MAINSTREAM COOLER - For those who believe mainstream contemporary facts.

[Matt Allison]

5 hours ago, W. Niederhut said:

This is the first time in about 50 years that I haven't subscribed to either NYT or WaPo-- America's two top-ranked newspapers.  

W. - yes, it's not only sad, but it's also a red flag; if our free press becomes controlled editorially by oligarchs, we will have slipped into a Russian-style fascist society.

[W. Niederhut]

10 minutes ago, Matt Allison said:

W. - yes, it's not only sad, but it's also a red flag; if our free press becomes controlled editorially by oligarchs, we will have slipped into a Russian-style fascist society.

Speaking of fascism, Matt, the Nazis came to power with the support of the military, the police, and wealthy capitalists.

Trump's fascist movement has the backing of the police and billionaires, including some of the wealthiest men on the planet-- Musk, Koch, Putin, et.al.   Now I wonder about Bezos, given the recent reorganization of WaPo.

My brother-in-law, an ex-Army Ranger, isn't convinced that the U.S. military would back Trump if he moves against the Constitution.  But Trump had no difficulty staging massive National Guard deployments in D.C. during the Black Lives Matter protests.

I wonder if there are any recent polls of military support for Il Douche.

 

Below:  The National Guard deployed by Trump in D.C. during the peaceful George Floyd protests

[Steve Thomas]

2 hours ago, W. Niederhut said:

 

My brother-in-law, an ex-Army Ranger, isn't convinced that the U.S. military would back Trump if he moves against the Constitution.  

I wonder if there are any recent polls of military support for Il Douche.

 

 

W.,

I have always believed that it's going to come down to which parts of the military are going to do Trump's bidding, and which ones won't.

He had to scrape an ad-hoc group together in Lafayette Park so he could take that Bible photo op walk.

Steve Thomas

[Steve Thomas]

- Lara Trump -

“He showed us a whole lot that we didn’t know was going on — within the media, within Washington, D.C. He exposed a lot of people. So they have to do everything they can to keep him out of that White House ’cause they know Donald Trump gets in for four more years, the jig is up for them. The gloves are off. There are no holds barred here. He is going full-throttle. He’s not worried about winning another election [in 2028]. It’s four years of scorched earth when Donald Trump retakes the White House.”

Steve Thomas

[Steve Thomas]

Georgia school shooting highlights fears about classroom cellphone bans
BY  ANDREW DEMILLO September 7, 2024
https://apnews.com/article/georgia-school-shooting-cellphone-bans-cb68f601be5193bfeb62e9fd065978a1

"The moves to restrict phone use in schools have been driven by concerns about the impact screentime has on children’s mental health and complaints from teachers that cellphones have become a constant distraction in the classroom. But those opposed to the bans say they cut off a lifeline parents have to make sure their children are safe during school shootings or other emergencies."

Steve Thomas

[Bill Fite]

13 hours ago, W. Niederhut said:

My brother-in-law, an ex-Army Ranger, isn't convinced that the U.S. military would back Trump if he moves against the Constitution.  But Trump had no difficulty staging massive National Guard deployments in D.C. during the Black Lives Matter protests.

With all the military advisors / appointees in the Trump admin that have come out against him, I don't see how Trump could convince enough of the Army to support a coup.

I suspect that there are more than a few hard-core MAGA people in the service, but that it is a small minority.  I'm basing that on 50 year-old observations from my time in the Army.

Calling out the National Guard during protests is a lot different from putting together military backing for a coup.

[W. Niederhut]

2 hours ago, Bill Fite said:

With all the military advisors / appointees in the Trump admin that have come out against him, I don't see how Trump could convince enough of the Army to support a coup.

I suspect that there are more than a few hard-core MAGA people in the service, but that it is a small minority.  I'm basing that on 50 year-old observations from my time in the Army.

Calling out the National Guard during protests is a lot different from putting together military backing for a coup.

True, Bill.

But, as I recall, Generally Milley had initially supported Trump's tear gas-enabled photo op in Lafayette Square, before later apologizing to the country for "politicizing" U.S. military ops.

Also, I still believe that interim SecDef Chris Miller and General Charles Flynn secretly blocked National Guard deployment to the Capitol on January 6th, for Il Douche.

[Matt Allison]

 

[Matt Allison]

 

[W. Niederhut]

Non-politics post alert...

So, you know those Charlie Brown cartoons where Lucy moves the football before Charlie Brown can kick it?

That's what it's like being a Denver Broncos fan since Super Bowl 50, when Peyton Manning retired in Denver.

The Broncos keep endlessly re-shuffling their coaches, players, and even owners.

Then we get months of local news and hype about how, "This year is going to be different!"

The new owners are the wealthy Walmart Waltons, and they even brought in Condoleezza Rice as a consultant-- to get some pre-emptive Neocon action going for the Broncos.

But no dice!  Condoleezza's football strategies in Denver are working about as well as the Bush/Cheney War on Terror (and almost as expensive.)

This year, the Broncos drafted the QB wunderkind, Bo Nix, from Oregon, (and Auburn) the most accurate passer in NCAA history.  And Nix looked super in the pre-season, winning the starting job.

Today, in Seattle, Nix and the Broncos had trouble picking up a first down, and the wunderkind looked terrible-- missing receivers and throwing interceptions into obvious coverage.

Condi should have stuck with Neocon projects for a new American century.

 

 

Edited Monday at 02:01 AM by W. Niederhut

[Kirk Gallaway]

11 hours ago, Bill Fite said:

With all the military advisors / appointees in the Trump admin that have come out against him, I don't see how Trump could convince enough of the Army to support a coup.

I suspect that there are more than a few hard-core MAGA people in the service, but that it is a small minority.  I'm basing that on 50 year-old observations from my time in the Army.

Calling out the National Guard during protests is a lot different from putting together military backing for a coup.

I think things are safe right now. But in the final weeks in Jan 21. Nancy Pelosi phoned General Milley and said we have a crazy person as President whose liable to go rogue and start a coup. Milley had already taken steps to protect the nuclear arsenal from Trump. So Milley instructed all of his underlings to not take a call from Trump.

Steve Banon said he once Trump wins back the Presidency he wants to try Pelosi and Milley for treason.

This is from the Woodward Costa book.

Hey I liked that game theory Bill.

 

 

 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/14/politics/woodward-book-trump-nuclear/index.html

[Matt Allison]

A lot of people online today blowing a gasket over this weekend's NYT poll that showed Trump leading Harris by a point.

About all I can suggest with polls is to get into the weeds and read about their methods and their polling sample. This info is usually call "crosstabs" and is often contained in the fine print.

It can be time-consuming, but it can also calm the nerves when a poll like that comes out, as you see quite clearly why they got the results they did lol

[Paul Bacon]

4 hours ago, Matt Allison said:

A lot of people online today blowing a gasket over this weekend's NYT poll that showed Trump leading Harris by a point.

About all I can suggest with polls is to get into the weeds and read about their methods and their polling sample. This info is usually call "crosstabs" and is often contained in the fine print.

It can be time-consuming, but it can also calm the nerves when a poll like that comes out, as you see quite clearly why they got the results they did lol

I saw that Matt and it left me feeling depressed.  At the time, I thought of you and your calm, reassuring demeanor.  I thought "what would Matt Allison say"... ;>)

[Bill Fite]

7 hours ago, Kirk Gallaway said:

Hey I liked that game theory Bill.

If you liked that one Kirk - you might find this one interesting given past discussions about election mechanics in France.  

These guys actually discuss some interesting topics and explain them really well.

 

[Matt Allison]

10 hours ago, Paul Bacon said:

I saw that Matt and it left me feeling depressed.  At the time, I thought of you and your calm, reassuring demeanor.  I thought "what would Matt Allison say"... ;>)

Well the whole exercise is just so bizarre; I don't understand how anyone could claim such a mind-bogglingly unscientific process is even remotely dispositive. Was that poll accurate about the feelings of those particular 1600+ people? Sure. But was that group of people representative of the American electorate that will be voting in November? Not at all! lol

So, seriously, what the hell is the point of that?

What we learn from that poll is that Trump only leads with one specific group: uneducated, rural whites. Everyone else? Harris leads.

Cities and suburbs? Harris leads by comfortable margins. So why would so much credence be given to rural voters when they only comprise approximately 14% of the nation's electorate? There are only 4 states in the country that are majority rural: Vermont, Maine, Mississippi, and West Virginia. Two of those states are blue!

The NYT poll queried people from 4 sections of America: the West, the Midwest, the South, and the Northeast. How was that divided up?

West 23%

Midwest 21%

Northeast 20%

The South 35%.

Wait, what?

Why would you overweigh your coverage like that? From an area of the country so blatantly in the bag for Trump?

Like I say, the process is nonsensical.

Edited Monday at 09:22 PM by Matt Allison