THE MORNING RANT: Could Ranked Choice Voting Allow the GOP to Snatch Some Prominent Seats in Blue States?

Ballot Boxes - first and second choices.JPG

Ranked choice voting (“RCV” has proven to be an effective tool for Democrats to win elections in red states and congressional districts, most famously in Alaska. Naturally, we Republicans stand in principled opposition to this electoral gimmick which has cost us the loss of otherwise safe seats in Congress.

Are we perhaps so indignant about how this is being used against us that we are forsaking the opportunity to deploy this same tactic against Democrats?

The specific gimmick with ranked choice voting is that it serves as an instant runoff. When voters cast their ballots, they also indicate who their second choice is in each race, and if their chosen candidate is not one of the top two vote getters, their backup vote gets counted. The reason Democrats have been effective in using RCV is that it generally also replaces party primaries with a “jungle primary” in which all candidates of both parties compete. RCV then sorts out the winner. Democrats have generally had the discipline to only run one candidate while Republicans split the vote with multiple candidates who might otherwise have been narrowed down to one candidate in a Republican party primary. Above all else, RCV inserts chaos and confusion into the election of what would normally be a reliable Republican seat.

Lisa Murkowski, a Democrat in elephant’s clothing who was bequeathed her Senate seat by her daddy, had previously lost a Republican Senate primary in Alaska, and stood no chance of ever again winning a Republican primary there. So to help her retain the Senate seat, the Alaska political establishment implemented RCV in 2022. Instead of a primary, there was an open RCV election. The real Republican, Kelly Tshibaka, received 43% of the vote, the same vote total as Ms. Murkowski, who despite running as a Republican gathered most of the Democrat vote. The actual Democrat candidate got just 10% of the vote, as his role was simply to ensure that neither candidate got 50%, kicking in the “second choice” option to push the liberal Murkowski over the top. Democrats also won Alaska’s sole seat in the House of Representatives in 2022 thanks to RCV, with Mary Peltola defeating Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich.

The good news is that Republicans took back Alaska’s House seat in the 2024 election. The bad news is that RCV remains in place there, which Murkowski will need to keep winning re-election.

Let’s forget about RCV for just a moment and think about all the political ground we conservatives have sacrificed out of noble principles. For years, we mocked political boycotts of companies as being something our sacred principles wouldn’t allow. But Democrats had no problem letting corporate America know that they’d boycott businesses if those companies didn’t engage in the culture war on the left’s behalf. So corporate America took the easy path, choosing to accommodate the left’s political agenda so as not to lose their business, while we conservatives piously refused to counter-boycott. How’d that turn out for us? Corporate America became an enforcement arm of woke culture. It was only when we started boycotting in response to woke advertising campaigns such as those from Gillette and Bud Light that corporate America started to back off from left wing politics.

The story with activist judges is similar. While Democrats appointed left-wing partisans to all levels of the judiciary, we sniffed about how superior we are as we advocated for non-partisan “originalism” and “judicial restraint” in our judicial nominees. Our principled restraint proved to be about as effective as an unarmed pacifist during an invasion. The left’s activist judges advanced their agenda while our cautious judges found various penumbras and limitations that allowed the left’s judicial assault to go unchecked.

Perhaps ranked choice voting is one of those issues where it’s time to stop being so principled, and start being a little more strategic. RCV is on my mind because in the recent special election for mayor of Oakland, CA, a moderate almost defeated the radical leftist supported by California’s Democrat base. Ranked choice voting appears to be the mechanism that almost cost the left a race it would otherwise not be at risk of losing.

Former U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee has defeated former Oakland city council member Loren Taylor by a thin margin in Tuesday’s special election.
Votes were tallied by a ranked-choice voting system, which means the candidate who receives the most first-choice votes after candidates are eliminated round by round is declared the winner.

As strongly as I oppose RCV in red states, it’s not going away in the one state where we most critically need it to go away – Alaska. So in response, maybe we need to start pushing to implement RCV in some blue states.

If states such as Delaware, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, etc had ranked choice voting, could we maybe pick off a Senate seat or two? Maybe a few Congressional seats? Possibly. We know that there is zero chance of winning one of those Senate seats in the foreseeable future under the current system. Meanwhile the Democrats keeping getting a de facto Senate seat out of Alaska thanks to RCV.

*****

My latest column at The Blaze, “Old Boxes, Open Hearts, and a Little Divine Timing” is a non-political piece that was published for Easter. It’s behind a paywall, but if you have a Blaze subscription I’d be honored if you’d give it a read.

My latest piece at The Blaze, "Old Boxes, Open Hearts, and a Little Divine Timing," is a non-political story for Easter about encountering the angels who walk among us.https://t.co/R8QGb8cQMB
— Buck Throckmorton (@BuckThrockmort) April 20, 2025

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 FIRST!!!!!

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at April 21, 2025 11:01 AM (Zz0t1)

2 No!

Posted by: Lizzy at April 21, 2025 11:01 AM (Cki93)

3 Sponge!

Posted by: rickb223 at April 21, 2025 11:01 AM (/iLcI)

4 Ranked choice voting is right up there with HOA's.

A crock of shit that should be banned globally.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at April 21, 2025 11:01 AM (Zz0t1)

5 One person, many fractional votes.

Ranked Choice is BAD.
And also, open to stealth manipulation, bigtime.
How to you do a hand recount when the machines are doing the fractional calculations? How do you know that the fractions are being equally distributed?

Posted by: Lizzy at April 21, 2025 11:02 AM (Cki93)

6 -- Let’s forget about RCV for just a moment and think about all the political ground we conservatives have sacrificed out of noble principles. --

We in the Right are only gradually coming to accept that THIS IS WAR -- that the Left is already in warfighting mode, and that unless we respond in kind, we are doomed. Time to draw the moral.

Posted by: Francis W. Porretto at April 21, 2025 11:03 AM (Nmmyc)

7 I think our efforts should be to ban it, not join it.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at April 21, 2025 11:04 AM (VofaG)

8 Just say no to RCV.
Joining the enemy in their tactics will eventually backfire.

Posted by: Elrond Hubbard at April 21, 2025 11:04 AM (VJc7E)

9 7 I think our efforts should be to ban it, not join it.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at April 21, 2025 11:04 AM (VofaG)

Join it. Win it. Crush it.

Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer at April 21, 2025 11:05 AM (KbCG3)

10 We in the Right are only gradually coming to accept that THIS IS WAR -- that the Left is already in warfighting mode, and that unless we respond in kind, we are doomed. Time to draw the moral.
_____

Jamie Raskind telling countries that making a tariff deal with the US will be marked as being enemies of the US once Dems take back power does seem to be part of a war.

Posted by: Chuck Martel at April 21, 2025 11:05 AM (Dv3i1)

11 4 Ranked choice voting is right up there with HOA's.

A crock of shit that should be banned globally.
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer

When enough conservatives use it to win elections that is exactly what will happen.

Posted by: NR Pax at April 21, 2025 11:06 AM (jjoN6)

12 Rank means having an offensive odor or smell.

Posted by: The Rank Organization at April 21, 2025 11:07 AM (G5+As)

13 Could Ranked Choice Voting Allow the GOP to Snatch Some Prominent Seats in Blue States? -Buck-

To answer your question, yes.
Would it be a good thing? No.
A GOPe could use it to sneak in a milquetoast vanilla party member, but it'd never result in a conservative being elected in any swing state.

So, would it help the "populists" who want an America first agenda, or would it help Trump or Vance?

Never.

Posted by: OneEyedJack at April 21, 2025 11:07 AM (FCbAQ)

14 Lewisville, TX.

City councilwoman and her husband were stabbed overnight by their grandson. The husband is dead and she's in stable condition in a local hospital.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at April 21, 2025 11:07 AM (Zz0t1)

15 Posted by: Francis W. Porretto at April 21, 2025 11:03 AM (Nmmyc)

The Democrats held the House for over 40 years. 1954-1994. It's not all we're just suddenly losing doom.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at April 21, 2025 11:07 AM (VofaG)

16 The only people I know who support RCV are lefties, which tells me all I need to know.

Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at April 21, 2025 11:08 AM (l3YAf)

17 I recall Dr. Shiva doing a lengthy video after 2020 explaining how the voting machine algorithms could have tipped the scaled for Biden by simply giving a fraction of each Trump vote to Biden. You have to understand that the Ranked Choice Voting option is on every machine, not just those in states that have implemented this. It's a feature that can be enabled.

RCV is the end of Democracy.

As always with the progressives, they have inevitably boomeranged from what they initially demanded - "Must win popular vote, no Electoral College!!" - to its exact opposite - "RCV can ensure a win for the second most popular, and that's a good thing!*"

*The ads in MA when it was on the ballot in 2020 used that scenario as a selling point.

Posted by: Lizzy at April 21, 2025 11:08 AM (Cki93)

18 We in the Right are only gradually coming to accept that THIS IS WAR

The D's are openly admitting that they will engage in mass arrests of anyone working for Trump when they come back into power.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 21, 2025 11:08 AM (xTIDn)

19 RCV is like early voting -- it goes against conservative principles, but if we can make it work to our advantage, we should use it, carefully.

And then get rid of it once we are in a position to do so.

Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 11:09 AM (77rzZ)

20 RCV can suck my balls

Posted by: Elric Blade at April 21, 2025 11:09 AM (iFTx/)

21 We in the Right are only gradually coming to accept that THIS IS WAR -- that the Left is already in warfighting mode, and that unless we respond in kind, we are doomed. Time to draw the moral.
Posted by: Francis W. Porretto at April 21, 2025 11:03 AM (Nmmyc)

You can vote yourself into communism, but you have to shoot your way out.

Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at April 21, 2025 11:09 AM (l3YAf)

22 No, just no.

Too cute by half, because republican voters aren't a Borg-like hive mind that will dutifully go and pull a lever for whatever bag of ass is put in front of them, unlike the Dems.

Posted by: ballistic at April 21, 2025 11:10 AM (qr8rv)

23 Tried to read the essay, Buck, but the pop ups at The Blaze make it unreadable. Perhaps it's available somewhere else. Pity, I think I would enjoy it.

Posted by: Sorry, not sorry at April 21, 2025 11:10 AM (UapEa)

24 Willowed from JJ's MR:

Wow, American citizens are being detained, sometimes for multiple weeks just for crossing back into the US from Canada. And often having their phones and laptops confiscated to be scanned for Trump-critical content. Many stories of this on WNY local news.

Nice fascist state we have here, now.

Posted by: Sid at April 21, 2025 08:41 AM (H3cwr)
-

So I asked Grok:

https://tinyurl.com/4jr4bxpb

Exciting. Not.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at April 21, 2025 08:56 AM (Y+jbb)
-

Perhaps Sid was referring to the liar Frank Luntz's claim:

https://tinyurl.com/54x5xb7k

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at April 21, 2025 11:11 AM (Y+jbb)

25 >>>encountering the angels who walk among us.
---

Used to tell the help that when they got prissy.
-They may be angels testing you-
It causes second thoughts. Or it did before people bought the lie.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at April 21, 2025 11:11 AM (16hyI)

26 In theory RCV could be used by the GOP to exploit the system in limited circumstances. In theory. In practice, RCV will always be used to install outright Democraps or stealth Democraps, even in red jurisdictions. The GOP can't play the game as well as Democraps. I'm not sure they even want to.

Posted by: Elric Blade at April 21, 2025 11:11 AM (iFTx/)

27 So it appears that the last prominent person that Pope Frankie met with before he died was JD Vance.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 21, 2025 11:12 AM (xTIDn)

28 Jamie Raskind telling countries that making a tariff deal with the US will be marked as being enemies of the US once Dems take back power does seem to be part of a war.

Posted by: Chuck Martel

I hope they keep on beating that drum. I can't think of a better way to drive voters out of their party.

Well, maybe calling for the return of MS-13 wife beaters.

Posted by: Archimedes at April 21, 2025 11:12 AM (s8j++)

29 City councilwoman and her husband were stabbed overnight by their grandson. The husband is dead and she's in stable condition in a local hospital.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at April 21, 2025 11:07 AM (Zz0t1)
-

Kids nowadays!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at April 21, 2025 11:13 AM (Y+jbb)

30 I still don't understand how this is Constitutional--that some people get two, or more votes, while some only get one, all depending upon who their first choice was.

If I were Speaker or Leader, my first act would be a resolution that we will not seat anyone:
1) elected by ranked choice
2) elected by any ballots received after Election Day
3) elected by more than 5% of mail-in or absentee ballots
4) elected by more than 10% of drop-box ballots.

The Supreme Court (before they threw out all rules and precedent on Saturday) had been quite clear:
Seating of members of either chamber are non-judiciable.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at April 21, 2025 11:13 AM (5Hv8M)

31 And then get rid of it once we are in a position to do so.
Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 11:09 AM (77rzZ)

Yes, because getting rid of what gives you power is something the GOP is known for, right. Not to mention we are talking about a GOP that would love to go back to the old days of feeding at the trough quietly as minority members.
This is a bad idea, and if it ever comes to pass that the GOP benefits from it and then destroys it, I'll eat my hat.
Made of crow.

Posted by: OneEyedJack at April 21, 2025 11:13 AM (FCbAQ)

32 Uh oh, Biden's Dog is quoting a troll...

Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 11:13 AM (77rzZ)

33 Ct is trying to do RCV. It comes up every year. Where 80% of voters are D, unions control every aspect of GUV. At the moment it seems we will get it to ensure R's never get a real chance. We have closed primaries, but they are working to change that with RCV.

Posted by: phydeaux at April 21, 2025 11:14 AM (ep56E)

34 "RCV can ensure a win for the second most popular, and that's a good thing!*"

*The ads in MA when it was on the ballot in 2020 used that scenario as a selling point.
Posted by: Lizzy
---

Sounds right.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at April 21, 2025 11:14 AM (16hyI)

35 The mass demonstrations against Trump on Saturday certainly turned out to be a damp squib, didn't they?

Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 21, 2025 11:14 AM (xTIDn)

36 Thx Buck. Anything but showing up at the polls, except the old absentee ballot, will be taken over and infested by the Dems. Anything that isn't simple and straight forward will be to their advantage because even if fraud is screamed they will still prevail.

Posted by: Smell the Glove at April 21, 2025 11:14 AM (O8bOp)

37 L'abandon by Guillaume Seignac ...

Proof that preening THOTS and OF come-ons always existed, even centuries ago.

Posted by: Elric Blade at April 21, 2025 11:14 AM (iFTx/)

38 I may have a counter proposal

Posted by: Thunderdome, home of thunderdoome hotdogs, it's about what's on it, not what's in it at April 21, 2025 11:14 AM (pIfcn)

39 Sid your mental illness is getting worse. Seek help or at least take your medication.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at April 21, 2025 11:14 AM (VofaG)

40 It's only a matter of time before the left wing media accuse JD Vance of murdering the Pope.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at April 21, 2025 11:15 AM (Zz0t1)

41 The Donks will get a multitude of fake Republicans put on the ballot to dilute the GOP vote in order to 'win'.

RCV is an abomination and must be ruthlessly rooted out.

Posted by: AZ Hi Desert (Gringo fuertemente armado-Tempus belli) at April 21, 2025 11:15 AM (uItVF)

42 Uh oh, Biden's Dog is quoting a troll...

Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 11:13 AM (77rzZ)
-

Frank Luntz doesn't troll here to the best of my knowledge.

But the point is to be aware of additional lies the Unhumans are spreading now.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at April 21, 2025 11:15 AM (Y+jbb)

43 In practice, RCV will always be used to install outright Democraps or stealth Democraps, even in red jurisdictions. The GOP can't play the game as well as Democraps. I'm not sure they even want to.
Posted by: Elric Blade
=======
In Missouri, a red state, the governor and his butt buddies in the legislature were trying to get RCV into place there. The whole purpose is to allow manipulation of the vote--that is the only reason RCV exists and I would argue that it technically violates Baker v. Carr--one person-one vote. That is because the so called 'instant' runoff does not treat similarly situated people (voters) vote in the same way. Violates equal protection clause cited in Baker v. Carr.

Posted by: whig at April 21, 2025 11:15 AM (ctrM5)

44 >>>and if it ever comes to pass that the GOP benefits from it and then destroys it, I'll eat my hat.
Made of crow.
Posted by: OneEyedJack
-----

Alaska enters the chat.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at April 21, 2025 11:15 AM (16hyI)

45 Lisa Murkowski, a Democrat in elephant’s clothing ...

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

Giving new meaning to "junk in the trunk."

Posted by: ShainS --Waking Up Early is White Supremacy at April 21, 2025 11:15 AM (gMSli)

46 The mass demonstrations against Trump on Saturday certainly turned out to be a damp squib, didn't they?

I was listening to the classical station when NPR "news" came on. They described "thousands of people at hundreds of rallies across the country".

I can do math. That comes down to tens of people per rally. This may not be quite the burn they think it is.

Posted by: Archimedes at April 21, 2025 11:15 AM (s8j++)

47 Not just no but hell fucking no!!!

All you need to do is look at the fuckery in Alaska two elections in a row with RCV. They stole everything, with 2 week counts that nobody could ever audit since it’s impossible to audit. It’s a free pass for cheating on a massive scale for the left.

Posted by: Its Go Time Donald at April 21, 2025 11:15 AM (DKKgv)

48 27 So it appears that the last prominent person that Pope Frankie met with before he died was JD Vance.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 21, 2025 11:12 AM (xTIDn)

Honestly, with the never-beaten fungal infection, I think the Pope knew that he only had months left, and he decided he wanted to go out living Easter vs staying cocooned and getting a few extra days/months (b/c I'm sure the docs said everything about yesterday was a bad idea for his health). I respect him for meeting Vance and the Easter crowds yesterday - it was one of his best actions as Pope.

Posted by: Nova Local at April 21, 2025 11:16 AM (tOcjL)

49 The mass demonstrations against Trump on Saturday certainly turned out to be a damp squib, didn't they?
Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 21, 2025 11:14 AM (xTIDn)

A psycho in Utah was arrested over the weekend for terrorizing a Tesla driver and chasing him at speeds in excess of 120 MPH.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at April 21, 2025 11:16 AM (Zz0t1)

50 Posted by: Sorry, not sorry at April 21, 2025 11:10 AM (UapEa)

.....

Same.

Not paying Blaze to read an article.

Posted by: I'm Sure It's Good at April 21, 2025 11:16 AM (SutOF)

51 >>>The whole purpose is to allow manipulation of the vote--that is the only reason RCV exists
---

It's a casino game and the house always wins.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at April 21, 2025 11:16 AM (16hyI)

52 RCV is the Keno of "elections."

Posted by: Editor at April 21, 2025 11:16 AM (R5Aw0)

53 The mass demonstrations against Trump on Saturday certainly turned out to be a damp squib, didn't they?
Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 21, 2025 11:14 AM (xTIDn)
______

I literally never even heard about them until a few DU-type crusty old shitstains bragged (read: lied) about the number of participants. I live in NYC and not a peep about them prior to that.

On a related note, what kind of fucking softbrain schedules a protest for Easter weekend (and also the end of Passover), when 90% of normals will be preoccupied with major holidays?

Posted by: Elric Blade at April 21, 2025 11:17 AM (iFTx/)

54 Frank Luntz doesn't troll here to the best of my knowledge.

But the point is to be aware of additional lies the Unhumans are spreading now.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at April 21, 2025 11:15 AM (Y+jbb)

You quoted Sid. Sid is Average Joe, who everyone knows, sucks cock by choice. Therefore, troll.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at April 21, 2025 11:17 AM (Zz0t1)

55 10
‘Jamie Raskin’

It sure would be a shame if dropped dead suddenly.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at April 21, 2025 11:17 AM (jbnUc)

56 No. No. No.

Being pushed hugely by the Left. Why both to vote in areas already skewed & redistricted (such as the collar counties around Philadelphia and other metro regions)?

examples:
>Committee of Seventy: Ranked Choice Voting
Discuss and practice ranked choice voting with students. (45 minutes)

>League of Women Voters of Portland: How Ranked Choice Voting Works

Posted by: Joe Biden is a dope at April 21, 2025 11:17 AM (NFX2v)

57 >>>Not paying Blaze to read an article.
---

https://archive.is/

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at April 21, 2025 11:17 AM (16hyI)

58 I can do math. That comes down to tens of people per rally. This may not be quite the burn they think it is.

The turnout across Oregon at the first anti-Trump protest was truly impressive.

On Saturday, not so much. Still a bunch of old white people.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 21, 2025 11:17 AM (xTIDn)

59 SOROS has made over 3.4 Billion from shorting the Dow. Should this be allowed ? Shouldn't trump voters be buying rather than selling ?;
Today it is down another 900 points so far
Dow is is at 38k bear market is 36k

Posted by: Aliassmithsmith at April 21, 2025 11:18 AM (2hfA1)

60 Therefore, troll.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at April 21, 2025 11:17 AM (Zz0t1
-

I know.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at April 21, 2025 11:18 AM (Y+jbb)

61 As strongly as I oppose RCV in red states, it’s not going away in the one state where we most critically need it to go away – Alaska. So in response, maybe we need to start pushing to implement RCV in some blue states.

And in response to that, the Marxist left will push to implement RCV in more red states.

Posted by: Clyde Shelton at April 21, 2025 11:18 AM (P5BPp)

62 RCV is the Keno of "elections."
Posted by: Editor

At least it's not the pickleball of elections.

Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 11:18 AM (77rzZ)

63
I know.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at April 21, 2025 11:18 AM (Y+jbb)

CBD doesn't appreciate the quoting of trolls.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at April 21, 2025 11:19 AM (Zz0t1)

64 >>>Former U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee has defeated former Oakland city council member Loren Taylor by a thin margin in Tuesday’s special election.
---

Buicks what won that election.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at April 21, 2025 11:19 AM (16hyI)

65 SOROS has made over 3.4 Billion from shorting the Dow. Should this be allowed ? Shouldn't trump voters be buying rather than selling ?;
Today it is down another 900 points so far
Dow is is at 38k bear market is 36k

Posted by: Aliassmithsmith at April 21, 2025 11:18 AM (2hfA1)
-

I wish I had cash to buy low.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at April 21, 2025 11:19 AM (Y+jbb)

66 League of Women Voters

When are they gonna change their name to "League of Karen Voters?"

Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 11:19 AM (77rzZ)

67
At least it's not the pickleball of elections.
Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 11:18 AM (77rzZ)

Some sports channel had pickleball on yesterday.

Quote from FiL: "Pickleball? What the heck is that?"

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at April 21, 2025 11:19 AM (Zz0t1)

68 On a related note, what kind of fucking softbrain schedules a protest for Easter weekend (and also the end of Passover), when 90% of normals will be preoccupied with major holidays?
Posted by: Elric Blade at April 21, 2025 11:17 AM (iFTx/)

Eh it’s not 90%. Maybe 50%. And it’s Saturday not Sunday. Do people do Easter related things Saturday?

Besides people who would be out protesting the bad orange man don’t give a fuck about Easter.

Posted by: Its Go Time Donald at April 21, 2025 11:20 AM (DKKgv)

69 Here's why it will never, ever, ever "pick off a seat in a blue state."

Democrats will always, always, always have two of the top three vote getters.
Even if they have to fund 5 "Republicans" to do so.
Hell, they'll fund Libertarians as well.

And that will always mean the Democrat will win.

Ranked choice voting is a "heads, I win, tails, you lose" in blue states.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at April 21, 2025 11:20 AM (5Hv8M)

70 >>>On Saturday, not so much. Still a bunch of old white people.
Posted by: The ARC of History!
---

On union pensions.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at April 21, 2025 11:20 AM (16hyI)

71
Besides people who would be out protesting the bad orange man don’t give a fuck about Easter.
Posted by: Its Go Time Donald at April 21, 2025 11:20 AM (DKKgv)

I was shocked to learn that American Idol did their Sunday show last night and had all gospel music.........

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at April 21, 2025 11:21 AM (Zz0t1)

72 Jamie Raskind telling countries that making a tariff deal with the US will be marked as being enemies of the US once Dems take back power does seem to be part of a war.
---
It was more threatening in the original Chinese when Xi said it first.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at April 21, 2025 11:21 AM (5Hv8M)

73 CBD doesn't appreciate the quoting of trolls.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at April 21, 2025 11:19 AM (Zz0t1)
-

Ah. Usually I don't feed the trolls myself.

But Sid is like our in-house pet hamster on a wheel. And my goal is to bring information to light which points out the source of his lies.

But if yah wanna kill the hamster, count me in!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at April 21, 2025 11:22 AM (Y+jbb)

74 Try to implement RCV in a deep blue state, and watch how hard they fight to defeat it.

Bet Me.

Pope still dead at this time.

Posted by: Don Black at April 21, 2025 11:22 AM (AOsQT)

75 24
Thank you for taking the time to investigate that claim but this was all you needed to know it was a lie.

‘Posted by: Sid’

Posted by: Dr. Claw at April 21, 2025 11:23 AM (jbnUc)

76 Saw a clip of Democrats saying that Trump admin was going to destroy SS and enumerated how they were going to do it.
Is that legal to get up and directly lie? I wasn't hyperbolic rhetoric it was by the numbers lying.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at April 21, 2025 11:23 AM (16hyI)

77 We've had RCV here in Maine now for... I think 8 or 9 years. I can't remember.

It's been a catastrophe to be honest. It's resulted in the 2nd congressional district, which has voted for Trump multiple times (and therefore gets the EC vote for it) sending a Democrat to congress multiple times (Jared Golden).

All of the things that the RCV advocates said would result from implementation of the system turned out to be a lie. People still don't understand how it works - and the costs of campaigns went through the f'in roof - especially in Susan Collins' last election.

I don't have a huge issue with it on principle, but we definitely don't "play the game" so to speak with regards to RCV. I don't like how I can't pick a run-off candidate based on who that candidate might be facing. Thats the big issue with RCV.

Posted by: Defenestratus at April 21, 2025 11:23 AM (WYStd)

78 Vance met with the Pope pretty close to his death.

Posted by: Boss Moss at April 21, 2025 11:23 AM (h9KKO)

79 There were 8 ballot initiatives related to rcv in 2024. 7/8 were defeated. And by pretty big numbers in both blue and red states. The only one that won was Alaska. I don’t know what the fuck Alaska is up to but they’re kinda retarded.

When you have Idaho and Oregon both agreeing on an issue, you know it’s a bad fucking idea.

Posted by: Its Go Time Donald at April 21, 2025 11:23 AM (DKKgv)

80 "China's gold buying surges"

Posted by: mrp at April 21, 2025 11:24 AM (rj6Yv)

81 78 So you're saying he killed him? Run with it!
The Media

Posted by: steevy at April 21, 2025 11:25 AM (YwEeS)

82 On Saturday, not so much. Still a bunch of old white people.
____

There were about 150 or so protesting at the Tesla dealership in my area. Mostly retirees and hair-dyed losers at life. Oddly, they'd prefer that the bureaucracy continues to steal from me what I pay in taxes. I gave them the finger as I drove by for what little it was worth.

Posted by: Chuck Martel at April 21, 2025 11:25 AM (Dv3i1)

83 >>>my goal is to bring information to light which points out the source of his lies.
--------

It is interesting that his statement has an actual source and more interesting that it' Frank -up the chute- Luntz.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at April 21, 2025 11:25 AM (16hyI)

84 Will someone not relieve me of these troublesome old people???

Posted by: tubal at April 21, 2025 11:27 AM (PCK5/)

85 There are many reasons the GOP doesn't play hard ball the way the dems do, but let's look at the RCV thing...

1) The Dems only allow some candidates to run. They control this by offering/withholding money from NGOs and corporate clients. The GOPe has some of this but it is much weaker then the Dems and the GOPe/MAGA wings still fight each other

2) The Dems have black mail/libel material they can unleash whenever they want thanks to their control of the Nat Sec people. The GOPe is occasionally given access to this when it benefits the Dems and MAGA doesn't have it at all

3) The NGO/Fed Gov bureaucratic structure means there are always Dem candidates available for any race and if they lose they go right back into it at no costs themselves. Again the GOPe has a little of this, and MAGA none. Failed MAGA candidates can have their lives destroyed, especially in blue areas.

Posted by: 18-1 at April 21, 2025 11:27 AM (t0Rmr)

86 So long, pope.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at April 21, 2025 11:27 AM (muwun)

87 So it appears that the last prominent person that Pope Frankie met with before he died was JD Vance.

Coincidence...?

Posted by: t-bird at April 21, 2025 11:28 AM (An4cD)

88 Probably.

Posted by: Boss Moss at April 21, 2025 11:29 AM (h9KKO)

89 RCV is the Keno of "elections."

Posted by: Editor at April 21, 2025 11:16 AM (R5Aw0)

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

OUT: CalvinBall.
IN: CalvinLaw.

Posted by: ShainS --Waking Up Early is White Supremacy at April 21, 2025 11:29 AM (AGgwT)

90 RCV is just more cheating bullshit invented by the dirty euros because they are assholes who rule assholes in asshole land.

Posted by: The Pope Of Greenwich Village at April 21, 2025 11:29 AM (cnVbw)

91 Is RCV something that was voted upon in Alaska or was it imposed upon the willowbillies??

Who would be stupid enough to vote for that? Although I look forward to liberal Senators and Senatrix from tiny states like Delaware, New Hampshire and Rhode Island et al ‘splaining how the the 2 per state upper chamber is “Undemocratic” and needs to go away. You know it’s coming, if only after they’ve nuked the Electoral College. The Bolshies hate the Senate as much or more than the EC, perhaps. All in due good time my boy, all in due good time.

Posted by: Common Tater at April 21, 2025 11:29 AM (psViZ)

92 CBD doesn't appreciate the quoting of trolls.
Posted by: Sponge

Yeah, he was nice to us today, but we don't want to set him off so that he gives us naked Ottoman guy for tomorrow's art.

Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 11:29 AM (77rzZ)

93 Had local protestors in my blue town. Based on their signs they think

1) Trump is a king for using presidential power, but Biden was a cool guy for unilaterally ordering everyone had to take what he knew was a poison shot.

2) Trump is rounding up random people and deporting them. I mean those random people are all "undocumented" but its random

3) Trump hasn't reduced inflation enough. But there never was any inflation and it certainly wasn't Biden's fault even though it occurred under him.

4) If the stock market goes down it is because Trump is trying to hurt the poor

Posted by: 18-1 at April 21, 2025 11:30 AM (t0Rmr)

94 Scotty Centerfold's long tenure in the Senate shows exactly why any RCV win in a blue state will be futile and fleeting.

Even if we sneak in a win, the Hive will swarm the next election to expel the outsider.

Arnie Swarrsizinegger's tenure in CA shows what kind of "Republican" would win a RCV election in a blue state.
See also, Jesse Venture in MN, for a "neither" candidate winning.

There is literally no upside to this idea.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at April 21, 2025 11:30 AM (5Hv8M)

95 Naken couch chick > naked ottoman dude

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at April 21, 2025 11:30 AM (muwun)

96 Oregon 58% no
Idaho 69% no
Nevada 53% no
Colorado 54% no
Missouri 68% no
S. Dakota 66% no
Arizona 59% no

Pretty good cross section of America all saying nah bruh to RCV

Posted by: Its Go Time Donald at April 21, 2025 11:30 AM (DKKgv)

97 Coincidence...?
Posted by: t-bird at April 21, 2025 11:28 AM (An4cD)

Of course, unless you're suggesting that the Vatican body guards killed him right after Vance left?

Posted by: Night lifted.... at April 21, 2025 11:31 AM (FZn/N)

98 79 There were 8 ballot initiatives related to rcv in 2024. 7/8 were defeated. And by pretty big numbers in both blue and red states. The only one that won was Alaska. I don’t know what the fuck Alaska is up to but they’re kinda retarded.
Posted by: Its Go Time Donald
========
Native Americans voting for it on reservations is why CRV won in AK. Long standing voter fraud problems on reservations in general that used to save Dems in ND and SD and much earlier in AZ, NV, and NM.

Posted by: whig at April 21, 2025 11:31 AM (ctrM5)

99 The poor don't own stock.

Posted by: Boss Moss at April 21, 2025 11:31 AM (h9KKO)

100 So it appears that the last prominent person that Pope Frankie met with before he died was JD Vance.

Coincidence...?

Posted by: t-bird at April 21, 2025 11:28 AM (An4cD)

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

Was JD carrying an umbrella?

/Putin, you magnificent bastard, is there nothing you can't do?

Posted by: ShainS --Waking Up Early is White Supremacy at April 21, 2025 11:32 AM (WgGsS)

101 The poor don't own stock.

I didn't say their signs/arguments made sense...

But don't worry they do have an answer to that - that's because Trump is racist.

And no, that doesn't make sense either.

Posted by: 18-1 at April 21, 2025 11:33 AM (t0Rmr)

102
Posted by: 18-1
-----
Logic never enters into the head of Democrat NPCs. To them, the current narrative programming via the media is all that they need to know. They use places like MSNBC, Axios, etc. as software update sites rather than for information.

Posted by: whig at April 21, 2025 11:33 AM (ctrM5)

103 Thank you. I have never seen a reason RCV is inherently better for the left. That it has been so, in fact, I get. But why does it have to be? My guess is it's simply that they've been willing to master it.

Posted by: Eeyore at April 21, 2025 11:34 AM (1bNHn)

104 99 The poor don't own stock.
Posted by: Boss Moss
-------

There are no poor sane people in America.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at April 21, 2025 11:34 AM (16hyI)

105 Saw an Easter meme I thought I'd share.

YOLO.
LOL, JK. BRB.
-- Jesus

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at April 21, 2025 11:34 AM (ExV1e)

106 How many here have been to Alaska??? I have, and noticed a couple of things that explain their politics…

Posted by: tubal at April 21, 2025 11:34 AM (PCK5/)

107 84 Will someone not relieve me of these troublesome ~~old people~~ relics of the 60s ???

FIFY

Posted by: Archimedes at April 21, 2025 11:35 AM (s8j++)

108 Of course, unless you're suggesting that the Vatican body guards killed him right after Vance left?
Posted by: Night lifted

The Swiss Guard? Now that's a theory that's full of holes.

Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 11:35 AM (77rzZ)

109 The poor don't own stock.

Posted by: Boss Moss at April 21, 2025 11:31 AM (h9KKO)

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

Although I understand that there's a healthy secondary market in trading food stamps.

/Yeah, I'm still stuck in the 70s & 80s ...

Posted by: ShainS --Waking Up Early is White Supremacy at April 21, 2025 11:35 AM (WgGsS)

110 Arnie Swarrsizinegger's tenure in CA shows what kind of "Republican" would win a RCV election in a blue state.

Well, I fucked my maid. She took one look at my Love Hammer she hopped up and down on it like a Guatemalan Jumping Bean.

Posted by: Arnold Schwantznegger at April 21, 2025 11:36 AM (cnVbw)

111 Will someone not relieve me of these troublesome old people???
Posted by: tubal at April 21, 2025 11:27 AM (PCK5/)

Patience.

Posted by: Father Time has a scythe too. at April 21, 2025 11:36 AM (FCbAQ)

112 www ncsl org/elections-and-campaigns/ranked-choice-voting

Key Takeaways
Ranked choice voting allows voters to rank candidates by preference rather than casting a ballot for a single candidate. The system is used in Alaska and Maine for statewide elections and in various municipalities across the U.S. Its use is prohibited in 15 states, while its legal status remains unclear in 27 others.

Proponents of ranked choice voting argue it helps to ensure a majority winner without the need for separate runoff elections and reduces spoiler effects from third party candidates. Opponents of ranked choice voting argue it is confusing for voters and, because not all voters rank every candidate, violates the principle of one person, one vote.

Updated April 19, 2025
---
Table: State Laws Permitting or Requiring the Use of Ranked Choice Voting

Posted by: Joe Biden is a dope at April 21, 2025 11:36 AM (NFX2v)

113 107 84 Will someone not relieve me of these Union Leaches ???

FIFY

Posted by: Archimedes

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at April 21, 2025 11:36 AM (16hyI)

114 The Swiss Guard Theory is full of holes.

Posted by: Boss Moss at April 21, 2025 11:36 AM (h9KKO)

115 The Swiss Guard? Now that's a theory that's full of holes.
Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 11:35 AM (77rzZ)

Why do they make the Swiss Guard carry halberds?

Because they wouldn't give them guns. Swiss miss.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at April 21, 2025 11:36 AM (VoAdT)

116 How many here have been to Alaska??? I have, and noticed a couple of things that explain their politics…
Posted by: tubal

I've been to every state except four. One of those four is Alaska. It's on my bucket list. I wanna go there and see what's left of the old Russian stuff.

Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 11:37 AM (77rzZ)

117 There were about 150 or so protesting at the Tesla dealership in my area.

The Atlantic had an article about a guy who rented a Cybertruck, and was harassed driving it around ---Washington DC.

NEWS FLASH - the leeches in the Capital are mad at the guy who is trying to reduce government corruption.

STOP THE PRESSES!

Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 21, 2025 11:37 AM (xTIDn)

118 Because they wouldn't give them guns. Swiss miss.
Posted by: Warai-otoko

Yeah, they're morions.

Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 11:38 AM (77rzZ)

119 "The Swiss Guard? Now that's a theory that's full of holes.
Posted by: Bulg"

Not gouda at all.

Posted by: Penguin Facts at April 21, 2025 11:38 AM (vFG9F)

120 I'd say I don't understand the argument about how ranked choice voting in blue jurisdictions is going to help Republicans or conservatives, but there doesn't even appear to be an argument to not understand.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at April 21, 2025 11:38 AM (XCUp7)

121 Oregon 58% no
Idaho 69% no
Nevada 53% no
Colorado 54% no
Missouri 68% no
S. Dakota 66% no
Arizona 59% no

Pretty good cross section of America all saying nah bruh to RCV
Posted by: Its Go Time Donald at April 21, 2025 11:30 AM

Yea RCV is too ripe for fuckery. Pass.

Posted by: Minnfidel at April 21, 2025 11:39 AM (4p0Xq)

122 On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Last Word,” Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) said that Democrats have a good message, “The problem we’ve got, honestly, is that we have to depend upon the media to deliver it.” And “when you’ve got people saying we’re not going to fact-check, we’re not going to worry about whether or not you’re telling the truth and just let the reports go out there. That’s what’s killing us as Democrats, because we don’t have a stomach for just lying.”

... of course, Democrats don’t have a stomach for just lying .. they must lie and steal

Posted by: SMOD at April 21, 2025 11:39 AM (RHGPo)

123 90 RCV is just more cheating bullshit invented by the dirty euros because they are assholes who rule assholes in asshole land.
Posted by: The Pope Of Greenwich Village

They don't need RCV because they already run shit via their Proportional Representation schemes in most Euro nations. Furthermore, parliamentary elections allow the parties, not voters, to pick their statist candidates. Because proportional representation almost always ends up in a coalition government, the weakest parties often have veto power within the coalition for any changes needed to fix things.

Euroland is likely to end up with either dictatorships or monarchies when all is said and done because PR does not allow changes necessary to the survival of the country to exist.

Belgium is a perfect example of this.

Posted by: whig at April 21, 2025 11:40 AM (ctrM5)

124 Not gouda at all.
Posted by: Penguin Fact

I'm about fetad up with these cheese puns.

Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 11:40 AM (77rzZ)

125 Although I understand that there's a healthy secondary market in trading food stamps.

Oregon has a ten cent deposit on bottled water.

Junkies use their food stamps to buy bottled water, pour the water out, and then return the empties for the deposit.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 21, 2025 11:40 AM (xTIDn)

126 The Swiss Guard? Now that's a theory that's full of holes.
Posted by: Bulg
____

That was cheesy. Can't you muenster up something better?

Posted by: Chuck Martel at April 21, 2025 11:40 AM (Dv3i1)

127 From the same guy who very confidently assured us that the Speaker of the Texas House would NOT be picked by the Dems? No thanks.

As we do NOT have a parliamentary system of government, Ranked Choice Voting should not be allowed. Period. The end.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at April 21, 2025 11:40 AM (vm8sq)

128 >>>there doesn't even appear to be an argument to not understand.
Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls
---

Someone described it a keno or pachinko. Probably why Dems don't want it either. Too random to get their select candidate in.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at April 21, 2025 11:41 AM (16hyI)

129 ep. James Clyburn (D-SC) said that Democrats have a good message

"Our message is beautiful and perfect. If you would all just follow it without opposition you would see it."

Posted by: NR Pax at April 21, 2025 11:41 AM (jjoN6)

130 "We're just too darn honest about wanting to mutilate your children and allow foreign invaders to kill and eat and *then* have their way with your entire family. That's why we're losing."

I mean, it's a take, i guess.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at April 21, 2025 11:41 AM (VoAdT)

131 On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Last Word,” Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) said that Democrats have a good message, “The problem we’ve got, honestly, is that we have to depend upon the media to deliver it.” And “when you’ve got people saying we’re not going to fact-check, we’re not going to worry about whether or not you’re telling the truth and just let the reports go out there. That’s what’s killing us as Democrats, because we don’t have a stomach for just lying.”

Clyburn makes Hank Johnson look like a master of hydrodynamics.

Posted by: Archimedes at April 21, 2025 11:41 AM (s8j++)

132 ‘Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls’

Are you the bear from that video where it hit itself in the balls with a water tank hose?

Posted by: Dr. Claw at April 21, 2025 11:41 AM (jbnUc)

133 Maine is a blue state. Maine now has RCV. Now, except for Susan Collins while she remains alive, a Republican can't get elected dogcatcher in the damned state. That's how RCV will work in other blue states. WTF.

Posted by: Duh and Duher at April 21, 2025 11:41 AM (qUkBO)

134 Will someone not relieve me of these troublesome old people???
Posted by: tubal at April 21, 2025 11:27 AM (PCK5/)
______

I don't think it's "old people" so much as old leftwing people with nothing better to do than try to relive their smelly 60s-era protesting glory days. These are the Abby Hoffmans that are still alive, and smell even worse.

The demographics from 2024 are in reality favorable to Trump in the 65+ categories. He won men 65+ 55 to 42. As always it's women who are the real problem. He lost 65+ women 53 to 44, which if combined with men probably netted him positive votes in 65+.

Surprisingly, Trump was slightly ahead with women aged 45-64 (49 to 4

Posted by: Elric Blade at April 21, 2025 11:42 AM (iFTx/)

135 >>Could Ranked Choice Voting Allow the GOP to Snatch Some Prominent Seats in Blue States?

Uhh.... No.

There's a reason why as soon as Donks gain control they start monkeying with voting methods and procedures, and it's not to maximize the democratic process.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at April 21, 2025 11:42 AM (XV/Pl)

136 Belgium is a perfect example of this.

Austria as well.

Voters don't get to elect the government, voters merely determine who has more bargaining power in the post-election coalition talks.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 21, 2025 11:42 AM (xTIDn)

137 Logic never enters into the head of Democrat NPCs. To them, the current narrative programming via the media is all that they need to know. They use places like MSNBC, Axios, etc. as software update sites rather than for information.

Posted by: whig at April 21, 2025 11:33 AM (ctrM5)

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

Specifically, software virus update sites.

I wonder if there will ever be software cancer? I'm sure Dr. Faucistein and his fellow GloboHomo butt-bots are working on it ...

Posted by: ShainS --Waking Up Early is White Supremacy at April 21, 2025 11:42 AM (Zbk/y)

138 On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Last Word,” Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) said that Democrats have a good message, “The problem we’ve got, honestly, is that we have to depend upon the media to deliver it.” And “when you’ve got people saying we’re not going to fact-check, we’re not going to worry about whether or not you’re telling the truth and just let the reports go out there. That’s what’s killing us as Democrats, because we don’t have a stomach for just lying.”
-----------
And then God struck him dead with a lightning bolt, right?

Right?

Posted by: Crusader at April 21, 2025 11:42 AM (TN0g+)

139 That was cheesy. Can't you muenster up something better?
Posted by: Chuck Martel at April 21, 2025 11:40 AM (Dv3i1)

No whey!

Posted by: mrp at April 21, 2025 11:43 AM (rj6Yv)

140 >>>Euroland is likely to end up with either dictatorships or monarchies when all is said and done because PR does not allow changes necessary to the survival of the country to exist.
---

There's a little blonde girl down South that has machinations of her own.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at April 21, 2025 11:43 AM (16hyI)

141 Surprisingly, Trump was slightly ahead with women aged 45-64.

Not really all that surprising.

Posted by: Georgia Meloni at April 21, 2025 11:43 AM (s8j++)

142 Alaska enters the chat.
Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at April 21, 2025 11:15 AM (16hyI)

As far as I am concerned, until AK ditches RCV, they have a Parliament. It is amazing how much that state contorts itself just to keep one bad Senator in office.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at April 21, 2025 11:44 AM (vm8sq)

143 No whey!
Posted by: mrp

Curd your enthusiasm.

Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 11:44 AM (77rzZ)

144 Thank you. I have never seen a reason RCV is inherently better for the left. That it has been so, in fact, I get. But why does it have to be? My guess is it's simply that they've been willing to master it.

Posted by: Eeyore at April 21, 2025 11:34 AM

The more times that people get to vote the more times they can pull shenanigans with the vote.

That plus people tend to not continue to vote if their guy loses the first round.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at April 21, 2025 11:44 AM (e5NfL)

145 Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls’

Are you the bear from that video where it hit itself in the balls with a water tank hose?
Posted by: Dr. Claw

Every guy that saw that clip instinctively flinched.

Posted by: rickb223 at April 21, 2025 11:45 AM (/iLcI)

146 Voters don't get to elect the government, voters merely determine who has more bargaining power in the post-election coalition talks.
Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 21, 2025 11:42 AM (xTIDn)

Is this about me?

Posted by: Bundesrepublik Deutschland at April 21, 2025 11:45 AM (vm8sq)

147 It was common around here a while back, the saying, “ we aren’t voting our way out of the mess we are in”. In light of current events I’m thinking about the accuracy of the statement..

Posted by: tubal at April 21, 2025 11:45 AM (PCK5/)

148 RCV adds complexity and opaqueness to something that should be simple and transparent.

Again, which is why donks love them some RCV, they institute it because it gives them more control over the process.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at April 21, 2025 11:46 AM (XV/Pl)

149 The Islamic Republic of Europa?

Posted by: Boss Moss at April 21, 2025 11:46 AM (h9KKO)

150 And my goal is to bring information to light which points out the source of his lies.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at April 21, 2025 11:22 AM

Thank you, I appreciate when people like you do this, because (1) not everyone knows who are the "trolls" and (2) it helps to know the rebuttal for left-wing talking points/lies, since I am sure most of us have left-wing friends -- or LIV friends who still get their news from legacy media -- who say the same things as the "trolls".

So when I see people here respond to comments of left-wing talking points/lies and rebut them with the facts, it's very helpful as I can remember that information next time I am faced with those talking points/lies in my everyday life with friends/coworkers.

Military blogs comments sections were really good with this in late 2000s, early 2010s. Blackfive and This Ain't Hell had some really good debunking debates in comments section with leftists/trolls that helped me learn immensely.

Posted by: Clyde Shelton at April 21, 2025 11:46 AM (P5BPp)

151 Here's the link to the voting demographics I commented on above. Some interesting dynamics. The caveat, of course, is exactly how many of these votes were actually from by real voters casting real votes. I've long thought part of the reason the black vote hits so hard for Democraps is because so many blacks sell their votes to vote harvesters, who then vote 100% Democrap.

https://tinyurl.com/3xh82bye

Posted by: Elric Blade at April 21, 2025 11:46 AM (iFTx/)

152 That plus people tend to not continue to vote if their guy loses the first round.
Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at April 21, 2025 11:44 AM (e5NfL)

They also tend to not vote if they think it won't matter anyways, so rigged systems are voter suppression in a way.
Does anyone think there are NO conservatives in Cook County Ill? It sure appears that way.

Posted by: Father Time has a scythe too. at April 21, 2025 11:47 AM (FCbAQ)

153 bah!

Posted by: OneEyedJack at April 21, 2025 11:47 AM (FCbAQ)

154 @GuntherEagleman
Out of the first 110 days of the year, our @HouseGOP has had 85 days off.

Posted by: Don't Make gp Stop This Car at April 21, 2025 11:47 AM (UGlbV)

155 wow.

Posted by: Francis at April 21, 2025 11:48 AM (bbuBP)

156 The problem with RCV is that the party with the tighter organization will recruit straw candidates - some of whom are collaborators, others are useful idiots - and split the opposition vote while keeping their own intact. Chicago's Democratic machine instituted RCV decades ago; and it wasn't to allow freer, more open elections.

Posted by: Nemo at April 21, 2025 11:48 AM (4RPgu)

157 @155

>>@GuntherEagleman
Out of the first 110 days of the year, our @HouseGOP has had 85 days off.

No one would mistake Mike Johnson for a Jamaican.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at April 21, 2025 11:49 AM (XV/Pl)

158 146
‘Every guy that saw that clip instinctively flinched’

I never identified with a bear more than I did after watching it.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at April 21, 2025 11:49 AM (jbnUc)

159 147 Voters don't get to elect the government, voters merely determine who has more bargaining power in the post-election coalition talks.
Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 21, 2025 11:42 AM (xTIDn)

Our Democracy is too important to be left in the hands of the voters.

Posted by: Chuck Martel at April 21, 2025 11:49 AM (Dv3i1)

160 Quote from FiL: "Pickleball? What the heck is that?"

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at April 21, 2025 11:19 AM (Zz0t1)

Long forgotten sport the gay naked Athenians played in the ancient greek olympics.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at April 21, 2025 11:49 AM (snZF9)

161 Here’s to another year of being grate!

Posted by: Oh, no... at April 21, 2025 11:50 AM (UapEa)

162 There's a little blonde girl down South that has machinations of her own.
Posted by: Braenyard
======
I think she is preparing for the EU to implode. It should have never been anything other than a trading bloc as countries like Italy, Greece, and Spain need currencies to float to make up for inferior productivity. It also lessens their debt burden. When these countries were locked into the EU, it impoverished and de industrialized Southern Europe.

Posted by: whig at April 21, 2025 11:50 AM (ctrM5)

163 134 Maine is a blue state. Maine now has RCV. Now, except for Susan Collins while she remains alive, a Republican can't get elected dogcatcher in the damned state. That's how RCV will work in other blue states. WTF.
Posted by: Duh and Duher at April 21, 2025 11:41 AM (qUkBO)

I forgot. ME also has a Parliament.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at April 21, 2025 11:50 AM (vm8sq)

164 The problem we’ve got, honestly, is that we have to depend upon the media to deliver it.” And “when you’ve got people saying we’re not going to fact-check, we’re not going to worry about whether or not you’re telling the truth and just let the reports go out there. That’s what’s killing us as Democrats, because we don’t have a stomach for just lying.”

Take this as true for a moment. Everything a Republican says is a lie, everything a Dem says is truth, and the media just reports what both sides say...but the lies are more convincing? That is a pretty dubious view of the electorate but...let's look into it farther...

The "lies" that Trump is telling are...men can't become women, tariffs normalization will bring more jobs back to America and force lower tariffs overseas, and cutting spending will lower inflation.

I mean...even Democrats said these things 10 years ago. And hell, Trump already dramatically lowered Bidenflation with the DOGE cuts.

Posted by: 18-1 at April 21, 2025 11:50 AM (t0Rmr)

165
https://tinyurl.com/3xh82bye
Posted by: Elric Blade
------------

Thank's. I went back trying to find that the other day. It's a keeper.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at April 21, 2025 11:51 AM (16hyI)

166 Honestly James Clyburn is an idiot.

What good message does the Democrats have?
I haven't heard one in decades.

Posted by: Case at April 21, 2025 11:51 AM (OrSPY)

167 I think she is preparing for the EU to implode. It should have never been anything other than a trading bloc as countries like Italy, Greece, and Spain need currencies to float to make up for inferior productivity. It also lessens their debt burden. When these countries were locked into the EU, it impoverished and de industrialized Southern Europe.
Posted by: whig at April 21, 2025 11:50 AM (ctrM5)

Indeed. The Common Market was not bad. The EU was worse. The euro was and is the pits. Greece needs the drachma, Spain the peseta.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at April 21, 2025 11:51 AM (vm8sq)

168 Parlaments suck.

Posted by: Boss Moss at April 21, 2025 11:52 AM (h9KKO)

169 not sure I'd inject a cancerous thing into the process to win a few seats. I might start with gerrymandering lawsuits first

Posted by: Jeff Carter (@pointsnfigures1) at April 21, 2025 11:52 AM (ZiwLX)

170 Does the Democratic Party need to make any changes before the next election? the approval rating for the Democratic Party is somewhere around 29%, according to recent polls. That is not good. David Hogg might be correct. If we can get good, young candidates to run for Congress, then perhaps it is time for some of them to retire, or to be challenged in a primary.

Smart phones are sneaky snaking blame the democrats links every day. So investigate that. Friendly advice: Show the voters your anger and concern. Do not speak like we are at a funeral or telling beddy bye stories to kids.

Dems don't need a purity purge led by Hogg. When he and his friends start winning elections as Democrats he might gain some credibility. But right now he's just using his DNC post to fundraise for his own PAC.

Money is the Republican's edge, including the far-reaching influence of money above and beyond free and fair elections.

We need to stop running just against trump. We needed a Dem Project 2025. Now we need a Project 2026/2028. But I ain't seeing it. Every criticism of trump is deserved, but it didn't help us in November.

Posted by: Intercepted DU Transmissions brought by the Intrepid AoS Liaison at April 21, 2025 11:52 AM (JCZqz)

171 RCV simply gives "investors" and the political class far more power to pick their preferred candidates and assist their campaigns.

Posted by: mrp at April 21, 2025 11:52 AM (rj6Yv)

172 I've never given Edam about cheese puns.

Posted by: Rick Otta at April 21, 2025 11:52 AM (G5+As)

173 Our Democracy is too important to be left in the hands of the voters.
Posted by: Chuck Martel

Which is why either the elites get eliminated in a revolution with a new elite set up (which ends up doing the same things) or the public gets a big baddy as el jefe or a monarch to rein in the assholes in the elites.

Aristotle called this way back before Christ.

Posted by: whig at April 21, 2025 11:52 AM (ctrM5)

174 So it appears that the last prominent person that Pope Frankie met with before he died was JD Vance.

Has DU claimed he killed the pope yet?

Posted by: Ian S. at April 21, 2025 11:52 AM (2ocoG)

175 Posted by: 18-1 at April 21, 2025 11:50 AM (t0Rmr)

The truth is putting its pants on on a blog while the lie gets network airtime.

Posted by: OneEyedJack at April 21, 2025 11:53 AM (FCbAQ)

176 Here's the link to the voting demographics I commented on above. Some interesting dynamics.

The left got greedy. They stole so much from the treasury it caused hyperinflation and you simply can't hide that.

If Biden had been more measured and kept to the "normal" level of fraud and graft Harris does still likely win in 2024...

Posted by: 18-1 at April 21, 2025 11:53 AM (t0Rmr)

177 When the Dem-MSM coalition picks the PRC over Trump administration, they say "goodbye" to organized labor.

Posted by: mrp at April 21, 2025 11:54 AM (rj6Yv)

178 165
‘And hell, Trump already dramatically lowered Bidenflation with the DOGE cuts.’

DOGE may have helped but increasing energy production will be the source of any inflation lowering we get.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at April 21, 2025 11:54 AM (jbnUc)

179 169 Parlaments suck.
Posted by: Boss Moss

I dunno, they were a lot like Tareytons, a pretty good smoke.

Posted by: Would Rather Fight Than Switch at April 21, 2025 11:54 AM (G5+As)

180 The truth is putting its pants on a blog while the lie gets network airtime.
Posted by: OneEyedJack

Hey, the truth enjoys the Sunday Book Thread as much as anyone else.

Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 11:54 AM (77rzZ)

181
173 I've never given Edam about cheese puns.
Posted by: Rick Otta

Brie-lieve me, neither have I.

Posted by: Groan at April 21, 2025 11:54 AM (UapEa)

182 This is nacho thread to hijack.

Posted by: Minnfidel at April 21, 2025 11:55 AM (4p0Xq)

183 The left got greedy. They stole so much from the treasury it caused hyperinflation and you simply can't hide that.

Covid was used to increase the Federal budget by fifty percent.

It is fascism to cut a single dollar from that bloated budget, of course.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 21, 2025 11:55 AM (xTIDn)

184 I imagine the default Media position on facts is “ What is truth”? … quoting one of their mentors…

Posted by: tubal at April 21, 2025 11:55 AM (PCK5/)

185 I’ve profound respect for the Indian nations & Tribes.

But, they are sovereign nations. Why are they voting in our elections? I know the history, and it still doesn’t make any sense.

I’d still like to hear the arguments they must have made in both World Wars, how Indians are subject to be drafted. They are Warriors, and some of the baddest MFers around, Code Talkers, etcetera.

But it had to be awkward for the US government. “You want me to do what, White man?” LOL

Posted by: Common Tater at April 21, 2025 11:55 AM (1WKhx)

186 Which is why either the elites get eliminated in a revolution with a new elite set up (which ends up doing the same things) or the public gets a big baddy as el jefe or a monarch to rein in the assholes in the elites.

The idea with representative government is that you can short circuit the coup/revolution cycle by allowing the people to force a change in policy by a government that is acting badly.

The interesting thing in Euroland is they've mostly removed this ability from their "democracies" - for the last 20 years it doesn't matter what party you vote for in most European countries you get exactly the same policies.

And...they managed that hear as well with the GOPe until Trump upset their apple cart...

Posted by: 18-1 at April 21, 2025 11:55 AM (t0Rmr)

187 Does the Democratic Party need to make any changes before the next election?

And water down your brand?! Be all you can be and double down, D's!

Posted by: t-bird at April 21, 2025 11:56 AM (4Nep/)

188 Leaves me feeling a little bleu.

Posted by: Stop! at April 21, 2025 11:56 AM (UapEa)

189
Covid was used to increase the Federal budget by fifty percent.

And while the COVID stuff was absurd this also included spending for every damn thing the left wanted from global warming to gift cards to illegals.

Posted by: 18-1 at April 21, 2025 11:57 AM (t0Rmr)

190 Our Democracy is too important to be left in the hands of the voters.

Posted by: Chuck Martel at April 21, 2025 11:49 AM

Gentlemen, trials are too important to be left up to juries.

Posted by: Rankin Fitch at April 21, 2025 11:58 AM (P5BPp)

191 Last week Catholic Charities got out of the human trafficking scam because the Fed money was dried up. This week, The Red Pope croaks. We are on a roll!

Posted by: Forces Of Truth And Justice at April 21, 2025 11:58 AM (G5+As)

192 Does the Democratic Party need to make any changes before the next election?.

Well, Noodle Arm Hoggy says they need to go further left. I agree David! Full speed ahead. You keep keying Teslas and sticking up for wife beating MS-13 gang members little fella.

Posted by: Minnfidel at April 21, 2025 11:59 AM (4p0Xq)

193 We need to stop running just against trump. We needed a Dem Project 2025. Now we need a Project 2026/2028. But I ain't seeing it. Every criticism of trump is deserved, but it didn't help us in November.

They already had that. Is there anyone unclear about what a Harris admin/Dem congress would have done after winning in 2024?

1) Keep the spending/inflation going
2) Send American soldiers to Ukraine and enter the war
3) Keep the border open
4) Continue ramming trannies down everyone's throat
5) Imprison people for opposing them
6) Have antifa to attack people they don't want to bother arresting

Posted by: 18-1 at April 21, 2025 11:59 AM (t0Rmr)

194 The EU is now sternly lecturing the PRC to "be better".

The decades of China's ruthless trade policies and IP theft is coming home to roost.

Posted by: mrp at April 21, 2025 11:59 AM (rj6Yv)

195 I’d still like to hear the arguments they must have made in both World Wars, how Indians are subject to be drafted. They are Warriors, and some of the baddest MFers around, Code Talkers, etcetera.

Prior to the 1920's, most Indians were not American citizens - they were citizens of the Sioux Nation or whatever.

A few tribes got American citizenship by treaty, and there was a naturalization process if you wanted to leave the rez and become an American.

So, no, Indians weren't drafted in World War One, but so many volunteered that a bill was passed giving Indians citizenship after WWI.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 21, 2025 11:59 AM (xTIDn)

196 Leaves me feeling a little bleu.
Posted by: Stop!

O Que, so what?

Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 11:59 AM (77rzZ)

197 The idea with representative government is that you can short circuit the coup/revolution cycle by allowing the people to force a change in policy by a government that is acting badly.

The interesting thing in Euroland is they've mostly removed this ability from their "democracies" - for the last 20 years it doesn't matter what party you vote for in most European countries you get exactly the same policies.

And...they managed that hear as well with the GOPe until Trump upset their apple cart...
Posted by: 18-1
=======
That is predicted as well by political theory. Elites become focused on personal wealth and power and become corrupt which is why Trump is having to use a crowbar to pull the roots out of the Uniparty's access to goons, money, and power.

The question is what happens after Trump?

Posted by: whig at April 21, 2025 12:00 PM (ctrM5)

198 Crap! Of all the days to miss the morning art thread!

Posted by: Florida Peasant at April 21, 2025 12:01 PM (Lo97M)

199 So, no, Indians weren't drafted in World War One, but so many volunteered that a bill was passed giving Indians citizenship after WWI.
Posted by: The ARC of History!
======
Coolidge's VP had Indian blood is another part of it.

Posted by: whig at April 21, 2025 12:01 PM (ctrM5)

200 Dead Pope...

Oh well.

Anyway...hope you all had a great weekend.

Posted by: garrett at April 21, 2025 12:01 PM (F30Ty)

201 But, they are sovereign nations. Why are they voting in our elections? I know the history, and it still doesn’t make any sense.

Archie Bunker said the American Indians don't vote. They sell all their horses for booze and then they can't ride into town.

Posted by: Meathead at April 21, 2025 12:02 PM (cnVbw)

202 So does the black pope take over now?

Posted by: Boss Moss at April 21, 2025 12:02 PM (h9KKO)

203 >>I’ve profound respect for the Indian nations & Tribes.

I am guessing you live on one of the coasts?

If you have ever spent time on a Reservation, I can't imagine you having any respect for the Native Nations/Tribes.

Posted by: garrett at April 21, 2025 12:02 PM (F30Ty)

204 175 So it appears that the last prominent person that Pope Frankie met with before he died was JD Vance.

Has DU claimed he killed the pope yet?
Posted by: Ian S.

They've had mixed posts, ranging from:

1- The Pope "holy ghosted" JD Vance
2- The Pope met pure evil in JD Vance and wanted to leave the world
3- Popes and Christianity are icky and problematic, but this one was cool because he spoke out for Palestinians and against capitalism.

Posted by: Intercepted DU Transmissions brought by the Intrepid AoS Liaison at April 21, 2025 12:03 PM (JCZqz)

205 The question is what happens after Trump?

If he succeeds another 50 years (at least) of clean representative government

If he fails? We better pray we get a Augustus or Julius because the alternatives are way, way worse.

Posted by: 18-1 at April 21, 2025 12:03 PM (t0Rmr)

206 The question is what happens after Trump?
Posted by: whig at April 21, 2025 12:00 PM (ctrM5)

Le Deluge!

Posted by: Louis XV at April 21, 2025 12:03 PM (u9bGn)

207 The question is what happens after Trump?
Posted by: whig at April 21, 2025 12:00 PM (ctrM5)

Le déluge.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at April 21, 2025 12:04 PM (ExV1e)

208 But, they are sovereign nations. Why are they voting in our elections?
Posted by: Meathead

It's time to ditch the reservations. They're American citizens, and should not get their special enclaves. Make the tribes subdivide the land and distribute it to their members. Enough of this dual-citizenship crap.

Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 12:04 PM (77rzZ)

209 Honestly we should probably work out a real plan to give the Indians a sovereign nation with access to the sea.

But...then every Indian needs to choose - permanently leave the US or not with no reservations left over after this change.

Posted by: 18-1 at April 21, 2025 12:04 PM (t0Rmr)

210 I’d still like to hear the arguments they must have made in both World Wars, how Indians are subject to be drafted. They are Warriors, and some of the baddest MFers around, Code Talkers, etcetera.

Prior to the 1920's, most Indians were not American citizens - they were citizens of the Sioux Nation or whatever.

A few tribes got American citizenship by treaty, and there was a naturalization process if you wanted to leave the rez and become an American.

So, no, Indians weren't drafted in World War One, but so many volunteered that a bill was passed giving Indians citizenship after WWI.
Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 21, 2025 11:59 AM (xTIDn)
______

As is usual, the older generation of badasses inevitably gives way to corrupt stoner loser parasites. The brave Indians of WW1 are long gone. In their place are their descendants: lazy, corrupt, criminal, parasitic underclasses ruled by a very few elite Indians who subjugate the lower classes.

There are few institutions more corrupt and a failure of their essential purpose than Indian reservations. I would get rid of all of them, and integrate the remaining Indian population into the general.

Posted by: Elric Blade at April 21, 2025 12:04 PM (iFTx/)

211 Imagine Italy as the southern end of a trade and economic union set up as a buffer between Russia and the EU, going from the Baltic to the Adriatic

Posted by: Kindltot at April 21, 2025 12:04 PM (D7oie)

212 >207
>208

Le horde mind!

Posted by: Louis XV at April 21, 2025 12:05 PM (u9bGn)

213 >>Honestly we should probably work out a real plan to give the Indians a sovereign nation with access to the sea.

lol

Posted by: garrett at April 21, 2025 12:05 PM (F30Ty)

214 So does the black pope take over now?
Posted by: Boss Moss

I hear Kaepernick's available.

Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 12:06 PM (77rzZ)

215 The question is what happens after Trump?
Posted by: whig at April 21, 2025 12:00 PM (ctrM5)

Elon will have created an AI RoboTrump by then.

Posted by: Josephistan at April 21, 2025 12:06 PM (y9ksN)

216 So does the black pope take over now?
Posted by: Boss Moss at April 21, 2025 12:02 PM (h9KKO)

At any time of our choosing

Posted by: Netflix at April 21, 2025 12:06 PM (FCbAQ)

217 205
‘Posted by: Intercepted DU Transmissions’

I’ve seen better opinions come out of a colostomy bag.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at April 21, 2025 12:06 PM (jbnUc)

218 Trump has ordered flags to half-staff in honor of Francis.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at April 21, 2025 12:06 PM (ExV1e)

219 So, no, Indians weren't drafted in World War One, but so many volunteered that a bill was passed giving Indians citizenship after WWI.
Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 21, 2025 11:59 AM (xTIDn)

There were rumors of a draft for Indians during WWI that almost set off a rebellion from the Navajo. Indian Affairs agents were dispatched to reassure everyone that it was just a rumor

Posted by: Kindltot at April 21, 2025 12:07 PM (D7oie)

220 So does the black pope take over now?
Posted by: Boss Moss

A conservative African pope would be an excellent thing, IMHO.

Posted by: Archimedes at April 21, 2025 12:07 PM (s8j++)

221 There are few institutions more corrupt and a failure of their essential purpose than Indian reservations. I would get rid of all of them, and integrate the remaining Indian population into the general.
Posted by: Elric Blade

Yep. Agree 100%.

Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 12:07 PM (77rzZ)

222 There are few institutions more corrupt and a failure of their essential purpose than Indian reservations. I would get rid of all of them, and integrate the remaining Indian population into the general.
Posted by: Elric Blade at April 21, 2025 12:04 PM (iFTx/)
---
As long as Dems can use them as a voting bloc, that will never, ever happen.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 21, 2025 12:07 PM (7fElN)

223 but increasing energy production will be the source of any inflation lowering we get.
———-

Er, no. Energy prices affect the price of everything else, it is true.

Has absolutely nothing to do with monetary inflation. The purchasing power of the currency, or lack thereof, is a permanent loss, worth less and less, eventually worthless. It doesn’t come back. Ever. 1 step forward, 2 steps back, at best.

Posted by: Common Tater at April 21, 2025 12:08 PM (XK2P4)

224 So does the black pope take over now?
Posted by: Boss Moss at April 21, 2025 12:02 PM (h9KKO)

Damn right! I'm gonna let 'em know that Pope Dolemite is back on the scene! I'm gonna let 'em know that Pope Dolemite is my name, and fuckin' up motherfuckers is my game!

Posted by: Pope Dolemite at April 21, 2025 12:08 PM (cnVbw)

225 But...then every Indian needs to choose - permanently leave the US or not with no reservations left over after this change.
Posted by: 18-1 at April 21, 2025 12:04 PM (t0Rmr)

what do you do with the off-rez land owned by the tribe?

Posted by: Kindltot at April 21, 2025 12:08 PM (D7oie)

226 Ranked choice, followed by white smoke. It worked!

Posted by: Zombie Pope Francis at April 21, 2025 12:08 PM (RFhjS)

227 Sell the rez to Black Rock.

Posted by: Boss Moss at April 21, 2025 12:08 PM (h9KKO)

228 So does the black pope take over now?
Posted by: Boss Moss

I hear Kaepernick's available.
Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 12:06 PM (77rzZ)
_________

I'd take a conservative African pope over some pasty white commie any day. There are probably some good candidates in Kenya or Nigeria.

Posted by: Elric Blade at April 21, 2025 12:08 PM (iFTx/)

229 214
‘a real plan to give the Indians a sovereign nation with access to the sea.’

Gaza has access to the sea.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at April 21, 2025 12:09 PM (jbnUc)

230 what do you do with the off-rez land owned by the tribe?

Convert it to a land trust, unless it is part of the land given to the new Indian country.

Posted by: 18-1 at April 21, 2025 12:09 PM (t0Rmr)

231 Ratzinger.

Posted by: Boss Moss at April 21, 2025 12:09 PM (h9KKO)

232 A conservative African pope would be an excellent thing, IMHO.
Posted by: Archimedes at April 21, 2025 12:07 PM (s8j++)

Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu

Posted by: jsg at April 21, 2025 12:09 PM (UJ+K5)

233 I'd take a conservative African pope over some pasty white commie any day. There are probably some good candidates in Kenya or Nigeria.
Posted by: Elric Blade

Who have firsthand experience with Islam and are willing to speak out frankly about it.

Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 12:10 PM (77rzZ)

234
I'd take a conservative African pope over some pasty white commie any day. There are probably some good candidates in Kenya or Nigeria.
Posted by: Elric Blade at April 21, 2025 12:08 PM (iFTx/)

You'll get what we give you.

Posted by: Conclave at April 21, 2025 12:10 PM (FCbAQ)

235 A conservative African pope would be an excellent thing, IMHO.
Posted by: Archimedes at April 21, 2025 12:07 PM (s8j++)

Name one, and don't say Sarah, because his writings are clear "muslims are our brothers" and he is anticapitalism despite his supposed anti Marxism.

Posted by: Night lifted.... at April 21, 2025 12:10 PM (FZn/N)

236 So does the black pope take over now?
Posted by: Boss Moss

What color is the smoke?

Posted by: Diogenes at April 21, 2025 12:11 PM (W/lyH)

237 does the black pope take over now?
Posted by: Boss Moss at April 21, 2025 12:02 PM (h9KKO)

Damn right! I'm gonna let 'em know that Pope Dolemite is back on the scene! I'm gonna let 'em know that Pope Dolemite is my name, and fuckin' up motherfuckers is my game!
Posted by: Pope Dolemite at April 21, 2025 12:08

I would love to see that movie!

RIP Francis and Rudy Ray Moore

Posted by: Josephistan at April 21, 2025 12:11 PM (y9ksN)

238 There are few institutions more corrupt and a failure of their essential purpose than Indian reservations. I would get rid of all of them, and integrate the remaining Indian population into the general.
Posted by: Elric Blade at April 21, 2025 12:04 PM (iFTx/)
---
As long as Dems can use them as a voting bloc, that will never, ever happen.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 21, 2025 12:07 PM (7fElN)
_______

I agree. I also think, though, that a lot of the money going to tribes to faciliate vote fraud was laundered through corrupt organizations like USAID. Now that a lot of that is shut down, there's less money to "fortify" elections. Whether that will have a material impact remains to be seen. Can't hurt.

Posted by: Elric Blade at April 21, 2025 12:11 PM (iFTx/)

239 A conservative African pope would be an excellent thing, IMHO.
Posted by: Archimedes at April 21, 2025 12:07 PM (s8j++)

Name one, and don't say Sarah, because his writings are clear "muslims are our brothers" and he is anticapitalism despite his supposed anti Marxism.

I didn't say I knew one. I just said if there is one, it would be a good choice. Calm yourself.

Posted by: Archimedes at April 21, 2025 12:12 PM (s8j++)

240 What color is the smoke?
Posted by: Diogenes at April 21, 2025 12:11 PM (W/lyH)

No, you are thinking of a "gender reveal"

Posted by: Kindltot at April 21, 2025 12:12 PM (D7oie)

241 A quote from shitty Sarah: Entire nations have been ravaged economically by the unscrupulous multinationals that pillage national economies. Neo-colonial policies that infantilize governments are a disgrace. Is it any surprise, then, when populations flee such situations in streams? They conceal the truth, and they dare to wonder whether it is necessary to welcome the populations that arrive on European shores. And I am not [even] talking about the Mafia-like practices of those who exploit the migrants’ poverty.

He is pro-migration.

Posted by: Night lifted.... at April 21, 2025 12:12 PM (FZn/N)

242 I'd take a conservative African pope over some pasty white commie any day. There are probably some good candidates in Kenya or Nigeria.
Posted by: Elric Blade

Who have firsthand experience with Islam and are willing to speak out frankly about it.
Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 12:10 PM (77rzZ)
_________

Correct

Posted by: Elric Blade at April 21, 2025 12:12 PM (iFTx/)

243 Ratfuckingzer died.

Posted by: Boss Moss at April 21, 2025 12:13 PM (h9KKO)

244 Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu

Posted by: jsg at April 21, 2025 12:09 PM (UJ+K5)

Besungu, 65, is a Congolese cardinal who has publicly clashed with Francis in the past.

He rejected a decree from Francis that the church should give its blessing to homosexual couples, arguing it "cannot be carried out in Africa without [Christians] exposing themselves to scandals".

He effectively declared the doctrine, called Fiducia supplicans, null and void on the African continent.

If Besungu - the youngest of the front-runners - was elected as Pope, his leadership would likely force a U-turn on much of Francis's work.

https://tinyurl.com/5bekwju3

Posted by: jsg at April 21, 2025 12:13 PM (UJ+K5)

245 Imagine Italy as the southern end of a trade and economic union set up as a buffer between Russia and the EU, going from the Baltic to the Adriatic
Posted by: Kindltot at April 21, 2025 12:04 PM (D7oie)

so sort of a western front against soviet expansion???

Posted by: Sturmtoddler at April 21, 2025 12:13 PM (nXhwP)

246 Absofrickenlutely not!

Posted by: Joefrombako at April 21, 2025 12:14 PM (Bf5aC)

247 Absofrickenlutely not!

Posted by: Joefrombako

Why not?

Posted by: JakefromStateFarm at April 21, 2025 12:14 PM (s8j++)

248 Stephen Colbert's "Late Show" will be off the air for a week. No specific reasons given. CBS will fill the schedule with Colbert re-runs.

Posted by: mrp at April 21, 2025 12:15 PM (rj6Yv)

249 Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu

Posted by: jsg at April 21, 2025 12:09 PM (UJ+K5)

Ambongo condemns the exploitation of natural resources and believes that renewables will help alleviate the impact of climate change in the world.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at April 21, 2025 12:15 PM (ExV1e)

250 224
‘Energy prices affect the price of everything else, it is true.
Has absolutely nothing to do with monetary inflation. ’

I would argue that inflation is not only monetary policy but is instead a comparison of the existing money supply and the aggregation of all goods and services.
Oil, etc. ,being goods, change that ratio when they are increased .

Posted by: Dr. Claw at April 21, 2025 12:15 PM (jbnUc)

251 245: being anti gay is not good enough. We need a proponent of Western Civ and I doubt you'll find an African who is not an economic Obamunist.

Posted by: Night lifted.... at April 21, 2025 12:15 PM (FZn/N)

252 Ambongo condemns the exploitation of natural resources and believes that renewables will help alleviate the impact of climate change in the world.
Posted by: I used to have a different nic at April 21, 2025 12:15 PM (ExV1e)

Womp womp

Posted by: jsg at April 21, 2025 12:15 PM (UJ+K5)

253
Because they wouldn't give them guns. Swiss miss.
Posted by: Warai-otoko at April 21, 2025 11:36 AM (VoAdT)

I wouldn't want to go up against Swiss marksmanship.

An old story is that before WWI, the Kaiser visited Switzerland and at a military parade asked his Swiss military escort how many men they could count on if invaded.

"I can have 200,000 men under arms within 48 hours."

"And what if I invaded with one million men?"

"My men each fires 5 shots and then we go home."

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at April 21, 2025 12:16 PM (y9nCu)

254 Stephen Colbert's "Late Show" will be off the air for a week. No specific reasons given. CBS will fill the schedule with Colbert re-runs.
Posted by: mrp at April 21, 2025 12:15 PM (rj6Yv)

how ever will anyone know the difference....

Posted by: Sturmtoddler at April 21, 2025 12:16 PM (nXhwP)

255 Ambongo condemns the exploitation of natural resources and believes that renewables will help alleviate the impact of climate change in the world.
Posted by: I used to have a different nic at April 21, 2025 12:15 PM (ExV1e)

So another leftist?

Someone like Vigano who will clean house, please, not a migration monster.

Posted by: Night lifted.... at April 21, 2025 12:16 PM (FZn/N)

256 my understanding is that privately owned land is,upon death, folded into the reservation

Posted by: yoeman at April 21, 2025 12:17 PM (j1QfB)

257 few institutions more corrupt and a failure of their essential purpose than Indian reservations. I would get rid of all of them, and integrate the remaining Indian population into the general.
Posted by: Elric Blade

Hell no!!
- Chiefs making millions personally from casinos

Posted by: Its Go Time Donald at April 21, 2025 12:17 PM (DKKgv)

258 A conservative African pope would be an excellent thing, IMHO.

Reporting for duty!

Posted by: Barry Obama, Blower of Black Smokes at April 21, 2025 12:17 PM (p0167)

259 Someone like Vigano who will clean house, please, not a migration monster.
Posted by: Night lifted.

How about that guy from Kazakhstan? Schneider?

Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 12:17 PM (77rzZ)

260 https://tinyurl.com/5bekwju3
Posted by: jsg at April 21, 2025 12:13 PM (UJ+K5)
______

Jeez. Half of those favorites are pro-gay pervert commies. The Catholic church is fucked.

Posted by: Elric Blade at April 21, 2025 12:17 PM (iFTx/)

261 Father Guido Sarducci has entered the chat.

Posted by: Diogenes at April 21, 2025 12:17 PM (W/lyH)

262 so sort of a western front against soviet expansion???
Posted by: Sturmtoddler at April 21, 2025 12:13 PM (nXhwP)

Better yet, a corridor for pipelines and goods that doesn't have to deal with the EUrotards and their taxes, global warming hallucinations and embargo whims.

Posted by: Kindltot at April 21, 2025 12:17 PM (D7oie)

263 There are any number of Africans who would be a marked improvement over whichever godless white cosmopolitan serial buggerer they actually select.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at April 21, 2025 12:17 PM (BI5O2)

264 Ruh Roh... Pope died... things are gonna get interesting for the Catholic church.

Posted by: Romeo13 at April 21, 2025 12:19 PM (QAkQ3)

265 262
‘Father Guido Sarducci has entered the chat.’

As dead as Ratzinger

Posted by: Dr. Claw at April 21, 2025 12:20 PM (jbnUc)

266 Interesting how ranked choice voting is not pushed for in states where democrats are a lock. Weird that.

Posted by: red speck at April 21, 2025 12:20 PM (0Id0S)

267 The next Pope should be pro-life, pro-family and encourage men and women to get married and raise children. No homo, fag gay stuff allowed and if your one of those get out, the Church Of England is looking for you.

Posted by: Heterosexual And Loving It! at April 21, 2025 12:20 PM (cnVbw)

268 The best thing the Catholic Church can do for itself is to eliminate the notion of a Pope entirely.

Posted by: garrett at April 21, 2025 12:20 PM (F30Ty)

269 There are any number of Africans who would be a marked improvement over whichever godless white cosmopolitan serial buggerer they actually select.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at April 21, 2025 12:17 PM (BI5O2)

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

Bono would be a good Pope and steward of Africa.

/U2, YD ...

Posted by: ShainS --Waking Up Early is White Supremacy at April 21, 2025 12:21 PM (N+fj3)

270 Maybe they should pick a Christian this time.

Posted by: Boss Moss at April 21, 2025 12:21 PM (h9KKO)

271 I think the world is ready for the first POC Woman Pope.

We can be unburdened by what has been this unicolor popery. The challenging challenges we face can be swept aside in a moment if we can just believe hard enough and buy electric school buses.

And I know about the smoke, y'alls, know what I'm sayin' ?

*cackle cackle cackle*

Posted by: Kamala at April 21, 2025 12:21 PM (UJ+K5)

272 ‘Father Guido Sarducci has entered the chat.’

As dead as Ratzinger
Posted by: Dr. Claw

Wiki says he's still alive. Don Novello, born 1943.

Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 12:22 PM (77rzZ)

273 264 There are any number of Africans who would be a marked improvement over whichever godless white cosmopolitan serial buggerer they actually select.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at April 21, 2025 12:17 PM (BI5O2)

Who? Names?

Posted by: Night lifted.... at April 21, 2025 12:22 PM (FZn/N)

274 I remember Vigano. They would have to remove the excommunication from him but the man is a fighter.

Posted by: NR Pax at April 21, 2025 12:22 PM (jjoN6)

275 269
‘The best thing the Catholic Church can do for itself is to eliminate the notion of a Pope entirely.’

(Gets out Bible)

RIIIIIPP!

Is there anything else you don’t like, Mr. Garrett?

Posted by: Catholic Church at April 21, 2025 12:24 PM (jbnUc)

276 Yeah, the left never likes to bring up Indian Reservations as an example of socialism.

But it is.

The tribe owns everything.
The elders decide everything.

Even has the nice facade of the people "choosing" the elders (with the same families always winning).

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at April 21, 2025 12:24 PM (5Hv8M)

277 Hmmm

Posted by: SOMEASSHOLESTOLEMYPEN at April 21, 2025 12:25 PM (Lx8nl)

278 >>(Gets out Bible)

>RIIIIIPP!

>Is there anything else you don’t like, Mr. Garrett?

WTH does the Pope have to do with the Biblical Text?

Posted by: garrett at April 21, 2025 12:25 PM (F30Ty)

279 Wiki says he's still alive. Don Novello, born 1943.
Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 12:22 PM (77rzZ)

A fictional character. Why not choose Ted Cruz? There hasn't been a married pope in hundreds of years, but why not?

Posted by: Night lifted.... at April 21, 2025 12:25 PM (FZn/N)

280 https://archive.is/3o3fN is where the article can be read

Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 21, 2025 12:26 PM (cvWHI)

281 273
‘Wiki says he's still alive. Don Novello, born 1943.
’
Damn. You’re right. There goes my credibility.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at April 21, 2025 12:26 PM (jbnUc)

282 I think the Catholic Church needs to ditch the celibacy requirement for priests.

Posted by: Bulg at April 21, 2025 12:26 PM (77rzZ)

283 As an Alaskan I can honestly say that RCV sucks donkey balls and should be outlawed.

Posted by: Bosk at April 21, 2025 12:26 PM (VMFAF)

284 >>Don Novello, born 1943.

The Lazlo Letters are still one of the funniest things ever published.

Posted by: garrett at April 21, 2025 12:26 PM (F30Ty)

285 I have an idea for Pope

https://tinyurl.com/bdcsyzcm

Posted by: jsg at April 21, 2025 12:26 PM (UJ+K5)

286 nood new mexico judge

and wife?

Posted by: Sturmtoddler at April 21, 2025 12:27 PM (nXhwP)

287 268 The best thing the Catholic Church can do for itself is to eliminate the notion of a Pope entirely.
Posted by: garrett at April 21, 2025 12:20 PM (F30Ty)

Good luck.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at April 21, 2025 12:27 PM (vm8sq)

288 The story of the murder of Mogami Ai by Ken gets even more twisted and dark.

Ai's mother is an alcoholic. Ai fled to become a hostess at a cabaret club where she started to follow in her mother's drunken footsteps. She had a baby and would leave him at childcare until late in the evening. Finally, the child was taken away from her by child welfare. Then she started to stream and this is where Ken enters the picture. It has been well covered how she manipulated him with sob stories until he was millions of Yen in debt and had to seek justice through the courts. He won the case but still she refused to pay the debt back and even made mocking allusions about Ken. Then March 11th and Ken stabbed Ai to death while she was streaming.

Now it seems Ai had a 'fiance' who had also been giving her money but had never known Ai had a baby. Yeah Ai, great way to build trust. And it seems Ai at her death only had 800Yen in the bank. It seems Ai only thought of herself and never of consequences.

The whole case is a mess in which both parties it is hard find a shred of sympathy for.

Posted by: Anna Puma at April 21, 2025 12:27 PM (xD2dw)

289 The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reportedly offered mineral rights to the United States in exchange for security assistance, particularly to end the ongoing conflict in the country, according to Mining.com and Fox News. This offer was made in the context of a broader diplomatic effort by DRC President Felix Tshisekedi.

The Catholic Church in the DRC is organized into six ecclesiastical provinces, each led by a Metropolitan Archbishop, and 41 suffragan dioceses, each under a bishop.

Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, the Archbishop of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is considered a potential candidate for the papacy. He is among several African cardinals who are being discussed as possible successors to Pope Francis.

🤔

Posted by: L - Old person logic at April 21, 2025 12:28 PM (NFX2v)

290 The last primary I voted in at WA state had 36 candidates for governor. They have ranked choice and jungle primaries, plus vote only by mail.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 21, 2025 12:29 PM (cvWHI)

291 Will someone not relieve me of these troublesome old people???

Everyone of us, every day, is one day closer to the day of our death. Prepare accordingly.

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at April 21, 2025 12:36 PM (bIzDl)

292 Ranked choice makes fringe parties power brokers. It makes it impossible to count votes quickly. It is the devil.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 21, 2025 01:38 PM (n7h9X)

293 268 The best thing the Catholic Church can do for itself is to eliminate the notion of a Pope entirely.
Posted by: garrett at April 21, 2025 12:20 PM (F30Ty)

Good luck.
Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at April 21, 2025 12:27 PM (vm8sq)

The Pope is a stand in for Jesus in religious matters and the Roman Emperor in secular. I think we can live through a bad one or two.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 21, 2025 01:40 PM (n7h9X)

294 Maybe they should pick a Christian this time.
Posted by: Boss Moss at April 21, 2025 12:21 PM (h9KKO)

At least he didn't poison anyone like the Borgia popes.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 21, 2025 01:41 PM (n7h9X)

295 As an Alaskan I can honestly say that RCV sucks donkey balls and should be outlawed.
Posted by: Bosk at April 21, 2025 12:26 PM (VMFAF)

It violates one man one vote.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 21, 2025 01:42 PM (n7h9X)

296 The only people I know who support RCV are lefties, which tells me all I need to know.
Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at April 21, 2025 11:08 AM (l3YAf)

I knew one who was not. But he was into being more fair. Politics should be about making a decision.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 21, 2025 01:44 PM (n7h9X)

297 264 There are any number of Africans who would be a marked improvement over whichever godless white cosmopolitan serial buggerer they actually select.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at April 21, 2025 12:17 PM (BI5O2)

Who? Names?
Posted by: Night lifted.... at April 21, 2025 12:22 PM (FZn/N)

Elon Musk

Posted by: Oldcat at April 21, 2025 01:45 PM (n7h9X)

298 The question is what happens after Trump?
Posted by: whig at April 21, 2025 12:00 PM (ctrM5)

Elon will have created an AI RoboTrump by then.
Posted by: Josephistan at April 21, 2025 12:06 PM (y9ksN)

There's a funny commentator Nuxanor on Youtube who has proposed freezing Trump as 'CRYO TRUMP' every 4 years crack him out for elections.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 21, 2025 01:48 PM (n7h9X)

299 RCV = Unconstitutional

Posted by: Big Star at April 21, 2025 01:56 PM (Modkf)

300 Great Rant, Buck. Good topic.

I am always open minded about such things. Muh principles matter, but not when fighting criminals.

Posted by: Danimal28 at April 21, 2025 02:45 PM (1E4GV)

301 Absolutely not to rank choice but yes to using it till we defeat it

Posted by: Gonzotx at April 21, 2025 04:01 PM (nGraA)

Processing 0.05, elapsed 0.0587 seconds.
15 queries taking 0.0166 seconds, 310 records returned.
Page size 166 kb.
Powered by Minx 0.8 beta.