Tuesday, November 5, 2024

So Where Are We? What Now?

As I sit to write, it's before 8:00 PM ET and polls all along the time zone are either shut down or getting ready to shut down.  Florida has a section in the panhandle that's on central time, pretty much the 10 westernmost counties in the state but with one exception along the gulf coast, and as a general rule the state doesn't like to give the results out until after the central time results are done.  The state got a well-deserved reaming after the Bush-Gore recounts in 2000, but it has almost gone completely unmentioned in TV coverage that the state dramatically improved after that and the votes will be completely counted soon.  Around 7:30 I saw a news report that the state had around 66% of all ballots counted.  Due to the time, I'd assume that excluded the Central Timezone counties.

I used to write much more about politics than I do now, so forgive me this rant down this old road. 

Early voting started in early October, but Mrs. Graybeard and I voted on Wednesday, October 30th. I won't get so boring as to list entirely who I voted for, but I voted for Trump/Vance, Voldemort -um, I mean Rick Scott, and pretty much what I consider a "conservatarian with Christian backing" approach.  For example, the ballots we get for every statewide election have votes on whether judges in the various courts should be retained. This year I adopted a new algorithm for deciding who to keep: I looked up how long those judges have been on the benches and if they were there three terms (12 years) I instituted my own term limits.  To my surprise, most of them were there less than 8 years and I said OK; ISTRC one judge had been there 15 years and I said "go home." 

Our long time US representative, Bill Posey, decided not to run for reelection this year and in the primaries a former state senator ran to replace him and won. Posey was good, but I was getting uncomfortable with how long he was working up in DC with no term limits.  Due to a roundabout story that I won't get into, the guy running for Posey's old job is in a "friend of a friend" of ours circle and got our votes. Note that's FOAF and not FAFO. 

In general while I don't think term limits are ideal, I tend to like them. In Florida law, we have term limits. The problem is that too many people seemingly tend to vote on name recognition so office holders just kind of rotate between jobs without ever getting off the government payroll and becoming useful citizens again. It's not like after some number of years as a representative they get a promotion to the senate, they go back forth.

As usual, there were a handful of state constitutional amendments to vote on as well as county and city charter issues.  The two state constitution amendments that got talked about the most were the "Big Weed" amendment 3 and "Big Abortion" amendment 4; I voted against both - and primarily because they both favored the big powers and didn't seem to make either situation better. 

I've read various estimates of what the marijuana industry pumped into #3 that would widen the uses of their products, but Open Secrets shows that by the middle of October, they had spent over $81 million.  I'd guess they probably got close to $100 million in the last couple of weeks.  Those opposed didn't quite get to the $20 million spent line, but perhaps by now. The bill looks to cause more problems while not solving anything I know of. 

The other one, #4, looked like it allowed everything and used vague terminology where precise wording is called for. A glaring example is it didn't define who a "medical provider" is and yet they can approve anything.  It doesn't say medical doctor, or any other state recognized term so I can envision a Haitian Voodoo practitioner, or worse, saying they're the provider. It totally removes parental rights to even know if their daughter is being sent for an abortion. I could easily see it harming women instead of helping them.  In this case, Open Secrets shows the abortion industry spent $60.7 million while those opposed to it didn't even get to 1/6 of that; spending $9 million. 

Interestingly, those two amendments had a total, in mid-October, of $171.9 million spent on them (for and against).  Of the remaining amendments, Open Secrets shows nothing spent either way.

The county passed out these stickers instead of the American flag ones they've been using for as long as I can remember.



12 comments:

  1. The last election I remember being this polarized was Goldwater:Johnson in '64; a lot of my friends congratulated themselves on voting for "the right man", four years later, they deeply rued their decision.
    I sincerely hope they, those still alive, learned their lesson.

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  2. In Florida, both Big Weed and Big Abortion lost, bigly. Good. Feckless jackasses pushing both with way too much money.

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    1. I heard that right after I posted this. I almost added it but that invites the question of when do I stop updating?

      Delete
  3. What is ISTRC?
    Decades ago I decided to not vote for any judge. Too little is known about them. Indeed, except if one had a famous, or infamous, case, it is difficult to find anything of depth about them.

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    1. I Seem To ReCall - I didn't even realize I used it until I read your comment. I try not to use acronyms like that, despite them being nice and short.

      Delete
  4. I remember judge John C. Murphy and how the entire judiciary did not censure him until it got to the Florida Supreme Court. I vote against EVERY ONE OF THEM.
    They are as foul as the FBI and the DoJ.

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  5. I see Washington State went Demoturd in a big way, I'm glad I got out of there last year!

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  6. Here's another link from Rand Simberg's site:

    http://www.transterrestrial.com/2024/11/04/the-space-policy-stakes/

    I'm not on X, or any social media, so I couldn't see the entire thread. Musk is the only reason I voted for Trump yesterday, and mostly R down ticket, save for a libertarian judicial candidate that is a fellow Warhammer player.

    I've accepted the fact that I will never be able to work as a mech designer, so voting for Trump was less difficult than I thought it would be.

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  7. Who selects VP when a current VP moves up to President? When Biden flopped the debate, he should have stepped down. Kamala would have had a much stronger hand especially if a good VP was picked. Voters would have seen 3 months of performance (good or bad).
    Thank God they were not that humble.
    I'd like to see her paycheck given back! For this period, when she was Running not working. But also for the previous period where she didn't do Jack as the border czar!
    Jerry

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    Replies
    1. Never forget that she was doing EXACTLY what her owners wanted her to do.
      Now the real question is how long Alex Soros will pal around with her. Does he intend to be her long term Willy Brown?

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    2. I don't know exactly how old Alex is, but I thought he was 40-ish and Wikipedia tells me that's right.

      Does he want BJs from a sixty year old, worn out ho? Doesn't he have AOC?

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