Nikki Haley is out of the race. Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee. And yet, in the Pennsylvania primary yesterday Haley got over 16% of the vote. 16 out of every 100 Republican voters pulled the lever for someone other than Trump, a pure protest vote. In Carbon County Haley received 680 votes. I have a feeling that most of those votes will be in the Biden column in November.
I think Trump is in trouble in Pennsylvania.
Twice last week President Biden mentioned that his uncle, whose plane went down in the South Pacific during World War II, was probably eaten by cannibals. This has angered the prime minister of Papua New Guinea, who said the inhabitants of that country are not cannibals. In any case the plane went down over water.
My wife is from Texas. When we were first married she would “embellish” some tales, and I would break in, correct her, and explain what really happened. I quickly learned that I had better not do that. There is an expression in Texas that goes, “Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.”
Biden has been doing this kind of thing all his life. They are usually called gaffes. They are also associated with Irish folklore, and Biden, after all, is Irish. In any case, Biden’s uncle was not eaten by cannibals, but it did make for an interesting story.
In Carbon County, PA, Republicans passed Democratic party registration about 2012 and now have about a 7,000 vote advantage. Nationwide Republican Party identification has been growing as well. In 2020 many more voters identified with the Democratic Party. In 2024 the Republicans have caught up. The Republicans have made significant gains among voters who do not have a college degree, rural voters, and evangelical voters. What is more amazing, at least to me, is that the Republicans have made gains among younger Black and Latino voters.
The big question in my mind is why? Perhaps the non-college voters are angry about having loans of college students forgiven, although they don’t seem angry about subsidies for large corporations. Perhaps they are tired of thousands of illegal immigrants crossing the border every month. Perhaps they are angry about the loss of manufacturing jobs, or the homeless setting up camps in the local park. I don’t know the reason. Perhaps the Dems seem like elite snobs. Any answers?
Certainly the switch can’t be because the Republican Party is speaking to their interests.
Info for this post was taken in part from Ruth Igielnik, “G.O.P. Has Closed Party Identification Gap, a Report Says,” New York Times (April 16, 2024), p. A13.
I haven’t posted since Friday. There are times when I just can’t bring myself to sit down at the keyboard and say something halfway intelligent. So much is going wrong.
Why does India, with the founding dream of a secular state uniting different groups and languages, now turn to a leader who pushes Hindu nationalism?
Why do young people vape and put studs through their lips and noses?
Why doesn’t the U.S. reinstitute the draft or a mandatory year of public service?
Why are loan agencies and banks allowed to keep adding interest to student loans, in effect acting as gangland loan sharks?
Why do people spend money on lottery tickets instead of spending it wisely, or even saving it? And why does the government encourage this behavior?
Why do parents and grandparents hover over their children, not allowing them independent play?
Why does the Israeli government permit paramilitary settler groups to kill Palestinians on the West Bank with impunity?
Why would almost half of the people of the United States of America plan to vote for a sociopath?
I’ll try to be more positive. Really, I will.
Tomorrow the Carbon County Community Outreach Association is holding an “open house” at its new headquarters in Jim Thorpe. The HQ, known as the Democratic Information Center, is located in a classroom of an old high school.
Local leaders and Democratic Party activists will be attending. Refreshments include desserts and mimosas. The event will end with a basketball scoring contest in the old gym.
The Dems have only a few primary races this spring, so the main excitement is in the fall. The Information Center will provide a rallying point and nerve center for what promises to be a really tough campaign. We are under no illusions; Carbon County, PA, has been MAGA territory. What we did in 2020, however, was put a major dent in the Republican totals. I think this year we may actually have a chance to win the county for Biden. He may be old, but he’s not a sociopath.
OK, this is not much of a free speech issue. USC, as far as I know, never said the speech couldn’t be published, put on line, or shouted from the street corner. It simply said the young lady could not give the Valedictorian speech. Making a valedictorian speech is not a constitutional right.
Secondly, the student has called for the eliminate of Israel. And where would Israelis then go? While what Israel is doing on the West Bank and Gaza is criminal, elimination of Israel would definitely be genocidal. And if you point out that Israel is the result of colonialism, you also better advocate giving the remaining Indians the land that is now the United States.
Thirdly, imagine if the student planned to call for the elimination of Ukraine, or Tibet, or Taiwan. I think the reaction would be clear.
However, here is what I see as the big issue. The speaker was selected from more than 200 students who met the academic qualification. That is a grade point average of at least 3.98. There are over 200 students at USC who have basically the equivalent of a 4.0 average? USC either has one heck of a large number of really bright kids, or the professors there have totally succumbed to grade inflation. I suspect the latter.
The Supreme Court is hearing a case on whether prosecutors can use a federal obstruction law to charge hundreds of rioters involved in the Jan. 6 attempt to stop the vote count.
Justice Thomas asked if the government was engaged in selective prosecution. “There have been many violent protests that have interfered with proceedings. Has the government applied this provision to other protests?”
I have some questions for Justice Thomas:
Could you please name these protests?
At how many of these protests did the protestors bring a gallows to hang the Vice President?
At how many of these protests did members of Congress fear for their lives?
Did people die at these protests? How many?
What proceedings were involved”?
How many of these protests involved a wife of a Supreme Court Justice trying to interfere with the proceedings?
Don’t you think it about time you resign in shame from the Supreme Court?
