2024 Election - Thread #1

[hazard]

Geth, if it makes Republicans made enough to vote for Trump... they'll consider it a good idea.

[Mamorien]

I believe these people really are receiving the letters, but I have my doubts as to whether they're coming from actual liberals. In the first Anno Dracula book, Kim Newman describes a vampire of the Prince Consort's Own Carpathian Guard as giving a command "in approximate English." Reading the letter, I found that phrase tended to spring irresistibly to mind.

"He is major reason violence us up..."
"...the rights of women to make decisions over their own healthcare needs."
"...and judging by your house you don't qualify for rich..."
"He is the biggest threat to the country and does not understand the idea of America as defined George Washington by the founding fathers."

The whole thing reads to me like it was either written by someone whose first language was not English or generated by an AI that had been poorly trained on anti-Trump pronunciamenti, with a tone of what I can only call "formal menace".

[GethN7]

I believe these people really are receiving the letters, but I have my doubts as to whether they're coming from actual liberals. In the first Anno Dracula book, Kim Newman describes a vampire of the Prince Consort's Own Carpathian Guard as giving a command "in approximate English." Reading the letter, I found that phrase tended to spring irresistibly to mind.

"He is major reason violence us up..."
"...the rights of women to make decisions over their own healthcare needs."
"...and judging by your house you don't qualify for rich..."
"He is the biggest threat to the country and does not understand the idea of America as defined George Washington by the founding fathers."

The whole thing reads to me like it was either written by someone whose first language was not English or generated by an AI that had been poorly trained on anti-Trump pronunciamenti, with a tone of what I can only call "formal menace".

I'm inclined to agree it does read like an AI's interpretation of what a liberal might say. Until I get more concrete evidence, my personal guess is an idiotic prankster who just wants to throw raw meat in the water to rile up both sides with a false flag.

[robkelk]

GOP door-to-door canvassers in AZ and NV might not be going door-to-door

The lesson being "don't pay a PAC do do something that volunteers should be doing, because paid help doesn't care about your party".

(Mind you, the thought of the business-friendly party being hosed by a business is pretty funny...)

[Labster]

Trump’s former chief of staff says he fits ‘fascist’ definition and prefers ‘dictator approach’ (Original source)

“I need the kind of generals that Hitler had,” Trump said in a private conversation in the White House, according to two people who heard him say this. “People who were totally loyal to him, that follow orders.”

This week, I asked Kelly about their exchange. He told me that when Trump raised the subject of “German generals,” Kelly responded by asking, “‘Do you mean Bismarck’s generals?’” He went on: “I mean, I knew he didn’t know who Bismarck was, or about the Franco-Prussian War. I said, ‘Do you mean the kaiser’s generals? Surely you can’t mean Hitler’s generals? And he said, ‘Yeah, yeah, Hitler’s generals.’ I explained to him that Rommel had to commit suicide after taking part in a plot against Hitler.” Kelly told me Trump was not acquainted with Rommel.

Imagine not knowing about the Franco-Prussian War smh

Back on the topic of that letter Geth brought up... I'm not sure that it was all intended as a threat, but it can certainly be taken that way.  Back when I did some black ops propaganda in college I did occasionally do logo shenanigans, but I don't know man, that letter seems shady as hell.

But honestly, the level of threat in that letter is far less than I have personally experienced from a Trump supporter a few years back.  While at a protest, a guy in a truck, waiting in the left turn lane across 5 lanes of traffic (it's a big street), started yelling at us, how we were all traitors.  I happened to be closest to the guy out of the whole crowd, lucky me, so I try some reverse psychology: "I love you man. You're great."  A couple other protester got this and started a little chant of "We love you, we love you."  This approach... did not work.

The guy started getting angrier and angrier.  Across traffic, we could literally see the veins bulging in his forehead as he screamed at us.  He told us that he was going to come back with his guns, and kill us all.  The arrow turned green, he gunned the engine, and sped away, presumably towards his armory, the Trump flag on the back of his raised pickup waving in the wind.  Note that the location of this protest is on the corner of the Ventura County Government Center, which means it was on the same block as the courthouse and the county jail.  He apparently decided not to shoot us.

Most people who drove by passed in silence, a few honked in support.  But there are always a few people who gunned the engine, or coaled us.  Political participation by making other people suck smoke.  Even Elon won't go that far.

So honestly that letter sucks but is pretty minor in the scheme of violent threats in American politics.  They're everywhere at this point.

[robkelk]

Wall Street Journal reports that Elon Musk has regularly talked to Vladimir Putin over the last two years.

They're behind a paywall, so here's the Rolling Stone report on the WSJ story.

[Norgarth]

Lewis Black has a Message for Undecided Voters in the 2024 election

[Labster]

I basically feel the same way about this election's undecided voters.  If you haven't decided yet, you aren't competent to vote.  The choice is incredibly clear.  One candidate is a fascist, and the other candidate knows some people who will get upset if you say racist things.  One candidate has promised that this will be the last time Christians need to vote, the other has promised voting as usual.  One is a felon, the other a prosecutor.  One is an orange, the other is probably an apple.

I guess that's why I haven't been volunteering or campaigning this cycle, because I just feel so fatalistic about it.  Either a majority of us want a fascist America, or don't.  Or at the very least, some are perhaps willing to tolerate fascist leadership as long as they make money.  (This is also collaboration.)  The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post have decided not to endorse in this election, which is to say their respective billionaire owners decided not the let their editors endorse Harris.  It makes sense, in a way -- their staff would never endorse Trump, but Trump would take revenge if things didn't go his way.  So they preserve the paper, at least for a little while, as democracy is dying in darkness. Cool cool.

Trump finally admitted he made a mistake -- hiring disloyal people in his last administration, like John Kelly and John Bolton.  It's really a sign of how far we've come that now I see John Bolton as a good guy.  I mean, not really good, but like, he knows democracy is worth fighting for.  If he were in charge we'd be sending tons of weapons to Ukraine.

I've found myself drifting towards being a single-issue voter on Ukraine, which is something I didn't expect at all for a country I didn't care all that much about "3 days" ago when the invasion started.  But it's a proxy for every other issue.  It screens out the bleeding-heart liberals who can't bear to see us get in another war, even one literally to defend democracy against a genocidal fascist state.  It screens out the advocates for taking a side in Gaza instead, which I believe is pictured in the dictionary under "quagmire." It screens out the fascists, and the nationalists who want to return to the days of national conquest.  Those days are over.  It screens out the isolationist libertarians who are too dumb to realize how much they themselves have profited under the American-hegemonic rules-based international order.  And most of all, it screens out people taking Russian money, and those dumb enough to believe Russian propaganda.  I suppose it's not really surprising that Elon Musk has been talking directly to Vladimir Putin over the past 2 years now, is it?

So we've now got a combination of showmanship over policy, blatant lies, blood libel, purifying society against the enemy within, violent restoration of order, and the leader's book in every classroom.  Except, like, it's all so dumb.  All of it.  Are they like a dumb version of Nazis, or were the original Nazis also this moronic?

And lately we've been discussing Arnold Palmer's junk, because Trump brought it up at a town hall for some reason.  Apparently it was quite an impressive package.  So let's add to that list "a cult of masculinity", yet another sign of fascism.  But that question at the end, that's the one that's haunting me.  I think the answer is likely "yes" to both sides.

The other question that I've asked myself for a long time, and I imagine most of you have asked yourself as well: why didn't the Jews leave Germany before the Holocaust?  Well, some of them did.  Some of them saw the writing on the wall, and got out early enough if they had the means to do so.  At a certain point, it just became too late to escape.  I don't think I'd be a high priority target, but really, I just don't want to live through it again, but worse.  Mark my words, it will be the Joker: Folie a Deux of presidencies.

So yeah, ten days out from the election, the family has already discussed selling the house if Trump wins.

[robkelk]

The other question that I've asked myself for a long time, and I imagine most of you have asked yourself as well: why didn't the Jews leave Germany before the Holocaust?  Well, some of them did.  Some of them saw the writing on the wall, and got out early enough if they had the means to do so.  At a certain point, it just became too late to escape.

And some of them tried but weren't allowed to emigrate to anywhere.

Oh, did I mention that Canada just decreased its immigration quota?

So, yeah -- it's now too late for "I'm going to emigrate to Canada" to be an option.

[GethN7]

I basically feel the same way about this election's undecided voters.  If you haven't decided yet, you aren't competent to vote.  The choice is incredibly clear.  One candidate is a fascist, and the other candidate knows some people who will get upset if you say racist things.  One candidate has promised that this will be the last time Christians need to vote, the other has promised voting as usual.  One is a felon, the other a prosecutor.  One is an orange, the other is probably an apple.

I guess that's why I haven't been volunteering or campaigning this cycle, because I just feel so fatalistic about it.  Either a majority of us want a fascist America, or don't.  Or at the very least, some are perhaps willing to tolerate fascist leadership as long as they make money.  (This is also collaboration.)  The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post have decided not to endorse in this election, which is to say their respective billionaire owners decided not the let their editors endorse Harris.  It makes sense, in a way -- their staff would never endorse Trump, but Trump would take revenge if things didn't go his way.  So they preserve the paper, at least for a little while, as democracy is dying in darkness. Cool cool.

Trump finally admitted he made a mistake -- hiring disloyal people in his last administration, like John Kelly and John Bolton.  It's really a sign of how far we've come that now I see John Bolton as a good guy.  I mean, not really good, but like, he knows democracy is worth fighting for.  If he were in charge we'd be sending tons of weapons to Ukraine.

I've found myself drifting towards being a single-issue voter on Ukraine, which is something I didn't expect at all for a country I didn't care all that much about "3 days" ago when the invasion started.  But it's a proxy for every other issue.  It screens out the bleeding-heart liberals who can't bear to see us get in another war, even one literally to defend democracy against a genocidal fascist state.  It screens out the advocates for taking a side in Gaza instead, which I believe is pictured in the dictionary under "quagmire." It screens out the fascists, and the nationalists who want to return to the days of national conquest.  Those days are over.  It screens out the isolationist libertarians who are too dumb to realize how much they themselves have profited under the American-hegemonic rules-based international order.  And most of all, it screens out people taking Russian money, and those dumb enough to believe Russian propaganda.  I suppose it's not really surprising that Elon Musk has been talking directly to Vladimir Putin over the past 2 years now, is it?

So we've now got a combination of showmanship over policy, blatant lies, blood libel, purifying society against the enemy within, violent restoration of order, and the leader's book in every classroom.  Except, like, it's all so dumb.  All of it.  Are they like a dumb version of Nazis, or were the original Nazis also this moronic?

And lately we've been discussing Arnold Palmer's junk, because Trump brought it up at a town hall for some reason.  Apparently it was quite an impressive package.  So let's add to that list "a cult of masculinity", yet another sign of fascism.  But that question at the end, that's the one that's haunting me.  I think the answer is likely "yes" to both sides.

The other question that I've asked myself for a long time, and I imagine most of you have asked yourself as well: why didn't the Jews leave Germany before the Holocaust?  Well, some of them did.  Some of them saw the writing on the wall, and got out early enough if they had the means to do so.  At a certain point, it just became too late to escape.  I don't think I'd be a high priority target, but really, I just don't want to live through it again, but worse.  Mark my words, it will be the Joker: Folie a Deux of presidencies.

So yeah, ten days out from the election, the family has already discussed selling the house if Trump wins.

Personally, I doubt it will get that dire even if Trump wins.

We had four years of Trump before and I didn't see liberals and anyone to the left of Hitler given the Nacht un Nebel treatment.

We had Biden for four years, and despite Trump fans screaming he'd screw things up, somehow the United States is still here.

As I've gotten older, while I still consider voting important, the good news is the hard limit on two terms imposed post-FDR, so no permanent dictator can happen, and that goes for the people who are terrified of either side.

Ultimately, I do hope the most competent and honest parties are elected, but honestly, if I had to pick who I'd want as my eternal president, I'd want Chester Arthur perpetually. He didn't cause drama, left the country pretty much the way he found it, and was so nice even his enemies couldn't really find anything horrible to say about him aside from the fact he wasn't on their team.

If Trump does win, my advice for those who fear him is to make sure both houses of Congress and your states are filled with a ton of people in opposition, that would be the bulwark against any tyranny he could possibly do if he did get elected. If Kamala wins, well, make sure you elect as many people you want in lesser political positions of the same party to marginalize the other side's potential for damages. As for me, I will simply pray for peace and safety for whomever has their preferred candidate lose, and I will pray the winners have the wisdom to be gracious to the losers.

[hazard]

The Republican Party of 2016 to 2020 existed as something other than a vessel of Trump. The Republican Party of today is much less capable of telling Trump to sit down and behave.

We did see a massive surge in political violence during Trump's presidency, much of it coming from his supporters or fellow travelers.

As for the whole 'two term limit'... rules only matter when there is the will and power to enforce them. Russia had term limits for its own president... until Putin found them inconvenient, was not president for a single term (but still a high level elected official), the limits were adjusted, and there's no more term limits.

And plenty of reason to assume that somebody is fucking around with the elections in Russia and oh look, Putin is once more the president. What a complete coincidence.

And that presumes that the Republicans don't look for other ways to clinch their victory. Sure, sitting in the big seat forever your self is pretty nice... but what if you can mess with the elections enough to ensure only the right people can get in office? Good people. People like you and your friends.

The ones that will do what you want and shove tons of money into your pockets.

No need to care about the peasants except in so far as to make sure they shut up in that case.

[Labster]

Trump says "whether the women like it or not, I'm going to protect them" at Wisconsin rally. Spoken like a man in the protection business. From him, it sounds like a threat. I'm trying to imagine what I would feel like if it a politician I liked on an issue I supported... I think in the very least it would get a "For fucks sake, stop opening your mouth," and a resolution to try to find a better candidate. Here it just sounds like fascist machismo.

Trump Media Is Now Worth More Than Elon Musk’s X After Stock Rallies to New Highs -- Note it crashed the next day, and Trump lost a billion in his net worth. Honestly every aspect of this story is weird, and every time I think about highlighting something, it turns into something else weird, like a kaleidoscope of weirdness.

Here's a pair of stories that seem a little contradictory, assuming you think the candidate is on the ballot to try to win: RFK Jr. will stay on the ballot in Michigan and Wisconsin after the Supreme Court declined to intervene and Supreme Court rebuffs RFK Jr. bid to get on New York presidential ballot. Both happened after Kennedy suspended his campaign, but he wants on the ballot in some states and off the ballot in others. It's almost like the whole campaign was a false flag all along?

'Trump rally comic likening Puerto Rico to "island of garbage" draws backlash'

these Latinos, they love making babies," adding: "They do. There's no pulling out. They don't do that. They come inside. Just like they did to our country.

The campaign disavowed the "jokes", but one has to wonder how it got that far. Did no one vet anything in advance?

In three-hour Joe Rogan interview, Trump reveals 'biggest mistake'. As I mentioned up-thread, the "mistake" was hiring other people. But other fun parts of the interview:

“I said, ‘Vladimir, you're not going in,’” he told Rogan, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I used to talk to him all the time.

I lost by, like, I didn’t lose.

There’s no reason not to think that Mars and all these planets don’t have life.

"I was never one that could, like, run on a treadmill. When passing a physical, they asked me to run on a treadmill and then they make it steeper and steeper and steeper and the doctors said, it was at Walter Reed [hospital], they said: 'It’s unbelievable!' I’m telling you, I felt I could have gone all day.”

But he said treadmills are “really boring” so he prefers to stay healthy by playing golf.

More than 250,000 Washington Post readers cancel subscriptions in revolt over non-endorsement. Only a few thousand quit the Los Angeles Times for the same reason, though. But of course, this is a de facto endorsement:

The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times and all these papers. They’re not endorsing anybody. You know what they’re really saying? Because they only endorse Democrats. They’re saying this Democrat’s no good. They’re no good. And they think I’m doing a great job.

Trump says US is ‘like a garbage can for the world’ as he rails against illegal immigration. I still remember when Republicans called the U.S. a "shining city on a hill". Now we're a metaphorical garbage can. Or a simile-ish garbage can, he used "like".

Trump held a rally today at Albuquerque's airport. He's not allowed to hold a rally inside the city of Albuquerque, because he owes the city nearly half a million dollars for the rally he held there in 2019 and hasn't paid anything yet.

[Bob Schroeck]

Meanwhile, Republicans are freaking out over the idea that women can choose to vote differently from their husbands, after a campaign ad featuring Julia Roberts reminds them they can.

[Labster]

Historian Bret Deveraux assesses Donald Trump's aims in 1933 and the Definition of Fascism.  Spoiler alert: Trump meets every single criterion of being a fascist in 2024 (but didn't back in 2016).

Personally, I doubt it will get that dire even if Trump wins.

We had four years of Trump before and I didn't see liberals and anyone to the left of Hitler given the Nacht un Nebel treatment.

We had Biden for four years, and despite Trump fans screaming he'd screw things up, somehow the United States is still here.

As I've gotten older, while I still consider voting important, the good news is the hard limit on two terms imposed post-FDR, so no permanent dictator can happen, and that goes for the people who are terrified of either side.

Ultimately, I do hope the most competent and honest parties are elected, but honestly, if I had to pick who I'd want as my eternal president, I'd want Chester Arthur perpetually. He didn't cause drama, left the country pretty much the way he found it, and was so nice even his enemies couldn't really find anything horrible to say about him aside from the fact he wasn't on their team.

If Trump does win, my advice for those who fear him is to make sure both houses of Congress and your states are filled with a ton of people in opposition, that would be the bulwark against any tyranny he could possibly do if he did get elected. If Kamala wins, well, make sure you elect as many people you want in lesser political positions of the same party to marginalize the other side's potential for damages. As for me, I will simply pray for peace and safety for whomever has their preferred candidate lose, and I will pray the winners have the wisdom to be gracious to the losers.

So the above article is my response to Geth's entire post here, along with the phrase "oh you sweet summer child."  A minority backed by a military, weakened democratic norms, and a level of legitimacy can absolutely take over – and have done so historically.  The democratic norms have already been weakened by the Supreme Court ruling that the President can't be prosecuted for any official action.  People are already expecting violence post-election, what if that violence becomes the excuse for a crackdown?  "One really violent day" of policing could come next.

The point is that you never elect a candidate unless you think they will give the power back.  Unless you want to be in a dictatorship.  If you want to live in a fascist country, by all means vote for Trump.  If making more money is more important to you than living in a democracy, vote for Trump.  But don't be surprised when the hammer swings for you.

[hazard]

If any of you remember pharma bro Martin Shkreli... he apparently supports the Harris/Walz ticket.

After nearly launching a cryptocoin scheme with one of Trump's kids and he got screwed in that.



I mean, the man is absolute scum, but still.

EDIT: Nevermind, I was most likely misinformed.

[nemonowan]

So the above article is my response to Geth's entire post here, along with the phrase "oh you sweet summer child."  A minority backed by a military, weakened democratic norms, and a level of legitimacy can absolutely take over – and have done so historically.  The democratic norms have already been weakened by the Supreme Court ruling that the President can't be prosecuted for any official action.  People are already expecting violence post-election, what if that violence becomes the excuse for a crackdown?  "One really violent day" of policing could come next.

The point is that you never elect a candidate unless you think they will give the power back.  Unless you want to be in a dictatorship.  If you want to live in a fascist country, by all means vote for Trump.  If making more money is more important to you than living in a democracy, vote for Trump.  But don't be surprised when the hammer swings for you.

 
Thom Hartmann wrote here a preemptive letter with a good scenario of what could perfectely well happen:

31 October 2025
Leavenworth, Kansas

Dear Louise,
It’s been almost a year since the last time I saw you, as they were arresting me on the “designated enemy within” sedition charge that’s kept me in this prison. If the underground network here succeeds, you should get this letter within a few weeks; it’s the third I’ve written you that got out of the prison, but I understand the first two couriers were busted for carrying contraband mail and are now in prison themselves.

The day after President Trump was re-elected (when Speaker Johnson and then the Supreme Court recognized the disputed ballots in five states and threw the election to the House of Representatives), you’ll recall, he invoked the Insurrection Act and began the mass arrests. They tell me Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Merrick Garland are in here, too, although I haven’t seen them; apparently the “high value” former administration officials are locked down in a separate wing.

I’ve been following the news as best I can, and it appears that the initial news reports from January detailing the thousands of people killed and injured by police and the Army in the nationwide demonstrations have largely vanished. One of the guards who has access to the web says all the stories have been scrubbed since Trump put Elon Musk in charge of the internet: it’s as if it never happened.
Part of that is probably because of the updated and retroactive Alien and Sedition Act Congress passed in Trump’s first week, and their “Truth Act” rolling back the Supreme Court’s Times v Sullivan ruling so public officials including the president can now sue for libel.

Following Viktor Orbán’s script from Hungary, Trump and several of his senior officials launched both civil and criminal prosecutions for things reporters and commentators had previously said about them, resulting in over a thousand reporters and several dozen publications being run into jail or bankruptcy.
Others — like me, Mary Trump, Heather Cox Richardson, Dean Obeidallah, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Joy Reid, and Timothy Snyder — were charged with “impugning the character of officials of the United States” and are sitting in federal prison right now. I guess we knew it was coming.

All those lawsuits and criminal charges destroyed the value of most media operations; it was a great opportunity for Trump’s billionaire friends to buy up most of America’s media just like Orbán’s buddies did a decade ago in Hungary. NBC, MSNBC, and The New York Times are now owned by the Murdoch family; CNN and CBS both went to Elon Musk; and ABC is now the property of Steve Bannon, who — like when Elon Musk bought Twitter with Saudi money — was bought from Disney with Middle Eastern oil money in a deal organized by Secretary of State Jared Kushner.

It was just a few years ago when Orbán spoke at CPAC in Texas and proposed — to a standing ovation — that Republicans should change the libel laws to put “liberals” in the media out of business: they were clearly paying attention. Now, just like in Hungary, China, Saudi Arabia, and Russia, all of the media spends all their time praising the wisdom and accomplishments of President Trump and Vice President Vance.
Now that Environment Czar Ron DeSantis has outlawed any news reporting on climate change that “may cast aspersions on the critical fossil fuel industry,” I’m not hearing much about deaths from wildfires, floods, drought, etc., although I’m guessing the situation has been getting worse? I suppose the good news for me and my fellow incarcerated reporters, writers, and politicians is that the prison here in Leavenworth, Kansas has easily survived several tornadoes and derechos: the climate crisis seems far away.

I hear Attorney General Stephen Miller has been busy arresting women all across the country. I remember in July of 2023 when 19 Republican attorneys general demanded private medical records of all women in their states who’d gotten abortions; now that the Supreme Court has ruled in their favor, I’m hearing the three largest private prison companies each got multi-billion-dollar contracts to build new prisons for those women who continue protesting by possessing birth control or wearing the outlawed “pussy” hats.

As Speaker Johnson said, echoing Trump’s logic in tearing children from their parents at the Southern border (now he just shoots them), “If we don’t jail a few of these women persisting in getting abortions, nobody will take us seriously.” And, of course, there are many more women being arrested for illegally possessing birth control pills and IUDs now that they’ve both been declared abortifacients and thus illegal. I understand the protests have largely gone underground since the new Sedition Act forbids public demonstrations and Defense Secretary Michael Flynn’s soldiers are using live ammo?

Next week is election day for the 2025 off-years, although at least 48 million fewer people will be voting since the Democratic Party was declared a criminally seditious organization under the Patriot Act and everybody who’d been registered as a Democrat lost their right to vote for ten years or until they’d successfully completed a re-education course. Another brilliant idea from Putin and Orbán, although President John Adams had nearly done the same thing in 1798.

Talking with other prisoners here, the most common thing I’m hearing is how surprised everybody was at how quickly General Flynn had been at deploying the military when crowds began showing up on inauguration day after Trump issued those blanket pardons to himself and the January 6th rioters.
He was able to use the military — with live ammunition — to “keep the peace,” of course, because Trump, following Project 2025, had “decapitated” the leadership of both the Civil Service and our military, replacing the nation’s top officers with those who’d passed his loyalty test so he wouldn’t be frustrated again by “socialists” like General Mark Milley (who’s now in a cell just down the block from me).

I hope you’re doing okay financially, since they seized all our savings. I understand your Social Security payment has dropped about 25 percent since JPMorgan took over the program? At least for now you can ignore paying taxes on the money, since Congress defunded the IRS.

And I’m hoping you were able to find a decent Medicare Advantage program, now that they’ve shut down traditional Medicare altogether? My cellmate tells me that now that the Advantage programs are the only game in town, they’ve begun charging over twelve thousand dollars a year for them — about the same as regular health insurance — and they’re getting even more aggressive at denying payment for claims. Please keep eating well and exercising: you need to stay healthy, since they no longer cover pre-existing conditions.

How are our grandkids? I know Texas and Florida shut down all their public schools just before the new school year started, giving the money instead to churches so every child can have a religious education, but haven’t heard that Oregon has yet gone down that road. I hear rumors the Trump administration is going to put into place a nationwide voucher system now that the Supreme Court has ruled that America is, in fact, a “Christian nation” and every child is entitled to a “Christian education.”

I was so saddened to hear that when Trump, Speaker Johnson, and Majority Leader Josh Hawley cut off all US aid to Ukraine that country’s government collapsed, and the Russians slaughtered hundreds of thousands suspected of collaborating with the Zelenskyy administration. When Russian forces entered Poland, I fully expected a NATO response, but I hear that since Trump pulled us out of NATO the European members are afraid to antagonize Putin. Now that parts of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are gone, and the Finnish border was breached, it’s going to be tough going for democratic Europe.

Republicans in Congress appear, from what I hear, quite happy with the new US alignment with Russia and rejection of our former European alliances (except Hungary).

At least Taiwan won’t be a flashpoint for a war now that Secretary of State Kushner and his wife have negotiated a peace between them and China. I understand it’s modeled after the Hong Kong transition, which has many in Taiwan worried, but the Chinese forces backed up by the US fleet in the region — and North Korea’s new treaty with the US — seem to be keeping unrest there to a minimum.

Are ICE and the Border Patrol still using live ammunition to enforce the border? The story I heard through the grapevine here was that after about a week of the Rio Grande running red with blood, most asylum seekers abandoned their efforts and are staying in Mexico. Secretary Kushner brought in Saudi officials to explain to Congress how they’ve been using live ammunition to protect their borders for years, killing people regularly, and that it’s “good target practice” to keep our troops’ training in tip-top shape.
And have any of our friends been rounded up in the mass detentions? I’ve heard that they’re still kicking in doors looking for people who can’t prove their citizenship when its demanded. I hope you’ve kept your passport up-to-date; at least your name sounds European and you’re white.

While those of us convicted under the 2024 updates to the libel and sedition laws and the new “enemy within” provisions of the updated Patriot Act are considered “enemy combatants” and thus not entitled to constitutional protections and things like mail privileges, I hear they may let us have one zoom call with family on Christmas (now that it’s a “mandatory holiday”). The week after next is our 54th wedding anniversary; I miss you, and hope you get this note before our Christmas call!

Sending you, our kids, and our grandkids all my love…

— Thom

[robkelk]

AP: Trump is using election lies to lay the groundwork for challenging 2024 results if he loses

Trump has made election lies central to his 2024 campaign, issuing fevered warnings about fraud while promising to take retribution against people he sees as standing in his way.

This year, he is backed by a sophisticated “election integrity” operation built by his campaign and the Republican National Committee that has filed more than 130 lawsuits already and signed up more than 230,000 volunteers being trained to deploy as poll watchers and poll workers across the country on Election Day.

---

While we're discussing elections, I have a few process questions. They make sense from a Canadian's point of view, but might assume things that don't apply in the USA.

1. How do people in long-term hospice care vote? Does the polling station and ballot box go to them, or do they have to go to the ballot box even if they're otherwise bedridden?
   
2. How do homeless people show proof of residence when registering to vote? (In Canada, they get to use the address of any shelter where they've gotten a meal or a bed during the election campaign. There's a special form that the shelter's administrator gives them upon request.)
   
3. How do people in prison vote? Obviously, they can't go to the ballot box, so does the ballot box go to them or do they have to vote by mail?
   

[Labster]

While we're discussing elections, I have a few process questions. They make sense from a Canadian's point of view, but might assume things that don't apply in the USA.

1. How do people in long-term hospice care vote? Does the polling station and ballot box go to them, or do they have to go to the ballot box even if they're otherwise bedridden?
   
2. How do homeless people show proof of residence when registering to vote? (In Canada, they get to use the address of any shelter where they've gotten a meal or a bed during the election campaign. There's a special form that the shelter's administrator gives them upon request.)
   
3. How do people in prison vote? Obviously, they can't go to the ballot box, so does the ballot box go to them or do they have to vote by mail?
   

There's an implicit assumption that you made above that's wrong, that these questions can be answered for the USA.  They can't, because every state is different.  It's kind of equivalent of asking how they do elections in the EU.  I can answer the questions above for California, but it really depends on the state as to whether or not they try as hard as possible to count every absentee vote, or try as hard as possible to discount every absentee vote.  Both kinds exist.

1. Every registered voter in California gets a vote-by-mail ballot if they have a mailing address on record.  If they are unable to sign, another person may cosign the ballot on returning it.
2. In California, no proof of residence nor identity card is required at any stage of the process.  (SSN or Drivers License is optional on the voter registration form, voting more than once or while ineligible is still a felony.)
3. People in prison do not vote.  If they do somehow vote, they may receive additional prison time.  In California, felons can vote upon release.  Two states and DC allow prisoners to vote, while nine states disenfranchise some felons for life.

California is not very normal of a state.  I've been reading about the court cases in Pennsylvania about letting voters who forget to include the secrecy envelope cast a second, provisional ballot -- and now all counties are required to count the provisional ballots.  And I'm honestly wondering how the state can fuck up the entire process so badly? So you don't count a ballot because an election worker might read it, like in what world does that make any sense?  It's literally their job to read ballots.  The state messages one fact and counties just ignore the state guidance.  There's another court case where it was determined that Pennsylvania must verify the dates on ballots.  Don't date your signature, or write the wrong date?  No vote for you.  So we have people manually validating that you wrote the correct day of the week on your ballot -- I hope your nines and fours don't look too much alike.

I'm picking on Pennsylvania because it's so nonsensical.  Other states have more restrictive, don't-trust-always-verify approaches to ballots, which are more sensical, but worse.

[robkelk]

3. People in prison do not vote.

To quote Keanu Reees, woah.

Different countries, different constitutionally-guaranteed rights... which I now know does or doesn't include the right for all citizens who have reached the age of majority to vote.

[robkelk]

In case anybody missed this. Copying the text tht I just added to the "Executive Meddling" page on All The Tropes:

In 2024, the owner of the Washington Post stopped a fifty-year tradition and refused to let the paper recommend a candidate for President. As a result, the Post lost approximately 10% of their subscribers.

[robkelk]

Tuesday is voting day. Remember, remember, the fifth of November ...

[Jinx999]

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/po...235151596/

1) Given the history of massive political rallies, claiming that your are the biggest ever is both vanishingly unlikely and not something to boast about.

2) When your lie can be exposed by just looking around? Even toddlers know to hide things behind their backs.

[nemonowan]

And I'm honestly wondering how the state can fuck up the entire process so badly? So you don't count a ballot because an election worker might read it, like in what world does that make any sense?  It's literally their job to read ballots.

Well, if you were writing the election laws from the point of view that secrecy is of primary importance, it makes a lot of sense to require a privacy envelope.
The process would then be, some workers recieve the ballots, do whatever verification is required, open them and put the ballot in its second privacy envelope in a box with all the rest of the ballots processed that shift. Then different workers will process the box with its ballots, open them and count them.
That way no election worker would know for certain who voted for which candidate. If the ballot came in a single envelope they could not avoid knowing it.
It becomes messy of course when the laws are not clear or not fair on what to do if the privacy envelope is missing but the ballot inside is otherwise valid. More so if said envelope is missing because of mistakes made by the state.

[Labster]

So today Trump was taking about how he wouldn't mind if someone shot the media at his rallies.  He also said he'd probably go along with Kennedy Jr's proposal to ban vaccines and stop water fluoridation.  So uh... get your covid boosters while you still can, folks – before they go back in the Kennedy Vault.

Well, if you were writing the election laws from the point of view that secrecy is of primary importance, it makes a lot of sense to require a privacy envelope.
The process would then be, some workers recieve the ballots, do whatever verification is required, open them and put the ballot in its second privacy envelope in a box with all the rest of the ballots processed that shift. Then different workers will process the box with its ballots, open them and count them.
That way no election worker would know for certain who voted for which candidate. If the ballot came in a single envelope they could not avoid knowing it.
It becomes messy of course when the laws are not clear or not fair on what to do if the privacy envelope is missing but the ballot inside is otherwise valid. More so if said envelope is missing because of mistakes made by the state.

Secrecy is not primary importance though: most important is consistency (i.e. accurate recording of ballots) is primary, followed by durability (ballot data remains committed once received).  ACID compliant would be great, for all you programmers out there.

But also Pennsylvania's process does not ensure security.  Providing the extra envelope, it provides some additional security through obscuring, and prevents some degree of accidental disclosure.  But a voter who doesn't use the security layer is disenfranchised while still having their security compromised.  This is in fact worse, because an adversarial pollworker can read the invalid ballot, then tell people who can pressure the voter to vote differently, or not to vote again provisionally.  If it was simply accepted, none of extra pressure exists.

Security is always in conflict with usability.  Any security method which relies on the end user to do everything correctly is going to fail if your end users are humans.  This is just bad design.  They are optimizing for the wrong things.  The more steps, the higher the chance of failure, which only serves to disenfranchis people who are trying to vote correctly, while preventing no voter fraud.

[robkelk]

On the off-chance that anybody wants an audio feed of US election coverage with a Canadian perspective, pick a station and start listening at 8pm Eastern time on voting day. (Ottawa's the market with the federal politicians.)