53percenter's Blog

Given the speed at which Trump-era news cycles move, I should stress that I’m writing this at 5:30 p.m. ET. By the time you read it, eight to 10 different major news stories might have broken that’ll affect the midterms dramatically one way or another. And 2018 being what it is, they’re apt to be off-the-wall crazy. Michael Avenatti might prove that Kavanaugh has spent the last 30 years secretly moonlighting as a pimp. Trump might fire Rod Rosenstein and then nominate him to the Supreme Court in lieu of Kavanaugh. Jeff Sessions might get caught smoking crack.

The only limit to the 2018 show is your imagination.

For the moment, though, some surprising and encouraging news for Team Red. My top three guesses for why views of the GOP are improving: 1. The economy. 2. The economy. 3. The economy.

Rarely does the right lead the left in overall favorability, as you can see. The last time it happened was in … late 2014, right before the red-wave midterms that year. Previously it happened in … late 2010, right before the red-wave midterms of *that* year. Second look at Trump’s “red wave” predictions?

RCP’s generic-ballot numbers are interesting today too. Democrats are on the cusp of their best numbers of the entire Trump presidency. Whereas Republicans have set their best numbers of the entire Trump presidency. Each party has either broken through its individual ceiling or is about to:

Until this past Saturday, the GOP had never touched 41 percent on the generic ballot. They’re at 41.3 percent now. Only once before, during Trump’s December doldrums of last year, had Democrats reached as high as 49 percent. They’re at 49.1 percent today, down a tenth of a point from their new high that was set over the weekend. What we’re probably seeing here is fencesitters beginning to take sides as the midterms approach. For months the two parties combined for 85 percent or so on the generic ballot; now, as undecideds start making up their minds, they’re over 90.

Which is not to say that those undecideds were all “true” undecideds. Read through the Gallup data and you’ll see that there’s been next to zero change in different groups’ support for Democrats over the past year but a notable rise in self-identified Republicans who view the GOP favorably. Last September just 67 percent of Republicans and leaners had a favorable view of the party. Now 85 percent do. A year ago, Democrats were viewed more favorably, 46/36, by middle-class voters (households with income between $30,000-$74,999). This year Republicans have come all the way back to take the lead, 49/45. There may have been a sizable minority of Republican-leaning voters last year who were fatigued by Trump’s antics and bummed at the failure of ObamaCare repeal. A year later, after 12 more months of excellent job reports and with tax cuts in the bank, they don’t care so much about the antics anymore.

Now all the party has to do is make up around eight points on the generic ballot and not let the Kavanaugh fiasco, which is already polling badly for them, turn into a total debacle. Piece of cake. The latest House model from YouGov, by the way: Democrats 224, Republicans 211.

In the last few years, Google seems to have been acting against their motto, the simple maxim “don’t be evil.”

Persistent stories of their bias and election interference make it hard to believe that is their slogan at all. Now, the company’s own employees are jumping ship after learning about a secretive project in development: Project Dragonfly.

The project itself is an attempt by Google to enter the Chinese market by delivering a custom-made censorship engine to the Communist regime. The company has not had a presence in China for almost ten years.

This August, the lid was blown off the secret project, which only a few hundred knew about originally. Revelations included CEO Sundar Pichai meeting with a Chinese official as well as tech demonstrations of the program.

This program would give China the tech giant’s power and presence, while ensuring its citizens remain oppressed behind the Great Firewall.

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Recent leaks from Google have shown that the company may have acted to influence voters in United States elections through their search engine, so it’s not hard to imagine China seeing great potential in this power.

While this sounds horrific to Americans who value a free and open election, it reads like an advertisement to the oppressive Chinese regime.

The Chinese government is no friend to freedom of speech. Crackdowns are frequent, and even searches for certain things are crimes against the communist government. Project Dragonfly would put Google’s name on that sort of censorship.

After being revealed, the program sparked a major backlash.

Senior Google scientist Jack Poulson brought his reservations about the program to management. After unproductive talks with leadership, Poulson left the company on August 31.

Six others have also left, citing a lack of transparency.

The leak of Dragonfly and the resulting high-profile exit of a senior researcher come at a time when Google is already weathering a political storm over questions about bias.

Even President Donald Trump is weighing in, alleging that Google is skewing the search results of anyone who looks up news about him.

Google search results for “Trump News” shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake News Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal? 96% of….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2018

RELATED: Google Gets Its Own Facts Wrong, Anti-Trump Bias Reportedly Worse Than We Thought

Other conservatives have also complained, coming forward over an alleged bias against right-leaning Americans.

Google seems to be doing little to calm lawmakers and conservative Americans. Instead, one of their most famous incidents in the midst of the recent scandals has been their absence at a Senate intelligence committee. Facebook and Twitter both had representatives present at the meeting.

According to the leak, Project Dragonfly could launch in as soon as six months.

Is a product like this in the works for the American market? It’s terrifying to think of what Google could accomplish if they actively began to tamper with search results.

Until then, we’re left to watch them censor in China.

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I finally got it. After the election of President Trump, I’ve been growing ever more confused about the lack of reason from the Democrats, trending into outright craziness. Marching with vagina hats? Claiming the “Russians did it”? Beating Trump supporters with bike locks?

Then came the allegations of sexual abuse by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, assertions so completely ridiculous that a middle-school child could shoot them down. An assault where the victim doesn’t remember the day, the place, or who was there, except for four people who have all come forward to testify, under penalty of perjury, that there was no party, they were not involved and have no idea what she’s talking about. Then another assault claim where the victim wasn’t sure about the events and no one witnessed it.

Yet I have friends who are Democrats who believe these women, and are twisting themselves into pretzels to claim that these events must have happened exactly as the women described.

So why is this? Recently my husband and I went out for breakfast, and I finally understood.

I imagined that in the lovely restaurant in which we were seated, a man in full Nazi regalia walked in. Let’s say he was wearing the whole uniform, including an armband with a swastika, and polished jackboots.

Instantly, I would know that this man is evil. His ideology is that of genocide and war. If a girl walked up to me, pointed at him, and claimed rape, I would believe her. Of course, she’s right and he’s a rapist, because look at him! He’s a monster. I wouldn’t require proof. I wouldn’t need it.

And now I have my answer.

The Democrats have demonized Republicans to such an extent that they believe that we are not human. We’re monsters, and we deserve whatever they can do to us.

And this, by the way, is exactly what the Nazis did to the Jews.

Bonnie Ramthun is a Colorado mom, wife, and author. She is an occasional contributor to PJMedia. You can find her work at her Amazon author page here.

I finally got it. After the election of President Trump, I’ve been growing ever more confused about the lack of reason from the Democrats, trending into outright craziness. Marching with vagina hats? Claiming the “Russians did it”? Beating Trump supporters with bike locks?

Then came the allegations of sexual abuse by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, assertions so completely ridiculous that a middle-school child could shoot them down. An assault where the victim doesn’t remember the day, the place, or who was there, except for four people who have all come forward to testify, under penalty of perjury, that there was no party, they were not involved and have no idea what she’s talking about. Then another assault claim where the victim wasn’t sure about the events and no one witnessed it.

Yet I have friends who are Democrats who believe these women, and are twisting themselves into pretzels to claim that these events must have happened exactly as the women described.

So why is this? Recently my husband and I went out for breakfast, and I finally understood.

I imagined that in the lovely restaurant in which we were seated, a man in full Nazi regalia walked in. Let’s say he was wearing the whole uniform, including an armband with a swastika, and polished jackboots.

Instantly, I would know that this man is evil. His ideology is that of genocide and war. If a girl walked up to me, pointed at him, and claimed rape, I would believe her. Of course, she’s right and he’s a rapist, because look at him! He’s a monster. I wouldn’t require proof. I wouldn’t need it.

And now I have my answer.

The Democrats have demonized Republicans to such an extent that they believe that we are not human. We’re monsters, and we deserve whatever they can do to us.

And this, by the way, is exactly what the Nazis did to the Jews.

Bonnie Ramthun is a Colorado mom, wife, and author. She is an occasional contributor to PJMedia. You can find her work at her Amazon author page here.