What does a BIDEN Presidency look like?

[grumbler]

A while back I read a story about a Green Card holder who had mistakenly checked the box "I am a US citizen" and voted in the general election.  Some states allow Green Card holders to vote in state elections, FYI.  She was subsequently deported to Mexico.  She was caught because she turned herself in.  No system caught her and dinged her.

That's why you should never do the right thing.

Also why one should never base policy on anecdotes.

[Admiral Yi]

@Shelf

It's wonderful to live in a high social capital state, where no one cheats.

Great if you've got a system that audits cheating.  AFAIK we don't.

[Sheilbh]

@Shelf

It's wonderful to live in a high social capital state, where no one cheats.

Great if you've got a system that audits cheating.  AFAIK we don't.

There is no high trust society where no-one cheats. That's like a totalitarian social credit society. That's the point, you can trust that the overwhelming majority don't so you don't change your behaviour for the one cheater.

Edit: Or to put it another way - if no one cheated, there'd be no trust involved.

Why do you think state level Secretaries of State across the country aren't doing the sorts of things I've mentioned? Here it's done by local councils as part of their standard business (with the Electoral Commission at a national level - but they were only created about 20 years ago).

[Admiral Yi]

There is no high trust society where no-one cheats. That's like a totalitarian social credit society. That's the point, you can trust that the overwhelming majority don't so you don't change your behaviour for the one cheater.

Edit: Or to put it another way - if no one cheated, there'd be no trust involved.

Why do you think state level Secretaries of State across the country aren't doing the sorts of things I've mentioned? Here it's done by local councils as part of their standard business (with the Electoral Commission at a national level - but they were only created about 20 years ago).

Sorry, it's wonderful to live in a society where relatively few people cheat.

I don't think state officials are doing it because no one has told me they have.

[Sheilbh]

You do. The US is considered a high trust society. But I think this kind of issue is part of what's reducing that - and perhaps explains a bit of the appeal of Trump (if it really is all people cheating each other all the time, then who better than to pick a mobster who only cares about loyalty as your guy).

How many Secretaries of State are Republican? It's their job to look after election security in their state but also in their political interest to uncover (and pursue) fraud because it would bolster the argument for what they want do.

It feels like you'd have a motivation for the people responsible to really dig into it - and yet there are very few incidents that end in prosecution. That seems to me the point where there is a choice in how you interpret it.

[Admiral Yi]

How many Secretaries of State are Republican? It's their job to look after election security in their state but also in their political interest to uncover (and pursue) fraud because it would bolster the argument for what they want do.

I agree, the motivation exists.  What I'm not sure exists are the means.  I do not believe there exists a national database of citizens that can be checked against voter rolls.  Obviously there is no database of illegal aliens.  Without these tools how would a zealous, conscientious Republican Secretary of State ferret out illegals or GCs who had voted?

[Admiral Yi]

Property can be taken for ANY public purpose as long as compensation is paid.

So you were in fact asking why no one in DC has the balls to buy Starlink.  Not sure what balls has to do with that.

[The Minsky Moment]

How many Secretaries of State are Republican? It's their job to look after election security in their state but also in their political interest to uncover (and pursue) fraud because it would bolster the argument for what they want do.

I agree, the motivation exists.  What I'm not sure exists are the means.  I do not believe there exists a national database of citizens that can be checked against voter rolls.  Obviously there is no database of illegal aliens.  Without these tools how would a zealous, conscientious Republican Secretary of State ferret out illegals or GCs who had voted?

That gets to the point. If the Republicans were serious, then they would first build a proper and truly accurate national database of citizens, complete with mandatory national ID cards.  They have no interest in doing that of course. Instead they passed a bill telling states to implement programs purporting to verify citizenship by ad hoc reference to a hodge podge of incomplete and partial databases.

There is no interest here in uncovering actual fraud nor is it about the now mythical beast of "zealous, conscientious Republican Secretary of State".  It's about using a bogus scare over a non-existent problem as an excuse to give legal sanction to openly suppress citizen voters.

[The Minsky Moment]

Property can be taken for ANY public purpose as long as compensation is paid.

So you were in fact asking why no one in DC has the balls to buy Starlink.  Not sure what balls has to do with that.

Whatever piece of human anatomy that is holding things up, let's fix that.  Because the moment Elon Musk personally intervened to limit the scope of use of Starlink by Ukraine, he took control over a significant piece of American foreign and defense policy.

[Admiral Yi]

Whatever piece of human anatomy that is holding things up, let's fix that.  Because the moment Elon Musk personally intervened to limit the scope of use of Starlink by Ukraine, he took control over a significant piece of American foreign and defense policy.

This particular piece of American foreign and defense policy was an act of individual charity. 

[Valmy]

Whatever piece of human anatomy that is holding things up, let's fix that.  Because the moment Elon Musk personally intervened to limit the scope of use of Starlink by Ukraine, he took control over a significant piece of American foreign and defense policy.

This particular piece of American foreign and defense policy was an act of individual charity. 

Another sign of the enormous danger we put ourselves in with these unaccountable and unelected people controlling massive amounts of the world's wealth. What happens when these "individuals" send their "charity" to our enemies? Billions of American dollars used to destroy our own people.

[Syt]

I'm sure the Invisible Hand will sort this out any day soon.

[Sophie Scholl]

Aren't most major media outlets in the US owned by GOP sympathizing oligarchs?

Conspiracy much?

Almost all "major media outlets" are all public companies, not owned by anyone in particular.  Disney(ABC), Comcast(NBC), Paramount(CBS), Warner Bros Discovery (CNN).

And not quite clear what you mean by "major media outlets" so I focused on the big TV channels.  But you can also look at NYT (NYT), Jeff Bezos/Amazon (Wash Post), Netflix, Apple, Sony... but again other than Bezos none controlled by any one oligarch, and in the case of Bezos he's definitely not a GOP sympathizer.

FOX is the only one you can say that about - controlled by the Murdoch family, who is Australian but yes GOP sympathizing.

So look I'm all here for media criticizing.  You can even argue that the way the US media covers the US election is in some ways benefitting Trump.  But it's definitely not because the media is "owned by GOP sympathizing oligarchs".

I'm pretty sure he's thinking of local news stations and large numbers of them being owned by one single conglomerate a la Sinclair Broadcast Group. John Oliver did a segment about them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvtNyOzGogc&ab_channel=LastWeekTonight

[Admiral Yi]

Another sign of the enormous danger we put ourselves in with these unaccountable and unelected people controlling massive amounts of the world's wealth. What happens when these "individuals" send their "charity" to our enemies? Billions of American dollars used to destroy our own people.

This is easy.  Either we make it legal or we make it illegal.

[The Brain]

Whatever piece of human anatomy that is holding things up, let's fix that.  Because the moment Elon Musk personally intervened to limit the scope of use of Starlink by Ukraine, he took control over a significant piece of American foreign and defense policy.

This particular piece of American foreign and defense policy was an act of individual charity. 

Another sign of the enormous danger we put ourselves in with these unaccountable and unelected people controlling massive amounts of the world's wealth. What happens when these "individuals" send their "charity" to our enemies? Billions of American dollars used to destroy our own people.

In Sweden that would be treason, punishable by up to life imprisonment.