#the custom made statue will get a second poll if it wins | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

webbaccaratgames · 2 years

Text

101 Gambling Facts Before You Shell Out A Dime

Gambling is a very popular form of entertainment. Every player can win in a matter of seconds. Gambling is a thrilling way to get adrenaline rushes. Over the past 20 years, the gaming industry has seen an exponential growth. Gambling has attracted more people to casinos and racetracks as well as online gambling sites. Gambling is an interesting pastime in many ways. The following list will give you some historical, statistical, humorous, and trivial tips that make it so special.

Did You Know?

1. Poker is played by at least 65,000,000 Americans on a daily basis. Even though playing cards were first invented in China, the French influence how we see them today. According to French legend, Spades are a symbol of royalty. Diamonds are for Merchants, Clubs are for Peasants, Hearts are for the Clergy. 3. Richard M. Nixon, former President of the United States, used money he won while playing poker in the Navy during World War 2 in order to fund his bid for Congress in 1946. It is not cheap to get involved with politics, so it must have been a skilled player. 4. 87% of those who visited Las Vegas in 1996 gambled. 5. According to surveys, 38% of Americans have visited Las Vegas at least once in their lives. This is usually to gamble. 6. Craps is a popular casino game that offers some of the most lucrative bets. 7. Online and television poker tournaments have made Texas Hold'em poker extremely popular. 8. For every 8 residents of Las Vegas, Nevada there is one slot machine. The Las Vegas Valley's population was 2 million in 2005. This is a lot of slot machines!

Gambling bits and pieces

9. Blackjack or 21 is still the most played table game at both online and offline casino. It also has the highest odds. 10. There are many types of video poker that can be found in casinos, but all of them are based on Five Card Draw. 11. One employee was a dice swallower in the English gambling dens of the 18th century. Yes, you read that right! If a police officer entered the den, he was required to swallow the dice. 12. Video poker, if played correctly can offer the best odds of winning in the casino. 13. Charles Fey invented the first slot machine on the planet in 1899. He was an auto mechanic who wanted to entertain his customers while they waited for their cars. 14. Groucho Marx was one of the Marx Brothers and he loved playing poker. He carried his poker money in a "grouch bag" with him. This is how Groucho got his nickname. 15. Only two states in the United States do not allow legalized gambling. These are Utah and Hawaii. 16. In the United States, 57% of Americans bought a lottery ticket within the past 12 months. Gallup Poll's audit of gambling found that the lottery is America's most popular gambling form. 17. 68% of people in Las Vegas gamble on the slot machines.

Enjoy Interesting and Fun Facts

18. 24% of Americans admit to having participated in illegal gambling. 19. It was found that 22% of Las Vegas visitors were seniors, people aged 65 or older. 20. In 1998, Las Vegas was home to one of the biggest slot machine payouts. One woman, who had spent $300 at a casino on that day, won a $27.6million jackpot. It's no wonder that slot machines are so beloved! 21. Most historians agree that Wild Bill Hickock, the colorful and legendary Wild West figure, was not a good poker player. 22. It is illegal to patent any type of gambling machine in the United States. 23. Texas Hold 'Em, a card game that involves putting cards together, was first played in Robstown, Texas. This was in the early 1900s. A small group of Texas gamblers brought Texas Hold'Em from Las Vegas to Texas. 24. In the 1970s, casino gamblers were on average between 30 and 55 years old. Today, this age ranges between 17 and 70. 25. A survey found that 80% of respondents believed that all gambling should have legal status and that casinos were perfectly acceptable. 26. Warning! You cannot use your mobile phone at a casino table. This rule is applicable to all casinos. You can play at any online casino table. 27. It is found in Connecticut, USA near Hartford. It's called Foxwoods Casino. 28. Las Vegas is known by two names: Las Vegas and Lost Wages. 29. There are many types of slot machines, from penny slots to high-priced ones that cost $50 to $500 per spin. These slots, which are often high-priced, are typically located in the "High Roller" room or rooms at a casino. These machines are rare.

History and Gambling Facts

30. Gamblers placed bets on Las Vegas in 2007 for more than $170 Billion. The casinos won $7 billion of this money. 31. Online gaming is very popular. You can play video poker while wearing pajamas. 32. Las Vegas casinos are not legally required to pay any gambling debts. 33. In 1931, the state of Nevada, USA, which is home to Las Vegas, legalized gambling.

The US government was also building the Hoover Dam that year. - The dam workers didn't want to gamble so Boulder City was created. In Boulder City, it was made illegal for workers to gamble. This was in order to ensure that they didn't waste the 50 cents per hour they were paid. Currently, Boulder City is Nevada's only place where gambling is prohibited.

Fascinating Gambling Facts

34. The French and Italians will continue to argue about who invented Blackjack. 35. Millions of people use the internet to gamble 24 hours a days, 7 days a semaine. 36. Online players will be able to win more frequently if they play online. 37. Horseracing and any other type of gambling requires that you win at least 52.4% of your bets in order to break even. The house charges a commission on each bet. 38. Slots have no rhythm or rhyme. It is nearly impossible to predict which games you will win. 39. The Dead Man's Hand in poker is Aces and Eights. 40. People who travel to Las Vegas for vacation gamble for four hours per day. 41. Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician who also invented roulette, is believed to have invent it. Others claim he simply decided the order in which the numbers should be entered. 42. Others claim that roulette originated in China. Another group claims that roulette was created by Venetian monks. The truth is not known, it seems. 43. Although a slot machine line may appear identical on the outside, each one is unique inside. 44. Dice are one of the oldest forms of gaming today. 45. The turn of the 19th-century saw blackjack being banned in America. It was already a popular game and people continued to play illegally. In 1939, the ban was lifted as Nevada began to open Las Vegas to the public. 46. Craps is an American game. However, it was originally created as a variation on a European game that was played in the 17th-18th centuries and was called 'hazard'. 47. Francois Blanc, a man whose name is believed to be Francois, made a deal with Satan to learn the'secrets' to the roulette wheel. This legend states that if you add all the numbers on the roulette wheel together, you get the number 666. This number has always been associated with the devil. 48. The slot machines can reveal millions of combinations every minute they are played. This is due to the RNG (random number generator) that is built into the slot machine. 49. Craps was named after Johnny Crapauds, a New Orleans French Creole nickname. 50. There are two types: casino dice and drugstore dice. Casino dice are made by hand บาคาร่าออนไลน์ and have a perfectly balanced cube. The dice in drugstores are smaller than those in casinos and are manufactured by machines.

Information and figures about gambling

51. Historians found evidence that Napoleon enjoyed playing blackjack or 21 when he was exiled. 52. Add all the sides to one dice and you'll always get 7. 53. Roulette rules are simpler than other gambling forms. 54. Since the 1970s, video poker has been part of the gambling industry. 55. Baccarat was played once with Tarot cards. 56. Caribbean Stud Poker is a very popular poker variant. It is a variation of Primera, a 16th-century game. 57. An American roulette wheel has 38 numbers, 0, 00 and 1 to 36. 58. A French roulette wheel has 37 numbers, from 0 to 36. 59. Nevada residents place an average of $846 annually at the casinos. 60. Felix Falguiere, an Italian gambler, invented Baccarat in the middle ages. 61. Casino gambling is one of the fastest-growing forms of entertainment in the world. 62. You have 11 options to place a bet in roulette. 63. Slot machines are called 'fruit machines' by the British and 'one-armed bandsits' by the British. 64. Strip poker is a gambling game that was invented in New Orleans, Louisiana, around 1830. 65. Backgammon is one of the oldest known games in history. Many different names have been given to this game, which was first recorded in Mesopotamia. 66. In the United States, gambling has grown to a $40 billion dollar industry per year.

#บาคาร่าออนไลน์

1 note · View note

patriotsnet · 3 years

Text

How Many Seats Did The Republicans Lose In The House

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/how-many-seats-did-the-republicans-lose-in-the-house/

How Many Seats Did The Republicans Lose In The House

‘the Squad’ Coasts To Reelection

Democrats take House, Republicans keep Senate in historic midterms

Three high-profile Democratic members of “the squad” in the House of Representatives held their seats in a comfortable fashion.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will continue to represent New York’s 14th District, defeating the Republican John Cummings by a wide margin, while Rep. Ilhan Omar also ran well ahead of the Republican Lacy Johnson in the race to represent Minnesota’s 5th District.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib also defeated her Republican challenger, David Dudenhoefer, and will continue to represent Michigan’s 13th Congressional District.

Democrats Odds Of Keeping The House Are Slimming Fast

The Democratic House majority emerged from the 2020 election so bruised and emaciated that experts gave it less than three years to live.

In defiance of polling and pundit expectations, Republicans netted 11 House seats in 2020, leaving Nancy Pelosis caucus perilously thin. Since World War II, the presidents party has lost an average of 27 House seats in midterm elections. If Democrats lose more than four in 2022, they will forfeit congressional control.

If the headwinds facing House Democrats have been clear since November, the preconditions for overcoming those headwinds have also been discernible: The party needed Joe Biden to stay popular, the Democratic base to stay mobilized and, above all, for Congressional Democrats to level the playing field by banning partisan redistricting.

A little over 100 days into Bidens presidency, Democrats are hitting only one of those three marks.

Historically, theres been a strong correlation between the sitting presidents approval rating and his partys midterm performance. Only twice in the last three decades has the presidents party gained seats in a midterm election; in both cases, their approval ratings exceeded 60 percent.

The party that controls the presidency tends to gets less popular as time goes on, and future declines are surprisingly correlated with first quarter polling.Many reasons that this cycle might be different, but so far public polling points to Dems getting 48% on election day.

))

It didnt.

Gop Women Made Big Gains

While the majority of the Republican caucus will still be men come 2021, there will be far more Republican women in Congress than there were this year. So far, it looks like at least 26 GOP women will be in the House next year, surpassing the record of 25 from the 109th Congress. Thats thanks in part to the record number of non-incumbent Republican women 15 whove won House contests. And its also because of how well Republican women did in tight races. The table below shows the Republican women who ran in Democratic-held House districts that were at least potentially competitive,1 according to FiveThirtyEights forecast. As of this writing, seven of them have won.

GOP women have flipped several Democratic seats

Republican women running for potentially competitive Democratic-held House seats and the status of their race as of 4:30 p.m Eastern on Nov. 11

District D+22.1

Results are unofficial. Races are counted as projected only if the projection comes from ABC News. Excludes races in which the Republican candidate has either a less than 1 in 100 chance or greater than 99 in 100 chance of winning.

You May Like: Are Democrats Red And Republicans Blue

House Democrats May Well Have To Contend With A Republican Senate

House Democrats have spent the past two years passing bills at a rapid clip, on everything from sweeping anti-corruption reforms to lowering the cost of prescription drugs to a $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill. But the vast majority of these bills were dead on arrival in the US Senate. It seems likely this ambitious agenda could continue to be on ice, unless Democrats flip two Georgia Senate runoff races that will be decided in January.

One of the few bipartisan pieces of legislation Pelosi, Mitch McConnell, and President Trump were able to agree on was the $2.2 trillion CARES Act at the beginning of the pandemic; a second stimulus package has been held up by partisan bickering. McConnell recently signaled willingness to pass another stimulus package before the end of the year. He for the Senates lame-duck session but was vague on concrete details.

Even on infrastructure one of the few places where there seemed to be bipartisan agreement getting a bill through could be elusive. Should Democrats flip the Senate, Pelosi has provided them a road map.

But its too early to say if they will get to use it.

Update: This piece was updated with recent Decision Desk calls in several key House races.

Republicans Won More House Seats Than More Popular Democrats Though Not Entirely Because Of How Districts Were Drawn

The Democratic member of Congress from Austin, otherwise represented in Washington, D.C. by Republicans, says Democrats nationally got more votes in 2012 yet Republicans ended up with their House majority.

During the last election, Democrats won over a million votes more than Republicans, Rep. Lloyd Doggett said in a Nov. 4, 2013, talk at the University of Texas at San Antonio. But because of the way House districts are designed, the Republicans got 33 more members of the House of Representatives than the Democrats did.

The first part of his claim sounded familiar, but is it right that this outcome arose from the way House districts were designed?

In every state, districts must be redrawn every 10 years to adjust for population changes as measured by the decennial U.S. census. Each state has its own method for drawing districts. And Texas, like most states, entrusts most of the line-drawing to state legislators.

Over the past dozen years or so, Doggett pointed out in his talk, he has represented a variety of communitiesat one time holding a district that stretched from the Texas-Mexico border north into Austinlargely due to how districts were drawn by the states dominant Republicans.

Nationally, he said, the redistricting process has had a significant impact on more than me and indeed on the whole framing of the national debate that is going on right now. His lecture later touched on the influence of money in politics.

Featured Fact-check

You May Like: How Many Republicans Are There In The Senate

Democrats Find A Message

Nancy Pelosi did not want to talk about Planned Parenthood.

It was a meeting of House Democrats early in 2017, during Republicans drive that March to strike down the Affordable Care Act. Ms. Pelosi and her political lieutenants laid out their counterattack: Democrats would talk about pre-existing conditions and millions of people losing coverage. And they would talk about an age tax a provision in the Obamacare replacement passed by the House, which would have allowed health insurers to widen the premium gap between younger and older customers.

Ms. Pelosi acknowledged it would require restraint from Democrats. In her own San Francisco district, she said, people wanted her to fight the health care battle over funding for Planned Parenthood and Medicaid. Those things are in our DNA, but they are not in our talking points, Ms. Pelosi became fond of saying, according to a close associate.

That narrow focus on health care and a few economic issues came to define the Democrats midterm campaign. It represented a wholesale rejection of Hillary Clintons failed strategy in the 2016 campaign, which focused on Mr. Trumps fitness for office.

Every time he would say something or tweet something, it would come back: We need to come right back at him! Define him! Mr. Luján recalled. We would say: Look, we dont need to talk about him, hes going to do it himself. We need to continue to have a conversation with the American people about kitchen-table issues.

Dems Head Toward House Control But Gop Picks Off Seats

WASHINGTON Disappointed Democrats headed Wednesday toward renewing their control of the House for two more years but with a potentially shrunken majority as they lost at least seven incumbents without ousting a single Republican lawmaker.

They were all wrong, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters about Democrats assumptions of adding to their House numbers. Repeating a campaign theme Republicans used repeatedly against Democrats, he said, The rejection that we saw last night from the Democrats, was that America does not want to be a socialist nation.

McCarthy also touted his partys modest additions to its small cadre of female and minority lawmakers. The Republican coalition is bigger, more diverse and more energetic than ever before, he said.

The latest Democratic incumbent to fall was freshman Rep. Abby Finkenauer of northeastern Iowa, who lost to GOP state Rep. Ashley Hinson.

Democrats setbacks were measured not just by seats they lost but by districts they failed to capture.

Recommended Reading: How Many Democrats And Republicans Are Currently In The Senate

United States House Of Representatives Elections

2018 United States House of Representatives elections

The 2018 United States House of Representatives elections were held on November 6, 2018, with early voting taking place in some states in the weeks preceding that date. Voters chose representatives from all 435 congressional districts across each of the 50 U.S. states. Non-voting delegates from the District of Columbia and four of the five inhabited U.S. territories were also elected. These midterm elections took place halfway through the term of Republican President Donald Trump. On Election Day, Republicans had held a House majority since .

In the 2018 elections, the Democrats, led by Nancy Pelosi, won control of the House. The Democrats gained a net total of 41 seats from the total number of seats they had won in the 2016 elections. The 41-seat gain was the Democrats’ largest gain of House seats since the post-Watergate 1974 elections, when they picked up 49 seats.

Upon the opening of the 116th United States Congress, Pelosi was elected as Speaker of the House. Incumbent Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan chose not to run for another term. In November 2018, House Republicans elected Kevin McCarthy as House Minority Leader.

Impact Of Special Elections On Partisan Composition

Representative Kevin McCarthy discusses if Republicans can take back the House in 2020

The partisan breakdown for the special elections was as follows:

In districts where the incumbent legislator does not run for re-election, the seat is guaranteed to a newcomer.

85.1% of incumbents sought re-election, the highest percentage in a decade.

14.9% of incumbents did not run for re-election, meaning newcomers were guaranteed to win those seats.

394 Democratic state legislators did not seek re-election.

477 Republican state legislators did not seek re-election.

Six third party or independent state legislators did not seek re-election.

Open state legislative seats, 2020 State

See also: 2020 primary election competitiveness in state and federal government

As the charts below show, there were 1,135 fewer primary candidates in 2020 than in 2018, reaching levels similar to 2016 and 2014. 2020 saw the lowest number of open seats, meaning more incumbents seeking re-election, compared to the previous three even-year elections. The number of incumbents facing primaries was roughly similar to 2016 and 2014, but less than 2018. There were fewer total primaries in 2020 compared to 2018 and 2016, but more than there were in 2014.

To read more about the competitiveness of state legislative primary elections in 2020, .

Don’t Miss: How Did The Democrats And Republicans Switch

Election Results 2020: Veto

See also: State government trifectas

Two state legislatures saw changes in their veto-proof majority statusâtypically when one party controls either three-fifths or two-thirds of both chambersâas a result of the 2020 elections. Democrats gained veto-proof majorities in Delaware and New York, bringing the number of state legislatures with a veto-proof majority in both chambers to 24: 16 held by Republicans and eight held by Democrats.

Forty-four states held regularly-scheduled state legislative elections on November 3. Heading into the election, there were 22 state legislatures where one party had a veto-proof majority in both chambers; 16 held by Republicans and six held by Democrats. Twenty of those states held legislative elections in 2020.

The veto override power can play a role in conflicts between state legislatures and governors. Conflict can occur when legislatures vote to override gubernatorial vetoes or in court cases related to vetoes and the override power.

Although it has the potential to create conflict, the veto override power is rarely used. According to political scientists Peverill Squire and Gary Moncrief in 2010, only about five percent of vetoes are overridden.

Changes in state legislative veto-proof majorites State

Read Also: What Percentage Of Republicans Are White

New Yorks Congressional Seats Over Time

Gained seats

W.Va.

Calif.

And several key states with changes coming to their maps California, Colorado, Michigan and Montana have independent commissions tasked with determining new legislative boundaries on a nonpartisan or bipartisan basis.

The parties have this natural inclination to go for broke, say, Weve got a new seat, lets grab it and take the opportunity we have, said Bernard Grofman, a political science professor at the University of California, Irvine, who has served as a special master for court-ordered redistricting in multiple states. For Republicans, he said, picking up new seats and stopping Joe Biden is going to have a high, high priority, even though they may pay a big political price down the road.

The 2021 redistricting process will also be the first time since 1961 that a raft of mostly Southern states will not have their maps subject to a preclearance process from the Justice Department, following the Supreme Courts 2013 decision to strike down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The court last month heard arguments that could undo more elements of the act that would impede the ability to sue to block new maps.

Without having to seek preclearance, Republicans in states where they control all levers of government Florida, Georgia and Texas, to name three will have far more influence on the new maps than they have had in past reapportionment cycles.

Don’t Miss: Are There More Rich Republicans Or Democrats

Republicans Score Big Gains In House Pelosi Barely Hanging On

Copy Link

Democrats expected and eagerly anticipated a blue wave that would sweep them into power in the White House, House, Senate, and state legislatures.; It didnt happen, not by a long shot.

In fact, not only did they do poorly across the board, but, as a Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee spokeswoman astutely noted, President Trump acted not as the Democrat-expected anchor but as a buoy for Republican legislative candidates.

That Democrats vastly misjudged the appeal of their radical agenda is crystal clear , and perhaps nowhere is that more evident than in the House races.; Nancy Pelosi truly expected her party to pick up seats, yet it appears its the Republicans who are on track to accomplish the 10-15 seat gains the Democrats expected in their column.

Pelosi on Election Day: “Democrats are poised to further strengthen our majority.”

Pelosi today: “I never said that we were going to pick up” seats.

Kevin McCarthy

Despite AOCs declaration that Democrats lost the House, they have so far managed to win 219 seats .

Powerline notes that Republicans have flipped 12 House seats: RealClearPolitics notes that Republicans have picked up a net of 9 House seats. RCP projects that Republicans will pick up a net 10-13 seats when the counting is done.

12 FLIPS in the House for the GOP!

CA39 Young Kim

Students For Trump

Of the House races yet to be called as of Friday, Republicans are leading in 11 of the 14 races.

Newsweek reports:

Buzzfeed News Has Journalists Around The Us Bringing You Trustworthy Stories On The 2020 Elections To Help Keep This News Freebecome A Member

Democrats seem hesitant to even acknowledge their losses; Pelosi has said it was a challenging election with Trump at the top of the ticket but has otherwise argued Democrats retained control of the House for a reason. Its a mistake that could doom the party even further, considering history is not on their side going into 2022, as the presidents party has consistently lost seats during the midterm elections.

On a caucus call not long after Election Day, Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a first-term member representing a Virginia swing district, spoke up with her own take on how the election had played out.

Rep. Abigail Spanberger joined by other members of the Problem Solvers Caucus, speaks during a news conference to unveil a COVID-19 relief package, Sept. 15, 2020.

If we are classifying Tuesday as a success from a congressional standpoint, we will get torn apart in 2022, Spanberger said, according to an audio recording obtained by the Washington Post.

The number one concern she heard from people in her district, Spanberger told her colleagues, was about defunding the police an idea, she argued, that Democrats dont even support. While many Democrats and activists have used the slogan to call for reforming and demilitarizing police forces, some Democrats, including progressive members of Congress, do support fully defunding police forces.

ReplyRetweetFavorite

You May Like: Did Trump Say Republicans Are Stupid

0 notes

buniyaad · 6 years

Text

KO-D Blues: The Current DDT Main Event Scene

Anyone who first heard about Cyberagent acquiring DDT back in fall of 2017 knew that change was coming. It often does with acquisitions. Sure, the general understanding was that there would be more capital to float ideas and new projects, bigger paychecks for the personnel, but with great power comes great responsibility- more capital inevitably comes with more stakeholders.

Customers, as in the DDT audience, has been the longest and most consistent stakeholder at DDT pre-aquisition, simply because of the fact that up until fall 2017, DDT was a technically an independent whose business strategy tapped into the niche puroresu market that craved the absurdist, outlandish, and overall nontraditional approach at professional wrestling in a market that was flooded with similar content (don't @ me, but every Ace is the same kinda Ace across the big Five promotions, with a lil tailoring here and there). They have several sister promotions each doing their own thing, all part of the DDT umbrella, but running their own hijinks for their small, but loyal fanbases that buy the tickets and merch as loyally as any person consuming the mainstream content.

But after fall of 2017, they were no longer a successful indy, but now a cog in a larger machine aiming to make money. They were acquired, there's technically a new boss in the story, and even though at first it didn't seem like much would change, something has.

When Shuji Ishikawa won the D-King Grand Prix, I was livid for multiple reasons. I knew there was no way in hell he was gonna win the belt off Takeshita because by that point, it was common knowledge that Shuji would be over in AJPW the entirety of April for Champion Carnival. There was no way in hell a DDT could put their top belt on a man who had to disappear for a whole month, no matter how loyal he was to his mother promotion, bc that would have inevitably started a war between President Takagi and Uncle Jun. My pick was always Daisuke Sasaki, but some wanted Akito, some Yukio, the possibilities were endless because they're full-timers, and all of them amazing wrestlers, and we already knew Harashima was well on his way to lighter feuds and semi-main event status because his Ace days are coming to an end. We knew, but we didn't fret because other people were just are ready for an amazing push, but the victory went to the man who was already known to be a special attraction at Sumo Hall. There was a reason why HaraMarufuji had to drop those belts at Sumo Hall, and only half of it was to push Higuchi, because the other half had to salvage whatever dignity the men had left bc NOAH didn't book HaraMarufuji for shit and DDT could barely make do with Marufuji's sporadic appearances. Sometimes, it works out (like with Yuko), but a lot of times it just doesn't. So Shuji wasn't gonna win, we knew, but DDT management still played the game of thrones, and that led to the upset at Judgement 2k18.

The polls wanted Shuji. The fans wanted Shuji. Deep down, I feel like god wanted Shuji too, but no one can stop Management when it's high on one person regardless of how much the fans, the culture, the whole damn industry wants otherwise. Everyone else becomes an afterthought. People who have worked hard to keep the company alive are no longer in line to get a nice push. Suddenly, everyone becomes food for the top guy, no matter how good the build-up was for the other players, no matter how hot the crowd was for the opponent, no matter how willing the crowd was to forget that Shuji had AJPW dates to fulfill in two weeks, just because they loved the build-up to the Sumo Hall show and wanted Goliath of DAMNATION to come out as champion and give Ryogoku a concert to remember. But reality won in the end, and Shuji got pinned, and there went January through March, straight to the garbage because they fed Shuji Ishi-fucking-kawa to a 22 year old boy who can barely cut a promo and keep a crowd hot after winning a main event.

It's a tragedy from three ends because 1) Takeshita's literally a fucking novice who's only been wrestling for five or so years and is literally in the age group of the current trainees of the damn promotion, 2) he has no character or personality to speak of that people can get high on except the select few that enjoy his 'notice me Endo-san' yandere tirades, and 3) ... he lacks the spirit of DDT.

If DDT was all wrestling, everyday, I'd be watching NOAH's shitty booking and eating ice cream while trying not to let my soul slip outta my mortal coil, but that's not what DDT is. DDT is fully fleshed out characters and over-the-top storylines, DDT is gay-friendly and intergender-wrestling friendly, it's gimmick fuckery for everyone in the promotion, everyone gets to have more than one character, BOYZ shows run social critiques on heterolinis, YAROZ act out the hypermasculine thotheads, Ganbare lets Imanari have emotional meltdowns during ring takedown, TJP has zombies, BASARA has a deathmatch samurai for an Ace, and a wig is the crown for anyone who wants to be general manager of the promotion. It's content fuckery at its best, and it's fun. Takeshita Konosuke? He's not fun.

I'm not gonna try and dissect why he's not getting over, but the fact of the matter is- he's not getting over. And yet- and yet he's still being pushed like he's king of the world. Suddenly we're back in Sumo Hall, and the crowd's dead for Konosuke. A couple of weeks back, when Takeshita lost, he flipped. There was something there, a spark that came and went regularly since Takeshita and Endo began feuding, a rage that bubbled to the surface whenever Takeshita couldn't get his way. There was a character- a semblance of a character worth looking forward to because there was an unparalleled emotion there that was almost tangible.

But like a dying flame, the spark fizzled out, and we were left with an inconsistent character. Like is you mad? Is you happy? You never fuckin know with Take, man. The only consistent thing about him is his undying love/hate for Endo-san.

So Takeshita won, Shuji bowed out, and then Shigehiro Irie rolled up. Suddenly, there was some hope again, because Shige had his own storyline that made sense in the grander scheme of things. With Management so gung ho behind Takeshita, it was excellent storytelling to bring in the guy who has WORDS for the promotion who conned him out of a D-King Grand Prix spot, and had him consider quitting. But Shigs had his own story, his own reason for being, a freelancer like Shuji in his own right, but still tied to the Motherland, to DDT, at the end of the day. Still a heel, but a heel of the people- and if he wins at Max Bump 2018, a champion of the people.

Akito, on the other hand, is gonna be ten years in DDT next year, and he's one of the best wrestlers on the roster, but is still one of the most underpushed (understandable as his character is rather bland even if his skills are exceptional). Coming out with a bad Prix record, he then went on to question Shige's right to challenge. Like an older brother protecting the golden baby of the family, Akito stood up against a literal beast. And he lost. More than that, he was shamed. What's a person to do?

So what changed? Over the years, a number of champions have held the coveted KO-D. OK, maybe 'coveted' is pushing it. It's a hot title, aight? It's the top guy's title, whether that top guy for the moment is Harashima, Kudo, Ibushi, Ishikawa, Sakaguchi, Togo, Poison Sawada Julie, Dino or Mikami. But that didn't mean the title didn't change hands. For its eighteen year existence, its changed enough times for a title spanning forty years, but DDT went from zero to hero. Suddenly the belts weren't all jokes, the talent wasn't just here for the shenanigans, but for an actual chance to be the rightful King of DDT. So what changed?

Across Harashima's nine reigns over eleven years, he clocked in well over a thousand days. Takeshita is on his second reign, at 22, and clocked in almost five hundred days over eleven different defenses. The push is real, but the push isn't getting over. So I wonder again- what changed?

Everyone knows the worst civil war a promotion can get into is the war with its own customer base. The crowd died at Sumo Hall after Takeshita retained, and they were barely waking up again when Irie popped up. The story's there- the Old Guard of DDT having to deal with the new Management that came with the acquisition, Irie's need to show Takeshita that DDT is still what it used to be, even if Shigs is bitter and jaded that things have changed so quickly, the constant, nagging feeling in the back of every DDT fan's mind that 'jfc, we gotta deal with Takeshita again?” There's only so much a promotion can do until the push fails. We still have to fill up seats for Peter Pan. The hottest stable on the indies for the last two years was DAMNATION, but now that their push and hype was used on Shuji and Goliath's been slayed, what's next for them? Shige is almost certain to lost at Max Bump because anyone who slays Takeshita, will be slaying the Future and taking back DDT for whatever reason. That's not happening at Korakuen with a guy who's been MIA since December. Harashima's time is over. The generation of DDT wrestlers that came after 2005 are still lagging in the midcard, and times are... intense. We have a Sumo Hall double show coming up in 2019, and it looks like we really will be hosting Tokyo Dome if 2020 if we continue at this pace.

So what changed?

I don't want to give up hope yet because I trust that crowd sentiment matters to DDT, but with Takeshita's victory at Judgment, his lukewarm hype, and now the setup to feed heel!Shige to Takeshita in order to fluff him up as a face... it's not looking too great. Shige losing now means the Old Guard loses a warhound. One of the few things that can salvage his loss is Akito having a heel turn, but the turn hasn't been triggered in years, and seems unlikely even now when the moment is most opportune. There are... no challengers left for Takeshita with a proper build. The one man who was capable of running with his push had to lose to Mike Bailey. We're at a standstill right now- halfway to the dawn of a new era, but moments away from severe backlash because of the near omnipotent reign of a boy king who can barely keep his emotions in check around his ex-bff/love of his unfortunate life. Given, DDT didn't die even when Ibushi quit, so I doubt Takeshita's lackluster reign is gonna kill the promotion dead... but it doesn’t spell out a good future if there's meant to be a cycle of this lackluster character work.

Especially if they intend for him to be the Ace for good.

Alas, the main event scene at DDT right now is rife with mixed feelings while we prepare to work the five hundred other side-projects DDT has going, while preparing for a fall Peter Pan, with no clear picture of who will be the two men standing face-to-face at the last marquee event of the year. We'll see at Max Bump if Shige can win one for the Old Guard and take the belt off Takeshita long enough to build up other characters that can have formidable reigns, but until then, it's a rocky road. At least Smile Squash held it down for the crowd :/

#ddtpro #konosuke takeshita #shigehiro irie #akito #sanshiro takagi #real talk #Wrestling #real sad hours over at ddtpro tonight lads

7 notes · View notes

i-imran-s · 4 years

Text

Skyscanner API

Skyscanner is completely known as a flight aggregator and example site, and a powerful player in the space. They compare thousands of routes and providers to help users find flights and ticket across the world so both consumers and enterprises can take advantage of the best deals at any time. According to a similar web, they receive 10 mn site visits a month, about 8X higher than rival Hipmunk. Skyscanner Travel APIs immediately relate you to all the data you need to create an innovative website or app. Your consumers will be ready to take the support of the best deals on flights, hotels or car hire from anywhere they are in the world - either as three independent travel solutions or mixed together.

All this traffic provides them a leading position in-flight data property and opening up that data to developers via an API was a natural way to extend their footprint (and acquire even more data at the same time). The Skyscanner API is accessible to developers on Rakuten RapidAPI on a Released and Private basis! In the first 2 months since it started, the API accepted over 1.5 mn API calls. We've made it more comfortable than ever to develop your site using soft price search opportunities with rapid response times. This performs it easy to build exciting tools that open up multiple travel search options to your customers.

Always understood the fact that Skyscanner displays all the possible flights, including the low-cost carriers. The Skyscanner API provides us to change from other inspirational/planning apps by offering real-time pricing. The Travel APIs are lightweight and easy to integrate with, and it’s our primary monetization model right now. Skyscanner has been changing the way people travel. As a travel start-up, our partnership is very important, not just because of Skyscanner’s powerful Travel APIs, which allows for a fully customization experience, but because of the power of their brand, that is certain to give our clients comfort and security when booking.

The Skyscanner Travel API was also analysed positively by so many start-ups over the travel business that we chose to address you about gaining admittance to it. The browse cache allows us to make an first scan for prices based on a certain budget before serving live prices. This really linked up with what we were trying to accomplish with the application; the unity of booking travel through one budget. Skyscanner uses the live pricing API on our normal flight search which has our price forecast technology integrated on routes that are supported and we get all the power of Skyscanner API for our inspiration tool. We wanted a platform where users could search and compare the best flight deals available online, so we needed the best data on the market in one API, which turned out to be Skyscanner.

Skyscanner give travelers what they expect and deserve. More options, from flights and hotels to car hire. Faster search, optimized for mobile. The chance to book directly on our site with Direct Booking. Skyscanner always investing in technology to make sure your products are connecting and fitting into how travelers want to search, plan and book. As quickly as you’ve got the package available, you can start exploring the API. It’s safe to neglect the npm warn information at this time if you see any. We’ve also got you included with an exclusive Skyscanner API way, available nowhere else. You can try it, without giving the browser, on the Skyscanner API page. You’ll want to sign up to get the API keys and make offers to the Skyscanner API. With those keys you’ll be able to make and confirm the requests, so we will know they come from you.

As soon as you sign-in with your account, the view will be replaced with another view, where you can see your API keys (X-Mashape-Key and X-Mashape-Host) in the Offer Headers section and a ready to copy a snippet of code at the right side

Skyscanner API Overview

Searching flight functionality is broken down into four separate endpoints that you can see below.

Live Flights Search — will question all flight providers about recent flight data, availability, and prices. You’ll have to be very specific in the search query and then wait until the results are available first.

Places — let you find Countries, Cities, and Airports

Prices Browse Flight — gets you information about flights from the Skyscanner cache. It might be somewhat old in comparison to live search, but more specific and important.

Localization — lists the money and markets in which Skyscanner works

Browse Flight Prices Endpoint

Gives an aggregated view of flights and price data for many origins or multiple goals over many time frames, returning the most affordable quotes per day. Browse Flights uses our cached values, which are collected and updated every time a user does a search. Recommended route and date orders will be updated regularly; however, less successful route and date orders will not. You should choose the Browse Flight Charges if you want to give a wide range of search with flexible dates or goals in a more effective way.

Live Flight Search Endpoint

Retrieve up-to-date pricing data for a particular route on a specific departure and return date. The API returns all relevant pricing data for the specific search, providing for price matching and selection. The data recovered from the Live Flight Search is the most reliable pricing data for this route and travel dates that Skyscanner can afford. You should use the Live Flight Search if you want to give a price estimate for a given route on special dates.

Frequently, your request will use both. First, you’ll question the Browse Flight Prices endpoint to let the user search and compare various dates and different purposes. After that, you’ll use the Live Flight Search to get an up-to-date quote for a particular flight on a specific date and redirect the user to an agent, selling the tickets.

Note that the origin and target sites are not the names of the towns, but rather special identifiers Skyscanner has. The API lets you search routes between nations, cities, and installations. Each of them has a unique identifier. In the Places section, we will look at how to get those. Most suppliers (airlines, travel agencies and car hire dealers) set their fares based on the business (or country of purchase). It is, consequently, important to specify the market country in which the user of your app is found

Currency The currency you want the prices in locale The locale you want the results origin place From where is the flight (identifier of country, city or airport. see places)destination place To where (identifier of country, city or airport. see places)outbound partial date The outbound date. Inbound partial date the return date.

Live Prices

Now that your user has chosen origin and destination looked up the cheapest dates and routes — it’s time to get the latest and hottest up-to-date deal for your user. Unlike earlier, the live prices endpoint is not paying any issues quickly. Instead, Skyscanner API provides you a unique key you would use later and asks you to wait. In the meantime, Skyscanner will connect to all the flight operators, check with them who still have tickets available, and at what price. In most cases, the entire procedure takes less than 30 seconds. Still, that’s a long time to wait and the users will love you a lot more if you start polling the results every 5 seconds and continually show them progress.

SessionKeyIs the key used to obtain the results Status As long as the response status is Updates Pending keep polling. When Skyscanner has queried all providers — the status will change to Updates Complete. Itineraries all possible flights for the requested parameters. Your results are here Question your search query repeated back at you (origin, destination, dates and the rest) Legs Each

Itinerary is built from one or two legs, depending on whether you are looking for a one-way or two ways. Itineraries may differ from each other by airports of origin, destination, flight times and connections. For each of them, you’ll find the inbound and outbound leg identifiers that you can use to lookup in the Legs collection. The Legs collection will tell you exactly which flight segments it’s built from, the places they pass in, and the exact departure time.

Each program may be sold by various agents and therefore have various prices. Usually, the cheapest comes first. Use the ID inside the Agent collection to find out who is selling this ticket if you’d like to promote their name and logo. Finally, redirect the user to the URL of the Deep link URL. This will take the user to the website of the Agent where he will be able to buy the tickets for this particular itinerary.

You are able to roll your application, support users find out the cheapest flights available to them, and direct them to a ticket seller using the Skyscanner API. Feel free to use the code in your production applications and review the rest of the Rakuten Rapid APIs to enhance your application even additional.

Travel APIs Advantages

Ø Mobile-first solutions to allow you to take benefit of the newest trends as they appear

Ø Support Network - Dedicated Account Manager, Engineering care team and a developer hub with all the support wanted to integrate

Ø Easy setup and simple integration of travel search

Ø Inspirational search features - connect our Travel APIs with your current travel present to compliment your product range

Ø Dedicated online portal to manage your income and commissions

Travel APIs Features

Ø Browse supplies API provides broad search questions such as "What's the lowest price from New York to anywhere, anytime in the next year?"

Ø Supports a variety of geo arrangements, for easy integration with your existing geo-tagged pages

Ø Regularly optimized product solutions

Ø First-class technology from the group behind Skyscanner's award-winning global flight search

Ø Asynchronous format, providing for real-time streaming of prices for your users

Ø Developer resource area with online test harnesses, change logs, support and documentation

#Skyscanner API #api

0 notes

playhub · 5 years

Text

Loki Casino

Join here

Casino Games: Supports 8 Currencies, Including The Most Popular Cryptocurrency Today – Bitcoin! Professional Support Staff Speaking English, German and Russian!

Owner: Direx N.V. Casinos

Established: 2014

Welcome Bonus: 100% Up To €/$100 +100 FS

Currencies: Bitcoin, Euros, US dollars, Russian rubles, etc.

License: Antillephone License

Currencies: Australian dollars, Bitcoin, Canadian dollars, Euros, Norwegian kroner, Russian rubles, US dollars.

Withdrawal Times

EWallets: 24 hours

Credit/Debit Cards: 3-5 days

Bank Transfers: 3-7 days

Cheques: Not offered

Pending Time: 0-24 hours

Withdrawal Limit: 5000 EUR/USD per transaction, 10 000 EUR/USD per week, 30 000 EUR/USD per month

Loki Casino Details

Withdrawal Method: Bank Wire Transfer, Bitcoin, Comepay, MasterCard, Neteller, QIWI, Skrill, Trustly, Visa, Yandex Money.

Deposit Methods: Bitcoin, Comepay, Maestro, MasterCard, Neteller, Paysafe Card, QIWI, Skrill, Sofort (by Skrill), Sofortuberwaisung, Trustly, Visa, Yandex Money.

Restricted Countries: France, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, United States.

Languages: Estonian, Finnish, German, Norwegian, Spanish.

Software: Amatic Industries, Betsoft, BGAMING, Endorphina, Ezugi, GameArt, Habanero, iSoftBet, Microgaming, Mr. Slotty, NetEnt, Quickfire, Quickspin, Thunderkick.

Licenses: Curacao

Casino Type: Instant Play, Mobile.

Return to Player: Publicly audited

Manual Flushing: No

Live Chat: Yes

TOP 5 Facts

Who is Loki? In Norse mythology, Loki was a shape shifter. This website takes the shape of a standard online casino with a few minor transformations like a big 770 game library broken down into game collections.

24/7 Support: This casino operates a fully functional 24/7 support service, including a live chat option as well as an easy-to-use email complaint form. Loki can be accessed in a wide variety of languages, such as: English, German, Finnish, Russian, Polish, Spanish, Norwegian.

On the go: If you have a mobile phone or tablet device that runs on Android, iOS or Windows Phone, then you will be able to access this casino on the move.

High Roller Welcome Bonus: A minimum $1,000 deposit changes your status so you can receive up to $1,000 based on a 50% deposit match high roller bonus. The rollover also increases, though, so you’re looking at 55 times as opposed to 50.

Banking: One of the best things about Loki casino is the banking system that’s in place for both deposits and withdrawals. It ticks the boxes off of all of the desired criteria:

Fee-free transactions

Lots of choices in transfer methods

In addition to Bitcoin, players can select from EUR, USD, AUD, CAD, NZD, NOK and RUB.

Probably, the entertainment industry will always be popular, since hundreds, thousands and even millions of gamers are always looking for something new and amazing. Casinos have moved into the virtual world for a long time. Ten or twenty years ago, we could only play in bars or large Las Vegas casinos. In addition, the list of games was limited. After many years, the gambling industry has moved to the Internet, where it is accessible to everyone. So a player only needs to open a casino page and start playing. But, take you time. First, you need to choose a casino among the thousands offered.

LOKI online casino is always the right choice. In addition to the convenient interface, additional bonuses and reliable protection system, you get a lot of pleasant emotions from exciting games. Only in LOKI you will find everything you need for a comfortable gameplay. Plus, LOKI casino provides multicurrency accounts that conduct operations in 10 currencies + Bitcoin.

LOKI is a new game resource that became very popular in 2019, when thousands of gamers supported this project. Today, it is a huge gaming portal that develops in several directions: cryptocurrency, live games and other innovations.

We know for sure, LOKI is a paradise for gamers!

Loki Casino Software and Slots

On the main page of LOKI casino, a funny leprechaun welcomes all users. This fantastic character will tell about all current bonus offers and promotions. In the upper right corner, you will find several “Sign up / Log in” buttons and the moon / sun. These two buttons change the theme of the LOKI main page to black and light (day and night). By the way, this feature is rarely found on online casino sites. The website of LOKI casino is also translated into one of 7 languages (English, Spanish, German, Polish, Norwegian, Finnish and Russian).

We can also see numerous categories with different game models. LOKI online casino specialists signed contracts with leading manufacturers in early 2019, so players will find many excellent modern and classic slot machines, board games and even entertainment with live dealers here.

The variety of games in LOKI will surprise even experienced gamblers who played in different casinos. Of course, video slots make up the majority of the gaming portfolio, since these are the most popular entertainment. LOKI offers online slots from all leading providers, like Amatic Industries, NetEnt, Belatra, BGaming, BetSoft, Play’n Go, Quickfire, Platipus, GameArt, Endorphina, EGT, ELK and Microgaming.

The video slot category of LOKI casino includes hundreds of thematic models that are very popular among modern gamers:

CLEO’S GOLD

BOOK OF DEAD

VOODOO

ALL WAYS FRUITS

VIKINGS GO BERZERK

WILD TORO

FRUITY SEVENS

STARBURST

IMMORTAL ROMANCE

JUNGLE BOOKS

NEON CLASSIC

LUCKY DRINK

ALKEMOR’S TOWER

AZTEC TEMPLE

MAGICAL WOLF

Users who have chosen LOKI casino have the opportunity to enjoy video slots dedicated to popular movies, TV shows and celebrities (Holmes and the Stolen Stones, Jungle Books, Vikings and Football Stars).

All video slots are available in demo mode, but first, you will need to register. To do this, enter email, password and select the appropriate currency.

Other Casino Games

LOKI is a universal source of gaming products and a good mood. Therefore you can find here a lot of various games. Are you a fan of board games? Then go to the appropriate tab and select one of 20 games: EUROPEAN / AMERICAN / FRENCH ROULETTE, BLACKJACK VIP / SURRENDER, CASINO HOLD`EM, ROCKET DICE, JACKS OR BETTER, JACKS OR BETTER and others.

LOKI also provides a separate section with games that accept payments in cryptocurrency. Here you will find all popular slots.

LOKI online casino is a place where everyone can find something special and unique.

Casino Features and Bonuses from Loki

LOKI online casino supports also a generous bonus policy, so registered customers can take part in various promotions, lotteries and get regular bonuses.

After the gamer registers and makes the first deposit, 100% Welcome Bonus + 100 Free Spins will be credited to his / her game account. To receive this gift, you also need to enter a special “LOKI100” bonus code.

During the second deposit, players can receive a 75% Bonus if they enter the LOKI75 code. For the 3rd time, you will receive 50% of the deposit amount. Thus, LOKI online casino awards all players who chose this gaming club.

Is it your birthday? Then get a great gift from the LOKI casino team (free spins, cash or both).

Game level and components. Playing any slots of LOKI casino , you will receive the components that can be exchanged for real money later.

Any gamer can get a 50% bonus and 50-60 Free Spins on the gaming account if he / she enters the HAPPYWEEKEND bonus code. This offer is valid only on Fridays.

This is not enough? Then, buy lottery tickets and win great prizes (free spins and cash). If you love risk, then buy as many tickets as possible and win a new exclusive iPhone XS MAX. These lotteries are held regularly, so you have the opportunity to win many valuable prizes.

Recall that all the above bonuses will be available only to registered gamers who have made a deposit.

The LOKI casino team takes care of all customers. Do not miss the opportunity to get free spins and real money!

Loki Casino Payment and Withdrawal Methods

After registration, new customers need to replenish the deposit. Yes, the demo mode has many advantages, but it also has one big disadvantage: the lack of real victories. So, you can not get real money and other prizes. Therefore, you should make a deposit and feel the real excitement and risk.

LOKI casino offers to conduct cash transactions only through reliable systems / cards that are regularly checked. This list includes: Neteller, Visa, Skrill, Mastercard, Paysafecard, Zimpler, iDeal, Sofort, Neosurf, ecoPayz, Qiwi and CoinsPaid. All these systems and cards are equipped with all necessary security systems.

As we said earlier, LOKI also proposes to conduct transactions with Bitcoin. These are convenient cash transactions which are carried out within 2 minutes.

Loki Casino Customer Support

LOKI gaming club works without problems and delays. It is also based on simple algorithms. But despite this, users may have questions from time to time.

Customers can chat with technical support representatives (Vanessa, Den, Elizabeth) in an online chat that works 24/7.

But first, you could visit the section called “FAQ”. As a rule, it provides answers to most of the players’ questions (registrations, accounts, deposits, bonuses, and much more). All these questions and their answers will be described here.

Live Casino

According to the latest polls, live games became the most popular entertainment in 2019. Why?

First, this is a new trend in the field of gambling entertainment. Finally, gamers got something new and unusual this way. Secondly, this format of games allows you to get high-quality gameplay, excitement and positive emotions, since you will play against a real dealer. Most players have responded positively to live entertainment.

Now, LOKI virtual casino has over 50 live entertainment offerings, which are located in the corresponding section. Here you can find DREAM CATCHER, VIP ROULETTE, RULETKA LIVE, DIAMOND VIP, IMMERSIVE ROULETTE, SPEED ROULETTE, BLACKJACK WHITE 2, BLACKJACK CLASSIC 5 and many others.

All live games LOKI online casinos meet the highest standards. Play and enjoy!

Loki Mobile Casino

Mobile technology has taken up a lot of space in the modern world. Smartphones, tablets, laptops, smart watches and other gadgets have become an integral part of our life. They help make calls, send messages and many other features, including entertainment. Today, you can visit online casinos using a single smartphone with Internet access.

The LOKI team has completely adapted all the games for the screens of your phones and tablets. Thanks to this “update”, you can have fun in one of the best online casinos at any time. In addition, you can always download the mobile add-on and play anywhere. Now, you do not need to rush home and wait for a computer to boot. Play anywhere where internet access is available. LOKI casino is the future!

Casino Security

Before registering at any casino including LOKI, the user should examine all the information, especially the security data. Moreover, this should be a key factor in your choice, since most game resources work illegally or cannot provide security / anonymity.

The operation of LOKI casino is legally fixed by the appropriate licenses. Moreover, the virtual casino is being tested by audit companies regularly. Thus, LOKI excludes any fraud or hacking of your account. Only you have access to your data and information about cash transactions. Data and financial security are high. In addition, you can always contact support.

Conclusion

If you are a fan of high-quality gaming models, excellent service and security, then LOKI online casino is just what you need. Only here you will find more than 1000 modern slot machines, games with live dealers, a large list of payment services and reliable protection.

Employees of the game resource are always looking for ways to improve the casino. In addition, they know how to find an individual approach to each gamer who has registered in the gaming club.

LOKI online casino is a quality online resource that provides only the best service. This resource will provide a bright holiday which will be accompanied by great victories, payouts and prizes. You just need to relax and enjoy favorite online games.

LOKI is your success!

Join here

0 notes

alaric-greyson · 4 years

Text

An Outsider’s Take On The British Election

So preface this with the fact that I’m not British, not a political expert, and mostly interested in British politics because the coverage is in English and allows me to care about politics a bit more vicariously since it’s not directly personal. My personal politics are definitely lefty, which at least influenced the news sources I was following.

So the Conservatives got a major victory last night (and Britain’s inverted political colors makes looking at the maps confusing until you remember). Personally I was rooting for a Remain alliance to win, or at least do well enough to force Johnson’s hand.

To some degree I’m writing this for myself so I can try and process the news, as it’s been bugging me for a while.

So what the hell went wrong...

1) First past the post continues to suck: When all of our republics were getting going in the 16th to 18th centuries, local elections with the local who got the most votes winning made a certain kind of sense. Trying to administer some kind of national proportional election across whole countries with communication limited to people on horseback would have been problematic. Now though it’s bullshit.

Labour, Liberal Democrats, and the Scottish National Party combined for 47.7% of the vote. They won 40.3% of the seats in Parliament. Conservatives got 43.6% of the vote and 56.1% of the seats. In other words, Conservatives got 2 million votes less than their opponents but will absolutely dominate Parliament.

2) Labour kind of shit the bed: Personality politics don’t really affect me too much for British politics because they’re not my politicians. So I don’t really have either admiration or distaste for Corbyn, which obviously is a big deal in Britain. I’m also not reading the right wing news sites, so I’m not getting their anti-Corbyn stuff directly, but it obviously filters into general news sources the same way Fox News content gets into things like the New York Times or Washington Post.

All that said Corbyn was a key component of their flawed strategy. The defining fight of this election, and really much of the last five years was Brexit. However for much of that time Labour never really seemed to have a good answer to the question “What would you do different about Brexit?”

Corbyn was rather publicly pro-Leave back during the referendum, even while campaigning for Remain. Large traditional areas of Labour support voted Leave and so the party under Corbyn’s leadership steered a wishy-washy course of opposing Theresa May and Boris Johnson’s plans, while not committing to an anti-Brexit position either. Until very late in the process, Labour’s position tended to be “We want Brexit to happen, but we want to be the ones negotiating with the EU. If that were to happen we’d obviously get a better deal.” However by this point everyone knows that there’s no magic wand that will somehow give Britain all the benefits of Brexit and none of the penalties.

By the time they came around to “Labour will back a second referendum” they’d already muddied their position. Yes, Labour had a whole platform of ideas and were making strong arguments about defending the NHS etc. But on the defining issue of the generation you could vote for the Conservatives who would be pro-Brexit, the Liberal Democrats and SNP who were clearly anti-Brexit from very early...or Labour who wasn’t a comfortable fit for either and whose leader was kind of wishy-washy at best on the issue.

3) The Left will always be held to a higher standard: The anti-Semitism scandal basically rocked Labour. In a different election it might have blown over but it was another nail in the coffin for this one. Left leaning parties in the modern world are based around social justice as much as economic justice. So racism, sexism, anti-semitism, anti-LGBTQ+, etc are the antithesis of the party’s public ethos. So when a scandal arises it’s lethal to a left leaning politician or party while meaningless to a right leaning party.

If a conservative politician says something racist it’s basically a dog bites man kind of story. If a liberal politician says the same thing, it’s a major news story. Al Franken’s fall is a good example here in the US. The same history wouldn’t have even touched Ben Sasse or James Lankford, but a Democrat couldn’t survive it. Especially at that time.

By the same token “Conservative politician wildly lies to the public” has also become a dog bites man story. So even the revelations about the NHS memo weren’t enough. Especially since the subject was just a bit complicated to explain in a quick soundbite.

4) Strategic Voting only works if the parties ally - This goes back to point one, but a system where you have more than two parties dividing the left only benefits the right. Labour explicitly rejected forming a real alliance with the other left leaning parties (ie agreeing to not run candidates in specific districts in order to avoid dividing the vote). Would it have been enough...probably not, especially since that’s not usually done on a national level. But there’s almost certainly a fair number of districts where the conservatives won thanks to divided opposition votes. Strategic voting sounds good in theory (people are smart enough to figure it out) but in practice most people don’t have access to reams of polling data nor the time to analyze it.

5) Scotland and Northern Ireland are going to be a thing for a while - This is more of a post-election look than a what went wrong but the consequences here are interesting too. For Scotland, their core opposition to Brexit, the handful of Conservative MPs, and the dominance of the SNP really makes questions about Scotland’s future even more pointed. The Scottish referendum was predicated on the fact that independence would have been kind of meaningless, since both countries would still be in the EU. Now the political divide is growing sharper with every election.

For Northern Ireland, all the questions about the Irish backstop just became irrelevant to Brexit. When the DUP’s votes were needed to maintain the government, they could force May or Johnson to bend over backwards to try and appease them. Now...the Conservatives can just stick a customs border in the Irish Sea and say “cool we’re Brexited.” Of course that’s going to give us a LOT more questions about the future status of the two Irelands.

#politics #overly long post

1 note · View note