Politics

A series of GIF showing shifting election results in New England, New York and Pennsylvania

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In recent years with the candidacy and election of Donald Trump, he has made a lot of the more rural counties much redder, although it’s hard to say how long that will last now that Trump is no longer a (likely) candidate going forward. While there has been a shift back towards the blue column in 2020, Trump changed the map over the past two elections in many less populated counties.

New York State is decidedly more blue than Pennsylvania, even in its more rural outlying counties.

New England, especially Vermont and Massachusetts are quite blue, especially after the most recent elections.

The Monster of We

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The Monster of We

12/16/21 by NPR

Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/132760233
Episode: https://play.podtrac.com/npr-510333/edge1.pod.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/throughline/2021/12/20211216_throughline_final_mix_ayn_rand_wads_lw_121521.mp3

Are most modern problems caused by selfishness or a lack of it? Ayn Rand, a Russian American philosopher and writer, would say it’s the latter — that selfishness is not a vice but a virtue — and that capitalism is the ideal system. Everyone from Donald Trump, to Alan Greenspan, to Brad Pitt have sung Ayn Rand’s praises. The Library of Congress named her novel Atlas Shrugged the second most influential book in the U.S. after the Bible. Ayn Rand wasn’t politically correct, she was belligerent and liked going against the grain. And although she lived by the doctrine of her own greatness, she was driven by the fear that she would never be good enough.

In this episode, historian Jennifer Burns will guide us through Rand’s evolution and how she eventually reshaped American politics, becoming what Burns calls “a gateway drug to life on the right.”

When the Myth of Voter Fraud Comes for You – The Atlantic

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When the Myth of Voter Fraud Comes for You – The Atlantic

If there is an individual in America who epitomizes one central aspect of our political moment, it might well be Crystal Mason. The story of Mason, a Black woman, illuminates the extraordinary efforts the Republican Party has made to demonstrate that fraud is being committed by minority voters on a massive scale. That false notion is now an article of faith among tens of millions of Americans. It has become an excuse to enact laws that make voting harder for everyone, but especially for voters of color, voters who are poor, voters who are old, and voters who were not born in the United States.

AP review finds far too little vote fraud to tip 2020 election to Trump | PBS NewsHour

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AP review finds far too little vote fraud to tip 2020 election to Trump | PBS NewsHour

An Associated Press review of every potential case of voter fraud in the six battleground states disputed by former President Donald Trump has found fewer than 475 — a number that would have made no difference in the 2020 presidential election.

Democrat Joe Biden won Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and their 79 Electoral College votes by a combined 311,257 votes out of 25.5 million ballots cast for president. The disputed ballots represent just 0.15 percent of his victory margin in those states.

I am not surprised. If anything, voting laws tend to favor Republicans for the presidency with the electoral college and how Republican states often create laws like voter ID that make it hard for poor people of color who don't drive to vote. Illegal fraud in elections is exceedingly rare but legal ways of certain laws and state lines and local districts do certainly rig elections in non true to voters wishes. 

Cuomo’s Takedown

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Both Cynthia Pooler and Don Rittner are convinced that Governor Cuomo’s fall from grace was a machination of the Albany Democratic Machine. We had an interesting discussion about that when we were taping John Wolcott about Albany history the other night.

I have my doubts, as conspiracies are difficult to orchestrate, even though I’m sure many at least behind closed doors were happy to see him gone, as the former governor was a nasty jerk, who ruled more by fear then love. People are rarely organized enough to conspire, as individual’s interests are often different from others who might join in a conspiracy.

That said, I am sure some in Albany Democratic Machine would like to take credit for the fall of the governor even if they didn’t have much to do with it, as it reinforces their legend and mystical powers don’t really exist except maybe in the minds of voters. To that extent I’m sure they’re working the usual rumor mills to no end.