"After centuries of picking one candidate per office, should voters rank their preferences instead?" by Matt Stout Globe Staff, August 16, 2020
Beyond picking winners this fall, Massachusetts voters will be asked to consider something very meta: Should they change how they choose them?
After centuries of residents picking one candidate per office, a question on November’s ballot proposes they instead rank their preferred choices in both primary and general elections for an array of elected seats. Should it pass, Massachusetts would have the second statewide — and most extensive — ranked-choice voting system in the country.
The question literally stinks.
Implementing the new system would mean the person who receives the most first-place votes in a race with several candidates could, in fact, lose.
The initiative, listed as Question 2 on the ballot, has been endorsed by more than half of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, the head of the Boston’s NAACP branch, and former governors Deval Patrick, a Democrat, and Bill Weld, a Republican. The Ranked Choice Voting 2020 Committee behind the initiative is well funded, taking at least $1 million in donations from out-of-state groups, including one founded by a billionaire and former Enron trader. No formal opposition group has lined up against it, and the concept appears to be gaining momentum in the Northeast, winning overwhelming approval from New York City voters in November, but while having voters rank their choices has roots in other countries, and even in Hollywood’s Oscar voting, there are divergent studies about its impact on minority candidates and Black voters. There are also arguments about whether a more complicated voting system would turn off the electorate, undercutting its theoretical benefits.
As if the voting $y$tem in this country wasn't corrupt enough, the Globe is now endorsing this madness!
A MassINC/WBUR poll released last week found voters genuinely split: 36 percent say they supported the ballot question — and 36 percent opposed it. More than one-quarter of those surveyed said they were undecided.
“I’m not sure it’s a bad idea. I’m just not sure it’s a good enough idea to vote on it,” said Eitan Hersh, an associate professor of political science at Tufts University who studies voting rights and the administration of elections. “There’s a million caveats.”
What's odd is the Globe has never liked referendum questions before, ever, but they are now promoting the 1 person, 7 votes scheme!
Ranked-choice voting, otherwise known as instant-runoff voting, is straightforward on its face. Voters rank one or more candidates on their ballot, and if a candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, he or she is the winner, but if no one does, the candidate with the fewest votes is stripped away, and those voters are reallocated based on their second choice.
The process goes for as many rounds as it takes for one candidate to earn more than 50 percent.
(Blog author shakes head at this insanity and potential for so much abuse. Hey, what do you know, the favored candidate of the elie, who finished fifth, won! How about that!?)
The new system, if approved by voters on Nov. 3, would be used for primary and general elections for statewide offices — governor, attorney general, and more — as well as legislative, congressional, and district attorney offices starting in 2022. It would not apply to presidential elections or municipal elections, supporters say.
It’s also not theoretical. Two years after voters in Maine adopted ranked-choice voting in 2016, making it the first state in the country to do so, Representative Bruce Poliquin, a Republican, lost his seat to Democrat Jared Golden despite getting more first-place votes. Poliquin failed to reach a majority, and Golden later prevailed, boosted by second- and third-place votes from those whose first choice were two independent candidates.
Now you know why the Globe and Democraps are for it. Easier to fraud you with, my dear.
The system is designed to help eliminate “spoilers” — those third-party candidates who pull enough votes from one candidate that it throws the election to another. Pam Wilmot, of Common Cause Massachusetts, said it also provides a disincentive for negative campaigning, prodding candidates to appeal to a broader base of voters.
Well, he has already done that and is now on your side.
“We will be a leader in the nation if we adopt this,” Wilmot said. “It’s not an effort that helps Democrats or helps Republicans or plays into that partisan divide. It’s about electing the candidate that has the most support.”
Even if it is wafer thin!
Representative Ayanna Pressley, who co-sponsored federal ranked-choice voting legislation, said it’s an important part of having a government that “most accurately reflects the will of every voter.”
In Massachusetts, Democratic primaries for open seats often draw an array of candidates.....
That is where I lost interest since there are literally no Republicans running for seats (some choice, huh?), in ballots that look like they are from the Soviet Union with no opposition candidates at all.
Why would you need ranked voting for that?
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Related:
"Thousands of Puerto Ricans on Sunday got a second chance to vote for the first time, a week after delayed and missing ballots marred the original primaries. The opening of at least one voting center in the coastal town of Loíza was delayed by more than one hour as dozens of voters grumbled about having to stand in the heat with masks over their faces....."
Trump takes Puerto Rico over the mask issue?
There are no electoral votes there, but there are rumors that New York may go red!
There are divergent studies about the impact of ranked-choice voting on minority candidates and Black voters (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff).
Me on election day.
I won't be mailing it:
"Massachusetts may join effort to prevent US Postal Service cuts" by Matt Stout Globe Staff, August 16, 2020
Massachusetts’s top prosecutor is discussing a lawsuit with other state attorneys general to prevent the Trump administration from potentially further curtailing US Postal Service operations amid an expected rush of voting by mail in this fall’s general election.
The litigation, which could be announced as early as this week, adds to the rush of measures state and federal officials are weighing as President Trump mounts repeated assaults on the expansion of voting by mail, claiming without evidence that it’s a magnet for fraud and that it could de-legitimize the election.
Attorney General Maura Healey said in a phone interview Sunday she is in discussions with several other states’ attorneys about “all available” legal options after Louis DeJoy, the new postmaster general and a leading Republican donor, made a series of organizational changes within the Postal Service, stoking fears voters who submit ballots by mail could be disenfranchised this fall.....
Her grandstanding has become a real turnoff, especially with all the malfeasance in this state that she neglects.
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All the mail hubbub is about laying the basis for a legal challenge were Trump to prevail in November, and here is proof:
"Pelosi to recall House for Postal Service vote as Democrats press for dejoy to testify" by Emily Cochrane and Catie Edmondson New York Times, August 16, 2020
WASHINGTON — Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California announced Sunday that she will call the House back from its annual summer recess for a vote this week on legislation that will block the Postal Service from enforcing any changes to policy that was in place at the start of the year.
The House was not scheduled to return for votes until Sept. 14, but the vote will most likely be on Saturday, according to a senior Democratic aide familiar with the plans. Representative Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the majority leader, is expected to announce the final schedule Monday.
“Lives, livelihoods and the life of our American democracy are under threat from the president,” Pelosi said in a letter to Democratic lawmakers. “That is why I am calling upon the House to return to session later this week.”
She is one of the worst women in the world right now, disingenuous and duplicitous, and it would be a wonderful thing he if she had to turn over that gavel in 2021.
The abrupt return to Washington comes as Democrats called on top Postal Service officials Sunday to testify on Capitol Hill this month about recent policies that they warned pose “a grave threat to the integrity of the election” and underscores the growing alarm over changes the Postal Service is enforcing less than three months before a general election in which many Americans will most likely cast their votes by mail. Some of the changes include ending overtime pay or any changes that would delay mail.
It is unclear whether the Senate will take up the legislation, which would require the agency to maintain current service standards until Jan. 1, 2021, or until after the pandemic is over.
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, said Sunday that he planned to introduce similar legislation in his chamber. Speaking at an event in New York, he said he would also demand that Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, bring senators back to Capitol Hill to vote on a similar stand-alone provision if Pelosi passed her own version in the House.
OMFG, no stand alone check for you because of them!!
(expletive deleted)
The move reflects growing alarm among Democrats and voting-rights advocates about changes enacted under Louis DeJoy, the postmaster general and a Trump megadonor, that have resulted in delays in delivery and curtailed service. They said the changes undermine casting ballots by mail when millions are expected to do so because of the coronavirus pandemic, pointing to the Postal Service’s decision to tell states that it may not be able to meet their deadlines for delivering last-minute mail-in ballots.
“The postmaster general and top Postal Service leadership must answer to the Congress and the American people as to why they are pushing these dangerous new policies that threaten to silence the voices of millions just months before the election,” the lawmakers said Sunday. DeJoy had been scheduled to appear before the House Oversight Committee in late September, and lawmakers have already requested information about the changes, like cutting overtime and removing mail-sorting machines, but Pelosi and Representative Carolyn Maloney of New York, chair of the House Oversight Committee, pressed for DeJoy and Robert Duncan, chair of the Postal Service Board of Governors, to testify Aug. 24. Schumer and Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, said Senate Democrats had begun investigating the slowdown in mail deliveries.
The changes under DeJoy, who has significant financial interests in the Postal Service’s rivals and contractors, have prompted concerns about its politicization.
(Blog author grunts and snorts in incredulity)
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Related:
"Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who has come under fire for his continuing financial ties to a company that does business with the Postal Service, received $1.2 million to $7 million in income last year from that firm, according to financial disclosure forms reviewed by the New York Times. DeJoy continues to hold $25 million to $50 million in that company, XPO Logistics, where he served as the chief executive until 2015 and was a board member until 2018. Documents filed with the Office of Government Ethics show that DeJoy also received millions of dollars in rental payments from XPO through leasing agreements at buildings that he owns. The revelations are likely to further fuel scrutiny of DeJoy, a major donor to President Trump, who has made a series of cost-cutting moves and other changes at the Postal Service that Democrats warn are aimed at undermining the 2020 election....."
Democraps and the pre$$ are doing a fine job of undermining it themselves before a vote is even cast.
Also see:
US Post Office postponing mailbox replacement effort for 90 days due to customer concerns
You happy now as voting begins this week?
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
On to the convention:
"An unconventional convention: Democratic event will attempt to recreate in-person feel" by Michael Scherer Washington Post, August 16, 2020
Faced with a complex problem, Democrats decided to go big, aiming for a solution that has more in common with Net-flix, Facebook Live, and the cheering fan screens courtside in Orlando’s NBA bubble than the C-Span-style cattle call typical of past national party gatherings.
Over four nights starting Monday, a behind-the-scenes crew of about 400 with operation centers in New York, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, and Wilmington, Del., plans to broadcast to the nation hundreds of live video feeds from living rooms, national monuments, and stages around the country, according to interviews with three people involved in planning the event.
That includes dozens of speakers who have been mailed video-production kits — with basic equipment such as microphones, lighting, and advanced routers — so they can produce and transmit their own shots. Other homebound delegates will be dialed in to quick feeds of the live speeches, so their real-time reactions can be broadcast to the country as if they were in the same room as the speakers.
Who in the world, really, is going to want to watch this farce?
In two-hour nightly chunks, only one hour of which the broadcast networks have vowed to air, the live footage will be mixed with a roughly equal share of prerecorded performances, minidocumentaries, and speeches. Artists such as Billie Eilish, Prince Royce, and the band formerly known as the Dixie Chicks (now simply the Chicks) have already filed video of their acts.
I used to like those girls, but no longer, and how Democraps think celebrity is going to help them is beyond me.
For a typically antiquated and long-winded event, the remade unconventional convention could set a new standard for national political gatherings, which have evolved since the 1960s from their roots as actual smoke-filled rooms where presidents were picked to suspenseless televised spectacles that even partisans struggled to justify.
With each passing day the virtual Matrix becomes more and more "real."
The new circus could also flop, especially if less-partisan viewers decide to dismiss the carefully prepared set piece spectacles as an overlong propaganda film.
Took all of about two seconds to see it.
‘‘This is not a question of people being interested or people watching. I think it is a question of what gets through the filter,’’ said Erik Smith, a Democratic consultant who helped organize the past three conventions but isn’t involved in this one. ‘‘The real undecided swing voters are typically the ones finding it on network television.’’
The event’s producer since 1992, Ricky Kirshner, promises that it will not be predictable television, because far more has been left to chance than other coronavirus-era, social-media-driven specials, such as May’s ‘‘Graduate Together’’ or the ‘‘One World: Together At Home’’ broadcast in April. Even the 2020 NFL Draft, a live television show that roped together reaction shots from more than 100 home-recording kits, did not try to juggle as many balls at once.
Kirshner has been around long enough to know that conventions tend to be remembered for what was not planned, such as Al Gore’s forceful kiss of his wife, Tipper, at the Democratic gathering in 2000 or actor Clint Eastwood’s bizarre conversation with an empty chair at the 2012 Republican convention.
That sunk that pervert Romney, right?
‘‘Anything can happen. It is not scripted, I can tell you that,’’ said Kirshner, a veteran of staging Super Bowl halftime shows, the Tony Awards, and Kennedy Center Honors.....
Is lying the way you want to start of the production?
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Oddly enough, the article never mentioned Joe Biden or his acceptance speech, which reads something like "I’m lonesome. I write books for a living. The pandemic sent me to the basement, which by definition is isolating. Thank God for Cotuit....."
Also see:
Michelle Obama caps first night of DNC with rebuke of Trump
She was the headline performer last night, and described the pedophile pervert Biden as a “profoundly decent man who was a terrific vice president,” as the Democraps were seeking to "inject some family fun into an otherwise serious two-hour video montage, as the campaign hosted drive-in viewing stations in six states, much like drive-in movies, where viewers could watch on a big screen from the safety of their vehicles. There were also many online watch parties featuring celebrities and elected officials to make the experience more interactive."
The claim they have a big tent amidst all the hatred and intolerance, and did you notice there was no Harris bump in the polls as Democrats are counting on the ‘rage moms’ to win this election (he can't be bothered with constitutional technicalities or conspiracy theories regarding where and by whom they were born).
Meanwhile, Trump is ramping up his campaign schedule during DNC, tweeting purported audio of Biden's call with Ukraine and claiming the “only way we’re going to lose this election is if the election is rigged,” with no evidence the specter of significant voting fraud.
Of course, before it was no fraud at all and now it is insignificant fraud as the Globe has no idea what he is talking about, and what if herd immunity is a lot closer than they said because of data glitches that downplay the severity of the current outbreak just as schools are deciding whether to reopen, and the faulty test results that are generating false positive results for the coronavirus, with most of those receiving the false results residents of nursing homes or assisted-living facilities?
Related:
"COVID-19 cases in US nursing homes jumped nearly 80 percent earlier this summer, driven by rampant spread across the South and much of the West, according to an industry report released Monday. “The case numbers suggest the problem is far from solved,” said Tamara Konetzka, a research professor at the University of Chicago, who specializes in long-term care. She was not involved with the study. Long-term care facilities account for less than 1 percent of the US population, but more than 40 percent of COVID-19 deaths, according to the COVID Tracking Project. The situation is a politically sensitive issue for President Trump..... "
Why?
He isn't the one who order sick patients into nursing homes!
It was the greatest governors in history that did that, but it was "only a matter of time before the coronavirus entered the nursing homes, right?
And what is this from Zoe Greenberg of the Globe Staff, Joe Kennedy belonged to a racist frat in college as a new poll finds Markey with a comfortable lead as Kennedy hits back over attacks on family?
Kennedy should ask Morse about the anatomy of a political attack as Democratic committee members call for probe of state party leaders.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
Democrats sure make a lot of noise, but it is the silent voter that will decide the election:
"‘Hidden’ Trump voters exist, but how much impact will they have?" by Jeremy W. Peters New York Times, August 16, 2020
Stephanie Kinsley of Nevada protests against the passage of a mail-in voting bill during a Nevada Republican Party demonstration at the Grant Sawyer State Office Building on August 4, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to sue Nevada on Monday after Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak signed a bill mandating that all registered voters in the state be able to vote by mail in the November election to help keep people safe from the coronavirus (COVID-19). Trump accused Sisolak of trying to use the pandemic to "steal" the election after the state legislature approved the bill on Sunday. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
They finally isolated COVID!
MOORESVILLE, N.C. — It wasn’t the most obvious spot for a flag that people usually buy to make a big statement, but there it was, peeking out from the inside wall of a garage, the white “Trump 2020” lettering just visible from the street in this suburban Charlotte neighborhood.
From the front porch, Tiffany Blythe, a stay-at-home mom, said that she and many of the people she knows would be voting for President Trump in November — but that many of them were nervous talking about it, and that hesitation is why Blythe doesn’t trust the polls that are now forecasting losses this fall for Trump and other Republicans in North Carolina and beyond.
“I’m not buying it,” Blythe said. “There are a lot of silent voters, and more will come out before the election. I think a lot of states are turning red from blue, but you don’t hear about that in the media.”
I think Trump is going to win in a landslide this time.
The belief that Americans aren’t getting the real story about Trump’s chances for reelection has taken hold among many of his supporters. For Trump loyalists, it is an appealing story and one with some validity: The news media, which largely failed to anticipate Trump’s victory in 2016, are undercounting his voters, many of whom are even more reluctant today than they were four years ago to declare themselves in his camp.
That is what is known as free speech, freedom, and democracy in this near-communist hellhole we find ourselves, and see you in the camps if Biden wins.
Trump makes this argument often; on Saturday evening, he told reporters that “we have a silent majority the likes of which nobody has seen.” One of his pollsters, John McLaughlin, has even put a name to this supposed flaw in the data, predicting that the “hidden Trump voter” will prove the news media wrong, but the idea that there are substantial numbers of Trump voters who will emerge from hiding on Election Day, large enough to sway the outcome, is not supported by the latest public opinion research — or by a proper understanding of what happened in past elections where the voter surveys were off, said pollsters who work for Republican and Democratic candidates.
I'm one, and I didn't even vote in the 2016 general.
I will vote for Trump even if he is the death of me.
After all, look at the alternative.
This does not mean that Joe Biden’s lead, with the most recent national polls putting him ahead by as much as 10 points, won’t tighten, and public opinion specialists said there is growing evidence that Americans across the spectrum have become more skittish about sharing their political preferences outside a trusted group of like-minded people, but it would be a huge leap to conclude that the country’s tense political dynamics are causing people to lie to pollsters in large enough numbers to explain Trump’s poor standing.
Keep reassuring and comforting yourself with such nonsense like in 2016, pre$$.
“There are many people who are voting for Trump who are in environments where it’s politically untenable to admit it because he’s become so toxic,” said Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster, “but I’m still not convinced that not telling your business associate or the people in your Rotary Club or the people in your country club is the same thing as not telling a pollster.”
The problem with mail-in ballots is there will be no exit polls, making the job of electoral fraud by Democrats much easier.
The possibility that Americans are hiding their true intentions from pollsters has provided an irresistible sense of intrigue to presidential elections before, even though there are few confirmed examples where it made a difference. Political specialists compare such speculation to the quadrennial predictions of a brokered convention, which has not occurred since 1952.
“The idea that people lie, it’s an interesting theory, and it’s not like it’s completely off-the-wall,” said David Winston, a pollster who works with congressional Republicans, “but it’s obviously a very complicated thing to try to prove, because what do you do? Ask them, ‘Are you lying?’”
What isn't a theory is NEWSPAPERS LIE!
That's a KNOWN FACT!
Winston said that many proponents of the theory about hidden Trump voters rely on what is known as the Bradley effect, named after Tom Bradley, the former mayor of Los Angeles who lost the 1982 California governor’s race despite polling consistently ahead of his white opponent. Among political scientists, the theory that emerged to explain the gap between the polls and the election results was that white voters were worried about appearing racist if they did not say they were supporting Bradley, who was Black, but some have questioned the validity of the Bradley effect, including Blair Levin, one of Bradley’s former advisers, who has argued that Bradley lost because of a complicated mix of factors, among them a robust Republican absentee voting campaign and an unpopular gun control initiative on the ballot, both of which turned out a surge of Republican voters.
If voters were indeed afraid of voicing their support for the president, Winston said, other numbers in the poll would reflect that, like seeing an uptick in the percentage of undecided voters rather than a rise in support for Biden. “It would not be people saying they are voting for Biden,” he said, “but that they’re undecided.”
I'm afraid to say anything in support of the president around here.
While the effects of a hidden Trump vote are certainly overstated by the president’s allies, that does not mean that no evidence exists that polls are missing some of his voters. A small percentage of his support is probably being undercounted and has been in the past, public opinion specialists said, and in states like North Carolina, where the margin of victory could be narrow, the undercount could make a difference between a poll being right or wrong.
“We assume the race will tighten, and as that happens, the size of the shy Trump vote could very easily come into play,” said Neil Newhouse, a Republican who led Mitt Romney’s polling in 2012.
And with it, the crucial electoral college votes!
In 2016, Newhouse said that Trump tended to score 2 or 3 points higher in phone surveys when respondents were asked to press a button to record their preferences rather than talk to a live person. In postelection polling, when he asked people if they had ever been unwilling to talk about their vote, 35 percent of Trump voters said yes, and they tended to be women from Democratic-leaning counties.
Uh-oh, Democrats!
Better put the fires out in those cities!
Newhouse has picked up further evidence of such reluctance recently. In polls he conducted late last month in North Carolina and Iowa, he found that one-quarter to one-third of voters answered “yes” when asked if they knew someone who is voting for Trump but would not say so to anyone but their closest friends.
“This totally confirms the notion of ‘shy Trump voters,’” Newhouse said, but, he added, if polls are undercounting some Trump voters — a group that tends to be uniquely expressive and adamant about their support for the president — no one can say by how much, and in any case, pollsters said they have corrected one of the biggest mistakes they made in 2016, when they failed to account for the high numbers of voters without college degrees who turned out, many of whom voted for Trump, and they are including a larger pool of possible voters in surveys — not just people who say they are likely to vote, as pollsters often do — because they anticipate historic turnout.
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They watch FOX, too, and don't read the Globe.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
Time for a poll check:
"Joe Biden maintains a solid lead over President Trump on the eve of the Democratic National Convention, according to polls that at least partly reflected his choice of California Senator Kamala Harris as running mate. Biden was up by 9 percentage points, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Sunday, and by 10 points in a CBS News poll of likely voters nationwide. The RealClearPolitics average of general election polls, which includes the latest surveys, shows Biden leading by 7.9 points. In 11 battleground states polled by NBC/WSJ — Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — Biden was up a combined 7 points, 49 percent to 42 percent. The former vice president leads Trump on most major issues, including on who would better handle the coronavirus, while the president maintains a double-digit lead on handling the economy. A majority of potential Biden voters, 58 percent, say their support is based more on their feelings against Trump. By contrast, 74 percent of Trump voters cite their support for the president, NBC said. The NBC/WSJ poll was conducted Aug. 9-12 among 900 registered voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points. The CBS survey was conducted by YouGov, with 2,210 registered voters surveyed Aug. 12-14. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points. Separately, an ABC News/Washington Post survey showed 54 percent of voters approve of Biden’s election of Harris as his running mate, including 86 percent of Democrats, 25 percent of Republicans, and 52 percent of independents. CBS polling showed that 61 percent of Democrats said adding Harris to the ticket improved Biden’s chances of winning. Some 53 percent of ‘‘very liberal’’ voters were enthusiastic about Harris, and another 32 percent were satisfied with the choice, CBS said. Among ‘‘somewhat liberal’’ voters, 50 percent were enthusiastic and 36 percent were satisfied."
So says Bloomberg News!
Trump may be peeling away some of the support as I type:
"President Trump said Saturday that he would consider pardoning Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who faced criminal charges after leaking classified documents about vast government surveillance. “There are many, many people — it seems to be a split decision — many people think that he should be somehow be treated differently and other people think he did very bad things,” Trump said during a news conference at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J. “I’m going to take a very good look at it.” The remarks signal a shift for the president, who repeatedly denigrated Snowden as a “traitor” and a “spy who should be executed” in the years before his election. The disclosures by Snowden, who sought asylum in Russia in 2013, set off a broad debate about surveillance and privacy. Critics have accused Snowden of treason for revealing classified information while privacy and civil liberties advocates have praised him for exposing the scope of the government’s surveillance programs, which included sweeping up phone records of American citizens and eavesdropping on foreign leaders. Speculation about a pardon for Snowden has grown since the president commented on the case in an interview with the New York Post on Thursday. “There are a lot of people that think that he is not being treated fairly,” Trump said in the interview. “I mean, I hear that.” For Snowden, a pardon would be a chance to return to the United States. In 2013, he was charged with violating the Espionage Act, which carries a prison sentence. As long as he faces those charges, Snowden has said, he will not return to the United States. Human rights groups urged President Obama to pardon Snowden, but they had no success."
Weren't the Obama people great, and where's Assange?
Can he get a pardon, too?
The Pendley finally swinging?
"President Trump intends to withdraw the nomination of William Perry Pendley to head the Bureau of Land Management, a senior administration official said Saturday — much to the relief of environmentalists who insisted the longtime advocate of selling federal lands should not be overseeing them. Pendley, a former oil industry and property rights attorney from Wyoming, has been acting as the director of the agency for more than a year under temporary orders from Interior Secretary David Bernhardt. Democrats alleged the temporary orders were an attempt to skirt the nomination process, and Montana Governor Steve Bullock and conservation groups have filed lawsuits to have Pendley removed from office. Trump announced Pendley’s nomination to become the bureau’s director in June. A senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter, confirmed Saturday that the president intended to withdraw that nomination. “Good!” Bullock, a Democrat, tweeted Saturday. “William Perry Pendley wants to sell off our public lands — and has no business being in charge of them.” The bureau oversees nearly a quarter-billion public acres in the US West and much of the nation’s onshore oil and gas development. The White House did not offer an explanation for the decision, which is not expected to become official until the Senate returns to session."
Related:
Trump administration finalizes plan to open Arctic refuge to drilling
That's because COVID woes have put the US car industry’s remarkable rebound at risk.
EPA approaches property owners about Charles River runoff
They have since banned swimming in it:
"Two public swimming pools in Lawrence were closed on Sunday due to possible COVID-19 exposure, according to a pair of statements released by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. The department announced the closures of the Geisler Memorial and Lt. Colonel Edward J. Higgins swimming pools in identical statements posted to Twitter Sunday afternoon. Each pool was closed due to individuals “at the facility coming into close contact with someone who recently tested positive for COVID-19,” according to the statements. The facilities will be “deep cleaned and sanitized.” The pools were closed “effective immediately,” the statements said, and will remain so “until further notice.” The closure of the Higgins pool was announced on Twitter at 12:22 p.m. Sunday. The post announcing the closure of the Geisler pool came about 20 minutes later. No further information was immediately available."
They also needed the water to put out a stubborn’ 4-alarm fire in Groveland.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
UPDATES:
I'm told Michelle Obama stole the show, and Bernie Sanders covered Biden’s left flank by making it clear to his supporters that they need to join him in getting behind Biden, who doesn't seem to have the horses.
"Governor Wanda Vázquez of Puerto Rico conceded defeat Sunday night to Pedro R. Pierluisi, a former congressional representative who briefly served as the island’s governor last year. The results came a week after the primary was delayed because elections officials failed to deliver ballots to a majority of precincts. Vázquez is a Republican, and Pierluisi a Democrat, but both belong to the New Progressive Party, which supports statehood for Puerto Rico. Pierluisi will face Mayor Charlie Delgado of Isabela, a town on the island’s northwestern coast, in the November general election. When it comes to mainland politics, Delgado is not registered as a Democrat or a Republican. He won the nomination for the Popular Democratic Party, which supports Puerto Rico’s status as a US commonwealth, after defeating Senator Eduardo Bhatia and Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz of San Juan. Cruz became well known outside of Puerto Rico after she blasted President Trump for his administration’s response to Hurricane Maria in 2017. The Trump administration had made overtures to Vázquez in recent months to try to show a federal commitment to storm recovery. Vázquez became governor a year ago after former governor Ricardo A. Rosselló resigned after huge protests....."
That means the heat is on Biden, even if "the relentlessly hot weather conditions at the spot support such an extreme reading, so much of the verification effort will be looking at how the measurement was taken and the sensor itself."
Related:
"President Trump’s jet was nearly hit by what appeared to be a small drone as it approached an airport near Washington Sunday night, according to several people aboard Air Force One. The device, which was yellow and black and shaped like a cross, was off the right side of the plane. It was seen by several passengers on the jet shortly before the plane touched down at 5:54 p.m. The Secret Service didn’t immediately respond on Monday to a request to confirm the reports. The North American Aerospace Defense Command, which coordinates air security issues in North America, referred questions to the Secret Service. The Federal Aviation Administration referred questions on the matter to the Air Force."
First a shooting at the White House, and now this?!
I drone invades the most-protected airspace in the world with a "no big deal" attitude from the Trump-hating pre$$ as they get the run-around from official authority?
Be careful at the rallies, please, Mr. President, and use only those agents you trust.
I fear for him, folks, for he is being sent messages and such a thing would be a tragic disaster for our country. The so-called Deep State already killed one president. We don't need another.
Related(?):
Trump eyes White House funeral for brother, Robert
Another signal to him to toe the line or, you know?
Whatever you do, Mr. President, stay out of New York City.
Florida is the place you want to be:
"In a congressional race where an acolyte of Roger Stone who’s been banned by Twitter and Facebook may not even be the most unconventional candidate, voters in the Republican primary for Florida’s 21st Congressional District have a rich array of choices. The six people competing in the Aug. 18 primary include a former burlesque dancer and wild animal exhibitor who did business in the same circles as ‘‘Tiger King’’ Joe Exotic; a Palm Beach neighbor of Mar-a-Lago who is supported by QAnon believers; and Laura Loomer, a far-right commentator and anti-Islam activist who calls herself ‘‘the most banned woman on the Internet’’ and who once handcuffed herself to the front door of Twitter’s office in New York. There’s also an ex-cop, a nuclear engineer turned college professor, and a retired investigator for the IRS. Among the constituents they hope to represent: the president and first lady....."
Color funny, as they look to stuff the ballot boxes down there with their rank way of voting??
Putting aside the constitutionality of such a thing, it's supposed to be one-person, one-vote. Not one person, 7 votes, and I suppose the obvious compromise is a run-off between as many of the top finishers that reaches 50 percent.
Isn't that the way they do things in the South?
Related:
3 Mississippi police officers indicted in death of Black man
They want to revive the Confederacy down there!
Arrested state trooper says he shot driver fearing for his life
The Black driver was the one who was afraid, even though the Latino lives in more fear.
Yeah, can't emulate them, ever, even when they have a good idea on voting that's fair.
Also see:
"Protesters punched and kicked a man to the ground in Portland after he crashed his truck onto the sidewalk on Sunday night near otherwise peaceful demonstrations. Portland police said they received a report around 10:30 p.m. of protesters chasing a truck a few blocks from the downtown federal courthouse. The driver crashed and was then assaulted, authorities said. Video posted online of the incident showed the man sitting in the street next to the truck. A crowd gathered around him and repeatedly punched and kicked him in the head until he was bloody. It wasn’t immediately clear what led to the crash or the confrontation. Portland police said their response to the assault was “complicated by a hostile group.” Authorities made no arrests and are investigating the incident. The man was later loaded into an ambulance and taken to a hospital with serious injuries, Portland police Sgt. Kevin Allen told The Oregonian/Oregon Live. The truck was towed. Prior to the assault, police described the demonstrations in Chapman Square and Lownsdale Square parks as peaceful....."
Forget the police if they are going to sell themselves out in their own self destruction, and why did the name Reginald Denny just come to mind?
You needn't worry about bail in Massachusetts if you are a "protester." There is an obvious double standard around given the placement of the opinion piece under the editorial -- say the people who cover for pettos like Billy C, Weinstein for years, and Epstein/Maxwell, and trafficking sites like Wayfair and hell, themselves(?).
I say death to them all, and as for Bo$ton:
Man stabbed in Downtown Crossing early Monday
Worcester man, 25, allegedly shoots girlfriend then kills self, police say
Neighbors rescue 80-year-old woman after fallen tree traps her inside Framingham home
Yeah, there are loads of good people in Massachusetts... just not in government or at the Globe.