America’s growth engine may be the envy of the world, but it is not the envy of the American public.

I think the disconnect between the real economy, with its very real soft landing, and the perceived economy, with its lingering sting of inflation, really impacted the election. People know what they know, and, these days, people know the price of gas, eggs, bread, dog food, and other everyday items. “Soft landing” doesn’t mean much when you’re still salty about paying $4.83 for a dozen eggs a year and a half ago.

tags: election economy

posted by matt in Wednesday, November 6, 2024

An analysis from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit that tracks misinformation, found that Elon Musk posted at least 87 claims this year about the U.S. election on X that fact-checkers have rated as false or misleading. 
Those false and misleading posts have generated more than 2 billion views, and not just because Musk is an influential person. He has also been found to tweak X’s algorithms so his own posts reach everyone on the platform because apparently, having 203 million followers just isn’t enough.

Musk paid $44 billion for Twitter, so I guess that works out to $22 per view of his false and misleading posts. Hopefully by the end of today, he’ll realize how shitty of an investment that was.

tags: tech twitter x elonmusk election

posted by matt in Tuesday, November 5, 2024

We voted early today. The process was simple and fast, and everyone we interacted with was friendly and helpful. You could tell the workers were happy to be doing their work, even proud. I told the worker that got me situated that I appreciated everything they did and she smiled at that.

Now I just wish the political mail and commercials would stop.

tags: election

photo posted by matt in Saturday, October 26, 2024

Four days after Election Day, projections for the Nevada Senate race are rolling in tonight–the Democrats will retain control of the Senate. Welcome news, in my view.

tags: politics election

posted by matt in Saturday, November 12, 2022

Trump literally said this about allocating credit and blame for yet-to-be finalized performance of the slew of candidates he endorsed in races across the country:

“Well, I think if they win, I should get all the credit….And if they lose, I should not be blamed at all, OK. But it’ll probably be just the opposite.”

There are so many quotes to be considered the Trumpiest quote of all. That one is at least in the discussion.

tags: politics trump election

posted by matt in Wednesday, November 9, 2022

No coup for you, Donny.

The dissent is actually interesting: the point made by Alito and Thomas is an extremely narrow one - they feel the Court must accept a filing on cases in which it has original jurisdiction (state v. state). In a bit of a slap, they explain that they would not grant any other relief (the injunction sought).

tags: politics election trump scotus

posted by matt in Friday, December 11, 2020

Trump doesn't realize he's on a Laffer curve with respect to his continued insistence that he won the election due to widespread voter fraud. And he's past the apex (way past it, in my mind) - he thinks he's garnering more respect from his base by continuing the act, but he's actually losing it with each tweet and temper tantrum.

tags: politics election

postposted by matt in Tuesday, December 1, 2020

If DOJ had found any evidence, you better believe Barr would have paraded it across all media. Trump's continued insistence that the evidence is out there - and so much of it! - has become comical.

tags: politics election

posted by matt in Tuesday, December 1, 2020

I've never been a fan of yard signs. I actually wish more people would put flags in their yards for Election Day - I think it conveys unity and common purpose, rather than focusing on division and opposition. Maybe we can start a movement

tags: election politics yardflag

photo posted by matt in Tuesday, November 3, 2020