Yes, that really surprised me, and makes me think there could be some hope for Illinois in the future. The "fair" tax act was marketed so deceptively, too. Luckily even a lot of democrat voters saw through it.
I think even democrats are starting to wake up about how over-taxed this state is, and how it ends up hurting the state rather than helping it.
Chicagoan here (hope to leave soon). I would love to believe this, but sadly there are a lot of democrat voters here. I've had to listen to acquaintances and coworkers ramble on about orange man bad for years now. Anecdotally, they appear to be in the significant majority. They keep thinking voting democrat is going to fix their problems even though democrats have controlled the city for decades. On the bright side, the suburbs do appear to be more balanced and people are at least reasonable.
I wouldn't doubt there is at least some voter fraud going on. But I don't know that it's enough that it would affect a Chicago election. I would love to be wrong, though.
Just want to say that I have really enjoyed reading this conversation!
rooftoptendie, you have provided great explanations and insights! And cabbage, I'm glad to see that you aren't taking the downvotes too harshly, and are getting that dragon energy back. I've been in situations like that, too, and know that it can get discouraging. Hopefully your critics will remember that in the overall context of this site, supporting Trump, we are all on the same team.
That's another reason why I'm thankful for this site! It's a place where you can express and discuss ideas freely, even if they aren't popular. It allows us to learn from one another and consider things we otherwise would not have. Compare that to Reddit, where now you can sometimes get banned for even upvoting an "unapproved" viewpoint.
I have been wondering about this a lot lately. The democratic strategy really hasn't made any sense.
They own and control most media and have been demonizing Trump non-stop over the past years. Why act so strangely now and redpill so many people who otherwise would have remained asleep and tricked by the media?
Why not have an unassuming, reasonable-seeming democratic candidate? Why not appear moderate, and vocalize support for stances most Americans likely agree with?
I recently started re-watching King of the Hill. Enjoying the well-written, character-based humor. I appreciate the show now more than ever, and realize that there is so much subtle humor I missed when I was younger.
Although Hank's rigidity is funny, the show generally backs a more conservative outlook. A lot of funny situations come from the family's interactions with "progressive" people and views, which are often gently ridiculed.
If the goal was to send people to the left, why not orchestrate an event that better supported their viewpoint?
For example, having a non-aggressor or bystander get shot. Or having the shooter appear to have a more controversial background or motives. Why not have a shooter with a social media history of being a "gun nut" or "alt-right tough guy" stereotype? Why have it be a young man who was recently seen cleaning graffiti and offering medical assistance?
Although ticket sales are important, the big sports leagues get most of their revenue through TV contracts.
If we want these leagues to have negative consequences for their behaviors, we need to stop watching it on TV.
And better yet, cancel cable since cable networks earn revenue from each subscriber whether or not they watch the channel.
For example, about $9/mo of your cable bill goes to ESPN and its related networks alone.
Oh wow, I completely forgot about COD's 2017 WWII game. The funny thing is that Battlefield also blocks nazi symbols and lets you pick players that don't historically fit the conflict, so it didn't even register to me that you could be talking about a different game.
I assume you are talking about Battlefield V? I was a big Battlefield fan since the series began, but BFV made me quit buying their games.
Generally, I have no problem with historical-themed games taking creative license or portraying a completely alternate reality. But BFV had the nerve to alter historical events while portraying them as factual. Fans who criticized or even voiced concern about this were attacked and told their knowledge of history was wrong.
This is incredibly disrespectful to everyone who served or experienced the hardships of the war. Changing history to suit the political fads of the day.
I was not able to find any information related to it having been banned for privacy or security concerns.
I did find a page quoting Mozilla's alleged response that the Dissenter extension was being used to "degrade, intimidate, incite violence against, or encourage prejudicial action against someone or a group based on age, gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, religion, geographic location or other protected category." (source)
In other words, typical vague cover for suppressing free speech.
I stopped using Firefox back when they banned the Dissenter extension from their app store.
Their "about" page still has this quote: "We want to give users the knowledge and the power to make informed decisions by themselves to prevent abusive practices."
Clearly that doesn't extend to decisions they don't approve of.
It's amazing how far we've degraded in such a relatively short amount of time. In the early 90s Bart Simpson was controversial for being a bad role-model and saying "hell".