2020 US General Election Thread IX: One Month and Counting

[Jerzylvania]

You used the word "technically" twice. That's a bad sign for the strength of your argument.

So next year, Democrats can set the size of the court to 1 (Roberts presumably), "technically" removing 8 justices. Then appoint 8 new ones and voila, a much better result than they'd get by packing the court. 8-1 is better than 7-6 right?

That moment when you realize that if it was that easy, someone would surely have done i




No, my position is that "setting the size of the court" smaller only means that seats don't become empty, and available to be filled, until the number of sitting justices falls below that new number. I could look it up for you, but I think that's how it went one time.

The reason why no one has done it is because the court has been kept out of politics for centuries so nobody has thought of doing such a thing.

But my argument is that you could lower the number and keep it there. Besides a balanced court is better than unbalanced one. If you removed two seats you’d be left with 3 Liberals and 3 Conservatives with 1 conservative swing voter

It was my argument... but proceed counselor.

[Thermodolia]

Well not exactly. The constitution does say that congress alone has the power to determine the size of the court so technically you could argue that if the court was down sized to 7 that congress is just doing it’s constitutional duty and therefore doesn’t require the 2/3rds supermajority.

You also aren’t technically removing justices themselves just removing the number of seats on the court so you don’t need a 2/3rd supermajority there either

The size of the court wouldn't be shrunk down immediately, since that would be a law applied ex post facto, ie before the judge was appointed. Instead what would happen, and what has happened when the court shrinks, is that the seat is not refilled when the justice dies.

We’ve smashed precedent before, what’s stopping us now? Besides what is the court going to do if I kick two of them off? Arrest me?

[Jerzylvania]

The size of the court wouldn't be shrunk down immediately, since that would be a law applied ex post facto, ie before the judge was appointed. Instead what would happen, and what has happened when the court shrinks, is that the seat is not refilled when the justice dies.

We’ve smashed precedent before, what’s stopping us now? Besides what is the court going to do if I kick two of them off? Arrest me?

Yep. It is your idea now.

[Thermodolia]

We’ve smashed precedent before, what’s stopping us now? Besides what is the court going to do if I kick two of them off? Arrest me?

Yep. It is your idea now.

More like Old Hickory’s idea but I made some tweaks

[Washington Resistance Army]

The size of the court wouldn't be shrunk down immediately, since that would be a law applied ex post facto, ie before the judge was appointed. Instead what would happen, and what has happened when the court shrinks, is that the seat is not refilled when the justice dies.

We’ve smashed precedent before, what’s stopping us now? Besides what is the court going to do if I kick two of them off? Arrest me?

No but you'd probably get shot to pieces by an insurgent group lol

[Thermodolia]

We’ve smashed precedent before, what’s stopping us now? Besides what is the court going to do if I kick two of them off? Arrest me?

No but you'd probably get shot to pieces by an insurgent group lol

Well I guess it’s time to impose martial law and remain president until I die. What a shame

[Jerzylvania]

Yep. It is your idea now.

More like Old Hickory’s idea but I made some tweaks

Old Hickory? He's busy burning in Hell for a few more score of millennia. Consecutive lifetime terms for each Native American he killed.

No but you'd probably get shot to pieces by an insurgent group lol

Well I guess it’s time to impose martial law and remain president until I die. What a shame

What a sham.

[The Greater Ohio Valley]

No but you'd probably get shot to pieces by an insurgent group lol

Well I guess it’s time to impose martial law and remain president until I die. What a shame

I’d think being shot to pieces by an insurgent group precludes that.

[Thermodolia]

Well I guess it’s time to impose martial law and remain president until I die. What a shame

I’d think being shot to pieces by an insurgent group precludes that.

Well I’d probably have expected an insurrection so... Martial time! Next stop civil war and eventually worst president of the USA

[Kanadorika]

More like Old Hickory’s idea but I made some tweaks

Old Hickory? He's busy burning in Hell for a few more score of millennia. Consecutive lifetime terms for each Native American he killed.

Well I guess it’s time to impose martial law and remain president until I die. What a shame

What a sham.

In his defense.... The tribes that relocated to Oklahoma would have been totally wiped out if they remained in the south. The north eastern tribes didn't fare very well and a similar fate would have been inflicted on the southern tribes.

Jackson was still shit in how he went about it and the Trail of Tears was a nightmare.... but.... It did save those tribes.

[Giovenith]

Isn't it grand?

Fuck off, the horrific consequences of the Republicans running a more racist, outwardly fascist version of Trump should scare any reasonable person.

Even if you think that some little gain for yourself justifies the suffering of millions; you will not gain anything. The more right wing the US becomes, the more you will help companies squeeze what little rights you have left under the current system. Supporting right wing policies is self-destructive for anyone who works to earn money. Your gloating over the suffering of millions doesn’t make you somehow more right, like you seem to think.

“If I pretend I don’t care I win!”

*** Warned for Flaming ***

You know it had to be done.

[Jerzylvania]

Old Hickory? He's busy burning in Hell for a few more score of millennia. Consecutive lifetime terms for each Native American he killed.


What a sham.

In his defense.... The tribes that relocated to Oklahoma would have been totally wiped out if they remained in the south. The north eastern tribes didn't fare very well and a similar fate would have been inflicted on the southern tribes.

Jackson was still shit in how he went about it and the Trail of Tears was a nightmare.... but.... It did save those tribes.

*jury returns with verdict*

GUILTY as charged on all counts

Bailiff! Take him away.

[The Marlborough]

No but you'd probably get shot to pieces by an insurgent group lol

Well I guess it’s time to impose martial law and remain president until I die. What a shame

Based caesarism. Spengler strikes again!

[Nobel Hobos 2]

Germany tried one too, and see what happened to that.

It's estimated the Berlin Wall stopped 95% of attempted crossings.

It was the East German border guards who shot 'escapees' so how does that work out for Trump's Wall?

You're not going to get Mexico to shoot border crossers, so if you want that 95% you'll have to shoot them yourself.

Which sounds like something East Germany would do, right? Shoot people just for trying to cross the border ...

[Cannot think of a name]

I gave in and am watching Trump do his town hall...she's asking about Trump re-tweeting the conspiracy about bin Laden and Obama. He starts again with the "I don't know about-" "You retweeted it!" "It's a retweet, it's someone's opinion...I'm jus-" "I don't get that, you're the president of the United States, not someone's weird uncle..."

I'm not sure that this will be usurped as my favorite moment.

edit: the moment

[Greater Miami Shores]

Politico's narration of the separate Trump, Biden Town Hall events. Notice the anti Trump bias of Politico's coverage of Trump.

The Headline and comments are Anti Trump, over and over again, not anti Biden, Not anti Both of them. Even the Headline is anti Trump, not anti Biden, not anti Both of them. A Perfect example of Media bias against President Trump:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/election ... -dhp-feeds

[Bombadil]

Politico's narration of the separate Trump, Biden Town Hall events. Notice the anti Trump bias of Politico's coverage of Trump.

The Headline and comments are Anti Trump, over and over again, not anti Biden, Not anti Both of them. A Perfect example of Media bias against President Trump:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/election ... -dhp-feeds

..or merely reflects reality.

[Greater Miami Shores]

Politico's narration of the separate Trump, Biden Town Hall events. Notice the anti Trump bias of Politico's coverage of Trump.

The Headline and comments are Anti Trump, over and over again, not anti Biden, Not anti Both of them. A Perfect example of Media bias against President Trump:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/election ... -dhp-feeds

..or merely reflects reality.

Yes, you are correct reality decided by anti Trump Persons and anti Trump Media., Here we go again, Proving my Point over and over again. Thank you for your post and comments.

[Magical Medical League]

It was the East German border guards who shot 'escapees' so how does that work out for Trump's Wall?

You're not going to get Mexico to shoot border crossers, so if you want that 95% you'll have to shoot them yourself.

Which sounds like something East Germany would do, right? Shoot people just for trying to cross the border ...

I wonder if Mexico is going to build a wall to stop all the refugees from the US if it becomes instable following this year's or the 2022 election. Hopefully there will not be any actual violence, but I think there is good reason to be afraid.

[Bombadil]

..or merely reflects reality.

Yes, you are correct reality decided by anti Trump Persons and anti Trump Media., Here we go again, Proving my Point over and over again. Thank you for your post and comments.

Reality isn't decided. Trump spent his time avoiding questions that the moderator had to repeatedly repeat, had to be constantly fact checked and generally gave very little specifics as to what he plans to do. Biden calmly laid out policy issues in detail.

These are a chance to explain your position and policies, Trump doesn't do that, he just attacks the moderator and anyone who does their job and questions him.

[Greater Miami Shores]

Yes, you are correct reality decided by anti Trump Persons and anti Trump Media., Here we go again, Proving my Point over and over again. Thank you for your post and comments.

Reality isn't decided. Trump spent his time avoiding questions that the moderator had to repeatedly repeat, had to be constantly fact checked and generally gave very little specifics as to what he plans to do. Biden calmly laid out policy issues in detail.

These are a chance to explain your position and policies, Trump doesn't do that, he just attacks the moderator and anyone who does their job and questions him.

Nice bad try, lol.

[Aureumterra III]

It was the East German border guards who shot 'escapees' so how does that work out for Trump's Wall?

You're not going to get Mexico to shoot border crossers, so if you want that 95% you'll have to shoot them yourself.

Which sounds like something East Germany would do, right? Shoot people just for trying to cross the border ...

I wonder if Mexico is going to build a wall to stop all the refugees from the US if it becomes instable following this year's or the 2022 election. Hopefully there will not be any actual violence, but I think there is good reason to be afraid.

They should. No country should tolerate people moving in without permission

[Bombadil]

Reality isn't decided. Trump spent his time avoiding questions that the moderator had to repeatedly repeat, had to be constantly fact checked and generally gave very little specifics as to what he plans to do. Biden calmly laid out policy issues in detail.

These are a chance to explain your position and policies, Trump doesn't do that, he just attacks the moderator and anyone who does their job and questions him.

Nice bad try, lol.

You'd do better to go with Trump and FOX's line that this was just an ambush by NBC and call Savannah Guthrie very nasty and a Biden surrogate for asking him mean questions about his record.

[Cannot think of a name]

Politico's narration of the separate Trump, Biden Town Hall events. Notice the anti Trump bias of Politico's coverage of Trump.

The Headline and comments are Anti Trump, over and over again, not anti Biden, Not anti Both of them. A Perfect example of Media bias against President Trump:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/election ... -dhp-feeds

I know charging this hill with you is...just a no, but I do want to address this misguided conceit for any passerby that might mistake it as a metric.

What's being displayed here as the supposed bias of Politico is it reported more bad things about Trump than it did about Biden.

Except here is a perfect example of why this is not the way you measure bias and any time you start doing it, snap a rubberband on your wrist until you break the habit.

These two events are about as apples to apples as you can get, a town hall where each candidate takes questions from undecided voters.

To support the premise of no bias presented by our friend who uses 'bias' like he was calling base in a game of tag, what politico would have to do is, say, find five bad things to say about Trump and five bad things to say about Biden.

Examining that principle for half a second and you understand that this unnatural imposition itself is making the news instead of reporting it.

It is an absolute fact, Trump refused to condemn Q-Anon. While he pretended to not know about their conspiracy theory he apparently was up to date on them hating pedophilia.

This is a fact. It is unquestionably newsworthy that the president won't condemn something of this nature. Not reporting that because Biden didn't do something of equivalent value because otherwise they'd be 'bias' against Trump is patently ridiculous.

The thing is, Biden gave dry, long responses and the only things worthy of a headline was that he slightly changed his answer on court packing to something he'll answer between the confirmation of Bennet and the election. That is a change, but still a dodge.

He gave a similarly convoluted answer on fracking.

Without hesitation he said the 1994 crime bill was a mistake and then detailed what parts didn't work and what parts he thought still did.

These are the newsworthy things in the Biden town hall.

By our friend's understanding of bias, this would then be the ceiling of things we could say about Trump. We couldn't talk about him defending Q-Anon, we couldn't talk about him continuing to equivocate on masks.

By changing the news so that you're only saying an equal amount of good things and bad things about both 'sides', you are no longer reporting the news. This is not the solution to bias.

[Greater Miami Shores]

Politico's narration of the separate Trump, Biden Town Hall events. Notice the anti Trump bias of Politico's coverage of Trump.

The Headline and comments are Anti Trump, over and over again, not anti Biden, Not anti Both of them. A Perfect example of Media bias against President Trump:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/election ... -dhp-feeds

I know charging this hill with you is...just a no, but I do want to address this misguided conceit for any passerby that might mistake it as a metric.

What's being displayed here as the supposed bias of Politico is it reported more bad things about Trump than it did about Biden.

Except here is a perfect example of why this is not the way you measure bias and any time you start doing it, snap a rubberband on your wrist until you break the habit.

These two events are about as apples to apples as you can get, a town hall where each candidate takes questions from undecided voters.

To support the premise of no bias presented by our friend who uses 'bias' like he was calling base in a game of tag, what politico would have to do is, say, find five bad things to say about Trump and five bad things to say about Biden.

Examining that principle for half a second and you understand that this unnatural imposition itself is making the news instead of reporting it.

It is an absolute fact, Trump refused to condemn Q-Anon. While he pretended to not know about their conspiracy theory he apparently was up to date on them hating pedophilia.

This is a fact. It is unquestionably newsworthy that the president won't condemn something of this nature. Not reporting that because Biden didn't do something of equivalent value because otherwise they'd be 'bias' against Trump is patently ridiculous.

The thing is, Biden gave dry, long responses and the only things worthy of a headline was that he slightly changed his answer on court packing to something he'll answer between the confirmation of Bennet and the election. That is a change, but still a dodge.

He gave a similarly convoluted answer on fracking.

Without hesitation he said the 1994 crime bill was a mistake and then detailed what parts didn't work and what parts he thought still did.

These are the newsworthy things in the Biden town hall.

By our friend's understanding of bias, this would then be the ceiling of things we could say about Trump. We couldn't talk about him defending Q-Anon, we couldn't talk about him continuing to equivocate on masks.

By changing the news so that you're only saying an equal amount of good things and bad things about both 'sides', you are no longer reporting the news. This is not the solution to bias.

Biden is not honest either, still refuses to answer the question on court Packing till after the election.

Yes I heard about how he implied he is against it.

Fact Politico's headline was anti Trump not anti Biden, not anti Both of them, it was and is anti Trump. Fair and Balanced would have been a Headline anti Trump and anti Biden.

I rest my case again, lol.