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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

[facilitatorn]

Republicans can PR badly with a string of lies that rubes like Red lap up. They have no aptitude for making or executing policy. Low rent crime is all they are good for.

Unfolding events make this more and more clear.

http://www.vice.com/en/article/4ad43m/the-trump-administrations-covid-vaccine-rollout-is-pure-chaos

[josh]

https://www.theroot.com/boston-cop-seen-on-body-cam-footage-bragging-about-driv-1845919682

We have a police problem.

It is not a small problem. It is not "a couple of bad eggs." The scene below is one from this article, but hardly the only one. The sergeant has been suspended, but what about the other one who simply tells him that the camera is on, without objecting to what is being said or turning the man in?

And there are so many other scenarios - both mentioned and unmentioned.

“Dude, dude, dude, I fuckin’ drove down Tremont—there was an unmarked state police cruiser they were all gathered around,” says the sergeant, laughing.

“So then I had a fucker keep coming, fucking running,” he continues. “I’m fucking hitting people with the car, did you hear me, I was like, ‘get the fuck—’”

At this point the officer behind the camera pushes the sergeant’s head away and walks off in the other direction. He comes back a few seconds later, saying, “it’s on,” about the camera.

The sergeant quickly changes his story.

“Oh, no no no no no, what I’m saying is, though, that they were in front, like, I didn’t hit anybody, like, just driving, that’s all,” he says. “My windows were closed, the shit was coming in.”

[josh]

https://radio.wosu.org/post/federal-court-rules-ohio-must-allow-gender-changes-birth-certificates

[bambu.]

The population of America is on the rise to 400m. 
When I left school in 1964, US population was 191.9m.
America was a better place to live then? (excluding the internet etc)

[josh]

The population of America is on the rise to 400m. 
When I left school in 1964, US population was 191.9m.
America was a better place to live then? (excluding the internet etc)

If you ignore the lives of women and minorities, it was a grand place!

Sure, you were far more likely to die of many cancers, of heart attacks, etc. Car safety was far lower.

The percentage of people who went to college or even who finished high school was lower, even if college was more affordable.

And the price of gasoline was higher then than now.

[bodiddley]

The population of America is on the rise to 400m. 
When I left school in 1964, US population was 191.9m.
America was a better place to live then? (excluding the internet etc)

If you ignore the lives of women and minorities, it was a grand place!

America was becoming polluted like Eastern Europe after a half century of industrialization, first the war machine then commercial products.  By 1970 the environment was so badly trashed that the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act. EPA and Earth Day all sprouted up to combat the devastation.  The Cuyahoga River near Cleveland caught on fire over a dozen times, do oil slicks on the surface, most famously for the first time on June 22, 1969.

Also, 1964 is about the last gasp of American world economic domination as Europe and Japan had rebuilt their war damaged economies and were set to compete against the US again at full strength.  So the 50's and early 60's US boom was a bit of a post-war mirage.

Btw, throughout the post-war boom until 1963 the top tax rate was 90% as the US tried to pay down war debt.  While unionization was at its peak so factory workers were getting good pay and decent job safety/security.  High tax and high unionization is the Golden Age of which you speak.

But once blacks and women tried to get in on the good times, the rug was pulled out from under them.  Concentrating wealth in the hands of an ever smaller circle of elites, as the GOP advocated/-es, was a means of keeping wealth and power in the hands of white males.

[bodiddley]

So is Barr being barred designed so Trump can do dumb ish such as appoint Sidney Powell as a special counsel to investigate election fraud?

Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen could do so, or Trump could appoint Powell to such without going through the AG, but then her mandate would be greatly weakened without subpoena power and such.  Trump could also tap someone else, wither through the AG office or outside that formal channel.

[bodiddley]

From the Trump GA lawsuit:

Under the state statute, absentee ballots for which signatures don’t match with the ones on file are to be rejected by the election clerks who process them. The rule adopted through the litigation settlement requires clerks who believe a signature is mismatched to find two more election officials to concur with them. If at least one of the two election officials concurs with the clerk, all three official must sign their names on the envelope being rejected.

“The Defendants thus changed the clear statutory procedure for confirming voter identity at the time of voting, so that rather than one poll worker reviewing signatures, a committee of three poll workers is charged with confirming that absentee ballot signatures are defective before rejecting a ballot,” the lawsuit states.

“By designating a committee of three to check mail-in absentee voter identification but having a single poll worker check in-person voter identification, the challenged procedure favors the absentee ballots, treats the absentee voters differently from in-person voters and values absentee votes more than the ballots of in-person voters.”

This is incredibly weak stuff.
Of course in person and absentee signature issues are treated different, because the circumstances are different.
It's not as if someone signs in person, are told their signature doesn't match, and are sent home without voting.  I'd be pretty damn certain that they would have options such as re-signing, showing picture ID such as a driver's license, or at worst casting a provisional ballot.

For an absentee ballot there are no such remedies, it's either counted or not.
For the most part, no amelioration is available.
So to add an extra level of protection seems reasonable.  Instead of a lone election official discounting a ballot, they have to show it to two others and only counts if both of the others election officials disagree and believe the signature is valid.
That's a pretty minor backup and requires additional people discerning validity.
Which seems a rather positive alternative to a single evaluator.


But in any case all in-person and absentee signature discrepancies will in reality be handled differently.  Hell, I'd be pretty sure in practice a lone election official couldn't decide against accepting an in-person voter without a supervisor intervening and approving.  Really as a practical matter in-person signatures are glanced at quickly, while absentee ballots get much more scrutiny (because you don't have a person in front of you -- who can re-sign, show other ID, match the general age of the voter, tell you where they live and when they moved there, etc).

Anywho, completely waste of time weak legal argumentation the courts will take little time knocking down.

[josh]

From the Trump GA lawsuit:

Under the state statute, absentee ballots for which signatures don’t match with the ones on file are to be rejected by the election clerks who process them. The rule adopted through the litigation settlement requires clerks who believe a signature is mismatched to find two more election officials to concur with them. If at least one of the two election officials concurs with the clerk, all three official must sign their names on the envelope being rejected.

“The Defendants thus changed the clear statutory procedure for confirming voter identity at the time of voting, so that rather than one poll worker reviewing signatures, a committee of three poll workers is charged with confirming that absentee ballot signatures are defective before rejecting a ballot,” the lawsuit states.
...

So to add an extra level of protection seems reasonable.  Instead of a lone election official discounting a ballot, they have to show it to two others and only counts if both of the others election officials disagree and believe the signature is valid.

That's a pretty minor backup and requires additional people discerning validity.
Which seems a rather positive alternative to a single evaluator.

This was the end result in PA on using signature matching to eliminate absentee ballots at all:
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/23/pennsylvania-court-ballot-signatures-431794

They concluded that it was wrong.

[bodiddley]

Well, it's all based on state law.
That was the PA interp of PA law.


My father, now early 80's, was wondering how his signature compares to his original signature from perhaps 50+ years ago.  Highly unlikely anyone would challenge him at their suburban precinct in-person.  But NJ switched to all mail-in ballots this go round, and he was wondering how different his current signature might be from the one on record.

I recall one time in my 20's a bank teller looked skeptically at my withdrawal slip.  Then came back with a manager who asked me if I had started writing with my other hand.  Finally they had me sign a new signature card, after I had apparently completely changed my signature from when I was 16 and had first opened the account.  I was pretty surprised they had checked the signature int he first place, as it was a pretty small and ordinary withdrawal, back in the pre-ATM days when you had to actually enter a bank.

[josh]

Well, it's all based on state law.
That was the PA interp of PA law.

My father, now early 80's, was wondering how his signature compares to his original signature from perhaps 50+ years ago. 
...

Yes, state law. And a good chunk of variation between them. But sometimes the arguments cross borders and/or bump into similarities.

My father's signature deteriorated with his increasing inability to hold a pen and control where his hand would go. As this is a heritable trait and I am the proud possessor of this progressive neurological condition, I expect that my already undecipherable scrawl will transition over time to his X, should I live to my 90s as he (and one of his brothers and his father and uncle all did).

I'm less concerned about that than his difficulty with food prep and just getting the fork or spoon or glass to my mouth! And I am less concerned about those for me than I was for him, as the combination of science and tech progress.

But the things that can change signatures are legion. Either they should be asking one to redo the sigs regularly or they should change the method of determination.

[barton]

...as he waits for his take-out at Sum Dum Goy, Columbus's finest chop suey joint.

Wonder if Hu Flung Dung still works there.   

[barton]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/19/politics/trump-oval-office-meeting-special-counsel-martial-law/index.html

But by all means, remain focused on Swalwell, as that is the most important issue facing the country.

Banks posted on the oval madness,  too.   I'm picturing Trump aides chasing him around the grounds with a hypodermic dart rifle and a net.   Like Wild Kingdom but the animals aren't as pretty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em7Dyy00WL8

“SedaGIVE?”

Even better.

[barton]

The Science Josh likes to ignore.



Estimation of US Children’s Educational Attainment and Years of Life Lost Associated With Primary School Closures During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic



These findings suggest that the decision to close US public primary schools in the early months of 2020 may be associated with a decrease in life expectancy for US children.





https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2772834?utm_source=silverchair&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=article_alert-jamanetworkopen&utm_content=wklyforyou&utm_term=111320

If you read the abstract, then you know the premise is that anything that reduces educational attainment correlates with shorter lifespan.   Any policy.   From any party,  at any level of government.   So we must conclude that you and Bernie Sanders are now in full alignment on going all out to promote maximum access to college for all.   

Also note the "may be" associated with decreased life expectancy.   We can still compensate for the year of pandemic.   The effects are not set in stone.   

[barton]

ZERO ICU beds in southern California.

https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/southern-california-icu-capacity-at-zero-as-u-s-covid-cases-rise-97952325536

Must be time for Kid to pop in to tell me that the press are inflating the story or that we are turning the cornere, so why post these negative stories.

Usually it's generally agreed to be a public health crisis when hospitals start setting up overflow tents,  as has happened several places in SoCal.   Hard to wrap my head around anyone being able to spin this otherwise.   Hope Facilitator is staying well.