Tag: elections

Insurrectionist Wing of the Republican party

Insurrectionist Wing of the Republican party

Posted on by Jack

The insurrectionist Wing of the Republican party is something to fear. Beware of allowing them to take charge.

Should our political leaders be chosen by other politicians ? For example, should the state legislatures be able to override the will of the people as determined by an election ?

Should violent factions choose our leaders as they tried on January 6, 2021 ?

Or should elections determine the results ? I would think most Americans would prefer that.

Why does “Moscow Mitch” oppose election security ????

Why does “Moscow Mitch” oppose election security ????

Posted on by Jack

“Moscow Mitch” McConnell is still refusing to do anything to increase our election security. This lack of action is in the face on overwhelming evidence of Russian election interference in the last 2 elections. (see US Election security and Secure our elections in this blog).
Continue reading “Why does “Moscow Mitch” oppose election security ????”

What is bipartisan

What is bipartisan

Posted on by Jack

Several years I was on the email list of our Congressman and every week, I’d get an email which included many, if not all, or the bills he voted for. He was a Republican so naturally most were Republican bills.

But some were described as bipartisan and I would look up the ones that sounded interesting. Nearly always, they were passed with well over 200 Republican votes and a very small number of Democrats – maybe 3 or 4.
Continue reading “What is bipartisan”

Are Republicans against election security ?

Are Republicans against election security ?

Posted on by Jack

I was thinking back on my posts on Mitch McConnell (aka Moscow Mitch) and election security and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s opposition to what has been called a bipartisan election bill. One answer to why he opposes it is that it is really a Democratic bill.

H.R.2722 was passed by the House last month and has been “Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration” on June 28 according to Congress.gov
Continue reading “Are Republicans against election security ?”

#MoscowMitch, a deserved nickname or not

#MoscowMitch, a deserved nickname or not

Posted on by Jack

Lately there has been a lot of talk about Moscow Mitch (or #MoscowMitch), a new nickname or perhaps title for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Is this deserved or not?

I tend to think it appropriate but there is opinion on both sides of the issue. Continue reading “#MoscowMitch, a deserved nickname or not”

US Election security

US Election security

Posted on by Jack

Yes, we need to increase our election security. But there are some who think it unnecessary or perhaps they welcome Russian intervention as it has helped them in the past and they hope it will continue to keep them in power. But that is just my opinion and many agree but I am getting a bit ahead.
Continue reading “US Election security”

Secure our elections

Secure our elections

Posted on by Jack

On January 7, 2017 a declassified intelligence report on Russian efforts to influence the 2016 US presidential election was released by the U.S top intelligence officials. The report is a declassified version of a highly classified assessment. The declassified report’s conclusions are identical to the highly classified assessment. They were confident then. Here is part of the declassified intelligence report:
Continue reading “Secure our elections”

Should we abolish the Electoral College?

Should we abolish the Electoral College?

Posted on by Jack

Those who say “yes, abolish the Electoral College” will remind us that in 2 of the last 5 Presidential elections the winner was not the candidate with the most votes. Those who want to keep the Electoral College will say it was put in the Constitution by the founders and we should not question their wisdom.

I come down on the side of those who would abolish the Electoral College. I think it would be unconstitutional if it wasn’t in the Constitution. All votes should count the same in my opinion. The candidate with the most votes wins.
Continue reading “Should we abolish the Electoral College?”

Republicans have no mandate

Republicans have no mandate

Posted on by Jack

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, thinks the Republicans in the House have a mandate.

But the Republicans lost big. In the words of The Economist :

The Democrats won 50.6% of the votes for president, to 47.8% for the Republicans; 53.6% of the votes for the Senate, to 42.9% for the Republicans; and…49% of the votes for the House, to 48.2% for the Republicans (some ballots are still being counted). That’s not a vote for divided government. It’s a clean sweep.

The Democrats gained seats in the Senate and in the House and won the Presidency. The Republicans did keep their majority in the House via gerrymandering but it is a smaller majority.

What part of “Republicans have no mandate” does Mr. Norquist have trouble understanding?

Voting Problems

Voting Problems

Posted on by Jack

Is there a voting problem?

http://jezebel.com/5958108/oh-lovely-at-least-one-voting-machine-in-pennsylvania-isnt-accepting-votes-for-obama

Is this true? Is this is problem elsewhere too?

Worth a read before you go to the polls, if you haven’t voted yet.

Worth a read even if you have voted.

This seems to have really happened but I have not seen any reports indicating a widespread problem

See
http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/06/politics/election-voting/index.html

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/uwelectioneye/2012/11/06/video-possible-voter-fraud-in-pennsylvania/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2012/11/06/pa-voting-machine-taken-offline-after-this-video-showed-obama-vote-going-to-romney/

this election, you dislike both, 3rd party candidates

this election, you dislike both, 3rd party candidates

Posted on by Jack

Just to quickly review what I’ve had to say about this election, see http://www.jackreidy.com/blog/tag/mitt-romney/.

Also if you are undecided between the 2 major candidates because you dislike both, have a look at 3rd party candidates in your state.

Obama, Romney, campaign promises, be afraid

Obama, Romney, campaign promises, be afraid

Posted on by Jack

Obama says stuff; Romney says stuff. You might think of them as campaign promises. But there is a difference –

With Obama, you might be afraid he won’t deliver on all his promises.

With Romney, you worry that he might deliver on some.

Be afraid, very afraid.

Only 12 Million jobs, Governor Romney

Only 12 Million jobs, Governor Romney

Posted on by Jack

Mitt Romney has mentioned many times that his policies will add 12 million jobs.

I wrote about this before but thought an update is in order.

He says this will happen over his 4 year administration and it will be due to his five-point plan.

Or at least that is what he seems to be saying.

Turns out there is no strong tie to his 5 point plan, just a tie to average growth returning. Over 4 years this breaks down to a quarter million jobs added per month.

When Obama took over as President we were losing over 800,000 jobs per month. He turned that around and we have been gaining jobs since early 2010. The figures bounce around from month to month but have been over a quarter million some months and significantly less others but always positive. (See Is the Obama job recovery really so bad? And the stimulus worked ).

Is it better to trust the man who got us out of the job decline and is actually gaining jobs or the man who says he is going to do somewhat better but has no evidence to back-up his claim?

Is the Obama job recovery really so bad? And the stimulus worked

Is the Obama job recovery really so bad? And the stimulus worked

Posted on by Jack

There has been much complaint about the Obama job recovery and many think we should trust our economy to Governor Romney because President Obama is doing such a bad job. His stimulus failed they say.

In my view President Obama is doing a good job considering where we came from 4 years ago and the lack of cooperation from Republicans in Congress who have blocked many of his attempts in the past 2 years to fix the jobs situation.

There is absolutely no credible evidence that Republican ideas would help the job market. Well, there are theories and “Atlas Shrugged” but no real evidence. After all, Republican ideas were put into effect in the years before the economic melt-down and we saw the result. Why are these ideas and this party going to fix things now?

So I thought it would be a good idea to revisit an old post from over a year ago and update it with new job figures.

The graph below shows the month to month change in private employment during the months from January 2008 to October 2012. The numbers on the right indicate thousands of jobs gained or lost each month. All numbers and the graph are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor.

The graph clearly shows accelerating job loss in 2008 hitting over 800,0000 jobs lost in January 2009, staying in that area for several months, followed by a decreasing job loss, and emerging into positive job growth in early 2010. The job growth is too small bring down our stubbornly high unemployment rate but it is moving in the right direction. We need to create more jobs to keep up with the constantly growing labor force. Total job figures are a bit lower as we have the number of jobs in the public sector decreasing in many months.

Jobs Chart BLS OCT 2012

There are quite a few things that could influence the economy in this time. The slow-down in job decline in early 2009 seems to suggest that stimulus plan seems to have worked but is now slowing down. The TARP program passed in late 2008 may have helped this recovery. And one could argue that things would be better or worse if we had followed a different plan.

So President Obama seems to be doing as well as could be expected and it seems the most sensible course would be to re-elect him and re-elect fewer Republicans to Congress.