D4L's political musings

[dolphins4life]

When I have a political question, I'll ask it here

First off, I want to ask about mail in voting.  How is mail in voting guaranteed to be secure and safe?  Have we had it before 2020?  Given that anti-Biden posters DOMINATE social media, I sometimes can't help but wonder if the voter fraud claims could be true.  In the last two elections, did anybody here vote by mail?

[Dave Gray]

Mail in voting isn't new; it's always here.  Everyone in the military uses it because they aren't at their home polling place.  It uses a signature match system.  It could be cheated, because you could forge someone's signature, but it would be a felony and it would result in only one vote.  It's just not worth it.  And there isn't evidence that this is occurring.  The likeliest thing is that people just vote on behalf of their old parents...that's probably the fraud going on, if at all.

Lots of my family does mail in voting, but I don't.  I just like the experience the tactile action of voting and getting the sticker and all that.  Plus, it's at the library where I already go pretty regularly.

[fyo]

Have we had it before 2020?

You're not serious, are you?

Voting by mail goes back more than 150 years, depending on your exact criteria. Florida has had "no excuse" vote by mail for over 20 years (i.e. you don't need an excuse to vote by mail).

With the current system, there's no reason that ballots received by mail would be more insecure than those done "in person". The biggest issue with voting by mail is, unsurprisingly, the postal service (ballots not being delivered to voters, filled ballots taking too long to arrive and thus aren't counted, etc.)

As for security, there are plenty of things that could be implemented in both in-person and mail-in voting, but fraud has historically been ridiculously low in major elections, so it just hasn't been worth it. Perception is everything, though, and even though there is still zero evidence pointing to any issues with voting fraud (whether ridiculously unsecured "electronic voting systems" or mail-in ballots, or ballot stuffing, or whatever).

Unsurprisingly, accusations of fraud always come from the losers of an election. The Bush-Gore 2000 general election, for instance, saw quite a bit of fire directed at Diebold Voting Systems (in addition to all the Florida "hanging chad" fun) from the left. Now, the Diebold systems were ridiculously insecure and in violation of the law in at least some of the states where they were used, but that doesn't mean there was ever any proof of fraud. I will go on record to say that I'm opposed to this form of electronic voting that doesn't leave a verifiable paper trail, and Diebold later admitted that votes could be deleted from their systems with no evidence of tampering afterward. Clearly very bad, but - again - no evidence that the elections weren't fair.

Bottom line, no evidence voting hasn't been fair, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't look into making the system more secure.

[dolphins4life]

Why do Republicans dominate social media, but the Democrats dominate elections?

[Dave Gray]

Why do Republicans dominate social media, but the Democrats dominate elections?

Neither of these is true.

Social media is geared to show you things you're likely to engage with as part of an algorithm.  So, that's what you're getting, because that's what you're into.

But also  (and this might sound biased but I believe it's true), the GOP isn't running an issue based platform at this point in their history.  It's grievance-based.  Their goal to motivate their base is to make them mad.  So, they have to constantly be outraged and angry and stoking the fire at all times.  Social media is a good tool for that.  So, you see a lot of their craziest politicians and pundits grinding that narrative.  And also because it's free.

Democrats don't dominate elections, either.  There are simply more people that align with the democratic party in the country, but the way that the maps are drawn and how people are laid out (rural areas vote conservative, populated cities vote liberal) cause fights amongst districting lines.  The only GOP president to win the popular vote in the last 35 years was George W. Bush during a war.

Therefore, the president, countrywide, while it may be close in terms of electoral votes, will go to the democrat every time, in terms of number of votes.  Governorships are 26 GOP, 24 Dem....but the Dems have made a comeback there in the last cycle....they were losing before.

GOP has the house.  Senate is essentially split right down the middle.

[dolphins4life]

Neither of these is true.

Social media is geared to show you things you're likely to engage with as part of an algorithm.  So, that's what you're getting, because that's what you're into.

But also  (and this might sound biased but I believe it's true), the GOP isn't running an issue based platform at this point in their history.  It's grievance-based.  Their goal to motivate their base is to make them mad.  So, they have to constantly be outraged and angry and stoking the fire at all times.  Social media is a good tool for that.  So, you see a lot of their craziest politicians and pundits grinding that narrative.  And also because it's free.

Democrats don't dominate elections, either.  There are simply more people that align with the democratic party in the country, but the way that the maps are drawn and how people are laid out (rural areas vote conservative, populated cities vote liberal) cause fights amongst districting lines.  The only GOP president to win the popular vote in the last 35 years was George W. Bush during a war.

Therefore, the president, countrywide, while it may be close in terms of electoral votes, will go to the democrat every time, in terms of number of votes.  Governorships are 26 GOP, 24 Dem....but the Dems have made a comeback there in the last cycle....they were losing before.

GOP has the house.  Senate is essentially split right down the middle.

I have not read a positive Democratic comment on a youtube video since I can remember.

George HW Bush won the popular vote in 1992, I believe

Biden's performance in the midterms was the best by an incumbent president in a long time.   That's why I said the Democrats DOMINATED the midterms.

[dolphins4life]

There's this article called 10 Covid myths by experts debunked.

One of them is about school closings.  The article claims that school closings have little to no effect on Covid

However, I found something that directly contradicts this

It was a video showing children Covid hospitalizations in Florida were rising after schools reopened.

This blatantly contradicts the claim that closing schools doesn't slow the spread of Covid

Here's the article in case you are curious to read it

https://nypost.com/2023/02/27/10-myths-told-by-covid-experts-now-debunked/

[dolphins4life]

During the capitol riots, Some Democrats and Republicans sheltered in place in a cramped space.  The Democrats wore masks, the Republicans didn't.  The Democrats got Covid.

This supports what the experts have said all along:  Masks don't protect the wearer, they prevent it from being spread.

[Dave Gray]

Maybe the 10 myths debunked article was bullshit.  Where did you see it?  Anyone can write anything on the Internet, so it's possible that 2 people out of the 9 billion on the planet had different viewpoints on school closing.

[Dave Gray]

As for COVID and closing schools:

I don't see how anyone could say that opening schools wouldn't help the spread of COVID.  It's just common sense.  Just anecdotally, my entire family basically wasn't sick for 2 years during lockdowns.  Any parent will tell you that when your kids are in school, it's just constant germ-factory and you'll all getting sick all the time.  It's just the way it goes.  Not even COVID, but just colds and flu in general.  Between my wife as a teacher and both my kids in school, we are in a constant state of passing illness back and forth.  Just as soon as you're oven it, someone else has something.  It's just the life of having young kids in school

The debate that I've ever heard was never about whether it was effective.  It was about whether it was worth it.

[dolphins4life]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FgqibrKVMY

Idaho wants to make a crime to administer mRNA shots.

Does this mean that the COVID-19 vaccine critics were right?

I got the moderna shot, which is mRNA

I don't understand why you'd make it a crime to administer one.  Can't you just make a crime to MANDATE one?

[dolphins4life]

I've never seen more contradictory research on any subject like I have for Covid-19

[fyo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FgqibrKVMY

Idaho wants to make a crime to administer mRNA shots.

Does this mean that the COVID-19 vaccine critics were right?

I got the moderna shot, which is mRNA

This is simply an example of politicians being idiots. Regardless of what one thinks about covid vaccines and covid vaccine mandates, outlawing mRNA vaccines is completely moronic. I mean, even if you were a total vaccine nutter (and if you're not getting your kids vaccinated against MMR, tetanus etc, you honestly probably shouldn't have kids), making it *illegal* for others to get vaccinated (or medical personnel to administer) is just total bonkers. There's no freedom anywhere in that.

[Dave Gray]

Idaho wants to make a crime to administer mRNA shots.

Does this mean that the COVID-19 vaccine critics were right?

You gotta stop asking questions like this.

Facts are facts.  What is true is true.

What laws are made do not change facts or whether something is true.  What people believe in polls doesn't change facts or what is true.  Those things are fully independent of each other.

[dolphins4life]

Well, do scientific studies count as facts?

Mandates should always be illegal, but we should not criminalize health care workers from administering vaccines to people who want them