US Politics: Butter Not Guns

[mcbigski]

On 8/10/2020 at 10:18 AM, Fragile Bird said:

Note the case in Belarus - it’s the workers at the polling stations who do the dirty work. I repeat, it’s the workers at the polling stations who do the dirty work. That’s always been the way in America!

....

But, no, it’s gonna be postal workers, right? You played golf again this weekend, right? Did you crash the golf cart again?

IDK, there's been a lot of talk on the right about ballot harvesting in California last time around swinging several districts.  Mail in makes that easier.  Don't have to look as hard to find a trunk full of ballots once you know what your target number is, like Franken, that Senate election in SD about 12 years ago, and that Washington Governors race a few years back.  Hell, in even in CT a judge kept polls open only in Bridgeport and maybe New Haven two hours after the rest of the state which almost certainly put Malloy over the top for Governor.

...

I was on the boat this weekend.  And for the record, I was watching my drive fade to the right when I heard that crash.  Today at the range I realized I was dropping my back knee and hip a bit at the top of my back swing, and Damn once I stopped that, I wish I could bottle those drives.  Beast Mode!

On 8/10/2020 at 10:36 AM, Fury Resurrected said:

Other points I didn’t manage yesterday after an 8 hour drive- 

The post office doesn’t count the votes. The states do that. The post office literally just deliver your ballot if you want them to. Historically- REPUBLICANS are who are more likely to vote absentee.

Historically, absentee voting has not been a problem at all. It works great. Policing, on the other hand, has had many highly publicized problems which include tons of people being literally fucking killed.

 

So, @mcbigski, you are right. They’re not the same at all. Policing is an example of a situation where many examples exist of discrimination (especially in my own city of Minneapolis!), while the post office is a constitutionally mandated service that while being the largest employer of people of color (like my own mother) has not been shown to engage in any kind of misconduct with absentee ballots. Another major difference is that postal workers, if found to be tampering with ballots, would actually be held accountable. Policing isn’t similar because police have given tons of reasons for mistrust and the postal service has not. I have no concerns that my mail carrier might fucking shoot me.

Absentee ballots are already too widely allowed.  Expanding them only creates more space for fraud.  In a truly 50-50 election, then roughly the same proportion from each side isn't going to make it to polls.  Saying anyone and everyone can get a ballot by mail is creating additional opportunity for fraud in a time where we're too divided and untrusting already.  Your faith in the postal would seem touching if you are willing to give cops the same benefit of the doubt.  Have Chauvin et al been held accountable?  He's facing murder 1, right

On 8/10/2020 at 3:08 PM, Tywin et al. said:

I agree a parliamentary system would be better, but there's a next to nonexistent chance it will ever happen here. Rank choice voting is probably our best hope for better representation, of course alongside doing away with all means of voter suppression. 

On 8/10/2020 at 11:34 AM, TrackerNeil said:

(Sorry I mangled the edit function - McBigski.

I'd still prefer straight up approval voting, but then I'm much more of a moderate.

20 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

He's so rich he can't afford to publicly release his tax returns. 

He probably only narrowly avoided another bankruptcy by getting elected in the first place. We're supposed to believe him at his word on what his financials are? The track record begs to differ, most Billionaires pay their bills. Trump has a long history as a deadbeat in his dealings, there's no way I'd believe he's a billionaire unless he disclosed his tax returns.

He may be a billion debter, as in one who owes a billion.

I've said before, I wouldn't be shocked if the Clintons have a higher net worth at this point.

[JGP]

1 hour ago, Simon Steele said:

I'm not sure what you're going on about. I provided you with factual things Harris was part of--what conclusions you derive are your business. But there is more than enough reason for people to legit be skeptical of her.

I'm cool again, so I won't belabor the argument. I'll just leave this with 'Ok, Simon' and avoid using a dismissive emoji.

[JGP]

1 hour ago, ants said:

This article seems to have quite a few details.  Nobody appears dead.  

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/08/11/shooting-near-white-house-under-review-suspect-did-not-have-gun/3342734001/

 

So, attempted Suicide by Secret Service. Sad!

But...

[gets somber, looks at the press core] 

Look, the world is a bad place, ok, bad things happen, bad things happen in bad places, it's been like that for hundreds of years, like that time in grade school when Betsy made fun of my chin, I do have a chin, it's a nice chin, some would say a stately chin, the best, like Gaius Julius Caesar's when he fought and won the Boar War for King and Country.  

[Jaxom 1974]

50 minutes ago, DMC said:

But what about the uneducated white male swing voters?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

ETA:  That HATE identity politics, btw!!!

Fuck 'em?

[S John]

9 minutes ago, JEORDHl said:

So, attempted Suicide by Secret Service. Sad!

But...

[gets somber, looks at the press core] 

Look, the world is a bad place, ok, bad things happen, bad things happen in bad places, it's been like that for hundreds of years, like that time in grade school when Betsy made fun of my chin, I do have a chin, it's a nice chin, some would say a stately chin, the best, like Gaius Julius Caesar's when he fought and won the Boar War for King and Country.  

Quite generous to credit DJT with knowing that ‘Gaius Julius’ goes with ‘Caesar’ or with having the remotest idea what the Boer War was.

[DMC]

10 minutes ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

Fuck 'em?

All to death. /south park.

[JGP]

1 hour ago, S John said:

Quite generous to credit DJT with knowing that ‘Gaius Julius’ goes with ‘Caesar’ or with having the remotest idea what the Boer War was.

I actually paused there, you know. Decided to run with it. Mea culpa.

That war only occurred to me to add there because the other day my brother shared a photo of one of our great grandfathers, uniformed on his horse, who fought in the Boer War. My response: Great. Hopefully we're not related to a war criminal. His to that: I just thought it was a cool photo. Fuck man, chill. 

---

I'm going to go read. Doomscrolling and ridiculous bullshit is getting me way too worked up lately. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

3 hours ago, Wall Flower said:

Also a refugee during his family's flight into Egypt. I often wonder how many Christians have actually read the Bible.

So everyone has experiences that are different, but as a Jew, I was shocked the first time I went to church with my HS sweetheart. They just kept skipping over all the hilarious and/or awful shit in there.

(to be fair though, our god was a dick)

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, The Great Unwashed said:

College football season is circling the drain, and with it any hopes Trump had of a "rocketship" recovery. McConnell is already begging for stimulus talks to resume. The only question is how long it takes Trump to accept reality.

It's almost like I told you so, just like March Madness and the NBA season. Who could have ever thought? 

But opening schools is the best idea, right? Right? RIGHT???

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, mcbigski said:

I'd still prefer straight up approval voting, but then I'm much more of a moderate.

No, big boy, you just are down with voter suppression. It's how your side wins. 

By the way, you in for Pick'em this year? I have to renew the league soon. 

[DMC]

9 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

It's almost like I told you so

Ugh.  Will you ever stop with the annoying "I told you so's" on things so obvious no one needed to be told?  It's a really unappealing quality.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

9 minutes ago, DMC said:

Ugh.  Will you ever stop with the annoying "I told you so's" on things so obvious no one needed to be told?  It's a really unappealing quality.

I will not. And if they were so obvious, why are we here?

[DMC]

1 minute ago, Tywin et al. said:

And if they were so obvious, why are we here?

Because the US politics thread in the general forum of Ran's board is not the American electorate.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

10 minutes ago, DMC said:

Because the US politics thread in the general forum of Ran's board is not the American electorate.

No shit. 

[Jace, Extat]

Series win goes to DMC. Sorry Ty Guy, but you don't have a leg to stand on here.

[Martell Spy]

Chuck Todd haters, we take your point – but it doesn't look like he's going anywhere
When Todd should have reclaimed the mic from a guest who came prepared to steamroll him, he got flattened – again

https://www.salon.com/2020/08/11/chuck-todd-haters-meet-the-press/

Quote

 

There's a way to handle these surrogates, certainly. Jonathan Swan's Axios interview shows in the most basic fashion that it's possible to expose a skilled liar for what he is, even if that liar happens to be America's most powerful politician.

A person in Todd's position – which is to say, a network anchor and host who also holds the position of NBC News' political director, responsible for the network's political coverage – should have learned enough from his many gargantuan failures in recent years to not be stomped upon by a Trump goon.

And yet that is exactly what happened on Sunday's "Meet the Press," when White House trade adviser Peter Navarro floated an alarming "theory." The Democrats, he said, "would prefer to see the economy go into the tank for another 90 days because that harms the president," adding, "I hope that that Capitol Hill hasn't become that cynical, but watching this negotiation, it makes me wonder."

You know – just a musing drawn out of thin air.

How did Todd clap back at that plainly partisan slander? In part with the phrase that sent a crowd of viewers into a fury: "I take your point."

 

 

[GrimTuesday]

9 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

So everyone has experiences that are different, but as a Jew, I was shocked the first time I went to church with my HS sweetheart. They just kept skipping over all the hilarious and/or awful shit in there.

(to be fair though, our god was a dick)

The switch between Old Testament and New Testament works better if you imagine that God is actually a job title given to cosmic pencil pushers at God Corp, and the guy originally assigned to earth really hated his job, so just spent his time playing it like Sim City and finally got fired after fucking a human. New Testament god is his replacement trying to mop up his mess.

Pretty cool to see Ilhan Omar win her primary in pretty decisive fashion, there was well over 2 million spent in independent expenditures against her which was 11 times more than was spent in support of her.

13 minutes ago, Martell Spy said:

Chuck Todd haters, we take your point – but it doesn't look like he's going anywhere
When Todd should have reclaimed the mic from a guest who came prepared to steamroll him, he got flattened – again

https://www.salon.com/2020/08/11/chuck-todd-haters-meet-the-press/

 

I saw some of people on twitter who were calling for Chuck Todd to fired and advocating replacing him with Nichol Wallace, you know, the one who helped prop up a government that committed war crimes. Fucking morons.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

39 minutes ago, Martell Spy said:

Chuck Todd haters, we take your point – but it doesn't look like he's going anywhere
When Todd should have reclaimed the mic from a guest who came prepared to steamroll him, he got flattened – again

https://www.salon.com/2020/08/11/chuck-todd-haters-meet-the-press/

 

Cue the tape:
 

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

21 minutes ago, GrimTuesday said:

Pretty cool to see Ilhan Omar win her primary in pretty decisive fashion, there was well over 2 million spent in independent expenditures against her which was 11 times more than was spent in support of her.

I could have gone without seeing an ad for her during every T.V. break or every other time I watched anything online. This shit has gotten so far out of hand. 

I also enjoyed the nearly daily text even though I told them to lose my number. I wouldn't be surprised if they were all bots given how they were written. 

[Fury Resurrected]

4 hours ago, mcbigski said:

IDK, there's been a lot of talk on the right about ballot harvesting in California last time around swinging several districts.  Mail in makes that easier.  Don't have to look as hard to find a trunk full of ballots once you know what your target number is, like Franken, that Senate election in SD about 12 years ago, and that Washington Governors race a few years back.  Hell, in even in CT a judge kept polls open only in Bridgeport and maybe New Haven two hours after the rest of the state which almost certainly put Malloy over the top for Governor.

...

I was on the boat this weekend.  And for the record, I was watching my drive fade to the right when I heard that crash.  Today at the range I realized I was dropping my back knee and hip a bit at the top of my back swing, and Damn once I stopped that, I wish I could bottle those drives.  Beast Mode!

Absentee ballots are already too widely allowed.  Expanding them only creates more space for fraud.  In a truly 50-50 election, then roughly the same proportion from each side isn't going to make it to polls.  Saying anyone and everyone can get a ballot by mail is creating additional opportunity for fraud in a time where we're too divided and untrusting already.  Your faith in the postal would seem touching if you are willing to give cops the same benefit of the doubt.  Have Chauvin et al been held accountable?  He's facing murder 1, right

I'd still prefer straight up approval voting, but then I'm much more of a moderate.

I've said before, I wouldn't be shocked if the Clintons have a higher net worth at this point.

No, not right. Chauvin has been charged with second degree murder, we will see if he gets held accountable or not. But IF he is, that will be the outlier. Not like Jamar Clark’s killer who is still on the force here. Not like Philando Castille’s killer. Not like Breonna Taylor’s killers. Not like Sandra Bland’s killers. And on and on and on. Even you can name more BIPOC wrongfully murdered by police than instances of voter fraud. Because one of these is a real problem, and one of them is an imaginary problem people drum up to try and make sure people they disagree with don’t get to vote.