Comments by "Xyz Same" (@xyzsame4081) on "Thom Hartmann Program" channel.

Greetings to downunder. You are doing good. (not with the floods in NSW). Hope you skip the fires this year !
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The old among the primary voters (South Carolina ! due to the influence of Clyburn) have chosen Biden, and the younger could not be bothered to come out in sufficient numbers for Sanders. So The Democratic exercise of testing how little they can give to the voters and how much they can backpaddle on the (few) campaign promises continues. After all the Republicans reliably come up with terrible candidates, so voters have nowhere to go - Well until the clueless but increasingly angry sheeple will go for the next Trump, who will be not so stupid as the former one. Biden just eeked out a win. In an election with 160 million votes cast it came down to 43,200 votes in 3 states (AZ 10,500 GA 12,000 WI 20,700). PA was won with 81,000 more votes and that was the most "solid" win in the 4 states that were nailbiters (because it was so close that they needed days of counting the mail ballots. A more decisive win of at least over 2 % like in MI and NV also manifests earlier, the statisticians can project that earlier. But Biden absolutely needed 2 out of the 4 in any combination. Pennsylvania was not obligatory, but Biden needed at least 2 to come at least at 270 (with the 2 smallest = AZ and WI). The 7 million more in the popular vote & still lost the election in the Electoral College were a real possibility.
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Good for Thom to ask Prof. Keen to slow down ;) My fix was until now to download the video and then play it with VLC (or a fancy free program like audacity even). There I can adjust the speed better (youtube offers only fixed ratios). - There is always automatic transcript of course, it has become quite good.
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That requirement to be frugal with energy (the rationing of WW2 has shaped public attitude) may have been a blessing in disguise. The nation that can build / sell energy efficient cars, heating devices, ... to its consumers has a field of employment for aspiring engineers.
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+ Paulette - I live in an European country - and in all other democracies they have the idea that the voters should have MORE than 2 choices (In Iran they have elections too - but the mullahs decide who gets on the ballot and how many candidates are "necessary"). - The idea in Europe is that citizens vote for their prefered party - else what is the point of voting. (There is some strategic thinking going on sometimes, but nothing like in the U.S. where the voters are SHAMED for voting outside the 2 party system. 100 sorts of yoghurt, but only 2 parties to chose from. Which of course all but ensures the corruption of those 2 parties - the voters have nowhere to go ) Of course the U.S. president does not has so much power regarding laws. he has the war power, and the right kind of President would have a platform to kick ass. Plus nominating the head of agencies. So it is about changing the members of Congress and Senate. Greens, Progressives, Independents - whatever. It would have been better if Jill Stein had won 10 or 15 % of the vote in total. Maybe then the sell-out Dems could be bothered to serve their constituency.
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@patricialongo5746 Most nations handle that benefit via their tax agency - for practical reasons.
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It is possible that their tourism took a major hit. The coup (and the repsonse of Erdogan). It is lucky for Greece (they are nearby).
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@xadam2dudex Not to forget you have to overcome the Democratic party (with the SAME donors as the Republicans) who comes up with terrible, neoliberal, war mongering candidates and crush good candidates with all might. They have made the "lesser evil" an artform. Biden now is a TERRIBLE candidate - but the Dems get away with it because the Repubs reliably come up with an even worse candidate.
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some accountability because voters can vote (typically 80 - 85 % turnout) in other rich democracies. It is easy to vote, 15 minutes wait time would be considered extraordinary. Mind you that is with paper ballot, and hand count, and typically 70 - 85 % turnout. 70 % would the local races in smaller communities, there typically the center right parties have solid majorities and even people that vote differently on the state and national level are O.K. with the mayor, and the council. If not, it is not hard to form a local opposition and straighten out the local establishment. The hand count for EVERY election happens in every polling station (and of course they keep the ballots as proof), and the result is signed off by the election board whose members were there all day watched the ballot box, the checking off on lists and each other - and then did the counting together. The board consists of civil servants (getting Sunday overtime pay) and volunteers or election helpers on behalf of all parties. Then they report the numbers per polling station for tabulation, which are numbers the voters can find out (although the numbers that are widely reported are aggregated at the city / town / village level. In a village they have only one polling station, but in the cities they aggregate the numbers, people like to know "how my town / state voted" so that is more convenient. But voters, journalists, independent statisticians can get the raw date PER polling station. At that BASIC level rigging per polling station is almost impossible (they would have to bribe all board members) and on top of that it would be utterly pointless because it coult not change the outcome. If one polling station (which represens from 500 to a few 1000 people) would have "unusual" results, they STILL would not make a dent, but they would draw attention. The civil servants that are responsible that the procudures are followed, would get into trouble or major trouble (losing jobs, pensions, of course legal prosecution - and even ardent volunteers that root for one party strongly, would not do it. Normal people do not try to rig elections, they just don't). If regions have a power blackout - they still could hold the elections. (I guess it could delay processing the data, but it would not hinder the voters to cast the vote). The "tech" is robust, they system is completely safe from rigging. and the tech is "off grid". There is no chance to arrange for old machines, and technical glitches to disadvantage certain areas with certain voters. You cannot mess with paper ballot and pen and cubicles and voter lists printed in advance. If they can't print the lists within 2 weeks or cannot provide all polling stations with a sufficient number of ballots and envelopes - they would not have any plausible deniability. There are no "convenient technical glitches" possible (in low income areas) Mind you, Corporate Dems ALSO do not want THOSE people to vote in the primaries. If the ballot is more complicated (or they combine it with local races to save costs) and that could create a bottle neck - well have a few more cubicles and pens. It is very easy to scale that up, there are not more "machines" needes. The voter rolls are printed in 2 weeks before the election. The turnout is predictable, and even if they would expect unusually high turnout, it is low cost and easy to scale it up. Let's say from 70 to 80 %, or 80 to even 90 % for big races: more cubicles, more pens, and printing enough ballots is easy, low cost, and can be arranged quickly. It does not matter much cost-wise (considering the total costs of the elections, staff is the most expensive) if you print 20 million or 25 million ballots, there are fix costs - once the printers start the machines ... Nor should it be a problem in a first world country to provide each and every polling station with enough ballots and some reserves. They have to sign off on them, and they must account for the unused ones, after the election is over. Not being on the voter rolls is unheard of (citizens have to announce if they move, all nations figured out a way to have a reliable (central )register. Most nations have a central register (not the U.K) from there many important informations (birth, marriage, death, school, child benefits, driving licence ....) and also the voter rolls are taken. Updating THAT information is easy as well if citizes move, and of course young adults get the voter invitaiton (that everyone gets) as soon as they reach the age where they will be eligible to vote on election day. And like everbody else the invitations for every other race. Only in the U.K. they have to register for their first vote, and then whenever they move out of district. But that is VERY easy and the overwhelming majority do it online. The votes are handcounted, paper ballot, election is on a workday (most nations vote on sunday or holiday) BUT the polling stations are open from morning till 10 pm and there are plenty of polling stations. People CAN vote even on a busy day. No long waiting times, and polling stations are nearby. In the U.S. it is a byzantine system, and the Democrats have no interest in changing that. I saw a video of the Sanders campaign how to vote in the primaries in California- and in the comment sections there were statements that seemed to expand the information (what you also must not overlook, that was not even mentioned in the video. You MUST have the original envelope, if you automatically got your mail ballot and it is not the right one - a cross over. After a certain time voters could not reform that online, they only could vote in person. Hello long lines. AND they absolutely needed to have the original ballot AND the envelope). It is byzantine, complicated, as hassle, you need to watch a 10 minute video if you prefer to not be registered as Democrat (which frankly would be the easiest way in CA if you want to vote in the D primaries - and then switching back). Many hours of waiting times ? In primaries AND in the general ? Developing poor countries are doing better. Updated voter rolls in countries with functioning ! elections: Only when you are lazy with updating your residency / domicile OR you end up in the 2 week period (where they start to print the voter lists for the polling stations so they cannot adjust the info anymore), you either have to ask for a mail ballot. There are time limits - typically 4 - 7 days before the election you have to ask for it, 4 for the big races. They need some time reserves to adminstrate that as well. But typically updating that info is necessary if you rent,drive a car - the typical exception are college students. The classic is the phone call 6 - 8 weeks before the elction. Mum calling the out of town student: We got your invitation to vote in the mail - are you coming home for election weekend ? (of course they vote on Sundays or holidays).
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When the police brutally crushed PEACEFUL Occupy Wallstreet some of the leaders were put into prison over alleged ! resistance to police. There is no footage, so they could not prove their innocence. Even if, that was hitting back, struggling while being wrestled down - not using poles, chains, mace etc. police. Of course they had no guns and no explosives and did not throw stones, water bottles, fire extinguishers.
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@jmitterii2 I disagree - social pressure works. Ask people politely to wear a mask, do not engage in arguments. They will get sick to be called out all the times if they are still somewhat normal. It also is a check on others who have a mind to be defiant BUT are not in the tantrum throwing territory. Those people will begrudingly wear them.
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No tell me who destroyed Honduras, Mexico, Haiti, Philippines, ....
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Soros is one of the more or less ruthless Wallstreet billionairs (his wealth does not come from CREATING but from the gambling in the Big Casino). He is not worse than others (but does enough damage). And I think he is funding groups that do regime changes (I heard stories about meddling in the Ukraine the last regime change for instance)
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You tell that the many scientists internationally that study how the TRACE gases Co2 and Methane have been major drivers in the climate of the planet. In combination with how much solar radiation the earth receives (distance from sun, tilt)
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Actually the rural areas do HAVE the votes. More people IN New York or California will not change the number of Senators or members of Congress or the impact on who becomes president - I get the idea that rural America does not want to be sidelined by the big blue states. - But with proportional representation the country would be much more moderate (and there would be MORE parties - that means more political competition). As it is now the U.S. NEVER had more than 2 relevant parties (in many other nations even a party of 5 or 10 % can become very relevant when they support a coalition government). So both parties can be very complacent and play the "Look how bad the other guy/gal is" game. Worked with Trump AND Clinton in 2016. Both activated the base of the other party to vote AGAINST them.
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@juniorgod321 it is not even an organization.
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They will take notice when THEY suffer - some Trump voters had been losing economy-wise- but also well-off (blue collars) who still have good jobs voted for him.
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A very few get very rich of it - and their children do not go to war - and even with the draft an influental daddy can make sure the son does not serve on a dangerous post. - And what's more they do their best to pay as little tax as they possibly can.
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The riots had the Democrtic ELITES rattled. And "liberal" media sides with them - this time. So the people wanting to return to normal have a hard time. With 9/11 they were very willing to be uncritical (of the Bush admin asleep at the wheel). But not with the events of Jan 6th, 2021 were they were (almost) at the receiving end. The same with Watergate. As Noam Chomsky put it: THAT got attention because one powerful actor in the U.S. had stepped on the toes of another powerful actor. So no one glossed over that. At the same time that the nation was in uproar that the Repubs tried to burglar the office of the Dems - surveillance and violations of the constitutional rights of citizens came up. No uproar there. (the exchange of Chomsky with Andrew Marr, BBC during the 1996 interview is a classic).
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you should care more about the corruption in the U.S. !
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For decades the Republican tried to win on wedge issues and riled up the base. Also on the issue of abortion (other conservative parties stay clear of that issue). They HAD to deliver. I think the more intelligent among the arsonists HOPE their "conservative" Supreme Court will NOT overturn Roe vs. Wade. Some of the provisions (like the 10k bounty are just to ridiculous, it is like they are begging for the law to be killed). They are like the dog that caught the car. If Roe vs. Wade is overturned it will be a won battle and setting themselves up for losing the war. It would drive turnout for Democrats big time. young people, females.
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vaccines are not good business for the companies (and they might find themselves limited what the are allowed to charge for a working vaccine for SARS-CoV-2). Prevention ! does not make them money. Sure the yearly flu shot can be sold more often. Truth is, when there is a working vaccine many people will take a gamble, if the danger of an epidemic emerges THEN mass vaccination would start. There are better business models out there. (think cancer treatment or any other common disease that needs daily use of a drug). SARS-CoV-1 of 2002 / 2003 does not exist anymore in the wild - so they may anticipate (or governments may fear) that SARS-CoV-2 could become endemic (like the flu, where one shot will not give you lasting immunity, because it constantly mutates), but that is by no means certain. Insuline and medication against hypertension is good money, vaccines not so much.
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The idea that Russian "interference" prevented HRC from getting elected is ridiculous. Russian used very little money - and I strongly suspect there were trollfarms who just sought to make a quick buck with click baiting. It just so happens that the Trump base was more useful for that. - There is an NPR article on the web "We tracked down a fake news creator in the suburbs - Here is what we found" * A self declared Democrat who had started to "study" the far right bloggersphere and fake news. he started tripping them by launchen fake news - narratives that could be easily disproven by a regular citizen that knew how to do a little web research. He was astonished how succesful that was - the right wing base was "after red meat" and whatever suited their bias was repeated w/o fact checking. NPR had tracked him down when they launched a story about a Sheriff who allegedly had something on Clinton and was found "suicided" or killed. The name of the town, the name of the victim - it was all invented. That went viral (500,000 views) before someone found out the obvious. or when they launched the story that foodstamps where used to buy weed (I think that was in Orgegon). A state legislator promptly came up with a bill - needless to say it would have been easy to disprove that story, too. Well, if one has seen how easily Sacha Baron Cohen had it to fool the right wing / Republican politicians .... One nugget: They also tried to spread fake news in the left scene. That never worked however, before a story could get traction someone factchecked and destroyed in the the comment section. (So lefties are fact checkers to some degree - if you want to fool them you need the mainstream media to repeat a story over and over and over (looking at you Rachel Maddow. It is of course possible that his "stories" to bait the liberals were not as juicy). He considers himself one of the big fish in the scene - makeing around 30k per month with advertising. He runs several sites and has creative free lancers that come up with stories as the muse will kiss them. One platform demonetized him or blocked him - that does not matter howerver. He gets plenty of offers in his mail with people who WANT to advertise (not the most respectable sort of businesses most likely) The story is from 2016. When they finally had found him the elections were over. He did not regret his engagement, but considered stopping it.
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The crossover hurdly cost Sanders a LOT of votes in 2016, but a lot of people got burned and they might remember and spread the information - I mean they could put up LARGE posters in English and Spanish and explain it (There is also an Independent party in CA. That is another party like the Republicans. So in CA it is called No Party Preference and means what in most states is called Independents). I saw videos by the Sanders campaign, but frankly they should have mentioned that much ealier in the campaign speeches, emails, etc. done a shoutout to Independent media and local media etc. They had an explanation video how to vote in the primary in CA (but frankly it was likely incomplete according to the comment section), and Sanders did a short video much later where he mentioned crossover (when my name is not on it it is not the right one, but he for instance did not mention the envelope). His video and the former explanation video did not have that many views (on youtube) and frankly too late, I think early voting may have already started when the Sanders video got on air.
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So ... Fred Flintstone (alias of Thom) gave 5 bucks to a few GOP candiates to be on their email lists (and if you ever gave money you might get different messaging, I had never thought about it, but it makes sense). And in 2018 or 2019 the Trump website sold 30 USD Trump coloring books ;) - and Thom had to have one. I do not blame him. But 30 USD for some merch gets you into the "inner circles of that database, and they obviously are selling off ! that email list of committed Trumpsters ! To other right wingers. * Thom says he is constantly getting messges ever since, Rudy Guiliani, etc. Which btw is illegal. Of course they could have that it in the fine print that you may get other messages that you might find interesting.. How is that for the President. Of. The. United. States - grifting at that level. A good email list with a few hundred thousand people on it that are eager and committed is worth something. The Trump list of all that spent more than 15 USD may have millions on them !
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