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

ciyinwanderer Since: Dec, 2018
#342402: Dec 7th 2020 at 12:28:28 PM

Considering this is actually looking back on the previous year (so 2019), I'm curious what the report will look like next year when it deals with... well all of 2020.

This signature was thumped to preserve the dignity of the moderators.
Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#342403: Dec 7th 2020 at 12:29:23 PM

Right, I was just about to add that, this is the report for 2019, so the recent elections do not factor into it.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#342404: Dec 7th 2020 at 2:37:36 PM

Biden is going to name his AG nominee sometime this week.

DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#342405: Dec 7th 2020 at 2:41:47 PM

[up] Come on Doug Jones!

Pendrake That Guy from "Sweet Something of.... Someplace!" (Canada) Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Betrayed by Delilah
That Guy
#342406: Dec 7th 2020 at 4:48:27 PM

I always find it hilarious that Trumpists completely miss one of the basic tenets of a dictatorship. what's the first thing you do as a dictator (apart form quashing resistance, ofc)?

Claim any media you don't own/publish is fake news.

And yet they claim to be "protecting democracy."

Semper Fi. Semper Paratus. Vigilo Confido.
ShinyCottonCandy Everyone's friend Malamar from Lumiose City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Everyone's friend Malamar
#342407: Dec 7th 2020 at 4:49:41 PM

[up]You say that like they don't know they're lying.

My musician page
Pendrake That Guy from "Sweet Something of.... Someplace!" (Canada) Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Betrayed by Delilah
That Guy
#342408: Dec 7th 2020 at 4:53:05 PM

If there's one thing I've learned over my life, it's to never underestimate the stupidity and ignorance of people.

Semper Fi. Semper Paratus. Vigilo Confido.
ShinyCottonCandy Everyone's friend Malamar from Lumiose City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Everyone's friend Malamar
#342409: Dec 7th 2020 at 4:55:08 PM

Well, that's definitely in contrast to my life, where the prevailing lesson was to never underestemate the haye people bear.

My musician page
Steven (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
#342410: Dec 7th 2020 at 4:57:02 PM

@pendrake

I can add to that. My area is heavily Republican. This past week, a bar owner got arrested (multiple times) for letting people eat and drink inside his bar, which currently is against the law in NYC because COVID. This lead to people, the same people that touted "BLUE LIVES MATTER!", turning against the cops they initially supported while calling the mayor and governor commies.

Remember, these idiots drive, fuck, and vote. Not always in that order.
RainingMetal (Handed A Sword) Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#342411: Dec 7th 2020 at 4:57:20 PM

In my life, it's both. Assume the worst in people. Then when people are decent, you'll be pleasantly surprised. And I live in the Canadian capital where people in the flesh are mostly decent.

Edited by RainingMetal on Dec 7th 2020 at 7:57:49 AM

ASAB: All Sponsors Are Bad.
Pendrake That Guy from "Sweet Something of.... Someplace!" (Canada) Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Betrayed by Delilah
That Guy
#342412: Dec 7th 2020 at 5:11:03 PM

uh, Raining? a lot of the rest of Canada would disagree with that XD

That said, this is the US politics thread, so that's neither here nor there topic wise.

(Albertan by birth, here.)

Edited by Pendrake on Dec 7th 2020 at 5:11:40 AM

Semper Fi. Semper Paratus. Vigilo Confido.
PushoverMediaCritic I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out. from the Italy of America Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
#342413: Dec 7th 2020 at 5:16:00 PM

Do you think that the Biden administration might revisit this ruling in light of this year's pandemic crippling the movie theater industry and bolstering streaming services?

Essentially, United States v. Paramount Pictures, otherwise known as the Hollywood Antitrust Case of 1948, was about film companies owning movie theaters with exclusive access to exhibiting the movies produced by those companies. The ruling was that film companies already in charge of the production of movies can't also own the means of distributing those movies. It's pretty much exactly the same situation we're in right now, just swap "movie theaters" with "streaming services".

And frankly, the same problem has existed with video game companies for a long time now, producing consoles with exclusivity on the games produced by those same companies.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Dec 7th 2020 at 6:17:45 AM

nova92 Since: Apr, 2020
#342414: Dec 7th 2020 at 5:20:51 PM

Last page, re: California's 4 Congressional districts that Democrats lost. California, despite being very Democratic at the statewide level, actually has pockets of very Republican areas. Just because it's California doesn't mean its uber-liberal. And these four districts were historically either swing districts or had Republican roots - all four of them had Republican Reps. from 2010 until flipping narrowly in 2018.

And young Asian Americans (presumably many of them second-generation), voted overwhelmingly for Biden this year, like more than 80%. And native-born citizens were less likely to vote for Trump than naturalized citizens. So I'm not sure the idea that second-generation immigrants are particularly vulnerable to Republican messaging plays out IRL. There were reports of waves of misinformation through non-English media that Democrats need to work on fighting, though.


There is some evidence that the Republican strategy of nominating minorities/women in swing districts is working - of the 12 seats Republicans flipped, all of them were by women or non-white candidates.

Edited by nova92 on Dec 7th 2020 at 5:25:58 AM

DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#342415: Dec 7th 2020 at 5:23:27 PM

[up]x2 I'd be supportive of Biden cracking down on Streaming Services run by Film Producers (although I will be sad that we're gonna lose Disney+ as a result). Funnily enough Trump tried to do the opposite and re-allow Film Producers to own Movie Theatres.

nova92 Since: Apr, 2020
#342416: Dec 7th 2020 at 5:34:11 PM

NYT: Biden will nominate General Lloyd Austin, former Iraq Commander, as his Secretary of Defense

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#342417: Dec 7th 2020 at 5:42:13 PM

Politico has this to say about him and his history. Basically a solid general with an established career.

Not too much remarkable to say other than the fact that he'll be the first black man to serve in the position, and that he was a safe fallback after the first choice of Jeh Johnson fell through due to some of Johnson's hawkish tendencies, which is I guess a good thing that the Biden administration is making an effort to avoid hiring people complicit in potential war crimes?

RainingMetal (Handed A Sword) Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#342418: Dec 7th 2020 at 5:52:53 PM

uh, Raining? a lot of the rest of Canada would disagree with that XD

That said, this is the US politics thread, so that's neither here nor there topic wise.

(Albertan by birth, here.)

Fair enough if you just go by the politicians. In terms of everyday life, things seem to be more or less serene from my observations. And I've noted that my viewpoint is very much the exception to the rule.

ASAB: All Sponsors Are Bad.
rmctagg09 The Wanderer from Brooklyn, NY (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: I won't say I'm in love
The Wanderer
#342419: Dec 7th 2020 at 6:02:02 PM

Florida COVID-19 dashboard creator’s home raided after department of health complaint:

Agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement raided the home of a former Department of Health employee Monday credited with creating the state’s COVID-19 tracking dashboard. Agents were looking for evidence that she unlawfully gained access to a health department messaging platform, according to the warrant.

Rebekah Jones was fired from the Florida Department of Health in May after she says she declined to "manipulate" state virus numbers. Gov. Ron DeSantis' office says Jones was fired for insubordination. Jones later started her own competing dashboard at floridacovidaction.com.

The data scientist posted a video Monday evening showing law enforcement with guns drawn enter her Tallahassee home, where she says her two children, 2 and 11 years old, were inside.

...

According to Jones, she told agents her children and husband were upstairs. FDLE confirmed her family was upstairs when agents made entry into the home.

"They pointed a gun in my face," she wrote. "They pointed guns at my kids."

According to FDLE, agents knocked and called Jones first "in an attempt to minimize disruption to the family. Ms. Jones refused to come to the door for 20 minutes and hung-up on agents. After several attempts and verbal notifications that law enforcement officers were there to serve a legal search warrant, Ms. Jones eventually came to the door and allowed agents to enter."

Jones said agents took her computers and cellphone.

"They took my phone and the computer I use every day to post the case numbers in Florida, and school cases for the entire country," she tweeted. "They took evidence of corruption at the state level. They claimed it was about a security breach. This was DeSantis. He sent the Gestapo."

According to the warrant, DOH claims someone accessed an internal web interface used for emergency management communications on Nov. 10.

An unidentified subject wrote, "It's time to speak up before another 17,000 people are dead. You know this is wrong. You don’t have to be part of this. Speak out before it's too late."

Edited by rmctagg09 on Dec 7th 2020 at 9:02:20 AM

Hugging a Vanillite will give you frostbite.
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#342420: Dec 7th 2020 at 6:16:54 PM

You have to wonder what they even think they're even covering up at this point.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
ScubaWolf from South Carolina Since: Feb, 2020
#342421: Dec 7th 2020 at 6:26:36 PM

It feels like De Santis is really stupid. Doing this, with around a month left before the Democratic president comes in, when this can basically stay in the news sphere? It's like asking for the Do J to come after you.

"In a move surprising absolutely no one"
ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#342422: Dec 7th 2020 at 6:30:13 PM

[up][up]

Even worse - a camera in her house captured the start of that warrant serving, and showed officers pointing their firearms upstairs when she informed them her children were up there. And naturally, the first officer in wasn't wearing a mask.

"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#342423: Dec 7th 2020 at 7:20:35 PM

Today's What the Fuck Just Happened Today?

    Day 1418: "Nullifying the will of the people." 
1/ Trump called Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and urged him to call a special session of the state legislature so lawmakers could appoint electors who would back him at the electoral college and overturn Biden’s win in the state. Trump also asked Kemp to order an audit of absentee ballot signatures. “I will easily & quickly win Georgia if Governor @BrianKempGA or the Secretary of State permit a simple signature verification. Has not been done and will show large scale discrepancies,” Trump tweeted. “Why are these two ‘Republicans’ saying no? If we win Georgia, everything else falls in place!” Kemp, however, told Trump that he did not have the authority to order an audit and denied the request to call a special session. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, meanwhile, said a special session to overturn the state’s election results “would be then nullifying the will of the people.” (Washington Post / Politico / CNN / Axios / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

https://www.ajc.com/politics/politics-blog/why-kemp-wont-attend-trumps-georgia-rally-on-saturday/4ZGHTTK5YJDIDJ7YVUMTPEIMGY/

Trump-Biden Transition Live Blogs: New York Times / Washington Post / The Guardian / CNN / NPR / ABC News

👑 Trump’s Final Days of Rage and Denial. “The last act of the Trump presidency has taken on the stormy elements of a drama more common to history or literature than a modern White House.” (New York Times)

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/05/us/politics/trump-presidency-election-loss.html

👑 As Trump rants over election, his administration accelerates push to lock in policy and staffing gains. “Over the final six weeks of Trump’s presidency, the administration has no plans to wind down its efforts to remake federal policies and even the government bureaucracy itself, aides said, despite the pending handoff to the incoming Democratic administration.” (Washington Post)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-lame-duck-policies/2020/12/06/8165088c-3661-11eb-a997-1f4c53d2a747_story.html

2/ Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger recertified the state’s election results and reaffirmed Biden’s victory after a second statewide recount of votes. The presidential ballots in Georgia have been counted three times. Biden prevailed in all three counts of the vote in Georgia. (Washington Post / ABC News / New York Times / CNN / Politico)

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/live-updates/2020-election-results-transition/?id=74573672#74585159

27 congressional Republicans acknowledge Biden’s win over Trump, and two Republicans consider Trump the winner despite all evidence showing otherwise. 220 Republicans in the House and Senate would not say who won the election. (Washington Post)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/survey-who-won-election-republicans-congress/2020/12/04/1a1011f6-3650-11eb-8d38-6aea1adb3839_story.html

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro repeatedly violated the Hatch Act by using his official authority for campaign purposes. Navarro is one of more than a dozen Trump administration officials the Office of Special Counsel has found to have violated the act. (Axios)

https://www.axios.com/watchdog-peter-navarro-hatch-act-569a1de5-347c-49c5-8d19-9e1d9cc88639.html

3/ The Trump administration rejected requests from Biden’s transition team to meet with officials at the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and other intelligence agencies. The Pentagon’s recently appointed chief of staff, Kash Patel, reportedly “told everybody we’re not going to cooperate with the transition team,” according one former official, and he has “put a lot of restrictions on it.” In some instances, Patel blocked some career officials and experts from providing information about key defense issues to the Biden transition team, telling political appointees to take the lead instead. The Pentagon, meanwhile, pushed back against reports that the Trump administration had intentionally blocked the Biden transition team from meeting with defense intelligence agencies, saying the Biden team had improperly reached out to the agencies instead of the DoD transition team. (Washington Post / NBC News / Politico)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-loyalist-kash-patel-blocking-some-pentagon-officials-helping-biden-n1250053

4/ Biden selected California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to serve as his secretary of Health and Human Services. If confirmed, Becerra would be the first Latino to run the health department. Biden’s transition team also announced other key public health roles, including Dr. Vivek Murthy to be surgeon general, Rochelle Walensky to be director of the CDC, Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith to be COVID-19 Equity Task Force co-chair, Dr. Anthony Fauci to be chief medical adviser on COVID-19, Jeff Zients to be counselor to the president and coordinator of the COVID-19 response, and Natalie Quillian to be deputy coordinator of the COVID-19 response. (New York Times / CBS News / Politico / NPR)

Biden’s pick to run the Office of Management and Budget runs a think tank that solicited donations from corporate and foreign interests. Neera Tanden spent nine years running the Center for American Progress, and between 2014 and 2019, CAP received at least $33 million from firms in the financial sector, private foundations funded by wealth earned on Wall Street, and in other investment firms. As OMB director, Tanden would have a hand in setting fiscal and personnel policy for agencies, oversee the regulatory process across the executive branch, and execute the annual spending plan. Tanden told staff that she will remain as CAP president through her confirmation, but suspended her involvement in fundraising after Biden announced her nomination. (Washington Post)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/12/05/neera-tanden-biden-omb-cap/

5/ Rudy Giuliani tested positive for the coronavirus and has been admitted to Georgetown University Medical Center. Giuliani, who has frequently appeared maskless, traveled to Michigan, Arizona, and Georgia last week and met indoors with state legislators to advance Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud. The Arizona Legislature, meanwhile, will close for a week “out of an abundance of caution” after Giuliani possibly exposed several Republican lawmakers to COVID-19. And public health officials in Michigan ordered several state lawmakers to begin quarantining after they were in recent, close contact with Giuliani. “Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!” Trump tweeted. (New York Times / NBC News / Arizona Republic / Washington Post / CNN)

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/12/06/giuliani-test-positive-covid-19-met-arizona-lawmakers-before/3852278001/

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar promised that every American will be able to get a coronavirus vaccine by the second quarter of 2021. The FDA, however, hasn’t authorized a vaccine, yet. (Axios)

https://www.axios.com/azar-coronavirus-vaccine-axios-hbo-075da60d-b807-43b0-9853-0bfe6c90a678.html

Trump plans to hold a “vaccine summit” at the White House on Tuesday. Both Pfizer and Moderna – the two drug manufacturers likely to receive emergency authorizations for a COVID-19 vaccine – however rejected the invitations. (STAT News / Bloomberg)

https://www.statnews.com/2020/12/07/pfizer-moderna-decline-white-house-vaccine-summit/

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee invited an anti-vaccine doctor who promoted hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment to testify. Dr. Jane Orient is the executive director of a group that opposes government involvement in medicine and views federal vaccine mandates as a violation of human rights. (New York Times)

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/06/us/politics/anti-vax-scientist-senate-hearing.html

😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~67,448,000; deaths: ~1,542,000

U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~14,889,000; deaths: ~284,000

Source: Johns Hopkins University

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Live Blogs: Washington Post / [[https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/12/07/world/covid-19-coronavirus/ New York Times / CNN / NBC News / ABC News / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal

6/ Attorney General William Barr is considering resigning before January 20. Trump declined to say whether he had confidence in Barr last week after his attorney general said the Justice Department had found no evidence of widespread election fraud. The two later had a “contentious,” lengthy meeting inside the West Wing. (New York Times / CNN)

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/06/politics/william-barr-considering-leaving-office/index.html

    ✏️ Notables. 
The EPA declined to adopt stricter regulations on soot pollution, disregarding the recommendation of its own scientists to implement tougher standards. Administrator Andrew Wheeler, who was appointed by Trump, signed the standards Friday to retain the current thresholds for fine particle pollution for another five years. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Wall Street Journal)

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/07/politics/trump-administration-soot-regulations/index.html

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to fully restore the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Trump tried to end the DACA program in September 2017, and in July Chad Wolf, the acting secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, suspended DACA pending a “comprehensive” review. U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis, however, ruled in November that Wolf had unlawfully ascended to the agency’s top job and vacated his suspension of protections for migrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / Politico / Axios)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/federal-judge-reinstates-daca-orders-trump-quickly-accept-new-applicants-n1250081

Trump ordered the withdrawal “a majority” U.S. troops from Somalia in early 2021. There are currently about 700 troops in Somalia to assist the government fight against Al-Shabab, a terrorist group with links to al Qaeda. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / New York Times)

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-counterterrorism-east-africa-africa-somalia-64eb33d761c52c3813e89f3368755834

Melania Trump announced completion of a new White House tennis pavilion. The project refurbished the existing White House Tennis Court and Grandchildren’s Garden, and erected a new 1,200-square-foot building on the South Lawn. (Associated Press / Bloomberg)

https://apnews.com/article/melania-trump-announce-tennis-pavilion-86b3b05efd0b9ebebdbe1ba1528a8857

Edited by sgamer82 on Dec 7th 2020 at 7:20:59 AM

nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#342424: Dec 7th 2020 at 9:49:35 PM

So I'm seeing a fair amount out there suggesting that there's a major pushback from Democrats against Lloyd Austin for Secretary of Defense, on the grounds that he's a retired general. The argument is that Mattis was only allowed through without a fight because he could potentially temper Trump's idiocy, but a second ex-military civilian head of the military in as many presidential terms would weaken the civilian-military divide too much.

What's weird, though, is that Austin seems to be somewhat less hawkish than Flournoy, who I was a little concerned about given some of her past positions.

Kardavnil The Polisci Majoris from Sweden Since: Jul, 2014 Relationship Status: In my bunk
The Polisci Majoris
#342425: Dec 7th 2020 at 10:43:35 PM

[up][up][up] Wow, those kids sure are gonna kill you if you aren't careful, officer. Better be ready to gun them down just in case... >_>

Dumbasses. If you're that worried about dying/being hurt/being scared on the job, maaaybe law enforcement isn't for you? Just maybe?

Edited by Kardavnil on Dec 7th 2020 at 10:44:25 AM

Roll a Constitution saving throw to make it through the year.

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