Category: News

  • I got Involved in a Facebook “Voting Fraud” Debate

    I know that you shouldn’t get involved in FaceBook debates, but it was about voter fraud, and it really rubbed me the wrong way. I also freely admit that responding to the “debate” just played into the host/trolls hands. Yet, I don’t feel like we can sit on the sidelines anymore…

    The Post:

    Say, let’s talk about that 381 page database that keeps being referred to. It is from the Heritage Foundation titled “A Sampling of Election Fraud Cases From Across the Country.” Here is the link to it:

    https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/docs/pacei-voterfraudcases.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0kPCSmTRe6j8wTeMdI73IljE5xLkOQAk_L31lnbIBmh9Jnn5CJDt9Esvk

    There is an analysis of that database from The Brennan Center for Justice, a non-partisan law and public policy institute at NYU’s School of Law. The following link gives a quick summery of the Center’s findings on the Heritage’s database, as well as another link to full analysis, titled, “Heritage Fraud Database: As Assessment.”

    https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/analysis-heritage-foundations-database-undermines-claims-recent-voter

    I offer this information to help with the conversation/debate, as voting is the most important foundation stone in the institution of a democracy.

    Here is a sampling of their findings:

    “Among the examples in the Heritage document are a case from 1948 (when Harry S. Truman beat Thomas Dewey) and a case from 1972 (when Richard Nixon defeated George McGovern). Only 105 of its 749 cases came from within the past five years.

    In reviewing billions of votes cast, the Heritage Foundation identified just 10 cases involving in-person impersonation fraud at the polls (fewer than the number of members on the president’s Commission).

    The database includes only 41 cases involving non-citizens registering, voting, or attempting to vote over five decades, highlighting the absurdity of President Trump’s claim that millions of non-citizens voted in the 2016 election alone.

    Many cases highlighted in the database show that existing laws and safeguards are already preventing voter fraud — the ineligible voters or individuals engaging in misconduct were discovered and prevented from casting a ballot.”

    And then there is this quote:

    “This ‘database’ does not come close to being an actual study of election misconduct on which national policy should be based,” said Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center. “It is a grab-bag of cases, few of them recent, many irrelevant to the panel’s work. Waving around a stack of paper does not make it real evidence.”

    I found this information in less than five minutes of searching on the internet. In fact, it took me longer to type this up, than it did to find this analysis. Unfortunately, it is not 380 pages of “convictions” as has been claimed.

  • Cancel the Election? Just asking…

    So… Trump told the world that we should cancel the 2020 election, and then added some question marks at the end to make it a suggestion, something to think about.

    The President of the United States is a freshman in his first philosophy class. You know the guy. The one who says something really offensive and off the wall, but when you call him on it, he tries to flip it back at you. “What’s wrong with asking a questions? I thought we were open minded here.” So you’re the jerk now.

    Our President is a teen-aged deep thinker.

    This is what happens when the troll culture of an AOL chat room from late 90’s lands in narcissist 70-year old’s brain.

    I remember seeing this shit in 1996 when some guy in Alt-Rock AOL chat room was like, “Nirvana was over as a band in 1992, so what Kurt killing himself a bad thing?”

    Everyone goes ape shit in the chat room.

    Then the guy responds, “I’m just asking a question, you’re the one who can’t handle a debate. I didn’t say Kurt should have killed himself…”

    That crap…

    And was it a joke? Because that will be the other line used. “He was joking. Can’t you take a joke?”

    Fuck man, this is exhausting.

    Is anyone else exhausted?

  • Election Delay? No, Trump is Trying to Distract You

    So, Trump wants to delay the election? I mean, that’s what he tweeted and, seems to me, that’s what everyone has been talking about for two days, right? But, he doesn’t have the authority to do that, and the Constitution won’t allow it, as there are specific dates which Congress and the President must be sworn in on. There is no way to change the election date.

    Trump is up to his old tricks of trying to distract, and change the conversation.

    If we are all talking about changing the election, then we aren’t talking about the huge drop in GDP. We aren’t talking about people about to lose their extra unemployment benefits. We aren’t talking about up to 30 million people facing eviction. We aren’t talking about Federal agents in the streets of Portland. We aren’t talking about BLM. We aren’t talking about Covid-19’s rising infection and death rates. And especially, we aren’t talking about John Lewis, a true American hero, who fought for justice, equality, and voting rights.

    There is so much going wrong, that we need to be focus and working for solutions.

    Don’t fall for the distraction.

     

  • Hydroxychloroquine News Story

    Hydroxychloroquine News Story

    It was just heartbreaking to see. I went on Facebook, and I saw that a good friend of mine from college had posted a pro hydroxychloroquine news story. There was no comment left, or request that we should, “read the article, and keep an open mind,” or any other phrase of have some sort of civil debate about this topic. Through they had left not a word of whether they believed hydroxychloroquine worked or not, it just broke my heart to see.

    Broke my heart because it caused me to fear the worst about them.  This was a person I went to college with, who I would describe as a person of above average intelligence, huge amount of compassion, determination, and not a person I would describe as easily fooled. This is also a person who would describe themselves as conservative, and a Christian, but in no way closed minded to people who are different from them.

    It broke my heart because it made me feel like they drank to Kool-Aid.

    I have friends that are 100% pro-Trump, and to them, there is nothing that he can do wrong. I know people who claim to be libertarians that will argue that you can’t force anyone to do anything, even if it would benefit the world. But these people have always been like that, so when they post Trump stuff, or argue that they will never wear a mask, it fits within their proclivity.

    It broke my heart because it means my old college friend has changed, and chosen to go down this path. They are choosing to believe something that has been proved not to work.

  • I’m More Excited About British Football Than American Football

    I’m More Excited About British Football Than American Football

    Yup, I can hear my friends and family back in Texas shitting a brick right now. Being that football in Texas is a well-documented religion and industry unto itself, they would be dumbfounded that someone who grew up under Friday Night Lights, would somehow become all hipster and start liking soccer. It’s true, and then I would correct them and say, “You know it’s called football all over the world.”

    Yes, it’s true. I found myself more excited about the Premier League starting up again in Britain than I have been for baseball coming back or the basketball bubble. I haven’t cared about hockey since the Dallas Stars won the cup, and I do respect MLS, but I haven’t been able to get behind the NY Red Bulls (Too Corporate) or NYCFC as they are partly owned by Manchester City, and more about that later. American Football feels like they well screw it up like baseball. My true feeling is that American sports team owners don’t care about their players, and are just trying to throw them out in the mix, to grab what money they can. Baseball clearly hasn’t thought it through, as the 12+ Marlin players contracting Covid in the last 48 hours proves.

    I do want sports back, if nothing more than to have something to nap through on a Sunday afternoon, and also to have something to talk to people about. Nothing gets settled in sports discussions, but they sure are fun and do help give you an insight on the person arguing that Charles Barkley was the most revolutionary player in the NBA, period. (Feel free to comment on that.)

    It was fun for the past few weeks following my team in the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur, as they fought for a 6th place finish which qualified them for the Europa League. As I follow the Spurs, I have adopted a dislike for all teams from Manchester, and loath Arsenal. And there is something also about how the Premier League took the virus seriously, especially player health. On the week of July 13th, 2,208 players and staff were tested and zero were found positive. In fact, from May 7th to July 19th, only 20 positive test results came back. They all did what they had to do to have a safe end of the season.

    I don’t think America will be able to say the same.