I last did this back when several states had passed heartbeat abortion laws. The recent frenzy over Georgia’s SB202, with a 64 line formal title I won’t be reproducing here, also known as the Election Integrity Act of 2021, has spurred me to do this again. In brief, there is a law a great many people are commenting on, but very few seem to have read – and as I type this introduction, I am in that number.
So…the state is restricting voting by adding machines or precincts to make sure everyone can vote? Weird.
But I have downloaded a copy of the bill, (located here) as signed, and will read it to see how it actually impacts Georgia’s voting access and whom, exactly, it ‘disenfranchises’. My guess is, it expands voting (or at the minimum stabilizes it across the absurd number of GA counties) or does not reduce voting access. I also suspect that the only thing in there that has been commented on – the food & water bit – is the only thing in there that is actually controversial. We’ll see. Finally, a quick note – in Georgia the format is to strikeout old/removed stuff, and underline new. Now, on to the bill!
TL/DR: Media lied. Nothing in here is remotely as represented, even the water thing is not being honestly represented. Skip to Section 33 for the water.
Since there is a problem on the left of only reading what they want to read, let me clear this up in the beginning: masks are not mask mandates. That second word, MANDATES is the issue. On the off chance someone reads this, I just want to be sure it’s hard to misunderstand the point.
First, let’s look at masks. It is true that cloth masks cannot block a virus 50–200 nanometres across. No way to argue that. Second, the virus continues to spread despite masks. No disputing that either. But masks still work to slow the spread. How, if they cannot block the SARS-CoV-2 virus, a 50–200 nanometre particle?
Evidence matters. it is the foundation of our legal system, and the rock on which science (and all progress) is built. When there is a suggestion that something happened, our first reaction is to call for evidence, and this is the right reaction. Sometimes, however, there is nothing direct. When that happens, we have to figure out a way to use the available evidence to find the truth.
The 2020 election is just such a situation, by and large. There is a suggestion something illegal happened in how the votes were handled, but with some few exceptions, not a lot (at this time) of evidence. I want to talk about one apparent aspect of that, and how even without the proverbial smoking gun, we can still find out some idea of what the truth is.
For the one to three non-bots who read this blog, I figure I need to add some a priori, so you know who I am and where I am coming from.
First, I am not a Trump fan. I cannot really endorse or like someone who presents themselves like he does. I keep hearing stories about how different he is in private, which is nice, and yet the public Trump is just an absolute ass. Second, I am a political conservative – I seek a smaller Federal government (and state, for what its worth), and a lessening of regulations that stifle creativity, business, and America’s ability to compete or dominate on the world stage. And we do dominate when we get out of our own way. Third, and this is crucial, I am not an expert in elections, sociology, or much else connected to how the system works. I am pretty good at seeing patterns, and often really good at understanding how people behave.
I kind of swiped this idea from the team over at Legal Insurrection. It seems like the kind of thing that one does in January. So, here are my predictions for events that we will see in 2020. No promises, this is a new one for me!
And it isn’t pretty. Since I last wrote about this process, Bullock (who?), Swalwell, Ryan, Inslee, Hickenlooper, Gillibrand, de Blasio, O’Rourke, and Harris have dropped out. Former NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg has jumped in, and the stage is set for another debate on December 19th.
To qualify for the Los Angeles debate, a candidate must hit 4 percent support in at least four DNC-approved polls, which may be national surveys of primary voters or single-state polls in the four early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina or Nevada. Alternatively, they can hit 6 percent in two early-state polls.
In addition, candidates must have received donations from at least 200,000 unique donors, with a minimum of 800 unique donors in 20 states, U.S. territories or the District of Columbia.
Of the remaining candidates, 6 have met that mark as I write this. So, let’s review and update the Circular Firing Squad, in poll ranking (per the New York Times) order.
Candidates who made the cut have over their photo. Net worth, per Forbes, added to show that, despite claims to be the party of the middle class, their candidates are very, very far removed from said middle class.
Joe Biden
Age: 76
Net Worth: $9,000,000
Joe just gets worse & worse. I still think this is his to lose, but damn, he is trying hard to lose it!
From sucking on his wife’s fingers as she introduces him to talking about the joys of kids on his lap & people playing with his leg hair, Joe just keeps falling into the ‘really creepy uncle’ zone. I can’t understand why anyone thinks he is a good candidate.
And this is before any reports on his interference in Ukrainian politics on behalf of his creepier son Hunter come to the fore…
If Biden is the nominee, he’ll be one of the weakest, most vulnerable, in modern memory.
Bernie Sanders
Age: 77
Net Worth: $2,500,000
Bernie Sanders is still the nutty uncle-by-marriage, isn’t he? He is so disconnected from economic reality that he doesn’t seem to get that he is the people he seems to hate the most.
Well, not exactly – he did change his rant target from millionaires to billionaires once he became a millionaire. So there is that.
Bernie still isn’t a real threat – he is polling at around 18%, but we have not seen a single vote cast, and that was his weakness in 2016.
Elizabeth Warren
Age: 69
Net Worth: $12,000,000
The shine seems to have worn off of the only real contender to Creepy Uncle Joe.
Her absurd claims about ‘Medicare for all’ are being laughed at by her own party. Her ‘I have a plan’ line is played out – if you have a plan, you need to tell someone, sometime. People are just not interested in ambiguity these days.
Interestingly, her own party stopped buying the ‘Native American’ lie. With Harris dropping out, the left is complaining that all the remaining December debate candidates are white.
Oops.
Pete Buttigieg
Age: 37
Net Worth: $100,000
Mayor Pete is clearly doing something wrong – he should have at least one more zero on that…
He is also fumbling on race issues. The media managed to not fully cover the protests in South Bend over a white cop shooting a black man in June. He then managed to claim a bunch of black support that he didn’t have, using stock photos of Africans in the process. And just last night, a white BLM protester disrupted a meeting, stealing the microphone from councilwoman Sharon McBride…who is black.
And somehow the ‘not gay enough / in the right way’ nonsense persists too.
Michael Bloomberg
Age: 77
Net Worth: $53,400,000,000
$53.4 billion. Just to be clear about that.
So, the former mayor of New York, known best for soda taxes, anti-2nd Amendment activities, and changing the law in NYC to get himself a third term as mayor. He also changed parties to the Republicans to become mayor, switching back in his second term.
Bloomberg owns his own media group, who doesn’t actually report on him at all. Which is nice. I do the same thing – my blog doesn’t report on me either. The difference is that I am not a presidential candidate.
Bloomberg is another statist who thinks he knows how to best live your life, and wants to control how you do that. He’s pretty much scum.
Amy Klobuchar
Age: 58
Net Worth: $2,000,000
I honestly have no idea about her. Seriously. She made some headlines early, both for being ignored, and for mistreating her staff.
So, I looked up some articles on her. Seems that is about it. She mouths the current mandated pabulum, and mistreats staffers. And somehow is in the debate, despite raising $2 million less than Yang, and being tied with him in the polls.
I don’t get it, but then I am not a Democrat.
Andrew Yang
Age: 44
Net Worth: $1,000,000
Somehow, Yang isn’t in the December debate, despite polling & raising more money than Klobuchar and Steyer. Yang has also been the most disregarded of the field, with people getting has name wrong, and occasionally leaving him off lists of candidates completely.
Yang is also, from my perspective, one of the only adults in the room. He isn’t falling all over himself to promote the latest leftist fad, he is trying to bring reasoned thought to the process.
Yeah. Doomed.
I wanted to also highlight his support of other candidates, because he thinks they have something to say, and he wants them top keep going. Rare, yes. Foolish, yes. Honorable, hell yes.
Cory Booker
Age: 49
Net Worth: $1,500,000
Not sure why Booker is still here. He has been so vastly overshadowed by literally everyone that he really needs to drop this foolishness.
He is also one of those decrying the inherent racism that led to Harris dropping out. Of course, like the others on the same page, he misses that the racism he sees is inherent to the DNC…the people who didn’t support Harris.
At least Booker isn’t Castro or Williamson. So he has that going for him.
Tom Steyer
Age: 62
Net Worth: $1,600,000,000
He wasn’t even a candidate when I did the first of these…
I know next to nothing about this guy. Bernie hates him (billionaire), but that’s meaningless.
He supports the usual nonsense, and is polling way low – less than 1%. And yet somehow he managed to qualify for the December debate. Must be the money? No, because Bloomberg is way richer, and has not yet qualified.
If you asks the Bookers and Castros of the DNC, it’s because he’s white.
Julián Castro
Age: 44
Net Worth: $700,000
So, despite looking like the demented Santa Clause in Coco, Hard Rock, & Joe, Castro has managed to remain a candidate.
Not a viable one, but yeah, a candidate.
Castro has stood out by supporting Harris’ claims that the Democratic voter base is racist, and by basically sucking at this whole ‘basic human knowledge’ thing. He is the twit who proclaimed he would back federal funding to secure abortuions for trans women. Who are, biologically, men. And thus incapable of having an abortion.
Castro needs to drop this insanity before he says something even the shills in the media can’t ignore.
Tulsi Gabbard
Age: 38
Net Worth: $500,000
Well, Gabbard got interesting. Accused by no less than Hillary Clinton of being a Russian asset. That was whitewashed later to be ‘Republican’, but the record remains – Clinton accused Gabbard, a Major in the Hawaii National Guard, of being ‘groomed’ by the Russians. Gabbard lashed back, calling Clinton “queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long”. Love it.
Gabbard is also not seeking reelection, to focus on the campaign, an honorable move rarely seen.
Otherwise, Gabbard is in favor of the usual stuff, but, like Yang, seems to actually think, not just blather platitudes.
It would be nice to see her have some primary success, but sadly I don’t expect it. She is out-polling and out-fundraising Steyer, and not in the December debate.
Michael Bennet
Age: 55
Net Worth: $15,000,000
Who? Another one that joined late, Bennet is a US Senator from Colorado.
Apparently, his campaign began as a ‘viral’ response to Ted Cruz…which kind of tells you all you need to know about the level of quality expected by the Democratic Party.
Usual positions, usual nonsense, basically another also-ran. Honestly, he is not even in the running for a veep slot.
John Delaney
Age: 56
Net Worth: $200,000,000
Somehow, still in the race. The $200 million net worth might be helping here.
Still, he is interesting. He is opposed to the current DNC pot of fairie gold, Medicare for All. Even if that opposition is based on the fact that it would see Trump reelected.
Otherwise, there isn’t much here. Still trying to be a centrist, and appeal to more than just the rabid base, and still polling at less than 1%. I think the real take away from this campaign is that the Democratic voters don’t want actual inclusion.
Marianne Williamson
Age: 66
Net Worth: $1,500,000
In some ways, she is the Platonic ideal of the California Candidate – not fully aware of what policies she supports could do to people and their ability to live free. With a huge dose of pop-spirituality on top.
Williamson supports the usual nonsense, plus repariations. Her political experience consists of losing an election in CA33 as an independent. Williamson is a surprise in the race – I really expected her to not make it this far.
Deval Patrick
Age: 63
Net Worth: Undeclared/Unknown
Where are the Democrats demanding Patrick’s tax returns? Oh, right, only applies to Republicans.
So…Patrick wasn’t in the race in the first version of this. He entered November 14th, because he was ‘uneasy’ about the candidates. Which makes sense. You have a serial groper, serial lier, and several 1% types in the lead – admittedly core DNC constituencies.
Patrick is one of exactly two current candidates with executive experience. The other being fellow late-comer Bloomberg. His policies are the stock DNC script, and the campaign website is really vauge. Not sure what he thinks he brings to the game, but I wouldn’t expect him to go far.
So who is the Democratic Party? Rich. White. Ready and willing to embrace people who should have been #metoo’d out of the party. Ready and willing to embrace liers, grifters, and people who believe in demonizing the American people and their beliefs.
The DNC of today is not interested in leading by example…or leading at all. They are interested in ruling. And that is something we should all find wholly unacceptable as Americans.
With Kamala Harris claiming ‘racism’ as the reason her 2020 bid failed, she inadvertently says something pretty dire about the state of the Democratic Party.
I say inadvertently because I am pretty sure she didn’t think this through, in the least.
As was pointed out on Ace of Spades, the DNC primary process is a closed loop – it is by and for Democrats. Not the nation as a whole, not Republicans, just Democrats. And thus, if the reason her campaign failed was, in fact, racism, it is the Democratic Party that has that problem.
Well…no shit.
The Democrats have moved from literally owning black people, to killing black people for daring to try to exercise their rights as free people, to ghettoizing them and basically claiming ownership again. At no point in this process have the Democratic Party leaders or power brokers considered blacks as valid, fully realized, agency-possessing humans. They were slaves, then there to be lynched, then back to de facto slavery.
There is a reason the recent pro-Republican movements describe themselves as getting of the plantation. The Dems have made the plantation their default system of dealing with non-Asian minorities.
But of course, the inherent racism of the DNC is, somehow, Trump’s fault. Because Orange Man Bad?
It began as a joke – something so obvious even a blind lemur could see it. The Democrats seem canine-centric (Blue Dog, Yellow Dog), so I figured we on the right could use a fun animal, and frankly, lemurs are all the rage! So I hear. Kinda. Anyway, after deciding that the leadership is so inept that a blind lemur could lead better, I decided to create this movement. And perhaps even spin it off into the real world. Stranger things have happened.
