More from the article...

... The most underappreciated story this election year is happening everywhere and yet is completely overshadowed by the race for the White House.

No matter who wins the presidency, the nation is going in two different directions. That's because more states have fallen under one-party control -- either Republican or Democrat -- than at any time in modern US history. The shifting dynamic is suppressing competition in elections, discouraging voter engagement and, in too many places, enabling the party in power to ignore perspectives outside of their base. In short, political choice is vanishing.

In 40 "trifecta" states -- where both chambers of the legislature and governor's office are controlled by a single party -- compromise has lost its luster, and large groups of voters are being sidelined with little influence over the decisions that affect their lives.1

The result is representative democracy's steady erosion, in which geography determines destiny for 82% of the American population " 41% live under Democratic control in 17 states and 41% under Republicans in 23 states. This divide is clear in a trove of state-level data on elections and legislation that reveals a nation not only splitting along party lines but also over the importance of democratic representation itself.

The impact on policy has been asymmetrical. For the past quarter-century, the public has become more progressive on many social issues, according to Gallup. Blue trifecta states have moved with it, namely on abortion, gender identity, climate change, guns, immigration and voting rights. Red trifectas, meanwhile, have hewed to their base and to policies that receive majority support only half the time -- rejecting Medicaid expansion, relaxing gun laws and cutting unemployment insurance.

To many voters in the 23 Republican trifecta states, representative government is not representing them. ...

[good graph in the article...]

@#71

G'night all.

Maybe on the morrow ...

@#4 ... you know damn well ...

And your current alias seems to know what I know "damn well" ...

How?

And, of course, that leads me to another question...

What other assumptions has your current alias made based upon a lack of information?

@#2 ... now explain the swing state polling. ...

Simple.

It is called, Margin of Error.

@#69 ... No, it is the fact that you copied and pasted the exact comment in question into your own reply moron. ...

Yawn.

What else yer got?

... if you want to talk politics or other issues, please do so. ..

I tried, in my #42.

Which seemed to have pulled out the deflection crowd.

I mean, your current alias' first comment after my #42 comment was something about somebody's abs?

I mean, wow.

So, if your current alias really wants to get back to the topic of the thread, what says it about the article I posted in #42?

@#29 ... the stop for Doritos and corn nuts was so much more believable. ...

@#30 ... He did this so libs will attack mcdonalds ...

Has McDonald's been attacked?

This stunt seems to be the effort of a McDonald's franchisee, not McDonald's the corporation.

While I do admit, there my be ~conversations~ between the McDonald's franchising team and this particular franchise, I do not see how that would be an attack on McDonald's, the corporation.

Please explain.

thx.

@#66 ... I really have a hard time believing your are this stupid ...

I have not proffered any comments about my intelligence on this thread.

However, I do note an apparent desire of your current alias to deflect the disusiion away from the thread's topic.

Why?

I mean, after my #42 comment, the deflection crew seems to have appeared.

:)

@#66 ... This clearly links back to my comment #64. ...

The word "this" does that? Clearly? imo, your current alias is losing it. Do try harder.

... what was the comment in reference? ...

The comment to which I was referring was referenced in my #62.

What else yer current alias got?

Yeah, I saw this coming.

I have commented previously about the salary disparity.

Now that the WNBA seems to be ~a sports thing~ this had to occur.

No longer will the wealthy owners take advantage of their workers.

Yeah, Apple does this.

Back in the day, when Apple iTunes first appeared on the scene, I pondered converting my home PC infrastructure from Windows to Apple.

I purchased an iMac, and started to move everything over. I also purchased an AppleTV box to show my music on the TV.

I soon found out the error of my ways.

For starters, the iTunes software in both the iMac and the AppleTV boxen could not play the FLAC files I had in my music reservoir.

And, it went downhill from there.

So, now, I am back to Windows (for better or worse) for the main PC client here, though I am typing this comment on Linux Mint (worth a look, imho. Far better than what Apple offered to me.)

Long story short, Apple's Walled Garden (i.e., the restrictions that Apple seems to impost upon its customers) were not something I wanted to support.

YMMV.

More from the article...

... The update offered some improvements! I appreciated the vertical orientation of its scientific mode, because turning your phone sideways is so 2009; the continuing display of each operation (e.g., 217 4 + 8) on the screen until I asked for the result; the unit-conversion mode, because I will never know what a centimeter is.

But there also was a startling omission: The calculator's "C" button -- the one that clears input -- was gone. The "C" itself had been cleared. ...

@#12 ... It's time to put Orange Grandpa in a home ...

I do not disagree.

But...

The GOP seems to want him in the Oval Office (and they may get their desire).

@#64 ... This comment was not even addressed to you. ...

Which comment is "this" comment?

@#21 ... what is it with some here tonight. ...

Projecting?

Again?

Or, maybe i should say...

Still?

@#25 ... Trump worked a shift at McDonald's this Sunday. ...

30 minutes at a closed McDonald's with fake customers is a shift?

An instance when fmr Pres trump was apparently not able to keep his mouth shut...

@#59 ... That twink Clownshack has poverty abs. ...

Welcome back to the thread.

I do note, your current alias seems to have abandoned its prior comments., and now went to ad hominem attacks.

Good to know.

thx.

@#57 ... We are having a nice moment. ...

Are we?

Why?

I don't see it.

If "we" are having a nice moment, shouldn't both participants be aware of that? Or is your current alias just projecting unto others?

I look forward to your current alias' explanation of "a nice moment" and how it applies here.

thx.

Yer current alias is up ...

@#54 ... It bums me out that now more than ever in my lifetime people who have opposing political views are supposed to hate each other. ...

Going back on topic...

So then, why does it seem to be OK when fmr Pres Trump said what I noted in @42?

@#54 ... people who have opposing political views are supposed to hate each other. ...

So, why does your current seem to support the candidate who wants to use the military to go after those he has a political disagreement with?

@#30 ... I really couldn't understand why Trump snubbed him. ...

Possibly, because John Kinsel Sr. put Country over adulation?

@#42 ...The lawsuit points out that Trump's statements were false in multiple respects -- noting none of the members of the Central Park Five ever entered guilty pleas in the case, none of the victims of the Central Park assaults were killed,

Yeah.

@#38 ... But, what has fmr Pres Trump said after they were exonerated? ...