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

[calgaryred]

Originally Posted by Swift

NYT seems to think it's because Trump wants to get the troops out of Afghanistan in order to cement a legacy as the President who ended the Afghan war and so he's replaced people with Yes men to avoid pushback on that.

He won't get out every soldier according to officals so its pretty pointless, Biden will just put them back.

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[Azure]

I've kinda been sitting back and watching the situation unfold. I firmly believe that every candidate of every election whether Presidential or at a local level has the legal right to contest the election from a legal perspective if they have evidence of any issues, or if they feel like the count is close enough to warrant either a recount or a closer look. This is an extremely important part of the process and needs to be protected.

I also believe that every election has a certain amount of fraudulent ballots. Why wouldn't it? There are idiots out there looking to take advantage of every situation.

I think over the years the existent of said ballots has been properly dealt with, and more or less resolved from a legal perspective. Elections have been happening for many years, and regardless of what comes up, things have always taken proper course over time. That could be a few days, or maybe months. It is actually remarkable that blatant fraud has never really influenced the election to the point where one candidate was given hundreds of thousands of votes in a fraudulent manner thereby declaring him a winner.

I think what Trump is doing is more than concerning. Writing upper case tweets talking about massive blatant fraud without evidence is completely insane.

Every time the legal process of a contested election has run its course, only minor discrepancies were found. There has never been that level of fraud, nor do I think anyone could manage to pull it off. The thing about tightly contested states where the supposed fraud is happening is that people from both parties are heavily involved, so hiding what amounts to insane level of fraudulent behavior would take some crazy high level planning and execution. From what I understand the Dominion voting machines are 'offline' and can't communicate from one to the next, much less from state to state. So even if someone managed to get access to them, stick a USB stick in, rewrite the code they would only be changing a few thousand votes. I'd also imagine that those machines get audited quite often, and we really have never heard of any issues.

I think the whole Russiagate bull#### didn't help, and everyone who was involved in pushing that blatant lie for the last 4 years can thank themselves for playing a part in what we have now. You can't contest election results by pumping a load of BS, and then turn around and not expect the other side to do exactly the same thing. If you still think it wasn't a load of BS, I highly suggest looking up what Matt Taibbi has said about it. I'm not going to bother arguing about it. I believe Taibbi has done his research and after the last 4 years he is one of the few I actually trust on this subject.

At the end of the day I think the results of the election and the highest vote total ever by any candidate in the history of the US is a bit of a guise considering the Democrats lost quite a few seats in the House, and there is a very good chance the Republicans get a majority in 2 years. I also find it interesting that there is a strong push from within the Democrat ranks by getting rid of Pelosi as Speaker, as if to suggest that Pelosi is a reason the Democrats lost a lot of votes in the House. Not sure I agree with that. I think AOC is the reason the Democrats lost a lot of votes in the House.

At the end of the day I think Trump is corrupt and evil, but I also think he understood better than any other candidate what social media can do to the narrative. Which brings out the question about future candidates? Given the power of social media and how quickly something can be said and then retweeted 100k times until everyone thinks it is true, is the current political climate the reality we will continue to have?

Because I think it is.

At the end of the day I agree with Mark Cuban, who I hope runs for President as an independent.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1327092861377130496

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Swift

NYT seems to think it's because Trump wants to get the troops out of Afghanistan in order to cement a legacy as the President who ended the Afghan war and so he's replaced people with Yes men to avoid pushback on that.

He owes the Taliban for the endorsement they gave him during his campaign.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by #-3

North Carolina was interesting, they counted the mail vote today and it was almost exactly the same as the in person vote +1.4 / + 1.9 points for Trump. It kinda bucked the trend of other states where there was a huge swing one way or the other once the mail vote hit.

Wasn’t this just mail in ballots received after Election Day? I believe NC counts mail in ballots in advance then waits for the deadline and then counts all the late arrivals that are postmarked but arrive late.

If you remember there were lawsuits in October about whether the mail in ballots could be accepted after Election Day so that would have incentivized people to vote earlier so perhaps those that didn’t don’t have a partisan lean like those that cast earlier (I can’t find a break down). Also oversees and military ballots are probably more likely to be late so that would change the lean as well.

[greyshep]

Originally Posted by Azure

At the end of the day I agree with Mark Cuban, who I hope runs for President as an independent.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1327092861377130496

Its a nice thought but wouldnt that essentially just split the vote on the left and pave a nice easy win for the Republicans?

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Azure

I've kinda been sitting back and watching the situation unfold. I firmly believe that every candidate of every election whether Presidential or at a local level has the legal right to contest the election from a legal perspective if they have evidence of any issues, or if they feel like the count is close enough to warrant either a recount or a closer look. This is an extremely important part of the process and needs to be protected.

I also believe that every election has a certain amount of fraudulent ballots. Why wouldn't it? There are idiots out there looking to take advantage of every situation.

I think over the years the existent of said ballots has been properly dealt with, and more or less resolved from a legal perspective. Elections have been happening for many years, and regardless of what comes up, things have always taken proper course over time. That could be a few days, or maybe months. It is actually remarkable that blatant fraud has never really influenced the election to the point where one candidate was given hundreds of thousands of votes in a fraudulent manner thereby declaring him a winner.

I think what Trump is doing is more than concerning. Writing upper case tweets talking about massive blatant fraud without evidence is completely insane.

Every time the legal process of a contested election has run its course, only minor discrepancies were found. There has never been that level of fraud, nor do I think anyone could manage to pull it off. The thing about tightly contested states where the supposed fraud is happening is that people from both parties are heavily involved, so hiding what amounts to insane level of fraudulent behavior would take some crazy high level planning and execution. From what I understand the Dominion voting machines are 'offline' and can't communicate from one to the next, much less from state to state. So even if someone managed to get access to them, stick a USB stick in, rewrite the code they would only be changing a few thousand votes. I'd also imagine that those machines get audited quite often, and we really have never heard of any issues.

I think the whole Russiagate bull#### didn't help, and everyone who was involved in pushing that blatant lie for the last 4 years can thank themselves for playing a part in what we have now. You can't contest election results by pumping a load of BS, and then turn around and not expect the other side to do exactly the same thing. If you still think it wasn't a load of BS, I highly suggest looking up what Matt Taibbi has said about it. I'm not going to bother arguing about it. I believe Taibbi has done his research and after the last 4 years he is one of the few I actually trust on this subject.

At the end of the day I think the results of the election and the highest vote total ever by any candidate in the history of the US is a bit of a guise considering the Democrats lost quite a few seats in the House, and there is a very good chance the Republicans get a majority in 2 years. I also find it interesting that there is a strong push from within the Democrat ranks by getting rid of Pelosi as Speaker, as if to suggest that Pelosi is a reason the Democrats lost a lot of votes in the House. Not sure I agree with that. I think AOC is the reason the Democrats lost a lot of votes in the House.

At the end of the day I think Trump is corrupt and evil, but I also think he understood better than any other candidate what social media can do to the narrative. Which brings out the question about future candidates? Given the power of social media and how quickly something can be said and then retweeted 100k times until everyone thinks it is true, is the current political climate the reality we will continue to have?

Because I think it is.

At the end of the day I agree with Mark Cuban, who I hope runs for President as an independent.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1327092861377130496

I think the rise of Palin, Brexit and Trump are fairly clear indicators that the ordinary voter is a moron, all facebook has done is enabled an unscrupulous billionaire to take advantage of the stupidity of the peasant masses and direct them to burn something down, why would Cuban be any more or less incompetent than Trump?

[calgarybornnraised]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

What happened to his hair?

As seen on Twitter

“Jury Sympathy Grey”

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Azure

I think the whole Russiagate bull#### didn't help, and everyone who was involved in pushing that blatant lie for the last 4 years can thank themselves for playing a part in what we have now.

Almost as bad as the Birther Movement

[Azure]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

I think the rise of Palin, Brexit and Trump are fairly clear indicators that the ordinary voter is a moron, all facebook has done is enabled an unscrupulous billionaire to take advantage of the stupidity of the peasant masses and direct them to burn something down, why would Cuban be any more or less incompetent than Trump?

Unlike Trump, I don't think Mark Cuban is an incompetent idiot. If you've paid attention to his business side, he is a pretty smart person. And I'm not just talking about Shark Tank. But, given the reality of how social media affects politics, I don't think Cuban can approach a candidacy as a purist, free from partisan haggling, something he is apparently angling for.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Almost as bad as the Birther Movement

The birther thing was sheer stupidity, and probably worse than Russiagate because of how dumb it was. Way worse actually.

To make it even worse, Obama was a good candidate. Like an actual bonafide good candidate with good ideas and good leadership.

[direwolf]

Another embarrassing day in court for Emperor Dips***.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/13/polit...ign/index.html

Two judges in Pennsylvania on Friday tossed a half dozen court cases the Trump campaign had brought to invalidate thousands of votes around Philadelphia, where voters carried President-elect Joe Biden to a clear win in the battleground state.

In total, the Trump campaign had sought to throw out almost 9,000 absentee ballots because their outer envelopes lack names, dates or addresses or some combination of the three that voters could have filled out.

In five related cases, Judge James Crumlish of Philadelphia County's Court of Common Pleas said the Trump campaign couldn't invalidate 8,329 ballots it alleged were improper. The judge ruled those ballots should be processed and counted.

In another case, the President's campaign sought for the Montgomery County Board of Elections to throw out 592 mail-in ballots where voters hadn't filled out their addresses on the outside envelopes. Those ballots will be counted, the second judge, Richard Haaz of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, ruled on Friday.

Haaz found that state law didn't require voters to fill out the address sections on the envelopes, and the instructions on the ballots didn't tell voters they must fill them out.
"Voters should not be disenfranchised by reasonably relying upon voting instructions provided by election officials," Haaz wrote.

[flylock shox]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

I think the rise of Palin, Brexit and Trump are fairly clear indicators that the ordinary voter is a moron, all facebook has done is enabled an unscrupulous billionaire to take advantage of the stupidity of the peasant masses and direct them to burn something down, why would Cuban be any more or less incompetent than Trump?

You might enjoy the James Randi documentary "An Honest Liar".



Randi is a former magician, more famously known for his work as a skeptic and advocate of science. He's the guy who offered a million dollar prize (still unclaimed) for anyone who could prove they have ESP. He's also the guy who debunked fraudsters like Peter Popoff and Uri Geller.



It is horribly dispiriting to see people being bamboozled by parlour tricks, in some cases to bilk them out of money or at risk of their own health. It is even more dispiriting to see how these con-men are able to persist, even after they've been thoroughly debunked.



Most striking of all though is how many people react with anger or denial when shown the truth. It seems to strike at their identities in such a way that they simply can't or refuse to process it, or they find other justifications that allow them to hold up their initial views (e.g. "just because you can bend a spoon with a magic trick doesn't mean Uri Geller wasn't using telekenesis to do the same thing").



Basically, there's a sucker born every minute, and with the onslaught of micro-targeted ads and social media, they're easier to con than ever. Worse still, even if you can make it clear as day they've been had, they've got an army of like-minded suckers they can turn to who'll talk the sense right back out of them.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Azure

Unlike Trump, I don't think Mark Cuban is an incompetent idiot. If you've paid attention to his business side, he is a pretty smart person. And I'm not just talking about Shark Tank. But, given the reality of how social media affects politics, I don't think Cuban can approach a candidacy as a purist, free from partisan haggling, something he is apparently angling for.

two points, there is really very little evidence or logic to the idea that a businessman would make a good politician or lead a Government well

Secondly what the hell are Mark Cuban's politics? I mean on everything, that's the point of parties, we know where people stand on pretty much every issue because of the parties, where does Cuban stand on states rights or abortion, I am not voting for nor do I want anyone else voting for a guy because 'he tells it like it is' and he looks cool on TV, that's how we got Trump

[Roast Beef]

Originally Posted by flylock shox

Randi is a former magician,

Was.

Dude kicked it on Oct 20th of this year.

[Wormius]

I have no idea why people look towards reality tv stars as presidential material. If you’re on Dragons Den or Sharks Tank, it’s because your business acumen isn’t strong or you’ve lost a step. They’ve ended up a level up from Ron Popeil.

[Ped]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

he looks cool on TV, that's how we got Trump

Trump looks cool on tv?

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Ped

Trump looks cool on tv?

Yeah, really.

Did anyone watch The Apprentice and think, "Wow, that guy is awesome!"?

I think most people watched it for the freak show of washed up b-listers.

[Flashpoint]

We did it!

According to three people familiar with the situation, the hotline was inundated for nearly a week by crank callers impersonating public figures such as Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani, anti-Trump callers launching into vulgarity-laden tirades, pranksters making sounds of flatulence, and others issuing threats of physical violence at the lower- and mid-level Trump 2020 staffers.

For every three or four hours of threats and pranking endured, staff estimated that they’d get roughly one caller with an earnest, maybe-promising tip. This was done against the backdrop of a re-election campaign that virtually all of them knew was over and defeated. The search for “FRAUD,” they knew, would not actually stop Biden’s presidency from commencing.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-tr...room-from-hell

I know i want every one of these people to put “Trump Campaign Staffer” on their resume.

So that I can ensure they never work within a hundred miles of my industry.

[direwolf]

Originally Posted by Flashpoint

We did it!

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-tr...room-from-hell

I know i want every one of these people to put “Trump Campaign Staffer” on their resume.

So that I can ensure they never work within a hundred miles of my industry.

A bunch of these calls have been posted on twitter over the last few days. This one's my favorite:

https://twitter.com/user/status/1324920943509172226

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Ped

Trump looks cool on tv?

to half the US he does