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Texts From Democrats
Last Saturday, I had this text exchange on my phone:
Oh, by the way, my name’s not Shawn.
This year, I’ve gotten four text messages asking me to support candidates, all Democrat. One was for a US Representative race in New Mexico. I haven’t lived in New Mexico since 2004, and I never had this telephone number there. One was for a US Representative race in Texas, but not in my district. Only one had my correct name and was about a candidate for whom I could actually vote.
This begs a couple of questions:
How accurate are polls if the candidates themselves can’t get the information correct?
How much of Rockstar O’Rourke’s vaunted $38 million is being spent on useless stuff like this?
If the Dems loose North Dakota, Missouri, Florida, Indiana, Arizona, Nevada, maybe New Jersey and Michigan, how quickly is the Betaman going to become a pariah for wasting all that money to lose by 8%?
Published in Elections
I’ve had texts from Beto
Hopefully, most of it.
Was he trying to get a date?
Wanna a ride ?!
They send political spam text messages now?
Those clever [CoC]s, people are sure to vote for them now!
I have a friend in Austin who receives texts like this regularly. He always sends scathing responses. But they keep coming.
I’m getting rotating “fundraising” texts purportedly from GOP names: Rove, Spicer, Gingrich, Ryan. A different name, same message every other day. Saying I have X days left to help. And take advantage of a 5x match. I block the number and it shifts to a new number. I haven’t replied or followed the attached link, but this is a new technique. Pretty sure it’s not GOP fundraising, but still creepy.
I received one as well. When I answer that I was voting for Ted they stopped.
I already found robo calls annoying; this seems substantially worse. At least dropping our land line seemed to help reduce those. What sort of person believes that this will actually help a campaign?
The teachers union in my district bribed us with donuts to go vote. A meeting was announced, clearly stating there will be donuts. Free food is always a draw for teachers. The only announcement was that turnout will be critical in this election – make sure you vote. No candidate endorsement or anything – very surprisingly neutral.
We had to all sign in so the union rep would get reimbursed for the donuts – out of our dues money.
I’ll take donuts over robocalls/texts any day.
With my land line, I look at the Caller ID to see if I should pick up the phone immediately, otherwise I wait until after the Voice Mail announcement. They almost never leave a message.
The voice quality and lack of cross-talk make land lines worth it. And with a simple flip-phone cellular that is off except when travelling, I don’t get many text messages.
Problem solved.
Got rid of all land lines about 7 years ago and have not missed them in the least. 3 weeks ago I got rid of my mother’s land line because the scammers had gotten hold of the number and were relentlessly pursuing her. To the point where they had convinced her to call a cab (she no longer drives), go to Walmart and purchase $3K worth of gift cards and then send the numbers to them. Fortunately the folks at WM wouldn’t sell her the cards and they found my number to rescue her
Land lines are DinoTech. And I have no idea what you’re talking about on “cross-talk”.
Of course . . .
Particularly given that he refuses to do the proper socialist thing and redistribute his millions to candidates in more winnable races.
Free food is a universal draw.
I have a land line that is volume controlled, and has a flasher, so if I don’t hear it ring, I might see it flashing. Probably annoys my neighbors no end. Especially when my Amazon parrot screams “hello, hello” at the top of her lungs. (strange, I hear that bird!) But I don’t get many calls. I do not have voice mail set up on either the land line or my iPhone as I don’t hear well enough to understand what is being said, and usually don’t hear it ring. My family and friends know to speak slowly and loudly enough to identify themselves so I don’t hang up on them. After all these years, professional people ask right up front, is this Kay? My biggest problem is my e-mail. I get 30 to 40 spam and I have to read through them to see if a personal one got caught, then all the rest inboxes dunning me for money. By the time I finish deleting the trash, there will be a couple which I actually subscribed.
Very funny.
Me too. Here’s the first one of mine:
Cross-talk should have been more like cross talking over each other. My Dad’s second wife turns her iPhone into a speaker phone, so once she starts talking you can’t interrupt her until she stops talking, which can be a long time later. And I’m sure you have experienced back and forth talking problems even when speaker phones are not used. Land lines are still more tolerant of these problems.
I was at Motorola when they developed the first (analog) cell phones. As a radio systems engineer, I understand many of the problems inherent in cell phones. Fading as the cell phone is moved, interrupted service, batteries discharging, and the general fragility of the cell phone device itself. Likewise with the complexity of touch screens in cars, traditional dials to set the radio and heat controls are more robust and user friendly. Cells phones are very practical, but not 100% the only answer.
Free anything is a universal draw. Put the word “free” in the newspaper and all sorts of ppl will come out of the woodwork.
Amazon sells parrots?
Oh, but what fun we could have with the replies if only we were as witty as RightAngles…!
When the kids were small, I used to respond to all telemarketers by handing the phone to a toddler. He or she would have a wonderful time (“HI!” “HI!” “HI!” etc.).
I’m thinking this would be an excellent opportunity to teach a toddler all about texting.
Thank the Lord, NO. I was gifted with a Double Yellow Head Amazon Parrot some 14 or 15 years ago. She is now 18 years old, and a certified service bird. Parrots are so blooming smart! When I don’t respond to the ring of the phone or the flasher, she starts yelling “hello“, and then I realize the phone has rung. I have another parrot, a Blue Crowned Conure, also a certified service bird, who will yell, “come in” when he hears a knock at the door or the door bell. I have to keep my door locked, as people will walk right in! Some of the Ricochet members have met them.
I am a proud member of the flip phone/land line society also. I can do anything I need with my flipper with the added advantage that if you join me for dinner, I will actually be engageable. The land line just gives me a third connection–satellite TV, cable internet, and wired land line–who knows if it will ever be needed.
Sums up most unions and governments: tax your pay, give you a donut, and expect you to be thankful.
I can’t imagine the Leftist energy in your average teachers’ lounge. Yikes!
Is the FTC’s donotcall.gov site worth anything? Except for one text from the Beto campaign, it seems to work on my mobile but everyone and their uncle calls on the landline. I do see there’s a place to report unwanted calls and texts, if it happens to bother you. The frequent sales calls on the landline bother me a lot, especially the ones that continue to offer to buy the time share property I never had.
There needs to be a way to stop text spam, including but not limited to political text spam.
An article about spam text messages.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/10/26/political-text-messages-during-elections-and-they-legal/1754424002/
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The ‘5x’ campaign is the NRSC, so yes, I’m afraid it’s GOP fundraising. They spam the [CoC] out of my e-mail, fortunately gmail plus Apple Mail puts almost all of them in the Junk folder.