For those wondering, I flew from LA to Dallas on Thursday, and drove down to Austin, to attend the New Worlds Conference. Patricia flew in to Austin on Saturday, and we’re spending a couple days in Texas Hill Country. I’m sitting in a little house we rented in Comfort, overlooking a creek and deer in a natural meadow across it. A couple of them came up to the window last night and looked in. Between funerals and family visits, and house renovation, it’s the first real vacation we’ve had in a while.
I should be back in the saddle (so to speak) on Wednesday, surveying the aftermath of the electoral disaster to come (regardless of the outcome).
“I’m sitting in a little house we rented in Comfort, overlooking a creek and deer in a natural meadow across it. A couple of them came up to the window last night and looked in.”
Jealous, I am.
Enjoy your much-deserved vacation. 😀
My neighbor has a field of alpacas and donkeys that my 2nd floor apartment looks down on. The alpacas don’t make a sound, but the donkeys must have some rooster blood in them. Every morning before the sun comes up they make quite a racket. I like it.
Enjoy.
If you have time to wander up to Fredericksburg, I recommend the Fredericksburg Brewing Company (http://www.yourbrewery.com/). Good German food, good beer, and the town is a nice, touristy place. There was a very impressive candy shop there too last time I was through, though that was some years ago now:-(.
Enjoy the vacation!
Popular vote prediction: Clinton +4%
Electoral college prediction: Clinton 322, Trump 216. The 2012 map, but Trump flips IA, OH and ME-2, while Clinton flips NC.
Senate prediction: 51-49 Dems
House prediction: 20 seat Republican majority
The polls are GARBAGE!!!!!!!
Trump in a black swan landslide, unless there’s record fraud.
How’s this for a prediction:
Trump: 452 EC votes, 63% of the popular vote, every state except CA, HI, VT, DE, RI, NJ and the DC.
My prediction was bad, but it was closer than that one!
Susan Sarandon on Hillary Clinton:
She does not support the $15 minimum wage.
She shows no support for legalizing marijuana.
She supports TPP.
She has sold fracking and Monsanto.
She supports offshore drilling.
She has no position on the Dakota Access Pipeline.
She opposes the labeling of GMOs.
She opposes the breakup of big banks.
She takes lobbyists’ money for campaigning.
She opposes a binding climate treaty.
She supports unconditional military aid to Israel.
Thanks for hijacking the thread for your politics.
Note that Jim has not discussed the ten trillion dollars Obama added to our grandchildrens’ debt.
Who cares? He doesn’t have to pay for it.
Prediction: the debt will be at least $2T bigger four years from now.
Well, it could be. But you attempt to be shaming me with this prediction.
Can you say that you are ashamed that Obama doubled the national debt?
I don’t really care about you continuous predictions anyway.
Jimson weed is hallucinating again. Trump >300. Bet on it.
That was a winning bet, well done!
You’re welcome to stay in Texas, Rand. You are our kind of people. But if you bring anybody else with you from California…
Have fun, Rand!
Predictions? I flat out don’t know who will win. I do remember the many claims in 2012 that the polls were wrong – and the letdown on election eve. I hope it’s different this time. Then again, the Brexit polls (and betting odds) got it wrong, so I know it can happen – but can and will aren’t the same, much as I’d prefer otherwise in this case.
On the flip side, a few weeks ago I spent a month driving around the US Northwest on vacation. In Oregon and Washington I was stunned by how many Trump yard signs I saw. I was even more stunned by the utter dearth, save for one, of Hillary signs. (I’m not counting “Hillary for Prison” signs as Hillary signs, and I saw quite a few of those).
(Caveat: I avoid urban areas, so my sample is absolutely biased).
If enthusiasm means anything, Trump has an edge.
I have grave qualms about Trump, but I voted for him because of two words: Hillary Clinton.
I do remember the many claims in 2012 that the polls were wrong
Yes, which wikileaks recently explained. The voting machine fraud they plan to use for Hillary was already in place by Obama’s second run. Mitt got such a low turnout because they threw his ballets away.
Once Trump wins there has got to be a purge of the heads of every govt. agency with indictments. After the govt. swamp is drained the real work gets started.
The election will not be over soon. Expect a fight into next year.
I have long been a downright fanatic against electronic voting, because of the magnitude of the possible fraud it may enable.
I find it more than telling that the Democrats are fighting against an audit of the results. There can only be one reason for that position.
If Trump wins, I hope he follows through on his promise, made in one of the debates, to appoint a special prosecutor to look into Hillary’s situation. I hope he appoints one to look into the Justice Department too.
The voting machine fraud they plan to use for Hillary was already in place by Obama’s second run. Mitt got such a low turnout because they threw his ballets away.
Obama got Republican governors like Scott Walker and John Kasich to fix voting machines for Democrats?
How lame Jim. The thieves don’t need cooperation (but payoffs to low level people does work) It’s just updating records using basic sleight of hand or phone lines.
Also, isn’t it interesting that Hillary’s latest stage buddies… Jay Z, Beyonce & Lady Gaga are all Satanists? What a coincidence eh?
It’s just updating records using basic sleight of hand or phone lines.
And Republican governors who stand to lose their jobs if this sort of thing goes undetected don’t even bother to investigate because…?
Sure they can investigate. Does that mean they always catch the bad guys?
The fact is our system is an unsecured disgrace. This is why the FAA continued to use paper flight strips for years while IBM was over a decade behind on delivery of a computerized traffic control system. Going to a system that isn’t secure cost lives.
Jim’s tactic is to always find one exception and use it as the general rule.
Example:
Americans insurance skyrocketed under Obamacare.
Jim: Well, I know a few people where it didn’t, so you’re wrong.
to always find one exception
Sometimes one exception is all you need. Florida in 2012 is one example. GOP Governor Rick Scott had plenty of motivation to stop organized voter fraud by Democrats, yet Obama narrowly won Florida. And if Obama won Florida fairly, there’s no question that he won the election nationwide. The case is even more overwhelming when you add the fact that other key battleground states (OH, WI, MI) also had Republican governors. Any candidate who can win those states fair and square is going to win the presidency.
The notion that Obama only won in 2012 due to organized voter fraud is ridiculous and pathetic sore-loserism.
Then Obamacare is a disaster because my friend is now 7,000 dollars in debt because his insurance was wiped out.
Just one example is all you need:
Do you think Trump will do any better with African Americans than Romney, McCain or George W. Bush? I doubt that describing black America as a godforsaken hellscape, retweeting white nationalist propaganda, and promising nationwide stop-and-frisk will prove to have been an effective approach.
On MSNBC, a black voter flashes a Trump “Make America Great Again” hat that he used a hoodie to conceal on the way inside his polling place.
http://www.breitbart.com/live/2016-election-day-live-updates/
Americans insurance skyrocketed under Obamacare.
Jim: Well, I know a few people where it didn’t, so you’re wrong.
No, that wasn’t my argument. My argument was that a study looking at everyone’s individual market premiums found that on average premiums were much lower under Obamacare than they were before for the same level of coverage.
Sometimes one exception is all you need.
I just gave you one exception.
I wrote: Sometimes one exception is all you need.
Jon wrote: I just gave you one exception.
See the word “sometimes”. I explained why the examples of FL, OH, MI and FL are enough to show that Obama did not win the presidency with massive voter fraud. You haven’t explained why your example proves anything beyond itself.
And you are the arbiter of “sometimes.” I see how it works.
Sometimes for me, but not for thee!
You’ve been given many examples on health care costs that prove you wrong, not just mine. Of course you ignore them and pass off b.s. quotes by bogus websites.
Az CJ:
I have no idea who will win either. I’ve been disappointed so many times in the past that I try to not think about it.
I voted for Trump (See Ken? I always intended to if he was the nominee – I was never a #NeverTrump-er), but as with yourself it was an anti-Hillary Clinton vote:
Nobody (including Ken) knows what Trump will do if he is President. It’s all conjecture. But Bill Whittle put it best when he said that while Trump is not the cure, he may be a tourniquet.
But we all know the hideous, deeply rooted rot that is Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Crime Family. We KNOW what she has done. Caused the murder of 10’s of thousands, abandoned Americans and left them to die, sold influence and access, demeaned women and built a solid record of lying over decades.
So given the choice between what I know Clinton has done and will do vs what Trump may do, I chose based upon what I know.
And, as Rand points out, Trump is more easily impeached and removed from office. I wouldn’t mind Pence as President at all.
So I’m hoping Trump wins.
Whether he does or does not, he has shown the more spineless GOPe how to go after the African-American vote and how to deal with the MSM (Democrat Operatives with Bylines).
Maybe some real conservatives will learn from this.
My message to the #NeverTrumpers is this:
If you don’t like who got nominated, then work harder to get who you want nominated. Make it be someone who will fight seriously against the GOPe.
Nobody (including Ken) knows what Trump will do
Always true about everyone, however that’s not how we act. We judge not only what we think he may do but also what we think he won’t.
I guarandamteya Trump would never send a plane full of cash to Iran (unless they sent us a plane with ten times it’s worth and all hostages to us first… that’s the kind of unpredictable behavior I expect from Trump.)
Others, after claiming nobody can predict Trump, almost always follow that with a prediction of malfeasance they expect from Trump. It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
This is the most critical day in our country’s history. After today we may not have a country (and many would not notice.) However, if we can prevent Hillary from cheating too much (fraction magic) Trump should win big.
I guarandamteya Trump would never send a plane full of cash to Iran
Fred Trump once sent a flunky to Atlantic City to buy millions of dollars in casino chips from one of his son’s casinos, to save Donald from running out of cash. Sending a plane full of money to Iran (or Russia) sounds exactly like the kind of thing Trump would do.
One is personal, the other is our money.
See the difference?
One is personal, the other is our money.
As it happens, the money to Iran was Iran’s money, not ours. But do you really think Trump would hesitate to spend your money? Go tell that to the shareholders in Trump’s casinos, they deserve a good laugh.
I know Trump will spend my money better than Hillary.
he has shown the more spineless GOPe how to go after the African-American vote
Do you think Trump will do any better with African Americans than Romney, McCain or George W. Bush? I doubt that describing black America as a godforsaken hellscape, retweeting white nationalist propaganda, and promising nationwide stop-and-frisk will prove to have been an effective approach.
Talking points indeed!
“Do you think Trump will do any better with African Americans than Romney, McCain or George W. Bush?”
Actually I believe he will. Time will tell.
For future reference: past GOP nominees’ share of the black vote:
2000 Bush: 9%
2004 Bush: 11%
2008 McCain: 4%
2012 Romney: 6%
“Do you think Trump will do any better with African Americans than Romney, McCain or George W. Bush?”
P.s. to the yes I believe he will:
I’m not saying he did a great job on this, in his speeches – all he ever did was to repeat “what the hell do you have to lose?”
But he broke the ice and showed the way.
He could have pointed out how 60+ years of Democrat plantations has kept african americans begging, miserable, poor, murdered and hopeless….
How Democrats have proven they don’t care about african americans other than get their vote.
He could have pointed out, while, in Detroit for example , how decades of Democrat rule in Detroit has brought the once great city to ruin…all you have to do, he could have said, is look around you.
He could have said and done a lot more and better. But he cracked the ice. Maybe it’ll put some spine into republicans.
Bon chance, mes amis, from Australia!
Thank, Mike!
Added verbage to get through the filter.
Welcome to Texas, Rand! Hill Country is a great place to get away. I can vouch for Jason’s comments re Fredricksburg, too — except I prefer the Auslander. YMMV.
I have been told that Texas has nice-looking places, I just never saw any – the Air Force tends to favor flat, arboreally-challenged land, for obvious reasons. Enjoy your time there.
Afraid I voted FOR Johnson, rather than AGAINST anybody – just how I am wired. But I do agree with the argument that Trump can – and probably will – be impeached, while Hillary cannot.
In any case, I have chosen the form of my destroyer. (A little Ghost Busters humor there) Have all of you?
I voted for Gary Johnson as well. Either Clinton or Trump will be a disaster. As has been pointed out, Trump is dangerously unpredictable but Clinton is predictably dangerous to our democratic republic.
“I have been told that Texas has nice-looking places, I just never saw any – the Air Force tends to favor flat, arboreally-challenged land, for obvious reasons.”
Last year I picked up my airplane form Paris Texas and flew it to Massachusetts.
I had the same notion as you – that Texas was just burnt-over sand.
Paris, Texas is about 15 miles from the Red River. Once I took off and finished my low pass/wing waggle I settled in for the flight East and observed the territory. It was flat alright – dead flat. But it was very green and this was in July. I crossed the Red River thinking of the theme music from the 1949 John Wayne movie “Red River” and flew into Southeastern Arkansas. It was pretty country though I didn’t like the (July) heat very much.
And of course it got better as I flew over the Southern tip of the Appalachias, hung a left and zipped past Norfolk….Philly… and then saw my home territory.
So I no longer think of Texas as burnt-over sand
Welcome to the Texas Hill Country! I live about 40 miles East by Southeast of your cabin. Deer are a pest where I live, we need more hunting.
Election 2016 in a nutshell, regardless of who wins.
Dunno. I think if Trump wins he won’t personally get the US into any major wars. He’ll probably be something like Hoover part deux…
Coincidentally, Hoover was the last President who rose to national fame in business rather than politics.
I hope not. Hoover was a progressive. Roosevelt just continued his policies and called them his own.
How do ya like them apples, Jim?
I do not like them apples at all! But I try to remember that our country has seen worse.
The past eight years for starters.
Somewhere, Ronald Reagan smiles.
Message sent
Before we impeach Trump and give CalExit some serious consideration why don’t we give him a chance to MAGA?
That was the slimmest landslide I’ve ever seen and for a while there it looked like the beast was going to channel Lurch, but it ended well including Trump’s victory speech.
The abuse of power we have to worry about is not from Trump, but from the congress-critters that screwed up the last time the republicans had such a chance. Trump may need some civics lessons, but the rest of them even more so.
Now let’s drain the swamp!
It’s a beautiful day.
BTW, Trump pulled 8% of the black vote, which is quite respectable given recent trends.
Whoah a Titus sighting 🙂
Calexit reveals the smug superiority and utter ignorance of the democrat elites. They don’t even realize that much of the state despises Silicon Valley. Talk about living in a bubble!
Every SV elite should read Victor Davis Hanson.
That goes for Washington and Oregon. If it weren’t for King County, Washington would probably have voted for Trump. To show the absurdity of King County, they use a Martin Luther King image as the logo.