[GT] US election - It's 2020, what could possibly go wrong?

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by Ped

Trump's suggesting China may be behind it. What a clown.

And a vast number of Americans, red and blue, will gladly accept that narrative as villainizing China for everything has been one Trump policy that appeals to them.

[Barnet Flame]

Originally Posted by JohnnyB

Some of my friends in consulting have found that their time is even more occupied since going to wfh. They used to be able to get some breaks in the day if they had travel to engagements or meetings in different locations, but since everything has become remote there's no more time like that blocked out in their calendars and the expectation is that people should be good to come right out of one meeting immediately into the next one all through the day.

Holy crap. THIS!

There is almost no thinking time any longer. I never thought of it, but sometimes going from on piece of work or meeting was valuable time where you just got time to think.

That’s gone now to the point where one meeting blends right in to the next. Nothing in between at times with no chance to recharge or even prepare.

[direwolf]

Voter turnout in the Georgia runoffs is currently on pace to rival the turnout from back in November, which likely benefits the Democrats. Although it sounds like voters from both parties are energized, so who knows how this whole thing will turn out. The Dems retaking the Senate would be huge.

It's been widely reported that some of the MAGA cult are planning on boycotting the election and staying home. It'll be interesting to see if that ends up hurting the GOP's chances. McConnell's acknowledgement of Biden's win has certainly pissed off a large portion of the GOP base.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKBN28S1KY

The surge in turnout after four days of early in-person voting, and about four weeks of mail-in voting, showed that voter participation in the two races is on pace to rival the records set in the November presidential contest in which Biden defeated Republican incumbent Donald Trump.

State data published on Friday showed the number of accepted ballots was just below the level seen at the same point in early voting for November’s election.

Ballots accepted through Thursday were only just below the 1.2 million that were cast at the same point in the November election, when turnout eventually totaled about 5 million votes.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by Ped

Trump's suggesting China may be behind it. What a clown.

You know that he just spouts the first drivel that comes to him that suits his purpose. (It may be true but still....)

[TherapyforGlencross]

That Russia hack.. yikes. Could be disastrously bad. Seriously bad for the Western world.

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by activeStick

And a vast number of Americans, red and blue, will gladly accept that narrative as villainizing China for everything has been one Trump policy that appeals to them.

Don't fool yourself if you think it's only Americans. The amount of anti-China rhetoric in Canadian nutjob circles has been growing at an alarming pace the last 3 months.

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by direwolf

Voter turnout in the Georgia runoffs is currently on pace to rival the turnout from back in November, which likely benefits the Democrats. Although it sounds like voters from both parties are energized, so who knows how this whole thing will turn out. The Dems retaking the Senate would be huge.

It's been widely reported that some of the MAGA cult are planning on boycotting the election and staying home. It'll be interesting to see if that ends up hurting the GOP's chances. McConnell's acknowledgement of Biden's win has certainly pissed off a large portion of the GOP base.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKBN28S1KY

At a national level, I think the stats have shown that the majority of the population are center-left for sure. I'm just not certain the same applies to the population of Georgia, but we shall see soon enough.

[Flashpoint]

Originally Posted by activeStick

At a national level, I think the stats have shown that the majority of the population are center-left for sure. I'm just not certain the same applies to the population of Georgia, but we shall see soon enough.

The real question is how effective the GOP will have been at gerrymandering, and how effective they will be at preventing black and brown voters from voting come election day.

The November election demonstrated that Trump was on the "right" (!) track when he tried to hamstring the United States Postal service. It's way harder to suppress the votes of people when they are using the mail, and don't have to give up time on a workday.

Even then... you know the GOP will follow the 1-60 Trump legal strategy example and sue everyone in sight with frivolous lawsuits to try and steal the election, or at least muddy the waters to prevent a clear mandate.

You can be a conservative for a lot of fairly legitimate reasons (pro life, small government, lower taxes). But damn, are they showing their true stripes and lack of integrity at not opposing what's essentially an incompetent coup.

[#-3]

Originally Posted by direwolf

Voter turnout in the Georgia runoffs is currently on pace to rival the turnout from back in November, which likely benefits the Democrats. Although it sounds like voters from both parties are energized, so who knows how this whole thing will turn out. The Dems retaking the Senate would be huge.

It's been widely reported that some of the MAGA cult are planning on boycotting the election and staying home. It'll be interesting to see if that ends up hurting the GOP's chances. McConnell's acknowledgement of Biden's win has certainly pissed off a large portion of the GOP base.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKBN28S1KY

November level turnout would be very very good for the republicans in Georgia.

When you have a one party with a unified/energized electorate, that all agree they support the candidates (the dems)

And you have a party with an upset/divided electorate critical of it's own members (the reps)

low turn out means the unified party wins by default, high turn out goes back to whoever has the biggest base in the territory. Dems have done a good job growing their Georgian base , but they didn't win a plurality in either of these races before, I doubt we are at the point where dems win a full turnout election (absent a walking disaster like Trump on the ticket).

[direwolf]

Originally Posted by #-3

November level turnout would be very very good for the republicans in Georgia.

When you have a one party with a unified/energized electorate, that all agree they support the candidates (the dems)

And you have a party with an upset/divided electorate critical of it's own members (the reps)

low turn out means the unified party wins by default, high turn out goes back to whoever has the biggest base in the territory. Dems have done a good job growing their Georgian base , but they didn't win a plurality in either of these races before, I doubt we are at the point where dems win a full turnout election (absent a walking disaster like Trump on the ticket).

Maybe. But on the other hand, I'm reading that Dem voters in GA are pretty stoked about the importance of this election and the possibility of taking back the Senate. As far as motivation goes, the stakes couldn't be higher, which is driving people to the polls.

Also, without Trump on the ticket, there isn't much there to excite the MAGAs. Currently there seems to be a bit of a civil war happening down there between the Trump cult and regular Republicans. That might ultimately hurt the GOP in this election. I mean, this is the south we're talking about, so I wouldn't be shocked at all to see the GOP win it. But I think the Dems have a pretty good shot here. We'll find out soon enough.

[#-3]

Originally Posted by direwolf

Maybe. But on the other hand, I'm reading that Dem voters in GA are pretty stoked about the importance of this election and the possibility of taking back the Senate. As far as motivation goes, the stakes couldn't be higher, which is driving people to the polls.

Also, without Trump on the ticket, there isn't much there to excite the MAGAs. Currently there seems to be a bit of a civil war happening down there between the Trump cult and regular Republicans. That might ultimately hurt the GOP in this election. I mean, this is the south we're talking about, so I wouldn't be shocked at all to see the GOP win it. But I think the Dems have a pretty good shot here. We'll find out soon enough.

Exactly, if you were to tell me they are expecting 80% of the November turn out, I would say that is very very good for the democrats based on what your describing.

If you are seeing similar turnout to November, that means despite the lack of enthusiasm the GOP is still getting their votes.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Barnet Flame

That’s gone now to the point where one meeting blends right in to the next. Nothing in between at times with no chance to recharge or even prepare.

I'm lucky in that I don't have that many meetings, but I find I end up being like that anyway. In the office it was rare I'd go all morning without at least some interruption, but at home sometimes I forget to stand up and get a snack or some water or something to break it up.

And my boss who does have meetings all day has been scheduling in that thinking time (or even "family" time at the end of the day to let people on different schedules know not to invite him to meetings at the end of the day).

Which I've done sometimes before. And I've worked for places that has had policies around when developers could be invited for meetings (so there was "productivity time") even before the pandemic.

What I really miss is the random info exchange that resulted in informal planning.

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

Don't fool yourself if you think it's only Americans. The amount of anti-China rhetoric in Canadian nutjob circles has been growing at an alarming pace the last 3 months.

How should people feel about China? I realize I'm asking this to CPs resident pinko commy but what the hell let's go for it

[getbak]

Originally Posted by PaperBagger'14

How should people feel about China? I realize I'm asking this to CPs resident pinko commy but what the hell let's go for it

NSFW!

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by photon

I'm lucky in that I don't have that many meetings, but I find I end up being like that anyway. In the office it was rare I'd go all morning without at least some interruption, but at home sometimes I forget to stand up and get a snack or some water or something to break it up.

And my boss who does have meetings all day has been scheduling in that thinking time (or even "family" time at the end of the day to let people on different schedules know not to invite him to meetings at the end of the day).

Which I've done sometimes before. And I've worked for places that has had policies around when developers could be invited for meetings (so there was "productivity time") even before the pandemic.

What I really miss is the random info exchange that resulted in informal planning.

Yeah working from home you've got to block off your own calendar. No meetings before 9:30 or after 3:30. Plus block 30 minutes for lunch. And sometimes you have to block time to actually work uninterupted so no one can call or skype you.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by rubecube

i'll break it down in simple terms:

$1200>$0

https://twitter.com/user/status/1340412804411645953

[direwolf]

Totally normal.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politic...9TYo_FYcDLrWd4

According to several reports, outgoing President Trump has stepped up the insanity at the White House — so much so that he has even discussed declaring martial law in order to steal the election.

The New York Times reported Saturday that Trump has entertained the idea previously suggested by his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who suggested that the president could deploy the military to swing states he lost to President-elect Joe Biden in order to “rerun” the presidential election.

“Within the swing states, if he wanted to, he could take the military capabilities and he could place them in those states and basically rerun an election in each of those states,” Flynn said in a Newsmax interview this week.

Unsurprisingly, the president took to Twitter, on Sunday morning and called the report “fake news.” But, according to additional reporting by Axios’ Jonathan Swan, senior officials to the president are growing more concerned that Trump’s attempts at overthrowing the election are not coming to an end.

When Trump is “retweeting threats of putting politicians in jail, and spends his time talking to conspiracy nuts who openly say declaring martial law is no big deal, it’s impossible not to start getting anxious about how this ends,” a senior administration official told Axios.

So, instead of using his last days in office to do his job and help Americans who are being ravaged both medically and financially by the pandemic that he mismanaged, the president has White House officials worried because, according to the report, he “is spending too much time with people they consider crackpots or conspiracy theorists and flirting with blatant abuses of power.”

“People who are concerned and nervous aren’t the weak-kneed bureaucrats that we loathe,” a White House official told Axios. “These are people who have endured arguably more insanity and mayhem than any administration officials in history.”

Both the Times and Axios say that White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows “pushed back” on some of the nuttiest ideas coming from people like lawyer Sidney Powell.

[photon]

Of course Trump supporters will just say that he's saying this to hide his real intention. They won't stop manufacturing new and elaborate ways that Trump will win until the inauguration.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1340523944680583169

[Dion]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1340093301731504130

[nik-]

Originally Posted by Dion

https://twitter.com/user/status/1340093301731504130

They were basically forced to do this. It would be nice if it happened more often.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/19/busin...age/index.html