https://youtu.be/qBwV0Dpy8mw
It’s starting.
https://youtu.be/qBwV0Dpy8mw
It’s starting.
I just voted.
New York City has a series of locations open from this weekend until this weekend for early voting. It took me about 20 minutes total. The lines were mainly outside. They printed a ballot with my local races, I filled it out and scanned it. It seemed reasonably active, although it is one location substituting for dozens of polling places that will also be open on Tuesday.
I did officially vote for the Biden/ Harris ticket.
Obviously New York won't be close, but I did see a potential problem with how the state handles certain things. New York doesn't ask for Voter ID, but they do ask for signature matches, except they're using electronic devices to record signatures, so you may easily have people signing in a way that doesn't match how they sign with a pen or pencil. If that policy is done elsewhere, that can cause complications.
Sincerely,
Thomas Mets
Yeah and it's going to backfire. Because in the end, acting like that is going to get people to wake up. Maybe not many, but some, because when it happens to you personally it changes you. And someone who would have voted for Trump, picks Biden instead.
I'm not naive, some may run away. But we've seen enough protests, we've seen enough of people standing up, to know that intimidation like that only works so long as someone doesn't say no. Say no and everyone else may follow.
Last edited by ChangingStation; 10-25-2020 at 02:31 PM.
I'd imagine the pundits concerned about shy Trump voters don't think we're under a fascist regime. Alternatively, they're considering the opinions of voters who aren't under the impression we're in a fascist regime.
One problem is that pundits tend to work in cities and professional spaces (academia, mainstream media) where support for Trump is very unpopular, and believe that translates to the majority of the population.
Sincerely,
Thomas Mets
I don't feel like anybody, liberal or no, really believe everybody is equally good at everything. The same as with his examples about musical or athletic ability, it's not like we can't all see that some people struggle to make passing grades, while others get bored at the lack of challenge if they remain in classes with the majority students. I mean, there's gifted and remedial classes. Nobody is pretending we don't need them, so I'm not sure what your author here is on about.
I will say, though -- when we think about economics and society and doing something to "earn a living", I feel like it should be obvious that we are going to get to a point where there just isn't anything useful for a lot of people to do. You know, modern farms can produce more today with fewer people actually working the land, building houses or whatever else can be done quicker and with fewer people; basically, with both the progress of technology and the increasing number of people ... we will get to a point where plenty of people can't "earn a living", not necessarily because they are lacking in ability, but just because there's just not that much work that really needs to get done.
We really should be thinking ahead about how we're going to handle that particular crossroad, imo.
Be kind to me, or treat me mean
I'll make the most of it, I'm an extraordinary machine
I got interested in Voter supression, and it turns out that the Republicans used it in 2016 as part of a sick experiment. So, all those polls? They may have had another element.
And in related news. The sheer blatant attempts at Voter Suppression this year has energised Voters instead of turned them away.
Last edited by ChangingStation; 10-25-2020 at 03:35 PM.
I'm really hoping if the Dems take the Senate we can get some real voting reform passed. We shouldn't have horror stories about 10 hour long lines, thousands of polling locations and drop off boxes removed, fake ballot drop boxes, and countless others I'm sure we'll surely be hearing about for the rest of the year. This nonsense has got to stop.
"I love mankind...it's people I can't stand!!"
- Charles Schultz.
It's an interesting question in the future of what we'll do when there isn't much to be done.
I'm curious if we'll reach that point, or if we'll need people to do something. One potential solution is much shorter workweeks.
I do think there is a discomfort in the idea that much of the population is not capable of handling the courseload in a four year college.
There was a lot of pushback years ago when Kellyanne Conway said that not everyone is college material.
https://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...le-pushing-for
The Atlantic had a piece on the problem with the idea that everyone should go to college.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine...people/485618/
Voter suppression has been much discussed in these threads.
There is a question about whether efforts to make it harder to vote backfire by motivating voters more. For example, in 2012 there was an argument that Republican Governors in key swing states were making it tougher for African Americans to vote, but African-American voter turnout ended up being higher than white voter turnout.
The slight decline in turnout in 2016 might not have been the result of any new policies (one of the four states Trump won by less than a point ended up getting a Democratic Governor) but Hillary Clinton being a less exciting candidate than Barack Obama.
What policies would you like to see?
Sincerely,
Thomas Mets
My top concern with this is that most elections are not decided in November, but in the primaries, which can have varying dates (some states will have one primary; others may have multiple rounds.)
The early voting offered during COVID does fix some of the problems, and it could be worth making it stay.
It's likely better for the election workers to offer a ten day job than having them work from an hour before the polling site opens until after it's all shut down.
The policies I've seen in New York City today might not work in a state with much lower.
There is a potential problem in early voting that voters on different days will have different levels of information (If Joe Biden has a senior moment tomorrow, I'm not going to be able to change my vote because I went today.) Most voters have made up their mind before the election, although I wonder to what extent early voting might codify partisanship.
Sincerely,
Thomas Mets
After another look, I see that I did post a wrong link. My mistake and I own it in full.
The first link I'd intended to post describing the bill is below.
https://kilmer.house.gov/news/press-...nment-shutdown
From that article:
You can see that the bill wasn't just about DACA and border security. Though it included those important aspects it also intended increased funding for more immigration judges, which you'd specifically mentioned as well as other programs intended to reduce the incentive for families to emigrate to the U.S. in the first place.The bill provides funding for two other immigration-related priorities. The first is funding for more immigration judges and staff to reduce backlogs in immigration court, so people caught up in the court system aren’t stuck in limbo indefinitely. The other priority is an aid package for Central American countries which includes funding for a US Coordinator for Engagement in Central America, targeted assistance plans for countries from which large numbers of children have emigrated, and grants from the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
My original point still stands. The Trump admin had alternatives placed before them and chose a brutal and unsympathetic route to purposely worsen the situation. They in fact took it one step further by separating the children from their parents effectively increasing the total number of individuals needing both care and legal representation.
Last edited by Jack Dracula; 10-25-2020 at 07:00 PM.
The Cover Contest Weekly Winners ThreadSo much winning!!
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." - Sinclair Lewis
“It’s your party and you can cry if you want to.” - Captain Europe