#2018 elections

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Donald Trump has claimed that he stopped Ron DeSantis from losing his 2018 gubernatorial election by sending in federal agents to prevent the race being rigged by voter fraud.

The latest unsubstantiated claims of election fraud pushed by the former President arrive as Trump continues to attack DeSantis in the wake of the GOP's poor midterm performance, with many conservative figures now believing the Florida Governor should lead the party heading into 2024.

In a lengthy statement posted on his social media website Truth Social on Thursday evening, Trump described "Ron DeSanctimonious"—his new nickname for the Governor—as an "average" Republican who was "politically dead" when he came to him for help to beat Florida's Agriculture Commissioner, Adam Putnam, in the GOP primary for Governor.

Trump then took credit for DeSantis beating Democrat Andrew Gillum in the 2018 gubernatorial election by holding "two massive rallies" in support of DeSantis and fixing his campaign, which the former President said "had completely fallen apart."

Trump also claims, without evidence, that he helped DeSantis' 2018 election from being "stolen" by sending the FBI and prosecutors to investigate apparent voter fraud.

"I was all in for Ron, and he beat Gillum, but after the Race, when votes were being stolen by the corrupt Election process in Broward County, and Ron was going down ten thousand votes a day, along with now-Senator Rick Scott, I sent in the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys, and the ballot theft immediately ended, just prior to them running out of the votes necessary to win. I stopped his Election from being stolen," Trump said.

DeSantis beat Gillum in 2018 by 4,076,186 votes to 4,043,723, a margin of just 0.4 percent of the total ballots cast.

Elsewhere in the statement, Trump accused DeSantis of "playing games" about his future plans within the party.

"The Fake News asks him if he's going to run if President Trump runs, and he says, 'I'm only focused on the Governor's race, I'm not looking into the future.' Well, in terms of loyalty and class, that's really not the right answer," the former President wrote.

Trump also once more dismissed suggestions that his one-time ally would beat him in a hypothetical match-up in the GOP primary for the 2024 presidential nomination, just like he beat other contenders in 2016.

"The Wall Street Journal loved Low Energy Jeb Bush, and a succession of other people as they rapidly disappeared from sight, finally falling in line with me after I easily knocked them out, one by one," Trump said.

"We're in exactly the same position now. They will keep coming after us, MAGA, but ultimately, we will win. Put America First and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

Experts have predicted that Trump will continue to attack DeSantis as the former President attempts to hold onto the position of de-facto leader of the GOP following the party's floundering performance in the midterms.

A number of figures, including those within the GOP, have pointed the finger at Trump as a number of his MAGA and election-denying candidates lost their respective races, meaning the Republican Party still has not achieved a majority in the House as expected and may still end up failing to take control of the Senate from the Democrats.

As a result, DeSantis has emerged as a potential new firebrand figure who a number of Republicans want to lead the party into 2024 as Trump's influence appears to be turning voters off.

DeSantis, long thought to be Trump's main rival in the race to become the GOP's next presidential candidate, has not announced or formally hinted at any desire to run for President at the next election.

Before the midterm polls opened, Trump teased he will be making a "very big announcement" on November 15 at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic strategist, said the next two years will see Trump continuing to "go after" DeSantis in an attempt to downplay the Florida Governor's credentials.

"It's going to be Trump trying to do everything you can to destroy DeSantis, and DeSantis laughing while Trump deals with the legal problems he's going to face," Sheinkopf previously told Newsweek.

[mapsontheweb]

2018 vs 2023 Turkish parliamentary elections, Prison Ballots

[tomorrowusa]

Michigan is not exactly a bellwether in the strictest sense of the word. However it is still one of the best places to observe trends in American politics.

I clicked the video above expecting to watch just the first few seconds but ended up watching the entire 18 minutes.

It focuses on Michigan because the double peninsula state offers a useful reflection of various directions in politics nationwide. And the vid is nicely done.

One thing we should particularly note about Michigan is that after Democrats won a trifecta there in 2022, they quickly set about making the state more progressive. They repealed anti-union and anti-abortion laws, strengthened LGBTQ+ protections, and abolished the state's peculiar retirement tax. And even before the trifecta, the party helped pass an anti-gerrymandering amendment which later turned out to be key.

Something to learn from Michigan: Pay a lot more attention to your own state government. The first step is to find out who your legislators are.

Find Your Legislators Look your legislators up by address or use your current location.

If you have the misfortune to be represented by MAGA Republicans, contact your state or county Democratic Party and ask what you can do to help send those varmints packing.

[beau-reblogs-assorted-stuff]

I think the main difference I notice between the average USAmerica leftist and Brazilian leftist can be attributed to the fact that Brazil had a dictatorship, that was fought with tooth and nails to get rid of, and past that we got universal healthcare and voting rights again. I wish I could say all of Latin America is like this since so many of us had dictatorships but I don't know that many people from other countries (if you're latino please tell me), i think the average brazilian leftist understands there's no worth on peacefully resisting and if you want something, you need to fight or you'll be take and killed, or silenced, or "suicided". I note in a lot of (mainly white) USAmerican leftists that they wait for the change to be made for them instead of going like "wait, I can be a catalyst for changes" even if they're small.

[msclaritea]

N.F.L.’s Rapid Embrace of Gambling Creates Mixed Signals - The New York Times

"Since the Supreme Court struck down, in 2018, a federal law that effectively banned sports betting outside Nevada — a prohibition once backed by the N.F.L.’s commissioner, Roger Goodell — the N.F.L. has embraced the gambling industry. It has forged partnerships reportedly worth nearly $1 billion over five years with sports betting companies, and permitted a sports book to operate inside one of its stadiums. Now it even has a team in Las Vegas, which the league shunned for decades because any affiliation was seen as a threat to the integrity of the game.

Yet the embedding of sports gambling so quickly into the culture of the league has resulted in jarring contradictions. The N.F.L. is pushing to popularize and benefit from sports betting while still guarding against the potential pitfalls that it long condemned. While the league donates money to promote responsible gambling, its broadcasts are peppered with advertisements for sports betting companies. The N.F.L. is part of a growing apparatus that encourages casual fans to regularly place wagers on games, while punishing league employees — most notably players — who might do the same...."

Which celebrity are you planning to use, next?

[meowmeowmessi]

barça's problem is after pep left messi was used less as a weapon and more as a bandaid

[lady-a-stuff]

I was raised a catholic, my family and relatives are catholic and with this background Bev Keane it's the scariest thing out there. A woman of faith, too much faith. She believes that because she goes to church she is a good person and that she hasn't sinned and deserves the love of god, while people who don't go to church or have committed some sin (according to her) don't deserve and it bothers her that Father Paul and God loves all those renegades and sinners, and yet she still believes she is good. She is the woman who will judge you and turn the back and say you should be afraid of going to hell while not having this fear cause she is good.

But worse than that is that she's a woman with knowledge in her religion and she uses this knowledge to manipulate the reality and people. She's able to quote the bible, but only the parts that interest her and she distorts the text and its meaning to fit in her believe, and the reason she can manipulate everyone is that she's the only one with that knowledge of the bible. We have Monseigneur Pruitt/Father Paul who technically should have know too, but honestly we can't blame the man for get carried away he's literally a vampire. But anyway all the others faithfuls don't know, so when Wade and Sturge see Father Paul besides a dead Joe Collie they are afraid, they don't wanna to simply dump his body, it is Bev who, using the bible, convinces them. Simply like that.

So what is really scary is that we have a lot of religious people who don't know a shit about their religion so are easily manipulate by someone who knows.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

The Federal Election Commission recently let a US company that was quietly bankrolled by Russian oligarchs off with a slap on the wrist despite discovering that it had illegally funneled Russian funds to US political candidates in the 2018 midterm elections, two Democratic FEC commissioners said in a scathing statement issued Friday.

“Half the Commission chose to reject the recommendation of the agency’s nonpartisan Office of General Counsel and turned a blind eye to the documented use of Russian money for contributions to various federal and state committees in the 2018 elections,” wrote the two commissioners, Ellen Weintraub and Shana Broussard.

Anyone who follows campaign finance knows that the FEC has been toothless for years due to GOP commissioners’ opposition to any enforcement of laws designed to oversee money in politics. But Weintraub and Broussard suggest the agency hit a new low by letting the US firm, American Ethane, off with a deal in which it agreed to pay only a small civil fine.

Though based in Houston, Texas, and run by American CEO John Houghtaling, 88% of American Ethane was owned by three Russian nationals—Konstantin Nikolaev, Mikhail Yuriev, and Andrey Kunatbaev. The FEC report said that Nikolaev, an oligarch and Russian billionaire with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is the controlling shareholder. Separately, Nikolaev also underwrote efforts by Maria Butina, a Russian gun rights activist, to cultivate ties with the National Rifle Association officials and with associates of Donald Trump around the time of the 2016 election. In 2018, Butina acknowledged acting as an unregistered Kremlin agent and pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy against the United States. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison but was deported six months later.

According to lobbying disclosures, the company was seeking help from US officials in its efforts to sell US ethane to China and, in 2018, had hired a US lobbying firm, Turnberry Solutions, with close ties to former Trump campaign chief Corey Lewandowski. A year later, Lewandowki officially joined Turnberry, after previously disputing his connections to the firm. Turnberry, which traded on ties to Trump, shut down in 2021, months after he left office.

The FEC investigation began after it received a complaint citing press reports on American Ethane’s ties to Nikolaev and its donations to lawmakers. Weintraub and Broussard noted that the FEC found that American Ethane “made contributions using funds derived from loans from foreign entities ultimately owned by Russian nationals.” Federal law bans foreign funds in US elections, as well as direct corporate donations to candidates. American Ethane seems to have done both. The FEC found that the company made more than $66,000 in donations using money it got from offshore firms in the form of loans. According to an FEC general counsel’s report released last year, the owners of the offshore firms included Alexander Voloshin, a Russian politician and former state power company official, and Roman Abramovich, an infamous Russian oligarch and former owner of the British football powerhouse Chelsea. The money the company used to dole out donations ultimately came from the oligarchs, the FEC said.

During its four-year investigation, the FEC found that the funds initially put up by Abromovich and other Russian nationals were then funneled to Republicans in Louisiana: Sens. John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy, a political action committee run by Kennedy, a leadership fund run by House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, a PAC backing Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, and the campaigns of Reps. Mike Johnson and Garrett Graves. Other contributions went to state lawmakers. The report didn’t explain why the company focused on Louisiana but the state is home to many natural gas firms, and its lawmakers advocate for the industry.

The lawmakers who received funds have not been accused of knowingly taking Russian money, though the final report from the initial investigation noted, “American Ethane attempted to make more political contributions, but those recipient committees never deposited American Ethane’s checks.”

American Ethane argued that the funds the company first received appeared as loan to the American corporation. Therefore, they claimed the donations it made were not foreign. The FEC rejected that argument. But it still recommended the firm only pay $9,500 as a civil penalty.

“The foreign-influence problem has not gone away in the meantime, to put it mildly,” Weintraub and Broussard wrote. “In this case, it is beyond unfortunate that for three of our colleagues, it was a bridge too far to penalize the use of Russian oligarchs’ money to influence U.S. elections.”

[seavoice]

maybe i just wasn't paying attention to the rallies last time but it feels like there's soooo much door to door campaigning this time around. seeing rallies taken out everyday. today left my college just as aap rally came in with broomsticks and reached home just as congress and bjp workers were leaving the neighbourhood

[mapsontheweb]

Florida has officially become a Red State, Governor Elections 2018 vs 2022.

[romansbeathearts]

carefully picking an outfit that has nothing red in it so i don't get beat up on my way to voting 👍

[tomorrowusa]

Youth turnout exploded during the 2018 midterm elections under President Donald Trump. Then in 2020, energized opposition to Trump among young voters was critical to his defeat. And in the 2022 midterms, surging youth participation helped fend off the widely predicted “red wave.” Even some Republicans fear that expanding youth populations in swing states pose a long-term threat to the GOP.

New data supplied to me by the Harvard Youth Poll sheds light on the powerful undercurrents driving these developments. Young voters have shifted in a markedly progressive direction on multiple issues that are deeply important to them: Climate change, gun violence, economic inequality and LGBTQ+ rights.

– Greg Sargent at the Washington Post on the long term direction of younger voters.

Here's a graph which accompanies the article.

NOTE: This polling was done in March – well before the wildfires, air quality decline, and record high temperatures of this summer.

On all four issues mentioned in the article (LGBTQ+ rights, climate action, economic security, stricter gun regulation) the Republican Party has appalling records which only continue to worsen. If anything, the GOP has gotten increasingly homophobic, more closely aligned with the NRA, more in denial about climate change, and perpetually opposed to food assistance for those in need. And of course Republicans suck bigtime on reproductive freedom; Republicans are endangering US national security in an anti-abortion hissy fit.

The only way to defeat Republicans is to vote Democratic and to never miss an election. Don't be misled by some third party self-anointed savior. Vanity candidates from minor parties never win and are often found to be getting financial backing from Republican sources.

Register and vote. And remember that if you've moved since the last election then you need to register with your new address.

Be A Voter - Vote Save America

[gmfz]

BTW: Trump admitted to another crime.

[maiteo]

i thot we all knew that bald ass cadbury egg was a bolsodemon….🫣

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Spate of attacks leaves Brazilians on edge ahead of election

Violence against politicians and their supporters is on the rise in a campaign marred by harsh rhetoric

A spate of brutal attacks has fuelled concerns of rising political violence in Brazil ahead of presidential elections next month.

Authorities are on alert following the murders in recent weeks of two supporters of race frontrunner, leftwing former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, by backers of incumbent rightwing leader Jair Bolsonaro.

The assailant shouted “here is Bolsonaro” as he shot an official from Lula’s Workers’ party (PT) in the first of the killings in July, according to police.

The assault followed the detonation of a homemade bomb packed with faeces at a campaign rally in Rio de Janeiro for the 76-year-old Lula, who leads polls by about 10 percentage points ahead of the first round vote on October 2.

Although no one was hurt in that incident, the attacks have fostered an atmosphere of insecurity, with both candidates eschewing the typical campaign trail camaraderie and abraços — hugs and embraces. Lula has used a bulletproof vest at events.

There were 214 recorded cases of violence against prominent politicians in Brazil during the first half of this year, according to the Observatory for Political and Electoral Violence at the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro.

That represents a more than fourfold increase since researchers began collecting data on the trend in 2019 at the start of Bolsonaro’s mandate. The group also found 40 homicides of politicians between January and June this year.

More than 67 per cent of voters, meanwhile, say they fear being attacked because of their political preferences, according to pollster Datafolha.

Continue reading.