Pyrian on 22/11/2018 at 22:03
House results suggest Gerrymandering wasn't very effective this year. My suspicion is that the "natural gerrymander" supposition is largely incorrect (Democrats are concentrated in urban areas, sure, but Republicans are just as "concentrated" in rural areas) and that instead we're seeing the historic gerrymandering of 2010 simply approaching the end of its natural lifespan. People move, die, start voting, change their affiliation (believe it or not), and so on, and by 8 years that adds up. Plus in some cases the scale of the wave simply broke the underlying math.
Probably the most notable thing about this election is just how many people voted in a midterm.
Trance on 24/11/2018 at 14:14
Well the report was put together with the collaboration of 13 different federal agencies, so my guess is Trump will start talking about defunding 13 federal agencies.
Starker on 25/11/2018 at 08:58
Quote:
And so you might have good reason to pray for a tornado, whether it comes in the shape of swirling winds, or a politician. You imagine the thing doing the damage that you would like to see done, and no more. It's what you fail to imagine that kills you.
I've been reading
The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis and holy crap this book is scary. Everyone in the US should be on their knees every evening thanking whatever higher power there is that there hasn't been a serious crisis during Lord Dampnut's rule.
Michael Wolff and Bob Woodward focused on the chaos and dysfunction of the White House, but that's the most easily visible and, in some sense, the least worrying part of what's going on. More often than not, Lord Dampnut ruins his own plans with his ignorance and/or incompetence or at least softens the impact. The less visible part, however, is the damage being done to the US institutions and the government itself, the stuff that doesn't make it into headlines. And that's what Lewis's book is about -- corporate interests screwing over taxpayers and endangering their lives in the process, life-saving research not being done, the capability for disaster prevention becoming diminished.
Here's a bit from the prologue of the book that talks about the transition:
Quote:
(
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/sep/27/this-guy-doesnt-know-anything-the-inside-story-of-trumps-shambolic-transition-team)
The first time Trump paid attention to any of this was when he read about it in the newspaper. The story revealed that Trump's very own transition team had raised several million dollars to pay the staff. The moment he saw it, Trump called Steve Bannon, the chief executive of his campaign, from his office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower, and told him to come immediately to his residence, many floors above. Bannon stepped off the elevator to find Christie seated on a sofa, being hollered at. Trump was apoplectic, yelling:
You're stealing my money! You're stealing my fucking money! What the fuck is this?Seeing Bannon, Trump turned on him and screamed:
Why are you letting him steal my fucking money? Bannon and Christie together set out to explain to Trump federal law. Months before the election, the law said, the nominees of the two major parties were expected to prepare to take control of the government. The government supplied them with office space in downtown DC, along with computers and rubbish bins and so on, but the campaigns paid their people. To which Trump replied:
Fuck the law. I don't give a fuck about the law. I want my fucking money. Bannon and Christie tried to explain that Trump couldn't have both his money and a transition.
Shut it down, said Trump.
Shut down the transition.
But really, this is just a prelude of things to come. The book isn't even about Lord Dampnut, in the strictest sense, but about what happens when people like him take a wrecking ball to the complex organisation that prepares for virus outbreaks, hunts down weapons-grade nuclear material, predicts severe weather events, and does a million other important things the private sector is unwilling or unable to do.
Nicker on 25/11/2018 at 15:59
Indeed. The damage Trump is doing to the institutions and bureaucracies, the hidden machinery of the USA is enormous. The diplomatic corps has been gutted and will take at least a generation to repair, even if the destruction stops now. While keeping Guantanamo open he shut down the office that was charged with tracking and reintegrating released detainees. Now actual dangerous people (not starving Central American asylum seekers), who were created as enemies of the US, in Guantanamo, are at large.
The worst part about Trump is how he has emboldened criminals, tyrants, nationalists and fascists around the world. He's attacking the fragile infrastructures of peace and humanity globally.
Dia on 26/11/2018 at 13:26
I agree, Nicker. It's going to take us years to clean up the mess this administration is making.
Nicker on 26/11/2018 at 13:59
And just about the time when the Democrats have put the base coat on the fixes, the republican will show up with their sledge hammers again.
I figure that, if there were other technological species elsewhere in the universe, they would have all faced a similar test in their evolution - would their cunning outstrip their wisdom. Many human civilisations have failed that test in the past and nature has reclaimed their former territory. This time the test is global. I know our species will survive the coming correction but the astounding knowledge infrastructure and technologies probably won't. Bodies of knowledge have been lost in the past but the scale of that loss this time around is, again, global.
Starker on 27/11/2018 at 10:31
Quote Posted by Starker
Also, in a surprising twist of events, in California's 21st district, that had been called for a Republican, the Democrat is now only 447 votes behind with 15 000 ballots still left.
The Democrat just pulled ahead by 438 votes. Looks like it's going to be close. It's not like it really matters a great deal at this point, but if Democrats win this one, it would increase their net gain to a nice round 40.