Politics

I’m undecided on who I will vote for Governor in 2022 🗳

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I’m undecided on who I will vote for Governor in 2022 🗳

I rarely if ever vote for the major party candidates. I usually vote for a mixture of libertarians and green party candidates, although I will occasionally vote for a major party candidate cross endorsed on the conservative or when there is a chance to elect a bomb thrower that will make democracy entertaining by forcing the politicians to bicker.

For one as a political director I’m aware more than most people that politics is mostly a game and a rigged one at that. While elections generally aren’t rigged in the sense that ballot counting machines don’t accurately record ballots or that ballots are manipulated, they are in all other ways. Political districts are drawn to maximize power of incumbents, laws are designed to maximize the ease of reelection of incumbents. Political messaging is carefully managed to encourage people to vote a certain way for incumbents. Every party enrollment data point, recent election results and polling data is carefully studied to do everything persuade voters. But politics a lot of bull crap and everyone knows it.

The best way to make change is to move a community that supports your own views and interests. You are better off associating yourself with like minded individuals and focusing on individual self improvement then voting. Chances are things won’t change much in your life or the general tradectory of the state based on who gets free living accommodations in that Gothic mansion once by a railroad barron on Eagle Street.

So I’m undecided on who to vote for Governor. I could leave the ballot blank or maybe I could write in somebody like Larry Sharpe. I will probably vote early as it’s a low cost activity but I’m not sold on any of the candidates this year. I really don’t think voting for Lee Zeldin will do much for my gun rights, or my general freedom to own land or live the rural life. But I do think someday, not that far off in the future to a state that respects my rights will do a lot to protect my rights.

NPR

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Campaign signs may be old school, but they can have a big influence : NPR

With election season in full swing, seemingly every neighborhood and busy intersection is sprouting dozens of multicolored signs touting candidates for offices ranging from register of wills to U.S. Senate.

Often, these signs proclaim a candidate's name, but not much else. You might have wondered, how effective can they be as a campaign tool, especially in an age of radio, television and social media? Are they even a smart place to put campaign resources, particularly in local races, where funds are tight? This midterm season, the role of the debate has changed Politics This midterm season, the role of the debate has changed

It turns out political scientists have tried to answer these questions.

A 2015 study led by Donald Green, a political science professor at Columbia University, found that political signs can in fact make a difference — "somewhere between 1 and 2 percentage points on average," Green says. "Hardly earth shattering, but not nothing, either." In races that are especially close, they might just be the deciding factor.

Drawing A Line From McCarthyism To January 6th

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Drawing A Line From McCarthyism To January 6th 9/9/22

by WAMU 88.5

Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/144923413

Episode: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/dovetail.prxu.org/2106/635ef423-9de8-4d79-8862-5b4b6c9ee2f7/On_My_Mind_090822_SEG_A.mp3

David Corn is a veteran reporter at Mother Jones Magazine who has watched the evolution of politics in Washington for decades. In a new book he argues the extremism that led to January 6th goes back at least 70 years to Sen. Joseph McCarthy and his high profile hunt for alleged Communists inside the State Department, the White House, the Treasury, and even the US Army. Corn outlines a series of deliberate choices by the Republican Party between the 1950s and today that he says nurtured and exploited fear and loathing, and capitalized on misinformation and political paranoia until it became a central tenet of the party. He joins Diane on On My Mind to discuss “American Psychosis.”

NPR

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A hacker bought a voting machine on eBay. Michigan officials are now investigating : NPR

For those not in the know, Hursti said it sounds shocking to hear that voting machines can be bought and sold for little money.

"People think it's a big deal but it happens all the time. Most of the time the seller is a government, a county, or it is electric recycling. ... And it is a good thing because hackers are a resource to make things safer."

Hackers like him, he said, are not interested in weaponizing the weaknesses they find. "The reason you pop open the machine is to learn the vulnerabilities" of each machine, in order to safeguard democracy, he added.

And there are plenty of other machines to tinker with, while he waits for the Michigan investigation to unfold.

"I bought two others last month, so I'll get started on those," he said.

This article just makes me cynical -- why election official so worried about people getting their hands on scrapped voting machines if they aren't rigged or terribly insecure? While there are plenty of legal ways that elections are rigged, such as voting laws and gerrymandering or simply stuffing political candidate's favorited groups coffers full of public cash. I tend to think lawful corruption and lawful ways of stealing elections is much more common illegal means, but who knows, this just makes me suspicious.

I feel like I let the year slide between my fingers 🖐️

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I feel like I let the year slide between my fingers 🖐️

It’s been a tough year. Inflation and high gas prices have taken a bite out of my budget – the things I spend the most on for my trips, gasoline and food have gone up dramatically. Work has been busy, remote work has gone away and I don’t like to battle traffic to head up north and set up camp after dark on Friday evenings. My truck is getting old and more mechanically dubious with bigger repair bills, jacked up by inflation.

Part of the problem is its getting harder and harder to find novel, memorable things to do close to home. I’ve done a lot and seen a lot over the years and while new, memorable things make the time more worthwhile, they are harder to find during these times.

At this same time I’m trying to cut expenses to address inflation and the sometimes sluggish growth of the market these days. The flip side is buying new investments is cheaper due to the down markets and because I’m making really good money, relatively speaking at work. I’m well aware of the benefits of compounding over time.

Too often this year gone by I’ve taken the easy way out, the low stress, low planning way. The free walk to the Five Rivers Environmental Education Center or the Nature Bus to Thacher Park. Or when I do trips, I stick with the most familiar route that requires little planning. I’ve done little to find new paths, just instead staying the course, working towards a better future.

I have made getting my steps in and learning R programming and geostatics a major part of my learning experience this past year. I’ve tried to advance my knowledge about computer programming in a wide variety of languages and advanced techniques. Certainly having YouTube on my phone has made it easier to advance such things. My knowledge of R programming has made a lot of complicated tasks easier both at work and for map making and analysis for the blog.

I probably should have done a lot more during the summer that was. But I was busy and I’ve not transitioned as well as I would have hoped back to working downtown with the lack of flexibility of remote work from camp and the Adirondacks. The ailing truck has become more of an issue but the truth is lately I’m just so damn busy and when I have free time I like to relax and not rush places.