US Politics - 2020 Presidential Election - GOP v Dem cage fight (ENTER AT YOUR PERIL)

[-Deborah-]

As I said before, Trump is not irrelevant. And his band of crazies is still together.

[jaadam4]

Until he wins the parties nomination he is. They don’t want him back.

Unless he runs as an independent! That would be awesome! Both parties would be f’ed

[kreton]

I didn’t want Trump to run but now that I see how much real estate this dude has in everyone’s head I hope he does. He’s old and not relevant anymore and no one can stop talking about him.

Yea, we should elect Presidents based on their ability to troll and divide the country and discredit us. Spoken like a true patriot.

[CGVT]

Trump is absolutely relevant. He is driving the Republican bus. All things Republican run through Trump. If a conservative is not bowing down to the Mango Mussolini, then he is a RINO or a closeted Democrat.
This country is in peril as long as the Orange Jackass is calling the Republican shots, and make no mistake, he is calling the Republican shots.

And as to Hunter Biden (speaking of taking space in heads...) I give you these ass clowns, who were actually involved in governing our country.

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[jaadam4]

I’m going to thoroughly enjoy this thread for the next few years

[chemiclord]

Kinda funny that the people who are constantly screaming about Hunter Biden seem to have no problems whatsoever with Jared Kushner getting $2 billion directly from a Saudi Prince for as of yet still undetermined reasons or services.

[Futureshock]

Speaking of space in heads: Hillary Clinton

[Futureshock]

NBC Nightly News focuses on the Brett Favre welfare-fund scandal

Posted by Mike Florio on September 14, 2022, 7:46 PM EDT

Getty Images

The involvement of Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre is a Mississippi welfare-fund scandal has become something more than a random oddity. The controversy received treatment as a full-blown segment on Wednesday’s edition of NBC Nightly News.

That’s a reliable litmus test regarding the extent to which a sports story becomes a mainstream subject. Now, millions who pay little or no attention to football know that Favre is mired in a scandal involving money meant for the poorest people in one of the nation’s poorest states.

The story from Ken Dilanian focused on the new text messages showing that Favre worked with former Mississippi governor Phil Bryant to divert $5 million in federal welfare funds to a volleyball stadium at the University of Southern Mississippi.

This text message from Favre regarding money he received was featured in the segment: “If you were to pay me is there anyway the media can find out where it came from and how much?”

The report mentioned that there’s no indication Favre is under criminal scrutiny. However, he reportedly has been interviewed by the FBI.

And Brad Pigott, the lawyer who claims he was fired by Mississippi after issuing subpoenas aimed at getting to the bottom of whether $5 million in welfare money went to the USM project, told this to Dilanian: “Mr. Favre all but badgered the Governor of Mississippi to get this public to the purpose of building a volleyball facility.”

Favre’s lawyer repeated his new favorite buzzword in this specific case; he said Favre acted “honorably.” The lawyer also said Favre “never knew” the cash came from federal welfare money.

Favre apparently knew something wasn’t right about the situation, or he presumably wouldn’t have asked whether the media will find out about the payments.

The media did. The only question left is whether Favre will face consequences beyond public embarrassment and scrutiny.

[chemiclord]

But here's what I'll say about Hunter Biden, Jared Kushner, or anyone who uses their family name and associations to get ahead.

It sucks. It's bullshit. It shouldn't happen, and we should welcome any investigation to see how it impacts the decision making of their relatives who actually do hold levers of power. So go ahead, investigate Hunter Biden. We should! If it turns out that Joe was letting that influence his decisions (so far, it doesn't appear so; if Hunter's e-mails are to be believed, Joe was largely indifferent at best to Hunter's attempted deals over the years), then drag them off to jail.

But demand the same accountability from those on "your team" as well; if you are constantly demanding justice on Hunter Biden, but ignore Kushner (who was an active member of a President's cabinet) getting billions from the Saudis without any extrapolation about what that money was for, then it's pretty clear that you don't actually give a fuck about shady dealings of this sort, and it's all just a game to you.

And you can fuck straight off with that shit.

[Futureshock]

Fu(k the parties. God Bless America!

[Da Geezer]

At the end of the day, Republicans want voting to be "a privilege" (read also; a chore) because they discovered they can no longer get a majority of the American public on their side. Rather than amend their platform, their solution is to restrict who votes. They want voting to be the domain of people with the time, money, and opportunity to clear the ever rising bar of "proof" and stand in line for hours on end if need be; i.e. people who tend to vote Republican.

"If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.” Not always a fan of Donald Frum, but occasionally he nails something spot on.

We live in a constitutional republic, not a democracy. The electoral college is set up to protect those states that have smaller populations. It also exists to avoid the "tyranny of the majority". In 2016, for example, Hillary's margin in CA exceeded her overall margin in the total election. So she lost the election in 49 states but won in a state that allows totally open voting by anyone who looks 18.

But the root of this debate is about a population's acceptance of an election. When Trump won in 2016, the Ds spent four years saying he was illegitimate because of Russian collusion. Many Ds did not accept GW Bush as legitimate. Trump does great harm to this country by denying the Biden election in 2020. It is about the veracity of the election and the peaceful transfer of power.

Remember, my post was about a four-day period to vote in person. How many here have actually waited in line more than two hours to vote? I never have. Klondike calls it the "comfort vote" and that is accurate. What I want to achieve is ease in voting for adult citizens without the potential for massive cheating that mail-in voting entails. You fellows should actually read books like Boss by Mike Royko where the massive cheating apparatus that has always existed in Chicago is explained. This exists in cities across the country and has most of my life. That is why they are called "machines".

And Republicans have always dominated the absentee ballot count in presidential elections. That is because the largest groups of absentee voters (prior to 2020) are military and elderly, and both have always been overwhelmingly R. Now we have "comfort voters". What could possibly go wrong?

[Da Geezer]

No, i don't want to give up the convenience of voting on my own time in silence and privacy to go stand in line with a bunch of assholes. You fail to give evidence of real reasons why I should. I don't care if you feel elections aren't secure because of nonsense. I know that they are because of facts. There is no reason to cater to your whining.

The reason you should is that you should do your part to have free and fair elections. There must be a PERCEPTION of fairness for outcomes to be readily accepted. Again, you are simply ignorant of what goes on in cities all over the country. In MN, an absentee ballot is worth $ 50.00. The Farm-Labor party has always purchased ballots.

I doubt any of us here can make the claim that we are too busy to vote, else we wouldn't have time to spend here. You correctly point out that it is a convenience issue for you. It is for any eligible voter who claims an inability to vote in person other than the folks who actually can't make it to the polls

[Da Geezer]

Uhh... everyone of age to do so? I don't see how this is hard to grasp.

So age is the only criteria?

[chemiclord]

So age is the only criteria?

Yeah? Again, I don't see what is so hard to grasp here.

Hey, I get it. I see idiots and assholes abound, people with barely formed opinions stumbling blindly through a ballot, and I sometimes think, "God, think how much better it would be if we had a way to filter out the dumbasses."

But every way that I entertained turned out to be something that could (fairly easily) be exploited by people to twist it to their own ends, subverting the "perception of fairness" you've been going on about. I guess as long as it feels fair to you, it really doesn't matter if it is or not, huh?

Because contrary to your assertions, voting is a right, not a "privilege." The Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution you claim to love so much actually outright says so.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxv

Section 1.

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

At the end of the day, the best solution is the one that has as few restrictions and hurdles to jump over as possible. If you want ID restrictions to prove citizenship, that in and of itself is fine... but you better make such IDs easy to acquire for everyone. If not, you're just gaming the system, no matter how much you try to handwave it away as reasonable.

[JGSpartan]

The reason you should is that you should do your part to have free and fair elections. There must be a PERCEPTION of fairness for outcomes to be readily accepted. Again, you are simply ignorant of what goes on in cities all over the country. In MN, an absentee ballot is worth $ 50.00. The Farm-Labor party has always purchased ballots.

I doubt any of us here can make the claim that we are too busy to vote, else we wouldn't have time to spend here. You correctly point out that it is a convenience issue for you. It is for any eligible voter who claims an inability to vote in person other than the folks who actually can't make it to the polls

We HAVE free and fair elections. It's not my responsibility to do my part to make unnecessary changes because YOU can't accept reality. You're fired up about a problem that you can't even prove exists on any meaningful level. The vast majority of the crap you are hearing in your echo chamber are evidenceless accusations you accept as fact. That's not a me problem, it's a YOU problem.

As long as losing candidates are unwilling to concede, when they have no proveable evidence of fraud. Outcomes will not be accepted. That is the problem. Changing laws won't change that. It will only move the goalposts. Republican primaries have been loaded with candidates not conceding and not having any proof of wrongdoing. It's whiny self-important people not being able to accept that maybe people just don't like them. Taking away absentee voting will not change that.