The Political Page, Part 2 - November 9, 2024

Locator: 48744POLITICS.

Updates

8:17 p.m. CT: neither Nikki Haley nor Mike Pompeo will be coming back to the White House in the second Trump administration. Source: Trump, social media.

• to some extent, this looks like Trump may be removing potential presidential candidates that might want to take on JD Vance in 2028; particularly Nikki Haley; or,
• may simply be looking for "clean" break from his first term (with some exceptions, of course.
• also: important to ask what role Susie Wiles may have played in decision?
  

7:36 p.m. CT: Doug Burgum -- Trump's energy czar? Even more important than SecEnergy? Link here. And the best thing: czars don't require US Senate confirmation. They can start working for the president-elect now -- even before the president is confirmed. I wonder how the new energy czar would feel about the DAPL issue?

6:53 p.m. CT: Senate Republican Majority Leader -- election to be held next week, Wednesday, November 13, 2024. Three in contention: John Thune, John Cornyn, Rick Scott. Both Thune and Cornyn have broken with Trump in the past; Rick Scott is a personal favorite of Trump's new chief of staff, Susie Wiles. If Donald Trump does not endorse any of the three, John Thune probably has the best chance of being the next Republican Majority Leader.

Later: Cornyn is pretty much a "Liz Cheney" in his attitude / relationship with Trump. Thune has broken with Trump before but seems like he could work with Trump. Of course, it goes without saying that Rick Scott and Trump are joined at the hip but Rick Scott much more abrasive and may not be able to work with the full GOP coalition. So far Trump has stayed out of this, not endorsing any of the three, knowing he needs to work with the majority leader when all is said and done.

5:42 p.m. CT:  must-watch by everyone.

Original Post 

Sports: South Dakota State (#3) at North Dakota (#21)

• end of first quarter, UND leads 7 - 3
• beginning of second quarter; SDSU leads, 10 - 7 
• at 10:35, second quarter: SDSU leads, 17 - 7
• at 6:30, second quarter: SDSU leads, 24 - 7
• unless there are significant changes, I'll stop here, with regard to this game.
  

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Politics

Each day that goes by following the election, the more disillusioned I become with  a) legacy media -- print and evening news; b) the elites on the East Coast and in Sacramento, CA; and, c) state governors who are more concerned about undocumented murderers and human traffickers than protecting law-abiding citizens.  Prior to the election, I didn't care and I didn't follow.

But, on the other hand, I've become a huge fan of YouTube videos, full shows: 

Megyn Kelly; Jesse Watters; SkyNews Lefties Losing It; The View; MSNBC, particularly Morning Joe. Unfortunately Rachel Maddow airs only once a week now, but gets paid $30 million / annually for that one-hour show. I now usually spend the midnight hours watching these videos.

This never gets old: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNeNSElwW0Q. Not only once but twice. LOL. The biggest doofus among many? Mark Cuban. [Yes, even more so than George Clooney, but some would argue, it’s a toss-up.]

Trump stopping both Hillary and Harris? Priceless.

12:37 a.m. ET, early Wednesday morning, following Tuesday: Georgia called for Trump! 12:37 a.m. ET.

That's when it changed for me, 11:37 p.m. CT. November 5, 2024.

I knew it was over, at 11:37 p.m. CT. Harris had to win Pennsylvania or it was all over for her.

Harris crowds were told to go home and come back in the morning. 12:45 a.m. ET CNN saw it coming. 12:53 a.m. ET -- CNN in shock. Still "if" but CNN contributors obviously nervous, 1:13 a.m. ET. "Not there yet." But by this time Fox had already called it. 2:05 a.m. ET, CNN calls Pennsylvania for Trump, and that's when I went to bed. But at 266 electoral votes CNN still hadn't called the national election for Trump. Wow, at 266, CNN still holding back. Even after Trump's celebratory / victory speech, CNN still did not call the national election for Trump. Wow.

Desperation: Governor Newsom signing legislation outlawing airing of AI-generated parody. 

Reposting:

"Trump-proofing" their states. Amazing how governors of New Jersey, Minnesota, California are more concerned about undocumented murderers and human traffickers than protecting law-abiding citizens. Personally I don't get it.

The good news? The Trump administration will know how to craft earmarks for funding attorneys general around the country. 

Thanksgiving dinner:

Agentic AI, see also Motley Fool:

Money matters:

I understand trading but I don't understand insanity. Are folks even paying attention?

It's not as if there aren't a thousand other tickers to buy (investing or trading).

Rivian, 3Q24:

• a miss on the top and bottom lines. 
• 3Q24 revenue, a huge miss: $874 million vs $990 million forecast.
• a loss of $39,130 per vehicle
• that's $9,000 worse than 3Q224 (last year)
• a loss off 99 cents vs a loss of 92 cents expected
• guidance: wider loss for full year than originally forecast -- trending in wrong direction 
• in interview with CNBC: CEO blames everything, including supply change shortages (plural; below, it was singular)
  
• to me, sounds like incredibly poor execution
• CEO calls it "noise." 
• avoids answering finance questions; pivots back to building a better truck; focused on customer;

From a month ago:

Revenue drops for first time since IPO, link here:

• due to short supply of a part, Rivian last month slashed its full-year production forecast to between 47,000 and 49,000 vehicles, from its earlier projection of 57,000 units;
• 50,000 vehicles x $39,000 = 50 x 40 x 10^6 = 50 x 40 x million = 2,000 million = $2 billion