#none of them voters stay WINNING

[adhdasfuck]

Russian PsyOps

I recently became aware that a certain user might be Another Russian Operative trying to sway people into not voting or voting third party, this one even said to vote for a non-Trump republican candidate (imagine being any progressive person at all and advocating progressive voters vote for a conservative, that'll show em, NOT).

So I looked into the third party candidate this person endorses:

Jasmin Sherman

I went through a few of the pages on Jasmine's website and have concluded that they're totally fucking full of shit.

They want to keep the death penalty and offer the options of morphine overdose and FIRING SQUAD as the federal standard to make it "more efficient" instead of simply abolishing it like a true progressive, since there are so many cases of innocent people receiving this draconian punishment.

They also want to GET RID OF SSI. They want to replace it with UBI, but congress WOULD NOT pass UBI, and running on any platform that abolishes SSI for any reason at all is a huge FUCK NO! I'm on SSI and shit is hard enough already. What SSI needs is greater support from the government, for the asset limit to be changed drastically or gotten rid of, and for people who are on SSI to not feel like they CAN'T GET MARRIED OR THEY'LL LOSE THEIR BENEFITS. What we don't need is for SSI to be gotten rid of because "it's inefficient and ineffective" are you fucking KIDDING ME?

Also because their platform of UBI was mentioned on their page about abolishing SSI, I looked at their page for UBI and it's completely out of reach. They are advocating for us to implement a system NOT A SINGLE OTHER COUNTRY HAS PASSED. NONE OF THEM. There isn't a snowball's chance in hell that this would get out of the senate alive. They can't even pass the bills to expand SSI and increase the amount of money we receive a month to be higher than 30% of the fucking poverty line.

This is a much more minor problem but they have Minnesota misspelled as "Minisota" on the UBI page, which is such a small problem, but something that should have been noticed very quickly because the graph it is in is supposed to show legitimate data to uphold their UBI proposal.

In short: This person is not progressive, this person is paying lip service while acting as an obvious Spoiler (a spoiler is a third party candidate who pulls votes from one of the other major parties, this is how Bush won the first time). And Russian PsyOps are back on this website trying to encourage genuinely progressive people who don't know any better to vote for someone who Will Not Win because it "feels better" than voting for a democrat.

Sorry it has to be this way, but take it from me, someone who is from Minnesota, with the highest voter turnout in the country, and also some of the most progressive policies. If you want a third party candidate to win, you START LOCAL, and build the presence of the party up from there. That's how we got an Independent for Governor in the late 90s and early 2000s. And you should participate in your local elections both in years like this and for the midterms! You have to Stay Involved for it to get better.

Conservatives worked for decades using that "frog in a pot that slowly heats up til it boils" method of introducing their fascism. We have have a great opportunity here to vote in progressive candidates who can help us push the needle back towards sanity and caring about people. It's going to take SUSTAINED EFFORT. We have to shout at our candidates to do the right thing, but the other side won't even listen, so this is the side we have to choose. Palestinians have LITERALLY SAID Harris is the better option here.

So go out and vote. Not just this election but every election. You CAN make change, it is going to be slow, but that time will pass anyways, so why not start working for a better future?

[mariacallous]

The prospects of a united front preventing Donald Trump returning to power in the US looked a little bleaker this week.

Let’s be frank they weren’t great to begin with. To an outsider Joe Biden just seems to be too old to be a viable candidate. He doesn’t pas​s the first impressions test. Look at him and you do not see someone capable of serving another four years.

True, he won Michigan's Democratic presidential primary a few days ago– but he was hit by a significant protest vote from left-wing and Arab-American voters angry about his qualified support for Israel's war in Gaza.

And at this point that second cause for worry, and, frankly, panic kicks in.

The left urged registered Democrats to vote for the "none of the above" category to express their opposition to Biden's Israel policy – and about 100,000 did. Their votes represent a wider chunk of the electorate who could well stay at home or vote for minor Green or left-wing candidates and deny the Democrats key states.

In a deeply divided country with a warped electoral system that favours the Republicans, it does not take many voters abandoning the Democrats for Trump to retake power.

I wrote at the weekend about how the Trump example shows how hard it is to unite against a dictatorial threat.  People, or to be fair, many people, cannot put aside their commitments and ally with men and women they profoundly disagree with for the greater good of defending democracy.

On the one hand, they cry that Trump is a fascist and white supremacist. On the other hand, they refuse to use all available means to stop him. Mainstream liberals do not moderate their demands to win over wavering conservatives. The far left sees the Biden administration as its true enemy.

The history of the struggles against Nazism are highly relevant to the dilemmas and the dangers we face today.  

As Hitler began his rise to power at the end of the 1920s, the European far left was in the same place as a section of the modern US left.  

The threat of fascism was as nothing when set against its hatred of moderates.

 In 1928 the communist movement adopted one of the cruellest and stupidest policies in its history, which considering the history of Soviet communism was nothing more than a history of cruelty and stupidity was quite an achievement.

Partly because it helped Stalin in his internal power struggles in Russia, Moscow ordered all Europe’s communists to follow an ultra-leftist policy. They were told to denounce moderate leftists as “social fascists”, and fight them to the death.

Communism’s triumph was inevitable, the party line went. No compromise was possible with anyone who stood in history’s path. Reformists were opportunists and traitors. They were social fascists who were as bad as the Nazi gangs which were already gathering on Berlin streets.

Or perhaps they were worse….

For an argument that is still heard today held that, say what you like against them, at least fascists were honest in their way.

By contrast centre-leftists were traitors who had been “bribed by the bourgeoisie” to deceive the masses, as no less an authority than Lenin had said.

They were hypocrites who pretended to want change while watering it down. Nothing could be achieved until they were swept away.

When Stalin’s enemy, Leon Trotsky, who was hardly a moderate, warned that instructing left-wingers to fight other left-wingers was a sure way of allowing fascism to “ride over your skulls and spines like a terrific tank”, Ernst Thälmann, the leader of the German communist party, denounced him for his ‘criminal counter-revolutionary propaganda’.

The result was a disaster. The communists and socialists fought each other instead of the Nazis, making Hitler’s rise easier. Thälmann went along with Stalin’s categorisation of social democrats as “social fascists”  until actual fascists came to power in Germany. They taught him the difference by holding him in solitary confinement for 11 years at the Buchenwald concentration camp, and putting him before a firing squad in 1944 and shooting him dead.

Today there are plenty of Thälmanns who believe with absolute certainty that the discredited centrist mainstream is the enemy.

Here is a columnist on the Washington Post greeting the Michigan result

As I emphasised in my previous piece, his stance is absolutely fine in normal circumstances. US leftists are perfectly entitled to refuse to support the Democrats if Biden’s behaviour outrages them.

But surely only enormous levels of delusion prevent them acknowledging that Trump is a threat to democracy.  If he wins, the American republic may be so gerrymandered and its civil service so politicised that it will be a Herculean task to remove Trump and his successors. There are plenty on the US far right who cite the rigged democracy of Viktor Orban’s Hungary as their model and dream, after all.

The​ alternative is to build alliances and once again history is a guide,

Having seen that their previous policy of treating moderate leftists as Nazis had resulted in Hitler coming to power 1933, the geniuses running the Soviet Communist party decided on a U-turn. Henceforth communists were instructed to support “popular front” movements where everyone opposed to the fascist threat would be welcome.

Some of the most interesting US writers have reached back to the 1930s to find ways of dealing with Trump. In How Democracies Die the US academics Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt found an example in the little-known story of how fascism was stopped in Belgium in the 1930s.  

Belgium might have gone the same way as fascist Italy or Nazi Germany. In 1936 far-right outfits —the Rex Party and the Flemish nationalist party, or Vlaams Nationaal Verbond (VNV)—surged in the polls, capturing almost 20 percent of the popular vote.

They challenged the historical dominance of three establishment parties: the centre-right Catholic Party, the Socialists, and the liberals.

The leader of the Rex Party, Léon Degrelle, was a classic far-right figure.  A journalist (like Mussolini, and so many other believers in simple solutions) he would go on to become a Nazi collaborator in the Second World War.

Levitsky and Ziblatt wrote that, “the Catholic Party, in particular, faced a difficult dilemma: collaborate with their longtime rivals, the Socialists and Liberals, or forge a right-wing alliance that included the Rexists, a party with whom they shared some ideological affinity.”

 Unlike the mainstream conservative politicians of Italy and Germany, who brought Mussolini and Hitler to power, or the mainstream Republican leadership who collaborated with Trump, the Belgian Catholic leadership declared that any deals with the far right could not be contemplated.

"Catholic Party leaders heightened discipline by screening candidates for pro-Rexist sympathies and expelling those who expressed extremist views. In addition, the party leadership took a strong stance against cooperation with the far right. Externally, the Catholic Party fought Rex on its own turf. The Catholic Party adopted new propaganda and campaign tactics that targeted younger Catholics, who had formerly been part of the Rexist base. They created the Catholic Youth Front and began to run former allies against Degrelle."

Right-wing Catholics knew that they must ally with socialists and liberals they normally deplore in a popular front. And it worked. The far right was beaten.

I think popular front politics are essential. But they are not easy or even particularly principled. Go back to the 1940s and you find George Orwell was utterly repelled by communists and conservatives allying to stop Hitler

He looked back with mockery on

“The years 1935-9 were the period of anti-Fascism and the Popular Front, the heyday of the Left Book Club, when red Duchesses and ‘broadminded’ deans toured the battlefields of the Spanish war and Winston Churchill was the blue-eyed boy of the Daily Worker.”

To Orwell, the idea of covering up the crimes of communists for the sake of the greater anti-fascist good was horrific. But that was what the left of the 1930s did. And that was what the British and American governments did during the Second World War. Defeating Hitler came first. They were prepared to forget about the millions Stalin killed until the war was over.

It's a hard choice. But in the circumstances US progressives face, it is an obvious one. There is no argument against making every necessary compromise to prevent a second Trump term. You will have no right to protest, if you do not.

[reallystellacadente]

I Really Don't Want to Die, and Why

I need to make something ENTIRELY clear: Donald Trump needs to be defeated BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.

ANY. FUCKING. MEANS. NECESSARY.

The rest is below the cut because it's long and personal. The tl;dr, though is if you cannot abide me posting that you have to vote for the Democrat in this election, you should probably unfollow me. I'm not all that popular, so blocking is unnecessary but you do you.

That also includes his supporters on Capitol Hill, the incompetents on SCOTUS, and any and all of the Nationalist Christians (Nat C) fascists who support the Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 and any other manifestos they have excreted into the public domain.

For me, that means I have to vote for the Democratic nominee for president in 2024. To not vote, or to waste my vote on a useless third party candidate, is to hand a vote to Trump. Go back and check the facts of 2016: Jill Stein voters handed him Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, where I live. Nonvoters who usually voted Democrat who stayed home because of the Email Lady also would have made a difference.

Fine. We fucked around and found out. Hundreds of thousands died. An insurrection happened literally in front of our eyes. And the figurehead behind it all has, to date, gotten away with everything.

Now the Beast is even worse. If Donald Trump gets elected, his policies will LITERALLY COST ME MY LIFE and that of my family. He will take away my healthcare (I am a recent cancer survivor), my pending disability (I cannot walk or stand for more than a few seconds and had to quit my job; this predates and is unrelated to my cancer), my EBT (haven't been able to work more than part-time for a while now, and I do like to eat food) and the pitiful partial Social Security we're living on while my disability is getting approved -- thanks to the GOP, a process that takes a minimum of 6-8 months. I will lose my income and my housing and everything.

I FUCKING DON'T LIKE THAT.

None of this -- ABSOLUTELY NONE OF THIS -- means I support the genocide in Palestine. I have been fighting this fight since the mid-80s and I can get the receipts if you want. I questioned why it was OK to roll tanks onto people who threw stones at them, only to get called a terrorist.

But now, when I am doing the best I can to fight the literal war here where I live, I'm called a white supremacist? Fuck you. I mean, the person sending me messages has been blocked and won't see this, but I'm getting that out into the universe nevertheless.

If you're old enough to navigate this website, you're old enough to curate your own experience here. Unfollow me if me saying "you need to vote for the Democrat" is bothersome. I will accept that it might even be triggering and that's OK, I certainly don't want to actually trigger someone's pain. But sending me threatening messages is bullshit and you know it.

I don't stan politicians and in social media spaces where my real identity is known, and I have stated this many times. Cult of personality sucks no matter who it's about. But all things considered, the Democratic platform/policies/whatever have always been closer to what I want in the place where I live. The GOP? Never in my lifetime.

It's hard for me to reconcile these things, but I know that if Trump wins, it will be even worse for Palestine. And he'll let Putin run rampant through Ukraine, too.

I'm sorry this is what it's come down to. I hope to live long enough to see something change. But we absolutely must defeat Donald Trump.

I want to live.

[archivalofsins]

Pfft, coming back online to see people commenting joyously on the downfall of a twelve year old. Really showcases how Futa should have been innocent round one the middle schooler be damned. It is kind of funny to see a bunch of supposedly mature individuals literally admit they have nothing better to do with their day but make a fictional child's story worse. Well, as long as people aren't treating real children like this, oh wait...

That's the point of social experiments, isn't it? To gage and measure how people react to certain situations, events, and specific sorts of people. Hm... well, that could be bad.

But it also isn't really surprising if she ends up guilty considering how a majority of the audience is. Whelp, it's whatever. I was feeling bad about making that video on Amane because it's basically tearing into people's reasoning on voting her guilty, but actually, I'm not anymore. Because fuck it like what do I have to lose? Credibility with people who can excuse child abuse but draw the line at texts from one's employer?

What are they gonna do vote her guilty harder? They're already doing that. The only person keeping me respectful is me and I don't have to respect people who can't respect that everyone regardless of age or religion has and deserves rights. Literally if she's guilty, whatever happens as a result of that ceases to be my fault.

Like that's all on the people who pushed for that. So, either way I win because if she's voted guilty and it gets worse anyhow I can just say I fucking told you so. And they'll never be able to prove what would have happened if she was innocent, so there's no rebuttle to that. They're just gonna stay wrong. Either way, I get something I want. None of the evidence is on these people's side it is going to get worse if she's guilty.

So no, we are not in this together, actually. I am not responsible for these people's choice, and I will take no onus of the consequences that occur from them. I will just laugh at them because they're gonna get what they want, but it's not gonna do what they think it will. It's gonna be so fucking funny when the only people guilty this round are minors.

A seventeen, sixteen, and twelve year old.

Put those prisoners at the kiddy table- Told they're asses to sit down. Really said fuck them kids. It's even funnier because it's like there are minors in this audience voting this way with no awareness of the precedent it sets. Like I don't know I'm an adult so this doesn't concern me truly. My rights are secure, but man sucks to be a minor. Lucky I grew out of that.

Everyone near my age is innocent, and it's gonna stay that way. But ya'll keep teaching those kids a lesson have at it. Fuck it; maybe there won't be any kids next round and it will be all adults. They're going to learn this lesson one way or another, I suppose.

Luckily, a majority of the voters seem to be adults with jobs or college aged. Huh, that definitely couldn't have anything to do with well anything.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal Constitution

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

January 24, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JAN 25, 2024

The dust is beginning to settle after last night’s New Hampshire primary. Former president Donald Trump won the Republican primary with 54.3% of the vote, netting him 12 delegates to the Republican National Convention. Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley came in second with 43.3% of the vote, garnering her 9 delegates. Other candidates together took 2.3%, but none of them won any delegates.

There has been a lot of noise today about whether the New Hampshire results spell good news for Trump or bad news. While the result keeps him in the front spot for the Republican nomination, I fall into the category of observers who see bad news: more than 45% of Republican primary voters—those most fervent about the party—chose someone other than Trump. 

As David French pointed out in the New York Times today, Trump is running as a virtual incumbent, and any incumbent facing a challenger who can command 43% of the party faithful is in trouble. President Gerald Ford discovered this equation in 1976 when he faced Ronald Reagan’s insurgency; President George H. W. Bush discovered it in 1992 when he faced a similar challenge from right-wing commentator Patrick Buchanan. While both Ford and Bush went on to win the Republican nomination, they lost the general election. 

More important than opinions or history to indicate what the primary indicated, though, is Trump’s apparent anger about Haley’s showing. Politico’s Playbook noted that he “rage-posted” about Haley’s speech after her strong finish with posts that lasted far into the night. Ron Filipkowski noted that at 2:19 this morning he was still at it, posting: “NIKKI CAME IN LAST, NOT SECOND!”

In addition to attacking her from the podium, Trump appeared to threaten her when he warned her about “very dishonest people” she would have to fight. He said she was not going to win, “but if she did, she would “be under investigation…in fifteen minutes and I could tell you five reasons why already. Not big reasons, a little stuff that she doesn’t want to talk about, but she will be under investigation within minutes, and so would Ron have been, but he decided to get out.”

The tactics Trump might have been suggesting became clear this afternoon, when the chair of the Arizona Republican Party, Jeff DeWit, resigned after a recording that appeared to show him trying to bribe Arizona Senate candidate and fervent Trump supporter Kari Lake to stay out of the Senate race was leaked to the press. The tape itself was clearly contrived to show Lake as if she were in a campaign ad, defending Trump and America, but it includes DeWit’s pleas for her to stand aside for two years, presumably while the Arizona party regroups with less extremist candidates, and his request that she name her price. 

This sordid story reflects a problem in the state Republican parties as MAGA supporters have tried to take over from the party establishment. In Arizona, challenging the 2020 presidential election—remember the “Cyber Ninjas” who audited the Maricopa County vote?—ran the finances of the Arizona party into the ground. Lake has continued to insist, without evidence, that the election was stolen, and she and other MAGA activists have called for purging the party of all but the Trump faithful. The recording positions Lake as a Trump loyalist fighting against party operatives.

In his resignation letter, DeWit claimed the recording had been “taken out of context” and said he had been “set up.” He noted that Lake has “a disturbing tendency to exploit private interactions for personal gain,” calling out “her habit of secretly recording personal and private conversations. This is obviously a concern given how much interaction she has with high profile people including President Trump,” he added. “I believe she orchestrated this entire situation to have control over the state party,” he wrote.

DeWit said he had “received an ultimatum from Lake’s team: resign today or face the release of a new, more damaging recording. I am truly unsure of its contents,” he wrote, “but considering our numerous past open conversations as friends, I have decided not to take the risk. I am resigning as Lake requested.”

It seems clear the Trump team is eager to consolidate power behind him no matter what it takes, especially in the face of what appears to be his weakness. Rising authoritarians depend on the idea they are invincible, so being perceived as vulnerable—or as a loser—hits them much harder than it does a normal political candidate. 

Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel—who was recorded on November 17, 2020, pressuring two Republican officials in Michigan not to certify Joe Biden’s electors in a county he won by 68% and promising the officials to “get you attorneys”—has urged Haley to drop out of the race. Traditionally, party chairs stay neutral in primary contests. Tonight, Trump posted a threat to donors: “Nikki ‘Birdbrain’ Haley is very bad for the Republican Party and, indeed, our Country…. Anybody that makes a ‘Contribution’ to Birdbrain, from this moment forth, will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp. We don’t want them and will not accept them.” 

For her part, Haley has vowed to stay in the contest. While observers point out that there is very little chance she could actually overtake Trump, it’s also true that either Trump’s obvious mental lapses or his legal troubles could knock him out of the race, in which case she would be the most viable candidate standing.

Curiously, what happened to Trump in New Hampshire was what, before the election, pundits suggested could and maybe should happen to President Joe Biden: a challenger would show that he was weak going into the 2024 election. 

Instead, despite dirty-trickster robocalls in a fake Biden voice telling Democratic voters not to show up vote for Biden, he appears to be on track to win 65% of the vote as a write-in candidate—he wasn’t on the ballot—while Representative Dean Phillips and self-help author Marianne Williamson, who were on the ballot, together appear to have garnered just under 25%.. 

On Monday, Miranda Nazzaro of The Hill reported that the creator of ChatGPT banned a super PAC backing Phillips for misusing AI for political purposes. Billionaire Bill Ackman, who has been in the news lately for his fight against diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, attacks on former Harvard president Claudine Gay, and threats to media outlets that pointed out plagiarism in his wife’s doctoral dissertation, donated $1 million to Phillips’s super PAC.  

There was other good news for the Biden camp today, too. Sign-ups for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, have surged by 80% under Biden, with a record 21 million people enrolling this year. Trump has promised to get rid of the program, saying that “Obamacare Sucks!!!” and that he will replace it with something better, but neither now nor in his four years in office did he produce a plan. 

Biden also received the enthusiastic endorsement today of the United Auto Workers union, whose president, Shawn Fain, had made it clear that any president must earn that endorsement. Biden stood with the union in its negotiations last year with the big three automakers, not only behind the scenes but also in public when he became the first president to join a picket line. “[Trump] went to a nonunion plant, invited by the boss, and trashed our union,” Fain said, “And, here is what Joe Biden did during our stand up strike. He heard the call. And he stood up and he showed up.” “Donald Trump stands against everything we stand for as a society,” Fain told the crowd.

More news dropped today about the damage MAGA Republicans are doing to the United States. A report published today in JAMA Internal Medicine estimates that in the 14 states that outlawed abortion after the Supreme Court’s June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, 64,565 women became pregnant after being raped, “but few (if any) obtained in-state abortions legally.”  

Finally, Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan of Punchbowl News confirmed this evening that although MAGA Republicans have insisted the border is such a crisis that no aid to Ukraine can pass until it is addressed, Trump is preventing congressional action on the border because he wants to run on the issue of immigration. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told a closed meeting of Senate Republicans that “the nominee” wants to run his campaign on immigration, adding, “We don’t want to do anything to undermine him.” “We’re in a quandary,” McConnell said. 

Jennifer Bendery and Igor Bobic of HuffPost reported that Trump today reached out to Republican senators to kill the bipartisan border deal being finalized, “because he doesn’t want Biden to have a victory,” one source said. “The rational Republicans want the deal because they want Ukraine and Israel and an actual border solution,” Bendery and Bobic quote the source as saying. “But the others are afraid of Trump, or they’re the chaos caucus who never wants to pass anything.”

“They’re having a little crisis in their conference right now,”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[kineticpenguin]

My mom watches a lot of MSNBC, and I can't help but notice it's heavy on Trump coverage. Well, the word "coverage" is doing some heavy lifting there: there isn't a whole lot of Trump news, so a lot of it is just having talking heads on to discuss and speculate on all things Trump, up to and including how bad it'd be if he got re-elected.

I get why liberals, especially boomer libs, tend to be all "vote blue no matter who." They're terrified of Trump and bingeing MSNBC is their version of doomscrolling. People talk about January 6th but Trump has been these people's bogeyman since November 8th 2016, oozing right past norms like an orange T-1000.

"Wait, he can just do that?"

But I honestly think the best case scenario for the Democrats would be Trump getting the nomination. He doesn't have Bannon to do his campaign strategizing for him, and his ability to campaign much at all might be curtailed by however his court battles shake out. Anyone who's ever worked for him with a shred of competence has either gone to jail as a result, had a complete falling out with him, and/or has published tell-all books about their time under him. His cult following is weird and loyal, but it's worth remembering that the dude has never won the popular vote, and he doesn't have the sort of strategists around who know where and how to game the election to finagle him an electoral college win like he did in 2016.

The second-best thing to a Trump nomination that could happen to the Biden campaign would be Biden finally going into the light, letting Harris coast in on the sympathy vote. I'd be more concerned about the B team.

Everyone likes to joke about the current band of losers in the Republican debates, "vying for which one of them won't be President." But just as none of them seem able to wrestle the Republican base out of Trump's grasp, none of them scare the normal people the way Trump does. Biden squandering political capital to be Bibi's Best Buddy would cost him a lot more against these guys. Scared voters "vote blue no matter who." Disgruntled and apathetic voters stay home.

The Lincoln Project/NeverTrumper types would happily go for a "normal" Republican like Christie. Their issues with Trump (and Trump wannabes like Desantis and Ramaswamy) are all about style, not substance. They'll happily back any Heritage Foundation stooge that knows how to act. This also means people with administration experience, subject matter expertise, y'know, competence, will go back to working to put these guys in office.

Also, frankly, Trump is a 77 year old man with a hot dog addiction. There's a nonzero chance he could just kick the bucket, forcing his legion of dipshits to settle down and fall in line behind just about any of these guys.

[fontasticcrablettes]

The third gauntlet comes to an end and we must say goodbye to another set of strong competitors. All of them are surely capable of winning other competitions given a slightly different pool of voters, especially considering how tight some of their races were. But, alas, they had some truly difficult match-ups and will have to go home empty-handed.

Here is the updated bracket for the semi-finals.

There will only be two rounds in the semi-finals.

First, the show-down between monarchs, Emperor Peony versus King Gaius. There are many ways to compare countries: GDP, exports, population, cost of living, life expectancy... but none of that is what really matters. No, today we are getting to the heart of what's really important to national pride: how sexy is their ruler?

And then, after the match between two exceptionally competent kings, we have the showdown between the human disasters that are Zelos and Eizen. One of these men will go up against the winning monarch in the grand finale, but will it be the one with a trainwreck of a life or the one who tries his best but still pulls the short straw every time? Whoever loses, at least it will be in-character.

Stay tuned for the semifinals, and thanks for participating so far!

[shiningdesignersreflections]

Chapter 4: Unexpected Incident

Narrated by Qing Yumo.

Narrator: None of us can believe it.

Narrator: Xitong didn't win. Neither did I.

Narrator: Not a single critic predicted the result correctly.

Narrator: I pick up the newspaper and read the name of the winner out loud.

Qing Yumo: Chi Xiaoyu...? Who's Chi Xiaoyu?

Colleague B: You... you okay?

Qing Yumo: Chi Xiaoyu? Who's that? I've never heard of this name.

Colleague A: Oh, no, she's shocked...

Colleague B: Ahem... Chi Xiaoyu is a student from the design academy.

Qing Yumo: A student? What did her design look like?

Colleague B: You know, the T-shirt and skirt. See? Here's a photo.

Narrator: The corner of my eye twitches as I stare at my colleague's screen.

Qing Yumo: No way...

Qing Yumo: How did this happen?

Colleague B: Read the article. Perhaps we forgot the most important factor since the very beginning...

Content: As an organizer of this event, we did a large-scale survey on voters who selected this design. The reason they chose it was...

Content: Because the other outfits looked too heavy for the hot weather.

Content: In Cloudcrest, the temperature outdoors is often above 35 degrees Celsius in summer. All the other outfits had long sleeves and looked hot.

Content: Other reasons include: "It's easy to move in," "the designer's cute," "I dislike the other choices," etc.

Content: As you can see, our voters care less about outfit style and more about comfort.

Narrator: I take a deep breath after finishing the article.

Narrator: Stay calm...

Narrator: I can't get mad... I must keep my composure...

Narrator: That's right. I'm not mad. Not mad at all...

Narrator: Still...

Qing Yumo: What ridiculous reason is that???

Narrator: It's the first time the ladies in the office are seeing me fly off the handle like this. They all look petrified.

Colleague A: Uh, the Director just came by to ask if you're alright... and if you'd like to take the day off.

Narrator: I take deep breaths in an attempt to calm myself down, then flash them a reassuring smile.

Qing Yumo: I. Don't. Need. That. Thanks.

Narrator: According to what they tell me afterward, my "reassuring" smile was actually the creepiest sight they'd ever seen.

Narrator: Be very honest with me. If you were to vote, what would you choose?

Choose either "Pick the prettiest" or "Pick the coolest..."

If "prettiest," ...

You: The most beautiful outfit, of course.

Narrator: That's comforting. There's still hope in this world.

If "coolest," ...

You: I'd probably choose the one that looks the least hot, too...

Narrator: I guess this world isn't what I thought it to be.

--

Narrator: Still, I bet Xitong is raging over the results, too.

Narrator: Tomorrow, she'll probably publish an article to rip the voters apart.

Narrator: Surprisingly enough, Xitong didn't even write a new article. She must be too crushed to even react.

Narrator: I heard that, after what happened, she decided to hold a weekly seminar in the museum, perhaps to educate the public.

Narrator: Anyway, the outfit theme is finally settled.

Narrator: The summer festival begins. The setting I designed looks utterly ethereal and romantic, transforming the city into a wonderland.

Narrator: But everywhere on the streets are girls in T-shirts and skirts.

Narrator: I can no longer find it in myself to get mad after seeing so many of them.

Narrator: We've almost finished all the tea in the office. I head out to buy some more and run into Xitong there.

Jiang Xitong: Oh, it's you. You're getting jade dew? That's way too fragrant for me.

Qing Yumo: And you? That old-fashioned ink-pin tea again?

Narrator: We exchange looks and heave a sigh at the exact same moment.

Jiang Xitong: I guess your design isn't that bad after all.

Qing Yumo: I could say the same to you.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

[tomorrowusa]

« Americans increasingly use polls to vent, not to vote. During the 20th century, when Americans were in a better mood about the state of the country, presidents generally had high approval ratings and broad support during their time in office. Since 2003, the national mood has grown unbelievably sour, and since 2005, sitting presidents have had underwater approval ratings during about 77 percent of their terms.

[ … ]

The median voter rule still applies. The median voter rule says parties win when they stay close to the center of the electorate. It’s one of the most boring rules in all of politics, and sometimes people on the left and the right pretend they can ignore it, but they usually end up paying a price.

The Democrats’ strong showing in elections across the country this week proves how powerful the median voter rule is, especially when it comes to the abortion issue.

[ … ]

Dull but effective government can win, and circus politics is failing. The Trumpian G.O.P. has built its political strategy around culture war theatrics — be they anti-trans or anti-woke. That culture war strategy may get you hits on right-wing media, but it has flopped for Ron DeSantis, flopped for Vivek Ramaswamy, and it flopped Tuesday night on the ballot. Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, did so well in Kentucky in part because he stayed close to the practicalities, focusing on boring old governance issues like jobs, health care costs and investment in infrastructure. He also demonstrated a Christian faith that was the opposite of Christian nationalism.

[ … ]

Remember that none of us know what the political climate will be like a year from now. Neither you nor I have any clue how some set of swing voters in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are going to see things in 12 months, or what events will intervene in the meantime. Nobody does. »

— New York Times columnist and PBS political commentator David Brooks explaining in his NYT column last week why Democrats need to "chill" about recent polls.

Democrats are sometimes too overreactive for their own good. People who are excessively nervous tend to make more mistakes.

If you have a healthy concern about next year (as opposed to paranoid worry), there are several things you can do.

First and foremost: Volunteer to register voters. Start by asking like-minded people you know if they are registered. Help them with the process. And always remind friends that they need to register whenever they change their address. ALWAYS. Do things like having voter registration tables set up outside high school graduation ceremonies. Go to where the people are.

Shoot down any talk you hear of third party or independent saviors. Not counting faithless electors, the last third party presidential candidate to score any electoral votes was segregationist George Wallace in 1968. H. Ross Perot got almost 19% of the popular vote in 1992 but got zero electoral votes. If just 539 people in Florida who voted for spoiler Ralph Nader had instead voted for Democrat Al Gore, Gore would have been president a lot of horrible things that happened under George W. Bush (like bad SCOTUS appointments) would not have happened. And if the votes cast in 2016 for bad folk singer Jill Stein in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan had gone for Hillary Clinton instead, Trump never would have been president and Roe v. Wade would still be in effect. Electoral votes are all that matter in presidential elections.

Quit fussing over Biden's age. You rarely hear Republicans doing the same about Trump who was born in 1946. Biden can sign his name on bills or veto them – there's nothing wrong with his arm and he doesn't need to use a Sharpie. He has made excellent appointments to the federal judiciary. And some of the most far ranging progressive legislation enacted since the mid 1960s happened on Biden's watch. Being younger doesn't necessarily make somebody a good president; 38-year-old Vivek Ramaswamy would be atrocious. If you really want somebody young, remember that in 2028 people born in 1993 will be eligible to be president. It will be worth the wait if Trump is in the Big House instead of the White House by then.

[yourtoradorasextendedwarranty]

It always baffles me how daft and stupid people that vote democrat are. Me personally? I live in Texas and I vote Independent. Unless I'm faced with a choice of a literal psychopath or an asshole I don't really like all that much. Which in the last Governor race, it was one such case. Similarly, when it comes to voting for president I feel the same. I'd sooner vote Independent or write in something then vote either side unless it was like the last 2 races. Which was literal tyrant wanna be warhawks (Clinton & Biden) or Orange man.

What's more, the ability of people that vote democrat to turn a blind eye to actual facts. Take this tweet, which for the most part is pretty tame, and then the replies, which I will address.

Now, First and foremost, I will not make the claim that Trump paid back all his loans. However, I find it suspect all of a sudden, after his run at president where he became the most villainized man in history second only HITLER (because Auth Leftists are morons that can't condemn genocidal communist dictators) that "We are investigating every grain of sand in his life to destroy this person who supposedly wronged us". Ok.....so why now all of a sudden? Oh right because now we need him out of a presidential race. Got it.

Ok so now to the replies.

Most of these can be summed up with one reply. "Banks and Lenders assess property values, and will send someone or several someone's in order to make a value judgement of an asset or property before giving out a loan.

However to answer Kit, No he has not been found Guilty. He has been pressed by a judge (Unilaterally) that RAN on burying Trump. That was what she RAN ON. No investigations. No facts to go off of. Just "Elect me and I will destroy this man and everything he has". And again only after he got into office. Prior to that he was the golden child of NY.

We call that a conflict of interest and she should be disbarred for it.

To Proud-Democrat I repeat. HE DID NOT PERSONALLY ASSESS THE PROPERTY VALUE YOU MORON! The banks and lenders 100% did.

To Rae & American Woman Same thing as above. Literally exact same thing as above.

And this is why I hate Democrat voters. And before someone goes on some tirade about "Republican Voters". Bruh. Conservatives typically HATE Republicans. They just hate Democrats more. And honestly aside from people that still get all of their news wholesale from Fox and nothing but Fox, Most Conservatives would probably sooner vote Independent with a viable candidate. And other people might go, "WELL WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER LAWS TRUMP BROKE!". Idk. Let's look at them shall we?

Accused of trying to steal the election. Except everything he did in that process was legal. He asked if there was anything that he could do. Up to and including asking his VP which electors to pick. Funny fact it is legal for a state to have different sets of electors. It happened during the Nixon years. Of which helped him win. Those rules have never been changed even now. And what's more, there WAS fraud. How much? We don't know. And we likely won't know until 10-20 years from now when the people that claim there is none will go, "OH well it's good there was fraud so Orange man stayed out of office....causing us to go to war with Russia, China, Iran, etc, etc, etc."

Accused of assaulting a woman over 20 years ago. Possibly over 40 years ago. Now let me be clear. Could this have happened? Sure. Did it? We have no idea. And 20-40 years is too long ago to have a decisive verdict on it. (Which brings me to another point which is the legality of the charges. So aside from statute of limitations, american citizens are allowed a right to a trial, by a jury of their peers. However, those peers must be impartial. NY is ANYTHING but impartial. They could bring charges of assassination through ninja skills on a foreign leader and NY would STILL CHARGE HIM just to do it.)

Quid Pro Quo. So the only evidence they had that this supposedly even happened was more or less ONE GUY. This man state that TRUMP expressly stated that he did not want a quid pro quo. HOWEVER, that man also believed Trump DID IN FACT want one, despite saying exactly to the contrary. What's more, let me remind all of you, Joe Biden, did that EXACT THING as VP to protect his financial asset of a son at a Ukrainian Energy company he had no business working at the board of. (1:30 Is the start of the segment.)

So all in all. MOST of the things Trump was accused of doing were outright false, or falsely placed on him. And it's because he was a human molotov cocktail. He didn't want any new wars. He wanted to bring more soldiers back from the Middle East. The Economy was GREAT. We were bringing jobs back to the US, and we had Remain in Mexico. Which was GREAT legislation. And it said, "If you are coming to the US for "Asylum" and you pass through another county on the way here you have to stay in THAT country until you can legally get processed.

Whereas now, DEM VOTING residents of NY are being told they are going to pay Billions to house, feed, and process illegals. When their own state is crumbling under the weight of its own corruption.

Which brings me to this point. Both sides need to talk about when there side is doing wrong. And most of the people I know that vote Rep very much DO talk about when their guys do wrong. The issue is that people that vote Dem seldom actually do. It's always, "Your side did X" and then when anyone else says, "OK but you side did Y and that's worse", We all get greeted with, "I don't care because at least he's not right wing. He could kill kids for all I care. I don't actually care what he does so long as it furthers my sides ideals".

And therein lies the issue. Democrats and their primary voters DO NOT GIVE A F*CK about morals. Because they have none. It's a very much "At all cost" mentality. And often based on LIES. Because if there is one thing Dems are great at, it's manipulation of information. The "Silver Tongued Devil" as it were. That's pretty much them. The founders of the KKK. The opposition to Civil Rights. And the Party of Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton who said they were mentored by a clansman. The parties never flipped. They just became better liars.

(This post is in no shape or form endorsement of the Republicans. Because frankly speaking that party and it's primary voter faction has its own issues. But this post isn't about them)

[softnasty]

#wipwednesday with another snippet from chapter 2 of politics au/make no plans and none can be broken. i have a week off work so i'm really hoping to finish it during it.

"Pleasure to meet you, Senator."

Jyn Erso is all smiles and firm handshakes the first time she steps into Mothma's office on Chandrila.

"Jyn Erso, my new intern." Brasso interjects, eager to introduce his new protégée.

"Ah right." Mothma's eyes stay fixated on her phone screen. "Welcome on board." She's ready to turn on her heel, Cassian can see it clear as day. There's a headache, figurative and literal, threatening to break out at the base of his skull — Senator Ackbar has just admitted to being a little reluctant to backing the Outer Rim territories outreach bill and the Alliance really can't lose any support they have at the moment.

[more under the cut]

"I really admired your campaign. There were two mistakes you made, though." Jyn says and Cassian thinks oh, shit. He isn't stupid, he knew the smiles and firm handshakes were only a smoke screen — anyone had them up in politics, some in more complex ways than others.

"Two?" And of course, that would make Mothma tick and look up from her phone.

Cassian and Brasso exchange a look. Cassian tries his best to convey Really great hiring decision, buddy and Brasso replies with a silent Fuck off, I know what I'm doing. Brasso's probably right, Cassian has never seen the man fuck up once or when he's done so, he's always recovered in an impressive fashion. Brasso's the perfect type of coworker to have, Cassian can only hope to be as trustworthy and reliable as he is.

"One, you should have made a stronger case for budget cuts to the New Republic Defense Force. You went too soft, and that cost you votes from some of the strictly anti military voters in Chandrila, especially up north. And I'm not saying you should have gone full demilitarization, but stronger, for sure. And two—"

"Oh, you really had two." Mothma says amusedly. "We did win the election though, didn't we?" She looks up, first to Brasso then to Cassian, even spares a glance for the security detail lingering in the background, as if asking for confirmation from everyone present.

"You did. But that was your second try. Easier to win when you've already failed once. And yet—"

This time, Mothma is only looking at Brasso when she speaks up.

"Good pick, Brasso, she'll fit right in. That's the kind of energy we need."

[animeomelette]

I think an important thing to understand with a lot of the "don't vote" crowd is that a lot of them are just looking for a justification for not going to a poll station or applying for a postal vote or whatever

Whichever issue it is that leaves them saying they can't in good faith vote for any of the options might be the most important issue in the world, but if that wasn't there then there would always be a second or a third or a fourth most important issue to take its place

The thing is that "not bothering voting because you don't believe your vote will make a meaningful difference to the outcome and none of the parties or candidates do much to represent your views" is an entirely reasonable course of action for quite a lot of people

But because we live in an age of polarisation everything must be an act of absolute moral principles and anyone who acts otherwise must be a detested enemy, so tactical voters will get treated as if they endorse everything a candidate stands for whilst non voters will get treated as if they endorse everything the candidate they refused to vote against stands for

Ultimately you have to just make an informed choice based on the actual circumstances of the actual election you're going to vote in

As much as I think the current Labour leadership are a bunch of evil bastards there are still some Labour MPs who are actually decent people, even following the purges, and there are still some constituencies where voting for a shitty Labour candidate might still be advisable to keep an even worse Tory out

Or you might be in a seat where your vote isn't going to make any difference and you have to decide whether bothering to show up and vote Green or whoever makes any stronger of a statement than not bothering to show up at all

Or you might be in a seat where a Green or Lib Dem or Jeremy Corbyn or some other candidate has a genuine chance of winning and you'll have to make your decision based on your own specific local circumstances

But in the case of the UK you can't just look at the national situation and go "oh, this sucks" and decide to stay at home just on that alone and act like you've made a real decision about how to use your vote

In that scenario you've just decided that you don't care about voting enough to bother and either you can own that decision or you can act like you're doing something for Palestine by refusing to vote without having even checked what views the candidates in your area have on the matter

[arpov-blog-blog]

More Bad News for Trump in Primary Results

Digging into the numbers

Ron Filipkowski Meidas Touch Network

Donald Trump's campaign continues to hype his "victories" in Republican primaries despite running unopposed. However, while President Biden consistently wins his primaries in the high 90s, Trump continues to see 15-30% of Republicans voting against him in state after state.

Last night, despite running unopposed, the following percentages of Republicans voted against Trump:

Arizona - 25%

Kansas - 25%

Ohio - 21%

Florida - 19%

Illinois - 19%

These results have been consistent with the previous Republican primaries across the board. There is also another pattern developing - Trump continues to struggle with suburban voters. This is a critical demographic for his campaign. While Trump's results were fairly consistent across every group from 2016-2020, suburban white voters are the reason Trump lost in 2020. He narrowly lost those voters in 2016 to Hillary Clinton, but lost them by a wide margin in 2020 to Biden. That was the difference in the two elections. Those are also the voters who continue to refuse to vote for Trump - even Republicans.

In previous primaries this year, the Trump campaign spun it that these were not true Republican voters since many of the early primary states were open - allowing Democrats and Independents to vote in them. They argued that most of Nikki Haley's voters were Democrats participating in those Republican primaries against Trump. Although some percentage of her voters were non-Republicans, those voters pushed her up to the 30-40% range. But there was still a solid 15-20% of registered Republicans in those states who voted against Trump.

But that excuse doesn't work for last night's results. Florida is a completely closed primary where only registered Republicans can vote. The other four states are partially closed, with Arizona, Ohio, and Kansas allowing independent voters to participate in their primaries while restricting registered Democrats. Only Illinois is mostly open with anyone able to vote in either party, but a Democrat crossing over will have their party affiliation changed. So these results are either 100% Republican voters or over 90% with some right-leaning independents.

Combative and abrasive Trump Spokesman Steven Cheung, as usual, hurled insults at Republican consultants who sounded alarm bells over the results. MAGA World spin is always that Trump is dominating and winning everywhere. No admission of weakness or problems is ever tolerated - the aura of invincibility must be the party line as pushed by Trump and his acolytes, regardless of results.

Where will these voters go in November? In state after state, exit polls have shown that 10-15% of Republicans say they will not vote for Trump in the general election. I think we are going to see a combination of three things: Some will come home and vote for Trump, some will vote third party, and the rest will either stay home or vote 'None of the Above' in the presidential race. In an election expected to be very close in the dozen or so critical swing states, every vote matters and Trump simply cannot afford to have 10-12% of Republicans leaving the fold."

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Steve Brodner

* * * * *

 Trump's mugshot will become the defining image of Trump for all time. His facial expression conveys equal parts menace, anger, and defiance. There is no hint of a soul behind the eyes, only animal grievance and feral resentment at being cornered. It is astounding that a mugshot could capture the essence of evil that resides beneath the surface in Donald Trump.

          The photo is also a mugshot of MAGA extremism. It captures the hostility and meanness that animates most of the GOP’s “agenda”—including policies that demean and discriminate against Blacks, women, LGBTQ people, educators, scientists, and immigrants. Trump's mugshot will likewise become the defining image of MAGA extremism for all time. Tens of millions of MAGA adherents will celebrate and glorify the image—confirming the virulent strain of authoritarianism that has infected the MAGA base.

          The mugshot will become the equivalent of a “gang sign” for MAGA extremists to identify fellow travelers in hate. They will display the mugshot on tee shirts, baseball caps, and beer cans with an “in your face” defiance designed to offend anyone who disagrees. And this, they believe, is how they will win the 2024 election. They couldn’t be more wrong.

          By making this gargoyle of hate the “face” of the 2024 GOP campaign, Republicans are reinforcing the suspicions and fears of tens of millions of Republicans and swing voters who are looking for a reason not to vote for Trump—or to stay home. (As they did on debate night by boycotting his Tucker Carlson interview.)  

          Against the deeply unsettling MAGA mugshot, Democrats will feature the kindly face of Joe Biden as he reaches to pet a rescue dog or hug a survivor of the Hawaii wildfires. Joe Biden may be older than some would like, but his face exhibits kindness and wisdom. We should not underestimate visceral reactions to human decency—or lack thereof—in our leaders.

          None of this means we can relent or ease up. But it should give us confidence that Democrats are on the right path as Republicans are burdened with a leader who holds them in contempt and sees them only as chumps who will donate more money every time he is indicted.

Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter

[ammyamarant]

Alright, I'm going to put this simply for people who either refuse to vote Biden or have been influenced by the psyops trying to make leftists not either not vote or split the Democrat vote. You have to take this seriously. Because I am.

What plan do you have in mind to make disillusioned conservative voters vote something other than Republican?

Why am I so worried about that? Because I've seen the data from the 2020 election and I'm seeing who is pushing to not vote Democrat.

In Georgia, one of the states Trump was so adamant about voter fraud, Biden won by 0.3% of the vote.

In Arizona, another one pushed hard for voter fraud, Biden won by 0.4%.

In Wisconsin, Biden won by 0.6%.

This totals up to 37 electoral votes. Each state winning by less than 1%.

This totals up to 37 electoral votes that could have been for Trump, putting them both at 269 electoral votes had these less than 1% of voters had voted third party.

The Supreme Court would have had to get involved if this had happened. A majority Supreme Court would not have declared Biden the winner.

Now think about this election year. We have people who say they can't vote blue because of the bullshit happening. So they'll vote third party, and for someone actually good.

Now, I want you to think for a moment. Who is voting this way? Is it the more centralist Democrats, disillusioned by their party? Or is it the more liberal ones, disgusted by how far to the right the Democrats are?

It's the second, isn't it.

Now think for an extra moment. Who are the disillusioned conservatives? Those more to the left and those who think they aren't to the right enough, correct?

Which of those voters are going to vote for the third party that the very left liberals are wanting to actually vote into office?

None of them? The ones more to the left are more likely to vote Democrat if they get away from the cultish mentality of the Republicans are the ones to the right are more likely to stay Republican?

There you go. That's why I'm saying vote blue. Because the person we actually want in office is not going to appeal in the least to the right, and the race is much closer than the psyops want you to think.

And if you think in less than 8 months that we can influence these conservatives to suddenly vote actually left, then get on it and stop trying to get liberals on this site to vote for someone who doesn't suck. Because we are not who you should worry about.

You should be worried about conservative votes. Because splitting the left vote doesn't mean shit if you can't do the same for the right.

Biden flipped red states by less than 1%.

If that less than 1% votes anything other than Democrat we need people on the right to do the same, and to continue to grow those extra votes to a larger group.

Work on making a third and fourth party bigger and making them an actual possibility AFTER we don't vote in the person declaring he'll shit in our bed while helping shit in the Palestine one too.

VOTE. BLUE.

DON'T SPLIT THE VOTE BECAUSE REPUBLICANS WON'T.

[chattisgarh]

Top 5 Chhattisgarh News Headlines Today

1. IED blast injures two CRPF jawans in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh

An IED blast injured two CRPF jawans in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh on Tuesday. The incident took place near the Pujaripara village under the Kuakonda police station limits. The injured jawans have been identified as constables Deepak Kumar and Devendra Singh. They are currently undergoing treatment at a local hospital.

2. Farmers in Korba opt for bonus instead of loan waiver

Farmers in Korba district of Chhattisgarh have opted for bonus instead of loan waiver. The government had offered both options to farmers. However, a majority of farmers have chosen bonus, citing better financial benefits. The bonus scheme provides Rs 5000 per acre to farmers who have repaid their loans.

3. BJP's closest allies quit posts in Chhattisgarh government

Some of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) closest allies have resigned from their posts in the Chhattisgarh government. This comes in the wake of the party's defeat in the recent assembly elections. The resignations have caused a stir in the political circles of the state.

4. 64 candidates polled less than NOTA in Chhattisgarh elections

A total of 64 candidates polled less than NOTA (None of the Above) in the recent Chhattisgarh assembly elections. This indicates that voters were not satisfied with any of the candidates in their respective constituencies. NOTA secured 1.5% of the total votes polled in the state.

5. Dozen over 70-year-old candidates contested Chhattisgarh elections, only 5 won

A total of over 70-year-old candidates contested the recent Chhattisgarh assembly elections. However, only five of them managed to win. This indicates that the trend of young candidates is gaining momentum in the state.

These are just a few of the top Chhattisgarh news headlines today. For more news updates, please stay tuned to our website.sharemore_vert