Topic: America votes 2016

[8ullfrog]

Yup, was a fuckup at the polling place, again! I think I posted about the douchebag hipster polling place worker that sent me on a four location goose chase before I was forced to vote provisionally in 2012, where I voted for an extension on obama, despite being thoroughly sick of him and his policies.

(I followed up on that cowpoo quest with the registrars office, and the volunteer was not invited back for the next election. Also, I was right, and he was wrong.)

The precinct today was seething. I went around 1, hoping lunch voters would be done, massive line.

The problem was on the spanish side of things. One young volunteer was working her ass off, her superior was campaigning for fkking stereotype 2016. Lazy, dismissive, and rude. He wanted to talk about his lunch torta instead of working.

Oh, and since there was one line, he was holding up everyone. Eventually someone yelled at him to shut the golly up about his sandwich. He turned red and yelled it was a torta. A woman responded "same bless'ed difference, it's a sandwich bottom!"

Then a black female voter accused him of commiting fraud. He yelled at her to take the sticker, she called the registrar directly. I didn't know you COULD call direct, I had to jump the call center hoops when I did it. Everything ground to a halt so a higher up could be dispatched. I was about third in a line that stretched at least a block, so I wasn't leaving.

It turned out yes, he had committed misconduct by not handing out the receipts, which are far more important than a little blue ego sticker.

So he tried to throw the stack of receipts in the garbage. The higher up stopped him, and put them in some official looking box instead, was probably the fancy garbage.

I only speak english, but I was sent to asshlio's station to check in. He tried to void me, I pulled my current voter registration card, he said I wasn't on his list and couldn't vote. THe higher up said I was on HER list, and to give me a ballot. He reached for a provisional, and she slapped his hand, pulled my ballot herself, and made sure the receipt was attached.

Sure enough, when I went to turn in  my completed ballot, he tried to put it in the box with the receipt still attached. She smacked him again, and gave me my receipt.

I don't think there was a single issue on the ballot I agreed with, and some of them were those bizarre no means yes, yes means no measure, so I may have voted for something I meant to vote against.

But if I could vote that man be thrown before freeway traffic, I would.

(There were two death penalty measures on the ballot)




UPDATE: I'll admit it now, despite hating hillary, I voted against candidate cheeto.

Cubs took the series, Biff in the white house, we need to go back to 1985 and stop McFly!

[smokester]

Was it ever in doubt that Trump would win?

This simulation we are living in has some serious code errors sprouting up.

[brickbatz]

If only Clinton could have lost without Trump winning. We're screwed.

[smokester]

I was hoping that the $ would collapse so that I could afford to go back to the Caribbean next year, but it looks like the £ is happy to keep playing kiss-chase.

[8ullfrog]

None of the crap the talking heads tried to drown trump in stuck, and no matter how much they wanted people to ignore it, the emails took precident.

Also, the attitude that she had "dibs" was as stupid as !jeb, or Mccain. No one is owed the presidency, and no one gets to act like it, no matter how many primaries they rig.

[6pairsofshoes]

I worked the polls yesterday, from 6 a.m. until 9:30 p.m.  There are rigorous procedures in checking in voters, handing out ballots and insuring that before the voter leaves for the booth, they are given the stubs from the top of the ballots.

It sounds like your precinct was run by poorly trained or performing workers.  It was great to see all the people coming to vote yesterday.  I'm beyond depressed by the results of the election.  It appears that Clinton won the popular vote and because of the ancient and deeply flawed system of the Electoral College, their will was once again frustrated with the result that we have a deranged hothead as the new president.  God help all of us.  I pray we get through this administration without wars.  I don't hold out a great deal of hope.  It's bless'ed frightening.

[ohcheap1]

Do I condemn you to this. I do.

Here’s Why We Grieve Today
November 9, 2016 / John Pavlovitz

I don’t think you understand us right now.
I think you think this is about politics.
I think you believe this is all just sour grapes; the crocodile tears of the losing locker room with the scoreboard going against us at the buzzer.

I can only tell you that you’re wrong. This is not about losing an election. This isn’t about not winning a contest. This is about two very different ways of seeing the world.

Hillary supporters believe in a diverse America; one where religion or skin color or sexual orientation or place of birth aren’t liabilities or deficiencies or moral defects. Her campaign was one of inclusion and connection and interdependency. It was about building bridges and breaking ceilings. It was about going high.

Trump supporters believe in a very selective America; one that is largely white and straight and Christian, and the voting verified this. Donald Trump has never made any assertions otherwise. He ran a campaign of fear and exclusion and isolation—and that’s the vision of the world those who voted for him have endorsed.

They have aligned with the wall-builder and the professed p*ssy-grabber, and they have co-signed his body of work, regardless of the reasons they give for their vote:

Every horrible thing Donald Trump ever said about women or Muslims or people of color has now been validated.
Every profanity-laced press conference and every call to bully protestors and every ignorant diatribe has been endorsed.
Every piece of anti-LGBTQ legislation Mike Pence has championed has been signed-off on.

Half of our country has declared these things acceptable, noble, American.

This is the disconnect and the source of our grief today. It isn’t a political defeat that we’re lamenting, it’s a defeat for Humanity.

We’re not angry that our candidate lost. We’re angry because our candidate’s losing means this country will be less safe, less kind, and less available to a huge segment of its population, and that’s just the truth.

Those who have always felt vulnerable are now left more so. Those whose voices have been silenced will be further quieted. Those who always felt marginalized will be pushed further to the periphery. Those who feared they were seen as inferior now have confirmation in actual percentages.

Those things have essentially been campaign promises of Donald Trump, and so many of our fellow citizens have said this is what they want too.

This has never been about politics.
This is not about one candidate over the other.
It’s not about one’s ideas over another’s.
It is not blue vs. red.
It’s not her emails vs. his bad language.
It’s not her dishonesty vs. his indecency.
It’s about overt racism and hostility toward minorities.
It’s about religion being weaponized.
It’s about crassness and vulgarity and disregard for women.
It’s about a barricaded, militarized, bully nation.
It’s about an unapologetic, open-faced ugliness.

And it is not only that these things have been ratified by our nation that grieve us; all this hatred, fear, racism, bigotry, and intolerance—it’s knowing that these things have been amen-ed by our neighbors, our families, our friends, those we work with and worship alongside. That is the most horrific thing of all. We now know how close this is.

It feels like living in enemy territory being here now, and there’s no way around that. We wake up today in a home we no longer recognize. We are grieving the loss of a place we used to love but no longer do. This may be America today but it is not the America we believe in or recognize or want.

This is not about a difference of political opinion, as that’s far too small to mourn over. It’s about a fundamental difference in how we view the worth of all people—not just those who look or talk or think or vote the way we do.

Grief always laments what might have been, the future we were robbed of, the tomorrow that we won’t get to see, and that is what we walk through today. As a nation we had an opportunity to affirm the beauty of our diversity this day, to choose ideas over sound bytes, to let everyone know they had a place at the table, to be the beacon of goodness and decency we imagine that we are—and we said no.

The Scriptures say that weeping endures for a night but joy comes in the morning. We can’t see that dawn coming any time soon.
And this is why we grieve.

Please understand. This is why we, all races, must become aware of our value. Thanks Sachoccha for sharing this post. To my child and my Mother, I concede.
https://www.facebook.com/ChefRoble/videos/10154658125156948/

[8ullfrog]

I dunno, I think some of it is red v blue, "wrong team won" sentiment.

I feel  bad for the senator obama who had his ideals, hope, and change ground down on an angle grinder of no.

At the same time, some of his actions seemed like he was reaching over a line that was in more than sand, more than erasable pencil.

And people were so damn dismissive. They shook their heads at racist grandma, and forgot that hey, old people vote! I used to spend a lot of time around old people, and it's influenced my vote. Sure, I'm for school funding, but where is that cent of sales tax really going to end up? Will the local government even be able to pay off those bonds?

And on the other side, there are things I vote for that would make grandma's head explode. Leglize the loca weed? Why not? Decreased police spending could be shifted to a real mental health service instead of lip service.

Hell, who am I kidding, police and firefighters never give up money, and they "punish" people for trying. [Citation: Sim City 4]

But yeah, there was some heavy stuff on that ballot. Shame about all the incumbents winning. One of my grandpa's other pieces of advice was to clear out the feathermerchants, lest they get comfortable in their nest.

[smokester]

I was watching some of the protests at his victory and it looked all too much like the protests that happened after Brexit. Those post-Brexit ill feelings created an irreparable divide in the U.K that exists now on every street and in many households too - and the protests amounted to nada.

I think the best case scenario here is that the anti-Trumpites make sure they mobilise all their members for the next election in 4 years time. If that fails, then you have to accept the will of the people.

[smokester]

I think that this is wrong. There are (at least) four ways of looking at the world, and to only look at two misses the point. In addition to Hilary supporters and Trump supporters, there were also Hilary haters and Trump haters. (Note: "Hilary haters" include all of those people that were disillusioned with the political elite because they felt disenfranchised by decades of ongoing hardship about which the establishment appeared to be able to do nothing, and Hilary represented "more of the same").

Unfortunately for Hilary and her supporters, Hilary supporters and Trump haters were pretty much the same people, so she didn't gain much above her "natural" support; Hilary haters and Trump supporters were both very different groups of people that all voted for Trump, boosting his vote dramatically.

Makes perfect sense to me.

[brickbatz]

Makes perfect sense to me.

It does.

At least we get to choose who is going to wreck our country.

[6pairsofshoes]

chrisT's point is well taken except for the fact that Hillary won the popular vote by a margin of 200,000 votes.  The Electoral College distorts the plebiscite in ways that privilege the votes of rural states over those of more populous, urban areas.  That's essentially a nullification of the people's will and it's happened twice now in the past 20 years.  This should change.  If Trump had won by a landslide, this wouldn't be an issue, but given his loss to Clinton, it seems quite perverse that he should assume the mantle of power based on the arbitrary decisions of the Electoral College.

[goldshirt*9]

It does.

At least we get to choose who is going to wreck our country.

Just your country