Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[lineygoblue]

The slippery slope.

[Ghengis Jon]

It's pearl clutching, Liney. He's pointing out that the way the law is written, any hate speech may not be legally ignored. Its a reminder of how strong our 1st amendment rights are.

[THE_WIZARD_]

STFU

[Hannibal]

It's pearl clutching, Liney. He's pointing out that the way the law is written, any hate speech may not be legally ignored. Its a reminder of how strong our 1st amendment rights are.

Liberals have a hard-on for stamping out free speech and they are establishing models in Europe that will no doubt be proposed here by the likes of Ilhan Omar and AOC. The man pictured above is an anti free speecher who is very much in favor of this and doesn't want people getting away with speech that criticizes Muslims.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Supreme Court won't intervene to stop extended voting deadlines in Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch make clear they would've jumped in. Interestingly Kavanaugh didn't join them after his Wisconsin opinion.

But at least in the PA case, Alito invited Pennsylvania Republicans to bring the case to them yet again after the election.

[iam416]

As a purely Constitutional matter the conservatives have the much better argument. However, I’m generally sympathetic to letting states be on these issues. And, apparently, so is Roberts. Pretty much the only way to reconcile the Wisconsin and Pennsylvania decisions.

As an aside, I’d like to see some sort of deadline placed on these cases. The rules are in place. Bring your case 90 days out. The courts fast track it. Everything gets decided 30 days before election. That way we all know the rules we’re playing by and can conduct ourselves accordingly.

[iam416]

I also remember when ACB was going to intervene to overturn the State Supreme Court’s activist nonsense. I remember that.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Roberts seem to have a very consistent and easy to follow rule: Federal judges should stay out of these disputes and that includes me.

Alito, Thomas, and Gorsuch are going with only the state legislature can set dates and times and we'll happily override any state court order. Gorsuch admits courts have emergency powers but he doesn't think covid is enough of an emergency to warrant any court-driven changes so there ya go.

Because of the lengthy opinion Kav wrote in the Wisconsin case he's on shakier ground. More of an "I'll take these cases one at a time" approach.

[iam416]

Correct. TBF to the conservative 3, that’s what it explicitly says in the Constitution.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Correct. TBF to the conservative 3, that’s what it explicitly says in the Constitution.

They are correct. However local judges extend voting hours all the time because machines weren't set up in time or some worker got to the poll late or whatever. They don't go asking the state legislature to pass a new law to grant them permission every time they do that. So at some level, the Conservative 3 aren't just ruling on principle, they're also making a judgment call to say that the PA Supreme Court had no legitimate basis to consider the present environment an emergency.

I dunno. It's an interesting divergence of viewpoints. I talked myself into respecting Kav's view a little more when originally thought it weakest. Still prefer Roberts.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Ok serious DSL just went to bed and shit-talking DSL is staying up to post this.

Kelly Loeffler says she's never once disagreed with anything Trump has said or done. When a reporter asked her about the Access Hollywood tape she claimed to have never heard of it. LOL Profile in Courage nominee.

https://www.11alive.com/article/news/politics/elections/loeffler-access-hollywood/85-0461b9c5-93a0-427c-b1a0-dc7939348ff1

[iam416]

So the Roberts counterpoint is that state courts can interpret state laws and it’s still the state laws that control. Now, the PA case is a little different because they sort of brazenly ignored state law. However, Roberts doesn’t want to wade into that. He’d rather let a dubious decision slide than go neck deep into this shit.

As I said, that’s probably how I’d decide it.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Cumberland County, PA says they will not count ANY mail-in or absentee ballots until the morning after the Election. Several other counties in PA have said the same thing. Cumberland County has already received over 45,000 ballots by mail.

Meanwhile Trump is out here threatening lawsuits against any place that keeps counting votes after midnight Election Night. He doesn't have a leg to stand on really but shit, he could launch attacks just because that's who he is. I really hope he loses by a margin big enough where it won't matter to avoid a total clusterfuck

https://www.abc27.com/news/us-world/politics/election/cumberland-county-to-count-mail-in-ballots-day-after-election-day/

[Hannibal]

Given the talent that Democrats have for finding huge amounts of uncounted ballots in strange places late on election nights, I can't blame Trump for that. Mail-in ballots are an even greater invitation to commit voter fraud, and we all know who is more inclined to do that (hint -- it's the party that doesn't want you to have to show your ID to vote).

[Jeff Buchanan]

Well, we're into full-on COVID panic mode in Europe. Lock everything down to stop the spread of virus that has a CFR of < 2% ..... at least that's what Macron is doing in France with a full, national lock-down that is being enforced by COVID police. Merkel is a little bit less draconian but the restaurant and bar industry in Germany is going to implode after these are shuttered. Demand for a Macron type approach in the US is on the rise.

I find it interesting to watch a gradual shift from the so called experts on what the pandemic response should be. Fauci continues to "warn." It's true that his job is not to make policy, it is to advise the policy makers. His advice centers around the science of epidemiology and the reality of exponential growth. But he is steadfast in not recommending we need to do this or that other than wear masks, social distance and wash your hands - good advice but not particularly illuminating wrt determining an appropriate mitigation measures among a long list of options.. Do we need to shutter most businesses, especially those where large, unmasked and undistanced social gatherings occur? From what I'm reading, others are hedging saying things like, well, we can use a more surgical approach this time but we have to start doing it quickly. The tension between an all or nothing at all response is palpable. That's unfortunate IVO a middle of the road approach that both considers and them balances costs with PH benefits.

No sugar coating the new case numbers and hospitalization data that can be both contextualized or described as trends, e.g., R(t). I'm fine with that and both are on the rise. CFR, as some of us keep harping on as the best measure of disease burden, is holding steady or declining. As hospitalizations increase, there are regional ICU bed shortages but, as I have pointed out, this sort of thing tends to be dampened by well planned, statewide hospital system redistribution contingency plans. Despite news stories that depict desperate patients being triaged out of needed care due to lack of bed space or staff they are not the norm and virtually all of those that need higher level care are getting it.

In FL, the strategy that is taking shape here is that as hot spots are identified, they will be dealt with. It's a surgical approach that county officials seem to be on-board with. It is highly unlikely that a Macron-like pandemic response will occur in FL. Keeping businesses open and events on schedule is taking priority over rising case numbers. IOW, cost/PH benefit analysis is in play. On a subjective basis, looking at it from my limited vantage point, people are acting responsibly with respect to masking and distancing and the awareness of the need to voluntarily comply as the news is filled with stories of rising case numbers. There are scattered anti-masker incidents and these get over-played in the news making them sound like cases like this are wide-spread. They aren't.

Again, taking the long view, it's going to be a difficult road ahead dealing with the constant drone of bad COVID news and trying to not over-react to it - both on a personal level and on the state and county officials who have to decide on what responses to the rising case numbers are appropriate. So far, people in FL appear to be a bit more wary but that is translating into more responsible behaviors. Officials at all levels seem to be cognizant of the marginal PH benefits of shuttering businesses or limiting social contact and mobility. Smart. I recommend you turn off the TV news and be selective in what you read re COVID. There's good stuff out there if you are inclined to look for it