American Politics

[ValidEmotions]

4 hours ago, Imzadi said:

It's rare for opposing parties to stand in the way of a president's appointees.

*Laughs in McConnell and Republicans Blocking Obama's Merrick Garland Nomination To Supreme Court and Over 100 Other Federal Judge Appointees*

 

[trystan]

1 hour ago, purpledragonclaw said:

For now, though, I'm celebrating. This is indeed a good day. Shoutout to Pennsylvania ( @trystan!!!) for pushing it over the top. Seeing the celebrations in Philadelphia has been truly heartwarming. 

heh thanks!  

 

[Astreya]

By the way, for those who understand German - here's the heute show satire program from Nov 6:

 

I'll return to listen to Kamala Harris and Joe Biden now. ^^

 

Edited November 8, 2020 by Astreya

[demonicvampiregirl]

I am so happy right now! We are finally free from Trump and his insanity. Disappointed in my state as it went red again but at least it was Biden who won.

[trystan]

5 minutes ago, demonicvampiregirl said:

We are finally free from Trump and his insanity.

january 20, 2021, actually.

[KrazyKarp]

6 minutes ago, trystan said:

january 20, 2021, actually.

Which is kind of scary still. What will Trump do between now and then? A lot of us will be both excitedly, but also very nervously waiting for January 20.

Edited November 8, 2020 by KrazyKarp

[trystan]

2 minutes ago, KrazyKarp said:

Which is kind of scary still. What will Trump do between now and then? A lot of us will be both excitedly, but also very nervously waiting for January 20.

yes.

 

is it january 20th yet?

[demonicvampiregirl]

30 minutes ago, trystan said:

january 20, 2021, actually.

I know this, but I actually have HOPE, I actually feel like a nightmare is over. I don't have to wait for America to just end because Trump is around and that is the only solution.

[trystan]

3 minutes ago, demonicvampiregirl said:

I know this, but I actually have HOPE, I actually feel like a nightmare is over.

i completely agree, i do.  

[purplehaze]

It can't get to January 20 quick enough!

 

But I wish I could believe the nightmare is over. Notice that no key Republicans are chastising Trump for his lies about the election being stolen. Romney, who has opposed Trump on many things -- but who else? They are all either very quiet or endorsing his view.

 

Reading this article in Vox just now did not give me comfort.  https://www.vox.com/2020-presidential-election/2020/11/7/21554114/trump-election-2020-voter-fraud-challenge-recount-biden

Granted Vox is pretty far left on the political spectrum, but I think the article still gives one food for thought.

 

Edited November 8, 2020 by purplehaze

[Bigbite]

I have know tRump to be a classless loser from day one.

Unfortunately he still is.

Biden-Harris, thank God.

[AngelsSin]

CNN just talked about a worry that I mentioned the other day. Which is that as long as Trump is still alive he can run again in 2024.

[trystan]

54 minutes ago, purplehaze said:

But I wish I could believe the nightmare is over. Notice that no key Republicans are chastising Trump for his lies about the election being stolen. Romney, who has opposed Trump on many things -- but who else? They are all either very quiet or endorsing his view.

"Notice that no key Trumpists are chastising Trump for his lies about the election being stolen."

fixed that for you.  those who called themselves Republicans in Washington no longer exist.

 

55 minutes ago, purplehaze said:

Reading this article in Vox just now did not give me comfort.  https://www.vox.com/2020-presidential-election/2020/11/7/21554114/trump-election-2020-voter-fraud-challenge-recount-biden

Granted Vox is pretty far left on the political spectrum, but I think the article still gives one food for thought.

yikes.

there was an article that i read on Vox, can't remember what it was, but i was left wondering if i was reading Vox.... or a another weird conspiracy theory website!

 

29 minutes ago, AngelsSin said:

CNN just talked about a worry that I mentioned the other day. Which is that as long as Trump is still alive he can run again in 2024.

scary, innit? i've heard some of the networks mention that too. *sigh*

[Astreya]

1 hour ago, purplehaze said:

Reading this article in Vox just now did not give me comfort.  https://www.vox.com/2020-presidential-election/2020/11/7/21554114/trump-election-2020-voter-fraud-challenge-recount-biden

 

10 minutes ago, trystan said:

there was an article that i read on Vox, can't remember what it was, but i was left wondering if i was reading Vox.... or a another weird conspiracy theory website!

This Guardian article I posted earlier stated pretty much the same:  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/07/us-democracy-trump-election-gerrymandering

[trystan]

9 minutes ago, Astreya said:

This Guardian article I posted earlier stated pretty much the same:  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/07/us-democracy-trump-election-gerrymandering

yep.  the trump regime showed us all the flaws, cracks, breaks and crappyness of the us government.  part of the reason they won't even get started to fixing it is Mr "I'm On My 7th Senate Term" Mitch McConnell.  and if he retains his Leader of the Senate title, everything the Democratic House sends up to the Senate will just start another pile of stuff for McConnell to point and laugh at.   it's going to take some time to even get started fixing our messy, very flawed system. *sigh*

 

Edited November 8, 2020 by trystan
proofread first, then post.....

[Imzadi]

6 hours ago, ValidEmotions said:

*Laughs in McConnell and Republicans Blocking Obama's Merrick Garland Nomination To Supreme Court and Over 100 Other Federal Judge Appointees*

 

Not referring to the Supreme Court fiasco.  I meant Cabinet and other appointments such as FBI etc.

[purplehaze]

2 hours ago, Astreya said:

 

This Guardian article I posted earlier stated pretty much the same:  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/07/us-democracy-trump-election-gerrymandering

I have read that one, too. It leaves one wondering how we go about fixing what needs fixed. I have been reading a lot about the For The People Act mentioned in that article because John Sarbanes is my representative in Congress and he writes about it in his newsletters. It would at least be a start, but getting anything past a Senate that was not flipped Democratic will not be easy. I expect them to dig in and make life very difficult for Biden and the Democrats. We can only hope that the runoff Senate races in Georgia go to the Dems.

Edited November 8, 2020 by purplehaze

[Astreya]

22 minutes ago, purplehaze said:

We can only hope that the runoff Senate races in Georgia go to the Dems.

I guess the Democrats will know that, too, and hopefully throw everything they have at the electorate there to make them understand the importance of coming out in droves to vote for the right people.

[w0rmg0d]

I'm glad Trump lost, but he and his supporters have so blatantly disregarded the law that I still can't relax.

 

What if the electors just decide to vote for him anyway? What if his court cases go through and he gets the mail ballots thrown out? What if they recount and just lie about the results? Obviously, these things would all be horribly wrong, but so are a hundred other things he's done and completely gotten away with. 

 

I'm so tired of being sick with anxiety all the time. I thought I would be able to relax after this election. But no, he's ed that up for me too.

 

How am I ever supposed to stop worrying? How am I ever supposed to believe that the people in power can't do whatever they want? How am I ever supposed to feel protected as a citizen?

 

I hate this.

Edited November 8, 2020 by w0rmg0d

[purplehaze]

@w0rmg0d I have pretty much the same feelings.

 

This is a rundown of what happens when election results are contested and it doesn't give me much comfort.

[trystan]

@w0rmg0d - oh totally me too. but that's not good for my blood pressure.  so i put on my optimistic smile, and have as much faith that a pagan UU can have, in my elected Democrats that it's Joe Biden that gets verified by the electoral college and congress.

 

now is also the time, in earnest, to get rid of said electoral college, and let the popular vote have it.

[High Lord November]

2 hours ago, purplehaze said:

@w0rmg0d I have pretty much the same feelings.

 

This is a rundown of what happens when election results are contested and it doesn't give me much comfort.

That's frightening. 

[KrazyKarp]

1 hour ago, trystan said:

 

now is also the time, in earnest, to get rid of said electoral college, and let the popular vote have it.

This brings up something I'm confused about. What's the point in the electoral college? It really doesn't seem to represent everyone in the U.S. Like, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in 2016, so logically she should've been president since the majority of voters wanted her. But instead we got a president who was clearly not as wanted by a lot of the U.S., and I feel like that was re-enforced even stronger this election.

[trystan]

@KrazyKarp - you're right - the electoral college doesn't represent everyone.

 

my understanding is this: the states vote for the president, and then based on the popular vote of each state, it's a winner take all of the electoral votes.  the number of the electoral votes is based on population, so the more people in the state, the more electoral votes per state.  so PA has 20.  and the popular winner of PA gets all 20 of the votes. 

 

from the cynic's point of view, Alexander Hamilton - who created the electoral college - didn't trust everyone to vote "the right way." so the electoral college representatives are representative of the way the state voted.  so my vote in PA (with 20 electoral votes) is worth more than my friend's vote who lives in Delaware (DE has 3 electoral votes).  

 

so, we have a representative democracy, and 2016 and 2020 show just how confusing that is!

 

Edited November 8, 2020 by trystan
edit

[Astreya]

Out of curiosity - have there ever been discussions in the US to rework the voting system - say with proportional representation and getting rid of the Electoral College?

 

----------------

Update, I just stumbled over this which should lighten the mood a little:

Quote

Keep on digging: Trump team holds press conference at suburban garden centre

 

Rudy Giuliani details strategy in the car park of Four Seasons Total Landscaping, a suspected mixup with Four Seasons hotel in Philadelphia

 

Donald Trump’s increasingly desperate bid to hang on to the White House crossed into abject farce on Saturday, after his campaign staged a purportedly major press conference at a Philadelphia landscaping business situated between a crematorium and sex shop.

 

On Saturday morning, as Trump played golf and continued to baselessly accuse the Democrats of stealing the election for Joe Biden, the president announced, in a tweet that was subsequently deleted, a “big press conference” at the Four Seasons in Philadelphia.

 

Trump quickly altered his statement, revealing that the press conference venue was not a Four Seasons hotel, but Four Seasons Total Landscaping, a suburban business between a crematorium and an adult book store on the outer edges of the city.

 

“Big press conference today in Philadelphia at Four Seasons Total Landscaping – 11.30am!” the president tweeted at 9.45am.

 

The Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia distanced itself from both campaign and landscaping company.

“To clarify, President Trump’s press conference will NOT be held at Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia. It will be held at Four Seasons Total Landscaping – no relation with the hotel,” it said in a tweet an hour later.

 

The Trump campaign has not publicly said whether this was, as it would appear, a case of mistaken identity. Either way, the press conference, headlined by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, went ahead in the car park of the garden centre in what USA Today called an “industrial park”.

 

Giuliani doubled down on claims of voter fraud, an allegation which has not been substantiated by any evidence whatsoever.

 

The irony did not go unnoticed.

 

“I could write jokes for 800 years and I’d never think of something funnier than Trump booking the Four Seasons for his big presser, and it turning out to be the Four Seasons Total Landscaping parking lot between a dildo store and a crematorium,” TV writer Zack Bornstein wrote on Twitter.

 

Author Geraldine DeRuiter commented: “The real hero today is whoever answered the phone at Four Seasons Landscaping and offered no clarification whatsoever until it was too late. I salute you, my fellow patriot.”

 

Wire creator David Simon relished the development.

 

“I woke up early, still laughing at Rudy Giuliani spewing bull**** from an industrial lot between a crematorium and dildo shop, having booked a press conference into the Four Seasons … wait for it … Total Landscaping. The Trumpist incompetence that delivers this coda. Magical,” he wrote.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/08/the-other-four-seasons-trump-team-holds-press-conference-at-suburban-garden-centre

Edited November 9, 2020 by Astreya