2020 US General Election Thread IX: One Month and Counting

[Nobel Hobos 2]

The trump admin just blocked California wildfire relief. Wtaf. https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/10 ... re-relief/

He straight up does not care if you dont support him.

As I mentioned in the other thread, there are 4 US House districts that Republicans could lose. This might not be such a good way to "save money" on pork.

[Eukaryotic Cells]

The trump admin just blocked California wildfire relief. Wtaf. https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/10 ... re-relief/

He straight up does not care if you dont support him.

This is what happens when you combine "liberals aren't real Americans" with "if you don't heap praise on me, I will destroy you".

[California Prime]

Telling indicator number 1: Pollster Frank Luntz's focus group of undecideds were apparently unified in believing that the more Trump speaks, the worse he looks. Granted, that's a better reaction than the one they had for the first debate, where words like "horrid", "digraceful", "unpresidential", and "crackhead" were used to describe Trump's performance.

Telling indicator number 2: All of Trump's allies on Fox News are busy crying for their dear leader because big bad Samantha Guthrie beat him up and took his lunch money. Accusations of the event being a hit job, an ambush, and other descriptive words. Winners don't talk like that, excuse laden losers do. Also, apparently in Rupert-world, it's cool for Trump to badger the moderator for most of the first 15 minutes after insulting her at his most recent rally, but if she pressures him for an answer on a question that he kept being evasive on, SHE'S A BIG BAD BULLY. SMFH.

[Chan Island]

The trump admin just blocked California wildfire relief. Wtaf. https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/10 ... re-relief/

He straight up does not care if you dont support him.

That's low even by his standards. Well, I'm sure that will make sure a couple thousand more Californians vote against him so keep digging I guess. By the way, have I mentioned that lots of Californians live in other states too?

[Eukaryotic Cells]

The trump admin just blocked California wildfire relief. Wtaf. https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/10 ... re-relief/

He straight up does not care if you dont support him.

That's low even by his standards. Well, I'm sure that will make sure a couple thousand more Californians vote against him so keep digging I guess. By the way, have I mentioned that lots of Californians live in other states too?

You'd think he would want to manufacture a Hurricane Sandy moment, where he helps the state and perhaps gets a thanks from Newsom.

[Gravlen]

Why is the size of the highest court undefined in so many constitutions? It seems like an oversight.

Did the Founding Fathers have any writings talking about this issue? Was court packing foreseen, or considered as a method for the legislature to check a hostile court?

There are good reasons for not defining the size of the Supreme Court in the Constitution. Nobody foresaw the deep partisan split which would develop in the US, which have made SCOTUS just another political entity. It was not designed to function - be as dysfunctional - as it does today.

It's not given that 9 justices are the optimal number of justices to seat on the bench. Other countries have other numbers, but arranging a Supreme Court differently has both pros and cons.

In the end, it's not the size that is the problem, it's the politicization both of how the Justices are chosen and of how the Supreme Court works.

[Gim]

The trump admin just blocked California wildfire relief. Wtaf. https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/10 ... re-relief/

He straight up does not care if you dont support him.

This is what happens when you combine "liberals aren't real Americans" with "if you don't heap praise on me, I will destroy you".

He doesn't know he's destroying his own natural resources. Sigh.

[Shanzie]

The trump admin just blocked California wildfire relief. Wtaf. https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/10 ... re-relief/

He straight up does not care if you dont support him.

We've been saying that since the beginning.

It just sucks to see near daily reminders of it

[Gim]

We've been saying that since the beginning.

It just sucks to see near daily reminders of it

Ironically, they've become stale.

[Gravlen]

And as the world is distracted by Trump's blustering style that draws all attention..

A Supreme Court ruling this week allowed the Trump administration to end the 2020 census two weeks early, risking an undercount of members of the population who are difficult to reach – particularly immigrants, transients, and the poor. From the beginning, the administration has attempted to meddle with what is usually a scrupulously non-partisan process in order to advance its goal of disenfranchising and immiserating parts of the country which do not vote Republican. And following this court ruling, it is on track to get away with it.

Even by Trump’s own standards of naked partisanship and self-dealing, the weaponization of the census has been cynical and alarming. By deliberately attempting to produce an undercount in certain parts of the country, and by trying to seize control of the process whereby the census is used to allocate seats in the House of Representatives and Electoral College, the administration is leaving behind a tainted legacy.

Why does the census even matter? As well as being the basis for distributing political power between and within the states, the data from the census guides the allocation of about $1.5t in federal funding each year. The constitution states that the census has to take place every ten years and be based on an “actual enumeration” of residents, meaning that the Census Bureau is not permitted to use statistical models to make up for an inaccurate count. If the census isn’t accurate, then the country has to live with the consequences until the next one takes place a decade later.

..serious and impactful decisions slip under the radar.

Link

He still has plenty of damage left to do.

How can a constitutionally mandated process be ruled against? Fucking hell....

Well, it wasn't. The process is ongoing, as per the Constitution:

A census is required by our Constitution, which provides that the "actual Enumeration" of the population shall be conducted "in such Manner as [Congress] shall by Law direct." U.S. Const. Art. I, § 2, cl. 3.

So the process needs to follow the relevant law, which sets a statutory deadline of December 31st to have finished collecting data and presented a report.

To quote SCOTUSblog:

The dispute involved census field operations, which became delayed this year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. To cope with the delay, the department initially released a plan to continue field operations through all of October – but it later revised that plan and sought to end field operations on Sept. 30 instead.

In response to the National Urban League’s lawsuit, a district judge in California ordered the department to stick to its earlier plan and keep counting until Oct. 31. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit upheld that directive.

In its emergency appeal to the Supreme Court last week, the department said that, if forced to keep field operations in place, it would be unable to meet a Dec. 31 statutory deadline by which it must send state-by-state population totals to the president. Those population totals are then used to reapportion congressional seats among the states.

The appeals court identified harm on both sides, so it is a challenge to strike the right balance here.

That said, the real scandal is that the census wasn't better prepared from the outset, and that Congress haven't acted in light of the pandemic. The usual level of incompetence...

[Borderlands of Rojava]

Telling indicator number 1: Pollster Frank Luntz's focus group of undecideds were apparently unified in believing that the more Trump speaks, the worse he looks. Granted, that's a better reaction than the one they had for the first debate, where words like "horrid", "digraceful", "unpresidential", and "crackhead" were used to describe Trump's performance.

Telling indicator number 2: All of Trump's allies on Fox News are busy crying for their dear leader because big bad Samantha Guthrie beat him up and took his lunch money. Accusations of the event being a hit job, an ambush, and other descriptive words. Winners don't talk like that, excuse laden losers do. Also, apparently in Rupert-world, it's cool for Trump to badger the moderator for most of the first 15 minutes after insulting her at his most recent rally, but if she pressures him for an answer on a question that he kept being evasive on, SHE'S A BIG BAD BULLY. SMFH.

Ambush? Lmfao is that what they call it when Trump isn't asked softball questions?

[Borderlands of Rojava]

The trump admin just blocked California wildfire relief. Wtaf. https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/10 ... re-relief/

He straight up does not care if you dont support him.

He's an evil bastard and a degenerate piece of filth.

[The Huskar Social Union]

The trump admin just blocked California wildfire relief. Wtaf. https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/10 ... re-relief/

He straight up does not care if you dont support him.

He's an evil bastard and a degenerate piece of filth.

Ohhhhh you are not allowed to say that anymore!

[Borderlands of Rojava]

He's an evil bastard and a degenerate piece of filth.

Ohhhhh you are not allowed to say that anymore!

Gulag

[Aureumterra III]

He's an evil bastard and a degenerate piece of filth.

Ohhhhh you are not allowed to say that anymore!

?

[Ghost Land]

Ohhhhh you are not allowed to say that anymore!

?

He's referencing a recent controversial Moderation ruling. Discussion can be found here.

[Aureumterra III]

?

He's referencing a recent controversial Moderation ruling. Discussion can be found here.

Wait you can’t say bad things about politicians anymore?

[Nobel Hobos 2]

?

He's referencing a recent controversial Moderation ruling. Discussion can be found here.

It's sad that General has come to this. It feels like NS has new management that doesn't care about anything except the site being visibly PG-13.

Yet the Mods are the same. Some of them have been on the team for as long as I can remember.

There's really only one possible explanation. Max has sold NationStates!

[The Archregimancy]

He's an evil bastard and a degenerate piece of filth.

Ohhhhh you are not allowed to say that anymore!

<Moderator hat on>

I'm inclined to let that post from Rojava go.

It was 'fucking evil scum' in reference to Trump's immediate circle and 'cunt' in reference to the President we ruled actionable last time; Rojava's language is certainly strong, but doesn't cross over the line into actionable invective.

We don't want to stop you from venting your spleen against politicians, we just want you to be a bit more careful about the language you use while doing so until we get the 3rd of November (and its potential aftermath) out of the way.

[Telconi]

The trump admin just blocked California wildfire relief. Wtaf. https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/10 ... re-relief/

He straight up does not care if you dont support him.

We've been saying that since the beginning.

I mean, I can certainly see why someone would dislike it, but isn't that pretty standard operation for politicians.

[Ifreann]

Ngl I think the high point of this whole election season and the one I'll remember most is Biden simply saying "Will you shut up man?".

That so perfectly captures this presidency.

He said to Trump's face what most of the world has been shouting at their TV for the last five years.

---

The Trump campaign says that watching Biden's town hall was like "watching an episode of Mister Rodgers Neighborhood" and I'm like, are you really supposed to find selling points in favor of voting for Biden? Why are you doing the work of Biden's campaign for them?

Republicans kinda hate Mister Rogers for teaching children that they're special just the way they are. That reads to Republicans as entitlement, to them you can't just be special, you have to earn it.

[Shanzie]

We've been saying that since the beginning.

I mean, I can certainly see why someone would dislike it, but isn't that pretty standard operation for politicians.

No

[Valrifell]

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.

Make it retroactive to 2017.

I was catching up on the thread so I don't know if this was addressed, but ex post facto (retroactive) laws are unconstitutional. See Article 1 Section 9 and Article 1 Section 10 for the ban on retroactive laws for federal and state governments respectively.

So you could pass a new Judiciary Act downsizing the court and say "Kavanaugh and Gorsuch aren't justices anymore hah ha! We win!" but then what would happen is that absolutely no one would buy that since the constitutional law is clear. There were 9 seats at appointment, not 7, you can't retroactively say there were only 7 relevant seats and that the two latest appointments are illegitimate, that's not how that works.

You'd cause a constitutional crisis is what you'd do.

[Shrillland]

We've been saying that since the beginning.

I mean, I can certainly see why someone would dislike it, but isn't that pretty standard operation for politicians.

It's standard to deny some things, certainly, but disaster relief usually hasn't been one of them before Trump came along.

[Kowani]

Ngl I think the high point of this whole election season and the one I'll remember most is Biden simply saying "Will you shut up man?".

That so perfectly captures this presidency.

He said to Trump's face what most of the world has been shouting at their TV for the last five years.

---

The Trump campaign says that watching Biden's town hall was like "watching an episode of Mister Rodgers Neighborhood" and I'm like, are you really supposed to find selling points in favor of voting for Biden? Why are you doing the work of Biden's campaign for them?

Republicans kinda hate Mister Rogers for teaching children that they're special just the way they are. That reads to Republicans as entitlement, to them you can't just be special, you have to earn it.

“Muh snowflakes”