US Presidential Election 2024

[ad_orientem]

I think Musk is more dangerous because he seems to actively encourage stuff as proof of how ftrre speech he is in order to make the argument that Twitter should not be regulated because that would be a cost to him.


Add to that and his positioning of it as primarily a news source seems to me to be making it primarily a hud of disinformation and hate with no regulation.

Again, agreed. Social platforms, especially one as big as Twitter, are hard to manage but it seems Musk has taken off the reigns and lighting a fire up its arse.

[Aruntraveller]

I'm finding this discussion quite stressful

You are not alone in that!

[Nearly Sane]

Aruntraveller - I think that post is disgusting. I would block the poster. If you don't want to talk to me anymore, fair enough.

Jeremy - I think I get that you don't like Trump or Musk. Thanks for your list. I'll let you know if I find anything in your claims to change my mind when I've researched them, since you helpfully didn't provide any links. You think I'm clinging to Trump and the BBC and The Guardian are reliable? Okay. I disagree. 

I'm finding this discussion quite stressful, but I think it's good for me. I've not changed my view that, on balance, I would prefer Trump to win the US election this year.

I think I'll watch Kamala Harris on Oprah now. You never know, she might change my mind about her.

I think it's worse than needing blocking. It's an incitement to violence which Musk is happy to publish.

I doubt Harris on Oprah will affect your decision. It was a car crash to my mind, and that's not even a real interview.

[Roses]

No one in their right mind would find anything good about that evil criminal Trump.  Musk is a very nasty piece of work he treats his employees with contempt. Twitter under Musk's control is complete mess. His idea of free speech allows racists and homophobes state their sick thoughts on those topics.

[Nearly Sane]

You are not alone in that!

I think these are hard discussions about a world where things seem to have to black and white in terms of sides, when things are in more shades of grey than ever. I'm struggling with the clothes for access row has soured my view of the Labour govt way more than any policy so far. I feel politics is broken but we're dragged by social media to agree with views that once we would have regarded as extreme. The attraction of conspiracy theories is that they attempt to make sense of what we find nonsensical. Musk knows that and is playing on it.

[Nearly Sane]

No one in their right mind would find anything good about that evil criminal Trump.  Musk is a very nasty piece of work he treats his employees with contempt. Twitter under Musk's control is complete mess. His idea of free speech allows racists and homophobes state their sick thoughts on those topics.

And the previous owners of twitter alollowed death threats to people they didn't think worth protection but you seemed happy to be on it till then.

Again Trump will get close to 50% of the vote in November, and you're happy to call them all mad. You're indulging in much the same 'othering' that you attack.

[Roses]

And the previous owners of twitter alollowed death threats to people they didn't think worth protection but you seemed happy to be on it till then.

Again Trump will get close to 50% of the vote in November, and you're happy to call them all mad. You're indulging in much the same 'othering' that you attack.

I don't remember any death threats on Twitter, but I didn't post on it that often.

[Nearly Sane]

I don't remember any death threats on Twitter, but I didn't post on it that often.

Which means you are perhaps not best placed to comment on what it was like prior to Musk?

[Nearly Sane]

It's worth remembering Musk's treatment of workers, given the semi serious proposal in his mutual masturbation session with Trump, that Musk be appointed to run a Department of Goverment Efficiency, DOGE, in a Trump administration.

[Nearly Sane]

Trump and North Carolina


https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/21/politics/donald-trump-north-carolina-mark-robinson/index.html

[SteveH]

Trump and North Carolina

Sweet Carolina TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP!

[ad_orientem]

Trump shouting at women again and repeating the lie that in some places in America babies can be terminated after birth. The man is insane!

[Nearly Sane]

If Trump likes he won't run for reelection. Presumably because he'll be 137.


https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czj9ekdvxx2o

[SteveH]

First time he's admitted the possibility that he might lose. Expectation management? Have his advisors told him to tone down the triumphalism? Is their private polling suggesting he is likely to lose?

[Nearly Sane]

First time he's admitted the possibility that he might lose. Expectation management? Have his advisors told him to tone down the triumphalism? Is their private polling suggesting he is likely to lose?

I think it's more likely that he's trying to use less rhetoric that amps him up as a possible threat to future elections.

[Nearly Sane]

Interesting article on the ricketyness of the US constitution

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/23/opinion/electoral-college-presidential-election.html?unlocked_article_code=1.NU4.139c.MemM41koIit0

[jeremyp]

Interesting article on the ricketyness of the US constitution

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/23/opinion/electoral-college-presidential-election.html?unlocked_article_code=1.NU4.139c.MemM41koIit0

It's been clear to me for many years that the US Constitution is not fit for purpose. Just the issue of how the Supreme Court is selected makes that obvious.

[Nearly Sane]

It's been clear to me for many years that the US Constitution is not fit for purpose. Just the issue of how the Supreme Court is selected makes that obvious.

Sometimes a certain amount of 'unfitness for purpose' allows for a flexibility to deal with differing situations as a compromise but in times when compromise becomes a four letter word it becomes a problem.

[Nearly Sane]

Trump to meet Zelensky. It will be interesting to see what is said after this.


https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7810y11dyjo

[Nearly Sane]

Looks as if the US has very little influence. And until the election surely only going to reduce.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgn5xkp3rko

[Nearly Sane]

What an odd election this is!


https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c23kg193d8zo

[jeremyp]

Sometimes a certain amount of 'unfitness for purpose' allows for a flexibility to deal with differing situations as a compromise but in times when compromise becomes a four letter word it becomes a problem.

The flaw in that is the assumption that everybody with an interest is going to be reasonable about it.

There was probably a time when the president in office selected the best person for the job of Supreme Court Justice and Congress accepted that. No more though and we have been left with a right wing partizan committee that has the power to overrule virtually anything a Democratic president or Congress puts into law.

[SteveH]

Discovered from today's NYT weekly history quiz that America nearly scrapped its ridiculous electoral college system of electing Presidents in the late 60s, but the bill was defeated by a filibuster by Strom Thurmond, notorious opponent of all things self-evidently sensible and fair. They should try again, and replace it with a straight head-count of the entire country.

[Nearly Sane]

If you feel like following Vance vs Walz


https://www.bbc.com/news/live/clyvjlqweldt

[Nearly Sane]

If you feel like following Vance vs Walz


https://www.bbc.com/news/live/clyvjlqweldt

Seems like pretty much a non event but as the article notes even when such debates are events, they don't really affect the race.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y0863ry88o