So a US court just struck down another Trump action, namely, one that would make it harder for unemployed people to get food stamps. You know, the type of person that food stamps were made for?
Cited here is the judge's ruling:
Well, close enough.Because coronavirus
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That's a lucky break, right?
Since we can't call out Trolls and Bad Faith posters and the Ignore function doesn't actually ignore it. Add
"mmo-champion.com##li.postbitignored"
to your ublock or adblock filter to actually ignore ignored posters. Now just need a way to ignore responses to them as well.
California isn’t splitting up any time soon.
The only groups in California that are for splitting up are republican groups... the poor rural republicans that want the “liberal elite” to stop telling them what to do, and the rich coastal Republicans that want to stop having to pay taxes to support the first group.
I’d rather see the electoral college abolished in favor of the popular vote before DC and Puerto Rico statehood, which would be colossal logistical undertakings and not ultimately address the electoral college problem.
Last edited by Kaleredar; 2020-10-19 at 06:07 AM.
“Do not lose time on daily trivialities. Do not dwell on petty detail. For all of these things melt away and drift apart within the obscure traffic of time. Live well and live broadly. You are alive and living now. Now is the envy of all of the dead.” ~ Emily3, World of Tomorrow
Words to live by.
It's not really about the electoral college so much as it's about doing the right thing. Not so incidentally, it would also add 4 more Senate seats and 5 more House seats that would hopefully vote Democratic.
The solution for the electoral college will likely come (if it comes) from the states, not Congress, anyway.
"The difference between stupidity
and genius is that genius has its limits."
--Alexandre Dumas-fils
On that same token, I’d leave the issue of Puerto Rico and DC statehood up to the people living there. I don’t think that’s a hard-line item Biden would need to push for, other than being open to it happening.
At any rate, the electoral college has been nothing but trouble, and it can’t really be dealt with in a piecemeal manner. The whole system is antiquated, unnecessary, and will really only ever exist to abrogate the will of the American people.
“Do not lose time on daily trivialities. Do not dwell on petty detail. For all of these things melt away and drift apart within the obscure traffic of time. Live well and live broadly. You are alive and living now. Now is the envy of all of the dead.” ~ Emily3, World of Tomorrow
Words to live by.
My understanding is that statehood is overwhelmingly popular in DC, and is favored with a slight majority in Puerto Rico. With Puerto Rico though the main alternative desire to statehood is not staying as a territory but being given independence, but since that has virtually no chance at all of happening the right thing to do is make them a state. In theory one could do the same with the other territories (Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands), but unlike Puerto Rico they all have extremely small populations (Puerto Rico has about 3.5 million people, while the next largest - Guam - has only 168k).
Last edited by DarkTZeratul; 2020-10-19 at 06:53 AM.
That's the thing, though. It has to be approved on by both sides: the territory legislature as well as Congress. And for the last 200 years or so, states would only enter existence as roughly offsetting pairs. Hawaii for the Democrats and Alaska for the Republicans, for example. It's been almost the only way to get enough bipartisan voting to allow it to pass Congress.
But with the Democrats looking to hopefully have control of the WH, Senate, and House, and coming off the complete and utter SHITSHOW of the Trump Administration, the political desire might just be strong enough to use that advantage to bring some additions officially into the fold. Because this might be the only time.
I mean, what reason does the GoP have to ever play ball on new statehood? There's nothing in it for them. Any new territory would likely vote Democrat. And no existing state is going to conscience splitting.
The NPVIC is not really a "piecemeal manner". It's a simple and elegant solution. And again, doing away with the Electoral College entirely would require an Amendment, which would be inherently the same process of states voting independently.
"The difference between stupidity
and genius is that genius has its limits."
--Alexandre Dumas-fils
Could be. A high number of cases with a low number of deaths is still good news. Hope it stays low.
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And now, a demonstration of the difference between the candidates.
Trump: If Biden wins, he will listen to the scientists!
Biden: If I win, I will listen to the scientists!
Incidentally, Trump claimed that, if Biden were in charge, we'd still be in a depression. Leaving out the part, of course, that the reason we're in one is because of Trump.
Trump also said the Christmas season will be cancelled if Biden wins.
"Har har. What did Trump really say?"
That's desperation. Also, how many dead people are worth it to say "Merry Christmas"? Which, by the way, Biden can't stop you from saying. That's illegal.The Christmas season will be cancelled. Look, remember I said we’re going to bring back Christmas? The name. Remember? We brought it back. Remember?
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Something to (not) look forward to: 8 million people have filed with the CDC's emergency eviction blocking thing that somehow works.
On a typical year, 3.6 million evictions take place. So, well over double.
Folly and fakery have always been with us... but it has never before been as dangerous as it is now, never in history have we been able to afford it less. - Isaac Asimov
Every damn thing you do in this life, you pay for. - Edith Piaf
The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. - Orwell
No amount of belief makes something a fact. - James Randi