The not so short lived non argumentative political thread.

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  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    c3fa52f7fe78c90dee5c2dba47a92dfa.jpg

    This springs to mine.
  • HigginsHiggins GermanyPosts: 16,618MI6 Agent
    Not sure if it belongs to the random chat, certainly into the „oooops, technology“ section:

    New Yorker Suspends Jeffrey Toobin for Masturbating on Zoom Call

    https://www.vice.com/en/article/epdgm4/new-yorker-suspends-jeffrey-toobin-for-zoom-dick-incident

    Someone commented, that if he‘d played with a real cannon, this would have been ok by US standards :D
    President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.

    Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,702MI6 Agent
    edited October 2020
    "Donald Trump presses Attorney-General William Barr to investigate Joe Biden before the election"

    https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/donald-trump-presses-attorneygeneral-william-barr-to-investigate-joe-biden-before-the-election/news-story/a0fa4eeb7c59e554d4e39f7ad6ab6d0f

    Exciting! I wonder if he's really found something or not? Given his grasp on facts and evidence I wouldn't be too worried if I was Joe Biden.
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,702MI6 Agent
    "Fox News rejected Hunter Biden exposé; New York Post writer refused to put his name on it". This may be a hint if the US department of justice will reject Trump's dream investigation or not. https://usa-onlinenews.com/2020/10/20/fox-news-rejected-hunter-biden-expose-new-york-post-writer-refused-to-put-his-name-on-it-reports/
  • HigginsHiggins GermanyPosts: 16,618MI6 Agent
    Pupulist Handbook 101 and how to distract and avoid to reply a question:


    „Who built the cages?“

    as a response to the question about the locked up children that have been separated from their families and locked up alone in those cages - disregarding that those cages have not been built for that purpose.

    https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-democratic-national-convention-ap-fact-check-immigration-politics-2663c84832a13cdd7a8233becfc7a5f3
    President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.

    Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,702MI6 Agent
    :) It was a far better debate than the first one, but that's damning with faint praise. But I think the bottom line is Trump didn't get the big win he needs, or rather Biden didn't make the mistakes Trump needed him to make.
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,702MI6 Agent
    A short BBC documentary on QAnon. This is a theory that belives Democrat and other elites are pedophile satanists and Covid-19 is a hoax. At least 14 QAnon belivers are on the ballot in the US election next week. QAnon also belive Trump is their savior. Trump really did re-Tweet a QAnon tweet not long ago.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-53507579
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,702MI6 Agent
    For once I have a question: Why do people in the US have to register to vote? Shouldn't being a citizen be enough?
  • Lady RoseLady Rose London,UKPosts: 2,667MI6 Agent
    Number24 wrote:
    For once I have a question: Why do people in the US have to register to vote? Shouldn't being a citizen be enough?

    You have to register in the UK too.
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,702MI6 Agent
    Really? But why?
  • Lady RoseLady Rose London,UKPosts: 2,667MI6 Agent
    I'm not 100% sure but I am assuming it's about who is eligible to vote. In the UK it's more than just citizens. It also involves the Commonwealth countries and EU nationals.

    https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote


    No idea about America.
  • caractacus pottscaractacus potts Orbital communicator, level 10Posts: 3,907MI6 Agent
    Lady Rose wrote:
    I'm not 100% sure but I am assuming it's about who is eligible to vote. In the UK it's more than just citizens. It also involves the Commonwealth countries and EU nationals.

    https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote
    "a Commonwealth citizen who has permission to enter or stay in the UK, or who does not need permission"

    .... I never knew about that! it cant be that simple,
    There must be something to do with a workvisa or something, I'm sure I as a Canadian cant just fly over there and vote in your elections. If I could, I wonder if the impact of my vote would be worth the airfare? and what riding would I vote in?
  • Westward_DriftWestward_Drift Posts: 3,085MI6 Agent
    Number24 wrote:
    For once I have a question: Why do people in the US have to register to vote? Shouldn't being a citizen be enough?

    The purpose of registering to vote is to prove eligibility to vote: being a US Citizen, being at least 18 years of age at the time of the election, and meeting residency requirements of your state and local county or municipality. There's also whether the voter choses to register as a member of a particular political party.
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,702MI6 Agent
    Here in Norway the people at the polling station have lists of everyone in the area who are eligible to vote. In edition everyone who can vote get a card in the mail well in advance of the election. One can vote in advance using the card or passport and other ID if you aren't at home on elelction day.
    Registering as a voter for a particular party seems strange to me. What if you change your mind and wants to vote for another party?
    The electoral college also seems like an outdated system to me. I can't find when Norway stopped using that system, but I belive it was before the year 1900. since we had the telelgraph and the government trusted everyone knew what they wanted and needed no electoral college to nanny them, the system was abolished.
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,702MI6 Agent
    I'm sorry if my last post looked too confrontational. I don't know for sure about the US, but at least in Norway the idea of having an electoral colle was that common peolple weren't fit to elelct a parliament directly. It was better to have them elect educated, trusted men to gather after the election to decide on who should lead the country. I'm sure this isn't how the system is explained today in the US, but to me it looks outdated and unneceserily complicated.
  • Lady RoseLady Rose London,UKPosts: 2,667MI6 Agent
    Number24 wrote:
    Here in Norway the people at the polling station have lists of everyone in the area who are eligible to vote. In edition everyone who can vote get a card in the mail well in advance of the election. One can vote in advance using the card or passport and other ID if you aren't at home on elelction day.
    Registering as a voter for a particular party seems strange to me. What if you change your mind and wants to vote for another party?
    The electoral college also seems like an outdated system to me. I can't find when Norway stopped using that system, but I belive it was before the year 1900. since we had the telelgraph and the government trusted everyone knew what they wanted and needed no electoral college to nanny them, the system was abolished.


    BIB ... we don't have that in the UK. You just register to vote and then you can either vote by post or on the day at a polling station for whoever you want. You can also get someone to vote by proxy for you if you are abroad.


    I can't believe the thing with voter suppression in the US. I find that quite scary. In the UK we have countless polling booths. Mainly schools and church halls are taken over and closed for the day so there are a lot of them. In my experience they are nearly all within walking distance.
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,702MI6 Agent
    Yes, it's incredible. The polling area I live in has only a few hundred people in it, and yet I hear about polling stations in the US hours away from some voters, voters needing to stand in line all day and large numbers of polling stations closed in thee last few years.
    This is from a Reuters article:

    Under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, areas with a history of voting discrimination - such as requiring African American or Hispanic voters to pay a poll tax or pass a literacy test - had first to convince the U.S. Justice Department or a federal court that any election changes they wished to make would not have a discriminatory effect. The Supreme Court struck down that portion of the law in 2013.
    Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-locations-idUSKCN1VV09J

    Voting rights and a good access to polling stations is a human right and it's worrying how this is happening in the USA.
    I hope the next president of the US puts in place laws guaranteeing good access to voting for everyone and minimum standards for ballot machines and other voting systems.
  • HigginsHiggins GermanyPosts: 16,618MI6 Agent
    Yes, I wrote about systematic voter surpression some weeks ago.

    Higgins wrote:
    Talking about how to keep voters off from the election:

    If anyone know how to cheat in an election, it‘s the GOP!

    Texas gov has cut ballot drop-off sites dramatically and that will result in terribly long lines in front of the remaining ones and long journeys

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/10/01/texas-voting-abbott/

    >>Harris County, which includes Houston and has more than 4.7 million residents, is the state’s largest county and the third largest in the United States, according to the census. According to the Austin American-Statesman, Harris County has 12 ballot drop-off sites; Travis County, which includes Austin and has a population of 1.2 million, has four sites.<<

    And those are now being cut to one.....

    By contrast, Kenosha County, Wis., has 17 mail-in ballot drop boxes for a population of about 170,000, according to the Kenosha News.

    The GOP has a long tradition of surpressing voters who are likely not to elect them for decades.
    Was it polling tax or literacy tests ( something in particular nasty!) until the 60s, Gerrymandering and discrediting mail in ballots during a pandemic is the modern choice.

    It‘s fascinating what has been created in the past just to keep down inconvenient votes

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_suppression_in_the_United_States
    President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.

    Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
  • Westward_DriftWestward_Drift Posts: 3,085MI6 Agent
    Number24 wrote:
    Here in Norway the people at the polling station have lists of everyone in the area who are eligible to vote. In edition everyone who can vote get a card in the mail well in advance of the election. One can vote in advance using the card or passport and other ID if you aren't at home on elelction day.
    Registering as a voter for a particular party seems strange to me. What if you change your mind and wants to vote for another party?
    The electoral college also seems like an outdated system to me. I can't find when Norway stopped using that system, but I belive it was before the year 1900. since we had the telelgraph and the government trusted everyone knew what they wanted and needed no electoral college to nanny them, the system was abolished.

    Registering with a political party is for primary elections where the candidate is chosen for the general elections. That is less important than it once was since many states have open or semi-open primaries. For example I am an independent, officially called "Decline to State". In the primary election of my state I could ask for the Decline to State Democratic ballot to vote among the prospective Democratic Presidential nominees. (A true Democratic ballot for registed Democrats may have the option to vote for members of the party's central committee. However the Republican ballot is only available to registered Republicans. I could also have chosen ballot with only the non-partisan issues. If I wanted to change my party affiliation I would need to reregister.

    Number24, a question for you. I surmise Norway has what we would consider universal automatic registration. How is it determined where a citizen should vote? What if you own more than one home in different parts of the country? If you lived in a small town and are going to university in Oslo where do you vote? Are you considered a resident of the small town or Oslo?

    The electoral collage is an archaic system that should be abolished. That would require a Constitutional amendment, which won't happen. I can't see the swing states and smaller states giving up their influence. Amending the US Constitution would require passage by 3/4ths of the states.

    There is an attempt to bypass this by getting enough states to change the local state law as to how electors vote. The electors will vote for whichever candidate got the most votes nationally instead of the winner of the individual state. Such a law only takes effect if states with 270 or more total electoral votes agree on such a change.
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,702MI6 Agent
    In Norway you can vote in national elections if you're18 years old and a Norwegian citizen. You can lose your right to vote if you have been convicted of treason or voter fraud. You are registered as a voter in the municipality where you have registered address by a spesific date that year.

    Do registering as a voter for a spesific party is something you do with the party and not the election autorities? Because "registered Democrat voter" sounds different from "registered Democrat".
  • HigginsHiggins GermanyPosts: 16,618MI6 Agent
    edited October 2020
    Number24, a question for you. I surmise Norway has what we would consider universal automatic registration. How is it determined where a citizen should vote? What if you own more than one home in different parts of the country? If you lived in a small town and are going to university in Oslo where do you vote? Are you considered a resident of the small town or Oslo?
    .

    I can tell you how it is here.
    For every election, I am getting a letter from the government with exact date, time and place where to put my vote.
    It‘s a kind of invitation and I have to present this paper together with my id on election day at the polling station ( even every little village has 2-3 polling stations and there are never lines).

    Inside of the polling station, my invitation and id is checked against their records,they give me the ballot, I vote and am done.

    I can also send the signed invitation letter back in a prepaid envelope and will then receive papers for absentee voting. Fraud with that is relatively uncommon and highly punishable and my signature is required and checked against local databases.

    The invitation letter is only sent to your primary address.
    President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.

    Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
  • Westward_DriftWestward_Drift Posts: 3,085MI6 Agent
    Number24 wrote:
    In Norway you can vote in national elections if you're18 years old and a Norwegian citizen. You can lose your right to vote if you have been convicted of treason or voter fraud. You are registered as a voter in the municipality where you have registered address by a spesific date that year.

    Do registering as a voter for a spesific party is something you do with the party and not the election autorities? Because "registered Democrat voter" sounds different from "registered Democrat".

    You register as a specific party member, if you so choose, when you register to vote with the government.
  • Lady RoseLady Rose London,UKPosts: 2,667MI6 Agent
    One of the things about polling day in the UK is the hashtag on Twitter ...#DogsAtPollingStations

    It started a few years ago (roundabout referendum time)and it's brilliant. It's just people posting pictures of their dogs outside polling stations.

    Even Boris Johnson took his dog to the polling station in December.

    https://www.vox.com/world/2019/12/12/21012561/uk-elections-2019-dogs-at-polling-stations


    I don't suppose you can take your dog if you have to queue for 6 hours to vote though .... :#
  • JoshuaJoshua Posts: 1,138MI6 Agent
    For those people who have the luxury of always participating in free & fair elections, it must come as a very big shock to understand that this is not the case in many places.

    Also I wonder, how many of those who describe themselves as democrats realise that, unless they are prepared to accept the results of free & fair elections, are actually not democrats but instead are admitting their contempt for democracy. Opposition, yes, but outright refusal to acknowledge electoral results unless they go your own way - well! I suppose an extension to this is to shout and scream at people with opposing viewpoints and then attempt to have them silenced by any means at their disposal. That's not democracy - it's authoritarianism.

    Sobbing and stamping feet because your side lost is no excuse, as is trying to make up excuses of fraud or vote tampering etc when this is not the case. If Bidon wins there will be nothing but praise for those who support him. If Trump wins it will be 'he cheated!' for the next four years,

    I take no sides in the US election, I simply respect the outcome of the vote. People who don't and try every excuse to justify themselves and their viewpoints, well, their actions tell their own story.
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,702MI6 Agent
    Must I remind you, Joshua, that it's Trump who says he isn't sure if he'll accept the result of the election. This has never happened before with any president in the history of the united states.
    Second, it was Trump who claimed time and again claimed the Democrats cheated in the election in 2016 and stole two million votes. He has nver presented any proof to support his claims, but he loves saying it at rallies. Before this election has has often accused the Democrats of cheating, again with no proof.
    Yes, the Democrats have said amny times that Russia helped Trump win in 2016. But both all American inteligence servises and the Muller report support this because there is proof.
  • JoshuaJoshua Posts: 1,138MI6 Agent
    I agree and am aware of those points, and they are not setting good examples, but I am not speaking about Trump or Biden, but those who call themselves democrats but refuse to accept the principles of democracy if that democracy does not deliver the result they want.

    I also do not mean Democrat as in the US party name, but individuals, any elections anywhere, not just the US.
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,702MI6 Agent
    edited October 2020
    That's nice to hear and a good reminder of how important a capital letter can be :)
    We also need a reminder that there is more out there than the US election. Three innocent people were murdered today in Nice, France. One of them was a 70 year old woman who got her throat slit in a church by a muslim extremist. He murdered her because president Macron took a clear stand for free speech and against islamic extremism, and I suppose he felt the world needed even more proof that that extreme islam is bloodthirsty and oppressive.
    Keep fighting for free speech!
  • HigginsHiggins GermanyPosts: 16,618MI6 Agent
    And while we are on it:

    Free and FAIR elections:

    I am all for it, but I and many others still doubt that the Brexit vote was FAIR!

    The Brexit Camp where cheating with funding on many ways ( Russia came to help), they where lying ( anyone remember the NHS bus and the migrant caravan posters) and calling this out doesn‘t make me an undemocrat! ;)
    President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.

    Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,702MI6 Agent
    Joshua and He Who Must Not Be Named: Is this really neccesary?
    I'm all for a good political debate, but the way this one started makes the risk of getting (more ) personal high. Since I like you both I'd rather not see that happen. :)
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    Well said, N24. That was too personal, posts deleted. Posts plural, I don't care who started what.
This discussion has been closed.