Big Day Today
Today the much-hated political ads end, for this election cycle anyway.
The sheer number of ad spots turned into a blur that confused and confounded to the point they became senseless and a total waste of money.
The non-partisan company AdImpact estimated $9.7 billion was spent this year trying to sway voters.
A financial boon to the Media conglomerates. But now who will fill those ad spots?
Well, it just so happens the Medicare Advantage open enrollment period began just a few days ago. I'm sure you've noticed the uptick in ad spots on tv, cable, print media, and mailings over the last couple of months. Jimmy Walker and William Shatner are joined by numerous and sundry celebrities hawking one plan or another, all bent on convincing Medicare recipients to switch to private plans.
I searched for an hour last night for some estimates on this push to privatize Medicare and found nothing.
But by comparing the time spent with political ads, assuming they get charged the same amount, one could estimate about the same or larger spending on Medicare Advantage advertising. I'm going out on a limb here a call it a $15 billion spend up until open enrollment ends in February 2023.
It's only going to get worse.
The winners?
MSM.
Thread is wide open. What's on your mind?
Comments
Public Service Warning + preliminary election results
ELECTION RESULTS:
Though there are still a lot of votes to be counted, some races have been called and some have been conceded.
Exit polls are even more often conformed to announced results than before and are hence meaningless and pointless, so you may ignore them.
Accusations of cheating and fraud are flying
Generally speaking, and by and large, the uniparty is sweeping all fifty states
A lot of rhetoric has already been spewed and much more is expected, so keep your head down.
Nobody is on your side
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
That's hilarious, EL
Thanks for the chuckle.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Not true
The Uniparty has our backs! That's a side. It'd be good for us, except they're holding a big knife and sporting a big grin.
Today’s the day we get to choose which side of the oligarchy
we want to put in charge. I find it weird that people haven’t noticed that we have been voting for the same people for decades who have promised us that if we vote them in then our lives will get better, but life has been getting worse for the majority of people who aren’t rich. More wars, bigger military budgets, more tax cuts for the rich and lots less money for things that help we the people. I feel no shame not continuing in this farce.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
Actually, the right to Abortion is on the line in CA,
not because of any candidate promises, but because of proposition 1, amending the state constitution, which states, in part:
It is, of course, opposed by the usual cabal of religiofascists.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Good point,
plan on voting for it. Always a good thing when CA can enhance the constitutional freedoms given by the fed constitution. Yes, it seems religiofascists are opposed, including the CA Republican Party.
Good news and bad news
The good news is that CA is not ruled by religofascists.
The bad news is that it is ruled by Phizer.
On to Biden since 1973
Our government of the people
has been captured. It is no longer a legitimate government, no matter which party is in power.
All the exits are covered. We can leave with only the clothes on our backs. And still we will be punished relentlessly.
Thanks for joining in this morning.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Yup this
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
Boy, that is spot on!
n/c
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Yeah, no
not happening for me
others may have a party today I
just don’t see the glide path changing all
that much unless it
might be steepening hard to tell
nowadays kinda feel like somethings
got to give but it
don’t huh nothing seems to be too
much to put up with to endure what
we all became Irish we’ll put up with
anything that’s why we drink/smoke/snort/chew
/shoot/rubitinourbelly on
the regular it’s who we are
Ugo Bard has a good one up on aggregators as sources
linked to at tae
hope you’re well and the knees are
working out for you still
good luck all in whatever decision
you choose today
we’re jacked either way imo
tanks for the ot
Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .
Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .
If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march
Great to hear from you, TB&U
Been a while since that meetup in Portland. Are you still livin' on the coast, mostly?
KOZT my favorite station.
Knees doin' great, or enough to contemplate going south for a few weeks in January, thanks for askin'.
Had not heard of Udo Bard, will call it out though.
Thanks for the post.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
According to the media Biden only tells falsehoods
while Trump told lies. Weird how they are the same thing don’t you think? But is the media saying that they don’t want Biden to run in '24?
Biden got caught lying during his previous runs at the presidency and had to drop out. He didn’t graduate at the top of his class, but at the bottom.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
Same o' same o'
Tell us what we want to hear. Doesn't have to be true, honest, or even sincere anymore.
I'll give them credit though, they are completely transparent about it. They make no effort to hide their disgust of the American people.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
I have a simple rule for political ads
If an overwhelming percentage of political ads is for or against a ballot measure or candidate, then that means BIG Money is for or against candidate/ballot.
BIG Money is always contrary to my interests, so I'll vote the opposite of whatever they are spending for.
Agreed, but only as a rule of thumb.
Example: Yea's = every union in the region v. Nay's = a handful of cranks who habitually say Nay to damn near everything.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I've suggested in the past
to choose the candidate with the least funds. But that might not work either.
I'm still convinced Trump was broke in 2016. But the media showered him with wall to wall coverage 24/7, while Hillary was suspiciously absent. Probably why he is fighting the release of his tax returns.
Thanks for stopping by.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
I suspect that
the Uniparty will win.
The dems will adopt their normal abused spouse posture, and complain bitterly about stolen elections, when their machine hacking/box stuffing isn't sufficient to let them flip certain races to keep their designated villains in place. The reps will adopt their normal redbaiting posture, complaining bitterly about how the commies stole elections when the people they put up lose because they are too awful for even the brain-dead to vote for. Many billions of dollars will have been wasted on attack ads that accomplished nothing but getting more people to tune out and not give a fuck. And business will continue as usual, as the consultants return to the infinite slop trough of money to prepare for the next biennial masturbationfest.
I'm frankly hoping for a complete dem bloodbath, because only by them being undeniably *rejected* by the voting public as a now-completely-pro-war party, and utterly imploding, will we ever be rid of them. Maybe if the reps take both houses, they can play at the Kabuki spectacle of distracting the undeniably-dem executive branch from starting WWIII just for the joy of it.
But I'm not holding my breath. Once again, the only thing I want out of this election is to wake up not dead again tomorrow- because if anything else changes, it will be for the worse.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Lol
I'm certain the Uniparty will win also.
I agree with sending the message that warmongering is the new third rail.
I've read that 48 Repubs are voicing "concern" with sending more billions to Ukraine.
Frankly, I think they see that money as theirs, taken out of play and dropped into a black hole.
Don't attribute to malice what can be explained as greed.
Good laugh though, thanks.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
You may be onto something.
So the both gop and dems have done right by their defense contractor friends. But where are the kickbacks from Ukrainian officials for the CASH that Congress is sending to Zelensky directly? Are the dems the only ones getting those kickbacks? Hey, the gop big guys in Congress want their cut along with the Bidens.
Or…
Taken from the funds to attack China which republicans blame the China flu for. Yes it’s possible that the virus came out of the Wuhan lab, but why do they ignore the fact that it was also Americans doing gain of function there and probably funding the research?
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
We were funding the research there.
Last I heard Fouchi sent a little over 3 million bucks to that lab in Wuhan and the samples because Obama prohibited doing that kind of research on American soil.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
It’s also weird how dem voters don’t call out the democrats
letting certain republicans run unopposed and all by themselves. Someone pointed out that Gaetz is running unopposed in Florida (?), but democrats have been complaining about how he is an election denier. I pointed out that democrats have been funding many extremely right wing and election denier republicans in another pied piper scheme hoping that their more sane democrats will win.
And once again AIPAC is spending millions to deny progressive candidates a win. How can the little people win against big money donors? But we’re supposed to believe that it’s Russia that is meddling in our elections. The ‘Putin' chef who posted some silly graphics on Facebook is trolling democrats that he’s going to meddle in the election again, but this time it’s going to cost people their livers and kidneys. Julia Davis, propagandist extradinaire is saying that it’s proof that Putin wants republicans to win, but of course she leaves out the livers and kidneys part. Of course she succeeded in getting people even more angry with Putin.
Democrats have added China to interference in our elections and of course Russia and Iran. If that’s true shouldn’t people be wondering why our powerful and expensive intelligence agencies can’t keep our elections safe? Shitlibs STILL believe that Putin supports republicans while ignoring how Israel owns both parties. And how much money is Ukraine spending again this year on democrats? These questions will never be asked.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
The Europeans
should be the ones interfering in our elections, for their own survival, for Khrists sake.
They are like little hamsters trapped in a cage full of fighting elephants.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
We are not allowed
to call out the dems: they are perfect, they can do no wrong, just ask 'em; to claim otherwise is treason. Treason most foul. Calling out the dems under any circumstances means that you are a republican, period, end of statement, full stop. And also indicates that you are a facist and a Trump lover and a Putin lover and probably wear ugly pants. With us or against us, by golly.
It's a real quandary, isn't it? Anyway, it makes it a lot easier to not be a dem.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Oops…
My bad. I get in trouble for criticizing democrats while giving republicans a pass. I think that’s my right since I didn’t vote for republicans, but for democrats because of what they promised me they would do for me if I did. And because they have failed me so many times….
Absolutely it makes it easier not to vote for them period. Have you seen Obama doing his yuck and awe on the campaign trail? He is mentioning all the problems we have like he was never in a position to do something about it. And the people at the events let him off the hook and cheer wildly when he does. I don’t remember who made up the phrase the United States of Amnesia, but it sure fits. Look at how many people still think that Clinton was a great president.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
@snoopydawg Gaetz does have an
Gaetz does have an opponent this year. He's my Rep. She is some kind of nutjob who was arrested for stalking her graduate assistant when they were in college. Florida politics is interesting.
Thanks for the update!
Are the democrats supporting her?
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
@snoopydawg Not as far as I
Not as far as I know. For years no one ran against anyone in FL-1, except for maybe an independent. Gaetz will probably win with over 75% or more.
Not sure if this is legit but the third example is accurate.
Expand for a better view.
Thanks, humphrey
My funny bone really being tickled today.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
After much study we have concluded that the
large quantities of free water falling from the sky must be what is known as rain, and we have been the recipients of significant quantities thereof starting at or before 3:00 am, praise eris.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Good thing
you don't live in Colorado where it belongs to the state.
Batten down the hatches and order a large pizza.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Good idea, though I usually make our pizza's,
but tonight we're having the leg quarters from a chicken I spatchcocked and grilled on Sunday (we used one of the breasts to make a version of banh-mi on ciabatta rolls on Sunday and will reprise come Thursday after my infusion). Tomorrow I'll probably do a Carbonara. But, if the rain keeps up we can break out a cab franc or petite sirah.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Brutal
This isn’t due to stuttering or something that the media shouldn’t be ignoring. They questioned Biden’s gaffes during the primary, but once he got the nod they began to make excuses for him.
I think this makes sense
When a president who is neither a Democrat nor a Republican is elected, we will know that an election has taken place. When representatives in the houses are neither Republican nor Democrat, we will know an election has taken place.
Till then, it’s all theatre.
From a comment on the internet.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
I voted for more Ds than I thought I would.
Lots of judges positions were on the ballot, and I prefer D appellate judges.
A friend/client is running for state dist. rep, as a D, and I voted for her. All in all, one R, 2 libertarians, 4 Greens, the rest were Ds.
Well, I will be glad when it is over and done, and I can start bitching about the next round of elected politicians who refuse to do anything for the middle class and the poor.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Here in WA. state
we have 3 Supreme Court positions, 1 state Court of Appeals, and 6 District Court positions with only one candidate on the ballot. All unopposed.
I didn't vote for any of them since one vote gives them the win. Far as I know, they elected themselves.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
In CO, with judges,
you are only allowed to vote to retain or to not retain. There are no other candidates, since they are all appointees.
You can't easily find out what party they are from, unless you have a fanatical neighbor (of known political leanings) who puts signs up for them. So I just voted to ditch them all. They always get retained anyway, since nobody knows who they are except for the people they have directly screwed, and the material on them in the Blue Book is hardly useful to figure it out.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Texas toyed with the idea of taking judges out of
parties, giving them this patina of being nonpartisan and fair. So, the Governor would appoint a judge. In 2, maybe 4 years, it would be an approval vote, requiring at least 51% approval for the judge to get another 4 years on the bench.
It was defeated when the bill came up for a vote.
Our judges are party players, likely will always be.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
At least the judge ballots had
2 to 4 names on the ballots.
Another return to a D vote was Agriculture Commissioner. I voted for the D because of a scandal the incumbent got into where he was going to fairs and rodeos all over the country, putting it on his trip allowance fund when the trips were purely personal.
It is all a shit show.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981