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Since you have a habit of talking about things you're not knowledgeable on, I'll do you the favor and correct you on this one as well. I see you're trying to justify the votes your girl got in this state, but I can tell you as a resident that no cowboy hat-wearing, truck-driving Texan placed a vote for her and I challenge you to back up that claim with facts. If you look at the popular vote in Texas, the only blue counties are mainly those along the Mexican border and can be attributed to the large illegal population that resides there. The rest was overwhelmingly Trump. Texas was a conservative Democratic stronghold for many years. For approximately 100 years from after Reconstruction until the 1990s, the Democrats dominated Texas politics. Now Republicans control all statewide Texas offices, to include the governor and both houses of the state legislature, and have a majority in the Texas congressional delegation. This makes Texas one of the most Republican states in the U.S. Urban areas like Dallas, Austin, Houston and San Antonio are still largely Democrats; but suburbs of these cities remain heavily Republican. So your claim that "cowboy hat-wearing, truck-driving Texans" voted for Hillary are pure fantasy. It's the typical liberal and welfare-recipient votes that supported her in many other states.

Bullshit. No born-and-bred proud Texan would ever vote for Hillary. All her votes came from those California rejects living in Austin, or illegals wanting free handouts. You're just quibbling.

Just want to bump this thread to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and all the best in 2017! As one who hung up the uniform over ten years ago (but still works within the DoD), I also want to extend my heartfelt thanks to all those serving. Your sacrifice is appreciated, and if by chance you are separated from friends an family today, may you stay safe and return home soon!

I think the popular vote argument would hold more water if the candidates had been trying to win that. Campaigns to win the popular vote would look very different than campaigns to win the Electoral College vote. The GOP just got handed the Presidency, both Houses of Congress, 33 Governorships, unified control of 32 State Legislatures and partial control of 5 more. If that isn't a mandate, the word does not have meaning.

Do you acknowledge that this is exactly why the EC exists? 2016 wasn't a fluke, it was the EC working exactly as it was intended to. I don't understand why people keep talking about the difference between the EC and the popular vote when the EC exists to protect against the popular vote.

What we really need is a legitimate push for a Convention of States to help reign in the out of control federal government. If we can pass amendments to limit executive overreach, decrease excessive bureaucracy, limit the out of control spending, and limit the Supreme Court's impact back into what the framers intended, then it won't matter who is elected President in the future. Executive power has been expanded so far beyond what the Constitution intended that our government is now dysfunctional. I'm looking forward to putting Constitutional mechanisms in place so that it won't matter which lying jackass is elected by our uninformed populace. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This was your first mistake...

IMHO, the Electorial College needs a wee bit of tweaking. Maybe a fairer way to divide the electoral college votes would be to partial them out, below state level, based on Congressional Districts/Senate seats won. Of course, to do this, we would have to hold the Senate elections every four years to coincide with the Presidential election cycle. Downside; the political parties would still find a way to rig the system/districts. The current 538 electors (Electoral College Votes), correspond to the 435 House of Representatives and 100 Senate seats, plus the 3 electors for the District of Columbia. Example of how something like this might look for California; The 55 California electoral votes would be given out for the 2016 election cycle as follows; 1. The Republicans would get 23 electoral votes to put into the Republican Presidential nominee electoral vote basket (Note; The Republicans won 23 Congressional Districts in California). 2. The Democrats would get 32 electoral votes to put into the Democrats Presidential nominee electoral vote basket (Note; The Democrats won 30 Congressional Districts and 2 Senate seats which in California = 32). Example of how something like this might look at a National level; The total 2016 National Presidential electoral vote tally would look something like this (I think a few seats are still being contested or votes are being counted); 1. The Republican Presidential nominee would get 290 electoral votes (239 House of Representatives districts + 51 Senate seats won = 290). 2. The Democrat Presidential nominee would get 243 electoral votes (192 House of Representatives districts won + 48 Senate seats won + 3 Washington DC electoral votes won = 243). 3. Independents/others won a total of 5 districts/seats = 5 electoral votes? Totals; 290 + 243 + 5 = 538 electoral votes.

Perhaps not. On further reflection, I think the numbers and percentages argument serves to validate the importance of the electoral college. There might be a few, but most of the demographic is likely the California transplants that have taken over Austin.

That's what I figured...comparing Texas to Massachusetts just didn't sound quite right. Thanks for the numbers Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

Troll status: Confirmed. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

Star Wars Rogue One was very good. I give it a 9.5/10, better than The Force Awakens. It wasn't a recycled plot like TFA, and it didn't lean too hard on nostalgic cameos (most were mere seconds long and well placed). The conclusion of the movie segways amazingly well into A New Hope, and actually enhances the story significantly. Has some of the best battle scenes in the franchise. Minor points deducted for some tropey moments, and a somewhat slow, fractured start, but the second half of the movie more than makes up for it. Has the old rustic star wars feel throughout, yet includes some of the best CGI to date. It's a true prequel to episode IV, and how a prequel should be done. I don't have any above average fandom but anyone who likes Star Wars will receive this one well.

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