"The August 2020 US Politics Thread is highly thought of, but nobody likes me. It can only be my personality. That's all."

Such as ever it has been.

Yeah, I mean, I don't disagree with any of that!

The remains of my Catholic faith get awakened when I sense despair coming. Help others.

yup

newsweek is garbage, one way to help others is to throw it away when you see it loose in the wild

birther stuff doesn't seem like an election winner in 2020 to me, but i guess no one lost money underestimating the average voter.

It didn't seem like the country would allow a moron like Trump to become President in 2016 and yet here we are

Newsweek was the sort of third-rate weekly I'd thumb through at the dentist's office years ago. It's that bad, eh

i think it was forbes-ified, like taken over by private equity and turned into minimum wage content mill.

as the poet said, Sad!

Yeah, Newsweek went online-only and is a clickbait farm now.

https://slate.com/technology/2018/02/what-went-wrong-at-newsweek-according-to-current-and-former-staffers.html

The problem is that people my age remember the actual magazine published under that name, and the takeover is not well known, so there's some stolen credibility the current owners of the brand get to use.

It didn't seem like the country would allow a moron like Trump to become President in 2016 and yet here we are

apropos in so many situations, eg they're out of milk at the store, your cat puked on your new shoes, funniest things to say at the moment of climax, etc

https://t.co/yknxYSIPNj pic.twitter.com/e8r2puVjiq

— Matt O (@annus_mirabilis) August 9, 2020

The guy who wrote the Newsweek piece raising the question of Kamala's eligibility wrote in 2016 that Ted Cruz (born in Canada) was definitely eligible to be president and that arguments to the contrary were "silly."

That's not the LOLliest thing about this kerfuffle. This is:

Eastman ran in the 2010 Republican primary as a candidate for attorney general; he lost to Steve Cooley, who lost to Kamala Harris in the general election.

FWIW to those concerned that it would simply sink out of sight, Trump's 'quiet part loud' Fox News interview seems to be blowing up across the major news outlets atm. I guess that doesn't preclude it from ultimately fading into the background anyway, but still.

i've lost track of his interviews. which was this one?

the one where he straight up admits he's defunding the USPS to stop people from voting

this might have been the "screaming under helicopter blades" variety? i'm not sure

this might have been the "screaming under helicopter blades" variety? i'm not sure

Nope; he said it on a call-in to his support group on Fox News' morning show.

I know no one in this thread cares about George Conway zings but I thought this was pretty funny

But Herman, I’m worried that Trump’s the one who’s nuts, and that his derangement and incompetence are getting people killed. Don’t you worry about this, too? https://t.co/vthz42EY6t

— George Conway (@gtconway3d) August 13, 2020

lol

Even NPR can't bothsides this shit away:

President Trump admitted in an interview he plans to block additional funding for the U.S. Postal Service in order to prevent increased voting by mail. https://t.co/5y70Hr7ikO

— NPR (@NPR) August 13, 2020

haha v nice

When the government abandons its people, it’s up to us to rise up and make a revolution. We’re fighting for dignity, for justice, and for our future. Join us at https://t.co/NY8pZcBcFE. #GreenNewDealmaker pic.twitter.com/4V558XjrVw

— Ed Markey (@EdMarkey) August 13, 2020

aight!

love the last line, eat shit joe kennedy

ed is a good dude. i've been phone-banking for him, and i've had a TON of people bust out with weird stories about stuff he's gotten done for them. unfortunately, he can't seem to connect with BIPOC voters, who are pulling hard (and inexplicably) for kennedy.

my theory is that kennedy geared up the campaign machine b/c he thought he'd take warren's seat. but she doesn't need her seat filled, so he's gotta burn through great-grandpa's money somehow.

i know we all worry about joe manchin in a democratic-led senate, but there's not much we can do about that. if you want to do something that might make a difference (particularly on healthcare), send some money to Jess Scarane who is running against anti-M4A chris coons in the delaware senate primary in 4 weeks. very cheap race (primary, small state), so $25 here probably goes further than $500 in the presidential election or the wish fulfilment mcconnell/graham senate races.

https://theintercept.com/2019/11/18/chris-coons-delaware-primary-jess-scarane/

$ -> https://secure.actblue.com/donate/jess-website

Jess Scarane is great, idk what chance she has but her politics are very good and she's very online

thanks for the heads up. would love to seem some good ppl sneak in under the cover of a high-stakes general

also, fucking looool at G Conway tweet

i can't find any polling and i know almost nothing about DE but apparently this endorsement doesn't count for nothing https://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/2020/08/05/delaware-jess-scarane-right-choice-u-s-senator/3291017001/

Ken Olin, if you dont know, starred in a medium-sized hit TV series 30 years ago

I think a lot of what we do here is concerned with showing politics is a cold business for cold people. That is the price of progress. You can believe in a politician, support them, even celebrate them without this garbage, which is as endemic in parts of the left as the right. https://t.co/Mh6QNZk1qO

— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) August 13, 2020

Yeah, except Trump groped his daughter at her wedding.

https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/ed8/cba/c72c321ee6f2fd1cf9e28f58901fa82b09-26-wiseguy.2x.rvertical.w330.jpg

https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/ed8/cba/c72c321ee6f2fd1cf9e28f58901fa82b09-26-wiseguy.2x.rvertical.w330.jpg

Wrong thread

I dunno, seems like the right thread.

for some reason i don't think nixon would use the word "endemic." i don't know why, it just seemed like a false note in that tweet.

personally I think the real Nixon would be dead

“Finally, I am pleased to report that one of the most successful efforts ever undertaken to improve world health will soon realize its goal-the global eradication of smallpox. This is an activity originally endorsed and consistently supported by the United States. The Eighteenth World Health Assembly in 1965, at the initiative of the U.S. Delegation, adopted a resolution declaring worldwide eradication of smallpox a major World Health Organization objective. When the program began in 1966, 45 countries reported smallpox. At the end of 1973, this number had been reduced to 11. In 1966, smallpox was endemic in 25 countries. Today it is endemic in only four. In the Americas, where smallpox was a devastating disease for centuries, not a case has been reported since April 1971.”

personally I think the real Nixon would be dead

Tell us another happy tale, please. Which level of hell is Reagan currently roasting in?

re: anecdotal postal data posted upthread

Our nieces 400 miles away mailed us 2 stamped envelopes 3 weeks ago and they have yet to arrive.

Arrived today. Postmarked 7/21. All throughout pandemic we'd received these letters in 2-3 days and these last ones took 3 weeks + 2 days to travel 400 miles.

Sent my MN primary vote by recorded fast five-day delivery from the UK on the 5th, showing up as ‘not arrived, not counted’ on Hennepin County voter website. FFS.

Per my dad, a devoted USPS employee – here's what's being done in the name of "efficiency": pic.twitter.com/S84JO2EhAY

— Daniel Rice (@daniel_b_rice) August 14, 2020

I know 538 but this is very useful if you’re trying to figure out how to vote (postal, early, etc.)

http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/how-to-vote-2020/

TRUMP: Mail is illegal now

DEMOCRATS: Fam, smash that RT if you agree someone should do something about this

— Jason O. Gilbert (@gilbertjasono) August 14, 2020

Holy cow: The *GAO* has determined that Chad Wolf was not lawfully named the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, and that @HomelandKen (who already is using an inappropriate title) wasn't lawfully appointed even to his *proper* position at DHS.

This is a remarkably big deal. https://t.co/qnR60CCbfs

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) August 14, 2020

chad wolf