#hate how its either only one day or one week for the length of polls like… why…. lmao

[writingonjorvik]

Can We Discuss Quest Frequency?

Ok, before we start, did y’all not want 5000 SC? Because I’ve had a giveaway running since Monday and only one person has entered?! Seriously? Y’all get on it.

But on a serious note, we’re going to be talking about the results from this poll, and like always the poll will continue to run after this analysis is out. But I wanted to do this today because of the changes that came out to the Horse Market.

So to start, I can get why SSO would want to stop having the Horse Market. By being stationary, it makes these horses accessible and it gives SSO somewhere where they can always fit more horses instead of terraforming more of the environment and I can appreciate that. It also means there’s not this continuing source of EXP that will continue to push veteran players to levels unavailable to everyone else, but that’s also got its own problems and we’re going to break into that.

So to start, now that the horse market is done, that’s a lot of exp that’s now unavailable to new players, meaning access to players for those higher levels is going to be harder, if possible (there was a lot of horse market exp over the years). But this also highlights the problems in SSO’s leveling system. With a lowered pool of exp, there’s a wider gap in player level and with things like championships were a level 22 player can race a level 5 (I did), that’s not a fair matching system, and there’s less to do to close it. I mean, there’s a whole other topic here about championships being seriously improved by making more groups and only putting in same level players to make the races fair. But exp access and SSO’s apparent fear of giving it out/increasing level caps isn’t really the point of this.

No, I think the bigger issue with removing the horse market is it means less people are going to get on, which is bad for an MMO. MMOs are, despite the about a quarter of y’all according to my other poll running right now, advertised on having a lot of players. And SSO already has a low player retention compared to other MMOs (400,000 of 12,000,000 before accounting for multiple accounts). But to remove a bi-weekly event removes another reason for players to get on.

Start with the basics of this survey.

Two thirds of y’all said you got on daily when you had quests.

But that drops down to only 6.4% when there aren’t quests. That’s an insane drop! Nearly half of y’all said if you don’t have quests you only get on when you have something to do. That’s not a frequency, that’s a guess and it could be anywhere in a wide spectrum of times. But it does mean that the more often SSO puts out quests, the more often that is.

I’m gonna go through these next three quick.

To be fair, I think the original wording of the last one might have skewed my data. I didn’t mean how often should SSO make new events or how often should they repeat (duh, holiday events should happen once a year), I meant how often should one be happening. Regardless, I’m going to use the data as it was collected.

A massive amount of y’all think story quests need to be happening more often, and considering that SSO is a story driven game, I don’t disagree. I think the majority “Quarterly” release here is fair, and it is something SSO seems to be working towards. But that shouldn’t be the only quests! Over 70% of y’all think smaller side quests need to me added at least monthly, if not more often. And y’all think events should be running quarterly to monthly in a pretty big majority.

But it’s not just about quests being more often, it’s about continuing to have something to do.

Nearly 90% of entrants said quests need to be longer than a day. It’s not just about things coming out more often, it’s about continuing to have something to do. And whether you think events, general, or story quests need to be longer respectively, length is the fourth biggest priority for all interests in new quests, bigger than new areas to explore.

Y’all didn’t really see to care about seeing new things outside of areas to explore, and since SSO’s also pretty big on exploration, kinda makes since. But based on y’all’s results, you care more about worldbuilding in story and generally having fun for a longer period of time than needing new assets, which for a game, is great! If you’re fine with reusing assets, that should mean less development time for the devs. They largely need to write story, not create new set pieces.

But it can also be repetitive and y’all agreed resoundingly on that.

You guys want dailies back, though with some updates. Dailies having a story purpose was behind dailies being fair and having a balanced progression and then having a reward for finishing them. Dailies like your popular favorites, any of the druid quests, the Rescue Ranch, or the Kalters, where they take a fair amount of time and immediately reward you with something for doing the daily, like a quest, a horse, or a new area.

What I think is frustrating is that nearly all of you either said fishing or the Sunfield Hens as your least favorite dailies, but SSO makes jokes about it. Sure, having a reward like an achievement makes these dailies more bearable, but there’s still a stupid amount of slog and y’all still said you hated these dailies even after those achievements were out. For SSO to hold these two (a super minority of all of their dailies) as the standard that dailies are and the reason they don’t add more is, frankly, just nonsense. Further, the fact that they have done nothing to make these more enjoyable is beyond me. Just rebalance them. Make the hens stay still longer. Take away the “Good try” in fishing. Besides the point.

The overwhelming evidence from y’all’s feedback is that while quality matters, having something, even minute, is better than nothing. And for a game that runs itself on the idea of having people online, it is in their best interest to have something to do for their players, a reason to get online, even for a fractional amount of time.

Look, quests obviously take time to make and I never think quests should be put out at a rate that makes them poor or puts crunch on the devs, but if the majority of your game is focused around story, then more story should be added. If that’s padded for a month by a fun, unique daily (like the Sun Circle was), most of y’all are fine with that. It’s a reason to get on and be playing this game we all love, even if it’s not for hours on end. And until SSO gives us easier access to making secondary characters (which they really should will all these branching stories), then they need to encourage more people to be getting on their accounts more often.

And that’s all the time I have to break this down. The data is all available, so y’all extrapolate what you can and I’m going to think about how cool a daily where a randomly generated horse appears at the rescue ranch every week and you have to take care of them, or rival group dailies where to max you have to make peace with both (like between the Bobcats and Bulldogz) but until then helping one looses favor in the other, or organizing the library to find books on Jorvik’s magic and past with Linda. There’s so much there and it doesn’t have to be big or complicated and still be able to add on the game.

[thehollowprince]

Hey, it’s the “coding” anon here and honestly that answer to my question was excellent and the exact reason I come to your blog. I would absolutely love to hear you go on about the fetishization of m/m relationships!

This has been sitting in my inbox for over a week, and I want to apologize. I'm sorry for taking so long to get to this one, but I'm overworked at the moment. I've been pulling 60+ hour work weeks, by myself and I haven't had off since the first of December, so I'm a little tired. But I'm here and I'm ready to murder this bitch of a subject.

For starters, and for context, in case anyone who sees this doesn't follow my blog or, if you do and don't really pay attention, I am a gay man, so a lot of this comes from my own personal experience.

Now, onward my fandom soldiers.

M|M Fetishization & Objectification

I've only been super active within fandom spaces for the last couple of years. Before that, I just scrolled through Tumblr and reblogged gifsets and fluffy headcanons and whatnot, but even then I noticed a trend in fandoms that made me uncomfortable. That trend was the overabundance of gay men (chatacters) in fandom works, especially when there either weren't any gay men in that show or book or whatever.

I'm not at all saying we need less of that. I want and need more gay characters in the things I watch and read. That's actually one of the criteria I look for before I start a new show, or a book series or comics. I want to see myself represented in the media I consume, even if it is only this one tiny piece of who I am. But the problem for me arose when I saw all these fan works and headcanons and gifsets and thesis length metas about gay or bi male characters that were neither of those things in their original source material.

The biggest examples of this occured in fairly popular shows that I loved at one point, but do to a combination of bad writing and then the horrible fandom, drove me to actively dislike and avoid them. And that's always a sad thing, when you end up losing the love you had for something because others just won't let you enjoy it as it is.

Those two examples are Teen Wolf and Supernatural.

For years I watched people go on and on and on and on about Stiles Stilinski and Dean Winchester and how they were bisexual and so on and so forth.

There's nothing wrong with headcanoning a character as gay or bisexual, especially when those characters are severely lacking on screen and on paper. The problem arose when the fandom at large started to ignore the ACTUAL gay or bisexual characters that are in these shows and focus solely on their headcanons as the only representation in the show.

To start with Teen Wolf, we had, in the first season, an openly gay character that everybody in the school loved, that being Danny Mahealani. This character was introduced as gay from the very start, but oddly enough, there is almost no large fandom meta or fics or anything about him. In fact, a lot of his traits and qualities ended up transferred to Stiles, such as his intelligence and overall popularity. Hell, even Danny's attraction to Derek was stolen and transferred to him. These aren't things that Stiles is overall known for in the actual canon. He's clumsy and socially awkward and on the outskirts of the school like Scott (the main character) and has been obsessed (to the point of being considered a stalker) with one girl since elementary school, but somehow, in fandom, Stiles is suddenly the genius polyglot queer with severe depression who has a crush on the broody muscular werewolf who just wants somebody to love him.

Fandom created this portrayal of the character that didn't exist anywhere in the fandom except for his appearance. The reason I saw behind this was twofold. 1: fangirls (fandom is mostly female) want to see two "hot" guys kiss and get it on because they get off to it, much in the same way that straight men get off to lesbian porn. 2: Stiles (or any of these headcanoned characters) becomes a sort of self insert.

What I mean by that second one is that women and girls find a male character that's not "too masculine", usually kind of gangly or skinny, somewhat on the effeminate side. Someone that they can project their ideas and insecurities and so forth onto so that they can that pursue that relationship with the hunky manly man that they want to bang.

You may be asking yourself, "Why don't they just use one of the female characters as a self insert?" and I'm here to tell you that I have neither the time nor the experience to go into detail about internalized misogyny and how effects the way women do almost everything, even watching and interpreting their media.

But the reason they chose the male character is that, years ago, during the dark days of FF.net there was a lot of self insert OCs that infiltrated almost every level of fanfiction. Which caused the fandom gatekeepers to rear out of their hibernation and just shame anyone who tried to introduce an Original Character to this already beautiful world and ruin it with their lusts. Thus the OCs slowly disappeared and identifying with the male sidekick was born. And this is generally where we get the whole "my smol gay son!" bullshit. (side note: please keep in mind that 75% of shows are male characters and their problems, which is another cause for female fans to identify solely with men.)

So, for years, I watched Danny, and then his boyfriend Ethan, being shoved aside in fandom spaces so that the fans could focus Sterek (Stiles and Derek) despite the fact that both characters were stared to be heterosexual and that, on screen, they expressed nothing but mutual dislike for one another, if not outright hatred. This got so bad that Sterek, the crack ship whose members had no romantic or sexual interactions whatsoever, managed to beat (by a very large margin) actual gay ships from both this show and others in a fan poll. It got even worse when the character of Danny was written off the show (with no explanation) and we were introduced to the character of Mason.

Mason Hewitt was everything that fandom!Stiles was. He was smart and funny and openly gay and crushing on a hot werewolf. He even did the research that the fandom loved to attribute to Stiles, literally everything that the fandom had Stiles doing in fanon, but somehow the love for him (Mason) wasn't that big of a note in the fandom. I mean, Mason was even a major plot point of season five and the pack's mission to stop the Beast, but i heard nothing but cricket chirps from the fandom.

You'd think that after Stiles was written out of the show for the last season that maybe Mason will get some love now, right?

Wrong!

I didn't think it was possible to get any worse, but the fandom proved me wrong. Because instead of focusing all their pent up energy on Mason and his boyfriend, Corey, who had a number of cute moments in that final season, these fans focused on another crack ship that had no basis anywhere except in their fantasies. That ship being Thiam, which is based, once again, around two characters who actively dislike, if not outright hate, each other and even physically assault one another. But no, that apparently is a display of affection by someone who is emotionally stunted and just needs love to blossom and be his true self.

You notice how often the fetishization of homosexuality (even if only imagined) intersects with woobification?

You'll notice, if you look at Danny and Mason, that they're both POC, with Danny being brown (Hawai'ian) and Mason being black. Now, as I've said before on this blog multiple times, I am the Whittest White Man to ever White, so I don't have any qualifications to talk about fandom racism, so I'm just going to leave that little nugget there for you to think about and interpret how you will.

Moving on to Supernatural...

Before we start with this one, understand that I have not watched this show outside of an episode here and there since season eight, because I realized that no, this show wasn't going to get any better, so if any of this is contradictory to what has happened over the past six seasons (god, this show needs to die!) I do apologize.

Dean Winchester... I never really liked this character, especially as the show went on and I started to actively dislike and then, hate him. So it was annoying not being able to go into any aspect of the Supernatural fandom without coming across a post about Dean and his issues or his Bi sexiness or how his brother was mean to him.

Also, people, understand that this wasn't a new revelation for me. My dislike for Dean and the fandom's obsession with making him bisexual just so they could hook him up with Cas wasn't an overnight decision. I was there...

I was there at the Beginning, when this show first aired, when the ONLY constant characters on this show were Sam and Dean. I endured the hellfire that was Wincest and its infection of almost the entire fandom. Like, that right there, that was one of the most extreme cases of m|m fetishization I've ever seen, because the fandom needed to get off to two guys being together so badly that they turned to actual brothers for want of any other male character.

That's why Destiel immediately became so popular, because here was another guy that we saw with semi regularity that wasn't rated to the Winchesters, obviously they were meant to ship them.

Now, you may be asking yourself, "I thought this bitch was going to talk about gay fetishization, not his dislike for one character?" to which I'll just say I very easily go off tangent. But all of that is relevant because, come one of these later seasons, there was a scene where Dean was at a bar and the (male) bartender hit on him, and he didn't react negatively or homophobic.

Oh, my God, I watched my dash and the tags explode in post after post, meta after meta, about how Bi Dean was canon confirmed! Now he and Cas will HAVE to be together, because its canon that Dean likes guys. and Cas is an angel, who doesn't follow human sexual limitations, and... blah, blah, blah.

Cut to a few years later, and we're introduced to a character named Max Banes, a witch and hunter, who is openly gay and flirts with Sam in his first appearance. Where were all of his metas and fanfics and headcanons? Granted, he only appeared in two episodes, but I have watched people in this and other fandoms build mountains our of molehills, going on and on about how two male characters weren't actually straight and how they were destined to be together because the once wore similar style shirts a couple of seasons apart, or because of a carnation in a jacket pocket that signified love via the Victorian flower code (or something like that), or how the wallpaper of that room they shared a scene in was a subtle clue to their true desire for each other, etc.

And I'm not exaggerating there, those are actual examples I've seen in fandoms over the years.

But back to Max, why is it that he was left along the wayside, despite fitting most of the criteria that fandoms love in their m|m ships while Dean had entire thesis level posts about that time he shared a glance with Castiel or he let a bartender hit on him and not get upset?

And its not just these two shows, not by a long shot. If you were to go into literally any fandom of a certain size or bigger, you will come across fans putting two straight characters together because of "the chemistry" they have. Even if those characters are confirmed to be straight - especially if those characters are confirmed to be straight. Because when these loud fans don't get their crack ship that they rub one out to, they scream queerbaiting and homophobia and oppression, harassing the actors and producers and directors and writers.

Here are some others that just pop to the front of my mind...

Asher Millstone from How To Get Away With Murder (saw him shipped with Connor a lot, despite Connor's actual boyfriend)

Sherlock Holmes and John Watson from BBC's Sherlock

Tony Stark from Marvel comics (all because of one panel where he said "ladies and gents" when he announced he was off the market

Literally any male character in the MCU, which is his we get the things like Stucky and Stony that permeate the fandom on almost every level (and some leeway is given here because of the MCU's lack of wueer characters)

Klaus Mikaelson and Stefan Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries/The Originals (honestly, I was surprised that people in the TVD fandom weren't immediately all over Josh and Lucas, because they're literally everything that fans want and use in their headcanon gays)

Kol Mikaelson and Jeremg Gilbert, also from TVD

Elia and Filippo from Skam Italia (despite there being, once again, actual gay characters on this show. Hell, the entire second season was dedicated to a character coming out of the closet and being with a guy)

Etc.

I could go on and on but then this post would seem infinite.

Closing thoughts, please keep in mind that I am just one guy and that my opinions don't represent everyone in fandom spaces. But also bear in mind, that my frustrations are well founded and valid from my own experiences in the fandom.

My sexuality and the fact that I'm attracted to men is not a toy for a bunch of sexually repressed fangirls who think two guys being together is hot.

[techcrunchappcom]

New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/sean-hannitys-new-book-makes-the-case-for-more-trump-losangeles-times/

Sean Hannity's new book makes the case for more Trump - Los Angeles Times

Sean Hannity is the most-watched personality on cable news. But a conversation with him quickly reminds you that his roots are in radio, which he still does three hours a day. Like an old-school top 40 disc jockey, the conservative host can play the hits (“Russia Collusion Hoax,””Trump Derangement Syndrome,” “The Deep State”) on repeat, with unflagging enthusiasm.

Hannity has been at Fox News since it first launched in 1996. But it’s only recently that he’s become the network’s biggest star, outlasting its first breakout host, Bill O’Reilly, and delivering 55% more viewers than Megyn Kelly had in the high-profile 9 p.m. Eastern time slot when she left in 2017. He has largely kept his distance from the company’s internal scandals, although he was named last week in a sexual harassment lawsuit alleging that he offered staffers cash to take out a “beautiful” guest. (When I asked about the suit, Hannity pointed me to Fox News, which said the claims were “false, patently frivolous and utterly devoid of any merit.”)

Hannity has come to rule Fox during the Trump administration, and he’s earned a reputation for being the president’s chief media defender and reportedly an informal advisor as well. Hannity’s unfettered advocacy for the president is memorialized in a new book out Tuesday, ominously titled “Live Free Or Die: America (and the World) on the Brink.” Signed copies of the manifesto for a second Trump term are being offered by the re-election campaign as a fund-raising incentive for donations over $75. A representative for publisher Simon & Schuster said the Republican National Committee purchased the books through retailers.

The tome argues that a victory for Joe Biden and the Democrats in November would “move the country wholesale into socialism and authoritarianism.” Hannity makes a cogent argument for Trump’s economic policies before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. A chapter defending the president’s handling of the public health crisis resulting in more than 150,000 fatalities from the virus is a far tougher sell. Hannity, 58, talked about the book and his place in the media landscape in a phone conversation Wednesday.

The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

The book presents a very clear ideological contrast between Republicans and Democrats in the presidential election. It represents the kind of campaign that some of Trump’s advisors want him to run, and which he’s reportedly resisted. Are you trying to send a message with this book?

(Laughs) No. Even though I’m on the air four hours a day, I wanted to go in depth so people had a full understanding at what is at stake 97 days from now. [The book contains] a history of radicalism, what makes the country great, the Democrats’ 2020 agenda, and then it’s followed up purposely by chapter four, which is socialism and the history of its failure. You’re talking about the biggest choice election in our lifetime. … I never thought Joe Biden would go this far radical left. I’d argue it’s out of weakness that Joe Biden had to embrace Bolshevik Bernie‘s (Sanders) economic agenda, and even plagiarize it — which he has a history of — and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s insane new green deal. He’s pledging trillions of dollars to this.

As former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer has said many times on your show, voters are not going to really be able to process any of that until President Trump has the coronavirus under control. You have a chapter in this book that presents the president’s response to the health crisis as a success.

Correct.

Every poll says the public does not agree with that view by a large margin.

Ninty-nine percent of the media — I call them the “mob,” as you know — I don’t think they’re particularly fond of the president. If Donald Trump cured cancer they would hate him. Everything we now know about what they put this country through with Russia and Trump-Russia collusion has all been disproven. Has anybody on any of these networks ever said they’re sorry that they lied or that they spewed conspiracy theories and one hoax after another?

Live Free or Die: America (and the World) on the Brink

(Threshold Books)

I’m not sure what that has to do with the coronavirus and his response to it.

I’m explaining that they’re never going to give him credit. It doesn’t matter. Listen, we had the largest, fastest medical mobilization in the history of mankind. And Donald Trump got that done. China lied to the world. Every medical expert, they were trying their best. I don’t fault them, but they got it wrong. Every model was wrong. Every bit of information everybody had was wrong. And we’re all adjusting on the fly. But we got every ventilator, he built the beds in the New York at the Javits Center, he sent the Navy ships in. He even manned those hospitals. He provided all the PPE for those hospitals. He converted them to COVID-19 capability.

Couldn’t he have saved more people by not making a political issue out of wearing a mask? He prides himself on what he achieved in the economy. Who would’ve had more authority than President Trump to say, “You know what? I’ve got to put this great economic recovery on pause because we have to really nail this pandemic first.”

We shut the country down. [Ed. note: As early as April, Trump called for the economy to be reopened against the advice of the government’s medical experts.] Look, listen, I am not a party to this group of people that are criticizing Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Do you think Dr. Fauci misled the country? That’s what the president said.

Well, no, but he got a lot wrong. I mean, that’s a fair analysis. He’s telling people in the middle of March if you’re young and healthy it’s OK to go on a cruise ship. He was not a big mask advocate in March either.

If Barack Obama were in charge during a pandemic that killed 150,000 people, wouldn’t you have been on his case every single night?

OK. If Joe Biden was president would he have instituted the travel ban? Did those policies save American lives, the ones that Biden said were “hysterical, xenophobia, and fear-mongering”? Did Donald Trump make the right call on the travel ban, yes or no?

Let’s say yes. You still have 150,000 people dying.

Joe Biden wouldn’t have made the call. The Democrats were impeaching. [Trump] was working, they were impeaching. They didn’t get involved in this, and now they’re Monday-morning quarterbacks.

You present a strong argument against socialist regimes and express concern about those ideas seeping into the Democratic platform. But didn’t Democratic primary voters effectively repudiate socialism by choosing Biden over Bernie Sanders?

Well, we never really got to finish it. I think the deck was stacked against poor Bernie. … We know that Joe Biden now has adopted the socialist policies of Bolshevik Bernie; he’s even plagiarized them.

The Democrats won back Congress in 2018 largely through the election of more moderate representatives in swing districts won by Trump. Wouldn’t they put a check on a lot of what you’re talking about?

Absolutely not … have you read the Green New Deal? Those promises are impossible to fulfill. If you’re going to get rid of oil and gas on top of it — the way Joe is pledging to stop fracking, and oil exploration — number one, you’re going to lose tens of millions of career jobs. Donald Trump made us energy-independent for the first time in 75 years, the largest oil producer in the world in over 75 years. We’re going to give up the lifeblood of the world’s economy and we’re going to promise to tax people into oblivion and we’re going to promise everybody everything’s free and the government’s going to take care of everything you need in life, from the minute you’re born until the day you die.

You don’t think climate change is an issue?

I believe that we need to be good stewards of the beautiful planet God gave every man, woman, and child on Earth, absolutely. Is Sean Hannity in favor of new creative sources of energy, clean energy? Absolutely. Do I think one day we’ll get there? I do. I believe in science, and I believe in ingenuity, especially when people live free. But we’re not there yet. Right now the lifeblood of the world’s economy is oil, gas, and coal, fact.

I want to talk about Fox News.

I’m sorry, you’re breaking up on me. I’m kidding, go ahead.

You have an opinion show, but you use words on your program like “investigation.” You say you have reporters covering stories. Define for me how you see the difference between what you do and what Bret Baier does on “Special Report.”

I have no comments about any other show on Fox. I have my hour I’m responsible for, and that’s it. I’m too busy in my day to follow what everybody else is doing. I watch very little cable news, to be very blunt with you … So I would argue Sean Hannity is a talk show host. And I can produce hours and hours and hours of radio and TV of just straight news reporting. I can produce thousands of hours of Sean Hannity doing investigative reporting. I have a responsibility to put on news, information, opinion that you’re not going to get anywhere else and investigative reporting … I am basically an entire newspaper.

Has Fox News changed since its founding chief executive, Roger Ailes, left in 2016? [Ailes, who was ousted over sexual harassment allegations, died in 2017.]

I think [Fox News Media Chief Executive] Suzanne Scott is phenomenal in her job. The Murdochs have been nothing but supportive. I like to view myself as a good partner to whoever I’m in business with.

Tell me about your relationship with President Trump. How often do you talk to him?

Wouldn’t you like to know the answer to that? It’s interesting to me. I mean, there’s so much speculation. There’s been so much written about it.

Here is your chance to set the record straight.

You want a headline out of this. I got it. But I’ve known Donald Trump now, I guess, 25 years. I think he’s the most transparent politician and honest politician I’ve seen in our lifetime. Nothing he does surprises me. Listen, if I talk to anybody like you I neither confirm nor deny I talk to anybody. If I have friends and I talk to my friends, it’s nobody’s business. If I have sources and I talk to sources, it’s nobody’s business.

But clearly your role has changed. You’re an influencer in this country. You have a hotline to the most powerful man in the world who probably relies on you as a friend.

You’re just assuming I have a hotline to the president of the United States. I find it amusing, but I’m going to allow the speculation to continue.

You were upset over the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd. You called for a ban on police using chokeholds. But how do you feel about the Black Lives Matter movement? Do you think there is systemic racism in police departments in this country? Can you understand the anger behind this moment the nation is having?

The George Floyd incident angers me on a level that words can’t express. if you don’t feel that and see that this can’t happen ever again in America you don’t have a heart and you don’t have a soul. This can never happen again … I always said about the Deep State — I made a distinction almost every night about 99% of good FBI and intelligence agents, not the 1%. I [say] the same thing about police. We now have nearly 2,000 cops injured, we have about a dozen or more dead. We see rocks, and bottles, and bricks, and Molotov cocktails hurled at them. I make a distinction very clearly between Black Lives Matter the group — and the people that have righteous indignation and are calling for justice and changes after what should never happen to any human being on Earth. There were plenty of peaceful protesters, and I stated it over and over again. But now what we’re seeing in Seattle and Portland and New York City and Chicago is that none of this is about George Floyd. What unfortunately it is — you’re looking at a preview of coming attractions.

What we’re looking at is happening under President Trump. Why hasn’t he said anything to unite the country and quell some of this?

Excuse me. All Donald Trump has done is protect — which he legally has the constitutional authority and obligation to do — the federal buildings. He’s offered every one of these cities and mayors, liberal ones, all the help he can muster. They’ve got to ask for it. They’re saying, “Stay away.” And he’s saying, “Please let us help you. We can restore order.” But they have to ask…. The one thing these cities have in common, they’ve been run by liberal Democrats for decades.

But there’s been record-low crime in America for the last couple of decades under these same mayors and governors. What’s the difference?

Oh, really? Because during Obama and Biden’s years, president and vice president, I think I was the only one on national TV to actually scroll the names of thousands shot and thousands dead, and they barely mentioned Chicago.

Do you ever hear anything from the president that make you say, “Man, I wish he had not said that?”

Yeah, I’ve said it publicly a lot — I wish he’d tweet five to 10% less, or retweet never. But I would also add that this — there’s never been a president that has been made for a moment like him. You compare Biden-Obama’s record against Donald Trump’s record — I’ll take that bet every day. I don’t know what’s going to happen in 97 days, but I’ll tell you this, it would be probably the greatest moment in the history of watching the mob and the media, your friends that you interview a lot, have to choke on the words, “We can now project that Donald J. Trump has been re-elected the 45th president of the United States.”

What does “Hannity” look like under a Joe Biden presidency?

I’ll do what I always do — I’ll advocate for the country I love. I will fight for the principles I believe in. I will do the work that the mob and the media will never do. That’s what I do.

[thisdaynews]

America, the Gerontocracy

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/america-the-gerontocracy/

America, the Gerontocracy

Hate crime is rising, the Arctic is burning, and the Dow is bobbing like a cork on an angry sea. If the nation seems intolerant, reckless and more than a little cranky, perhaps that’s because the American republic is showing its age. Somewhere along the way, a once-new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal (not men and women; that came later) became a wheezy gerontocracy. Our leaders, our electorate and our hallowed system of government itself are extremely old.

Let me stipulate at the outset that I harbor no prejudice toward the elderly. As a sexagenarian myself, not to mention as POLITICO’s labor policy editor, I’m fully mindful of the scourge of ageism. (I’ve had the misfortune on occasion to experience it firsthand.) But to affirm that America must work harder to include the elderly within its vibrant multicultural quilt is not to say it must be governed almost entirely by duffers. The cause of greater diversity would be advanced, not thwarted, if a few more younger people penetrated the ranks of American voters and American political leaders.

Story Continued Below

Let’s start with the leaders.

Remember the Soviet Politburo? In the waning years of the Cold War, a frequent criticism of the USSR was that its ruling body was preposterously old and out of touch. Every May Day these geezers would show up on a Moscow reviewing stand, looking stuffed and fix their rheumy gaze on a procession of jackbooted Red Army troops, missiles and tanks. For Americans, the sight was always good for a horselaugh. In 1982, when Leonid Brezhnev, the last of that generation to hold power for any significant length of time, went to his reward, the median age of a Politburo member was 71. No wonder the Evil Empire was crumbling!

You see where this is going. The U.S. doesn’t have a Politburo, but if you calculate the median age of the president, the speaker of the House, the majority leader of the Senate, and the three Democrats leading in the presidential polls for 2020, the median age is … uh … 77.

It doesn’t stop there. We heard a lot last November about the fresh new blood entering Congress, but when the current session began in January, the average ages of House and Senate members were 58 and 63, respectively. That’s slightlyolderthan the previous Congress (58 and 62), which was already among the oldest in history. The average age in Congress declined through the 1970s but it’s mostly increased since the 1980s.

The Deep State is no spring chicken, either. POLITICO’s Danny Vinik reported two years ago that nearly 30 percent of the civilian federal workforce was over 55; two decades earlier, it was closer to 15 percent. Of course, the entire U.S. workforce is getting older, thanks to the aging of the Baby Boom—that giant Hula-Hoop-shaking cohort born during the prosperous post-World War II years from 1946 to 1964. But the federal bureaucracy is even older, apparently because civil-servant Boomers, despite their defined-benefit pensions, are less inclined than their private-sector counterparts to retire.

America’s ruling class is of course more nimble than the Politburo ever was. And indeed, the two Democratic presidential candidates proposing the most dramatic departure from the status quo are Bernie Sanders, who’ll turn 78 on September 8, and Elizabeth Warren, who’s 70. Still, there’s something to be said for youth and vigor. John F. Kennedy (then 43) tapped into that feeling in his 1960 bid to succeed Dwight D. Eisenhower (then 70) when he campaigned on the slogan, “Let’s get America moving again.”

Why should we care how old our leaders are? As the journalist Michael Tortorello reported three years ago in POLITICO Magazine, cognitive functioning declines dramatically on average after age 70, and the types of intelligence that decline most sharply on average are “the capacity to absorb large amounts of new information and data in a short time span and apply it to solve problems in unaccustomed fashion.” It would seem advisable to have at least afewmore people in the higher reaches of government on whom we can rely still to possess this skill in youthful abundance.

The cognitive-function issue is not a theoretical one, if political commentators are to be believed. The past month has brought near-daily speculation about our 73 year-old president’s state of mind. “He’s getting worse,” CNN’s Brian Stelter said earlier this month. “We can all see it. It’s happening in public.” In recent weeks, Trump has canceled a meeting with the Danish prime minister because she wouldn’t discuss selling Greenland; suggested that his own Florida resort be the site of the next G-7 conference; and been quoted suggesting that hurricanes be deterred from reaching landfall in the U.S. through the detonation of nuclear weapons. “If Donald Trump were your father, you would run, not walk, to a neurologist for an evaluation of his cognitive health,” John Gartner, a psychologist, wrote in an AprilUSA Todayop-ed.

Whether Trump’s cognition is declining is a question muddied by a wealth of evidence that his speech and behavior were always at least somewhat erratic. (This is a man, recall, who more than 30 years ago confessed to giving his second-grade music teacher a black eye, which may not even be true.) A similar ambiguity surrounds Joe Biden, 76, whose well-documented history of verbal gaffes helped sink two previous presidential candidacies, one of them (similarly) more than 30 years ago. “Biden has always made gaffes by the bushel,” Fox News commentator Brit Hume (who’s also 76) tweeted earlier this month after Biden appeared to think he was in Vermont when he was really in New Hampshire (a state of no small significance in the primary race). “But some of his recent ones suggest the kind of memory loss associated with senility.” (Trump and Biden’s physicians, I should note, have vouched emphatically for their mental fitness.)

Even if the speculation that Trump and/or Biden might be a little bit gaga is unfounded and terribly unfair, isn’t it strange that we’re talking about the 2020 front-runners in the same worried tone we might adopt discussing with our siblings whether Mom and Pop should still be driving? It isn’t the first time. The 2016 election occasioned more muted speculation along the same lines about Trump, and even a little bit about his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, who’s only slightly younger.

None of this means a septuagenarian can’t function effectively as a political leader. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell are 79 and 77, respectively, and by all reports they’re operating at peak mental capacity. But to affirm that not all elderly people are impaired cognitively is very different from affirming that none is.

Even the healthy older brain is, well, different from the healthy younger brain, and if you care about politics that’s worth making some effort to understand. Certain tasks are just harder as you get older, even if you’re very smart. Your mental reflexes are slower. (How do I know? None of your damn business.) It takes you longer to remember someone’s name. Multitasking is more challenging. Learning foreign languages is more difficult, and adjusting to unfamiliar cultures is perhaps a bit harder. You can overcome these obstacles if you make some effort, but not everybody—not even all American leaders—makes the effort.

The most important compensating benefit to old age is greater wisdom, which comes from experience. When you’re making decisions that affect others, it’s much better to have a deep well of experience to draw on than to maintain the mental reflexes of an auctioneer. Wisdom may be more valuable in the digital age than ever before, because the velocity of information and normative judgments on social media, cable news and elsewhere constantly threatens to make glib idiots of us all.

But here’s the rub: The aging of America’s ruling class does not automatically increase its experience level. In presidential politics, notes Brookings Institution senior fellow Jonathan Rauch, political experience, which “used to be a selling point,” has “become a liability. Voters and the public have come to see experience as inauthenticity.”

In a November 2015Atlanticarticle, Rauch plotted experience level for presidential candidates from 1960 to 2012. His graph showed a clear increase in experience level among the losers and a corresponding decrease among the winners. Gerald Ford lost to Jimmy Carter. George H.W. Bush won with more political experience than Michael Dukakis, but four years later lost to Bill Clinton, who had less. John McCain lost to Barack Obama, who’d been in national politics a mere four years.

Donald Trump, who is 73, entered the Oval Office with no political experience at all. The single greatest mental compensation that age provides was therefore unavailable to the oldest president in American history.

***

Why is America governed by old people?Maybe because it has so many elderly voters.

The American electorate is older than it’s been for at least half a century. One reason is aging Boomers. The other is the greater tendency (despite a rising mortality rate) of people who make it into old age to go on living. By 2030, every living Boomer will be elderly (that is, age 65 or older), and by 2035, the Census Bureau projects, the elderly will outnumber minors for the first time in U.S. history.

This demographic trend has an exaggerated effect on politics. According to the Pew Research Center, in the 2020 election nearly one-quarter of the electorate (23 percent) will be elderly, “the highest such share since at least 1970.” But that understates the size of the elderly vote because the elderly are much likelier than any other age group to show up on Election Day. Old peoplereallylike to vote. In 2016, for instance, 71 percent of eligible elderly voters reported to the Census that they voted. For other age cohorts, the turnout percentages were 67 percent (aged 45-64), 59 percent (aged 30-44) and 46 percent (aged 18-29).

The electorate is even older in primaries, and older still in local elections. In 2016 Phil Keisling, chairman of the National Vote at Home Institute, led a Portland State University survey of 50 cities that found the median voter age in municipal elections was 57, “nearly a generation older than the median age of eligible voters.”

The broad outlines of this trend are widely understood, which explains why, for instance, Donald Trump said in 2015 that “I’m not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican.” (He nonetheless proposed in this year’s budget to cut more than $500 billion from Social Security and Medicare, which he’d also pledged to protect, but that’s another story.)It helps explain why the federal government spends more on Medicare, which provides medical coverage to elderly people, than it does on Medicaid, which provides medical coverage to poor people. (Another reason for the difference is that the elderly require more health care.)

It also may help explain why racial tolerance seems in some respects to be in decline, as measured, for instance, by the unnerving quasi-respectability afforded white nationalism by some mainstream players in national politics (including Trump). The elderly, polls show, are in the aggregate less concerned about racial prejudice than the young. A 2017 Pew Research Center survey found a 21-point spread between the elderly and young adults (18-29) when they were asked whether racial discrimination was the “main reason many blacks can’t get ahead,” with 54 percent of young adults answering in the affirmative but only 33 percent of the elderly. The age divide on this question was almost as wide as the 24-point divide between black respondents and white.

Similarly, political support for immigration restrictions may reflect an aging electorate. Pew found a majority in all age categories agreed that “immigrants strengthen the country because of their hard work and talents,” but the spread between the elderly and young adults was 31 points, with 51 percent of the elderly answering in the affirmative but 82 percent of young adults.

It’s often claimed that the elderly care less about the future than the young, but that’s a canard. The elderly care quite a bit about what will happen to a world they spent a lifetime building and populating with their children and grandchildren. (Their lives wouldn’t have much meaning if they didn’t.) Recent polls show the elderly care, if anything, slightlymore about the budget deficit than other age groups (despite not wanting to give up Medicare and Social Security benefits), and are slightlylessinclined to complain they pay too much in taxes.

That said, the young care a lot more than the old about climate change. Polls aggregated by Gallup from 2015 to 2018 show that concern about it drops with age. Fully 70 percent of respondents age 18-34 worried “a great deal” or “a fair amount” about global warming, compared with 63 percent age 35-54 and 56 percent age 55 and up. That’s a 14-point generation gap between the young and the elderly and near-elderly.

You often hear older Americans complain that the younger generation, with its fixation on social media, can’t distinguish between fact and opinion, making it difficult for them to apply the critical thinking necessary to consume news and be responsible citizens. A 2018 Pew survey found that Americans do indeed experience great difficulty telling these two things apart: Given five factual statements and five statements of opinion, a majority of Americans couldn’t identify them properly.

But younger Americans actually scoredbetteron this test than older ones. Thirty-two percent of 18-49 year-olds were able to identify all five factual statements, and 44 percent were able to identify all five statements of opinion. Among the over-50 cohort, only 20 percent identified all five factual statements correctly, and only 26 percent did the same with the statements of opinion.

***

The final leg of America’s gerontocratic triadis its system of government. That, too, is old and a bit creaky.

We think of ourselves as a young country, and in many respects we are. But we are also, as Paul Ryan famously noted in 2016, “the oldest democracy,” provided you exclude older ones that didn’t last (Athens, Rome) and ignore various undemocratic restrictions to the franchise that persisted into the 20th century. No nation in the world has a written Constitution older than ours. And it shows.

The list of the Constitution’s anachronisms and ambiguities is long.

Article One says Congress may “regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States,” phrasing that strictly limited the regulation of private business at the federal level until the New Deal, when the Supreme Court reversed itself and concluded the federal government’s power to regulate private business was pretty vast. Had the Founders grasped that the modern economy would all but eliminate purely local commerce—and that it could, unchecked, alter the very climate of planet earth—they might have had more to say on the subject. As things stand, the powers of the regulatory state are the subject of endless legal combat.

Article Two says you must be a “natural born Citizen” to be president, which excludes for no apparent reason Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jennifer Granholm, who previously governed two of the nation’s most populous states. The racist “birther” movement that challenged the legality of Barack Obama’s presidency (and that ushered Donald Trump onto the national political stage) wouldn’t have been possible without Article Two.

Article Two also established that presidents be elected through the Electoral College, an antique mechanism borrowed from the Holy Roman Empire that twice during the past two decades delivered the presidency to the popular-vote loser.Some people have a problem with that.

The Second Amendment frames the right to bear arms within the context of “well-regulated” state militias that no longer exist, an ambiguity that the Supreme Court interpreted in 2008 to mean the Constitution protected the right to bear arms, after holding for the preceding seven decades that it did not. Had the Founders known the extent to which the nation would tear itself apart over the regulation of firearms more deadly than they ever imagined, they might have laid down a few broad parameters.

And so on.None of this would matter much if our government were more amenable to reconsidering first principles, but that’s getting harder, too. The Constitution can be amended, and it has been, 27 times. But growing political polarization in recent years has made that difficult. Only two constitutional amendments were ratified during the past half-century (one giving 18-year-olds the right to vote and another, more anodyne amendment that makes it a little harder for Congress to give itself a raise).

Congress could perhaps pick up some of the slack, but it’s slowed down, too. According to the Pew Research Center, Congress passes fewer substantive laws today than it did 30 years ago.Increased use of the filibuster (which isnotmentioned in the Constitution, but has been around almost as long) almost certainly played a role, and a fed-up Senate has during the past decade started phasing out its use. In a provocative June 2018 essay inCommentary, the political scientist Yuval Levin posited that 231 years on, Congress had acquired a problem James Madison never anticipated: a reluctance to compete with the other two branches of government in the exercise of power. Partisanship, he concluded, had displaced ambition to legislate. Senators and representatives, he wrote, now “see themselves as players in a larger political ecosystem the point of which is not legislating or governing but rather engaging in a kind of performative outrage for a partisan audience.” Levin didn’t put it this way, but he seemed to be suggesting that Congress had grown decadent, likefin de siècleVienna, but without the solace of Sacher tortes.

A more modest theory of governmental decadence was set forward by Rauch in his 1994 bookDemosclerosis. The idea was that democracy had developed arteriosclerosis, not because its system of government was creaky, but rather because the accumulating power of interest groups over time was choking it like a weed. Demosclerosis differs from gridlock, Rauch argued, because gridlock implies that nothing gets done. In a demosclerotic government, plenty gets done. Rather, Rauch wrote, the government’s ability to solve problems is compromised because it can’t easily reassign a finite set of resources. Old allocations must continue, and therefore new allocations can’t be experimented with.

Think of it, Rauch says, like leaving a bicycle in the rain. The bicycle may be perfectly fine, but if you leave it outside long enough rust will corrode it. All things considered, Rauch says, the Constitution is in excellent working condition. But its machinery has been left out too long in the rain.

Bringing a bicycle in from the rain should be within the ability of America’s somewhat doddering polity. Our gerontocracy is a bit rheumatic, but it isn’t hopeless. Still, the task will likely be easier and go much faster if a few more young hands pitch in.

Read More

[theconservativebrief]

The great mystery of the 2018 midterms is the undecided voter. Even in an era of hyper-polarized and historically divisive politics, as recently as last week, 10 percent or more of voters in critical House races said they don’t know which party’s candidate they’d vote for on Election Day.

Pollsters and electoral history tell us a lot about these undecided voters — they may not wind up voting, and if they do, they often don’t definitively break for one party or the other. Of the undecideds this year, they are more likely to be moderate or conservative, and the majority are women.

But polls can only tell us so much. So Vox reached out to about 30 undecided voters, recently identified as such by respectable pollsters, to ask them what they were thinking a week before Election Day and get a better sense of why they were feeling so unmoored in the current political climate.

We found voters who didn’t fit neatly into any boxes. They worry about health care and border security. They fear how angry the country seems to be, and they put plenty of the blame for that division on President Donald Trump.

One Arizona voter who highly prioritizes a progressive immigration policy wound up voting for the Green Party because the candidate she backed in the primary lost.

A member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said he probably wouldn’t vote because: ”The government persecuted us on the basis of religion so I don’t have any use for them.”

A registered Republican in Colorado who voted for Trump has soured on the president because she worries about the country’s anger: “I don’t think he’s helpful. He’s not a unifier. I wish he was.”

One man in Nevada who didn’t vote in 2014 or 2016 is trying to reengage even as he feels hopeless about our politics: “We all go into this kind of as idiots.”

Here are brief portraits of 10 undecided voters. These interviews were condensed and edited for length and clarity.

Nordstrom is a registered Republican who lives in rural Fremont County, to the southwest of Colorado Springs. Trump won the county by 30 points in 2016. Nordstrom voted for him.

Besides “this health care mess” and border security, Nordstrom worries Congress has broken and become unable to fulfill its most routine duties.

But more than anything, she sounds anxious about the divisiveness in the country — and, even as a Republican, she blames Trump and conservative media for that division as much as she blames Democrats.

Why do you feel undecided?

The tenor of our nation is so hateful and ugly, and people are not nice anymore. They’re very open about spreading untruths about each other. It’s everywhere. You listen to the news, the ads come on, and it’s terrible. How do you find somebody who’s okay to vote for? The thing it’s created in me is a real sense of distrust.

How do you feel about President Trump?

He just doesn’t think. I think he wants to be a good person. I don’t know that he’s doing any good for our country. I voted for him. I thought that would be something good. I don’t even know that it’s him. We’ve got such huge problems.

But I don’t think he’s helpful. He’s not a unifier. I wish he was.

Where do you get your news?

I like the Wall Street Journal, but I can’t afford it. I listen to CBS, but they don’t like the president and a lot of their stuff is skewed. But they do give some information.

Fox News, I used to like them. But they’re part of tearing down our country, I think. They can get you all worked up about nothing, and it has nothing to do with anything.

Murray has lived in the suburbs of Richmond, Virginia, for 20 years. He’s always favored Republicans, but over the past six years he’s sensed himself shifting away from the party. And this year he’s not sure who he’s going to vote for.

Virginia’s Seventh Congressional District has been represented by Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA) since 2014, and has a strong conservative history. But this year, the congressional race is a total toss-up between Democrat Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA operative, and Brat, who rose to power in a stunning primary upset, ousting Eric Cantor.

Murray, who prioritizes jobs, doesn’t hear anyone talking about the issues he cares about — he just sees the mudslinging.

Why are you undecided?

I don’t like the ads. The ads seem to be trying to scare seniors for both parties and I don’t like that. It’s just an uncomfortable thing.

They are just trying to scare each other, by saying the other will cut Medicare, take medicine away from seniors. They’re just trying to scare people — and I don’t like that.

What’s the most important issue for you?

To me the most important issues are to keep everyone employed. Keep everyone working and making money. That’s really important to me. Nobody seems to talk about that at all.

Jessop, a small-business owner in Colorado City, Arizona, thinks the government went off the rails a long time ago, and he doesn’t see his vote changing things that much. He identifies himself as “independent from all others,” though he notes that he’s leaned Republican in the past.

Colorado City is part of the Fourth Congressional District, which covers an expansive western section of the state and is heavily Republican. It’s currently represented by Freedom Caucus member Rep. Paul Gosar and went for Trump by more than 39 points.

Jessop is a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — a religious sect that broke from the Mormon Church — and notes that much of his negative sentiment toward government stems from institutional efforts to seize the church’s land.

“The government persecuted us on the basis of religion so I don’t have any use for them,” he says. “When we can come back to the principles of religious freedom, then we can probably get somewhere.”

Why do you feel undecided?

Where did we lose the Constitution at? It’s gone. I don’t think that me voting is going to fix anything. I don’t think voting is going to fix anything for anybody.

How do you feel about President Trump?

You know, he’s done a lot of good things. I can’t say he’s done anything wrong as far as anything he’s done. The economy’s positive. He’s done a lot of good things there.

Why aren’t you planning to vote this cycle?

Because I have other things for my life to do.

Sharon Cortez is an independent from Phoenix who’s voted for both Republican Sen. John McCain and Democrat Hillary Clinton in the past. She notes that she leans Democratic but doesn’t really pick her candidates along party lines. Instead, her top two considerations are health care and veterans issues, given her husband’s five tours in Vietnam.

“My husband is 100 percent disabled from the military, so when they have a candidate talking about how they are going to react to medical issues, I listen to that real well, she says. “[Republican Rep. Martha] McSally seems to be a little less inclined to support military disabled and even people with preexisting conditions.”

While she was previously undecided on the Senate race, Cortez has already submitted her ballot for this year’s election. “I did not vote for anyone who endorsed Trump. I’m not a fan of his,” she says.

Why were you undecided?

I vote based on who it is that’s running and what I heard them say. And sometimes I don’t make up my mind until the last minute. I like to get the most knowledge I can and make my decision at the time.

What do you think of Trump?

I don’t like him. I don’t think he’s a very feeling man. I think he sees dollar signs and looks at how he can make more money. He’s not too interested in taking care of the country as much as he is in taking care of Trump.

What do you think of the Democratic and Republican Parties?

I don’t think that they’ve accomplished so much. I don’t think it’s necessarily because they are Republican or Democrat. They’re not working together for the betterment of the country. I think they’re too party-oriented.

McCain was more of an independent than straight party-line person. That’s the kind of person I like to see in office. I’m not interested in the ones that carry their Republican placard and their Democratic placard and they can’t see anything else.

Hart isn’t registered with either party and didn’t vote in 2016. He also didn’t vote in the 2014 midterms and remembers “not being interested” in politics that year.

He was previously undecided mostly because, he says, he hadn’t yet done his homework. But over the weekend, after educating himself, he went in to vote early and pulled the lever for Democrats.

What are the particular issues that are most important to you?

It’s hard to tell whether people are liars, but if people are bending their truths all the time, I think there is enough fact-checking out there where you can tell if a person does that or not.

We all go into this kind of as idiots. Some of us read as much as we can. It’s hard for me to really know whether the person will be able to technically execute their position. That’s I guess what I’m going for.

I probably lean toward socialist infrastructures. So somebody who’s overtly trying to burn down a social safety net, it’s hard for me to want to support that person.

How do you feel about the Democratic and Republican parties these days?

I feel hopeless. I’m trying to participate because I haven’t really been a big participator in my life. I’m trying to do a better job of engaging.

I have no idea what structures are going to persist, political and otherwise. There seems to be very, very intense crazy changes that are coming around to civilization, and I don’t know that any politicians are going to be able to navigate us through the waters.

Rodriguez, who lives in Surprise, Arizona, near Phoenix, is a diehard progressive Democrat in one of the reddest parts of Arizona, a dynamic that she’s well aware of. “In 2014, in my district, we didn’t have anybody in the Democratic side for most of what’s available,” she says.

This year, however, things are different. “We’re really excited in my district because we have a lot of progressive Democrats and this is the first time we’ve had Democrats in every box,” she says. Surprise is part of Arizona’s Eighth Congressional District, which backed Trump by 21 points.

Rodriguez wasn’t exactly undecided about many of her ballot picks, but she grappled with the Senate election for a bit after her candidate didn’t advance in the primary.

She is a huge proponent of immigrant rights and had mixed feelings about Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, the Democratic nominee who’s voted with Trump on several immigration bills. Rodriguez says she ultimately decided to go third-party.

What are some of your most important issues?

My top one is immigration because it affects my family on so many different issues. Number two is Medicare-for-all. I’m 100 percent for the Medicare-for-all bill and what they want to drop in Congress after the election. It would be extended to anybody who resides in the US regardless of their status. My third one is probably the education issue that’s going on here in Arizona.

What do you think of the Democratic and Republican Parties?

I feel like there are some good people in the Democratic Party but I feel like corporate America has taken over our government. I wish we had a third party that could be a contender in the race because I think it could reflect what the population wants.

Molina is a retired Republican veteran in Apache Junction, east of Phoenix, Arizona, and he’s had it with the negative campaign advertising and what he sees as “narcissistic” politicians on both sides of the aisle. Apache Junction is in the state’s firmly Republican Sixth Congressional District, which supported Trump by nearly 10 points.

Molina is fed up with both parties and says he took some time to land on a final decision for the Senate race, given his skepticism of how much one candidate can accomplish anyway.

“They can’t do anything by themselves. It doesn’t make any difference who’s up there,” he says.

How did you decide on who to vote for in the Senate race?

I didn’t vote for either one. I went for the Green Party. They cut each other so much. I wish they would just talk about themselves. The way I saw it, one is dirty and the other one is nasty.

Why do you vote?

I vote because it’s a public duty. It’s somewhat of a fallacy because we don’t vote for the people, we vote for the [Electoral] College. You vote for somebody and somebody else wins.

How do you feel about Trump?

I like him. The reason I like him is because they don’t like him. Because he’s not a cultured politician. He’s a businessman. And a businessman being a politician is like a mile runner trying to run and win a marathon.

George (who declined to provide his last name) is an independent voter who lives in Henderson, Nevada, one of Las Vegas’s biggest suburbs. He is a registered independent, who says he voted for George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton for president. He was previously undecided in the 2018 midterms, though he says he has since gone to polls and voted largely for Democrats.

While he likes to be bipartisan, George said he was breaking for the Democrats this year over two issues: guns and health care. Las Vegas was the site of the worst mass shooting in US history last year, and even as a gun owner, George worried America is too captive to the National Rifle Association.

Why were you feeling undecided and how did you make up your mind?

The closer we came to actually going and voting, not a lot was changing with the major issues like insurance and some form of gun control.

I have my own weapons, but I believe we need to put guns in the hands of good guys and have some type of testing to get it out of the hands of bad guys. We’re becoming governed by the NRA and gun manufacturers. Of course, we had the largest disaster in United States history right here in Nevada, and we’re still doing things the same old way.

What are the most important issues to you?

Health care is right up there, almost at the top of the list. The thing about it is, nobody from the conservative side is coming forth with a map. “We’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do this.” They’re saying nothing, which is very, very dangerous.

When Republicans start talking about potentially canceling the present insurance and giving you vouchers, that’s just a way for them to charge you for preexisting conditions and our country is gonna be in deep trouble if that happens.

Geiger, an independent, is Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV)’s worst nightmare. The last time Heller was up for reelection was 2012, and Geiger voted for him because he liked how bipartisan the Republican senator was.

But after Heller voted with Senate Republicans to overturn the Affordable Care Act, Geiger says he will not vote to reelect the senator. Health care is one of his most important issues — he’s on Medicaid and both of his parents are on Medicare and Social Security, two programs he’s afraid Republicans will try to gut. He doesn’t know a lot about Heller’s Democratic challenger Rep. Jacky Rosen, but he wants to send Heller a message; stand up to Trump and your party, or face the consequences.

“If he had gone up against Trump and voted against the health care bill that got beat by McCain, I would probably vote for Heller again,” Geiger told Vox.

Do you consider yourself undecided?

For the most part I’m probably going to go Democrat in this race. I try to be independent; you want to be a centrist, but both parties tend to go so far to the base that they’re not worried about the center. There are some things I’m conservative about, and there are some things I’m more liberal about. Right now, the way things are, especially with health insurance, I would have to stay with the Democratic side.

How have you voted in the past?

I almost voted for Trump, just because I thought that the House and Senate might go Democrat. But then I didn’t, which I’m glad I did not vote for him.

I don’t want to say he’s lied, but a lot of things he did say he was going to do, he hasn’t done. My mom was born in Juarez [Mexico]. I’m a first-generation immigrant, let alone a Mexican American, and he’s doing everything he can to keep Mexicans and Latin Americans out.

It seems like you are concerned about the Republican vote against the Affordable Care Act?

Not just that, I’m 50. My parents are retired, they use Social Security and Medicare. And not just them, it’s a nationwide thing that if Republicans get control and they try to get rid of Medicare and Social Security, I don’t think they realize what they’re doing to the nation.

Valtierra, a Democrat in Yuma, Arizona, says that social security and health care are her top issues, but notes that negative advertising drove her to vote for the Green Party candidate in the state’s Senate race.

Yuma is situated in Arizona’s Third Congressional District, a Democratic-leaning district that sits along the US border to Mexico and is currently represented by Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva. Valtierra isn’t happy with Trump’s presidency, but she wasn’t particularly inspired by either Kyrsten Sinema or Martha McSally as a Senate option, either.

“I wanted to stay away from both of them because neither of them had good things to say for the elderly and social security,” she notes.

Who did you end up deciding on for the Senate race?

I didn’t vote for any of the popular ones. I voted for the Green Party. I didn’t like any of the two. I didn’t like McSally and I didn’t like the other one. I saw how bad the propaganda was for both of them.

What are your top issues?

I depend on Social Security a lot. I’m disabled and I’ve been on Medicare for many years.

My husband is wondering if Medicare will even be around when he’s due to receive it. We worked all our lives to receive it and they want to take it over.

What do you think of Trump?

I really think President Trump discriminates a lot against Mexican people. He’s voiced that we are like animals to him, we’re not even human beings to him. I feel really bad, he’s very racist. He doesn’t support people who have worked really hard and we do it for low pay, too.

Original Source -> 2018’s undecided voters, explained in their own words

via The Conservative Brief

[davidcdelreal]

13 Best Online Survey and Research Sites For Money and Rewards

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While there are many ways to get ahead in life, few are as beneficial as earning more money.

By increasing your income over time, you can boost your cash savings rate, save more money for retirement, and even afford a splurge once in a while.

Ready to get started?

Surveys for Money – Quicklinks

Mysurvey

Vindale Research

Survey Junkie

E-Poll Market Research

Ipsos iSay

Inbox Dollars

Pinecone Research

Swagbucks

American Consumer Opinion

Pro Opinion

Harris Poll Online

Global Test Market

Wonder

And if having more money makes you feel more secure, you’ll probably sleep better at night, too.

Of course, it’s not always easy to increase your income. Your employer might hate giving raises, for example, or maybe overtime at work has become scarce. If that’s the case, you might need to pick up a part-time job, start a side hustle from home, or look for unorthodox ways to earn money in your spare time. Check out our post on how to become an Uber driver, this is a great side hustle because you can make your own schedule and pick up extra cash when its convenient for you.

13 Best Get Paid to take Surveys for Money Sites

If you’re short on time, and looking for how to make money fast, one of the easiest ways is with online survey sites. While the payouts can vary, these survey companies let you earn money just for answering questions, browsing the internet, and more.

Plus, unlike a part-time job with strict hours and the standard commute, you can complete surveys during your actual free time – at night when the kids are in bed, early mornings before work, or while you’re watching TV.

Mysurvey

MySurvey is actually and adaptation of a program that was started back in 1946. It began as the National Family Opinion organization that used to send out surveys through the mail. In 2001, they joined the digital age, and now they are one of the best survey sites around. According to the website, they have issued out more than $15,000,000 rewards to members.

The rewards for the MySurvey surveys are on par (or better than some) with most other sites. They offer $0.50 to $1.25 for every survey that you complete, with the shorter surveys only taking around 5 minutes to finish. When you want to cash out, you’ll have to accumulate $10, which is less than some of the other sites, and you’ll be able to get your money through a check, PayPal, Amazon gift card, or the more than 60 other gift card options. Sign up for a free mysurvey account HERE.

Vindale Research

Vindale Research isn’t going to be the highest paying survey sites, but that doesn’t mean that you should automatically eliminate it. It’s a great addition to your survey sites and can help you earn a couple of extra dollars every month. 

Vindale Research is one of the oldest survey sites out there, which means the company knows what they are doing. For every survey, you’ll get anywhere from $1 to $5, which isn’t bad money for the time that you’ll invest. Obviously, the more detailed a survey is, the more you’ll get paid.

The company also offers product evaluations that you’ll earn more cash for (because they are more time-consuming). They will give you a product or service, and you’ll be required to write an honest review on it. This can pay anywhere from $5 to $75. Sign up for Vindale Research HERE.

Survey Junkie

Survey Junkie makes it quick and easy to jump into the survey game. According to their websites, they say they are the “most popular spot online to earn cash and rewards for sharing your thoughts,” while that might not be technically true, they are one of the largest survey sites out there. They were launched all the way back in 2005 (which is pretty old for a survey site) and they have over 4,000,000 members. 

Survey Junkie uses a point system for their rewards. For every survey you complete, you’ll get anywhere from 50 – 450 points. 100 points equals $1. Unlike some of the other competition, Survey Junkie is very honest about how much you’ll make. They clearly say on their website, “You Will Not Get Rich” taking surveys. This is refreshing to see after so many websites claim you’ll be able to quit your day job and sit at home taking surveys all day.

You’ll be able to cash out your points either through PayPal or with a gift card. Survey Junkie claims you can get your cash out instantly, but this isn’t necessarily true. In most cases, if you request a payout through PayPal and it can take up to 24 hours, but in most cases it is immediate. Compared to other sites out there, this is a huge advantage. Some companies and sites can make you wait several days or even weeks. Sign up for Survey Junkie HERE. 

ePoll Market Research

One of the lesser-known survey sites is ePoll Market Research. The company was established in 1997 and helped paved the way for the hundreds of different online survey sites that we enjoy today.

While there are no clear guidelines, ePoll surveys tend to revolve around the media and entertainment business. So younger survey takers and TV/movie watchers will probably enjoy ePoll more than some of the other demographics. With ePoll, you may be required to watch a commercial, or even a TV episode and then answer questions about it on the survey. In fact, on rare occasions, ePoll will send out a movie or TV show for you to watch at home and then review on the site. These opportunities are infrequent but are a nice additional perk of using the site.

Most of the surveys take around 10-15 minutes, not counting the time it takes you to watch the required viewing if there is any. Sign up for E-Poll HERE

Ipsos iSay

iSay is not the most popular survey site out there, but it should be in the consideration when you’re looking for a place to make some extra spending money.

In most ways, iSay is identical to the other sites on the list. One thing which sets them apart is the “Poll Predictor.” If you’ve been on a survey site before, you know one of the most frustrating things is to enter a survey, answer a few questions, and then get kicked out for not qualifying. If this happens with iSay, you get asked a Poll Predictor question. These are questions like “Have you ever been overseas?” and you have to guess what percentage of people said yes. The closer you are to the right answer; the more chances you get for winning the prize drawing.

How much are you going to earn using iSay? Their payouts are average compared to the other survey sites out there. Just like with other sites, the amount you get paid is going to differ depending on the length of the survey. You’ll need to accumulate at least 500 points (equals $5) before you can request a payout with PayPal or transfer the money to a gift card. Sign up for iSay HERE. 

Inbox Dollars

With Inbox Dollars, you’ll earn cash for an array of activities. In addition to earning rewards for completing surveys and questionnaires, you can also get paid to surf the internet, play games, print grocery coupons, and shop online. Best of all, signing up is absolutely free!

If you use the InboxDollars site regularly, you can usually earn up to $20 or $30 per month for your various activities. Plus, you’ll get a $5.00 credit just for signing up!

Sign up for InboxDollars here

Swagbucks

Swagbucks was one of the first paid survey sites to appear on the internet, but it has grown to offer more options and more fun ways to earn money with each passing year. With Swagbucks, you’ll earn points for shopping online, watching videos, searching the web, and answering surveys.

When it comes to redeeming your points, a wide range of gift cards are some of the best options on the Swagbucks website. If doing surveys for gift cards is not your thing, you can also redeem your points for PayPal cash.

Signing up for Swagbucks is easy and, best of all, it’s free! If you want to see all the different ways to earn money with Swagbucks, click here to get started.

Pinecone Research

Pinecone Research works a lot like other paid survey sites. Once you sign up, you’ll earn points for each survey you complete. As an added bonus, the responses you give during surveys will help you learn about new products before they hit the market and influence their respective marketing campaigns. And once you start racking up the points, you can redeem them for cash or prizes.

While you have plenty of options when it comes to redeeming your points, Pinecone research is also one of the few online survey sites that will actually send you a check in the mail instead of making you redeem for gift cards or merchandise.

If you’re interested in figuring out how much you can earn, sign up for Pinecone Research here.

American Consumer Opinion

While it might be hard to believe at first, American Consumer Opinion will pay you real, actual money to share your opinions and complete online surveys. Once you join their online opinion panel, you’ll be asked to offer opinions on new products you have tried, test out new advertising campaigns, and tell companies what you think of their marketing techniques and slogans.

Payouts from American Consumer Opinion vary, but your payout will come in the form of “points” you can redeem for cash. You can also get your cash through PayPal if you want, and redemptions start at 1,000 points or $10.

Get started with American Consumer Opinion here!

Pro Opinion

With Pro Opinion, you’ll get paid to answer questions in your field of expertise. In addition, you’ll provide valuable research that is used to create expert responses and articles on the Pro Opinion website.

After you sign up, you’ll receive surveys on various topics and products via email. Once you complete these surveys and build up a stash of “points,” you can redeem them for cash via PayPal, purchases made through Amazon.com, or gift cards to various retailers. As an alternate suggestion, you can even redeem your rewards as a donation to the Red Cross.

To get started, you’ll need to offer quite a few personal details including your gender, home address, birth date, employment status, education level, and household income. After that, however, you’ll be matched with surveys that line up with your individual strengths and existing wealth of knowledge.

Interested in learning more? Sign up with Pro Opinion here.

Harris Poll Online

Like American Consumer Opinion, Harris Poll Online offers cash incentives to people who are willing to log in regularly and complete online surveys and questionnaires. Once you join, you’ll begin earning rewards for each survey you take. Once you earn enough reward “points”, you can turn them in for purchases made on websites like Amazon, iTunes, Home Depot and Walmart. Conversely, you can also turn in your points for movies, books, and home goods ordered straight from the Harris Poll website. Plus, you’ll be entered into a $10,000 sweepstakes each time you complete a survey.

While exact payouts per survey aren’t advertised and can vary quite a bit anyway, Harris Poll Online is free to join and the rewards can be lucrative if you use the website often enough.

Click here to learn more about joining Harris Poll Online and how you can earn cash in your spare time.

Global Test Market

Global Test Market is one of the rare survey sites that has received accreditation from the BBB. They are one of the most diverse survey sites that include topics of anything from cars to movies.

Just like the other survey sites, every time you complete one of the surveys, you’ll receive anywhere from 35-250 points, which equals about $1.50 to $1.75 per a survey. Once you rack up enough cash to payout (which you’ll have to accumulate at least $50), you’ll have several different options to receive your money. You can get your money through a check, through your PayPal account, or redeem it for gift cards.

In addition to getting points for each survey, you’ll also be entered into monthly cash drawings. Sure, there is no guarantee, but it’s a nice additional incentive. Sign up for Global Test Market HERE.

Wonder

Unlike the other paid survey sites on this list, Wonder will actually hire you to conduct independent research on a wide range of topics. In that sense, Wonder offers much more of a “part-time job” than a side hustle you can complete in your spare time.

If you meet their criteria and get hired, you’ll conduct expert research on anything from historical events to government laws and regulations. In turn, that research is used by professionals who pay to use this service.

Earnings vary highly depending on your level of skill and the amount of time you spend finding the crucial details your clients need. Still, this is a great way to earn some money online and from the comfort of your own home.

You can read more about Wonder and where it works here.

  How to Get the Most Out of the Best Online Survey Sites

The allure of “free money” can be hard to walk away from, especially if you can earn that money just by clicking around on the internet a few times per day. Still, there are plenty of ways to maximize the amount of money, merchandise, and gift cards you earn over time. Here are some tips that can help:

Sign up for every legitimate online survey site you can find.

While you can earn money from any of these sites fairly easily, the amount of money you can earn from each might be limited. If you have plenty of time on your hands, it can pay to sign up for several online survey sites and participate in each.

The more surveys and online tasks you complete, the more money you’ll earn over time. You may even find that a few sites are your favorites this way, or that one site ends up helping you net more cash than the others. Regardless, you won’t really know how each works until you try them out.

Watch out for scams.

While every online survey site mentioned in this post is absolutely legitimate, there are some “copy cat” websites and even fraudulent websites out there.

If a website is making wild claims about free money or asks for more personal information than you feel comfortable giving, that’s a good indicator that they are up to no good. Make sure to read reviews and follow up with research to make sure a website is legitimate before you begin using them. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Set aside time to complete surveys each day.

If you feel like you don’t have time to complete surveys, you’re not alone. Most of us live busy lives, and it can be difficult to keep up, let alone take on a new side hustle.

Still, if you watch television each day, then you have plenty of time to complete surveys online. Simply turn on your favorite show and complete survey questions during the commercial breaks. If you like some quiet time at night, that’s also a great time to earn extra money through online search or complete a few online surveys while you relax.

The Bottom Line

The best online survey sites will reward you for everything from searching the internet to watching targeted videos, opening emails, completing surveys, and giving your honest opinions on products and services.

But to get your hands on that free and easy money, you have to sign up first!

Have you ever earned money through an online survey site? Why or why not?

The post 13 Best Online Survey and Research Sites For Money and Rewards appeared first on Good Financial Cents.

from All About Insurance https://www.goodfinancialcents.com/best-online-survey-sites-for-money/

[theconservativebrief]

The great mystery of the 2018 midterms is the undecided voter. Even in an era of hyper-polarized and historically divisive politics, as recently as last week, 10 percent or more of voters in critical House races said they don’t know which party’s candidate they’d vote for on Election Day.

Pollsters and electoral history tell us a lot about these undecided voters — they may not wind up voting, and if they do, they often don’t definitively break for one party or the other. Of the undecideds this year, they are more likely to be moderate or conservative, and the majority are women.

But polls can only tell us so much. So Vox reached out to about 30 undecided voters, recently identified as such by respectable pollsters, to ask them what they were thinking a week before Election Day and get a better sense of why they were feeling so unmoored in the current political climate.

We found voters who didn’t fit neatly into any boxes. They worry about health care and border security. They fear how angry the country seems to be, and they put plenty of the blame for that division on President Donald Trump.

One Arizona voter who highly prioritizes a progressive immigration policy wound up voting for the Green Party because the candidate she backed in the primary lost.

A member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said he probably wouldn’t vote because: ”The government persecuted us on the basis of religion so I don’t have any use for them.”

A registered Republican in Colorado who voted for Trump has soured on the president because she worries about the country’s anger: “I don’t think he’s helpful. He’s not a unifier. I wish he was.”

One man in Nevada who didn’t vote in 2014 or 2016 is trying to reengage even as he feels hopeless about our politics: “We all go into this kind of as idiots.”

Here are brief portraits of 10 undecided voters. These interviews were condensed and edited for length and clarity.

Nordstrom is a registered Republican who lives in rural Fremont County, to the southwest of Colorado Springs. Trump won the county by 30 points in 2016. Nordstrom voted for him.

Besides “this health care mess” and border security, Nordstrom worries Congress has broken and become unable to fulfill its most routine duties.

But more than anything, she sounds anxious about the divisiveness in the country — and, even as a Republican, she blames Trump and conservative media for that division as much as she blames Democrats.

Why do you feel undecided?

The tenor of our nation is so hateful and ugly, and people are not nice anymore. They’re very open about spreading untruths about each other. It’s everywhere. You listen to the news, the ads come on, and it’s terrible. How do you find somebody who’s okay to vote for? The thing it’s created in me is a real sense of distrust.

How do you feel about President Trump?

He just doesn’t think. I think he wants to be a good person. I don’t know that he’s doing any good for our country. I voted for him. I thought that would be something good. I don’t even know that it’s him. We’ve got such huge problems.

But I don’t think he’s helpful. He’s not a unifier. I wish he was.

Where do you get your news?

I like the Wall Street Journal, but I can’t afford it. I listen to CBS, but they don’t like the president and a lot of their stuff is skewed. But they do give some information.

Fox News, I used to like them. But they’re part of tearing down our country, I think. They can get you all worked up about nothing, and it has nothing to do with anything.

Murray has lived in the suburbs of Richmond, Virginia, for 20 years. He’s always favored Republicans, but over the past six years he’s sensed himself shifting away from the party. And this year he’s not sure who he’s going to vote for.

Virginia’s Seventh Congressional District has been represented by Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA) since 2014, and has a strong conservative history. But this year, the congressional race is a total toss-up between Democrat Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA operative, and Brat, who rose to power in a stunning primary upset, ousting Eric Cantor.

Murray, who prioritizes jobs, doesn’t hear anyone talking about the issues he cares about — he just sees the mudslinging.

Why are you undecided?

I don’t like the ads. The ads seem to be trying to scare seniors for both parties and I don’t like that. It’s just an uncomfortable thing.

They are just trying to scare each other, by saying the other will cut Medicare, take medicine away from seniors. They’re just trying to scare people — and I don’t like that.

What’s the most important issue for you?

To me the most important issues are to keep everyone employed. Keep everyone working and making money. That’s really important to me. Nobody seems to talk about that at all.

Jessop, a small-business owner in Colorado City, Arizona, thinks the government went off the rails a long time ago, and he doesn’t see his vote changing things that much. He identifies himself as “independent from all others,” though he notes that he’s leaned Republican in the past.

Colorado City is part of the Fourth Congressional District, which covers an expansive western section of the state and is heavily Republican. It’s currently represented by Freedom Caucus member Rep. Paul Gosar and went for Trump by more than 39 points.

Jessop is a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — a religious sect that broke from the Mormon Church — and notes that much of his negative sentiment toward government stems from institutional efforts to seize the church’s land.

“The government persecuted us on the basis of religion so I don’t have any use for them,” he says. “When we can come back to the principles of religious freedom, then we can probably get somewhere.”

Why do you feel undecided?

Where did we lose the Constitution at? It’s gone. I don’t think that me voting is going to fix anything. I don’t think voting is going to fix anything for anybody.

How do you feel about President Trump?

You know, he’s done a lot of good things. I can’t say he’s done anything wrong as far as anything he’s done. The economy’s positive. He’s done a lot of good things there.

Why aren’t you planning to vote this cycle?

Because I have other things for my life to do.

Sharon Cortez is an independent from Phoenix who’s voted for both Republican Sen. John McCain and Democrat Hillary Clinton in the past. She notes that she leans Democratic but doesn’t really pick her candidates along party lines. Instead, her top two considerations are health care and veterans issues, given her husband’s five tours in Vietnam.

“My husband is 100 percent disabled from the military, so when they have a candidate talking about how they are going to react to medical issues, I listen to that real well, she says. “[Republican Rep. Martha] McSally seems to be a little less inclined to support military disabled and even people with preexisting conditions.”

While she was previously undecided on the Senate race, Cortez has already submitted her ballot for this year’s election. “I did not vote for anyone who endorsed Trump. I’m not a fan of his,” she says.

Why were you undecided?

I vote based on who it is that’s running and what I heard them say. And sometimes I don’t make up my mind until the last minute. I like to get the most knowledge I can and make my decision at the time.

What do you think of Trump?

I don’t like him. I don’t think he’s a very feeling man. I think he sees dollar signs and looks at how he can make more money. He’s not too interested in taking care of the country as much as he is in taking care of Trump.

What do you think of the Democratic and Republican Parties?

I don’t think that they’ve accomplished so much. I don’t think it’s necessarily because they are Republican or Democrat. They’re not working together for the betterment of the country. I think they’re too party-oriented.

McCain was more of an independent than straight party-line person. That’s the kind of person I like to see in office. I’m not interested in the ones that carry their Republican placard and their Democratic placard and they can’t see anything else.

Hart isn’t registered with either party and didn’t vote in 2016. He also didn’t vote in the 2014 midterms and remembers “not being interested” in politics that year.

He was previously undecided mostly because, he says, he hadn’t yet done his homework. But over the weekend, after educating himself, he went in to vote early and pulled the lever for Democrats.

What are the particular issues that are most important to you?

It’s hard to tell whether people are liars, but if people are bending their truths all the time, I think there is enough fact-checking out there where you can tell if a person does that or not.

We all go into this kind of as idiots. Some of us read as much as we can. It’s hard for me to really know whether the person will be able to technically execute their position. That’s I guess what I’m going for.

I probably lean toward socialist infrastructures. So somebody who’s overtly trying to burn down a social safety net, it’s hard for me to want to support that person.

How do you feel about the Democratic and Republican parties these days?

I feel hopeless. I’m trying to participate because I haven’t really been a big participator in my life. I’m trying to do a better job of engaging.

I have no idea what structures are going to persist, political and otherwise. There seems to be very, very intense crazy changes that are coming around to civilization, and I don’t know that any politicians are going to be able to navigate us through the waters.

Rodriguez, who lives in Surprise, Arizona, near Phoenix, is a diehard progressive Democrat in one of the reddest parts of Arizona, a dynamic that she’s well aware of. “In 2014, in my district, we didn’t have anybody in the Democratic side for most of what’s available,” she says.

This year, however, things are different. “We’re really excited in my district because we have a lot of progressive Democrats and this is the first time we’ve had Democrats in every box,” she says. Surprise is part of Arizona’s Eighth Congressional District, which backed Trump by 21 points.

Rodriguez wasn’t exactly undecided about many of her ballot picks, but she grappled with the Senate election for a bit after her candidate didn’t advance in the primary.

She is a huge proponent of immigrant rights and had mixed feelings about Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, the Democratic nominee who’s voted with Trump on several immigration bills. Rodriguez says she ultimately decided to go third-party.

What are some of your most important issues?

My top one is immigration because it affects my family on so many different issues. Number two is Medicare-for-all. I’m 100 percent for the Medicare-for-all bill and what they want to drop in Congress after the election. It would be extended to anybody who resides in the US regardless of their status. My third one is probably the education issue that’s going on here in Arizona.

What do you think of the Democratic and Republican Parties?

I feel like there are some good people in the Democratic Party but I feel like corporate America has taken over our government. I wish we had a third party that could be a contender in the race because I think it could reflect what the population wants.

Molina is a retired Republican veteran in Apache Junction, east of Phoenix, Arizona, and he’s had it with the negative campaign advertising and what he sees as “narcissistic” politicians on both sides of the aisle. Apache Junction is in the state’s firmly Republican Sixth Congressional District, which supported Trump by nearly 10 points.

Molina is fed up with both parties and says he took some time to land on a final decision for the Senate race, given his skepticism of how much one candidate can accomplish anyway.

“They can’t do anything by themselves. It doesn’t make any difference who’s up there,” he says.

How did you decide on who to vote for in the Senate race?

I didn’t vote for either one. I went for the Green Party. They cut each other so much. I wish they would just talk about themselves. The way I saw it, one is dirty and the other one is nasty.

Why do you vote?

I vote because it’s a public duty. It’s somewhat of a fallacy because we don’t vote for the people, we vote for the [Electoral] College. You vote for somebody and somebody else wins.

How do you feel about Trump?

I like him. The reason I like him is because they don’t like him. Because he’s not a cultured politician. He’s a businessman. And a businessman being a politician is like a mile runner trying to run and win a marathon.

George (who declined to provide his last name) is an independent voter who lives in Henderson, Nevada, one of Las Vegas’s biggest suburbs. He is a registered independent, who says he voted for George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton for president. He was previously undecided in the 2018 midterms, though he says he has since gone to polls and voted largely for Democrats.

While he likes to be bipartisan, George said he was breaking for the Democrats this year over two issues: guns and health care. Las Vegas was the site of the worst mass shooting in US history last year, and even as a gun owner, George worried America is too captive to the National Rifle Association.

Why were you feeling undecided and how did you make up your mind?

The closer we came to actually going and voting, not a lot was changing with the major issues like insurance and some form of gun control.

I have my own weapons, but I believe we need to put guns in the hands of good guys and have some type of testing to get it out of the hands of bad guys. We’re becoming governed by the NRA and gun manufacturers. Of course, we had the largest disaster in United States history right here in Nevada, and we’re still doing things the same old way.

What are the most important issues to you?

Health care is right up there, almost at the top of the list. The thing about it is, nobody from the conservative side is coming forth with a map. “We’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do this.” They’re saying nothing, which is very, very dangerous.

When Republicans start talking about potentially canceling the present insurance and giving you vouchers, that’s just a way for them to charge you for preexisting conditions and our country is gonna be in deep trouble if that happens.

Geiger, an independent, is Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV)’s worst nightmare. The last time Heller was up for reelection was 2012, and Geiger voted for him because he liked how bipartisan the Republican senator was.

But after Heller voted with Senate Republicans to overturn the Affordable Care Act, Geiger says he will not vote to reelect the senator. Health care is one of his most important issues — he’s on Medicaid and both of his parents are on Medicare and Social Security, two programs he’s afraid Republicans will try to gut. He doesn’t know a lot about Heller’s Democratic challenger Rep. Jacky Rosen, but he wants to send Heller a message; stand up to Trump and your party, or face the consequences.

“If he had gone up against Trump and voted against the health care bill that got beat by McCain, I would probably vote for Heller again,” Geiger told Vox.

Do you consider yourself undecided?

For the most part I’m probably going to go Democrat in this race. I try to be independent; you want to be a centrist, but both parties tend to go so far to the base that they’re not worried about the center. There are some things I’m conservative about, and there are some things I’m more liberal about. Right now, the way things are, especially with health insurance, I would have to stay with the Democratic side.

How have you voted in the past?

I almost voted for Trump, just because I thought that the House and Senate might go Democrat. But then I didn’t, which I’m glad I did not vote for him.

I don’t want to say he’s lied, but a lot of things he did say he was going to do, he hasn’t done. My mom was born in Juarez [Mexico]. I’m a first-generation immigrant, let alone a Mexican American, and he’s doing everything he can to keep Mexicans and Latin Americans out.

It seems like you are concerned about the Republican vote against the Affordable Care Act?

Not just that, I’m 50. My parents are retired, they use Social Security and Medicare. And not just them, it’s a nationwide thing that if Republicans get control and they try to get rid of Medicare and Social Security, I don’t think they realize what they’re doing to the nation.

Valtierra, a Democrat in Yuma, Arizona, says that social security and health care are her top issues, but notes that negative advertising drove her to vote for the Green Party candidate in the state’s Senate race.

Yuma is situated in Arizona’s Third Congressional District, a Democratic-leaning district that sits along the US border to Mexico and is currently represented by Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva. Valtierra isn’t happy with Trump’s presidency, but she wasn’t particularly inspired by either Kyrsten Sinema or Martha McSally as a Senate option, either.

“I wanted to stay away from both of them because neither of them had good things to say for the elderly and social security,” she notes.

Who did you end up deciding on for the Senate race?

I didn’t vote for any of the popular ones. I voted for the Green Party. I didn’t like any of the two. I didn’t like McSally and I didn’t like the other one. I saw how bad the propaganda was for both of them.

What are your top issues?

I depend on Social Security a lot. I’m disabled and I’ve been on Medicare for many years.

My husband is wondering if Medicare will even be around when he’s due to receive it. We worked all our lives to receive it and they want to take it over.

What do you think of Trump?

I really think President Trump discriminates a lot against Mexican people. He’s voiced that we are like animals to him, we’re not even human beings to him. I feel really bad, he’s very racist. He doesn’t support people who have worked really hard and we do it for low pay, too.

Original Source -> 2018’s undecided voters, explained in their own words

via The Conservative Brief

[davidcdelreal]

13 Best Online Survey and Research Sites For Money and Rewards

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While there are many ways to get ahead in life, few are as beneficial as earning more money.

By increasing your income over time, you can boost your cash savings rate, save more money for retirement, and even afford a splurge once in a while.

Ready to get started?

Surveys for Money – Quicklinks

Mysurvey

Vindale Research

Survey Junkie

E-Poll Market Research

Ipsos iSay

Inbox Dollars

Pinecone Research

Swagbucks

American Consumer Opinion

Pro Opinion

Harris Poll Online

Global Test Market

Wonder

And if having more money makes you feel more secure, you’ll probably sleep better at night, too.

Of course, it’s not always easy to increase your income. Your employer might hate giving raises, for example, or maybe overtime at work has become scarce. If that’s the case, you might need to pick up a part-time job, start a side hustle from home, or look for unorthodox ways to earn money in your spare time. Check out our post on how to become an Uber driver, this is a great side hustle because you can make your own schedule and pick up extra cash when its convenient for you.

13 Best Get Paid to take Surveys for Money Sites

If you’re short on time, and looking for how to make money fast, one of the easiest ways is with online survey sites. While the payouts can vary, these survey companies let you earn money just for answering questions, browsing the internet, and more.

Plus, unlike a part-time job with strict hours and the standard commute, you can complete surveys during your actual free time – at night when the kids are in bed, early mornings before work, or while you’re watching TV.

Mysurvey

MySurvey is actually and adaptation of a program that was started back in 1946. It began as the National Family Opinion organization that used to send out surveys through the mail. In 2001, they joined the digital age, and now they are one of the best survey sites around. According to the website, they have issued out more than $15,000,000 rewards to members.

The rewards for the MySurvey surveys are on par (or better than some) with most other sites. They offer $0.50 to $1.25 for every survey that you complete, with the shorter surveys only taking around 5 minutes to finish. When you want to cash out, you’ll have to accumulate $10, which is less than some of the other sites, and you’ll be able to get your money through a check, PayPal, Amazon gift card, or the more than 60 other gift card options. Sign up for a free mysurvey account HERE.

Vindale Research

Vindale Research isn’t going to be the highest paying survey sites, but that doesn’t mean that you should automatically eliminate it. It’s a great addition to your survey sites and can help you earn a couple of extra dollars every month. 

Vindale Research is one of the oldest survey sites out there, which means the company knows what they are doing. For every survey, you’ll get anywhere from $1 to $5, which isn’t bad money for the time that you’ll invest. Obviously, the more detailed a survey is, the more you’ll get paid.

The company also offers product evaluations that you’ll earn more cash for (because they are more time-consuming). They will give you a product or service, and you’ll be required to write an honest review on it. This can pay anywhere from $5 to $75. Sign up for Vindale Research HERE.

Survey Junkie

Survey Junkie makes it quick and easy to jump into the survey game. According to their websites, they say they are the “most popular spot online to earn cash and rewards for sharing your thoughts,” while that might not be technically true, they are one of the largest survey sites out there. They were launched all the way back in 2005 (which is pretty old for a survey site) and they have over 4,000,000 members. 

Survey Junkie uses a point system for their rewards. For every survey you complete, you’ll get anywhere from 50 – 450 points. 100 points equals $1. Unlike some of the other competition, Survey Junkie is very honest about how much you’ll make. They clearly say on their website, “You Will Not Get Rich” taking surveys. This is refreshing to see after so many websites claim you’ll be able to quit your day job and sit at home taking surveys all day.

You’ll be able to cash out your points either through PayPal or with a gift card. Survey Junkie claims you can get your cash out instantly, but this isn’t necessarily true. In most cases, if you request a payout through PayPal and it can take up to 24 hours, but in most cases it is immediate. Compared to other sites out there, this is a huge advantage. Some companies and sites can make you wait several days or even weeks. Sign up for Survey Junkie HERE. 

ePoll Market Research

One of the lesser-known survey sites is ePoll Market Research. The company was established in 1997 and helped paved the way for the hundreds of different online survey sites that we enjoy today.

While there are no clear guidelines, ePoll surveys tend to revolve around the media and entertainment business. So younger survey takers and TV/movie watchers will probably enjoy ePoll more than some of the other demographics. With ePoll, you may be required to watch a commercial, or even a TV episode and then answer questions about it on the survey. In fact, on rare occasions, ePoll will send out a movie or TV show for you to watch at home and then review on the site. These opportunities are infrequent but are a nice additional perk of using the site.

Most of the surveys take around 10-15 minutes, not counting the time it takes you to watch the required viewing if there is any. Sign up for E-Poll HERE

Ipsos iSay

iSay is not the most popular survey site out there, but it should be in the consideration when you’re looking for a place to make some extra spending money.

In most ways, iSay is identical to the other sites on the list. One thing which sets them apart is the “Poll Predictor.” If you’ve been on a survey site before, you know one of the most frustrating things is to enter a survey, answer a few questions, and then get kicked out for not qualifying. If this happens with iSay, you get asked a Poll Predictor question. These are questions like “Have you ever been overseas?” and you have to guess what percentage of people said yes. The closer you are to the right answer; the more chances you get for winning the prize drawing.

How much are you going to earn using iSay? Their payouts are average compared to the other survey sites out there. Just like with other sites, the amount you get paid is going to differ depending on the length of the survey. You’ll need to accumulate at least 500 points (equals $5) before you can request a payout with PayPal or transfer the money to a gift card. Sign up for iSay HERE. 

Inbox Dollars

With Inbox Dollars, you’ll earn cash for an array of activities. In addition to earning rewards for completing surveys and questionnaires, you can also get paid to surf the internet, play games, print grocery coupons, and shop online. Best of all, signing up is absolutely free!

If you use the InboxDollars site regularly, you can usually earn up to $20 or $30 per month for your various activities. Plus, you’ll get a $5.00 credit just for signing up!

Sign up for InboxDollars here

Swagbucks

Swagbucks was one of the first paid survey sites to appear on the internet, but it has grown to offer more options and more fun ways to earn money with each passing year. With Swagbucks, you’ll earn points for shopping online, watching videos, searching the web, and answering surveys.

When it comes to redeeming your points, a wide range of gift cards are some of the best options on the Swagbucks website. If doing surveys for gift cards is not your thing, you can also redeem your points for PayPal cash.

Signing up for Swagbucks is easy and, best of all, it’s free! If you want to see all the different ways to earn money with Swagbucks, click here to get started.

Pinecone Research

Pinecone Research works a lot like other paid survey sites. Once you sign up, you’ll earn points for each survey you complete. As an added bonus, the responses you give during surveys will help you learn about new products before they hit the market and influence their respective marketing campaigns. And once you start racking up the points, you can redeem them for cash or prizes.

While you have plenty of options when it comes to redeeming your points, Pinecone research is also one of the few online survey sites that will actually send you a check in the mail instead of making you redeem for gift cards or merchandise.

If you’re interested in figuring out how much you can earn, sign up for Pinecone Research here.

American Consumer Opinion

While it might be hard to believe at first, American Consumer Opinion will pay you real, actual money to share your opinions and complete online surveys. Once you join their online opinion panel, you’ll be asked to offer opinions on new products you have tried, test out new advertising campaigns, and tell companies what you think of their marketing techniques and slogans.

Payouts from American Consumer Opinion vary, but your payout will come in the form of “points” you can redeem for cash. You can also get your cash through PayPal if you want, and redemptions start at 1,000 points or $10.

Get started with American Consumer Opinion here!

Pro Opinion

With Pro Opinion, you’ll get paid to answer questions in your field of expertise. In addition, you’ll provide valuable research that is used to create expert responses and articles on the Pro Opinion website.

After you sign up, you’ll receive surveys on various topics and products via email. Once you complete these surveys and build up a stash of “points,” you can redeem them for cash via PayPal, purchases made through Amazon.com, or gift cards to various retailers. As an alternate suggestion, you can even redeem your rewards as a donation to the Red Cross.

To get started, you’ll need to offer quite a few personal details including your gender, home address, birth date, employment status, education level, and household income. After that, however, you’ll be matched with surveys that line up with your individual strengths and existing wealth of knowledge.

Interested in learning more? Sign up with Pro Opinion here.

Harris Poll Online

Like American Consumer Opinion, Harris Poll Online offers cash incentives to people who are willing to log in regularly and complete online surveys and questionnaires. Once you join, you’ll begin earning rewards for each survey you take. Once you earn enough reward “points”, you can turn them in for purchases made on websites like Amazon, iTunes, Home Depot and Walmart. Conversely, you can also turn in your points for movies, books, and home goods ordered straight from the Harris Poll website. Plus, you’ll be entered into a $10,000 sweepstakes each time you complete a survey.

While exact payouts per survey aren’t advertised and can vary quite a bit anyway, Harris Poll Online is free to join and the rewards can be lucrative if you use the website often enough.

Click here to learn more about joining Harris Poll Online and how you can earn cash in your spare time.

Global Test Market

Global Test Market is one of the rare survey sites that has received accreditation from the BBB. They are one of the most diverse survey sites that include topics of anything from cars to movies.

Just like the other survey sites, every time you complete one of the surveys, you’ll receive anywhere from 35-250 points, which equals about $1.50 to $1.75 per a survey. Once you rack up enough cash to payout (which you’ll have to accumulate at least $50), you’ll have several different options to receive your money. You can get your money through a check, through your PayPal account, or redeem it for gift cards.

In addition to getting points for each survey, you’ll also be entered into monthly cash drawings. Sure, there is no guarantee, but it’s a nice additional incentive. Sign up for Global Test Market HERE.

Wonder

Unlike the other paid survey sites on this list, Wonder will actually hire you to conduct independent research on a wide range of topics. In that sense, Wonder offers much more of a “part-time job” than a side hustle you can complete in your spare time.

If you meet their criteria and get hired, you’ll conduct expert research on anything from historical events to government laws and regulations. In turn, that research is used by professionals who pay to use this service.

Earnings vary highly depending on your level of skill and the amount of time you spend finding the crucial details your clients need. Still, this is a great way to earn some money online and from the comfort of your own home.

You can read more about Wonder and where it works here.

  How to Get the Most Out of the Best Online Survey Sites

The allure of “free money” can be hard to walk away from, especially if you can earn that money just by clicking around on the internet a few times per day. Still, there are plenty of ways to maximize the amount of money, merchandise, and gift cards you earn over time. Here are some tips that can help:

Sign up for every legitimate online survey site you can find.

While you can earn money from any of these sites fairly easily, the amount of money you can earn from each might be limited. If you have plenty of time on your hands, it can pay to sign up for several online survey sites and participate in each.

The more surveys and online tasks you complete, the more money you’ll earn over time. You may even find that a few sites are your favorites this way, or that one site ends up helping you net more cash than the others. Regardless, you won’t really know how each works until you try them out.

Watch out for scams.

While every online survey site mentioned in this post is absolutely legitimate, there are some “copy cat” websites and even fraudulent websites out there.

If a website is making wild claims about free money or asks for more personal information than you feel comfortable giving, that’s a good indicator that they are up to no good. Make sure to read reviews and follow up with research to make sure a website is legitimate before you begin using them. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Set aside time to complete surveys each day.

If you feel like you don’t have time to complete surveys, you’re not alone. Most of us live busy lives, and it can be difficult to keep up, let alone take on a new side hustle.

Still, if you watch television each day, then you have plenty of time to complete surveys online. Simply turn on your favorite show and complete survey questions during the commercial breaks. If you like some quiet time at night, that’s also a great time to earn extra money through online search or complete a few online surveys while you relax.

The Bottom Line

The best online survey sites will reward you for everything from searching the internet to watching targeted videos, opening emails, completing surveys, and giving your honest opinions on products and services.

But to get your hands on that free and easy money, you have to sign up first!

Have you ever earned money through an online survey site? Why or why not?

The post 13 Best Online Survey and Research Sites For Money and Rewards appeared first on Good Financial Cents.

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