US Election 2020

[Scot Dutchy]

Just a little thought I read today:

"It's not the people who vote that count, it's the people who count the votes"

Attributed to old Joe Stalin.

[Hermit]

Just a little thought I read today:

"It's not the people who vote that count, it's the people who count the votes"

Attributed to old Joe Stalin.

Sufficiently close to what Stalin very likely did say.

More important is who will be excluded from voting. The vetting of electoral rolls, the destruction of hundreds of the USPS's mail sorting machines and the restriction to one location per county of mailing votes is going to be of tremendous advantage to Trump and GOP candidates.

[Scot Dutchy]

Just a little thought I read today:

"It's not the people who vote that count, it's the people who count the votes"

Attributed to old Joe Stalin.

Sufficiently close to what Stalin very likely did say.

More important is who will be excluded from voting. The vetting of electoral rolls, the destruction of hundreds of the USPS's mail sorting machines and the restriction to one location per county of mailing votes is going to be of tremendous advantage to Trump and GOP candidates.

Entirely agree. Even a banana republic has better facilities for voting. The finger dye will be next.

[Tero]

Trump money and influence failing at controlling GOP

What’s going on with all this GOP static? In the past, Trump has been able to effectively end the careers of people who drew his ire. Former South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford, an occasional Trump critic, was in a tough primary challenge in 2018 when Trump weighed in decisively against him in the closing hours. The New York Times said Sanford’s loss proved that, “having a conservative voting record is less important than demonstrating total loyalty to Mr. Trump.” Later, Jeff Sessions, trying to return to the Senate from Alabama after losing Trump’s confidence as attorney general, learned the same lesson.

One thing that’s changed, operatives in both parties say, is that there is now strength in numbers. A growing roster of Republicans are stepping sideways or ducking from the camera to make sure they are not captured in the same frame as Trump. In addition, Trump is simply too consumed by the resident chaos all around his West Wing in the closing weeks of his own reelection campaign to carry out punitive measures against GOP disloyalists.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/0 ... ump-428433

[Scot Dutchy]

[Tero]

Not showing.

[Tero]

(CNN)A federal judge in Pennsylvania has denied the Trump campaign and Republican Party's bid to make ballot dropboxes in Pennsylvania unconstitutional, in a resounding defeat for the campaign's challenges to voting policy in a key battleground state.

[Tero]

why did this go to a federal judge? Why can't the Texas supreme court decide this?
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/09/politics ... 7C22kFaJm8

Article I of the Constitution:
The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_O ... of_holding

[Svartalf]

Mmmh? maybe because that election includes something, like, federal level, like the POTUS?

[Tero]

Mmmh? maybe because that election includes something, like, federal level, like the POTUS?

The supreme court has not decided very much of this involvement of the feds (and themselves), based on the constitution. There did not even have to be districts for senators or the president, it was up to the state how to count votes and decide the winner. The winner take all idea developed in the early 1800s. States get a number of electors, but that is as far as the guidelines go.

Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Constitution requires each state legislature to determine how electors for that state are to be chosen, and it disqualifies any person holding a federal office, either elected or appointed, from being an elector.

Congress sets a national Election Day. Currently, electors are chosen on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November (the first Tuesday after November 1), in the year before the president's term is to expire. The electors cast their votes on the Monday following the second Wednesday in December (the first Monday after December 12) of that year. Thereafter, the votes are opened and counted by the vice president, as president of the Senate, in a joint session of Congress.

wiki

[Brian Peacock]

Once-dominant Republicans fret Arizona is slipping into blue column

Democrats are on track to win big in Arizona next month — from the presidential election to the state House. And Republicans fear it won’t just be a one-time event but the start of long-term Democratic dominance in the state.

It’s a shift that’s been coming since before President Donald Trump’s election but has only been further accelerated over the past four years by his divisive presidency and the Arizona GOP’s evolution from the party of John McCain to that of Trump.

Now, Republicans are reckoning with signs that the party has taken on a direction that won’t play well in Arizona in 2020 — or ever. With that, Democrats could cement control of state politics, as they have in other suburban-heavy states, like Colorado and Virginia. A win by Democratic Senate nominee Mark Kelly would put both of Arizona’s seats in Democratic hands after decades of GOP control. All Democrats need is two seats in the state House and three seats in the state Senate to flip the state legislature. Turning both chambers would be a first for Democrats in more than 50 years.

“It’s Republicans’ own fault this is happening. It’s their unwillingness to govern,” said Chuck Coughlin, a veteran GOP strategist in Arizona. “They’ve always been the party that wants to put together electoral coalitions to address policy issues. And under the party of Trump, you’re just vilifying people, not coming up with ideas.”...

https://www.politico.com/amp/news/2020/ ... lue-428535

Republican aren't interested in governing, they're interested in power.

[Tero]

We have an actual debate for congreeman/woman.

The GOP dude is using Trump phrases including Chinese virus. He's been congressman 20 years.

Unlike national debates, there were nearly no interruptions. The GOP dude is reading memorized phrases. Only the teleprompter is missing.

[Tero]

Neither has said anything I have not heard before. The GOP is going to fix drugs by fixing insulin prices. That's all.

[Brian Peacock]

Are they really going to stop hedge funds buying up the domrstic production facilities of generics and then hiking prices by 500% - really?

[Tero]

There is some price rigging at pharmacy level, but basically the drug producer controls price. If you buy it from Canada, for example, they will just raise the price for Canada.

Only the old stuff, made in India and China now, is cheap.

And what's the price then? As much as the insurance is willing to pay.