[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

I kind of get it - about half way through her answer her voice starts to sound as if it's breaking. Whilst that does happen when you're about to cry, I think she's just annoyed/finds it a silly question personally.

[QuickTidal]

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 28 October 2020 - 02:45 PM, said:

I kind of get it - about half way through her answer her voice starts to sound as if it's breaking. Whilst that does happen when you're about to cry, I think she's just annoyed/finds it a silly question personally.

Indeed. And the question is beyond ridiculous.

Besides which, in the realm of people who I expect to cry when being asked questions, Kamala Harris isn't even on the list, she's a lifelong prosecutor and US Senator. She's never presented to me as anything but badass. She's not breaking into tears because some numpty-fuck asked her a ridiculous question.

[Malankazooie]

She was passionately giving a response and talking about her diverse background and getting across how that is a strength. If any thing, she was showing frustration. Hardly "on the verge of tears."

Saying she was on the verge of tears is absolutely from the MAGA hat wearing Trump supporter playbook. It's to give the impression that a woman is too weak to be VP or President. It is parroting a talking point Trump has been hammering home at campaign stops in these final weeks . He's been attacking Kamala Harris with this recently and Fox News magnifies and Trump supporter regurgitates it here.

This post has been edited by Malankazooie: 28 October 2020 - 02:59 PM

[Tiste Simeon]

I mean she's 1) a woman, 2) not white and 3) successful so of course all the trump voting sheep are going after her. Can't be having those things in the US!

[Cause]

So miles Taylor, former chief of staff to set of homeland security was ‘anonymous’. Apparently according to the trump administration we are calling this position a low level employee now!?

[Malankazooie]

Was listening to pundits do their punditry and one of them put forth a fact in terms for emphasis, that being: the person elected president in 1992 and the person elected president in 2000, both are younger than Trump and Biden. yowzers.

[Cyphon]

I read somewhere that the average age for elected reps - at a national scale - is like over 65. They called the US a geritocracy.

Take the above with a pinch of salt as I cant remember details or source, but that is a striking fact if true. How is that representative if that's the case for any nation?

This post has been edited by Cyphon: 29 October 2020 - 09:18 AM

[Obdigore]

Cyphon, on 29 October 2020 - 09:17 AM, said:

I read somewhere that the average age for elected reps - at a national scale - is like over 65. They called the US a geritocracy.

Take the above with a pinch of salt as I cant remember details or source, but that is a striking fact if true. How is that representative if that's the case for any nation?

This is indeed the oldest congress we've ever had, as a nation. It's very much on display when they 'question' tech executives, because the vast majority have no idea what they are asking, and if they do, the tech exec's kind of slide around the question and the representatives don't know they did it because they don't understand the material.

Want to hear something even stupider? Our two major presidential candidates are both older than the 3 presidents before them. Bill Clinton, George Bush Jr, and Barack Obama.

It is a huge fucking issue that no one is talking about, because it is happening across every single industry/business in the nation. The boomers aren't retiring, they either have to or choose to continue working, and its leaving no space for the younger generations to move up/get jobs.

I'm a proponent of an age law for federal appointees, if they would be 65 by the time they assume the office, they are not eligible.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

'During my long military intelligence career I spent countless hours with my peers working on diverse "What if … ?" contingency scenarios in complex locales such as the Balkans and Afghanistan. In these intensely personal environments, where clan or tribal loyalty is paramount, local and regional leaders, often with links to organized criminal activities and enabling transnational networks, could be dangerously unpredictable. Judging from the array of personality traits gleaned from these and numerous other experiences, and correlating them to his current circumstances, to me Trump appears to be a classic flight risk.

[...]

A chilling alternative, however fanciful, could arise if Trump flees abroad after losing a close, viciously contested election. Hunkered down in a foreign country willing to provide sanctuary, he could conceivably style himself a "president in exile" and incite his die-hard American followers to resist the election results. A degree of domestic upheaval and dangerous division would linger for an extended period until the new administration is able to foster calm and unity.'

https://www.politico...-5-YtbGGjeU7jnA

Russia most likely (formidable army, nuclear weapons... not to mention hackers---not sure what secrets or what access Trump could give them that wouldn't be almost immediately nullified after the transition).

'Hackers on Tuesday released a sample of stolen election-related documents from networks in Hall County, Ga., as part of their efforts to pressure county officials into paying a ransom for control of the files.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the batch of files, which were largely administrative and nonsensitive in nature, came as part of a threat from hackers urging officials to comply with their demands or risk more sensitive information being released.'

https://thehill.com/...n-related-files

'In California and Indiana, Russia's most formidable state hackers, a unit linked to the Federal Security Service, or F.S.B., bored into local networks and hit some election systems, though it is still unclear why.

In Louisiana, the National Guard was called in to stop cyberattacks aimed at small government offices that employed tools previously seen only in attacks by North Korea.

And on Tuesday night, someone hacked the Trump campaign, defacing its website with a threatening message in broken English warning that there would be more to come.

[...] voting is a local affair and vulnerabilities remain, as Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida discovered when he went to vote early in Tallahassee, the state capital. Someone — the police arrested a 20-year-old from Naples, Fla. — had changed the governor's address to West Palm Beach.

That is why there is so much concern about a Russian group called Energetic Bear. Over the years, the group, believed to be a unit of the F.S.B., has breached American power grids, water treatment plants, a nuclear power plant in Kansas and, more recently, web systems at San Francisco International Airport.

And starting in September, it began going into the systems of state and local governments. [...]

[...] experts are watching closely for more "perception hacks." Those are smaller attacks that can be easily exaggerated into something bigger and potentially seized upon as evidence that the whole voting process is "rigged," as President Trump has claimed it will be.

[...]

The most imminent threat, officials say, is ransomware attacks that could freeze some part of the voting system and delay results.'

https://www.nytimes....on-hacking.html

'Pennsylvania Voters, Do Not Leave Your Mail-In Ballots in the Hands of the Supreme Court

Alito wrote that he "reluctantly" decided that "there is simply not enough time" to resolve the case "before the election." He noted, however, that Pennsylvania officials will voluntarily segregate ballots that arrive before Election Day and after. If SCOTUS overturns the Pennsylvania Supreme Court just after the election, then, "a targeted remedy will be available." This means that SCOTUS can still decide to order the state to throw out those ballots received between Nov. 4 through 6, and that Barrett can still opt to participate in the case after Election Day.'

https://slate.com/ne...ourt-alito.html

'Trump says "hopefully" courts will stop states from counting ballots after Election Day

"Hopefully the few states remaining that want to take a lot of time after November 3rd to count ballots, that won't be allowed by the various courts because as you know we're in courts on that," Trump said[...]

"The president is essentially saying he will litigate to try and stop the count of absentee ballots (the count of which is never completed on Election Day)," [...] According to one estimate, "about 10 percent of all votes" cast in the 2016 election were counted after Election Day.

"Also, when is he imagining that military mail-in votes will be counted?" [...] "He is trying to make this sound normal. It's not."

[...] "He's saying it out loud: he wants courts to block legally cast ballots from being counted," [...]"This is so dangerously authoritarian."'

https://www.alternet...r-election-day/

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 29 October 2020 - 05:49 PM

[Malankazooie]

Get out and vote!

It's 2020's version of razzleberry vape juice for your Juul vape pen. All the cool kids are doing it.

This post has been edited by Malankazooie: 30 October 2020 - 05:53 PM

[Terez]

I prefer Joos. (Actually, I prefer cartridges that I can use with my nice vape pen, but lately I have only been about to find Jack Herer in Joos disposable pens.)

[HoosierDaddy]

HoosierDaddy, on 27 October 2020 - 02:45 AM, said:

Not looking forward to Nov. 4th - ???

Everyone is anticipating post-election shenanigans and that can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. "They knew this would happen...." is being built into a premeditated excuse. On both sides.

Bad vibes.

I'm not kidding about this. I overhear people talking about it. I expect disarray. And have complete confidence in this administration to intentionally intensify it rather than curb it.

[Terez]

I've been expecting disarray for years. The massive turnout for early voting has my hopes up, though. If it's an electoral landslide, there's not much Trump can do. His only hope is that it comes down to one or two close states and he gets it in SCOTUS.

[HoosierDaddy]

I'm talking civil unrest. Rioting. Crime sprees. Looting. Large masses of armed people for no damn reason gathering in the streets. General pandemonium. I am legitimately concerned there is going to be a breakdown in the social contract. It's too heated on all sides and I don't know what can calm it down because if Trump loses he won't calm it down. If there is confusion he will foster and encourage more.

[Mezla PigDog]

I saw the results of a big UK survey this week that essentially said about 80% of our population is pretty middle of the road and thinks everyone should calm down and be more tolerant to each other. The people at the extremes are more vocal. Something like 10% at each end and only 2% create most of the social media noise. The mainstream press then focuses on them and policy starts focusing on them too and people have to vote for one of the 2 mainstream parties because of our electoral system so things just start to get silly because of some noisy idiots.

We're not quite as polarised as the US but you have to hope you have equivalent numbers of people in the middle.

This post has been edited by Mezla PigDog: 30 October 2020 - 11:04 PM

[Terez]

He's right that this sort of thing is a real concern, though. I'm not too worried about looting, personally. I'm more worried about guys like this one who was just arrested for threatening to blow up a voting location. Not an isolated case - just the most recent.

[Tsundoku]

Cross post with COVID:

https://forum.malaza...ost__p__1418515

[Terez]

I have not even looked for a COVID thread here because my anxiety about it is already bad enough. I got bronchitis a couple of weeks ago and I had to get a test and though I was pretty sure it wasn't COVID (because I used to suffer from chronic bronchitis and I know what it feels like, and also I wasn't running a fever), that did not help my mental state or my roomie's.

Trump picks up whatever conspiracy theories his cultists like to pass around, and I'm honestly surprised it took so long for him to pick this one up. They've been saying it since March. Just bullshit randomly spouted on Facebook by paranoid know-nothings and trolls.

[Aptorian]

As a tangent can I just remark that I hate so much about American television interviews?!

Because I have no self control I find myself watching clips from CNN or MSNBC on YouTube and they're all bad but especially the start infuriates me. They'll clip to what ever presenter, who'll turn a question into an opening monologue and a soft ball starter for the prepaid expert who'll say exactly what the station wants - which is usually an overly complicated question with too many segments. Then they clip to what ever talking head and instead of answering the god damn question or picking up the talking point, they'll fuck it all up.

Either they'll say, that's a good point but let me first say that... Bla bla bla about something completely unrelated and now I have no recollection about what's going on or, even worse, they'll do this awful media trained faux greeting where they want to start their answer by saying hello TV Presenter, so good to see you, I'm so happy to be here, bla bla, as though there's been no prior exchange between the talking heads.

Who are these clips for? Who watches this and thinks this is highly professional and informative?

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 31 October 2020 - 05:42 AM

[Terez]

I don't watch much cable news. Usually the first thing I watch if I have time is Maddow, but I really miss her long and winding A-blocks where she just presented a story in the news with all its interesting historical context (recent history or otherwise). I don't know if she just doesn't do them anymore because the news is so constant, or if they're just not posting them online, because even though I have cable, my cable company is tiny and I have no way to log into the MSNBC website to watch full episodes because my provider is not listed and we don't have provider emails anyway. And watching TV is just not something I do; my TV is currently being used as a coatrack. I need it on my computer, and on demand.

The interviews are usually my least favorite portion of Maddow's show. She has typically always played them as an access journalist, which is sometimes similar to what you just described. I get the feeling that she genuinely admires the people she invites on her show so her style of introductory guest-fellating segments don't strike me as insincere. I usually enjoy them more than I do the actual interview, where useful information is rarely imparted. There are a few regular guests who are informative, but not many.

That said, usually the actual greetings are just "thanks for coming on the show," "thanks for having me", and they're up-front about who is a paid MSNBC contributor and who isn't, and there's often conversation about "the last time you were on my show" etc. I occasionally see clips of other MSNBC shows or CNN or whatever on Twitter, and it's a whole different world, which is not even getting into the Fox Universe.