The Real timschochet

As I wrote last night Adam Schiff will win easily. But his opponent Steve Garvey is a boyhood hero of mine, so now I have the excuse to post some fond memories: Steve, you could lose a thousand elections, you could pose with Donald Trump (that will likely happen), you could be MAGA all day and I will always love you. Why aren’t you in the Hall of Fame? Thats a travesty.

Your first point is only true in a swing state. But I do believe that in a swing state it IS true. In most elections it wouldn’t matter. In 2000, for example, votes for Ralph Nader in Florida helped George W Bush defeat Al Gore. So what? i didn’t care. If folks want to vote for Nader that’s their right. But this election is different because IMO Trump represents an existential threat. So I think it should be all hands on deck. I completely reject your second point. Fock the Democratic Party. I never hope for bad things to happen so that the guys I like better might win later on. That’s Trumpian thinking and I frigging hate it. There were liberals during Trump’s last time as President who wanted the economy to fail so that Trump would lose in 2020. There were liberals who were happy that Covid was such a disaster and Trump was so inept because they hoped it meant that Biden would defeat him. Fock all of them, if Trump wins this time around, I agree with you that it will likely be a catastrophe. But I won’t be rooting for it. If he wins I will wish him well and honestly hope, as I did last time, that his actions bring us prosperity and good things. Because to me that’s what being an American is all about.

1. Yes I think Swalwell has integrity. 2. Donald Trump is now the de facto Republican nominee for President. He represents an existential threat IMO to the future of this country as a free democratic republic. Therefore I don’t think any amount of attention paid to him right now is excessive. When Trump is out of politics and in prison where he belongs, rest assured I’ll stop thinking about him.

This isn’t a good description of me as in the past I’ve rarely voted for the Democratic Party, or any party consistently. Honestly I’ve been pretty middle of the road. But Donald Trump has taken the Republican Party and turned it into something I don’t recognize and detest. Perhaps it was always that way, I don’t know. But I can’t support a party that is xenophobic, isolationist, anti-immigrant and anti-trade. I won’t do it, their beliefs go against everything that I fundamentally believe in. So for the foreseeable future I will be voting Democratic all up and down the ticket. When and if the GOP becomes the party of Reagan again, I’ll reconsider.

Right. People now need to realize that voting for any 3rd party candidate is meaningless unless it’s in a swing state, and then it’s a vote for Trump. And not voting is meaningless unless it’s in a swing state and then it’s a vote for Trump with a few exceptions.

He’s alright. I don’t mind him. He’s got integrity for sure. But Schiff is in a different league. Smart, eloquent, incisive, far seeing, and generally right on the important stuff.

So Haley’s out, Hopefully for those who haven’t been paying attention, this will crystallize the stark choice we have before us: it’s Biden or Trump. That’s it; there are no other options. The sooner the American people fully realize and accept this, the better.

You can say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. (Which you will discover, to your regret, this November.)

She’s a good woman. I met her at a pro-abortion rally last year.

Update- and it is Steve Garvey! So Adam Schiff will be our next Senator. Not bad. I will miss Katie Porter in the House. Hopefully she returns in 2026.

The votes for Haley are still around 25-30% in each state Trump is winning, even in the closed primary states where Dems can’t vote. The obvious question is how many of these folks will vote for Trump in November. If at least half of them vote for Biden or stay home in the swing states, Trump is in deep trouble. But there’s no way to predict this right now.

Steve Garvey appears to be doing very well early. And that is good for Schiff. Schiff didn’t want to face Katie Porter. Facing Garvey guarantees Schiff the senate seat,

Thanks but I will decline the offer of being penstrated by you. In a related topic after I looked it up last night I discovered that Gender Queer is available on Kindle for free. So now I plan to read it. I will keep you guys updated.

Thank you. I enjoy Reason magazine and the Cato Institute. If I sound like them that’s quite the compliment.

If you’re correct about this the appeals court will throw the case out. We’ll see. But the judge, and several legal experts I have listened to, have dismissed your points here which were largely made by Trump’s attorneys.

It doesn’t suppress US wages. It actually increases them. And it increases employment and prosperity because when consumers have more money due to what they’ve saved, they spend it elsewhere. Your other two points are correct: it’s illegal and it can often lead to exploitation. The obvious way to solve both issues is to make these folks legal. Allow exceptions to the minimum wage system, and regulate all undocumented immigrants and provide them legal protections. This has been obvious for years but our collective xenophobia, much worse now in the era of Trump, will not allow common sense to prevail.

Not too many. And if we impose the all powerful state you apparently desire here not too many will want to come here either. Congrats!

Whether it’s “on me” or not, what difference? It’s capitalism. Lay it on me if you want. Or lay it on consumers who naturally want to pay less.

Not politics. Common sense. If a contractor is paying some undocumented laborers a little under the minimum wage, leave them alone. If they’re paying them pennies, the equivalent of slave labor, prosecute. Same logic as with the Trump fraud. If it’s blatant and excessive that’s when the law should step in. This isn’t difficult.

Well I guess this all depends on what you’re trying to achieve. I imagine you would have been very comfortable living in the old East Berlin.

No offense but I think you’re pretty naive if you think the contractors you’re hiring aren’t using undocumented laborers. The vast majority do. That’s the only way they can keep their prices competitive.

Look there are laws on the books which say you can’t lie to banks. I think these laws are good for us and within reason they should be prosecuted. If you tell a bank that a 5 million dollar property is worth 6 million, that should (and is) let go. If you tell a bank that a 5 million dollar property is worth 30 million then I think you should be prosecuted. Even if there are no victims.

Well the problem with that, in a capitalist system, is when you attempt it you get a black market. And so here we are. Ever since Karl Marx socialists have struggled attempting to force human beings to pay more in order to to create what they think will be a fairer system for all. But it can’t be done. This incidentally is the same problem with the Green New Deal. You can’t punish people and try to force them into good behavior.

You didn’t answer the question. I will accept the ruling of the appeals court. If they agree with your assessment they will toss the case out and I will agree that you were correct. If they do not will you concede that this was a legitimate case? As far as what I know personally: yes I have seen real estate developers and landlords inflate values. Yes it’s a common practice. But I’ve never seen someone do it to the extent that Trump reportedly did. That’s why I don’t just dismiss it.

I’m not afraid to see what I see. I’m afraid to see what YOU see.