we could get something worse than Donald Trump.

What Comes Next?
I’m sorry to be the one to deliver the news, but here’s the truth: as exhausted as you feel, as tired of this shit as we all are, there’s just no rest for the weary. Assuming you don’t want nothing to fundamentally change, then we’re going to have to fight — and the first way to fight is to know some basic truths.

Disengaging and going back to brunch is a formula for a repeat of 2010 and 2016 — commit yourself to being involved in causes and groups that will demand local, state, and federal lawmakers to enact policies that materially improve people’s lives.
Participate in demonstrations and protests in your own community focused on concrete policy outcomes.

Sending money to sham groups like the Lincoln Project for them to light it on fire or use it to set up a conservative media outlet is destructive — if you want to pitch in resources, give it to a news organization doing journalism that holds politicians accountable.

Run for an office in the 2022 election — and don’t be afraid to run in a primary against a Democrat who is part of the problem.

These are not perfect solutions, and everyone is going to have to try to decide which specific organizations, causes, and campaigns they are going to participate in. But the point is, that the next few weeks and months are going to determine the next four years.

If you hear people tell you to just shut up and celebrate and take some time off, they are ignoring the insomnia of money. Corporate interests don’t rest — they are like a T-1000 Terminator interminably pursuing their prime directives, which is to continue enriching the billionaire class.

The election has not deterred them, which means we sleep at our own peril.

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/11/a...oc-biden-trump

[BullDog]

I'm blaming the 58% of white voters who voted for Donald Trump. Just because a few people are popping off doesn't mean they represent all of us. In-fighting between Democrats just plays into the right's hands. The Repugs will be thrilled.

[Kätzchen]

CNN article talking about how big the win is for Biden-Harris. And it is big. By the time all the counting is done, Biden & Harris will have over 80 Million votes.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/11/polit...win/index.html

•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•

To all the voters who ignored TP and the right-wing lies?
I ♡ you.

To all the Republicans who grew a conscience and stepped up to congratulate Joe Biden & Kamala Harris?
I ♡ you.

To those of you who support coming together under new leadership of Biden & Harris?
I ♡ you.

We must move forward for the sake of our country. For our own safety and security.

Many blessings of peace and encouragement to all.

XO

[nhplowboi]

Hey Donald.....maybe there wasn't a "blue wave" but there was a "landslide"!