Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa

[faberryman]

Finally, Rick Scott caught COVID. It was inevitable. He is the former governor of Florida and currently senator from Florida. He is a Trump supporter and generally against anything that might reduce the spread of the virus and attendant misery and deaths.

Rick Scott tests positive for coronavirus

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/20/rick-scott-tests-positive-for-coronavirus-438662

[Robert Roaldi]

Is the Electoral College vote a public occasion? Is it televised or otherwise recorded?  I've never had occasion to pay much attention to it.

[faberryman]

Is the Electoral College vote a public occasion? Is it televised or otherwise recorded?  I've never had occasion to pay much attention to it.

Nope. It is just a bunch of paperwork. They go through the following rigmarole:

"Monday after the second Wednesday in December of presidential election years is set (3 U.S.C. §7) as the date on which the electors meet and vote. In 2020, the meeting is on December 14. Electoral college delegations meet separately in their respective states and the District of Columbia at places designated by their state legislature. The electors vote by paper ballot, casting one ballot for President and one for Vice President. The electors count the results and then sign six certificates, each of which contains two lists, one of which includes the electoral votes for the President, the other, electoral votes for the Vice President, each of which includes the names of persons receiving votes and the number of votes cast for them. These are known as Certificates of the Vote, which the electors are required to sign. They then pair the six Certificates of Ascertainment provided by the state governors with the Certificates of the Vote, and sign, seal, and certify them (3 U.S.C. §§8-10). The six certificates are then distributed by registered mail as follows: (1) one certificate to the President of the U.S. Senate (the Vice President); (2) two certificates to the secretary of state (or equivalent officer) of the state in which the electors met; (3) two certificates to the Archivist; and (4) one certificate to the judge of the U.S. district court of the district in which the electors met (3 U.S.C. §11)."

Actually, I think they just fax the stuff around, and follow up with the originals by registered mail. No boondoggle trips to Washington, D.C. involved. Naturally, the cable channels cover it for a few minutes with some talking heads and maybe a video of officials standing in front of a fax machine. It will get more coverage than usual this year to showcase that Trump wasn't successful in gaming the system and democracy has prevailed. Meanwhile, over on Fox News, Newsmax, and OAN, they will bewail that the election was stolen, with their own panel of talking heads agreeing among themselves that democracy as we have known it is now dead.

Wednesday is free slice of pie day at O'Charlie's, so everyone will head over there for lunch after their exhausting morning efforts.

[faberryman]

After giving her far more credibility than she deserves, even noted entertainer (not journalist - Fox said so in court) Tucker Carlson is starting to believe that Trumpy SuperLawyer Sidney Powell is full of it.

Yeah, but he'll be a Trump supporter to the bitter end:

Tucker Carlson Defends Rudy Giuliani Press Conference Hours After Fox News Debunks It

https://www.newsweek.com/tucker-carlson-defends-rudy-giuliani-press-conference-hours-after-fox-news-debunks-it-1548892

[faberryman]

Professional hairstylists weigh in with advice to Rudy Giuliani. Welcome to America 2020.

Hairstylists Say Rudy Giuliani’s TV Disaster Should Be a Lesson to Us All

https://www.thedailybeast.com/hair-stylists-say-rudy-giulianis-tv-disaster-should-be-a-lesson-to-us-all

[TechTalk]

Life for democracy in the United States, at this moment, is akin to living in a psychiatric hospital where the doors are left unlocked and many of the patients have guns.

[jeremyrh]

If it's any comfort to US readers, your country is not the only old democracy whose procedures based on decency and honour are found to be inadquate for these times where governments drive a coach and horses through rules and procedures.  Today Boris "Johnson" Johnson contradicted the official inquiry into bullying behaviour by his Home Secretary ("Interior Minister") the vile Priti Patel, and decided that she was innocent of the charge she had been found guilty of. Separately cronies of the government have made huge fortunes from contracts awarded without scrutiny for e.g. PPE, some of which never existed.  Government ministers and advisors have flouted lockdown rules with impunity, the most blatant being Dominic Cummings who famously defended a driving trip tp a local beauty spot as being necessary to "test his eyesight". The person in charge of the disastrously inefficient trace and isolate system, outsourced at massive cost, is the wife of Conservative MP who is also anti-corruption champion. The list of snouts in the trough is endless.

We might have hoped that a crisis would have brought out the best in people. Regrettably it seems to have provided a cover for the worst.

[Alan Klein]

If it's any comfort to US readers, your country is not the only old democracy whose procedures based on decency and honour are found to be inadquate for these times where governments drive a coach and horses through rules and procedures.  Today Boris "Johnson" Johnson contradicted the official inquiry into bullying behaviour by his Home Secretary ("Interior Minister") the vile Priti Patel, and decided that she was innocent of the charge she had been found guilty of. Separately cronies of the government have made huge fortunes from contracts awarded without scrutiny for e.g. PPE, some of which never existed.  Government ministers and advisors have flouted lockdown rules with impunity, the most blatant being Dominic Cummings who famously defended a driving trip tp a local beauty spot as being necessary to "test his eyesight". The person in charge of the disastrously inefficient trace and isolate system, outsourced at massive cost, is the wife of Conservative MP who is also anti-corruption champion. The list of snouts in the trough is endless.

We might have hoped that a crisis would have brought out the best in people. Regrettably it seems to have provided a cover for the worst.

Most of it isn't even corruption.  It's just plain inefficiency and the bureaucracy of government.  Lazinessness.  No competition. No profit motive-no one cares about your money, your health, or frankly anything about you.  Some politician over here recently said, "Never let a crisis go to waste."

[Alan Klein]

Reminds me of when a lot of privately-run programs were being instituted by the American government to help the poor.  One of the program directors who received millions in aid gloated, "There's a lot of money in poverty."

[TechTalk]

No profit motive-no one cares about your money, your health, or frankly anything about you.

This statement is only true of emotionally unhealthy individuals in society that are severely lacking in empathy. For the rest of the world with healthy degrees of empathy and compassion, the sentiment that lies behind such a statement is not only untrue but repulsive.

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-empathy

https://www.verywellmind.com/signs-of-low-emotional-intelligence

[digitaldog]

And the show goes on...
Andrew Giuliani, a special assistant to President Donald Trump and the son of Trump campaign lawyer Rudy Giuliani, said he tested positive for coronavirus Friday, a day after attending a crowded press conference where his father and other campaign attorneys did not wear masks.

[LesPalenik]

The CDC announced that Americans should not celebrate Thanksgiving with people outside of their household, and that has triggered demand for smaller group gatherings.
Many people are following these precautions, or at least planning on having smaller celebrations, which means less food and smaller turkeys.

Turkey farmers usually get their “holiday birds” right around the first of July, and there’s not that much a farm can do to assure the turkeys stay small except get them later, Bailey said. At a bigger scale, Ariane Daugin, the CEO of D’Artagnan, has also seen the demand for small birds rise.

“We have seen a significant downsizing of the turkeys!” she wrote in an email. Daugin said the New Jersey-based meat company, which sells a wide variety of products, forecasted the need for smaller birds last April when the turkeys were born and set up for the demand six months later. By Wednesday, D’Artagnan expects to have sold 21,000 turkeys – “lots of 12-pounds, lots of even smaller 8-pounds.” But Daugin said it may end up being the same total weight in turkeys as last year when the company sold 16,000 turkeys at an average weight of 16 to 18 pounds.

On top of the little turkeys, D’Artagnan’s Daugin pointed to another unusual change this Thanksgiving — the realization some households are having that maybe the turkey isn’t the most appropriate bird for a small group. “A lot of households have switched to geese (10 to 12 pounds) or duck (5 to 6 pounds).”

However, there are still families which will end up with large turkeys.

Butterball CEO Jay Jandrain told Yahoo Finance that the company commissioned a survey of 1,004 households in September and found that 75% of were going for the same size turkey as usual — or bigger. “There is a desire for slightly smaller turkeys, but what’s important to note is most say they are planning for the same size or even a larger turkey than last year,” said Jandrain of the study.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/demand-for-small-turkeys-spikes-for-the-coronavirus-thanksgiving-190636426.html

[LesPalenik]

Yeh, we don't hear the Trumpateers chirping anymore that Covid is no dangerous than the flu. I've also remember a Trumpateer to be woken up when the death toll passes 60,000. Crickets from them now.

Based on the current trajectory, the death toll in USA will reach 300,000 before the end of December. That's not even one full year of pandemic.

[John Camp]

However, there are still families which will end up with large turkeys.

Hell, the whole country wound up with a large turkey.

[Alan Klein]

This statement is only true of emotionally unhealthy individuals in society that are severely lacking in empathy. For the rest of the world with healthy degrees of empathy and compassion, the sentiment that lies behind such a statement is not only untrue but repulsive.

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-empathy

https://www.verywellmind.com/signs-of-low-emotional-intelligence

You got to be nuts to depend on the government. Charity comes from the heart and the government is heartless.    Help comes from friends and family, those who care.  Sure they're people in government who try to help and do the right thing.  But at the end of the day, the government is a bureaucracy that is cold-hearted.  Individuals have very little they can do in a bureaucracy.  My wife was a public school teacher who worked with kids who have emotional problems.  She used to give them a hug when they were down or needed encouragement.  Then she had to stop because she was ordered not to do that anymore, "just in case" people would get the wrong idea.  Of course, these kids often didn't have anyone at home to give them a hug.    What a shame.

[digitaldog]

You got to be nuts to depend on the government. Charity comes from the heart and the government is heartless. 

This from a guy admitting to taking Gov handouts.

[faberryman]

You got to be nuts to depend on the government. Charity comes from the heart and the government is heartless.

Social Security, state government pension, Medicare. Received a $1200 COVID payment which paid for his new Chamonix 4x5 camera.

[faberryman]

TV News Alert: Donald Trump, Jr. has tested positive for COVID.

[Jim Pascoe]

How have we been undemocratic? How have we been indecent?  Those are very strong words to use against my country.  Upwards of a million people still come to America every year.  Something's attracting them.  150 million people just voted here.  How is that undemocratic?  I don't know England.  But I don't think your morals are more "decent" than ours.  How is your leader more decent and democratic?  Defending your rights in a court of law is part of the meaning of democracy and freedom.  Complaining that he's wrong to do it is also part of democracy.  People on all sides are allowed to voice their opinions and rights, the very essence of democracy.  It would be undemocratic to shut these down on any side.  Wouldn't you agree?

Alan, I’m not sure what you’re on about. I thought that the point I was making was that democracy had triumphed in the US. That in spite of Trumps protests to the contrary, you had a free and fair election. I respect the USA very much, and have been saddened by the plummeting respect it’s garnered under Trump. Democracy is alive and well.
I think you’ve dug yourself into such a defensive foxhole that you cannot even recognise a friendly face anymore.
Jim

[Craig Lamson]

Alan, I’m not sure what you’re on about. I thought that the point I was making was that democracy had triumphed in the US. That in spite of Trumps protests to the contrary, you had a free and fair election. I respect the USA very much, and have been saddened by the plummeting respect it’s garnered under Trump. Democracy is alive and well.
I think you’ve dug yourself into such a defensive foxhole that you cannot even recognise a friendly face anymore.
Jim

It appears the “free and fair election” thing continues to remain unsettled at this moment.