[The Soup Nazi]

May Vishnu help us all:

One Man Could Save America From Electoral Chaos

Prepare for election month, not election night

Opinion by Fareed Zakaria
Columnist

All of us need to start preparing for a deeply worrying scenario on Nov. 3. It is not some outlandish fantasy, but rather the most likely course of events based on what we know today. On election night, President Trump will be ahead significantly in a majority of states, including in the swing states that will decide the outcome. Over the next few days, mail-in ballots will be counted, and the numbers could shift in Joe Biden’s favor. But will Trump accept that outcome? Will the United States?

First, an explanation of why this is the most likely situation. Several surveys have found that, because of the pandemic, in-person and mail-in ballots will show a huge partisan divide. In one poll, 87 percent of Trump voters said they preferred to vote in person, compared with 47 percent of Biden voters. In another, by the Democratic data firm Hawkfish, 69 percent of Biden voters said they planned to vote by mail, while only 19 percent of Trump voters said the same. The firm modeled various scenarios and found that, based on recent polling, if just 15 percent of mail-in ballots are counted on election night, Trump would appear to have 408 electoral votes compared with Biden’s 130. But four days later, assuming 75 percent of the mail-in ballots are counted, the lead could flip to Biden, and after all ballots are counted, Biden would have 334 electoral votes to Trump’s 204.

You don’t have to believe in models to understand that this is a likely scenario. As David Graham writes in an Atlantic essay, on the night of the 2018 midterm elections, the results seemed very disappointing for Democrats. They appeared to have gained far fewer seats in the House and Senate than the polls predicted, a replay of 2016.

Except that as provisional ballots and mail-in ballots were counted, the results changed. “California just defies logic to me,” said Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), who was then speaker of the House. “We were only down 26 seats the night of the election, and three weeks later we lost basically every contested California race.” In fact, there are perfectly logical explanations for this “blue shift,” as scholars Edward Foley and Charles Stewart call it. But it’s easy to make it look suspicious.

After the 2018 midterms, Trump declared that a conspiracy was at work. In Florida, when Democrats started narrowing the gaps in two key races, he tweeted that “large numbers of new ballots showed up out of nowhere, and many ballots are missing or forged. An honest vote count is no longer possible — ballots massively infected. Must go with Election Night!” Imagine what Trump is likely to do this November, when his own fate hangs in the balance.

Dan Baer of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace outlines a frightening and utterly plausible scenario in an excellent article, “How Trump could refuse to go.” Baer imagines close contests in Arizona and Florida, where Republican-controlled governments could argue that the election was marred by irregularities and change the law to allow themselves to appoint the Republican slate of electors.

In Wisconsin, where state government is divided, Baer imagines the following sequence of events: “The Republican-controlled legislature also moves to change the manner of designating electors, and to approve those pledged to Trump. However, the Democratic Governor, invoking Wisconsin state law, signs and affixes the state seal to the slate of electors for Joe Biden as certified by the state elections commission.” In Baer’s vision, Trump mobilizes his base to go out and protest, tweeting, “thank you Wisconsin! don’t let your governor rob YOUR PRESIDENT!”

Is there a way out of this national nightmare? Two powerful forces could ensure that the United States, already tarnished by its handling of covid-19, does not also end up as the poster child for dysfunctional democracy. The first is the media. We have to abandon the notion of election night and prepare the public for election month. In fact, states have never certified winners on election night. News organizations do that on the basis of statistical projections. It is time to educate the public to wait for the ballots to be counted.

The second and decisive force will be Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. If this type of scenario unfolds, it will end up in court. Ordinarily, this would not get to the Supreme Court. The Constitution is crystal clear that it is the states, and the states alone, that get to determine their electors. But the Supreme Court abandoned its restraint in 2000 with Bush v. Gore. That means a disputed election could quickly move up to the Supreme Court, where Roberts would be pivotal as both chief justice and the swing vote. So it might come down to this: One man will have the power to end a looming catastrophe and save American democracy.

[tw2113]

So many shitburgers with mayo on them.

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by tw2113

So many shitburgers with mayo on them.

Fucker wants not only four more years but a third term.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/13/p...den/index.html

[tw2113]

Originally Posted by The Soup Nazi

Fucker wants not only four more years but a third term.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/13/p...den/index.html

I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to get rid of the election cycle as a whole and just have him stay till his death.

[h8kurdt]

Originally Posted by Bytor Peltor

yada-yada-yah!

So many facts ignored in this long, long rambling message. Main point being what followed after all those he derides followed on with lockdown. Meanwhile the holy Cheeto doubled down saying the coronavirus was nothing to worry about and that it'll go away. He followed it with the idea that injecting bleach and light will help get rid of the virus.

You want someone who will follow the science and follow that. Not a moron who ignores it and does whatever he wants at the expense of a couple hundred thousand lives.

It's no good for Bytor to say "THESE GUYS WERE SHIT SO IT'S OK FOR TRUMP TO BE SHIT".

[_tunic_]

Haven't followed the news very actively lately so I was curious what the President's actions were regarding the currently active fires in three US states. Well, he's done absolutely nothing!!!

Trump isn’t talking about the wildfires in Oregon, California and Washington

[Bytor Peltor]

Ummm, while I have no rhyme or reason to why/why not the President tweets, according to the Sacramento Bee (Saturday, September 12,2020), the President will be in Sacramento tomorrow.

“Although the president often criticizes California’s wildfire response efforts and the forest management tactics, Gov. Gavin Newsom has reiterated Trump’s commitment to helping the state behind the scenes.

“There’s not phone call that I have made to the president where he hasn’t quickly responded,” the Democratic governor said last month.”

The President arrived in Las Vegas 0200 AM this morning and will hold his first entirely indoor rally in three months tonight in neighboring Henderson, Nevada.

Originally Posted by _tunic_

Haven't followed the news very actively lately so I was curious what the President's actions were regarding the currently active fires in three US states. Well, he's done absolutely nothing!!!

Trump isn’t talking about the wildfires in Oregon, California and Washington

[Bytor Peltor]

April 19, 2019

Originally Posted by Bytor Peltor

Remember when Crooked Hillary replied: “like with a cloth or something?”

Then last week when New Hampshire Democrat Mrs. Shaheen asked, "You're not suggesting that spying occurred?"

The awkward silence from Mrs. Shaheen and the “ah ah ah ah” stuttering from Crooked Hillary just before she makes a wiping gesture with her hand......these will soon be connected.

Members of Mueller’s team ’wiped’ phones during Trump probe: DOJ

“More than two dozen cellphones belonging to members of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team were “wiped” clean of their data before the Justice Department’s inspector general could check them, according to a report.“

“Mueller deputy Andrew Weissman “accidentally wiped” his device twice after he entered the wrong passcode too many times in March 2018, according to the documents cited by Fox News.“

You would think federal prosecutors would grow tiresome of being caught destroying evidence and appearing like inept idiots......this is going to get good!

[The Soup Nazi]

From Robert Christgau's And It Don't Stop column:

Vote! It Ain't Illegal Yet!

Peace to all Berniacs who’ve begrudged their 2020 votes to the imperfect Joe Biden while hoping these perfectionists realize that in a highly imperfect year mere voting will require not just acquiescence but commitment. This is for the angry subset of Americans who actively long to witness the defeat of fascist fraudster turned impeached president Donald J. Trump—who keep thinking about it in the daytime and lose sleep over it at night. It’s to urge them to get out of their heads and act.

I’ve been a small-scale Democratic activist ever since warmonger-in-waiting George W. Bush stole the 2000 election from the imperfect Al Gore. My biggest year was 2004, when together with my wife, daughter, and other confederates I spent a week canvassing and phonebanking in Ohio, where two women my wife Carola had befriended in 1978 as Susan Devo and Bobbie Devo had become major cogs in John Kerry’s Akron operation. In 2008 I bunked two weekends with friends in Arlington to door-knock for Obama in Alexandria. In 2012 I bussed with my union to Philly nabes scarred by overleveraged ghost houses and then to rust-belt Bethlehem. In 2016 I put in a long union Saturday in Allentown plus a few dozen hours phonebanking in HRC’s UFT HQ. I’ve also phonebanked some in nonpresidential years.

Endowed with a generous heart and phenomenal memory, Carola still fondly remembers encounters we shared door-knocking in Akron and elsewhere—canvassers often work in pairs. Although glimpsing how other people live is always educational and enlightening conversations do definitely arise even in the course of phone work replete with hangups and no answers, I’ve never thought canvassing was much fun: as a person who cares about politics, the canvasser inevitably intrudes on people who care less. But such cavils are fatally hypersensitive in a moment when any American who’s read this far probably agrees that our hopes for even incremental justice will be scotched for decades if not forever should Trump take a wrecking ball to the republic for another four years. I don’t get how any such reader would consider sitting on his or her hands till November 3 in a year when November 4 could be a nightmare. Lives are at stake, starting with our own.

I don’t want to overdo the hand-sitting charges. Most of us still have plenty to do as the pandemic continues—staying healthy, earning a living, overseeing the young and the infirm. I myself write every day as I recover from two surgeries that still limit my mobility as I prepare for an October 1 shoulder replacement. But in a crisis that taught us what “social distancing” means, many also feel we have time to fill if not kill—never before have binge-watching advisories passed as acts of kindness and mutuality. And so I’ve spent several weeks haphazardly trying to figure out what I can do to defeat Trump both before and after I’m laid up. My researches have been unsystematic and except in one case untested. But it’s time to put these preliminary delvings in some kind of order.

I should be clear about two things. First, while it’s essential to be politically knowledgeable, election work is more about informing than persuading. You might well find yourself explaining your Bidenism to an undecided voter. But a lot of the work involves telling registered or intermittent or lapsed Democrats where and when they can exercise their franchise and, this year far more than ever, sparking them to do so at their earliest possible convenience. Second, the pandemic has radically curtailed door-knocking, although not phonebanking and not necessarily literature drops—some hardy souls are still leaving printed info at every statistically propitious door.

Having mentioned statistics, I’ll start with a dismaying one. I began my research by sending out a letter pumping some 40 politically aware friends for electoral tips. Yet though my mailing list sorted two-to-one male-female, every one of my scant five respondees was a woman. These included one corraled from a tai chi acquaintance of Carola, whose women’s group will discuss the options this month. True, one of my repondees is married to union stalwart Tom Smucker, who’s busier at this work than anyone I know, and when I prodded Tom Carson on the phone he got so fired up he posted a Facebook query and got quite a few quick responses, well over half from women as well. Having identified feminist as a writer for half a century, I trust you too are OK with not just Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren and AOC but, to cite two less prominent heroines, MJ Hegar and Sara Gideon, not to mention the thousands of female activists who flipped the House in 2018. Nonetheless, judging by the questions I get for Xgau Sez, I assume that most of this newsletter’s readers are male, just like most of the Xgau fans who dubbed themselves the Witnesses back in the good old days. So let me level with ya, fellas. I’m urging you to break a gender stereotype.

What follows is a brief, inexpert breakdown—rough second or third-hand descriptions attached to what tips I can gather about how to proceed. Publication will probably generate other possibilities—there are a lot of concerned citizens with their own angles on how to confront a world-historical political crisis, and health permitting I’ll try to keep up with them. But for clarity’s sake I’ll begin with the only one I’ve put a hand to as of yet, which has shown up a lot in my research: Reclaim Our Vote, which aims to boost turnout by counteracting the voter-suppression tactic in which Republican Secretaries of State peremptorily expunge “inactive” voters from the rolls.

For that personal touch, Reclaim Our Vote generates hand-written postcards that reproduce an election board-approved text to focus on the South—Carola and I wrote voters in the swing states of Georgia and North Carolina—to which are affixed labels clearly providing crucial additional info. I admired the subtlety and economy of this stratagem. If my 40 cards in a few hours helped spark half a dozen Biden voters I’ll take it. You never really know, of course—could be more, or less. All you can be sure of is that you tried.

Reclaim the Vote’s postcard phase will soon be replaced by a phonebanking effort, so get on it soon—meaning right now—if it appeals. You might also ask your friends as I did mine to find out if there’s any electoral work they’d recommend. Or you can pick among these.

To me the most useful looked to be an outfit called Swing Left , which serves as a hub for GOTV (crucial acronym that translates Get Out the Vote) drives in 12 swing states: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin. Its website is considerably more focused and navigable than those of other progressive powerhouses I’ve looked at: Daily Kos, MoveOn, even Indivisible.

I was also impressed, however, by another conglomerate of sorts called simply Mobilize where you can find so many links to practical electoral activism that you’d feel like a cad if you didn’t try at least one, and you’d be right.

And then there are more specialized operations, beginning with two more letter-writing efforts, which may wind down as October nears but remain of use now.

1) Vote Forward provides form letters encouraging already registered voters to cast their ballotASAP. You add a hand-written personal note as well as envelopes and stamps. Vote Forward also urges volunteers to “send heartfelt handwritten letters to unregistered and low-propensity voters encouraging them to participate in our democracy.”

2) Postcards to Voters also targets registered Dems with scripted, hand-written post cards urging/reminding them to vote.

3) Finally, I believe Trump is such a priority that long-term considerations must be put aside—which does not mean senatorial races, where many deserve support and my personal favorites are longshot Lindsey Graham foe Jaime Harrison and sitting Democrat Gary Peters fighting off a DeVos-financed flunky in crucial swing Michigan. Nonetheless, if you’re a hardcore progressive Dem concerned about the party’s weakness in state legislatures where penny-ante reactionaries do their bit for “Christian” education, male supremacist sexuality, the-end-is-near environmental devastation, and that old favorite the rich getting richer, you might glance at SisterDistrict.com. Lots of focused action there.

(continues below)

[The Soup Nazi]

(cont'd)

And no, I’m not quite done.

First there is the little matter of money, like the bucks I’ve sent Harrison and Peters. I’ve donated very modestly since 2006 (I liked Jon Tester, as I still do, but not all the subsequent emails from Montana). But I’ve never given this much before—I’m over a grand including Warren seed money, and some of those bucks I got from you, so thanks and maybe you can chip in to a personal fave or your own.

Second, whether you’d ever feel comfortable about door-knocking or not, there’s another site where your physical presence can make a difference: polling places on Election Day. As progressives argue the relative utility of mail-in ballots and in-person voting, it seems incontrovertible to me that we don’t win without both. And as everyone already knows, November 3 is going to be an enormous mess at best, replete with long lines, mislaid records, voting machine failure, arbitrary challenges to people of color, cops of greatly varying ethical standards, and muscleheads enthralled by open carry. Moreover, many veteran poll workers are aged Social Security recipients with every reason to be more nervous about Covid than most of you. At 78, I’m in that category myself, but I swear that if it wasn’t for my three surgeries I’d consider it. This election is going to be hard, and it’s going to need all the smart, stubborn, fair-minded help it can get. Maybe for some reason you just don’t want to electioneer. But chances are you could do this. Here’s a link to a federal guide to get you started.

[LifeDistortion]

So apparently the polls in Florida are tied at 48% to 48%. Every 4 years we have to deal with this mess with Florida, and it almost never ends in the Democrats' favor.

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by LifeDistortion

So apparently the polls in Florida are tied at 48% to 48%. Every 4 years we have to deal with this mess with Florida, and it almost never ends in the Democrats' favor.

Let Florida secede and replace it with D.C.

[Savage Clone]

Let Florida sink.

[tw2113]

Sell Florida to Puerto Rico?

[The Soup Nazi]

Let the alligators eat the people.

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by _tunic_

Haven't followed the news very actively lately so I was curious what the President's actions were regarding the currently active fires in three US states. Well, he's done absolutely nothing!!!

Trump isn’t talking about the wildfires in Oregon, California and Washington

On climate change and its role in the wildfires: "I don't think science knows, actually," Trump said at a Monday briefing with officials in McClellan Park, California, with a laugh.

[Bytor Peltor]

July 25, 2019 (page 366)

Originally Posted by Bytor Peltor

Former Federal Prosecutor on Mueller: 'He Clearly Did Not Run This Investigation'

September 13, 2020 (page 461)

Originally Posted by Bytor Peltor

Members of Mueller’s team ’wiped’ phones during Trump probe: DOJ

Sen. Ron Johnson asks DOJ watchdog to investigate Mueller team phones over erased information

"These reports are troubling and raise concerns about record retention and transparency," Johnson wrote in a letter to Department of Justice (DOJ) inspector general Michael Horowitz. "Therefore, I respectfully request that your office open an investigation into this matter to determine what, why, and how information was wiped, whether any wrongdoing occurred, and who these devices belonged to."


DOJ FOIA Release: Members of Mueller Team Repeatedly ‘Wiped’ phones as Watchdog Sought Records


““It appears that Special Counsel Mueller’s team may have deleted federal records that could be key to better understanding their decision-making process as they pursued their investigation and wrote their report. Indeed, many officials apparently deleted the records after the DOJ Inspector General began his inquiry into how the Department mishandled Crossfire Hurricane. Moreover, based on this new information, the number of times and the stated reasons for the deletions calls into question whether or not it was a widespread intentional effort,” Grassley wrote in a letter today to Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray.“

September 11, 2020

VIA ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION
The Honorable William Barr
Attorney General
Department of Justice

The Honorable Christopher A. Wray
Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation

Dear Attorney General Barr and Director Wray:

A recent Justice Department Freedom of Information Act release suggests that multiple members of Special Counsel Mueller’s team may have wiped data from their government phones including texts messages during their investigation of Russian collusion in the 2016 election.[1] One team member, Andrew Weissmann, appears to have deleted all of the data on his phone more than once. On March 8, 2018, records show that Weissmann “[e]ntered [his] password too many times and wiped his phone.” On September 27, another report reads, “AAW accidentally wiped cell phone – data lost.” On two occasions, officials admitted to deleting data, and multiple individuals stated that the phone automatically wiped the data after they used the wrong password too many times.

It appears that Special Counsel Mueller’s team may have deleted federal records that could be key to better understanding their decision-making process as they pursued their investigation and wrote their report. Indeed, many officials apparently deleted the records after the DOJ Inspector General began his inquiry into how the Department mishandled Crossfire Hurricane. Moreover, based on this new information, the number of times and the stated reasons for the deletions calls into question whether or not it was a widespread intentional effort.

This would not be the first time the Special Counsel’s office misused records within their possession. On March 8, 2019, I wrote a letter to the Justice Department regarding Special Counsel Mueller’s selective use of emails in the George Papadopoulos Statement of Offense.[2] In that letter, I provided references to a footnote in the Statement that was used by Mueller to suggest that a Trump “Campaign official suggested ‘low level’ staff should go to Russia.” In full context, however, the emails in question actually show that the Trump Campaign wanted someone “low level” to decline these types of invitations.

Congress and the American people are owed answers regarding Special Counsel Mueller and his team. In light of the serious concerns these new records create, please provide the following no later than September 25, 2020:

All records from the FOIA request in unredacted form.
All records, including text messages, from all government phones used by employees in Special Counsel Mueller’s office.
All records relating to the explanations that each employee within Special Counsel Mueller’s office provided as to why their phone data and records were deleted.
When were you first made aware that Special Counsel Mueller’s employees deleted data and records from their government phones?
Are you investigating whether or not Special Counsel Mueller’s employees violated federal record keeping laws, rules, and regulations? If so, when did that investigation begin? If not, why not?
Has the Justice Department attempted to forensically recover any deleted records? If so, please provide all recovered records in unredacted form. If not, why not?
Has the Justice Department referred this matter to the Inspector General? If not, why not?

I anticipate that most of the responsive documents will be unclassified. Please send all unclassified material directly to the Committee. In keeping with the requirements of Executive Order 13526, if any of the responsive documents do contain classified information, please segregate all unclassified material within the classified documents, provide all unclassified information directly to the Committee, and provide a classified addendum to the Office of Senate Security. The Committee complies with all laws and regulations governing the handling of classified information. The Committee is not bound, absent its prior agreement, by any handling restrictions or instructions on unclassified information unilaterally asserted by the Executive Branch.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Should you have any questions, please contact Joshua Flynn-Brown of my Committee staff at 202-224-4515.

Sincerely,


Charles E. Grassley
Chairman
Committee on Finance

The reason I quoted myself from July 2019 about “Mueller Not Running The Investigation,” do any of the Free Minded Freethinkers here at SYG actually think Robert Muller placed his phone on “airport mode” and intentionally entered the wrong password 10 times? Remember, attempts 5-10 require that you wait:

5 minutes before the next attempt

15 minutes before the next attempt

30 minutes before the next attempt

45 minutes before the next attempt

ONE HOUR before the next attempt

Seriously, is old Bob taking the time to do that?

The reason I mentioned “airport mode,” the Government issued phones have a built in feature where once you’ve entered the wrong password FIVE TIMES, DOJ Security is notified (email) of the number of FAILED ATTEMPTS so they can either:

A) notify the phones owner to make sure phone wasn’t stolen & reset password if necessary

B) remotely shut down phone

The only way the security notification isn’t sent is when the phone is placed on “airport mode.” Mind you this evidently occurred 15 times with various members of Robert Mueller’s investigative team......it’s as if they all experienced amnesia at the same time.

[h8kurdt]

Great work being done by Trump in taking the forest fires seriously. After being pleaded about the impact of global warming on forest fires he just glibly says
“It’ll start getting cooler. You just — you just watch.”

“I wish science agreed with you,” Crowfoot said.

“I don’t think science knows, actually,” Trump responded.

Might as well write the planet off if he gets another four years. Or will sweeping up forests be the key to all our problems? He's about as useful as a marzipan dildo.

[Bytor Peltor]

Originally Posted by Bytor Peltor

The reason I quoted myself from July 2019 about “Mueller Not Running The Investigation,” do any of the Free Minded Freethinkers here at SYG actually think Robert Muller placed his phone on “airport mode” and intentionally entered the wrong password 10 times? Remember, attempts 5-10 require that you wait:

5 minutes before the next attempt

15 minutes before the next attempt

30 minutes before the next attempt

45 minutes before the next attempt

ONE HOUR before the next attempt

Seriously, is old Bob taking the time to do that?

The reason I mentioned “airport mode,” the Government issued phones have a built in feature where once you’ve entered the wrong password FIVE TIMES, DOJ Security is notified (email) of the number of FAILED ATTEMPTS so they can either:

A) notify the phones owner to make sure phone wasn’t stolen & reset password if necessary

B) remotely shut down phone

The only way the security notification isn’t sent is when the phone is placed on “airport mode.” Mind you this evidently occurred 15 times with various members of Robert Mueller’s investigative team......it’s as if they all experienced amnesia at the same time.

Several other phones were wiped after they were placed in airplane mode and could not be unlocked because the password was allegedly forgotten, including two belonging to lead prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, and phones belonging to two of his deputies, Kyle Freeny and Rush Atkinson.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by h8kurdt

He's about as useful as a marzipan dildo.

beauregard eats bags of marzipan