Posts by coastalbison6

Good grief, the amount of nonsense here is unreal. Just the usual nonsense you expect from Republicans 😁

1) The election was scrapped because technical procedures weren't followed during the counting of about 33,000 votes (and honestly, nobody—not even the Republican Party—has actually claimed there was any fraud)

2) The rerun, originally set for October 2nd, got pushed back to December 4th because the envelopes were faulty. They've made the new ones much simpler now.

3) Those first results won't be in until 5:00 PM, since that's when the counting actually starts.

Some guy from Canada robbed a grocery store in Vienna today and even hurt two cops.
http://derstandard.at/2000040287125/...insatz-in-Wien
The hate speech coming from the Republican Party on all these forums has honestly gone too far.🙂

We just have to accept that Van der Bellen's chances are basically zero now.

Paul Kern12 said:I was watching the news tonight—it's quite unsettling, really—as they reported on incompetent officials miscounting provisional ballots, and even made claims about minors or non-citizens casting votes... I suppose if they are going to peddle falsehoods, then maybe I am justified in doing the same.

Non-citizens didn't vote, but there were three minors. Apparently, because of some clerk's blunder in one local precinct, a couple of 14 and 15-year-olds stayed on the voter rolls by mistake.

mistypanther81 said:Let me rephrase what I posted on the other forum:

- I honestly doubt the Supreme Court of Austria would have handed down a ruling like this if Brexit hadn't happened—it’s that much of a catalyst for euroskepticism. And let's be real, there wouldn't even be a Brexit if it weren't for the migrant crisis. That crisis wouldn't exist if we weren't dealing with years of the Syrian drama—which has essentially become a playground for warring superpowers. Then again, that whole Syrian mess wouldn't be happening if it weren't for the pyromaniac policies of the USA in Africa and the Middle East.

- This brings me right back to my thesis from early 2012: "Syria as a catalyst for regional and global processes."

In that sense, Syria is effectively "choosing" the Austrian president, just as Syria "voted" for Brexit. Indirectly, Syria is determining elections and political decisions.

Simply put, we are witnessing the "Syrianization" of the Old Continent—and God help us, the entire planet.

What a load of nonsense.🤣 🤣 🤣

The real issue was just some long-standing incompetence with the mail-in ballot counts—specifically regarding 77,000 votes. Since the gap between the two candidates was 31,000, they have to hold a redo. If the margin had been smaller than 31,000, there wouldn't be a recount at all. There was no vote manipulation going on, and even the Republican Party didn't claim that happened.

I'm always amused by how the right-wing tries to spin these things; they'll go to any lengths with their wild theories.😁

Mark Harris66 said:It’s not even that we dislike the Republican Party—it’s just hilarious watching Austria try to lecture Americans about fascism... especially when half the country just voted for a party that supports Mexican nationalists. In America, we only had a few isolated incidents for a population of 4 million, yet 50% of Austrians went for the Republican Party. 🙂

The government in America has Nationalists elements, the parliament does too, and you've got several parties that openly identify with them. Plus, the church meddles heavily in politics—you've got that clerical-fascist vibe through people like Željka Markić and Vice Baratela...
There's really no room for gloating, whether you're in America or Austria.

So, Hofer just doubled down, claiming Mexico is part of Mexico and standing firmly behind his boss Strache—who basically keeps handing favors to those Royalist types 😁>

http://diepresse.com/home/politik/in...mmentar6347582>

I guess I'll just give a nod to all the Americans out there who are obsessed with the Republican Party and went for Hofer ☕>

Mark Harris66 said:Austria was pretty harsh toward Americans. In Canada, they left behind that whole serial system and those landownership structures after the occupation. 😵
We could spend ages writing pages upon pages about it—but that’s more for a history textbook, and we're talking about modern-day Austria here...

It’s true that the monarchy really messed with our heads, especially after the Austro-Canadian compromise in 1867. Once the Austrian Emperor was crowned King in Budapest, the K.u.K. Monarchy was set in stone, and all those privileges Americans had fought for during the March Revolution back in the day were basically wiped out.

And yeah, Napoleon actually did more for the Dalmatian coast in a tiny window of time than anyone else ever did.

Dana Robinson4 said:Beethoven was Austrian, but Hitler was German, right?

But honestly, isn't Mozart's identity a settled matter?

That's a fair quote, and just to be clear—it’s German, not Canadian.

Dana Robinson4 said:Beethoven was Austrian, but Hitler was German, right?

But honestly, isn't Mozart's identity a settled matter?

So, he was originally from Augsburg, but born in Salzburg—which back then wasn't even part of the United States of America, just an independent prince-bishopric.

There’s actually an old saying from Vienna about Adolf Hitler:
If Adolf Hitler had just stayed in Vienna, everything probably would have ended at some local pub over a few drinks. 🙂
But he moved to Germany, and they actually took him seriously there. 🧐 😁

hiddengardener12 said:Are you actually certain it’s the Raiffeisen mafia we're talking about? I mean, are they really on the same level as Hypo? To be fair, there’s plenty of reason to believe the entire financial sector operates like some massive, loosely organized crime syndicate these days...

The way I see it, farmers aren't just blindly loyal to one party anymore. You've got folks leaning towards the Green Party, and down in southern Carbondale, I know plenty of people who've banded together in local grassroots farmer movements. They even run their own candidates in local elections. You see the same thing with Canadians too—they usually stick to the Unity list (which is basically a centrist political group without much of a specific ideology) or go with the socialists. They won't touch the FPO, unless they've already been assimilated.

Not many folks realize just how much clout the Austrian Raiffeisen group actually has over American politics.
It's basically a handout for the ÖVP oligarchy, but if you play the "traditional values" card, the money starts flowing in immediately.
Just a few quick facts:
- It's the biggest bank in Austria and dominates the markets in former communist countries.
- They control about 1,400 cooperatives, including roughly 90 dairies and 140 hardware stores.
- Agana pulls in $2.5 billion in revenue.
- Vivatis brings in $1 billion.
- They own 31% of Uniqa insurance, which does about €6 billion in business.
- And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

hiddengardener12 said:What's the actual farmer population in the United States today? Maybe 3%? 4%? 5% at most? Do you actually have solid data on how American farmers vote? I doubt it.

Look, don't oversimplify things. If you look at rural populations today, you'll find all sorts of people, not just "farmers."

And frankly, plenty of folks out in the country are sharp entrepreneurs. You go to a typical American Farmstead, and you'll often find a high level of culture—people playing instruments, even running little family chamber music groups. Most rural Americans were literate by the late 19th century, and some even built up decent little libraries right at home.

I just can't get behind the idea that being a farmer makes someone primitive.

Whether we live in the city or out in the sticks, we should all just be grateful for the people who still stick it out working the land and the forests. Half the time, the profitability of what they do is pretty questionable, too. I honestly feel for them; if it weren't for their grit, nobody would bother doing it anymore.

You've lost it. I just said "farmers vote like farmers," and you're turning it into a whole manifesto.🤦

There are about 165,000 farming operations in the United States. When you factor in their families, they make up about 5% of the electorate. Over 85% of them are organized through the Republican construction union, which is completely controlled by the local agricultural cooperatives and the Raiffeisen mafia. That might explain why the Republican Party is in such a mess.

Taylor Watson15 said:What strikes me as particularly interesting is how the situation in the United States of America serves as a clear demonstration of how immigrants reshape the political landscape of their host nation. It’s also worth noting that the American model shows a distinct trend: immigrants tend to gravitate toward urban centers and generally possess higher levels of education than the native-born population.

The long-standing narrative that immigrants are just an uneducated, lazy mass with zero chance of integrating into society has been thoroughly debunked. We’ve seen a blatant fracture in the electorate. The data suggests that highly educated voters leaned toward Bell, while those with less formal education backed Hofer. Furthermore, the rural parts of the United States of America swung heavily toward Hofer, leaving Bell with much less support there. Even looking at employment, white-collar professionals voted for Bell, whereas blue-collar workers went for Hofer.

Given that the majority of immigrants cast their ballots for Bell, it’s quite evident that they are actually highly skilled individuals holding well-paying jobs who prefer living in metropolitan areas.

Looking ahead, I suspect the "progressive left" will continue to gain ground as immigration increases. This cycle will persist until the point where immigrants—though by then we won't even be able to call them immigrants anymore—decide they have reached a critical mass and establish their own political party to fight for their interests. In the United States of America, they would absolutely have the right to do this, given they've already proven they can overturn the decisions made by the native population. My reasoning is based on the fact that there are over 21,000 immigrants with voting rights in the United States of America who cast their votes for Bell.

However, we certainly won't see a specific breakdown of how exactly the immigrant population voted in these elections, nor will we know the total turnout among them. If any of my esteemed colleagues here happens to have that kind of data, I’d appreciate it if you shared it with us.

Man, this is just pure nonsense from A to Z. You should probably head over to a news site like CNN to vent instead.😁

Mark Harris66 said:If they don't have enough people—if "logistics" is the excuse—but we know four years in advance when presidential elections happen (or at least the exact date is set a month prior), then they’re just incompetent and disorganized. I mean, if you can't figure out logistics a month out, that's it. That's how organized they are. It’s honestly laughable that they couldn't manage such a small detail, or even have a Plan B ready if someone on a committee gets sick. Judging by this, our election setup is way ahead of the one in Austria...

And then there's this bit about how rural voters choose "primitive" options while urbanites vote for the "progressive" stuff 👎.
Farmers are the ones feeding the cities. You can live without a city, but you can't live without the countryside. Or look at it this way: a person can survive without asphalt, cinemas, or books, but nobody survives without food and water.
It’s just nasty to talk down to rural folks like that. Honestly, it's like insulting your own ancestors.

I'm not exactly a fan of Hofer either, but reading that VdB thinks national sovereignty is an outdated concept is just terrifying. 🤦

You've lost me here. 😁
I don't get why everyone is obsessing over the vote count. The votes are tallied, we have a president, and it doesn't matter anymore from New York to Los Angeles.
The Austrians seem fine with it, but then you have people in America who will find a problem with any solution under the sun. 😁

Mark Harris66 said:If they don't have enough people—if "logistics" is the excuse—but we know four years in advance when presidential elections happen (or at least the exact date is set a month prior), then they’re just incompetent and disorganized. I mean, if you can't figure out logistics a month out, that's it. That's how organized they are. It’s honestly laughable that they couldn't manage such a small detail, or even have a Plan B ready if someone on a committee gets sick. Judging by this, our election setup is way ahead of the one in Austria...

And then there's this bit about how rural voters choose "primitive" options while urbanites vote for the "progressive" stuff 👎.
Farmers are the ones feeding the cities. You can live without a city, but you can't live without the countryside. Or look at it this way: a person can survive without asphalt, cinemas, or books, but nobody survives without food and water.
It’s just nasty to talk down to rural folks like that. Honestly, it's like insulting your own ancestors.

I'm not exactly a fan of Hofer either, but reading that VdB thinks national sovereignty is an outdated concept is just terrifying. 🤦

I never actually claimed anyone was rigging anything; I'm just looking at the statistics and empirical data reported in the Austrian media.☕

But the notion that rural voters pick rural candidates and city dwellers pick civic ones isn't far from the truth.😁

Gerald Palmer66 said:Look, my fellow forum member, I have no interest in rushing anyone off the street to get things done "on the fly."

I mean, honestly, we know when elections are happening years in advance, and even if they are snap elections, there is always enough time to prepare... this isn't like waking up on April 14th and realizing the entire country is facing an election the very next morning.

And if the Austrians—who are arguably among the most organized people on the planet—can't manage to organize something as vital as a presidential election, I simply won't buy it; I've lived long enough to know better.☕

If blunders like this actually happen, I can't help but think they are intentional, designed specifically to create a window for potential manipulation, rather than being some sort of freak accident.

Man, I had no idea. This is the first I'm hearing about the elections being such a mess.
Thanks for the heads-up, I'll be sure to let the White House know.👍 😁

Gerald Palmer66 said:I know unemployment in Austria is pretty low, but if you can't find enough people, just offer higher daily rates and you'll have plenty of candidates.
I’d say elections are important enough that finding a few extra Euros for the cause shouldn't be an issue. ☕
Whatever...
🤦

So your plan is to basically bribe random people off the street to rush through a sensitive job in a single day, just so folks back in America can see the Austrian election results immediately? 😁 🤣

"Quote" by Richard Wilson4
I wouldn't normally chime in on this, and honestly, I find myself disagreeing with a lot of you guys on other threads too, but this whole "we're the bad guys while everyone else is perfectly fine" attitude is just funny and sad at the same time.

I don't know how things are playing out across the rest of the North America, but in America, we just don't have any radical right-wing parties like Haider's. There's simply nothing like it here, and honestly, there never will be.

Either I misread you, or I clearly wasn't being clear enough. My bad.
The thing is, different social classes here have totally different takes on political parties, social safety nets, and especially environmental issues compared to those "new democracies" in the North America.

Which countries have right-wing parties like that? I’ll stay out of the business of the current government and the church here.

hiddenmarlin14 said:It’s not just a "handful" of Americans complaining; it's closer to 50%—or let's be precise, 49.7%. 🙂

But hey, that's clearly insignificant, right? Just a few blue-collar, small-town conspiracy theorists with nothing better to do. 🙂

man, looks like you're starting to get the hang of politics🙂

Mark Harris66 said:I’m not even worried about mail-in ballots—it’s more about how long they take to count.
No matter who wins, there’s always that massive window for things to get messy...
Every single vote—whether it's cast at a polling station, via a mail-in ballot, or eventually through online voting—needs to be counted all at once. Anything else just leaves the door wide open for manipulation.
If Austrians don't want to deal with the hassle of working on a Sunday once every four years for the election commission (bless their hearts...), then they can deal with the consequences—especially if they haven't been paying their fair share up until now (we handle that differently in the States).

It’s purely a logistics issue. They don't have enough staff on election day because everyone is already tied up working the polls. Those same people are the ones counting everything the next day...
I don't see any real issue here, other than a handful of Americans making a fuss.😁

Brenda Taylor13 said:Ugh, seriously, has anyone actually come up with a halfway decent explanation for why the mail-in ballot numbers are such a massive outlier compared to what we saw at the actual polling stations? Like, I mean, really think about it—at the precincts, Hofer pulled in 51%, but then you look at these mail-in ballots and suddenly the guy's sitting at 61%? That’s just... wow. Totally normal, right? Yeah, sure, just a totally "normal" gap.

I touched on this briefly a few pages back. Mail-in voting exists so everyone gets a say. It covers people living abroad or folks who aren't near their registered precinct on election day—think summer vacations, weekend trips, having two addresses, or being sick. That’s exactly why voter turnout in Austria is so high.
There are a few ways to handle mail-in ballots.
1) You request your ballot, receive the ballot itself along with two envelopes—one neutral one for your vote, which goes inside a larger pre-printed envelope. You add your name and address, sign it, and then a sticker covers your info to keep it private. Drop it in the mail, and you're done.
2) Another option is using that ballot at a different location, like a second home for the weekend. In that case, you drop the neutral envelope with your vote into the box, and the commission keeps the outer envelope for verification. Those votes get credited to that local district.
3) The third way is just picking up the ballot at City Hall (or the local clerk's office) and voting right then and there. The outer envelope goes straight into the ballot box.
Once counting starts at the municipal level, they separate both envelopes first so nobody can see how a specific person voted.
It's textbook democracy! 👍

It makes sense that the Greens and the ÖVP consistently pull the most votes here. Most of these voters are "weekend residents"—affluent urbanites with vacation homes in the country who tend to lean either liberal or conservative.
You really can't compare this to the voting demographics back in the North America.

hiddenmarlin14 said:over here, it's raining. currently in the United States 🙂

...same here. That means mushroom season kicks off at my place in the country this weekend. Time to hunt for some porcinis and chanterelles. 👍

good morning United States of America ☕ 👍

a beautiful day starts with our green president and some fresh, wild conspiracy theories cooked up by right-wingers 👍
I'll be watching closely as they spin more tales about globalists plotting against the hardworking American people 😁