UPDATE: Donald Trump Takes Office as the 47th US President
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The screenname says @DC_Dude yet the post reads like @jack walsh13 ...NFL aint started yet so I'm going with DC_dude...lol
Tuesday thoughts, 'losing democracy' edition:
1. Many are worried about the idea of 'losing democracy' — in the abstract.
2. We need to look beyond institutional risks like election manipulation, judiciary capture, and lawfare.
3. We must resolve the debt ceiling situation — permanently.
4. We cannot continue to play Russian Roulette with the budget and debt ceiling every ~12-18 months, especially when ~30% of Congress is acting in bad faith.
5. Extremists like Musk, Thiel, Ron Paul, and Kash Patel have voiced support for financial and infrastructural terrorism.
6. Domestic extremists are aligned with our foreign adversaries as they both seek the same outcomes — collapse of US hegemony.
7. Our Constitution is full of holes, and the only thing that makes it work is the good faith efforts of Americans sworn to defend it.
Stability depends on a functional state and the rule of law. That only works if our Constitution is upheld, which depends on a society with shared values. A country at war with itself cannot endure. Condemn those who promote division. Onward!
This is a hard task to do for the Trump campaign because Kamala have it did anything for people to hate her. Trump on the other hand every other day say some shit or do some shit that is turning a lot of people away from him.
George Clooney praises Joe Biden for bowing out of race after op-ed
George Clooney praised Joe Biden for bowing out of the presidential race after his recent op-ed urging him to step down: 'The most selfless thing that anybody's done since George Washington.'
George Clooney praises Joe Biden for bowing out of presidential race after op-ed: 'All the credit goes to him'
The actor called the president's decision "the most selfless thing that anybody's done since George Washington" at a Venice screening for his new film "Wolfs."By Shania Russell
Published on September 1, 2024 01:22PM EDT
We left some people speechless.
George Clooney is commending President Joe Biden for stepping aside as the Democratic nominee in the 2024 presidential race.
Earlier this summer, the Oscar-winning actor and producer was one of several political and Hollywood figures who called for the president to end his re-election bid, going as far as penning a New York Times op-ed titled, "I Love Joe Biden, but We Need a New Nominee." Now, Clooney is breaking his silence on Biden’s decision to bow out of the race and put his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
"I've never had to answer that question, so I suppose I'll do it here," Clooney said Sunday at the Venice Film Festival press screening of his upcoming movie Wolfs when asked about his essay. The crowd promptly erupted into applause, to which Clooney responded, "The person who should be applauded is the president, who did the most selfless thing that anybody's done since George Washington."
George Clooney; Joe Biden.
Daniele Venturelli/WireImage; Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty
Martin Sheen, The West Wing's President Bartlet, meets President Biden at the White House
"All the machinations that got us there, none of that's gonna be remembered and it shouldn't be," Clooney continued. "What should be remembered is the selfless act of someone who… You know, it's very hard to let go of power. We know that. We've seen it all around the world. And for someone to say, 'I think there's a better way forward,' all the credit goes to him, and that's really the truth."
Before Biden's July 21 announcement that he would be dropping out of the race and endorsing Harris, Clooney expressed concern about his ability to lead the Democratic Party to victory.
"The Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe 'big f---ing deal' Biden of 2010," Clooney wrote in his July 10 op-ed. "He wasn't even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate."
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Musicians who banned presidential candidates from using their songs
Joe Biden and George Clooney at the 2022 Kennedy Center honoree reception.
Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Spider-Man director reunites George Clooney, Brad Pitt in trailer for first movie together in 16 years
Voicing his worries about the president's age — he is 81 — in the wake of his much maligned performance at the June 27 debate with Donald Trump, Clooney added, "As Democrats, we collectively hold our breath or turn down the volume whenever we see the president, who we respect, walk off Air Force One or walk back to a mic to answer an unscripted question."
The actor also alleged that he had spoken privately to numerous Democratic senators and members of congress and that "every single one" shared the sentiment that "we are not going to win in November with this president." Clooney was one of many entertainers to express such concerns, with others including Stephen King, Rob Reiner, Michael Moore, John Cusack, and Michael Douglas.
Addressing the role his more notable critics may have played in Biden's decision, Clooney argued that only the president's decision to step aside would go down in history. "All the rest of it will be long gone and forgotten," he said at the Wolfs press conference in Venice. "And so I'm just very proud of where we are in the state of the world right now, which I think many people are surprised by, and I think we're all very excited by the future."
Since dropping out of the race, Biden has stood firmly behind Harris and her pick for vice president, Tim Walz. "My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my vice president," he wrote in his initial announcement. "And it's been the best decision I've made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it's time to come together and beat Trump. Let's do this."
In my opinion, I think Biden still will have squeaked it out, but the down ballot races would have been in flux for the Democrats. Kamala on the other hand Is pulling more Democrats in with the down ballot races.George Clooney praises Joe Biden for bowing out of race after op-ed
George Clooney praised Joe Biden for bowing out of the presidential race after his recent op-ed urging him to step down: 'The most selfless thing that anybody's done since George Washington.'ew.com
George Clooney praises Joe Biden for bowing out of presidential race after op-ed: 'All the credit goes to him'
The actor called the president's decision "the most selfless thing that anybody's done since George Washington" at a Venice screening for his new film "Wolfs."
By Shania Russell
Published on September 1, 2024 01:22PM EDT
We left some people speechless.
George Clooney is commending President Joe Biden for stepping aside as the Democratic nominee in the 2024 presidential race.
Earlier this summer, the Oscar-winning actor and producer was one of several political and Hollywood figures who called for the president to end his re-election bid, going as far as penning a New York Times op-ed titled, "I Love Joe Biden, but We Need a New Nominee." Now, Clooney is breaking his silence on Biden’s decision to bow out of the race and put his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
"I've never had to answer that question, so I suppose I'll do it here," Clooney said Sunday at the Venice Film Festival press screening of his upcoming movie Wolfs when asked about his essay. The crowd promptly erupted into applause, to which Clooney responded, "The person who should be applauded is the president, who did the most selfless thing that anybody's done since George Washington."
George Clooney; Joe Biden.
Daniele Venturelli/WireImage; Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty
Martin Sheen, The West Wing's President Bartlet, meets President Biden at the White House
"All the machinations that got us there, none of that's gonna be remembered and it shouldn't be," Clooney continued. "What should be remembered is the selfless act of someone who… You know, it's very hard to let go of power. We know that. We've seen it all around the world. And for someone to say, 'I think there's a better way forward,' all the credit goes to him, and that's really the truth."
Before Biden's July 21 announcement that he would be dropping out of the race and endorsing Harris, Clooney expressed concern about his ability to lead the Democratic Party to victory.
"The Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe 'big f---ing deal' Biden of 2010," Clooney wrote in his July 10 op-ed. "He wasn't even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate."
Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.
Musicians who banned presidential candidates from using their songs
Joe Biden and George Clooney at the 2022 Kennedy Center honoree reception.
Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Spider-Man director reunites George Clooney, Brad Pitt in trailer for first movie together in 16 years
Voicing his worries about the president's age — he is 81 — in the wake of his much maligned performance at the June 27 debate with Donald Trump, Clooney added, "As Democrats, we collectively hold our breath or turn down the volume whenever we see the president, who we respect, walk off Air Force One or walk back to a mic to answer an unscripted question."
The actor also alleged that he had spoken privately to numerous Democratic senators and members of congress and that "every single one" shared the sentiment that "we are not going to win in November with this president." Clooney was one of many entertainers to express such concerns, with others including Stephen King, Rob Reiner, Michael Moore, John Cusack, and Michael Douglas.
Addressing the role his more notable critics may have played in Biden's decision, Clooney argued that only the president's decision to step aside would go down in history. "All the rest of it will be long gone and forgotten," he said at the Wolfs press conference in Venice. "And so I'm just very proud of where we are in the state of the world right now, which I think many people are surprised by, and I think we're all very excited by the future."
Since dropping out of the race, Biden has stood firmly behind Harris and her pick for vice president, Tim Walz. "My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my vice president," he wrote in his initial announcement. "And it's been the best decision I've made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it's time to come together and beat Trump. Let's do this."
I just said this a minute ago Kamala is bringing more Democrats into the picture the Democrats so far has a good chance on keeping the senate at least by two seats. Kamala is going to help hugely with the Senate race in Maryland
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact
What is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact?
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) is a proposal that would retain the institution of the Electoral College while also ensuring that the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote is elected President of the United States.
What is the current process for electing the U.S. President?
The Electoral College is a body of electors that is responsible for electing the President and Vice President. Electors represent each state and Washington, D.C. and are equal to the number of U.S. Representatives and Senators from that state. Under the current presidential electoral process, a candidate must win a majority of votes of the Electoral College – at least 270 of 538 votes – rather than the majority of the national votes cast to become President.
How are Electoral College votes won?
Nearly all states have a winner-take-all policy in which the candidate who receives the majority of the state’s popular vote wins all the electoral votes of that state, even if the candidate only wins by a small margin. The two states that do not practice winner-take-all with their Electoral College votes are Maine and Nebraska, which use the Congressional District Method to award their Electoral College votes.
What is the difference between deciding between electoral college votes and the national votes cast?
Most of the time, the presidential candidate who wins the electoral vote also wins the national popular vote, but not all the time. In five elections, one candidate won the popular vote, while the other candidate won the Electoral College and, with it, the U.S. presidency. Two of those five instances have occurred since 2000 – in 2000 and 2016.
Theoretically, a candidate could win the Electoral College with only 23 percent of the national popular vote. In other words, a candidate can win the presidency even if a vast majority of the country’s voters cast ballots for someone else.
What’s the history of the Electoral College and why is it problematic?
The Founding Fathers had multiple reasons why they established the Electoral College. They worried that giving voters the ability to directly elect the President gave the public too much power, even though only land-owning white men could vote at the time. Since election by popular vote was considered too democratic, they explored alternative approaches and made additional considerations. Among the factors that played a big role were race and slavery.
The three-fifths compromise counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person in population counts used to assign the number of U.S. Representatives to a state; however, enslaved people were excluded from voting and every other form of democratic participation. This gave slave states – and white slave owners – disproportionate political power in Congress. The populations of the north and the south were relatively the same, but these counts included enslaved people who could not vote. A president elected by a national popular vote would skew toward the will of the northern states given that a major portion of the population of southern states were nonvoting enslaved persons. It was in the interest of southern states to leverage the additional power they had already negotiated through the three-fifths compromise to elect the President, which led to the creation of the Electoral College. The Electoral College was designed to promote and protect the power of southern whites. To this day, remnants of this institutional racism and undemocratic core remain ingrained in the Electoral College.
How does the Electoral College’s undemocratic and racist legacy impact us today?
States with lower populations have more representation in Congress relative to their population – since all states have two Senators, regardless of their size. With Electoral College votes being apportioned based on congressional representation, voters in these smaller states also have disproportionate influence in the Electoral College. For example, under the Electoral College, one vote in California currently wields the same political power as about 3.2 votes in Wyoming while the population of California is more than 67 times the population of Wyoming. This is not just unequal, it is unrepresentative as states with lower populations tend to be whiter.
What is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC)?
The NPVIC is an agreement among states to guarantee the election of the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote. When a state joins the NPVIC, it agrees to commit all of its electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote, rather than the candidate who wins their individual state.
The compact only becomes binding when enough states join the NPVIC to reach the 270 electoral college votes threshold required to elect the President. If passed in enough states, the NPVIC would ensure a simple majority of voting Americans decide the outcome of presidential elections.
The NPVIC would leave intact the current structure and electors of the Electoral College, but their votes would be based on the national popular vote results rather than their individual states’ results.
The NPVIC places the outcome of a presidential election firmly in the will of the people, or a majority of voting Americans. A 2020 Pew Research Center poll found that 58 percent of Americans support replacing the Electoral College with a national popular vote.
What is the current status of the NPVIC?
Since Maryland first enacted the NPVIC in 2007, a total of 16 states and Washington, D.C. have joined the compact with more interest than ever before. In early 2019, the NPVIC was introduced in nineteen state legislatures, and passed into law in Colorado, Delaware, New Mexico, and Oregon, marking a record number of states joining the NPVIC in a single year.
Currently, NPVIC member states comprise a total of 205 Electoral College votes, which is 75.9 percent of the 270 votes needed to enact the compact. This means that additional states totaling at least 65 electoral votes have to join the NPVIC for it to go into effect.
As of June 2023, the bill has passed in at least one chamber in an additional eight states, totaling 78 potential electoral votes.
How would the NPVIC change the way candidates campaign?
Under the current system, candidates focus on swing states, only making a few appearancesoutside of the currently-competitive handful, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Under the NPVIC, all votes across the country would be weighed equally. Thus, candidates would no longer be incentivized to focus on the small handful of so-called swing states that are often the most competitive and could swing for any candidate. Instead, with the NPVIC, communities traditionally ignored by campaigns such as conservative voters in upstate New York and southern Illinois, or progressive voters in Austin and Charleston might garner more attention from campaigns and more representation from elected officials.
Currently, a Republican candidate has little incentive to campaign in California’s central valley, which leans conservative, because California’s 55 Electoral College votes typically go to the Democratic Party’s candidate. Under the NPVIC, these votes could be integral to getting a Republican candidate to the White House, and the area would likely see heavy campaign activity, despite not being in a ‘competitive state’.
How would the NPVIC impact voter turnout?
Voter turnout nationwide would likely increase under the NPVIC, particularly in states that are considered red/Republican or blue/Democrat. Voters in these states often feel that their votes do not matter, and thus do not participate in elections.
The NPVIC would help to solve issues of misrepresentation by weighing every vote equally in a national popular vote, so every American can truly have their voice heard at the same level. The NPVIC would incentivize people to vote for their favorite candidate knowing that their vote directly affects the outcome of the election.
What can you do to help pass the NPVIC and ensure the President of the United States of America is elected by the voters?
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is one way to improve and strengthen our democracy by strength. In order to help ensure that the President of the United States is actually elected by the American people, there are a couple things that you can do.
- First, you can check your state’s status on the NPVIC here.
Facts! Republicans are just been running variations of the southern strategy since the 60's now we're living in an idiocracy so the nuance and sophistication they may have tried to have in the past isn't effective anymore.
"You start out in 1954 by saying, “N*gger, n*gger, n**ger.” By 1968 you can’t say “n**ger”—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.… “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “N**ger, ni***er.”
Lee Atwater in 1981- describing the Republican southern strategy
So he can do it but nobody else can? Fuck this guy
I can't believe you're posting this kind of shit considering how IQ is weaponized against BLACK people!
Y'all are gonna follow these white liberals to the depths of hell!!
Geechiedaniel, you don’t even know when Trump’s term was complete nor when Biden became president! And you “don’t care” to look at metrics or numbers, including THE YEAR BIDEN WAS ELECTED!
You’re not qualified to have any political discussion with me.
Is this you? Sassy zesty presentation and all!
More deflection.
you can't post direct criticisms and insults from you of trump during his term because they're really aren't any is there?How about this one...if trump gets back into office with an emboldened maga and installs more white conservative judges etc. what are the odds that reparations for black Americans gain more traction on the state and federal level? Surely you can answer that question???
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