The US Election.

I can't tell who is winning. I see that polls predict that Harris is ahead of Trump by a slivver but then the swing states polls show that Trump has won three quarters of their votes. 4 days !!!!

If every time men had sex, they risked death, physical disability, a life altering interruption in their education or career, and the sudden lifelong responsibility for another human being, I think they’d expect a choice in the matter - @cher

Trump just told citizens to gun down Liz Cheney? What is going on?

Macadia

Trump just told citizens to gun down Liz Cheney? What is going on?

Much as I loathe the man - facts and context are important.

Trump accused her of being a "war hawk":

"I don't want to go to war. (Liz Cheney) wanted to go, she wanted to stay in Syria. I took (troops) out. She wanted to stay in Iraq. I took them out. I mean, if were up to her, we'd, we'd be in 50 different countries. And you know, number one, it's very dangerous. Number two, a lot of people get killed. And number three, I mean, it's very, very expensive."

Later, Trump added

"I don’t blame (Dick Cheney) for sticking with his daughter, but his daughter is a very dumb individual, very dumb. She is a radical war hawk. Let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK? Let's see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face."

Words matter, truth matters. Trump twists the truth, he talks about fake-news, he makes things up, lies, and I think he's a very dangerous man who is a threat to democracy. But deliberately twisting what he said is wrong, and also dangerous.

Decide for yourself.

I see what you mean. But I suspect that to some of his followers--especially those who saw her principled participation in the Jan. 6 hearings--"Let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK?" might sound an awful lot like a suggestion or a challenge.

Maybe it's a forlorn hope, but all the same I'm hoping that a large enough number of US women will have enough concern about their own health, their daughters' health, and their granddaughters,' to vote against Trump and JD Vance. I've known two people who got abortions in the US, a long time ago. One was 13 and lived in Texas; her family had to bring her to California in order for it to happen. That would be illegal now, I believe, and they might all go to jail. The other was a 16 year old friend of mine who had been taking god only knows what drugs and who was involved with a man who was just as mentally wrecked as she was, but a lot more heartless. I was 16 too and I borrowed my dad's car and drove her to the Free Clinic in LA and sat there in a daze during the procedure. I was practically in shock myself, and she was in a real mental health crisis and obviously in much, much worse shape. Two 16 year olds organizing her future, more or less in shock, driving around LA--what a world, but it wasn't as if our parents would have been capable of anything like sympathy or concern. I too have been pregnant and wouldn't have lost my baby for anything, but I've never felt the least regret for driving my friend to and from the Clinic that day.

So many decent Americans must they're staring into the abyss. Dark days ahead

Thanks Dickens, the way the media reported that made me despair. No wonder we are so divided.

I expect most of these clinics are not-for-profit and offer all sorts of women's services - education and maternal health/prenatal care, emergency contraception etc Nmama so they would be a terrible loss to their communities.

I had the very best prenatal care of all my 5 babies/pregnancies at just such a clinic Emma Goldman Clinic. It is still going but 40 plus years ago was totally amazing. It offered walk-in services (sti and bp testing, signposting to other support etc) as well as counselling and help through adoption- I'm sure it's not alone in not only offering abortion.

Women's health is such a massive area and these clinics are usually set up by women for women - I'm so sorry that you had to drive to LA to support your friend.

Is naive to expect that Trump will only be bad news for Americans, the reach of the US stretches right around the globe. Am imagining that Trump’s admiration for dictators/strong men who terrorise their neighbours will extend to Bibi as well as Putin, indeed the whole reason why Bibi is dragging his feet with regard to a ceasefire is because he sees Trump as a wholehearted ally who will rejoice in the eradication of all Palestinians, and probably want to move the American embassy to Northern Gaza, once it has been redeveloped, perhaps with some of his hotels or a golf course near the med.
Might sound crazy but hey we are dealing with Uber crazy with Trump and let’s not forget that Musk is now his guru.
😳

Scary but possible Babs
😕

Musk is now interfering in UK politics, regardless of how anyone feels about the agricultural land IHT decision, I strongly object to Musk's opinions being on the front page of the Telegraph.

Nmama

I see what you mean. But I suspect that to some of his followers--especially those who saw her principled participation in the Jan. 6 hearings--"Let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK?" might sound an awful lot like a suggestion or a challenge.

Oh, I quite agree. Trump's supporters are a mixed bag. Judging by some of the comments made on various social media sites plus the information we garner from the media, etc, it's quite clear that among them are those who view this nomination as a crusade; and they, the crusaders, are prepared to not only figuratively but physically fight to make sure their leader is elected. If he isn't, I don't think they will accept it as a democratic choice - not when they view the opponent as the enemy; which they are being encouraged to do.

Part of the problem (IMO) is that Trump is inarticulate. I'd go as far as saying that he is intellectually-challenged. His rhetoric - when describing people, both those he admires and those he dislikes - is juvenile. People are "good guys" - "he's a great guy, I know him well"; or they are "nasty", "dumb"... this is not the lexicon of a man who thinks deeply, thoughtfully or analytically - his thinking about his political friends or opponents is all in relation to him and his egotistical need to convince others that he is the arbiter of "good" and "bad" people, be they politicians, entertainers, journalists, or whoever. Anyone who criticises him is a "bad person" - he doesn't have the mental capacity to even consider whether their criticism is justified... they've criticised him, ergo they are bad. It's child-like, the observation that he is a man-child is correct. And I believe there are those among his supporters who think and feel in exactly the same way.

So, yes - I can see your point. Had this been a similar observation made by Harris - in the same clumsy manner - it would've been seized on and misrepresented by Trump and the Trumpers. So what do we do? Do we go down the same road, or do words, truth, facts, context matter?

foxie48

Musk is now interfering in UK politics, regardless of how anyone feels about the agricultural land IHT decision, I strongly object to Musk's opinions being on the front page of the Telegraph.

I thought the Torygraph couldn’t go down any lower in my estimation.
I was obviously wrong.
😣

foxie48

Musk is now interfering in UK politics, regardless of how anyone feels about the agricultural land IHT decision, I strongly object to Musk's opinions being on the front page of the Telegraph.

Par for the course?

The Telegraph is also (yesterday) suggesting that the government is about to ditch Brexit, break-off our trade with the USA's 'dynamism' in favour of the EU's "sluggishness".

Politics is a dirty business isn't it? But I think it always has been.

As I see it, the larger the wealth inequality the more each interested party will 'diss' the other. Those with the wealth and the power are not going to relinquish either without a fight, and this is all part of that fight - political propaganda.

The problem is, that too many of those without either wealth or power, will believe the propaganda and against their own best interests, vote for those that promote it.

We are a very, very long way from a civilised and fair society.

The previous owner of Twitter (who I personally loathed just to be upfront) surpressed information that would have damaged the Democrats. This is what I mean about having standards whether it is our own 'side' or the opposition.

Twitter was wrong to do that, but Elon Musk is a very dangerous man as regards real actual violence. Disgusted to find him in the Telegraph, he is where he is by his wealth not as an elected politician or candidate.

Meanwhile -

"As women outpace men in early turnout, Trump’s challenge to win over female voters comes into focus"

It really is becoming an astounding major issue vote % wise. Here’s how it’s unfolding in the last few days.

edition.cnn.com/2024/11/01/politics/trump-women-voters-gender-gap-harris/index.html

Galaxy

The previous owner of Twitter (who I personally loathed just to be upfront) surpressed information that would have damaged the Democrats. This is what I mean about having standards whether it is our own 'side' or the opposition.

I agree.

The difficulty for me on a personal level is that I share some sentiments with both Right and Left ideology - but not necessarily those individuals that represent them though.

I dislike Trump - to use your adjective, I loathe him - but still think it wrong and unethical to mis-represent what I believe he meant regarding Cheney. It was not a call to arms but a very clumsy way of saying that the "war-hawk" might feel differently if, like those she was willing to send to fight, she were in the firing line herself".

And, he has a point. Up to a point, anyway.

Galaxy

The previous owner of Twitter (who I personally loathed just to be upfront) surpressed information that would have damaged the Democrats. This is what I mean about having standards whether it is our own 'side' or the opposition.

www.snopes.com/fact-check/musk-tweet-jack-dorsey-democrats/

For info.

I am not sure why you are posting that, I made no claim that the Democrats paid him.

Basically it was only withheld for a very short time and there were reasons for that:

apnews.com/article/business-media-social-media-censorship-ec529ef85c1e72cefe0ae9450e118b9c

Oh I am sure there were . He was also very censorious towards gender critical feminists, so I suspect his sexism was just a different type to Musks.

If you read down the page it says why, Galaxy - I never said you said they paid.

Twitter explained its controversial decision to block the Post article in the days leading up to the 2020 election by stating the story contained personal and private information that violated Twitter's policy against posting hacked material. Twitter reversed that decision in April 2021.

(From the article)

It took them 24 hours to change their policy from blocking to annotating.

You can be a nasty person and still do the right thing sometimes.

Wyllow3

Twitter was wrong to do that, but Elon Musk is a very dangerous man as regards real actual violence. Disgusted to find him in the Telegraph, he is where he is by his wealth not as an elected politician or candidate.

Meanwhile -

"As women outpace men in early turnout, Trump’s challenge to win over female voters comes into focus"

It really is becoming an astounding major issue vote % wise. Here’s how it’s unfolding in the last few days.

edition.cnn.com/2024/11/01/politics/trump-women-voters-gender-gap-harris/index.html

That's an interesting link, thanks.

I shared it with my OH (who has previously travelled extensively in the US and has always been interested in politics) and - given that he is now suffering cognitive impairment (early dementia) his response was quite interesting:

He said it would be ironic if the man who has vowed to protect women loses the presidency because of those women - because he doesn't understand that, among other issues, they want to be protected from men who think like him.

Yes I read it. Their behaviour was unacceptable, there has to be standards that exists across all political persuasions. We cant just excuse 'our side'. It's why people go to Trump, Johnson, etc because trust in organisations is weakened by behaviour such as this. Same as pretending Biden was fine, it leads people to the likes ofTrump and leaves the middle of the road centrists such as myself unwilling to defend the Democrats, the left or whoever because in their world of goodies and baddies, they are abandoning the standards that I believe in.

This is what it actually is a call for violence against Lynn Cheney . Trump is a dangerous man . I hope enough people remember his influence on the tragedy of January 6 .