Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

This fight is for everything.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

No Justins, No Peace

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

Let there be snark.

Everybody saw this coming.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

You are here: Home / Politics / GOP Death Cult / Repub Venality Open Thread: Florida Men

Repub Venality Open Thread: Florida Men

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Betty, Adam, FL commentors — you have my sympathies. I had not realized how dedicated Florida members of the GOP Death Cult were to preserving, if not surpassing, Florida’s infamous ‘Brooks Brothers Riot’ history of blatant voter suppression!


This, right after Florida AG’s assault on restoring voting rights to Florida citizens…

I have to assume all this is meant to signal public fealty to the Squatter-in-Chief, not to Florida voters?

Reader Interactions

233Comments

  4. 4.

    Winston

    I voted at the precinct, early voted and by mail in the last three elections. At the precinct you insert your ballot and it’s tallied in the machine. Same for early voting. On the day of the election, mailed votes being prescreened for signatures are counted first, by running them through the talley machine. Then the tallies from early voting and precinct votes are added. They usually start counting at 7:30 and finish by midnight. As far as I know votes received after the polls close are not counted.

  5. 5.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    I’m getting a Brooks Brothers ad here on Balloon Juice. First time I’ve seen one. Must be the multiple Brooks Brothers riot mentions…

  8. 8.

    geg6

    Don’t these assholes know any history?  It was only in the latter half of the last century that anyone got results within 24 hours of the election.  Hell, that’s one reason that Inauguration Day used to be in March.

  9. 9.

    Redshift

    @geg6: They aren’t giving a thought to history or precedent, just “it’s only a fair election if we win, so whatever we do to make it more likely we win is automatically fair!”

  10. 10.

    dmsilev

    @geg6: They may well know that, but I’m sure they don’t care.

    The odd thing about this particular push of Scott’s is that “Democrats voting heavily mail-in” is unusual because of the pandemic. It’s normally Republican-leaning groups like seniors that are predominantly absentee/mail-in. So, he’d be screwing over his own supporters.

  12. 12.

    kindness

    Every day I’m even more shocked how openly ‘responsible’ Republicans announce new ways to rig the elections.  paraphrased: At long last sir have you no shame? (it worked better than decency)

  13. 13.

    Chyron HR

    any votes you’re not able to count in 24 hours get tossed in the trash.

    Well as long as they’re not throwing them in the river…

  14. 14.

    Jeffro

    What, pray tell, is Rick Scott’s tortured  logic that a ballot counted at the 25th hour should count for nothing?

  15. 15.

    Jeffro

    Senator Scott, maybe you would get more votes (inside your blessed 24-hour window or otherwise) if you and your Republican colleagues were offering anything that a majority of the American public wanted.

    oh wait, I think I see the flaw in my reasoning there, my bad.

  16. 16.

    Kay

    Rick Scott
    @SenRickScott
    ·6h
    Voting is fundamental to our democracy and it is a sacred right that we must protect and cherish.
    My VOTER Act will create uniform standards for voting-by-mail, provide protections against fraud, & make sure we have timely federal election results

    Weird and dumb. Does Rick Scott not know all the races go on the same ballot? How is he going to throw out the federal results while keeping the state and local? Especially local! Those are often really close elections. I don’t know- have they thought this through? This “throwing out the votes we don’t like” could get complicated.
    Put Jared on it. He’ll sort it out.

  19. 19.

    TS (the original)

    @taumaturgo:

    I don’t, it defines the honesty of democrats and their adherence to the law of the land as timid and the work of cowards. If defines the actions of trump & McConnell as manly and forceful. Every negative word I can imagine is used to denigrate congress democrats in this article.

  21. 21.

    dmsilev

    @Josie: I think they’re trying to project the image that “we need to deal with this huge ballot fraud issue”. An absolute total lie, of course.

  22. 22.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @Jeffro:

    The GOP keeps counting on norms, laws, and traditions to give them cover to keep doing what they’re doing. I look at these flabby, soft, old men and I think to myself how they wouldn’t know what to do in an actual physical fight

  23. 23.

    cmorenc

    Scott can’t successfully get such a proposal enacted (only ballots counted within 24 hrs of (close of polls on election day?) are valid – because the proposal would also need to attract a majority vote in the House of Representatives, which isn’t going to happen with a D majority in place.  Also, isn’t there a federal law prohibiting changes in state voting laws within a certain time of the election (not sure what the limit is, but it’s longer than the 40 days to and including election day).

  30. 30.

    Kathleen

    OT but had a ball dragging Rob Portman on Twitter. Even Jennifer Rubin chimed in. The ratio was epic. Lost the tweet so no link.

  31. 31.

    patrick Il

    @Winston:

    Different  states have different laws.Some states will take ballots postmarked on election day and  received days later. It is these . stateS particularly that Scott and. Trumpare targeting.

  40. 40.

    TS (the original)

    @patrick Il:  I think Scott has realised that losing the olds means the advantage of postal voting has swung to democrats. They were, and still are the most likely group to vote by mail when a choice is given.

    It’s always about what is best, at this point in time, for the GOP and me me me

  41. 41.

    Kathleen

    @dmsilev: He hopes both parties honor voters/peaceful transition of power yadda yadda (very bad paraphrase but that’s the gist.) I reminded him of Rethuglican efforts to manipulate the electoral process at the cost of Americans’ safety and lives in 1968, 1980, and 2000 elections. And I used the term “Rethuglican”.

    I also left angry voicemail about his willingness to confirm a SC nominee after reading what he said about Garland nom in 2016 and commented he behaved differently when President was Black and a Democrat.

  48. 48.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @Martin:

    Does any of that even really matter though? Who outside of the cult would buy that crap? It sounds like a waste of time tbh

  49. 49.

    Winston

    @patrick Il: I think Florida’s system is pretty slick. One can track one’s mail ballot from the time it is sent out by the election board, the time it is received back, verified and counted. All online. More states should invest in a system like Florida imo. It’s a shame we produce such pieces of shit politicians, though.

  50. 50.

    Patricia Kayden

    @kindness: My ability to be shocked completely evaporated when Trump became President. My only question is how much lower will Republicans go with their next Presidential candidate.

  51. 51.

    Aleta

    Playing now:

    Prince – Sign O’ The Times (Live at Paisley Park 12/31/87)
    On Thursday, September 24th, The Prince Estate in partnership with Warner Records and YouTube, will Premiere a vault recording of Prince’s celebrated 1987 New Year’s Eve Benefit Concert. The concert (was) in support of the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless, and was Prince’s … only on-stage collaboration with jazz legend Miles Davis.

  52. 52.

    PsiFighter37

    @TS (the original): @dmsilev: I get both of you, but honestly…this clown was:

    1) elected in 2010, barely
    2) barely reelected again, against a former governor who won by a much wider margin in 2006, no less
    3) barely won in 2018, against a fairly popular senator who was an astronaut in his past life

    The only conclusion is that people in Florida are really fucking stupid. Not everyone, for sure, but way too many of them. And having been down to various sunburnt parts of that state, it is not terribly surprising.

  54. 54.

    James E Powell

    @PsiFighter37:

    The only conclusion is that people in Florida are really fucking stupid. Not everyone, for sure, but way too many of them.

    I have no reason to defend Florida, but that conclusion applies to quite a few states.

  57. 57.

    Jeffro

    Apparently Donnie thinks he’s going to be able to “rebrand” Obamacare and call it his own – with an ‘executive order’ protecting those with pre-existing conditions.  Gee thanks, that’s awesome, if only it were already enshrined in law.

    Oh wait.

    Alexa, look up “pathetic beyond description” in the dictionary, thesaurus, and Fox News archives…

  58. 58.

    Patricia Kayden

    Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro says it’s “completely reckless” for President Trump to use rhetoric that could potentially suppress the vote. “We are going to do everything in our power here in Pennsylvania … to make sure every vote is secure, protected and counted.” pic.twitter.com/o1MrUiEO1a— CNN (@CNN) September 25, 2020

  59. 59.

    Ken

    @Josie: @JMG: It also puts him on the side that the Federal government can pass laws telling states how they must conduct elections.  I think that’s something of an own goal, especially if the Democrats take the Senate too.  All sorts of extras could be put into the Representative John Lewis Voting Rights Act, such as requiring motor-votor registration or universal vote by mail.

  60. 60.

    WaterGirl

    @Winston: Oops I parsed this sentence wrong:

    I voted at the precinct, early voted and by mail in the last three elections.

    I interpreted that as “I voted at the precint (this time); early voted by mail in the last 3 elections.

    Reading comprehension fail.

  61. 61.

    debbie

    Doubtless, the Act has a provision for hiring thousands of people to ensure all ballots will be opened and counted. //

  64. 64.

    Suzanne

    @geg6:

    Don’t these assholes know any history? 

    No.
    Of course they’re about nothing other than naked power plays. It’s time we respond accordingly.

  65. 65.

    RaflW

    Today’s Fox News polls in OH, PA and NV again show a GOP in terrible shape. And without the cash to really fight.

    While grassroots Dems continue to pour money into races. Why, even Miss Lindsey was railing about the Democrats money advantage today.

    So, sure, Rick will tip his hand that voting is only for his people. No way his bill goes anywhere, least of all to Nancy’s house.

  66. 66.

    James E Powell

    @zhena gogolia:

    No, it was by Marik von Rennenkampff, of the Düsseldorf von Rennenkampffs, if I’m not mistaken.

    I don’t agree with the specifics or the tone, but I do think we need to send a message to the Republicans that this time, there won’t be any looking forward & reaching out for compromise like in 2009.

  67. 67.

    HumboldtBlue

    Democrats in of the House of Representatives will introduce a bill next week to limit the tenure of U.S. Supreme Court justices to 18 years from current lifetime appointments, in a bid to reduce partisan warring over vacancies and preserve the court’s legitimacy.

  68. 68.

    WaterGirl

    @James E Powell: I agree. But that article wasn’t written in the tone of “okay, we tried to be collegial, blah blah blah, but it’s time to take the gloves off.”

    It was more like “Democrats are whiny little bitches.”

    edit: I’m not at all sure that taumaturgo bats for Team D.

  69. 69.

    James E Powell

    @Winston:

    I think Florida’s system is pretty slick. One can track one’s mail ballot from the time it is sent out by the election board, the time it is received back, verified and counted.

    We have the same/similar in California. If you live in the Golden State, you can check here.

  71. 71.

    Ken

    @James E Powell: we need to send a message to the Republicans that this time, there won’t be any looking forward & reaching out for compromise like in 2009

    I’ll begin construction of the stocks and pillories immediately.

    Did you want a guillotine?  Voltaire says that even one example does wonders pour encourager les autres.

  74. 74.

    patrick Il

    @dmsilev:

    • I think that is the nub of it. He knows there is no way the House will go along with it, so the advantage Scott sees is diminishing the integrity of ballots counted after Nov 3 as part of a larger strategy to be  ahead on election day, helping Trump call himself the winner, and delay and fight in courts after that .  Another part of that strategy is to have a new RWNJ beholden to Trump on the Supreme Court  before the election.
  76. 76.

    James E Powell

    @Ken:

    I reject capital punishment and I’m sure the laws have been written in such a way that they won’t even have to give the money back.

    I’d settle for a full exposure of the evil. The nation and its press/media needs to have it hammered into their heads that these are bad people.

  79. 79.

    Gin & Tonic

    I’ve heard but not confirmed that that HHS bozo Michael Caputo has been diagnosed with metastatic head/neck cancer. Might explain bizarre behavior.

  80. 80.

    Bill Arnold

    @Miss Bianca:
    I liked this link though, about the Evangelical shift from human life begins at first breath (60s, 70s) to human life begins at conception. The article is full of backing links. (rewirenewsgroup has a left bias, FWIW)
    When the ‘Biblical View’ for Evangelicals Was That Life Begins at Birth (Jonathan Dudley, Sep 27, 2019)

    A 1967 issue of the evangelical magazine Christian Life went even further, castigating Catholics for their non-biblical stance:
    “The Bible definitely pinpoints a difference in the value of a fetus and an adult. Thus, the Bible would appear to disagree with the official Catholic view that the tiniest fetus is as important as an adult human being.”

  82. 82.

    TS (the original)

    @James E Powell:

    I found it impossible to get past the tone. It was not written in good faith.

    Then again … no political discussion is written in good faith at this point in time – otherwise we would have 90% of the media supporting Biden and the democratic party.

  83. 83.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Gin & Tonic:

    It was in a thread a few levels down (comments, not FP). I don’t wish that on anyone, notwithstanding the loathsomeness of Caputo and the damage he did. Terrible, painful disease.

  87. 87.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @patrick Il:

    Another part of that strategy is to have a new RWNJ beholden to him on the Supreme Court  before the election.

    But how would that help him? No Supreme Court is going to invalidate ballots just to help Trump. That would hurt a lot of Republicans down ballot

  89. 89.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Patricia Kayden: My only question is how much lower will Republicans go with their next Presidential candidate.

    We’re going to see a QAnon caucus in Congress in 2021, so I figure we’ll have a QAnon presidential candidate in 2024.

  90. 90.

    TS (the original)

    It’s sometimes good to listen to Rachel. She talks about Biden and the democrats campaign. Rest of the media thinks they do not exist.

  91. 91.

    dmsilev

    @Jeffro: They might have had a chance at it, except that every Republican around has spent the last ten years shrieking about Obamacare. You branded it, guys, you’re stuck with the branding.

  94. 94.

    Steeplejack

    Either these fines are part of the felons’ sentences and have nothing directly to do with voting, or they are a poll tax. It can’t be “not a poll tax” when the felon pays it themselves but then a poll tax if Bloomberg pays for it. There is no Schroedinger’s poll tax.
    https://t.co/OVP8vXm3W0

    — Vikram Bath1 (@vikrambath1) September 23, 2020

  95. 95.

    dmsilev

    @debbie: I believe that. Yes, his ears may have detected the sounds, but there’s no way his brain registered them as booing. It’s unpossible, in his mind, for people to hate him.

  96. 96.

    James E Powell

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    I expect QAnon to be to the 20s what Drudge Report was to the 90s.

    At first, it will be regarded as fringe and a little silly. Eventually, it will be the talk of the Beltway and the number one source for the NYT’s investigations of the Biden administration.

  98. 98.

    Shakti

    I hate that gimlet-eyed, granny-robbing motherfucker. So of course, he’s been governor and is my senator and is not up for reelection this year.  My rep is my former governor.

     

    It’s just trashtastic we’ve been subjected to a four year reelection campaign (seriously GSLiC filed with the FEC on his inauguration day ) but Scott wants to rush through the actual counting of votes?

  99. 99.

    patrick Il

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka): like Trump cares about down ballot Republicans – But it wouldn’t hurt Republicans this year anyhow because far more democrats are projected to use mail-in ballots,’ So it helps down ballot Repubs as well.

  100. 100.

    Redshift

    @patrick Il: And as I see it, a good deal of this flows from Bush v. Gore, and the argument that continuing to count ballots risked “harm” to Bush, and argument that only works if you’re assuming Bush will be the winner (and thereby betrays their intent.) Honestly, I’m surprised none of them has cited it yet.

  101. 101.

    hueyplong

    FL GOPers seem to be even more sure of a Dem win than the pollsters are.

    In earlier times there would at least have been an attempted pretext.

    This is just, “We’re counting our votes and not yours.”

  104. 104.

    patrick Il

    Since Scott knows this will never become law. another motivation is that  he wants to show fealty to Trump. HHS  may have a spot open next term and it would give him a chance to join in the graft and help his wife’s ( wink, wink ) healthcare company make a little money.

  105. 105.

    TS (the original)

    @Baud:

    She started talking about trump, not so long after my post. It was mainly about the Justice Department supporting his attempts to declare mail voting fraudulent

    Dear Heavens, now she has Bernie on – I’m gone

  106. 106.

    Steeplejack

    Boy, kudos to Bernie! Rachel Maddow just played an extended clip from a barn-burner speech he gave today that eviscerated Trump cleanly and eloquently. Will have to look for the video.

    He is coming up as her live guest in a minute or two.

  107. 107.

    Subsole

    @James E Powell: Nah. If they don’t pay SOME way, the lesson will be “this is an effective method of achievement”.

    No

    The lesson MUST be “doing this shit will put you out of business and you are VERY lucky it stopped at that.”

  108. 108.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @patrick Il:

    Trump may not care, but down ballot Republicans will. It would open a Pandora’s box. And I’m not entirely convinced that any newly seated justice would be beholden to Trump. They would have a lifetime appointment and even Gorsuch has occasionally voted in favor of our side. Any likely justice would be inclined to favor the party’s interests rather than save Trump’s ass

  110. 110.

    Chief Oshkosh

    This is probably somewhere in the thread, but i’m heading to bed and too lazy to read it all…

    This is another attempt to add uncertainty to the vote and election. Scott knows that even if this doesn’t make it to a vote in the Senate, much less goes to House, there will be enough elected Democrats decrying it that he will be able to cast further shade on mail-in ballots and on the Democrats.

  114. 114.

    Redshift

    @Baud:

    They didn’t invalidate ballots. They stopped the recount of the ballots.

    The recount involved examining ballots by hand to determine voter intent so ballots that were not counted initially could be included. Stopping that process caused ballots not to be counted, it wasn’t just making sure they’d tallied them up correctly.

  120. 120.

    Cameron

    @Steeplejack: Well, you just drew fire for the rest of the night.  Apparently the only honorable thing that the Bern can do is commit seppuku while advising same to his followers.

  121. 121.

    Shalimar

    Scott’s plan is 2-part, they just keep part 2 quiet.  That’s where they underfund election offices in Democratic areas so they don’t have enough people to count all the votes.

  125. 125.

    The Moar You Know

    The nation and its press/media needs to have it hammered into their heads that these are bad people.

    @James E Powell: Look. After four years of these people, we all – every last person in the world, never mind America – know what these people are. They understand they’re not just just bad but actively evil. That is simply not the problem. The problem is that about 40-45% of our citizenry is FUCKING THRILLED that they are bad people, and would like them to double down on that.

    The only way you fix that is consequences. We’re way past education. We educated them and about half of them thought 1984 and The Handmaid’s Tale sounded like damn fine ideas.

  126. 126.

    patrick Il

    @Redshift: I agree with that. The only people with legal stakes in that Case were the voters,  and their interests were entirely discounted in that decision .

    And that thievery is the Case that gives Trump hope.

  130. 130.

    Redshift

    @Chief Oshkosh: Ideally, Democrats will respond to it with something like “Senator Scott seems to have the strange idea that counting votes as fast as possible is more important than counting them accurately. A party that cares about the will of the people rather than undermining it wouldn’t support such a ludicrous proposal.” Or talk about how declaring a winner on Election Night doesn’t come from the Founders, it comes from TV networks.

    Don’t mention or even make reference to his lies about ballots, just point out that there is no good-faith argument for his plan.

  131. 131.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud:

    I’ll take it just like I take the Lincoln Project help

    Heh, cosigned

    ETA: @Baud: another sign of the horseshoe formed by the trumpist right and the Bernier-than-Bernie left: They are always the victims, always martyrs, no matter what the circumstance

  132. 132.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Shakti:

    GSLiC? Translation, please? I assume the last two letters stand for “in Chief,” but I need help with the “GSL” part.

  133. 133.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @patrick Il:

    That plan would place themselves at Trump’s mercy for at least another 4 years or more. On top of that, look at how people reacted to the Breona Taylor murder grand jury decision. Multiply that by 1000 and you will get the reaction to the Surpeme Court declaring Trump “president”

  135. 135.

    TS (the original)

    @Baud:

    When he goes on every political show and tells his supporters to stop with the stupidity and vote for Biden – I’ll listen, otherwise  he is a pointless waste of space.

  137. 137.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    he’s just baiting Twitter Nixon, and maybe the real ghost, at this point

    Variety @Variety · 1h
    Aaron Sorkin reveals how he would write election night, 2020: “Trump does what we all assume he will do, which is not concede defeat… For the first time, his Republican enablers march up to the White House and say ‘Donald, it’s time to go'”

  138. 138.

    TS (the original)

    @Cameron:

    Nope – all he has to do is tell his supporters to vote for Biden without any snark or any additional comment. How hard is that?

  139. 139.

    J R in WV

    @Aleta:

    WOW~!!~what a gifted musician and performer. So sorry he was lost so young. Watched and listened to quite a bit of it. Wonderful.

  141. 141.

    Redshift

    @Baud:

    But what Trump needs here is for them to not count these ballots in the first place. 

    Agreed, this would be a stronger action. But considering the made-up justification in that case, I don’t have a lot of confidence that Federalist Society ideologues wouldn’t come up with an equally flimsy rationale for it.

    I’m not hair on fire about it, I was just pointing out that there really isn’t much basis for flat-out asserting that no Supreme Court would ever do that.

  143. 143.

    J R in WV

    @WaterGirl:

    edit: I’m not at all sure that taumaturgo bats for Team D.

    Of course he doesn’t~!!~ He has been a dessert cartoon on my device for quite a long time now!!!!!

  144. 144.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Cameron:

    I’m by no means a Bernie fan, but I have to say he brought it with the thunder today. More articulate than I’ve ever seen him.

  145. 145.

    Baud

    @Redshift:

    I agree that nothing is beyond the realm of possibility now.  But if the Court does something like that, I think they know there’s no coming back from it for them this time.

  146. 146.

    Redshift

    @Shalimar:

    Scott’s plan is 2-part, they just keep part 2 quiet. That’s where they underfund election offices in Democratic areas so they don’t have enough people to count all the votes. 

    Good point.

  147. 147.

    The Moar You Know

    Thanks for the input back yonder.

    @raven: I was going to try and hunt you up and make sure you got the word but I had to go into work for a while.  Glad you got it; it’s misery but even if it’s a bad injury it does get better.   And those shots hurt like fucking Satan’s battery acid.

  148. 148.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @WaterGirl: Drop box votes and mail-in votes don’t start getting counted in Illinois until 7pm on Nov 3.

    In MD it is illegal for any local board of election to even open a vote-by-mail ballot until 8 AM on the day after Election Day. MD Code, Election Law, Section 11-302, Canvassing:

    (b)(1) A local board may not open any envelope of an absentee ballot prior to 8 a.m. on the Wednesday following election day.

    Nevertheless I have been told by an employee of the State Board of Elections (with a 3-2 GOP majority due to our Governor being a Republican) that they are strongly urging local boards to count absentee/vote-by-mail ballots as early as possible – IOW, to break the law.

    This sounds to me like a setup for Rethug lawyers to go to court arguing that every mail-in ballot in MD must be invalidated.

    Therefore I (over 70, type 2 diabetic, heart condition – IOW, in the COVID-19 crosshairs) am voting early in-person. With the future of American democracy at stake, I’ll take my chances to ensure my vote is counted, and fuck the GOP with a rusty chainsaw, sideways!

  149. 149.

    The Moar You Know

    edit: I’m not at all sure that taumaturgo bats for Team D.

    @WaterGirl: that account has been trolling here a good long time. Well before 2016. I think he does play for team D – team Duma. More of a chaos agent than anything else.

  153. 153.

    patrick Il

    @WaterGirl:

    They don’t count the ballots in Virginia until the polls close either. However, they “process” then as they receive them which means checking the signature and correctness of the ballot before hand. All thats left to do on election day is to feed them into the tabulator which should  go quickly.

  154. 154.

    Bill Arnold

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    Nevertheless I have been told by an employee of the State Board of Elections (with a 3-2 GOP majority due to our Governor being a Republican) that they are strongly urging local boards to count absentee/vote-by-mail ballots as early as possible – IOW, to break the law.

    If this is indeed the case, it is possible to get this publicized and fixed well before election day.

  155. 155.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @Redshift:

    My main point was that doing so would hurt a lot of down ballot Republicans and open a Pandora’s Box. I don’t think the Court would be willing to destroy other Republicans just to save Trump and annihilate their own credibility at the same time

  156. 156.

    Miss Bianca

    @James E Powell: and then, following the arc, gradually dwindle into irrelevance, to the point where when it pops its head up again somewhere, people are all like, “Wow, the Drudge Report Q-Anon is still around?”

  161. 161.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @Ken:

    Doesn’t it seem far merely likely that Q-Anon would take over the Republican Party? We already have Q-Anon nuts winning GOP primaries

  165. 165.

    PaulWartenberg

    Florida resident here.

    I had been screaming about Rick MEDICARE FRAUD for ten goddamn years, and he keeps getting worse as a human being. How the hell did he beat out a good man like Sen. Nelson?! Oh, right, the vote suppression in 2018… /rage

    That the Florida AG is going overboard to stop any effort to aid the disenfranchised to regain their power to vote is unsurprising, nor is her hypocrisy in revealing how the suppression effort was a Poll Tax all along. The sad thing is she and the GOP will make certain these non-violent ex-felons will be denied their rights well into 2022 (when DeSantis faces the music for his disastrous governorship).

  168. 168.

    boatboy_srq

    When Governor Voldemort was first elected, it was stupefying. Like a certain other figure we know, he too said the quiet parts out loud. We thought it would be the end of him. Whoops.

    I can remember talking to people after that election who were horrified by his policies.

    “Why are you upset? You voted for all this.”

    “No, I didn’t.”

    “He said he was going to do all this when he was campaigning. It was most of his platform.”

    “Yes, it was. But I never thought he’d actually do any of it!”

     

    I think that was when I gave up on Conservatists.

  169. 169.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @PaulWartenberg:

    The sad thing is she and the GOP will make certain these non-violent ex-felons will be denied their rights well into 2022 (when DeSantis faces the music for his disastrous governorship).

    Doesn’t mean they will succeed. We have agency too

  170. 170.

    PaulWartenberg

    @PsiFighter37:

    I still do not understand how anyone with a brain could vote for Rick Scott.

    It’s not a question of having brains, it’s a question of having souls, of having moral compasses. An openly corrupt Medicare fraud should not have won a fucking primary let alone the governorship.

  171. 171.

    trollhattan

    California, before election day:

    What are the first results we will be seeing on Election Night?
    The first election results are typically ballots received before Election Day. County elections officials may begin opening vote-by-mail ballot envelopes up to 10 business days before Election Day, but those results cannot be accessed or shared with the public until all polls close on Election Day.

    California, after election day:

    State law requires that vote-by-mail ballots postmarked on or before Election Day and received by county elections officials no later than three days after Election Day must be processed. Depending on the volume of these types of ballots, it takes up to 30 days for county elections officials to verify voter records and determine if ballots have been cast by eligible voters. The frequency of updated results will vary based on the size of each county and the process each local elections office uses to tally and report votes.

    When is the process complete?

    Election results will change throughout the canvass period as vote-by-mail ballots, provisional ballots, and other ballots are processed. Depending on the volume of these types of ballots, it may take up to 30 days for county elections officials to verify voter records and determine if ballots have been cast by eligible voters. The frequency of updated results will vary based on the size of each county and the process each county elections office uses to tally and report votes. County elections officials must report their final results to the Secretary of State 30 days after the election.

    In summary: Fuck you, Rick Scott.

  181. 181.

    J R in WV

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I didn’t ever pie you, for example.

    I pie people who don’t share our progressive viewpoint, people who complain about progressive viewpoints. And assholes.

    Anyway, I do not pie everyone!! Just those who earn it.

  185. 185.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Shakti: @SiubhanDuinne: Golden Shower Lover in Chief

    Why couldn’t you have simply typed that out in your post, instead of people having to ask what it meant? Are you trying to communicate meaning, or just daring your readers to figure it out for ourselves?

    Unless an abbreviation is in common use, or can be readily turned up on a search, it needs to be defined on first use in a document (including a post). To do otherwise is not just bad style, it shows disdain for readers who are forced to guess at the meaning.

  191. 191.

    FlyingToaster

    In Massachusetts, from once having to have an iron-clad excuse to absentee vote — which I once broke, technically, as the product launch I had plane tickets for was cancelled 2 days before the scheduled launch — now has fairly expansive early and mail-in voting.

    I voted in person for the primary because it sure as heck wasn’t going to be crowded (Sept. 1).

    I’ll be voting early at Town Hall, probably Oct. 20th or 21st (during the first week of early voting).  Basically, drop WarriorTeen at MS, drive back via Town Hall, see if there’s a crowd lined up in Saltonstall Park.  If so, wait ’til tomorrow.  Rinse, Repeat, until voting is accomplished.  HerrDoktor is waiting until day-of, hieing the 4 blocks up the hill to the Police Station, and waiting in line to vote in person.

    In previous elections, I saw the polling place staff un-sealing the evidence-bag of early ballots and feeding them into the scanner during lulls in the day-of traffic.  This year, I understand they fed them in before 7am.  It means that the only outstanding votes are those received by mail after Friday evening before the election; all of them are processed after the polls close, plus absentee/overseas/military ballots get added in as they arrive up to the cutoff (3 days after the election, IIRC).  It means that our town results don’t get reported until 11pm, but they’re extremely accurate.  The one recount I’ve witnessed — a ward alderman election in Somerville — was 8 votes apart.  They recounted the ballots by hand, on the floor of the HS gym, with the basketball cam broadcasting the recount on local access.  The recount result:  won by 8 votes.

    I would like to see how much money Bloomberg spends on lawyers to face these Flah-ri-dah asshats in court…

  192. 192.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Geminid: The Hill lends whatever reputation it has left to some very odd people, most of whom I, as a click-happy political junkie, have never heard of.

  195. 195.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    In formal writing, I fully agree — the phrase or title should be spelled out in full before the acronym is used. But I’m far more forgiving on this blog, and on the Internet in general. In fact, I kind of enjoy the game of figuring out what the acronym means, and will only ask the author once I’ve exhausted my own brain and resources like Urban Dictionary. I don’t think Shakti deserved that level of criticism.

  196. 196.

    Cameron

    @PaulWartenberg: Two-time governor, new senator – maybe Medicare fraud really appeals to us Olds down here?  ‘Cause I’ll be damned if I can figure out how this guy won anything.  And, frankly, whatever Andrew Gillum’s problems are, he’d have been a far better governor than the Trump Mini-Me we have.

  200. 200.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Bill Arnold: If this is indeed the case, it is possible to get this publicized and fixed well before election day.

    But maybe not before mailed ballots start showing up. The MD AG, Brian Frosh, is a Democrat; I intend to contact his office & request he send out ASAP a notice to the 24 BoEs (each MD county plus Baltimore City) reminding them of the law & stating they will be prosecuted for breaking it.

    That’s the zeroth-order solution. GOV Hogan cannot fix this by executive decree – it’s the law. He probably should call a quick special session of the General Assembly for the sole purpose of amending the MD Code to allow earlier counting of mailed ballots.

    That is, if he’s not in on the con. I doubt the GOP will pass up the opportunity to throw a spanner in the works come November. Even if they can’t invalidate enough ballots to steal our 10 EVs for Trumplthinskin, they might be able to pick off a couple of House seats where typical Democratic margins are only 2-1 and Dems are voting by mail in large numbers.

    (NB During the 2020 MD primary election the BoEs routinely counted ballots well before the official Election Day – but since all voting was by mail and all contests were intraparty, neither party objected to this procedure, even though it clearly violated the law, in the interest of timely results.)

  203. 203.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I had to read this a couple of times to be clear Kilmeade wasn’t defending Joe Biden

    Zeke Miller @ZekeJMiller ·13h
    Trump on Fox Radio on Chris Wallace: “He’ll be controlled by the radical left”
    Kilmeade: “Mr President, I can tell you for sure, he is not controlled by anyone”

    The Beast seems awfully skittish about debating an old man who’s lost his grip.

  204. 204.

    Yutsano

    @TS (the original):  Hey! If you’re still around, what is your opinion of Leigh Sales as a presenter and journalist? I feel like there are points where she successfully smacked around Huckabee Sanders but others where she just let SHS blab without pressing further. Of course this is heavily edited so it’s hard to tell if there was a further back and forth.

    Oh and for everyone else: you should watch this clip. So should our journalist critters. It’s how they should be handling people like her. Oh and I hope her book gets remaindered in like two weeks.

  208. 208.

    boatboy_srq

    @dmsilev: I’d settle for enrolling him in The Game. The one that Michael Douglas and Sean Penn played. Right through to waking up in the crypt in Mexico with no money and no ID.

  213. 213.

    Jeffro

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: 

    I do hope Biden ignores anything stupid he’s presented with in the debates (I doubt there will be a 2nd and 3rd debate) and just turn to trumpov and grill the shit out of him. Especially since the media hasn’t been up to the job.

  215. 215.

    TS (the original)

    @Yutsano:

    She is probably as unbiased as you are likely to get in the media. She is always on the attack against politicians – usually regardless of party. Sometimes I think she takes it too far, but if that is what it takes …

    The current government (RW) has been attacking the ABC (our public broadcaster) and continues to reduce their funding, so the bias is probably slightly to the left at this point in time. The RW hacks will always accuse the ABC of being left wing, but it is much like in the US – reality and truth trend left.

    On a slightly different tack, even the most loyal of our RW government supporters are anti trump. In my age group (olds) of mainly RW voters I only know 2 people who make positive comments about trump. And they only did it once after the response they got. Our PM however, is a trump sycophant. If we had a decent opposition he would be out on his ear, but sadly, we do not.

  216. 216.

    Quinerly

    @WaterGirl: I have emailed him. Hope to hear back. He reminded me years ago that I had represented SW Bell YP in a case here in St. Louis. We exchanged emails and had hoped for a meet up. Never connected.

    I don’t think he has posted in months. Hope he is OK.

  219. 219.

    Johnnybuck

    All of this bullshit is happening because they know they are losing, and by the way, Joe don’t need fla to win, Iowa and Ohio both are coming home. It’s all noise.

  222. 222.

    Quinerly

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: honestly, I think I did the snubbing. I was either in NM or NC always when he wanted to connect in St. Louis. Think Marcopolo met him here several times. I could be wrong. I had forgotten about several SW Bell cases from 1980’s-1990’s. When he and I connected thru email and he got my full name, he searched my name thru a data base re cases, appellant work.

    I was like…. “OK…. ?”

  224. 224.

    texasdoc

    @SiubhanDuinne: People speculated in the thread below that Caputo’s head and neck cancer means esophageal cancer–but the convention in oncology would be to call it esophageal cancer.  More likely he has cancer that began in the pharynx.  We know he has cervical node involvement, because that is what they biopsied.  The (+) node is metastatic disease, but we don’t know whether he has distant metastases (e.g. lung) which would indicate a far worse prognosis.

  231. 231.

    dnfree

    @texasdoc: I have a friend who had this kind of cancer. It actually was a squamous cell (skin) cancer that started in the cells in his neck and was just a lump that got bigger over time. But meanwhile it spread internally to his esophagus and other parts of his neck. He had surgery and radiation and had to feed himself through a tube in his chest for months.

  233. 233.

    patrick Il

    @dmsilev: The bill has nothing to do with any practical real world effect . It will never get passed. It is Scott signaling to his voters – – See! I’m a big time asshole just like you ! Vote counting is for suckers.

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