I am am attracted to weather apps and today I discovered Windy.com, which I think has great visualizations.
Interesting growth numbers in tablet sales, particularly the 89% year over year growth by Samsung. It looks to me that Amazon has been hurt the most by Apple’s product and pricing strategy and probably due to people using tablets to create as well as consume.
Several weeks ago I bought a pair of the original Airpods that I am using with my iPads. Of all the Apple products that I have used, these Airpods most reflect the “it just works” assessment. Pairing was easy and automatic across all my Apple products versus the “regular” Bluetooth headsets I use that you have to pair invidually with each device. I am also surprised by how comfortable they are, probably the most comfortable Bluetooh headset I’ve worn.
If these Republicans had any integrity their hypocrisy would matter. But they don’t and so it doesn’t.
It seems to me that the 20th Amendment had the expectation that a current sitting president would comply with the result of the election prior to the Electoral College vote otherwise I don’t know how there could be an expectation of a safe transition in just one month.
If Republicans are not going to follow this norm then we probably need another Constitutional Amendment, either to change the 20th, or better to remove the Electoral College.
Veterans Day is a good day for Trump to honor their sacrifice by acknowledging the will of the people and committing to a peaceful transition.
The time will come when Mitch McConnell will have to have to publicly stand against President Trump because he will not be able to let the courts or the citizens stand for him.
The story alone should be troubling to any Patriotic American because there appears to be no intent nor understanding of putting country over self. At some point people need to ask themselves what it really means to be an American and whether they put that identify above their Republican or Democrat identity.
“So what is America after Trump? A nation figuring out how — and whether — to engage and whom to love: the stranger or the self? I know the cynic’s prediction of which we’ll choose, but pure cynicism is boring. I’m rooting for a change but planning for a stasis.”
There is a Christian answer to this question that challenges the notion of the United States being a Christian nation.
Is this a metaphor?
Seventy degree temps in November demands being outdoors.
Three words: Bush v. Gore
Unfortunately, even after all the votes are counted this election will not be over for many more months. The most tragic thing about that is COVID-19 is raging across the country and people, citizens of the United States that POTUS is sworn to protect, are dying.
Is President Trump’s current actions impeachable?
Lessons From The 2020 Election
It should be clear that Democrats need to work on their strategy for Presidential elections. If one is willing to listen to me, I have the following observations.
Simply getting out the vote will not work. It seems the conclusion drawn from 2016 is that Clinton lost because not enough Democrats voted. The thinking is based on the belief there are more Democrats than Republicans in the United States. The problem is, increating vote count only works in a pure democratic nationwide election, aka the popular vote, and we don’t elect Presidents in the United States by popular vote. (The founders feared a pure democracy.)
Republicans have simplified the path to the White House: win rural votes by > 50% margin and if you get 30% of the urban vote, you win, and that strategy aligns to the electoral college. In short, Democrats have to get more rural vote, which leads me to the one overriding fundamental that Democrats have to understand..
Fear of socialism trumps everything else!
People are not really voting on issues, which I think is why polling is not working. People are voting on fear and mostly fear of the other side. The Republican message is simple, Democrats are socialists, socialism = communism = evil = unAmercan, so vote Republican to save America! A significant number of people are convinced they can never vote for a Democrat because that is a vote for Socialism. Add to that another significant number of people, call them evangelicals, who are convinced voting for a Demorat is a vote for killing babys and you have this result. And evangelials equate socialism to atheism which adds another reason why they fear Democrats. Then, sadly, add to the fact that there are too many who fear a vote for a Democrat is a vote for people of color over white people.
If you consider that Republican votes are mostly all about fear of what Democrats will do, I think you see how the Democrat primary and compaigns of 2016 and 2020 make the election strategy for Republicans easy because policies considered to be socialist AND politicians considered to be socialists (Bernie Sanders) dominated the campaigns.
In short, I think Bernie Sanders created a lot of fear among voters AND was a easy target. Even after Biden secured the nomination Republicans simply claimed Sanders would have significant influence over Biden because Democrats do want the Sanders followers support. I think this is true, hard to dispute and personally frustrating to me because Bernie is not even a Democrat!
Why does this matter? It matters because for extremism to be successful it needs an equally extreme opposite. The antidote to extremism is the middle and unfortunately that is shrinking rapidly. I think the only way the middle, call them moderates, can be recovered is via a third party but how we finance and run elections in the United States in the 21st century really makes it impossible for a viable third party.
In summary, fear of socialism trumps everything. It don’t matter whether the Republican candidate is authoritarian, unqualified, and incapable of leading, it only matters that at Democrat doesn’t get power and destroy the country.
Voting on its own doesn’t make progress, minds have to change. And we are way beyond the time when a close election meant anything to those who won because it’s no longer about governing, it’s about ruling.
Looks like a straight ticket, rural versus urban vote outcome to me.
The 7 day average of daily cases of COVID-19 in my county has now passed the rate in April. Not good.
“My kingdom isn’t the sort that grows in this world,” replied Jesus. “If my kingdom were from this world, my supporters would have fought to stop me being handed over to the Judaeans. So, then, my kingdom is not the sort that comes from here.”
— John 18:36 The Kingdom New Testament, eBook: A Contemporary Translation by N. T. Wright