The Trump Presidency – 2016

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

We're a few days out from the election so plenty can change, but it will be interesting to see how weather affects things. I don't know the exact locations, but it appears the "south" will be seeing rain/thunderstorms, and I've seen a couple of indications that deeper south might see severe weather/tornadic activity (or at least the threat of it).

I used to think the election day weather stuff would mean less with early voting. But I know a lot of states have cut it back when they realized black voters were using it in such high numbers.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Nothing riles up Game of Thrones fans like Trump using it for a renewal of sanctions on Iran:


HBO to Donald Trump: Quit using Game of Thrones without permission | EW.com

So the sanctions are bad like winter.

And Trump is the one responsible for the sanctions.

So Trump is the Night King?

[Edward64]

I voted today. Looking forward to Tue.

[Drake]

I voted yesterday. I think it was the first time I've ever early-voted.

I've got to say: I didn't like it. I mean, the process was fine and it was sort of nice to get it done without having to worry about day-of scheduling...but I miss the instant gratification of sitting down the night-of and getting feedback. Waiting until Tuesday just seems to take some of the fun out of it.

[lungs]

How long is the wait where you all typically vote? There's usually only about 2-300 voters in my precinct so I can usually walk in, get my ballot and vote all within a few minutes.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by lungs

How long is the wait where you all typically vote? There's usually only about 2-300 voters in my precinct so I can usually walk in, get my ballot and vote all within a few minutes.

There was a line out the door. It was about 20 before I entered the building and another 10-15 min after getting checked, wait for a machine to free up, and then cast the ballot.

Today was the last day of early voting in GA. Not sure if 30-35 min is unusual.

There were posters in the building that said to the effect "don't talk politics in here". Thought that was funny, I did't remember that last time around.

Also had my daughter with me so that was a good learning experience for her.

[Ksyrup]

We don't have early voting. In past years, I've sometimes walked right in and other times waited for up to 30 minutes.

[sabotai]

Mailed my ballot in a few days ago, so my wait time was however long it took to get my lazy ass to finally fill it out and mail it (about two weeks).

[Edward64]

Not sure I believe that Healthcare is the key issue. I don't hear this from colleagues, its more pro-anti Trump the person, his style etc.

Health Care: The Biggest Issue of the 2018 Midterm Elections - The Atlantic

Health care has become the single most important policy topic in the midterm elections—everywhere and nowhere, a strange kind of omnipresent sleeper issue. It’s not grabbing many national headlines, compared with the migrant caravan or the Supreme Court fight or violence directed against minority groups or the trade war, but it’s motivating voters in race after race after race. New polling from the Public Religion Research Institute shows that Americans point to the cost of health care more than any other issue when asked what is most important to them this election cycle. “It’s official: The 2018 midterms are about health care,” Wesleyan argued.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by lungs

How long is the wait where you all typically vote? There's usually only about 2-300 voters in my precinct so I can usually walk in, get my ballot and vote all within a few minutes.

I was so pissed last election. I had to wait for Mr. McGill to finish voting for like 3 minutes. First time I've ever had to wait .

We have 3 voting locations in town. And as of last census a population of 217. But by God, if you don't have your license you ain't getting a ballot.

[lungs]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

I was so pissed last election. I had to wait for Mr. McGill to finish voting for like 3 minutes. First time I've ever had to wait .

For me, it takes longer for my old first grade teacher (who was ancient when I was her pupil, and now it's 30 years later) to find my name in the roll than anything else.

[Brian Swartz]

Usually less than 10 mins for me, but there have been places I've lived in the past where it was a little under an hour. I've never been unfortunate enough be in one of the super-crazy locations that all the news crews go out to every election.

[NobodyHere]

I think the wait for me was 20 minutes in 2016. Then when I arrived I realized I forgot my wallet at the liquor store I just visited.

[stevew]

you don't need to show a license to vote here and i'm not going to provide one.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by stevew

you don't need to show a license to vote here and i'm not going to provide one.

I'm not sure younare supposed to here. But by God of you dont have it you aint voting. Its hilarious, becaue like lungs mentioned I've literally known the woman who works the polls half my life. Heck in high school I dated her daughter...and she once got home early ...and yeah. She knows me. Lol but still gotta have that license.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

I'm not sure younare supposed to here. But by God of you dont have it you aint voting. Its hilarious, becaue like lungs mentioned I've literally known the woman who works the polls half my life. Heck in high school I dated her daughter...and she once got home early ...and yeah. She knows me. Lol but still gotta have that license.

If you're not legally required to and poll workers won't let you vote without one, they're breaking the law.

Poll workers are not allowed to impose extralegal requirements to exercise the franchise.

[Edward64]

Welp, it hit the news. 13% hispanics at the school.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/02/us/id...rnd/index.html

Incorporating Donald Trump's border wall into a Halloween costume is questionable at best -- especially if you're an elementary school teacher.

That's exactly what a group of staff members discovered at an elementary school in Middleton, Idaho.

Pictures, which were posted on the Middleton School District Facebook page but have since been deleted, showed the group dressed up as a wall with the phrase "Make America Great Again" on it. Another group in a second picture was dressed up with sombreros, carrying maracas and wearing fake black mustaches, which some parents called racist.
:
The pictures have now been replaced with an apology video from district Superintendent Josh Middleton, who called the costumes "clearly insensitive and inappropriate."

"We are better than this, we embrace all students who have a responsibility to teach and reach all students," he said.

There was probably no malicious intent, he said, just poor judgment -- adding that the district will be conducting an investigation.

"We now have to own those decisions," he said. "I'd just again want to share what's going on and express my sincerest and deepest apologies to our families, to our patrons."

Beth Almanza, an immigrant rights advocate with the Idaho DACA Students group called the photos "extremely disheartening" and "heartbreaking."
"Imagine how some of the students felt when they walked into their classrooms on Halloween and saw their teachers (people they look up to) dressed like this?" she posted. "Students deserve better."

According to data compiled by Idaho Ed Trends, almost 13% of the school's population is Hispanic.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Not sure I believe that Healthcare is the key issue. I don't hear this from colleagues, its more pro-anti Trump the person, his style etc.

Health Care: The Biggest Issue of the 2018 Midterm Elections - The Atlantic

I can agree with healthcare being the key issue. Access to quality healthcare and the costs associated with this continues to be an underlying issue for many of the shiny political things we talked about. Immigration legal and illegal? For some, that drives up their healthcare costs. Trump? For some, he is determined to take away their healthcare due to preexisting conditions. We are going to forget about the caravan when whatever happens with it, happens. Healthcare is something that they will see during every visit to the doctor's office, pharmacy etc.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

I can agree with healthcare being the key issue. Access to quality healthcare and the costs associated with this continues to be an underlying issue for many of the shiny political things we talked about. Immigration legal and illegal? For some, that drives up their healthcare costs. Trump? For some, he is determined to take away their healthcare due to preexisting conditions. We are going to forget about the caravan when whatever happens with it, happens. Healthcare is something that they will see during every visit to the doctor's office, pharmacy etc.

It must be me.

Top 5 according to Gallup is Healthcare is 80%, economy is 78%, immigration 78%, way women are treated in US society 74%, and gun policy 72%.

They didn't have a category of "like/dislike/worried about Trump" unfortunately which is what I voted on.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/244367/...gn=syndication

[whomario]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Not sure I believe that Healthcare is the key issue. I don't hear this from colleagues, its more pro-anti Trump the person, his style etc.

Health Care: The Biggest Issue of the 2018 Midterm Elections - The Atlantic

It should be, because your health care system pretty much sucks, compared with other western countries. And that's before the small improvement from Obama got under attack from Trump.



The U.S. Health Care System: An International Perspective — DPEAFLCIO

[JPhillips]

Sure it sucks, but it costs more, so it's better.

[MrBug708]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Welp, it hit the news. 13% hispanics at the school.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/02/us/id...rnd/index.html

A few of my fellow teachers want to know why they aren't already fired, those same teachers who complain a lot about teachers not involved with the union in our district. It was in extreme poor taste

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

A few of my fellow teachers want to know why they aren't already fired, those same teachers who complain a lot about teachers not involved with the union in our district. It was in extreme poor taste

Yeah, my wife is a teacher and her school pretty much thinks it was "stupid" and not appropriate for a school setting.

She was wondering how they could think it was appropriate. I guess I could understand if in Maine where they may not have hispanic kids in their school and so it maybe didn't occur to them.

Looking forward to details on disciplinary actions and the inevitable explanation. If this was the first time for this crap, my wife doesn't think they should be fired.

[stevew]

Wtf were they thinking for real

[miked]

I'm not saying you are a racist, but you do racist things.

I still think the Gillum quote holds, you may not be a racist, but the racists think you are a racist.

[tarcone]

Re: Health care system

It is not good. But there are a lot of other factors that play into life expectancy.
My point being, you just cannot blame the government alone. Lifestyle choices, processed food, access to technology are also key factors in our life expectancy dropping.

Also, we see the sugar bump in that table. In the 70s fat was thought to make you fat. So food companies started producing "fat free" foods. Of course, to make them taste better, the companies added sugar.

The obesity rates have gone up since the introduction of "fat free" foods.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Yeah, my wife is a teacher and her school pretty much thinks it was "stupid" and not appropriate for a school setting.

She was wondering how they could think it was appropriate. I guess I could understand if in Maine where they may not have hispanic kids in their school and so it maybe didn't occur to them.

Looking forward to details on disciplinary actions and the inevitable explanation. If this was the first time for this crap, my wife doesn't think they should be fired.

It's really unbelievable

On top of the 13% Hispanic population at that particular school, the Boise area has one of the highest per-capita refugee populations in the U.S. - about 1 in 20 public school students are refugees or children of refugees. That ratio is probably a little lower out in Middleton where this happened (it's a little "out in the country" 30 minutes from Boise), but you'd think the teachers would have some better sense of this kind of thing.

I'm guessing there will be some racial sensitivity training and they'll stay on. Communities can be very defensive of teachers. We had a teacher feed a live puppy, in front of students, to a snapping turtle that he illegally kept in his classroom up in Preston (from Napoleon Dynamite fame), and the prosecutors tried to move the trial because the community overwhelmingly supported the teacher.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

A few of my fellow teachers want to know why they aren't already fired, those same teachers who complain a lot about teachers not involved with the union in our district. It was in extreme poor taste

Yes these assholes should be fired. My wife is a public school teacher at a school in Denver that is 60% and she thinks what these dumbasses did is termination worthy.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Re: Health care system

It is not good. But there are a lot of other factors that play into life expectancy.
My point being, you just cannot blame the government alone. Lifestyle choices, processed food, access to technology are also key factors in our life expectancy dropping.

Also, we see the sugar bump in that table. In the 70s fat was thought to make you fat. So food companies started producing "fat free" foods. Of course, to make them taste better, the companies added sugar.

The obesity rates have gone up since the introduction of "fat free" foods.

So capitalism?!

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

So capitalism?!

I guess.

But Im not sure how easy it is to regulate a persons choices.

You can tax the crap out of stuff or throw down regulations. But people are going to go to macdonalds and eat that large fry while playing candy crush on their phone in front of that show they are binging.

Our obesity rate is killing our health care system.

Unfortunately, Michelle Obama was influenced by big food when she started her campaign to end obesity. You start with food, which she was going to do. But her plan was suddenly funded by big food. And it turned into an exercise campaign.

If you eat well, you have more energy to do stuff. Like exercise. When you eat crap, you feel like crap, and are less likely to exercise or do anything.

I think there is an overemphasis on the fault of our poor health care system. Yes, I blame big pharma and insurance companies. But they are almost monopolies. The bottom line is what is most important.

[MrBug708]

Originally Posted by Galaril

Yes these assholes should be fired. My wife is a public school teacher at a school in Denver that is 60% and she thinks what these dumbasses did is termination worthy.

Not a chance they will be fired.

[Izulde]

Definitely termination worthy.

I didn't early vote this year like I have the last several years.

Usually it takes me anywhere from 20-30 minutes to vote, but I'm also in a large metropolitan area and used to vote at UNLV, so there'd be a lot of the campus community voting, too.

Not sure what it'll look like Tuesday. First election in my new home. I'm taking it as my day off next week to vote and attend to some other stuff.

[PilotMan]

One of the things that makes me angry is when people in my field make us all look bad. It gives everyone a bad name and makes my job that much harder. I imagine that there are teachers everywhere who feel this way about this situation. Personally, that's a hard thing for me to see as a terminable offense, but again, I don't have those feelings all wrapped up in it either.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

One of the things that makes me angry is when people in my field make us all look bad. It gives everyone a bad name and makes my job that much harder. I imagine that there are teachers everywhere who feel this way about this situation. Personally, that's a hard thing for me to see as a terminable offense, but again, I don't have those feelings all wrapped up in it either.

Are you a US president by any chance?

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by molson

We had a teacher feed a live puppy, in front of students, to a snapping turtle that he illegally kept in his classroom up in Preston (from Napoleon Dynamite fame), and the prosecutors tried to move the trial because the community overwhelmingly supported the teacher.

Wait. What?

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Wait. What?

I'll double down for ya, JPhillips.

Yea....what. in. the. entire. fuck.

[MrBug708]

Maybe auto correct from guppy?

[MrBug708]

Actually googled it

Teacher who fed live puppy to turtle in front of pupils charged with animal cruelty | The Independent

[stevew]

Free/reduced ubers/lyft to your polling place. Vote responsibly

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by stevew

Free/reduced ubers/lyft to your polling place. Vote responsibly

How does this work?
Drivers still get paid normally?

[stevew]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

How does this work?
Drivers still get paid normally?

Yes. It's like a coupon code in the app for riders.

I'm not sure how much it'll be worth working. Unless surge is super heavy doing passenger rides tends to be worth significantly less per hour than just delivering sandwiches.

[Edward64]

FWIW, some polling insights.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/05/polit...age/index.html

About 7 in 10 likely voters say that when they cast a ballot on Tuesday, they'll be sending a message about President Donald Trump, and more often and not, the message those voters want to send is one of opposition.

Overall, 42% of likely voters say their vote will be to express opposition to the president, while 28% say that it'll be to support him.
:
Trump's approval rating in the poll stands at 39% overall, with 55% disapproving, slightly worse than in early October, when 41% approved of his performance and 52% disapproved.
:
Among likely voters, a majority, 52% say they strongly disapprove of the way the president is handling his job, 35% say they strongly approve of his work as President, and just 11% of those likely to vote on Tuesday say they don't have strong views on Trump.
:
A majority of likely voters (52%) say they consider health care extremely important to their vote for Congress on Tuesday, with immigration and Trump closely behind at 49% each. Just behind that, 47% each say the economy, corruption and gun policy are extremely important to their vote.

But voters' issue priorities are sharply divided by party. Among Democrats, 71% call health care extremely important. That stands at 37% among Republicans. Almost two-thirds of Republicans (64%) say immigration is extremely important to them, while that dips twenty points to 44% among Democrats. And while 60% of Republicans call the economy extremely important, just 39% of Democrats agree.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Edward64

FWIW, some polling insights.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/05/polit...age/index.html

I keep seeing stuff like this, yet also keep seeing the republicans are likely to remain in control. Not sure how those two things jive. I suppose the blue states will just be bluer and the red states stay red but not as red?

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I keep seeing stuff like this, yet also keep seeing the republicans are likely to remain in control. Not sure how those two things jive. I suppose the blue states will just be bluer and the red states stay red but not as red?

Dems have a nearly 90% chance of taking control of the house per 538's house forecast. Senate is only 16% or so chance due to Dems facing the most difficult senate map in modern election history along with the inherent advantage Republicans have with senate.

It will take a 6% or so overall voting advantage to take control house, but it would require somewhere in the neighborhood of 11% to take senate. Even in a blue wave year that's incredibly difficult.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I keep seeing stuff like this, yet also keep seeing the republicans are likely to remain in control. Not sure how those two things jive. I suppose the blue states will just be bluer and the red states stay red but not as red?

The Republicans are only favored to stay in control of the Senate and that's because the map is terrible for Dems. Of the 33 seats up, 25 are controlled by the Dems and 8 by the GOP. So the Dems need to win 28 of the 33 elections to take control of the Senate. They will probably win somewhere between 22-26, which won't be enough.

The Dems are expected to take control of the House.

[Lathum]

Thanks for the explanation.

[Lathum]

Twitter can be such gold.

Going back and forth with a guy about the migrant caravan and NBC cancelling the Trump commercial. Guy giving typical responses, things like why don't you take them in to your home, we don't know how many criminals their are, we can't keep taking people in, etc...

The guy then volunteers to me his wife is Jewish and he is FAR more educated than I am ( I have a BA in History and education from U of Washington), so I advise him he should study some Jewish history to maybe become more tolerable towards migrants fleeing tyrants.

[JPhillips]

Trump: "I've actually kept more promises than I've made. When did you ever hear that from a politician? Maybe never. Never. It's true."

One of the great philosophical questions, can a man keep a promise he didn't make?

[Butter]

Both sides!

'No Blame'? ABC News finds 17 cases invoking 'Trump' in connection with violence, threats or alleged assaults - ABC News

[Thomkal]

So with the mid-terms tomorrow, the memories of 2016 come back to haunt me. I'm curious if anyone here thinks the equivalent (R's staying in control of both Senate and the House, and even gaining seats) is possible or even probable tomorrow? I certainly think the Repubs can keep control of the Senate, but I just refuse to believe that many Americans can see the first 2 years of a Trump Presidency and say "yep that's what I wanted" and vote R tomorrow. I don't see a Blue wave happening either (Dems control both houses) but certainly see them taking the House.


Any predictions for specific incumbents to win or lose? Incumbency has a lot of power when it comes to Election Day, so sadly I think most will win. I could see Rohrbacker (sp?) of CA losing though and McCaskill probably the most likely Dem incumbent to lose. I'll be thrilled if the likes of Nunes and Cruz lose though.


Any attempts by Russians to affect the voting? I see Texas already had (has?) an issue with voting machines?