All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[4saken1]

Well, sad news for Kanye fans. He just got kicked off the ballot in Illinois. Apparently- and try to control your shock- that the State Board of Elections found 1,900 signatures on the petition to put him on the ballot have been deemed to be illegitimate.

How could something like that happen with the Republican Party there helping him out to make sure everything was on the up and up?

[4saken1]

Postmaster General and major Trump donor sets USPS reorganization


It’s horrible to have to watch helplessly as Trump takes major steps to steal the election.

Yeah, I'm curious as to what specific steps he will take towards that endeavor. One thing that had occurred to me is that in previous elections, Postal employees were told to accept mail ballots that had only one stamp on them, even though they technically required extra postage. I think that there is a strong possibility that these might be rejected this year. I also worry he might try shenanigans like making sure that late ballots still get counted in some districts (postmarks are easy to fake), but not others. I can imagine thousands of votes showing up conspicuously late in swing states that Trump is losing by a small margin.

Either way, this Election will not be anything like previous ones. We likely will not have a clear victor until several days after the Election, as all of those mail in ballots need to be counted by hand, and their signatures verified. This will probably lead to another 'hanging chad' moment, with millions of voters forgetting to sign their ballots. Trump will likely call for these to be counted if he loses, and won't accept the results of the Election if they aren't.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Pelosi, Schumer and Biden, the triumvirate of the Democratic Party may have screwed around so badly, it might be too late to take immediate action. Election is less than 3 months away.

Trump still has his loyal base, consisting of racists, anti-immigration activists and far right supporters. That's a given. but he can lose independent voters especially in swing states to Biden.

Does any of this even matter of the electoral college has the final say? I guess I'll have to read up on it and see what it's about.

[Jack Dracula]

Yeah, I'm curious as to what specific steps he will take towards that endeavor. One thing that had occurred to me is that in previous elections, Postal employees were told to accept mail ballots that had only one stamp on them, even though they technically required extra postage. I think that there is a strong possibility that these might be rejected this year. I also worry he might try shenanigans like making sure that late ballots still get counted in some districts (postmarks are easy to fake), but not others. I can imagine thousands of votes showing up conspicuously late in swing states that Trump is losing by a small margin.

Either way, this Election will not be anything like previous ones. We likely will not have a clear victor until several days after the Election, as all of those mail in ballots need to be counted by hand, and their signatures verified. This will probably lead to another 'hanging chad' moment, with millions of voters forgetting to sign their ballots. Trump will likely call for these to be counted if he loses, and won't accept the results of the Election if they aren't.

Imagine the chaos in the streets if something like that occurs.
These people have no idea. The events of the past few months will pale in comparison.

[Malvolio]

Does any of this even matter of the electoral college has the final say? I guess I'll have to read up on it and see what it's about.

The Electoral College is based on the number of votes actually cast. If Trump can have enough mail-in absentee ballots for Biden thrown out, or not even counted in the first place in certain states, he can flip the Electoral College.

[Robotman]

Imagine the chaos in the streets if something like that occurs.
These people have no idea. The events of the past few months will pale in comparison.

Probably why Trump has been testing his gestapo out in Portland. He's preparing for the aftermath of the election he's about to steal.

[PaulBullion]

The Post Master is appointed by the President and there is no Congressional or Senate confirmation. So please explain how Pelosi and Schumer could have done something?

They could have gotten guns!
They could have stormed the oval office and taken Trumppence out!

[Mister Mets]

The New York Times screwed up twice today.

A piece by Maureen Dowd suggested it's been 36 years since the Democratic party ran a man and a woman on a presidential ticket together, ignoring that this did occur in the last election.

https://twitter.com/HoarseWisperer/s...08033569574916

I'll give Hillary Clinton credit for a great response: Either @TimKaine and I had a very vivid shared hallucination four years ago or Maureen had too much pot brownie before writing her column again.

The correction suggested it's been 36 years since any man chose a woman to be on a presidential ticket, which required a new correction to take into account Sarah Palin.

Some of the responses brought up Maureen Dowd's 1984 piece about the etiquette of a male presidential candidate appearing in public with a female running mate, which was an interesting time capsule.

https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/18/u...uette-gap.html

From the first, there had to be a policy on kissing.

''Mondale can not, whatever he does, kiss her,'' said Patrick H. Caddell, the Democratic poll taker.

There was a moment of suspense on this score when Walter F. Mondale and Geraldine A. Ferraro made their first joint appearance in St. Paul last week. They circled each other a bit warily, not sure of the etiquette of the first meeting of the first coed Presidential ticket.

''He looked like a teen-ager on the first date with that 'how in the world do you pin the corsage on her' problem,'' said Robert Squier, a Democratic campaign consultant.

As they begin their history-making campaign, Mr. Mondale and Mrs. Ferraro are facing questions, both serious and humorous, of manners, semantics and body language, or kinesics: Who should stand where, who should walk first, whether to touch, how to address each other.

The way they handle their campaign will forever change the public perception about men and women in politics, the experts agree.

Mr. Mondale has already been asked at a news conference about their hands-off policy. ''Jimmy Carter never touched me,'' he said.

[Tami]

Doctors and medical students across the US push to register patients to vote

An emergency room doctor in Boston is assembling thousands of voter registration kits for distribution at hospitals and doctor’s offices.

Later this month, students at Harvard and Yale’s medical schools are planning a contest to see which of the Ivy League rivals can register the most voters.

And a medical student in Rhode Island has launched an effort to get emergency ballots into the hands of patients who find themselves unexpectedly in the hospital around election day.

Amid the dual public health crises of Covid-19 and racism, some in the medical community are prescribing a somewhat nontraditional remedy: voting.

[Gray Lensman]

This is something that needs to be changed in the next administration. Too many important positions are appointed by the President. This one in particular is far too critical for that.

If I had my way, the Postmaster would have to be appointed by the House and approaved by the Senate.

How about....departments without a confirmed head may not implement policy changes?

[4saken1]

How about....departments without a confirmed head may not implement policy changes?

You know, the founding fathers created our system of governance the way it is FOR A REASON! Oh, wait, I forgot that reason was to perpetuate a white male hegemony.......

[Mister Mets]

The Electoral College is based on the number of votes actually cast. If Trump can have enough mail-in absentee ballots for Biden thrown out, or not even counted in the first place in certain states, he can flip the Electoral College.

The electors are generally told to vote for whoever won their state. If one state has 25% turnout and another has 65% turnout, it doesn't really affect the electoral college. The state with higher turnout won't suddenly be worth more in the electoral college.

There is still going to be room for shenanigans within states. State legislatures can come up with policies that help their party in the presidential election.

[Mister Mets]

This is something that needs to be changed in the next administration. Too many important positions are appointed by the President. This one in particular is far too critical for that.

If I had my way, the Postmaster would have to be appointed by the House and approaved by the Senate.

The problem is that the party in the White House is not going to be inclined to do things to limit their own power.

There could be a bipartisan consensus on these kinds of reforms, as Republicans will have the incentive to go along when they're not in the White House.

But will Democrats want to limit the power of a President Joe Biden, or his successors, some of whom may end up dealing with a Republican controlled Senate (the 2022 midterms will include Democratic incumbents in the swing states of Colorado, New Hampshire, and Nevada, in addition to unforeseen special elections.)

[skyvolt2000]

https://abcnews.go.com/US/amber-guyg...ry?id=72257638

Attorneys for former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger have filed an appeal, requesting she be acquitted of murder charges after fatally shooting Botham Jean nearly two years ago.

Guyger's attorneys are seeking a lesser charge, criminally negligent homicide, and a new hearing for Guyger, according to court documents.

"The evidence was legally insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Guyger committed murder," her attorneys argued in a court document. They're claiming Guyger had "the right to act in self-defense since her belief that deadly force was necessary was reasonable under the circumstances" because of her "mistaken belief" that she had entered her apartment and found an "intruder" inside, court documents show.

[Kuro no Shinigami]

Joe Biden has missed two deadlines to name a running mate to take on Donald Trump. Why is he taking so long?

US President Donald Trump tapped vice president Mike Pence to be his running mate three days before the Republican convention in July.

Barack Obama announced Biden as his running on August 23, 2008, two days before the Democratic Convention.

The DNC will commence in August 17. Maybe Mr. Biden will announce his VP pick about a day before the DNC.