How do you solve a problem like Maria? asks one of the memorable songs from the classic movie, The Sound of Music. Voters in Long Island, New York, and many politicians nationwide might be asking themselves right now, How do you solve a problem like George Santos?- referring to the case of Rep. George Santos who was elected to Congress on an ( Read more... )

In most jobs nowadays, if you lie about your qualifications to get the job, and it's found out, you'll be fired. There are two cases where that's not true. One, if you own the company. Two, if it's in politics. Recently elected Rep. George Santos seems to have lied his ass off about his background when running for Congress ( Read more... )

Since Sen. Raphael Warnock's reelection win in Georgia less than 2 days ago pundits are saying it totally changes the math of the US Senate. "Joe Manchin is the second biggest loser in this race [after defeated candidate Herschel Walker]," the gist goes ( Read more... )

US Senator Raphael Warnock won reelection in a run-off vote in Georgia last night. The unofficial tally with 99% of precincts reporting has him leading 51.6% to 48.4%. It's a margin of almost 100,000 votes.

I am glad that Warnock won and simultaneously bothered that his challenger, former football star Herschel Walker, came so close. Walker is a ( Read more... )

"Florida Man [Does Crazy Thing]" is a common headline not just in Florida but around the US. "Florida Man" has been a meme for 10+ years, with various websites and social media feeds portraying the stories as if they're the act of an individual person, perhaps the world's worst superhero[1].

The New York Post satirically used this meme in covering ( Read more... )

Some political pundits expected a "Red Wave" this election cycle, with the Republican party taking sizable majorities in both the House and Senate. The wave has turned out to be more of a trickle, though. With the vote tally for 3 Senate seats still undecided, Republicans have won (or are forecast to win) 49 versus Democrats' 48. Either party could ( Read more... )

Yesterday was Election Day in the US. Preliminary results are coming in. While many races are too close to call, the results in California's seven ballot propositions are becoming fairly clear. Here's what I see so far on California's Secretary of State page (retrieved 9am Nov. 9, 2022):

Proposition Title

My Vote

Preliminary Result

1
( Read more... )

Earlier today I posted " Democrats Screwed Up The Messaging" about how they've not just lost the messaging war for this year's election but have underperformed on messaging for several years running. There are two important facets to messaging.... It's not just what you say but how you say it. In my previous blog I explained the high level mistakes ( Read more... )

It has been disappointing watching the Democrats' lead in national polls erode over the past few weeks. They went from having a good chance of taking over the Senate while being close to even in the House, to being a bit behind in the race to control the Senate and most likely to lose the House. I blame inept messaging for their loss of ground ( Read more... )

Earlier today I began sharing my opinions about the statewide propositions on the ballot in California. See Ballot Propositions - Nov 2022 - part 1. Here in part 2 I address the latter four props on this November's ballot.

Prop 28: Lock in Funding for K-12 Arts and Music: Gentle No.
A few days ago I wrote blog entry The Problems with Propositions. ( Read more... )