Meh, Trump’s blasted Fox many times since he started running. He knows he needs them if he wants any chance at political success in the future
Possibly. I’m don’t really follow Trump’s Twitter feed, but he’s actually directing his supporters to OANN and Newsmax this time. Feels like it might be different. Maybe a deal in the works?
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Sorely needed for noting sarcasm.
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My ballpark estimate is about the same, except I don’t think the protests had anything at all to do with it. There has actually been a lot of research on whether the protests spread covid, and the result has been “to a surprisingly small extent”.
Now restaurants, indoors, with every-other table closed, DO seem to spread covid. So do weddings. I saw a study of school opening by county in the UK that showed opening schools increases covid spread, too.
I don’t.
In my blue state, in my upscale town, mask wearing is pretty common, and it’s nearly universal indoors. But when I chat on-line with people from rural areas, especially in red states, not only is mask wearing uncommon, some of them have been hassled for wearing masks.
One guy said he volunteered at some large outdoor gathering. No one else was wearing a mask. A lady approached him and asked him to remove his mask because “you are making other people nervous”. He told her where to put her concern. Others report picking their shopping site by which store has more mask-wearers.
In a thread asking people if they’ve been hassled for wearing, or not wearing, a mask, only one person reported getting icy stares for forgetting his mask, and several reported being hassled for wearing a mask.
sorry. 
“Protesters (aka ‘Rioters’) not wearing masks, WAAAH” is a FoxNews/OANN/QAnon thing. Now we know where HL gets her news.
I guess I can forgive you this one time.
So I’ve been talking to a lawyer friend of mine, and apparently we have a nuclear option in the case of an election being really effed up and the House disagreeing with it. When the Electoral Votes are presented to Congress, if a member of the House and a member of the Senate object to one of the votes, the House and the Senate both have to withdraw and decide whether to reject the vote. If either the House or the Senate simply don’t issue a decision, then… they literally can just run out the clock until 1/20, when the line of succession kicks in and we automatically have an acting president (next in line would be the Speaker of the House).
…whoever was in charge of smoke-testing 3 U.S. Code § 15 deserves to be fired, imo.
I generally stop reading when the paragraph starts “So some guy I know says…”
We are to the point now where I am not only confident that Joe Biden will in fact be inaugurated into the office that he rightfully won, but I am also much more confident in the United States system of elections, laws, and checks and balances than I was before this. Our laws work and they are protecting us from an attempted coup right now.
Thinking about this more, no, this is not how it would play out.
The Senate selects the VPOTUS. Even if the Democrats win both GA seats in the 1/5 runoff and are tied 50-50, the vote occurs during the weird period of days where we have the new Senate and the old POTUS/VPOTUS, so Mike Pence would cast the tie-breaking vote… presumably for himself. (He can choose from the top two vote-getters, which will obviously be him and Harris).
So we’d end up with President Pence if the House refuses to hold a vote for POTUS. Not President Pelosi.
To be clear, Pence could engage in shenanigans and appoint VPOTUS Trump and then step down. BUT… Pence’s VPOTUS selection must be confirmed by both chambers of congress. No way is the House approving VPOTUS Trump. He’d have to pick someone moderate. Like maybe Mitt Romney. Who knows… but he’d never get Trump confirmed.
How, in your view, would that happen? If you mean that they’d still be deciding in court… that’s what I meant when I said “states representing 270 votes will be able to assemble next month to vote”. And of course I should have said “electors from states representing 270 votes…” but you obviously knew what I mean there.
I do this. Costco and Trader Joe’s have consistently required masks and they’ve enforced it and people wear their masks in those stores… properly (covering their nose & everything!) Kroger and Target are awful. Now Target I can get most of what I want online where they bring it out to your car and put it in your trunk for you, which is fantastic, except for the few items that aren’t available for pickup. (Most perishables are, but a few or not… no apparent rhyme or reason… like the brand of frozen pizza that I buy with pepperoni is available for pickup, but the plain cheese frozen pizza of the exact same brand is not… why on earth would that possibly make a difference???)
So I have a bunch of things I need from Kroger that I can’t get at the other stores because I haven’t been to Kroger in ages. If I do go, I like to go late at night, just before they close, when there are hardly any other shoppers there.
And yes, there’s some way to order stuff online from Kroger and pick it up, but it’s a massive hassle from what I can tell. My Kroger doesn’t have that at all, so I’d have to drive to a different location. And there are windows that are booked well in advance. I just haven’t figured it out yet. I should. As things get worse, I suppose it’s worth the time investment to figure this out.
My wife like’s Stew Leonard’s, wide aisles and one way traffic even before this.
Went to the mall the other day (wife needed a new IPAD) - the Apple store did things basically right (a little too jammed up at the entrance checking the incoming, but little room for those leaving.
Had to cut thorough Bloomingdales, 90% of the sales associates had their noses exposed. I’ll shop online when I can
But the best case for the Dems during the relevant time period is a 51-50 Senate with the Republicans in the majority. They will hold a vote for VPOTUS-Elect. They will vote for Pence. Pence will remain VPOTUS and if there is no President-Elect then he would be at the top of the line of succession.
Obviously that would be a coup if there’s no valid reason to not accept that Biden/Harris got the requisite 270 votes. But I’m not at all certain that anyone wants to engage in THAT level of shenanigans.
I think there are enough who do want to engage in that level of shenanigans. HOPEFULLY, there are at least a couple of Republican’s with a conscience and put country over party, but I am not as optimistic as I want to be
Overall, I do believe that Biden will be installed as president in Jan, but will feel a constant sense of dread until it actually happens. While my faith in the election process has been strengthened, it’s been an eye-opener how much of the transition process relies on tradition and the goodwill of the sitting president. That part is pretty terrifying.
It would be quite something if a 50-50 Senate vote came out to favor Harris over Pence because someone like Romney or Collins voted for Harris.
It’s kind of too bad that it’s the Senate that chooses the VPOTUS and the House that chooses the POTUS. Because I think Romney or Collins are a LOT less likely to pick Harris over Pence than they would be to pick Biden over Trump. Pence is far less objectionable than Trump, and Harris is far more divisive than Biden.
So I can’t seriously see any GOP Senator voting for Harris.
I really don’t think it’s going to come to that though. CNN just called AZ for Biden. Assuming that GA goes Biden and NC goes Trump that brings us to a vote total of 306-232. It’s really unlikely that Biden states worth 37 votes fail to have the electors vote.
Is it possible to abstain? I could see Romney abstaining.
Forgive me if it is a silly question, I’m not American.