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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

[josh]

The suspicion is understandable, but no evidence of political manipulation has yet emerged...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-2020-election-meltdown-that-didnt-happen-even-amid-the-covid-pandemic-11604667974

Wow! What left-wing conspirator newspaper is printing this?

The Wall Street Journal, of course.

I found much to like in the editorial,

It wasn’t an editorial it was written for and edited by the news division of the WSJ.

It was an opinion piece.

Anti-American asswipe.

It was an essay. Says so right on it.

Hey, so I looked at other essays in the Life and Arts section of the current WSJ listing:
https://www.wsj.com/news/life-arts/ideas?mod=nav_top_subsection

The Fiction of American Democracy
Germany’s Shift From Wolf to Lamb
The Trouble With Words We’ve Read but Not Heard
The Strategic Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin
Can the West Still Lead?
Voter Turnout Expands Dramatically Despite Legal Fights
What Does Outer Space Smell Like?

Boy, sure does sound like the hard hitting news team at the WSJ must have labored over those, Ward!

[REDSTATEWARD]

The suspicion is understandable, but no evidence of political manipulation has yet emerged...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-2020-election-meltdown-that-didnt-happen-even-amid-the-covid-pandemic-11604667974

Wow! What left-wing conspirator newspaper is printing this?

The Wall Street Journal, of course.

I found much to like in the editorial,

It wasn’t an editorial it was written for and edited by the news division of the WSJ.

It was an opinion piece.

Anti-American asswipe.

It was an essay. Says so right on it.

Written, edited, and published in the newspaper, not the editorial section.

[josh]

My favorite line in CNN today:

Another source familiar with ongoing discussions said there needs to be actual evidence to file a lawsuit and lawyers aren't going to put their reputations on the line if they don't have a case that they believe would be unethical to file.

Too many negatives, folks!

[LarryBnDC]

But what about one of the major concerns often voiced about a popular vote – that rural areas would be ignored in favor of big population centers?

Patrick Rosenstiel, a senior consultant to National Popular Vote, says the current system overlooks both rural and urban voters, depending on the state they live in.

"States like New York and North Dakota are valued the exact same way under the current system. They're valued not at all, because they're reliably either Republican or Democrat," he says. "The only way I know how to put urban voters at parity with rural voters and rural voters at parity with urban voters is to make every voter in this country politically relevant in presidential elections."

The way to do that? a national popular vote that would require candidates to campaign in all 50 states.

The effect would be that every voter would know their vote matters, Rosenstiel says: "I don't care if you're in the heart of Manhattan or in the outskirts of Helena. When you go vote for the American president, you know what's going to count toward the final result in a national popular vote election. And you're not going to be treated like a second-class citizen."   

https://www.npr.org/2020/11/06/931891674/as-presidency-hinges-on-a-handful-of-states-some-have-made-a-popular-vote-pact

My only question is -- if you can get a majority to go in on the NPV  Interstate Compact, why not just go for elimination of the EC?  If you have a compact that subverts the function of the EC,  why keep all that complex structure at all?   Ditch the 12th amendment as the antiquated crap it is,  and ratify a new one.   Seems like Americans in two-thirds of states could get behind dumping this stupid system.   As the article notes,  we'd be talking about Biden's cabinet choices now,  if it were the popular vote deciding things.   

(forum note:  I will reply to posts from anyone who read the entire article...)

The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is unconstitutional, the sole constitutionally proper mechanism for doing so is a federal constitutional amendment, not an interstate compact negotiated by a handful of states.
End of debate

Have a seat.

[bambu.]

"God Bless Australia" indeed.

Hopefully Obama and Ms Clinton will be doing the thinking regarding anything to do with Australia.
Both travelled to Australia while their admin was in office.

While visiting foreign countries a President and Secretary of State are expected to be nice to the locals, but it seemed that by the end of their visits they both seemed to be genuinely strongly in favour of ANZUS Alliance continuing.
Obama especially seemed surprised by what he had seen and experienced.

Trump never really seemed so keen.

***

Biden...

[It’s the fact he often has no idea where he is.

“Hello, Dallas,” he said in Pennsylvania.

“Hello, Florida,” he said in Minnesota.

In Iowa, he thought he was in Ohio.

[bambu.]

writes Miranda Devine.

At which point, anybody who wants honest reporting stopped reading.

I'll take a guess and say that what she detailed is exactly true.

[Kam]

Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows tested positive for Coronavirus

[Kam]

writes Miranda Devine.

At which point, anybody who wants honest reporting stopped reading.

I'll take a guess and say that what she detailed is exactly true.

And he still won.

[REDSTATEWARD]

But what about one of the major concerns often voiced about a popular vote – that rural areas would be ignored in favor of big population centers?

Patrick Rosenstiel, a senior consultant to National Popular Vote, says the current system overlooks both rural and urban voters, depending on the state they live in.

"States like New York and North Dakota are valued the exact same way under the current system. They're valued not at all, because they're reliably either Republican or Democrat," he says. "The only way I know how to put urban voters at parity with rural voters and rural voters at parity with urban voters is to make every voter in this country politically relevant in presidential elections."

The way to do that? a national popular vote that would require candidates to campaign in all 50 states.

The effect would be that every voter would know their vote matters, Rosenstiel says: "I don't care if you're in the heart of Manhattan or in the outskirts of Helena. When you go vote for the American president, you know what's going to count toward the final result in a national popular vote election. And you're not going to be treated like a second-class citizen."   

https://www.npr.org/2020/11/06/931891674/as-presidency-hinges-on-a-handful-of-states-some-have-made-a-popular-vote-pact

My only question is -- if you can get a majority to go in on the NPV  Interstate Compact, why not just go for elimination of the EC?  If you have a compact that subverts the function of the EC,  why keep all that complex structure at all?   Ditch the 12th amendment as the antiquated crap it is,  and ratify a new one.   Seems like Americans in two-thirds of states could get behind dumping this stupid system.   As the article notes,  we'd be talking about Biden's cabinet choices now,  if it were the popular vote deciding things.   

(forum note:  I will reply to posts from anyone who read the entire article...)

The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is unconstitutional, the sole constitutionally proper mechanism for doing so is a federal constitutional amendment, not an interstate compact negotiated by a handful of states.
End of debate

Have a seat.

I already said I did.
There is no debate.

[REDSTATEWARD]

My favorite line in CNN today:

Another source familiar with ongoing discussions said there needs to be actual evidence to file a lawsuit and lawyers aren't going to put their reputations on the line if they don't have a case that they believe would be unethical to file.

Too many negatives, folks!

You must feel so relieved.

[bankshot1]

re: Red's WSJ article

reprinted below in this Stanford Law School website

https://law.stanford.edu/2020/11/06/the-2020-election-meltdown-that-didnt-happen-even-amid-the-covid-pandemic/


The header says

(This op-ed was first published in the Wall Street Journal on November 6, 2020.)

Poor dumb Red doesn't know what op-ed means.

[LarryBnDC]

Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows tested positive for Coronavirus

It’s a death cult...

[bodiddley]

I'd like to see Biden begin his presidency-elect by talking up what needs to be done to deal with the Virus and what policies he will implement
and try to get more Americans to start enacting them now, while preparing folks for what is necessary and is to come.

Biden and the DEMS also need to talk about how bad GOP policies not only led to hundreds of thousands of unnecessary and preventable deaths,
but also the corrosive effects of dark money on politicos, and gun rights out of control so that we have armed men involved in
political rallies, cote counting, polling stations (not as bad as expected).  This is all dangerous intimidating and highly unusual. 
Most Americans can't be in favor of heavily armed extremist groups walking around protest rallies, vote counting centers, inside statehouses. 
This is absurdist extremism.  Very dangerous and un-American stuff.

[josh]

writes Miranda Devine.

At which point, anybody who wants honest reporting stopped reading.

I'll take a guess and say that what she detailed is exactly true.

Yes, of course you do. You are uncritical of your own thinking.

[josh]

But what about one of the major concerns often voiced about a popular vote – that rural areas would be ignored in favor of big population centers?

Patrick Rosenstiel, a senior consultant to National Popular Vote, says the current system overlooks both rural and urban voters, depending on the state they live in.

"States like New York and North Dakota are valued the exact same way under the current system. They're valued not at all, because they're reliably either Republican or Democrat," he says. "The only way I know how to put urban voters at parity with rural voters and rural voters at parity with urban voters is to make every voter in this country politically relevant in presidential elections."

The way to do that? a national popular vote that would require candidates to campaign in all 50 states.

The effect would be that every voter would know their vote matters, Rosenstiel says: "I don't care if you're in the heart of Manhattan or in the outskirts of Helena. When you go vote for the American president, you know what's going to count toward the final result in a national popular vote election. And you're not going to be treated like a second-class citizen."   

https://www.npr.org/2020/11/06/931891674/as-presidency-hinges-on-a-handful-of-states-some-have-made-a-popular-vote-pact

My only question is -- if you can get a majority to go in on the NPV  Interstate Compact, why not just go for elimination of the EC?  If you have a compact that subverts the function of the EC,  why keep all that complex structure at all?   Ditch the 12th amendment as the antiquated crap it is,  and ratify a new one.   Seems like Americans in two-thirds of states could get behind dumping this stupid system.   As the article notes,  we'd be talking about Biden's cabinet choices now,  if it were the popular vote deciding things.   

(forum note:  I will reply to posts from anyone who read the entire article...)

The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is unconstitutional, the sole constitutionally proper mechanism for doing so is a federal constitutional amendment, not an interstate compact negotiated by a handful of states.
End of debate

Have a seat.

I already said I did.
There is no debate.

There is no debate. SCOTUS says you are wrong and that a state legislature makes the call.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/19-465_i425.pdf