Ramsey Barner
Ramsey Barner's Journal'It is a little analog': how the Associated Press calls election winners in the US (from The Guardian)
The way the US counts votes is unique. In fact, there is no one central vote-counting system but rather tens of thousands of them in local precincts all across the country.
To help determine who has won where, the Guardian and many other newsrooms rely on the Associated Press, which has been calling US elections since 1848. (Some television networks, such as CNN, use their own analysis of results to make race calls.)
“Two years after the AP was founded, in 1848, we decided that there needed to be a trustworthy, nonpartisan source of information about who the country had elected as its new leaders,” David Scott, vice-president and head of news strategy and operations at the AP, told the Guardian.
The AP’s process for monitoring election results has undergone a few updates in the past 176 years. This year, the AP will rely on 4,000 reporters to report vote totals.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/05/how-associated-press-calls-election-winners
[Informative Interview with David Scott at link]
Good early turnout where I voted here in NH. Lots of good citizen spirit!
I spoke at length with an immigrant from Sudan. His appreciation of American rule of law and the voting process was infectious!
"Throw out the trash" -- 30 second video from the Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Dia
"Throw out the trash": Puerto Ricans protest against Donald Trump in the United States
(turn sound on)
https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/estados-unidos/videos/bota-la-basura-se-activan-los-puertorriquenos-contra-donald-trump-en-estados-unidos-290677/
If I hear that Lee Greenwood song one more time . . .
I'll be forced to re-write the chorus:
And I'm proud to be an American,
Where it's Buy One, Get One Free,
And it's Equal Justice Under Law
(for folks that look like me),
And I'll proudly stand here safe at home
While you serve her far away,
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land,
God save the NRA!
Copyright © 1861 Lee Peckerwood. All Rights Repealed and Replaced.
Musk tries to move case about $1 million voter sweepstakes to federal court, averting required appearance Thursday
Source: CNN
Philadelphia CNN -- Tech billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk is trying to move a lawsuit over his $1 million giveaway to voters into federal court, short-circuiting a required appearance Thursday at a Pennsylvania court.
Lawyers for the Tesla CEO filed a "motion of removal" in federal court late Wednesday night.
Judge Angelo Foglietta said Thursday he no longer has jurisdiction over the case because Musk filed papers to move the matter into federal court.
The parties will now continue pressing their case in federal court. Foglietta said he's available later Thursday or Friday if the federal judge sends the case back to state court.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/31/politics/elon-musk-sweepstakes-filing-pennsylvania/index.html
Unless the federal district court quickly rules against removal, this action will likely delay the case until after the election.
The district court judge, Gerald John Pappert, is an Obama appointee.
Musk's attorneys are trying to move the Philadelphia illegal lottery case to federal court
And Musk may not have to show up for the 10 AM hearing today: the scheduling order "said 'all parties must be present.' But the order was addressed to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and America PAC — not Krasner or Musk. And it was not issued until around 4 p.m. Wednesday, giving Musk, a resident of Texas, less than 24 hours to show up."
https://www.inquirer.com/crime/elon-musk-giveaway-larry-krasner-lawsuit-hearing-20241031.html
"The Economist" endorses Kamala Harris
By making Mr Trump leader of the free world, Americans would be gambling with the economy, the rule of law and international peace. We cannot quantify the chance that something will go badly wrong: nobody can. But we believe voters who minimise it are deluding themselves.
[. . . .]
America’s economy is the envy of the world, but that rests on it being an open market which embraces creative destruction, innovation and competition. Sometimes it seems as if Mr Trump wants to return to the 19th century, using tariffs and tax breaks to reward his friends and punish his enemies, as well as to finance the state and minimise trade deficits. Politics could yet wreck the foundations of America’s prosperity.
[. . . .]
The risks for domestic and foreign policy are amplified by the last big difference between Mr Trump’s first term and a possible second one: he would be less constrained. The president who mused about firing missiles at drug labs in Mexico was held back by the people and institutions around him. Since then the Republican Party has organised itself around fealty to Mr Trump. Friendly think-tanks have vetted lists of loyal people to serve in the next administration. The Supreme Court has weakened the checks on presidents by ruling that they cannot be prosecuted for official acts.
[. . . .]
Presidents do not have to be saints and we hope that a second Trump presidency would avoid disaster. But Mr Trump poses an unacceptable risk to America and the world. If The Economist had a vote, we would cast it for Ms Harris.
https://archive.ph/KiJhD#selection-1139.0-1143.44
[Yes, they have praise for Kamala Harris, but it's muted. They really hate Trump.]
Joyce Vance on the Supreme Court's hypocritical order in the Virginia voter purge case
When it comes to the Supreme Court, it’s the hypocrisy that gets to me. This Court let Alabama’s legislature get away with an unconstitutionally gerrymandered congressional district for two additional years, invoking the Purcell principle that said it was too close to the election to make any changes that time around. But now, they’ll permit Virginia to remove voters within the time period where federal law strictly prohibits it, not just an amorphous doctrine they invoke when it suits them. And, the state could have been working on these checks for the last few years. Whatever this Virginia decision is, it is not grounded in precedent or principle.
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/voter-fraud-when-the-facts-dont-add
[She also writes about recent false claims of voter fraud.]
[The Supremes are putting six dirty fingers on one side of the scale of justice.]
Former Puerto Rico governor criticizes racist language at Trump rally
Source: The Guardian
Puerto Rico’s former governor Ricardo Rosselló has been closely watching the fallout from the racist comments made during Donald Trump’s campaign rally on Sunday.
As someone involved in politics for much of his life, Rosselló – who has historically supported the Democratic party – heard reactions from both Republican colleagues and previously ambivalent voters.
“On the one side, what I’m seeing is people that were leaning towards voting for Trump are now thinking of either abstaining or voting for Harris,” Rosselló said, adding that the once-ambivalent voters are now using this moment as motivation to vote for Kamala Harris.
[. . . .]
Rosselló thinks the racist comments could lead to huge political ramifications for Trump in the lead-up to the 2024 election next week.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/30/former-puerto-rico-governor-ricardo-rossello-criticizes-trump-rally
Gov. Rosselló stepped down in 2019 following huge protests against his and other cabinet members' sexist and racist texts in a group chat. He knows something about the power of hateful words.
New accusation: Trump groped a Swiss beauty queen in 1993. She has pictures of them together.
Yes, it's from the Daily Mail, but a friend says she gave the same account 20 years ago.
In 1993, the woman "was a high-end staffer in a Swiss bank and a part-time model."
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13983755/beauty-queen-beatrice-keul-donald-trump-groped-plaza-hotel.html
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