2020, the election campaigns have begun

[Rajvik]

uh, NO Labster, these are all Obama era holdovers, not ones he brought on. and even if they were, still has the ability.

i don't disagree on NAVSEC, the only reason he would have legitimately had to fire that captain (of the big stick) would be if the Captain had been the one to leak that letter to the press.

Why so many vacancies, maybe because it takes time to get congressional approval, (not all approvals go through the Senate, only cabinet level ones) especially when you have do nothings like Paul Ryan or an actively resisting house leader like Nancy Pelosi, i mean, even in the Senate, look at the shit show that happened when Kavenaugh was brought in for his approval, or William Barr for the Attorney general slot, before Trump picked Barr, Chuck Schumer had nothing but nice things to say about Barr, afterwards, he couldn't get enough tar to dump on the man

[Matrix Dragon]

Remember, it's never Trumps fault. It's always everyone elses fault. Never Trump. Trump has never made a mistake in his life.

[Rajvik]

No Matrix, Trump has made, and admitted to making many mistakes in his life, Divorces are all about admitting mistakes. That said, what it is about is blaming others mistakes on him, and making up mistakes to blame on him along with bullshit reasons for those mistakes/not mistakes

frankly the lot of you just buy into too much of the bullshit

[robkelk]

Why so many vacancies, maybe because it takes time to get congressional approval,

He's had three years. Surely that's enough time. EDIT: The equivalent process in Canada takes less than 10% of that time.

[Matrix Dragon]

Or we've been watching him be a complete and utter shitnugget for decades. We have watched him constantly throw out racist bullshit, constantly have his businesses fail, constantly appoint incompetent cronies to positions of power, constantly kiss the asses of foreign dictators, constantly blame everyone else for his own decisions, constantly behaved like a child having a tantrum every time anyone so much as mildly criticizes him... the list goes on, and on and on.

This moron was a public joke way back in the 80s, whose only talent has been suckering people despite being the most blatant con man ever seen. The past four years have made that even more depressingly clear than it was to start with. And his followers will always respond with screams of fake news and leftist tears. Because, in the end, Trump is the kind of person they want to be. Someone who gets away with being a complete monster, no matter how stupid he acts.

[DHBirr]

"Fake News! The United States Senate Intelligence Committee, Democrats and RINOs alike, is Fake News!"

The Senate Intelligence Committee has unanimously endorsed the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia conducted a sweeping and unprecedented campaign to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
...
“The committee found no reason to dispute the intelligence community’s conclusions,” Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said in a statement.
...
Significantly, the committee said, “interviews with those who drafted and prepared the ICA affirmed that analysts were under no political pressure to reach specific conclusions.”
...
One of the ICA’s most important conclusions “was that Russia’s aggressive interference efforts should be considered ‘the new normal,’ ” Burr said. “That warning has been borne out by the events of the last three years, as Russia and its imitators increasingly use information warfare to sow societal chaos and discord. With the 2020 presidential election approaching, it’s more important than ever that we remain vigilant against the threat of interference from hostile foreign actors.”

[Matrix Dragon]

... Eyup.

[robkelk]

Because there's always somebody who threatens to do this every four years:

How to immigrate to Canada

You're welcome.

[Labster]

Dang, I'd have to take an English test?  I guess that's only fair.  I hope it's not an Old English test, I'd need to brush up on my Bede and Chaucer.

I suppose I'd qualify for Express Entry after a year or so.  Not sure how it would go with working for an American company in Canada, possibly NAFTA/UCMCA could help?

Seriously considering, though.  Of course, seeing the headlines here we may not need to in the future Divided States of America.

[Labster]

Normally this would belong in the science thread but, well:

Researchers develop AI to decipher Trump's speech

[Dartz]

Normally this would belong in the science thread but, well:

Researchers develop AI to decipher Trump's speech

Reachers inadvertently create Marvin.

[robkelk]

With everything else going on this week, this one slipped through the cracks.

Biden clinches Democratic nomination

Pushed over the top by DC.

[robkelk]

So... purple states.

If I'm reading these aggregrated polls correctly, then if an election was to have been held a week ago, Trump would just barely take North Carolina, while Biden would take Wisconsin, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Arizona. There's only two polls up for Minnesota (although they show Biden taking that state, too).

Since then, the Nicknamer-in-Chief has defended flying the Confederate flag - which even NASCAR won't allow any more.

And there's this analysis: Trump tried a law-and-order message written in 1968. It's falling flat in the U.S. of 2020

Warning signs are even starting to flare up in the epicentre of a critical Trump stronghold: Florida retiree country.

The head of the Democratic organization in the massive Villages retirement complex that spans three counties said people are driving to her office to ask to be re-registered as Democrats.

One striking interaction happened immediately after Trump floated using the military to put down protests.

"I had a guy show up two weeks ago. Career in the military. Thirty-something years in the Air Force," said Chris Stanley, president of the Villages Democrats. "He came in to register. I said, 'Gee — you must really like Biden.'

"He said, 'No — I just really hate Trump.'"

It's looking more and more to me like the 2020 election is going to be "anybody but Trump". Maybe if it was Pence who was running for President, the GOP would have better numbers.

Of course, the only poll that really matters is the one at the ballot box.

[Star Ranger4]

I concur with those point, Rob, as that is the opinion of all 3 citizens of voting age here in this residence. Well, not as sure about Pence, but wayyyyy back during the california primaries (which they moved to 'super tuesday' so that California mattered more in the national side of things) as I republican I voted for the first person listed as a republican candidate who was not trump. No, I don't care if other people think I threw my vote away, I think that it was more important to give a vote of no confidence to him, just as I did in the primary 4 years ago.

[Dartz]

The problem is, it doesn't matter what the majority of Americans think about Trump - only that the right ones with the strongest votes are both able to vote, and do.

It'll either be a Biden landslide, or the new largest sub-majority victory ever depending on what flops where and who'se actually able to stick a six-hour wait to vote. .

[hazard]

It's not helped by the Republicans pursuing massive voter suppression efforts in traditionally non-Republican neighbourhoods. That sort of thing should be 'your right to vote is yoinked permanently' level offenses at minimum.

[Dartz]

I think, the only way this can be won is by making sure the other side can't vote. And that's like some African despot level shit

[hazard]

You mean despot level shit. Or banana republic shit.

It's the sort of thing that can't last forever, but it can last a long time.


You can only hope however that if that sort of shit happens people notice and force those responsible to pay the toll for it. The USA... does not have a history of doing that.

[robkelk]

Each of you who lives in the USA, please help make sure voter suppression doesn't happen. Get out and make sure people in your town or city are registered to vote, and know where the poll is and when it's open. Don't assume that somebody else will take care of that.

And make sure you don't ask what your neighbours' politics are. Ask them to vote, don't ask them to vote for or against somebody,

[Labster]

Each of you who lives in the USA, please help make sure voter suppression doesn't happen. Get out and make sure people in your town or city are registered to vote, and know where the poll is and when it's open. Don't assume that somebody else will take care of that.

And make sure you don't ask what your neighbours' politics are. Ask them to vote, don't ask them to vote for or against somebody,

Ahahaha, you think that letting people know where their polling place is will do anything to stop suppression?  It's pretty obvious when and where the polls are -- it's where people are standing in line for five hours around four blocks to get a chance to vote, because the elections office decided not to mail you the ballot you requested this year.  Oops.

Well, I live in a mostly white city, so not here, obviously.  Mainly the places where all the election funding got spent on riot gear for the police.

And, unfortunately, as a partisan, it's kind of my job to ask people to vote for certain other people.  A surprising number of people actually want to be told who to vote for.

[hazard]

Sounds to me the USA needs an independent voting guide system that only tallies what various candidates and parties have said, promised and followed through on.


Then again, the USA needs a lot of things.

[robkelk]

Sounds to me the USA needs an independent voting guide system that only tallies what various candidates and parties have said, promised and followed through on.


Then again, the USA needs a lot of things.

Yeah - not every country has something like this.

[hazard]

I was thinking more of the Stemwijzer used in the Netherlands (site's only available in Dutch AFAIK). I believe it's run by an NGO, and what it does is take 20 or so key issues and references the multiple choice answers of the one taking the test against those of the various parties running in the election before spitting out a list of all parties referenced and how much you align with their stances on those issues. As of this moment the test is for the 2019 European Parliament elections.

[nocarename]

Those sorts of vote compasses are generally handled, at least in part, by the CBC.
https://votecompass.cbc.ca/canada/
That hasn't been updated since the 2019 Federal election, but there hasn't been a big vote since then.

There are further ones for different provincial elections and so on.

[robkelk]

Vote compasses are nice.

An independent, non-partisan, permanent organization that (a) draws electoral district boundaries without gerrymandering and (b) tracks political-party and third-party spending during elections, with legal powers to fine rule-breakers is somewhat more than just "nice".