American Politics

[trystan]

3 minutes ago, Fuzzbucket said:

Yes - but - if you are ready to be terrified (I was....) 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/27/trump-loses-election-what-happens-possibilities

Trigger warning and then some.

"Seems far-fetched?"

no.  unfortunately, it sounds quite plausible.  scary as all get-out, mind you.  and it really doesn't help that there's a pandemic happening, which will have a huge increase the mail-in voting.  it's why trump wants to control the post office too, or he says the post office should charge more for Amazon and packages. it's why he rails against mail-in voting, neverminding that him, his family, the Pences,and others in his circle use mail-in voting!

 

the electoral college is long overdue in being overturned. and the Supreme Court unanimously said that Electoral College voters must vote with who their state has picked for the popular vote - no more faithless electors.  of course, "[t]he electors argued that the enforcement of those laws was unconstitutional."

 

a very narrow election in november is terrifying, i agree.

[RainDear]

I suppose Trump is ok with throwing out all military votes (which I understand are mailed in)?

 

Much as I hate the idea, I have decided to walk in to vote. My neighbor (who is immune compromised) agrees to take me. We feel the risk will be worthwhile if it contributes to getting "What's his face" out of the Whitehouse. It's the only thing I have been able to think of for the situation.

[trystan]

7 minutes ago, RainDear said:

Much as I hate the idea, I have decided to walk in to vote. My neighbor (who is immune compromised) agrees to take me. We feel the risk will be worthwhile if it contributes to getting "What's his face" out of the Whitehouse. It's the only thing I have been able to think of for the situation.

i've thought about doing this too.  but my state does have mail-in ballots, and a tracker that tells you that the Board of Elections received my envelope.  it's how i voted for the primary.  but while the tracker tells me the envelope was received, it doesn't tell me if my vote was counted.  on the other hand, i can request the ballot.  i can still decide to mask up and go vote on actual election day instead.

[olympe]

22 hours ago, trystan said:

it's why he rails against mail-in voting, neverminding that him, his family, the Pences,and others in his circle use mail-in voting!

Last thing I read, they tried using mail-in voting - and quite a few of them failed. Some for sending their votes in too late, and the most lovely FLoTUS by forgetting to sign her letter where required.

 

22 hours ago, Fuzzbucket said:

Yes - but - if you are ready to be terrified (I was....) 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/27/trump-loses-election-what-happens-possibilities

Terrifyingly accurate. Because Trump has been working towards this course of action for a while now - starting with declaring mail-in ballots rigged.

[trystan]

28 minutes ago, olympe said:

Last thing I read, they tried using mail-in voting - and quite a few of them failed. Some for sending their votes in too late, and the most lovely FLoTUS by forgetting to sign her letter where required.

yep, that's at the link i shared.  including these gems:

 

"Ivanka, however, mailed her absentee ballot in too late for it to be properly counted, the city's Board of Elections told the Daily News."

"And while [Jared] Kushner requested an absentee ballot for that election, he failed to send it in."

 

🤣🤣

[olympe]

1 hour ago, trystan said:

yep, that's at the link i shared.  including these gems:

 

"Ivanka, however, mailed her absentee ballot in too late for it to be properly counted, the city's Board of Elections told the Daily News."

"And while [Jared] Kushner requested an absentee ballot for that election, he failed to send it in."

No wonder Trump considers mail-in ballots "rigged". If the majority of voters for their party are as incapable of voting by mail as their most admired leader and his clan...  

[trystan]

3 hours ago, olympe said:

No wonder Trump considers mail-in ballots "rigged". If the majority of voters for their party are as incapable of voting by mail as their most admired leader and his clan...  

oh yeah.... he actually said that part out loud, something along the lines of if everyone voted, republicans would never be elected to office again!  

[Lagie]

Seriously? Your orange dude is so jealous of Dr. Fauci, he has to lie about being asked to throw the opening pitch? How juvenile.

[trystan]

he's not my orange dude, but yes, quite juvenile *sigh*

[Astreya]

Well, he's a callous, narcissist toddler in the body of an old man.

[trystan]

1 minute ago, Astreya said:

Well, he's a callous, narcissist toddler in the body of an old man.

that is quite accurate, too!

[Fuzzbucket]

Um... It's even a good likeness !

 

 

Edited July 29, 2020 by Fuzzbucket

[trystan]

i'll have to come back to that in a little bit - either when i'm on lunch or at the end of the work day.  i'm sure my trumpist/anti-vaxxer boss, an actual Karen, wouldn't want to hear it

[Fuzzbucket]

OMG no she would NOT .....  

[trystan]

i know, right?

 

she's said a few doozies since we've both been back in the office together - there's just the two of us, so it works out quite well.  but - she says if you have a good immune system, your t-cells are good, and you have no underlying conditions, if you get covid, you'll bounce back, it's a little flu.

 

i never wanted to headdesk so much....

 

and then when i tell her about people i've seen on tv who had a serious case but they were healthy beforehand? oh, they must have had some underlying condition.  of course they did. *sigh*  oh, and kids have zero, zero, zero chance of it being serious. and even if the reports of serious cases (tv, online, in print) say they were healthy with no underlying conditions? nope, they had to have had an underlying condition.  that's not how it works, Karen!

 

she also likes it that trump isn't a politician, and he tells it like it is. we haven't had a political conversation since election day of 2016.  as long as politics don't end up in our conversation, we're good.

 

edit - @Fuzzbucket - OMGs, that's hilarious!

 

Edited July 29, 2020 by trystan

[olympe]

1 hour ago, trystan said:

she's said a few doozies since we've both been back in the office together - there's just the two of us, so it works out quite well.  but - she says if you have a good immune system, your t-cells are good, and you have no underlying conditions, if you get covid, you'll bounce back, it's a little flu.

 

i never wanted to headdesk so much....

 

and then when i tell her about people i've seen on tv who had a serious case but they were healthy beforehand? oh, they must have had some underlying condition.  of course they did. *sigh*  oh, and kids have zero, zero, zero chance of it being serious. and even if the reports of serious cases (tv, online, in print) say they were healthy with no underlying conditions? nope, they had to have had an underlying condition.  that's not how it works, Karen!

Well, I know I've used this rethoric before, but ask her in all honesty if she's 200% sure she doesn't have any thus far unknown underlying conditions, and whether she's really fine with finding out about them by (almost?) dying of covid.

[trystan]

14 minutes ago, olympe said:

Well, I know I've used this rhetoric before, but ask her in all honesty if she's 200% sure she doesn't have any thus far unknown underlying conditions, and whether she's really fine with finding out about them by (almost?) dying of covid.

LOL, honestly that's kinda funny.  i mean, next time we end up talking about it (which could be never...) i'll ask her.

 

but what i do know is that she's a cancer survivor.  she also takes pills, i have no idea what they are.  and while she'll make a snide comment about big pharma, her pharmacy will call and say her script is ready for pick-up.  (people don't pay attention on the phone, they just hear a woman's voice and think i'm her, lol).  she could also be taking herbal supplements as well.  but i'm sure she may still have some KNOWN underlying conditions.  but i'll ask if she has unknowns ones too. 

 

it's a funny sort of smart-alecky question, but i completely "get it."

[Astreya]

@trystan

If she's a cancer survivor, she *has* an underlying condition. Particularly if she still has to take meds which very often have an influence on the immune system.

[trystan]

@Astreya - true true.  so she's in a high risk category.  i'm not going to ask her if she knows this though.

[olympe]

1 hour ago, trystan said:

LOL, honestly that's kinda funny.  i mean, next time we end up talking about it (which could be never...) i'll ask her.

*snip*

it's a funny sort of smart-alecky question, but i completely "get it."

 

"Well, you say the young people who didn't survive covid died due to underlying conditions. It's not the fault of the corona virus." [PAUSE - wait until she agrees with this.] "However, many (but not all) of these underlying conditions were unknown. These conditions never had any impact on the person's life, and since they never had any effect, the people in question didn't get them checked out. Because, well, there was no discernible problem." [PAUSE again - let her agree with this.] "So, some people only figured out they had underlying conditions because they died of covid. Or, well, their coroners did." [PAUSE again to let her agree, even if reluctantly. Check.] "So, what do you think how many people are willing to figure out *they* have underlying conditions by dying of (or with) covid? Are you one of them?" [Mate.] "What about the underlying conditions you know about - how will they affect your chances to survive covid?" [Overkill.]

[trystan]

hmm... that seems to be quite a bit for her to listen through.

 

i'd probably just do~

1 hour ago, olympe said:

"Well, you say the young people who didn't survive covid died due to underlying conditions. It's not the fault of the corona virus." [PAUSE - wait until she agrees with this.] "However, many (but not all) of these underlying conditions were unknown...."

and when she agrees with that, then ask her if she has any unknown underlying conditions she knows about that might complicate covid, if she were exposed to it.... and then go from there.  that would still probably result in her telling me that's a silly supposition.

[olympe]

1 minute ago, trystan said:

hmm... that seems to be quite a bit for her to listen through.

 

i'd probably just do~

and when she agrees with that, then ask her if she has any unknown underlying conditions she knows about that might complicate covid, if she were exposed to it.... and then go from there.  that would still probably result in her telling me that's a silly supposition.

It just might work, though. Because the first half or so is simply agreeing with her (for the first time, I'd wager). But, yes, brevity is a thing.  How about this: "So, which underlying conditions do you have that might kill you if you contract covid?" If she actually answers that question - either by a) not answering or b) by giving you one or two conditions, you can still go in for the kill. "Now imagine all the underlying conditions you don't know about that you may or may not have - wanna bet your life on not having them?"

 

But yeah, I'm snappy and have a very low tolerance for true bullsheet.

[trystan]

@olympe - yeah, i get that.  thing is, i'll bet my boss would try to tell me all about the underlying conditions she doesn't know about!  

[olympe]

12 hours ago, trystan said:

@olympe - yeah, i get that.  thing is, i'll bet my boss would try to tell me all about the underlying conditions she doesn't know about!  

"So, that's the underlying conditions you do know about. What about those you don't?"

[Astreya]

I just saw on German TV news that Trump obviously considers to postpone the US elections "until it is safe again".

Good night, Dear US!