All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[Mister Mets]

Because different states hold different primaries at different times? I know this may be a rare case of sincerity on your behalf instead of kowtowing to your Republican instincts, but the problem is we often don't give primaries a lot of sway, what with the voters only being allowed to vote for their political party and the candidates that will represent them, unless it, unsurprisingly, involves the presidential campaign, and sometimes the candidates are decided long before the states that vote later get a chance to make a decision. Meanwhile, I think it's better to just let people have Election Day as a paid holiday so not only will the day have significance (even in odd number years, states and cities will hold elections), but it could help reinvigorate a lost art in the Americana that the older generations keep harping about us ungrateful youngsters are taking for granted.

As for what you say about voting, we're talking about people of voting age who deal with restrictions. Voter ID laws were enacted all around the country under the pretense to stop "voting fraud", which supposedly was rampant and corrupting our most sacred of processes, but given how not only is it sometimes difficult to make it to the polls, but it's also getting harder to get IDs (it took me ages to get my state ID... I literally had to order my birth certificate from a third party service and pay over $50 for said service because nobody else in my family had the ID to get it from the ISDH and my mother was too frail/indignant to get her state ID replaced), not to mention how conclusive evidence of this "rampant" voter fraud is hard to come by legitimately, can we safely say these laws were made to give Republicans an unfair advantage, knowing their constituents will likely have their stuff, while minorities likely won't, and thus will probably not vote or be too stressed out by the process to continue voting in the future? It's like Gerrymandering; Democrats are guilty of taking advantage of it, as well, but when it's clear a political party abuses the system to game voters, shouldn't you have an issue?

Oh, I forgot; it helps Republicans so... it won't bother you.

You quoted the portion of my post where I asked if primaries could be state holidays. So that would be one way to resolve that question. We could also mandate that every locality in the country follow the same primary schedule.

There is obviously low turnout in primaries, but if the argument is that making Election Day a holiday would increase turnout in the general election (where majorities of eligible voters show up in presidential elections) surely it's even more relevant for the primaries where you never have majority participation.

I do have an issue with parties gaming the system, but that can include taking advantage of purported reforms. When it comes to gerrymandering, I get bothered when it appears there isn't a clear standard for what constitutes gerrymandering and how it should be fixed. There's the potential to replace a terrible system (legislative bodies choosing their voters) with a worse system (unelected unaccountable boards making these decisions.) One problem I've noticed with discussions about gerrymandering is a lack of a clear standard about what the alternative should be. If someone wants an independent commission, presumably they should have some clear statutes, but there isn't much of a discussion of what those should be. One person might want to keep communities of interest together, while another might want to increase the number of swing seats, and another might want to have the composition in the legislature reflect the outcome of the vote (IE- that if 58% of voters go for one party, that party gets 6 out of 10 congressional seats). There needs to be some kind of point of reference to evaluate the effectiveness of whoever is in charge of redistricting.

My honest guess is that making Election Day a holiday won't have much of an impact on the outcomes.

You might be projecting because I didn't bring up Islam. I said that because Collins didn't specify Christians but you did.

To believe that it's okay to treat Christian gold star families different from Muslim gold star families would generally be Islamophobic. And you did ask if it was my view and not Collins'.

I suppose the alternative would be that I'm okay with treating Christians better than members of other faiths, although I'm not sure what comments I've made to suggest I hold this view.

Or am I really misreading you when you're defending a Congressman and military chaplain?

You're right! There SHOULD be a state holiday on primary day, and a national holiday on Voting Day. How do we pay for it, you ask? Well, that's easy! We just need to get your party leaders to agree to blow up a few less Muslim children in the coming war. That's a good start.



Oops. You got us, there. Kids can't vote, so what's the point of making voting easier for adults. Damn...oh well. Back to the drawing board, guys!

No, I was simply addressing a distinction before providing evidence that a majority of citizens have voted in recent presidential elections.

It can be pretty rough, keeping voters away from the polls is a political strategy in some places. Around me, all of the rural towns used to have their own polling place, but the county cut down and rolled them into one. Now I would have to drive 20 miles to a town I've never even been just to vote.

Rural voters are going to be at a disadvantage because of the relative expense of providing easy access to polling sites, although this can complicate the typical arguments as they do tend to vote Republican (There are obviously some areas that don't; a rural African-Amerifcan community will tend to be Democratic) so legislation that reverses these kinds of trends in election day resource allocation may end up helping the GOP.

[Theleviathan]

You quoted the portion of my post where I asked if primaries could be state holidays. So that would be one way to resolve that question. We could also mandate that every locality in the country follow the same primary schedule.

There is obviously low turnout in primaries, but if the argument is that making Election Day a holiday would increase turnout in the general election (where majorities of eligible voters show up in presidential elections) surely it's even more relevant for the primaries where you never have majority participation.

Why does it have to be more relevant? Not all things that are voted on are equal. As pointed out earlier, primaries are inconsistent. On top of that, the participation is part of it, but the scale of national elections are much higher. They involve federal, state, and local issues whereas primaries are on a much smaller scale. Yes, more participation in primaries would be great and we should move more towards that, the national election day simply has greater, more widespread impacts. So, no, surely it doesn't matter more.

I'm not advocating for this based on outcomes, but as a way to honor one of our most fundamental principles of government. Right now the gamesmanship the parties play (mostly by Republicans) to suppress votes is partly possible by the restrictions put on Americans to both work and vote. In some places there isn't a problem, but where problems are targeted and intended, such a holiday would greatly reduce the effectiveness.

[InformationGeek]

More classic Texas racism.

BREAKING: Gov. Greg Abbott says Texas will reject refugees, making it the first state to decline resettlement under Trump executive order. Governors of 42 states have said they will allow more refugees.

[PwrdOn]

More classic Texas racism.

It's okay, Democrats just need to sit back doing nothing, and just wait for the inevitable demographic shift to turn Texas blue, the GOP will have absolutely no way to counteract that whatsoever...

[GindyPosts]

More classic Texas racism.

I read the letter. You can pretty much sum it up in three words: Immigrants, Piss Off!

Should be addressed that the majority of the Republican governors who hadn't chimed in about what to do with immigration and refugee amnesty are all in the Gulf Coast region, meaning they'll likely either follow suit or consider stringent actions.

[GindyPosts]

It's okay, Democrats just need to sit back doing nothing, and just wait for the inevitable demographic shift to turn Texas blue, the GOP will have absolutely no way to counteract that whatsoever...

That's the Indiana way!

[Robotman]

It's okay, Democrats just need to sit back doing nothing, and just wait for the inevitable demographic shift to turn Texas blue, the GOP will have absolutely no way to counteract that whatsoever...

If Texas turns blue, the screams from Fox News to get rid of the electoral college will be deafening

[Malvolio]

So, who's next to go? I'm guessing it'll be Tulsi the Russian Asset. Andrew Yang can use his own money to stay in the race until poll numbers tell him he's done.

I'm thinking it will be Mike Bennett. I know, I know. He's still in the race? I would have said the same thing, but I keep getting e-mails from him asking for donations to his Presidential bid. Go figure.

[SquirrelMan]

Iran has admitted shooting down the Ukrainian passenger plane by mistake, citing high drone activity by the US as a factor that had made them trigger happy.

[jetengine]

Iran has admitted shooting down the Ukrainian passenger plane by mistake, citing high drone activity by the US as a factor that had made them trigger happy.

I dont know why they didnt admit that to start with, it puts the onus back on Trump for striking recklessly in the first place

[PaulBullion]

I dont know why they didnt admit that to start with, it puts the onus back on Trump for striking recklessly in the first place

The US shooting down of a civilian Iranian passenger jet in 1988 has, for decades, been one of the events making Iran feel they had the moral high ground over the US. Must have been hard to admit they can make the same mistake.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Trump Ups Iran Accusations As Questions Mount About Justification

Trump told Fox News that Iranian militants had planned attacks on four U.S. embassies hours after Secretary Pompeo said the U.S. didn’t know when or where there would be attacks. So, who's telling the truth, and who's lying like there's no tomorrow? Speaking of falsehoods....

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Trump Official Spreads False Information While Defending Soleimani Assassination

White House press aide Hogan Gidley claimed the U.S. killed Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi and said Osama bin Laden was killed without congressional approval. Keep on lying, guys. It's what your administration does best.

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Rep. Doug Collins Walks Back Claim That Democrats Love Terrorists

The Georgia Republican posted a five-part Twitter thread apologizing and citing his Iraq War experience. Oh, WBEEEEEEEE....

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New Poll Shows It’s Anybody’s Race In Iowa

Sanders rises and Buttigieg falls, but no candidate has a clear edge in the first contest of the Democratic primary.

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Former White House Officials Call For Return Of Regular Press Briefing

It’s been more than 300 days since the White House press secretary gave an official briefing. Why both if all we'll get are lies, fabrications and falsehoods?

[jetengine]

The US shooting down of a civilian Iranian passenger jet in 1988 has, for decades, been one of the events making Iran feel they had the moral high ground over the US. Must have been hard to admit they can make the same mistake.

Tbf though afaik that wasnt after the US had just made an illegal terrorist attack on a foreign nation.

[worstblogever]

Rep. Doug Collins Walks Back Claim That Democrats Love Terrorists

The Georgia Republican posted a five-part Twitter thread apologizing and citing his Iraq War experience. Oh, WBEEEEEEEE....

Oh, rest assured, that motherf***er is on my radar.

[Billy Batson]

New Poll Shows It’s Anybody’s Race In Iowa

Sanders rises and Buttigieg falls, but no candidate has a clear edge in the first contest of the Democratic primary.

Why does the establishment hate Bernie so much bros?