chasfh

You continue to place the responsibility on us the people to find ways to cheerfully overcome all obstacles to voting that government places in front of us, rather than putting the responsibility on government to implement policies that get as many eligible voters as possible to the polls. As for the people of Indiana and why don’t they protest, I don’t know for sure, but maybe part of it is a boiling frog issue. Maybe it’s just got harder to vote so gradually for them that they’re not noticing it from year to year, whereas other people who have historically been denied the opportunity to vote are far more aware of the deficiencies of a so-called democracy in which those with certain political aims seek to make voting more difficult for people instead of easier. I don’t know for sure, I’m just spitballing here.

You misspelled “reprehensible”.

Wait can’t we both honor the tremendous sacrifice our fighting forces have made in the defense of our freedoms, and make voting as easy and accessible as possible to eligible voters? Why should these be mutually exclusive?

That may be a true and satisfying feeling for some people, but on the other hand, a lot of people who can’t find friends to stand in line for them and can’t afford to wait two hours for whatever reason will just bail on the whole act of voting. A true democracy accommodates itself to its people, rather than demanding that people jump through hoops for it.

Indeed. Vast majority of nations in the world which conduct free elections (60 out of 74 countries shown here) does so on Saturday or Sunday, specifically so they can get as many people to the polls as possible. That’s what democracies that walk the walk, and not just talk the talk, do. By the way, when did we buy Greenland after all? How did I miss that?

Move in-person voting to Saturday and Sunday. That'll solve a few problems.

How can you be sure you get your vote counted in Chicago? Vote Democrat. 😅

lol "unauthorized"

It can hurt Republicans only if the elections are free and fair.

Good question. Is an hour wait "easy"? Some my say it is, particualrly when contrasted against stories of eight- or more hour waits that make the news every couple of Novembers. I'm typically in and out of the polling station in 15 or 20 minutes, so it's easy for me. I'm one of the lucky ones. Fact is, a lot of people don't want it to be easy for eligible voters to vote. They want voting to be difficult for most eligible voters. They want long waits and stringent ID requirements. Some people would even like to require a civics test to vote! Anything to keep that other guy out of the booth. He's ignorant and can't be trusted.

This is a really good article, which may open a few eyes. Just a reminder that the argument is not as black-and-white as "millionaires vs billionaires". Bonus: this guy was interviewed for the story. Remember him?

I believe the exact argument was "in general, its very easy to vote in this country" which, I guess technically speaking, is a rhetorically defensible statement. I can accept that, in more than 50% of polling stations in the country, it's very easy to vote.

It's super easy for me to vote here, too. Then again, we're not a red state that's trying to slash early voting hours or ban mail-in voting or close polling stations in minority areas.

Yeah, who needs government-stabilized currency sitting in an insured bank account, anyway!

Says the white guy who lives in a mostly white community where elections are run by a bipartisan Board of Election Commissioners mandated by the state to maintain easy access to the polls. 🤠

I too will go out on a limb here and say a decent percentage of those truckers are American, or otherwise have close ties to MAGA.

I believe this is the main reason Putin is moving at all now.

One advantage Putin may have is that Russia, as both itself and as the Soviet Union, has a well-established playbook on how to roll into a another country or a region, subjugate the population, and take over rule. They may even have it down to a sort of science. One thing we can hope for is that free Ukrainians throw enough shit at them to bog them down a la Afghanistan, at least for a while. The wild card in this scenario is that one of every six people in Ukraine is Russian, as well as a yet-to-be-determined number of sympathetic Ukrainians acting as quislings to ingratiate themselves to their first cousin Russians, under the assumption of inevitability. Who knows how that part of it plays out.

That's what they're hoping for.

The main thing Jake has to do when he comes back is to keep the bat unlocked. He does that and I think he’ll be at least in the conversation for All-Star bids.

Trout is arguably the most well-rounded great player of our lifetimes, but even the relatively small amount of time he’s lost is going to cost him slots on the all-time list. Although someone’s gotta do it, it’s almost impossible to become one of the all-time greats. Absolutely everything has to go right: exceptional tools, performance, versatility, peak, career length, health, luck. Being the performance leader of ring teams would be a tiebreaker. That’s why I think no one may ever supplant Babe Ruth at the top.

The frog is getting warmer and warmer.

And let Ukraine go entirely? Make a choice?

I’m starting to wonder what the US would do if Xi goes for Taiwan at the same time Putin goes for Ukraine. Those two have become pretty good friends lately.