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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#258826: Oct 25th 2018 at 10:00:14 PM

Automatic Voter Registration when you turn 18 would be good as well.

FluffyMcChicken My Hair Provides Affordable Healthcare from where the floating lights gleam Since: Jun, 2014 Relationship Status: In another castle
My Hair Provides Affordable Healthcare
#258827: Oct 25th 2018 at 10:16:22 PM

[up] "But people deserve to have the right whether to choose to vote or not! You can just force people to choose candidates again their will amirite? Amirite?"

You gotta admit, the Republicans have done an excellent job at how to actually persuade a huge number of Americans into becoming apathetic about their own politics.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#258828: Oct 25th 2018 at 10:22:35 PM

Sure worked on me in my youth, though part of that was because my own dad (a Republican) passed on his "all politicians suck" mentality to me. A mentality that was passed on to him by his dad, who was actually a politician. A lot of the stories my late grandpa would tell my dad and aunt were apparently tirades against the gross incompetence and corruption he had to put up with during his years working in Taiwan's government. He outright told my dad and aunt that they shouldn't work in the government.

And yes, my dad went through a brief Trump supporter phase though he didn't actually vote in 2016 — I don't think he's voted in decades.

Disgusted, but not surprised
kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#258829: Oct 25th 2018 at 10:40:10 PM

Anyone remember that story about how some early voting centers in Georgia are switching people's votes? Well, apparantly it's happening in Texas now.

How likely is it that enough machines can get rigged like this to outright steal the election? I'm not saying it is, I'm just curious.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#258830: Oct 25th 2018 at 10:43:09 PM

The explanation is that said machines are really fucking old. Like turn of the century old. Those machines are almost as old as some first time voters.

Edited by M84 on Oct 26th 2018 at 1:44:04 AM

Disgusted, but not surprised
Robrecht Your friendly neighbourhood Regent from The Netherlands Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: They can't hide forever. We've got satellites.
Your friendly neighbourhood Regent
#258831: Oct 25th 2018 at 10:48:59 PM

Automatic Voter Registration when you turn 18 would be good as well.

I don't get why needing to register to vote is even a thing. Maybe that's because here in the Netherlands the list of people who are allowed to vote, and also to run for office, is 'everyone who is a Dutch citizen' for national and provincial elections and 'everyone who's a local registered resident' for local elections and nothing except losing those statuses can ever take one's right to vote away, not even being a convicted criminal.

Hell, not even being a currently incarcerated criminal...

(And yes, that means that an immigrant can rise all the way to be Prime Minister as long as they get their Dutch citizenship and enough votes.)

Edit: I actually do get why it's a thing. It's a barrier to entry that allowed those in power at the time the notion of needing to register was devised to exclude people they don't want voting by making it nigh impossible for them to successfully register without technically denying them the ability to vote.

Edited by Robrecht on Oct 25th 2018 at 7:59:33 PM

Angry gets shit done.
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#258832: Oct 25th 2018 at 11:16:46 PM

[up] Orignally it became widespread allegedly to discourage actual voter fraud by big city Political Machines, that would encourage people to vote multiple times by changing their appearance or going to different polling booths, in order to stay in power (apparently, you could get three votes out of a man with a beard and mustache, as you could have him shave off one each time), but was also used to disenfranchise voters.

Edited by megaeliz on Oct 25th 2018 at 2:20:27 PM

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#258833: Oct 25th 2018 at 11:27:38 PM

[up]Ah yes, the infamous Boss Tweed.

Disgusted, but not surprised
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#258834: Oct 25th 2018 at 11:30:10 PM

It was an interesting notation at the time that the political machine at the time was considered to be the enemy (or perhaps just annoyance) of the affluent of America and Old Money families. So much so that Teddy Roosevelt was considered to be demeaning himself by getting into politics.

Effectively, politicians were considered to be people representing the lower classes and "bought" votes via services for the poor.

I feel the Republicans could use more of that.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Oct 25th 2018 at 11:30:30 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#258835: Oct 26th 2018 at 1:07:55 AM

Yutu leaves 1 dead on Saipan, humanitarian crisis looms. Posting this as these islands are also part of the US and are in poor shape too, similar to Maria and Puerto Rico.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
KnightofLsama Since: Sep, 2010
#258836: Oct 26th 2018 at 2:22:40 AM

I don't get why needing to register to vote is even a thing.

As an Australian who's constitution is a deliberate hybridisation of US and UK systems, it's at least partly because you need to know where they live. Regardless of the system, when you're using single member constituencies you can't have people voting for people in different seats.

CookingCat Since: Jul, 2018
#258837: Oct 26th 2018 at 2:27:28 AM

[up][up] They aren't even in the same continent as the mainland US, they are part of Oceania, while Puerto Rico is in North America along with the mainland US.

Edited by CookingCat on Oct 26th 2018 at 2:28:48 AM

RandomTroper#89235 Since: Jan, 2014
#258838: Oct 26th 2018 at 2:47:17 AM

[up] That's not the point. They are a Commonwealth of the United States, same as Puerto Rico.

Edited by RandomTroper#89235 on Oct 26th 2018 at 5:47:58 PM

Imca (Veteran)
#258839: Oct 26th 2018 at 3:15:48 AM

If I can be honest, the US really needs to be clearer on what is and isn't part of the US because so many people seem to not know that things other then the states can be part of the country..

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#258840: Oct 26th 2018 at 3:43:47 AM

It doesn't help that the people in said parts of the USA that aren't states have no actual voting power — no Reps with a vote in Congress, no Senators...they can't even vote for President. And only the people born in some U.S. territories get birthright US citizenship. American Samoans for example don't get it.

It probably doesn't help that news media keeps referring to Puerto Ricans who move to the mainland USA as immigrants. By that logic I'm an immigrant since I moved from Pennsylvania to California.

Edited by M84 on Oct 26th 2018 at 6:47:22 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised
CookingCat Since: Jul, 2018
#258841: Oct 26th 2018 at 4:04:55 AM

I just had a brief Sanity Slippage when someone on another website mentioned that Trump considering executive order banning all migrants from southern border and sending the army there could be a first step or trial run toward martial law, or a closed off dictatorship like North Korea...

Edited by CookingCat on Oct 26th 2018 at 4:05:29 AM

archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#258842: Oct 26th 2018 at 4:06:47 AM

[up] I would advise against listening to that kind of doomsaying nonsense.

They should have sent a poet.
CookingCat Since: Jul, 2018
#258843: Oct 26th 2018 at 4:21:45 AM

[up] Doesn't help that the asshole immediately continued with "the Nazis and most despotic authoritarian regimes didn't come in and start ethnic cleansing or restricting all information and travel on day one. It was incremental. Once the people had accepted one draconian measure, the next one and the next one became easier and easier to implement."

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#258844: Oct 26th 2018 at 4:26:11 AM

And that is completely right. That's how it works. You just push what is acceptable bit by bit unless you have pushed it so far that you can do whatever you want. That's why those midterms are so important. It might be the US last chance to turn this ship around.

And I wouldn't put it past the republicans to have "computer glitches" in various districts to ensure that their candidate wins.

CookingCat Since: Jul, 2018
#258845: Oct 26th 2018 at 4:29:05 AM

[up] The GOP in Georgia have been pulling really shady shit, and people have been noticing.

Edited by CookingCat on Oct 26th 2018 at 4:29:44 AM

archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#258846: Oct 26th 2018 at 4:40:50 AM

[up][up][up] One important point missing there: the Nazis didn’t grow out of a stable country. They were able to do what they did because of the chaos of post-WW 1 Europe and the utter dysfunction of the Weimar government. The US hasn’t even begun to approach that state.

Worrying about dictatorships and martial law and tanks in the street obfuscates the very real damage being done to our country. If we’re gonna worry about something, we should worry about what’s actually going on.

[up][up] Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. That razor is never truer in places like Georgia.

Edited by archonspeaks on Oct 26th 2018 at 4:41:58 AM

They should have sent a poet.
PresidentStalkeyes Eats moldy bread and flies into windows from United Kingdom of England-land Since: Feb, 2016 Relationship Status: Do you like me? (Yes ⎕ Definitely ⎕ Absolutely!!! ⎕)
Eats moldy bread and flies into windows
#258847: Oct 26th 2018 at 4:49:04 AM

Minor question, but has anyone here heard of a site called Twitchy?

I can already tell it's a right-leaning site that posts clickbaity articles aimed at Trumpeters, like the usual 'fake news bias' stuff and people 'cleverly countering' a joke Ron Perlman made about Trump and Cruz by taking potshots at his appearance or randomly suggesting he wouldn't be wearing pants (the original joke in question was Perlman captioning a picture of the two with 'two dickheads walk into a bar...', make of that what you will); but is it, like, a top Neo-Nazi site or something?

I ask because I was foolish enough to click on a link to it and now I feel dirty - possibly because I mistook it for Twitch. I hope it didn't shove cookies onto my computer without telling me, too. :V

Those sell-by-dates won't stop me because I can't read!
CookingCat Since: Jul, 2018
#258848: Oct 26th 2018 at 5:11:08 AM

[up] Probably a far-right knockoff. I remember another far-right knockoff site based on a social media or delivery one from a while back, but I can't remember the name.

Edited by CookingCat on Oct 26th 2018 at 5:14:36 AM

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#258850: Oct 26th 2018 at 6:22:49 AM

Every democracy is only a few bad decisions away from dictatorship. Democracy is an ongoing fight, not something we can take for granted.


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