Power Grab

Voting

The left is trying to create some controversy. They are claiming the voting machines in Florida are changing Democrat votes to votes for Republicans, and it takes several passes through the machine to get it to record the correct vote.

This is complete bullshit. I voted just last night. You enter the polling site and present your ID. There are two people there who both check your ID, I guess to ensure that no one lets people cheat the process. They show your information to you on a touchscreen, and you click a button on the screen verifying your information, then you sign using a stylus and the polling center workers make sure the signature matches the one on your ID.

On a side note, other Democrats are saying the ID requirement is stupid because it’s easy to get a fake ID. That’s also false. My Florida Drivers License has all sorts of anti-counterfeit features. There are holograms etched into the lamination of the state seal, a tiny map of the state, and of the holder’s face. If you hold your license at an angle, you can see the holograms. There is also microprinting and a watermark. These features make it nearly impossible to forge, at least for most people.

They look up your address and print your ballot. They have to print each person’s ballot because there are many different ballots, even within the same county, as there are different races in different areas. Voters in Orlando will need to cast votes for offices that aren’t applicable in Winter Park or Edgewood, even though all of them are in Orange county. Each ballot has a serial number that is now matched to you.

They direct you to a table where you fill out your ballot. You vote by filling in the bubbles with a pen, just like taking a test in school. Once complete, you walk towards the exit and the voting machines are right there. You slide your ballot into the slot, the machine reads the serial numbers and the cast votes, and tells you your vote has been recorded. It doesn’t display who or what you voted for. All it says is “Your ballot has been accepted, thank you for voting” with a large green checkmark. The workers keep your ballot for auditing purposes, and that’s it.

The claims that the machine is changing your vote are bullshit. There is no way to know one way or the other. That’s why there is an audit trail and observers present, so if there are questions, the entire process can be verified, but not on the spot. After.

By Divemedic, ago

Antifascism, you say?

The County Commission of Polk County, Florida will be voting this morning on a resolution to shut off public comments on the county’s social media sites, claiming that they are doing so because “the county’s comment sections became hotbeds for incorrect information, personal attacks, and vulgar comments.” The county defines incorrect information as being anything contrary to what they say.

What happening is people are going to government websites and calling out their governments for spreading incorrect and misleading information about taxes and budgeting in the fight for Amendment 3. Fighting fascism by silencing the public.

Remember when Trump did this, and a judge ruled it was unconstitutional to block a public forum? It was Knight First Amendment Institute v. Trump (May 23, 2018)

By Divemedic, ago

Enemy of the People

I want you to read this article. It’s a description of how Democrats used the power of government during the Biden administration to build a registry of everyone who donated to the Trump campaign. Capitol Police, who you will remember have an office in the Tampa area, are conducting surveillance of Republican members of Congress, their contacts, and their donors.

There is a huge effort by Federal agencies to create and maintain a list of Americans who are enemies of the revolution. The post office is keeping a list. All they have to do is see who you get mail from. The NRA? Second Amendment Foundation? Conservative fundraising? Think about the mail you get, and ask if someone could determine your political leanings by looking at your correspondence. It’s basic traffic analysis.

After all, a sitting member of Congress is the one who suggested that the government keep an “enemies list” so they can be confronted. Even the media joined in, including the “conservative blogger” who works for the Washington Post:

1. Lists of people interacting with Trump’s Twitter account—2023.
Smith’s office obtained a warrant requiring Twitter to disclose account interactions from October 2020 through January 2021. It expressly sought lists of users who followed, unfollowed, muted, blocked, or otherwise took specified actions toward Trump’s account. Reporting on the released warrant also identifies demands for lists of people who liked or retweeted his posts. This is a close parallel: investigators sought identifiable groups connected to Trump’s online activity.

2. Bank searches using “Trump” and “MAGA”—January–February 2021.
FinCEN shared methods with banks for reviewing transactions, including payment-message searches containing those political terms. Treasury’s February 2024 response acknowledged the terms but said they were intended to be considered alongside other suspicious-activity indicators.

3. Bank of America’s customer list supplied to the FBI—2021.
According to testimony reproduced in the House report, Bank of America supplied names of customers who used its cards in the Washington region January 5–7, 2021, with firearm-purchase information used to prioritize names. The FBI circulated information to field offices.

Separately, the FEC maintains searchable political-donor records, including Trump donors, under disclosure requirements applying across parties. Those are public campaign-finance records, a different category from investigative collection.

Now combine that with the location data that is being compiled by a nationwide network of Flock cameras.

These lists are going to eventually be used- whether officially, unofficially, or simply abused by those who have access. We’ve already seen some so-called “rogue cops” who are using them to stalk former and current lovers as well as targeting enemies. Make sure that you have robust contact with others who may be on the list. Once prominent people on the list begin to disappear, you will know that the lists are being used.

It is a sure sign of a dictatorship when there are mass arrests and disappearances. The Soviets even had a word for it- “vzyali” meaning “they have taken,” and there was no pronoun or noun needed to indicate who “they” were- “they” were unspeakable. They were feared. It was never “arrestovani” or arrested, because there were no charges and no trial. They simply disappeared. Vzyali was a word that struck fear in the hearts of Soviet citizens.

The people who were vzyali were never put in jail. They weren’t executed, for the most part. No, they were put into camps where they were forced to work themselves to death. Read about the eight most evil gulags at this page, and remember that all communists wind up using their lists for this purpose.

By Divemedic, ago

We Have To Be In A Simulation

The person running the simulator is just running it on every dystopian novel on their shelf. They were doing George Orwell, now they are using Ayn Rand.

By Divemedic, ago

That Will Fix It

Keep telling me how voting for Republicans will save us all.

Even the name of the Act is in Spanish with an English subtitle.

By Divemedic, ago

Another Brick in the Wall

In case you were wondering why I am not voting for the Florida Republican candidate for Governor, here is another reason:

I tried to find a the full length version of this speech on youtube, but no luck.

The Republicans have put up a DEI ticket for Governor- a Black Candidate from New York City with a criminal history of drugs and credit card fraud, along with his Cuban Running mate who decides that winning the Spanish vote is the path to victory. This is the ticket they decided to run with over the Green Beret.

Note that I don’t have a problem with him because he is Cuban- I have a problem with those who move here and demand that we change to suit them. So if you refuse to speak English or want things just like they were in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, or wherever you are from, GTFOH.

Yeah. I’m about to vote for a third party candidate. I will have to do some research to see which one isn’t a complete asshole.

By Divemedic, ago

Proposed Amendments

I promised a review of statewide races, so let’s start with the easy ones: The proposed Amendments to the state constitution:

Amendment 1

This would increase the state reserve fund from $5 billion now, to about $12.5 billion. The amendment proposes adding $750 million a year to the fund until the new amount is reached, meaning paying into it for the next 10 years, at least. I’m voting no. In general, I am voting no on every single resolution that involves the government getting more money.

Amendment 2

An amendment to the State Constitution to exempt tangible personal property for land that is classified for agricultural and the land from ad valorem taxation. Normally, as I said this would be a yes for me. This one is a bit trickier than that. Developers in the state already use the “agricultural” classification to get bigger tax breaks. They put a cow or two on the land, never actually farm it, but reap the tax benefits.

Colloquially known as the “Rent-A-Cow” loophole, this strategy allows land speculators and builders to slash their property taxes by up to 97% on prime commercial or residential land. They do this by leasing the land to cattle ranchers or putting a few cows on it to maintain a “bona fide” agricultural status right up until they pave it over for subdivisions.

Historically, Disney famously used this loophole for decades, keeping a small herd of cattle on undeveloped portions of its theme park empire to save millions in property taxes. I’m voting no, mostly because I am opposed to special carve outs designed to help one set of people at the expense of another.

Amendment 3:

This one increases the homestead exemption in a staged manner from its current $50,000 to $150,000 in the first year, and $250,000 in the second. I’m voting yes on this one.

That’s it for the statewide amendments.

By Divemedic, ago

Bloodbath Coming

The Republicans have control of the White House, the Senate, the House, and on most things, they are getting SCOTUS decisions. They STILL can’t or won’t do shit. Is “at least we aren’t doing anything, but the dems will” the entire campaign? TPUSA would have made a difference, but I don’t know if they are going to recover from Kirk’s murder.

Traditionally, the party in power takes a hit during midterms. If the party is power does nothing, and let’s admit the truth, they haven’t done anything, then the party in power will lose big. The people in the center who will vote for the party who is best for them will go, “Why did I vote for these Republicans again after they never did the job I elected them to do? You Republicans told me you would fix Biden’s shitty economy, but you actually made things worse.”

For those reasons, the upcoming elections are going to be horrific. All the Republicans had to do was fulfill the promises they made just two years ago, but they have done nothing. Whatever goodwill they earned because Biden was demented is gone.

As for me, when sample ballots come out, I will decide race by race which candidate has earned my vote. My number one criteria is, and always has been, gun rights. They are a great metric, as a person who is opposed to gun rights isn’t going to be all that favorable to rights in general.

State Sen. Ileana Garcia (District 36) is the sole Republican who voted against Florida’s 2023 permitless carry bill and is running for reelection in 2026. District 36 is northern Seminole county, including Sanford, Lake Mary, and Longwood.

I don’t live in Seminole County, but that’s something to think about if you do.

As soon as I research the sample ballot I got, I will post my thoughts on the statewide races.

By Divemedic, ago

I’m Sitting Out the Governor’s Race

In a followup to my post about Republicans, here is a big reason why I won’t be casting my vote in the Florida Governor’s race:

That right there is the Republican nominee in the Florida governor’s race. To the Republican party:

We always talk about a line in the sand. This is one of them. I won’t EVER vote for someone who says I am the enemy. You want to call me a white supremacist? This honky is keeping his Governor’s vote to himself.

His record sucks balls anyhow. He’s been convicted of drug possession, writing bad checks, and who knows what else. This is the best that Florida’s Republican party has to offer?

By Divemedic, ago

Goundhog Day

Stop me if you have heard this before: The Republicans are telling us if we sit out this election, the Democrats will win. If the Republicans win, we already know what will happen:

Of course, the thing you will hear in return is:

I’m as pissed as you. But sit out and you won’t even get the hearings, you’ll get more graft, more Islamic enabling and our 2nd Amendment rights will be attacked. You know better

I was reliably told by the very same people that a vote for Trump was a vote for Democrats, yet Trump put some solid people in SCOTUS, and that alone has made more progress than the entire Republican party has in the past 30 years. The entire party hasn’t done a thing to make our lives better since Clinton’s first term, and even then all they managed to pull off was a sunset clause on the AWB.

Why should I vote for you? What do I get from you, other than “I am not a Democrat?” In the words of the two Bobs: “What is it that you would say you do here?”

By Divemedic, ago