2020 Election Results Part 6: A President-Elect Who Will Make Trump Irrelevant Again!!

[SassyPants]

13 minutes ago, Lillymuffin said:

This is my frustration and the frustration of a lot of my near-age friends. As late-x’ers/old millennials (xennials?), we’re approaching middle age, yet our government is still run mainly by people that are our parents’ and even grandparents’ ages. When is it our turn? 

IMO, it is your turn. 

[SassyPants]

OMG Friedman on CNN. Trump, the clown, is facing, eviction, incarceration and liquidation.

[Coconut Flan]

1 hour ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

He can, but does anyone know how pensions work for Fed Employees at this level?   Can they be hired back without detriment to their retirement?  

Political appointees, the ones that can be hired and fired by the administration are under different rules.  They aren't regular federal employees.  Those don't come and go by administration.

This is from the Obama transition:  https://federalnewsnetwork.com/pay-benefits/2016/11/leaving-office-transition-pay-benefits-questions-answered/

[Ozlsn]

12 hours ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

With compulsory voting do you have a "none of above" option if you can't in good conscious vote for either candidate?

Just wanted to add in some more to @adidas's comment quoted below - usually there are more than two candidates. I live in a fairly boring electorate and the least number of candidates I've ever had is 4. When I lived in a much more interesting electorate we had up to 16, covering a wide range of the political spectrum (and some bizarre one issue candidates.) Even our recent local government elections we had four candidates, and if any election was only going to have a couple it's usually the local one. Preferential voting gives you the option of expressing your disgust in an entertaining (ok, to me) manner - plus you can also donkey vote, leave the ballot blank, draw things on it, whatever. 

9 hours ago, adidas said:

We don’t have a ‘none of the above’ option but there are many ways to show that you can’t vote for someone on the ballot.

https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/how-to-vote-guide-and-what-a-donkey-vote-really-is/7553578

Also it's not actually technically required to vote - you can turn up, get ticked off and put the ballots straight in the box if you really want to (although many people prefer the opportunity to write rude messages apparently.)

The fines for not voting are, as stated previously, pretty low and you can get out of it pretty easily.  Penalties for electoral fraud on the other hand are pretty strict.

3 hours ago, nausicaa said:

While there is a lot of shadiness around Bush v. Gore-- especially the respective interests of those on the Supreme Court--Bush at least had a plausible case. It was one state and it had been called for Bush.

Called by a margin of less than the votes still to be counted IIRC. 

3 hours ago, nausicaa said:

We're hitting the highest COVID case numbers so far and staring down a major second wave going into the winter, and Trump hasn't spoken to Fauci in a MONTH?

I thought this was the second wave - is this still the first?! 

Edited November 10, 2020 by Ozlsn

[JordynDarby5]

I really don't like the idea of belonging to one and never have. That I should always vote Republican or Democrat because that's my party regardless on whether the person nominated actually should be or is a complete idiot or another Trump. I don't want to do that. I want to vote for whoever I think is the best person for the job out of those who's been nominated regardless which party they belong to or if they belong to no party.

Trump being office is a prime example of why I don't like it. He did whatever he wanted, committed crimes and his party did nothing but defend him and do all they could to help him get away with crimes that he committed or doing nothing with the pandemic which lead to over 200,000 Americans dead. Whether it was out fear, loyalty, bought off, or whatever. How could I possibly vote for any of the Republican politicians that never once broke with him, never spoke up or did anything? They were all complicit and that really didn't seem to bother them. Why? Because he was part of their party. They never would have done any of it if Trump had belonged to another party. That's all that mattered. I'd be just as pissed if Democrats or any other political party did the same thing. I want politicians who are going to speak up and stand up to that crap. Unfortunately, you only really have two options. Sure you could vote for one of the other parties but they'll never win. So have to vote one way or the other. 

[Smee]

1 hour ago, Ozlsn said:

Just wanted to add in some more to @adidas's comment quoted below - usually there are more than two candidates. I live in a fairly boring electorate and the least number of candidates I've ever had is 4. When I lived in a much more interesting electorate we had up to 16, covering a wide range of the political spectrum (and some bizarre one issue candidates.) Even our recent local government elections we had four candidates, and if any election was only going to have a couple it's usually the local one. Preferential voting gives you the option of expressing your disgust in an entertaining (ok, to me) manner - plus you can also donkey vote, leave the ballot blank, draw things on it, whatever. 

Also it's not actually technically required to vote - you can turn up, get ticked off and put the ballots straight in the box if you really want to (although many people prefer the opportunity to write rude messages apparently.)

The fines for not voting are, as stated previously, pretty low and you can get out of it pretty easily.  Penalties for electoral fraud on the other hand are pretty strict.

There were 7 candidates in my electorate last time around. I know this, because instead of numbering the boxes someone put in letters to spell the words FUCK OFF.

It's always hard though deciding which white supremacists I want to put last and which I want to put second-last. 

[laPapessaGiovanna]

Meanwhile around the world people keep up the celebratory mood 

 

[fraurosena]

Trump can’t make up his mind about the FDA. Are they for or against him?

Whatever the case, he’s still preening with other people’s feathers. As I said yesterday, Pfizer was not part of Operation Fast Strike (or whatever it’s called) nor did it take any government money. 
 

Also, the absolute gall to make such statements about the number of deaths is rage inducing!

Edited November 10, 2020 by fraurosena

[Smee]

"destroyed millions of lives" oh, is it deadly now?

[Flossie]

8 hours ago, 47of74 said:

One of the perks of that status was a helipad approved by the town so Marine One could whisk the president in and out of the 17.5-acre estate without jamming traffic. 

But helicopter trips to and from the helipad at Mar-a-Lago will no longer be permitted come Jan. 20 — the day Trump's chief executive powers transfer to President Elect Joe Biden. 

When it approved the 50-foot, 8-inch-deep concrete helipad on the west lawn of ocean-to-lake estate, the Town Council stipulated it was “for business relating solely to the office of the president." It also said the helipad must be removed once the president leaves office. 

It'd be nice if, after the removal of the helipad, a lovely rose garden was planted instead.  Call it the Garden of Stolen Dreams.  

Then one dark night someone could quietly drop off a gazing ball with a small plaque stating that the garden was in honor of Hillary Clinton.

Edited November 10, 2020 by Flossie
spelling

[fraurosena]

“invited by the Trump admin”

This report can be used by the defense in any and all litigation about election fraud. 

[WiseGirl]

9 hours ago, Lillymuffin said:

When is it our turn? 

Now! People need to get involved and  to start running for office.  My state rep is 29 and just won his second term. After college he came back and got involved in local politics.  Look at the Duggar kid even he ran. Rufus knows we need the younger generation to start breaking through.

Edited November 10, 2020 by WiseGirl
Spelling is hard

[GreyhoundFan]

He's so childish and vindictive that I have no doubt all his buddies and family members will hear everything. "As an ex-president, Trump could disclose the secrets he learned while in office, current and former officials fear"

Quote

As president, Donald Trump selectively revealed highly classified information to attack his adversaries, gain political advantage and to impress or intimidate foreign governments, in some cases jeopardizing U.S. intelligence capabilities. As an ex-president, there’s every reason to worry he will do the same, thus posing a unique national security dilemma for the Biden administration, current and former officials and analysts said.

All presidents exit the office with valuable national secrets in their heads, including the procedures for launching nuclear weapons, intelligence-gathering capabilities — including assets deep inside foreign governments — and the development of new and advanced weapon systems. 

But no new president has ever had to fear that his predecessor might expose the nation’s secrets as President-elect Joe Biden must with Trump, current and former officials said. Not only does Trump have a history of disclosures, he checks the boxes of a classic counterintelligence risk: He is deeply in debt and angry at the U.S. government, particularly what he describes as the “deep state” conspiracy that he believes tried to stop him from winning the White House in 2016 and what he falsely claims is an illegal effort to rob him of reelection. 

“Anyone who is disgruntled, dissatisfied or aggrieved is a risk of disclosing classified information, whether as a current or former officeholder. Trump certainly fits that profile,” said David Priess, a former CIA officer and author of “The President’s Book of Secrets,” a history of the top-secret intelligence briefings that presidents and their staff receive while in office. 

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

As president, Trump has access to all classified information in the government and the authority to declassify and share any of it, for any reason. After he leaves office, he still will have access to the classified records of his administration. But the legal ability to disclose them disappears once Biden is sworn in January.

Many concerned experts were quick to note that Trump reportedly paid scant attention during his presidential intelligence briefings and has never evinced a clear understanding of how the national security apparatus works. His ignorance may be the best counterweight to the risk he poses. 

“A knowledgeable and informed president with Trump’s personality characteristics, including lack of self-discipline, would be a disaster. The only saving grace here is that he hasn’t been paying attention,” said Jack Goldsmith, who ran the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department in the George W. Bush administration and is the co-author of “After Trump: Reconstructing the Presidency.” 

“He probably doesn’t know much about collection details. But he will have bits and pieces,” said retired Gen. Peter B. Zwack, who served as a military intelligence officer and was the senior U.S. defense attache to Russia from 2012 to 2014.

The chances are low that Trump knows the fine details of intelligence, such as the name of a spy or where an intelligence agency may have planted a surveillance device. But he almost certainly knows significant facts about the process of gathering intelligence that would be valuable to adversaries.

“The president is going to run into and possibly absorb a lot of the capacity and capabilities that you have in intelligence,” said John Fitzpatrick, a former intelligence officer and expert on the security systems used to protect classified information, including after a president leaves office. The kinds of information Trump is likely to know, Fitzpatrick, said, includes special military capabilities, details about cyber weapons and espionage, the kinds of satellites the United States uses and the parameters of any covert actions that, as president, only Trump had the power to authorize.

He also knows the information that came from U.S. spies and collection platforms, which could expose sources even if he didn’t know precisely how the information was obtained. In a now infamous Oval Office meeting in 2017, Trump told Russia’s foreign minister and ambassador to the United States about highly classified information the United States had received from an ally about Islamic State threats to aviation, which jeopardized the source, according to people familiar with the incident.

By bragging about intelligence capabilities, Trump put them at risk. And he has been similarly careless when trying to intimidate adversaries. In August 2019, he tweeted a detailed aerial image of an Iranian launchpad. Such photos are among the most highly guarded pieces of intelligence because they can reveal precise details about technical spying capabilities.

Using publicly available records, Internet sleuths were able to determine which satellite took the image and identify its orbit based on the image Trump disclosed.

Experts worry that Trump’s braggadocio may lead him to spill secrets at a rally or in a tete-a-tete with a foreign adversary. One former official imagined Trump boasting about the technical features of Air Force One, or where the United States had dispatched spy drones.

Trump has also demonstrated a willingness to declassify information for political advantage, pushing his senior officials to reveal documents from the 2016 probe of Russian election interference and possible links to Trump’s campaign.

Last month, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, a Trump loyalist, made public a set of handwritten notes and a referral to the FBI concerning intelligence that the United States had obtained on Russia, and its belief that Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign would try to tie the hacking and leaking of Democratic Party emails to Russia to deflect from the controversy around Clinton’s use of a private email server.

Those declassified documents were heavily redacted. But according to people familiar with their contents, they may have revealed enough information to point the Russian government to a valuable source of intelligence the United States has, and is now at risk of losing.

Experts agreed that the biggest risk Trump poses out of office is the clumsy release of information. But they didn’t rule out that he might trade on secrets, perhaps in exchange for favors, to ingratiate himself with prospective clients in foreign countries or to get back at his perceived enemies. When he leaves office, Trump will be facing a crushing amount of debt, including hundreds of millions of dollars in loans that he has personally guaranteed.

“People with significant debt are always of grave concern to security professionals,” said Larry Pfeiffer, a veteran intelligence officer and former chief of staff to CIA Director Michael V. Hayden. “The human condition is a frail one. And people in dire situations make dire decisions. Many of the individuals who’ve committed espionage against our country are people who are financially vulnerable.”

As a practical matter, there’s little that the Biden administration can do to stop Trump from blurting out national secrets. Former presidents do not sign nondisclosure agreements when they leave office. They have a right to access information from their administration, including classified records, said Fitzpatrick, who served as the director of the Information Security Oversight Office at the National Archives and Records Administration, which houses former presidents’ records.

They’re expected to safeguard information, as they did while in office. “But outside the confines of the Presidential Records Act, there is no boundary except the president’s behavior,” he said.

A President Biden could refuse to give Trump any intelligence briefings, which ex-presidents have received before meeting with foreign leaders or embarking on diplomatic missions at the current president’s request. 

“I think that tradition ends with Trump,” Priess said. “It’s based on courtesy and the idea that presidents may call on their predecessors for frank advice. I don’t see Joe Biden calling up Trump to talk about intricate national security and intelligence issues. And I don’t think Biden will send him anywhere as an emissary.”  

The last line of defense, like so many chapters in Trump’s presidency, would pose unprecedented considerations: criminal prosecution. The Espionage Act has been successfully used to convict current and former government officials who disclose information that damages U.S. national security. It has never been used against a former president. But as of Jan. 20, 2021, Trump becomes a private citizen, and the immunity he enjoys from criminal prosecution vanishes.

 

[fraurosena]

42 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

The last line of defense, like so many chapters in Trump’s presidency, would pose unprecedented considerations: criminal prosecution. The Espionage Act has been successfully used to convict current and former government officials who disclose information that damages U.S. national security. It has never been used against a former president. But as of Jan. 20, 2021, Trump becomes a private citizen, and the immunity he enjoys from criminal prosecution vanishes.

Sadly, this won’t be much of a deterrent if he’s fled the country. He can do all sorts of vindictive acts against his perceived enemies from afar.

People should act swiftly to prevent him ever leaving the country until he’s faced the full extent of the law, been sentenced and incarcerated. Only then can America prevent more disasters.

[Alisamer]

43 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

He's so childish and vindictive that I have no doubt all his buddies and family members will hear everything. "As an ex-president, Trump could disclose the secrets he learned while in office, current and former officials fear"

 

Yet another reason there need to be standards to run for president. He'd never have qualified for security clearance - in fact Kushner and a few others didn't qualify and had to be pushed through despite that. I think that any candidates for president should be required to qualify for security clearance before being allowed on the ballot. It makes zero sense to give someone who does not qualify blanket access to literally all state secrets simply because they were able to put on enough of a show to hoodwink people into electing them.

This would also likely reduce the number of frivolous runs for president, like Kanye. Heck, I bet if Trump knew he'd have to be scrutinized like that in order to run, he'd never have pulled this publicity stunt in the first place! We might have ended up with Hillary, or we might have ended up with one of the Republicans who ran - but we would probably have a president who listened to the scientists and facts at least.

[GreyhoundFan]

Lindsey needs to just go away:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

She is a total nutjob:

 

[Alisamer]

I saw someone on Facebook this morning promoting a change.org petition to "recount or revote the election". 

Really? Look. You might get a do-over when playing minigolf if the people with you agree to it, but the people have voted. They didn't want Trump in 2016, and they don't want him now.

Also I think re-voting won't have the result they think it will. Biden has been more presidential in the last few days than Trump has his entire term, and more and more people are starting to say "just accept the truth". I think even many Republicans are looking forward to having a president who doesn't rant crazily on Twitter all day.

Edited November 10, 2020 by Alisamer

[47of74]

Go stench up your own house, fuck face.

Quote

It’s been two days since President-elect Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 election — and President Donald Trump has reportedly been coping by downing large amounts of fast food.

The British Daily Mail tabloid reports that the atmosphere in the White House has grown incredibly toxic as the president and his inner circle remain in denial about his defeat at Biden’s hands.

Additionally, the smells inside the White House have reportedly become more unpleasant.

“Insiders described the atmosphere inside the West Wing as ‘manic, exuberant, energised and toxic,’ with some staff lighting rose-scented candles in an attempt to soften the environment — and to combat the smell of fast-food delivered to the President and his inner circle,” the publication writes.

The incoming administration may have to fumigate the joint before they move in.  Hell I wouldn't blame them if they wanted to gut the interior all the way down to the load bearing members just to get the smell out.

[TuringMachine]

I don't understand why people vote for Lindsey Graham, he's such a slimy asshole.

I corrected my mom's friend on fb when she was praising trump for the vaccine. She did not like that ?

[47of74]

3 minutes ago, TuringMachine said:

I don't understand why people vote for Lindsey Graham, he's such a slimy asshole.

I corrected my mom's friend on fb when she was praising trump for the vaccine. She did not like that ?

In years past Lindsey would have been;

• 244 years ago the most pro-George III politician in the Senate.  He would have likely torpedoed the declaration of independence.  Probably another slave holder who forced himself on women.
• 165 years ago the most vile pro-slavery politician.
• 100 years ago the most vile anti-voting for women politician.
• 85 years ago the most vile pro-fascist politician, totally supporting Hitler and Mussolini. 
• 50 years ago the most vile segregationist politician

 

 

[GeraldineGrainger]

7 minutes ago, TuringMachine said:

I don't understand why people vote for Lindsey Graham, he's such a slimy asshole.

Ugh....I totally agree. I could not BELIEVE that he won again. He and McConnell and Barr....they are just gross. What a bunch of toads.

[SassyPants]

On Fox right now...is this happening right now? It’s the judicial committee and Lindsay Graham holding a hearing on an Investigation into Trump campaign and Russia (from 2016). McCabe is being interviewed. It says LIve and I just happened upon it. What is this? And if it’s live, why now? Anyone know? 
 

OMG, Hilary Clinton, emails, servers...even if it’s a re-run, what a distraction fail.

 

Edited November 10, 2020 by SassyPants

[onekidanddone]

2 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

He's so childish and vindictive that I have no doubt all his buddies and family members will hear everything. "As an ex-president, Trump could disclose the secrets he learned while in office, current and former officials fear"

 

Well then charge him for selling state secrets 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

12 minutes ago, SassyPants said:

On Fox right now...is this happening right now? It’s the judicial committee and Lindsay Graham holding a hearing on an Investigation into Trump campaign and Russia (from 2016). McCabe is being interviewed. It says LIve and I just happened upon it. What is this? And if it’s live, why now? Anyone know? 
 

OMG, Hilary Clinton, emails, servers...even if it’s a re-run, what a distraction fail.

 

McCabe, the guy Trump fired a day before he qualified to retire at full pension.