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Deadbeatloser22 from Disappeared by Space Magic (Great Old One) Relationship Status: Tsundere'ing
#343651: Dec 15th 2020 at 11:30:34 PM

The GOP also vowed to block Yates by name.

"Yup. That tasted purple."
3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#343652: Dec 15th 2020 at 11:55:28 PM

Because of course they do

"You can reply to this Message!"
singularityshot Since: Dec, 2012
#343653: Dec 16th 2020 at 12:10:59 AM

  • On that article regarding Smart Streets / Traffic light removal story

Looking at traffic and transport, including things like this, is what I do in my job. Unfortunately I can't read the article because they've blocked it as I am trying to read it from Europe. I can try and VPN via America to read it but if you have a summary that would be quicker.

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#343654: Dec 16th 2020 at 1:55:50 AM

What is it with Alabama Senators becoming Attorney Generals?

Random (potentially wrong) thing I learnt from an episode of the West Wing, despite it going against logic you actually say it Attorneys General for more than one AG.

Edited by Silasw on Dec 16th 2020 at 9:58:16 AM

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#343655: Dec 16th 2020 at 1:59:30 AM

Attorneys General actually is the correct plural form, according to the Wikipedia page for Attorney General.

The title "Attorney General" is an example of a noun (attorney) followed by a postpositive adjective (general).[6] "General" is a description of the type of attorney, not a title or rank in itself (as it would be in the military).[6] Even though the attorney general (and the similarly titled solicitor general) is often referred to as "General" or "General [last name]" by senior government officials, this is considered incorrect in standard American English usage.[6][7] For the same reason, the correct American English plural form is "attorneys general" rather than "attorney generals."[7]

...I admit, I never liked postpositive adjectives. I like my adjectives before my nouns, thank you very much.

Edited by M84 on Dec 16th 2020 at 6:06:31 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised
djkates (Oldest One in the Book)
#343656: Dec 16th 2020 at 4:26:59 AM

Meanwhile, surprising pretty much nobody, Trump supporters are really latching on to the supposed Trump electoral votes from the battleground states. It's possible that some think those were the real electoral votes and the Biden ones reported by the mainstream media are somehow fake, but even if so, I'm betting those are just a vocal minority even among Trump supporters. What I'm seeing more than that is people who seem to think that because Pence is in charge of the session when the votes are counted, he can just choose to count the Trump votes.

To be clear, unless I've massively misunderstood what little research I've done on it, even if Pence were willing to try that (which I doubt, though admittedly I know next to nothing about Pence's character), he legally can't. He has to count the votes that were actually sent in by those states' governors, and only those. He has no reasonable way to claim ignorance or confusion as to which electoral votes are the proper ones. This isn't like the time Hawaii sent two slates of electoral votes because the outcome of their election was legitimately unclear; this is the Republican electors acting without the authorization of any authority that would make those votes have any sort of legitimacy.

If the idea of this even being tried weren't so appalling, it would be a bit funny that the Republican electors are attempting to commit the very kind of voter fraud that they're accusing Democrats of.

Edited by djkates on Dec 16th 2020 at 6:29:30 AM

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#343657: Dec 16th 2020 at 4:35:49 AM

The important thing is to remember Sartre:

“Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#343658: Dec 16th 2020 at 4:52:48 AM

I heard a group of people were trying to impersonate electoral college voters in Michigan.

Surely this is not remotely legal? Tell me these people got arrested.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
Lazlo74 from A tropical hell-hole Since: May, 2018
#343659: Dec 16th 2020 at 5:07:24 AM

There's also a demographic of people who believes that election fraud exists, but not because they support Trump or even believe that it's related to Trump's standing. They believe that America is under a constitutional crisis because of everyone's refusal to investigate the alleged frauds.

Now what are these people's endgames? Because if this fraud allegation isn't about Trump and the GOP, then what the hell are they complaining about?

Scaled seeker
Steven (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
#343660: Dec 16th 2020 at 5:07:26 AM

Trevor Noah showed a video of those people trying get in and the cop outside basically shut them down.

Remember, these idiots drive, fuck, and vote. Not always in that order.
Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#343661: Dec 16th 2020 at 5:11:29 AM

[up][up] I suspect that's mostly general distrust of the government and institutions. They assume there is fraud because they believe the system is broken.

And they're not entirely wrong. The system is broken in many ways. This just doesn't happen to be one of them.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
ShadowWingLG Since: Dec, 2013
#343662: Dec 16th 2020 at 5:29:48 AM

IIRC there were laws made because of multiple slates of electors being sent, so this isn't new and happened before. These laws were made so that the House/Senate can't pick which set to count and which to ignore thusly flipping the election however they want.

Congress can only count the certified votes per state, as the 'false electors' do not have the proper certifications ergo the most likely won't even REACH Pence's hand on the 6th.

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#343663: Dec 16th 2020 at 6:10:15 AM

Yeah the fake electoral votes can’t even get to Pence, even if they did it takes both chambers to throw out the legitimate electoral votes, and the Dem house majority obviously aren’t going to vote for such a thing.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#343664: Dec 16th 2020 at 6:49:40 AM

If I understand correctly, both parties designate who their electors will be from each district, if their candidate won. So these people are genuine Republican electors from districts that Biden won. Except that they don't believe he really won there. Hence their desire to be recognized.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
djkates (Oldest One in the Book)
#343665: Dec 16th 2020 at 6:57:44 AM

[up]That's essentially my understanding of the situation as well. They still think the outstanding legal challenges could flip those states, so they want the Trump votes to be available to be counted in case that happens. I can't imagine that there is any significant chance of that scenario playing out, of course.

speedyboris Since: Feb, 2010
#343666: Dec 16th 2020 at 7:04:35 AM

I still don't understand why some think Trump actually won by a landslide. This is the president who hardly ever got above 50% approval ratings, who had a giant women's protest against him on only his second day in office, who completely mismanaged COVID and is responsible for the most bitter division in modern political history (think about it- if there wasn't so much division, that would indicate he is massively popular, right?). And that's not even getting into how the Republicans gained seats in the 2020 election, indicating many voters were going Republican except for Trump himself.

I mean, come on.

Edited by speedyboris on Dec 16th 2020 at 7:27:01 AM

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#343667: Dec 16th 2020 at 7:06:57 AM

Like I said, these people are not on speaking terms with reality.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Lazlo74 from A tropical hell-hole Since: May, 2018
#343668: Dec 16th 2020 at 7:12:50 AM

They're also the same people who insist that there's an ongoing 50,000-strong Chinese invasion near the Maine border.

Scaled seeker
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#343669: Dec 16th 2020 at 7:14:41 AM

And sadly ignoring them won't make them go away,they persist for attention,but hopefully once Joe Biden is actually in the White House people will stop paying attention to them

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
TitanJump Since: Sep, 2013 Relationship Status: Singularity
#343670: Dec 16th 2020 at 7:19:59 AM

Sadly enough, ignoring these people in the past is what let them fester and grow to the massive cancer on society that they are today.

It needs to be dealt with, before it gets any worse.

PointMaid Since: Jun, 2014
#343671: Dec 16th 2020 at 7:22:05 AM

Any ideas on how one actually deals with such people?

Aszur A nice butterfly from Pagliacci's Since: Apr, 2014 Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
A nice butterfly
#343672: Dec 16th 2020 at 7:23:02 AM

I would dare say the damage has been done and thta mentality cannot dissapear from one generation to the next. It will stick around for quite a while.

They will live the rest of their lives like that, and die with "but her emails" on their lips.

Edited by Aszur on Dec 16th 2020 at 9:23:58 AM

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#343673: Dec 16th 2020 at 7:23:43 AM

Don't try to pretend they don't exist. But also, don't expose yourself to any more of their bullshit than necessary.

You don't really need to regularly read through their ramblings and rants online to know they exist and that they're a problem.

Disgusted, but not surprised
ScubaWolf from South Carolina Since: Feb, 2020
#343674: Dec 16th 2020 at 7:36:03 AM

[up][up][up] Actually treat them like criminals and prosecute them if they do something stupid, instead of a slap on the wrist. That of course requires police who aren't right-wing.

"In a move surprising absolutely no one"
KarkatTheDalek Not as angry as the name would suggest. from Somwhere in Time/Space Since: Mar, 2012 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
#343675: Dec 16th 2020 at 7:37:37 AM

Looking at traffic and transport, including things like this, is what I do in my job. Unfortunately I can't read the article because they've blocked it as I am trying to read it from Europe. I can try and VPN via America to read it but if you have a summary that would be quicker.

It’s a bit difficult to put it in my ownwords, but here are what I think are the relevant bits:

City officials had planned since May 2016 to install traffic signals at the downtown intersection where an 11-year-old boy was struck and killed Monday, and activation was expected next week, Mayor Pete Buttigieg said Tuesday.

Following a consultant's 2015 study finding that vehicular and pedestrian traffic at the corner of South and Michigan streets didn't warrant a traffic light, the city placed a bag over the light Feb. 1, 2016, as it did at a handful of downtown intersections.

The moves were part of the Smart Streets project to convert one-way streets to two-way traffic, an effort to make them more pedestrian-friendly.

After the city posted signs saying that traffic control measures at the corners were under study for removal, it decided to install new lights there for all four directions of traffic because of community feedback, Buttigieg said.

"We simply don't know whether it would have made any difference yesterday morning as two children darted across the street, at an angle, and one of them, outside the crosswalk, was struck and killed," the mayor said.

At a press conference in Buttigieg’s office Tuesday, his public works director, Eric Horvath, was asked why it’s taken so long to install the new signals at the intersection.

“We have 59 intersections that the contractor is updating, including putting up mast arms, rewiring, signal heads, putting in pedestrian crossings, so in process they’re moving as quickly as they can,” Horvath said. “They still have a number of them that still need to be upgraded but they’re working as diligently as possible.”

Following the study by American Structurepoint Inc., the city bagged and evaluated lights at four other intersections: Calvert and Michigan, and Calvert and Main.

Those signals were put back in last fall because schools were located nearby. Broadway’s signal was removed permanently. One near the fire station on South Michigan Street was reactivated.

Buttigieg was asked whether he thinks the boy’s death was attributable to any mistakes made by his staff.

“Any time anything bad happens in the city, finger-pointing happens,” he said. “I get it. I’m in charge. But I also think what you had here was professional engineers acting on recommendations based on expertise, and based on everything we knew, making the best decision that we could. We always look back with hindsight, but as of now I’ve seen no indication that tells us for certain that anything related to traffic engineering could have or would have changed what happened. We just don’t know.”

He also said he still believes in his Smart Streets initiative.

“What we know is when you calm down traffic, you have an economically healthier downtown and a safer environment over all,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean it’s the end of traffic accidents. It doesn’t mean that it’s the end of traffic fatalities, and yesterday morning, two little boys ran across the street and one of them didn’t make it.”

Edited by KarkatTheDalek on Dec 16th 2020 at 10:38:03 AM

Oh God! Natural light!

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