Midweek Open Thread

| November 7, 2018

Your thoughts on the election results?

I downloaded a sample ballot for my city. We had one contest for the Senate, and another for the House of Representatives, a couple of constitutional amendment proposals for the state constitution, and the rest of the options were for local offices.

Even though I knew the party affiliations of the candidates running for federal office, I still looked through their websites.

No party affiliation was listed for local candidates. But, there was a roundabout way to identify their leanings.

Candidates for mayor and city Council… If they appeared to buy into the “sea-level rise” canard, their names became toxic. Making it easier for people to start and operate a business via practical economic solutions? That got my vote.

Candidates for Board of Education… If they argued in favor of returning merit-based incentives like designating the valedictorian, allowing more leeway to give zeros for not submitting a homework, allowing for point penalizing for below standard work, etc., they got my vote.

One candidate’s comment regarding sea-level rise related problems… Clearing out canals. Now, if the sea levels are rising, and our city is looking at becoming a part of the sea floor, how exactly is clearing out canals, or more dredging operations, going to solve the problem?

Is that supposed to lower sea levels from the city?

Tragically, in this local area, as well as in local areas across the country, many low information voters go full NPC on important topics like this.

Sea-level “rise” isn’t the problem.

The ground has a limited ability to naturally process rain water. Once the ground’s saturation/absorb rate is reached, water starts ponding. Result? Water ponds above the ground, flooding occurs. This should be a bases for arguing for improving our drainage systems.

Then we have the issue involving high and low tide, but that’s an ongoing process.

The above photo is from Smithsonian Magazine.

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Category: Politics

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Tallywhagger

First!

Thunderstixx

This doesn’t count, the TAH WOT is the only one that matters and counts toward the great grand prize of being the first posting there !!!
Although it makes for good practice, it still doesn’t count !!!
If you disagree we should put it up for a vote for the rest of us TAH’ers to decide !!!
In the meantime, these guys are just plain good…

Claw

No vote needed. As the Keeper of the Coveted Book of Firsts, I have already stated that none of the *Firsts* posted on these random threads will be recorded.

Posting a *First* is only an exercise in futility./smile

SFC D

FIRST!

Sorry. I had to do that.

I’ll put myself in timeout.

Roh-Dog

I used to do it to almost all the posts in the 2011-12 time frame, before Ex, um, properly corrected my actions and Jonn, uh, ensured that I understood my presence here was a privilege.
But it’s still funny…

26Limabeans

Maine took a lurch further to the left.
Southern Maine. AKA Northern Massachusetts.

Up above the DMZ in Aroostook County though the Dems got hosed and the stupid bond issues failed. All of them except for the “roads and bridges” which always passes and goes to shoring up the DOT worker pensions. The roads and briges get “patched”. Kinda like school bond issues, they go to the pensions, not “the children”.

Freakin Hang us King survives to fuck up the Senate at will. John McCain is smiling.

Janet Mills is Govnuh. Leftist.

So it looks like gridlock everywhere for a couple years. Boring, tiresome gridlock.
Two years is a long time for elderly lefties though and it will be entertaining to watch Bernie and Nancy age gracefully while Antifa and BLM burn down the cities.
MAGA 2020

5th/77th FA

Sympathies Brother. Where is the likes of Joshua Chamberlin and the 20th Maine when you need them? “Northern Massachusetts” (+_+) Like. You think Sam Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere are spinning in their graves even more?Got a history program to give this AM. See y’all later. nsnr

NHSparky

Same with NH. Fucking Massholes.

Bim

Testify, Sparky. They ruined their own state and when their taxation and poor decisions made it unlivable and unsustainable, they came north.

NH used to be a well run, solid bastion of freedom and limited oversight surrounded by hippies to the west and socialists down below. Now we are almost completely overrun. Between all the transplanted Massholes and Connecticunts, I don’t recognize my native state anymore.

I am not Cory Booker

Have to agree. I’m stuck with Connelly as a rep and two commies as senators. I will not mention the circus geek that is the gov.

Virginia is over run with the spawn of Yankee mental institutions (now called universities).

UpNorth

That’s the way things are wherever the progs show up. They hate what they left, taxes too high, yada yada, then they turn around, when their numbers are high enough, and raise taxes, promise pot in every chicken and on and on.

26Limabeans

Even the Union Leader newspaper has been taken over by lefties.

Combat Historian

Blue Wave turned into a fair puddle. Demons took the House, but with only a fairly small majority, while GOP expanded control in the Senate. GOP also held the line re: major governorships. Next two years will be brutal; lots of attritional trench warfare between the two sides…

OWB

Hate to burst your bubble there, besig, but dredging waterways actually does improve the flow of said waterways by removing the debris that accumulates in them. One of many problems caused by the envirowackos is the number of rivers, streams, and channels which have not been dredged in decades. Improve the flow and there is less flooding.

OWB

Yeah, heard you the first time. Yeah, that’s exactly what it seemed like you were addressing. So, if you were making a point, perhaps you should, just maybe, like, express yourself better. Until then, will read what you write and react to what you write instead of hoping to conjure up a correct guess of what you intended to say and respond to that.

Better yet, perhaps just ignoring it all would be easier.

SFC D

If the sea level is rising, then water would be flowing INTO the canals FROM the sea… no drainage.

First rule of plumbing: Shit flows downhill.

Mason

David

It is almost traditional that the House flips at mid-terms by now. In one sense Trump lost big in the sense that Republicans lost more seats than at any other losing mid-term since Gerald Ford (if you were around in the post-Nixon ’70s you know Jesus could have run as a Republican and gone down in flames) . However, if you look at when Democrats lost, it could be worse: Obama lost 63 seats his first mid-term, Clinton lost 54, Carter only lost 15 but Ford had already lost 48 the midterm previously, and that was during the Dem’s long stranglehold on the House. Gets more interesting when you rank Presidents by total seats lost during their terms: Obama 76 seats, Clinton 59, Carter 15, Johnson 47. Other Republican Presidents: Bush Jr. 38, Bush Sr 8, Reagan 31, Nixon 12.

Cameron Kingsley

Speaking of which, what happened to Claymore?

Mason

I prefer to look at my state going solidly blue in a positive light. So blue it’s almost indigo now. At least I don’t have to worry about my government pension getting gutted. 😉

26Limabeans

Property tax deductions go bye bye.

MSG Eric

“By that, I mean I feel truly and thoroughly fucked as a female, liberal, apatheist,”

You’d think an ‘apatheist’ wouldn’t be crying. They’d just not give a fuck and go on with their life…..

Roh-Dog

I’ve watched Connecticut F itself in the A for the LAST time!
Pulling up stakes, caging my monkeys (when I catch them) and I’m on my way to the Promised (read:Freedomed) Lands.
Anyone have, or know of, any kind of employment in southern Georgia?
I’m a good, loyal worker and would be honored to join your business.

Ex-PH2

CNH Industries has a plant in Racine, WI. They build Case IH tractors, and they’re looking increase their work force of 500 by 5% by January.

There are jobs, plenty of them. I don’t know what kind of work you do, but Wisconsin is a ‘right to work state’ which keeps unions from forcing people to join if they don’t want to.

5th/77th FA

Roh-Dog, plenty of work of all kinds in GA. Not up on South South, but there is a dearth of skilled labor state wide. Middle GA’s Robins Air Force Base is hiring 300-1200 over the next year. Most if the power cos and cable/phone/utility outfits are screaming for help. Amazon finishing up a major distribution center in Macon. Dire need for Class A CDL, welders, electricians, mechanics, plumbers, equipment operators. Welcome South Brother. Traveled thru Neb summer of ’17. Every town and plant had a help wanted sign. Same with the Dakotas. Kin in both places said that is still the case.

Roh-Dog

I’ve been through Warner Robbins and Macon. Good people, heck, good Greek food place there in Macon!
This Yankee is putting down roots among the Georgia Pines!

Roh-Dog

Amen.
He who transplants sustains indeed.

Jeff LPH 3, 63-66

The Florida’s Gov’s race was close and Ron D won, but what amazes me but it shouldn’t is that this socialist running against him said that he would raise taxes and put a State Federal tax in, and yet all his peeps voted for him. I wonder if they listened to his speeches or just voted for him because of his race or that he is a dem socialist. I’m retired and get SS and a pension check so can anyone out there familiar with taxes tell me if I would have to pay a state tax on my retirement pension and SS even though I don’t work anymore if it ever came to pass.

Fyrfighter

The idiots supporting him likely have no income, just welfare, and illegal enterprises, so taxes mean nothing to them, just the free shit they’ll get..

Roh-Dog

“The idiots supporting [Democrats/Socialists] likely have no income, just welfare, and illegal enterprises, so taxes mean nothing to them, just the free shit they’ll get..”
Here in the PRoConnecticut that is exactly the ill we suffer. Our outs on welfare is $3B/year with nearly a third of our residents getting subsidized, mostly in urban areas. The D’s win the 3 largest cities 10:1 or better.
How long will it take for citizens to realize they CAN NOT AFFORD FREE SH*T!

Fyrfighter

Yep same shit that’s ruining Colorado.. and the free shit rmy will never realize it, they’ll just get more violent in the way they try to take it… up until they get what they’re asking for, and it ends very poorly for them…

Roh-Dog

“[Voting] for the same politicians that created the conditions that they escaped from in the first place.”
There’s a word for that, or at least there should be, a mix between; insanity, naivety, stupidity, sin…
Idiocracy?

Mason

That’s what’s really scary this cycle. The Democrats all over the board have gone full socialist. Gillum, who has had a lackluster turn as mayor, been caught up in legitimate charges of corruption, promised HIGHER taxes, and wants to abolish ICE and all immigration enforcement came *-* this close to winning. That is well and truly terrifying.

Meanwhile DeSantis is a respected congressman, veteran, and by all accounts a decent person.

HT3 '83-'87

Another Sunshine Stater chiming in…

Gillum would have been a worse disaster than any hurricane. The people voted for him are either the other dregs living on The Dole Queue, or the NPC’s that just bleet out:
Orange man bad
Orange man bad
Must resist
Must resist

A 1% hike in sales tax, a state income tax, and ‘just another billion or so in new taxes year 1’ was part of his platform. All the NE transplants that moved here for the weather and to get away from all high taxes would be dumb-founded when they realized they voted for that…idiots.

Thank God DeSantis & Scott won (Go Nay!!!).

A Proud Infidel®™️

Florida Governor-Elect Ron DeSantis is also a former USN SEAL with multiple tours in the Middle East.

AW1Ed

Only 50% percent of the US populous pays taxes, Jeff. The rest could give a flyin’ F if they get raised, unless it means more free stuff. Then they’re all in for it.

Poetrooper

“It’s like the person that grows a garden, who expects that garden to provide a lot of results, without having to do things that gardeners do for a successful crop.”

The moron Democrat socialist running for governor in Georgia, when asked about what she would do to assist agriculture supposedly responded, “Who needs agriculture? Just buy your food in stores.”

That pretty well sums it up…

A Proud Infidel®™️

YES, a number of them truly are THAT stupid, just like the ones that say cows are killed to get milk.

26Limabeans

“cows are killed to get milk”

having lived on a dairy farm for many years that statement stuns me.

26Limabeans

It was an actual letter to the editor of a San Fran paper.
I have it somewhere.

Mason

A compilation of Obama voters.

Jeff LPH 3, 63-66

I retired in 2007 and moved down to Palm Beach Cty, Fl. and I noticed that more and more of the east coast liberal northeners are giving up there snow bird status and staying down here all year round which looks like the balance is changing to more liberals than republicans/conservatives. Anyone of you Floridians see the same thing. One of the main things about the move down here were those rough winters they have had for a couple of years now plus getting older and doing the snow bird trip can get get one a little tired doing it for those years.

26Limabeans

“those rough winters”

I like to call them extended respites from looney summer people.
They will find me dead, draped over the snow blower before I follow them south.

26Limabeans

My military industrial complex major defense contractor pension is fully taxable for federal. The state just uses the federal adjusted income amount, undelineated.

A portion of my SS is taxable because I earn too much from the pension.
VA disability compensation is not taxable.
Hell, it isn’t even reportable.

Trumps tax reform will leave me paying Nada
because the new standard deduction will erase the SS excess due to the pension.

Ex-PH2

“I’m retired and get SS and a pension check so can anyone out there familiar with taxes tell me if I would have to pay a state tax on my retirement pension and SS even though I don’t work anymore if it ever came to pass.” You have to look up current laws in your state regarding retirement income. In my state (Illinois), SSRI is taxed at 50% of the 12-month total at the federal level, which means I pay nothing, but I still do the math. No Illinois Tax. As of 2011, Illinois does not tax income from retirement plans. It doesn’t tax withdrawals from IRAs. The state doesn’t tax rollovers from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. While some states tax pension benefits, only 13 states impose tax on Social Security income: Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont and West Virginia. Taxes by State | Retirement Living https://www.retirementliving.com/taxes-by-state The taxable part of your pension or annuity payments is generally subject to federal income tax withholding. You may be able to choose not to have income tax withheld from your pension or annuity payments (unless they’re eligible rollover distributions) or may want to specify how much tax is withheld. Mar 13, 2018 Topic No. 410 Pensions and Annuities | Internal Revenue … – IRS.gov https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc410 Best thing to do is check each state’s tax laws and decide if you want to live elsewhere. Here’s a real idiotic notion: Pritzker, now the governor-elect, and he of the Hyatt Hotel chain family, has proposed placing a 1% state property tax on homeowners to last 30 years. His assumption (false) is that the more expensive housing will be occupied for that long by current homeowners and they’ll be stupid enough to fall for that without protesting it. This brilliant idea is also based on the equally false assumption that people who own the more expensive real estate will stay in the state instead of moving to Wisconsin and/or Indiana. So when they move out, the burden of that will fall on homeowners… Read more »

Comm Center Rat

In the PDR of MA voters approved by a 2:1 margin upholding a 2016 law that prohibits discrimination based on gender identity in public places. The law requires access to areas segregated based on gender—such as bathrooms and locker rooms—to be allowed according to an individual’s self-identified gender identity.

Roh-Dog

2:1?!? If Connecticut has a cold, Massachusetts has the flu that bred with canceraids that causes its victims to projectile vomit like the freakin’ Exorcist.
At least you can smoke yourselves retarded with those legal marijuanas so it all makes sense! /s

MSG Eric

Well, if women in Massachusetts were attractive enough, maybe they’d be more concerned?

FatCircles0311

Just when I thought this state was turning around it goes full leftist. Michigan is a fucking embarrassment.

UpNorth

It certainly is. I just checked the map of our state, with the totals by county. There are 83 counties in this state, Stabenow won 14. Whitmer and the slumlord, Gilchrist won 17. 4 of those counties are along the I-75 corridor. That’s where most of the dems live.

Stoutguy

I’m called it a Blue high tide rather than a Blue Wave. Blue wave makes it sound like a tsunami of Democrats were coming in. That is not the case.

Mason

At best it’s a Blue Loogie™

26Limabeans

Green lunga

Ex-PH2

Tides roll in, but they also pull back. Have you ever seen the tidal bore in the Bay of Fundy?

NDHoosier

The fact that the Democrats took the House back means that far too many Americans did not learn a damned thing during the past two years.

Ex-PH2

Oh, lighten up, Francis! They took the House by a rather small margin.

House of Representatives: 415/435 seats declared. That means that there are still 20 seats undelcared.

Democrats: 50.6%
Republicasn: 44.8%

Senate: (97/100 seats declared (3 seats undeclared as yet)
Republicans: 51%
Democrats: 44%
Other: 2%

198,000,000 votes reported by 12CDT today. There are, I’m sure a few left to come.

The libertards didn’t do nearly as well as they thought they would, and not ALL Democrats have wafted over to the Dark Side so far.

Ex-PH2

Read this USA Today article. It offers some good perspectives and viewpoints of what happened and how it will affect what is to come.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/11/07/election-results-2018-senate-republicans/1916438002/

Poetrooper

I think the difference between liberals and conservatives can best be demonstrated by the fact that yesterday liberals sent that airhead Ocasio Cortez to congress while conservatives elected a wounded warrior, Dan Crenshaw.

Ex-PH2

Keep an eye on Crenshaw. I hope he pans out, Poetrooper.

I wonder if he also cooks??

Mason

“Keep an eye on Crenshaw”

Ex, that’s a pun worthy of Jeff LPH. 😉

5th/77th FA

Steady Ex…Steady. You got too many here with a serious crush on you for him to have an eye on you.

Ex-PH2

It was not meant as a pun. (Pouts)

He’s smart, sharp, went to Tufts for undergrad and Hahvahd for grad work. His measure response to the numbskull who tried to make fun of him flattened that little weasel’s lame attempt at humor.

5th/77th FA

Be worth moving to vote for the gentleman. Maybe we’ll have a chance to cast a national level vote one day for him. Replace what’s in the swamp with the likes of Mr. Crenshaw. Might not be such a cesspool after awhile. In other local news, Abrams is already hollering over the guv’s race here. Here is my shocked face.

JimmyB

Well, here in NC, District 2, we had a race between a old white guy (Republican) and a black woman (Democrap) and she and her PAC dollars ran a total scare blitz on TV telling everybody that her opponent wanted to deny health benefits (he voted to repeal Obumacare). I could NOT understand why the hell he didn’t call her out on it and say – look – Obumacare sucks and needs to go. We can do better. At least he won! But, I wonder if this wasn’t the case in other districts where the Republican lost.

Mason

That’s definitely what happened in my AO. It was a one-two punch of “My opponent opposes your health care and literally eats babies” from the PACs followed up by the candidate themselves having ads where they portray themselves as regular, mid-America folks with down home values that will be an ally of the little guy and fight big money and corruption in Washington.

2/17 Air Cav

Nadler wants to hold people accountable. That’s new for him. He called the impeachment of BJ Clinton a “partisan railroad job.” He’s just another worm and we’ll be hearing from him more than we would like. Of that I am certain.

Ex-PH2

Sessions submitted his resignation yesterday or the day before. I do not believe he was canned.

2/17 Air Cav

“Working hard for the people of __________.”

Whenever I hear or see that, and the candidate is a male, I usually say, “Right. Perma-boner.”

Devtun

Capt Sully is one of those life long republicans who has turned his back on the GOP. Oh well, the door is open to come back if you ever get sick of the steaming pile of poo of the donks.

A Proud Infidel®™️

Of course he does, Nelson doesn’t want to give up his lifelong ride on the taxpayer gravy train taking bribes from special interest groups!

A Terminal Lance Coolie

Well, on a state level, Washington has declared my good old Ruger .22 semiauto to be an assault rifle, and that cops basically have to get permission to defend themselves, and a bunch of other crap.

No dent in the leftist bullshit camp here. Cantwell stayed in the Senate, and none of our Reps were either up or seriously contested.

It may be time for me to find a new home state. There’s parts of the South that are looking damned good these days.

A Proud Infidel®™️

IMHO that just goes to prove that liberals are like an infectious parasite, they infect and infest one location, render it unlivable and then migrate to infest other locations like they did to California and are now doing to Washington, Oregon and Colorado while trying to infest Texas.

A Terminal Lance Coolie

That, API, is a very apt description of how it works. The Commiefornians are moving to my neck of the woods at a rather fast rate. Like, they’re buying houses and making down payments on apartments without even physically seeing the place. Our housing market here is screwed, on top of their leftist agenda.

Ex-PH2

Oh, fie on the South! The Midwest has plenty of room, plenty of good hunting areas, and while you may have to jump through a few hoops to have your hunting rifle, even Illinois laws will protect you from predatory gun grabbers.

11B-Mailclerk

Protect …

Like in Chicago?

fsckity fsck

John Giduck – the turd with a face!

Giduck has a number of otherwise intelligent supports such as Greg Ellison who is a police trainer and holds an M.A. from Ohio State. A few years back, Greg aparently defended Giduck.

Part 1: https://johngiduckdemystified.wordpress.com/2017/05/13/giduck-greg-ellifritz-part-1/

Part 2:
https://johngiduckdemystified.wordpress.com/2017/05/14/john-giduck-defender-greg-ellifritz-active-response-training-part-2/

My opinion is that Mr. Ellifritz’s support of a clear fraud like John Giduck brings Ellifritz’s own credibility into question.

What’s yours?

26Limabeans

They have common ground

Ex-PH2

Are they just friends, or is there more to the story than that?

11B-Mailclerk

Mass shooting at another country music event

Black clad gunman: antifa?

https://www.foxnews.com/us/massive-police-response-after-reports-of-shooting-at-california-nightclub

Roh-Dog

If we’re throwing out guesses, my money is on one of those incel douches.

26Limabeans

Anti something.
Whatever happened to being for something?

Roh-Dog

Ardent Americanism cures all ills.

11B-Mailclerk

If the idiot wore a brown shirt, can you imagine the chatter?

He wore AntiFa black. When do we hear the howled righteous demands that Lefties “tone it down” ?

Crickets…