The Political Discussion Thread

[Annoyed]

To think that is possible with human counters is laughable

Ok, then according to that logic, the entire possibility of the election being rigged at the voting booths goes out the window, along with any recounts the Democrats might want, right?

Which is kinda my question about this sudden recount fever, almost 3 weeks after the fact.
At least in NY, there are paper ballots on file in addition to the electronic tallies. I *think* they were required. If this is indeed the case, why did it take 3 weeks?

And isn't it just such a coincidence that they want recounts in 3 states that would switch the election?

Sorry, I call BS. just more denial by the Democrats. Some of 'em just can't accept that they lost.

[Annoyed]

He has a long list! A very long list. He's the best at making lists. He has the best lists. You think you know how to make lists? You don't know the first thing about making lists!

But he can't tell you anything that's on it

It's all being buried so deep no one will ever know the details, but he still knows there's a list.. somehow..

Actually, the Democrats do have a lot to explain. To their supporters.
With an opponent such as Trump, who no one claims was the ideal candidate, and who didn't have solid support of many Republicans, the question they have to explain to their supporters is "how the hell did we lose?"

[Gatefan1976]

Ok, then according to that logic, the entire possibility of the election being rigged at the voting booths goes out the window, along with any recounts the Democrats might want, right?

That is not what he is saying.

Which is kinda my question about this sudden recount fever, almost 3 weeks after the fact.
At least in NY, there are paper ballots on file in addition to the electronic tallies. I *think* they were required. If this is indeed the case, why did it take 3 weeks?

It takes time to properly count all votes, and this did not just spring up now, people have been calling for it since the winner was announced.

And isn't it just such a coincidence that they want recounts in 3 states that would switch the election?

Not really seeing as though those 3 states had winning margins -within the margin of error-
MI: 0.3%
PN: 1.2%
WI: 0.7%
The margin of error is 1.5% either way.
Damn facts ruining a good story, again..........

Sorry, I call BS. just more denial by the Democrats. Some of 'em just can't accept that they lost.

As opposed to saying that if you loose it's rigged before any result are called.
Trump opened the door to this crap, and people here, myself included warned you how stupid it was for trump to call the system into question, but he has, and now he has to weather the storm he brought on himself.
IF the moron kept his big mouth shut, said he would accept the results then this would be a total non issue, but he did. Again, this is his mess to clean up.

[Gatefan1976]

Actually, the Democrats do have a lot to explain. To their supporters.
With an opponent such as Trump, who no one claims was the ideal candidate, and who didn't have solid support of many Republicans, the question they have to explain to their supporters is "how the hell did we lose?"

Easy, they (voters) did not turn out on the day to vote, what is there to explain? I have no sympathy for people who did not vote, as I am sure I have made abundantly clear to you.

[Womble]

Computers don't make mistakes. Humans do.

Did someone cancel the GIGO rule?

[Womble]

We're having insane wildfires here in Israel, mainly due to the new Palestinian form of terrorism - starting forest fires. The current fire began at some 200 different ignition points and because of the warm dry weather it spread through much of northern Israel. 75 000 people were evacuated from their homes in Haifa and the small towns in the Galilee - largest civilian evacuation in the country's history. Another fire broke out tonight near Jerusalem, set off by a Molotov cocktail. Several Arab arsonists were arrested so far, some of them caught on video.

There's quite a bit of celebration going on in Arab-language Facebook and Twitter under hashtag #Israelburns. To quote Naftali Bennett, only those to whom this land does not belong can conceive of torching it. Or celebrating as it burns.

We got some much-needed help from firefighters from Greece, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia. The US sent its largest firefighting supertanker plane which has just landed in Israel. Airbnb is helping the people who lost their homes get hosted for free in Airbnb-listed places.

[Gatefan1976]

We're having insane wildfires here in Israel, mainly due to the new Palestinian form of terrorism - starting forest fires. The current fire began at some 200 different ignition points and because of the warm dry weather it spread through much of northern Israel. 75 000 people were evacuated from their homes in Haifa and the small towns in the Galilee - largest civilian evacuation in the country's history. Another fire broke out tonight near Jerusalem, set off by a Molotov cocktail. Several Arab arsonists were arrested so far, some of them caught on video.

There's quite a bit of celebration going on in Arab-language Facebook and Twitter under hashtag #Israelburns. To quote Naftali Bennett, only those to whom this land does not belong can conceive of torching it. Or celebrating as it burns.

We got some much-needed help from firefighters from Greece, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia. The US sent its largest firefighting supertanker plane which has just landed in Israel. Airbnb is helping the people who lost their homes get hosted for free in Airbnb-listed places.

Falcon asked about this earlier, hope you catch the "people" responsible. Arsonists are one of those few other types of criminal that make my short list for people who don't deserve a second chance.

[jelgate]

I'm taking some hay from Annoyed's strawman for my scarecrow.

[Falcon Horus]

Re: forest fires -- I did, and thanks for the update. I saw the Palestinian Authority send 4 firefighting crews which you didn't mention -- unlike the IsraelBurns hashtag, which I haven't seen, I did see that mentioned on twitter. At least, not all of them are celebrating.

...along with any recounts the Democrats might want, right?

It's the Greens who have thus far filed a recount notice in Wisconsin.

Sorry, I call BS. just more denial by the Democrats. Some of 'em just can't accept that they lost.

Well, next time, don't yell "the elections are rigged" -- lesson learned, I hope.

[Coco Pops]

What is wrong with the use of pen and paper ballots?

[Gatefan1976]

..........And we're off.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38112752

They got it in on the last day, but the recount has been paid for in WI.

[jelgate]

I doubt this will change anything but in the 1 in 1 million chance it does, I made popcorn for an Annoyed freak out

[mad_gater]

First, i do think you put too much faith in the "non-hackable" thing. Anything involving humans is much more likely to create errors than when it's done by machine. It's not like the old system is exactly flawless. It just trades one flaw (hacking) for another (good old human failure)

The other point i'd make is that various European nation went for the electronic option and then reverted. I don't recall the specific reason, but i think it was not hacking itself, but rather that it was more difficult to prove any tampering (since access to the machine pretty much inevitably grants access to logs, and so any tampering can be hidden - you'd never know the original vote).

yeah I would say "more difficult to 'hack'"....with the old style paper punch ballots if someone wanted to somehow manipulate the voting data they'd have to actually go to the physical location where the paper ballots are stored and use likely very specialized equipment to alter the physical documents

with these digital voting machines it's far easier to hack because the data manipulation could be done with simply a few keystrokes and/or mouse clicks

[Gatefan1976]

What is wrong with the use of pen and paper ballots?

Size of population brother. Remember, Our entire population fits inside Texas, and it's not even the most populous state.

[Annoyed]

We seemed to do ok with paper or simple mechanical voting machines for a number of years before the advent of affordable computers.