You have probably seen or heard of polls that put inflation and crime at the top of voters’ concerns. But this NBC News poll puts threats to democracy first. I am comforted that the fearmongering MSM consensus is not the whole story, but still annoyed.
TOP ISSUES IN MIDTERMS, REGISTERED VOTERS
|
aUGUST |
SEPTEMBER |
OCTOBER |
THREATS TO DEMOCRACY |
21% |
21% |
20% |
JOBS & THE ECONOMY |
19% |
14% |
16% |
COST OF LIVING |
16% |
16% |
18% |
iMMIGRATION & THE BORDER |
10% |
13% |
12% |
Oct. 14-16, MOE ±3.1%
It is easy to find public records of registered voters, and those who have voted before with more or less regularity. It is increasingly difficult to contact voters, and nearly impossible to determine who is going to register, and who is going to vote for the first time. In a time when twice as many new voters are Democrats, this almost inevitably results in severe Democratic undercounts, leading to Blue Wave Elections that astonish candidates and pundits alike.
But not us. Ignore the malarkey, do the work, vote early, do more of the work.
Polls routinely ask bogus questions from which no valid conclusions can be drawn. This includes approval polling, which lumps together those who hate the other side with the fire of a thousand suns for going way too far, and those who are disappointed in leaders for not going too far enough. Then the MSM makes far too much of this nonsensical data, often shutting out reality.
Contrary to widely-cited polling results, political activists say that abortion and democracy are top of mind for the voters they talk to. Polls say that it is inflation and crime, but those are bogus moral panics put out by lying Republicans. For example, these are facts about violent crime over 15 years.
Elections
Michigan
Question 3 on the Michigan ballot will be on putting abortion protections in the state constitution.
Michigan Proposal 3, Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative (2022)
MLive: Deperno sees crime, education as priorities if elected as [Michigan] Attorney General
DePerno is the Republican running to take Nessel’s job as Michigan’s top law enforcement officer. His top priorities are cracking down on violent crime and fighting what he sees as radical diversity teachings in public schools. DePerno will face Nessel in the general election Nov. 8.
FBI data shows violent crime is down this year compared to last year in major cities like Detroit, Grand Rapids and Lansing. But statewide, Michigan State Police’s annual crime report shows murders up 30% and aggravated assaults up 24% between 2019 and 2021.
Crime down in Democratic areas, up in Republican areas. An old story that Wrong-Wingers just laugh at without ever looking at the facts.
These are the people you are most afraid of, because they are not afraid of themselves.
Me
“Dana Nessel is a groomer,” he told MLive, a word used for someone who befriends a child to lure them into sexual abuse. Asked to elaborate, DePerno said Nessel “wants to sexualize our children within the education system.”
Deperno is an election denier with a record of losing on election challenges in court. Also
NPR: The Republican nominee for Michigan attorney general is under investigation himself
Matthew DePerno, a Trump-backed Republican nominee for state attorney general, is under investigation for an alleged plot to seize and tamper with voting machines.
DePerno — who has pushed former President Donald Trump's false claims of widespread election fraud — has slammed the probe, which is now led by a special prosecutor. But it leaves him running to lead the agency that could indict him.
Similarly for the Wrong-Wing candidate for Secretary of State in Michigan.
MLive: Kristina Karamo, a 2020 election denier, wants to oversee Michigan’s voting laws
HuffPo: Trump-Backed Candidate Said Abortion is a ‘Satanic Practice’ and ‘Child Sacrifice’
Kristina Karamo, the Republican nominee for secretary of state in Michigan, has also claimed sex can cause demonic possession.
Also viciously anti-trans, and a QAnonist.
The Republican candidate for Governor is another election denier, Tudor Dixon. She has advertised
Gun control means using both hands
and has made a vile joke about the plot to kidnap current incumbent Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, an act that made the Washington Post. No, I won’t repeat it.
Michigan Advance: Dixon opposes abortion for rape victims because there’s ‘healing through the baby’
Vice: GOP Gov Candidate Called Doctors’ Advice on Abortion the ‘Devil’s Lie’
Weed
Poll: Opposition to recreational marijuana amendment grows, but slight majority still favor
Talk Business & Politics-Hendrix College Poll.
The survey, conducted on Oct. 17-18, 2022, collected opinions from 974 likely Arkansas voters statewide. Respondents were asked:
Q. On November 8th, voters will be asked to consider one proposed constitutional amendment proposed by the people. Issue 4 would authorize the possession, personal use, and consumption of cannabis by adults in Arkansas sold by licensed adult use dispensaries and provide for the regulation of those facilities. If the election were held today, would you vote for or against Issue 4?
Definitely for – 36.5%
Probably for – 14% (50.5% For)
Probably against – 9.5%
Definitely against – 33.5% (43% Against)
Undecided – 6.5%
One month ago, a TB&P-Hendrix Poll showed support at 58.5%, while 29% were opposed and 12.5% were undecided.
Ah, likely voters again. According to…?
Marijuana coming to Circle K gas stations, a first for cannabis industry
Floridians will soon be able to buy marijuana products along with cigarettes and snacks at Circle K gas stations, according to Green Thumb Industries, one of the largest U.S. cannabis producers.
Under a new partnership between the companies, starting next year weed will be sold at 10 "RISE Express" dispensaries with separate entrances from the gas stations, Chicago-based Green Thumb announced on Wednesday. Depending on how consumers respond, the cannabis retailer "could expand to more Circle K locations," Ben Kovler, the company's CEO, told CBS MoneyWatch Friday in an email.
Circle K's owner, Alimentation Couche-Tard, has more than 7,000 stores in 47 states, with 642 locations in Florida, according to its website.
Iran
The Conversation: Iran’s secular shift: new survey reveals huge changes in religious beliefs
September 10, 2020
This is not newly published information. I bring it to you today because yesterday was the first time I heard of it, from Ali Velshi.
Reliable large-scale data on Iranians’ post-revolutionary religious beliefs, however, has always been lacking. Over the years, research and waves of protests and crackdowns indicated massive disappointment among Iranians with their political system. This steadily turned into a deeply felt disillusionment with institutional religion.
In June 2020, our research institute, the Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in IRAN (GAMAAN), conducted an online survey with the collaboration of Ladan Boroumand, co-founder of the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran.
Since the revolution, literacy rates have risen sharply and the urban population has grown substantially. Levels of internet penetration in Iran are comparable to those in Italy, with around 60 million users and the number grows relentlessly: 70% of adults are members of at least one social media platform.
For our survey on religious belief in Iran, we targeted diverse digital channels after analysing which groups showed lower participation rates in our previous large-scale surveys. The link to the survey was shared by Kurdish, Arab, Sufi and other networks. And our research assistant successfully convinced Shia pro-regime channels to spread it among their followers, too. We reached mass audiences by sharing the survey on Instagram pages and Telegram channels, some of which had a few million followers.
After cleaning our data, we were left with a sample of almost 40,000 Iranians living in Iran. The sample was weighted and balanced to the target population of literate Iranians aged above 19, using five demographic variables and voting behaviour in the 2017 presidential elections.
A secular and diverse Iran
Our results reveal dramatic changes in Iranian religiosity, with an increase in secularisation and a diversity of faiths and beliefs. Compared with Iran’s 99.5% census figure, we found that only 40% identified as Muslim.
In contrast with state propaganda that portrays Iran as a Shia nation, only 32% explicitly identified as such, while 5% said they were Sunni Muslim and 3% Sufi Muslim. Another 9% said they were atheists, along with 7% who prefer the label of spirituality. Among the other selected religions, 8% said they were Zoroastrians – which we interpret as a reflection of Persian nationalism and a desire for an alternative to Islam, rather than strict adherence to the Zoroastrian faith – while 1.5% said they were Christian.
There is a great deal more information revealed in this survey. I will just cite one more fact: 72% of respondents, men and women, oppose the requirement for women to wear the hijab, two years ago.
It would be helpful for these researchers to run that survey again, but presumably harder now.
China
CNN: Anti-Xi protest spreads in China and worldwide as Chinese leader begins third term
“Life not zero-Covid policy, freedom not martial-lawish lockdown, dignity not lies, reform not cultural revolution, votes not dictatorship, citizens not slaves,” [a poster in London] read, in English.
The day before, these words, in Chinese, had been handwritten in red paint on a banner hanging over a busy overpass thousands of miles away in Beijing, in a rare, bold protest against China’s top leader Xi Jinping.
Another banner on the Sitong Bridge denounced Xi as a “dictator” and “national traitor” and called for his removal—just days before a key Communist Party meeting at which he is set to secure a precedent-breaking third term.
North Korea
AP: 2 Koreas exchange warning shots along disputed sea boundary
North and South Korea exchanged warning shots Monday along their disputed western sea boundary — a scene of past bloodshed and naval battles — in a development that raises worry of possible clashes after North Korea’s recent barrage of weapons tests.
South Korea’s navy broadcast warnings and fired warning shots to repel a North Korean merchant ship that violated the sea boundary at 3:42 a.m., the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
North Korea’s military said its coastal defense units responded by firing 10 rounds of artillery warning shots toward its territorial waters, where “naval enemy movement was detected.” It accused a South Korean naval ship of intruding into North Korean waters on the pretext of cracking down on an unidentified ship.
The Environment
The countries want their collective $685 billion in debts forgiven so the money can be invested in climate projects.
Paywalled
Africa least guilty of global warming but it suffers the most
In Kenya and Ethiopia, insufficient rainfall has caused the worst drought in 40 years. There is a devastating effect on farming, with millions of livestock dying and a significant drop in food production due to failed harvests
California breaks another record of electric car sales
If you think you’re seeing a lot more Tesla cars on the roads, you’re right, as the automaker accounts for more than half of the record number of electric cars sold so far in California this year, according to the California Energy Commission.
Zero-emission cars accounted for 17.7% of all new cars sold in the state through the first three quarters this year.