Poll Results–2/1/2015

 Posted by at 12:28 pm  Blog News, Politics
Feb 012015
 

Here are the results of our “Chamber Leader” poll.  Politics Plus Polls are not scientific, because those who respond are not balanced according to demographic categories.   Therefore, we do not accurately reflect the makeup of the US population.  Nevertheless, our polls are usually factually accurate, and more often than not, they reflect thinking or will of the national majority.

0201Poll

The site that hosts had disabled the ability to copy the comments, but you can still read them on their site.  To read your comments, click here.

I voted for Agent Orange, because he is a more frequent victim od TEAbuggery than Bought Bitch Mitch.

The new poll is up.  Especially if you were too lazy to vote in 2014, vote here now.  You need to learn how to make voting habitual.

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Jan 252015
 

60-Nameless

This is Nameless’ sixth Big Mouth Award, having won in December 2012, September 2010, May 2010, July 2011 and August 2011. He isn’t a blogger, so you can’t follow him home, but he comments almost daily here.  He is the kind of participant that every blogger dreams of having, because instead of just stating opinions (which is fine in itself), he adds to the content of my articles with many useful links. His sense of humor is superb!  I even receive comments about his contributions on other sites where I share our articles.

I sure has been a long time, but because this is an even multiple of 10,000, I will be contacting him for mailing address and having a prize made for him.

Please join me in thanking and congratulating Nameless! It’s long overdue!

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Poll Results–1/16/2014

 Posted by at 12:48 am  Blog News, Politics
Jan 162015
 

Here are the results of our “2015 Attitude” poll.  Politics Plus Polls are not scientific, because those who respond are not balanced according to demographic categories.   Therefore, we do not accurately reflect the makeup of the US population.  Nevertheless, our polls are usually factually accurate, and more often than not, they reflect thinking or will of the national majority.

0116Poll

And here are your comments:

Showing comments 18 of 8.

Posted by Patty  January 14, 2015 at 2:24 am.  

 

As much as I wanted to say optimistic, I had to vote pessimistic because the GOP controls both houses and there are still DINOs around. Pres. Obama has the "veto pen" but how much will he use it?

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Posted by Rixar13  January 3, 2015 at 9:29 am.  

 

Pessimistic – Republican dominated wing nut jobs.

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Posted by Edie  January 1, 2015 at 5:23 pm.  

 

I am pessimistic, remember, I got Mitch for my senator AGAIN!

 

Posted by Joanne D  January 1, 2015 at 4:52 am.  

 

Having seen Democrats – not all, of course, but too many – snatch defeat from the jaws of victory over the past two years, I am quite worried that a GOP majority in Congress, held at bay only by the pen of one man, will lead to more of the same, and exponentially. I would live to be wrong.

 

Posted by SoINeedAName  January 1, 2015 at 4:16 am.  

 

While I’m not a "Glass-half-full" type of guy (I just think they got a glass twice as big as they needed), I am optimistic.

 

Unemployment rates tumbling

Stock market soaring

Millions more now covered with health insurance

While health care costs themselves are stabilizing

National deficit declining

Putin humbled

Gas prices in a nose dive

… So I say "Thanks Obama!" – and mean it!

 

Of course the Rethuglicans will do their best to thuck fings up … it’s what they do best – and after all, they’ve had 6 years of practice at it

 

Posted by gene  January 1, 2015 at 1:47 am.  

 

I am optimistic by nature, a glass is half full guy, if I could I surround myself with people who feel that way. Pessimists just wear me down. I liken that to Chicken Little – when the truth is the sky never does actually fall. I expect the best, deal with what comes, but do not let whatever comes, change my nature. I am happier when I am positive. In terms of this particular topic, politics, I am happy because I believe the republicans will spend the next two years showing their true colors to the world and the American people, and the President will hold them at bay with his veto pen which they cannot override. But in 2016, the whole country will have seen what they would do if given control of both branches and that will ensure another Democratic president. See? Optimism at work. :^

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Posted by Jim Phillips in reply to gene  January 1, 2015 at 2:22 am.  

 

I liked Gene’s response (see above) but in discussing with my coffee buddies at the coffee shop, I’m not that pessimistic. lol. But, I do worry…

 

Posted by Jim Phillips  January 1, 2015 at 1:39 am.  

 

The GOP/TP takeover and control of Congress – both the House of Representatives & the Senate.

I was surprised that the plurality disagreed with me on this one.  We have three branches of government.  Republicans control two.  That’s why I feel pessimistic.  If they also had the White House, I’d be very pessimistic.  If we has either the House or the Senate I’d be neutral.  I agree with Gene’s answer long term, but the poll specified this year.

There is a new poll.  Name your poison.

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Jan 032015
 

In December, Politics Plus was little changed from November.  At the suggestion of Gene from Care2, I considered returning to graphics from AWSTATS.  Although AWSTATs tends to miss a lot of valid traffic, while trying to filter out bots, crawlers, spammers and hackers, it has other features that make it worth using.  The graphs are easier to understand, and it has the ability to isolate time periods to compare, as I do below.

Here is our latest summary:

Stats12-2014

Data from December 2014:

Reported period

Month Dec 2014

 

 

 

 

First visit

01 Dec 2014 – 00:01

 

 

 

 

Last visit

31 Dec 2014 – 23:58

 

 

 

 

 

Unique visitors

Number of visits

Pages

Hits

Bandwidth

Viewed traffic *

10,150

 

29,249

(2.88 visits/visitor)

76,869

(2.62 Pages/Visit)

219,862

(7.51 Hits/Visit)

3.10 GB

(111.26 KB/Visit)

Not viewed traffic *

 

 

 

325,283

368,893

5.64 GB

Not viewed pages includes people who read RSS feeds  and RSS readers.

Data from December 2013:

Reported period

Month Dec 2013

 

 

 

 

First visit

01 Dec 2013 – 00:00

 

 

 

 

Last visit

31 Dec 2013 – 23:59

 

 

 

 

 

Unique visitors

Number of visits

Pages

Hits

Bandwidth

Viewed traffic *

9,171

 

30,033

(3.27 visits/visitor)

74,284

(2.47 Pages/Visit)

224,365

(7.47 Hits/Visit)

5.15 GB

(179.7 KB/Visit)

Not viewed traffic *

 

 

 

248,731

320,245

4.45 GB

The last two Decembers are very similar.

Here is our latest ClustrMap:

Map12-2014

ClustrMap misses a lot of, because many visits can’t be easily traced to a location.  It shows only the visits from March 2 to November 2, when it was last updated.  The map has not been updated in over a month.

Here are our top five articles:

Jane Smiley: Capitalist Pigs 1/17/2010 1,528
Another Police Murder 11/29/2914 528
Open Thread–9/8/2014 524
Open Thread–12/15/2014 311
Open Thread–12/12/2014 304

I’m pleased to see more from 2014.  For years my Open threads were largely ignored, but lately they have become one of our most popular items.

Here are our top non-blog/news referrers:

Care2 1,694
Google 1,611
Stumbleupon 600

Care2 and Google are down,  Stumbleupon is up.  Microsoft Bing fell below 100, so it is not listed.

Here are our top  blog/news referrers:

http://crooksandliars.com/
http://oakcreekforum.blogspot.com/
http://infidel753.blogspot.com/
http://bildungblog.blogspot.com/
http://frieddogleg.blogspot.com/
http://zenman1550.tumblr.com/
http://www.politicususa.com/
http://theleftinme.blogspot.com/
http://www.synapticstew.com/
http://jackjodell53.wordpress.com/
http://alterx.blogspot.ca/
http://rixar13.wordpress.com/

Normally I include fifteen here, but these twelve are the only ones with two or more referrals.  But that’s up two from last month.  Putting their links here increases the ratings of their sites, so this “linkey love” is our thank you for their support.

Here are our top commentators.  As the resident Big Mouth, I don’t count.  Those who leave their URLs in their comment headers, also get “linkey-love” here.

Lynn Squance (101)
Edie (67)
Joanne D (65)
Patty (51)
Rixar13 (49)
Pat A (46)|
SoINeedAName (40)
jla (30)
Jerry Critter (23)
Jim Phillips (21)
Vivian B. (17)
mamabear (9)
Steve (7)
Arielle (6)
dave c (4)
Infidel753 (4)

There are over 15, because of a tie.

We have 259,369 links on other websites.

Our Technorati rating no longer exists, because Technorati no longer exists as a blog rating entity.    They have left a vacuum in blog authority rating.  If you learn of someone filling that need before I do, please let me know.  I have registered with Quantcast.  They miss a ton of raw data, but among those they can identify they will be a valuable source of information.  I learned that hard way that I have to pull the data off before a new month starts.  However I did learn that we are mostly older, well educated, poor, and politically active.  That remains the same for December.  I forgot to get the data off on time.

As of Midnight on January 1, we have 5,288 articles and 59,164 comments.

I recommend using your own avatar. Go to Gravatar.  Sign up using the email address you use to post comments here and upload the image you want to use as your avatar.  Whenever you comment under that email address here or on any WordPress blog (several others too), that image will become your avatar.

A new year is upon us.  We know we will be facing major challenges.  Exactly what they will be remains unclear, as we need to see exactly what slithers out of the Republican Party’s bag of villainous behavior.  Whatever it takes, we’ll do it together!

Thank you for all that you do.

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Jan 032015
 

59-PatA

First, please accept my apology.  The holiday season has been so hectic for me, that I did not even realize we had passed the number until I was collecting data yesterday.

Pat has been a regular commenter here for over a year and followed us on Care2 for over a year.  Therefore, I’m quite surprised that it took her this long to comment a the right time to get the award.  She hails from across the pond, and is exactly whom I think of when I see British programing featuring a slightly eccentric Lady of manor where the pets rule.  Her heart is bigger than the Queen’s bank account.  She is dedicated to food safety, human rights, animal rights, and the environment.  Her sense of humor is magnificent, and her comments make her well loved by all here.

Please join me in reminding her just how special she is.  Thanks Pat!

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Poll Results–1/1/2015

 Posted by at 12:00 am  Blog News, Politics
Jan 012015
 

Here are the results of our “Naughty or Nice” poll.  Politics Plus Polls are not scientific, because those who respond are not balanced according to demographic categories.   Therefore, we do not accurately reflect the makeup of the US population.  Nevertheless, our polls are usually factually accurate, and more often than not, they reflect thinking or will of the national majority.

0101Poll

And here are your comments.

Showing comments 111 of 11.

Posted by Lynn Squance  December 24, 2014 at 2:19 pm.  

 

I get toys (actually I gave them to my great neice and nephew). I think I’ve been good . . . I even invited my not so nice neighbour (she can be very nice when she wants something) for Christmas dinner because I know she lost custody of her daughter because of her imbibing and I thought she might appreciate some company. She turned me down which OK. I will spend some time with my mother. I saw mother on the 23rd and for the first time, I had rivers of tears because of how downhill she has gone. My mom’s 2 grandmothers died Christmas Eve 7 years apart and her stepfather died New Year’s Eve. I think the memories of those events and seeing my mother’s condition overwhelmed me when I wasn’t looking.

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Posted by Dandelion in reply to Lynn Squance  December 28, 2014 at 2:42 amFrom 72.188.9.x   

 

I’m so sorry Lynn if I could reach you I’d give a big hug. My Mom was in that difficult place last year at this time. This year she isn’t here to hear her voice but at least I know she is free from the conditions that held her mind and body at the end. Sending love and light to you…hugs too.

 

Posted by Lynn Squance in reply to Dandelion  December 28, 2014 at 9:49 am.  

 

Thanks Sheryl. I call them "virtual hugs" and I very much appreciate them. The contraction of muscles on her right side is very painful, and now her left is starting to contract. But she fights to maintain her last bits of independence and dignity by holding a small sandwich in her left hand and eating it. But this will be gone all too soon as well.

 

I think when it is my mother’s turn to take the next steps in her soul’s journey, she will say, if I might paraphrase MLK Jr, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, I am free at last!"

 

Posted by Patty  December 19, 2014 at 7:01 am.  

 

I had to say "Naughty" because of all the bad stuff I post on FB and all the arguments I get into with my RepublicanT friends.

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Posted by Pat A  December 19, 2014 at 12:59 am.  

 

I get toys – well, to be factual, my rescue cat and rescue dog get toys – but I get to watch them play so happily with them!

 

Posted by Rixar13  December 17, 2014 at 1:11 pm.  

 

I’ve been naughty. I get coal.

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Posted by Edie  December 16, 2014 at 4:39 pm.  

 

I lied, I just WISH I had been so naughty I would get expensive toys.

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Posted by Yvonne White  December 16, 2014 at 1:24 pm.  

 

Actually, I got propane..;

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This year is slim pickin’s so only our autistic son gets presents. No big deal.

 

Posted by Joanne D  December 16, 2014 at 4:47 am.  

 

I get toys. Neither I nor anyone I know can afford to give coal. (At least not real coal. Dollar Tree has some chocolate coal which isn’t bad.

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Posted by gene jacobson  December 16, 2014 at 3:46 am.  

 

I am nice, but have been so naughty to and about the right wingnuts, I think I’m in the last category and should by myself something nice that I can use to be even naughtier next year to them. :^

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Posted by Arielle   December 16, 2014 at 2:49 am.  

 

Actually, I’ve been rather nice all things considered – however, I keep having naughty thoughts mostly about Faux Noise and the GOP and wishing for a quiet way to get rid of both…..

My answer is obvious.  TomCats are naughty by definition.

The new poll is up.  Please vote.

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Poll Results–12/16/2014

 Posted by at 12:02 am  Blog News, Politics
Dec 162014
 

Here are the results of our “Meaning of Christmas” poll.  Politics Plus Polls are not scientific, because those who respond are not balanced according to demographic categories.   Therefore, we do not accurately reflect the makeup of the US population.  Nevertheless, our are usually factually accurate, and more often than not, reflect will of the national majority.

1216Poll

And here are your comments:

Showing comments 110 of 10.

Posted by Patty  December 13, 2014 at 3:51 am.  

 

Christmas to me is about Giving. 365 days a year are about Giving too.

 

Posted by Rixar13  December 11, 2014 at 7:05 am.  

 

http://youtu.be/ZGpATMO-6_o?list=PLAF22812129BFCD50

 

Posted by Rixar13  December 11, 2014 at 7:04 am.  

 

http://youtu.be/ZGpATMO-6_o?list=PLAF22812129BFCD50

 

Bill Maher is right on with this segment.

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Posted by mamabear  December 3, 2014 at 5:40 am.  

 

I voted Santa,Family and Giving. When your children are little it’s the wonder and innocents you see in their eyes. Family it’s so exciting to get up 5am and see all the fun the day brings. But giving is by far the most fun because it brings such happiness to others.

 

Posted by Nancy W  December 1, 2014 at 5:22 am.  

 

Personally for me it’s about Jesus although I don’t belong to a church, family of course and giving. Despite the fact we donate food most of the year to food banks we also buy some toys.

I think it’s more fun if you have young children who believe in Santa. But it really has become to focused on how many presents people get and what those presents are. And way too many parties if you ask me.

 

Posted by Joanne D  December 1, 2014 at 4:55 am.  

 

I don’t really know how to answer this, as it is about all of the above, and more. Light. That just when the days are shortest and it is darkest, there is a turnaround, and the light will return. Rebirth. New beginnings. Equality (both rich are poor were called, the rich by a star, the poor by an angel, to come and see, and both responded – to an event that is for everyone.

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In a way I don’t participate, because I don’t go to church, I don’t go to parties, I don’t decorate, I don’t bake. All of those are because of allergies (well, I could bake wheat-free, but with limited mobility it’s not a pleasure, and the result isn’t really worth it to me). I could be resentful that I have had my Christmas stolen by allergies, but I’m not, because what Christmas is REALLY about is in the spirit. And I have all of that. And, as Lona says, the music.

 

Posted by SoINeedAName  December 1, 2014 at 3:47 am.  

 

For several decades now we dropped the gifts, and instead we each pick a charity to donate to. Before, all we were doing was exchanging shopping lists for each other. And none of us really needed anything to start with.

 

So now our Christmas is just like our Thanksgiving … only with better decorations!

 

(OK – when there were little kids, we would get THEM gifts. But there are no little kids now.

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Posted by Lona  December 1, 2014 at 1:25 am.  

 

The Dutch weren’t very big on Christmas 50 years ago, they celebrated St. Nicolaas on the 5th of December. But my mother had taken the grand German Christmas tradition with her when she came to Holland and we celebrated it with a tree, presents, cookies and fruit and a lavish meal with the whole family when nobody else did. But it has become popular, i.e. very commercialized here too and we stopped celebrating it after my parents died.

These past few years I’ve been Down Under at Christmas and I don’t get into the Christmas feeling at all in the subtropics when it near 40 degrees Celsius out, even with Bach’s Weinachtsoratorium or Händel’s Messiah playing, so we now skip it all together and just donate money to charity – Doctors without borders fighting Ebola this year.

 

Posted by Edie  November 30, 2014 at 4:24 pm.  

 

For me, it is the pleasure of family being together and giving, both to family and those less fortunate.

 

Posted by Lynn Squance  November 30, 2014 at 1:45 pm.  

 

For me, as a Christian, Christmas is about Jesus, family and giving. But non Christians, and that includes right wing pseudo Christians as well as peoples of other faiths, can celebrate the spirit of Christmas too by giving of themselves to others that truly need to know they matter, that they are loved. Oh, and BTW, Christmas can be celebrated 365 days per year! Giving knows no limit or time frame.

I chose Jesus, family and giving.  The first is by definition.  The third is what he did.  While I am alone, my guys in prison and you all are my family.

The new poll is up and voting in a timely manner is critically important. 😉

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Dec 032014
 

In November, Politics Plus was significantly improved in all categories.  Here is our latest summary:

usage11-2014

Stats11-2014

In the monthly totals, a Site is any website from which someone accessed our server, a Hit is every access attempt to our server, and a File is every access attempt to our server that returned data.  The difference between Hits and Files is from access attempts that were sent in error or damaged in transit and failed attempts by hackers, spammers, phishers, and Republicans to access the back end and take control of the site.  Any questions?

Here is our latest ClusterMap:

Map11-2014

ClusterMaps misses a lot of, because many visits can’t be easily traced to a location.  It shows only the visits from March 2 to November 2, when it was last updated. 

Here are our top five articles:

A Republican Freedom 10/24/2012 1,242
Jane Smiley: Capitalist Pigs 1/17/2012 788
How RepubliCorp Is Ducking Taxes 7/27/2014 444
Boehner Limp Again, McConnell Walks Away 7/30/2011 388
|
Open Thread–11/10/2014 327

Several years are represented here.  Finally one from last month made the list.  There should be more.

Here are our top non-blog/news referrers:

Care2 2,000
Google 1,863
Stumbleupon 438
Microsoft Bing 112

All are up.

Here are our top  blog/news referrers:

http://infidel753.blogspot.com/
http://frieddogleg.blogspot.com/
http://bildungblog.blogspot.com/
http://progressiveerupts.blogspot.com/
http://www.politicususa.com/
http://www.oakcreekforum.blogspot.mx/
http://disaffectedanditfeelssogood.blogspot.com/
http://www.synapticstew.com/
http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/
http://zenman1550.tumblr.com/

Normally I include fifteen here, but these ten are the only ones with two or more referrals.  But that’s up two from last month.  Putting their links here increases the ratings of their sites, so this “linkey love” is our thank you for their support.

Here are our top commentators.  As the resident Big Mouth, I don’t count.  Those who leave their URLs in their comment headers, also get “linkey-love” here.

Lynn Squance (122)
Patty (93)
Edie (87)
Joanne D (75)
Pat A (47)
jla (41)
Jerry Critter (22)
mamabear (22)
Vivian B. (20)
SoINeedAName (15)
Jim Phillips (14)
Phil (14)
Arielle (11)
Dotti Lydon (5)
Infidel753 (5)
Rixar13 (5)
Yvonne White (5)

There are over 15, because of a tie.

We have 260,345 links on other websites.

Our Technorati rating no longer exists, because Technorati no longer exists as a blog rating entity.    They have left a vacuum in blog authority rating.  If you learn of someone filling that need before I do, please let me know.  I have registered with Quantcast.  They miss a ton of raw data, but among those they can identify they will be a valuable source of information.  I learned that hard way that I have to pull the data off before a new month starts.  However I did learn that we are mostly older, well educated, poor, and politically active.

As of Midnight, December 1, we have 5,243 articles and 58,419 comments.

I recommend using your own avatar. Go to Gravatar.  Sign up using the email address you use to post comments here and upload the image you want to use as your avatar.  Whenever you comment under that email address here or on any WordPress blog (several others too), that image will become your avatar.

Well, the elections are past.  We did not get out the vote.  That is not your fault.  Instead of running as Democrats, far too many of our candidates who had won in conservative areas, ran away from our party and lost.  Republican candidates were bold with their lies.  Our candidates whispered our truths, if they repeated them at all.  Campaign 2016 is now.  It’s time to stuff party offices with progressives and support progressives in primaries for every position from dog catcher up.  God willing, I shall be here to find you all the tools I can. 

Thank you for all that you do.  Onward!

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