#theyre mostly based off of 2012

[builtlikeastickofcelery]

I BROKE. TIME TO INFODUMP

FIRSTLY: this is mostly based off of 2012 with some rise influence.

In this au splinter is absent for most of their early lives due to him believing his kids would be safer without the foot targeting him (i promise there’s a plot to this but for now its gonna be silly). And since theres gonna be a plot thats about it ! Oh also they met april at 11 yrs old I think and Casey just a little bit before the story starts

ANWAY HAVE SOME BULLET POINTS

Casey tries to do their own facial piercings

The piercings almost always get infected

They have to go to donnie for help

April wears her iconic hat to hide her dark roots (shes not a real ginger!!)

Leo is technically the second-oldest they just have a complex

the turtles steal most of their food

April goes to a bouldering gym and can scale buildings

Casey plays roller derby

donnie is the oldest despite the fact that they’re all 15

None of them could cook until the age of 12

They all play dnd passionately

donnie is the oldest because he said he scientifically proved (lied) it and everyone else called dibs on who would be next oldest (raph and Leo agreed to tie)

now take some character blurb thingies that go by age

April: april is 16 and has a driver’s license (could technically be a junior in hs but she’s not), shes very cool and accidentally went ginger at some point then just decided she liked it?? No one knows. They go to a lot LOT of concerts and also rock climbs and she loves women. Also a drummer in a band called smth that i will figure out later. Definitely takes a lot of responsibility for the wellbeing of the turtles due to their situation but like subtly. they for sure got their own issues but chooses to ignore em a lot of the time. Only child (lameee)

Donnie: hes 15 and pretends hes biologically the oldest (he is not they’re all the same age). he made all the blueprints for the lair once it was decided it was too small. hes very good at stealing stuff which is how he gets most of his materials, learned how to hack into ATMS a while ago but thinks it’s morally wrong (only used in desperate measures). Doesn’t mind not being the leader since he knows his claims of being the oldest are total bs but definitely adopted an oldest child mentality. Keeps a lot of problems a secret from his “younger” brothers and mostly talks to april about it. Extremely silly. Main doctor but also very squeamish specifically about bones (not broken bones, just the concept). Purple everything. He has access to every one of his sibling’s internet accounts he just doesn’t tell them about it. Also the main cook, since he would try and read whatever books they could find in dumpsters, especially when they were kids. Shares leo’s space interests less because of a show and more because of science stuff. Didn’t like Casey at first but they got close super fast later on. He is the best thief out of all of them (shhhh).

Casey: also 15, in april’s grade. Knows april from Spanish tutoring despite the fact they’re latine (haha if im violently whiteified my little guys have to be too) very into punk subculture and roller derby and also engineering/mechanics (I’m very excited to show off his vigilante equipment). Constantly does dumb shit for no apparent reason. Very much similar to 2012 casey (says “thats so metal dudes” anytime anything horrifying/dangerous happens). They also have had weird unspoken tension with everyone completely by accident and cant stop falling off of buildings. They have zero fighting skills or training but somehow haven’t died yet. Missing one tooth, top of the mouth next to his right canine (replaced with a glow-in-the-dark plastic one don’t ask them how it stays in).

Leo: 15, self-proclaimed second oldest and leader. (they have a complex probably) they’re only the leader because [HAHAHAHA PLOT AND BACKSTORY] and everyone else just stuck with it. They try very very hard to be silly and goofy but are also constantly anxious, not specifically about their siblings but like in general. Very very hesitant, prefers stealth (and stupid jokes) to direct confrontation. very close with raph since they’re “twins” (all of them are the same age). Intense sci-fi/space obsession, they’ve watched every single episode of their world’s equivalent to Star Trek (and all the movies) and also had a huge nonfiction phase which is still ongoing, fueled by stolen textbooks and endless internet videos . They also write fanfiction (secretly and make fun of other people who do to throw off their siblings it doesn’t work at all). They are so so lame and i love them so much.

Raph: 15, also second oldest, very very overprotective but like low-key about it. Super close with april and leo. Does all the confrontation and has accidentally been confused to be the leader of the team (CONSTANTLY ends up in hostage situations to the point it’s almost funny). ALLERGIC to Feelings he will Die if he has to talk about things so he mostly vents by tearing up his room and then feeling bad abt it. Made donnie help him find leo’s fanfics and then swore him to secrecy forever. Very distrustful, secretly super artsy, weirdly obsessed with messing with ppls hair (probably because he is surrounded by bald ppl). Also secretly a fashion icon, he has a disguise specifically so he can go to the mall with april and look at clothes for fun. He is physically the strongest out of everyone and has a really bad habit of using himself as their meat shield. Accidentally very very silly dude.

Mikey: 15 the Absolute Youngest by request. He is objectively the best fighter but is constantly being sidetracked by his siblings taking hits/taking out enemies for him (look theyre all just Like That). Really really smart when in a crisis, but for some reason not in a low pressure situation. She tries to cook but ultimately prefers baking. He’s also good at building things, so he usually hangs out with donnie in his workshop and made a lot of the lair’s furniture though he somehow can’t build anything from ikea. Also knows about leo’s fanfic career and accepted a bribe of a hubcap chandelier (?) to not tell anyone. Leo never made him a chandelier but at this point she has completely forgotten about it. Is secretly a beta reader for the fics and pretends she doesn’t know leo, except for when he describes very very distinct details of their home as suggestions for a room or something. Will continue to do this until leo either has a nervous breakdown or realizes it’s him. 

PLEASE ASK ME MORE ABOUT HTESE GUYS IM BEGGING YOU AUGHGHGGH

[beetleviolet]

Let's talk about Bishop from TOTTMNT

(Tw sibling death)

@hahachiknfunny

Ok. I'm going to just get this out of the way at the beginning.

I HATE THIS CHARACTER

And not in a "aaa this villain makes me so mad bc they're evil" no I mean I hate the way her character is developed and justified.

IF YOU DISAGREE PLEASE DO EXPLAIN I WOULD QUITE GENUINLY LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT IT!!!

So I am still working my way through a lot of different tmnt series (currently alternating between 2012 and 2003), so I don't have a lot of experience with the usual Bishop character. Based on the little I know about him (mostly from fanfiction), my general impression was that he was this bigoted white guy who was like. A mutant nazi or something. He hates mutants because they are different, they are "flawed", and therefore they are a threat. I figured he was just a hateful asshole, and hadn't thought about it more then that.

But for this, they decided to go in a different direction. The ✨tragic backstory✨ direction. Which is a pretty good direction! IF you do it right. Which, in my humble opinion, THEY ABSOLUTELY DID NOT!!!!

Ok let's get some actual points here!

When we get Josefina Bishop's backstory, she starts as this passionate, nice character who is eager to achieve her robot building dreams. Nothing about her is mean or hating or anything of the sort. She is exasperated by Rod, but doesn't say anything incredibly bitter to him, she's just frustrated being forced to work with this rich guys man child. Which yeah! Thats fair! She has a sister who died and who is the inspiration of her work. Awesome!

And then her workshop is destroyed.

Let me just add. She is being funded by a millionaire. She probably has insurance! Her sister is in no way harmed by these events. And yet her response to property damage is DOMESTIC FUCKING TERRORISM.

She immediately gets bitter and revenge-filled, deciding that she should exterminate ALL THE MUTANTS!!!

You know, the mutants that were helping fight Superfly? The enemies of the one who destroyed her work? THEYRE LITERALLY ON HER SIDE???

And not only does this hatred of Superfly extend to the turtles.

SHE ALMOST KILLS A SUBWAY TRAIN FULL OF PEOPLE!!!

Because, of course "iTs A sMaLL pRicE tO PaYyYyyy"

Bestie. Honey. Girlfriend.

Its just. Weird to me? It doesn't seem very thought out. I would have loved a kind of change up from the usual Bishop themes, but just because its different and new isn't an excuse for it to suck!

IT TOTALLY COULD HAVE WORKED AND HERE IS HOW.

Nickelodeon needs to stop being a bitch and kill off her sister during the Superfly conflict.

Its very clearly what they WANTED to do. Its like the original concept was that her sister died, but that was considered too violent, so they took that out, but then didn't replace it with something else. And they tried so hard to be like "ohhh its about my sisterrrr" GIRL WHAT THIS IS ABOUT SUPERFLY DESTROYING YOUR SHIT AND YOU BEING BUTT HURT ABOUT IT.

And another thing! For a character to turn evil, they have to SNAP! And a character can't snap unless they are already under enough pressure to make that a threat.

Make her be cruel to Rod. Have her be control freak who has to have all the variables perfectly in place. Bitter about the sponsors that doubted and rejected her. Make her already angry at the world, have the only thing that matters to her be her robots and her sister, the two things that were always at her side. And then one day Superfly kills her sister and destroys her lifes work. Yes, she can rebuild the robots. Not the sister though, and making them without her is such an empty and performative motion.

Mutants have gotten people killed. They're too dangerous, its too much of a risk.

This mindset would make so much more sense if they just HAD SUPERFLY KILL HER SISTER LIKE OMG.

Also she had several direct conversations with the turtles, so she was well aware they were intelligent beings.

ALSO! She didn't target the mutants who used to work with Superfly. That would TOTALLY make sense even without the sister thing!

But no. She had to kill the TURTLES. The ones who are widely acknowledged and widely known to be the ones to stop Superfly and save NYC and the world.

But you know what? Maybe i could let that go. Its a kids show, right? And I did like her recovery arc at the end.

Until they. You know. COMPLETELY UN DID ALL OF THAT!!!!

I thought that maybe Bishop will be like. Idk a spy for the mutants or something, like a double agent, but tbh based on the previous writing of her character, I wouldn't put it past the writers to just. Have her do a complete 180. I'm just mad she's going to be a reoccurring character.

Anyway. I kinda hate to dump on this show so much bc I love (most) everything else about it. Bishop was the lowest point to me by far.

[single-malt-scotch]

nebtho masterpost

alright. alright its time, ive put together enough for this-- this is more so a means to expose/explain to new fans an old era of mcyt thats is kinda hard to access. admittedly i only kept this to nebris/etho because itd just be too hard to piece all missing bits of Death Games together.... its not nearly as wild or in depth as present day things but its dear to me.... old fan art/fic is what got me obsessed w these two back in the day and their dynamic is fun!! and i think its worth exposing ppl to some of this old etho lore :)

nebris+ethoslab was a popular pair back in 2012-2014 era Mindcrack fandom. i assume most of yall know who etho is but nebris was also a member of the server. He was often regarded as cunning and sly, and referred to as "cheaty nebris" for various reasons (whether it was the insane amount of obsidian he managed to acquire for his base, or how he miraculously survived a fight in UHC while barely losing a heart). now why did they become a popular pair?? well.

Death games-- Etho's "game" he came up with in mindcrack s3, is mostly where it took off. They had many interactions in the forms of pranks and whatnot prior (nebris with 'team america', pranking team canada), but this is kinda where a dynamic formed-- Etho's pov starts with him getting back at mcgamer and nebris for killing pause multiple times (streamed here). The game's rules are that etho kills them a total of four times, or they can kill each other to reduce the kill count on their heads. This is definitely where etho gained his reputation of being scary back then lol. Nebris' first perspective on the matter is here.

in both of those first videos, Etho's ganged up on them in a livestream with nebris, mc, and millbee when they went to his base... in which he quickly kills them off with ease. From there is escalates!

s3 death games encounters (from oldest onward) are here:

Nebris pov, july 4th, 2012 - nebris falls to his death when trying to fight etho. a fun fact: nebris tried to keep etho out by blocking his portal with clay... since etho wouldnt break clay.

Etho pov, july 5th, 2012 - same episode as above, also showing how etho had a secret room right behind nebris' bed, which allowed him to die and respawn there without using a portal.

Etho pov, july 6th, 2012 - in which etho attempts and succeeds at killing nebris.

Nebris pov, july 6th, 2012 - same episode as etho's from that day.

theres undoubtedly potentially more bits of interactions out there and that is one of the problems of these old videos... theres lots of them, theyre long, and not all the titles give away if its related. Eventually i will build a more solid playlist but this is just death games!

there is a good backlog of fanfiction out there, i can tell you that. dig into the depths of dreamwidth, even. im sure theres quite a lot of fan art strewn across tumblr entirely untagged. regardless, its was surely one the first popular ships that characterized etho in his exaggerated mysterious self that people do with him today.

[angelmichelangelo]

I NEED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THS HUMAN AU!! *please* ^.^

AH okay :)

um so it's a human au, duh. and leo is like 17, raph + don are twins that are like 13 and mikey is just a baby at 10! (not even a teen yet lol) and they have a prettttyy deadbeat mom, dads are not even in the picture (leo&mike have the same dad and then obviously raph&donnie have the same dad) and they bounce from group home to foster home where they meet friends along the way :D like casey n april and whatnot but eventually theyre like. screw this. and they run away to evade the crappy system.

and uh yeAH! they just deal with their traumas and cope with their terrible childhood. i'd like for it to get. a tad dark just because i do quite enjoy stories like that but idk how well it will translate and whether people will even enjoy a fic like that.. but like i said. i just kinda think about this AU more than i actually write any of it lol

also i really want leatherhead to be like. a REALLY cool social worker that is like old and nice as heck and one of the first good positive adult figures in the boys lives. idek what iteration its based off (mostly 2012 really) but taking a lot of the meat n potatoes from the idw verse character wise :)

its not really super fleshed out, i have some big plot points i'd love to include but its mostly just an idea. but i think its neat :) i have another.. much sadder....... snippet if anyone wants to have a peek, but from a perspective much further into the future. the irony that i've written flashbacks and flashforwards yet NONE of the main story is not lost on me lmao but yeah. dont get me started with this au because i will not be able to stop talking about it !!

thanks for asking though! appreciate ya pal :3

[gemsofthegalaxy]

Tbh i usually end up blaming Endgame for making FAWS and Bucky feel hollow in that show but honestly, some of my problems with FAWS Bucky go all the way back to what should have been Cap 3 (and presumably aou but i dont remember anything about that stupid film)

I just feel like- i do like some of the characterization we get with Bucky in FAWS (and at least it's not like Black Widow where she's already dead) but it also feels maybe a biiiiiit too little, too late? Maybe that's a problem i have??

Like, i know we got glimpses of him in Cap 3, IW and Endgame but idk. Woulda sure been nice for the fucking Captain America movie to deal most heavily with Captain America's story, which was set up to be About Bucky

Looking back at First Avenger, Bucky was Steve's best friend and then motivating factor for getting directly involved in fighting (damsel in distress move). He was both a character and a plot device, in my opinion. The story is how Steve lost him, and it puts some players into place for the next marvel films, but it's fairly contained until Steve ends up in 2012.

and then again in Winter Soldier, Steve's fight is all about Bucky, but we don't get to learn too much about Bucky because he's still being actively brainwashed. He has a bit of characterization, but he's mostly a damsel. a very dangerous damsel, but still. The HYDRA plotline emerges and impacts the MCU going forward, while still offering the semi-contained narrative with Bucky the Winter Soldier. Steve lost Bucky in the first movie and Bucky recognizes him again by the end of WS but they're still held apart by circumstance. which... should probably be resolved in Captain America three, right? because Bucky's been key to the first two, right?

Again in Civil War, Steve is fighting for Bucky, sure, but coupled with the Civil War/Accords plotline... it amounts to him still not getting much characterization or actual time with Steve. Which is odd, given how cohesive the 3 Cap-specific movies would have been otherwise as a, like, trilogy with an emotional through-line. Hm.

As an aside: maybe i'm wrong because i haven't rewatched a lot of the later marvel films, but to add insult to injury, it feels like Civil War never ended up having such a huge impact on the MCU? Like. I guess retroactively it does in Black Widow, and yada yada Cap was on the run. but by Infinity War they have to work together again or some shit so theyre okay enough to get along. And with regard to the laws that came into order, it's not like Steve OR Tony has ever followed a rule in his life, and theyre both retired anyway. Post IW/Endgame the world ends up so Catastrophically fucked up by the blip that the accords aren't even a pressing thought anymore. So... It was another multi movie plotline that ended up being kinda whatever in the end, and it was never all that compelling in the first place because Steve having to choose between New Family and Old Family was hollow, he and Tony never had a chance to truly be friends.

SO, i just wished that they had've gone with a more contained, Cap 3 specific plotline that actually focused on Bucky as a character again, rather than him and "the avengers family" as Plot Devices, and let the Thanos fight being the One Big Thing that was hinted and built up this whole time?

like, i know marvel does actually have a Tall Order with telling both a satisfying contained/one off story while also setting up new future stuff. But, i think it's actually been the case that some of their worst work falls into "spends too much time setting up players for the future" especially when they don't manage the emotional or character based consistency anyway!!!!!!

Which, last aside here, is yet another issue with Falcon and Winter Soldier- Sam and Bucky did have real good moments, but there was too goddamn much going on!! There were like 3 or 4 villains/prominent characters reintroduced (Zemo, Sharon/powerbroker, John Walker Cap. possibly the flagsmashers if they come back. Arguably Valentina tho hers was a quick introduction) and i get it, they gotta put that worldbuilding somewhere, and this is the most Mainstream of their limited series so far so it'll get a lot of traction, but.... like maybe they coulda doubled the length of the series? and actually gave it time to breath?

Anyway, all this to say, Bucky in FAWS feels weird and possibly a little hollow not ONLY because he doesn't react to Steve abandoning him (which is still glaring), but also because he has barely been a character for like 4 movies by now. If he had have actually been front and centre in the narrative, and the plot of Cap 1&2 was actually resolved emotionally all the way back in Cap 3, maybe things would feel a bit different.

In conclusion, fuck civil war. and for good measure, fuck endgame steve. All my besties hate endgame steve

(ps. If Civil War didn't need to involve all of the Avengers and their grandmothers, it could also have served as better development for Nat and Sam given their prominence in the Cap plotlines, which may have also aided FAWS in the long run too. but yeah)

[sunbellylou]

ask for writers !!

thank you @tomlinvelvetfics​ for tagging me! and thank you @soldouthaz for making this tag!

1. describe how you first started writing and when you first posted: i’ve been writing for years now, i started with het (ew!) 1d fics in portuguese back in 2011, it was actually those little imagines we used to write, don’t know if anyone remembers hehe. i posted them on a facebook page i was part of and i remember the first thingy i wrote was something with niall, but i really don’t remember any details (but was probably bad as heck since i was 11).

my first larry fic i probably wrote around 2012 when i found out the gay fanfics world haha, i don’t remember what it was or anything tbh, in my head i always wrote and posted gay fanfic.

my first fanfic in english was a little one shot (like 400 words honestly), it was a translation of a previous work i wrote portuguese. i posted it a year and a half ago and it’s called playground love (please don’t look).

2. which of your characters do you typically resonate most closely with? do you base any characters off of yourself?:  i usually write from harry’s pov because i love love l o v e describing louis and how angelic he is, so usually i tend to see louis as this ethereal ish character, cause it’s usually about harry falling in love with him. so whether i like it or no, i tend to be closer to harry’s characters in my fics, i always like to put a bit of myself on him and make the character real, you know?

3. where do you often find inspiration?: honestly? anything! i’ve written fics inspired by tumblr posts, tweets, pictures, songs, movies, things that happened in my real life, books. i literally wrote a pwp because i couldn’t stop thinking about leather pants (go read my robin hood au).

4. has quarantine helped or hindered your writing process?: in the beginning it was really helping me, i’d stay up till 4am everyday just writing like crazy, but then i got into the worst writer’s block and didn’t write shit for months. (and of course right when i started getting new ideas, i started working so i have no free time).

5. do you listen to music/noise while you write or do you prefer silence? always listen to music, all the time. i can’t do anything without music. mostly because my brain is a mess and music helps me concentrate. i usually go for some chill songs, some indie pop and stuff.

6. what is your biggest writing pet peeve in your writing or in general?: oh my god, when i’m writing and two or more paragraphs start with the same word, one after the other. it drives me crazy!!!! and sometimes i spend hours looking for ways to word differently the sentences, just so i don’t have two paragraphs starting with “the”.

also when my paragraphs are two (or one) lines long, i can’t! it has to have three or more lines.

7. describe your ideal writing setup: at the dining table, in the middle of the night, with some soft music playing in the background and some popcorn with me!

8. favorite time of day to write?: well, just said it hehe i like writing at night.

9. favorite genre to write + one you’d like to try writing in the future?: woah, that’s tough because i literally write any genres! i really love writing fantasy and horror stuff, but i feel like it’s not really well accepted in the fandom? (spec horror). and when people like it, they only read from bigger authors so i usually keep myself from writing those. aaand tbh i probably already wrote most of fic genres out there, so there isn’t much left to try.

10. do you struggle with writer’s block? how do you typically overcome it?  i’m writer’s block bitch and i do not know how to overcome her

11. what is the easiest part of your writing process and the most difficult? outlining tbh, i usually don’t (and it comes back to kick me in the ass). i always have too many ideas at the same time and can’t stick to one, so outlining and finding the right plot is really hard.

12. how do you come up with original characters? (if applicable): lately i haven’t really had the chance to come up with ocs, but when i wrote original books (not fanfics and stuff), i usually started with the gender and one outstanding personality trait and went from there.

13. what is your favorite and least favorite word?  i love the words ethereal and breeze, omg you’ll find them A LOT on my fics. and my least favorite word is growl.

14. what is one thing about your writing that you’re really proud of and one thing you hope to continue working at?: i think i describe the vibez in the scene really well, it’s my favorite thing to do. and i need to work more on building my sentences, because theyre always supermessy.

15. what work of yours has your favorite ‘verse/world building? how did you come up with it?:  definitely the fic i’m working on right now! i’m putting so much work on the world building since it’s a fantasy fic, so i’m planning every little detail about it. i hope other people like it too when they read it !!

16. what font and size do you write in? single spaced or double?: comic sans, 12pt, single spaced. don’t come at me.

17. what is a typo(s) you find yourself making consistently?: because english isn’t my first language, i always change like ‘th’ for ‘d’ (because it has a similar sound in portuguese), so catch me typing ‘de’ instead of ‘the’ or ‘dey’ instead of ‘they’.

18. (if applicable) do you separate fic writing from fandom?: i didn’t understand the question so i’m pretending i never read it hehe

19. what emotion is your favorite to write? which is the most difficult?: my favorite to write is probably,,, love/adoration, like harry looking at louis like he’s the whole world and thinking about how amazing he is? i love it.

and the most difficult is probably anger, i find it really hard to write like fights and stuff like that because usually i make the characters sound more sad than angry.

20. what is one thing you hope readers always take away from your works?: i never thought about that but,,, i hope they start finding joy in small things that happen in their day. that’s something i use a lot in my fics and i think it’s very important to bring it to real life. like enjoy that late night tea, showering in the morning, spending a summer day in the house, cleaning, etc.

21. what is the best and worst writing advice you’ve ever received?: i think the best advice is one i got from someone i no longer talk to, they told me this when i first started writing in english and it is to stop trying to write fancy or like native english speakers, because it’s much better to write simple sentences that i’m confident about than write sentences with words i barely know how to use.

and the worst advice is TO OUTLINE! i know i should maybe i dont know but leave me alone, i hate outlining bye

22. which one of your works would you most want to see turned into a film/television show?:  ok so,,, it’s a book i wrote like three years ago with original characters. it’s called great evil and i wrote it in portuguese. it’s full of violence and acid humor, about a very evil and sarcastic demon and an angry hunter. (one day i’ll translate that book and turn it into a larry fic)

23. do you write scenes chronologically or out of order?: chronologically. always

24. how do you handle criticism?: really bad. please be careful with what words you use. i’m already really hard on myself when it comes to my writing, so sometimes someone says something and (it might be dramatic but) i feel my world crumbling and i want to stop writing right away.

25. what is the advice you would give to someone who is looking to start writing?:  just,,, do it. there’s no right or wrong way to do it. there’s no such thing as too much or too little, bad or good plots. every idea is a good idea. write it for yourself, write something you like. go ahead and just do it. there’s always someone out there who will enjoy your work, no matter what.

26. what kind of feedback on your work always makes your day?: any comments make my day tbh, if you comment on my fic i’ll be forever grateful and will be smiling like a fool the whole day. honestly, even a “omg i loved it” comment can make my day.

27. which fic ‘verse of your own would you most like to exist in? which fic’s characters would you most like to befriend?: the one i’m writing 100%, please i want to live in a fantasy world. i wanna live in the water kingdom and have faerie louis as my king please.

and i’d like to befriend louis from my fic kiss me in your chevrolet, he’s a sweetheart and i must protecc.

28. what do you always enjoy getting asks about/wish people would ask about more?: anything! i rarely get asks so anything is good hehe

29. what has writing added to your life? how has it changed you?: it’s such a big part of my life, i spent all my teenage years writing and it really is what built my personality. it helped me being more creative with all aspects of my life and take life lightly, enjoy little things and moments. 

30. why do you write?: i just love having ideas and putting out there, playing with words and finding new ways to describe daily things.

boost yourself + tags!

1a. share the last sentence you wrote:

The path through the dense forest, covered in slippery rocks and burning trees is already difficult enough, but it becomes ten times worse when you’re being pestered by small, demonic creatures. 

2a. describe the wip you’re most excited about:

i’m honestly only working on one fic right now and i’m super duper excited about it

3a. share the piece of dialogue from one of your works you’re most proud of:

"I mean, I still don't plan on watching Star Wars, so…" 

The boy groans playfully, throwing his head back and Louis' eyes are suddenly really interested in the column of the guy's throat. 

"Americans really have no culture." He shoulders Louis slightly, warmth spreading through Louis' dainty shoulder and making him trip to the side lightly. With a faux outraged scoff, Louis waves a dismissing hand. 

“What do British people know about culture? All you do is drink tea and talk about the weather all day,” Louis teases with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. “Also, Star Wars is American, just so you know.” He rolled his eyes playfully, feeling surprisingly comfortable in his presence.

Skater Boy sighs comically, shaking his head, his wavy locks falling gracefully on the sides of his face and Louis can’t stop thinking about how soft his hair must be. 

“You got me there.”

not posted but i kinda like it (i’m not really good with dialogues, so it was really hard to find one lmao)

4a. share the best first and last lines from your work(s): I will do only those that are already published:

best first lines are from a halloween fic i never finished: 

Louis’ blue eyes snap open. His heart pounds fast inside his rib cage, making something as easy as breathing almost impossible. Sweat drenches his body and he feels like drowning. He feels too awake and wary as his breathing calms down, as well as his grips on the sheets under him loosen.

best last lines are from my 2019 BLFF there’s more than one place to call home: 

Their life was utter chaos, and they were definitely complete opposites, and sometimes Harry wished Louis would just shut the hell up, but at the same time, Harry wouldn’t change a single thing about his life, because he had Louis, and that was all that mattered to him. 

5a. link the last fic you read: it was the devil's in the details by @raspberryoatss​

6a. link the last work you published: you could take a lick (but it’s too cold to bite me)

7a. link to your ao3 (if applicable): cinnamons

8a. someone that inspires you: louis hehe 

9a. a comfort fic/work that you’ve been grateful for this year: tbh i don’t read a lot of fics, but there’s this work a friend of mine wrote. it was in portuguese and she ended up deleting it but it’s amazing.

10a. other writers that you’d like to tag! @bottomlwt @raspberryoatss 

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte liveblog - 2012 annual

iirc the annual takes place between 7 and 8, or something. whatever, im gonna go for it

shifts in art style always throw me off phewwww

i cant remember what theyre doing but i find it really funny that first aid is there squaring the fuck up to punch shit

ah yes of course how could i forget the time they shrunk down to fight tiny robots in ultra magnus’s head. a comic classic 

poor magnus lmao

HBJSDKFBSHJFDHJSD HIS TERRIFYING SMILE HAUNTS MY NIGHTMARES. LOVE IT

love the continuation of magnus’s law-vision

the fact that everyone is dunking on magnus for smiling ONCE hvbhjdksbfjks

rewind and chromedome ough

i feel like cyclonus spends 90% of his early mtmte screentime staring broodingly out of windows lmao 

tg so precious

lmaooo i love the flashes of rodimus saying ‘til all are one’ All The Time

rodimus just wants to be like his dad ok

rodimus telling drift to go meditate or something vbhjfdbhdsjkf

i love rodimus calling magnus out on referring to himself in the third person lmaoooo but also I'm like Oh I See That [eyes emoji]

wish i had emojis on the computer sigh

lmao so the circle of light is a bunch of pacifists With Big Ass Swords

them betting on how long it'll take rodimus to say ‘til all are one’ vbkjsdhbfjhkhsdf

damn so ambulon rlly did switch sides late in the game 

cyclonus is here!! being an emotionally closed-off fool as usual 

nooo rodimus let tailgate speak

cant believe rodimus graffiti’d tailgate

drift, immediately: rodimus is FUCKING POSSSESSED 

ratchet: ok, no, 

godddd everything abt the galactic counsel here is so funny. ‘its big - its grey - its taxpayer funded’ hvbkjshdbfjkdf and the fact that their ship is called ‘the benign intervention’ lmaooo

also DAMN that is a BIG ASS SHIP 

‘a fleshling in a stupid hat’ i love rodimus and his irrational hatred of hats

magnus comin in CLUTCH with the dry-ass clauses shit 

rewind vhjbdskfbaksdfn ‘the sub-section 7 defense - sneaky’ ily

tailgate hvbhjadkfbjskdf its ok that you don't know what's going on

also tailgate serves a vital role in the story as the audience insert character (or w/e its called), bc he’s often confused which allows for handy exposition that we the audience also need lmao 

i find it so interesting to see how the cybertronians are viewed by the rest of the galaxy - we don't see a lot of aliens but its always fascinating when we do, because of COURSE they’re mostly gonna think of the cybertronians as destructive and war-like when that’s what they’ve been up to for 4 million years 

ooof swerve :( swerve is one of those characters who you’re like ‘haha he’s funny’ most of the time but pretty often he’ll have startling moments of like, deep pain about life or w/e, and you’re like Oh Shit and then you kinda move on, until finally the swearth arc hits and it all comes together. what I'm saying is that this is some nice building towards that 

HGDSBJFKJSJBDF THERE IT IS THERE IT ISSSSSSSSSS

THE PANEL WHERE REWIND IN ALT MODE CAN FLY FOR SOME REASONNNNNN

i fucking love that shot so much. does everyone see this. rewind is a GIANT FUCKIN FLASHDRIVE and he’s hovering ominously thru the air. like, what happened to all the biz from issue 1 or w/e where his husband was roasting him for having a non-mobile altmode? if he can fucking HOVER than Actually rewind is the fucking coolest, no contest 

or like, is the implication that they all teleported there (having switched to alt mode along the way i guess?) and rewind is just like, suspended in midair? bc that's what the speed bubble text implies, but it also totally looks like they're just travelling across the area and rewind can levitate

anyways. that panel has always cracked me up lmaoooo

rodimus calling the council ‘fascists’ hvbhduifbjsdjfajskf sir i love you 

GODDD and there's the joke payoff from a few issues ago - rewind, facing front, hearing drift transform behind him and not only being able to tell its drift without looking, but also being able to tell that drift is upset, JUST like chromedome said he could....fucking PEAK i love that type of payoff humor

ooof and more swerve introspection. i mentioned earlier but i fucking LOVE how this series showcases the extremely wide range of reactions/coping mechanisms that everyone has towards the endless war finally being over - and swerve really nails it here: confusing peace with happiness, and assuming that everything would automatically be better after the war is over, when in reality you still have to work just as hard to build shit rather than break it

also i adore the horror of a guy who is half-embedded in the wall, his face stuck in a rictus of terror & death, waxing philosophical about how peace is about the freedom of choice, and how they should all just feel lucky to have survived...oof, that's very specifically ironic coming from you, dude 

but i do love the little characterization we get here for ore, a character who is literally already dead and has so far been used as a plot device pretty exclusively, but we still get to know little things about him here, and how HE feels about the war and the current peace, etcetc. it really makes the story and characters seem believable, like every character has a story even if we don't take the time to see it 

love cyclonus posing coolly 

kinda love how clear it is that drifts whole hippy schtick is just a front to cover his anger, and a tool to make him seem like an approachable, upstanding autobot

drift dramatically monologuing while pointing his sword at the sky is extra funny with everyone else just staring at him doing this

cyclonus why are you grabbing at the edge of the hole you're falling into, you can LITERALLY FLY, 

magnus finally getting some appreciation for being The most law abiding guy like, ever 

genuinely forgot abt the whole metrotitan plot that happens here 

GOD when rodimus is like BRAIN QUEST TIME and then we smash cut to them at the brain ‘six minutes later’ vhbhkudfjbjksf i live for that shit 

also that would be even funnier animated which further proves that we need an mtmte/ll animated series, please, somebody, 

HBDSJKFSHDJF REWIND IS SO FUCKING FUNNYYYYYY you cant even tell if he GENUINELY didn't think cyclonus could talk or if hes just being a dick but either way? comedy gold 

oh i adore the flashbacks being in a different artstyle, especially one that's so retro 

i love rewind being a history geek, and cyclonus passionately explaining cybertronian creation theory

HHHH i fucking LOVE the myth/lore stuff like....a lot of franchises tend not to dwell in this type of mythology, you tend to get The True Version Of Events, but this kind of explanation rocks bc it totally sounds like the kind of religious mythology that naturally develops based on a species’ progression

and drift and ratchet’s very opposing and polarizing views certainty do make for interesting perspectives, tho i feel like the story sometimes leans too much towards ratchet being ‘more correct’ bc, logic! or something idk i feel like i used to have a couple mild opinions on this but i don't remember

and its funny bc i am, irl, an atheistic medical professional who believes in science above all else - essentially just like ratchet. but i feel like the narrative portrayal skews a little more in his favor than i’d like, despite that 

skids just out here being a bummer, completely unprompted. cant even blame you tho dude 

hhhhhh chromedome talking abt rewind ;_; 

and when he says ‘maybe there’s someone out there who can save your life, too’ and cyclonus is there....hhhh

god i fucking LOVE drift and rodimus’s entire relationship. the layers...the LAYERS!!!

OH HEY ITS THOSE ROBOTS SKIDS FOUGHT 

ah, inconvenient laser time!

ok i fuckgin love how cybertronian’s brains look just like the planet cybertron. that's so fucking great 

of COURSE brainstorm brought his shrink ray 

truly i love the convo between ore and swerve, especially overlaid onto everyone fighting 

oof, the themes and plot threads of this annual are all so nicely tied up (which is something i love abt mtmte, especially early on when the story is smaller), with swerve now choosing to disobey an order from rodimus

oh yeah, the circle of light! that's who you've been looking for this whole time basically! 

and then the ending, hearing that magnus smiled (willingly!) :) i love it

rodimus’s profile says ‘finds it difficult to sit still’ bc rodimus is an adhd icon

lmao i feel like over half of my sentences in this recap - and in most of my recaps - contain ‘i love it’ or ‘i love how-’ or some variation upon that theme. I'm predictable 

anyways - the annual! i love this issue. its really long which is cool and i feel like it does a lot to flesh out the setting and lore, and even the characters as well. also, as i said above, it does an excellent job telling an exciting and well-contained story, with solid story beats throughout and plot threads that emerge and get resolved all within this issue, even while leaving plenty of stuff up for future resolution. that's the Early MTMTE Special, and i adore it. tho i will say I'm glad we’ll be getting back to the regularly scheduled art style, bc this one didn't really do it for me 

[teashadephoenix]

@pomegranate-belle tagged me in Top 7 Comfort Movies and I am stalling starting my laundry so here we go!! (in sort of chronological order)

1. Beetlejuice (1988): This movie is a fucking classic. Michael Keaton is a comedic genius and apparently (according to my mom) 3yo me had a huge crush on him. Also Geena Davis??? Winona Ryder??? Yum??? The worldbuilding and character design is so imaginative and interesting.

2. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989): Grew up jumping off the swings singing the Indy theme song. Momma was a huge Harrison Ford fan so we watched all of his movies but the one I know practically line for line is Last Crusade. I love John Rhys Davies as Sallah ("Please, what is it always this 'junior?!'") I love Sean Connery as Senior ("I suddenly remembered my Charlemagne! 'Might my armies be the rocks and the trees, and the birds in the sky!'") I love the whole daddy issues thing, I love punching Nazis, I love a scientist who has room for magic.

3. The Princess Bride (1987): It's funny, it's beautiful, I know all the words. Like when I say beautiful I mean the story but also the set design and the cinematography. (How is Robin Wright's hair so perfectly fantasy maidenesque?! How!?!) There's revenge and true love and magic and Mandy Patinkin as his absolute sexiest and Cary Elwes at his loveliest and Andre the Giant! and Robin goddamn Wright! This was my sicky movie when I was little.

4. Beauty and the Beast (1991): PERFECT MOVIE. Almost. The fact she never says his name bugs the hell out of me and has for thirty years. But my GOD. It's so beautiful. Cut my veins open, this color palette comes pouring out. (Blue and gold are still my favorite colors to this day, especially together.) It's the ultimate story of realising you are a shithead and changing bc someone makes you want to be a better person. The animation, the performances, the music (RIP Howard Ashman you absolute legend)

5. True Grit (1969): of course there's a fucking Western on here. I love the Duke. We probably wouldn't have got on well irl but as Rooster Cogburn, in this movie, I love him. He's flawed but strives for heroism, he's snarky but caring. Mattie Ross is boss. And Robert Duvall! That last gunfight scene where Rooster takes on four guys with the reins in his mouth and guns in each hand still gets me amped up and I've seen it dozens of times.

6. The Avengers (2012): In 2002 when Sam Raimi's Spiderman came out, I remember turning to my brother and waxing poetic about how cool it would be to see a team-up movie, like how they did in the 90s cartoons. "They never will tho. It'll cost too much." Literally only ten years later I was sitting in a cinema watching one of the best superhero movies ever put to film. I love The Avengers. When it came out on DVD it never left the player for about six months. For over a year it was all I talked about. It's Joss Whedon at his best, juggling an ensemble cast, and the actors all know their shit, or in the case of Mark Ruffalo, just embody their characters so perfectly as to be indistinguishable from them. Its been almost 10 years since this movie came out and I still get emotional about it. I waited my whole life for it and it was exactly what I dreamed.

7. IT (2017): Sometimes you don't know you need something. Sometimes a movie comes out of the blue and you watch it bc its your kind of thing but you dont realise how much you will love it. That was IT for me. I love horror stories. Always have. My childhood was spent staring at the various covers of my momma's Stephen King collection. (Like, I don't actually remember seeing Jaws or Aliens bc I was too young.) I knew I was gonna see IT based on that alone. But IT isn't a horror movie for me. (Even though of the two, it is certainly the scarier.) It's a coming of age movie with possibly my favorite cast of anything since David Tennant and Catherine Tate were on Doctor Who in 2008. I love the Losers. I love the imagery (v different from the book but still feels like theyre in the same universe) I love the music. I love the goddamn space clown from hell. But mostly I love those kids.

(Honorable mentions: Mad Max Fury Road, Lonesome Dove, and Back to the Future. Like... If I was on a desert island and only could have seven, it would be a goddamn struggle, fam.)

I'm gonna tag people but pls don't feel obligated to do it if you dont want to @whitegodiva @fox-in-the-library @lioness--hart @conjugate-wumbo @begitalarcos @oni-queen @hermywolf

[patriotsnet]

Are There Any Republicans Running For President Other Than Trump

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/are-there-any-republicans-running-for-president-other-than-trump/

Are There Any Republicans Running For President Other Than Trump

Republican Presidential Hopefuls Move Forward As Trump Considers 2024 Run

2020 Election – 5 Republicans Who Might Run For President (Why Donald Trump will be the GOP Nominee)

Print

Less than three months after former President Trump left the White House, the race to succeed him is already beginning.

Trumps former secretary of State, Michael R. Pompeo, has launched an aggressive schedule visiting states that will play a pivotal role in the 2024 Republican primaries and has signed a contract with Fox News Channel. Mike Pence, Trumps former vice president, has started a political advocacy group, finalized a book deal and later this month will give a speech in South Carolina, his first since leaving office. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been courting donors, including in Trumps backyard, with a prominent speaking slot before the former president at a GOP fundraising retreat dinner this month at Mar-a-Lago, the Florida resort where Trump now lives.

Trump ended his presidency with such a firm grip on Republican voters that party leaders fretted he would freeze the field of potential 2024 candidates, delaying preparations as he teased another run. Instead, many Republicans with national ambitions are openly laying the groundwork for campaigns as Trump continues to mull his own plans.

Theyre raising money, making hires and working to bolster their name recognition. The moves reflect both the fervor in the party to reclaim the White House and the reality that mounting a modern presidential campaign is a years-long endeavor.

‘americans Will See The Current Two Options Are Not The Choice’

Jade Simmons is a multi-hyphenated woman. A former beauty queen, professional concert pianist, motivational speaker, rapper, mother, and ordained pastor.

As she puts it, she is an unconventional candidate, “but these are unconventional times”.

“This seemed to me to be a time when we couldn’t afford to do business as usual,” she says. “I’m the daughter of a civil rights activist, and the way my father raised me was that if you see voids, if you see injustices, you need to ask yourself if that might be you that needs to be leaning in.”

She says her goal is to create equal access to opportunity, through economic, educational and criminal justice reform. And in that spirit, she’s aiming to run “the least expensive campaign in the history of our nation”.

“We think it’s abominable that it costs now almost a billion dollars to run for president when the qualifications are that you are 35 years old, a US-born resident, and have lived here 14 years,” says Ms Simmons. “We’d rather spend that money on helping people.”

Full coverage of the US election

While the Republican and Democratic nominees will be on the ballot in all states, independents must meet an array of state deadlines and access requirements.

“I know it sounds wild, given the history of independents! We believe that if we stay standing long enough, there’s still some more disruption coming in – that most Americans are going to see that the current two options are not the choice.

Sen Mitt Romney Of Utah

A Gallup poll last March found Romney, 74, has a higher approval rating among Democrats than Republicans, so you might figure he doesnt have a prayer in taking his partys nomination again. A February Morning Consult poll, though, had Romney polling ahead of Republicans like Pompeo, Cotton and Hawley. So, youre telling me theres a chance? Yes, a one-in-a-million chance.

The 2012 GOP presidential nominee and his wife, Ann, have five sons. He graduated from Brigham Young University and Harvard Law. Romney is a former Massachusetts governor, and the first person to be a governor and senator from two different states since Sam Houston, who was governor of Tennessee and a senator from Texas. Romney is this years JFK Profile in Courage Award recipient.

Florida Gov Ron Desantis

DeSantis, 42, has quickly emerged as a Republican rising star. He finished second in the Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll in February behind Trump, and some see him as the best positioned heir to the Trump mantle.

If Trump doesnt run again, I think hes the odds-on favorite to be the next president, Florida Republican Party chair and state Sen. Joe Gruters told NBC News of DeSantis.

DeSantis appeal is due in part to his combative relationship with the news media he regularly spars with journalists, interrupting or pushing back against their questions in a way Trump fans would appreciate and also because of his handling of the pandemic.

In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, DeSantis wrote that Floridas less-restrictive response to COVID-19 bucked faulty intel from the elites and the state still ended up with comparatively low unemployment, and per capita COVID mortality below the national average. Floridas COVID-19 death rate per 100,000 people is similar to California and Ohio, and so far, about 33,500 Floridians have died from the virus. New research in the American Journal of Public Health suggests the state is undercounting COVID-19 deaths.

How Biden Won: Ramping Up The Base And Expanding Margins In The Suburbs

It brings the number of states Biden flipped from Trump’s 2016 column to five, including Arizona, which last voted Democratic in a presidential race when it backed Clinton in 1996.

Biden also flipped Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, three key northern industrial states that ultimately delivered the White House to Trump four years ago. Biden also won a single electoral vote in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, which last voted Democratic for former President Barack Obama in 2008.

Electors from each state and the District of Columbia are expected to vote on Dec. 14. The new Congress will then count the votes and certify Biden’s victory on Jan. 6, two weeks before the inauguration.

But Georgia’s political activity is far from over. The state will hold two runoff elections on Jan. 5 for both its U.S. Senate seats, which are currently held by Republicans.

‘i Made A Decision To Live My Life In Service’

Brock Pierce is a former child actor who appeared in the Mighty Ducks franchise and starred as the president’s son in the 1996 comedy First Kid. But thanks to his second career as a tech entrepreneur, he’s also probably a crypto currency billionaire.

Why is he running for president? Partly because he is deeply concerned by the state of the country.

“I think that we lack a real vision for the future – I mean, what kind of world do we want to live in, in the year 2030? What is the plan? Where are we trying to get to, you know? You have to aim for something. And I see mostly just a lot of mud being thrown around, not a lot of people putting forth game-changing ideas. It’s getting scary. And I have a view of what to do.”

For the last four years, Mr Pierce has focused on philanthropic work in Puerto Rico, where his foundation recently raised a million dollars for PPE to give to first responders.

Asked what America’s priorities should be for the next four years, he suggests the country stops pursuing “growth for growth’s sake”, and measures its success by how well life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are upheld.

“I have many liberal tendencies, just like I have conservative tendencies,” Mr Pierce says. “And I think it’s time we take a collective breath and a brave step into the future, because all of these ideologies have something to teach us.”

‘We don’t like either candidate’

And if he doesn’t pull it off? Mr Pierce says he has offers.

Trump Remains 2024 Candidate Of Choice For Most Republicans Poll Shows

59% of Republican voters said they wanted Trump to play prominent role in party, but tens of thousands left after Capitol riot

If the 2024 Republican presidential primary were held today, Donald Trump would be the clear favorite to win big. That was the message from a Politico-Morning Consult poll released on Tuesday, three days after Trumps acquittal in his second impeachment trial, on a charge of inciting the insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January.

Among Republican voters, 59% said they wanted Trump to play a prominent role in their party, up a whopping 18 points from the last such poll, taken in the aftermath of the Capitol riot. A slightly lower number, 54%, said they would back Trump in the primary.

Tens of thousands of Republicans left the party after the Capitol insurrection, and a majority of Americans have told other pollsters they would like to see Trump banished from politics.

Though the 45th president will be 78 by election day 2024, he will be able to run again if he chooses, having escaped being barred from office after a 57-43 Senate vote to convict with seven Republican defections but 10 votes short of the majority needed.

Mike Pences life was threatened by Trump supporters at the Capitol, as the vice-president presided over the ratification of electoral college results confirming Trumps defeat by Joe Biden. He placed second in the Politico-Morning Consult poll, with 12%.

Key Votes: 115th Congress 2017

For detailed information about each vote, click .

Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018

 Bill Passed on December 12, 2018

Proposed providing funding for commodity support, conservation, trade and international food aid, nutrition assistance, farm credit, rural development, research and extension activities, forestry, horticulture, and crop insurance through fiscal year 2023.

Voted Yea on: Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 )

 Bill Passed on June 21, 2018

Proposed providing funding for commodity support, conservation, trade and international food aid, nutrition assistance, farm credit, rural development, research and extension activities, forestry, horticulture, and crop insurance. It also proposed modifying the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, previously known as the food stamp program.

Voted Yea on: Securing Americaâs Future Act of 2018

 Bill Failed on June 21, 2018

Proposed funding a border wall, limiting legal immigration, a mandatory worker verification program, allowing DACA recipients to apply for legal status, and preventing separation of families at the border.

Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018

 Bill Passed on December 12, 2018

Reauthorizes through FY2023 and modifies some Department of Agriculture programs.

Voted Yea on: Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act

Voted Yea on: Kates Law

Voted Yea on: No Sanctuary for Criminals Act

Voted Yea on: American Health Care Act of 2017

Voted Nay on: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018

Georgia’s Republican Us Senators Call On Gop State Election Chief To Resign

GOP strategist predicts Trump Jr. will run in 2024: “He’s a flamethrower”

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, himself a Republican, called the claims “laughable” and refused to step aside.

The early rancor and fighting over the presidential election results, which are headed for a recount despite Biden’s growing lead, is a preview of the intense fight to come over the fate of the two Senate seats. Vice President Pence told GOP senators that he plans to campaign in the state, and national Democrats are already pouring money and support to their challengers, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.

The Georgia runoffs are slated for Jan. 5, after the Senate is scheduled to begin a new session. That uncertainty means the Senate will be unable to officially organize until the results of that election are finalized.

A Marine stands outside the entrance to the West Wing of the White House on Tuesday, signifying that President Trump is in the Oval Office. Evan Vucci/APhide caption

toggle caption

A Marine stands outside the entrance to the West Wing of the White House on Tuesday, signifying that President Trump is in the Oval Office.

President Trump is set to visit Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday to mark Veterans Day and lay a wreath. Trump will be joined by Vice President Pence. This is one of the more traditional ceremonial duties of a president. .

Asked what the president has been up to, White House spokesman Judd Deere said Trump has been working behind the scenes.

None Of Them Can Win But They Could Play Spoiler

Remember when half of American white males over the age of 40 declared themselves for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016? There were so many candidates that they couldn’t fit them all on two packed debate stages. One guy stayed in after receiving a grand total of 12 votes in the Iowa caucuses; in New Hampshire, Jim Gilmore’s showing improved to , an unprecedented 1,000 percent increase. Reader: He didn’t withdraw for another six days.

Since Donald Trump is our incumbent president, and will thus almost surely be the GOP nominee in 2020, we should be spared a repeat, and really ought to be able to give our undivided attention to the approximately 437 mostly Social Security-eligible senators, governors, congressmen, mayors, and billionaire activists looking to run on the Democratic ticket in 2020. Unfortunately, Trump will almost certainly be challenged, either in the ostensibly meaningless Republican primaries or by one or more independent right-of-center candidates.

Stephen Bannon thinks 2020 will be a proper three-way race. #NeverTrumpers are already ferreting around for someone to challenge the president for the GOP nomination. “I just finished reading a book about the French resistance. It reminds me of that. People are meeting over their garages their ateliers trying to figure out who’s going to do it,” one of them toldNew York recently.

Here are five people who might just fit the bill.

1. John Kasich

Chance of running: 80 percent

2. Jeff Flake

Georgia’s Brad Raffensperger: National Gop Figures Didn’t Understand Our Laws

But Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s voting system implementation manager, said on Wednesday that the system is working exactly the way it is intended.

“The irony of saying ‘fraudulent votes have been found’ â he has gained in the finding of these votes,” he said.

Raffensperger has said he’s been pressured by top Republicans to find ways of disqualifying ballots that hurt the Trump campaign.

“They say that as pressure builds, it reveals your character, it doesn’t change your character. Some people aren’t behaving too well with seeing where the results are,” Raffensperger told NPR’s Ari Shapiro on Tuesday.

“At the end of the day, I want voters to understand that when they cast their ballot in Georgia, it will be accurately counted. You may not like the results and I get that. I understand how contentious it is. But you can then respect the results.”

Poll workers check voters’ identifications on Election Day at the Orpheum Theater in Madison, Wis. The Trump campaign has announced it is filing for a recount in two Wisconsin counties.hide caption

toggle caption

Poll workers check voters’ identifications on Election Day at the Orpheum Theater in Madison, Wis. The Trump campaign has announced it is filing for a recount in two Wisconsin counties.

President Trump’s campaign announced Wednesday morning it is filing a petition to formally ask election authorities to conduct a recount in two Wisconsin counties. President-elect Joe Biden won the state by a little more than 20,000 votes.

If Trump Runs In 2024 Could Any Republican Beat Him

As we await the final results to come in from the decisive states, let us assume for a moment that this election ends in the way that now appears most likely. That is, Joe Biden wins, and a large number of conservatives are convinced that the only reason President Trump lost is that Democrats stole the election.

Given these circumstances, if Trump decided that he wanted to run for president again four years from now, is there a Republican politician in the country who would be able to stop him?

For sure, professional Republicans would want to move on from Trump. And many of the Republican voters who merely tolerated him because he was better than the Democratic alternative may be eager for other options. But those are the same groups of people that tried unsuccessfully to kill his candidacy in 2016.

Trump may decide that he doesn’t want to run again. Or his health may decline as he enters his late 70s. But let’s just assume he decides to run and that he’s in roughly the same mental and physical condition that he is now. How can any Republican hope to compete with him?

In defeat, Trump would be in a position unlike that of other one-term presidents. Typically, one-term presidents are written off as losers, and their parties run away from them. Think of Herbert Hoover, Jimmy Carter, or George H.W. Bush. After 1980, nobody ran for office claiming, “I’m a Jimmy Carter Democrat.” Bush I was never a coveted speaker in conservative circles after his loss.

The This Sounds Crazy But Hear Me Out Wild Card

Mike Lindell

Donald Trump wasnt the first celebrity businessman without any experience in elective office who got traction in a Republican presidential primary. In 2012, it was former Godfathers Pizza CEO Herman Cain. In 1996 and 2000, it was magazine publisher Steve Forbes. Back in 1940, utility executive Wendell Willkie snagged the GOP nomination.

Today, who is the most famous, politically active Republican businessman? MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. That may sound crazy, but no crazier than what we experienced in 2016.

Lindell is a leader of the bitter-enders trying to overturn the democratic results of the presidential election. He claims to have spent $1 million on legal work and Stop the Steal rallies to support Trumps delusional cause. On December 19, he tweeted out a call for Trump to impose martial law in these 7 states and get the machines/ballots! though he soon deleted the post.

He became a conservative darling in part because he heavily marketed his pillows on Fox News; in the second quarter of 2020, MyPillow was Fox Newss top advertiser, spending more than double the amount of the second-place company. But now he accuses Fox News, and its early call that Biden won Arizona, of conspiring to defeat Trump

What to watch for in 2021:While Lindell has been thinking about a Minnesota gubernatorial bid, he has managed to visit neighboring Iowa several times in 2020. Lets see which state he campaigns in more in 2021.

Filed Under:

What Is A Voter

The , which took effect January 1, 2011, created voter-nominated offices. The Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act does not apply to candidates running for U.S. President, county central committees, or local offices.

Most of the offices that were previously known as partisan are now known as voter-nominated offices. Voter-nominated offices are state constitutional offices, state legislative offices, and U.S. congressional offices. The only partisan offices now are the offices of U.S. President and county central committee.

Former Secretary Of State Mike Pompeo

If the 2024 election turns into a foreign policy debate, the 57-year-old Pompeo is in a strong position with his background as former secretary of state and CIA director.

During Pompeos recent speech at the Westside Conservative Club in Urbandale, Iowa, he gave a preview of some of the lines that might end up in his presidential stump speech. He said hes spent more time with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un than any other American, including basketball star Dennis Rodman, and talked about the threat he sees from China. His mention of the U.S. moving its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem during his tenure was met with applause.

Before serving in Trumps Cabinet, Pompeo blasted then-candidate Trump as an authoritarian. Pompeo made the remarks the day of the Kansas caucus in 2016, quoting Trump saying that if he told a soldier to commit a war crime, they would go and do it. Pompeo said the U.S. had spent 7½ years with an authoritarian president who ignored the Constitution, referencing former President Barack Obama, and we dont need four more years of that.

Pompeo served three full terms representing Kansas in the U.S. House before joining the Trump administration. He and his wife, Susan, have one child. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy and Harvard Law and served in the U.S. Army.

Academics Journalists Authors Commentators

Reuel Marc Gerecht, writer

Michael Gerson, columnist and speechwriter for George W. Bush

Peter Mansoor, military historian

Meghan McCain, commentator, daughter of Senator John McCain

Charles Murray, political scientist and commentator

Ana Navarro, strategist and commentator

Tom Nichols, national security affairs scholar

Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape; founder of Andreessen Horowitz

Mike Fernandez, founder of MBF Healthcare Partners

James Murren, Chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International

William Oberndorf, Chairman of Oberndorf Enterprises

Whos Running For President In 2020

Republican Lawmakers Are Terrified Of Trump Running For President Again

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge President Trump in the 2020 race.

The field of Democratic presidential candidates was historically large, but all others have dropped out. Mr. Trump had also picked up a few Republican challengers, but they have also ended their campaigns.

Running

Has run for president twice before.

Is known for his down-to-earth personality and his ability to connect with working-class voters.

His eight years as Barack Obamas vice president are a major selling point for many Democrats.

Signature issues: Restoring Americas standing on the global stage; adding a public option to the Affordable Care Act; strengthening economic protections for low-income workers in industries like manufacturing and fast food.

Main legislative accomplishment as president: a sweeping tax cut that chiefly benefited corporations and wealthy investors.

Has focused on undoing the policies of the Obama administration, including on health care, environmental regulation and immigration.

Was impeached by the House of Representatives for seeking to pressure Ukraine to smear his political rivals, but was acquitted by the Senate.

Signature issues: Restricting immigration and building a wall at the Mexican border; renegotiating or canceling international deals on trade, arms control and climate change; withdrawing American troops from overseas.

Ended her campaign in March 2020 and said she would back Mr. Biden.

Views About The Publics Influence On Government

Overall, most adults see voting as an avenue to influence the government: 61% say that voting gives people like me some say about how government runs things.

However, on a more general measure of political efficacy, the public is more divided: 52% say ordinary citizens can do a lot to influence government if they make an effort, while 47% say theres not much ordinary citizens can do to influence the government in Washington.

On both measures, younger and less-educated adults are more skeptical about the impact of participation.

The view that voting gives people some say increases with age; while just 53% of adults under 30 say this, that compares with nearly three-quarters of those 65 and older . This age gap is seen in both parties.

Similarly, those under 50 are less likely than their elders to say ordinary citizens can influence government if they make an effort .

Education is also associated with a sense of political efficacy: 77% of postgraduates say voting gives people some say, compared with two-thirds of those with a bachelors degree and 57% of those with less education.

Political engagement is highly correlated with attitudes about voting. Highly engaged adults are considerably more likely to see the value of participation and the potential of ordinary citizens to influence governmental policy.

Sen Tom Cotton Of Arkansas

Cotton, 43, has been preparing for a potential presidential run since before the 2020 election even happened, visiting the first-in-the-nation primary state New Hampshire last year to campaign for local Republicans. I expect Ill be back to New Hampshire again in the future, he told Insider last October. The betting site PredictIt currently ranks Cotton alongside Pompeo, Rubio and Hawley.

Cotton represented Arkansas in the U.S. House for two terms before becoming a senator in 2015. His first brush with national prominence came in 2006 when he was serving in Iraq as an Army lieutenant. Cotton sent a letter to the editor at The New York Times criticizing their story about the U.S. terrorist finance tracking program. Cotton called for the paper to be prosecuted for revealing the program, and though his letter wasnt published in the Times, it was picked up by the conservative blog Power Line, which Cotton copied on his petition to the Times.

Another Cotton opinion piece did later make it into the Times. His controversial 2020 op-ed, headlined Send In the Troops about using the military and an overwhelming show of force against protesters and rioters following the death of George Floyd, led to the resignation of Times editorial page editor James Bennet. Cotton referenced the op-ed in January after the attack on the Capitol, and said in a statement that those involved should face the full extent of federal law.

[statetalks]

Are There Any Republicans Running For President Other Than Trump

Republican Presidential Hopefuls Move Forward As Trump Considers 2024 Run

2020 Election – 5 Republicans Who Might Run For President (Why Donald Trump will be the GOP Nominee)

Print

Less than three months after former President Trump left the White House, the race to succeed him is already beginning.

Trumps former secretary of State, Michael R. Pompeo, has launched an aggressive schedule visiting states that will play a pivotal role in the 2024 Republican primaries and has signed a contract with Fox News Channel. Mike Pence, Trumps former vice president, has started a political advocacy group, finalized a book deal and later this month will give a speech in South Carolina, his first since leaving office. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been courting donors, including in Trumps backyard, with a prominent speaking slot before the former president at a GOP fundraising retreat dinner this month at Mar-a-Lago, the Florida resort where Trump now lives.

Trump ended his presidency with such a firm grip on Republican voters that party leaders fretted he would freeze the field of potential 2024 candidates, delaying preparations as he teased another run. Instead, many Republicans with national ambitions are openly laying the groundwork for campaigns as Trump continues to mull his own plans.

Theyre raising money, making hires and working to bolster their name recognition. The moves reflect both the fervor in the party to reclaim the White House and the reality that mounting a modern presidential campaign is a years-long endeavor.

‘americans Will See The Current Two Options Are Not The Choice’

Jade Simmons is a multi-hyphenated woman. A former beauty queen, professional concert pianist, motivational speaker, rapper, mother, and ordained pastor.

As she puts it, she is an unconventional candidate, “but these are unconventional times”.

“This seemed to me to be a time when we couldn’t afford to do business as usual,” she says. “I’m the daughter of a civil rights activist, and the way my father raised me was that if you see voids, if you see injustices, you need to ask yourself if that might be you that needs to be leaning in.”

She says her goal is to create equal access to opportunity, through economic, educational and criminal justice reform. And in that spirit, she’s aiming to run “the least expensive campaign in the history of our nation”.

“We think it’s abominable that it costs now almost a billion dollars to run for president when the qualifications are that you are 35 years old, a US-born resident, and have lived here 14 years,” says Ms Simmons. “We’d rather spend that money on helping people.”

Full coverage of the US election

While the Republican and Democratic nominees will be on the ballot in all states, independents must meet an array of state deadlines and access requirements.

“I know it sounds wild, given the history of independents! We believe that if we stay standing long enough, there’s still some more disruption coming in – that most Americans are going to see that the current two options are not the choice.

Sen Mitt Romney Of Utah

A Gallup poll last March found Romney, 74, has a higher approval rating among Democrats than Republicans, so you might figure he doesnt have a prayer in taking his partys nomination again. A February Morning Consult poll, though, had Romney polling ahead of Republicans like Pompeo, Cotton and Hawley. So, youre telling me theres a chance? Yes, a one-in-a-million chance.

The 2012 GOP presidential nominee and his wife, Ann, have five sons. He graduated from Brigham Young University and Harvard Law. Romney is a former Massachusetts governor, and the first person to be a governor and senator from two different states since Sam Houston, who was governor of Tennessee and a senator from Texas. Romney is this years JFK Profile in Courage Award recipient.

Florida Gov Ron Desantis

DeSantis, 42, has quickly emerged as a Republican rising star. He finished second in the Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll in February behind Trump, and some see him as the best positioned heir to the Trump mantle.

If Trump doesnt run again, I think hes the odds-on favorite to be the next president, Florida Republican Party chair and state Sen. Joe Gruters told NBC News of DeSantis.

DeSantis appeal is due in part to his combative relationship with the news media he regularly spars with journalists, interrupting or pushing back against their questions in a way Trump fans would appreciate and also because of his handling of the pandemic.

In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, DeSantis wrote that Floridas less-restrictive response to COVID-19 bucked faulty intel from the elites and the state still ended up with comparatively low unemployment, and per capita COVID mortality below the national average. Floridas COVID-19 death rate per 100,000 people is similar to California and Ohio, and so far, about 33,500 Floridians have died from the virus. New research in the American Journal of Public Health suggests the state is undercounting COVID-19 deaths.

How Biden Won: Ramping Up The Base And Expanding Margins In The Suburbs

It brings the number of states Biden flipped from Trump’s 2016 column to five, including Arizona, which last voted Democratic in a presidential race when it backed Clinton in 1996.

Biden also flipped Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, three key northern industrial states that ultimately delivered the White House to Trump four years ago. Biden also won a single electoral vote in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, which last voted Democratic for former President Barack Obama in 2008.

Electors from each state and the District of Columbia are expected to vote on Dec. 14. The new Congress will then count the votes and certify Biden’s victory on Jan. 6, two weeks before the inauguration.

But Georgia’s political activity is far from over. The state will hold two runoff elections on Jan. 5 for both its U.S. Senate seats, which are currently held by Republicans.

‘i Made A Decision To Live My Life In Service’

Brock Pierce is a former child actor who appeared in the Mighty Ducks franchise and starred as the president’s son in the 1996 comedy First Kid. But thanks to his second career as a tech entrepreneur, he’s also probably a crypto currency billionaire.

Why is he running for president? Partly because he is deeply concerned by the state of the country.

“I think that we lack a real vision for the future – I mean, what kind of world do we want to live in, in the year 2030? What is the plan? Where are we trying to get to, you know? You have to aim for something. And I see mostly just a lot of mud being thrown around, not a lot of people putting forth game-changing ideas. It’s getting scary. And I have a view of what to do.”

For the last four years, Mr Pierce has focused on philanthropic work in Puerto Rico, where his foundation recently raised a million dollars for PPE to give to first responders.

Asked what America’s priorities should be for the next four years, he suggests the country stops pursuing “growth for growth’s sake”, and measures its success by how well life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are upheld.

“I have many liberal tendencies, just like I have conservative tendencies,” Mr Pierce says. “And I think it’s time we take a collective breath and a brave step into the future, because all of these ideologies have something to teach us.”

‘We don’t like either candidate’

And if he doesn’t pull it off? Mr Pierce says he has offers.

Trump Remains 2024 Candidate Of Choice For Most Republicans Poll Shows

59% of Republican voters said they wanted Trump to play prominent role in party, but tens of thousands left after Capitol riot

If the 2024 Republican presidential primary were held today, Donald Trump would be the clear favorite to win big. That was the message from a Politico-Morning Consult poll released on Tuesday, three days after Trumps acquittal in his second impeachment trial, on a charge of inciting the insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January.

Among Republican voters, 59% said they wanted Trump to play a prominent role in their party, up a whopping 18 points from the last such poll, taken in the aftermath of the Capitol riot. A slightly lower number, 54%, said they would back Trump in the primary.

Tens of thousands of Republicans left the party after the Capitol insurrection, and a majority of Americans have told other pollsters they would like to see Trump banished from politics.

Though the 45th president will be 78 by election day 2024, he will be able to run again if he chooses, having escaped being barred from office after a 57-43 Senate vote to convict with seven Republican defections but 10 votes short of the majority needed.

Mike Pences life was threatened by Trump supporters at the Capitol, as the vice-president presided over the ratification of electoral college results confirming Trumps defeat by Joe Biden. He placed second in the Politico-Morning Consult poll, with 12%.

Key Votes: 115th Congress 2017

For detailed information about each vote, click .

Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018

 Bill Passed on December 12, 2018

Proposed providing funding for commodity support, conservation, trade and international food aid, nutrition assistance, farm credit, rural development, research and extension activities, forestry, horticulture, and crop insurance through fiscal year 2023.

Voted Yea on: Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 )

 Bill Passed on June 21, 2018

Proposed providing funding for commodity support, conservation, trade and international food aid, nutrition assistance, farm credit, rural development, research and extension activities, forestry, horticulture, and crop insurance. It also proposed modifying the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, previously known as the food stamp program.

Voted Yea on: Securing Americaâs Future Act of 2018

 Bill Failed on June 21, 2018

Proposed funding a border wall, limiting legal immigration, a mandatory worker verification program, allowing DACA recipients to apply for legal status, and preventing separation of families at the border.

Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018

 Bill Passed on December 12, 2018

Reauthorizes through FY2023 and modifies some Department of Agriculture programs.

Voted Yea on: Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act

Voted Yea on: Kates Law

Voted Yea on: No Sanctuary for Criminals Act

Voted Yea on: American Health Care Act of 2017

Voted Nay on: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018

Georgia’s Republican Us Senators Call On Gop State Election Chief To Resign

GOP strategist predicts Trump Jr. will run in 2024: “He’s a flamethrower”

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, himself a Republican, called the claims “laughable” and refused to step aside.

The early rancor and fighting over the presidential election results, which are headed for a recount despite Biden’s growing lead, is a preview of the intense fight to come over the fate of the two Senate seats. Vice President Pence told GOP senators that he plans to campaign in the state, and national Democrats are already pouring money and support to their challengers, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.

The Georgia runoffs are slated for Jan. 5, after the Senate is scheduled to begin a new session. That uncertainty means the Senate will be unable to officially organize until the results of that election are finalized.

A Marine stands outside the entrance to the West Wing of the White House on Tuesday, signifying that President Trump is in the Oval Office. Evan Vucci/APhide caption

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A Marine stands outside the entrance to the West Wing of the White House on Tuesday, signifying that President Trump is in the Oval Office.

President Trump is set to visit Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday to mark Veterans Day and lay a wreath. Trump will be joined by Vice President Pence. This is one of the more traditional ceremonial duties of a president. .

Asked what the president has been up to, White House spokesman Judd Deere said Trump has been working behind the scenes.

None Of Them Can Win But They Could Play Spoiler

Remember when half of American white males over the age of 40 declared themselves for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016? There were so many candidates that they couldn’t fit them all on two packed debate stages. One guy stayed in after receiving a grand total of 12 votes in the Iowa caucuses; in New Hampshire, Jim Gilmore’s showing improved to , an unprecedented 1,000 percent increase. Reader: He didn’t withdraw for another six days.

Since Donald Trump is our incumbent president, and will thus almost surely be the GOP nominee in 2020, we should be spared a repeat, and really ought to be able to give our undivided attention to the approximately 437 mostly Social Security-eligible senators, governors, congressmen, mayors, and billionaire activists looking to run on the Democratic ticket in 2020. Unfortunately, Trump will almost certainly be challenged, either in the ostensibly meaningless Republican primaries or by one or more independent right-of-center candidates.

Stephen Bannon thinks 2020 will be a proper three-way race. #NeverTrumpers are already ferreting around for someone to challenge the president for the GOP nomination. “I just finished reading a book about the French resistance. It reminds me of that. People are meeting over their garages their ateliers trying to figure out who’s going to do it,” one of them toldNew York recently.

Here are five people who might just fit the bill.

1. John Kasich

Chance of running: 80 percent

2. Jeff Flake

Georgia’s Brad Raffensperger: National Gop Figures Didn’t Understand Our Laws

But Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s voting system implementation manager, said on Wednesday that the system is working exactly the way it is intended.

“The irony of saying ‘fraudulent votes have been found’ â he has gained in the finding of these votes,” he said.

Raffensperger has said he’s been pressured by top Republicans to find ways of disqualifying ballots that hurt the Trump campaign.

“They say that as pressure builds, it reveals your character, it doesn’t change your character. Some people aren’t behaving too well with seeing where the results are,” Raffensperger told NPR’s Ari Shapiro on Tuesday.

“At the end of the day, I want voters to understand that when they cast their ballot in Georgia, it will be accurately counted. You may not like the results and I get that. I understand how contentious it is. But you can then respect the results.”

Poll workers check voters’ identifications on Election Day at the Orpheum Theater in Madison, Wis. The Trump campaign has announced it is filing for a recount in two Wisconsin counties.hide caption

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Poll workers check voters’ identifications on Election Day at the Orpheum Theater in Madison, Wis. The Trump campaign has announced it is filing for a recount in two Wisconsin counties.

President Trump’s campaign announced Wednesday morning it is filing a petition to formally ask election authorities to conduct a recount in two Wisconsin counties. President-elect Joe Biden won the state by a little more than 20,000 votes.

If Trump Runs In 2024 Could Any Republican Beat Him

As we await the final results to come in from the decisive states, let us assume for a moment that this election ends in the way that now appears most likely. That is, Joe Biden wins, and a large number of conservatives are convinced that the only reason President Trump lost is that Democrats stole the election.

Given these circumstances, if Trump decided that he wanted to run for president again four years from now, is there a Republican politician in the country who would be able to stop him?

For sure, professional Republicans would want to move on from Trump. And many of the Republican voters who merely tolerated him because he was better than the Democratic alternative may be eager for other options. But those are the same groups of people that tried unsuccessfully to kill his candidacy in 2016.

Trump may decide that he doesn’t want to run again. Or his health may decline as he enters his late 70s. But let’s just assume he decides to run and that he’s in roughly the same mental and physical condition that he is now. How can any Republican hope to compete with him?

In defeat, Trump would be in a position unlike that of other one-term presidents. Typically, one-term presidents are written off as losers, and their parties run away from them. Think of Herbert Hoover, Jimmy Carter, or George H.W. Bush. After 1980, nobody ran for office claiming, “I’m a Jimmy Carter Democrat.” Bush I was never a coveted speaker in conservative circles after his loss.

The This Sounds Crazy But Hear Me Out Wild Card

Mike Lindell

Donald Trump wasnt the first celebrity businessman without any experience in elective office who got traction in a Republican presidential primary. In 2012, it was former Godfathers Pizza CEO Herman Cain. In 1996 and 2000, it was magazine publisher Steve Forbes. Back in 1940, utility executive Wendell Willkie snagged the GOP nomination.

Today, who is the most famous, politically active Republican businessman? MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. That may sound crazy, but no crazier than what we experienced in 2016.

Lindell is a leader of the bitter-enders trying to overturn the democratic results of the presidential election. He claims to have spent $1 million on legal work and Stop the Steal rallies to support Trumps delusional cause. On December 19, he tweeted out a call for Trump to impose martial law in these 7 states and get the machines/ballots! though he soon deleted the post.

He became a conservative darling in part because he heavily marketed his pillows on Fox News; in the second quarter of 2020, MyPillow was Fox Newss top advertiser, spending more than double the amount of the second-place company. But now he accuses Fox News, and its early call that Biden won Arizona, of conspiring to defeat Trump

What to watch for in 2021:While Lindell has been thinking about a Minnesota gubernatorial bid, he has managed to visit neighboring Iowa several times in 2020. Lets see which state he campaigns in more in 2021.

Filed Under:

What Is A Voter

The , which took effect January 1, 2011, created voter-nominated offices. The Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act does not apply to candidates running for U.S. President, county central committees, or local offices.

Most of the offices that were previously known as partisan are now known as voter-nominated offices. Voter-nominated offices are state constitutional offices, state legislative offices, and U.S. congressional offices. The only partisan offices now are the offices of U.S. President and county central committee.

Former Secretary Of State Mike Pompeo

If the 2024 election turns into a foreign policy debate, the 57-year-old Pompeo is in a strong position with his background as former secretary of state and CIA director.

During Pompeos recent speech at the Westside Conservative Club in Urbandale, Iowa, he gave a preview of some of the lines that might end up in his presidential stump speech. He said hes spent more time with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un than any other American, including basketball star Dennis Rodman, and talked about the threat he sees from China. His mention of the U.S. moving its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem during his tenure was met with applause.

Before serving in Trumps Cabinet, Pompeo blasted then-candidate Trump as an authoritarian. Pompeo made the remarks the day of the Kansas caucus in 2016, quoting Trump saying that if he told a soldier to commit a war crime, they would go and do it. Pompeo said the U.S. had spent 7½ years with an authoritarian president who ignored the Constitution, referencing former President Barack Obama, and we dont need four more years of that.

Pompeo served three full terms representing Kansas in the U.S. House before joining the Trump administration. He and his wife, Susan, have one child. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy and Harvard Law and served in the U.S. Army.

Academics Journalists Authors Commentators

Reuel Marc Gerecht, writer

Michael Gerson, columnist and speechwriter for George W. Bush

Peter Mansoor, military historian

Meghan McCain, commentator, daughter of Senator John McCain

Charles Murray, political scientist and commentator

Ana Navarro, strategist and commentator

Tom Nichols, national security affairs scholar

Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape; founder of Andreessen Horowitz

Mike Fernandez, founder of MBF Healthcare Partners

James Murren, Chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International

William Oberndorf, Chairman of Oberndorf Enterprises

Whos Running For President In 2020

Republican Lawmakers Are Terrified Of Trump Running For President Again

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge President Trump in the 2020 race.

The field of Democratic presidential candidates was historically large, but all others have dropped out. Mr. Trump had also picked up a few Republican challengers, but they have also ended their campaigns.

Running

Has run for president twice before.

Is known for his down-to-earth personality and his ability to connect with working-class voters.

His eight years as Barack Obamas vice president are a major selling point for many Democrats.

Signature issues: Restoring Americas standing on the global stage; adding a public option to the Affordable Care Act; strengthening economic protections for low-income workers in industries like manufacturing and fast food.

Main legislative accomplishment as president: a sweeping tax cut that chiefly benefited corporations and wealthy investors.

Has focused on undoing the policies of the Obama administration, including on health care, environmental regulation and immigration.

Was impeached by the House of Representatives for seeking to pressure Ukraine to smear his political rivals, but was acquitted by the Senate.

Signature issues: Restricting immigration and building a wall at the Mexican border; renegotiating or canceling international deals on trade, arms control and climate change; withdrawing American troops from overseas.

Ended her campaign in March 2020 and said she would back Mr. Biden.

Views About The Publics Influence On Government

Overall, most adults see voting as an avenue to influence the government: 61% say that voting gives people like me some say about how government runs things.

However, on a more general measure of political efficacy, the public is more divided: 52% say ordinary citizens can do a lot to influence government if they make an effort, while 47% say theres not much ordinary citizens can do to influence the government in Washington.

On both measures, younger and less-educated adults are more skeptical about the impact of participation.

The view that voting gives people some say increases with age; while just 53% of adults under 30 say this, that compares with nearly three-quarters of those 65 and older . This age gap is seen in both parties.

Similarly, those under 50 are less likely than their elders to say ordinary citizens can influence government if they make an effort .

Education is also associated with a sense of political efficacy: 77% of postgraduates say voting gives people some say, compared with two-thirds of those with a bachelors degree and 57% of those with less education.

Political engagement is highly correlated with attitudes about voting. Highly engaged adults are considerably more likely to see the value of participation and the potential of ordinary citizens to influence governmental policy.

Sen Tom Cotton Of Arkansas

Cotton, 43, has been preparing for a potential presidential run since before the 2020 election even happened, visiting the first-in-the-nation primary state New Hampshire last year to campaign for local Republicans. I expect Ill be back to New Hampshire again in the future, he told Insider last October. The betting site PredictIt currently ranks Cotton alongside Pompeo, Rubio and Hawley.

Cotton represented Arkansas in the U.S. House for two terms before becoming a senator in 2015. His first brush with national prominence came in 2006 when he was serving in Iraq as an Army lieutenant. Cotton sent a letter to the editor at The New York Times criticizing their story about the U.S. terrorist finance tracking program. Cotton called for the paper to be prosecuted for revealing the program, and though his letter wasnt published in the Times, it was picked up by the conservative blog Power Line, which Cotton copied on his petition to the Times.

Another Cotton opinion piece did later make it into the Times. His controversial 2020 op-ed, headlined Send In the Troops about using the military and an overwhelming show of force against protesters and rioters following the death of George Floyd, led to the resignation of Times editorial page editor James Bennet. Cotton referenced the op-ed in January after the attack on the Capitol, and said in a statement that those involved should face the full extent of federal law.

source https://www.patriotsnet.com/are-there-any-republicans-running-for-president-other-than-trump/

[scrollingscrollingscrollingstuff]

i mean, sure, compared to pewdiepie or something like that the game grumps are much better. but theyre definitely not saints and have done their fair share of shitty things. people have a right to dislike them

I literally just talked about my stance on some of the shitty things they’ve done so you might want to go to look at that. 

You’re right. People do have the right to dislike them. If someone found them personally offensive, I’d never try to force them into agreeing with me. I’d definitely try to convince them, maybe, but never force. At the very least I’d try to tell them about the many ways they’ve tried to fix their mistakes.

At the same time though, I’ve only started to realise that a lot of the popular opinions here on Tumblr feel a lot less...genuine. What I mean by that is half of the time, it feels like when people here say they hate or like something, they seem more to base their opinions off of whether they feel like they absolutely have to hate or love it. If someone deems any aspect of a piece of fiction “problematic” or sometimes just too popular to like anymore, many people seem to illogically go out of their way to make sure that it’s a joke around here. And you know what? Considering that Tumblr’s userbase is mostly filled with teenagers and people in their early 20′s I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the truth.

Teens have always been motivated by mass opinions. It’s because at that stage in life, you’re desperate to feel a sense of belonging and approval from our peers, since that’s what we associate with an adult life. I would say that most of Tumblr’s issues stem from the age of it’s userbase, honestly (the black and white morality, the lack of emotional restraint, lack of logic).

All I’m really trying to say is, yes, people do have the right to dislike them. But at the same time I should be allowed to critique that way of thought. Everything has the right to be critiqued. And besides, as someone who’s been watching them almost everyday since 2012, I can guarantee you that the things people are saying about them are either highly exaggerated or leaving out important details.

[topicprinter]

Hi all, I recently wrote this post about how Drip screwed over its most loyal customers and I thought perhaps /r/Entrepreneur would get value out of my lessons learned.----If you’re not familiar, Drip is email marketing software that’s pretty heavy on the marketing automation front. I won’t do them the courtesy of a link, so you’ll have to Google them if you want to check it out.They’ve been around since 2012 or so, founded by someone I trusted, but he sold the business to Leadpages a few years ago, and it’s been going downhill ever since.I’ve been using them for years as the backbone of two “side” businesses: IndieHive, which covers this website for freelancers and the related products and services that I sell, and Everleads, a curated lead generation site for freelance designers and developers.In 2016 and 2017, I really dug deep into Drip. I built out dozens of interconnected workflows to carefully shepherd my subscribers through various funnels and sequences with duplicate emails or annoying content that’s not relevant to them. I integrated my web front-end with their APIs so that I could customize the site for subscribers. I wrote bridging scripts to connect it to Mixpanel for analytics, and I used Zapier to hook Drip up to even more services. It was the heart of my entire business, and it was awesome.But throughout 2018, things started to go awry.I kept experiencing glitches in the workflows where people would get stuck on workflow steps that should be instant, like “remove tag”. Or people would end one workflow and start another, but not have any of the data that the first workflow had set. There were honestly dozens of these little glitches, but individually they were minor.Also troubling: deliverability started to slip. Not precipitously, and I can’t prove that it wasn’t just my emails, but I have heard from others that they were having issues with getting their emails into people’s inboxes in 2018.But the most egregious thing for all of this was that support was basically no help at all. I probably opened two dozen support requests in 2018 and I’m not sure they actually resolved a single one. We’d spend hours going back and forth so they could even understand the problem. Then they’d almost always say one of two things:“For a workaround, just insert a number of delays between steps in your workflows so that the system doesn’t get confused!” So all my workflows had little 5 minute delay steps to try and make sure things worked correctly. Which they still didn’t. Wtf.Or they’d just say they need to escalate to the developers and then I’d get an email weeks or months later from some random support engineer letting me know they were still looking into why the most basic functions of their software don’t work right. Awesome.Alarmed by this, I repeatedly researched alternatives throughout 2018, but nothing seemed worth going through the pain of migration and the risk of just having similar issues somewhere else. So I kept resolving to be patient with Drip and hope (pray) that they were hard at work at undoing whatever architectural disaster had led us here.And then…In early January 2019, while I was on a relaxing cruise with my wife for our 15th anniversary, I got an email from Drip:https://ryanwaggoner.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/drip-bullshit-pricing-email-2.pngSo basically: “Hey, we’re raising our prices in 12 days! You can keep your current price if you switch to an annual plan!”And if you read it carefully, there’s something pretty important missing from this email.It doesn’t say what the new pricing is**. Seriously wtf.**So I emailed to ask. They responded the next day (so now I have 11 days) to reveal they were doubling my monthly price.Drip raised my price from $184 / month to $368 / month with 12 days notice.That’s just about the worst way imaginable to treat your oldest and most loyal customers.And it was the last straw for me.Now, to be clear, I completely understand wanting to grow a company in a new direction, or thinking that you need to raise prices to reflect more value.But you don’t do it when your platform is half-broken, you don’t do it with 12 days notice, and you grandfather in existing customers, at least for long enough for them to migrate. Also, you tell them the price when you tell them that prices are rising.It’s hard to imagine how Drip could have been more disrespectful to their customer base than what they did here.So as of last month, I switched all my subscribers to ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign for Everleads and IndieHive, respectively. That’s thousands of dollars that Drip won’t be getting from me. I managed to get both setups completely migrated off just before their billing renewal dates, in one case with literal minutes to spare.It was a pain and required some late nights but it was worth it to deny them another penny.I’m not alone in feeling upset about this. Twitter was ablaze for weeks with people who were angry and bailing for greener, more respectful pastures. I’ve taken a sick joy in watching a lot of people migrate off Drip with much larger lists than mine.I also cancelled Leadpages in favor of Instapage. I was already unhappy with Leadpages, mainly because it feels pretty clunky and dated, they aren’t very responsive to user feedback, and they’re still missing some pretty basic things (like being able to pass form data to the thank you page. Seriously?).Side note: I was going to link to the Leadpages idea portal, but they apparently shut it down. Makes sense, since it was filled with hundreds of good ideas with many, many customer votes that had been ignored for years.Regardless, even if Leadpages was awesome, they own Drip and I won’t give another penny to such an unethical company that treats its customers so poorly.And this migration was a huge pain (which is what they were counting on), partly because of how complex my Drip setups were, but also because ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign are both pretty different from each other and from Drip. On the surface, they all do some of the same things, but once you dig in, things diverge, which made the migration especially painful.Drip is complicated. Stupidly so. In fact, it’s so complicated that there are a number of problems using it:It doesn’t really work. I mean, it does like 99% of the time, but that last 1% means that some of your subscribers are going to have a bad time. And it’s not just that their emails won’t show up. They might just get stuck in a workflow, or skip some emails in a sequence, or get things at the wrong times, or lose data, etc. And since this happens randomly, the number of subscribers who experience it accumulates over time.The customer support reps don’t really know how it works, because it’s too complicated. So you end up spending hours writing up descriptions of the problem and putting together screencasts to show how things don’t seem to be working, and the only response you get is that they’ll have to ask the developers.It encourages you to setup really fancy complex automations which, even if they did work, are way beyond what you actually need. Just imagine: you can do anything! You can track everything! You can have an unlimited number of tags and fields! Track and automate all the things!Your setup can end up being really brittle and deeply tied to the Drip architecture, which is a problem if you want to migrate off. And it’s hard to expand and modify over time without breaking all kinds of things for your subscribers who are in those automations.The setup is hard to document. It’s easy to end up with a large collection of documents and spreadsheets and screencasts to try and explain not only what you did, but why you did it.It’s hard to audit and debug when things go wrong. And things will go wrong. It’s hard to tell exactly what’s happening with your subscribers, where things went off the rails, and how to get it back on track without screwing things up further.In the end, Drip for me felt like a really shitty programming language. Technically possible to do almost anything, but so painful that in the end you wish you hadn’t bothered.By contrast, ConvertKit is simple. And yes, I think it’s too simple in places. I think there are some genuine gaps in the functionality that makes it a little too hard to get done the things you want.But I’m also aware of the fact that I’m coming from Drip and a really convoluted setup, so being forced to simplify is probably a good thing.And ActiveCampaign is not simple, but it’s powerful in a bunch of ways that Drip should have been. Additionally, it has the distinction of actually being, you know, functional. Crazy, I know.Also, ActiveCampaign apparently is more open to feedback than Drip. I posted a Twitter thread listing some things that I like about it and Jason VandeBoom, the founder of ActiveCampaign, setup a call with me to go over some of my feedback. And ActiveCampaign isn’t a tiny company; they have hundreds of employees and are much larger than Drip. It meant a lot to me that Jason would just jump on the phone with a random customer to see how they could improve.Meanwhile Drip’s emails aren’t even signed by an actual person. During this whole debacle, I don’t think anyone from Drip actually responded to anyone’s tweets or complaints. A couple days after the initial announcement when things were blowing up on Twitter, they sent this out another email that was basically "sorry, not sorry"Just like their price increase, all of their corporate communication just screams “We don’t care about you. Go away.”So I did.I’m actually really glad that I dropped Drip, after all that. Partly because of how much better ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign are as tools, but mostly because it taught me a lesson about how you need to be careful when you’re a small company about who you integrate with, because while your interests may align now, that could change at any point.But this rant has gone on long enough, so I’ll save that point for a future post.Disclaimer: just in case Drip decides to sue me (which would be so on-brand for them at this point), ALL the descriptions of Drip’s functionality, failings, and communications is to the best of my recollection and should not be taken as a literal word-for-word account.----Happy to answer any questions about my experience with Drip, ConvertKit, or ActiveCampaign. Would also love to hear anyone else's experiences with any of those (or others you'd recommend in the space of email-based marketing automation).Original post: https://ryanwaggoner.com/drip-pricing-review/

[donnabarker663-blog]

How Daimler Built the Worlds First Self-Driving Semi

Christian Urban waves his hands to make a point, then looks at his nails and cracks wise about needing a manicure. He regularly touches his chin and his knees as he talks. There's nothing terribly unusual about this, but for the fact Urban is at the wheel of a 40-ton semi rolling down the I-15 highway outside Las Vegasat 60 mph, and he's not steering. Or even paying much attention.

The truck is called Inspiration. It's a tech-filled version of a Freightliner rig and the worlds first licensed self-driving semi. Urban is among dozens of engineers who spent six months frantically preparing the truck for its spectacular introduction in Nevada this week. What's really surprising isn't that his hands are off the wheel, but that they're not wiping away tears of joy and waving wildly at passing cars.

Christian Urban, a Daimler engineer, calmly lets the 40-ton Inspiration pilot itself down the I-15 at 60 mph. Alex Davies/WIRED

Daimler, which owns Freightliner and built this robo-rig, oscillates between boasting about the Inspiration (it rented Hoover Dam and threw down for a record-setting light show for the truck's debut) and downplaying its significance. As amazing as this thing is-it's a fully autonomous 18-wheeler that works-company execs say it won't can't change lanes on its own, it won't be market-ready for a decade, and could never replace human drivers.

Be that as it may, the Inspiration is a big step forward on the path toward the day when our vehicles drive themselves.

The discussion of autonomous technology usually centers on cars, because that's where many people will realize the benefits of improved safety, better fuel economy, and more free time. Most of the major automakers, plus tech giants like Google, are working on the hardware and software that will let regular drivers catch up on Facebook during their commute instead of holding onto the wheel and operating the pedals. Trucks aren't flashy, but they're critical to the economy.

You don't need an especially advanced autonomous system to make a dent in the crashes that killed nearly 4,000 people on US roads in 2012, about 90 percent of those were caused by driver error. Even a system that works only on the highway-where the technology's already developed and where trucks spend the vast majority of their time-can be a huge help.

The large freight carriers have already started the transition, equipping their fleets with active safety features like blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, and lane departure warnings. The economic case for these technologies, the building blocks for autonomy, is clear. “Commercial vehicles are a safety issue,” says Xavier Mosquet, head of Boston Consulting Groups North America automotive division. “And therefore anything that can get commercial vehicles out of trouble has a lot of value.” And the carriers wants more of it.

20 Years, 6 Months In the Making

Daimler, which owns Mercedes-Benz, has been working on autonomous driving for two decades. Much of the technology in the Inspiration-the radars and cameras, the computing power and electrical architecture-has a long track record of commercial use in active safety features like lane departure warning and adaptive cruise control.

Mercedes first equipped passenger cars with radars before Y2K and is now talking about a future in which driving is an option and front seats swivel to face the rear passengers. This year, Daimler started selling a “Detroit Assurance” package that outfits trucks with adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, and lane departure warning.

The blue lighting theme that marks the truck as autonomous is a subtle touch in the camera displays that could one day replace the side view mirror. Daimler

Work on the Inspiration, which upgrades that system by allowing the truck to steer and control its speed autonomously, started just six months ago. The team was mostly based at Daimler Trucks North America's HQ in Portland, Oregon, with some extra hands in Germany.

The Freightliner Inspiration is a limited take on autonomy. The system will kick in only once the truck's on the highway and up to speed, and then it will maintain a safe distance from other vehicles and stay in its lane. It wont change lanes to pass slower vehicles on its own. If it truck encounters a situation it cant confidently handle, like heavy snow or faded lane lines, it will alert the human that its time for him to take over.

The mechanical side of the project was relatively straightforward, largely because the company's done so much of this work before. Trucks demand different actuators (the hardware that lets the computer physically tap into the steering, acceleration, and brakes), but it's all “well understood,” says Dr. Wilfried Achenbach, senior VP of engineering and technology. Power, for example, is delivered by a pneumatic unit, so Daimler cooked up magnetically activated valves that block or supply air pressure as needed. The sensors used on passenger cars, however, were up to grade: Achenbach points out Mercedes sells cars for use on the Autobahn, where cars going 125 mph requirethe same kind of stopping distance as a tractor trailer.

Daimler engineer David Overton lays out wiring to enable Inspiration's autonomous mode. Daimler

The electrical architecture underpinning the Inspiration is like a central hub with satellites, Achenbach says: The systems (speed control, lane keeping) work on their own, but there's a central device that sees what each part is doing and makes high-level decisions (like when it's time to tell the human driver to take control). That central system has been developed (Daimler's keeping quiet on the details of how it works, exactly) but Daimler's engineers have to lower its cost and shrink its size before it's ready for market. It's similar to what Audi calls the zFAS (for zentrale Fahrerassistenzsteuergert), a system that brings data from disparate systems into one place, like the human brain.

Looking at the Inspiration, it's hard to spot the things that make it different from every other truck hauling pallets. The radars in the front of the cab are hard to spot; the windshield-mounted camera doesn't draw attention. A stereoscopic camera mounted in the upper part of the windshield reads lane lines. Short and long range radars, built into the grille just above the license plate, scan the road up to 800 feet ahead for obstacles. No sensors face backward, because theyre not needed. Theres no vehicle-to-vehicle communication and no LIDaR. The software algorithms are adjusted versions of the ones developed for use in Mercedes-Benzs autonomous passenger cars.

The most obvious difference is the suite of blue LEDs the team installed around the vehicle, just like the ones in Mercedes' futuristic F 015 self-driving concept car. They're in the grille and the headlights, and in the screens for the cameras that could one day replace the side mirrors that create drag and aggravate every auto aerodynamicist on the planet. Inside, there are a few more subtle changes. The floor is wood. The back of the cab, usually used for sleeping, is all white and leather seating, specially outfitted to coddle attendees at the debut for test drives.

The UI

The most significant visible alteration inside the Inspiration is the red button that reads “HWP,” lodged between the controls for the lights and the air conditioning. It's the switch that enables Highway Pilot, Daimler's name for the system that keeps the truck rolling at a steady speed, at a safe distance from other vehicles, and in its lane.

Going autonomous is a two-step process: Enable HWP, then once the truck is on the highway and cruising, turn on cruise control. From there, the truck's in charge-until it hits rough weather, loses sight of a lane line, needs to pass another vehicle, or get off the highway.

Daimler

Those are the times when the human has to takeover, which means the system has to be made to make sure he knows to grab the wheel. For its A7 autonomous prototype, Audi based that process on focus group testing in Europe, China, and the US, creating a UI design that's both simple and sleek.

When the truck's out of its league, the driver hears a harsh beep, and the dashboard flashes an alert to give him a few seconds to take over. If the human doesn't respond (maybe he's dozed off) the truck comes to a controlled stop. As Daimler develops the Inspiration for commercial use, it will develop the system much more, along with plenty of testing to make sure drivers respond well. But here, it opted to keep things simple. “It was a six-month program,” says Steve Nadig, chief engineer on the project. “Beeping works.”

Testing

To earn the autonomous vehicle license plate from Nevada, Daimler needed to prove the system could safely cover 10,000 miles on its own. The team spun the odometer using two of the trucks, plus a testing mule (a non-fancy version with the same tech), on a test track in Germany and on quiet public roads in Nevada. Like with the UI, there's a lot more testing to do before it's ready to sell this system to the public. That means driving in extreme temperatures, slogging through rain and snow, for hundreds of thousands of miles, searching for and fixing any flaws they find.

Daimler

But even at this early stage, the system shows a lot of promise for transforming the trucking industry. Daimler can't spend enough time saying it has no interest in getting rid of the driver (We dont want to get rid of drivers, says Sven Ennerst, head of Daimler Trucks development department). Its focus is on making driving easier, safer, and more efficient. It ran a small study (16 drivers on a test track) to see how this autonomous system affects drivers. EEG readings showed they were 25 percent less tired than they were when they had to steer themselves.

That's an advantage in and of itself, since drivers will be more aware when they do have to take the wheel. But it has serious potential: Right now, a truck driver can stay on the road for only 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty. That's a major pain given the major shortage of truck drivers in the US right now, which is only getting worse. In a recent survey by the American Transportation Research Institute, US carriers listed hours-of-service rules as their top concern. If Daimler can guarantee drivers are less tired when using its autonomous system, regulators might be willing to ease those rules. “Then we come very fast to a business case for our customers,” says Martin Daum, CEO of Daimler Trucks North America.

Those customers are very much interested in this system, according to Daimler. That's no surprise: Making driving a job for the computer can reduce accidents, improve fuel efficiency, and maybe keep trucks on the road for longer, says Nol Perry, an economist who specializes in transportation and logistics. “They all love this.”

The driver shortage is restricting demand for new trucks by 50,000 to 60,000 units, Daum says. That financial incentive is at the heart of this technology program: Teach the truck to drive itself, and Daimler doesn't just have a superior product-it has a product that increases demand.

"Why do I need Inbound Marketing ?" https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-do-i-need-inbound-marketing-misty-lawson on @LinkedIn​  

[katrinaanderson963-blog]

How Daimler Built the Worlds First Self-Driving Semi

Christian Urban waves his hands to make a point, then looks at his nails and cracks wise about needing a manicure. He regularly touches his chin and his knees as he talks. There's nothing terribly unusual about this, but for the fact Urban is at the wheel of a 40-ton semi rolling down the I-15 highway outside Las Vegasat 60 mph, and he's not steering. Or even paying much attention.

The truck is called Inspiration. It's a tech-filled version of a Freightliner rig and the worlds first licensed self-driving semi. Urban is among dozens of engineers who spent six months frantically preparing the truck for its spectacular introduction in Nevada this week. What's really surprising isn't that his hands are off the wheel, but that they're not wiping away tears of joy and waving wildly at passing cars.

Christian Urban, a Daimler engineer, calmly lets the 40-ton Inspiration pilot itself down the I-15 at 60 mph. Alex Davies/WIRED

Daimler, which owns Freightliner and built this robo-rig, oscillates between boasting about the Inspiration (it rented Hoover Dam and threw down for a record-setting light show for the truck's debut) and downplaying its significance. As amazing as this thing is-it's a fully autonomous 18-wheeler that works-company execs say it won't can't change lanes on its own, it won't be market-ready for a decade, and could never replace human drivers.

Be that as it may, the Inspiration is a big step forward on the path toward the day when our vehicles drive themselves.

The discussion of autonomous technology usually centers on cars, because that's where many people will realize the benefits of improved safety, better fuel economy, and more free time. Most of the major automakers, plus tech giants like Google, are working on the hardware and software that will let regular drivers catch up on Facebook during their commute instead of holding onto the wheel and operating the pedals. Trucks aren't flashy, but they're critical to the economy.

You don't need an especially advanced autonomous system to make a dent in the crashes that killed nearly 4,000 people on US roads in 2012, about 90 percent of those were caused by driver error. Even a system that works only on the highway-where the technology's already developed and where trucks spend the vast majority of their time-can be a huge help.

The large freight carriers have already started the transition, equipping their fleets with active safety features like blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, and lane departure warnings. The economic case for these technologies, the building blocks for autonomy, is clear. “Commercial vehicles are a safety issue,” says Xavier Mosquet, head of Boston Consulting Groups North America automotive division. “And therefore anything that can get commercial vehicles out of trouble has a lot of value.” And the carriers wants more of it.

20 Years, 6 Months In the Making

Daimler, which owns Mercedes-Benz, has been working on autonomous driving for two decades. Much of the technology in the Inspiration-the radars and cameras, the computing power and electrical architecture-has a long track record of commercial use in active safety features like lane departure warning and adaptive cruise control.

Mercedes first equipped passenger cars with radars before Y2K and is now talking about a future in which driving is an option and front seats swivel to face the rear passengers. This year, Daimler started selling a “Detroit Assurance” package that outfits trucks with adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, and lane departure warning.

The blue lighting theme that marks the truck as autonomous is a subtle touch in the camera displays that could one day replace the side view mirror. Daimler

Work on the Inspiration, which upgrades that system by allowing the truck to steer and control its speed autonomously, started just six months ago. The team was mostly based at Daimler Trucks North America's HQ in Portland, Oregon, with some extra hands in Germany.

The Freightliner Inspiration is a limited take on autonomy. The system will kick in only once the truck's on the highway and up to speed, and then it will maintain a safe distance from other vehicles and stay in its lane. It wont change lanes to pass slower vehicles on its own. If it truck encounters a situation it cant confidently handle, like heavy snow or faded lane lines, it will alert the human that its time for him to take over.

The mechanical side of the project was relatively straightforward, largely because the company's done so much of this work before. Trucks demand different actuators (the hardware that lets the computer physically tap into the steering, acceleration, and brakes), but it's all “well understood,” says Dr. Wilfried Achenbach, senior VP of engineering and technology. Power, for example, is delivered by a pneumatic unit, so Daimler cooked up magnetically activated valves that block or supply air pressure as needed. The sensors used on passenger cars, however, were up to grade: Achenbach points out Mercedes sells cars for use on the Autobahn, where cars going 125 mph requirethe same kind of stopping distance as a tractor trailer.

Daimler engineer David Overton lays out wiring to enable Inspiration's autonomous mode. Daimler

The electrical architecture underpinning the Inspiration is like a central hub with satellites, Achenbach says: The systems (speed control, lane keeping) work on their own, but there's a central device that sees what each part is doing and makes high-level decisions (like when it's time to tell the human driver to take control). That central system has been developed (Daimler's keeping quiet on the details of how it works, exactly) but Daimler's engineers have to lower its cost and shrink its size before it's ready for market. It's similar to what Audi calls the zFAS (for zentrale Fahrerassistenzsteuergert), a system that brings data from disparate systems into one place, like the human brain.

Looking at the Inspiration, it's hard to spot the things that make it different from every other truck hauling pallets. The radars in the front of the cab are hard to spot; the windshield-mounted camera doesn't draw attention. A stereoscopic camera mounted in the upper part of the windshield reads lane lines. Short and long range radars, built into the grille just above the license plate, scan the road up to 800 feet ahead for obstacles. No sensors face backward, because theyre not needed. Theres no vehicle-to-vehicle communication and no LIDaR. The software algorithms are adjusted versions of the ones developed for use in Mercedes-Benzs autonomous passenger cars.

The most obvious difference is the suite of blue LEDs the team installed around the vehicle, just like the ones in Mercedes' futuristic F 015 self-driving concept car. They're in the grille and the headlights, and in the screens for the cameras that could one day replace the side mirrors that create drag and aggravate every auto aerodynamicist on the planet. Inside, there are a few more subtle changes. The floor is wood. The back of the cab, usually used for sleeping, is all white and leather seating, specially outfitted to coddle attendees at the debut for test drives.

The UI

The most significant visible alteration inside the Inspiration is the red button that reads “HWP,” lodged between the controls for the lights and the air conditioning. It's the switch that enables Highway Pilot, Daimler's name for the system that keeps the truck rolling at a steady speed, at a safe distance from other vehicles, and in its lane.

Going autonomous is a two-step process: Enable HWP, then once the truck is on the highway and cruising, turn on cruise control. From there, the truck's in charge-until it hits rough weather, loses sight of a lane line, needs to pass another vehicle, or get off the highway.

Daimler

Those are the times when the human has to takeover, which means the system has to be made to make sure he knows to grab the wheel. For its A7 autonomous prototype, Audi based that process on focus group testing in Europe, China, and the US, creating a UI design that's both simple and sleek.

When the truck's out of its league, the driver hears a harsh beep, and the dashboard flashes an alert to give him a few seconds to take over. If the human doesn't respond (maybe he's dozed off) the truck comes to a controlled stop. As Daimler develops the Inspiration for commercial use, it will develop the system much more, along with plenty of testing to make sure drivers respond well. But here, it opted to keep things simple. “It was a six-month program,” says Steve Nadig, chief engineer on the project. “Beeping works.”

Testing

To earn the autonomous vehicle license plate from Nevada, Daimler needed to prove the system could safely cover 10,000 miles on its own. The team spun the odometer using two of the trucks, plus a testing mule (a non-fancy version with the same tech), on a test track in Germany and on quiet public roads in Nevada. Like with the UI, there's a lot more testing to do before it's ready to sell this system to the public. That means driving in extreme temperatures, slogging through rain and snow, for hundreds of thousands of miles, searching for and fixing any flaws they find.

Daimler

But even at this early stage, the system shows a lot of promise for transforming the trucking industry. Daimler can't spend enough time saying it has no interest in getting rid of the driver (We dont want to get rid of drivers, says Sven Ennerst, head of Daimler Trucks development department). Its focus is on making driving easier, safer, and more efficient. It ran a small study (16 drivers on a test track) to see how this autonomous system affects drivers. EEG readings showed they were 25 percent less tired than they were when they had to steer themselves.

That's an advantage in and of itself, since drivers will be more aware when they do have to take the wheel. But it has serious potential: Right now, a truck driver can stay on the road for only 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty. That's a major pain given the major shortage of truck drivers in the US right now, which is only getting worse. In a recent survey by the American Transportation Research Institute, US carriers listed hours-of-service rules as their top concern. If Daimler can guarantee drivers are less tired when using its autonomous system, regulators might be willing to ease those rules. “Then we come very fast to a business case for our customers,” says Martin Daum, CEO of Daimler Trucks North America.

Those customers are very much interested in this system, according to Daimler. That's no surprise: Making driving a job for the computer can reduce accidents, improve fuel efficiency, and maybe keep trucks on the road for longer, says Nol Perry, an economist who specializes in transportation and logistics. “They all love this.”

The driver shortage is restricting demand for new trucks by 50,000 to 60,000 units, Daum says. That financial incentive is at the heart of this technology program: Teach the truck to drive itself, and Daimler doesn't just have a superior product-it has a product that increases demand.

"Why do I need Inbound Marketing ?" https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-do-i-need-inbound-marketing-misty-lawson on @LinkedIn​  

[shannonhopkins214-blog]

How Daimler Built the Worlds First Self-Driving Semi

Christian Urban waves his hands to make a point, then looks at his nails and cracks wise about needing a manicure. He regularly touches his chin and his knees as he talks. There's nothing terribly unusual about this, but for the fact Urban is at the wheel of a 40-ton semi rolling down the I-15 highway outside Las Vegasat 60 mph, and he's not steering. Or even paying much attention.

The truck is called Inspiration. It's a tech-filled version of a Freightliner rig and the worlds first licensed self-driving semi. Urban is among dozens of engineers who spent six months frantically preparing the truck for its spectacular introduction in Nevada this week. What's really surprising isn't that his hands are off the wheel, but that they're not wiping away tears of joy and waving wildly at passing cars.

Christian Urban, a Daimler engineer, calmly lets the 40-ton Inspiration pilot itself down the I-15 at 60 mph. Alex Davies/WIRED

Daimler, which owns Freightliner and built this robo-rig, oscillates between boasting about the Inspiration (it rented Hoover Dam and threw down for a record-setting light show for the truck's debut) and downplaying its significance. As amazing as this thing is-it's a fully autonomous 18-wheeler that works-company execs say it won't can't change lanes on its own, it won't be market-ready for a decade, and could never replace human drivers.

Be that as it may, the Inspiration is a big step forward on the path toward the day when our vehicles drive themselves.

The discussion of autonomous technology usually centers on cars, because that's where many people will realize the benefits of improved safety, better fuel economy, and more free time. Most of the major automakers, plus tech giants like Google, are working on the hardware and software that will let regular drivers catch up on Facebook during their commute instead of holding onto the wheel and operating the pedals. Trucks aren't flashy, but they're critical to the economy.

You don't need an especially advanced autonomous system to make a dent in the crashes that killed nearly 4,000 people on US roads in 2012, about 90 percent of those were caused by driver error. Even a system that works only on the highway-where the technology's already developed and where trucks spend the vast majority of their time-can be a huge help.

The large freight carriers have already started the transition, equipping their fleets with active safety features like blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, and lane departure warnings. The economic case for these technologies, the building blocks for autonomy, is clear. “Commercial vehicles are a safety issue,” says Xavier Mosquet, head of Boston Consulting Groups North America automotive division. “And therefore anything that can get commercial vehicles out of trouble has a lot of value.” And the carriers wants more of it.

20 Years, 6 Months In the Making

Daimler, which owns Mercedes-Benz, has been working on autonomous driving for two decades. Much of the technology in the Inspiration-the radars and cameras, the computing power and electrical architecture-has a long track record of commercial use in active safety features like lane departure warning and adaptive cruise control.

Mercedes first equipped passenger cars with radars before Y2K and is now talking about a future in which driving is an option and front seats swivel to face the rear passengers. This year, Daimler started selling a “Detroit Assurance” package that outfits trucks with adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, and lane departure warning.

The blue lighting theme that marks the truck as autonomous is a subtle touch in the camera displays that could one day replace the side view mirror. Daimler

Work on the Inspiration, which upgrades that system by allowing the truck to steer and control its speed autonomously, started just six months ago. The team was mostly based at Daimler Trucks North America's HQ in Portland, Oregon, with some extra hands in Germany.

The Freightliner Inspiration is a limited take on autonomy. The system will kick in only once the truck's on the highway and up to speed, and then it will maintain a safe distance from other vehicles and stay in its lane. It wont change lanes to pass slower vehicles on its own. If it truck encounters a situation it cant confidently handle, like heavy snow or faded lane lines, it will alert the human that its time for him to take over.

The mechanical side of the project was relatively straightforward, largely because the company's done so much of this work before. Trucks demand different actuators (the hardware that lets the computer physically tap into the steering, acceleration, and brakes), but it's all “well understood,” says Dr. Wilfried Achenbach, senior VP of engineering and technology. Power, for example, is delivered by a pneumatic unit, so Daimler cooked up magnetically activated valves that block or supply air pressure as needed. The sensors used on passenger cars, however, were up to grade: Achenbach points out Mercedes sells cars for use on the Autobahn, where cars going 125 mph requirethe same kind of stopping distance as a tractor trailer.

Daimler engineer David Overton lays out wiring to enable Inspiration's autonomous mode. Daimler

The electrical architecture underpinning the Inspiration is like a central hub with satellites, Achenbach says: The systems (speed control, lane keeping) work on their own, but there's a central device that sees what each part is doing and makes high-level decisions (like when it's time to tell the human driver to take control). That central system has been developed (Daimler's keeping quiet on the details of how it works, exactly) but Daimler's engineers have to lower its cost and shrink its size before it's ready for market. It's similar to what Audi calls the zFAS (for zentrale Fahrerassistenzsteuergert), a system that brings data from disparate systems into one place, like the human brain.

Looking at the Inspiration, it's hard to spot the things that make it different from every other truck hauling pallets. The radars in the front of the cab are hard to spot; the windshield-mounted camera doesn't draw attention. A stereoscopic camera mounted in the upper part of the windshield reads lane lines. Short and long range radars, built into the grille just above the license plate, scan the road up to 800 feet ahead for obstacles. No sensors face backward, because theyre not needed. Theres no vehicle-to-vehicle communication and no LIDaR. The software algorithms are adjusted versions of the ones developed for use in Mercedes-Benzs autonomous passenger cars.

The most obvious difference is the suite of blue LEDs the team installed around the vehicle, just like the ones in Mercedes' futuristic F 015 self-driving concept car. They're in the grille and the headlights, and in the screens for the cameras that could one day replace the side mirrors that create drag and aggravate every auto aerodynamicist on the planet. Inside, there are a few more subtle changes. The floor is wood. The back of the cab, usually used for sleeping, is all white and leather seating, specially outfitted to coddle attendees at the debut for test drives.

The UI

The most significant visible alteration inside the Inspiration is the red button that reads “HWP,” lodged between the controls for the lights and the air conditioning. It's the switch that enables Highway Pilot, Daimler's name for the system that keeps the truck rolling at a steady speed, at a safe distance from other vehicles, and in its lane.

Going autonomous is a two-step process: Enable HWP, then once the truck is on the highway and cruising, turn on cruise control. From there, the truck's in charge-until it hits rough weather, loses sight of a lane line, needs to pass another vehicle, or get off the highway.

Daimler

Those are the times when the human has to takeover, which means the system has to be made to make sure he knows to grab the wheel. For its A7 autonomous prototype, Audi based that process on focus group testing in Europe, China, and the US, creating a UI design that's both simple and sleek.

When the truck's out of its league, the driver hears a harsh beep, and the dashboard flashes an alert to give him a few seconds to take over. If the human doesn't respond (maybe he's dozed off) the truck comes to a controlled stop. As Daimler develops the Inspiration for commercial use, it will develop the system much more, along with plenty of testing to make sure drivers respond well. But here, it opted to keep things simple. “It was a six-month program,” says Steve Nadig, chief engineer on the project. “Beeping works.”

Testing

To earn the autonomous vehicle license plate from Nevada, Daimler needed to prove the system could safely cover 10,000 miles on its own. The team spun the odometer using two of the trucks, plus a testing mule (a non-fancy version with the same tech), on a test track in Germany and on quiet public roads in Nevada. Like with the UI, there's a lot more testing to do before it's ready to sell this system to the public. That means driving in extreme temperatures, slogging through rain and snow, for hundreds of thousands of miles, searching for and fixing any flaws they find.

Daimler

But even at this early stage, the system shows a lot of promise for transforming the trucking industry. Daimler can't spend enough time saying it has no interest in getting rid of the driver (We dont want to get rid of drivers, says Sven Ennerst, head of Daimler Trucks development department). Its focus is on making driving easier, safer, and more efficient. It ran a small study (16 drivers on a test track) to see how this autonomous system affects drivers. EEG readings showed they were 25 percent less tired than they were when they had to steer themselves.

That's an advantage in and of itself, since drivers will be more aware when they do have to take the wheel. But it has serious potential: Right now, a truck driver can stay on the road for only 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty. That's a major pain given the major shortage of truck drivers in the US right now, which is only getting worse. In a recent survey by the American Transportation Research Institute, US carriers listed hours-of-service rules as their top concern. If Daimler can guarantee drivers are less tired when using its autonomous system, regulators might be willing to ease those rules. “Then we come very fast to a business case for our customers,” says Martin Daum, CEO of Daimler Trucks North America.

Those customers are very much interested in this system, according to Daimler. That's no surprise: Making driving a job for the computer can reduce accidents, improve fuel efficiency, and maybe keep trucks on the road for longer, says Nol Perry, an economist who specializes in transportation and logistics. “They all love this.”

The driver shortage is restricting demand for new trucks by 50,000 to 60,000 units, Daum says. That financial incentive is at the heart of this technology program: Teach the truck to drive itself, and Daimler doesn't just have a superior product-it has a product that increases demand.

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Are There Any Republicans Running For President

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Are There Any Republicans Running For President

The ’70s Were A Crazy Time For Everyone

Republican Lawmakers Are Terrified Of Trump Running For President Again

Jimmy Carter

After the 1968 fiasco, the Democratic National Committee created a commission charged with proposing reforms to the nominating process.

Its report brought state delegate allocations into line with the distribution of population and required state parties to adopt open procedures for selecting delegates rather than allowing state party leaders to pick them in secret.

In practice, states mostly implemented this by adopting presidential primaries which generally induced Republicans to make the same change.

The new system kicked off a chaotic era in which mavericks and factional leaders could win over the objections of party leaders.

In 1972, McGovern took advantage of his own reforms to win the Democratic nomination, even with an ideology so unacceptable to major party factions that the AFL-CIO didn’t support him over Richard Nixon.

Then in 1976, Jimmy Carter won the Democratic nomination despite a total lack of ties to the party establishment in Washington, and proceeded to win the White House and then not pursue the party’s agenda.

Also in 1976, incumbent President Gerald Ford faced an extremely strong primary challenge from conservative leader Ronald Reagan and was forced to drop the incumbent vice president from the ticket in order to appease conservatives.

Four years later, incumbent President Carter was challenged from the left by Ted Kennedy, his renomination secured only by the rally-round-the-flag effect induced by the Iranian hostage crisis.

Trump As A Stalking Horse

Of course, there was plenty of speculation during the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination that Trump was trying to sabotage the GOP candidates by saying outrageous things and making a mockery of the process in a bid to help Hillary Clinton win the election.

âDonald Trump is trolling the GOP,â political reporter Jonathan Allen wrote. Trump also threatened to run for president as an independent, a move many believed would siphon votes from the Republican nominee as other, similar candidates have done in the past.

Sen Ted Cruz Of Texas

Cruz, 50, could start out a 2024 election campaign in a much stronger position than his first run in 2016, when he came in second. Its not uncommon for Republicans to select the recent runner up to later be their nominee which is what happened to Mitt Romney, John McCain, Bob Dole and Ronald Reagan.

A lot has happened to Cruz since 2016. For one, he became an ardent Trump supporter and grew a beard. But Cruz has also learned lessons from his first presidential run. Should he run again in the 2024 election, hed be a much more experienced campaigner with a more finely tuned message, higher name ID, and a carefully maintained donor base, one Republican strategist said.

Cruz has also faced backlash for objecting to President Joe Bidens Electoral College win. Following the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, seven Democrats asked the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate Cruz and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., for amplifying claims of election fraud that led to violence. In Texas, the Republican Accountability Project paid for 100 billboards calling on Cruz to resign. Cruz also angered some close to him, like a longtime friend and former campaign chair who denounced him, and his chief spokesperson, who resigned, according to the Dallas Morning News.

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I Made A Decision To Live My Life In Service

Brock Pierce is a former child actor who appeared in the Mighty Ducks franchise and starred as the presidents son in the 1996 comedy First Kid. But thanks to his second career as a tech entrepreneur, hes also probably a crypto currency billionaire.

Why is he running for president? Partly because he is deeply concerned by the state of the country.

I think that we lack a real vision for the future I mean, what kind of world do we want to live in, in the year 2030? What is the plan? Where are we trying to get to, you know? You have to aim for something. And I see mostly just a lot of mud being thrown around, not a lot of people putting forth game-changing ideas. Its getting scary. And I have a view of what to do.

For the last four years, Mr Pierce has focused on philanthropic work in Puerto Rico, where his foundation recently raised a million dollars for PPE to give to first responders.

Asked what Americas priorities should be for the next four years, he suggests the country stops pursuing growth for growths sake, and measures its success by how well life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are upheld.

I have many liberal tendencies, just like I have conservative tendencies, Mr Pierce says. And I think its time we take a collective breath and a brave step into the future, because all of these ideologies have something to teach us.

And if he doesnt pull it off? Mr Pierce says he has offers.

How Are Primary Elections Conducted In California

All candidates for voter-nominated offices are listed on one ballot and only the top two vote-getters in the primary election regardless of party preference – move on to the general election. Write-in candidates for voter-nominated offices can only run in the primary election. A write-in candidate will only move on to the general election if the candidate is one of the top two vote-getters in the primary election.

Prior to the Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act, the top vote-getter from each qualified political party, as well as any write-in candidate who received a certain percentage of votes, moved on to the general election.

The Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act does not apply to candidates running for U.S. President, county central committee, or local office.

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Whos Running For President In 2020

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge President Trump in the 2020 race.

The field of Democratic presidential candidates was historically large, but all others have dropped out. Mr. Trump had also picked up a few Republican challengers, but they have also ended their campaigns.

Running

Has run for president twice before.

Is known for his down-to-earth personality and his ability to connect with working-class voters.

His eight years as Barack Obamas vice president are a major selling point for many Democrats.

Signature issues: Restoring Americas standing on the global stage; adding a public option to the Affordable Care Act; strengthening economic protections for low-income workers in industries like manufacturing and fast food.

Main legislative accomplishment as president: a sweeping tax cut that chiefly benefited corporations and wealthy investors.

Has focused on undoing the policies of the Obama administration, including on health care, environmental regulation and immigration.

Was impeached by the House of Representatives for seeking to pressure Ukraine to smear his political rivals, but was acquitted by the Senate.

Signature issues: Restricting immigration and building a wall at the Mexican border; renegotiating or canceling international deals on trade, arms control and climate change; withdrawing American troops from overseas.

Ended her campaign in March 2020 and said she would back Mr. Biden.

Republican Presidential Hopefuls Move Forward As Trump Considers 2024 Run

Print

Less than three months after former President Trump left the White House, the race to succeed him is already beginning.

Trumps former secretary of State, Michael R. Pompeo, has launched an aggressive schedule visiting states that will play a pivotal role in the 2024 Republican primaries and has signed a contract with Fox News Channel. Mike Pence, Trumps former vice president, has started a political advocacy group, finalized a book deal and later this month will give a speech in South Carolina, his first since leaving office. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been courting donors, including in Trumps backyard, with a prominent speaking slot before the former president at a GOP fundraising retreat dinner this month at Mar-a-Lago, the Florida resort where Trump now lives.

Trump ended his presidency with such a firm grip on Republican voters that party leaders fretted he would freeze the field of potential 2024 candidates, delaying preparations as he teased another run. Instead, many Republicans with national ambitions are openly laying the groundwork for campaigns as Trump continues to mull his own plans.

Theyre raising money, making hires and working to bolster their name recognition. The moves reflect both the fervor in the party to reclaim the White House and the reality that mounting a modern presidential campaign is a years-long endeavor.

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Elites Still Matter Enormously In Primaries

George H.W. Bush

Just when journalists and political scientists were ready to proclaim the death of parties in favor of candidate-centered politics, the pendulum started to swing back.

Over the past 35 years, incumbent presidents have had zero problems obtaining renomination even presidents like George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton who alienated substantial segments of the party base with ideological heterodoxy during their first term. Reagan and Clinton both passed the baton to their vice presidents without much trouble.

Insurgent candidates who caught fire with campaigns explicitly promising to shake up the party establishment Gary Hart in 1984, Pat Robertson in 1988, Jerry Brown in 1992, Pat Buchanan in 1996, John McCain and Bill Bradley in 2000, Howard Dean in 2004, Mike Huckabee in 2008, and Rick Santorum in 2012 repeatedly gained headlines and even won state primaries.

But while 1970s insurgents were able to use early wins to build momentum, post-Reagan insurgents were ground down by the sheer duration and expansiveness of primary campaigns.

Tactics that worked in relatively low-population, cheap states like Iowa and New Hampshire simply couldn’t scale without access to the broad networks of donors, campaign staff, and policy experts that establishment-backed candidates enjoyed.

It’s this “invisible primary” among party elites that truly matters.

Endorsements were better at predicting the outcome than polls, fundraising numbers, or media coverage.

List Of Registered 2024 Presidential Candidates

Republican Support for Convicting Trump GROWS in the Senate

The following table lists candidates who filed with the FEC to run for president. Some applicants used pseudonyms; candidate names and party affiliations are written as they appeared on the FEC website on the date that they initially filed with the FEC.

Candidates who have filed for the 2024 presidential election Candidate

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Republican Presidential Nomination 2020

Presidential election changes in response to the coronavirus pandemic

The Republican Party selected President Donald Trump as its presidential nominee at the 2020 Republican National Convention, which was held from August 24-27, 2020.

Prior to the national convention, individual state caucuses and primaries were held to allocate convention delegates. These delegates vote at the convention to select the nominee. Trump crossed the delegate threshold necessary to win the nomination1,276 delegateson .

George H.W. Bush was the last incumbent to face a serious primary challenge, defeating political commentator Pat Buchanan in 1992. He was also the last president to lose his re-election campaign. Franklin Pierce was the first and only elected president to lose his party’s nomination in 1856.

Sixteen U.S. presidentsapproximately one-thirdhave won two consecutive elections.

Wheres Kamala Last Person In Room Harris Silent 6 Days Amid Afghan Pullout Chaos

Democrats are increasingly fearful Vice President Kamala Harris missteps will open the door for Republicans to regain the White House, a new report said Friday.

Dems, including senior White House officials, fear that Harris will lose to any Republican she faces including former President Donald Trump if President Biden does not seek reelection in 2024, Axios reported.

At 56, Harris is more than two decades Bidens junior and has been considered the heir apparent to the 46th president since he selected her to be his running mate last year.

While Harris will still be the presumptive nominee if Biden becomes the first president since Lyndon Johnson to not seek a second full term, Axios reports that a series of blunders have left officials and operatives concerned.

Right now, one operative told Axios, the feeling among Democrats isnt Oh, no, our heir apparent is fing up, what are we gonna do? Its more that people think, Oh, shes fing up, maybe she shouldnt be the heir apparent.

Harris has repeatedly been criticized for her handling of the illegal immigration crisis along the US-Mexico border, a problem Biden dumped in her lap in March by tasking her to deal with the root causes of the issue.

According to Axios, several White House officials have also described Harris office as a shtshow, poorly managed, and staffed with people who dont know the vice president well.

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Georgia And Arizona Senators Show Progressive

Walker, the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner and a Wrightsville, Ga., native, has long lived in Texas after a professional football career that ended in Dallas, but he changed his voter registration last week to an Atlanta house owned by his wife, Julie Blanchard. Blanchard is under investigation by the Georgia secretary of states office over potential illegal voting after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported she voted in Georgia despite living in Texas.

Walker has also repeated false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election despite elections officials finding no evidence of widespread fraud that affected the outcome.

Its unclear when Walker will make a formal Senate announcement. The campaign paperwork filed Tuesday ends months of speculation about his political plans, including a prediction in June from Trump that the former football star would soon suit up for the Republican primary.

He told me hes going to, and I think he will, Trump said on the conservative talk radio Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Hes a great guy. Hes a patriot. And hes a very loyal person, hes a very strong person. They love him in Georgia, Ill tell you.

Some national Republicans have been wary of Walkers candidacy, though. The first-time candidate comes with potential baggage that could harm his chances in both the primary and general elections, including his Texas residency.

Ryan Sit U.S.Donald TrumpMike PenceBen SasseBob Corker

Here are 10 Republicans who may challenge Trump:

None Of Them Can Win But They Could Play Spoiler

Remember when half of American white males over the age of 40 declared themselves for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016? There were so many candidates that they couldnt fit them all on two packed debate stages. One guy stayed in after receiving a grand total of 12 votes in the Iowa caucuses; in New Hampshire, Jim Gilmores showing improved to , an unprecedented 1,000 percent increase. Reader: He didnt withdraw for another six days.

Since Donald Trump is our incumbent president, and will thus almost surely be the GOP nominee in 2020, we should be spared a repeat, and really ought to be able to give our undivided attention to the approximately 437 mostly Social Security-eligible senators, governors, congressmen, mayors, and billionaire activists looking to run on the Democratic ticket in 2020. Unfortunately, Trump will almost certainly be challenged, either in the ostensibly meaningless Republican primaries or by one or more independent right-of-center candidates.

Stephen Bannon thinks 2020 will be a proper three-way race. #NeverTrumpers are already ferreting around for someone to challenge the president for the GOP nomination. I just finished reading a book about the French resistance. It reminds me of that. People are meeting over their garages their ateliers trying to figure out whos going to do it, one of them toldNew York recently.

Here are five people who might just fit the bill.

1. John Kasich

Chance of running: 80 percent

2. Jeff Flake

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Us Election : The Other 1214 Candidates Running For President

The US has had presidents for more than 230 years, but only the first George Washington has ever been elected as an independent candidate.

The twin peaks of US politics, the Republican and Democratic parties, dominate media coverage and campaign donations so completely that the chances of an outsider winning are virtually nil.

What kind of person looks at those near-insurmountable odds and thinks Im running anyway?

Quite a range as it turns out: As of 9 October, some 1,216 candidates have filed with the Federal Election Commission to run for president.

The BBC asked three of them a concert pianist and motivational speaker, a Native American IT technician, and a crypto billionaire what they stand for, and why they deserve the votes of Americans.

President Trump Your Legacy Is Secure Stop The Stolen Election Rhetoric

As many on the left have pointed out, the 2020 election was less a repudiation of Trump than a narrow loss for a man who proved just unpalatable enough for a critical sliver of his coalition.

Sean Spicer, a former Trump press secretary, told The Post his ex-boss would be an instant front-runner in a 2024 primary. He has a rock-solid base, I just dont think that there is anyone else who even comes close.

Teasing a potential run in 2024 would at the very least ensure Trump stays relevant and in the press for years to come.

If Trump himself passes on the opportunity, his two very political children Don Jr. and Ivanka Trump could also potentially pick up the mantle. Trump Jr. has long acted as an outside surrogate for his father online and in the press and connects strongly with his base. Ivanka, meanwhile, has years of administration experience under her belt as a White House adviser to her father.

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Votes By State For Biden And Trump

The following table shows the number of votes Joe Biden and Donald Trump received in each state.

Votes by state for Joe Biden and Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential eleection State

There were 21 candidates on the ballot each in Vermont and Colorado. The next largest presidential ballots were Arkansas and Louisiana with 13 candidates each. Twelve states had only three candidates on the ballot.

The following map shows the number of presidential candidates on the ballot in each state.