2018 U.S election

[Lexicus]

I know I just meant that they are specifically attacking the legitimacy of the election because they might lose.

Well of course, Real Americans can only be voted down by Democraps if the Democraps bus in millions of illegals to vote illegally. You didn't know?

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Well of course, Real Americans can only be voted down by Democraps if the Democraps bus in millions of illegals to vote illegally. You didn't know?

I could see both Scott and Trump abusing their powers to stop the recounts. Right now it's just a war of words and pending legal actions. We'll soon see how far they are willing to take this.

 

[Lexicus]

I could see both Scott and Trump abusing their powers to stop the recounts. Right now it's just a war of words and pending legal actions. We'll soon see how far they are willing to take this.

I doubt Trump would intervene much. Scott or other Republicans in the state government - well, I'd be surprised if they didn't try to screw it up as best they can.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I doubt Trump would intervene much. Scott or other Republicans in the state government - well, I'd be surprised if they didn't try to screw it up as best they can.

Just saving this for the inevitable I told you so when Trump sends the national guard in to seize and destroy the ballots.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

It's sort of funny how the Republicans reduce the efficiency of the voting process, then complain about how long it takes. Major urban areas with millions of votes to count take longer to complete the task. Those areas tilt towards the Democrats, so the late counts always cut against the Republicans. If there were any results in doubt in California the ReThuglicans would be flailing here for sure, because LA county has close to half a million ballots still to process, and they're probably 75% Democrats.

 

[metalhead]

There is no reason this needs to be completed by tomorrow, that a completely arbitrary deadline should be more important than properly counting all the votes.

 

[rah]

Arbitrary

 

[Timsup2nothin]

So Breitbarf has chosen now to "break the big story" of how some dozens of people in a little Texas town allegedly used fake addresses to shift votes from one city council district to another. Of course, in their reporting they don't mention that such shifting affects no races beyond the targeted city council race in bumpkin burgh, since other than the local races the same voter gets the same ballot and no extra votes are created. They don't actually present any facts of the case at all in their coverage of "arrests made in massive Texas voter fraud case." In the comments the Breitbarfers are expressing their relief at this explanation of how Beto O'Rorke came so close to 'stealing' the senate race, and calling for the death penalty for all involved...meaning Democrats.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Arbitrary

Well stated. There is nothing arbitrary about it. Its quite deliberate and calculated to produce a certain result.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Well stated. There is nothing arbitrary about it. Its quite deliberate and calculated to produce a certain result.

It should be pointed out that there is almost certainly an actual deadline set out in state election laws, and it isn't likely to be Saturday.

I just heard someone make the very valid point that if Rick Scott has a problem with how Florida elections are run, he has had eight years as governor to do something about it.

 

[Berzerker]

Broward County, what a surprise

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Broward County, what a surprise

Yeah, it isn't like Governor Rick Scott can say "Sure, I had eight years to upgrade the election systems, but how was I supposed to know there was a problem? Everything always seemed to work fine before."

 

[Berzerker]

I think thats more of a local matter

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-ne-who-is-brenda-snipes-20181109-story.html

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I think thats more of a local matter

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-ne-who-is-brenda-snipes-20181109-story.html

Note that she was appointed when her predecessor was removed by the then governor. It may be a localized problem, but the administration of elections is a state level function for which the governor holds the ultimate responsibility.

Scott is currently suing the state of Florida for their ineffectiveness in managing his senate election, and as governor is among the state officials who should be named in the suit.

 

[Takhisis]

No matter how you slice it, the Democrats won the Senate popular vote and had this translate to 46-47 seats, depending on how Arizona works out.

To how many seats does it translate, actually, from among those in dispute?

Let's see, I'm counting from Wikipedia's latest revised entry (as of 10 mins. ago)
The incumbents are 23D-8R-2I.
Democrats flipped one seat.
Republicans flipped another three.
That'd make it 21D 10R 2I (with one Republican and one Democrat incumbent's reelections still pending). The Independents caucus with the Democrats. 23-10 is roughly a 2-to-1 proportion which would, actually, match a 2-to-1ish proportion in the overall vote, right?

Half the House Republicans that wrote the tax cut bill will be out of office when the new Congress is seated.

This is a highly interesting development. But shouldn't the precedent from 2016 with former Senator Obama apply in this case?

Either way, Cuba as a state

It would almost be some sort of historic reparation in an extremely ironic way.

Defenses of the Senate that aren't incoherent are just abhorrent. Minority rule is wrong, and the Senate is a tool expressly designed for minority rule (and it will only become more so as the proportion of the population voting for Republicans continues to shrink).

I will admit that the mental and verbal gymnastics Farm Boy performs to make minority rule seem legit are somewhat impressive.

And how do you counter the tyranny of the plurality? If you're going to replace the system you'd better have your replacement prepared in advance.

There were protests in NYC yesterday in support of Mueller. McConnell says Trump "definitely won't" shut down the probe but yeah he's not exactly known for being more honest than Lindsay Graham who claimed there would be hell to pay if Trump fired Sessions. I believe I read that Graham quietly laid the groundwork for the firing over the past couple of weeks.

Republicans don't go for the easy stuff, man. They're real men.

 

[Lexicus]

And how do you counter the tyranny of the plurality? If you're going to replace the system you'd better have your replacement prepared in advance.

There are a couple of different alternatives that would be better. You could just apportion Senators according to state population, turning it into a sort of statewide version of the House. My preference would be making it into a proportional-representation body for the nation at large.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

That defeats the intended purpose of having all advantages accumulate to the largest population centers. Now, if you are suggesting that having such an accrual occur would be a good thing, fine, but you should just say so. We could go to a House number one, House number two system, or just go straight single house parliamentarian and be done with it.

While the outcome is often irksome, I respect the reasoning, myself. Even though as a Californian I have more validity in any complaints I might register than anyone else would.

 

[Takhisis]

Texas, of all places!

'Black girl magic': 19 black women ran for judge in Texas county – and all 19 won

Victories mark unprecedented level of success for black female judicial candidates in Harris county, which includes Houston

While Beto O’Rourke’s bid to oust Ted Cruz for a US Senate seat may have stolen midterms headlines this week, another “Texas miracle” was under way in Harris county, where 19 African American women ran for judge – and all won.

They campaigned together under the slogan “Black Girl Magic” with the support of the Harris county Democratic party, and united for a pre-election photograph inside a courtroom.

Their victories marked an unprecedented level of success for black female judicial candidates in the county, which includes Houston. With a population of more than 4.5 million, Harris county is bigger than 24 US states. About 70% of the population is non-white.

According to figures from The Gavel Gap, an analysis by a progressive legal group, the American Constitution Society found white men make up 30% of the Texas population but 58% of state court judges.

“Equal opportunity for justice regardless of who you are – I think that with having an African American judge, a female judge, a woman judge, those are the kinds of things that we bring to the bench. And we bring an understanding of a person who may come from that similar background,” Latosha Lewis Payne, a judge-elect, told Fox 26 local news.

“We want to definitely turn Harris county upside down in criminal justice reform,” Erica Hughes, who was elected to a criminal court position, said in a Facebook post.

Democrats won all 59 judicial races in Harris county in Tuesday’s midterm elections. In one of the most eye-catching and significant results, the longtime incumbent Republican county judge, Ed Emmett – in effect, the county’s chief executive – lost to Lina Hidalgo, a 27-year-old first-time candidate who immigrated from Colombia as a teenager.

The morning after the election, Glenn Devlin, a juvenile court judge in Houston who is one of the defeated Republicans, reportedly released most of the defendants who appeared in front of him after asking them whether they planned to kill anyone.

“Apparently he was saying that’s what the voters wanted,” Steven Halpert, a public defender, told the Houston Chronicle.

Read more: ‘Truly the year of the woman’: female candidates win in record numbers​

 

[Lexicus]

That defeats the intended purpose of having all advantages accumulate to the largest population centers. Now, if you are suggesting that having such an accrual occur would be a good thing, fine, but you should just say so. We could go to a House number one, House number two system, or just go straight single house parliamentarian and be done with it.

While the outcome is often irksome, I respect the reasoning, myself. Even though as a Californian I have more validity in any complaints I might register than anyone else would.

Is this a response to me? If so my preference would probably be for turning the Senate into a proportional representation body. Flawed as it is in implementation I like the idea of representatives being responsible to their districts, and I think a district-based House more or less as it currently exists combined with a proportional-representation body that serves the nation at large would be the best way to go.

I don't agree that adhering to the one-person, one-vote rule makes "all advantages accumulate to the largest population centers." It makes all advantages accrue to people as people, rather than as residents of this state or that state.

 

[rah]

I still agree with the concept of the senate but would do one minor tweak. Have a population limit that if your state is below it you only get 1 senator. This would keep most of the original intent but also bend to the reality of the really larger states. To me that's better than merging or splitting up states.