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2024-08-22 09:34:33

I'll try not to spoil anything, but the gist of The Acolyte's problems are just simply far worse than what has plagued 2/3 of the live action Disney+ Star Wars offerings. Ignore the concepts, it's all about the execution. The Acolyte was maybe the most poorly executed genre series I have ever watched, and goodness I've seen some bad ones. Having Jedi who lie or stray from the strict teachings, cover things up, and get screwed for it, not a stretch. Presenting a story for how that plus other factors could lead impressionable "good" people to the dark side, again, not a stretch. From the outside or the 10000 foot view, seems very acceptable to that franchise.

Where it went wrong was simply in what the viewer actually had to see and hear, and as the season wore on, painfully struggle through. These kinds of stories are not unique to Star Wars, they are as old as the Bible after all. They should not be difficult to write, and interweave into a specific plot. And yet, the writing and directing team on this show managed to take what should have been a very simple story, and turn it into utter nonsense. From start to finish, and it does do quite a bit of time shifting, the motivations of the characters seem to shift moment by moment, with little explanation. Worse, they present a number of new and interesting characters, who unfortunately, don't make it out of the season. Huge mistakes on their parts. Plot holes everywhere. Then you have the intentional retconning and defecating on franchise canon for no reason at all. It became comical.

Worse yet, so to film segments featuring well known actors effectively mimicking scenes from their prior work. Inexcusable to have Carrie Ann Moss, who's incredible talent was wasted, doing a fight scene essentially as Trinity was absurd. I instantly thought of John Rhys-Davies' annoyance with the shameless rip off of The Last Crusade's invisible bridge during Into the Mystic. Just brutal. I will say though that at least The Acolyte, as stupid as it was played out, was not without energy and excitement at times, a far cry from the dreadfully dull and disappointing Ahsoka.

2024-08-21 08:29:09

Well, The Acolyte was canceled. This has set off a wave of social media criticism from its defenders, who accuse Disney of silencing "people of color, women, LBGTQ, etc." from the body of Star Wars. Yet again, what those folks fail to comprehend is that diversity and equity does not by itself mean success. The actors and production staff on the series, who I felt were all top notch, were failed by the horrendous writing. That comes directly from the top, where showrunner/creator Leslye Headland deserves full blame for producing such a disjointed pile of dung. Frankly, I think the cancelation proves that good intentions cannot overcome bad results, especially when you spend $180 million to lay such a critical egg. This comes on the tail of a string of really terrible story telling, and direction from Disney + on this franchise. Obi-Wan, Mandalorian/Boba-Fett, and Ahsoka all featured tremendous characters that were muddied by increasingly slow-moving, vapid, and boring episodes, painfully stretched out to meet an artificial episode count.

2024-08-21 08:22:26

Slider_Quinn21 wrote:

The writers didn't see the show as a long-term project. They didn't expect it to be successful and when it was, they knew it couldn't be sustained at the same level. The writers knew as early as season 2 that they weren't going to be able to make the show last forever. There were just two problems - it was a monster hit that ABC didn't want to let go and shows just didn't operate like that back then. Nowadays you can have a show like Three Body Problem that's set for three seasons and that's it. Back then, shows were on until they ran out of steam or until something like Friends or Seinfeld where everyone just decides its over.
To their credit, the writers tried to make it work a couple different ways. They introduced the Tailies to give more backstories they could show. They introduced Nikki and Paolo as a way to show a new perspective and maybe even show flashbacks to the Island. They introduced Others like Juliet that could have their own flashbacks. Everyone (including the writers) always points to the "Jack's tattoos" episode, but that was after they'd tried a bunch of different things.

I'm well aware. In fact, one of the prior iterations of our Sliders bboards had a trove of discussion throughout the run of the series. It was led primarily by who else, the Informant! Unfortunately, those are long, long gone now. As I said, I enjoyed the series throughout, including the end. However, in hindsight, I also found the 2nd half to be rather pointless to the overall arc. This happens all the time with series like this.

2024-08-21 08:07:50

After an atrociously poorly managed first night, featuring an embarrassing slight to the current President, night two was a bit less disjointed, and featured three terrific speeches by Doug, Michelle, and President O. Michelle brought the house down with a one liner (as she's become famous for) about "Trump applying now for one of those 'black jobs'" I nearly fell off my chair. Obama himself was typically on a roll. I'm not sure how many people on the East Coast saw them, as once again, they all went on it seemed past 10PM. Truly hope the rest of this campaign is better managed than this. Just hope eyeballs in WI, MI, AZ, and NV were watching, because most of PA were asleep, again.

Professional pro-Gaza protestors have literally been walled off from the proceedings outside, while more of the news yesterday was generated by Nichole Shanahan, Kennedy's running mate, complaining on a podcast that their campaign was effectively finished after Biden dropped out. She even opined openly about whether to simply quit and endorse Trump. For those who would immediately be freaked out by this, I'm not one of them. RFK Jr., who is currently blaming Democratic PAC's for keeping him off state ballots for technicalities (has a point actually), has his remaining support with true independents, and those who refuse to support either party. Yes, some supporters would wind up voting Trump, and might do so whether he stays in or not. I would argue that most simply won't vote, largely feeling betrayed if Kennedy backs anyone else. I'm unconvinced he would do that though. Trump and Elon Musk has been babbling about making him "Secretary of Efficiency," a post that does not exist, cannot exist without Congress, and thus is completely meaningless. Trump would never go through with an RJK Jr. appointment, despite railing against lobbyists the other day. Trump is betrothed to a laundry list of billionaire CEO's that collectively would become targets for Kennedy's ideology. I feel like Bobby knows this, he's not an idiot.

-----------------------------------------------

QuinnSlidr wrote:

That is true. He does have every right to speak critically of a politician. Just like I have every right to say that he is wrong.
Would you want to stay silent when someone says 2+2=5? It's not just a disagreement in that regard. He's subtly saying that he hates black people and women without actually coming out and saying so. Notice how he disparaged the women and black speakers but praised only the white man speaker? You can't hate both women and black men and praise only the white man without being a racist and a misogynist.
That's not going to stand with me.

PS: Hillary is controversial (among Democrats) because of her backhanded tactics, not just political positions. She drove millions of people to Donald Trump for Heaven's sake, because they viewed her as corrupt and conniving. Even my old man, a life long Democrat, skipped that election due to how much she displeased him. I understand having her speak, but at the expense of Biden, completely stupid. BTW, despite my hatred of black women, I found the best, shorter speech of that night to have come from Texas representative Jasmine Crockett, who went viral for putting Marjorie Taylor Green in her place during a hearing. Sorry, Warnock went TOO LONG and his preacher rabble rousing does nothing for independent voters. Andy Beshear, a white guy, was also boring. The point remains, the current President deserved to be given the primary speaking slot, and the DNC screwed up.

My opinions remain in line with my stated viewpoint since this election began, defeating Trump. Had I had yours, Joe Biden would still be in this race and well on his way to a double digit loss.

2024-08-20 08:06:34

QuinnSlidr wrote:

Grizzlor wrote:
Celebrity endorsements do nothing. The polls are going to fluctuate, and they each have their own weighting and methodology, to overlay onto the sample results. This is why I don't get caught up in them, or check on them.
Somehow I'm still awake, very good speech by President Biden. I didn't watch most of the rest. Why is Hilary Clinton STILL given prime time? Poor Biden didn't get to speak until 11PM Eastern. I thought the Warnock speech took forever and was useless.
Hillary nailed it with her incredible speech, you anti-Hillary biased shill. If you don't like dems, perhaps republicans are more your thing?
The reason why Hillary is given prime time is because she is still doing important work to move the democratic party forward. She still won the popular vote in 2016 by 2.9 million votes over Trump (Hitler). If it weren't for the electoral college FRAUD in 2016, she would have been president. Not that horrible excuse of a human being.
And oh yes, both Hillary and Warnock were excellent.
You have absolutely zero knowledge of these individuals and their speeches to even bother commenting with your own uninformed opinion. And it shows with your ridiculous, asinine comments that I find zero value in reading when all they amount to are shallow attacks against dems. And you still wonder why I think you're a republican plant operative trying to claim you're democratic? It's because of comments like these.
Why don't you stick to polls?

You sound ridiculous. Hillary blew that election, entirely of her own regard. There was no fraud in 2016, don't sound like a MAGA tool. She also ran a particularly nasty campaign against Obama, then later Bernie, and made far more enemies among voters with her entitlement. She is an electoral LOSER, who the party needs to finally GET OVER. They just don't understand how voters just can't stand her. AOC had more business speaking than her, at least she's still in Congress, and popular with the youth. Again, nonsensical that the PRESIDENT is forced to speak in the middle of the night because these nobodies or has been's hogged the stage.

Meanwhile, my "shallow attacks" are WARNINGS son. When you're busy balling your eyes out in November, I'll be shrugging "I told you so." You mercilessly screamed at me for pointing out the OBVIOUS with Joe Biden for months. Biden would have lost this election by 10 points! He finally relented and quit, and gave the DNC a shot. I guess I was a GOP plant for that one? Or that I was also correct that Trump would avoid nearly all legal entanglements.

Can only pray that Obama steers this convention back to sanity tonight.

2024-08-20 07:50:05

LOST is one of those shows where they just simply ran out of good ideas. It probably should have ended after like 3 seasons, but they wound up gaining cast members by constantly time shifting, and it became a convoluted mess. The writer's strike really screwed things up with big hiatus. I would put the first three seasons (pre-strike) up against any genre show there's been, especially anything with a mostly linear continuity.

2024-08-19 23:03:51

Celebrity endorsements do nothing. The polls are going to fluctuate, and they each have their own weighting and methodology, to overlay onto the sample results. This is why I don't get caught up in them, or check on them.

Somehow I'm still awake, very good speech by President Biden. I didn't watch most of the rest. Why is Hilary Clinton STILL given prime time? Poor Biden didn't get to speak until 11PM Eastern. I thought the Warnock speech took forever and was useless.

2024-08-15 10:25:35

Celebrity endorsements are completely worthless.

To be honest, both campaign's plans this week to improve "affordability" could get major eyeroll's from voters. Trump babbled about bringing down "energy prices," something the federal government has zero roll in. He once again proposed 10-20% tariffs on imported goods, which would cause inflation to explode again. He's an empty suit. Harris is going to propose federally imposed price fixing on food and medication, which unfortunately for her, is unconstitutional and there's plenty of economists who will debate whether price controls work anyway. You'll see aggressive negative tie-ins to say, Venezuela, which are infamous for them.

Then we have the pair of them both pledging to ditch income taxes on tips/gratuities, which again, is not allowed under federal law, and plain pandering to voters in tip-heavy states like Nevada. At least Harris' plan will not have loopholes for millionaires to latch onto, like Trump's. She supports paid family leave and child tax credits, though, which are popular.

I guess dual pandering will just offset each other, although Kamala will start repeating her plan over and over. That will at least push the narrative to the low information, less engaged swing voters, that she's "got something" to battle economically. She's been comically criticized for giving the same speech everywhere she goes. Isn't that the DEFINITION of a campaign? Give the SAME promises wherever you go? Her most effective line is "We're not going back," and that means looking forward. There's continued slow trickle of positive news coming, and investments in clean energy continue nationwide. Even though the facts/conditions favor a challenger to Biden's administration, the personality (Trump) is the WORST one to do it. He can't even talk about the economy for more than 25 seconds before wandering into personal attacks.

The MSM are crying like babies because Kamala is mostly ignoring them. GOOD. Well technically it's not good, but the MSM vultures have lost all credibility. When they are granted access, you just get screaming and chaos, and all they want to do are ask gotcha questions, or to discuss criticisms coming from the right. They aren't looking to challenge a proposal with facts.

PS: Obviously thrilled that Trump would lose, but if Harris wins, her agenda is almost surely dead on arrival, given that the House may remain GOP, and the Senate is almost certainly going Red. West Virginia is a goner, and while it looks good for Dems in swing states, and Sherrod Brown I feel will pull it off in OH, Montana is a tough one. Tester has prevailed many times before, but it will be tough this time.

2024-08-15 10:13:45

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/busin … 235969843/

Paramount is completely imploding. They just closed down their television studio division, in LA. The CEO had them write off nearly $6 billion loss, due to the loss in valuation for its TV apparatus, as part of the Skydance merger. Thus, it's tough to say what plans the Alex Kurtzman-led Paramount+ Trek will have beyond what's already announced for 2025.

2024-08-13 13:15:45

The key is that Trump voters actually get out and vote. People have curtailed a lot of spending, on vacations, and other options, as expenses driven by inflation remain very high. Not sure how anecdotal, but my gosh the number of brick and mortar chains of every kind that are closing or going bankrupt. It's crazy, where are people working? That's why I remain cautiously optimistic. As dour and deranged as Trump will continue to be, he can very easily win. I remain skeptical, because Harris could well accumulate the majority of late deciders, and STILL lose. Trump's support is close to it's ceiling, but it's also rock solid, I do not expect slippage there.

2024-08-13 12:15:05

Yes, George Lucas in a sense, wrote the EASY part, in the original trilogy, where the Jedi were dead. Obi-Wan and even Yoda taught Luke very little. Then he had to expound on that, but in the prequels, the Jedi were largely an "honor guard" for the Republic which was duped into wars, and then betrayed and taken over by Palpatine in a coup. There's many historical allegories, and George is a history buff.

What's happened since is another story. No. George would not have approved at all. Why? Because his final contributions were the Dave Filoni-led Clone Wars and Rebels shows. They portrayed Jedi very honorably, but also difficult to become. Even the "underworld" HBO series that never got off the ground, wouldn't have cast the Jedi in a negative light. Filoni's shows have not been very good, but I still felt that Mandalorian/Boba Fett/Ahsoka have largely followed George's inputs. Andor is Jedi-less, but focuses on the sinister nature of The Empire. GL would approve.

Everything else that has been done lately, whether in the sequels, or on Disney Plus, are not what Lucas would have preferred, at all. They've also been putrid. The Acolyte is atrocious. But this is the path Kathleen has chosen.

2024-08-13 09:06:39

The polls are surely moving into the blue corner, as well as the prediction models like Polymarket, Nate Silver, etc. The RCP averages are still slightly in Trump's favor, though I expect that to change over the next few weeks. Harris will be ahead; however, the reality is that unless Trump's numbers sink, it's going to be within the margin of error. That means voter turnout, and voter enthusiasm, are going to decide this. Harris-Walz seem to have supporters, and others, revved up. There's a ways to go though.

I think old timer Jeff Greenfield gets it right. Then again, it's what many like myself have been shouting from the rooftops for over a year. The polls could not have been more clear, Trump and Biden are TOO OLD to be President, according to the vast majority of voters. That includes huge swaths that were fully committed to voting for either of them.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/ … d-00173406

Trump literally told someone the other day, "I am who I am," which means no, GOP backers will not be getting a disciplined candidate.

2024-08-08 23:32:41

Slider_Quinn21 wrote:

Its just frustrating because it was one of the primary reasons she went with Walz over Shapiro. Maybe not the only reason but one of the primary ones. They barely gave her 48 hours of good will over it.

I do NOT believe that at all. By the way, Gretchen Whitmer lost the Arab-American vote last time, won the state of MI by 11 points. If Harris can continue to prove she has a spine, that's going to go along way. She and Biden are sick of Netanyahu, he's looking to start an Iranian war. These are not serious people, this protesters. They march around with Gays for Palestine signs. Try being a gay person in Gaza. Unserious.

2024-08-08 09:51:39

Slider_Quinn21 wrote:

I'm blown away that there were Gaza protesters at Harris' rally. I seriously don't understand what these people are doing. Trump has literally promised to jail them, and they're helping him win.
But I thought she handled it magnificently. I think she also handled the "Lock Him Up" chants well. As I've said, now that the trials aren't going to accomplish anything before November, we need to stop focusing on that. Beat him in November.

They'll be all over Chicago next week as well. VP Harris actually MET with the leaders of the Michigan "non-committed" movement before the Detroit airport event. Some then proceeded to repeatedly interrupt her, until she finally told them off as one should. These people would have been completely barred from a Trump event. Unfortunately these people are completely incorrigible, and they have literally no home in major American politics. Another squad member got dumped, being Cori Bush in St. Louis, by a great candidate in DA Wesley Bell. She proceeded to have an on-stage meltdown. Sadly the cannot be said of Europe, where pro-Hamas factions are rampant.

2024-08-08 07:55:19

Harris has taken a clear lead in polls like Marquette, Harris (no relation), and Marist. Battleground's are still tied. Cook Political Report has put all BG states back to toss up.

Walz is currently being "Swift boated" by Trump campaign chief Chris LaCivita, who did the same to Kerry. The claims are audacious and stupid. Walz needs to hit back.

Massive crowds this week at every HW stop. JD Vance has been trailing them, with little to no following. Where is Trump? All he does is call in to talk shows and doesn't leave the golf clubs. Advertising (TV and web) has trickled to a crawl. They are clearly not going to open BG state offices like Biden (now Harris). What the hell are they spending money on?

That brings us to Plan B. Trump and friends have either replaced civil servants/officials or rules/laws in multiple states, with the purpose being an all out electoral count/certification battle following November 5. Be prepared for a war. They intend on selectively challenging precinct, county, and state vote counting and certification wherever they choose. The "mistake" of 2020 was to try to stop it in Washington. This time Trump intends on throwing out thousands of votes in a completely "out in public" attempt at stealing the election. This is not hyperbole from me. They have spent tens of millions on this effort.

2024-08-06 17:27:30

ireactions wrote:

Grizzlor's predictions when it comes to Trump's cases have been on point and accurate and it's pretty clear that it's up to the voters to take Trump down.

I take no pleasure in it. When you grow up in the Northeast, you see a lot of corruption. You throw enough lawyers and money at something, it's going to crack holes in the system. The problem with these Trump cases is that even though most people know he's culpable, to prove it is not that simple. Sometimes it is, but you have to get to that point. The Republican Party has made it clear, our team is more important than the country, so they're going to protect Trump at all costs.

Slider_Quinn21 wrote:

And Grizzlor, I'm willing to give Walz a chance. I know VP doesn't make huge waves, but it just feels like Shapiro was going to hand Harris Pennsylvania. In polling as a candidate himself, he was up 10 points on Trump there. Even if a fraction of those people voted for Harris/Shapiro, she easily gets the most important state and the election gets so much easier. And if it meant getting PA but losing MI, I'm cool with that. She's polling pretty great in Wisconsin and then it would just be getting Georgia, North Carolina, or Arizona. 1/3 shot.
But maybe Shapiro as a surrogate is enough. Maybe Walz gets the same number of votes that Shapiro would have gotten. Maybe it doesn't matter.
Like I said, I'll be annoyed today and then get over it. I hope he has Sun Belt appeal because I still think she needs the Blue Wall plus another state or two.

Harris selected Walz because she felt he was the best partner. I think Shapiro, being another former AG, was probably too close to the background of Harris. She wanted something different, where she was lacking. Walz has a strong progressive record in Minnesota. Some of it is potentially problematic on the social issue front. But he has a long resume, much longer than Shapiro, and of course it's comical to compare to Vance LOL. Also, let's not ignore that Kamala learned a LOT from Joe Biden. Biden and she are very close, and she wants that kind of partnership. There is a report now that Shapiro called the Harris team at some point over the weekend, and was "struggling" with leaving his post in Pennsylvania.

QuinnSlidr wrote:

Josh Shapiro really nailed it on his speech at Kamala's rally this afternoon. Amazingly well done.

That was a great slate of speeches. Harris is a better story teller than stump speaker, I will say. She's displayed authenticity. Walz was as advertised. What a great crowd. The difference is so stark. The crowd is energized the whole time, and Shapiro, Harris, Walz are all fired up. Plus, they were SMILING, and really enjoying themselves. This is such a stark contrast with the dour, doom and gloom, low energy, grievance-filled, anger session that Trump and Vance participate in.

2024-08-06 12:53:39

The original movie was a masterpiece, if you ask me, there were just so many things going on in that script. So many allegories and symbolism. The score was unbelievable, Jerry Goldsmith, an absolute master, with how the music kept you riveted and was as frightening as anything. The cinematographer was Leon Shamroy, who won Oscar for Cleopatra, the man knew how to use the camera. From the wide shots of the landscape early in the film, to the close-ups when Taylor and humans are being rounded up, just breathtaking. The original script ironically by Ron Serling presented a far more advance ape society, like the modern films, was too expensive to shoot. So Michael Wilson, who effectively wrote Lawrence of Arabia, set it in a primitive society which worked perfectly. Everything about that film worked. Heston was Heston, with all those improvised one-liners. Kim Hunter and Roddy Taylor were so charming, and Linda Harrison was astonishingly red hot as Nova. So many themes. It's one of my favorite films ever made. How do you improve on perfection? You really can't. At the end of the day, again, I felt like Rise tried to go in a different direction with it, but the series inevitably HAD to move into the post-apocalyptic. It's fine, they've made a lot of money making them, but as I said, the original tended to be about humans and humans with furry costumes, NOT CGI creatures which truly represent a different species. It worked better the old way, kind of like how Star Trek aliens did. They relied on dialogue not makeup.

2024-08-06 09:48:01

ireactions wrote:

Grizzlor wrote:
"War" was flat out horrible, in fact, it was borderline disgusting, hated it.
Can you elaborate on why? I have never seen it and probably won't, simply because there is so much violence and horror in the newspapers I read that I don't need it in fantasy fiction as well. However, I am curious: if RISE and DAWN were setting up an inevitable conflict between two savage races, what made WAR cross the line for you?
My father is fascinated by war movies. I suffered through a few viewings with him, but I never enjoyed them and avoid them today. However, I am always interested in *why* people enjoy art even if I don't myself.

I love war movies, because they are about people. The director's goal is to lift these characters briefly out of the hell they find themselves in, and to give the audience a taste of their humanity, good and bad, despite the conflict. I suppose that movie did some of that, but it was very violent. I actually attended the NY premiere for this movie, ha ha. May have been the lone time I watched it. Without spoiling, there are some interesting "choices" regarding the Simian flu that evolves the apes, that kind of retcon this series back to what the original series began with. I suppose like I said, I just wasn't fond of the portrayal of the apes. Realizing this is fiction and all, but idk it just seemed more palatable with the kind of makeup and lack of CGI back in the late 60's. Heston was the all-American who was imprisoned by the facist apes, that's the allegory I took from it. In this series, humanity is so horrible that it's been virtually destroyed, because of what exactly? Very dour, you watch the movie and where the series ended up, and you don't feel good about us. I harken back to my complaints about the lack of national pride. You have migration all over the world, and people come in, and do not feel as though they are part of their new home. People are just very angry, all the time.

2024-08-06 09:18:01

Slider_Quinn21 wrote:

Sure, but Harris polls worse than Biden in Pennsylvania. The switch from Biden to Harris is the worst in Pennsylvania. And Pennsylvania is a must-win state. Even if Shapiro was second on the ticket, it's basically a super-endorsement of her as a candidate. If 60% of people like Shapiro then there's gotta be a portion of the population of the state that would have Shapiro as the tiebreaker. Biden won Pennsylvania by 80,555 votes. It might be closer than that this year. If Shapiro convinces 0.1% of Pennsylvania voters, that's 6,836 voters. That could be the election.
But I'll support Walz the same way I would've supported anyone else. Maybe he can have the same effect as Shapiro in Pennsylvania. Maybe he won't have the same issues Shapiro would've had with his views on Israel and his religion. Maybe it's better to have a white Christian male on the ticket to balance out a black woman.
But if they lose Pennsylvania, they lost it today.

First of all, Biden was polling baddd in PA prior to dropping out. He was down 5-6 points, and she's even or ahead. Second, Shapiro is not by himself winning her the state. He was gifted an abject idiot of an opponent in 2022, and glided to the win there. Let's not forget that Paul Ryan failed to deliver Mitt Romney his own congressional district!

My fear with him was he's too green, and perhaps overrated. I also remain skeptical that Shapiro could have been a deal breaker in Michigan, where hundreds of thousands of Arab-Americans are still threatening to sit the election out. Walz is an Amry veteran, teacher, football coach, Congressman, and just seems like he generates good vibes. He has a significant social media presence, and has proven over the last month to know full well out to get yourself noticed on there. He immediately entered the picture by blasting the phony Appalachian JD Vance to great effect. I'm not sure which of these hopefuls would have helped Kamala "win" but Walz and Secretary Pete were the two best surrogates to govern.

In other news, the NY Times Sienna poll, which was not kind to Joe Biden, has Kamala comfortably up over Trump in the state of NY. That state is obviously not up for grabs, but Harris has but Democrats back in the driver's seat around the host of suburban districts on Long Island and around the Hudson Valley region north of NYC.

ireactions wrote:

Grizzlor wrote:
Market already recovering. Japan was up 10% overnight.
This is an area where I don't really know enough to comment, so I am grateful for your observations.

https://www.marketwatch.com/market-data/us

The most foolish thing anyone can do is to watch the stock market on any kind of regular basis. You will go mad. My view is the conservative approach, be in it for the long haul. Second thing, there is a rule in politics. NEVER tie yourself to gains in the stock market OR oil prices. You have little control of either, and when they drop, you will be strangled by it. Trump continues to flaunt the abject stupidity in this. The #KamalaCrash nonsense is dead after less than 24 hours. That said, the FED needs to cut rates and do it by the end of the week.

2024-08-06 08:55:59

I revered the original Planet of the Apes movie, and to an extent the sequel "Beneath." Great movies with incredible visuals and iconic actors. The other films I was never into, but I did enjoy reruns of the TV show, which had more of the feel of the original film.

The Burton film was an abomination that poor Tim should never have agreed to take. As for the newer series, I felt the first one, Rise, was very hearty and just an overall fine movie. Dawn was good as well. "War" was flat out horrible, in fact, it was borderline disgusting, hated it. I just don't care to see any more. The Apes genre works with origin stories, but Apes fighting to dominate man is both weird and not very believable. Frankly, the more we've learned about the great apes in nature, the less appealing these movies are. All apes are majestic, sensitive, and amazing creatures. They ought not be soiled by being given the worst aspects of man. Frankly it would like trying to have the audience watch a movie about evolved dogs who are also evil. Who wants to see that?

2024-08-06 07:52:51

Market already recovering. Japan was up 10% overnight.

Tim Walz was selected. Kamala seemed to embrace him the best in the last part of the selection, and that's all that really matters. He has a DWI arrest 30 years ago, after which he quit drinking. I really knew nothing of Tim Walz, but he has done very well with rural voters, and my gosh he is just small town friendly on social media. I've said before, the running mate is not going to prop you up, but Walz is a tremendous surrogate to have. I would have been fine with Shapiro, but there needs to be chemistry. Also, his selection would not have simply "won Pennsylvania," as that stuff rarely helps, even with a popular Governor in state. He's not at the top of the ticket, which is what drives preferences.

2024-08-05 23:23:11

I have no disdain for Prodigy, I just don't care about it. I know it features some Voyager actors, and has been very well received. Yet Paramount still wrote it off. Having listened to countless actor-driven podcasts, they undoubtedly talk about canceled projects, with each other, as well as directors and writers they have on. There is a theme to it all, which is that network suits make a LOT of decisions against their own interest. These decisions are often driven by internal politics and not performance, although if they have a way to screw talent out of money, they'll do that too. Anyone who's followed the plight of Sliders should know well that suits do not view TV properties as artistic endeavors. Paramount kept Discovery's fifth season on ice for a year and a half, while shadow canceling it along the way. A lot of Paramount+ content was first in limbo during 2022, and then written off or cut altogether in 2023. They began dumping assets in 2021, first buildings, then publishing, followed by The CW, and finally the first merger attempt with WarnerBros. The goal was to lean the thing out prior to a sale.

https://redshirtsalwaysdie.com/2023/12/ … paramount/

Now, if you're still insistent on finding some identifiable reason to cancel the series, the only thing out there is that Playmates' Trek deal dried up, so without the toy tie-in, the series would cost Paramount even more, and they opted out. Netflix paid something for the second season. Whether they pay for another is anyone's guess, but CGI-animated TV series cost a lot of money and take a good bit of time to produce. Even LucasFilm tired of the expenditure and closed their animated shop. Kate Mulgrew was furious at the cancellation, but she had no explanation. This has become rampant with streaming. Series are pulled that make no sense. Hell, Netflix was famous for it, almost never green lighting a show beyond a 2nd or 3rd season, until recently. Often the costs were the reason.

2024-08-05 20:01:49

I know enough to know that many are pissed off with the Fed chairman Powell, and that they cannot wait until the planned September meetings, and should do something this week about the rate points. I believe a rate cut will correct the market. The tech-heavy NASDAQ got walloped today, partly due to bad job numbers in the information sector.

You have a Presidential candidate literally CHEERING on economic bad news. Another candidate admitted he dumped a dead bear carcass in Central Park 10 years ago. Trump is in hot water with Georgia women voters, after disgracefully badmouthing the Governor's wife on Saturday, repeatedly. They are pissed down there. Again, is this Trump trying to lose, or Trump simply so unhinged all guard rails are off?

2024-08-05 19:57:45

I'm telling ya, Prodigy was a victim of what they call "content impairment charge," and all the studios are doing it. They write-off the value of the asset, it's a way to clear the balance sheets without paying residuals or incurring taxation. Frankly it should be outlawed, but they all get away with it. However, it basically requires you to dump it from your coffers. Streamers have been doing it wholesale, resulting in tons of properties that vanish from the platforms. In Prodigy's case, they able to sell S2 off to Netflix, as again, it could not be broadcast on Paramount.

2024-08-05 10:27:17

Slider_Quinn21 wrote:

I'm not sure why Paramount insists on the streaming-only model for Trek. I feel like Strange New Worlds would be pretty successful on CBS. I think Lower Decks could've worked on MTV or Comedy Central. Prodigy would've obviously worked on Nickelodeon. Still stream them on Paramount Plus (that's still where I'd watch it) but have your cake and eat it too.
And I'm glad ireactions is liking Prodigy. I'm also glad we'll get some form of the Orville season 4.

Not just Star Trek. Most of the many incarnations of Yellowstone remain exclusive to Paramount+, and that is a more successful property right now. Paramount+ is a money loser. Let's not forget that they basically mothballed the incredibly successful and critically acclaimed Showtime wing of original programming.

a) Paramount is a total mess. They don't know who's going to own the thing, meaning who will call the shots.
b) Whoever has been in control, are going to have their favorites. The existing Trek shows fell out of favor/vogue with the, so they got the boot. Has nothing to do with ratings or their marketing approach. The network/studio has been cutting across the board. Prodigy in fact was reportedly "written off" the books, similar to how Warner ditched the Batwoman movie. Season 2 was released on Netflix in part due to this business maneuver (not Paramount+), likely for a small license fee. Anything is possible, but it's difficult to imagine Paramount resuming a show it used as a tax write off.
c) It's in with the new, which is Starfleet Academy, SNW, and also the Section 31 movie, which a year ago was part of a plan to release Trek movies on P+ every two years. Is that still in the cards? Who knows.

2024-08-05 10:15:31

Both the DC hearings (on immunity), and the appeal of the FL case's dismissal by Cannon, will take months and months, well past the election. It's extremely unlikely Trump would re-enter a Federal courthouse in 2024. Evidence to be released in hearings is not going to sway people's votes. They're just not paying enough, or any, attention to those trials. People get woken up by convictions, although the one in NY court had little to no affect on polling, at the time.

Meanwhile, stock market is plunging, which isn't good news for Biden (Harris), in part thanks to a lousier July jobs number, and due to the awful mismanagement by Fed chairman Jerome Powell. They're not even scheduled to meet on interest rate changes until next month. This represents as big a concern for the "incumbent" ticket than anything else going on right now.

The Fed are having an emergency meeting TODAY, after which it's expected rates to be cut, by some measure.

2024-08-05 07:30:44

The only thing remaining is the NY sentencing hearing in September, where Trump is likely to be slapped on the wrist. Nothing else of substance will occur, as those federal cases will be stuck in motions and hearings for a long time.

One joke, quip, rumor is that since serious legal jeopardy has been avoided by Trump, that he's not longer "out to win to stay out of jail." I presume the theory is that he now doesn't really need to win anymore, and will just go off the deep end here. Not sure I buy that, but it's largely true. Given the legal wrangling to come in the federal cases, if he loses, and does not engage in Insurrection the Sequel, why would a Pres elect Harris wish to soil her own presidency by "punishing" the guy she just beat? The Supreme Court has provided multiple off ramps.

I expect Shapiro to be the pick. To sure up PA, which may or may not happen.

2024-08-05 00:08:31

Why do you keep repeating these quotes? I've already reversed course on Lower Decks. You asked why they didn't support Prodigy, I gave the reason. Network decisions are still made based on finances and whether certain executives like/hate/yawn at them. I didn't mention marketing potential because it's irrelevant. Studio politics decide this stuff, and somebody or somebody's at Paramount didn't want those particular Trek shows anymore.

2024-08-04 21:14:46

Kamala has moved ahead on Nate Silver's board, which is something.

VP pick is mehhh to me, whatever, get over with it, and move on.

David Axelrod, James Carville, etc., telling Democrats not to get too in love with this honeymoon surge. Work needs to be done. I know what they are thinking, that when push comes to shove, the Trump vote will turn out, and the Harris vote won't, at least, to what the polls are. David Plouffe from Team O has joined her team btw.

I think it's a mistake NOT to have her debate Trump. Let him wallow in his own cowardice a little longer, but she HAS to debate this guy. Pointing to what those guys have been saying, Harris needs to prove she is up for the job, with more than just endorsements and commercials and short stump speeches. Remove the doubts.

2024-08-04 21:03:31

Paramount is not valuing/undervaluing anything. It's a corporation which has been in severe financial flux for several years, similar to Warner Bros. Anything not critical to its core has been excised for financial reasons. That's a big reason Discovery, Prodigy, and Lower Decks were all "ended" early. Like so many DC properties, which were dumped without regard when Zazlav shopped and later merged WB with Discovery. Paramount remains for sale, repeated sales have been short-circuited, the studio is a mess.

2024-08-01 11:03:28

Slider_Quinn21 wrote:

Grizzlor wrote:
A one-off movie, of a character honestly nobody cares about, ehhhh. Michelle Leoh is amazing in anything though.
Yeah I think she could make it work, but I had trouble even understanding the tone they were going for in the trailer. What is it supposed to be?
Also, I can't remember how her arc ended on Discovery. I know they visited the Guardian, but did she go back to her universe? Did she go back in time? Is she still in the future? I honestly can't remember

The Guardian or whatever agreed to deposit Georgiou in a place/time "where she would be safe." Given that a "younger" Rachel Garrett (Enterprise C captain in 2344) is part of the main cast, I would gather the time period is 30-40 years before ST:TNG. While I doubt it, they could have actually brought on Walter Koenig or George Takei to cameo as their original characters, given they would both be in their 80's by this point.

2024-08-01 09:29:39

A one-off movie, of a character honestly nobody cares about, ehhhh. Michelle Leoh is amazing in anything though.

The new Trek live action comedy sounds very cool.

2024-08-01 08:14:15

So MCU is steaming forward with what I still say is a completely unsellable franchise, The Fantastic Four. Their powers are so outdated and dumb, including the villain, and THIS is the mini-franchise you're pinning the next two years on? RDJ's turn as Dr. Doom will be lame, as it will be very difficult for the audience NOT to view him as Tony Stark. Not to mention the insane money he's being paid. Can the Russo brothers truly save this mess? Thunderbolts looks buffoonish.

2024-08-01 08:02:11

The underlying concept of Dexter ironically is not much different than The Boys. Both are based on suspense. Can the "protagonists" survive the next onslaught of killing and madness. Obviously Dexter is shrouded in mystery and fairly quiet and calm, whereas The Boys is just play insanity.

2024-07-31 14:45:24

https://nypost.com/2024/07/31/us-news/t … n-chicago/

“I’ve known her a long time indirectly — not directly very much — and she was always of Indian heritage and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was black — until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black,” Trump said of Harris.
“And now she wants to be known as black, so I don’t know is she Indian or is she black … but you know what, I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t,” he added.
“She became a black person and I think somebody should look into that.”

Oh My Heavens.

2024-07-30 20:56:32

https://www.instagram.com/p/C-EPwB9sGRE/

2024-07-28 18:35:33

Well at least he's given up babbling about Hannibal Lector. He also called her a "low I.Q. individual," which is either some sort of racist dog whistle or just Trump once again projecting his own insecurities (low I.Q. himself). He also derided Kamala for laughing too much, something he's incapable of doing, even a little.

ABC/Ipsos poll results.

Overall, do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of:

July 19-20:

Harris: 35%-46%, Trump: 40%-51%, Vance: 25%-31%.

July 26-27:

Harris: 43%-42%, Trump: 36%-52%, Vance: 24%-39%.

just one poll, but that's a big shift. clearly Democrat and Biden-leaning respondents are far more pleased.

2024-07-25 21:56:40

Kamala Harris has already WON the running mate sweepstakes before even making a selection!

JD Vance is HATED in the core region of the Big Ten Conference.

https://twitter.com/ForecasterEnten/sta … 5972673795

This is brilliant

https://twitter.com/MilOnYourMind/statu … 0290856070

2024-07-24 10:13:49

ireactions wrote:

Be careful about presuming victory. The election is in November, not July.
I still cringe at my 2016 confidence and will never live it down.

That's precisely why I have phrased this ticket change as providing a new start. Harris/Trump are statistically tied nationally, which unfortunately, is NOT where you want to be as a Democratic candidate. As QSldr has lamented, the electoral college is weighted pro-GOP, and population shifts in the last census were even worse in that regard. Harris IMO still has a ton of Biden baggage, and frankly, she's been on the record being far to the left of him on issues like Gaza and immigration.

If you follow soccer, you're surely heard of an "own goal." The GOP have been deflecting into their own net almost by the hour over the last week. Claiming Kamala "slept her way to the top," was a "DEI hire," or organized both a cabal to hide Biden's delirium AND finished off a "coup" to knock him off the ballot and install her. The conspiracies are both disreputable and grotesque to which swing voters are now seeing two images. One is Kamala having a ball and expressing confidence and unity. The other is a shameful slew of ignorance. Just wait until she gets to read off the charges against Trump, and the numerous blunders he made while in office, not to mention how everyone that worked in his cabinet are against his run.

Will all of that be enough? Maybe, maybe not. I still argue that the majority of RFK JR. are Trump-like voters. Then you have the lightly engaged undecided people, and the # of those who lean left and were sick of Biden has shrunk to the minimum. I really feel as if she can get those people to vote. That really just leaves the Trump 16 Biden 20 grouping. Many have swung back to Trump, can't help that. The rest are where Kamala's team needs to break back into. They have NOT registered as decided in polling and they hate Trump. They grew disillusioned with Biden. The focus has to be on turning out the left, and making those who were appalled at January 6th REMEMBER how bad that was, and that they are needed to patriotically defuse another bomb. Biden was a lost cause for both groups.

2024-07-23 21:43:09

PS: how long with lifeless JD Vance remain on the ticket??? Some claim that Trump took him on, because Elon Musk and Peter Thiel pledged tens of millions of dollars per month to the Trump campaign. Well Musk already backtracked on that, babbling about creating a Trump PAC. HA HA HA HA HA! Was Trump just swindled? Vance's favorability ratings are putrid.

2024-07-23 21:15:44

Slider_Quinn21 wrote:

Because I think she's likeable. I think she sounds genuine and speaks like a leader. And while the Democrats only have a short time to build her up, the Republicans only have a short time to tear her down. Sure, they can tie her to Biden but a lot of those people were voting Trump anyway. Harris doesn't need to take too many Trump voters away - she mainly just needs to claim more undecideds than him. They are attacking her on the border, but that was something they were already hammering Biden on. Who is going to be convinced not to vote for her on the border who wasn't already not voting for Biden on the border.

I'm not sure how "likeable" Kamala will wind up being. Not sure it matters. I will say this, have you EVER seen/heard a President and Vice President telling each other "I love you" as they did during that Wilmington campaign office appearance? They meant it. This obviously is a Biden facet, but Democrats are feeling and broadcasting this love fest.

ireactions wrote:

The current tactic from Republicans: they want to sue the Democratic Party to force Joe Biden onto the ballot. They're sinking millions into this maneuver. I don't know why. It isn't going to work. They can't sue a political party to nominate a candidate who has stepped down.
https://www.salon.com/2024/07/23/illegi … out-obama/

I noted before, Trump's team IS spending massively on post-election maneuvers. This is something "new" as related to that, but won't go anywhere. The Gov. of Ohio already stopped them from keeping Biden off months ago. However, they have spent the last 4 years positioning MAGA meatheads in key roles in state and county governments. Winning on November 5th outright is Plan A. Plan B is succeeding where they failed in 2020, but contesting EVERY ballot, every count, every polling station, every certification.

Republicans are also threatening to sue Harris and Biden to stop her from using Biden's $91.5 million dollar war chest. Since the FEC is highly unlikely to stop the changeover in funding. They are SCREAMING about Democrats stealing the election which last week they said was over!

2024-07-23 18:04:57

Bulwark, Hopeium they're pundits. It's like watching an NFL pre-game and believing that the panel's game picks will change the outcome. Lawrence O'Donnell, who I watch often, essentially claimed Joe Biden was going to win, and didn't need to retire. They're friends, I get it, he's being rah-rah. Unfortunately, he ignored every data-based metric staring him in the face.

The Democratic Party's Senate campaign (DSCC) had its best two-days of the entire cycle following the VP's promotion.

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2 … g-00170635

I will credit Repubs against Trump, Bulwark, etc, for beating the drum to have Biden moved off. That said, they didn't want Harris, not at all. They're Republicans! Yes it is totally honorable that so many of them moved off the GOP train when MAGA took the wheel. However, let's not forget this group backed George W. Bush. I have been with them in regards to defending democracy, here as well as in places like Ukraine. They have backed off chastising typical Dem issues, and taken a pragmatic approach. Clearly they, and I'll be the first one to admit, myself, did not expect such immediate and universal strength behind VP Harris. Her speeches have been to the point, and authentic, and she herself seems to be overtly enthusiastic and confident.

In fact, polls are quickly showing that typical Democratic blocks like the yutes and lower middle class/urban support has instantly returned to pre-2023 levels. Biden was so unwanted by those voters. They're back, and the Congressional campaigns are going to benefit from that. Her first event in Wisconsin drew 3,000 and forced a venue change and many were turned away. Biden was drawing basically no one. They have very little time now, the messaging has to be concise. The public will often be getting it's first taste of Kamala Harris in the coming weeks. Her initial appearances have been very confident as I said, so much so that people like me who came in totally unsure about her potential, are infectious with essentially what I have been screaming about for months....a CHANCE. There's a chance now, quite possibly a damn good one. Defeatism has had a 180, in just one weekend.

Trump HAS agreed to debate, possibly multiple times, while again whining about ABC.

2024-07-23 13:08:11

QuinnSlidr wrote:

Grizzlor wrote:
I just don't think a running mate gets you anything these days. Only can harm. Choose someone with experience who can take over day one.
Hilary barely won the popular vote. She figured it was over and went on cruise, plus focusing way too much on "social" causes instead of economics. Trump went all over blaring about them. And Comey's letter reinforced a widely held perception that she and Bill were far too deceptive. Awful candidate.
Kamala doesn't need pie in the sky slogans. Has to directly come after Trump like Elliott Ness going after Capone.
"Barely" is incorrect. Hillary won the popular vote by 2.9 million votes.
Something wrong with that picture when 2.9 million votes more than Trump (Hitler) doesn't get you the Presidency. That's why the electoral college must be abolished.

The E.C. isn't going anywhere, not in this lifetime. Hilary won by 2%, which was not enough. Biden's 3.5% was barely enough. It's all about where the votes come from. The problem Democrats have this time is that the Sun Belt states have gone way into the Trump column, lessening the path to 270. Harris is automatically -6 from 2020 out of the gate, due to population shifts. She'll be forced to focus on the Rust Belt, and shoring up Virginia, if there's to be ANY chance.

Slider_Quinn21 wrote:

Grizzlor wrote:
I just don't think a running mate gets you anything these days. Only can harm. Choose someone with experience who can take over day one.
Historically it doesn't really matter. However, I think in this instance where the candidate is relatively unknown (at this point, the presidential candidate has at least been through a primary), I think voters might take the VP into account. Shapiro beats Trump in Pennsylvania head on - I gotta think at least a couple thousand people might vote for her if he's on the ticket.
But you're right in the sense that Harris needs to win the votes. The VP is just there for an extra nudge for some people.

These days, you want the "best partner" in a running mate. The goal is to pick someone who will compliment and back you up, once you're in office. That's why Trump picked some lackey.

Reuters Ipsos poll out today, has Harris and Trump effectively tied, in a TWO way choice, with RV's. Kennedy takes twice as many away from Trump than Harris, which lends credence to my point.

https://elections2024.thehill.com/proje … s-tracker/

2024-07-23 11:47:44

I just don't think a running mate gets you anything these days. Only can harm. Choose someone with experience who can take over day one.

Hilary barely won the popular vote. She figured it was over and went on cruise, plus focusing way too much on "social" causes instead of economics. Trump went all over blaring about them. And Comey's letter reinforced a widely held perception that she and Bill were far too deceptive. Awful candidate.

Kamala doesn't need pie in the sky slogans. Has to directly come after Trump like Elliott Ness going after Capone.

2024-07-23 10:45:45

Slider_Quinn21 wrote:

Grizzlor wrote:
What people? Very few will actually bother to cast a vote for that whacko. There is STILL a real % of people who will make their decision around Labor Day. That's who she needs to win back.
He's at 8.7% nationally. If those polls are wrong, then all the polls are wrong. People say they will vote for him, but since no one *has* voted for him, all of them are technically up for grabs. What I've been saying all along is that you can break up RFK voters into two distinct groups that appear (according to the data) to be equal size
- People that legitimately like RFK for whatever reason. Maybe it's the anti-vax stuff. Maybe it's whatever else he's into. Maybe they really like Joe Rogan and stuff like that.
- People that are literally only picking the name "Kennedy" because they like the Kennedys or because that's an actual person on the ballot who isn't named Biden or Trump.

RFK Jr. is not getting anywhere near 8-9% in November. A good chuck of his 8-9% simply won't vote, making that number irrelevant. Furthermore, RFK Jr. is NOT on that many state ballots. Trump has weighed striking a deal with him, but I really don't think he wants him anywhere near his administration. Trump knows a crazy phony when he sees one. RFK is way too similar to Trump, I suspect a good deal of his support will simply vote for Trump, where he's not on the ballot. Technically that is not good news for Democrats.

QuinnSlidr wrote:

Trump has already withdrawn from the debate....the guy is terrified of Harris....
"The Republican candidate said he would no longer take part in a TV debate scheduled for September."
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics … den-campa/

He's done nothing officially. He'll be there, because if not, his entire "God's Impregnable Warrior" horse crap goes up in smoke. He had no problem debating Hilary, name calling and lying the entire time. Hilary won every debate, still lost the election.

ireactions wrote:

The Bulwark has been calling for Joe Biden's head for the last three and a half weeks, screeching that Biden should have stepped down days/weeks/a month/a year ago. But today, they herald him as a patriot and a hero for having the strength to give his power back, for rescuing us from Donald Trump four years ago, for choosing criminal prosecutor Kamala Harris as his VP in 2020, and for deploying VP Harris against Trump now.
They also declare that Biden's timing was perfect: he stepped down after the Trump campaign had committed their funds and solidified their plans with an anti-Biden strategy to campaign against Biden's age and incoherence only to discover the agedly incoherent candidate is the Republican nominee.
Trump is furious that his anti-Biden spending was all against a candidate who isn't running.
Mike Johnson wants to sue Democrats to keep Biden the nominee (good luck with that since Biden had yet to be nominated):
Now, I remember feeling this cocky and confident about Hillary Clinton in 2016, so I am cautious and guarded. Simon Rosenberg says we will not truly know where Democrats are until Harris chooses a VP and we get some post-running mate polls. But for the moment, the future looks bright.

First off, Bulwark are not a news organization, or a political think tank, they are a for-profit opinion site. So whatever they write, the motivation is to get you to read it. Also, they failed to defeat Trump on their turf. Never Trump land has been consistent though, they have wanted Biden to take a bow. That was very difficult for Joe to do, as a lame duck would have gotten nothing passed in Congress. I also felt he was veering off particularly in 2024. Inadvertently, yes, Trump has somewhat wasted a lot of money attacking Biden. It technically worked, ha ha ha, he dropped out! Idiots. Trump will have tons of money to spend, his fundraising will not slow down. More on that last....

Mike Johnson is an idiot, you cannot challenge a ballot which hasn't even been PRINTED yet.

As for Hilary's 2016, really tough to compare the two. Different landscapes. Trump was not as hated as he is now. Hilary pissed a LOT of factions off, Bernie Bro's, even Obama supporters, over the years. Bill screwed up multiple times in that campaign. Kamala does not have that kind of baggage.

Finally, I have read that Trump campaign has NOT spent on the ground game. Instead, they are spending and organizing on an infrastructure to challenge vote counting, certification, the works. They don't care what the results are, if he's losing, they will make 2020 look like Cinderella.

2024-07-22 10:17:24

Slider_Quinn21 wrote:

I'm not saying that she can't be attacked. Trump has taken down more seasoned politicians. If there are people that are Republicans, they probably won't vote for her. If there are people that are unhappy with the direction of the country, they probably won't vote for her. If they don't like her race or gender, they probably won't vote for her.

Those idiots got taken down because they were inauthentic, and were afraid of Trump. Harris may have some authenticity issues, but that's really on her. She's not afraid of Trump. She ought to come right out and project how she did during Senate confirmation hearings on Trump's cabinet. Take no prisoners with him.

Slider_Quinn21 wrote:

But the people that were simply worried about Biden will probably give her a chance. The people that don't like Biden or Trump will probably give her a chance. The people that were voting for RFK will probably give her a chance. Anyone that was voting for Biden will give her a chance. Those are more than enough votes for her to win the electoral college.

What people? Very few will actually bother to cast a vote for that whacko. There is STILL a real % of people who will make their decision around Labor Day. That's who she needs to win back.

2024-07-22 09:16:41

Her task will be to duck the bad things (from Biden record), and highlight the good things. Maximilian Arturo....for mayor. Seriously, it's really not much more complicated than that. The border and inflation will be a issue for her, same as Biden. For those who view those as major issues, she's already sunk.

The "she's too tough prosecutor" stuff was also a joke. She put a lot of POC behind bars, well too damn bad, they were criminals, and not simply "weed smokers" as Tulsi Gabbard whined about. Trump is a criminal. Which is it? You can win with the Twitter morons.

The worst idiocy comes from the Twitter-sphere who bitched nonstop about Biden's health being covered up, and now claim this is just a DNC plot to subvert the electorate, because Kamala received no votes in the primaries. Well if Biden suddenly died of natural causes, would we still require an open primary? That's pure nonsense. First of all, NOBODY will step forward to challenge her, it's a losing cause. Democrats don't respect democracy? People don't believe this crap. They have enough common sense to see it for what it is. Biden was losing, a good portion relating to his fitness, and he stepped aside, doing the patriotic and honorable thing. he didn't CLING to power like a mad king. His successor was literally that, she has experience and easily plugs into the campaign apparatus. This is not democratic??? Non-super Delegates are not locked in for most states, then technically can choose whoever they want. Like the Electoral College. It's called representation morons. You elect representatives to multiple level of government all the time. They may shockingly vote against your wishes.

PS: Secret Service director Cheattle currently being grilled on Capitol Hill. Even Democrats like Ro Khanna are demanding she resign, citing how the director during Reagan's shooting promptly resigned. For the good of VP Harris, the President should demand this fool resign!

2024-07-21 22:51:19

ireactions wrote:

Grizzlor wrote:
Indecision and an air of failure continues to haunt this administration. The secret service comedy act in Butler PA continues to worsen. The shooter was able to use a drone to view the area, and hid his rifle and maybe a ladder days or hours earlier? Rumors yes, but the stench of incompetence on Biden is just incredible.
Is Biden really the one personally organizing Secret Service protection details and deployments and security checks and personally scanning for drones and snipers and engaging or directly overseeing Secret Service fieldwork... ?
The other anti-Biden stuff is precisely the kind of talk we should expect and welcome in a vibrant democracy. There are no kings in America (yet), there should be no fear to speak opinions to and about power.

"The buck stops here." No, Secret Service has been a mess for a decade. They are forced to provide security for more and more people, and cannot seem to hire people to keep up. Not directly his fault, but again, just more egg on his face.

QuinnSlidr wrote:

In the five hours since Kamala Harris was endorsed by Biden, small donors have contributed $27 million according to ABC Eyewitness News.

Most of that was likely what was held back several days ago when big donors had cut off Biden. Beyond that, Kamala now gets the Biden campaign LLC, which is why she was the only reasonable choice to succeed. But the fundraising still goes to my point, that the donor class viewed him as a dead end.

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/2 … t-00170106

Biden "finally quit" after his closest advisors finally did their jobs and provided actual data. They've been relying on national polls for months, hiding from how poorly the battleground state polls have gotten. Virginia and New Mexico were now in doubt, and every other swing state was lost. Not even Jill could spin that one, and honestly it's weeks late. Had they been honest with the candidate, he wouldn't have probably strung this along so long.

Slider_Quinn21 wrote:

It's not a stutter. He looks old. He sounds old. And people have lost confidence that he can do the job, not just right now but in four years. People don't generally look or act younger as time goes on, and this isn't a race about who can do the job right now.
I'm not saying Biden can't win, but he really slipped up on the biggest stage. And the polling has really dipped in the last month. I don't know how he was going to convince people that he's not old. None of the work he did was turning things around, and we were nearing the point of no return.
Harris is young and energetic. She's a woman who can possibly energize women in the election during an election where women are already at the forefront. And if she can pick a strong VP, it could be a really good ticket. There are a bunch of "double haters" of Trump and Biden, and now the Democrats have an alternative for them both.
I'm not discouraged at all. I'm nervous, but I think we're in better shape right now than we were this morning. I'm going to be fascinated to see how the polls move now that it's not a hypothetical that Harris will run.

Can Kamala bring this back? I really don't know. Every major Democrat, and delegates have quickly backed her. The party will be united (mostly) by November now. That was the single biggest reason to oust Biden. His standing was "solid" compared to Trump among Democrats but nobody else. Can Kamala convince the morsels who have crumbled to Trump, to reverse course? Will see, there's not a lot of time. Biden left a bit of a mangled campaign. It was losing all over the place, and staffing was slow due to the President's micromanaging. Kamala has not polled well either. Status quo says she loses, needs that break out moment, where the script flips back to Trump being the referendum.

I found it hilarious how MAGA world flipped out over this, immediately calling on Biden to resign, which would probably be far more beneficial to Harris. They're pissed that their walk in the park in November isn't so sure now. Trump whining about suing Democrats because his Biden ads are now worthless.

2024-07-20 08:49:51

To SQ21, I'm voting Biden even if he's a brain in a jar. Albeit I find him more and more incompetent, and without a firm, realistic plan on several issues. Trump could promise me Margot Robbie won't get my vote. He tried to steal an election, it's an unforgivable offense. So I'm the wrong person to ask. The race is decided by like 4% of the voting public which remain very depressed with both candidates. As for replacing him, a reporter pointed out that Joe is notoriously slow about these kinds of decisions. This has plagued his Presidency in fact. He will not fully commit and uses incremental and half measures that only make things worse. Biden will drag this out. It's not even ego, it's just a guy who lacks decisiveness. AOC made a big thing about there not being DNC rules for a mini convention. No duh, that's why the committee would vote on new rules when it opens!!!! This happens all the time. Every day more and more Democratic officials tell Biden to stop. By the end of the month, it will be overwhelming.

Indecision and an air of failure continues to haunt this administration. The secret service comedy act in Butler PA continues to worsen. The shooter was able to use a drone to view the area, and hid his rifle and maybe a ladder days or hours earlier? Rumors yes, but the stench of incompetence on Biden is just incredible. The public's unpopular standing with Biden has been unchanged throughout every poll for three years. They don't approve of his decision making , age, and capacity. Yes 14 million Dems cast a vote on basically a one person ballot. Big deal. Poll them. A clear majority want him out.

Now, the national polls are showing a slight jump for Trump. State polls still in his favor. However, the indie consensus for his speech was very poor. Absurdly long, too nasty, and put ppl off. This guy remains beatable but unfortunately Democrats have to be unified and they need a gotcha moment like Harris blistering fatso on stage.

I've been consistent on this. Biden screwed his party and this the nation by running again. The polls were incredibly bad even two years ago. Had Trump declined he would have been creamed by Desantis or Haley. He prevented an open primary of several hopefuls, and made this a smoother and stronger process.

2024-07-17 21:57:31

Nancy Pelosi, Hakeem Jeffries, and Chuck Schumer have all privately told Biden he needs to step aside. He will lose and take the party down with him. He's reacted defensively, and rather than providing a medical certification that he's not suffering from any kind of malady, besides COVID, he babbled that only a medical condition would cause him to quit. Terrific.

As I have said before, the polling is often lazy and half assed, resulting in bad sampling. However, there's also internal polling the parties do. Democratic leadership have seen them, and they are quite fearful. I cannot see Biden quitting now. He's literally ignored the pleas of everyone BUT the Bernie Sanders left, who voter wise don't like him at all. "Genocide Joe" they call him. The mouthpiece of the DNC is Jamie Harrison, a fraud from South Carolina who hoodwinked millions from stupid Democratic donors pretending he had any chance in a Senate election in SC which he got blown out in. There's almost no one still backing Joe. It's absolutely insane. I've never seen anything like it.

As for the Trump shooting, the reporting on how badly the Secret Service performed there is plain shocking. The shooter was marked and known but allowed to hang around. So many red flags missed. They reacted with delays and poor coordination. The star of this mess was a female agent who looked totally overwhelmed. Another situation where the Biden administration looks amateurist.

2024-07-16 20:48:37

SQ21, you questioned who/what MAGA is? MAGA is not that large as ireactions has often pointed out. I'll tell you what Trump's "appeal is." Secure borders, prosecution of criminals, cessation of wokism, wars, and economic/spending*** Here's my Devil's Advocate on that.....

*** is because obviously Trump's spending was over the moon, though largely due to COVID, but his tax cuts ballooned the deficit. He continues to maul Biden on the economy. Biden has been an utter disaster on immigration, and every city in America's local news (which ppl still watch) is inundated with often astonishing violence from migrants who have flooded in over the last 2-3 years. This was an abject and foolish failure. Biden owns it. Criminal prosecutions are not really his purview, although ironically liberals trashed then-Senator Harris because she was the AG and prior prosecutor in California, and get this, she prosecute far too many criminals for their liking! This has been without question a complete mess for liberals since George Floyd and the pandemic, as retail stores continue to go out of business, and 75% of shelves are behind lock and key, with shop lifting running amok. Biden has presided over seemingly unending conflicts in Ukraine and Israel. Again, I understand we don't control either side, but we're PAYING for them! He should either be going all in and backing our allies, or put the brakes on, and end them.

The GOP primary featured a large percentage of Republicans who chose someone other than DJT. That was a big point of concern for him. His shooting and whatnot I really feel has lessened that to almost nil. GOP voters will be more motivated than ever. Biden voters will not, in fact, they are getting more despondent by the week.

Adam Schiff (reportedly on a call) again lamented that Biden will take the House and Senate with him. I cannot speak on the House, but Dem Senate candidates are still holding steading in polling, while Biden disintegrates. Will ballot splitting be that significant? It might but I also think Rep Schiff is not a fool, and has to realize that a depressed Dem turnout will be a disaster for their overall chances.

Biden continues to do one of two things. He either looks frail, or he looks ready to explode while shouting empty platitudes. Nobody knows what he's even proposing anymore. Besides putting "Trump in a Bulls Eye" another brilliant one. His administration is rolling out federal judicial law proposals, including some kind of term limits. Great, fantastic, where were they ON DAY ONE?? Oh, you'll never get 60 votes in the Senate to pass any of them. Trump is even warming to electric vehicles (with Elon Musk's $$$$ rolling in), and both he and JD Vance support Plan B pills and other measures. Again, I ask, what is Biden selling these days? I truly don't know. All he ever does these days is get on TV to speak about the latest mess (his or the country's). This campaign is up against a maniac populist who has his support totally shored up. Biden cannot speak well enough nor avoid gaffes long enough to be heard. Again, ask Mr. Rosenberg what state polls Biden is winning???? Those are the ones that count, the national horse race does NOT! Get out of the way Joe!!! Elevate Kamala, she'll pick Shapiro or Polis, and let's go.

PS: Not sure what the 11th Circuit will do, but no surprise Judge MAGA Cannon tossed the case, she had no intent on ever having it go through. Trump is the luckiest SOB there's ever been.

2024-07-15 06:11:10

The shooter seems to mirror the same rinse and repeat background of so many of the school mass shooters. Young, suburban, white kid with no friends, parents who seem oblivious, some type of clinical depression or mental illness, and of course, a fetish for guns. Quite ironic that Trump is shot by one, after he dismissed calls for gun control repeatedly.

I think it's over, for the same reasons. Perception, low information, and low voter engagement. MAGA are absolutely in ecstasy. Their precious martyr and messiah escapes death once again. Crimes don't stick to him, and neither do bullets. They will be voting in bigger numbers than ever, it's going to be a huge turnout problem for down ballot Dems.

Meanwhile, the Biden campaign, who have focused most messaging on Trump being a danger, will be forced to tone down or even eliminate that talking point. Sorry, I don't see reliable state polls that show Biden ahead, and many are shockingly bad.

Trump claims he has completely changed his RNC speech, to something uniting and consilatory. I suppose if he has really shifted from doom and whining about 2020 or his court cases, or demonizing political goes, that will gain him more sympathy. You're going to see a raucus GOP convention. The DNC is likely to be a cluster marred by Gaza protests and a crowd on pins and needles. I see little to be hopeful about.

2024-07-13 17:14:52

Trump was shot at today on Pennsylvania and lived. Bloodied but played it up for the cameras. Election is over. He'll get a huge bump in the polls from that. Play the sympathetic hero part. May as well leave Biden on the ticket, he deserves the humiliation coming.

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/181225857 … g&s=19

2024-07-11 22:24:38

QuinnSlidr wrote:

Can you please point out the posts on this board in which you criticize Trump? Because I don't see any scrolling past this entire page. It's all Biden bad, Biden bad, Biden bad.
Not a single word about how terrible Trump's mental health has declined.

You just quoted a post where I spent a paragraph describing Trump as insane. You will not find many alive who detest him worse than me. Trust me. I hate him so bad that I am willing to throw the kitchen sink at this election. Trump is irrelevant to this discussion, he'll be there whether it's Biden or not, angrier and more dour than ever. If one ONLY watched Trump's debate footage, you would see a maniac. I think I said that. Unfortunately, there's a lot of unengaged voters and people in this country who (polls show) do not view Donald Trump as a Constitutional terrorist. They view his 1st term as an economic success, forgetting that he stood by while it cratered due to a virus. I'm just stating what I feel is the truth. Biden has failed to invigorate those fickle voters.

Slider_Quinn21 wrote:

I wish this was handled differently. First off, I wish that Biden had chosen not to run in the first place. He had talked about being a bridge president in the first campaign, and I wish he'd stuck to that. Unity a year ago would've been preferable to this. Second, I wish Biden would realize which way the wind is blowing and gracefully bow out. I maintain that LBJ isn't seen as some sort of quitter for not running for another term. When you look at LBJ's speech, I think it makes so much sense for Biden - he can focus on spending his last six months in office completing the work he'd started on and he can let Harris (or whoever) campaign.

The handling goes back to the type of office Biden runs. He has insulated himself, and his campaign are yes-people who have not been honest with their own boss. He's gotten poor advice. But Joe Biden believes strongly in himself, you can't knock him for that. Sadly, as more and more active Congress people continue to come out against his candidacy, it's just going to get more and more embarrassing. The polls and approval ratings have terrible for years now. Biden continued to push a strong agenda, but so much of it has faltered. What it's really shown is that the Presidency is really not very effective in resolving economic issues. Maybe in the past, not now, not with all the globalism. And don't forget, "we're just primates who wear pants."

pilight wrote:

This press conference is not helping Biden.

In all seriousness, I don't think the press conference does anything. There is a growing, semi-orchestrated push to get him to step off. Biden is excellent on foreign policy, which was the gist of that presser. Unfortunately, that subject is FARRRRR down the list of American voting considerations, especially in the swing states. Like I have said, they are using his faltering communicative abilities as a crutch for the real reason Biden is being asked to depart. His numbers STINK, they are appalled, freaking out he will take the House and Senate with him. The Democratic backers have spent most of the last year or so squinting at the polls. They finally got it through their heads that Biden is losing to Trump, and they don't see him making a 4th quarter comeback. He is seen as wilted goods.

2024-07-10 21:42:23

QuinnSlidr wrote:

Mr. Grizzlor.....where's all your criticism about Trump's mental decline which has been a consistent concern?
You can't criticize Biden without criticizing Trump as well.
Otherwise, that makes you a hypocrite.

I criticize Trump's mental health constantly. He's been clinically insane for years. Republicans don't care. Also, his insane speeches get zero media coverage while Biden (the actual President) is getting headlines. If Biden drops out, the focus shifts to that whacko. Trump's jerkoff behavior is not going to lose him votes. He's lost whatever he could already.

George Clooney, who just hosted a massive fundraiser for Biden, came out against his fitness, and the Biden WH responded by claiming Clooney left the event and Biden took photos for 3 hours. They sound like Trump. We all saw the video where Obama "helped" Biden off the stage.

MSNBC's Chris Hayes basically doesn't think he can win.
https://twitter.com/allinwithchris/stat … 4195930321

Swing district Dems in my backyard, Biden now in trouble in.
https://twitter.com/JSweetLI/status/1811131360435917069

Chuck Schumer ready to jump ship.
https://www.axios.com/2024/07/10/schume … 4-election

The Biden debate fiasco wouldn't have mattered, if there weren't already major contention over whether he could finish out a 2nd term. Why should voters be pressed into electing someone who is highly unlikely to do so, as he'll be 86. His approval ratings are awful. And Biden continues to run many, many points weaker in swing states as the down ballot Dems are. What you've had is a long standing concern amongst Democrats about Biden's chances.

2024-07-08 15:56:31

https://twitter.com/GarrettHerrin/statu … 8132331755

Biden continues to be losing everywhere in Emerson Polling (on behalf of a Democratic PAC!)

@EmersonPolling
for http://DemNextGen.com
Nevada
Trump 47%
Biden 41%
Pennsylvania
Trump 48%
Biden 43%
Georgia
Trump 47%
Biden 42%
Arizona
Trump 46%
Biden 42%
Wisconsin
Trump 47%
Biden 44%
Michigan
Trump 45%
Biden 44%
11:04 AM · Jul 8, 2024

Biden's defiance will take the entire party down with him. This is the actions of a deluded politician, almost Trumpian. His letter to Democrats in Congress was not a call to action from a position of strength. It was a cry for help from a weak and increasing desperate dead end. Horse is out of the barn. You are not putting this to bed, nor getting these donors, politicians, pundits, or reporters back in line. These feelings were there, under the surface, for awhile. His slip ups and just general aesthetics broke the dam. Who in the Hell is Joe Biden trying to convince? There's nobody left, outside of his traditional support amongst unions or urban voters. The younger left don't like him to begin with.

Biden is running (nationally) the WORST of any Democrat, in July, since 2000!

2024-07-08 09:50:21

TemporalFlux wrote:

I think at this point I wouldn’t believe anything CNN says. They seem to just be making it up day to day.

CNN are like when you don't check socials while you're on vacation or out partying, see alerts that the world is on fire, and you pile on. Only by then, the fire was extinguished.

That said, the issue are not Democratic voters, it's the independents (excluding Never T's) and low-info casuals, which at this rate we have no idea what % will vote. Those are the people which Democratic insiders are afraid of. How many, who poll after poll show a massive lack of comfort with Biden, will still back him?

Slider_Quinn21 wrote:

I still maintain that's why Kennedy is still polling around the same. I think, when pressed, people are willing to whatever the alternative is, no matter who that is.

Agreed with your assessment entirely. As for RFK Jr. that's a placeholder for respondents who just aren't into either candidate. The majority of that % will not vote for him, and perhaps many won't vote at all. As I said above, it's a really, really, really difficult number to hit on. What will the actual aka Likely Voter % be? You'd be a millionaire if you get that right (in the next cycle though lol).

As for whether Joe should leave office, I think that would be a mistake, because then you're basically admitting he is not fit to serve, and they've been lying to the country. As opposed to "admitting" he just can't win.

There is a very important Dem caucus meeting that will take place Tuesday in DC. Many members are expected to make a case to Hakeem Jeffries which they want delivered to the WH, that Biden should step away. A similar meeting of Senators was supposedly canceled tonight. Unfortunately almost all of the reporting on this has been completely "unnamed" and I think impossible to verify.

However, idk if anyone caught Adam Schiff on Meet The Press, but he basically pleaded for Biden to go. Said "he should be trouncing Trump at this point, if not for his AGE." You also have multiple ranking members on major committees calling for the same. Schiff said he "should seek out polling experts who are not close insiders. If they say he's still viewed with a shot to win, then go out and work like hell to beat the SOB."

Clearly the Biden family wish to "run out the clock" here. They've insulated themselves, and have positioned this all as an affront to THEM. It's borderline delusional. Again, the ONLY consideration from here on is not whether "Joe Biden," the ballot choice, has enough pull to win. It's whether Biden the person will continue to derail the campaign with gaffes and concerns over his fitness? They can chastise the MSM all they want, they are whores and vultures, everyone knows it. But it's still the MSM!!!! How else are they getting their message out there? Why aren't they talking about a frigging FELON on the other ticket? Because their candidate is THAT bad. There are whackos who have this ridiculous conspiracy going that the sound engineers have been intentionally distorting Biden's audio during televised appearances including the debate. This is lunacy. Give the average American some credit here, Biden cannot make simple arguments for himself without babbling into lying and being incoherent. He's the problem. I wish it weren't the case, but it IS, there's no fixing it, and you either shove him out of their or not. Which is the best chance to win? It's very difficult to know, but the down ballot folks are incredibly freaked out right now.

2024-07-08 09:09:12

roulettewheel wrote:

ireactions wrote:
Oh. Well, I'd suggest you get in touch with Matt. That was really before my time. Also, I am not a SLIDERS historian. I am a SLIDERS fanfic writer.
I think at this point, we're all historians here.
While I'm still here, does anyone have a copy of Brad Linaweaver's "Sliders: The Classic Episodes" handy? Mine's in storage (whoops!) and I need a scan of the Tormé interview in there.

Sorry, I was AWOL for a few months. I scanned and transcribed the interview section of the book earlier this year.

https://moccasin-agna-57.tiiny.site/

2024-07-06 10:57:46

From the ABC interview, good grief this is a HORRIBLE answer.

https://twitter.com/NikkiMcR/status/1809384004728000619

Biden acts like he's about to go on Wheel of Fortune. Stakes aren't too big, don't worry about it.

Trump, Biden, RJK Jr (now accused of eating a dog, sleeping with a minor, and 9/11 Truthing) are all too old. That's not ageist, they've been around the block, and it's time to go. Let the next generation get a crack AGAIN. Obama was terrific, and we went back to the Boomers.

Again, the issue with Biden is vote loss. Not necessarily to Trump, but to apathy. Democratic ticket NEEDS those votes. MAGA will vote. The press has completely turned on Biden's efficacy, and more and more Demo officials are quietly doing the same. Axelrod, Carville, Emmanuel, these guys know campaigning, they see the problems here. I repeat, not a big Kamala fan, I think she overdoes it, but she will filet Donald Trump.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta says Biden needs to undergo tests and release them. Jesus Pooping CCCCCCC if THAT guy is saying it, you are sunk.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/05/health/g … index.html

We cannot be answering these questions NOW!!!!!

PS: Ireactions, in your last post, you posit on why Joe Biden has not quit. Your postulating is probably accurate. Unfortunately, he's also stubborn, and his wife especially are acting like this discontent are an attack on their integrity. Well again, sadly, IT IS! Several mega donors and others are really infuriated. Some believe they've been lied to.

I'm not sure if Kamala or any other Democrat can still win. I think they have the issues on their side. They just need a ticket that can articulate them, and campaign with VIGOR. That's not Biden. I really thought that Trump's depravity, and an increasing economy would push him through anyway. I knew there would be gaffes and such. I had not expected the POTUS to be unable to formulate EASY answers, and his team to blame a cold and later admit that the PRESIDENT is too TIRED to do his job at night!!!!

UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

2024-07-04 22:47:48

Here's the question....is Biden's senility progressively fading away? It's a serious and growing concern. Especially for older Americans who have had the misfortune of witnessing this in their family members. However, the White House naturally, and many Democrats have refused to broach the subject, because they view this as catastrophic to their chances at winning. They make up ridiculous excuses, such as this week when it was said that apparently Joe Biden cannot operate after 8PM! That is supposed to relieve the pressure? They blamed his debate on JET LAG from 2 weeks earlier! Come on. Politics is about perception. His debate was frightening. That's on top of these widely distributed videos where the President looks ashen and blank. He moves worse and worse. The video with Obama on stage, or at that concert looking, again bluntly, like an extremely elderly person. The GOP ragged him on this stuff, but now it's liberals saying it. We need to ignore the source, and simply examine the evidence. Biden, looks and speaks, like an old man with cognitive decline that is accelerating. Frankly I have been quite shocked myself how poorly he's been in the last several months. I used to scoff at the Biden bashing over his age and whatnot, but the last several months, I cannot keep the wool over my eyes. He is impaired, and it's getting worse. You're asking the public to ignore what they SEE, to vote for a man now, who may well be unable to serve a year a from now? It's simply not fair on the voter.

I said months, hell it might have been last year, that he should have stepped aside and allowed for an open primary. The public polling was clear, they don't want EITHER of these guys on the ballot. I said over and over, the party which dumps one of the geezers would have the inside line. I still believe that. Let Harris move up and pick up a Governor like Polis or Shapiro. I'm not enamored with Kamala, but she can run on Biden's record, and will absolutely DEMOLISH the old fatso on stage. We need a candidate with zest, who can speak for themselves and defend their record against the comical lies of the golf cart blimp. We need a damn fighting chance here. You have more and more Democratic politicians, former and current operatives, and donors who are completely freaked out. They were skittish on Biden before, they are panicked now. The calls will grow for him to step down. Despite what his wife, or worse, his son, have been advising him to do. Biden will be seen with EMPATHY by Americans not pity, and that will galvanize the Biden coalition.

The Biden side says, you can't replace him, the others poll worse! Nonsense! They are NOT running. When a person declares or wins a nomination, the polls quickly adjust. You cannot ignore based on hypothetical's. Many don't know who Newsom is, or Whitmer, hell I'm sure many voters don't really have a true opinion on Kamala Harris. That all changes when the spotlight of the media coverage does. You won't find more of a life long fan of Joe Biden than me. I think he's plenty fine doing the job of President, which these days is not as intense as people think. Obama and Trump also didn't sit there working day and night. Joe cannot campaign for this job. I truly cannot see what the alternative is now. Trump is the EASIEST jackass on Earth to beat. He is legit hated, the majority view him as a criminal, and his debate answers were Billy Madison level stupid, and often he was flat out NASTY. He was caught on video the other day badmouthing Biden and then Harris, he will continue to run a mean spirited campaign. That crap doesn't work, people on the fence don't like that tone. It was one thing in 2016 when Trump just made fun of people, it's now in your face, Yankees' bleacher creature foul mouthed.

I am repeating myself, but here's the best way I can liken it. Yes, Biden can be presented in an ultra-controlled manner from now until November, to limit the gaffes and maybe get his message across. That is NOT enough!!!! This is not 2020. Biden for the past year only seems to have speeches outside Philly. He goes nowhere. The White House have hidden him/blockaded him. For a guy who is probably trailing Trump as we speak, this will not suffice. You need a candidate who will go places, talk to people, charge up the base, the campaign teams, the donors, and will be shown on national television speaking clearly and decisively. If he were up 5-6 points nationally, it might have worked out. He's not, he's probably losing, has low approval, and vast majorities of Americans simply don't think he is capable doing the job. The most clear reaction in polling was, Joe, time to go.

PS: SQ21 you asked about polls, just follow Political Polls @Politics_Polls they repost everything. Again, a lot of them are of questionable integrity and mathematics. 538, Real Clear Politics, they all do averages as well. Biden is losing most all of them. My point on their reliability though is that Democratic Senator candidates seem to be AHEAD in these same states where Biden is behind. I think this is where the voter is. They don't want Trump, but between Biden's issues on immigration, inflation, interest rates, housing costs, and now a barrage of worries over whether he can actually perform Presidential duties, he's screwed. Like you said, the margins were narrow even in 2020. The red light is that Biden, in third party comparisons, is in the THIRTIES in many of these polls. That is BADDDDDD! These ppl don't want to vote for Trump, but their support of Biden is as thin as tissue paper now. They likely won't vote at all, undervote, or whatever. Those are lost votes the Democrats cannot afford to lose.

PS2: I also have, unfortunately, continued to be proven right about Trump's legal cases. They will all be delayed ad infinitum, he won't ever be punished. The only avenue was to beat him.

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121 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-22 09:34:33

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123 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-21 08:22:26

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124 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-21 08:07:50

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125 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-20 08:06:34

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126 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-20 07:50:05

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127 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-19 23:03:51

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128 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-15 10:25:35

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129 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-15 10:13:45

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130 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-13 13:15:45

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131 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-13 12:15:05

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132 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-13 09:06:39

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133 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-08 23:32:41

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134 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-08 09:51:39

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135 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-08 07:55:19

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136 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-06 17:27:30

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137 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-06 12:53:39

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138 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-06 09:48:01

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139 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-06 09:18:01

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140 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-06 08:55:59

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141 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-06 07:52:51

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142 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-05 23:23:11

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143 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-05 20:01:49

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144 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-05 19:57:45

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145 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-05 10:27:17

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146 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-05 10:15:31

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147 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-05 07:30:44

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148 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-05 00:08:31

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149 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-04 21:14:46

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150 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-04 21:03:31

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151 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-01 11:03:28

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152 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-01 09:29:39

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153 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-01 08:14:15

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154 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-08-01 08:02:11

Re: Random Thoughts about TV, Film and Media (687 replies, posted in Sliders Bboard)

155 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-07-31 14:45:24

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate (3,535 replies, posted in Sliders Bboard)

156 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-07-30 20:56:32

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate (3,535 replies, posted in Sliders Bboard)

157 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-07-28 18:35:33

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate (3,535 replies, posted in Sliders Bboard)

158 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-07-25 21:56:40

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate (3,535 replies, posted in Sliders Bboard)

159 Reply by Grizzlor 2024-07-24 10:13:49

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate (3,535 replies, posted in Sliders Bboard)