Posts Made By: James Brown

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

Why don't you list all the great Reasons that you voted FOR Kamala?

Don't worry, I know your list is extremely short so I'll help you out, if that's OK with you.  

Jim Brown reasons for voting for a radical leftist Democrat when claiming he's a staunch conservative Republican:

1.  I have massive Trump Derangement Syndrome..

2.  ............  Umm.......... Umm.......... Umm......  not sure what the other reasons are.  


There, did I sum up your reasons in a nutshell?

I voted against Trump.  I meant it when I said he disqualified himself.  You call it "personality" or TDS, but it is so much more than that.  Leadership, ability, character, integrity, honesty, humility and so on and on.  I am old fashioned enough to think that these things matter.  It is a lot more than "personality" or mean tweets.  Still, I am optimistic enough to hope that the Constitutional system will curb his worst impulses, as I've noted ad nauseum.  So I'm not freaking out at all.

I did not think Harris ran a good campaign, even though I think she is a decent and intelligent candidate.  In view of the economy and Biden's late exit, she was dealt an impossible hand.  Her gaffe on The View was huge.  Her lay low strategy was horrible.  I think the Biden team members on her inherited staff misled her by emphasizing loyalty to Biden and minimizing her press interactions.  Her only chance was to under-bus Biden and completely distance herself from him, and she appears to either be too honest, or at least not politically jaded enough, to have done that if it was even possible.

It is likely I will approve of Trump's policies more than I would Harris's.  Assuming of course that Trump's people can keep him on some sort of legit R course of action.  So I expect to be arguing with Rod here on AM for four more years.

If James is correct... (have I told you how much I value James's opinions?)  Anyway if James is correct and Trump causes a constitutional crisis I will of course be chagrined or worse.  Since I think that is exactly what Trump would do, if his people can not control him, I could not ever vote for him after his term in office and the shameful way he exited the office ranting and blathering through an enormous, obvious, and country devastating lie.

Originally Posted by David Cotterell

A subset of "I don't like it so YOU can't do it" is "I don't like it so YOU are a bad person."

Equally awful.

Dave

I agree Dave.  Do you also, like me, feel this way about the scorn and hate heaped by the left on the millions of Americans who legally own "assault rifles?" 

I don't think it is the #1 reason, but the elite's scorn for the working class is a big reason Trump exists.

Originally Posted by Russ Carroll

Bill Maher has railed against Democrats being "woke" years. Female college athletes competing against biological males, not being able to condemn hate speech and attacks against jewish students on campuses around the US, terms like "LatinX" and "Defund the Police", transvestites reading to children at schools and libraries...these are issues that are rejected by the vast majority of Americans.

I've written for many years that Latinos were naturals to become part of the GOP coalition because of the traditional values that they have as a generalization. This election may well have been the tipping point for this shift, and Dems only have themselves to blame.

The wrong take-away for Dems is that people don't care about these issues and they need to focus on other things. The right take-away is that people care very much about these issues, and that they are on the wrong side.

Hi Russ; I think leftwing overreach on "wokeness" is a factor in the majorities' voting calculus, but it is not nearly as important as inflation, crime, and immigration.

Originally Posted by David Cotterell

Are any parents being forced to bring their kids to a drag queen reading?  Choices can be made by each parent.

The "I don't like it so YOU can't do it" position is abhorrent.

Dave

Hi Dave, very few people (in my opinion) would object to drag queen story hour in a private setting, a liberal church for example or a private school where parents do indeed have a choice.  

The objections come when drag queen story hour is presented at a public school, or in the public library.  It is not reasonable to ask parents to forgo use of these public facilities to indulge the drag queens.  

I am all for reading of course, and I really have no problem with drag queens or other alternative lifestyles.  I am 100% sure that the drag queens are presenting story hours to build acceptance for their lifestyles, and while that is their right, it is not mandatory that the public schools and libraries indulge them over the objection of a vast majority of the public.

Originally Posted by David Cotterell

What a relief that this only occurred in the USA under the economic policies of Joe Biden who is solely to blame for inflation and deserved to be turfed out of office as a result.  Now that Trump will be taking over soon everything will be fine and his tariffs will reduce inflation even more!  Yay!  

How frightening would it be if the whole world had suffered inflation at the same time as countries everywhere threw zillions of dollars at the Covid crisis and its aftermath.  Inconceivable!

Dave

Hi Dave:

I think it is a world-wide axiom of free countries, including both of ours, that the incumbent get blamed for recession or inflation.  Is it fair?  No, I suppose not, but it is a very real and universal voter reaction.  

At the end of the analysis, Harris lost (or lost support) in every type of setting from urban to rural and with almost every demographic.  If you want a one sentence answer why, it is because Biden had exceptionally low approval ratings, which Harris inherited.  So a significant majority voted him/her out.  The voters always do if the incumbent's approval is in the tank, and the country is deemed to be "on the wrong track."

Why were Biden's approval ratings so low?  Inflation, foreign events, illegal immigration, crime, social overreach, all of the above.

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

My question is this.  What is the appeal of drag queen story hour?

What parent sits back and says "Hey, there's going to be a drag queen reading children's stories to 4 year olds, let's expose our children to it"?  

Should the authorities go to the door, the ones who look out for children, like CPS go ask these parents why they feel the need to take their small children to an adult themed event?

What redeeming value could that event have which informs any parent out there that their young kids need to be exposed to it?

I would agree with you completely, if we were talking about an adult drag queen revue, such as might have risqué acts and would typically be seen in a club.  Anyone who takes their child to such a show is not, in my opinion, being very smart.  Same with other forms of adult entertainment. 

A drag queen story hour, promotes reading, which is very important for young children.  So that is the redeeming value I suppose.  That said, I am pretty sure that the reason drag queens have adopted the story hour model is to gain acceptance with the public.  Like I said above, this aspect of the motivation for a story hour probably significantly outweighs the motivation to get kids to read, from the drag queen perspective.  Like I said above, the real problem is presenting the story hours in public schools or public libraries where the large majority of parents who object should not have to pull their kids from participation/attendance.

I have no problem with a drag queen story hour in a privately owned and operated "public" venue like a private school or liberal church.  I would assume in that instance most of the parents are supportive, or they could more easily and reasonably expected to bow out.

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

Hmm.... so then you are familiar with the drag queen story hour that you are talking about where a drag queen just simply reads to the children have you?

You have been to those?  

If not, then how do you presuppose that all that occurs there is reading to the children?

No, cant say I have been to one.  I presuppose that reading is indeed all that occurs at a drag queen story hour for a couple reasons. 

First, I presuppose common decency and good motives for everyone, even drag queens.  So when they say they are there to read to children, I believe them.  Obviously, my belief in the core goodness of humanity is kicked in the groin every time there is a rape, shooting, child molestation, and so on.  There is a lot of evil out there.  But, I believe the vast majority of people are decent people, even drag queens.  Like Dave said, the incidence of pedophilia among drag queens is certainly no higher than in other demographics.

Second, these events are in schools and libraries, right?  They are advertised as "story hours" at least the ones I am talking about.  Anyone who exposes himself in a public venue would almost certainly be arrested.  Not saying it couldn't happen, but if it did, I missed the story.

That said, I probably would not have taken my kids to a drag queen story hour.   There would probably have been awkward questions I would not have wanted to answer when the kids were 4.  Even so, my adult children have a lot of openly gay friends, and at least one close transgender friend.  Orientation and gender are not a big deal to them at all.

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

Why he was wrong:


https://thehill.com/homenews/media/4985630-allan-lichtman-musk-disinformation-election-prediction/

He blames disinformation... and Elon Musk?  Lichtman is literally full of it.  He is far too much of a partisan hack to even honestly apply his own 13 keys.   If he had any integrity, he would have admitted that he fudged on his keys to support Harris.

As I noted in September, an unbiased application of Lichtman's 13 keys would have predicted an easy Trump win.  Guess what happened?

https://astromart.com/forums/commentary-careful-read-the-terms-of-service/politics/ronald-reagan?page=1#post204047

Jim

Originally Posted by James Lacey

Reading about Kristi Noem's tenure in Congress and the policies she proposed and supported is like reading a right-wing horror story of extremism. She's about as far right as they come and a Trumper, so it's no surprise Trump selected her. Buckle up, Buttercup; it will be four years of chaos and insanity.

Interestingly, the Federalist wrote a scathing piece about Noem's lack of qualifications.  As you probably know, the Federalist loves Trump.  

https://thefederalist.com/2024/11/12/kristi-noem-isnt-courageous-enough-to-be-trumps-homeland-security-secretary/

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

JB: "He blames disinformation... and Elon Musk?  Lichtman is literally full of it."

Well, however you feel about it, 40%+ of the electorate got a constant drumbeat of the worst kind of BS there is coming in huge daily heaping helpings from Faux and friends. And Musk's X excrement was as bad or worse so to think that didn't have a significant effect is naive at best. 

Any at rate, Lichtman had earlier fessed up to being wrong and said so. That's his explanation and one can certainly argue over his methodology but the negative right wing media reinforcement of the democrats and the elevation of everything MAGA certainly played a major role...

Couple of comments - the bolded part is ridiculous.  Fox News viewership during the super-charged election week was only 2.6 million viewers per day.   That is about 3.5% of the 74 million who voted for Trump.   3.5% is hardly 40%, wherever you came up with that number.   https://www.foxnews.com/media/fox-news-channel-finishes-election-week-most-watched-network-all-tv-crushes-cnn-msnbc

Second, and more importantly, is "disinformation" the Democratic coping mechanism this year?  Kind of like  "Russian Collusion" in 2016?  I suppose I should not object if the Democrats have a deep psychological need to lie to themselves to avoid the necessary introspection and reassessment required to regain lost voters.  But seriously, the D party would be better served by less scapegoating and more analysis about how they went wrong.

Last, it is shocking to hear you and Lichtman blame the right wing media for Trump's victory when the left still owns the coverage on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, the NYT, the Washington Post, and the vast majority of regional and local papers and outlets.  From any rational point of view, overall news coverage of Trump across all platforms was incomparably more negative than the coverage of Harris.  In my opinion, Trump deserved the negative press, but it is indisputable that the majority of all media, nation wide, was carrying water for Harris.  So, blaming Trump's win on right wing media is incomprehensible.   

Lichtman acknowledged he was wrong, but now he is grasping for scapegoats.   Kind of like the D "blame the racist misogynistic voters" crowd.  It was obvious to me (at least me) that in September Lichtman had applied his own 13 keys in a blatantly biased pro-Harris manner.   His 13 keys did correctly predict the winner this time, which is not surprising since his 13 keys are basically an assessment of the incumbent.  Biden/Harris were extremely unpopular and historically that all but guarantees a loss.  No need to look further for scapegoats.