Week of 11/16/2020

 

News Agencies: End the Polls!  Now!
– by David Matthews 2

It was November 3^rd, 1948, when the Chicago Daily Tribune went to press with their feature article concerning the 1948 Presidential Election.  They couldn’t wait for all the results to come in from the various states, so they went ahead with the best information they had.

You may have seen pictures of that headline, if not the actual newspaper itself.

“Dewey Defeats Truman”

The Tribune article went on to say that New York Governor Thomas Dewey, a Republican, would win the White House in a landslide, defeating incumbent President Harry S. Truman, and that the Republican Party would retain control of both the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, and they were all willing to work with President-elect Dewey.

There’s just one problem.

Governor Dewey didn’t win the White House.

In fact, when it was all over and done with, President Truman won the Electoral College by a count of 303-189-39, with the 39 electoral votes going to a certain third party candidate named Strom Thurmond. 

Oh, and the talk about the GOP retaining control of the Congress?  Also, dead wrong.  The Democrats swept control of both houses.

So, what the hell happened?

What happened was simple: the Chicago Daily Tribune couldn’t wait for the truth to come in.

Printing newspapers takes time.  Hours.  It’s not an instantaneous process like today’s online media.  And it was hours that the Tribune did not have in order for the results to come in.  Rather than leave people hanging, the paper’s higher-ups went ahead with what they firmly believed would happen, as according to their best guy, Arthur Sears Henning.  A veteran political analyst who supposedly successfully predicted four of the five previous presidential elections, Henning used conventional wisdom along with several polls that predicted that Dewey would win outright.  Even when the various state results started coming back in, Henning doubled-down on his convictions that it would be a sweep for Dewey.  After all, the polls said so, and the polls couldn’t be wrong, could they?

The writing should have been on the wall back then, but nobody in the news services wanted to see it.

That writing is now on that same wall in boldface large letters and in neon colors.

*End the polls!*

Polling has been the news services’ bread and butter since the 19^th century.  They give the illusion of a scientific study of what people want or prefer.  I say “illusion” because they don’t measure every human want or preference.  They only take a sample of the populace and then report on what that sample represents and then infer that this is what everyone else thinks.

But what constitutes a “sample”?  If you just ask your friends at work what they think, that’s not indicative of the whole workplace.  If you just ask a handful of people at a Walmart, that’s not indicative of the whole consumer audience, never mind being indicative of all the Walmart shoppers.

And by inferring that the results of this “sample” group are indicative of the whole, that’s pretty much misrepresentation, if not borderline fraud.  That’s why you sometimes see a little disclaimer under the polls.

Now that’s fine if you want to pretend to know if people consider jeggings to be either pants or athleticwear, or which actor played Batman better in the movies, or which flavor should be in a new bag of potato chips.  The fate of the country doesn’t hang on those trivial matters.

The problem comes when the media starts using the polls for continual campaign coverage.  And not just “using” but overdosing on it every single day.  There has not been a single minute in the past few years when the various news agencies didn’t shove some poll down our gullets as to what the “approval-versus-disapproval rate” is for any given politician, which wannabe candidate is “trending”, and who is “leading” in any campaign, be it a primary, caucus, or general election.

This is important, because political debate organizers are actually using polls as a determination as to which candidate is “worth” including.  Oh, you’re a candidate running for political office, but you aren’t showing up in any of our polls?  Too bad.  Sucks to be you.  You’re not “qualified” to be in our debate and thus get needed airtime with those we declare to be the “frontrunners”.  Good luck getting that needed campaign money now.  Better luck next time... or never.

Now, maybe that is “okay” during the primaries and caucuses, and maybe we can ignore the “approval” numbers as just fantasy, but what about the general elections?

For the past several elections, we have been inundated with daily polls about who is “leading” over the other candidate.  A nonstop cacophony of numbers and ratios and points and margins-of-error and who is ahead and who is trailing and how they’re doing among various demographics and how they differ from previous days, weeks, months, elections.  Over and over and over, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.

And, come election day, we find out that all of their so-called “scientific” polling is *wrong*!

If the media predicts a horserace, it ends up being anything but one.  And if they predict a sweep, not only will it be a close race, but the person they predict will win often ends up losing.

Look at the 2020 Con and Possible Coup.  For endless weeks, it was predicted that former Vice President Joe Biden would sweep the election in most of the states, and by sizable margins.  Not only that, but these same “scientific” groups were predicting that the Democratic Party was going to sweep Congress as well.  A supposed “Blue Tsunami”.

And what happened?  Biden still won, but not by the margins that were predicted.  It was a horserace for many states, several of which, like Georgia, were complete surprises.  But it was far from that predicted “sweep”.  And the Democrats certainly didn’t sweep the Congress as predicted.  Hell, they lost seats in the House of Representatives.  Incumbents that were supposedly in danger got re-elected by obscene margins.

In other words, these so-called “scientific” polling groups were *dead wrong* about everything they predicted!

Now you may think that this is just a fluke.  After all, it’s 2020.  But, no, if you look back several years, you’ll see the same error repeated over and over again.  This commentator has put up with countless years of polls predicting horseraces that ended up being sweeps for incumbents, and sweeps that end up not only being horseraces, but horseraces where the predicted candidate loses.  And every single time... every single goddamned time... what happens?  The so-called “political experts” simply shrug and say “Oops!  Guess we misread the voters!”

If it was just a fluke... one time in 1948 where the so-called “experts” got it wrong... we could excuse the error.  But if it happens over and over and over again with the pattern repeating itself over and over and over again, year after year after year, and you know that there’s a chance you’re going to be wrong, guess what that’s called?  That is called misrepresentation.  You’re not predicting.  You’re engaging in fantasy and trying to pass that off as a future reality.

So let’s get brutally honest here... and this is to all the news services big and small and to their corporate masters... you need to end these polls!  Now!  Today!  Send them packing!

You have proven repeatedly that your polling does not work.  It does not accurately reflect the will or minds of the American people.  Even with your supposed “margins of error”, your data is skewed, your sample representation is wrong, and your conclusions cannot be trusted.  The problem is not with the data, but with the idea that you can somehow gauge the will and interest of the people on a daily basis using a sample that clearly does not reflect the whole.

Let’s put it this way... if you had a meteorologist who continually made on-air weather forecasts that turned out to be wrong day after day after day, how long would that person be on the air?

If you had a market analyst whose stock forecasts turned out to be wrong day after day after day, why would you keep that person employed?

If you had a reporter that could not, for the life of him, tell the truth in his articles, how fast would you quietly kick him to the curb?

If you have a consultant that screws up continually, you don’t shrug and say “oh well, better luck next time.”  You terminate that consulting job and you send that consultant packing.

And that is what the news services need to do with their so-called “experts”.  The fact that some of the networks and publications attach their own names to these polls does not make them any more credible.  That only means that they are also on the hook if those polls are wrong.

I understand why the news services would come up with these daily fantasies.  It gives them something to do in the world of the 24-hour news cycle.  It’s like fast food for the media.  Greasy, fatty, loaded with salt and sugar, fills the belly and possibly damages your body.  The problem is that it is also killing their credibility.

Look at what happened when the Chicago Daily Tribune screwed up in 1948.  They became the laughingstock of the nation.  Truman held up a copy of the newspaper to the other reporters to gloat and now that image is a part of history.  Maybe if the rest of the news services took that embarrassment as a hint to make some changes, then maybe they wouldn’t have a problem today.  They certainly wouldn’t be inundating us with these fantasy speculations that may or may not be accurate.

Take the hint now, news services.  End these polls now and you’ll keep whatever is left of your integrity.

 

Week of 11/09/2020

 

America to Narcissist Trump:
You’re Fired!
– by David Matthews

This message has been four years in the making. 

It was something that I have been wanting to say since 2016.

Donald Trump: You’re fired!

Whew!  That felt good.

Of course, I may still be premature about this.  Narcissist President Donald Trump is many things, and very few of them are good, but we do know that he is a liar and a cheater.  And he is part of a political party and faction that are notorious for cheating to get their way. 

There is still a way to go from calling the 2020 Scam and Possible Coup to Inauguration Day on January 20, 2021.  As of this column’s posting, we’re just at the “We won” stage.  We still have to get through the Electoral College, where things become official.  Yes, presumed President-Elect Joe Biden has enough electoral votes to win the presidency, but we still have to go through that.  If there is any way that Narcissist Trump can bully, manipulate, and steal those electoral votes, he will do it.

You’re going to hear the word “fraud” a lot.  From the same people who tried to pander the fraud that Barack Obama wasn’t born in Hawaii, and the same people who tried to pander the fraud that Senator Kamala Harris wasn’t “qualified” to be Vice-President.  Never mind that the only people peddling fraud lately seem to be for the narcissist. Then again, that is the M.O. for that party and especially for that political faction: cry fraud while carrying out fraud.  Cry “liar” while lying through their teeth, “abuse” while swinging the truncheon, “violence” when they’re the ones that are calling for death, and “riot” when they’re the ones smashing windows and setting places on fire. 

Projection; the go-to defense mechanism for criminal psychopaths and sociopaths.

Understand that we are dealing with a malignant narcissist who does not know failure.  To him, win is a win by any means he can, regardless of morality, ethics, tradition, honor, or integrity.  Even his own niece, a clinical psychologist, knows what kind of man he is.  This is someone with a history of not paying bills, of breaking treaties and agreements, of refusing to honor subpoenas, and of suing first and reneging later.  Having said that, I think that all electors should be under strict security watch from now until after the Electoral College is adjourned.

Oh, and remember all of those threats of punishment if any “faithless electors” vote contrary to their state’s turnout?  We even had a Supreme Court decision on that.  We could very well start hearing about possible “faithless electors” defying possible punishment with the hopes of a presidential pardon for their betrayal.

So, yes, until this is done, until the Electoral College meets and makes it official, and until we go all the way up to noontime, January 20, 2021 and Joe Biden takes the actual oath of office, I will not put anything past Narcissist Trump or his myrmidons or his enablers or his cult followers.  They have no honor, no integrity, no morality, no ethics, no character, and no balls.  Well, except for the fake balls hanging from the trailer hitches of their pickup trucks decked out like many an ISIL vehicle.

Also, this commentator has to disagree with the calls for “healing”.  I’m sorry, but that’s not going to happen.  You have a faction of this nation that are under the delusion that they really “won” the election, just like the Dems thought they won in 2000.  But the difference is that this faction carry guns and they threaten violence, and some of them even commit murder and justify it with their “both sides” lie.  This is not “spirited disagreement”, this is potential violent insurrection and maybe even civil war.  They don’t get to “heal” until they disarm, both physically and rhetorically.

Let’s not forget that the so-called “Blue Tsunami” or “Blue Wave” fizzled where it was needed the most: the U.S. Senate.  Mitch “The Bitch” McConnell, that slack-jawed turtle dick, is still in office, he won his re-election, and right now he is still in charge of the Senate.  He has a documented history of committing outright sabotage to get what he wants, including denying a Supreme Court confirmation and then rushing through three, with the last just a few weeks ago.  The Dems need to go all-out in Georgia to win both seats in run-off elections for that to change.  McConnell needs to be shut down, or else he will shut down any kind of action the next President wants done.  That is not speculation.  That is a fact with history backing it up.

Oh, and by the way, I haven’t even brought up the possibility that Narcissist Trump may find some way to stop the inauguration by declaring martial law or simply refuses to leave the White House after the inauguration and there is a siege situation at 1600.  Despite claims to the contrary, we are dealing with a malignant narcissist with an obscene sense of self-entitlement and self-supremacy, and someone who has never had to deal with losing at anything.  This commentator does not see a peaceful transition in the near future.

Let’s get brutally honest here... there is still a long, long way to go before we get to the inauguration, and while we may have fired Narcissist Trump, he’s still in the Oval Office until he either leaves or is forced to leave.  We need to take nothing for granted with him except knowing that he will lie, cheat, and steal to get what he wants, and he has a sizable portion of the nation willing to help make that happen.

Yes, we have fired Narcissist President Trump.  Congrats to the presumed president-elect.  But the rest of the nation that made this happen cannot rest or relax until the termination is complete and that the fired employee has been removed from the property.  Even then, the real work will just be starting.

 

Week of 11/02/2020

 

America or Trump:
What Happens Next Is Up To Us
– by David Matthews 2

In the sixth “Star Wars” movie “Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith”, we see how the democratically-elected Galactic Republic transforms into the Galactic Empire under an evil emperor and his lapdog Darth Vader.  The key moment happens before the climactic battle, when the supposed hero, Anakin Skywalker, sees his longtime friend and mentor, Chancellor Palpatine, cowering before Jedi Master Mace Windu.  Palpatine is scarred from the battle, made ugly and deformed, and claiming to be on the verge of death.  Master Windu is ready to execute the chancellor on the spot for the crimes Palpatine committed, including the killing of several Jedi by his own Sith lightsaber. 

Anakin has a choice to make.  He can either watch Master Windu kill Palpatine, who is an admitted Sith Lord, or he can help his friend and mentor and turn away from everything he was trained to be as a Jedi.

We know the choice he made.  And the whiny bitch that was Anakin Skywalker, who demanded a title of “master” without earning it, quickly became the whiny evil bitch that is Darth Vader, who slaughtered children without hesitation.  (And, no, I’m not making that up.  That was in the movie.)

We are at that moment today.

This article is being posted just one day before the 2020 Scam and possible Coup.  A conflict that is literally four years in the making.

There are still plenty of people running for President of the United States in 2020, but only two real choices… with Narcissist President Donald John Trump, or against him.  And the only way to be truly against Narcissist Trump is to vote for former Vice President Joe Biden.  Yes, third parties can still play a role, but only if they deny Narcissist Trump his needed 270 electoral votes.  Since electors are selected by winner-take-all or winner-take-most, that can’t happen with a third party or independent candidates.  Not for this election.

So it’s either Narcissist Trump or Joe Biden.

In Narcissist Trump, we have a self-admitted nationalist who openly supports white supremacists and neo-Nazis and religious extremists.  A petty man-child who lies and hypocritizes himself as freely as the rest of us breathe.  A corrupt egomaniac who acts like a mob boss, panders to America’s enemies and isolates America’s allies.  A saboteur who breaks established deals on the pretense that he could somehow “negotiate” better ones.  A failure of a leader whose policies or lack thereof are responsible for over 200,000 Americans dying on his watch with more getting sick and dying every day since the start of 2020.  A cult leader who just this past week left two groups of his followers out in extreme conditions, one in high heat, the other in extreme cold.  Followers in both locations that had to be rushed to the hospital all so they can give praise to him and his supposed “glory”.

A failure of an administrator who, just in his second day in office, declared that more people attended his inauguration in person than any other leader in history, even though photos showed otherwise.  An unstable personality who continually declared in ever increasing margins his supposed “victory”, even though he lost the popular vote and only won because of the inherent fluke in the Electoral College.

Just like Chancellor Palpatine, Narcissist Trump has the courts and the senate firmly under his control.  He cannot be removed through impeachment.  He cannot be stopped by the judicial system anymore.  He even cannot be removed by the 25^th Amendment to the Constitution as the bulk of his cabinet are still “acting” appointees, not even nominated never mind confirmed.

The only way left for his removal is through this election, and this orange-skinned junta leader has made it clear he will not accept anything other than another win.  He has already sent out his goon squads of so-called “poll watchers” to intimidate voters in direct violation of federal law.  His terrorist minions have harassed his opposition in Texas so far as run a campaign bus off the road, much to his apparent public delight.  His corrupt stooge serving as Postmaster General was recently ordered to stop interfering with mail delivery before the election, knowing that many more Americans will be voting by mail because of the COVID-19 global pandemic.  There is even word that his attack dog serving as Attorney General was ordered to arrest Biden for opposing him. 

That’s not what an American leader does.  That’s what the leaders of Russia and North Korea do.  That’s what Saddam Hussein did in Iraq.  That’s what Manuel Noriega did in Panama, and we invaded that nation because of it.

“Dirty tricks” doesn’t even begin to describe the criminal activity.  The Trump Party in California were told to stop putting up fake ballot drop boxes, and not only did they own up to it, but they openly refused to stop doing it.  One landlord went so far as to threaten rent increases if Narcissist Trump loses.  The Trump Party in Texas is trying to throw out hundreds of thousands of legal votes in a county leaning heavily for the Dems just because.

Does any of that sound like the actions surrounding a rational and just leader of a free nation?  Or those of a third-world fascistic dictatorship?

Let’s get brutally honest here… the choice is clear.  It’s either America or Narcissist Trump.  There cannot be both.  Only one will survive the election.  If he wins, it’s game over for America.  There is no “republic” or “democratic republic” if he wins.  There is no “rule of law”, only the rule of Narcissist Trump.  That is not an exaggeration.  That is not fearmongering.  This is the logical result of his reign if it is allowed to continue for another four years or longer.

The only way to stop that is to vote.  If you don’t like what you’ve seen over the past four years, if you’re embarrassed by the antics of Narcissist Trump and the path he’s led us down, and if you truly love America, then you need to vote if you haven’t already.  Vote and make sure your vote counts.  We cannot afford to let this election slide.  Not this time.  Too much is at stake.  And Narcissist Trump needs to be defeated in such overwhelming numbers that his mechanizations to steal the election would not be allowed.  It can be done, but it requires us all to vote.

This is our “Sith” moment.  The choice between standing up for what is right versus supporting a corrupt leader whose actions come from the worst criminals in history; whose definition of freedom is limited to only that which glorifies him and condemns those that speak out against him.  We saw what happened when the whiny bitch chose wrong.  Whether or not our country falls down that same path is now up to us.  Let’s not be the whiny bitch.