US Politics

02
Aug
2021

Q Anon

I could barely believe it when I saw someone proudly sporting a Q anon flag in Spanish Fork this morning.  For the uninitiated: Q anon is a conspiracy theory of a grand global cabal where left-wing politicians and elites are attempting to harvest the blood of children to feed their hunger and sick schemes of managing the world.  This is crazy stuff, and it is linked to a belief that Trump will triumphantly return to power to kill the conspiracy.

What is unfortunate is that a lot of Republicans buy into this Q stuff, and they are increasingly able to move Republican politics. A party that pays attention to this make-believe narrative and elects nominees who believe in such will have a difficult time governing and actually appealing to those in the mainstream. A Republican party that can not compete in the marketplace of ideas is bad for the Democratic party as well in that it doesn’t check the excesses of the Democrats.

What do we do to solve this problem? Facts and arguments based in reality don’t tend to convince those who believe in conspiracies. It is like a religion, a deeply held belief that is not easily argued around. I’m not sure what a good solution is here, other than those who are leaders should marginalize these fringe beliefs instead of add fuel to the fire.

There will always be fringe among us. We should treat those with love, but not indulge their beliefs, and at the very least we should not allow their fringe beliefs to become mainstream in one of our two major political parties.

Posted by Paul in Global Politics, Politics, Trump, US Politics
30
Jan
2020

Impeached Ad Rejected

I requested review from blip billboards on the impeached ad I mentioned earlier.  It was fairly quickly flagged and not approved, however I requested an actual detail.  

Here is what I got.

What I find interesting is that I’m not saying anything inflammatory, other than stating a single word: Impeached – which is a factual statement of the reality of Trump’s presidency. If anything is inflammatory it might be the picture.

I’ve re-submitted a new ad.  Let’s see if it gets approved.

Posted by Paul in Politics, US Politics, Utah Politics
18
Jan
2020

Impeached

Driving home from the Clyde Recreation Center today with Miles I couldn’t help but notice the political ads running on the freeway.  There was an ad for Spencer Cox with two bullet points:

  • Mediocre Farmer
  • Strong Conservative

I see Spencer Cox stuff all over the place, twitter, sports events, and his campaign tour bus.  Heck, one time I even saw him at the Walmart by my house.  Spencer Cox is a slick media operator, and his accessible ways might lead you to think he is more progressive than he is.

All of that aside, I remember back to the good old days in 2018 when I had a blip account and ran ads for my 2018 political campaign.  This year they have a sign more ideally located in Spanish Fork.  All of this lead me to concoct an idea to run a political ad for the good people of Spanish Fork.

This ad is simple, it has but one word: Impeached.  It also features our President, with his typical loud mouth opened. 

I’m running this ad for a few reasons. 

Being impeached is never anything to be proud of, only three presidents were impeached, and it is not the most desired club.

The other reason is to remind my fellow citizens that this president is the embodiment of chaos, and that that chaos is directly tied to the Grand Old Party, aka the Republican party. 

When voting most people care about the top of the ticket, and care very little about what comes down ballot.  If I can do anything to make people question what they are voting for on the top of the ticket then I can feel better about the change I’m making in society.

Posted by Paul in Politics, Trump, US Politics
25
Mar
2017

SNL Trump on Obamacare

[evp_embed_video url=”https://s3.amazonaws.com/content.ximz.com/video/snl-trump-obamacare.mp4″]
Alec Baldwin may have been a little prophetic in his portrayal of pre-inauguration Trump when it came to Obamacare.

Posted by Paul in Politics, Trump, US Politics
25
Feb
2017

So called President Trump

Trump is the President of the United States, and he has been so for over a month. What we all thought was completely unbelievable, what could never happen, is now our reality. Now that we’ve seen him as president we know that campaign Trump will not transition to a more mature and sober President Trump.

The last month feels like it has a choreographed attempt to overwhelm the American Public with absurd behavior, so much so that we will lulled into a sense of apathy when Trump does outrageous things.

To review just a handful of crazy things implemented by our Dear Leader:

  • The Travel Ban, hastily implemented, ultimately blocked by a court.
  • Communication with allies, terrible diplomacy, super sad.
  • New tweets that come early in the morning, with continuous insults and bluster.
  • An all-out assault on the media – claims that the media are an enemy of the American public.

 

I will not be silent, I will not support him, and I will not be driven to fatigue. I plan on attending every town hall I can, contacting my representatives. I plan on protesting, because if there is one thing that gets under this man’s skin it is seeing a mass assembly of people opposing him.

 

Posted by Paul in Politics, Trump, US Politics
22
Dec
2016

At least one entry in 2016

I’ve kept this blog going for years but have really neglected it for a while. I don’t think I really intend on updating regularly, but for consistency sake and for good old tradition sake I’m posting something right now.

The last post noted I bought Star Wars tickets to the Force Awakens. Well a year has passed and I have already seen the next Star Wars move, Rogue One. Perhaps the best of the season.

I should mention that I’m extremely upset, and concerned about the future with the recent election of Donald Trump. Never in a million years would I have thought he would be president, and especially becoming it has he did, by trumping up racism. If I write here going forward, I may use it as a nice way to vent about what is going on with the presidency of the United States, and my general thoughts on the state of the republic.

That’s all for now.

Posted by Paul
28
Oct
2012

Election 2012 Prediction Map

Here is my map for 2012. Let’s see how I do:

Paul Jones Dayton predicts the electoral college results for 2012.

Posted by Paul in Politics, US Politics
03
Feb
2012

Not concerned about the very poor

This video truly amazes me, but is doesn’t surprise me.  If you have been following Romney’s campaigin, you will notice that he is always very cautious to not mention the poor.  He loves to focus on the middle class, and I think he does so because a lot of people like to believe that they are middle clase (regardless of their actual income).  Many very poor individuals in America probably believe they are in the middle class.  Who wants to be really poor?

It is with this political calculus that  Romney presses forward with the following quote.

On the surface this sounds like a political gaffe, but I think it truly exposes the way Romney, and in a larger sense, Republicans in general view the poor.  They don’t feel as if they need to be politically accessible to the poor, and they don’t feel like it hurts them politically to ignore poor folk.  I was floored when Romney deferred any political issues relevant to the poor to the purview of Democrats.  Romney essentially said, “I don’t care about the poor, they are taken care of, and Democrats can deal with them.”

In a democracy a vote is a vote, regardless of the economic situation of the voter.  And in these economically difficult times, middle class people who have been out of work for months may actually begin to believe they are really poor.  Ask unemployed people if they believe in American social safety nets.

Posted by Paul in Politics, US Politics
03
Sep
2009

Nebo School District Response

Here is the response.  I am not surprised by the lack of procedure for such a decision, and I am unhappy about the outcome.

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your question. There is not a “set” criterion for an event such
as this.
A School Board is clearly within their authority to make decisions which
they believe are in the best interest of the district.

We have had such an outcry from literally hundreds of patrons concerned
about the showing of the welcome back to school talk that we were taken by
surprise.
Had there been time to functionally inform parents of their choice to let
their kids view this or not, I believe that would have been done.
The choice to opt out would have been a valid option that would have met the
desires of parents on either side of the issue by allowing those who wanted
to see it to do so, and those who didn’t, to opt out. Logistically it would
have been a nightmare to do this adequately.

We truthfully didn’t receive an official announcement of this until last
night. The Board made the only decision they felt would be responsive to
both groups, with the understanding that anyone will be still able to view
the speech at home in various forms after the speech is given.

I would also tell you that independent of the decision, I personally would
have not blinked if my own kids watched the speech. But viewing it on my own
is a fair alternative.   But for good or bad, and many times for both,  A
Board must make a decision that they feel is responsible and fair. I believe
given the parameters of this situation they have done their best to do just
that.

I certainly understand that there will not be much you will not agree with
concerning this reply, and I truly respect that.

I am adding a copy of the memo that we sent out to our schools.

Sincerely

Chris Sorensen

MEMO

DATE:        September 3, 2009

TO:        Principals

FROM:    Supt. Sorensen

RE:        Video feed of President Obama speaking to school children.

State Superintendent Larry Shumway sent official word on September 2, 2009,
announcing “President Obama’s back-to-school message to school children.”
Supt. Shumway’s message says “the decision to watch (or not to watch) the
President’s speech should be made by each [district] LEA.  There is no
requirement from the USOE, the U.S. Department of Education, or from the
President that any student watch.”

Given the late timing of the announcement, Nebo District has decided that
district students will not participate in watching this speech at school.
The tight timeline presented two main concerns:
1)    With respect to parental responsibility, Nebo District would have
given parents the right to opt out of having their student watch this
speech.  This would have been difficult to appropriately accomplish in such
a short time.
2)    Adjusting for established school and class schedules, technology
availability, and previously planned activities on such short notice would
have created administrative and curriculum challenges for schools.

Parents who wish to watch the speech live next Tuesday can find it on C-SPAN
and on the internet at www.whitehouse.gov.  We would encourage parents who
desire to have their student watch the speech outside of school time on the
internet.

Posted by Paul in Politics, US Politics, Utah Politics