[andi*pandi]

Did he grow up poor though, or just middle class?

At this point in the campaign I'm getting texts from both parties (or people pretending to be them) asking for money. Like, no. I have my yard signs.

[subego]

I’m only getting texts for local races. I guess my number hasn’t been sold up the chain yet.

Email spam is relentless from both teams though. All ask for money. Curiously, Apple Mail has categorized Trump/Vance spam as junk.

[OreoCookie]

But is money really what is missing? I am under the impression that both sides have plenty of money. Why ask for more? Ok, in Trump's case, I have a good guess. But what about the Democrats?

[andi*pandi]

It used to be for $$$ TV ads. Now with streaming not sure how many eyeballs see ads.

Perhaps all those spammy emails/texts are spendy?

For some reason how much war chest someone has is seen as an indicator of popularity almost as much as voting.

[reader50]

Dems are pretty well set on money. Big advantages across the board, largely from grassroots donations.

Trump was short, unable to match Harris in ad spending outside of PA and Georgia. Recent support from billionaires has made that easier, but I think his ad spends are still short of Harris' in some swing states.

The candidates who are starving for cash are the down-ballot Rs. After taking over the RNC, Lara Trump vowed all that money would go to Trump. It's supposed to support lesser office races across the nation. So R senators, house candidates, governors, state offices -- they're all strapped for cash.

[subego]

From the spam…

“As you read this, we are being outspent by the Trump campaign and right-wing super PACs in key battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, and North Carolina.

If we lose these states, we lose the election.

We know that sounds scary, but we’re sharing this because there are still nine days to do something about it.”

[reader50]

Someone's doing some gentle lying there. It's true that anyone who loses those 4 states will lose the election. But the last figures I've seen, Trump and Harris are matching spending in PA and GA. Harris is outspending Trump in each of the other 5 swing states. With enough cash to spare, she's been releasing millions to down-ballot Dems. If right-wing PACs increase Trump's cash in swing states, Harris will just match it.

Here are more lies:
• "Your donations will be matched." Or doubled, or tripled. This is BS - there's no special donor doing careful matching. Read all the fine print - the special someone is never identified.
• "We have an upcoming deadline for fundraising." More BS - and the supposed deadline is never identified. They're happy to accept donations even after the election - it rolls over to the next election.

[subego]

Originally Posted by reader50 

Someone's doing some gentle lying there.

Say it ain’t so!!!

[Thorzdad]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

It used to be for $$$ TV ads. Now with streaming not sure how many eyeballs see ads.

The ads are all over streaming, too, especially the big platforms that now do ads. There are also special events (like the World Series) which charge a lot more for ad time. Over the past four WS games, I have seen a metric ton of pro-Trump anti-trans ads, and nary a Harris ad.

[Laminar]

I need to figure out how to share my YouTube premium account with my kids. My son likes watching gaming content on YouTube but he does it without being signed in, so he's getting blasted with political ads. I got my daughter set up on YouTube kids with my account so I think she's ad-free, which is nice.

Hulu is the only ad-supported streaming service we use so I'm just putting off Only Murders until after the election. Or maybe for good? Every single character in that show is annoying and unlikeable. I'd rather watch New Girl reruns.

[reader50]

Originally Posted by Thorzdad 

The ads are all over streaming, too, especially the big platforms that now do ads. There are also special events (like the World Series) which charge a lot more for ad time. Over the past four WS games, I have seen a metric ton of pro-Trump anti-trans ads, and nary a Harris ad.

Do you use a VPN?

I can see Harris skipping ad spends in red states, but the Trump team should skip them too. Here in CA, I'm only getting snailmail ads for local and state races.

But my VPN is getting me online ads for Trump, Harris, and multiple San Francisco local races. I'm not in that area, and my usual VPN server is in Los Angeles. Someone's trying to match up VPN users to real locations, with lots of wrong guesses.

So I'm thinking the Trump team thinks you're actually in a swing state, while the Harris team doesn't think so. Switch your VPN server to a (different?) swing state, and watch the political ads come in. I wouldn't try a PA server right now. Those guys are getting clobbered.

[Thorzdad]

Nope. No VPN.

[subego]

Just got more spam asking to donate.

[subego]

Please clap

[subego]

I find it hilarious Nick Fuentes is from Berwyn.

[Spheric Harlot]

Bwaaaahahaha

The Onion just bought InfoWars in the bankruptcy sale.

[BLAZE_MkIV]

That amused me. I was kinda hoping they'd do a podcast type show

[Waragainstsleep]

Would have been even funnier if they'd bought Jones' image rights and contract along with. Then made him say stuff he'd hate.

[Thorzdad]

Fun times going down in S. Korea today. President declaring martial law in an attempt to essentially conduct a coup against the legislature.

[Thorzdad]

Republicans don’t care if women are dying due to abortion bans, but they don’t want you to know about them.

[reader50]

Originally Posted by Thorzdad 

Fun times going down in S. Korea today. President declaring martial law in an attempt to essentially conduct a coup against the legislature.

Some legislators are taking shifts, sleeping in the chamber or their offices. So if their Prez does it again, they can vote martial law away again promptly. Impeachment proceedings are scheduled for Saturday.

Here's hoping they have fewer gutless wonders than we did - maybe they'll pull off the impeachment and protect their country.

[Thorzdad]

S. Korea has a relatively strong (if recent) history of overthrowing dictatorial governments, so I expect the impeachment to go through. The saving grace in all of this, though, was that the military wasn’t all-in on the coup. I hope our own military leaders have similar backbone, and have planned accordingly for what may come.

Trump joked about using martial law in his first regime. This time, though, I wouldn’t discount the threat. The fly in the ointment, here in the US, are the armies individual states have in the form of the national guard. Those are under the command of the governors, which could make things really...interesting.

Here in Indiana, the incoming nutjob governor has already announced he will move command of the national guard and the state police into cabinet positions, which has some observers a bit nervous, as this guy is a bright-red MAGA, and ran on a promise to follow Trump over a legislative cliff.

[reader50]

Martial law isn't a thing in the US - the Constitution has no provision for its own suspension. Not even temporarily during emergencies. The way I read it, martial law can happen in a US territory, but not in a state. So Trump might be able to declare martial law in Puerto Rico or Guam.

[subego]

IIUC, martial law doesn’t suspend the Constitution. It does dick around with habeas corpus.

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by reader50 

Here's hoping they have fewer gutless wonders than we did - maybe they'll pull off the impeachment and protect their country.

The story is really weird: apparently, he was the lead prosecutor who led the conviction of former President Park (the daughter of General Park, the former dictator). Due to a shortage of personnel in the Conservative Party due to, well, convictions and scandals, he was selected as the next president. From anti-corruption fighter to attempted dictator.

(This is according to a Korean colleague who keeps me up to date.)

[Thorzdad]

Kind of surprised the United Health CEO shooting hasn’t been mentioned here yet. I am struck by just how “Good. Fuck him” the response seems to be among the general (internet) public, as far as I’ve see, anyway. I’m also struck by the dichotomy between that and the enormous outpouring of resources by the powers-that-be to catch the perpetrator.

It’s like, in one fell swoop, the hatred of healthcare, and especially health insurance, on the part of the general public has finally boiled to the surface for all to see. If they ever catch the guy, I can’t imagine how hard it’s going to be to seat an unbiased jury. I’m betting he’ll “turn his gun on himself” if they ever do catch him.

[reader50]

I figure they'll catch him. He's made mistakes, so it's only a matter of time. We won't know his motive until after he's identified, but the most plausible explanation is that coverage was denied, and he lost someone. Or is scheduled to lose his own life.

We the customers pay our insurance premiums, expecting to be covered when needed. The routine denials of coverage or early cutoffs, leave you facing a choice of bankruptcy or death. At this critical time, you need to hire a lawyer to fight for the coverage you paid for. And the US mostly lacks loser-pays-legal-expenses laws, so even if you win, you're likely out the legal fees.

So you get gypped when you need support the most, and have the least resources to fight back. Even if you win, someone may have died by then, and you still get gypped financially. And insurance companies get rich screwing you over this way. Profiting off people's pain.

Gotta say I'm not feeling sympathetic to the CEO either - he ultimately set or maintained the policies that hurt people. And no doubt took home great stock options.

May I remind you it was UnitedHealth that developed and used the nH Predict AI (2023) to override doctors recommendations and cut off payments if you need above-average-length rehab stays. And since the longer-than-average stays disappeared, the average decreased. Resulting in endlessly-contracting rehab payments. UH case workers get fired if they authorize coverage anyway. The feds banned AI coverage decisions in 2024, but only for Medicare Advantage plans. So far as I know, AI can still override doctors for everyone else.

Oh, and in 2021, UnitedHealth decided to skip paying ER bills if it doesn't believe you had an emergency. It's not clear if this ever went into effect - they delayed it until after the pandemic passed, and it drew heavy criticism.

[reader50]

Originally Posted by Thorzdad 

Fun times going down in S. Korea today. President declaring martial law in an attempt to essentially conduct a coup against the legislature.

The impeachment effort failed, because the scumbag's own party members boycotted the vote. Staying outside the chamber, on the theory he should resign rather than be removed. Opposition party has scheduled another impeachment vote in a few days.

It has since come out the scumbag had an arrest list he tried to have executed during martial law, including the opposition party leader. Gonna get his enemies.

This all feels kinda familiar.