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Reports of protests are overblown. A few incidents around the country, but nothing major.

5 (45.5%)

A few major incidents in capitals, but nothing much in DC.

5 (45.5%)

A major incident in DC, but nothing much around the country.

0 (0%)

More than 10 capitals have major upheavals, but nothing much in DC.

0 (0%)

A major incident in DC plus more than 10 capitals with significant upheavals.

1 (9.1%)

More than half the capitals around the country have problems with protesters, but DC is quiet.

0 (0%)

DC has major problems, while more than half the capitals around the country also have considerable trouble with protesters.

0 (0%)

Huge disruption to the day.

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 9

Voting closed: January 19, 2021, 10:49:21 PM

[Hairy Lime]

Now... what's with the renewed talk, the worry about the virus getting more severe when late fall/winter come - due to the temp change?

I thought that wasn't a factor.  Or was it just convenient at the time to say so?

What was said at the time is that the warm temperatures in Summer would not be a cure.  And that was correct.

What is the temperature like right now in Arizona?

Cure?

Heh.  Funny.

Not funny at all. Trump's comment that it would go away in April when the temperature heated up was stupid and harmful. We continue to pay for his cavalier attitude in the reflection of that attitude among Republican leadership and Magaheads.

[NeedsAdjustments]

We won't know for a week, Kid. Ditto the race in NY and maybe a couple others.

Yeah.  Good advertising for mail instance.  Imagine waiting a week or 2 or 3 after November 3.
Heh.

That is why we need to help states prepare for mail in voting. Money to hire more workers, invest in tech. We had to wait about a week for a declared winner in several statewide races because of counting ma ins, early voting and drop of voting. As much as I like election night drama I would rather have more people voting, and voting safely.

If we did not have a minority rule party in charge that was determined to repress votes, we would be pouring resources into mail-in voting right now. 

Republicans are doing their best to make November a shit-show while claiming that Democrats want November to be a shit-show.

"Imagine waiting two weeks to know the winner!"  The horror.

Voting procedures are delegated to the states by the Constitution.

And the Federal Government provides aid in the form of money for the implementation of those voting procedures and would be giving States similar support for mail-in voting given the COVID epidemic currently raging in much of the country if the people in charge of that Federal Government were interested in ensuring access to voting.

As I said, they are not.

[bodiddley]

  Not your average virus.  Not an average crisis for a president.

I'd wager that under an average president leading an average response, US cases and deaths would be at least half of what has occurred under Trump.

There have been models showing that if the response had been two weeks earlier there would have been something like 50% fewer cases.

I'd like to see if some org could model what would have happened had the President advocated masks and everyone started wearing masks circa March 1, or even March 15.  Be interesting how many lives would have been saved and how many fewer infections there would have been.

Lastly, the Trump Admin and many others don't seem to understand that you want to do a strong lockdown, ensure a high level of compliance, and only open when the metrics say it's okay and you have plans in place.  That's the best way to ensure that transmissions are ended, the virus is thwarted and reopening can occur safely.
Doing things halfway and half-ass only prolongs the time until life and the economy can return to normal.

Simply, doing a poor job (of testing, lockdowns, compliance, precautions, reopening) means the suffering both physical and economic lasts longer and cuts deeper. 

Too bad we couldn't have an average president or an average response to the virus.

Of course, part of the GOP ideology is that gov't is ineffective and actually harmful, they put hacks and cronies in positions of responsibility, they reduce gov't funding, dismantle gov't regulations, etc.  So the GOP makes it more likely that gov't will fail, especially GOP-led gov't.  So I'm not even sure any Repub Prez could manage an average response.   But it's hard to believe any other GOP-er would do a worse job than Trump did.  A real shameful performance that killed hundreds of thousands.

[Yankguy1]

That's not my quote. That's Kid's

[facilitatorn]

Nice to see some adult Judges have settled the Michael Flynn case.

Just a tiny 2/3 crooked panel. It will need to go to the full appeals court at least.

The ruling by this fixed panel only provides another good reason to root out trump appointees from the entire judiciary.

On another note, Regarding Andrew Jackson and Lafayette Square, we should keep the statue

In a crate under a museum. We should cut the feet off for public display.

Jackson’s feet should stick out from under the plinth of the Barrack Obama monument erected in that spot in Lafayette Square to commemorate how the American spirit can be elevated by Americans getting together overcoming the worst impulses in our history.

The trump administration is still set to be commemorated with a series of public urinals.

Biden is already pulling an outright majority while trump is desperately clinging to 36% because trump is clearly doing such a good job.

[REDSTATEWARD]

Voting procedures are delegated to the states by the Constitution.


And the Federal Government provides aid in the form of money for the implementation of those voting procedures and would be giving States similar support for mail-in voting given the COVID epidemic currently raging in much of the country if the people in charge of that Federal Government were interested in ensuring access to voting.

As I said, they are not.

The last time the Federal Government allotted election money to the states was
$3 B in 2002 after the agony of  hanging chads.
That money is spent.
If it wants to make a new appropriation keep in mind it does not have the Constitutional Authority to tell states HOW to run an election.

[bodiddley]

For the most part, the GOP doesn't want gov't programs -- such as Obamacare -- to succeed, as they worry that then folks will want more programs that benefit the majority and the poor.  So they keep sabotaging Obamacare instead of helping it work as it should/could.  They like to pretend that SS and Medicaid are in perpetual crises so that they can reduce, substantially modify or eliminate them.  Etc.

Why anyone would vote for a party that doesn't believe gov't can do anything right and that actively wants gov't programs to fail is beyond me.

[bodiddley]

That's not my quote. That's Kid's

Sorry bout that.
I meant to remove all names and just have it as generic unattributed quote.

[Yankguy1]

Not a problem.  I say enough idiotic things here without having more idiocy attributed to me. 

[facilitatorn]

For the most part, the GOP doesn't want gov't programs -- such as Obamacare -- to succeed, as they worry that then folks will want more programs that benefit the majority and the poor.  So they keep sabotaging Obamacare instead of helping it work as it should/could.  They like to pretend that SS and Medicaid are in perpetual crises so that they can reduce, substantially modify or eliminate them.  Etc.

Why anyone would vote for a party that doesn't believe gov't can do anything right and that actively wants gov't programs to fail is beyond me.

Racism, sexism, homophobia uber alles.

[NeedsAdjustments]

The last time the Federal Government allotted election money to the states was
$3 B in 2002 after the agony of  hanging chads.

That is incorrect.  The Federal Government voted to provide states with $250 Million for election security after the agony of Russia interfering in our elections in 2016.

So, to the point, there is nothing in the Constitution preventing them from providing money that supports a state's mail-in voting efforts, and to encourage them to pursue that voting method.

[bodiddley]

Maybe from now on I'll misattribute Josh's posts to redstateward.
Fake quotes, a little Trumpian confusion, and of course I'll deny any wrongdoing.
Liven things up a bit.

[LarryBnDC]

The core question for those who favor democracy is not speed of tabulation,  but equal access by all voters.   As Trump knows perfectly well,  mail voting improves access for many voters,  many in the demographic that knows the GOP policies suck for them.

#1 reason why people don't like to vote by mail -

They are not certain the vote will be properly counted

Because they don’t trust the GOP to be fair and honest

https://www.npr.org/2019/07/30/746800630/north-carolina-gop-operative-faces-new-felony-charges-that-allege-ballot-fraud

[Kam]

No denying...COVID is a tough mother.

Good to remember.  Not your average virus.  Not an average crisis for a president.

If only Trump had used similar messaging, he would not be getting as much flack.  Putting aside the concept of "Average Crisis" it's not really about the crisis, its how you handle the crisis.  Recall that Rudy G became TIME's person of the year after the 9/11 attacks. 

If Trump had come out in February/March and said "COVID is a tough mother" then many people would've taken better precautions and the death-toll would be far less.  He instead did the opposite.  If he had said on March 1 "Let's all stay home this month and flatten the curve". He could've come out on Easter and congratulated himself and avoided the carnage that happened to the Economy.  He would've secured his 2nd term. 

Every crisis yields an opportunity.  Trump took that opportunity and struck out.

[REDSTATEWARD]

The last time the Federal Government allotted election money to the states was
$3 B in 2002 after the agony of  hanging chads.

That is incorrect.  The Federal Government voted to provide states with $250 Million for election security after the agony of Russia interfering in our elections in 2016.

So, to the point, there is nothing in the Constitution preventing them from providing money that supports a state's mail-in voting efforts, and to encourage them to pursue that voting method.

There is nothing to prevent the Federal Government providing some financial assistance to states for election costs. But the government cannot direct the states on how to conduct elections.