A Bit Better

Okay, so I feel a bit better this morning. I’m halfway through my caffeine fix for the day. I hugged my fur babies all day and all night yesterday. I read some comforting articles and am listening to Morning Joe this morning. I’m feeling better.

Don’t misunderstand me. I’m still nauseated that I have to see “that man’s” face and hear his voice for four more years! But, I’m starting to feel hopeful again – I said starting. I’m not fully there but I’m on the way.

Yesterday, I read several posts on Twitter (I still refuse to call it X) that blamed white women for not showing up. These posts predictable came from black people, both men and women. I can only say I take exception to that statement.

Did 100% white women vote for Kamala? No, of course not. However, 100% of black women didn’t vote for Kamala; 100% of black men didn’t vote for Kamala. In fact, 100% of no voting block voted for either candidate.

Let’s take a look at the numbers – not just the percentages, but the raw numbers too!

In 2020, a total of 155.4 million votes were cast – 81.2 million for Biden vs 74.2 million for Trump. In 2024, a total of 138.5 million votes were cast – 66.8 million for Harris vs 71.7 million for Trump. So, in 2024 approximately 17 million people did not vote for either of the two major party candidates. Did they stay home? Did they vote third party? I suspect some of the elderly (and maybe some of the younger voters) passed away. My mother was one – I suspect she wasn’t the only one.

But, the fact is, we had a major decline in voter turnout. I find this very odd, especially considering how many early vote counts were so high they set new records! I don’t know how to explain this.

Moving on, while the Democratic candidate garnered between 14 and 15 million fewer votes in 2024, the Republican candidate garnered between 2 and 3 million fewer. Again, this highlights the fact that more Democrat voters either stayed home or voted third party or whatever. But, voters for both major parties were less enthusiastic than they were in 2020! Again, I don’t know how to explain this.

Let’s look at the gender gap:

Women favored Biden over Trump by 15 points in 2020, whereas women favored Harris over Trump by only 8 points in 2024. Of all the women voters, 53% voted for Harris, while 45% voted for Trump. Note this is all women, regardless of race. I think this surprises me the most. Is this based on gender bias? I have a hard time believing that women think a women is less qualified than a man in today’s world, but what do I know?

Men, on the other hand, favored Trump over Biden by 8 points in 2020, whereas men favored Trump over Harris by 13 points in 2024. Of all the men voters in 2024, 42% voted for Harris, while 55% voted for Trump. Again, this is all men, regardless of race. Gender bias? Yeah, it looks like it to me.

I think these two metrics clearly indicate a gender bias against a women in leadership. What the hell people!?! It’s 2024 for goodness sake – surely we’re past this crap! Women serve in combat these days!

Now comes the ethnic votes. White voters voted 41% for Harris and 57% for Trump. Black voters voted 85% for Harris and 13% for Trump. Latino/Hispanic voters voted 52% for Harris and 46% for Trump. Asian voters voted 54% for Harris and 39% for Trump. All other voters voted 42% for Harris and 54% for Trump. These represent ethnic voters in total, regardless of gender.

Black men favored Biden over Trump by 60 points in 2020, while they favored Harris over Trump by 56 points in 2024. Not sure I can call a 4 point drop gender bias. Black women favored Biden over Trump by 81 points in 2020, while favoring Harris over Trump by 84 points in 2024.

Here’s a biggie – Latino men favored Biden over Trump by 23 points in 2020, while favoring Trump over Harris by 12 points in 2024! That’s a huge 35 point swing in 4 years. Gender bias? If I were a betting person, I’d say hell yes! Latina women favored Biden over Trump by 39 points in 2020, while favoring Harris over Trump by only 22 points. Gender bias? Not sure. The 17 point decline could be as much because of unknown candidate as anything else.

I have to say I was very surprised by the Latino vote, especially after the horrible jokes made during the Madison Square Garden rally! I felt sure that rally would turn the Latino population towards Harris. Clearly, the Latino community thinks Trump’s immigration policy means all Latinos except them! Good luck on that score!

White men favored Trump over Biden by 23 points in 2020, which did not change in 2024. White men still favored Trump over Harris by 23 points in 2024. White women favored Trump over Biden by 11 points in 2020, while favoring Trump over Harris by 8 points in 2024.

As to age, voters 18-44 voted 51% for Harris and 46% for Trump, while those 45 and over voted 46% for Harris and 52% for Trump. I think this surprised me a lot. It surprises me that so many people approaching retirement voted for Trump. The GOP as a whole, and Rick Scott specifically, has indicated they want to seriously curtail both Social Security and Medicare, both of which affect seniors the most! So I fail to understand why seniors (or those approaching senior status) would vote Republican, regardless of the candidate!

I’m also surprised at the younger voters. I would have assumed (yea, hee haw) that younger voters would be extremely interested in climate change and progressive programs. Yet, nearly half voted for Trump who thinks climate change is a hoax and we should go back to the dark ages!

As to income, families making less than $50,000 a year voted 47% for Harris and 50% for Trump. Those making $50,000 or more voted 49% for Harris and 48% for Trump. This also surprised me. Those on the lower income scale are the most to be hurt by Trump’s policies. So, it boggles my mind why half of them would vote for Trump!

Please note the breakdown by age or income includes all voters, regardless of gender or ethnic backgrounds.

Most surprising to me are the results of first time voters. Of these, 43% voted for Harris and 56% voted for Trump. Again, this is all first time voters, regardless of gender or ethnic backgrounds. I would have thought first time voters were younger people and, again, I would have thought progressive policies and climate conditions would have been high on the list of important issues.

Of all voters, 35% say that America’s best days are in the past! What?!? Over 1/3 of Americans think we should live in the past??

Of all voters, 65% say abortion should be legal. The results of the election would indicate this issue was not a top priority, since clearly 65% did not vote for the candidate who favored restoring protections under Roe v Wade!

Of all voters, 73% said democracy is under threat. Again, the results would indicate this issues was not a top priority.

Finally, of all voters, 60% disapprove of the job the Supreme Court is doing. Count me among those voters! I think those of us that disapprove of SCOTUS’ job do so because we feel the Court has become partisan and is making decisions based on partisan bias rather than on the law! At least, that’s what I think. Again, it seems to me this was not an overriding concern in the long run.

So, there we have it. Are white women to blame for the results? I don’t think so – at least not entirely! I think there’s plenty of “blame” to go around. This was, by far, the oddest election cycle. We had the original Democratic candidate drop out late in the game in favor of the sitting VP, who most people didn’t really know. We had a spate of disinformation again (like in 2016) that, for whatever reason, was believed by many people.

You know, it’s always easy to quarterback on Monday morning. Hindsight is always 20/20! The fact is the Democratic party needs to regroup – figure out why we lost the working people’s votes and figure out how to get them back. Trump appealed to their dissatisfaction with their lives, whether he told the truth or not. People chose to believe him, which only emphasizes their dissatisfaction!

Get it together Democrats! We’ve got work to do! We can’t sit around and wallow in self-pity! Put your big boy/girl panties on and get to work!

Meanwhile, I’ll turn the volume down on the TV – I can’t stand listening to that man. I hate him and his whole grifting family! I’ll pray for forgiveness tonight!

IMHO . . .

Roe v Wade – Debunking the Myth

A lot is being made about abortion and reproductive rights during the presidential election cycle. Most people think Roe v Wade gave women unfettered access to abortions. To some extent, I guess that’s true.

However, most people don’t realize Roe v Wade did contain some limitations in abortion access. I think it’s important that we revisit the decision to appreciate what the truth was/is.

In January 1973, the Supreme Court, in a 7-2 decision, legalized abortion nationwide. In the majority opinion, written by Justice Blackmun, the Court held a women’s right to an abortion was implicit in her right to privacy under the 14th Amendment.

Basically, the court divided a pregnancy into three trimesters, deciding the decision to terminate a pregnancy in the first trimester was solely at the discretion of the woman. In the second trimester, the government can regulate abortion, but it could not ban it, in order to protect the life of the mother.

During the third trimester, the state could ban abortion to protect a fetus that could live outside the womb on it own, except when a woman’s health was in danger.

Since Roe was overturned earlier this year, Democrats have campaigned on the promise to enact the precept of Roe v Wade. In other words, they have vowed to enact a law that would allow abortion access as outline in Roe v Wade.

Again, the Roe decision does not call for unfettered access to abortion at any time during a pregnancy. Only during the first trimester does a woman have the sole discretion whether to terminate the pregnancy. After that time, the government/state can regulate or ban abortion depending on the length of pregnancy up to that point.

Now, I want to be clear, Democrats have NOT encourage all women to have abortions! Show me one ad, either electronic or written, that shows a Democrat calling for women to have abortions! You know what? You can’t – because they don’t exist.

Instead, Democrats advocate for women to make such decisions for themselves. Democrats do not feel the government should interfere with such personal decisions. Thus, the term “pro choice” – the woman should be free to choose her own path.

For a party (the GOP) who advocates for smaller government and freedom of choice (mask mandates – remember that brouhaha?), it’s ironic they would insist on the right to interfere with medical decisions that have nothing to do with them!

The GOP in general, and Trump/Vance specifically, have totally misled the American people regarding the ramifications of overturning Roe. Trump continually touts that every Democrat, every Republican, everyone wanted Roe overturned and the abortion issue to be given to the states. That’s not true at all.

Initially, I do think the majority of Republicans hailed the Dobbs decision (that overturned Roe) as a victory. However, once the consequence became known – stories of real women traumatized by untreated miscarriages whose lives were endangered and whose reproductive possibilities were endangered – I think Republicans “saw the light”.

Suddenly, the old adage “Be careful what you wish for, you may just get it” had a whole new meaning! And it wasn’t pretty.

Current polls indicate most Americans, including most Republicans, now favor abortion access in certain instances. This is a no brainer for me. Abortions will continue one way or another. I’d prefer if they were not conducted in back alleys under less than ideal circumstances.

Yes, bring back Roe. The limitations within the decision were reasonable.

IMHO . . .

More On The Debate

Okay, I’m up and running – kind of! Let’s face it, I’m an early to bed type of person. I get up every morning at 6:00 regardless of what time I went to bed, primarily because my two fur babies jump in bed with me to remind me breakfast time is fast approaching! How can I forget??

Anyway, I’ve had half my coffee and am semi-conscious! So, here I sit ruminating more about the debate last night.

As I’ve been going through my morning routine, I’ve been listening to Morning Joe and its guests critique the debate. It’s hard to disagree with them.

I feel more strongly this morning that Harris won the debate last night. She was cool, calm, specific and on-point! Trump, meanwhile, was chaotic and lying. He looked like a sad old man on his last gasp!

Perhaps he was on his last gasp. With any luck at all, Trump will lose in November and he will retire to the golf course – unless he’s in jail first! Anyway, I digress – back to the debate.

I felt the moderators were good. They fact-checked Trump in real time three times – yes, only three! Had they fact-checked all his lies there would have been no time for any questions! But some of the more egregious lies had to be fact-checked:

Haitian migrants in Springfield, OH are eating the cats and dogs of people who live there.
Democrats favor abortion in the ninth month and even favor killing new born babies.
To be honest, I can’t remember the last lie that was fact-checked, but does it matter?

With respect to the pet eating story, I did find a news article that involved a Canton, OH (not Springfield) woman who is not an immigrant being charged for stomping on the head of a cat, killing it, and eating it. But, again, she is NOT an immigrant and she is not from Springfield. And it is a single incident not a rampant wide-spread event.

With respect to abortions in the ninth month or infanticide, there is no state that allows the killing of a baby. Trump has repeatedly said that Governor Walz allows babies to be killed in the state of Minnesota. Such a lie! Late term abortions were never allowed except under highly unusual circumstances, such as risk to the life of the mother.

I loved the part during the debate when Harris invited everyone to attend a Trump rally to see for themselves. Trump talks of fictional characters such as Hannibal Lector; people start to leave early because it becomes boring.

Clearly, this triggered Trump who stated that Harris rallies are not well-attended and that she pays for people to come to her rallies. In reality, the only paid attendees I’ve seen are for Trump rallies. I’ve seen a couple of different ads on Craig’s List for people to go to a Trump rally in a specific location and saying they would be paid for attending!

I think I said last night that Harris got a lot of her economic policy out within 8 minutes. She touted a $6,000 child tax credit for the first year of a child’s life to help parents buy a crib or car seat, a $50,000 tax deduction for start-up expenses for small businesses (currently the deduction is limited to $5,000) to help spur innovation and new businesses, a $25,000 assistance for first-time home buyers to help people achieve their dream of owning their home, and a goal of building 3,000,000 new homes to help with housing crisis.

Trump’s response to this? She’s had three and a half years, why hasn’t she done it already. I guess he’s forgotten that Harris is the vice president, not the president.

From this point on, Harris got points across at the same time she was pushing Trump’s buttons! She knew the phrases that would trigger him, turning him into an angry old man. He didn’t address most of the questions he was asked. We never heard if he regretted anything he did on January 6th. He merely bemoaned the shooting of Ashli Babbit by a police officer while no one on the “other side” was killed! I guess he forgot about the hundreds of police officers injured or the four that died!

In short, Kamala Harris clearly had a great night, while Trump floundered like a fish out of water!

IMHO . . .

The Debate – Quick overview

The debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris has concluded just a few minutes ago. I’m listening to the post debate analysis while I write this. This will be a very quick overview of my thoughts. It’s late and I really am up past my bedtime (way past)!

This was not a “debate” as one would normally think. A debate is a discussion about a topic or topics, usually between two people. In a presidential debate, the debate normally focuses on the policy position for various issues for each candidate.

If that’s the definition, tonight was not a debate! Kamala Harris managed to get her policy stance out within the first eight minutes, especially with respect to the economy (the number one issue with the majority of voters). Trump meanwhile was reduced to an angry old man who never mentioned a single policy.

In short, Kamala Harris won this “debate” – hand down!

IMHO . . . More tomorrow after I sleep a bit!

PS Taylor Swift just announced she will be voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz!! Big news!